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#some random guy on the street found a polaroid and asked if they wanted a picture taken
be-an-echo · 3 months
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We miss you Annie, so so much 💘
I can't believe it's been a year. I miss you and I bet a lot of people do too. You gave this world your talent and kindness and it's just not fair you're gone. And you gave us Tess. You deserved to be loved for so much longer, to bring joy to other people's lives and to live this beautiful life. So I promise I'll do my best and I'll keep the fire you gave us by creating Tess burning. For as long as I could because you both deserve it. I miss you Annie and I miss your Tess.
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avictimofthejazz · 1 year
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💞 (I'd settle for one way for all of our ships & Add brotps) (its go big with asks for go home for me) XDD
Mel/Street
Street willingly puts aside his own hobbies, or things he wants to do in order to support Melody in her own duties as an heiress. He knows she finds a lot of high-end social events and interactions difficult so, barring calls from his work, he always goes with her.
Amy/Face
Even if he has to stay out of sight, Face hovers whenever Amy is doing part of a con job solo—especially ones that involve her making contact with shady guys. He is always ready to intervene the minute anything starts going wrong, or Amy might be in real danger from the creep.
Rose/Murph
Murph finds ways to make Rose laugh. Thanks to Cal and her mother, Rose never laughs nearly as much as a person should—Murph seeks to remedy that every chance he gets.
Bonnie/Michael
During his Foundation travels, Michael is always picking up random gadgets or manuals that he thinks Bonnie might enjoy tinkering with or looking at.
Trudy/BA
Trudy’s car never needs to go into the shop. BA always takes care of anything her car needs, and usually does it before she even realizes it is needed.
Kelly/Murdock
When Kelly can’t make it up to LA to see Murdock, she is constantly sending care packages with homemade goodies, polaroids of the animals in her care, interesting cassettes she has found, books she thinks he will like, and anything else that comes to her mind. She also does not trust the VA to give Murdock his mail, so she sends them to Father O, who either delivers them himself or gets them to Face.
Maggie/Hannibal
Maggie keeps Hannibal on track, whether he wants to be there or not, and is willing to tell him the hard truths that no one else wants to mention to him—this often leads to advice on how to navigate the situations he has been shifting around.
Bonnie/BA
BA never balks at pulling all-nighters, or continuing to work after he has convinced Bonnie she needs to get some rest. Sometimes he convinces her that shiftwork is the best way to get big jobs done.
Ricki/Michael
Michael keeps an eye on the big dates—Ricki’s birthday, the day she lost Raphel etc.—and always makes a point to buy her a drink at least, even if they cannot swing anything bigger.
Elaine/Dennis
Elaine keeps an eye on the elevator in the morning. As soon as she sees Dennis come off, she makes sure there is a fresh cup of coffee on his desk, and a first-aid kit if he needs it.
Gina/Murph
Murph tries to figure out Cuban cooking so he can surprise Gina with familiar foods without having to go to a restaurant. He is still getting it sorted, but his earnestness and the sweet idea behind his attempts has earned him the affection of the Cuban grandmother in the apartment next door.
Jean/Reed
Reed never gets up the courage to break Jean’s heart by telling her he can’t keep choking down her peanut butter-and-banana sandwiches. He just keeps pawning them off on Pete or the other guys at the station, giving them to homeless people he knows, or trading them to Hilda for a different kind of sandwich.
= = = = =
Luca & Street
Street has an uncanny sense of knowing when Luca needs someone to show up at his apartment with a pizza and a six-pack. He does not do it often, and he usually has some excuse about the game being in and his own television being in the shop, but it always seems to be timed to exactly when Luca needs a friend around.
Murdock & Face
Face created information cards for Murdock, carrying important information like his full name, his social security number, his blood type, the medications he is on, and anything else the pilot might need to know, but runs a strong chance of forgetting.
Hannibal & Face
No matter how much trouble Hannibal might cause at the nice clubs and restaurants that Face takes his boss too, it never really occurs to Face to stop inviting Hannibal. It would be as unthinkable as shunning Father O’Malley for the sake of his image.
BA & Face
Despite the obvious differences, it never quite occurs to BA and Face that neither of them really belongs in the other one’s off-duty world. Face still keeps taking BA out to the fancier side of town, and BA still keeps dragging Face into neighborhood issues, and chores for the community centers.
Luca & Face
In high school, Face tutored Luca in math for five cents a session, and some of whatever food or treat Luca’s mother and grandmother had made that week. It was one of the best deals Face cut with anyone at St. Mary’s, but he still stands by his choice and insists that anyone who has had authentic Italian food from an Italian grandmother would understand.
Malloy & Reed
Reed makes a point out of buying tickets to things like boxing matches that he knows Jean doesn’t want to go too. Then he offers one to Pete, using his wife’s indifference as an excuse when, in reality, he does not want Pete spending all his off-hours hanging out at his place alone. It is not good for the older cop.
Amy & Kelly
Kelly starts a long-distance book club with Amy. They pick a book, and either mail their opinions back and forth to each other, or have a phone conversation. Occasionally, they are in the same area. Then they go out to dinner, and talk about the stories.
Bernice & Elaine
When Elaine can get off early, she meets Bernice at the building that the Steele offices are in, and they hit up the bar scene together. They argue that two ladies have a better chance of meeting guys, but it also means they have help if one of the guys proves to be a creep.
Amy & Maggie
If Amy needs to get away from LA for a while, or lay low for any reason, Maggie always has a room she can crash in. Maggie won’t even ask questions, unless Amy wants to talk about the mess she is in—she’ll just give the younger woman a place to get back onto her feet.  
RC3 & BA
Since RC3’s big brother is still in Chicago, and unlikely to move out to California, BA fills that void in RC3’s life the only way he can—mostly by trying to make RC3 make more cautious choices and listen to Devon more the Michael. He also yells RC3’s head off when he learns about the rubber M16 stunt.
Devon & Michael
As much as Michael enjoyed answering his calls “Yo Devon!”, he respected the older man enough to stop doing it when Devon asked him too… at least most of the time.
RC3 & Michael
Michael fuels his good-natured rivalry with RC3 about the LA teams versus the Chicago teams by teasing he younger man, and occasionally doing things to lightly rub in the latest loss on his friend’s side, or jokingly deny any losses on the LA side.
Mena & Face
As long as Face is physically in LA, all Mena has to do is call, and he’ll come help her. He’ll get out of bed, drop dates, and even put business for Hannibal temporarily on the backburner in order to go bail Mena out, and make sure she gets somewhere safe.
Nancy & Face
Face sends Nancy postcards of the various places A-Team missions take him. If he can’t get a postcard, he gets his hands on some other kind of memento, so his cousin knows he is still in one piece.
Elsie & Murph
Despite not being as big an outdoors person as his sister, Murph allows Elsie to drag him out in all kinds of environments, weather, and at all times of the day or night. She just has to ask, and know that his initial grumbling is just for show.
Missy & BA
BA is a constant source of support for Missy, helping her develop all kinds of non-feminine skills such as mastering baseball, being able to fix her car, and throwing a mean right hook. He wants her to realize she is worth more than her fashion choices, or which boys are looking at her.
Missy & Face
Face has no qualms lying to Mary Cooper about Missy, covering up all kinds of messes that Missy gets herself into. He gives Missy advice and space to find her own answers, but he won’t hand her over to be yelled at by her mom when he is convinced most of Missy’s bad choices are rooted in her parents dysfunctional relationship, and its ripple effects on the kids.
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mayansmcsblog · 3 years
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Her world or mine
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I have no idea when i wrote this but i found it in my drafts half done so i finished it and- yh that's about it😅
This was meant to be based upon the song her world or mine but i got off track so its only loosely based upon it.
word count: 3640
Enjoy!
He hasn't used the truck for weeks, he had no reason to anymore, being in it only brought back memories of you. The long drives, the short drives too. The way you would hold his hand while he was driving or how you would remind him to pay attention to the road when he looked in your direction for too long. All the memories were fresh within his mind- almost as if it was yesterday. 
Even now, he was only sitting in it, he had to do the beer run and obviously that couldn't be done on a bike, he had to take the truck, but all he could think about was how you used to sit in the passenger seat beside him. He could see it in his mind so vividly, if he didn’t know you had moved on he would swear you were sitting with him. 
Looking at the dash his gaze caught the Polaroid photo that was still in its place next to the radio. Your face accompanied a smile whilst his had his usual ‘tough’ man expression, but if you looked close enough, you would be able to see a small smile placed upon his lips. You took it at one of the infamous Mayans parties, he remembered how it took you around 10 minutes to ‘convince’ him to take it, he wanted to take it from the moment you suggested it but he wondered how far you would go to get him to do it
-
“Please” you had been begging him for the last 5 minutes in attempt to get him to take a photo with you but to no avail
“No” you two were sitting on the bench outside the clubhouse, people surrounding the both of you, everyone was involved on their own conversations so neither of you paid any mind to them. Of course he was still aware of his surroundings but was more relaxed than usual
“But come on” you begged
“No y/n” he kept his face as straight as he could but you could slowly see a shadow of a smirk forming upon his lips
“Why?”
“No face no case” he shrugged with a slight smirk on his face, clearly that was a lie. Not even 20 minus prior you had taken a photo of all of the club members standing outside of the clubhouse per bishop’s request so he could frame it and hang it somewhere within the clubhouse to show off the members.
“Why are you so stubborn?”
“Why are you so adamant? “He questioned
“Because” 
“Because what?” standing up he motioned for you to do so as well,
“Just because”
“Come on follow me”
Standing up you took this hand as led you away from the party,
“Where are we going?”
“To take this god damn photo”
-
Recalling that night he felt a pain inevitably run across his chest, sure you two were only friends when it was taken but that night was the foundation for building the relationship you two once shared. 
Why had he been so stupid to let you go?
He knew he would have to drive past your place to get to the brewery, it was inevitable really. There was no other way unless he was going to drive an extra 30 minutes, which he didn't have time for.
when he reached the turn in to your street he slowed down a little, looking at your house from a distance he could see a car he didn’t recognize in the driveway. As he got closer he could see two people on the porch, he immediately recognized you accompanied by some guy. 
Of course you had someone else.
-----
Sitting on the couch you couldn't help but let your mind drift back to him, you missed his smile, you missed the way he would have a running commentary while watching anything on the TV, you missed how he would hold you after a long day, you missed everything about him.
“You’re thinking about him again, aren't you?” 
You did nothing but hum in response
Your brother had elected to stay with you for a few weeks while he was on a business trip for some type of expansion for the company he worked for. Originally it was a good idea, it kept you mind off Ez, but the more time your brother was here, the more he talked about his wife back home and how he couldn't wait to get back to her just made you think about how you don't have someone in your life to look forward to anymore, you no longer had someone you could tell everything to, someone who would stay by your side, someone you knew would be waiting for you when you were away from home. As much as you loved your brother, you were thankful he was leaving tomorrow
“Im gonna go get a drink” standing up you heard your brother mumble something in response but you elected ignored him and heading to the kitchen.
As you approached the fridge you spotted the picture of you and Ezekiel stuck on the door. You were pretty sure it was Coco who had taken when him, you, Ez and Angel went over the border for a day because none of you had anything to do and for some reason Mexico was the first thing that was suggested. You had been meaning to get rid of it but couldn't bring yourself to. Alot of memories were collected between the four of you, some of them you were just not ready to let go of yet.
By now he was probably already in another relationship so why were you still holding on?
Grabbing a bottle of water you headed outside and sat on the porch steps. You knew there was a party at the clubhouse tonight, Angel had invited you to come, but you knew Ez would be there. 
Did you really want to see a girl all over him while you're still here alone? Because that would definitely happen
Maybe he wouldn't be there? Or maybe he would be too busy doing stuff to even realize you were there 
You were too wrapped up in your own mind to even realize your brother had stepped outside till you heard a creak from the wood behind you 
“Y/n?”
“Yeah” 
“you okay?" He asked sitting beside you
 “yep"
You two sat in silence for a few moments before he started talking once again
“I love you ye? Don’t let that boy ruin you. He lost you by his own fault. You did nothing” he rambled on about how you should have been treated better and how Ez lost the best thing he could ever have. But you knew he was wrong.
Ezekiel always treated you like a queen, your brother met him one time and barely spoke to him for longer than five minutes. As far as you were concerned you brother didn't know anything about him
While he was rambling you were looking into the distance, mainly just looking at the sky but you could have sworn you saw his truck drive past, but maybe you were just seeing things right? His truck wasn't the only one, there were probably millions of them.
-
The party was in full swing, people were everywhere, the room full of patches from all over. mass amounts of people from charters were visiting in celebration of a new deal with the sons, leaving Ez to tend the bar along with some hang rounds.
Wiping down the bar he couldn't help but think about you for the billionth time today. He knew you two broke things off but it didn't mean you had to leave everyone from the club behind as well as him.
"Bro what the hell is wrong with you?" Angel questioned
"Nothing" shrugging his shoulders he dropped the bar rag and turned to get angel a beer from the fridge behind him
"Stop lyin man, what's going on in that head?" Angel knew his own brother better then to believe 'nothing' was going on with him, something was always going on up in Ez's brain, even if he didn't admit it
"I dunno man, I just think it's weird how y/n left us you know?" Ez shrugged again, handing angel a beer
"She didn't leave us. She’s distancing herself. Got a lot of family shit going on right now" he explained, you kept Angel in the loop with everything, after all he was your best friend even before Ez and you got together, if Ez wouldn't tell you something- Angel would.
"Just think it’s weird" Ez repeated, messing with the bar rag once again
"Ya well she’s coming tonight”
Before Ez could respond coco stood next to Angel 
"Who’s comin?"
The brothers looked at each other for a moment before angel came up with an idea 
"Just some random bird for our boy scout to bed"
"My man," Coco chuckled "finally gonna get your dick wet huh?"
----
You knew this was a bad idea, you knew he would be here. 
Was he going to be with another girl? Actually stupid question, of course he would be
Opening your phone you sent angel a text
‘I'm like five minutes out but i swear to God if you abandon me tonight i will hit you so hard that you can't remember anything for a week’
At least he would walk in with you so you weren’t alone right?
---
Angel stood up abruptly in the middle of a conversation he was having
"Where the fuck you going?" Coco questioned, lighting a cigarette from the chair he was sitting in
"Meet a friend"
"A friend huh?"
"Yeah...maybe you'll like her" Angel replied before grabbing his beer and retreating towards the door.
---
Walking through the gate you saw the front of the club littered with patches. Some of them were from different charters. Weird, angel never mentioned other charters visiting, by the look of the outside, you could only imagine the clubhouse itself is packed with people.
Scanning the crowd you spotted the person in question walking towards you
“Hey stupid face”
“good evening stupid head”
“that's basically the same thing i just said” 
"oh shut up i couldn't think of insult fast enough”
Pulling you into a hug you couldn't help but feel a little more relaxed. Angel was always like an older brother to you, an annoying one at that but still a brother.
It had been weeks since you saw him, being back in his company made you feel safe again, almost like a sense of home
He placed a kiss on your temple “We missed you here”
“Yeah, I know” letting him go you looked around, mainly to see if any of the other guys were in sight but also to see if coco was around, expecting to be attacked as per usual. 
Angel took notice of you scanning the crowd “He's inside”
“Hmm? Sorry I got no idea what you're on about”
Pulling you into his side he wrapped an arm around your shoulders “sure ya don't”
Walking inside you scanned the crowd once again, thankfully coco was nowhere to be seen for the moment and most of the guys were spread out around the room. Bishop and Taza were playing pool, Gilly and Creeper were sitting at the table in a conversation whilst hank sat opposite them looking at something on his phone, Ez was tending the bar like usual but this time he was accompanied by some hang rounds.
At least there isn't girls hanging off him yet 
“C'mon let’s get a drink huh” angel lightly shoved you towards the bar playfully.
“No”
“No?” his eyebrows raised playfully
“No and if you try to make me go over there with you i promise i will embarrass you” you laughed 
“Fine”
After he got the drinks you both sat at a table in the corner for a while talking, the majority of the topics were about what had been happening while you were distanced from everyone.
Eventually Coco spotted you two and joined in the conversation. you sat talking to the two of them while everyone else was up to their own things, you didn't mind, the both of them combined made for some very interesting storys, the conversation could never die. After around 10 minutes, Angel had left you two alone saying he “wasn't bout to listen to this shit ''- which was super ironic considering the topic of conversation was about modifications for a new bike coco had brought a few days ago
“How does your bike handle anyway? I heard they are bottom heavy and hard to manoeuvre sometimes” you questioned. overtime Ez had taught you some things about bikes, mainly when he was just rambling about random things not thinking you were really paying attention to what he was saying
“It’s alright i guess, sometimes it slips when I lean too far on corners, other times it tends to not wanna go the way I need to but other than that it handles pretty well, arms hurt like a bitch after long ride though” he explained
Nodding your head you understood where he was coming from, having your arms at that angle for hours must have taken its toll
“Ay '' he nodded his head towards someone behind you, Turning your head you saw it was Ez walking through the door with Angel, seemingly engrossed in some type of conversation they were having.
Despite spotting him earlier you only scanned over his appearance but now you actually took a good look at him, he looked different, not much but still different from before. His hair was in the same style but it little more grown out then usual, his facial hair had grown out a little too. His eyes had bangs underneath them and his face looked drained.
All in all he looked like shit.
“You know he’s not the same without you right?” bringing your attention back to coco you couldn't help but feel like you were to blame, maybe if you fought harder of him you two would have never split.
“You two spoke since?” he questioned
“Nope...I got a few drunk calls saying he was sorry but other than that. No” you shook your head. 
After you two first broke up he called you around a week later rambling about something but since he was slurring his words- you could barely understand anything he was saying. You got about 2 voicemails of him saying he was sorry and how he fucked up but- you never spoke to him, never texted him back when he would ask you if you were coming to one of the parties.
“The amount of times we've had to stop him from drunk calling you is unreal”
Playing with the label on the beer bottle in front of you, you thought about what coco said- clearly Ez had attempted to talk to you at some point, but why? The whole breakup was because he needed “space” to deal with some things so why was he trying to talk to you?
“He wanted space, I gave it to him” you shrugged, slowly peeling off the label
“Didn’t mean you had to leave us too” looking up from the bottle you saw coco was now avoiding your gaze
“Yeah...I know” maybe it was wrong of you to drop everyone, but being around them would have only brought back memories of you and Ez. At the time it seemed like a good idea to distance yourself from all of the guys, but now, despite only being here for a hour, you could tell how much you really missed being around them.
“You know he’s walking over here right?” Dropping your head onto the table you let out a sigh causing coco to laugh “I’ll leave you two alone huh?” lifting your head up you looked at him with a facial expression as if to say ‘don’t leave me’ but he did anyway
“Y/n” his voice was low, almost as if he didn’t believe he was saying your name again
“Ezekiel”
“Can we talk?”
“We are talking” sitting up straight you turned in your seat to look at him. He looked even worse up close- the bags under his eyes were alot darker then they seemed from a distance, they made it appear like he hadn’t slept for days, you couldn’t help but notice he had a bruise slowly forming on top of his right eyebrow.
“What happened there?”
He looked confused for a moment till you pointed to his eyebrow
“Oh I erm…got into a fight.....with a wall” his eyes were trained onto the floor, almost like he was ashamed.
You hummed in response not sure how to respond without laughing 
“So how have you been?” he questions
“Good i guess..how about you?”
“Alright I suppose”
What followed was nothing but silence between the both of you, neither of you knowing what to say. The sounds of other people talking and rock music became almost deafening as the two of you stayed silent
“Well this got really awkward fast” you spoke up causing Ez to laugh a little
“Yeah..yeah it did” he nodded
After a few more moments you stood from your chair “I'm just gonna-”
“Yeah go, i get it go ahead” he finished your sentence for you.
Nodding you quickly made your way outside, the yard was almost empty by now, people had either left for the night or had moved inside.
You spotted Angel sitting on the front steps fiddling with one of the rings on his hand while looking at something in the distance. You sat beside him in silence, neither of you even attempting to make conversation but simply just being trapped within your own minds.
When you and Ez broke up you knew things would change, you knew the two of you probably wouldn't be able to have the same conversations you would before, but you never expected them being so awkward.
Maybe it was just because the wound was still pretty fresh, after all it had only been just over a month
After a few minutes you heard the door behind you open as someone stepped out, seconds later a figure sat next to you, looking over you saw it was coco
“What we doin? havin a lil moment to yourselves” he asked lighting up a cigarette and offering the both of you one
“Yep” Angel responded, taking one and lighting it before looking somewhere in the distance once again. All three of you sat for a few minutes just looking at seemingly nothing in particular.
Maybe it won't be like this forever? At some point there has got to be a time where you can come to the club without feeling awkward because ez’s here.
You heard the clubhouse door open once more behind you and once again, you didn't turn around, but coco did
"Ay man sit" you heard him say as he snapped his fingers at space left beside him to whoever stepped out from the door. It didn't take long for whoever it was to sit down.
Much like he did with you and Angel, Coco offered the person a cigarette which they must of silently declined from the lack of verbal exchange.
There has to be a point when you and the club can all hang out together like before....there has to be a stage where you and Ez can talk like normal people without it being awkward….right?
Seemingly out of no were Coco spoke up, nodding his head towards two stacked benches on the opposite side of the yard "You think i could clear those in one attempt?"
Angel was the first to respond "Absolutely fucking not" he paused for a moment- looking where the benches were stacked "but I'd love to see you try"
"I bet $50 you fail and fall face first" someone spoke up, looking to your left you finally realized who stepped out earlier ..Ezekiel
"Bet, ill prove you wrong" coco stood, taking off his kutte and placing it on the stair rail "you two wanna place any bets?" Coco looked at you and Angel
"Nope, I'm good" you shook your head
"I bet $50 that you don't clear it" Angel responded
"You have no faith pretty boy" coco responded, shaking his head  as he started to walk over to the benches
"This is going to end in a hospital trip" you stated making both Angel and Ez laugh
All three of you watched as coco seemed to examine the height of the two benches, planning the distance he would have to run to gain enough speed to propel himself over them and how he would land the jump
"You think he's gonna snap his nose again?" Ezekiel questioned
"Definitely" both you and Angel replied
All three of you watched as coco began to run towards the benches, from your angle it looked as if he could clear it....you were wrong. 
Seconds later coco was laying face first in the dirt, one leg was on the floor while the other was stuck in a piece of wood on the bench that had broke underneath his weight
"I think i broke my nose" you heard coco exclaimed causing all three of you to laugh. The few people who were still outside drew their attention to the scene and started laughing too when they realized what happened.
"Ill go get some paper towels" you said, still laughing.
Maybe this was a sign nothing had changed between the four of you, that you could all still hang out and do stupid stuff like before
Maybe nothing has to change
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An| hope you enjoyed this fic. Honestly have no idea why or when i started writing this but 🤷🏼‍♀️ . *sorry for any spelling or grammar errors or any parts that don't make sense. only scanned it before posting it*
ALSO- i swear part two to the prank war is coming! Its just talking awhile for me to find a way to describe to things going on as well as being busy with other stuff.
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svnaslove · 3 years
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bunny boy.
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summary: s/o gets their hq bf to wear a bunny outfit [it’s like literally the same one from bunny girl senpai]
genre: fluff-ish ; v v suggestive themes, we gettin into the sexc times
characters: semi eita [boyfriend, established relationship] tsukishima kei [best friends turn friends with benefits dynamic]
characters are aged up to a college level
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瀬見 英太 |  [boyfriend]
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cleaning out through your closet you took a double take to what you had just found. It had been months since you cleaned out your closet, and quite honestly, you’d often get distracted and play with some random nothing for an hour postponing the process.
you giggled a little at the memory of the item as you reached for it and patted some dust off.
It was the bunny outfit.
the one that you had gotten for your Halloween costume last year that seemed to rather excite your boyfriend. at the memory you bit back a smile and felt a rush of blood to your cheeks.
‘I wonder why we stopped using it.’ you wonder, recalling how fun it was.
but then an idea hit you.
you took the costume to the laundry and put in it the wash in hopes of making it a bit nicer since it had been laying around for so long. After having it cleaned out you tucked neatly in your drawer and called your boyfriend to come over.
you jumped at the sound of the knocking at your door and suddenly you got butterflies. You nervously walk over to the door and open it, smiling.
“Hiii Eitaaa” you smiled giving him a big hug as soon as opening the door.
a smirk itched at the corner of his lips. “You missed me that much, bunny?” he asked, a hint of cockyness in his tone.
“I did” you pout, “but I guess if you don’t want my love, I’ll just go” you jokingly teased, closing the door holding your nose high and walking away. The smile that you were trying to tuck down showed itself obviously.
“Noooo, give me kisses, I’m sorryyy” 
you smiled again at how easily you could play with him.
“apology accepted! ” you giggled, planting three quick pecks on his lips.
“however,“ you quirked an eyebrow, “we must play a game for compensation.” You smiled, already excited to do this, although praying that he was the one that got his flip side of the coin.
“Oh, really? What kind of game?” he smiled, watching the gaze of you dramatically announcing it, causing the pit of his stomach to flutter a little, you were so cute.
“we’ll flip a coin, whoever gets the side that they call for and wins has to wear this outfit that I have tucked away in my dresser at the moment.” You had to bite back another huge smile when you saw the look on his face, curiosity itched all over his face. 
you knew just how to get him. Semi could never resist something like this, the curiosity getting the best of him.
“Oh?” he laughed, searching your face for an answer of what this could possibly be.
“Oh, indeed, Eita, oh, indeed.” you laughed, grabbing for a coin on your desk that had been simply laying there, conveniently enough.
“how about, tails you win, heads I lose.”
you quickly went on ahead before he could answer, hoping he wouldn’t catch on to your trick of him of being able to win no matter what, you giggled at his state at how fast you had moved on before he could answer.
you flicked the coin into the air, the pretty and clear sound of the metal rang through the air until you caught it.
“Oh, would you look at that, tails. that means you win baby!” you were excited but oh so nervous.
Semi smirked at your remark, “you thought I didn’t catch on with you little trick, bunny?” “I win either way if you put it as tails I win and head you lose.” he said, walking closer to you and now leveling his face down to you own. your cheeks painted red at his proximity, he was so close you could feel his breath. He just made you flustered so easily, it was ridiculous.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about” you innocently remarked, breaking his eye contact to look up, his gaze still rested on your eyes regardless, still unmoving.
“how about you tell me what you want to see me wear so bad” he teased, trying to catch your eyes again.
“you wanna know?” you asked, now growing your own smirk of your own, causing Semi to fluster himself a little.
you grabbed hold of the bottom of his t-shirt and led him to your room, you stood in front of the dresser. “remember that bunny outfit?” you asked, watching his features as he recalled in his own head the outfit that he loved so much on you. “I do” he smirked, keeping a very pointed and meaningful look at you making you get butterflies again.
you opened the drawer and handed it to him. “I wanna see you wear it Eita.”
his face painted with shock for but a second before a smirk grew.
“Oh?” his tone heavy with meaning.
“you’re fucking kinky aren’t you y/n?” he asked, knowing exactly how to push your buttons.
“oh shut the hell up and put it on.” you pushed him, flustered at what he had said but yet still intrigued.
“hmm, okay, okay, i will. but,” he reached inside the dresser and took out the outfit holding it in his hands. “you have to ask nicer.” he smiled still trying to get as much of a reaction out of you as possible. his smile was anything but sincere and innocent. you knew what he was playing at.
“pleaseee, put it on for me?” you pleaded, your lips forming a small pout.
“good girl, go on and wait in the living room, i’ll put this on.” he instructed.
“oh, and bring out the polaroid.” he winked.
you did as he asked, taking out the polaroid from under you bed and going to the living room.
he did agree to this a lot faster than you thought he would, maybe you could get him to do other stuff and he would be okay with it.
an image of a maid outfit popped into your mind and you had to shake the thought away before it got you too excited again.
If anything you had a very vivid imagination.
a minute or two passed and you heard his voice from your bedroom, “are you ready for me?” he called.
“im ready!” you called back, excited to see.
Eita slowly opened the bedroom door and walked out and oh my god.
how did he manage to look beautiful with a bunny outfit on too?
your eyes traced the curves of his body and his muscles, his pretty hair decorated by a headband of bunny ears.
“woah..” you managed to accidently slip out as you took in the image of your boyfriend.
“oh? you liked this?” he asked, he turned around to show you the cute little bunny tail.
“oh my god eita, you look so hot” you flustered, hiding your face in your hands from embarrassment.
“take a picture of me with the polaroid, bunny.” he said walking up to you, his gaze on you made you feel small.
you picked up the pretty light pink pastel polaroid next to you and before you knew it, Semi picked you up too, you legs wrapped around his waist as he hauled you over to the bedroom.
he softly dropped you onto the bed, your legs still wrapped around his torso. ‘so we’re doing this?’ you thought. you pulled up the polaroid camera up, “say cheese!” you giggled.
“cheeseeee” Eita gave you his best sunshine of a smile, the camera flashed and you took the picture of him and his bunny outfit, you pulled out the picture and before you could look at it Semi threw the camera and the polaroid out of the way and clashed his lips on yours.
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月島 蛍 | [best friends going to fwb dynamic]
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the thought had been crawling in your mind for days. you kept telling yourself that there was no way this would happen. there’s no way you could get the tsukishima kei to wear a bunny outfit. but you just couldn’t listen to yourself.
lately you’ve been watching him more closely. if he had noticed he hadn’t said anything. maybe he didn’t notice. it wasn’t on purpose, really. you just couldn’t help yourself. you would absently minded and subconsciously avert your gaze from anything you’re supposed to be putting your mind on and focusing on kei, daydreaming planning on a way to get him to put on a damn bunny outfit.
maybe this was wrong of you. you were his best friend after all, you had been for a very long time. but like said before, you couldn’t help yourself. because your lust for him was simply growing on its’ own.
you and tsukishima were both top in your classes and you studied together after school when he didn’t have volleyball to maintain that. you’d usually go to the public library which in all honesty was far too fancy of a place to even look like a public library, it was quiet and secluded, all of the books were in top shape and the walls decorated with expensive art of the renaissance era, with the occasional greek statue around the corner. totally normal for the average public library, i know.
it was another friday of just you and tsukishima studying in the library together. books and notes littered across the table that you two shared, you sat across from him. in the usual studing sessions that you guys did, you’d go around the table to sit next to him when you needed help with something. not today.
as per expected, you kept dazing off and paying no mind to the studies that you needed to catch up on. tsukishima glanced up to catch you staring at him, you gave him a wink and smirk to see how he’d react. the blondes cheeks tinted a slight blush, “what the hell are you looking at dumbass?”
“oh? i can’t look at my incredibly handsome best friend? i didn’t know that was a crime.” you smiled, resting your cheek on your hand, you elbow on the table.
“you haven’t been focusing at all have you?” he asked, glancing down to notice that you hadn’t barely gone through 2 pages of homework.
you groaned and let you face fall gently to your arms splayed out on the table. “i don’t want to study kei.” you moaned, looking up at him to catch his lips twitch. why’d his lips twitch? was it because you moa-
“you kinda have to dumbass, i don’t want to have to walk by you living in a street corner and have to take you in because you didn’t study.” he huffed, pushing your pen and notebook towards you.
“awee kei, you’d take me in if i was homeless?” you teased, feigning puppy eyes. 
“no, i’d leave you there and call the police to get you out of my sight.”
“no you wouldn’t.” you laughed.
“no i wouldn’t.”
you laughed and a small smile splayed on his features as he returned to his book. you keep watching him, the trace of your laugh still there with a smile. 
he pulled up from his book to look at you again, “if you ever needed my help i’d help you though.” he confessed, keeping his eyes on your own. now it was your own turn to blush softly. “thank you, kei.” he nodded, a soft smile still beautifully set on his lips.
in quite honesty this might be fate. the cards had been dealt to you beautifully. the stage was set perfectly. the words that he used, you could twist them beautifully into your favor.
“i don’t remember this equation kei.” you called out, turning your book to face him, you leaned forward instead of going around the table for him to explain to you. your ass was off the chair, setting a curve to your figure, your cleavage on display to him.
tsukishima looked up for his eyes to immediately meet with your boobs. you smirked, “eyes up here playboy.” 
tsukishima muttered an apology before stealing a glance again and then finally towards you and your notebook.
“uhh that’s the uhm,” he gulped, his face turning redder “well you have to find slope, you’re gonna have to use uhh, rise over run equals the y angle over the x angle which is y to the second pow- dammit y/n”
you feigned innocence, squishing your tits against the table and up again and looked up to him, “what is it? are you okay? oh, kei, baby, you’re face is all red, are you hot?”
tsukishima closed his eyes tightly and opened them again to look up to the light fixtures, “dammit y/n you keep... i- it’s not your fault i just... you’re distracting me when you’re like that.”
“oh?” you giggled, “you’re getting all hot and bothered over little old me?” you continued giggling.
the taint of tsukishima’s blush was so apparent, there was no way to ignore it or try to hide it.
you looked under the table and your heart skipped a beat. the tent on his pants was apparent and growing. there is no way that he go hard over just that, is there? he had to have some kind of hots for you prior for him to react like that, right?
you squeezed you thighs together at the thought, to be caught by tsukishima’s gaze, you giggled and his ears turned red now.
“here’s the deal kei, i’ll help you out,” you started, the expression on tsuki’s face was priceless, there’s no way he heard that right, right? there was no way his beautiful and hot best friend since high school just offered to-
“but you have to help me first, you did say that you’d help me if i ever needed it right?” you continued, cutting off his thoughts.
“uhh, yeah i did say that.”
you smiled at the response.
“put on my bunny outfit that i have over at my apartment and i’ll help you out.” you smirked.
“a what?!?” if anything he didn’t even think you owned a bunny outfit, much less that you’d want him to wear it.
“a bunny outfit dumbass, i’ll put it on first if you wanna know how to put it on correctly, what do you say?” you asked, you gaze clouded with lust and a soft smile played upon your features that was in a way, almost predatory.
what the hell were you playing at? but the suggestion was far too intriguing. but the feeling of the thought of having his best friend suck him off felt wrong, you were his best friend since high school. he himself getting turned on and hard so quickly for you felt wrong. but the tightening in his pants pushed him over the edge that he couldn’t help himself to it. simply the thought of your pretty lips wrapped prettily around his-
“fuck it. i’ll do it.” he said, cutting off his thoughts once again, picking up his bag and standing up.
“a good choice.” you whispered to his ear before he fully stood up and brushing you hand against the bulge in his pants.
a soft groan fell from his lips, “fuck— y/n don’t do that.”
“fine, i guess i’ll save it until we get into my apartment, bunny boy.” you teased.
how you did it, you had no idea. but one thing was for certain, you got tsukishima kei in the palm of you hand to the extent that you were about to see him put on your bunny outfit in a matter of delicious seconds.
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Text
13 Going on 30 pt. 3
A Peter Maximoff x reader fanfic based off the movie 13 going on 30
Summary:  You are so excited when the most popular girl in your school agrees to come to your 13th birthday party. But after a cruel prank you find yourself wishing that you were popular and older. By some miracle your wish is granted but isn’t as wonderful as it seems. You turn out to be a major jerk and you don't even talk to your best friend Peter anymore. Can you fix everything and get back to normal or are you stuck living like this forever
Warnings: Angst, Some suggestive content, But it’s mostly pure fluff. (Also Peter has no powers in this fic, and some scenes will be changed to fit Peter and his personality and so I can be creative with it!)
Word Count: 2103
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Peter thought it was safe to say that adult life sucked. And it wasn't just because he had run out of lucky charms this morning and had to settle for something called shredded wheat that was hidden away in the back of the panty. They were gross and tasted like cardboard, but Peter was all out of groceries so this would have to do.
 No nothing had seemed to go right for him after high school, he went to college, (even though he spent most of the time partying and goofing off), got the degree and yet he was barely scraping by. But he couldn't complain, all that much at least. He enjoyed his job and even if at times it was hard to earn money he wouldn't trade it for the world. He had fallen in love with photography in freshman year and decided to major in it. He had a minor in business too, something you had always told him would be useful as a backup. You were always practical like that, making sure he never completely fell over the edge. But he was hesitant to use it, because in using that minor it kinda meant he was giving up his dream. Giving in to the regular, soul crossing 9 to 5 job that everyone seemed to have. Peter was a dreamer at heart, in a way it would kill him to do anything other than photography.
He ate a spoonful of his cereal, making a face at the dull taste. Chewing, he glanced over at the stack of bills littering the counter. A lot of them were piling up, sooner or later he may have to give into the normalcy of a business job. Work had been slow lately and very boring. More often than not people hired him to take photos for their weddings or graduation, simple stuff. Stuff that had him bored out of his mind. But there were no clients currently so until he got one he had all the time in the world to himself. Which he loved at first but now it seems he was falling into a bit of a routine.
Peter aimlessly wandered around the kitchen lost in thought, his eyes drifted toward the collection of pictures pinned to his fridge. There was a picture of you on there, from before you had cut him out of your life. Peter set the bowl down on the counter and gently lifted the magnet to pull the picture off. It was a polaroid of you two, You had your arms wrapped around Peter’s shoulders, hugging him from behind. His hands were resting on yours, you both were smiling, teeth missing.
This picture was from the first day of first grade. Even back then Peter had had some feelings for you. And the way his eyes looked at you and not the camera was proof of this. Peter ran his thumb gently over the faded picture, for a moment he let himself wonder about how you were doing, before he snapped himself out of it. He put the picture back in its place and picked his bowl back up. It was too early to be having thoughts like that. 
Peter yawned and lazily plopped down on his worn out sofa, flipping through the channels on the tv. There was nothing on, signing he threw out the rest of his cereal, it had gotten soggy while he was busy reminiscing. He dropped the empty bowl into the sink, only adding to the collection of unwashed dishes. He glanced over at the phone and the soft blinking of the red light, indicating he had voicemails he hadn't listened to yet. He knew he was going to have to take her calls sooner or later but right now he didn't want to deal with her. 
He headed to the park and decided to do some laps on the path, running always helped him to relax and clear his head. He always got stares and shy smiles from the women that were jogging, he found out that apparently the silver hair that everyone made fun of him for was very attractive to women now. Something he used to use to his advantage to pick up the occasional hook up.
After that he went to go get groceries and then played on his pacman machine until lunchtime. He totally knew how to spend his time. He made his way over to the kitchen and looked at all the new groceries he had bought. Twinkies, instant ramen, mac and cheese, he picked up the box of lucky charms, weighing the option of eating it for lunch. He thought better of it and put it back on the shelf, he really needed to eat healthier, god knows sooner or later his metabolism was going to give out.
He picked up the phone and placed an order form the Chinese place a couple blocks away, ordering way more food than he needed. That way he wouldn't have to cook for the next few meals. Peter was inherently lazy and cooking was not something he was very good at. So when he would he just ordered takeout and leftovers so he could eat them later. He hung up the phone and walked over to the fridge and took out the milk, drinking it straight for the carton, while he was doing that he heard a loud knock on the door. “That was quick.” The knocking continued non stop over and over, “I’m coming hold on!” He yelled out as he shuffled to the door and opened it peering through the opening that the chain allowed. “You know it’s rude to-'' The words died in his throat. There was a woman standing at his door, wearing a coat over her night dress. 
*******************************************************
You hadn't been able to pay attention to the briefing your boss gave, your assistant came in about half way through and handed you a small slip of paper. She said that she had found Peter’s address like you had asked. You had pulled her into a hug, creating an awkward tension in the room. The meeting had seemed to go on forever, and for the life of you you couldn't even remember what it was about. As soon as the meeting ended you had bolted out the door, ignoring the calls of your boss and colleagues telling you that work wasn't over yet. 
You had found his apartment after randomly asking strangers in the street which way it was. You were at his door, the number on it hanging lopsided. You began to rapidly knock until the door was pulled open. “You know it’s rude to-” 
He paused as he saw you staring at him. He furrowed his brows in confusion. “You’re not the chinese delivery guy.” 
You felt your eyes widen as you took him in. “Peter?” You asked in a small voice. 
He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at you. “Yeah?”
 You let out a sigh of relief, smiling. “You’re tall.” You looked him up and down. “And you’re so handsome.”
His face turned red at your words. He didn't even know who this random woman was that was standing here, telling him he was handsome. He leaned against the doorframe, taking another drink out of the carton. “I’m sorry do- do I know you?” 
He watched your face fall. “You don’t know me?” 
“No?” He said, wiping the dribbling milk off his chin. Even after all these years his mannerisms were the same. 
“Wait! “ You said rushing forward. He jumped slightly at the sudden action. “It’s me, I saw you yesterday. Well I was thirteen yesterday so I guess it wasn't yesterday. Because now i'm old and I don't know where I am-” Peter watched you ramble on and slowly began to close the door. You continued on. “But you were there at my party-”
Peter paused, squinting his eyes and looking at you closely.. “(Y/n)?” He asked hesitantly, reopening the door as much as the chain would allow. “(y/n) (y/l/n)?” You smiled wide at him. 
“Yes! Yes it’s me!” 
Peter slammed the door shut in your face. You heard him unlock all the locks on his side of the door, when he was down he swung the door open. “Hey.” he gave you a small smile. You lunged at him and tackled him in a hug, wrapping your arms tightly around his neck. He just stood there frozen, slowly moving his free hand up to awkwardly pat you on the back. “Come in I guess.” He muttered. 
You pulled back smiling at him. Even after all this time your sweet smile could make his heart skip a beat. You looked around his small apartment taking it all in. Peter did his best to kick discarded clothes into the closet, and keep you from seeing what a mess it was. You looked along his walls to see framed pictures of portraits and beautiful landscapes. “Are you still taking pictures?” You asked,
“Uh yeah, they pay the bills.” He quickly grabbed the pile of unpaid bills, stuffing them behind the couch cushion. “Usually.” He muttered under his breath. You were pacing around his apartment, in confused circles. He nervously rubbed the nape of his neck. “Hey, (y/n) I don't wanna be rude but why are you here?” 
“Petey I told you.” You said moving closer to him, he let out a little laugh. 
“Petey wow, no one has called me that in ages.” 
“Petey listen I came here cause something really weird is happening. Yesterday was my 13th birthday and then today I woke up and I’m this!” You said gesturing to your body. Peter tried his best not to look you up and down, he couldn't deny that you had grown up well. You were even more beautiful than he remembered. “And you’re that!” You said gesturing towards him. 
Peter looked down at himself self consciously. “Gee thanks. Do I really look that bad?” 
“No!” You quickly said. You felt yourself blush as you looked him over. His hair was tousled and messy, he was wearing an oversized  pink floyd crop top and from the looks of the hem it seemed he had made it himself. You watched the veins in his hands ripple and his arms slightly flex. “Uh you,” You let out an embarrassed laugh. “You actually look really good, like really good.” 
Peter flushed at your words and turned away so you couldn't see his blushing face. “Wow.” He whispered under his breath, he lifted a hand up to his face, doing his best to hide the smile that was forming. He turned back to and regained a serious composure. “Are you sure you're okay (y/n).” He took in your mismatched outfit and broken heel. “Are you high? Have you been smoking pot? Doing drugs, cause if you are I’m not judging as long as it’s just weed or something. Cause I mean I get it, I get stressed to and every now and then need-”
“No, no.” You said shaking your head rapidly. “Wait do you do-,” You lowered your voice to a whisper. “Do you do drugs Peter?” 
“No! No.” Peter shrugged. “Ehhh well not drugs, just weed.” He defended. But looking at your judgmental eyes he quickly continued on. “And I don’t, well I don’t that much any more. It was in college you know how it was.” 
“Actually I don’t.” You moved even closer to him. “Look, I was sitting in my closet, and I- I skipped everything. I can’t- I can’t remember my life.” Your eyes were watery as you started back at him. His heart ached seeing you like this. You continued on. ‘You need to help me remember my life.” 
At this he scoffed, and pretended to look around as if you were referring to someone else. “Me?” he said pointing to himself, letting out an airy laugh. “That’s rich.”
“What why?” He let out another laugh at your response, this one was dry. He looked at your face and saw that you weren’t kidding, you were serious about asking for his help.
“(Y/n) I can’t.” He was in disbelief, did you seriously have no idea what you had done to him. “I don’t know anything about you. I haven't seen you since high school.” Your face morphed into one of confusion. 
“What?” 
What he said next pained him, and he couldn’t bring himself to look you in the eyes. “(Y/n). We’re not friends anymore.”
You felt your heart shatter into a million pieces. “What?”
Taglist:
@lets-imagine-fanfics @steamboat-local @weasly-twin-simp
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nightshade-minho · 4 years
Text
-Blue Book- (3)
Word Count: 1.8k
Warnings: Chan being an ass.
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Over the next two days, Chan found himself spending nearly all of his time with you. You had warmed up to him a lot, but was still a little cautious. He had to build up trust...somehow.
Spending time with you was excruciatingly boring. All you seemed to do was draw, and sitting next to you while you did was getting tiring.
However, whenever he would come close to giving up, something would happen to put him right back on track- whether it was Miyoung smiling at him from across the hallway, tucking her hair behind her ear like she always did...or Minho, shamelessly asking her out for a fucking date. Right in front of his salad.
No, literally.
He watched in horror as Minho chuckled, speaking to her on the phone in that raspy voice of his that was the fakest shit Chan had ever heard.
"Yeah, okay, babe. Bye~" Minho cooed, cutting the call and putting his phone down, resuming his meal as he dug into his chicken nonchalantly.
"Babe?" Changbin asked, smirking from the opposite end of the table.
"Hmm, yeah. Got a problem with that?" Minho asked, seemingly replying to Changbin but staring right at Chan as he said it.
"No." Chan lied, voice a little shaky.
"Oh, but don't embarrass him like this, Minho. He's only been wanting to ask her out for like, two years...yet you did it in five minutes." Hyunjin said, laughing.
Chan's grip on his fork tightened. He prided himself in being a patient person, more or less...yet these two definitely had the potential to turn him into a cold-blooded murderer.
"Where are you taking her?" Jisung asked, mouth full.
"To the carnival, tomorrow afternoon. I'm going to win her one of those giant plushies. I've always been good at those games."
"How romantic~" Jisung smiled. "You know we'll be there too though, right?"
"Uh huh." Minho grinned at Chan. "Don't worry! I won't leave my best friends for a girl. We'll be right there with you, the whole time."
"Sounds great. Don't know if Chan will like that idea, though..."
Minho tilted his head, tutting.
"Channiee~ you know I'll back off if you get the book, right?"
That was it. Chan stood up, spoon and fork clattering onto his plate as he left the table, fuming. His stomach growled with hunger as he pushed open the café door, walking out onto the street with his bag slung over his shoulder.
He'd just have his dinner at home.
***
"Wow. You really pissed him off." Jeongin noted.
Minho rolled his eyes, stabbing his chicken with the fork. "I swear, he has such bland taste in girls. Miyoung is the most brainless creature I've ever met."
"Why would you put up with that, then? And why do you seem so intent on irritating him lately?" Felix asked, frowning.
"I'm not really putting up with anything. She's hot, and she has a smoking body. Brains don't matter when you look like that."
"You know Chan likes Miyoung for more than her appearance. Although I can't, for the life of me, imagine what that might be..."
"Whatever."
"You didn't answer my question."
Minho sighed, raising an eyebrow at Felix.
"I just don't like the way he's been lording over us all lately. He acts like he's our 'leader' or something. I feel like I can barely breathe around him- at least this gets him out of the way."
"See? It's a battle of the alphas, after all." Jisung guffawed, high-fiving Hyunjin.
"So this is all just some power struggle?" Felix asked, disbelief lacing his tone. "Why the fuck did you drag an innocent girl into it, then? She has nothing to do with any of it-"
"Eh, she just gets on my nerves. Two birds with one stone." He shrugged.
Felix shook his head. "You're an asshole."
He smirked. "I know."
***
Chan knew exactly where to find you.
True to form, you were on the same park bench as always, legs crossed as you listened to music with your eyes closed.
"Hey..."
You opened one eye slightly as you realized who it was. Taking the earbuds out, you smiled.
"Oh hey...I didn't expect to see you again until tomorrow morning."
"Yeah well, I kinda knew you would be here."
You patted the spot next to you, and Chan hesitantly sat down.
"Where's your book? You're not drawing?"
"It's too dark for that." You pointed out, a lopsided smile gracing your face.
"Why are you here then?"
"My mom and her date went to this fancy restaurant." You explained. "And I didn't want to be all alone at home, so I just came out here."
"Ah. This place is just as pretty at night..."
"Mmhmm."
Chan sighed as he watched you play with your hair. It was kind of cute, how you tried to mask your nervousness by occupying your hands with meaningless actions.
"So what will you be having for dinner, then?"
"Probably ramen out of a packet. I hope we still have some left..."
Chan pressed his lips together. "Would you...um, would you like to come join me for dinner? At my house?" He asked, tilting his head.
"Oh..." You blushed, looking down. "I mean, yeah, sure-"
"Great!" You looked up, the smile on Chan's face so kind that you almost teared up.
God, Y/n, get yourself together...
You had no idea why he was being so nice to you at first, and had been wary initially...but the last few days had changed that. He seemed to enjoy spending time with you, and that was somewhat of a novelty- a person showing interest in you, that is.
Chan grinned at you, grabbing your wrist as he pulled you up. "Let's go!~"
***
"This is my room."
You gasped. "Wow, it's so big!"
"Yeah." He chuckled. "It used to be a gym, I think...but my parents let me change it up."
"That's so cool." You went over to the posterboard, smiling as your eyes ran over all the polaroids and memorabilia Chan had collected over the years.
"My room isn't as personalized as yours...but this makes me want to give it a makeover." You smiled, going over to the window and marvelling at the size of it.
"Wow...you must get a lot of sunlight in the mornings..." You said in awe, pressing your nose up against the glass as you looked down.
"I do." He said, mind blank as he watched you fangirl over his room. You were so overly enthusiastic about everything...he wished he could be the same.
You turned around, that wide smile ever-present on your face. As you opened your mouth to say something else, you were interrupted by the sound of your stomach growling.
"Ah, I almost forgot. I brought you here to feed you." He winked, opening his door as he stepped back out.
"Come on, we can visit my bedroom some other time~" Your cheeks heated up at his words as he went back downstairs.
"Wait for me!" You followed him quickly as he made his way to the dinner table.
"Where are your parents?" You asked as you sat at the table.
"They're on a business trip, princess, and my siblings are at their friends'. So...we have the house all to ourselves." He winked again, and you quickly looked back down at your empty plate.
You thanked the maid as she served the food. It was pasta, and your stomach growled again as soon as you laid eyes on it.
"Wow, you're hungry, huh? Sounds like there's a baby bear living in your stomach~" He teased. You giggled, shaking your head as you took a bite.
"Oh wow, it's delicious."
"It better be, my parents don't pay her for nothing." He said, starting to eat.
There was silence for a while as the two of you filled your empty stomachs...but somehow, it wasn't awkward. Chan looked up at you from time to time, chuckling at how fast you ate.
"Slow down, babygirl."
Your eyes widened as you looked up at him. That pet name, fuck.
Chan raised an eyebrow, picking up on how affected you were by it.
"Hmm, you like that name?"
You shook your head vehemently, going back to your meal- but your cheeks never stopped burning.
He hadn't expected to see you so flustered, when he'd literally just called you a name.
Wrapped around his finger, indeed.
***
"It feels weird hanging out without Chan." Jeongin sighed, adjusting the pillow under his chin as he lay on the mattress in Felix's basement, watching as Changbin and Jisung faced off in Call of Duty.
"Yeah? I feel like it's better. I don't feel like I have to walk on eggshells." Hyunjin shrugged, prompting Minho to smile widely.
"See? He gets it."
"I don't know, Chan being here sure keeps these guys in line." Seungmin flicked his thumb towards Changbin and Jisung (the two of them mock-wrestling as the latter suspected that the former had cheated), not looking up from his book.
Changbin looked up from the headlock Jisung had him in.
"Oh shut up. Guys, I don't really understand why we pick on some random girl in school when we have our very own nerd right here." He sneered.
"There's a difference between being a nerd and having brains...something which you clearly don't know much about. I'll cut you some slack." Seungmin smirked.
"For fuck's sake, stop fighting." Jisung said as he poked Changbin's side, squeezing harder.
"Oh, the irony." Jeongin groaned, rubbing his forehead as he watched the two roll around on the floor.
Felix sighed as he buried his head in his hands, too tired to follow the conversation anymore.
What had happened to them?
***
"You should come over again."
"Yeah...I will. Some other time. My mom's expecting me, unfortunately." You said apologetically.
"At least let me walk you home?"
You paused, smiling slowly. "Alright."
The two of you walked side by side, the cool night breeze ruffling your hair.
"What are your hobbies?" You asked after some minutes of silence, curiously.
"Well. I like swimming, and also football." He paused, wondering if he should tell you more or not.
"I...I also like making music."
"Woah. That's amazing. Next time, you should show me some of your songs."
"Uh, yeah, sure. Some of them are kinda private, though..."
"That's okay. You only need to show me what you're comfortable with letting me hear." You said.
Chan smiled softly, nodding. For a second, it crossed his mind how you were willing to respect his privacy...and yet here he was, trying to violate yours by attempting to steal something that was clearly precious to you.
Miyoung. Think of Miyoung, He reminded himself.
You suddenly stopped, turning to him with a grin.
"We're here. Thanks for walking me home!"
"No problem..."
"See you later~" You waved as you walked backwards, turning around to open the gate.
"Wait-"
"Hm?" You twisted your neck to look at him questioningly.
"Uh...I was wondering, would you want to come with me to the carnival tomorrow? It'll be fun-"
"Yes! Sure!" You said, a little too eagerly.
"Great. It's a date."
"D-date?"
"Yeah." He smirked. "See you then, babygirl."
With that, he walked away, the image of your flustered face in his mind.
Miyoung would be his in no time.
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stray-kids-react · 3 years
Text
Polaroid
Han x Fem. Reader Soulmate au
Warnings - Swearing, mentions of sex, and Fluff that'll make you cry.
Masterlist
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Y/n's pov, November 27 2020
My mother once told me that I will know when I'm in love, she never specified what hints will cross my path... She just said I'll know.
As a young adult now, sharing an apartment with my close friend Yeji. I'm starting to become impatient with this whole game of love, why can't I just get told who is my perfect match. I'm so tired of having my hopes risen up and then crashed down onto my heart... Breaking it each time.
"Any plans today?" Yeji asked from the kitchen, making me cringe at the word plans.
I just was still recovering from a terrible break up, where I caught the supposedly love of my life slurping the life out of his assistants pussy. I won't forget the feeling of my heart completely stopping for a few seconds, as my mind told me to run and not look back.
"Yes actually, I have a date with Netflix and the leftovers in the fridge." I replied, slyly smirking as she stared at me like a worried mother.
"Well Netflix isn't going to have to wait for his turn. Because I have this guy who is really interested you and is a total sweetheart." She sighed, showing me a photo of the guy she was trying to set me up with.
"Yeah... No." I replied, beginning to retreat back to my room.
"Y/n! JISUNG TOLD ME!" Yeji announced, catching my attention from the front of my bedroom door.
"I-it's still a no Yeji." I whimpered, shutting the door harshly behind me as she sighed in defeat.
Yeji's pov
She needs to get out of this place, it's been two weeks now. All over a guy she barely even knew, I know the true reason she is hiding and she will never admit it.
Y/n is scared to see his face again, our best friend Han Jisung. The best friend that she happened to fall in love with, and moved away from after she got accepted into the university of her dreams.
They were never just best friends in anyone's eyes, not even there own. Yet they both tried to fill in the whole in their heart with other people, never realizing that all they had to do was just say three difficult words.
Y/n was in a hurry to find her perfect partner after I found mine, the man next door with the matching tattoo on his wrist. Your tattoo shows up when you are over the age of 19 and are near your soulmate, it shows up on your wrist, neck, or shoulder blade.
She didn't want to see Jisung in case that tattoo never came, they both wouldn't be able to handle the realization. But it is a part of life, and I'm not going to let my best friends live alone when they could have a chance to be in love and happy.
Han wanted to see us both while he was visiting the city, even though he knew the risk of utter devastation. That fake profile was just a set up so that she would finally meet up with Han, and she probably already knew about my plans.
I walked up to her door cautiously, gently brushing my knuckles against her door.
"Y/n... I know why you are actually upset."
Y/n pov
"Because of Han Jisung." I answered, brushing past the old childhood photos saved on my phone.
"I know that's what you were going to say Yeji, and you're right. I know I won't be able to take it if the guy I love isn't the one for me, and that all of those nights alone with him that are coded into my brain are worthless. I'm scared Yeji, I'm scared that I won't be able to think of most of my life without tearing up." I explained, as she plopped down on my bed next to me.
"You're fear will just get worse until you find out, you'll never know the result until you actually try." She replied, placing my head on her shoulder for comfort.
I let out a shaky breath as a couple tears streamed down my cheeks, she was right as usual. But I still needed at least one day to prepare myself.
"Fine, but let me rest today. I'm not going to fancy restraint with puffy eyes and bed head." I remarked, watching as a sly smile spread across her lips.
She slowly began to exit my bedroom, delighted that she finally got her way with me. Not even explaining who that fake date even was, probably just a random guy from Google. It was 11:30 at night, and all of my crying really wore the energy out of my body and mind.
So eventually sleep crossed paths with my mind and hooked up, completely losing consciousness as my memories flashed like a polaroid camera.
December 15th 2018
"I can't believe we're graduating this year, seems like we only started high school yesterday." Jisung sighed, carrying both of our bags while walking home together.
"Don't worry quokka, you'll still carry my bags for me even after high school." I teased, pinching the reddened skin of his cheeks.
"Oh very funny, and you'll still put crackers in your mouth and pretend to be a walrus." He remarked dodging the snowball that came his way.
He set my bags down on my front yard as he gathered his own army of cold fluff balls. I tackled him to the ground as we both drowned the silence in laughter, I traced my frosted mittens across his face. Gently crossing his lips as he brushed the snow chunks from my hair.
The close warmth of his breath against my face sent my heart into a frenzy, I secretly craved the closeness of him... But I never wanted to admit it in case I'd lose him.
His now glossed lips looked so kiss able, the way they pouted as he focused on my hair. And how they stretched into a warm smile that left a fuzzy feeling in my heart for years, made it only harder to stop myself from interlocking them with mine.
"I better get going bun bun. I'll see you tomorrow at school though." Jisung reassured, lightly booping my nose as he left his trail from my snowy front yard. Waving one last time to catch my attention as I was at the front door.
"Farewell loser!" He shouted, showing off that bright smile of his.
"Farewell to you as well, asshole!" I retorted, giggling as I walked into my empty house all alone.
November 28th 2020
Y/n pov
"Wake up! Time for bubble tea!" Yeji screamed, jumping on top of me as she consistently hit me with my own pillows.
"I thought we were meeting Jisung later." I sighed, looking at the red numbers of my alarm clock reading 7:30am.
"Yes we are, but I want bubble tea and to talk with you about some stuff I found out." Yeji replied, pulling me out of bed to soon push me into the washroom.
I complied to her excited energy, understanding it is pretty exciting for her.
The steaming water swallowed every inch of my skin, blocking out all of the noises outside. Only leaving me and the blank wall to stare at, droplets of water racing against each other. A flash of the mirror and sunlight clashing, sending the flash of a polaroid to my memories.
August 16th 2018
Yeji squealed as her boyfriend threw her into the pool, soon joining her in a large cannonball jump. All of his friends danced around with liquor drenching their breath, as their bodies clashed together in ways they didn't fully understand.
It wasn't my style of fun, it instead gave me a wave of fear and stress. Not recognizing any of these people, while they danced around half naked. Yeji's boyfriend decided that she had enough fun for one night, and took her home to rest.
I hurriedly gathered my belongings and rushed out the door, just as excited and horny shouts came from the pool. I was okay to walk home alone, it felt nice to be surrounded my silence for once. Even if my conscious tortured me about every bad possibility.
"Need a drive home party animal?" a familiar voice called from across the road, that voice of the man who has always had my back.
"I'd actually really like that." I replied, feeling a wave of comfort when I entered the car.
"I can tell your a bit freaked out." He sighed, throwing his bad into the backseat.
"That party was just... A lot. A lot more than I expected." I whimpered, still a bit overwhelmed from the experience.
"How about you stay at my place for the night. We'll even watch some American horror story..." Jisung suggested, even though he was shit terrified of anything remotely scary.
"I'm holding you to it quokka." I giggled, slapping his thigh teasingly.
We drove to his home as the car filled with a random playlist of songs, one landing on my favorite 'Turning Page'.
"I didn't know you liked this song." I commented, blushing softly at the tone of the song.
"I want this to be the song that represents me and my soulmate. It sounds cheesy, but it's true." He revealed, glancing my way as the car stopped in the from of his home.
The whole topic of soulmates use to be humorous to me, remembering when me and Han drew matching docks on our palms as 'our' symbol. Even taking a polaroid photo of the amazing art we drew, I still have it in my phone case.
Then it hit me, how much it would hurt to see him destined with someone other then me. That moment when he glanced back into my eyes with a shy smile, is when I admitted to myself for falling madly in love with my best friend.
November 28th 2020
I walked along the streets of our home town, hanging my mask off my chin when sipping my bubble tea.
"You know what's crazy." Yeji started, catching my focus immediately.
"I remember the moment you started crushing on Jisung. You didn't even have to tell me, I already knew." She admitted, gazing at me with only a soft warmth in her eyes.
"It was obvious by how many photos you had of him and you on your wall, and the way you looked at him as if he were your dream person." She continued, texting something on her phone that I couldn't quite see.
"Or how when he caught you staring he'd reply with 'take a picture it'll last longer'... And you always did to get revenge. I will never forget the day I saw you two as more then best friends, that was the same day when I bought you that polaroid camera for Christmas. " She replied, taking a short break as her hands nervously fidgeted with her skirt.
"That's why I want a 'thank you' later on." She mumbled, before running off and leaving me completely stunned on the bench.
"Y/n..."
September 14th 2018
"It's crazy that this is your last day here." I sighed, trying my best not to cry.
He nodded trying to smile the pain away like me, but soon caving in once his arms met my body. I nuzzled into the crook of his neck, hoping I could capture his scent one last time.
"I'll still visit. I can't cope without seeing your face, asshole." He chuckled lightly, sniffling quietly when he retracted his arms away.
He stared at my features for a few long seconds, as if he was contemplating on doing something. Jisung shook his head, smiling brightly once more as he pulled me into one last hug.
As he put his palm on the door knob, I shouted his name one last time. Running across the room towards him, he turned around immediately dropping his bangs on the ground.
He instantly knew what I was going to do, since his lips molded with mine without one ounce of hesitation. His hands lost in my hair, pulling me closer and closer until there was no space between us. Jisung's lips were so much sweeter and softer then any other kiss I've had.
The sweetness was sprinkled with the salty taste of our mixed tears. Only creating more as the kiss began to end, both of us realizing we should've told each other so much sooner.
"I love you." We both sighed at the same time, smiling sadly at the bittersweet sting in our hearts.
November 28th 2020
"Jisung..." I gasped, turning around quickly to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.
"W-wow... You've really. Wow." He stuttered, cautiously inching closer towards me.
"You too." I chuckled airily, swallowing back my tears. I missed him so much, but it hurt too much to see him at the same time.
"Y/n... I know it's been a while. But I honestly came here because I needed to see you. I still love you, and I don't care if we're soul mates or not. I'll sharpie our own symbol on us everyday if I have to." He revealed, grasping my hands between his own.
"I'm sorry that I was being so selfish." I sighed, caving into my own tears. Regretting my fears of seeing him again, feeling terrible for torturing him just as much as I tortured myself.
"We are both scared. It's not our fault, but I just want us to accept that things may not go our way. But that won't stop us from being together." He reassured, lightly brushing frosted his mitten across my features. Glossing over my lips gently, his eyes warm and gentle as they fluttered shut.
I molded into his kiss immediately, lacing my fingers through his silky hair. Soon pulling him closer to my so there was no space between us, making sure no one could try and ruin this moment for us.
His lips still were as sweet as the first time they molded into mine, and his fingertips could still make my legs give out by how gentle they were against my skin. Every emotion flashed through my mind, all my regrets, confidence, love, lust... It all flashed just like a...
"Polaroid." He gasped, tugging my palm next to his as the ink slowly traced the same picture into my palm. The picture of the camera that captured all the moments I treasured with my soulmate, the soulmate that was everything I could've asked for.
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lgbtyrus · 4 years
Text
TJ’s Playlist (Final Ep Anniversary Bonus)
So it's been a year since I cried to the finale because tyrus was canon, and I wanted to travel back in time to some of the happiest memories I had because of this show. I had a thing in Macaroni's POV, but it was a little lame and didn't want to finish it so I went this route instead. It's also always bothered me that this story ended on 19 chapters, and I thought this was the perfect chance to even it out with a perfect 20. If you're reading this, I love you very much and thank you for coming back (or getting here for the first time). Goodbye to TJ's Playlist for real now <3 
Ao3 Link | Wattpad Link
-
TJ ran down the hall, pushing by students who couldn’t get out of his way fast enough. It was the last day of middle school, and everyone was lingering behind to say goodbye to their friends who might go to a different high school. TJ had been doing the same before remembering he had promised Cyrus he would meet him up front.
Cyrus was standing with Buffy and Marty, laughing at something one of them said when TJ caught up. “Hi,” TJ told him, bending over to catch his breath. “Sorry I’m late. I forgot how fast time can go.”
“It’s fine.” Cyrus smiled. “I wasn’t going to leave without you.” Cyrus reached over to hold TJ’s hand, making him smile.
Buffy said to Cyrus with a grin, “So yard sale?” Cyrus’s neighborhood had a large yard sale once a year, and they chose the last day of school to do it. Cyrus’ parents invited all of them to take their things to sell.
“Yes! Come by with anything you want to get rid of,” Cyrus replied. “I’m so excited. It feels like a cleanse and the first step into high school.”
“Can’t wait,” Buffy said. “I’m going to stop by home first for my stuff, pick up Andi, and meet you guys there.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Cyrus said and gave her a thumbs up. They said bye to Marty and Buffy who walked off holding hands, leaving TJ with his boyfriend. Cyrus turned to look at him and asked, “So. Did you think about it?”
TJ bit at the inside of his cheek for a moment. “I did.”
“And?”
“I think I’m going to sell them.”
Cyrus jumped up. “Yes? Really?”
“Just the repeats!” TJ smiled, taking a step back to avoid getting stepped on.
“Yes, that’s amazing. That’s perfect. The people in the neighborhood are going to love you,” Cyrus said. “We’ll look up the value of every single one before we set them out.”
“Already did that. That’s actually the reason why I decided to sell them.”
“Are they worth a lot?”
“Not as much as the cameras would be, but it’s a decent amount of money to pay for basketball camp.” TJ and Cyrus started walking away from their now former middle school, not looking back.
“How long would you be gone for?” Cyrus asked him.
“Three weeks. We can handle that, right?” TJ asked him, squeezing his hand. The coach at Grant High School recommended he go to basketball camp to secure a spot on the varsity team the next year, but it was a little pricey even with both of his parents working at the time.
“Of course.” Cyrus squeezed his hands back, smiling at him. “Let’s go get your things.” After going through his GG’s stuff for the first time, TJ realized there was a lot of valuable items that included comic books and vinyls. He was letting go of all the comic books because he wasn’t interested in that, but he didn’t have the desire to let go of any music. There was more vinyl’s in the attic than he realized and even though he didn’t have a player, he wanted them for the day he did have one.
Cyrus was talking to TJ about his last day of dance and how he wasn’t looking forward to regular PE at all as they headed to the Kippen’s house. “I need to have PE with Buffy at all costs next year. If not, I’ll definitely get picked last for every team.”
“You’re already stressed out for PE next year?” TJ snickered. He knew Cyrus well enough at this point to know his fear of public humiliation in PE was insurmountable “You need to relax a little. It’s summer break.”
“I know, but I tend to plan every minute of my future and PE is an inevitable part of it.”
“Let’s make a deal. You put off thinking about PE until a month before school, and I’ll let you be there when I get my report card in the mail.” TJ liked to open his report card alone considering he has done really bad in math in the past, but Cyrus really wanted to see how much TJ had improved now that he had a proper tutor.
Cyrus hummed to himself before saying, “Deal. But only because I can’t wait to see the look on your face when you see how well you did.”
“My C average does bring out my best smile.”
“All of your smiles are your best smiles.”
“You literally told me my dancing to old music is my best smile.”
“It’s a little biased because you dance with me.”
“It does make me smile when you slow dance with me,” TJ admitted to him. Cyrus smiled, blushing at the comment and making TJ’s heart skip a beat. There hadn’t been a single day where TJ doubted his feelings for him.
-
They got to the Kippen’s empty house, Macaroni the cat waiting in the yard. He was jumping after a grasshopper before he saw Cyrus and TJ come up. He ran to Cyrus and meowed, making him grin. “Hello, friend,” Cyrus said as he bent over to pick him up.
“Needy,” TJ muttered to Macaroni as he roughly petted his ears. Macaroni swatted at TJ who pulled his hand away on time.
Cyrus held Macaroni closer and said, “You have to be gentle with him. He’s old.”
“He’s okay,” TJ said, sticking his tongue out at the cat. He went to go unlock the door while Cyrus asked Macaroni about his day. The cat simply purred in his arms.
Inside, Cyrus put him down and followed TJ without asking upstairs to his room, little footprints tapping against the wood floors. Cyrus felt like the Kippen’s gothic house was his second home. It was Halloween themed according to his parents, but he liked the charm it gave off. TJ’s parents were younger than his after all and when the air was clear, it was fun to be there.
TJ had two boxes on the floor ready to go. “Can you take the vinyl one? It’s lighter,” TJ asked Cyrus as he picked up a box.
“For sure,” Cyrus said. He got the box and looked around the room that seemed to be more crowded as TJ dug out things from the attic. It made Cyrus smile every time TJ called him with a new discovery. A new photo album from the 70s. More polaroid photos he took of TJ and Amber when they were little. A random trinket TJ thought was cool. One time he didn’t find anything of his GG’s. He found a bunch of new t-shirts from his dad’s old band and a few CD’s TJ couldn’t stop laughing at for an hour. His dad was in makeup that really did make him look like a vampire.
Cyrus said goodbye to Macaroni who rubbed against his leg before walking out with TJ and walking down to his house. Around the block, people already had their yard sales open and people from all over Shadyside were visiting there. Even though TJ lived so close to him, his neighborhood seemed to be a completely different world from his. TJ didn’t know his next door neighbors, and he had just found out a month ago that Marty had lived across the street from him practically his entire life.
They got to Cyrus’ house where his parents had set out tables. Cyrus’ old toys and clothes were out and ready to go to new homes. He gave up most of his children’s books, but he kept a few favorites just in case he ever had kids to read them to one day. “You’re selling all your Pokemon cards?” TJ asked him as he set his box on an empty table.
“There will be someone who appreciates them more.” Cyrus then added, “They’re also fake.”
“Dollar store packets?” TJ smiled knowingly.
“Yes!” Cyrus laughed. “I always wondered why the ones at Kmart were more expensive and now I know why.”
“They were still fun to play with, though.”
“I honestly never learned how to play with them,” Cyrus admitted. “I just liked looking at them.”
“That’s me with my vinyl records right now,” TJ said. “I opened every single one of them because some had notes and receipts from GG. Some silly stuff like saying to pick up my grandma from school or just lists of other singers.” Cyrus stared at TJ as he set out the records, wondering if now was the time to give him what he just bought him. He wanted to hold out for his birthday but watching TJ talk about the vinyl’s made him realize how much listening to that music meant to him.
“There’s actually something I want to give you,” Cyrus said.
“Now?” TJ raised an eyebrow.
“Think of it as the first part of your birthday present.”
“First part? Of my birthday present? My birthday that’s in July?”
“Yes. Yes. Yes,” Cyrus nodded. “So, do you want it or not?”
“Can it be the only gift you give me?” TJ asked him.
“Of course not. The other thing is on its way already.”
“Oh god, Cyrus. You really didn’t have to get me anything.”
“Says the guy that gave me a present everyday of the week leading up to my birthday.” TJ smiled, Cyrus knowing that he finally got him to give in.
“Fine. Surprise me.”
Cyrus took TJ’s hand. “Come on! I can’t wait for you to see it.” Cyrus led TJ inside his house where they walked past his parents, TJ barely able to say a full hello to them. They went into his room where Cyrus let go of his hand and dug through his t-shirt drawer where he pulled out a wrapped present.
“You already wrapped it?” TJ asked, smiling as Cyrus handed him the box.
“Had to be ready just in case you ever found it.”
“You’re the one that snoops through my things, not me,” TJ reminded him.
“Just open in,” Cyrus said impatiently. TJ put the present on the bed and started ripping the wrapper. With a single tear down the middle, TJ knew what it was and gasped.
“Cyrus,” he whispered. “You really shouldn’t have.”
“I wanted to. Really badly.” TJ finished unwrapping the green record player and held out the box in his hands, staring at it in awe. “Now you can listen to everything your GG left you.”
“Yeah,” TJ said with a smile. “I really can.” He put the box down and went over to face Cyrus. “Thank you so much.” TJ bent down and kissed him, both smiling into the kiss.
“You are very welcome.”
TJ held onto Cyrus’ hand and told him, “Let’s go play some music.”
53 notes · View notes
wanderingcas · 5 years
Text
@bekindplsrewind prompt: Found the phone number of an old childhood friend in some box at the back of the closet and decided to call it to see if it still worked AU. in other words: dean is afraid of phones destiel. 1.7k. fluff & phone shenanigans.
“How did you accumulate all this junk?” Sam asks. He punctuates the point by throwing a pink crop top that says “Real Women Lift Weights” at Dean’s face.
“This isn’t junk,” Dean protests, “this was from my junior year in high school.” He carefully puts the crop top on the bed, letting out a sigh. “What a time of sexual discovery.”
“God, Dean. The fact remains—” Sam dives in deeper into Dean’s closet, on his hands in knees, pushing boxes and clothes across the floor at random, “—that Mom is showing this house on Wednesday, and no one is going to want to even consider buying it with all your cluttered crap all over the place.”
Dean snatches a Spock figurine off the floor before Sam’s knee collides with it. “Your room was worse.”
“Yeah, but I cleaned it.”
Making a face at the back of his brother’s head, Dean sits cross-legged on the ground. “Fine. But I’m the final say on what’s garbage or not.”
“We’re never getting out of here,” Sam sighs. But he reluctantly passes Dean a small shoebox anyway.
Dean opens it and sneezes. It clearly hadn’t been opened since before he had to start shaving on a regular basis. He rifles through the contents: colorful paperclips, a note that a cute girl had written to him in eighth grade, a small notebook that had SAM RULES written on the front that was crossed out and modified to SAM SMELLS. Dean chuckles and launches the notebook at Sam’s head.
Not stooping to Dean’s tactics to derail the cleaning situation, Sam calmly slides another Nike shoebox in Dean’s direction.
“You’re no fun,” Dean mutters, taking the top off of the shoebox. He pauses. 
The polaroid picture staring at him from the bottom of the box all but slams into his brain, making him remember the moment like it was yesterday. Him and Cas had found a polaroid camera at a neighbor’s garage sale, but instead of buying it, they held it under their chins and took a picture with it, stealing the picture and running away with it. They giggled in Cas’ tree house as the photo slowly revealed their chins, stuck-out tongues, and wayward eyes drawn into obnoxious faces.
“Who’s that?” Sam asks over Dean’s shoulder. Dean jumps almost a foot in the air.
“Jesus, Sam, warn a guy.” Dean hastily shoves the picture back into the box. “And you remember Cas, you dumbass.”
“I was only four, Dean, give me a break,” Sam says. “That’s the kid you hung out with in Dad’s neighborhood before he sold the house, right?”
Dean softly scoffs. ‘Before Dad went off the alcoholic deep end and lost the house in a foreclosure,’ was more accurate. John had ghosted soon after that, leaving Mary with full custody of Sam and Dean. Her neighborhood was across town from Cas’.
“The last time I saw him was probably… I dunno…” Dean whistles through his teeth. “Probably when I was eight or nine.”
“I remember when you tried to run away to see him once,” Sam says. “You got a garbage bag full of your stuff and everything.”
Dean chuckles. “Yeah, and Mom just watched me drag that thing down the street until the bag ripped and I had to come home.”
“Overdramatic,” Sam says with a grin.
“Whatever, like you were an angel.” Dean rifles around in the box for more Cas-related stuff: broken, smoothed-over green glass they found by a creek that they were convinced were priceless jewels (they weren’t), an old broken ping pong ball they thought was a bird’s egg (again, it wasn’t), notes from Cas that were passed to Dean during class.
And a phone number.
Dean remembers the number as soon as he reads it: 555-9875. Cas had told Dean that if they ever get in trouble, or move away, they have to remember each other’s phone numbers so the other person can help. “Even when we’re adults!” Cas proclaimed from atop the slide, arms outstretched before he tumbled off the side (he did that a lot, climbing to high places, and making Dean’s too small heart already having premature attacks from fear).
“You should call it,” Sam says, again prying his big nose into Dean’s personal business.
“What? No way. It probably wouldn’t even work.”
“I dare you,” Sam offers.
“Jesus, Sam, how old are we?”
“Fine.” Sam crosses his arms. “If you call that number, I will clean out most of this closet myself, and you won’t have to lift a finger.”
Dean considers. He looks down at the frayed, yellowed paper. It’s been twenty years. It’s likely that the number is disconnected, or belongs to someone else.
“Deal,” he decides, whipping out his cell phone. “But you can’t throw away anything, okay? Not without my say.”
“I’ll get a box,” Sam sighs, rising to his feet.
Dean waits until Sam stomps out of the room before carefully dialing the number. He holds it to his ear and waits, hearing his own heartbeat vibrate the receiver.
One ring. Two. Three, until—
“Hello?” asks a voice.
Dean hesitates. It’s male, but couldn’t possibly be Cas, because the Cas he remembers had an obnoxiously pipsqueak voice, not this gravelly one that sounds like the guy just got finished chewing nails for breakfast. “Uh, hey,” he says.
There’s a beat too long of silence. “Can I help you?” the man asks again.
“Oh, yeah, well. Uh. I was just wondering—does Cas Novak still live there?”
“This is he.”
Dean’s face freezes. He gapes at Sam who has just walked back into the room. Sam’s mouth moves into a silent “What?” while Dean frantically gestures at the phone and yells silently “Cas! CAS!”
“Hello?” Cas asks over the receiver.
Sam, saving the day as usual, does a dive toward Dean and smacks him over the head with a box to stop his panic attack in its tracks.
“Oh, awesome.” Dean clears his throat. “It’s, uh—it’s Dean. Dean Winchester. I… yeah.”
The wariness in Cas’ voice is completely dropped when he repeats, “Dean? Oh my god.”
“You remember me?” Dean blurts out.
“Of course I remember you, I—” Cas laughs. Dean breathes in sharply. “This is so strange, I’m just here helping my mother move and the phone rings and—” He laughs again, more airy and bewildered. “It’s great to hear from you. What’s it been, twenty years?”
“Something like that,” Dean says. “You know, we’re moving my mom out of her house too. Must be a ‘moving your mother’ convention in town.”
Across the room, Sam groans and holds his head in his hands.
But Cas laughs, miraculously, and says, “Must be. Do you still live in town?”
“Uh, yeah. You?”
“Yes. I moved away for college, of course, but now I’m back.”
Dean smiles down at the floor. He picks at a thread of carpet. “Remember when we made a pact to go to the same college?”
“I do. In Australia, if I remember correctly.”
“Did you go to Australia?”
“No,” Cas chuckles. “Did you?”
Cheeks coloring, Dean stutters, “Uh, well, the college route—it wasn’t for me. So that’s a negative.”
“College is an ample waste of time, I don’t blame you,” Cas says. There’s a noise in the background that Dean can’t quite identify. “Dean, I’m sorry to cut this short, but my mother needs help dealing with the movers.”
“Oh, sure, Cas, no prob.” Dean looks up at Sam, who is gesticulating wildly, miming out a pen and paper like a crazy person. “Do you uh…”
“Dean—” Cas says at the same time. “Oh, I’m sorry.”
“No, you go,” Dean says, smacking his forehead with a palm.
“I was just—I was wondering if you wanted to get coffee. Maybe catch up. I know it’s been a while, but—”
“Yes!” Dean blurts out. He gapes at Sam, who is giving him a very enthusiastic thumbs-up. “Yeah, uh—that’d be awesome, Cas.”
He can hear the smile in Cas’ voice when he says, “Wonderful. I’ll give you my number.”
Sam digs in his pocket and flicks a pencil at Dean’s head. Dean quickly scribbles down the number Cas gives him over the phone, on the yellowed paper just under Cas’ childhood one.
“So I’ll just text you some times and days, then?” Dean asks.
“That’d be wonderful.” Cas pauses. “Thank you for calling, Dean.”
“Uh, sure, Cas. Thank you for, uh. Answering, I guess.”
Cas laughs. Dean could listen to that laugh for days. “Goodbye, Dean.”
“Ciao, Cas.” Dean flips his phone shuts and yells at it, “CIAO? Who the fuck do I think I am!?”
“We’re looking him up on Facebook!” Sam declares, making a nose-dive for his backpack. He yanks out his turn-of-the-dark-ages laptop and begins to wildly type.
Dean lays on the ground and pulls the pink crop top over his face. “That was the fucking worst thing I’ve ever done,” Dean declares.
“What’s his last name?”
“Novak,” Dean groans into the fabric. “I’m gonna text him, but he won’t text me back, because who would text back a psychopath that just randomly calls your childhood best friend’s phone number—”
“Dean,” Sam says.
“—and what if he’s the psychopath, or worse, not even Cas and he was just pretending and I meet up with him and get killed or worse he steals Baby and—”
“Dean,” Sam barks.
“What,” Dean yells back, flinging the crop top off his head.
Sam turns the laptop around and taps, hard, on the screen. “Dean, your childhood best friend is hot.”
Squinting, Dean raises his head toward the Facebook page sprawled out on the screen. There’s a picture of a very blue-eyed, very chiseled, very dark-haired man smiling in his profile picture. Dean can immediately match the voice to the face—he even recognizes remnants of young, eight-year-old Cas in between those smile lines—and his soul leaves his body for a moment.
“I need to text him immediately,” Dean says, wide eyed, to Sam.
“You need to text him immediately,” Sam agrees.
(Dean does, of course, after many beers and a lot of texting with subsequent deleting. It’s a story that Sam loves to tell at Dean and Cas’ wedding, a few years later.)
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musedblues · 4 years
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Always Something There To Remind Me [Part: 3]
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summary: Home is where the heart is. You're working on finding yours. After a handful of misfortunes, your old friend Joe helps to unravel life's greatest mystery while adding a bit of extra grief to the mix.
warnings:  A few mentions of panic attacks, and getting sick a but also dare I say a bit of fluff?!
w/c: 6k
a/n: This has been one of my favorite chapters to write so far. Thank you for all the lovely feedback, lads!
taglist: @im-an-adult-ish​ @mrsmazzello​ @lettinggosthehardestpart​ @the-moving-finger-writes​ @imtheinvisiblequeen​
Part 4
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
On the walk across the street with your mother, carrying matching bottles of wine, you worried this Christmas Eve was going to be dramatically different than all others that came before it. That you were too far out of the loop to ever fit back in.
But you were at ease the second you passed through the Mazzellos front door. Joe and his mother were the only people bustling around the kitchen, so early in the evening. You'd expected tonight's reunion with your old friend to be even more sensational than the last, but it wasn't. Joe simply greeted you with a grin, taking the bottle of wine from your clutch and spinning around to find a cork right away. Your mothers began spouting gossip near the already set up table, while Joe poured the two of you a drink.
As you followed your old friend toward the living room, you couldn't help but notice how alarmingly normal this routine seemed. This felt much more like coming home than landing at the airport to your teary-eyed mother had, for some reason.
But lots had changed since the last time you'd spent celebrating with the Mazzellos. And you couldn't wait any longer to hear about the things Joe mentioned being apart of the last you saw him. Not long after you settled on the sofa to the tune of his exciting storytelling, you asked for faces to match the names of his new cast of friends he had yet to stop buzzing over. Joe wasted no time pulling up a group photo of himself mixed in with a pretty bunch of actors.
"Lucy is actually the funniest person I know, besides yours truly of course." Joe boasted about a girl who looked as if she was made of porcelain. You had no reason to doubt she was just as flawless in real life. Before you could ask more of her, Joe was already on a roll. "Ben is the love of my life. I mean, come on, look at the guy." Joe proceeded to ramble for a long time about the blonde, telling you how the man with emerald eyes was a loyal and passionate friend, someone Joe had come to trust and admire. "Rami, well, you know him, don't you?" Joe shrugged, glancing your way as he sipped some wine. Oh yeah, you did. The guy was in another production with Joe, back when he facetimed you weekly. Rami had ended up in the background of enough of those facetimes to give you a few meaningful greetings when you called to check-up. You wondered if the superstar remembered you at all. "And Gwilym is-" "Welsh?" You let out a breath of a laugh. Gwilym. There's a name you'd hadn't even known existed until a few summers ago when some old fella down the road kept getting his mail switched up with yours. Joe matched your unexpected chuckle with one of his own, almost like he wasn't sure if he should have acknowledged your remark. So you just shrugged and offered your friend a small grin "Small world."
Thankfully, Joe's muddled expression softened. As you began to wonder one thousand things, he went on...
"He is the best of us. Heart of gold." Joe's bragged as the pair of you focused on his phone screen. There the five of them were, all dressed up, strutting across a lavish purple carpet. Just when you both polished off your glasses of wine, the doorbell rang. Cousins and aunts and uncles started to show up with dessert trays and gift bags. Most of them remembered your name and hugged you like always. It was almost like no time had ever passed, like this Christmas Eve picked up where the last one you attended left off. The most exciting reunion came just before dinner time as Joe's siblings showed up.
John and Mary arrived together, with their spoused and gaggle of children, all of whom you'd never met. A couple of the more rambunctious kids raced up to their grandmother, while John stopped in his tracks when he noticed you.
Growing up, you went to all of his baseball games. You helped him with his homework and bought him birthday presents. He might as well have been your own little brother. But since you'd graduated, Joe's updates about his kid brother stopped coming when his own did, too.
"Oh my God!" John practically tackled you in a hug that everyone around you chuckled over. "I didn't, why did- when did you come back?" John laughed, clearly surprised by your random appearance at Christmas Eve dinner for the first time in forever.
"Is this really happening?" Mary moved toward you. She was pretty as ever, dark hair and bright eyes. You always looked up to her, and she always looked out for you. She rescued you from bad first dates, taught you how to drive and told you highschool secrets, like your own older sister. Now, she shoved John away and hugged you even tighter. You wondered how you'd gone all this time without seeking Mary's counsel and support.
Both of their spouses watched on in confused glee, happy that everyone else was so happy. John's wife was the first to bite.
"Hi! I'm Eva." The pretty brunette smiled at you but cocked her head, clearly lost to why her husband was so excited to see you. Then she said, "How long have you and Joe been...?" Eva pointed to where your best friend stood in the archway of the kitchen, and your mother let out a chortle in passing.
"Ah yes..." You turned to Joe with a sly smile. Maybe you'd been sipping too much pre-dinner wine.  "I'll never forget the day he untied me from those train tracks!" You reached out to latch onto Joe in a comical way, and even though he winced for show, he held onto you like he might have actually wanted too.
"Who's the actor here, y/n?" Mrs. Mazzello joked, batting your arm with a laugh.
"Joe has just been using me for my many talents all these years. I taught him everything he knows." You shrugged with one arm still looped around your friend's neck.
"Those were the days." Joe reminisced with a snicker, keeping his relaxed hold around you.
John was quick to disperse your make-believe bubble to explain to his wife exactly who you were.
"This is y/n. The girl in all our pictures in the hallway." John gestured toward the corner where dozen of snapshots hung of their family at parties and graduations. A handful of which you and your mother happened to sneak into the background of over the years. "She's practically a Mazzello."
"Oh my God." Eva's face fell, and she turned to you with a serious gaze. "I'm so sorry, I've heard so much about you but never- oh, come here." And she pulled you into a hug all the same. John and Mary gathered their excited offspring and made them each introduce themselves to you, well besides the tiniest babies who couldn't. You barely had time to gush over the families before dinner was served.
Everyone devoured plates full of well-cooked food, laughing over things you somehow still understood. Christmas hadn't felt so warm in years. You and Joe moved through even more wine, sharing glances like a secret code when his weird uncle started rambling about politics. When dinner was over, everyone was still happy to linger around together.
When everyone gathered in the living room, you excused yourself to the bathroom. On your trip back down the hallway, a tiny giggle stopped you from rejoining the party just yet. Mary's littlest babe was clinging to the open doorway of Mr. Mazzello's office, a space with oak bookshelves and a writing desk to match. Joe's father could be found there, working until it was time for dinner.
The baby was babbling, pointing into the dark office. He stumbled into the shadows and turned his head before he shifted and looked at you. The baby screwed his brows together and started to ask a question using the only syllables he knew to use.
And somehow, you realized he was looking for Joe's dad. The little boy spun in the doorway again before he wobbled right toward you. Simultaneously, Mary floated down the hall with a baby bag over her shoulder. She must have been looking for the kid. He was reaching up and pulling on your sweater, now.
"I think he wants to go in there." You spoke softly, watching Mary's baby point back toward the dark office. When you looked back up toward Mary her eyes were glossy. She shared a silent glance with you before she bent down to her boy's level. He kept babbling and waving back toward the office.
"He's not there, sweetheart," Mary whispered, smoothing back her baby's hair and breaking your heart. She lifted the kid to her hip and cocked her head, a signal for you to follow.
The office was warm and smelt like cinnamon, not because of Christmas time, but because it always did. Mary flicked the Tiffany lamp on and the room filled with spots of amber light. There were papers scattered on the desk and a chair filled some costumes in the corner like someone was meant to come in and do work at any moment.
"Dad used to let the kids sit in here while he worked." Mary sniffled, while the baby in her arms reached out to touch the book shelve before him. It was filled with awards and photos and crafts.
"I was always afraid to come in and interrupt business." You breathed a laugh, floating closer to monitor the shelve. Right between a photo of Joe and his father at the grand canyon, and a handpainted candle vase, something caught your eye.
There was a Polaroid. You had a camera for a month before one of your friends stole it. With it, someone had taken a photo of you with Joe's dad at play practice. Joe was away that summer, filming and you needed something to do. Your highschool was putting on a production of Grease, the ancient choir director conveniently passed away a week before your first rehearsal, so Joe's dad stepped in to help, last minute. Somehow you ended up as a Pink Lady, without a name or any lines. Joe's dad let you keep that jacket. You gave the Polaroid to Mr. Mazzello as thanks, during the wrap party. Despite having no lines, you were a shite actor, but Joe's dad took it easy on you. That was just one example of the way he'd always sort of looked out for you, you realized.
Mary noticed the photo your gaze was fixated on and said: "You're family, y/n. And I'm glad you're back home."
You couldn't tell if she knew what you'd been through but above all things, you knew Mary was wise enough to read you like she always had. Her baby had retracted away from curiosity and curled into his mother's arm. She noted that it was probably bedtime for all the kids and started to leave her father's old office. You were left alone to turn the light off. Leaving that room on your own terms was the first goodbye you'd said in months that brought you any kind of peace.
///
Your mother left home in a sequined shaw with a camera around her neck. At midnight, a new year would begin, but someone was getting married before then. She invited you along to help take photos, But just days before, you'd made plans of your own. With Joe. He said there were some people from town throwing a party and he'd been invited long ago. Joe asked you to join him, saying something about how he probably would only go if you came along. Something about that made you agree.
So you slipped into some old dress you'd bought in Wales and made a mental note to go on a shopping spree, soon. Joe showed up at your door, dressed for the occasion too. Tonight felt like more of a step outside of your comfort zone, than a simple New Year's Eve party. But even so, falling back into your old spot at Joe's side was natural, and you didn't have time to dwell on the inner workings of things while he sang along to some old Britney Spears album the entire car ride, begging you to join in. By the time you arrived at the party, you almost forgot that Joe's version of carpool karaoke wasn't the main event of the evening.
He kept one hand steady on your shoulder as you walked from the parking lot and into some modernly styled club. Inside, clear bulbs were strung from one sleek pilar to another. One too many bodies occupied the dance floor while those left behind took up nearly every table and booth insight. Joe directed you toward the bar top where two miraculously free seats called your names.
Just then, someone recognized your friend. A tall man in a dark suit called Joe's name as you eased onto the bar stool. You didn't recognize the guy, and the bartender was asking what you wanted. So you ordered two of the same bourbons and turned back to see Joe rolling his eyes while the stranger was walking away.
"I can never remember his name," Joe admitted, leaning toward you. You chuckled and started to respond when another voice cut through the crowd.
"Joey!" The high pitched squeak hurt your head, and when you turned to see who it belonged to, nothing made sense. Lacy Duval was prancing toward the both of you in a tight sparkly dress. The only thing you knew about Lacy Duval, was that in high school, she was two grades below you, but somehow always ended up mingling with everyone in your class. So it wasn't surprising to see she'd recognized one of you, but it was a bit unsettling to see how excitedly Lacy dashed your way. And it was furthermore of a shock to you to find Joe waving to her with a wide smile, like they'd really known each other.
"I'm so glad you could make it, I've been looking around for you all night!" The girl with silvery blonde hair and a matching bright smile gushed. The bartender slid your drink near your elbow and you grinned his way as thanks.
"Well, it is only 9:30." Joe laughed. Then he reached over and rested a hand on your knee. "You remember y/n right?"
"Of course I do." Lacy turned her smile toward you.
"Hi, Lacy." You smiled back, raising your bourbon for a sip. Another set of faces emerged from the party, and you vaguely recognized them. They knew your name and warmly greeted you. But their interest lied in Joe, of course. They talked him into coming with them to meet someone on the other side of the room.
"Don't worry, I'll save your spot!" Lacy giggled in a way that made you kind of want to leave and go back home. But you just sipped your bourbon and smiled at Joe when he turned to you with a sorry shrug. Lacy slinked past Joe as the strangers pulled him in their tow. Somehow while the only person you knew disappeared into the crowd, you managed to down your bourbon until it was gone. You asked for another.
Then, without prompt or consent, Lacy crossed her silky legs and began to tell you a story you never asked to hear. She explained how a couple of summers ago, Joe was in town filming his very own movie. You knew all about it. You were still in touch with him then. But according to Lacy, she was there. She twirled her hair around a finger while she told you how Joe and his cast would sometimes stop in the all-night diner she worked at back then, and how she would hang around with them when no other customers stopped in. According to Lacy, Joe personally invited her to the wrap party.
"We hung out a lot." Lacy propped her elbow on the bar and her head in her hand. "We didn't see much of each other until his dad got sick, or whatever. We did hang out more when he was home for that."
Your bourbon was gone again. So you asked for a shot of whiskey.
"About time he showed up tonight." Lacy smiled, her teeth sparkling like the glitter her dress was made of. "We've had plans."
"Well, Happy New Year." You smiled. Was she finally done talking?  Someone just as scantily clad and pretty spotted Lacy and hurried up to her for a hug. Your whiskey arrived as the girls scurried into the crowd arm in arm without so much as a goodbye your way. You watched Lacy work the room as she moved through it, keeping that giant smile turned up all the way even when no one was looking. Before you could look away, Joe appeared as if he was making his way back to the bar. Lacy had spotted him too, apparently, and moved like a cheetah to corner him on the dance floor.
So, you were alone now. You could be home alone, but you weren't so, you took your shot of whiskey to try and calm your nerves. This party was way out of your league. You didn't know anyone, not even the people who seemed to vaguely remember you. And the music was pretty obnoxious. But as soon as these thoughts plagued you, a familiar face came into view. Some boy you'd known from high school took Lacy's spot on the barstool at your side. He was your first student, the year you taught your peers to play the piano for some extra cash, freshman year. The guy seemed genuinely glad to see you now, and you had always wondered what happened to him after high school. After catching up for a while, asking a few questions you always wanted to ask him, the guy had one of his own.
"Aren't you married, or something? The last time I saw Joe, he said you were living with some guys in the UK."
Whoa, you were not ready for that one. You sort of hoped everyone had decided you fell off the face of the earth. That thought always eased your mind when it began to wonder what people might ask you, when you moved back home. You hadn't properly prepared an answer for times like these...
"Oh, nope not married." You managed to remain cool under pressure, as the guy nodded in understanding. But of course, he didn't really understand. And he didn't know your throat was going dry at the thought of Kris. You politely excused yourself and headed toward the restrooms.
It wasn't even eleven o'clock, yet but the place was packed with party animals and the only people your recognized were across the floor. Lacy was looping her arm around Joe as she motioned for him to meet someone you couldn't see. The rest of the crowd were blank faces.
Maybe it was the drinks you'd downed so quickly. Or the fact that you still felt like shite at the simple thought of what happened to Kris. You had stopped missing him sometime long before he died; when he skipped town on your last birthday and gave you a present a few months later like an afterthought. That's when you really stopped feeling much for Kris at all. But you never got to end things between the two of you on your own terms. That left a million unimportant arguments burning in the back of your mind. By now, you were just pissed that the situation still had such a massive effect on you. Tonight being no exception at all,
Thank God the restroom was empty. You hurried toward the yellow stalls and prayed no one heard you getting sick. The tile floor was sticky and it hurt your knees. Every moment of this night was more uncomfortable than the last... After some time, you stood to better yourself but felt still felt dizzy as you leaned against the sink counter. The party boomed on and your head pounded. Then the bathroom door creaked open.
"Y/n?" Lacy's shrill pitch echoed through the tiled walls. You felt nauseous again.
"Yeah?" You tried to sound normal, bringing the back of your hand to your lips.
"Did you just...?" She trailed off, and you could only muster a tiny nod before hurrying back to the stall to barf again. Lacy's heels clicked toward the door and it slammed shut. Who would want to watch some girl throw up alone on New Year's Eve? You took your sweet time drinking from the faucet and taking deep breaths in the mirror. You decided that the moment you stepped foot back in the party that you were going to have a good time. Or at least pretend a little harder too.
But after you pushed open the restroom door and started to walk into the crowd, a hand grabbed you and spun you back around. It belonged to Joe, and he was pulling you toward the exit.
"We're going home." Joe decided loudly over the annoyingly loud music.
"Oh no, why?" You pretended to dread. He only pulled you close and guided you through the front doors. A few strangers watched on as you left before midnight. The city streets were empty and quiet, and Joe's car looked warm form the outside.
"Lacy said you got sick?"
"Oh, yeah." You shrugged. Your goal wasn't to ruin the party. "We don't have to leave because of me." You felt sick again.
"First of all yes we do. It wouldn't be fun if you feel bad. Secondly, it was already no fun. They were only playing Katy Perry."  Joe seemed truly disturbed. You had to laugh. The ride back home was quiet.
Joe parked outside your front door and followed behind as you walked up your porch steps. You stalled with your hand on the doorknob and announced that you planned on starting the new year off with a bubble bath. But declaring the peaceful plan didn't make you feel any less horrid. Then Joe softly assured you that he'd be across the street if you need him.
"You aren't gonna go back to the party?" You wondered. Why wouldn't he?
"Why would I?" Joe furrowed his brow, truly confused. You only chuckled and shook your head as you slowly twisted your doorknob and thanked Joe one last time. Then you went inside, even though it looked like Joe had something to say. He could tell you in the morning, you thought.
You felt better in the stillness of your home, surrounded by warm bubbles and candlelight. You changed your sheets and put on an oversized sweatshirt from Australia, one Joe shipped you as a Christmas gift the year he spent filming there. You watched the time on your phone turn to midnight and wondered if Tegan was having a good time. Last year, she helped you throw a party in the pub, and you didn't shut down until five a.m. This year you were snug in bed, high off the scent of your freshly cleaned sheets and relishing the quiet.
You must have succumbed to sleep, but it wasn't long before you shot awake with a tightness in your chest. Sometimes the nightmares faded as quickly as they appeared, leaving you with a racing heart all the while. It was still quiet and you were still alone. Your phone read two in the morning, and there was a text from your mother announcing she booked a room across the city after her wedding shoot. She wished you a happy new year, and that's when everything really started to crumble for you.
Something about being all alone, in a new space and time made your throat close. Your hands buzzed and tears stung your eyes. Every time you tried to close them, the worse your heart sped up. You had no choice but to let yourself cry a little but still couldn't fall asleep when you learned to breathe again. So you scrolled mindlessly through your phone hoping the internet would distract you long enough to fall asleep again.
Your Instagram feed was flooded with photos of friends in new year party hats with drinks in hand. There was a video of someone's baby comically dancing to auld lang syne, and a series of firework boomerangs. Then- a picture that caused your eyes to roll.
You didn't even realize you were following Lacy Duval. But lo and behold, the newest post on your feed was one of her very own. It was a selfie of her and Joe, from tonight. Her arm was tight around his neck, and he looked happy under the red-tinted lights. There were a few hundred likes, and the first comment you saw, read: "You two again! Looking good as ever."
What the hell did that mean? You wondered enough to click on Lacy's profile. Sure enough, between rows of facetuned selfies, there was a slew of photos of Joe on Lacy's feed. One photo of him wearing her bedazzled sunglasses, another of the two of them sharing a booth at the diner Lacy mentioned before.
Your bedroom suddenly felt like a trap, like your mind wasn't the issue. You felt like you did when you'd been grounded as a kid. So you got out of bed and descended the staircase, flipping a lamp on in the living room. Somehow the change of scenery completely changed your mood. You sank into the sofa among decorative pillows and a quilt you'd left behind some days before.
You nestled there, flipping on the tv and decided to play Parks and Recreation in search of a reason to smile. Then your phone buzzed from the coffee table where you tossed it. It was a text, from Joe.
Hey, you still up?
You glanced up to the telly, then back down at your phone, wondering why he was. You had just been on social media. Maybe Joe noticed you were active. Maybe he'd gone back to the party after all.
Yep. You good?
A few minutes passed until he responded again.
Want some company?
A tiny laugh escaped your throat. Why would he want to come over at two in the morning? You couldn't understand how Joe had known to offer his company in this moment when you felt the loneliest you had in a long while. You could help but type back that you were unlocking the door and for him to come in whenever he felt like, if he really did.
You sat back down among the den of comforts that was your old sofa, and watched Parks and Recreation with a wandering mind. You weren't even sure what you'd been thinking of until the front door jostled open, and you snapped back from your zone out.
"Happy New Year!" Joe excitedly boasted. He was dressed in joggers and an old sweatshirt, and he held a paper sack close to his chest as he shut the door behind him.
"What's up your sleeve?" You laughed, stretching your arms as you sat up all the way. You watched Joe cross the room to rest his mysterious bag on the coffee table and sit near you on the edge of the sofa. It wasn't quite like your friend had come over for a visit, but rather like he was finally home after a long day. A warmth bloomed in your chest at the thought of Joe existing back in your orbit, and being happy as always to do nothing together.
"Doctors orders." He spoked as he reached into the paper bag. "We've got some overpriced drug store candy. A bag of ginger cookies. A magazine I found with Bruce Springsteen on the cover, and this." Joe named all the things he revealed from the bag one at a time, ending with a small envelope he handed to you. It was a card with the words "Get Well Soon" scrawled in outlandish cursive. Inside was blank, besides the doodled Joe had drawn of a frowny face wearing a droopy party hat. You laughed out loud, glancing up to your friend who looked quite proud.
"Thank you, Joe. You didn't need to come bearing gifts." You gave him a look as you rested the card on the table in front of you. You hadn't even felt sick since after your bath, anyhow.
"Uh, of course I did. Now shut up and try one of these. This was like, twelve dollars." Joe chuckled, reaching for a golden tin of suckers that came in elaborate flavors like ginseng, lavender, and cinnamon.
"You're out of control." You mocked, shaking your head but peering into the tin all the same. "Simply ridiculous."
"So you're saying you don't want one of these?" Joe jeered, pulling the tin away right as you started to reach in. You scoffed a laugh, moving your hand to shove his shoulder in protest.
"'Course I do! You've truly saved the day." You softened, really meaning it. You were having a really rough go of it until he showed back up. Joe reached in for a sucker and you did too, pulling one that was honey flavored. When you settled back into the sofa, happy with your choice, Joe followed suit. His shoulder pressed against yours and a new episode of Parks and Recreation was starting.
"Sorry the party was so lame." Joe pipped up, pouting as he watched the opening theme play through.
"It's okay." You decided after a beat. You could have assured him it wasn't so bad, but it wasn't great. And you really appreciated Joe's efforts to make your night more enjoyable, whether he realized that's what he was doing or not.
"Do you wanna watch something else?" You offered, suddenly realizing you had nothing left to offer him as thanks for everything. Joe shook his head and stuck in sucker in his mouth like a little kid, and you had to laugh over how much this felt like highschool. Then you settled closer near him, enjoying your candy just as well. Joe's arm fell warmly across your shoulders while a couple of episodes played through with Joe's occasional added commentary and bursts of giggles. You laughed too, but your eyes grew heavier with each passing scene. You hadn't even realized you were falling asleep until you felt Joe take your sucker from you loose grasp. Your head had fallen to his shoulder, and your eyes couldn't stay open one second longer. Parks and Rec’s familiar theme song echoed through the room as you dozed off in a flash, the easiest sleep you'd had in weeks.
///
Your home was quiet again when morning came. You were laying on the sofa with your favorite quilt gently draped over you. Joe was gone. When you stretched into the morning, you noticed a note on the coffee table, where Joe's slew of presents were left from the night before.
"Happy first day of the rest of forever. Thank's for letting me crash for a while. Maybe next week we can have a real party. This has all been an elaborate excuse to use one those fancy quill pens your mom keeps around. x o x o."
You snorted at Joe's thoughtfulness, always going out of his way to let you know how he felt. What had you done to deserve his remarkable friendship after all this time? You dwelled on the thought as you tidied up the living room and went about your day.
///
Your mother had started traveling for work. She was currently somewhere in Denver, taking photos of some happy couple. Leaving you alone to jump over the last of many legal hurdles you faced after coming back home. All you had to do was get from one place to another, delivering some business to the social security office, to confirm you were living back in the states.
The winter's thickets blanket of snow had been reduced to sheets of melting mush, but last night's bitter winds froze the mess to the ground. You waited around the house long enough for salt trucks and rush hour to wear down the roads before you hopped in the jeep your mother left behind. No big deal, you'd driven dozens of times before... just not for a while. You decided your reward for this nerve-wracking mission would be getting dinner from the best pizza place uptown.
You drove down the block with white knuckles, and onto the highway without even thinking. When you realized how far you'd safely made it, you relaxed enough to sing along to Billy Jole as you drove. This was way easier than you'd hoped.
After successfully delivering your paperwork,  you parked in the pizza place lot and ate a piping hot slice behind the wheel while scrolling through social media. Your phone was near dying when you decided to head back home.
Billy Jole was still a great company as you felt your self grow more comfortable behind the wheel. You were in complete control and everything was fine.
Until a loud unsettling POP came from somewhere outside your vehicle. Your car had obviously just blown a tire, slumping to the left in the middle of the highway. As you held your breath and tried to slow down, your remaining tires lost traction on a rouge patch of ice.
"Shitshitshitshit!"
Your car gracefully slid off the road toward a speed limit sign, scraped against the pole and spun around to a halt.
"Damn it!" You cried, tearing your white knuckles from the wheel and covering your face in your hands. Your heart was pounding and your throat closed shut, but a pathetic cry still managed to escape.
A couple of cars breezed by, leaving the highway otherwise empty while you sat trying to pull yourself together.
You weren't hurt. The radio was still blaring Scenes From An Italian Restaurant. It was a little cold, but you were okay. That's what you kept repeating over and over until your hands stopped shaking and you could breathe a little better than before.
"Oh shit." You whimpered, hopping out of the car to monitor the front left tire. The rubber smoking, peeling away from the rim. You hurried back in your car and found your phone was only at nine percent. Who were you even going to call forty minutes away from home? Oh, that's right, no one lived there anymore. Joe was in the city again. Mary was a lawyer and John-
You pulled your phone to your ear as it rang.
"Hello?"
"John? Hey, you live uptown don't you?" He said so at Christmas.
"I do! Stopping by to reminisce?" He laughed.
"I have a really huge favor to ask."
"Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, well, I'm having some car troubles." You explained where you had been left stranded on the highway and how it all happened. How your phone was dying and you needed to call a towing service.
John promised he was right on his way, and you were able to call a service to come and get your car while you waited for a ride of your own.
His blue Buick slowed and eased off the side of the road only fifteen minutes later. John stepped into the frost-covered grass and leaned toward your open driver's window as you collected your things.
"Did you get through to a towing service?" He asked right away.
"They should be here in no time." You assured, and right as you had, a truck came creeping toward you from the other side of the road. By the time everything was sorted out and you eased into John's passenger seat, it was nearly nightfall. He cranked up the heating vents as you glanced around, noticing a car seat in the back, piled with a few bright children's books.
"Man I can't believe baby John has his own baby now." You beamed, turning to face Joe's little brother. He chuckled, stealing a glance your way while pulling back onto the road.
"Almost four, I wish he was still a baby."
"Yeah," You halfheartedly agreed. You wished you could have been around to know the families as they grew. You'd missed out on so much, and for what?
"So what's it like being back? Christmas felt like it always used too." John smiled, easy-going as always. Funny how he saved the day and went on chatting as if it wasn't a big deal, you thought. Weren't you the one supposed to be rescuing him from silly little mishaps like these? Maybe this was an all-new alternate reality.
"I was glad to be there. It had been far too long." You breathed, glancing out the window to the cold grey highway.
"Eva still feels bad for not recognizing you right away." John laughed. You couldn't help but chuckle, too.
"Oh, how could she?" You wondered. You hadn't been around. But you didn't want to dwell on that anymore. "It's not the first time someone thought I was Joe's hot date." You chuckled light-heartedly.
"I'm sure it won't be the last." John rose a brow, like he might have had more to say. But after a beat, he went on rambling about how glad he was that you'd been at the first Christmas his dad was absent from. How things felt less grim than he expected. And how he was glad to know space nor time could keep you from crashing the party.
When John dropped you off back home, you couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry. You concluded that the indecision was better than falling into your usual downward spiral, and hoped things would only get better from here...
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
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ubernoxa · 4 years
Text
THE DARE
A Guns and Roses Fan Fiction 
Chapter 4: The Hell House
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Chapter 4
The morning sun shined through the dark red curtains causing pink light to fill Beth’s room. Unlike most 18 year old’s rooms at the time, there wasn’t a single poster hanging on her baby pink walls. Instead a small cross hung a over her bed, and polaroids of her, Delilah, Mark, and Matt were taped to the back of her closet door out of direct sight. It was Beth’s small action of defiance against her parents.
She had heard a loud truck outside her house early at about 4 in the morning. Beth couldn’t sleep knowing Delilah was out on the strip alone. She tossed and turned all night thinking about how stupid Delilah was to abandon her and stay in line for the bar.
At 4 in the morning she heard someone help Delilah climb through the window. It was a girl’s voice who was probably no older than her that helped her climb through the window.
Beth stayed frozen in bed pretending to sleep as the two girls struggled to open the simple latch. Beth assumes that they must have been drunk, and she was right. They could figure it out by themselves.
“Good morning,” Beth said earning a groan from Delilah who dug her dead deeper into her pillow.
“Come on sleeping beauty time to get up and into the shower. You smell like you haven’t showered in a week!” Delilah groaned at Beth’s comment and pulled the comforter over her head in attempt to hide herself from her problems aka Beth.
Beth let out a loud groan as she pulled Delilah out of her bed and onto the floor. Delilah felt as if her head was going to explode while she let out another groan. She tried to crawl back to the bed, but Beth dragged her by her arm into the bathroom. Beth was panting by the time she finished. She looked at Delilah who had surrendered and was now getting into the shower welcoming the warm water on her sweaty skin.
Beth wondered if Delilah was hung over from however much she drank last night because she was acting like it. Beth prayed that she wasn’t, not wanting to deal with the puking that was soon to come.
Beth wanted to ask Delilah thousands of questions, but she knew she would get nowhere with Delilah’s current state.
Delilah stood with her face directly under the warm shower water. She could feel the mascara, foundation, and the rest of her makeup washing down her face, but she didn’t care. Memories of last night filled her head she and she couldn’t help but smile as at them. She could still feel Duff’s hands and lips on her as they made out. She wanted more.
“Good morning sunshine,” Delilah walked out of the bathroom to hear Beth’s chipper tone.
“Morning!” Delilah replied. Yeah she was mad at Beth, but this wasn’t worth a fight. The only thing coming out of this is more people finding out about last night which is the last thing she wanted.
“Sorry for leaving you last night,” the words flew out of Beth’s mouth.
Delilah froze in place as she heard Beth’s half hearted apology. Was she seriously apologizing? Beth wimped out and left Delilah out to dry alone on the strip. That wasn’t the first time that Beth wimped our, and Delilah knew it wouldn’t be the last.
She had two options. The first option, the one she favored, was to tell Beth off. To scream at her for abandoning her. To say how she always does crap like this. She always wimps out. The second, the one she ended up doing, was to shrug and accept her apology. Delilah didn’t have many friends, and if she lost Beth she was worried she would loose Matt and Mark too.
Beth hopped into the shower annoyed at not receiving an apology from Delilah as well while Delilah went over towards the polaroids that she hid under the bed. She looked through them with a smile crossing her face. The first bunch were of her and Mags dancing during the show, and the rest well...she didn’t remember taking them.
She looked at the one of her and Duff when she tried to escape with the vodka. They were both laughing in the picture. Unknowing to Delilah a huge smile grew on her face, but quickly disappeared when she heard the shower turn off.
Delilah dug through the photos and found one of her and Mags standing by the bar smiling. She couldn’t remember who took the photo or when it was taken, but it was exactly what she needed.
Delilah bolted across the room and threw the rest of her pictures in her bag along with the ‘clothing’ she wore last night.
Delilah threw on one of her lilac dresses that went well below her knees and a pair of black dress shoes.
“I see you are ready to go too!” Beth cheered as she went to grab her purse.
“Hey, you should give this to them and claim you took it. Today is my day off from church duties, so I won’t be stopping by today,” Delilah said handing Beth the picture and grabbing her backpack.
Delilah not hanging out with her on her day off struck Beth as odd. Beth was tasked with helping to cook supper which mean she and Delilah would work together to make time fly by faster while listening to some movie in the background.
“Who is this?”
“A girl who saved me from getting hit on by some guys at the bar. She actually knew someone in the band so we hung out back stage away from the creeps. She is really sweet and actually a good friend,” Delilah opened the door and headed downstairs to leave Beth’s house.
Beth stood frozen in her room. What did she mean by actually a good friend? Delilah was the one who wouldn’t leave when she wanted to go home! Beth wanted to scream at Delilah for the way she insinuated that a random slut that she met at a bar was a better friend than her best friend that she had known her whole life.
————-
Delilah sorted through the photos that were taken that night. There were plenty of her and Mags, a few of the whole group talking, but her favorites were of her and Duff. She could still feel his lips on hers. She sighed as she looked at all the remaining photos. Where was she going to put these. There were like 20 of them, where could she hide them without them easily being found? That’s when it hit her. She had at least 6 bibles in her room, so she grabbed one of the ones she hadn’t touched in ages that was in the bottom of her desk drawer and put the pictures in there one by one.
That’s when she found a number on the back of one of the pictures of her and Mags. She bit her bottom lip as she stared at the number. No one was home, so no one could eavesdrop on her phone call. She took a deep breath as she dialed the phone number.
The phone rang a couple times, but before Delilah went to voicemail someone picked up the phone.
“Hey... it’s Del, I was wondering if I could talk to Mags?” Delilah’s voice was barely auditable and Mags could hear her shaken breath.
“Hey girl what’s up? I was getting worried you wouldn’t call!” Mags smiled once she head Del’s voice. She was relieved to find that her brother’s band hand scared Delilah off.
“You’re awesome, why wouldn’t I call?” Mags smiled as she heard Del’s compliment.
The two of them talked about how their morning was and Mag’s made sure to give Del a couple of pointers on how to easily get rid of a hangover. By now Mags was sitting on the kitchen counter in her apartment playing with the cord that attached her phone to the wall.
“Do you have any plans for today?” Mags was practically praying that she would say no.
“No, not really,” Mags jumped of the counter when she heard her response. She was originally going to help Beth cook all day, but she didn’t want to be anywhere near Beth right now. Mags smiled that her prayer was answered. Maybe Delilah was onto something with this whole praying and Jesus thing?
“Do you wanna go meet up and get something to eat?” The couple of seconds it took for Delilah to answer yes, felt like hours to Mags, but once she said yes Mags was practically jumping for joy.
“Do you want me to pick you up or”
“Oh no, just tell me where to meet you and I can meet you there,” Delilah immediately interrupted in an almost panic. It wasn’t that she couldn’t leave her house when she wanted during the day. It was more of a she would have to explain who Mags was and how she met her which were stories that Delilah didn’t want to share with her parents at the moment, if she was ever going to at all.
So they agreed and a few hours later Delilah locked her bike on a nearby bike rack and walked into the cafe.
Mags immediately spotted Delilah as she walked into the small cafe that they were going to meet in. It was hard to miss her with her brown curly hair flowing down below her shoulders and her flowery lilac dress that hung below her knees. Mags waved Delilah over and noticed the smile grow on her face. She wondered if Delilah was nervous about coming here.
“Hey!” Delilah’s chipper tone filled the table as the two of them quickly began to talk about everything and nothing at the same time. Anyone in the cafe would assume that they were old best friends who hadn’t seen each other and years. It was a bit refreshing for both of them.
“Do you have any plans after this or...”
“No I’m honestly free for the rest of the day. Today is my day off!” Delilah interrupted Mags as she spoke. She also didn’t want to go back home and deal with Beth.
“I gotta drop something off at my brother’s first and you down for some shopping? Unless you want to wear your favorite outfit again to another one of my brother’s gigs.”
“Sounds awesome and the sooner I burn that skirt the better,” Delilah responded earning some giggles from Mags. She wondered if it was weird that she was relieved that Delilah was never going to wear the outfit front the night prior. It’s not that it didn’t look good on her, it was a more of a worry of what people would expect her to be. It was the sad world they lived in where you get judged without even opening your mouth.
They walked the street and Delilah felt more self conscious than she had the night before.
After some time Mags turned towards Delilah who she was now holding hands with to notice her constantly looking left and right afraid to miss a thing.
“Here we are,” Mags pulled her through the doors and up a couple of flights of stairs.
The smell of booze and cheep perfume filled Delilah’s nose as she followed Mags into the small apartment. There appeared to be a couple of rooms, but it was small for having a bunch of guys living in it. Delilah awkwardly stood in the apartment off to the side waiting for Mags to be done with whatever she had to do with her brother. After a couple of minutes of Mags being gone, she decided to start cleaning the beer cans that were scattered across the room. After a couple of minutes of cleaning she heard, “you know you don’t have to do that?” She looked up to see the red head from the night before.
“Yeah, but I don’t mind. Anything is better than awkwardly standing here waiting for Mags to finished whatever she is doing,” Delilah innocently smiled back at the incredibly tired red head that stood in front of her. She truly didn’t mind, anything to help out Mags. He shrugged and Delilah went back to work cleaning up all the empty bottles and trash that filled the rooms. She wondered if they occupants’ apartment was always this filthy.
Axl returned to the main room and cleaned with the brunette. He didn’t need a damn maid, but it was too early in the afternoon to fight with her about it.
“Del is it?”
“Yeah, you’re apart of Steven’s band right? You’re the singer! You were amazing last night,” Delilah didn’t know why but once she opened her mouthing her nerves took over and she couldn’t stop talking. She wanted to cover her mouth with her hand.
“Thanks,” Delilah noticed the smirk that grew on his face and she could tell that he was watching her more than he was cleaning.
“I barely recognized you. You look very different from yesterday,”
Delilah froze at his comment and turned around to look at him, “of course I look different. I’m actually wearing clothing today”
She smiled when his joyful laugh filled the room, and she couldn’t help but laugh with him. He then leaned in and whispered, “but between you and me I liked the other outfit more.” Axl then stood up, left his barely filled bag of empty bottles by Delilah’s, and left the room leaving Delilah speechless with her mind racing in circles.
Across the apartment Mags sat in her brother’s room which was practically a closet, “So I dropped off this month’s rent in the tent due box. How are you guys on food? Do you need any new clothes?”
Mags had been supporting her brother and his band for the past couple months, but she wasn’t the only one. There were a couple of other girls that she would meet, but they preferred doing other things than talking with the guys. They were still nice to her, they just never talked that much.
“I think we are good, you know you don’t have to” before he could continue his sister immediately interrupted him, “I know, but growing up you were always there for me so now it’s my turn to be there for you. Plus I expect millions when you make it big.”
Mags left her brothers room and headed towards the kitchen to make them all some breakfast as a good job for their show last night.
“Delilah you know you don’t have to do that right?” Mags watched as Delilah finished cleaning up all of the beer bottles.
“Yeah, but I want to. You helped me last night, remember?” Mags smiled Delilah’s comment. She also used cleaning as a means to distract herself from what the singer said. Had she found possibly one of the few good hearted people on the strip?
“Fine, but I’m heading to the store to grab some bread. I have something cooking in the stove for breakfast can you make sure the guys don’t eat it before it’s fully cooked in like 5 minutes?” Delilah nodded her head as she waved goodbye to Mags and headed to the kitchen. There was trash everywhere. Delilah wondered how they lived in it.
“Hey, What smells so good,” Mags looked behind her to see a smiling Steven or popcorn as they called him.
“Hey Popcorn, and I think it’s some egg thing. I don’t know, but it will be done,” Delilah turned around to check the one clock that was in the kitchen, “it will be potentially done in 20 minutes.” He smiled at Delilah’s use of his nickname.
“Wanna beer? It will help get rid of the hangover,” it would actually going to cause more pain later, but he didn’t have the heart to tell Delilah that. She already looked like she was done with life.
He watched as Delilah hesitated on her answer, “if you’re worried about it being weird, people usually drink mamosas in the morning which also have alcohoul.” The rest of the band was also going to be drinking whenever they decided to wake, but he decided not to tell her that. He didn’t want Delilah to think poorly of him, she seem to get along great with his sister.
Delilah nodded and he handed her a beer. That was when he was finally able to get a good look at her. Her long purple dress was a huge change from the barely there outfit from the night prior. Her hair looked the same though. Curled and twisted in all different ways, kinda like the curly fries he would get as a kid.
“Morning!” Steven yelled across the room at Duff who only looked a little effected by the drinks the night prior.
“What smells so good? Did your sister bake us something again?” Delilah turned and smiled at the sound of Duff’s voice.
“Yeah it’s like a egg thing, does she usually make stuff like this?” Delilah’s voice caught Duff off guard as the brunette turned around, away from the stove.
Delilah looked over at Duff whose hair was sticking every which way, she tried to hide her laugh, but she couldn’t and Steven quickly joined her.
“Sorry,” Delilah tried hiding her giggle as she apologized to Duff, but it failed.
Duff opened his beer and sat at the table watching Delilah struggle to hide her laughter.
“Like I said last night, I will never fucking forgive you,” he teased back earning a smile from Delilah.
As if on cue, a small timer went off causing Delilah to jump. Her stomach begged for the breakfast dish that Mags made as the smell invaded her nose. The rest of the band must have smelled the egg dish as they quickly poured into the kitchen to smell it. Delilah wondered if Mags had purposely chosen a dish that would wake everyone up. It was smart. Hungover and tired musicians were probably not the best people to deal with in the afternoon.
“So is it done?” Delilah looked into Steven’s puppy dog eyes and nodded her head. She couldn’t find the words to tell him that they couldn’t start without Mags.
“If it’s some then why the fuck are you putting it back in the oven?” Saying Axl was hungry was an understatement. Of course he had small meals here and there, but Mags food always made him drool.
“I’m keeping it warm ya dingus. Mags went shopping to go get the rest of y’all’s lunch...err...breakfast,” Mags said lowering the oven temperature. She looked around the room to be met with confused expressions.
“Delilah what the fuck is a dingus?” Steven asked between his giggles. As if laughter was a disease, it spread through the room.
“An annoying person,” Delilah sheepishly replied staring at the oven pretending to be watching it. She was too embarrassed to look him in the eyes. What if Duff thought she was an idiot or a child?
“What the hell, are you five? Trying calling me an annoying piece of shit next time, that way I can take you seriously,” Axl laughed back. His laugh wasn’t the sweet one she heard earlier, this one was vicious and cruel.
“Hey, Axl you don’t gotta be a dick,” Steven replied before he noticed that Dilalah had left the room.
Was Delilah overreacting? Probably.
But here she was sitting in another room by herself sulking on the couch. She couldn’t walk back into that room after leaving it.
Who was she kidding, why did she even think coming here with Mags would be a good idea? She shouldn’t of ever called her. She already felt like an outsider and Axl wasn’t helping.
She heard some ruckus from the kitchen, but then just shrugged it off trusting Steven to keep the food in the oven and out of their stomach’s.
“You know she probably just came to the bar last night on a dare,” Axl said. Why? Not even Axl knew. The room went quiet again until Steven broke the silence, “I’m going to make sure she is ok.” He eyed Axl as he walked out of the room with Duff on his tail.
“Oh great, do they both want to fuck her or something? She a church girl, anyone with eyes can see it. She thinks she is better than us. We are probably some sort of putty project,” before Axl could continue ranting Slash told him to shut up and went to his room that he shared with Duff.
Steven’s heart sunk as he saw Delilah sitting on their sad excuse for a couch. He had lost track of how many girls they had all fucked on that couch and decided not to mention that to Delilah until another time.
“It’s a pretty day out. It’s always nice to see the calm before the storm. This place becomes barely recognizable during the day before the street comes to life,” Steven rambled.
Delilah flashed him a fake smile and went back to looking outside. He then tried a couple of quick jokes, but she simply faked a smile and went back to what she was doing. Steven didn’t know what else to do, and truth be told neither did Duff.
Duff walked over towards the bin that held their suspiciously acquired records. Curious to see what he was looking for, Delilah watched him. She eventually went back to her staring out the window until she heard Duff’s voice.
“Last night you said you didn’t know a lot about Rock and Roll, so I thought I might as well show you what your missing,” Duff said joining her on the small couch.
Hesitantly Delilah turned around to face him. If it had been anyone else, she probably would had asked them to show her later, but it was Duff. Even though Delilah didn’t fully know it, she had a crush on the bassist.
“So you have your God, and rock and roll has ours,” Duff showered her the album cover waiting for her reaction. She said nothing, but she didn’t look mad, so he continued.
He rambled on for a couple minutes about how great Bowie was. Telling about which songs he liked more and other miscalaneous compliments.
“Do you have a record from that band everyone was talking about last night?” She wanted so bad to understand and listen to the music everyone was talking about. She didn’t want to be a social outcast. She wanted a place to belong.
“No, just like us they don’t have a record out, but they are playing tonight if you want to go see them,” Duff offered.
“Really?” Delilah was shocked at his offer.
“Well I made you a promise, didn’t I?” Then Duff flashed Delilah a smile that made her heart melt. Was she over analyzing this situation? Yes.
“Yeah!” Delilah quickly relied.
“Sweet, there are a bunch of us going tonight. The more the merrier.”
Delilah heart sunk. It wasn’t a date.
“Hey, why aren’t you watching the food?” Mags was a bit peeved that Delilah would completely ignore the fact that she had to watch the food. They didn’t have enough eggs to remake the dish.
Once she got a better look at Delilah’s face, her annoyance disappeared. What the hell did they do to Del?
“The food is fine. I have the oven keeping it slightly warm. I’m in here because Axl was..” Delilah paused sharing a look with Duff.
“Go ahead and say it. I call him that all the time,” Mags raised an eyebrow trying to decider what Duff was talking about.
“Axl was being a piece of shit,” Mags chucked as she saw Delilah proud to let the words come out of her mouth.
“Lunch will be ready in 5 minutes,” Mags yelled through the small apartment as she walked into the kitchen with her grocery bags.
“I’ve never seen someone so proud to call another person a piece of shit,”
“Well Duff you have never met someone like me,” Delilah looked up from the David Bowie record that he had handed her, rather proud.
“Hey popcorn, what’s your favorite record in here,” Delilah asked pointing at the box of records.
“Can’t choose, but for at this very second...” for a couple of seconds he stopped talking until he landed upon the record he was looking for and handed it to Delilah.
She looked at the band and quickly turned over the album to see the names of the songs.
“Thoughts?”
“That guy looks cooler with the lightening bolt on his face,” Delilah picked up David Bowie’s album and pointed to his makeup earning a chuckle.
That’s when it clicked, something that should have clicked a while ago when he mentioned the promise. If he remembered the promise then he probably remembered their make out session.
“Earth to Del, are you OK?”
“Yeah, of course why wouldn’t I be?” Delilah answered in a matter of fact tone. It wasn’t a lie, but it also wasn’t the truth.
“Food is ready!” When Delilah heard Mag’s voice she stood up, grabbed Duff’s beer, and headed towards the kitchen. She took a swig, and forced herself to swallow the nasty drink.
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camillemontespan · 4 years
Text
the wedding date [AU. drake walker]
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Just a short thing I started, might not continue this, but think this could be like a romcom fic. I watched a film with the babe that is Dermot Mulroney last night and was reminded of the Wedding Date. So.. this fic is inspired by that. 
@burnsoslow​ @moonlightgem7​ @fromthedeskofpaisleybleakmore​ @pug-bitch​ @jovialyouthmusic​ @ibldw-main​ @sirbeepsalot​ @dcbbw​ @mskaneko​ @gardeningourmet​ @of-course-i-went-to-hartfeld​  @emichelle​ @katedrakeohd​ @emceesynonymroll​ @notoriouscs​
                 *****************************************************
‘She’s getting married.’
Liam and Leo both blinked in shock as they digested Drake’s words. His voice was despondent. Sighing, he crumpled up the invitation with gold lettering and threw it to the centre of the table. 
‘Dude.. are you okay?’ Leo asked. 
Drake shrugged. ‘Yeah. It was expected, you know? I knew she had a boyfriend.’
‘True but it’s only been six months..’ Liam interjected. 
‘Must be true love then, heh,’ Drake replied, trying to make light of it. ‘Something I couldn’t offer her.’ 
The three of them were sat in a bar on the corner of East 62nd Street. It was Saturday and their ‘guys day’ which had promised to consist of beer and football had become overshadowed by Drake’s announcement that his ex-girlfriend was engaged. 
Kiara had wanted to be the bigger person and invite Drake, her ex-boyfriend. 
Drake wished she hadn’t. 
‘Are you gonna go?’ Liam asked. 
‘Fuck no,’ Drake said. ‘Why would I want to put myself through that? The pitying looks. The awkward small talk The champagne. Ugh, fuck that.’ 
Leo smirked. ‘Maybe you could bring a date. Show her that you don’t care.’
‘I’m not even going to consider that,’ Drake said dryly. He gestured to the bartender and asked for another glass of whiskey. ‘Make it a double.’
Liam reached out to open the crumpled invitation. 
‘His name is Gabriel. Like the angel,’ he said, reading its contents. ‘Ooh they’ve hired the Plaza for the wedding venue. Champagne reception and canapes. How fancy.’ 
‘Just like her,’ Drake said quietly. ‘She always liked that shit.’
Leo and Liam grimaced. They knew that Drake and Kiara had been ill-matched from the very beginning. Why the two of them were ever together, they would never know. 
Kiara was the daughter of a diplomat. She studied at an Ivy League university - Princeton- and worked as a translator.  She loved fine wine, travel documentaries and designer clothes. 
Drake was the son of a security guard - his father passed away when he was fourteen and his mother abandoned him soon after. He didn’t go to university, instead working in bars when he was legally of age. He loved whiskey, boxsets and denim shirts. He had never worn anything designer in his life.
But that was just the superficial stuff. The flaws in their relationship ran deeper than materialism. Drake was often happy to go to dive bars and wind away the hours with a bottle of whiskey. He was fine with his life; not totally happy because who genuinely was, but he was fine. He liked living in New York and seeing his friends. He liked going outdoors on hikes, but Kiara didn’t. She wasn’t one for outdoor activities; she liked her creature comforts. 
It had stemmed from their sexual attraction. They had locked eyes one night at the bar Drake worked. It was an up-market place and Kiara had been sat with her friends on a tall chair, her lithe legs crossed with her dress riding up her thigh. As Drake poured a glass of wine, Kiara’s gaze was fixed on him and he found that he couldn’t look away. 
She was petite. Dark skin, black hair, flirty smile. 
They went back to hers. Drake had picked her up and pinned her against the wall of the hallway, enjoying the groans she made as he kissed her neck. His hands had raked through her hair and pulled at her designer dress, revealing the lace black lingerie she wore underneath. 
Kiara liked kink, Drake gradually found out. When they became official, she introduced new things to the bedroom that Drake loved. He loved that she liked bondage. He loved that she liked sex toys. He loved that she would walk to his apartment dressed in only a trench coat and heels, untying her coat when he let her inside, so the trench fell to the floor and revealed her nude form. 
But it wasn’t enough. 
Kiara wanted to commit. Like, really commit. She wanted a ring on her finger and declarations of love. 
But Drake didn’t love her. It wasn’t her fault; the fact was that Drake Walker had never loved anyone. He didn’t know how to. 
In the end, she left. 
And he wasn’t surprised. 
Because everyone left Drake in the end. What was one more person?
                                             ***********************************
‘I’ve signed you up.’
Drake frowned at Liam. ‘Signed me up for what?’
‘Dating,’ Liam replied, holding up his phone. 
‘Oh fuck off, Li,’ Drake groaned. ‘I don’t need a girlfriend-’
‘Not a girlfriend,’ Liam interrupted. ‘Just something casual.’
‘Why?’
Liam picked up the invitation. ‘Because you were with Kiara for two years,’ he said. ‘She meant something to you. She’s invited you to her wedding. Clearly, she wants to make amends. Why not?’
‘Sounds like hell if you ask me,’ Leo said, tossing back a glass of scotch. ‘Why would he want to do that? Attend his ex’s wedding while she laughs and kisses her new husband, revelling in her new status as a constant ball and chain? Sounds like a fucking blast.’
Drake smirked. ‘Exactly.’
‘Look, you can bring a date to this!’ Liam protested. ‘You can show you have moved on. You can look like a good guy, going to her wedding to wish her well.’
‘Liam, no random girl is going to go to a wedding with a guy she’s just met,’ Drake told him. 
Liam shot him a mischevious smile. ‘Not these girls.’
Drake grabbed his phone. ‘What the fuck have you done?’
Plus1.com. 
‘What the fuck is plus1.com?’ Drake asked, horrified. Leo let out a laugh but lapsed into silence when Drake gave him a death stare. 
Liam smiled. ‘It’s a website for people who are looking for dates for events they’ve been invited to. Your profile is shared around agencies until a girl messages you. Hence, plus one. It’s online dating for those who don’t actually want to date! The girl finds you, so it’s not creepy as it’s all in the girl’s court,  and you meet up, talk about the wedding, and then you go to said wedding. Easy.’
‘I could just stay home,’ Drake replied. ‘That’s the other option. Less hassle. Makes more sense. I can just get drunk on whiskey and watch porn.’ 
‘That sounds fucking excellent,’ Leo quipped, raising his glass. ‘Cheers to that!’ 
Liam looked from Leo to Drake with a look of dismay on his face. ‘You both are disgusting.’
                                   **********************************
Liam had emailed Drake the login details for plus1.com. The username Liam had chosen for Drake was ‘GrumpyMarshmallow’ and the profile picture was of the three of them at another bar. Drake was going to delete his profile as soon as he got home. He didn’t want to have that abomination online for another minute. 
Drake got home at 2am. He lived in a dingy studio apartment over a liquor store, which Leo thought was the best location for an apartment, which meant that Drake would have to move at some point. Anything Leo approved of was bad thing. 
He got undressed and pulled on his check pyjama bottoms. Sitting up in bed with his laptop balanced on his lap, Drake pulled up the plus1 website. He cringed at the profile Liam had made for him. 
My name’s Drake Walker. I’m 28 years old, single -obviously- and live in New York. I like whiskey, hiking, reading and 80s rock (don’t judge). I’m fun company, if a little sarcastic and dry to begin with, but I swear, once you get to know me, I’m not all bad.  I’ve been invited to my ex’s wedding and I don’t want to go. My friends have suggested I try this. It’s a champagne reception and canapes. I can’t stand champagne or canapes. Emotional support will be needed. 
Ugh god, he needed to delete this asap. 
He was trying to find the Settings option when he saw that he had a message. It would probably be those ‘Welcome to hell!’ intro messages for new users. 
It wasn’t.
The profile picture was of a girl. She had dark hair, caramel skin and was posing in front of a white wall. It looked like a polaroid for a model on a go-see. Drake thought this started to look suspicious. Maybe Liam had missed the small print? 
‘Hey there,’ her message began. 
‘‘Ugh champagne and canapes, really? But hey, problem shared is a problem halved, right? 
P.S. whiskey on the other hand.. 
-Camille. ‘
Drake stared at the screen. What was he supposed to do with that? 
Delete the fucking profile. 
She was pretty.
Delete the fucking profile.
Was she flirting with him?
Delete the fucking profile.
But then, he could go to the wedding and show Kiara that he was fine. He was doing good. He had a babe on his arm. He didn’t need Kiara. He had.. Camille. Camille who liked whiskey. 
Delete the fucking profile.
Drake thought of Kiara kissing her new husband while everyone looked at him with pity. 
Drake thought of staying home to drink whiskey and watch porn. 
Drake clicked on the message and began to type. 
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Dan and Phil Rize Summary, Sept. 4/5, 2018
-Dan started the stream before Phil could fully sit down in frame, and then Dan hit the wrong button and almost ended the stream
-Phil made Dan write the notification, Dan refered to them “Dip and Pip.” Our secret code has spread to them, what have we done??
-Phil said his quiff is droopy because he just woke up. He just had his coffee before the stream, so he said we should see him wake up in about ten minutes
-Dan’s response to why they chose this time for the livestream: “Earth man. It’s crazy”
-They’re staying in a rainforest in a house surrounded by birds and nature before they leave for Asia
-Martyn told them they were renting a place if D&P wanted somewhere to relax instead of a hotel, but neglected to tell them beforehand that it was in the rainforest
-A lot of “nature” keeps coming inside the house, including a very specific mosquito that made a very specific noise, which Dan and Phil attempted to imitate to show us.
-They spent about an hour trying to find the mosquito so they could get rid of it and get some sleep last night. Phil: “I think every clap [of our hands] made it stronger.”
-Dan said they’ve made it through Australia without seeing a spider, and Phil got mad because he was going to jinx them. Dan said nature was about to burst to life because it’s almost spring, and Phil then did a rendition of Chasing Cars as “Show me your beast bursting into life” which he said was by the band “Beast Patrol”
-Dan tweeted out the Truth Bomb question about superheroes while Phil was asleep, and Phil reminded him that they already gave a question about what animal Dan looks like last week. Phil laughed while Dan hid out of frame in shame, and decided that will be the question next time
-Phil bought some “exciting” new Tim Tams that are iced coffee gelato flavor that you’re supposed to put in the fridge. Phil said it had a 0.5 out of 5 health rating. Dan: “Same.”
-They went on a tangent about Woolworths because it’s a thing in Australia. Dan discussed the “family underwear” section; Phil said there was a section called “Manchester.” They couldn’t figure out what it was supposed to be because the rest of the aisle was diapers and stuff, so Phil suggested it was their “family planning” section
-Phil cried (on the inside) at Hobbiton, Dan ACTUALLY cried. Apparently you get on a bus, and then they start playing Frodo running through the Shire, and it made Dan a mess
-Phil said the best thing was the giant tree on top of Bilbo’s house, which is made out of steel, and Phil said, “It’s STEEL there!” Dan gave him a classic “this guy” look at the pun, and then the livestream broke. Dan: “I think Phil just made a pun so terrible, it crashed the app”
-After seeing their friend try to take a picture leaning out of the Hobbit-sized door that looked like they were sticking their butt out, Dan told them they looked like they were “Backin’ it up the Bilbo.” (For Bilbo? Idk, they were laughing too hard to understand). When the waitress at the pub wanted to take a group photo of them, Dan said they should all say that instead of cheese and the waitress seemed confused and horrified
-Phil told Dan to “let me talk about the glowworm thing.” Dan said he wasn’t going to stop him.
-They loved their glowworm cave tour guide’s accent because he sounded kind of like Taika Waititi’s character in Thor Ragnarok
-They bantered about the difference between stalactites and stalagmites, Dan got so annoyed with Phil that he shifted the angle of the live stream so he was the only one in frame to talk about the cave
-Dan said they shouldn’t have told them what the glowworms were before they went through, because they are basically giant maggots that hang from “spider silk” stuff coming out of them to catch bugs
-Phil said it was a beautiful experience, like looking at a galaxy, but they weren’t allowed to take pictures. It was apparently a bright, satisfying blue that he would have flown straight to if he were a fly
-The ice cream place they went to doesn’t let you see the ice cream before you ordered it, they just show you an iPad, and it comes in some weird cones that go around your face? Phil got honeycomb, Dan’s was really difficult to eat, but really good. You could also get ice cream inside a Yorkshire pudding
-Dan: “You got your toast violated by a strange person.” Phil: “I did! Someone buttered my toast for me!” They went on a tangent about how personal the “buttering” experience is, and Phil said he started thinking about how much the person must have touched the bread while doing it. He still ate it, though
-The bath in their 32nd floor hotel room had a window that showed the entire city. Dan used a bath bomb, climbed in with the window shade closed, then opened it to look, but then the window steamed up so he couldn’t see anything. Phil said he likes when windows steam up because you can draw pictures. Dan: “Someone has to clean that, Phil.”
-They saw some “urban explorers” next to their hotel who were balancing on the edge of the skyscraper across from them, and they made awkward eye contact through their hotel room window. Phil apparently peed moments before, and he thinks they probably could have seen him through the window next to the toilet
-Phil: “Swish, swish, bish, another fly in your mouth!” Dan said Phil’s song was worse than actually getting a fly in your mouth
-Phil showed off his Friends t-shirt. Dan said that Phil is a combo of Ross and Phoebe. Dan said he is mostly Chandler, but also a bit of Monica. They said Friends was highly problematic by today’s standards, but everyone should go back and watch it
-They “smashed” all of Olan Rogers’ Final Space episodes. Dan is happy that people are finally appreciating Olan’s work. Phil said it was very emotional, and Dan is excited for more
-Phil about AHS: “Sometimes they put all of their eggs in one basket, and I’m just like, ‘Guys. Don’t ruin the basket.���”
-They finished Big Little Lies, Dan’s official review: “Dank AF”
-Phil had to remind Dan about the rest of the bath story, as Dan “repressed” it. Dan apparently got in the bath, then housekeeping knocked on the door and came in to replace the towels. Dan was waiting for Phil to do “LITERALLY anything,” but Phil didn’t think about Dan being in the bath. Dan screamed “NOOOOO” to stop her from coming in, Phil said it was a haunting scream, and the lady just left.
-Phil: “I forgot. It was fine. She didn’t see you. You were showing your naked body to the whole city anyway!”
-They apologized for the Manila mix up, and said there are bound to be some hiccups on a big tour like this. (If you’re still confused, check the FAQ on the tour page!)
-Someone told them to get a cat. Phil said he’s more allergic to cats than dogs, so that wouldn’t be a good idea
-They dodged giving details about the ii movie, they still aren’t allowed to say anything. They ARE putting ii tour merch on the website on FRIDAY though
-Dan said Phil doesn’t wear his Introvert jacket enough because he wears his blue one more
-They started up Truth Bombs with “What animal does Dan look like?” to which Dan’s answer was a tired, greasy rat
-The first person’s audio came through, but not video. Dan asked if they were existing in the space between dimensions, and they said yes. They said their group chat decided Dan’s spirit animal is Big Bird from Sesame Street (because he’s big and awkward). Phil said he used to have nightmares about Big Bird being in his bedroom when he woke up
-The next person’s video worked, and they were wearing a Phil hoodie. Dan complimented their nails, which were black on one hand and colorful on the other. They had an answer for Dan and Phil, which was Timon and Pumba if their personalities were switched. Dan said it made perfect sense on “like five different levels…Freaky Friday Lion King edition, the AU that nobody asked for”
-They tried the dice option to call a random person, it didn’t work. Twice.
-The next person was the one to get Phil the Polaroid shirt. Dan said it’s covered in Sharpie now
-Their answer was that Dan is a howler monkey. Phil: “Dan HOWELL-er monkey!” Dan disapproved of the pun, but declared them the winner
-Next week’s question is “If Dan and Phil were a superhero duo, what would their powers be?” Phil said he probably shouldn’t be trusted with powers
-Before the great mosquito hunt last night, Dan went to get a drink and found a lizard. He wasn’t scared of it, he just kind of closed it up in the room to let it do its thing
-They tried the ice coffee Tim Tams, they both liked them and said they would dip them in coffee later. Phil: “Dip, dip, bish”
-They went back and forth with the chat on how to pronounce “mukbang”
-Dan hasn’t listened to Bloom yet. He was going to listen on the plane, Phil told him not to so the plane noises wouldn’t interfere. Dan agreed because he wants to take it very seriously to see how Troye has matured as an artist. Phil suggested that he “eat it with his ears.”
-There will be another “fun” DAPG video with “the thing with the thing” that is coming “soon...ish.”
-Phil tried to say he hoped we were having a nice day, and accidentally said “I hope you’re having a nice guy”
-They might do the next liveshow on a Thursday because they’ll be settling in Manila next Tuesday
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coolestqcumber · 6 years
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Half a Heart (Linong - Nine Percent)
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Word Count: Apprx 2.6k
It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves. -Shakespeare
Soulmate!au
 This is it. He’s going to break up with me right now. “I’m gay.” You choked on your tea. While you had expected your soulmate to break up with you, you hadn’t foreseen it to be for this reason. Your now-ex-boyfriend winced at your reaction and patted you on the back as you attempted to cough the hot liquid out of your throat. You have always felt slightly off about your and Zhengting’s relationship. While he was sweet and doting, sparks never really seemed to fly between the two of you. And now you knew why.
 “It’s okay. I’m okay,” you rasped and waved him off. You downed the rest of your tea in one gulp and swiped your napkin across your mouth. You reached across the table and took his hand in yours. The matching heart tattoos shimmered gold on both your wrists, even under the dim romantic lighting of the cafe. “I’m sorry. It must’ve been so hard for you,” you murmured as you watched the hearts on your wrists dull to a plain black before half of it disappeared leaving behind an incomplete heart, the symbol of a severed soulmate bond.
 The origins of the soulmate bond was still a mystery to people, though there were some aspects of it figured out. When a person turns 18, their soulmate mark appears on their wrist (on the left wrist for guys and on the right for girls). The mark is a simple heart which is styled uniquely to match the one of your predestined significant other. And when you and your soulmate meet, the hearts would turn a sparkling gold: a complete soulmate bond.
 No one could figure out why the marks appeared or why the soulmate bonds existed. Over the centuries, scientists grew fed up with researching the phenomenon and let the rumors run wild. The most popular was a legend of how humans were created to be the playthings of the children of the gods above. The children loved to imagine their toys in a world of fairytales where there is a princess for every prince just waiting for him to sweep her off her feet and the soulmate bonds came into existence.
 Sounds romantic? No good things ever last. Eventually, the children grew up to be gods and goddesses themselves, no longer caring to play with their humans any longer. However, while they neglected their playthings, the grown children didn’t have the heart to destroy the toys had brought them so much joy in the past. So the soulmate bond was set on auto-run. As time went on, it seemed as if soulmates were no longer carefully selected to be the perfect match for one another, rather just randomly assigned.
 And humans eventually found that breaking the soulmate bond was possible. Nowadays, your soulmate was often your first love, but was hardly ever your last.
 “Sh!t! I wish I could stop crying. I used my fancy mascara today and it’s all going to waste,” you complained irritably into your phone’s speaker. You didn’t know why you were crying. You weren’t exactly sad. Just disappointed maybe, and a tad bit lonely.
 You pouted at the sound of giggling on the other side of the phone. “Chen Linong, are you laughing right now?!” you demanded, feeling offended by the lack of sympathy you were receiving from your best friend. “No?” the voice on the phone replied timidly. “And please stop pouting. The pout mixed with your crying face is almost too ugly for me to bear.” You were about to make a harsh retort about his face before you realized: wait, how did he know you were pouting?
 You looked up and there he was. Linong wore a soft smile on his face as he walked toward you, pushing his bike along with him. “Here.” He tossed you a small bag. There were makeup wipes and tissues inside. Linong sat down next to you on the park bench, and waited patiently for you to clean yourself up.
 When you were done, you sighed quietly and leaned your head against his shoulder. “This sucks,” you murmured. “What? The fact that you guys broke up?” Linong asks, wrapping a comforting arm around you. “No. The fact that he’s gay! And I didn’t know. Now I feel bad because I was holding him back because I didn’t want to break up with my soulmate. But now that I think about it, there were so many signs. I was just too selfish to admit it to myself.”
 “Yeah, you could definitely tell by the way he was eyeing up Kunkun during dance practices.” Your jaw dropped and you sat up straight, “You knew?! And you didn’t think to tell me?” “It’s not that easy-” You cut him off, “You literally could’ve been like ‘Hey y/n, your soulmate is gay and you should probably get yourself out of that relationship because it’s a waste of your time.”
 “That’s not what I meant. I’m just saying that it had to happen on your own time,” Linong said gently and you nodded your head understandingly. You sighed again. “Don’t worry. It’s not the end of the world. You’ll get over it soon.” You stared at the black mark on Linong’s wrist. “Yeah, I’ll get over it.” Linong took your hand in his and pulled you to stand up. “Come on, I’ll take you home.” You obediently followed Linong to his bike and hopped on, wrapping your arms securely around his waist.
 As Linong pedalled furiously down the sidewalks, he felt you sleepily lean against his back and his breath caught in his throat. The streets were silent, the only sound was the soft metallic clicks coming from the gears spinning on the bike. “I wish you were my soulmate,” you mumbled and Linong almost crashed the bike in surprise. “Do you mean that?” he asked, but you were already asleep. Even though he knew you probably didn’t mean it and you couldn’t hear him, Linong couldn’t help himself from replying with a quiet “me too.”
 The next few days were mostly spent indoors hanging out with Linong. The two of you were having a movie marathon, but the movie playing was being neglected in favor of a popcorn eating contest. A sharp knock at the door interrupted your fun.
 You tried to brush the crumbs off your face the best you could and answered the door. “Zhengting?” “Hey Y/n, I just came to pick up some of my stuff. I know I should’ve called- Oh hi Nongnong,” Zhengting greeted as Linong materialized at your side. You let your ex inside and followed him to your once-shared bedroom.
 It was a bit strange to be in the same room as someone you used to date, hug, and kiss. But at the same time, it also felt liberating to stand next to Zhengting and not be expected to do coupley things (he had always been super touchy while you were not particularly fond of it).
 “So are you and Linong official yet?” Zhengting asked casually collecting his belongings, interrupting your thoughts. “WHAT?! No! Where’d you get that idea from?” Zhengting glanced around your room and you followed his gaze. Zhengting strolled over to a picture frame filled with polaroids. “You don’t have any pictures of me in here even though I was your boyfriend for more than half a year, and yet he’s in every single one.” You shrugged, “That literally proves nothing. He’s my best friend.”
 He picked a random hoodie off the ground, “This isn’t mine, is it?” You shook your head, “It’s Nongnong’s.” Zhengting wore an expression as if to say ‘there you go!’ You huffed, “Best friends can wear each other’s clothes!”
 Zhengting sighed exasperatedly, “Okay, what about how you feel about him then?” You sighed heavily, “I don’t know. I guess...I just never thought about it before. I just don’t want to lose what we have between us right now; it feels-” “Comfortable,” Zhengting finished for you. “See, this is your problem. Y/n, you’re so stuck on feeling comfortable that you throw away all your chances of true happiness. You didn’t break up with me because you were comfortable in our relationship. But did it make you happy?”
 You were silent. Zhengting sighed and patted your shoulder as he moved to leave. “The poor guy has been waiting for-ever for you. Please don’t make him wait any longer. And please don’t make yourself wait anymore.”
 Stupid Zhengting. Ever he said those things about you and Linong, you felt like you couldn’t see him as the best friend you always knew. Now you were micro analyzing everything he was doing. Did he really like you? That was just crazy talk, right? Zhengting was probably just messing with you. You winced as you remember that one of Zhengting’s most defining traits was his honesty.
 Linong held open the door for you to the noodle shop. Was that a sign that he liked you? You groaned internally. This was hopeless. You were hopeless. This seriously needed to stop if you wanted to be normal in front of your best friend. The food the two of you ordered arrived, temporarily distracting you from your internal crisis.
 You blew at the fragrant steam rising from your bowl of noodles. You picked up your chopsticks and began eating. Your best friend teasing kicked your foot under the table and you looked up to glare at him. Linong grinned at the sight of your grumpy face with your mouth stuffed full of food.
 And, all of the sudden, Linong was just breathtakingly handsome. The corners of his eyes were crinkled with laughter, his lips were split in a wide smile, and his teeth seemed to wink at you under the fluorescent lights of the restaurant. Your mouth fell open because (damn) how had you not noticed before how hot your best friend was.
 However, when your jaw decided to unhinge itself, it did not account for the noodles you had been shoveling into it. And as soon as your trap opened, the contents fell out. It was probably a revolting sight. But Linong didn’t seem bothered by it. If anything, he laughed even harder.
 “Sorry, I...choked,” you managed to stutter out. Linong flashed you another heart stopping smile. “Just finish eating before your noodles get cold. And here-” Linong reached across the table to dab some soup from the corner of your mouth. He smiled yet again and your heart gave an uncomfortable squeeze in your chest. Was this what it felt like to fall in love?
 You were officially freaking out. For the rest of the evening, you tried to keep yourself from ogling at Linong. When you returned home, you had proceeded to look up everything about crushes on the Internet. Then, you had tossed and turned in your bed for the rest of the night, debating your entire existence.
 Confess? You didn’t want to be one of those shallow girls that just threw herself at a boy as soon as she had a slight interest. But was it just a “slight interest” though? Of course you had crushes before, but never like this. The rush of warmth you got today whenever Linong’s hand brushed against yours, or when he took care of you. Maybe you had always liked him but was too scared to admit it to yourself.
 When you had been with Zhengting, you always seemed to be pushing yourself to do things you wouldn’t have normally enjoyed. Meanwhile, around Linong, you never felt yourself straining to be...something you weren’t. You could just be unapologetically you and Linong would always accept you as you were.
 You pressed your face into your pillow and groaned. What were you going to do?
 “Hey…..hey!” you whispered harshly in Linong’s direction. When he turned towards you, you threw the crumpled up note to him. The paper hit Linong square in the face, knocking his glasses askew. You winced and mouthed a ‘sorry’ when he shot you an annoyed look and stuck his tongue out.
 You felt your heartbeat quicken as you watched him unfold the paper and read its contents. Like a hawk, you watched him scrawl something on the paper before throwing it to you without looking back.
 With trembling hands, you opened the paper and stared in open shock at what Linong wrote. Instead of choosing ‘yes or no’ , he had circled the ‘or’ in between. At the bottom of the paper, Linong had written “IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?” (yes, in all-caps). You looked up to find him already looking at you with his chair tilted back casually and smiling innocently. You flipped him off and Linong replied by blowing you a kiss. You flicked the imaginary kiss away and pretended to watch it sail off into the distance.
 Linong laughed and his chair, which had been balancing on two of its legs, slipped out from under him. Linong went down flailing, banging his head on the desk behind him in the process. The room went silent. The teacher sighed tiredly and sent Linong to the nurse’s office.
 You rushed to the nurse’s office as soon as class let out. “Oh my goodness, are you okay Nongnong?” you exclaimed when you saw him lying on the bed with an ice pack on his head. He groaned in response, letting you know he was alive. “Let’s just go home.”
 The nurse must’ve given him pain relievers that made people slightly loopy because Linong was more giggly than normal on the way home. Linong suddenly stopped and grabbed your shoulders, forcing you to face him. “Y/n, my answer is yes.” You wrinkle your brow in confusion, “What?”
 Linong huffed and rolled his eyes dramatically, “Yes! I like you.” He hugged you to his side and continued his ramblings. “I waited for such a long time for you! And then you confessed first. Imagine that! Even though it was kind of a trashy confession, I feel like I could die from happiness.”
 You crossed your arms and frowned at him, “I spent a lot of time planning that ‘trashy confession’ out. I scoured the web for at least an hour for ideas and then I spent the whole class waiting for the teacher to turn his back on the class to pass you that ‘trashy confession’.” You wiggled yourself out of Linong’s embrace and snarled, “I didn’t even get to take any notes in class today because of you and my ‘trashy confession.’”
 Linong leaned waaaaaay in, so that your faces were only a few centimeters apart. “Should I give you a reward for all your hard work?” he asked lowly. You gulped, not used to this side of your bestie who was normally all sunshine and no shade. He smiled and his intimidating aura morphing back to the innocent persona you were used to.
 He took your face between his hands and pressed his lips to your forehead. Your breath caught in your throat and you quickly hugged him around the waist. You bury your face in Linong’s chest, hiding the blush on your face.
 He pulled away from you and took your hand in his. Mystified, you stared down at your intertwined fingers and that’s when you noticed it. The incomplete halves of the soulmate marks on each of your wrists were pressed together, lining up to form a lopsided but complete heart. Linong’s half look faded and choppy, as if it had been scrawled onto his wrist with a crayon. Your mark was smooth with the stroke enlarging at the bottom, like it was drawn with a calligraphy pen. The heart wasn’t perfect. But love was never meant to be perfect anyways.
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itfandomsecretsanta · 6 years
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To: @tired-stanley From: @finn-trashmouth
Of course Stanley realized that not everybody celebrated Hanukkah. It would have been bigoted of him not to. He just sometimes wished the school would stop being so… segregational about everything.
 As he was walking from his eighth period class, getting ready to pack up and go home, he had a hard time not glaring at the ‘Merry Christmas!’ poster that was slapped directly sideways onto his locker door. It was like they were trying to patronize him.
 He clawed the poster off his locker and crumpled it up, tossing it in a nearby trashcan and ignoring some of the looks he got from fellow classmates. So what if they thought he was a grinch? They’d probably do the same thing if the roles were flipped.
 He subconsciously adjusted his Kippah as he spun the lock on his locker until he heard a satisfying click. As he opened it and began to shove books into his backpack, he heard loud, irregular footsteps and felt a presence next to him. He turned around and came face to face with Richie Tozier; more commonly known as the school’s problem child and Stanley’s best friend. He pursed his lips and crossed his arms, waiting for Richie to speak.
 “Stanley, I know it may be difficult as you a very easily excited person, but please try not to kill me with your enthusiasm,” Richie remarked sarcastically. Stan rolled his eyes, giving Richie a light shove to the shoulder.
 “The holidays are stressful, you dick.” Richie donned a goofy smile as Eddie Kaspbrak ran up to join them.
 “Hey guys! Are we going to Stan’s house for those hashbrown things?” Eddie inquired enthusiastically, a toothy smile on his face. In contrast to Richie’s checked shorts and denim jacket over a dark red t-shirt, Eddie was wearing a pastel green sweater and jeans, as well as a red pastel beanie.
 Stan on the other hand wore a simple blue jacket and khakis.
 They passed the Bower’s gang silently, and though they shot them dirty looks, they’d agreed not to mess with them for the month of December, as sort of a gift for the holidays.
 “You mean latkes?” Stan grumbled, but sooner lightened up as Bill Denbrough joined their walk down the hallway.
 “H- hey guys- s. What’re we talking about?” He smiled, his books held close to his chest. He was tall, but so was Stan, and Richie was growing, though it was mostly in his legs and arms, leaving his body an awkwardly proportioned mess of limbs. He used his height to his advantage, however, as Eddie was much shorter than all of them and had to stand on his tiptoes to be shoulder-to-shoulder with the Richie.
 “Stan’s weirdo Jew-y food,” Richie joked, sticking his tongue out at Stan as they pushed through the doors of the building and found Ben, Mike, and Bev standing on the stairs in front of the school.
 “You actually reminded me-”
 “By god, Doctor K., it’s the river nile! And three– count them– three Sphinxes!” Richie said, putting on a terrible cockney accent. Eddie rolled his eyes playfully, muttering a, “Beep beep, Richie.” before Bev’s eyes lit up.
 “Wait, Stan! I almost forgot! We got you a gift for Hanukkah.” She reached into the pockets of her red jacket as Bill, Mike, Ben, Eddie, and even Richie had their attention captured by the redhead.
 In her hands was a small black box, like something you’d hold jewelry in. She thrust it into his hands eagerly.
 “Open it! Open it!” She urged, bouncing on her toes. Bill loomed over his shoulder and Stan did his best to fight away any and all thoughts about turning around and kissing Bill against the brick wall of the school.
 He opened the box to reveal a necklace, which had seven little charms dangling from them. He examined each one closely.
 On the end, there was a red one, with a charm that resembled a sized-down polaroid photo. Mike, Stan thought. He had recently gotten a polaroid camera as an early Christmas gift, and he’d recently been following them around and taking snapshots of their group. Mike, who was both artistically inclined and curious. Who took pictures of the group and had no real reason for doing so.
 The next was an orange inhaler charm, and from the moment Stan looked at it one name had immediately come to mind. Eddie. He’d always been a shy boy, and a nervous one too. Any time his nerves got the better of him, he injected the medicine into his mouth and it calmed him every time. Eddie, his friend who was always nervous and yet always courageous.
 Next to that was a yellow key. Beverly, he thought. She always wore a necklace with a key hooked on it. The key itself was nothing special, just a spare house key, but the special part about it was that she rarely took it off. From the time he’d first met her to the present day, she’d been wearing that key around her neck.
 Beside that was a green pair of glasses. He didn’t even have to think to know who that charm was meant for. Richie, who always wore his three-inch thick glasses that made his eyes look like bug-eyes and were thinly held together with a piece of medical tape. Richie, whose glasses were always getting thrown around and broken, had a glasses charm on his necklace.
 And then there was a blue book. Ben. The short, pudgy, boy spent most of his time either in the library or hunched over a book– sometimes both. Ben, who was always writing, be it poetry or short stories. Who had a brilliant mind as well as a brilliant– and controlled, unlike Richie’s– tongue.
 At the end, there was a dark purple paper boat. Bill. Of course it was Bill. He loved to make things out of paper, he had a million imaginations and enough creativity to end a war. Like Ben, he sometimes wrote, but he always refused to share his writing. Bill, who was the gravity that kept their group together. Who always knew the best places to go, the best things to do. Who was an expert at helping Stan not feel imperfect or outcasted. Who was amazing at letting Stanley know how much he meant to Bill. Stuttering Bill Denbrough, leader of the Losers.
 In the center was his own charm, a white dove charm. He supposed it fit, as he did enjoy bird-watching in his spare time. His friends had gone all out on his gift. Sure, maybe it wasn’t the most expensive or elaborate present, but it meant so much to him he began to cry.
 “O- oh my god. I’m s- s- sorry, S- Stan! I thought you’d l- like it! We can t- take it back if you-”
 Bill’s stutter always got worse when he was nervous. It occurred to him that Bill was probably the one who suggested the gift in the first place.
 “No! I… I love y- it. I love it.” Stan’s eyes were wide, hoping nobody caught on to his almost-mistake. He scanned their faces, and it seemed that Mike was the only perceptive one of the group, as he was looking at Stan with a slight raised eyebrow.
 He had Bev hook it onto his neck, and he wore it proudly above his jacket. He linked arms with Bill as they started towards the Uris household.
 It seemed to go as every walk did. Richie making bad jokes, picking Eddie up at random times, Eddie rolling his eyes, Bev beginning to tease Ben, Mike, and Richie out of boredom, and Bill whispering his favorite tongue-twister under his breath.
 But there was something different, and it was only slightly noticeable, making Stan question whether he was paranoid or simply tired. Maybe a mixture of both. Mike kept shooting him weird looks, and he was quieter than normal, too. Mike was perceptive, no doubt about that, but he left Stan wondering just how much he knew.
 When they got to his house and greeted his mother, everything previous seemed to have been forgotten.
 It was a year later that Stan felt he was completely and utterly helpless. About two months after they defeated It, sent It back into the well, he couldn’t stop thinking about it.
 He stopped sleeping, kept awake by vivid and terrible nightmares, and even at the Losers weekly sleepovers, he stayed up all night. It seemed Eddie was having the same problem as he was, though maybe he was dealing with it better.
 It was no secret that Richie spent most of his nights at Eddie’s house, sometimes he even broke into Stan’s room to stay for the night. But something changed between the two of them, and it made Stan extremely jealous.
 They’d gotten closer. Practically attached at the hips, sometimes during their sleepovers they’d wake up in each other’s arms and brush it off as though it was nothing. They didn’t need to explain themselves because there was nothing to explain.
 They still had contact with Bev, despite the fact that she moved to Portland. Stan would frequently call her on their phone, and he knew the others called just as much judging by how often Bev would pick up the phone and try to guess who it was on the other end.
 Everytime he talked with her, he played with her charm on his necklace. Her little yellow key, that seemed to hold her energy in it despite the fact that she was miles away.
 It was one particular phone call, and it stuck with him for as long as he could remember.
 “People are much more accepting here, Stanny. You should see the amount of men who walk down the street shamelessly kissing another man on the cheek. It’s like everyone here has more important things to worry about than homosexuals,” She’d explained to him, one day when he asked what Portland was like for her, and how her aunt got away with dating another woman.
 “Really?” Stan asked, and he hoped he didn’t sound too desperate. Bev hesitated on the other end.
 “Yeah. They don’t condemn nearly as much as they would in Derry. Nobody really cares whether you’re black or white, gay or straight. It’s a free city.” Stan made a mental note to ask his family about moving to Portland. He thought about he and Bill being together, without fear. Just happiness, being able to admire Bill and let him know he was being loved and admired. He found his fingers switching from the key to the purple boat. He turned the charm over in his fingers.
 “That sounds nice, Bev. I wonder if Bill would want to move there.” It was a stray thought, and he hadn’t quite realized he’d voiced it until he heard Bev giggle.
 “You both should. Then you could finally get together.” Stan’s breath hitched in his throat, and all he could seem to produce were little grunts of slight offense.
 “M- me? And Bill? I- I don’t– where did you– why would you ever th– th- that is the most absurd-”
 “Calm down, Stanny. I won’t tell. He likes you too, you know. He calls me all the time to tell me about how nice your outfit was, or how happy you got when you saw that sparrow the other day. You should tell him how you feel.”
 Stan thought about that for a moment. How he felt? How did he feel about Bill? He liked him, for sure, but so did Eddie, Richie, Mike, and Ben. He didn’t want to violate the bounds of their friendship, or make Bill uncomfortable.
 “Maybe,” He whispered, and then ended the call. His heart turned over in his chest when his parents called him down for dinner.
 It was finally time for the holidays again, and their group decided to do a secret Santa sort of thing, though they didn’t call it that because even though Stan said it was okay, they didn’t want to offend him.
 He got Bill, and realized with panic that he had no idea what to get him. Bill was the most thoughtful, the most caring, the most composed guy Stan knew. Where Stan would be freaking out, mulling over a test or event, Bill was the “cross-that-bridge-when-we-come-to-it,” type of person.
 He noticed that Bill really liked flannel shirts, hoped he didn’t seem too lazy with his gift, and bought him a blue, red, and purple flannel. He thought it looked nice and really hoped Bill would like it. It was the next part of his plan that he wasn’t really sure about.
 He attached a white card that said, “From: Stan,” and drew a picture of a robin.
 In the corner, he wrote a few tiny words.
 I think I love you :)
 The text was so small he wasn’t even sure if Bill would be able to read it. He picked up the gift box and started on his way to Ben’s house, where the exchange would take place.
 Mike greeted him at the door, wearing a red nose and Santa hat, and took his gift to place in a pile with the rest of them.
 After possibly the world’s worst rendition of “Frosty the Snowman” on Richie’s part, Ben brought the pile of gifts to the middle of the circle they’d created by sitting down.
 Stan fiddled with his necklace, like he always did when he was nervous. He had a habit of pushing his pinky finger through one of the glasses lenses and tracing the rough edge of the key with his thumb.
They all went around in a circle and opened their gifts. Ben got a New Kids on the Block vinyl from Eddie, Eddie got a pastel red fanny pack (and set of gigantic lingerie “for his mom”) from Richie, Richie got a VHS copy of Star Wars: A New Hope from Mike, Mike got a new set of watercolor paint palettes from Bill, and Stan got an updated bird book from Ben.
 It was finally time for Bill to open up the gift Stan had gotten him. He felt anxiety pool in his stomach like honey, sticking his insides together tightly.
 He read the card first and didn’t seem to notice Stan’s note. If he did, he didn’t show it.
 He smiled and happily unveiled his shirt, and as much as he said he loved it, Stan still held a seed of doubt in his stomach.
 The moment Bill received his present from Stan and Mike went up to do a karaoke duet with Richie, Bill pulled Eddie from the room and into the kitchen.
 “What the hell, Bill?” Eddie pushed Bill’s hand off his shoulder. Bill scoffed a bit and sighed internally.
 “I kn- know you were trying to pine after Richie but we have b- bigger problems.” Bill rolled his eyes, though they held mostly happiness and anxiety in them.
 “Wh- I would literally never– R- Richie? How dare you imply tha- and for Trashmouth?” Eddie stammered, making offended noises in between words.
 “Yeah okay, b- but again, we’ve got a problem and that problem is S- Stanley Uris.” Bill unfolded the card as gently as possible, showing the small scripted writing to Eddie.
 “I think I love you?” Eddie read aloud, surprise coating his tone before he broke out into a smile and pat Bill on the back.
 “That’s great! You love him too, don’t you?” Eddie asked at the sight of Bill’s pale face.
 “Y- yeah but… what about his parents? What about m- my parents? What would every- yone say if they knew we were dating?” He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
 “Then keep it a secret! I won’t tell. You won’t tell. I doubt Stan’ll tell–”
 “Doubt I’ll tell what?” Stan asked, walking into the kitchen. Both Eddie and Bill jumped, and Bill struggled to get out a word.
 “Th- that you– I m- mean I– wuh- wuh- well-”
 “Bill loves you too!” Eddie blurted out quickly, almost immediately running back to the living room while Bill’s face flushed redder than a tomato. Stan turned to look at him, hesitating and moving carefully.
 “So you got my note,” Stan observed, embarrassed. He clearly hadn’t thought his plan through very well. Bill shrugged.
 “I’m a little i- impressed that you didn’t find mine y- yet.” Stan raised a quizzical eyebrow, frowning.
 “Find yours?” Bill motioned to the necklace he’d given him almost a full year ago, which Stan looked down on carefully. Bill walked towards him and tentatively took the necklace in his hand, pointing to extremely small script writing on the back of each charm.
 L on Mike’s polaroid.  O on Eddie’s inhaler.  V on Bev’s key.  E on Richie’s glasses.  Y on Ben’s book.  O on Bill’s paper boat.  U on Stan’s bird.
 In truth, he had noticed the writing before. But he always thought it was simply from the Loser’s Club as a whole. There was something special on Bill’s charm, though, because it had something, some kind of mark that Stan couldn’t really decipher. And then it hit him like a truck.
 An I. It was a goddamned letter I placed on the left corner of Bill’s charm and it made the necklace read, ‘I LOVE YOU.’
 Stan dropped the necklace back against his chest, staring back up at Bill tentatively. He had no idea what to do. Panicked, he reached out and grabbed Bill’s hand in his, smiling good-heartedly.
 Bill then lead him back into the family room, and none of the others said anything about them being hand-in-hand. Okay, so maybe Christmas wasn’t as bad as Stan thought.
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EUNOIA - chapter 2
Chapter 1
----------------
“I met Donghae yesterday.”
That’s how Taemin greets his sister on a random phone call one afternoon. As hard as she tried to be chill about it, Eunsook cannot help but shake in panic, intrigued by his words. She ran to the closest bench she could find and put her camera safely on her laps.
“You know that we’re adults, right? We don’t need to inform each other anymore like when we were kids and used to match our scenario to lie to Mom and Dad.”
The tremble on her lips seemed readable from the other line, making Taemin snickers on his bed.
“And since we’re adults it means now we lie to each other instead to our parents? Wow. Just wow, Lee Eunsook.”
“As I remember you were the one who banned me for weeping around on anyone whom acquaintance with him. Am I right?”
“You are. You’re always right beside this particular choice on men.”
“So?”
“I just let you know that yesterday I met Donghae.”
“Just let me know? You think I didn’t know how sneaky you are telling me stuff just because you are childishly curious on how I would react? Well, try harder, baby boy.”
“My smart lady. I always knew you went to Milan not for nothing.”
“Ha. So funny.”
“Do you want me to tell you what happened or I need to wait for another year until you gather up your guts to ask me how it went?”
“Actually, I don’t really care. That wouldn’t change anything, would that?”
“It depends, though.”
“On what? On how I handle stuff? On how bad my mood right now? Or maybe, just maybe, on how bad I weep last night?”
So she still cried miserably at night?
Taemin sighed and Eunsook regrets raising her tones, unveiled her unstable mind unconsciously. However, she didn’t lie when she said she doesn’t really care since she would still be broken hearted and desperately wants to turn back time hoping she could fix any mistake they did during their relationship. Or more like what mistake she did.
“Donghae asked how you are doing.”
“You can tell him that I’m fine, having a really nice summer escapades and eating lots of good food. Really, I think I will gain at least five pounds by the end of the trip.”
“Unless it’s not really Donghae who asked.”
“I know.”
“No you don’t.”
Eunsook scribbled on the ground with her shoes, making random pattern on it, “Yes I do, Tae. Because he texted me two days ago and I kept writing and deleting my rant until this morning on how I’m doing now after he decided not to be in the same page with me anymore. Believe me I know, because this is the first time I didn’t reply on him right away after I saw his name appeared on my screen.”
Taemin doesn’t say anything and just listened to the sound of the wind, trying to not make everything more complicated for his sister.
“Maybe he overestimated me.. thinking that I would be just alright after everything. Having a blast in Netherlands, enjoying summer, going shopping and meeting my best friend after a long time. You know I always this ‘his strong woman’ or.. or ‘his only iron lady’ you know.. So this trip, couldn’t it be better than that?”
“Don’t resent anyone. You’re the one who said to me that this is the best way for both of you to be happier.”
“I told you maybe.”
“Anyway, I said that you’re fine. A little tired and overwhelmed but you’re good now.”
“Should I thank you for giving the wise back up and being the best brother in the world?”
“Not really. Because I told Donghae as well how you’re calling me every day at 3 AM mopping around threatening people you’d kill yourself if tomorrow you’re wake up and everything is not only in your dream.”
“You should have added the part I didn’t eat anything for a week and ran into the emergency room when my coworker found me passed out at the toilet.”
“Ah, if only you did a proper briefing before.”
She’s really grateful for the fact that she might really have the best brother in the world. Taemin never fail making her laughed. Though he had this ice prince exterior, his heart is the warmest, far from all the cold and mischievous image people around him familiar with.
“Now that I told you what to do, can you fix that when you met him again?”
“Let see. I got studio schedule again tomorrow and he will be the producer assistant the whole week. Yeah sure, I will tell him everything until the IV shot part.”
“Good boy.”
“I know I am.”
“And stop texting or calling Minho behind my back. It’s embarrassing.”
Now it’s Taemin turn to burst into laughter. It’s still stuck in his head how he decided to call Minho instead of his wife because Taemin couldn’t stand the idea of being yelled or interrogated by Junghee. That girl can speak two hours nonstop without giving break the other person.
“I’ll go to sleep now, it’s almost midnight here. Be good, sister.”
“Don’t wet the bed.”
“I’ve had my diaper on, no need to worry. I love you!”
“I love you, too!”
The second she put the phone down, Eunsook feels lonely again. Actually, she prefers having endless argument with anyone rather than swimming in her own thoughts. Inevitably, she checked the phone again. Rereading the text Jungsoo sent two days ago.
‘Good morning, sunshine! How’s the vacation?’
Ah, sunshine. It was nice to be sunshine for someone, a thought cross Eunsook’s mind. It was. She was sunshine. Night star. Moonlight. Making her questioning herself, is it not enough being her for he needed her to be something else? Was she not beautiful enough for he had the urge to always comparing her to something else?
“Eunsook?”
She lifted her head up and found a face she expected the least.
“Kibum?”
The latter smiles and tell the other guys walking with him to leave first. He then casually sits next to Eunsook, looks like a supermodel he is, swiping his hair back. When he looked to his left, Eunsook almost stoned, left him chuckles nervously again, a habit he developed whenever Eunsook’s around him.
“What are you doing here? Don’t tell me you joined this group tour with the guy poking his umbrella to the sky!”
She squinted her tiny eyes, which in Kibum’s mind was too cute to handle.
“Oh, I was walking around doing some sketches taking photos and then my brother called so I gotta sit here and listen to him ranting about unimportant stuff.”
“You like taking photos?” Kibum almost jumped from his seat when he turned to face Eunsook completely.
“Just for fun. I love looking back to all the pictures I took while traveling. Give me lots of nice nostalgic feeling and of course a smooth slap on my head to work harder earning more money for the next trip.”
He cracks to her words, “That is actually hella true. May I see the camera?”
“Of course, Mr. Photographer.”
She smiles so bright while handing the camera, Kibum flustered involuntarily turned his ears all crimson red, “You always use 35mm film?”
He lifted the analog camera a bit.
“Mostly. Or Polaroid. One time I had the 120mm camera but nowadays it’s so hard to find the film.”
“Oh, you have no idea. It’s also freaking hard to find a place that can develop it. Tried to do it by myself, but I ruined it. There it goes all my memory in Hongkong. Gone in flash.”
Kibum cursed himself for convincing himself that Eunsook is the only girl in the world that makes a frown look that beautiful and amazing on a face. Before he embarrassed himself, he checked the camera again in his hand.
“By the way, this is nice camera. My friend had another type from the same brand. Where did you get this?”
“Actually, I bought it accidentally. It was from Porto. We were lost when tried to go back to the hostel and we found this street while wandering around with my friends.”
“Porto? As in Portugal?” she nods, “AH! I know that place! They sell cheap black and white films!”
“You really are a photographer, aren’t you?”
She cannot help but teasing when Kibum got so excited just on the thought of knowing the place she found the treasure. At this rate, not only his ears that rushed by blood.
“Only when I need money to pay my rent.”
“Hahaha!” she slapped his forearm lightly, he flinched silently, “And what brings you here?”
“We just finished a session with local teens. They’re quite having this too-cool-for-school attitude but fashion spread’s always interesting, isn’t it, Miss Designer?”
Eunsook secretly took out her imaginary good-deeds-book. Wits and jokes, checked.
“Anyhow, what are you doing after this?”
“Hmmm, nothing.”
“Fancy grabbing some sweets?”
“What kind of sweet?”
The way her eyes almost popped out her skull brighten Kibum’s day faster than when he received the first print of his magazine, “Pancake, waffle, crepe, anything you prefer as long as it can help with my sugar level.”
“Pancake sounds good.”
“Pancake it is! Let’s go!”
Kibum made a mistake almost embraced her by the shoulder then quietly pretending to push her to walk faster before the circumstance became more awkward.
Her phone beeps once again, she shook her head when she caught a text message arrived on the screen.
‘Eunsook, are you alright? Seems like the vacation is really great, am I right?’
This time she didn’t wait anymore.
‘Indeed, it’s the best summer escapade! I’m okay, by the way.’
***
“I told you not to touch her!”
Kibum massaged the back of his neck for the ten times, too tired for this silly confrontation.
“So, you said it’d better if I just left her alone there at the café while it was drenched outside instead of offering her a ride?”
“I’m tired of your excuse, you sweet mouth!  You should hadn’t dragged her to the café at the first place!”
“I’m the one who tired of your accusation! For God’s sake, Kim Junghee! I was just being nice! We lived under the same roof and I’m not allowed to cheer up someone I know who looked upset?”
“Not with such an agenda behind!”
“What kind of agenda are you talking about?!”
“Oh, don’t you dare testing me!” Kibum’s jaw dropped a few centimeter, disbelief with the whole sentence he just heard, “If you’re just being nice, you take her home right away after both of you finished your afternoon snack!”
“That’s the plan! But she said she needs more films for her camera! Am I wrong if I offered to accompany her looking for some?”
“Ha! You just saw your chance to slide in! What a little sneaky head!”
Kibum restrained himself not to raise his voice, he just didn’t want Minho finished his shower and found his best friend yelling to his wife.
“Look. It was raining. I offered her a ride to go back. She asked if I knew a place to buy films! I drove her there and it was still freaking rain. I got called by the people at work on the way. I said I’d get drop her off first at home before I headed to the studio. She said she could grab a taxi. Since I considered it’s not polite to let her do that, I asked her to come with me. That’s it!”
Junghee stomped on the kitchen floor so hard, “You could just drive her first!!!! You have no idea how stressful I was when I couldn’t contact her?!?!”
“Who knows her phone was dead?! She didn’t say anything to me! Had I know I would give her my phone to call or text you! At any rate, if she did find it necessary, she would ask me to make that damned call!”
“Stop it right there, it’s not Eunsook’s fault!”
“Neither mine!” he rolled his tongue inside his mouth trying to control himself, “I know she’s your best friend, Junghee, but she’s not a kid! She’s a grown up and let her be one!”
“Don’t talk like you know her!”
His fist getting harder on his side, “I didn’t. Look. I know you care about her. A lot. I understand. I’m aware that she’s somehow became more vulnerable after everything happened, but you shouldn’t treat her like this! She took the flight here to heal herself if you kept hogging her, when will she be able to heal?”
Kibum got his point but Junghee is too busy protecting her friend she doesn’t even try to swallow all the words from him.  
“I don’t need you lecturing me how I treat my friend! Just.. just keep your hand away from her!”
“What if I refuse?”
“What did you just said?!”
Kibum hesitated to say something more, so he just stood there, lips sealed together, his eyes drilling a hole through the air. Junghee flustered and doesn’t know what to do, she expected him to give some counter attack harsher than before. Not a serious answer like that.
“Listen, leave her alone or I would never speak to you again!”
She left him standing by the island counter and paced to her room upstairs. When she passed Eunsook who just went back inside the house after called her partner in Milan at the porch, she purposely darted her eyes away. The latter confused but knowing that her best friend has such a temper, she decided to let it go.
A small smile formed on her face when she saw Kibum’s by the kitchen.
“Is everything alright?” Kibum turned his head and just shrugged, “Kibum?”
Eunsook sensed something’s wrong by the flat expression on his face.
“Nothing.”
She’s the least person he wanted to encounter at the second, he tried to avoid her but the look she gave him just made everything more uncomfortable.
“Are you sure?”
“Pretty much.”
“Hmm.. I don’t think so.”
“No, really.”
“Come on, you can talk about it.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not.”
“Eunsook, I’m okay. Let’s just shake it off, I’m tired.”
He told her the truth, actually. Kibum’s just exhausted and he needs his time to compose himself after the heated conversation with Junghee.
“What’s wrong with you? Is Junghee okay?”
“Why don’t you just ask your best friend, huh? She’s the one who started! Why should I am the one who feel guilty here?!”
It seems like that was his final giveaway. His pitched showed up, startling Eunsook a little bit. The stern look he put is not making it easier for her. Inside, Kibum wants to kick himself on the shin for being such an asshole just now, helpless under the invisible spell Eunsook sent him.
And feels guilty he is, indeed. She had nothing to do and he just exploded ridiculously in front of her. So he dropped the glass he hold to the sink recklessly, the loud clank on its metal surface dropped a frown on Eunsook’s face, and just went to his room, leaving strange stagnant on the air for her.
Confused and a little disappointed, Eunsook just swallowed back all the sentences she prepared to thank him for the nice afternoon they shared.
***
Thirty minutes passed with Kibum paced back and forth behind his closed door. Sometimes he sat at the edge of his bed, tapped his foot on the floor restlessly, and stood up again, repeating the monotonous anxiety attack.
Seriously, he felt awful not only because he snapped on a girl that supposed to be his current major crush until this morning, but also because he realized how helpless he was in front of the girl. And all those feeling had taken him sunken deep on ocean of guilty.
Junghee might be right, the way he treated Eunsook just now could cause huge mess. This is the first time since almost forever Kibum does care about his image in front of other. Suddenly he’s afraid she might think he’s the biggest jerk on earth who had this hot and cold attitude, once a very nice and kind guy then yell on her face for something she didn’t even know just for the reason he lose control on stupid stuffs.
He doesn’t want that.
“Why are you so stupid, Kim Kibum…”
He threw himself on the mattress and kept staring on the ceiling for solid ten minutes before he jolted to the door, took one deep breath, and carefully pushed it forward.
The living room is empty, leaving only small aquarium at the corner being the source of light. However, when looked across the room, dim light seeped through small gap between the floor and the door of Eunsook’s room.
She’s still awake.
“Eunsook?”
The soft knock on the door didn’t reciprocate. The drumroll banging inside his chest became louder each second passed in silent.
“Lee Eunsook? Can I come in?”
He waited again but nothing happened.
Is she mad at me? Shit.
Various scenarios flashed on his mind and not any single of it makes him comfortable. He might regret it later, but his guts are so much makes sense more than anything.
Slowly he opened the door, but the scene welcomes him is way more unpredictable.
On her bed, Eunsook’s sleeping like a five years old, blanket tucked until her chin and hair splattered here and there but somehow framed her soft jaw as if someone did it on purpose. And Kibum, Kibum just stiffen right on the threshold, hand glued to the handle.
How come a girl can turn someone defenseless without doing anything?
She just breathes, her shoulder moves in a slow rhythm. Kibum knew he’s crazy but he swear in such distance he can see how her eyelashes intertwined each other hiding the beautiful eyes she had, kissed her cheeks in silent melody. If he had camera in his hand, he would had already taken hundreds picture of her sleeping.
Creepy, he knows.
But in Kibum justification, everyone should be creepy once in a while when they’re in love, shouldn’t they?
Ah. In love?
Kibum gripped his chest for a moment and decided to turn of the light before he closed the door cautiously.
“Forget it, Kim Kibum..”
***
Chapter 3
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