#shes got stuff going on in between hanging out and going to ceramics class | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

daichiduskdrop · 9 months

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˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚⋆·˚ ༘ *𝙎𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙡 ⋆·˚ ༘ *ੈ✩‧₊˚

Chapter 13

Pairing: BTS Ot7 X fem! reader

Genre: A/B/O AU, Fluff, Angst, Strangers to lovers,

Warnings: slight mentions of smoking

Words: 3565

A/N: Hi! I just wanted to hop in and say that I changed one of the beta classmates name. It sounded too similar to a character I've decided on earlier! I hope it's no issue for anyone. Thank you for being you! Lots of love, always

Taglist: @thelilbutifulthings @ilovemoneymorethenmen @singukieee @cherrysainttt @felicityroth @mageprincess7 @lucis-noctiana @danielle143 @osakis-gf @girl-nahh @vintageoldfashion @neverthefirstchoice @juju-227592 @silentreadersthings @i-have-no-life-charlie @everyonehatesshani @iamkookiesforyou @dragons-flare @fangirl125reader @roseidol

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Typing back your response, you tucked the phone away, realising the time for your lectures would be soon.

Packing everything up, you zipped your backpack and slung it over your shoulder, the small stitch keychain you had attached to it moving wildly.

Nodding slightly towards your classmates, they didn't seem to really even notice that you were leaving. You didn't mind; shrugging it off, you went on with your day.

You didn't necessarily have lectures where the teacher would be present and speak in front of a full class. Rather, you had been sent different documents, themes, and such every week that you had to study throughout.

The art history course wasn't necessarily your favourite by any means; you were always more into the actual creating process, but you also loved getting to know new artists and their works and analysing their processes and techniques.

So you made your way to the second floor. There were not many students in your way, as most of them were somewhere doing their own thing. Using your ID, you opened the library doors, walking in and shutting them gently behind you, making sure not to make a big ruccus.

The librarian that sat at the desk was an omega, like you were, but she was much older than you and never really spoke to you. You didn't think wrongly of it, understanding well why she was this way.

Mumbling a soft hello, she only glanced at you before she got back to filling out some of the documents laid before her. Walking around the desk, you made your way through the small walkways, stacked between tall rows of books.

You always liked going to the libraries; they smelled comforting to you, and with how quiet they were, it was just a safe space for you.

Making your way to the desks a few of the students were occupying, you took your seat at the furthest corner, next to a window that let in nice light.

You soon got to work, taking out the notebook and your notepad and pulled out the materials you had earlier printed out for yourself. Clicking the pen, you started writing, only having about 2 hours until you had to get back to your class.

You were paying close attention to your studies, making sure to finish on time. You weren't feeling like spending any of your free after-college time finishing up stuff you didn't do when you had the extra time for it.

You would much rather hang out with the packmates instead.

You forgot your earbuds at home, but luckily, the library was very quiet, so you were able to focus well. You liked listening to background audio when you worked on pretty much anything, but you settled without it.

Checking the time on your phone, it was already 14:51. You would have to get back to the studio by 15 at the latest. You still had to go over some stuff with your classmates, decide on who would do what, and finalise the whole poster concept.

Plus, you had to also work on your own assignments; not only did you have the „What is your problem?” theme, you still had to work on a few things for the ceramics and illustration course.

Closing the notepad and plucking your pencil case back into your bagpack, you collected all your stuff before leaving. Looking at your phone while walking, you opened the group chat again, noticing that they had replied by now.

Walking back downstairs, you took a seat at the big table once again. Most of your classmates were already littered all around, some typing in stuff on their own notebooks, others already painting at the studio stands, working on their solo works.

Walking over to Chin-Hae, you tapped the beta on his shoulder, trying not to make him jump in fright. He had a pair of black headphones over his ears, focusing fully on his sketchbook while he mapped out some ideas for his own projects.

Looking up at you, he pulled the earphones down, his eyes larger with wonder. „What is it?” He asked, not used to you coming to him.

„I was just wondering if you and Sun-Hi Unnie had time; we could go over the posters now." You murmured, rubbing at your arms, fingers hidden away.

Not answering you immediately, you saw him purse his lips before he looked towards where the other student was sitting, on the laptop typing.

„I guess we can do it now...” He mumbled, obviously not fully set on his decision, making you feel bad immediately.

„We don't have to,- if it's not the right time-." You tried to softly say it, but your voice must have been too quiet since the older student didn't react at all.

Sighing out loudly, he got out of his chair, took a few steps towards the other group member, and mumbled a few words to her before they both sat down next to each other.

With their stares on you for a second, you were confused, expecting them to come sit by the already arranged three chairs next to where the beta was sitting earlier, but guess not.

Jumping into action, you quickly took a chair from next to you and hastily carried it over to them, both of them already sitting close together with the girl's computer before them. Not sure where to exactly go, you just took a seat behind them, trying to see the screen yourself.

„Okay.. let me find the files for it quickly.” Sun-Hi said, holding the small mouse under her palm as she went through her files, opening a folder consisting of a few documents.

Clicking on the one titled "Poster Concepts," she let it load up, opening her Photoshop programme.

„...Do you guys have any ideas?” Turning in her seat, she looked over both of you, her hair well styled and pulled up in a claw clip. She always looked well put together. You admired that about her a lot.

It was quiet for a second, and soon both of the betas turned to look at you when none of them had spoken.

„...um.. I was thinking that since we have a quite colourful colour scheme, the writing should be just plain and simple so it's easy to read...”

You almost whispered, avoiding their eyes as much as possible. They always seemed just a bit too judgmental, especially since you were supposed to work on the project together.

Chin-Hae nodded, scratching the top of his head a little bit. „Yea, I mean that's... kinda obvious, but okay.” He answered, leaning back in the chair.

„Yea... And then for the actual concept, I was thinking we should just take a photo of one of the works we will exhibit; I think the works Heemin Chung-ssi provided for us would look good."

You said that, unsure of what they would think. Heemin Chung was quite a well-known artist who, after being messaged along with a few other local artists about being in their exhibition, didn't take much time to respond.

The group project then got a bit more serious, realising that it wouldn't be only the pack members of the school students visiting now. It might attract a lot more attention, and since marketing was a big part of the assignment, they knew they would have to incorporate this as much as possible.

„Good, yeah, I think that could work well, yeah. Will you do it then?” The girl asked you, one forearm resting over the back of her seat, looking at you with a sweet-looking smile.

You felt your eyes widen a little; there wasn't much time until you would have to get it finished. With only until about tomorrow or so, you knew this could get to be a bit of a time trap.

For god's sake, the list of all the artists in the exhibitions wasn't even finished yet!

„Yeah, I think you should do it; I'm sure whatever vision you have is... nice. We can go over it by tomorrow morning and adjust anything needed still.” Chin-Hae agreed, nodding his head.

„I'm not sure if I can—" You tried to say it, but it fell on deaf ears. At your complaints, the betas sighed out loudly, obviously annoyed with you, both of their scents suddenly heavier than before.

„Gosh. It's fine. Here, I'll send the file to your school email; just type it in.” Sun- He sighed out, already opening the mail app and pushing the laptop closer to you.

Unsurely, you typed in your school address, slumping back in the seat as you watched her look through her files, find the right one, and attach it to the email. After clicking send, the work was quickly transferred to your shoulders with no problems.

„Okay, great! Let's talk again in the morning.” Your classmate smiled, her teeth showing, bright and white. Nodding, you just decided to go with it; it wouldn't be too big of a deal-breaker for you, right? You would get it done just fine, like Unnie said.

Placing the chair back in its place, you went around the table again, sitting in your spot. Taking a big sip out of your half-empty water bottle, you knew you really had to thank Jimin for telling you about the syrup. It was very tasty.

Realising that you would just have to get to the poster after school, you now still had to work on your own projects, opening your laptop and going through all the emails you received pretty much every monday from your teachers regarding some feedback and suggestions.

Taking notes on your notepad, it didn't take long until the class got a bit more rowdy. Looking up, you noticed most of your classmates packing up; the time was 16:14.

You weren't that far in yet; you've only just read through the critiques for your illustration sketches so far. You would have to completely change two of your already well-thought-out pictures, which would add to some of your work.

Luckily, the teacher approved of the story book cover design you made. For one of the final semester projects, you chose to work on a book full of fables and stories that would be mostly for still very young pups.

You weren't used to making children's illustrations, but after reading the first one, you kind of fell in love.

It was a very cute story, in a way a bit sassy too, about the beginning of the world when a magician taught all animals how to act like themselves. A crab escaped, though, and started to play around with the sea instead, making giant tide waves appear out of nowhere.

With the humans complaining, the magician was quick to solve the issue. Taking the angsty, oversized crab to talk, he took away his shell. Feeling vulnerable, the animal turned whiny, blaming the humans for building their houses too close to the shore.

And so, he was given a pair of scissors, helping him cut up fruits and be more comfortable in the wild. He was allowed to be in the sea and also on land, but as a reminder of his mistakes, his shell would only last him 11 months of the year.

You just found it very cute and funny; with the constant whining and complaining from the sea animal, it was just very cute for you. And so, after you finished reading all the other 24 fables, you were sure that this was the perfect thing for you to work on.

Remembering Namjoon telling you to tell them in advance, you took your phone out once again, opening the group chat.

Even when you didn't get a response right away, you knew that they would notice in time. You weren't sure who would come take you, but with how insistent they were on giving you a lift once again, you knew that they would in fact come.

Smiling lightly to yourself, you opened up the next email, reading over it carefully.

Dear Miss L/N,

I have carefully observed your ceramic work on the theme of ideology, and I must say that it is quite thought-provoking. Your artistic exploration of this complex concept is commendable. In order to help you continue to grow as an artist, I would like to offer some critiques and suggestions that may further enhance your understanding and expression of ideology in your ceramic pieces.

Please keep in mind that these critiques are meant to be constructive and to inspire you towards improvement.

Composition

Your choice of composition in your ceramic work effectively communicates your conceptual ideas about ideology. The arrangement of forms and elements within each piece creates a visual narrative that engages the viewer. Well done!

However, in some instances, the placement of certain elements can be further refined to enhance the overall impact of your work. Consider experimenting with different arrangements to find the most compelling composition for each piece.

Craftsmanship

Your craftsmanship in shaping the ceramic forms is impressive. The level of detail and precision you have achieved adds depth and character to your work and allows your ideas on ideology to come to life.

However, in your earlier assignments, I noticed a few areas where the glazing could be improved. Be mindful of achieving a smooth and consistent application of glaze this time, as it will help to create a more polished final appearance for your ceramics.

Symbolism and Visual Language

The symbolism and visual language you have employed effectively convey your intended message about the theme; therefore, you are on track regarding that. The choice of symbols and their placement within each piece successfully create a dialogue between the viewer and the work.

To push your exploration of ideology even further, consider experimenting with different symbols or incorporating additional layers of meaning. This will deepen the viewer's understanding and create a more nuanced conversation around the theme. I carefully read through your written notes you sent me earlier, and you are following your visions well so far.

However, in some instances, certain elements within your work may distract from the core theme. Take a step back and evaluate each piece to ensure that every element contributes to the overall conceptual clarity of your message.

Keep up the exceptional work, and I look forward to seeing how your artistic journey unfolds.

Best regards,

Wan Sook

Sighing out, you jotted down a few notes. Your teacher for ceramics was quite strict but open-minded about the assignment messages. She always intended for her students to tell their own story and provide their own message, but she didn't let anyone slack off during the class either.

Standing up, you knew you would just have to finish everything up at home again; it was late enough and the sun would start setting in only a few hours at maximum.

All of your classmates have already left, so you just packed up your stuff, turned off the lights, and went to the school entrance.

Checking your phone for any notifications, you only saw one.

We? What was that supposed to mean? You thought only one would come to get you. They must have been busy today; they should focus on their work instead of coming to get you.

Furrowing your eyebrows slightly, you unlock your locker before you put on the jacket and the scarf, careful to tie ot around your neck tightly.

Walking to the entrance, you beeped your ID at the scanner, allowing you to walk through the barrier with no issues. With the glass doors sliding open thanks to the motion trigger, you walked out, walking down the few front steps slowly.

You noticed Sun-Hi and one of your other classmates, Haneul, standing near the entrance, leaning against a wall, smoking. You never got to speak with Haneul before; she reeked of a heavy alpha scent, and with how upfront she is, you were always just too shy to even approach her.

You didn't pay them much attention, only recognising their scents and the smell of smoke; you didn't even dare to pass them a glance. Instead, you walked towards the parking lot right in front of the school.

You couldn't see the car the alphas came in with earlier in the morning, but there were only about 8 cars parked, and compared to any of the other ones, the sleek and much bigger car struck your attention immediately.

Walking in the direction of the black Hyundai, you saw the front doors open before three men piled out quickly. Coming to you the fastest, Tae already had his arms outstretched and his long trenchcoat left unbuttoned.

His arms wrapped tightly around you right away, tucking your head gently underneath his mask covered chin. You could feel his chest rumble a bit in content. With his cheek rubbing over your hair gently, you also nudged his neck a little.

„My sweet babycheeks. How are you, baby? Ah, I'm so glad to see you finally!” He proclaimed, but before he had time to say anything else, you were already pulled into a different pair of arms.

Gently brushing over your head softly, the alpha checked over your form, making sure you were fully okay after they had been absent for a little while. They were anxious about having you leave their sight.

„Come here, peaches; let me hold you for a little bit, cub.”

Jin didn't say much else, opting instead to hold you tighter and closer, one hand still rubbing over your head. He too scented you a little bit.

Pulling away after noticing the last man hover around for a bit, too shy to approach, he smiled at you finally, letting Yoongi also get his sweet greetings with you.

Turning to the last alpha, he beckoned you closer, having you take the few steps hurriedly before you hugged him yourself.

Exaggerating the huff he let out at you cuddling up to his chest, he soon let off and also pulled you close to him. Brushing a few locks behind your ear, he watched you fondly, also looking over at you.

All three of them made sure to subtly go over your scent glands, making sure you weren't in any distress or sadness.

Assured that your day went okay, even Yoongi soon rubbed his chin and knuckles over your face, gentle and content with you in his arms after a long day.

„My kitty. Alpha missed you, sweet baby. Were you a good girl today?” Nodding subtly, you felt your cheeks heat up slightly and your stomach flutter a little.

„Good.”

Was all he answered, pulling you towards the opened car. Waiting for you to enter first, he got in the back seats with you, and even if there was free space next to the window seats, he was quick to pull you to the middle one.

Patting you on the head gently, he pulled the car door closed, shushing you at your soft whines. „It's only for safety, kitty, I promise. Buckle up now.” Yoongi ruffled up your hair a little, smiling at you softly.

With Taehyung driving and Jin sitting next to him, the car soon went on its way. As you were going out of the parking lot, you noticed both of your classmates looking at the vehicle next to the entrance.

„How was your day, cub?” Jin asked after turning on some soft music to play in the background. He turned in his seat a little, his puffer jacket crinkling a little.

Looking out of the window, you thought of your day. Nothing too bad happened, so it was a good day—great even.

„It was alright. I still have to finish up some stuff for tomorrow, though.” You mumbled the last part, picking a little at your fingernails.

„What do you have to do?” Taehyung asked, only sharing a short glance with you through the back mirror.

„Just one poster; I'll tell you about it later.” You whispered, too tired to worry about it now.

„Okay baby. Do you want to go to your place and stay there for the night?” The alpha asked, noticing how wrecked you looked.

Even when they would always have you choose what you would want to do yourself, they did secretly hope that you would stay with them tonight, and the nights continuing on.

You seemed to be settling in so well, and after seeing in what part of the city your apartment complex was located, they knew that it would be a bit better for you. There was no such thing as rushing with the second gender's needs.

„I can't stay tonight...? With you guys?” You whispered again, your disappointment and sadness clouding up in the small space, making all of them alert suddenly.

„No, no, no, baby. Of course you can babycheeks; you can always stay with alphas.” The youngest was quick to correct himself, making sure not to be misunderstood. He was just worried about them moving on too quickly with you.

It really was considered normal in a lot of packs to have the mate they were currently courting move in pretty much right away.

They wouldn't mind you doing the same, but they understood well that easing into it over time would work better for you.

„Alphas will always take care of you, sweet kitten. How could we not? You are the sweetest little 'mega around kitty.” The alpha next to you said, his voice final, making sure to not leave you in doubt.

Especially since he was telling the truth.

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violetjedisylveon · 2 years

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Arm's Length

*Slight difference between art and chapter, blood splatter/drips are hard to draw and this already has a lot going on so I elected not to add it (did I forgot about that part? Yeah, maybe a little but shh) also this has been done since the end of June(25th to be exact), I was waiting til I finished the chapter then I did other stuff and this has just been sitting in drafts for a while.*

Amnesia list here, chapter here.

It's only Omega in the picture because while Freyu is currently just hanging around the batch, Omega is the only one who realistically could get or be let within arm's length of Freyu.

She's distant for a reason. And that reason is she has some severe, fully justified trust issues, she sees herself as a hazard and liability. Yep, she's got some problems.

School is starting soon for me so that sucks, I can't draw or write as much. And I'm a senior now so all that oh so fun college and scholarship and stuff that will givw me a headache and probably a bunch of half days cause I have to try before succumbing to allergies or whatever and migraines too because school is stressful.

Anyway, let's just move past that, I'm taking lots of fun classes, two different baling classes for each semester, ceramics which ia really fun cause I get to play with dirt and I used to make a really good pinch pot, might be a little rusty, it's been about two years, and I'm taking a photography class and digital arts, I'm doing the next levels of those classes cause I really enjoyed them and I am not taking math! Yay! I don't like math.

Have a good day, whatever that is for you.

VJS out!

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butmakeitgayblog · 2 years

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Teach Me

Ch 2. Slow and Steady

_________________________

The quiet of the ceramics lab was one of her favorite spaces in the world. Filled with the earthy scent of clay and freshly mixed slip, and the muddled chirp of birds nested just outside the lab's sole window.

She moved around the room with ease, barely watching where she was going as she tilted hips this way and that, pivoting on the balls of her feet in a well practiced dance as she wound her way through work stations.

Folding the final swatch of frayed burlap and straightening it for no particular reason, Lexa mentally went through her first day checklist one last time on her way back across the room.

Syllabus. Set.

Work cloth. Set.

Got the sample clay divided, slip mixed, glazes labeled--

"Knock, knock."

She halted at the light call and twisted around toward the open doorway

"Oh," Lexa said in a bizarrely breathy laugh as an unbidden smile unfurled across her face. "Hello."

"Hey."

"We meet again."

"So we do," Clarke smiled right back as she came a few steps forward and took a quick survey of the room.

"Class doesn't start for another fifteen minutes," Lexa said, vaguely gesturing toward the clock on the wall behind her.

Rocking up on her toes, Clarke bobbed her head in a nod. "Yeah, I know, I'm early," she said as she pulled a face. "But I have an hour between my last class and this one, and there's only so much sitting in my car I can do. I hope this is--"

"Oh! Yeah, no, please, come in, come in," Lexa said with a start and beckoned Clarke further into the room. She moved to pull the stool out from beneath the work station across from her and motioned for Clarke to set her stuff down. "I wasn't saying it was a bother. You're welcome any time. It was just… I'm used to students generally flying through the door at the last second on syllabus day."

"Learned my lesson on that last time, as I'm sure you remember." Clarke rolled her eyes as she walked over, continuing as she set her bag down and flipped it open. "My daughter lorded it over me all night. 'Woooow, mom, that doesn't sound very responsible of you. You really need to work on your time management.' Little twerp."

"She sounds precious."

"Well, she is my child. But besides that, I just hate being late in general. Ruins my 'overachiever' street cred."

Lexa let out a small laugh and leaned her hip against the workstation table ledge. "I'm not entirely sure if overachiever comes with street cred, does it?"

"Oh, yes," Clarke said with utmost seriousness, though her eyes shone with a kind of teasing that made Lexa's stomach swoop. "Very intense stuff, Professor."

"Hm. I'll be sure to keep that in mind while grading studio practices then."

"Just you wait."

Releasing a laugh through her nose, Lexa pushed away from the table and made her way over to grab the clipboard off her workspace. "So, two classes, huh?"

Clarke hummed in question, looking up from where she was rifling through her bag when Lexa turned back from hanging the sign-out sheet. "What now?"

"Two classes," Lexa repeated. "With me."

"Uh. Yep."

"Sure that was a wise choice? You'll probably be sick of me by the end of the semester."

A lovely shade of rose sprung to Clarke's cheeks as Lexa watched her bite her lip and smile before pressing a palm over her eyes. "Egh. Okay. Um," Clarke awkwardly chuckled as she dragged her hand away, "can I tell you something slightly embarrassing?"

Eyebrows shooting up, Lexa rested her hands on her hips and sent Clarke a toothy smile. "Well that's entirely too intriguing to say no to."

"Don't judge me, alright," Clarke said. "But I… may... have been mildly drunk when I applied to come here."

A beat of silence echoed between them before Lexa snorted. "What?"

"It's not as bad as it sounds!" Clarke rushed on. "It was just-- My Madi was with her dad that night, and I was feeling all zen and 'one' with the universe.... And more than a little 'one' with an unfairly good bottle of rosé, and I… It just sounded like a great idea."

"No, I get it. I've had those nights, believe me," Lexa eased as she felt compelled to share in the woman's obvious fluster.

"See? Okay. Thank you."

"So… You're saying you planned your entire semester while three sheets in?"

"I believe the term I used was mildly drunk," Clarke pointed out with narrowed eyes as she went back to riffling in her bag. "But… yes. Basically. And I went through the classes I thought looked interesting, then looked up the professors to see who had the best ratings and chose from there."

"You're saying you chose my classes because drunk-you read that I come highly recommended?"

"Yes. Well, no. I mean, yes, that, but mostly--"

Clarke's words cut off with a click of her jaw.

So Lexa waited.

And waited.

Watched Clarke's movements falter as blue eyes darted up and that blush bloom deeper.

"What?" Lexa finally prompted.

"It's so stupid and I regret bringing this up now."

"Okay but you have to tell me," Lexa egged her on as she walked over and leaned her palms on the worktable between them. "You can't lead with something like that and leave a girl hanging."

Clarke sighed and plopped down on the stool behind her.

Resigned eyes locked onto her as Clarke rested her chin in her hand.

"L. Woods."

Lexa frowned and bent closer. "... Excuse me?"

"L… Woods," Clarke repeated slowly with a shake of her head.

It took a moment of silence, but just the one, before the penny finally dropped.

"Are you serious?" Lexa asked as she shoved up with a scoff.

"Listen, drunk me thought it was hilarious," Clarke said and held her hands up in surrender. "I remember having a really good time randomly saying 'what, like it's hard?' while I was writing everything down. And then when I met with my advisor, I just gave him the list from that night, and… yeah, here we are."

"Of course," Lexa sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose before pushing her glasses higher. "That movie is the bane of my existence, I hope you know that."

"Duly noted, but it was highly amusing at the time. And it did get me here, so..."

"It remains to be seen if that's even a good or bad thing, Clarke."

"Oh, please," Clarke smirked and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Give me your worst, I'll win you over."

"Is that right?"

"Absolutely. Not to brag or anything, but," Clarke said, leaned in and dropped into a conspiratorial whisper, "I've been told I'm a pleasure to have in class."

Lexa's stomach flipped with a pleasant twist as she held the mischievous pair of blues staring up at her, unconsciously leaning forward as well and fighting against the stretch of her smile. "Then I guess I look forward to having you--"

They both jumped at the burst of muffled voices, hearing the thudding of footfalls echoing against hallway tile. Lexa shot away from the worktable just as a crowd of students lumbered through the open double doors, hitching a welcoming smile on her face as she struggled to slow the hammering in her chest.

"Hey! Morning, everybody! Nope. It's afternoon. I-- ya know what, just come in. Take a seat anywhere," she said in a voice she didn't quite recognize as she mentally told herself to get it the fuck to together.

Cheeks treacherously blazing for no damn reason at all, Lexa made her way up the the front of the lab where her demo station was set up.

She took her time putting on her apron, carefully looping the strings around her waist and double knotting it for good measure. Smoothed her hands over the covering that protected her favorite oxford button down.

Chancing a peek around the room as she meticulously folded her sleeves up to her elbows, Lexa watched the students settle themselves into whatever workspace called to them.

She hoped they were picking well. Felt bad for the gangly kid who had chosen the spot just beneath the air vent. Could practically hear his complaints come firing time when the studio's AC would be cranked full blast.

And then her eyes strayed past him. Flitted back toward her own work area, finding a deep shade of cerulean already staring back.

Her hands tripped over the knot of her apron even as those eyes immediately looked down. Lexa swallowed at the sudden lurch that rocketed through her chest all the same.

This was ridiculous.

She was being ridiculous.

She had a class to run for God's sake.

Clearing her throat loudly, obnoxiously, Lexa shut down whatever the hell all that was with a clap of her hands.

"Everybody settled?" she called out, pointedly looking around and doing a final quick scan.

Three workstation seats sat empty. Just as there should be.

"Good," Lexa answered herself. "Okay. Welcome to Ceramics I. First off, show of hands, who's excited to set stuff on fire?"

Two hands predictably flew up.

"Hell yeah," she nodded with a bright smile and motioned between them. "Alright, nobody allow those two around the kiln."

//////////

"... and a variety of methods of constructing pieces, not just the throwing wheel. I'm sure at least some of you signed up for this class thinking you would recreate the scene from Ghost, which is understandable, but not the sole method of construction. Yes, I am aware I'm dating myself with that reference, but I would appreciate it if you ignored that and accepted me as I am. Because for now, we're starting with the basics."

Lexa mindlessly droned through the tail end of her intro speech as she walked through the work tables and handed each student a lump of pre-measured clay.

"Which brings me to my next point. There's only three tests in this class, everything else is participation and studio practices. Meaning I expect you to show up and work while you're here. I want to see progression of technique. 'A for effort' is the name of the game, folks. You'll probably have to come in during your off hours. The lab does stay unlocked for your convenience, but trust me when I say, you are being watched."

Handing out the final sample, Lexa turned and gave the room a weighted look as she pointed to the very conspicuous security camera hanging in the far corner of the room.

She still knew at least one person would need to be gently reminded of its presence at some point in the semester.

"Okay. Now that the threatening portion is done, let's get to the fun stuff."

Moving back to her makeshift work area, Lexa went through the motions of explaining the properties of the practice clay they were using, how it would differ from the normal clay they'd be using throughout the year. Explained the methods, strengths, and weaknesses of that day's demo, coil pottery, mixed with a few key points of the method's history as well as the particulars to making their creations structurally sound.

She built her own mini vase up one rung at a time, explaining why slow and steady was the path to victory in ceramics, giving the usual lecture of not trying to bite off more than one could chew with each layer.

And sighed when she let them loose to try it for themselves, only to immediately watch the majority of them do the exact opposite of what she'd just said.

They'd figure it out eventually.

//////////////

Clarke frowned as the clay dried and pilled into tiny crumbles beneath her ministrations.

Wondered why they were even working with this junk to begin with when it barely wanted to hold together or do a single thing she indignantly told it to do in her head.

She huffed for the third time in five minutes and leaned in closer, using the bendy flat metal thing she didn't know the name of to try and smooth out a particularly stubborn curve yet again.

"You look like you're about to burst a blood vessel."

Stopping at the whisper from the work space beside her, Clarke pulled back and looked to her right.

A woman slightly older than herself was watching her with naked amusement, chin resting on the ball of her fist and a teasing smile sitting easy on her face.

"Can I help you?" Clarke asked.

"Looks like you're the one who could use a little help."

"Your observation skills are impressive," Clarke snipped. "What gave me away?"

Brown eyes widened and then narrowed, that smile turning sharper as she watched Clarke silently for another moment.

"I like you," the woman said abruptly and sat up, reaching a hand out. "I'm Raven."

Clarke frowned and quirked a brow. "My hands are filthy."

"Whose aren't? We're fuckin' around with the classy version of dirt."

Looking down at the sight of the woman's equally grey dust and muck smeared hand, she eventually shrugged and returned the handshake with a tight smile. "Clarke."

"Here," Raven said when she released her, "try this."

"... A bottle?"

"The contents of said bottle," Raven sighed and plopped the bottle down on Clarke's side of the table. "Dribble a little water on your fingers, it'll help smooth that curve you're about to cry over. Don't feel bad though, this clay is bullshit and dries out before you can do anything. I swear Lexa uses this stuff first day just to torture the fresh blood."

Already wetting her fingers with the water, Clarke swiped her fingers along the outside bend of clay and smiled when the jagged pieces slicked into something much cleaner looking.

"Groundbreaking, isn't it?"

"Yeah, thank you," Clarke breathed and repeated the process on another rough spot.

"No problem. What's hilarious is that she'll very much be teaching you exactly how important water can be to the whole process next class."

"Are you serious?"

"Like I said, she uses this crap as torture, I'm convinced of it. She's a sadist."

Clarke quieted a laugh as she glanced between her work and the woman seemingly lost in her own world at the front of the room. Watched hands deftly rolling out and hatching separate coils before winding them together.

In the time it had taken Clarke to build her up clay barely a few inches off the table, an undulating eight inch pot sat fully formed at the head of the class.

It was hypnotic seeing the deftness of the professor's hands, how the woman seemed entirely zoned into the process as she worked. Her movements were delicate, but sure, each one deliberate and fluid as she added one coiled rope after another and built the structure up taller with ease.

"Remember, folks," Lexa called out so suddenly Clarke jumped in her seat, hurriedly looking away before she could be caught gawking like an idiot. "I'm only interested in seeing where you're starting from. Don't worry about impressing anyone, just try and make something that holds together. I want you to get familiar with the feel of the medium."

Clarke went back to her pot, needlessly rewetting her fingers before actually focusing past her fluster, and grabbed a different tool entirely. She picked up her tiny… whatever the hell it was she'd made and used the self-named pokey thing to start etching in a design.

"So," Clarke said after a few moments, glancing over at the woman beside her again and catching her looking back. "You seem to know the professor?"

Raven snorted out a laugh and kept forming some tiny thing that Clarke couldn't make out. "Yeah, you could say that. I've only taken this class four times."

"Wait, what?" Clarke stopped and looked at her with a frown. "Why would you take an intro class four times?"

"All the fun, none of the worrying about tests," Raven shrugged as she kept working. "My wife's on the faculty here so it costs me basically nothing to take classes, and after this little souvenir," she paused long enough to rap a knuckle against the metal brace that circled her knee, "I don't really worry about working anymore. More fun to be a full time student. Just learn anything I want and make stuff."

Not wanting to pry, Clarke simply gave an appreciative nod. "Nice."

"What about you?" Raven asked as she pulled back and inspected her own creation. "What got you back in the academic saddle at this deliciously ripened age?"

Clarke cracked a smile at her teasing tone. "Definitely not the cheapness of classes," she sighed and went back to her etching. "Divorce."

"Ouch."

"It was a long time coming," she absently waved off the concern. "But between the settlement and some inheritance, here I am. Bright eyed and feelin' old as hell."

"Okay, everybody," Professor Woods' voice cut through Raven's laughter. "I think that's good. Let's call it for today. Just leave your pieces and I'll come around to see where we are."

Clarke paused her movements and looked up, ruefully smiling and shaking her head at the nearly foot tall, perfectly symmetrical coiled creation sitting on the front workstation.

Show off.

Clarke kept on working through the quiet shuffle around her, hearing clips of muted conversations and small words of encouragement as she determinedly finished up a few final details on her sort-of mini pot.

A click of a tongue to her right caught her attention.

"Raven. Really?"

"What?" Clarke's workspace companion shrugged when Clarke glanced over from the corner of her eye.

"You gotta give me something here. Work with me."

"There's a hole in it! It's a pot! Look, it's an abstract."

"It's a duck."

"Ceci n'est pas une duck!"

Professor Woods rolled her eyes even as she gave a soft pat to Raven's shoulder. "Get out of here, go home."

"Oui, la Professeure," Raven said as she grabbed her bag and stood with a grunt, giving Clarke a lazy wave on her way out the door.

"That woman," her professor sighed after Raven was gone as she moved around to stand on Clarke's other side. "Don't let her teach you any bad habits."

"Never," Clarke said as she deliberately slid the contraband water bottle further away from her area.

Professor Woods hummed and looked down at the little creation sitting before them. Clarke felt her cheeks heat under such scrutiny as the woman shuffled in close, lowering down to squat on her heels and inspecting Clarke's piece with sharp, green eyes.

"We sure about that?"

"Absolutely."

"That's not a coil pot, Clarke."

"Okay, no it's not, but hear me out," Clarke jumped in as the woman lifted her work and started turning it in circles to see all the different sides. "It was a coil pot at first. But then I got bored and I started smoothing down the sides," she explained and mimicked her own movements as those eyes flicked to her during their inspection. "And before I knew it, it was smooth. And then I thought, well let me put a design on it. Obviously. So that's when I took the pokey thing and, and... did all the rest."

Professor Woods was quiet for a long moment as she continued to gingerly turn the piece over and over in her fingers.

Clarke wrung her hands in her lap and watched until she finally smiled, set it back down, and looked up toward Clarke from her crouched position.

"Pottery needle."

Clarke let her brow drop into a deep furrow.

"The pokey thing," her professor said as she pointed to the tool in question. "It's called a pottery needle."

"Ah," Clarke breathed in the small space between them. "Yeah, that sounds more professional."

"I appreciate your initiative, Clarke," Professor Woods said with that lovely click as she pushed back up to her feet. "And I'm certainly seeing that overachiever street cred you were talking about. It's impressive."

"I told you."

"But you will still have to actually make a coil pot for me at some point in the next week."

"Right, of course," Clarke agreed with a guilty nod.

"Do you wanna fire it?"

"What?" Clarke's head flew up from where it had dipped to see full lips still smiling at her, felt her breathing subconsciously deepen at the sweet scent of perfume when her professor leaned closer and rested her elbows on the table as she resumed inspecting the mini pot.

"Would you like to fire this?" Professor Woods asked again as she glanced to her. "I'm not going to be lighting the kiln for a couple weeks yet, but…"

"Oh, God no," Clarke scoffed and fought the ridiculous blush climbing to her cheeks when the woman immediately frowned. "It's nothing worth saving. I was just messing around."

A hand shot out and snatched up the pot before Clarke could smash it. "Hey," Professor Woods chided and held it out of Clarke's destruction zone. "It's your first piece, Clarke. You have to save it."

"I didn't even know what I was doing."

"Which makes it all the more worthy," she insisted. "Usually all I get is a bunch of lopsided vases and tiny floppy bowls that fall apart. This is an honest to God pot. And look, it's so cute."

Clarke watched as her professor held the piece up on the flat of her palm.

"You even put little designs on it. And these swirling pinholes that create negative space? That's wonderful... You should really let me fire this for you."

Clarke held her gaze and chewed her lip in thought, barely held back a smile when the woman playfully held the piece next to her face. She sighed after a long moment and nodded.

"If you insist--"

"I do," Professor Woods said on the heels of the words that had barely left Clarke's lips as she rose from the table. A shiver ran down Clarke's spine when fingers ghosted across her back, grabbed a pinch of her 'University of Polis' shirt sleeve and playfully tugged as she passed. "Wait here, Ms. Overachiever. Advanced lesson time."

Clarke swiveled on her stool and called after her. "You really don't have to, professor--"

"You can just call me Lexa."

Clarke's mouth clicked shut as she sat up straight at the offhand correction, not quite sure what to do with herself while her professor-- while Lexa, opened the giant metal cabinet that stood next to the doorway and grabbed a few things at random.

"Okay, this is a ware board. There's a bunch of different types, but this one's particle board," Lexa explained as she came back in an excited flurry of movements and set everything down on Clarke's space. "It helps pull moisture out of clay, which is generally what you want when a piece is finished. But since it's gonna be a little bit before we fire this thing, we're gonna want to find a way to keep it from drying out too much too soon so it doesn't crumble. Also, if you decide you wanna change anything beforehand, it's not literally set in stone yet."

Clarke leaned back when Lexa reached across her and snapped up the forgotten water bottle, smiling at her grumbled sigh of 'Thanks, Raven' even as Lexa took a piece of gnarled looking plastic and sprinkled a few droplets on it.

"This is the best way to keep your work, sorry for having to use this word, moist, in between sessions," Lexa picked right back up with a kind of whirlwind enthusiasm that Clarke couldn't tear gaze away from. Slim fingers received their own trickle of water and started caressing the tiny piece in light passes.

Clarke swallowed as she diligently followed their every path.

"You don't want to soak it," Lexa said in a concentrated hush. "Just give it enough moisture to stay alive… And be gentle, so you won't lose all your designs."

"Gentle, got it," Clarke croaked as she watched fingers dip into the pot to wet down the inside walls.

"Think slick and smooth."

"Mhm."

"Take care of the lip, it's fragile."

"Take care of the lips. The lip."

Clarke licked the dryness from her own lips when Lexa set the piece down in the middle of the ware board and looked over, seeing little flecks of gold in green eyes as Lexa handed over the dampened plastic. "Okay. Now you wrap it up."

"Right," Clarke nodded and took a breath as she draped the plastic over her piece and went to lift--

"No, wait." Hands rested over her own, stopping her before she could pick up the pot. "Leave it on the board. Just wrap it like this."

Lexa cupped Clarke's palms around the tiny figure beneath the plastic, bunching the excess material in tufts at the base so it sat close and snug.

"Perfect," Lexa murmured beside her, hands lingering a moment as Clarke turned and let her eyes rove over the side of that unfairly pretty face.

And then all at once Lexa cleared her throat and yanked back while wiping her hands on her apron.

"'Kay. All done."

She smiled and picked up the board and took off across the room before Clarke knew what was even happening.

"This should be safe for at least a week," Lexa called over her shoulder as she leaned up on her tiptoes and slid the board into the metal cabinet. "But I'll keep an eye on it. You can check it too, see if you decide to make any changes. This top shelf is mine, so I'm gonna hide it here in case anyone gets any funny ideas."

"Funny ideas?" Clarke asked when she finally got her bearings enough to fully turn around.

Lexa tsked as she finished closing up the cabinet. "Unfortunately, some people are thieves. It's not truly a semester until someone gets one of their projects stolen."

Clarke frowned as she dropped her supplies into the water proof sack she'd packed that morning to wash later. "Well that's bullshit."

"Hence the added security," Lexa nudged a chin up toward the camera as she moved to the sink and rinsed her hands.

They lapsed into silence as Clarke finished packing up and rinsed her own hands, only allowing herself a few glances as Lexa untied her apron and hung it back up. She grappled with what exactly to do with all the unknown words jostling for attention at the back of her thought as she slipped her bag onto her shoulder and couldn't find a single thing else to keep her there.

Which was stupid because she really did need to be going. Had dinner to make and laundry calling her name.

Had to get out of that room and process the entirety of the last hour.

So Clarke released a sharp sigh and smiled when her professor looked up from where she was scribbling something on a stack of papers. "Okay, well. Thanks for the, uh... advanced lesson."

"It was my pleasure," Lexa grinned, "Ms. Overachiever."

"I told you I would impress you."

"I indeed stand impressed."

"Guess I'll head out then," she said and hitched a thumb over her shoulder. "But I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"Actually." Lexa held a finger up, stopping Clarke in her tracks as she grabbed the packet she'd been writing on and walked over. "Here."

Taking the outstretched papers, Clarke looked at her in question. "What's this?"

"I was thinking about what you said yesterday. About being worried of falling behind should anything come up. And a colleague gave me the idea to just give you a breakdown of the course material for the semester."

Clarke looked down and saw a typed bullet pointed list sectioned out and filed by time period for each month and week.

"It's not a cheat sheet," Lexa continued as Clarke flipped through the few pages. "You'll have to actually study all of that to pass the tests. And it's not an excuse to skip class either, because I cover things not in the textbook. So don't you go getting any funny ideas."

Clarke smiled up at her with a roll of her eyes. "I would never purposely skip your class. It may have only been the one, but I really liked it."

"Oh. Good. That's good to hear," Lexa breathed. Then nodded. Crossed her hands behind her back and took on an air that read as all business. "Still. I'm giving you fair warning, this isn't your free pass. I just thought it might help you to know what sections you have to study for and when, that way you can easily work it around your schedule without having to guess what comes next."

"Thank you," Clarke quietly murmured as she flipped it closed. "That's really thoughtful."

"Of course… And I, um… I put my personal cell number on the back," Lexa added as Clarke carefully slipped the packet into her bag.

Clarke's head whipped up. "Your number?"

"For emergencies," Lexa all but blurted even as she pivoted and walked back to her work space, refusing to look at Clarke as she busied herself with shuffling packing up odds and ends on her desk. "I was thinking, what if, perchance, something came up on a test day and I hadn't looked at my email. I tend to check my phone more frequently, so that would be more practical in a pinch if you needed to reach me to reschedule."

Quiet settled over the room save for the rustle of paper as Clarke stared on and Lexa continued to fuss over nothing.

"You're giving me your number?"

"For emergencies," the back of Lexa's head nodded.

Clarke couldn't help but grin at the rather endearing display and gripped her bag strap tighter. "Do you… normally give that out to students?"

"... No."

Another long moment of silence passed.

"Not gonna follow that up with anything?"

"Nope."

Letting out a laugh, Clarke ran a hand through her hair. "Alright. Well then… Thank you, Lexa," she said with a softness she hoped put the woman at ease. "I really appreciate this. This is… more than I deserve."

"Don't worry about it," Lexa blindly waved behind her. "You're a good student, you deserve to succeed. I'm just glad I can help."

Clarke chewed her lip and nodded to herself, sending an unseen smile at the woman who still refused to look at her as she backed toward the door. "So I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yep."

"Ten-thirty, right?"

"Yep."

"You said you wrote it on the back?"

"Yep."

Clarke shook her head and knocked a knuckle against the doorframe as she stepped out. "Good to know. You have a good night, professor."

She waited and watched Lexa's hands falter, only leaving when she heard a faint, 'Goodnight, Clarke,' in return.

/////////////////////

#prof/stu au #Teach Me #clexa #lexa x clarke #clexa fic #forgive mistakes

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munsnz · 3 years

Text

TRICKS OF LIFE — STEVE HARRINGTON

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐯. — 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞? Overview: Y/N tells Mike information to help their lost friend, she also heads to the search party for Will with Victor. As they explore, the past unravels and there is an odd occurrence that happens. Navigation & Mixtape

Tag: @samiyamuntaha @thepowerstoner @ughgclden @mqyfield @cooperdaysgf

“So right by Mirkwood right?” Mike Wheeler’s voice peeped after listening to Y/N’s remark of details about what she heard at the Hawkins Police Department a few hours ago. It was around 7 pm, right around to where the girl was getting ready prone to the search party being held with a few of the residents of the town.

Y/N hummed a positive response to clearing out his doubts just in case he was confused by any means, this wasn’t going to help Mike, it was going to help Will get a faster chance to be retrieved to his home again.

Although Hopper disapproved the request of letting young people in the search, Y/N and Victor were eventually allowed to come along, “Yeah, but remember you have to be somewhat far from the real search group okay? We don’t want you to get caught.”

”Mike! What are you doing?” Nancy’s faint voice was caught on the other line of the phone, leading Mike to leave the phone out, Y/N overhearing them argue over the dumbest things.

Prior to the noises of Mike pushing Nancy out of the basement she guessed, the boy came back on the line, sighing loudly, “Sorry about that, Nancy gets so annoying, I still don’t know why you still hang out with her.”

”She could be a priss sometimes,” She responds, breathily giggling, clenching the ceramic telephone tighter, “But she’s still my friend if you could say.”

Continuing with their conversation based on the plan, it was perfectly assembled, safe with a high possibility of finding Will, even if it had been a day. Will couldn’t have gone far anyways. Y/N was about to speak, but was suddenly caught off guard as soon as she heard her dad in the hallway, getting prepared for the search.

”Oh shit! I have to go now,” Y/N hushed in a subtle tone, trying her best to keep away Hopper from listening to their discussion, “Remember to be home by 9 at least with flashlights. Stay safe Mike.”

The line went awfully silent, placing back the phone to its regular position on the handset, while it being attached to the wall. Rapidly, spinning to look at her father, trying to act as normal as possible, his brows furrowed at her.

”What were you doing?”

Shrugging it off calmly, Y/N breathily giggles while she put her hands on her hips saying, “I was just checking in with Victor, that’s all.”

Hopper’s eyes widened at her point, clicking his tongue as he started grabbing on his sweater for the frosty night ahead, “Funny, but I just called his mom to let him know that he was coming.”

”Right..” Y/N casually crossed her arms, cursing under her breath before she showed any subtle reaction to what she was up to. Play it cool.

In the silence of her looking around the messy home by the front door, Hopper sharply whistles while slinging the car keys in the air to catch them, making Y/N follow right behind me, pretending as if the few minutes didn’t occur. Feeling the breeze of the autumn air, both the relatives made their way to the vehicle, on their way to the small yet important search for this boy, Will Byers.

As the road got narrower and narrower, the car drove deeper into the dark woods, where Y/N could see the slender trees and branches surrounding them. The starry sky lit up the place with a soft tone of dim blues and grays painted across it on the chilly night. Watching out the window, Y/N squinted her eyes to see a figure from afar waving towards the vehicle, a familiar figure to be Victor. Hopper drove nearer, the headlights being able to guide him to the stop where a small crowd of people were surrounding along with the patrols.

Hopper cleared his throat, while he pushed the breaks down and turned to his daughter, “Hey kid, remember don’t be-“

Without hesitation, Y/N swung the car door open to step out of it, hustled her way to her so called “acquaintance”, Victor. It was more like a friend but she didn’t want to be that close with the boy. Victor wearily smiling at her.

“You seem tired,” Y/N creeps up next to him, watching the small groups of people around the mounds of dead leaves and twigs gathered for the search.

Victor’s voice brings the girl’s attention back to him, he clears his throat, “I mean dealing with Flo is already a lot for me to handle, so I suppose I am.” The two silently chuckled, the frost getting to their noses, “I heard there’s gonna be a chance of rain.”

”Really?”

“Yes really! Haven’t you seen the forecast? I’m even wearing a jacket!” Victor squinted his eyes, his eyewear raising up on the bridge of his nose and the girl shrugged aimlessly.

Y/N scoffed, shoving him slightly, “I think there’s way more important things we need to focus on instead of the weather.”

From afar, Hopper and the policemen indicated all the volunteers to gather around on the sidewalk, near the entrance of the forest. The flashing blue and red lights were turned off from the cars, everyone else preparing for the upcoming search.

”Okay guys!” The chief shouted to direct everyone, “We need to stay in the 5 mile radius from where Will was last scene! Everyone please be careful and remember to blow the whistle if you find anything at all!”

Heads were nodded, agreeing to the directions, Officers Powell and Callahan guided two separate groups from different directions, Y/N having to come along with the third group including her dad. Although the girl was 16, her father wanted to take the best care for her, after Sarah. He wanted to keep her as close as possible, but he knew she was getting older. It was just for today, he can protect her for today, now being aware of a kid disappearing in their town. Maybe one of them was next.

“I guess that’s your call genius,” Y/N told Victor as she pointed towards Powell’s group who were walking to the right side of the woods, the people disappearing one by one into the darkness.

Not budging at all, Victor stood his ground saying, “I think I’ll stick with you for now, there’s just soccer moms hoarding the group for Powell, he has a fan club.”

“You’re not wrong Vic,” She sniggered quietly but failed miserably, letting out a subtle loud laugh, both of the teenagers walking behind their group, down a steep hill leading to the inner nature.

Rushing down first to the bottom, the tall brunette reached his hand out for Y/N who was still at the top, to help her come down to his level, “M’lady?”

”Why thank you, what a gentleman!” Y/N sarcastically gasps, gripping onto his hand to steady herself below, after they jogged closer to the group, flicking their flashlights on to carry on.

Everyone glanced above the branches, the moon shining as the crickets chirped. The crisp wind running across their faces, making the trees shuffle loudly. As flashlights led them with its brightness, they all searched and searched, for any trace of the boy around the area.

Half an hour later, the air became cooler than usual, almost bringing a frostbite to their bare hands. The sound of branches and dead leaves crunching over the few people above them. In the silence, Y/N stayed near Victor and her father, hearing shouts for Will. The realization hit the girl, they were looking for lost Will, Will hasn’t appeared, he was probably in some sort of danger. She fastened her grip on the flashlight, looking around more closely, along with the rest.

”He’s a good student,” Someone decides to break the silence of the leaves and twigs crunching under their feet, Victor and Y/N turned their attention to him as they strolled in the woods.

Hopper cocks an eyebrow up and looks towards the teacher’s direction after the statement, “What?”

”Will. He’s a good student. Great one actually,” He elaborates, smiling sheepishly to lend his hand in front of the chief to introduce himself, “I don’t think we’ve met, Scott Clarke. Teacher, Hawkins Middle. Earth and biology.”

“Don’t you remember he was my teacher back in the day?”

Victor nods agreeing with Y/N’s statement from behind, Hopper reluctantly trying to remember his daughter’s middle school teacher, still not recalling since in those past years where fighting for Y/N’s custody between the parents, “I always had a distaste for science.”

”Well maybe you had a bad teacher,” Mr. Clarke remarks, checking if his flashlight was still operating, trudging closer to the group of three ahead of him.

”Yeah, Ms. Ratliff was a piece of work,” Hopper scoffs jokingly, Y/N doing the same as well, remembering his shitty science teacher from his past years while he studied at Hawkins High.

”Ratliff?” The teacher ponders, realizing that the same teacher still resides in Hawkins after all these years, “You bet. She’s still kicking around believe it or not.”

Victor elaborates in between them, sliding his hands onto his pockets, “I had her when I was in eighth grade a few years back.”

”Oh I believe it Victor. Mummies never die, so they tell me,” Hopper smiles, trying to get his daughter to notice but she dozed off beyond the sight of the woods, ”Sarah, my youngest, galaxies, the universe whatnot.. She always understood all that stuff. I always figured there was enough going down here, I never needed to look elsewhere.”

Y/N flickered her eyes towards her father’s direction after hearing the special name, it wasn’t so special to one, but to her, it was. Sarah, Sarah Hopper her little sister, but soon enough the teacher interrupted, “Maybe I’ll get her in my class I-“

“No, she uh.. she lives with her mom in the city,” He cuts the man off from his statement, Victor widening his eyes on Y/N’s side, knowing fully that wasn’t true.

The girl beside the tall boy looked back at his dark eyes, signaling him to be quiet, Y/N was aware of the fact that everyone in Hawkins knew Sarah’s death. Just because of her own blabbermouth, Steve told everyone including the parents her little secret the young female confessed to.

As much as her dad still wants to deny the fact the little one was gone and resting in peace, staying of his delusion Y/N wished she could have. It was a promise. A promise that everything was okay and there wasn’t nothing to worry about, almost some sort of fairy tale where everything had its happy endings with a happy family which wasn’t it.

“Thanks for coming out, Teach. We really appreciate it.” Hopper clears the air, trudging past them farther into the dark eerie woods, Y/N and Victor repeating his steps behind him.

Once they were out of the picture and range from hearing, a middle aged woman spoke up next to the teacher, in a hushed tone saying, “She died a few years back.”

”Sorry?” Mr. Clarke shifted his head in bewilderment towards the lady for any clarification from the inadequate statement given.

”His kid.”

The teacher’s eyes widened, observing the two family members mumbling inaudible words behind the brisk trees of the cool night. He didn’t know the Hoppers hid their family, they never talked much about family when it came to projects when Y/N was younger. It seemed like something ever so private not like where many kids shared experiences with their loved ones, they always kept everything about their family closed up. Almost a mystery.

Y/N could hear the soft mumbles of the quiet conversation being exchanged by the lady and her former teacher, she felt sick knowing that her father stays in the delusion of her sister being alive, lying. Lying wasn’t so hard for her, Y/N was almost a professional at it when it came to helping the party in situations. But lying to her dad was different, it was the both of them against the horrid place called the world.

“Is Sarah going to be back?” A small girl walked over to the grown adults who stood at the front door, puffy eyes showing on their faces, as they held a plastic wristband and stuffed tiger after a long day from not seeing her sister. It was already near midnight.

Without any move, the woman, who to be seen was the girl’s mother, bursted into tears, her husband catching her into his arms. The youngling worriedly watched her parents shed tears, a middle aged woman got up from the couch to comfort both of them. Whispers and mumbles being shared between the adults, bringing more tears.

”Mommy?” The girl steadily crept next to her mom’s leg, wrapping her short arms around her waist, pressing her cheek against the woman’s body, “Don’t cry, I’m here.”

Sobs were still heard from the mother, the two of the women held each other tightly while the tall man let go from their hug, kneeling next to the girl’s level, “Y/N, kid-“

”Dad, where’s Sarah?!” Y/N shakily shouted, her stomach feeling uneasy, with her sister not being found. What happened to Sarah? She knew Sarah was going to get better. Why was mom crying? So many questions filled her head, eyes welling up, her father hugging her tightly with all the hurt and love. Y/N noticed the wristband that her father was holding, she peered closely to see a sloppy handwriting shown as the name Sarah, written all over it with the date when she was sent to the hospital.

”Sarah is... gone.”

The little’s watery eyes widened, her bottom lip trembling, she threw her arms around her father, her head leaning onto his shoulder. Her little sister was gone, she was alone now, her heart crumbling into a million pieces. Sarah, Sarah wasn’t here anymore. But it seemed so surreal, it was only yesterday the two sisters laughed about one of the nurses dropping her cup of coffee while getting chemotherapy.

“Dad.. Can she come back?”

Sadly grinning, Hopper wiped the girl’s chubby face from her tears, shaking his head, “I’m sorry kid, she’s not coming back.”

”But she has to! Sarah has to come home with us,” Y/N choked in her tears, her eyes becoming swollen, grabbing the wristband from her father’s large hand, “Sarah can’t leave me alone here. She promised she would stay.”

”Y/N, I know this is difficult but your sister left us. She’s in a better place now.”

Making her cry even more, Y/N’s mother rapidly kneeled next to her husband and daughter, she sniffed, grabbing onto her daughter, “We promised Sarah we would love each other and always stay safe. Forever.”

”Promise?”

Both of the girl’s parents joined in for a tight hug, Y/N fastening her arms around the two others, “Promise. We promise you sweet pea.”

”Y/N! Y/N!” A familiar voice boasted in the ears of Y/N, she focused her attention back to the voice. There was no one beside her by the time she looked around, it was the sounds of the wind and her alone. Her flashlight flickered in her hands, she shook it vigorously to try and turn it back on, but there was nothing coming out of it, just a dimly lit tone guiding her way. Nothing else in her sight except for the trees and moonlight, she tried her best to not overthink this and make her way back to the group.

Every turn she made in the paths, it led her to nowhere, noises filled the aura. Slowly, she began to worry, she wasn’t coming back to the group. Y/N’s head filled itself with thoughts, there was no way she could be lost, last time she was with Victor, rambling about the weather. Where was she? Looking up, she felt small droplets of water dripped onto her face above, Y/N squinted her eyes to avoid the drizzle. The water fell down slowly until it started raining heavier in the air, she wiped her face to dry it off and continue to try to find her way back.

“Dad!” Y/N shouted, wrapping her arms over herself, her hair becoming soaked along the time. She kept shouting and shouting, worry filling her in. The girl was afraid. What if she went missing like Will? Oh no.

Without a precaution, a branch from behind was heard. Y/N whipped her head to the direction, seeing a small human with a white gown rapidly run off to opposite direction, the rain blurring her eyes. Was that Will? Curious, she picked up speed to follow the boy, it may be Will. A chance of relief rushing in as her adrenaline sped up, almost running faster. “Will! It’s me!”

The boy didn’t stop, sprinting faster with his bare feet. Y/N still yelled, slowing her pace down, then picking it back up, going through the trees. An idea came to her, tugging at her metal whistle to her lips, blowing on it. The sound coming off it, maybe attracting people to find her and the boy, it has to be Will. Using her arms to run faster, she suddenly trips over a thick log after not seeing below her because of the wind, sending her to the floor. She whimpers as she felt her ankle burn in a pain, whistling even more.

From the distance, few people to what she could tell came forward to her, rain soaking over her head. Thunder being heard far away, Victor came into the picture to kneel down next to Y/N.

”Hey are you okay?” He worriedly checks on her, receiving a nod. Victor looked around for any possible wounds since he found her on the ground, “We couldn’t find you!”

Y/N hardly paid attention to him and looked afar to see if the boy would turn up again. She held Victor’s jacket to pull him closer, “I think I saw Will! He was running through there I-“

”Chief Hopper coming through, excuse me,” A voice from the crowd of people called in, Hopper bringing himself forward to find his soaking daughter on the ground pointing toward another direction. “What’s wrong?”

Victor moves to tell Hopper while being next to shaking and wet Y/N, “She saw Will.”

#Steve Harrington #steve Harrington x reader #steve Harrington fanfic #steve harrington series #Steve Harrington fanfiction #Steve Harrington x Hopper reader #Stranger things #stranger things x reader #Stranger things Fanfiction #Steve Harrington angst #Steve Harrington fluff #Steve Harrington smut #Steve Harrington fanfic navigation #Steve Harrington x reader Fanfiction #Mike wheeler #nancy wheeler #jim hopper #stranger things season 1

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lokislastlove · 3 years

Text

Best Laid Plans (Fluffy Bucky x Reader) p3

Summary: Bucky is determined to woo you properly, no matter how rusty he is at dating these days.

Warnings: Some smut at the end, oral (fr), Bucky has bad luck, but we love him anyway. 18+ only please.

This is my first attempt at Fluff, it is not my strength, to say the least, so by all means ignore this. @saiyanprincessswanie I wrote this for you, I hope you like it and with any luck maybe it brings a tiny smile to your face when you need it. 💕 Also remember this is fiction, I know Bucky’s arm is fancy as hell and has no flaws.

Chapter 3 -

🌹 The Third Date 🌹

The office is abuzz with rumors of your new romance. For obvious reasons Pepper never shuns coworkers dating, but does caution that she expects everyone to remain professional regardless of the outcome. Bucky is one of the most sought after bachelors in the building so naturally people notice when he fixes his attention on you. For the two days following your fruit-filled frolic in the hills Bucky is constantly around. He brings you coffee, flowers by the dozen every day, saves you a seat during the meetings, cooks you lunch and even brings Kal in to see you.

“Okay, I can’t wait any longer. You willing to give me that second chance, tomorrow?” Bucky bursts into your office an hour before you leave Friday evening.

You gasp as the door slams against the wall and he cringes, “uh, sure. I’m free tomorrow. Should I just go ahead and wear my yoga pants?”

“Ha ha. Very funny. And no. I let Steve pick the date idea this time. Just don’t wear anything that you don’t want getting a little dirty,” he winks.

You let out a sigh, “wouldn’t it be easier to just tell me what we’re doing?”

“That’s no fun, Angel.”

——

The next morning you wake up to a text from Bucky, just like you have every morning since your first date.

Good Morning, Beautiful! Can’t wait to see you today. I’ll pick you up at 11am. 😀

Bucky has managed to make waking up a highlight of your day, something you never thought possible. Plus you got him to start using emojis, which Steve claims he will never forgive you for.

You choose some dark wash jeans and a V-neck t-shirt with a jacket and boots. Stylish but casual, you feel good, excited to find out what adventure Bucky will be dragging you into this time.

Your phone dings as you race out the front door and gulp when you see the bike again. God he looks good with it though, his light brown leather jacket highlights his olive skin and his dimpled smile has you swooning as you reach him. Determined to get a hang of this motorcycle thing you jump on back and cling to Bucky with a bit more confidence today.

Bucky reigns in his speed this time, and you find yourself enjoying the rush of the wind on your face and the warmth of him in your arms. To your shock Bucky leads you to a ceramic shop not far from Avengers tower, specifically for couples pottery class.

“Steve assures me that this is supposed to be fun and romantic,” Bucky says as you find yourself sitting next to him on a dirty stool with a spinning round table in front of you.

“Steve hasn’t been watching old romance movies again, has he?”

Bucky squints at you, “Actually, yeah but he said it had ghosts in it, and I got enough of those.”

You grab his hand and give it a squeeze before taking a deep breath, “Ok, let’s do this!”

It takes about a minute to realize what a terrible idea this is as Bucky curses under his breath and his arm starts making strange whirling noises.

“Oh shit, uh is clay good for your arm?” You ask, nodding at the way the plates of his metal arm seems to twitch and groan as the wet clay slide and congeal between them as they shift.

“Fuck,” Bucky curses as he shakes out his metal arm and you grimace at the worrisome noise it makes before it stops moving all together.

“Do you want to take it off?” you offer.

Bucky looks frustrated with a hint of panic as he sits there contemplating the best move. He still isn’t very comfortable going without his arm in public.

“Or we could just decide not to take Steve’s dating advice anymore and go back to the tower and get cleaned up?” You laugh and bump him with your elbow.

He scoffs out a laugh, “yeah. You know I used to be the one that was good at this stuff, I was the charming one who helped get Steve a date.”

“Oh is that so? Well I think you’re doing better than you think you are,” you smirk.

“Yeah?” He asks hopefully.

“Yeah, now come on Casanova,” you stand and wipe your hands on the towel nearby.

You can’t help but laugh as you follow him out the door, looking at the light gleam off the metal that isn’t covered in clay.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, it’s just… gonna be hard to convince me you’re not a complete mess after this one.”

——

You could tell Bucky’s confidence had taken a major hit, well three major hits to be honest. And while he constantly berated himself for everything that went wrong, you couldn’t help but love him even more with each blunder. And when he doesn’t insist you give him another shot after that disastrous pottery date, you seek out Steve’s advice.

“Do you think I should try to make a move? Ask him on a date maybe? Or is that insulting to … men from your era,” you finish awkwardly.

Steve laughs softly, “I think Bucky could use a sign that you aren’t willing to give up yet. You should give it a shot, as long as it’s what you want and not just out of pity.”

“Of course it’s not out of pity, you really think I’d do that?” you ask, trying not to get too offended.

“No, doll, of course I don’t. But that’s likely what he’s going to think.” He placates and gives you a knowing look before walking out of your office.

You push back your shoulders and pull out your phone to text Bucky.

Hey if you’re free tonight you should come over to my place. Maybe around 8pm? No dress code. 😘

🌹 The Fourth Date 🌹

Bucky arrives at 7:50pm that evening and you push the buzzer to let him in. You leave the door cracked for him and finish the final touches.

“Angel?” He calls as he knocks and you hear the door creak open. “Uh, hello?” His voice falters as he closes the door behind him and takes in the candles neatly arranged along a path of rose petals.

You hear him remove his heavy boots and call your name as he follows the path further into your apartment and closer to where you’re waiting for him. You shift nervously on your feet as you wait with baited breath for him to appear around the corner.

“Angel, what’s going..” His voice gets caught in his throat as he stands in your doorway and sees you waiting for him.

You’re wearing a simple nightgown, a silky robe and stockings. The thin straps and sleek material drape softly over your curves, enticing enough to make him pause but not overly revealing to be considered scandalous. You didn’t want to be too bold and scare him off too fast, or make yourself appear too desperate.

“Hi, Bucky,” you smile as you watch his pupils dilate and his chest strain against his shirt as his breathing gets heavier.

He clears his throat and his cheeks glow pink as his eyes flick up to meet yours, “uh hey, Angel. Am I dreaming?”

You laugh as you take a few steps toward him and he mirrors you, “I just thought that maybe I’d surprise you with a date, this time. If you’re up for it.”

“Well, I will admit that my interest is quite peaked already.” He jokes, his eyes roving down your body once more as he gently takes your hands and holds them out to get a better look at you.

You giggle and rolls your eyes, “Nothing crazy, just a simple movie date, and I have the perfect set up. Follow me.”

You pull him over to your bedroom window and climb out onto the fire escape, he follows closely, his curiosity climbing with each creaky step.

“You sure this is safe?” He asks as the stairs rattle under his weight.

“No,” you say simply as you reach the top, “but it’s worth it.”

Bucky’s eyes widen as he takes in the rooftop space that you’ve meticulously decorated for him. Strings of lights hang on the low rooftop walls. A large air mattress is tucked between the pipes and vents, facing a large projector screen. You made sure to add mountains of fluffy pillows and soft blankets to keep you cozy under the stars.

“This is amazing,” he mutters as he eyes the plate of snacks and bottle of wine waiting on the bed.

“I know, isn’t the view amazing? I’ve always loved it up here, but I didn’t know it had this much potential until now,” you remark as you look out onto the glimmering view of the city skyline.

Bucky’s fingers slip between yours and curl sweetly as he guides you over to the soft bed. He flops down and settles in before opening his arm for you to join him. You grab the remote and the wine and curl up next to him. Drawing up your legs and letting them rest against his muscular thigh.

“I don’t deserve all this,” he utters sadly as he watches you pour the wine.

“Steve said you’d say something stupid like that,” you laugh as he looks stunned for a moment. “So let me just settle this right now.” You take deep breath and let it out with a quiet huff.

“I have been the happiest I’ve ever been since you asked me out on that first date. I look forward to waking up every morning knowing I’ll get to see you and possibly, maybe, do more than just ogle you from afar. Oh don’t look at me like that!” You laugh and smack Bucky’s shoulder when he smirks at you and wiggles his brow.

“I know you think you blew it after our first three dates but all I remember is seeing a passionate man willing to chase down a dog through the mud, even if it meant embarrassing himself. I remember you saving me from a potentially fatal injury, and I remember a man so desperate to impress me that he took advice from Steve Rogers,” you bite your lip as you watch Bucky choke out a laugh at your jab at his best friend.

“You may think all of these moments are flaws, but honestly I wouldn’t want to change a single thing. So let’s just –” Your speech is cut off when Bucky’s hands are suddenly on the side of your face and pull you in for a blazing kiss.

It’s as though you’ve unlocked something in him as he devours you, his tongue trailing across your lip and delving into your mouth when you open for him. You moan as his hands slip down to your neck, his thumbs pressing ever so slightly on your pressure points before he pulls away just enough to kiss and nibble along your jaw. The pleasure and passion is dizzying and you feel your body bend to his will. Your hands grasp at his shirt as he nuzzles and sucks along your neck now, making his way to your clavicle.

The feather pillow braces your head as Bucky lays you down and hovers above you, his body heat warming you as the cool night breeze tickles over each spot he kisses.

“God, Angel, you have no idea how badly I want you right now. How badly I’ve wanted you for so long.” He groans against your chest, dragging his nose over the thin material between your breasts.

“Me too,” you breathe.

You push at the lapel of his jacket, trying to urge him to take it off. He sits up, fixing his eyes on you as he slowly strips off his coat and tosses it away, followed by his shirt immediately after. Your breath hitches as you let your fingers lightly glide down his stomach, feeling every ripple of firm muscle under his heated skin.

“Wow, the girls at work would be so jealous right now,” you kid.

“I’m almost offended that you think this is my best feature,” he scoffs gesturing to his stomach, his eyes glinting mischievously.

“By all means, show me more. I did come up here for a show after all,” you tease, tilting your head and biting your lip as you eye the growing bulge in his pants.

“Oh, I think I know how to keep you entertained,” he smirks and lowers himself over you, his hot breath leaving goosebumps on your skin as he dips lower down your body.

You look down as he pauses over your quivering center and lifts the hem of your dress up to reveal your lace panties. He growls lowly and hooks his finger under them, pulling them quickly to the side. You twitch as he blows lightly over your lips, the cool air hitting the slick arousal already pooling between your thighs. He chuckles as you grip the blankets tightly and he pushes his long thick tongue between your folds, circling your bud at the top. You let out a long moan as his fervor increases, the feeling of his rough tongue dipping into your dripping hole and then back up to flick over your clit is driving you closer and closer to the edge.

After the past two weeks of the most intense sexual tension you’ve ever experienced it doesn’t take much for him to have you squirming under his touch. Your toes curl and a broken scream echoes over the rooftops as you come on his hungry lips.

“You’re so beautiful,” he coos as your eyes flutter open and see him hovering over your face once more.

Your jaw slackens, pupils blown as you take in his debauched state, his tousled hair, lips and beard glistening with your come. You reach up and pull him down to you, tasting yourself on his tongue. You feel his metal arm fumble with his jeans between you as he pulls out his aching cock. Your eyes flick down in curiosity and you can’t help but gasp as you gaze at his veiny, thick length.

“You see how hard you make me?” He moans, fisting the base of his leaking cock.

You bite your lip, feeling an overwhelming desire to let him use you in any way he wants. Your body arching into him and your hips rolling desperately. Your submissive side blooming under his dominant tone.

You whimper and meet his eye, “fuck me, Bucky. Please.”

Your voice is soft and timid, nothing like the typical commanding confidence you have in your daily life, and it sends a thrill through Bucky. He latches onto your thighs and pushes them up toward your chest, exposing your cunt to him and he guides himself inside, moaning freely as your walls stretch to fit him.

“I’m never letting you go. My perfect, Angel.”

#Bucky Barnes x reader #fluffy bucky #fluffy bucky x reader #fluffy fic #smut #Bucky Barnes

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atlabeth · 3 years

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transferred part eleven - atla smau

masterlist | part ten | part twelve

there’s a time skip of about a month between this and the last chapter just so u know

summary: trying to run from your past is hard, but falling for your brother’s roommate is even harder. little do you know that he’s falling for you as well.

a/n: i am so sorry this took so long to come out. i’ve been really unmotivated to write in general plus i’ve been super busy with school. i also have been hating everything i write lately i rewrote this like 4 times before i was okay with it lmao. also realizing that i might’ve channeled my stress over school into this chapter. manifesting a tea date w zuko

wc: 1.9k

warning(s): cursing, pining, some very stressed out college kids, a painfully awkward zuko after a fun realization

perm taglist: @dv0412 @siriuslyslyslytherin

transferred taglist: @ourbestfriend-mishacollins @lil-lex1 @xxshad0wxb1rdxx @zuko-is-the-sun @akiris @irohs-teapot @thatarthistorynerd @charlenasaxen @minninugget @marvel-ousnesss @count-thotticus @what-ye-egg @furblrwurblr @thesstuff @mariachiii @ietss @dizzy-miss-lizzieeeeee @xbarrjallenx @tommy-braccoli @dreamsluvrr @floofybread @thelovelylolly @lin-biefong-is-my-life @tiffanyy-21 @sistheselenophile @theincredibledeadlyviper

“Take all the time you need, I can see that it’s a very busy day.” Your head shot up from below the counter when you heard the voice and a grin broke out on your face.

“Zuko! What are you doing here?” You felt the heat rush to your cheeks as he smiled, which was something that seemed to occur every time you were around him. It wasn’t your fault he had a smile that could make anyone melt.

“What, am I not allowed to just show up?” He joked as he pulled a chair out from a nearby table and sat down.

“No, of course you are! This is actually the highlight of my day. It’s just, this is one of your rare days off, so I figured you would wanna spend it doing something better than, uh, coming to the place that you work.” You dropped the towel you had been using to clean on the counter and walked around the register, taking your own seat across from him and crossing one leg over the other.

“Well.. you sounded really stressed in your texts, so I thought I would pay you a visit. It can’t be easy balancing all of your classes along with this job, and I figured I could try and help with some of that.”

The grin from before came back and you rested your chin in the palm of your hand. “Zuko, that’s the sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for me. You didn’t have to come all the way here just to hang out with me when we live together.”

He seemed taken aback by that, surprisingly so. “How? I mean, you had a boyfriend, right?” Thankfully, you missed him visibly cringing at his choice of words as you looked away and passed it off with a laugh that only sounded slightly strained.

“Keyword is had. I don’t really wanna get into details, but there’s a reason we broke up.” You opened your mouth to say something else in an attempt of changing to subject to anything that wasn’t your failed love life when you heard a familiar voice behind you.

“I see that my only working employee is taking a break after her break?” You turned your head in a flash and your eyes widened slightly when you saw it was the one responsible for paying your bills.

“Oh, Iroh! I am so, so sorry. Blame your nephew for distracting me on the clock.” You immediately jumped out of your chair as Iroh came out from the back and he simply shook his head, giving you and Zuko a warm smile.

“Please, do not worry. This is actually for the two of you.” He set the tray with a teapot and two cups on your table and the calming scent of jasmine immediately washed over you.

“Are you sure? I mean, you’re practically paying me to do nothing right now,” you asked, hesitantly settling back in your seat.

“I have complete faith that you will be able to handle anything that comes your way — today has been a slow day anyways, so you will be fine.”

“Don’t even try to stop my uncle once he’s made up his mind about something,” Zuko chuckled. Iroh gave his nephew a knowing look that made him blush as he continued walking towards the door.

“Enjoy your date!” He called as he exited the store. Zuko’s face somehow turned an even brighter shade of red and you bit down the smile growing on your lips. You wouldn’t mind if this was a date, of course, but you knew it wasn’t. It was just one of your best friends coming in to see you to help you wade through the endless sea of stress you had found yourself lost in. Definitely not a date.

“Y/N?” Zuko’s voice snapped you out of your pondering and you nodded with a small laugh.

“Sorry, just got lost there for a second.” You picked up the teapot and poured a decent amount into both of your cups. “Y’know, I’ve actually started to like tea since I started working here,” you mused, taking a small sip of your own once you finished. “That might have something to do with the fact that we get a discount, but you’d be amazed at the things I’ve grown to like just because they’re cheap.”

Zuko responded with a laugh of his own, and from there, conversation flowed easily. You weren’t even aware of how much time had passed as the two of you traded stories — your classes, events from your childhoods, your high school experiences — about anything and everything. Your stress melted away a little bit more with each shared anecdote and cup of tea.

You found yourself enthralled with everything Zuko said — it wasn’t so much the material as much as the way he just… was. The way his eyes sparkled when he talked about his passions, how he tapped his fingers against the ceramic cup when he got excited, and of course, that smile that made you melt. You hung onto every word he said, but you enjoyed him simply being there just as much, if not more.

And as Zuko watched you talk animatedly, barely able to get through the story you were trying to tell without laughing every other word, he knew that he would do anything to keep that smile on your face. The million dollar smile that lit up every room you walked into and made his heart burst at the seams every time without fail. He wanted you to see yourself the way he saw you, and he would do anything to make you happy.

It was at that moment that Zuko realized that he was crushing on his best friend’s sister. Hard.

“Shit,” he muttered. Your story grinded to a halt, exaggerated hand gestures frozen in the air, as you fixed him with a questioning look.

“Did you say something?”

“No, no— Just- it was nothing. Keep going,” he gave an encouraging smile and nodded for you to continue, which you happily obliged.

“So, anyways, that was how my lab partner asking a question led to us setting our entire experiment on fire,” you finished with a chuckle. You hit your hands against the table a few times then stood up. “Thank you for this Zuko, really. I wish we could just stay here talking, but I’m not getting paid to do nothing. I gotta get back to work.”

You waited for a response, but the faraway look in his eyes once again signalled that he wasn’t paying attention. You sighed and snapped your fingers in front of his face, and that seemed to get him out of his stupor. “Hello? Earth to Zuko?

He blinked a couple times and you let your hand fall to the table, concern flickering across your face for a second. “Sorry! Just.. thinking.”

“About what?”

“Classes,” he blurted after a too-long pause.

You could tell that he was hiding something — throughout your time spent together, you had picked up on how he would always pick at the skin on his right thumb whenever he was nervous — but you didn’t want to push him.

“I take offense to that, Zuko. You think that your classes are more important than my very entertaining story about my chem lab, I’m just- I’m heartbroken,” you snickered. “I was just telling you that I enjoyed this, and I really appreciate the break, but I actually have to get back to what I’m being paid to do.”

“Right! I, uh- have to get to those.. classes I was talking about.” He laughed nervously and stood up as well, and the two of you bumped heads as you both reached for the tea tray in the middle.

You let out an exasperated laugh and backed up, rubbing the heel of your hand against your forehead. “Zuko, please! This is my job, let me do this, okay?”

He opened his mouth and closed it a few times, looking like a fish out of water, as he stared at you with wide eyes. You nodded expectantly and raised your eyebrows and he was finally able to get something out. “Uh- right.”

You chuckled as you picked up the tray and set the cups on it as well, but it was more than a touch concerned. “Is.. everything okay?” You asked, casting a glance back at him once you reached the register again. “Because I don’t mean to overstep, but you’ve been acting strange ever since I started talking about chemistry. Do you have a thing against molecules or something?”

“Oh, no—it’s nothing you did! And I don’t have anything against chemistry,” he laughed. “I just.. I have a lot on my mind.” Zuko paused, letting his words linger in the air and causing more than a few questions to pop up in your head, but he broke the silence before you could ask. “I really enjoyed this, though.”

“Well, if you ever wanna talk about that stuff on your mind, then you know I’m here,” you smiled. “I had a great time too. And honestly, Zuko, you might be the only thing getting me through this week.”

“Well, I’m happy to be of service,” he said, returning your smile. “Do you need me to pick you up after your shift?”

“That’s so sweet of you, but I can just catch a ride with Jin. She works at the dress shop across the street, and she actually lives pretty close to us!” You saw the slightest glimpse of disappointment flicker through his eyes and you stumbled over your words trying to explain. “It’s not that I don’t enjoy your company! I mean, obviously I do, we just talked for like, three hours— it’s just she offered, and I didn’t want to say no, plus she’s in my bio class, so I thought it would be good to get to know her—”

“Y/N, you don’t have to explain yourself to me,” he interrupted with a light laugh. “I don’t mind. I just wanted to make sure that you weren’t trying to get out of it because you didn’t want to make me feel bad or something. I know I’ve told you a million times, but I really don’t mind. You make my mornings brighter.”

You averted your gaze with a small smile as you felt your cheeks heat up, and you bounced on the balls of your feet. “Cool. I’ll see you when I get home then?”

“Yeah. Good luck with the rest of your shift, Y/N. I’m glad I could help with some of your stress.” The two of you exchanged waves and then Zuko was on his way. As soon as he left the shop you deflated and leaned against the counter, shaking your head and muttering to yourself. That man didn’t even know the effect he had on you.

The rest of your shift went by much, much slower than your time with Zuko, but the conversations the two of you had during your break kept buzzing around in your head. And though things had started picking up with customers coming in for their lunch breaks or for a quick tea stop, making a lot of extra work for you, a small smile stayed on your lips for the rest of the day. And it was all thanks to Zuko.

#avatar #avatar the last airbender #atla #zuko #atla smau #social media au #zuko smau #zuko x reader #smau #atla fic #zuko fic #zuko x y/n #zuko x you #sadie writes

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mxchellesworld · 3 years

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𝟑 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐝 - 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟐

𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐢𝐝 𝐱 𝐂𝐚𝐭 𝐀𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬; 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫.

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: smut, phone sex, mutual masturbation, dirty talk

𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 | 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫

***

The next few weeks went by in a breeze. It was now mid December and you were excited for the holiday season. You weren’t able to go with your family this year but Abbie had promised to make the time as festive as possible in your new home. Cat had scheduled time off to spend it with you and Spencer as the both of your jobs already gave you the days free.

They started to take you out to fancier places. You’d all dress up and sip on fine wine in restaurants. However you also had time with both of them individually. Spencer loved to take you to places where he could show off his knowledge. Dates to the museum or aquariums were your favorite. He would always talk your ear off and you would happily hang on to each word, asking him to further explain a certain topic.

Cat was more for artistic dates. She signed you guys up for painting classes. Each one of your masterpieces were now hanging up in your apartment, greeting you every time you got home. Or a ceramics class where she wasn’t too fond of how messy clay can get. One of your favorites was a wine tasting class. Spencer had to take you guys home after one too many glasses.

Slowly the emotional and physical bruises were disappearing. Neither of you had mentioned going back to the club. You didn’t mind though, it was probably for the best you take a break from that scene. You knew they still went, obviously being owners they needed to keep up appearances.

Just because you weren’t playing at the club didn’t mean you weren’t having fun at home. After your stunt of trying to be in control they spent their time showing you exactly who was in charge. Shocker: not you.

But just like their personalities had shifted your sex life had as well. Each time was filled with more of those kisses which made the butterflies in your tummy go crazy. More of your fingers interlaced and sharing each others breathes as you came down from your highs. More silent whispers of those three little words that made you all feel warm inside.

You had finally been able to have that long waited brunch with Penelope. She told you to go to her favorite cafe. It was bright pink with rainbows and unicorns littering every single corner.

You walked in and she called your name from a booth in the corner. She was excitedly waving you over. You had noticed her outfit was quite different than the one when you met her. The black corset was replaced by a knee length dress, it was pink and had colorful little shapes all over. She also donned chunky necklaces and had fluffy pins in her hair.

“Y/n I am so happy to see you again!” she said pulling you into a hug. Her embrace was extremely comforting. It felt like when Abbie hugged you, the same sisterly protectiveness they both radiated.

“Me too Penelope! How have you been? How was visiting your brother?” you questioned her as you sat down.

She explained her family situation and you silently listened to her. Your hand instinctively grabbed hers from across the table, trying to bring her a gentle form of comfort and understanding.

A waitress came by and asked what you’d like to order. You decided to get a lemon tea and a strawberry chocolate crepe. Penelope on the other hand ordered a unicorn blast frappe with a slice of chocolate cake.

You both ate and talked about any updates in your life. You had told her about how you were mainly going to be alone for the holidays so she had invited you to her house for the annual party she threw.

“Most people from the club go. We’re all really close and it’s fun to see each other in a different light ya know. I’m sure everyone would love to meet you,” she said taking a sip of her equally colorful drink.

“Sounds fun. I’ll think about it and let you know alright,” you said cutting into the crepe. Of course you wanted to go but you didn’t know if Cat and Spencer wanted to have you around their friends yet. You guys haven’t had the conversation about making everything official but it was obvious you guys were a step up from the past dynamic.

Once you guys had finished up eating she insisted on paying the bill. After a few minutes of bickering you relented and let her pay, “Fine, I’ll let you get it this one time but don’t be surprised if muffins suddenly show up at your house,” you said pointing a finger at her.

She gave you a hug goodbye and wished you a safe drive home. You did the same and promised to keep her updated about your stance on going to her party.

Arriving at your house, you saw you had a missed call from Spencer. You set your stuff down and threw yourself on your bed, having your phone on speaker as it rang.

Three rings later and you heard his voice float through the air, “Hey hey,” he said stressing the ‘y’.

You giggled as you answered, “Hey Spence, What’s got you in a good mood?”

“I am glad you asked Y/n/n. I just finished all my grading for my classes this term and suddenly have the afternoon free,” he said excitedly.

You were aching to see the smile you knew was on his face so you hit the button to switch the call to facetime. Like you had predicted he there was a smile on his face spread from cheek to cheek. His phone was propped up on his desk and you could see his whole face and torso. He was wearing one of his suit and sweater combos, which you thought were adorable.

“Very nice, any big plans for the night?” you asked holding the phone up high as you laid in bed. You noticed the top buttons on the flannel you had on were popped off, showing the red lacy bra you had on underneath. Spencer’s lack of response let you know what he was looking at.

“See something you like Sir?” you said in a teasing voice.

He cleared his throat, his eyes shifting back to look at your face, “Of course I do. Who were you trying to impress wearing that under your clothes? Do they already know you belong to someone else?”

You decided to play along and tease him. The inner brat in you was aching to be let out so you had to have some fun. You set your phone to be propped up by your pillows as you rested on your knees in front of it.

“Yeah and to who is that exactly? I don’t see a collar around my neck Spencie,” you said further unbuttoning the shirt, letting it hang loosely around your frame.

You saw him look to his side, probably making sure the door to his office was closed. “Is that what you need princess? Do you need me to get you a collar like a lost little puppy to show you and everyone else who that tight little cunt belongs to,” he gritted into the phone.

You shivered at his words. You had seen other people in the club with a choker type necklace around their necks. Many were simple with little designs while others had hoops at the front. Some people even tugged their partners around on a leash. You didn’t think you were there yet but the thought of everyone knowing who you belonged to because of a simple piece of leather around your neck was enticing.

This time your silence let him know he had gotten to you, “Keep striping,” he said smirking into the camera.

You pulled off the flannel and felt the hairs on your skin prick up from the chill in your room. “Keep going princess. I wanna see all of you.”

Hopping off the bed you put your fingers in the leggings you had on and tugged them down your legs. Spencer licked his lips at the sight of the lacy set in contrast to your skin. All your best aspects were on display. You crawled up towards the phone and saw Spencer shifting with his pants. You grabbed the phone again and went back to your previous position of laying down.

“Touch yourself for me princess,” you heard Spencer say.

You let your hand slide down between your legs grazing over the lace material, you could feel the slowly growing wet patch. A sigh left your lips at the sensation, your fingers teasing over your clothed slit.

“I wish you were here Sir,” you said looking into the phone. You could make out the motions of Spencer pumping his cock but the visual was under the frame, “Can I watch you?” you tried to say in your most convincing voice. Knowing about his soft spot for you, you’d get your way easily.

He scooted his chair back a little and angled his phone giving you a full view. You moaned at the sight of his long cock dripping with precum, the way he used his thumb to collect it over the tip just how he liked it.

“Fuck princess, I wish you were here too. I’d bend you right over the table and fuck you hard enough for everyone in this damn building to hear,” he groaned.

You let your fingers slip inside the fabric and gather some of your slick. You used it to rub quick circles on your clit before you inserted one of your fingers. You whined wishing it was one of his longer, fuller ones.

Your eyes raked over the phone screen, taking in the way his head fell back as he pleasured himself. The way the long veins on his hands popped out drove you wild.

You weren’t shy about hiding your moans. You let them float through the room and into the phone freely as you fingered yourself. Neither of you were saying much but the thought of each others presence was enough to have you guys panting.

“I’m so close Sir,” you moaned, “I wish I had your big cock inside me.”

“That’s it baby, fuck yourself while you think of me. Just wait until I get my hands on that sweet body again, I’m gonna fuck you till you cry princess,” he said breathlessly.

His words spurred you on and soon enough the knot in your belly was exploding. You took the fingers out from inside of you and quickly rubbed your clit. Your other hand had a hulk-like grip on your phone

“Cum with me Sir. Please,” you mewled out.

“I’m right there with you princess.”

You both let out sighs of pleasure. His a bit more quiet due to being on campus and the walls could only do so much. You tried your hardest to keep your eyes open and gaze over everything on your phone. You tried to catch his facial expression down to the spurts of cum dripping down his hand.

You stayed spread out on your bed as you watched Spencer clean himself up with a pack of tissues on his desk. He then tucked his now soft cock into his pants and picked up the phone looking at you with a smile.

“Hey,” you whispered.

“Hey pretty girl,” he said back.

You thought back to Penelope’s invitation and decided to bring it up to him, “I was at lunch with Pen today and she brought up a party she holds for the holidays. Maybe it’s dumb but do you and Cat wanna go together? Like with me I mean,” you asked laying on your side.

“Yeah I don’t see why not princess. We’ve been meaning to show you off to everyone at the lounge but we didn’t know if you were ready to go back,” he trailed off.

“I understand. Thank you guys for being so patient,” you said. Your heart felt soft at how they wanted to introduce you to their friends.

“Maybe by New Years or something we have a big event. You can even get me collar and all,” you said with a teasing giggle.

He playfully groaned, “God you wanna kill me don’t you.” You shared a laugh and looked at your phones in silence taking in each other. The same giddy feeling you get when you’re around them flowed through you.

The day of the party had came sooner than expected. Penelope was over the moon that you accepted her invitation. You showed up to Cat and Spencers apartment around 6pm to head over to Penelope’s house together. Your eyes raked over Cat’s frame as she opened the door.

She was wearing a deep red dress that went down to her knees. It had a lace trim and black belt around her waist. Her hair was done in curls which fell to her shoulders. Looking back her face, the dark lipstick she always wears was painted across her now smirking lips.

“Get a good look angel?” she said looking you up and down.

You had on a forrest green dress that fell to your mid-thigh. Your hair was in looser curls and you did minimal makeup.

“Always Mistress,” you said with a wink.

She brought you into a hug and gave you a small squeeze. Looking into the hallway you saw Spencer make his way over to where you stood. He had on one of his dark suits. The only spec of color on him was the red and green tie around his neck and the mix matched Christmas socks peeking from under his slacks.

Once she let you go. Spencer took his turn to wrap his arms around you. You inhaled the scent of his usual peppermint and Calvin Klein cologne. He rocked you back and forth then let go and looked you up and down.

“Both of you look absolutely beautiful tonight,” he said with a small smile.

“Spence come on you look as dashing as always,” you said dusting off his shoulder.

“Well shall we get going?” Cat said shrugging on her coat.

You and Spencer nodded then made your way down to the elevator. Cat’s fingers interlocked with yours as Spencer held his hand at the small of your back.

The car ride there was mostly quiet. You watched as the lit up streets passed you by. Storefronts with reefs and gigantic bows on top of their logos as decoration. Soon enough the driver stopped and they led you to Penelope’s door. You could hear the music from outside and you felt excited for what the night held.

Spencer rang the doorbell and after a minute Penelope whipped the door open. You could smell the booze and gingerbread radiating off of her.

“Hello my little sugar cookies, I’m so glad you could make it.” she said ushering you all in. You gathered she was already too intoxicated to question how you all showed up together. Of course you spoke too soon and she turned around pointing at the three of you.

“Wait how do you all know each other?” she questioned.

You were about to speak up and mention that you became friends after your first time at the club but Cat cut you off.

“Y/n is our girlfriend.”

𝐚/𝐧; 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐲𝐚𝐥𝐥!!! 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐡𝐡, 𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐧 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞.

#spencer reid smut #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid fanfiction #cat adams x reader #cat adams smut #Criminal Minds Fanfiction #criminal minds smut #chellewrites

108 notes · View notes

crystalstar8 · 3 years

Text

Knights of the Night (ch 9)

Chapter 9

Ch 1, ch 2, ch 3, ch 4, ch 5, ch 6, ch 7, ch 8, ch 9

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29139240/chapters/71536491

pairing: Jungkook x oc

genre: vampire au, college au, twilight, romance

word count: 2,620

warnings: blood (obviously), kidnapping, child kidnapping, needles, France

notes: vampires, vampire au, college, college au, so many twilight references, blood, needles, kidnapping, children, homelessness, dance, ballet, flashbacks, romance, slow burn, probably no smut, idk yet tho, France, French things, attempted genocide, inaccurate French history, bisexual main character, @strawberriewithchocolate-blog @mozy-j @daechwitad-2 @zobadak

summary: Catalina starts college in a small town all the way across the country. She doesn’t know anyone and isn’t exactly looking for friends. She just wants to focus on dance. But when she meets fellow dance major, Jimin, and adventurous, fellow freshman, Jungkook, Catalina ends up discovering a whole new side to the small college town; one that is dangerous but oh so enticing…

The warm weather was fleeting; Catalina spent her days studying, working, and every chance she got, hanging out with her friends. The “baseball encounter”, as she’s been calling it, has been living in the back of her mind ever since, even though it seemed her friends had forgotten about it. She never brought it up, just focusing on her college life. Namjoon took her out to fancy bookstores and coffee shops, Jungkook tried and failed to teach her how to skateboard, and Jin tried and failed to help them in French. She was kept busy and she was having fun.

All was peaceful, until a college student was reported missing in St. Briggs. Jimin cornered Catalina in dance class about it one chilly, early winter day.

They were practicing their dance to “Body”, by Megan Thee Stallion.

“One, two, three, turn, five, six, step and hit,” the teacher called out. “One, two, ba, ba, jump, Steve! What song are you dancing to, ‘cause it’s not this! Find the goddamn beat! Alright, everyone except Steve, take five.”

Catalina’s final move in the dance was on the ground, so instead of getting up, she crawled over to her dance bag and pulled out her water bottle, collapsing against the wall. Jimin joined her and said, “Have you heard the news?”

Catalina shook her head between sips.

“A student went missing,” he said. “In St. Briggs. From our college.”

“Aren’t they the second person to go missing here?” Catalina asked. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

“Yeah, me neither,” said Jimin. “The first person was a little kid. My parents are freaking out about me walking to campus now.”

“And the police have no idea who the guy is?” asked Catalina. “I mean, they don’t know anything?”

“Not really,” said Jimin. “It’s like these people disappeared without a trace.”

“Hm,” Catalina thought about the disappearances and the mysterious “baseball encounter”. She wondered if they were connected. “You wanna do some investigating?”

“What are you-no, we’re not visiting those vampires,” said Jimin. “That’s a really bad idea. Namjoon told us to stay out of it and he definitely knows more about this stuff than we do.”

Catalina knew she wouldn’t get anywhere with Jimin. She would just have to wait until she saw Jungkook to bring it up again. She knew he’d have no qualms about going on a potentially life-threatening mission.

Her chance came that weekend when she and Jungkook worked their shift together at the souvenir shop. Business was starting to pick up since the first snow was expected to arrive any day now.

Tourists started stopping by more and more and Catalina got to see what Jungkook meant by “hot tourists”. The men and the women were beautiful, and her and Jungkook both had fun checking them out from behind the counter. But today was slow, so Catalina figured she’d take the opportunity to tell him about her plan.

“Jungkook, what do you think about stealing that business card and sneaking around a potential lair?” asked Catalina.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but yes. I’m in,” he said. The two of them were straightening the ceramic bear and eagle figurines, killing time between customers.

“Remember those three vampires on baseball day?”

“Uh-huh.”

“The guy gave Namjoon a business card,” said Catalina.

“Oh right! Yeah, I remember,” said Jungkook.

“I was thinking maybe we could steal it and do our own investigating. I mean, what if those guys have something to do with the missing people?” Catalina said. Jungkook looked up at her with wide eyes.

“Oh shit! Ya know, you’re probably right!” he said. “They just moved here, and then all of a sudden, a kid goes missing in this town. It makes sense.”

“Exactly,” said Catalina.

“But how will we get the business card?” asked Jungkook. “Do we sneak into his room or his office or whatever?”

“That’s what I was thinking. One of us distracts him, while the other sneaks in and finds it,” said Catalina.

“I feel like you should distract him. A classic honey pot mission,” said Jungkook.

“Do you know what that means?” Catalina asked, snickering.

“Don’t you seduce someone to complete a mission?” asked Jungkook.

“You usually have to fuck someone in a honey pot mission,” said Catalina.

“Oh, well, how bad can it be? I mean, he’s hot as fuck,” he said with a wave of his hand. Catalina’s face turned bright red.

“I’m not- we’re…” she sighed. “Jungkook, casual sex isn’t really my thing and I don’t like him that way. I don’t think he likes me that way either.”

“Are you kidding? What about all those bookstores and coffee shops? Those weren’t dates?” asked Jungkook. “What were you guys doing?”

“Looking at books!” said Catalina. “He just really likes literature, and I really like coffee.”

“Did he pay for your coffee every time?”

“Yes.”

“Then that’s a date,” said Jungkook.

“We spot each other all the time. So, are you telling me it’s a date when you pay for my McDonalds or when I pay for your movie ticket?” asked Catalina.

“That’s different,” said Jungkook. Catalina threw her hands up.

“Okay, we’re getting off topic,” she said. “You distract him, I’ll get the card.”

“Casual sex also isn’t my thing though,” said Jungkook.

Catalina threw her head back laughing. “You don’t have to fuck him! Just keep him downstairs talking or something.”

“I can do that. Are we doing it tonight?” asked Jungkook.

“Sure.”

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

That evening, Catalina and Jungkook went to the mansion. Jungkook brought his French homework. Luckily, Namjoon was the one to answer the door.

“Oh, hey guys! Come on in,” he said. He led them to the lounge and Jungkook immediately got his homework out.

“I was wondering if you could help me with this,” said Jungkook.

“Sure, let’s see,” said Namjoon. Catalina wandered off. The upstairs was thankfully not as big as the main floor, but there were many halls and many rooms. Catalina went to Hoseok’s room, starting her search from there. The next door in the hallway was open. Catalina looked inside, flicking on the light switch. It looked like a basic, model bedroom. It didn’t look like it belonged to anyone, probably a guest room. The next room was enormous and absolutely trashed. The giant bed in the middle of the room had a mountain of blankets and clothes on it. Clothes, loose papers, and books littered the floor. Beat up, crooked antique paintings decorated the walls, along with torn calligraphy banners. The Asian style furniture looked ancient, worn and battered, but luxuriously wealthy.

Catalina moved on to the next room. This one was a bit more modern and, curiously, vaguely nautical themed. A huge window against the back wall let light shine in on the white painted wood of the furniture, the mess of easels and canvases in the corner, and the mix of paintings on the seashell wallpapered walls: realism, abstract, cubism, a few charcoal sketches of Hoseok, Yoongi, and Namjoon, and a single painting of a lighthouse looking out at a stormy sea. Catalina went to the next room.

This one was the most modern, with dark walls and mahogany furniture. It was sleek and rustic, with a twisted wood bed frame, alpaca rugs on the ground, smooth couches in the corner with a driftwood coffee table in the center, and along every free wall, bookshelves. The entire room was spotless. This must be Namjoon’s room. At least, Catalina hoped it was. She stepped inside and went to the desk tucked into one of the bookshelves. She rifled through the drawers until she found one filled with business cards.

“Shit,” she whispered. There were quite a few cards, but she got to work sorting through them. Most of them looked old and yellowed with age. She automatically set those ones aside. She couldn’t remember that vampire’s name, but she knew she’d remember it if she saw it. After sorting through what felt like hundreds of cards, she finally found one with the familiar name on it.

It was a new card, simple, with just a name, an address, and a phone number on it. The name on it was Makai La’ei. That sounded right. Catalina rearranged the rest of the cards back to how she found them and shoved this one in her pocket. She was definitely running out of time, Jungkook only had so much homework.

When she got downstairs, she went right to the lounge, but it was empty. Jungkook’s French textbook was laying open on the coffee table. Her heart skipped a beat. Namjoon wouldn’t hurt him, would he? She thought. She backed out of the lounge and looked up and down the hallway. Her heart was pounding, but before her thoughts could fully run away on her, she heard Jungkook’s voice approaching, saying, “And that’s how I went to senior prom with Dr. Dre’s daughter, Truly.”

Namjoon and Jungkook rounded the corner, both holding McDonalds bags and hot coffees in their hands.

“You guys went out?” Catalina asked.

“Yeah, we got hash browns,” said Namjoon, handing one of the bags to her.

“Isn’t this yours?” asked Catalina.

“Grease gives me a stomachache,” he said.

“I was just craving hash browns. I figured you’d want a few too,” said Jungkook. Catalina’s heart skipped a beat, but this time not out of fear.

“I love these,” she whispered, opening the greasy paper bag to see three hash browns inside. Something nudged her hand. She looked up to see Jungkook handing her his coffee as well. Namjoon wandered off, sipping at his own coffee. “What are you doing?”

“I don’t like coffee,” he said. “Take it.”

“Thank you,” she said. “Did you already finish your homework?”

“Yeah, turns out Namjoon is fluent in French,” said Jungkook. “And Korean, and Chinese, and Japanese, and German. And…what was that other one?”

“Swahili,” Namjoon said from inside the lounge.

“Why?” asked Catalina.

“I was bored,” he said with a shrug. Jungkook looked at Catalina with questioning eyes. Catalina nodded.

“Well, thank you for helping me with this,” said Jungkook, gathering his textbook and notes. “I hate this class, so any help is much appreciated. Anyway, we have to get going. We have some errands to run.”

“Sure, no problem,” said Namjoon as he walked them to the door. “We’re all fluent in French here, expect for Hoseok, so feel free to ask any of us any time.”

“Thank you,” Catalina said as she pulled her shoes on.

~~~~~~~~~~

“That was too easy,” said Jungkook as they were getting into his car.

“Not really!” said Catalina. “He had a whole drawer full of business cards. I had to sort through all of them.”

“I was talking about the homework,” said Jungkook. He pulled out of the driveway and began the drive down the mountain. “He gave me all the answers. But that explains why you were gone for so long.”

“Yeah, and I saw the other rooms,” said Catalina. “I think Tae’s room is nautical themed.”

“Why?” Jungkook asked. Catalina shrugged. “Well, whatever. Does that card have an address on it?”

“Yeah,” Catalina pulled the card out of her pocket and typed the address into her maps app. It gave her a route to a location in the middle of the town. She let Siri lead them as she plugged in her phone and looked up spy music on iTunes. She found a playlist and put it on shuffle, letting the groovy guitar of “Secret Agent Man” blast through the car.

By the time they arrived, they were well into “Hawaii Five-O”. The GPS had led them to what looked like an abandoned hospital. Jungkook drove a block past it so they could walk the rest of the way. As they walked, they reviewed the plan.

“So, we can’t get caught, obviously,” said Jungkook. “We’re just sneaking in, taking a quick look, maybe some pictures, then getting out.”

“Right,” said Catalina. “Quick and fast.”

They snuck in and found a basement stairwell, which they took. The rest of the hospital was empty. They could hear voices coming from the basement, so as quietly as they could, they snuck down the stairs, which led them to a cement tunnel with a metal grated floor. The tunnel gave Catalina a sense of Déjà vu, but she couldn’t figure out why. Faint voices echoed from the end of the tunnel. They reached the end and peaked around the corner. What they saw made their jaws drop. A huge, cavernous cement room with some furniture in the middle. Doors lined the walls, some open, some closed. Catalina could see from where she was that there were people in the rooms with open doors. People sitting or laying on the ground, tubes attached to their arms connecting to IV stands, blood bags hanging from the hooks.

Jungkook was snapping rapid fire pictures of as much of the room as they could see.

The voices, which were coming from a part of the room they couldn’t see, stopped talking.

“Bernard, go check the tunnel and stairs. I thought I heard something.”

Before Bernard even had a chance to move, Catalina and Jungkook booked it back down the tunnel and up the stairs. Jungkook led the way, and he was fast, so Catalina struggled to keep up with him. Once they were at the top of the stairs, they looked around for an open room. A bit down the hall, there was an open doorframe with a missing door. They darted for it, Jungkook pulling her inside and crowding her against the wall, hidden in the shadows.

Catalina was scared they’d be caught, but now she freaking out about something entirely different, namely, Jungkook’s chest and arms caging her against the wall. He was so close that Catalina could feel the heat coming off him. Her blush made its way down her neck into her chest, her breath quickening.

“He’s coming,” Jungkook whispered, his wide eyes glued to the doorway. Sure enough, Catalina could hear heavy boots crunching through the debris in the hallway, getting closer to where they were. “Do you trust me?”

“What?” Catalina asked.

“Do you trust me?” Jungkook asked again. “I saw this in a TV show. It works every time.”

Before Catalina could ask for clarification, several things happened at once: the man, presumably Bernard, began entering the room, Jungkook pressed even closer, a hand on her waist, the other finding its way to her hair, and his lips crashed against hers. She let out a squeak of surprise but quickly caught on, gripping his shirt and leaning into the kiss.

“Oh, for crying out loud,” a man’s voice said from the doorway. They broke apart and looked at him. “This is private property, guys. Get lost.”

“Sorry,” Jungkook said, flashing a sheepish smile. Bernard stepped aside to let them past, waving them in the direction of the exit. Even though her heart was still pounding out of her chest and her head was still spinning, Catalina made a point to check Bernard’s eyes. They were red.

On their way out, they heard the crackle of a walkie talkie and Bernard saying, “It was just some kids making out upstairs. This happens way too often, boss. We gotta start putting signs up or something.”

On their way to the car, Jungkook said, “That was a close one.”

“Was that just an excuse to kiss me?” Catalina joked, not sure she wanted to know the answer.

“It worked, didn’t it?” Jungkook said with a wink. Catalina blushed and shoved him.

“Shut up,” she said.

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ashintheairlikesnow · 4 years

Note

I know you've answered about what happens if someone breaks an arm or gets super sick, but what about just like general medical care? Do the people at the shelter do checkups and everything?

(I know this wasn’t a request for a drabble, Anon, but something about this ask just made this little moment pop into my head!)

“He... he needs to see a doctor, doesn’t he.” Jake keeps his voice low - although Chris is supposed to be asleep, the youngest and newest rescue in the shelter - he’ll have been here three weeks as of tomorrow - has a way of just popping awake and padding silently around the house to see where Jake’s gone to if he wakes up and Jake isn’t in bed.

In a house where it sometimes seems like nobody sleeps much, Chris seems to sleep even less. He seems to need less sleep, even, which isn’t unusual for rescues who weren’t allowed much sleep at night like Antoni, but with Chris it just seems... innate.

Nat shrugs - her braid hangs down over one shoulder, and she’s wearing an open flannel over a plain white t-shirt underneath, what Jake privately thinks of as her uniform. Her whole closet is just a series of flannels and thinner plaid buttonups, plus those plain t-shirts and blue jeans. You can see the Midwest in Natalie Yoder, written in her face’s plain, pleasant lines and the way she dresses and holds herself and eats a surprising amount of food you can only call ‘beige’, and Jake wonders often how she ever fit in out here, wherever it was she got her start.

“Hashim said his checkup came out just fine,” She says, sipping at her tea. The scent of peppermint fills the air between them, wafting from the steaming half-blue, half-white mug Natalie brought back from a rare vacation.

“No, I know he’s... he’s healthy, but...”

“I know what you’re thinking.” Nat slowly sets her mug down, the slight scrape of ceramic on the table seeming impossibly loud in the late night (or is it early morning now?) hours. “I’m thinking it, too. I’ve asked around - and I had Nine go through the secure networks and ask, too... But...” Her voice trails off, and Jake sits back in his chair, his eyes drifting to the darkness outside the kitchen window, reflecting back the kitchen’s overhead light off the glass.

“But what?”

“Nobody else is like Chris that we know of.” Nat looks her age, in the yellowish light from the kitchen’s overhead, where half the light bulbs have burned out and Jake hasn’t taken the time to switch them out yet. He can see the stress, the hints of gray showing in her dark brown hair. Neither of them should be awake this late (early?) but neither of them can sleep. “I’m sure there are some out there, the company... targets vulnerable populations, we know that, but... no shelters are reporting the same concerns that we have about Chris.”

“Does that mean... we’re talking about people who don’t, I don’t know... don’t run? Chris didn’t.” Jake thinks sometimes that he learns more talking to Nat across the kitchen table than he’s learned in any of his Public Health classes so far. There’s so much information from decades of work right there in the trenches saving people that you just don’t get sitting at a desk.

“Chris was a child and the woman who called him in thought he hadn’t been there very long. He might have left on his own, eventually. Although his designation finds it... harder to go.” Nat’s voice goes flat, and there’s a fire in her eyes that burns low and steady to match the anger that is always a few steps from lighting up in Jake. “And I’ve seen signs in Chris that whoever he was before had access to real love and care and support, and some part of him remembers things he was taught...”

“I’ve noticed that, too. If he’s not scared he can usually keep himself together pretty well. I’m just wondering if we should, you know... therapy or something? Do you really think no one else is in the other shelters who’s at all like Chris?”

“No, I think... Nine’s going to look into it for me, I suspect we’ll see that they’re just not finding out about the shelter network and looking for help in other places.”

“Safe places?” Jake thinks of early-days Chris, half-silent and statue-still, half bouncing off the walls and words falling out of his mouth a mile-a-minute, a swinging pendulum that only slowly finds its balance. Thinks of how the silent periods, the fear, might go over if he hadn’t been in a safe, secure place to hide. “Or-”

“I don’t know, Jake.” Nat sighs, rubbing at her temples with her eyes closed. The smile-lines at the corners of her mouth seem to catch the shadows, hint at the good humor she usually has when it’s not late, when she isn’t so tired. “Could be homeless shelters, could be they’re just living on the street like Kauri does, could be their memories aren’t as fractured and they find their way home without needing our groups to help them. Could be something worse, maybe they’re more vulnerable to being picked up by the scavvers. This whole conversation is a hypothetical, for one thing. We don’t know that Chris is any different than anyone else here.”

“Yeah, we do. And if we could get him something to maybe help with some of that-”

“We’d put him and any doctor who wrote him a prescription at risk.” Nat crosses her arms just under her chest, then, looking off to the side, at a spot on the wall where Antoni had accidentally flung spaghetti sauce once. They’d scrubbed and scrubbed but the bit of red never quite came out. “Jake, I’m not kidding. Any doctor who helps him could lose their license. Hashim already takes huge risks just seeing them for basic checkups.”

“No, I know, Dr. Masood is a fucking lifesaver helping us as much as he does. But... you know, the therapists can-”

“They can’t. We’ve had houses get raided because a pharmacist got suspicious and called in a tip. We’ve lost people, had rescues get captured and sent back or put back into the system. It hasn’t happened in years, since before you started, but... but we don’t take the risk, now.” Nat frowns, her top teeth catching her bottom lip, thoughtfully. “I’ll ask around, see if we can get some info on things to do that don’t involve pulling anyone else in who isn’t already up to their necks like we are. Another shelter might have someone with more experience than our therapists have with this. I just... you have to balance the risks, Jake. And sometimes the risk to help one person puts too many others in harm’s way. Understand?”

“Yeah... I don’t like it, but I understand.” Jake sighs and pushes himself to his feet. “I’m going to bed, Nat.”

“Please don’t be mad, Jake. I have to think about everyone - I can’t just think about Chris. Okay?”

Jake gives her a smile - a bit faint and faded, but present, at least. “I’m not mad at you. Kind of pissed off at the whole fucking world some days, but... not you. It’d take a lot to get me mad at you, of all people, Nat.”

“Yeah, yeah. Go to bed, Stanton.” Nat brings her mug back to her lips, and they both pretend she’s not smiling.

“Aye-aye, Captain Yoder.” Jake gives her a lazy salute and her soft, tired laughter follows him up the stairs. He finds Chris asleep, right where he left him, curled against the wall in Jake’s bed.

Well, if we can’t take him to a doctor, Jake thinks, settling into the bed and closing his eyes. I’ll just... read every book I can find and figure it out for myself.

Everything in this house is just triage. It’s tough to look at Chris and realize that he’s going to have to do all the really hard work all by himself.

Jake sighs, and hears Chris exhale next to him.

Like hell he is. The least Jake can do is be there, and read every word he can find, and see if his favorite professor in Public Health - the one he’s pretty sure goes to lib meetings on the sly - can get him any information he can use.

Chris might have to do the hard stuff without a professional, but at least he won’t have to do it alone.

#whump #jake the shelter guy #natalie yoder: here to help the rescues #just a conversation #box boy #box boy multiverse #box boy universe #bbu #world building #worldbuilding #just some thoughts I had

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slapshot-to-the-heart · 4 years

Text

Flatbush & Atlantic: part i

Quick note: This is taking place in the 2020-21 season, as if the Islanders still play at Barclays; I know they won’t in actuality. In the story, I’m also going to be taking some liberties with what the duties of a team’s general counsel and legal team would actually be in charge of. My understanding, as a pre-law student, is that it’s more on the corporate angle, dealing with contracts and stuff — in addition to that, Cass will also be dealing with some more immigration and employment law as well.

part i

October 1

“Adiós, mamá. Hablamos pronto. Te amo.” Cassidy hung up, breathing out a tense sigh and rubbing her temples with the heels of her hands. Talking to her mom usually helped to calm her down, bring her back to Earth, but for whatever reason it wasn’t taking. She took a brief glance at the casebook open on her dinged-up Ikea desk. Federal Indian Law. She liked the class, genuinely, but her day had started off bad and gotten worse pretty damn quickly. First she was out of her favorite tea, then her advisor cancelled their meeting, then it started raining as she walked back to her MTA stop, so she had missed the train. Another came fifteen minutes later, but the damage was already done. The only bright spot in the day, aside from calling her mom, had been the cute guy at the Polish deli down the street who had put extra peppers on her Philly cheesesteak. She unwrapped the sandwich, taking a moody bite out of the end. A caramelized onion dropped to the floor. Sighing, she leaned down to pick it up, hurtling it in the direction of the trashcan but only half-looking to see if it reached its target destination. Despite the name, Cass had never had a cheesesteak before she moved to New York, and it wasn’t even because she wasn’t a sandwich person. No, Cass loved a good sandwich, but between her proclivity towards a good BLT and her mom’s homemade Mexican food, she just hadn’t gotten around to it.

Her laptop dinged with an email notification. What now? She swiped over to the mail page, taking another bite as she read the subject line. Experiential learning requirement - unmet. Her brow furrowed. Unmet? Clicking it open, she scanned the email, clearly something automated from the registrar’s office. Yet to complete Columbia’s experiential learning requirement...We suggest you connect with professors...You have until October 8 to submit...Cassidy never finished her sandwich. “Oh my God,” she muttered to herself, feeling her cheeks heat up. “How could you do this? How could you be so stupid, Cass?” She was normally so on top of everything, never missed a date, never forgot an assignment, so how could she have missed one of the only things left to do to graduate? Her law school required all of the graduates to complete some sort of experiential learning requirement — some kind of externship, clinic, summer associate position, anything to get them “out in the real world.” That’s when it hit her. She had coached her high school’s mock trial team the summer after her first year, and interned at the Hartford County DA’s the summer after. But they paid her. Her school had a weird ‘double-dip’ policy, where you weren’t allowed to take a position for class credit and get paid at the same time. It was a confusing rule, convoluted and bizarre and probably a little bit elitist, but it was a rule. As if the day couldn’t get any worse, and then somehow it did.

Turning to her laptop, she started searching for just about anything that could possibly help her. The school’s website, the Manhattan District Attorney’s, state offices, NGOs, federal prosecutors, anyone that might have a lead. Frantically dragging over her resumé and throwing together a cover letter that probably (hopefully) looked way more interesting than it actually was, Cassidy fired off email after email after email. Two hours later, she had sent off some twenty-odd applications, hoping that at least one or two would end up panning out. Glancing at her watch, she let out an exasperated breath. 12:22 A.M. Her classes didn’t start until nine, but it took almost an hour and a subway connection to get to Columbia, and she had to eat and shower before. So, really, it meant getting up at about seven. She needed to go to bed.

Stomach reeling and feeling more resigned than anything, Cass haphazardly brushed her teeth, flossed — it didn’t matter how tired she was, she’d never forget to floss — and clambered into bed, wearing a faded, way-too-big Rangers t-shirt. I’ll be okay. She took a deep breath. It’ll be okay. It has to be. Cassidy Cabrera Shaw was tough as nails and stubborn as hell, and she wasn’t going to let everything she had worked so hard for fall apart so easily.

Whenever Cass was nervous, or anxious, or afraid, she was never able to sleep well. She ended up waking up at ten past six, sitting in her bed for fifteen minutes praying that she’d fall back asleep, and finally accepting her fate that sleep just wasn’t going to come. Rolling over, she grabbed her phone from where she had left it charging on the nightstand. Nightstand was maybe a generous term for it; technically, it was a wooden milk crate that she had spray painted white when she and the other girls had moved into the apartment two years prior. She had a little bit of money set aside from college, but every penny possible was going towards tuition and those ungodly-expensive books that she had to buy every semester. The mattress and frame were from Ikea, and Cass had brought some things like bedding and a desk from her old room. The rest of it — rugs, lighting, and decorations like her six-inch ceramic peacock (his name was Charles) had come from a combination of Goodwill runs and senior citizen yard sales.

Wincing as she did so, Cass pulled up her email, bracing herself for the inevitable barrage of rejection. After scrolling past ten or so automated “no longer hiring” and “position has been filled” messages, one caught her eye. She had sent a few emails to professors of hers, not expecting to hear anything back for a few days. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but there certainly were advantages of going to school in a city as massive as New York. All of her professors knew someone and had some kind of connection from their own education, or days in the practice, or childhood summer trips to the Hamptons with someone who just so happened to be a judge on the Second Circuit Court — that last one was last year’s employment law professor. One particular subject line caught her eye. Thought you might be interested, Professor Murakami had written. David, as he preferred to be called, was her Sports Law professor from last year. She didn’t go into the class expecting to enjoy it all that much, if she was being honest. She had gotten a crappy registration time and most other classes were filled, so it had started out as a placeholder and nothing more. Over the semester, though, it had quickly become one of her favorites, combining pieces of everything else she had studied into one cohesive course. Cass also wasn’t in a position to be turning down any potential offers, so she opened the email and started reading.

I got your email, Cassidy, and think I might be able to help. Okay, so far, so good. I happen to have a contact in the counsel’s office of one of the professional sports teams in the city. That’s exactly what Cass was talking about — where do these people meet each other? Is there some kind of exclusive speakeasy you’re given the password to as soon as you’re admitted to the state bar? Chris Cohen works for the Islanders, and I remember you talking about how interested in hockey you are. Okay, true, but the Islanders? She had practically been born with a Ranger’s jersey on. Beggars can’t be choosers, she thought. I gave him a heads-up that I’d likely be sending a promising candidate his way, so just let me know if this sounds like something you’d be interested in and I’ll send along your contact information.

Cass couldn’t respond fast enough. Yes, please!

---

Wednesdays were her ‘easy’ days, if you could say that. She had Environmental Law and Human Rights back-to-back, but anything after noon was pretty much fair game. That being said, it certainly didn’t mean that she was any less stressed. There were at least a hundred pages to read before class the next day, she had a sample essay due for bar prep, and her mind was still racing about the email. Grabbing a gyro from the cart outside of her last class of the day, Cass stress-ate with one hand while continually refreshing her inbox with the other. Food wasn’t allowed in the library, so she ate the last few bites right outside the doors, throwing away the wrapper and squeezing past the hordes of clearly overwhelmed first-years running to get to class on time.

Popping her Airpods out of their case and into her ears, Cass briskly made her way up the stairs to the third floor, crossing her fingers that her usual spot, a big blue chair over by the research desk, was open. She was in luck, pulling out a water bottle and laptop and getting to work on editing. Four hours later, she had reached some semblance of satisfaction with her work, shutting off her computer and making her way to the subway. There was about half an hour before she had to transfer to the line that would take her to the apartment; squeezing into one of the last free seats, she tugged out a textbook and a highlighter. Why her professor insisted on assigning the entire text of the United Nations charter was a mystery to her, but she’d rather jump off a cliff than be cold called on without an answer. Transferring at Grand Concourse took about ten minutes — it was rush hour, so the first train to come was entirely full — and another twenty or so minutes later, she was letting herself into her shared East Bronx apartment.

Hanging up her denim jacket by the door and toeing off her sneakers, Cass let out a not-so-subtle exasperated sigh.

“One of those days?” Alicia piped in from the kitchen. Alicia also lived in the apartment, one of the four sorority sisters-turned-roommates who had made the move from Connecticut down to New York after graduation. Cass padded into the kitchen, where she was greeted by Alicia in front of a skillet and rice cooker, intensely sautéeing some vegetables.

“You have no idea,” Cass said, hugging her from behind. “Whatcha making?” There were obviously some nights when not everyone was home — most often either Cass or Ryanne, who was in med school — but they always tried to have a few nights a week where someone would cook a meal for the whole house.

“Japchae, it’s my mom’s recipe,” she replied. “I called her and asked how much sesame oil to use, and she just said ‘until it tastes right.’ Like, I love you, Mom, but that doesn’t really help my cause, does it?”

Cass snorted. “Oh for sure, it’s the same way with me. Do you remember the first time I made tamales down here?” Cass had grown up eating and making tamales with her mom and abuela, but she had never been allowed to really take the reins. She had the recipe, though, so the first night after they were moved in, she ventured down to the closest bodega, bought the ingredients, and decided to try her hand making them from scratch. The recipe, however, left out the key piece of exactly how much water to use for steaming — Cass didn’t know, and her mom had always just eyeballed it. So she had ended up putting in way too little and setting the stove way too hot, and to make a long story short, ended up setting off the fire alarm. The one saving grace was the extremely attractive police office that came to double-check the false alarm, but even he couldn’t wipe the mortified expression off of her face.

“How could I forget?” Alicia responded with a grin. “Go put your shit down, it’ll be ready in a few.”

Cass playfully rolled her eyes, heading towards her room in the back. “Yes, mother.” Their apartment was a three bedroom; while obviously it would have been amazing for everyone to have their own, it was still New York City and none of them were exactly rolling in the dough. Cassidy and Ryanne were obviously still students, and while Alicia and Stella had actual jobs — Stella worked international business down by Wall Street and Alicia did something with satellites in Queens — none of them were exactly inclined to set out on their own just yet. So Stella and Alicia shared a room, and she and Ryanne had their own. She shrugged off her jacket, slinging her backpack onto the bed before chugging the rest of her water bottle and checking her phone. Two new emails. A 20% off coupon to Lush, and one from Chris Cohen. Chris Cohen? It took her a minute to remember, but when she did, she couldn’t read it fast enough.

Honestly, Cass didn’t read the whole thing, but got enough information to know that she had an interview Friday afternoon at the office in Brooklyn, that Chris — he had said to call him Chris — said she came with a stellar recommendation from Professor Murakami (an old law school buddy, figures) and that there was no way in hell she was going to fuck this up. She wouldn’t let herself.

---

Cass was lucky her Thursdays were so packed; if she had any extra time to stress over her impending interview, she would have, but she couldn’t. She had two ‘free’ hours in between classes, but after she had scarfed down lunch (Alicia had, mercifully, made plenty of leftovers) it was the only stretch she had to hit the gym. Coupled with the time it took to walk there, change, and shower after, there really wasn’t much in the way of downtime. After classes was her bar prep group, and the day was so exhausting that it was pretty much all she could manage to take the train home, microwave dinosaur chicken nuggets, and stumble into bed. After flossing.

---

If Cassidy lived in any other city, she would have felt wildly out of place on her morning commute. Who shows up to school wearing a suit? She wasn’t an absolute masochist, so her heels were in her bag. But for once in her life she didn’t feel so out of place among the presumably-highbrow, presumably-making-six-figures crowd surrounding her. The suit had been her first big purchase for herself — she had scraped by without one in college, but invested as soon as she had a little saved up from her summer job at a boutique in town. Her mother had always told her that it was the woman who made the clothes, rather than the other way around, and Cass always did what her mom said.

Samaira, one of her friends and another editor on the Columbia Law Review, caught up to her as they both left the twice-weekly morning meeting. “You seem kind of jumpy, Cass. What’s up?”

Cassidy wrung her hands and shrugged her shoulders. “I told you that I missed the internship requirement thing, right?” Samaira nodded. “Well, I have an internship in,” she paused to look at her watch, “two hours, and I’m so nervous I’m going to mess this up. I don’t know what I’m going to do if I don’t get it. There’s not time to look for something else, there’s no alternative, and I don’t know what to do if my own stupidity and forgetfulness is the only thing standing in between me and something I’ve worked so fucking hard for—”

Samaira cut her off. “I’m going to stop you there. That’s bull, Cass, and you know it. You are the furthest thing from a disappointment. You’re one of the kindest, sharpest, and most creative people I know, and you’re not going to let something as petty as a deadline stand in your way. Time gets away from all of us sometimes, and it’s nothing to beat yourself up over. I want you to be confident and have faith in yourself, because you deserve it, but if you don’t, it’s okay. I get it. I believe in you enough for the both of us.” She squeezed Cass’ hand.

She managed a watery smile. “Thanks, Samaira.”

“Any time,” she replied easily. “I’ve got to run to class now, but I want to hear how it went the second you get out, okay?”

“I will.”

Samaira rolled her eyes. “I mean it. You’re going to crush this, Cass. Love you!” She added, waving goodbye as she turned the corner.

There was half an hour before Cass needed to head over to the interview, and before she knew it her feet had taken her to her favorite spot on the north side of Central Park. Grabbing a bagel, she thankfully found the bench empty. After finishing the bagel — she would have preferred cheese, but they were out, so cinnamon raisin it was — and the better part of her Hozier-dominated acoustic playlist, it was time to catch the train. She jumped on with barely a second to spare, grabbing a strap and trying to avoid bumping into anyone.

A seat opened up about halfway to Brooklyn, and Cass took the opportunity to unceremoniously tug off her much more practical flats and switch into the much more professional ankle-strap heels that had been stuffed in her backpack all day. For a fleeting moment, she was worried what everyone around her would think; she was, after all, technically changing on public transportation. A man got on at the next stop who was dressed head-to-toe in neon orange while carrying a Pomeranian in his purse. Nobody batted an eye. She got over herself pretty quickly.

Getting off at the Barclays Center station, Cass pulled out her phone, opening up the camera to give herself a quick once-over. As much as she hated it, first impressions really were everything. Lipstick? Not smudged. Hair? Minimal flyaways. Teeth? No spinach to be seen. Triple-checking that she had the time right, Cass walked through the doors of the office building, Islanders logo emblazoned on the wall behind the secretary’s desk.

“Hi,” she said tentatively, catching his attention. “I have an interview with Chris Cohen at 2?”

The secretary nodded, smiling warmly at her. “No problem. I’m Josh, you can have a seat over there,” he nodded to the small waiting area off to the side, “and I’ll call you when he’s ready for you to be sent up.”

Cass didn’t wait for more than five minutes before Josh gave her the go-ahead, and she was soon headed up the elevator to Chris’ office. “Fourth door on the left. It should have his name on it,” Josh had added.

She raised her fist, knocking quickly on the frosted glass. It swung open a second later, a kind-looking man with glasses and salt-and-pepper hair answering. “You must be Cassidy. I’m Chris Cohen, so nice to meet you. Come right in,” he said, ushering her through the room, where several other associates sat at desks, and into his office.

“David’s always good at keeping an eye out for me in his courses, and I was happy he passed you along,” Chris said, pulling out her resumé. “And you’re a 3L, correct?” She nodded. “Good. So let’s dive right into it. What courses and work experience do you have that you feel best position you for success in this position?” Much though Cass was loath to admit it, if there was anything she was good at, it was talking herself up. There was a reason her high school superlative was “Most Likely to be Able to Talk Their Way Out of a Ticket.” She launched into a well-rehearsed response, making sure to lace in her love for hockey once or twice. If nothing else, it would hopefully at least get her some brownie points. He had a few questions about her resumé, asked about her work on the law review, a few hypotheticals about contract law. She was batting a thousand until he asked the dreaded final question. “Do you have any questions for me?”

Cass was wracking her brain, trying to come up with some intelligent-sounding thing to ask, but nothing came. “Uh—” she started, but was saved by the bell. Or, rather, saved by a frantic door opening and a panicked-sounding Mat Barzal bursting into the room. “Chris, I’ve got a problem.”

#hockey imagine #hockey #nhl imagine #mat barzal #mat barzal imagine #nhl #hockey writing #nhl writing #hockey imagines #nhl imagines #islanders #mat barzal imagines

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immawritethat · 5 years

Text

Missed Connections

(Somewhat connected to this piece I half-wrote last year and have been thinking about since) Anyhow, this the workshop draft of a short story I wrote for class, and I just think it’s v neat and wanted to share!

----

Dolores Lopez spent much of her free time inside museums, but today she was here with a purpose. The building was much younger than many of its contents—an oblong Art Deco styled building, trimmed with golds and chevron and all those other lovely elegant things. The atrium stretched to the full height of the building, dwarfing all patrons as if to say “You are inferior in the grand scheme of history; there may be no one to tell your tale lest ye gain the wealth and notoriety seen here!”

Or perhaps Dolores was simply projecting.

The first time she’d visited this particular museum was in the second grade, back when she wore her dark brown hair in two simple plaits—well, until two of the boys in class decided a few months later it was a stroke of comic genius to cut one off with a pair of scissors during class—back when her complexion still held a rich, golden undertone to it instead of a sickly yellow tinge, and back before she had to squint through thick, round glasses that later had her teased for looking far too much like an owl. It was so long ago she couldn’t remember exactly what they had been there to study—maybe something about the Native Americans or Columbus or vaqueros, but that wasn’t what made an impact.

She remembered, once they had been given time to look about the museum freely, taking one glance at an old World War II nurse’s uniform from the travelling exhibit and bursting into tears. A grief she had never been introduced to flooded forth, having seen no death in her lifetime, and pulled her underneath its tide. Something had been sitting inside her, buried deep underneath everything she knew of herself. The chaperone overseeing her had ended up taking her outside to calm down, asking what had happened. She had never quite been able to explain it, and lied that her stomach hurt when pressed for an answer.

As she aged, Dolores noticed more and more of her life out of the ordinary.

There were the vivid dreams, showing flashes of lives both mundane and horrific. They varied in topic, but often continued on at some point or another, as though a new episode had finally aired. Sometimes there were flickering shadows of a cobblestone hearth, and other times the sparking battlefields on the edge of the Euphrates. The most common ones brought Dolores into a living room decorated with floral wallpaper, a gramophone playing a song she later discovered was Vera Lynn’s “We’ll Meet Again.” In some dreams, she sat with another girl, a few years older, playing with rag dolls whose threads unraveled and only just remained stitched together so they wouldn’t have to hear the wailing of an upset child. In others, they were older, seated beside the radio, listening to whatever the statesman had to say on the state of drought and war and the economy.

Sometimes she sat alone, patching up old skirts and trousers, with little more than the hum of the wind to bring her company.

Only now was she beginning to understand what those dreams meant.

“Dolly Lopez?” The silvery voice came from behind Dolores, along with a gentle tap on the shoulder, pulling her focus back to the present. She turned, and an aged tension lifted from her body. Remington Siegel stood half a foot taller than her, dressed in a rather interesting combination of neon prints which stood out even more against his dark skin, looking nothing like the person that she had missed, but feeling every bit the same.

Dolores swiped the tears from her face, clearing her throat to compose herself. “You kept me waiting,” she said.

“I never meant to.” Remy put his arms across her shoulders, pulling her into an awkward side-hug. “Should we sit somewhere? Or is there an exhibit you’re fond of?” He paused for a moment, face screwed up with thought. “You weren’t the one with a stamp collection, were you?”

Dolores scrunched her nose. “I don’t remember much, but I definitely don’t remember that.”

Remy only shrugged. “Another lifetime, then. It’s tough to keep them all separated, you know.”

Dolores’s gaze fell down to the messenger bag hanging from his shoulder, stuffed with loose, crumpled papers on the verge of falling out. The weight of the binder in her arms seemed to double.

“Maybe the café?” He suggested, in hopes of breaking the silence. “It was a long flight from Newcastle, and I haven’t eaten much since—too busy trying to get a hold of myself.”

“Of course! Sorry, I got lost in my own head.” Dolores stepped to the side, gesturing forward. “Honestly, I’m just still a bit shocked you’re really here—five months of Twitter DMs and now? Bam! You’re just…here.”

“Well, that’s one of the many plusses of being the only grandchild of wealthy grandparents—they’re willing to spoil me at the drop of a hat. Well, that and I have spent far more time doing this.” He gestured his bag forward. “Maybe I’m not half as organized, but I’ve got it mostly-kinda-sorta figured out. Seeing me in action should help you out a lot.”

Dolores nodded, offering a soft mm-hm, but her eyes were clouded and far off. He hadn’t brought it up. She knew they had talked about it plenty through their messages, but it felt strange to not mention it. Wrong, even. But this was the third time he’d done this—he’d even approached her about it all. Maybe there was some taboo about it she was unaware of.

Maybe it didn’t mean as much to him.

She listened to Remy ramble on about his research methods preferred databases through the halls, around the line of the café, and even for the first few minutes seated at the table. She asked questions from time to time, but ones which were only half engaged—Oh really? How long did that take? How did you come up with that? She spent far more time shouting in her own head to get over her worries and ask something with more meaning.

“You’re dying to ask something.” It was a statement, rather than a question, delivered between a mouthful of muffin and a sip of tea. “The hesitant look in your eyes—go on, don’t be shy. I didn’t come all the way out here to buy five dollar muffins and be half-listened to.”

Dolores averted her gaze, focusing on the instead on a photo of an aged Victorian doctor, apparently one of Remy’s most notable memories, who looked up at her with a stern warning to mind her words carefully. She wiggled the straw in her tea aimlessly. “No, no, I’m alright!” She forced out a laugh, the way she had practiced on plenty of bad dates throughout plenty of lifetimes. “I’m just a little—”

“Look, Dolly—If you tell me you’re star-struck again, I’ll just have to ask you what’s wrong and that’s never a fun conversation.”

Dolores took in a short breath and sighed, deflating in her chair. “I was just…hoping maybe we could talk a little more about…” She pressed her lips together, failing to hold back her true thoughts. “Us? What we were, what we went through. I mean, God, it’s hard enough to find someone who remembers at all, let alone someone you shared that history with! Let’s talk about the fact that you were Betty and I was Judith and that we’re only seeing each other again now nearly eighty-goddamned-years later in two totally different bodies and from two totally different places!”

Ceramic clinked against the table. Dolores pulled her fist back towards her chest, face flushed from her outburst. She hadn’t meant to get that worked up, hadn’t meant to hit the table.

Remy leaned back in his chair, stretching out his long legs, and drew out a sigh. He stared up at the ceiling for a moment, frowned, and then fixed his gaze back on Dolores. “You know that fun little saying War is hell? It’s not too far off.”

Dolores scooted her chair closer to the table, so that her belly pressed against the cool laminate. She hunched forward, so that he wouldn’t have to speak any louder than was required between the two of them.

“I try not to remember being Betty. I know you remember a lot of the good things, but you were the little sister. It was my job to make things seem fun and happy for you, even when Dad lost his job during the Depression and when the neighbors started getting shipped off left and right when the war started.” Remy paused. He suddenly found the particular soda stains on the floor particularly interesting, and focused his gaze there. “I know I signed up to be an Army Nurse because I was exhausted playing nanny for you. You were thirteen, I figured you’d be fine if I was gone for a bit. I could see the world, and meet some boys.”

He let out a whistle, low and long, like the groan of a dropped bomb. “Boy, oh boy did I meet plenty. You see things you couldn’t imagine happen to a human body treating a warzone. They kept me with diseases, mostly, not trauma.”

Dolores nodded. She knew how the story ended—Betty had contracted TB, died before the war even ended, and left her sister—had left her—without so much as a final goodbye.

Remy shrugged his shoulders, and returned to his previous position. “I’d love to say I remembered the good things, Dolly, but I’ve got all the ugly. Well, mostly.” He pulled an envelope from his bag, yellowed with time and creased with deep wrinkles. “I barely remember writing it, but I guess it was never posted. It was found in a box with some other nurse’s stuff, some old friend of mine—er, Betty’s—who’d passed, apparently.”

Dolores’s hands shook. It was so worn it had become soft, and the half-finished address was hardly legible at this point. “And it was definitely from…?”

Remy nodded. “It’s yours. Sorry it took so long to get here. But, hey, look at it this way: we got to say hello again instead of goodbye.”

Dolores’s lips quirked up into a smile. She left the envelope closed, and placed it inside her binder for later. She’d waited for it this long, anyway. “Hello is much nicer than goodbye, isn’t it?”

#my writing #original writing #speculative fiction #modern fantasy writing #tw death #tw disease #tw war mention

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imagine-riverdale · 5 years

Text

Yes Part 2- Sweet Pea Imagine

Yes Series Master List is HERE

2/5

It had been around two days since Bethany seen her mother or sister, it now being Monday morning Bethany had showered and gotten dressed before waking Sweet Pea up and the two of them drove her truck to the school. The two met up with Fangs and Toni by their lockers, the four talking about a job FP was trying to set up before Toni noticed something odd.

“Hey Beth, isn’t that Addison?” She pointed down the hall to see her sister leaning against a locker by Chuck Clayton.

“Yeah it is. Excuse me.” Bethany moved away from her friends, Sweet Pea not far behind as she heard Chuck ask Addison out. “Sorry, she isn’t interested.” Bethany stepped next to her sister who was frowning. “Toni.” Bethany said as Toni appeared next to her. “Take Addison to class, I want to have a chat with Chuck here.” Toni pulled Addison away much to her protest. “You’ll do well to stay away from my baby sister Clayton, I find out you, or any of your bulldogs try anything with her and I’ll chop your dick off, are we clear?” She asked as Chuck rolled his eyes.

“She’s new meat and I don’t believe I saw a Serpent tattoo on her,”

“She doesn’t need one, she’s a Serpent by blood, you mess with her, you mess with all of us and let me tell you, I won’t hesitate to hurt you if you mess with my sister. So, stay clear.” Bethany moved away from him and found Addison pouting in the student lounge. “Stay away from Chuck Clayton and all the other bulldogs, they’re no good.” She stated to her sister who scoffed.

“You’re only saying that because you’re a Serpent.” Addison said annoyed. “You can’t tell me who I can see.”

“No but I know them better than you.”

“You can’t decide what is best for me.” Addison crossed her arms.

“You want to date one, fine but don’t come crying to me when something happens.” Bethany turned and left the lounge, Sweet Pea stayed behind and looked at Addison.

“She only wants what is best for you, that’s all she’s ever wanted, you know.” He stated. “Everything she has done, was for you.” He told her softly before walking away to find Bethany.

“Babe.” Sweet Pea grabbed Bethany’s arm to stop her from walking into her first class.

“What is it Sweets?” She asked crossing her arms.

“You can’t protect her forever, she’s going to do what she wants.” He stated as Bethany nodded.

“I know, I just, I’ve always been the one to protect her, how can I stand by and watch her get her heart broken?” She asked. “I became a Serpent to protect her, and if I just stand by and let her get hurt, what was the point in me joining the Serpents?” She asked, Sweet Pea was silent a moment. “I grew up being the one to take care of her.”

“I know, but you just have to step back.” He stated, Bethany nodded before the two headed into class.

“Hello Bethany.” Beth heard the voice Kevin Keller said sitting across from her in the lounge.

“Hey Kevin.” Bethany looked up from her phone an gave a soft smile. “What’s up?” She asked.

“Not much, wanted to know if you wanted to hang out or something after school.”

“I would love to, but can we maybe do like tomorrow? I’ve got Serpent stuff tonight.” She stated.

“Yeah, sure.” He nodded with a smile. The two of them sat in the lounge for about twenty minutes just talking before Sweet pea walked in and nodded at Kevin before looking to Bethany.

“You ready to go? I’ve got to work.” He stated as Bethany looked at the time and noticed it was already after school, having used up her whole free period.

“Yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow Kev.” She smiled at her new-found friend before Sweet Pea and she made her way outside.

“You want to stop at Pops with Toni, Fangs, and Jones before we head to do our runs?” He asked Bethany as she climbed into the passenger seat of the truck.

“Sure, I could use some cheese fries.” The two headed over to Pops where Toni and Fangs were arguing while Jughead just watched.

“Fangs, Toni, Jug.” Bethany smiled as she pulled Sweet Pea behind her and they sat on the same side of the booth while Fangs pulled up a chair. Sweet Pea immediately wrapped an arm over Bethany’s shoulder.

“We need you to solve something for us.” Fangs stated as Bethany caught sight of her sister sitting at a booth not far from them with a bunch of Bulldogs and River Vixens. Reggie Mantels arm around her.

“And what is that?”

“Fangs does not believe me that when we were like ten you pushed SP into Sweetwater River because he kissed you.”

“That never happened.” Fangs and Sweet Pea stated as Bethany turned her head to Sweet Pea with her mouth open.

“Bullshit!” She laughed. “You got dared by Gregory to kiss me and you did then you told me it was a dare, so I got angry and pushed you into the river.” Toni laughed as Sweet Pea rolled his eyes. “Then you tried pulling me in with you.”

“Now that I would pay to see.” Jughead laughed as Bethany smiled, the five of them caught attention from everyone as they were all Serpents laughing. Bethany’s eyes met Addison’s who smiled slightly at her, Bethany immediately looked away as Toni recalled the time when they were fourteen and Bethany’s breast had just started showing and Sweet Pea purposely soaked her with the hose, so he could see through her white shirt.

“He was an ass hole!” Bethany laughed as Sweet Pea shrugged.

“But yet you still agreed to date me.” He said with a smirk and an eye roll.

“Must have been your charm that wowed me.” Bethany teased as Sweet Pea kissed her head. “Or maybe because Toni turned me down.” She winked at Toni.

“I mean I’m available now so whenever you want to leave Sweets, I’m waiting my love.” Toni joked as Fangs choked on his drink.

“This is getting crazy.” He stated as Bethany smiled at him before looking to Sweets.

“Nah, I think I’ll stick with the one I got, he’s alright.” She shrugged with a smirked as Sweet Pea grabbed her face and kissed her.

“Like you have a choice.” Jughead stated. “If you weren’t around I’m sure Sweet Pea would have murdered all the Bulldogs by now.”

“Probably.” Sweet Pea shrugged pulling away from Bethany who leaned into him, her eyes catching her sisters as she watched her pull away from Reggie when he tried to kiss her, he went to pull her back when Bethany heard her say ‘No’ but Reggie kept trying before Bethany heard him say something to her.

“You think you’re better than us? You’re just Southside trash.” Bethany quickly moved out of Sweet Pea’s arms and moved towards her sister, Sweet Pea, Toni, Fangs, and Jughead not far behind. They watched as Bethany stopped in front of Reggie.

“Wanna say that again?” She asked, Reggie laughed with his friends.

“What you come to save some other Southsider? What are you gonna do about the way I talk to her?” He asked as Bethany threw her arm back and punched him in the face before motioning her sister out of the booth. Addison climbed over the back and moved towards Toni before Bethany leaned closer to Reggie who held his broken nose.

“Talk to or about my sister again and you’ll have a lot more than a broken nose, that goes for all of you.” She looked towards the rest before turning and wrapping an arm around her sister’s shoulder, she stopped by Pop on her way out and handed him a fifty. “For all our trouble. Thanks Pop.” She smiled at the man and led her sister to her truck. “You alright?”

“I’m good, thanks.” Addy said softly. “You have a killer right hook.”

“Of course she does.” Sweets wrapped his arm around her as the six of them surrounded Bethany’s truck.

“Oh, shut up, you didn’t teach me to punch, I learned that on my own.” Bethany pushed Sweet Pea away from her with a smile. “Pretty sure the first punch I ever threw was at you babe.” Bethany stated before looking back at her sister. “You sure you’re good?”

“I’m good Beth. Thanks, I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you.” She stated rubbing her wrist nervously.

“Don’t worry about it, come on we’ll give you a lift home.” She looked to Jughead, Toni, and Fangs. “See you guys at the Quarry tonight?” She had asked, the three nodded before Sweet Pea drove back to Sunnyside Trailer pack and stopped in front of Bethany’s mothers house. “If you need anything, just call, or come by, I’m in between the Fords and the Henderson’s. If we aren’t there, keys under the ceramic duck by the folding chairs.” She told her sister hugging her tightly. “I’ll see you later kiddo.” Addison climbed out and headed inside before Sweet Pea and Bethany went home to change before heading out separately to do their jobs.

Bethany arrived at the Quarry not long after the fire was started, surrounding it was a bunch of Serpents who Bethany stopped and had talked to before moving on to where Toni was.

“Hey.” Toni smiled at her best friend before handing her a beer. “I miss nights like these.”

“Me too Toni.” Bethany said taking a drink of her beer and looking around. “I got a question for you.” Bethany said moving closer to Toni so no one heard her ask. “You got any clue what type of job Sweets is doing with FP? He won’t tell me anything.”

“I know he was running jobs for Penny, but you know how that turned out.” Toni stated as Bethany looked at her wide eyed.

“He was what?” She asked. “I asked him about that and he told me he wasn’t running jobs for her, is that what all those nights were when FP got out?” Toni’s eyes widened at the revelation.

“Oh, you didn’t know…” She trailed off. “Well I don’t know what jobs he’s doing now, probably some weed runs.” Toni shrugged. “Why? What jobs does he have you doing?”

“I’ve been running to and from Greendale every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to pick up shipments of fucking bottles for packaging from a warehouse.” She mumbled. “Sweet Pea complained when FP wanted me to work at the Wyrm so this is the shit jobs I’m stuck with, but it pays the bills.” Bethany shrugged before noticing her boyfriend coming through the crowed towards her with Fangs while the two laughed and pushed each other.

“Hey Toni, babe.” He went to kiss Bethany, but she stepped back.

“Hey Bethy, Toni.” Fangs smiled taking a beer from Toni’s cooler.

“You good?” Sweets asked Bethany who chugged the rest of her beer.

“Were you ever planning on telling me that FP made you Peabody’s bitch or were you planning to hide that shit from me?” She asked as Sweet Pea immediately glared at Toni.

“It was nothing, really…” Bethany went to say something but stopped upon seeing Addison stumbling through the young Serpents, a black eye and cuts littering her face and bruises on her arms, ripped clothing, her shirt barely covering her. Bethany pushed past Sweet Pea who went to say something else but stopped at seeing Bethany rushing to her sister.

“Addy, what happened?” Bethany’s arms went around her fifteen-year-old sister and she fell into her.

“Mom.” She choked out a sob gripping onto her sister before breaking out in full on sobbing.

“Sweets, give me your jacket.” She demanded, Sweet Pea immediately shrugged off his jacket and wrapped it around Addison. “Come on, we’re going home, she tossed her keys to Toni. “I brought my bike; can I use your jeep?” Toni nodded and switched keys with her. “Meet you guys there?” She asked particularly looking at Sweet Pea who nodded slightly following the two home on his bike.

This is part two of a five part series. Part three will be posted on July 26th, 2019.

REQUESTS ARE OPEN FOR RIVERDALE CHARACTERS.

#sweetpeaimagine #sweetpea imagine #riverdale #sweet pea #sweet pea x oc #riverdale imagine #SPYesSeries

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potatoobsessed999 · 5 years

Text

One Last Quiet Day

This is my gift for @m-to-the-6th-power, for the Animorphs Fic Exchange! I do not have an AO3 and Did Not Realize it takes time to get one, so I’ll just put the fic under the cut for now and put it up on AO3 tomorrow.

You asked for horror or fluff so I did slightly ominous fluff. It got a bit sad toward the end, because apparently I’m only capable of writing bittersweet or sadder - sorry! But mostly it’s about friendship, which I hope is cute.

It was a bright, hot autumn afternoon. Cassie sat barefoot in the tough grass by the side of the house, resting her chin on her knees, her body tucked in small under the shade of the eaves. She was watching a hawk circle over the meadow below the house, and waiting for Rachel to arrive.

Cassie was looking forward to this more than usual – and that was saying a lot; she and Rachel had been best friends for so long, Cassie couldn’t even remember when it was they had first met. It was almost never a bad day to hang out with Rachel, cheerful and fierce, who would menace half your problems into leaving you alone, and distract you from the other half with storebought sugar cookies and enthusiastic small talk. That was welcome at the best of times, but today, Cassie was especially eager to be distracted.

Was it four-thirty yet? Rachel must be late; Cassie wasn’t wearing a watch, but she felt certain she had been outside for at least half an hour already. She shifted, fidgeting with the grass by her feet, plucking blades and shredding them between her fingers. A mosquito buzzed around her head and she uncurled her body, ready to swat it.

“Finally!”

A moment’s impression: loose blonde hair, an enormous smile. Almost before Cassie had seen her friend, Rachel’s hands were in hers, pulling her up from the ground and straight into a hug. “I found your mom in the barn. She said you were in your room but you weren’t. I’ve been all over the farm – what’re you doing back here?”

“Nothing much,” said Cassie, squeezing tight before she pulled back from the hug. “I wanted to think. And it’s so hot – the shade’s nice.”

“Tell me about it! I can’t believe I biked all the way out here.” Rachel let go of one of Cassie’s hands, pushing back strands of hair that had stuck in the sweat on her forehead. “So what were you thinking about?”

“Let’s go inside,” said Cassie. “We can have lemonade.”

They trooped round the corner and across the porch to the front door. Inside, the buzzing of half a dozen electric fans muffled the sound of their footsteps on the floorboards. When they reached the kitchen, Cassie got the lemonade from the fridge while Rachel took a pair of mismatched mugs from a cabinet.

“Yum,” she said, when she saw the ceramic pitcher Cassie had set on the table. “Homemade.”

They sipped their drinks in comfortable silence for a minute or two. Cassie could hear her father walking about upstairs – collecting the laundry, maybe, or organizing his books at long last. He was singing something, the words unintelligible over the noise of the fans. Cassie finished her mugful of lemonade and pillowed her head in her arms, squeezing her eyes shut.

Rachel cocked her own head. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah,” said Cassie. She opened her eyes, propping her chin on her wrist so as to look at Rachel right-side-up. “I’m just tired. I didn’t sleep well last night.”

“How come?”

Cassie sighed. “I had a bad nightmare. I kept waking up terrified, and when I calmed down and fell asleep again, I’d go right back into the same dream. It lasted all night.”

Cassie shut her eyes again. She hadn’t wanted to talk about this. She’d wanted to be distracted, but… now that the subject had been brought up, maybe it was best to share. Maybe it would help. “I keep thinking about it,” she admitted. “All day. It’s freaking me out. It’s like… well, it’s almost like I’m still dreaming, or like the dream’s still waiting for me, if that makes sense. Like I’m going to slip back into it again, and there’s nothing I can do.”

“That seriously sucks.” Rachel frowned sympathetically. “You were kind of out of it at school today. I guess that’s why.”

She got up, leaving her second mugful of lemonade half-finished, and came around the table to drape her arms around Cassie’s shoulders. Cassie sat up a little, leaning back into the hug, and Rachel rested her chin on the top of her friend’s head. “Do you want to tell me what the dream was about?” she asked.

“That’s the thing,” Cassie said. “I can’t remember.”

Rachel was silent a moment. “But… if you don’t remember it, then how is it still scaring you?”

“I don’t know!” Cassie squirmed in her chair, feeling suddenly constricted by her friend’s arms around her, and Rachel let go. Cassie twisted around to face her. “I don’t get it. I shouldn’t even know that I had a nightmare, right? Or I should just remember waking up from one, and go ‘huh, that’s why I’m so tired,’ and then forget about it! But it’s like there’s this blacked-out spot in my memory, and I know that’s the nightmare, and it’s sitting right there in my head, but I can’t get at it to find out what scared me so much! I just know it felt – oh, Rachel. It felt so horrible. I remember that much.”

She was breathing hard, clinging to the back of her chair like it was a buoy in a stormy sea. Rachel’s eyes were wide. “Whoa,” she said, “hey, Cassie, you’re kind of freaking me out. You don’t have to worry, okay? It was just a dream.”

“Yeah,” Cassie muttered, looking away. “Just a dream.”

“Let’s…” Rachel cast about herself. Her eyes fell on the pitcher of lemonade and at once she picked it up, refilling Cassie’s mug. “Here. It’s hot, drink some more. Then let’s go out to the barn or something. You can tell me about the new animals.”

“All right,” said Cassie, without much enthusiasm. Her breathing was slowing, the moment of panic fading away. But the unremembered fear was still there, lurking in the back of her mind. She didn’t want to dwell on it, but nothing else felt important enough to focus on. The terror she had felt in her sleep had been so concrete – she remembered waking suddenly in the dark, her veins icy with adrenaline, throwing off her bedsheet and leaping to the corner of the room with agility she didn’t know she had, putting her back to the wall and reaching for – something – something in her blood, something the dream had told her she possessed. As her delirium faded, she’d realized that something did not exist. But that was only one of the times she’d woken last night.

“ – to hang out in the barn?” Rachel was saying. “We could do something else if you want. We should get your mind off this dream, though.”

Cassie shook herself. “Yeah,” she said, “yeah, definitely. The barn’s fine.” She gulped down a mouthful of lemonade and stood. “Let’s go.”

They headed back out into the heat, Rachel adjusting her sweatband and Cassie fanning herself with both hands. The barn was several degrees cooler than outside, and the dimness was refreshing after the bright sun they had just walked through; Cassie decided not to turn on the overhead lights. Her mother had left, but Cassie could smell the cleaning supplies she must have been using on some of their patients’ cages. The scent mingled with the ordinary smells of the barn, fur and sweat and hay.

She was trying quite hard to notice the things around her, safe and everyday, and not to think about the dream.

“Hey, who’s this?” Rachel asked. She was striding over to one of the cages. Cassie followed. Inside the cage was a bird, a raptor. It watched the young humans with alert black eyes.

“That’s a red-tailed hawk,” said Cassie. “Its wing’s broken. See how my mom’s done the bandage so it can’t pull it off with its beak?”

“Uh-huh,” said Rachel earnestly. “How long has it been here? I haven’t seen it before.”

They were pretending, but as time went on it got easier, less stilted – and eventually something shifted, and they were no longer hunting hard for a new topic every time the conversation lulled, but moving lightly and comfortably from subject to subject, just as they were used to doing. And Cassie had almost forgotten the fear in the back of her mind.

“Hey,” Rachel was saying, “did I tell you I actually aced the pre-quiz this week in science?”

“You didn’t,” said Cassie, “that’s great!”

“It is. I know that class is your whole thing, but it’s not mine. This week’s been my week, though!”

“Just because she started with animal biology doesn’t mean every unit’s going to be about stuff I know,” Cassie objected. “And you’re way better than me in language arts.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not putting myself down or anything. You know I wouldn’t.” And Rachel laughed.

It was something about the way she stood, the tilt of her head, that hawk in its cage behind her, the way the sunlight shining through the cracks in the barn door caught on her eyes, her teeth. Something Cassie remembered, but from the wrong direction. And something that wasn’t there, something missing, horribly missing, from farther off in the same direction – frozen in a moment, that smile –

Suddenly Cassie was aching, and the fear in the back of her head had unraveled into not fear only, but also shame, and grief, and love and laughter too, far too many things to count or to untangle. She ran at Rachel, wrapping her arms tight around her best friend’s waist, burying her face in Rachel’s shoulder. Startled, Rachel’s arms lifted, settled around Cassie’s back. “What’s going on?”

“I remembered more about my dream,” Cassie said into her shoulder, because it was the best approximation of the truth she could find a way to put into words. “Something happened to you in it. And I wasn’t there.”

“Oh, Cassie.” Rachel squeezed her friend close. “I’m here. I’m right here with you.”

“I know.” Cassie shut her eyes tight. Now that the lump of fear had broken into all those pieces, the dream was fading from her mind at last. But all the emotions that had come out of the fear, those were still there, sharp and stinging. “We’re going to stick together, right? Through anything?”

“Anything at all.”

“And I’ll protect you.”

“You won’t need to.” Rachel pulled away a little, so that the two were looking into each other’s eyes. She winked. “I’m indestructible.”

#animorphs #Animorphs Fic Exchange #fanfic #cassie #rachel berenson #writing

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retvenkos · 5 years

Text

“so what if we’re wild, we only live once.”

requested

BUCKLE IN FAM, BECAUSE THE NEWSIES IN HIGH SCHOOL FOR A MODERN AU WOULD OBVIOUSLY INCLUDE…

(also, keep in mind that this is based off of my experience in the american school system, any classes are ones that are offered at my own school.)

Bill

so he’s obviously head of the journalism staff

and he definitely is a part of yearbook too

and what is he interested in most??

chemistry

no one really understands why, but they don’t question it as long as he helps them with homework

and bill is 10/10 that guy who always has his homework done and let’s you borrow it

his worst class is by far history

he’s in choir and plays the piano for like, every song

he actually has a really nice set of pipes (he’s a tenor, too)

he’s terrible with dates

Darcy

so darcy is on yearbook because he can take the most stunning photos

and he is also a part of journalism, and his niche is critiquing

plays?? restaurants?? sports??

and yes, he goes to sporting events

and yes, romeo gives him a wink everytime he sees him at the baseball games

it’s a ship to end all ships

he isn’t quite sure what he wants to do in the future

i forgot to mention - these are headcanons for when each one is a senior in high school, i’m not working out ages in relation to each other. find someone more motivated for that

but he does know he wants to go to a really nice college

he’s definitely on chess club, and he’s a member of key club too

Katherine

journalism, guys. and she’s not into heavy creative writing, more like articles and interviews and such

president of debate

and her style game is strong - she, bill, and darcy are the three best dressed. facts.

she makes such pretty notes

and she slays in argument writing

english is obviously her favorite class, but a close second is her research class

and she actually sucks at cooking - she took culinary arts as a sophomore and set off the fire alarm twice

she has a free period in her schedule where she goes to the library and slaves over math

it doesn’t come easy to her

definitely has an old-school planner that is always full

Sarah

okay, i don’t know much about sarah - full disclosure, but i’ll try

so first of all, this girl is really put together

she has her schedule mapped out two months in advance, she remembers everyone’s birthday, and she already knows the vacation days during the year

she has library aide for one of her periods and knows every adult in the building by first name

she also happens to be an aide when kath has her free period and she is either the embodiment of the heart eye emoji or trying to help katherine with math

she loves psychology and already has plans to study it

she is in key club with darcy and also just volunteers a whole lot

her favorite is visiting and helping out animal shelters

she goes there so much that they finally just give her a job there

she doodles a lot on the side of her notes - it keeps her from falling asleep in science

the master of the messy top knot

Davey

okay, this boy does not know when to stop

he is taking all of the advanced classes he possibly can, and he’s stressing over them way too much

jack makes him like, 10 cups of stress relief tea daily

there’s also a running bet that the whole school is in on about whether he or kath will be valedictorian

specs says that davey will do it if he doesn’t have a heart attack before final exams

race says he’ll be so busy he’ll forget to even show up to graduation

also, while we’re at it, we need to talk about this boy’s notes. they are the hardest thing to decipher in this world, but if you can read his chicken scratch then you have a goldmine of helpful ways to study

he loves mnemonics with a burning passion and uses them at every chance he can get

his favorite class is chinese or math

and he’s definitely a part of future business leaders of america, mesa, and book club

Les

yes, this is for when les is a senior

he’s obviously not in the same year as the rest of the gang, but les as an 18 year old is gold

okay, first of all… heartthrob who genuinely doesn’t know it

he’s not actually officially part of any club, but he’s always staying after school afterward to like, float into the different club meetings

but he’s definitely an sbo - probably vice president or activities

he’s a part of band and definitely plays the saxophone

you know that means he starts off every class period by playing careless whisper

the teachers all really love him

he actually gets pretty good grades

and he is way overly competitive in review games, especially ones in history

he will wreck you

always goes off campus at lunch and walks into his next period a couple minutes late with a shake

Jack

did someone say art?????

jack does literally every form of it, and he does them all so well

davey seethes at this, but loves it when jack helps in in ceramics

he’s also really supportive of younger artists who are still perfecting their art, so he’s obviously the head of the art club

and he’s the paint master for drama club and all of their productions

he frequently falls asleep in english class

he’s also the president of latinos in action - chosen unanimously even though he wasn’t going for the position

y’all can fite me on latino! jack kelly

also, his signature style is a blue sweatshirt, and all of his clothes have paint on them

he’s also that kid who never has a pencil on him, and never returns the ones he is given just because he always forgets

Crutchie

so i don’t know where the headcanon about crutchie being on the swim team originated, but it is dear to my heart and lives on in this post

he is the nice™ jock

also, he wants to go into the medical field for sure

he had medical terminology as last class of the day and it makes his day 10 times more bright

he uses highlighters so much (but only the yellow ones)

also, crutchie is lowkey a style icon???

all of his teachers love him

he’s that kid that always raises his hand in a group discussion, and it’s one of two things: a lame pun that gets more groans than laughs, or a really insightful bit of knowledge

there is no in-between

definitely volunteers with sarah at the animal shelters and is a part of french club, even though he’s only ever gone to like, two meetings

Albert

albert wrestles, no one can convince me otherwise

but he’s also on dance co.

we love a well rounded boy - especially when he’ll pull up if you question his life choices

he is soooo salty, and he has no filter. Even in front of teachers.

anyone in his history class can attest to this - especially when they are going through america’s messy past

literally does not care about the majority of his classes

but he maintains a good gpa so he can be on the wrestling team

also, he failed his driving test twice, and when he got his license it didn’t make a difference since no one would trust him with a car anymore

but he’s actually really good in his business and marketing class

he frequently helps in the little store that the business class runs during lunch and stuff because he’s really good with money and change

Race

a part of dance company

and he hates the early morning practices with a passion but will just chug energy drinks to get through it

this boy doesn’t sleep… unless it’s in english

the most surprising thing about him is that he’s really good at math??

and he doesn’t even try - he’ll be talking all class period and then finish the homework in class in like, 10 minutes flat

it’s the same thing with physics

but it’s not like you can ask him for help, because he doesn’t really listen to the professor or follow their methods and steps

like i said earlier, race just doesn’t care

or so you think, but his shirt is always matching the color of his shoes and headphones, but then his hair is literal mess and he wears like, he only owns like, two different pairs of joggers

he’s honestly such a mystery

Buttons

okay, so buttons kills it at fashion, which is why he aces his fashion design class

he’s head costumer for all of the drama departments musicals and plays

he’s also really into art history, and he gets inspiration from art all the time

he’s definitely a part of key club and is a part of national honors society although he’s only ever gone to a couple meetings for both

he gets pretty decent grades in everything but physics, but he definitely tries to study for all of his classes

he goes stag to every school dance and deliberately tries to get his ships together for a song

coffee??? he only ever drinks it black

it’s how he stops romeo from taking his

he’s also a dork who color codes his notes because they help him study better

but he has no idea how to take notes for math class, so he kinda just does example problems and then is confused on how it ever did it in the first place

Elmer

so this is one musically talented boy

he plays the guitar, trumpet, and drums

it’s also an inside joke with him and jojo that they both play the castanets

but he’s definitely a part of any band the school offers - as well as pit for the musical

he’s a really chill, laid-back student that gets their work done and just hangs out

he is very nice and definitely a teacher aid for one of the english teachers

and he’s also a part of the poetry club

it’s to improve his songwriting as well as give him a place to destress

He’s definitely the guy who will always lend you his notes if you missed a day, but he’s also not that great at taking notes because his mind is always on something else

he’s also an attendance office aide for one of his periods

Henry

he took ballroom as a joke with mike, and he really ended up liking it

but he’s not a part of dance co. because their style is totally different from ballroom

He also has a lot of energy, so he’s that kid that’s always bouncing his leg up and down and making the desk behind him shake

but no one ever asks for him to stop because he has the biggest smile that you just can’t shut down??

he knows this, though, and he definitely uses it on teachers to get extensions on his work, and he does, like 80% of the time

his worst class is probably english because he can’t just sit down and read for long periods of time

but during the shakespeare unit he kills it because he’s always first to volunteer to read or do a part

his handwriting is very messy and he uses so many abbreviations not even davey knows what they’re saying

always races to be first in the lunch line

always one of the first people to be in class

Hot Shot

he has auto shop as his first class of the day and absolutely loves it

but he’s also that kid that hangs out with his friends in the middle of the hallway, bottlenecking the whole thing during passing time

thinks he’s the cool™ kid

wears leather jackets exclusively

he hates any core class

but secretly really likes his humanities class

he’s taking italian with spot and the poor teacher just can’t handle these two together

he’s also secretly good at basketball

the coach found out somehow and asks him every year to be on the team

but hot shot would rather die than be on a school team

Ike

has a youtube channel where he mostly posts prank videos especially those that involve the school

he ran for sbo and was elected as treasury, even though mike is the one who went to all of the meetings for like, two months straight

he is the epitome of a class clown, but it’s always in good fun

he always is wearing a black t-shirt under his sbo sweater

and since he’s an sbo he has to go to all the sports game to support and stuff and he cheers the absolute loudest

he does gymnastics with mike after school every day and at every sbo meeting he brings up how it needs to be a part of the sports at school

he never takes notes but can retain everything

his worst class is anything science related

but he’s secretly really good a history

A proud member of spanish club

Mike

mike is definitely the more artsy twin

he takes drawing and ceramics but can’t paint for the life of him

he’s a part of the art club with jack and is basically second in command there

he does gymnastics with ike after school and is on dance co.

he struggles with math and science but gets by okay

has a free period for first where he could be sleeping in or studying but instead he goes to auto shop to talk to hot shot

he definitely has a crush. hot shot won’t admit it, but he loves mike being there.

he usually wears bright colors with his dance co. jacket

doesn’t really like coffee, but he always has a coke on him - it’s his one weakness

is also a part of spanish club

Kenny

okay, so i know, like, nothing about kenny, so i’m just going with my gut based off of his photo

film is his passion and he wants to be a director one day

is 10/10 that kid in your photography class that spends 90% of the time making stop-motion videos

he’s very nice and is always lending jack pencils even though he knows he’ll never get them back

also, there’s a running gag that he and darcy are the same person, ike runs conspiracy theory videos on his youtube channel

his two favorite classes are film (duh) and theatre

he’s a part of the ensemble of every musical the school puts on

he’s even directed a show a couple of times for the spotlight showcase

he is like that background kind of kid that is a part of the big groups and is totally included but just doesn’t have a huge role in the big stuff

he hates having to write essays because he says it’s sucking the creativity out of writing

also likes psychology

JoJo

co-captain of the soccer team

also a madrigal with bill and specs (he’s a baritone)

always tries out for the school musicals, and he usually gets a main part

he takes quite a few advanced classes and it is not rare to find him passed out on one of the other newsies’ couch

he manages to keep a good gpa with his schedule

his favorite class besides madrigals is probably latinos in action, which he has the same period as jack

while he doesn’t play any instruments himself you can always find him hanging out in the band room at lunch

he is absolutely terrible in math but is taking college math now so he can get it done with and never have to do again for as long as he lives

his aspirations are pretty much all over the place at the moment, but he smiles through the uncertainty

“i feel like it’s fine”

Romeo

on the baseball team

a shameless flirt, especially with darcy

did someone say president of the asian american club??

he’s also a part of drama club because he has a passion for theatre

he can’t when it comes to math, though

so instead of getting frustrated he just writes notes in the calculators for people to find

he’ll also fall asleep in that class

he’s definitely a partner in crime with ike and frequently is a guest on his youtube channel

studying??? who’s she???

really good at debate, though. katherine keeps telling him he should join the club but he says his skills are beyond that of a club

Finch

on the track team and one of the fastest runners

it’s a good outlet for all of his energy

he takes notes in all of his classes since he learned all the strategies from avid, but he never looks back at them

surprisingly gets really good test scores, though

you know he takes wildlife biology and he memorizes like, every type of bird call

he can even mimic some of them - it’s how he wakes romeo up in math.

he also goes out every day for lunch, and his next period is english which he has with like, all of the boys, so he’s always throwing fries across the room for henry or mush to catch in their mouths

he beats his own school records every year so he’s like, constantly the athlete of the month

definitely goes to all of the different sports games and cheers very loud

carries a huge water bottle that he fills up during french class to get out of presentations

Kid Blink

first of all, this kid does not do any kind of sport because his depth perception rivals that of mine

which means it s u c k s

however, he kills it at math and physics is his one true love

If you need a study partner for either, he’s your guy. just know that he explains nothing and goes pretty fast. keep up and you can do math with him.

he lowkey hates history because it’s about a whole bunch of dead people who were problematic

he’s a part of mesa

he takes american sign language and it’s one of his favorite classes

he and smalls are constantly having conversations from across the room

a lot of the time it’s about the teacher, and one time they were caught by their chemistry teacher who knew asl

they got detention for like, a week because of it

Mush

here comes the heartthrob!!!!

very handsome, and his strong suit is engineering. which always shocks people.

which means he’s definitely a part of mesa and the engineering and technology club

he’s definitely the person to go to if you need help in physics. he explains things really well

the only bad part about it is that he also goes off on tangents when he’s explaining and you can get confused if you listen too long

he’s actually kind of a style icon, his hair is probably the best out of everyone

he always has headphones in, but one earbud is out so he can hear the teacher and whatnot

he cannot act for the life of him

but he has a good-natured laugh that makes up for the cringe

he also cannot dance

Smalls

okay, so smalls is a part of the asian american club, key club, and poetry club

even though he cannot write to save his life, they let him come because he’s uber supportive

there’s also a joke that he and spot are a part of the short™ club

lowkey, smalls started this joke because he finds it hilarious when spot gets upset

he actually takes interior design and it’s his favorite class

he’s really good with color

he also takes woodworking and makes the guys stuff for it

davey has a bookshelf and jack has a desk

takes asl with kid blink and loves it

is the kid who always has to stand up to take notes because seating charts always put him in the back, despite his height

Sniper

okay, so sniper is a cheerleader but don’t let that fool you - she’s also on the wrestling team and will take you down

albert is like her older brother and helps her with her business class

she regrets having taken it, but she needed another cte credit and thought it would be safer than welding

she has a criminal law class that she loves with all of her heart

she writes in all capitals

she’s also that kid that writes all of her essays handwritten to spite her english teacher which, on the first day of school, complain about her writing in all caps

she’s good with history and has it with albert and it’s her personal goal to get him to laugh at her comments in that class

studying??? sounds studious. and not a part of her aesthetic.

has an attendance office aide period where she mostly does the homework for her next class period

is that kid that always almost swears in class debates

Specs

first, our boy is president for madrigals (he’s a low bass)

then he’s a proud part of the book club

his thing is psychology, and he goes in hard, he and sarah sit next to each other and talk in hushed whispers about all the cool stuff they learn

he takes very neat notes

but only has to look at them two or three times before he’s ready to take a test

is always an ensemble member in the school musicals

he is also a library aide and constantly smells like old books

very organized

his locker always has everything you could possibly need - a jacket, hat, bag of trail mix, water, etc.

the mom friend™

Spot

first of all, he’s that kid who always sits in the same seat. if you’re sitting in his seat, you’re dead. don’t @ him.

he hates science with a burning passion and is so glad he finished all of his credits for it in junior year

is actually a bit of a history buff

but he never participates in class, just writes really good essays and aces every test

and speaking of writing

he’s actually really into creative writing

who did you think started the writing club???

but he’s no less tough

he always wears a leather jacket, a red shirt, cuffs the bottom of his jeans, and has his pen tucked behind his ear

he doesn’t really take notes, and he only writes in pen

Tommy Boy

captain of dance company

is having none of race’s idiocy at practices either

but he’s actually really funny and nice, all the teachers love him

can’t write a summary in english for the life of him but will write a 10 page essay on why dance company is a part of the performing arts and deserves just as much recognition as theatre, choir, and band

only ever eats out of the vending machines for lunch

is a part of french club

really likes culinary arts because his one weakness is sugar

can’t do any form of art other than dance

but he doesn’t need to - he’s that good

notes??? what are those???

AND FLUFF ENSUES.

#newsies #newsies musical #modern au #high school au #katherine pulitzer #katherine plumber #davey jacobs #les jacobs #jack kelly #crutchie morris #albert dasilva #racetrack higgins #buttons davenport #elmer kasprzak #newsboysheadcanons

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vocallykaix · 6 years

Text

Lost and Found {3}

genre: mostly fluff, tad of angst??

requested: @tenjaehyunsehuntaemin

length: 2.1k words

pairing: Johnny Seo x Reader

summary: The best time of the week was the weekend when you can see your 4 year old niece but one close call led you to meeting a certain handsome man

You’d exchanged a few text with Young Ho through the week just getting to know each other better and talking about the plans for Saturday, you found he wasn’t a teacher, in fact he was a radio host and even had his own segment called Night Night or something.

Saturday rolled around quicker then you’d been ready for, before you knew it it was 7:30pm and you were cleaning your apartment like your life depended on it, you cursed yourself for not starting sooner but you’d had class and work so you barely had time to eat. Young Ho said he would be there at 8 and you were almost finished so you began to slow down thinking you had more then enough time to just sweep the floor but you spoke too soon. Just as you finished Sun Hee knocked over the cookie bowl while trying to grab one sending crumbs and broken ceramic everywhere “Don’t move!” You said a little too loudly as Sun Hee’s lip dropped and quivered “what, no I’m not shouting at you, it’s okay, I just don’t want you to hurt yourself on the broken pieces” you panicked. Apparently this wasn’t enough to convince Sun Hee as she started to sob at the top of her lungs. You rushed over and scooped her up, checking her feet for any cuts which lucky for you was all clear, the last thing you wanted was an injured toddler and your sister on your back.

Just as you got Sun Hee sat down there was a knock at the door, SHIT he’s early! “Sun Hee baby, stop crying for a minute, I’m not mad” you stroke her arm trying to comfort her but she just cried harder. You run your hands down your face and go and open the door. Young Ho’s smile dropped when he saw your face and heard the crying from inside “oh no, what happened?” You stepped aside letting him come in “well there’s the cookie jar and I accidentally raised my voice about her not hurting herself and now this” you waved your arms about motioning to everything that was going on.

“Wow... well I guess I’ll go in, wish me luck” he laughed as he made his way to Sun Hee and of course as soon as she saw him her crying stopped and she opened her arms and ran to him.

“Oppa!! Do you have Moanna?!”

“Of course! It’s in my bag” he said picking her up and spinning her. What a snake.

You clean up the mess careful not to leave anything out that she could brake or hurt herself with, before making your way to the sofa. Young Ho had put the movie in the player and just had it on pause “everyone ready? I brought snacks too" he reached into his bag and pulled out a bunch of snacks and settled them on the table in front of the couch.

“Thanks, You didn’t have to, There’s more in the kitchen if you want anything else, I’m just gonna get changed real quick, you can start without me” he nodded and sat on the couch pressing play.

You didn’t know what to wear! You wanted to be comfortable but not sloppy but you didn’t want to dress up because it would look weird if you dressed up while watching a movie in your own house! Would he even notice what you're wearing? It’s going to be dark anyways right? You sigh and just put some sweat pants on with a plain shirt and stomp out of your room. You wanted him to have a good impression of you, the last thing you want is a cute guy thinking your a slob but from how you looked the past two encounters you guess that was already out of the the window.

You made your way back to the living room and found Sun Hee itching closer and closer to the Tv, you don’t even think she knew she was doing it, she was just that into the movie, it would be nice to be a kid again. Young Ho greeted you with a smile which you returned and you sat on the floor in from of them trying to get into the movie with Sun Hee.

“Hey” Young Ho bent down and whispered in your ear “can you pass the chips” he got closer with every word. So you hit him. In the face. With his beloved chips. You heard him laugh and whisper a thank you, it was weird how comfortable he made people around him, you didn’t know him that well yet his easy going aura just allowed you to joke around easily. He was one of those good people to hang out with.

It was around half way through the movie when his phone rang, he looked at the contact and stood up suddenly making both you and Sun Hee jump “umm, give me a sec” he rushed of into the kitchen and you heard him answer the call before he turned the corner, you shrugged it off, it was none of your business but what confused you was the look of on his face when he came back out, it was an unreadable expression.

“I really need to go” he rushed picking up his bag “I’m sorry, I’ll make it up to you” he ran his hand through his hair as you got him his coat.

“Is everything okay?” You raised an eyebrow as he followed you to the door.

“Uh yeah” he gave out a clearly fake laugh which brought your attention back to his face and he cleared his throat “yeah of course, just some stuff to do at home” he fixed his bag to his shoulder and stepped out the door you’d opened for him “I’ll text you okay? Bye Sun Hee” he shouted past you.

“Bye” Sun Hee didn’t even take her eyes of the screen.

“Yeah, I’ll give you the movie back then” you said smiling.

“Great, see ya later” he shot you a smile before jogging away.

You wanted to ask more about what happened but you didn’t want to pry in to his personal business and you figured if he wanted to tell you he would have when you asked if he was okay, so you tried to drop it but you still had the same curiosity at the back of your mind every time you spoke to him. He’d text you that night as he said he would, he apologise for leaving so abruptly and asked if he could come over again or if you wanted to go out somewhere on the Tuesday after you finished class and you said you’d love to but Sun Hee was with her presents during the week and that’s when he dropped something you didn’t know if you were ready for. "That’s fine, it can just be the two of us this time lol :)" There wasn’t anything wrong with that of course, you weren’t going to be one of those girls who automatically thought the guy was asking them out, the thing was now that you look back at it you’d never been alone with Young Ho. Would it be awkward? You doubt he’d let it be but you, you were the definition of awkward when you’re on your own. Either way in the end you ended up agreeing, might as well test the waters, plus Young Ho seemed like a great person and you didn’t have too many friends that were free to hang out outside of classes and your best friend Min Seo was on vacation so you hoped this would be the perfect opportunity to make a new friend.

Classes couldn’t have been worse these past two days, you were sure all your professors had made a deal to assign homework all at once making it due the same week. You swear they thought students had nothing else to do with their lives then to take and study their classes. You felt overwhelmed with the amount of work you’d been given and how fast you were expected to do it, but the worst part is your brain had found this the perfect time to just... lag, you just couldn’t get the assignments started and it was frustrating beyond belief at this rate you knew you wouldn’t be able to finish the assignments and go out on the later with Young Ho. It was already 3 pm and you’d written a single paragraph and you were 70% sure it had nothing to do with the science assignment you were trying to write, so you decided you had to text him and say you couldn’t make it.

(Y/N) - “Heyy, I’m so sorry but I don’t think I’ll be able to come later, I have a lot of work to do this week :(“

Young Ho - “Ugh I get it, I hate my class because of all the work they set lol,what are you working on?"

(Y/N) - "Science, biology isn’t my strong point and I have major brain lag atm"

Young Ho - "You take biology? I used to do it but changed courses, want some help?"

(Y/N) - "Since I’m texting you and not doing it, I guess I do need help if you’re offering but if you just distract me I’ll fight"

Young Ho - "Wow so aggressive, if you keep scaring me I can’t help you (y/n)..”

(Y/N) - "Shut up, you coming or not?"

Young Ho - "I get off work in an hour, see you then ;)"

You’d managed about three sentences and a sandwich when you heard the knock on the door where you met with the same goofy smile as always, Young Ho was dressed in a white shirt tucked into his black skinny jeans, wow, must be nice to look effortlessly good in simple clothes. Can’t relate.

You let him in and resumed eating your sandwich

“Wow I know you said you had brain lag but is this it?” He asked sitting next to you and looking at your laptop.

“Hmm mm” you hummed slightly embarrassed “ I really don’t know where to go with this” you out taking another bite. You felt his eyes on you so you turned returned the gaze “... want some?” You push your plate over to him

“mmm (y/n)’s half half eaten sandwich” he chuckled sarcastically still taking the sandwich and taking a bite though “thanks” he said while chewing, You just rolled your eyes knocking him with your elbow

“Are you going to help me now?” You sighed

“Oh, right, show me the task” you nodded and handed him the folder.

He skimmed over the folder raising his eye brows and nodding every so often letting an “ohhh” escape at the end “right so it’s easier then it sounds, this bit” he points to the folder “is talked about in this bit” he said flipping a few pages in your text book and pointing “and this in this” he continues pointing out everywhere you had to read and things you needed to include and before you knew it you’d begun actually making progress.

It was 8:45 when you’d completely finished In between snack brakes and chatting but it was one down and two to go but this was one big weight of of your chest. You lay back against your couch with a sigh

“It’s over, it’s really over” Young Ho lay back mimicking your actions

“And it’s all thanks to me” he laughed

“Sadly, I can’t argue that, I owe you one”

“Don’t worry, about it, it was better then doing nothing” you let out a yawn and slid down the sofa

“You’re tired already?” He laughed “it is getting late” he pushed himself of the sofa and picked up the blanket folded on the counter and threw it over you, you raised an eyebrow and he just shrugged “I’ll see you later, if you need any more help just text me” he said putting on his coat and walking to the door “don’t forget to lock up” he shouted before you heard the door shut.

Spending time alone wasn’t as bad as you’d thought, it was actually pretty nice.

part - 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6

A/N

I know the chapters are getting longer and i have no regrets ,but let me know if you want longer or shorter chapters and i’ll do my best. I promise the series is going to pick up very soon please stay with me here ,Thank youu~ :)

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