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tomboyneedshercoffee · 4 years

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Lovedust pt.7 || Peter Parker x Stark Reader

Summary: It’s the night of the party and Y/N is having seconds thoughts about going but her friend Kim convinces her to go and have fun. While things get more complicated with Peter, Y/N and Josh get closer at the party.

Word Count: MF 7.7K ( This is my longest piece I-)

Author’s note: YALL HERE WE ARE! THE BIG OOPSIE DOOPSIE OF LOVEDUST! This is probably my favorite part that I have written so far- it’s fairly long but boy did my heart HURT. I would say we have about maybe 2-3 chapters left give or take and I’m so bummed the story is almost over :(. Thank you all for being incredibly kind, your support means so much I can’t thank you guys enough. ALSO hehe there’s a lil easter egg from the first chapter and the chapter with Y/N having a nightmare. If yall pay attention to some of the wording at the end...

Warnings: Underage drinking, adult language, angst, mentions of death

part one || part two || part three || part four || part five || part six || part seven || part eight || epilogue

You wanted it to be a normal night, one that in hindsight, would’ve worked out in your favor if you were normal to begin with. You weren’t the partying type or maybe, you just convinced yourself that it wasn’t the case since you were hardly invited to them to begin with.

As if it made any sense, you felt eerily similar to Cinderella at this moment; even though she was one of the worst princesses in your opinion, you still sympathized with her story. The idea of wanting nothing more than to leave the confines of her dusty attic to dress pretty for a ball was something you could sadly relate to.

While the Avengers complex was by far well above the average means, it was Cinderella longing for just one night away from her complicated life that made you see the story in a different light.

But after years of wondering what it would be like to go to a real party (now that you were offered the chance to go) it wasn’t the way you dreamed it would be. As you stood in front of your closet, recalling the times you had put on outfits that you thought would be the perfect party attire just seemed like pieces of cloth, nothing more and nothing less.

Because you didn’t care about the stupid party. You cared about Peter.

You had put so much blame on him for everything; his feelings that he couldn’t control and his past which he apologized for multiple times. When you had the chance to fix everything, you were too scared to be vulnerable with him and admit that maybe you were falling for him.

You weren’t a coward, you wanted to convince yourself that you could still move on and have fun without thinking of him but you felt almost embarrassed that you were feeling the opposite.

“ I don’t want to go anymore. This isn’t right,” You sighed as you turned to your phone that was propped up against your dresser,” I can’t just leave him here while I go off to some party.”

You watched Kim through the facetime call as she put down her mascara to take a second to look at you,” Y/N, you have been talking about this party all week. Hell, I gave you that blue top that makes your boobs look great and you even said you couldn’t wait to wear it to the party!”

You only hummed in response as you moved aside the hangers in your closet to find the top that Kim had let you borrow.

“ We mentally prepared for this, we watched Superbad and Booksmart in one night to get the full spectrum of high school parties and we even practiced how to play beer pong!”

“ That was on our phones, I’m sure it’s different in real life,” You sighed as you took off your shirt and slipped on Kim’s blue blouse,” I just feel awful about going to a party knowing Peter is just gonna be here all night.”

“ Y/N, you deserve this party. You’ve worked your ass off for four years and I know how badly you wanted to go ever since we got uninvited to that one theatre party where Timothy Chalamete supposedly showed up to. I know you feel guilty about Peter and yeah, you kinda fucked things up, for now, but you deserve a goddamn break,” Kim practically yelled through the screen, doing her best to hype you up,” if you don’t go, you’re gonna regret it, you and I both know that. So just get dressed, do your hair all cute and shit, put on makeup or whatever you do and go have fun at this party with Josh.”

“ Fuck, Josh! I completely forgot about him, he’s supposed to pick me up in an hour!” You said as you suddenly felt a wave of nerves come over you,” what do I do about Josh? What if he tries to make a move on me tonight?”

“ Do you want him to make a move?”

“ I don’t know...not really but then again, I wouldn’t mind. Don’t hate me cause I know this sounds shitty, but maybe I need a distraction from Peter...is that awful?” You asked as you slipped off your pajama pants and rummaged through your dresser for jeans,” don’t answer that, I know that’s awful to say. Am I turning into a fuckboy?”

“ If you feel empathy than no, you’re not turning into a fuckboy,” Kim laughed as you found a pair of jeans to slip into,” look, I know how you feel about Peter and if you see yourself wanting to be with him than this thing you have with Josh won’t happen. At the same time, even if you do like Peter and you want to have fun with Josh for a night, you’re not a shitty person for wanting that. You’ve been through the wringer with Peter and to be honest, Josh is literally a goddamn angel so I don’t blame you for seeing him as an option. Either way, you’re hot, smart as fuck, and you are a fucking Stark; you don’t owe Peter or Josh anything so do what you want to do because you deserve it.”

Kim was every protagonist’s wet dream; the side character who had more to offer every time and yet, she practically thrived off of hyping you up. You knew that she had a point, she always did.

A part of you could tell which way she was leaning in terms of who you would go out with and yet, she only cared that you were making the right choice for yourself and your own happiness.

“ You really are a ride or die friend,” You said honestly as Kim smiled back,” I’m going to get ready but I’ll see you there okay?”

“ Will do girlfriend!”

Once the facetime call ended, you leaned back in your chair and stared at yourself in the mirror.

You didn’t know what your intentions would be for the night and even though Kim had said you wouldn’t be a bad person if you had fun with Josh, you knew you would still feel shitty doing so, especially when you knew that you had strong feelings for Peter.

As you fixed up your hair, all you could do was replay the conversation with Peter in the rain and how close you were to confessing everything. Looking back, you knew you were stupid for running away, if you really liked him than what was the problem of letting him know how you felt?

Because you knew once he was cured, he wouldn’t share the same feelings for you.

In every sense of the lovedust, the way Peter felt about you wasn’t natural and yet, it was the lovedust that really made you like Peter back.

You were just saving yourself from future heartbreak and given your past relationships, you had a reason to be hesitant in being that vulnerable with another guy.

And yet, you still feel like you owed Peter an explanation.

You got up from your seat and walked out of your bedroom, making a beeline towards his room. You were sure he was done with testing at this point but after knocking on his door a few times, there still wasn’t a response.

You opened the bedroom door to find his room completely empty with everything neatly tucked in place as if he was cleaning up for a guest.

The complex was big but you knew you would run into sometime before Josh showed up so you walked straight out and went to the elevators to make your way up to the labs. As you pressed the elevator button, you felt some unease sitting at the pit of your stomach.

Something felt off, whether it be your natural woman inclination or just the fact that you were nervous to confront Peter.

The elevator doors slid open and you walked in before you pressed the button to the designated floor like it was second nature.

Just breath, you’re fine, why are you freaking out?

You felt your phone buzz in your pocket and once you pulled it out, you felt your heart skip a beat when you saw Josh’s contact name pop up.

Josh: I just left my apartment! I’ll see you in 20 min!

Your stomach shifted once again as you replied back before stuffing your phone back into your front pocket.

Twenty minutes.

That was enough time to confess to Peter right?

The elevator doors opened to the lab and you walked towards the main zone with a slow pace, as if the anticipation would suddenly make you feel less nervous.

Once you rounded the corner to where your dad and Banner were usually working on Peter, you found the room to be completely empty besides for a few lab technicians who were working rather quickly.

You took a moment to give one last look into the lab before going down the hallway to peek into the other glass rooms to try and find Peter. You had a feeling that maybe you should’ve checked the gym before coming all the way up to the labs but once you found yourself in front of the last room, you spotted your dad and Banner walking out with grim faces.

“ Dad? Is everything okay?” You asked as their heads whipped around to turn to you,” have you two seen Peter anywhere?”

You studied your dad’s face carefully but he gave no inclination of what the situation was, a talent he had grown accustomed to since he was your age. You gave up on your dad and watched Banner’s face, a face you always had a talent of reading easily.

He kept his eye contact anywhere but towards your direction and the collar around his neck was wet, a sign that he was stressed out.

“ Banner, where’s Peter?” You asked again as you looked up at him before moving your eyes toward the room they had just walked out of,” is he in there?”

“ He’s-”

“Resting. He’s had a day full of tests so we put him in one of the hospital beds just to keep an eye on him,” Your dad interrupted as you watched Banner gulp,” it’s not a big deal kiddo.”

Liar.

“ Okay...well if it’s not a big deal than I’m gonna go check up on him to make sure he’s okay,” You said wearily as you tried to walk in between your dad and Banner but he took a step to block you.

“ Y/N, he’s not feeling well-”

“ Why are you lying?” You asked as you looked back at Banner,” what are you two not telling me?”

Your dad kept up the charade and sighed as if he was annoyed,” Kiddo, he’s K.O’d for the night. You know, lots of tests and meds that’ll have him relaxed for a few hours. Maybe you should check up on him tomorrow.”

You could tell he was trying so hard to keep up the lie and while your dad was a phenomenal liar, you were smart enough to see right through his act.

All you could do was nod as you played coy,” Okay, that’s fine. Oh! I wanted to let you know I’m going to that party tonight so I won’t be home until later.”

As you were studying Tony, he was doing the same right back at you. It was like a game of chess; who would break first, who had the upper hand, and who was going to make the next move without disrupting their own game.

“ Alright, just be safe than. Be back before eleven,” Tony said as he patted your shoulder and started walking with you back to the elevator, his hand almost leading you away from the door,” Remember; Beer before liquor, never been sicker.”

You couldn’t take it anymore, you needed to know what was wrong with Peter.

You stopped in your tracks as you turned around to face your dad and Banner, who was still avoiding your gaze. You knew something was up, it was painfully obvious and you weren’t going to just turn over and accept defeat.

“ Would you ever lie to me?” You asked as your dad inhaled sharply, immediately shaking his head without a second thought,” okay.”

You peeked your eyes back to the door and before you knew it, you ducked under your dad’s arm and ran over to the room where you were sure they were hiding Peter away.

“ Y/N, stop!”

You ran even faster as you practically slid against the tiled floor before throwing open the door to find Peter in the hospital bed. A huge heart monitor was connected to the side that had immediately spiked when you entered the room.

“ Y/N? What are you doing here?” Peter asked as he sat up in his bed as your eyes traveled to several IV’S that were attached to his forearm.

The first thing you focused on was how pale he looked. Whatever the hospital gown couldn’t cover showed almost a ghostly touch to his usual lush color. Since the lovedust, he had always had a blushful expression, accessorized with flushed cheeks or red tinted ears but now, there was none of that.

You could hear your dad and Banner behind you but before your dad could drag you back, you could hear Banner talking your dad out of it to ‘give the kids some time.’

You didn’t even bother saying thank you as the door shut behind you, leaving you and Peter alone in the room. You were almost scared to come closer to him, he didn’t look like himself at all.

You looked towards the heart monitor again which caused Peter’s heart rate to spike up with the thought alone.

“ Tell me what happened,” You finally said as you made your way over to sit on the edge of Peter’s bed,” it’s serious, isn’t it?”

Peter swallowed nervously but shrugged like it was nothing,” Your dad was there before anything bad happened.”

You shook your head, you weren’t going to get any information out of him like this. You turned to the side of his hospital bed and picked up a clipboard with his medical information. Peter tried grabbing it out of your hands but you stared him down, as if to say ‘ don’t try me.’

Peter backed down as your eyes scanned the sheet carefully, trying to decipher all of the medical lingoes that were vaguely familiar from watching Grey’s Anatomy.

You felt your breath hitch as you read over the same diagnosis.

“ You had an acute heartattack because of me, didn’t you?” You finally said as you carefully placed the clipboard on the desk beside you,” because of our argument... and you weren’t going to tell me.”

“ Y/N, there was no reason to worry you-”

“ You’re so stupid Peter, why wouldn’t I be worried for you? You think an acute heartattack is something as normal as a fucking cold?” You snapped as you watched his heart rate rise. You took a deep breath and ran your fingers through your hair to calm yourself down,” I’m killing you. Loving me is literally killing you Peter.”

Peter watched your gaze fall back to the IV’S while he kept his eyes on you the whole time. You looked absolutely defeated and he didn’t blame you. The way you stared at his arm made him feel like you were trying to somehow reverse the lovedust, as if you could take his pain away.

And yet, what you didn’t know was that Tony had just come in minutes before you to announce that yes, you could actually take the pain away forever.

“ What about you? Is it killing you?” Peter asked as you tore your eyes away from his IV’s and locked your gaze on him.

“ Seeing you like this? Of course it’s killing me, I’m not that cruel Parker.”

“ No,” Peter swallowed dryly,” is it killing you that you might love me?”

Your first instinct was to laugh. What kind of sick joke was coming out his mouth? You tried to force any sound, anything that was a resemblance of something from English translation but your brain mentally stuttered.

It was as if your mind and words went on pause to let your thoughts catch up to you. Were you really that easy to read or did Peter know you better than you know yourself?

“ How do I answer that?” You asked quietly as Peter was quick with a reply.

“ You answer it honestly.”

“ Oh, because you have been so honest with me?”

“ You haven’t been telling me the truth either. You’re a lot of things Y/N, but you’re not innocent.”

“ Oh yeah? What am I then? Since you clearly know so much about me,” You replied to somehow detour the conversation.

Peter gladly took the bait as he chuckled,” You’re stubborn. You’re the most stubborn girl I have ever met in my entire life and I love that about you. It makes things interesting knowing that you don’t roll over for anyone, even when you know you’re wrong.”

You only hummed, he had a point. You had learned that from Tony and you weren’t ashamed about it one bit.

“ Well, I love how foolishly selfless you are. You always put everyone else’s feelings before yours even when your health is at stake,” You said back as Peter’s smile faltered.

Oh how spot on you were.

Cause in this moment now, Peter was between a rock and a hard place. He had information that you didn’t have, information that would seemingly fix everything and yet, he didn’t want you to know.

The cure for the lovedust.

“ You’re keeping something from me, aren’t you?” You said after studying his expression for a moment as Peter released his bottom lip that he was holding in between his teeth nervously.

Yes.

“ I think you’re the one not being honest with your feelings,” Peter said as a matter of fact,” why won’t you admit it?”

You wanted to swallow your pride because damn it, you didn’t want a repeat of earlier. You didn’t want to chicken out but could you afford to be vulnerable again?

“ Peter...I don’t want to admit anything until you’re in the right state of mind,” You finally said, which was the most honest answer you could give,” after all, we both know what you’re feeling for me isn’t the same as how I feel for you...it’s a side effect of the dust.”

Peter only nodded, even though there was so much to say to you. Peter felt like he was in a slowburn novel, but damn, even at this point there had to be more to give right? If this was a story of two people who were meant to be together, then why the hell is it taking so long?

If Peter could have it his way, he would rewrite it to where they could be happily ever after in the first chapter but sadly, this was real life and there wasn’t that kind of luxury.

“You’re right, it’s not the same,” Peter said bitterly as his sympathetic smile faded,” just a side effect.”

You both understood. As things stood now, it was more of a standstill than anything. A pause, a pitstop, anything to halt whatever momentum the two of you shared. You felt absolutely broken that he admitted it, his “love” for you wouldn’t ever be the same as however, you felt about him in that moment.

Just like that, you both knew you were doomed from the start.

You felt your phone vibrate in your pocket and you already knew it was Josh. You inhaled deeply as you gave Peter’s hand a squeeze before rising from his bed,” I’m gonna go but if anything happens, call me okay?”

“ Same goes for you. Be safe,” Peter said in almost a whisper as you nodded before turning to the door.

You walked out of the room and leaned against the door for a moment collecting your thoughts. You ignored the gaze of Banner and your dad and seemingly walked through the two without batting an eye.

Tony felt guilty knowing that you had caught him in a lie but he really thought he was doing his daughter a favor. Once he knew you were gone, Tony walked through the door to find Peter deep in thought.

Tony shut the door behind him and walked over, taking a seat in the chair beside Peter’s bed. No one said anything for a moment but Peter was the one to break the silence first.

“ I didn’t tell her about the cure. I don’t think she would even want to...” Peter admitted as Tony nodded.

Tony crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, his mind wandering in every direction,” Good call. Thor said our time is fleeting so we need to make sure it works.”

Peter shifted nervously in his spot,” You and Banner won’t stop finding a different cure though, right? Just in case?”

“ Yeah, just in case.”

-------

“ You look nervous,” Josh pointed out once the two of you pulled up into the driveway of Amber’s house,” did you want to wait a second before we walk in?”

You shook your head as you tried to swallow any nerves that were building up in your throat. You couldn’t believe you were actually about to go to a party after everything that has been going on.

“ No, I’m fine...It sounds stupid but I don’t really do parties so this is all kinda new,” You admitted as you took in another deep breath.

“ It’s not stupid at all. If it makes you feel any better, I usually get pretty antsy before preforming but now that I know you’re going to watch me, I feel less nervous,” Josh smiled warmly as you started to feel your senses ease,” parties aren’t as scary as you think. Yeah, there are always a lot of people I don’t know but seeing a familiar face is always reassuring.”

Josh had a way of calming you down that no other person could do so easily. You wondered if someone else had said the same thing to you like Kim or Peter and if it would have the same effect but maybe it was just exclusively Josh that had that sort of charm.

“ Okay, I’m ready.”

The funny thing was, you really thought you were ready until you stepped into her house. The floor vibrated along to the beat of whatever song was blasting along the speakers and the smell of alcohol and weed felt almost suffocating. You were immediately overwhelmed with the amount of people already there and of course, you hardly recognized anyone from school.

“ Here, hold on tight,” Josh intertwined his fingers with yours as he led you both through the crowd of teenagers almost too effortlessly.

He led you outside and you thanked god the stage that was set up for his band was in the backyard. You walked along the poolside, following closely behind him before you felt someone splash you with water.

“ Hey what- Kim!” You shouted excitedly as you let go of Josh’s hand to crouch down beside the pool to where Kim was swimming in just her bra and underwear,” you’re not even wearing a swimsuit? You dirty bitch.”

Kim laughed as she rested her hands against the edge of the pool,” Took you two long enough. Joshua, how are you this evening?”

“ It’s going good Kimberly, I hope you’re enjoying yourself,” Josh teased back as Kim playfully rolled her eyes,” Y/N, I’m gonna check in with the guys real quick. Are you cool to stay here for a second?”

You nodded and shooed Josh with your hand,” Go, I’ll be fine.”

Josh gave you one last nod before jogging over to where his band was setting up. His bandmates had seen you walking over hand in hand with you and were now giving Josh hard pats on his back, as if to say ‘ nice job.’

“ He’s so respectful it physically hurts. Like I know the bar is so low for men but Josh checks every box. It’s annoying,” Kim sighed as you dragged a lawn chair from the grass and put it next to the edge of the pool to continue talking to your friend,” I would kill to be in your shoes right now. Oh to have two, brown-eyed guys fawn over me!”

You couldn’t help but laugh as Kim dramatically placed her hand over her forehead and all you could do was shake your head,” Whatever, you didn’t even like Peter. You said so yourself he was a total douchebag.”

“ Was a total douchebag and look, not that it’s any competition but I’m hashtag, team Peter. I’m a sucker for a good enemies to lovers trope,” Kim sighed as you felt your chest tighten up at her proclamation.

You moved your eyes away from Kim as Josh came back over to you,” Did you want me to get you a drink?”

“ Thank goodness yes-”

“Y/N you should go with him,” Kim insisted as you turned to give her an odd look,” don’t get me wrong Joshua, I trust you but ya know, parties and alcohol and...men. Just to be extra safe.”

You wanted to drown Kim on the spot for even insinuating that Josh would do something as terrible as spiking your drink but luckily, Josh gave a sincere nod.

“ Of course, that’s not a problem. Men really are the worst,” Josh said casually as the two gave each other a little salute,” ready Y/N?”

Josh interlocked his hand with yours once again as he led you back into the house and through the kitchen as some people called out to greet him.

“ Look at you Mr. Popular,” You teased as Josh squeezed your hand before opening up the fridge.

“ This is your first time drinking right?” Josh asked as you nodded, almost embarrassed,” Hey, that’s alright. You and I are gonna stick to the light stuff tonight, these taste better anyway.”

Josh pulled out three bottles of Mike’s Hard Lemonade and popped off the bottlecaps with a bottle opener before pouring it straight into two plastic cups.

He tucked the third bottle underneath his arm as you watched him curiously. Josh caught you eyeing his actions as he handed you the cup carefully.

“ Why not just drink it straight from the bottle?” You asked as you watched Josh take a sip,” I feel like we’re hurting the environment.”

“ Looks cooler in a red solo cup,” Josh admitted bashfully as he clinked his cup with yours.

You took a small sip, expecting it to burn like how it was always described in coming of age books but surprisingly, the fizzy taste of citrus wasn’t overpowering in any way. Josh raised his eyebrows and playfully nudged your shoulder,” See! It’s good, right? If you drink enough of these, I’m sure anyone could get tipsy but the goal of this party is to actually remember it the next day.”

There was just something about Josh that made you feel so much safer than anyone else. He didn’t tease you for never having gone to a party before or having alcohol; if anything he did his best to make sure you were as comfortable as possible.

“ You’re being unreasonably cool, you know that right?”

Josh smiled as he reached for your hand instinctively for the third time that night,” Only for you baby.”

Smooth smooth Josh. Like putty in his hands, he led you back to the backyard but the whole time, you felt your heart practically melt at him calling you baby.

Was it pathetic how easily you leaned into his touch? Maybe.

But god, he really did make things harder for you. You had come into this party with your eyes on another guy and yet, Josh always managed to turn up the charm whenever necessary and you ate it up.

Josh might be the charming, golden boy but you knew you couldn’t be too naive. Everyone had flaws, maybe Josh’s was that he was too nice and too friendly, or possibly him being a complete lightweight was the only thing holding him back in life.

Lucky bastard.

Once you made it to the backyard, you found Kim with a towel around her body, sitting on one of the lawn chairs. Josh walked over and whistled at Kim to look up from her phone, to which he handed her the bottle of Mike’s and she sounded a quick thanks in response.

“ I’m gonna warm up with the guys. We’re only going to play a quick set but after, I’m all yours,” Josh promised as his cheeks started to get red at his own words but he turned back around at an attempt to hide his face.

You took a seat next to Kim as you felt your heart practically skip a beat,” He’s really something isn’t he?”

“ Mm, he’s something alright,” Kim sighed as she struggled to open up the bottle,” dumb bitch, he didn’t bring a bottle opener or something?”

“ It’s the thought that counts!” You said back as Kim popped the bottle cap using the metal part of the lawn chair.

As you listened to Josh’s band start their first song, you couldn’t help but feel guilty on how you were feeling. A part of you was holding on to the idea of you and Peter being a possibility but things were always so complicated with him.

There was more to lose in being with Peter and it was painfully obvious that Josh made things so incredibly easy. You didn’t need to walk on eggshells when you were with him and sure, things were new and always changing but Josh could eventually be a person you could lean on.

You reminded yourself that Peter “loved” you and that you did feel something for him that Josh couldn’t make you feel, but it wasn’t real love and that alone completely sobered you up from your moodiness,” Cheers Kim.”

She watched as you drank whatever was left in your cup but Kim only ooo’d, knowing it wasn’t enough to get you drunk.

You shook your head as you tried to think of anything but Peter. Tonight was your night to be free and you didn’t want to have to worry about who would be waiting for you once you got back home.

And yet, deep down, you wondered why a part of you felt like it wasn’t right to hold Josh’s hand. Maybe because you knew you liked holding Peter’s more. Even as you looked up at Josh who stole a few glances your way, you silently prayed that it was Peter up on that stage instead.

“ I can’t do this,” You said after a second of overthinking everything as you pulled your phone out of your pocket,” I need to text him.”

“ Um fuck no! No drunk texts, that shit is so embarrassing Y/N!”

“ This is less than 5% alcohol, I am definitely not drunk Kim,” You mumbled as you slapped her hand away and pulled out your phone to text Peter,” I thought you were on team Peter?”

Y/N: I need you

Y/N: *address*

Kim watched as you texted Peter but before you could send it, Kim leaped out of her seat and snatched the phone out of your hand,” I swear-! Yes, I am a new fan of team Peter, although Josh is getting major brownie points, but I have been a loyal member of team Y/N way before anyone else. I’m doing you a favor, what is texting him going to solve?”

You pouted as Kim slipped your phone into her bag, unbeknownst to the both of you that the message had accidentally sent.

“ Now get the hell up and lets dance bitch!”

------

You and Kim had perfected your mental state to a tee; not drunk enough to trip over air and make complete fools of yourselves but tipsy enough to where even the slightest look at each other was enough to make you break out into a fit of laughter.

You still ‘danced like people were watching’ but you managed to still let loose enough to where the music flowed so freely between your fingertips.

“ Josh you guys were great!” You shouted as you pulled him into a surprise hug, which he happily accepted,” I think I’m officially your number one fan now.”

“ Wait in line,” Kim scoffed playfully as she grabbed her bag from the floor,” I’m gonna go get a cheese plate or something. Don’t do anything gross while I’m gone.”

You shot her a prompt ‘ why would you say that’ with your eyes before turning back to face Josh. You weren’t sure where things would go next but he took your hand and led you to the other side of the backyard to a wooden bench, claiming that he just wanted to rest a bit after singing for so long.

The bench was small enough to where your thigh was against his but you didn’t mind the contact.

“ Thanks for coming out by the way. I know these type of things are pretty overwhelming but I’ve been having fun so far. How about you?” Josh asked as you exhaled deeply.

“ I’m glad I came...thank you again for convincing me to come out here. I feel like there’s been a lot of stuff going on at home and it’s kind of nice being a normal teenager for once,” You said honestly as Josh rolled his shoulders back.

You could feel how nervous he was next to you but for the most part, he didn’t really show it from his facial expression.

“ Can I ask you something?”

You nodded, trying your best to be as cool as possible but all you could think about was how dry your mouth felt.

Oh fuck, the million-dollar question was finally here, wasn’t it? Was he going to reveal his feelings? What if he was going to make a move?

“ Is there something going on between you and Peter? The other day when I came over, it felt...intense. I didn’t want to overstep by coming over or anything,” Josh hesitated as he tested the waters.

Oh.

Well fuck, that question was just as nerve-wracking as the others. You wanted to be as honest with Josh as possible but at the same time, you didn’t want to ruin any chances you had of possibly having him around if Peter didn’t work out.

You knew that was such a shitty mindset but Josh had a way of making you feel so comfortable and you weren’t willing to let that go.

“ I thought I had something with him but it’s complicated,” You answered honestly,” you saw him, he’s...sick and I feel like the sickness is making him feel things that aren’t actually there. I don’t know, it’s so weird to explain.”

Josh bit his bottom lip nervously as he hung onto your every word,” So his feelings for you aren’t there like he thinks it is?”

God, it sounded so simple the way Josh said it when it was so much worst in reality. Of course, it would be way easier to tell Josh everything from the toxic relationship you and Peter had to how the lovedust was emotionally and physically a toll on both of you.

For obvious reason, you could never reveal that much to him.

“ Yeah, exactly that,” You sighed, sounding a bit too disappointed and Josh had caught the shift in your voice,” feelings are always so complicated.”

“ Not all the time,” Josh said quickly as he caught himself,” I mean, liking someone doesn’t have to be complicated. Sometimes it’s really easy because love shouldn’t hurt, you know?”

You only nodded because you could tell Josh had more to say. He took this opportunity to shift his body to fully face you and you scooted your back against the armrest so you could show him that you were attentive.

“ I mean, when I like someone, all I think about is how much I like being around them. Everything else kind of just falls away and it feels all warm like how the books describe it,” Josh could feel a blush creep onto his cheeks yet again but he knew there was no point in covering it up now,” it’s a cliche but I think when you have a crush on someone, everything just falls into place... And I feel that when I’m with...you.”

Your heart practically drew closer to him because what is going on, this was different. Even though Peter had generally been saying the same things to you for days on end, this was more.

There wasn’t some magic space dust that was making Josh confess his feelings, it was just pure humanistic drive to step out of one’s comfort zone that had tugged on Josh harder than ever before.

As if time had slowed down, you watched closely as Josh placed his hand onto your knee before leaning in, getting dangerously close to your lips. Josh stopped only a mere centimeter before your lips touched, as if to give you a chance to back away and yet, you stood still.

You were trying to make sense of what your heart and your gut were telling you but you thought back to Peter admitting to you that the love he felt for you was a side effect of the lovedust, nothing more and nothing less.

Peter would never like you back.

That’s what pushed you over the edge and so, you closed the gap between you and Josh as you kissed him back. You could feel Josh smiling against your lips but the pure sensation of the kiss didn’t last.

Kim had witnessed everything in slow motion. The text from Peter, indicating that he had entered and was heading to the backyard to watching Josh lean in to kiss you. It was like a sick hypothetical they always asked in ethics classes when presenting the Trolley Dilemma and yet, she barely had enough time to make a decision.

All she could do was shout but it was a little too late. Peter saw everything.

He saw you close the space between your lips and Josh’s. He saw Josh smile against your lips. He saw you pull away before leaning in for more.

Peter knew what was coming next, he practically braced for the pain that he knew was coming because just earlier the same day, he had a miniature version of it. But he never expected the pain to be this unbearable.

His ribs felt like someone had just swung a bat into the center of his chest and he could feel every bone splitting into various small fragments that were too small to ever glue back together. Each little fragment of whatever was left had seemingly pierced his heart in a thousand different places as more and more pressure starting to build in his chest.

He couldn’t even let out a cry for help, not even a whimper because no air could come in through his mouth.

The fear alone made his chest tighten up to the point where he felt his lungs almost give in from inside of him. His vision was the next to get blotched out with a violent array of reds and oranges, moving at a fast kaleidoscopic rhythm that sent Peter deeper into a panic.

The last to give was his legs; the dizziness from the complete distortion had made his knees buckle from the pain, sending him straight into the pool.

You heard Kim cry out first as she pushed her way through a crowd that was blocking the door. You moved away from Josh to find the commotion and even though you couldn't see who fell into the water, you knew deep down who it was.

You ran over to the edge of the pool and without a second thought, you dived into the water. Josh quickly followed behind you; it took him only a second to kick off his shoes before he jumped in after you.

What scared you the most was how eerily quiet it was underwater. You could hear some muffled shouts but that’s not what was so quiet. His body was motionless in the water, there was no sign of struggling or thrashing or convulsing like how it was in the movies.

Everything just felt slow as you desperately reached your arms out to swim faster to him. You only had one focus once you wrapped your arms across his chest and kicked up to the surface. In your mind, you were already going through how you would start compressions on him once you reached the top.

You were panicked and scared but you knew you had to pull yourself together, pushing away any thoughts of how far gone Peter could be.

You broke the surface with Peter in your arms as you called out to someone, anyone to take him from your arms. Kim and one of Josh’s bandmates helped lift Peter’s lifeless body onto the concrete as Kim quickly called 9-1-1.

Her hands were shaking as she tried to press the three buttons and after an eternity, they picked up the phone.

You scrambled up from the pool and hovered over Peter’s body and without a second thought, you started doing CPR.

For a moment, that’s all you were thinking. Like a machine, over and over again on an endless cycle, chest compressions, open his airway, give rescue breaths. When you found yourself thinking about how panicked everyone else was and how pale Peter looked underneath you, you continued to give compressions until you felt like your arms would snap from the pressure.

You don’t know how much time has passed but enough to where there would’ve been a sign by now. You sobbed for Peter and kept calling out to him, your voice shaking like a child, the same child who lost her parents all those years ago. The same child who held that heavy towel, pressing it against her fathers chest to stop the bleeding- no.

You couldn’t think about that, this was different. You could save him. You kept reminding yourself over and over as you did a round of chest compressions, opened his airway, and gave more rescue breaths. Over and over. Non-stop.

Again and again without hesitation.

At this point, you couldn't stop your mind from thinking of Peter and the possibility of him actually dead. How long was he under? What had happened before? He must’ve seen the kiss- oh my god you killed him.

You can feel it, building up inside of you like an unstoppable path set ablaze like pure lava.

You thought about never hearing his laugh again, the one where he would grip his sides so hard, he would wheeze like an old dog toy. Chest compressions. Airway. Rescue breaths.

You thought about him never calling out your name, whether it was followed by an insult or a loving comment about how you made him feel. Chest compressions. Airway. Rescue breaths.

You thought about never touching him again, his strong arms holding your shaking body when you had that awful nightmare or how perfect his hand fit in yours when you two walked together in the rain. Chest compressions. Airway. Rescue breaths.

You thought about never telling him how you actually felt, how stupid you were forever letting him get away because it was him all along. Chest compressions. Airway. Rescue breaths.

It was always him.

You were in love with Peter.

And suddenly, almost finally, Peter jolted up and coughed up the water from his lungs.

You stopped the compressions and held your own breath as Peter continued to cough up more water, his eyes squeezed shut.

“ Peter? Can you hear me?” You called out between your choked cries as you snapped your fingers close to his ear.

After a moment, an agonizing moment, Peter nodded, as everyone else collectively let out the breath they didn’t know they were holding. Peter opened his eyes slowly, taking in everything like it was his first time seeing the world.

“ Oh thank god, don’t worry, help is coming. Stay awake for me, okay?” You sighed in relief as you tucked a strand of wet hair behind your ear,” I’m so glad you’re okay.”

When his eyes lock onto yours, he feels an odd sense of deja vu that he can’t explain. His chest isn’t tight anymore, his hands don’t feel as clammy as before, his mind feels almost cleared.

He focused on your eyes while everything else drowned out around him. Your pupils, they’re big and they’re filled with a heavy deal of worry but there’s something else. Your eyes, he’s looked into them so many times before but why is it different?

As shaken up as you are, you manage to cup his face carefully to console him, or more so yourself. Your hands are shaking but they’re warm against his cheek and he can’t help but reach his hand to lay across the hand that’s cupping his face.

Peter feels his face flush, but this time it’s different, it’s...euphoric? Peter wasn’t even sure if he was saying the word correctly but that’s how he felt.

Your eyes, he’s so enamored by the way you’re looking at him. You were worried of course, but no, there was something else.

“ You’re safe Peter, you’re okay.”

“ Don’t worry I got you.”

“ Just breath for me, okay?”

There it was, the same deja vu. You had said that to him before, or maybe he had said it to you before through broken sobs when you had the nightmare.

Peter’s breath hitched as it all finally hit him, he figured it out just by holding your deep gaze.

Oh my god.

The lovedust had worn off, it was gone. All the anxiety and nerves from having it in his system had disappeared, evaporated off of him almost. The chest pains and the shortness of breath had gone away but Peter still felt something pulling, tugging at his heartstrings.

The lovedust was gone, he knew that well enough.

The only thing he could feel as he stared back at you was a pure, undivided, longing for you.

That’s right, Peter Parker was still hopelessly in love with you, no lovedust required.

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ellewritesathing · 3 years

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Infernal VIII

Summary: In your sleepy little town of Greendale, nothing ever slept for long. And ever since October, everything felt like it was waking up. Everything except for you, that is. One teensy trip to Hell (and an infuriatingly cute guy) later and suddenly you felt wide awake.

Word-count: 3.4k+

Masterlist Prev. | Part 8

Ever since you were eleven years old, you’d been going to the Paramount once a week with Theo to share a large popcorn with m&ms poured over the top, two large sodas, and the biggest bag of Sour Patch Kids that money from dog walking, tutoring, and scrounging between the couch cushions could buy. The dark was a blanket of safety and anonymity for an hour or two, and you loved it more than anything. It was two hours of you, Theo, and whatever rerun was showing that weekend. One of only two movie theatres in Greendale, The Paramount stood as a testament to friendship and the enduring power of bad cinema.

Sharing the Paramount and all its memories with Caliban was nerve-wracking.

If he noticed your non-stop fidgeting, he didn’t say anything. He was perfectly composed as he watched stressed out parents corral their screaming children - shoulders relaxed, mouth upturned, and hand easily laced through yours.

“You know, I never cared much for children,” he said. He suppressed a laugh when one of the kids threw pieces of popcorn at their dad. “But I’m starting to think they may not be such loathsome little creatures after all. Given a little direction, they could surpass any of Hell’s torturers.”

You would have laughed at his joke if you’d been listening, but you were too busy watching the specials board light up his face red, orange, and yellow that caught on the edges of his hair. “Is this your first date?” you asked.

Caliban raised an eyebrow as he turned to you and you stammered out an explanation. Impulse control had never been one of your strong suits, and it had been on the decline lately. Putting you out of your misery with a sly smile, he said, “Yes.”

“Wait-” you tugged on his hand slightly as the two of you moved forward in the line “-does that mean I’m your first kiss?”

Caliban laughed and ran a hand through his hair. “My first kiss was with a succubus.”

You weren’t sure what kind of answer you were expecting, but that particular one caught you off guard. “Oh. That’s pretty cool. Do you guys keep in touch?”

“Are you in touch with your first kiss?” Caliban asked, throwing another smile at you as the two of you walked over the counter. He let you order and pay in peace, but he asked again when you were flavoring the popcorn, clearly amused by your awkwardness.

You were in the middle of explaining that your first kiss had been on a dare at one of the worst, least supervised birthday parties you’d ever been to when someone bumped into and spilled your popcorn all over the floor. They kept walking.

They only cleared a few feet before the Darkness lashed out and you yelled at them. “Hey! Are you going to apologize?”

You recognized them once they turned around. He was one of the kids from the lacrosse team who’d bullied Theo back in freshman year. With possibly the fakest smile you’d seen, Charlie said, “Chill. It was an accident.”

“Apologize.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Say you’re sorry.”

His body relaxed and his eyes took on a familiar glassy, hollow quality as he mumbled an apology. You smiled.

“Good.” You took a step forward to close the distance between you. “Now give me your wallet.” He did so without a word, the charm overwhelming any reservations he may have had. He faltered slightly when you took out most of the cash, but you told him to be quiet. With a smile, you handed his wallet back to him. “Enjoy your movie.”

Charlie blinked twice, slowly, but then he nodded. “You too,” he said uncertainly. He stumbled down the hall and looked at you again as he rounded a corner, completely dumbstruck.

You waved at him, turning back to Caliban with a smile. “Ready to watch the movie?”

The easiness from earlier was gone; Caliban’s jaw was tense and his eyes were narrowed. He didn’t move from where he leaned against the wall. “What was that?”

You shrugged. “I wanted him to apologize.”

“Are you sure that’s all you wanted?” he asked, pushing himself off the wall. His movements were easy, but his words were strained.

“Yes,” you lied, unclenching your fists. When you stole a glance at your palms, they were coated in a thin layer of darkness, smudged around the area where you’d dug your nails in to keep from knocking the false smile off Charlie’s face.

---

“Wait, so you’re like … Hannah Montana if she was a teenage witch and he’s like- what is he? Your Jesse?”

Out of all the reactions you’d imagined after telling your friends that the mother you’d spent your whole life looking for turned out to be a literal demon, a Hannah Montana comparison hadn’t even made the top ten.

“Harvey, don’t you think you’re being a little-”

To be fair, they’d handled the news about Lilith better than expected. Harvey was confused, Theo was happy you found your mom even if she’d tried to kill them all before, Sabrina helped smooth things over, and Roz admitted to having her suspicions for a while.

“What? I’m just trying to understand why the guy that tried to rule Hell and enslave us all is sitting on my couch.”

It was only when things came to Caliban that their understanding faltered. Even Sabrina, trying her best, didn't quite understand.

“I’m sitting on your couch because I was invited, Huckleberry Finn.”

After defeating the Darkness and unbinding your powers, you’d gone to Sabrina’s with a tub of ice cream and explained everything. A weight that had been slowly crushing you was lifted off your chest that night, but it came back in full force with every angry word from Harvey. It wasn’t like you’d expected him to understand, but you’d hoped he would at least try.

“Okay!” Standing up, you let out a weighty breath and held out your hands to stop them from speaking. “Will you two stop antagonizing one another for five minutes?”

Reluctantly, Caliban nodded as Harvey collapsed back in his chair and grumbled, “Fine, but I still don’t like him.”

“You don’t have to like him. You just have to respect that I like him,” you said. Harvey didn’t seem convinced, so you sighed and tried to come up with a new strategy. Finally, you stopped pacing and turned to Harvey. “Do you know what it’s like to feel like a piece of you is missing?” To Roz, “Like there’s something wrong with you because you just don’t fit in with everyone else?” To Theo, “And then you figure out what it is and you can’t tell anyone because you don’t think they’d care about you anymore if they found out?” You wiped your face haphazardly and stared at the Smashing Pumpkins poster peeling off the back wall. “It fucking sucks.”

“And I’m sorry you had to go through all that,” Harvey said, standing up and blocking your view of the poster. “I am. But you can’t expect me to be okay after finding out that you spent the last three months lying to everyone and dating that asshole.”

“I didn’t want to lie to you!” You felt the Darkness rising in your throat and did your best to push it down. Taking a deep, shaky breath, you looked back at Harvey and tried not to cry. “Is it so hard to believe that I was scared to tell you, or did you forget when you cut Sabrina out of your life when she told you?”

Harvey frowned. His hand twitched at his side as he glanced at Sabrina. “That’s not the same thing.”

“Yeah, I know, because she was the most important person in your life and I’m just the kid that lives next door.” Your voice broke and Harvey stepped forward to give you a hug. The Darkness lurched at the movement and you stepped back to keep it from hurting him. Taking another step back, you started gathering your stuff. “I can’t do this right now.”

“Hey, just hold on a second, okay?” Harvey tried to grab your wrist to stop you, and you couldn’t stop the Darkness from lashing out this time.

“Don’t touch me.”

Harvey frowned, his hand outstretched and frozen, and a familiar, glassy film cloud covered his eyes. The air was sucked out of the room as Harvey blinked and tried to recover. His hand still hung in the air. Your heart broke.

“I need to go,” you rushed out, scrambling for the door. You didn’t care about the stuff you dropped or the fact that Caliban was sitting on the couch the last you saw - all you cared about was getting out before you did anything worse. Still, you froze in the doorway. Over your shoulder, you mustered up all your courage and said, “I’m sorry.”

You weren’t sure if any of your friends heard you over their concern for Harvey or if they just didn’t want to respond, but at least Caliban caught up to you in the silence. He didn’t reach out for you for the rest of the night, all he did was stare at you with stormy, unfathomable eyes.

---

Hilda Spellman was the closest thing you’d ever had to a mother; she was warm and inviting, and always made your favorite cupcakes if you were having a bad day. She made sure that your dad always had something on the table for dinner. She took you shopping every year before school started. She let you stay in their house for almost a month when you were convinced that your bedroom was haunted. Hilda Spellman deserved nothing but happiness.

So why couldn’t you suck it up for one day and give her the perfect wedding that she deserved?

Because, despite your best efforts, you were still upset at how things had unfolded with your friends. While Theo and Roz forgave you for lying and accepted you for being a witch, they weren’t sure they could give Caliban a chance after he lashed out at Harvey. Talking to Harvey might have solved that problem, but he was pretty much set on avoiding you. You didn't blame him after what you did to him, even if he didn't know what exactly it was you did to him.

All this drama might not have been an issue otherwise, but they were the only people you knew at this wedding. So far, the only other people to show up were witches that were preoccupied with either the Uninvited or the incubus on the loose.

When you noticed Nick had disappeared from door duty, you finished your drink and set the glass down. Sliding in next to Sabrina, you bumped her arm with your elbow and held your hand out for some of the programs. “Need a hand?”

“Not really, but I’ll take the company,” she said with a smile. She handed you a stack of creamy pink programs and laughed wistfully. “Nick was supposed to help me with this but he’d rather get busy with Prudence in the coat closet.”

You tried not to laugh as you handed a program to a very solemn-looking witch. “Yeah, well, at least he’s talking to you,” you said, watching the witch disappear into the steadily growing crowd.

Sabrina rolled her eyes. “Harvey will come around,” she said, pausing to smile as she handed out another program. “He’s just scared of losing you in all this.”

“You know, Caliban actually said something similar after we left the other night.” This time, you didn’t bother hiding your laughter. Sabrina didn’t bat an eye at taking on an eldritch terror, but the possibility of Caliban having a valid point seemed to shake her to her core. “He said that I shouldn’t be so hard on Harvey because all he wants is to keep me safe, but this is the one thing that he can’t protect me from. The magic and … getting my heart broken.”

Sabrina tried to reign in her surprise, but she still seemed stunned as she handed out another program. “That … actually makes sense.”

“Weird, right?” You stole a look at the line forming outside the church and your heart ached when you saw your friends lugging their band equipment through the parking lot. It was going to be a long night.

Sabrina followed your gaze and sighed. “So ... where is Caliban? You RSVPed that you were bringing a plus-one but I don’t see him anywhere.”

You tore your eyes away from the band to hand out another program. Shaking your head, you said, “I was going to bring him, but then I figured that this was Hilda’s special day and she didn't need a fistfight between her lead singer and a plus one.”

“Well, I think you should bring him,” Sabrina said. “What? Just because I’m going to be sad and alone the whole night doesn’t mean you have to.”

So, after a quick check with Hilda, you invited Caliban. He agreed to come, if you promised to talk to him about your lesser angels creeping in.

You could feel Harvey staring at the back of your head throughout the whole ceremony, but Theo sat next to you and Robin said he’d save you guys a seat at the reception. Things were starting to look up, even if they were a little weird.

As awkward as the ceremony had been, the reception was great. Caliban was as charming as ever, winning over Theo and Robin and making witches swoon left and right. Despite all your time together, you’d never seen him this comfortable around others. A room without demons or humans, it seemed, was where you found common ground.

Until Sabrina’s toast.

She lost credibility before she even opened her mouth by stumbling up the stage steps. Opening with a joke, she had a solid two and a half seconds before she started drawing attention to every couple in the nearby vicinity - starting with Harvey and Roz, glossing over Theo and Robin to mention you and Caliban, and eventually landing on Nick and Prudence. Sabrina tried to save the toast by circling back to Hilda, but it was too late. She crashed into the drums, said she’d be single for a century and a half, and was dragged off-stage by Zelda while the Fright Club scrambled to perform their set.

Amidst the chaos, Caliban ducked his head closer to yours and brought his drink to his lips. “You know,” he said, pausing to take a sip, “If you’d told me how much fun these gatherings were, I would have come with you a long time ago.”

Rolling your eyes, you took his drink and shifted in your seat so you could lean against him. “Does that mean I can sign you up for the book club?”

“That depends. What are we reading?” Caliban asked. He looked away from the stage to meet your eyes.

“The Feminine Mystique.”

“Oh, okay.”

Laughing, you tilted your head up to kiss his jaw. Settling back into your seat and intertwining your hands, you said, “Well, if it counts for anything, I’m glad you’re here now.”

If you thought the worst part of the night was Sabrina’s toast, you were totally and completely unprepared for the incubus attack. It jumped from Theo to Harvey to Melvin before landing in the Uninvited. Their eyes were wild for a moment, but then the Uninvited shuddered as their eyes returned to a deep, empty brown. They’d eaten the incubus, and moments later they bit into Dorian’s heart like an apple.

There was something unbearably sad about the Uninvited, and the Darkness within you ached to fix them. It didn’t matter that they toasted to the end of all things, all that mattered was that they were alone. You started reaching out for them when Caliban took his hand in yours and pulled you closer to him.

“I am the Herald of the Void. I feast on the hearts of those that reject me. And someone here turned me away, therefore, death to you all.” The Uninvited smiled and downed whatever had been in their glass.

Tipping your glass towards the Uninvited, you drank to their toast as Hilda apologized for turning them away. She tried to invite them, but the Uninvited said it was too late. They’d already been turned away.

Nick stepped forward as the one that had turned the Uninvited away to sacrifice himself, but Sabrina tugged him back by the edge of his sleeve. Prudence was one step behind, holding Nick close to her chest as Sabrina offered the Uninvited a heart of sorts. She explained that she’s been wandering a cosmos of her own lately, feeling hopelessly alone, and just wanting to belong somewhere with someone. If they got married, the Uninvited would have her heart and a place to belong, always. Forevermore, they’d be the Invited.

The Darkness grew unruly as the Uninvited considered her proposal, and for a moment you thought they’d do as the Darkness wanted and rip Sabrina’s heart from her ribcage. Instead, all they did was nod.

---

Cold bit at your fingertips as you sat, knees pulled up to your chest, on the wall outside the desecrated church, but the stolen Mother’s Ruin kept your stomach warm. The sun had disappeared somewhere between the fake wedding and trapping the Uninvited in Sabrina’s old dollhouse, October chill coming in with the night sky, but you welcomed the change. Indifferent sunshine to apathetic stars.

Pouring out a bit of gin on the dead flowers below, you said a silent prayer for the Uninvited. Not for forgiveness, but maybe understanding. Hoping it would make the Darkness subside.

The crunching of dried grass underfoot interrupted your thoughts.

“This seat taken?”

You shrugged but moved over all the same to make space for Harvey. He threw a lanky leg over the side of the wall as he let out a deep breath. When he was settled, you offered him some of the Mother’s Ruin but he shook his head.

“No, uh, I’m good. Thanks though.” Harvey drummed uncertainly on the sides of the wall, watching carefully as you drank his rejected share of the gin. “So I was thinking about something the Uninvited said back there - about wandering around all alone until the terrors welcomed them to their club?”

Raising an eyebrow, you asked, “Are you about to call my boyfriend a terror?”

Harvey laughed, a deep, unsure sound, and looked down at the wall again. “Well, he is, but no.” He sighed and tried to get back to his point. “Look, I know I’m not the best at handling change. When Sabrina … I don’t know. It just- it kills me that you felt like you felt so alone and didn’t think you could talk to me.”

“Harvey-”

“Wait, let me finish.” Harvey took another deep breath. His nose was red, either from the cold or because he was holding back tears. “I never ever wanted to be the reason why you got hurt. But I was, and I’m sorry that I made you feel like that.”

You slid your hand over his. “Thank you,” you said quietly.

“I’m still not done.”

“Of course, you’re not.”

Harvey choked out another laugh and smiled. “Don’t tell Theo but you’re my best friend. And if Caliban makes you happy then … I kinda owe it to you to give him a shot.”

“So you’ll stop antagonizing him?” you asked, sitting up a bit straighter and pointing the bottle of gin at Harvey’s chest.

“Well, I never said that,” Harvey said dramatically. He laughed and pulled his other leg over the wall, taking the bottle from you and pulling a face after he tasted it. “Okay, what stars are we looking at tonight?”

You threw your legs over the side and let out a deep breath as you leaned against Harvey’s arm. “Fuck if I know. Tommy was the one who remembered all that stuff.”

“You just wanna make some up?” Harvey asked. He put his arm around your shoulder and handed the bottle back to you.

Hugging the bottle to your chest to keep the Darkness warm as it slept, you looked up to the sky and pointed to a cluster of stars. “That one’s you because it’s ugly.”

Tagged: @caliban-is-my-girl @t-a-i-l-o-r-m-a-d-e @music-movies @miss--moose @marrypuffsstuff @harryscarolinaa @igorsbby @foji2000 @hxlalokidottir @artaxerxesthegreat @thxmagic @luquincy @strawberriesandknives @xealia @hotmessindisguise @acciomaximoff @reheated-coffee @olivia-west-allen @shelby-x @perseny-blog @millie-753 @luneerius @shizzybarnaclee @lettherebelovex @drrramaaaqweeen @throughparisallthroughrome @ietss @thebookwormlife @mechanicalanimalz @mariamermaid @nqbmf @roxytheimmortal @shephard17895 @andie-kathleen @clockworks-world-to-fandoms @blondeeee-e @piensa-bonito @supportstudies @bookishaficionado @perfectlysane24

#Infernal #caos #caos rewrite #chilling adventures of sabrina #Caliban #caliban x reader #caliban imagine

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ggukkiedae · 3 years

Text

[vlive 210522] Seri’s Seritonin 🥝🐱

9pm kst

italics = english; seri answering questions!

the vlive starts with seri logging on and waving

she’s playing new rules in the background and staying quiet for the first two minutes

“moa! how are you all?”

she smiles and reads through the comments

she reads a few out loud and sees a few comments asking her to say i love you in different languages, to which she complies to

she turns off her music first and fixes herself in her chair

“bet you guys are wondering why i’m live today, huh? we’ll get to that in a bit. for now, let’s answer questions”

she looks through the comments carefully until she reads one out loud

Seriiiiiii! 5 Beomgyus or 5-year-old Beomgyu?

she laughs at this

“maybe a five year old bammie. he always makes a big deal of being older than me by a few months, so it would be good pay back”

she then pulls out her phone and scrolls through it before turning it towards the screen. it was a picture of beomgyu as a kid

“see this? he sent this to our groupchat the other day. tiny gyu is cute”

how are youuuuuu?

she claps her hands together and smiles at the live

“i’m doing great, thank you! i’ve been practicing harder, and i feel pretty good”

she scrolls through the comments again and takes a sip of her drink. she lightly mixes her drink around and places it back down

“you guys should try peach tea. it’s a godsend. oh, what’s this?”

shall we go on a date?

“you didn’t turn up at our last date”

she pouted a little and laughed

“i waited at the rooftop for a while, but you didn’t show up! but i guess we can go again because you’re moa”

she shifts a little and shakes her head amusedly at her own words

“do i sound like gyu?”

Hi Seri! I have a couple questions 😊 What has been your favorite era music wise and style wise? What hair style/color do you want to try? What's your current favorite song? What are you looking forward to most?

her eyes widened a little before she looks up trying to come up with answers to the series of questions

“oh, wow, i guess you could say i really liked our songs from the minisode album, but my favorite title track is run away for sure. actually, i take that back. i like the songs on dream chapter magic the most! in terms of style... dream chapter magic as well! i really like new rules’ styling especially”

a small smile makes its way to her face as she’s about to answer the last question from that comment

“right now, i’m really looking forward to our new album, and i hope you’ll like it as well! so far, the tracks are amazing!”

any plans for a comeback with the royals?

“i don’t know” she laughs and looks off camera “what do you think?”

yoonmi’s giggle can be heard while seri just laughed

“you exposed me! anyway, we’ll see when the three of us get an opportunity again” “you guys heard yoonmi”

seri takes the live and points it to the side, revealing the magenta-haired girl peacefully sitting in the dance studio near her while working on something on her laptop

“yoonmi is working on school stuff even if she just released a song yesterday” “responsibilities”

Seri baby are you aware that Seri sounds like berry? Therefore you are now berry Seri or Seri Berry 🤔

“oh, that’s cute! seri berry... i love it! i’m a berry now! i can replace strawberries, i don’t like strawberries”

she wrinkled her nose at the thought of the red berries as the sound of a chair moving came up. seri looked off camera and waved to, supposedly, yoonmi

“yoonmi has a meeting right now, so she’s off. anyway, back to our live”

Hiya Seri how are you liking the new building? What do you think has changed the most about you since you became an idol? And out of the members who do you think has changed most since you debuted?

“the new building is actually the best thing ever, i swear! there’s a lot of space, and the facilities are all high quality! honestly, i’m the only txt member who doesn’t get lost, so it’s pretty funny when the others have to ask for my help to walk around”

she then pressed her lips into a tight line while thinking about her next answer

“since becoming an idol... i think i became more confident. the others tell me this a lot. they say every comeback my stage presence gets better, and i look more comfortable? i also became a better dancer for sure. not the best yet, but i’m working on it. also maybe kai? first of all, he’s gotten way taller now. second, he’s been more mature. yes, he’s still our baby, but he handles things a lot more maturely now. sometimes he acts like he’s older than me as well”

hi bestieeeeeee! what do you think you’d be doing if you weren’t an idol?

“hey, bestie! musical theatre for sure!”

seri immediately perked up at this. she jumped back in her seat a little with the biggest grin while remembering her experiences

“i loved it back in school! honestly, my parents were pretty supportive about my involvement in theatre and my little brother kinda brags to his friends that his sister goes on stages to perform. it’s kinda cute”

would you consider acting? or maybe starring in a musical?

“oh for sure if i were given the chance!”

you dance amazingly! your artist of the month video with studio choom was absolutely perfect!!!!

“oh my god”

she covered her face and groaned before pulling out her phone and looking for the video on youtube. before pressing play, she looked back to the camera

“thank you, but i’m a little embarrassed about this. i wore red lipstick on stage for the first time after debut, and i showed a side of me that’s pretty different…”

she pressed play and watched the video, cringing at herself. it took a whole 20 seconds before she gave up and hid her phone behind her

“nope. nevermind, i can’t watch that. thank you, i’m glad you enjoyed it”

thoughts on the people you’re being shipped with? 👀

she burst into laughter upon reading this

“ah, yes. shipping. i see you guys on stan twitter with your little edits and headcanons and aus! honestly, it’s amusing. apparently most of you ship me with gyu and seungmin? and a few other people, too?”

she was quiet for a while like thinking about who moas shipped her with. she shook her head with and began talking again

“gyu... well, bammie’s my best friend, and i love him a lot. it’s been us from the very beginning, so i like to think we’ll be as close as ever until the end”

“seungmin is the bane of my existence”

she laughed at this before waving her hand

“kidding! he’s actually really nice, and i love hanging out with him, it just so happens our friendship is based on bickering. we do support each other though. seungmin, if you see this, you did well on love poem”

she then lit up as if just remembering something

“some of you guys ship me with chaeryoung! interesting considering you all see me as ryujin’s sibling, but please, i’m not worthy of the queen herself. i love chae with all my heart honestly she’s such a sweet child”

her phone buzzed and she glanced at it a little bit before turning back to the live

“perfect timing because hyunsuk just messaged me and some special ship mentions are hyunsuk and jeno oppa. i think it’s because i hang out with hyunsuk’s little siblings a lot. but jeno oppa? we just met earlier this year, it’s a little funny how apparently a lot of people ship us when we haven’t really shown our friendship much”

she typed something one her phone before chuckling and shutting it off once again. she looked through the comments until she found the topic she was looking for

What’s up with you and Dino? 👀👀👀

“ah, this. this brings me to the reason i went live. recently, you guys have seen me and dino oppa hanging out, right? well, we’re not dating. i wanted it to be a surprise, but he’s helping me with something for my birthday, and i agreed to do something with him for their youtube as well”

her phone rang, and she laughed before picking it up and putting it on speaker

“hello? you’re on speaker” “seri-yah! how dare you deny our relationship?” “oh? you’re watching?” “look up, stupid. i’m standing by the door”

she looked off camera and laughed

“yah! oppa, what are you doing here?” “miya told me you were gonna talk about the scandal, so i thought why not come early?”

dino appears next to seri in a mask and a hat. he nudged seri over to the side so they could both be centered on screen, making her raise her eyebrow at him

“meet my new dance partner” dino points towards seri whose eyes widen as soon as he said that

“they don’t know yet!” “you said we were working on two things together!” “but they didn’t know one of them is dance!” “might as well tell them so we can clear up this rumor before i get attacked by moas”

she sighed at him

“i’d get attacked by carats. anyway, fine. dino oppa’s helping me with a song, and he’s making me dance with him for a video. you can look forward to this in july”

dino adjusted his hat and leaned forward a little

“no need to panic, we’re not in a romantic relationship. she’s too tall for me”

“... you’re literally taller than me though?” “not by that much. if you wear heels, we’d be the same height, and i don’t think i’m up for that”

she playfully rolled her eyes

“looks like i’ve discussed what needed to be cleared up now. i’m single. single.” “yes, they get the point” “oh, would you just go already?”

she was pretending to push him away while he laughed at her failed attempts. he moved off camera but stays in the room

“no way, we’ve got to work the choreography out today”

“this is gonna be a while,” she muttered before smiling at the live once again “well, time for me to go. i’ve got a lot of work to do to be on par with a member of seventeen’s performance team”

dino’s groaning could be heard from the side

“this again?”

she laughed

“bye moa! hopefully that cleared things up, and hopefully you enjoyed this little tmi session”

-end-

#seri.live #seri.freeze #txt 6th member #txt female member #txt female addition #seri #yoon seri

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joshuas · 3 years

Text

lucky

♫ pairing: Lee Minho x Reader

♫ genre: college/university student!au, slice-of-life, crack, fluff

♫ word count: 3.8k

♫ warnings: Nil of note!

♫ summary: Let’s just say that Minho playing hard to get is not a good combination.

♫ a/n: The third addition to my Christmas oneshots! This is a slight continuation from my Felix oneshot. Written on three hours of sleep, so I hope it’s at least satisfactory ;-;. Enjoy!

♫ skz christmas oneshots: 1 |2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

“Playing hard to get is the best way to gain their affections,” Jisung advised his older friend, Minho, sipping at his iced Americano. “Yah, who are you to give love advice. You haven’t dated anyone.” Another boy, Hyunjin said, rolling his eyes at Jisung, “Hyung, I just think you need to be honest about your feelings.” Hyunjin nodded at Minho, leaning back in his chair. “No, no. They need to know he’s flirting with them - drop some pick-up lines, write them a song, be as cliche as possible. People like that. My mum said that my dad fell for her using this method of romancing.” Another one of Minho’s friends, Changbin, attempted to convince him. “You’ll scare them off if you tell them your feelings straight off the bat. Be cool and cold - it’ll pique their interest. Only then can you be all touchy-feely with your emotions.” Jisung countered, dismissing the other boys’ advice. Minho had called the boys for an ‘emergency’ meeting at the local cafe, luring them over by paying for their food in exchange for ways to confess his feelings to the person he admired. “Are you sure playing hard to get will work?” Minho raised his eyebrows at Jisung, contemplative. “Almost 100% sure, hyung! You won’t regret doing it. Y/N’s gonna love you.” Jisung beamed reassuringly. “By almost 100%, you mean like 30%. This isn’t a drama. Y/N literally only knows you in a school setting. How did you meet again? Oh yeah, you’re both accounting majors. Don’t you think it’ll be weird if you abruptly change your demeanour towards them?” Hyunjin questioned as Minho dismissed him, “It’ll be fine. Just you wait. Everything will sort itself out way before the holidays.” “Your call, hyung...” Hyunjin said, tone doubtful. “Seriously? Is no one going to listen to my advice?” Changbin said, incredulous. Jisung patted his back, “Just quit while you’re ahead, Changbin hyung.”

“Y/N and Minho, you’ll be partnered together for this assignment. Remember, it’s due on the 20th.” Your professor handed the two of you an assignment sheet as you exited the lecture theatre. “So... Minho, do you want to catch up later to work on the assignment?” You asked as the two of you walked through the courtyard. “Oh! Y/N, of cour—.” He cleared his throat, lifting his head high, “I mean. Sure, I’ll have to check my busy schedule and get back to you.” Is he trying to be pretentious or something? Forcing a bright smile, you patted his shoulder, “Great! I’ll see you tomorrow in class. Bye!” You shook your head, sighing as you walked away. Why can’t you just be cool, Y/N?

[21:38] (Y/N) hey, i was wondering if you wanted to meet at the cafe closest to uni for our assignment? [21:56] (Y/N) or... not?? i know you saw this message, minho... it’s not like it accounts for 30% of our GRADE and yk it would be nice if we could work on it and do well in it. just a suggestion though. it’s your call. “Hyung, you can’t say that! Seriously, this is the sixth revisit we’ve made to this text. Isn’t your whole brand just ‘playing it cool?’” Jisung snatched the phone off Minho, sighing as he settled next to Hyunjin on the couch, typing away. As soon as you sent the message, the whole dorm was in a flurry - Minho grabbing his phone as quick as he could to type out a reply whilst Hyunjin and Jisung (mostly Jisung) workshopped his texts “I don’t understand why he can’t just be himself. Haven’t you seen literally any movies? This’ll backfire majorly.” Hyunjin sighed, exasperated. “Hyunjin, do you want to be put in the air fryer for twenty minutes at 180 degrees?” Minho raised his eyebrow at the taller boy, daringly. Hyunjin sighed defeatedly,

“No, hyung.” “Good. How are you going with the text, Jisung?” Minho clapped his hands, spinning his desk chair to face Jisung. “Okay. How about you just... don’t reply and show up tomorrow?” Jisung said, his tone as if he had said the most enlightening statement in the world. Hyunjin scoffed, “There’s a difference between playing hard to get and just being plain rude.” “Well, I don’t see you suggesting anything.” Jisung defended. “Because this whole idea of workshopping Minho hyung’s texts and getting him to play hard to get is stupid. Why can’t you just be nice to Y/N and respond properly?” Hyunjin said exasperatedly. “I’ll just say ‘sure. i’ll meet you at 12.’ and be done with it.” Minho said, ignoring Hyunjin and looking at Jisung for approval. “Make sure that when you meet up with Y/N you maintain your cool demeanour. Actually... maybe we should tag along. It’s not that we don’t trust you, hyung,” Jisung hurriedly explained, “it’s just that... we don’t trust you.” “And that it’ll probably be entertaining!” Hyunjin added, smirking slightly. “Alright, you guys can come. Only because you’ll see how much I’ll crush this. Just make sure that you’re not in their line of sight.” Minho said, smug, shrugging his shoulders. “Five dollars, he doesn’t crush it,” Hyunjin said, watching the older boy exit the room. “Deal.” Jisung slapped Hyunjin’s hand.

You sighed, looking down at the time on your laptop. 20 minutes late... really? Does he think that this whole assignment is a joke? “Hi! I was wondering if you wanted to order anything?” A man with a dimpled smile approached you, holding out a notepad. “Oh! Yes. Um, I’ll have a chocolate th-“ “We’ll both have a chocolate thick shake, Chan.” You turned around, looking for the person that interrupted you, your eyes landing on Minho approaching your table. “Uh- okay! I’ll have your orders ready in a bit.” Chan gave the two of you a small smile as Minho sat opposite you. “So... I don’t really mean to pry into your personal life but is there a reason why you’re so late?” You asked tentatively, looking over at Minho as he distracted himself with his laptop. A long silence pursued as you fidgeted with a stray thread on your jeans. “Okay... you’re just not going to answer my question? That’s cool. That’s fine.” You looked at him, astonished by his coolness. You coughed, directing your attention back to your assignment. After a good thirty or so minutes of working solidly (and in forced silence), you leaned back against your chair, looking quizzically at the man in front of you. Dressed simply in a pastel cardigan, eyebrows scrunched from focusing so hard as he typed away furiously at the keyboard, occasionally nudging up the cat-eye glasses that decided to slide down his nose. Biting his lip in thorough concentration, he ran a hand through his glossy brown hair.

It kind of reminds me of really rich chocolate? Chocolate is nice. I like chocolate. Wait. What am I doing? I don’t like Lee Minho. You like Lee Minho, not me. Your gaze wandered, eyes matching his slightly concerned dark brown ones. You looked away, heat radiating from your cheeks. Clearing your throat you stared hard at the table, “So... have you figured out what format you want to present the assignment in?” Minho opened his mouth to speak, only to close it a second later, contemplative. “Well... we should probably assign roles, right? Seeing as both of us have just done preliminary research. If you want, you can do the write-up and I can focus on making it presentable and in a speech format...” You suggested. Silence. You rolled your eyes, annoyed, “Okay, seriously? Can you stop being a jerk for like one second and actually cooperate with me to get this assignment done? You haven’t spoken to me this entire time!” You exclaimed, exasperated. Minho’s eyes shifted from softened and sorry to a blank expression. “I’ll only talk to you if you...” He stopped, frantically looking around and stopping short of the flyers on the notice board, “Participate in the university’s Christmas art contest and beat me!” He pointed at a random flyer on the wall, describing the details for the event. “Seriously? That’s what it’ll take for you to talk to me?? Why can’t you just talk to me without doing all that?” You said, incredulous. Minho raised his eyebrows expectantly at you. “Fine...” You threw your hands up in defeat. “Perfect. And hey, may the best artist win.” Minho smirked, shaking your hand.

“You did not crush it,” Hyunjin said bluntly, laughing as Jisung reluctantly gave him what he owed. All three of them had congregated back at the dorm, brainstorming their next course of action. “I don’t know how you’re going to beat her, hyung.” Jisung sighed. “Excuse you, I can do art!” Minho defended. “Um. Hyung. There’s a reason why we aren’t majoring in art.” Hyunjin stated. “Well, then. What are we going to do?” Minho rubbed his face wearily. “Does it matter if you compete in this? You did say to Y/N that you’d talk to her if she beat you and there’s high chance of that happening, seeing your portfolio. Or, you know, you could just drop all of this and talk to them normally.” Hyunjin reasoned. “We’re in too deep for you to back down now, hyung. If you want to impress them, I think your best option is... taking up the art lessons that the art department are providing.” Jisung pushed, dismissing Hyunjin’s voice of reason for the five hundredth time. “Art lessons? I don’t need those.” Minho scrunched his nose in disgust. “Oh trust me hyung, you do.”

Sighing, you opened the door to the art workshop,

Why has my life come to this? Wait. Why do I even care so much for him to talk to me? It’s not like I... like him. That’s ridiculous. I could just do the entire assignment yourself and never speak to him again. I should leave. Art lessons. You’re really going above and bey— “What are you doing here?” You stopped short of entering the room, staring straight ahead at the man in front of you. In your direct line of vision was... Minho... making a newspaper crown with the word “VICTORY” taped onto it. You shook your head, trying to clear him and your thoughts. Putting on a fake smile, you sat beside him, “Sorry for being so rude. I was just... surprised to see you here. You must be really sure that you’re going to win!” You chuckled awkwardly. Before Minho could reply, a voice rang out across the room, diverting your attention, “Alright! Welcome to the annual art workshop. We’ll be focusing on pottery and sculpting these next two weeks, so...”

Well into the lesson, you and Minho were finally handed your clay and given free rein to do whatever, “So, do you know how you’re planning on presenting the assignment?” “We shouldn’t talk about the assignment here,” Minho said, staring at his clay. “Okay well, where else can we talk about it? You don’t want to talk to me outside of this place and you even made me participate in this stupid competition even though I physically cannot do art.” You exploded, exasperated. You sighed at his lack of reaction, grabbing your stuff and placing yourself on the opposite side of the room. You glared at him, Fine, Lee Minho. We’ll do it your way... for now.

“They can’t do art!” Minho grinned, dancing around the dorm room. “Wait, that’s great!” Jisung exclaimed, high-fiving Minho. “That’s not good, though— if they’re worse than you then you’ll never be able to talk to them,” Hyunjin stated, seemingly confused at the others’ ignorance, voice drowned out by their gleeful celebration. “Well if they’re so bad- that’s gotta be good, right? How- how’s the art going?” Jisung asked. “Uh-“ Minho averted his eyes, “really well.” “You learnt a lot?” Jisung asked, not too dissimilar from a parent asking their child how their day was at school. “Yeah, it was really... inspiring. I felt like Leonardo DiCaprio.” Minho said proudly. Hyunjin scoffed, “Don’t you mean Leonardo Da Vinci?” “Ugh, this guy- plebeian. He pretends that he knows art,” Minho scoffed, laughing with Jisung at Hyunjin, “No, I mean Leonardo DiCaprio.” “Come on man, when it comes to art, Minho knows best. After all, I’ve paid over $100 for his lessons.” Jisung placed his pityingly on Hyunjin’s shoulder. “A good investment. I won’t let you down!” Minho said smugly, nodding his head. “When all this backfires on you, don’t come crying back to me.” Hyunjin threw up his hands defeatedly, walking out of the room.

I can’t believe Lee Minho. I can’t believe he didn’t do this assignment. I can’t believe he’s pushing all this work onto me! He has enough time to do freaking art classes for an art competition, but not to spare two words to work on the group assignment. Group, being the keyword!! It’s probably because he thinks he’s soooo handsome. Wait. Not handsome! He’s not handsome- he’s ugly. Wait. Not ugly. I like his hair. Oh, and the way his eyes sparkle when he smiles. Oh, and don’t get me started on his build. Who wouldn’t be jealous of his jawline? ...Ewwww. What am I thinking? Lee Minho, I hate you for infiltrating my thoughts. You are a horrible Scrooge that refuses to do this assignment and I refuse to give you the time of day by thinking about you. Not that that would matter anyway with how you ignore me. Staring at your phone for the fiftieth time, you looked at all the unread messages you had sent Minho regarding the assignment. You were genuinely concerned with how he thought he was going to pass this course if he wasn’t going to do any work. Not that it matters - once this was over, you would go your separate ways. Sighing, you turned back to your laptop, pulling up a PowerPoint since he who shall not be named decided he was too good to work on the assignment. I better get a good grade on this or God so help me and Minho when I murder him.

“So, Y/N, how are you going with your project? That looks so... interesting!” Your art lecturer stopped, staring at your attempt to sculpt a snowman. “Please. I know it’s trash but don’t tell Minho. Apparently, I need to beat him at this art contest to speak with him.” You rolled your eyes, staring at the boy across the room, as he stared down his clay on the pottery plate. “Oh? Sounds like he’s playing hard to get!” The lecturer laughed. “Hard to get? No. He’s just being rude.” You scoffed. “That’s how I won over my husband! Trust me, it works. Make sure you contact me when you guys get married.” Your art lecturer teased, walking away. ...what? He can’t be playing hard to get... he’s just being rude, right? No one would go to such extremes if they were playing hard to get. He’s probably just pranking me for his friends. Gosh, guys are such jerks (not really, I love some of y’all). Anyway, focus Y/N. You need to beat him to talk to him about the assignment. A commotion at the door shook you out of your internal monologuing, as you observed a guy with orangey hair alongside his friend (or lover, I can’t tell) come and harass him about making them a... life-sized present?? “...you’re an art major right? This’ll be right in your ballpark.” The boy clapped Minho on the back before leaving, their friend/lover hot on their heels. “But I’m an accounting major.” Minho sighed, putting his head in his hands. Wow. Sad backstory. His friends don’t even care about what he does. Whatever, I don’t pity him or anything. Then again, I could help him, allowing us more time to work on our assignment together... Steeling yourself, you tentatively approached a stressed Minho, “I may or may not have overheard your conversation with your friend. Are you okay? Do you need help?” “Really? You’d do that for me?” He asked genuinely before clearing his throat, “I mean. That’d be cool. We can do it at my dorm.” You gave him a small smile,

“Okay. Oh! And while we’re at it, we should discuss the project.” You grabbed your stuff before rushing after a speedy Minho.

“Hey, Minho hyung. How’d it go with— oh! Hi, you must be Y/N. I’m Hyunjin. Minho’s talked about you a lot.” Hyunjin smiled, welcoming you into the dorm. Another boy cleared his throat, staring pointedly at Hyunjin, “Uh- no he hasn’t. We don’t know anything about you, Y/N. And Hyunjin, don’t you have an end of year formal to plan?” The other boy said, eyes wide and pointedly staring at him and the door. “Um... okay.” You stared at them wildly until Minho dragged you to his room. “It was nice to meet you, Y/N!” Hyunjin called out.

“So, I have a cardboard box from the computer set up Jisung bought for his studio. All we need to do is wrap it.” “Okay, let’s do that.” You grabbed the wrapping off the table before wrapping the box mindlessly. “Don’t do that! It won’t look aesthetically pleasing.” Minho leaned over, delicately plucking the roll off you, your heart beating fast as your fingers grazed against each other. Get a grip, Y/N. “Seriously? Aesthetically pleasing? If you put half the effort you’re putting in your art project and this into your assignment that is due tomorrow. We’d top the class.” You said, exasperated. Minho froze, looking at you like a deer in headlights, “It’s due tomorrow?” He asked incredulously. “Didn’t you see any of my texts?” You asked, equally as incredulous. “I kinda... blocked you?” Minho rubbed his neck sheepishly. “Oh my— you really— I— wow. Minho. Good luck with this. I can’t believe you! You are so- so... irritating!” You sighed, done with him. “...wait so, are you leaving?” He asked tentatively. “No! Because I’m a decent human being and I’ll feel guilty since I already said I’d help you.” You said, angrily grabbing taping the wrapping paper to the box. “Wait! Don’t do it that way.” “I think we’re way past the point of you telling me what to do, Lee.”

“That’s an interesting snowman.” Minho sauntered up to your display, his artwork— apparently, not his sculpture but a now ruined life-sized present, as you waited for the judges to approach you, not too dissimilar from a kid at a science fair awaiting their judgement. “Oh. So you’re going to talk to me now? I’m sorry; the results aren’t out yet. I haven’t beaten you yet.” You turned away from him. “Wait—“ “Ah, hello number 34 - Y/N? Explain to us what we have here.” A judge approached, looking at your ‘snowman’. “Here we have a snowman. Although it looks... unique, it represents the fact that as an individual snowflake, every soul is unique. Not all snowmen look the same— some have big carrot noses, some have miniature heads, some aren’t even made of snow, and are made of clay that has somehow collapsed in on itself. It is basically a metaphor representing how our society functions.” You explained quickly, making things up as you go as Minho stared at you, bewildered. “Wow, that was so powerful. Thank you, Y/N. Now onto you, young man. What do we have here?” “Um- well. It’s a life-sized present. It’s slightly ruined because it was just used by someone to proclaim their love of someone else’s pick up lines?” Minho raised his eyebrows, confused by his own experience. “Wow. This is— wow. I love it. Everyone! I think we have a winner here.” The judge called everyone’s attention over. “No, no! I refuse to win!” Minho said worriedly. “Oh, you’re just being humble.” The judge smiled patronisingly. “No! I’m serious because if I win, I’ll never be able to speak to the person that I like because I was stupid enough to think I could play hard to get.” Minho exploded, an awkward silence pursuing as the crowd slowly backed away, as the judge quickly placing a first place ribbon on before scurrying back. As the crowd dispersed, people talking amongst themselves as they had done before, Minho cleared his throat, stepping towards you, “Y/N—“ “I guess this is it, then. You know, I finished the assignment for you, by the way. It was submitted last night.” You forced a smile, looking away from the man in front of you. “Wait what? I already handed in the assignment as well. Last night I finished it all.” Minho said, confused. “No! You did it last minute so I don’t trust your submission but now our professor is going to be so confused. One of us has to take down the submission.” You blurted out, panicked. “Well... why don’t we go to the University cafe and read over each other’s to decide which one’s better. As well as that, you can tell me more about yourself, personally.” Minho proposed tentatively. You sighed,

“One problem. I can’t and shouldn’t be talking to you.” You said, raising your eyebrows at him. “Okay, I know I suck at playing hard to get. Like really really suck. But now I know not to follow Jisung’s love advice. Truth is, you really intimidated me. I was nervous that if I acted like myself and confessed to you normally, I would make a fool out of myself and you wouldn’t like me back.” Minho explained. “You- you’re an idiot.” Leaning forward you pressed your lips to his before quickly pulling away. “I think. You playing hard to get did work.” You said quietly, a small smile on your face. “Wait, so you like me too?” He said quickly, incredulous. “Lee Minho, you infiltrate my thoughts nearly every second of the day and I used to resent you for that. Although, I don’t really think it was resentment. I like you, Minho. I like you a lot... especially your hair?” You said quickly. He smiled, pulling you in for another kiss, this time longer, your heart soaring, as you pulled back, intertwining your fingers with his. “As much as I enjoy doing this, we should probably get back to the cafe and fix our assignment.” You said, leading him towards the exit. “Oh, yeah! I forgot about that.” He commented sheepishly. “You’re lucky you have me, then.”

➳ part four? | masterlist!

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emy-loves-you · 3 years

Text

Wrong Numbers and Useless Gays Chapter 13

YOU AGAIN?!?

Chapter 12 | Masterlist | Chapter 14

Make sure you read the first prequel chapter before reading this, or it won’t make a lot of sense!

It was Monday morning, four days since he had his face bashed in, and Virgil realized that he might have a problem. While his schedule was usually

Breakfast

Go to Janus’/Work on Music

Lunch

Talk to crushes

Watch TV/ Read new book

Dinner

Draw

Sleep

his schedule for today was

Go to Puppy Pastries/Flirt with Angel

Go to Library/Flirt with Starlight

Lunch

Talk to crushes

Babble about other Angel and Starlight to Janus and Remus

Dinner

Fantasize about crushes

Sleep

So yeah, Virgil might have a problem. Or he would if he saw this as a problem. Which he didn’t. So here he was, strolling up to Puppy Pastries like he owned the place. He walked inside, glad that this place was busier in the afternoon than in the morning. He approached the counter glancing at the figure’s pronoun bracelet before speaking. “Hello, Katherine. Any chance you could get your boss out here?”

Katherine sighed, leaning against the counter. “Hello again, rich customer. You do realize that your one of the few people to actually make the boss yell, right? And that he’s in a relationship?”

Virgil rolled his eyes fondly, grabbing a lollipop from the stand. “He seems like the more softspoken type, so I’m not surprised. Why do you think I call him Angel? And while I didn’t know about the relationship, he can just tell me to stop flirting and I will. He definitely knows how to say no, and I’ll respect his wishes. Until then, I like to see him blush. So, can you call for him, please?”

Katherine eyed him for a few moments before sighing, turning towards the back of the establishment. “Boss! Rich dude’s back!” There was what sounded like a muffled curse before Angel walked out, oven-mitted-hands on his hips.

Flirt Mode: Activated

“Hello again, Angel.” Angel blushed but his gaze stayed firm and unwavering.

“You are going to accept a muffin and drink without paying OR tipping today, mister!”

Anxiety smirked, sticking his tongue out to lick the lollipop. Angel watched the movement. “For a guy who probably owns this place, you seem pretty adamant about not earning money.” He licked the lollipop again before sticking the entire thing into his mouth. Angel stared, mouth open and cheeks red, for several seconds. Then his jaw snapped shut with an audible click. He sputtered for about a minute, cheeks still red, before Anxiety decided to grant him pity. He turned to Katherine, who looked like she was trying hard to not burst into giggles. “I’ll have a medium chai tea and… a strawberry muffin, please.” By the time he turned back, Angel seemed more put together, his cheeks still pink. “Now, I thought we got over this whole ‘don’t pay for your meal’ thing on Friday. So what gives?”

Angel’s back straightened slightly. “I talked it over with my… friends, and they gave me a confidence boost. I don’t want you to spend money today when you already spent too much last week. It would be immoral and unjust to do so.” His posture softened. “I won’t force you to not pay, but could you do so, just this once? Just to help clear my conscience.”

Anxiety thought for a moment, but not over Angel’s request. He didn’t want to tell me about his boyfriends. It’s not like he HAS to or anything, but why didn’t he tell me? He knows that I’ll back off if he says he’s taken. Unless he doesn’t want me to back off?

He smirked. “Alright, you win this one. If only because I don’t like seeing you upset. But I WILL be paying for tomorrow’s meal. Capiche?”

Angel gaped back at him. “Y-you’re coming back?”

Anxiety tilted his head in confusion. “Why wouldn’t I? The atmosphere’s nice, the food’s amazing, the staff’s kind, and the boss is beautiful.” He grabbed his meal, ignoring the beautiful Angel’s sputtering. “See you tomorrow, Angel. Katherine.”

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Anxiety smirked as he entered the library, making a beeline for the front desk. He was still feeling flirty from his interaction with Angel, so it didn’t take much to start flirting again. “Hey, Starlight. Think you can walk me back to the space section?”

Starlight blushed, finding someone to man the front desk before leading Anxiety back to the space section. He seemed to grow tenser with every step. By the time they reached the back of the library, Starlight was nearly shaking.

Anxiety put a hand on his arm. “Starlight?”

Starlight startled slightly, but he didn’t move away from his hand. “Yes?”

Anxiety frowned. “You were shaking there for a second. Something’s gotta be wrong. What’s messing with that pretty little head of yours?”

Starlight blushed, looking away. “Before we continue any of…this, I must let you know that I am currently in a romantic relationship.”

Anxiety’s grip slackened slightly. “Do you… want me to stop flirting? Because if you want me to, I will. But if you don’t well,” he grabbed Starlight’s hand, kissing his knuckle. “I would love to continue flirting with you.”

Starlight sputtered for a few seconds, and Anxiety thought that he might’ve gone too far. “I am… not opposed to you flirting with me.” He finally said, fingers brushing against Anxiety’s jaw. “I just assumed that you would wish to stop once you realized that I was already in a relationship.”

Anxiety smirked, fighting down the blush forming from the fingers on his jaw. “I only want to stop if you want me to stop. Until then, I am perfectly content to watch your face turn that pretty shade of red.” Before Starlight could get too flustered, Anxiety pulled back, gesturing to the shelves. “So, which book will you recommend today, Starlight? The book from Friday was pretty useful, but I think I need some more information.”

That visit to the library ended similarly to the visit on Friday. Anxiety read the book, asked a few questions, and flirted shamelessly with Starlight. He always felt a sense of satisfaction every time he got Starlight to turn tomato red (or Solanum Lycopersicum, as Lo called them). As 2 PM approached, Anxiety felt confident that Starlight wasn’t just letting him flirt out of politeness. Even when his face was bright red, he would smile and his eyes would light up. He was obviously passionate about the subject of space, and he also seemed to enjoy his brief banters with Anxiety. All too soon, Anxiety had to leave, so he put away his book and approached the front desk. “Hey, Starlight.”

Starlight smiled, typing something into the computer. “Hello again. I assume you’re leaving now?”

Anxiety smirked. “Yep. Just wanted to say goodbye before I left. Didn’t want you worrying your pretty little head over me.” He suppressed his laugh at Starlight’s blush. “Bye, Starlight. See you tomorrow.”

“Y-yes, farewell.”

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Virgil sighed as he left the library. He could go home and text his crushes, but he wanted to do something today that didn’t revolve around flirting or pining. He strolled down the street as he thought about the different men in his life. Patton, Logan, and Roman. Angel and Starlight. Three had names but no faces. Two had faces but no names. Three he was hopelessly in love with. Two he flirted with to get over his hopeless love. All five of them were slowly taking over his life. Virgil sighed, trying to take his mind off of them. He was just passing by one of the newer theatres when-

“Oof-” Apparently, someone decided to run out the same moment that Virgil walked passed, and now Virgil had an armful of stranger.

“I’m so sorry,” Stranger said, and he looked up and- oh.

Virgil looked down at Janus, who had drunkenly slapped some guy’s ass, and was currently groping it. Judging by the look in Janus’ face, he didn’t seem to realize that this wasn’t Remus. And judging by the look on stranger’s face, he was quickly realizing that Janus wasn’t whoever he originally thought was groping him. Virgil knew that Janus was too drunk to hold a decent conversation, so he quickly pulled Janus behind him. The stranger turned around and- oh, he’s a hot stranger.

Hot Stranger seemed to remember the moment too, since suddenly he was out of Virgil’s arms and scowling at him. “YOU!”

Flirt Mode: Activated

Anxiety smirked, eyeing Hot Stranger’s new attire. He wore a white prince costume with a red sash across the front. Yep, still hot. “Wow, Hot Stuff. How long’s it been? Three, four years?”

Hot Stranger (now upgraded to “Hottie”) blushed, jabbing his finger into Anxiety’s chest. “What are you doing here, you villainish fiend? Here to molest me again?”

Anxiety sighed, ignoring the finger that was bruising his chest. “First of all, I didn’t even touch you. Second of all, even if I did, why would I wait so long to come back and do it again? Third of all, how would I have known that you would be running out of a theatre at this exact moment?” He shrugged his shoulders. “This meeting was by complete chance, Hottie. I don’t regret meeting you again, but I had no intention of it.”

Hottie sputtered. “What do you mean, ‘I didn’t even touch you’? You groped me in the middle of a club!”

“No, I didn’t. My friend did. His boyfriend was getting drinks and you look a lot like him. He was too drunk to say ‘sorry for touching your ass, I thought it was my boyfriend’s’ so I took the blame.” He grabbed Hottie’s hand, gently removing it from his chest.

Hottie scowled, “Why should I believe you?”

Anxiety sighed, putting his hands in his pockets. “I don’t know, maybe because I have literally no reason to lie? It was years ago, and I don’t even go to clubs anymore. Why should I care if you think I’m lying?” He looked up at the sign. “I didn’t know they were doing Romeo and Juliet this year. Huh.”

“IF I believe you… what now?”

“Well, I would very much like to continue flirting with you, Hottie. That is if you’re okay with it?”

Hottie shuffled his feet. “Well, I’m in a relationship, so don’t think for a second that this will exceed casual bantering.”

Anxiety smirked, leaning forward slightly. “Wouldn’t dream of it, Hottie.”

Crash!

Hottie cringed, glancing back to the theatre. “I should go make sure they didn’t break anything.”

Anxiety sighed, leaning back. “Alright. Are you free for bantering anytime soon?”

Hottie blushed. “My lunch break is always at 2:30. And don’t get any funny ideas! This is just casual banter between acquaintances. Nothing more.” And with that, Hottie left. Virgil sighed, heading home. He had ALOT to rant about.

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

V- (3:30 PM) Hey, J? Remember that hot guy you groped?

J- (3:31 PM) Virgil, you already cashed in that favor. You got a katana for your “Princey” remember?

V- (3:31 PM) I’m not trying to cash it in

V- (3:31 PM) I found Hottie

Re- (3:31 PM) Wait, let me guess

Re- (3:32 PM) You explained what happened, you flirted with him, and now you have a new crush

V- (3:32 PM) Wow, just take all the fun out of it

J- (3:33 PM) Goddamit Virgil

J- (3:33 PM) What are we going to do with you?

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Taglist: @bisexualdisaster106 @self-taught-mess @itawalrus @arodynamic-enby @sanderssides-angst

#useless gays #sanders sides fic #virgil sanders #patton sanders #logan sanders #roman sanders #janus sanders #remus sanders

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jiamour · 4 years

Text

piano, practice & peptalks

pairing: chenle x reader

genre: fluff

word count: 5.9k

summary: chenle is the pianist for your senior year production of high school musical and he always stays late to help you practice

alternatively: chenle make heart go woosh

a/n: i wrote this a year ago so it may not be great,, he’s a shy boy in this im sorry,, but if people can write jeno as a bad boy all the time i can have my shy boy chenle so,,,, also i tried to edit it but i got tired of reading it over and over so its still a mess

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈«

“start on four okay, i’ll count you in,” chenle instructed, nodding his head like he was confirming your next actions to himself. he hadn’t even glanced in your direction, his eyes fixated on his hands that laid on top of piano keys.

you were sat on the floor, a pointless rolled up and crumpled script in your hands, and just like chenle your eyes were glued to the movement of his hands against the piano. “one,” his fingers mechanically moving, nodding along to the beginning melody you both had heard at least a thousand times in the last hour. “two,” you were starting to get nervous again, maybe it wasn’t the greatest idea to ask the most musically gifted human to probably ever exist to help you practice for a school play. it was just another under budgeted, high school musical rendition of “high school musical” after all, because your school lacked any ounce of originality. “three,” you took a breathe in, flopping out the lines in your hand so you could easily see, cringing at the noise. “four,” his eyes moved to you, still playing the basic tune, checking to see if you were going to start on time. which, sadly, was a rare occurrence. you tried your best to listen to his cue breathily beginning, “it’s funny-“ “nope, again,” he stopped you immediately, almost ruthlessly. you kicked your feet lightly against the stage, humming in disappointment. “but chenle, whyyy?” it came out in an unintentional whine. he laughed humorlessly, shifting his body so it was facing you, a hand running through his hair. he still had a smile on your face but you were sure it was more from annoyance than happiness. his hand dropped from his hair so he could look you in the eyes, though you could swear he was looking right passed you instead “you were off key, if you kept going, the whole song would have been wrong and we’d be wasting time.” “it seems like we’re wasting time anyways,” you mumbled under your breathe, frustrated, breaking the “eye contact”. you let your head droop towards the ground as you played with the half empty water bottle beside you. “hey,” his loud voice was so much softer now clearly noticing your frustration. he leaned forward on his bench his elbows resting on his knees, hair swooped slightly over his eyelashes, “look at me yn.” you listened to him and were met with his soft droopy eyes gazing right into yours, this time making your heart skip a beat. when he got your attention he started speaking again, awkwardly moving his hands along with his words not knowing what to do with them when he wasn’t playing the piano, “i’m sorry if i’m being too tough on you, i just know you can be great and i want to see that.” you huffed not appreciating his half assed pep talk, falling back on your hands, resting them flat on the floor behind you. “sure, whatever i’ll try harder.” “no yn, that's not what i’m saying. i um- you want to be like gabriella don’t you? work hard and it’ll pay off okay?” he tried, his tone a little stressed but slightly humorous. “gabriella was late to all the rehearsals and try outs, and almost didn’t go to the performance,” your tone was empty and tired, also a little raspy from all the times it had to stop and start. chenle was taken aback for a second, or at least you thought he was, his expression morphed back into the usual small smile almost instantly. “okay then, um, don’t be like her then, be like sharpay.” “but she doesn’t get the role after working hard for years,” you fought back sternly, like this was the subject you were most passionate about in life and not like you were just happy you got to take a break from chenle telling you that you were wrong. he laughed a little, pushing himself up so now one hand was on his knee and the other was pushing the hair back out of his face. his navy blue sweater flopped open a little as he moved. “just let me have this yn, i’m trying to motivate you!” you were sure he was just as tired as you were having to play the same notes over and over, and the dim lighting of the stage didn’t make it any better. “never,” you fought back a little bite in your voice and he lazily rolled his eyes at you deciding it was best to turn away, back towards the comfort of his piano now. “we’re going again you know the count,” again without any confirmation he began playing, patronizingly calling out the number to you, and this time, just to push his buttons, you started at 3. “stop,” he muttered, before you could even get the second syllable out. “yn, you have to listen to me for the millionth time, it’s 1-2-3-4 and THEN you start singing, please stop missing the beat before i-“ he was keeping his tone low and calm but his hands waved through the air violently as he spoke, until his tangent was broken off by you laughing to the side. with the tiniest admirable smirk on his face he turned to see you giggling on the ground getting amusement from his annoyance. “you should have seen your face,” you happily expressed through your giggles making him shake his head in disbelief “my face didn’t even move,” if you didn't know better you’d say his voice was almost whining back at you. “yeah but you wanted it too. i saw twitches zhong chenle don’t lie to me!” you cut him off when he tried to interject a finger held in the air just for emphasis “there was no-“ he took a breathe knowing you were just trying to get a reaction out of him, wanting to give into your game, but wanting more to practice at the same time, “let’s just start again and no forgetting how to count this time.” “one.” ✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈« “that’s not the note,” he stopped playing and instead took to guiding you through the song with his finger moving up and down in the air as if you could understand that perfectly. “listen chenle, we can’t all be literal prodigies like you,” like always you began your usual squabble with him that had started to occur almost every time you messed up. or in other words, a lot. “hate to break it to you yn,” he started, tracing his hand over a key while playfully looking into your eyes, “but it doesn’t take a musical genius to be able to sing along to high school musical, zac efron could do it for god sake” “actually zac efron didn’t sing his parts in high school musical,” chenle appeared stunned, like he did every time you said something that he didn’t know, this might not even have been true but it was nice to have rendered him speechless if only for a second. his mouth hung open cutely until he swallowed and spoke again his lips in a small pout “i should just stop using characters as an argument you thwart me every time.” “did you just say ‘thwart’?” you laughed falling forward slightly holding your stomach. he nudged you with his shoulder, looking away embarrassed but still smiling along with you ALSO speaking of him nudging you, after many many practices together chenle finally let you sit beside him on his bench. you took this as a large accomplishment. you’d only seen one person sit on his bench before during normal play rehearsal and he definitely wasn’t welcoming their presence. chenle’s best friend, jisung’s, girlfriend, craving to be liked by everyone, pushed in beside him a few days ago taking up room with not only her form but also her overwhelmingly, extroverted personality. chenle, though clearly uncomfortable, just smiled shyly and opted to show her how to play a few simple chords per her request. it took jisung constant tapping on her shoulders for about five minutes straight to finally get her away with new piano knowledge she’d surely forget seconds after. bUT besides all that, chenle had finally allowed you to sit with him, and that’s all that mattered, even if it did leave room for more nit picking and teasing. “let’s just get back to practicing,” he said through his laugh, straightening his posture. you followed his lead almost comically straightening your back to mock him which just making him laugh more. he playfully pushed your forearm to get your shoulders to fall again, “stop ittt!” you punched your arm out just enough so it missed the piano in front of you and turned your head towards chenle, “stop what chenle, this is my battle position.”

he shook his head and positioned his eyes on the piano, “i’m starting whether you like it for not, so stop fooling around.” “fine,” swiftly your arms were crossed across your chest, an over dramatic pout morphing all your other features, “you’re no fun.” “oh, so that’s how we’re going to be,” he sounded like he was challenging you and not like he had been offended by your comment. chenle cleared his throat, positioned himself and his hands like he was about to play an epic concerto, and then in one quick movement he hit a single key around the center right of the piano, “you need to be here, but you are-“ he then proceeded to smash his hands down on the keyboard to create a loud unpleasant mash of noise, “here.” “heyyy,” you kicked his foot with your own lightly “you’re a bully zhong chenle.” ✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈« your eyes were locked with chenle’s as you ran through one of the musical numbers. he was sat off to the side on his piano bench which he seemed to never move from while you were up on main stage, the stage lights blinding the corner of your eyes. it was almost the end of practice and you were tired, the cast was tired, the theatre teacher was tired, but chenle, somehow he had all the energy in the world to dance mockingly off to the side moving cutely around to try to copy your actions. you probably should have been watching your step or at least watching your “co star” because it wasn’t exactly safe with all the basketballs haphazardly thrown around. but instead you couldn’t take your eyes off probably the dorkiest little piano man. “okay, okay CUT!” your teacher called from one of the seats at the back of the room, pushing herself up slightly so she appeared more in charge. the dancing and singing stopped abruptly with her words and you stumbled a little having to be caught by jaemin who happened to be beside you, you could already imagine chenle laughing at you later, “yn dear, for the love of god please pay attention to what’s going on instead of staring at chenle.” you. were. embarrassed. your eyes sunk from the teacher to the ground to chenle who was indeed laughing and back to the ground before nodding and muttering an “um i- okay, sorry.” the teacher nodded back and turned her attention to the smiling boy, “and chenle,” his expression immediately dropped and you saw him noticeably get shy and swallow “keep up the enthusiasm.” the rest of practice went smoothly, sadly with a lot less chenle dancing and a lot more actually practicing. like always you stayed later with chenle. he would always be waiting for you by his piano as you said goodbye to your friends and cast mates, sometimes he’d play to speed by time and you’d wait a little longer to go to him just to listen. but today zhong chenle wasn’t at his piano, today he was dribbling one of the basketballs that used to be a tripping hazard, across the stage. you leaned your left side on the wall beside you, your arms crossed and a teasing smile prepared on your expression. just as he was about to shoot on the flimsy basketball net some kid had taken off his driveway to help with the set, you snuck up behind him. with a light tap on his arms, you yelled a loud “boo!” causing him to drop the ball out of his hands and spin around towards you with a pout. “what was that for?” he continued to frown even as you smirked and ducked under his gaze to grab the basketball that had stopped rolling on the floor beside him. “i just wanted to show you how a real pro does it,” you said confidently a quick nod to your head and the basketball tucked under your arm. “uh huh sure,” chenle spoke sarcastically lunging forward to grab the ball out of your hands but you dodged his arms and ran a little to the side away from him “is that why it took you so many tries to get the ball in during practice yesterday?” “i just didn’t want to intimidate them with my talents, god chenle,” you moved your hand up to your head as you spoke and the ball rolled away from your grasp. quickly you scampered after it not wanting chenle to get it before you. “right, right sorry i doubted you.” he began walking to his piano again and you knew what that meant, more practicing. “let’s go over the song we stopped on yesterday, yeah?” he expected you to follow, instead you tossed the basketball weakly and it flew about 5 feet in front of you to the left side of the net. you turned on your feet hoping chenle hadn’t noticed and pretending that you had meant for that to happen: of course chenle noticed, he had his hand covering his smile as he laughed. as soon as you saw him as happy as he was, you knew you didn’t want to practice. “no,” you held your ground your feet cemented to the floor. “no?” his laughing haulted and, like the cutie he was, his head tilted in confusion. “i’m hungry” it was the first thing to pop into your head and plus, you really were hungry. somehow though you still sounded confident. “you’re hungry?” he repeated your words back slower his eyes squinting against the bright stage lights which you hadn’t turned off yet. your eyes rolled the slightest bit and your hand rested on your hip, though you weren’t actually annoyed “what are you a parrot now?” “no,” he said. “i just don’t know how to respond, you don’t have food do you?” “no,” your face scrunched “that’s why i’m hungry.” he opened his mouth to speak but you continued talking “but there are vending machines and you seem like the kind of guy to always have your wallet on you.” “i’m not buying you food.” “but chenleee,” you tried a whine and puppy dog eyes that he never fell for. “no.” “look, i’ve been rehearsing for three hours, THREE HOURS CHENLE, please give me money so i can get us something from the vending machines,” you had your hands together, ready to beg him. originally this was just an excuse but now that you thought about it you were starving and you could already hear your stomach grumbling in the near future. he stood up from his bench dusting off his knees as just a habitat, because really where would he have acquired dust? “if you can beat me in a basketball game to three, i’ll buy you food.” “you’re on,” and with that chenle lazed across the stage towards the basketball that laid just off stage and his nonchalant movements led you to believe this win would be easy even if you sucked. boy were you wrong. chenle tossed the ball to you which you caught with an oomf not expecting the strength behind it. you let him walk to center stage again before you bowed “what the fuck yn-“ “it’s for honor,” you hissed gesturing for him to do what you did “that’s not how it-“ you looked up in a glare “fine, whatever.” as soon as he awkwardly bowed you ran forward messily dribbling the ball. you heard his initial shock and then a laugh behind you and then seconds later in front of you as he swooped the ball out of your possession. “that’s illegal,” you cried chasing after him as he dribbled to the other side and easily sent it into the basket. he retrieved the ball and turned back to your slumped form smiling “no, that’s one for me.” “you’re not supposed to be good at this,” you sighed as he tossed the ball back in your direction. “come on yn” he said. “if zac efron can do it then you can too” you went to speak your finger up in the air like you were going to correct him again so he spoke faster than you, “what are you going to tell me zac efron didn’t do any of the basketball playing as well?” “no,” you bounced the ball in front of you “i was going to ask you if you only have one pep talk?” “yes i do,” he rubbed his hands together getting ready to play again, “now start dribbling so i can get 2 more points and we can go back to practicing.” “um i think you mean, i get 3 more points and we eat snacks.” “not a chance.” and with your newfound will to beat chenle you ran forward only to get the ball taken from you a second time. this time you reacted faster deciding to latch onto him in true koala form instead of going for the ball. “this-“ he tried to shake you off his back are the ball rolled out of his hands and across the stage again “is not how you play basketball.” “that’s because you’ve never seen my strategy.” “i don’t know what you hope to achieve from this strategy,” he laughed finally shrugging you off. “snacks.” you answered, “i hope to achieve snacks.” chenle won the game 3-1 sadly, after his second basket he noticed your enthusiasm withering so he “accidentally” fumbled the ball in your direction 3 or 4 times until you finally got it in. his third point was achieved about 3.5 seconds later from the opposite side of the “court” to stop you from getting too cocky. “let’s go practice now,” you groaned and stopped chenle by pulling his arm before he could go back to the dreaded piano. “please chenle, buy me snacks,” you whined trying again with the puppy dog eyes “i’ll name my first born child after you.” “well i don’t think that’s necessary-“ “i’ll mention you in my award acceptance speeches when i’m famous, you’ll be known as zhong chenle the guy who got me snacks and saved my life,” you tugged on his arm more and you could feel him relenting “fine,” he said as he took out his wallet with the hand that wasn’t being pulled by you. “thank you-“ you yelled out happily jumping away from him “but-“ he held $10 in front of you and when you went to grab it he moved it away, “you have to promise me you’ll get famous, cause if you don’t i’m marching straight up to your house and getting my money back.” “of course,” you nodded barely listening to what he said your eyes fixed on the money in his hand which you snatched as soon as he brought it near. you sprinted off down the halls to the nearest vending machine leaving chenle on stage shaking his head with a fond smile. “why did you get apple slices,” chenle asked picking up the cold green plastic they were in and plopping them back on the ground in front of him. “i didn’t know if you were a vegetarian so i didn’t want to offend you,” you responded plopping a chip in your mouth, the bag of which chenle grabbed from your hand the second he noticed. you were both sitting cross legged on the stage floor across from each other the food laying in between you.

chenle waited until he finished his chip to speak, “chips are vegetarian yn, they’re just potatoes.”

“you’re a potato.”

“that was uncalled for.”

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈«

“we’re soaring. flying. there's not a star-” chenle mumbled through the words robotically as he played leaning forward to squint at the lyrics.

you hit him with your slightly rolled up script, “sing! when i asked you to help with the duet i meant singing.”

“i’m not singing,” chenle leaned back his hands in his lap and no longer on the piano as he shook his head.

“come on chenle if zac efron can do it you can too,” you laughed taking his stupid pep talk from him.

he turned his head in your direction amused, “from what i heard zac efron didn’t sing either.”

“not in high school musical maybe,” you said smirking, “but he did in the greatest showman, at least i think he did.”

“you’re a loser.”

“says you.”

he sighed and straightened out the sheet music on his piano, “let's start again.”

“are you going to sing?” you perked up hoping he would give in like he had for the snacks a few days ago.

“no,” he shook his head again, harder this time, like if he shook his head enough the idea would leave yours.

“please?” you were pouting and he knew it so he decided not to look at you, knowing that over the past few weeks he had been getting softer for your every action.

“no,” his tone was uncertain and you latched onto that like he knew you would.

“chenle,” you said this to get his attention hoping he would turn towards you like he usually did but again he refused his leg bouncing beside him.

your socked feet hit against his piano bench in frustration which you sat on cross legged facing him. “chenle look at me.”

this time he did but he wouldn’t meet your eyes shyly he looked down at the ground beside you. you delicately grabbed his hands from off the piano and into your own.

when you squeezed his hands a little he finally looked into your eyes and you smiled at him, “chenle will you please sing with me?” you asked softly, softer than he’d ever heard your voice before.

“fine” chenle relented, he knew if he looked into your hopeful eyes for too long he would agree but there was really no helping it.

“really?” your eyes sparkled not expecting his response and he nodded.

“really.” he cleared his throat, “but don't laugh at how much i suck alright?”

“chenle i’ll only laugh if you're really bad, don’t worry” you watched as his shy expression changed into a pout on his soft lips. then you realized you were looking at his lips. You looked back into his eyes to see him staring back at you with a look of soft wonder.

with a small cough to break the silence and to break your hands apart, you forced a laugh “i’m kidding, i bet you’re great anyways your good at everything else.”

“i can literally do two things,” he laughed. Good, you were back to your usual interactions.

“well that's two more things than me,” you fought back.

his mouth fell open like you had offended him but his eyes were still friendly, “um shut up, you can sing, you can dance, you can steal my heart,” he made a heart shape with his hands after he spoke.

“you can’t sweet talk me out of making you sing.”

“darn.”

“and who the fuck still says darn?”

“your mom?”

you hit his shoulder a little harder than usual, “zhong chenle!”

“i’m sorry it just slipped out, i didn’t mean to bring back a joke from the 2000’s,” he looked ashamed but you saw the smile twitching on his lips. jEsus stop looking at his lips.

“i just-” you placed a hand over your heart, your head turned away dramatically, “i just don’t know if we can be friends anymore after that.”

“yn-”

“no i'm leaving,” you said getting up from the bench and grabbed your bag that laid on the ground beside you.

before you could step away he lightly grabbed your wrist in his hand and gently tugged you back in his direction, “don’t leave.”

he was too soft to decline so you huffed, you shrugged your bag off again, and sat back down on the stool.

“good,” he said letting your wrist go and turning to his piano “let’s practice.”

“fine,” you agreed taking in a breath of air “but no piano this time.”

“you want me to sing acapella with you?” he asked in disbelief, doubting you would stick to this seemingly outrageous request.

“yes,” you confirmed quickly.

“okay,” chenle didn’t know why he agreed or why he agreed so easily but he knew he couldn’t back out now without another fight, “so um- how do we start?”

“not so tough without your piano huh?” you teased reaching to his sheet music and handing it to him, “first you probably need the lyrics.”

“good call,” he nodded rocking back, one hand on the bench the other holding the lyrics, and swallowing nervously.

you could see how tense he was and placed a hand over his too try to calm him down a bit, he relaxed slightly under your touch and you began to count him in “one, two, three, four.”

“we’re soaring; flying, there's not a star in heaven that we can’t reach,” his voice was so fucking pretty and he didn’t tell you this before? and for why was he being modest?? his voice was beautiful and it made your heart swell that he had agreed to share it with you and no one else.

“hey,” chenle waved the paper in your face, you blinked and broke yourself out of the thoughts you hadn’t even realized you were trapped in, “you missed your part.”

“you’re so pretty,” it came out in an over dramatic pout then you realized what you said “um- i um meant your voice is pretty.”

in typical shy boy fashion he looked away, “i um- thank you? but it would be nice if you sang next time too.”

“right, lets go again.”

“whats this?” chenle smirked tilting his head in fake confusion, “yn actually wanting to practice? was my voice that moving?”

“shut up,” you huffed and raised your fingers in a count to start again.

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈«

“wheres yn?” jaemin asked leaning over chenle's shoulder as he did the soundcheck for the night.

“what do you mean, ‘where's yn’” he did finger quotes and his face scrunched up slightly annoyed and confused.

“i mean, wheres yn,” jaemin repeated again in the same curious tone “she’s not with the cast so i thought she’d do with you”

“what do you mean she’s not with the cast?” chenle’s voice was louder now trying to hide that he was worried about you when nothing was probably happening.

“I mean shes not with the cast-” jaemin frowned “why do you want me to keep repeating things? are you okay chenle?”

chenle ignored him and quickly finished his soundcheck going off to find you. awkwardly he went up to one of your friends spending the whole time fiddling with his fingers until they told him you had gotten nervous and went to splash some water on your face.

he spoke quick thank you and wandered down the hall to see if you were okay, hesitantly he knocked on the door “in a minute!” you called from behind it your voice shakier than normal.

“hey yn, you're on in um-” he looked down at his watch and his heart rate picked up, “literally two minutes, you good?”

“um yeah,” he heard a loud sniff as you walked over to the door and opened it.

your face was red and you brought a hand up to rub your eyes leaning on the door frame giving chenle a fake smile.

“have you been crying?”

“no,” you sniffed.

he gave you a disbelieving look and you frowned tears spilling from your eyes again, he held his arms open and you immediately fell into them, holding onto him tightly. one arm wrapped around you while his other texted jaemin to tell the teacher they may have to delay the musical a few minutes.

placing his phone back into his back pocket he brought a hand up to move down your hair calmingly as you cried into his chest.

“yn,” you hummed against him in response until he moved you back his hands on your shoulders, holding you about a foot away. he cautiously brushed a tear away with his thumb, “you’re going to do great and i’m the harshest critic in the world, you of all people know that.”

“yeah,” you sniffed again “but you like me now, so it’s not the same.”

you smiled sadly at your own comment and he smiled with you “i’ve always liked you.”

“liar.”

“okay, maybe i didn’t like you when we first met because you cut in line and took the last of the pizza,” chenle agreed, you humphed at him, a little glare in your eyes “but i liked you the second time i saw you, you know when you accidentally threw a pencil at my head, i really needed a pencil that day.”

you giggled and chenle was happy he was making progress.

“this isn’t like your usual pep talks,” you teased, biting your lip as you looked up at him.

“well after a while i learned every single character in high school musical is actually corrupt and maybe not the best people for motivation.”

“good call,” you nodded, “but you’re not even going try? i like shutting your pep talks down.”

“fine um-“ he said thinking “you can do this yn be like kelsi and sing your heart out.”

“she played piano she didn’t-“

“you get my point,” he smiled his pretty smile and you couldn’t help but smile back, “and you’re going to do great, so get on out there before they kill you and i for keeping them waiting.”

“okay.” you nodded and he let your shoulders go so you could run together to the stage where everyone was panicking, and before you parted ways you gave him a quiet thank you.

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈«

you felt the adrenaline and pride rush through you as you finished the final number in the musical. you couldn’t stop a smile that took over your entire face from forming.

you took your bow, immediately after looked to the side hoping chenle was paying attention and there he was standing at his piano at the side of the stage giving you a standing ovation, your eyes met and he smiled so proudly.

you felt yourself lose control of your body as you ran towards him and jumped into his unsuspecting arms, your arms wrapping around his neck and your legs around his hips. it took him a second to regain his balance from the unexpected hug but once he had, he wrapped his arms tightly around your waist.

“you did so good,” you leaned back so you could see his face and he could see yours. he was smiling. you were smiling. god was probably smiling but you couldn’t be sure. he spun you once as you both laughed and stopped looking you in the eyes “i’m so proud of you.”

then you noticed how close his face was to yours, your eyes dropped to his lips and you could tell his did the same, your breathe was heavy from the performance as well as the close contact, chenle began to lean in and you both start laughing again. your head fell to his shoulder while you laughed together.

after a few seconds, and realizing that everyone could still see you both he put you down and shyly stepped away. his head ducking and flushed.

“i’ll um- see you later yn?” he said and you felt a little disappointed as he disappeared backstage without even waiting for your response.

you turned back around to see your friends all huddled together laughing and talking so you quickly ran back to join in.

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈«

“what are you doing man?” jisung asked having walked backstage to see chenle with his face leaned up against the brick wall.

“kicking myself,” chenle mumbled back.

“why aren’t you with yn?” jisung asked and chenle groaned flipping around just to frown at jisung.

“because i’m stupid.”

“that you are my friend,” jisung agreed.

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈«

you hadn’t seen chenle for the rest of that night but day 2 of performing was today and you were determined to not let him just walk away on you again.

as soon as you entered the room your eyes snapped to the piano which luckily chenle was still sat at. he wasn’t playing just shuffling through his endless sheet music so you knew you wouldn’t be interrupting anything.

quickly you moved over to him, fixing your posture so your walk was full of false confidence and authority.

“chenle-“ you tapped his shoulder and slid into the spot beside him on his bench.

“yn,” he mumbled his eyes keep flashing to your lips making it hard to think about anything but kissing him.

“what are you up to?” your voice was as soft as his and was hard to raise above a whisper just as much trapped in a daze as he was.

“oh you know just um- piano” he smiled leaning to the side and accidentally resting his arm on the keys only to bounce off when they made a loud sound. you giggled at his actions and he cursed himself for ruining the moment but it had only made you want him more.

“that’s-“ you started not sure of what to say “fun.”

“yeah its um- can i kiss you?” chenle didn’t know where the confidence had come from or even where the words had come from but they were definitely there, they had been said, holy shit.

chenle was in panic, you were going to reject him, he was going to lose you, he was going to die alone and have 50 cats, wait maybe that’s actually not too bad-

“yes,” you hummed. oh. that wasn’t what he expected.

chenle cupped your cheeks and your eyes drooped close. his heart practically fluttered out of his chest when his lips met yours and he could already feel his palms getting sweaty. he dropped his hands from his cheeks and you moved yours to wrap loosely around his neck pulling him closer but that just caused your foreheads to crash together. with a giggle from you and a groan chenle you pulled apart awkwardly placing a hand on your forehead where his had hit.

“sorry,” you laughed, your smile huge on your face and so was his, as carefree as you’d ever seen it despite the pain echoing in his head.

“no, it’s fine,” his words were slow and breathy and sounded just as smiley as he looked. “but i don’t think gabriella would have messed up like that, or zac efron.”

your mouth fell open and your hands flew to your hips “SHUT UP!!”

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minaofmayhem · 4 years

Text

DRABBLE #13 - The Library

I’m happy to post the first Drabble requested by @merlinsluxuriousloungewear! 😀 I really liked writing it with our fluffy Alexander ❤️ I hope you’ll like it ! Thanks for having proposed this idea! 😘

Let me know if you want to be tagged for the next ones 😀

Summary : Reading is your favorite hobby. You are doing your thesis in English Literature at Columbia University in NY. You spend all your time at the national library and there you meet a very interesting Swedish guy...

Pairing : Alexander Skarsgård x Reader

Warnings : None just fluff everywhere ! ❤️

“Ah...There you are Byron”, you say to yourself as taking the book from the shelve. You were searching for that damned book for 5 minutes now because someone had misplaced it. Going back to your desk, you mentally curse those who did this. How can it be possible to not respect the rules ? "We are in a library, for god sake". You sit down on your chair, in front of the place where all your stuffs were, and sigh. The book you were carrying finds a place next to the others in a muffle sound.

You were actually working on a big project that you have to give back in two weeks for a final exam. The subject is “The English literature within the ages”. This is a real complex subject and you don’t have time to waste. You quickly take the books you need to complete your references in front of you, open them at the right pages and put your headphones on to lock yourself into your favorite workspace. You absolutely love working at the library but most of all with your favorite music into your ears. Well the library was quite quiet but you were always distracted. Sometimes because of a new incomer who just ask a bit too loud some informations at the desk or other times by distracted people who make fall their stuffs on the ground. It’s exasperating you but you can’t do anything against that. You love so much being here that you tolerate such things with your music on.

Ten minutes later, you raise up your head from your book to choose an other one when your heart make a jump into your chest. At the main entrance, you recognize the guy that comes almost everyday since a week now. Well he’s quite noticeable cause he’s really tall, like he could take a look above the shelves! But what aroused more your curiosity was the fact that he looks absolutely gorgeous. It is not because some people consider you as a bookworm that you are completely out of reality. You watch guys like any other girl and had some boyfriends too. You can have feelings for beautiful men but this one is really special. It’s the first time that someone catch your attention like this.

As usual, he takes his wallet from his back pocket to bring out his member card. He shows it to the secretary at the entry and comes inside the library. As discreetly as possible, you follow him with your eyes. He really have a smooth walk for someone so tall. You notice that he is carrying a little notebook and a pen. He poses them on a desk just a few meter from you. Sometimes, you just pretend to check some things on your computer ; you really became an expert in spying these past few days. It’s incredible how fast you can develop some tricks to not be caught. After placing his stuffs, he takes a little piece of paper, probably with some references on it, and goes directly into the shelves.

You breath when he’s out of sight. “My god what are you doing (X/Y)”, you mentally say to you to get yourself up. This is really impolite to spy people. You know it and yet you can’t prevent yourself from doing it. This guy literally become an obsession, this is crazy. Since the first time you noticed him, you can't stop searching for him at the library. You noted that he was there every day in the afternoon. Sometimes, you were even checking your watch more than usual just to be sure that he will be here soon. You started to pay more attention to your appearance, wearing nice clothes, hoping for something. Maybe just a glance.

Five minutes later, he comes back at his desk with three little books and sits. Behind your computer, you give some discreet glances in his direction until you finally get caught. He raises his head and his look directly goes straight in your direction. Immediately, the fire rises at your cheeks and you pretend to search for something into an other book. Your movements become a bit untidy and your hands are nearly shaking. You feel really stupid at that moment.

Did he notice your insistent glances ? Or was he just looking accidentally in your direction ? You really pray for the second option otherwise he'll really think you are a crazy girl or something like that. Now, because of that, you can't look at him anymore during the day or it will be very suspect.

You go back to your work, a bit frustrated but that’s part of the game. Too bad but it’s like that. “What were you expecting after all?”. You close a bit sharply the Byron’s book and go to search some others. Now it’s time to talk about Shakespeare. You do a quick search for references on the net, write them on a piece of paper before going to the right shelf. After a little walk, you find the “English Theatre” shelf, settled on a isolated side of the library. with no desks or sofas to sit around. You go into the shelf and search among the books. You eyes looking quickly at the references and your note at the same time. After some seconds of searching, you finally find the first book you need.

“Oh no...”, you whisper as you notice that the books is situated at the last level of the shelf and of course, you are too short. Classic. You take a look around but there’s no sign of a stool that could help you. You sigh and search for an other solution. Impossible to ask at the help desk because you don’t have time to waste. Plus you know well the secretary and she’s quite slow when it comes to take decisions.

“Ok then. If I really have to...”. You put your hands on the shelf, checking the strength. You are really thin and these are really old shelves made with strong woods. You won’t fall and it won't broke. At least, you hope so. When you feel that you have enough support with your hands, you put your two feet at the base of the shelf. Then you slowly climb, level after level. Luckily you had put a pants today. You don’t want to imagine what it would look like with a skirt...

At the second level, you try to raise your hand to grab the book but you are stil to short. You could just reach the start of the last shelf.

“Damn...”, you whisper, out of breath. It’s quite hard to stay in balance in this position with your right hand up. You rise up a little bit and raise your hand again, a bit higher.

“C’mon (X/Y), just a little more...”. You were just about to reach it when you suddenly feel that you were losing balance. Like in a movie, it was like the time just slow down as you were falling down. You close your eyes, knowing that you don’t have the possibility to grab something to hold you back, except books but it won’t really help you. You just wait for your fall until...

“Wow...are you alright miss ?”.

You don’t fall on the ground, like expected, but into arms. You open your eyes and discover that you were just lying into the arms of the perfect stranger you were stalking. You open your mouth to say something but for a moment, no sounds come. You feel really stupid, even more than when you get caught.

“Oh...Hum...Yes...” you manage to say, being shocked by what happened and embarrassed at the same time. He looks at you with a smile, apparently amused by the situation. It’s the first time that you see his face so close and you aren’t really disappointed. He really have a beautiful face, with delicate features and fascinating eyes. You feel the red coming again at your cheeks. Gently, he drops forward to let you feel the ground again. Your right hand lean on his shoulder as you go down.

“May I ask you what were you doing on that shelf ?”, he asks with a hint of humor. His voice his really cool and you notice a little accent but from where ?

“Well...I just wanted to take that book”, you answer as showing him the little Shakespeare book that moved a little bit from his place. You then realized that you endangered and made a fool of yourself for just a stupid book. The guy lets out a smooth laugh and just takes it easily to give it to you. Being that tall can really be useful!

“Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet. Good choice”, he reads the title on the cover. You grab it and thank him with a shy smile. You feel the red coming back again and you try to calm yourself.

“You had chosen a good one too”, you declare as showing him the “Othello” he was carrying. He looks at it and smile. God, he’s so delicious when he’s smiling.

“Oh yeah”, he answers as showing it. “I was doing some searches for a role I’m going to play soon. Some kind of a medieval tragedy, you know”. So that’s why he was spending time at the library...He was maybe an artist. You feel surprised by the fact that he is easily talking to you, like if you knew each other for a long time. But you really enjoy his company and you don't want this little chat to end.

“Then maybe I can advise....” you say as searching for “Macbeth” among the books in the shelf. Of course, this one was at your level so you quickly take it to take him. “It will help you more for medieval tragedy”.

“Wow, are you a Shakespeare’s expert or something?”.

“Not really”, you laugh a little, “I’m learning English literature so Shakespeare is of course in the program”. He whistle, impressed apparently but it make you feel a bit embarrassed.

“Well...Since Shakespeare has no secret for you...Would you like to take a coffee or something with me? You could share me all your advices ?”. He proposes that after coming a bit closer. You look at him, in disbelief. 30 mins ago you were just stalking him behind your computer and now he was proposing to take a coffee ? That was really an unexpected day. You couldn’t missed this opportunity.

“I’d love too. After all, I owe you a coffee, you just saved my life”, you answer with a little smile, placing a lock of your hair behind your ear.

��You’re right. I’m Alexander” he says as showing you his hand with a big smile.

“(X/Y). Nice to meet you”.

#alexander skarsgård #alexander skarsgard #alex skarsgard #alexander skarsgard imagine #drabble #the library #requests done #alexander skarsgard x reader #alexander skarsgård x reader

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vidimillion · 4 years

Note

idk if ur still doing jasico hc but if u r... college aus! what majors, background, etc? i love college aus

i love them too anon. i love them too. (thanks for the req!)

the university library is packed with people studying for midterms. some people are sitting on the floor, with no chairs left. a ways away from the louder parts of the library, by the windows, there's a really cute guy who's got a small table all to himself. the cute guy sees jason desperately looking for somewhere to study and pulls his bag off the other chair at the table, silently offering.

jason sits down and tries to work, he really does. he's got all his architecture and literature textbooks out, and it works for a little while. jason notices that among the guy's textbooks, there's a few open poetry books that he seemed to read on his study breaks. jason recognizes a few of them and feels a nagging desire to say something smart, something that strikes up an interesting conversation with this really cute stranger, "emily dickinson was a lesbian."

his faces goes red as he dies on the inside. surprising him, cute stranger stares at him and says something along the lines of, "oscar wilde and michelangelo were definitely gay too."

jason learns the cute boy's name is nico di angelo, and it's gotta be one of the prettiest names he's ever heard used by a real human being. he introduces himself and nico tells him his name is pretty. they're both double majors, something they impressed eachother with because they hadn't often heard of other people taking two majors. nico double-majors in economics and psychology, which impresses jason a lot. jason double-majors in english and architecture.

they're fast friends, and apparently great study buddies because they make it a schedule to study together nearly everyday. they meet up at the library, the yard in front of the school, campus gardens, family-owned cafes off campus. they get to know each other a lot, and realize they're in a few of the same psych and classical studies classes. apparently, nico's that one kid who was late to class and scaled the side of the building to climb through the window. nico discovers that jason's the kid who poured a 6-hour energy into a starbucks black coffee with twelve shots of espresso in it.

more under cut

after exams are over, they both feel dread at the thought that they won't meet up as often anymore. well, it's a lie, they're friends now and they ain't ever gonna let each other go.

they figure out they've got a ton of mutual friends— so many it's odd they've never met before then. percy the bio major who's on the swim team, annabeth who's in the same architecture course as jason, reyna who majors in business and polisci and is the only other person they know who's a double-major. they start by hanging out with their mutual friends, then they introduce each other to their other friends. soon enough, practically everyone they know is in the same friend group.

the ENTIRE group ships jason and nico. they want it to happen so bad in fact, that they literally set them up??

the theatre club is planning a modern— and lgbt friendly— reimagination of one of shakespeare's classics. piper and percy trick nico and jason into "helping them make their audition tape", when in reality they're not sending the audition tape for themselves. jason and nico get the parts of the two main characters.

that's a story for another time though. in short, it works, and jason and nico start dating after opening night. piper and percy are proud to say that they're the reason why.

they planned to have their first "date" date at a poetry slam, where nico's friend's band would play. there was a power outage, so both events were cancelled. instead of rescheduling the date, nico got the idea to bring jason to the roof of his apartment building with his ipad and some snacks. they binged a few movies and watched their part of the city light up when the power came back on.

jason's roommate just moved out and he really can't afford his apartment on his own. no matter how appealing the thought of living with nico sounds, it's way too soon to ask him if he'd move in with him. surprising him, nico asks jason if he'd like to move into nico's apartment— the one he lives alone in which is far nicer than jason's and is 50% paid for by his dad. nico says it's because jason's building doesn't allow dogs and he'd want to bring his dog with him if he moved. hazel and reyna know it's because nico would prefer jason to live in a less cramped space. jason agrees anyway.

nico technically has two dogs, one he co-owns with percy who's name is mrs. o' leary. the second one is a pup of his father's purebred rottweiler cerberus— she's half bear hunting dog, retaining ceberus's coloring but is far larger and far fuffier. her name's amelia. jason fucking loves her, but he's a cat person at heart.

jason successfully convinces nico to adopt a cat— a gorgeous grey ragdoll who he's named tempest the second, after the cat from jason's childhood.

everybody will assume that between the two of them, nico's the sleep-deprived one. they're not wrong, but most people don't know that jason's even fucking worse. his skin is just so perfect that he never gets eye bags. he can go for almost a full week without sleeping. nico hates this but jason says nico does the same thing.

"no babe, it’s not the same, the longest I've gone without sleep is four days and you haven't slept since last tuesday."

nico has a habit of humming and softly singing when he's bored or distracted. once, jason had his head in nico's lap and nico was combing through his hair with his fingers. nico suddenly begins to sing really softly, something italian that jason's never heard before but if he has he can't tell. he falls asleep in like under five minutes, which surprises nico because jason's so stubborn about sleep. at first he doesn't know why jason fell asleep so fast, until a little over a week later when jason asks him to do it again. (nico thinks it's really fucking cute.)

in reality, nico knows why jason doesn't sleep that much.

before nico met jason, he kind of thought that jay was a spoilt rich kid who played lacrosse in high school or something. he always admired that jason was very hardworking— had two jobs and worked his ass off for his grades, and still spared time for his friends. he didn't realize until later on in their relationship that he was kind of right at first— jason hailed from a rich family, but they didn't want to pay for anything unless he was studying to be a lawyer like his dad. nico loves that about jason— he had the option to have his tuition, his rent, everything paid for as long as he studied something he had no passion in. and he decided he'd rather work.

(and when jason told him, it broke nico's heart because he knew what being abandoned by your family like that felt like. hades is a far better father now— he pays nico's tuition, half of his rent and actually enjoys communicating with him— but nico still remembers his life when he wasn't. it's a little bit of the reason why nico asked jason to move in with him, so that he didn't have to work so hard for rent as well as tuition)

that's all i've got anon i don't know anything about the college experience i'm sorry

#jasico #nico di angelo #jason grace #pjo #percy jackson #college au #Percy Jackson and the Olympians #percy jackson and the heroes of olympus

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be-the-spark-flyboy · 4 years

Text

Horror Night

Call It What You Want (1/?)

Series Masterlist

Summary: College AU where you meet Poe for the first time and you find out he isnt a fan of horror movies.

Pairing: Poe x Reader

A/N: I literally tried watch clips from the nun at 3am trying to reference scenes for this then gave up cos Valak is the scariest shit ive ever seen in my life istg

Warning: swearing, fluff

Word count: ~1.5k

Autumn nights weren’t exactly your favourite, especially when you are not going to spend it curled up in your bed with a mug of tea, reading your favourite book. Yet here you were on a friday night, in a movie theatre. Rey stands beside you, an arm hooked around yours, chatting away about her day as the two of you wait your turn in the line.

You know Rey chose a horror movie for you, just so she could convince you to third wheel her and Finn. You didn’t mind them though. They were a sweet couple, not the type to be too absorbed in each other and totally ignore your presence. And you loved them both way too much to deny them anything.

“Oh! And Finn’s bringing a friend too, so we need to get four tickets,” Rey tells you.

“Great! Now I have to socialize?” Rey just rolls her eyes at you. It wasn’t exactly her fault that you weren’t feeling so chirpy at the time. Okay, maybe a little bit. She had been the one to drag you all the way here after a long day of lectures and presentations, not even letting you stop by your dorm to change into something more comfy. You are a little overdressed for going to the movies but you wouldn’t have minded your outfit too much if it wasn’t for the demon spawn heels, murdering your feet.

Now that your fantasy of curling up in the theater seat with a popcorn bucket, all to yourself and tuning out everyone else was crushed, your mood considerable darkened.

“Hey, come on. Poe’s a nice guy, you’ll like him.” Rey tries to convince you. Oh well, looks you were finally going to meet the Poe Dameron. The guy who Finn just can’t stop gushing about in the few months you’ve known him. At least you’ll be able to put a face to the name after today.

The two of you settle on a couch just outside the screening room with your snacks and tickets, waiting for the boys who are now running late. Traffic, apparently. Rey shifts the popcorn further from your reach when you try to swipe some from her.

“We need some left for when we’re watching the movie,” she chides, knowing how fast you can munch through your snacks.

“Are they always this late?” You whine, dramatically flinging yourself back into the couch. Rey chuckles at your antics, so used to them by now.

You hear Finn’s laughter before you see him. And who he’s with.

Oh shit.

Now you were sure the universe hated you. It just so happened to be that Finn’s best friend was the hot stranger you had managed to thoroughly embarrass yourself in front of, barely a week ago. Sleep deprived you, had lost your footing, clumsily tumbling down half a flight of stairs. Luckily, you had escaped with just a few bruises. Unluckily, you had an audience the entire time. You were on the floor when that gorgeous face came into view, asking you if you were alright and you had stuttered and stumbled over your words, face going red with embarrassment.

Before you could consider running away and hiding somewhere, his gaze falls on you, eyes widening in recognition. Oh well, too late. Much to your dismay, the first words out of his mouth were, “You’re that girl from the stairs!”.

Finn catches on quickly, “That was you?” and doubles over laughing at your expense while his friend gives you an apologetic smile. A smile that made his big brown eyes crinkle at the corners, making you fight to keep your cool because how the hell can someone be so hot and so cute at the same goddamn time? Unaware of your inner turmoil, he introduces himself to you.

“Sorry, I’m Poe Dameron,” you give him your name in return, trying not to cringe at the whole exchange.

And Rey. She greets Poe, then just watches you, smirking like she knew something you didn’t. When you told her about the incident, you may or may not have referred to Poe as a fallen angel, and literally Adonis. And professed your desire to, quote, pull on those luscious dark curls. So she had witnessed you thirsting over her boyfriend’s best friend. Great. The only consolation was that Finn didn’t know about that, or at least you hope he didn’t.

Finn finally collects himself, and Rey passes the ticket around, announcing that you were going to be late if you stood around any longer. You don’t miss the way Poe frowns at the ticket and whispers a “Oh,”. Before you can ask him if everything was alright, Rey links arms with you, as she drags along to the screening room.

---

Poe is sitting beside you and he is tense. He had already shifted in his seat at least thrice in the first five minutes of the movie.

By the time the four of you had walked into the movie theater, the lights were already dimmed and you had stumbled along in the dark after Finn trying to find your seats. And by the time you were seated, you realised you were sandwiched between Finn and Poe, and since Fin had turned all of his attention on Rey, you were left alone with Poe.

He had apologized for the whole debacle outside and you assured him it wasn’t a problem. That wasn’t the first time Finn had made fun of you for something anyways. The two of you made small talk before the movie started and turned you attention to the screen when it began. Poe, however, had gone rigid.

He was clearly not having fun. You feel sorry for him everytime he jolts at every jump scare. You feel him lean towards you under the pretense of resting his arm on the arm rest between your seats, his wide eyes never leaving the screen. You press your lips together, trying not to laugh out loud because you are paying more attention to his reactions to the movie than to the movie itself, popcorn laying forgotten between you both.

“You okay there?” He coughs to cover up the audible gasp that leaves his lips at your sudden interruption.

“Um ya, great!”

“Not a fan of horror?”

“That obvious huh?” His bashful smile makes your heart flutter. Before you could second guess yourself, you shift the popcorn bucket to your other hand and hook an arm around his on the arm rest. The weight of his shoulders pressing against yours and his body radiating warmth immediately feels like a safety blanket over you and you hope he feels the same way.

“Does this help?” You pray you aren’t making him uncomfortable as you look up at him and your doubts melt away at the soft smile on his face, his posture considerably more relaxed.

Then he completely catches off guard as he laces his fingers with yours, warm skin brushing over your, the few callouses between his fingers, a contrast to the smoothness of him palms. You’re suddenly so thankful for the long sleeves of your blouse, hiding the goosebumps now rising all over your arm.

“Yeah,” he watches you carefully for any sign that you may not be comfortable, “This helps,” you give him a reassuring smile, despite the butterflies fluttering in your stomach.

You can still almost feel the shivers running down his spine whenever Valak shows up on the screen. His grip on your hand is tight but not uncomfortable. Poor Poe was trying so hard to keep it together.

You can tell Poe is not the kind of person to shy away from physical contact from how he didn’t hesitate to take your hand. Or maybe he was just that scared. Regardless, you lean you head against his shoulder, your other hand on his bicep, hoping you weren’t making him uncomfortable or being too touchy. But your doubts evaporate when he leans his head against yours, relaxing further into your touch.

You cannot really process that you were having such a soft, almost intimate moment with the guy you’ve exchanged barely a few words with. It completely ruins the adrenaline rush you were craving from the movie, but you feel way too comfortable to care. Your whole body feels tingly for an entirely different reason. You hadn’t felt like this since-

Now wasn’t the time to think about that. For now, you were busy thinking about how Poe was making your heart skip beats.

—-

Finn’s eyes are glued to the screen, and he has an arm around Rey. He hadn’t watched horror in sometime and is thoroughly enjoying himself and so was Rey. He wonders if Poe would like it.

Oh wait.

He brought Poe to a horror movie. He must be the worst friend in the galaxy, god. Poe hates horror.

“Oh shit,” he turns around to see how he was doing. Then turns back around snickering.

“What’s wrong,” Rey asks, confused with his reaction.

“Oh nothing, I forgot Poe hates horror. But it’s okay, he seems pretty cozy though,”

Rey leans forward to see what Finn was talking about and her eyes widen at the sight of you and Poe almost cuddling each other, your fingers interlocked, leaning on each other. You two did look really cozy. She leans back, jaw slack.

“Cute, right?” Finn asks, grinning ear to ear.

“Oh we might’ve done something,” the cogs in her head turns as she grins back at Finn.

---

Poe Dameron Tag list (open): @writefightandflightclub , @arkofblake , @yougottakeeponkeepinon , @multifandomlife22 , @skymerons , @smol-peter-parker

#Poe Dameron #Poe x reader #Poe fluff #Starwars fanfic #Fluff #poe dameron fanfiction #poe fluff #fanfic #this took me wayyyy to long to write

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sincerelyreidburke · 4 years

Note

alright i'll bite what's going on in arizona O.o

Brenna, forgive me. I realized a few hours ago that I promised I’d answer this ask on Friday morning, and then ended up using literally all of Friday to write my new Captain Dex CCU fic and then it just hit me that that meant I had postponed the answering of this ask.

For context, for those who do not know: Brenna is asking about a very ominous hint I dropped in this post, where I mentioned for unspecified reasons that Quinn spends the summer between junior and senior year in Arizona. An anon asked me this exact same question, and I responded to it here; I didn’t reveal much information because I was planning this post already.

So: now we’ve arrived. And let’s talk about it. (We’ll hop under the cut, because this explanation will get long!)

TW: extremely life-disruptive homophobia from family.

Ask me anything about my OCs!

Okay, so in the vague response to the anon who asked this same thing, I said the fun version of the answer to “why is Quinn in Arizona?” is that he’s staying with Nando, which is true. But the not-fun version, which is equally true, is that he has nowhere else to go.

Quinn lives with his grandparents, for reasons we discussed in this original Quinn facts post. Opa & Oma are the two people in the world to whom Quinn is not out, and the reasons for this are aplenty, starting with religion. They’re just very Christian, and old-school Dutch (thanks Brenna!!!!!), in a way that Quinn knows wouldn’t jive with acceptance of his sexuality.

Since his grandparents are generally uninterested in being involved in his life, it’s relatively easy to keep this information under lock and key growing up. When he’s out at rehearsals, they don’t really ask where he is. They don’t care, as long as he’s out of their hair. They’re fulfilling their obligation to house and feed him, and he doesn’t bother them. It’s not a good or healthy family dynamic.

But all the same, Quinn does live there with them. And things are mostly fine in college....... up to a point.

When they break down, it happens like this. There’s a picture that circulates of Quinn and Nando, taken on the ice after a championship win, where they are clearly and obviously a couple. Nando pays this no mind, because he’s comfortable being out, and he and Quinn are on the same page about that. Because like I said, Quinn is out to everyone! He’s beyond comfortable in his own skin. His grandparents are barely on his mind.

Quinn, a little naively, thinks of course there’s no way this picture will circulate back to Opa & Oma in Michigan. They live under a rock, and they don’t even follow hockey, much less college hockey.

And then.... it does.

Quinn gets a call from his opa, and within ten very heated minutes, he’s told not to bother coming home to them for Christmas. Or for summer break. He is effectively thrown out of the only ‘home’ (if you could call it that) that he has left.

I don’t want to give the play-by-play of how he tells Nando what happened and what goes down after that, because honestly, it’s some good hurt/comfort fuel, and I want to write it out in a fic. The basic idea is: he tells Nando what happened, and he’s distraught in a way Nando has never quite seen him before. It’s very, very hard.

A few days later, Nando is telling Mama Hernandez what happened on the phone, and she says, well, he’ll come stay with us, then.

Nando is like, mama, are you sure?? And of course she is sure, because Maria Hernandez could never in good conscience turn away a boy her son loves so much (who clearly loves him back just the same) who doesn’t have a place to go home to.

So Quinn goes with him for Christmas, and then they make plans for him to stay there in the summer.

Now.... there’s a lot of fuel for good stuff here, and I might withhold some of it in case someone wants to know about the actual summer. But I do want to just also address: what does this have to do with The Wizard of Oz? (This was the whole reason it came up— the post where I mentioned Quinn stays in Arizona was a list of all the productions he is in or works on in high school and college, and Oz came up as a children’s production he’s head of costumes for, this exact summer in Arizona.)

So the reason is: Quinn needs a summer job. Nando works at his tio’s restaurant, and Quinn asks if he can give any help to the community theatre. They do a children’s musical every summer, grades 1-8, and Quinn is welcomed onto the production team.

Nando’s twin little sisters participate, partly because they need something to do and partly because they already kind of had an interest in the arts. They’re about 10, and one of them acts in the show and another is Quinn’s little personal costume assistant. (Don’t think about Quinn chaperoning the two little girls to and from rehearsals. They think he’s the coolest ever and routinely tell their big brother that you better marry him, Sebastián, ‘cause we like him!!!!!!!!)

Et cetera. We can talk more about that, but I just thought you all should know.

One more thing before I wrap it up for this particular post: please consider Quinn being recognized by other people on the production staff. Because of his tour the previous summer, which was actual, nationally recognized professional theatre. Like, I had this scenario in mind where the assistant stage manager, who is a high school student and gigantic Broadway geek, meets him and it’s like:

ASM, who I’m naming Emi because it’s the first name I thought of: Hi! Are you the wardrobe head? I’m Emi. I’m assistant stage manager.

Quinn: (Actually turning around and facing her, so she gets a good look at his face.) Yes! I’m Quinn. It’s so nice to meet you.

Emi: (Immediately starstruck.) Oh my God. Quinn Cooper?

Quinn: (At first, a little confused.) Um— yes! That’s my full name.

Emi: Holy shit. (Trying to keep her cool and failing.) You— I didn’t see the show, but I watched so many Instagram video clips of the Deaf West tour last summer. You were amazing.

Quinn: (His ego inflates, like, five sizes, instantaneously.) Oh, my goodness! Thank you so much!

Emi: And I’m working with you this summer? I... (She kind of runs her hands through her hair to get her compure.) I’m so sorry. I don’t usually meet famous actors.

Quinn: (FAMOUS ACTORS!) I wouldn’t call myself—

Emi: Would... it be weird if I asked for your autograph?

Quinn: (Losing his shit.) My gosh, not at all.

And this post doesn’t even touch on stuff with Nando.

It’s a good summer, coming out of a pretty shitty situation.

So, in summary: thank you, Brenna, for asking; I owe you my life, and I hope this has answered your question. I’m glad and willing to talk as much about this as anyone would like me to. The inbox is open! Come and shout at me. :D

#mini quinny #quindo #quinn theatre hours

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scribeofmorpheus · 4 years

Text

Chasing Tornadoes {3/6}

Pairing: Stephen Strange x Reader

Series Warnings: poorly written medical procedural, mild delving into spirituality, language, overbearing egos, graphic descriptions of medical procedures. more warnings to be added. 18+ Generally, like my blog.

A/N: suprisingly, very little to warn about. blood splatter?

Series Masterlist | Masterlist | AO3

Taglist is open -comment or send an ask!

<< Previously ○ Next >>

“God, you’re insufferable!” You slammed your clipboard into Stephen’s chest, it was surprisingly firm in a subtle way. You swallowed.

Stephen grabbed your wrist, not tightly, but firm enough to lock you in his grasp. He tugged, you moved forward against your wishes.

“And you’re so goddamn stubborn,” he whispered.

You shook your head, “I can’t believe you went around my back and interfered with my patient! That wasn’t your call. If I wanted your help, I’d ask for it!”

Stephen inched you towards the wall, back pressed to the familiar hospital walls. “You and I both know, I was the more qualified to handle this one.”

Why is he being so blasé about all this? Your breath hitched when he moved in a little closer. Why is he so close?

“Steph—”

He cut you off, lips prompting a rise in euphoria as soon as they met yours. They were soft, supple. But there was a boldness beneath it. You whimpered, finding it strikingly good. Deliciously good. And then while your head spun and Stephen stole your breaths, your surroundings changed to the familiar navy blue of the OR.

You gasped and pushed Stephen softly, “How did we…?”

Stephen followed your gaze.

A group of surgeons, masked up and gloved up, were performing surgery on a banana. You stuttered, at a loss for words. Stephen shrugged, unphased and then moved his attention back to you. Lips a mere millimetre away.

You recoiled, “Stephen.”

“What?” He asked, somewhat disappointed.

You pointed your ring finger at the operating table, “The banana.”

“Oh, right,” He turned. “How’s our patient?”

A beeping noise sounded out. A fellow spoke: “He’s going into cardiac arrest.” The beeping stopped. “He’s gone.”

“I’m calling it, time of death—”

You were shaken from your sleep by the sudden reorientation. With a loud thud, you landed hard on your ass, the sheets tangling one foot.

You rubbed your eyes, vision coming back blurry and spotted, “What the hell kind of dream was that?” Your fingers trailed over your lips. Dry and chapped and sorely missing the softness of the dream. You groaned, in no mood to deal with some romance drama in the workplace.

You were roused from the floor by the sound of something breaking. With heavy eye-lids and noodle arms, you hoisted yourself up and walked towards the kitchen, the source of the sound.

Rich loam soil and four fragmented pieces of a flower pot lay scattered on the floor. A small root system was peeking out from under the stove; it belonged to a cactus. The last cactus you owned.

You groaned as your eyes trailed up to the former resting place of the now destroyed flower pot and saw Spike’s fat reptilian body trying to slink away.

“Oh no you don’t, you leathery cat,” you hopped over the mess on the floor and grabbed Spike. You held him close to your face so you could stare into his eyes. “What is it with you and cactuses?”

Spikes tongue slithered out then in again before he let out a whiny growl.

You rolled your eyes and scolded him, “If you keep this up I’ll put you up for adoption.” You clicked your tongue in annoyance as you opened up the balcony door and let Spike down next to the arbour. “You stay out here and think about what you’ve done while I make breakfast.”

Spike made another lazy growl before moving away from the door at a snail’s pace. You hastily swept up the soil from your wooden floors and set aside the broken ceramic pieces in case you wanted to use them for another DIY home decor project.

While you put together a fruit bowl for breakfast, you noticed you hadn’t checked your voicemail. As you squeezed out the last two drops of honey onto your breakfast, you listened absentmindedly to the voice messages while making a mental checklist.

“Hey, Y/N…” Teddy’s soft voice reminded you of a lounge singer who smoked too many cigarettes in between sets. The kind of swaggerful baritone that belonged to men like Frank Sinatra or Nat King Cole. Ironically, Teddy’s face matched the softness of his name more than it did his pitch in voice. “I sent a few messages but I suppose you were on shift. That tornado…messy stuff. My cousin is local fire department, she told me—”

Remember to pay Mr Eliopoulos for the takeout. Teddy’s voice dissolved into white noise as you chewed your food. Get some bills out the ATM to keep on hand.

The next message played after a beep and you weren’t the slightest bit sorry you didn’t fully catch the rest of Teddy’s message.

“Y/N, it’s Irene.” –You froze. For a second– “I don’t know if you deleted my number after the last time we talked or not so…Yeah. It’s Irene,” your sister’s voice was a startling surprise to hear. She sounded as lively as a doornail, probably all the hours spent banging her head instead of her gavel in the courtroom. Irene thrived in the city, even if she never looked fully awake in any of her social media posts. You didn’t care much for city life and its exhausting churn.

Remember to save Irene’s number. Again.

“Mum called me, frantic that you didn’t call or text to say you were okay. She watched the news. The tornado rattled her. Your phone was off the whole day. I had to clear a whole day’s worth of meetings because her angina was acting up.” Irene was rambling in her monotone.

Angina isn’t a disease.

Irene paused as if she’d heard what you’d thought. Then she took a breath. You could practically picture her working her jaw muscles as she fought the urge to get emotional. “Call mum.”

Call mum.

The distance between you and Irene wasn’t consolidated to the miles between your cities. Irene was prickly, like a cactus. Maybe that’s why you had so much trouble growing them. But she was also the only person on the I-95 highway who stopped to pick up a wounded iguana on her cross-country trip that winter you moved into your apartment. That iguana was Spike. That was also the first and last time Irene ever stepped foot in your apartment. And the second time you’d deleted her phone number.

“Or at the very least, post one of those disturbing pictures of Spike dressed in baby clothes,” Irene’s tone turned condescending. There was some chatted on her end of the line. “I’m needed in the chamber.”

No rush saving her number. You swallowed the last spoonful of food before dumping your bowl in the sink. Then you opened the balcony door to let Spike back in.

A third beep. Another message.

“Dr Y/N?” the voice on the other end of the line was now very familiar to you. For a second, you wondered if you were still dreaming. “Dr Stephen Strange. The relief. I got your number from the on-call sheet. Just letting you know I got the go ahead first thing this morning to prep for the transplant. I’ll be the chief surgeon on staff. Marcy is in the best hands. Literally. I’ll see you at work.”

Ask about the transplant. You head shot up so fast you were convinced it’d crack like an Indiana Jones style bullwhip. Transplant?

“Marcy…” you mumbled before rushing to get to the shower. Just then another message played. The last. On it, Mike told you he was on his way to pick you up and that you should do something, but you weren’t paying much attention at that point. You had less than five minutes before he arrived.

Your shower was cold and quick. About half-way through, you realised the conditioner was practically empty. No time to fully detangle your bed-head knots, you raked your fingers through and washed all the shampoo away, making sure to add a little styling crème so your hair wouldn’t look like frizzy from the summer humidity.

You made sure to grab your go-bag, keys and lock the balcony door before rushing out the door just as Mike pulled into the driveway.

Mike had dark circles under his eyes, wind tousled hair that was still damp in places and an outstretched hand dangling out the car window with a coffee flask waiting expectantly.

You grabbed it and hastily made your way to the passenger side.

“Thanks,” you said out of breath as you unscrewed the cap and took a swig. Mike looked at you with a perplexed expression. When no coffee touched your tongue it was your turn to look back at Mike with a similar expression. “It’s empty.”

Mike nodded, “I know it’s empty.”

“Why’d you give me an empty flask?”

“Because you were supposed to make the coffee.

“Then you should have told me to.”

“I did.”

“You didn’t.”

Mike stared at you with a knowing look for a second too long. He sighed, rubbing his red eyes, “You didn’t listen to the whole voice message did you?”

You opened your mouth to retort but then you realised Mike was right. You clicked your tongue, “We can stop by the café near the intersection.”

“You’re buying,” Mike put the car in drive while you tried your best to distract yourself from thinking about Marcy.

“Tell me something new.”

You got dressed into the maroon scrubs in the locker room. Your lanyard feeling particularly heavy that day. Maybe you weren’t as ready for today as you thought you were.

You had hoped and prayed to whatever constituted as a god on any particular day that Marcy would get a new lung. A healthy lung. And that she’d finally get to experience her youth, but now your hands wouldn’t stop shaking and your heart was so loud you wanted to scream just to shut it up.

But today was here and you only had the one heart, so you made a fist, took a long, deep breath and ran towards the OR.

Bach in C minor was playing over the sound of the heart-lung machine. There had been a slight pause when you walked into the OR mid-surgery, but everything continued without fail.

You knew, logically, that observing from the theatre was the right thing to do. The impartial thing to do. But this wasn’t any patient. This was Marcy. The girl you helped with her science homework that one weekend she came in for a check-up and stayed for a minor surgical procedure. The girl you watched rerun’s on cable TV with when you had the night shift. The girl you watched grow up.

Doctor Weisz was among the medical staff in the room. Strange didn’t bother looking away from Marcy’s open chest cavity.

“I don’t remember calling for a second pair of hands,” Strange said as if he was talking to himself. “Did you Doctor?”

Doctor Weisz’s words came out muffled behind her mask, “No.” She kept an impressive straight face. Come to think of it, you had never seen her smile. Or get angry. She was always professional. Even her haircut was a choice of convenience; short and slicked back.

You stepped out from behind Strange’s frame and moved in closer to Marcy. It was a little unsettling how normal she looked in a hospital gown with the elastic of her breathing mask drawing two red lines across her cheeks. The open chest cavity was different though. Unsightly.

Your fingers trembled, reaching out to hold her open palm lying flat on the table when the sudden loud beeping of the heart rate monitor shook you to action.

A squirt of blood sprayed out, turning the sterile blue operating gowns dark with plasma.

“She’s bleeding,” Strange noted as if reading a catalogue. “There’s too much scar tissue.”

“BP is dropping. Fast,” Mike said. You hadn’t even noticed him in the room.

“Clamps,” Doctor Weisz’s hand was stretched expectantly to the fellow behind her.

Your feet were glued in place, like a statue with open eyes that couldn’t look away, just watching. Your brain yelled at you to snap out of it, let your training take over, set your emotions to backburner. But none of it worked.

“Someone get her out of my OR!” Strange’s composure shifted for the first time. It was then that you noticed your hand was holding tightly onto Marcy’s.

Just as Strange instructed, someone grabbed your hand and pulled towards the doors. Once you were out in the bright hallway you realised it was Mike.

In the last couple of hours, you had treated a kid with tonsillitis, a man with a hangnail and one skateboarder with a concussion.

Why’d today have to be a slow day?

You sighed as you flipped through a medical chart Arlene had handed over for a second pair of eyes to go over.

“You said she came in with a fever?”

Arlene stammered before straightening her spine, “Y-yes.”

You kept quiet for a few seconds, waiting for Arlene to jump on cue and finish telling you the symptoms. She didn’t.

“Arlene?”

“Yes?” She looked up, big eyes fully attentive. Her innocence was endearing, but if not grown out of, it’d be a hindrance in this profession.

“This is usually when you fill me in.”

“Oh, right,” she fumbled with her chart. “Uh…loss of appetite, abdominal cramps and joint paint.”

“What’s your diagnosis?” You looked up at the wall clock, watching the hands tick.

Arlene fidgeted, “M-my diagnosis? I um…” She wiped her forehead as if there was sweat on it. “Cramps, fever and joint pain could be…stomach flu?”

“Viral gastroenteritis, yes,” you agreed with her diagnosis. “Treatment?”

Arlene was getting more confident, “Rehydration Solution, anti-viral—”

“Good, do it,” You excused yourself when you spotted Mike walking down the hall. The surgery was done.

“Mike!” You caught his attention. “So…how’d it go?”

Mike tried to miss eye contact, “She’s stable. Transplant wrapped up okay.”

“Something’s wrong, isn’t it?”

“No, no, nothing like that,” Mike rushed to place his hands on your elbows. “Marcy’s fine, taking well to the lung. She’s on assisted breathing until the rupture heals and the pressure is relieved on her muscles. She will have to stay in Recovery for longer but she’ll pull through.”

You laughed, a bright smile beaming over your face, “Then what’s the issue?”

Mike bit his lip, “Strange recommended to Weisz that you be put on probation for the time being.

Anger rushed unexpectedly, “What?”

Stephen suddenly appeared down the hallway. You marched over to him. He looked at you, expecting your oncoming aggression.

“You recommended I be put on probation?” You folded your arms to seem imposing.

Stephen glanced knowingly at Mike. Mike shrugged before disappearing into the lounge.

“God, you’re insufferable!” You flashed back to your dream and now you were confused as to what exactly you should be feeling.

“And if today is any indication, you’re too emotional,” he said softly.

You baulked, feeling insulted, “Too emotional?”

He rubbed his neck, “I told you about the operation out of professional courtesy. You had no right to barge into my OR and distract from the procedure. You put a bad foot forward, unprofessional. Weisz agreed. I suggested temporary probation to prevent Weisz from dealing a worse blow.”

You scoffed, “So you were helping me, is that it?”

“Yes,” he sounded on edge. “You’re too raw to be working right now. If I was your superior, I wouldn’t be assured that you could competently manage the rigorous expectations of the workplace.”

“Unbelievable, you really do walk around thinking you know everything, that your word is final. Mike was right, you have no reason to overstep your boundaries. You’re the relief, not my boss,” You threw your arms up in the air, ignoring the other residents listening in.

Stephen sighed, pushing passed you, ending the argument prematurely.¨

“Where are you going?” You demanded, following in stride.

“To get a drink,” he pressed his eyelids. “If you insist on still handing me my ass, you are welcome to join.”

You stalled for a second then decided to continue your squabble.

To be continued...

#stephen strange #doctor strange #stephen strange imagine #doctor strange x reader #marvel imagine #stephen strange x reader #reader insert #stephen strange x y/n

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parkmin--seo · 4 years

Text

Is that MINNIE PARK? Wow, they do look a lot like LEE JI-EUN. I hear SHE is an EIGHTEEN year old university FRESHMAN. Word is they are a REGULAR student at Luxor Academy. You should watch out because they can be SENSITIVE and NAIVE, but on the bright side they can also be INTELLIGENT and CREATIVE. Ultimately, you’ll get to see it all for yourself.

class schedule:

astronomy

spanish

baking

choir

advanced sociology

theatre

poetry

extracurricular:

theatre ( costume design ) art club

BIO:

okay, so minnie, born park min-seo, was raised in washington and lived there for the majority of her life up until being sent to luxor her freshman year of high school.

her parents weren’t insanely rich or anything, but they were fairly well off. her mother, lee ha-yoon ( yoon lee ), owned her own dance studio, as well as an art studio and her father, park hyun-jae ( jae park ), was an fbi agent. they were both born and raised in seoul, south korea and they met when they were just teenagers. the way they always told it, they fell madly in love and left seoul to live out their dreams in california, which they did for a while until ha-yoon became pregnant. they moved back to seoul and moved back to the states, this time seattle, when minnie was five.

minnie’s love of art came as no surprise to her parents, given the amount of time that she spent at both of her mother’s studios. however, despite her mother’s efforts to convince her to take dance classes, minnie never loved dancing as much as she loved sketching/painting. they were passions that she threw herself into, particularly as she got older and found herself needing an escape from what would still to this day be considered the worst thing that had ever happened to her. ( but we’ll get to that in a minute . )

if asked, minnie always swore that she loved both of her parents equally, but she was definitely more of a daddy’s girl than anything else. she always said that was because he wasn’t around as often as her mother, so the time she spent with him meant even more to her because she knew how lucky she was that he took the time to make time for her??? when he very well could have just… not done that and chosen to focus on his work more than he did his family.

her father was just generally an all-around a+++ guy, but she really did love both of her parents and aspired to be like them in a lot of ways because she didn’t think there were two people who were more good. even if that made her bias.

TW: MURDER

when minnie was a teenager, her father started investigating a series of killings. it wasn’t ever something he really talked about with his wife or daughter, but he was home a lot less and threw himself into the case.

she was thirteen when she was pulled out of a history lesson and greeted with the sight of her mother, who looked like she’d just seen a ghost, as well as her father’s fbi partner and another one of the officers he’d been investigating the case with.

a lot of worst case scenarios ran through her mind and she’d already guessed the worst thing before her mother even said the words, that her father had been brutally murdered by the same man responsible for all of the other murders.

it was only a couple of weeks later that they caught the man they thought to be responsible. a man who was revealed to be the father of someone she had been close to growing up.

END OF TW

after losing her father, minnie started to shut everyone out. especially the son of the person who had been arrested for the murder. because she couldn’t take her anger out on the man responsible, so she took her anger out on that man’s son. her best friend who wasn’t her best friend anymore, because she couldn’t look at him without seeing the man who had killed her father. around everyone else, she was still that sweet girl she’d always been, but with leo, she was cold, distant and she wanted everyone to hate him as much as she had convinced herself that she did.

minnie threw herself into her art even more, because it was the one thing that made her feel okay. she didn’t cry at her father’s funeral or hasn’t really dealt with his death since learning of it. her mother grew as distant as she had and spent more time at her studio than she did with her own daughter, given how unable she was to cope with her husband’s death. it was like his ghost was everywhere, in their house and at the studio and in her mother’s eyes.

she tried to commit suicide and spent the summer before her first year at luxor in a mental institution. this was a secret until it was revealed by the circle at prom.

it came as a relief to minnie when her mother announced that she was going to send her to luxor for her schooling when she entered high school. she was ready to get out of washington and to escape the ghost of her father.

when she got to luxor, she joined theatre to do costume design, because she still had dreams to become a fashion designer some day. she also joined arts club, because of her love of art.

life at luxor had been more tolerable than her life at home and she’d almost forgotten her sadness and that anger, buried it until she couldn’t feel it anymore… and then her secrets had been revealed.

ahhh okay, that’s all i can think of but i might add more later. as for her personality, she is literally the definition of sweet as pie. she doesn’t ever have a bad thing to say about anyone, except for one person in particular. still, she isn’t so nice that she doesn’t know how to stick up for herself and in the event that anyone was ever mean to her for some reason, she wouldn’t be afraid to fight back. she’s artsy and it shows. the true definition of a fashionista and she WILL talk fashion all day, every day. very loyal, the kind of friend that anyone should want to have on their side, and is incredibly trustworthy. she tries to give everyone a chance, but she does have trust issues, which makes it hard for her to believe in second chances. basically, hurt her once, shame on you and you don’t get another shot to do it again. ummm, she’s really really smart and honestly could have been given a scholarship but her mother is well-off enough that she was able to pay for everything without the aid of a scholarship. likes to crack a lot of jokes, but they’re all really lame. think dad jokes, but, like, the teenage girl version of that. she has mood swings sometimes, but they’re never so sudden that it gives people whiplash. if she doesn’t want to talk, she won’t be rude about it. she’ll just say that she isn’t feeling well and lock herself in her dorm until she feels better. and yikes, i can’t think of anything else because she’s a new baby, but will add more if i think of anything.

random facts:

while she was raised in washington for the majority of her life and it’s all she remembers, she was actually born in seoul, south korea.

if you don’t like k pop, never ask her to play music because it will be one of the only things she plays

she’s fluent in english, as well as korean because both of her parents were from korea and they wanted to teach her how to speak it. they also were notorious for only speaking korean when at home to make it easier for her to learn. she also knows a little mandarin and can speak semi-decent french and japanese. she’s currently taking german and plans to add that to her list once she masters it.

she can often be seen wearing her father’s fbi cap because it’s one of the only things she has left of him. that, and his jacket.

comes off somewhat confident, but she’s actually really really insecure and doesn’t think too highly of herself at all

can secretly sing very well/also rap but she won’t usually do so in front of anyone because she’s incredibly shy. ( voice claim: lee ji eun / iu )

literally the embodiment of walking on sunshine

she refuses to talk to her therapist or take her medications for depression/anxiety ( most recent secret reveal )

#luxorintro #suicide tw #murder tw #death tw #depression tw #the only thing that is really different here is that her original secret is added bc it isn't a secret anymore

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bssaz97 · 4 years

Text

Fun Times #2

*Atlas, Red Queen Theatre*

If someone were to tell Whitley right now that he was acting very anxious, he would tell them that would be the understatement of the year. Whitley was waiting outside the entrance to the Red Queen, one of the most high class theatre in Atlas. How did he get reservations for a movie picture for ‘Hunter’s Cabin part 2’ on the night of its premiere one might ask? Well the easy answer was he received a monthly allowance of about 2.5 thousand lien and had a large number of connections to high class places due to his family’s name. The harder explanation was how he had to literally open a new bank account, one without his father’s knowledge and under his name rather so that Father wouldn’t be able to track it. Was it backhanded? Yes. Did he have regrets? Not particularly. Would he do it again? If it was the only way to meet Sun_Dragon without his family’s notice, then yes he would.

Which brings him here tonight, he’ll be meeting Sun_Dragon in person for the first time so yes he felt had good reason to be anxious. Why? Well while he knows his family is very influential in Atlas there comes a drawback to such influence. That would be social media. If he were to come dressed as Whitley Schnee, then the paparazzi would come in as a snowstorm and most likely scare her off. He wanted this night to happen as natural as possible. So that’s why he came prepared in his disguise; a dark blue herringbone newboy cap, a gray tweed knee length trench coat, a blue/silver/gray scarf, leather gloves for hands, and a pair of nonprescription glasses. This way he will stand out but not too much to get recognized as a heir to multi-billion lien company. He just hopes that she will be here soon, but at the same time does not wish to rush her arrival as he tries to formulate a greeting to her when she does come.

Yang: White Knight?

Whitley quickly turns toward the source of his voice and turned to see the person he was waiting for and....she was much more beautiful in person than a picture could ever hope to convey. Sun_Dragon was adorned tonight with her huntress outfit that she wore in most pictures he saw her in. He supposed when one made a career in fighting literal monsters of darkness, one always had to be ready. It honestly didn’t bother him at all though, she looked great in it.

Whitley:(Smiles) Sun_Dragon, I’m glad to finally meet you face to face.

Yang: Could say the same, like the hat!

Whitley: Oh thank you! You look good yourself....

Yang: ....Well I guess we should get going to see the movie right?

Whitley: Oh! Yes, you’re right. We should do that! Shall we. (Offers right arm)

Yang: Pfff, sure whatever you say Knight.

With that both of the online friends make their way inside. Both haven’t not stopped smiling yet.

*Mantle, Blum Cinema*

The group consisting of RNJRP having made their way to the local theatre, wait in line to buy tickets for the premiere of “Kill Softly part 4” featuring Spruce Fillis. Both Ruby and Jaune were fans of the first trilogy and had been anticipating the release of the fourth installment of the movie. Ren and Nora have also have seen the first three movies and while Ren thought they were ok, Nora absolutely loved the action of the films. So while they all waited they helped fill in the gaps to Oscar who had not seen any of the movies at this point.

Oscar: So pretty much all the movies starring Spruce Willis are about his character stopping terrorist plots in multiple places.

Ren: That would be the quick summary, yes.

Nora: And he blows stuff up! Don’t forget that part!

Once getting to the head of the line, all five friends walk up to the ticketing booth to pay for their entry. Once there they met a familiar face..... to one of them at least.

Jaune: Mrs. Lars?!

Mrs. Lars/Casserole Mom: Jaune? Oh my gods what are you doing here?!

Jaune: Well we were gonna see a movie here, I didn’t know you worked here.

Ruby:(Mentally) ‘ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!!!’

Mrs. Lars: Actually I work here as a part time manager over the weekend. But it’s so funny seeing you outside of Ginger’s school. What movie are you all watching tonight?

Jaune: Well we are coming to see ‘Kill Softly part 4’, four adults and one minor.

Ren: Um Jaune. (Gestures towards Ruby and points at a sign on the glass panel)

G: All children are welcome.

PG: Children may need to bring a parent.

PG-13: No children under the age of 13 without a Parent/Guardian.

R: No children under the age of 18 without Parent/Guardian.

NC-18: No children under the age of 18. Adults only.

Jaune:(Sheepish) Uuuhhhh. Actually can you switch those tickets for three adults and two minors please.

Ruby: Huh?! (Looks at sign, smushing her face on glass) Oh come on! They have this stupid thing here too! I’m a licensed huntress and still can’t do anything! (Puffs her cheeks irritably)

Oscar: It’s not all that bad being a minor, tickets cost less. (Smiles)

Ruby: But it’s so humiliating! I worked hard to build my mature image, and I still can’t be considered a adult. (Crosses arms and pouts)

Jaune:(Pats her head while giving Mrs. Lars the lien for tickets) If it’s any consolation, I still think you’re a adult.

Ruby:(Eyes go wide and blushes lightly) Helps a little...

Mrs. Lars: Alright, here are your tickets Jaune.

Jaune: Thanks.......Wait, these are premium seats. I didn’t pay for these.

Mrs. Lars: You didn’t need to. Consider this another gift of mine that isn’t just another casserole.~ (Giggles while winking)

Ruby:(Mentally) ‘OK NOW YOU’RE NOT EVEN TRYING TO HIDE THE FLIRTING!’

Jaune: Oh! Well thanks I really appreciate it then, hope the rest of your shift goes good.

Mrs. Lars: Anytime.~

Ruby:(Grumbles)

With that all five of them move to the door and enter the cinema. Once inside they show the tickets to the a man on the podium and he promptly points the way to their marked screen room.

Jaune: So does anyone want to get any refreshments or snacks before the movie starts.

Nora: Ooo~ Movie food! I’ll have a extra large popcorn, a blue Freezi, a salted pretzel with honey mustard-

Jaune: Ok so one ‘Nora special’, got it!

Nora: Thank you fearless leader!~

Jaune: Anything you want Ren?

Ren: I’ll have some iced tea if they have.

Jaune: Got it! Anything for you Oscar.

Oscar: Mmm, I think I’ll have some Red Whips and a Dunk a Cola.

Jaune: Sure thing buddy. What about you Rubes, anything you want?

Ruby:(Whispers) A cane to beat the hussies.

Jaune: What’s that Rubes, couldn’t hear you.

Ruby:(Smilies) Oh nothing just thinking! Mmmmm. I’ll have hotdog with ketchup, a medium popcorn, and a red Freezi.

Jaune: Gotcha, well if you guys want to grab the seats I’ll get the snacks!

Oscar: Isn’t that a lot stuff to carry on your own?

Jaune: It’s alright, I’m kinda used to carrying a lot of stuff with me growing up with-

Ruby/Ren/Nora: ‘Growing up with seven sisters.’

Jaune: See now you’re getting it!

Oscar: Still, one of us should stay to help.

Ruby: I can stay! Yang usually gets me to grab the goods back when we were little so I don’t mind.

Jaune: If you want to, Ruby. I won’t stop you.

Once the group go separate ways the two leaders make their way to the concession stand. After waiting five minutes in line they finally make it to the cashier..... Who they already met before.

Jaune: MRS.LARS!

Mrs. Lars: Hey! Just got out of the registry seat so now I’m helping with concessions!

Ruby:(Mentally) ‘SERIOUSLY!’

Jaune: But you...we just saw....ok. Anyway I kinda got a long list of things hope you don’t mind.

Mrs. Lars: Oh don’t worry about that honey. It’s my pleasure!

Ruby:(Mentally) ‘I’m about to slap a bitch.’

Jaune: Ooookay. Well I will need a extra large popcorn, one blue Freezi, one pretzel with honey mustard, a churro, a box of Sour Kids, a medium unsweetened iced tea if you have, a box of Red Whips, one small sized Duke a Cola, one red Freezi, a hotdog with ketchup, a medium popcorn, and for me I’ll have a medium Spurts with a medium popcorn as well with layered butter. Did I get everything Rubes?

Ruby:(Staring blankly at Mrs. Lars) Yep that’s everything.

Mrs. Lars: Great! Just give me once sec, and I’ll be right back. (Walk to the side to start getting everything set)

Ruby stares plainly at the young mother as she works tracking her every move as a hunter stalks a deer. She looked like a fast worker, so she already looks to have half the order almost done. A mature woman with good work ethic and younghful energy, a easy guise to fool young men to fall prey to the claws of the cougar. Not while this silver eyed eagle was around.

Jaune:(Looks at her with concern) Everything ok Ruby?

Ruby:(Smiles brightly at him) Oh yeah I’m good, no need to worry about me!

Jaune: You sure? If it’s about the whole ‘minor’ thing you can talk to me you know. I’m sorry if it came across as offensive.

Ruby: Huh? Oh no! No, no, no, no, no! You don’t need to worry about that it’s not a whole big thing, I know you guys didn’t mean it so it cool!

Jaune: Mmmm. Ok, if you say so.

Mrs. Lars: Here we are!

With the short time both Ruby and Jaune talked, it seemed Mrs. Lars spent getting there order done. With exceptional timing as well.

Jaune: Wow! That was probably the quickest service I ever had.

Mrs. Lars: I do my best for all my costumers!

Ruby:(Growls silently)

Jaune: Alright so what’s my balance looking like?

Mrs. Lars: Well with all the items here it should come up to 41 Lien.

Jaune: Wait that’s it? I don’t mean to seem unappreciative, but that seems way too low a price for the things we’re getting.

Mrs. Lars:(Smiling) Oh that’s because I gave you the 30% Huntsman discount. So you saved 9 lien with your purchase. Very good deal right.

Jaune: WOW! That’s....great. Thanks Mrs. Lars.

Mrs. Lars: Oh please, enough with the Mrs. Lars, makes me feel like a old woman. Call me Daisy.

Ruby:(Mentally) ‘Great! Now I have a full name to put on your tombstone!’

Jaune: Ok, well we should probably get going, thanks for the help Mrs.- I mean, Daisy.

Daisy: My pleasure Jaune.~ Enjoy the movie.

With this, both leaders make their way towards the cinema room for the movie and once inside they find Nora, Ren and Oscar sitting in the marked premium seating. Slowly walking up the stairs Jaune moves past the other guests to reach his team. Once making it to them he gives out the snacks and beverages they asked for. Meanwhile Ruby sits down in her assign seat with a neutral face and doesn’t seem to acknowledge anybody around her. Probably because while she is calm on the outside, her mind was brewing a storm.

Ruby:(Mentally) ‘Daisy. DAISY!!! Since when did they get on a first name basis now! It must have been at some point because I never heard Jaune call Casserole Witch by her first name. And what’s with all the ‘My Pleasure’ nonsense! It’s like she’s dropping land mines to catch him in her web of lust and perversion! Well not on her watch! No thank you Casserole Mom, but Jaune Arc is off limits!.....Even if technically he is free territory at the moment.’

Ruby looks to see Jaune almost blissfully unaware of what the temptress tried to do to him. His poor innocent, dense as a brick mind couldn’t probably detect that the single mother was trying to flirt with him.

Ruby:(Mentally) ‘Don’t worry Jaune I’m not letting that temptress get her ugly claws on you. It’s my territory she’s crossed and this reaper doesn’t share! .....Even if you’re not technically mine yet. It still stands!’

The War has begun!

#rwby lancaster #ruby rose #jaune arc #rwby frozen dragon #yang xiao long #whitley schnee #lie ren #nora valkyrie #oscar pine #casserole mom #comedy #ruby getting territorial #fun times

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angrylizardjacket · 5 years

Text

insufferable {Joe Mazzello}

Summary: Joe is the star of the college musical you’re lighting, and all he seems to care about it goofing off, which irritates you to no end. Maybe he’s just an asshole for asshole’s sake... maybe not.

A/N: 2390 words. College AU. No pronouns for reader. Friends, show week fortnight is OVER, so many things in my life have changed in the past two weeks, I have a 3000 word essay due tomorrow, and this literally took me over a week. I’m sorry it took so long, I hope you enjoy it. As always, feedback is appreciated!! Also @sitonmyhot-seatoflove, @cosmicsskies, and @borhapbxtch 😘

Joseph Mazzello III (or as you liked to refer to him as; Junior, The Second) was the lead of the musical one of your friends had written. For your part, lighting an original, college musical wasn’t exactly how you wanted to spend two weeks of your life, but a promise is a promise, one that you were rapidly regretting with every moment you spent in that little theatre.

The most irritating thing about Joe wasn’t the fact that he could never seem to find his light, or that he liked touching the buttons on the fog machine, or that the director seemed to adore him, it was that he was genuinely talented. The second most irritating thing about him was that he couldn’t seem to shut up for five minutes.

You’d met him at the first script reading; Ellie, the director and another friend of yours, had gathered the whole cast and crew at her little shoebox apartment for dinner, and to familiarize everyone with the script. Joe had caught your eye where he was tucked up against one end of the sofa, eating party pies like his life depended on it. He’s pretty, has a certain aura about him like he’s got some sort of magnetism about him, and everyone speaks fondly about and to him. When he smiles, something about it has your heart beating unexpectedly faster.

And then he starts speaking.

That’s not to say he’s annoying first off, actually he’s quite funny and charming. He’s the leading man, and with good reason. He gives a good cold read, humming along when Ellie pulls out her guitar to give demos of the songs she’d written, and bantering easily with the other cast members every so often if it fits the scene. He’s warmhearted, well-spoken, and completely affable.

But he also turns out to be a fucking pain to work with.

Maybe it’s that he’s too good with people. You adored watching him in rehearsals, loved hearing him sing along with the band, and enjoyed his company well enough when you hung out with the group.

But right now, it’s six at night, you’re only halfway through the lighting plot after an already long day, and he’s got the stage manager on his shoulders, chicken fighting his costar, who’s got the AV designer on her shoulders. This is the fourth time you have had to break out the God Mic in the last hour; Ellie is too tired to reprimand her cast and crew for their behavior, not that she would, she hates playing the bad guy.

“I’m sorry,” your voice is absolutely harmless and sweet as you death glare the cast and crew from bio-box where you’re operating the lights from, “am I interrupting you?” You ask, tone sharp, eyes tired.

Joe’s actually the first to look to where you were, and is quick to lower the stage manager back to the ground.

“No, you’re fine Y/N,” he says with a laugh, and that boyish smile that you’re too irritated to enjoy right now, “we were probably interrupting you-”

“Joe,” you cut him off, lips against the microphone for emphasis, “that’s the joke.” You tell him absolutely humourlessly. He obligingly shuts up. For about five minutes.

It’s the most painful lighting plot you’ve ever done; between Joe and the rest of the cast goofing off, the stage manager not writing down cues and having to borrow your copy of the script at the end of the session, and the director not knowing exactly what she wanted but that she’d know it when she saw it (which she didn’t, she just liked whatever you did, and made indecisive noises whenever you asked her opinion), you needed a damn drink.

It seems the rest of the cast and crew have the same idea, however, and they invite you along. You don’t want to seem rude and say no, but if Joe doesn’t shut his damn mouth you’re gonna punch him. He’s not even talking about anything irritating, you’re just sick of hearing his voice.

You found yourself coming to hate Joe professionally, and it seemed that that was starting to bleed into your personal opinions of him too. You made sure to stay well away from him at the bar you all headed to, a few blocks away from campus and within reasonable walking distance of your home.

It's a nice enough night, all of you excitedly discussing the development of the show, all crammed together in a little booth at the back of a poorly lit pub. You've got the director on one side, and you're practically falling out of the booth on the other, but you don't mind too much. Joe, from where he's sitting in the middle of the seat opposite you, will occasionally give you a scrutinizing look when he thinks no-one else is looking, and he's always quick to look away, crack a joke, when you catch him.

Call time for the actors for the tech run the following day is ten. You're there at nine, your phone plugged into the aux cord and blasting your favourite album through the speakers as you refocus a light diligently. It's where you feel most at home, on top of a ladder, on top of the world.

“You really know what you’re doing up there, don’t you?” There’s something almost awed in the voice that greets you, though it comes as a surprise, and you have to grab the bar you’re rigging the light on to steady yourself when you jump. It’s Joe, leaning on the stage, bag slung over one shoulder. You bite back the first sarcastic response that comes to mind, and you smile, tired.

“Of course, that’s why they pay me,” you laugh, a little put out for being thrown off your rhythm, despite the music still playing.

“We’re not- you know we’re not getting paid, right?” He asks, a little confused. You roll your eyes.

“It’s a joke,” you replied, going back to your work.

“I feel like we have different definitions of joke.”

“Why are you here so early?” You were quickly losing patience with him, pulling the gates of the light by the bulb out to widen the beam of the light. There’s a moment of silence, of hesitation, and when you look to Joe, he’s looking over the set. “No reason?” You prompted, and it snapped him out of his thoughts enough to look at you.

“Came to go over choreography before the run,” he admitted. That does get you to smile a little, he’s nothing if not diligent. “You?”

“Just fixing a light.”

He’s stretching and warming up, earphones in while you struggle to put the ladder away, and that quiet moment in which you thought he was diligent evaporates.

“I will fade to black in the middle of his solo.” You growl, sitting by the window of the on-campus cafe, watching the steam rise from your drink on the morning of opening night.

“Please do not,” Ellie sighs around her mouthful of granola. You make a face, but she holds up her hand for silence, chewing and swallowing before she speaks again, “listen, if you two could stop bitching about each other for five minutes you’d see that-”

“He’s bitching about me? I’m just doing my job!” You cried, and Ellie looked like she regretted even opening her mouth, not that you really cared; it felt as though your blood was boiling. “I’ll cut the lights before he comes out for his bows, I don’t give a fu-”

“I know you’re joking, but honestly I don’t have the energy to talk you out of it,” Ellie tells you, and she leans back, out of the conversation, her gaze turning to the window as you fume quietly. She’s right, you wouldn’t actually do anything to jeopardize the show, but something about Joe just got on your nerves.

Each show goes off without much of a hitch, and for the sake of the sound operator and stage manager, who are sharing comms with you, you keep your complaints to yourself and focus on your job and enjoying the show. For the record, it’s very easy to enjoy the show; Joe’s even entertaining enough on stage that you forget how much he irritates you. He’s a wonderful singer, an exuberant performer, and the crowd and the rest of the crew love him.

But then comes the afterparty.

You’ve been drinking. He’s been drinking. You’ve had to listen to drunk, emotional Ellie gushing about how he ‘saved the production’. It’s more malicious than you intended, when you spit that he’s an entitled asshole.

“He’s not an asshole! That’s why people love him, okay?” Ellie fires back, expression defiant. She won’t remember this.

“Is that why you’re constantly defending him? Because you wanna bang?” You asked, scowling. Ellie’s expression fell, avoiding your gaze; she’s picking at the label on her cider, because she hates beer.

“I’m defending him because he’s transferring to this course next year, and I don’t want you scarring him off.”

Oh.

You find him by the bonfire, poking at it with a stick, expression contemplative. He doesn’t acknowledge your presence as you stand opposite him, by the fire.

“How was your first show with us?”

“Do you mean like, with the course?” He asks, frowning, “You’re not even in it, though.” He wasn’t even pretending like he wanted to make small talk with you.

“Yeah,” you forced a smile, “but the course is good, from what I hear, and I just-”

“You don’t need to make small talk, you can tell Ellie and the rest of them that I’m still joining the course. I know you don’t like me.” He added, and your mouth snaps closed, tone turning defensive.

“I don’t not like you-” but you’re cut off by his gentle laugh.

“Dude, do you think I’m an idiot?” He doesn’t let you answer, which your drunk brain wants to. He drops his stick into the fire and finally looks at you. “Don’t answer that; I know you don’t like me; that’s no skin off my nose. The show’s over.”

Silence hangs between the two of you; his gaze is so intense in the firelight, and for a moment you remember how handsome you’d thought he was at that first table read, before you’d known him.

“You’re talented, but disrespectful.” Tumbles from your lips.

“I’m fun, you’re just too uptight.” He laughs, but he doesn’t look particularly hurt by your words. In fact, he’s smiling. “You know this isn’t a professional show, right?”

“I- I’m used to-”

“No, I know,” he nodded, with a smirk, “I can tell. The way you hold yourself- you know you sound demanding when you’re working, right? Like you expect everyone to be on the same wavelength as you without even trying. They’re not. I’m not. This is fun; we’re not getting paid. We’re just trying to have fun.” He shrugs, before picking up the bottle of spirits he had by his feet that you hadn’t been able to see. “You should learn to have a little more fun.” He muses, before taking a swig of the alcohol, and offering it to you.

“I am fun,” you huff, taking the bottle from him and having a swig. It’s rum, cheap rum, and it burns, but you swallow it.

“Oh, I’m sure you are,” he nods with a faux seriousness that makes it clear that he does not believe you in the slightest. You scowl, but take another sip.

“See, you’re still being an asshole.”

“You’re fun to rile up.” He shrugged, before grinning, “but I don’t mean to be an asshole... mostly. You just don’t like me, so everything I say-”

“I did like you, but then I had to work with you.” You pass back the bottle, and Joe actually laughs, and it’s such a genuine and lovely sound.

“Well then, maybe we shouldn’t work together again,” his smile now is much more genuine, and you feel your cheeks heat up, which you can’t entirely blame on the fire, “because I don’t like having you hate me.” He’s making his way around the fire now, standing beside you, looking at the flames as they’re beginning to die down.

“I don’t hate you.” You admit, bumping your shoulder against him. Joe laughs.

“I know.”

“God you’re cocky-” you scoff, turning to look at him, but he’s looking back at you, expectant grin on his lips.

“Yeah, but I’ve seen how you look at me.”

“With loathing?” You deadpan.

“Sometimes.” He agrees, laughing a little. Your heart beats a little faster, with the endeared way he’s smiling at you. “It’s so hard to make you smile when you’re in like, work mode, you know?” He muses, “you just think I’m an asshole.” That you have to agree with. “But when, like, a light hits just right, or someone mentions how hard they’ve been working, or-” he actually flushes a little as he ducks his head, “someone comes in early to practice, say, choreography on their own time? You smile so big, so damn big.” And the fact that he’d noticed, your expression turns surprised.

Oh. Everything he’s said or done over the past three months suddenly shines in a new light.

“You like me? That’s what all this was about?” You can’t help but laugh, wrapping an arm around him, and Joe snickers, nodding a little sheepishly. “Wait, does Ellie know? Is that why-?”

“Unfortunately she has had to listen to me complain about every time you give me a dirty look in rehearsals,” he sighed, and you feel embarrassment well up within you.

“No wonder she was so ready to go to bat for you,” you murmured, a little horrified with yourself, before turning to Joe, looking both mortified and apologetic. “We can never work together again.” And he’s never agreed to something faster. “I really did - do - like you, I just thought you were being-”

“I know, I know; you’re too professional for your own good, and I’m a fan of goofing off, and that just doesn’t mesh well. Professionally.” He clarified, and then paused, finally looking back at you.

“Professionally.” You agreed, quietly. Your smile is genuine and wide as you lean in to press your lips to his.

#joe mazzello #joe mazzello x reader #joe mazzello imagine #bohemian rhapsody #bohemian rhapsody imagine #BoRhap cast #borhap cast imagine #the angry lizard writes

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