#them giving some morne fanservice still makes me laugh so hard like WHY | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

astralaffairs · 4 years

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freedom of the press 06 | t. jefferson

title: freedom of the press 06

pairing: thomas jefferson x reader

words: 15k

warnings: implied sex, suggestive jokes & teasing, thomas has astoundingly shitty timing, lafayette is a huge fucking cockblock, hella fanservice, v v v tender quality time, and then some more implied sex

desc: the 2020 republican presidential frontrunner is an obnoxious, morally bankrupt people-pleaser, but what happens when you become the person he’s most eager to please?

tags: @stargazelaurens @ivory-haired-queens @exoticxchicken8 @assbuttstyles777 @superbarriobrothers @distinguishedpotsticker @fukaaaaaaaa @hereforthepsyche-assessment @ivetoldamillionlies @fangirl570 @thealaddinkid @lasciviouspeach @snazzydoesthings @shy-and-awkward-daveed @rachelhermionerose @soft-weeb-s @gryffinclxw @anamrnk @daveeddiggsit @ayayayayana @marinovakovich @cryinghazelnutt @thefandomgirl03 @a-hopeless-fan @cloudywlw @tinywhim @lolidunnoaboutnow @siriusorionblackiii @fanfic-addict-98— hope i didnt miss anyone; lmk if you want to be added!!

By the time Y/N woke up, the sun was hardly up, the streets were plowed, and the bed was warm. She didn't try to leave it, instead curling further into Thomas's warm embrace when he pulled her close. Huddled alongside him, his skin against hers, she didn't bother to fight the fatigue that still ebbed at her mind, instead letting herself drift peacefully in and out of consciousness. She could feel Thomas's quiet laugh rumble in his chest when she made no move to get up. She didn't process it enough to react when his lips brushed against the crown of her head.

By the next time she woke up, the sun was high in the sky over Washington D.C., the streets were still plowed, but the bed was cold.

She frowned as she pushed herself to sit up, leaning back on a hand as she rubbed her bleary eyes. He'd left without saying a word.

She knew as she peeled the covers off herself, still damp in places with sweat from the previous night, that she shouldn't have expected him to stay.

Why would he have? He was a busy person; it was already... Shit, how had it already reached 2 PM?

She slouched into the bathroom, feeling like a wreck as she wiped the smeared mascara from her face, tied up her wreckage of sleep hair. She couldn't bring herself to take off his undershirt she'd donned the previous night, too cold to sleep in nothing but too exhausted to find some real clothing. (He'd laughed at her for it, but all the same, he didn't give much resistance before offering up his shirt.)

Regardless, they'd done nothing more than sleep together. He had no commitment to hang around any longer. If she were him, she probably wouldn't have stayed either. Still, it would've been nice for him to have said goodbye.

She tried to blink the sleep from her vision as she padded to her kitchen on bare feet; she would force herself to eat something before getting dressed and having to go down to another shift at the diner that evening.

Dry cereal might not have been the pinnacle of health for her just then, but it was easy, and she was in no mood to fight her cravings. When she pulled down a bowl, though, a flash of purple in the corner of her vision gave her pause.

She closed the cabinet absentmindedly as she turned, eyeing the post-it note dubiously from a distance, glancing around her apartment to confirm she was alone. (There hadn't been much question about the matter, but she couldn't be too careful.)

It was a moment later still when she approached it, stifling a yawn, and plucked it from where it'd been stuck onto the countertop.

Death, so called, is a thing which makes men weep, And yet a third of life is passed in sleep.

Y/N raised an exasperated eyebrow at the scrawled note despite the smile she fought back. The handwriting wasn't hard to recognize; not after she'd run her fingers over matching pen marks through a few hundred pages of Byron poetry -- not to mention the fact that there had only been two people in her apartment all night, and she certainly didn't remember writing that.

She shook her head lightly as she went to recycle it, but that time, it was the writing on the back of the paper that made her freeze.

For the next time you need some ancient literature, or for the next time you lock me out in the cold.

(202) 863-4828

Perhaps it wasn't such a gloomy afternoon after all.

------

Unknown Number: [Attachment: 1 image]

Unknown Number: nerd

Thomas grinned down at his phone where it was tucked halfway into his pocket. He'd been in meetings since noon, but after the night he'd had, he was struggling to focus on fundraising numbers and campaign strategy, most of it going in one ear and out the other as he waited restlessly for his phone to buzz. He'd begun to think by then that she wasn't going to reach out.

thomas 🙄: kinda harsh to say that abt someone who's been dead for 200 years

Y/N 🍑👀: ah yes because i was definitely referring to byron

Y/N 🍑👀: not the person who carries around purple sticky notes just to paste byron quotes in people's kitchens

thomas 🙄: you insulting my stationery?

Y/N 🍑👀: just your taste in literary quotes

thomas 🙄: don't be mad just cause i'm right

thomas 🙄: it didn't even wake you up when i left in the morning

thomas 🙄: at that rate you were gonna spend a lot more than a third of your life asleep

Y/N 🍑👀: wouldn't have still been asleep if you hadn't had me up past 4 am

thomas 🙄: is that really a complaint, now?

Y/N 🍑👀: uh??? yes, it is????? i have to deep clean my sheets and my mattress now smh

thomas 🙄: as though it wasn't worth it ;)

Y/N 🍑👀: wasn't worth the cost of the five gallons of bleach i'm gonna need to get the smell out

thomas 🙄: don't even pretend

thomas 🙄: you didn't seem to have any problem last night when i started ruining your sheets

thomas 🙄: you really gonna act like you don't want me to ruin them again?

Y/N could almost hear his voice in the messages, could picture his self-satisfied smile, and she could feel the heat rising in her cheeks as she read and re-read the text.

Y/N 🍑👀: you're paying my laundry bill

thomas 🙄: worth it to me

Y/N 🍑👀: or maybe we'll just have to ruin your sheets next time

Thomas inhaled sharply; his eyebrows shot up. Next time. He wouldn't have thought that just two words could turn him on quite that much.

"Thomas?" His head snapped up, his eyes wide; he'd somehow managed to forget entirely where he was in the few minutes since Y/N had texted him. Thankfully, it was only James who seemed to have noticed.

"Hmm?" He blinked, staring up at James's expectant stare. His gaze flickered across the conference room, and while James was clearly on the border of annoyance, everyone else looked to him curiously. "'M sorry, James, I spaced out for a second thinking about... your proposal for the fundraiser?"

That was the last thing he remembered hearing, and James didn't look impressed. "Right," he said dryly. "Anyway, I was asking how you felt about doing another town hall in D.C."

"Yeah, alright." He nodded, hardly processing the words, and James cocked a brow.

"Really?" He folded his arms. "I'm surprised you're giving in that easily. Last I remembered, you wanted to move your next few town halls up further north."

Thomas shrugged. His palms were sweating as all eyes turned to him for an answer after he'd spent the past ten minutes thinking about something very different from his supporters. "You make a good case for it."

(The fact that he hadn't caught a minute of the advocacy was irrelevant.)

James hadn't bought a word of it, and Thomas could tell from a single glance at him. He made a mental note not to pick someone who could see right through him as a running mate next time.

However, he fabricated a smile, much to Thomas's relief, having no desire to confront him right there or then. "I'm glad. I had a couple venues scouted out, but I'm open to any more suggestions."

"I think we need a new type of place. The same locations again and again get monotonous." Thomas struggled to resist rolling his eyes; he had to remind himself he'd only hired Charles Lee because he was donating more than twice his salary to the campaign.

"So what do you suggest?" He met his eyes skeptically from the other end of the table.

"What about a café?"

"A café?" Another of his campaign staffers who he couldn't identify by name spoke up -- Noah? Nate? Nathaniel? Thomas couldn't help but agree with his incredulity.

"It would be good for you to actually get to know your voters instead of... preaching to them from on high." As Lee continued, his voice close to a sneer, Thomas had to force himself to control his expression. "It would be much more personal for you to finally sit down and meet them."

"I'm runnin' a campaign, not speed-datin' the voters." Out of the corner of his eye, Thomas saw James purse his lips to repress a laugh.

"It's actually an excellent idea." Really, now? He glanced disbelievingly at the woman to his left. "The most common criticism you receive is about thinking yourself above your voting base. It'd be a good chance to lose some of your aristocratic reputation."

Hurtful, but not inaccurate. Thomas nodded, though he knew the skepticism was still clear in his gaze.

"If we do go through with this, where in the city do you propose we hold it?" James didn't seem to appreciate his fundraising proposal being derailed into a meet-and-greet, and by Charles Lee of all people. Thomas was right there with him, his annoyance only compounding when Lee shrugged unhelpfully.

"It's the Jefferson campaign, not the Lee campaign." Charles did make a good point with that. Thomas only wished he'd have thought of it before he decided to wedge his opinion into James's plan like a Republican jigsaw puzzle.

The question gave him pause, however. Were he to be perfectly honest, he didn't know more than five restaurants in the city by name, four of which wouldn't exactly earn him any points as a 'man of the people.' The last, however...

It was probably a poor idea; he'd known that even before he considered it. But it did seem to fit what they were looking for. It was in a low-income neighborhood, run by a family of immigrants. It had a bright atmosphere and an abundance of seating. However, the most tempting part to him wasn't how it'd look to the voters, but being able to see one person's expression when she learned he'd rented the place out for an entire evening.

It might've been a poor idea, but he had to put his campaign first, and the benefits were more than defensible.

He grinned. "Think I got a place in mind."

------

Y/N spent the next few days overthinking the fact that Thomas had left her last text on read. God, why'd she have to go and put the idea of a 'next time' out there? She was sure he didn't want commitment any more than she did, so she must have scared him off.

She hated how tumultuous the past Friday night had left her emotions.

Thankfully, when she arrived at work the following Monday, it didn't take too long for the distractions to come pouring in.

"Y/N!" Her head snapped upwards, her eyes wide as she saw Ashley marching into her office. She wore a smile, but her eyes were narrowed, and Y/N couldn't help the sense of dread building in her stomach.

"Ashley." Her response was wary.

"So your article got a decent bit of attention last Thursday." The words were nice enough, but they were altogether devoid of energy.

"... Thanks?"

"No, that's definitely a good thing; take the compliment." As Ashley circled around to take a seat on the edge of Y/N's desk, however, she tensed in her office chair, trying not to noticeably grip the armrests. "But a lot of it was controversial attention."

"How?" she asked, taken aback. Her brow was furrowed; it was likely the most unbiased article she'd written about the election.

"A lot of our readers seem to think you're siding with the Jefferson campaign toward the end of it." So this was why Ashley had entered looking so skeptical, and Y/N was sure her disbelief was written plainly across her face.

"Seriously? Because I mentioned that they're turning away funding from super PACs, you mean?" Ashley nodded, and Y/N let out a huff of incredulous laughter.

"You don't need to hold back on your critiques, alright? You can go after whatever information you uncover." She either didn't notice the annoyance growing in Y/N's eyes, or she didn't seem to care. "Don't be afraid to use what you uncover."

"And if what I uncover is entirely unrelated to the election?"

"Nothing is unrelated to the election, Y/N. That's exactly what you don't get." Something akin to excitement flashed in Ashley's gaze as she leaned forward toward Y/N, but the hint of vindictiveness gave her pause. "For you, the people are readers, not voters. You're not the one in an election."

Though she shifted further away in her rolling chair, Y/N said, "I'll keep it in mind, but for the time being, it's all been pretty mundane. Haven't found any skeletons in his closet."

"Then make some."

A beat passed; Y/N could only stare up at her boss in disbelief. "Excuse me?"

She rolled her eyes when Y/N didn't seem to be on the same page, which only elicited more worry. "You, as a writer, have grown to national visibility. You have the power to sensationalize things if you want to keep people hanging onto your every word."

"I'll keep it in mind, thanks." Ashley narrowed her eyes further at the bite behind Y/N's words.

"I'm serious. If you want to go further as a reporter, you can't just state facts. You need a narrative. There's a reason no one watches C-SPAN."

"Pretty sure I can spin a narrative on the election without stooping to the level of a gossip column." With Y/N's hard stare, Ashley seemed to realize she wasn't getting any further with the conversation, and after eyeing Y/N for another moment, she sighed heavily.

"You'd better show me a good narrative." Y/N had begun to tune her out as she pushed herself off of her desk, instead turning back to the article she'd been drafting. "I trust your judgment as a writer, so I'll let you take this however you want it. But people want to know who they're reading about."

"I have a feeling everyone knows who Thomas Jefferson is by now," Y/N responded dryly.

"I mean know him, know him." That elicited a raised eyebrow. "He's a person, not just a candidate. That's what America wants to see."

Y/N couldn't help the strange sense of pride that curled in her chest, tried instead to suppress it alongside the inexplicably conceited mantra Ashley's words elicited: she knew Thomas Jefferson in a way America never would.

When Ashley raised her eyebrows, Y/N realized she'd let the silence stretch on a moment too long. She swallowed her thoughts. "So you want me to air his dirty laundry?"

Y/N's eyes widened at the grin that broke through Ashley's unimpressed demeanor.

"Finally, she gets it." With that, Ashley turned to go, ignoring how dumbfounded she'd left Y/N. She glanced back with a well-pleased smile.

"If you need dirt, never be afraid to dig up whatever it is he's left buried."

-----

Unfortunately for Y/N, the distraction that was her boss's scarily cutthroat mentality only weaved itself into her racing thoughts about her most recent encounter with everyone's favorite Republican frontrunner. The next few evenings at the diner were slow, which she couldn't necessarily complain about -- being rushed and nagged by half of downtown D.C. over the course of a week wasn't quite her paradise. However, it only gave her time to spiral under the weight of everything she'd learned.

To her conflicted relief, coming in earlier in the afternoon on Wednesday provided a welcome diversion. It would've been her afternoon to herself after leaving her office at the Post, but when one of their baristas called in sick, the money for an extra two hours was too tempting for Y/N to turn down.

Despite her early shift, it wasn't until around 7:30 that her evening hit a bump in the road.

"Prosciutto roll for Belle?" she called out as she reached the end of the counter, putting the tray with the finished order and the receipt on the end of the counter. She pulled a paper cup out of the stack by the divider for the drink that was ordered. She was about to dash back to the kitchen after checking over the food, when--

"Excuse me."

She was sick of overly-familiar voices interrupting her workday. She froze on the balls of her feet where she'd begun to retreat, before turning with forced positivity permeating her demeanor. Couldn't her two jobs stay separate, at least most of the time?

"James! Hey. Congrats on the Super Tuesday win." His surprised smile put her at ease as she reached where he stood.

"Oh... Y/N. Thank you," he said, tone hesitant, his eyebrows shooting toward his hairline. "I didn't know you worked here." She only shrugged.

"I just started two weeks ago. Not surprised you haven't noticed me around."

"No, I don't mean..." She raised an eyebrow when he trailed off, before he chucked to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose. "This is my first time coming here. You being an employee just... explains a few things, is all."

"Glad to provide some clarity... ?" With any context, his insinuation would've been painfully obvious; however, completely ignorant of the previous Saturday's meeting, Y/N was absolutely oblivious. She pursed her lips.

"You have my gratitude for it." James's knowing smile explained nothing for her, however.

"Right." She glanced at the growing line over at the cash register, anxious to keep the flow of customers going smoothly as the place filled up. "Anyway, what can I do for you? If you're here for dinner, line starts that way."

She nodded to the other end of the counter, but he shook his head.

"I'm not looking for food, actually."

Y/N cocked an eyebrow. "I hate to have to be the one to tell you this, but I'm starting to think you're in the wrong place."

"No, no..." He plucked a takeout menu from the stand toward the end of the counter and nodded, eyeing the diner's logo. "I'm where I'm supposed to be."

"You're sure?" Her skepticism was still blatant.

"I'm sure." He glanced up from the menu with a smile. "May I speak to your manager, just briefly?"

That was when she paled. Eyeing his nonchalant expression, she prayed none of her assumptions about his motives could possibly be true, especially as they grew stranger and stranger. Her new spiraling was beginning to tie back to her previous spiraling -- could James have found out about the past Friday? Would Thomas have possibly told him? Why would that mean he showed up at her family's diner to talk to her manager about it? Could he have been trying to--

"Why do you look so nervous?" Her alarm only seemed to amuse James, and she huffed, leaning against the counter.

"James. You're a politician who showed up at my place of work, rejected food, and requested to speak to my manager." She looked up at him with a flat gaze, and he only chuckled, shrugging in acquiescence. "There isn't some new health code no one told us about, is there?"

"Not this time. Check back in a week, though." She rolled her eyes. "In all seriousness, may I speak to whoever's in charge? I assure you I'm not here to shut down your café."

Y/N allowed herself a small smile. "How generous of you. Give me a second."

He nodded as she turned away, laughing when she took only three steps before aggressively yelling "Orlando!" in the direction of the kitchen.

The man in question emerged with his brow furrowed, wiping his hands on a dishtowel with his brows furrowed. "What's wrong, mija?"

"Nothing yet." She glanced between him and James, her stare inquisitive. "Someone wants to speak to you about the diner real quick."

"You get us into trouble again?" Orlando raised a playful eyebrow, and Y/N couldn't help her wry smile as she rolled her eyes, batting at his arm.

"No, Orlando," she huffed.

Her contrived annoyance hardly buried her amusement before James decided to pipe up. "'Again'?"

She turned to James with a playful glare, and he grinned. "You stay outta this." She pointed a reprimanding finger at him, but he didn't appear at all fazed. "Gonna get me fired before you have a chance to shut us down, at this rate."

"You got us shut down?" Orlando gasped, but when Y/N saw the mirth behind his playful shock, she groaned.

"No, Orlando." James's and Orlando's grins mirrored one another as she looked between them, exhaustion settling into her tone. "I need you two to take each other off my hands, now. I have drinks to make."

"Of course, Y/N." James wasn't too hurt by the final glare she sent him before turning away.

As she fell back into her rhythm fulfilling orders, Y/N couldn't help but keep an eye on the two men, especially not when Orlando emerged from behind the counter to talk to James, trying to stay out of her way but also moving just out of her earshot. She knew the glances she kept sneaking toward them weren't as subtle as they should've been; she knew Orlando could see her watching them. As James continued on, Orlando's entire demeanor went from skeptical to welcoming, his body language opening up in turn. (Y/N tried briefly to read their lips, but something gave her the feeling that 'sent out the minors' wasn't quite true to their conversation.)

She had to force herself to turn her focus back to the customers as the unfinished drink orders began to pile up, her eyes widening when she caught sight of the mounting line of cups to her right with names and orders, but with a distinct lack of coffee. A few more minutes passed as she struggled to keep up, finally holding pace with the ever-growing demand when Orlando shook James's hand, passed off a business card before the two parted ways.

At the risk of making just a few customers lose their heads, Y/N followed Orlando into the kitchen, her curiosity overriding her work ethic.

"Hey, what was that about?" She caught him just as he was tying his apron back on. How pleased he looked had her skeptical.

"Oh, nothing very big. Don't worry." He withdrew his plastic gloves from the front pocket, pulling them on with a shrug. "He asked me about renting out the diner for a night for an event with Thomas Jefferson's campaign."

That stopped Y/N cold. "He did?"

"Mhm." He nodded, and he didn't seem to notice how stunned Y/N had suddenly begun to look. "I told him yes. I didn't think Mira would be thrilled if I turned it down. He offered us a lot of money for it."

"Oh, did he now?" She let out a shaky exhale, glancing back at the front of the diner to see James just exiting through the glass doors. "And did he say why he wanted to do it here, of all places?"

Orlando shrugged. "I didn't ask."

Why wouldn't that be your first question? Despite her moderate angst, Y/N tried not to let her frustration show. "Is Mira around? I need to talk to her."

"Aren't you in the middle of a shift?" He gave her a pointed look, and it elicited a dramatic, drawn-out groan from Y/N.

"Orlando," she whined, folding her arms. He gave her a mocking pout.

"Y/N." She rolled her eyes. "You're losing us valuable customers and valuable time as the line gets longer. Go back to making drinks."

Despite her scowl, she nodded. "After I close tonight, you're gonna get a piece of my mind."

------

As it turned out, it wasn't Orlando who was given a piece of her mind that evening.

2 New Messages, 10:38 PM

Thomas raised an eyebrow as his phone vibrated. He sat at his own dining room table, the sound coming from just inches to the left of where he was working on his laptop. Who would be contacting him that late?

Y/N 🍑👀: tell me it wasn't you who came up with the idea of renting out mira and orlando's diner on the only night when i work all evening

Y/N 🍑👀: please for your sake blame james

He grinned. The draft reports of the campaign's funding allocation he'd been typing up could wait just a few minutes.

thomas 🙄: i feel like you're just tryna get me to lie so you can slander me in the papers for it

Y/N 🍑👀: thomas i stg

Y/N 🍑👀: are you just planning your campaign around what's gonna annoy me most????

thomas 🙄: that's a heavy accusation, i would never

thomas 🙄: just wanna make sure you don't get too lonely without me

Y/N's scowl held no real anger as she read the texts.

Y/N 🍑👀: oh of course

Y/N 🍑👀: if this is your way of trying to get laid again, it's a flawed strategy

thomas 🙄: what happened to ruining my sheets "next time"? :)

Y/N 🍑👀: you still owe me for all the bleach i had to buy

thomas 🙄: don't avoid the question

Y/N 🍑👀: don't avoid the cleaning bill

thomas 🙄: if you're still tryna ruin MY sheets next time, it won't be your problem

Y/N 🍑👀 is typing...

Thomas rolled his eyes when the typing bubble disappeared and he didn't receive another text. Y/N, on the other hand, was biting her lip, her fingers hesitant on her keyboard as she read his text to herself. Her heart rate was picking up as flashes of the past Friday played in her mind.

thomas 🙄: did you really just stop typing on me??

Y/N 🍑👀: can we return to my actual question???? why the fuck did you decide to rent out the diner for your campaign?????

thomas 🙄: wasn't my idea to hold a meet and greet at a restaurant

Y/N 🍑👀: there are literally hundreds of restaurants in dc tho

thomas 🙄: and??

Y/N 🍑👀: and you just happened to rent out the diner i work at during the entirety of my shift???

thomas 🙄: pretty sure i mentioned a while back that i was gonna learn your schedule

Y/N 🍑👀: i'm not sure how good it's gonna look for your campaign when i file a restraining order against you

thomas 🙄: you mean you don't miss me? :(

Y/N 🍑👀: oh c'mon you're just asking for it now

Y/N 🍑👀: you almost make it too easy to mock you

thomas 🙄: i'm so hurt

Y/N 🍑👀: already?? i haven't even started mocking you yet

thomas 🙄: we'll see who's mocking who when you're stuck with my campaign for five hours this friday

Y/N 🍑👀: five hours??????

thomas 🙄: don't get too excited now

Y/N 🍑👀: fuck you

thomas 🙄: only after you get around to changing your sheets

✔ Read, 11:03 PM

------

Try as she might, Y/N failed to find a way out of her evening shift the following Saturday. She pleaded with her co-workers (no one else was available); she faked sick (Jac marched up to her apartment just to call her out); she was about ready to find a fake ID and leave the country when a better idea occurred to her.

Mailto: [email protected]

Hi Mr. Adams--

(No, too informal.)

Vice President Adams:

(.... Passable.)

I hope this email finds you well. This is Y/N L/N of the Washington Post, to whom you gave your email address a number of weeks ago at President Washington's gala.

(She prayed she was using 'whom' correctly.)

As you know, I've been assigned to cover the Jefferson campaign up until this November's election, and I'm reaching out for any timely information you would be willing to share on the current relationship between Secretary Jefferson and yourself, as the projected Democratic nominee. I was hoping to find out--

(What was she hoping to find out? Her mind was still attached to Ashley's most recent ominous wisdom -- don't be afraid to dig up what he's left buried. But how could she ask the vice president for dirt without erring on the wrong side of collusion?

Backspace just a little.)

I was hoping to give my readers a somewhat more personal perspective on Jefferson's time holding office as Secretary of State. Is there any chance you'd be available for an interview? Please let me know; I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

(Was regards too stiff? Backspace.)

Best regards,

Y/N L/N

She'd been hesitant to actually use the email address he'd given her; she bit her lip as she pressed send. She might not have been able to find a way out of five hours of the diner being full of nothing but Jefferson supporters, but if Ashley was looking for dirt, eavesdropping and an opposing perspective could go far for her. Despite her writing prospects, she spent the entirety of her Saturday dreading its end.

James was the first to show up. The diner was cleared of its usual patrons, but that night, it'd be operating at capacity.

"So should I assume your presence means this whole 'meet-and-greet' wasn't an elaborate hoax just to deepen my frown lines?" Y/N was looking up at him with somber resignation as he entered the diner wearing a wide smile.

"Your input and documentation are valuable to this campaign, Y/N. We would never target you like that." She rolled her eyes as she pushed herself off the counter, despite how amused James appeared. "In other words, you have a long evening ahead of you."

"Y'know, I'm firmly convinced you're just trying to make my life Hell until I stop covering the election," she accused him, and he laughed.

"Have a little faith. I wasn't even made aware that you work here."

"Yeah, you weren't."

"What are you implying, exactly?"

"Take a shot in the dark." She glared at him, but it had no real anger in it. "Now, I'm not sure why Thomas is so fixated on antagonizing me, but you'd better tell him--"

"James, hey, you ready to get set up?" It was at that moment the front door of the diner flew open, and it was only a moment of silence that passed before Thomas looked up from whatever he was so absorbed in on his phone, and when he caught sight of Y/N's exasperated expression, a grin split his face. "Y/N? You workin' here, now?"

"Don't even start."

"Aw, c'mon, what d'you possibly mean by that?" His hands were stuffed in his pockets; he wore a shit-eating grin, and Y/N just scowled.

"I have too many hours left in my shift to deal with you two this early." She pointed an accusing finger between the two of them as she threw down her dishrag. "I'm getting Mira and Orlando."

"Some hospitality," Thomas pouted as Y/N began to turn, pausing to give him the stink eye, and he failed to mask his entertainment under his feigned offense.

From there, the evening went about as well as she could've hoped. Mira, as expected, was beyond overjoyed to see Thomas, didn't waste even a moment in helping him set up, and when the floodgates opened at 4:30 PM sharp, Y/N's feet were sore even thinking about scurrying back and forth for five hours on the tile floor she'd already spent her morning polishing. (So much for that polish, anyway. It was less than five minutes before layer after layer of bootprints wracked the shining ceramic with an avante-garde collage of brackish slush and sidewalk gunk.)

Demands were ringing in her ears. She struggled to distinguish between her rather lifelike migraine and the surrounding frenzy of voters and journalists alike -- the voices all sounded the same. A disembodied shout requested an extra tub of honey butter, and she tossed one onto the end of the counter without thinking twice. Two dozen hamburgers over the next thirty minutes seemed a small price to pay to no longer be working the cash register.

She'd begun to count how many viruses could fit on the surface of each dollar she collected in tips with a strained smile, retreating back to the kitchen to wash her hands every time she stuck one into the pocket of her apron. Considering the crowd, she considered herself lucky she was making tips at all.

The money was an undeniable result of the wandering eyes of a number of middle-aged men in the crowd, being to various degrees of seedy -- her skinny jeans seemed to be a hit. Though he wasn't one among the crowd stuffing wadded bills into her hand with a sleazy grin every time she came around to bus tables, there was one man whose wandering gaze she kept meeting. (He'd rather have provided a much different type of gratuity, and she suspected that went beyond subsidizing her trip to the laundromat to wash her bedsheets.)

She had to put it out of her mind every time she caught and subsequently broke his stare. The wolfish smile he watched her with had her feeling more vulnerable than she'd have liked; every time she noticed it, she couldn't help but pale and duck away like a mouse dodging a trap (no matter how tempting the bait might've been). Not to mention it was distracting her from her job. She shook the thought from where it weighed down on her shoulders, instead scurrying back to the register to deal with the line.

"Alright, what can I get you?" The words were breathless as she rushed to the counter, having just made seven lattes in the span of approximately five minutes and ferried forty kilograms of dirty dishes back to the kitchen -- she wasn't looking forward to washing them at the end of the night. Her tired eyes snapped open when she realized who stood before her. "Lafayette! How long have you been here?"

"Standing in line, or in ze restaurant?" His smile was just on the right side of jeering, and she rolled her eyes.

"I didn't take that long to get here; I don't wanna hear it."

"Of course not, chérie." He eyed the menu posted above her as he spoke. "I arrived 'ere nearly two hours ago, but I 'ave only just now come to get food."

"Been avoiding me?" she teased.

"Can you blame me?" Her scowl was all but involuntary at how self-satisfied he looked, choosing to avoid her annoyed gaze. "Any recommendations from ze menu?"

"Whatever's most expensive." He raised a skeptical eyebrow, and she shrugged, holding her hands up defensively. "What? Like you can't afford the New England stuffed lobster?"

He pursed his lips as he looked back down at her, but his eyes were all smug amusement. "Fine. I will 'ave zat and ze agave lemonade."

"My paycheck appreciates it," she said. "That all?"

"Zat will be all for me." The devious smile he wore as he leaned in a fraction of an inch had her on edge. "But with 'ow he 'as been ogling you all night, I daresay Thomas may want something more."

"Lafayette!" she scolded him, stepping back from the counter to glare. "Why has that become the first thing you bring up every time you see me, now? I am at work."

Her seething was in a hushed tone, and he only shrugged, leafing through his wallet with a smug smile. "Remind him of zat, not me."

____________

It was nearing eight o'clock, and Y/N refused to remind herself that she still had more than an hour and a half to go. She'd deigned to wash the dishes by that point, actively avoiding the crowds in the dining room between Thomas's wolfish gaze and Lafayette's knowing smile -- she wasn't sure when her family diner had become a lion's den.

The yellow latex gloves she'd been forced to sport were an occupational hazard, she supposed, as she reached up to return her latest stack of side plates to their rightful place in the cabinet above her. When she turned back to the sink--

"Thomas!" She jumped back, holding the edge of the counter behind her. She hadn't heard him come in.

He raised an entertained eyebrow as she pulled off her thick rubber gloves, throwing them down onto the counter with a thud before reaching over to turn off the water. "What are you doing back here?" she huffed, "You can't be here."

He shrugged, and she could feel her heart rate rising along with the blood to her cheeks. Him cornering her, alone in the kitchen at her part-time job after all the texts they'd exchanged over the past week, had her feeling increasingly vulnerable.

He plastered on a mock pout, folding his arms as he leaned against the side of the counter. "Oh, nice to see you, too, Y/N. I'm great, thanks so much for askin'."

Y/N scowled. "Don't pretend I'm the one out of line, here."

"You aren't happy to see me?" His brow creased as he held a hand to his heart, and though she rolled her eyes, the corners of her lips twitched upward. "You're hurtin' my feelings. Figured it'd be a welcome surprise."

"Oh, of course, based on how thrilled I was to hear you rented the place out for the night?"

He grinned. "Exactly."

She huffed at his audacity, shaking her head.

"Anyway, what d'you want?" she asked as she moved to go back to where she'd been at the sink, shooing him away. However, entirely undeterred, he took a step toward her, and she took one back, nearing the corner of the room. Her eyes were wide.

"Thomas," she said hesitantly, and he took another nonchalant step toward her, slowly backing her against the kitchen wall. Her voice was shaky, her heart pounding in her ears like a warning bell. "What are you doing?"

"Well, sweetheart," he began matter-of-factly, his gaze hawklike. Her breathing stopped for a moment as he closed in on her, one hand landing on the wall beside her head and the other on her waist. His grin broadened. "I seem to remember being promised a 'next time.'"

At that, she couldn't help but let out a surprised laugh, the sound breathy. "Seriously? And you think now is a good time to cash that in? I'm working."

"So am I." He shrugged. "Makes it more fun, doesn't it?"

"No, it absolutely does not!" Her reprimanding was losing its bite, though; his smile was apparently more contagious than anything she was going to pick up from touching the used cutlery of his unsavory voters. He leaned in toward her with a mischievous eyebrow raised. "Thomas."

"Y/N," he echoed mockingly before he dipped down, lips finding the side of her cheekbone, trailing down toward her jaw.

"There's a window in here," she reminded him, despite tilting her head to give him access to her neck. "We're in plain sight."

"Not from this corner." She could feel his grin against the side of her face. "Really think I didn't think this through, sugar?"

She let out a skeptical hum when his mouth reached her collarbone, running her hands up his chest, arching up against him despite herself. "This is a bad ide-- Ah!" She squeaked when he nipped at her skin, and his grip on her hip tightened.

"Whatever you say," he murmured into her neck.

"We're going to get caught." She let out a soft gasp as his hand on her hip traveled south.

"By who? Mira?" He pulled back to look her in the eye, a playful shine to his gaze. "She gonna fire you for stealing the attention of her favorite customer?"

Y/N rolled her eyes, pursing her lips to push back the grin that threatened to break hef stony facade. "No, she's gonna fire me for whatever health code violation this constitutes." She shoved him lightly by the shoulder, but it only prompted him to anchor her to him by the waist.

"I won't tell." The hand that rested against the wall threaded itself into her hair, tipping her head back to look her in the eye. He raised an eyebrow, waiting for any sort of reaction in the affirmative. She bit her lip.

"My kitchen shift ends in less than half an hour." His expression visibly deflated, and she gave a small, sly smile. "So you'd better be quick."

Delighted surprised flashed in his eyes; she squealed when he hitched one of her legs up to his waist, tightening her hold on his shoulders. "Well, I can't turn down a challenge, now, can I?"

With that, he reached over and flicked the sink's faucet back on, the water drumming loudly on the underside of a saucepan. She furrowed her brow. "What are you doing?"

"Drownin' you out."

His lips returned to her neck with increased fervor, and he tugged aside the collar of her shirt, biting softly into her skin. "Fuck you," she moaned, and he laughed.

"Right here, in plain sight?"

She was about to rebuke him, eyes narrowed and mouth ajar, before he began sucking a hickey into the skin of her shoulder, and he felt her whole body relax in his grasp as she let out a groan. "You're unbelievable."

"I do my best." Her eyes began to flutter shut as she lost sight of her initial task, the small tsunami of dishes becoming hardly a wave in the distance. His hands trailed further downward, and she could feel her chest heaving as she dug her nails into the thick material of his suit. She bit down on her lip, trying to remain quiet, desperate not to draw any attention, when the door opposite them flew open.

Y/N squealed, shoving Thomas away from her, but the damage was done when she met the intruder's eye.

"Lafayette?" she asked breathlessly, "What are you doing back here?"

"So it is only a problem when I come into ze kitchen?" He gave Thomas a pointed look, who glanced to Y/N guiltily. She yanked her shirt back over the reddening mark halfway across her shoulder with a huff. "I was only coming to ask where ze bathroom was, but I fear ze two of you may need it more zan I do."

"Out. Both of you." Y/N glared at Lafayette, who looked spectacularly amused by the scene he'd walked in on. Thomas, however, looked nearly as put-out as Y/N. She walked over to pull her rubber gloves back on, turned the water off in the sink. "I need to get back to work."

"It seems you should do ze same," Lafayette commented to Thomas, who straightened his tie, scowling.

"Thanks for the reminder." He brushed past Lafayette on his way to the door before he turned to leave, casting Y/N one more burning gaze that left her palms sweating.

Y/N turned back to the sink and grabbed the next dish from the stack, expecting Lafayette to follow Thomas out, but he only raised his eyebrows, joining her near the sink as she picked up a sponge and returned to scrubbing a spot of yellowish crud from the edge of a plate, grimacing when she realized it was crusted over.

"So," he started, and she looked up at him warily, not abandoning her task. "I take it my hunch as to where you disappeared to at ze fundraiser last week was not misguided?"

She closed her eyes to take a deep breath, pausing for a moment, thoroughly displeased with the hubristic smile he wore. She didn't give him the satisfaction of meeting his eyes. "What d'you want, Lafayette?"

She glanced in his direction as he pulled his lips into a dramatic pout. "Is my company not good enough for you to 'ave here? You hurt me, chérie."

"Right. No agenda there," she said dryly, and he shrugged, unable to contain his self-satisfaction.

"So, 'ow long have you and Thomas been carrying on in secret?"

After the momentary pause the bluntness of his question gave her, she rolled her eyes. He came around to the drying rack on her other side, apparently ignoring her peeved sarcasm. "We aren't."

"Non? Then what, exactly, did I just walk in on?"

"Give it your wildest guess." As she turned to add a plate to the stack, she watched Lafayette hoist himself up onto the counter to her left. He gave her a sly look.

"Why did you not tell me about your little liaison? It is not like it was difficult to figure out."

"'Liaison'," she snorted. "Is there anything you don't know how to make sound pretentious?"

"Do not avoid the matter at hand."

She could feel her cheeks beginning to heat as she turned the faucet back on, and it wasn't just the steam coming from the scalding water. "It's not like that, Lafayette. Seriously."

"'Ow far 'ave you two gone?"

"Lafayette!" She turned with that to glare at him, his nonchalance about her embarrassment only compounding upon it.

"What? Do you really not want someone to confide in?" She paused at his words, though her scowl didn't relax, and he took that as an invitation to continue. "I can only assume you 'ave not been 'aving zis conversation with Alexander. I can picture quite clearly how 'e would react."

She let out a huff of bitter laughter as she returned to the dishes. "Can't argue with that one. He thinks the hickey I came back from Detroit with was from you."

"Non!" His eyes shone with mischief, despite his contrived incredulity. "I am your cover story?"

"It's his theory; I didn't even give him the idea." She added another plate to her pile. "Though, a lot of my friends seem to think you're a whore, now."

"Mm, and why should I not go and tell them ze reality of ze situation?"

"Don't you dare!" she said. "What do you stand to gain from that?"

"Protecting my reputation, apparently," he said mildly. "Or, you could simply tell me what 'as been going on."

"Are you blackmailing me for gossip?"

"Think of it as an exchange."

She scoffed, turning her head to look at him. "You really are shameless, huh?" He shrugged, folding his arms as he turned to look at her expectantly, his knee bumping her pile of silverware. She sighed. "Fine. We screwed. You happy?"

"Delighted." He wore a small smile as he shifted her dishes out of his way. "'Ow many times? Only once? When was zis?"

"Lafayette!"

"What?" he asked innocently, but the exhaustion written across her face made him laugh. "Come on, Y/N; we are friends, non?"

"Seems like I'm stuck with you, so sure."

"Zen why do you not feel like you can speak freely with me?"

When she met his eyes that time, the words seemed to be in earnest, not even mocking in the slightest. He wore a small smile, and he broke her gaze after a moment, eyeing the layout of the kitchen.

"Alright. If it'll get you off my back." She sighed, shooting him a dirty look, and he nodded, pursing his lips to suppress the grin that was bursting at the seams. "It was a week before Friday. Only once. And, to be honest, I have no idea where to go from here."

"Thomas seems to have some idea where he wants to go." When she gave him a dead stare, he laughed. "I am not making fun of you, zis time. Truly."

"This time," she repeated bitterly. "I'm just... not entirely sure what I want. The whole thing feels risky."

"It certainly is risky if you are trying to get lucky in public during his campaign event." He gave her a scandalized look, but her scowl was unwavering.

"Thanks for the advice."

Her sarcasm left him undeterred. He shrugged. "But if you are careful, what is ze harm? I assure you, even the papers zat care enough to cover Thomas's sex life do not 'ave the resources to find out who is ending up in his bed."

She hesitated a moment, considering his words.

"No, you're probably right." She sighed. "The thing is... I don't know. It feels like it could become a problem."

"Ah, is there... something more you want out of zis?" The sidelong look he gave her was more concerned than she expected it to be. She shook her head, giving a light laugh.

"No, no, nothing like that." He'd begun moving the dishes to his other side by then to maintain his spot on the counter. Y/N rolled her eyes when she noticed. "My career just complicates things, is all."

Before he could respond, she took a step back from the counter, peeling off her rubber gloves despite the looming load of dishwashing she'd still have to do before the end of the night. "And as much as I'd love to stay and chat, I need to get back to making sandwiches. Head back out to the dining room."

She jerked her chin toward the door while retying the strings on the back of her apron. Lafayette frowned.

"Are you trying to get rid of me?"

"Not trying to. Kicking you out." She gave him a flat stare as she turned toward where she stood. "Some of us have bills to pay. C'mon."

He scowled as he hopped off of the counter and she waved him away, following close behind to herd him out the door. He glanced back over his shoulder at her when she did, though, and his gaze looked once again as smug as it had when he first realized what he'd walked in on. "If you insist, chérie. I understand that you must do away with me before you can carry on with your little affair. Do not let me get in ze way."

Y/N rolled her eyes at how pleased he looked with himself as he strolled back into the seating area, not giving him the satisfaction of a response. However, when she returned to the kitchen counter, she couldn't help but scan the room through the front window; who she was looking for went without saying. She found him already looking at her, and she swallowed hard.

Nothing articulable was conveyed in his heavy stare, nor in the barely-there smile he wore, arms folded as he watched her shamelessly. She bit her lip. The three seconds she held his gaze felt like hours, and when he finally winked and broke eye contact to turn to someone who'd just approached his table, she felt her stomach turn. This wasn't over.

------

Thomas's rally ended at nine, but it wasn't until closer to nine-thirty that he'd persuaded the final member of his constituency to call it a night. Mira, Orlando, Jac, and all their miscellaneous employees had gone home when their shifts ended at the official end of the event, but Y/N was stuck on the clock for another hour or longer until she finished cleaning up the mess left behind from the evening. Unfortunately, his event running over time meant that he didn't start clearing out his campaign setup until around five minutes after the diner was empty, and that his posters, decorations, and gaudily-colored buttons weren't actually gone until closer to nine fifty.

Y/N was clearing the kitchen counters all the while, knowing she couldn't begin to mop up the grayish mess of liquified dirt and matted grass scattered across the floor until they were both gone. When they seemed to be on the last load of red streamers and campaign merchandise, she emerged back toward the front counter to lock up behind them. Thomas was still out in the back when James approached her, his final box of t-shirts resting on his hip.

"Is there anything else you need from us before we leave? I don't want to take up too much more of your time."

Y/N smiled at the concerned look he wore. "Depends; have you paid Mira in full for all our troubles?" Despite her exhaustion, her tone was light, and the tension in James's brow relaxed.

"I gave her the check before she left."

"Then you're good to go." She shrugged as she went to collect another basin of dirty dishes from under the side of the counter; her annoyance at it couldn't even rise, not after the mountain of plates she already had waiting for her next to the sink. "I've got everything else under control."

He nodded. "Thank you for letting us rent out the venue. All our attendees seemed more than happy with it."

"If it was up to me, you wouldn't be here, but I'll take the credit if you're offering it." She raised a playful eyebrow, and he wore a tired smile.

"The credit's all yours."

"My gratitude is beyond words." Though the words were mocking, he let out a light laugh, and she couldn't help her wry grin.

"I'm always glad to hear it." He took another glance around the place, checking for anything that might've been left behind, before turning toward the back exit Thomas had just re-emerged from.

"What else do we still have to box up?"

James paused on his way out. "You're welcome to do a final sweep, but I believe we have everything."

"Yeah?"

"I'm fairly certain." He looked back toward where Y/N stood behind the counter once more, leaning down on the bakery case. "Goodnight, Y/N."

"Bye, James." Her sleepy voice has a singsong lilt to it that made Thomas smile as he searched the dining room a final time. She'd started toward the kitchen once more to retrieve her broom, but Thomas's voice stopped her.

"Anything else I can do before I head out?"

She turned on her heel to face him, wore a soft smile when she saw how earnest he looked, eyebrows raised and his hands tucked into the pockets of his dress pants. "So long as you’ve gotten everything you brought here, there’s nothing I need from you."

"You sure?" When she raised a questioning eyebrow, he shrugged casually. "Just hate to leave this place a mess from our campaign event. Don't wanna leave you with all the extra cleanup."

She pursed her lips when her smile threatened to broaden. "That's sweet, Thomas, but really, it's okay. I'm on the clock for a while longer anyway. I think I can stick it out, considering I'm the one employed here."

"Feel like I remember hearin' somewhere that your shift ends at ten." He furrowed his brow, walking toward the counter where she stood. She didn't quite get his point until she turned to the clock above the doorway: it was nine fifty-eight. "'S there really nothin' I can do to help out?"

She snorted, folded her arms. "Not unless mopping the dried coffee off of the floors is your idea of a good time." When his expectant expression was unwavering, her eyebrows shot up. "You're not seriously offering your services as a janitor, are you?"

The corners of his lips quirked. "Only if it's welcome, sweetheart."

"You're wearing a full suit." The disbelief in her eyes was rigid despite his conviction.

"Don't mind. Long as I can throw my jacket somewhere." He cracked a grin. "Unless, of course, you just wanna get rid of me."

She eyed him skeptically, but he didn't seem to be joking just then. "If you're serious, I'm not turning down free labor."

"Or an excuse to spend more time with me?" His tone was playful, and she couldn't help her spiteful laugh as she re-entered the kitchen.

"So that's your ulterior motive? Hope you don't think you're getting any when it's eleven o'clock and I'm half asleep from my seven hours here tonight."

"As, c'mon now, why's there gotta be an accusation?" he called after her, and she could hear the teasing frown in his voice. "Can't I just wanna lend a hand?"

"I'll believe it when I see it." She emerged not a minute later with a broom and dustpan to see him having shaken off his jacket and undone his tie. She quirked a brow.

"Hey, anywhere I can throw these?" His sleeves were rolled up to his forearms as he slid his tie out of his collar, popping open the first few buttons on his dress shirt, and Y/N bit her lip. The suits he wore didn't quite do justice to his physique; his jackets may have fit tighter around his upper arms, but his shirts were practically molded around his biceps just above where the veins bulging in his forearms disappeared into his sleeves. She was sure the few extra inches of visible skin below his collar were meant to draw her wandering eyes, only hinting at the toned chest she knew lay beneath the starched fabric.

When she looked back up and caught his eye, he looked predictably cocky. He wore a wide, smug grin, and she rolled her eyes before he even spoke. "You're starin', sweetheart."

Y/N shrugged, wearing the smallest of smiles. "Nothing I haven't seen before."

"Anything you wanna see again?" He raised a suggestive eyebrow, and she laughed.

"Tempting," she said, and when surprise flashed in his eyes, his interest piqued as he started toward her. However, she stopped him at arm's length, a hand on his chest. "But you know what would be really sexy?"

His delight in the turn of events was obvious. "What's that?"

She leaned her broom against the counter and took a step forward, pushing herself onto her toes until her lips brushed against the skin just below his ear, and his hands ghosted down to her hips. Her voice was just above a whisper. "Watching you disinfect all the dining room's high-touch surfaces."

She pulled back with a broad grin when he let out a disappointed groan. "Seriously?"

His frustration was obvious, his brow furrowed as he looked down at her, deadpan, and she couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, yeah. Free labor really gets me going."

"Tease," he grumbled, and Y/N gave him a skeptical stare.

"Don't you gimme that; I'm not the one here under false pretenses," she reminded him, and he folded his arms.

"Now I dunno what you could be refferin' to." She raised a dubious eyebrow when a grin split his phony discontent. "But there's nothin' wrong with mixin' business and pleasure."

"Don't you dare try to derail me after taking up six hours of my time, Jefferson." She prodded his chest with a scowl. "If you're sticking around, I'm putting you to work."

"Wouldn't have it any other way." When he did grab the broom, he glanced back toward the kitchen, wearing an inquisitive frown. "I'm gonna go stick my jacket in a cupboard; is that alright? I'll only be a minute."

"Oh, yeah; do you want me to take it? We have a coat closet in the back."

"Nah, 's alright. I can find it."

Though she gave him a skeptical once-over, Y/N nodded. "Have at it."

When he wasn't back a few minutes later, her train of thoughts managed to run a full 5k -- what could he possibly be spending that much time in the back for? Was he really still trying to find a coat hanger, by then? How hard was it to find a closet in exactly two rooms? Or, really, was he just hiding out until she'd already gotten the worst of the grime off of the tile?

She eliminated her final guess when early-2000s pop music began blaring through the diner's sound system. Though she groaned loudly enough for him to hear it from where he'd located the aux input, she couldn't say this was really a downgrade from Orlando's dusk-till-dawn smooth jazz. When he emerged from behind the kitchen's swinging door and caught sight of her dead stare, he laughed.

"Hanging up your jacket, huh?" Her annoyance was contrived; the way the corners of her lips twitched up gave her away.

"Hey, I can multitask." He bit his smile back, giving her a serious look, brow furrowed. "I said I'm here to help, didn't I?"

"How is this possibly helping?"

"'Cause you need to liven up a little bit," he said matter-of-factly, and Y/N rolled her eyes. "Cleanin's only boring if you make it boring."

"You'll be singing a different tune when you start wiping down the bathroom."

"Hey, how'd I end up on bathroom duty?" he pouted, and she shrugged, turning to the shelves at the back to hide her growing smile.

"As the only one of us who actually works here, I've elected myself the de-facto CEO." She hung her dishrag up on the rack next to the sink before looking back at him over her shoulder, shrugging. "Hate to break it to you, but you're on my turf."

"But I'm a volunteer!" he protested, and she grinned.

"My point exactly."

"Now, what if I refuse to do it?" Though she was busy restocking all the cups that she'd finished washing earlier in the day, she could hear Thomas's footsteps approaching where she stood behind the counter.

"Then you don't, and you finally leave so that I can be productive."

"Sounds like I'm really the one with the power, here."

"Not when I have something I know you want." She looked up with a suggestive smile when he hoisted himself onto the counter beside her, and he raised his eyebrows, folding his arms across his chest.

"And now what's that?"

"Three guesses, Thomas." She had a feeling he'd only need one of them when his gaze began to wander down the length of her body, eyes shining.

"I dunno how unpaid this labor is, sweetheart."

"Well, you won't quite be making minimum wage," she said, turning back to face him as she leaned against the counter opposite where he sat. "But I think the employment benefits will make it worth your time."

"That so?" He pushed himself off the counter's edge, hardly having to take a step forward before his arms landed on either side of her on the counter's edge, caging her in, and she inhaled sharply. His grin was wide; his hips pressed into hers as he leaned in, and she swallowed roughly, leaning back on her hands which rested on the linoleum countertop.

"I'd like to think so," she breathed, as he dipped down, wasting no time as his lips met the tender skin below her jaw.

"Mm, I think I'm gonna need to decide that one for myself," he murmured against her neck, and despite how tempting it was when his hands gravitated to her waist, falling slowly further as he bit down softly on her earlobe, she pushed him away the minute she found her last shred of willpower.

"Uh-uh." Thomas scowled as he pulled back, hands planted on the counter at her sides. She folded her arms. "I'm not gonna make even more of a mess of this place that I'll have to clean up. When the diner's shining, I'd be happy to revisit."

One of his hands rose to her jawline, lifting her chin up ever so slightly to look him in the eye, and she raised a skeptical eyebrow. "After the place is spotless," he murmured, his voice hard and his gaze fixed on her lips, "Hope you know how much you're gonna regret leadin' me on like this. You won't be tryin' it again."

Despite her effort to remain unaffected, Y/N's breath caught, and she bit down on her bottom lip as she struggled to fight the heat rising in her cheeks. Her eyes were wider than she knew, and he seemed to be reveling in her reaction, wearing a wolfish grin.

After a moment, she swallowed, took a deep breath, her voice shaky. "Last I checked, I'm still at work."

"And I wouldn't dream of hinderin' your career." Thomas winked as he took a step back, going for the broom where she'd discarded it before, acting as though nothing at all had happened. Y/N was left reeling.

Thus began the next ninety minutes of her life. Though, to Y/N's surprise, Thomas did end up cleaning the bathrooms, putting up little resistance, he'd also managed to convince Y/N to help him. Despite there having been two of them, every subsequent task took twice as long as it otherwise would've. She'd have denied it, but Thomas's presence was a more-than-welcome distraction.

About half an hour later, he'd managed to drag her away from her Lysol bleach and her old rags in favor of taking a break to dance with him (apparently, she was underappreciating the wonder that was Outkast's greatest hit). She rolled her eyes at the suggestion but grudgingly obliged, and Thomas couldn't help but call out the small, growing smile that broke her grumpy facade. He'd seemingly done the impossible by getting her to let herself go for an evening. Neither of them was quite sure how the floor had gradually become spotless between their distracted banter, nor when exactly they'd managed to wipe down every surface in the kitchen as his playlist seamlessly ventured through every one of Britney Spears's wildest phases.

She'd just about forgotten about her fatigue as Thomas repeatedly soaked the ankles of her jeans with his mop, claiming that her being in his line of sight was just too much of a distraction for him to do his job properly. She scoffed every time, but the fact that her cheeks had grown sore from smiling made her annoyance marginally less convincing.

He eventually took off his shiny black oxfords after having spent the evening trying to hide his concern over some of the chemicals in her soaps ruining the varnish; she didn't bother to argue with his insistence that it absolutely marked a milestone in their progress that he wasn't afraid to step in any greenish gunk or black mold -- if they hadn't missed any, what was the harm? However, she did reprimand him for ransacking their fridge when she left for three minutes to put the mop away. She didn't stay mad long.

Wiping down the glass of the bakery display case took too long for her liking. As it turned out, it was difficult to focus after teasing him for the expected mediocrity of the John Mayer impression he claimed to be impeccable, as he immediately decided it needed to be proven. However, she didn't regret provoking him when the result had her sides beginning to hurt from laughing. She was just glad that they'd nearly finished cleaning.

Much to his dismay, Thomas had to cut the music after the sweet old lady who lived above the dry-cleaners next door came down, banging on the back door to chew them out. The fire behind her threats to file a noise complaint with the cops died down pretty quickly when Thomas offered her a beignet and a cup of tea, sending her on her way with a winning smile, a to-go box, and a Jefferson campaign button. (Y/N proceeded almost immediately to scold him for just giving away the fruits of her hours of labor behind a deep-fryer.)

But as the music was revoked, their animated evening of slacking off began to wind down. The only thing left for them to do was to finish the dishes, and Thomas proved to be much more helpful with this than Lafayette had been earlier in the day.

All was quiet as he washed the dishes and she proceeded to dry them, silence split only by his sporadically humming the best of the Black Eyed Peas. It was comfortable, just being together as the warm air wafted from the cooling oven not too far behind, as their hands brushed every time he passed her another plate. Her lips were pursed in a feeble effort to hide how endeared she was every time she glanced to him, his sleeves soaked past the elbow while he remained unbothered. If he noticed, he didn't mention. Finally--

"How are you so good with people?"

"Hm?" He turned his head toward her with a raised eyebrow, and she had to ignore the flecks of foamed soap that clung to his curls and his shirt. Y/N shrugged.

"I just mean..." Her smile was shy; she didn't meet his eyes. "I don't get how you do it. Mira absolutely dotes on you; you've befriended half of our staff after one night here. You just talked to my crankiest neighbor for literally all of five minutes, and suddenly, she's part of your voting bloc."

He just watched her for a moment. His stare was soft. "Can't help it if people find me irresistible."

Her loud, disbelieving scoff made him grin, but she looked far from annoyed. "That's your secret? You were just born with it? It isn't Maybelline?"

Though he laughed quietly, when she turned to him with her eyebrows raised, he shrugged. Her question seemed to be in earnest. "I dunno, sweetheart. Don't think it's anything special. People seem just as drawn to you, anyway."

"Sure, 'cause I have a nice ass, and I'm wearing tight jeans. Not the same thing." How frankly she spoke made him grin, and he shot her a wink, passing off another bowl to her.

"Can't argue with that." She rolled her eyes as she began drying the next dish. He bumped his elbow lightly against hers, gaze teasing yet soft. "But you know that's not what I meant."

She sighed. "Alright, fine, but I'm not forty-points-ahead-in-the-polls charismatic. I just... can't figure out what it is about you that people seem so drawn to."

As she concluded moments later, the uninvited smile she wore when he flashed her a warm grin could've contributed to the reason. She turned back to the plates before her, feeling her skin warm under his heavy gaze. "So you're tellin' me people don't follow me strictly 'cause of my political framework and field experience?"

"Oh, I'm sure every one of your supporters has invested hours into reading the 174-page pdf of fiscal policy your campaign published." Another stack of cups went into the cupboard below her.

"People really don't care about how taxin' it was for me to write all that? And here I was, thinkin' every American voter was out there doin' their homework." He looked with disappointment down at the salad plate he was scrubbing at present, but Y/N wasn't buying it.

"Thomas," she groaned as she turned to meet his phony pout, her stare flat. Her mild annoyance only served to amuse him further, and though she scowled when he laughed, he leaned over to gently kiss the crown of her head. She could feel herself flush despite how chaste it was; the casual affection left her more thrown than if he'd tried to rail her in the middle of the kitchen.

"'M only kiddin'," he defended, voice heavy with mirth, making her roll her eyes.

"Aren't you always?" she asked, wiping off the inside of a cup.

"'Course not." He frowned, and she deadpanned as she turned to him, arms folded.

"I'm not sure we've had a serious conversation since I met you."

"Now, that's just not true."

"Isn't it?" He put down the saucepan he was rinsing out to turn to her, matching her demeanor.

"It isn't. I know I tease, but I've never been anythin' but one-hundred percent authentic with you, Y/N."

A moment passed where neither said anything. The corners of Y/N's lips quirked at how sincere he sounded as he waited for her to react. Finally, she turned back to the dishes before her with a tight-lipped smile.

"Maybe this is what it is."

"Hm?"

"Why people like you. This whole endearingly earnest act you've got going on. I could see that being pretty appealing to voters."

"Hey, what d'you mean act?" He bumped his shoulders into hers, offense written across his face, and she laughed.

"Oh, don't pretend you don't know what I mean. Traipsing around from state to state like some type of charismatic golden boy. Making everyone feel all special and appreciated. It's a good tactic; don't get me wrong." She shrugged as she shelved the last stack of bowls. Just a few more things to wash, and they could officially consider the diner spotless. She didn't think much of her own words, but he hung onto them. It was inexplicable as to why he took so much pride in her all but admitting he made her feel special.

"My bein' all kind-hearted and charmin' isn't some scheme," he said after a moment, plastering on a scowl, and she raised an eyebrow as he passed her a fork. For a brief moment, she was worried she'd crossed a line, but when his eyes met hers, his gaze was playful. "'M just a nice person. Maybe you should try it sometime."

Her mouth fell open in surprise, indignant but hardly disguising her smile, and she let out a huff. "I was joking, you asshole!" When he only snickered, she pursed her lips, shoving him away from her with the little comparative strength she had.

"Hey, now!" His reprimanding had very little bite to it with the laugh carried in his voice as he stumbled a step to his right, tugging the faucet head along with him. He scowled at Y/N's self-pleased smile, flicking his wrist to turn the spray of water from the sink onto her.

She yelped, jumped back from it, but he'd already managed to drench the front of her shirt. She wore an expression of disbelief as she paused a moment, watching him return to the dishes as if nothing had happened despite his entertained grin. It was then that she struck back, lunging toward the sink to retaliate, and he wasn't quite quick enough to stop her.

He could only do damage control once she'd already managed to spray a line of water across his chest, and she gasped when he pushed her back to her part of the counter.

"You're more trouble than I was expectin'," he laughed, and she folded her arms.

"You're no walk in the park yourself."

"But you're the one who decided to let me stick around, sweetheart," he retorted, giving her a pointed look, and she shrugged good-naturedly.

"You might be a handful, but you're worth having around once in a while."

He laughed at how matter-of-factly she spoke, and for once, she wore an unabashed grin. "Now you're just flatterin' me," he teased.

"Oh, of course, such high praise; you aren't always awful."

"Hey, that means somethin', comin' from you," he defended, prodding her in the side, and she squealed, jumping away.

"Hands off, Jefferson. I'm at work."

"Aw, 'm sorry. Didn't mean to disrespect your professional boundaries."

"Check yourself next time," Y/N scowled, but there was no heat to it. The pair caught one another's eyes, both wearing the same, gentle smile, and it seemed too soon when he broke her gaze, returning to the last couple pieces of silverware. She watched him another moment until he turned to pass her a ladle. He raised an eyebrow when he noticed her gaze hadn't strayed.

She only turned back to the counter when she took the ladle from him, drying it off and sliding it back into its place in the drawer. All was quiet, and though they could both feel the chilled air of the spring night drifting in through the poorly-sealed back door, where they stood, it felt perfectly warm.

He glanced at her. "'S nice to see you like this."

The comment was offhanded; he didn't wait for a response, only returned to washing the spoons, but Y/N furrowed her brow.

"Like what?"

He turned back to her with a raised brow, mildly surprised at the curious frown she wore, and he shrugged, still wearing his faint smile. "I dunno." She didn't fill the silence, and he continued, "With your guard down. Always feels like you've got some kinda walls up."

She swallowed; for a split second, her gaze was absent. Ultimately, she sighed. "I guess I'm just cautious," she said quietly, and Thomas frowned at the defensive lilt that had returned to her tone.

"I get it." He reached over to finally turn off the water, and she put away the final fork he handed her. "'S not always worth lettin' people in."

His smile was tiny, barely there, but understanding, and when she met his eyes, it felt like he was seeing right through her. "It just makes it too easy to get hurt."

He nodded, eyes kind. "'M glad I make you feel like you can relax."

She hardly shrugged as he turned to her, leaning on his hand on the countertop. "Yeah." A small smile graced her lips as she eyed his expression, and she bit her lip. "I guess there are worse things, huh?"

His laugh made her nervous gaze soften. "Aw, sugar, you're too kind," he said, the mocking sarcasm in his voice balanced out by how gentle his grin was. She rolled her eyes.

"Whatever," she said softly, and he plastered on a mock pout. "I'm not building up your ego any more, alright? I'm not sure it has any room to grow."

"I wouldn't mind you makin' me just a little bit more conceited, now."

She finally turned all the way to him, putting down the dishcloth she'd been using for drying, and despite herself, the affection in the way he was looking back down at her made her heart flutter. "If you're looking for blind adoration, you should've figured out by now that I'm not the girl for that."

"No, you really aren't, are you?" Though her words had been pointed, had come with the intention to knock him back down a peg, his low voice was far, far from contemptuous. Her eyebrows jumped when he took a step toward her, taking her chin in his hand to lift her face to his before bending down to meet her where she stood, his confident lips gentle against hers. "You're so much more than that," he murmured, not pulling away enough to even look her in the eye, their noses brushing together.

Though she hesitated, it was a moment later that Y/N took a step forward to meet him halfway, her tentative touch rising up the stiff material of his shirt and to the back of his neck. He wrapped an arm around her waist. She pushed herself up onto her toes, and their lips met once again.

The patience in his every move was new to her, inconsistent with the raw desire that usually governed his actions. When he sucked her bottom lip between his teeth, her mouth parted in a soft moan, and he took the opportunity for what it was, wasting little time in pressing his tongue teasingly against hers. He was holding her close, but she was arched fully up against him regardless of it, wanting to feel the movement of his body against hers. Both her arms looped around the back of his neck, pulling him down to her.

The kiss was deep, intimate, but not harsh, and when his mouth moved to the skin of her neck, she tipped her head back, eyes closed with her silent sigh as his hands moved down to grip the backs of her thighs. She couldn't help her surprise at how effortless it was for him to pick her up, to lift her onto the counter she'd been standing in front of. She groaned when his lips found a particularly sensitive patch of skin, all but going limp in his grasp.

"Thomas," she whined, wrapping her legs more tightly around him to anchor his hips against hers, grinding against his hard body.

"Come home with me," he muttered into her neck, and though she gasped at the feeling of his teeth scraping against her, she pulled back to look him in the eye, raising his head to hers with a hand in his curls.

"What?" she whispered, chest heaving, and he pressed another soft, chaste kiss to her lips.

"Come home with me," he repeated, looking into her wide eyes.

"Why?" He raised his eyebrows at her hesitance, and she took a deep breath. "Thomas, I live upstairs; if you wanna stay, I... I definitely wouldn't mind that, but--"

She cut herself off at his skeptical hum, and he said, "Listen, I almost got caught tryin' to sneak outta here in the morning last Saturday, and I'm not tryna have a repeat of that, alright? Just come back to my place." One of his hands lifted from her thigh to weave itself into her hair, holding her head by her nape as he kissed her, more intently that time. "Promise I'll make it worth your while."

She swallowed. "Pull your car around the back."

---------

It was hours later that Y/N found herself lying exhausted on satin sheets, slumped in a penthouse just across the river and high above the city. Thomas hadn't been lying about making the most of her time; his hands had seldom left her skin from the moment she entered his passenger seat, dragging her quickly past the doorman on the first floor of his building, pinning her against the wall of the elevator for a heated, fleeting moment before he'd finally tugged her the rest of the way to his apartment.

She was wrapped in his covers up to her chest, feeling just on the wrong end of self-conscious, but her clothes were rumpled and sprawled across every corner of the rooms they had to pass to reach his bed. They hadn't been overly concerned with where the outfit ended up, just that it wasn't on her skin. Every joint in her body was already sore, and she groaned as she tried to sit up, leaning against his headboard as Thomas returned to her with a glass of water.

"Thanks," she said, and he couldn't help but grin at how hoarse she sounded as he handed her the cup.

"'Course, sweetheart." He came to sit beside her as he pressed a kiss to her temple, and she took a long sip of the water, nearly draining all of it in one gulp. "You alright? Everything still feeling okay?"

"I'm exhausted, and my ass hurts like a bitch," she griped, but when he raised an eyebrow, she nodded. "But I'm all good. Might have to bill you for the truckload of concealer I'll need to cover up all these fucking marks, but I'm fine."

"Good." He squeezed her thigh lightly when she leaned against his side, her legs bent and knees pulled in toward her chest. When she rested her head on his shoulder, he wrapped an arm around her waist, holding her against himself with a small smile.

"Can't believe I didn't know you live in the same building as Lafayette, though," she mumbled, and he looked down at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, he actually lives just across the hall. When he came back from France lookin' for a place to live, I thought it'd be fun if we were neighbors, and he took me up on it pretty easily."

She hummed her acknowledgment. "So that means, when Lafayette showed up half an hour late to your lunch date and I was there instead, that it would've taken you all of five seconds just to go home?"

He laughed. "Now, what exactly are you accusin' me of?"

"Being a pain in my ass two weeks ago," she grumbled, and he shrugged, wearing a small, self-contented smile and not bothering to argue with her.

"You didn't seem to mind me bein' a pain in your ass last night." He raised a smug eyebrow, and she scowled, turning her head to break the eye contact. She disregarded the heat she could feel rising in her cheeks.

"You say 'last night' as though we didn't get back here less than four hours ago."

"Don't pretend you don't get the picture."

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes, but the corners of her lips quirked when he kissed the top of her hair. She looked down at the cup she held against her chest. "Is it cool if I stay over?"

"'Course. I don't want you gettin' in an Uber with some creep in the middle of the city at this time of night."

"Mm, but you had no problem with me getting in a Bentley with some creep in the middle of the city four hours ago?"

Despite the teasing bite to her words, he grinned. "Hey, now, I'm just sayin' you gotta be selective about which creeps you're lettin' drive you around at all hours."

"I mean, you haven't killed me yet, so I'd call that a point in your favor." She yawned, reaching over to put the glass he'd given her on his bedside table. "We should get some sleep. It's late, and I'm sure you have somewhere to be tomorrow."

"Alright, sweetheart." She pushed herself forward from the headboard, laying back onto the pillow she'd been leaning on, holding it close to her head as he reached over to turn off the lamplight before joining her under the covers. "G'night."

"Night, T."

They fell asleep almost immediately in one another's arms.

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

5:17 AM

From: [email protected]

Y/N--

I’m glad you reached out. Your writing’s excellent as always, but if there’s information you want, you’ve very much come to the right place. I’ve worked with Thomas for years, and though they left me dismayed, I’ve become quite familiar with the not-so-shining moments in his background.

I’d rather not put anything in writing should someone find this communication. Let’s find a somewhat private place to meet. Be sure to bring a recorder and a notepad. Believe me when I say you’re going to want to hear what I have to say.

John Adams

353 notes · View notes

jojo-fantasy-aus · 3 years

Text

Fantasy au!

Josuke x F! Reader- ch 3

It takes two.

This is going to be a loooong series. I hope you all are up for it!

Tw for creepy, handsy old men, but this chapter is mostly just fanservice. Enjoy!

----

You were sleeping rather pleasantly when you were suddenly shaken awake. A hazy fear flooded you, Immediately panicked in your half-asleep state. You sat up hurriedly to the sound of Josuke calling your name.

"We need to go. That bastard from the alley exposed our location." A hazy shock panged in your chest as the rest of the sleepiness wore off. Things could never be easy, could they? There was always something shitty around the corner. It was frustrating, but couldn't say it was unexpected.

Josuke set some dress on the bed. It certainly wasn't yours, it was a plain dress that looked as if it was travel clothes made for minor noble women. The pockets sewn into the thin brown fabric and long sleeves told you that. How did he get this? Surely he didn't buy it?!

"Tonio wanted me to give this to you, said that some traveling party left it here. I know leaving so soon is a shock but try and hurry, yeah?" Josuke said as he left the room, attempting at a reassuring look before closing the door with a quiet click.

A knight's undershirt, a night gown, and a dress? How many items did Tonio have from forgetful travelers?

You could hear Josuke and Okuyasu's muffled voices just outside the door as you changed, struggling to get into the dress as quickly as you could. You stopped for just a moment and looked around the room. Were you missing anything? Your gaze shifting to the basket of medical supplies.

You felt bad for Tonio, but continued to shove a small bottle of the disinfectant and some gauze in the pockets of the dress. The voices outside had gone quiet, and you started to anxiously fiddle with the necklace again. Mapping out the grooves of the flower. It was worrying, this entire situation. Josuke briefly knocked on the door and let himself in, he called your name softly.

"We gotta go, now." You nodded, already speed walking out the door. It reminded you a little too much of the festival when Josuke slipped his hand into your own. His grip was different this time as the two of you hurried down the hallways. Gentle, reassuring. Maybe you were just overthinking it, but you couldn't deny that it felt nice to have his hand in your own. That fluttery feeling in your chest returned, but you ignored it.

Josuke kept peeking over his shoulder to make sure you were keeping up ok, hand only letting go of yours so that you could run down the stairs. The heat of his hand lingered, and you found yourself missing it as you rushed.

"Josuke, over here!" Tonio's light whisper came from the back corner of his tavern, coaxing the two of you over and out the back door this time.

Your thin dress was no match for the cold night air, and the feeling of the incoming winter was prominent. Everything seemed so surreal in this cold weather. Lights blurred together, figures were fuzzy, and it became hard to focus as you exited the Tavern.

Okuyasu waved at you and Josuke from an old farm cart, reins in hand, horses ready and waiting to take off. Josuke's face lit up, and yours did too. Maybe this rescue plan was going to be little less tiring than you thought. Thanks to the man from yesterday, you had a general direction to follow, and now you had a way of travel. Yet, a small, uncomfortable feeling remained in the pit of your stomach. There was no way the path ahead would be easy.

"Try not to damage it while you're gone, this is the only produce cart I have." Tonio chuckled as he and Josuke shared a handshake. Josuke was in the middle of thanking him when Tonio suddenly pulled his hand away with a shocked face.

"I almost forgot!" Tonio turned around and quickly opened the door, grabbing an item from the coat rack. He held it out as he returned and you realized that it was a sword. The sheath was beautiful, a dark leather with a single bright stone right below the base of the hilt. It reminded you of Josuke, and you smiled a bit at the realization. Josuke's eyes glittered as Tonio handed it to him.

"Tonio, thank you! I had forgotten that I left it here!" Tonio nodded with a smile, turning to you.

"And you, young lady, try to stay safe long enough to mention my food to the King, yes?" The words rolled off his tongue, accent thick as ever, and he kissed your hand politely. Josuke stiffened next to you for just a split second.

"I'll try my best, Tonio, but I can't promise anything." You couldn't help but smile, Tonio had given you so much already, it was easy to tell that Koichi had kept good company.

Yelling could be heard from the front of the tavern, and Tonio said one last goodbye to Okuyasu before heading back through his tavern to buy some time. Josuke easily helped you into the cart and Okuyasu took off as soon as Josuke was seated in the back with you. All three of you preparing for the adventure ahead.

You hoped that Yukako would hold on for just a bit longer. You were determined to find her soon.

Okuyasu snored loudly in the back of the cart as the sun started to haul itself into the morning sky. You couldn't help but snicker a bit as he talked in his sleep, for a guy that looked like a mercenary punk, he wasn't quite the cookie-cutter mold you first thought him to be. Josuke had taken the reins when Okuyasu started to get sleepy, and now the both of you were sitting up front.

The sunlight was comforting and pleasantly warm against the cold breeze of fall. You held Josuke's satchel and sword in your lap, inadvertently holding it tighter when another cold gust of wind rushed by. Still, your eyes were closed as you happily basked in the sun. This was the first time in a while where you could be so calm and comfortable, you tried your best not to focus on the "what if's" for now, lest the anxiety return too soon. When you opened up your eyes Josuke was looking at you, face soft with a slight smile. He turned his head back to the road when he realized you noticed.

"I haven't seen you this calm in a while." Josuke mused. "Then again, I haven't seen you calm ever." You scoffed, a playful pout on your face as you pretended to be annoyed. Beginning to retort something back when a snore interrupted you.

"I wish that I was calm enough to sleep that well," Josuke laughed, adjusting the reins in his grip and relaxing a bit, letting the horses slow so that they didn't overwork themselves after the rushed escape this morning.

"He's always been a deep sleeper. I'm still surprised that Tonio and I were able to wake him up this morning," You adjusted your grip on his bag, smile faltering just a bit from the mention of this morning, and slid your cold hands underneath the sleeves of your dress to warm them up a bit. You didn't notice when Josuke scooted closer to you, but you did subconsciously enjoy the warmth this human heater seemed to give off.

"I thought he was working for Tonio?"

"He was. But Tonio let him off the contract so he could help us find Koichi." Josuke didn't mention Princess Yukako at all, leaving you a bit frustrated, but you understood. Not everyone liked the princess, and that was ok. But it always hurt when they didn't bother trying to know her before making assumptions.

"...I think that's really why Okuyasu and I are here. He's our friend, even if we don't like Yukako, Koichi is still with her." Josuke let out a pitiful chuckle, "- I really don't know what he sees in her. But his whole demeanor changed when we found them the other day. I don't know what she could've said to him."

You smiled so wide that your cheeks started to hurt. Koichi was starting to like Yukako? Maybe he was just as forgiving as you hoped. So that's what Yukako might've been blushing about when you saw her. Even if he was definitely right to be wary of her after the incident, you still were so happy for your friend. It was a morbid thought, but Koichi was a good man, and Yukako certainly Loves him, so at least they were together right now. If they were together. You hoped they were.

"Love is fickle like that, sometimes," You murmured, almost without thinking. Josuke's slight smile went unnoticed by you as your thoughts were still on your friends.

The reins landing in your lap startled you out of your haze, hands grabbing them firmly out of instinct. When you turned back to Josuke to ask him what that was all about, he was much closer. Right hand settled next to your left thigh as he leaned over you. His face was so close to yours you could feel his breath. Your stomach just about flipped and your face started to burn. His left hand reaching around near your other arm as he winked.

"Is it?" And just like that, he grabbed his Canteen out of the satchel and took the reins back. sitting back down where he was before, only inches away and yet so terribly far. Your face still felt like it was in fire as he popped open the cap to take a swig. What was that?!

He had to be teasing you at this point, right? After all that you'd seen of him, and the many women attempting at courting Josuke, you found it hard to believe an action like that to be anything other than a tease. It was almost infuriating how much of a flirt he was. You tried to brush it off, but every little thing he did made you mad, or at least, you thought you were mad?

What ever happened to, "I'd never fawn over someone so easily," ?

You didn't notice that you were frowning, but Josuke did.

Josuke's eyes stayed dead set on the path ahead, but the sun was angled just so that you couldn't see his face. You wouldn't even know what to say if you could speak, but your jaw was clamped shut, leaving you desperately regaining your composure for the next few minutes as you traveled over the rolling hills.

The sun was high in the sky now, but Okuyasu remained asleep despite the oranges in the back that were rattling around him all day. The wind had returned full force as a dark sheet of clouds blocked out the sky, and you were all but curled up into yourself to keep warm. You started to fall asleep in your uncomfortably slouched position when a small, annoyed noise from Josuke woke you up. Sitting up straight and rubbing the sleep out of your eyes was harder than it should've been.

"Is everything ok?" When you opened your eyes to look at Josuke, he pointed you to the path ahead. The uncomfortable feeling from this morning returned full force.

Some meters ahead of you was a roadblock, figures in dark clothes standing guard by a makeshift gate. A huge city of dark tents just off the left of the road. Anxiety and fear returned as the scene from the alley played in your head over and over again. Josuke held your hand lightly, and you looked up at him in a panic.

"Go with everything I say ok? -Okuyasu!" Josuke turned around, hand not lingering on yours as he shook the mercenary awake, ordering him to act sick in a steely, commanding voice you had never heard before.

Before you knew it you were rolling up to the gate. Josuke slung an arm around you protectively, glancing at your eyes in a way that you knew meant that this was part of his plan. He gave you a reassuring squeeze as the cart came to a stop.

"Can this wait? My wife and I need to get back home." Josuke complained. Oh. That's why he was being so protective. Your face flushed and you tried to act natural, curling into his side as the men blocked both sides of the cart, a third coming out of nowhere and walking around the back to poke at Okuyasu.

"State your name." The man on Josuke's side of the cart grumbled, hand on his dagger, eyes squarely on the sword still in your arms.

"Nakamura," The fake name rolled off his tongue. Josuke snapped his head around as Okuyasu groaned, the other guard reaching for the mercenary's bag.

"Cut that out! He's sick. We're taking him home to be treated." Two of the men chuckled darkly, the one in the back retracting his hand immediately and wiping his hand on his shirt with a scowl.

You didn't mean to. You weren't even thinking when you made accidental eye contact with the man on your side. His disgusting gritty smile and beady eyes almost forcing a repulsive action out of you.

"You know, I've never heard of a knight in the Nakamura family before, And I thought I knew them so well." The guard caught onto the flash of fear and shock in your face as he spoke. Shit, it was a trick. The slimy man moved quickly as he grabbed your arm suddenly, reaching for the sword.

His wrist snapped in half just before he could get ahold of the sword, he let out a cry and his grip on your arm tightened painfully.

All this took place in mere seconds. You flinched hard in Josuke's arms, calling for him, but you already had his attention. He wrapped both his arms around you instinctively, ripping you away from the bastard's hands.

The greasy guard backed away in utter fear and pain as Josuke stared at him with the most terrifying look you had ever seen. Josuke looked like he could kill the man right then and there as one of his hands wrapped around the hilt of the sword in your arms. The guard on the left drew his dagger while the one around the back walked over to the slimy guy as he screamed.

"She broke my wrist! She-" Josuke glanced back at you for a moment, gentle eyes seemingly asking are you ok? And you nodded in response. It was terrifying, but you didn't doubt it had to do with, what you believed to be, his mage abilities.

"Neither of them touched you dumbass! How would a woman-" The guards bickered and Josuke's gazed flickered over to the one with the dagger. He had to say something to get out of this situation quickly.

His hand that had remained on you slipped down your side and landed on your stomach. His eyes stayed on you while she spoke to the guards.

"All this stress is bad for the baby. I don't know what you men want, but I'm sure we can come up with a compromise." What?! You were pregnant now? Your face was so red at this point that you could be entered as a beet in a 'largest crop' contest, and win. Josuke looked over to the man with the dagger, grip tightening on his sword.

Okuyasu slowly sat up in the back, it looked like he was getting restless too. You yourself still had no idea what you had gotten yourself into. You just wanted to disappear, to have this awful moment over already and never see these stupid guards again.

You flinched again at the feeling of another hand on your bruised arm, a chest pressed to your back. But when you snapped your head around there was no one there. You glanced at your arm and your jaw dropped when you saw that the bruise and nail marks had started to heal. You looked back at Josuke but he wasn't paying any mind to you at all, still staring at the other guard. How does he do these things?

The man with the dagger didn't speak, and Josuke stiffened. Josuke unsheathed his sword in a flash and the guard readied himself to attack when-

"Enough!" A low voice commanded. All three men stiffened as a figure stepped out of a tent and waltzed over to the cart.

"Jotaro?" Josuke called, shocked. He lowered his sword, and the feeling of a chest pressed to your back dissipated.

"Josuke Higashikata. We need to talk."

#josuke higashikata #diamond is unbreakable #jjba #josuke 4 #josuke x reader #josuke imagine #jjba imagines #jjba reader insert #reader insert #it takes two fic

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redbokuto · 3 years

Text

Awaited Encounter~ part 7

A soft warmth wrapped around my legs and relaxed my body. I’ve never felt so calm in my life. It was so blissful… that’s how I knew something was wrong. My body was intoxicated with a familiar scent. That is what made me feel so warm and fluffy.

“You’re smiling like an idiot.” A voice stated with no emotion. The tone made me stiffen and my eyes open at a slow rate.

I was met with tinted copper eyes and the worst bed hair I have ever seen. Their glare made the comfort I felt leak out. “Who the hell are you?” I mumbled under my breath.

Now that my eyes are opened, I tried to take in my surroundings. First thing I noticed was that this was not my bed. Next, I noticed that these were not my clothes. More importantly, I do not have a roommate.

The man who has been glaring at me since my eyes cracked open, sat on a chair near a desk. He had on a red track jacket, a blank shirt, and black shorts. From his body structure I could tell he was athletic.

“I’m surpirsed you don’t know who I am. I know all about you.” The cocky tone the man used made my brow twitch. Why would I know who he is anyways? I don’t even know where I am! What happened last night… I can’t remember.

My eyes widened as the memories from yesterday flooded back to me. “Oh no… I kissed Bokuto.” My fingers rubbed my forehead, trying to keep my blush at bay.

“You say ‘oh no’ like you didn’t want to. From what I saw, you both were into it.” I scowled at the man, this time he was looking down and blowing at his nails. He looked bored.

“Alright who the hell are you?” I asked in the most irritated tone.

The raven-haired man leaned forward on his chair, “do you want Bokuto’s memories to come back?” My heart stopped from the statement. I could already feel a cold sweat form around my body. Who is this guy and how does he-

“From your face I’m guessing no.” I stayed still, frozen from fear and terror about the man’s words. “I’m sorry.” He sighed, closing his eyes and opening them again. “My name is Kuro Tetsurou, I am Bokuto’s roommate. You passed out after Bokuto kissed you and now you are… well um.”

The pieces in my mind fit together like an embarrassing puzzle. My face turned bright red as my shaky eyes looked down at my body. An oversized jersey laid over my frame, practically falling off my shoulders. In the corner of my eye, I could see another article of clothing. It was my pants.

Kuro’s vision followed mine, “oh, no we did not do that part. You must have taken them off while you were sleeping.”

My head began to feel light. My jittery hands tried to grab the shorts off the ground, but they were too far. If I bent anymore, the jersey would lift up. “C-can you help me?” I squeaked. Kuro only snickered, “nope! But I do have to have a serious talk with you so get flustered afterwards, ok?”

You have got to be kidding me. I nodded, not bothering to protest while Kuro talked.

“Now that Bokuto is around you, there is a good chance that he’ll start getting his memory back.” Kuro breathed out. I could tell the roommate was growing uneasy from the topic. It made me wonder why he was so on edge.

Bokuto did say he met Kuro the same year as his volleyball accident. Was Kuro there when it happened?

Kuro’s fingers gripped the top of the chair, “All I am asking you is… don’t tell him.”

A long silent pause shrouded the room, before I could speak, Kuro continued. “I doubt you want him to know what you did either.”

Fear pulsed through my veins as my eyes widened slowly, “how do-do you-“

“I was there when you left him. You know, he never stopped thinking you would come back.” Those words made a weight fall on my chest. Of course he never gave up hope, even after I abandoned him all those years ago.

Kuro spoke once again, “listen, I am not blaming you for what happened. All I know is that… everyone’s secrets and faults are locked away in his mind somewhere.” The roommates head tilted downwards. His fingers intertwined and squeezed together.

Kuro’s jaw tightened as his chest strained against the seat, “it’s not like we can be blamed right? We were just kids.” I knew his shaky words were more meant for him then me, but I needed them too. I left Bokuto all those years ago, and apparently Kuro mentioned others who have hurt him as well.

I don’t understand… why did anything bad happen to Bokuto? Heavy footsteps radiated from outside the room. Kuro tried to relax his body as much as possible before Bokuto came in. As soon as he did, I became more aware of the fact I was in his clothes and on his bed.

Bokuto came in the room, shirtless and sweaty. His naked back faced me, making my body heat up more. His back was decorated in perfectly made muscles. What is he? A Greek god?

Something even more intersting that I noticed was that Bokuto’s hair was down. The black roots stuck on the sweat glistening on Kou’s sculpted frame. I didn’t think Bokuto ever wore his hair down. He looks gorgeous…

“You should’ve came running with me Kuro!” Bokuto exclaimed. His roommate looked up and down at his body before sighing. “You should put on a shirt bro.”

I could see the back of Bokuto’s head tilt, “hey hey hey don’t tell me you’re getting intimidated. Your body is almost as good as mine Kuro don’t worry.” Bokuto picked up his arm, flexing a bit and making my mind feel hazy. No one can look that good! And I haven’t even seen the front of him yet!

Kuro’s eyes fell onto mine, his lips turning into a smirk. “Not for my sake, but I don’t think Akashi can take anymore fanservice.”

Swallowing hard, my eyes adjusted to Bokuto as he turned around. Light gray strings smeared against Kou’s pale skin. The front part of his body was just as chiseled as the back. “You’re up Akashi, did you sleep well?” Kou smiled.

The toothy grin and the jersey falling off my body made my heart beat faster. His stare and lack of clothing made my lower half twitch, causing me to bite my lip in frustration. I could still see Kuro’s snicker from the corner of my eye.

That is when I realized that the calming scent I was laying in was none other than Kou’s.

“M-o-morning.” My legs shifted, trying to fight a sensation swelling up inside me. “Can I-I please have my pants.” The squeal I made caused Kou to give me a weird look. “Akashi they are right beside you, can’t you ge- oh! Is my jersey too short on you? I thought it would fit you but then again you are smaller than me. I guess it’s good I slept on the couch then, since you strip in your sleep.” Bokuto chuckled.

“And drool.” Kuro added from behind, making the tips of my ears burn.

“J-u-jus-t give me my pants.” I reached out my hand, my other keeping the jersey down. Bokuto turned his head to Kuro, they both smirked at each other and nodded. “I rather watch you get it.”

My lips parted but no words came out. He’s such a tease!

With puffed cheeks, I scooted back on his bed and covered myself with his blanket. I couldn’t take anymore embarrassment! I didn’t think Bokuto could get worse when he is with Kuro. Plus… a smile fell on my lips as his scent graced my nose. He smells so good.

Bokuto’s laugh filled the room, “here Akashi, let me find you some shorts you can wear. I’ll wash these, ok?” I knew Kou wanted a response, but I was too flustered to speak.

“Akashi…” Bokuto pouted, his body inched closer to mine. I felt his upper half drape over my back, making me freeze. “Why aren’t you answering me? Are you that embarrassed? You know I put you in my jersey because I thought you would look cute in it.”

My face flushed more and stuffed farther into his pillow, “Kou just get me some pants, ok?” I felt Bokuto nod against my back before he got up and searched his dresser.

“Kuro, do you mind if Akashi spends the day with us? I want you two to get close!” A hand pressed against my back, “here you go Akashi. Can you keep my jersey on though?” I gave a faint nod and put on Kou’s shorts. I don’t know why Kou thought I would take off his jersey. I liked wearing his clothes… they felt nice. Plus I don’t have another shirt.

“Bokuto, you do know who’s coming over right?” Kuro’s words made my head peek out from under the covers. Kou sat on the edge of the bed, raising his eyebrow in confusion. “No?”

Kuro sighed, “your sisters.” Bokuto’s lips spread into a grin. His hair moved along with his head as he looked at me, “are you ok with that? If you want to leave, I understand.”

I shook my head and placed it on Kou’s shoulder, “it’s fine. If your sisters are anything like you, I think I’ll be ok. But… we need to talk later.” The last part came out as a whisper for only Bokuto to hear.

“About the kiss right? I’m sorry about that-“

“No…”I adjusted my body to Bokuto’s, making my arms wrap around him and my legs on his side. “I liked it Kou, that’s why I want to talk about it.”

A cough came from the man in front of us, “well I’m going to go.” Kuro stood up, which made Bokuto speak. “I thought you were staying… come on Kuro stay.”

Kuro looked to his best friend, then me. I kind of wanted Kuro to stay too, I probably relate to him more then I know. Judging from our last conversation.

“I’ll stay until your sisters come, maybe a little after. But I have to go to Kenma’s.” Kuro placed his hands in his pockets, his back leaning against the door. The raven-haired man looked exhausted.

Bokuto gave his best friend a smile, “ok that’s fine. But I do want to hang out more! You’ve been spending more time with Kenma then me!”

Kuro forced on a smile, “maybe I like him better. Anyways, I’m going to get some more sleep. Bro shower, Akashi, don’t join him.”

The comment made me blush while Bokuto only laughed. I stayed on the bed, gaining comfort in my situation as Bokuto headed towards the shower. I took this time to lay down and think.

So Kou does talk about me to other people, and Kuro knows about my past with Bokuto. From what it looks like… he doesn’t want Bokuto to regain his memories. Not yet anyways. If Kuro knows about me, does anyone else?

A sigh came from me as the doorbell rang. Next, I heard Kuro greet people while opening the door. That must be Kou’s sisters.

My body moved on its own, leaving me standing and facing the closed door. Wait. I took a look down my body, almost fainting from the sight. Kou’s shirt was barely staying on my shoulders and his shorts were hanging off my waist.

What will his sister’s say when they see this!? This is the first time I am meeting them… well-

The door opening made my breathing hitch. Kou walked into the room with a towel around his waist. “You’re still in here? Are you scared?” He asked me before closing his door with a brush in his hand.

My eyes drifted around his body, and once again I experience the same problem as before. An overwhelming sensation. “Put on some clothes Kou.” I stated in an embarrassed whisper.

Kou looked down at his half naked body, “you should get used to it, I’m never fully clothed in my own home.” With tinted cheeks, I pursed my lips. “Why would I get used to it?” Complete silence filled the air as Bokuto turned around and went for his dresser.

“N-nevermind. Do my clothes fit you well?”

“Yes, well kind of.” I said while sticking out my arms. I pulled up the jersey to make It cover more skin. While I was focused on that, Bokuto started to strip behind me.

Strong hands wrapped around my body as a naked chest settled on my back. Warm air brushed against my ears, “can we talk about the kiss now? You said you weren’t bothered by it.” My body stayed still, frozen from the growing addiction I have to his warmth.

“I did not… why did you do it?” My voice stayed strong while Bokuto’s hands rubbed up and down my waist. “It was on instinct, and the way you were looking at me. I could tell it was the right time. Was that your first?”

“I have never been interested in relationships.” Bokuto’s nose skimmed over the flesh of my neck. His breath clung to my flared skin. A deep chuckle came from him, “you could have just said yes. What are we Akashi? If you don’t have an answer to that, it is ok. I would never force you.”

That really contradicts your hands, I wanted to say but held it in. Rough fingers tickled the side of my hips, moving up along my body. The touch was agonizingly slow. “I… I don’t know yet. I’m sorry Bokuto, but I am sure that I like you. A-and I did like the kiss.”

His movement stopped. For a second I thought I said something wrong, but then Bokuto leaned forward. He placed more weight on my back and wrapped his arms around my abdomen. His head settled on my half bare shoulder with his hair brushing against my collarbone.

“Of course, it’s fine Akashi. I’ll wait as long as it takes, do you like this though? Am I allowed to show my affection?”

As always, he is understanding and caring. Bokuto is perfect for me. “Yes.”

With that simple word, Kou leaned closer to my face and pecked my cheek. He smiled at me before letting go of my body to finish changing.

“Be ready.” Bokuto said with his hand on his doorknob. I tilted my head, “what why?”

Kou didn’t answer, he only opened the door.

It happened in a flash, one moment Kou was standing up. The next he was pinned down on the ground with a figure hovering over him. The figure had pure black hair and a slim frame. “I expected more baby bro! We need to come by more often.”

From the voice I could tell the person was a girl. She fell down, taking a seat on Bokuto’s back. The gray-haired man grunted from the impact, his hands struggling in the woman’s grip. “I’ll get you next time Meg.” Bokuto said while turning his head.

His eyes landed on mine, “this is my second eldest sister.” The girl turned her head to me as well.

She had perfect golden eyes, a pointed nose, and short black locks. Her brows were thick like Bokuto’s but not arched. She was gorgeous.

“Megumin at your service! Meg for short! And you are…” She trailed off and scanned my body. My face flushed red, “oh no it’s not what it looks like.”

The black-haired woman’s cheeks puffed out. A laugh flew past her lips, “oh I didn’t think so. My little brother will be a virgin forever.” Bokuto gritted his teeth and tried moving his hands, “shut up Meg!”

The woman continued to laugh; she seems just as carefree as Kou. “I couldn’t have said it better myself Meggie.” Kuro snickered, giving a high five to the sister.

“You’re in the same boat as my brother Kuro, I would not be talking.” A more mature voice called out. There she was, the eldest of the family, Ai.

The woman was tall, taller than me. Her white hair ended a little past her back with golden earrings peeking through. Her white brows were arched, and her nose flattened a bit at the tip. Ai had her arms crossed over her chest, covering the mid-drift her crop-top exposed. Just like the rest of the family, she was stunning.

“Demon…” Kuro whispered under his breath. The eldest smiled at me with her arm stretching out to grab Kuro’s ear. “What was that? I thought I heard you cluck something rooster.” Ai threatened while Kuro hissed in pain.

“Nothing, nothing at all!” Kuro exclaimed, wincing at the pressure on his ear. Ai let go of the raven-haired man and Bokuto spoke, “these are my sisters. Ai and Meg.”

“Hey.” Ai waved with a sweet smile that Kuro struggled not to scoff at.

“Hey hey!” Meg cheered. She hopped off her brother and darted towards me, “what’s your name?”

I got nervous from how close she was to my face, “Akashi Keiji.”

Ai pulled her younger sister back; she could tell I was not one for close proximities. “It’s nice to meet you Akashi.” She bowed her head to me and whispered something I couldn’t quite make out. I wonder if the sisters remember me.

The two sisters caught up with their brother while I took a seat on the couch next to Kuro. I couldn’t help but stare at the beautiful family, I could never be that close to mine.

“Don’t forget what I told you.” I turned my head to face Kuro. He was rubbing his eyes while putting all his weight on the cushion behind him. “Kuro… I don’t think I can lie to him for that much longer. I-I know I left him-“

A long sigh from Kuro made me pause. The couch ruffled as the tall man stood up, “give me two weeks, three at the most. Right now, I need to clear my head.” I nodded to Kuro as he strolled across the room.

Third pov

Kuro joined the family only to say his goodbyes. Bokuto protested of course, but Kuro insisted that he should leave. “I’ll walk you out Kuro!” Meg offered.

Both walked outside and down the stairs of the apartment complex. “So that’s him huh? I haven’t heard the name Akashi in such a long time.” Meg hummed. She watched as Kuro winced from her words, getting memories he never wanted to revisit.

Meg stopped in front of the raven-haired man. She was two inches shorter than him, making her up to his forehead. “Meggie, I don’t want to talk about this.” Kuro tried pushing the small girl aside, but she wouldn’t budge.

“You need to talk about this, you haven’t talked about it in so long.” The woman’s words were soft, but her glare was stern. I should have left before the girls got here, Kuro thought still trying to push her away.

“Kuro-“

“Shut up Meggie I don’t want to!” Kuro snapped. His voice echoed through the halls of the complex, tears about to flood his eyes. Meg wrapped her arms around the taller man, “Kuro… I know, ok?”

A silence settled in the air. Kuro’s head fell on the girl’s, trying and failing to hold back his tears. “It’s not your fault…” Meg’s words only made Kuro crack more. He pulled the woman closer, stuffing his head in her chest.

She could feel the man’s tears through her shirt but said nothing. Meg only trailed her fingers through Kuro’s hair softly.

She hummed a small tune, knowing it would calm the male down. The sisters have known Kuro just as long as Bokuto. Meg is third in line for the people closest to him. Second being Kenma and first being Bokuto.

The two parted after a few minutes. Kuro whipped away his tears, “I’ll be going now Meggie.”

“Not without me.” She insisted once more.

“Meg-“

A jingle made Kuro’s eyes widen, “how can you go anywhere without your keys Kuro?” The sister shook the keys between her fingers. Her wide smile made Kuro sigh, “you are more of a pain then your brother.”

Meg chuckled, “where do you think he got his tricks?”

The two walked away, only one of them knowing that someone was watching the entire scene. Before Meg disappeared from view, she gave a thumbs up to the person above them. Ai shook her head with a sigh before entering Bokuto’s apartment again.

“Did you give Meg her wallet?” Bokuto asked, unknown to him that it was only an excuse to go outside. Ai smiled, “yes, now what’s been up with you.”

Ai took a seat next to Akashi, the question was directed to him. She noticed how tense the younger man was, “I’m guessing you’re not use to attention.” Akashi gave her a slow nod.

“Looks like somethings haven’t changed.” Ai watched as her words made Akashi’s eyes widen. She turned her head and leaned on the couch, “hey Kou, what’s with the kitten?”

Bokuto stayed in the kitchen, rambling about the small animal. Ai’s attention was split in half. She heard the story from Kuro yesterday.

“I’m guessing you remember me?” Ai asked in a whisper. Her head stayed in Bokuto’s direction, nodding to him once and a while.

“Yes, I didn’t think you would remember me.” Akashi replied in a low tone.

“How could I forget the anti-social kindergarten my little brother fell in love with.” The eldest sister didn’t have to turn her head to know Akashi blushed. She remembers Akashi’s personality quite well.

“I remember the first time I met you too, looks like you have changed a little.”

The conversation ended there. Bokuto joined the two on the couch and later Meg came home still with Kuro’s keys.

The four spent time together with the past never coming up in conversation. Akashi eased himself around the sisters, he knows they would never do anything to hurt him. He was only antsy about seeing them after so long.

Akashi Pov

Bokuto slouched in his chair, his face disgruntled. “Your cheating Ai admit it!” Ai waved her fake money in front of her face like a fan. The cocky smile she wore made a shiver shoot down my spine. Her and Kuro scare me.

“I am sorry baby brother, I have no clue what you are talking about.” She said in an innocent tone, even though everyone knows she was not innocent. Meg nodded along, “pay up Kou or you’re out!”

The eldest sister held out her hand with an evil aura. Bokuto fell back in his seat, looking down at the limited money he has. “Here Kou.” I placed a few bills in the gray-haired man’s hand.

His eyes lit up, “really Akashi? Thank you!”

I shook my head, “it’s not a big deal-“

“No! He can’t do that, there must be a fair trade.” Meg exclaimed with a pout. Ai shook her head in agreement.

I turned my head to the sisters, then to Kou, “I don’t want anything.” Bokuto smiled at me and placed a hand on my cheek. Next thing I knew, his lips were on mine for another innocent kiss.

Kou pulled my face closer, making the kiss harder and more profound.

“Hey that’s not fair!” Meg shouted.

“Yeah, seduction is not a good payment.” Ai mumbled.

Bokuto smiled into our kiss and pulled away, “doesn’t matter. Akashi loves my kisses!” I stayed quiet, not wanting to confirm or deny the claim.

Ai sighed, “whatever, I win regardless. You should take Akashi home, it’s late.” Bokuto agreed and stood up to get ready. I was still dressed in Bokuto’s clothes, except now I wore one of his jackets instead of his jersey.

I said my goodbyes to the family, but before I left the room Meg pulled my hand. “Why don’t you come to Bokuto’s practice match! He is having one against Kuro’s college team! You should come, we will be there.”

Meg jerked her thumb towards Ai, the eldest’s eyes stayed on mine. Bokuto’s hand fell on my shoulder, “you don’t have to Akashi.”

I turned my head towards Bokuto’s and placed my hand on his, “I can’t wait.”

#haikyuu scenarios #haikyuu fic #haikyuu fanfiction #haikyuu ships #haikyuu au #haikyuu fandom #haikyuu art #haikyuu #haikyuu fanart #haikyuu!!#bokuto x akashi #bokuto #koutarou bokuto #haikyuu keiji akaashi #akaashi scenarios #haikyuu akaashi #akaashi keiji #kuroo scenarios #kuroo testuro

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osakaso5 · 4 years

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Momo White Special Day Rabbit Chat Part 5: White Special Day!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Tsumugi: Hello, Momo-san! Great work at today's White Day live! I was deeply moved by how amazing your show was! It was a huge success!

Momo: Good work at the live, Maneko-chan! And the wrap party, too~! Me and Yuki are back at our hotel room, safe and sound! |*´▽`*)*´▽`*)ノ

Momo: The medley live with everyone was so much fun!!!

Momo: I wanted to hear more IDOLiSH7 and TRIGGER songs, not to mention sing more of our own songs! (ノ≧▽≦)ノ

Momo: We did a medley this time, but it'd be nice to get a bunch of other idols together to sing together in harmony!

Tsumugi: Right..!

Tsumugi: But I feel like we got to show off everything we've learned over our time working with Re:vale and TRIGGER!

Momo: All the time we've spend playing around and drinking together definitely showed in stuff like when we timed the medley switches!

Momo: IDOLiSH7 and TRIGGER have good insticts for live concerts, so even if it was just for a short time, watching them made me extremely happy! (人´ω`*).☆.。.:*・゜

Tsumugi: It was very exciting to see, even from a staff perspective!

Momo: The artificial snow thing you suggested was so pretty, too! It was so sparkly that for a second, I forgot all about the concert and just stared at it! 。*:゜☆\(*'∀'*)/☆゜:。*。

Tsumugi: Thank you! It made the stage look like a starry sky, so just seeing it from backstage was impressive!

Tsumugi: Re:vale's fanservice during the MC corner was fun!

Momo: It's White Day, after all~! We wanted to do a little something for all the people who support us!

Momo: Having time specifically for fanservice makes things easier for Yuki too, so he did a lot of stuff! My heart was doing backflips just seeing it happen right next to me!

Tsumugi: A lot of the requests you got were fun to watch!

Momo: We get those a lot, lololol A lot of our fans know how to have fun, lololol

Choices/outcomes:

1. "Momo-san, do muscle training!" was a good one!

Momo: It gets really bad when there's more than one or two of those, lololol Ryu-chan taught me a new technique recently! The burpee jump!

2. "Yuki-san, don't fall asleep!" was a good one!

Momo: He can stay awake during lives at the very least, lololol Yuki's a big old sleepyhead! But sometimes he'll only pretend to sleep, so I kinda really like waking him up (●´艸`)

3. "Re-enact NO DOUBT!" was a good one!

Momo: We can't do the chase sequence version during long lives because it's too tiring, so today's was a really rare treat!

Momo: And lately, they've had more fans with fanservice prompts we can't fulfill on them!

Tsumugi: There are requests you can't do!?

Momo: Yep~! Though they're ones both me and the fans would like! "Give me Yuki-san!", or "Yuki-san, make a weird face!" or "Yuki-san, take off your clothes!" are all no good! (≧◇≦)✗

Tsumugi: What do you do when you see those requests?

Momo: We cross our arms, frown, and shake our heads (≧◇≦)✗

Momo: Either that, or I step in for a pinch hit! (*・ω・)_/彡

Tsumugi: I'd still be happy to receive either of those!!!

Momo: They've been trying to come up with more funny ones recently, so seeing their fans makes me laugh sometimes, lololol

Tsumugi:Did you see any funny ones today?

Momo: I did!

Momo: "Are you"

Momo: "feeling"

Momo: "itchy anywhere?"

Tsumugi: lol

Momo: Seeing something like that's bound to make me go "Why would you ask that now, lololol"!!!

Momo: Good thing I didn't see that while we were singing, lol

Tsumugi: Would that have been bad? lol

Momo: Totally, lololol Now that they know Yuki can't stop laughing once you get him started, they're always aiming for it!

Momo: But I really love how they joke around without even being told to, it's so much fun.

Momo: I know they put a lot of thought into our concerts, including what kind of fans they'll make, so I want to repay them for that any way I can.

Tsumugi: I'm sure your White Day gift reached them!

Momo: Thanks! The live was shorter than normal, but we got some feedback that let us know we were communicating just as well as usual!

Tsumugi:

Tsumugi: By the way, is Yuki-san resting already?

Momo: Yep, he fell asleep right after the wrap party! We've gotta get up early tomorrow.

Momo: It's a shame we can't have hotel breakfast with the others, but do let them know that we had fun! (人´ω`*)

Tsumugi: I will! I'll message Yuki-san again tomorrow morning.

Momo: I think I'll head to bed, too! Thanks for everything, Maneko-chan! ヾ(*´д`*)

Momo: Let's work hard to have fun and be happy!

Tsumugi: Yes! I can't wait to work with you again soon!

Translator’s notes..?

next up, momo’s 12 hits rabbit chats!

#idolish7 #momo #white special day #translation #re:vale #rabbit chat

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oncloud999 · 4 years

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Jikook - an essay apparently

Ok I have a lot of thoughts lately and no where else to express them.

I’m a fairly new fan and while some of my friend irl know about this, its too embarrassing for someone of my age to still be into shipping or whatever, so no that’s not getting out there...

anyway. So i only joined the fandom maybe mid last year and initially didn’t ship anyone cos I’m honestly over that. But then I thought V and kook looked cute together so I looked into their stuff a bit. I still didn’t really ship them but did have a preference for the two of them together, more like bros and bffs rather than anything romantic because i just don’t get that vibe from them. I do have a friend in real life (who’s actually korean... ) who was into JiKook being a couple which I thought was odd because a lot of the shipping things come from their skinship and I thought she’d be less affected by it cos she’s korean but....

anyway, even when i was more into vkook, i saw a lot of jimin and jungkook together that did make me raise my eyebrows. like their firework vid and the pics and vids of them spending time together after concerts. i also did come across some photos of jimin and jungkook hanging out. i also watched a few jikook analysis videos and scoffed at them because honestly, you can make them out of anybody if you focus on certain things.

anyway, fastforward to a few days ago, i don’t even remember what i was doing, but somehow i started seeing jimin and jungkook together as something more than just friends or bros. I mean whatever relationship they have, it’s clearly very special. you don’t plan your world trip during your long awaited holiday around your friend’s bdays unless they’re REALLY special. Jimin flew across the world to be with jk for his birthday before the next leg of his trip. i mean, yes, you can argue that he needed to come back to pack or whatever, but there are easier ways to do it than coming back for 1 night and then flying off again. he could’ve flown from paris to hawaii directly.

so to keep my sanity, i need to somewhere to write out why and why not i think they’re a couple or whatever...

Reasons why I think they’re a couple

- they’re super close. they definitely hang out outside of their group activities and enjoy spending time with each other. as previously stated, jk obviously means a lot to jimin for him to plan his trip around jk’s birthday. they always talk about hanging out late into the night

- their tokyo trip and gcf. i’m not even going to go into it cos people have already talked enough about it, including the two of them. it especially means a lot cos jk obviously doesn’t like travelling all that much

- even before a couple of days ago, i have noticed sometimes namjoon getting in between the two of them when they’re being a little too flirtatious

- their onscreen flirting is something else. like you can see it as fanservice, but the two of them get so into it and what gets me the most is when jimin gets super shy and giggly about it and then sometimes have to walk away from jk. there are also moments that are not specifically on screen that’s very odd. like when they were in that run bts ep in canada and rm suddenly asked them if they were a couple cos they’re wearing matching clothes. and it’s not even like that time jin asked where it was directly in front of the camera. they were literally having a conversation in the background when whoever it was was playing that keeping your eyes open game and they were just taking photos in the back.

- they are way more into touching each other than any other members. like jimin especially will hug and touch the other members, especially taehyung, but it’s never the hanging off each other, purposely seeking each other out on a huge stage for some contact sort of thing. jin and jk are also really touchy but they’re so bro about it

- taehyung... if they are a couple, i would peg tae and jhope as the two who definitely know. taehyung during that one vlive where he was like, jimin wants to come, but i think jk won’t let him... at 1 am in the morning. also see below the uncertain section

- during their earlier days, jm clearly seems to have a crush on jk and jk seemed to very purposefully avoid that. they seem comfortable with each other now but defnitely there was a time that it got awkward when jm talks about how much he likes jk or wants to kiss him or go on a date with him. it could all be for fanservice again, but then he was kind of hurt when jk would not play along.

- jm softens so obviously when it comes to jk. it’s not just the occasional fan accounts or whatever, like when they say that jm is a hard ass until jk comes along and he softens. when he did that v live with rm, the moments when he’s softest is when he was talking about practicing with jk. the only other person he’s soft with is taehyung but even then it’s not that often

- jm sharing friends with jk. when they went out around town in london with jm’s friends. they are clearly jm’s friends and jk just tagged along... apparently, jm doesn’t like sharing his friends? but apparently it’s ok for jk. even if they’re like brothers, i don’t really take my brother around with my friends... and if jk wants to see london as well, i’m sure he could’ve gone with one of the other members or the managers like how they sometimes do when it’s just one of them going to do something. i would personally find it more awkward hanging out with my friend’s friends than people i already hang out with

Reasons why i don’t think they’re a couple

- it’s all too in your face. if it’s real, i wonder if they wouldn’t try to hide it better. or maybe they think the fans just think it’s fanservice anyway... it’s hard to tell. if it wasn’t so in your face sometimes, i would be less skeptical

- they still seem very bro-y to me a lot of time. like jimin seems to take care of jk a lot and the way he takes care of him is far more motherly/older brother

this list seems short but i think they’re both very important points.

anyway onto points that are maybe... because it’s speculation

- they may both have girlfriend. there’s definitely been rumours about both. and some more reliable than others. the one thing that goes against either having a girlfriend more recently is.... jm going on a trip around the world with his friends. if he did have a girlfriend or partner, you would think he would want to spend whatever time he has off with them, especially cos their holidays are so infrequent. and if you want to make the point that maybe his gf was busy, well, you would still try to spend whatever little time you ahve with them rather than going around the globe (again) with your friends. the only reason you wouldn’t stay in one place to spend a lot of time with them is if... you already spend a lot of time with them when you’re working lol. jk did have that maybe-maybe-not girlfriend during that time. i think if it was something, then it’s probably over now (poor girl, she was bombarded...) and it clearly means jk didn’t have anyone at the time. or she really was just a friend and it was blown out of proportion (again poor girl if she was dragged into this for nothing...). long story short. they’re either a couple together or they don’t have anyone in the recent past at least. we don’t know. but also there’s that clip from 2018 where jm was trying to convince jk to go on a trip with him around the time of jk’s birthday but jk refused. lol

- the whole jk/jm sharing rooms, hiding in each other’s room sagas... it definitely seems like there’s other people in the room when they do their lives sometimes. especially the ones that people have pointed out like osaka with taehyung and that one time after eat jin last year when everyone crashed the party when jk was throwing a fit. interestingly, that is also one of the most uncomfortable vlives i’ve seen when it was just jk and jm at the beginning. the chastised and shy look on jm when the camera first panned to him, the weird looks, the funny touches. like what, i felt like i had to give them their alone time. and then the doorbell. now going back to why i think tae knows. in both these cases and another one (that i don’t know the time of), tae comes and refuses to leave when jk clearly asks him why he’s there and when he would go. (the one last year especially makes me want to laugh so badly cos jm esp was trying so hard to get everyone to leave). he’s probably trolling them by giving them grief. anyway, there are a lot of analysis videos etc on youtube. i won’t go into it further

- them rings. the rings they apparently bought in tokyo and still wear together or separately to this day. they definitely have them and they definitely wear them. again it could just be “friendship rings” but... yeah.

- sharing clothes. a popular trope of why people are together. i mean jk and tae actually seem to share the style of clothes more but they tend to have their own (like those modern hanboks, they both have them and don’t seem to be sharing). where as jm and jk apparently actually share clothes... again could be bro behaviour or whatever, but then why doesn’t tae and jk share? they’re definitely more similar in built and style.

- lately there seems to be a lot of taekook. apparently i just read that there’s been a lot of noises from taekook fans and maybe homophobic fans to bighit to try to get jikook to tone it down. and obviously there’s been a few times that jk’s behaviour has upset taehyung’s fans especially (and tae himself lol) so maybe it’s to make amends for that... they were really going at it at the golden disc and grammys. but even their more touchy stuff on stage like during bwl perfs during the concerts, their touches don’t seem very flirty.

as to whetehr i think the rest of bts knows... i think they suspect but as i said before i think only tae and jhope knows for sure. jhope cos he’s pretty close to both of them and tae because he constantly seems to be trolling. but jin, rm and suga... maybe they suspect or just think jk is that friend that hates people getting close to their best bud, but who knows. rm maybe knows more recently because he’s definitely coming between them more.

will we ever know. probably not. not while they’re popular and not while their country (or the world) is still so homophobic and don’t like their 40 year old celebrities to be in a relationship. maybe one day, we’ll hear that even after they’ve stopped promoting as a band, they’re still housemates or whatever. but that’s probably the most “confirmation” we will ever get. but as long as they’re happy, i just really hate seeing them sad. i just wish the world was less toxic towards them. or the world needs to be less toxic in general.

the relationship i enjoy the most within bts is actually the one between jin and jungkook cos they are actually hilarious and chaotic together, but somehow jikook seems to have more of a romantic edge to their interaction.

even if they’re not a couple, they definitely have a very strong bond and very close. whatever it is, they’re clearly special to each other beyond being friends or bandmates. maybe it’s better if they’re friends because couples break up but friends rarely do...

anyway, this turned out much longer than i expected but i’m glad to have put my thought into some kind of coherent-ness... and off i go onto the delulu train.

#jk #jm #jikook #kookmin

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shijiujun · 5 years

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History3: Trapped FanMeeting Summary - I am an embarrassment to this fandom

Okay guys let me summarise what happened today for the fanmeet - I fucking, absolutely fucking died - Like I died both from excitement and quality content and more importantly, for BEING A FUCKING EMBARRASSMENT IN FRONT OF CHRIS BUT MORE ON THAT IN A SEPARATE FUCKING POST OH GOD

General comments on the event: Chris and Jake’s friendship is okay I think, and I guess putting it in perspective, Andy and Kenny are way better at fanservice and knows what the fans want, while Jake firstly isn’t really the kind to really go overboard on the fanservice with Chris due to his personality I feel, although there was still quite a bit of fanservice between them both - But it was more genuine I feel because Jake or Chris would jump in with something clever and a bit flirty, it felt really natural actually - And also because Jake srsly looked confused half the time regarding what they were supposed to do for the games and segments - More on that below

But more importantly I think jake is legit busy with work, and he’s not really a person to do stuff on social media, it’s not in his personality but he tried today hahaha with a post after the event - jake says that whenever he logs on once in a while he always sees chris’ handsome photos and he looks so good, and chris replied that jake looks... down to earth in his photos hahahahaha

So a few highlights:

Freebies!! There are so many freebies from dedicated Taiwanese fans literally just giving out shit for free - banner prints, stickers, hair clips, photo cards etc. - We took a lot and we’re going through what we have right now, but would you guys want some of the freebies? Let me know!!! If the shipping cost makes sense I’m totes fine with sending you guys some of the loot

Saw Jake’s back going into the building in the morning in front of all the fans because I was too slow but I did see his back

WeStar is literally in the heart of downtown and it was frickin packed - We started queuing at like 11am+? And there were only 2 lifts to get everyone up to the EIGHTH FLOOR and each lift could only hold like less than 15 people? And there were like 700 of us. Luckily my friend and I were in the front of the queue and managed to get upstairs with the second round of lifts (the staff were asking some of us to take the stairs because it was faster, and it wouldn’t be faster if I died on the stairs while getting upstairs)

In terms of organisation - It wasn’t half bad because we were lucky where we were, we were always in the right queue and right area, but there were literally zero directions or instructions on where to queue or how to go upstairs etc. etc.

Too bad we were seated in row 16 which was actually pretty far, and we were blocked by too many people in front of us and i’m literally like 157cm so wow I really was blocked really bad BUT we could still see the stage

There were like two tables in the hall that allowed us to leave gifts for the four of them - So in my other video you guys saw that I actually did deliver the message books! They’ll definitely get it I think, no chance of it dropping out or mistaken for anything else considering the covers

The event actually started more or less on time - And the hosts were great - There’s Xiao Yi and Chen Chen (they’re both hosts from showbiz, the variety show) and they were fucking good as hosts - Xiao Yi has hosted quite a number of their events, and if it wasn’t him the event would have gone a bit differently

They started singing the opening song for the show first together, coming on stage and like rotating turns to sing a line - They tried the boyband formation it was quite hilarious

They introduced themselves as always - And can I be the one to first say that Jake’s fugly shirt - Fashion was absolute shite at his event - At least Chris had like a suit on even tho i take issue with the print on the suit itself, but wow Jake really went for... wannabe gangster loan shark OR grandmother’s quilts put together - i dont know which is worse idk guys, is it just me or my eyes or is it really fugly - Andy and Kenny were perfect tho

So they began with some best couple scene recaps through the show:

Jack/ZZ - 1st grandma/instant noodles scene, and the ep 20 scene where Jack is trying to confess to ZZ while ZZ is angry

Tangfei - Jealous andy scene at the tea place, the touching hospital scene, and the lift scene from ep 1

They recapped these scenes one by one, alternating btw the couples and then the hosts asked what they thought about each scene when they were filming it and LOL jake and chris were like laughing and being embarrassed when certain scenes came on, and then for the 1st grandma/instant noodles scene, kenny said it was a really cold day that day when he filmed that scene and the noodles were actually ice cold and he had to keep eating it - andy like patted kenny on the back

for the touching hospital scene - jake said that it was easy to act out because the emotions always came through the moment he looked at chris, and chris said he was really touched by that moment, by jake’s acting

the lift scene was quite tough to act out because of how long they took to get the logistics right

And while the angry ZZ and jack scene from ep 20 was being shown on the screen, ON STAGE kenny and andy were literally reciting their lines and re-enacting the scene

And then Xiao Yi asked the audience which scenes would we like the couples to act out - and everyone was just yelling for the lift scene re-enactment - but logistically that was hard to do and chris was like, “if there’s no lift we can’t do the scene!!!”

Then Andy and Kenny offered to be the walls of the lift for them but Chris was like whoa then that’s a bit weird because when Jake is slammed against the wall in the lift, that part, Jake will turn around and crash into Andy hahaha so they decided to re-enact the jealous scene instead - with a few additional lines hahaha and then andy and kenny re-enacted the part where jack asks zhao zi if he wants him to stay or go

and then the next segment - there was a game where each couple is supposed to stand together on a piece of newspaper and play rock-paper-scissors, and whoever loses will get their piece of newspaper torn into half - in the end chris and jake won hahaha but both jake and kenny ended up being piggy-backed by chris and andy respectively hahahaha it was cute

then chris and jake went off stage to take a short break, and since andy and kenny lost, they were punished to do the titanic pose and lines which kenny had to do in half english and chinese

then jake came on stage to sing I’m Yours - he was super nervous so he false started a few times, but he was pretty good and he has a very nice smooth tone - and i think a lot of people didn’t know the song in the audience LOL and then as he left the stage after his performance he left a bouquet of flowers for chris who was coming up next

chris came up after to play the piano and sing some chinese song i’ve heard before but don’t know the name of - and then after he finished he was very touched by the bouquet and then some member in the audience shouted to ask for the bouquet and chris protectively hugged it, but decided to give her one stalk anyway, and when he was giving it out, jake literally came out and then chris was explaining to him like why he was giving away his gift, and jake said, “yeah that’s okay, he knows my heart” AWWWW

then they all came back on stage for a segment of talking where Xiao Yi revealed their childhood photos - jake/kenny/andy were very talkative and chatty when they were younger and andy was isolated in the middle of the classroom, while kenny was directly placed outside of the classroom because he was so noisy, and omg jake was a little chubbier when he was younger and he didn’t like to study HAHAHA

chris was a shy boy and still is apparently!!! and he got a lot of love letters when he was younger and he couldn’t believe that jake/kenny/andy didn’t get any, and then when jake’s childhood photo came out he jokingly said, “now i can finally understand why (you didn’t get any letters”

then we had andy and kenny singing and dancing to marry you totally out of beat, poor guys they tried, and kenny totally missed an entire line, but they were so sweet - they ran off the stage and threw sweets at the audience, and andy said he was thankful to kenny for practicing the dance repeatedly with him because he’s not good at dancing and then they hugged awww it’s cute

fan games: LOL okay so interesting thing was that all the fans said they didn’t want to play the games with the cast but instead wanted to watch the cast play the games so in the end they randomly chose four of the audience to go on stage to watch the cast play the game LOL - so the ones picked were two men and two women #genderequality

1st game: chris/jake and jack/kenny had to feed each other a sushi piece i think, or a pastry i’ve no idea but one of them was filled with chilli, so the challenge was for the audience to guess which of the four of them ate the chilli one, and jake said he can’t stand spicy food and if he had it he’d totally show it on his face - in the end it was kenny who ate it and literally no one could tell

then the second part there was a huge confusion because the hosts weren’t very clear on who was supposed to play the game in the next part - anyway, so they had a how-well-they-know-the-cast quiz with the fans - and here we know that chris likes blue, winter because that’s his birthday period and then he and jake had a moment where they were like ‘oh your birthday is in december too?!!!!’ LOL, kenny likes to eat bbq meat

then the next part, they had the fans on stage and jake + andy drink a sweet drink and also a bitter drink, everyone had to figure out who is the one with the bitter drink and lol jake was so sweet he didn’t want the fans to be punished with the bitter tea, and chris said that he’ll help him to finish the drink if it’s really bitter, and jake was like, “because you’re here, i’m not scared”

afterwards, ezu came out to sing a ballad version of the opening song that made people around me cry hahaha

and also kenny announced a third fanmeeting stop in taiwan after chengdu, on 18 august in taichung

and then there was the hi-five touch and photo thingy - and you guys already know that i fucked it up i am still wanting to cry - i know he doesn’t remember but god I WANT TO BE THE ONE WHO DOESN’T REMEMBER

but i touched their hands hahaha

anyway at the end, jake said that no matter where he is, where we see him in the future, he’ll always be the same jake, and i think this is beautiful

they had the afternoon tea party after the event and from photos i see that it was like a mini-fanmeeting where fans could sit closer to them and really like be able to talk to them, and jake/chris and andy/kenny were very friendly and accommodating from what i see

when we went back to the building at about 6.20pm there was still this long queue outside the entrance, and i went for dinner so i didn’t actually stay to wait for them to come out, but a lot of fans did - jake was surprised so many people were waiting for them outside and he left first - andy/chris/kenny left together in a van and chris was holding a huge bouquet of flowers

if you go on twitter/weibo you can see that jake talked to a lot of fans, said hi to the ones who called out his name, and someone asked if he was tired and he said he was still okay

chris was bowing repeatedly the entire time he was walking through the crowd to the van <3

#history 3: 圈套 #history3圈套 #history 3: trapped #history3: trap #history3: trapped #chris wu #andy bian #jake hsu #kenny chen #history fanmeeting #taiwan fanmeeting #history party #summary #trapped news desk

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owletstarlet · 6 years

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Owlet’s inevitable Natsume Yuujinchou movie spiel

Ok, so the Natsume movie. This is a collection of my impressions and things I found significant, but it is spoilery as hell so it's under a cut, so if you want the plot to be a surprise maybe don't read this. And this with the caveat that I understood the gist of the movie but my Japanese is still really, really awful, so anyone who sees the movie who can understand Japanese well (like the folks at @apta-scans) are more than welcome to correct me on any of the details.

So first off, the youkai (the main one, though there are actually three in the story). He's the spirit of an old tree, and he has the power to alter memories, and to impersonate humans and use memory manipulation to integrate himself pretty flawlessly into people's lives. And everything about him breaks my heart. There's an elderly woman in the story who'd met Reiko once when she was a teenager (who Natsume comes across because he saw her in another youkai's flashback while returning a name), and the youkai is pretending to be her adult son so that she won't be lonely. He'd been hiding away in the tree for years and years before that point, but the woman came first as a child to the small shrine beside the tree and kept coming back throughout her life, and the impression I got was that she' s unable to have children (I may be vastly wrong about that, again anyone feel free to correct me), but the bottom line is she's lonely, and he doesn't have anyone either, so he finally leaves the tree so he can give her a family. I won't say how it all pans out, but in typical Natsuyuu fashion I wanted to ugly-cry in the theater.

Second, the mini-Nyankos, if anyone wants to know how that went down, more or less what happens is that Sensei eats fruit produced by the youkai's tree (three gourd-looking things that have little cat-ears and are striped orange and gray, hrrrrm....), and then the next morning he becomes three of himself and none of them are able talk. And the Dogs' Circle is unsuccessful at both babysitting the minis and keeping them from running away and getting lost. It becomes clear that the minis have some of the effects of the tree in making people forget things/altering people's memories (Taki finds one of them, and ultimately winds up believing she's the granddaughter of the elderly woman, and forgets who Natsume and Tanuma even are). Also. I don't need to say this but they're so cute, holy shit.

Third, it was brief but I think that the most poignant moment in the whole movie for me is when, after it's clear that the minis are altering people's memories, Natsume wakes up from a nightmare that the Fujiwaras straight-up forgot who he was. He wakes up yelling, and he just. Scoops up the only mini-Sensei that hasn't run away by that point, wordlessly holds him close, and is just so visibly shaken. Just the prospect of it is so terrifying to him, because for him the Fujiwaras are the foundation of his entire current life and without them he's faced with the prospect of having nothing and nobody all over again. Very well-done and very *ouch*.

Fourth. Tanuma, my boy. When Natsume loses two of the three minis, and Taki's mysteriously vanished too, Tanuma asks him what's going on, he sits him down and explains everything, and accepts Tanuma's help. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, ahem. And we got, just. A whole bunch of screentime of the two of them working together to Solve Problems (and my shipping heart was thrilled). And I think it's telling in terms of Tanuma's character development, too, that when shit hits the fan and Natsume knows he's going to have to face down a Big Bad Youkai (different one, not the tree youkai), he tells Tanuma to leave and go meet up with Taki, and Tanuma immediately agrees and goes. Was it hard for him to do that if Natsume was going to be in danger? Probably. Has he learned after Omibashira that he needs to trust Natsume's judgment and recognize his own limitations? Yes, and I am very proud of him.

Fifth. Natori. He does have a legitimate plot-pertinent reason for being there (he and some other exorcists have heard of the aforementioned Big Bad Youkai and are in the town to try to stop it), and in the end Natsume does need his help to seal the youkai, but the other fifty percent of his being there is absolutely for fanservice purposes (complete with his skeevy soundtrack theme that I hate). And naturally, he shows up and tries to exorcise the tree youkai, who is not the youkai he's after, and Natsume steps in to stop him like Oh My God Why Are You Like This. However. The two reasons I was glad he was in the movie are: him laughing at one of the mini-Nyankos and then promtply (and satisfyingly) getting whomped in the face for it; and then all three of the shiki getting a chance to shine and demonstrate what sexy scary badasses they are while aiding the exorcism.

Sixth. I'm not completely clear on everything that happened here because the language barrier really got in the way here, but Natsume meets someone who at one point was a childhood friend (I think Yuki was his name?). And when Natsume goes to move towards him to say hello, the kid kind of freezes up then flinches away, and Natsume's pretty bothered by it. We get a flashback of the two of them in elementary school, and they were friends for a short time (I *think* he may have told him he could see youkai, this is what I'm not clear on, and I wanna say that Yuki wasn't bothered by it and thought it was a neat secret, but I didn't understand enough to confirm that). Anyways the two of them go off into the woods to a waterfall one day, and there's a youkai there that threatens them, and Yuki goes to throw a rock at the waterfall and Natsume tackles him to the ground to stop him. And it shows them walking back home, and they're both a little battered and dirty, and Yuki's walking way ahead of him obviously hurt/confused/mad and Natsume just looks miserable. Anyhow, the movie ends with the two of them meeting back up in the present, and reconciling (I'm not sure but I think Natsume tells him he was just lying about the youkai stuff and that he's sorry, I really need to watch the movie translated because I want to know exactly what was said). I think it's good that the movie depicted that Natsume did have people who wanted to be his friend, but that those people ultimately hurt him or didn't stay. But the reconciliation scene showed that the bad endings didn't have to stay bad (Shibata's character serves the same purpose, what a tool, I love him).

Anyways. My general takeaway from the movie is that all your memories are crucial to who you are as a person, the bad and the good, and for Natsume personally, the bad gave way to the good and was necessary to arrive there. That's all for now, I'm probably going to see it again with a friend next weekend so I'll add more to this if I see fit but mostly I can't wait for there to be a translation available. This movie was so amazing, and so very worth the wait.

#natsume yuujinchou #natsume yuujinchou movie #natsuyuu #natsume's book of friends #natsume takashi #tanuma kaname #nyanko sensei #taki tooru #natsume yuujinchou film #tanunatsu

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gaywheesa · 6 years

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TWICE | Other Female Idol Flirts with S/O

A/N: Thank you for requesting!! This has lots of mentions to other female idols in other groups or solo, but no hate to them! I love all of the girls mentioned here. Some of these are where the reader is the 10th member of Twice or a member in another existing group, but Mina's has a random rookie idol if that's okay.

➜ masterlist.

♔

▻ JIHYO

Jihyo watched as Suzy, her sunbae, walked into the practice room. It was fairly early in the morning and you were waiting for your dance trainer to come in and help you all learn the new choreo. You and the other Twice members were pretty fast learners, so it was no rush. But still, you were very tired.

Suzy had two cup holders in her hands, each holding 5 small cups of coffee. Your members all sighed in relief and thanked the smiling soloist.

Once Suzy gave you your coffee, she smiled at you widely. "Hi, (Y/N). How have these past few days been for you? You have another comeback soon!" You smiled at her and took a sip of your coffee.

Jihyo watched from across the room as she stood against the wall with Sana. Sana was talking to her, but she couldn't concentrate very well. She overheard the last bit of conversation in which Suzy asked, "well, maybe tomorrow me and you could get some coffee together, alone?"

Your girlfriend's eyes widened. It's not like she could do anything. Your relationship was practically secret; besides each other's parents. Jihyo was a bit scared of the answer you'd give to Suzy, but you rejected her softly, telling her you had plans. Suzy was very understanding and then left the practice room.

You walked and stood by Jihyo, trying to make it the least obvious that you possibly could. You grinned at your girlfriend who immediately smiled back. You leaned against the same wall she was on, then, with your hands behind your back, you held onto Jihyo's fingers. Her heart raced as she giggled quietly and continued listening to Sana.

▻ NAYEON

You knew Jennie, who didn't? And you also knew she was close with your girlfriend, Nayeon. You were still a trainee at JYPE so no one really knew of you, but Nayeon and you started dating just like that. She loved you so much, but it was a big risk to tell anyone. Currently, only Momo knew about it, but she kept her mouth shut often.

Nayeon and yourself were on a little date at the cafè when the doors came open and in came the brunette herself, Jennie. She had Lalisa by her side, as well. But you were kind of intimidated as she walked over to your table with a smile on her face. Both you and Nayeon wore hats on to hide your face from anyone who wanted a picture or something, but Jennie didn't seem to hide it as she yelled, "Nayeon!" You looked around but no one seemed to notice.

Your girlfriend stood up and gave Jennie a hug, followed by Lisa. "Who's this?" Jennie asked in a sweet voice, holding out her hand.

"Oh, this is (Y/N). She's a trainee." Nayeon said. You stood up and took Jennie's hand and shook it, then turning to Lisa and doing the same.

Lisa and Nayeon seemed to be caught up in a conversation, but Jennie seemed to be pretty interested in you. "How long have you been a trainee?" You answered a lot of her questions as well as asking your own, but it got a bit awkward when her final question came up. "So, um, you seem nice. Do you want to, like, go somewhere sometime?" Jennie asked awkwardly.

Nayeon's eyes widened and she grabbed your wrist quickly. "Um," she chuckled, "we have a lot of practicing to do. And JYP is planning to film a lot of it. I don't know if she'd be ready." Nayeon's fingers tapped on your wrist and the both of you smiled at the Blackpink member.

"That's fine." Jennie smiled, and her and Lisa sat down across from you and ordered their coffees.

▻ JEONGYEON

The members of TWICE and Park Jinyoung knew of you and Jeongyeon. You were a soloist under JYPE who had debuted about a year before TWICE did, but ever since then, you and Jeongyeon had been dating. It was practically a secret to other JYPE artists, but it didn't make your relationship any less exciting. You'd join them on variety shows and whatnot, and fans simply thought of you and Jeongyeon as close friends or fanservice, but it was obviously more than that. You're often at the TWICE dorms with her and no one getting in the way. It was nice, at the moment. But you knew you'd either get caught or have to come clean someday.

You, TWICE, GFriend and Chungha were on a Variety Show together. The hosts on the show were asking each person who they'd like to be closer with out of the other artists there that day. When it came to you, one of the hosts said, "(Y/N). Which one of the other artists in this room would you like to be closer to?" Before you could answer, he quickly added, "besides Jeongyeon."

You all burst out in laughter and watched as some of the knowing TWICE members laugh nervously in panic. After a quick look at Jeongyeon, who was trying to make it not as awkward as it was, you spoke up and said, "SinB!"

The member of GFriend smiled at you, and the camera panned to her as she winked your way. Everyone laughed as you covered your mouth, seemingly hiding your blushing face. Jeongyeon tried to make it less obvious as it was that she was jealous, but she just faked a grin.

"Jeongyeon, you look angry." The same host joked, gaining more and more laughter from the other girls in the room. Jeongyeon awkwardly giggled and shook her head.

Truth is, Jeongyeon was very jealous. She just wanted to come out and say the two of you were dating right then and there, but she waited it out.

▻ MOMO

You and Jimin were very close, and Momo knew all about it. How Jimin used to cheer you up close to debut, how she help with singing lessons and memorizing lines; all of it. Jimin was very supportive of you and your career, but after you and Momo started dating, Momo couldn't help but feel slight jealousy whenever she saw you and Jimin hanging out together.

You were a soloist who's been with JYPE for over 4 years now, and it couldn't have been any better. Especially with close friends such as Jimin, and of course your girlfriend, Momo, to help you out.

It was at the JYP Nation annual concert where Momo seemed the most down. You and Jimin were singing a duet together with Momo watching from backstage. When Jimin kissed your cheek, the crowd roared even louder than they already had. Momo grew worried about what that was. Why would Jimin kiss you? Even if it was just on the cheek?

Sana nudged Momo with her elbow. "Hey, what's up?"

"You know what's up," Momo sighed. Sana rolled her eyes, then put her hand on Momo's shoulder.

"It's fine. It's fanservice. You've done that stuff with me before." Sana explained.

"That was before I started going out with (Y/N)." Momo said sadly. The performance came to an end and you ran backstage and right into your girlfriend's arms.

"How was I?" You asked with a huge smile on your face.

Momo smiled as well. "You were great! I never heard of that song? JYP is going to make you record a studio version, I can just feel it." You giggled and kissed her cheek before she went on stage to perform with the other member's of TWICE.

Nearing the end of the performance, when JYP was singing on stage, you and all the artists were preparing for the finale where you all got to sing and dance together.

Once you finally got on stage, the show went great. Fans were screaming the entire song and you and your labelmates were having a great time even if it was hard work. When the song ended, the crowd was roaring and waving around lightsticks of their favorite JYP artists. You laughed and ran to Momo, giving her a backhug and kissed her cheek, making fans who were looking cheer.

Momo explained to you why she became jealous, but then realized it was stupid and held your hand as you walked off the stage.

▻ SANA

TWICE was performing their comeback stage and fans were so riled up. They barely paid attention to you and Chungha, whom were MC'ing together, but rather the excitement of being able to see TWICE. But that didn't stop you from putting your all into introducing their favorite artists with Chungha.

Sana watched the TV in the dressing room as your smile lit up her mood. You looked so amazing even if you were just introducing artists to a silly script.

Sana watched as the station got back from a commercial break and your eyes sparkled. Chungha looked at you and back down at the script in her hands.

"(Y/N)! You look so pretty today!" Chungha said, holding a hand to her heart. Sana raised her eyebrows and Chaeyoung laughed as she nudged her.

"Oh, really?" You said, seeming to stare at the script. Chungha nodded.

"Do you know what else is pretty?" You asked. Chungha smiled and put on pouty lips.

"Me?" Chungha asked. Chaeyoung giggled at the TV and looked over at Sana who seemed to be enjoying this as much as her.

You shook your head and read from the script again. "No! This next group!" You proceeded to introduce the girl group to the stage as Sana laughed.

"Sana, you better go get her." Chaeyoung giggled. Sana shook her head and stood up, ready to get her hair done. Once her hair was finished, Sana and her TWICE members were ready to go up on stage.

You introduced them with Chungha and they sang their song while ONCEs in the crowd cheered loudly for them, doing the fanchants perfectly and waving their Candy Bong's around. You and Chungha made small talk until the performance that wrapped up the show was over.

After the camera stopped recording and fans exited the building, you ran backstage and into TWICE's dressing room. The other girls were gone except for Sana who was packing some things into her bag. You smiled at your girlfriend and wrapped your arms around her.

Once she saw you, she turned and laughed. "(Y/N)! You look so pretty today!" Sana said in a teasing voice, mocking the script that Chungha said earlier. You scoffed and pulled yourself out of the hug but Sana put her arms out and wrapped you in them again.

"I'm sorry! It was so funny! But also really cute." Sana smiled and gave your cheek a soft kiss.

▻ MINA

You were one of TWICE's managers and you were about to leave to go home. Until your girlfriend, Mina, pulled you back into the hallway with a smile. Your relationship was very secret, but you didn't seem to hide it very well. Lots of artists and employees under JYPE caught on to your flirting but simply didn't say anything.

“(Y/N), we're throwing the new group a party! They just debuted last Wednesday so we're celebrating it now. Can you stay?" Mina asked with her hand wrapped around your wrist.

You sighed but gave in to her cute puppy eyes, walking back into the practice room. Jihyo and Jeongyeon began lighting candles on a cake that read Congratulations on Debut! and a few cute hearts and smiley faces. "They'll be here any minute. Tzuyu and Chaeyoung went to tell them to come to practice. It's gonna be like a prank, you know?" Mina smiled at you as she let go of your wrist.

Around a minute later, the newly debuted girls were heard from outside of the door. Sana ran and shut the lights off and pushed Jihyo and Jeongyeon into the other room. The girls all came in and you heard them all very confused, asking someone to cut the lights on. Mina held your hand. The lights flickered back on just as Jihyo and Jeongyeon walked back in, holding the cake out to the girls. Many of them covered their mouths or their hearts, smiling happily as you all sang their debut song.

A bit after everyone got their piece of cake, Mina got up to go to the bathroom from the small bench sort of chair from next to you. But almost as soon as she left, one of the members came and sat next to you. She was about 4 years younger than you. The rookie smiled at you. "Hi, (Y/N)." She seemed to get a pink tint to her cheeks rather quickly when you smiled back at her.

"So, um, do you know if you'll be joining us for any future concerts? Or fansigns? We have a fansign in 2 days. Will you be there?" The girl talked quickly and it was obvious that she was sporting a crush on you. Before you could answer, your girlfriend walked back into the room and raised her brow when she saw the rookie idol making googly eyes at you. But once the younger girl saw Mina, she got up, bowed to you, and went to talk with her members.

Mina grinned and sat down next to you, crossing her legs in the process. She giggled. "She seemed to like you."

"Yeah," you laughed. You looked over at Mina who stared at the new idol from across the room, then stared back at her feet. You chuckled and then looked around the room to see if anyone was watching, then wrapped your fingers with Mina's. Mina smiled her gummy smile while staring at your intertwined fingers and giggled.

▻ DAHYUN

You and Dahyun were two idols who were known to have a strong friendship, but what the public didn't know was that you were dating for over a year now. You could be seen walking together and the internet would go crazy over how sweet your 'friendship' was. The other TWICE members knew, so did you families and JYP, but other than that, you didn't know if you were ready to come out and say you were together.

You were at a music award show. TWICE, you, and almost every other group and soloist was there. You loved going to award shows because you had so many idol friends and tons of idols came to talk to you to make friends with you. Plus, the music was always great.

By the end of the night, you had 3 awards and your girlfriend's group had 4. You and everyone else were smiling happily, some even crying tears of joy. You were all standing on the stage, Red Velvet on your right side and Loona on your left. The member's in your group were seen having a good time dancing to the music that was playing, holding your awards, and fans took lots of photos of you all.

Irene from Red Velvet nudged you with her elbow. You turned towards her and smiled, giving her a small wave. The two of you had talked before but not much, but she was a great person, you knew that much. You and Irene had a conversation for about 7 minutes before the awards show was practically done. The artists were getting off the stage and Irene placed her hand on your shoulder and nodded with a grin as a way to say goodbye. You smiled and bowed to her as she walked off with her group.

TWICE started making their way to your side of the stage to get off. Your members were caught up in conversation as you began walking off stage as well, when you felt your girlfriend's arms wrap around your waist and her chin fall on your shoulder. A few fans still in the building were laughing and cheering while taking photos.

"What was that?" Dahyun asked quietly but playfully. You giggled and tried to get out of her grasp but she held you tightly. "Huh? I thought you loved me!" She playfully said.

You laughed and she let go of you. "I love you," you mouthed your words to her as she took off with her group. She gave you finger hearts and then turned back around and started waving to her fans.

▻ CHAEYOUNG

You were the 10th member of TWICE and were dating Chaeyoung. You and Chaeyoung had been dating predebut; even before you each became trainees. Chaeyoung and yourself were pursuing your dreams as idols together, and neither of you would want it any other way.

TWICE was invited to shoot a variety show with Red Velvet and Blackpink. You'd participated in many variety shows before, so you knew how it went down. However, the last time you were with Red Velvet somewhere, Yeri ended up being very close to you. Chaeyoung got jealous fairly easily but she was great at hiding it.

It was about a half hour into the program and you were all paired up with different members of different groups to do a three-legged race. You were paired up with Yeri while Chaeyoung was paired with Jennie.

Chaeyoung already looked uneasy about this, but she hid it so no one would suspect anything. You and Yeri's ankles were tied together and your arms were around each others shoulders as you smiled at one another. "Ready?" Yeri asked with a laugh.

You nodded and the hosts blew their whistle, and you and Yeri began hopping to try and win the race. Everyone was giggling and laughing, and so many teams tripped over while doing it. You and Yeri were close to the finish line along with your girlfriend and Jennie, but you hopped too soon and Yeri fell forward, causing you to tumble onto her.

Everyone in the room was laughing, including the hosts, and everyone began singing the famous romantic song. You and Yeri were laughing while Chaeyoung and Jennie passed the finish line, then you started to crawl your way over it.

It was all fun and games until it was over, and Chaeyoung seemed pretty upset about it backstage. No one was within earshot as she crossed her arms over her chest and you placed a hand on her shoulder, asking her what's wrong.

"Did you mean to flirt with her like that? Or was it all fan service this time?" Chaeyoung asked quietly, a slight shaky tone in her voice.

"Chaeyoung, don't be like that." You pleaded. Chaeyoung stared forward as you ran your fingers up and down her arms. When she continued to give you the silent treatment, you leaned over and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"Are you crazy? We could get caught!"

You started giggling and Chaeyoung tackled you in a hug. You mocked her previous voice. "Are you crazy? We could get caught!" You exclaimed while giggling as she gave you multiple kisses all over your face.

▻ TZUYU

At an awards show, your 5-member group was doing a special stage collaboration with another 5-member group, Red Velvet. Your girlfriend, Tzuyu, was a member of TWICE and was proudly watching you from her circle table.

Tzuyu was smiling as the 10 spotlights shined on you and the 9 other idols, clapping her hands with everyone else in the room and cheering for you loudly. The music started and it was a mash-up of one of Red Velvet's songs and one from your group's that had surprisingly fit together. Many people were out of their seats and clapping their hands while screaming your name and other idol's names, swinging their lightsticks around.

Tzuyu's face showed pure glee, but quickly changed when a part of the choreo involved you and the Red Velvet member, Joy, to press your hands together, gaze in each other's eyes, turn around and stand back to back, then hold hands for a few seconds before going back to doing the rest of the dance. Your girlfriend didn't get jealous a lot. She never had no reasons to be, really. She knew you loved her a lot and vice versa. But something about another idol doing it seemed off to her. She tried convincing herself that it was fan service but she couldn't stop thinking about it the entire night.

Especially because once the award's show was completely over, she saw you talking to Joy in front of her group's van, both of you laughing while Joy's hand held onto your shoulder. Tzuyu couldn't hold back when she quickly walked over to you and smiled towards Joy.

"You both did great tonight!" Tzuyu exclaimed. Joy gave her her signature eye smile and the two of them talked for a bit, but you knew that something was up with your girlfriend. She wouldn't usually go over to other idols on her own terms.

"What's going on?" You whispered to her after Joy got in her van. "Meet me at my dorms." Tzuyu asked.

You did just that. Once Tzuyu invited you inside, she pulled you into a tight hug. "What's this?" You chuckled, wrapping your arms around her. Tzuyu rested her chin on your shoulder. "I admit it, I'm jealous." You giggled, "Tzuyu, dont be jealous." Tzuyu leaned back and gave you a kiss on the lips, then you pulled her by her hand to her room and cuddled for the next hour.

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askthedespairkids · 5 years

Text

Chapter 2: Lost in Sacrificial Fate ~Daily Life Part 1~

//Hoorah! Chapter 2 of DKronpa (as I will now call it) will finally begin, the daily life gonna be split up this time around because there was a lot more to write about and it would just be easier to have it as two separate chapters.

//So each daily life chapter is gonna have a bonus event, and this one will be your required fanservice bonus event (probably gonna have another one to stretch across guys and girls)

//Hope you enjoy and hopefully you’ll look forward to the next chapter

-Chapter 2 Daily Life, New world-

The next morning, we all gathered in the cafeteria. Needless to say, the mood was tense. We were all still feeling the pressure of reality from what we saw yesterday. Well…almost everybody. Kurosaki-san was sitting by himself, humming away without a care in the world. I still can’t get that image out of my head; his grin at Kibe-san’s…

“Nagata-kun, you look really tired. Did you have trouble sleeping too?” Ram-san brought me back into the real world. She looked tired as well, Okanaya-san not so much, but he certainly wasn’t smiling. It had drawn a few surprised looks when he turned up, but everyone simply went back to their breakfast.

“Sorry, I’m fine. Just…thinking, I guess.” I murmured my response. Ram-san nodded, probably not wanting to press me any further on the matter. I was glad she was aware when to give me some space. Okanaya-san was sitting with us, eating obnoxiously loud. I know I invited him, but I might end up regretting that decision.

“Fuck, I didn’t even realise how hungry I was!”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full…” I said, slightly annoyed. Okanaya-san stared at me for a second and in that moment, I realised who I had just said that to.

He swallowed his food. “Right. Sorry ‘bout that.” He apologised.

“Oh~? Nagata-kyun did you manage to tame the beast? How amazing!” Kurosaki-san smiled.

“Eh? You wanna say that to my face, bastard?!” Okanaya-san stood up suddenly, cracking his knuckles.

“O-Okanaya-san, c-calm down!” I said. Okanaya-san looked at me and sat down with a huff. He’s actually kind of childish, isn’t he?

“W-well, it’s certainly lively.” Ram-san commented with an awkward smile, “It’s nice though. It feels less tense all of a sudden.”

“You’re right, Fraulein! After all, it’s been so weird that everybody’s been hung up on Kibe’s execution!” Kurosaki-san laughed. Everyone froze and looked over at Kurosaki-san. Nobody wanted to bring it up, yet he was able to speak about it to casually as if what we all say yesterday didn’t have any effect on him.

“Nagata…” Okanaya-san fists tightened.

“He’s not worth it…” I murmured, not completely sure if I believed that myself. I almost went back to my food but heard the sound of something getting hit hard and the sound of a crash. I turned to see Kurosaki-san had been knocked off of his chair and Amaterasu-san was standing over him.

“Scum.” Was all she said, an animalistic glare in her eyes. “I don’t care about how you feel towards Saori-chan. You’re scum for laughing at her death.”

“H-Hokama-san…” Kurohiko-san frowned. Amaterasu-san turned and looked at him with her usual blank expression.

“Call me Amaterasu.” She said before sitting down again. Kurosaki-san stood up, rubbing where he was punched. He didn’t seem to mind, there was still a hint of a smirk visible. I don’t get this guy at all.

“Geez, you guys can’t go two minutes without wanting to fight, huh?” Monokuma said.

“Uwah?!” I nearly fell out of my chair when I came face-to-face with the bear.

“Kya!” Ram-san squeaked, standing up suddenly.

“Oi, what the fuck’re you doin’ here?!” Okanaya-san cracked his knuckles.

“See what I mean? Always with the violence. Teenagers, I swear. Is it those hormones? Are all those pent-up hormones making you lash out? Or maybe you had a rough childhood. You wouldn’t be the first.”

“Th-the fuck?!”

“Can hormones pent up?” Irunami-san asked.

“Shut up.” Sly-san said. “Monokuma, what do you want? You never appear unless there’s something you need to tell us.”

“See, this is how you treat your headmaster with respect! Well…not really, but he’s doing better than the rest of you. But you’re right! I have a very important announcement! A new world has opened up for you now that you’ve cleared the class trial!”

“Huh? A new world?” I repeated.

“Yep yep! You know those stairs by the storage room that were blocked off by that grate? Well, I opened them up! You can go up to the new world awaiting you! Hope you enjoy exploring this new land, so…I’ll see ya later!” And with that, Monokuma disappeared just as fast as he appeared.

“A new world, huh…?” Graves-san pondered the idea for a moment. “Alrighty, let’s go and check it out! Sly can lead the way!”

“Hmm? Why me?”

“Duh! If something dangerous appears you can deal with it!” Graves-san smiled and help up a peace sign. “I believe in you, home-slice! I’ll be right behind you, from a safe distance!”

“I doubt there’ll be anything dangerous…let’s just hurry up and see what this is all about.” Sly-san began walking.

-Chapter 2 Daily Life, Surface-

“Wh…what is all of this…?” It was an unexpected sight. When we went up the flight of stairs, we found a set of doors. I expected another floor, not…this. We were greeted by a massive courtyard and four buildings in different directions from a fountain in the centre. And to create the perimeter is a massive wall at least 20 feet high. We could see the sky above us…where the hell are we?!

“We’re outside?” Sly-san takes in the view. “This is odd. Something like this should be impossible to hide from the world…what’s the meaning of this, I wonder?”

“Y-yeah, we’re all being forced into a game like this. The world should definitely be trying to do something about it, and yet…how can a place like this exist are we’re still trapped here?!” Kurohiko-san shuddered, scared of the possible explanations.

“There’s no point thinking about it. Let’s split up and investigate.” Shinko-san suggested.

“Let us go in pairs then. We can learn more of our new surroundings whilst enjoying the company of each other.” Ishikawa-san smiled.

“Oh! I can help with that!” Hachi-san clapped their hands together and produced 14 sticks. “There are two of each colour, so everyone picks a stick and see who they end up investigating with!” Everyone went one at a time and drew a stick until Hachi-san was left with one for themselves.

We all paired off quickly. Asano-san ended up with Ishikawa-san.

“Asano-sama, let us do our best in our investigation together.” Ishikawa-san bowed.

“Of course, if that’s what you wish of me.” Asano-san nodded.

Amaterasu-san and a flustered Kurohiko-san walked away together. Hachi-san and Irunami-san walked away as well, though part of me thinks the sticks were rigged when the snickered to each other. Sly-san walked away, not waiting for a very excited Kurosaki-san.

“Ah, looks like we’re workin’ together!” Graves-san threw an arm around Yokozawa-san. Yokozawa-san seemed surprised at the sudden physical contact.

“U-um…yeah. I guess so.” Yokozawa-san nodded awkwardly. “I’ll try to not slow you down…” His voice trailed off. I guess he really isn’t that good with social interaction. He left with Graves-san who leading the conversation between them as he just silently nodded along.

Shinko-san and Ram-san was definitely the weirdest pairing out of the group. Weirder than Ishikawa-san and Asano-san…maybe. But with all of them gone, that left…

“Just you an me then.” Okanaya-san smirked. “Though there’s so much shit to look at. Where the fuck do we start?” Good question…

-Chapter 2 Daily Life, Fountain-

Okanaya-san and I arrived at a large foundation that marked the middle of the courtyard. It was a statue of a Monokuma dressed like a cherub, holding a jug that sprayed out water into the pool. It felt almost peaceful here with the sound of the running water filling the air. If it weren’t for the massive wall encasing us, then I might actually be able to enjoy this.

“Hmm…” Okanaya-san studied the fountain.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. Okanaya-san seemed to mull over something for a few seconds before shaking his head.

“Just stuff I’m thinking about. I’ll tell you about it when we meet up with everybody else. It’s just one of those things I feel like everyone should hear together, y’know…?” I wasn’t sure what could be going through Okanaya-san’s head, but I wasn’t going to question it.

“This fountain is nice, don’t you think?” I asked. I dipped my hand into the water. It was cold. Not sure what else I expected.

“Gross, do you normally stick your hand in fountain water?” Okanaya-san frowned. I could feel myself blush, I’m not even sure why I did that either. I guess in situation, my instinct just told me to inspect everything. “But yeah, it’s nice. Décor isn’t necessarily something I have strong opinions on, but it would be nice as a landmark. Though I wish it wasn’t Monokuma’s stupid fucking face up there.”

-Chapter 2 Daily Life, the 2nd Building-

Okanaya-san and I stepped into the building that was to the right of the dorms. A large extravagant looking building both in and out. The first room was like a foyer, a large staircase went up two floors from where we were. A building with three floors, but probably still isn’t taller than the wall outside.

“This place is pretty dazzling. It’s almost too bright.” I commented as we walked further into the foyer. “Seriously, what kind of building is this anyway?”

“Welcome, welcome! This building is the leisure building!”

“Gwah!” I jumped back into Okanaya-san when Monokuma appeared.

“Geez, kid…are you gonna do that every time I appear?” Monokuma looked down, almost seeming depressed. “Anyway, as I was saying. This building is a leisure building. A place you can relax! Here on the first floor you can find a swimming pool! On the second floor, you’ll find an amazingly chilly ice rink! And on the third floor is an auditorium! A place for shows and such. Y’know all that drama crap?”

“When did you build all this?” Okanaya-san questioned.

“Hmm? I wonder…when did I do all this again?”

“Bastard, just answer my question or I’ll beat the shit outta you!”

“O-Okanaya-san, calm down. You know the rules, you can’t hurt Monokuma…!” I tried to reason.

“It’s bullshit, Nagata! Nothing is right here!” Nothing is right…? What the hell does that mean…? Okanaya-san mentioned he wanted to tell everybody something, is it related to that?

“Bullshit or not, I don’t actually have to answer any of your questions. Not right now anyway. Maybe I can in the future when I think it’ll make things more interesting…” Monokuma chuckled before disappearing again.

“Fuck this…seriously, fuck this! Fuck that Monokuma bastard and fuck this stupid killing game and fuck wherever the hell we are right now!” Okanaya-san slammed his fist against the wall. “Nagata! We gotta find a way to get outta here! Let’s fuckin’ do this!”

“R-right…” Okanaya-san still gets fired up really easily. Though I suppose it’s not always a bad thing.

-Chapter 2 Daily Life, Cafeteria Meet-up-

“Okay, so now that we’re all back, should we start thinking about this whole new world shit? It’s weird, right…? This dorm area is basically a basement area. Our perception of our location is completely different now…” Shinko-san said.

“Hachi, if you would?” Sly-san asked.

“Of course! No problem!” Hachi-san clapped their hands together and produced two maps: one of the courtyard area and one of the leisure building. Seriously, where did they get those? “So, let’s start off with the courtyard!”

“As we already know, the building to the right of the dorm entrance is the leisure building. Kurosaki and I tried to enter the other buildings, but they were all locked.” Sly-san said.

“Not just that but each building’s exterior designs are all vastly different. And that one building that’s to the left of the dorm entrance…it’s like a serious accident occurred there. The first floor was in tact from the outside, but everywhere above was completely destroyed almost as if it was burned.” Kurosaki-san put his hand to his chin in thought.

“But that’s weird, right? We haven’t been here long so I doubt an accident like that could occur. There’s no fire safety measures here that could deal with a fire of that size.” Amaterasu-san said.

“You mean it was built to look like that? Wouldn’t it be tricky to fake fire damage?” Ram-san asked.

“We have already seen a few unbelievable things, is it really so impossible?” Ishikawa-san said. “It’s possible that the building is a key the puzzle that is yet to be answered: for what reason have we been forced to participate in this game?”

“You really think that building has something to do with it?” Hachi-san asked.

“It’s not impossible. Though with the building still inaccessible, we can’t answer that question for sure.” Kurosaki-san shrugged. “Another interesting point about the courtyard is that massive wall. How could anyone manage to build something like that?”

“No exit either.” Amaterasu-san said. Huh? No exit? “Doi-chan and I went around the whole perimeter of the wall and we couldn’t find any kind of door. We’re completely caged in.”

“There might not be a door in the walls but there was that massive door with all the locks we all saw when we first got here. It’s possible that door leads to a tunnel that goes under the wall, right?” Yokozawa-san suggested. I remember the door, yeah. It’s definitely the exit if there’s nothing along the wall.

“So, we need to find a way to open that door. Easier said than done.” Shinko-san said.

“We can cross that bridge later. We’re always learning more about our surroundings so maybe we’ll find something that’ll point us in the direction of how to open that door.” Kurosaki-san smiled.

“Then let’s talk about the leisure building! Ha-chan and I went exploring in there and it was suuuuper cool! I’ve never seen anything like it!” Irunami-san beamed.

“Right, we looked around the top floor and found all kinds of cool stuff!” Hachi-san followed. “Let’s see…there was a room filled with different props and costumes, an awesome auditorium! There was a door in the auditorium that went backstage to some dressing rooms and a storage room for things like lighting and stuff! It was so amazing!”

“On the first and second floor was a swimming pool past some changing rooms, and an ice rink, respectively. I searched around but there was nothing of note. Nothing that could be used to get outta here.” Shinko-san sighed.

“So, there wasn’t actually anything in the building that was a clue to unlocking the door…ah man! I thought Junpei and I really did well in our investigation!” Graves-san complained.

“It wasn’t much of an investigation it was just you dragging me around everywhere and pointing at stuff…and call me Yokozawa, calling me by my first name is way too casual.” Yokozawa-san complained.

“That’s so many syllables though! Junpei is a lot easier to remember!” Graves-san argued with a smile.

“Sorry to interrupt, but can I say something?” Okanaya-san stood up, grabbing everyone’s attention. I’ve never seen this expression on his face before, it was unreadable, “…so, uh…I was suspicious about it, and I feel like I need to share with the group. After seeing the above ground areas…I have to conclude we aren’t in Hope’s Peak.”

“Huh? Well…that much was obvious, right?” Yokozawa-san shrugged.

“But…gah, how I explain it? There’s problems with it not being Hope’s Peak, but there are problems with it being Hope’s Peak too…” Okanaya-san struggled. I do remember when I talked to him on the first day…

“Okanaya-san said that the structure on the building we’re in now was definitely part of Hope’s Peak. Uncopiable designs and little details. Yet this clearly isn’t the main school building, as the above ground area showed us.” I clarified. This detail seemed to get everybody’s attention.

“If that is the case…then what of our location? It must be Hope’s Peak, yet it cannot be.” Ishikawa-san frowned.

“Maybe Hope’s Peak’s team had a part to play in the creation of this site?” Sly-san suggested.

“Hope’s Peak was built over a century ago. It would impossible for any modern-day builder to reconstruct it perfectly.” Okanaya-san discredited. “It’s like…there’s only a piece of Hope’s Peak here. It was stolen and placed here.”

“It may be a clue to whoever is behind our situation.” Asano-san finally spoke up. A clue to whoever brought us here. The mastermind, in a sense.

“Someone really knowledgeable about Hope’s Peak, clearly.” Amaterasu-san said. “Though without any evidence around, we can even begin to think of who it might be.”

“It might not be just one person. It’s more likely to be some big organisation with how much production went into all those buildings and that wall…yes an organisation of some kind is a much more likely culprit.” Kurosaki-san nodded at his own theory.

“What kind or organisations would have the kind of funding it would take to pull something like this off?” Graves-san asked.

“My agency. Possibly Graves’ agency as well.” Sly-san said. I suppose assassins would get paid a lot, and if Graves-san is an agent for the government it makes sense that they would have lots of money.

“Though outside of just ourselves, there’s also the Togami corporation. Or the Kuzuryuu clan.” Kurosaki-san added.

“Y-you think the yakuza did this?!” Kurohiko-san went pale.

“It’s a very low chance.” Amaterasu-san reassured him. “Plus, they’d need a motive for doing it all, and I doubt any of us are linked to either of those organisations Yuuki-chan mentioned.”

“Hokama is right-“

“Call me Amaterasu.”

“-It’s more likely to be some kind of organisation that’s actually linked to one of us. Though we obviously know little about each other…there must be some connection between us all.” Sly-san murmured.

“Well, we’re all Ultimates. Th-that’s something.” Ram-san scratched the back of her neck as she thought. It’s true. The only thing that really linked us all together was our talents. Other than that, we don’t have anything in common as far as any of us know.

“Unless we all have a mutual acquaintance?” Kurosaki-san smirked. Huh? “Simply throwing the idea, you see. It’s possible we all know the culprit of this incident but don’t realise we all know that person.”

“Th-that’s…kind of hard to wrap my head around.” Kurohiko-san said.

“Kurosaki, stop trying to raise the tension of our situation.” Sly-san warned, “…this is enough. We should get some rest. This day has been a lot for many of us. Let us work hard tomorrow, agreed?”

-Chapter 2 Daily Life, Motive-

That night, we were all gathered in the gymnasium after hearing Monokuma’s announcement. It was a much tenser feeling than the last time this happened since the last time we were summoned to the gym all together…no, it’s not worth thinking about. There’s no way we’d let another…it won’t happen!

“God fucking dammit…” Okanaya-san cursed, “I don’t need this shit right now…that Monokuma bastard is just gathering us here so he can-“

“No no no, don’t even say it! I don’t wanna hear it!” Kurohiko-san covered his ears.

“Kurohiko-sama, please do not act like a victim. It will not help your chances.” Ishikawa-san sighed.

“S-so harsh! That was totally uncalled for!” Kurohiko-san looked ready to cry.

“Yeah, you’re totally savage!” Monokuma’s voice echoed throughout the room. We all looked over to the podium where the bear was kicking his legs in the air without a care in the world. I hated how his relaxed nature made him that much more menacing.

“Gwah!!” Kurohiko-san yelped, latching onto Amaterasu-san’s arm. She simply patted his head as he whimpered behind her.

“Jesus kid, grow some balls.” Monokuma growled. “Anyway, I bet you’re all wondering why I decided to summon you here?”

“Yeah, but if you don’t want to tell us that’s totally fine with us…” Yokozawa-san tried to smirk, but it was clearly faltering.

“As if, nerd!”

“N-nerd?”

“Well, he’s not wrong.” Graves-san said.

“N-nobody asked!” Yokozawa-san flushed.

“As I was saying though. Iiiiiit’s motive time! And I think it’s a pretty good one this time!” Motives…last time it was our unfinished business. Is this going to be something similar, “For this new motive, it doesn’t have a time limit like the last one, so it’ll just apply to the next murder! For the person who kills and wins the class trial…they’ll get one free wish from yours truly!”

“A…wish? What does that entail?” Ishikawa-san asked.

“Ya curious? I don’t blame you! Humans always have some kind of wish. Something that if they had the chance to make it happen, they would take it without hesitation! So, if you guys kill and clear the class trial, you can ask for any wish from me! Even…to spare everybody else from execution.” Monokuma’s eye flashed.

“S…spare us all from execution…?” Irunami-san repeated.

“Of course! One life traded so that everybody can live? It’s a win in the end, don’t you think? So, go ahead and give it a good think through! I know it’s hard to come up with a wish, so…I’ll see ya later!” And with that, Monokuma disappeared.

“If we kill…we could save everyone else from execution…” Irunami-san said it again, slowly a smile formed. “Monokuma-chan’s really trying this time, huh…? There’s no way that what he said is true. Letting us all live would go against the whole point of putting us in a killing game. Don’t’cha think, Ha-chan?”

“U-uh…yeah.” Hachi-san stepped back, a little surprised by Irunami-san’s odd expression.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s the truth or not. Nobody is becoming a sacrifice.” Amaterasu-san said.

“What if someone volunteered though?” Kurosaki-san said.

“Should I take the initiative then?” Sly-san’s flashed a dagger from seemingly nowhere. H-has he had that on him the whole time?!

“It was simply a suggestion. If someone volunteered to be the sacrifice, then it makes it a little better, morally. Am I wrong?” Kurosaki-san grinned, “we’re in a game of life and death so I believe we should all work together and end it as soon as possible. If anyone wants me to kill them, I’ll gladly use my wish to save everyone else.”

“Oi…!” Okanaya-san stepped forward.

“Ah, another fight? Are you going to do this after every motive reveal? Though I don’t have any keys on me this time around, so it’s okay~!” Kurosaki-san half-sang the final sentence. “Though it’s not really a great alternative either. Monokuma’s probably like a genie. A wish like that probably wouldn’t end the killing game.”

“Wh-what…?” Kurohiko-san frowned.

“Confused? Think about it. Simply wishing for nobody to be executed is easy enough…but that doesn’t mean they get to leave with the culprit. And saying they wish to end the killing game…well, that was already going to happen, so that doesn’t save everyone from execution.” Kurosaki-san explained. So, what he was saying is that this motive can’t actually get us out of here with just one death.

“That doesn’t matter…” Ram-san said.

“Huh? Did you say something?” Kurosaki-san smirked.

“W-well…what I mean is…I don’t think anyone will kill…after what we s-saw with Watanabe-san and Kibe-san…I j-just can’t believe anyone w-would kill again…” She fiddled with the strand of hair going down the centre of her face. Kurosaki-san stared at her in surprise for a moment before chuckling.

“How surprising. A girl who can’t even tell us her real name is giving us all a motivational speech. Well, you may be right. It would be nice to think that nobody else will try to kill…though I doubt Monokuma would ever allow something like that…”

Ram-san seemed really bothered when the subject of her name came up. I’ve not actually asked her about that yet, but…I don’t really think it’s the type of thing she’d want to talk about. I want to believe her though, that nobody else is going to kill…that nobody else will have to die.

-Chapter 2 Daily Life, A great idea!-

We all ate in peace the next morning. Well, almost peace. Hachi-san, Shinko-san, and Irunami-san were all mumbling to each other at one of the tables in the corner. It wouldn’t be odd if Shinko-san wasn’t with them. Plus, Ram-san was more poking at her food as if deep in thought about something important. However, I couldn’t complain since Kurosaki-san wasn’t saying anything annoying this time around.

“Alright, commoners, listen here! We have an important announcement to make!” Shinko-san stood up on the table and clapped his hands together.

“Who is he calling common?” Okanaya-san glared.

“I know you’re all feeling extremely lost because of yesterday, but don’t worry because I’m going to solve all your worries with one simple plan! Using the auditorium from the leisure building, we’re going to hold a talent show!”

“A…talent show…?” I repeated.

“Right! Ha-chan, Shin-chan and I all came up with the idea! We figured it would be a good way for us all to get closer to each other, so let’s work together to make this happen!” Irunami-san beamed.

“We all plan on doing a little 20-30 minutes set each, but if anyone else wants to participate then feel free to let us know! It’ll be a lot more exciting if we have more acts in it.” Hachi-san added on.

“Come to think of it, even though we’re Ultimates, a lot of our talents are really…talent show talents…” Ram-san noted.

“I can probably do something.” Amaterasu-san stuck her hand in the air.

“You’re gonna steal from people as an act?” Shinko-san looked unsure of the idea.

“I can sing.”

“…eh?” He tilted his head. I think there was surprise from everyone in the room. Amaterasu-san looked around the room and cleared her throat. The sound of her singing voice filled the room. It was some kind of sad song but as Amaterasu-san sang I couldn’t help but feel myself relax in my chair. Her surprisingly soothing voice was like a mother singing a lullaby to her child.

“Wh…” Kurohiko-san stared in awe when she finished. “A-Amaterasu-san, that was amazing! H-how are you able to do that?! I can’t sing at all!”

“That’s just because you’re untalented.”

“Y-your just said it straight…” Kurohiko-san sighed.

“Please sing at the talent show.” Asano-san suddenly spoke, her eyes showing a never before seen glimmer. “You have a special second talent, I wish to hear more of it. I hope you do not mind that I made a request without being asked.”

“You don’t have to say it like that. I don’t mind if you ask, and I was planning to anyway, if it’s alright with those three.” Amaterasu-san pointed at Shinko-san, Hachi-san, and Irunami-san.

“O-of course! I’m not unreasonable for fuck sake!” Shinko-san covered his face, clearly trying to hide his flushed cheeks.

“Ammy-chan, we’ll give you a slot so don’t worry about it!” Irunami-san nodded confidently.

“Then we’re gonna need everybody’s help to pull it all together! I can draw up some plans and we can meet in the auditorium around lunchtime, all good?” Hachi-san asked. Everybody agreed quickly. “Great then, that’s all!”

-Chapter 2 Daily Life, Bonus: Man’s Confidence-

“Nagata-kun I have a serious problem…!” Hachi-san whined.

“Huh? Wh-what’s wrong?”

“Well…Kurosaki-kun wants to join in on the talent show and we’ve been brainstorming ideas for his act. We got an idea he was happy with, but the problem is that it requires a costume…but we couldn’t find anything for it!”

“What kind of costume are you looking for?”

“A cowboy one. We found a good hat for it, and Kurosaki-kun already has boots for it but we don’t have chaps.” Hachi-san sighed.

“Actually, I got some from the school store when I was messing around with the Gacha machine. I could give you those if you want.”

“Huh?! Really!? Nagata-kun, you’re the best! Bring them to the auditorium during rehearsals and I’ll take it from there!” I nodded but couldn’t help noticing a mischievous glint from Hachi-san’s eyes under the mask. I had a bad feeling about this, but I don’t want to potentially throw a wrench in the works…I guess I have no choice.

----

I walked into the almost empty auditorium. Hachi-san, Kurosaki-san, Irunami-san, Hokama-san, Shinko-san, and Kurohiko-san were all standing on the stage. “Ah, Nagata-kun you made it! Sorry, the time I told you for rehearsals was actually a little earlier. I wanted to make we had stuff prepared for the acts before everyone else got here!” Hachi-san explained.

“Speaking of which, you did actually bring the costumes, right?” Shinko-san glared at me, as if expecting a negative response to his question.

“Yeah…but why is Kurohiko-san here?”

“W-well…I got too excited about all this and ended up arriving a lot earlier than necessary. That’s really my own fault, I should have known that I would have had more time.” Kurohiko-san mumbled so quietly that I almost didn’t hear him.

“It works out though because I actually might need an assistant for my performance! So, Monsieur Kurohiko would fit the bill perfectly!” Kurosaki-san smirked. “Now, obviously you’ll have to wear the same costume as me. Let’s go get changed!” Kurosaki-san scooped the costume from my hands and dragged Kurohiko-san backstage.

“Keheheheheh…” Hachi-san grinned. Uh-oh.

“Ah, did you really do it?! Ha-chan, you’re really devious!” Irunami-san suppressed a laugh.

“Is devious the right word? I figured we could all use a little bit of laughter these days. Plus, this just falls under one of my many tricks~!” Hachi-san said. I feel like I’ve been played here…

After a few minutes of waiting around, we heard the approaching footsteps of Kurohiko-san and Kurosaki-san. “Hey, Nagata-san, are you sure you brought the whole thing? I don’t think this is all of it…” Kurohiko-san called from the wings.

“It’s fine, just come on out!” Hachi-san yelled back.

“H-hell no! I can’t walk out in this!”

“Come on, Monsieur~ You look perfectly fine! Give them something to gawk at~!” Kurosaki-san sounded like he was smiling.

“W-wait, Kurosaki-san-!” No matter what kind of person you are, nothing can prepare you for the outfits those two were wearing. Kurosaki-san and Kurohiko-san came out in an almost full get up, with the vest, boots, hat, and chaps…but were completely missing their trousers from the outfit.

“O-oi! What kind ‘a get-up is that?! You tryin’ to be funny or something?!” Shinko-san nearly exploded.

“Th-this isn’t my idea! K-Kurosaki-san said this was the whole outfit…!” Kurohiko-san whined trying to cover his underwear.

“Pahahahahahaha!!” Irunami-san collapsed onto the ground in a fit, “I can’t believe Hiko-chan and Saki-chan really wore them!”

“Oh? Was I supposed to be embarrassed wearing this? Apologies, but I’ve wore outfits that revealed way more than this. I just thought this is what you wanted me to wear.” Kurosaki-san shrugged.

“Somehow that’s worse.” Amaterasu-san crossed her arms, staring at Kurohiko-san. She gave him a thumbs up. “You look good.”

“Wh-what does that mean?!” Kurohiko-san flushed further.

“Pff…o-okay, I think that’s good enough for today then. I’ll show you where your actual costumes are.” Hachi-san said. Before the group could leave the stage, the doors to the auditorium swung open and one-by-one the rest of the group filed into the auditorium, each stopping once they saw Kurosaki-san and Kurohiko-san on stage.

“Wh…what the hell? Gross.” Yokozawa-san grimaced.

“I-is this some kind of roleplay thing we walked in on…?” Graves-san half-laughed.

“Is that so? Apologies, if we knew this then we would have avoided walking in. Pleasure is an important thing in life, you should be able to experience it without us here.” Ishikawa-san smiled, it was kind of scary how unfazed she was.

“Nagata, you were doin’ some kinky roleplay shit with Kurosaki and Kurohiko…?” Okanaya-san looked at me confused. Ram-san was behind him, her gaze glued to the floor. I really don’t blame her.

“Th-that’s not what this is at all! R-right, Kurosaki-san?!” Kurohiko-san turned to look at the explorer, but he wasn’t there.

“Ah~ Sly-chan, do you like my outfit~?” Without anyone even realising, Kurosaki-san was draping himself over a clearly pissed off Sly-san. “I put it on just to give you the show of a lifetime, tell me that you’ll join me in my dressing room…?”

“In your dreams.” Sly-san growled.

“Oh? You know its possible for dreams to become reality, if you’re willing…” Kurosaki-san grinned.

“I don’t have a problem killing you in front of everyone.”

I watched as the spat between them continued and Hachi-san led Kurohiko-san away. Okanaya-san and Ram-san walked over to me. “So, uh…you wanna explain what the hell just happened…?” Okanaya-san scratched the back of his head.

“I-it’s a long story…” I sighed, blocking out Kurosaki-san’s taunts as Sly-san tried to punch him.

#Mod J #mod post #DR #Foundation Short Stories #79-C KG AU

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chimswae · 5 years

Text

Chapter 10

Foreword:

Some stories are better left unsaid.I couldn’t change anything for the world, although the fame part of this industry is tough to handle.Do i have a life? Yes I have my fans.Do i have friends? Yes the members that I cherish. Do i have love? No I have to let go.Life always offers you a second chance. It’s called tomorrow. But do i have any tomorrow?

Pairing: Jimin x OC (Other characters: BTS, OCs, Lee Taehwan)

Genre: Idolau, Fluff, Romance

Word Count: 3,625

Author Note: I crosspost this story from my Asianfanfic account. Mind you, clicheness OVERLOADS

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

Chapter 10: Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery

Evening came,the sun went down. It’s already half past eight. Both Jimin and Yeoul made their way into the hotel to get Minyeol whom she left with the boys earlier. Little did they knew, they had prolong the conversation that they had. Indeed, five years were way too long; there were tons of things to talk about.

Like a gentleman he’s, Jimin opened to door to his room giving the space for Yeoul to walk in first. They were greeted by sleeping Minyeol on Jungkook’s lap. The younger boy slept soundly in a fetal position which awed Jimin.

He’s my son indeed. Jimin smiled inwardly.

“You guys are back” Jin greeted cheerfully.

“Judging from your expression. I assume the talk went well” the leader gave both of them a thumbs up accompanied with his dimple smile. He’s stupidly adorable, Yeoul squealed on the inside.

Jimin glanced at Yeoul warily and he noticed her smile was rather contagious, so he turned her facing him “What…” she blinked in daze. The older boys was judging Jimin hard then only they realized, he was jealous. Wow, love really changed people.

“You…do you smile to anyone like that?” he grazed his teeth together.

“What is wrong with my smile” she cupped her cheeks with a slight pout.

Notching his hand on his hips haughtily, he eyed the innocent girl “Apart from Jeon.. who else do you like in Sonyeodan?” Jimin gruff voice got other members to look at his direction even the sleepy Yoongi could sense sudden silence in the room. He opened his eyes lazily seemed annoyed.

“Hmm…Let me think first” he cocked his ear towards Yeoul with pretend seriousness.

Jin cringed “What the hell is that for?” the leader beside him hushed Jin to keep his mouth shut. Namjoon found it was amusing to watch another side of Jimin, a side that he only showed around Yeoul.

“Is this something that you need to think? Oh god Yeoul..” he grunted in dissatisfaction.

“Dont pressure me I have names in my mind. There is Jeon Jungkook…” as expected the golden maknae turned crimson red as he shifted uncomfortably. Jimin’s stare seemed to throw daggers at his way.

Yeoul played along in teasing Jimin so she went to Hoseok’s side “And this guy, Jhope? His smile lit up my entire world” she smiled adorably like a shy fangirl. With a victory smug plastered all over his face, Hoseok stood up and gave Yeoul a soft hug before Jimin marched to them, pulling the girl away from him.

“Park Jimin I am giving my fanservice to my fan!” Hoseok shrieked in disbelief.

“She is not your fan!” Jimin exclaimed.

Amused, Yoongi snickered lowly “I am not surprised if Yeoul decided to dump Jimin for one of us in the future” green in envy, the younger boy shot him a warning glare.

“Well oh well, Jungkook may fit the role since Minyeol really like him” Hoseok teased.

“I thought she is off limit” said Jungkook.

“Yes she is Jeon. So don’t be like Hobi hyung” Jimin chortled, hugging her shoulder protectively. She chuckled in amusement, now why was she not surprised. He had always been possessive in a good way when it came to Yeoul. Some people never changed.

“Tsk tsk look at you Park Jimin. We are not even dating,are you playing boyfriend now” Yeoul removed his hand off her and sunk beside Jungkook, stroking Minyeol’s air.

“There is nothing wrong with that, I just want to make sure my members know you are taken” he whined while pursing his lips upwards, sulking.

“Unofficially taken” she corrected, Yeoul then shifted her attention to Jungkook “Thank you for looking after Minyeol. Did he make you run?” she chuckled softly.

Jungkook smiled softly “It is all good, Minyeol is a good kid. I had fun, oh do you want to hold him instead?” she gladly nodded and moving Minyeol to her embrace. Sulky Jimin was watching both of them with a disapproving look.

The younger boy stretched a little, massaging his aching muscle even though Minyeol did not weigh much but to stay in one position for an hour could be tiring too. Nonetheless, he had nothing to complaint.

Taehyung strutted inside with snacks with a big grin on his face “ I bought snacks-Oh Yeoul and Jimin fancy to see both of you here. Let’s celebrate since you both made up!” she shook her head at his silliness.

What to celebrate seriously?

In the middle of their mini party Yeoul was bombarded with questions from the floor, and she tried her best to answer every single souls in the room. She liked how welcoming Bangtan members were. Without doubt, Jimin was lucky to have them by his side. They were the sweetest friends that he could wish for.

Time passed quickly, as in it’s midnight already? Time flew when you’re having fun with your loved one. Yes her loved one, Jimin. It was too early to say this but that was the truth. She treasured every moments with him, reflecting back her bitter past. Filled with regrets and regrets.

Jimin offered to send her back home though Namjoon insisted her to stay since it was already late. She politely declined the offer considering how inappropriate it would be to hog the room that Jimin shared with Jungkook and Yoongi. She didn’t expect the seven boys to squish in one small room right?

Therefore, Jin offered to drive both of them home, Minyeol was still fast asleep in Jimin’s arm. It was the perfect view of the century. Jimin and Minyeol just how she used to picture all this time. Her heart feel warmth again, how wonderful was that.

As they reached Yeoul’s home, Jimin carried sleeping Minyeol inside and tuck him to bed. Planting a soft kiss on his forehead, Yeoul escorted him out “Thank you Jimin for today” she smiled.

His cat like eyes met hers and she saw the gleam of happiness in his orbs “I have to thank you instead. Thank you Yeoul for giving me chance. We will figure this soon” she smiled, touched by his sincerity. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled Yeoul closed, gently rubbing her arm.

The cold temperature outside seemed to rise, as she relaxed into his arms fully “You have to go, you don’t want to make Jin waiting” his embrace was warm and his muscular arms seemed very protective around her. It’s feel like they are one organism, melted together.

“Lets go out tomorrow, the three of us” he suggested earnestly.

Yeoul raised her head, her glittering gaze skimming over him “But I heard you are heading back tomorrow?” her lips were pressed into thin line. She did not want him to ditch this whole plan of going back to Seoul because of her, he still needed to practice for his upcoming tour in Thailand. It would be another long week for him.

Raising his hand Jimin stroked her hair and smiled “I can make it, we will be leaving in the evening. I will fetch you tomorrow morning, how does it sound?” Yeoul nodded frantically. Of course she loved the idea, it had been so long since she last went out for a date. Well, there was one with Taehwan but it was not even a real date.

“See you tomorrow then” he patted the top of her head “Go inside, it is cold” her eyes smile melted him on the spot.

“Get back home safely” she waved shyly as soon as he saw the window of the van being rolled down revealing smirking Jin.

“How lucky I was to witness your lovey dovey moment. See you again Yeoul” Jin threw his infamous flying kiss with a wink. That startled Yeoul, she immediately went inside with a bright blush on her cheeks.

Jimin retorted “You scared her hyung! Stop throwing that kisses to anyone. She is Na Yeoul not our Armys” he filled the passenger seat. Jin on the other hand just whistled away with a teasing smile earning a smack from Jimin.

“Hyung….” he protested adorably.

At this rate who could stop Kim Seokjin?

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

“APPA” Minyeol ran as fast as lightning, tackling Jimin into a tight hug. The younger boy laughed happily “MY APPA IS HERE” Yeoul smiled at the welcoming sight in front of her.

“Daddy’s son so hyper this early” he hold the younger boy, rocking him side to side with a genuine smile. She let them stayed like that exchanging hi and devouring their daddy-and-son moment. Come to think about it again, it felt too real to be truth.

Yesterday after Jin and Jimin left, Taehwan came over to check on her. To come at odd hours like that was so not Taehwan, then he happened to witness Jimin and Yeoul few minutes ago. She feared this time would come where she had to break his heart. As a matter of fact her relationship was not like how he thought it would be but she didn’t want to put false hope on him.

“So you and Jimin..”

Yeoul blurted before he could finish his words “It is not like what you think. We are not in that kind of relationship..still figuring it out” he sighed in sheer relief.

However his expression was rather dark and dull “I hope you guys can work on something, whatever is best for you and Minyeol” he smiled sadly.

“Tae-ah…I am sorry” she looked down on her feet too afraid to meet his gaze. He had done everything for her, the only thing she couldn’t give him now was her heart. It’s always been Jimin.

“Hey… don’t apologize. Feelings cant be force Yeoul-ah, just so you know I will be here beside you no matter what” he took her hand, caressing it with care and love.

‘I hope you find someone that can love you as much you love me Taehwan’ she wrapped her arm around his torso, hugging him.

Minyeol’s voice brought her attention back abruptly to happy faces in front of her “Mommy, lets go! Daddy said we will be riding fun rides!” he held onto Yeoul’s hand tight, swinging it back and forth.

“Will you be okay to go out in public?” her eyes glistened with worries. Taking a few step closer to Jimin, she put the mask back on covering his face “Better..Now lets go” she squished his cheeks briefly.

How to stop myself from falling for you even deeper Na Yeoul, Jimin rubbed his back hair with a foolish smile.

Hand in hand they strolled along the sidewalk with Minyeol in the middle, both of them eventually listened to this cute chatterbox along the journey. For some reason, Minyeol really inherit Yeoul’s personality, he talked way too much. Exchanging funny stories with the younger one mostly about his classmates, gave them a big laugh. There was no doubt he was chosen to become the class president.

The family arrived at an amusement park which already excite Minyeol whom started to bob his head up and down, getting ready to try out different rides. His eyes were glimmered in happiness “Appa, look toys! Can I have those?” he pointed at the bunny plushies.

Jimin immediately grimaced as it reminded him of Jungkook “Out of all toys, why must bunny” annoyed, he hummed under his breath.

“WHOA!” Minyeol clasped his hand excitedly and his mouth gaped, amused at the sight of roller coaster not far from where they stood.

“Can we ride that appa appa?” he blinked cutely, playing with Jimin’s fingers.

“That ride is not for a kid like you Na Minyeol” Yeoul waved her finger in disapproval.

“Park… Park Minyeol” Jimin corrected with a playful glare.

“Is this even a right time to debate?” Yeoul rolled her eyes with a frown.

Minyeol continued to beg “Please please mommy..let me ride that. Appa plishh” he then turned to Jimin who seemed ready to comply. No matter what kind of body signal Yeoul gave him, Jimin would just shun her. In the end, they agreed to ride the roller coaster.

They walked towards the roller coaster ride, and it just finished loading the passengers with the last bunch of people who were already waiting in line. The line was quite long since it was a popular ride in the park. Luckily, they managed to get a seat in the middle. Yeoul made sure to keep Minyeol securely between them and double checked the safety gear before the ride roll up.

“You are crazy Park Jimin” she complained.

He chuckled at her nervousness “What? It will be fun plus our Minyeol is a brave boy. He takes after me” ruffling his son hair, Minyeol smiled widely.

“I don’t remember you being the bravest person on planet. Tch, show off. So you score nothing on this one” Jimin pinched her nose caused her to twig his ear lightly.

“Human change, so digest that Na Yeoul” the corner of his lips quirked into a pout.

How childish.

They watched the ride start to roll up the steep track and people were waving and waiting for their big moments, the drop.Not long after the ride sped down the tracks and they could hear people screaming in excitement and fear.

As for Yeoul, she most likely petrified since she’s been holding Minyeol’s hand tight but that kid had the audacity to slap her hand away so he could throw it in the air feeling the cold wind hitting his skin. This kid just spent half day with his daddy, and he already acted all bratty. She gritted her teeth, hoping the ride would end soon.

The hell ride finally came to an end and some already barfed at the corner as soon as they left the ride. Out of people who joined the ride, Minyeol was one of the youngest though the ride was not as challenging compared to the usual coaster for the adults but still it was dizzying.

“You alright son?” Jimin crouched down at his level, stroke Minyeol’s back with a fatherly look.

He cracked a grin “It was fun appa, I want to try that again!” Yeoul shook her head.

“Not today baby. Next time okay when you grow a little older and taller? Maybe taller than your dad..” she smiled meekly teasing Jimin. Vengeance, obviously for agreeing to Minyeol’s request.

Jimin stood “Wow im surprised since you love this smol guy after all” he cringed, poking his small finger directly against her forehead “You watch out” he smirked.

Baffled Minyeol watched his parents bickered like a 3rd grader and he could only crack an adorable smile “Appa, you promise me to get the bunny! GO GO!” he tugged Jimin’s hand excitedly towards the booth full with different games and eye candy presents.

So, they spent few hours there trying out different rides and these time no more crazy one like roller coaster. Yeoul’s warning was crystal clear, they didn’t want to piss the mother off, bad move. After the tiring activities in the park, they went to grab lunch at Minyeol’s favorite restaurant. According to Yeoul they would spend at least thrice a week here to get Minyeol’s favorite udon. For a boy at his age, even the choice of his favorite food was matured and old.

Jimin will be leaving in an hour as he already promised with others, he would be on time so they could reach Seoul before midnight if Jin chose to drive like Dominic Toretto. He was walking Yeoul and Minyeol back home with Minyeol on his back, a piggyback.

He fall asleep since it was a long day, hence Jimin suggested them to take a walk instead. Jimin wanted to spend last hour with Yeoul before touring next week. God knows when he could come back and visit them again.

“Aren’t you hot under that mask? You are sweating” Yeoul dabbed her hand on his forehead wiping off the sweat formed. Indeed, it suffocated him.

“Dont worry about me, but can you help me to pull it down so I can breath fresh air for few minutes” he requested with his not so cute voice.

Yeoul bit her lower lips unsure whether to pull it down or just let it stay that way “People might recognize you..” he shook his head assuring her it would be alright. She reached out, pulling the mask slowly finally unmasked his handsome face.

“This cap will cover half of my face so don’t worry” he inhaled a deep breath liking the emptiness around his face. Since he had been wearing it for hours, he felt like dying without proper oxygen. The street was rather secluded so he took the cue to unmask for few minutes.

“I prefer it this way, I can see your handsome face clearly” she giggled.

“Is that a compliment?” he nudged her shoulder with his with a goofy smile.

“Whatever you think it is” she played it cool.

They made a sharp turn as they were getting nearer to Yeoul’s home, “Thank you for today Jims. You don’t know how much it meant for Minyeol. This is his first time to get a fatherly attention” she broke the silence again.

“He is our son Yeoul. Don’t you feel indebted. I am willing to do anything for him, to pay all those missing year. I will try my best to be a good father for Minyeol” he glanced at Yeoul. Sometimes she worried too much, he could read her like an open book.

“You will be a good father, I have faith in that” there were a group teenagers walked pass them which fluster Yeoul. She quickly pulled back Jimin’s mask upward covering his face.

She exhaled a relief sigh “Thank god they didn’t notice you” chuckling away her cuteness, Jimin pulled down his masked again, giving a soft peck on her cheeks.

“Thank you my yeoul” that was it, she’s weak when it came to Jimin.

As they reached their destination. Yeoul went to wake Minyeol slowly, so that he could bid farewell to Jimin or else he would be grumpy tomorrow. Sleepy Minyeol didn’t take the farewell easily as he kept on insisting Jimin to stay.

“Appa promise will come to visit when my work is done. For the time being watch appa on tv, you will see me” he winked, kissing his cheeks softly.

He pouted “Appa promise Minyeollie?”

“Yes I promise will come to you as soon as my work finish alright?” Minyeol hugged Jimin, more like clung onto him with a sad pout.

“Don’t give appa that sad look. I will be coming back soon alright? Be a good boy and oh tell your friends that you ride roller coaster with appa today” squishing Minyeol close, his eyes were pulled into his infamous eye smile.

Yeoul stroked his hair “Minyeol go inside first and ready to shower”

“Alrighty…Appa bye…Love you” Minyeol planted a sloppy kiss on both of Jimin cheeks as he took the plushie bunny from Yeoul’s hand making his way inside.

“So.. don’t you want to give me a hug? You will be missing for quite some time” he spread his arms with wide grin, welcoming Yeoul into his embrace.

“Silly..” she approached Jimin and Yeoul gladly settled in his embrace. His embrace was her favorite spot to snuggle, it cant be compared with a mere duvet or comforter in her room. To Yeoul, his hug was a cure to any disease.

Jimin whispered “I will be missing you so badly” he heaved a heavy sigh. He really did not want to leave just yet, since there were a lot of things that he wanted to do with Minyeol and Yeoul. Like he had choice, he signed up for this so he needed to comply.

“Me too.. Take care don’t stress yourself. Since you will be on plane most of the time, don’t forget to stretch or you will be losing your ability to walk” she chuckled, gazing up at his face.

“That is a cruel advice. Your mouth is as bad as Yoongi hyung” he chortled.

She giggled “Who? Ah.. that rapper with milky skin… he is cool though very intimidating. He is a nice guy, everyone in sonyeodan is so kind. I like them, maybe I can reconsider choosing another sonyeodan as my-” his brows knitted into a deep frown.

“Yah.. don’t have any funny ideas. I still don’t agree how you actually LIKE jungkook, im watching you closely”he warned, resting their forehead together, he stared deeply into her orbs.

Locking his arms around her waist “I like how you look at me like this” she mumbled as blush crept on her cheeks.

“I like how you sweet talk me” he nuzzled her face and their nose brushed sending chill down her spine. Their close proximity had driven her crazy all day, she blamed Jimin natural flirty side. His charm was something that she couldn’t resist since forever.

He was about to lean in for a kiss when a voice stopped him “Jimin oppa?” Yeoul eyes shot open realizing what came to them at that moment.

“Are you Jimin oppa?” they heard the owner of the voice getting closer to them.

Then there was another voice “No no it cant be Jimin oppa. Our oppa is not dating anyone” since they could only see Jimin’s side profile, it was still a big deal. Some fans could recognize even a glimpse of their back head or hands.

Jimin eyed Yeoul intensely not knowing how to react, they felt the air was getting heavy. How on earth they recognized him when this area was practically empty and secluded. This called for trouble.

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#bts #bts fanfic #bts fluff #bts idolau #bts romance #park jimin #bts jimin #bts v #bts jungkook #bts jin #bts suga #bts hoseok #bts rm #lee taehwan #untoldseries #bts series

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merlinthoughts · 5 years

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Season 1 Episode 5 - Lancelot<3

- YES BBG’s IT'S MY BOY LANCE

- he’s one of my fav characters u guys don't even KNOW

- like yah okay, i've only seen hiM FOR ONE EPISODE

- but he’s the light of my life

- and he may not even come back but he looks like a character that would come back especially if the fucking ep is named after him

- oh damn, i sure hope he does

- and goes into arthurs posse of knights or whatever, replacing val

- or what valerie was gonna be

- idek, lets get to it bc i could go on for days just picturing lance as a main character while continuously expressing my love for him

- BUT NOTHING ELSE OBVIOUSLY BC THIS IS NOW A CATHOLIC WEBSITE

- tumblrs trynna urge me to go with them nasty thoughts

- you wish tumblr

- you WISH you can ban me

- u can't live without sucking dick >:(

- wow slow down shev... wow okay sorry. christianism. i forgot

- it got the best of me

- back to the episode!

- omg it's buckbeak why he making a cameo in merlin??

- my inner potterhead(uwu) is coming out i hate this

- bet you can't guess which house i'm in ;)

- it's fucking slytherin, it's literally so obvious

- hissshiss motherfuckers

- ew guys

- this is so hard to type considering my fucking ‘-’ button (called a dash for u furries who only see a face) is broken and i have to literally smash it to make it work, so i'm just insanely typing up the next dash by screaming at my keyboard that i can't fucking fix

- and i have so many dasHES TO DO!

- that made no sense bc yall aren't living in my socks at the moment

- BUT I'M DYING IT'S SO HARD TO JUST GET IT TO PRESS

- fuck it copy paste, my best friend, you always come when the time is needed

- LANCELOT LOOKS SO BEAUTIFUL

- lowkey looked like that guy from the 100 though

- but better

- nothing against baloney of course

- lancelot literally just introduced himself, the camera panned in onto his chest, then he proceeded to faint or some shit with the camera still zoomed on his chest, and merlin reached up to grab his shirt, probably to yank it the fuck off and the opening credits rolled up. wtf was that scene.

- WAIT I REWINDED IT

- it's not supposed to be a zoom in of his chest lmao, my hoe ass thought we had a little fanservice for a second, but there's a big mushroom-looking blood stain on his shirt which i guess is supposed to mean he's fucking dead so it's not all that confusing anymore

- when was he stabbed tho?

- whatever. shit always goes down in BBC that's often unexplainable.

- “it had claws, wings…” arthur stops his sentence melodramatically while uther looks terrified. “and.. what?” WHAT UTHER?? WHAT DO YOU EXPECT?? YOU THINK ARTHURS GONNA BE LIKE “FANGS, STEVE BUSCEMI'S EYEBALLS, DANNY DEVITO’S HAIRLINE, TALKS LIKE JOHN MULANEY?? I JUST TOLD YOU WHAT I SAW, NOT WHAT I IMAGINED. FATHER”

- but no… livestock apparently

- that’s what uthers shocked by

- not that theres a fucking griffin living in his world

- wait theres magic, means theres magic creatures doy

- but still, even if we all had magic here, i think it would be a little shocking seeing a griffin come for buckingham palace randomly

- or i guess if youre reading this and are in america, in the white house

- oh and it took only people apparently

- i guess that’s a little more severe but i stand uncorrected

- they be having a wild time in the hippogriff’s house ;)

- honestly sounds like a fucked up hogawart house

- here we have slytherin, hufflepuff, ravenclaw and... *looks at smudged writing on hand* hippogriff

- okay, who tf has a dream of coming to camelot when it's the most feared place, with banned magic and an asshole king with his hot bitchy son and a sorcerer who just brings chaos to the land

- well i mean, me

- bc of the hot bitchy son but whatever

- camelot? more like cameNOT

- arthur calls himself the ultimate killing machine like the edge lord he is

- ARTHUR FUCKING KO’D THE BITCH

- knee to the nose and all wtf man

- this is probably foreshadowing smth with the “only noble blood can swoosh like a knight” thing, like somethings gonna happen and poor people are gonna revolt and uthers gonna be like “GEEZ fine, okay, no nobles can become a knight”

- merlins such a shit stirer, telling lance he can be a knight and telling him arthur would love him when we really know whats gonna happen bc of that rule

- and here’s gaius like uhh u liar wtf, crushing lance’s dreams while merlins just like wtf gaius, live in the moment, we can do anything, this is OUR show

- literally their such good friends and have known each other for a solid 10 minutes only

- i'm not that big into beards but id love to rub my face on lance’s

- HOMEWORK IS MERLIN’S EXCUSE, MERLIN UR LIKE 20 IN A WORLD PROB WITHOUT HOMEWORK

- haha little fault there, or like a minor inconvenience which isn’t important but i like to pretend to be smart: middle ages or well the show’s era was more in “AD” (476-ish is the start of middle ages, while the arthurian legend is supposed to happen in the 5/6th century so yeah, technically 400/500 AD), and homework supposedly only started up in 1095 so BOOM BBC GOTCHA

- no, merlin’s not gonna perform magic right in front of the librarian

- does he not know the wrath of librarians???

- our librarian at school literally kicked everyone out of the library once for the whole semester because there was an apple core on the bookshelf. this was during exam week. do u know how much i wanted to kill the person who didn't admit to their mistakes and let everyone suffer. WE COULDN'T ENTER TO EVEN STUDY

- OH GOD, HE'S DOING IT MERLIN IS A FUCKING MESS

- gwen and lancelot are my favourite thing, i literally want them to be together by the next episode

- or the next one with lance

- WAIT LANCELOT IS SUPPOSED TO BE A MAIN CHARACTER ISN'T HE BC I KNOW VAGUELY THE ARTHURIAN LEGEND AND LANCELOT WAS A KNIGHT WASN'T HE???? HE WAS A FUCKING KNIGHT AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT NEXT TO LIKE IDK BEDEVERE OR SMTH THIS IS AMAZING NEWS GUYS I LITERALLY COULD BE A DETECTIVE

- !!!! the only heto ship on this show i actually adore !!!!!!

- i mean i only love two things: merthur and glance

- idek what gwen and lance’s ship name is so its now glance

- merlin would be the best wingman for them by being gwens bestie

- “you can start by cleaning out the stables” *lance looks to merlin while merlin gives him the biggest smile and thumbs up* this fuckING DORK

- harry potter au where everything is the same but that grim reaper looking human creature in the prisoner of azkaban executing buckbeak is actually lancelot in the future

- for symbolism purpose, not saying lance is like an animal killer but yknow

- same thing with the griffin yknow

- the two prettiest dudes in my world fighting against one another while sweat is glistening down their forheads is my new favourite aesthetic

- BUCKBEAK HAS COME

- oh wait no, people having been attacked by buckbeak have come

- netflix fucked up by subbing arthur as “orther” and i never laughed so hard

- don’t make me fucking laugh when there’s an ambush, netflix, this is not christian

- annd arthur’s pride is gone, and he goes up to chop lance’s fucking head off

- OH SHIT THAT TRANSITION THOUGH

- i'm so proud of my bb like genuinely so proud, lance deserves so much and here is is!! a knight!!

- MORGANA APPEARS THE LOML

- the three lomls in one room?? seriously bbc?? you really doing that to me?? for once im actually impressed and happy

- he's gonna get caught, i mean i KNOW that, but like it's still stressing out

- ewewewewewewewewewew

- arthur called morgana “isn't she so beautiful??” with a lovey dovey face pls don't lead this to that stepsibling porn bullshit i'm going to fucking puke

- i hated that shadowhunter bullshit like they seriously going to hit me with the indirect incest?? i was so done. i hated jace and clary, idc if theyre like the most popular couple, like wheres my raphael lovers at bc that's a boy i can enjoy

- “so if you could choose one... lance or arthur?” merlin subtly asks gwen like he doesn't have an answer himself

- it would have been so perfect geez, gwen and lance, merlin and arthur, myself and morgana

- i really wanna know what lance, merlin and arthur look like drunk bc that's a hell of a hangover they got the next morning and they probably cut out most of the soiree so like what did they do?? was there any drunk dancing and flirting??? bc i literally want to see that happen

- ik it's a bad thing but those drunk tropes where someone confesses their love to the person they like while under the influence is my favourite thing bc it's both hilarious, genuine and the other person often helps them to their feet and gets them to a safer place to rest and that's fricken adorable guys!

- not the drinking obviously, thats like a thing you can enjoy if you want but ya girl does not like drinking. or, well, she likes drinking with a limit. you can tell who likes to be the designated driver lmao. people here be drinking flat out whiskey and i tried it once and it burned by fucking throat

- merlin fucked up

- and this is technically his fault

- THEY GOT CAUGHT LMAO IT IS HIS FAULT

- hungover and caught this won't bode well

- “not worthy of a knighthood”

- hey so how do you retract a knighthood?

- do you like reverse the shoulder tapping

- like if you're christian, bc you know, we, as a christian group on this tumblr site, should already know about it... but when we do that cross thing on our shoulders, it means like a direct call with god or some shit. and if we do it the opposite direction it's considered the antichrist so is it the same for knighthood?

- OMG I JUST HAD AN EPIPHANy

- okay with christianity it's tapping the head the stomach, shoulder then shoulder, right? but the reverse is the anti cross like shoulder to shoulder, stomach and head. but… what if it were tapping the stomach, crotch, hip to hip? it would make sense right??? since the cross is upside down… it would lead to the dick and not the head. THAT'S WHY IT'S AN UPSIDE DOWN CROSS. BC YOU AINT SUPPOSED TO GRAB THEM BALLS UNTIL MARRIAGE!!! I SEE OMG I SEE YOU JESUS, TRYNNA HIDE UR FLOURISHING SEXUALITY

- omg guys, don't grab ur fucking balls in this blog post, it's considered the antichrist

- “you never will be” lmao he's gonna come back, he's lancelot, that's a main in the og legend

- how pissed will lance be with merlin

- i hope big time bc like... angry lance *dries off sweat with hands*

- aw damn lance isn't mad he's like “this is my punishment. mine to bare, mine to bare alone. stop blaming urself. i put this on me” this fucking goof is making me swoon once fucking more

- NOW BUCKBEAKS BACK

- he's a real goat x3

- buckbeak can literally fuck shit up in the air, camelot has nothing on him

- ARTHURS FUCKING DEAD LMAO

- oh wait he aint, just a few of his knights

- imagine being an extra and playing as one of those knights. having to fight next to bradley james, and have him look at you when someones doing something stupid like you can mentally agree with him and then pretend to die on camera. that would be my dream. make-a-wish better do me some good when i get diseased that will prob be named after me

- hoephagus

- stupidolis

- nah thats stupid

- ;)

- i now understand mulans will to pretend to be a guy and join the army bc i would literally do that if i could stay with arthur fucking pendragon

- aw it's called a griffin not a hippogriff

- i'm saddened

- harry potter has taught me WRONG

- this looks to be the climax where merlins like “fine guys, geez, i'll kill the griffin bc i'm magic!! wow!!! but arthur obviously knew, and i thought gwen was gonna know but she shocked me even more when she didn’t like fucking hell everyones oblivious. but since you can only kill buckbeak with magic, sigh, i'm exposing myself ig” even if it's like halfway through season 1 with 5 seasons altogether, this looks to be the right time

- this really sounds to be what we are waiting for, what kilgarah said about the destiny merlin will have

- WAIT WE HAVEN'T SEE THAT BITCH IN A WHILE

- wheres the dickwad gone lmao like was the actor busy the last few episodes or what?

- OMG ARHTURS BREAKING LANCE OUT OF PRISON SO HE CAN BE A KNIGHT

- how is the “arthurs pretty gay” theory not popped up more times on here

- like we all know merthurs pretty great and all

- but CANON wise arthur seems super gay to me

- like he just told lance to get up his ass because “i need… uhh... camelot needs” like he was just about to say he needs lance in his life

- have you not seen the glances??

- fucking hell

- arthur slowly comes closer to lance pretending to talk about what he knows about the creature

- lance also coming closer to ask if he truly believes that, with a raised eyebrow

- thought this shit was only in books and fanfics

- but no guys, we got a gay eyebrow raise

- bc we all know only the gays are capable of eyebrow raises

- fucking hell this is gay i cant even explain it

- like its subtly gay, but out of context youd think this is something out of a fansite

- and merlins not even in this scene

- “take the horse and never return to this place” OKAY NO FIRST OF ALL SECOND OF ALL FUCK OFF LMAO THIS ISNT GAY ANYMORE

- i mean he’s doing it out of the goodness of his heart, saving him from prison and all but lance wants to like… be a good man and you aint letting him do that

- OMG LANCE IS SAYING GOODBYE TO GWEN

- LANCE BETTER FUCKING KISS HER

- I LOVE GWEN AND LANCE TOGETHER #STAN

- fucking kiss you fucking bafoon

- THEY DIDN'T FUCKING KISS WTFUCKINGFUCK

- merlin looks so dumb holding his dagger as if he doesn’t know what to do with it but i love that for me

- WAIT I THOUGHT LANCELOT WAS LITERALLY GONNA GO YEET OUT OF CAMELOT NOT TO FUCKING SACRIFICE HIMSELF AND FIGHT THE GRIFFIN

- bafoons, all of them

- big bouncing bucking bafoons

- arthur looks so scared i've never been so in love and want to PROTECT

- omg for all merlin and lance know, that scream was arthur fucking dying- OMG IT WAS ARTHUR

- HE'S FUCKAN DEAD

- nvm he's alive but like yall not think to check for some arterial wounds bc he could be alive now, but in 5 mins he could legit not make it

- slow music means death

- lancelot you were the best husband i've ever had, rip

- i would be crying more if i didn’t know what happened, but since i already spoiled myself on the first season by watching this about a year ago, i'm not that sad but its still getting to me slightly

- hahahaha so happy everyones okayyy

- ARTHUR AND LANCE TiME!

- arthur looks so happy for lance literally crack ship right there

- why does nobody talk about this wyd

- and here’s arthur defending lance’s honour

- but uthers being a bitch

- omg that transition from lance being told to wait outside, the camera following him out of the room and the doors slamming behind him just in time to hear uther yell at arthur from next door is what gives me chills

- uther better fucking accept lance

- “the law is the law” yeah but the law also says to stop being a stuck-up bitch, uther

- literally lance is the only fucking person to not see through merlins blatant magic tricks

- like he saw that shit, called it out and was not like “oh what its a trick of the wind, surely”

- and he's not fazed at all, u see merlin it aint that bad to tell some people

- the only thing he is worrying about is the credit he says he doesn’t deserve bc merlin killed the griffin and not him

- see how fucking great my husband is, guys

- he better not be like “sucks to suck, i lied again! it aint me, chief” to uther and arthur

- NAH OKAY HE’S JUST BIDDING HIS FAREWELL IM GONNA FUCKING CRY IN THE CLUB

- he better fucking come back soon >:(

- seasonal guest star at least

- main characters, big bonus

- we barely saw morgana this episode and i'm not okay with that, but at the same time it was more lance-centric so i'm aight actually. we got all the time in the world for my baby girl, but lance :’( good luck man

- literally everyone is so gay for lance

- gwens into him for sure, and i love that the most (guess thats not gay but whatever, beggars can't be choosers)

- arthur has a little crush ngl

- and merlins full out in love with him

- not to mention MY FUCKING SELF

- i mean, i won't deny that he’s literally perfect in every way and i've only known him for one episode, but i agree whole heatedly with these crushes

- “till next time, sir lancelot” merlin whispers with a smile

- yeah that's me right there

- BC I'LL BE SEEING HIM IN THE FINAL EPISODE OF THIS SEASON!

- greeting us all with the news on being cast full-time for the show, being the best guard around and a lover boy to all

- guys i feel like i'm on aphrodisiacs but instead of desire for sex, it's love for lancelot

- send help

#this is a long one yall #maybe bc i found a new crush but yknow #merlin #merlin bbc #merthur #s1 #s1ep5

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maximilliandelirium · 6 years

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somebody out there hates you

a/n: hhhh i wrote this in a pre-nanowrimo mania. wanted to post to ao3 but it’s acting weird so i thought i’d throw it up on the blog for now. notice me senpai fills me with joy, so i was inspired to make *~art~* the setting is anime japan so nothing is accurate and the points don’t matter (pssst! support me on ko-fi!)

Summary: Suzuki joins an anti-cafe out of curiosity and begins to re-evaluate his relationship with Yamato. Suzuki/Yamato (Idol Senpai/Rocker Senpai)

Suzuki didn’t go online that evening intending to join an anti-Suzuki fan café. He usually didn’t dwell on his haters at all. But tonight, curiosity got the better of him. He’d been trawling the net after a long practice when he stumbled across a link to the anti-site. (Suzuki liked to Google himself; so what?) When he followed it, he realized he couldn’t read any of the message boards without an account.

That’s a good thing, I guess, he thought. He didn’t really want to see what people were saying about him. He decided to forget about it and do his homework instead.

At least, that was what he tried to do. He kept thinking about it as he struggled over his assigned reading. What did they talk about? Did they make fun of his hair? His personality? Maybe they picked apart his lyrics. The longer he thought about it, the more he wanted to know.

Suzuki tossed his book aside and re-opened his laptop. He hadn’t closed the browser window. The link was still there. Yamato was always telling him to consider his weaknesses so he could improve. This could be beneficial. If Suzuki tried understanding where these people were coming from, he might be able to win them over, or at least get better at what he did.

It didn’t take much to make an account. He had to create a new email—he didn’t want his regular one linked to the site. After that, he spent half an hour trying to come up with a screen name. It was imperative that no one know who he really was. His usual handle—“SuzuStar”—would give him away like a shot. Suzuki was also disappointed to discover that “YamatoFan#1” was taken. Eventually, he settled on “notafan1234.”

Never having been on an anti-site before, Suzuki wasn’t sure what to expect. He was surprised by how plain it was. The header image was just the name of the page in bright red letters, along with a picture of his face with a “no” sign superimposed on it. He scrolled through the list of threads.

Break Suzuki’s new MV!

New Anti-Suzuki Memes

Worst Lyrics Poll (CLOSED)

Suzuki kept scrolling, horrified and fascinated. He found a thread titled “Important question for Yamato fans—should he be friends w/ Suzuki?” He clicked on it. He jumped when he saw the selfie he and Yamato had taken at the school festival. The original poster had written a caption beneath it.

Ugh. I don’t get why Yamato wastes his time with this guy. They don’t have anything in common.

A user named MerryPip added, Lol same. Yamato actually has talent.

Suzuki frowned.

They probably just hang out because they go to the same school, someone else said. Yamato doesn’t want to be mean.

Tbh, SuzuYama shippers make me sick.

Yamato shouldn’t keep feeding them by hanging out with him.

They only do it for fanservice. I bet it’s in their contracts.

Suzuki hadn’t been planning on responding to anyone, but the last comment had sent him over the edge. They had no right to question his friendship with Yamato. They didn’t know anything about him. He typed, Maybe Yamato and Suzuki are friends because they get along and like to hang out.

A response appeared in no time. As if, Lonelygrrl said. Suzuki is too much of a ditz to get along with Yamato. He totally cramps his style. Yamato is just humoring him because the fans like it.

Blood rushed to Yamato’s face. His fingers flew to the keys. That’s not true! How do you know Yamato is just pretending? You don’t have any proof. You’re just making stuff up!

The backlash was swift and immediate. A gallery of photos flooded the thread with red outlines drawn around Yamato’s eyes and mouth, along with whole paragraphs explaining why his smile was faked, or how he couldn’t stand to actually touch Suzuki.

His hand is just hovering here, Lonelygrrl wrote. All their selfies are faked. Their managers get together and tell them where to go. Like playdates.

Suzuki slammed the laptop closed. He sat back, fuming. When his head cooled, Suzuki reached for his phone. He wanted to ask Yamato about this. (Yamato was saved in his contacts as “Yama heart eyes emoji, guitar emoji.”)

Did u know there’s a whole website that hates me? Suzuki texted.

Yamato answered quickly: No, but I’m not surprised. There’s always haters. You find one?

Yeah. I made an account.

WTF why?

I wanted to see what they were saying.

Delete it. That’s a waste of time.

A waste of time. That’s what the anti-fans had said Yamato was doing by being Suzuki’s friend. He wanted to tell Yamato about it. But it had made him nervous. What if they were right? What if Yamato was only pretending to be friends with him? They’d become closer through school performances. Was that the only reason Yamato continued to hang out with him?

Suzuki texted back: Ur right. They’re just mean.

Don’t let it get to you. Some people have to be negative for no reason.

Suzuki put the phone aside. He wouldn’t go back on the site. He’d just forget about it. Yamato was his friend and that was that. It wouldn’t do him any good to second guess it. Suzuki opened the laptop one last time to close the browser. There were a few more replies.

Jesus, when will trolls learn not to come in here? MerryPip complained. Do. Not. Feed. The. Trolls.

I’m not a troll, Suzuki thought, closing the window. He would delete the account tomorrow. Right now, he needed to get back to work.

The next morning was rough. Suzuki hadn’t realized how much time had passed last night while he’d been reading the message boards, and by the time he completed his homework, it was 2AM. He shuffled into class, yawning.

“Late night?” Reiji asked as Suzuki walked past.

“It took me two hours to finish the reading.”

“Me, too!” Takeru said. “And when I finished, it felt like I didn’t understand it at all.” He looked over at Ren. “What did you think?”

Ren lifted his head slightly. “Huh? I didn’t finish. I fell asleep halfway through.”

“You’re kidding. We have a quiz on it today.”

“I can probably get a good enough grade with what I know.”

Suzuki spotted Yamato sitting on the windowsill. He had his guitar balanced in his lap and he was strumming it idly. The things Suzuki had read last night started to seep into his mind. He pushed them away. I’m not going to think about it.

“Yama-kun!” Suzuki called.

Yamato glanced up and smiled. It looked real. Relief washed over Suzuki as he walked over. Yamato continued plucking on the strings.

“Hey,” he said. “You look beat. What’s up?”

“I got distracted by the internet last night and did all my homework late.” Suzuki blushed. Yamato liked to tease him for being irresponsible sometimes. “But I did get it done!”

“Oh yeah. That site you texted me about. I hope you didn’t talk to anyone.”

Suzuki laughed nervously. “No. Why would I?”

“They’re trying to get a rise out of people. Starting an argument is just what they want.”

He laughed again, this time more forced.

Yamato tilted his head to the side. “You okay?”

“Yeah. It’s all good.” Suzuki waved a hand. “Let’s stop talking about it. Do you still want to go shopping today after class?”

“Sure. Just remember to change before we go out. I don’t want to get chased by your crazy fans again.”

“I wouldn’t forget,” Suzuki said. He winked and stuck his tongue out. “Are you sure you don’t like the exercise?”

“I’m sure.”

Yamato met him in front of the school after classes let out. No matter how many times they went out in public together, Yamato never stopped staring at Suzuki’s outfit. Suzuki didn’t understand why he rolled his eyes every time he saw it.

“What’s the matter? This is what I always wear,” he said.

“I know. That’s the problem. We’re getting you some new civilian clothes today.” Yamato grabbed the hem of Suzuki’s t-shirt and gave it a tug. “How many of these do you own?”

“A few.”

“You’re supposed to be in disguise. Why would you wear a shirt with your own face on it?”

“Because,” Suzuki said, lifting his index finger, “no one would ever suspect I’d wear my own merchandise. This face distracts them from looking at mine.”

“If you say so.” Yamato let go.

They walked into town, then took the train to the best shopping district. Though Yamato and Suzuki bought their clothes at different stores, they agreed that this part of the city had the best shops. The only problem was that it was crowded. Just getting off the train was a nightmare. Suzuki almost lost his hat.

“Is it just me or are there more people here today than usual?” he asked, squashing it back on his head.

“I think you’re right. There must be a promotion going on.” Yamato stretched to see over the crowd. “That one you like isn’t as busy. Let’s go to that one first.”

They pressed through the crowd. Suzuki bumped into a woman carrying a dozen bags and made her drop all of them. He spent a few minutes helping her pick them up while bowing and apologizing. She gave him a dirty look. He wondered if she would’ve been as mad if she knew who he was.

Or could she be one of the anti-fans?

Suzuki hadn’t thought about it before, but those names online had real people behind them. They could’ve been from his own school. It was scary to think about. There might be some in this crowd. Suzuki readjusted his mask and sunglasses, making sure his face was completely hidden.

“Suzu—!” Yamato cut himself off as he came jogging over. They’d gotten separated. “I turned around and you weren’t behind me.”

“Sorry. It’s hard to stick together in all this.”

Yamato sighed and looked around. Then he grabbed Suzuki’s hand. “Come on,” he said. “We need to get you a new shirt.”

The changing room was cold. Suzuki quickly pulled on one of the shirts he’d brought in. It was a purple galaxy print. There were three mirrors placed in the corner of the stall, giving him a rounded view. He was pretty satisfied with his appearance. Suzuki had often been told he had a good face. And his rigorous dance practices kept him in good shape. Yet…

Earlier, while Yamato was going through leather jackets, Suzuki had pulled up the anti-café on his phone. He needed to know if they knew where he was. His fans tended to track his movements. His haters might do the same thing.

Though there wasn’t anything about where he physically was, but there was a new thread: “Is Suzuki actually handsome? Yes/No?” He knew he shouldn’t read it. It didn’t matter what a handful of bitter people on the internet thought. But the urge was too strong.

It’s supposed to be his major selling point, but I’m a girl and I think he’s kind of lame.

His hair color looks so fake and not in a good way.

Didn’t he gain weight recently? No one’s gonna stick around if he keeps putting on the pounds XD

Imo he’s kind of short.

I’m 178 centimeters! That’s above average! Suzuki was shorter than Yamato, but that didn’t mean he was tiny. He remembered what Yamato had said about not engaging them. He wanted to set them straight.

The school festival selfie had reappeared. Suzuki had been proud of it at the time. His and Yamato’s costumes were perfectly coordinated, they’d posed in front of the best decorations in the classroom, and they’d gotten a perfect angle. This site didn’t seem to agree.

Look at this lame-ass Star Sailor costume.

I stg Suzuki drags Yamato into his weird interests all the time.

is it supposed to be funny? Who are they trying to appeal to?

It had taken every ounce of Suzuki’s self-control not to go off on them. Star Sailor was one of his great loves. It was one of Yamato’s as well. That was the whole reason they had coordinated their cosplays.

Unable to stomach any more, he had turned off the screen, gathered a few shirts and gone into the dressing room. He examined himself in the mirror. He still looked fine. Suzuki plucked a strand of hair. Was it too yellow?

He took off the galaxy shirt and pinched his stomach. Suzuki wasn’t as muscular as boys like Makoto or Katsuo, but he had a lithe figure. Nothing seemed to have changed. Sometimes Suzuki’s manager warned him not to indulge his sweet tooth too much. Maybe he should start taking that message more to heart. He felt a pang of loss just considering skipping the cakes at the school’s café.

Suzuki shook his head. He was letting the anti-site get to him.

When he emerged from the dressing room, he spotted Yamato coming over, his arms weighed down with jackets and black jeans. He eyed Suzuki’s pile.

“Did you find anything good?” he asked.

“I like this one.” Suzuki pointed at the galaxy shirt. “What do you think?”

Yamato shrugged. “You look good in everything.”

“Aw, Yama-kun, you’re so sweet!” Suzuki said in an over-the-top cutesy voice. He shimmied his shoulders for extra effect.

Yamato rolled his eyes and gave Suzuki a light smack on the arm. He disappeared behind the curtain. Suzuki put away the clothes he didn’t want while he waited. He wondered if Yamato had hate sites, too. It didn’t seem possible. Yamato was so handsome and talented; it was hard to imagine a bunch of people getting together just to make fun of him.

Suzuki pulled out his phone again. He went through his pictures until he found another selfie he’d taken with Yamato. It was from the last time Yamato had hung out at his house. Suzuki hadn’t made it public. He didn’t know why. It was a good picture. There wasn’t anything scandalous or illegal in it.

He supposed he hadn’t wanted to share it because it felt more personal than the others. They were both in sweatshirts and pajama pants, their faces lit up by the blue light from Suzuki’s TV. Suzuki was leaning heavily on Yamato, who was grinning at the camera. Suzuki was smiling fondly up at Yamato.

If those jerks online could see this picture, they’d realize Yamato wasn’t faking his feelings of friendship. Suzuki couldn’t post it, though. This picture was just for him and Yamato, no one else. He sighed and closed the photo gallery.

Yamato came out of the dressing room. “I’m ready if you are,” he said.

“Are you buying anything?” Suzuki asked as he headed for the counter.

Yamato shook his head. “I’m going to shop around a bit more. Do you want to get some bubble tea after the next stop?”

“Only if we go to that one place next to the arcade.”

“Okay, but you’re not dragging me into another DDR competition.”

Suzuki put his arm around Yamato’s shoulders. “Come on, you’re not that bad. You almost beat me last time.”

Yamato shook his head. He copied Suzuki’s gesture, linking them closer together. He gave Suzuki’s back a pat. “I’ll leave the dancing to the trained idol. Some other time. Now go, it’s your turn.” He nudged Suzuki forward.

Suzuki reluctantly let go of Yamato. He brought his shirts to the girl working the cash register. She smiled at him.

“You and your friend are cute,” she said as she rung him up.

“Thanks! I try.”

She giggled. “Have a nice day.”

“Did you flirt your way to a discount?” Yamato asked.

Suzuki’s eyes widened behind his sunglasses. “You can do that?”

“No, idiot.” Yamato took Suzuki’s hand again. “Maybe you could, but I wouldn’t. I hope she didn’t recognize you.”

“She didn’t. If she had, she would’ve asked for an autograph.”

They could never get a seat by the windows, otherwise their combined fans would fill the restaurant. Suzuki was half thankful for the privacy it afforded them, but they had to sit in a dim corner where there wasn’t much space. One of Yamato’s legs rested against one of his own.

“What kind did you get?” Suzuki asked.

Yamato glanced up from his phone. “Honeydew. You wanna try it?”

“Sure.” Suzuki took a sip from Yamato’s bubble tea. They had never worried about germs. The tea was perfectly sweet and mellow. He passed it back, a smile on his lips.

“You know, that’s the first time you smiled this afternoon,” Yamato said. “It feels like you’ve been gloomy ever since we left school.”

“Really?” He hadn’t noticed. “I guess I’m just tired. We’re already talking about the next comeback.”

“They should let you have a break. I’ve been talking to my agency about a vacation.” Yamato lowered his phone and met Suzuki’s eyes. “We could go somewhere. Hawai’i maybe. I’ve always wanted to do a shark tour.”

Suzuki shuddered. “That’s scary!”

“They put you in a cage. It’s not dangerous.”

“You can do that. I want to get a tan.”

Yamato knocked his leg against Suzuki’s. “But you’d want to go? With me?”

“Of course.”

Yamato’s eyes lit up. He smiled. “Awesome. We can get it cleared with your manager. There’s a little while before our next break. We could go then if your team says it’s okay.”

Hawai’I with Yamato. Suzuki imagined what it might be like. Sun, sand, and the ocean. Swimsuits. Sleeping in. Hawai’ian food. He sighed wistfully. Ever since he had first seen travel programs for it on TV, he’d always wanted to go. The best part might be going with Yamato. They could run around together as much as they wanted. They’d have their own hotel room.

“Will you ask your manager about it?” Yamato said, pressing Suzuki’s leg again. He was chewing on the corner of his lip.

“I will. I’ll text her now.” Suzuki fished his phone from his jacket pocket. He braced his leg against Yamato’s. He took comfort in the pressure. Yamato was strong. It felt good to lean on him.

Some of the other guys invited them to karaoke after school that weekend. It was Hajime’s idea apparently, which meant he’d roped in Soujiro, who was bringing the twins, and so on and so on. Things usually turned out this way. If someone mentioned a party, everyone ended up unofficially invited. Ikemen wasn’t a small school, but word spread quickly, and the upperclassmen were all connected by a web of association.

Suzuki didn’t remember who specifically asked him and Yamato if they wanted to tag along. It might’ve been Ai. Anyway, they showed up at the karaoke place after everyone else had already arrived thanks to an unexpected fangirl sighting.

“You guys are late,” Tokiya said.

“We just got chased halfway across the city,” Yamato said, tossing his jacket onto one of the couches. “Give us a break.”

Suzuki removed his mask, sunglasses, and hat. He took stock of the group. Ai had brought Tokiya and Ryuu, but Kurou was nowhere to be seen, meaning there’d be a fight later. (Ryuu and Tokiya always fought.) Soujiro and the twins were there, wearing casual clothes for once. Yuu and Baa had shown up as well. Suzuki would never get over the goat head. Takeru was there, probably having heard about the outing through word of mouth.

“Sorry, we ordered food without you,” he said.

“It’s fine. We can get something later.”

Suzuki settled in beside Yamato. He had asked his manager about the vacation. She hadn’t gotten back to him yet. He was starting to get nervous. Running from their fans earlier had only made Suzuki want it more. After this comeback. If the single does well, then I earned it. She can’t say no.

The other third-years had already lined up a decent list of songs. They must have been feeling nostalgic, since most of the music was from the 80s and 90s. Takeru, being Takeru, shared some of his food with Yamato and Suzuki while Hajime launched into a heart-felt ballad at the top of his lungs.

It was times like these that made Suzuki wish he wasn’t an idol. Being a senior in high school wasn’t easy, but there was so much more freedom. You definitely didn’t get hate comments. You could hang out with whoever you wanted. You didn’t get chased when you went outside. He could never just quit though. He loved music. He loved performing. But it was nice to just be with friends and not on a stage.

Yamato nudged him with his elbow. “Are you going to sing?”

“Obviously!” Suzuki hopped up. “I wonder if they have one of your songs on the machine.”

“Ooh, do it!” Ai said.

Yamato looked embarrassed. “Come on…”

“What?” Suzuki scrolled through the song list. “Are you scared I’m gonna ruin it? I’ll let you cover one of mine?”

“You should do a duet,” Hajime said. “Give us the collab everyone’s been waiting for!”

Takeru nodded in agreement and Ai applauded. “Yeah!” he said. “Do that!”

Yamato got up and walked over to the screen, picking up a microphone for himself. “Pick something we both know. One that’s in my range.”

Suzuki kept scrolling. They had a couple of his songs, as well as a few of Yama’s, but none of them were duets. Then he spotted something. He let out a cry of excitement.

“Yama! The Star Sailor duet! From the musical.” He grabbed Yamato’s upper arm and squeezed it insistently. “Remember? The part where Selena hears Damian join her from offstage, and then he comes down from the ceiling?” He shook Yamato’s arm for emphasis. “Let’s do this one. Please?”

“Wait, you’ve seen the Star Sailor musical?” Ryuu asked with a smirk.

Yamato blushed. “It’s good,” he muttered. To Suzuki, he said, “You really want to do this one? It’s kind of…”

“I know all the words,” Suzuki said proudly. “I could sing it without looking at the screen.”

Yamato still looked hesitant. An upsetting thought reared its ugly head. Suzuki remembered the discussion in the anti-café, about their Star Sailor cosplay. I stg Suzuki drags Yamato into his weird interests all the time. Suzuki’s heart sank. What if Yama really was only going along with it to humor him? Liking a sparkly and romantic mahou shojo wasn’t Yamato’s style. And he probably hadn’t wanted to broadcast any interest in it.

“Um, we don’t have to,” Suzuki said. He reached out to scroll down the list again. “There’s probably another song we can both sing in here.”

“No,” Yamato blurted, color still high in his cheeks. “I want to do this one.”

“Are you sure?”

Yamato nodded. “You can have Selena’s part. The notes are too high for me.”

Relief washed over Suzuki. He might be humoring you again, a mean voice whispered in the back of his head. He tried to ignore it. As long as he got to sing with Yamato, he didn’t really care. He pressed play.

They might have been in a random karaoke room, surrounded by classmates, but Suzuki poured his heart into the performance. He loved the Star Sailor musical. He thought it was hopelessly romantic. Especially the part where Damian appeared. Suzuki started the duet and Yamato jumped in after a few bars. His voice was perfect for the song. It was like he really was Damian.

If Yamato had seemed uncomfortable before, he had shaken it off. He sang with confidence, turning to face Suzuki and holding out his hand. A thrill went through Suzuki as he took it. Yamato even twirled him under his arm. They could have been onstage. Suzuki had no trouble imagining Yamato in the top hat and mask (seeing as he’d worn the costume before). He also had no trouble seeing why Yamato’s fans left strings of hearts in the comments on his selfie posts.

Suzuki was starting to feel lightheaded. It might’ve been because the room was hot, or all his breath was going into the duet, but at the same time, he knew that wasn’t the real reason. Yamato drew him in a step closer. They were reaching the end of the song.

In the musical, Selena and Damian ended their duet by putting their foreheads together, eyes closed. Then, just before the stage lights dimmed, they would kiss. It was cheated, covered by strategic hand placement, but Suzuki squealed every time. Now, as his head came to rest against Yamato’s, he had a crazy idea.

What if Yamato kissed him?

Suzuki’s heart started to pound. Yamato’s face was so close to his. It would take just a tiny movement for their lips to touch. Even though the actors usually closed their eyes, Yamato was looking straight at him, and Suzuki couldn’t tear his gaze away. He’d forgotten everyone in the room. They might as well have been alone.

Then, the last note of the song faded. Yamato stepped back. Suzuki released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Yamato’s hand was still in his. Suzuki was shaking. All around them, the other third-years applauded. Someone whistled.

Suzuki came back to himself just in time. He raised his and Yama’s hands between them and swept into a low bow. “Thank you, thank you,” he said. “We’ll be here all week.”

“You guys were great!” Tokiya said. “It was just like seeing the actual musical. Right, Ryuu?”

Ryuu shrugged. “Don’t ask me. I’ve never watched Star Sailor live.”

“Oh really? Then what was that about telling Kurou how much you liked the actress that played Queen Pyrite?”

Ryuu’s mouth opened and shut indignantly. He turned away to hide the blush that had spread across his face. “Shut up, Tokiya.”

Yamato insisted on walking Suzuki home. None of their fans appeared, so it was an uneventful journey, but Suzuki’s heart hadn’t stopped racing. Yamato was at his side, keeping pace and chatting about his plans for a new song. Suzuki only half-registered the words he was saying. The rest of his mind was occupied with the ups and downs of his voice, his smile, the way the streetlights made his hair glow.

Suzuki remembered how Yamato had held his hand earlier and while they were shopping and wished Yamato would do it again. It had felt nice. He was tempted to bridge the distance between them, to reach out and mesh their fingers. Suzuki put his hands in his pockets instead.

Could friends hold hands whenever? He didn’t think there was anything weird about it, but most of the people he saw holding hands were couples. He could ask Yamato, but that seemed awkward. Why was he even getting the urge to hold hands in the first place?

“Suzuki?” Yamato had somehow ended up behind him. His brow was furrowed in concern. “Isn’t this your place?”

Suzuki looked back. He’d kept walking past his house. “Oh,” he said, grinning sheepishly. “Sorry, I was distracted. Thinking about stuff.” He jogged back.

“You’re such an airhead,” Yamato said warmly. He ground his knuckles against the sides of Suzuki’s head, not hard enough to hurt. “What would you do without me?”

Suzuki laughed, swatting Yamato’s hands away. “Mean! That’s it, we’re rivals now.”

Yamato smirked. “I couldn’t be your rival. I’d crush you, and I don’t have the heart to do that. It’d be like kicking a puppy.”

“Woof!” Suzuki’s chest grew arm as Yamato burst into a fit of giggles.

Yamato took off his cap and mussed his hair. “Go on, your mom’s probably worried you got kidnapped by a crazy fan.”

“Text me when you get home,” Suzuki said.

“Will do. See you at school.”

Suzuki watched Yamato go until he vanished around a street corner.

Yamato texted him about twenty minutes later to let him know he’d arrived home safely. Suzuki tried to do his homework, but his thoughts were a jumble. He couldn’t concentrate. After an hour of struggling, he took a bath and changed for bed. If he couldn’t do his homework, he’d go to sleep now and wake up early to finish. And yet…

Suzuki lay on his back, staring at the ceiling. What had happened tonight was different from how things usually went between him and Yamato. He remembered the light, fluttery feeling in his chest when Yamato had held his hand, and how it had doubled when their foreheads were together. He remembered looking into Yamato’s eyes as they’d sung the Star Sailor duet at the karaoke place.

Friends didn’t react that way. Suzuki knew that. A friend didn’t set your heart racing just by touching you. They didn’t spawn butterflies in your stomach. Suzuki was starting to tremble just thinking about it. Heat burned up his neck to his ears.

If he was being honest with himself, he had imagined kissing Yamato before. It was impossible not to. There was a whole legion of fans who thought they should be a couple. Suzuki had never missed an opportunity to please them. He thought it was actually rather sweet. Yamato had laughed at first, but in general had approached the whole thing with good humor. With that sort of thing going on, it was hard not to imagine what it might be like if they actually were together.

Yamato seemed like he’d be a good kisser. He’d probably kissed lots of girls. Had he ever kissed another boy before? Probably not. Suzuki touched his lips. He had faked kisses with girls for MVs, but had never done it seriously. Yamato might laugh at his inexperience.

But he might also smile as he kissed him. He might hold Suzuki to him in a firm embrace, stroking his hair. He might also push Suzuki against a wall and kiss him fiercely, channeling the energy of his music into Suzuki until they were both breathless.

Suzuki opened his eyes. He hadn’t realized he’d closed them. He took a deep breath in, then let it out. His imagination usually didn’t go that far. Suzuki felt a little uncomfortable. It was probably wrong for him to think of Yamato like that, but now that he’d started he couldn’t stop.

He pictured being able to hold hands with Yamato all the time, not just in a crowd, kisses before class, cuddling with each other while they watched movies… His heart surged. The thought of being with Yamato as more than a friend had made him so happy he couldn’t want anything else.

Suzuki wasn’t stupid. Maybe somewhat naive at times, but not stupid. He knew what he was experiencing. He loved Yamato. He had been loving Yamato for a long time now. Why shouldn’t he? Yamato was so artistic and brilliant and kind. It was just now occurring to him that his feelings ran over the edges of platonic affection into something else.

At the same time, Suzuki knew he couldn’t tell him. Yamato couldn’t possibly return his feelings. Even if he did, they couldn’t date without it being plastered over every magazine cover and celebrity news website. He thought of the message boards on the anti-Suzuki site. Those people would riot if Suzuki even hinted at the idea of loving Yamato. They might even go so far as to threaten him. And, worst of all, what if they were right? What if Yamato was only his friend because he had to be?

Suzuki didn’t want to believe it. He refused to. But the seeds of doubt had been sown. If he confessed to Yamato, and what those people online said was true, then he’d just humiliate himself. They’d never be able to hang out again. Suzuki feared that the most. He’d rather hold these feelings inside rather than run the risk of losing Yamato’s friendship.

He rolled over and buried his face in his pillow. If he stayed like this long enough, maybe he would smother himself and never have to think of it again. He lifted his head eventually. It got too uncomfortable.

“I’ll just keep going like everything’s the same,” Suzuki said out loud. “He’ll never find out and we’ll keep being friends. I won’t have to give him up.”

Still, the resolution filled him with pain. He would never have that relationship with Yamato. It wasn’t going to be easy. Yamato would only have to touch him to send ripples of longing through Suzuki. He would have to train himself not to react, not to reciprocate where it wasn’t wanted.

He got up and found his MP3 player in his backpack. He put his earbuds in. Suzuki had every single album Yamato had released. He started with the first one, for nostalgia’s sake. As he listened, he imagined Yamato was singing just for him.

Pretending everything was normal was a lot harder than Suzuki realized. Yamato was everywhere. They were in class together all day, ate together during lunch, and even hung out after school. Suzuki didn’t want to stop hanging out with him; that would just make Yamato suspicious. But it was getting more and more difficult to focus on history and science when they studied together.

They were at Yamato’s apartment that afternoon. Yamato lived alone, which Suzuki used to think was a good thing, since there was no one to bother them if they decided to stay up all night watching anime. Now, he desperately wished there was someone to ward away his thoughts of kissing Yamato.

Yamato ran his fingers through his hair. He looked frustrated. “I’m not getting it,” he said. “What about you?”

Suzuki shook his head. He hadn’t even been trying. The whole study session was turning out to be counterproductive. How do people with crushes survive?

“Do you want to take a break and play Mario Kart?”

Suzuki shoved his notebook aside. “Absolutely.”

Hopefully, a game would keep his mind off of contemplating the feel of Yamato’s lips against his. He settled into Yamato’s couch, controller in hand. They weren’t competitive with each other in any area except Mario Kart. Soon, he’d want to strangle Yamato instead of make-out with him.

The plan worked, for a little while. Suzuki got swept up in the races, he and Yamato resorting to cheating by bumping into each other in real life and trying to wrestle the controllers out of each other’s hands. It was just like how things had been before. Suzuki relaxed.

However, things took a turn when Yamato hit him with a shell, right before Suzuki was about to win Rainbow Road. Bowser dashed across the finish line while Princess Peach was still spinning out. Suzuki threw down his controller and started pummeling Yamato lightly with his fists.

“I hate you! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!”

“I’m just playing the game,” Yamato laughed.

“That was my win, you cheater!”

“Shells are a part of the game. You hit me with a blue shell a couple tracks ago. How is this any different?” Yamato grabbed Suzuki’s wrists. “You still got second place.”

“I should’ve been first,” Suzuki said. “I did the shortcut and everything.” He struggled against Yamato’s hold. “Let me go. I’m not done beating you up.”

Yamato pushed him backwards, pinning him to the couch. He hovered over Suzuki. “Oh yeah? I’d like to see you try. When you were hitting me, it felt like being stung by a mosquito.”

Suzuki went red. He tried to break free, but Yamato was strong. He went redder as he became more aware of their position. What was this, a scene out of a shojo manga?

“Okay, okay,” he said hastily. “You win. Fair and square. Can you get off me?”

Yamato let go. He leaned back. Suzuki lay there for a second longer, trying to catch his breath. Had he actually been wanting Yamato to kiss him like that? To just lean down and…

Suzuki shook his head. He had to get out of here before he did something stupid. He sat up. “Um, I should probably head home. I promised Mom I’d eat dinner with her tonight. She says she barely gets to see me.”

“Oh.” Yamato sounded disappointed. “It’s still early.”

Suzuki coughed. “Yeah. I said I’d help her cook, too.”

“Alright. I’ll walk you.” Yamato started to get up.

“Ah, no thanks!” Suzuki squeaked. He winced at the sound of his own voice. What was wrong with him? “I can make it on my own. I have my disguise and everything.”

“Are you sure?”

Suzuki nodded. He gathered his notebook and school things as quickly as possible. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow! Good luck on the physics homework.”

Yamato followed him to the door. “Text me when you get home?”

“Sure!” Suzuki chirped (too brightly, he realized). Then, before he could embarrass himself any further, he rushed out the door.

Suzuki made good on his word to help his mother make dinner. She’d been surprised to see him home so early, but glad to spend time with him as well. Suzuki’s schedule was so hectic that they rarely ate dinner together, let alone cooked together. He wasn’t as good as Souma in the kitchen, but he managed.

A part of him wanted to tell her about Yamato. He had a good opportunity to when she asked how he was doing. In the end, he said Yamato was doing fine and left it at that. He didn’t want to bother his mom with that kind of thing. (Truth be told, he was embarrassed to mention having a crush in the first place.)

After dinner, he holed himself up in his room. Suzuki knew it was the last thing he needed right now, but he logged back onto the anti-café. No one had banned him yet. Suzuki hadn’t commented since that first time, so they’d probably forgotten he was there.

It was full of the usual hatred and vitriol. Suzuki picked a thread railing against his and Yamato’s relationship. He scrolled through it for a while, his heart sinking lower and lower until it reached the Earth’s core. They despised the idea of him and Yamato together, whether they were friends or dating.

It can never happen, Suzuki thought. His fans might turn on him.

Suzuki finally closed the thread. Then, because he had no one else to turn to, he texted Jae. Jae was currently in South Korea, visiting family and the other members of his group. Suzuki hoped he wasn’t too busy.

Hey sunbae, Suzuki wrote, do you ever get hate comments?

It didn’t take long for Jae to text back. oh totally. happens all the time.

How do you deal with them?

i try to ignore it. block out the haters

It was good advice. A no-brainer, honestly, if only Suzuki could follow it. have you ever found a whole site that hates you? an anti café?

man don’t tell me you have one of those. you’re a ray of sunshine! how could anyone make a whole anti-café devoted to you?

Idk either. It’s really been getting me down. What should I do?

Jae spent a long time typing. Suzuki watched the little ellipses dance while he waited. Eventually, Jae wrote back, you can always block the site or their comments. it’s nothing to be ashamed of. you don’t owe them anything tbh. if they’re not actually sending you constructive criticism, if all they’re doing is trying to tear you down, then kick ‘em to the curb ㅋㅋㅋ seriously tho, don’t read that stuff. it breaks my heart that anyone could be so mean to my hoobae

T^T you’re the best jae-sunbae, Suzuki replied.

i try 😉 is there anything else i can help with?

Suzuki hesitated. He could trust Jae with anything. But could he trust him with this? Maybe if he was vague, Jae wouldn’t realize who Suzuki was talking about. He took a deep breath and wrote, yeah. Have you ever had a crush on someone who’s like, your friend?

are we talking about yama?

Suzuki nearly dropped his phone. He typed a response with trembling fingers. Haha nooooooo where did you get that idea? I’m talking hypothetically.

sure, ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°), Jae replied. so in this hypothetical situation, is the crusher a j-idol and the crushee a rockstar?

(^◇^；) no…

suzuki literally everyone on the planet thinks you guys are dating. even my mom thinks so.

Suzuki huffed. That doesn’t make it true! he typed. Answer my question: did you ever have a crush on a friend, yes/no?

Again, it took a while for Jae to reply. yep! didn’t work out but hey! it was someone else in the music scene. you know how it is. not that you should get discouraged! you and yamato would be super cute together.

Suzuki blushed. He thought for a while about what he should say. He typed out, do you really think so? what if a lot of people got mad?

you shouldn’t care about what other people think. it’s your personal life.

What if, hypothetically, it’s just one-sided and I ruin our whole friendship?

i doubt it would ruin your friendship, Jae wrote. i’m 99.9% sure yama likes you. have you seen how he looks in your selfies? heart eyes <3

Suzuki’s blush deepened. No way. Jae was just trying to make him feel better. Then again, the duet in the karaoke room gave him a sliver of hope. But that was a performance. They were acting like Damian and Selena.

What about the other 1%? Suzuki wrote.

you doubt my judgment?? look, even if he doesn’t feel that way about you, your friendship won’t tank just because of a little crush. not if it’s real and i think it is.

Okay. Thanks again, sunbae <3 I’ll let you get back to whatever you were doing.

anytime! it’s good to be home, but i miss everyone over there TT take care of yourself!

Suzuki locked his phone screen and lay down. Talking to Jae had helped, but he still couldn’t bring himself to confess to Yamato. He didn’t understand how Jae could be so confident when his own crush hadn’t worked out. He knew just as well as Suzuki how hard it was for idols to date normally.

Even if Yamato liked me back, I’d get flayed alive. Probably by my manager, too. His manager still hadn’t given him the green light on the vacation. Suzuki was starting to think that was her way of saying no. It might be better if he didn’t go. Hawai’i was a romantic place, right? What if Suzuki got carried away and blurted his feelings? It would defeat the purpose of a relaxing getaway.

I should tell Yamato I can’t come with. Suzuki would do it tomorrow, at school. He’d rip the band-aid off, so to speak, and get it over with. Hopefully Yamato wouldn’t be too disappointed.

Suzuki didn’t get a chance to tell Yamato the next day, because Yamato was suddenly super busy. He was on the phone with someone before class started, and he spent every break scribbling in his notebook. He disappeared during lunch before Suzuki could even ask if they were going to eat together. It wasn’t that strange, really. 3-A was full of students with irregular schedules. For example, Takahiro had taken off for some part-time job earlier.

However, Yamato wasn’t there the next day either, so Suzuki couldn’t tell him then, either. And then Suzuki had to skip a day to spend it in a recording studio. He considered texting Yamato about it, but he would rather tell him in person. It seemed a bit too important not to discuss face-to-face.

Suzuki finally got a chance when he and Yamato both arrived late in the school day. He guessed Yamato must have been recording something as well. He was dressed down from his usual leather jacket and had left out a few piercings. He only did that when he had an early morning session.

“Are you free to walk home today, Yama?” Suzuki asked as they jogged up the stairs to 3-A. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

“Today’s no good.”

“What about tomorrow morning?”

Yamato shook his head. “Busy. Sorry.”

Suzuki paused. “What’s going on? Are you prepping a new release?”

Yamato didn’t answer. He just kept going. Suzuki stared at his retreating back. What was the big secret? Yamato usually shared any and all details about his projects. He’d been talking about a new song after karaoke. Were the two related, or was this another thing altogether?

What if I made him uncomfortable? Suzuki thought, gripped by terror. Or what if Jae was trying to be helpful and told him I have a crush on him? He knew he was jumping to conclusions. Yamato was busy; that was all. Even so, he felt nervous. Why hadn’t Yamato answered him?

Suzuki investigated Yamato’s fansites. He wasn’t making special appearances anywhere. There were no concert announcements. Not even a rumor of an album release. So what was he doing? He hadn’t walked home with Suzuki or asked him over for a while. They didn’t even have lunch together anymore.

A sick, heavy dread settled in Suzuki’s stomach as he logged onto the anti-café. It got worse. The café was overjoyed.

No suzuyama sightings lately! He finally dropped him!

Heard rumors from school that they’re split up.

Maybe S*zuki will take a hint and stop clinging to Yamato like a puppy

It’d be like kicking a puppy. Suzuki’s mouth went dry. He tossed his phone into his backpack. Did Yamato really see him as a dog, stupidly following him everywhere? He’d played along with the joke that time, but now it stung.

“Romantic troubles?”

Suzuki jumped a foot. Ai was standing right behind him, his quiver slung across his back. He didn’t wait for an invitation to take the empty seat next to Suzuki. Suzuki had thought he’d been alone in this courtyard, but Ai must have had a tracking device implanted in every boy in school.

“I’m not having romantic troubles,” Suzuki lied.

Ai smiled skeptically. “It’s about Yamato, isn’t it?”

Am I really that obvious? Suzuki’s shoulders sagged. “Not you, too.”

“What, is it a secret? Even that nice girl at the café knows.”

Suzuki put his face in his hands. If everyone knew then how could Yamato not? He’s avoiding me, since he realized I’m bad for his image.

Ai patted his knee. “Cheer up! You could do a lot worse than Yamato.”

“Not if he hates me!”

“Why do you think he hates you?”

“He’s been avoiding me,” Suzuki said. “At first, I thought he was working on something, but he wouldn’t tell me anything about it. And don’t say he’s throwing me a surprise party. My birthday isn’t coming up.”

“Hmm, that’s tricky.” Ai rubbed his chin. “He usually shares all his projects with you, right? Maybe he’s seeing someone else?”

Suzuki went cold. He hadn’t considered that possibility. Had Yamato started dating and not told him? No, that couldn’t be. Someone would’ve snapped a picture or started a rumor by now, and the fansites were quiet.

“No.” He shook his head. “He would’ve told me for sure.”

Ai shrugged. “Then he’s probably busy. You shouldn’t get too worked up, Suzuki. Guys like him sometimes have trouble communicating their feelings. He might be focusing so hard that he hasn’t had time to tell you about it. Kurou does the same thing. He gets tunnel-vision when he’s working on a play.”

It made Suzuki feel a little better, but it didn’t inspire confidence. He couldn’t shake the feeling that Yamato was purposefully ducking him.

“Anyway, I’m meeting Sousuke for an archery showdown,” Ai said, standing up. “He’s going to regret challenging me. Are you going to be okay?”

Suzuki nodded. “Thanks for the advice, Ai. Good luck.”

Ai shot him a thumbs-up before he left. Suzuki remained where he was. He didn’t know how long he sat in the courtyard, staring at the flowerbeds. His phone buzzed, snapping him out of it.

It was Yamato. Suzuki had been expecting his manager. His heart thumped rapidly. He opened the message. Hey Suzuki, can you come to the music room?

He was torn. Should he go? Yamato had asked him, but what if it was just to say that they shouldn’t hang out anymore. Or worse, that he didn’t return Suzuki’s feelings, which were apparently so obvious that they could be seen from space? Eventually, Suzuki gathered his courage and went to the music room.

School had finished for the day, so the music room was deserted, except for Yamato and Suzuki. It was quiet. All the clubs were meeting on the other side of Ikemen. Yamato was leaning against the piano, fiddling something. When Suzuki got closer, he realized it was his MP3 player.

“Hey,” Yamato said. He sounded nervous. “Sorry for ghosting you. I was working on an important project.”

A bit of relief crept into Suzuki’s veins. “Really? Why didn’t you just say so?”

Yamato blushed. “Well, uh, it was kind of a surprise. I didn’t know whether it would work out. I, um… here.” He held out the MP3 player. “Listen.”

Suzuki took it. He put an earbud in. There was only one track on the device, untitled. He hit play. A second later, the sound of Yamato’s voice filled his ears. Yamato’s singing voice was wonderful and familiar, but the backing track didn’t sound like his style at all. It sounded more like Suzuki’s music than his, though there was a hint of Yamato there, too. The more Suzuki listened, the more it grew on him. The lyrics were about stars burning bright for centuries, their light stretching across galaxies long after their death, and gazing at the same sky as someone you loved. A lump formed in his throat.

“What do you think?” Yamato asked when Suzuki finished.

“Amazing, like always,” Suzuki said. “Is this going to be on your next album?”

“Actually…” Yamato scuffed the floor. “I was thinking it could be on yours. I wrote it for you to sing, if you want it. I figured it was the least I could do, after you made me that mixtape for my birthday.”

Suzuki couldn’t believe it. Yamato had written him a song. Not just one to listen to, but one to sing. The lump in his throat got bigger. “W-what’s the occasion?” he asked, his voice trembling.

“No reason. I just wanted to do something special, I guess. Do you like it?”

Suzuki nodded vigorously. He couldn’t speak. Before he could stop himself, tears began to flow down his cheeks. I’m so dumb. I thought he was ditching me this whole time, and he was working on a song. For me. He covered his face, but it didn’t stop the noise from escaping. It was like a dam had burst; all of Suzuki’s feelings rushed out in one go.

“What are you crying for?” Yamato asked, gently removing Suzuki’s hands from his face.

Suzuki hiccupped. He was so embarrassed. He hadn’t meant to cry. “I…” he tried to say. “I was afraid you were tired of me.”

Yamato sighed. “I’m not tired of you, Suzu. Have you been paying attention to what those losers online are saying? I told you they’re full of it. Come here.”

He folded Suzuki into his arms. Suzuki let out another involuntary sob. He buried his face in Yamato’s shoulder. It was sturdy and strong. His t-shirt was soft. Yamato alternated between patting his back and rubbing circles.

Eventually, Suzuki cried himself out. He stepped back. Yamato let him go, but he kept his hands on Suzuki’s arms. He was looking at him with concern.

“Are you okay?”

Suzuki nodded and sniffed. “I’ll be fine. I didn’t want it to get to me, but I guess…”

“They’re just bitter and pathetic people who have nothing better to do with their time.” Yamato gathered Suzuki’s hands and held them against his chest. “They’re not real. This is. And any fan of mine who talks that way about you isn’t a real fan. If they can’t love you as much as I do, then that’s their problem.”

Suzuki blinked. He wanted to wipe away a few stray tears, but he didn’t want Yamato to let go of him. “You love me?” he asked, half-stunned.

The realization seemed to come over Yamato at the exact same moment. A blush covered his cheeks. “Did I say that?”

“You did.”

“Well… I mean, of course I do. You’re my best friend.” To Suzuki’s dismay, Yamato dropped his hands. He ran his fingers through his hair, disturbing the spikes. “I thought you already knew that.”

“I do now.” Suzuki smiled, trying to mask his disappointment. I shouldn’t be disappointed at all. Yamato’s friendship is super important to me, too. “I love you, too.”

Yamato blushed deeper. “Alright, alright. Let’s not get carried away.”

Suzuki laughed. This was good. He knew now that Yamato wasn’t going to abandon him. They were still friends. They could continue performing together at school. It would be fun. At least I had a chance to say it to him out loud, even if he doesn’t know how much I really mean it.

Suzuki blocked the anti-café. He had to stop using it to punish himself. Besides, he couldn’t forgive them for leading him to believe Yamato didn’t care about him. He made sure to delete his account too, just in case the urge overpowered him, and he lifted the block.

It’s been fun, he thought. He instantly felt better. Things returned to normal. Suzuki approached his manager with Yamato’s song. He leaned heavily on the idea of marketing it as a collaboration and watched as the yen signs appeared in her eyes. After that, she shocked him by giving him permission to go to Hawai’i.

“If the song does well, we’ll find time for a vacation,” she promised. “I couldn’t answer you before, since there was a lot up in the air, but you deserve some time off.”

“And I can go with Yamato?”

“If your schedules line up, I don’t see why not.”

The next morning, he told Yamato by throwing himself into his arms and shouting, “We’re going to Hawai’i!”

“Your manager said yes?” Yamato said, brightening.

Suzuki nodded. “She said that if the collab works out, then I can go with you. As long as we’re free at the same time. Hawai’i, Yama! Hawai’i!”

Yamato actually swung him around the classroom but stopped short when their homeroom teacher gave them a death-glare. Suzuki let go and jumped back.

“Oops. Sorry, sensei.”

“You’d better concentrate on passing your exams before talking about Hawai’i,” the teacher warned. “And don’t do that again. You could’ve knocked over the desks.”

It didn’t bring Suzuki’s mood down at all. He was walking on air. Later, when his and Yama’s managers called about some kind of music industry party, he agreed to go without hesitation. Yamato was a little more reluctant, but he caved when Suzuki said they could go together.

All in all, life was good. Suzuki still wanted to kiss Yamato. He still wanted to hug him as tightly as possible and tell him how he felt, but he couldn’t bear to mess everything up. Why sabotage a good thing? Yamato clearly only thought of him as a friend.

And that was fine. Everything was fine.

Suzuki enjoyed getting dressed up for public appearances. Yamato didn’t. He always looked uncomfortable in suits. Uncomfortable, yet handsome. Suzuki’s heart felt like it was going to leap out of his chest.

“I hate ties,” Yamato muttered, playing with the end of his.

“Then don’t wear one,” Suzuki said. He stepped forward and undid the knot. “It’s a formal party, but no one will care. See, I think you look just fine without it. Undo a couple buttons, and voila! Rock superstar Yamato is red carpet ready!”

Suzuki might have been mistaken, but Yamato appeared flustered. He turned towards the limousine their managers had arranged to drive them to the event and held open the door for Suzuki.

“After you,” he said.

It was after sunset and traffic was bad. Suzuki checked the time. Unless they learned how to teleport, they were going to be late. Oh well, in that case they’d make an even more striking entrance. Suzuki stretched out, putting his feet up on the seat. They were barely moving.

Yamato, meanwhile, was reading something on his phone. Suzuki didn’t know what it was, but it appeared to be irritating him. He kept frowning. Finally, Yamato tossed the phone into the corner and folded his arms. He huffed, a deep furrow forming between his eyebrows. Suzuki was torn between laughing at his grumpiness and wanting to comfort him.

“What’s up, Yama-kun?” Suzuki asked.

“Oh, it’s…” He stopped, turning pink. “It’s stupid.”

“You did something stupid?” Suzuki knew he sounded a bit too eager, but he couldn’t help it. He was dying to know.

Yamato rolled his eyes. “Yes, actually.”

“Are you going to tell me about it or am I going to have to tickle you for information?” Suzuki wiggled his fingers to demonstrate.

“Don’t!” Yamato pulled his legs up onto the seat, as if to shield himself from Suzuki’s attack. “Jesus, Suzuki we’re in public.”

“No, we’re not. The windows are tinted and the partition’s up. Now tell me what made you so mad.”

Yamato relaxed. He retrieved his phone—which was undamaged—and passed it to Suzuki. Suzuki’s eyes widened. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing: an anti-Yamato fansite. For a few seconds, he just stared at it. Then he began to actually process the words he was looking at.

Yamato’s style totally clashes with Suzuki’s. Don’t know why they’re friends.

Do u remember when he was talking about how “””fake””” Zuzu is? He said in a press conference that ur not a real artist if u don’t write and produce ur own songs. What a snob. Did he ever apologize for that?

Suzuki laughed out loud. He glanced at Yamato. “They have a point. Did you ever apologize to me?”

“It’s not funny.”

“It is!” Suzuki kept scrolling. “This whole time you were telling me not to pay attention to the haters and you didn’t even follow your own advice. Aww, Yama, don’t feel bad. Wait a minute.”

There was a new reply to one of the comments by a user named, “st4rpower826.”

Do you guys ever get tired of talking trash behind the safety of your computer screens? Why don’t you say this stuff to Suzuki’s face and see how he takes it. Last I heard, he and Yamato were still really close. He doesn’t get mad until you insult his friends. If you actually cared about him, you wouldn’t do this.

It had a bunch of negative replies. Suzuki looked at Yamato again. Yamato was chewing on his lip.

“Is this you?” Suzuki asked, pointing at the screen.

“That could be anyone.”

“It’s you! You made an account!” Suzuki grabbed Yamato’s shoulder and shook it. He was laughing uncontrollably now. “You made an account so you could fight with them! Oh my God. That’s my birthday in your username!”

Yamato’s ears were growing steadily redder. “You have to make an account to read the message boards,” he muttered. “You know that. Someone was going to come along and tell them off eventually. Might as well be me.”

“How did you get that username? That’s, like, a prime fandom username. When I went on the anti-Suzuki boards, YamaFan#1 was taken.”

“No one else spelled with a four for the A.”

Suzuki was still giggling. He continued scrolling. “How long did you have this?”

“I went searching for one about me the same night you went on yours. I was curious.” Yamato smiled sheepishly. “I could take all the garbage they spewed about me but when they started throwing you into the mix, I got really upset. So I fought back. Didn’t do much good though.”

“These people say we’re so different, but we actually have lots in common, huh?”

“Yeah…”

“Oh, here’s a familiar one: ‘Suzuki is friends with Yamato for fanservice. Yamato wouldn’t be as popular if people didn’t think he was gay for Suzuki.’ People were saying the same stuff on my anti-site.”

Yamato’s blush had spread down his neck. “They’re crazy.”

“I know.” Suzuki turned the screen off. “You shouldn’t get into fights with people online, even if they are being jerks. We know the truth.”

Yamato nodded. He rubbed the back of his neck. “You know, it was really stupid, but I started to get scared that they might be right. Just for a second. Seeing all that old stuff I said made me wonder if you were still angry with me, and you were pretending not to hate me for the sake of getting along.”

“I don’t hate you, Yama.” Suzuki kneaded Yamato’s shoulder. “I’ve always thought you were cool, even when you were criticizing me. I could never hate you. Do you wanna know why?”

“Sure,” Yamato said, his lips quirking into a smile.

Suzuki kissed him. His heart was pounding a mile a minute, but he had never felt more sure of anything in his life before. The hand on Yamato’s shoulder was steady. When he pulled away, Yamato was staring at him, his eyes huge.

“It’s because I love you,” Suzuki said. And because he couldn’t help it, he winked.

The words were barely out of his mouth before Yamato returned the kiss. It took Suzuki by surprise, almost knocking him backward. He managed to hold himself up by catching hold of Yamato’s other shoulder. The realization that Yamato was kissing him sank in about two seconds later. Suzuki’s imagination had been lacking. Actually kissing Yamato was better than anything he could’ve dreamed up.

Yamato was holding him, one hand braced against the small of Suzuki’s back, the other cupping his chin. His mouth was soft and smooth and warm. Suzuki tasted a hint of lip balm. He leaned into the kiss, following Yamato’s movements. Then, Yamato pulled Suzuki onto his lap. Both hands slid to Suzuki’s hips.

“Suzuki,” Yamato breathed.

“What?”

“I don’t want to go to this party. Do you?”

Suzuki didn’t have to think about it. “No.”

He gave Yamato another lingering kiss as he got off his lap, then went to knock on the partition. It rolled down about halfway. Suzuki held up a hand in apology.

“Sorry,” he said, “but could you take us back to Yamato’s place?”

The next morning was strange. After they’d been dropped off at Yamato’s house, he and Suzuki had spent the rest of the night watching movies and making out. When they were too tired to keep their eyes open a second longer, Yamato let Suzuki borrow a t-shirt and pair of pajama pants, and they had fallen asleep in his room.

Suzuki woke up thinking last night had been a dream. He wasn’t surprised by coming to in Yamato’s room. (They had sleepovers all the time.) What reminded him that it was real was feeling the weight of Yamato’s arm around him. Suzuki bit back a fresh fit of giggles. He couldn’t believe it. He had kissed Yamato last night. Yamato had kissed him back.

Yamato stirred and lifted his head. It seemed to take him a minute as well. Then he smiled. He kissed Suzuki’s cheek. “Good morning,” he said softly.

“Good morning,” Suzuki repeated. He wondered if they could get away with staying in bed all day. Their phones had been blowing up all night, to the point where they’d set them to silent and left them in the living room.

Yamato groped for his alarm clock. “It’s almost noon.”

“My manager is probably going crazy right now because I didn’t show up.” He laughed at that. She was going to kill him later, but there were other things on his mind right now. “Is there anything important going on today?”

“No. There’s just you.” Yamato nestled himself against Suzuki again.

“We can stay in today,” Suzuki suggested. “We’ll play video games and make pancakes.”

“And make out,” Yamato added. He stuck his tongue out and wiggled it around.

Suzuki slapped his hand over Yamato’s mouth, laughing helplessly. “Gross! Don’t do that. You’re not a member of KISS.”

Yamato laughed as well. He let go of Suzuki and rolled out of bed. “Come on. I’ll make you pancakes. I bought blueberries.”

The apartment complex was quiet. Everyone was either sleeping in or out. Suzuki helped Yamato get out the mixing bowl and the skillet. There were, in fact, blueberries in the fridge. (Suzuki may have helped himself to a few before putting some in the batter.) Yamato started a pot of coffee, promising Suzuki that he still had the French vanilla creamer he liked.

While they were waiting to flip the first pancake, Suzuki decided to bring up the question that had been on his mind since he’d gotten out of bed. “So… are we boyfriends now?”

To his credit, Yamato wasn’t caught off-guard, though he did hesitate. “I don’t know. I want to be,” he said. “Things are different for us.”

“I’d be fine dating you in secret. Plenty of celebrities do it.”

“Me too, but I don’t know how long we could keep it up. There’s a lot of stress involved.” Yamato did the flip. It was clean. He passed the spatula to Suzuki. “It would definitely make some of our fans happy.”

Suzuki grinned. “Maybe that’s how we should justify it to our managers.”

“Yikes,” Yamato said. “Honestly, I don’t want to think about it right now. I just want to eat and destroy you at Mario Kart again. We can talk about the serious stuff later.”

“Can’t you go easy on me?” Suzuki whined. “I’m your boyfriend.”

“What makes you think I’d go easy on you just because we’re dating now? I never let you win when we were friends and that’s not going to change now.”

“You’re so mean.” Suzuki pulled his eyelid and stuck out his tongue. “Yama-kun’s a bad boyfriend. I’m gonna tell the whole world, so no one will steal you from me.”

Yamato laughed. He put an arm around Suzuki’s waist and brought him in for a kiss. “No one could steal me from you,” he said when they separated. “I love you.”

Suzuki put his head on Yamato’s shoulder. Life was good. The world might as well be limited to this small kitchen. To him and Yamato, and no one else. “Love you, too.”

#notice me senpai #skillshot labs #fanfic #oneshot #fluff #light angst

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