#also most people went w the three-year option over the one-year

[rayassecretlife]

The runaway

Pairing: 16 year old!Neteyam Sully x 15 year old!Fem!Metkayina!reader

Remember this is a mini series! And Neteyam is not in it until the second chapter! This chapter is more of a Ao’nung x reader but is necessary for the plot line!

Summary: The Pandorian Oceans were a beautiful place to live with lovely people to be around, but for some warriors, it wasn’t all that fun. Y/N is a respectable but reckless teen who will do anything she can to protect her people, even when it’s the wrong option. Getting hurt was worth it but the mental abuse she’d endure after? It drew her away.

Warning(s): Mental abuse, Mentions of blood and death, mature language

The Pandorian oceans were one of pandora’s favorited places. The animals were big and beautiful, the way of life was peaceful, and the sky was never grey. Most of the people were very friendly to one another, helping when they could with the children, but of course there were some people you weren’t too fond of.

“Y/N, your dinner is ready” Your mother spoke from aside your doorway and you nod, tying your hair into a ponytail before heading out to your families meeting area. Your family was rather big. You had two brothers and a younger sister while your mother was also pregnant with another sister. Your brothers were both younger then you, one only by two years and the other by three.

“Y/N, sit next to me!” Your younger sister calls with a giggle and you smile, placing your hand on her shoulder before taking a seat next to her. Your brothers were two knuckleheads who always had to be controlled by your father, while you were the family’s pride and joy. Well, at least that’s what everyone thought. “Your hair beads are pret-“

“Y/N, remember you have hunting in thirty minutes” Your fathers deep voice makes you sigh and you nod your head, watching him sit down across from you. The relationship you and your father shared was a very tough love situation but sometimes he could go overboard, having your mother correct him even though he did not care. You tried to be perfect for your father most of the time, and would have to take multiple embarrassing arguments in front of the clan or even your siblings from time to time. “Fix the face”

You wanted to roll your eyes but of course you couldn’t, not in front of your sister at least. Your brothers snicker next to your sister and you instantly shoot them a glare, watching the older one bite into his fruit to muffle his laugh. “Father, am I still aloud to stay with Tsireya tonight?” You ask softly but he glares at you, your mother catching his scolding eye in an instant. “You said-“

“Do you think I’m stupid, Y/N? Even if you are under Tonowari’s roof, that son of his is reckless just like you” Tonowari’s family and yours were very close, and that drew you and his older son to gain feelings for each other. You and Ao’nung would often sneak away to be with each other, not even doing anything bad but you just wanted a minute away from duty. One evening, your father caught the two of you during a kiss and ever since, you and Ao’nung have been closely watched by your fathers. “She can stay here”

“My love, maybe she just wants to leave the pod-“

“Yasada, do not be naive. What is the problem with here?” You sigh and nod your head, thanking your mother for the food she had gave to you. Your mother grabs your fathers hand soothingly, giving you an understanding look.

“You may stay with Tsireya tonight” You smile at her but it quickly washes away at your fathers blank stare, your mother cutting you off before you could say anything. “He’ll get over it. You may go after you are done hunting” Your mother was far too sweet for your father, always keeping him in check even if he didn’t want to be. She gave you much more freedom.

The night went on like any other. Starting your day helping the children, having to dinner, and ending the night with a hunt alongside the other warriors of the clan. As of right now you were stood alongside an island while some of the warriors treaded through the waters to gather food, your boyfriend standing right by your side.

“You haven’t said anything the entire time we’ve been out” Ao’nung points out, not bothering to look over to you while he asks. The argument with your father was enough to shut you up for the rest of the night, seeing as Tonowari was watching the two of you like a hawk in the sky. “It was your father, wasn’t it?”

“He’s just hard on me, That’s all” He knew, trust in Eywa herself he knew how hard your father worked you. Ao’nung did everything to protect you from things outside of the village, even the memories of previous arguments you shared with your father. He hated to see you in this state but he knew he had to break you out of it somehow before your attitude got the best of you. “Shouldn’t you be helping?”

“There it is” He snickers and you shoot him a glare, watching him sit on the rock that sat behind the two of you. “You know, you don’t have to get an attitude with me. I’m not your father” You sigh, nodding at his words as you sit next to him. You place your bow on the ground before leaning back, eyes tall toward the sky above you. “Sometimes I wish I wasn’t strong. Maybe then he would’ve confided in one of my brothers”

“You are strong for a reason, Y/N” His hand is gently placed over your own, giving you a understanding look. Ao’nung knew you were stronger beyond your beliefs, it’s one of the things he loved about you, but your mind would soon end up hurting you in ways he didn’t want to imagine. “You are the strongest female warrior this clan has. Act like it” You scoff, removing your hand from his. Act like it? Was he serious? You wanted to talk back but your intrusive thoughts were soon interrupted by the calling behind you, a war cry so loud it could reach the mountains.

The hunting party quickly moves to check out the scene but Tonowari urges you to stay put, not willing to be the reason for your injury. You of course, waited until the party was far enough ahead before you made your getaway, moving through the waters to get a closer look at the loud noises.

“Another clan?” Your forehead creases as you watch them, noticing their symbols that so obviously painted on their chests. “Clanless people… bad people” You mutter to yourself, using your knife to cut the many vines and leaf’s in your way on the small patch of island. The clanless people usually kept to themselves… what were they doing here? Then you spot the leader amongst them, noticing it wasn’t their Olo’Eyktan.

“Tonight, we hunt!” The group cheers loudly and you spot Ao’nung from afar, watching as he slowly creeped past the bushes to get closer to them. Your heart was beating fast as you picked up your bow, pulling back the arrow against its wood. You step forward a tiny bit, planting your feet on the uneasy ground but almost instantly regret it, your ears twitching at the snapping sound.

You gasp, afraid to remove your eyes from the target you set on their leader. You knew a twig had snapped under you, but as they looked around you grew nervous they’d notice you if you moved even an inch. You pull your bottom lip between your teeth as their gaze slowly reaches yours, and you feel your heart stop for a second.

“Y/N, No!” You can hear the male voice across from you but not soon enough before they cheer, your hand releasing the arrow in an instant before they could run towards you. Ao’nung reveals his spot behind the bushes but everyone is stopped, watching as their leader clasps his chest against the arrow sticking from it.

You watch as their leader drops to his knees with a cough, the blood from his wound spilling from his body with every breath. The people were angry, and they were all looking at you. The last glance you took was to Ao’nung, watching him shake his head with a look of disappointment which made tears brim your eyes. You didn’t have any time to think about it before the clan was running toward you, chasing you as fast as they could go on their feet.

You were quick but not quick enough, climbing up one of the trees to get away from them while they passed under you. You could hear your boyfriend’s screams for you from afar and your heart instantly stopped against your chest, head whipping around to locate him.

Once it was clear, you dropped back to the ground with a soft grunt, not a Na’vi in sight. “Ao’nung!” You yell desperately, not caring that any other could hear you. You were afraid you costed him pain, or even anyone else in the party with you immature actions, just hoping he’d call back out to you.

But of course, you were just as naive as your father said you were.

“Ahh!” A painful gasp leaves your mouth as your hair is pulled back, yanking you backwards till you hit the the grass under you. Your eyes were able to catch the Na’vi over you just in time, rolling over before he could hit you. He only chuckles while another one grabs your small body, holding you to the ground with his far bigger body then your own.

“Stupid, stupid girl” The male laughs and you hiss, afraid if you showed him your fear that he’d get the best of you. The other Na’vi holding you down was quick to pull your hair, yanking your head back so you’d look to the one standing. “Do you have any idea what you just did?”

“Your trespassing, so maybe I should ask you the same question?” And with that, the first punch to your face was enough to make your vision blurry, your heart breathing so slow you felt everything in slow motion. You were just a sixteen year old girl while two adult male na’vi’s handled you, of course you weren’t going to win.

“Trespassing? No. Your people have been stealing what little we have!” He pulls you up to your feet, hand wrapped around your throat roughly. You could see the hate and anger in his eyes, the way he glared at you and how his eyes stung your own like lasers. “I hope what you did back there was worth it because your in for so much more, Little girl”

You thought he would’ve hit you again but to your surprise he didn’t. He just froze, staring at you with a blank stare as his grip on your throat slowly released. Before you knew it he dropped to his knees, and you watched in horror as he choked, your eyes traveling down to notice the arrow penetrating his stomach.

“A-Ao’nung-“ He pulls you into a tight hug, pressing a kiss to your head to shield you away from the bodies dropped to the floor. Your arms wrap around your boyfriends large body, whispering how sorry you were against his chest. Tonowari rushed the two of you and you let Ao’nung pull you with him until you got back to the water, riding his Ilu back with him instead of your own.

When you got back, you were practically ambushed by your parents. Your mother was frantic as she examined your bruised face, pulling you into the tightest hug you could’ve imagined. Your father just gave you a disappointed look, shaking his head before walking away. You didn’t even have time to call for him before Ao’nung was pulling you to a healers pod.

“Sit” He instructs and you slowly do so, watching him rummage around the chests on the floor for the stuff he needed to clean your wounds. You sat there with a heavy heart, pulling your middle finger to touch the burning cut on the side of your face. “Don’t touch” He grabs your hand and sits in front of you, pressing a warm cloth to your wound.

“Ao’nung… I’m sor-“

“You could’ve gotten killed, you know that? Or gotten one of us killed! For what? What were you trying to prove, Y/N?” Your boyfriends glare is enough to make tears brim your eyes once again, biting your lip to hold in your small sobs that threatened to leave your throat.

“I wanted them to stop treating me like some little girl!” He scoffs and your face instantly becomes a mug, watching him shake his head as he applied a healing paste to your skin. “Don’t fucking look at me like that-“

“You are irresponsible! You can’t just go around making your own rules, Y/N. You sent everyone on a suicide mission!” He raised his voice, staring at you like you had two heads. Irresponsible… oh how you hated that word. “Everyone in the clan always talks about how reckless you are. They all tell me to control you! How am I supposed to control you if you act like this!”

A single tear slipped from your eye as you push him off you, standing to your feet before he could grab you again. “Your a dick” Just before you could leave he grabs your arm, pulling you back to his body.

“I’m a dick? I’m protecting you! You have to understand how embarrassing it is for me-“

“So I’m embarrassing?” He groans and you nod your head, pushing him off you once again. “If I’m so embarrassing then maybe you should find a new girlfriend”

You storm off past multiple groups of people, all looking at you some sort of way. You wanted to leave so bad, or at least somewhere quiet so you could cry. But of course, nothing in your life could ever be that easy.

“Let go!” You yell at your father, yanking your arm from his grip once he pulled you far enough into your family’s pod. “Don’t even say it because Ao’nung already gave me enough of a-“

“Tìfnu!” He yells, alerting your siblings who had previously been in their rooms. “What am I to do with you? What you did was unacceptable, Y/N. If you weren’t my daughter, it could’ve been punishable by death!” You already knew of this rule but clearly didn’t care to listen anymore, wiping your tears so they wouldn’t fall. Your father was far more angry then he’s ever been, but you didn’t know if you could handle that today.

“Dad-“

“You won’t be hunting anymore. I will be taking your bow” Your eyes widen and before he could take it from you, your hands instantly yank it back without thinking, a chuckle leaving his mouth. “Your reckless, Y/N. I don’t even know how your my daughter”

You sniffle, nodding your head high before turning to leave. You practically ran as fast as your could away from the pods, not caring that your father was yelling your name angrily. You quickly alerted your Ilu, diving under the water before Tonowari’s guards could catch you. You didn’t know where you were going, but you knew you wanted to leave.

It wasn’t just this night that your father and many others had treated you indifferently. Almost your whole life revolved around duty, and you grew up terrified of your fathers opinion. Your mind was bruised with the mental abuse you had to deal with, but the only one that ever truly saw you was Tsireya. Ao’nung loved you but only thought of the traditional type of love. He didn’t want to explore the lands with you or break the rules, he wanted you to be by his side the right way that the clan and your fathers wanted. You felt so tied down everywhere you went, and you were sure that’s why you and his relationship was filled with so many fights.

The night sky got darker by the hours went on but you kept moving, meeting with your soul sister just to get farther away from the village. Running away from home had been an activity that brimmed your mind for years but of course you never acted on it, and you knew exactly where you wanted to go.

The forest of pandora.

You’ve only heard about it in legends but you’ve always wanted to see it for yourself. You heard of how beautiful the forest was and how it was home to previous Toruk Makto’s. You were quite literally a huge fan of the forest.

Your soul sister had agreed to guide you to the forest but it would be a long time before you reached it. She knew of this long journey but certainly didn’t care when it came to helping you. So you laid flat atop of her as she floated the ocean, closing your eyes to try and speed up the process by sleeping. You couldn’t wait to see the forest, but what were you supposed to do when you got there?

“Shit!” You hiss at the stinging sensation on your leg, looking down at the blood that ran down your calf. It was hours later, and the forest was somewhat dark which surprised you seeing as the stories you heard always mentioned how lit they’d been. You couldn’t see much so you took it step by step, squinting your eyes just to see wherever you stepped.

And finally, you saw the purple glowing lights ahead.

You quickly make your way towards it in a hurry, using your knife to cut the plants that stopped you in any way. As you got closer, you could feel your eyes getting bigger at the immense amount of light stepping down onto the area in the middle of it all. “Great mother…” you mumble to yourself, a smile creeping up to your face even though your leg still hurt horribly.

The forest was just as beautiful as the ocean, except you were sure this was much more you. The glowing colors, the ground that lit up when you stepped on it, the soft woodsprites that floated above you, it all made your heart flutter with happiness. You loved it here.

Just then, you heard the sound of a twig snapping behind you and your head turned that way, your eyes widening with a slight fear as you watched the male Na’vi emerge from the trees. He looked much different then you but he was definitely young. His skin was a dark shade of blue and his arms weren’t as thick as your own, much less his tail either. You watched as he held his bow toward you, ready to release its arrow if you made one wrong move.

Lo’ak had never seen such a different Na’vi before. Your hair was much longer then the woman’s in his clan and your body was also much more stronger looking. Your eyes were a blue color which caught him off guard, seeing as most if not all Na’vi shared the same eye color. “Who are you” It sounded more of a demand then a question but you quickly answer anyway, not wanting to pick a fight with one of the clan members already. “You are different. Not one of us”

“I’m not here to hurt anyone, I just I-“

“That wasn’t my question” He remarks making you sigh, nodding your head before removing all of your weapons from your body even though he didn’t ask. You hoped the boy saw this as a peace offering, due to the simple fact you could’ve easily killed him if you wanted to. He was small while you were a strong warrior, even at the age of 16. “Who are you!”

“My name is Y/N and I… I-“ Suddenly, you felt like your chest had been closing in on you, like you could feel every breath you took as if you were back under that clanless Na’vi from earlier. You look at the boy for only a second before your knees are pressed to the ground, his voice ringing through your ears as your vision blurred.

Lo’ak tried to call to you but got nothing, Dropping his bow to tend to you on the ground. Your body was cold and he could tell just off how pale you had been that you were clearly dehydrated and starved. He didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t leave you there, right? You were a harmless girl who only needed some food and a place to stay, he would be a horrible person to leave you all alone.

You couldn’t hear anything he was saying while he scooped your body in his arms, trying to talk to you to calm you down. He had one idea on where to take you but that was about it, and he prayed to Eywa it would work.

Because in that moment, your mind had completely blanked out.

Ehhhh, I don’t like the ending but it’s whatever. I’ll probably edit this later on. Please keep in mind this is a Neteyam fic but he doesn’t enter until next chapter. The focus on Ao’nung and the reader are CRUCIAL to the plot line.

Anywayssssss! Thank you guys so much for reading 💙. Chapter two should be out soon!

Taglist: @mashiromochi @luvagirlsworld @doggyteam2028 @angelsamor @lu-the-ghost-reader (it wouldn’t let me tag some people :/ )

#avatar fanfiction #avatar the way of water #avatar #avatar 2 #avatar x you #avatar james cameron #neteyam #neteyam sully #neteyam sully x y/n #neteyam x reader #neteyam fluff #atwow neteyam #neteyam x reader smut #neteyam gif #neteyam angst #neteyam smut

[snnbnny]

₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚✧ ﾟ.Jealousy is an Alphabet Soup Made of Booze and Bozos₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚✧ ﾟ.

->the edited edition pairing: S. Gojo x reader, slight Y.Itadori x reader + one shot. c/w: bartender Yuuji, business man and colleague Satoru, they're all idiots, from angst to fluffy smut, afab and fem aligned but not exactly stated reader,  Alcohol consumption is mentioned heavily but not actually shown, Friends With Benefits, IRL AU, Mentions of Heartbreak, they're all idiots, Jealousy, soft and emotional sex, Unprotected Sex, Vaginal Fingering, master honorific, Squirting, Counter Sex, Overstimulation.

Ringing, ringing, click. “This is Satoru Gojo, leave a message~, or not.”

“Gojoooooo, hi-” You murmured in an almost guilty tone into the phone whose speaker was way too close to your mouth. “Uhm, if you g- *hiccup*- get this message c-could you please come to the uhm-’Flying Dutchman Brew-brewing Company?’… ‘m sorry I jus’, I didn’t know who else to call and and- yeah, p-please hurry.” You were on the brink of crying, sitting at a corner table of this unfamiliar bar alone and drunk.

You weren’t someone who would normally do something like this. This was the first time you had let yourself be coerced by your friends to go out and just drink and drink and drink. You honestly couldn’t recall what led up to this point and all the shenanigans that had taken place during the night, 3 A.M. in a medium-full bar and coming down from one hell of a buzz alone with no purse in sight just a phone at 34% and a minor sense of dread. You didn’t want to call him of all people, but in actuality, you didn’t have many other options- all of your friends were out with you when the night began, and where they went wasn’t of relevance to you since the traitors abandoned you. You didn’t have any family who lived close by. So the last resort your drunk mind could conjure was Satoru Gojo.

For clarification, Gojo and you had been seeing each other on and off for a couple of months- also someone above you in your company, a fact you were unaware of when you first started seeing him. You wouldn’t call it dating, hookups with random moments of tenderness, and even just hanging out sometimes, but you had quickly developed feelings for the charming man despite an agreement to keep it casual. Almost three weeks ago whatever you two had, had ended. What happened? Well, you discovered he was seeing this executive, seeing him more seriously than he was seeing you, and you couldn’t help the jealousy that bubbled in your chest. You picked a nonsensical fight over something else- Long story short, this was the first time you had any form of contact with him since you stormed out of his apartment after (well, technically during) said fight. You had actively avoided him during work and didn’t check the messages he sent you. It was hard on you though, emotionally it felt like a break-up with a long-term partner after finding out they were cheating on you- heartbreaking. You had been wallowing and wallowing until you were dragged out to drink tonight, and see where it got you. Right back into the lanky man’s arms, in a way.

“Hey ma’am?” the kind bartender that was tending you that night asked, his apron was nowhere in sight instead he had a satchel hanging from his strong shoulders. “Do you have a ride home? I’m sorry to bother you, I had just noticed that the people you were with had left and you look pretty sad- hey hey don’t cry-” This poor guy was your tipping point, he was mid-sentence when a sob had escaped you. You had started to break down, sure you were an emotional person but over the year you had managed to get it under control but between the situation, exhaustion, and the lingering alcohol in your system- you were fragile at the time.

“I’-I’m sorry, I’m okay.” Despite your shaky reassurance, he sat down across the table with a soft smile. He was pretty, his most striking feature was his spiky pink hair and wide hopefully brown eyes.

“ ‘names Yuji Itadori, but please call me Yuji.” He smiled brightly.

You sniffed, a pause in the new conversation before you realized he was silently asking for your name, which you stuttered out, “ It’s nice ta meet y-you.”

“You too, pretty. You were on the phone just now, right? Is someone on their way for you?” He was talking to you almost like you were a lost child, but you honestly didn’t mind, the company was keeping your mind off of reality. How likely is it that Gojo was awake? Even if he was, would he even bother to listen to your message or come?

You just gave Yuji a hopeless smile and shrugged, “Don’ think so. He didn’t pick up. Pro-probably won’t even get the message.” For a second you saw the man tense at the mention of a man.

The tenseness was momentary, swiftly taken over by sympathy which was taking up more and more of his handsome features, “Your boyfriend? If it is a boyfriend I’m sure he’s on his way here if he loves you as I’m sure any sane man does.”

“N-no, he’s no-ot my boyfriend. Not even close, a col-colleague of sorts. But what do ya mean by ‘if he loves you as I’m sure any sane man does’?” You couldn’t help the question, looking at him almost doe-eyed.

An awkward chuckle escaped him, one that made you shiver a little. “Just that you’re pretty and really nice. I’m sure every person in your life, and in their right mind, really likes you.” A faint dusting of pink was splashed over his cheeks when he said that, scratching his chin with one finger while he looked at the wall.

It made you also blush and fidget, “I, uhm, thank you that i-is so sweet. you’re dashing yourself, Yuji.“ checking your phone to find no messages or calls from Gojo, although there was a picture of your friend Emily holding your purse apologizing for taking it. It’s been almost 15 minutes and you’ve lost most of your faint hope in the tall man you had called.

“Thanks,” he was sounding a little bashful. “But if he doesn’t show up in a bit is there a way you could get an uber or-?”

“No, my friend took my purse and-and keys. I’m totally s-stranded.” You sulked, letting your head fall into your arm on the table before coming back up. You could see the thoughts in his concerned brain when you looked back up. You felt guilty for burdening this poor bartender, he was kind enough to check on you when you returned that nicety with your hopeless sobs.

“I’d offer to let you stay at my place,” He began, hesitation in his tone. “But that’s kinda creepy, you don’t know me and I don’t know you… Stranger danger and all.”

You laughed and nodded at his statement, “Yeah, I-I meannn you seem real nice Yuji. B-but that seems like a, uh, last resort. Ya know?”

Yuji bobbed his head, his pink tufts bouncing with the movement. You noticed the faint sheen of sweat on his skin making him glimmer in the low light of the bar that was emptying slightly as you spoke with Itadori. “Let me keep you company, at least. Can’t leave a pretty thing like you alone in a bar like this.” You blushed and smiled as you nodded in agreement. The conversation fell to small talk, learning bits and pieces about each other. He loved movies and also doing impersonations. He showed you his interpretation of Tom Hanks in Castaway, which made you laugh.

Yuji was in the middle of telling you a story from when he was bit by a venomous snake on a trip to South America when your heart, which mind you was in overdrive already from the charismatic man in front of you, did a flip. A man had stormed through the bar’s entrance, an all too familiar beanpole with white hair that was messy. Gojo’s eyes flew all across the bar at lightning speed before they landed on yours, leading to him storm through the bodies in his way to reach you as quick as his gaze was before. He grabbed your face and started checking you over as soon as he was close enough.

“y/n are you alright, what the hell-?” Gojo started before noticing the guy across from you, dropping his hands at the sight of Itadori. “Well, hi there. So sorry was I interrupting something?”

The ice in his tone was cold enough to make you physically shiver, “Gojo, th-thank god. I had uhm, Ale took my purse and I did-didn’t have anyone else to call. Yuji was jus’ keepin me companyyy.” You couldn’t control your instincts which drove you to stand and hug Gojo, almost burying yourself in his chest. He was warm and smelt of sandalwood which was so comforting it made you wish to cry your eyes out, again. You were hurting a little inside, a dull ache in your chest. But who would it hurt to savor your chance to have sweet, wholesome contact? You, but you can blame the booze.

Gojo hesitantly reciprocated the hug, a faint sigh escaping his supple lips as his chin buried into your hair. You couldn’t see it, but Yuji had stiffed up at the sight of affection and his face had a sour expression for a second. It made Satoru want to chuckle but he held it in with the self-control he did have.

“If it-it’s not tooo much to ask uh,” You whispered up to the man, giving him puppy eyes when you pulled back a little making him smile faintly. “My keysssss, they’re in my purse, and I uh need a place to stay-”

“I figured, you can stay at my place. I’ve told you that before doll.” Gojo petted your head. In the past, you had the rare treat to see Satoru’s sweet and soft side but this was a whole new level. Maybe you were imagining it but he was being so delicate with you at the moment that made your heart pitter-patter more than it already was. “Common, it’s late. Don’t want you to pass out right here right now, don’t think the janitorial staff would be pleased.”

The normally jovial man started to guide you out of the bar with an arm around your shoulder before you stopped him, “Wwait, Yuji- I knowww we j-just met but, can I have your number?” You extended your phone with the contacts app open to Itadori who you were not standing right in front of. He took the phone with a glimmer in his eye at your statement. Handing it in after creating his little space on your phone. “I’ll- text you. Thank you Yuji Itadori.”

With that Gojo practically dragged you away and out of that establishment. You recognized Gojo’s new Toyota supra, colored the same blue as his eyes, parked right in front. In a no-parking zone, of course. He ushered you into the passenger’s seat, buckling your seatbelt for you before closing your door. You only murmured a thank you, instead of any protest for once, to which Satoru responded with a hum. Once settled in the relatively comfy seats, exhaustion hit you like a freight train. Gojo had only just pulled out of the spot when tiredness consumed you and you completely passed out.

—

You came too surrounded by light and a fluffy quilt wrapped haphazardly around your body. You laid there for a minute, savoring the perfect temperature and comfort level your body was at; but also the calmness in the air accompanied by only faint sounds of life outside the bedroom’s window wall. It took you a bit before the night before (and the mornings) memories flooded back to you, causing a groan to escape you and the faint headache to surface. You struggled out of your fluffy prison your sleep self had entrapped you in, when you finally surfaced, shooting upwards into a sitting position which made you slightly dizzy. You were met by the sight of a very familiar room, Gojo’s. His stylish and mostly monochrome stylings with led strips that weren’t on, the sight brought back up the faint bubbling of home but also heartbreak. You looked around the room to find him, but he wasn’t in sight. However, you did notice your phone plugged in on the nightstand which also had a glass of water and ibuprofen, also a note.

‘I’ll b back, called u out of work- went to get your purse. Donuts on the counter. - Satoru <3’

A small smile tugged on your lips, and the domestic energy warmed your heart, rereading the note before taking the ibuprofen and chugging the glass of water. Standing to stretch you caught a glimpse of yourself in the floor-length mirror Gojo had, you were disheveled at best: hair wild in an outlandish style that can never be replicated, and the fancy clothes you were wearing the night prior were replaced by Gojo’s Glass Animals t-shirt and a pair of his boxers, and your makeup and the sweat were mostly cleaned off although some remnants could be seen.

You could hear the apartment door open with the jingle of keys, you made your way to the bedroom’s entrance and stood. His open concept home made it so you were direct across from him, many feet between you two. Gojo was in gray sweatpants and a black long-sleeved shirt that was form-fitting- with a pair of sunglasses on his nose bridge, of course. Your purse and his keys in hand. He froze in place for a second at the sight of you, a smile pulling the sides of his mouth as he gave you a slow once over. Satoru freed a nimble hand to pull down his sunglasses to throw them on the countertop.

“Well good morning, sleepyhead.” He cooed, finally making his way further into the apartment and closing the door gently. You also made your way closer to him, almost drawn to him. “I went to Ale’s for your purse-”

Your brow quirked upwards, “But it wasn’t Ale who had it-”

A nod came from the man, who was now only 3 feet from you and itching to be closer. “Yeah, yeah I know that now. I was bamboozled by your drunk self to think that Ale had it. Thankfully the fourth place I went, Emily’s, was correct. She was oddly so eager to give me, a man she barely knows, your purse. If I was you I wouldn’t trust her with anything until she has a refresher course on stranger danger.”

You giggled, the fact was you only had like 4 friends that he knows of. Making Emily’s that last place he went, “Yeah well, can’t blame ‘er for being nice. Stranger danger should be implemented in standard employee training. Can’t have everyone getting kidnaped or even worse- them give away company supplies!”

“Oh god no!” He faked being appalled. “It can’t happen, the world will CRUMBLE!”

You couldn’t hold back the laughter anymore, and neither could Gojo because you both spent a long minute laughing to the point where it was hard to breathe. When you two had calmed down, he handed you your purse, which you put down almost immediately. It wasn’t that it wasn’t a huge relief, but you wanted to savor this time with Satoru even for a little bit.

“Thank you,” It came out quieter than you intended, and so did the rest of your sentence. “For everything, Gojo. Truly you saved my ass when you didn’t have to. Especially after everything, which I would like to apologize for because I acted so unfairly and honestly childish-”

“y/n, I would do anything for you in a second,” The words came out of the tall man’s mouth quicker than he thought them. “Don’t beat yourself up about the past, I just want to know what I did.”

The silence was almost deafening, the only sound was your heartbeats, “Gojo-”

“How many times do I have to ask you,” His voice was gentle compared to the rigidity of the words. “Please call me Satoru.”

“Satoru,” you corrected. “You didn’t do anything really.” Bashfulness took over, could you admit to him your feelings? You couldn’t look him in the eye, instead, you looked down to the floor.

The sapphire-eyed man was quick to close the gap between you, putting a finger under your chin to force you to look at him. “Sweetness, please tell me.”

“I just, I couldn’t handle a casual relationship anymore.” You murmured, giving him a sad look. “I know about you and Ichika Hanamaki, how your relationship with her was going. And I realized I couldn’t do it anymore.”

A scoff left his mouth, “Me and Hanamaki slept together, I admit. But it was only once or twice, there was no relationship there. I can barely tolerate her most of the time. Where the hell would you have heard this bullshit?”

Embarrassment and regret seized your body, blush creeping onto your skin. “She can’t keep her mouth shut in the break room.”

He grimaced and sighed, letting go of your face and walking over to the donut box on the kitchen counter and grabbing a chocolate glazed one for him, and your favorite type of donut for you. You stood there a minute with the pastry in your hand before you mentioned, “It broke my heart ‘Toru. These past weeks I’ve been miserable-”

“I think I’m in love with you, y/n.” He blabbered out, confidence but also vulnerability all over his face and body language. He was now leaning his back against the butcher block while you still stood near the counter which had bar stools. Gojo could hear the swift intake of breath and saw how wide your eyes were. “This entire time, that’s all I could think about. How I was so stupid to fuck it up when I finally realized my feelings for you.”

“Satoru…” You whispered. You felt faint, to be honest, but that was the least of your problems. “Please don’t be playing with me right now.”

“What? No, god no. y/n I joke about a lot of things, but I would never joke about this to you.” You made your way closer to him with small steps, he waited for you patiently until you were in arms reach- it was then when Satoru pressed your body to his and he kissed you like a starving man, hands bracing the side of your face. Every time you thought he was going to pull away you were wrong, you had barely any oxygen left when you finally pushed him off. Even then his face was mere inches from yours as you both breathed heavily.

“‘Toru,” you pleaded. You were fisting his shirt like holding onto him would save you from the end of the world. “‘Toru, I love you too. Please lemme be your significant other, I don’ think I could stand to lose you again.”

“You just made my year, sweetness, I would be honored!” With another bone-breaking, air-stealing kiss the relationship you had both longed for and grieved over was sealed. This time the kiss wasn’t filled in desperation but with pure joy and affection, so much joy that little giggles escaped the both of you while you kissed passionately. He wrapped his arms around you, engulfing your smaller frame with his when he deepened the kiss- at this point the two of you were making out not just kissing. With a bite on your lip, his nimble tongue got access to your mouth; quickly gained dominance over your tongue, and then explored his territory.

You couldn’t help the moan which was quick to surface, it was a sound that made Satoru Gojo lose the last strand of composure and control he had. Picking you up by grabbing behind your thighs, he placed you on the counter the show of strength making you gasp as well as the shock of the cold marble on your bare skin.

“Please baby, let me show you how much I need you.” He asked into your ear which he started nibbling. You barely got a breathy, ‘yes, god please-’ out before he was attacking you like a starved animal. One of Gojo’s hands groped your breast while he started berating your neck with bites and sucking- trying to mark you as his. You were desperately gripping onto him, hands finding use by raking up his back, your head was thrown back to give Satoru the accessibility he wanted. Suddenly, the man’s free hand made its presence known by grabbing and squeezing your thigh all too close to your acing core which throbbed due to a certain someone.

Gojo pulled back, freeing both himself and you of your tops before picking you up to take off the boxer he had dressed you in before, “You know, changing a past out drunk person is pretty suspicious of you.” You couldn’t help the joke as it slipped past your swollen red lips.

“Would you have preferred it if I had just stripped you?” ‘Toru teased, the tone becoming more serious when he instructed: “Green means good, yellow means to slow down, red means to stop. ‘Ya ready for me angel?”

“Mhm,” you hummed, anticipation making you bite your lip.

He lowered himself so he was on his knees, and sitting face to face with your exposed and gushing pussy. “Doll, use your words.”

“Yes, master. I-I’m ready.” You couldn’t help the honorific which fell in with the sentence, it almost sounded like a plea from the way you said it. When the last letter left your mouth, he dove for your slit- burying his face in and shaking his head for a good minute. The motion made you whine, but when he started licking and sucking on your folds was when he really made you moan. You grounded yourself by grabbing his cloud-colored locks and pulling a little, his scalp was the perfect anchor. He switched to fucking you with his tongue while playing with your clit, he wasn’t going too fast but it was fast enough that you were already worming around in his grip due to the pleasure you were feeling.

“I-I haven’t-” you stuttered. “Slept with an-anyone else.” This made Satoru groan into your cunt. You had shared this fact to try and defend why you were coming undone so quickly, more so for yourself although you knew that the small amount of time between when you had last slept with him had nothing to really do with it. He had this indescribable talent to fuck you so well even when he isn’t necessarily trying (he almost always is though).

He switched positions, two fingers started pumping in and out of your dripping hole at an even speed while his tongue played with your clit like a child playing with a light switch. You could barely take it anymore, you were on the ledge about to fall into a blissful chasm of pleasure.

“Master-! M-master I’m gonna,” You couldn’t get out the words before your orgasm raked throw your body making you almost quiver. Gojo groaned so deeply and sexily that it almost made you cum again.

He slowed his ministrations but didn’t stop until you had completely finished your high, “That's it pretty, that's it. Such a good little thing for me.” He pulled his digits from your weeping hole excruciatingly slow, making sure you felt it. Satoru placed a feather-light kiss on your clit, then stood back up and kissed you- forcing you to taste yourself on his tongue as he pushed it into your mouth.

“Pleaseeee!” You pleaded when he pulled away, it made Gojo grin.

“Please what? What do you want angel? Use your words.” He almost coo'd caressing the sides of your face with the tips of his fingers

“M-master please do me already,” You murmured at the man, lower lip quivering before you bit it. A chuckle escaped your partner as he shook his head, suddenly pulling your body to the edge of the countertop.

“Of course, doll,” he whispered into your ear seductively. “Anything for you.” Your chests were nearly touching with the new closeness Gojo had created by bringing you closer, you wrapped your legs around his waist to ensure he wouldn’t move away which made him chuckle.

Satoru wasted no time as he lined himself up with your already abused hole and slid in slowly but confidently. The stretch took your breath away, your mouth unintentionally gaping at the feeling. Shuttered moans from both you and Gojo filled the room, his once confident and smug expression was slightly twisted with pure pleasure. Scratching his back as you tried to grip his defined back muscle, you started leaving hickeys up the side of his neck which he gratefully accepted. He gyrated his hips against yours, the pace he set wall slow but he was hitting so deep inside of you it was making you see stars.

His length twitched inside of you, causing him to vocalize. “Ya’ remember when you said that y-ou hadn’t been with anyone else? Well, I-uh- I’m not that far behind. I co-ouldn’t really get into when I tried- I tried ‘cause it hurt to have you gone. Thought I could get over with fucking other people like normal- but I couldn’t- y/n you ruined everyone else for me, I can’t imagine if I didn’t get you back.”

Tears started leaking down your cheeks, “Satoru-UUU!!” You wished you could have been more sentimental but instead you had came again, this time some of your juices coated his length. He too was misty-eyed but had a cocky expression because of your orgasm, instead of letting you see the tears instead he kissed you tenderly. The man wrapped one long arm around you while the other hand was placed at the juncture between your ass and thigh keeping you in position as he sped up little by little. His cock still reached the same depth, but at a quicker and quicker speed until he was unraveled and you were so blissed out you were barely there.

“MASTER PLEASE!” You screamed, back arching. “I CAN’T-”

“Yes you ca-n, You can han-dle it doll. You can cum one more time for me. Gotta make sure you feel good,” It was less of a question and more of an order, an order which drew out a sob from your chest. You were going to orgasm again soon, he could feel it in the way your hole twitched. But you realized that it was going to be intense, more intense than the previous ones- you felt like you were going to pee almost.

“Master I-I’m gonna ma-ake a mess!!“ You squealed, barely holding onto the orgasm.

He too was so close to his precipice of pleasure, Satoru was uncaring of the location only wishing you pleasure so he said, “Then make a mess. Make a mess for me and I-I’ll make one for ya’ doll!” Before you knew it you were both shaking with pleasure and juices shot both out and into you, his warm cum filling your battered hole while your juices coated his lower torso and the surrounding area.

The two of your breathed heavy, but still pressed your sweaty foreheads together so content to be in each other's company. Before long he pulled his head back making you whine which made him gently shush you, “I’m not going anywhere, love. Don’t worry!” There was almost a laugh in his tone which made you smile as the noise often did.

“ ‘m sorry, I made a mess.” You frowned, making your now boyfriend tsk.

“No problem,” He assured. “I’ll clean it later… Want to take a shower with me?”

Despite having just had breathtaking sex, you blushed at the notion, “Sure, Satoru, I would like that.”

——————————————–

“So you,” Your friend Ale began slowly, eyes wide at you while you shifted, sitting haphazardly on part of her desk. “You and Mr.Gojo, are together now- like actually 100% committed?”

“Heck yeah, dude that's awesome! I knew at soon as he came to my place for your purse- dude looked so in love!” Emily chimed from where she stood.

“Oh, I think I know what you mean!” Ale said to Emy. “To be honest, I thought it was indigestion.” With that statement you all laughed, bellies hurting a little from how hard the three of you chuckled.

“Yeah, we’re dating- We had a long talk and he asked me to move in with him!” You explained.

“You didn’t accept it, though, right? It’s a little early-” Ale began.

“No, no I didn’t,” You shook your head at the absurdity. “I told him if we’re still going good in a month or two I’d contemplate it.

“That’s my friend!” Emily cheered, high-fiving you. “Make sure you don’t forget us, even after you and the sexy executive get married and busy with your lil’ family.”

“Oh you, stawppp. I could never forget you guys!” You said, sappiness overtaking you.

Ale stood, taking you into a side hug. “Good, if you do you're going to regret it!”

You never did forget your dear friends, not after you and Gojo got pets together or got married, even if you had children you would never left your friends behind because it was them leaving you behind that led to the best part of your life with Gojo Satoru

Tags list: @kuroosdarling

#Jealousy is an Alphabet Soup Made of Booze and Bozos #gojo satoru #gojo satoru smut #gojo satoru x reader #gojo satoru x you #jjk #jujutsu gojo #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen smut #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jujutsu itadori #Yuji Itadori #gojo angst #gojo fluff #gojo imagine #gojo smut #gojo x reader #gojo x you #satoru gojo angst #gojo saturo #jjk fanfic #jujutsu kaisen fanfic #jujutsu kaisen fluff #edited rb

[cdyssey]

if ur still taking prompts, pre-relationship melissa/barbara where barb is getting jealous over mel’s new fling? could be a new teacher who’s a woman as well? thank you! i love how you write them, and your overall voice in your works. thank u for ur brain and ideas and love for these two!!! <3

Augh, thank you for the kind words, Anon!!! ;w; I'm so appreciative.

And, haha, I feel like it's a rite of passage in the Work Wives fandom to pair Melissa with another MILF of choice to make Barbara jealous. <3 My face claim is Alex Kingston. >:)

CW: Grief Mentions, Emotional Infidelity, Suggestive Content

AO3 Link

—

The new art teacher is named Ms. Avery Blackwood, and she just moved from Manhattan to Philly, quietly citing the need to not see her late partner in every sunset.

She mostly worked on commission in the Big Apple, painting murals and large portraits for well-paying clients, but she also did a lot of volunteer work, lending her talents to underfunded schools and women shelters when she could.

But Ava didn’t hire her for this impressive resume—(because that would be bordering on competency, of course)—but rather for the fact that the almost sixty-year old is a Pisces and quote—“damn, that’s kinda hot, not gonna lie”—end quote.

Avery drives a yellow Volkswagen that still has a faded Bernie 2020 sticker on the bumper.

She calls everyone darling and dear and likely has paint splattered across her black overalls at any given time. 

She tucks paintbrushes behind her ear and charmingly doesn’t remember that she’s done so in the first place.

But once she’s been told someone's name and attaches it to a face, she never, ever forgets.

And to top it all off, Avery Blackwood, along with these innumerable endearing qualities, is utterly breathtaking—all curly russet hair and pale hazel eyes, curves in gorgeous places, and an English accent delivered in a low, delicious voice. The kids love her for her whimsy and play. Janine’s already adopted her as her newest middle-aged mother. 

And Melissa.

Melissa is dating her.

Barbara didn’t realize this crucial fact until precisely yesterday when she was sitting in the lounge, trying her hardest not to stare at the empty seat next to her for well over half-an-hour. The younger teachers had gone to Pizza Hut for lunch, which made the absence of the second grade grade teacher all the more pronounced. A vacancy that was a presence. The ghost of a very alive person. Barbara’s daily crossword puzzle went untouched, her afternoon mug of coffee mostly full, as she mentally combed through the most rational possibilities in her head: Melissa catching up on grades, Melissa trying to get the blasted copier in the office to work, Melissa gone to grab a bite to eat all by her lonesome.

All reasonable and distinct options.

Still.

Barbara had glanced at her phone every few minutes to see if she had received a text confirming any of them, providing an explanation, an excuse, an apology.

Nothing.

Nada.

Zilch.

Just a voicemail from Gerald apologizing because sorry, honey, he’d be home late. 

Her husband is always late these days, though. His promotion’s been good for their finances—it even funded their lovely cruise this past summer—but it’s been less conducive to their relationship, disrupting every sturdy habit and rhythm they’ve cultivated together for well over thirty years. He is the indentation on the left side of the bed and the apologetic voicemails he leaves because of it. He is the hasty peck on her cheek before he leaves for work and the untouched coffee mug she instinctively sets next to hers anyway. What he fundamentally isn’t, however, is there, and she’s felt this new distance terribly, like a three-inch incision across her chest. She’s tried to bandage the untenable wound with other things—namely people. 

Namely one person. 

Namely Melissa. 

The two teachers have been spending a lot of time together lately, even out of school—getting their nails done or going to see Saturday matinees or shopping deals on school supplies together at Staples. So she’s gotten used to Melissa being around, has soothed her pathological need for routine because of this immutable fact. 

In the absence of Gerald, there has been Melissa.

A constant presence at her shoulder.

Never more than a text or call or short walk down the hall away.

Until yesterday.

Until Avery Blackwood.

At some point, she walked to the window as a preventative measure against impulsively marching to her friend’s classroom and demanding an explanation, and as she peered through the rain-splattered blinds, she saw them.

Melissa and Avery.

They were walking up the stone steps together, holding hands, and Melissa was laughing at a joke that the other woman had clearly just told, her smile impossible to miss even from a distance.

Even from another room.

Even at the ends of this world.

And Barbara’s stomach had clenched unpleasantly where she stood on the tiles, recoiling at the unexpected sight. And she had mechanically walked back to her seat and tried to sit with this feeling as it rose within her, snarling her carefully composed nervous system into disarray. She didn’t want to admit it, but in her heart of hearts—that forbidden tree she scarcely touches—she understood, even then, that this feeling was jealousy.

And it was irrational.

Ugly.

Perhaps even sinful. 

Thou shalt not covet thy best friend’s girlfriend.

Because Melissa undoubtedly deserves happiness.

And you already have it.

You are a married, Christian woman.

Barbara has known, for sometime now, that Melissa also dates women—mostly when she was younger and before she’d married Joseph—but now that she’s single again, having broken up with Gary the Vending Machine Guy a few months ago, she’s been getting into the swing of regularly dating again: a man named Thornton who had a Tom Selleck mustache, a woman named Selina who’d worked on a local mayoral campaign, a bartender named Layla. 

Barbara has hated all of her friend’s flings for completely valid and totally objective reasons, telling her as much—and in her humble opinion—doing the Lord’s work of helping her to see the proverbial light.

Gary was content to settle, never once trying something new. And while he was nice and funny and good, he took it for granted that Melissa wanted a staid and unchanging lifestyle too.

Thornton, well, he didn’t root for the Eagles, so that was a no-go despite his impressive mustache.

Selina, bless her heart, never stopped talking about politics.

And Layla—mmm, the nerve of her—didn’t care much about politics at all.

But Avery Blackwood, who is impossibly kind and witty and passionate about helping others, is perfect. There is nothing about her to nitpick and everything about her to root for. She’s probably good for Melissa.

Maybe she’s even the one.

And if jealousy was the awful feeling that Barbara had to swallow in that moment, then happiness was the emotion she had to hastily fake, capably simulating it with a porcelain facade of a smile when the two women finally made it into the lounge, still holding hands.

Melissa was self-conscious—as she always was when she was introducing her new partners to Barbara—her cheeks tinged rather pink.

And Barbara had been so perfectly gracious, as she always was when she was meeting Melissa’s partners—arranging her gritted teeth into a bright and pearly smile.

“You two are simply radiant,” she had mused, and it had broken something inside of her to do it.

She could not articulate to herself why.

She could not pray about it to God either.

—

It is Wednesday—the next day—and Barbara is sitting at her desk, savoring her second mug of coffee before the bell rings, when she hears a gentle rapping noise to her left. She looks up and over to see Melissa leaning against her open classroom door, her striking hair a little damp from the rain, spilling over her shoulders in dark, elegant waves.

“Hey, you,” she smirks, huffing a little, her cheeks flushed. Apparently, she’d jogged here, and the overall effect of all this—her wet hair and rosy face, her casual posture, the way the top two buttons of her shirt are carelessly undone, the vee-shaped divot suggesting the ample curves of those smooth, rolling—

—does nothing for Barbara.

Obviously.

“Hey, yourself,” she rasps hoarsely and hastily takes a throat-clearing sip of her coffee. Her damn sinuses. They always get to her at this time of the year. “What’s got you all flustered, Ms. Schemmenti?”

“Nothin’ in particular,” Melissa shakes her head, still grinning. “Just wanted to catch ya before the bell and apologize for yesterday. Sorry that I skipped lunch.”

And went out a date with Avery Blackwood.

And held hands with her. 

Maybe even kissed her.

Barbara imagines Avery’s fingers in her friend’s hair, twisted in those thick, scarlet tresses. She sees Melissa’s arms around the other woman’s curving waist, the space between their bodies negligible. Envisions them trading shades and flavors of red lipstick, can almost hear the sensuous heaving of their mingled breaths. Impatient grunts. Maybe even the occasional moan. And that same awful feeling that had consumed her as she had stood by the window yesterday begins to climb up the rungs of her throat, constricting it, choking what’s left of her resolve to maintain an impeccable front.

And it is initially rather oblique to her—incomprehensible and frankly terrifying—why she should be feeling jealous of the idea of Melissa kissing another woman. It is one thing to be saddened at the idea of losing time with her closest friend; it is another to want to wretch at just the mere thought of the second grade teacher’s lips turning into another art project for one Ms. Avery Blackwood.

But in the end... she supposes she just misses Gerald, his little romantic gestures, his chaste kisses, his once attentive care.

Maybe she’s just lonely.

“Pssh,” she forces herself to smile all the same. “no need to apologize, girlfriend… I was simply happy to see you so happy…”

“Oh, yeah?” Melissa’s own smile brightens, her blush deepening until her face is nearly as red as her hair. Barbara is uncomfortably aware that the other teacher likes receiving her approval, perhaps even hinges some of her self-esteem on it. It’s been this way since her divorce and Joseph wrapped a horrible bow on their marriage by finally cheating on her.

That betrayal had unraveled Melissa Schemmenti.

Had made her feel like she was impossible to love.

And Barbara had seen all of this very clearly, had done everything in her power to put her friend’s broken pieces back together again, laboriously reconstructing her by telling her—almost everyday—that she was so loved and so cared for.

Lord, and how she’d done everything shy of kissing her to prove it.

“Yes,” Barbara nods, softening at these memories, chastising herself for forgetting them in the first place. Her entire project these last five years has been to help Melissa find happiness again… even if it comes at the expense of her own. “I’ve missed seeing you smile like that.”

And it’s true enough.

For the first year after the divorce, Melissa didn’t smile all that much anymore. 

Not like she used to anyway.

And it had killed her inside, had hurt her and hurt her and hurt her, every single God blessed day to see the lifelessness in her eyes, to endure the unchanging monotony of her voice.

She remembers tearing up the first time she heard Melissa belly laugh again—maybe two years after the fact. They’d been at her house, making batches of Christmas cookies for their students, and Barbara had hastily opened a bag of flour, causing the dust to explode all over her face. Melissa had laughed and laughed and laughed some more at what was assuredly a hilarious sight until her own face turned red, the sound warm and vibrant and everything lovely in that dimly-lit kitchen.

And flour all over her cheeks and everything, Barbara had nearly wept, unhinged at that beautiful, nearly forgotten noise. Oh, God, how she’d pulled her friend into a hug then, smearing flour across her face too, kissing her—so very softly—on the crown of that vivid head.

Because Melissa was laughing.

Melissa was happy.

Maybe more accurately still, they were happy together.

“Smile like what?” Melissa tilts her head quizzically, her dark brow pinching somewhere in the middle.

“Like you’re at peace,” she says warmly and beneath her desk, digs her fingernails into the palm of her other hand. Because it stings—more than she ever thought it would—that her friend would finally find contentment in someone who wasn’t her.

Melissa opens her mouth and then abruptly closes it, rendered speechless with visible tenderness and delight, pink feathering her high cheekbones. 

Goodness, she’s radiant, Barbara thinks, continuing to grip her palm, idly clawing at it, grounding herself in the distant ache.

“It’s still early yet, Barb,” the younger woman finally croaks, attempting to be playful but clearly and audibly touched. “Don’t jinx us.”

“Ach, never,” she intones, clumsily disguising a sudden gasp of pain as a laugh.

When she looks down at her hands, she sees that she has nicked herself, has accidentally drawn blood.

—

Avery is the one who proposes it—a joint lesson where Barbara will read The Cat in the Hat to her kids, and Avery will help them with a coloring project shortly afterwards. She comes to Barbara’s classroom after school one day—perhaps a week after the kindergarten teacher first saw her and Melissa from the window—so they can plan the specifics. With her impossible hair tied in a messy bun atop of her head and the loosely rolled sleeves of her oversized shirt speckled with paint and her slightly lined eyes bright with infectious zeal, it’s easy enough to understand why Ava calls her a “fine ass Miss Frizzle.”

And in hindsight, Barbara now knows why Melissa had been the first to agree.

“Genius,” Avery enthuses, lightly brushing her shoulder against Barbara’s own. “I mean, absolutely bloody brilliant—do you really create vocabulary card decks for each book that you’re reading? And for every student? Because if you do, then Melissa was absolutely correct when she called you a god.”

Her cheeks darken at the excessively kind words—both the art teacher’s own but more so Melissa’s purported ones. She never admits it, but she quite likes receiving her friend’s verbal approval too.

“Melissa thinks far too highly of me,” she says diplomatically, though a pleased smile rises to her lips all the same. “But I suppose she probably says the same of me.”

Neither of them are particularly good at loving each other in moderation. Gerald once teased that she loved Melissa more than him, and Barbara had just as jokingly agreed.

“Something to that effect, yes,” Avery laughs, the sound jocular and lovely, though her playfulness somewhat quickly cedes to thoughtfulness. She regards Barbara with a fond expression, tilting her curly head as though she’s trying to figure out how to capture her best angles in paint. “Mel really does think the world of you, you know. Says that you were there for her when she was really going through it with her ex…”

“It’s what any friend would do,” Barbara says quickly, flushing a little, not entirely sure if she’s touched that Melissa would share such an intimate detail about their friendship or irritated that she did.

Partially thinks that sharing the fact takes some of novelty away from it.

Ludicrous, she knows.

Absolutely ridiculous.

She’s well-aware.

(What is awareness to raw emotion, though, intellectualization to the irrationality of her deepest and most detested feelings?)

“What a good friend would do, dear,” Avery corrects firmly, thankfully oblivious to her inner conflict. “It’s in times of crisis when you learn who your true friends are. When my… you know, when my Morgan passed, so many people I thought were in my corner suddenly poofed, vanished, disappeared into the aether. And the ones who stayed—who helped me through the darkness—were often people I least expected. But they were so kind to me. They held my hand while I was in the straits, and they refused to let me go…”

Even though Avery’s gentle expression remains unchanged, Barbara can see the sadness in the forest of her eyes, can hear its plaintive notes in her rich, lilting voice. She cannot begin to fathom ever losing Gerald, even as complicated as things are between them now. She still loves him, of course. He’s the father of her kids and the other person in their shared bed of thirty-four—nearly thirty-five—years. She’d simply be lost without him.

She thinks it would be the death of her to lose Melissa, to never see that bright, red mouth smiling crookedly at her from across the room again. They’ve only known each other for nineteen years, but it feels like forever. And if Gerald is the other person in her bed, then Melissa is the filled seat next to hers in the teacher’s lounge, the hip lightly brushing against her own, the leather-clad shoulder she knows she can always lean upon.

They’re her people—her husband and her work wife—and she’s absolutely selfish; she wouldn’t be able to easily let either of them go.

So she reaches out accordingly, placing a hand on the small of the art teacher’s back in this imagined empathy of total, devastating, and unrecoverable grief.

There would be no Barbara Howard anymore in the aftermath of losing her beloved Ger or her precious Mel.

There would only be an empty husk of the woman she once was.

Her unhallowed and hollowed ghost.

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” she offers sincerely—with everything in her—but Avery only shakes her head and smiles at her gratefully. Her innumerable curls shiver at the movement.

“It was a long time ago, and things are much better now,” she returns softly, reaching over and lightly squeezing Barbara's free hand. “I have my necessary distractions—a new home to ruin with all my artistic endeavors, a different job to brilliantly occupy my time, and, well, Melissa now.”

Barbara doesn’t discipline her immediate reaction fast enough, frowning deeply at the inclusion of her friend’s name on this particular list.

“Oh,” Avery says hurriedly, catching the microgesture in an instant, pops of color rising across her smooth cheeks, “I don’t mean to say that I’m using Melissa as a way of coping. I like her very much… she understands loss…”

“She does,” Barbara says, not exactly coldly, but perhaps with a touch of admonition, eyeing the other teacher carefully. She lets her hand fall away, primly templing it with the other. “She absolutely understands loss—perhaps far too well as you might know."

Her nana who practically raised her and so many other relatives besides.

An uncle who was killed.

Joseph, that awful man.

Their acrimonious divorce.

Her estranged sister.

“I do know,” Avery agrees, her pale eyes suddenly bright in the harsh fluorescence of the classroom. “And I didn’t mean to insinuate—I mean, I would never hurt her. Melissa is so dear to me."

“I believe you,” she smiles tightly but truthfully. She thinks the art teacher occasionally wears her emotions on her sleeves—as transparently as the paint that is already there—and she half-admires this vulnerability.

Could never be so candid herself. 

But she thinks it’s rather dangerous too, this capacity for laying one’s soul bare before another. Lesser people would take advantage, and they do everyday.

“Sometimes, though, we hurt people without ever really meaning to,” Barbara continues, taking on the familiar tone of Mrs. Howard.

Kind and didactic.

A little sanctimonious, maybe.

But well-intentioned.

Always.

She just doesn’t want to see Melissa hurt again.

“Even if we care about them—perhaps especially when we do."

The other woman flinches, as though she's been slapped, so Barbara hastily adds, "Not that you would, of course, but it’s something to keep in mind, yes?”

Avery is quiet for a long time after this, all of her usual mirth sieved from her, replaced with a world weariness and an aching, almost tangible sorrow. Barbara doesn’t think she did this to her, though; rather, she intuits that this is the person behind the painted smile.

This is the artist as herself and not as who she presents herself to be.

She feels sorry for her; she stands by her implicit warning all the same.

Melissa will always come first to her—her happiness, her security, her invaluable peace of mind—and she'll do anything to protect those holy treasures.

(She wishes—more than anything and with inordinate guilt—that she could provide them for her.)

"Fair enough," Avery eventually agrees.

Her ensuing smile is exquisite; it does not touch her eyes.

—

That evening, Barbara is curled up in her favorite recliner, watching Family Feud but not really seeing it, a glass of Prosecco idly supported between her fingertips. Gerald’s going to be late again—surprise, surprise—and she put on a whole pot of chicken and dumplings for nothing. 

Oh, sure, he’ll eat a bowl tonight when he gets home around eight or nine, but she’ll have already eaten herself and will likely be in bed to prepare for the school day tomorrow. And if she is, her husband might even sleep in the guest room tonight so as not to disturb her.

He’s polite like that.

But Gerald’s versions of politeness often leave her feeling lonelier than ever before.

So when her phone suddenly rings right at the commercial break, and Melissa’s smiling face washes over her screen—(a picture she’d taken on their most recent movie date)—Barbara is perhaps a little too eager to pick up the phone, pressing it to her ear like a lifeline.

She’s wholly unprepared for the greeting that follows.

“What the hell did you say to Avery?” 

“What?” Barbara splutters, uncomprehending and half-offended and so horribly afraid. She sits up abruptly, accidentally spilling a little wine on one of her favorite silk blouses. “What in Heaven’s name do you mean, Melissa? I didn’t—“

But the younger woman cuts across her viciously. “Things were all fine this morning, but then she goes to your classroom, and not even five minutes later, she’s in mine, tellin’ me we should take things slower!”

Barbara closes her eyes, suddenly and completely nauseous. The art teacher had apparently taken her words to heart, had evaluated them and perhaps found that they struck a meaningful chord. 

Avery is still grieving her partner.

And grief is a monstrous thing.

It colors everything it touches—thoughts, memories, conversations, and deeds.

Relationships too.

(Maybe even relationships especially.)

“Are you saying that she broke up with you?” She rasps, her voice choked, wrung with unspeakable shame.

And something else as well.

But that something else is far more insidious to ever name.

(Hope.)

(Self-righteousness.)

(Glorious, sweeping relief.)

“No, I’m sayin’ that here you go again, messin’ with my relationships,” comes a quick and scathing reply. “You didn’t like Selina or Layla or Thornton. Fuck, you didn’t even like Gary, and you set me up with him in the first place!”

Every word lands across her stomach like the entry of a new knife, gushing blood. It’s true that she’s voiced her reservations about each and every one of Melissa’s most recent partners, but not for any malicious intent. She’s only meant to help her friend, naming the flaws in these various flings that her friend couldn’t see. 

That is altruism from her limited perspective.

Meddling is a form of love.

“You’re being incredibly unfair,” she hisses, angrily wiping at the tears that have started to form at the corners of her eyes. “I’ve only wanted the best for you, Melissa, and you know that.”

And none of those individuals—as kind as they were or funny or sexy or available—were good enough for Melissa Schemmenti.

They were nice people.

That didn’t mean a blessed thing to Barbara.

“Yeah, well, from where I’m standing, you don’t give a rat’s ass about me—you just want me to be as miserable as yourself.”

And, oh, it is this indictment that is the cruelest of them all, and Barbara immediately wants to cry and shudder and scream so loudly that she can be heard from miles upon miles away. Another part of her still wants to fight back, teeth bared and hackles raised, wants to snarl so many unsavory things. 

That her marriage is none of Melissa’s business.

That if she was so uncaring, then who has unfailingly been by her side these past five years, fixing what Joseph Lombardo so callously broke?

That she loves her.

You know that I do, Melissa.

I have loved you far more and for far longer than almost anyone.

Do you not know that?

Have I not proved to you—over and over again—that I care?

“I’m not miserable,” she mewls instead, the words pathetic even to her own ears. She sounds like a petulant child, but her deepest honesty would be overwhelming and too much.

It would sound like a vulgar confession. 

A romantic one.

Her glass violently trembles in her hand. 

“Keep telling yourself that, Barbara," comes an incredulous, broken laugh, "but don’t talk to me about my shit again until you’re finally ready to be honest about your own.”

And with that searing proclamation, Melissa hangs up with a brutal click, leaving Barbara alone again in her big, empty house.

The abrupt silence bruises her.

Wraps its fingers around the pillar of her throat.

She sits in her recliner and simply suffocates—for minutes after that, and then hours, a monolith carved from stone as tears serpentine down the weathered crevices of her face like water over an ancient fountain. She wipes at them only every now and then. Can’t entirely bring herself to care.

Darkness falls through the bay window in the living room, laying across her like a steel cage. She drinks and refills her wine and drinks and refills her wine until the bottle is  empty, and her mind is a buzzing tape recorder, replaying that last conversation in her head until she’s making up replies that she didn’t say.

She is not miserable, Melissa.

She is a married, Christian woman.

She cannot fathom those two ever being one and the same.

#work wives #melissa schemmenti #barbara howard #abbott elementary #s: abbott elementary #reginianwrites #lots of gay yearning <3333 #one of my favorite things to write

[themountainsays]

So does Pepa's family not exist in this new AU or do they like live somewhere else since it keeps Camilo from causing problems with Mirabel's plot but allows Isabela to text and talk to her best friend and cousins Dolores when she needs to. Also so does Lusia not exist or is she say going to uni somewhere maybe were Pepa lives so Isabela is the only one to take care Mirabel. And I assume Abuela is dead you no magic food old given her age good chance she smoked so passed away and not having her around not necessarily dead is better for Isabela since Julieta and Agustin strike me as less controling and would be fine to have a gay daughter or two or three and would be open to it. (There was this incorrect quote I saw a while back like Isabela: Mom I'm gay. Julieta: About time you noticed. Though she would be like sweetie I already knew and it's okay I'll love you no matter what.) Also now that my brain is working what do Agustin and Julieta do like I can sss Julieta as either chef/baker or Doctor and or Nurse depends which is more important her healing or food I am inclined to nurse since they do most of the work I see her doing and Agustin in some office job. Damn why is my brain now laser focused on this I have homework, a pile of books and tv and a fanfic I need to try and write I don't need something else to distract me.

-RM

Ahhh RM study is important dw we'll be here w the inc3st waiting for you ;-; but yeah ok I think they're all still alive, all living in the same house for the past 50 years just like in canon, only they probably live in the outskirts of a big city, possibly Bogotá, like in a nice-ish middle class neighborhood, with a big ass house with space for everyone, but they all mosly work and study near the center of the city, where it's a lot more urban. Idk I'm totally inspiring this in my early childhood living a nice-ish area in Zona Sur of el Conurbano Bonaerense, I went to school for a year in Capital for some reason so it was like a two hour drive to school every day, and there are a lot of people who live in el Conurbano but work and study in Capital soooo likeeeee idk how it's like in Bogotá, idk shit about Bogotá, but this is kinda what I imagine. I assume that, being the capital of the country, Bogotá must have a bunch of universities. I'm checking out the iberoamerican universities rankings to see what the girls' best options would be and apparently la nacho is ranked 14 according to the QS iberoamerican uni ranking, idk what la nacho is like but sure let's say they all study in la nacho, idk what that doesn't matter. I keep finding conflicting info on whether or not university education is free over there??? If any colombian followers/mutuals are reading this please tell me what's up (blink twice if you need help) and if la nacho is cool or nah. But anyway the point is that yes they all live in the same city, same house, all the girls study in the same uni (different careers tho, idk which), and yes Camilo indeed is around and Mirabel works very hard to keep him quiet. Either he's in on the joke, she's blackmailing him, bribing him, desperately keeping the secret from him (that she's telling all her classmates that she has a hot older girlfriend in uni) or they go to different schools, which is totally possible if they're looking for different orientations, or if, say, one school is more convenient for one family and another for the other because it's eaier to drop off and pick up the kids on their way to and back from work etc etc. I imagine they all take care of Mirabel in one way or another, but Isabela is usually the one burdened with the responsability because she's the oldest, and I assume she just happens to have more time? Luisa is totally working while she studies, and maybe Dolores is just taking more demanding classes? Or her classes have a different schedule and Isabela's juuuuuuust happen to match up with Mirabel's schedule this quarter so she's the one on babysitting duty. She's totally blackmailing Dolores into making some time and taking the saturday night classes next quarter tho, no way she's doing this alone ever again.

I can see Juli as a nurse! And Agustín has office employee vibes but I can also see him as a piano teacher at some secondary school with a musical and visual arts orientation. Speaking of arts, Pepa is a bit hard but I can see her as a dance teacher? Same as Félix. Would be very cute if they met because they were teaching at the same place and they fell in love etc and their students totally watched the whole love story from the front seats uwu. Bruno is a cryptocurrency and NFT investor who hasn't left his room since age 35. Just kidding, he may or may not have an esoteric shop which he inherited from his mother, performing amarres, reading your future, magically bringing money your way, being super catholic but in a cool witchy way, man i should ask my friends who are into this stuff about it for ideas.

Speaking of, Abuela is very much alive in this AU, mostly because I think it would be funny if she thought Isabela's homosexuality is part of the great gringo conspiracy to weaken and diminish the latin american population so they can colonize us, which is something old people who hate gringos say, it's kinda funny asdkjndjdsjkj she's like "this yankee internet imperialism trend again 🙄🙄🙄" and juli will be like "it's ok mom go to sleep".

#lmao looking up info about colombian unis and i keep finding out about this leftist president winning the elections #i wanna say i'm happy but after the b0ric fiasco i'm sus ;-; gonn go read a few newspapers see whats up #madrigalcest #shipcest #isamira #what do i call this one #de esos que llaman embriones au #<--- it's a reference to a parody of a song #about a woman who likes older men #it goes like ''a ella le gustan mayores de esos q llaman señores'' #which means ''she likes older men those whom they call sir'' #and the parody is about a woman who likes younger guys so it's like #''a ella le gustan menores de esos que llaman embriones'' #which means ''she likes minors those whom they call embryos'' #and i totally imagine isabela's friends singing that to her #i mean dumb kids will sing that to each other when a friend dates someone one (1) year younger than them #so like it's established as a dumb joke #i promise it's not that creepy #most of the time

[toadkisses]

alistairs years in review

alistair has decided to publicly journal a summary of whats been going on the past two/three years or so. nobody is expected or obligated to read it, im just nostalgic for when i used to update my blog very frequently w/ life events :-)

this does contain descriptions of animal neglect btw though!

early 2020 i went to dog grooming school, i really loved my mentor. it was the first time since i was a kid that i looked forward to school! it was especially nice for a while because i was the only student for a bit. part of my education was handling phone calls and talking to clients, and i told my mentor how people have been trying to get me to be comfortable on the phone for years and no one has yet. but wouldnt you know! i really did get there!

i like working with the dogs, and i find caring for them to be really enriching. im also pretty good at it! i like grooming poodles the most, their hair texture is really great to work with.

a few months in though, we went into lockdown and i didnt get back to school for a while. eventually i did return, and there were other students, so it was cool that i got to have one-on-one education and companionship too?

before i graduated i had a job offer, a salon reached out to my mentor looking for new graduates. when i graduated my mentor hugged me because im one of her favorites :-)

the new salon was an interesting experience. there were three other groomers, a bather, and a receptionist. they were all very welcoming and involved me in conversation, gave me advice. i liked them and felt comfortable, the position also had some pretty nice benefits. however, after a few weeks i noticed they had a very different opinion on how to correct dog behaviors.

physically disciplining dogs is a divisive issue in the animal care community. i’ve always been against it, and my mentor was as well. however, it is commonplace in some practices to hit a dog if it is being aggressive or reactive. i very strongly disagree with it, but i wanted to give context that it is considered acceptable by many people who work with dogs.

my coworkers weren’t as extreme as some people i’ve heard about, but my supervisor still whacked a dogs muzzle with a metal comb when it whined and pulled away while she was brushing its tangles out. spankings were not uncommon.

they also made “jokes” and comments about gay and trans people that made me VERY uncomfortable. i wasnt out to any of them, so my supervisor felt comfortable commenting about how many gay people they had apply to the position and how it was so weird. when a coworker talked about a same gender client tipping her well and complimenting her appearance, and joked that it was because the client had a crush on her, the receptionist yelled, “FAGGOT!!!!” to much laughter.

i wound up talking to the owner (who was not a groomer or regularly in the shop) and resigned. i was there for maybe two months? i wish it had worked out, and the owner took me seriously and wanted me to stay while he instituted new policies, but i think it would have been very obvious who the whistleblower was since i was the only new person in the salon, haha. my mentor was really supportive and encouraged me to find a job elsewhere, and helped me look at options. she’s great!

after about a month, i applied to a salon near my home. a week later, i got a call from the doggy daycare i worked at for multiple years previously, and they wanted me to come over and groom for them. i found out later that they were in the process of buying the salon i applied to, which is how they knew i was looking for a job.

the center is connected to a vet office, and they told me they were in the process of opening a grooming branch for dogs being boarded. there was only one other groomer at the moment, and i’d be assisting her until the client base grew enough for both of us to be actively grooming. i was happy enough with this when it was presented.

i was happy to be back in the daycare environment, since it was familiar to me and i knew most of the staff pretty well. i was working with a groomer with about ten years experience, who was about 50, and we got along well.

issues became apparent fairly quickly, though. the room we were grooming in was in a windowless basement, so it got up to 80 degrees fahrenheit and 80% humidity at some times. the lighting was pretty poor. there was black mold under the sink, which i had actually found a year earlier while working there, and it hadnt been addressed since.

sometimes when grooming, one will have to stop the groom or do a less polished job than one would like if the dog is being aggressive or is clearly overstressed. other times, a dog will have health conditions that make it impossible to groom in a normal salon environment. when this happens, the usual course of action is to recommend that the dog be taken to a veterinary groomer, so they can be given medical support during the groom, by people who are trained to handle behavioral or health issues.

neither i nor my coworker were aware when we took the job that we would be getting veterinary groom clients.

you see neglect cases every so often when you are a groomer, and its never pleasant. matted fur makes every step a dog takes painful. it constricts bloodflow to the skin, so when you shave the dog, the blood rushes through previously bound vessels, and they can bleed through their skin. even if they dont, it still feels painful, but the mats have to come off, or theyll just get worse. mats can hide fungal or bacterial infections, or wounds, or bugs, or waste material. and, since its painful, and the dogs arent used to being groomed and dont understand, theyre often combative. im obviously very sympathetic, and would never blame a dog for acting aggressively under these circumstances. but i still have to avoid getting bit!

before working at the vets, i would usually see neglect cases about once a month. and i would be patient, and help the dog feel better, and was usually able to walk away feeling more good that i had helped it, than sad that it was necessary for me to.

at the vets, we were seeing neglect cases almost every day. we were left alone in a room with a dog that one of the vets was scared to get close to, and expected to shave his entire body. the dogs didnt get any sort of sedative or calming agent, because the vet office hadnt established any such protocol yet. and even though he had scars on his neck from a shock collar, by bringing a dog to the groomers, in the eyes of the law, the owner isnt neglecting it.

every day had the two of us in a hot, poorly lit room, me trying to hold a thrashing, panicked dog still enough for my coworker to groom it. even the normal clients we got still had to be done in a difficult environment.

the emotional toll was intense, and i gave them my two weeks notice after a few months. the owner of the clinic has known me since i was a teen, and tried very hard to keep me. and again, i wish it could have worked out. but the physical environment wasnt suited to grooming, and i was not up for burning myself out on grooming when i had graduated six months prior.

i still live at home, and since i had been suicidal, my family was understanding with me taking a break from work, and i was lucky enough to be able to.

im going to cut this here, but im planning on writing more about my dreadful medical experiences and how my darling perfect girlfriend and i got together later :-)

#alistair talking post

[christiangrest]

APEX Tactical Trigger Kit…J-Frame S&W Upgrade

Recently I had a friend approach me looking for some options for one of his revolvers. He has an older Smith & Wesson J-Frame 442. These are awesome little revolvers and perfect for a small carry pistol or backup pistol. They easily disappear inside of a pocket holster. No external safeties to worry about, so they’re also an easy option for someone who wants to upmost in simplicity. This particular Smith & Wesson also doesn’t have the dreaded locking mechanism that the 90’s ushered to us during the Clinton years. Another nice point regarding these revolvers is no external hammer and double action only… that’s right, these are just about as simple of a firearm you can get these days. Of course make sure you train with any firearm you intend to use to defend yourself and your family members. This revolver actually belongs to his wife and she had complained a little bit about the double action only trigger being way to hard to pull. She was right in her complaint as the double action trigger pull is somewhere north of a 12lb pull. He asked if there was anything I could do to improve it and make it more pleasant to shoot. I quickly headed over to the Brownells website and saw that APEX Tactical makes a duty trigger upgrade kit for these Smith & Wesson J-frame pistols, so I went ahead and ordered one.

The APEX Tactical trigger kit came in from Brownells in a few days and it comes with a different mainspring, hammer spring and a new firing pin spring. It also came with an upgraded firing pin. The J-frame Smith & Wesson comes apart much like other Smith & Wesson revolvers. Three screws then I could remove the tight fitted side plate in order to access the internal workings of the hammer, trigger and firing pin. The replacement of the springs and firing pin were fairly straight forward, but if you’ve never taken apart a Smith & Wesson revolver, be sure to watch a few videos so you can see how they come apart and go back together. In my opinion the mainspring is the most difficult part to re-assemble. It has a rod, spring and cup and needs to be compressed to re-install taking care not to launch them across the room. Since I had it apart I took the opportunity to polish up the trigger bar as well.

After I was finished with the re-assembly, there was a noticeable difference in the trigger pull. According to my trigger pull gauge the trigger pull was lowered down to an 8-9lb trigger pull. In addition to the lower pull weight, the trigger itself was much smoother. I believe this was mainly due to the extra polishing work I did while I was in there. Some people might think that the lower trigger pull weight makes it less safe, but with an 8-9lb trigger pull, this is plenty heavy for a double action trigger in order to remain safe for carry. So if you’ve got a Smith & Wesson J-frame pistol and looking for a way to make an awesome wheelgun better, look no further than the APEX trigger kit from Brownells.

#brownells #brownellsinc #bureauofpropaganda #smith&wesson #j frame #442 #wheelgun #revolver

[sapientiiae]

What can completely break your muse?

@guideoftime untitled headcanon questions Going to go ahead and answer this one on behalf of Zelda because I honestly do no see her just answering this on her own. Speaking about this would put her in a situation of vulnerability, so it is really only a conversation she would have with people she is very close with and trusts wholeheartedly. 

The things that have the power to completely break Zelda fall into three categories: the kingdom, her family, and the people she holds closest to her heart.

Kingdom

Zelda is the Princess of Hyrule, and she has a sworn duty to protect the kingdom and its inhabitants. Her desire, however, stems less from being duty bound and more from a place of genuine care. She really and truly wants to see everyone in Hyrule thriving, regardless of race. It doesn’t matter if the other regions have their own leaders and do not view Zelda as someone they would ever listen to/take orders from, she still wants to see them successful in their endeavors.

If the Kingdom of Hyrule falls, it will be because she failed to do what was needed of her — the one thing she was born to do. The thought of knowing she failed in protecting so many people would be completely and utterly devastating. 

Her family

Zelda is already broken. Her mother’s death was a tragedy, and it was very hard to cope with the idea of never being able to see her again. It happened at such a young age, and the weight of it is something she better understood the older she got. There were so many pivotal moments of her life that her mother would never witness.

Having a family member, the person she is closest to, taken was heartbreaking. It is something she’s yet to let go of, no matter how many years and events have passed, and if it were to happen all over again it would still be just as world shattering. The only thing that has kept her from completely snapping is she did not lose everyone all at once.

At the time, she still had her father, which means less these days given their strained relationship. She, technically, still has Impa, and she has viewed the Sheikah as an extension of her family for as long as her memory will allow. If Isabetta and Impa had been taken from her at the same time, things might have looked very different.

We will also call the Sages an extension of her family. While she is closer to some than others purely because of how their personalities mesh, they are, in a sense, a makeshift family. They are the people she is most closely linked to because of the powers they all possess and their access to the Sacred Realm along with their experiences together. If she were to lose all of the sages at once, all hope would seem lost (and it could likely lead to the downfall of Hyrule, which is a problem as mentioned above).

The people she holds closest to her heart

Link, understandably, sits at the top of this list because she is very fond of him, and she feels so guilty about everything he went through (still blaming herself for beseeching him to seek out the Spiritual Stones, even if it was a fate pre-destined by the Goddesses). If she were to lose Link, regardless of time/timeline, she would be devastated. It would be like a part of her died that day, whether it is because they are tethered by the Triforce or because they have actually grown close to one another. If she were to, specifically, lose him while Ganondorf is still wreaking havoc on Hyrule, we are back to the first topic.

Next on the list would be Impa and then the other Sages (yes, they weirdly fall into several categories at this point).

From there, we see the sort of wild card options. Does Sheik exist as a separate entity? If yes, losing Sheik would also crush her as she likely holds Sheik as close to her heart as she does Link, though she would have spent more time with him/her than the Hero. Does Zelda have a romantic interest? If yes, losing the love of her life would be as overwhelming as losing her own mother, perhaps worse. And if Zelda were to ever have a child/children and lose him/her/them then by the Goddesses she will seek her revenge. That loss would be calamitous because there is no greater grief to a parent than the loss of their child. She would likely wither before ever making it to the acceptance stage of grief.

#guideoftime #[ that....was a lot. ] #the clear water’s surface reflects growth ⌈ ᴀɴsᴡᴇʀᴇᴅ ᴀsᴋs ⌋ #death tw #death cw #our world is one of balance ⌈ ʜᴇᴀᴅᴄᴀɴᴏɴ ⌋

[keenexpressions]

Sophia Baltasar

1. Name, Year, & Major

Sophia Juliana (Nickname: Sophie), 2nd Year, Global Disease Biology w/ Public Health minor

2. If you were a luxury brand, what would it be and why?

If I were a luxury brand, it would be Dior because I love their lip glow products.

3. Who is your personal hero and why?

My personal hero is my best friend. We’ve been best friends since elementary school and she relentlessly has my back no matter what, and I couldn’t possibly ask for better.

4. How do you react after a conflict occurs, and why?

After a conflict occurs, I usually stay silent to reflect on the situation, and how my possible actions will impact how the parties involved feel. I don’t want to escalate the situation, and usually seek the most peaceful resolution. 

5. If you were granted 3 wishes, what would it be?

If I was granted 3 wishes, I would wish for 1) to be able to talk with my grandpa again, 2) for my dog to live as long as me, and 3) for my siblings to be successful.

6. What would you Google about your life?

“How many hamsters did Sophie have in her lifetime?”

7. What’s your favorite thing about yourself?

I like how I try my best to talk with everyone and get to know others :)

8. What's your toxic trait?

My toxic trait is how easily my facial expressions give away my mood – while people can easily tell when I’m excited, they can also tell if I’m upset just by looking at me.

9. Would you visit the future or past?

I would want to visit the future because I am curious as to where I would live! I’ve been in the Bay Area/Davis my entire life and I’ve always dreamed of traveling the world.

10. What are the biggest differences between you today/now and five years ago? And what advice would you give to yourself from five years ago?

The biggest difference between me today and five years ago is my source of happiness. I would advise myself from five years ago to seek happiness from multiple places, rather than to base my happiness on one thing. Growing up, I went to a competitive high school just like everyone else in the Bay Area. I based my happiness and view of myself on my grades and would spend my time constantly studying for AP exams, SATs, and community college classes. Every day felt the same, and yet I was in a constant cycle of school, homework, and sleep.

When the pandemic hit, I was distraught, as I really only had studying left as my only option in my free time. I began to hang out with my friends more on spontaneous activities to better our physical and mental health like running three miles to get boba, skateboarding at midnight, and group games over Discord. Life is so much better when you attempt to make the most out of everything you do – after all, you will always get out what you put in. I would tell my younger self to not be afraid to have fun, and that being spontaneous is okay sometimes. Strengthening my friendship with my best friends from home, opening up to my new friends in college, and not being afraid to leave behind what I felt held me back from personal growth were the best things I could do for myself. It might seem scary, but you’ll never grow if you don’t venture into the unknown.

#chihohos

[ledenews]

What’s on the Region’s Entertainment Wish List?

REO Speedwagon, right? The announcement last week that tickets went on sale for the 1980s rock band’s June 20th show at the Capitol Theatre was big news because the show became the “hottest ticket in town.” REO Speedwagon recorded hits like “Can’t Fight This Feeling,” “Take It On the Run,” “Keep On Loving You” in the 1980's, and those songs have remained popular since. “Anyone 45 years old and older knows their music because they grew up with it,” explained Frank O’Brien, the executive director of the Wheeling Convention and Visitors Bureau. “Their music is still popular with a lot of people. Hopefully it’s a nice June evening because that’s going to be a great night in downtown Wheeling. “Our restaurants and bars will be busy, and I’m sure the hotel shuttles will be making several trips in and out of town,” he predicted. “And that economic impact is exactly why the programming at the theatre and Wesbanco Arena is something we’ve been working to improve for several years.” The big question? The obvious, of course. “’What do we want here?’ That’s really a great question I’ve been trying to figure out for more than a decade because the answer always changes,” O’Brien admitted. “Young people want new talent, and they want different types of music that I have never heard. But that’s also why we have our advisory committee. We are looking for ideas for all of the different demographics. “The more insight we receive from varying groups of people, the better,” he said. “If we book it, though, people need to come to support it because the easiest part is demanding it. I know we have a lot of options now as far as entertainment is concerned and that’s why we really have to be realistic because of the way the economy is these days.” And, of course, the dollars must make sense. “Gasoline, the cost of food, everything is up 10 to 15 percent,” O’Brien reported. “Normally what happens is the entertainment dollar is the first thing held back by consumers, and that is very understandable when it comes down to feeding your family. We really do hope everything stabilizes in the near future. “We just want the theatre to be programmed in a way that our community members wish to come see what is on that historic stage because that’s what entertainment is all about. What works in one community might not work here, so the input we received from that advisory committee is very important,” he explained. “It’s a terrific group of local residents who have offered great advice and suggestions to this point and I know everyone enjoys working together to make those programming decisions.” The stage at the Capitol Theatre has welcomed many legends in the entertainment industry, and it has been a memory makers for local residents, too. One Lucky Community Oglebay. Wheeling Park. The Capitol Theatre. Three quality high schools. Nearby universities. Wesbanco Arena. Professional hockey. Local media outlets. An entrepreneurial spirit. Residents of the city of Wheeling and its surrounding communities are fortunate to possess such local amenities and many citizens have expressed hope that more live entertainment will be a part of the future. O’Brien, his staff, and Kelly Tucker, the new executive director of the Greater Wheeling Sports and Entertainment Authority, are concentrated on fulfilling that request. “Comedy shows have worked in Wheeling for a lot of years and we’ve continued that over the past decade, and the people with the symphony orchestra have done a nice job performing shows that appeal to a broad audience, too,” O’Brien reported. “But there are only a few ‘sure things’ that can be booked and the rest of what’s available are really ‘what and see’ shows. “But we do have some people in the area who have invested in bringing shows to downtown Wheeling, and most of the time those shows have worked out,” he said. “But that’s not always the case so, of course, those people are hesitant to do the same kind of investment again.” Comedian Rodney Carrington will perform at the Capitol Theatre on January 19, a few Broadway productions are scheduled for the month of February and early March, and musician Aaron Lewis will bring his acoustic concert to the historic stage on March 4. “For a lot of years we have had to wait to see who wanted to perform here whether it’s been the Capitol Theatre or Wesbanco Arena because we didn’t have a way to pay or promote any shows,” O’Brien said. “There are a lot of venues across the country that are in the same position so no one is doing anything wrong here, but other places have large endowment funds that allow some communities to book exactly who the communities want. “We are doing our best to get us in that position, too, and the funds allocated to our advisory committee have helped in terrific ways, and we expect that to continue in the future,” he added. “We have terrific facilities for entertainment here and we have a lot of people working very hard to book the show we want to see. To me, that’s great news for the future.” Read the full article

[ptersparkers]

pogue v. kook

summary: after an unexpected event that leaves you in shambles, topper thorton, rafe cameron, and kelce prove to be unliekly friends. 

warnings: typos, probably. 

notes: i had this idea and posted it, to which i got some good feedback, and then @anonymous0writer​ entertained all of my ideas so i thought why not have her write some of it. i’ve also made an option to be removed from my taglist. it’s getting quite long and there will be no hard feelings if you want to be removed. 

this is my gif. please credit if using. 

You were not a Kook. 

Not by blood, anyway. Kiara and Sarah had roped you in on the “Kook lifestyle” over the years with sleepovers and other shenanigans, and despite being the only one out of the trio who was a Pogue, it never felt like you were disparaged. Upon meeting them for the first time at fifteen when you moved to the Outer Banks, you knew that these girls would be the type of people you’d want to keep around for a while. Now that all of you were about to embark on the next chapter of your lives, it seemed like the perfect summer to relax before leaving for college.

You were aware, mostly because of JJ, the attitude Pogues held towards the residents on the other side of the island. Then came Sarah dating Topper, Rafe’s insistence on annoying the absolute hell out of all of you, and Kelce’s back and forth attitude when he was with his friends versus when he was alone. It was tiring and even you had to admit life would’ve been better if you were ignorant towards the “Kook vs. Pogue” debacle. You were a Pogue through and through. 

When JJ asked you to be his girlfriend eight months ago, you felt like things were falling into place and your life was running how it should be. You two had been the first to break the sacred rule that John B. seemed to be the only one to reinforce and none of the other Pogues had any objections about your relationship as you two had been pining after one another for what seemed like an eternity. 

But a month ago was when you felt a sudden change. It was unspoken, subtle, and hard to pinpoint. JJ became less available and wasn’t as forthcoming as he usually was. You could tell he became more reserved and it looked as if he had to force himself to sit next to you on the HMS Pogue or greet you with a kiss when you arrived at the Chateau. Your mind immediately went to his home life and you decided not to ask any questions, knowing JJ would much rather deal with it on his own and come to you if he needed anything. 

However, seeing all of the Pogues laugh at the far left table on the outdoor patio at The Wreck had put the first seed of doubt in your mind. JJ was sitting next to Kiara while John B. and Sarah were in front of them, Pope on the end, laughing loudly that you were sure the other beachgoers were able to hear them from the other end. You had been walking aimlessly, wanting to breath the scent of salt air and walked the short path you usually took when you wanted to clear your mind when you stumbled upon the Pogues hanging out with one another, seemingly without inviting you. You tried not to think about it too much. 

By this time, you noticed the sudden change in JJ’s mood and attitude. When you were around, he barely spoke and averted his gaze whenever you tried to reach out for him. His muscles would tense when you’d lean on his chest or grab his hand but you noticed he had no issue letting Pope jump on his back as a joke or hold his hand out for Kiara when she stepped off of the boat. 

The hurt in your chest grew every time you’d put your hypothesis -- you being the only person he shied away from -- to the test, it left you with internal pain as you realized JJ was talking to you less. He didn’t come over as often as he used to nor did he volunteer to walk you home like he always did. JJ almost never kissed you in public, opting to kiss your cheek instead or give you a loose hug as a way of saying hello or goodbye. But when you sat the other Pogues interacting with JJ, it was business as usual. You thought about talking to the others about what you’d been noticing, but every time you saw them around JJ, it was a reminder that they were friends long before you moved onto the island three years prior. 

You knew it wasn’t your place to talk to them about the issues you were having, and you knew you were most likely blowing this feeling out of proportion. You rationalized by telling yourself what you had been noticing was nothing but your mind playing tricks on you and it wasn’t like the Pogues were ignoring you in full. The lost touches JJ failed to make up, the eyes that dropped to the floor when you entered, the hushed tones when you spoke up felt like it happened more often as you started to overthink. It left you feeling hollow inside as if there was a vacuum of space that wasn’t able to be filled no matter how many times you tried to distract yourself. 

The feeling of uneasiness in your stomach first began when you and the rest of the Pogues were lounging in the living room of the Chateau one evening. You were on the couch with JJ, you were on one side while he was on the other side when, usually, you’d be perched on his chest. Your stomach sank as JJ laughed, eyes lighting up in the way you loved, when Kiara started dancing, hips swaying to the soft beat of music pumping from her phone. As soon as your blonde haired boyfriend practically leaped up once the girl gestured for him to join her, you felt your body disconnect. Almost as if you were watching the whole scene play out from outside your body. 

There you were, sitting on the couch, frozen and Kiara danced with your boyfriend when you struggled to get him to acknowledge you. You watched silently as Kiara moved her hips while JJ’s fingertips grazed the material of her shirt as he brought her closer, dancing along to the invisible steps Kiara set in place. It was like they’d been practicing for days, learning each other’s moves before they were even made. His body moved gracefully with hers, easy and free. You weren’t sure what hurt more, seeing JJ dance with Kiara the way he used to with you or your friends encouraging their antics and not questioning why they were so close.

Your throat closed up and it became hard to swallow as your heart gave a little ache. The feeling in your gut worsened when JJ moved naturally with Kiara because when he returned to you, he was stiff and tense under your desperate touch. His eyes wouldn’t light up with joy as they settled on you, if they did at all. However, they did as he spun Kiara around, her curls bouncing as his toothy grin emerged, lighting up the Chateau. The familiar smile did nothing to soothe your bad feeling. 

No matter how much you yearned for your familiar JJ back and the ease of hanging out with the Pogues, you didn’t move. Your fingers didn’t twitch and your eyes didn’t water as you watched the Pogues slowly join the dancing pair, the four a picturesque scene painted before your eyes, and you hated it. You hated the way they’d been slipping through your fingers and easing you out of their life so easily. You hated knowing they were just fine as friends before you entered the picture and that they wouldn’t bat an eye if you left. As the increasingly negative thoughts jumbled in your head, rising to a symphony of noise, you only saw red. The tears burning the back of your eyes stung, but you refused to cry in front of them. But there was no way you were going to stay, feeling hopeless as you watched your boyfriend and friends slip away. 

Pushing yourself up from the couch roughly, you stood, anger seizing your veins. “I’m leaving.” You stated, the words choppy and lined with barbed wire. 

The Pogues stopped, halting in their easy movements as they watched you leave in a hurry, steps thudding against the wooden porch and then crunching against the gravel as you fled. John B. looked at JJ with a glance but the blond shrugged and watched the door after you left, not bothering to walk out to ask why you had left so abruptly. 

Though that was the last time you set foot in the Chateau for the rest of the week, the sick feeling sitting dormant in your gut worsened. As much as you missed your friends -- when they wanted you around -- you refused to go back to the place you felt like you lost them. 

But in a cruel twist of fate, you were forced to as you had forgotten your board at John B’s. You begrudgingly headed back with a sigh. As you walked down the worn path of John B.’s drive way, intending to just grab the surfboard and leave, you had the sickening feeling that the wave was about to break. The wave had been building all this time, and now, as you arrived at the door of the Chateau, the ripped screen door flapping softly in the breeze as your hand was poised to open it, you knew it was gonna crash. 

With a sudden rush of bravery or stupidity, you pushed open the door of the Chateau, expecting the Pogues to be on the couch talking or eating. But they weren’t there. No one except the last two people you wanted to see. 

JJ and Kiara. JJ with his hands on Kiara’s hips as she sat on his lap, tongue down his throat. Kissing. JJ and Kiara kissing.

You stood on the threshold of the doorway and dropped your metal keys on the wooden floor, causing Kiara and JJ to look at you abruptly. Her eyes widened as she jumped off of JJ’s lap and pushed him away, JJ doing the same as you tried to pick your keys up without looking at either of them. Your hair kept getting in the way as you tried to hold back your tears, not wanting them to see your reaction when you picked up your house keys and turned around. 

“Wait!” JJ called out for you. You turned around for a brief moment and watched as he ran after you with Kiara in tow, standing awkwardly at the door frame with her hands crossed over her chest. She avoided your gaze as you looked back and forth between two people you thought were your friends.

“Are you serious?” you asked softly, your voice breaking in the process. JJ winced when he heard you speak. 

“Y/N,” he breathed, but he couldn’t find an excuse in his brain that was worthy enough.  

“With her?” you asked, finding it harder to fight back the tears. 

“Hey,” JJ said, a little edge in his voice that told you all you needed to know. “That’s your best friend.”

“No, she’s not,” you said. “Neither of you are my friends.” 

“Don’t walk away,” JJ pleaded as you turned around. He jumped forward to reach for your arm, pulling you back gently to ask for your forgiveness, but you knew he was only sorry because he got caught. 

“We’re done, JJ,” you said, pointing between the both of you. You turned towards Kiara and motioned the same. “We are not friends.” 

“Y/N,” Kiara said, her voice breaking the same as yours had done a mere moment ago when her guilt settled in. “I swear we didn’t mean for this to happen.” 

“But it did happen,” you replied. “You were making out with my boyfriend, ex-boyfriend, and you feel guilty because I caught you doing it.”

“Don’t throw away our friendship,” JJ pleaded with erratic breaths. He could feel his chest compress as if someone had been throwing continuous punches without letting him take a breather. “We can fix this. We can fix us.” 

“As far as I’m concerned,” you began, throat tight, but you had to get the words out, “you threw away our friendship the minute you decided to cheat on me.” You turned towards Kiara. “How could you do this?” 

Kiara looked at you with glossy eyes and you recalled all the times you would’ve dropped everything to comfort her and dry her teary eyes, but now you couldn’t be bothered to give her a tissue. You scoffed and chose not to spare either one of them a glance as you turned away, your heart beating in your chest, running to the clearing above the beachside. 

You sat on a patch of rock overlooking the ocean below you with your knees to your chest, water droplets splashing on your kneecaps from tears you were trying to hold back. The sound of the birds chirping above you and the water roaring below you weren’t enough to drown the negative thoughts swimming in your head and you were left with a bitter, empty feeling as you wished to be one of the beachgoers who enjoyed the sunny day. 

“Mind if I sit?” a voice asked from behind you. You turned around after wiping your nose and underneath your eyes with the back of your hand and saw Topper Thorton standing, looking down at you with an expression you couldn’t read. 

“If you’re here to make fun of me,” you said, trying to make it seem like you hadn’t been crying a few minutes prior to his arrival, “I’m not really in the mood.” 

Topper shook his head and sat next to you, leaving adequate space between the both of you. When he realized you weren’t objecting or told him to go away, he mimicked your stance and pulled his knees to his chest as he looked at where your gaze was. Topper could hear your quiet breaths as you tried to calm yourself down and he tried not to look at the dark circles beneath your eyes. In truth, the boy hadn’t found any reason to find you annoying or hate you completely, but it wasn’t hard to put you into the group he never got along with. You tried to ignore his presence, finding that, for once, he was not being as annoying as he was when he was with Rafe and Kelce.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Topper asked awkwardly. You laughed ironically, wiped your eyes, and looked at him with an incredulous expression. 

“Why do you care? I don’t want to be the subject of whatever you and your friends laugh about.” 

Topper shook his head and he knew he had no reason to be mad at what you said. He knew how he and his friends were. There was no denying how brutal they could be as they teased your friends, that much Topper knew. But he couldn’t stop himself from following you when he saw you run past him hastily, disappearing into the bushes. Topper’s curiosity got the better of him and he couldn’t explain the heartbreak he felt in his chest for you when he saw your usually bright and chirpy demeanor crumble into a teary-eyes ball on the warm rock below him.

“I’m not gonna make fun of you,” he said softly, turning his head to look at you. You stared ahead and wiped your eyes once again, not knowing how to respond. “I know what you think of me and I know you have no reason to trust what I’m saying, but I just want to know if you’re okay.” 

You stole a glance at Topper and saw he was looking at you already. His shoulders were relaxed and his attention seemed to be completely devoted to you, which was an odd thought to come across. You’d never spoken to Topper without Kelce or Rafe beside him, nor did you have any pleasant conversations with the boy who claimed to care for your wellbeing. Topper made no effort to comment on your unruly appearance, or the fact that your eyes continuously leaked with tears you desperately tried to hide, but part of you didn't care. He was the first person in a while to ask if you were doing okay.

“No,” you said, your voice breaking. Topper’s heart softened. “I, uh, I just walked in on JJ and Kiara kissing.” Topper’s eyes widened. He may not have enjoyed his time around the Pogues, but even he knew how infatuated the two of you were with each other. 

“What?” he asked, surprised. You laughed in self pity and shook your head, wiping your eyes once more.

“I never thought he’d cheat on me,” you replied. “He always talked about wanting to tell the truth and being loyal to his friends but he couldn’t extend that decency to me.” 

Topper knew this feeling all too well. While his relationship with Sarah might’ve sprouted because of their parents’ expectations, he grew to like the girl more and more as each day passed and he felt as if Sarah felt the same. It wasn’t until a year prior that he learned about her infidelity, with John B. no less, and he felt as if his world was coming to a complete stop. The girl he was infatuated with had no problem running into the arms of someone he didn’t get along with, and Topper was sure his distaste for Pogues increased because of that. 

“I know how you feel,” he said quietly. He averted your gaze when you looked at him in favor of looking at the ocean. “When Sarah cheated on me with John B., I just came to terms that I probably loved her.” 

“It sucks, doesn’t it?” you asked rhetorically. Topper let out a breath. 

“It does,” he said. “Deep down I know it’s wrong, but John B’s the reason I don’t like Pogues anymore.” 

“C’mon, Topper. Did you ever like Pogues?” you joked. Upon hearing your voice sound less accusatory and more playful, Topper allowed himself to laugh. “Do you know why it’s frustrating, to me at least, when Kooks mess with Pogues?” 

“No, I don’t,” Topper said genuinely. 

“It’s because people make fun of us for what we were born with,” you explained. “I didn’t ask to be born to a family that has to work to live. It’s hard to live comfortably knowing people who have a lot of money make fun of me because I don’t. It’s not anybody’s fault for what they were born into. It just hurts a little.” 

The boy, naive in his own right, felt oddly at peace with your confession. Internally, he knew he was privileged and saw the way Rafe would boast about his expenses and privileges, and he knew neither him nor Kelce would be as vocal about it as Rafe was. Still, his friends encouraged the unruly behaviour towards the Pogues and he never second guessed it. But hearing your confession, especially when you were trying to make your voice steady and catch your breath from previously crying, made him think about all the times he’d wanted to tell Rafe to leave the Pogues alone. 

“I’m sorry,” Topper apologized sincerely. “For whatever it’s worth.” 

You smiled, the corners of your mouth curving into a small smile that didn’t go unnoticed by Topper. He bit his cheek, trying not to show how proud he was of himself for brightening your mood, even if it was by a short stretch. The both of you let a comfortable silence settle in, the sound of laughter below you while the sky remained bright and sunny. 

“Hey,” Topper began, looking at you. You turn towards him and he sees that you aren’t crying anymore. “Do you want to, I don’t know, hang out sometime?”

“Topper, if this is your way of asking me out--”

“No!” he said abruptly, clearing his throat. “I just mean that, if you want a friend, I’m here for you.” 

“Really?” you asked. 

“Yeah,” he said softly. “I mean it. No games, nothing.” 

“Thanks,” you said, moving your hair behind your ear. Topper pulled out his phone and asked you to put your phone number in his contacts, sending you a text message to make sure you had his number. You were aware of the risk you were taking, and how you might end up being the laughing stock of the Figure Eight residents, but at this moment, you didn’t care.

It’d been a little less than a week since you fled the Chateau and Topper had found you on the rock. And since then, you felt happier. No more friends pushing you out of their life or cheating boyfriends. While you would’ve never thought you’d be friends with Kooks, especially the likes of Rafe Cameron, you liked it. You had to say you almost liked them better. The boys were outrageous in the best way and after you got used to being with them, it felt so easy to slip into old habits of trusting people with your delicate feelings. 

When Topper had initially introduced you to Kelce and Topper, Kelce was less reluctant to “initiate” you into their friend group compared to Rafe. The boy, ignorant in his own right, wasn’t afraid of hiding his distaste for you because you were a Pogue. 

“Rafe, you never have anything important to say so I suggest you think before you speak or shut up altogether.” 

Rafe shut his mouth when you spoke as you eyed him down. Kelce and Topper were laughing behind you as Rafe’s cheeks turned red with a blush, embarrassed to have been caught being called out. Begrudgingly, Rafe welcomed you onto his boat and spent the next four hours getting to know you and decided that he was wrong about the kind of person you were. With a little time and convincing, Rafe had promised to never mess with the Pogues or make fun of them for being one, and you found yourself considering Rafe as one of your best friends just as he considered you the same.  

The sun was beating on your back, the water sliding down your skin cooling you off as you returned from a dip in Rafe’s pool. You hum, leaning back in your pool side chair, the cold glass of lemonade spiked with whatever alcohol Kelce got his hands on pressed against your cheek as you tried to battle the heat. 

“You good there, Princess?” Rafe called out from across the pool as he emerged from the sliding glass doors with a newly opened beer in his hand. 

“It’s too hot,” you complained. 

“No shit, Sherlock,” Kelce said, laughing as he jumped into the pool. 

“Show off,” you muttered at his near perfect dive. 

“Okay, be honest,” Topper piped, looking at you while tipping his beer in your direction. “I’m pretty sure the Pogues think we all have a thing for you, so, if you had to fuck someone, who would it be?” 

“Is that even a question? Rafe, in a heartbeat.” 

“Don’t mind if I do,” Rafe said, sliding his sunglasses down the bridge of his nose to wink at you, 

“Please don’t fuck in front of me,” Topper said, sighing as he closed his eyes. 

“Why would you say that?” you said coyly, enjoying his reaction. “We’d never.” 

“She’s too smart for her own good,” Kelce said, joining the three of you by the pool chairs. 

“Not to be too cheesy, or anything,” you began. 

“Uh-oh,” said Rafe. “She’s about to get cheesy.”

“Shut up, idiot,” you muttered. “As I was saying.”

“As you were saying,” Kelce repeated. You gave him the finger. 

“As I was saying,” you repeated, “I know all of you know what happened between me and the Pogues and I’m really happy that I found you guys as friends. I never feel pressured to do anything when I’m with you guys and I appreciate that you let me have a life outside of this friendship.” 

“Pogues are bitches,” Rafe said. You gave him a look. “For what they did to you.”

“And you didn’t deserve to be cheated on,” Topper said. You pouted, putting your hands over your heart as you rested your head on his shoulder. 

“Guys, I'm going to cry,” you teased, pretending to wipe tears from underneath your eyes. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent by the pool before moving to Rafe’s living room to watch an endless amount of movies, forgetting that the world outside existed. 

The beach wasn’t as busy as usual despite the warm weather. You and the three boys decided to head to the water after they agreed to learn how to surf upon your insistence and neither of them could deny your kind smile when your lips pouted and your eyes widened. 

“Okay, that’s enough,” Kelce said, falling on his beach towel after trying his hand at surfing. You walked behind him, laughing as you watched his body lay limp on the towel. Rafe and Topper had given up not too long ago, opting to sit on the sand and dry, tanning in the sun while taking videos of Kelce trying to surf for the first time. Your skin felt cool from the ocean water and you motioned for Topper to hand you your water bottle. Rafe squinted as he watched you gulp from the spout, his sunglasses perched on the bridge of his nose. 

“How are you so fucking good at surfing?” he asked. 

“Been doing it since I could swim,” you said with a shrug, tossing the water bottle in your tote bag. 

“Damn,” Kelce muttered. 

“Is that JJ?” Topper asked nonchalantly, looking in the distance. You turned to where his gaze was and tensed your jaw when you saw JJ, accompanied by your former friends, kicking a soccer ball not too far from where you and the Kooks sat. 

“I don’t want to think about it or talk to them,” you said, groaning as you situated yourself on your beach towel. You brought your knees to your chest and put your sunglasses on, trying to make yourself seem smaller than you were. 

“It’s okay,” Rafe said. “We can fight them if you want us to.”

“No,” you interjected, knowing Rafe was kidding, but you knew he’d do it if you asked. “You don’t need to do that. We’re all adults here.”

“Except Rafe,” said Kelce. You chuckled, your mind temporarily distracted from the Pogues. 

You caught Kiara’s eye and turned around before she could say or do anything else, opting to keep yourself busy by straightening your beach towel. Topper and Kelce tried to distract themselves by talking to one another and Rafe, knowing how you felt about your former friends, glared at them from behind his sunglasses. 

“Are you serious?” you heard JJ say from a distance. You looked up and saw him scoff as he dropped his beach towel on the floor and walked to you, seeing you surrounded by three of his least favorite people. “You’re hanging out with Kooks now?” 

“What’s it to you?” Rafe asked nonchalantly with a hint of annoyance. JJ looked beside you, where Rafe was sitting, and scoffed. 

“You let him speak for you now?” 

“I don’t need to explain anything to you,” you replied calmly. 

“So you decided to go ‘full kook’ and abandon your friends and, what, are you and Rafe fucking?” 

You looked at him from where you sat and gave him an incredulous look, standing up from where you sat and faced him. You crossed your arms across your chest as you thought how ironic it was for him to be complaining about the company you kept when you caught him cheating on you not too long ago. 

“You don’t get to ask me that when you cheated on me with Kiara,” you said aloud, gesturing at the other three Pogues walked tentatively towards the both of you, careful to keep their distance as you spoke.

“And you chose to be friends with them?” JJ asked. 

“Listen,” you said. “All of you have been friends way longer than I’ve been friends with you and for the past few months, all of you have been acting like I’m not even there.” 

“We didn’t--”

“You did, JJ,” you said, snapping your fingers in front of his face to acquire his attention. “You pulled away from me with no explanation and got annoyed every time I would ask if you were okay. You never bothered to call or text me anymore and ignored me whenever we were together, JJ.” 

“So you’re ditching your friends for some Kooks?” John B. asked. 

“I haven’t felt like I was one of your friends and every time I wanted to talk about it, all of you shut me out. I know you’ve all been hanging out without me and I’m pretty sure you guys knew JJ and Kiara were messing with each other too.” 

“But we’re your friends,” Pope pleaded. He looked back and forth between you and the boys who were sitting next to you. 

“Well now she’s found other friends,” Kelce spoke. “Maybe she’s allowed to have other friends.” 

“Not with dipshits like you,” JJ spat. 

“I’m allowed to have other friends,” you said. “With you guys, I felt like I couldn’t be friends with anyone else because all we did was hang out with each other. I never felt like I could do anything if it wasn’t with any of you.”

“Y/N,” Kiara began, “we didn’t--”

“You don’t get to talk to me and beg for my friendship,” you directed at Kiara. “You don’t get to tell me what a good friend is when you were fucking around with JJ behind my back. You kissed my boyfriend. It’s always about ‘family’ with all of you until you feel like something’s threatening that. All of you are so dependent on each other that you can’t accept when somebody wants to have a life of their own. None of you have been my friend for the past few months and, quite frankly, I’m done being treated like a rag doll.”

“And the Kooks are better?” JJ asked. 

“They make me feel included,” you said. “I don’t feel like I have to choose. I can be my own person when I’m with them and none of them made me feel ashamed for wanting a life without them. So, yeah, the Kooks are better.” 

Even the four teenagers standing in front of you had to admit they enjoyed how the three boys stopped messing with them like the previous summer and they hadn’t pieced it together until they saw you sitting with them at the beach. 

“Neither of you,” you said, pointing between Kiara and JJ, “get to tell me how to feel. You made your beds, now lay in it.” 

Hastily, you picked up your beach towel and paid no mind to the four pairs of eyes watching you leave. Topper, who noticed you neglected to pick up your bag, grabbed it for you as he beckoned for the other two boys to do the same. Neither Topper, Rafe, nor Kelce spared the Pogues another glance and, for once, it wasn’t because of their status; it was because they made you feel less than you were.  

“You know we love you, right?” Topper asked, bumping your shoulder with his. 

“I’m glad someone does,” you mumbled, rubbing your temple. 

You left the beach without another word and sat in the passenger seat of Rafe’s car, not bothering to look at your former friends as you drove away. But you felt a newfound sense of peace as you sat in the passenger seat, watching as Rafe queued a playlist, Kelce giving you a gentle smile, and Topper patting your shoulder as a silence gesture of telling you he was proud of you. All would be okay.

***

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#jj maybank x reader #rafe cameron x reader #topper thorton x reader #jj maybank #rafe cameron #topper thorton #obx #outer banks #my writing

[nctworststuff]

idk how detailed my request should be so I'll just explain all I can

fluff, with jaemin, y/n as a doctor

new relationship, jaemin doesn't know about his partner being a doctor

prompts 20 and 25

thank you 💗

Lucy say: Hi ^^ Thank you so much for requesting this 💗 Also I'm not sure if I understood your request correctly, so I'm really sorry if it's not what you wanted. In that case please tell us and I'll write it! -Lucy [Also please tell me if I made a mistake, English isn't my native language.]

Disclaimer: This is purely fictional, means it's an AU and in no way meant to harm anyone. Pairings: jaeminX gn!doctor!reader

Prompt 20 (i love you) + 25 (we are meant to be)

Warnings: mentions of severe burns, accidents in general, cold pizza, worried jaemin and my horrible writing. If you notice anything else pls lmk

Genre: tiniest bit of angs in the beginning, fluff, slice of life? New relationship and Jaemin doesn't know that y/n is a doctor

Words count: 0.9k

23.41 Pacing up and down the living room, Jaemin nervously glanced at his phone. It was already way past the time you were supposed to arrive. See you at 11, Na! Maybe he had heard you wrong over the phone and you said something else. But then why weren't you reading his texts or answering his calls? For the fifth time in the past 10 minutes he dialed your number. And for the fifth time he instantly heard the voice mail. To say he was worried was an understatement by now. Yes, you had only started dating a few weeks ago. Yes, you were still in the phase of getting to know each other. And yes, you two still lived in different apartments, so meeting up wasn't always as easy as it could've been, but both of you said that you preferred keeping your own place. The topic simply dropped and never came up again. However Jaemin felt like he knew you for years already. When you first met, you clicked immediately and talked nonstop. It was like an old tale where two people, destined to be together, met one day and fell in love as soon as they laid eyes on each other's frame. Like Soulmates. He believed in it and he knew you felt similar about your relation. You never talked about it, but he knew. Just how he knew that you hadn't forgotten about the date and went home. You were the most organized and structured person he ever met. There was no way you would've forgotten. However that only left one last option in his mind: You were kept from coming. Maybe you had an accident? Maybe you were robbed? Hit? Or even worse, were you... DING. As fast as a lightning bolt Jaemin sprinted to the wooden door and pulled it open, not even bothering to check who it was first. And he was lucky. Upon seeing your face, completely fine with a small excusing smile, he pulled you in and wrapped you in his arms. "Do you know how worried I was? I thought something happened to you." Feeling utterly calm in his atmosphere you simply sighed, before freeing yourself and readjusting your position so you could squish his cheeks. The small pout making you giggle. "I'm really sorry Nana! We had a horrible accident at work and I was the only person available, so I needed to step in without having the chance to tell you I won't make it in time and then when I was finished cleaning up, I jumped in the car and got here as quick as I could. I'm so, so sorry!" Now it was his turn to coe at your pout. "You don't need to be sorry y/n! I'm just glad you're fine! But what about the accident? Is everyone okay now?" "Yes, those accidents keep happening from time to time. It wasn't the first time I saw something like that. In fact it's the third severe burn we had this year and it's only February." Looking in shock at you, Jaemin kept opening and closing his mouth. "Y-you.. bu-urn.. acci-d-dent... f-from time to, from time to time?" Finally he seemed to got his brain to properly function again. "You have accidents at work which lead to severe burns for already three times this year? Y/N I know you said you wanted to wait a bit longer to tell me where you work, but I don't know if I'll ever be able to rest again if the only thing I can think of is weather you get hurt too. I know we haven't said this before, but I love you and I don't plan on losing you this soon!" Now it was your turn to be speechless. Of course you liked him and yes, maybe you considered the idea that you

loved him before, but hearing it from him, right in this moment, made your brain feel like cotton candy. "Say that again!" It only came out as a whisper, but he heard it clearly."I love you y/n! I truly do! It was weird at first, I admit that, but I've never felt for a person like this before! It just... It feels like we're meant to be." Those words mixed with his deep brown eyes looking at you like were the only good thing on this planet brought out your shy side. Going back to hugging him, you buried your head in his mint green pullover. "I love you too, nana! And don't worry, I work in a hospital. I didn't want to tell you because I'm not permanently employed yet and I wanted it to be a surprise once I am." Getting nervous you started playing with the fabric of his pullover. Jaemin still hadn't said anything, so you pulled away from his arms, expecting his face to be angry or even dissapointed, but instead his beautiful smile beamed down at you. "That's like so cool, you know that? You're out there saving lives and stuff. That's wOw." You chuckled at his cute way of pronouncing the word, feeling unbelievably relieved he wasn't feeling negative about it. Instead he suddenly picked you up, forcing a squeal from your lips. "So y/n, tell me which movie do you want to watch while eating our cold pizza?" "I absolutely don't care as long as I can watch it with you, I'm fine with everything!" You kissed his cheek one last time before he plopped you down on the chouch and started the TV.

©ɴᴄᴛᴡᴏʀsᴛsᴛᴜғғ

#neoturtles #czennet #nct imagines #nct scenarios #nct drabbles #jaemin imagines #nct prompts #nct fluff #nct timestamps #nct angst #nct fanfic #nct x reader #jaemin x reader #jaemin #nct dream #nct u

[twistedlymad]

Hi!! I really love your Twisted Wonderland stories!! They make so happy!! I love the way you write the characters! If you’re still taking requests could I plz have a story of MC and the gang playing truth or dare where Grimm asks MC if she has a crush on anyone to get at the boys? And MC won’t tell so the boys try everything they can to see who she likes? I leave the ending in your hands! I understand if you won’t accept this request but if you do then I’ll be so happy!! Ok thanks YOUREAWESOME!!

Okay, let’s settle something first. And that is: I am NOT awesome.

You guys are the true awesome ones! You guys have so many ideas! My inbox is filled with requests of which I never knew could happen! Thank you all <3

Also, I have never fully immersed myself into a game of truth and dare :’) And now I’m writing a story on something I’ve played but not full heartedly. The irony is strong :’)

Thank you for requesting this story! I do hope it lives up to your expectations! Thank you again and have a lovely day!!

What if you played Truth or Dare? (Ft. Grim, Ace, Deuce, Sebek, Jack and Epel) (Riddle, Vil, Lilia and Ruggie are mentioned)

“Fgnaaaaa (Y/N), I’m bored.” Grim said while laying on your lap. You and him were doing your homework in your dorm.

“I know, but, when we finish, we can go out and meet up with the others. I’ll even throw in a can of tuna or two. How does that sound?” You said, trying to coax the furball into doing his homework.

“When you put it that way!! Fgnaaaa!” And the furball was more excited to do his work. You gave him a head pat and continued on your own work.

After about an hour or two, you two had finished your homework. You sighed and closed your book, you turned to see Grim dozing off to dreamland. You shook your head, giggling and gently nudged him awake.

“Come on you furball, it’s almost time to get dinner, we don’t want the others to worry about us right?” You said, picking Grim up and placing him on your head. Grim yawned a little before going to sleep on your head.

You had a nice little walk to the crowded cafeteria, when you arrived, you saw your friends sitting at a table not far from you. They were chatting with smiles on their faces while you went and grabbed yours and Grim’s food. After doing so, you went over to the table where your friends were sitting and sat yourself down.

“(Y/N)!!” The others called for you and you just shushed them. They were puzzled until you pointed to the sleeping furball on top of your head. They looked at each other before nodding and snickering. You smiled and slowly set the sleeping furball down on your lap and took a bite out of your dinner.

“So, how is everyone doing?” You asked your friends and multiple groans were heard.

“Riddle made me feed the flamingos wearing pink again today!!” Ace said with a sigh.

“I had to change the color of roses in the garden to white for the whole day.” Deuce said, taking a sip out of his drink.

“Ruggie-senpai dragged me around the whole school looking for Leona-senpai… Turns out he was sleeping in a tree at Main Street. I wasted a whole afternoon doing that.” Jack said.

“Hah! You guys don��t even know what is true hardship. Vil and Rook taught me on ‘fine dinning’ and ‘proper table manners’ the whole day! I don’t get it! IT’S FOOD SO YOU SHOULD JUST EAT IT.” Epel said, the last part in anger. You patted him gently as a gesture to calm him down.

“Malleus-sama was nowhere to be found when school ended, so me and that stupid Silver spent the entire day searching for him. We could’ve been done earlier if that human wasn’t so slow. I can’t believe he can let Malleus-sama out of his sight!” Sebek said.

“Ehh? Didn’t you also let Malleus-senpai out of your sight?” Epel asked the Diasomnia first year. The latter froze a little.

“N-No. Malleus-sama’s class wasn’t near mine at all today. It’s clearly that human’s fault.” Sebek said.

“Sebek, I’m sure Silver-senpai didn’t mean it. It’s just that Tsu- I mean, Malleus-sama likes taking walks around the school without anyone knowing, right?” You said, in hopes of calming down your friend.

“Hmm… Maybe you’re right, but still-” Sebek tried to argue but you cut him off.

“Sebek, it’s alright, mistakes happen all the time, let it go.” You said and sent a smile to him.

“A-Alright.” Sebek said, going back to his meal.

“You know what? Since you all had such a terrible day, let’s do something after dinner to clear your minds of it!” You suggested to your friends, their eyes lit up after you’ve said so.

“Yea!! But, what should we do?” Ace asked.

“How about a game?” Deuce said.

“What game?” Jack immediately asked. The 6 of you were brainstorming until Epel decided to speak up.

“How about Truth or Dare?” The Pomefiore first year piped up. You all took looks at each other before nodding.

“Sounds fun!” Ace said with a smirk.

“I’m in.” Deuce said, taking a bite out of his dinner.

“W-Well, it is just a game… I guess I’ll join since I have nothing better to do.” Jack said, his ears drooping slightly.

Alas, the only one who didn’t give a response was Sebek. So, you, Ace and Epel looked at him with the most adorable puppy eyes the 3 of you could muster. Jack was slightly confused but he has a gist of what you all were trying to do. Sebek looked at the 3 of you, his face slightly paling.

“W-Wha-“ Poor Sebek couldn’t even finish asking before you cut him off.

“Join our game Sebek!” You pleaded.

“It’ll be fun! We promise!” Ace continued after you. After the two of you had said this, you, Ace and Epel bombarded Sebek with the word ‘please’ over and over again.

“F-FINE! STOP YOUR PLEADING!” Sebek said, finally caving in to you, Ace and Epel’s chants of ‘please’. The three of you high fived each other and did a little cheer. Your cheering just so happened to wake Grim up from his nap.

“Fgnaaaaa…. What’s wrong with you people? Can’t you let a monster like me take a good nap for once?” Grim said as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. You giggled and petted Grim.

“Sorry Grim, but we were just excited! We’re playing truth or dare later.” You said, running your fingers through the creature as if you were to groom him.

“Truth or Dare? What’s that?” Grim asked you. You let out a small gasp.

“Grim… You… You don’t know what’s Truth or Dare?” You asked back the creature. He looked at you tiredly and shook his head.

“It’s like, the most common game ever to play with friends! You must’ve heard of it before!” Ace said to the furball.

“No, I have never heard of such game.” Grim replied the orange-haired student with a yawn.

“Well, you can see us play around before joining in later.” You said, handing him a can of tuna. “I remember owing you this.” The furball’s eyes lit up with sparkles.

“Fgnaaaaaaa!! Yes!!!!” Grim did a little happy dance and started to work his way into the can.

“So, where are we going to play later?” Sebek asked you all.

“Not Heartslabyul.” Ace said. “I cannot imagine enjoying the game with Riddle there.”

“Not Savanaclaw either. We can’t have a peaceful moment to ourselves there.” Jack said, shaking his head.

“Definitely not Pomefiore, unless you want our game session to turn into a makeover session.” Epel added on.

“Diasomnia isn’t the best option either. I’m pretty sure Lilia-senpai would interrupt us constantly.” Said Sebek.

“Well, I guess that just leaves my dorm right?” You said, laughing a little. “Then it’s settled then! We’ll have a small game session at Ramshackle Dorm. Now, hurry up and finish your dinner guys.” You ordered the boys as you finished your own dinner.

When they did, you all walked back to your dorm together, along the way, you guys had a nice little chat about what Professor Trein’s homework and how Lucius has a big influence on the class. The cat couldn’t help but meow at the end of each of the professor’s sentence. Ace even made fun of Deuce who meowed along once because he was half asleep then. When Deuce tried to defend himself by saying it was actually Lucius who made the sound and not him, Ace fired back at him saying that he was literally looking at him while he made the sound. Poor Deuce immediately turned red as the rest of you laughed. It’s okay, you comforted him after laughing for almost a minute.

Soon after, you arrived at your humble Ramshackle Dorm. You let everyone into the lounge and you guys started to discuss about the game that you were going to play. You guys decided to draw sticks to see who will go first. In the end, you had drawn the longest stick therefore you would start the game first.

“Alright then, let’s begin! Epel, truth or dare?” You asked your first victim and so the madness had begun.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a few rounds of Truth or Dare, you had ended up with Epel being punished to wear a pink dress and his hair was in an up-do. Ace and Deuce had been punished to switch places, their personalities, the marks on their eyes and even their clothes had been switched. Jack was dared to have makeup on his face, from mascara to lipstick, you name it, beauty products littered everywhere on his face, his tail was in a big braid as a dare. Sebek’s whole body was covered in glitter, everytime he moved, glitter would flutter off from his body, he was also punished to speak in hushed tones.

Yeah, let that sink in.

And for you, you just had to be in an uncomfortable pose. You were feeling pretty sore too, who would’ve thought you would have to do the game standing up with only one leg supporting you while one of your hands were stuck to your waist and the other on top of your head. This was a dare made by Sebek out of all people, and you can only leave the pose when someone else calls out your name. So, yeah, you were ABSOLUTELY SORE.

“I think I know how to play this game now!!” Grim suddenly yelled out.

“Final- I mean, good for you Grim! I have to be nice to everyone if I want to be an honor student!” Ace said to Grim, mocking Deuce who was clearly irked by this.

“Fgnaaaaaa! Why wouldn’t I know how to play? I am The Great Grim after all!!” Grim laughed out.

“Well, I guess you should get a turn, go on then, pick a student and ask them Truth or Dare.” Epel said.

“Hmmm… (Y/N) then!” Grim looked at you and you finally collapsed onto the ground.

“Thank you Gri-“ You were cut off by the furball.

“Truth, or Dare?” You looked at him with widen eyes.

“Hmm… I’m never doing dare again… So, truth!” You said, not moving from your position at all because you were too tired.

“Alright, Truth eh?” Grim said, putting a paw underneath his chin to make it look like he’s thinking of something. After a few seconds of ‘thinking’ the furball had come up with the question.

“I got it!!” Grim yelled. “Who do you have a crush on in this school?” Everybody froze.

Grim, no, you just… You just started a war.

“Hey! How about I switch okay? I choose Dare instead!!” You frantically yelled out.

But Grim already made up his mind.

“Alright then, I dare you to tell us your crush.” Grim said to you and your eye twitched. You got to hand it to the furball, that was one smart move.

“Argh! NO! I won’t say anything!” You said, crossing your arms and turning away from your friends.

“Hey! You didn’t let me do anything else than wear this stupid dress!” Epel argued with you.

“Guys, guys, no. If (Y/N) is acting so defensive, it must mean she has a crush.” Ace said. The boys looked at you while you slowly shrunk yourself.

“(Y/N), it is a dare.” Jack barely said for his face was too heavy with the amount of makeup on.

“Yeah (Y/N) come on, tell us! I as the troublemaker need to know because I’m dumb!” Deuce said, mocking Ace.

Truth be told, the boys treated each other like enemies when Grim asked the question as they each wanted to be your ‘crush’, they knew that everyone had spent their fair share of time with you and you must have a favorite, right?

So, with what Deuce had said, it seemed like a direct attack to Ace. And let me tell you, Ace was not happy at all.

“HEY! I HAVE BETTER GRADES THAN YOU!” Ace fired back to his dorm mate.

“SO?! IT’S NOT LIKE YOU’RE SMART IN YOUR EVERYDAY CHOICES!”  Deuce yelled back.

“GUYS STOP.” Sebek said, getting in between them.

“Fine! Just because I don’t want to be covered in glitter as well.” Ace said.

“Hmph! Me neither!” Deuce said.

“Wait… Where’s (Y/N)?” Epel asked out. Everyone turned to where you sat only to find air there.

You see, while everyone was busy watching/stopping the fight between Ace and Deuce, you had sneakily taken off and ran straight for your dorm’s front door.

“(Y/N)!!! YOU CAN’T ESCAPE!!” Epel yelled as he and the others started to run after you.

“NO! FREEDOM IS NEAR!” You yelled and opened the door and ran out of it. As you just left your dorm’s front yard, you saw the boys were already on their way chasing after you. Grim was also with them but he had a spot on Deuce’s shoulder.

So, you ran, with a bunch of ridiculously looking boys on your tail.

“Guys, we should circle her instead, so, split up!” Sebek told his friends. The others nodded and branched off. You turned your head to see only Sebek running at you at full speed. You gulped slightly before picking up your pace.

“(Y/N)! This could’ve been easier if you’ve just did the dare!” Sebek yelled at you.

“Over my dead body!!” You shouted back and took a sharp left at the end of a hallway, leading you to Main Street.

But when you arrived, you saw something pink slowly walking towards you. You widen your eyes as you realized that it was Epel in front of you. You turned your head to the left to find Jack slowly approaching you from that side. Your right was being approached by the two Heartslabyul boys so escaping from there isn’t an option. You also felt a presence behind you and you already knew who it was.

And with that, you were trapped. Escape was impossible then.

Or so you thought.

“Now, (Y/N), be a good little student who accepted a dare and tell us…” Ace said smugly.

“Yeah, no backing out (Y/N).” Deuce continued. You were overwhelmed.

“F-Fine! I’ll talk, I’ll talk!” You said, covering your blushing. The boys all thought you looked adorable in that state. Could you blame them? You were looking all flustered and red and adorable while hiding her blushing face. Nothing could stop them from blushing slightly as well.

“Okay…” You said, taking a deep breath. The boys leaned in to you, wanting to hear more of your slightly trembling voice.

“My crush is-“

Ah, you were cut off. By a few voices actually.

“ACE! DEUCE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IS IT?!”

“EPEL! IS THAT YOU?! WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE EVIL QUEEN ARE YOU WEARING?!”

“Jack!! I need your help back at Savanaclaw!! Leona isn’t helping me!!”

“My oh my, if it isn’t Sebek, you know, Malleus would be disappointed.”

Yes, two dorm leaders and two vice dorm leaders were slowly walking to your group.

“Dorm Leader Rosehearts!” Ace and Deuce yelled to a red-looking Riddle.

“You two! It’s already curfew! If you don’t get back to your dorm in the next five minutes… IT’S OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!!” Ace and Deuce’s eyes widen and ran at full speed to their dorm.

“Bye (Y/N)!! We’ll see you tomorrow!!” Ace and Deuce said as they ran back to Heartslabyul with Riddle following behind them, but of course Riddle walked slowly instead.

“EPEL!!!” Vil had yelled for his first-year. Epel let out a small groan before turning to look at Vil.

“What?” Your friend responded to his dorm leader.

“What in tarnation are you wearing?!” Vil questioned.

“Are you blind? It’s a dress.” Epel said with a straight face.

“Don’t make me slap you again. Come, we must go back to Pomefiore and get you out of this horrible outfit.” Vil said and dragged Epel away.

“I’ll see you tomorrow (Y/N).” Epel managed to say while being dragged back to his dorm by Vil.

“Jack! Didn’t you hear what I said?!” Ruggie was approaching Jack. “I told you that- HAHAHAHAHAHA WHAT’S GOING ON WITH YOUR FACE?!?!” Ruggie couldn’t help himself as he turned Jack around only to be greeted with a makeup filled face.

“Yeah, yeah, you need my help right? Let’s just go now.” Jack said, dragging a laughing hyena upperclassman with him. “Bye (Y/N).” Said the wolf to you.

“My… Sebek… What a sight to see you like this.” Sebek froze for a good few seconds before turning around.

“Lilia-sama…” Sebek muttered in a low tone.

“I wonder how Malleus would react to this.” Lilia said and Sebek’s eyes widen.

“N-NO, MALLEUS-SAMA MUSN’T KNOW!” Sebek yelled.

“Then, I suggest you better hurry back to your dorm before he catches you.” Said Lilia with a small smirk on his face.

“We will meet again tomorrow (Y/N)!” Sebek said before rushing back to his dorm.

“Bye (Y/N)~” Lilia said to you before going back to his dorm himself.

After everyone were gone, you let out a breath you didn’t even knew you were holding.

“Fgnaaaaa… I only played one round though.” Grim said, as he plomped himself on your shoulder.

“I think one round is enough for you.” You said and started to walk back to Ramshackle Dorm.

“But seriously (Y/N), who is your crush?” Grim asked with curiosity.

“I don’t need a crush, I have you after all.” You said to Grim, patting his head.

“But but!” Grim asked further.

“No buts, either you stop asking about my crush or you don’t get to have tuna for the next few days.” You said with a stern tone.

“Fine…” Grim said and the two of you slowly made your way back to Ramshackle Dorm.

#twisted wonderland fic #twisted wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #ace trappola #deuce spade #grim #mc/yuu #epel felmier #jack howl #sebek zigvolt #twisted wonderland x reader #twst #twst x reader #twisted wonderland imagines #riddle rosehearts #vil schoenheit #ruggie bucchi #lilia vanrouge

[winchesterxxi]

Maybe Poe and Skywalker reader being married to each other. Their life together, struggles and everything in between

(force awakens to rise of Skywalker)

WARNINGS: Non-canon content for the sake of the request; Focuses more on the Reader x Poe relationship, so many plot points are left untouched (as in, Reader doesn’t know Kylo is her brother)

THE FORCE AWAKENS

You were stationed in Jakku with your dad and Chewie when a girl and a guy board onto the ship;

“Who the hell are you?” you ask, you and your dad with blasters pointed out to them.

They throw they’re hands up and from behind them rolls out BB8 and you immediately drop to your knees.

“BB! Oh my God, where is Poe? We lost his TIE signal two hours ago, we’ve been worried sick!”

“You know Poe Dameron?” Finn asks you, lowering his hands.

“I’m Y/N Skywalker, his wife.” you eye him, only now noticing he is wearing your husband’s jacket “W-Where is my husband?”

That’s when he gives you the news of the crash and you latch onto your dad, crying.

Days later, on Takodana you are under an attack by the First Order and just as you thought there was no hope left, a fleet of X-Wings come in and save you.

After the fleet landed, you went to meet you mom, knowing that she was the Commander behind this offence against the First Order.

“It’s not me you have to thank honey.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your husband’s the one behind it this time.”

“My...?”

She just nods your head and cups your cheek, stroking your teary eyes, knowing how you’ve been grieving, thinking that Poe had died

“Go find your husband.”

You run past her and your dad to the the landing site trying to spot Poe in the crowd, heart beating hard in your chest

“POE?” “POE!?” you scream is name, trying to find him.

Then

“Y/N?” you stop in your tracks and turn around, spotting your husband.

Your run to him faster than you’ve ever ran until you crash into him in a tight hug, crying.

“I thought you - I thought you had -” you sniff between the tears.

He cups the sides of your face “I know, but I’m here, honey. I’m sorry to worry you. You’d never get rid of me so easily!” He smiles into the crashing kiss.

He helps you blast the FO’s base's thermal oscillator after you witness Kylo killing your father, tears stinging your eyes as you charge ahead.

Afterwards, him being your shoulder to cry on as you mourn your loss.

THE LAST JEDI

Flying alongside him on the dreadnought attack;

“Y/N, FIRE NOW!”

You do as you’re instructed, your shot igniting the explosives that had been set inside the dreadnought making it light up like the 4th of July

“THAT’S MY GIRL!” he shouts over the intercom

When back at the ship, reunited with your mother, you’re the one that spots the Star Destroyer in the radar grabbing Finn’s forearm, alerting him to the map.

“We need to jump to lightspeed!” he states running to your mom, awaiting clearance to do so, hot-headed as always.

“Poe, we can’t do that! We only have enough resources for one jump and if we do so, they’ll just track us again and be without fuel.”

You eye your mother, looking for some help.

“Permission to jump on an X-Wing and blow something up?” he addresses your mom.

“Poe w-” you start

“Permission granted!” your mom agrees as Poe darts running

“MOM!” 

“Go get on one as well.” she comes forward and kisses your forehead “You’re a team now.”

Just as you and Poe are about to reach the X-Wings, him slightly ahead of you the FO manages to blast the platform, sending him flying against you as you both crash to the ground.

He his also next to you when you spot your mother floating in space after the attack and he grips your hand tightly.

You insist on pushing her to the medical wing but he stops you before you can do it

“Poe, I need to be with my mom please.” you grip his arms, sobbing.

He kisses your forehead

“I’ll go with her, you stay here please.” you nod, teary eyed at him “Finn, take care of her for me while I’m gone”

*FASTFORWARD TO HOLDO’S EVACUATION PLAN*

You believe her plan won’t work either so you lead the mutiny alongside your husband

That is until he is stunned against the wall.

You throw yourself on your knees beside him, cradling his head.

Turning back you spot your mom, alive, holding the blaster

“MOM? WHAT THE HELL?”

“I know you love your husband but for once, just drag his ass out.”

You are holding his hand when he springs back to life.

“What - What happened?” he is shaken

“Poe I-”

He pushes past you running to the nearest window

“NO!” he slams on the glass and you come up behind him hand on his shoulder

“Honey,...” he shrugs his shoulder off, facing you, hurt tainting his face.

“Don’t... Call me that.”

“Poe...”

“No! I thought we were in this together!”

“This plan is gonna work, you have to trust me!”

“How can you ask me that after what you just did.”

First serious married fight... yay.

You look at him, biting your lip, tears in your eyes before walking away.

“Poe.” he turns around and finds your mom, calling him and that’s when she shows him Crait and explains him the full and he realizes he was just an asshole to the person he loved the most.

“Oh my god, I’m such an idiot.”

“Yes you are. Now go apologize to my daughter.”

“Yes ma’am.”

*Cue romantic, cute and awkward apology scene*

When the time comes to face the First Order he boards on a speeder and you on your father’s Falcon alongside Chewie

And of course you then help him lead your people out of the cave

THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

So...you’re kind of the captain of the Falcon

Despite Poe being an undeniably better pilot than you, he insisted that you were the rightful captain of the ship now that your dad was gone.

And he loved to call you captain

It made you smile every single time

Fastforward to Kijimi when Poe has a blaster pointed to his head

You are quick to point your own to the armored woman behind him

“Blaster off him, now.”

“She won’t ask twice, I would listen to her”

“Who are you?” you ask, blaster still up as she hadn’t let hers down

“Honey, this is Zorii. Zorii, this is my wife, Y/N”

Her helmet turns to you “Wife? There are actually people out there who go along with what you say.”

“Oh, you’d be surprised.” he retorts and you snap a look at him

“I could pull this trigger right now.” She says, pushing the blaster harder against Poe’s head.

“You do that, my blaster is the last thing you’ll see in this life.”

“We’re trying to find Babu Frik.” Poe tries to ease the situation

“He only works with the crew. That’s not you anymore.”

“What does she mean crew?” you ask him

“Oh your wife doesn’t know?”

you look between her and him confused

“Funny he never mentioned it...”

“Married people are still allowed secrets Zorii - “ he tries

“Your husband was a spice runner.”

Your eyes almost pop out of your eye sockets

“You were a spice runner? In almost 5 years of marriage NOT ONCE did it occur to you to mention that!?”

Once again, next to him when one of the stormtroopers blasts him in the arm inside the Star Destroyer

“POE!”

Standing in line next him, Chewie and Finn

“Were you ever going to tell me you were a spice runner?”

“You’re still on that?”

“OH I’M SORRY, IS THIS A BAD TIME?”

“IT KIND OF IS, YEAH!”

“Well, because later doesn’t really seem like an option right now -”

“You don’t say -”

“And if my husband has some other important life information before meeting me that I should be aware of, I would like to know becasue for all i know, you could’ve even been a stormtr--”

BAM

Troopers dead, you all alive

Hux admits to being the spy

“I KNEW IT” he points out

“No, you didn’t.”

 While on one of the Endor’s moon your mom uses her last breath to reach out to you trough the Force

You are a few feet behind Poe on the grass and fall to your knees with a thud

He looks over at you, face dropping as he runs in your direction

Your face is white and your look is blank and he is trying to shake your shoulders to gain some attention from you

“My mom...” You look up at him and he immediately understands, gulping hardly. He doesn’t say a word, simply pulling you into a crushing hug as you scream into the ground, tears running down.

Later, back at the resistance base, after you’ve said your goodbyes to your mom, Poe is the one sitting next to her linen-covered body

“I... I promise I’ll take care of her. Not just now, or in the near future, just... forever. I’ll stay by her side, always, Leia. Your daughter... Your daughter is the love of my life.”

After you defeat the First Order, during the celebrations Poe pulls you aside to a quiet place and tells you that he wants to settle down.

You agree with him, teary eyed, kiss kiss, you know the drill

BB8 beeps at your feet

POST TROS BONUS

The both of you settled on Yavin 4, his home planet

You are blessed with kids, first a baby boy and then a baby girl, 2 years apart

Who you name Kes and Leia, after Poe’s dad and Leia’s mom, who devoted their lives to the resistance and in one way or another were behind the reason your life path’s ever crossed

Poe cried like a baby when you told him you wanted your first born to be named Kes

Occasional visits form uncle Finn and uncle Chewie

When it’s just Finn, him and Poe tend to go out and do “guy stuff”

While you sit back at home with the kids and BB8 who loves to entertain them 

And it isn’t rare for sometimes you being sitting on a bench, watching the three of them play in the distance, head on Poe’s shoulder, his arms draped around your waist

And you look to the side to be met with the Force ghosts of your family members looking down at you

#THIS ONE TOOK TOO LONG #why do i always go all out on the headcanons ffs #poe dameron x reader #poe dameron headcanon #poe dameron x skywalker!reader #poe dameron #oscar isaac #the rise of skywalker #the force awakens #star wars #the last jedi

[kikis-writing-world]

Whiskey Straight - The Dance (5)

Jack Daniels x F!Reader

You’re back home, safe in the arms of your husband, but you know it isn’t over. When the mysterious men call and give you your mission - hopefully the last you will ever have to perform - it’s not exactly within your comfort zone. You have to push through, get it done, and then life can go back to normal... right?

Word Count: 5.6k

Warnings: Sexual content (stripping, dancing,) dubious consent of unwanted advances and kissing, light violence. It’s a pretty tame one compared to last time. If I missed anything, let me know. It’s been a while.

A/N: I am so, so sorry for how long this took, but I’m pretty happy with how it came out. Next chapter will be Jack’s POV, so I’m sure that will answer questions you’ve been having (and any that this chapter leaves you with lol.) And I hope to have it up in about 1-1.5 weeks. Definitely don’t want to make you guys wait as long this time. Enjoy!!

Series Masterlist  -  Prologue  -  One  -   Two  -  Three  -  Four  -  Five  -  Six  -   Seven

You woke the next morning sore, stiff and - most importantly - snuggled tightly into Jack. Your face was tucked into the hollow of his shoulder, your arm draped across his chest. His arms were wrapped tightly around you in return. Birds were chirping and you could hear a lawnmower running in the distance. You opened your swollen eyes, the bright sun diffused by the curtains but still lighting the room.

“There she is.” Jack’s smooth, quiet voice startled you. You hadn’t realized he was already awake. You lifted your head to look at him, seeing him smiling lazily down at you. His hand caressed your back, trailing up and down the line of your spine as the other gripped your hip.

“Time’s’it?” You mumbled, starting to turn to look at the clock but Jack’s arms closed around you, stopping you from leaving him.

He kissed your lips, gently and chastely. “I called in for both of us.” He explained, loosening his hold as he felt you relax.

“Why’d you do that?” You questioned, confused. Jack never took a day off work without weeks of notice and planning for his absence.

Jack chuckled. “Well, first you didn’t wake up with the alarm. Then you didn’t wake up when I called your name or shook ya. I figured after yesterday you needed some sleep.”

Your stomach dropped out at the reminder of yesterday. Being knocked out. The hood over your head. The interrogation in that big, empty room.

You shuddered, pressing your face back into Jack’s shoulder as you nodded. Jack rubbed your back soothingly as he hummed a quiet “thought so.”

You nodded, trying to keep yourself from crying at the mess you’d found yourself in. You desperately wanted to tell Jack what you’d done, beg his forgiveness and ask for his help, but you knew you couldn’t. All of the threats weighed heavy on your mind, keeping your lips sealed.

“You ready to talk about what’s got ya so shook up?” Jack asked gently, his large hand never stopping it’s slow, steady circuit up and down your back.

You kept your face pressed into Jack, keeping him from seeing your reaction as you tried to think up an excuse.

“I blew a tire on the way home from work.” You settled on, staying hidden as you spoke. “Bad part of town. Took the tow a while to show up.”

“Why didn’t you get a hold of me? I would have come to get you?”

“Too shook up, I guess? Wasn’t thinking straight.” You sighed. “Stayed with the car, kept the doors locked.”

You felt Jack nod his understanding. “Well, next time call me, okay?”

“I will.” You promised.

It was a quiet day. Jack had suggested the two of you stay in lounge clothes and snuggle up on the couch to watch movies together. Even as the sun started to dip lower in the sky, he suggested take-out for dinner. It reminded you of the early days of dating him, having movie nights in on days you didn’t feel like going out together. The slow, lazy day calmed your nerves, even if you couldn’t fully push the day before out of your mind.

You were clearing your plates and putting away the leftovers from dinner when the phone rang. It was the first time it had rung all day, which was strange especially considering Jack took the day off work. The fact that no one had called him to check in on something or ask a question was rare. While you didn’t know for sure it was for you, your stomach dropped.

“I’ve got it!” You yelled, stopping Jack in his tracks. He stood next to the table, watching as you frantically dried your hands on your pants as you ran into the other room to answer the phone.

“Hello?” You answered, anxious but trying to keep your voice even.

“Bourbon.” The voice was deep and robotic, the same type of voice that had badgered you with questions the night before.

“Y-yes.” You acknowledged, taking a few steps farther away from the kitchen where Jack waited.

“Listen carefully, these instructions will not be repeated.” The voice started, and you nodded, gripping the phone so tightly you could hear the plastic groan. “In exactly one and a half hours, at 9:00, you will go downtown to The Marriot Marquis. The front desk will have an envelope waiting for Bourbon. It will have further instructions. Understand?”

You bit your lip, rubbing your forehead with your hand. You just wanted this to be over with. Hopefully this one last thing would be it, then you could go back to your life. You never would have guessed months ago you’d be yearning for the old monotony. 

“Yes.” You confirmined.

“One more thing: Dress sexy.”

You nearly choked on air as your breath hitched in your throat. “What?” You barely resisted the urge to shout. You heard a click on the other end of the line, but you asked again “What do you mean?”

It took a moment for the tone to indicate there was no one on the other line anymore. You cursed under your breath as you hung up the phone.

“Who was it?” Jack asked.

“W-work.” You told him, cursing the stutter in your voice. “They need me to run in for an hour or two.”

“Really?” Jack frowned at you as you came back to the dining room. “It couldn’t wait until tomorrow?”

“No.” You shook your head, avoiding making eye contact with him. “Sandy made a mistake on something and I owe her. Many hands make light work.” You lied.

“Alright.” Jack sighed. “Let me finish up the dishes then. Least I can do.”

“Leave them ‘til tomorrow. It’s fine.” You waved off his offer.

“If you say so.” He grinned, giving in easily. You knew how much Jack hated the dishes. He pressed a kiss to your forehead as he passed you, making his way into the den and flicking on the TV. You heard him switch over to a football game and knew he’d be occupied while you got ready.

You opened your closet, pushing all your everyday clothes aside to look for something “sexy.” You couldn’t remember the last time you were trying to dress sexy. You used to pay attention to  fashion, treating yourself now and then to something new. It made you feel good, and it certainly reaped it’s benefits from Jack as well, but it had been a long time. Now when you bought clothes it was usually for work, to replace a blouse that had worn out. You had a few dresses in the back of your closet that you hadn’t worn in… you couldn’t even remember how long. That’s when you spotted the black, lightly shimmering fabric towards the back.

You pulled the garment out, staring at it. It had been one of your go-to “little black dresses” when you had been younger and still in need of such things. It seemed to be the only one that had survived the various clothing purges over the years. The neckline was a low V - not scandalously low, but certainly lower than your usual clothes. The sleeves went about halfway down your biceps, ending in a soft ruffled fabric that you knew wasn’t really in style anymore but not quite garish. The dress hit your knees, showing off a modest amount of leg. It wasn’t perfect, but short of going shopping for something completely new, it seemed like your best option. You hoped it still fit, grabbing one of your large purses and shoving the dress inside along with a pair of black heels. You grabbed a small make-up bag, throwing in the necessities - eyeliner, maskara, lipstick - and tossed that in the bag too.

You got dressed, picking underwear that would work with the dress, a simple black set that wouldn’t show underneath the dress. The panties were a thong that you couldn’t remember wearing in a while, but knew it would avoid any lines in your silhouette. It also would hopefully help you get into the mentality of being sexy, even if the dress wasn’t the hottest new style. You otherwise dressed as you normally would for work. 

You kissed Jack goodbye on your way through, although with his eyes on the game he barely even noticed. You made it out of the house and into the car with no fuss, now you just had to drive to somewhere you’d be able to change and get downtown in time. You still had an hour, so as long as you stopped along the way and traffic wasn’t bad - it should be fairly calm at this time of night - you’d be able to make it.

Your heels clicked against the floor of the hotel lobby as you approached the desk. You glanced around between the other people coming and going, wondering if any of them were involved with the mission you were on tonight. No one gave you a second glance, too invested in their own lives, their own business. You looked the part of belonging in the upscale hotel, having changed from the casual workwear into the dress in a fast food bathroom and doing your make-up in the car. With an hour and a half notice, not only was it the best it was going to get, but it was pretty damn acceptable if you said so yourself.

“Welcome to The Marriot Marquis,” the girl behind the desk greeted pleasantly. It didn’t do much to calm your nerves, not knowing what the next step would be. “How can I help you tonight?”

“I’m picking up an envelope. For Bourbon.” You barely kept your voice even, but you managed.

“One second, let me check.” She opened a drawer in the desk and flipped through for a moment before lifting a small manilla envelope with a sound of triumph. “Here you are, ma’am.”

“Thank you.” You took the envelope, forcing a polite smile at the girl before taking your leave.

You looked around the lobby for somewhere inconspicuous to open the envelope. There seemed to be people in all of the areas, but the decorative pillars along the wall of the lobby would provide some privacy. Glancing around cautiously, you opened the envelope.

You leafed through the items: a piece of paper with a handwritten telephone number and instructions, a plastic baggy with some kind of tiny computer chip inside of it, and a little envelope from the hotel with a room key and a room number written on it.

The instructions told you to wait until the concierge took his break at 9:05 and use his phone to call the number for further instruction. You glanced at the clock on the wall, seeing it was 9:03 - you’d thankfully gotten to the hotel on time, otherwise you might have missed his break.

You stayed by the pillar, trying to keep your breathing even as you waited for the man to leave his desk. The waiting was almost worse than the drive over. You tried not to let your mind race too much about the next steps, but it was practically impossible not to.

Thankfully you saw the concierge stand and leave his desk after only about a minute. A glance at the clock told you that he was leaving his station a little early. You waited a moment to make sure he wasn’t coming back before approaching the desk as casually as you could manage. The phone was sitting within reach, making it easy to call the number.

The line was answered, but no one spoke. The end of the ringing and the click of the connection was the only sign that it had been answered.

“This is Bourbon.” You whispered, holding your hand over the mouthpiece of the phone to avoid any eavesdropping.

“Listen closely.” The usual voice warned before continuing on. “The man inside the room is a suspected arms dealer. You will go inside the room and place the bug near the telephone.”

You swallowed the lump in your throat as you listened. The little computer chip must be the bug. You were about to ask how you’d manage to do that without getting caught, but he continued.

“You will be posing as a prostitute named Michelle. Tell him that his usual girl, Carla, is sick. If he likes you, he will tell you what to do.”

“Hold on, I can’t…” You interrupted. “I don’t have to… I can’t sleep with him. Do I have-”

“No.” You breathed a huge sigh of relief, but it was short lived. “He likes to watch. If you do not put the bug by the phone, your mission is incomplete and the deal is off.”

Before you could ask anymore questions, the line went dead.

Your hand shook as you hung up the phone, taking steadying breaths as you thought over the instructions you’d just been given.

He likes to watch.

What were you going to have to do, that he’d watch? It was one thing to have to sleep with him, but to perform for him was…

You felt like you were going to be sick, and luckily there was a sign pointing towards the washrooms in the lobby. You made your way towards them, as quickly as you could in the shoes you’d picked for the evening.

You closed yourself in a stall, leaning against the door. The bathroom was empty aside from you, and you could hear your gasping breaths echoing off the tiled walls as you tried to calm yourself.

You repeated the instructions in your head over and over. Place the bug by the phone. Prostitute named Michelle. Carla is sick. You soon found yourself outside of the stall, pacing in front of the sinks, running it all through your head. You wondered how long you’d been in there, but knew you had to stop stalling eventually. This man was expecting Carla… “Michelle” was probably already late.

You caught sight of yourself in the long mirror sitting on the wall. You stared at yourself hard. You didn’t look like a prostitute. At least, not what you assumed a prostitute would look like. You’d seen them on TV, never in real life- to your knowledge, anyway.

The ruffles along the sleeves of your dress had to go. You pulled at them experimentally, hearing a few stitches pop as you did. You took a deep breath and braced yourself as you pulled as hard as you can, the ruffled fabric ripping away from the body of the dress along with part of the sleeve. You tore the rest of the sleeve off and quickly repeated the action on the other arm. It was a good start.

The dress was too long, that was for damn sure. You gripped the skirt of the dress on either side of the hem running up your leg, pulling hard. It held together a bit stronger than the sleeves, but it still split as you tugged at it. You pulled it once more, trying to grow the slit you’d just created. You squeaked as it went further up your thigh than you meant it to, but you supposed it worked for the role you were playing. It wasn’t indecent enough that you would feel completely exposed as you walked through the halls to the room.

You adjusted your breasts, pulling them as high as they would sit inside your bra. Luckily the neckline of the dress was already low - you remembered the day you’d bought it, reasoning with yourself that the plunging neckline was socially acceptable on account of the rest of the dress being fairly modest.

You dug your lipstick out of your purse, applying it more heavily. The red made your lips pop much more than your usual style. Your eyes were already lined with the black eyeliner you had applied and you used some tissue to smudge the line out, making it seem smokier.

Finally, you took some water in your hands and used it to restyle your hair, pushing it back, away from your face and slicking it just slightly. You took a step back to look yourself over.

You looked nothing like the woman who had walked into the hotel, although that was probably a good thing. You looked cheap, especially with the slightly ragged alterations you’d made, which was also a good thing. You struck a pose, biting your bottom lip as you tried to make a sexy face. Honestly, it looked better than you expected, and it gave you a tiny boost of confidence.

You thanked whatever power was listening that you’d worn heels and decent underwear - although the thought made your stomach turn once more, wondering just how much more clothing you’d be shedding tonight. You didn’t think you could handle being naked in front of a man who wasn’t Jack. You prayed to that same power that it wouldn’t come to that.

Shaking the thought from your head, you took the bug from the plastic bag and snuck it into your bra, making sure it was safe and secure in place. With your hands at your chest, you saw your wedding ring glint in the light. You took a moment to stare at it, realizing the weight of what you were doing as you moved to slide it off your finger. It didn’t come off easily, having been on your finger for years without coming off. You had to wiggle it a little, but it came off into your hand. You slipped it onto your right hand, turning the diamond inside your palm. Now, it just looked like a plain band. It would do. With one last deep breath, you picked up your purse and left the bathroom.

It was easy to find the room, following the numbers until they led you to a set of double doors at the end of a hallway. It had to be a suite. You used the key to unlock the door and pushed it open.

It was dim inside the room, barely any light coming in through the windows on account of the rain outside and the only interior light coming from the fireplace. You could see the seating area, but there didn’t seem to be anyone there. You walked inside, taking cautious steps as you looked for the man you would be… well, looking for the man.

There was a large, open archway into another darkened room. You could make out the posts of a huge four-post bed, a few candles sitting on a ledge beside it, as well as the outline of a loveseat on the wall nearest to you. The table in front of it held an ice bucket with a bottle inside, a single glass next to it.

“Hello?” You called. You worried you had taken too long in the bathroom, and that the man had left.

“Hello.” A voice came out of nowhere, making you jump. You turned in the direction you’d heard it from and saw the silhouette of the man sitting near the far window. The candlelight didn’t make it far enough to light him, making it impossible to identify any of his features in the dark.

You composed yourself as you realized he was watching you. You tried to portray confidence as you set your purse down on the loveseat.

“Help yourself to some Champagne.” He instructed, his accent thick. It sounded European, but he hadn’t spoken enough for you to pinpoint where he could be from.

You kept your eyes on him as much as you could as you poured yourself some of the champagne. You could hardly stop yourself from drinking back the whole glass, needing some liquid courage to keep you going. It was already gone when you realized that it might not have been the smartest thing to do. You had no idea who this man was and he could have slipped anything into the bottle. You had drank too fast to even notice if it tasted strange.

You set the glass back on the table, walking further into the room. You stopped beside the bed, hoping your stance portrayed confidence and sexiness as you relayed what you’d practiced over and over in your head.

“My name is Michelle. Carla is sick, but she thought you would like me.” You were proud of how even it came out. The rehearsing had worked.

He was silent for a moment, and you could feel his eyes boring into you even if you couldn’t see his face.

“Let me do the talking.” He ordered, voice smooth. You bit your lip, hoping you hadn’t messed this up already. “Start by unzipping your dress.”

Your mouth went dry as you closed your eyes, wishing you weren’t too scared to have more champagne. You reached behind you, fumbling a little for the tiny zipper hidden in the fabric.

“No.” He stopped you, your eyes popping open. “Turn around. Do it doucement. Slowly.”

You turned around, glad that you wouldn’t have to keep your face straight as you pulled the zipper down your back.

“Good,” he praised as you moved. Goosebumps popped up on your flesh as you exposed more and more of your back to his gaze and the cool air of the room. The zipper was almost all the way down when he told you to slip it off.

You dragged it down your arms, turning to face him once more as it bunched around your chest. You pinned him with a stare that you hoped was more sexy than it was frightened as you let the fabric gather around your waist. You hooked your thumbs into the dress, pushing it slowly over the swell of your hips before it fell to the ground. The goosebumps were all over your body now and you fought not to visibly shiver. He praised you once more as you stepped out of the fabric bunched around your feet.

You clasped your hands in front of you as you waited for his next instructions, hands wringing together.

“Now slide off your nylons.” He told you.

You frowned, looking down at yourself. “I-I’m not wearing any.” You explained.

The man faltered in his seat, his shadow moving. It took him a second to speak again. “Now dance for me.”

You swallowed around the lump in your throat, looking up at the ceiling as you began moving your arms and shoulders, snapping along to an imaginary beat 

“No, no, no.” He stopped you quickly. “Dance sexy. Imagine your hands are the hands of your lover, let them touch you the way your lover would.” His accent, which you now suspected to be French, grew stronger as he instructed you. Your eyes had adjusted to the dark enough now that you could see his legs crossed and the way his chin sat on his hand, but still no defining features.

You nodded, closing your eyes as you started to move your hips. It was stiff at first, but as you rested your hands on your hips, you rolled them more fluently. You imagined your hands were Jack’s, sliding them up your waist as you rolled your body. You grazed over the swell of your chest teasingly, moving further up to rest on either side of your neck. As long as you kept your eyes closed, you could think of Jack. Think of the night before when he had made love to you.

You stepped outwards, widening your stance as you began to get into it, bending your knees as you swayed to an imaginary beat in your head. You placed Jack in the chair the man was in, trying to think back to the start of your marriage - the excitement, the want to please each other, the openness to trying new things. You imagined the look on his face as you mentally danced for him.

You ran your hands through your hair, rolling your neck before running your hands back down your body again. You teased the waistband of your panties, imagining the way Jack would have licked his lips at the prospect of you taking them off so soon, but you continued down your legs. You groped your inner things, squeezing the soft warm flesh.

As you rolled your hips, you turned your body so your back was to the man once more. Your hands trailed up over your hips, bracketing your ass as you swayed it back and forth in what you hoped was a tantalizing manner. You moved your hands lower down your legs, bending at the waist and truly putting your ass on display for the man. You felt the chip shift inside your bra, making you snap back upwards to stop it from falling out.

You looked over your shoulder at the man, seeing he was leaning forward slightly. It was working. Feeling emboldened by his interest, you took the post of the bed in your hand. You gripped it, rolling your hips forward as you leaned backwards, arching your back. You lowered yourself back to the ground, bending your knees as you climbed down the frame with both hands.

Once you were nearly on the ground, you bounced up and down slowly as if you were riding Jack. You let go of the post to cup your breasts, subtly checking that the bug was still securely in place. You could feel the tiny chip against your skin. It was a tiny relief.

Turning your attention back to the man, you dropped all the way to your knees, turning and crawling a few feet towards him. You didn’t dare get too close, but you hoped he was enjoying the show, the view of your cleavage.

You bit your lip as you sat back on your haunches once more. Starting at your neck, you slid your hands slowly down your body once more, highlighting all your curves. You closed your eyes, trying once more to imagine your husband in front of you.

You sat back before rolling over, landing a little clumsily on your knees again but facing away from the man. You crawled back towards the bed, making sure to sway your hips. You heard something clatter behind you, but when you stopped to look at the man nothing had changed except his posture. He was leaning in even further, seemingly enthralled in your performance.

You used the frame to pull yourself up to standing once more as you kept gyrating.

With your back to him, you used the post of the bed once more, almost imagining it to be a stripper pole. With one hand on it, you bucked forward and back. You ran your hands in your hair and looked over your shoulder at him.

“Now lie on the bed and close your eyes.”

The request had you stopping dead in your tracks, leaning up against the post. You took a shaky breath, remembering where you were and why you were here. You were here with a mystery man, a potential arms dealer, not your husband.

You sat on the far edge of the bed from him, back to the man as you tried to collect yourself. Your legs felt like jelly, and it wasn’t from the dancing.

“I… I thought you liked to watch.” You stuttered, staring at the phone on the nightstand. You briefly wondered if you could drop the bug next to it and bolt without him realizing what you’d done.

“Now lie on the bed and close your eyes.” He repeated.

You barely bit back a whimper, your eyes closing tightly. You took a deep breath before doing as instructed, scooting to the middle of the bed and closing your eyes as you laid down. The hotel bedding was scratchy against your skin, the sensation amplified with your sight gone. You listened hard for any noise, any clue as to what the man was doing next as you trembled.

You heard him moving, his clothes brushing against the chair as he stood. You tried to calm your breathing, trying to pinpoint his movements around the room. You heard him get closer to you, approaching the bed. He didn’t get on the bed on the side nearest him, instead you heard his footsteps, softened by the plush carpet of the room, round the opposite side of the bed. Your fingers twitched nervously as the bed dipped to your left.

He was silent, not speaking the whole time he moved. Your breath was coming in shallow pants, your nerves absolutely shot as you worried what he would do next. You were so incredibly vulnerable, laying on the bed in nothing but your underwear and heels.

You flinched as something brushed against your forehead. Soft, it trailed down the bridge of your nose. Despite your eyes being closed, you couldn’t stop the want to blink at the sensation. Your eyelashes fluttered against your cheeks as you forced your eyelids to stay closed.

The item trailed farther down your face, over your cupid’s bow and your lips. Breathing in, you could smell something floral, which helped you place the feel of the item. It was a flower of some kind trailing over your skin.

It lifted from your chin before reappearing on your cheek, smoothing over the globe and down your jaw and neck. Your lips parted as you sucked in a deep breath, both from the lack of deep breathing you’d been doing and from the sensation of the delicate petals hitting the sensitive pulse point under your jaw.

The petals’ touch grew feather light as he trailed the flower down over your breast, dragging it down the valley of your cleavage. It disappeared from your skin before it reached your stomach, which was already tense in anticipation of the tickle of the silky petals.

With the light brush of the flower gone, your nerves jumped once more. The flower on your skin had at least been context as to where the man was and what he was doing. You waited for his next move, worrying what he would do to you. You felt the bed shifting beside you as he leaned closer, causing you to hold your breath. You felt his breath flutter across your face a second before his lips pressed to yours. You barely held back your squeak of surprise, freezing as he kissed you. His moustache tickled your nose as his lips, softer than you had imagined, caressed your own, unmoving lips.

You unfroze after a moment, opening your eyes and looking back and forth for something, anything that would help you escape this situation before it escalated any further. The only thing you could see past the shadow of the man’s face was the bedside table next to you, the phone and a lamp sitting on it. The lamp looked heavier, but it was farther. You’d have to reach and see which you could actually get to.

You started moving your lips against his, bringing one hand up to his shoulder as you tried to distract him by participating in the kiss as you reached over with your other hand. You moved slowly, not wanting to alert him of your ulterior motives. You wanted to move faster, wanted to get this man’s lips off of yours. You were thankful he seemed happy taking his time kissing you, his hands and lips not wandering, not trying to explore your body any further.

You felt your fingertips touch the plastic of the phone, your arm almost fully extended. There was no way you’d reach the lamp without moving anymore than you already had. You closed your eyes tightly as you tightened your grip on the phone, preparing to attack. You would have taken a deep breath had you had the space, but you weren’t that lucky. Instead, you counted to three in your head.

One. Two. Three.

Your eyes shot open as you pushed the man back by his shoulder, swinging the phone towards him and hitting him in the face. He leaned over, clutching at his face with a loud groan. You didn’t hesitate, sitting up and hitting him over the back of the head once more.

He fell off the bed and you sprung up. As soon as your feet were under you, you delivered a swift kick to his ribs, an easy target as he was on his hands and knees.

“Bastard!” You screeched at him. He groaned again, cursing as he gripping his ribs.

You didn’t wait to see how incapacitated he was, rushing to where your dress sat on the floor. You picked it up, siling it back on as quickly as you could. You held it up, not bothering to fuss with the zipper as you ran towards your purse.

You started to run towards the door when you remembered why you were even here. You cursed under your breath, digging the chip out of your bra. You had to do this, it was the only way to be done with all this bullshit.

You ran back into the bedroom, avoiding the man as he crawled on the floor in pain. You gave him a wide berth as you passed, sticking the bug behind the lamp. Without even sparing the man another glance, you ran past him once more.

“Shit, darlin’. Wait!” The man drawled, having caught his breath. “Who taugh’ya to kick like that?”

The voice made you freeze, nearly tripping over your own feet in your haste to stop running. The voice was nothing like the smooth European voice that had been directing you minutes ago. You knew that Southern drawl.

You turned, staring down at the man as he leaned back on his haunches, the candles catching his side and finally showing you his face.

“Jack?!”

Tagging: @wickedfrsgrl @din-damn-djarin @dinthisisthe-wayson @seasonschange-butpeopledont @kesskirata @vonschweetz @insideafictionaluniverse @driedgreentomatoes @computeringturtle @spideysimpossiblegirl @thottiewinemom @phoenixhalliwell @sheerfreesia007 @and-claudia @weirdowithnobeardo @massivecolorspygiant @mrstaekim @chibi-liz05 @adrieunor @ilikechocolatemilkh @thirstworldproblemss @dynishot @diamond-doritos @o-sacra-virgo-laudes-tibi @eli-the-thinker @justanotherblonde23 @bbuckysbeardd @scribbledghost

(If you’re stricken out, it wouldn’t let me tag you. Let me know if there’s an updated URL. Or let me know if you’d like to be added to the taglist!)

#Agent Whiskey #Agent Whiskey x Reader #Agent Whiskey x F!Reader #Agent Whiskey x You #Agent Whiskey fanfic #Agent Whiskey imagine #Agent Jack Daniels #Agent Jack Daniels x Reader #Agent Jack Daniels x You #Agent Jack Daniels imagine #Pedro Pascal Character Fanfiction #Wookie Tales #AU: Whiskey Straight

[i-love-you-all]

Rumours of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated Ch. 5

AO3 Link Here | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

~1.1k Words, missions gone wrong (again lol)

The call filled him with hope, but something was throwing him off…

Brimstone spent the night awake in his office, pondering what he should do. One, the Core was an artifact he would rather forget. It had caused him enough problems already without also being included in weapons of mass destruction as Killjoy reported. And if someone looked into the artifact, it wouldn’t be too hard to learn that he was one of five people who would know how to access it. Three others of those names were dead, chased and slaughtered for the same information Killjoy mentioned, and the last other survivor was so protected that they hadn’t made contact with anyone of note in over a decade. Killjoy learning about this artifact was terrifying enough. If someone was truly looking to make a weapon out of it… it might increase its priority. There was no point in making a portal when someone out there on this Earth had immediate plans for one of the most sought-after resources for those with bad intentions. This one person, whoever they may be, had already gotten closer to the secret than anyone else Brimstone had ever encountered.

Even if he was ok with sending a team to rescue Killjoy, leaving himself off the roster, the second name also made him flinch. Ciel was an old man with no connection to the protocol, and a brief connection to him. Ten years since his retirement should’ve meant that he was perfectly safe. That wasn’t exactly the case though. If this person misguidedly brought in Ciel of all people to use against him, it… felt targeted. It definitely made him wonder how the person behind this all would react if he didn’t go. Would he cut his losses and get rid of those two? Or…

“Brimstone, are you ok?” Sage stood next to him, fully awake and clearly wary of just how insane he must’ve looked right now, all wide-eyed and scruffy, hand on an empty coffee mug and yet he wasn’t moving to refill it or even wash it.

Even when Killjoy first went missing, he was able to keep up appearances, but with all this new information, the consideration around the Core, Ciel, and the fact that Killjoy was very much alive was overpowering his brain.

“Yeah, something just came up though.”

She nodded her head and walked away. If he wasn’t going to tell her then, he wouldn’t tell her until it was over. That was just the routine they had built up. But who was he going to talk to instead? He could talk to Cypher, but that would also involve handing over sensitive information to the information broker, and he still had to consider what that would mean for him once the Protocol wasn’t needed anymore. Though, if he were looking at it from that angle, then there were very few people he’d be able to bring with him on this mission in particular.

That’s how he ended up on this carrier with Breach. Brimstone had originally planned to ask Sova to go with him. Covert ops were one of the areas he was told the Russian had trained for once upon a time, and he would ask no questions, but when he mentioned the need for secrecy, Sova had mentioned Breach as a good option to round out their small team. He turned out to be right. No matter how vague Brim tried to be while describing the Core, Breach caught on to exactly what he was talking about. Breach had also insisted that if Brimstone wanted someone already “in this shit”, he should take Sova off.

It definitely answered any lingering doubts Brimstone had about their relationship. But if they weren’t going to mention it, and if it didn’t show on the field, he was more than willing to turn a blind eye. Still, he couldn’t imagine that telling the Russian he had been taken off a mission had been easy. Maybe that was why Breach stayed silent most of the ride, not saying a word until they got the message that they were ten minutes away from the landing zone.

A Kingdom facility in the middle of nowhere. While Brimstone couldn’t say he was surprised, when he finally looked at the rickety structure, rust around the edges of some of the pipes and walls, and broken-down windows, he felt the unease truly set in. It was the shiver that he suppressed as he stepped in, the hair raising on his arms, and the general silence that made him feel like he was being watched. Even Breach shut up for once, eyes scanning the area while trying to avoid stepping on any of the glass on the ground.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, this is the exact location she said she was being held.”

Breach walked over to one of the rooms, giving it a slight push to test the door. Brimstone held his breath as he waited for any reaction from the building. Nothing happened though, and Breach walked back to him. The two men, guns out and eyes scanning for any signs of danger, made their way around the first floor, not finding any signs of light other than the occasional rat.

As they were about to approach the area where they entered, a lone door caught Brimstone’s eyes. The door was wooden, unlike all the steel ones he had been walking by, and well-polished. There was not a single dent or scratch, nor was there any dust as he walked up to it. The hinges were shiny, and there was no small glass window like all the other doors had. He felt Breach walk up next to him, taking in the one door in this entire upper floor that was not like the rest.

“Well, we didn’t see stairs or anything. This can’t be the only floor.”

Brimstone nodded his head in agreement. “Well, if it’s not behind this door, we’re gonna look like idiots pushing every other door in this place.” With one more look to see if he could spot any traps, tripwires, anything that would suggest that this door wasn’t as safe as they thought, Brimstone pushed it open. He took a couple steps in, looking at how clean the inside was while the outside was left to rot. Not even three steps in, he heard a collapse behind him, and he turned to see Breach prone on the ground, gun just out of reach, and no attacker in sight. He was still, unmoving, and the moment Brimstone took a step forward to get to him, the floor beneath his feet disappeared.

The last thing he remembered was falling.

#Valorant #valorant fanfic #valorant brimstone #valorant breach #brimstone #breach #rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated #ch. 5 #my writing #everything goes wrong p often huh

[pur-pled-aw-thor]

I'm Smarter

Young! Remus Lupin x Fem! Reader

Summary: Y/n and Remus are not in best of terms. Trying to outsmart each other or just annoy the hell out of them. But one sudden turn of events made them realize each other's importance to their lives.

A/n: they're in 5th year and Gryffindor btw🧙‍♀️ sorry if you ain't in Gryffindor, same hun.

Wc: 7.9k (biiish i-)

Warnings: slooo-hohoho-w burn, harassment, mention of a loved one passing away, not proofread properly, fluffy fluuuuff.

Y/n is walking towards the Great Hall for lunch with her friends: Lily Evans, Marlene Mckinnon, and Alice Fortescue.

They became great friends since they were always assigned in the same room every year. They spent the mornings helping each other out with their hair and the whole night talking about boys and what happened around Hogwarts.

But boys are Marlene's specialty, that's why she kept giving Y/n and Lily options with whom they are cute to be paired with.

Even though there is magic with Marlene's skills, Y/n will still reject them. Y/n is very pretty, well, gorgeous actually. (A/n if you say you ain't, imma keep reminding you, you are gorgeous.)

She has (Y/h/c) and (Y/e/c) that makes the boys stare at her all day. Her wonderful curves and height added up with her looks.

But what attracts them the most, is her smarts and attitude. She wasn't a badass, but she's very nice and protective of the people she cares about. Her smarts made her stood out because she is also intelligent and that amazed the other students.

But there is a boy that can outsmart her by a small percentage especially with Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Oi Y/l/n! Stop placing your arm over Lily dear! She's mine!" "Stop yelling at people when they touch Evans, Potter. Girls are not yellin' when you touch Black!" She exclaimed causing numerous people to laugh at Potter.

"You shouldn't yell, it makes you dumber." She heard one of them said causing them to laugh. She glared at the boy behind the book, she shoved the book down causing a few goblets to shake.

"What did you say, Lupin?" "I said 'you shouldn't yell, it makes you dumber.'" He said raising his head and their face is close enough that it caused tension between the two. Arms grabbed them both away from each other.

"You know you shouldn't be giving attention to Lupin. It'll only cause you trouble!" Lily exclaimed making Y/n sit down and eat lunch.

"You know you shouldn't be that cocky when you talk to her. It makes her feel like she deserves the attention." James whispered and Remus just read the book again.

Y/n looked over Remus and he was reading the stupid book again. She rolled her eyes and continued eating her lunch.

Remus moved his book a bit taking a glimpse of Y/n chatting with the girls. He furrowed his eyebrows and continued reading the book.

-

A few weeks after the incident, Y/n and Remus are still against each other and would continue to make the other feel dumber.

Insults are thrown here and there. Debates would occur out of nowhere causing numerous people to stop whatever they are doing. And fights rarely happen, but if it would, it would mean for their friends to take them to each side of the castle to stop it from happening.

"Valentine's day is happening next week. Any plans?" Marlene asked the girls and Y/n slid on her chair and hid her face with the book.

She doesn't hate the holiday. She just hates the way people celebrate it. Kissing, hugging, pink papers, confetti, gifts, and even the chocolates are shaped into hearts and placed inside a heart-shaped box.

She just doesn't get it.

She's not bitter, tons of boys would give her gifts and letters. But the only reason she accepts it is because of the chocolates. The normal ones though. Her admirers learned that when she gave Lily the heart-shaped chocolate, she received from a Hufflepuff.

They're staying at the library, trying to finish their homework for Potions. It started productively, but when Y/n and Lily finished, Marlene and Alice placed it aside and they'll just copy it later, hence the sudden topic of the said Holiday.

"Frank and I will be in Hogsmeade the whole afternoon," Alice stated and Marlene nodded, she then talked about how one of her suitors would take her to Hogsmeade too but they'll be there first thing in the morning.

With the two Gryffindor girls having a date, Y/n and Lily would be spending the whole day together in the Library or Common Room.

But she was wrong.

One of her suitors miraculously made Lily go with him on a date. When she said this, Y/n immediately felt left out. Well, why wouldn't she? All of her friends got a date and she doesn't. Even though she has a ton of boys at her doorstep, waiting for her to let one of them in.

"I'll be staying in the Common Room then. Waiting for you three while boys will start flooding me with gifts." She said not sitting up straight to face her friends, but she can feel the sympathetic looks from them.

"Why can't you just say 'yes' to one of them? Maybe just maybe, they'll be your soulmate." Alice stated causing Y/n to sigh.

"It's because they're a bunch of boys and I know the difference between a boy and a man." She said remembering what her father said to her.

"Remember Y/n, a boy makes promises and they never fulfill it, but a man will prove anything without even promising about it."

"And a man will treat you differently than a boy would. So, pick a man, not a boy. Don't waste love for a guy who wastes their saliva with phrases like 'I promise you.' 'I promise, it won't happen again.' and such."

Her father's word echoed in her head and she smiled because he taught her to be careful with whom she lets in her life.

-

They went to the Great Hall for dinner and Y/n noticed the silence at the other side of the table.

Normally, four unruly boys would be making a ruckus, but tonight it was very quiet. She looked at the four boys and the three talked quietly while one was submerged in a book.

'Why would they leave Lupin out of the talk?' she thought but then realized, she doesn't care.

Same with Remus, he doesn't care what the three are talking about. He knows they'll just make him go on a date with one of the girls that like him.

"You know, Remus. Going out to a date is good for you." James said trying to convince the sandy-haired boy.

He knows when they start to use First name basis, it’s either serious or very personal.

And he knows this isn’t a serious matter.

"Oh really? Why is that?" "Because you can relax and enjoy your time here at Hogwarts," Sirius said stealing Remus' book and holding it up.

"Give it back, Sirius!" He exclaimed causing a few students to look at them. Sirius stood up and still held it high, he knows he'll be able to reach the book because Remus was just an inch shorter than him.

So, what he did is he ran towards the girls and made Y/n hold on to it. "PLEASE TAKE IT!" Sirius exclaimed and Y/n took it, she is very oblivious to what is happening so she just took it and flipped through it.

"Sirius giv-" Remus reached the girls' side and he looked at Y/n, she looked at the book and realized it was Lupin's.

"DON'T GIVE IT BACK UNLESS REMUS GETS A DATE WITH SOMEONE!" James yelled and it caused the other girls to facepalm because he forgot they weren't the only ones there.

"No, she'll give it back. Won't you, Y/n?" Remus asked, reaching his hand out to take the book and Y/n looked at Black to Potter and Lily.

She sighed and stood up, placing the book inside her bag, and smiled at the people who were looking at her.

"Go get that date, Remus, then I'll give back your book." She said walking off and patted James on the back softly.

Her walk back towards the Common Room was very chaotic.

Well in her head at least.

'Why didn't you give it back?!' 'You wanker! Do you know what you just did?!' 'Were you proud of yourself? Because I'm not!' When she reached the common room, she immediately headed towards her room and that’s when she dropped her bag and laid face down on her bed.

She didn’t care if she couldn’t breathe properly, or her bag was a mess on the floor, what she cares about now is that she’s screwed.

Big time.

-

The next morning, she heard people talking outside their dorm. She looked around the room and saw that the girls are still asleep. It was Saturday and, normally, they slept in, but the commotion outside made it hard to sleep.

“What are they doing outside our door?” Lily asked groggily trying to rub the sleep away from her eyes. “I don’t know. I’m going to take a look.” Y/n said standing up from her bed and wearing her slippers.

“What in Merlin’s beard are you lot doing outside our door?!” She exclaimed causing people to squeal and walk away. But a few people pointed behind her and she saw an envelope taped up on the door and chocolates on the side of the frame.

“Students saw it earlier but no one saw who gave it.” One student said before leaving the scene.

Lily stood behind her and removed the letter while she took the chocolates inside, placing them beside the door and walking back again to her bed to continue sleeping.

“Just read the recipient and leave it, Lily.” She said covering herself with her duvet but Lily stood next to her with the letter, placing it on her table. “As you wish, darling,” Lily said and climbed back towards her bed. She sat up and took the letter in her hands.

To: Y/n Y/l/n

From: Your secret admirer, darling

Usually, she’ll just let Marlene read the letter and throw it inside her box filled with letters, but she has a feeling that she needs to be the one to read it.

Carefully opening the letter, she felt herself getting excited to read it. Unfolding the letter, there she saw a handwritten letter, a nice handwritten letter...

Dear Y/n

I’ve always admired you from afar, taking in every small detail from you. How you’d chew your bottom lip when you are concentrating, constantly tapping the end of your quill on the table when you can’t think of the answer, and how you let the sun rays hit your face every time you go outside for a walk.

No, I am not a stalker, but everywhere you go, we are also at the same place. And I would be there, trying to avoid your beauty and will fail miserably. You made me study harder for the sake of you getting to notice me. One day you will.

The chocolates are for you, I know you don’t fancy the heart-shaped ones, so I got you the normal ones from Honeydukes. I do hope you enjoy it, and yes, your friends can also enjoy some of it.

Have a nice day darling, hopes Merlin that I can have the courage to ask you out.

Your secret admirer.

She felt herself blushing, it was the first time she blushed at a letter from one of her suitors. She folded the letter and placed it back on the table. Standing up again because there’s no point sleeping now if she just felt giddy inside.

After taking a shower and finding comfortable clothes, she went to the Great Hall and ate breakfast by herself. Taking out a book and serving herself breakfast, a few minutes later, she felt someone sit in front of her, she placed her book down and rolled her eyes.

‘It’s too early for this.’ “What do you want, Lupin?” She asked annoyed at the boy in front of her. He smiled at her and she just finished her toast. “Can’t I just sit here with you?” He asked the Y/h/c haired girl and she just chuckled.

“Get lost.” She said looking him in the eyes. He sighed and looked at her seriously. “Just give me back my book and then I’ll leave.” He said taking a sip from his goblet and she shook her head.

“I can’t, you need to have a date,” She stated pouring herself water and taking a sip. “Besides, I don’t have it here.” She said looking at him and his face is just filled with hatred.

But his eyes beg to differ, she never noticed it though.

“You need to have a date before I can give you back the book, Lupin. I need to see you having fun with someone, or just a picture won’t hurt, good day.” She said standing up and taking her book with her.

Leaving the Great Hall, she passed by the three other Marauders and sat by Lupin. She continued walking until she reached the Library. She doesn’t have any work to do, giving her a free weekend.

She sat down at a table near the window and continued reading her book, taking a break from time to time and stare out of the window. A few first years were enjoying the sun and having fun, giving all of their energy from running around the yard. Continuing to stare outside, she felt a pair of eyes looking at the back of her head.

She turned around and saw a guy sitting a few tables away from her, trying to fix his posture like he wasn’t staring at her for a while. When she got back to her book, she saw in her peripheral vision the same guy moving on his seat like he was nervous. She saw him standing up and walking nearer.

“Hi, m-may I sit down?” She lowered her book and saw the guy, black hair that’s a bit messy, green eyes, and tanned skin. ‘And who might this be?’ “Sure.” She said sitting up straight and placing her bookmark on the page she was reading.

“I just want to ask if you received something earlier?” the guy asked and Y/n tilted her head slightly indicating she was a bit getting the gist.

“Yes, why?” ‘Don’t tell me he was the one that left those.’ “Well, I would like to ask if you liked the letter and chocolates. I was also going to put a bouquet but I don’t exactly know if you like roses or not.” He said like his nervousness was starting to decrease.

“Oh um-,” Y/n started blushing at the thought of this guy giving them gifts and writing the letter. “Thank you, and um I’m not a fan of bouquets. A single rose is fine.” She said paying attention to how the guy leaned forward on his seat and gave a laugh. “Well, I should give you one then.” Y/n didn’t understand and this caused the guy to smile at her, waiting for her reply.

“Oh, what was that?” “I would like to ask you out on a date this Valentine’s Day, around Hogsmeade or anywhere of course.” He said and Y/n thought carefully. “Okay, Mr.-?” “Mr. Hollis, Lerius Hollis.” He smiled at Y/n, she almost forgot what she was about to say when she saw him smiling.

“Mr. Hollis, I will go out with you. But if there are any tricks to this date, I will tear you into shreds.” She stated leaning in also. Her mind is all over the place, she can’t understand why she said yes, or why his cologne smells so good.

The guy stood up and gave a shy wave, “I must get going then, I’ll find you more presents!” He said but Y/n halted him and asked his house. “Slytherin.” He said smirking and waving goodbye again.

‘Oh boy.’

-

‘Slytherin house. Slytherin! And why did I say yes?!’ She scolded herself in her mind while walking back towards the common room. Two Second Years went out of the hole and she let herself in. Walking inside she heard the usual commotion of the three Marauders and students trying to converse.

She passed by behind the couch and someone called her, Lily. She turned around and went to the table near the couches where the Marauders started to eavesdrop on the two girls. Sitting down, she can feel the gazes of the three and just shook it off.

“What’s up?” She casually asked but Lily can feel a different aura from Y/n.

“Are you alright?” “W-what? Yes, of course. Why w-wouldn’t I b-be?” She said fidgeting the end of her top and her eyes darting from her hands to Lily’s green eyes.

“Well, for one you’re fidgeting, two, you’re lying, three, you were in a rush going upstairs, and four, you look like a tomato.” She whispered to Y/n and she shook her head. Lily gave her a ‘you’re not fooling me.’ Look and she sighed.

“Well for starters, I got a dahtesh-“ she accidentally lowered her voice and it caused Lily to get confused, “You got a what now?” “I GOT A DATE OKAY?!” Y/n exclaimed unintentionally and some of the students stared at her, but the stares that never took off her were from Lily and the Marauders.

“You actual-“ “Yes! I don’t know how, but yes I do have a date.” She exclaimed and just buried her head in her hands. “Well, who is he then?” She squealed at the new voice but then relaxed when she realizes it was just Black.

“Why do you care?” She asked raising an eyebrow at him. He flipped his hair and leaned in. “Because I want to hear some gossip from you.” He said acting like a girl, she looked at the other three and Remus is also listening.

Normally he wouldn’t care, but today was different.

“Well, his name is-“ “House?” James intervenes, Y/n looked confused but still answered James’ question. “Slytherin.” Once she said that questions started flying out of the lips of three Marauders and her best friend Lily.

“Don’t date him.” “Cancel it.” “Why’d you say yes?” “Are you serious?” “No, I’m Sirius.” “Not the point Black!” “How could you betray us?” “Where is he taking you?” “Does he have great hair like mine?” “Not the point Black/Padfoot!”

Once they were finished, Y/n was already crossing her arms and reclining in her chair looking at them confused.

“It’ll be just one date.” She said standing up and taking her book. “Besides, it’s Valentine’s Day. Might as well give it a go.” Walking towards the staircases, she can still feel their gazes and sighed.

-

Thursday, four days after the incident with the Marauders and Lily, she’s still busy with school works but Lerius continues to give her letters and sweets. Nearing Valentine’s Day, she was worried that he might not have anything more to give.

‘He’s a Slytherin for Merlin’s sake, he may be rich too.’ Y/n thought while staring at the board. They are having Transfiguration and Professor McGonagall is talking about Inanimatus Conjurus. She starts to doze off but the bell snapped her back awake.

“I would like to have essays about our lesson today on my desk before Tuesday next week, understood?” The professor asked before dismissing the students. There, she was met with a person handing out a single rose, Lerius.

“Hi! I just wanted to give you this before going to your next and last class for the day. I couldn’t wait until after class because I’m scared it’ll wilt.” He said looking at her and she blushed. They looked cute together, with being Lerius taller than her and all. A few students around hollered, and even some of Lerius’ friends.

“Okay, mo-move it!” They heard someone yelled behind Y/n, it was the Marauders. But only one of them yelled, Remus. Once Y/n moved an inch or two, Remus passed by and the three followed. “They were having a moment Moony!” Peter started following and whispering a sorry to Y/n.

“Yeah, well I don’t care.” Was heard and Y/n just rolled her eyes. She looked back at Lerius and he smiled at her and then waving goodbye. “See you after class, love.” He pecked her cheek and it caused Y/n to heat up more. He waved again and walked with his friends.

She stood there dreamily following him until a tug was felt at her right arm, pulling her away from the spot. “We need. To go. To. History. Of. Magic” Lily said in each tug. Y/n finally moved her feet and walked with the three.

“So, you finally got a date, this is amazing! Maybe we can do a double date!?” Marlene exclaimed and Lily disagreed. “It’s her first-ever date, let her have it. Maybe if things work out at this date, then you guys can do that.” She said taking a seat at the front.

“Yeah, and if things work out on your end too Lils, we can triple date!” Marlene said, excitement gushing out of her. “Quadruple if it is okay with Frank though,” Alice added and Marlene clapped like a little kid.

“Alright, if the date turns out okay,” Y/n said and Marlene side hugged her. She giggled and someone tapped her shoulder and looked behind her.

“So, you are going? Aren’t you hesitating even just a little bit?” Potter asked her and she shook her head, “I am not backing out just because four boys don’t want me to go.” “I don’t care,” Remus added and she looked at him, he was staring out the window.

“You know you should also get yourself a date so I can return your bloody book.” She said and Remus shrugged his shoulders. “Already have one.” He said and just in time, Professor Binns came out of nowhere, making the room quiet.

She turned towards the front and got ready for class. She heard faint whispers from behind, “You have a da-“ “Yes, Wormtail. Now shut up.” She giggled silently and focused on the lesson.

-

Saturday, she can’t sleep properly last night because of her excitement. She got up once she saw the clock ticked 6, getting a sweater and jeans from her trunk and pulling out her boots.

“Someone’s up early,” Alice asked the (y/h/c) haired girl. Y/n smiled and looked over the mirror to see if the clothes were a perfect match. When she got her match, she hopped in the shower and took her time.

Once she was almost inside for an hour, she got out and wrapped herself in her bathrobe. She sat down in front of her mirror and started applying make-up. She made sure it was very minimal because she doesn’t like make-up. She then proceeds to do her hair and got in her clothes.

It was already 8 am and the rest of the girls are awake. She couldn’t wait anymore so she got out of the room first. But when she got out, she almost slipped from a parcel.

She closed the door and stood outside, she removed the wrapping paper and there she saw a portrait of her, sitting under a tree outside. It was a beautiful painting, framed and all. There wasn’t any signature on the painting but there is a card attached behind the frame.

Y/n,

I’ve been keeping a picture the same as this portrait, so as a gift this Valentine’s I made someone paint the picture and they did a wonderful job. I would’ve painted it myself, but my roommates couldn’t shut up about it. I hope you like it because I love it.

And that was it, no name or anything. She smelled the wrapper and she smelled hazelnut and cocoa powder. ‘Chocolates.’ She thought and she smiled. She got back inside and placed the painting at her bedside and placed it on an angle.

“Who’s it from?” “I’m sure it’s from Lerius, he always gives me chocolates and that’s what I can smell in the wrapping paper.” She said leaving them again and she headed towards the Great Hall.

Finishing up breakfast, she headed towards the library again just to pass by time. “Y/n?” She lowered her book and there she saw Lerius. He was dashing as hell, he’s wearing a shirt and he has his coat on top, his hair looked like he tried combing it back but it became a bit messy, but she finds it attractive.

“Lerius! I thought we won’t be leaving until 11 am?” She asked and Lerius nodded, he drew his attention towards the seat in front of her and she nodded. Taking a seat, Lerius, placed a box down so he can remove his coat.

“I just wanted to stay here for a while, we still have half an hour before we leave.” He said and he knew she was eyeing the box, “Yes, that is for you, but I can’t give it to you now.” He said and he placed the box inside his coat.

She pouted and Lerius saw this. He chuckled and she pouted harder, “I can’t give it to you now, it’ll ruin the surprise.” He said caressing her cheek, she absentmindedly leaned on his touch. She gave him a small smile and he removed his hand.

Lerius stood up and sat beside Y/n, he gently held her head for her to lean on his shoulders and he placed his chin on top of her head.

They stayed like that until they heard the bell ring at 11 am. They stood up and left the library immediately, almost dropping books Madame Pince was carrying.

They got a carriage and sat together. Once they reached the place, Y/n’s mood immediately changed from the place’s comforting energy. She’s been to Hogsmeade before, a lot of times. But today she knew it was different. She absentmindedly pulled Lerius and walked around with him, going in from store to store.

“I think we should have lunch first, darling. We have the whole afternoon for us to stroll around.” Lerius said and Y/n pouted but gave up because she too is hungry. They went to Three Broomsticks and ate there, they are very lucky enough to have a table, especially with lunchtime nearing.

“There’s a sight back at Hogwarts that I like. Maybe before the sun sets, we can go there.” He said and Y/n just nodded. Continuing with their lunch, Lily and her date got inside the shack and saw Y/n with Lerius.

“Hey, Y/n!” Lily greeted the girl and she motioned them to come over. “Oh, this must be your date!” She stated and the three of them chuckled until Lerius coughed indicating that he is not fine with what is happening.

“Sorry to interrupt your date, we’ll be going to our table now,” Lily said giving Y/n a side hug and leaving them. Y/n and Lerius finished up and Y/n can feel something is wrong with her date.

“Lerius? Is there something wrong?” She asked sincerely and Lerius just shook his head. “Look, if something is bothering you, please tell me. I want this Valentine’s Day to work out.” She said and Lerius finally said something.

“I just didn’t like how your friend intervened with our lunch.” He said harshly and Y/n inhaled deeply and nodded, “I’m sure Lily didn’t mean to inter-“ “I don’t like it.” He said with his voice going deeper and Y/n felt a bit scared.

“I-I’ll talk to her later.” She said nodding ‘why am I letting this?’ She thought and Lerius stood up, handing out his hand for her to take and they left the shack. But Lerius’s grip was getting tighter and tighter the longer she held on. She tried to escape his grip but it wouldn’t budge.

They stopped in front of Honeydukes and Lerius leaned in to whisper at her. “You can buy anything you want in Honeydukes, as long as you promise to talk to the rest of your friends to not intervene with our date any longer.” And he turned her towards the figures of Alice and Marlene almost nearing up to her.

“Hi, Y/n!” Marlene greeted and Y/n waved at her, Lerius gripped her wrist and she almost winced at the pain, she just laughed it off and started to talk to the both of them.

“Umm, Marlene? You remembered what we all talked about not disturbing with my first ever real date?” She tried saying it as a way she was joking, but she was hoping one of them to save her.

“Oh yeah! Shoot almost forgot about that! See you around then, Y/n!” Marlene said and waved goodbye, Alice also gave a wave goodbye and they went the other way.

“Good girl, now,” Lerius whispered in her ear and he opened the door for her, “You can pick anything you want, darling.” He stated and Y/n tried to smile, but the smile she was wearing since she woke up, is almost gone now since she’s starting to get agitated.

-

A couple or so hours later after walking around Hogsmeade, they decided to go back because Y/n tried to make up excuses as her feet hurt or she’s starting to get tired. Which were lies, her boots are very comfortable and they are made for her. She got almost 9 hours of sleep because she promised to rest early.

But Lerius gave her what she wants, on their carriage ride back to the school, they ended up sharing with a couple from Gryffindor house. Because Y/n said she’s tired, she tried to act the part. Leaning on Lerius’ shoulder, fake yawning, hiding her hands inside her sleeves.

She knows if Lily was inside the carriage, she would raise suspicions on why she was faking it, and that’s what she needs right now, someone to take her away.

They reached the grounds and the couple got out first, and Lerius helped her out of the carriage. They noticed it was almost 4 o’clock and there are only a few students outside because the real festivities is inside the castle.

“I think we should also get inside als-“ “Oooor, we can go to my favourite spot and give you my gift?” Lerius interjected and gave Y/n a grin, the grin that has her saying yes to everything today, the grin that she never questioned, the grin that made her shut up.

“O-okay.” She whispered and Lerius pulled her away, bringing her towards a tree near the lake. He sat her down on a blanket. It was a beautiful sight and she smiled knowing this is too peaceful for anything to ruin it.

But she thought too soon.

“So, about this gift,” He started and Y/n moved to look at him, he took out the box and moved closer to Y/n. He opened it to reveal a ring, Y/n stood up and Lerius looked at her.

“Why what’s wrong?’ “I-I have to go.” She tried to speak up but her throat wouldn’t let her. “No, sit down here, darling.” “Please I-“ “SIT. DOWN.” It came out as a threat now. She was scared but she doesn’t want to stay anymore.

“Fine! I’ll stand up!” He exclaimed and acted like it was Y/n’s fault now. “Now, this ring, it was my mother’s. She gave it to me to give it to someone.” Y/n already know where this is going, “It’s a promise ring,” She started to feel upset and wanted to run, but she’s scared to pull a string on Lerius to make him angry.

“And I promise that I will love you, take care of you. As long as you stay with me.” He said removing the ring and grabbing Y/n’s hand. “N-no!” She exclaimed taking her hand back but Lerius’ grip is stronger. When he got the ring to her finger, he tried to kiss her. Holding both the sides of her face and leaning in. Y/n slapped Lerius and to her luck, it was strong enough for him to bring his hand up to his cheek to caress the impact. She tried to run but Lerius ran faster than her, he got a hold of her but before he could carry her back, a group of boys started to come after Lerius and a punch was thrown at his face.

She sat on the ground trying to get away from the scene, she heard Professor McGonagall screaming at the people and other boys from Gryffindor and Slytherin started to break them up.

“Black! Lupin! What in Merlin’s beard got you two just to punch Mr. Lerius here?!” She asked and Peter got out of the other’s hold to explain everything to the professor.

“He was forcing Y/n to do something she didn’t want!” He exclaimed and Lerius turned to the stout boy in fury, “I did no such thing! We were just flirting and you four imbeciles took the wrong message!” He exclaimed and his housemates held him back from attacking Peter.

“Just because you were beaten up, it means you are the real victim!” Sirius yelled back but Lerius laughed, “And why should anyone listen to you four, you weren’t even in the scene! You four came out of nowhere!” “Well, it’s better to ask the subject of this matter!” They all looked at Y/n and she is still shaken up by what happened.

Lily came to the scene and assisted her, Professor McGonagall dismissed the crowd and brought them all inside her office. She took out a kettle filled with tea and gave Y/n a cup to calm her nerves.

“What exactly happened, Y/n?” The professor asked and Y/n gripped the cup tighter, Lily brushed her hair trying to calm her down. “L-lerius t-“ “Tell them the truth, darl-“ “Oh shut up you fool, let her talk,” Potter said and Peter pulled him back.

“He t-tried to kiss m-me, f-forcing me to kiss h-him. Holding the s-sides of my face and he made m-me wear this stupid r-ring- AH! It hurts!” She exclaimed and immediately placed the cup down and pulled her finger out. It was tightening around her finger and she tried to pull it off.

“What did you do to her!?” Remus exclaimed and held Lerius by his collar, the three pulled him away because even if Lerius’ height is the same as his, he was incredibly strong to pull him up the ground.

“Mr. Hollis, remove the ring from Ms. Y/l/n’s finger at once!” Professor McGonagall exclaimed and Lerius moved far away. “Why would I do that? She’s my girlfriend after all.” “Well, she wouldn’t be hurt if she is, wouldn’t she?” Lily spoke up and she’s starting to get angry too, Lerius moved and held Y/n’s hand to remove the ring. Once he removed it, he kissed the back of her hand but she pulled it back, he gripped her wrist but Lily stopped him.

“Mr. Lerius, you will be meeting the Headmaster tomorrow morning with your Head of House and parents to talk about your expulsion from Hogwarts. We here do not support harassment of any sort.” She said writing on parchment for Lerius’ parents.

“This is not fair! I’m the one with the bloody nose!” “Yeah, well that’s not my department. Go to Madame Pomfrey so she can tend to it. And take a stroll, it may be, well, it will be your last stroll here in Hogwarts.” She said dismissing the Slytherin students while sipping her tea.

“And you four, I can say the bravery and courage from the actions you all did is quite impressive. But of course, you four will be having detention but it will only be a week.” She said writing it down and folding it up. “I think Y/n here also needs to be brought to the infirmary, she needs tending for her finger.” “No, I’m fine Professor, but thank you.” She said giving her best smile to reassure her and everyone.

“If that is what you say, then I don’t have anything against that. You lot can go to the Great Hall now to enjoy the rest of the day, Happy Valentine’s.” She said and dismissed the students.

Their walk consisted of Lily assisting Y/n and the Marauders staying close to make sure nothing will happen. They reached the decorated Great Hall and they took their seats, Lily and Y/n near the front, and the Marauders almost at the middle.

They gave her food but she didn’t take any, when they gave her, her favourite food, she turned it down and stood up. “Where are you going?” “Back to the common room, I guess.” She said and the three didn’t ask further, they already feel sorry for letting this happen, but Y/n is mostly mad at herself.

Walking out of the Great Hall, she can feel other people gazing at her because she was the only one doing the opposite. She walked and walked until she reached the astronomy tower, she sat near the railing and just stared up at the sky. She knew going to the common room would be a mistake because she will be welcomed by thousands of letters at the front of their door or on her bed.

She got cozy that she almost didn’t hear the footsteps approaching. Scared, she reached out for her wand and pointed it out, but she was surprised to see the last person she wanted to see today.

Remus Lupin.

Instead of giving him a remark, she just stood by the railing and exhaled. “I’m sorry.” Slipped out of her mouth and she started to feel weak and a tear slid down her cheek. Instead of kneeling because she can’t take it anymore, a pair of arms wrapped around her giving her a warm embrace. Instead of getting a flight response, she nuzzled more and Remus took this as a sign to hug her tighter.

“Don’t say sorry, you don’t have anything to say sorry for.” He said caressing her hair to soothe her, she shook her head and kept saying it was her fault.

“If I wasn’t a fool then this wouldn’t happen.” She started to sob, Remus kept soothing her to calm down and they stayed like that for almost five minutes. She smelled chocolates from his sweater, his signature smell, she then realized where the parcel was from, it was from him.

Once she stopped sobbing, she looked up and saw Remus resting his chin on the top of her head, his hair is a bit messy but it looked good on him. The scars on his face made him look older but in a good way. She can hear his heartbeat and it was a steady heartbeat, it made her feel relaxed and comfortable. She didn’t realize she was staring until his green orbs stared back at hers.

She bowed her head and she stepped back a bit and Remus lets go of the hug, even though Y/n wanted to stay like that forever, she needs to remember he’s still her rival. Or was he?

“I never liked Valentines.” She stated and Remus looked at her, “Because it was the day when the first guy I love the most, passed away. He had a huge impact on my life and seeing him just pass away, I couldn’t accept it.” She said looking at stars, Remus never said a word and just listened to her story.

“He always gave me a little gift before leaving, and he would take me to Diagon Alley to walk around. He’ll buy me ice cream and he’ll tell me about his day while we sit in front of the parlor shop.” She continued and she doesn’t care if she’s telling this to her rival, she just needs to tell someone right now.

“Well, you’re a lucky girl then? And I’m sorry for your loss. How old were you?” Remus asked and she gave a sad smile. “10, and he was 49, turning 50. But he wasn’t lucky.” She said and Remus looked at her, “Dad, wasn’t lucky.” She said tears brimming her eyes as she continued looking up, trying to fight her tears. Remus was in shock and he couldn’t form any words.

“When dad passed away, in the morning I woke up, thinking he already left and my gift was waiting at my bedside table. He did leave, me and my mom behind. Mom screamed from their room and I ran towards it, the elf was at the front of the door bowing down. When I saw dad’s hand hanging at the side of the bed with a little box in it, I dropped on my knees and let my tears flow down.” She said and sighed but continued the story anyway.

“Mom and I were left alone in the house, with the elf and her sister visiting weekly ever since I came here at Hogwarts. She continued her job but she still feels empty inside. And ever since that day, I never looked at Valentine's day the same way ever again. And I was thinking, 5 years ago today, that I might be happy because I know dad wants me to be happy. But it turns out, Valentine’s is just a normal day. And I tried to celebrate it with a lunatic.” She finished and Remus was still there, staring at her the whole time she was telling her story.

“I’m sorry If I gave you detention and maybe ruined your date today, Remus. But here is your book back.” She handed it out to him and he chuckled. “I didn’t have a date, and it’s fine if I have detention. I got used to it.” He said taking the book back.

“But, what was about th-“ “The other day? It was just to shut the three up about my dating life.” He said irritated and Y/n just laughed at it.

“But I do like someone, and she doesn’t know it because I’ve been acting like a rival to her since day one.” He said staring at her again but she can’t get the point. “Well, you should go get her then. There’s still a few hours before Valentine’s end.” She said smiling at him and he smiled at her also.

“Well, I’m already here with the girl that I like. Besides, she received the gift earlier this morning.” He said and she realized what he meant. “S-so, you l-like me?” “I fancy you, Y/n. Merlin’s beard no, I think I love you already.” He said still looking at her (Y/e/c) orbs, Y/n shifted her body and she’s now looking at the boy who’s been her rival since day one.

Since day one, they’ve been throwing at each other’s faces with who’s smarter. Since day one, they’ve been up in each other’s throats. Since day one, they’ve been making the other one feel dumb. Since day one, they’ve wanted each other’s attention.

In every class they have, they would continue with their rivalry but it was only because they loved the attention, they loved how they acted like they were the only ones in the room. They loved how they would stare at each other’s eyes just to prove a point.

Every mealtime, one will start giving a snarky remark just to continue the cycle. Just to have a laugh for everyone. Just to have the other one going up and interact with them, hands touching or their faces almost closing in.

She realized it now, why she continues to fight Remus off, why she continues to quarrel with him, why she continues to study harder. It was for his attention, all of his goddamn attention.

He also realized why Sirius gave her the book, why the boys kept listening to her stories, why they gave him the map earlier. It was for him to finally say something, say all of it to her.

“This sounds cliché, but yeah we fell for the ‘I hate you, you hate me’ relationship.” She said and this caused Remus to chuckle. “And did it turn to ‘I like you, you like me’ relationship?” He asked, hope in his eyes and she nodded, she can’t believe that this boy that she’s been fighting with is the boy she fell in love with.

He’s the reason she became a better version of herself, he became the reason for her constant studying, he became the reason to wake up even if it was Valentine’s day.

He never promised to love her fully, because he already did that. He never promised to stay even if she was a mess, he’s still there.

He never promised to take care of her, he did that almost an hour ago.

Without being in a relationship, he respected her in simple and unnoticeable ways. And damn, that made her happy. He fulfilled everything without even being his partner. And Remus is happy that he proved to her that he is different from any boy.

Y/n and Remus just stood there, staring at each other’s eyes, continued to smile from ear to ear. They walked closer until Y/n is looking up and Remus looking down.

She got on her tiptoes and Remus leaned in, closing the gap between them with a kiss. A kiss that made her wrap her arms around Remus’ neck because it made her legs feel like jelly and Remus held her waist.

Pulling apart, Remus smiled a dorky smile, the one she always saw when his friends would make a lame joke. But the cause of his smile is because the girl he’s been liking for a long time likes him back.

“So, Y/n Y/l/n. Would you loooove to be my girlfriend?” He asked rather excited because why wouldn’t he be. He just kissed the girl of his dreams and she kissed back. Holding both of her hands and kissed them both, she just giggled and nodded.

“Of course, you idiot, I wouldn’t be kissing you if I wouldn’t like it.” She said and he looked confused, “I’m not an idiot, I’m smarter than you and kissing? We’re not k-“ He got cut off by her lips attaching to his again. And this time, fireworks set off. They pulled apart and just stared at each other’s eyes, hugging her and she just smiled.

This is an unexpected turn of events from all of what happened the whole day, and she’s glad she ended it with the right person.

--

BONUS!!

“Padfoot? Are you sure the fireworks should be facing this way?” James asked and Sirius nodded, “Yes, so they could see it.” He said crouching to see the angle of the fireworks. A rat ran towards them and James accidentally jumped at Sirius and the fireworks moved.

The rat transformed into Peter and he squeaked a sorry. “They are almost kissing again!” He exclaimed and the two immediately fixed the fireworks.

“No, it's this way, Prongs!” “No, this way!” “Don’t you start to ignite a fight, Prongs!” “Well, because it's this way, Padfoot!” “Don’t IGNITE it, Prongs!” “Wait, ignite it? Okie Dokie!” “Wait Wormtail don’t!”

“What?” Peter said but it was too late, the fireworks set off with the two boys still in its range. The two stood up and they are covered with dust and smoke.

“We said don’t!” “Well, Padfoot said it!” “I did not!” “Yes, YOU did!” “Hey, would you three shut up! My girlfriend and I are enjoying a moment here!”

They heard it from the tower and they shut up immediately.

“Thank you!” as they heard before James wiped a fake tear, “They grow up so fast.”

“Well, if it wasn’t for me and the stupid book, he wouldn’t get her.” Sirius said and James waved his hand, “No if it wasn’t for me giving him the map, he wouldn’t know.” “IF IT WASN’T FOR ME AND MY LOVE FOR HER, YOU THREE WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO PLAY WITH FIREWORKS, NOW SHUT UP OR I’LL BEAT YOU THREE UP!” They heard again and they immediately went inside to leave them be.

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