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hoedorokishoto · 1 year

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Fan Girls Shman Girls

Ryouta Kise x Reader

all characters are 18+

warnings - swearing, suggestive language

“You don’t have to run off you know y/n-cchi. The world won’t stop spinning just because you admit you like me and snuggle.” Kise said from behind you. A smirk on his face as he leant back on his elbows, long legs spread beneath the blanket that was now hiding how naked he was. You couldn’t deny he was handsome, and not that you would ever say it but sometime when the light touched his golden hair just right, he looked ethereal. Something not of this word.

“I have a lot of um, baking to do. I need to practise for the school festival, coach will have my head if I give everyone food poisoning from our stall” You said matter-of-factly, pulling on your pants that you found discarded among other clothes on the floor.

“Baking? That was the first thing you could think of?” Kise laughed, the sound making your heart skip a beat.

No matter what Ryouta Kise did he did with such grace. Kise slept, ate, talked and just lived in model. Never a single hair or step out of place.

“I was actually thinking about Baking the whole time, that’s why I was moaning so loudly.” You joked back, winking at the man with a smile.

“Hmm unless there is a pastry called “Fuck me harder Ryouta” I’m going to have to say you are lying.” He replied. Flashing his 1000-watt smile as you stared at him, mouth hung open at his response. Unable to think of a remark.

“We could be more than this you know.” He said lowly, coming up in front of you, kissing up your neck into your hair. You stomach tightening as your legs rubbed together.

“What and face the wrath of the fan girls? I’ll pass.” You answered, moving your head to the side as he continued with his small kisses. His tongue licking a strip up your neck as goosebumps overtook every inch of your skin.

Despite your joke, you knew it was more than that. Despite being in this position now, you always questioned how you got here. How the ace of the basketball team and all-round golden boy of the school decided to spend most of his afternoons with you. A little no one, not excelling at sports, or academics and you certainly didn’t think you were anything too impressive to look at. Not someone as beautiful as Kise.

“I’ll admit, I don’t have baking but I do have to study. I’ll um text you later.” You said, standing up and out of Kise’s reach, grabbing your backpack and phone from the desk.

Kise’s face dropping slightly, his hair falling over his face as you opened his door and walked out.

“I just don’t get it Coach!” Kise exclaimed, head in his hands as he sighed heavily.

“Don’t you have any friends to talk to about this sort of stuff Kise?” Coach asked, his gruff voice low as he observed his star player. Looking more defeated than he had ever seen him in the 3 years he had spent coaching.

“I tried to call some of them, but they just laughed and didn’t take me seriously. I have never been turned down and they keep joking that I’m losing my touch.” Kise continued, shoulders still slouched.

“It’s not even like that though, we have se…..”

“OKAY! Stop right there, I feel like that might be too much for me to hear.” Coach admitted, waving his hands around, his face flustered and in shock.

“You must like this girl Kise, you could pick any of the girls that show up here every day yet the one who no one has ever seen and rejects you almost bi-weekly is that one that has you down in the dumps.” He responded gruffly.

“Listen kid, it’s a sucky situation. I’ll admit. But if you don’t sort it out and do something about it, I will rain hell down on you! I won’t have you miss anymore shot because you were too busy crying over a girl!” Coach yelled and swung a towel around the back of Kise’s head.

Class felt like it had never taken this long, the hands of the clock looking as though they weren’t even moving. The last class of the day killing almost every braincell you had left to spare, your eye’s fluttering closed.

It didn’t help that you also had volleyball after this, your bones already sore from just the thought of whatever the coach was going to put you through today.

Your thoughts were interrupted by the chattering of the girls in front of you.

“So do you think Kise has a girlfriend, usually he flirts back but now he just brushes me off. I even made him snacks and he gave them to the first years on the team. He didn’t even look inside the bag.” She said, dropping her head on her hand and pouting over at her friend.

It had been like this since your first year at Kaijo, even at your first assembly before laying eyes on Ryouta Kise you were hearing about him. How handsome he was, how awesome at basketball he was and how he was a model. Your official meeting with the small forward happening week’s later, a walk to class ending with a swift basketball to the head and a trip to the nurse, your dazed form being carried by none other than Mr Model himself. Apologising every second, not leaving you until the nurse gave you the all clear to return to class.

You smiled at the memory, and all the memories you’ve made together since then. Kise becoming your friend, then eventually becoming whatever it is you would call him now.

“Miss L/N, the bell rang. On your way now.” Your teacher called, breaking you out of you head as you got up in a hurry and made your way to the club room.

You were late, now being the last person getting changed as everyone cleared out and made their way to the gym.

Whistle

You turned quickly, covering your chest with your shirt as you took in the last person you expected to see right now.

“Nothing I haven’t seen before Y/N-chii, don’t know why you are covering up.” He said lightly, bringing his hand up to run through his hair. His exposed arm flexing as he did.

“Well I thought you were a disgusting pervert, jury is still out.” You said, lifting the shirt over your head and pulling it down, not noticing Ryouta coming up behind you and sitting down at the bench. His hand reaching out and playing with the hem of your shorts, his eyes sad as he looked you up and down.

“Are you okay Kise?” You asked, walking over and standing between his legs. His head resting on your stomach as his golden hair fell around his face.

“No Y/N, everything is not okay and I’m tired of pretending that it is.” He answered, lifting your shirt slightly and caressing the bare skin of you hip. Your whole body tensing at his words. Was this it, had he finally come to his senses and concluded that you had. That no matter what, in every universe Ryouta Kise was irrevocably better than you. The thought crossing your mind made your heart clench, the thought stinging more than you cared to admit. Kise’s large hands being a anchor holding you in place as your mind raced.

“I need to be with you Y/N… It’s always been you and it always will be.” He admitted, kissing your hip and resting his head back on your stomach. You swear your heart skipped a beat and you forgot how to breath. Your hands tightening on the fabric of his black top.

“I want you to be my girlfriend, I want people to know that you are mine and I am yours. Since the moment I saw you I knew that I needed you.”

“Is that why you through a basketball at my head?” You asked, breaking the tension and leaning down to his eye level, your hands cupping his face as his golden eyes bore into yours. A smile spreading across his face.

“I want to be with you to Ryouta, but…”

“No buts!”

“But I don’t want to hold you back from being with someone who truly deserves you. I think we both know there are people out there who are way better than I am.” You admitted, dropping to your knees in front of him, hands falling to your side.

“I don’t know that! I know that I love you and I always have!”

You looked up at him, tears prickling the back of your eyes as Kise leant down and connected his lips to yours. Not holding back as he picked you up and placed you in his lap. Your legs straddling him as you kissed him back. Your hands running through his hair as his hands crept up the back of your t-shirt.

“Let’s go home, so I can show you just how much I mean every word I said.”

“What if the girls see?” You started

“Fan girls shman girls. The sooner they see I’m taken the better.” He stated.

“I’ve officially got you now baby and I don’t plan on letting you go anytime soon.”

#knb x reader #kuroko no basket #kuroko's basketball #kise smut #ryouta kise #knb

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planetkiimchi · 8 months

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the strings of fate | l.mk

no. 5 of my song collection (requested!)

featuring: mark lee x gn!reader, chenle

word count: 7351

warnings: arson, fire, burning, people die in the fire, death (funeral), rooftops (?) if you're scared of heights, there's mentions of nudity but not described, swearing, you'll probably hate me for this fic but idc

playlist: anaheim - niki; 10:35 - tate mcrae; psycho - jun; adelaide - johnny orlando; let me go - hailee steinfeld + alesso + florida georgia line + watt; after you - gryffin + jason ross + calle lehmann; haunt you - x lovers + chloe moriondo

summary — when mark lee, student council president of riize highschool goes missing, you’re the first suspect. as his best friend and well-known crush, you stood to gain the most from it. you’re also vice-president, and with mark gone, you’ve stepped up to be the president and predicted valedictorian. all eyes are on you, and one wrong move can send you to your downfall. but who’s that lurking in the shadows, tugging on the puppet-strings of fort irwin? the city is small, but you feel smaller as things go spiralling crazily out of control. OR mark loves you more than anything else in the world, but you're too broken to receive his love.

if you liked it, REBLOG it.

5 months ago — if i could, i’d freeze this moment, make it my home

“Mark?” You peeked into the room, footsteps resounding in the hollow space. Mark had promised to meet you at the auditorium, but he wasn’t there, leaving you stranded in the middle of the school in a dark room with only the dark red seats to keep you company.

As you turned to leave, you heard a muffled sound that sounded suspiciously like someone landing on the carpet floor. You looked behind you just in time to see Mark removing his mask, breathlessly calling after you, still clad in his Spiderman outfit.

“Just as I thought I’d been stood up,” you told him.

“Nope. In fact, I would have been early if someone hadn’t tried to mug me on my way here. It took some time to get changed and wrap him up in spiderwebs before I dropped an anonymous tip to the police station.” As he spoke, Mark reached into his back pockets, which were luxuriously deep and could seemingly fit as many things as Doraemon’s bag.

“I brought you the book you said you wanted,” Mark said as he pressed it into your hands. His smile was contagious, and you couldn’t fault him for having a heart of gold. It wasn’t his fault that he wanted to make things right, so you forgave him for it.

“Aren’t you gonna get changed?”

He blushed and made some vague motions with his hands before settling on, “Yeah. If you could just- turn around?”

You turned around swiftly, lips pressed together as you tried to ignore the hot blush spreading across your cheeks. You fiddled with the book in your hands, the thumping of your heart making it difficult for you to hear when Mark told you he was done.

He gave you a thumbs-up, and you saw his mask hanging out from the open pocket of his bag. You walked over to him, tucking the mask inside and zipping the pocket up before reaching up, tiptoeing slightly to reach his head, and smoothed out his hair.

He shook his head slightly and wiped the sweat off his brow with a grin. “Better?”

“Better.”

“Since we’re already here, why don't we take advantage of the projector and watch a movie?”

You hesitated, shifting your weight from one foot to another. “I’m a little busy,” you said, rubbing the back of your neck as you thought about the countless assignments you had piling up.

Mark smiled disarmingly and extended his hand, shooting webs from his wrist. They reached the control room, hitting the “on” button. The screen blinked on, showing the default screensaver. “I didn’t mean it as a question, more like an invitation. I know you’re still not over Chenle, so I thought this might cheer you up.”

You were given little choice when Mark slipped into one of the back seats, procuring popcorn from his bag like a magician, patting the seat beside him as he projected his Netflix account onto the screen, and “Little Women” started playing. You couldn’t lie, you had a soft spot for that movie, and seeing it playing was all it took for you to cave in and slump into the seat next to him, dispelling all thoughts of work from your mind.

“Are you supposed to be using your student council pass to get access to the auditorium for a movie?” You asked curiously, reaching for the popcorn.

Mark passed you the box with a dismissive shrug. “If they didn’t want me to take advantage of it, they wouldn’t have given it to me. Perks of being liked by the teachers, I guess.”

That was Mark Lee for you. Handsome, smart, popular—well-liked by both the student body and the faculty. He was perfection in a nutshell, and his heart was yours. You only regretted never being able to give him the same.

3 months ago — you’re all i want to, want to know

Dangling your feet off the rooftops, breeze soft against your skin as you watched the sunset. Yellow waves of light washed over the red sky, turning it gorgeous shades of orange and pink and purple, if you squinted hard enough.

The sky was a vast expanse of intangible matter, the whispers of the wind calling out to you. Instinctively, you reached out for it, hands grasping at thin air. It felt like it was just out of your reach, and you leaned further, hands outstretched…

You forgot that you were on the rooftop, stomach rising to your throat as you fell from the building, scream caught in your throat which was squeezed so tightly you could barely breathe.

Every second of the fall was torture. You could feel the air rushing past your face, hard enough to chafe but not dense enough to cushion your fall. Your hands flailed about, scrabbling for something to hold onto, desperately searching for holds to grab onto, until you felt a tug on your back.

Mark lowered himself to your height, and you found yourself swinging like a pendulum from the top of the building while Mark leaned into his pants like he was going rock climbing with his friends for leisure, fully trusting his webs to hold him up.

“You good?”

You nodded, gulping nervously. Don’t look down, don’t look down, don’t look down…

Mark seemed to sense your fear, one hand wrapping around your waist reassuringly. The concrete touch of his arm against your back calmed you, and you inhaled deeply while staring straight into his eyes, refusing to look down for fear of how high up you were.

“You know, if you wanted to swing around town, you could’ve just asked.”

Your face dropped as you glared at him, your grip around his torso never loosening even for a second. “Ha ha, very funny. Please bring me back up before I throw up.”

“My pleasure.” Both of you shot up suddenly, and you almost collapsed in relief when your feet found hard ground again, but you made sure to move far, far away from the edge that time.

“I think I’m happy just staying here,” you said cautiously from the middle of the roof, as far away from all the sides of the building as possible. You knelt down to feel the ground, afraid that it wasn’t sturdy enough, before falling into a cross-legged position with a grunt.

Mark bent down to sit beside you, guiding your head onto his shoulder as he rubbed your back comfortingly. “I know it’s scary, but hey, the sunset’s worth it.”

Its beauty was almost comparable to Mark’s.

2 weeks ago — i can tell you mean it when you kiss me slow

Your hand tightened in Mark’s as he ran gleefully towards the ferris wheel, dragging you along behind him as he stood in line for the ride.

Autumn was all around you, in the air as auburn leaves drifted past on a breeze, gently gusting over your hair and leaving you feeling chilly but not cold. The crunch of your footsteps against the ground, the smell of apples all around, the earth heralded the third season of the year.

Mark’s figure was stark against the rest, dressed in all black against the neutral tones of fall, taller than everyone else. Mark was your rock, and sometimes he seemed a little larger than life.

The queue moved slowly, but Mark kept you entertained with silly jokes while it inched forward, and you found yourself lost in the sound of his laughter. It sounded muffled to your ears, like you were hearing it while you were submerged underwater. How could you bring yourself to hurt someone like him?

Your knuckles whitened as they gripped the side of the carriage tightly when you boarded the ferris wheel, eyes staring straight ahead—anywhere but down—while you fought to calm your racing heart.

“It’s not too scary if you look at me, right?”

You had to admit that he was right. If you focussed only on Mark, the world disappeared into a blur of white lights and cloudy skies, and the ground felt solid under your feet.

It was a reassuring thought to know that Mark had your back. So when you reached the top of the wheel, sky-high above the rest of the world with no weight on your shoulders, and Mark kissed you, you kissed him back.

You kissed him like your heart didn’t belong to someone else, like you didn’t care if it hurt him. Because you selfishly wanted his heart, even if you could never reciprocate his love for you.

1 day ago — but please don’t ask me, the answer’s no

You woke up in Chenle’s bed, his hands tangled in your hair while you wrapped your arms around him. The blanket was at your feet, having been kicked off in the night. Chenle’s breathing was peaceful, and the steady rise and fall of his chest pulled you out of your trance.

Chenle had done nothing to Mark, yet he had unknowingly hurt him again and again. You kept coming back to him even after you had broken up, slipping into his arms after shitty decisions late at night, clothes strewn over the floor as you willingly hurt yourself again and again.

To Chenle’s knowledge, you were single, and it was true—to a certain extent. You didn’t love Chenle, and he didn’t need to love you either. You had come to a mutual agreement that he would keep you warm on lonely nights, and there would be no questions asked.

In the mornings, you would leave, and there would be no expectations of breakfast or loving words when you woke.

And so, you became a ghost of yourself, hovering in spaces just long enough for you to be seen before vanishing again, never happy or satisfied.

You pried yourself from Chenle’s hands, slipping into your clothes, running your hand through your hair in the mirror before rinsing your mouth and washing your face quickly. You left no traces of yourself behind, save for the guilt-ridden kiss you left on Chenle’s cheek with a sad smile.

Mark didn’t know what had happened when you met him that morning, reaching out to envelope you in a hug when you stiffened, pushing him away with a grimace. “Don’t- I don’t want to do this to you, Mark.”

He raised his hands in surrender, but you could have sworn heard his heart shatter, the pain in his eyes too much for you to bear. You turned towards the school, firmly avoiding his gaze as your lead-filled limbs brought you further and further away from him.

now — in a perfect world, i’d kill to love you the loudest

mark: can we talk? mark: i feel like there's something you're not telling me mark: i'm always here for you, you know mark: even if just as a friend

(i don’t know if that’s enough for you)

The messages he left on your phone burned a hole through your pocket. You didn’t want to answer them, but you didn’t want to ignore him either, so you opted to climb into a cab and asked it to take you to an isolated area just out of town. It was close enough for Mark to go to, but only as Spiderman. If he took any other form of transport, he would arrive too late.

you: 📍live location you: come over you: please

“Y/n?” Mark was in his Spiderman suit, eyes shielded by the mask. You couldn’t decipher any of his mixed emotions, but you saw his fingers twitch slightly before he reached out to touch the fence that separated you, hesitance laced in his voice. He sounded unsure, afraid even.

“Are you okay? What are you doing out here?” You had never heard Mark scared before. To you, he had always been the brave one, the one who walked first in haunted houses and killed insects while you screamed and leaped away. He wasn’t afraid of heights or those he fought against, and he seemed to shrink in front of your eyes when he was afraid.

“Can you come over to this side?”

Mark scaled the fence and dropped silently in front of you, cautiously moving towards you as his hand reached to pull his mask off.

“What’s going on?”

Mark felt somebody grab his hand, pulling him towards them with his face away while they held him in a chokehold. He felt a needle poking into his neck, injecting anesthetic into his bloodstream. He went limp in his captor’s arms, and was gently laid on the ground while his captor reached for their phone and stopped the recording.

“I’m sorry,” they whispered as they anonymously sent the video of an unmasked Spiderman to the news station they could count on to deliver their news the fastest.

but all i do is live to hurt you soundless

Mark came to in a dark room, hands tied behind his back. He tried to move his feet, and found that they were also tied to the legs of the chair. Defeated, he slumped in the chair, breathing heavily as he surveyed the room. It was small and empty, and he was the sole occupant inside it.

Welcome, Mark Lee. I hope you make yourself at home. With that, the speakers crackled and went quiet.

Chills ran down Mark’s spine as he heard the voice playing. Where were you, and why couldn’t he remember anything? His mind was foggy and he couldn’t remember a thing, except for your text. He remembered receiving it, and going to a shady, isolated place….

Could someone have kidnapped you and taken your phone to trick him? The idea of it caused his throat to seize, heart thumping painfully inside his chest.

The clanging sound of a door opening startled Mark, and he strained to see where the door was. He heard metal grating against the floor and the thump of footsteps, coming face to face with a masked silhouette. The white of the mask was a stark contrast to the dark cell, and it was the only thing Mark could make out.

A spoon clattered to the floor as the silhouette knelt down and set a tray of food on the floor, the water in the cup sloshing out at the impact. The silhouette’s voice sounded robotic when it spoke.

“I will untie your hands, and you can reach down to take your food. This will last you until tomorrow, so ensure that you don’t finish it all in one sitting. If you struggle or try to escape, just know that you won’t like the consequences.”

Mark’s hands felt numb, and he winced at the feeling of pins and needles as the blood gratefully rushed to his wrists, and he rubbed at his sore shoulders. He bent down gratefully to take a bowl of rice and meat from the ground, and when he sat up again, the masked person had vanished like a wisp of smoke.

say you see i’m lying, babe, and let this go

Mark was going insane. An entire day of silence was enough to drive a man to the brink of insanity, but Mark was just barely holding on. He had estimated the length and width of his cell, tried to write it down and realised that the best way was to write it in his food; hopped around, trying to stand up, and fell multiple times; and was growing bored.

He counted the seconds it took for him to breathe one full breath, then held his breath for as long as he could, then glanced back down impatiently at the analog clock he had found on his food tray.

If it was telling the right time, then 12 hours had passed since he had first woken up in his cell. He had fallen asleep in his chair during what he hoped was nighttime, but woken up with a crick in his neck that had been irritating him the entire day.

It didn’t feel like daytime, although it was supposed to be past noon, simply because there was no natural light filtering into the cell, and the only way he could see was by the light of the clock’s hands and numbers, and the dim light coming from what he assumed was a corridor outside his cell.

Mark drummed his fingers against his lap and rubbed the back of his neck tiredly. He had eaten breakfast when he woke up, then lunch just after noon, but his water was running low and his parched throat itched.

It was odd, he thought, that the food that he had been given actually wasn’t that bad. It was simple, but the meat wasn’t as hard as he had expected, and he had been so hungry that he had scarfed it down in one go.

He was just about to risk hopping over to the door of the cell and yelling for help when the speaker that had scared him the night before suddenly crackled to life.

Fort Irwin is a little small for mysteries, but the latest case of Spiderman had everyone puzzled. Mark Lee, 17, was reported to be missing yesterday evening. According to reports from 35.7Hz Radio, the unmasked Spiderman circulating on the internet is exactly the same boy that has gone missing.

However, the hero was spotted swinging by a Target today, persuading a teenager to return the goods they had shoplifted from the store. Has Mark simply run away from home but felt obligated to continue enforcing the law, or has he been kidnapped?

And, more importantly, if Mark Lee has gone missing, then who is his replacement Spiderman?

Mark’s heart dropped as the speaker went silent. There had been a video of him being unmasked in his Spiderman suit? But he hadn’t even worn it in the past 24 hours—oh. Mark looked down at himself to check that he wasn’t wearing it anymore, finding his own clothes on his body.

Odd. He had only brought his phone with him when he went to find you, and he never wore his regular clothes under his suit. However, the clothes that he was wearing were definitely his—they even smelt like the laundry detergent his mum used when she washed his clothes.

If he was wearing his own clothes, then where had his Spiderman suit gone? He craned his neck to the side to look for it, immediately wincing in pain when he felt the burning pain sear through his neck. He had completely forgotten about his stiff neck.

He rubbed his neck, and the door creaked open, the masked silhouette standing there. “Good afternoon,” they said casually, picking up the empty bowls and cutlery from the floor. Mark had been bored enough to stack them up, so it was an easy task for his captor to collect the items and place them on the tray.

“If it were a good afternoon, I would be at home doing homework,” Mark snapped.

i can never promise you tomorrow

“Watch your tone,” his captor said. “I could kill you if I wanted to.”

“They’d find you,” Mark said, but he wasn’t very sure that they would.

“I don’t need to set my hands on you to drive you crazy. In fact, you’re already halfway there,” the silhouette sneered, and Mark could hear the contempt in their voice. He shuddered at the thought of going crazy, knowing that the boredom would surely drive him to do things he never would if he were in the right frame of mind.

“You should show me your face.” It was a weak attempt, but Mark didn’t want to hear anymore about his future loss of sanity, and he wanted to at least be able to identify the culprit if he ever got out alive.

“You’re changing the topic. And I don’t think I will,” the captor said. They grabbed the back of Mark’s chair and forcefully turned him around, facing him away from the door as their footsteps retreated out of the confines of the cell.

Later, the clang of a metal tray on the ground informed Mark that his food and water had been replaced, and he found that it had come with a chamber pot.

‘cause i have yet to learn how not to be his

Chenle’s hand traced lazy circles over your back until you turned to face him, legs intertwined in his.

“How are you- what do you think of the… y’know, the Mark situation?” He asked hesitantly. It was crossing some boundaries, that was for sure. Your and his relationship was meant to be free from emotional baggage, romantic gestures, and only meant as a way of comfort for both of you.

But at the end of the day, Chenle and you had dated once. Even if you had hated him for a while after the breakup, and he had ignored you for a good couple of months, he did still care about you, although he didn’t know how to—or whether he should—show it.

“I’m dealing with it,” you responded curtly. The truth was, it hurt more than it should. You were being investigated by the police, and when they found the last texts you had sent to him, it didn’t help your case much. The best you could do was to defend yourself, telling them that you had really only been in a bad place and wanted a friend to comfort you.

What they forgot was that he was still your best friend, and even if you didn’t love him back the way he loved you, he was still important to you. You didn’t want him to come to any harm, though it might seem differently to some.

You were, after all, vice-president on the student council. Now that Mark was incapacitated, you were the acting president. Besides, Mark’s crush on you had never been a secret, and half the student body thought that you had taken advantage of his crush on you to get rid of him.

His parents were the most worried, and you could barely look them in the eyes, knowing that you might have been the reason that Mark was missing. They didn’t suspect you, fully trusting you as Mark’s friend, but you didn’t want to let them down if the police found that you had led the kidnapper to Mark.

Mark’s exposed identity was also an issue. You and his parents had known since he decided to create an image for himself, but he had always wanted to keep it private for two reasons: he believed that good deeds did not need to be rewarded, and he was shy.

He didn’t want people to think of him differently because he was a “hero”. You admired him for that, but you also hated him for it. That he could be so noble and righteous, and you hated the jealousy you felt when you saw him walking around school and waving at everyone.

Superhero student council president Mark, who was only missing a lover in his otherwise perfect life.

this city will surely burn if we keep this as it is

Riize Highschool has been set on fire. 5 bodies have been recovered, and the number of injured individuals is 36 and counting. Authorities are working with the school to investigate the source of the fire. It is suspected to have been an arson attempt.

Mark’s mind ran wild with questions. Who could have tried to set the school on fire? Why? What was going on in the world, and why had his “replacement” not done anything about it?

His hands itched for something to do. The cell seemed to grow smaller by the day, the space constraining him and shutting him in. If he couldn’t escape soon, he would explode, and all the parts of him he’d tried hard to keep hidden would be on display for all to see.

He tried to pull his legs from the metal chains strapping him down for the hundredth time, pushing away from the back of the chair until he lost his balance and fell face-flat on the floor.

Blood dripped from his lips from where his teeth had torn skin, and he tried to push himself up from the floor. But the exhaustion and the weight of the chair on his back combined made it difficult, and his arms quivered from the effort.

He lay on the ground, breathing unsteady as he wondered if it was really better to be left in there alive or to leave the world peacefully.

i'd give anything to stop time

Mark missed being able to walk. He missed the sensation of sun on his face, of light reaching his eyes, he missed the freedom of not being trapped in isolated boredom the whole day. He missed his family and his friends, and most importantly, you.

He missed the curve of your neck and the warmth of you when you leaned into him on a cold day. He missed the way your waist felt in his on the rare occasions you let him hold you, missed your smile when you laughed at a silly joke on your phone.

He missed the way your face lit up when you saw him, missed sending you texts between classes, he missed everything about you. And he realised that lately, you hadn’t even felt like friends anymore.

Mark. You have fifteen minutes to leave this cell. You have been given all you need to leave, and I suggest you do it quickly.

Oh, by the way, your beloved Y/n is also trapped here. If you don't rescue them and leave in time, you can imagine what will happen.

Mark couldn’t tell what was going on in the cell, but it seemed to him that he could smell gasoline and smoke. His head whipped towards the door, seeing a flash of silver in his peripheral vision. A pair of wire cutters lay on the floor near the door of the cell, and he lunged for it, hands shaking as he tried to cut through his chains.

It was hard work, and his arms were tired and sore, and he struggled as he tried to free himself. When the second chain finally snapped, he dropped the wire cutters on the floor as he leaned back, spent.

But the reminder of you in danger spurred him on. He stood up shakily, fumbling for the key on the floor, and his trembling fingers only made it more difficult to unlock the door. As soon as he did, he stepped out into the hallway.

Smoke drifted in slowly, illuminated by the lights along the corridor. He couldn��t tell where it was coming from, but it was getting thicker by the minute.

“Y/n!” He yelled, voice hoarse from dehydration and misuse, desperately hoping that you would answer.

He almost collapsed from relief when he heard your voice. “Mark?”

“I'm coming! Please just keep talking, okay?”

“Okay.”

He ran down the hallways, your voice keeping him company as he searched for you.

“I miss you. I’m tired. I want to go home. Mark, we’ve all been worried sick while you were gone. I hate the responsibility you shoulder even more now that I know what it feels like, and I can’t believe you had to go through all of that. You’re insane for holding out for this long and I’m so glad you’re alive. Most of all, I miss every part of you. I’d give anything to have you back.”

“You sure about that?” The proximity of Mark’s voice filled you with relief. You turned towards the sound of his voice, and the blindfold over your eyes was the last barrier before you got to see him again. You heard the creaking of the door hinge and felt Mark’s hands land on your shoulders before he wrapped you into a hug.

As soon as he removed your blindfold, you were taken aback by how exhausted he looked. Dark circles were prominent under his eyes, his face gaunt and the cheekbones that used to be covered in a soft layer of fat seemed like a thin layer of skin over bone. His body, which used to seem taller and bigger to you just a week ago, had grown skinnier. He wasn’t taller, but somehow his body proportions looked off. He was smaller, taking up less space.

The outgoing, cheerful, popular Mark was gone — he had been replaced by someone a little awkward and unsure of himself, having grown used to living in fear.

You were in no place to comment on his appearance, however. Neither of you were in great shape; you were trussed up and your wrists were red from struggling against your bonds. Your ankles were bound tightly with rope, and it was clear to Mark that you had not been meant to stay there for long.

“We have to get out of here.”

“Yeah, no shit. Do you have a map or something? What’re you gonna do, navigate us out of here?” You were taken aback by Mark’s tone, and hurriedly amended your statement.

“I know there’s something in this room that you’re supposed to take. I was told that I would be able to get us out. Can you search the room?”

Mark scanned the room quickly before his eyes landed on you. Without a word, he knelt down in front of you, searching your pockets thoroughly. Your jeans pockets were empty, but there were a few surprises hidden in the thick folds of your hoodie.

“Got it,” he said triumphantly. He opened up his hand, and in his palm lay a few crucial items. His phone, car keys, and a sticky note.

“These are my car keys… how?” While Mark looked between his car keys and his phone, the gears in his mind whirring as he wondered how it could be, you snatched the sticky note from his hand and read the message aloud.

“Drive home, and never come back. Your car is outside. Leave.” The note ended on that threatening note, messy handwriting trailing off into a scrawl scratched across the page. Smoke drifted into the cell and you grabbed Mark’s hand.

“Run!”

As if on command, you saw the pathway lighting up. At the end of the corridor, a door opened up into light and with it, freedom. You ran toward it, the fire lapping at your heels. Although it hadn’t touched you, you could feel the blistering heat of it on your back, and the first thing you could think to do was flee.

The signs of freedom continued to greet you in the form of Mark’s car, and you ran over to the driver’s side while he unlocked the doors.

and drive around anaheim at sun down

Mark was blinking furiously, shielding his eyes from the sun with one hand while you sped off, unused to the influx of light. Luckily, you hadn’t been in darkness for long, so you adjusted quickly enough to be able to drive safely.

You sat in silence like that for a while, and Mark leaned across to stare at the building, watching it go up into flames.

You said nothing as you turned on the highway, heading towards Anaheim. It was your hometown, and though it was a little out of the way, at least no one you knew would be there. For the time being, both of you needed some peace and quiet.

When the main road branched off, you took the first exit, finding yourselves next to a grass field. You shifted the car into reverse, parking along the side of the road and turning towards Mark.

“C’mon,” you gestured to him over your shoulder and went outside the car, feet sinking into the ground as you laid back onto the grass.

The sun had set on the drive there, and you could see the moon peeking out from behind the clouds, the small visible crescent shyly waving at you. You grinned back in response and felt Mark plop down next to you, one of his arms snaking under your neck and settling on your shoulder.

to teach my mind to put you first

Even if it was Mark’s hands around you, all you could think of was Chenle’s lips on yours and his hands in your hair, and not a single thought your restless mind conjured up was of Mark.

You wanted to rip the grass from the soil and scream into the void. Why couldn’t you just love him back? After all that Mark had done for you, all he had sacrificed for you, all he had given up just for a sliver of your heart? Why did your traitorous heart despise him so?

Perhaps it was because you didn’t deserve him, and despite all the selfish greed you harboured, you knew deep down that Mark deserved so much better.

here you are, a hero

Mark had grown comfortable next to you, breathing quietly as he let loose of every muscle in his body. He could feel every knot filled with tension dissipate, could feel the pain of every cut and bruise on his body finally sinking in, almost as if he’d been too scared to register it.

"Mark-"

"Y/n-"

"You go first."

"No, you."

“I want to kiss you” was his confession, blurted out like a bad choice from the depths of his subconscious, said aloud before he even had time to think it through.

“I’ll try hard not to make this feeling a crime,” he said as he cupped your face in his hands and kissed you tenderly, tears falling silently down his cheeks.

You knew you were only putting salt on the wound when you kissed him back, claiming the parts of his heart you had known were yours all along. You knew he liked you, and you hated hurting him but you never wanted to lie to him. You didn’t want Mark to think you loved him when you didn’t. Though you’d done so much to him, you didn’t ever want Mark to have his heart broken by someone who told him they loved him when they didn’t.

Not with all of their heart, at least. You did love Mark, platonically, but the important parts he wanted were the ones he couldn’t have, the ones that belonged to someone else.

You could feel Mark’s sadness piercing through your heart, his tears saltier than the dead sea. He was so genuine, so raw with his hurt as he kissed you, you almost caved and told him you could give up on Chenle. Almost.

But you couldn’t- you couldn’t do that to him.

you wanna be my new home

He pulled away, and as you stared at him, the pale yellow glow that emanated from him seemed to grow brighter before it faded. Mark, your guardian angel, who had fallen from glory and had been reduced to naught but a shadow of his former self. Everything that had made Mark stand out was gone.

And it was all because of you.

You had first started to want to know how to make Mark's webs synthetically when he first used his powers on you for target practice. His webs were long and unwieldy, and uncomfortable to use. You had been curious to see if you could possess those powers too, perhaps better than Mark.

The point where your intentions went from harmless to harmful was when you were about three-quarters of the way through the process. Mark had told you that he had won a scholarship that you had been eyeing.

It had been a tiresome period of jealousy for you, constantly feeling outdone by Mark. Him getting the scholarship you wanted had been the tipping point for you, and you were jealous that it seemed like Mark had the perfect life, while you were always competing with him. Sick and tired of it all, you had decided to give him a taste of his own medicine.

“Your turn,” Mark said, interrupting your thoughts. “What did you want to say?”

“It was me, a week ago, that knocked you out and kidnapped you. I had been planning it since you had gotten that scholarship I had wanted, and by the time I realised that I wasn’t upset with you any more, it was too late. You had been gone for 3 days and I didn’t know how to let you leave without anyone figuring out that it had been me.

“I wanted to come clean, yet I was scared of the repercussions. It took me a few days to come up with a plan to get you to ‘save’ me so you wouldn’t suspect me, and I would burn the place down so no one would ever know.

“I wanted to live your life, Mark. I wanted to know what it was like to have everyone adore you, to be at the top of the world, carefree and loved. I was sick of hiding in your shadow, I wanted to know what it was like to be a hero, to no longer settle for second best.

“But after experiencing it? I don’t think I want that life. It’s not for me. The amount of pressure you must have been under every day of your life is not something I envy. I understand now why everyone admires you. You’re worthy of that, and I’m not.”

Your palms were clammy with sweat, unsure how he would react. “I’m sorry for all I did. I hope now you understand why I would never be worthy of your love. And I hope- I hope that you won’t love me anymore in ways I can’t return.”

You didn’t know what you had expected from Mark, but it definitely wasn’t acceptance, much less his forgiveness.

When he said, "It's okay," you looked at him in confusion. What was he talking about?

"What you've done is in the past. We're both here now, aren't we?" At that, you understood. It was because he was Mark Lee, angelic and purer than you could ever hope to be, with a heart bigger than the universe. Only he would be able to forgive you after everything you had done. You nodded, and when you stood it felt like your feet were weightless against the cotton candy clouds soft under your feet.

but baby, let up

By then it was getting late, and the sun was starting to set. Mark had been silent for a while, and though it worried you, you had other concerns. The most important one at the moment was how you were going to get back home, because you were still stuck on a little road in Anaheim when you lived all the way in Fort Irwin.

It was late at night and Mark’s phone was dead, so you handed him your phone to ask him to navigate. It was an unfamiliar place and you couldn’t wait to be back in the comfort of your home, and you wanted to get Mark back to his parents as soon as possible.

Deep down, maybe you wanted to prove that their trust in you wasn’t misplaced, wasn’t unwarranted. But when you slipped your phone into Mark’s hand, it was freezing cold, and when you turned to look at him, it sent shivers down your spine.

“Mark?” He disappeared before your eyes with a sad smile, fading into nothingness while you grasped at him in a panic, refusing to believe that he wasn’t real. Your attempts were all futile as your fingers met with cold air until all that was left of Mark was your memories and regret.

i won't ever recognize these roads

You sped back after that, unsettled and afraid. If you hadn’t saved Mark, then your guilty conscience wasn’t cleared after all. How long had you been hallucinating him? Had Mark ever been real, or was he simply a figment of your imagination? How much of your reality could you trust?

Your foot on the accelerator never let up, speeding across the highway with a sinking feeling in your stomach. If Mark was real all along, and you had kidnapped him, but he wasn’t there with you, then there could only be one possibility…

'cause i am lost, but not in you

“Chenle,” you managed breathlessly while Chenle looked at you in horror. He was dressed in pajamas, as if he had been about to sleep, and you knew you were a mess.

Your wrists were red from struggling against the bonds that you had tied for yourself, an effort to make your kidnapping look real to Mark. Parts of your hair had been singed in the fire, and you smelt strongly of smoke and sweat. Your clothes were stained brown from the wet soil of the grass fields, and your shoes were falling apart.

“I think I killed him.” You wished the revelation would hurt, but Chenle slamming his door in your face hurt you more. You sank to your feet, defeated, back against his door as you sighed.

Perhaps it would be better if you ceased to exist, too. At least in hell you would get the punishment you deserved.

epilogue.

The sky burns bright like ochre, burnt umber streaks like autumn. As if on cue, as the coffins are lowered side-by-side into the earth, thunder rumbles across the sky. The sky weeps as if haunted by memories, harbouring the guilt of the murderer and the pain of their victim.

The land sings its heart out, crickets chirping and nightingales drifting by as the sky darkens. Chenle tightens his grip around the chrysanthemums in his hand as he watches the disfigured silhouettes descend.

He doesn’t know what to do. Mark Lee had been a friend of his. Granted, not a close one, but a friend nonetheless. And to think that his fuck-buddy had killed him in cold blood was a burden he wasn’t sure he wanted to bear.

He breathes in and sighs. Even if he loved you, it was too late to change the course of things. All that had happened would have happened some way or other, and all he could do was try to right things in his own way.

Chenle watches on in silence as the families of the bereaved pay their respects. He’s hidden under the shelter of the umbrella, drawn to his eye-line so no one can make eye contact with him. He observes silently as the families mourn their loved ones, not knowing that the two best friends hadn’t been kidnapped, but that one had killed the other.

When you had showed up at his door, Chenle had the fright of his life. Your pants were dotted with blood, tears streaming down your cheeks. When he heard what you had done to Mark, his first instinct was to deny it. He slammed the door in your face, head spinning, stunned by your confession.

There was nothing else he could have done.

He could not have stopped you, headstrong as you were, heading back the entire way to Mark’s deathbed, where you hugged him tightly as flames enveloped you, burning away all traces of your guilt.

When the authorities found you a day later, the forensics seemed to match up to logic—the unknown killer had killed both of you, burned you to erase their footsteps, and you two had huddled together in fear during your last moments.

He kneels to the ground and weeps with the sky, umbrella dropping to the side as the downpour drenched him and the earth as if they were one. His sorrow would melt into the soil if it could, but as it could not, it remained heavy in his heart.

Onlookers would see a grieving boyfriend, crying for his lover and friend. It was not far from the truth, but nothing they thought would come close to what had really happened to the unhappy dead.

If only they knew the truth.

fin.

if you liked it, REBLOG it.

#k-labels #nct #nct dream #mark #nct 127 #superm #mark lee #kpop fics #🎤 — spotify collections #Spotify #requested #🪁 — my works #❤️‍🔥 — the strings of fate

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the-fiction-witch · 2 months

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The Cost Of The Crown P1

Media The Queens Gambit X Heathers

character Benny Watts (Highschool Benny)

Couple Benny X Reader

Rating None

I walked the halls of Casterton High School, my shoes pinching me, my stockings tight and unbreathable, my underwear full coverage and squeezing my body tightly, my pastel pink dress hugging me tight, my hair smelt still of bleach the hair had been fried and hairspray to crisp that not even a hurricane would have moved it. My skin and makeup were still perfect from the hours of work it took this morning, my books in my hand clutched to my chest with my last class' assignment in hand with a large red A++ in the corner. A Smile plastered across my face no matter the pain, frustration or exhaustion.

All for the pursuit of Perfection.

As anything less than perfect is worthless.

I hurried my feet down to my locket twisting the combination until the door swung open being met by the perfect books, paperwork and items in the mirror on the back of the door with a few of my commonly used make-up items.

"See you tomorrow Y/n," I heard Natalie smile to me as she headed home herself,

"See you tomorrow!" I cheered giving her a wave,

Once she was gone I turned back and got things organized into my satchel bag, I was about to shut the door when I caught my face and noticed the lipstick had begun to fade so I grabbed my lipstick and pulled off the lid only to find the cold of my locker had caused the bullet of lipstick to crack my eyes couldn't look away from it as my body began to shake my mind screaming at me. I threw the whole lipstick and its lid in the trash can and grabbed my spare lipstick in my shade and touched up my lipstick before setting it back in my locker closing the door and locking it up again.

"Ohh on another adventure Cinderella?" His voice smirked,

I turned on my heels and did all I could not to make my smile drop, as I looked at him in his dirty jeans and tattered trench coat. "No, I'm not." I answered, "You have a pleasant evening Mr Watts." I glared turning on my heels and starting to march down the halls,

"You too princess." He called after me,

My eye twitched but I kept walking.

I walked home and shut the door behind me I set my things in my room and headed to the kitchen making sure to be silent as I walked past the study, I went to the kitchen sitting at the table for a moment I tried to relax.

"Back Straight dear." My mother said as she slapped the small of my back forcing me to sit straight, "Curved backs are for those who do bad acts." She said as she worked on the dinner with her own pink dress and bleached hair,

"Yes Mother," I nodded,

"How was school, my dear?"

"it was very good, I got all A's and lots of work with the prom committee."

"Good to hear. We are of course excited for our little princess," She smiled,

"Dinner," Father demanded as he came into the kitchen and my body froze up avoiding his eyes,

"Of course my king," She cooed, "Just a moment, Make the table dear."

"Yes." I nodded quickly starting with the table,

#thomasbrodiesangster #tbs imagine #tbs imagines #tbs smut #thomas brodie sangster imagine #thomas sangster imagine #thomas brodie sangster smut #thomas sangster #tbs #thomas brodie sangster #benny x reader #benny smut #benny fanfic #benny #tqg benny watts #benny watts smut #benny watts imagine #benny watts #bennywattssmut

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wavernot4love · 3 months

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hello wanted 2 talk about a bunch of fun things from Thursday first show of War All The Time tour 2nite at the Town Ballroom in Buffalo (this will include setlist spoilers)

(starting with a random little video of title track, the rest of it is in the keep reading thingy)

- TURNPIKE DIVIDES FOR THE LAST SONG??? they let her see the light of day!!! i am probably the only person who has heard her at 2/3 of the thursday sets they have seen /lh

- geoff took the piss out of victory records for not paying bands while talking about how i'll be you & jbny are mirrors of each other then played them back to back (also described jbny as their heaviest song.... correct!!!)

- crowd was GREAT. great pits, surfing vibes, actually hell, vibes were just great all around.

- make sure you get there early so you can catch both many eyes & rival schools (steve (thursday) actually played for rival schools today which was cool). i thoroughly enjoyed both sets, and tonight honestly made me a fan of many eyes as a project. i wasn't sure what to expect receptionwise from a buffalo crowd [insert every time i die lore] but everyone showed up for keith (buckley, former singer of etid)/them. i also thought he/they did great, and he seemed genuinely humbled. also saw him around after the show, bro was loading out merch so i didn't wanna bother him, but yeah, dude seemed chill. really enjoyed the songs as well, i'll be spinning them and staying tuned for future releases for sure.

- between that set, everyone just feeling like a true community all night, & a cameo from a local scene legend (if you know hardcore, the singer of terror/buried alive was watching sidestage all show, keith shouted him out hahaha), let's just say i felt like how i'd imagine patriotic americans feel when they hear the national anthem, but the western new yorker edition.

- between rupture and rapture & division st. were probably my favorite non big singles. so great to hear watt in full dude and the crowd was very engaged the whole time

- one thing that really sucks is geoff explained as they came out that pretty much all their instruments randomly got stolen right before they left for tour, so they were a little panicky and stuff but basically, nothing was gonna stop them from having a good time in buffalo (paraphrased). apparently when they were sorting out the tour routing a while back someone told them they should start in toronto but they were like, nah dude, we want to start in buffalo. back to my western ny patriotism analogy, i see. anyways, now that's what i call resilience. they put on a great performamce with such great energy, you can tell this is a band that truly loves doing this whole thing. support the guys extra hard this run.

- as the opening bit of understanding started i looked back at the carnage going on in the giant pit that was open at the moment and had to just. smile at That being a moment people were crowdkilling each other to /lh

- i brought my (digital) point & shoot and shot from the crowd! very stoked on those as i was quite close all show, will update with those once i edit em! will probably also be posting a review kinda thing on my site/ziney thing once i get that back up and published

- one final thing that haunts me is the wonder of what geoff was talking about here in this instagram story post from earlier. i even stuck around after the show (which ended around 10:30) in case... i don't know, thursday were to fly out of some sort of confetti cannon at 11 pm sharp, i have no idea, dude. someday i will ask geoff about Minds Blown - 11.00pm

anyway, every time i've seen thursday this past year of having the joy of really knowing their music (i'd heard of them of course just through being in the scene for years, but had just never listened then) thursdayband has come 2 mean more and more to me and i truly hope they never stop playing together as long as it makes them happy <3

#also fun fact i am still parked down the street from the town ballroom and thursbus in the lot i always park in for shows here #it is 1:30 in the morning #the party ended 3 hours ago and he's still here #thursdayband i love you dearly #thursday band #thursday #geoff rickly #tucker rule #wavernot4love gets 2 the gig #wavernot4lovetalksmusic #do i truly not have a thursday posting tag #insane for a fella who sure does a lot of thursday posting #thursday posting #there she is #post hardcore

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antique-traveler · 2 years

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i think the softest idea ever is the concept of matt being a single dad (an absolute complete mess) and foggy being his kids’ elementary teacher. like foggy doesn’t even get to meet matt until halfway through the year bc matt always has claire or jessica or luke pick his kid up, and now that matt started picking the kid up, he’s always late. mf is a disaster and foggy finds that endearing

okay i'm gonna switch things up a little bit and try a different format here >:-)

so i imagine the kid is like 6-7 years old, and foggy is their first grade social studies teacher

here lemme make it a little sappier and say it's his son and his name is jack

jack's a super sweet kid, talks about his dad a lot in class, as well as some other people who look after him a lot, but never a mom

foggy's worked with kids of single parents before, it's chill, but what he finds weird is that he still hasn't actually met jack's dad yet

jack always gets picked up by either a really mean looking lady in a leather jacket or a huge guy with the body of a greek god

jack's dad couldn't make it to first semester parent-teacher conferences, and there's never really been a reason for foggy to call him about jack's behavior at school, so he somehow went the entire semester without meeting the mysterious mr. murdock even once

then at the end of the semester, the school is putting on a production of annie or something, with the older kids making up most of the cast, and the younger ones being background orphans

foggy watches and cheers on all of his students, including little jack who had a whole one line (which he acted the hell out of)

after the show, foggy's waiting around and saying hi to his students, when he finds himself next to this really, really hot guy that he's never seen before

he's blind, with these dark red glasses that only add to how attractive he is, he's clearly ripped beneath the suit he's wearing, and he's got this 1000-watt smile that nearly knocks foggy out the first time he sees it

foggy makes some small talk about the show, the other guy, matt, makes some truly horrendous blind jokes when foggy mentions the costumes

then all of a sudden foggy hear jack call out as he runs up to him, and matt scoops jack up into his arms, and jack calls him dad and

shit

foggy kind of sputters through an introduction, and matt mentions that he's been swamped with cases (he must be smart, too, if he's a lawyer) in the last few months, but he'll be able to pick jack up himself once the new semester starts

in january, matt definitely tries to be on time picking jack up, but still jack's usually the last kid at the school when matt comes by, and they always have a couple minutes to just chat

if foggy was at all intimidated by matt being a super sexy lawyer when they first met, that completely dissolves into a sort of hopeless adoration when he finds out what a mess matt is, showing up at the school with his tie loose and his hair a mess

pickup is the same on february 14th, and foggy sits with jack on the steps of the school while he goes through his red and pink shoebox filled with valentines from his classmates and starts cataloguing all the candy he got

when matt shows up to pick up jack, they do their usual chatting, but matt seems sort of reserved for some reason

right before they leave, matt turns to foggy and says: "god, i really hope this isn't inappropriate, but would you want to grab dinner with me this weekend? jack's gonna be at a friend's house on saturday, maybe you could come over and give me a chance to cook something other than kraft mac and cheese?"

foggy feels his entire body blush and he just kind of gapes for a second before nervously agreeing

matt smiles at him and squeezes his arm a little before leaving, and foggy just keeps standing on the steps with his jaw on the floor for another, like, five minutes after they're gone

#anon #request #daredevil #mattfoggy #matt murdock #foggy nelson #nmcu #netflix daredevil

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phoenix-fell · 1 year

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Top 5 rwby episodes so far?

Just 5?! Oh boy.

Confessions in the Cumulonimbus Clouds - man, the apprehension, the excitement, the cloud 9 of that week as a Bee shipper. Just 10/10 all round. I loved the fact that their confession wasn't in the middle of chaos, but actually removed from everything so they could just concentrate on each other. For me, it's Blake's leg pop at the end. Outstanding. Burning the Candle - forever iconic, I loved seeing Yang open up, the girls enjoying school things, the way the crew played with the lighting in this episode, everything. A Night Off - I loved Season 7 in general tbh, but this ep is a big reason. It's the moment where the tone shifts entirely, we're lulled into a false sense of security, they're all enjoying being themselves, quality Bee moments/confirmation, Renora, and then absolute tragedy. Alone in the Woods - just the entire Apathy arc tbh, it was dark but I loved it, just so well executed, loved hearing the differences in their voice acting, appearances, the story itself. Seeing Red - I had trouble picking between this and Friends Like These, because they're two of my all time favourite fight scenes. The season 6 finale is one of my favourites in general, ending with a sense of hope and fresh start, concluding Adam's arc, Ruby and Weiss working seamlessly as a partnership, Ruby at peak leadership too.

And while you didn't ask, my other favourites include the Volume 2 opener - because the food fight was simply iconic. Painting the Town - for the first time we see Yang's semblance in action, all the team moves etc., The Witch and Ultimatum from Volume 8 as well, Yang was epic in the former, and the second had so many highs and lows, I loved the dress-down Watts gave Cinder, the team reunion, the dark message at the end...

Anyway! That's my all time favourites, and the episodes that I can easily watch over and over.

#rwby #phoenix.answered #bumbleby

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emisirrelevant · 9 months

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WE ARE THE TIGERS/WATT WEEK DAY 6

Hello everyone.

So I had a plan for Day 6. Since the prompt for today was pizza delivery, and I really didn't have anything creative like others in our fandom, I was going to do more song commentary, just for the songs I hadn't done ones for already.

However.

After seeing some of the cast's updates on Instagram, I decided I would just not do a post, and wish them the delivery of good health.

Specifically to Mimi Scardulla, and Lauren Zakrin, thank you for everything.

Even though we won't get to see you singing tomorrow, I really just hope you both get better. (for details, Mimi is on vocal rest, and Lauren has COVID)

I send my best wishes to the rest of the cast and I hope everyone is just doing okay and taking the time to care for themselves.

As excited as I am for the reunion, it is definitely a reminder that life happens sometimes. (and "things change" in the words of Reese, icon)

I'm also totally not listening to the Finale right now and not getting emo, whatttt

Anyway, whatever happens before tomorrow night, I just wish everyone the best.

It's been a pleasure to be in this fandom ever since I discovered this musical. I've loved every second of it.

So come what may, and never forget,

"We are the soul of the school, the pride in the name, the heart and the flame / We'll give you something to hold onto, when you think your time is up / We'll give you just the song you want to hear when you're out of luck."

#we are the tigers musical #we are the tigers musical week 2023 #we are the tigers #watt musical #wearethetigersmusicalweek2023 #watt week 2023 #wattweek2023

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bridgyrose · 2 years

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The longer I wait for volume 9 to show, the more questions I seem to find as I rewatch the series. While the big one is what really happened to Summer, another big question that stays on my mind is what is Salem's true goal for needing the relics?

As far as RWBY goes, we still have a lot of gaps concerning our knowledge on the relics themselves. We know what they look like, why they were left, roughly what they do (crown and sword are more speculation than full answers currently) and the possibility that bringing them together will change the world and/or call the gods. Which... may be an Ozma specific thing, especially since that information comes directly from an episode that gives us information about what Oz was hiding about him, the gods, humanity, Salem, and his mission. All based on the words "show us what Ozpin is hiding." Which means as far as the relics go, he might not be lying to Qrow about what they can do together. Especially if we consider that Ozma has brought th together at least once before, even if temporary.

Which brings us back to Salem and her plan. If her goal is to bring the relics together to call the gods and destroy Remnant, why not do it the easier way and convince someone to make a bomb or bombs strong enough to do so? Surely with the time she's been around and the people she's gathered before, that could be a possibility. All it takes is manipulating a few people in the right places to do so. Yet, if this is her goal, she's going about the long and hard way to do it.

Then comes what she's presumably told Watts, Hazel, and Cinder: to create a new world. One that has clearly brought them on board with little hesitation. We dont get much more on what that entails, but it's still a possibility.

But as we go further in the show, we also hear that Cinder is the key to Salem's goals, one that she doesn't want to lose and continues to keep Cinder with her and inline, only ever once making a comment about the hound being a more useful pet. And with the way Salem brings herself to Atlas to get the relic, no longer needing to play in the shadows, her goal becomes even less clear. If the new world or the destruction of Remnant are her goals, then why act now? She's immortal, has waited thousands of years if not millennia to act, why is now so important (besides plot)?

This all makes me wonder if Salem has a time frame to do this. Maybe some unknown event she's aware of that no one else is. And why us Cinder her key? If it was just to get the maiden powers and relics, wouldn't it be easier to keep a backup around and close to Cinder so on the off chance she dies, the maiden powers can still be in play? Even if Cinder's being kept around just on the off chance the fall maidens powers are needed to get the relic, it seems like there's more if she's had someone searching Beacon for the relic. Which means either the vault isn't under the school or the relic is held somewhere else.

Speaking of Cinder, since we know the rules of the maiden powers is thst they can only transfer naturally to a young woman through a set of convoluted rules, what's stopping Salem from snagging them unnaturally? She has grimm that can strip the powers, aura, and presumably soul from someone, why can she use it herself? Does she need someone who is human to open the vaults? Is this something she's tested before or is this something she's taking precautions about?

I doubt vol 9 will answer all, if any, of these questions, but it'll be interesting if we finally end up with a bit of nuance to what Salem is planning. Especially if it involves nothing we've been told and more information is opened up by the girls meeting someone who seems to know more about this.

#rwby #rwby theory #theories #this has been on my mind for a while

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audio-luddite · 7 months

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Pontificate

VERB

express one's opinions in a way considered annoyingly pompous and dogmatic.

Yah OK that is me (sometimes?). Though it is a common thread in the audio hobby. Tribes form and hold fast to their dogma. You know how that works. Tubes are best. MOSFETs are best. Give me Single Ended Triodes, or give me death. At the head of these tribes are annoyingly earnest people. Only they are right, all others are misguided.

My tribe is vinyl is best. Linear tracking turntables are the best. ARC Preamps ...... well you get the idea. I am pretty open about other things. Any amplifier technology that works is OK in my books as long as we have triple digit Watts on tap and some damping factor.

The most egregious pontificators are the golden ears with YouTube channels and or magazine columns. I find them entertaining especially when they miss things or just go far down some rabbit hole. That is why I check them out so often.

Take for example a person reviewing a speaker. There are so many methods, techniques, and design philosophies that your head will spin. Whichever speaker on review is very good to the best (depending). That Audiophiliac guy has had 60 year old Klipschs and bi-polar planars and baffleless cones, and boxes and well everything as his go-to reference at one time or another. He has interviewed speaker designers and praised their work while keeping completely different types as his reference.

Thing is I have a problem with contradictions. If one way is best the others are not. For example PS audio makes a speaker range that has an exotic diaphragm based treble driver that is the end result of years of work. In many respects it is the child of one of the early speaker design gods Arnie Nudell of Infinity fame. It is apparently VERY good.

BUT there are competing designs by Wilson Audio which is by many people considered the GOAT but uses fairly conventional magnetic coil based drivers. Many of them very carefully tuned but still box based.

The trick here is the position of the drivers can be adjusted to exactly align with your head-in-a-vice listening position.

Then you have electrostatics and planar magnetics and on and on.

So which approach is the best?

Those guys above are both are not inexpensive and have quite divergent design philosophies. So actually neither can be best.

I am certain they both sound very good with well matched equipment and room treatment. The room has to be "tamed" to work with these guys.

Any speaker can sound good within limits. Many sound very good even with flaws that someone from another tribe would consider fatal.

I do not like speakers that blow sound out front and back. I built those and was happy, but very much of what you hear is not in the source. It is an effect that muddles the sound. It is sound waves bouncing off back walls and other surfaces. Your brain compensates for that. I now prefer to minimize brain compensation.

Clarity and wide frequency range are my thing. Clarity means a minimum of extra sound waves coherently produced. Wide range means deep bass, and well my high frequency is not what is once was, but I have measured response way over my ear's limit.

If you sit in close to the "good" spot and cannot even identify where the speakers are that is good. You just want a curtain of sound an illusion of something or even somewhere else stretched across the room. That is the true goal. If you have that you are there already.

I recall a golden ear saying that a particular tube amplifier had very little "tube fuzz". I supposed that meant he heard it often, but forgave the other devices that flaw. "Solid State detail" was another thing he said. So SS has more detail? I recall another questioning MOSFETs as having a particular not quite right characteristic. Of course very many think that old school Bipolar transistors are fundamentally wrong for not quite clear reasons.

I could go on for hours about phono pickups. I may have once or twice, but I have some wise men on my side.

It all falls down to my mantra. There is no best. Better is what you like. If you like something more it is better.

#audiophile #audioblr #cheap audiophile #high end audio #tubes vs transistors #turntables #the best audio

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mywingsareonwheels · 7 months

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In praise of Danielle Jam <3

Having been lucky enough to see Mina's Reckoning (feminist, queer play version of Dracula from the National Theatre of Scotland, currently in Aberdeen, *extremely* good so long as you're not a big Siward fan ;-) ) earlier this week, during the preview period:-

More people need to be familiar with the incredible Scottish actor Danielle Jam. I've seen her live onstage twice now, as Ellen (a fictionalised version of one of the two Black women at the court of James IV) in James IV: Queen of the Fight , and now as Mina Murray in Mina's Reckoning.

Awesome young stage actors are everywhere in the UK these days and it's wonderful, but I am *really* fussy about voice acting, especially given the hearing problems and auditory processing problems I have. Jam's got this incredible projection, dynamic range, and the way she brings out the intensity of the more poetic lines in English, Scots, Doric[1], or any other language she's speaking, just damn. <3 (I'm only beginning to be able to understand spoken Scots or Doric fluently even when my hearing isn't being a factor, but my Gods, Jam's got the kind of passion and clarity onstage I associate with Roger Allam or Adjoa Andoh or David Tennant, and I was picking up so much more than I'd expect. <3 ) She does mostly modern work (including panto!), but I would also love so so much to see her in some Shakespeare. Or a Doric translation of some Greek tragedy. Just... I want to hear her delivering more poetry onstage while also being incredible in all the other acting ways. <3

Here she is in a publicity photo with the English actor Liz Kettle as Dracula (Kettle was also *phenomenal* I note! terrifying and hateable and hot all at once):

[ID: a publicity photo for the play Mina's Reckoning. Danielle Jam (a young Black woman with short hair, wearing a late Victorian-style, dark blouse and jacket) as Mina stands in front of Liz Kettle (a middle-aged white woman with long hair, eerie make-up, wearing a black suit and white open-necked shirt) as Dracula (whose gender in this and in the play is entirely ambiguous). Liz Kettle/Dracula is far taller, on a raised platform. There is a dark red background.]

My other favourite performance in Mina's Reckoning was from the young nonbinary actor Ros Watt as Renfield; they're barely out of drama school and they were incredible. Mina's Reckoning is in Aberdeen at the moment and then going to Glasgow, Stirling, Inverness, Dundee, Edinburgh, Coventry, then Liverpool. More here: https://www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/events/dracula

[1] Doric is possibly a form of Scots (and Scots is a sister-language to English, for those who don't know, with a lot of overlapping vocabulary but v much its own thing). Or possibly another sister-language to both Scots and English in its own right. If you ask people here in Aberdeenshire they may well tell you the latter, and I'm an incomer originally from south-east England so I have no right to determine which and if in doubt I'm going to listen to the locals. :) I know there also are a lot of Scots and Doric speakers on tumblr who will have far more informed opinions than mine. <3

#mina's reckoning #dracula #danielle jam #liz kettle #ros watt #national theatre of scotland

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gem-writes-stories · 2 years

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Cookie kiss

Gif not mine/credit to owners

Feel free to request

Pairing: Leeteuk/Reader

Genre: Fluff

'Finally' you thought as you moved the last box into the corridor leading to the living room from the door.

Your mood was sour from the morning because the apartment elevator was broke and you had to carry your packages up the stairs. This place was way over your budget but you were sold at the moment you saw the beautiful view of Han River from your floor to ceiling windows.

This was a big move for you because your last place in the main area of Seoul reminded you of the painful memories you had with your ex. You were not the one for drama but you couldn't control the way things ended with you and your ex-partner which was brutal. Words were thrown with no care in the world.

You shook your head as to forget the moment that makes your heart bleed every time you thought about it.

You were not in the mood to unpack things considering the heavy work you did earlier. You settled with a simple dinner of Ramen, took a shower and changed to your PJs.

You settled that you would sleep on the couch that night. You laid on your back with your phone in your hand when the doorbell rang.

" So much for a peaceful rest" you grumbled as you made your way to the door. You peeked through the peephole and saw a beautiful..no.... angelic man standing at other side.

You remained stoic until he turned around and started to walk back.

You opened your door and the noise must have startled him because he jumped a bit but turned around and showed a bright smile.

You swear that the sun will be ashamed if it sees the brightness he emits.

You returned the smile shyly.

"Hi!" He started the conversion

"Hey!" You returned

"You are new here" he said

"How are you sure?" You said with a soft smile.

"Oh sweetheart, trust me I would remember a beautiful face like yours" he flirted.

"You are a charmer aren't you?" You said coyly.

"I saw you moving your things to your apartment, I just wanted to welcome you and by the way the lift will work from tomorrow. Don't worry" he said

"Glad to hear that" you said.

"Well, I will leave you to have your well deserved rest. If you need any help with unpacking don't hesitate to ask me. I am straight opposite to your house." He said sweetly.

" Thank you..." you continued.

"Leeteuk, Park Leeteuk"

" Thank you Leeteuk" you said

" No problem..."

"Y/n, Y/n L/n"

" Good night Y/n" he said

You both went back to your respective houses.

You laid on your sofa and thought how sweet your name rolled from his tongue.

You drifted off to dreamland with a promise to yourself to make cookies for your cute neighbour.

The next morning,

Your back was sore from the stiff cushion of your sofa. You really needed to unpack, at least the necessary items.

You remembered to make cookies for your neighbour so you showered and got ready to get some cooking supplies.

You returned home with 3 bags of groceries and well snacks.

You went straight to work and started to bake.

You hand picked the visually pleasing cookies from 2 batches you made and put them in a basket with a sweet little note thanking him for his warm presence.

Your heart was beating....no, vibrating like school bell. You couldn't believe how fast your heart leaped towards him eventhough you were fresh out of a bad breakup.

You rung his doorbell and waited with your heart in your throat. He opened his door with a neutral face but once he saw it was you, he smiled his 1000 watt smile again.

You hands shook when you handed him your baked treats. You swore that his smile doubled, if it was possible, when he saw the cookies. He looked like a child in a candy shop, you almost cooed at his expression.

"Is that for me?" He asked excitedly.

"Yeah...I don't know if you like sweet food but-"

"I love them. Thank you Y/n". He said.

"Please come inside" he invited. You almost nodded at inhumane speed but controlled your urges to jump at the opportunity.

"Is that okay?. I don't want to interrupt your work or your girlfriend." You said

"No problem, you are always welcomed here and I don't have girlfriend so you can always ring the bell at any hours" he said

He doesn't have a girlfriend. It sent warmth to your heart for some reason.

"Okay, If you insist"

You walked inside and immediately your jaw dropped at his interior. He had a great fashion sense. Everything that decorated his house was up to date trends you saw in architecture magazines.

You noted that his pallette consisted primarily of white all around you house, as you were admiring the house, something tickled your feet, you looked at your feet and saw a white ball of fur. It looked up and you saw the most adorable puppy, this time you didn't stop the coo that came out of your mouth.

"Hello,little one" You cooed with a baby voice.

You picked the puppy up and hugged it close to your chest. It whimpered but rested against your chest. It was very calm.

"I see that you met shimkoong" a voice said.

You looked up and saw Leeteuk leaning against the wall near the doorway with his hands folded at his chest and his legs in a crisscross position.

He looked amazing in this pose that you couldn't take your eyes off. You checked him out until the ball of fur in your hand barked at Leeteuk. You looked his face properly and saw him smirking, he caught you red handed, you shyly lowered your head. You passed the puppy to Leeteuk.

"Have a seat Y/n" he said.

You did and he brought two glass of milk and a plate of cookies, he also brought a pink and white dog bowl with food for shimkoong.

He sat down in the arm chair next to the sofa, you were very conscious to not spill milk or crumbs on the white sofa.

You both started to learn about each other by asking questions and learnt he worked as a singer. You were new the whole kpop thing but you wanted to search about him.

The conversations flowed freely and your mouth hurt from laughing at his different expressions and antics with his group members, now you really wanted to know them.

There was only one cookie in the plate and both your hands reached for it. He retracted his hand

"You can have it" he said being the gentleman.

"No, I brought them for you, you should have them" you said.

He was hesitant but took the cookie before sitting near you.

"I have an idea, Y/n" he said.

He put one end of the cookie and leaned towards me. You immediately understood what he was trying to do and your hair in the back of your neck stood up.

He took the cookie from his mouth and looked deep in your eyes.

"We both need this Y/n. I saw the way you see me like a piece of cake to devour but don't be embarrassed I saw you like that many times too" he said

Your ears was ringing from the blood rushing, he put one end of the cookie at his mouth and leaned forward again. This time you moved forward too.

You softly bit at the other side of the cookie and started to bite through the cookie.

Finally his lips met yours in a soft peck.

You both pulled away to chew on the cookie. You had a red hue on your face and saw that he was affected too.

After chewing and swallowing milk. You both maintained eye contact when he leaned in again. You closed your eyes and waited for his soft lips on yours, but it didn't happen.

You opened your eyes and was immediately blinded by his smile. You blushed a deep red and hit his shoulder softly with a smile.

You turned your head away from him when his hands cupped your jaw and brought your face close to his face where your lips met his.

The softness of his lips contrasted the passion of the kiss.

You felt dizzy and held on to his broad shoulders for support. One of his hands in your jaw moved to your waist and brought you even closer. You were almost on his lap but that didn't stop your kiss. You moved your hands from his shoulder to his tough chest.

You both were lost in your worlds when shimkoong started to bark after finishing her food.

You both pulled away from each other at the sound as if a child saw you guys doing the devil's tango.

You chuckled softly and he started along with you. You rested your head in his shoulder.

"I really want to take you on a date" he said

"Tell me a day and I will take you out" he continued.

"Any day any time Leeteuk" you said with a blissful smile.

Maybe moving out was not a bad decision

#leeteuk imagines #jungsoo imagines #super junior imagines #suju imagines #super junior leeteuk #suju leeteuk #super junior #suju #leeteuk #park jungsoo #sm entertainment

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the-seer-of-the-faithful · 2 years

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Chapter 1: Boys will be Boys

A couple weeks after school started, things got a bit less hectic. Chancellor Knox called me in to personally make sure I was settling in the best way possible. Those were the most uncomfortable 15 minutes of my life. Gladly for me, Cole and Tea were waiting outside her office so we could go for lunch.

Wednesdays were the most exhausting part of my week. Full block of physics with Watts, full block of history with Coleman. Then lunch, then it was Atkins, and I had to finish my day with musical expression with Prof. Gallagher. It was a nice wrap of the day, considering that was the only class I could actually pick for myself this term, but it still was exhausting having to study both physics and history the same morning.

Making our way to the dining hall, Cole trailed off to the jocks. He had made it into the lacrosse team by the skin of his teeth; I had never quite realized how brutal the competition truly was. We made our way to the queue. Today there were an assortment of prepared meals I wasn't big on, and sandwiches with refresher drinks. We barely took anything, and made our way to an empty table. As soon as we were seated, Tea let out a contemptuous sigh. "Well, at least we know he's blending in with them."|

While it was true, it gave me an odd feeling. "What do you mean?"

She looked at me, half trying to dodge the question, even though she knew she wouldn't be able to get off the hook that easily. After a small staring contest, she finally caved in. "It's always been Cole and I. We're not precisely loners, but everyone has a massive group of friends, and then there's him and I -- so I'm glad he's finding a nice place for himself within them."|

I seriously wondered if she was all that alright. "You know amount never beats quality, right?" I pointed out, taking a small bite out of my sandwich. She merely replied with a shrug.

After a rather long time of Cole bantering with Blake, Mason and the rest of the team, he finally decided to join us. Don't get me wrong, I was more than glad he was making new friends, and he was fitting in with the most popular people at school. However... According to Teagan, they had been friends since they were 5 or so. And by the looks of it, it had always been just the two of them. So now, leaving Teagan with the newbie for his new friends every single day, weekends included -- well, it did seem like a rather upsetting thing to do.

"Hey guys, sorry that took a minute. Blake invited me over to his place for the Bolton homecoming party, can you believe it?" He excitedly took a bite of his now-cold food.

Tea was ecstatic. "That's amazing C, when is it? What should I wear? You think Jemma's gonna go? I should..."

Cole gave Teagan a slightly sad look. I was slightly taken aback, could she be... "I'm definitely gonna ask him if you can come, you too Sage, that party's gonna rock."

It was more than obvious how all of Teagan's excitement left her. "Oh, don't worry, you go for me, have an amazing night. I hear Sierra will be attending as well," she coyly joked. Cole couldn't have made it more obvious how uncomfortable that girl's name made him. The bell rang before Cole could even get a second bite of his food. He ran off with the guys we assumed were the jocks for practice.

Meanwhile, Teagan and I shared that one class with Atkins starting today -- something about a mix up in her schedule.Atkins was rather cheerful' the hour and a half passed by in a blink while we talked about organic chemistry. Teagan had the rest of the day free. As for me, well, musical expression was waiting for me on the 4th floor. That day, we were supposed to present a piece on our most admired classical musician. As I knew most things regarding the subject, I chose Tchaikovsky. Most did Mozart or Beethoven; there was one guy who did Bach.

Prof. Gallagher pulled me aside after class was over. "So here's the thing, you really don't need this class. So how about I make you a monitor? That way you could skip tests on details I'm substantially sure you won't be needing if you'll be pursuing a career in music." I accepted her offer and left her classroom.

Coming out of the Bastion, I ran into Teagan; she was by herself listening to music. After approaching and slightly pressing two fingers against her shoulder, she turned to me. "Oh hey Sage, wanna hit the town? Cole will be on training for most of the afternoon with the new guys, maybe we can grab a bite."

I gave her a nod. "Why not? Let's go." The ride in the car was filled with music from Dua Lipa, Harry Styles, Camila Cabello, and some others whose names I couldn't remember. I found their music boring, especially Ariadna or Ariana something. Teagan was certainly not amused by this, but she let it slide, considering I even cracked a couple smiles when Dua Lipa was playing.

By the time we got there it was already 4PM; we headed to a café called Taylor's. It looked cozy, kinda vintage; I loved the look. "I've been coming here forever, you're gonna love it, especially if you're into cold brew. Taylor still serves other drinks, but cold brew's his specialty."- She took my arm, the bracelets on her wrists making a slight noise. She dragged me a bit through the street until we entered the place. It definitely looked better inside than out -- leather sofas, metal chandeliers, yellow lights, wooden walls and a serious amount of posters. I hadn't the slightest idea as to what their contents were, band names I figured.

Heading to the bar, Teagan drew out her phone and typed something. A few moments later the guy on the counter turned about. Late 20's, pitch-black hair, hazel eyes, considerably buff. "Hey Tea, same as usual?"She laughed a bit, nodding at me. "Oh sorry, I'm Taylor, the owner. I know, shocker -- I couldn't come up with another name for the place." I gave the guy a half smile and a handshake.

"So I'll be getting your special, and..." Teagan said, and looked at me.

"I'm guessing I'll just take whatever you recommend." If there was something I had come to learn the hard way, it was that if you go somewhere, always ask for their specialty or recommendations; there will be time later to try everything else.

"Got it, your spot's right there, I'll ask Octavia to bring your order."

I followed Tea to a table far off in the corner. Talking with her made me feel rather comfortable, which I found rather odd. "So anyways," she began. "I barely know anything about you; what was life like back in London? Left any girl behind? A boy? Spill."

While she was being way more forward than I liked, she had a way of making you want to talk. I felt a bit at ease. I took off my black denim jacket and fixed my hair; the light brown ruffles were ruthless, however I managed. "So I was born and raised there, close to parliament. I attended Ridgestone Middle School; I wasn't all that popular, nor did I have many friends. There was this one person I was interested in, however... well, things didn't go as expected, and something blew up. Coincidentally, my father was about to move here anyways -- the firm was opening a branch close by. So here we are." I avoided several details around the story, like what the thing was that exploded. Or the fact the branch still wouldn't open for another month. But I just wasn't there yet.

"Well, I used to live in New York. When I was 7 my parents moved here, to the house next to Cole's. Our parents have known each other since High School, we're both Laguna Legacy. We used to hang out with this Luca guy, but I don't really know what happened; he just drifted away and eventually left. And day to day might be slightly boring, but every now and then something will happen that stirs everyone's interest." Teagan toyed a bit with her phone after sharing that memory with me

A white blond girl came up to us with two drinks and a couple of snacks; I figured she would be Octavia. "Home-baked, enjoy."- The cups were made of glass, a curious choice.

Tea dug into her cold brew drink as soon as Octavia left, giving it a nice swig before putting it down. "this always lightens me up." She smiled brightly and took a bite of a piece of bread-based snack; it sounded a bit crunchy, and made me slightly hungry. I took my drink. It was hot; I gave it a small sip. Bitter and sweet tastes came to me in waves, like it had something salty in it, but it tasted amazingly good. Tea offered me a bit of her pastry -- the taste of hibiscus and orange filled my mouth as soon as I bit it. It made quite an interesting combination, one I would have never expected."Looks like you like it; ask for what you want. Taylor owes me a favor." It wasn't like I couldn't afford it, but the gesture from Tea was nice, so I didn't argue.

Half an hour and several baked goods in, during a conversation about who was the better actor -- Robert Downey or Chris Evans -- some people came into the shop."Oh shit, turn around," Teagan whispered. We faced the window like it was the most interesting thing we had ever witnessed. "That's Mason," she mouthed. I was slightly intrigued, although I wasn't about to crane my neck over to them and watch like a bird of prey.

"Who was he with?" I asked.

She shrugged, then laughed. "I knew you had a crush."

My face blew up in a red hue, reaching even my ears. "Oh shut it," I hissed, tossing a napkin at her which she brushed off.

"So he's dating now... curious."

That comment piqued my interest a bit. "What do you mean?"

She looked at me in awe, almost forgetting I wasn't from around. She made sure Mason had left, and pulled me to her side. "When Mason was lacrosse team captain a couple years ago, he had a fallout with his best friend, Cato, over someone. They never made it clear who that was; he's always been discreet about his love life. Anyways..." She took a smaller sip of her coffee. "Some people say that it was a girl from Westview, our rival school, who was flirting with both at the time and manipulating them, so they would turn on each other and make us lose the finals that year. Which in the end did happen, there's even a video about it." Teagan pulled out one of her air pods and handed it to me, playing the video. A younger Mason appeared on screen. There were people from the other team giving them a mischievous grin; others didn't quite understand what was going on. Mason and that Cato guy went at it. People from both teams tried splitting them apart, which they instantly regretted, after getting sucker-punched or tossed aside like rag dolls by the mad men those two were in at that moment. Cato landed a couple jabs on Mason, that is, after pinning him on the floor. The screen went black after Chancellor Knox and Chairman Genesis of Westview came about to split them apart

"So, as you can see, there are a couple shady things here and there that make it look like it was Westview in the end, but nothing was solved. And just like that, we lost the match on grounds of violence. Chancellor Knox didn't take it well, and it seemed like Cato was expelled right before graduation." She paused after hearing the door, carefully turning about to see if Mason was back. Lucky for us, it was just Prof. Atkins with Coleman and Watts.

"Isn't it a bit early for the professors to be out here?" I shrugged, sipping my drink once more. "This is amazing, you know? This drink is nothing short of glorious."

She laughed at my remarks, and she dug deeper. "So tell me, any special someone left behind in London?" She nudged me with her elbow. "Oh come on, you're handsome, slim yet strong, your hair is quite beautiful, you have very nice skin, and those sapphire eyes of yours are truly charming."- Teagan winked at me, making me feel slightly uneasy. "Also, I love your style -- that jacket and jeans make a great match. I'd change those Vans though, not a nice color in my opinion" She carried on for a bit about fashion. I didn't get most of it.

I left my drink on the table; I was used to getting criticized for my attire, but never got complimented on it. "I think that's about enough, Teagan." I scratched the back of my neck, looking like a nervous wreck. "I did leave someone behind, part of the blow up I told you about. I'm just not quite ready to talk about it. Not even my parents know about it." She gave me an understanding look. "Oh and about my attire -- I just take what my parents expect me to wear, and use it in a way that's more me than the crafted image they expect me to project."

Her eyes gleamed. "Next time we come here, we're definitely going shopping." She grabbed my hands sort of in a sisterly manner.

Time went by, then Cole joined us. "Hey hotshot, Sage, what's up?" He gave Teagan two kisses and sat, looking sharp in casual t-shirt and jeans attire.

"You won't believe what just happened." Teagan filled Cole in about what had happened with Mason a couple hours earlier.

He was astonished to say the least. After asking a myriad of questions we most certainly didn't have the answers to, and a massive latte, he caved in. "So he was here with someone... Let's hope Westview has nothing to do with this, I'd hate to see Mason go through what happened to him once more." He turned to look at me, as if he were about to explain.

I stopped him."Teagan filled me in. Anyways, I was thinking maybe..."

I was interrupted by a hand on my shoulder. "Well well well, look who we have here, fresh meat who wants a drink"- The bully from my first class at Lacuna gripped my shoulder so hard I could feel it crushing beneath my skin. "Listen up, you might be whoever you think you are, but you outsiders will never be welcome here, get it? You'll just fade away while everyone ignores you."

Teagan stood faster than lightning. "Who do you think you are, Jax?"

He released my poor shoulder and walked up to her. "You should seriously consider what kind of people you surround yourself with, Riggs." The emphasis on her last name was something definitely not to my liking. "And you, Mercer, perhaps Blake should reconsider your place in the team; we don't want anyone getting all cozy with outsiders."

Teagan was about to knock the living hell out of Jax.I stood up, fed up with all of "Listen, whoever you are, your trust issues and fear of loneliness just show how afraid you are to be alone. It's no surprise you're so undesirable. I won't stand by and watch some self obsessed idiot treat my friends like the piece of rubbish they themselves think they are."

Jax took a few steps towards me, clenching his hand. At that point I was more than ready for the blow, perhaps to my face. I closed my eyes, waiting for the inevitable, but nothing ever happened. "Hey newbie." Mason Drake had immobilized Jax." Sorry for this idiot, I'll see to it he won't bother you again."

Mason gave me a smile while Jax protested. "Yo Mason, wait up, who do you think you are? My father will hear about this; you're done, you hear me?"

Mason dragged him out of Taylor's and then came back. "Sorry for that, he's a bit touchy with anyone who didn't grow up in Lacuna." I merely pursed my lips, trying to let him know it was OK. "I'm heading out, perhaps you guys wanna come along?"

Teagan passed her hair through her hair, before speaking "Well I'm done for the day, thanks Blake. You two go if you feel like it." Cole plummeted in his seat listening to her.

Teagan looked at me, noticing me visibly uncomfortable. "Perhaps next time, I told Sage we'd go to my place later, mother's making sweet madame for dinner. Sorry Mason." He looked visibly disappointed, but what else could I do? It would've most likely been something like a frat party and I don't do those.

I gave Mason one apologetic look. He stood up and left, leaving me feeling kinda down. " Don't sweat it, those parties tend to be too much, even for us,''. Teagan reassured me. I drank the last of my drink and asked Taylor for the bill.

After splitting and paying we made our way to the parking lot. "So Sage, I've been meaning to tell you, we have that group assignment for Atkins; wanna do it together?"

Cole's invitation caught me by surprise;, I had completely forgotten about it. "Of course, come over tomorrow, we can do it then."He agreed, and with that we all left for our respective cars.

Once we took off, Teagan kept a thoughtful look in the car. "What's on your mind?" I asked.

She stopped at a red light and turned to look at me. "Oh it's just... Cole hates group assignments. Why was he so eager to do it this time?"

I pondered; Cole had seemed rather cheerful. These past 2 weeks we had been spending far more time together than I had spent with anyone in the last couple years. He was a nice guy, kept looking out for me and even making sure I ate. "Well I find it sweet; perhaps you could ask?"

She turned to me, looking like she just had an idea."Well, I'll figure it out later, for now let's drop you off." And with that, we carried on with the road to my place.

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