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juusasu4evagrrl · 1 year

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I’M BACK BITCHES ANDDD I BRING GIFTS!

I originally began writing down this AU last year with plans to send it as an anonymous ask to justsasuke, my all time favorite blog on here, much love to the pioneer of the juusasu ship. But it just got wayyy too long for all that so fingers crossed she sees it anyways. 🤞🏽🤞🏽🤞🏽 (unless you hate it and then nvm you saw nothing)

So basically while lying awake at like 11:55 last night my brain went, I bet Juugo would be good at basketball since he’s like so tall, and out of that thought this sexy ass college AU was born.

Okay lets set the scene

Our au starts freshman year at whatever college in whatever big city now lets talk majors and aspirations

Juugo gets in on a basketball scholarship but while he’s good and he kind of enjoys it, he’s not a baller like it’s not life to him. what he’s really pursuing is environmental sciences so he can become like a zoologist or a wildlife biologist or something like that and immerse himself in his true passions. Also he’s like a year or so older. Still a freshmen, just sticking with canon on this one cause it always made sense to me.

Sasuke is studying whatever the fuck he thinks will get him familial brownie points. The thing is he has NO CLUE what he actually wants to study or do. If he was true to himself he’d have taken a gap year to live a little. BUT big bro graduated high school like 2 years early, absolutely demolished running start, and got like three full rides to schools that brought a tear to fugakus eye. So his natural competitive streak and his desire to be seen as capable by Fugagku, coalesce into Sasuke just trying to follow in those footsteps. Now i wont say he’s failing but 1, he don’t even really wanna be there right now and 2, academics are just not his thing. Which sucks cause he doesn’t cope well with being bad at things. If it wasn’t for the super dope and driven friends he’s about to make school life would destroy his mental health, and he’d probably be directionless forever. Im not saying he’s dumb cause i don’t think that. Just that he’s really struggling to apply himself here.

Karin is there cause her creepy rich uncle Orochimaru said he’d pay for her college if she graduated high school, and only with a perfect 4.0 mind you. Our girls a double major. One in business and one in some type of chemistry so that after college she can attend a perfume school become a perfumer and start her own perfume empire the absolute girlboss. Shes the only one who knows exactly what they want to do from the jump. How she balances all this? We can only imagine but it is karin after all, and if anyones doing it it’s her. A woman’s resolve can break through steel after all. 😤

My fave, Suigetsu is also there I’m wracking my brain trying to figure out how it might just have to be a plot hole I FIGURED IT OUT! Orochimaru is his dad hes our nepo baby. (So i guess that makes karin his hardworking cousin the Selena to his Haley if you will) ANYWAYS he’s studying marine engineering cause I guess I’m running out of ideas just shhh if you think really hard about it it kinda makes sense. Ok new thought. He changes his major halfway through to a martial arts studies degree, (this is important cause sasuke is gonna end up here too) with a minor in some sort of nutritionist something. He’s is gonna be a personal trainer i guess and to me, that makes sense. Also my aquarius brother lives and breaths the very mid nightlife at this school.

Scene set

Karin and Sasuke meet first and hit it off in so far as Karin is concerned. Sasuke however is there to get the degree and get out. He don’t want no friends, he didn’t even like the ones he had in high school. Eventually though he learns to tolerate her cause he’s moved seats like 5 times now and she’s found him

every

single

time.

Once past Sasukes initial resistance, they genuinely hit it off pretty quick. They’re both pretty introverted for college students so they have a lot of time to spend together. Sasuke is introverted cause he just is, but karin would be a party girl if she wasn’t so busy. They meet up for lunch and study sessions frequently. Sasuke enjoys the silence in these low key hang outs. Karin enjoys staring at sasuke during breaks in her working and acting ditsy when helping him with whatever he’s working on to make him do that cute little self gratified smirk and to hear his voice turn from quiet and disinterested to proud and engaged when explaining to her how shes wrong. Yes karin still has a crush on sasuke we all do moving on.

Juugo and suigetsu meet next. Kind of, they’re roommates so honestly they met first but whatever. Juugo wanted a single and after meeting Juugo so did Suigetsu. They get on okay but jugo lost interest in building a friendship with Suigestu after coming to find marine engineering ain’t got shit to do with marine biology, and suigestu mostly is just scared of Juugo. help me decide which one is the messy roommate that makes the other one consider requesting a new dorm everyday. (nvm its Juugo he happily lived in cave like duh) Anyway they don’t really start to get along until sasuke comes in the picture. (yes they all bond over their mutual desires to fuck sasuke its very canon compliant in that way)

Sasuke and suigetsu meet next at a party Karin coerced Sasuke into going to with her. At some point Karin fucks off with the girl she went to the party for in the first place, (who is Tayuya of sound5 fame btw) and Sasuke is left alone in the corner to stew in his feelings of betrayal. He didnt want to go in the first place and he only went to sit in the corner with Karin and make fun of peoples stupid try hard attitudes and inability to hold their stupid alcohol. People do try and talk to him but he successfully wards them off with his one word answers and an overall stank demeanor. Until suigetsu finds him and swears to himself that this is the sexiest man he has ever seen, he’s getting into those adidas track pants no matter what, and wow this boy can not dress. Sasukes one word answers and side eyes fall on deaf ears and hungry eyes. Suigetsu has effectively glued himself to Sasukes side and there is nothing Sasuke can do to stand it but keep knocking back the jungle juice. He cant tell which is worse the stupid alcohol or the endlessly talkative twink who keeps dodging his exasperated sighs. He has never enjoyed being talked at, and hes never overindulged in alcohol either (is this realistic I don’t know it sure is fun to imagine 14 year old team7 stealing a little something something someone and getting wasted for the first time together actually yeah lets say that happens but it happens in Sasukes bedroom Fugaku finds out and puts the fear of god in him and then he gets it again from Itachi who is probably who the stuff was stolen from and he learned his lesson didn’t touch booze again until just now) but every time suigetsu speaks he drinks and the night is getting fuzzier and fuzzier. He is a mellow and petulant drunk and one word responses turn into slightly wordier quips and mildly depressing personal anecdotes. Its right about now that Suigetsu is sure this here man is his future husband cause he was giving personalityless but worth a hookup before but now the personality is showing little and Suigetsus loving every slurred moment of it. The only problem is that Sasuke is drunk like drunk drunk he obviously wasnt feeling Suigetsu before and even if he is now (he’s not) there is absolutely zero chance of hooking up with this pretty faced little emo tonight. (pretty faced emo girl stop) So at this point Suigetsus only worries are A.) How am I gonna insure this boy remembers who I am tomorrow? B.) And this is been on his mind since the beginning of the night, how did this literal wet blanket of a man get here and why, like who is even is he? Finally C.) How am I getting outta all this without getting these 600 dollar McQueen sneaks vomited on.

The future husband thing was cute or whatever but Suigetsu must be really smitten to be standing in whoever’s truly nasty bathroom this is cleaning bright red pungent puke off his once shining white sneakers. Sasuke is currently slumped near the toilet staring judgmentally at suigetsus pinkish shoes and mumbling mostly unintelligibly about vanity and precious solitude. Suigetsu thinks the gist of it is probably something to the effect of leave me alone next time and I won’t projectile on your designer but really who is to say. Definitely not Sasuke, Sasuke still can’t (or won’t its difficult to tell with this one) even answer simple questions like what he’s doing here or who he’s here with. It wouldn’t even matter if he could cause karin has been gone for a minute now. Lets not blame her either cause she expected he’d leave 5 minutes after she and Tayuya did and she did text. The worst she’d expected to deal with would be some strongly worded replies or an especially quiet study sesh. Its decided Sasuke is coming back to the shared dorm room barring C all problems are accounted for with the solution.

Woooo that scene was long but its okay cause were meeting Juugo next and getting some would be romantic tension if i knew how to write romantic tension also taka is almost assembled yuhhh!! Prepare for some very poorly paraphrased dialog in apostrophes.

Suigetsu is oddly insistent on walking Sasuke back to his dorm so he’s just a little confused when instead of showing up in quiet lifeless single he enters chaotic double that smells so strongly of febreze and cannabis he can immediately feel an oh my god just open the damn window induced headache coming on. Still feeling woozy and uncharacteristically social from the booze, he’s about to ask whats his name in the mugler turtleneck (the stars on the turtleneck were more engaging to sasuke then anything else going on duh suigetsus gonna name drop the designer yes this is what he remembers lol it don’t make sense IK but its my mission to make Suigetsu as swaged out as is possibly possible) about the window when the door to the dorm busts open and in walks Juugo angry as hell on some

‘Why did you text me about some boy staying over i already said you can not have hookups in here if you wanna slut yourself out to this school your gonna have to get creative cause the boundaries of this dorm situation were set and agreed upon day one this is my sanctuary and smoke spot not your sex dungeon rah rah rah rah’

Its occurring very slowly to Sasuke that he may have gotten himself into an unsavory situation but before he can say anything suigetsu says it for him.

‘oh my god he’s I’m not sleeping with him’

just barely biting back a not tonight at least he continues

‘i met him at Jirobo’s (I’m having so much fun adding in random sound5 characters Kimimaro is still dead tho rip 😔) kickback he wasnt vibing and I cant blame him shit was so dry so since he was drunk off his ass anyways and couldn’t give me any contacts I brought him here to sleep it off so he’ll wake up tomorrow and see me as his savior and then i son’t know we’ll go from there don’t hate cause you cant pull 10s like me Juugo’

Juugo is not hating, he would be cause suigetsu sounds objectively dumb right now, but he just noticed Sasuke. True to cannon his demeanor changes instantly from ready to tussle to totally transfixed as his full attention is focused on staring at a still slightly intoxicated Uchiha Sasuke.

Sasuke has noticed, and is 35% focused on staring back at Juugo who looks like a character out of the real manga and sauke is very appreciative of it, and 65% trying to process what the fuck suigetsu just said. Weather his delay is because of the booze or the baller is, unclear to him. So now its just three dudes in a dirty ass dorm room staring at each other. (😏) Sasuke breaks both the eye contact with Juugo and the silence directing a

‘you did not pull me dumbass you kidnapped me and theres no way im staying here tonight don’t even worry about it Juugo’

straight to Suigetsu.

Suigetsu is so over it by now and he adds up the ruined McQueens plus sasukes continued disinterest to equal a disappointing L and having cast off his soiled kicks he flops down onto his milky white satin sheets back to the room disengaged.

Juugo however could, not be any more the opposite not only does he find sasuke quite nice to look at and would be disappointed to see him go without getting a little social repertoire established. He’s so incredibly shocked that sasuke is still standing upright and albeit slowly engaging with the world around him. He’s pretty sure if he lets him leave he’ll find him passed out on the lobby floor tomorrow morning, so after another minute or so of fondly watching sasuke fumble with the zipper of his plain black jacket he offers a tentative

‘you know what I really don’t care you can stay here tonight its already so late just, yeah just stay.’

‘Yeah you can just like curl up in the mountain of unwashed basketball shorts they smell so amazing’

Suigetsu chimes in sarcastically

‘okay okay and how do you know they smell so bad freak’

juugo shoots back (basketball pun haha)

‘cause i can smell you from here you cretin’

Sasuke stumbles past the bickering and heads for the door completely uninterested in this petty roommate dispute he briefly wonders what happened to his adidas slide while he grabs at his pockets for a minute searching for his phone to call Karin before joining the dispute with a,

‘oh my god dumbass you made me leave my phone in that wasteland bathroom dickhead Im not going back there so either your gonna buy me a new Samsung or-‘

suigetsu cuts him off,

‘you are the absolute worst kind of drunk actually I have your phone right here dummy’

he pulls the phone out of the pocket of his dolce&gabbana cargos (yeah when i said orochimarus rich I meant rich rich designer head to toe the sheets are probably designer bitch) and throws it directly at sasuke

juugo takes this moment to display his sickening basketball skills and intercepts the throw holding the phone above his head he says,

‘look man just stay okay you can have my bed i’ll sleep on the laundry im keeping this right now but you can call your friend in the morning I’m not busy til late tomorrow so i’ll help you find your way out of here if you need to get to a class but your already here so you might as well just stay’

Sasuke doesn’t feel all that much like walking anyways so he turns to juugos sheetless mattress and then to Suigetsu and says

‘give me your bed you bastard you owe me anyways’

suigetsu is not entirely sure why he would owe this bitch anything at all but he takes the opportunity to shoot his final shot,

‘how bout we share’

Sasuke decides to sleep on top of Juugos worse for wear comforter.

Sasuke, having stolen his phone from Juugo on some mission impossible shit, leaves before anybody else wakes up with no intention of ever returning. but since Karin and Tayuya hit it off actually his only friend has less time to spend with him. So he decides to link up with suigetsu and juugo since they’re the only other people he’s said more then 5 words to. Eventually they get tapped into the study seshes when suigetsu essentially invites himself to join much to karins chagrin.

Boom taka assembled.

Alrigttt thats all I wrote. I wanna write more about this au like where everyone comes from and how the relationships proceed from here and the whole thing is supposed to be a juusasu get together moment and we barely even touched on that but we’ll see if i ever get around to that.

Disclaimers: i dont know anything about basketball and i still haven’t gotten my ged so I have not been to college YET 🤪 on the bright side when i do get there ill probably be 21 already and ppl will flock to me for my id privileges 😌 i tried to make this as legible as i possibly could going through, adding punctuation, and removing some of my rambling. But i also left a lot of it in though like the crossed out text, the crazy parentheses notes (which i hope are not too confusing), and all the emojis, and i chose this just so you can really see the way the story just came together randomly and how much fun i was having writing this clusterfuck of shitty college movie cliches.

#naruto #sasuke #karin uzumaki #suigetsu #juugo #team taka #taka #team taka au #naruto au #naruto college au #juusasu #jusasu #juugo/sasuke #this was seriously so much fun to write i hope you enjoy it as much as i do #danggg i forgot how hard it was to format long posts on tumblr #this is stupid hard #ok im stalling im just gonna post it

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dumbbitchfrommars · 11 months

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i finished bridgerton and im sad. im sad because i feel like lady danbury deserved more... and im scared that my life will end up like hers. i dont know. i feel like we all deserve more than a life without love.

today was so hard. every day feels so hard lately. im so overwhelmed with emotions, and ive been punishing my sister. im sad that i wasted our time together being like this but she was annoying me too... but she doesnt deserve to feel like a problem, or like she has to step on eggshells around me. i keep on facing this darkside of myself and its disappointing and shameful. im selfishly angry and aggressive and mean. i need to loosen up on others, and be kinder, and warmer, and all those good things that i feel like arent being provided to me. im sad shes leaving tomorrow cause i dont know when well see each other again. probably in 3 months... i hope. last time was 6 months ago... it will fly by!

in this economy its getting harder and harder to see the people we care about. but shes only a flight away...! i dont know. i guess its sad feeling so distanced again now that were changing and we dont talk as much. i want to be there for her but were going through entirely different situations.

im frustrated by my lack of a backbone. i hate my job but i do nothing about it. UGH! i hate the types of men im attracting yet i dont send them away, i open my life to them. when i know that by doing so i leave no space for the keanu reaves/oscar isaac/tom hardy types that i know i want and deserve. UGH! what happened to the bad bitch with a good music taste, amazing style, sexy attitude and too cool for school vibes? i completely lowered myself to feel validated by pathetic boys, only to wonder why i feel like nothing when i realise their validation means nothing. in fact, it actually lowers my worth, because now i think that i belong in their league.

i win at life when i realise my focus could be on myself instead of boys and relationships. i cant help it im a horny hopeless romantic! i miss the days where i was consumed by my stories enough to distract me from the real thing. now im indecisive over a dilf that i absolutely know is not the right decision for me.

anyways, yes, im sad and pathetic and wallowing in all my annoying and inconvenient emotions because im a woman and im definitely not living up to my full, amazing, beautiful, incredible, awesome potential. ONE DAY! one day. ugh. thats what makes it all so much worse, honestly. knowing everything im capable of, but sitting here idly being bored and drained by my lack of stimulation. its such an easy thing to fix, no? im surrounded by distractions. i just need discipline, to detach myself from this addiction to distraction. i managed to free myself from weed and bad people. even cigarettes, though that never really counted for me, i was never addicted, i am strong willed. i can free myself from this too! i am already so dedicated to my body, making myself the strongest i can be to feel my best and most confident. but the final piece of the puzzle is strengthening my mind, and my wit. wow.

this feels like such a revelation now that ive managed to conceptualise it. like all this time ive been so lost, and confused, and wondering what was missing from my awareness, to help me understand what ive been doing wrong. its this! i need to dedicate myself to my mind. it will solve everything ive ever felt insecure about! i will be a better writer, i will be a better student, a better marine biologist, a better friend, a better guest, a better partner, a better employee, a better person. a better creative. and a better divine being. because with knowledge comes connection to all things...

im figuring it out. im on my own path and timeline. and ill take it step by step. and one day ill look back and smile and laugh and cry about the journey ive managed to complete, all on my own. always on my own. because i am a strong, independent, magical woman. with music to heal and soothe me, and those who came before me to teach me and guide me, and my loved ones to support me and celebrate me, i will accomplish everything i ever dreamed or wished for! like i always said so. i am determined. i am determined. i am capable of anything i put my mind to. i will expand my knowledge, and become a makeup artist, and become a marine biologist, and get my divers certificate, and do beautiful makeup for my beautiful friends, and create endless stories, and memories, and love, and acceptance, and nurture myself as a gorgeous flower only learning to bloom.

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hotfinalgirl-archive · 3 years

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my octopus teacher is so nice ☹️☹️

#im so sad #i want to be a marine biologist so bad i hate it here

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hermannsthumb · 3 years

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I have a fun prompt I've been thinking about I hope you have time for one day! When Newt and Hermann meet actually things go really really well and they even get together. It's just they bicker so much and have huge science-based arguments that everyone assumed they must have hated each other on sight.

sure thing! i had fun with this one

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"So," Newt says. "I was talking to Tendo today."

Across the mess table, Hermann hums in feigned interest. Newt knows it's feigned 'cause Hermann doesn't stop either thing he's doing: using his left hand to wind noodles around a fork, and using his right hand to scribble away a series of lengthy equations on the back of a paper napkin. His full attention has been hopping between both for about ten minutes now—no room for Newt to slip in there. He's testing his limits enough as it. Half of the last equation ended up scratched into the tabletop, and the last time he lifted his fork to his mouth, it was empty. And then he swallowed anyway. Newt kinda loves the guy.

"Yeah," Newt says, deciding to continue like Hermann responded the way he was actually supposed to respond, which would've been something along the lines of what an utterly fascinating story, Newton, do tell me more. I love hearing you talk, Newton. How marvelously smart you are, Newton, and how melodic and breathtaking your voice is. Now watch me bite down on an empty fork again. "Kinda funny. He was asking how we met."

Hermann finally looks up at Newt suspiciously over the rims of his glasses, which are slipping slowly down his nose. He stills them with the tip of his index finger before they land in his dinner. "Why?"

"I don't know, man," Newt says. "He just was. It was like, small talk, you wouldn't get it. He dropped by the lab when you were out this morning to let me know that there was extra space if we wanted it. Like, lab space." Hermann resumes scratching an equation into the table absently. Newt rolls his eyes. "As in, we could have separate labs if we wanted now."

Hermann knits his eyebrows together. "Separate laboratories?"

When Newt and Hermann first started at the Hong Kong Shatterdome, the k-scientist team was pre-existing and significantly bigger, and anyone who joined on later—like, you know, them—basically got shoved in wherever they fit. For Newt and Hermann, that happened to be Laboratory Space D, Basement Level 1 (the only basement level), along with a former marine biologist who was killed on a research excursion a month later when a kaiju made unexpected landfall, like, right on top of their chosen shelter. Bad luck. Anyway, Newt's known about the existence of other Hong Kong Shatterdome lab spaces in the vague and absent sort of way that you would an urban legend, but (similarly so) he never thought he and Hermann would actually ever lay eyes on one. And then Tendo stopped by to dangle it in front of Newt on a stick.

"The other labs were being used as storage for ages after everyone else—" Newt searches for a word tasteful enough to encapsulate got stomped by a kaiju and wised up and decided to live out what are probably our last few days before the world ends with their families instead of alone in a military bunker. "—left. Anyway, Tendo told me they've been going through shit like crazy this month, I think to see if they can salvage any old tech, and that the other labs are basically totally emptied out now. We just have to ask and they're ours."

Hermann sets down both his pen and fork, twisting his mouth contemplatively. He finally loses the battle against gravity with his glasses, and they miss his plate by an inch, swinging back on their chain and bouncing harmlessly against his chest instead. Newt briefly wonders if getting a chain for his own glasses would save them from their frequent fatal falls into kaiju organ cavities and buckets of non-neutralized kaiju blood, but decides not even the money he'd save on replacement pairs would make a fashion faux pas like that worth it. "You know I don't much fancy the basement," Hermann says.

"Your joints," Newt agrees. The damp of the basement sets Hermann's joint pain off frequently, something Hermann talks about just as frequently. Newt's not really a fan of the basement either, though for different reasons—he would kill to get some windows and natural, non-fluorescent light in there. Sun lamps can only do so much. He's pretty sure he'd fucking glow if he stepped outside right now. Also, it's cold down here.

"And it might be nice to be closer to LOCCENT, in case of an emergency," Hermann continues. "And closer to—oh, hang on. What has this got to do with us?"

"Huh?"

"How we met," Hermann says. "You said, that Tendo asked—"

"Oh," Newt says. It's his turn to play coy. He stirs his chopsticks through his own dinner, accidentally flicking a piece of tofu to the table. It lands on top of Hermann's etched equations. Hermann scowls, because that's how their routine goes: Newt gets Hermann's stuff dirty, and Hermann gets mad. "Well. It was just that Tendo was like you can finally be out of each other's hair, how the hell did you guys get stuck together anyway when you obviously can't stand each other, that kind of stuff."

"Ah," Hermann says.

"And I said that it was because we knew each other before," Newt says, "and that we transferred here together. And that's when he asked."

"And what did you say?" Hermann says.

"That we used to correspond professionally," Newt says, "and met at a conference way back in 2017." He adds, with a grin, "Also professionally."

This was technically true. Newt and Hermann did write to each other, professionally, and they did meet at a conference, professionally, but what went down after a long and public shouting match in the events hall of a very nice hotel—in Hermann's room, five floors up in that very nice hotel—was not very professional. The events of the week that followed—spent, intermittently, between Hermann's hotel room, several coffee shops, a bench under a tree in Newt's favorite park, a rotation sushi restaurant, brushing knees shyly on the tram, and, finally, clasping hands on the staircase of Newt's apartment and gazing deeply into each other's eyes—weren't very professional, either, but Newt likes to think that they were very romantic. Rom-com level shit. Newt revealed none of this to Tendo, who referred to the 2017 conference as that Infamous Day for the rest of their conversation. "Well, it was professional," Hermann sniffs.

But he reaches across the table, and, very timidly, crosses his pinkie over top of Newt's. It's the most blatant form of PDA Hermann ever willingly engages Newt in. Newt thinks if he ever tried to touch two fingers at once in anywhere but the lab, or God forbid, hold his whole hand, Hermann's ears might start emitting steam like something out of a cartoon. "It might be nice," he says again.

Laboratory Space D, Basement Level 1, is unique—Newt knows—in that Newt and Hermann's quarters are connected to it directly. None of the other labs have that luxury (and Newt has a feeling it's because Lab Space D wasn't actually intended as a lab space). He remembers being told that when they were shoved into it. Yeah, you have the darkest and tiniest lab space on base, but your rooms are right there! When Newt wants to go to Hermann's room, or if he's in Hermann's room and needs a sweatshirt or something from his own, he just has to step the three feet between their two doors. Moving labs could throw a wrench in that—they might be asked to move quarters, too, and might be shuttled to opposite sides of the Shatterdome, and though they could just bite the bullet and request couple's quarters already, it's nice to have their own spaces when they need it. That would never work. And, well, besides—the lab, their lab, feels like home to them at this point. Newt shrugs.

"On the other hand," Hermann says, and he taps Newt's pinkie lightly, "I quite like how things are. I can live with the damp, really."

"We can get a dehumidifier," Newt offers.

Hermann nods, and he gives Newt the barest hint of a smile.

Their monthly delivery of lab supplies—whatever they can afford with their shoestring budget, which, these days, mostly means chalk, rubber gloves, and nice instant ramen—comes three weeks later. Newt wouldn't exactly call the Shatterdome delivery guy a friend, seeing as he has yet to divulge his name to Newt (and also Newt's pretty sure he has a thing for Hermann, since he always seems to wait until Hermann is in the lab to stroll by with his package trolley and always calls him Dr. Gottlieb with big stupid heart eyes, oh, Dr. Gottlieb, that new sweater looks soooo nice on you!, so anyway, that makes him Newt's rival by default), but he, at least, recognizes and acknowledges Newt at this point. That's more than Newt can say for most people on the base. After his usual greeting to the two of them (hey, Newt, oh, hellllooo, Dr. Gottlieb, did you do something new with your hair?), he starts to unload their packages, also like usual.

"I was surprised to see that you guys are still down here," he tells Newt, not like usual. "Tendo mentioned something about you getting your own labs."

"He did?" Newt says, meaning to frown, but grinning instead. It's kind of fun to be the subject of gossip. He pulls off his gloves and tosses them in the trash to help with their supplies—the dehumidifier he requested should be in there, and it's fancy and definitely on the bigger side.

"Yeah," their delivery guy continues. He hands Newt a fuckin' massive brick of a package. Hermann's stupid chalk. The amount that Hermann tears through in a month really is astounding: Newt has a private theory that Hermann is an undercover space alien from a planet where chalk constitutes all of the primary food groups, and he secretly sneaks out here and eats it in the dead of night when Newt is asleep. "Anyway, sorry I'm late," the delivery guy says, as Newt imagines Hermann crunching on a piece of chalk like a carrot stick, "I went to all the other labs first."

"No worries, dude," Newt says. "Sorry for the confusion."

He lugs the package over to Hermann's desk, and drops it down on the only spot not over-cluttered with papers and books. Hermann complains about Newt's messiness a lot for a guy who is just as bad, if not worse. "Need any now?" Newt asks Hermann.

Hermann, scribbling away at his chalkboard, grunts. Newt decides that's a no.

"Hard at work, Dr. Gottlieb?" the delivery guy says, practically fluttering his eyelashes.

Another grunt. Newt snorts.

"I thought you guys would've moved right away," the delivery guy (obviously disappointed at Hermann's lack of attention) tells Newt. "Tendo mentioned you've been stuck together for a while, ever since some sort of dramatic confrontation at a conference ten years ago." he adds eagerly, "Did you really get thrown out? I don't know how you haven't killed each other yet."

"It's taken a lot of hard work," Newt says. Yeah, the whole being-ejected-from-the-conference-and-barred-from-all-future-ones-forever thing is technically true too, but everyone there was too stuffy and serious for Newt's fun vibes anyway, so he thinks it's their loss. The most important part of the scientific breakthrough process, Newt frequently thinks, was having someone there to challenge you and push back at you. Sometimes loudly. And in public. In the conference hall of a very expensive hotel, in front of all of your scientific peers, some hotel security guards, and a poor graduate student who made the mistake of asking you and your penpal-colleague for your joint opinion on something and got caught in the crosshairs. Besides—out of everyone at that stupid conference, Newt and Hermann were the only ones snapped up by the PPDC, so it's doubly their loss. "And, yeah, we got thrown out. Me and Hermann fight a lot, but we always make up eventually. It's no big deal. It's, like, our thing."

"Make up?"

Newt waggles his eyebrows and doesn't elaborate. The making up part is the best part of arguing with Hermann, honestly, but he's not about to go giving private details about stuff like that to his rival.

By the time Hermann finally descends his ladder, three hours have passed, and Newt is frowning over an email he's just gotten from Shatterdome HR. Hermann will probably see it in a second when he checks his own email—it was sent to both of them, after all—but Newt waves him over to his desk anyway. "Look," he says.

He draws out the spare chair he keeps by his desk (for Hermann), and Hermann drops into it gratefully, propping his cane up against the arm. Then Hermann pushes his glasses up onto his nose and scans the email with a frown of his own. Newt reads it aloud for him anyway. "'Subject: Quarters Reassignment,'" he says. "Dear Drs. Geiszler and Gottlieb: It has recently come to our attention that you will be transferring to Laboratories A&B. Should you wish to transfer quarters as well, you will find the necessary paperwork..."

"By Jove," Hermann groans, and pulls his glasses off again, smudging a bit of chalk on his cheek, "can't they just leave us alone?"

Newt laughs. "I'll tell them we're not interested. Wait, listen to this bit at the end: Congratulations—this must be a relief! Guess they were getting your complaint forms after all, Hermann." Both Newt and Hermann had long-since assumed that any and all official complaint forms stamped with a k-sci lab return address are filed right into the garbage. It's never deterred Hermann from sending them in, though.

"Hmph," Hermann says.

Newt carefully rolls his shirtcuff back down to his wrist and uses it to rub off Hermann's chalk smudge. When it's gone, or at least, mostly gone, he brushes his fingers back through Hermann's short hair. Hermann's eyelids flutter shut, and as he leans into Newt's touch, his creased forehead smooths just a little. "Mm. You're lovely," he murmurs. "We really ought to tell them we're married. It's gone on long enough."

"I guess," Newt says. "But it's kind of funny, isn't it?"

#newmann #maria's fanfiction tag #Anonymous

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imagines-by-a-typical-fangirl · 3 years

Text

Good Girl, Bad Boy (Pt.13 of 15)

Pairing: Billy Hargrove X Reader

Word count: 1.9 K

Summary: You're the extreme opposite of Billy Hargrove. The good girl, with perfect grades, the child every mother wants to have. And you don't want to have nothing to do with his kind. Ignoring Billy – and his constant, lingering stare – became an habit. But after you're put together for a special school program, you'll have no choice but to get along with him. And soon enough you'll find out that Billy is so much more than just Hawkins' bad boy.

<-Previous part (12)

Next part (14) ->

{Stranger Things Masterlist}

{Dacre Montgomery Masterlist}

Monster

“Billy has improved. A lot.” Seated on Mrs. Martinez's office, you go over why Billy deserves a good recommendation letter. Half the teachers already agreed, much more because of you than because of him, but that's not the point. “He doesn't get a C since he started, he wants to be a Marine Biologist and he gets straight As on Biology and honestly, he's actually helping me on Chemistry.”

“I've been tracking his progress and I've been impressed with your work. Billy Hargrove is by far the best in the program.” She read some files, putting them down before looking up at you. “I also noticed that you two became very close.”

“Mmm, yeah... W-we're dating.” You stutter, clearing your throat. “But it doesn't change the fact that he's doing great. I mean, Billy does want to go to college and–”

“Don't worry about it. A student's love life isn't my business. I just mentioned it because it was impossible not to notice.” She smiles and you blush even more. “Well, I'll be happy to write him a good recommendation letter. But for the principal, it'll be good if you get some of Billy's friends to make some reports. But we can arrange it immediately if you want. The Principal is in a meeting but I can let you know as soon as he's available if you manage to get some people right now.”

You stand up, smiling. “I can. Thank you so much.” Mrs. Martinez got that urgency of the matter, and you're more than eager to keep that up. “I'll gather some people and whenever you're ready I'll be at the parking lot.”

“Sounds good.”

“Alright.” With another ‘thank you’, you rush outside, walking fast to the parking lot. Billy is leaning against his car, and Nancy and the others are near Steve's car, a couple of feet away.

“Princess of Hawkins number two. Are we going or not?” Steve asks, making Billy notice your presence. “I'm dying for some ice cream.”

“Actually, I need a huge favor from the three of you.” Keeping your voice soft, you walk over to Billy, standing next to him. The stick on his mouth gets your attention, and you raise an eyebrow at him. “Is that my lollipop? That I was saving up?”

“...No.” He mutters, with a half-smile as he takes the candy off his mouth. “Maybe. But we can share.” Billy gives you the lollipop and you roll your eyes, biting back a smile before putting it into your mouth. And for some reason, Billy has that stupid smirk on his face

“That's the most disgusting thing I've ever seen,” Steve speaks up, getting your attention.

Looking at him, you shrug your shoulders. “What? I kiss that mouth, you know that, right?”

“And you do a great job doing it,” Billy whispers on your year before taking the candy once again.

“Alright. You, drop it.” With a finger on Billy's face, you take the lollipop from his mouth again. “I have something important to say.” Turning at your friends, you take a deep breath. “Mrs. Martinez agreed on writing a good recommendation letter for Billy. But to convince the Principal to do the same, she needs a couple of students to... Give some reports, you know. As witnesses that my handsome boyfriend is now an amazing student too.”

Steve bursts into laughter, covering his mouth with one hand as you stare at him. Arms crossed, an eyebrow raised. It takes long seconds until he stops. “What?” He stutters. “You can't possibly think I'll...” As he speaks, Steve looks at the others, and not Nancy or Jonathan seems to find it funny. “Oh, c'mon. I agreed on standing Billy, but I never agreed on giving good reports.”

“Steve, this is important.”

“(Y/N), c'mon. Billy isn't–”

“Billy has good grades now and that's what I'm talking about. You don't have to like him.” Walking over Steve, you touch his shoulder. “You don't have to do it if you don't want to, but we're trying to build our future. And if you find it in your heart to do this for me, I'll be very thankful.”

“God, you're so damn good.” Billy mutters, and you roll your eyes.

“Well...” Stepping back, you smile. “I could also kill Steve. Would you help me hide the body, B?”

“Ridiculous,” Steve mumbles, making you giggle. “Fine, (Y/N). Just because somehow you made a good boyfriend out of this scumbag.”

“I'd take that back if I were you,” Billy says, raising his voice a bit.

“Woah, back down.” It's not the first time the two have incidents like this, and you always have to calm them down. “You guys have to–”

“(Y/N).” Mrs. Martinez calls and you look to your left. She walks fast, smiling. “The Principal will see the students now. But you can't be inside the office for that. They'll be interviewed separately.”

“Alright.” Breathing out, you give Steve a look. “Don't say anything driven by your personal–”

“I won't.” Steve rolls his eyes.

Mrs. Martinez guides the three of them inside the school again, and you follow them, holding hands with Billy. “It'll work.” You tell him.

“It will.” He agrees, with the smile that belongs to you alone.

“Billy boy!” Someone yells and you soon recognize Tommy, with an arm around Carol's shoulders. “Forgot to tell you, buddy. Awesome party tonight at my place.” Tommy smiles and nods at you, and Carol does the same. “My parents aren't home so we'll go hard, all night long and I count on you to set the tone as we like it.” As he speaks, he gives you a weird look. “You don't have to come if you don't want, (Y/N). I know you don't really like it.”

“I'm not going without (Y/N), you know that,” Billy says, and Tommy rolls his eyes.

“C'mon, pal. I planned everything. Wild and dirty, as you like it. I'm sure (Y/N) won't mind you going by yourself, right (Y/N)?”

“I won't. He can–”

“Sorry, guys, I gotta go,” Tommy speaks out, cutting you off. “A lot of things to do. See you there. Bye, my friends.” Waving, both he and Carol walk away.

Billy starts walking again, but you hold his hands, forcing him to stop. “B, I want to go.” You tell him, sighing. These parties aren't your thing, even though you've been to some with Billy. Mostly when it's someone's birthday. But other than that, you've been skipping them. He likes them though, and you don't want to be the one to hold him back. “Let's party and do whatever he meant by wild and dirty.”

Billy giggles, pulling you close. “You have no idea what he meant by that, pretty girl. And you don't have to go, it's alright.”

“No, B. I know you have fun on those things and I really...” You don't want to lie, not to him. So you sigh, running a hand through your hair. “Just go, alright? Have fun with your friends and... I just... I don't want to be the one to keep you from doing stuff you like. You know I'm not... I'm not like you in many, many aspects but–”

“(Y/N), listen.” Billy takes both your hands, looking down at you. “I love you.”

“B...”

“Shhh. I love when you call me that but listen.” Cupping your cheeks, he places a quick, soft kiss on your lips. “I love you just like that. Good girl, with perfect grades and so damn polite and friendly that sometimes almost kills me of jealously.” He smiles, kissing your nose. “But I wouldn't change a thing about you. Your... Goodness was exactly what made me fall for you. You're... Everything I'm not. And I'm still perplexed that you love me back.”

You're a blushing mess when he's done speaking, eyes locked on his. “A-are you sure?”

“I am.” He nods, smiling. “Why go to some stupid party when I can stay with you?”

“I'll invite you to dinner then... Let's say... Pizza?”

“Pizza.” He agrees.

“Mr. Hargrove.” The teacher calls, and you both look at her. “The Principal wants to talk to you.”

“Right away.” He says, winking at you.

When Billy enters the Principal office, you wait outside, leaning against the wall. To say you're nervous is an understatement. The Principal's letter is the most important, and you know he needs it very much.

“Sweet (Y/N).” A masculine voice calls, and you immediately look to your left, leaving your bag on the floor. It's Tyler, coming from around the corner. “What are you doing here all alone?”

“What are you doing here? Detention again?” Tyler is the only one of Billy's friends you can't stand. You soon figured out he's more like a parasite, sticking close even though people don't really like him. But still, you try not to treat him like the asshole he is. But it doesn't mean you have to answer his questions.

“No, no.” He smiles, a disgusting smile that sends shivers down your spine. Not the good kind of shivers. “I had to leave something on my locker but now... I'm actually happy I got you alone.” Tyler walks over you, standing a bit too close, making you step back. “Now tell me, (Y/N). What are you doing here? ...All alone?” He leans closer, his mouth close to your ear.

You immediately move away, violently pushing his chest. Tyler always gives you this sensation, as if he's trying to get to you somehow. And you hate it. It makes you feel like you're completely naked under his stare. “What do you think you're doing?” You ask, anger flowing out. “Stay the hell away from me, you jerk.”

Tyler laughs. Out loud, mocking you. You're about to curse again him when it happens.

Tyler moves too fast, an arm encircling your waist. His grip is too strong, and it makes you violently collapse against his chest. “I've trying to get you for far too long, sweetie.” He grunts as you start fighting, pushing him away and still trying to understand what the hell is going on. “If Billy can have you, so can I. Or do you think–” He stops suddenly when you succeed to hit him in the ribs.

“LET GO OF ME!” You manage to push out, as loud as you can, your mind yelling for Billy. But before you can say it, call for him, a hand comes to your mouth, and Tyler's free hand starts wandering through your body.

You feel violated, abused already, but it doesn't matter how hard you try, he's stronger than you.

“Sweet (Y/N), let's...” He starts pulling you, and you do try to resist as much as you can. “...Let's find ourselves some nice supply closet and get more... Comfortable? What do you think, huh? Gonna show you how a man–”

“LET GO OF HER!” The scream, the voice that sounds like thunder, makes your whole body relax at the same time Tyler's grip loosens.

The rest is pure chaos.

Billy grabs Tyler and throws him to the ground. Someone pulls you away from the fight, and you soon recognize Nancy. In her embrace, you hide your face in her hair, and she helps as you fix your clothes.

Your mind is mess, and you can't even process what's happening.

The only thing you know is that you're safe now, away from that monster. And Billy is beating him up into a bloody mess.

@multific @tina1938 @graciehams @moatsnow @all-the-stars-on-your-skin @captain039 @rebelemilu @theodore-likes-frogs @prettyinpunk85 @taisab02 @pascal-rascal424 @aleksanderblack @gruffle1 @boomhauer

#billy hargrove imagine #stranger things imagine #imagine billy hargrove #imagine stranger things #billy hargrove x reader #billy hargrove x y/n #billy stranger things #billy hargrove fanfiction

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voidix · 3 years

Text

So my dear friend @kittytudor and I were discussing some takes the fandom has on Dazai and especially his interactions with Mori and I thought I’d share

I really hate the train of thought that goes like “they’re super smart so they know life has no meaning and nothing matters” like that’s cynical for no reason whatsoever and just nihilistic

Yea when you are intelligent you see all the bad in the world and feel like you’re powerless to stop it a lot of times but the things is

You know scientists see beauty in everything geologist will get excited about literal dirt a marine biologist about a gold fish. When you’re intelligent you see all the bad but also all the good

However it’s easier to see the bad and often times it clouds your view but part of the healing process is starting to see beauty and happiness in the smallest things and I think that’s a journey Dazai is slowly going on.

So I really don’t think intelligence is the issue here and I’m gonna assume you’re an edgy bastard if you say so

I feel like Dazai’s issue is more the environment than anything and the lack of meaningful relationships. I know we clown the scene where he says actually living is okay now 1 day after meeting Chuuya but here is the thing. This might have been the first time he had someone his age who wanted to hang out with him or even less just someone his age who tolerated him. I personally know nothing about his life pre mafia but you can assume it wasn’t a good life if at age 14 you decide the bloody mafia is preferable to wherever you’re at at the moment

In my opinion Mori didn’t encourage it per se but he didn’t try to stop it either I really think that for him he did not expect Dazai would go through with it (again) and /or as cruel as it sounds if he actually did it which Mori didn’t think was likely he had one less rival to worry about but I really think that’s Mori’s reasoning for staying “neutral” for lack of a better word on this issue

That being said I’m sure being surrounded by death and suffering did not do any good for an already depressed 14/15yo

Which leads me to the second point. I really don’t think Mori expected Dazai to leave or tried to make him leave. For Mori Dazai was a powerful asset because of his ability and because of his intelligence that y’all are obsessed with. So why would you want to push that person away and it’s not like he was encouraging him to suicide here which would make much more sense than wanting him to leave.

And I have evidence

I’m gonna start it with: Oda did not die to set an example I don’t think so no. In his conversation with Chuuya he said something like “being a leader means making sacrifices for the well being of the group” or something like that and that’s what he did here.

He sacrifices Oda to get the permit.

The strange thing is I do think Mori meant what he said to Chuuya that he is a leader but also a servant to the mafia he wants the mafia to gain more power and that’s why he did what he did to get the permit.

I do think it could be a lesson to Dazai but not in the “if you cross me this is gonna happen to you” because Oda didn’t cross him Oda didn’t want power he is the last person who was interested in that. I think if anything it was more a lesson as in “when you take over this is something you’ll have to do and I’m showing you how it’s done”

Evidence for that is he was chuckling when he mentioned that possibility that Dazai would kill him and take one someday. And I agree that Mori

Wouldn’t mind if that was better for the Mafia. Like he wouldn’t make it easy for him and he wouldn’t give up but if he is defeated he wouldn’t be angry or annoyed because like I mentioned above I do think he was genuine when he said he is also a servant to the Mafia

My other piece of evidence is that when he showed Dazai the permit he seemed proud of what he’s done. The way he presented it and the entire scenario he seemed proud more than smug. If he really wanted Dazai out I feel like he would’ve been more smug about the whole thing and we know he can do that well.

And obviously there is also the fact he offered him not once but twice to come back. And what’s interesting is that the first time the offer was secret like he sent Gin and Higuchi and it was in a shady ass tunnel

Now the other time is where it gets interesting because it was very public in front of Dazai’s colleagues the black lizard and Fukuzawa.

Now Mori is a smart guy but also he has a sense of pride as we learned so I really don’t think he would risk being humiliated in front of Fukuzawa of all people just to mess with Dazai and he seemed genuinely surprised when Dazai said “you kicked me” and he didn’t offer him to just come back no he offered to be back as an executive and having Dazai decline and clown him in front of Fukuzawa like that I don’t think he would risk that if he was just playing

The thing is Mori is smart but he has tunnel vision in my opinion. He was so focused on getting the permit he forgot that this plan has consequences that aren’t just “we get the permit”

And also one of Mori’s issues is that he never takes into consideration people’s emotions. You can predict human Behavior to a certain degree a lot of times you can know what to

Say or what to do to get a certain result but the thing is humans aren’t algorithms they don’t always operate on logic they have emotions. And these emotions can be so strong that they override any crumb of logic left which is something I think Mori fails to understand. That’s why he didn’t expect Dazai to leave he forgot about the emotional factor.

That’s what Mori lacks but Dazai has and my evidence for this is a scenario we laughed at because it was presented in a funny way but I think that’s something that shows that Dazai is better at this 4D chess game than Mori.

On the Moby Dick he knew that Akutagawa would abandon everything to talk to him. If Dazai only operates by thinking about logical Behavior he wouldn’t have told Atsushi to do this but he realises that the emotional factor is one of the strongest drives humans have.

And you know I think Mori knows that when it comes to 4D chess Dazai would defeat him but he doesn’t mind that he isn’t scared of that. In dead Apple he couldn’t have possibly known the whole business with the pill but he told Chuuya to interfere. Mori has a strange sense of trust towards Dazai even now that they’re part of different sides.

I think Mori is has always been aware that although he says he does Dazai doesn’t actually want to die and I think the scene with the hyper and hypo tension medication in 15 shows this. If you actually want to die why would you Mix medicine with effects that cancel out each other and Mori is a doctor he knows this. That’s why I think he didn’t expect Dazai to commit and that he believes Dazai actually wants to live and because of that he will try and preserve himself and by extension Yokohama which is why he told Chuuya to go in dead apple, which is why he let Akutagawa go on the Moby Dick in season 2 because he realized Dazai wanted him to go there and he trusts Dazai to a certain degree .

I really feel like his underestimated the emotional factor and this will ultimately lead to his downfall. Like he didn’t expect Dazai to leave he wouldn’t expect anyone to react super emotional to god knows what he’ll do and thereby underestimate their response to that which will make him meet his end.

I don’t think the “you kicked me” is Dazai in denial he acted ok emotions or at least that’s not the whole thing. I think that Dazai’s reasoning for saying that is this:

Oda died so Mori can get more power which was part of Mori’s plan all along so looking at the bigger picture it was Mori’s plan and actions who drove me out of the Mafia so he basically “kicked me out”

Also I wanna add that I feel like Mori because he underestimates the emotional factor he doesn’t understand to this day why Dazai left like he knows it’s related to oda he can follow that train of events but in his mind it doesn’t make logical sense why Dazai would do that which is why he didn’t manage to win Dazai over back to The Mafia because in his mind be doesn’t know the logical reason why Dazai left which is also another reason why he was so surprised when Dazai said he kicked him

Also I’d like to add that I really don’t think he felt threatened or wanted to just get rid of him

Dazai was already suicidal so if it would very easy to make it look like that. And like I mentioned before if it was the best choice for the Mafia I really don’t think Mori would be that bothered about being replaced by Dazai.

I also don’t think he thought Dazai would be more useful on the outside because once again why lose a valuable addition like that

And it’s not like

He wanted to use him

As a spy or anything we know that would’ve been arranged differently see Ango

So Mori the logical guy he is wouldn’t want his enemies to have someone with Dazai’s ability because that’s a pain in the ass and also

He wouldn’t want an insider like Dazai to join his enemies and spill all his secrets. Dazai had a very high rank and like I said I don’t think Mori expected him to leave so he had no reason to hide things from

him so even without his ability he would be a very strong asset to the Mafias enemies so there is no way Mori would think he is more useful on the outside since

1. we already said mori has tunnel vision he couldn’t possibly predict that much that he thinks Dazai is better out

2. We established that he isn’t afraid of him

3. He wouldn’t want the ability and the information to fall into his enemies’ hands

4. If he was actually scared and wanted to get rid of him making it seem like suicide or actually driving him to suicide would be much easier especially since mori is a doctor

So yeah this is long thanks if you read until the end it was super fun to write this id love to know what others think I’m sorry if it’s a bit unorganised it’s copied from my notes app

#bungou stray dogs #bsd #bsd Meta #Dazai osamu #osamu dazai #mori ogai #ogai mori #bsd Mafia

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oboevallis · 3 years

Note

When are you posting part 5 of 'who is he' ?

right now 🤪, sorry it’s kinda rushed, this is kind of a transition chapter sooooo sorry, i hope everyone’s doing well and staying safe!!!!

who is he pt 5

Link sat in the familiar waiting room with his mother. Suddenly remembering the time he had to break the news to a heartbroken boyfriend, that despite their best efforts, they couldn’t save his girlfriend. All the doctors on the case knew she was a goner when she came in. She was just at the wrong place at the wrong time, a stowaway jumping out of a plane and onto this poor girl. After the conversation with the broken college kid, he went back to Amelia’s, and that was the first time he confessed how he was starting to fall in love with her. He could almost feel her hands guiding him to the small bump. He shook the memory out of his head and rested his head against his hands, willing himself not to throw up.

“Is there anything I can get for you?” Maureen asked; she didn’t know what was happening, but from what she pieced together, a woman who she assumed was her son's partner was in a car crash. The man shook his head, clueless about what to do. She stood up to make her way to the coffee cart she saw as they came into the hospital. While she stood in line, she listened to a conversation behind her by two surgeons.

“How’s she doing?” Maggie asked as Meredith met up with her at the coffee cart line.

“Not good; how’s Scout?”

“Fast asleep in my office, Winston is with him. Have you called her mom yet?”

“I did. This was the second time I called this woman to tell her that her neurosurgeon child has been in a car crash and getting emergency brain surgery.”

“Well, technically, Derek never had emergency brain surgery.” Maggie tried to joke, as Amelia would in a situation like this, but by the look on Merediths face, she realized it wasn’t a very good joke. “You really don’t think she’s gonna pull through?”

“She’s strong, but her brain has already been through a physical trauma with the brain tumor removal. She’s not a kid, so it was still just CSF fluid where that tumor was and now with the bleed...”

“She’s gonna pull through,” Maggie affirmed; she needed her sister to stay alive. There was still so much Amelia had to do with her life. She needed to see Scout grow up, and they also had to get around to that trip to Paris the two sisters always talked about.

“I don’t think we ever talked about what happens to Scout if something happened to her.” Meredith suddenly realized, how have they not had that conversation?

“He stays with Winston and I.” Maggie confirmed; after he was born, Amelia made sure to have all the papers in order and ready for Maggie to sign. “Everything’s set; she made sure of it, especially being a single parent she didn’t want him to be without.”

“What about Link?”

“He’s not on the paperwork, and I don’t think they’ve told him yet. Speaking of Link, has someone called him?”

“Yeah, I did. I think he’s here somewhere. After I get my coffee, I’m going to check on Amelia’s progress and then find him, let him know what’s going on.”

“Alright, I’m gonna take Scout back home; just try to get him out of here.”

“He’s not gonna want to leave, and you know that.”

“It’s worth a shot. I want to try and give him some normalcy before everything falls apart. Either way, if she lives or doesn’t, it’s going to be hell.”

_______________________________________

Maureen handed a cup of coffee to her son and sat down next to him, trying to process the information she just heard. How could her son not tell her about this? How could he get someone pregnant and not be there for her and his child? Though she had a million questions running through her head, she refrained. The woman from the coffee cart started to approach, and Link eagerly stood up to talk with her.

“How is she?” Link desperately asked.

“Hanging in there, her vitals aren’t great, and Tom is having trouble evacuating the bleed. Her internal injuries have been all patched up, though.” The man quickly wiped his tears and nodded; it wasn’t good or bad news. “How’s Scout?”

“He’s with Maggie and her husband.” link was taken aback, realizing this was probably his son's father figure. “He’s just shaken up and wants Amelia. He’ll be just fine, though. It’ll be a while before she’s out of surgery. It would help if you went home. I’ll call you when she’s out.”

“No, I’ll stay.” Link affirmed, going back to his seat. Meredith nodded and walked away, going back to the gallery to observe.

________________________________________

“I wanna see mommy.” Scout defiantly said as Winston was carrying him, Maggie following behind them.

“We’ll come back, and we’re just gonna get you fed and maybe take a nap,” Winston explained, trying to control the squirming child.

“No!”

“We’ll get donuts.” Maggie tried to bargain.

“No!” Scout said as he wiggled out of the man's grasp.

“Come on, bud.” Maggie grabbed the boy before he could runoff.

“Can we please just stay?” Scout begged as he jumped on one of the lobby’s chairs. “I wanna be here when mommy’s out of surgery.”

“Alright.” Maggie sadly smiled; sitting next to the boy, Winston sat on the other side of him. “We’ll wait.”

Link tentatively watched from the other side of the waiting room, hating he wasn’t the one comforting his son.

“He looks like you.” Maureen gently said as she observed the scene on the other side.

“What?” Link abruptly asked.

“I’ve connected the dots as we’ve been here. That’s your son.” She smiled, taking her son's hand in her own. As much as she wanted to scold her son, she knew this wasn’t the time. “What’s his name?”

“Scout.” He smiled as he watched the boy curl up against Maggie, as the woman’s leg bounced up and down, remembering how Amelia would gently tease Maggie about her anxiety.

“Really?” The woman asked, taken aback, surprised their names came from the same book. She wondered if the boy's mother did that purposefully, always to have a part of her son with the boy.

“Yeah, he’s the best.” He smiled, holding back the tears that threatened to escape. “He’s so so smart, and he’s absolutely obsessed with marine life. He’s planning to be a marine biologist. Also, a big fan of the Mariners; I still have to take him to a proper game. His first one was cut short.” He thought back to that day, the first time he saw his son.

“Seems like a great kid.”

“He is.” Link nodded, trying to suppress all the feelings that were flooding his mind.

“She’ll be okay,” Maureen affirmed, praying it was true. Link suddenly realized Meredith was walking towards Maggie and got up to join them.

“She’s out of surgery; we won’t know much until she wakes up. Which could be a while.”

“Can I see her?” Scout asked, shocking the adults, as they didn’t realize he was awake.

“Not yet.” Meredith sadly smiled, knowing how close the two were.

“When can I see her then?”

“As soon as she’s awake and feeling better.” Maggie comforted, pulling the boy into a hug.

“Do you think she’ll want a donut when she wakes up?”

“Probably not.” Winston chuckled, ruffling the boy's hair. “I’m guessing you want one, though, huh?”

“No, but donuts always make mommy feel better when she’s sad.”

“I’m sure the minute she’s out of here, she’d love a donut.” Link smiled, trying to cheer the boy up but to be met with a glare from Meredith.

“Now Scout, your gonna go home with Maggie and Winston, take a nap and have some lunch, then you can come back, I promise.” Scout looked between the two before hesitantly nodding and allowed Winston to carry him out of the hospital.

“What were you thinking?” Meredith scolded once the boy was out of earshot.

“Huh? You led it on like she’s going to be fine.”

“I said we wouldn’t know before she woke up; it took a while for her to wake up from her tumor removal, so now, I don't really know what to expect.”

#amelia shepherd #amelink #atticus lincoln #greys anatomy #greysanatomy #greys anatomy fanfic #greys fanfic #Maureen Lincoln #maggie pierce #meredith grey #winston ndugu #scout lincoln #scout derek shepherd lincoln

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youarejesting · 3 years

Text

Wash out.17

Banner: this banner is made by the lovely @purpleskies1999 Pairings: Dolphintrainer!Taehyung x SharkDiver!Jin, Mer!Jimin x Reader, Scientist!Namjoon x MerKing!Jungkook, Mer!Yoongi x Mer!Hoseok. Words: 2.2k Genre: Mystery, Romance, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, little bit of Action, Slice of life, Enemies2Lovers, Friends2lovers, Social media au, Fake Texts, Fake Subs.

Summary: Taehyung and his best friend Y/N are Dolphin trainers at Wash Out; Marine Wildlife and Theme Park. When the nerdy marine biologist and resident veterinarian Doctor Kim Namjoon goes missing; the two friends form a ragtag team with Taehyung’s rival Seokjin and a…. Fish?

Taehyung thought this was the most stupid and wreckless thing you had ever done and he was an idiot to be apart of this. But that’s what friends are for, right?

Jin was in position in his car one stop away from the amusement park, which meant the two of you had to sneak a five foot seven mermaid out through the crowds. Without exposing his tail and then getting him onto the bus and then into Seokjin’s car. This was like some weird video game but there were no save points or second chances.

It took a few trial runs without Jimin before you came up with your plan. You both had a total of 42 min to cross an entire park, your route had to include ramps as you would be using the lost and found wheelchair. The stakes were high if this went wrong, the two of you and Jimin were going to be in deep trouble.

After Taehyung’s first show with the dolphins he came to the warehouse for ‘lunch’ where the two of you used the sling to get Jimin out of the tank. You were lowering him into the wheelchair while Taehyung guided him into the seat.

Draping a blanket over his tail, you made sure it was fully covered completely around, not wanting anyone to catch sight of his fishy appendages. “How long till you dry out?” Taehyung asked bluntly pulling a shirt over Jimin’s head and a Hat with the amusement park name on the front.

“Uh, about ten minutes.” he said,

“Alright let’s go, tell us if you feel uncomfortable at all Jimin.” You nodded at Taehyung who began pushing the wheelchair.

You moved along the path, watching Jimin look around in a mix of alarm and excitement. He seemed to frown at the heat and brightness from the sun.

“I’m getting kind of dry,” Jimin muttered shifting in his seat, Taehyung opened a water bottle and poured it down Jimin’s shirt. You were heading down the ramp getting close to one of the rides, the water splashing Jimin slightly.

Turning the corner you stopped watching the leader of the management team walking towards the warehouse.

He had a phone to his ear talking to someone in a business tone. Spotting the three of you and recognizing Jimin. “Oh I forgot my paperwork in the office, I will just grab it quickly before heading to the warehouse. I will send you the report on the merman when I see him.”

He nodded his head towards your odd throuple, taking a step back and turning around. He had helped you; he had wanted you to escape.

Pushing forward you were stopped by a crowd of people, Jimin was getting uncomfortable again. The sun was his enemy.

Pushing through the crowd you finally got through and we’re racing for the exit. Jimin squirmed again, why did it have to be so hot today?

Taehyung detoured to the left to the touch pools, grabbing Jimin's face and shoulders, dumping it in the water. Pulling him back out he looked shocked but at ease as the water dripped down to his dry tail.

Looking up, Taehyung saw a horrified staff member. You pulled a starfish off of Jimin's face delicately with wet hands. Rubbing the back of his neck Taehyung laughed awkwardly, they probably thought he was harassing someone who was disabled. He dunked his head in the water as well so as to make it seem less awkward.

“See you don’t need to go on rides to have fun, come on more to see,” he said. Flicking his wet hair back and wheeling the merman away quickly before they called security.

You had purchased some more water bottles and dampened the blanket draped over Jimin's tail. The three of you moved out the entrance of the park and to the left towards the bus stops. Luckily the bus had just arrived helping Jimin on and relaxing. You were halfway there and in the cool of the bus out of the sun Jimin too relaxed, somewhat eyeing the world passing by.

Getting off at the next stop, Taehyung rolled Jimin towards Seokjin’s parked car. Taehyung saw him leaning against his car looking kind of handsome in the afternoon sun.

He hated to admit it but the two had grown close, somewhere along the way of helping Seokjin grieve Taehyung learnt things about him that opened his eyes.

Seokjin wasn’t a bad guy, he was confident and funny and a bit of a goofball but he was also a kind and caring guy. Taehyung thought maybe if they met on better terms they might have been friends.

“Finally,” Seokjin smiled at the three of them, making Taehyung smile back shyly. “Let’s get him home quickly,”

“Help me get him in the back,” Taehyung gestured to the back of the car. You ran around getting in the back, ready to help guide Jimin in when Taehyung and Seokjin lifted him into the vehicle.

Taehyung secured Jimin under the arms, letting Seokjin lift him from the waist, aiming the blanket wrapped tail in through the car door. Jimin was frowning, not exactly appreciating their lifting technique. Taehyung gave him an apologetic smile, “Sorry friend.”

Sliding in the front seat, Taehyung watched Seokjin pack the wheelchair into the boot of the car and take the driver's seat. “Do you mind if we get some drive thru on the way home?” Seokjin said, looking in the rear view mirror.

“We gotta get him home before he dries up, we can order in,” Taehyung laughed but inside he was concerned with the mermans health.

“Sure, we can order in.” Seokjin sighed, “Jimin, my name is Seokjin. It’s nice to meet you.”

Taehyung was lost in thought watching him drive, he was concentrating on the road and it made him look mature to be so serious. It seemed strange to be in the same car as Seokjin; a month ago he would have threatened to jump out on the freeway, rather than spend even ten minutes in his rival's car.

Pulling into the driveway Jimin winced getting back into the wheelchair and they placed him in Seokjin’s bathtub which was filled with seawater, it had taken a ten litre container and multiple trips to drive enough seawater to fill the tub. The two lifted Jimin, lowering him into the bathtub where he sat relieved to be in water once more.

“Do you need anything?” Seokjin tried to be polite to his guest. Jimin again didn’t reply again, instead his arm stretched out, small hand reaching for Seokjin.

Seokjin held his hand out to shake Jimins but was pulled forward where the two shared a kiss. Taehyung immediately pulled Seokjin back, feeling his blood boiling, “Can you understand me now, Seokjin.” Jimin smiled

The anger which had flared up inside Taehyung died off with the realization that Jimin didn’t speak english and Seokjin wouldn’t understand him without sharing a kiss. Coughing awkwardly, Taehyung looked at the three in the room. “Who is hungry?”

“What do we feed Jimin? We didn't think this through,” You said immediately looking alarmed.

“Does he eat sashimi?” Seokjin asked Jimin

“Maybe I can go into work and sneak out some fish?” Taehyung said

“No, we can’t go back there, we can’t return home, we can’t see our family. We have to hide here with Jimin until we can get him to his home.” You argued walking out the bathroom. Jimin leant over the bathtub side trying to see where you were going. Cute, he must really like her.

Returning with arms full of menus, you sat on the floor beside Jimin and began looking through them, “What does everything want?”

They got fried chicken, bulk tuna and salmon sashimi, Kimchi Jjigae, Jjajangmyeon and tuna mayo rice balls. The selection was quite wide and you brought everything into the bathroom sitting and eating on the floor.

Jimin ate the sashimi but seemed really interested in the other foods, Taehyung offered him a tuna mayo and rice ball. Taking one Jimin sniffed it before he took a bite contemplating the texture and flavour before popping the rest in his mouth.

“You should offer Jimin some fried chicken to try, as you are closer” Taehyung said with a sly smirk, you rolled your eyes taking a piece of chicken and holding it out to Jimin. He let you hold it while he leant over and took a small bite.

He chewed thinking about the crunch and the flavour before his smile grew he took another bite and another. “This is so tasty.”

“Would you like to try some more dishes?” You asked, smiling at Jimin ready to offer him more food. Taehyung and Seokjin shared a knowing glance but they didn’t say a word. “Okay this one just try a little cause it is a bit spicy which means your mouth will get really warm okay.”

Jimin had some soup and smiled, licking his plump lips a little confused, “My mouth is really warm and tingly.”

“That’s what we call spicy.” Seokjin said, “It is good but don’t have too much. It's your first time eating things that aren’t fish so it could make you sick of all these new foods, you can try some more another time.”

“Oh, I got this really hilarious picture today on our way out of the park,” You shouted brandishing your phone screen to all of them. “You should have seen Tae, he full on dunked Jimin head first in the touch pools and the staff were about to call security.”

That night the boys went for a shower Taehyung stepped out laughing, “Jimin told me this hilarious story about his friend falling off the back of a crab”

Seokjin smiled heading into the bathroom coming out with bright red ears, “I have never had someone sit there and watch me while I shower, but he did tell me about some kind of cool stuff about his home, he said the king wouldn’t hurt Namjoon.”

Taehyung watched you gather your things and walk to the bathroom, he ran up to the door pressing his ear against it, Seokjin beside him doing the same thing. The two stared at one another as they heard you speak.

“Don’t um turn around, I am going to shower?” You had stuttered, obviously nervous.

“I don’t understand, but I will do as you say” the two of you talking quietly.

Tags: @backinblack1967 @miriamxsworld @moccahobi @simplymemyself @a-gayish-unicorn

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Reblog this post with the hashtag #Washout

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cali-holland · 4 years

Text

Risky Quizness- Tom Holland One Shot

Pairing: Tom Holland X Reader

Requested by Anon: meeting tom at one of the pub quizzes he goes to at his local pub, he and his mates need more people on their team to sign up, so they asks you and a couple of your friends to join, you and him connect. Xxoo

Prompt: When you meet Tom at a pub quiz, sparks fly between the two of you.

Word Count: 1800

A/N: Huge shoutout to @saysomethingspiderman for being a major help with this one. I’m hella American and never experienced a pub quiz before lol aka brits dont hate me for this

Masterlist Tom Holland Masterlist

*Gif is not mine*

~~~

“Damn it.” Tom muttered, looking at his phone with a frown.

“What?” Harrison asked, sitting next to him at the table with their two pints.

“Harry just texted me. He’s sick.” He replied. “And Sam’s with his girlfriend and you know mum would never let me take Paddy.”

“So it’s just us then?” The blond let out a sigh.

Pub quizzes weren’t much fun with two people. Normally, they’d go with Tuwaine, Harry, and Sam- sometimes even Sam’s girlfriend would tag along, but Tuwaine had a family thing come up, and now the twins had bailed.

“We could always try to find someone to join our team? Right?” Tom offered weakly, and his friend shrugged.

“We’d have to find people willing to actually join us.” He stated and Tom nodded. The pub was already filling up with hopefuls for the pub quiz, there was no way they’d find others to team up with them-

“You can’t do a pub quiz with two people! It just doesn’t work like that!” You let out a frustrated groan as you passed by Tom’s table with your friend. And just like that, a light bulb went off in Tom’s head as he jumped after you.

“Hey, wait!” He called out and you and your friend paused, turning to him skeptically as you held your drinks.

“You only have two people for the quiz? My mate and I are also a team of two. Did- did you want to, maybe, join us?” Tom asked, realizing how stupid it sounded to ask that out loud- to ask a couple strangers to be on his team for a pub quiz. Your friend looked at you and you contemplated it for a moment.

“Sure, but we better win.” You stated, following a triumphant Tom back to his table (much to Harrison’s surprise). You sat down in an empty chair, leaving one open between you and Harrison, and Tom slid into it.

“I’m Tom, and this is Harrison.” He introduced the two of them.

“Y/N, this is Jess.” You replied with a smile. The quizmaster quickly made his way around the pub, handing out a sheet of paper to each of the teams.

“What should our name be?” Tom asked, looking at the paper in front of him.

“Risky Quizness.” You said simply and Jess let out a laugh beside you.

“Risky Quizness?” Tom and Harrison both repeated, and you nodded.

“Every time we’ve used that name, we’ve won the pub quiz.” You stated.

“That’s because the only time we’ve won it was our name!” Jess added, and you rolled your eyes at her.

“We still won. Maybe we wouldn’t have been second last time if our name was Risky Quizness, not Universally Challenged.” You picked up the pencil from the table and grabbed the paper from in front of Tom.

“Risky Quizness, like the Tom Cruise movie?” Tom asked you, a small smile on his face.

“I’m writing it!” You announced and Jess groaned, but the boys just laughed.

“In case you couldn’t tell, she runs the quiz.” She teased.

“Shove off.” You groaned, “I’m competitive.”

“How many of these have you won?” Tom inquired. He honestly wasn’t sure how well he and Harrison would do with their usual team; by the end of the night, he would have always had enough beers to be a bit hazy on how many he actually knew on his own. He wanted to do well though because who didn’t love winning? And he also may have wanted to impress you a little.

“Just the one.” You mumbled, not wanting to fully admit it, “But we keep coming in second. There’s this group at our usual place called Let’s Get Quizzical and they win every single time. So we’re here in hopes that they won’t be.”

“What about you two?” Your friend asked.

“We’ve won a few times, but honestly, I don’t remember if I got any of them right.” He laughed.

“So, it’s up to you then, blondie.” You joked, and Harrison smiled with a grimace. “You two are lucky you’re attractive.”

Before either could respond, the quizmaster began to speak, announcing the general knowledge round. Some were easy questions like name the longest river in the U.K., complete the line from Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” (which you knew immediately), and how many hearts does an octopus have (that one you and Harrison got in a heated debate about whether it was two or eight, when Jess stepped in as the marine biologist to tell you it was three).

The next couple rounds went by smoothly, the four of you working together to make sure you got the right answers. By the time you were on the final round, the movies round, you felt fairly confident that your answers were like 90% right (you still weren’t sure if you trusted Tom and Harrison in saying that the DeLorean in Back to the Future had to hit 88 to time travel because you definitely thought it was 85 like the year the first movie came out).

“Which Star Wars character gets namechecked in Indiana Jones: Temple of Doom?” The quizmaster asked, making the four of you pause.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen that movie.” Harrison stated.

“Yoda?” Tom suggested, thinking it was a fairly iconic Star Wars character.

“It’s Obi-Wan.” You said as you wrote down the answer. “I just watched the movie like two days ago, and trust me, you’re not missing out if you haven’t seen it.”

“Two hours I’ll never get back.” Jess shook her head with a sigh.

“That bad?” Tom asked and you both nodded.

“The worst.” You shuddered just thinking about it.

Though that question stumped Tom and Harrison, it wasn’t until the last question of the round that you really didn’t know the answer.

“Last question. This sequel film is the 10th highest grossing superhero movie of all time.” The quizmaster read off the question, and you turned to the rest of your team, unsure of the right answer.

“I don’t know? Captain America?” You asked, wracking your brain for any good superhero sequel films you’d seen. You watched Harrison try to nudge Tom inconspicuously, who was blushing beside you. He mumbled something to you, but you couldn’t hear it at all. “What movie?”

“Uh, Spider-Man: Far From Home.” He spoke up louder, the blush on his cheeks darkening as he shot Harrison a glare.

“Oh, right, never saw that.” You replied, and Tom laughed nervously.

“You really never saw it?” He asked.

“Nope.” You shook your head, “I don’t even think I saw the first one, honestly. Not that big of a Spider-Man fan.” As you wrote down the answer Tom had given you, you missed him sending a look back to his friend, trying his best not to be slightly offended by your words.

“You should watch them. They’re really good movies.” Tom said with an encouraging smile when you looked back up at him, ignoring Harrison’s kick under the table. It wasn’t until then that he realized you had absolutely no clue who he was, and it was the best thing ever for him; you were treating him like just another random guy who invited you to join his pub quiz team.

The quizmaster announced the end of the quiz, and everyone went over their answers. Much to your familiar disappointment, your team ended up second again.

“Maybe, it’s just you.” Tom teased you as Harrison and Jess went to go get more drinks.

“Rude.” You playfully scoffed, though you were still a bit upset by the loss. “Maybe if you had known that Wisconsin was the dairy state then we would have won.”

“You didn’t even know that one!” He refuted. It was true- the American geography round just about wiped your team out. Tom shifted a bit closer to you, leaning on his arm, flexing it almost, “So you think you’ll be back at this pub for next week?”

“I think I could be convinced to return.” You replied slyly. Before Tom could ask for your number, you already had your phone unlocked, sliding it over to him. “Here.”

“You already knew.” He chuckled, handing you his phone in return. You both typed in your numbers and switched phones back.

“That one Spider-Man question. How did you know that?” You asked, thinking back to all the sigh’s the erupted throughout the pub when the answer was revealed- most had gotten it wrong, so how did Tom know so quickly that he was right?

“I just know.” Tom shrugged in an effort to play it off.

“You know off the top of your head the 10th highest grossing superhero movie of all time?” You eyed him suspiciously.

“They said it was a sequel, so it had to be either that or Incredibles 2.” He joked, but you weren’t too amused. He leaned in closer to you, creating an intimate distance between your two faces, “Can I tell you a secret?”

“What, are you Spider-Man or something?” You asked teasingly, but his smile never faltered.

“Yeah, I am.” Tom replied. You laughed before you realized the complete seriousness in his voice and his face.

“Seriously?” You managed through a fit of laughter.

“I really am! And you said you didn’t like my movie.” He teased.

“I said I never saw it.” You corrected him. “That has to be cheating for it to be your movie as the answer.”

“No, it definitely isn’t.” He shook his head with a laugh.

“How much did it gross? How much?” You asked, wiggling your eyebrows at him jokingly, “You check the box office daily, don’t you?”

“I do not!” He protested, chuckling, “And it made over a billion, thank you very much.”

“Did you drop your pants for that to happen or something?” You quipped, and his face heated up. You gasped, “You didn’t!”

“It was just for one scene and I had my underwear on!” Tom insisted, “You’d know that if you saw the film.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll watch it- both of them.” You laughed.

“How about I quiz you on them next week?” He joked, and you groaned.

“No, that means I’d have to pay attention.”

“Fine, I won’t quiz you on them on one condition.” Tom rested a hand on the back of your chair, leaning in closer to you. You raised your eyebrows at him, telling him wordlessly to continue, “Go on a date with me?”

You nodded, laughing as you spoke, “Yes, but I gotta say, I really thought you were going to make me watch your own movie with you.”

“Trust me, darling, we can do that, too.”

~~~

Tag List: @viagracex @theamazingtomholland @hellomoveonby @heyitsshrez

Tom Tag List: @quaksonhehe

#tom holland #tom holland imagine #tom holland one shot #tom holland fanfic #tom holland x reader #tom holland x you #tom holland x y/n #tom holland fluff

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kari-writes-stuff · 3 years

Text

ocean waves

words 1941

genre: slice of life, lgbt+

Ever since he could remember, Evan had wanted to be a Marine biologist.

He remembers when he first moved near the beach, the feeling of heat on his skin and wind in his light brown hair, the sun, the waves, and there was so much to explore! but most of all he remembers the little crab he had met. the second he'd seen the snapping critter he'd run up to it looking in wonder as it crawled past him and into the sea "mama look!" he'd cried. He remembered the way she smiled at him as he pointed.

"Do crabs come in different colors?"

"What do crabs eat?"

"How big can a crab get?"

He had asked questions all the way home and the more they researched about crabs not only did his interest grow but he found himself fascinated with other sea animals as well.

Clown fish, whales and octopi to name a few, he begged his mom to take him to the beach everyday and she took him every chance she got. She would always smile about it, any time he showed her his new discoveries, she would be just as interested as him, any time he had questions, she was right there to help him find an answer, she had always supported him.

He remembers starting school.

He remembers entering the classroom, being met with so many kids, they all were tanned, and a few sunburnt -most likely from playing outside all summer- he remembers being introduced, his teacher telling him to sit wherever he liked, multiple kids tried to call him over their eyes glowing in excitement. His eyes, however, strayed to the back of the class, where a kid was coloring all by himself, he was a lot paler than the others for some reason...the kid looked at him and for a second light and dark brown eyes met before he looked back down.

While all the other kids looked super fun he found himself walking towards the back.

"Hi." He whispered when he sat down looking

"uh...hi" the boy shyly replied back, his long dark brown hair hiding his face as he looked down, Evan subconsciously touched his own shorter hair, he kinda wished his own hair was that long...

"I'm Evan, what's your name?" he asked excitedly.

the kid shifted. "...Im Kade"

It was then that Evan saw Kade's drawing.

"Is that a crab?"

the boy flinched guiltily as if caught doing something bad, he shifted his paper

"uh...yeah it's a crab eating an apple." Kade said hesitantly.

"I love crabs! and apples are yummy, especially chocolate covered apples, those are my favorite" Evan exclaimed happily trying to keep his voice down.

Kade turned to look at him. "yeah, I like the ocean and apples are my favorite." his eyes shifted downwards, "my parents say its just a dumb phase though."

Evan was shocked at this, he fidgeted a little in his seat. "Well it's not just a phase for me, the ocean is cool, it's got all sorts of awesome animals like whales and dolphins, and I'm gonna be a marine biologist so I can study them all when I grow up!" his hands waved a little in the air as he said this.

Kade finally shifted to look at him "what's a marine biolatist?"

"biologist" Evan corrected " that's someone who studies plants and animals that live near the sea"

Kade's eyes lit up, and forgetting his earlier shyness he exclaimed. "That's so cool! I wanna be one too!"

but then he slouched back down, his face contorting into one of sadness again. "But I have to be a doctor, my parents said so...." he looked back at his drawing.

Evan crossed his arms. "Well my mom says you can be whatever you want when you grow up so if you want to be a marine biologist then when you grow up then we can study sea animals together!"

"...really?" Kade looked confused at the prospect of 'being whatever you wanted.'

"yeah!" Evan smiled.

and like that they were best friends, their parents liked each other too so that helped.

they would have sleepovers and playdates -almost always at Evans house- but that didn't matter Evans mom loved it when Kade came over.

Whenever Kade came they would all go to the beach or the Aquarium and play or look at the animals, and even if it was raining his mom would just set up a documentary instead, and though he was shy around Evans mom at first but he soon came out of his shell.

///

he remembers turning 15 and finally being old enough to volunteer at the aquarium, Kade wasn't allowed too, instead his parents had sent him to a private school, determined to get him a scholarship for med school, but that didn't matter, it was only three more years then he and Kade could do whatever they wanted together. and besides Evan wasn't allowed to do much at first, maybe help behind the scenes with some shows and take Supplies from one place to another, and maybe help feed the animals from time to time with supervision, but he still got to learn so much from the other workers and had fun!

When Evan got back he immediately called Kade and told him everything that happened.

"...wow that sounds...fun." Kade said, sounding a bit sad.

Evan frowned. "I'm sorry you have to be at dumb private school, i miss you."

"I miss you too."

"...but remember what I told you? once you move out you can do whatever you want, it's only three more years and then you can be a marine biologist with me right?"

"yeah...I just...." Kade sounded unsure. "Do you think they'll hate me? I mean they're spending all this money so I can be here and-"

"Kade" Evan said interrupting, they had had this conversation a lot over the years, and a while ago his answer would have been 'who cares what they think' but as his mother has explained Kade cared what they thought, they were his parents after all.

"It's your life and your choice, just because your parents want you to be something doesn't mean your required to do it, and even if you decide to become a doctor to please them, if you're not happy then technically they're still wasting their money, you still want to study sea life right?"

Kade made a small sound if agreement "then that's what your gonna do"

Kade went silent on the other line for a second before saying "yeah...yeah I guess you're right" Kade took a deep breath before letting it out again slowly.

"and until then I'll just have to volunteer for both of us!"

Kade chuckled. "thanks Evan."

Evan grinned "anytime dude" Evan looked at the clock "hey it's getting kinda late over here, but talk to you tomorrow?"

"...yeah, night."

"night."

three years passed quicker then he thought, but at the same time also agonizingly slow.

every day he'd call Kade to talk and tell him about his day, and tell him what he'd learn, and ask if Kade was doing alright and just...everything.

but still, he missed talking to best friend face to face…

finally Evan graduated high school! he was 18 and in another Month Kade would be too he was so excited!

The entire month was spent either looking at different colleges or talking to his mother about what he and Kade would do with each other.

Now, he was waiting in the middle of his room, looking at college applications, and trying to figure out which one to go to...the door opened and Evan turned his head expecting his mother to be there to ask what he wanted for dinner.

"KADE!?" and it was Kade. did he look paler then last time he'd seen him? Has his hair gotten longer?

After a moment of shock Evan quickly got up and hugged him. "But I thought you weren't coming till next week?" he said, confused.

"Yeah, my parents were gonna pay for my train ticket...but a friend said she'd do it for me, so here I am" he said, his voice happy but also holding nervous hints to it.

Evan frowned "do you know what you're gonna say to them?" Kade shook his head.

"I don't, I mean...I've thought about it but" Kade took a deep breath.

Evan hugged him again "I'll be right here with you Kade ok?"

Kade nodded "yeah."

"Well this is it!" Evan said, bursting with excitement as he walked into their new apartment and set his suitcase down.

"Can you believe it? we're finally going to college!"

Kade smiled slightly "yeah." he replied.

Evan's smile wavered and he walked over. "You doing ok?" he asked gently. to say Kades parents hadn't taken the news well was an understatement, that night they had decided to wait till the end of summer to tell them Kades decision and instead gone over too Kade's house to surprise them, the rest of summer went well but of course they had argued when Kade told them he wasn't going to be a doctor, he had looked almost ready to back down but Evan had just grabbed Kade's hand, told them exactly what he'd told Kade multiple times, that it was Kade's life and that the both of them had already been accepted at miami university and walked out of there.

Now a week later they were in their new apartment in Miami, Kades parents had stopped blowing up his phone and had instead grown eerily silent.

"I'm ok," Kade said, tugging at the end of his shirt a little.

"forget about them for tonight" Evan said, guessing what, or rather who he was thinking about. "Let's put our stuff away for right now, yeah?"

Kade nodded.

"Great, now let's get to work!"

and that's how college life started for them, it was fun -well as fun as school could be anyways.

They studied -or helped Kade study as Evan had already learned most of this either by himself or by his volunteer work at the aquarium, got jobs, made a few friends, met some of Kades friends.

years passed and now they were both graduating college.

"Evan Loring."

Evan walked to the platform, eyes shining as his mother cheered from where she was sitting, he looked back to where Kade was sitting waiting to be called up as well, several names were called until,

"Kade quince"

His mother cheered again, sounding just as excited as they both felt, and Kade's eyes also shined as he got his diploma and stood next to Evan.

Evan and Kade got jobs at a sea life research facility, a few years of saving up later they started their own rescue and rehabilitate Aquarium with plenty of shows about raising awareness of pollution...

///

"Will you marry me?" he asked Kade, one summer, they were at the beach, the one they grew up at, they had been dating for three years now, Kade looked at Even in surprise before smiling widely "yes."

The wedding was beautiful, and at the beach of course where else? and Kade, Kade looked amazing. there was no one else he'd rather have. His mother looked so happy.

...they had invited Kade's side of the family but...Evan pushed that thought to the back of his mind, no matter.

They had been through a lot together, but as they said their vows Evan knew there was no one else he'd rather have had by his side, both then and now.you

#writblr #writers on tumblr #writing community #lgbt stories #lgbt writers #ocean waves #Kari writes

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artificial-ascension · 3 years

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I see stuff for "what would the Wammys kids be like as parents" but never "what would the Wammys kids parents be like" so here.

Wammys Kids Parents HCs

Mello

Mello's parents were in an arranged marriage because of the mafia families they were in

They actually really liked each other so they didn't mind the arranged marriage

They were actually in an arranged marriage because they were the oldest kids of two of the most powerful mafias in Russia and the leaders of those mobs wanted to join forces and did that by marrying their kids to each other

Mello's uncle didn't like how things were being run and broke the mafia in two and went to war with his brother (Mello's dad)

When Mello's parents realized they were going to have a kid they moved to England and put his aunt (on his Mother's side) in charge

Mello's parents kept him a secret to keep him safe

Mello has his dad's eyes and hair and his mother's complexion

He had both of their intelligence

Both of them were really smart and hella chaotic just like Mello

They cared for him as much as they could without look suspicious to their neighbors

When Mello was 4 they got found out by their rival mafia and were killed

Mello wondered off and ended up at Wammys house afterward

Mello's status as the heir to a massive mafia empire was how he rose to power in LA

Matt

Matt's mom got pregnant when she was 17

Her boyfriend left when he found out she was pregnant

She gave Matt away to her boyfriend's cousin because she didn't have the time or money to care for him because of college

Matt's named after his dad

His dad's cousin was super rich and had his own wife and tree bratty kids who didn't like Matt at all

The kids hated him so much they convinced their dad to get rid of Matt and they abandoned him in Winchester because he had family there

Matt's dad's cousin only took him in to look better than his ass of a cousin

Matt is the spitting image of his mother but has his dad's hair color

Matt's parents are still alive so technically he isn't an orphan

He has abandonment issues and separation anxiety from getting trown out so much though

His mom actually married and had some kids once she graduated and had a good job

She lowkey feels guilty for giving Matt away sometimes

Matt's dad is a hippy who lives in the back of his van and plays video games while coding for money

Matt probably has a fuck ton of half siblings from his dad being a man whore but it's not like he'll ever meet them

A's dad was an English sailor and his mom was a Spanish lighthouse keeper

They met in Spain and fell in love and went back to England to get married

His mom worked as a lighthouse keeper in Cornwall while his dad worked as a sailor

They had tree kids, A's older brother, A and A's little sister

A and his siblings spent most of their time with their mom but their dad spent all his time off from work with them

A's dad was very thinly built and honestly he looked like the basic anxious sad boy A with brown messy hair and freckles

Of course he was a sailor so he was actually pretty strong and hella brave

A's mom had dark skin, black curly hair and brown eyes with a much sturdier build

She was really sweet but was lowkey terrifying if you got on her bad side

A would be a perfect mix of both of them if he wasn't albino, but really aside from his lack of pigmentation he has a good mix of their facial features

A's dad taught A and his brother how to sail and took them on short sailing trips with him

He was going to take A's little sister when she was old enough but he died before he could

A's dad died at sea and only died because he stayed on the ship to make sure his whole crew got off when the ship sunk

A's mom taught him how to garden, fish, cook, camp, hunt and really live off the land in general

She died falling from her lighthouse in a bad storm

The fact that both A's parents died trying to help people inspired him to try and save people too

Which led to him trying to take up the position of L so he could solve cases and help people, which ultimately also led to his death

His brother became a Royal Navey admiral and his sister became a marine biologist later in life with A and their parents as their driving factors so at least that's nice

Beyond Birthday

B's parents were in a shinigami cult and technically B's dad is the shinigami Armona Justin Beyondormason but B never found out until his shinigami dad yoinked him out of Mu to tell him he's part shinigami and he forgot to tell him while he was alive (he didn't forget he just kept putting off until B fucking died) so we will discuss his leagal male guardian who died

B's parents owned a huge farm in Japan and taught B how to take care of animals and how to garden

A's mom had a personal garden of herbs and fruits and she used to teach B how to use herbal medicine and how to properly spice foods and most importantly how to make jam

B and his parents looked similar when he was little but he stopped looking like them when he got older

They all had slim builds, dark hair and pale skin and the only thing different was the eyes

B had shinigami eyes obviously and because he was part shinigami you could actually tell he had they eyes by looking at them

B could also turn them off (but he only acquired that skill later in life) and when he did his actual eye color was a dark brownish red

His eyes were also really wide like but not L wide just a bit less wide but still kinda weird

B's dad knew he wasn't B's real dad but he still tookcare of him and taught him things

B was homeschooled because 1. They wanted to indoctrinate him into their shinigami cult when he was young and 2. They didn't want the other kids or teachers commenting on his eyes

His dad was kinda boring and there wasn't anything cool about him, he was super average but he was good at farming and business I guess. Anyway if he had actually been B's dad I feel like B would also be really boring but more like the kind of boring of an abandoned building in the woods but there's nothing there and nothing cool or spooky happens

B's mom was way cooler, she taught B a bunch of old Japanese folk tales and legends and other cultural stuff. She also gave him plenty of history lessons about Japan and the surrounding area, really B just got educated on the entire history or Japan and it's culture and it fed his deep love and obsession with anime and manga when he was older

His mom's grandmother actually dressed up like a man Mulan style to fight in WW2 so he comes from a family of Japanese patriots so what would you expect

His mom taught him to defend himself too and she probably should have taught her husband because he died in a mugging

B's mom died in a freak train accident and B almost died but his shinigami ancestry have him a super human healing speed and endurance so he survived just barely

L's mom was a prostitute who got pregnant by one of her customers

She died of tuberculosis when L was six months old

She looked a lot like L with wild black hair, pale skin, no meat on her bones and wide, grey, eyes

L's dad was just some rich guy cheating on his wife and L looked nothing like him

L's mom lived with her brother above his bakery and L continued to love there until he was 6 and his uncle tried to kill him after getting drunk

Near

Near got put on the staircase of Wammys house in a basket when he was little so no one knew his parents

Near's parents were really weird hermits that owned a toy store and yes all their stuff was definitely cursed

They were both very quiet but they were actually pretty nice they just acted very strange

The both of them were black and Near dose have their body types and facial features and just like A, he looks a lot like both of them he just lacks pigmentation because he's albino

Unlike A he does have his parents grey eyes because Near doesn't have ocular albinism

They decided to leave Near on the door step of Wammys House because...?

They just did

For some reason they decided on an orphanage way away, it was probably some weird choice they made because I don't the the fog told them but hey they inadvertently caused the death of a mass murderer 18 years later

Near's parents are still alive and living in their little store and Near actually tracks them down after a bit and hangs out with them and buys their toys

Near's parents also have two more kids and Near likes to hang out with them and help you younger siblings in their classes

#beyond birthday #nate river #dn #mello #death note #a dn #a death note #mihael keehl #matt #l lawliet #mail jeevas

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v0idl1nq · 2 years

Text

꒰ °v0idl1nq's 360 starlings event prompts°꒱

summary:: here are the prompts for the event!! credit to tumblr, pinterest, and my friends for these<33

Romantic Prompts:

"don't get your hopes up"

"stay away from there"

"that was bad"

"it's almost over"

"you're on your own"

"stop ignoring me"

"we're going to be late"

"you're a liar"

"I've had enough"

"don't be like that"

"we need to practice"

"you're going to hurt yourself"

"let me do the talking"

"you should know better"

"I can't let that happen again"

"I understand where you're coming from"

"I'm in love"

"let me know"

“I’ll be careful”

"you're never alone"

Random Dialogue Prompts

"Be forewarned: I'm about to become ten times more insufferable."

"Since when do you knit?" "Since when did I give you permission to be all up in my business? Exactly. So shut up."

"Get in here, right now!"

"And I've been clear on that since the beginning."

"Give me the keys!"

"There's no way, there's just no way."

"Since when?"

"Is this what love is supposed to feel like?"

"I'm not going to let how I look, dictate the way I live my life."

"I feel like I'm gonna throw up." "It's cuz you're always on that phone!"

"I hate you." "Marry me."

"Life is a highway, and I'm always stuck in traffic."

"Bestie I will tear you to shreds."

"Your mother didn't carry you for nine months for you to behave like this." "You don't know my mom at all, do you?"

"Great, so out of two hundred-and-sixteen passengers there's not a single pilot/captain/doctor on board, but we've got five marine biologists, two graphic designers, ten chefs, one Banksy impersonator, and four composers. Fantastic. We're all gonna die." "Anyone here a funeral directory by any chance?"

"Why would you lie about something like that?"

"Stop being so dramatic." "There's a bone sticking out of my arm!" "And?"

"¿Como es?" "I don't speak french, sorry." "*visible confusion*"

"Boo, you psychopath."

"Make no mistake, vengeance will be ours." "Grandma-"

Fake Dating and Marriage Prompts

“are you kidding me?”

“this is against the rules…”

“why are we doing this again?”

“i don’t care about them anymore, i care about you”

“they’re staring”

“these things usually don’t go to plan, you know”

“are you sure?”

“put my hand down dumbass”

“nobody’s around right now…”

“its always been you”

“this is easier than i thought”

“i feel like neither of us are faking this”

“you’re really that touch starved, huh”

“quick, they’re coming!”

“can i kiss you- or is that against the rules” “fuck the rules”

“Will you marry me? Again?” “As many times as it takes.”

“Marry me.” “Race you to the altar, ready set go!”

“I’m sorry I lost the ring.” “As long as I don’t lose you, we’re fine.”

“No fair! I was going to ask you!" “I’ll make it up to you, promise.”

'I can fix them' Dialogue Prompts

"Perhaps you can. But not soon enough, I think."

"You could break them further, too."

"I'm pretty sure that's not your job."

"I don't think they plan on giving you the chance."

"Have you asked them about it? Or is this just about you?"

"Alright. I'll give them one more chance."

"Have you thought about what it'll do to you?"

"Delusions have always been your strong suit."

"You can't even understand their motives, how are you going to change their mind?"

"I was under the impression that you were highly unskilled in this area."

"Why settle for a temporary fix? Why not dig deeper, and if we exacerbate the problem along the way, ah well."

"They're standing right there."

"Will you now? Or will you take this opportunity to twist them into whoever you want them to be?"

"I don't care."

"Your optimism is admirable. Or stupid."

"Or I could just kill them."

"Or I could maim them a little, see if that makes a difference."

"Why are you telling me?"

"And they'd let you, probably. Poor bastard."

"Forget that, we have bigger things to worry about."

"You've said that before. I'm not sure I believe you."

"Is that loyalty speaking or stubbornness?"

"Doesn't matter to me. I won't be here much longer.""You're pathetic when you're like this."

"I'm sure they appreciate the sentiment."

#v0idl1nq's prompts #꒰ °v0idl1nq's 360 starlings event

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mae-gi-writes · 3 years

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Purpose of Hearts | Song Mingi (ATEEZ)

Summary: Two lives. One purpose. And a hope that someday, their voices would be heard.

Part of @atbzkingdom's timecapsule collab! Song: Utopia by ATEEZ

Genre: angst, slice of life

A/N: This is a love story but it also revolves around issues of modern society as well as the environmental crises that have been happening lately. I wish to incorporate more of these real-life elements in my stories because that's the only way I can communicate to people the importance of living a life that does not take away what Nature has made for us. So I hope that you guys aren't too harsh on this one, considering I worked really hard to write it. Thank you all. Love, mae xx

>>>

The first time I saw Song Mingi was by accident. I had been late to my interview that day, rushing in and out between my room, the kitchen and the bathroom to get my scrambled self organized, throw on a blazer over my white shirt and black slacks — honestly, had I washed it before?— while barely managing to shove a toast in my mouth as I ran down my apartment stairs two at a time, almost tripping over my own feet as I did so.

That was probably the first time I had overslept ever since reaching Seoul and in all honesty, that had done nothing to set my mind at ease as I caught sight of the overflowing crowd of people moving in the direction of the subway.

Every morning was the same, packed in like tuna fish that wriggled forward in too-tight compartments that made it impossible to breathe, also another reason why I always woke up an hour before the rush of workers came through.

“Excuse me,” I pushed at someone’s shoulder getting shoved into my face, trying in vain not to let my nerves get the best of me, “sorry, but you’re crushing me—“ “Oh sorry,” a man that looked like he was in his forties dipped his head in what seemed to mimic a bow, before he slowly tried edging back, in vain.

I huffed into the window pane, my breath fogging up the glass as I squeezed my eyes shut and prayed for the ride to be over. 10:45.a.m, my watch said. My interview was at eleven. There was no way I was going to make it in time.

It felt like eternity had passed before I finally heard my desired station being called out on the intercom. I slowly turned my entire torso to face the exit with slight relief flooding through me. I hadn’t died. Things would be okay, it would be okay—The doors slid open and no sooner had I stepped through that I felt a shoulder shove into mine.

I stumbled, throwing my hands out before me to brace myself for the impact only to feel warm fingers grip onto my forearm to pull me up and away from the throng of people flowing out of the train.

“You okay?”

A deep alto resonated in my ear, causing me to look up into an unfamiliar face. There was no doubt that this stranger was tall. Taller than the average in Korea, no doubt. He had a nicely shaped nose, perfectly sculpted for his side profile, I couldn’t help but notice.

“Yeah,” I checked my handbag and quickly dusted off my pants, “thanks. Would’ve gotten crushed back there.”

“No problem.”

Needless to say, my interview was a complete and utter failure. That evening, I binged on some Mcdonald’s followed by a whole pint of ice cream while watching an entire K-drama on my own, ignoring the distinct ping! of my phone that signalled the upcoming stream of messages left unread. But I couldn’t do it. Not now, not when I felt like my life was falling apart and I felt powerless to stop it.

Why? I had thought then. Why me? Why couldn’t I succeed like all my my fellow friends did?

It was true that Marine biologists were at an unfair advantage from the get-go. Jobs were harder to find when you started out in a niche. I had known that much when I’d enrolled for the degree, when I’d cried by myself countless nights knowing that my future was all but a bleak, weak canvas of nothingness. But I couldn’t give it up, no matter how much I wanted to force myself to, for I knew that if there weren’t people like me around to help restore marine ecosystems, then the world as we knew it would end much quicker than intended. I didn’t have the heart to give all of that up when I felt partly responsible for all the lives that mankind was taking away.

All these thoughts were a dark cloud, each and every one of them slowly creating a storm that was out of my control as I went on in my day to day life. It consumed me from the inside until there seemed to be nothing left but an emptiness that blocked everything out. And that scared me.

That was when I met Song Mingi for the second time.

It was around late evening when my restless self decided to take a walk to clear my head. It seemed like my feet had a life of their own for no sooner had I allowed my mind to drift off that I found myself boarding a train to nowhere in particular. A heavy sigh left my lips and I sat back in one of the many empty seats. The peace and quiet was a nice change from the constant bustle and movement, and as I gazed out at the inky darkness of the tunnel, I noticed someone shift from the corner of my eye.

He was sitting on the opposite side, one row before mine, his gaze hollow and empty and directed at the ground, seemingly as lost in his thoughts as I was. I wouldn’t have recognized him if not for that particularly perfect nose slant that instantly caught my attention.

That man. The man who’d helped me out of the subway.

And as if sensing my gaze, his head turned around slightly to catch my eye. Though he was too far away for me to notice, his head cocked to the side as he searched my face for a minute. Before he nodded in acknowledgement.

I nodded back, looked away. Heat crawled to the back of my neck, embarrassed.

I need to get out of here, my mind raced.

The next stop couldn’t come fast enough. I jolted up from my seat once the station came into view and quickly scrambling for the exit, I failed to notice the said young man do the same until I bumped into him as we stepped out.

Stumbling to the side as his briefcase clattered to the floor and spilled the array of papers hidden inside, my eyes widened in horror as some of them started flying away as the train whizzed past. I launched my body onto the ground, curse words spilling from my mouth as I helped him gather the mess of artworks that decorated the floor, from pens to pencil scrawls to pastels to dabbles of oil paintings that even in the shitty yellow lights lining the station, they looked ethereal and raw with talent.

“I’m so sorry,” my head was ducked, I couldn’t possibly face him, as I quickly stacked up the papers.

“It’s okay,” was his only reply as we managed to gather most of his work. My eyes flew to the ones that now laid on the train tracks, crumpled and matted with dirt and practically unattainable.

“I’m so sorry,” I repeated hoarsely as guilt filled me up to the brim. It wasn’t enough that I was having a shitty day. No, I had to go and ruin someone’s day as well.

Fuck me.

“It’s alright, really. They weren’t that important to begin with,” he held out his hands for the remaining papers and stuffed them into his briefcase once I handed it over, making sure that the lock was set right before straightening up to face me, “they’re just practice drawings.”

“Still though,” all that pain and effort, gone and wasted because of my stupidity.

He chuckled then and I looked up at him, quite surprised at the grin tugging at his lips, “honestly, it’s fine. Don’t beat yourself up about it.”

I nodded and decided to drop the subject, wondering how it was possible to feel even sorrier for myself when I thought I had already hit rock bottom. We walked up the station staircase together in silence, which I would’ve probably found awkward if not for the fact that I was mentally beating myself up for acting so foolishly. He must’ve noticed the tired lines of my face, for his voice rang out in the silence as he stepped out into the street:

“Hey, if you still feel bad about the papers, don’t,” he stopped, gazing down at my form with what I hoped to be a reassuring smile, “it would’ve been another story though, if these were my finals.”

I flinched, though I forced a faint smile back, “okay. I’m sorry. Again. Please don’t curse me to death or anything,” an idea popped into my head, “are you heading home right now?”

“Uh—yeah. Why?”

“Please…let me buy you a drink. Coffee? Iced tea? I just—“ my fingers were already scrambling for some money, “please. I feel terrible about this.”

He cocked his head as an amused smile graced his lips, “wow, you really do feel bad.”

“I do. Please?”

And that was how we found ourselves sitting at a cheap plastic table outside the convenience store that night, huddled in our too-thick sweaters and blowing at our hands while holding our beers close. Conversation flowed naturally as we sat and breathed in the night air, allowing life to pause for a moment and enabling my brain to disentangle itself from overthinking too much. It was nice in a way, the distraction of having someone to talk to, just so that I didn’t have to wallow in my own self-pity.

I learnt that his name was Song Mingi, and that he had recently graduated from Art School with a dream to be a full-fledged artist. He had one cat that he’d named Kimchi and absolutely adored anime because of the art style and the unique story lines. I learnt that he was quite fluent in Japanese and loathed the subway as much as I did.

“Right now though, I’m working at a design company,” he took a sip of his beer, head tilting and side profile backlit by the fluorescent convenience store lights. He appeared softer, younger somehow, than his actual age.

“You like it?”

“Not really.”

I threw him a pointed look, “is that how you say no?”

“Alright. No,” he laid his chin in his palm, “I hate it. I feel like I’m wasting my time.”

“But it covers the bills.”

“Yup.”

“That sucks.”

“It does,” he took another hearty sip as I gazed down at my own drink. And here I was, jobless and with no ambition, no dream to chase. Because I was burnt out before even starting.

“And you?” he asked as I glanced back up into his eyes — gentle eyes, I found. He had very gentle eyes, eyes that seemed to know a lot more than what he let on, “what do you do in life?”

“I am unemployed,” the words sounded even more grim as they fell from my mouth, and I averted my eyes to the table to avoid his own out of embarrassment, “and I’m pretty sure I failed all the interviews I had this week.”

“What did you study?”

“Marine biology,” my throat felt rough, choked up with emotion as I thought of how ridiculous I must sound to this total stranger who was both talented and seemed to have his life together. Maybe it was insecurity that made me spit out, “don’t laugh.”

A pause, before he said, “why would I? That’s amazing.”

My eyes slid back up to his, “I—because…well…” and I couldn’t help myself from spilling it all out. How I came to this major because this was presumably the most passionate thing I’ve ever stumbled across in life, how I’d studied so hard not to fall behind when all my classmates seemed to pass their exams with flying colours, and how out of all of us in our year, I was the only one still roaming around like a lifeless soul while most of my peers had landed themselves some high-standing positions at big-shot NGO’s and companies focusing on Marine Environment protection and sustainability.

I didn’t realize that my eyes had filled with tears by the time I was done rambling about the fact that our planet was dying and nobody seemed to be interested in that fact whatsoever. Not until Mingi’s hand came into my peripheral and I blinked, catching sight of the napkin he was offering me.

“Thanks,” I murmured, voice small as I quickly wiped away my tears. My cheeks felt hot, flushed from a mixture of alcohol and from the way his eyes were intent on my face.

“I…” Mingi bit down onto his lower lip. He’d moved on to his second can by then, “I don’t know what to say. You’re…”

I waited for the insult. For him to laugh at my ridiculousness. Or maybe offer sympathetic words that were devoid of meaning.

“You’re amazing.”

I blinked. Once. Twice. Slowly, my eyes fluttered up to his.

“What?”

“All these things you’ve told me, they’re so…real. And I wish I could be more like you, you know?” he leaned back in his chair, “I’m always complaining that my life’s not good enough. That I don’t have purpose. These kinds of thoughts that make you question your existence. But then you come along and you tell me all these problems — real problems that should concern everyone around us — that make me open my eyes.”

Was this flattery? A compliment? I didn’t know how to take it, considering the fact that I’d basically laid out all my cards in front of this man who’d been a total stranger just a few hours ago.

He continued on despite my silence, “the world needs more people like you. Kind people, who really want to change the world for the better. Not because they want to prove something. But because it’s the right thing to do.”

My heart lurched in my chest. Stranger or no stranger, hearing that made some of the weight lift off my shoulders, even just a little. How stupid. How pathetic, that all I wanted to hear was to be praised and recognized by someone who I barely knew.

Nevertheless, it warmed me. The warmth of his tone as he gazed at me from across the cheap table. That was incomparable to an entire life filled with nothing but disappointment.

“I—“ a hollow chuckle escaped the back of my throat, “I don’t know what to say.”

He was the one to flush this time, “sorry, I didn’t mean to pry—“

“No no! Don’t say sorry,” I protested, eyes darting between him and the drink in my hand, “it’s—it’s refreshing, compared to what I’m used to hear.”

"Wah, I mean...I took art so I'm not one to talk."

I can't help but giggle, "so we're just a bunch of nerds. Bet you watch anime too."

"Don't get me started unless you want to stay here till four in the morning," he chuckled.

I wasn't really sure how to describe that night in particular. It felt like catching up with an old friend and yet, I barely knew this man. Somehow though, it seemed like he understood the pain that simmered in me, the feelings that I bottled up for all this time and it brought me comfort that someone else could empathize with the thoughts that pulled me down by the ankles every time I tried to swim.

Something had changed between us by the time he walked me back to the station that evening. What had started out as a coincidental meeting of two strangers had ebbed into the softest brushes of friendship. I was more than giddy to exchange numbers in hopes of meeting him again.

That night, I fell into a deep and soundless sleep. The best sleep I'd had in ages.

>>>

The third time I saw Song Mingi, we promised to change the world.

It started out as him inviting me over for his apparently out-of-this-world shrimp pasta, to which I'd scoffed and broke his heart by stating that I was vegetarian. But that had only fueled his desire to make me fall in love with his cuisine as he promised me the best alternative to that.

He'd bought wine for the occasion, had managed to secure the apartment all to himself that evening, and had even decorated the table with soft scented candles and matching plates that brought out the magical air of first dates.

That was enough to bring a smile to my lips and I had looked over my shoulfer at him in amusement, "aren't you a romantic?"

I swore I caught his flush even in the dim golden hues that bathed the room, though he answered back with a scoff, "I'm an artist. Of course I'm a romantic."

"I was friends with some art kids, back in uni," I said as I sat down at the table, Mingi following my movements as he placed the pot of pasta between us, "and I gotta say, I felt like they were more cyberpunk and dark than actual romantics."

"Yeah, even art kids have their own little gangs," he wrinkled his nose, "honestly, I was pretty normal. Didn't dye my hair, no piercings in my nose, no tattoos 'coz I hated needles. People would keep asking me if I was a design student."

"Wait--isn't that like, kind of the same thing though?"

"It's different in the way we approach the subject matter. But yeah, I don't get it either. Why can't I be an artist and a designer? I don't want to choose."

"Ah, let the existential crisis strike again."

We clinked glasses, gobbled up the pasta with vegan meat that he'd replaced -- with too much confidence bordering on arrogance, I might add -- and as we spoke, my attention couldn't help lingering over his works until at some point, Mingi had relented and gestured for me to grab his sketchbook.

And that had been a game changer. It had opened my eyes.

Sure, I'd seen his sketches when I'd caused his spill a few weeks ago. But at that time I was all too panicked to actually care what had been sprawled over the paper...until now.

"So you draw characters?" My mouth was practically hanging open as I constantly gazed at the array of faces sprawled before me. They were beautiful. Stunningly so. And haunted somehow, as if wrapped in narratives of their own.

"Yeah. I like faces. I like people." I heard the shyness in his alto as he stood next to me, hand going to scratch the back of his neck, "I think they all carry so many different stories."

And they did. Their eyes said something different within each and every scene. My heart tugged with emotions I couldn't quite decipher for myself as I pondered oveer his intent.

That was when the idea hit me.

"Mingi," I turned to him, "you said you wanted to tell stories?"

Raising a brow, he said, "yeah?"

"How comfortable are you with animated movies?"

"Hm. I did some modules back in college so I'm not unfamiliar with it. Why?"

"This is going to sound crazy okay?"

Alarm flashed through his features. He blinked, "okay."

"Let's make an animated movie. About the ocean."

>>>

And he said yes. Just like that.

He heard me out first, worked through all the logistics of how we were going to create something together that would bring to life a vision of a new world, a world that would bring life within the marine ecosystem. Our meetings were flexible, in-between scraps of time that we'd get either during his lunch time or during evenings where we'd get dinner and discuss. But while I was unsure of whether I'd pushed him before even asking him about it, I caught a glimpse of the twinkle in his eyes, and that had made me pause for a minute.

It was the look of pure love.

Love for life.

In all honesty, a little part of myself fell for Mingi there and then.

"I was thinking it to be more like a kid storybook," I told him from my place on his sofa, watching him at his tiny kitchen desk sketching out some panels, "so that it's got a light mood with dark undertones."

"Yeah, it'll be more effective that way," he murmured, brows stitched together and lips puckered. That expression took ten years off his age, "I was thinking maybe we need a protagonist. Maybe she's a mermaid or something. Has animals friends and lives in the corals--"

"And she watches as all the fishing destroys her home," I finished with barely restrained excitement, "and she falls in love with a fisherman who decides to help her out!"

Mingi's eyes lifted from his paper -- that must've been the first time in a full hour since he was so focused on the task at hand -- and locked on mine. A grin slowly spread across his face, "I like that. A lot."

There was something in his gaze that made me heat up, though I made an attempt to shrug and look away to avoid the heat slowly spreading through my limbs as if someone had suddenly turned up the temperature in the room.

My week followed with a few more interviews, most of which were unsuccessful. One of them seemed interested enough -- a Marine conservation company that focused on dolphins and whale protection -- but upon scheduling an official meeting with the manager, I couldn’t reel in the horror that struck me as soon as I stepped foot into the enclosure. The dolphins barely had any room to swim around, let alone the condition of the waters that were more of a murky green than health aquamarine blue. The animals themselves didn’t look too happy to be here and god knows one could understand, considering the circumstances and the fact that this pool was the size proportionate to a tuna can.

The cherry on top though, was definitely the orcas. Top fins flipped to the side and with only three left -- the information board stuck to the entrance stated that there were at least ten of them -- it definitely appeared more to be a morgue than a conservation area.

At this point, I couldn't stop the tears. Pain scratched through my chest before I swivelled around with barely restrained anger, "you--" my nostrils flared, jaw clenching, "that's--that's what you call keeping them safe?"

The manager's eyes narrowed, "With all due respect, we--"

"You're killing them!" I yelled out, unable to restrain myself, "this is called murder! And you call yourself a marine conservation? What is wrong with you!?"

Needless to say, I was kicked out a few seconds after that.

But the damage was done. My heart was aching, practically empty of anything else apart from the horror I had just witnessed unfold before my very eyes. If they had a good reputation and were treating their animals badly, how about the ones that didn't have any funding? The ones that had smaller acres and less manpower to help?

How many animals were they killing in the process?

Sure, not all of them were like that. But that was a bit slap in the face. By reality.

Mingi noticed my wallowing silence when he came over that night -- I had cooked vegan burgers for the occasion -- though I tried to hide it behind the pretence of tiredness and lack of sleep. He wasn’t convinced though, for as soon as we’d dumped our plates in the sink and collapsed onto my worn-out red couch with frayed fabric ends hanging from its sides, the first thing he uttered was:

“Did something happen?”

I looked up, surprised that he’d picked up on my nonverbal cues since I usually prided myself on always managing to keep my emotions in check whenever I was in the public eye.

Admittedly though, this was a feeling I had never felt before. This wretched, this broken-hearted. I had seen documentaries, countless videos of slaughter and poor conditions.

But this, this was something entirely out of its league. This was horrendous. I couldn’t understand how one could even do such a thing. How one could think of this as humane, as a service to those beautiful animals that never hurt anybody.

“You don’t have to tell me,” Mingi continued in a rush, “I didn’t mean to pry--”

“They barely have any space,” I cut him off, voice practically on edge as the sight of the dolphins flashed through the back of my lids, “they--they looked ill. Mingi, you should’ve seen them. They didn’t--they didn’t look like they were going to survive in there and, I--I couldn’t not do anything so--”

My tears had already gathered at the corner of my eyes and I buried my head into my arms so that he wouldn’t have to fall victim to my sobs. It surprised me, though, when his warmth came to wrap around my figure, hand pressing against the back of my head so that I was nestled into the crook of his neck.

The murmur scratched the back of my throat, “I’m sorry--”

“It’s okay,” Mingi’s soothing alto washed away the nervous thought that maybe he was doing it out of sympathy. Out of pity, even. But he sounded more comforting than uncomfortable, which made me cry even harder into his shoulder.

It might have sounded stupid to anyone else; crying about animals that still had a chance at life, crying because they were forced to be in cages that didn’t serve them any better purpose than leaving them out to sea as dead meat. But I couldn’t help myself, couldn’t help my heart, from the deep sorrow that washed through me every time I pictured those lifeless creatures -- usually so alive and vivacious and just amazing to be around -- just wallowing in the waters like a bunch of dead floating bodies.

This wasn’t about allowing them to live. This wasn’t about carving out a better future for these animals. This was merely about trying to build a good reputation, and feeding off all the money they received because of good samaritans that wanted to do good and yet, had no idea of what was going on behind the scenes.

It was horrifying. Heartbreaking. And I couldn’t stand by to watch them all fall to pieces, to be killed to extinction.

“It’s okay,” he shushed me when he heard my sobs get a little louder. One of his hands soothed down my back, stable and comforting. I tried breathing in and out, raggedly, but eventually slowly settling into small hiccups as the night wore on and the pain subsided.

How stupid. How embarrassing. What an idiot.

Those were the thoughts that circled my brain as soon as my consciousness cleared.

"My neighbour had a cattle field,” Mingi said a while later when we sat side by side, one of his hands still on my back and rubbing slow circles. I had grabbed a pillow, hugging it for comfort, “back when I was still a kid. I had to walk to the nearest bus stop because we were so far out. We didn’t have any buses coming our way. Whenever I passed by that farm though, I’d feel so helpless to see all these cattle, bunched up together. There was barely enough space for them to breathe, let alone move.”

I sniffled and wiped my nose, nodding at him to go on.

“So one day, oh god. You’re going to laugh,” he chuckled softly, rubbing his face with his other hand, “one day I decided-- you know what? They didn’t deserve to live like this. I felt sorry for them. And they were getting slaughtered. Every single day. I was so angry that I went over to the backyard fence that afternoon and just opened the gate.”

“You did what?” My eyes bulged out of their sockets.

Mingi burst out laughing, “I know, I was stupid. And I wasn’t thinking about how this was the man’s hard work you know. It was what paid the bills. But I was naive and I just really wanted to help the cattle. So I set them free,” His laughter dimmed into chuckles, “all fifty-five of them.”

“Holy shit Mingi,” my mouth formed an ‘O’, “you’re crazy!” I started cackling, imagining a younger version of Mingi storming up to the fence with that same determined glint in his eye. I’d definitely done some crazy things back when I was still a child. But this one was unheard of.

He joined in and soon enough, we were laughing our heads off for god knows whatever reason. All I knew was that the ache in my heart had dissolved into a tiny stub the size of a burnt-out cigarette and my stomach now hurt from too much laughing.

“Don’t worry Y/N,” Mingi smiled down at me, those feline eyes soft and the curve of his full lips lighting up his features, “if they can’t see the wrong they’re doing now, then our project will.”

Right then and there, I believed him.

>>>>

I fell in love with Song Mingi the same way I fell in love with the sea.

I was not, until I was.

And when the realization hit me, I was in a little too deep to retract my footsteps.

Maybe it was in his gentle demeanour. Something I wasn't used to in guys. But Mingi had a sensitivity to him, a way with human emotions that made it easy to communicate. He was soft and kind and so open to everything and anything I said. He had a stubborn streak, but mostly for things that concerned his self-worth. And I hated how he couldn't admire his talent the same way I did.

But that was the thing with artists right? They always shied away from the limelight, let their works of art speak in their stead.

And what I loved the most about Mingi, was the fact that he listened. He actually took the time to listen and remember the things I said. It might have been little, insignificant. But it wasn't for me.

"Y/N! Guess what I brought for you!" He hollered one particular Wednesday night after work. He practically lived here, for his things were already sprawled onto the kitchen table from last night, and the night before.

"A donut? A latte? A pizza?" I called back while stirring the red bean stew as a quick dinner. The lack of response caused me to turn around, only to be faced with a bunch of red roses. I yelped in surprise, "what the-- what's this for?!"

My face heated up on its own accord as Mingi laughed and said, "Happy International Women's Day."

"What?" I blinked in shock, my curry now forgotten on the stove, "you mean, happy valentines?"

"Nope. No mistake. Today's International Women's Day," he grinned, "so here you go, a bouquet of roses to one of the strongest women I know.”

My face explode with heat and if it weren’t for me averting my head and hiding my face amidst the roses that tickled my nose, he would’ve guessed the way my heart beat for him. Too fast for it to be normal.

Another time, we’d been hanging out by the Han River sloppily eating our way through ice cream in zero degree weather and he hadn’t hesitated to give me his hoodie when he’d noticed the raw redness of my hands, the sniffles coming from my nose.

“You’re cold,” he’d stated with a small tut of disapproval. I protested with a shake of my head, but it had been no use. He was already pulling his coat off and not a second later, his hoodie was flung onto my face.

“Ow,” I mumbled as I maneuvered my hands through the sleeves, chest warming at his kind action. Mingi was a sweetheart, no doubt. And I really needed to stop crushing on him. He, however, did not make it so easy.

“Thanks,” I glanced back at him after stuffing my hands into his hoodie pockets. It smelled just like him, as if Mingi himself was wrapping me in his arms. The thought made my heart melt, “you didn’t have to, you know. I’m tougher than I look.”

“Sure, Y/N. You look like you could fly away if I pushed you too hard,” he reached over to ruffle my hair and I’d pouted then before jabbing playfully at his shoulder.

The more I spent time in Mingi’s flat, the more I got to know of his entourage, met his friends and saw how they genuinely cared for the said young man. In return, he met mine and it had become a habit to drag him along wherever I went and vice versa. So much so that it elicited a few curious glances and poignant questions that I tried avoiding at all costs for fear that they’d find out my true feelings.

“Mingi’s never been an outgoing kid,” Hongjoong said -- he was one of Mingi’s older childhood friends and they’d known each other all their lives -- during one of the evenings when the boys had crashed into Mingi’s living room and the flat had turned into a Mario Kart competition. Much to the displeasure of Mingi’s flatmates.

“Huh, that’s something I can’t quite picture,” I replied, gaze trailing back to Minig’s face as he yelled and high-fived Jongho and San. A series of groans echoed from the opposing team.

“Yeah, he’s grown out a lot more since university,” Hongjoong took a sip of his beer, “he does gets quite emotional from time to time. That’s why I worry about him so much. He’s sensitive.”

“I guess all artists are, in a sense.”

The man nodded, “yeah, but he’s been a lot brighter. Ever since you two started that project.”

I tried not to show that I was slowly becoming a blushing mess but it was hard to keep my feelings in check when Hongjoong’s eyes were piercing on my own, suddenly alert and filled with an intensity that made me want to squirm.

“You like him?”

The words were like icy shards. I froze.

I couldn’t keep the surprise from my face when I turned to face Hongjoong. My mouth suddenly felt as dry as sandpaper.

“Mingi’s fragile. If you’re gonna play him, I suggest you don’t.”

“I’m not--” the words ached as they escaped my voicebox, “I’m not playing him.”

“Then please, take care of him. He doesn’t show how weaknesses to everyone. But he has a habit of overworking himself, especially when it comes to pleasing others,” Hongjoong shot me a look.

My mouth reacted before my brain did. I blurted out, “why are you telling me this?”

And there was that look in Hongjoong’s eyes; the dark softeness filled with affection for the said young man that reminded me of that of a father’s. When he spoke next, his words were barely above a murmur, “because he cares about you, a lot. And I don’t want him to get disappointed.”

I wasn’t sure whether to take that as an insult or a compliment. Hongjoong’s words bordered on threatening, though I knew that it wasn’t the case. He was just doing his job after all; looking out for Mingi. But if he thought, for one moment, that I would go out of my way to hurt the latter, then that statement was proven wrong the moment I realized my heart beat for him.

As the coldness of spring melted away with the warmth of summer, sakuras went into full bloom and more and more people gathered outside to take pictures, couples strolling hand in hand while enjoying street snacks that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Empty streets suddenly turned bustling, just like our current storyboard coming to life.

“I don’t get it though. Why does the fisherman do that when he knows he’s going to go jobless when he exposes the fishing industry?” Mingi asked one night while we watched the animation roll by in comfortable silence. The frames were almost done at this point, with only the ending to wrap it all up and the music to be added in the background.

I leaned against his desk table, slightly curving of his sitting form, “because he loves the mermaid,” I went straight to the point, not realizing that my voice had dropped to a whisper until Mingi turned in my direction.

“He loves the mermaid just enough that he’s willing to sacrifice all of that?”

It sounded dumb when he put it so simply. So I shrugged, “people do stupid things in the name of love.”

A slight pause as my words buzzed through the air.

"Would you?” He spoke up,” do that?”

My eyes dropped to his face. The depth of his orbs reflected in the dim light of his room had my heart shaking and impulsively, my hand went to fist onto my jumper sleeve. Just enough to keep me grounded.

“What--” I swallowed thickly, “do you mean?”

A few beats of silence ensued. Our eyes locked.

“Would you give all that up for the one you love?”

I kept my eyes on his even as heat littered through my cheeks, “yeah,” I bit my lip, “yeah I would. Probably.”

Something flashed in his eyes then. Something different, darker than what I was used to seeing. A silent breath escaped my lips. Electricity curled through the air, buzzing in-between us.

I didn’t dare breathe. Didn’t dare look away.

Mingi’s eyes traced my every feature, gaze flickering to my mouth.

My lips parted on their own accord and he must’ve heard me, for his eyes flickered straight back up to mine and-- had his eyes always been this intense? This beautiful?

His hand suddenly fluttered over my arm. He tugged.

I stumbled into him.

And then his lips were pressing onto my cheek. Softly. A little shy. Breaths warm where his mouth hovered right upon my skin that burned as butterflies suddenly exploded through my stomach. A gasp died in the back of my throat and as I gazed down at him in growing surprise at his stroke of boldness, I saw his eyes widen in realization of what he'd done.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to get into your space--" his scrambled murmur died when I shook my head to silence him, a slow smile spreading across my lips. I didn't know what to say though, what to do.

I finally found my voice after a while, "what...was that for?" I asked, tentative.

Mingi's head ducked shyly, hand going up to rub at his neck while avoiding my gaze like the plague, "I don't know," he admitted, "I just--I wanted to cheer you up. I guess?"

"You guess?"

His orbs flickered to mine, "don't make fun of me," he sounded like a child and a giggle erupted from my mouth, "I'm not. Just making sure what your intentions were."

I almost missed him murmuring out, "even I'm not sure."

That shut me up. I blinked at him.

"You looked sad," he looked away, "I don't like seeing you sad."

Was that a confession? Or was it just me being overdramatic?

I didn't bother responding out of fear that flat-out rejection was waiting for me just behind the door that broke the boundary between friendship and romance. I moved away and his arms dropped, clearly sensing that something had changed in my demeanour. For the rest of the night, we didn't address the issue, made it out to have been an accident, a small 'slip' if you will. In truth, I was a coward. Couldn't muster the courage to spill out the weight that was heavy on my heart and would rather lock up my feelings away, push them at the far end of my mind.

Maybe it was for the best. We were partners only for this project.

After that, who knows when I'd be seeing him again?

>>>

The day our story came to life was the day I almost told Mingi how I felt about him.

"It's done."

My brain couldn't process what my eyes saw. The animation kept on rolling forward and repeating itself, the melody becoming a numb buzzing background noise as the roaring excitement flooded through my veins, my heart beating so loudly I feared its sound echoed through the room.

Mingi sat next to me at his swivelling desk chair, chin on his palm and eyes glancing between me and the computer screen.

Ever since that night, there had been a weird tension every time we looked at each other for too long. It felt like an itch under my skin I couldn't quite reach, something that made me want to squirm restlessly.

"That..." my throat went dry. It was beautiful. The shading, the fluidity of the storytelling. Everything. "It's..." I struggled to find my voice.

It was beautiful.

"It's beautiful."

Choking up on the wave of emotion crashing through me, I couldn't restrain the sob echoing through the back of my throat and turning away from the young artist to hide the tears welling in the corner of my eyes, I jumped when a warmth ghosted over the back of my elbow.

"You okay?" Mingi's alto rang deep. He'd risen from his chair and it took me aback to see how tall he actually was. I barely reached his throat.

I nodded, fervently wiping the tears away, "I'm fine. Just-- it's hard to watch."

"Yeah," his features softened, "it was hard to draw."

If I was an emotional wreck, I couldn't imagine how hard he must have struggled throughout the whole thing. My body reacted before my brain did, arms flinging themselves around Mingi's neck as I heard him stutter out with embarrassment.

Burying my face into his chest, my body melted into his scent of soft men shampoo followed by a citrus aftertaste. His figure stiffened for a few seconds, before his arms slowly laced around my middle with a hesitance that made my heart flutter to my throat.

"Thank you," came my muffled mumble, "thank you, for doing this."

A small noise of approval rumbled through his chest, palms smoothing over my back in a manner so soothing it makes my limbs turn to mush.

We headed out to buy some tteokbeokki straight from the street vendor later that night along with some pizza to honour our success -- or more precisely, Mingi's success since he was the one doing the majority of hard work -- and as we settled ourselves on a bench in a nearby park of the neighbourhood, I looked up at the night sky with a soft sigh, knowing that after this night, my chances of seeing Mingi would be slim to none.

It wasn't that I didn't want to see him. It was more because he probably had a life of his own, a life he wanted back. He had friends that cared for him, had a stable job he needed to dive back into. He didn't have as much free time as I did.

Something like a jagged rock cut through my chest at the thought. I wasn't going to life; it hurt to know that Mingi's face wouldn't be a regular in my daily schedule.

But he'd done his part. The rest -- figuring out how to pitch that project to our sponsors -- was up to me.

"Have you made a list of who you're going to pitch it to?" Mingi's voice drew me back to reality and I blinked up at him, catching sight of the beer he held out in his hand.

I took it gratefully, cracking it open and taking a huge sip. The liquid felt good sliding down my throat, the familiar sensation of alcohol warming up my stomach.

"I have a few names in mind," the night breeze was cool as it washed against my features that seemed permanently doused in embarrassment, "I might try and pitch it directly to the National Ocean Board*. Though apparently, you need like a contact to get to the organization itself so I'll have to figure that out."

He hummed in agreement, "the hardest part's yet to come."

"No," my eyes swiped up to his, hating how easily he pushed aside his efforts, "you did everything, Mingi. I--I'm really grateful. I don't know how to thank you."

"You came up with the idea. You're the one who wrote the entire storyboard," he shrugged as he took a sip of his own beer. I tried not to stare too long at the bobbing of his adam's apple -- he looked so fine. There was no doubt about that. Even in his casual hoodie and training slacks decked in shades of black and grey, there was no denying that he had the charm and the aura of a model itself.

"I'm just the one who knows how to draw," he continued in an easy tone, which made me snap, "that's not true and you know it," my eyes narrowed, hands clenching a little harder on my can, "you can draw, sure. Anyone can draw, or learn how to anyway. But you can tell stories and trust me when I tell you this-- not everyone can," I shook my head, "not in the way that you do, anyway. It's magical, it makes you dream, it makes you think that maybe--" the words caught in the back of my throat as I swallowed thickly, "maybe there's still a little bit of hope left."

A soft pause ensued. The crickets chirped in the distance paired with the distant hum of cicadas. I kept my eyes glued to his, insistently trying to prove my point as we kept our gazes locked for a few seconds too long. And then, his features softened and his face broke into a soft smile.

A small that took my breath away.

He reached up so suddenly that I didn't have time to register the fact that his hand came to a rest upon my head. He ruffled my hair, in a manner so gentle that I stopped breathing for a full minute.

"Thank you," his murmur washed against my face, breaths tingling my cheeks and causing a splatter of warm peony to rise through the back of my neck.

I wished to believe it was the alcohol.

"No need to thank me," was the only thing I could mumble back, if only to hide how scrambled up my brain had become.

"You'll let me know, right?" Mingi allowed his hand to linger for a few drawn out seconds, before he dropped his arm and took another sip of his beer, "if ever we get a breakthrough."

"Of course I will. What sort of question is that?"

"I don't know. In case you decide to run away without any credits to the artist," he flashed me a teasing smile and I shoved his shoulder in response, "thanks for having absolutely no faith in me."

He laughed, "I'm joking."

"Oh, you're not. You're actually really serious about me stealing your work aren't you?"

"What? Of course not Y/N! Who do you take me for?"

"Who do you take me for?!" I huffled out playfully, " asking me these stupid questions--hey!"

I didn't have time to defend myself when he suddenly pounced onto me, fingers finding my weak points right underneath my armpits. I squealed, bursts of laughter and cries of protests falling from my lips as his hands scrabbled against my sides in an attempt to make me pay for my earlier comments.

"Mingi! Stop it--" I choked on my own laughter, hands failing to find purchase to push him away as he continued his attack without mercy, "that's for using me!" he gloated.

My beer caner spilled over the ground halfway through our playful fight and it wasn't until I managed to grip his wrists that I realized our provocative position; Mingi's body was hovering over mine that had toppled onto the bench, back pressed against the cool metal as I gazed up, transfixed, into those gorgeous feline orbs glinting in the dark light of the park.

The playful air stilled in light of the realization dawning upon me; that he was so close I could kiss him if I wanted to. His lips were mere inches. Would he straight-out reject me if I attempted to bring him closer? Those sinfully rose-tinted lips that looked plush and inviting-- my heart fluttered to my throat just thinking about it.

No.

Don't do it. Don't ruin what you have, a small voice echoed in the back of my mind.

Mingi, maybe upon noticing the change in my demeanor, slowly pulled back and pulled me along with him so that I straightened up. His head tipped down to the spilled beer cans at our feet, and chuckled.

"Well, that's a waste," he commented lightly, as if we hadn't just engaged in something a little more intimate than interesting conversation, and that made my heart sink a little.

"Sure is," I avoided his eyes at all costs, kept my gaze lowered in case he caught a glimpse of what he shouldn't be seeing in the first place.

The words were lingering on the edge of my lips the whole night, deliberately playing back and forth between what was best for us right now, at this particular moment. And if Mingi noticed, he didn't comment on it, though from the way his eyes would find mine in concern every time a silence lasted for too long, I suppose he suspected that there was something a little more that was bothering the depths of my heart even though I forced plastic smiles over my face and pushed my eyes into crinkles to mimic my usual happiness.

My lips held onto a bitter aftertaste when he said our goodbyes that night, as I held onto his sweater a little longer than usual, numb from the cold and the things that clogged up the back of my throat.

It tasted sour.

I love you.

>>>

Y/N: They said they would sponsor it.

My fingers shook with every key tapped onto my phone, brown orbs glued to the screen as I awaited for Mingi's reply. He was online, I had seen his status a few minutes ago before I mustered up the courage to tell him the great news that would've once made me ecstatic, would have me jumping around in joy and barely restrained excitement at the thought that my voice, our voices, were finally being heard after months of toiling and searching and begging and being thrown out of doors.

After that particular night where we'd celebrated our win, I'd been trying my best to avoid the said man when possible. It wasn't that I didn't want to see him. On the contrary, I had to physically dig my nails into my palm so as not to dial his number every evening when the silence, the overbearing numb emptiness, became too much to bear. But I didn't want to overwhelm him, not if he didn't want anything to do with me.

He never took the step forward to contact me first. I guessed that this was my answer.

Instead of pondering over what could have been, I decided to delve deep into my search for sponsors. Easier said than done though, considering that there were numerous marine protection companies that were using greenwashing for their customer market and blatantly refused to take part in such a 'horrendous, misleading act' as they called it. To fund myself for the time-being, I was grateful enough to get a job as a cashier in a Pet Shop from across the street from my apartment. It wasn't much, but it paid the bills and I was able to spend as much time with animals instead of human beings. Life seemed to crawl by at a slow snail's pace for some time, going through the ministrations of life and falling in a routine of going to work, calling companies and sponsors during my lunch break, gong back to work, then getting home and trying once more to search up other kinds of sponsors in hopes that they'd give me the time of the day.

It wasn't until a few months later that a small company in the outskirts of Seoul reached out to me. They introduced themselves as a branch of a bigger Western umbrella and after running a background check, I counted them as credible and accepted an interview.

Which led to the current situation.

My phone buzzed. Screen flashing: Mingi is calling.

My brain backtracked. Huh?

Fingers shaking, I almost missed the green icon before pressing the device to my ear.

"Hey."

"They accepted it?!"

A smile instinctively hitched my lips upwards, "yes," I murmured, breathless. Then, said it a little louder, "yes!"

Mingi laughed, "oh my god! They accepted it!"

I couldn't help but laugh along with him. His effect on me was incredible, lit me up on the inside and for a second I wished I could get a glimpse of his face.

I suggested that we meet up at a nearby café to discuss the details, which was weird, considering that it had been a few weeks since I last saw his face. I couldn't blame him, for he'd been having a tougher time at work and I was burnt out. Coupling that with our lack of communication and you got a friendship that was slowly fraying at the ends.

I forced my heart to mentally put out a front so as not to jump on him the moment I caught sight of his face. But that didn't prove necessary, for the moment I stepped into the quaint coffee shop filled with the mixed scent of books and fresh espresso Mingi was already wrapping me up in a huge bear hug, so tight I could barely breathe, overwhelmed by the familiar scent of his shampoo.

"It's been awhile," he grinned, pulling back to gaze down at me and I swore I felt my chest tighten at the softness swirling through his dark pupils. Everything, every emotion came rushing back like a tidal wave.

"It has," I managed to cough up despite the fact that my heartstrings seemed to be dancing around in-between my lungs. Just tell him already! "You look good, Mingi. Better than the last time we met."

"That's because we managed to finish our project before the deadline," he grinned as he tugged me over to his table. I took note of the worn-out black edge of his sketchbook peeking out of his backpack and had to smile. Typical of him, to be carrying out of his sketchbook even now that he barely had no time for his personal art.

We caught up on each other's lives and about the specifics of the sponsor. They were willing to advertise it on their social medias, their websites, as well as present it to the National Ocean Cleanup Day that was soon approaching, which was an opportunity for all aspiring artists and storytellers to present their art in hopes that it would be seen by an influential eye. Every commission would be ours and they'd only take 5% commission for their advertisement, a pretty good deal considering their reputation.

"I still can't believe they want to advertise it," he raked a hand through his dark locks. They seemed to have grown a little since then, "It feels surreal."

"It'll be a good opportunity for you too," I smiled back, "to get yourself known as an artist."

"Oh actually, there's something I haven't told you yet."

Leaning forward in my seat, my eyebrow rose in curiosity, "spill."

"Well, I'm actually quitting my job next month."

I blinked, "wha--wait, really? Did you get another job?"

He shook his head at that before his smile broadened, "nah. I'm not about that life anymore. I want to do what I really want," pausing slightly as hesitation flashed through his features, I offered him a reassuring smile, "I'm going to be a full-time artist."

My mouth dropped open in surprise, eyes widening, "Oh my god--No! You're kidding?!" and when he shook his head once more with that knowing smile I knew too well, my hands shot up instantly to grab at his with barely restrained excitement, "I'm so proud of you, Mingi! What--How did you--What have you planned?!"

"I haven't really planned anything yet," though his tone was unsure, there was no denying the full-out grin on his face, "but I've been gathering a bunch of my sketches. They all follow the same theme so I might just go with that."

"That's amazing!" I couldn't believe it. Tears were filling my eyes, "what concept are you going for?!"

And that was when his gaze locked onto mine.

"The sea."

I probably looked like an idiot. Staring at him like he'd grown another pair of eyes and not really comprehending his words for the first few seconds they settled into my brain.

That was when it hit me.

I gasped.

"W--Why?" was the only thing I managed to stutter out.

Though there seemed to be a layer of pink dusted across his cheeks, Mingi answered confidently, "because of you."

I gulped.

"I got inspired, kind of," his head dipped down, dark pupils lowering to the table as if he was too embarrassed to meet my gaze, "I couldn't understand how someone could be as passionate. I--I live in my head most of the time, never really notice all of these outside problems. And it's bad. I know it is.” His eyes fluttered up to mine and I lost breath at the intensity present in them. They swirled with a gentleness that was seldom present, a vulnerable sheen of maroon reflecting in the depths of his dark irises and yet, so intense at the same time that I flushed right down to my feet.

“But you don’t. You live to make the world better and I—I wish I was more like that. I want to be more like that. Because these things matter just as much as what I want to show inside my head,” he paused, hesitating for a few beats of silence before continuing, “when you first told me about the animation, I was—I’m not going to lie to you—I was scared, that I wouldn’t be able to fulfill your expectations. That I didn’t have that in me,” his hands, which had unknowingly turned to grasp mine, slowly interlocked his fingers with my own, “but I’ve never seen someone look at me the way you do.”

“How…” my words trailed off as I struggled to form a cohesive sentence, “how did I look at you?”

“Like you believed in me.”

Tears suddenly pricked at the corner of my eyes. Because he was right. I had had so much faith in Mingi that I lost my own. I had no purpose, while he did. He was so overwhelmingly talented at what he did that I wished I was more like him.

And all along, he was admiring me for doing whatever the hell I wanted.

“I—“ I tried turning my head, hid it in my sleeve so he wouldn’t see the tears brimming in my eyes, “I don’t know what to say.”

“Hm, I guess you can say ‘thanks Mingi, for seeing me as your role model’ or ‘hey that’s cool. I actually inspired someone’. Something along these lines,” he grinned as one of his hands released mine to cup my chin. Turning my face towards his once more before brushing the tears away, he murmured, “why are you crying?”

I sniffled, “because that’s the most wonderful thing someone’s ever said to me and I can’t help but love you even more—“

The words had bubbled out without warning and instantly my mouth clamped itself shut. I stared at Mingi’s shocked expression, looked back down at the cracks on the veneered table before me, and tried withdrawing my hands from his grasp.

Except, he didn’t allow me to.

“What…did you say?” his voice had dropped even lower. My heart jumped to my throat, nerves suddenly jittery, “you…love me?”

I tried chuckling, though I sounded more like a dying animal, “of a sort. You know, like a friend loves another fri—“

His pointed look shut me up and I brought my eyes back to the table. How embarrassing. How stupid. What an idiot. You’re such an idiot! My mind kept on screaming over and over and over again.

“Y/N.”

I didn’t dare look up, for fear of seeing someone I shouldn’t. For fear that one glance might break my heart into little pieces without warning.

He squeezed my fingers as a sign. His hand tilted my chin up to his. My gaze insistently glued itself to the crack running along the table’s edge.

“Y/N. Look at me.”

No. My heart screamed out. No, this is all wrong. This shouldn’t be happening.

“Fine then. You give me no other choice,” he sighed in what sounded to be exasperation and before I knew what was happening, I felt the softest touch of blossoming warmth over my knuckles. Eyes shooting up with a silent gasp, they went straight to Mingi’s as I took in the way his lips were brushing against the back of my hand.

To say that I was combusting like wildfire would be an understatement.

“Does that answer your question?” he whispered.

“Uhm…no.”

His gaze darkened. My stomach churned.

“I love you.”

I swear I could’ve burst out crying then and there.

“You—“ my throat was dry. Hearing myself say them sounded pathetic, borderline ridiculous. Hearing it fall from his mouth though…that was exhilarating. Magical, “You…love me?”

When he nodded, fresh tears welled up in my eyes. Mingi couldn’t help but chuckle then, reaching over to wipe at my cheek, “why are you crying?” he sounded amused.

“I don’t know,” I blubbered back, “because I thought you’d say sorry and tell me we’d never be able to meet again and I don’t know how I was going to live if that was the case—“

“I don’t think I’d be that drastic, Y/N,” bringing my hands up once more, he allowed his lips to brush against my knuckles, the mere action comforting me, “I thought it was pretty obvious.”

“Pretty obvious? Jesus Mingi. I can’t read you. You’re not obvious at all!”

“But what about that kiss on the cheek I gave you that time?!” He pouted, “that must’ve counted for something!”

“Well you didn’t do anything else after that so how was I supposed to know?”

“I thought that you were disgusted when you didn’t respond because you didn't like me that way,” his pout deepened and I laughed at how childish he looked. A grown young man who was on the brink of a breakthrough in his career, acting like he was merely a five year old child, “how was I supposed to know then?”

I bit my lip to stop the grin from spreading over my face. I failed, smiling so wide my face practically broke in two, “you’re kinda cute when you’re mad.”

Huffing and muttering some in-comprehensive words under his breath, he tightened his grip on my hands and lifted them to press against his cheek, where his face mellowed out into that soft, crooked smile that turned his eyes into half-moons, “so does this mean we’re dating?”

“Well that’s kind of bold of you, considering you didn’t ask me,” I tried keeping a nonchalant air, only to burst into a fit of giggles as the said man threw me a horrified look, “but I literally poured my heart out!”

“I’m joking you big baby,” I ruffled his hair for good measure and though he grunted, there was no denying that the grin on his face was a permanent one. It made a series of butterflies flutter in my stomach and biting my lip to keep myself from giggling like a silly schoolgirl, I felt the slightest tremors of happiness that sounded like my heart cartwheeling in my chest.

Mingi accompanied me home that night, not hesitating to slip a hand into mine and intertwining our fingers throughout the whole train ride. We probably looked like a pair of idiots, smiling so wide at nothing at all that it wasn’t surprising if we scared off a few passerby’s. As we walked up the street towards my flat, we chatted about nothing and anything at all and somehow, I felt a sense of peace that hadn’t been there ever since our project was completed. As though all the puzzle pieces had finally fallen into place and now actually made sense.

It was calm inside my heart, inside my mind. The turmoil of waves that always seemed to brush a little too close to my sanity were now reduced to nothing, giving way to the calm sandy beach hidden below.

“That was a little too short for my liking,” Mingi’s statement caused me to blink back to reality and the fact that we’d already arrived at my doorstep made my excitement drop to disappointment in my stomach.

I turned to him nevertheless, graced with that soft smile that rendered me weak and made my throat clog up with unspoken emotion, “well, thanks for walking me back home,” my hands knotted themselves together, a habit of mine whenever I felt the nervousness take over.

“You don’t have to thank me, you know,” he flashed his pearly whites.

I turned away, feeling my cheeks warm up before Mingi gently grasped the back of my elbow. Tugging me close so that I stumbled into his chest, his hand was hesitant as it fluttered over my face, hovering a little distance away from my cheek before he mustered up the courage to cradle it in his hold. His other arm wound around my waist to pull me a little closer still and I would’ve lied to say that I was completely rational at this point in time.

My sanity had practically flown out of the window back then. Only leaving Mingi and his warmth in its wake.

His brown orbs held mine for the briefest of moments, as if asking me in silent permission whether he was allowed to take this step forward that would change our relationship forever.

So I did it for him. Pressed up on my tiptoes and claimed his lips.

Just like he’d claimed my heart.

The stifled yelp muffled at the back of his throat was one of surprise as I slanted my mouth against his and slowly, but hesitantly, moved my lips in a dance I’d hope he wouldn’t find to his dislike. But I was worrying for nothing, for a growl rumbled through his chest instead and he kissed me back with barely restrained vigour, hands pressing me close to his chest so that I gasped into his mouth. He took that to his advantage, tongue darting out to meet mine and drawing out a soft moan from my voicebox.

We parted for air after what seemed like forever, and that was when he pressed his forehead against mine with a tender, crooked smile that made me want to slap myself for wondering whether this was actually happening, that this was real.

“So,” his murmur washed over my face, nose bumping into mine, “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Depends,” I shot back with a smile of my own, “Is it a date?”

“What do you mean?” he whined, “of course it’s a date.”

Laughing and pecking his cheek once, twice, three times until he turned his head to capture my lips with his, I pulled away with a breathless grin, pretty sure that I looked like a complete idiot with butterflies practically roaring through the entirety of my abdomen, “then sure, I’d love that.”

I didn’t know anything about what would happen to our small animation once it would be aired. There was a slight apprehension prickling at the back of my mind every time I thought about it, but somehow all this was overshadowed by the abundance of joy swelling through my chest every time I caught a glimpse of Mingi’s face, knowing that he was mine and that he believed in me, even if the rest of the world didn’t.

And that in the end, it would be okay.

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