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#my ta was really nice though and the class was really easy i miss it :
clayfaced · 3 years
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atlafan · 4 years
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Open Door Policy - One Shot
a/n: so, I love a good professor!harry fic, but I don’t always love when he gets involved with a student, so y/n is his TA. He’s 26, and she’s 23, so not too weird, right? Anyways, this took me a few days to write, and I didn’t mean for it to be this long, but here we are. This is a slow burn fam, like...buckle up. Reblogs are always very kind and helpful! Not proofread. 
Warnings: angst, fluff, and smut! 
Words: 21.5K 
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It was Y/N’s second year in grad school. She knew how to handle her workload on top of still making time for fun. She was still able to go out to the bar, and party with her friends. However, she was serious about her research. She had a “big girl” apartment that she shared with two friends, each having their own room. Grad school was expensive, and even though she had a decent job working at the local café, it wasn’t enough to cover her bills. Luckily, she got a grant to be TA this semester, which was perfect because she was interested in teaching at a collegiate level at some point. Her excitement dwindled slightly when she got the email about what professor she’d be paired up with.
“Who is it?” Nessa asks, plopping down on the couch with her.
“Dr. Styles.” Y/N groans.
“Tell me, why is that a problem?” Charlotte asks, coming over with a bowl of popcorn so they could start their movie night. “He’s so fucking hot.”
“Exactly! How am I supposed to concentrate?! I had him my senior year for an elective and it was awful. I was flustered all the time. He’s such a nice guy too, I missed a class where we had a test and he let me make it up, no questions asked.”
“Great, so he’s a good professor to learn from.” Nessa says. “Oh, maybe you’ll get a closer look at some of his tattoos.”
“There’s nothing to be nervous about, Y/N, he’s only a few years older than us, you know?” Charlotte shrugs. “Maybe you’ll fall in love.” She teases her.
“Mhm, yeah, because I’m sure a guy who has his PhD in Computer Science is just dying to go out with a girl who’s only a TA so she can afford her last year of school.”
“What class are you even helping him with? You’re not specializing in CS.” Nessa says.
“Apparently it’s for the section of Web Expressions he teaches, that was the class I took with him. It was really easy, you just learn the basics of HTML and then build your own website.”
“Did you just say that was easy?” Nessa scoffs.
“My older sister ended up helping me a lot because she had a myspace back in the day, I guess you needed HTML for that.” Y/N shrugs. “It’ll be a good experience for me.”
“Okay, but you’re just specializing in Curriculum and Instruction, so-“
“Yeah, that involves Instructional Design, so I know about this stuff. I’m just not looking forward to doing it with him.” She sighs.
“Could be worse.” Charlotte smirks. “You could have gotten with some old fart who would let you flounder.”
“Very true.” She closes her laptop and sets it on the coffee table. “Alright, let’s get this HSM party started.”
//
A week later Y/N received an email from Dr. Styles to meet with her so they could discuss the class and make sure they were on the same page about the syllabus. She was a nervous wreck. Y/N used to avoid his office like the plague, too afraid to be alone with him. It’s not that Dr. Styles was a creep or ever put off any inappropriate vibes, he just had this sort of intimidating stare to him. Even when he’d laugh, seeing him soften was intimidating. The sound of his deep, raspy voice was almost a little too soothing, and she was obsessed with his sense of style. His nails were always painted different colors, and he had the cutest pair of round glasses that would sit on the tip of his nose.
Even though it was August, and still very hot out, Y/N wanted to make a good, professional impression. So, she decides on a pair of white slacks that have a tie in the front, a white tank top tucked in, and a navy blue three-quarter sleeve blazer. It was too humid to leave her hair down, so she puts it up in a cute, messy bun. She puts on a little makeup, grabs her laptop bag, and out the door she goes. She puts her sunglasses on immediately, almost getting blinded by the blazing sun.
She had never been in an academic building at this point in the summer. There were a few faculty puttering around, getting their offices situated for the semester. She smiles at a few of them as she takes her sunglasses off. She heads up to the third story where Dr. Styles’ office was. There was no a/c in this building, but luckily the room they’d be teaching in would have it due to all the computers.
His door was open, and she nearly walked right by him. She back peddles and already feels weak kneed. He had his glasses on, pushed closer to his face than usual, a small fan on his desk blowing the hair that wasn’t in the little sprout on the top of his head back, and he was wearing a white t-shirt.
“Um, Dr. Styles?” She nervously taps on the outside of the doorframe. He looks up from his computer and smiles.
“Miss Y/L/N?”
“Yes.” She smiles back at him.
“Come on in, have a seat.”
It was the accent, that fucking British accent that she remembered was the most distracting part about him. He had this drawl to his voice that was irresistible.
“Do you want me to, um…” She points to the door.
“No, no, too bloody hot to have that thing closed. The little window I get barely opens so I only have this fan to really keep me cool.” He frowns slightly at her appearance. “Why’d you get so dressed up? You must be sweltering.”  
“I’m okay!” She blushes, and takes the seat in front of his desk. “I just…you know, wanted to look nice.” His eyebrows raise slightly. “I mean, like, not nice, but professional.”
“Well, don’t feel like you need to be dressed up like this all the time. I want you to be comfortable. You don’t see me all dressed up.” He smirks.
“You’re a tenure-track faculty, you can do whatever you want.”
“Not true.” He leans forward and rests his chin on his palm. “I can’t call a student an absolute moron when they ask me a stupid question.”
“I thought there were no stupid questions.” She smiles.
“God, there’s tons.” He scoffs and sits up straighter. “But we have to encourage students to speak up when they’re confused, so.” He shrugs. “Anyways, let’s look at the course, yeah?”
“Okay.” She takes her laptop out and sets it on his desk, scooting closer.
“I added you to the moodle page, so you should have full access to everything. You’ll be grading a bit, so I wanted to make sure you knew how to get in there.”
Once Y/N logs in, and clicks into the course, she smirks.
“What?”
“Looks at the exact same.”
“What do you mean?”
“I actually, uh, took this class with you a couple of years ago.” She furrows her brows at the page. “You know, you should really update this, it’s lazy to use the same design year after year.” She sort of says it without thinking and then feels embarrassed when she looks back up to meet his intimidating gaze.
“Interesting, usually I’m good with names…yours doesn’t ring a bell at all.” He looks at his own computer and crosses his arms. “And it’s not that I’m lazy, I don’t have a lot of control over the physical design. The assignments are much different, those I keep fresh.” He turns to look at her again. “I also teach eighteen credits worth of courses, I don’t exactly have time to sit and revamp all of them.”
“Well, maybe I could do that. I’ve taken a lot of Instructional Design courses.” She says brightly. “Studies show that students do better when their course pages are more inviting.”
“Alright, since you’re the expert, I’ll let you take the lead on that. Can we get back to the material itself? I have to make sure you know what you’re doing.” He squints at her. “You really took this class?”
“Yes.”
“And I was your professor?”
“Yes, Dr. Styles.”
He plucks his fingers over his lips.
“I feel bad for not remembering you.”
“It’s okay, I sort of kept to myself. You late me retake a test that I missed once, though.”
“Oh!” He snaps his fingers. “You missed class because you had a bad stomach bug.”
“Yeah.” She blushes.
“Poor thing, those are the worst when you don’t have mum around to help take care of you.”
“It’s alright, I recovered.”
“Clearly.” He smiles.
They spend the next hour or so going over the course and the materials. He tells her what he’ll need from her specifically. He’ll do most of the teaching, and she’ll bebop around helping students with questions. Oh, and grading, she’ll be helping with a lot of grading. He notices her wipe some sweat from her brow, and he frowns.
“Do you want a water? I have some in the fridge.”
“That would be great, thank you.”
He wheels over to his mini fridge and tosses her a water bottle. As she takes a sip, she notices him still looking at her.
“You can take that off, you know?”
“What?”
“Your blazer.”
“No, I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“I’m, uh, only wearing a tank top underneath and I wouldn’t feel comfortable being so…exposed.”
“Oh!” He blushes. “I’m sorry, I hope my comment didn’t-“
“It’s fine.”
“I just hope you know I wasn’t trying to-“
“I didn’t.” She clears her throat. “So, I have full reigns to redesign some things?”
“Sure.” He shrugs. “Just as long as I can still navigate it.”
“Isn’t your PhD in Computer Science? You should be fine.” She closes her laptop and sticks it in her bag.
“Right…” He pulls his calendar up on his computer. “What’s your class schedule like?”
“With this one, I only have one other class that’s in person, the rest are online.”
“Perfect, then it should be easy to build in some office hours for you. We’ll have to share mine, I hope that’s alright. Not every TA gets their own office, but there’s plenty of room in here for two. This office actually used to have to people in it, I’m having a small desk brought in for you.”
“Oh, um, thanks. I also work a lot at the café down town, but it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“You work at Bento’s?”
“Yeah.”
“I go there all the time, how have I not seen you?”
“I work in the back as a baker.”
“Oh cool, I actually worked in a bakery when I was younger.”
“I know.” She rolls her eyes. “You used to mention it all the time in class.”
“I did?”
“Yes.” She chuckles. “You made it sound like so much fun it’s actually what made me apply to Bento’s in the first place.”
“Ah, well, glad I could help.”
They decide on the office hours that will work best, and then he dismisses her. Just as she’s about to leave, he says her name.
“Yeah?”
“When it’s just us feel free to call me Harry. You and I don’t need to be so formal, alright?”
“Okay.” She smiles. “See you next week.”
The second she gets outside the building, she rips her blazer off. She gets back to her apartment as quickly as possible, changes into a bathing suit, and gets in the pool outside. Charlotte and Nessa were already out there, sitting on chairs in the shade. Y/N gets out and towels off, sitting down with them.
“Needed to cool off after your time with Dr. Styles, huh?” Charlotte winks at her.
“Shut up.” Y/N nudges her friend. “It was so fucking hot in his office. I know it’ll cool down eventually, and I was also way overdressed. He only had a t-shirt and jeans on.”
“Did he remember you?” Nessa asks.
“Not at first, but of course he remembered the reason I missed class was because I had a stomach bug, how embarrassing.”
“Why is that embarrassing?” Charlotte asks.
“I don’t want him to think about me being all…icky.”
“Do you seriously still have a crush on him?” Nessa asks.
“It’s not a crush, he’s just insanely attractive. He looked so cute being all casual today.” She whines. “It doesn’t matter, he’s twenty-six and probably has a girlfriend or something, how could he not?”
“I don’t know, I wouldn’t wanna date a guy smarter than me. He probably man-splains all the time.” Charlotte says. “I bet he’s good for a quick fuck, and that’s about it.”
“I guess Y/N will find out.” Nessa giggles.
“You two are the worst.” She groans.
//
“Hey, Y/N!”
Y/N was in the back at Bento’s getting some bread proofed and ready for the morning crew. One of her coworkers was calling for her.
“Yeah?”
“There’s some guy out front asking for you?”
“What?” She wipes her hands on her apron and walks out front. She freezes when she sees Harry. She had a hairnet on, her face was laced with sweat, and she smelled like bread, which you would think would smell good, but it doesn’t. It had been a couple of days since their meeting.
“Sorry, had to see it for myself.” He smirks.
“See what, Dr. Styles?” She walks around the counter to speak with him.
“Harry.” He corrects her. “See you in action, of course.” He takes a sip from his drink. “I see you’ve already made some changes to the course.”
“Yeah, uh, it was pretty easy.”
“Well, it looks fantastic. I was going to email you, but I was stopping in here and I thought I’d see if you were working so I could just tell you in person.”
“Oh.” She blushes. “Thank you, that means a lot.”
“Well, I’ll let you get back to it. Don’t wanna get you in trouble.” He waves as he leaves, and she stands there stunned.
“Who the fuck was that?” Her coworker asks.
“Um, I’m his TA this semester. He wanted to tell me I did a good job on something.”
“Oh, shit.”
“What?”
“He’s gonna fuck you.”
“Stop!” She swats her hand at them. “Go take drink orders, I’m going back to the proofer.”
Harry was just being nice, and maybe he was looking for a good laugh. She shakes the thought from her head, he didn’t want to fuck her. He was way more professional than that.
//
On her first day as a TA, she decided on a pair of jean capris, and a light blouse. She left her hair down since it wasn’t humid. She felt more like herself, which was good. She goes to her now shared office with Harry first, just to drop her things off.
“Good morning.” She says shyly as she comes in. The small desk he had brought in for her was there, and there was a small plant waiting for her on it.
“Morning, Y/N, are you excited?”
“More so nervous, but yeah. What’s this?” She points to the plant.
“Got you a little something for your desk. It’s really easy to take care of, should only need water once a week.”
“Oh, thank you.” She tucks some hair behind her ear and sits down.
“Since it’s syllabus week, today will be really easy. We’ll go over a few things and then I’ll probably let them go early.”
“Alright.”
“I’ll give you a couple of minutes to introduce yourself too.”
“Okay.”
“Do you have a water bottle with you or anything?”
“Yeah, right here.” She takes it out of her bag.
“Great, a little trick I learned when I first started teaching is that sometimes you can end up answering a question you ask the students because you’re so nervous when no one answers right away. So, if you take a moment to take a sip of your water it gives them more time to speak up.”
“Thanks, that’s a really good tip.”
“You’ll do great.” He looks down at his watch. “Come on, we should head to the classroom, make sure all the computers are working.”
Y/N nods and follows him out. Her eyes drift down to how his butt looks in his khakis. He had a simple green t-shirt tucked into them. He was effortlessly handsome. The cool of the a/c in the computer lab helps snap her out of ogling. After they check the rows of computers, only one wasn’t working, so Y/N takes a DO NOT USE sign onto it.
“Brilliant.” He says to her.
Students start trickling in, and choosing their seats. The class was mostly boys, and only a couple of girls. Unfortunately, that was typical for courses like this, even if it was just a gen ed that literally anyone could take.
“Morning everyone, I’m Dr. Styles, and I’d prefer you call me that. I worked a long time to be called that, so please don’t call me by my first name. You can call me professor, though, if you feel comfortable.” He smiles at the class. “We’re very lucky this semester, I have a TA that will be able to help you with assignments.” He gestures to Y/N.”
“Hi, yeah, my name’s Y/N, you can feel free to just call me that. Um, I’m in my second year of grad school. I’m studying curriculum and instructional design. I’m excited to be with you all this semester.”
Y/N takes a seat to the side of the room while Harry pulls up the course and the syllabus on the projector.
“Now, who here is a CS major?” Most of the class raises their hand. “Right, try branching out for your gen eds, your eyes will bleed if you don’t.” He jokes. “What about those of you who aren’t CS, just shout it out.”
“Communication.”
“Undecided.”
“IT.”
“Psychology.”
“Wonderful, glad we’ll have a little bit of variety. Y/N redesigned this class, so I’m hoping you’ll appreciate what she’s done to make things easier for you.”
Y/N takes attendance, and then sits back down so Harry can go over the syllabus and explain some of the more intricate assignments. He also explains his door is always open for anyone that needs extra help. He wanted to make a good impression since he knew some of the students would end up in some of his higher level courses.
“Please take some time to go over some of the basic codes and short cuts we’ll be using quite a bit. For our next class we’re going to work on a site together, alright?” There’s a hum of agreement throughout the class. “Great, and just so you know, Y/N will be doing the majority of the grading, so it’s not my good side you’ll want to be on, it’s hers.” He grins. “Alright, you’re all dismissed, enjoy the nice weather.”
Everyone files out, and Y/N takes a deep breath. She walks with Harry down to his office and she plops down in her seat.
“Seems like it’ll be a good group.” He opens one of his drawers. “Here, forgot to give you a key. You can come here whenever you want, feel free to do your homework if there’s nothing to be graded.”
“Thanks.” She takes it from him and puts it on her key ring. “It’ll be nice to have a quiet space, actually. One of my roommates is getting her master’s in theater education, and my other roommate is getting her master’s in music education, so it gets kind loud from time to time.”
“Then definitely come here anytime you like.” He smiles and sits in his chair.
“When does your next class start?”
“I’ve got about an hour or so before I need to go back to the computer lab for my computing fundamentals class. I teach two sections of that back to back. Then that’s it for today.”
“Does it get annoying to teach the same class back to back?”
“Not really.” He shrugs. “I’m used to it by now anyways.”
“Dr. Styles?” A female student taps on the outside of the door. “How was your su…oh, you’re in here with someone.” She frowns.
“I sure am, Melanie.” Harry seems to look a little nervous. “I’ll be rather busy today, but we can catch up soon, alright?”
“Oh, okay.” She glares at Y/N before leaving. Harry sighs heavily once she’s gone.
“That’s one of my frequent flyers.” He rolls his eyes. “Her and a couple other girls try to come by and chat…” He runs a hand through his hair. “I’m actually kind of glad you’ll be around, I’ve seen her fly out of here so fast.”
“Does she…have a crush on you or something?”
“I’m afraid so.” Harry sighs. “It’s partly why I keep my door open when I meet with students. I used to keep it closed to have some privacy, cause sometimes there’s personal things students want to talk about, but she came in last year…I don’t know, I just keep my door open now.”
“That sucks.” She turns to her laptop to start getting some work done. “Such is the life of the hot, young professor, unfortunately.” Once again, Y/N said something without really thinking about it. She really needs to work on a filter. When she turns around to look at him to apologize, he was looking at her, face flushed. “I’m sorry, I just meant-“
“I have some emails to catch up on, so I’m gonna put by earbuds in and just focus on that.”
Y/N nods and turns back to her computer. She sighs heavily. The last thing she wanted to do was make the poor guy feel more tense than he already did. It must be painfully awkward to have students throwing themselves at you all the time, and what’s worse is that he feels so uncomfortable that he feels like he can’t even close his door. Y/N wanted to know what exactly Melanie did. It couldn’t have been so bad because she was still coming by to see him. Maybe Harry just picked up on a vibe, and got ahead of the problem before it got worse.
Forty or so minutes later, Harry tells Y/N he’s off to class, but she can feel free to stay if she wanted. She smiles and continues working on a paper she already had assigned for one of her courses. It was really nice to just have a space to work.
“Dr…oh…is this not Dr. Styles’ office anymore.” The girl standing in the doorway frowns.
“Oh! No, it is. He’s teaching right now. I’m his TA, Y/N, so we’re sharing. Can I help you with anything?”
“No, um, I was just coming to say hi, but I’ll catch him later.”
“What’s your name? I can tell him you stopped by, then he can email you or something.”
“It’s Bridget, and he doesn’t need to email me. I was just coming to say hi and chat about summer.” She sighs. “Sorry to bother you.”
Before Y/N can say it wasn’t a bother, the girl is gone. Harry really seemed to have a fan club so far. Y/N had professors she loved, but it was the first day of classes, she never went around trying to catch up with them. She decides to close the door a bit, maybe if people came by they would just assume he wasn’t there.
Y/N’s eyes start to feel droopy. It hits her that she’s been up since four this morning, having pulled an early shift at Bento’s. She decides to cross her arms on her desk, and rest her head on them. Her music was playing softly in the background, and her eyes eventually flutter closed.
Harry comes back from his second section of Computer Fundamentals and is confused when he sees his door only open a crack. He opens it the rest of the way and stops short when he sees Y/N resting peacefully. He wonders how long she’s been asleep for. He didn’t want her to be too groggy. He also knew some students from his previous classes may stop by for some clarification, so as he much he didn’t want to, he had to wake her up.
“Y/N?” He says softly, tapping her on the shoulder.
“Mm?” She grunts.
“Gotta wake up, love.”
Her eyes snap open. She sits up and watches him as he sits at his desk, pulling some papers out of his bag. She knew it was a pet name often used where he was from, but holy mother of God did it sound good hearing him call her that.
“Sorry, I…oh wow, I slept for way too long.”
“You didn’t seem so tired this morning, are you feeling alright?”
“Oh yeah, I’m fine. I worked an early shift at the bakery this morning, so it must just be catching up with me.” She stretches her arms out. “I think I’m gonna head out now. Oh, some student named Bridget came by earlier, but you were in class.”
“Alright.” He sighs. “Thanks, see you Wednesday.”
“See you Wednesday.” She smiles, gathers her things, and heads out.
//
At the end of the first week of classes, Harry was exhausted. It was always like this by the time that first Friday hit. The faculty meeting was the most draining part of it. He didn’t subject Y/N to it since she wasn’t helping with a major course. He had whined about it in front of her, though, so when he got back to his office he found a cupcake from Bento’s waiting for him.
It took a couple of weeks, but Y/N was able to relax around Harry. He noticed this right away. She was way less nervous, and he felt happy knowing he wasn’t making her feel intimidated. He was also happy for the help. She was able to field a lot of questions for the students, and her grading things was already saving him a ton of time.
The semester was off to a great start. Y/N would often bring Harry extra pastries from Bento’s, and he would praise her for how good they tasted.
“If those whole Instructional Design thing doesn’t work out, you should just open up your own bakery.” Is what he would often say after stuffing his face. It would make her giggle and blush. She enjoyed pleasing him.
They were having a peaceful Tuesday afternoon, holding office hours. Mostly working on their own, but occasionally chatting. Well, it was peaceful, until someone walked through the door.
“Harry.” An angry woman holding a small shih tzu and a large bag says. “I can’t take care of him Max anymore. I’m moving and my new place can’t have pets.”
“Kelly, let’s go out into the hall, yeah?”
She looks over at Y/N, who was stunned. Harry was standing up and walking around his desk to lead the woman out, but she won’t budge.
“Make whoever this is leave, you have an office for a reason.”
“I don’t have an office for personal matters, come on.” He takes the dog, Max, from her and cuddles him to his chest. Harry gets a lick to his chin. “Aw, you miss Daddy, Maxy?”
The woman rolls her eyes, and lets Harry lead her into the hallway. Y/N hears some muffled discussion, the woman raising her voice more than him.
“You could have looked for a place that allowed pets. This is so typical of you. You fought me on keeping him, and the second it got difficult you wanna just dump him with me.”
“I’m never home, Harry! It’s not fair to him.”
“And you think I’m home more?”
“More than me.” She scoffs. “You don’t have a choice, I leave at the end of the week.”
“You don’t even look like you’re going to miss him.”
“I thought I wanted him, but every time I looked at him I just thought of you, and now I can’t stand him. I’m moving to have a fresh start. Whatever happens to him is up to you now.” She drops the large bag full of Max’s things at his feet and walks away.
Harry sighs and kisses the top of Max’s head. He leans down to grab the bag and walks back into his office.
“I’m so sorry you had to see that.”
“It’s okay.” She extends her hands out. “Can I hold him? He’s so cute.” She pouts.
“Um, sure.” Harry hands Max over to Y/N.
“Oh my goodness.” She gets a lick on her cheek. “How old is he?”
“A little over a year.” Harry mumbles as he goes through the bag. “I have no idea how I’m going to make this work. I can’t bring him with me every day, it’s not allowed. Once in a while is fine, but it’s not like he’s a therapy dog.”
“I can help! My apartment is pet friendly for small dogs. I could just meet you here and you can drop him off to me.”
“I couldn’t ask you to do that. You have so much going on between this, your own school work, and Bento’s.”
“I really wouldn’t mind, I know you end up staying here late a lot of the time, I could take him for walks and stuff, tire him out so you can just have a snuggle with him when you get home.” She holds him up to her face. Lucky dog, she thinks to herself.
“You’re my TA, Y/N, not my dog sitter.” He sighs. “I’m sure I could find another student that needs some extra cash-“
“Wouldn’t need to pay me.” She smiles. “Please, he’s so cute, I really wanna help. It won’t stress me out, I promise.”
“We’ll see, it would only be on my busy days.” He takes Max back from her, and pulls his dog bed from the bag. “Go on, get comfy.” He sets him down and pats the top of his head. He takes out his water bowl and pours some into it for him.
“Feel free to not answer, but who was she?”
“My ex…” Harry sighs and runs a hand through his hair. He sits down and watches Max lap up at his water bowl. “She insisted on a small dog because they’re easier to take care of.” He rolls his eyes. “But I missed him a lot, so I’m not complaining. We were together a couple of years, lived together for a bit, thought it would be smart to get a dog like a lot of people do when they’re getting more serious. But we started fighting a lot, we both got busier, neither of us wanted to compromise, and so it goes. She took him with her. We both got new places and have barely spoken.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay, we weren’t right for each other, and he sort of made us realize that.” Max yips at Harry. “That’s right, buddy.” Harry chuckles. “We called it quits roughly six months ago, it’s all good now. I thought I’d miss her, but I missed him more.”
“I get that, I dated this guy for a bit in undergrad, but I definitely didn’t see it lasting.” She rolls her eyes.
“Guys at that age are really immature, anyways. You’ve got plenty of time to meet someone.” He turns back to his computer and gets back into his emails. He looks over his calendar and groans. “Alright, I’ll definitely need your help with him.” He turns back to her. “I give a lecture on Thursday evenings, so no one would be home with him literally day.”
“No problem at all, I can bring him home with me and I can just drop him off to you.” She smiles. “My roommates love dogs too, they’ll be excited.”
“I’ll need your phone number, just to get updates and stuff, it’ll be easier than email.”
“Sure!” She hands him her phone immediately. “Feels silly to not have exchanged numbers sooner.”
“Was sort of trying to keep a level of professionalism between us, but I suppose you’re gonna be helping me with my pup you’ll be more than just a colleague.” He puts his number in and texts himself. “You’re sure this won’t be too much for you?”
“Not at all.”
“At least let me pay you.”
“No way.”
“Y/N.” He sighs. “I’m gonna pay you, just deal with it, alright?” There was that intimidating side of him again. Y/N just swallows and nods. “Good.”
//
Nessa and Charlotte loved when Y/N would bring Max home with her. They teased her a bit at first because it was like her and Harry now owned this dog together, but she explained she was just helping him out.
“At least now you know for sure he’s single, and that he’s not afraid of commitment.” Nessa winks.
“Oh stop.” Y/N nudges her.
“He has your number now, does he ever text you about anything other than Max?”
“Not really, although he’ll send a funny gif as a response sometimes. He’s got a good sense of humor. You should see him in class.” Y/N’s phone buzzes and sees a text from Harry. “Speak of the Devil.”
Harry: I’m running late tonight, I’m so sorry. Would it be too much to ask to have you just get him settled at my place? There’s a spare key in the plant by the door.
Y/N’s eyes grow wide.
“Oh my god, he wants me to bring Max to his house tonight.”
“It’s happening!” Charlotte squeals. “Have you eaten much pineapple lately?”
“Would you shut up?! He doesn’t want to fuck me. He’s way too professional.”
Y/N: of course!
Harry: you’re a lifesaver. I’ve got some frozen pizza, feel free to make yourself at home until I get in. I won’t have you waiting too long.
“Oh wow, I’m gonna be there until he gets in…” She looks at her friends. “Maybe I’ll go shave my legs, you know, just in case.”
//
Y/N finds the key quickly, and walks into Harry’s home. He didn’t live too far from campus. He had a nice town home. Max scamps inside and immediately goes over to his toys in the living room. Y/N takes her shoes off and leaves them in the mudroom. Harry kept his home clean, and it made Y/N smile. There were some papers on his kitchen table that had grade marks on them. She wondered if he had a home office or not.
She goes into his freezer to find the pizza, and preheats the over. Once the pizza is baking, she plops onto the couch, pulling Max into her lap and turning the TV on. He has Netflix, so she click into that. She pouts when she sees he watches a lot of Rom Coms, it was too cute. She puts on The Office and has a slice of pizza. She didn’t need to work until tomorrow afternoon, so she didn’t mind that it was getting to be a little later on a Thursday, and it wasn’t like she went to raging parties anymore either.
Eventually, she dozed off. She couldn’t help it. Harry had a really comfortable couch, and plush blanket to curl up in, and Max was just as cozy to sleep with. Harry had texted Y/N, but she didn’t answer because she was asleep. The lecture he had ran late, and then he had to meet with some students to help them. Not to mention it was raining heavily, and he needed to drive a little slower than usual. So he didn’t pull into his driveway until 10PM. He sighs, feeling terrible that Y/N was still there.
He quietly enters his home, but it didn’t matter because Max hears him, wakes up, and starts barking. This startles Y/N awake.
“Shh, Max, it’s just Daddy.” He scoops him up and walks into the living room. Y/N was rubbing her eyes, trying to wake up. “I’m so sorry, I-“
“It’s okay.” She yawns. “I wrapped up the pizza and put it in the fridge for you.”
“Oh, um, thank you. Think I’m about to pass out though.”
“Don’t be silly.” She gets up and stretches. “You need to eat something.”
She brushes by him to go into his kitchen and take the pizza out. She puts a paper-towel over it and pops it in the microwave.
“I really am sorry you’re here so late.”
“It’s okay.” She leans against the counter. “What’s the lecture for, anyways?”
“It’s actually a graduate level CS systems course. I couldn’t turn the money down when they offered it to me. I figured since it’s only once a week it would be terrible, and it’s not, it’s just exhausting.”
The microwave beeps, and Y/N take the plate out for him, removing the paper towel.
“See, now it’s not all dried out.” She smiles.
“Neat trick, I’ll have to remember that.” The rain taps violently on the window in the kitchen.
“Yikes, I didn’t even know it was supposed to rain tonight. It wasn’t like this when I drove over.” She bites her bottom lip and looks outside.
Harry finishes his pizza and puts the plate in the sink. He sets Max down and he runs upstairs to his dog bed in Harry’s room.
“Listen, uh, if you want I can set up the pull out for you. Or I could sleep on it and you could take my bed…if you don’t feel safe driving home.”
“Oh, I couldn’t take your bed.” She turns to him. “But I may take your couch. I was sleeping on it fine as is, no need to set it up.”
“Well, let me at least get you a proper pillow and something to change into, yeah?”
“Okay.”
“Right, um, well you know where the bathroom down here is, feel free to use whatever to wash up. I’ll run up to grab what you need, be down in a sec.”
Harry changes into his own pj’s, and finds some spare pants and a t-shirt for Y/N. He’s even able to find a spare toothbrush. He hustles back down and see’s Y/N bending over to charge her phone using the plug behind the tide table next to the couch. Harry clears his throat to get her attention.
“Here, you can wear this, and he’s a toothbrush.”
“Thanks for letting crash here, I get nervous driving at night when it’s like that outside.”
“It’s the least I could do, you gave up your Thursday night to…” He looks at the TV screen and his cheeks grow hot. Y/N looks over at the TV as well and wonders why The Office might embarrass him.
“Is it okay that I used your Netflix?”
“Yeah, I…god, it’s just, you’ve seen what I watch.” He rubs the back of his neck.
“I didn’t snoop or anything, promise.” She smiles and takes the clothes and toothbrush from him.
He opens up the coffee table to take out a pillow and another blanket.
“Well, I’ll be right upstairs if you need anything…um, goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Harry.”
She wanted to ask if he wanted to watch a little TV with her, but he looked so tired. She lays on the couch after getting changed. His bed clothes swam on her, and she loved it. They smelled just like him and it made her smile. She texts in the group chat so the girls know what’s up. They tell her just to go crawl into his bed, and she rolls her eyes. She falls back asleep after another couple of episodes of The Office.
The next morning, her eyes flutter open when the light from the sliding door in the living room hit her. She hears Harry shuffling around upstairs.
“Gotta be quiet, Max. Y/N is sleeping.” She hears him whisper and it makes her smile. She decides to pretend to be asleep as to not rile the dog up.
She hears the door open and close, and that’s when she knows Harry’s gone to take Max for a walk. She gets up and folds the blankets, and puts the pillow on top. She figures he’ll want to wash it. She goes into the bathroom to do her business, but doesn’t change just yet, she didn’t want to leave the comfort of his clothes. She does, however, put her bra on. She didn’t want to bounce around and make him uncomfortable.
Harry comes back in with a beanie on, cover the beautiful curls Y/N adored so much. He was wearing grey joggers, and a black t-shirt. Max runs right over to Y/N.
“Morning.” Harry says.
“Morning.” She pats Max’s head.
“Sleep alright?”
“Mhm, thank you.”
“I’m gonna make some breakfast, you hungry?”
“Sure, I could eat.” She smiles.
He smiles back and opens up the fridge. Y/N grabs the dog food and gets Max’s bowl filled. She sees Harry starting up the coffee pot, and then going back to the fridge for eggs.
“Eggs and toast alright?”
“Sounds great.”
Harry gets a pan heated up and cracks four eggs into it.
“You working at Bento’s today?”
“Yeah, not until this afternoon though, no worries.”
“Oh good, I would have felt bad if I was keeping you.”
“You’re not.” She sits up on the counter and watches him cook the eggs. He moves to the toaster and puts for pieces of bread in. “This is a nice place.”
“Thanks, sort of found it in a scramble, but it gets the job done. Would have liked more than one bedroom, but oh well.” Harry flips all of the eggs over so they’ll be sunny side down. “Want cheese?”
“Yes, please.” She hops off the counter to grab a couple of mugs for the coffee.
“I have to apologize, I don’t have any cream for that.”
“Sugar?”
He slides the sugar bowl down to her and she smiles. Once everything is done they sit down at the kitchen table.
“Mm, this is delicious, thank you.”
“S’just a fried egg.” He chuckles. “But I’m glad you like it.”
“Do you have to go to campus today?”
“Not technically, but I will just to get some work done. I’ll bring Max with me. He likes the little dog bed I’ve put under my desk.”
“He’s really such a love bug. Snuggled with me last night and everything. My roommates love him too.”
“You’ve been such a big help in so many ways. Don’t know what I’ll do without you next semester.”
“I’m applying for more TA positions, maybe they’ll stick me with you again.”
“Wouldn’t you want more experience with a different class?”
“It doesn’t really matter.” She shrugs. “It would be cool to work with you over winter break to redesign your other courses.”
“Man, if I didn’t have to do that myself…hm, maybe I could put a good word in. That is, if you don’t mind being stuck with me again.”
“Stuck with you? Hello, this is going way better than I thought. I was sort of nervous to be your TA at first.”
“You were?” He frowns.
“You’re a little intimidating.”
“I don’t mean to be.”
“I know, it’s just the way you come off sometimes. You’re hilarious when you want to be.”
“Thanks.” He smirks and continues to eat. He looks at her and furrows his brows. “Feel free to keep those.”
“What?”
“The clothes I let you borrow, feel free to just keep ‘em if you want. I don’t much wear those pants anymore, and I have a dozen t-shirts.”
“Oh, um, thank you. Might take you up on that, I’m pretty cozy.”
She helps clean up the dishes and then gathers her things. He walks her out to her car.
“Thanks again for watching him.”
“Of course, I’ll see you Monday morning.”
“See you, have a good weekend, love.”
Her heart skips a beat as he turns and walks back inside. She takes a deep breath as she gets into her car. It was cloudy on the drive home, but at least it wasn’t raining. The second she gets through the door Nessa and Charlotte grill her for details, and they were highly disappointed that the only thing they shared was breakfast.
“It was really domestic, though, it was nice.” Y/N explains. “He was so cute while he made me breakfast. He’s so kind. He even let me keep his clothes, and he wants me to be his TA again next semester. He literally said he wouldn’t know what to do without me.”
“Yeah, because you’ve volunteered to do everything for him except suck his dick.” Charlotte scoffs. “You said he’s been broken up for a little over six months right? Do you think he’s gotten his dick wet since then?”
“Charlotte!” Y/N giggles. “He’s a grown man, he can do what he wants. I bet he has, he easily could have had a rebound, although, he seems really respectful, so who knows if he’s even into hooking up.”
“Right, like when you told us he always keeps his office door open.”
“I feel bad, I’m there when some of those girls come to chat with him, and you can tell they just make him uncomfortable.” She shakes her head. “I think he and I are, like, friends now. I like what we have going, I’m not going to rock the boat. It could really complicate things.”
“So, would you say now that you’ve gotten to know him better your crush is less…apparent?” Nessa asks.
“God no! We mesh really well, we think a lot of the same things are funny…” She wines slightly. “It’s truly unfair.” She sighs. “Right person, wrong time.”
//
It was hard to stay awake during your shift at the bakery, but you made it through. You were thankful you only needed to be there until about dinner time. You had to be back in Saturday morning for open, but that didn’t stop you and your friends from going out to the bar for a couple of drinks.
It gave the three of you time to catch up and complain about coursework. Nessa was directing a production at the university, and she still had students who weren’t off-book, and Charlotte had to deal with pretentious music bros who really liked to man-splain the music industry to her. Y/N felt lucky that the majority of her classes were online.
“Okay, I have to ask, are there any students in class you think have crushes on each other?” Nessa asks her, sipping from her straw.
“Oh, for sure. There are these two boys, they don’t sit next to each other, but you can tell they’re friends. One of them always looks behind to the other so they can make a face. It’s too cute.”
They were at a more adult bar tonight. It’s not that they didn’t like the college bars they were so used to going to, but if they went there then that meant getting shitfaced and staying on the dancefloor until close. It also made things awkward when running into students. So the three of them felt safe here, they could really relax.
“Oh my fucking god.” Charlotte says. “Dr. Styles just walked in, and fuck, he’s here with a couple of really hot guys.”
“What?!” Y/N was buzzed, and she didn’t want Harry to see her like this. She wanted his image of her to remain sweet and professional. She peers over her shoulder to look at him, and her eyes widen.
He wasn’t wearing his glasses, he had a floral patterned shirt on that had the first few buttons undone, and a pair of black jeans to match. They weren’t skinny jeans or anything, but they sure as fuck were working for him. Both of his friends were a little shorter, but both equally as handsome. The three walk right by the bar and grab a booth.
“This is bad.” Y/N groans. “He looks so fucking good.”
“Who knew he was so tatted up?!” Nessa says. “I thought it was just his arms, but did you see his collar bones? We love a man who has going attire.”
The bar was starting to get more crowded, and louder as it got later. Music was blaring from the speakers, but all Y/N could think about was Harry. She wondered if he would venture to her area of the bar to order his drinks. One of his friends went up first, on Nessa’s left.
“Hey, Niall, what can I get for you?” The bartender asks him.
“Bradly, so good to see yeh, I’ll take a pint of Guinness, Lou’s gonna have a pale ale, and Harry’ll have a Corona with lime.”
“You got it.”
Niall drums his fingers on the bar. Nessa was sweating. She had a boyfriend, so she would never do anything, but fuck, that Irish accent tore right through her. Niall looks over at the three girls who had all fallen silent after he approached. He makes eye contact with Y/N, and they share a smile.
“Opening a tab tonight?”
“Yeah, one of those nights for sure. Poor Harry’s had a run in with his ex, basically dropped their dog in his lap and left. It’s been a couple of weeks since it happened, but it’s been eatin’ the lad up.”
Bradly nods and takes Niall’s credit card to keep on the back of the bar. He hands him the three beers, and Niall thanks him. The girls try not to watch as he sits down.
“Holy shit, I thought I was going to crap my pants.” Nessa breathes. “I love Andy, don’t get me wrong, but holy fuck.” She shakes her head. “I may need to have him pick me up from here tonight.” She giggles.
“Now I almost wish there was dancing here. Wouldn’t mind showing that guy how well I can pop my ass.” Charlotte laughs.
“He smiled at me, did you see it? Of course Harry surrounds himself with other beautiful people.” She pouts.
Niall slides Harry and Louis their beers and they all clink their glasses.
“I’m so glad we could all get out to do this. Sorry we didn’t rescue you the second Kelly showed up.” Louis says.
“It’s alright, I appreciate you guys coming tonight.”
“Is Max okay for a bit on his own?” Niall asks.
“Yeah, I put the gates up for him so he can’t mess much up. I wouldn’t have texted my TA to see if she could watch him again, but…”
“But you’ll most likely be fucking someone tonight.” Niall grins. “Surprised you didn’t just fuck her, she stayed at your place and everything.”
“Actually, you asshole,” Harry chuckles and takes a swig of his beer. “I was going to say that I would have felt bad taking up another one of her evenings. I don’t know if I’m in the mood to take anyone home tonight.”
“Too bad, girls love little dogs like Max.” Louis shrugs.
“There’s three really hot girls sitting by the bar.” Niall loves over at the three girls. “One for each of us if we play our cards right.”
Harry’s back was turned away from the bar, so he couldn’t see who Niall was talking about.
“They could be college students.” Louis says.
“Not at this place. The undergrads don’t come here.” Harry says. “Mostly grad students or other faculty that live close by, locals too.”
“We could order their next round of drinks, and then invite them to come sit with us. Booth has plenty of room.” Niall suggest.
Harry and Louis turn around slightly to get a look at the girls Niall was talking about. Harry nearly chokes on his Corona, and turns back around.
“Jesus, are you alright?” Louis asks, patting his back.
“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. We can’t get those girls drinks.”
“Why not?”
“The one on the right is my TA, Y/N, and her two roommates. I know one of them has a boyfriend…uh…the one on the very left. The middle one is single, but even still, I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
“Mate, you’re TA is that good looking, and you didn’t even try to fuck her when she stayed at your place?” Niall asks.
“No, I didn’t try to fuck her. I’m doing this thing where I don’t fuck people I have a position of power over.” He rolls his eyes. “That’s a no go.”
“But if she wasn’t your TA, and just a regular grad student…?” Louis raises an eyebrow at Harry. He runs a hand through his hair as thinks it over.
“I don’t know, I haven’t really thought about it. I mean, she’s obviously cute, but…I could never do something like that.”
“It’s not like she’s going to be your TA next semester, you could-“ Harry cuts Niall off.
“Actually, she might be. I have a meeting with the curriculum committee to discuss what I’ll need help with for next semester, and we both want to work with each other again. Crossing that line would complicate things, not to mention it’s highly unprofessional.”
“It’s not like she’s a student sitting in one of your classes, then I’d agree with you. You’re colleagues, technically. Nothing in the rule book saying you can’t fuck a colleague.” Niall says.
“He’s got a point, Har.” Louis says.
“Even if I agreed with the both of you, I’d still be taking advantage. I think she has a little crush on me, she’s made a couple flirty comments here and there…”
“Not to mention she jumped at the chance to help watch your dog.” Louis says.
“It’s not happening.”
“Well, you may not want to fuck a pretty girl tonight, but I do, and if the middle one is single, perhaps I’ll still order them all drinks, and just talk with her. Or, if you’re saying Y/N’s a no go for you, maybe I’ll chat her up. We smiled at each other, maybe she thinks I’m cute.” Niall grins.
“Don’t you dare.” He glares at him, finishing his beer. “I don’t care if you talk to, fuck what’s her name…Charlotte! I don’t care if you talk to Charlotte, but don’t try anything with Y/N.” He looks at Louis. “You either.”
“Not that I would, but basically you’re saying if you can’t fuck her no one else can?” Louis asks.
“I just wouldn’t feel comfortable with it.”
“Alright.” Niall shrugs. “We ready for the next round, then?” They both nod at him, and Niall brings the empties up to the bar. The girls fall silent when he approaches again. “Hi there, is there a reason you all keep doing that?”
The girls all turn to look at him. They were sweating.
“Doing what?” Charlotte asks nervously.
“Well, and maybe it’s just a coincidence, but you keep getting quiet when I come over.”
“It’s just…um…” Nessa starts. “You’re here with someone our friend knows.” She points to Y/N. “In a professional setting, and we’re just surprised to see him out, that’s all.”
“Oh, am I? Who is it?”
“Dr. Styles.” Y/N speaks up. Niall smiles as his eyes raise.
“Dr. Styles, how formal.” He looks over at Bradly who gives him the new drinks. “Bradly, do me a favor, put these ladies’ next round on my tab, will you?”
“You don’t have to do that.” Y/N says.
“Whether you know my friend or not, I’d be a real jerk to not buy three beautiful girls a drink, wouldn’t I?” He winks at Charlotte as he walks away with his new drinks.
“He winked at me, oh my god.” She squeals. “Y/N, you wouldn’t care if I tried to fuck one of Harry’s friends, right? It’s been a minute for me.” She pouts.
“No, why would I care?” She laughs. Bradly gives the girls their new drinks. “That was really nice of him.” She twists her straw and looks over at the booth. She can see Niall and the other guy laughing, while Harry just shakes his head.
“What the fuck did you say to them?” Harry asks as he takes a sip of beer.
“Would you relax? They simply mentioned that they knew you, and I bought their next round, that was it.”
“Great, so she knows I’m here.” He groans. “Move.” He says to Louis.
“Why?”
“Because now I have to go talk to her.”
“Oh, you do?” Louis smirks.
“Yes, do you know how fucking rude it would be not even say hello?”
“I don’t see her coming over here.” Niall says.
“She’s obviously nervous!” Harry takes a large gulp of his drink. “Move, Lou.”
Louis gets up so Harry can get out of the booth.
“Oh my god, Y/N, Harry’s coming over here.” Nessa says.
“Shut up,  no he’s not, oh my god, he is, holy shit. I’m…inebriated.”
The girls laugh at her as Harry comes to sit on the open stool next to Y/N. He gets comfortable before he looks at her and smiles. She slowly turns herself to look at him.
“Hi.” He says.
“Hi.”
“Did my friend bother you?”
“Not at all…he was very nice.”
Harry nods and sips from his drink.
“I didn’t know you came here…” He says.
“Could say the same to you.” She looks him up and down. “Barely recognized you when you walked in. That’s a nice shirt.”
“Thanks.” He blushes and wants to kick himself for being so exposed to her.
“You haven’t met my friends yet. Charlotte, Nessa, this is Dr…uh, this is Harry.” The girls both say hello.
“Hi, I’ve heard a lot about you both. You’re Charlotte right?”
“Yeah.”
“My friend thinks you’re cute.” He nods over to Niall. Maybe Harry wouldn’t have been so bold, but he knew they were only a few years apart in age, so it wasn’t totally weird, and he had a couple drinks in him, so there’s that.
“Really?!”
“Mhm.”
“Should I go talk to him?”
“Definitely, I think he’d really like that.”
“Good enough for me.” She hops off the stool. “Ness, come talk to his other friend with me it’s not awkward.”
“Wing-man to the rescue, I’m on it.”
“You guys!” Y/N calls after them, but they’re already sitting down. She looks back at Harry and squints at him.
“What?”
“Did you do that on purpose?”
“Do what?”
“Get them to leave so we could be alone…”
“What?! No!” Harry finishes his drink, and Bradly gets him a new one right away. “Why would I want to be alone with you?” He sees the obvious offense on her face, and shakes his head. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. We’re alone together all the time, aren’t we? I just meant, in this setting.” He gestures to the bar around him. “I’ve been a bit mopey since Kelly showed up, so my friends just wanted to take me out and show me a good time.” He looks over at Niall who already has his arm around Charlotte. “Although, I think they’re bound to have a better night than me.” He sighs.
“You haven’t let on a mopey exterior, you could have told me.”
“It’s really none of your business how I’m feeling, Y/N.”
“You’re being awfully cold to someone who spent the night at your house just watch your dog.”
“You spent the night because it was raining too heavily.”
“And then you made me breakfast.”
“As an extra thank you.”
“You’re annoying.” She takes a sip of her drink and faces forward. “Now I don’t even have my friends to complain about you because you’ve sent them off to your friends.” She rolls her eyes.
“M’not annoying. I’m a fucking delight, just ask Max.”
“Where is he anyways?”
“Home.” Harry shrugs. “He can last a few hours without me. I almost texted you, but I would have felt bad asking again. I know you worked today, I honestly didn’t expect to see you out.”
“It was a long week for everyone. I’m not staying much longer, I have to be at Bento’s at four in the morning.”
“It’s…” Harry looks down at his watch. “Almost midnight, Cinderella.” He smirks at her and she can’t help but laugh. It was a stupid and cheesy joke, but she liked it. “I didn’t mean to be cold…I just didn’t want you to think I was coming over here to pull a move or something.”
“I’m going to remind you again, you sent my friends away.” She smiles and takes a sip of her drink.
“I did.” He nods. “But I’ll remind you, my friend Niall thinks Charlotte is cute. He thought you were cute too, by the way.”
“He did?!” She looks over at them and then back to Harry. “But you sent her off with him?”
“Yup.” He takes a swig of his beer.
“Why?!”
“Could be a little awkward to have my best friend canoodle with my TA.”
“Right, because it would be so easy to get into my bed.” She scoffs.
“I didn’t say that.”
“You implied it. And I’m not one to kiss and tell, so unless he wanted to dish, you wouldn’t have even heard anything from me about it.”
“Doesn’t matter, I wouldn’t have liked it. I don’t know Charlotte so I don’t really care what they do.”
“You don’t get to decide who I can and can’t sleep with just because you’re too chicken to make a move.” Before he can say anything she’s hopping off her stool and heading out of the bar.
She’s just about to order an uber when he grabs her wrist. It was chilly outside, and she could clearly see both of their breaths.
“What did you just say to me?”
“You heard me.” She yanks her wrist free. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going home to sleep for three hours so I can get up to bake some fucking bread.” She orders her uber, and Nessa comes rushing out.
“Char’s staying inside with, um, Niall? I saw you leave so I thought I’d come…with…you…” She sees Harry who was practically fuming. “Um, I can wait inside, or-“
“It’s fine, the uber will be here in a minute.” She smiles at her friend and then glares at Harry. “At least one of us is going to have a good time tonight.” She seethes.
“I had fun.” Nessa says, and then realizes what Y/N meant. “Oh.”
“Why are you still here? Go inside and find some random to fuck.”
“Don’t talk to me like that, Y/N.”
“Sorry, I’m off the clock. I can speak to you however the fuck I want.” She steps closer to him. “I don’t know where you get off being so sweet and kind one moment, and then turning into a major prick the second you feel threatened, but I don’t need this.”
The uber pulls up, and without another word Y/N and Nessa get inside, leaving Harry outside in the cold.
//
Y/N woke up at 3:30AM and groaned, cursing at herself for going out. She only had to work until 9AM and then should could sleep the day away if she wanted. She was still so mad at Harry she could scream. He hadn’t even tried to text her to apologize.
She sighs and makes her way to the kitchen once she’s dressed. She stops short when she sees a half-naked Niall standing in her kitchen, filling two glasses of water.
“Um…hi.” She says to him as she grabs her daily vitamins out of the cabinet.
“Hey.” He smiles. He looks her up and down. “Are you going to work?”
“I am.” She pops the gummy vitamins into her mouth.
“Could you do me a favor?” He steps a little closer to her. “Take it easy on Harry, alright?” Y/N scoffs at him. “I know, he was an asshole last night, but he just want to do anything that could put his job in danger, that’s all.”
“How would I do that? I’m not his student, I’m his colleague.”
“He just feels weird about it, and he’s still figuring out his feelings. I think he likes you, to be quite honest. You’ve…perked him up, well not tonight, but anytime he mentions you he smiles.”
“He…talks about me?”
“Oh sure, all the time actually.” He takes a sip of water. “I better go bring this to her. Just…consider taking it easy on him, he knows he fucked up.”
Y/N nods as Niall makes his way back to Charlotte’s room. She drags herself out to her car and heads to Bento’s. Once she’s inside, she puts some music on and fires up the ovens. She loved baking, it helped clear her head for a little while. She would prep the bacon, get fresh muffins and cookies going, and she would even make croissants. By the time the rest of the morning crew shows up, she’s just about halfway done with everything. She trays up everything to be rolled out for the people working out front. By the time 9AM rolled around she was exhausted, but had mostly forgotten how aggravated she was. She snags a coffee and a muffin on her way out, and stops short when she sees Harry sitting outside with Max.
“Oh, thank god.” He says, standing up. Max sniffs at her feet and she bends down to pet the top of his head. “They said you got off at nine, I hope it’s not weird that I’m here.”
“How long have you been waiting out here?”
“Well, I came by at 6:30 when they opened, but you were really busy, so I just came back twenty minutes ago. Can we talk?”
“Not right now. I’m covered in flour and sweat, and I’d like to take a shower and then take a nap. I got two hours of sleep last night. It was my own doing, but still.”
“When then?”
“I’ll text you.” She shrugs. “Niall spent the night, I bumped into him this morning. He said you fucked up?”
“I did.” He rubs the back of his neck. “Do what you need to do, and then, uh, come bay later, yeah? We can have a late lunch or something, and I can explain myself. Would you like that?”
“Depends, what’s on the menu?”
“S’cold out, do you like grilled cheese and tomato soup?”
“Love it.” She smiles. “I’ll let you know when I wake up.”
“Alright, thanks.”
Y/N takes a nice long shower when she gets home, her roommates still peacefully sleeping. She wondered if Niall was still there or if he slipped out a couple hours after her. She didn’t care that much, she was too tired to care. Once her hair is dry, she slips a t-shirt on and crawls into bed.
“Y/N! I’ve let you sleep long enough, please wake up!” Charlotte was absolutely giddy, and dying to fill Y/N in. It was around 2PM, she definitely caught up on sleep.
“Gimme five minutes!” Y/N yells back. She was groggy and didn’t want to be cranky.
Y/N comes out to the couch and lays down. Nessa was out with Andy, but she had heard about everything earlier. Charlotte brings Y/N a cup of tea and smiles at her.
“Thank you.” She takes a careful sip. “Alright, go ahead.”
“Best sex I’ve ever fucking had!” She squeals. “He had me all over the bed, it was wild. I’m surprised we didn’t wake you.”
“I passed out the second I got home.” She chuckles. “Best you ever had, huh? What exactly did he do?”
“What didn’t he do?! Fingers, tongue, and dick, it was incredible. I rode him, then he got on top, and then he did me from behind, bent me over the bed, I got on top again. His stamina was incredible. I made him some breakfast this morning and then he left.”
“Did he give you his number?”
“He did.” She beams. “He said he wasn’t looking for anything serious at the moment, but I was free to text him anytime I wanted him like that again.” She bites her bottom lip and sinks further into the couch. “I totally don’t mind at all. It would be nice to start up a new little fling. It won’t be weird for you, will it?”
“Not at all, it’s not like you’re…oh my god.” She pinches the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger.
“What?”
“I totally get where he was coming from now.” She groans.
“What do you mean?”
“He said he told me that, uh, his other friend thought I was cute, and I told him I was mad because he sent the two of you away, and that he couldn’t tell me who I could and couldn’t fuck, but I would have been so mad if you slept with Harry.”
“I wouldn’t have, though. I know how much you like…” She gasps. “Do you think he likes you too?!”
“I don’t know, maybe!” Y/N takes her phone out to text Harry that she’s up and that she’ll be over within the hour. “I’m going to his place for a late lunch, he wants to apologize, but I owe him one just the same. I flipped out for no reason.”
“Well, at least you’re realizing it. Very adult of you.”
“Oh, shut up.” She nudges her and gets up to change.
//
Y/N gets to Harry’s around 3PM. She paired a green cardigan and a black tank top with a pair of jeans. She gets out of the car and rings his bell. She giggles when she hears Max barking from behind the door.
“Shh, it’s just Y/N.” Harry coos to Max as he opens his door. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
“Um, come in.” He moves aside and lets her in. “Here, think he misses you.” Y/N takes Max from Harry and snuggles him close.
“It’s only been a couple days.” She pouts at the dog.
“Come, sit, the food’s ready.”
Y/N sets Max down and sits down at the table. Harry already had the grilled cheese and soup out on the table.
“This looks good, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Harry…I know you wanted to apologize, but I realized today that you weren’t totally in the wrong.”
“Yes I was.” He sighs and blows on his soup before slurping some from his spoon. “Maybe it wasn’t what I said, but it was how I said it. I overstepped. You’re a grown woman, I had no right to tell my friend he couldn’t hit it on you.”
“Well, it all worked out because Charlotte seems to have a new fuck buddy on her hands.” She chuckles and takes a bite of her sandwich. “Look, I appreciate you saying all that, but when I was talking to her earlier, I realized I would have done the same thing. I would have told my friends not to flirt with you or try to pick you up, and I would have been pissed if one of them slept with you.”
“You would have?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“You know why.” She grumbles. “I…I mean…”
“We’re stuck between a rock and a hard place here, Y/N.” He sighs and sits back in his chair.
“We are?”
“Yes. I did a lot of thinking last night, did some talking with my friends. I had to really think about why I got so upset. The thing is, you’re my TA, and you’re going to be my TA next semester as well, most likely. I have a meeting about it Monday. Selfishly, I don’t want anyone else to have you.”
“In more ways than one, obviously.” She smirks.
“Don’t be cute.” He gives her a playful smile. “I think I’d miss you too much, to be honest. I like sharing my office with you. Your help with Max has been great, you’re, like, part of my life now.”
“Is there some rule that says that we can’t…like…go out?”
“I don’t know…I think it would look unprofessional on my part. I know you’re not one of my students, so it’s not as bad as that, but I still have a position of power over you, and if someone found out something was going, it could look really bad. I wouldn’t want something to taint your reputation either.”
“Well, I’ve been over here twice now, and no one’s said a thing.”
“You haven’t been on campus since Thursday. Someone could easily say something to us Monday.”
“A lot of people know I help with Max.”
“Some people may know you used to be a student of mine as well. They could assume something’s been going on for years.”
“Not true, wouldn’t people know about Kelly?” Harry grimaces at the name. “Sorry.”
“It’s alright.”
“So…I feel like we’re just going around in circles here, Harry. Like, what are we doing?”
“Well, if I vouch for you to be my TA again next semester, would you? The course would be for Creativity and the Visual World, and I think you could really shine there, talk about IDS. Also, I don’t know what your plans are after you graduate, or where you’ll want to go, but I’ve caught wind that one of the instructional designers on campus is going to retire at the end of the school year.”
“Wow, so you’re like really trying to keep me around.” She smirks.
“It’s not like that.” He chuckles. “I just mean, it could be a good first gig for you. You’re very good at all that, thought you might be interested to know there’s going to be an opening. You know the campus well, it would be a smooth transition for you.”
“That would be ideal, I do want to work in higher ed when I’m done.”
“I could help you with your cover letter, I’m really good at writing those. I’ve helped plenty of students.”
“I’ll definitely look into it.” She finishes what she can of the food, and sits back as well.
“I really am sorry about last night, I felt awful.”
“It’s okay, I really get it.” She sighs. “So…I still don’t know what we’re doing. Are we just choosing not to date anyone else and also not each other? Why should I wait until I graduate to be with someone?”
“M’not asking you to do that. I don’t really know what I’m asking you to do. I just don’t want to be a cliché. The young professor getting with someone that works for him. I’m attracted to you, I can admit that, but I don’t want to get fired, nor do I want your name getting dragged through the mud.”
“So, essentially, while I’m your TA we can’t do anything.”
“Correct.”
“And you’d rather suffer and have me be your TA again next semester just to have me around you, even though it would mean we still couldn’t do anything.”
“Yes.”
“Alright, after the holidays I’ll be staying at my apartment for winter break. We pay for a full year, and I like having the time alone. I also still work at Bento’s.” She stands up and puts her things in the sink.
“What are you saying exactly?”
“I’m saying, over winter break we’re in limbo. I won’t be your TA, and I’ll be all alone in my three bedroom apartment. Perhaps there’ll be a night I’m feeling especially lonely and you’ll have the marvelous idea of visiting me with Max, and whatever happens will happen.”
“And then what? Act like it didn’t when the spring semester starts?”
“I guess we’d cross that bridge when we come to it. All I know is that for six weeks, you will in no way have a position of power over me. By the way, I’m twenty-three years old, it’s like you said, I’m a grown woman. You’re not taking advantage of me. I know how it would look to others, so I can respect where you’re coming from. However, I’d like to try things out before I tell someone I’m going to wait for them.”
With that, Y/N gives Max one last squeeze, and out the door she goes. She was proud of herself. Harry liked her, and he wanted to be with her. It was a dream come true. She also didn’t mind sort of waiting for him, it would just make things all the more hot when they’d finally be able to come together.
//
The rest of the semester went by…okay. There was a lot of tension, a lot of it. Harry was just thankful it was getting colder which meant that Y/N was bundling up more. She did, however, look insanely cute in her many layers and scarves. They were busy grading, not having much time for chat chit. She started going over his place more, though. They would have little grading parties where they could just spread out and get things done. His place was also another quiet haven for her to escape to.
Charlotte hooked with Niall almost every weekend, it was pretty cute. They were having fun, and Y/N was happy for her friend. Even though sometimes Y/N wished Harry would just fuck her on his kitchen table on top of all the graded papers and tests, and maybe sometimes he fantasized about the same thing, but it had to stay professional. She didn’t want him regretting anything. Sometimes he would come into Bento’s when she was working, she even snuck him in early one morning to show him how she made the croissants he liked so much. They were essentially dating, but without all the physical stuff.
At least Y/N could catch some relief later at night in her bed. She didn’t think of Harry at first. Her routine mostly consisted of headphones, pornhub, and a few orgasms. But there was one particular night her and Harry were sitting in front of his fireplace, and he just looked so sexy, and she wanted him to take her on his living room floor, she didn’t even care if her tailbone would be bruised the next day. She still hadn’t even seen his fucking bedroom, it was the one part of the house she wasn’t allowed in. So she start fantasizing about his bed, and then one thing led to another and she ended up moaning out his name in a shallow breath. It had caught her by surprise, and she was almost embarrassed about it.
Harry would have been lying if he said he wasn’t doing the same thing. It mostly happened early in the morning when he’d take his shower. It just sort of happened. He woke up one morning, rolled over and wished she was there next to him. He had seen her fall asleep so many times, and he thought she was incredibly cute. He liked having Max in the bed, but he wanted Y/N. So when he got into the shower he just couldn’t stop thinking about her. He didn’t feel embarrassed, he didn’t feel guilty, he mostly felt annoyed because he just wanted the real thing.
It was confirmed that Y/N would be his TA again in the spring, and they were both exited. He liked having her in his office, and he thought they worked together really well. It was worth it, it was all going to be worth it.
Harry went home to London for the holidays, and Y/N went home to her parents’ house. It was a tough goodbye. They hugged, and maybe they kissed each other on the cheek, but neither wanted to let go. Y/N loved seeing her family, but ten days was plenty. She liked having her apartment to herself. Nessa and Charlotte wouldn’t be back for a few weeks. That meant Y/N could watch whatever she wanted on TV, she didn’t have to worry about being quiet on the early mornings she had to work, and she could take a long shower.
A big snow storm was coming, which was starting to make Y/N nervous. Stores were closing in preparation, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to weather it alone.
Y/N: are you back from London? Can’t remember when you said you’d be home…
Harry: hey! I was just going to message you, I got back yesterday, was just sleeping off the jetlag. What’s up?
Y/N: this impending storm is freaking me out…
Harry: do you wanna get snowed in at my place? Just stalked up at the grocery store…
Y/N: are you sure? I don’t wanna be a burden :(
Harry: you wouldn’t be! You know I want to see you, so does Max :)
Y/N: okay! I’ll pack a bag and head over, see you soon!
Harry had been cute while he was away, sending Y/N a few selfies of him and Max. She had been to his house so many times, this wouldn’t be weird at all to spend a couple of snowy days together. She gets all her things packed, and makes her way to Harry’s. It was just starting to flurry when she parked in his driveway. He comes outside to help her with her things.
“And this time, you’ll let me set up the pullout for you. No need to sleep on a couch for two days.”
“Okay.”
She was hoping he’d give in and let her sleep in his bed with him. Actually, she was hoping he’d pick her up, swing her around, and kiss her. He sets her things down and waits for her to take her coat off, then he hugs hers.
“Had a good holiday?” He asks as he lets her go.
“Yeah, it was good. You?”
“It was great, love getting to see my family.” Max comes trotting in and greets Y/N.
“There’s my little man.” She scoops him up and gives him kisses.
“I was just going to make some tea, would you like some?”
“Please.” She plops down with Max on the couch.
“Do you have to work at Bento’s during all this? I can drive you if you want.”
“No, they closed in preparation of the storm.”
“Oh, good!”
Y/N turns the TV on, and scrolls through Netflix for something simple to watch. Harry comes over with two mugs of tea and he sits down next to her.
“Find anything good? Feel like it’s all Christmas movies right now.”
“Nothing yet…” She squints at the TV. “How about…oh! Have you watched Love, Victor yet? It’s been on my list for ages.”
“Is it based off of Love, Simon?”
“Yeah! This kid Victor is new in town, and ends up going to the same school Simon did.”
“Sure, we could watch that.”
“Shit, it’s on Hulu, you have that right?”
“Mhm, gimme the remote, I’ll switch it over.” She hands it to him and sips on her tea while he queues it up.
“Mm, this is tasty, what is it?”
“It’s black tea with honey, love.” He looks at her wants to laugh. “I don’t usually add anything, but I thought you’d like the honey.”
“It’s perfect, thank you.”
The show starts just as the sun was setting outside. Y/N pulls the blanket Harry keeps on the back of the couch over her legs, and Max moves to Harry’s lap.
“Let me know if I’m being a blanket hog.”
“S’alright, he keeps me pretty warm.”
“Don’t be annoying.” She huffs and spreads the blanket out equally over them. “See, nice and cozy.”
“I’m not being annoying, I’m being…respectful.”
“Golly gee, thanks, mister.” She pouts at him and he rolls his eyes.
“Now who’s being annoying?”
A couple of episodes in, and Harry’s stomach starts rumbling.
“Are you hungry? I can pop a pizza in the oven, or make some pasta?”
“Pizza would be perfect, thank you.”
“Pause it, I just need a minute to get it in the oven.”
Y/N nods and scrolls through her phone while she waits for him to come back. This was nice. It was like they were hanging out as friends, which was okay, but she was hoping he’d make a move for fuck’s sake.
“Alright, should be about fifteen minutes.” He smiles and gets back under the blanket. Y/N presses and play and they get back into it.
After the pizza, they nearly almost binge the entire show. Harry was starting to doze off, so they decide to call it a night. He looks outside in the kitchen window.
“I am not looking forward to digging out our cars. Times like this I wish I had a garage.” He sighs.
“You say that like you’ll be doing it alone. I’ve got all my snow gear, I can help.”
“Right, like I’d let you break your back out there.” He scoffs, and puts his hand on her shoulder. “Let me make up the pullout for you.”
Y/N watches as Harry moves the coffee table, and hoists the pullout into place. The sheets were already on it, so he just lays the blankets and pillows out.
“Well, I’ll be upstairs with Max if you need anything. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, thanks again for letting me stay. I think I would have been scared all alone.”
“No worries, I’m glad you’re here. I, uh, missed you over the holidays.” He clears his throat and heads upstairs.
Y/N does her nightly routine and puts on a tank top and pajama pants for bed. She gets onto the pullout and tries to listen to some music to fall asleep, but the wind was whipping so harshly outside, it was making her uneasy. She hated storms more than anything. Would Harry mind if she crawled into bed with him? She could even sleep on the floor. She just didn’t want to be down here alone. She sighs and slowly gets out of the bed. She makes her way upstairs.
Harry’s bedroom was the entire upstairs, it was sort of like a loft. He had a king sized bed, a decent looking bedroom set, and an en suite. Y/N thought it was really nice, well, what she could make out of it since it was so dark.
“Harry?” She whispers. His head was in his pillow, sleeping on his tummy.
“Mm?” He grunts, clearly out of it.
“I’m a little scared downstairs, would it be alright if I slept on the floor up here?”
“Get in.” He mumbles.
“Really, are you sure? Because I-“
He flips some of the covers back, eyes still closed. Y/N takes a deep breath and gets into the bed. Max was half asleep, but he moves away from Harry to make room for her, plopping down near his feet. Y/N climbs in and faces away from him. This was such a large bed for one guy, and it made her wonder who was the last person to share it with him. She wanted to keep a respectful distance from him, but before she could start counting sheep, his arm was wrapped around her waist, pulling her close to him. Her breath hitched, but she could hear his steady breathing, he was definitely asleep. He must just sleep better when he’s holding onto something, she thinks.
//
Harry’s eyes flutter open around 5AM. He was used to getting up that early to take Max out, but for some reason he felt like he got some of the most restful sleep he’s gotten in a long time. He feels warm and cozy, and even though he knows he needs to get up and brave the cold so his dog could relieve himself, he found himself nuzzling in to whatever he was holding onto.
That’s when it hits him that he wasn’t dreaming last night, and Y/N genuinely came up into his room because she was feeling uneasy being all alone downstairs. She was still fully clothed, but he wasn’t he was only in his boxers. His leg was between hers, and she was pressed up against him. He wondered if she slept well like this. Just because he slept better holding onto something didn’t mean that she would.
He makes subtle movements, not wanting to wake her. He nearly winced leaving the warmth of the bed, but he got through it. Max pops his head up and Harry puts his finger up to his lips to signal that he needed to be quiet. Harry snatches his sweatpants and a pair of socks, and grabs Max to take him downstairs. He throws his coat and boots on, gets the leash on Max, and out the door he goes. He shoves his beanie down over his ears as he feels the wind whip around. There were snow drifts everywhere and it was still coming down. He uses the flashlight on his phone so Max could see what he was doing.
“Come on, buddy, I know it’s cold, but Daddy doesn’t wanna be out here long.” He wanted to get back to Y/N.
Once Max does his business, Harry gets him so food and fresh water. He strips himself of his jacket and socks, but leaves his sweatpants on. He was shirtless, but he was too groggy from the morning to care. Once Max is all set, Harry carries him upstairs so his collar doesn’t jingle around. He plops him on the bed, and he goes right over to Y/N to curl up with her. Harry uses the bathroom quick, brushing his teeth and all that, and then slowly slides back into bed. Y/N hadn’t moved, still laying on her side facing away from him, so he just wraps himself back around her. Well, he thought she hadn’t moved. The second she heard the door close downstairs, she sprinted down to “her” bathroom to wash up and brush her own teeth. She wasn’t sure if morning snuggles would ensue, but she wanted to be fresh if they did.
A sigh leaves Harry’s lips as he settles back in, pressing nice and close to her and keeping his arm around her waist. She gives it a few minutes, and then she adjust against him. She could tell he was wearing sweatpants now, and not just his boxers. She was subtle about it, not fully pressing her ass against him, just a simple adjustment, so he didn’t think anything of it. After another couple of moments, she presses back into him, and he involuntarily presses forward towards her. He was definitely starting to get hard. He grips her waist a little tighter as he continues to press into her.
“Mm, Harry?” She rolls onto her back to look up at him.
“Hi.” He moves his hand away from her lower stomach to move some hair away from her face. “How’d you end up here, hm?” He asks softly.
“Storms really scare me, and the wind was loud.” She starts smiling. “Feel much better now.” His hand slides down to cup her jaw. “I asked first and you told me to get in.”
“I did, didn’t I…”
“Pulled me right up close to you, it was nice.” She sighs.
“Can’t remember the last time I slept so well, to be honest.”
He lets go of her and flops onto his back, groaning. She rolls onto her side and props herself up with her elbow, resting her cheek on her palm.
“You make things so difficult for yourself. I’m not your TA right now.”
“But you will be again.”
“Because you wanted me to be.”
He looks at her and pouts.
“We’ll see each other more this way.”
“But…wouldn’t it be nice to go out on dates and touch and-“
“You’ve seen how busy I am, I rarely have time to see my friends as it is. I’d feel guilty for not being able to do those things with you.”
“You have me to yourself for the next four weeks, Harry, and the girls won’t be back until a week before school starts.”
“We’d have to stop when the semester starts back up, and wait again. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do that.”
“We could be discrete.”
“I’d have to be a little cold towards you.”
“You’re no stranger to that.” She scoffs.
“Y/N.” Harry’s hand finds her hip. “This is serious.”
“I’m about to graduate, from grad school, Harry. It’s not like I’m some eighteen year old girl sitting in one of your classes. I’m twenty-three, and you’re twenty-six, it’s really not that weird.”
“I’ll be twenty-seven next month.” He mutters.
“Great, then we can go out and celebrate when the time comes. Is there something in a handbook saying we can’t…do this?”
“It’s extremely frowned upon, I can assure you.” He groans again before speaking. “This is so frustrating, it’s not like you’re my first TA either, fuck, even I was a TA. Shit like this never happened. I’ve never been…attracted to someone I’ve worked with before.”
“You’re probably the only professor I’ve been into before.”
“See, right there, you had a thing for me when you were in my class only a couple of years ago, and-“
“And nothing happened then. You barely remembered me when I first came to your office. I was a flustered senior, that was it. Now…well, I know you now. I’m way less nervous around, I feel like I can really talk to you.”
“I feel the same way.” He sighs. “Fucking, Christ.” He yanks her down to her chest, and she yelps. His fingers scratch at her scalp and she nearly whimpers at how nice it feels to lay on his chest, having him play with her hair. “We can lay here a little longer, and then I need to go to move some of the snow.”
“I’m helping.” She puts a leg over his. “And you’re still a little…riled up, don’t you want to-“
“No.”
“But I could-“
“Y/N.” She looks up at him. “Just lay here with me.”
They both doze back off for a bit until Max starts barking. He must need to pee. Harry gets up and tells Y/N she can shower if she wants to.
“I’ll wait, I’ll get sweaty shoveling.”
“It’s my house, you don’t need to help.” He throws on a long sleeve shirt and thick socks. He looks at her crossing her arms over her chest. “Here.” He tosses her one of his sweaters. “Come on, Max.”
They all head downstairs. His sweater smelled just like him. She hoped she could keep this too just like with the pj’s he had given her a couple of months ago. He takes Max out quick, and then sets him back inside so he can get to shoveling. Y/N decides she could make him breakfast since he wouldn’t let her help outside.
She goes through his fridge and cupboards to find some different things. She wanted to make something that would take some time so it would be warm for him when he got inside.
“Muffins!” She says to herself as she rifles through his baking supplies.
She whips up a mixture of blueberry muffins and get them popped in the oven. She has the glorious idea to slice them in half and butt them up on his griddle when they’re done, just to give it a little crunch. Next, she cracks some eggs into the pan, and makes them sunny side down because she remembers him making them that way. She even finds some bacon to throw on the griddle.
When he comes inside, his nostrils are hit with everything she’s made. Everything was on plates on the kitchen table, and she was washing everything in the sink. He strips down to his boxers, having been drenched with sweat after digging out their cars. The snow was still falling, but it was good to get ahead of things before it all froze.
“Harry, I made…” She freezes when she looks at him. Seeing his full body in the light was much different than in the hazy darkness of his bedroom.
“I didn’t know I had blueberry muffins.” He says as he looks down at the plates.
“You, um, you didn’t, I made them.”
“From scratch?”
“Well, yeah.”
He picks up the muffin bottom and takes a bite. His eyes close for a second as he gets a good taste. It was buttery and a bit crisp from being on the griddle. It was perfection. He turns to her after he swallows.
“You’re…a literal angel.” He steps closer to her, and he notices her eyes drift down and back up. “I’ll go put some clothes, and then-“
She puts a hand on his chest. Her eyes plead with his. Just kiss me, she silently says to him.  His hands fly up to her jaw, and he pulls her in, lips crashing together, finally. She melts into him immediately. His tongue slides along her bottom lip, and she opens up for him. She can taste the blueberry muffin on him, and it makes her suck on his tongue. He groans against her, and his hands slide down to her ass to get a good squeeze. She wraps her arms around his neck and pulls him even closer.
“Harry.” She breathes against his lips.
He gets a good grip on her and lifts her up to sit her on the counter. He quickly draws the shades for the window above the sink so anyone out shoveling wouldn’t be able to see anything. He tugs at the sweater of his he was wearing and lifts it off her. Her legs open wide for him to stand between. His lips attach to the crook of her neck, sucking, licking, biting. Her hips buck towards his as she tugs at his hair. One of his hands lifts her shirt slightly, and she thinks he’s going to feel her breasts up, but instead his fingers find the band of her pajama pants. He stops to look at her.
“Can I?”
“Yes.”
His hand dips below, and it’s almost like he’s searching for something else.
“Are you not wearing any knickers?”
“No.” She blinks at him. “I don’t usually wear underwear to bed.”
“Jesus Christ.”
She opens her legs a little wider for him, and he groans when his fingers touch around her folds, and he feels her wetness sticking to him already. His other arm wraps around behind her to hold her close to him. He plays around with her, fingers rubbing all around until his middle finger slides in. She gasps, not having expected so much so soon, but she wasn’t complaining. She clutches at his shoulders when she feels another finger slip inside. He twists them around, just getting a feel for things, and he curls them up, knowing this was what she really wanted.
“Oh! Oh my god.” Her head rolls back. He was make that come here motion right on that sweet spot of her front wall. His lips find her neck again as he continues. His thumb starting to rub on her clit. “Oh fuck, Harry, oh my god.” She didn’t realize how whiney she could sound, but he loved. She was a mess for him.
“Been thinking about this for so long.” He says into her ear.
“Me too.” She was panting now. “It feels so good.”
“Yeah? Like having my fingers buried inside you?”
Her mouth falls open. He was into dirty talk and it made her clench around him.
“Yes, oh my fucking god, yes.” She bites down on his collar bone to try to muffle any louder noises, but he was knuckle deep, fucking her with his fingers, it was no use. “Harry, I’m so close, oh fuck!”
His hand around her waist reaches up to tug at the back of her head. He wanted to watch her go through the motions. He wanted to see just how good he was making her feel. Her eyes rolls into the back of her head as she continues to beck forward. Her release was long, and so very good. She cried out, maybe a little louder than she should have, but he wasn’t telling her to keep it down. Did he want his neighbors to hear? Did he want them to know how good he could fuck someone?
He slows down his motions inside of her, helping her through the aftershocks, and then he slowly retracts his fingers. He sucks them into his mouth and then steps away from her. She was breathless. He kisses her cheeks and then helps her hop down from the counter.
“You made such a nice breakfast, let’s not let it go to waste.”
“Harry…” She watches him sit down.
“What?”
“Don’t you want to-“
“I’m all sweaty, I’d like to take a shower before going further if that’s alright with you.”
“Okay.”
She sits down with him and eats her food that she was now ravenous for.
“You really made this from scratch?”
“Yeah, I’m glad you like it.”
“It’s delicious.”
They finish eating and decide to clean up later. She follows him upstairs to his shower. He helps her out of her clothes and lets her get in first. She throws her hair up into a bun so it doesn’t get soaked. He rids himself of his boxers and gets in behind her. She moves aside so he can wash up. She presses her front to his back, and her hands roam along his long torso.
“You made me feel so good, I think it’s your turn.”
She kisses on his back while she starts to stroke his hardening length. It felt so big in her hand. Harry’s head falls to his chest, and he presses a palm to the tile wall to keep himself grounded. She runs her thumb over his tip and he groans. He grabs her hand and turns around. He backs her up to the opposite wall, cradling the back of her head as he basically slams her against it. His lips are on hers in seconds. Everything felt hot and wet, and just otherworldly. Y/N couldn’t enough. In the back of her head she kept thinking that she couldn’t believe this was happening. It wasn’t often that she got what she wanted.
“Please, fuck me.” She says against his lips.
“I don’t have any condoms.” He kisses down her neck and kneads her breasts.
“I’m on the pill.”
“S’not what I’m worried about.” He pulls his head back to look at her. “Are you clean?”
“I am, actually. I was tested last time I went to the doctor. Are you?”
“I am.” He smiles. “So…you really wanna feel all of me? Just like that?”
“Yes.” She whines. “Please.”
He kisses her and bites on her bottom lip, sucking on it as he pleases. He lifts one of legs up over his hip, and uses his other hand to line himself up. She was still plenty wet, so he’s able to push inside.
“Fuck, Y/N.” He grunts, trying to push further inside her. “So tight.”
“I…Christ, I think you’re just really big.” She gasps once he’s all the way inside.
His head drops to watch himself slowly thrust in and out of her. He bites his bottom lip at the sight. He looks back up at her, watching her features.
“Are you comfortable?”
“Could you maybe just hold my leg up?”
Harry nods and hooks his arm under leg, driving in deeper. Her head rolls back against the tile. Once he knew she was okay, he didn’t let up. He was fucking her hard and fast, only slowing up so he could hear her whimper and beg for more. Her nails were clawing at his back, and it was just egging him on. He uses his other hand to rub at her clit. She was starting to breathe heavier, moan after moan leaving her lips. He could tell she was close.
“Gonna come again for me?”
“Yes, fuck, I’m almost there, Harry!”
He sucks the tender skin of her neck between his teeth, and that’s what pushes her over the edge. Her senses totally overwhelmed. He gasps when he feels how deeply her nails dig into him from going through the motions of her orgasm. He pulls out of her quickly and comes on her stomach. He’s out of breath, pressing kisses to her cheek and neck.
“No going back now.” He says as he caresses her cheek.
“Nope.” She smiles.
He pecks her lips and turns back around to stand in the water again. Her eyes grow wide and he winces once the water cascades over him.
“Harry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize I was hurting you.”
“It didn’t hurt while it was happening, is it bleeding?” He looks over his shoulder trying to see for himself.
“Um…I broke the skin, but it’s not bloody.” She blushes. “Yikes, that’s embarrassing.”
“No it’s not.” He chuckles and moves so she can rinse her stomach off in the water. She turns it off and they both step out to towel off. “I wasn’t hurting you was I?”
“No, oh my god, it felt so good. Feels like I’m still throbbing.”
He wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her close. She rests her hands on his chest.
“Do you like ice skating?”
“What?” She laughs. “Yeah, I love it, why?”
“Because once this storm is over, m’taking you on a proper date.” He kisses her forehead and lets her go. “Would you like that?”
“I’d love it.”
Harry was so peculiar, Y/N thought. One second he’s saying they can’t be together and the next he wants to take her out on a date. What she didn’t know was that he had never felt quite so good while having sex. It wasn’t because she felt incredibly tight around him, it had more to do with the trust and natural connect. He felt happy, a feeling he thought would never return.
//
To Y/N’s surprise, Harry was a really good ice skater. The two of them were like a real couple. He would visit her at work, they’d go out to the bar with his friends, and they’d have sleep overs at each other’s places. He quite liked her apartment. Not to mention, he couldn’t keep his hands off her. If they were going for a brisk walk, his hand was in hers. If they were sitting through a move, his arm was around her shoulders, and of course they were having a lot of sex. Even when she had her period, he fucked her.
“Got my red wings years ago, promise it doesn’t gross me out.” He had told her.
And god, when he ate her out. Sometimes they wouldn’t even have full on sex. Sometimes they’d be on the couch, and he’d ask if she would ride her face, and then they would just sixty-nine. Sometimes she would just blow him because she liked the way his come tasted. Harry drank a fuck ton of pineapple juice, even before they started hooking up, he always had a small can of it in his office. He just liked the taste. They were just intimate in all sorts of ways, totally comfortable.
It was when Nessa and Charlotte returned that Harry’s bubbled had to burst. School would be starting in a week, and he needed to make sure his shit was together. He had been to the office a few times, working to make sure his courses were together. He and Y/N were professional and went over the class she would be the TA for.
“This is gonna have to be what it’s like when school starts again, don’t forget.” He would say. It killed her, but she would never do anything to put his job at risk, even if she didn’t think their situation was all that serious. She had to respect his wishes.
“I’d feel more comfortable if you slept over at my place since their home.”
“Harry, they know what’s been going on…Niall and Charlotte still talk, and they-“
“I don’t care, I’d rather you be here…and only on the weekends.”
“What?”
“Saturday nights can be our night. On the weekends, you’re not my TA.”
“What will I be then?”
“My girl.”
They had put the boyfriend/girlfriend label chat on the back burner, but that was all she needed to hear to know that she was really his, and he certainly didn’t want someone else trying to steal her away. He had gotten her a necklace, it was simple, but very much her style. A way of showing her how much she truly meant to him.
“Anytime during the week you’re feeling like I don’t want you because I can’t show my affection, this will be your reminder of how much I care.”
She thought it was incredibly sweet, and it was nice to have the reassurance. When classes started, it was definitely difficult. The one thing getting her through this first week was his birthday party on Saturday. Just a small thing with friends at the bar, but still. They wouldn’t have to hide there, or so she thought. Some other professors were invited to the party, which meant Harry couldn’t touch Y/N. He frowned immediately. He wasn’t in charge of the guest list. He pulls Y/N to the side before they walk into the main area.
“I’m so sorry, I promise when we get back to my place later I’m gonna love on you all night.”
“Harry, it’s okay. It’s your birthday, I’m the one that’ll be doing the loving. Go on, enjoy.”
He gives her a discrete peck on the cheek, and then walks into the main room to say hello to everyone. Y/N invited Charlotte and Nessa, so she had other people to talk to. Niall’s arm was hooked around Charlotte’s waist the entire night. Y/N and Nessa teased her every chance they got.
“I’ve been told to check in on you. Orders from the birthday boy.” Louis says to Y/N.
“Thanks.” She chuckles. “It’s okay. Next year things will be totally different.”
“Really see things lasting then, don’t you.” It wasn’t a question.
“I think so, yeah. If the person who he said actually retires, I’m hoping to be able to work at the university to start out.”
“That would be great. He raves about you, you know? He’s a simple guy, likes being domestic. I think he said one of his favorite things to do with you is just cook a meal together.”
“Aw, he’s so sweet.” She pouts. “I like doing that too.”
Harry was mingling with everyone that came out for his birthday. Everyone sang to him, a cake was made him too. The second he tasted it he knew Y/N had baked it. He thought at the least they could have their picture taken together, that wouldn’t look weird.
“Harry!” One of the faculty members, Constance, comes over to him, a young woman by her side. “There’s someone I want you to meet, this is my daughter, Angie.”
“Oh! Hi, I’ve heard a lot about you.” He politely shakes her hand.
“It’s nice to meet you too.” She blushes.
“I’ll leave you to it.” Constance winks and walks away.
“I’m so sorry about her. She conned me into coming here, hope I’m not crashing your birthday.”
“You’re not.” He looks back at Y/N and then to Angie. “So, this is a set up then?”
“She seems to think we have a lot in common.”
“And perhaps we might, but…I’m sort of seeing someone. It’s a…long distance thing, so she’s not here tonight, unfortunately.”
“Oh! She could have sworn you were single, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s alright. I’m sure you’re lovely, I just really like this woman and I don’t want to screw it up.” He smiles and she nods.
Harry finally makes his way over to Y/N and Louis.
“Do me a favor,” He says to Louis, taking out his phone. “Take a picture of us.”
“Are you sure?” Y/N asks.
“Positive.” He smiles and puts an arm around her shoulders. Louis snaps a couple of shots and hands Harry his phone back. “Sorry you won’t be able to post these…”
“Well, I could, my insta is private, but we can talk about it later.”
“Lou, could you drop Y/N off at my place when this is over, we drove together, but I don’t wanna risk anyone seeing us leave in the same car.”
“Course, mate.”
Harry nods and walks away to continue talking to other people.
“He acts like you’re his student. I don’t see anything wrong with you two doing what you’re doing.”
“I don’t either.” She sighs. “But he worked so hard to get where he is, I have to respect doing things his way. It was a long week, but I’m happy to be going back to his place later.”
Y/N’s lips were on Harry’s the second he let her through the door. He made sure to get home before her so they didn’t even leave at the same time. She had him pushed against the wall and his hands were all over her.
“Missed you so fucking much.” He says, walking her back towards the living room. “And I loved the watch you got me, you didn’t have to do that.”
“Wanted to.” She starts unbuttoning his shirt and pushes him down on the couch, straddling him in no time.
“Gonna let me lick it, angel?”
“Is that what you want?”
“You have no idea. You’re as sweet as the cake you made me.”
“How did-“
“Y/N, I know it’s only been a month, but I’d know your baked goods anywhere.” He smirks.
She giggles and stands up to unbutton her jeans. He yanks them down her legs along with her panties and she kicks them to the side. Harry lays down on the couch and Y/N hovers over his face. He liked it better this way. One, he didn’t have to get on his knees and suffer through the pain of being on the hardwood. Two, he liked the way Y/N would just ride his tongue.
Max was upstairs, thanks to the gate. So they didn’t have to worry about him coming down and jumping on them.
“Fuck, Harry.” She moans. “Your tongue feels so good.” She rocks her hips back and forth on him, the stubble from his chin feeling extra delicious. He moans against her, lapping up every drop. “You like that, birthday boy? Like having me on you like this?” She looks down at him and see his eyes rolling into the back of his head. He sucks on her clit harshly, and that pushes her over the edge. “Oh, fuck!”
Once she’s through, she climbs off him. Before she knows it, he’s throwing her over his shoulder to bring her upstairs. He gives her bum a smack and she squeals. Y/N left plenty of scratch marks on Harry that night.
//
Y/N was antsy for every weekend. The weeks dragged on, and the weekends went by in a flash. Then she remembered something wonderful.
“Spring break!” She says, bursting into their shared office.
“What about it?” Harry chuckles.
“Two weeks off without the students!” She leans a little closer to him. “Two weeks of me not being your TA.” She grins and then sits down in her seat.
“We’ll be grading, darling.” He says nonchalantly.
“This is a pet name free zone, remember?”
“Sorry.” He smirks. “Didn’t think ‘darling’ would get your knickers in twist.”
“Fuck off.” She rolls her eyes. “Do we seriously have to grade? Can’t we do fun things? I have time off from school, I don’t wanna do anything.”
“M’surprised you don’t want to go home or go with your friends somewhere.”
“I’ve done the whole go to Florida and get blitzed thing, I’m all set. And I may go home for a couple of days, but I don’t really like being home long. Somehow I get stuck doing chores, and I get aggravated.”
“I’ll tell you what, if we get through enough of the grading, we can do something really fun.”
“Deal.” She smiles.
Sometimes Y/N felt like this was only hard for her, but it killed Harry. He had fantasies of bending Y/N over his desk, or even just kissing her good morning. He even started letting her come over on Friday nights instead of Saturday because he just couldn’t wait any longer. He knew he was being overly careful, but he just couldn’t risk it.
//
Harry stayed true to his word. They got through a lot of the grading so drove them out to the coast for a walk on the pier at a large beach. It was still too chilly for real beach weather, but there were less people around this time of year, and some of the shops were open. Y/N clung to Harry’s arm and they both just enjoyed the fresh air and the scenery. He took her to a nice dinner, and then they walked for a bit to watch the sunset.
“This was the perfect day.” She sighs as they begin their drive back to his place.
“It really was.” His rests his hand on her thigh and gives it a squeeze. “I love you, Y/N.”
She whips her head to look at him. His eyes were focused on the road. Tears start to prick at her eyes. No one ever said that to her before. She had been in relationships, but she never really got to a point for such strong words, and she certainly never felt it back.
“I love you, too.”
“Aw, look at us.” He smiles. “Two people in love.”
“I wasn’t expecting you to say that…” She sniffles.
“Hey, no need to cry, darling.”
“I just…no one’s ever told me they loved me before.”
“What?!” He squeezes her leg tighter. “But there’s so much to love. You’re kind, caring, an incredible baker, witty, funny, brilliant-“
“Harry, please.” She chuckles. “When we get home we’re making love.”
“I’ve made love to you before, just didn’t say anything. Anytime we’re really soft and careful, I’m making love to you.”
“God.” Her face flushes, thinking of the many sensual times he’s touched her. “Well, I can’t wait to do it again.”
//
It was a Tuesday, which meant Y/N wouldn’t be in the office with Harry. She had class and then a shift at Bento’s. He wanted her to be able to nap in between. He saw that the open IDS position had been posted, and he emailed her immediately. He couldn’t wait to work on her resume and cover letter together.
“Harry?” Constance knocks on the outside of his door.
“Hey, Connie! Come on in.” He beams at her. She squints at his collar, seeing just the top of a love bite.
“Did you see that girlfriend of yours this weekend?” She asks, as she sits down.
“Sure did.” He smiles. “I saw her for a while over spring break too, told her I loved her, and she said it back. I’m on cloud nine. M’sorry things didn’t line up with your daughter, she’s a very pretty girl. My friend Lou is single, maybe-“
“Harry, Harry.” She chuckles. “No worries at all, she’s been dating around a bit. I shouldn’t have just assumed you were single, and that’s great that you two are doing so well. I think I thought you weren’t seeing anyone because with your last girlfriend…well…you had pictures of her on your desk, and you gushed about her. We don’t even know this one’s name.”
“You will soon enough.” Harry did have pictures of Y/N, they were just discrete. His lock screen was the picture of them at his birthday, and his wallpaper was just a picture of her. He could look at her whenever he wanted. “She’s, uh, finishing up grad school.”
“Oh, good for her! Anyways, I came here to chat with you about my sabbatical. Obviously it’s turned into a full year instead of just the fall semester. We’re going to have a department meeting, but I wanted to see how you’d feel about stepping in as department chair while I’m gone.”
“Are you serious?!” He perks up.
“Yes.” She chuckles.
“That would be a dream! I have so many ideas, and-“
“It would mean you wouldn’t be able to teach as many classes, and you’ll have more responsibilities over winter and summer break.”
“That’s no problem, honestly. I only go to London for a couple of weeks, I’m usually in the area for summer. I’d love to give it a go. I didn’t think I’d be next in line.”
“It’s coming from my own suggestion. I’ve been doing this a long time, and I think you’d be great at it. It would sort of be a trial, and then when I come back we could reflect on the experience.”
Harry was buzzing, absolutely buzzing. He needed to tell Y/N about his good news, so he hops in his car, and zips over to her apartment. She was vegging out in a t-shirt and panties with Nessa and Charlotte, who were both dressed in the same thing. They hear the bell on their door.
“Who the fuck is that? It’s nearly nine.” Nessa says.
“No idea.” Y/N says, getting up to check it out. She sees Harry through the peephole. Her eyebrows raise, but she opens the door. “Dr. Styles, to what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Y/N, I’m sorry for…” He looks her up and down. “This is how you open the door?!”
“I saw it was you.” She shrugs and steps aside to let him in.
“Hi, Harry.” Charlotte and Nessa say at the same time.
“Hi girls.” He smiles and looks at Y/N. “I got great news today and I just had to see you, can we got to your room?”
“Of course.” Once they’re both in there, they sit on her bed. “So what’s up? I got your email about the job, I’m really excited.”
“Good news for both of us today. Connie, my department chair, came by to see me today, and she wants me to be department chair while she’s on sabbatical next year while she’s gone. It would be like a trial run. Me! Department chair! I have so many ideas, this is the opportunity I’ve been hoping for.”
“Oh, Harry.” She throws her arms around him. “That’s incredible, I’m so happy for you.”
“Thanks.” He holds her in his arms for a moment and then lets her go so he can stand up. “Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Harry…” She whines.
“Don’t start, I just wanted to see your face when I told you.”
“You could have FaceTimed me.”
“Oh.” He shakes his head. “It’s been a long day.” He chuckles.
“You can stay.”
“No, I can’t.” He caresses one of her cheeks. “I want to, but I can’t. Soon, babe, so soon.”
“Um…” She stands up and looks down. “If I get this job…I mean…the lease for this place is up June first, and…well…the girls are going to be working in schools, and won’t need to live here anymore, and…I mean, I could find new roommate and sign a new lease...”
“Or, you could come move in with me.” He takes her hands in his and kisses her knuckles.
“Really?”
“Yeah, I want you to. I want you around all the time. Being apart from you during the week really fucks with how clingy I naturally am.” He smirks.
“I like it, though. We spend all weekend in your big, comfy bed.”
“Look forward to it every week.” He sighs happily. “Just gotta get through you walking across that stage, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Alright.” He kisses her cheek. “I love you, sweet dreams.”
“I love you too.”
//
Harry helped Y/N apply for the job, and after two nerve-wracking rounds of interviews, and two weeks of pure stress that even Harry’s cock couldn’t squash, she got the call that she got the job. Harry took Y/N out to celebrate, they both nearly cried when she got the call. She told her parents and they were ecstatic.
“In a few years, if you feel like it, you could get your PhD for free through the university.” He says to her as they’re laying in bed.
“Hm, three degrees from the same place.” She taps her chin. “Doesn’t seem like a great idea.”
“If you can do it for free, you should. It was the smartest thing I ever did. Well that, and giving into you.”
“Giving into me?!” She laughs. “You make it sound like I seduced you.”
“I fell for you so hard. You’re just so wonderful.” He pouts. “Are your parents excited to meet me in a couple of weeks? I’m excited to meet them.”
“They’re definitely curious to see who the guy I’m going to be moving in with is.”
“Are you going to miss the girls?”
“So much! They’ve been great to live with. Nessa’s moving in with Andy. She found a college in the city he works in to teach at. She’s so good at putting productions together, I’m excited for her. Charlotte may be in the area, though. Something tells me the school she’ll be teaching at is close by to Niall.”
“I’ve never seen him so smitten. He takes the more serious part of a relationship slow, but once he’s in he’s in.” He pulls her closer to him. “Everything’s falling into place. I’ve been working with Connie to get prepared for the fall, and I couldn’t be more excited.”
“I’m really proud of you.”
“I’m proud of you too, babe.”
//
The day they had both been waiting for was finally here. The graduate ceremony was in the evening, separate from the undergraduate ceremony. Y/N wouldn’t be able to see Harry until after the ceremony. She was busy with her parents and younger siblings. Harry may have clapped and cheered extra loud when she walked across the stage. Most people around him thought it was just because she had been his TA for an entire year. Literally no one suspected more was going on between them. After today it wouldn’t matter anyways.
There was a champagne reception after the ceremony. Y/N easily found her family.
“We’re so proud of you honey. Another degree, a new job, and you’re moving in with a guy!” Her mom says.
“I’m still not thrilled about the last part. We don’t even know him.” Her dad says.
“But I do, so it’s a good thing I’m the one living with him, not you.”
Harry makes his way through the crowd over to her and her family. He takes a deep breath, and when she spots him she squeals. She runs over and jumps into his arms. They kiss as he swings her around.
“You did it!”
“I did it!” They both jump up and down for a moment. “Come on.” She holds his hand to bring him over to everyone. “Harry, these are my parents, and my two younger siblings. Ellie is going to be a senior in college this fall, and Ryan is going to be a sophomore. He’s actually transferring here in the fall.”
“That’s great! Hi, it’s so nice to meet all of you.” He shakes everyone’s hands.
“Damn, a PhD.” Ellie whispers to her sister and winks. “Nice job.” The girls giggle together.
They all decide to go out to dinner together to get to know each other better. Harry and Y/N would be meeting up with Charlotte, Nessa, and the others at the bar once dinner was over. Y/N explains how they waited a while to make things official because Harry wanted to make sure things remained professional. Harry easily impressed her parents. He was incredibly smart and knew how to work people over. Even her dad was happy with him.
Y/N got pretty drunk at the bar with her friends, and Harry was able to keep his arms around her all night without a care in the world. When he got her inside his place, he couldn’t stop kissing her and telling her much he loved her over and over. She was excited to start her new job in a couple of weeks, and he was excited she genuinely wanted to stay, and wasn’t just doing this for him. They would spend the time before starting her job to get her all moved in. They even talked about getting a larger place at some point.
“I can’t wait to snuggle with Mac every night.” She giggles as she gets into bed.
“Hey, what about me?” He pouts.
“I guess you’re nice to snuggle with too.” She jokes.
“Mhm.” He kisses on her and hovers over her. “My girl’s got her master’s. You’re so fucking smart, it turns me on.”
“Really?”
“When we did those mock interviews in my office I couldn’t stop thinking about fucking you.”
“Does this mean we can get a little sneaky in your office now?” She raises an eyebrow at him. “Or are you staying firm with your open door policy?”
“Think I may have to reconsider it, but only for you.”
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thephysicsgraduate · 3 years
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I haven't posted in a while, and I guess I just haven't been sure exactly how I feel about things, and it has been challenging to talk about in general. *sigh* so the big things...
I got the results from 2/3 of my qualifying exams, and I didn't pass. I knew that the week of the exams was particularly tolling on my mental health, and I didn't feel great about them, but getting the official email made it real. This is not the end of the world. I told myself it would be okay, and I encouraged my classmates that it would be okay if they didn't pass. It just feels so garbage. If I can manage at least an A- in the graduate level classes this semester and the spring, then I won't have to retake the exams, which is nice... but also puts a lot of pressure on the semester. If they aren't waived I will try again in May. I know deep down that I am capable of passing, and I can clear up the details I was rusty on that killed me on these rounds of exams.
As easy as it is to say that it will be fine, it doesn't feel like it. The past week has been full of so much self-doubt and feeling inadequate and dumb. I'm trying to pick myself back up and reintegrate back into "regular" life. I don't want to make any excuses, and I am sure, in retrospect, there are topics I missed when I missed a week due to health issues. I can't change the past, so I'll keep trying.
I dropped my intro to solid-state physics class to give myself more time to focus on my core classes and my teaching assignments. Even though this is a healthy thing for me to do, it just felt like tossing a little fuel on the imposter syndrome flame that has been raging recently. The best way to deal with imposter syndrome is to talk about it, though, and this shout into the internet void is the best I can manage right now.
Now the exciting news (if you made it this far, thank you! I appreciate you!) I found a research advisor I want to work with, and we got coffee at the student center the other day. I told him that I was interested in his group, and he responded well! It sounds like there will be funding, and I should be able to start on a Research Assistantship in the Fall of next year! I've done many lurking around the labs and reading loads of papers, and I feel so good about things! One of his current grad students was honest about his experience, and it sounded very supportive and healthy. When I meet with this professor to discuss possible research projects, I appreciate that he always talks to me as an equal and takes time to explain key concepts along the way. I convince myself all the time that it is some punishable offense that I'm not proficient in all of condensed matter physics, but that is just so ridiculous. I'm here to learn, train, and explore the field. We discussed next summer a little, and he said that if I want, we can design a smaller research goal together that will be a little more directed and goal-oriented, and that is just exactly what I need! He also seems hands-off enough to allow me to explore my research questions and ideas in the future, which is so exciting!!
My first-day leading tutorials will be tomorrow, and I'm kind of nervous, and I really want it to go well! Overall I am happy that my assignments involve tutorials and help sessions instead of labs. Despite my strong preference for experimental research, I struggle to work as a lab instructor because the noise and environment are overstimulating and cause a mild shutdown to recover after. It is also more uncertain how I will be helping people, which makes it difficult to imagine the situation beforehand and feel prepared. With the tutorial sessions, I have a chance to work the problems out on my own, so I feel better about navigating the interactions with students.
Does anyone have advice on how to be a good TA and how to have successful student interactions? Even if you haven't taught, what are things that your TAs have done well (or not so well) in the past?
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morethanwords0475 · 3 years
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July TC Challenge
TC challenge for L because I miss her too much.
Day 1: Describe your TC’s physical appearance.
She is about medium height, has quite distinguished (and beautiful) facial features and very fit build.
Day 2: What was the first thing you’ve ever said to your TC?
I first met her three years ago so I have no clue, but I do remember it was when we were being introduced to the new teachers, and we were standing outside her old classroom.
Day 3: Is your TC single or taken? Or are you unsure? And are you single or taken?
I am single, she’s taken.
Day 4: Is your TC more of the athletic type, the nerdy type, or the artsy type?
Definitely athletic, she's the gym and sports and marathons type of person, but she is also crazy smart <3
Day 5: If you and your TC were in high school together, do you think you’d be friends?
I’m sure she was very popular in high school, so we probably wouldn’t have been in the same circles, but she did tell me that the subjects she took back then were almost the same as the ones I take!
Day 6: Name one song that reminds you of your TC and explain why that song reminds you of them.
First reaction is Speechless? L is exactly the type to fight for her voice like that and challenge biases - yay for strong female role models.
Day 7: Is your TC fashionable or are they more of the simple type? What is one outfit you’d love to see them wear?
She is quite fashionable and looks good in basically everything, but I would love to see her in a formal dress.
Day 8: Would you be willing to become a teacher and teach your TC’s subject if it meant you two could be together?
Welll she once joked about wanting me to be her TA and I imagined it and it felt really nice, so honestly, I could see myself doing it.
Day 9: Does your TC drink or smoke?
She sometimes drinks, doesn’t smoke.
Day 10: Name one item that is always on your TC’s desk.
Tbh her desk was often quite full so it was hard to distinguish individual objects and I never looked too closely, but probably her water bottle?
Day 11: Has your TC ever done anything that has either thrown you off, annoyed you, angered you, or bothered you in any way? If so, what did they do?
Not really I don’t think, she only taught me for a year and I’ve always liked her as a teacher.
Day 12: Does your TC have any past jobs that you know of, before becoming a teacher?
I know she used to part-time as a sport coach XD
Day 13: Does your TC have kids or siblings? If so, how many?
No kids, I don’t think she has siblings but I’m not sure.
Day 14: Are you taking your TC’s class next year?
L won’t be teaching here anymore, obviously, but I am taking another subject that she also teaches next year :)
Day 15: Has your TC ever met your parents? If you were there, what was the meeting like?
On teacher-parent meetings this year, yes. L complimented me like crazy and told my parents they had nothing to worry about, she also asked me how I felt about my progress instead of solely addressing my parents like some other teachers.
Day 16: Has your TC ever given you detention? If so, what was it like?
Noo she’s quite an easy-going teacher and I’m a straight-A student, never missed homework and never misbehaved severely.
Day 17: Has your TC ever failed you? If so, how did you react? If not, how would you react?
I must say I was pretty good at her subject, always high A* grades. I would be really disappointed in myself if I did fail, though. And I would hate disappointing her.
Day 18: What are your TC’s hobbies/interests? Are they similar to yours?
She’s super into fitness (so not similar to mine), reading probably, and she plays a sport I know nothing about lol.
Day 19: Have you ever spoken on the phone with your TC? What did you talk about?
Private communication between teachers and students almost never occur in our school, and even now that she’s left, I’ll likely only get occasional emails *sigh*.
Day 20: If you had your TC’s class during quarantine, what were your zoom calls like? If not, have you spoken to your TC since quarantine?
I wasn’t in her class yet during quarantine, but I know she didn’t do zoom calls with her students. She did record a video of her explaining a complicated concept and shared it with our class as well, however I never got to see it.
Day 21: If you had the chance to go anywhere in the world with your TC, where would you go? What would you do?
Wherever she wants, really, out of the two of us she definitely loves travelling more than I do.
Day 22: Does your TC have any nicknames for you?
Ever since she started teaching me, L has always shortened my name, which I generally take as a sign that a teacher likes me :)
Day 23: Have you ever cried in front of your TC? Why? How did they react?
I very rarely cry in school, but I just know that if she did see me cry, she would react in the most gentle and caring way 🥺
Day 24: Have you ever walked/drove to/from school with your TC?
Again, we never get to have close relationships like this with our teachers, so no. We also probably live quite far from each other.
Day 25: Do you know which teachers your TC is friends with at school? If so, do you like those teachers?
L gets along well with everyone, but I think her closest friends in the school are all my teachers as well, and I really like them.
Day 26: What does your TC’s voice sound like?
She has a really sweet and magnetic voice, but I think not 'sweet' in the stereotypical feminine way?
Day 27: Do you like your TC as a teacher? Are they a good teacher?
Definitely, I’ve loved her style of teaching from the very first lesson we had together. She is so enthusiastic about her subject and always tries to explain things in interesting ways so we remember them better. It's a terrible loss to all of us that she's gone 😔
Day 28: Does your TC prefer books, shows, or movies?
Gonna go out on a limb here and assume shows?
Day 29: Is your TC stern or easy going, in class?
Definitely easy going, like she makes sure we get things done but she doesn’t stand on trifles (being slightly late, talking to each other when we do work, organisation, etc.)
Day 30: How would you describe you and your TC’s relationship?
I feel like up until the final few months she was just a good teacher of mine and I was just a good student of hers, but we got to have a slightly closer and maybe even more casual relationship nearer to the end. Especially on the last day ;-;
Day 31: Do you address your TC by their first or last name?
Last name, like all of us do to all teachers.
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Any tips got people starting their creative writing degree in September? Xxx
oh this is a great question!! sometimes I forget I will literally be an upper year next year :) how did this happen :) still feel like I’m in grade 9 :) lol! but I do have tips!
1. Trust in the process
Okay, this sounds a little gimmicky, but what I mean is, let things happen the way they’re going to happen. I was extremely prepared when I entered first year, and even more prepared for second year, and I’m not saying this is a bad thing--in fact, I recommend having something small (even an idea) at the ready, just in case of emergency writer’s block, time constraints, etc, but I’d love to go back in time and tell myself to chill! I wanted so badly to experience the idea of the Ideal Writing Degree Experience, and so kind of missed out on the actual (great) experience I had in front of me! so let it happen! Take creative risks! stray from your plan if your gut is telling you to!
2. Get involved
In first year, I found it SO helpful to get involved in writer events, or clubs on my campus. I joined my department’s lit journal (which I shall be managing in the fall!) as an intern, and made sure to attend most, if not all the writing events they had on campus, including general fine arts mixers. Though I am a super introverted person, it was actually super fun to make connections, and even so, just make memories of faces that I could later recognize on campus. This is also super helpful for getting to know people in your program! On orientation day, I really tried to huddle with some other Writing undergrads, and that was super fun because we just chatted about our writing backgrounds, etc! If you’re anxious like me, coming up with literal talking points could be helpful the night before, kind of like an “About Me” refresh?? Like, oh my name is Rachel and I write literary fiction, also I am from Toronto, would be what I would say in case someone asked (usually people were very excited to hear I was from out of province lol so this worked as a great talking point!). ALSO!! off campus events! go to readings! Readings are 100% more accessible to attend where I go to school versus where I live at home, and so I def took advantage of this by making sure to go out to multiple literary events! It’s nice to make connections, chat with the readers, or even other audience members! Usually people asked me if I was a student and what program I was in, etc, and because being a Writing major is kind of a Fun Thing To Be at a reading, this was always a great talking point!
3. Remember your writing degree is still work
I know a lot of creative degree pals give this advice to remind undergrads that their creative work for school is still work so they should sit down and do it rather than leaving it to the last minute, but I kind of like to flip this idea on its head by saying: it’s okay to prioritize your “non-academic” work versus your “traditionally academic” work! For example, I took many, many English classes this year, and put about 20x more of my time into those classes than my literal writing classes. I am a writing major?? lol! I could’ve gotten an English degree closer to home?? I did not come here for this?? I think it was easy for me to write off putting time into my writing classes because I was “good at that” and “needed to focus on my academic work” (whatever academic even means), but if you’re there for writing, don’t be afraid to actually... do your writing?? Fighting internalized stigma about my own degree is something I still work on! It’s still work! Which means it’s hard, and you should take breaks (and extensions if necessary/if you can) just like with any other work.
4. If you want to, prep a little
Like I mentioned above, this could be a helpful thing to do, though I do caution over preparation because that was me!! and I feel like one may learn more if they have more room to fail (which sometimes preparation reduces?) but this is also dependent on the type of person and student you are, so disregard if necessary! When I entered first year, I didn’t prep actual work, but made sure I knew what was expected of me so I could mentally prepare myself, haha. I knew there were 5 assignments for 5 different genres (because of COVID they actually axed 1 genre which I am GRATEFUL for rip playwriting), so I kept this in mind throughout the term. If I got an idea for a poem but knew we wouldn’t be doing poetry for the next term, I’d write the poem in advance, or write down the idea. A little bit of prep can help alleviate stress especially if you’re transitioning out of high school, but I do tend to overdo it!
5. SUBMIT your work!!!
This is also totally okay NOT to do if you don’t want to publish your work, but if you are interested in curating a portfolio, it doesn’t hurt to start submitting your work early to literary magazines! I know some people are too nervous to send out their work in first year, but if you’re comfortable with it and want to, go for it! I submitted my work for the first time in first year, and got 2 stories published. If you want to be published, you don’t have to wait for upper years to put your work out there! If you have a piece you like, send it out! This also includes on-campus writing contests if your school runs these. I entered one not thinking anything of it and won first place (HOW), and these experiences were fantastic in shaping my experience in the program and also showing me submitting your work is not so scary!
6. Talk to your profs and TAs
Y’ALL I did not realize how much I talk to my profs and TAs and how much the pandemic took that away from me! It’s so critical to form relationships with the people who are teaching you, not only because they’ll help you to shape your work, but also because they’re a great start to networking! In first year, I sat down with my TAs or prof for literally every single piece I wrote, and the amount I learned is astronomical. I guess this depends on your program, but generally, writing programs are generative based rather than super lecture heavy, and you learn by doing hands-on work (workshops, etc). I learned so much (sometimes, even more) by talking to my teachers. They want to help you and it’s a great way to get to know them. I only attended office hours once in COVID (and it was Zoom office hours), and I certainly feel a difference in my experience. Reach out! When I took an intro journalism course, my prof line-edited every one of my pieces by hand, and while it was nerve-wracking because she is a fantastic writer and a tough critic (and literally right in front of me), it was so rewarding when she’d point out where I’d improved. She was also great at taking her time to explain how I could better my piece. You can’t do that if you’re sitting in a 200 person lecture, but you can if you take some time for a one on one! Highly recommend if you can (coming from someone with social anxiety)!
7. Make friends
I will admit it! I still have not done a great job at this lol. But if you can, try to reach out to your peers. You’re all there to learn, and it’s actually so fantastic to meet likeminded people! My peers are incredibly talented, smart individuals, and when we’re in person, I’d love to chat with them more! In first year, it can be scary to reach out, which is why I did this minimally, though I still made an attempt to jump out of my comfort zone whenever possible. It’s nice to recognize faces on campus and wave at people/have a short conversation before you head into class. Like I said, I interned for my on campus lit journal in first year, so I had to reach out a few times to my classmates to participate in events etc, so this was actually kind of easier for me since I had a lil ~motive that allowed me to muster the courage to chat with people! It could be as easy as joining in on a convo of a subject of interest (for example, a lot of people at my school especially in my program, love D&D. I have no idea what that is/how that works, but if I did, this might be something to talk about if you love it also)! Also - follow people on social media if you can find them, or start a group chat!
8. Don’t be afraid to speak up for your needs
This will be my last tip, and it might be the scariest tip of all, but if you are not happy with how something is going in your degree/classes, speak up about it! If something is not accessible to you, don’t be afraid to speak out about that. Idk if it’s just me, but I’ve been advocating for the betterment of my education since elementary school (why am I like this loooool), but especially in university, you’d be surprised by how receptive some people can be! Shoot your prof or TA an email if you have concerns, and see what they say. Rarely, they can be assholes, but most of the time, they’ll try to work with you to make your class experience better. This is why I also recommend filling out your course evals. Most great profs really want their students to enjoy their classes and succeed, so don’t be nervous to speak out about your needs if xyz isn’t being met.
hope that helps!
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thedumpsterqueen · 4 years
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Standards of Performance, Chapter 4: Misjudgments and Saviors
Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3
AO3 Link
Sorry it's later than normal! I procrastinated the fuck out of the last half of this chapter and just got it finished. This chapter was originally going to include way more than just the interrogation, but the word count got away from me. Not a ton of Hotch in this chapter, but fear not, you will be fed next week ;) Also dark!Hotch hits different, you cannot change my mind. I hope you enjoy, thank you to everyone who takes the time to follow me, share my fic, and send me such kind messages. It means the world! <3
Summary:  You’re the BAU’s newest intern, desperate to prove yourself amongst an established team of much more experienced profilers. Agent Hotchner, the seemingly infallible team leader, sets strict expectations for your performance. He commands your respect without even trying, but is there something more to your relationship than a simple desire to impress your stony-faced boss?
Chapter: 4, Misjudgments and Saviors
Chapter Summary: The team interrogates Ellory Matthews and discovers that just because a killer is easy to catch, doesn't mean he's easy to predict.
Words: 2929
Rating: Explicit, 18+ (REMINDER: I don’t use chapter warnings to avoid spoilers. Assume violence, smut, etc. are possible in all chapters. Check AO3 for more exact tags <3)
Pairings: Hotch x Reader, Hotch x You
You threw on your work clothes and clambered into the back of the SUV in the dark, silent hotel parking lot. Morgan and Hotch were sitting up front, Morgan looking as exhausted as you felt and clutching a steaming cup of coffee like it was his lifeline, Hotch looking as startlingly unfazed as ever.
You caught a glance of the car’s clock up front between them and shook your head. Two in the morning - not an optimal time to interrogate anyone, much less try to force a confession out of a man desperate to avoid the consequences of a triple murder. If you were lucky, he’d fold quickly and the bulk of the paperwork could be pushed off until tomorrow when you’d all had more than a few hours of sleep.
After a blessedly brief drive (Hotch had a habit of ignoring speed limits, even in non-emergencies) and arriving at the police precinct, the three of you stood in the windowed room looking into where Matthews was being held. A police officer - you forgot his name, but he was one of the same ones who briefed you when you’d first arrived - gave you the rundown of his arrest.
“He was back on campus,” the cop said. “We stopped checking everyone in who entered through the gates after 10, so he must have waited until after then. Campus police were on a patrol when they heard screaming. He tried to grab a girl walking home from the library and got his ass pepper sprayed.”
You suppressed a snort at that. For someone who’d gone to such over-the-top measures to subvert the authorities after murdering three women at once, he was continuing to prove your initial theory, unprofessional though it was - he was an idiot.
Hotch thanked and dismissed the officer, who left after shooting one more glance of barely-suppressed disgust through the one-way window. Just the three of you now, you stepped forward, looking at your subject.
The first thing you noticed was his youth - he was young, around your age, which shocked you despite already knowing that information. He was big, too; not overly fit, but he certainly looked strong enough to have had the upper hand on nearly any female victim he chose. His face, inflamed and dripping with tears from the effects of the pepper spray, was his defining feature in that it wasn’t particularly defining at all. The structure was mildly unattractive - too-big nose, downturned eyes - and the symmetry just off enough that the absence of a stellar personality to compensate would render him nearly invisible to the opposite sex. That, you supposed, combined with a predisposition towards instability and a repeated lack of success with women, had created the perfect storm of obsessiveness and delusion that produced the three (almost four)-time rapist and murderer that sat on the other side of the glass.
“We need a confession,” Hotch said, breaking you out of your internal analysis, “but we also need to know if he’s done this before. Garcia put together a list of missing women that fit the victimology here as well as in Arizona and Nevada. Considering he dumped bodies there, we can assume he has some degree of comfort with those areas.”
Morgan grabbed the aforementioned list from Hotch and shook his head. “There’s dozens of names on this list.”
Hotch nodded in acknowledgement. “I know. That’s why I’d like to get closure for as many of the families as possible. But first, let’s focus on the three we know about.” He turned to you. “Morgan and I will go in first. We may have some success with intimidation from male authority figures, but I don’t see us piquing enough interest to get a confession. Normally, I’d send Prentiss or JJ in a situation like this, but I have full faith you can handle it.”
He paused, inspecting your face, no doubt gauging your reaction. “How do you feel about interacting with him?”
You felt sick, to tell the truth, knowing you were an exact match for his preferences. More than that, you felt woefully unprepared to conduct your second-ever interrogation under the scrutiny of two of the BAU’s experienced agents, including your boss. Especially your boss, whose gravelly voice and piercing eyes seemed to be occupying much more of your mental real estate than you were comfortable with.
You reassured him that you’d be fine, though, because looking like you were scared of interviewing a serial killer cast doubt on your ability to actually, you know, do your job . And if you watched Morgan and Hotch enter the interrogation room while really hoping that Hotch was underestimating their ability to crack him, well, no one needed to know.
Morgan swung the folding chair around, sitting with his arms propped on the backrest, directly across from Matthews. Matthews’ gaze, however, was glued to Hotch, who was standing with his arms crossed diagonally behind Morgan. You couldn’t see Hotch’s face, as his back was to you, but you knew what it looked like - jaw taut, lips pressed tight, frown even more pronounced than usual. Intimidating to anyone he came across, probably even more so if you were someone he was about to interrogate on suspicion of murder.
They made their introductions and began.
“Listen, Ellory, I’m gonna be straight with you here,” Morgan said, leaning forward. “This is not looking good for you, my man. We got you on attempted kidnapping at the same school three murdered girls attended. We have friends of these victims say they talked about a creepy teaching assistant in their classes. You’ve got piles of criminal psychology textbooks hidden in your house with notes that match what happened to these girls exactly. Put this in front of a jury, you’re getting convicted no question. At this point, it’s a matter of whether or not you wanna work with us and make this a little easier on you. You feel me?”
Matthews mumbled something indistinct, looking at his feet.
“Speak up,” Hotch commanded. You’d seen this before, what Morgan jokingly called the “good cop, bad drill sergeant” routine, but it always amazed you how easily they slipped into the roles.
Matthews looked up then, defiant. “They’re not mine.”
Morgan scoffed. “What aren’t? The books? C’mon man, they were under your mattress. In your house. No one’s buying that.”
“Well, it’s true,” Matthews mumbled, looking back down at his hands. “Don’t know how they got there.”
“And the girl?” Morgan asked, obviously unconvinced. “How you wanna explain you trying to kidnap a girl who fits the exact profile of three other girls who got kidnapped and killed in the same week?”
He whipped his head up at that, furious. “I wasn’t kidnapping her. She needed a ride. It was late.”
Hotch spoke up, his tone cutting. “Then why did she taze you?”
“She didn- look, she was confused, okay? I don’t know.”
“Sounds to me like she was pretty fuckin’ ungrateful,” Morgan offered. You cringed. You knew what he was playing at, but it was hard to hear nonetheless.
He continued, “Pretty girl like her, it wasn’t safe walking around that late, right? And you try to be a gentleman, try to help, and she freaks out and attacks you. That’d piss me off too, man.”
“Yeah. I guess,” Matthew responded, eyes flicking between Morgan and Hotch, seemingly unsure.
“Don’t worry about him,” Morgan said. “He’s just here cuz he has to be. Listen. We’re on the same page here. I’m you, I’m nice to these girls, I offer them rides, I treat ‘em like a gentleman. They turn around and act stuck-up, like they’re too good for me, right? That makes me mad.”
He paused, waiting for Matthews’ reaction. Matthews nodded, hesitant.
“So, what? Maybe I see them after they graduate or leave the college and confront them or something; tell them off for being such assholes to me when I was their TA. Maybe it gets heated, I gotta defend myself, someone gets hurt. Now, that’s not my fault, right?”
Matthews nodded again, more enthusiastic this time.
“Is that what happened to those girls, Ellory?” Hotch asked.
The room fell silent, waiting on his response. You leaned forward, nose almost pressed against the glass, praying it would really be this easy.
Matthews opened and closed his mouth, unsure. Morgan had worked him up, you could tell - his face was red, his hands balled up into fists on the table. He took a deep breath…
…and shook his head.
You cursed, stepping away from the glass. You heard Hotch and Morgan exit the interrogation room and come in behind you. You turned to face them.
“I thought you had him for sure,” you groaned to Morgan.
“Me too,” he replied, “but we got close. She going in next?” he asked Hotch.
Hotch looked at you. “He’s close to cracking. Act like he’d be doing you a huge favor by confessing, like you’d be in his debt. He wants to feel powerful, important. Convince him he can be.”
Catering to a man’s ego was a skill you’d fine-tuned after years of studying under, working with, and existing alongside them. Most men you’d had to flatter didn’t inspire quite so much disgust, however.
Just pretend he’s another idiot at a bar.
You straightened your cardigan and nodded. “I’m ready.”
“Remember,” Hotch said, “we’re right here. If you get too uncomfortable, just leave. This is a lot to ask of you so early in your position; I won’t blame you if it doesn’t go to plan.”
You nodded again and tried your best to smile. “Gotta learn sometime though, right?”
Morgan held out his fist to bump, and you obliged. “That’s my girl,” he said. “Go get ‘em, tiger.”
Hotch looked much less enthusiastic, but opened and held the door for you anyways. You took a deep breath and entered, plastering what you hoped was a convincing smile on your face. Matthews looked up, surprised, and returned your smile. He looked so normal in that moment, it was hard for you to reconcile that this was the same man who stalked, raped, and murdered three women and led authorities on a purposeless goose chase to divert suspicion.
Taking a seat directly across the table from him, you introduced yourself. “I’m the new intern at the BAU. I asked my boss if I could come talk to you. I just don’t feel like they really understood you, ya know?” You grinned, hoping the flattery would stick.
It appeared to, as Matthews leaned forward and spoke in a hushed voice, as if he was confiding in you. “I know how guys like that are. They think they’re the shit. Women always fall for that, though.” He looked at you intensely, and you started to realize very quickly why his victims had found him unsettling. “You don’t fall for that, right? That alpha male stuff?”
You forced out a laugh. “No, I prefer more sensitive guys. Ones that you can have a conversation with.”
“Are we having a conversation?”
“Wh-what? I’m sorry?”
“Are we having a conversation?” he repeated, still holding intense eye contact.
“Well, yes, I would say so,” you replied. “On that note, um, I wanted to be honest with you. It would really mean a lot to me if the families of -” you paused, choosing your words carefully, “- the three girls we’ve been talking to you about could get closure.”
“How do you mean?” asked Matthews, leaning back and crossing his arms.
“I just mean, they don’t know what happened to them, you know? And if we could tell them that whatever happened to them, it was a misunderstanding, and the person who did it feels bad, I think that would help a lot.”
Matthews’ beady, swollen eye twitched at that. “Feels bad?”
Oh, fuck.
“Sorry, I don’t know if bad is the right word, just that they didn’t want that to happen. For them to die.”
He paused. Seemed to make a decision.
"Who said I didn't want them to die?"
You had misjudged him - in that moment, you knew that. You had assumed the fatal ends to the encounters with his victims were born out of shame. That he felt remorse. That he didn’t want to mutilate and discard their bodies, and that the purposeful distractions from his true psychological profile had been a desperate attempt of an unintelligent man to throw the police off his trail. He was a creep, he was a stalker, he was obsessive and dangerous, and he was unintelligent. But he was also a sadist.
Realizing how pathetically unprepared you were to deal with this new diagnosis, you pushed back from the table and moved to stand - slowly, like you were trying to avoid startling a wild animal. Trying. But it all happened so fast.
Matthews shot up from his seat the instant you did - uncuffed, because he wasn’t supposed to be a threat, not like this - and grabbed you by the neck, dragging you across the table, scraping your legs against the hard metal edges. You screamed for help (really just screamed Hotch’s name over and over) until he had you too tight and you couldn’t anymore. Your hair was in your face, obscuring your vision, but you heard the door crash open seconds after he moved. He wrenched you closer to him, trapping you in the crook of one elbow, cutting off your breathing. More than cutting off your breathing, he was squeezing, much harder than he needed to simply choke you, and amidst the haze of your hair in your face and the blood rushing in your ears and the muffled sounds of Hotch and Morgan yelling, you had the wild thought that he might actually detach your head from your shoulders.
They can’t shoot, you thought, your last clear notion before your mind started to go fuzzy. He had you too close; the space was too small. A loud crash, presumably the table being launched against a wall, cut through the pounding in your head. You felt a sharp jerk - Matthews trying to move away - a sickening, dull crack, and the vice holding your throat was released. You dropped forward onto your hands and knees, hacking desperately, tears streaming onto the ground.
Morgan grabbed you by the shoulders and sat you up. “You ok? Hey, look at me, you ok? Can you breathe? Breathe for me, ok, come on.”
Coughing out a raspy, “Yes,” you pushed your hair out of your eyes and wiped your sleeve through the snot and mascara streaking your face. You looked to your left, trying to see what happened to Matthews, and nearly stopped breathing again.
He was dead, collapsed into a pile on the floor like sodden laundry. There was no blood, no apparent evidence of what happened, until you looked to his head and saw how grossly contorted his neck was. You looked up at Hotch in shock, who was standing over the body, hair askew, breathing heavily.
He broke his fucking neck.
Morgan could’ve done it, of course, but by the way Hotch looked up and met your eyes, you knew that wasn’t the case.
They gathered you up and wrapped you in a jacket. You saw paramedics almost immediately who cleared you medically (“No permanent tracheal damage, just expect bruising and soreness.”), met with internal investigators who questioned you about the incident, spoke to the rest of the team on a video call, spent 20 minutes on the phone with Garcia trying to reassure her between coughing fits that you were all alright, and finally, you were cleared to leave. The whole time, though, you were paying less and less attention to what was going on around you and more time thinking about the way Hotch looked when you looked him in the face.
You knew he had to have killed before; working this job for as long as he did made that a certainty. What you didn’t expect to see on his face was a complete lack of remorse. Disgust, even. He looked down at Matthews like he was scum, his lip curled and his jaw set. It was only when you made eye contact that you saw the slightest bit of emotion, of panic, before they whisked you away.
Morgan interrupted your cyclical musing. “You need someone to stay with you?”
Right, he was dropping you off at your hotel room.
“No, thank you Morgan,” you whispered, throat feeling more raw by the minute. “I’ll be okay.”
Morgan looked unconvinced but refrained from debating you. “Alright, but you know to call if you need anything, right?”
You nodded and managed a small smile. “Thank you.”
____________
Later that day, you took a commercial flight back, alone. Morgan and Hotch were staying for a few more days to finish closing the case, but they insisted you go home and rest. You were too drained to argue.
When you closed your eyes to sleep that night, in your own apartment, you expected to see Matthews, jeering at you from across the table. You expected to feel his arms wrap around your throat, to smell his stench, to wake up in a cold sweat thinking he was standing over you, ready to attack you again.
None of those things happened. In fact, when you closed your eyes, Matthews wasn’t the man you saw at all.
170 notes · View notes
dxrkvibes23 · 3 years
Text
⎨Glasses ⎨
Requested: yes, also I’m sorry it took so long. I wrote it, then decided I didn’t like it, then went back and re-wrote it. I also might’ve changed the prompt just slightly to make it flow better 😂 but here it is! Hope you like it! @gpiggy98
Warnings: none
Word Count: 1,147
It was prom season for the students of West Valley High. The planning committee, which included Y/N, (who only did it because ever best friend Ali was doing it) Ali, obviously, and (because he was forced into it) Johnny Lawrence. They had decided on an ‘Under the Sea’ theme, which was going to require a ton of blue ribbon and blue banners.
“Seems pretty lame, doesn’t it, glasses?” Johnny said as he stood up after the bell rang. “Can you stop calling me that? Just because I wear glasses, doesn’t mean you have to point it out all the time.” Y/N said, standing up. She avoided looking over at Johnny. She had had a crush on him since middle school, but honestly she thought he hated her. He always teased her, only because she wore glasses.
According to him, she looked like a nerd, had four eyes, and on occasion he would tell how much hotter she would look if she didn’t wear them. It’s not like she had a choice though. She needed them to see. She couldn’t just take them off because some boy told her too.
“Mmm actually I feel like I do have too.” Johnny said, slipping his bright red jacket on, which now seemed to be missing the usual ‘cobra kai ‘ snake patch that was usually on it. He gave her a smirk and pushed her glasses up higher on her nose as he walked past her, before he walked out of the room.
“If you ignore him, I’m sure he’ll stop teasing you.” Ali said as she grabbed her books from off the floor, then waited for you to grab yours before the two of you walked out together.
“Yeah I’m sure. But, it’s not as easy as it looks. He’s in almost all of my classes. Plus, hes like the cutest guy in the entire school.” Y/N said exasperatedly, as the team began to walk towards the gym, her and Ali joining not far behind.
They walked into the gym, observing the space they had to decorate, imagining in their heads what would go where.
“If you wanna start decorating the walls, I’ll start putting the banners and stuff on.” Y/N said as she grabbed one of the ladders out of the utility closet.
“That’s fine by me.” Ali said, handing Y/N one of the banners. Y/N took it from her and climbed up the ladder.
“Hey, Ali? Can you hand me some ta-.” Before she couldn’t finish her sentence, Y/N felt her left foot slip off of the ladder. She couldn’t catch herself, since both of her hands were full, and it was too fast to process the fact that she could’ve let go.
Her heart started beating as she felt herself fall backwards. She expected to hit the ground, but instead, was caught, by a much softer landing. A pair of arms. Strong arms. She looked up and blushed when she saw who had caught her. They were Johnny’s arms.
She tried wiggling out of his arms, not only feeling embarrassed about falling, but she also felt embarrassed about blushing like that.
“Hey. You can’t just leave me now.” Johnny said, a soft smirk playing on his lips. “I-..” Y/N tried to say something, but her face felt hot. She used her fingers to adjust the collar of her shirt, then cleared her throat before speaking again.
“I have to get back to decorating.” She stated simply. “You have to? Right now? I don’t think so. After that cute blush-“ he started to say but was cut off by her.
“Cute? You-you thought it was cute?” She stammered. Johnny laughed. “Yeah! Of course. If only you didn’t wear glasses, maybe then I could see how cute your blush actually is.” He said as he set you down on your feet.
Y/N rolled her eyes. There it was again. His normal attitude. “Yeah sure, Lawrence. Your probably just upset. You wanna be a player, but im probably the only girl that you’ve ever made blush.” Y/N said as she pushed Johnny away from her then stormed off.
Johnny didn’t wanna leave their conversation on a low note, so he decided to follow after her. “YN! Y/N wait! I’ll help you, if you want.” He offered. She ignored him, pretending not to see or hear him.
Ali gave her a sideways glance. “What happened between the two of you?” She asked. Y/N raised an eyebrow as if she were confused. “What? The two of us? Nothing. I don’t know what your talking about.” She stated. Trying to lie about it.
Y/N moved to the other side of the gym, trying to get away from Johnny, but to no avail. She turned around, only to run right into him. “Geez..” she muttered as she dusted her shirt off. Still, she didn’t say anything to him.
“No, Y/N Cmon. Your blush really is cute. It’s the cutest blush I’ve ever seen.” He said, whipping around quickly, his blonde bangs hitting him in the face.
It wasn’t until he came up behind her, that she finally acknowledged his presence. He reached over and took her glasses off her face, then held his hand above his head so she couldn’t reach.
“Seriously, Johnny?! Give those back! I need them to see!” She said, trying to jump up and reach them. The height difference was too dramatic though. It was never gonna work.
“Talk to me and I’ll give them back to you.” He said. Y/N shook her head, but didn’t say anything, not wanting to loose this ‘argument’ between the two of them.
She tried jumping up another time to grab them, but just failed again. She sighed, looking down at her shoes, before looking back up, accidentally making eye contact with him.
She blushed, yet again, cursing herself for doing so. Her heart started beating faster, and she swore she saw him lean in. She decided to take the chance. There wasn’t anything to loose, right?
She closed her eyes and leaned in, their lips meeting eachother in a gentle, yet satisfying kiss. He placed the glasses back onto her ears, so that he could wrap his arms around her instead.
It was nice, though Y/N would never admit that. She was too stubborn. His lips were soft and sweet. Sure, she had daydreamed about kissing him, but she never thought it would happen.
Her hands played with his short hair before they both pulled away, blushing and smiling. John y smirked. “So, you believe me when I say I think your cute now?”
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teatime-scans · 3 years
Text
WPS Chapter 10 Text Translations
After a long time of waiting, we’ve finally been given a new chapter of WPS! Here’s the text tl’s for said chapter, hope you enjoy! Translation: Manaphy TLC: Holmes
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Page 0
Big left text: Morofushi arc!
Left side text: A man carrying a passionate sense of justice, while wearing a peaceful smile. What is the fury hidden in his own heart...? 
Right side text: A justice burning silently... Azure flames!!
Detective Conan Police Academy Arc Wild Police Story
Original Work: Aoyama Gosho Artist: Arai Takahiro
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Page 1
Upper note: The long-awaited Morofushi Arc begins...!
SFX: Fwooosh
Date: Stop it! Date: Morofushi!
Matsuda: You won’t make it in time anymore!
Hagiwara: Come back!
Amuro: H...
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Page 2
Detective Conan Police Academy Arc Wild Police Story
Amuro: Hirooo!
Text: Ignoring his comrades’ voices, the man dives into the raging flames...
Side Note: Together with an ultra-gorgeous and super-complete benefit! The First Volume will go on sale during the 18th November! 
CASE 10. Sow evil and reap evil Original Work: Aoyama Gosho Artist: Arai Takahiro
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Page 3
Box: 3 hours earlier Matsuda: R’lly now... SFX: Scrub
Matsuda: How come the bathroom’s so dirty? Date: That’s what I told you, right?
Date: During the dry run for the Sports festival happening this weekend... Date: Guys from all the classes were covered in mud... Date: On top of that, they did it under the rain yesterday, so... Box: Date Wataru (22)
Amuro: That reminds me, the class flag design you made for the sports festival, Hiro... Amuro: Was really stylish! Morofushi: Thanks! Box: Furuya Rei (22)
Morofushi: Well, I did think that doing a cherry blossom design... Morofushi: Was somehow cliché for the police, though... Box: Morofushi Hiromitsu (22)
Hagiwara: If I’m right, it was finished and delivered this morning, right? Matsuda: Yup! Matsuda: As you see... Box: Hagiwara Kenji (22)
Matsuda: I’m carrying it... Matsuda: Close to myself! Box: Matsuda Jinpei (22)
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Page 4
Matsuda: Ta-daaah! SFX: Extend Banner: Onizuka Class - Cherry Blossom Riot - Instructor : Onizuka Hachizou - Assistant Instructor : Matsumoto Shouta
Hagiwara: The colors are nice too! ♪ Morofushi: Right? Amuro: I’m excited for the Sports Festival! Date: Hm?
Date: Cat footprints...? Date: And it stinks a bit...
Matsuda: That’s right! As I hung it out outside the window to boast in front of the guys from other classes... Matsuda: It got blown away by the wind... and on top of that...! Matsuda: A stray cat whose paws stepped on a shit walked over the flag...
Matsuda: When I tried to catch that cat with Hagi, he scratched me, and now look at this mess... Hagiwara: So that’s why that cat was stinking...
Matsuda: And so, just when I was about to bring it to Tomori geezer’s cleaning shop... Matsuda: We got summoned by Oni-jerk... SFX: Squeeze
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Onizuka: I think you guys have noticed it as well, but... Onizuka: Complaints from other instructors have been coming too...
Onizuka: That recently, the bathroom and dressing room are too filthy... Date: Wait, that’s not only our faul- Onizuka: Therefore!
Onizuka: In the one week until the Sports festival ends... Onizuka: I decided to have the five of you clean the bathroom every day!
All: Huh?!
Amuro: I-Instructor Onizuka... Morofushi: However you put it, that’s... Onizuka: Come on... I’m saying that I’m giving you a chance to make up for... Onizuka: All the evil deeds you committed up to now...
Hagiwara: All the evil deeds? Onizuka: I won’t let you say that you forgot!
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Page 6
Onizuka: On top of slipping out from your rooms in the dead of the night and fighting by punching each other... Onizuka: You got your stories straight and gave a false testimony in order to hide it!
Onizuka: You gathered a lot of classmates in a convenience store... Onizuka: And scuffled with a group of robbers!
Onizuka: And not only did you drive a vehicle of your own accord, even though it’s prohibited for students... Onizuka: After doing an eccentric car chase, you completely damaged the precious car my acquaintance entrusted me with... Onizuka: Furthermore...
Onizuka: You also used a gun without permission... Matsuda: Y... Matsuda: You bas... SFX: Whisper
Matsuda: But that saved your life, goddammit! Onizuka: Anyway!
Onizuka: I order the five of you to clean the bathroom and dressing room during one week! Onizuka: If you shirk even one day, I’ll have you get out of this school, Onizuka: So get ready!
Onizuka: Over! Onizuka: Without delay, start it now! Morofushi: ?!
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Page 7
Morofushi: ...
Onizuka: Ah, that's a picture of a primary schoolgirl who was reported missing yesterday night in this jurisdiction. Onizuka: I heard she hasn’t gone home ever since going out on an errand... Hiromitsu: ....
Onizuka: What’s up? Morofushi... Onizuka: Do you know this child? Morofushi: Ah, no.. Morofushi: I only happened to see her downtown a short while ago...
Morofushi: Is it fine if I take this with me? Morofushi: Since I might recall something... Onizuka: Sure, I don’t mind!
Onizuka: Well, I’ll go check on you later, so... Onizuka: Before the bathing time at 17:00, be done with the cleaning!
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Page 8
Matsuda: Jeez, ‘till when is this gonna take?
Matsuda: The bathroom’s still so dirty, and yet...
Matsuda: We didn’t touch... Matsuda: The dressing room at all...
Matsuda: At this rate, if we keep taking it easy... Matsuda: It’s gonna be bad, y’know?
Matsuda: How ‘bout we do it while talking about something more exciting? Hagiwara: Exciting, huh...?
Hagiwara: That reminds me, Morofushi-chan... Hagiwara: That little girl on the missing report you were looking at just now... Hagiwara: Isn’t there something about her? Morofushi: Eh?
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Page 9
Date: Indeed... Date: Just because you saw her in the street, that reaction was strange, right? Morofushi: Ah, yeah, that child...
Morofushi: She looked just like a little girl I used to play a lot with when I was a kid... Morofushi: Well, that girl back then died from an illness, but... Morofushi: There’s something bothering me...
Amuro: If it’s your childhood friend, does it mean that I also met that little girl? Morofushi: No... Morofushi: Since it happened back when I was in Nagano...
Matsuda: Now that sounds interesting! Date: Go ahead and tell us about that story! Hagiwara: We’d listen to anything!
Morofushi: In... Morofushi: In fact...
Morofushi: Ah, but... Morofushi: That story isn’t interesting at all, so...
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Page 10
Matsuda: Aaah, damn it! Matsuda: I’m done, I’m done!
Morofushi: Eh? Matsuda: Since Zero asked me to wait until you bring it out yourself... Matsuda: I was holding back, but... Matsuda: I can’t keep with that anymore!
Matsuda: You’re searching for the criminal who killed your Dad and Mom, right? Morofushi: Eeeh?!
Matsuda: And because the little girl from that missing report... Matsuda: Looks related to that case, you’re at a loss... Matsuda: That wrong?!
Morofushi: R-Right... Morofushi: That’s right, but... Morofushi: I can’t!
Morofushi: This is a case I absolutely have to solve myself... Morofushi: I don’t want to involve anybody else anymore... Morofushi: If someone ends up dying again...
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Page 11
Group: We won't die!
Date: Until now, we've been...
Matsuda: Crossing risky bridges non-stop, but...
Furuya: When it’s the five of us...
Hagiwara: We’ve always pulled through, right?
Matsuda: So talk to us, boss Hiro... Matsuda: We won’t do you bad, y’know... Morofushi: ...
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Page 12
Morofushi: Pft- Morofushi: “We won’t do you bad”... Morofushi: That’s a villain-esque line, right?
Furuya: That's true... Date: Cruel Bailiffs do say that a lot... Hagiwara: Since Jinpei-chan is rooted in evil! ♡ Matsuda: Shut your mouths! Hiromitsu: ...
Morofushi: Understood! Morofushi: I’ll tell you...
Morofushi: About that night of dismay... Morofushi: which made my inner clock's hands freeze in place...
Morofushi: Enshrouded in that stench of steel... Morofushi: 15 years ago from now...
 Left Side Text: Continues in SS #49
Right Side Text: Morofushi’s past, revealed... Next issue.
49 notes · View notes
daechwita-bitch · 4 years
Text
A Devil’s Deal (Part 2)
Pairings: Taehyung x Reader, Yugyeom (GOT7) x Reader (blink and you’ll miss it lol) Warnings: SMUTTT, possessive/yandere taehyung, fucking in the back seat on a car with the partition rolled up cos i’m totally not cliche like that lol
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Previous Chapter || Next Chapter
Note: Sorry for the long wait but commitment ain’t my thing and writing is hard. Hope yall enjoyed this chapter is a bit longer and more spicy and adds more context to the story looool
Taehyung watched as his wife starts to smile. “Nice seeing you again Yugyeom.”
Flashback
Y/N left her class, yawning from the stress of the night before. She smiles as she discovers who is waiting for her at the end of the hallway. “Wow, even when you’re a mess you still look stunning.” She rolls her eyes, laughing “Oh stop you little fucker.”
Yugyeom laughs as he puts his arm around her shoulder. “So, what’s the verdict?” Y/N ponders the question, then shrugs. “Performing is the dream, but the classes sure do suck dick.” He rolls his eyes “Of course they do.” She punches him in the arm playfully. “Hey! I haven’t seen you attending your supposed workshops lately. Aren’t they meant to determine, oh I don’t know, your final GPA?” He shrugs “Been busy. You know, college isn’t everything Y/N. You get an opportunity that can change your life, and you chase it until you get it. That’s what I’m going, I guess you could say.” She raises an eyebrow, but chuckle. “That’s a great excuse.”
He suddenly stops in his tracks, eyes serious. “I’m just being honest with you, Y/N. Sometimes, you have to take the leap. And if that means risking everything... You have to.” Her smile fades, clearly confused “What are you talking about? Is everything ok?” His smile returns and he leans over, planting a kiss on her cheek. “Don’t worry about me. You’ll be fine.” He straightens up, bids his farewell as he usually does and heads back to his dorm. Y/N tilts her head, slightly surprised at what just happened, a blush slowly developing on her cheeks. That was the last time she saw her first love.
Present Day
Taehyung reaches over and slams the door after Y/N entered the car, seething as she flinches at the action. “You didn’t tell me you knew him.” Y/N raises an eyebrow “I didn’t think it would matter!”
He balls his hands into fists. “Do you not know who he is?! What he’s capable of?”
She straightens up, baffled at his comment. “Architecture, maybe? We were seniors in college together! What is going on Taehyung?”
He runs a hand through his hair, sighing in frustration. Of course GOT7 had a weakness against him. Someone to test his limits, to make him squirm. Or try to.
They were the anarchists. The ones trying in all this peace that Taehyung had created, to destroy it. They were the only ones on the same level as his organisation. And he hated it.
He felt himself suddenly lose control as he growls, pulling her forcefully onto his lap. Before she could ask him what he was doing, he smashed his lips to hers. Her eyes widened before fluttering shut, relaxing into him and he clicks his fingers, signalling the driver to roll up the partition. Y/N melts into his touch, totally under his control.
He lets his fingers float up her back, reaching towards her hair to yank it back. He sucks a mark into her neck alongside the almost faded ones, murmuring against your neck. “Time to remind you who you belong to. Before it all goes to hell.” As she opens her mouth to reply, he delivers a spank to her ass harshly, making her cry out. “You do not get to speak. If you make a sound, you don’t get to cum.” Y/N nearly whimpers but remembers the rule, gripping his shoulders. She lets him pull up her dress, as she reaches down to unbuckle his pants. “Always so desperate, so needy for me. You have always belonged to me, you know? You were conceived to be mine, to rule by me. My fucking queen.” She bites her lip to hide her smile. His possessiveness always felt so sweet to her, and Y/N was so lucky to have him to belong to.
She lets him slip her panties to the side, whining as the head of his cock slides against her folds. “Already so wet for me, hm baby?” She bites her lip, trying to obey the rule. He chuckles “Answer me baby.” She exhales shakily “Y-Yes daddy.” He smirks before lifting Y/N up, almost winding her as he slams into her at full force. She shrieks and he spanks her for it. “Make a sound when I fucking tell you to, remember?” She shakily swallows, trying to adjust to his length. She start to bounce on his cock, creating a steady rhythm. He grips her hips, groaning as he nibbles on her earlobe. “We only have 10 minutes. You better be quick to cum baby girl.” She bites her lip in an attempt to swallow the whimper building in her throat. She bounces a little harder, the only sounds being his soft grunts and the slaps of skin on skin. He growls in her ear. “Whatever happens, you’re mine. Remember that.” The grip on Y/N’s hips gets harder and she thinks of the bruises forming in a few hours max.
After a few minutes, she can already feel herself getting close, clenching around him as warning. He place a hand on her throat, adding pressure, knowing that tips his wife over the edge. He uses the grip to bring her closer to him so he can whisper. “Fucking scream for me. You’ve been so good.” His words and lack of oxygen make her topple over the edge, feeling her squeeze around him more than humanly possible as she orgasms, yelping and moaning obscenities. “O-oh Tae...”
He instantly signals Y/N to get off his lap and kneel in front him, the lack of space uncomfortable. But she understands instantly as she sees him jerking himself quickly, and she opens her mouth patiently, eyes boring into his. He throws his head back, his hair sticky to his face as he cums in her mouth and on her face. Y/N closes your eyes, the taste bitter but always so sweet to her. She swallows obediently, smiling to herself as she watches him get his bearings, realising the limo was coming to a stop. She pulls her dress down quickly as he buckles his pants, as she helps her back onto her chair. The door opens as the driver waits patiently for the both of them to get out, Y/N avoiding eye contact with him as if he hadn’t already drove them when they were fucking in the backseat like rabbits before. They both walk together, Tae’s hand again protective on her waist, as they walk the steps up to the penthouse building.
On the other side of town, in a sleazy motel, Yugyeom walks into his room. An unfamiliar setting to the one he’s used to back in his part of the city, but for a good reason. He grabs his laptop, grabbing his headset in his bag as he relaxes, calling Jackson, answering all his questions. “Yes. I saw them. She’s real. Taehyung has really been hiding her for a while, huh? Yeah I know. Don’t worry though. She’ll be easy to figure out. We’ve found his Achilles heel at least, and a pretty one at that.” He lets a knowing smirk on his face as he glances to the Polaroid picture he carries everywhere on his bedside table of Y/N candidly smiling, his arm draped over her shoulder.
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Text
Study Buddies ~ H.D.
A/n: Yall really be liking Hamish huh? Lol we stan tbh.
Request: “Hi could I request a hamish duke x male reader where the reader is like the super studious person like always preparing for the next test or something and hamish starts liking him? Ps you are like the only person who does the order fics and I love that you do it because I love the order boys!!” by anonymous
Word Count: 3000+
Masterlist
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Psychology was hard.
School was never one of those things that came easy to Y/n. He wasn't one of those kids who could sit there and give the bare minimum effort. He struggled to follow throughout an entire lecture because the sun was bright and the grass was really green and he knew it was a nice day outside today and... wait now he'd missed five minutes of class, dang it!
In college, five minutes was like missing three days of school. The topic was suddenly completely different and Y/n was lost and confused.
That didn't stop him from being a top student in each one of his classes though. He had always been proud of his grades and worked himself near death if necessary, if it meant getting an A. Not literally near death of course, that was dramatic.
Y/n had taught himself time management at a very young age. It had been the key to his success ever since. He slept and ate food - three meals a day - and even kept a job, taking every free moment he had to study his ass off so that he knew what was going on and could deliver the proof with those beautiful red A's on the top of each of his papers.
Y/n really did study so much to get those results though. On his breaks at work, between classes, before and after school, during meals and off periods. He even quizzed himself in the bathroom and the shower, checking to make sure he'd gotten it right when he got out. It was hard and tiring, but it meant that he succeeded every time, and that's what was important.
He was a good student. His psychology teacher's TA, Hamish Duke, was very appreciative of it.
Hamish was around a lot more than the teacher was. He taught lectures and even graded papers. This class had long since been seen as Hamish’s class, and that was perhaps why it was so easy for him to slip every conversation into the direction of Y/n. Hamish was proud of all his students, but most often his star pupil.
Hamish talked about Y/n constantly. Or, more accurately, his grades. Like a proud parent showing off his child, Hamish filled his friends' ears with rant after rant about his favorite student. The only student that seemed genuinely knowledgeable about the material. The only student as well who turned in his stuff early and asked questions rather than just listening, and seemed dedicated and focused on everything, as Hamish said.
One day during one of these rants, Lilith said something that changed everything. "He likes you."
Hamish jerked back, his face twisting in disbelief. "What? No he doesn't."
Randall snorted. "No, I have to go with Lilith on this one, Hamish. I have math class with Y/n and he doesn't pay attention at all. He's just a super nerd and teaches the stuff to himself in his free time."
"Some boy doesn't pay attention in any class but Hamish's?" Jack laughed. "Dude so has a crush on you."
Rolling his eyes, Hamish stood. "You guys obviously have no sense of respect. Sorry, I forgot who I was talking to- I already knew that." The trio laughed as Hamish walked away.
After that though, Hamish became hyper aware of Y/n. The boy had his eyes on Hamish nonstop. Every once in a while, he'd even mutter under his breath as he'd watch and Hamish realized after a while that he was watching so closely, he was subconsciously mouthing along with Hamish. Probably because he read the book on his own time as well. Which made Hamish wonder why Y/n ever came to class. If he read the book, was he just... adding some context? Insight? So he asked Randall about it.
"Y/n only comes to class about half the time. The entire time he asks questions, but it's never about what's happened in previous classes or anything- just clarification about what we're learning now. I think he's got some theories? I don't know, he likes to test the water and push formulas. Our teacher actually gets a kick off of it. Y/n makes math fun, and... well, it's math. We all get happy when he's there."
So he might have stayed consistent with his insatiable need to deeply understand everything he took part in, but there was something different about Randall's experience from Hamish's. First of all, Y/n had never missed even a single one of Hamish's classes. Hamish knew because he had a perfect attendance record, and Hamish and the teacher - Ms. Merrill - talked about Y/n around their discussion on the newest lesson plan, batch of tests or even homework.
While Hamish was trying to ignore the thought of Y/n's possible feelings for him and teach a lesson instead, Y/n threw him off by approaching him after class. "Mr. Duke, I was wondering if you know any good tutors. I've been really struggling with the stuff we've been going over recently.
Hamish quirked an eyebrow. "Your grades are almost perfect."
There was a small smile on Y/n's lips when he spoke next. "Unfortunately, grades don't reflect understanding. I can sense myself starting to struggle I don't want to depend on luck being as good to me as it has been."
"Surely you're being modest."
A light chuckle. "Well, yes. I never depend on luck. I have been making educated guesses though and crossing my fingers on the rest."
That Hamish could relate to. "I see. I have to say, I don't really know anyone doing as well in my class as you are. No one who seems to be getting it as well as you do at least. It's mostly your questions that seem to clear up a lot of things for everyone else." Y/n seemed to lose hope as Hamish spoke. Maybe it was the look of panic that caused Hamish to speak next. "Uh, maybe I could." Y/n's eyes widened. "I just- I mean, obviously I understand it a little better. And in a one-on-one setting, it'll be less a lecture and more teaching since I'll be able to take you through my understanding on a deeper level."
"You'd do that?" Y/n looked so hopeful...
Despite the little voice screaming at Hamish to run, he couldn't bring himself to. "Yeah. When are you free?"
"I work everyday except Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Wednesdays I have completely free but if you wanted to work around Tuesday or Saturday that would be fine." Y/n pulled out a pen from behind his ear. Hamish hadn't noticed it before.
Hamish shuffled. He felt awkward for some reason. Why did he feel awkward? "Wednesdays will be perfectly fine for me. Should I get your number so we can decide what time and place?" Y/n nodded before holding out the pen and offering... his arm. "You don't have paper?"
Y/n rolled his eyes, but his smile was fond not mocking. "I really have to get to work actually. Could you just-?" He motioned to his arm and Hamish shrugged before trying to be delicate as he inked his number on the inside of Y/n's arm. "Thanks! I'll call you." He turned and moved quite quickly out of the room before disappearing out the doors. It was only after Y/n was gone that Hamish realized he still had the pen.
It was fine, he could give it back when they met up to study later.
Later on in the day, Hamish was still struggling to understand why he was so excited for the Wednesday study session. I mean Y/n seemed really cool so maybe Hamish just wanted to be friends with him. That made sense. But right as Hamish thought he was finally over it, it popped back in his brain again and he felt weirdly jittery and unfocused. He kept having to reread the problem he was on because he would get distracted before he could answer it then forget what it was when he finally focused again.
Lilith snapped her book open. "Okay, what's your deal?" The other two boys looked over. Hamish was surprised when he went to look at who she'd snapped at and had seen them all looking at him. When he only looked back confused, Lilith rolled her eyes. "Come on Hamish spill the beans. You won't sit still and you keep looking outside like you're waiting for a package to arrive or something."
"The last time he got like that was when you took him online shopping and he bought a grey v-neck. He threw a party when it came." The tease came from Randall.
"The he cried when you threw up on it," Lilith recalled.
"He CRIED?" Jack's eyes widened in amusement.
"It made my eyes look really good and that stain never came out!" Hamish exclaimed, defending himself.
Lilith shut up the others as they began to laugh. "Anyway, what has you all messed up now?”
Hamish scoffed. "Nothing could be as cool as a gray v-neck. You still owe me a replacement by the way," he shot at Randall, who winked and grinned in response.
"Hamish," Lilith snapped.
Pursing his lips, Hamish hesitated. Then he sighed. "There's only one thing I've got planned and it's not a big deal." Everyone leaned forward. When he didn't explain Randall motioned him to continue. Hamish rolled his eyes. "Y/n asked for some help-"
"You have a date with Y/n?" Jack demanded, his grin already face splitting.
"It's not a date!" Hamish slammed his own book shut. "He just needs someone to study with. He seems to be struggling."
Randall snorted, wiggling his eyebrows. "Probably because he's so distracted by Mr. Teacher."
Lilith nodded in agreement. "Sounds like a study date to me."
Waving his hand to dismiss what they were saying, Hamish stood and moved to the bar. Maybe if he drank something he could make sense of the chaos. Both of his friends and the one that was made up of his emotions. He usually handled both plenty well but they seemed to be refusing to make sense today. "You guys are idiots."
Idiots or not, their words followed Hamish all the way to Wednesday. He and Y/n only texted once to establish the time and place and it was just as professional as their conversation in person had been, but that didn't stop Hamish's mind from going wild. For the first time since Cassie he felt... stupid. He didn't know what to do or say. He found himself wanting to text Y/n more, but couldn't find a reason to. Why was this messing him up so much?
Panicked, Hamish pulled Randall aside at the last second. "I am freaking out."
"Your thing with Y/n today?" Randall asked. Hamish just wordlessly nodded. Randall smiled. "You like him, don't you?" Hamish was stubborn, but he wasn't dumb. He closed his eyes, groaning. "You have for a while?" Randall continued. "Like even before we said anything."
Hamish thought about that for a second. He thought about Ms. Merrill teasing him about how much he talked about Y/n. How she would hand him all Y/n's papers and tests to grade. He thought about the smiles on people's faces when he mentioned Y/n at all. He thought of the warmth in his gut he'd passed off as pride this whole time but, on a second look, was obviously something more. "Yeah." He frowned as he focused on Randall again. "Why did it take me so long to realize?"
Randall smiled. "You're stubborn. Once you've set your mind it'll never be changed. Whatever it was - whether you mislabeled the emotion, or the relationship between you guys, or even you or Y/n as people. Once you labeled it, you weren't going to be swayed until someone forced you to."
"Thank you Lilith," Hamish mumbled, feigning bitterness. Randall laughed. After a second, Hamish asked, "What now?"
Clapping Hamish on the shoulder, Randall let out a heavy sigh. "Now you go to this study date and you woo the boy. Duh."
So that's what Hamish did. He met up with Y/n and recognized the swell in his chest when he saw him. The way his stomach twisted. Now that he knew what it was, he was nervous rather than excited. Why was it suddenly so hard to talk to someone once you liked them?
They were already acquainted. Y/n had seen Hamish in all kinds of conditions, if not all but his worst. They knew plenty about each other, if just in passing. They'd talked plenty of times. They'd even been alone a few times, in a setting just like this. Y/n had been there when Hamish had been a disaster while trying to adjust to fully teaching a class instead of just doing grunt work. He'd helped Hamish out even, instead of teasing him or messing with him like the others students tried to do. What did Hamish have to be afraid of? Y/n trusted Hamish with his grades and education, and that seemed to mean a lot to him. Hamish trusted Y/n too. To tell the truth. To guide and help when he was struggling, and to liven things up when it got boring. It shouldn't have been hard to just talk to him.
And yet.
Y/n placed a hand on Hamish's arm. "Hey, are you okay? You seem upset." Hamish looked at him and realized how close together they were. Not too close, like friends, but far closer than they'd ever been before.
He didn't know what possessed him. It would have been better to break the ice. Maybe bring it up casually and talk about it. Flirt or tease. Anything to transition or something. Hamish skipped all of that. In his little moment of panic, he just leaned in right for the kiss.
And Y/n jerked away.
Hamish nearly choked. "I- I'm so sorry-"
Blush swallowed Y/n's face. "You were going to kiss me, right? I didn't misread that?"
"Yes." Hamish white knuckled his pencil. "I should have lead into that. You just- have these really pretty eyes-" He chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand.
"You... I'm sorry you just took me by surprise." Y/n rubbed his forehead. "Please don't tell me you thought I asked for your help because I liked you." Hamish's smile fell and he tried to find something to say, but Y/n looked uncomfortable and he was afraid he'd make it worse.  "Hamish, I meant what I said when I inquired for help. You suggested doing it yourself. I don't... like you like that. Honestly I'm about to take a short leave for a few days and didn't want to get behind so I thought I'd get some clarification on some things I've been studying on my own."
Hamish felt like an idiot. "Oh."
"Yeah," Y/n returned softly.
"I'm... so sorry," Hamish breathed out. "Honestly I was talking about you to my friends because I admire your hard work and good grades and how you engage in class and make it fun, and they messed up my head." He shook his head, trying to clear it. "How about we ignore all of that and focus on school? I'm sure you still need help."
Y/n paused, a smile growing on his face. "I'd like that. I don't think I could get anyone as good as you to help me with this."
The awkward tension passed in a few moments as they got absorbed in work. The problem was, as Hamish easily lost himself in teaching, Y/n was now the one who found himself distracted. Hamish had a really nice smile and the sun reflected off his eyes and hair and made him look like he was almost glowing. Y/n hadn't noticed it before, but now... thinking about Hamish kissing him. How Hamish might like him. Might have been thinking about him and wondering. Getting up the courage for this little thing, and how he hadn't run away to save his pride because he valued Y/n's need enough to push away his own feelings.
They parted on good terms, shaking hands after a pause. Then they gathered their stuff and went their separate ways.
Hamish refused to talk about the "date" with Y/n, no matter how much his friends begged and prodded. Not even Lilith could pry anything from him. When Y/n didn't show up for class, Hamish figured he was gone for his little break. A break that lasted for a week and a half. Every class without Y/n was super boring and seemed to teach no one anything. Students all stared at him like he was speaking another language, and everyone refused to ask any questions. No jokes or engagement at all. He understood what Randall had meant by everyone getting excited when Y/n came to class now.
It was right after the next class Y/n hadn't been at that the man himself suddenly appeared. He looked determined about something, walking to Hamish quickly. Hamish was at the back of the room, trying to pull himself together and lift his spirits as he worried yet again that he was maybe just a bad teacher and Y/n was the one who made people stay and come at all. It was then that Y/n barged in and walked right up to him, cutting him off int he middle of greeting him and asking what he needed to grab him by the shirt and pull him into a kiss.
Without hesitation, Hamish kissed back. He held Y/n's face as the other boy pulled them as close together as they could get. When they parted, they'd moved a little so that Y/n was sitting on Hamish's desk, Hamish between his legs. "Whoa," Hamish whispered, both stunned by the kiss and their current position.
Y/n exhaled a sharp breath. "You asshole. I've been thinking about you nonstop for MONTHS and you finally try and kiss me right when I'm getting over you. Then I'm gone and all I can think about is you again and I miss you and your stupid class and your hair and eyes and your voice and how much I wanted you to kiss me so guess who's back early because I need you to kiss me? GUESS."
Hamish chuckled, soft but for quite a while. Y/n shoves him, but before he can go off again Hamish is already kissing him for the second time. Both boys relaxed and melted into each other. "Hey," Hamish whispered.
"Hi," Y/n whispered back.
The older boy's thumb brushed over Y/n's cheek. "Let me take you on a real date."
Biting his lip to try and contain his smile, Y/n considered. "Only if you agree to be my boyfriend."
Hamish grinned. "Does this mean we can be study buddies all the time?"
"Will you distract me with kisses like you tried to last time?" Y/n asked.
Tilting his head, Hamish avoided answering. "Not... EVERY time..."
Y/n laughed, shaking his head. "Fine. Deal."
"Deal," Hamish agreed. And they kissed again to seal it. Finally.
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onestowatch · 3 years
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Your Grandparents Manifest a Cinematic, Soulful Debut Album With ‘Thru My Window’  [Q&A]
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Photo: Jordan Perez
Inspired by everything from ‘90s boom bap artists like Digable Planets and the Pharcyde to modern funk legends like Outkast and D'Angelo, Your Grandparents have quickly proven themselves to be their generations' torchbearers for the psychedelic soul movement. 
Using a variety of recording techniques to get the desired effect for their genre-blending debut album Thru My Window, the group credits their uniquely cohesive sound to their years-long friendship, which began in their early teens. With their lush grooves, breezy, clear vocals, a sonic aesthetic built on unwavering authenticity, and of course, a deep love for their roots and deep musical traditions passed down from their grandparents, Your Grandparents embodies what it means to be an artist to watch.
Ones To Watch had a chance to talk with the trio, comprised of DaCosta (vocals), Jean Carter (vocals), and Cole, aka ghettoblasterman (producer), to discuss their inspirations and the long days and nights that went into creating their debut album.
When you last spoke to Ones To Watch, it was for the release of your single "So Damn Fly," and now, a year later, here we are talking about the release of your debut album, Thru My Window. How are you all feeling, and what have you learned about yourselves in this last year through the album-making process?
DaCosta: From a personal outlook, I've learned that making music is heavily dependent on my mood, or just how I'm feeling and what's going on in my personal life. When things are a little too stagnant, it's a little harder to write. On the other hand, when things are flowing, and life is being lived, it's easy fuel. It's good fuel. It doesn't burn too quickly.
GBM: I've learned that no idea is too wild. It's usually less wild than I think it is.
Jean: Yeah, it's better to start at the extreme and take away. I realized I feel like a lot of artists feel like they have to put themselves through turmoil or allow certain situations to write meaningful things. Like it's not necessarily good music, but it's something that means a lot to them. I think I realized that that's not the case and inspiration comes in many different forms. It could be a person or something completely random and inanimate that makes you feel something.
What were some of those inspirations?
Jean: Definitely films.
GBM: A lot of films!
Jean: Yeah, we're all pretty big film people. We do all our own videos pretty much, and it just comes from this love of film that we've had that got nurtured in high school. We were blessed enough to have a really dope film program that Sony funded and stuff, and so we got like an impromptu film education before we graduated. So by the time we graduated, we knew how to get our own projects done without reaching out to someone else and then taxing us because they want to hire their friends and all that stuff. So because of that, we had complete creative control. I've also been watching a lot of Korean movies lately. Not during the album—wait, actually, during the album, there were a lot of old kung fu movies and blaxploitation movies from, like, the ‘70s. Also, my friend got me this Curtis Mayfield record, and "So Damn Fly" is definitely heavily influenced by that whole record.
GBM: I feel like the ‘70s in general, the ‘60s and ‘70s, definitely had a big inspiration on the aesthetic and the kind of sound we were going after. Especially with "So Damn Fly" and "Tomorrow" and those kinds of songs.
Do you feel like this album has a linear story the same way a film does, or do you feel like it's more of an anthology of the band's personal experiences?
GBM: It's kind of a mix of both.
Jean: Yeah, it started off as an anthology, and then we pieced together the story, which was largely done by Cole by sitting there and being like, “Hmmm.”
DaCosta: Yeah, it was a lot of Cole dissecting the words and putting them on the tracks.
Jean: When we're writing the words and trying to be free-flowing and expressive and stuff, we're not fully conscious of a bigger picture situation. Instead, Cole is sitting there producing everything and putting in the music and being just more of a listener than anyone else could. So he has the context, and he could find a story that we didn't know we were doing together with our three minds and in our three different lives.
GBM: It's like a puzzle almost, because I'll be sitting there at like 2 a.m. in my bed, listening to the songs, and I'm like, "Ok, Kyle said, that in the hook, so this song has to go before that," and so on and so forth. It's like a storyboard kinda.
Right, to keep the record's "plot" cohesive and self-referential.
GBM: Another big consideration was playlists. I love making playlists, and I know Kyle loves making playlists, too, so it needed to flow. It just has to flow. We didn't want songs that juxtapose each other or have opposite vibes be back to back.
DaCosta: Yeah, I think we even switched around the playlist a couple of times before we had it set in stone.
GBM: There were like fourteen songs originally, and then we got talked down to ten.
Jean: Fourteen tracks woulda went crazy!
I'm sure fans would love a deluxe version of the album at some point! So what were some of the rough draft ideas before you set these ten tracks in stone?
Jean: There were more modern-sounding tracks. The more time we spent on a project, and this being our debut, we wanted to be true to the name. We wanted to be true to the artistry that had gotten us to this point.
DaCosta: There were a couple of heavier hip-hop tracks there too.
Jean: We had been doing that, and a lot of people haven't even heard those because they're like heavy hip-hop stuff from when we were in high school and like early college.
Were there any tracks on the record that challenged you?
Jean: "Intoxicated" challenged me. I had a whole different verse. The conception of that song—I was just venting about whatever I was going through at the time, and one of my homies was like, "It's not sexy enough!" So I was just like, "What? No! I've done sexy stuff on all the other songs. Just let me vent!" So I tried another verse, and we ended up going with that one instead.
DaCosta: I mean, it worked out great though...
Jean: I mean, yeah, it sits nicely on the song, and now I have a verse for something else one day when it's time for it.
GBM: Yeah, that song went from being all of ours and everyone on our team's favorite song to our least favorite song. I will say that recording the instruments for the album was fun, but there were definitely some long hours. We had a drummer and bassist come through, and they played for like twelve hours straight doing all the songs. So the songs that have live drums on them were all done in that one day, and they even did songs we recorded that didn't make it on the final record. I think we started at 1 p.m. and we ended at 1 a.m. It was crazy.
What song are you most excited for people to hear when the album drops?
Jean: I think people are gonna like "Comfortable" a lot. Honestly, I haven't listened to the record in a while because it's existed in our world for a minute. We had just posted the visuals for that song today, and I was feelin it.
DaCosta: I think people are gonna really like "Digest." For me, it gives me that "it" factor.
GBM: I think "Red Room." It's my personal favorite and one of the more fun ones to me. It's just a good time!
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You mentioned earlier that you try to maintain creative control when making your music videos and coming up with concepts for visualizers. What is your creative process like?
DaCosta: We definitely sit down, and we go through everything from storyboard to shotlist and just take and grab inspiration from all over the place. For "So Damn Fly," there was that That 70's Show shot where they're all sitting around the table, and it's spinning. So there are all types of really cool influences, and we just try to use those and make everything unique to us.
GBM: I think we kind of go through a three-step verification. The idea has to go through all three of us before it becomes something else or moves on to actually being tested out or put into picture. So that kind of attributes to the very solid identity we aim for.
It sounds like that impromptu film education you mentioned earlier has really set you up for success in creating your videos.
Jean: Yeah. My high school film teacher, Miss Butler, I took that class for two years, and then when I couldn't take it anymore, I became a TA. So then I took the after-school class, and I just spent hella hours pretty much ruining the way I enjoyed cinema and teaching myself like—she would have us look and watch these classic movies and be like, this is what they did wrong.
Can you give me an example of a classic film you would watch and critique?
Jean: The first one that comes to mind is Rear Window. I watched it a few times, just because I had taken the class a couple of times. She talked about how the set that they made and the world that they created, they had full control over. Just seeing older films and how simple things were a lot more complicated then. Like you can't just delete a take and wipe your card. Everything had to be so planned out and so intentional. You gotta do shit on purpose. It's just a lot of thinking and planning, and sometimes, I feel like it's more challenging to have more people involved in a film production sometimes because of the growing degrees of communication. With the small groups that we usually keep, everyone's on the same page as us. All of us took this same class, so we all have a similar workflow.
DaCosta: Yeah, our organization when it comes to films, we're all pretty much on the same page. You know, with what was going to happen, who's doing what, who's in charge of what, etc.
Jean: And pre-production is the biggest thing and finding the right team because we can't shoot it and be in it. Although Cole can somehow!
GBM: I'm in one scene, and I'm like, "I'm just gonna kill this scene right now, and then I'm gonna jump back." That's why I'm only in the last scene.
Because he's doing everything else!
Jean: Yeah! Then as soon as the scene cuts, it's like, I go back to directing people, and Kyle goes back to making sure we got the next shot set up.
GBM: There were only seven people on set.
DaCosta: And four out of seven were crew members
GBM: Yeah, the DP was the only person that wasn't actually a casted character. Everybody else is like multitasking.
You'll be making your first-ever festival appearance at Day N Vegas in November. How are y'all feeling about it? 
GBM: It feels incredible!
DaCosta: I'm so so excited!
Jean: If I get excited, I get nervous. So I just aim to be focused, or I don't think about it at all.
After the release of Thru My Window, what are some long-term or short-term goals y'all are manifesting?
Jean: I think for the next album, I want it to get Best Rap Album. We went R&B on this one, but nobody knows the way that we—like yes, we rap on it, but nobody knows our actual rap potential. So I feel like that's something that needs to be lived out on the next project. It's been a minute since we were rapping, bro. There are cool people out here doing the rap thing right now, but not many people have impressed me.
GBM: I kind of want this album to open up the door to doing a lot of travel. When we got back from Paris in 2019, what we experienced during that summer gave us fuel to start this project. So I feel like if we just keep that kind of like tradition going, we just travel somewhere and just make stuff, I think it'll never get steered wrong.
DaCosta: I think I want the album to just open up doors in general. I know it's kind of a broad thing, but like, we're so diverse, and between the three of us, we can do literally anything I think in the world if we put our minds to it, and we kind of plan on doing everything that we want to do. So, I kind of want this album to open the door just so that we can you can start striding towards whatever, whether it's directing movies and videos and fucking scoring—
Jean: Or directing other people's videos!
DaCosta: Yeah, all types of shit.
Thru My Window is available everywhere you can stream it. 
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svtxsoju · 3 years
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➼ soju + yakult | miss soju’s advice
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Miss Soju is Pouring... 
for soju and yakult shots: pour equal parts soju, yakult, and sprite into a pitcher and stir well. best served cold. if you are new to drinking, this sweet concoction is definitely easier to swallow down than just straight soju. it’ll also make you feel like you’re at recess with your playground crush! (please drink responsibly)
Welcome to the first ever entry of the Dear Miss Soju advice column! Though it’s only our second week back, it seems like some students have already ventured into the wondrous (and stressful) world of college romance. I have to say my sympathies especially goes out to the freshman, who are now trying to figure out the ropes of college while dealing with their aching hearts. 
That’s why I’m here to help you take that first intimidating sip of love. Pour yourself a shot and let’s talk New Love and Confessions!
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① Dear Miss Soju, 
I just started my first year at MU and she’s an exchange student from New York. We met at a party and talked for two hours about comics, aliens, anything we could think of. It was perfect. She even asked me to walk her home. When the time came for me to make a move though, I kind of dropped the ball. Since we had just met that night, I didn’t want to come off too strong. Now I really regret it - I don’t even have her phone number. I feel like such an idiot! I can’t stop thinking about her, but I don’t even know if I’ll ever talk to her again. Did I make myself seem disinterested? Will we meet again? Will she even remember me?
Sincerely,
Han Solo
Dear Han Solo,
You got some really big questions for me there! Now I could tell you that you will most definitely meet again if you really are fated to be, phone number exchanges be damned, but then I would be lying. Mansae University has a big campus and there’s really no guarantee that you’ll serendipitously meet each other again like you’re in an episode of ‘Crash Landing on You’. 
Luckily, you’ll probably have an easier time finding her knowing that she’s here on exchange. MU’s exchange program is pretty close-knit, so if you do some snooping around, I think you’d find your dream girl soon enough.You’re probably thinking ‘Miss Soju, what if she thinks I’m creepy?’ Well, it all just depends on how you go about it, Han Solo. I’m only telling you to go find her because a two hour conversation about your favorite things and a walk home seems evidence enough that you just made a small fumble that night. If, however, she tells you that you’ve been kidding yourself and that she was just being nice, then leave her the f**k alone! It’s that easy.
Honestly though, I think you’re just being really hard on yourself. I can’t promise that it will all work out between the two of you once you find her. What I can promise is that you won’t feel any better by whining on your butt about it. So go do something about it!
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② Dear Miss Soju, 
Hi! I’m kind of nervous to be sending this in, but this has been driving me insane all summer, so here goes nothing. This past summer, I had broken up with my boyfriend, and because of this I was flunking all my classes. One day in the middle of the semester, we suddenly got a new TA and well, one look at him and all the solutions to my problems were all too easy, so I asked him to privately tutor me. With each session, we started to talk about non-academic topics, and I felt myself falling deeper and deeper for his contagious laugh and oh, those dreamy eyes. He is honestly such a sweetheart! I really want to be more than his friend and he’s sending signs that he wants that too. This must sound super simple and cliche to you, but I just don’t know how to move forward! Should I wait for him to say something first or should I make the first move? Please help!
Sincerely,
Blushing Crush
Dear Blushing Crush,
I’m so glad that you decided to write even though you were nervous! If I’m being honest, your situation is not an uncommon one. If you read the rest of this article, you’ll find there was one other person whose question was eerily similar to yours. But that just goes to show that having a crush is never simple and plenty of people need some gentle guidance in the right direction. Lucky for you, you can consider me your personal tutor for the subject of romance. I don’t know if I’ll measure up to Dreamy Eyes (I hope that his ~tutoring~ helped you pass that class btw), but I’ll definitely help you ace this crush! Since you claim your story is cliche, why not take the unexpected route? I mean, it’s the end of September! Both of you are stuck at neutral, waiting for the other to shift gears. If you feel he’s giving you signals, I say follow them and gun that accelerator. It might be nerve-wracking at first, but I promise you will feel so relieved that you took the initiative. 
Also, I hope this response has eased your nerves about writing to me. There is no crisis too simple or too cliche - everyone starts somewhere!
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③ Dear Miss Soju,
My story is pretty simple: I like someone, but I haven’t told them yet. We met at the department welcome party last week and they sat beside me the entire time and even took some shots for me when I kept losing at the drinking games. I mean, it was basically love at first sight. They’re probably the most beautiful, kindest person I’ve ever met and I think that they deserve an amazing and memorable confession. But for the life of me, I  can’t seem to think of the perfect way to let them know that I feel this way. Do I write it in the sky? Do I name a highway after them? Please help me, this is my last resort for ideas.
Sincerely,
Jazz Hands
Dear Jazz Hands, 
Wow, one week in and you’re already ready to risk it all for this person! At the risk of sounding like a simp, I think this is one of the cutest requests I’ve gotten this week. Your life sounds like a teenage romantic comedy in real life; I’m just waiting for the part where Noah Centineo busts in to sweep you off your feet. 
That being said, a week is a pretty short time leading up to a confession. Let it be known that rom-coms still have their fair share of cringe-worthy angst leading up to the climax, and your story has barely even begun. It sounds like you barely know them, which is probably why you’re having such a hard time planning out your confession. There is definitely no shame in skipping the rom-com tropes and simply getting to know your beloved a little more, while building your relationship with them. In real life, it takes a little more time to build all that juicy tension that ends in an explosive kiss in the rain (and maybe a lil something more after if you’re into that). 
HOWEVER, if you insist on confessing as soon as possible, I think a simple “I like you’ would suffice. Maybe even get them a rose from the flower shop near campus. Both of you sound like some of the sweetest people at Mansae U, so I think your crush will appreciate the sentiment no matter how extravagant your confession is! 
Really though, you should probably just talk to them more.
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④ Dear Miss Soju,
First, let me say I am so excited about this column! I am somewhat inexperienced, so I’m usually embarrassed to ask my friends for help since they’re all so much more outgoing than me. I’m glad to have a place where I can freely ask my noob questions without getting weird stares. I’ve always been somewhat shyer, but this summer, I met a guy that made me want to get out of my comfort zone. It might sound cliche, but he was the perfect man! Funny, kind-hearted, and the deepest, dreamiest eyes. I’ve never met anyone like him. We slowly talked more and more, and now I think I’m ready for the next level. It’s a really foreign feeling to me; sometimes it makes me so giddy and other times I’m scared out of my wits. Any tips on how I can overcome my fears and let him know I like him? 
Sincerely,
Clueless Flush
Dear Clueless Flush,
Thank you so much for your support! I’m so glad that you found me, because this column was definitely created with situations like yours in mind, and now I get to write to you. Believe it or not, I was also shy and inexperienced once. In my mind, romance was scary and unpredictable, but now? Not so much! It took me a little while to study and gather all my notes, but now romance is as easy to read as the pages of a textbook. I’ll be real with you though, I’m very impressed that this one man has made you level up from shy noob to prepared confessor. I’d say most people tend to wait around for something to happen (which is usually what leaves them disappointed). I really respect you for taking the initiative even when you’re scared - that’s true courage right there. From what I know, the easiest way to overcome those fears is to not overcome them at all. There’s no use trying to convince yourself that you’re not scared, because when the time comes, you’ll still feel nervous anyway. Next time you’re with him, just let the conversation flow naturally. Try not to think too much about confessing. If you get that giddy feeling, if you feel like you’ll burst if you don’t let him know how you feel, that’s when you just let it happen. Then voila, you’ve confessed to your crush and you’ve snagged the perfect man. I wish you the best of luck! Please feel free to write again if you have any questions once you two are together!
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ladyanput · 4 years
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Seeing Green Ch. 2
Oh wow! Thanks for 115 followers, guys!
I'm going to put in a minor warning for you guys, of stalking and a bit of voyeurism. Nothing graphic, it's only mentioned is all.
[[MORE]]
"Am I being stupid with this?" Marinette stared at herself in the mirror, fretting over the grey knit dress she wore, nervously tugging it down lower on her stocking covered legs. Her gaze flickered down to Tikki casually sitting on the vanity table, nibbling on a cookie. "I mean, I just met him this morning, Tikki, and I'm going on a date with him tonight. What if he thinks I'm easy? That I'm some French floozy?"
"Marinette, this doesn't have to be a romantic date." Tikki flew up, slowly circling her Holder, before hovering before her face. She offered a kind smile. "This can be a date for you to get to know each other. And you can't get to know each other unless you spend time together, right?"
"You're right, I'm just overthinking things again." Marinette let out a small giggle, then took a seat at the vanity. She had chosen to let her hair loose, the dark waves reaching far past her shoulders, as she had decided to grow it out forever ago. She smiled at her reflection, then began painting her lips a soft pink colour, as Tikki returned to her cookie, munching happily. "He's not expecting anything, I'm sure. I.. I won't go further than a kiss. If he tries anything, I'll just drop him altogether."
"You're taking Eva's advice on dating again." Tikki giggled, watching Marinette pick up her signature purse, the kwami quickly flying inside. Marinette merely smiled in response, heading towards the elevators. As soon as she pressed the button, she heard a door open. She turned to see Alix stepping into the hall, frowning.
"You going on your date?" Alix sounded stiff, awkward when she spoke. Marinette merely blinked, and Alix's face reddened, and she crossed her arms. "Listen, just.. Don't let him get up to any funny business. I'm not.. I haven't been the greatest friend, I've been a real shitty one, but I still worry. I.. I know she's lying now. I should have before, but I was stupid."
"Alix, what.." Marinette shut her mouth as soon as she saw tears welling up in Alix's eyes, but she stubbornly refused to shed.
"I should have fucking known. I kinda did, but I didn't want to get in the middle of the shitshow, so I tried to stay neutral. But today, we left you behind in Gotham, a place that's really dangerous. And I'm sitting with Lila and Alya, listening about how you're mooching off this hot intern to make Adrien jealous, maybe get a threesome, and I'm just sitting there thinking 'aren't they worried about her? This is Gotham, the Joker and people are here. This isn't Paris, people get kidnapped and die here, and they stay dead, there's no Cure!'
"And I try and bring this up, and Alya has the fucking nerve to say that you deserve whatever you get, because you're a worse bully, have been ever since Chloe transferred to a different school. It.. It was a wake up call for me, Mari, and I realized how much I screwed up and that I was so horrible to you. We all have been. And I'm sorry, I really am.. And.. Please, be safe. I want you to come back safe."
"Alix..." Marinette stepped forward and hugged Alix tightly, surprising the girl. She felt tears in her eyes, and let them fall as she hugged Alix tightly. Something in her that had long since been locked away, came forth. "I am so happy to hear that. I... I've missed you. I miss all of you."
Marinette pulled away after a few minutes, wiped away the tears, and smiled brilliantly, a real smile.
 "And don't worry, I can take care of myself. If he tries anything, I'll make sure he'll never walk right again." The fierce grin she gave caused Alix to burst into laughter. 
"Not if I get to him first. He does anything funny, they'll never find the body!"
Both girls shared grins, once destroyed bridges finally beginning to mend.
When Marinette got down to the lobby, she felt a little better. It wasn't by much, but that bit certainly helped lift her mood. She smiled at the sight of Damian standing in the lobby. He was a really handsome guy. Tall, broad shoulders, dark messy hair, he even had muscle, muscle that could be well seen with the black turtleneck he wore. 
In her unashamed ogling, she hadn't noticed that he was talking with someone. Or that that someone was Miss Bourbon, who did not seem impressed with whatever Damian was telling her.
Mari rushed over before the TA could scare her date away.
"Hello Miss Bourbon, I take it you're giving Damian a lecture." She spoke up, grinning when she saw pink dust the older woman's cheeks. 
"Not a lecture. Just a warning that you're my student, and if anything happens to you, I'll bring the wrath of Hades down upon him." Eva grinned, and giggled with Mari, before turning back to Damian. "But in all seriousness, I want her back by nine o'clock sharp. We're going to Gotham City Park tomorrow for a picnic, and we don't want the students abandoning Marinette again."
"Completely understood." Damian gave her a small smile, then held out his arm for Marinette to take. Even Eva had to admit, Damian was an attractive man, not that she'd touch him. A twenty three year old should never go after a seventeen year old. Ever. "I will just be taking Marinette out for dinner, then I'll bring her straight back."
"Well, good.. I understand the whole… Young love thing, just don't go overboard, okay?" Eva found herself smiling at Damian, then gave Mari a wink. "An old lady like myself knows exactly how that type of thing can go badly."
"Bon soir, Evangeline. I'll bring you a piece of cheesecake, if they have any where we're eating at." Marinette assured her, before she was guided out of the building. They were greeted with the sight of a driver opening the door of a very expensive looking car for them. "Damian.. You… You have a personal driver?"
"It's not too much, is it? I just thought it would be easier to talk to you, if I didn't have any distractions." Damian gave an almost embarrassed smile, helping Marinette into the car, then sliding in after her. As their thighs pressed together, Marinette could feel the heat radiating off of him, and her heart began slowly picking up speed. "You know, your English is pretty good for someone from France."
"O-oh, thanks. Miss Evangeline is from Canada, she came to France to strengthen her French. So she helped me with English, while I helped her with French. A fair trade." Mari felt her cheeks go scarlet, trying to ignore the heat of him, of his charming smile. It should be illegal to look so good. "She.. She really cares, you know? Miss Bustier, she wants you to ignore what anyone does bad to you, she wants you to be an example to the bullies, to cause little fuss, just smile and be the bigger person."
"So, what you're telling me,is that you are being gaslighted by your teacher, you are being bullied by everyone in your class, and only a person from a different country believes you?" Damian's brows rose, and Marinette glanced down at her folded hands, then clenched them tightly to keep them from trembling. "Do you want me to kidnap you, so that you'll never have to deal with them again?"
"What? No, no, it's fine! I just have to deal with them until graduation. Besides, some of them are coming around." Marinette shook her head, Alix flashing in her mind, but she ignored it and smiled up at Damian once again. "Let's not talk about it, okay? I want to get to know you better. I like you Damian, but I don't really know anything about you. I don't even know your last name."
They shared a smile, and began to talk as they drove along the streets of Gotham. Marinette explaining how her parents were bakers, of her aspirations in fashion, meanwhile Damian went on about his father and brothers, though he was very careful not to mention his last name. He liked how Marinette looked at him. At him because he was Damian, not because he was Damian Wayne. He wasn't lying to her, but he wanted to keep that look, at least for tonight. 
"I mean, life has been hectic, ever since the akuma attacks started a few years ago.." Marinette began, as the car slowed to a stop. Damian's brows drew together as he thought over her words. 
"Akuma attacks? What's an akuma?"
"Master Damian, we have arrived." The driver spoke out, cutting off Marinette's attempts to respond. The two exchanged a glance before they climbed out of the car, standing before a small diner. Damian took Marinette's dainty hand into his massive one, and guided her inside.
When they stepped inside, Marinette decided it felt warm and comfy there. It was a quaint diner, a few people scattered here and there, enjoying warm meals. It was a relief, so see this, instead of some upscale restaurant where it would be so fancy, her head would spin. The smells of spices and something faintly citrusy filled the air, as a perky waitress guided the couple to a booth, then left them alone with their menus and ice water.
"Now.. Want to explain what an akuma is?" Damian glanced up, meeting Marinette's gaze. He noted out her hands tensed, gripping her menu tighter.
"You really don't know what an akuma is? But they've been terrorizing Paris for years, how can no one know about them?" Her voice became soft, hollow as she spoke, those blue eyes of hers seeming to close off their expressive nature. "How is that possible? Is that why.. Why the Justice League wouldn't come and help? Because they didn't think it was actually happening?"
"Marinette? Angel, are you alright?" Damian touched her hand, drawing Marinette from her odd trance she went under. She seemed a bit shaken, but forced a smile and returned to reading the menu. Damian took that as a sight to refrain from pushing the subject. So he gave her hand a gentle squeeze, and went back to look at his menu as well. Maybe chicken alfredo would be nice.
Chat Noir scowled as he watched the diner from across the street, perched on a building. He didn't like the guy Marinette was out with. He just didn't seem right. It's not because Adrien was jealous, not at all. Marinette was just a friend. Or would be a friend, if she'd stop trying to expose Lila. He didn't want to have to deal with Lila being akumatized. Again. For the tenth time.
He snarled when he watched Marinette blush, watched her and the intern guy laughed. He didn't miss the body language they had towards each other. Chat Noir tried to assure himself that it was only physical attraction. That when Mari saw passed the guy's shiny exterior, she'd see he's only after a quick fling with a cute girl from France.
A very cute girl. When he had seen Marinette step into the lobby, dressed up for a date, a part of him wanted to go over and take her on that date. Maybe convince her to wear her pigtails again, cut her hair again. He wanted her back to the way she was, before Lila, before that stupid miss Evangeline and her encouraging Marinette to stick up to herself, to rock the boat.
You never rock the fucking boat. Ever. 
Chat Noir sat there for hours, scowling. He shouldn't be this hung up on a friend. He had His Lady afterall. His courageous, gorgeous Ladybug. She was waiting back for him in Paris. He had a new idea for trying to get a date with her. He was Chaos, she was Balance. They were meant to be, she just needed to realize it.
He was brought out of his daydreams of kissing Ladybug, stripping her out of her costume, but watching Marinette and Damian leaving the diner. He hated how cuddly they were. His claws dug into the stone of the ridge he was sitting on. 
He followed the fancy car back to the hotel, watching as Damien walked Mari up to the doors of the hotel. His jaw clenched when Marinette kissed Damian on the cheek, leaving the guy looking dumbstruck as she practically flounced into the hotel, like she was floating on air.
Fury curled in Chat's gut and he launched himself onto the roof that was opposite of Marinette's room. He had to warn his princess, he couldn't let her get hurt, not by some sleazy rich guy she barely knew.
And he sat there, watching her enter her room, opening her purse, and his heart stopped. The flying red kwami had bolted from the purse and flying around Marinette, the two obviously in quite giddy conversation.
And it clicked.
Marinette… Was Ladybug. His Princess was his Lady. And everything in the past made so much more sense. He grinned, realizing now why he was so protective of Marinette. Soulmates knew each other outside of the masks, so that's why he knew her, but didn't realize it.
So Chat sat there, grinning, as Marinette stripped off her knit dress, taking in her beauty. She had grown such beautiful curves over the past few years, she had such pretty skin. When she unhooked her bra, he purred, already lost in a daydream of him being in that room with her, carefully caressing her and making her his. And he could practically taste the salt on her skin, as she whispered his name. His green eyes stayed transfixed on her, as she stripped before his eyes.
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artificialqueens · 4 years
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Hold Me Tighter (Even Closer), Chapter 3 (Branjie, Jankie) - Joley
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Brooke Lynn furrowed her brows and strummed her fingers against the table. “So, let me see if I’ve got this right – you invited Jan over to practice for her audition, got wine drunk, then dry-humped until she got off?”
Jackie nodded in confirmation, her eyes fixated more on her coffee cup than Brooke – she had to build back up to being able to make eye-contact. “Then in the morning she was gone and she left me a note,” she finished, holding the piece of paper up. “I really fucked up, didn’t I?”
“It wasn’t your smartest move,” she told her, trying not to laugh at the sheer absurdity of it all. “But if she just left like that, she’s probably just as scared as you are. Listen, the first day I met Vanessa was a mess. I walked her home from work that night, kissed her, and then literally ran away. She still makes fun of me for it.”
The story made Jackie laugh, but it caught her by surprise as well. She had always seen Brooke as someone so unshakably confident. “I guess if things worked out for you guys, all hope isn’t totally lost…” She took another sip from her drink and sighed. “I still don’t know how I’m going to face her in class on Monday,” she admitted.
Brooke reached across the table and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Just focus on your work. I promise I’ll find something to keep you busy, okay?” As much as she wanted to continue her matchmaking game, she could see that the tension needed to diffuse before she tried to push them closer. Just because Katya lucked out didn’t mean lightning would strike twice.
Jackie’s entire body relaxed in relief. She was still anxious about seeing Jan again, but it meant a lot to know that Brooke was looking out for her. “Okay. Yes, thank you. I can work with that.” She nodded, then checked her phone. “I have to get going, though. I’ll talk to you later,” she said as she gathered her things, including the note that she tucked into her pocket.
Brooke smiled and waved her off. She stayed put, though. She was expecting Vanessa any minute now. They liked meeting here when they could, after all, it was the café A’keria recently became the owner of, the same one she’d started working in after the Starbucks fiasco all those years ago. It was sentimental to them now.
“Hey boo,” Vanessa greeted as she walked in, leaning over and giving her wife a kiss before sitting down. “Must’ve just missed Jackie, how’s she doing?”
“The poor girl is going through it,” Brooke shook her head sympathetically. “She and Jan got drunk and fooled around, and Jan left before she woke up. She left a Post-It or something.”
Vanessa frowned and shook her head. “Mh-mm, I hate Post-Its. If you’re gonna dip, send a text like a normal person,” she mused.
“Maybe she thought a handwritten note would be more meaningful,” she reasoned. “Regardless, she’s just gonna need some time to recover before we continue with any matchmaking shenanigans.”
Vanessa gave a firm nod of agreement. “Understood.” She sat quietly for a moment, strumming her fingernails against the table. “I wanna talk about the baby thing.”
Brooke blinked in surprise at the abrupt subject change but leaned in to listen attentively nonetheless. “Of course, what’s on your mind?”
“Listen… I know we got good genes and all, but I don’t wanna create a baby in a lab when there are so many kids that need a family. I had friends in foster care when I was little, you know? That shit must’ve really sucked for them. And I just think… You and me are in a position to really help a kid out,” she told her, then held her breath as she waited for her wife’s response.
Brooke reached across the table and held Vanessa’s hands. “Baby girl, if that’s what you want, I am a hundred percent on board. I think that’s a wonderful motivation to adopt. We can start looking at agencies as soon or as late as you want. I’m in this with you all the way,” her thumb stroked over Vanessa’s wedding band. “That’s what I promised you. That’s the promise I make to you every day as your wife.”
Vanessa blinked and looked down. “Shit, you gonna make me cry,” she mumbled, giving Brooke’s hand a light squeeze to reassure her she was okay. “Guess we gotta think about redecorating the guest room then, huh?”
“You know my weakness for interior design,” she cooed, pressing a kiss to the back of Vanessa’s hand.
By the time Monday rolled around, Jackie had talked herself out of most of her anxiety. When the time was right, she thought, she could talk things out with Jan. But until then, she had a job to do, a job that she did like.
Jackie’s main task was to write a lot of information on the chalkboard. It was perfect as far as she was concerned – having her back to the class meant she didn’t have to worry about making awkward eye contact with Jan. She had to admit, it was kind of a genius move on Brooke’s part.
Jan, however, was left with a predicament of her own. She and Gigi had sat in the front because even with contacts or glasses, they were both nearsighted as all hell. However, this put Jackie right in her line of sight, and she immediately began regretting her decision.
While the dress Jackie wore came down to her knees, the fabric clung to her body in a way that accentuated some of her best physical features.
And Jan hadn’t meant to stare – staring was rude and her mother taught her better. But she would be damned if Jackie’s ass wasn’t hypnotizing her. She couldn’t help but wonder how she hadn’t noticed before.
“You’re gonna snap your pen in half with the way you’re biting it,” Gigi poked Jan’s shoulder, snapping her friend out of her trance. “Also, some subtlety really wouldn’t hurt you right now.”
Jan blushed, looking down at her notes, which were nowhere near as detailed as usual. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Gigi chuckled. “Please, your eyes were about to burn a hole into her butt.”
“They were not, I was just reading the board,” she insisted, but now that she had to actively avoid staring, her body seemed all the more compelled to continue. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, trying to get her mind and body on the same page.
“Hey, you have good taste, I’m just saying be less obvious about it.”
Jan just buried her face in her notes, hoping that if she focused on getting work done, her mind would stop conjuring images of Jackie in various states of undress.
“…And that’ll just about do it,” Brooke Lynn was saying. “You guys are free to go, see you Wednesday.” She closed her book, punctuating the dismissal. Her eyes followed the students out of the room, waiting until they were alone before speaking to Jackie. “How are you feeling?”
Jackie exhaled deeply, dropping herself down onto the desk closest to Brooke’s as if she were dead weight. “I feel okay. I think not having to look at her made it easy. Have you seen her eyes? They’re so warm and brown and–”
“–And couldn’t stay off of you,” Brooke finished with a smirk. “Jackie, she is hot for you, you should’ve seen how she was staring at you. I already knew you have a great ass, but damn, it had a magnetic pull on that poor girl.”
Jackie turned a shade of red deeper and brighter than it had ever been. She suddenly became hyper-aware of her body, not necessarily in a self-conscious way – in fact, part of her was flattered – but it was overwhelming to process at first. “I guess she might not regret the other night that much then,” she managed with a strangled laugh.
“Honey, it’s pretty clear she wants a repeat performance. I wasn’t even paying all that much attention to her, but I swear I almost offered her a towel,” she chuckled.
Even though Jan was long gone, Jackie looked out of the classroom and into the hall, as if she could still catch sight of her. “I never thought I’d be relieved to be objectified,” she mused.
Brooke let out a light laugh at that. “So you’ll go talk to her?”
She shook her head as her gaze drifted back to the desk. “Not yet. Soon… Hopefully soon. I think I’ll know when I’m ready.”
“Well, other than you ogling the TA you fooled around with, I think today went well,” Gigi said as they walked back to the residence hall. “You ready for your audition later?”
“I wasn’t ogling her.” Jan chewed on her lip. “Don’t laugh, but…” She shifted awkwardly as she looked anywhere but directly at her friend. “I’m worried I might be too… distracted to nail it.”
Gigi looked at her friend with an arched brow. “First of all, yes you were. We established this. Second, you think you’ll be too horny to focus on singing?” She really did try her best not to laugh, but a small giggle slipped through. “Babe, just masturbate like a normal person before you go.”
She huffed. “Don’t you think I’ve thought of that? Lem’s probably gonna be in there, what am I supposed to do, tell her to leave so I can jerk off? We’re close, Geege, but I think there’s a line.”
“Then go in the shower. Jesus, do I have to spell it out for you?” Gigi rolled her eyes.
“You don’t think it’s weird to get off thinking about someone you’re not dating?” Jan asked quietly.
Her friend pinched the bridge of her nose. “At this point I just think you need to do it so you stop sounding so neurotic and paranoid. Hell, if I wasn’t in a committed relationship, I’d offer to help you out myself.”
Jan cocked her head to the side. “Thanks, I think.”
When Jan did get back to the dorm, she saw Lemon on her bed with her AirPods in, just as she’d anticipated. She waved at her to get her attention, waiting for her to take one of them out. “Hey sweetie, I’m just gonna shower before my audition. You know, get nice and calm,” she told her.
Lemon smiled and nodded. “Oh shit, I forgot that was today. Break a leg! But like, not in the shower. That would be bad.”
Jan chuckled as she grabbed what she needed to bring into the bathroom. “I don’t know where I’d be without your wisdom, doll,” she winked playfully before leaving.
The first thing Jan did once she got in the shower was put music on – this wasn’t her first rodeo, so to speak. Even with earbuds in, she knew she ran the risk of Lemon hearing her moan if she didn’t drown it out. With the music playing and water running, Jan undressed and stepped into the shower, letting out a sigh of relief the second the hot water hit her body.
After she washed her hair, Jan leaned against the shower wall, resting her head against the cool tile. She let her hand travel down her body. There was a moment of hesitation when her fingers grazed over her pussy, but after a deep breath, she began rubbing her clit with two fingers. Her eyes fluttered shut as soft, breathy moans slipped out.
“Fuck…” Jan wasn’t thinking about anything at first, but without even trying, her thoughts drifted to Jackie, to what happened the other night, to that day in class. And once she got started, there was no chance of stopping. “Oh, Jackie…” she moaned, rocking against her fingers. Her free hand went to her breast, groping it, and tweaking her nipple.
By the time her orgasm hit, Jan needed to rest her entire weight against the wall to keep herself up. Her legs were shaking and she was whimpering, taking deep breaths as she finally felt sturdy enough to stand back upright. After that, she just did a quick wash off her face and body before getting out and drying off, going back into the bedroom wrapped up in her robe shortly after.
“Hey, feeling any better?” Lemon asked casually. It was clear she hadn’t moved an inch this whole time, nor was she aware of what Jan had gotten up to.
“Much better, actually,” Jan nodded, taking the towel wrap off of her head and combing her hair out. “What’s your plan for the rest of the day?” she asked as she continued getting ready.
Lemon paused her music and took out her earbuds, she had been waiting for an opportunity to talk about herself. “Actually, I’m meeting up with a girl later.” She didn’t wait for Jan to ask before she continued. “Okay, so, like, I had just lit a joint and I see this really pretty girl – tall, you know how I like ‘em – and she seems hella stressed, so I offer her a hit. So, we’re smoking and chatting and long story short, we have a date tonight.”
“That was the short version?” Jan teased as she got dressed. “I’m guessing it’ll be more of the same?”
She scoffed. “No… We’ll probably fuck too.”
Jan laughed softly as she straightened her hair, then pulled it up into a high ponytail. “Well, it’s always nice to have an itinerary,” she hummed. “I’ll see you later.”
“Next!”
Jan stepped onto the stage and held herself with confidence. She introduced herself, handed the sheet music to the pianist, and then she simply did what she did best; she sang. She gave it her all, emoting all the right words, belting all the right notes. There was a lingering rush of adrenaline when she finished. “Thank you,” she smiled politely and made her way off stage.
“Great job up there,” a distinct voice out of seemingly nowhere caused Jan to jump, startled.
“Oh, thanks Vanjie,” Jan smiled, running her fingers through her ponytail. “I didn’t realize anyone other than the directors were watching.”
Vanessa shrugged. “People gave up tryna tell me what to do a long time ago. Except for Brooke, but there’s always an exception for the wife. But anyway… you feelin’ okay? I don’t know all the details, but I know you had a rough weekend.”
Of course, Jan figured Vanessa knew more than she let on – she could safely assume Jackie told Brooke, and Brooke told Vanessa. But she hoped some details had gotten lost in translation. “Oh, yeah, I guess,” she bounced awkwardly on the balls of her feet. “Things are a little weird, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
“Listen, I’ve been in your shoes. The worst thing you can do is overthink it. Brooke did it, Jackie does it, and I get the vibe you do too. Not everything’s as deep as y’all make it out to be, you know?”
Jan chewed her lip and nodded. Sure, she knew Vanessa was right, but it was easier said than done. It wasn’t something she could simply stop doing, something she could just turn on and off at will. “The situation’s just… It’s complicated. But I get what you’re saying, I do,” she assured. “All I wanna focus on now is being able to sleep tonight so I can be ready to see if I got a callback tomorrow.”
Vanessa gave Jan’s arm a gentle, reassuring squeeze. “You got this. Ain’t no one around you doubting that.”
And Jan tried her best to take that to heart, she tried to stay positive the rest of the night, to turn her brain off when it was finally time to sleep. She was pretty sure she passed out at nearly three in the morning, but as soon as her alarm went off, she shot right out of bed.
Lemon rolled onto her side, watching Jan scramble to get ready with energy from god knows where. “How the fuck do you do that?” she mumbled groggily.
Jan shrugged as she brushed her hair. “It’s a blessing and a curse, Lem.” She checked her phone. “The callback list should be up by the time I get there,” she murmured, offering a quick goodbye to her roommate before she was out the door.
By the time she got to the auditorium, there was already a small group of hopeful actors forming outside the doors. And as soon as the list went up, they all crowded around it.
Too impatient to wait, Jan made her way to the front, offering haphazard apologies to everyone she bumped out of the way. It was worth it for the happiness and relief she felt when she saw that she was on the callback list for Veronica.
The first thing she did was call Gigi and did her best to not scream into the phone. “I got a callback! And there were only two other girls listed for Veronica, Geege, I’m this close to getting it. I can taste it.”
“That’s my girl, I knew you’d crush it,” Gigi replied. “You’re gonna nail the callback too, and don’t be afraid to take my advice again if you need it.”
Jan furrowed her brows. “How did you know I followed your advice?”
Gigi had a smug grin that Jan swore she could feel through the phone. “I didn’t.”
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katelynn-a-fan · 4 years
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Why We Do What We Do (2)
First | Next
“Wow! Look at that!” “Woah!” “So cool!” A chorus of voices shouted.
Logan looked up from where he was into the night sky and caught a ‘shooting star’ streaking across the sky. He was mildly surprised that he had enough time to see it by the time whoever had seen it and exclaimed and he had looked up. He allowed a small grunt to pass through his lips.
Logan disliked calling them ‘shooting stars’, because they were merely bits of rock and ice that had been shucked off a comet or were tiny bits of rock and dust from impacts of planets or asteriods far away that just happened to enter the Earth’s atmosphere. The only reason they looked like ‘stars’ at all was because they were burning up in the atmosphere from the very high temperature molecules of the mesosphere being pushed together, causing a massive amount of friction to very rapidly wear away at whatever rock/meteor was entering the atmosphere. 
Logan always found the Mesosphere fascinating though. Temperature wise it was the coldest layer, but yet each individual particle contains so much energy. It was very distinct from the Thermosphere above, in that it’s the last layer to contain a significant amount of ozone or even just air for that matter. This ozone was the reason for it to deviate so far into being colder than the troposphere of daily life, because the Thermosphere was the hottest layer of the atmosphere and that sits above the Mesosphere.
Logan coughed a little to clear his throat before continuing.
“Great job on spotting that Cal! Remind me when we go inside and you’ll get a piece of candy.” Logan projected while still gazing up to where the meteor had been.
“Score!” came Cal’s familiar voice to his right a few telescopes down.
Logan inwardly and sarcastically rolled his eyes, but he would never be so unprofessional to disrespect a student like that, much less his students.
College kids and their excitement for free food.
Logan dropped his gaze down from the sky and returned to what he was doing, helping one of his students navigate the controls of her telescope. 
“When it comes to a telescope, even the tiniest movement can sweep over what you are looking for, so always double check the coordinates you have inputed into it, okay?” 
The student, Grace, only kept her gaze on the telescope with an expression of a confusion that he probably had once shared the first time he had used telescope.
Logan waited for the student to say something, before adjusting his glasses and standing up from the stool he had been using when he was looking in the telescope when he got no response. 
He patted Grace’s shoulder. “You’ll get the hang of it. You have the coordinates on your sheet, just use the paddle to input them and look through the eyepiece right here. And if you can’t find what you’re looking for, put the telescope on the lowest speed and move around until you find that signature faint green blob of the nebula.”  Logan affirmed as he pointed his finger to the small eyepiece he had been observing through and then picking up the paddle from it’s place and then returned it back.
“If you still can’t find it, call me or one of my TA’s over to help. The universe is a big place, don’t sweat it if you can’t find what you’re looking for.” Logan smiled a small smile to punctuate his statement.
It could’ve been the very dim red lamps they used for lighting their workspace, but Logan thought he saw Grace blush as she mumbled a small “Thank you” before turning to the telescope and retrieving the paddle to do her work for the class.
Logan strolled over to where his 2 TA’s were standing, chatting about whatever.
“Hey Ramie, Mike! How are they all doing?” Logan’s voice was enough to stop their conversation, but Logan doubted any of his students who could vaguely hear what they were saying were perturbed.
Ramie spoke first. “Good! Theo is getting along nicely with the focus and Alex found the first nebula using the manual controls and the coordinate sheet instead of letting the computer do it.”
“Nice! It seems Cal has some competition for best Astronomy student of the class. But... you didn’t hear that from me.” Logan lowered his voice and placed his hand like he was trying not to let Cal hear to punctuate his statement.
Alex is a lot like me, wanting to prove he knows how to do things without anyone’s help. I just hope he doesn’t get too far ahead of himself. God knows I was too smart for my own good when I was his age.
“Ha ha! Sure, sure. All good here too. I love that tonight will be so easy! They’re all such good kids. Honestly I think this semester’s going to be a breeze.” Mike interjected with a laugh as Raime went over to a student raising their hand.
Logan’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He ignored it. It was not professional to check his phone while he was teaching, and he was sure it was a notification from one of the puzzle games he had to entertain himself with on his phone.
“Well, when you’re doing midnight labs, you only get the students who actually want to be here. Not many would want to have a class that ends at barely before midnight. And anyone who came here more for the party scene than to further their education would weed themselves out the moment they saw when Astronomy labs would be.” Logan articulated as he watched Ramie converse with the student about whatever problem they had. Instinctively and unconsciously, Logan lightly patted the pocket of his pants that contained his phone.
“True that.” Mike replied while also observing Ramie help the student.
They sat in silence for a moment or two before Logan’s pocket buzzed again, but Logan ignored it as before. Logan knew it was probably the secondary alert for when a notification stays unopened, he would clear it away later. Mike’s eyes flitted to Logan’s pocket for a second before seeming to think better of something, quickly returning to look at Ramie. Logan caught the glance, but decided to ignore it. 
Mike could have whatever assumption he had, really, Logan couldn’t care less about stuff like that, as long as his assumptions didn’t hinder him in his duty as a TA. 
After Ramie came back, Logan and the TA’s devised a game of Name that Constellation. Everyone would take turns scanning the sky, and when they found each constellation they would name it and any interesting fact about the myth. And if they couldn’t find a constellation or remember the myth to go with it fast enough, that person would be the next to help a student with their telescope.
Luckily, Logan was an astronomy teacher for a reason, and his TAs were grossly  outplayed. Ramie was the first to fall and looked subtly peeved as she then waited for the inevitable hand raise. Mike, luckily for Raime, fell next as his eyes searched the sky for a familiar pattern only to be met by a indistinguishable field of dots. 
Now, both of the TAs were waiting for Logan to falter. 1, 2, 3, 4 rounds and Logan always kept managing to spot countless constellations that they had apparently looked over multiple times with the ease of an adult reading a book for small children learning to read. And even the myths were explained in great detail, not just the basic premise of their myths, the full stories with their exposition, rising action, climax, and resolution. 
Granted, this was the first outside lab of the year, but Ramie and Mike shared the same assumption: that they knew their teacher.
But with this development, both Ramie and Mike shared a look that they both knew meant We have a lot to learn apparently. 
Not only about astronomy, but their teacher as well.
Now Logan did not see their shared glances as he was scanning the sky for his next target, but was broken out of his focusing when his phone went off again.
Logan’s heart sank.
It was a call this time.
“If you’ll excuse me, I need to take this call.” Logan excused himself while keeping a mask of indifference with a small dash of embarrassment mixed in.
Logan’s pace remained measured as he descended the small flight of stairs near him, but once he was out of sight, his quickened his pace significantly as he reached the door back into the main classroom.
There was only was one person this could be calling and he knew that they would only call if it was truly important/urgent.
Logan’s heartbeat quickened as he opened the door to the empty classroom. He had pulled the phone from his pocket at some point in his trek, but didn’t want to answer too soon as to be unable to hear the call. Without looking at the lock screen, Logan pressed the call button to accept the call.
He brought the phone to his ear. 
Before Logan could say anything Patton’s voice flooded into Logan’s ear. Patton only got through one sentence before his cries took over his words where they essentially became a part of his crying as the call dropped with Logan’s shitty cell reception.
That one sentence made Logan drop his phone with trembling hands as he burst into tears himself, making Logan sway before sinking into the nearest chair. However, Logan did not have the luxury to cry outright, only letting silent tears leak from his eyes as he took in what Patton meant.
Logan picked his phone back up and saw 10 missed texts from Patton, and kicked himself for not even considering to at least glance at his phone before Patton was resorted to calling him to get his proper attention.
Logan stopped short in his emotional mire, struck by a wave of realization, his jaw setting into a stern and determined expression. Logan knew what he had to do.
Logan swiftly composed himself, wiping away the stray tears from his eyes, as he returned back to his TAs, beckoning them over to where he was at the top of the stairs.
“I have to go. Can you hold down the metaphorical fort with just the 2 of you for the rest of class?” Logan’s mask of indifference was back, hoping that neither the TAs or the students near him could tell he had been crying moments before.
Ramie and Mike now shared a glance Logan caught at full force this time. “We’ll fine, like you said, most of the kids in this class are here because they know what they’re doing.” Mike replied with a hint of something more gentle than Logan had ever seen on Mike’s face and for that he was grateful.
The silence hung between them as a silent message was implied from what they didn’t say. We know you well enough to know that whatever this is is serious. We’ll cover for you. Go.
Logan nodded as he turned and briskly maneuvered down the steps, gathering what little paper material he required for teaching his midnight astronomy class and in short order found himself cranking his car into reverse and driving towards his destination, knowing exactly where he needed to go.
The problem was, in other circumstances, he would enjoy going to his destination.
But the sentence Patton uttered on the phone changed everything. Logan knew those 7 words would haunt him for years to come. 7 words to turn Logan’s world on it’s head.
“They found him, but it’s really bad.”
Taglist:
@ironwoman359 @lefaystrent @delimeful 
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ettaseverythingelse · 4 years
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Class Impressions after Week 1
I’ve been rambling for a few days now about my classes, but never actually made a post about what I’m taking this semester because I wanted to wait until I’d actually taken a few classes to give you my full thoughts on the situation. So here’s that now! I made it through week 1! Idk if anyone’s going to read this whole thing because it got long, so details are under the cut
TL;DR:
Accounting - ugh
Ochem - not bad yet
Physics - My TA is cool but it’s a ton of work
Material and Energy Balance (CHE 31) - idek dude
The textbook portals: a racket
Work: great!
overall workload: not bad! It’s just exhausting in conjunction with work and I’m bemoaning the lack of free time
QOTD: What classes are you taking this school year/semester? Which one are you most excited for?
Accounting: A requirement for my business minor, and alternate to the usual class that I’d need since that didn’t fit in the schedule I made last semester in February that assumed we would actually be on campus. It’s a lot of attention to detail (something I’m not great at) and vocabulary which is kind of frustrating because I’m much better at conceptual stuff. The professor is an adjunct and attorney who’s never taught this before, and she’s a piece of work. 
She assigned homework for the Sunday night prior to the start of school and launched straight into the first chapter within 5 minutes of opening our first class. Assigned chapter 2 homework for tonight, I was halfway through panic starting it because last I checked it was due Sunday, and it turns out it’s due next Sunday. I will inevitably miss assignments because she can’t keep a schedule or inevitably become paranoid and do all the work weeks in advance and I’m not looking forward to either of those things. Please let me go back to marketing.
Orgo Chem Class: The professor and TAs seem nice enough and went over syllabi in class yesterday, but then in the first recitation handed us a problem set with completely new information and go “this is review.” I’ve been studying on my own in khan academy so it was fine, but still. hmmmmmmmmmm. hoping it gets better once they start teaching. I’ve heard this class is supposed to be tough in general but I like it so far. I really like skeletal structures. 
Orgo Chem Lab: my uni does something really weird where labs are a separate class from the class they go with, and have their own profs, but this one seems nice and she gets assignments posted early. The first 3 weeks are intros, safety, and basics, so it looks like the class will actually be pretty interesting and relatively easy!
Physics E&M: The professor is nice and explains the conceptual material really well but he doesn’t do example problems. Also perpetually late in giving us syllabi and schedules and I expect he’ll be late on giving back grades too, No curve, but most students have historically earned an A or B so I have high hopes for this class, even if it will be a ton of work - with a class or recitation every day of the week and different homework due every day.
Physics E&M lab: Not bad so far! We’re using simulators to understand the concepts and I really like this prof since he’s pretty chill. The lab write ups take a while but they aren’t difficult or frustrating, just tedious so that’s fine.
CHE 31: Fun fact: this was supposed to be the first chemical engineer class I took at uni, but because I was ahead on credits, I took Fluid Mechanics first. This isn’t a prereq though, so I thought that would be fine, but my professor kept saying “You learned this in 31″ so I’m HOPING that the fluids experience is going to help here. 
I’ve heard this is a tough class, and there’s two professors co-teaching it (which in my past experience, goes poorly), so I’m very anxious to see how this goes. The first professor (who I’ll call G) rambles endlessly so it’s easy to get distracted and we haven’t actually learned anything besides “units are important” so we’ll see how this turns out 
Connect textbook portal: Won’t let me hide the assignments I’m already done with which is getting to be a pain when there’s like... 27 of them stacked on top of one another and I only need to do two tonight but can’t figure out which ones. 
Work: I really like my new position so far! Getting my projects Monday, and I’m currently doing about 18-20 hours a week, though I can go up to 25. Still making a good paycheck and learning a lot, but it’s a lot to manage with the classes too.
Overall I have high hopes for this semester! Without as many distractions as being home, I should hopefully be able to focus a little better. Wish me luck! 
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