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#we’re doing senior wills soon so I have to get everything together and figure out who I’m willing what to
xpeachesncream · 3 years
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lowkey (jjk) | 02.
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⦿ boo’d up in the daytime
⦿ mackin’ & hangin’ in the nighttime
↳ series masterlist
summary: in order to pass organic chemistry and pay off your car damages from an accident, all you have to do is help the nerd, jeon jungkook, with a few things: pretend to be his girlfriend and teach him the ways of dating.
pairing: popular!reader x nerd!jjk
genre: college au, fake dating au, friends (with benefits?) to lovers au | fluff, angst, smut
words: 3.2k
warnings: cussing, implied sexual content/mature language, kissy-kissy koo, mentions of a boner, mention of sex and cum, seokjin’s still toxic
note: posting this chapter a little early since it’s butter weekend, plus the last part of liquid courage should be up sat/sun. still sticking to my schedule in my faq though, srry loves! i’ll do my best to update as soon as i can. 💗
tags: @taegularities​ @jimidol​ @miinoongi​ @bluesharksandfish​ @ggukkieland​ @unicornbabylover​ @thebeebi​ @preciouschimine​ @ladyartemesia​ @moonchild1​ @jikookiekosmos​ @marcoazz2​ @kootaes​ @wearenot7withu​ @codeinebelle​ @bigbootyjoonie​ @thisartemisnevermisses​ @maichiverse​ @ppeachyttae​ @fairysunooo​ @secretlycrazyhummingbird​ @yukiehyukie​
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"I heard you were in an accident last night, babe. Are you okay? I'm so sorry I got mad at you yesterday." Seokjin comes towards you, cupping your face to look at every inch, every detail. You move away from his hold, backing up to give yourself some space.
"Seokjin, I told you to stop calling me that. Jesus. I'm fine. Don't need you to check up on me."
"Are you really gonna keep that up? I said I was sorry."
"Okay, and? I heard you."
"Really, that's it? Y/N, why are you being like this? What's the real reason?" He follows after you as you make your way to the library. To say Seokjin was persistent is an understatement— he was persistent for the wrong reasons. Like, keeping you close so he had you to fall on when things went wrong with another chick, his safety net.
"Because this is done, I don't know how many times I have to tell you. I'm tired of you doing this so, please. Just go." You slightly turn towards him as you climb up the stairs.
"I wanna work this out with you. Don't push me away. Let me help." You don't respond. He watches as you adjust your bag strap and wave at Jungkook. Seokjin chuckles and grabs your wrist gently, making Jungkook suddenly hop on defense as he balls his fists. Like he could do shit. Seokjin would probably wreck his ass with those broad shoulders.
Still. He hated how much of an asshole he was to you.
"Wait, what the fuck?" Seokjin laughs his rare, deep laugh that he uses when he's caught off guard. "You're hanging out with nerds, now?"
"And if I was, that would be none of your business." You snatch your arm away while glaring at him. You shake your head and continue walking towards Jungkook, relieved Seokjin finally left you alone today. Probably off to tell Namjoon, Yoongi and his friends how much of a bitch you've been and that you actually left him to hang out with a nerd.
Sunmi knows you're being tutored. However if that wasn't the case, she would question you, but she never take their side on shit. She remained loyal to you, and always supported you through whatever. That's why she's remained your bestfriend until this day. The senior chicks Seokjin and them hung around with though? Questionable. As long as Sunmi was by your side and you by hers, you both didn't care much for getting close to them.
"Hey, sorry you had to see that." You say as you sigh and set your bag down alongside of you on the long table.
"It's alright." Jungkook replies softly. "Are you okay?"
"Yes. Thanks." You give him a tiny, tightlipped smile. "So, should we get right into tutoring, or should we talk about the details of our deal? I have all afternoon." Luckily, it was quite loud in the loud section of the library. No one cared much to listen in to your secret deal with Jungkook, nor did anyone care because it was Jungkook.
"I do too. I guess, whatever works for you?"
"Let's get this tutoring over with first then iron out the rest." He nods.
"Sure." He pulls out his notebook. "Tell me, what are you struggling with?"
"Everything." He does a small head tilt.
"I doubt that. I'm sure you understand some things."
"No, you don't understand Jungkook. I'm legit drowning. I don't know what I'm doing wrong or where I'm lacking." Jungkook simply looks at you, lips pressed together before he nods. You're not lacking anywhere, he thinks. You're really not. The subject is just shitty and the spawn of the devil.
"That's okay. Well, can I go over some basics? Throw in some tips?"
"Yes, please. Lead the way. I need you." You chuckled, but it makes the heat rush to his cheeks. He hopes you don't catch the rosy tint creeping up on them, so he instantly grabs at the whiteboard near your table and starts to go over the very beginning, the very basics of this semester's OChem class. Maybe a bit from last semester, but last semester wasn't entirely that bad compared to this one.
He didn't expect you to be all that engaged for some reason, but he should have known you'd ask questions left and right, taking the black whiteboard marker from his hand to practice what you've learned with him watching and guiding you from your side. You were always focused, always so determined. You were incredibly smart. Incredibly beautiful.
Honestly, Jungkook go on for days.
The both of you hadn't realized it was nearing close to 5PM and neither of you had really eaten much since lunch. You sit, feeling pretty good about your first session with Jungkook. You feel a little bad having kept him for so long over OChem, realizing you still had things to iron out with him.
[sunmi] 4:34pm: hey babe, not gonna be leaving for a bit. i forgot i had to work on this psych project with jennie. you okay with leaving around 6/7?
"Crap."
"What's the matter?" Jungkook glances at you as you continue to stare at your phone and scroll away.
"Sunmi isn't leaving until later. I'll probably be stuck here for a little longer after you leave." You put your phone down, now resting your chin against your palm, nails slightly digging into your cheek.
"I-I can give you a ride, if you'd like? Plus, we still need to talk.. about stuff." He shyly says.
"Jungkook, that's too much to ask for."
"It's really not a big deal. How far do you live from campus?"
"Maybe a 10 minute drive, the next exit off the freeway." He shrugs.
"I'm going in that direction too."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. We can just talk on the way home."
"Would you be willing to stop by for dinner? We can talk then. Maybe it can be considered our 'first date.'" You joke with a small giggle.
"Oh, sure. Yeah." He gives off a tiny, nervous laugh. "Where did you have in mind?"
"Can we get.. hm—" You hum. "Fire Wings? Down the street?" He almost feels intoxicated watching how your eyes gleam under the light, how they brighten and widen when you mention food. You were cute, and you didn't even know it.
"Only if you tell me what flavors you get." He tries to get smart, which makes you laugh. He made you laugh.
"Is this judgment day? Gonna see if you should call quits on our deal before it even starts?"
"Maybe." He goes along with it.
"Okay. Garlic Parmesan and Dragon." You pack up your things before shooting him a look.
"Okay, solid flavors." He nods. "I guess we can continue on."
"You're funny." You giggle as you both throw your bags onto your backs. You stay in your position until Jungkook comes to your side so you can walk by him. You don't know much about him, but he has a soft demeanor and he makes you feel comfortable. You had only seen him a couple of times across campus, not really noticing him much in class either. You feel a little bad knowing you didn't even try being that he sat behind you, but better late than never I guess? Maybe there was a reason for all of this happening. The way he tutored you today was insane, too— he was super smart, but broke it down perfectly, was patient. He was patient.
No wonder Dr. K loved his ass.
"What about you?" You picked up the conversation.
"I usually go for a dry rub and Garlic Parmesan."
"I haven't tried any dry rubs."
"You can try one of mine later."
"Okay." You suddenly remember to shoot Sunmi a text before she comes looking for you everywhere on campus. Jungkook stays silent beside you, allowing you to do your thing without being too overbearing or nosy.
But, he honestly can't help but glance a few times.
[y/n] 5:11pm: sorry just saw this, hitching a ride with my tutor. don't worry about me! ty ily, have fun working on your project.
[sunmi] 5:13pm: tutor, as in jeon jungkook?
[y/n] 5:15pm: yeah, he offered.
[sunmi] 5:16pm: okay, that was nice of him. if he tries anything tho i'll beat his ass. text me when u get home?
[y/n] 5:17pm: don't worry about him, he won't lol i will.
[sunmi] 5:18pm: kk love u b
"Sorry." You say, tucking your phone into your pocket. "Had to text Sunmi."
"That's okay. You two are really close, right?"
"Yeah, since high school."
"Cool." At this point, Jimin, Taehyung and Hoseok are coming out of the café at the same you two are passing.
"What about you, where are your friends?"
"Um." He sighs, trying to avoid his friends obnoxiously waving and calling him from the distance. You glance over from behind his figure, chuckling a little bit. "That's them."
"Cute. You all are really close, too?"
"Ya, I've known Jimin the longest though." You smile and wave at them, causing them to gasp and whisper amongst each other with huge smiles on their faces.
"I'll need to meet them if we're gonna do this thing for real. Do they know?"
"Yeah kinda."
"That's okay. We should probably work on keeping it between us though." He nods.
"Okay, but. Can we save meeting them for later? They're a bit.. much." You smile.
"Sure."
"D-do I have to meet Sunmi?" You nod.
"If you wanna make this believable, yeah."
"She's kinda scary."
"Jungkook, she's not gonna bite your head off. She just has that look, but I promise she's sweet." That look, that resting bitch face. Really, you could be biased because it's Sunmi. She really only had issues if she felt disrespected. Other than that, she meant well. Same with you— you've been accused of being intimidating and having the same look but you don't mean any harm by it.
"Okay." Jungkook unlocks his black 2016 Honda Civic and pops his bag in the trunk. You do the same, while Jungkook goes to open the passenger door for you.
"Thanks." You smile sweetly at him. He climbs into his seat, hitting the button to start the car and sighs. The music in the background starts to play, and it sounds mellow, soothing— like it came straight out of a fairytale. His eyes widen as he rushes to lower the volume before shyly looking at you.
"Sorry."
"What, no. Don't be. What is this?"
"A Final Fantasy lofi mix." He begins to drive off as you turn the volume back up.
"It's nice. Pretty relaxing."
"Ya, it's nice to listen to after a long day." He pushes his glasses up at the light.
"Do you have family here?" He nods.
"I do. My mom and dad live about an hour away. I'm the only child. What about you?"
"Same. They're probably 30 minutes up north."
"Do you live alone?"
"Yeah, I live in a studio. It's actually my coworker's. She bought the space to rent it out. She lets me rent it for pretty cheap though."
"That's nice."
"You?"
"I live with Jimin. Our parents are close."
"What about your other friends?"
"Hoseok is dorming, and Taehyung would rather live back home with his family and commute. He's close to them. He'll crash at ours or Hoseok's from time to time."
"Are you close to your family?" He nods as he turns into the plaza lot.
"I suppose, yes. I'm just really quiet overall, so they think it's hard to read me sometimes." He parks and you watch as he shuts the car off with the same button. "You?"
"Yeah, I'm really close to my mom. Dad, a little questionable."
"Why, if I may ask?" He comes to open your door again, causing you to give him a small smile.
"He, um. Just got into some stuff." He watches as your body tenses while you fiddle with your fingers waiting in line.
"It's okay, don't think about it. I won't ask again."
"It's okay, Jungkook. Really. Maybe another time?" You look up at him and he nods. He stands way taller than you, almost at Seokjin's height, if not the same. He likes to wear baggy, dark clothing and doesn't do much to fix or style his hair.
He's simple, but in a good way.
You both order your food with Jungkook going first so he can grab a table afterwards. Before he could pay though, you offer to cover him for dinner as your way of thanking him for driving you home. You make your way over to the table he snags, Jungkook silently sitting at the high table with his legs pressed together and his hands clasped tightly on his lap.
"You okay?"
"Ya, why?"
"You look tense."
"Sorry. It's not everyday I have dinner with Y/N." You smile.
"Stop, relax." You watch as he slightly eases up. "So, this deal." He nods. "A month?"
"Yeah, I suppose."
"We have to convince people it's real or else people will know something weird is going on." You look at his hand, now resting on the table. "You're gonna have to hold my hand and kiss me, you know?" He swallows the lump in his throat. Shit, he thinks. Don't know if I can actually pull this off?
A kiss?! Fuck.
"Y-yeah."
"When was your last relationship, Jungkook?"
"8th grade." Your eyes widen.
"O-oh, now I see."
"What's that supposed to mean? It's terrible, I know but I—"
"No, no, no. You're good. It's totally okay, it doesn't matter. I'll just have to teach you to make it look realistic and not.. awkward." You perk up again. "Not saying that you are though, okay."
"I know."
"So, are you.."
"Am I..?" He cocks hid head to the side in confusion.
"Like.."
"Just ask Y/N."
"Are you a virgin?"
"I don't know." You furrow your brows.
"Huh?"
"Look, this is gonna sound really embarrassing and I don't know if I'm even ready to tell my fake girlfriend about it."
"Just say it. We have to know things about each other." He sighs.
"I— ugh." He groans. "I did it with my girlfriend at the time. Or I guess my ex because we had broken up and this was sometime during freshmen year in high school and she came onto me out of nowhere at a mutual friend's pool party. But it was weird because we were just hormonal kids and I was just curious so I slipped myself into her only to slip back out right after because—" He's rambling, but you're doing your best to keep up.
"Because?"
"I-I, ugh. Y/N." He shuts his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Are you really gonna make me say it?"
"Jungkook." You lean a bit to try and catch eye contact.
"I came right away." He says just as the worker puts down your food and takes the number from your table.
"Ohhhhhhh." You say as you nod slowly. "Okay."
"You can just run now." His head hangs low as he slowly slides his chicken over in front of him, causing you to chuckle.
"I'm not going anywhere. It's okay. Stop that."
"It's pathetic."
"No. Besides, I know you'll get better overall, and you'll find someone who will rock with you till the end. We'll work on this."
"Thanks." He says, feeling comfortable around you. You were quick to reassure him and smile at him, he felt himself melting in his seat. Yeah, you were too good for Seokjin.
"You'll have to come to parties with me. Club events. Events in general. It won't look right if I'm always going without you."
"Okay. Can I bring my friends?"
"Sure." He nods. "What do you do in your free time?"
"Play video games and listen to music. Read comics, manga. Build lego sets with the guys."
"Cute." You smile.
"You?"
"Hang out with Sunmi, or just watch movies on my own at my place. Read. Eat by myself. Explore by myself. I value my alone time."
"It's nice." Jungkook's familiar with it. Even if he had his friends around, he truly liked being in his own peace when allowed. "What about outside of the public eye?"
"Hm?" You hum.
"Do we hang out?"
"Yeah we can." You nod.
"Cool." He smiles.
"Is my car gonna be a lot of work for you?"
"Don't worry about it, it'll be good soon. Just might take a bit cause I need some parts to make it look brand new again."
"I really can't thank you enough." He shrugs.
"Only trying to help my girlfriend out." He boldly says, causing you to laugh.
"Confidence is peeking through already, are you sure you need me?" You joke. The rest of the evening, you continue to talk to Jungkook about pretty surface level shit— what you like, dislike, overall experience in high school and college so far. It was a nice, harmless conversation, one where you were starting to see how warmhearted Jungkook really was. How real and laid back.
None of the shit in Seokjin's group. It was refreshing, a breath of fresh air.
Once dinner had finally finished, Jungkook was on his way to drop you off. He had parked in an empty guest spot, offering to walk you up just to be sure. At the door, he took a peek at how clean your studio was, mainly soft colors of white and cream taking over, with plants scattered around your living room area. The hallway in was sandwiched between your kitchen area and another wall, Jungkook assuming your bed was on the opposite side of it. He awkwardly stands at the door, afraid of overstepping.
"Well, goodnight Y/N. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Hey, wait." You smile and come close to him. He swallows, his mouth suddenly feeling dry when he feels your breasts press against his chest. "First lesson— give me a kiss."
"Right now?"
"Jeon Jungkook, we're doing this tomorrow. People are gonna have to see this at least once while we're together." He nods and presses a quick kiss against your cheek. "Not bad, but a little longer?" He complies and presses another kiss, leaving his pillowy lips against your cheek for a little longer before pulling away. "Perfect. Now here." You point at your lips before crossing your arms.
"Y/N, I—"
"Don't be afraid, just do it. I won't kick you in the balls or anything."
"It's not that. I just don't think I'm a great at this stuff."
"Okay." You tippytoe and gently grab his jaw while you lean towards his face. "Just relax, okay? Don't think too much of it." He stays silent, doe eyes constantly on you as you continue to inch forward.
Sparks. Just sparks everywhere for Jungkook.
He feels your soft lips against his and he relaxes, moreso because he feels like he's lost all senses being this close to you. Taking in your scent. Kissing you.
"There." He stands still, still trying to process the kiss. "Not bad. We'll get better over time, but at least that looks believable. Just—" You put his hands down as they were about to fall onto your hips during the kiss, but they fell short. "Let it happen and hold me, okay?" You smile. "Night Jungkook."
"N-night." He stutters as he watches you close the door. "Fuck." He whispers to himself when he realizes he's now sporting a boner. "Jungkook, what the fuck is this?!" He continues to whisper to himself as he waddles down your hallway.
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blazedgraysons · 4 years
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Love Don’t Cost A Thing
Grayson buys you a car, Twitter stans are mean, and Grayson’s really good at making you feel better. 
A/N: this is part 1 of fics I wrote a month ago, forgot about and finally finished. this started out as a simple fluff and idk what happened. also let’s pretend that Grayson still has a wrapped porsche because I could totally see him wanting to match. 
Word Count: 3K
Warnings: horribly written smut and a lot ofme pretending I know about nice cars
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God, some bitches will do anything for clout nowadays.
Honestly, when will Gray wake up and realize she’s just with him for his money?
What a fucking gold-digger.
Gold-digger.
That word rings around your head as you continue to scroll through the replies from Grayson’s latest tweet, each one nastier than the last. You sniffle, wiping your tears and locking your phone, before turning to look at your boyfriend through the bedroom window. He’s outside talking to Ethan excitedly over a car, not just any car but a 2021 Porsche 911. A car he bought just for you.
He had approached you earlier this afternoon with a broad grin. As easily excitable as he is, this didn’t feel out of the ordinary to you, so you simply raise an eyebrow while continuing to sip your coffee.
“Are you finished with your final yet, Y/N ?” He whispers out of caution that you might still be testing.
“Two more questions, then I’m all yours baby. What’s wrong?” A sense of worry washes over you since you know he wouldn’t interrupt you unless it’s crucial. He’d grown accustomed to your new routine since the pandemic began. After asking (begging) for you to quarantine with him, he soon realized that the time he thought you two would spend together was taken up by quizzes, essays, and exams as you finished up your senior year of college. While he was more than willing to take second-place to your studies, he was a little antsy for you to be finished.
“Nothing. I just wanted to show you something out in the shed.” Now, this you do roll your eyes at. While you were occupied with studies, he was out in that godforsaken tiny shed almost every day. Secretly, you were glad Ethan had foregone the bed idea because that was the only thing getting him to come to bed to you every night. You assure you’ll be out in a few minutes and shoo him away to finish the test that will ensure your bachelors.
Only twenty minutes later, you feel as if a crushing weight has been lifted off of your shoulders. You crack your neck before sighing and closing your laptop, elated that the four years of your undergrad were finally behind you. You pull out your phone before remembering your promise to Grayson. You walk out the back kitchen doors and turn the corner, not expecting what was behind it.
Your mouth drops. Sitting in front of you is a shiny, white Porsche complete with a giant red bow on the hood. Your boyfriend sits on top of the back seats, dressed in a blue button-down and black slacks. Grayson’s beaming as he holds a bouquet of roses out towards you. You try to think of something, willing anything to come to your brain, but shock leaves you speechless so you start tearing up instead.
Grayson, mistaking your tears for anger or sadness, is by your side in a minute.
“Angel, what’s wrong? Do you not like it? I wanted to wrap it to match mine, but Ethan said it was a bad idea. But- but we can always go to the dealer and switch it out if you don’t like it or I can -“ He stammers, immediately worried that he had disappointed you. You cut him off with a deep kiss, relieving any worry that was flying through his brain as he grabs your waist to hold you closer.
“No, it’s perfect. You’re perfect. Everything’s perfect. But why?” You question.
“Well, I wanted to do something special for you since you finished school today. And since we can’t travel anywhere, I figured this was the next best thing. You’ve worked so hard these past four years, Angel; I just wanted to show you how proud I am of you and how much I love you.” He explains, scratching the back of his neck nervously. Your heart melts at this. While you had expected maybe a five-star dinner and hopefully some marathon sex, you had no idea your boyfriend would do something so extravagant for you. Never in your wildest dreams did you believe someone would care for you like this, and adoration begins to fill your entire being.
“Grayson, I- I don’t know what to say.” You’re astounded, and every time you look at the car, you’re speechless again.
“Hopefully that you like it. It was kind of expensive.” He jokes, now reassured that your silence is a good thing and not out of anger. You swat his chest before wrapping your hands around his neck and pulling him in for another kiss. Just as his hands start to slip towards your ass, you pull away from him.
“Thank you, Grayson. For the car, for letting me stay here, for everything. I don’t deserve you-“
“Don’t start with that.” He cuts you off, leaning in so your foreheads are touching, “You do plenty for me, and if we’re honest, I don’t deserve you. You’re beautiful, intelligent, funny. There’s nothing in the world I wouldn’t do for you, and you can’t change that.” Before you can even respond, you notice Ethan making his way out through the back door.
“Yo, what are you two still doing out here? Don’t you have reservations at six?” He yells out, towel over his shoulder and obviously not expecting the two of you to be interrupting his future tanning session. You turn back to your boyfriend, confused as Grayson sighs exasperatedly and looks up to the sky.
“I haven’t told her about that yet, dickhead.” Grayson yells back to his brother.
“Well, can you hurry up? I want to lay out for a bit, and the weather app says it’s supposed to rain at four.” Ethan asks. You can’t help but giggle, knowing Ethan’s just oblivious to the very intimate moment you and Grayson were having. Grayson huffs, annoyed that his brother is ruining his plan before turning to you.
“I booked us reservations at Il Cielo.” Your eyes widen at the mention of your favorite restaurant.
“But how? It’s been booked for weeks. We couldn’t even get in for my birthday.” You question.
“The owner’s daughters are fans, so I promised a couple pictures tonight in order to get a table. Now go get dressed, we can take your car if you want.” He explains. Images of you two dressed up while Grayson drives the new Porsche fills your mind and you slightly shiver. Grayson, raising an eyebrow to your reaction, leans down for another kiss with you. Right when Grayson’s tongue enters your mouth is when you hear the fake-retching coming from the other twin.
“Bro, go away!” Grayson groans, holding you closer to him. You’re both leaned up against the car as you turn to watch the interaction between the two siblings.
“Fine. But first, let me get a picture of the happy couple. You’d kill me if you didn’t get to flex how good of a boyfriend you are.” He says, grabbing his phone. Grayson moves to argue, but you silence him, posing for the camera instead. You both smile, looking happier and more in love with each other then you’ve ever been. And you can’t help smiling wider when you see the tag and pictures on Twitter.
It only took a few minutes before the hate comments started flooding in. You had set your phone down for a quick shower but returned to notification after notification. It was non-stop dm’s, tweets, and even responses to IG photos from 2016 about how you weren’t good enough for Grayson, how you were just using him, and how he would eventually find someone better.
Usually, you could just ignore it, turn your phone off and turn a blind eye to the negativity spewed at you. But you were already emotionally overwhelmed, and you couldn’t help the small part of you that agreed. What had you done to deserve a man who could drop thousands of dollars on you at a whim? You weren’t impressive, weren’t an influencer or a model, just an average girl who managed to catch his eye.  
Your phone screen starts to blur as tears form in your eyes. You try to stop the burning feeling in your throat. Still, fat tears begin to roll down your cheeks onto the screen as you start sniffling, falling victim to your deepest insecurities. You were so caught up in yourself that you hadn’t even noticed Grayson making his way down the hall.
“Y/N, are you almost ready? We have to leave for the restaurant soon.” He yells towards his room, making his way to you before noticing your sobs. You look up at him before sniffling again, feeling sorry that he had to see you like this.
“What's wrong, Angel?” He asks gently, moving to sit next to you on the edge of the bed. He wraps an arm around your bare shoulder, careful not to move the towel you had wrapped around you from your shower.
“Nothing, it’s nothing. Give me a few minutes, and I’ll be ready.” You attempt to reassure, moving to wipe the tears from your eye. You wince, noticing how unbelievable you sound even to yourself, and you can already tell Grayson is unconvinced.
“You know you can tell me anything, right?” He asks. You nod, not meeting his eyes, looking down at your lap instead. He softly grabs your chin, forcing you to meet his intense stare. “So, what’s wrong?”
“God, it’s really nothing. Some fans on Twitter had just tweeted me some stuff and -“ Before you could even finish, he’s grabbing his phone to look at the replies, nostrils flaring as he reads what fans had mentioned you in.
“It’s honestly nothing, G. I was just being overdramatic.” You promise, wanting to drop it at this point and continue with the perfect day you two were having.
He’s silent for a second, which worries you more than anything since he always has something to say. You rub his thigh, trying to comfort him before he grabs your hand.
“You know none of that is true. There is no one better, never will be. My future begins and ends with you.” He whispers, sounding even more hurt than you. You stare at him widely, dumbfounded at the bold confession Grayson just dropped on you. Taking your silence as disbelief, he moves your hand towards his mouth so he can start kissing your wrist.
“Believe me when I say, Y/N, there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you. “ He growls, dropping your wrist to move in front of you. “What can I do to get that through your head?”
With that, he grabs your head roughly, bringing you into a hot kiss. You immediately whimper, wrapping your hands around his neck to pull him closer to you. His tongue slides against yours desperately as he rips your towel off you, tossing it carelessly over his shoulder.
You pull away from each other, panting with desire and trying to catch your breath as Grayson goes down to suck warm, wet kisses onto your neck.
Moaning his name, you move to unbutton his shirt shakily while he continues to move down your neck to your chest. You shrug his shirt off before scratching your nails down his chest as he takes one nipple into his mouth.
Twirling the other nipple in his fingers, you arch into him before he’s switching to the other one and repeating this process. He continues like that for a while until you moan and whimper underneath him, trying to grind up into his lap.
“Grayson, please. Touch me.” You mewl, hips bucking when he drags a finger through your slit. Grayson sucks the mess off his finger before looking down at you darkly, hazel eyes turning a deep brown. He kneels down, spreading your legs and placing his large hands on your hips to hold you down. He places soft, open mouth kisses on the apex of your thighs and meets your gaze before speaking again -
“Mine. You’ll always be mine. Nothing can change that.” He promises. You clench around nothing, feeling like you could cum just from his words of reassurance. He notices how you react and sharply inhales.
“Fuck, so pretty.” He breaths out, and you’re not even sure you’re supposed to hear that, watching Grayson lose himself in the desire to express how deep his love runs for you.
He spreads your lips apart with two fingers before licking at your clit softly. He licks it again before pulling you towards him with a long, slow lick watching as you fall apart.
You already knew this was going to take no time on your end, but watching his intense gaze on you causes you to produce more and more wetness, to the point where you feel like you’re leaking onto the mattress.
He stops at your clit, circling it a few times with his tongue before taking it into his mouth. He suckles on it, watching as you fall back onto the mattress with a high pitch whine.
“Grayson.” You moan shakily, moving to get closer to his mouth.
You start rolling your hips onto his face, grabbing your tits to ground yourself somehow. Your moaning consistently now, not knowing how else to convey how good he’s making you feel other than with high-pitched sounds.
He places his arms under your thighs, pulling you closer to him, and starts making out with your pussy, savoring every sweet drop that comes out of you. He sucks harder before pulling back and rubbing at your clit with two fingers.
“So good, Angel. Perfect for me.” He gasps, lips swollen and red. His mouth is dripping, and he shakily runs a hand through his hair before diving back in.
He focuses on your clit this time, sucking hard while reaching to slide two fingers inside of you. He drags them back and forth, feeling you clenching down hard on him.
“Grayson, I’m so close.” You moan, getting louder and louder as he continues to flood your body with pleasure. He sucks on your clit even harder before dragging his fingers against a specific spot, and you’re suddenly overwhelmed with white-hot pleasure. You scream as your orgasm rolls through you in shockwaves, simultaneously pulling away and trying to get closer to him.
He doesn’t take his mouth off you and groans loudly at how your pussy pulsates in his mouth. He notices he’s grinding in the air and presses a palm down to relieve some of the pressure in his pants.
You lay there with an arm over your eyes, taking ragged breaths trying to calm yourself down. Grayson finally removes himself from you and goes up to lay next to you, stroking your hair and moving your arm so you can look at him.
“Never has a man ever made me cum that hard.” You mutter. He laughs at that before he turns to kiss you softly, allowing you to taste yourself on his lips and tongue. His kissing grows sloppier and sloppier until he’s slotting himself in between your thighs.
You reach down to unbutton his pants and pull them and his briefs down as far as you can until he leans back to remove them altogether.
He gets back in position, kissing you some more while his rock-hard cock brushes up against your thigh. He grinds into you as you pull away from him.
“Gray?”
“Yeah.” he murmurs hotly, continuing to grind into you.
“Fuck me, please.” You purr.
He breathes shakily and lines up with you, rolling his hips into you slowly. You both moan at the first thrust, his guttural and deep and yours high-pitched and whiny. He slowly grinds into you one, two, three times before picking up and thrusting into you properly.
He grabs one of your legs, placing it over his shoulder, allowing him to reach inside you deeper. He speeds up, overwhelming you with the relentless snap of his hips.
“Grayson.” you cry as he reaches down to rub your clit. He groans, unsure whether to look at your aroused eyes, your bouncing tits, or how effortlessly his dick enters and leaves your pussy. He tries to look at all three before groaning, “So fucking hot, Y/N.” He leans down to kiss and suck at your neck before growling in your ear, “Don’t give a fuck what anyone says. You’re so perfect for me. So wet and tight.”
At this point, he’s speaking incoherently. So overwhelmed by how well you’re taking him that he’s saying anything and everything that comes to his brain. That doesn’t stop his words from going directly to your clit, and you moan loudly at his words, begging for him to fuck you harder.
He does as asked, and it isn't until he leans down to kiss you again that you feel your second orgasm hit you like a freight train. You cry out while you dig sharp nails into his back, riding out your orgasm as he continues to pound into you. His thrusts stutter as you clamp down on him like a vice. He continues to roll his hips while cursing lowly into your ear.
“Cum for me, G. Please. I need it.” You whisper while scratching lightly up his back, hoping this will edge him on to finish. Sure enough, his hips stutter as his dick swells before hotly cumming inside you.  He groans out loudly, rocking his hips slowly into you before coming to a complete stop. He lays down on top of you, grabbing a blanket to cover the two of you.
You run your hands through his hair as he softly kisses your forehead.
“I love you, no matter what. Don’t listen to Twitter.” He confirms, sleepily. You hum in agreement, kissing his neck as a response.
“I love you more.”
You both are quiet, the silence lulling you to sleep before Grayson is rapidly jerking himself out of you. You look at his wild expression, concerned.
“Fuck, I forgot about our reservations.”
403 notes · View notes
bechloeislegit · 3 years
Text
25 Days of BeChloe Christmases - 2020
Day 25 - Secret Santa
A/N: I did my first batch of the 25 Days of BeChloe Christmases in 2017. This is one of my favorite stories from that series, so I thought I would use it as Day 25 since I've kind of lost my inspiration to work on Christmas fics. I hope you enjoy it.
Prompt from Electronis Zappa: "The Bellas do a secret Santa. Aubrey and Beca get each other's names. Aubrey uses it to set up Bechloe. You can do whatever you want for Beca's gift to Aubrey."
A/N: This is set the year after the Bellas won the ICCAs. Chloe is a senior again; Aubrey has graduated.
Now, on to the story. I hope you like it.
~~25 Days of BeChloe Christmases - 2020 ~~
"Hey, Bellas!" Aubrey called out as she entered the Auditorium.
"Aubrey!" yelled the girls and ran to say hi.
"Yeah, okay," Beca said. "I guess we're taking a break."
"Oh, hush, Beca," Chloe said. "Everyone's just excited to see Brey. And, I asked her to come."
"Of course you did," Beca said dryly.
"Brey!" Chloe squealed and ran to hug her best friend. "I've missed you."
"I miss you, too," Aubrey said. "I've missed all you girls."
"Not that I don't love you crashing our Bellas practice," Beca said sarcastically. "But, what are you doing here, Aubrey?"
"I told you I asked her to come," Chloe told Beca.
"Okay," Beca said. "But, why?"
"Because it's time to draw names for the Secret Santa," Chloe said.
"Yeah!" the Bellas all screamed.
"Yay," Beca said with less enthusiasm.
Chloe brings out a box and shakes it around. She holds it just high enough that everyone can reach in and not see anything.
"Okay, everyone's name is in this box," Chloe said. "We'll all take a name and buy a 'secret' gift for that person. And remember, the gifts have to be between $10 and $25. We'll exchange our gifts at the Bellas Only Christmas party in three weeks. It will be held at the Bellas house. We can assign duties later."
"Hey, Aubrey," Stacie said. "You're the guest. You pick first."
Everyone agreed, and Aubrey reached into the box and drew out a name. She opened the slip of paper to look at the name and then stuck it in her pocket. Chloe went next and drew out a name. She also looked at it and slipped it into her pocket. Beca was next, and she muttered a 'Shit!' when she read the name. She quickly looked around to see if anyone heard her and put the paper in her pocket. Everyone else drew a name and started gathering their stuff.
"Hey!" Beca said. "We still have another 90 minutes for practice."
"Oh, Captain, my Captain," Amy said, putting her arm around Beca's shoulder. "We all know we'll practice for 10 minutes, and then you'll call it quits because none of us are really practicing because Aubrey is here. We're just pulling the trigger early."
"Fine," Beca said with a huff. "Take the weekend off while Aubrey's here. But be ready to work twice as hard on Monday."
The girls all stood around looking at Beca. She never gives them the entire weekend off, even when Aubrey is visiting.
"Leave now, losers," Beca said. "Or start doing some cardio. Your choice."
Everyone started hustling to get out of the Auditorium. Beca hung back and started cleaning up. She was surprised when Chloe and Aubrey started helping.
"I figured you two would be the first ones out the door," Beca said. "Doing some best friend shit or something."
"I guess it's a habit," Aubrey said. "We were always left to clean up after everyone. We just thought it would go faster if we helped."
"Thanks," Beca said sincerely. "I appreciate it."
"Aw, look at the two of you getting along," Chloe said, wiping a pretend tear from her eyes.
"Shut it, Beale," Beca said with a small smile, causing Aubrey to laugh.
The last chair was put away, and all the trash had been thrown out.
"Hey, Becs," Chloe said. "Brey and I are going to get something to eat. Wanna join us?"
"Yeah, Beca," Aubrey said. "Come with us. We're going to that diner I know you like."
"Thanks for the invite," Beca said. "But, I'm supposed to have dinner at my dad's. Since I now have some free time before that, I'm going to work on a playlist for our Christmas party."
"Oh, okay," Chloe said. "Maybe next time."
"Sure," Beca said. "I'll see you back at the house later."
"Bye, Beca," Aubrey said.
Beca gave them a wave and left.
"You've got it bad for her," Aubrey said to Chloe as they walked toward the diner. "And, she's still oblivious."
"Yeah, I do," Chloe said. "What am I going to do, Brey? I can't seem to get her to notice me as anything more than a friend."
"She's a little slow when it comes to some things," Aubrey said. "You just have to ask yourself how long you're willing to wait for her."
~~ Day 25 of the 25 Days of BeChloe Christmases - 2020 ~~
Beca hurried back to the Bellas House. She felt bad lying to Chloe, but she had picked Aubrey for the Secret Santa, and she only had three weeks to find something to give her. She needed to start now if Aubrey was going to have anything to open.
"I could ask Chloe," Beca thought to herself after spending two hours online for ideas. "No. I need to figure this out for myself."
Beca sat at her desk and picked up the Bellas pitch pipe that Aubrey had passed on to her. She twirled it in her fingers and rocked to and fro in her chair. Suddenly, she got an idea and called her dad to let him know she wouldn't be able to make it to dinner. She then grabbed her laptop.
Later that evening, Chloe and Aubrey were hanging out with the other Bellas in the living room. They were trying to decide what movie to watch. Fat Amy and Jessica were making the popcorn and getting the drinks together.
"I'm going to see if Beca's coming down," Chloe said as she got up.
Chloe found Beca sitting at her desk with her laptop open. She was really focused on what she was doing, but she wasn't wearing her headphones. Chloe frowned. Beca usually only looks this focused when she's working on her mixes. She wondered what could have Beca's attention.
"Hey," Chloe said, just loud enough to not scare Beca.
"Oh, hey," Beca said, closing her laptop. "What's up?"
"We're going to watch a movie," Chloe said. "I was hoping you'd join us."
"Okay," Beca said. "Can you give me like five minutes? I just want to finish something."
"Sure," Chloe said. "See you down there."
"Okay," Beca said.
Meanwhile, down in the living room, another conversation is taking place.
"Okay, ladies," Aubrey said. "I need your help."
"You know we're here for you, Brey," Stacie said.
The other girls all agreed, and Aubrey asked someone to listen for Chloe. Ashley stood near the doorway and nodded to Aubrey to continue.
"I got Beca for Secret Santa," Aubrey said. "And, I want to get her and Chloe together. That's my gift to her."
"Yes, Bloe is on!" Amy yelled.
"Amy!" Aubrey said. "I don't want Beca or Chloe to know."
"Oops, sorry," Amy says and closes her mouth. She 'locks' her lips and drops the 'key' down her shirt.
"What's the plan?" CR asked.
"Honestly," Aubrey said. "I don't have one yet. That's where you girls come in. I need some ideas. Nothing too outrageous or outlandish, please. Just something that will make Beca declare her love for Chloe."
"What if we make Beca jealous?" Stacie said. "Set Chloe up with someone and make sure Beca sees them together."
"I don't know," Aubrey said. "I don't want to pull someone else into this. That will only cause problems."
"Hey, Chloe," Ashley said so the other Bellas could hear. "Is Beca coming down? I'm going to the kitchen and can grab her a drink while I'm there."
"Yeah, she'll be down in a few minutes," Chloe said. "She'll probably just want water. Thanks."
"No problem," Ashley said and went into the kitchen.
Chloe entered the living room to find the rest of the Bellas still talking about what movie to watch. Beca came down a few minutes later and sat on the floor. Ashley handed her a bottle of water.
"Thanks," Beca said.
"Hey, Becs," Chloe said. "Come sit here. I saved you a seat."
"That's okay," Beca said. "I know how you and Aubrey get. I'd rather take my chances down here."
"Oh. Okay," Chloe said, looking crestfallen.
Aubrey and the other girls shared a look. They all hated to see Chloe like this. Beca needed a wake-up call.
~~ Day 25 of the 25 Days of BeChloe Christmases - 2020 ~~
The movie was over, and Beca bid everyone a good night and was up the stairs before anyone could say anything. Chloe let out a sigh and said she was going to bed.
"You coming, Brey?" Chloe asked as she stood up.
"I'm going to help clean up first," Aubrey said. "I'll be there in a few."
"Okay," Chloe said. "Good night, girls."
The girls all wished Chloe a good night as well, and she went upstairs. As soon as Aubrey heard Chloe's door close, she turned to the other girls.
"I have an idea on how to get those two together," Aubrey said.
Aubrey quickly told the girls her idea and said she needed to get up to Chloe's room before she came looking for her.
"You all know what to do, right?" Aubrey asked.
All the girls nodded and smiled.
"Good," Aubrey said. "I'll see you all in the morning. Operation get BeChloe together is a go."
"Bloe," Amy said.
"BeChloe," Stacie said.
Aubrey just shook her head and went upstairs. She opened Chloe's door to find Chloe lying on her bed staring at the ceiling.
"This had better work," Aubrey thought to herself as she got ready for bed.
~~ Day 25 of the 25 Days of BeChloe Christmases - 2020 ~~
Two weeks later and the Bellas House was decorated for Christmas. Chloe and Stacie were putting the finishing touches on the tree when Beca came in.
"Looks nice," Beca said when she saw the tree.
"Wait until you see it all lit up," Chloe said with a big smile. "Tree lighting ceremony will be at 8:00 tonight. And I've declared it mandatory for all Bellas to be there."
"Got it," Beca said.
"Hey, Becs," Stacie said. "A package came for you today. I left it on your bed."
"Cool," Beca said and went running upstairs.
Beca ripped open the package and read the letter that came with it. She smiled and checked the box and put everything together, and wrapped it. She then put the wrapped gift in her desk drawer and locked it. She was so going to blow Aubrey away with this gift.
~~ Day 25 of the 25 Days of BeChloe Christmases - 2020 ~~
It was the day of the Bellas Christmas Party, and every girl at some point had snuck their Secret Santa gift under the tree. Aubrey arrived earlier that afternoon and managed to get her gift for Beca under the tree without anyone seeing her. Chloe was overseeing the food preparations in the kitchen with Jessica, Ashley, and Flo. Fat Amy and CR were on a liquor run. Aubrey, Stacie, and Lily were on table-setting duty. The plan was to have a nice Christmas dinner before the actual party. Beca got out of much of the preparation because she had a shift at the radio station. The girls were listening to the campus station while they went about their tasks.
It was getting close to 6:00, and final touches were being done on dinner. Beca came running in at 5:45 and was on her way upstairs when Chloe called out to her.
"Hey, Beca," she heard Chloe call from the kitchen. "Dinner's on in 15 minutes, so don't get lost up there."
"Yes, ma'am," Beca said as she continued upstairs.
Beca dropped all her stuff in her room and hurried back downstairs. She was actually excited about dinner and the party.
"Anything I can do to help?" Beca asked Chloe as she walked into the kitchen.
"You can help take the food to the table," Chloe said, handing Beca a bowl of mashed potatoes.
"On it," Beca said.
Dinner was done, and everyone was sitting around the table chatting. Beca stood up and started gathering plates and silverware. Stacie and Jessica stood up to help.
"Why don't the rest of you go claim your seats in the living room?" Beca suggested. "We'll take care of the dishes and be in to join you."
"That's a great idea," Chloe said. "Let's go, girls."
The rest of the girls got up and headed for the living room.
"Thanks, Becs," Chloe said and kissed her on the cheek.
Beca, Stacie, and Jessica put away the leftovers and loaded the dishwasher. Beca started hand washing the pots and pans and anything that didn't make it to the dishwasher.
"What's gotten into you tonight?" Stacie asked Beca as she took a pot to dry.
"I'm just really excited about the Secret Santa," Beca said.
"Wow," Jessica said. "You won the title of Grinch last year, hands down. What's changed?"
"I don't know," Beca said. "I guess Chloe's rubbing off on me. She's always so positive and bubbly. It was bound to happen. I have such a good feeling that tonight is going to be epic."
Jessica and Stacie share a smile. This was going to be an interesting night.
Beca, Jessica, and Stacie joined the rest of the Bellas. Stacie sat next to Aubrey, Jessica sat next to Ashley, and Beca sat next to Chloe. CR, wearing a Santa hat, was sitting by the tree. She would be handing out the Secret Santa gifts.
"Okay," CR said. "I'm just going to grab the gifts at random. Whoever's gift it is will open it and guess who the giver is. After all the gifts are opened, we'll reveal who gave what to who. The first gift goes to Ashley."
Ashley opens her gift to find an assortment of bath soaps, lotions, and shower accessories.
"I love it," Ashley said. "I'm going to guess Jessica or maybe Chloe."
"Next, we have Fat Amy," CR said.
Fat Amy opens her gift to find a gift card to her favorite candy store with a small supply of her favorite candy as well.
"Aw, yeah," Amy says with a fist pump. "I'm guessing, hmmm, Beca. She always knows my favorite candy."
"Next is Stacie," CR said and handed Stacie her gift.
Stacie opened it to find a personal manicure set with nail polish, remover, nail files, and the like.
"Ooooh," Stacie said. "I love my cuticle care. Um, I'm going to guess, Aubrey."
"Next is me," CR said and started opening her present.
"It's the new Rihanna CD," CR said. "I saw this the other day and swore if I didn't get it for Christmas, I would buy it myself. I'm going to guess it was either Chloe or Flo. They were with me when I saw it."
"Okay, next we have Beca," CR said.
Beca took her gift and opened it. Inside was a ticket to the Barden Christmas Festival.
"Oh, my God," Beca said. "This is so cool. I heard that David Guetta was going to be there. This is awesome."
"Who do you think gave it to you?" Amy asked.
"I'm going to say, Chloe," Beca said. "She knows how much I admire David Guetta."
"Next, we have Jessica," CR said and handed the gift over.
Jessica opened her gift.
"It's a cookie press and a cookie recipe book," Jessica said. "I've been wanting a cookie press and have all these great ideas for cookies I could make using the different designs. I'm going to say Flo or Ashley because they usually bake with me and know how much I love it."
"Lily, this is for you," CR said, handing over the next gift.
Lily opened it and found a book on surviving the apocalypse. Everyone looked around with some fear in their eyes.
"It's signed by the author," Lily said loud enough to be heard. "I'm guessing this came from CR."
"Um, okay," CR said. "Next, we have Flo."
Flo opened her gift to find a bottle of her favorite perfume.
"I love this stuff," Flo said, smelling the bottle. "I'm going to guess CR on this one. She knows I ran out not too long ago."
"Next up is Aubrey," CR said and handed over her gift.
Aubrey took it with a big smile and opened it. Inside she found an envelope with her name on it. She opened the envelope and found a letter. Aubrey started reading it, and tears came to her eyes.
"What is it, Brey?" Chloe asked.
Aubrey couldn't say anything, so she just handed the letter to Chloe.
"Can I read it out loud to everyone?" Chloe asked.
Aubrey nodded her head and wiped at the tear that fell.
"My dearest Aubrey," Chloe read. "As former Captains of the Barden Bellas, we want to tell you how proud your Bellas sisters are of you. You were the first to lead our precious Bellas to a win at the ICCAs. We all stand prouder today for what you have accomplished. You did something that none of us could do; you won it. And, no matter how many other ICCA titles the Bellas win, you will be forever known among your sisters as the first to do so. Please accept this small token as our thank you for bringing glory to the Bellas name. That's it. It's also signed by like ten different Bellas Captains from over the years."
Everyone in the room could see how much this meant to Aubrey. Aubrey kept her head down and wiped away another tear. Chloe rubbed her back.
"What's the token they mentioned?" Chloe asked Aubrey.
"I don't know," Aubrey said. "I haven't looked yet."
"So, look," Amy said.
Aubrey looked in the box and removed the tissue paper. She gasped when she saw what was in there. She took it out, and Chloe gasped as well.
"Oh, my God!" Chloe exclaimed. "Is that the original?"
"Yes," Aubrey choked out.
"The original what?" Stacie asked
"It's the original Bellas pitch pipe," Chloe said in awe. "It's been with the first Captain since the Bellas were put together over 40 years ago."
"Who do you think did this?" CR asked.
"I would say it was Chloe," Aubrey said. "But she seems just as surprised as I am. I honestly don't know who else would know how much this means to me. Maybe Stacie."
"Well, Chloe, your gift is last," CR said, handing her the gift. "The sooner you open it, the sooner we can find out who made Aubrey cry."
The girls all chuckled, and Chloe opened her gift.
"I got the same thing as Beca," Chloe said. "A ticket to the Barden Christmas Festival. I guess someone knows I like David Guetta, too. So, I'm going to guess it was Beca, or maybe Aubrey."
"Let's find out who gave what to who," CR said. "I'm just going to call out each person's name in the same order, and the giver will reveal themselves. Ashley."
"That was me," Stacie said.
"I guessed wrong," Ashley said with a chuckle. "Thank you, Stacie; I love it."
"Amy," CR said.
"That was from me," Jessica said. "Although I did kind of ask Beca for some help."
"Nice," Amy said. "Thank you."
"Stacie," CR said.
"I had Stacie," Flo said.
"Thank you, Flo," Stacie said.
Flo nodded and smiled at Stacie.
"I was next," CR said.
"You guessed right," Chloe said. "I had you."
"Thanks, Red," Chloe said.
"You're welcome," Chloe said with a smile.
"Beca," CR said.
"That was me," Aubrey said.
"Really?" Beca said. "Thanks, Aubrey. It's the best thing you could've given me."
"There's a second part to your gift," Aubrey said. "But, you have to wait a bit for it."
"Um, okay," Beca said and looked at Chloe with a raised brow.
"Don't look at me," Chloe said. "I have no idea what she has planned."
"Jessica," CR said.
"That was me," Lily said. "I really like her oatmeal raisin cookies."
"Thanks, Lily," Jessica said. "Those will be the first batch I make with my new cookie press."
"Lily," CR said.
"That was me," Amy said. "I stood in line for hours to get it signed."
"You met the author?" Lily said. "Thank you! You must tell me all about it."
"See me later," Amy said with a smirk.
"Moving on," CR said. "Flo. That one's easy. It was me."
"Thanks, CR," Flo said.
"Oh, my God," Ashley said. "That just leaves Chloe and Aubrey. And I know I had Chloe, so that means that-"
Every head in the room turned to look at Beca. Beca found the hem of her shirt very interesting and wouldn't look at anyone.
"You did that for Aubrey?" Chloe asked.
"Beca," Aubrey said. "I don't know what to say."
"Thank you is more than sufficient," Beca said, still not looking up.
"No, it's not," Aubrey said, getting up and going to kneel in front of Beca. "No one has ever done anything like this for me before. Not even Chloe, and we've been friends forever. So, no, a simple thank you is not sufficient."
Aubrey took a deep breath and lifted Beca's head by her chin.
"I'm going to give you the second part of your gift now," Aubrey said.
"You're not going to kiss me, are you?" Beca said.
"Don't ruin the moment, Beca," Chloe said and smacked Beca on the arm.
Aubrey looked around at everyone, and they all nodded. Aubrey took a deep breath and let it out.
"Chloe is in love with you," Aubrey blurted out.
"Brey!" Chloe yelled.
"Chloe's what now?" Beca asked, looking at Aubrey and then at Chloe and back to Aubrey again.
"Yes, Chloe is in love with you," Aubrey said. "That's why each of you only got one ticket to the Barden Christmas Festival, so you'd go together. And, you'd finally tell Chloe how you feel about her. We all know you both have feelings for each other. It's just high time you did something about it."
Chloe sat with her head in her hands, cheeks a bright red.
"I can't believe you did that, Brey," Chloe said quietly.
"So, it's true?" Beca said. "You are in love with me?"
Chloe gave Beca a sidewards glance and mumbled, "Yes."
Beca's face split into a wide smile. She grabbed Chloe's hand.
"Excuse us," Beca said and dragged Chloe into the kitchen.
"Becs, I'm sor-"
Chloe was cut off when Beca smashed her lips against Chloe's. Chloe let out a little squeak and began kissing Beca back. Beca pulled back after a few minutes and smiled at Chloe's flushed face.
"I'm in love with you, too," Beca said.
Chloe smiled and leaned in for another kiss. She pulled back and looked at Beca.
"So, do you want to be my date to the Barden Christmas Festival?" Chloe asked.
"Only if I can take you to dinner before we go," Beca said.
"Deal," Chloe said.
"I believe we should seal the deal," Beca said, inching closer. "With a kiss."
"I totally agree," Chloe said as she closed the distance and kissed Beca.
They broke apart and looked over to see all the Bellas in the doorway cheering. Beca and Chloe both smiled, and everyone returned to the living room.
"Beca said this was going to be an epic night," Jessica said. "She was right."
"Whose gift won as best of the night?" Stacie said. "It has to be between Beca and Aubrey. I mean Beca made Aubrey cry, and Aubrey made Beca finally declare her love for Chloe."
"She definitely won," Beca and Aubrey said, pointing at the other.
"You did, Beca," Aubrey said. "You gave me the gift of a lifetime."
"No, you win," Beca said. "The gift you gave me will, hopefully, last a lifetime."
"But, you went out of your way to get me the perfect gift," Aubrey said.
"Think we should stop this?" Stacie asked Chloe.
"I know just how to do it," Chloe said with a wink.
Stacie smiled and followed Chloe over to the two arguing Bellas. Chloe stood in front of Beca, and Stacie stood in front of Aubrey; they took their faces in their hands and lifted their heads. Chloe kissed Beca and Stacie kissed Aubrey, shutting them both up. After thoroughly kissing their respective loves, the two girls pulled back from the kiss, leaving Beca and Aubrey breathing heavy and speechless.
"I think we won that argument," Stacie said.
"We totes did," Chloe said.
44 notes · View notes
everybodyscupoftea · 4 years
Text
i’ll be there
frat jj x reader
Tumblr media
words: 2020
warnings: underage drinking, cursing
synopsis: in which boys will be boys and forget important dates
You and JJ had only been dating around seven months when your birthday came around. The birthday talk had come up because his was about four months before yours and you planned a whole day for the two of you to go fishing because you could tell how much he missed it with how busy school was keeping him.
JJ was ecstatic and the two of you drank all afternoon. You had a reservation at one of his favorite restaurants and a cake you’d made waiting in your room. He swore up and down to you that it was his favorite birthday ever and that he’d definitely one up you for yours.
As the date got closer, you began to doubt it. To clarify, it was fine, your birthday wasn’t a huge deal to you, just another day really. You never really announced it or had a party for it growing up, normally just movie marathon, dinner, and cake with your parents, sister, and some of your closest friends. But this year, it was your first birthday away from your family and home friends.
You thought maybe JJ was just planning something as a surprise until he started talking about a mixer he was helping plan that was supposed to take place on your birthday. While he was talking, you must’ve gotten a weird look on your face because he trailed off and asked, “Babe, everything okay? Do you think the theme is stupid?”
“No, the theme isn’t stupid, it sounds fun. What day is it again?”
He repeated the date and sure enough, you’d heard him right the first time. Nodding, you took a deep breath, “Well what if you moved it to that Friday instead of Saturday?”
“It’s like tradition or something to have Spring mixers on Saturday nights.”
This time you were absolutely sure that you were making a face. Your mouth fell open as you searched for the right words, “Wait, that’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard.”
JJ laughed and ruffled your hair, much to your annoyance, “Yeah, well, we don’t fuck with tradition.”
“Right,” you didn’t really feel like finishing the conversation, so you decided to just head out, “well, I have study group tonight, so I’m going to get something to eat before having to head over.”
“Oh, you want company?” JJ asked reaching for his wallet.
You shrugged, “I’m good. Have to call my sister anyway, so I’ll do that while I’m eating.”
JJ looked confused and a little hurt, you rarely ate dinner without him, but he quickly smoothed his face over, “Yeah, sure. Text me when you get out of study group, we can hang out later.”
With a weak smile, you nodded, “Sure, I’ll talk to you later.”
You left his room before he could lean in to kiss you goodbye and speed walked to the elevator before he could chase you down. The feeling in your chest was hard to pin down, maybe disappointment, maybe insecurity of not being important enough to JJ, but as soon as you had that thought, you pushed it away. That was absurd.
Pulling your phone out on the walk to the cafeteria on campus, you called your sister. She picked up on the second ring with an excited, “Hey!”
“Hey, loser, I miss you.”
She laughed, “Yeah, miss seeing your dumb face around the house.”
“I don’t know how, it’s like I’m still there with all the outfits of mine I keep seeing on Instagram.”
“Hey, if you didn’t want me to wear your clothes, you should’ve brought them with you.”
“Oh whatever,” you told her, not really in the mood to argue back.
She was quiet for a few seconds before gently asking, “Everything okay? Did you and JJ fight?”
You sighed, “No, I just, I think he forgot my birthday because he’s planning something with his frat and I asked if they could move the day and he was all like ‘no we don’t fuck with tradition’ and like I guess I get it, but I just wanted to do the whole movie thing with him this year since I won’t be with you guys.”
“Did you, I don’t know, tell him it was on your birthday or did you happen to leave that little detail out?”
With a soft laugh and slight blush, you responded, “What do you think?”
“I think you left that important bit out because you know how much the frat means to him and you’re willing to just get your feelings hurt for his sake.”
“Shut up,” you mumbled, hating how well she knew you.
“Well, Sis, unfortunately he’s probably going to be a typical boy about this and he’s not going to remember until after the fact and then he’s going to feel like shit and you’re going to feel like shit with him. Really this could all be avoided if you just tell him.”
“He doesn’t have to know.”
“Oh my god, you do realize he’s going to be thinking to himself in a few months, huh, I wonder when her birthday is and he’s going to find out.”
“Well, I’ll tell him I don’t celebrate it.”
She made an exasperated noise, “Okay, clearly nothing I say is going to change your mind, so I’ll just drop it for now. How are your classes going?”
And with that the two of you started catching up. You told her about your classes and your study group, and she told you about all the gossip going on with people at home and about how bullshit senior year of high school was.
“I’m just ready to be in college and doing whatever I want, like you,” she whined at the end of her rant.
You laughed, “The grass always seems greener, my friend, but I can promise you it is not.”
She complained a little bit more before the two of you exchanged goodbyes and you started walking to the library to meet with your group. By the time you finished there, it wasn’t too late, so you texted JJ that you were finished. He replied pretty quick, telling you to wait there, and he’d come walk you back since it was dark and your dorm was pretty far away from the library.
Everything was going to be totally fine, he still cared for you, it was going to be okay.
In the weeks leading up to the party, JJ got busier and busier, focused on making sure the details were exactly right. He was put in charge of coordinating the alcohol, which you didn’t really get because he was only 20, but he told you it was a real privilege, so you let it go.
The night before, he crashed in your room and by the time you woke up at 10, he was gone and you had a text from him that he had to go help set up and that he’d be back to pick you up at 5:30.
You stretched and decided to go for a run before getting some expensive coffee you normally didn’t spend money on as a treat for your birthday. It was nice outside, and you enjoyed the fresh air. While you were drinking your coffee, you parents FaceTimed you, so you moved to the outdoor patio and talked with them and your sister for a good 30 minutes.
After picking up lunch at your favorite sushi place, you went back to your room to eat and start getting ready for the Mardi Gras themed party. You scrolled through Instagram, smiling at your friends’ posts for you. It felt nice, especially since JJ hadn’t said anything about it yet.
Your suitemate let herself into your bedroom around 4 with a cupcake from the bakery downtown and a huge smile. It almost brought you to tears. She gave you a huge hug and sang to you before asking, “What do you and JJ have planned?”
“Oh, uh, we’re going to a party his frat is throwing. He helped plan it, so he’s pretty excited.”
She looked disappointed, “He planned a frat party on your birthday.”
“Yeah, but it’s okay. It means a lot to him, so, I don’t mind.”
“Right…” she trailed off before straightening back up, “want me to do your makeup?”
“Oh yes, please!”
JJ knocked at your door at exactly 5:30 and you greeted him with a smile and a kiss. He yelled out a greeting to your suitemate and she got off her bed to lean against the doorframe and glare at him, not returning his hello.
With a weird look in her direction, he grabbed your hand and pulled you out after him, rambling about how sick the house looked with all the decorations, still not bringing up your birthday at all. With that, you resigned yourself to just having to get over it.
You got a drink almost immediately and stayed pretty close to JJ’s side as he walked around socializing. A few people from your study group found you and started talking to you, which you were grateful for. And then it happened, before you could stop it, one of the boys in you group blurted, “Oh, by the way, happy birthday! The big 20, huh?”
JJ laughed, looking down at you, clearly thinking the guy was confused, and you blushed, “Oh, uh, thanks. Yeah, 20.”
“One more year till you’re legal!” he cheered before catching someone across the room’s eye and excused himself.
JJ had gone totally rigid next to you and you cautiously glanced up at his face. You held your hands up, and quietly told him, “J, it’s not a big deal.”
His face was incredibly pale as he whispered back, “It’s your fucking birthday?”
“Um, yep,” you responded with an awkward half smile.
“And you didn’t tell me why?”
You shrugged, “I don’t know, you were just really excited for the party, I didn’t want to ruin it for you or anything.”
“Ruin it for-“ he cut himself off and started pulling you through the crowd and out the back door. JJ ran his hands through his hair, “So that’s why your roommate gave me such a dirty look then.”
You nodded, playing with your fingers as he paced back and forth. Clearing your throat, you said, “It’s really not like a huge thing. I mean we get to spend time together tonight.”
JJ stopped, “No, it’s actually a huge fucking thing. What kind of boyfriend forgets that shit?”
“A busy one,” you joke.
His jaw tensed and he sighed heavily before speaking again, “Babe, I am so sorry. I promise I’ll make it up to you. I don’t know how this happened; I mean it’s in my phone calendar.” JJ pulled out his phone to show you and then sighed again, “I put it in April.”
“JJ, I promise it’s okay. I mean I was a little hurt, sure, but at least it wasn’t intentional.”
“It’s just, I love you, and I want to be there for you and I knew you had a problem with the party but I figured it must not be huge since you never said anything but I should’ve fucking asked.”
You had frozen at his words; he’d never said them to you before. JJ gave you a weird look when you didn’t react and it unfroze you. You surged forward, kissing him, before pulling away to look him in the eyes, “I love you, too.”
His eyes went wide, suddenly realizing what he said and he kissed you again, holding your face gently in his hands. When he pulled away, he pressed a final kiss on your forehead before taking your hand, “Let’s go.”
“No, you worked hard on this, we can stay.”
JJ gave you a look, “No, we’re going. I’m going to buy you some ice cream and then we’ll go for a walk and spend some time together. I know I’ve been really wrapped up in this and I haven’t seen you as much.”
You smiled and squeezed his hand a few times, “I’d love that.”
252 notes · View notes
rvmmm21 · 3 years
Text
[ V V S her diamonds ] – ch 04.
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[5:45 p.m.] Washed-out rays of sunshine flood the arcade cafe, and Seungwan can’t contain her flourishing smile at the thought of Bae Joohyun visiting her at work. 
. . . . .
Sometimes I wish I could go and live in the clouds of your fantasies.
Being a part-time barista is a safe-haven for all of hers.
The junior buzzes around behind the counter, systematically preparing orders of cakes and coffees on the tiny overhead order slips. A satisfied hum sounds as she finishes prettying the dessert display and slides the glass window closed.
Cake display, check. 
Watermelon lychee-mint crush, coming up.
She dries her hands after spooning the frozen watermelon chunks into the blender, and the crinkle of her leather apron sounds brand new for some reason. Perhaps it’s because she feels brand new. Either way, her customers seem to pick up on her good mood too, and it blows her usually gruelling shift by like a light summer breeze. The hustle of work-pressed university students scrambling for their sugar rushes and extra shots of caffeine dulls in her ears, the memory of the past three weeks sitting at the very forefront of her thoughts. 
The past three weeks of back and forth texting, weekly study dates and a volantly climbing heart rate– wait no, a steadily building friendship.
About halfway through the afternoon, the regular tempo of her shift suddenly interrupts with a swish of silky hair and an award winning smile. 
“Wow, a barista. Cute and talented, I see. Where do I sign up?”
Seungwan adjusts the straps on her apron, blinking. “Taeyeon sunbaenim?”
“Kidding, kidding,” the girl laughs, holding her hand out as if that would somehow quell the bout of unease that had begun to well in the pit of Seungwan’s stomach. 
Remaining professional, she answers with a nervous laugh of her own. “What can I get for you today, sunbaenim?”
Taeyeon hums, tapping a delicate finger to her chin while she stares down at the fancy little menu. A vague smirk graces pink lips as her fingertip traces the bold laminated print. “Hm, what do your pancakes come with?”
Seungwan leans over the cash register to glaze over the small description underneath and then snaps back up, knowing the ingredients by heart already. “Oh! They’re plain buttermilk, but you can choose your topping! Uh… strawberries and ice cream is– it’s a customer favourite, if you’d like.” 
A hum of deliberation. “I see. And do I get special service?”
“S-Sorry?” The suggestion in her tone chokes the girl, unsure of what that means. 
Taeyeon gracefully giggles and leans over the counter to playfully tap Seungwan on the shoulder. “Yah, you’re too funny. I meant an extra scoop of ice cream. Since we know each other, obviously. Why, what were you thinking?”
“Ah! Of course I can do that for you,” she chuckles awkwardly, keying in the order. Seungwan’s fingers flinch around the Amex Black Card when it doesn’t slip out of Taeyeon’s as easily. Chestnut eyes peek up at her, and from the casual smirk on her face, the older girl seems to know what she’s doing.
“Oh yeah,” her expression contorts as though she’s trying to recall why she’s now holding up a small queue of foot-tapping, huffing customers. “How’s your project going?” 
She answers hastily, eyeing the holdup. “It’s great! Joohyun unnie is really helping me with this class.”
Taeyeon raises a brow. “Unnie?”
“Y-Yeah, Joohyun unnie’s great, can– can I take your card, please?” she reiterates.
“Ah,” the other girl finally nods in realisation, “you two are close friends now. That’s great! I’m glad to hear it’s going well.” The grip on the credit card slackens. “Thank you, Seungwan.”
Seungwan purses her lips, stiffly rocking on her heels as they both wait for the card reader to go ‘beep’. Once Taeyeon walks away, her tension dispels with a heavy sigh and she signals for the next customer.
Softy’s Autumn Morning comes on the set playlist shuffle. Pleasant lo-fi beats ripple through the cafe and Seungwan gently bops along as she works, carefully eyeing the bubbling pancake mix to make sure it doesn’t burn. 
Time seems to slow to a glacial pace. That is, until the little bronze bell chimes and a certain someone walks in. Seungwan recognises that vintage Balenciaga Defile Sport hoodie in a heartbeat. Her legs kick into gear and she rushes over to meet her. Joohyun approaches the counter with her signature gaze of boredom, but hides a laugh behind her sweater paw when she sees the barista almost trip over her own sneakers. 
Five minutes later, said barista is hunched over a small cup of latte, hands steadily crafting two pointy milk ears with the help of a toothpick.
As she pops a little bonus on the saucer in replacement of their standard Lotus Biscoff biscuit, Seungwan wonders where Sooyoung and Jennie are, melting a little at how Joohyun looks so small and harmless without the final duo to complete her killer posse. God, when they're all three together, it gets really hard to not believe she'sthe precious daughter of South Korea's most elusive mafia boss. The rumours have to come from somewhere, right? She takes a deep breath to steel her nerves before serving the mafia daughter sitting by the window.
“Enjoy your coffee, unnie!” she chirps, setting the steaming drink down. Service with a complimentary home baked cookie is her way of saying ‘I think you’re super cool’. 
Totally embarrassed at her dumb little gift, the girl slinks back to her station with sizzling ears before her senior can even thank her.
How cute.
Joohyun’s lips curl into a secret smile at the milk foam cat happily greeting her from her latte.
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. . . . .
[7:45 p.m.] Seulgi whines when she goes to get a Cola from the fridge and finds the door wide open with Yerim chugging milk straight from the carton. Her roommate calmly caps the lid, dutifully ignoring her.
. . . . .
Polystyrene containers of spicy tteokbokki, salmon sashimi, crispy pork mandu as well as skewers of various glazed meats glisten deliciously under warm living room lights. It’s the perfect go-to cheat day feast. 
“Unnie, you���re like those tragic lovers in my dramas,” the youngest blurts, chewing on her Yakult straw. “Literally every one of them. Too dumb to confess and then drowns in their tears at night. You gonna break the cycle or what?”
Shock seizes Seungwan’s expression before she shakes her head at the way this heartless dongsaeng just takes her feelings and tosses them around like a salad. Still, she thinks, there’s no harm in being honest.
“What’s there to confess? We’re just friends."
Seulgi and Yerim exchange a silent look at the neat pile of tteokbokki on Seungwan’s plate. They remembered only a month ago, their friend seemed to have eyes for nothing else. The dish was so tasty she could marry it, apparently. But its charms seem to have worn off; now overshadowed by Joohyun’s endearingly obnoxious laughter and just about everything about her.
"Plus, you know, I doubt Joohyun unnie sees me that way either."
An epiphany strikes Yerim and she slaps her hand on the table, jabbing a restless finger at her shocked dorm mates. “Zenitsu, Zenitsu! Unnie, you’re Zenitsu, I’ve freaking figured it out.”
Confusion colours Seungwan’s face. “Zenits… who?”
“Zenitsu from Demon Slayer.”
“What?”
“That mopey kid.”
“Yerim-ah…” 
“Demon Slayer. Yerimie’s bingeing it right now. Anime on Netflix or something,” Seulgi explains through a mouthful of dumpling, “she won’t shut up about it. God help us there’s a movie out already.”
Curiosity soon has the confused girl peering at her screen, determined to find out what she’s being called. Thank god for YouTube. 
The youngest feels the heat as she watches her unnie’s expression become more and more deadpan with every passing video.
“Yerim. What, exactly, do you see of me in this?” Seungwan threateningly questions, holding up a paused clip of a cartoon boy grovelling at the feet of a pretty girl. She wonders if it’s wrong to want Joohyun to actually have mafia connections now… and if she’d be willing to share them with her for… purposes.
She shrugs defensively. “What? Don’t you think he’s cute?”
"Don't worry Wan, I don't see it either," Seulgi jumps in.
‘Cute’ isn’t quite the term. The blonde nonchalantly brings the chopsticks to her mouth and bites down… onto thin air. Much to the amusement of the two across her. “Hey how’s it going with Sooyoung?” she turns her attention to the girl sitting cross-legged opposite.
Seulgi tuts in reply, dangling a salmon slice in front of her unimpressed roomie. “Stop trying to change the subject, Wan. It’s sooo obvious.” After a pregnant pause, she grins like a kid on Christmas morning, spilling her own adventures with her third of the black velvet trio in one breath. “But thank you for asking because we’re going to the cinema this weekend.”
Yerim chopsticks another tteokbokki onto her plate. “Ooh, what movie?”
“Oh, uh…” Seulgi shrugs, “dunno… I think Sooyoung knows more about what’s good, so I’ll–”
“You’re gonna let her decide, is what I’m hearing,” the maknae scoffs with an eye roll.
Seungwan smiles.
“Simps… simps! Help, someone save me, you guys are everywhere!” Yerim pretends to drown on land and her friends resist the urge to jump her on the spot. 
. . . . .
[11:09 a.m.] The raven-haired senior catches her unsuspecting junior on her way through campus gardens the next morning and pries her for answers. 
. . . . . 
“Why a cat?”
Seungwan’s eyes form joyous crescent moons. “Unnie!”
Suddenly, she has to keep her focus from dwindling into how good they’d both look sitting under the shade of that big old oak tree. 
Somewhere through the cottoned clouds of her daydreams, they’re on one of their many picnics. Doughnuts, corn-dogs, toasted sandwiches and bottled juice litter the peach gingham mat they’re sitting on, and Joohyun offers her a corner of her Gilgeori toast. Of course, she cheekily tries her luck, leaving her with just the corner instead. She yelps when Joohyun gives her a shoulder thwack well deserved. 
Clumsy knees knock together as they laugh themselves silly, the powdered sugar on their lips melting into a sweet river every time she connects them with a kiss. 
Seungwan bites her lip, wringing her mind of those thoughts, trying to play down the elation at hearing her senior’s curiosity. “A cat? I-I don’t know, I just think they’re funny and– kinda cute.” Her voice goes squeaky with excitement. “You liked it? Unnie! You should order more coffees with milk in them. I’ll draw you a bunny next time!” 
Joohyun nods, willing to buy the cafe’s entire stock if it meant she got to see Seungwan beam like a praised puppy, all too eager to learn its next trick.
And she might’ve just marched down there right now to do as she’d said… if they weren’t ten minutes late for their class. Suddenly they’re both panickedly clutching at each other, torn between sprinting like they’re being chased by hyenas, turning up fashionably late, or hopping around and freaking out about the fact that they’re already eleven minutes late, now.
Joohyun’s wrist is grabbed just as she’s about to suggest the fashionably late option. Then she’s hurtling forward, struggling to keep her books from falling whilst poorly protesting the early-morning PE session. But Seungwan is too busy shouting nonsense into the skies about how this is the final chance the lightning gods get to strike her down and charge her up.
Which would’ve been convincing had her voice not cracked on every other word.
As the pair clumsily sprint down the path of pastel flower bushes, the older girl can’t remember the last time she’s laughed this freely. She can barely get the words out but she feels like she’d explode if she didn’t. 
“Seungwan-ah! You’re giving me a six pack!”
And when Seungwan turns back to laugh with her, something in Joohyun’s static heart ignites.
. . . . .
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In the diamond, star-dappled sky, Cherub wakes from his silken cloud. Lily-white wings unfurl at the latest calling.
22 notes · View notes
creampuffqueen · 3 years
Text
Just Like This | Chapter One
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Summary: Rayla and Callum have been best friends since elementary school. Now, years later, Rayla is discovering new feelings for her best friend. The only problem: she's about 99% sure he doesn't think of her in the same way. Not willing to risk their friendship, Rayla continues to hide her feelings for Callum. How long until the truth comes out?
a/n: Hey everyone! Here it is, the greatly anticipated Rayllum high school au! Please please please reblog this, because Tumblr won't show this post in the main tags due to an affiliate link! Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!
Word Count: 3372
Warnings: Language
Read on Ao3
~~~~
Sunday, September 30th, 2020
Katolis Supermarket, 5:31 PM
“Who wrote this list?” Rayla complained loudly, stalking behind Callum at the grocery store, shaking the piece of paper in his face. Her fellow sophomore was pushing a cart around, eternally focused on the task ahead.
“Well, Claudia suggested it, but everyone else added on,” Callum replied, not even looking at her. Stopping in the middle of the isle, he grabbed a 12-pack of soda and loaded it in the cart. “What’s next?”
Looking over the extensive list again, Rayla frowned. “Uh, it says… ‘those little animal cookie things with sprinkles, you know the ones’.”
Callum finally turned to look at her, a wide grin on his face as they both said “Soren,” in unison.
“Jinx,” Rayla giggled, “You owe me a soda.”
“Okay… just take one from the pack when we get home?”
Both teenagers continued through the store, Rayla getting bored of walking and hanging off the front of the cart, laughing as Callum made a big deal of struggling to push them around.
She supposed they should be hurrying. Evening was approaching quickly, and soon all their friends would be over at Callum’s place to study. Callum had dragged her off to the grocery store to get snacks for their cram session, considering she lived only a street over and had a car.
“We’re all going to be sick by the end of the night,” Rayla sighed, loading more snacks into the cart.
“Well, at least we’ll be awake,” Callum, ever cheerful, turned his head around to grin at her.
At his smile, Rayla felt her heart give a small wayward flutter, though she squished it down quickly. Tonight was important; she needed to pass this test to keep her grade up, and it wouldn’t help if she spent the entire night mulling over how cute her best friend’s smile looked.
“Yeah,” She chuckled, trying to pull herself back to the present. Keep it together, Rayla.
They got their unhealthy amount of junk food, collectively winced at the price, bought it anyway, and set about loading it in the backseat of Rayla’s car.
In no time at all Rayla was driving, Callum reclining in the passenger seat. With the radio cranked up, neither felt the need to talk, content to sit in the comfortable silence.
It was hard to believe that they’d been friends for eight years now. Rayla could still remember the first time they met like it was yesterday.
She was eight years old, in second grade, having just moved to a new school after her parents left on a military tour and she went to live with her uncles. Her first day of school had gone off without a hitch.
That is, until she met Callum at recess.
Content to play by herself, Rayla had been making use of the free time by pretending to build a fort under the slide. While pretending to hammer in nails, she noticed a small group of kids nearby. Two boys and a girl.
While she couldn’t make out all the words, the body language she saw was more than enough. The bigger boy, a head of blond hair, was pointing at the smaller, brown-haired boy, and laughing. The girl, black hair tied in two pigtail braids, was looking between them, unsure of what to do.
Curious eight-year-old Rayla snuck up, for she’d always been good at sneaking, and listened in on the conversation.
“Soren, shut up, he’s going to cry!” The girl said.
“Oh, so little Callum’s a crybaby now?” The boy, Soren, taunted.
“I’m not a crybaby, Soren!” The other boy shouted, though he couldn’t hide the sniffle at the end of his sentence.
“Oooh, Callum’s crying! Who’s gonna help him, his dad? Oh wait-”
Soren didn’t get to finish his sentence.
Well, she thought as she sat in the principal’s office twenty minutes later, Runaan will be happy to know that I’m learning something in my karate class.
All four kids were in the office, sitting in chairs in front of the desk. Callum and the other girl, Claudia, were both still sniffling from residual tears. Soren, fresh from the nurse’s office, was holding an ice pack over a rapidly blackening eye.
The door opened, and in came the principal, shaking her head with a sigh.
“You three again?”
“We didn’t do anything!” Soren shouted, voice whistling through the new gap in his teeth. Oh yeah, she’d knocked a tooth out as well. “She started it!”
“Well you were being really mean to that other kid!” Rayla protested. She and Soren glared at each other from their respective chairs, accusatory fingers pointed straight out.
“I wasn’t being mean, I was just joking!” Soren explained, “Callum’s my friend!”
“Well Soren, what you said was really mean-” Claudia interjected, but the boy, who Rayla had learned was her brother, interrupted.
“Callum, you know I was joking, right?”
“Well…” Soren’s face fell as Callum dropped his gaze to his lap. “It did kind of hurt my feelings, Soren…”
“Wait, you’re friends?” Rayla exclaimed, glancing curiously between both boys. “I thought he was bullying you! And my parents and uncles always said you have to stand up to bullies and-”
“I’m not a bully!” Soren shouted. Voices began to rise between them again, and the principal was forced to interject.
“All of you, quiet down. I’m going to talk with you each individually, and we’ll see what happens then. Callum, come with me. The rest of you: play nice.”
In the end, Rayla got suspended for two days for fighting, and Soren got one day for bullying. Despite the massive lecture Runaan and Ethari subjected her to, Rayla couldn’t help but feel like she’d done the right thing in the end.
When she returned to school, she was surprised to find Callum approach her at recess, a little paper bag clutched shyly in his hands.
“Sorry my friends and I got you in trouble,” He said, passing the bag to her. Opening it, Rayla’s face split into a huge grin at the sight of two tart-things waiting for her, filled with jelly.
“Soren’s usually pretty nice,” Callum continued, “But he doesn’t know when to stop talking. If you hadn’t stepped in, he would have said something mean without thinking, I’m sure. So you kind of helped both of us, in a way.”
“Oh. Well, you’re welcome, I guess. And thanks for the tarts.”
She was about to turn away and enjoy her spoils, but then Callum kept talking.
“Do you want to come play with us? Me and Claudia are pretending to do magic, and Soren’s a knight. You can do magic with us, if you want.”
Well, this game was certainly right up her alley. “I’ll play,” Rayla conceded, “But only if I get to be an elf.”
Callum grinned broadly, pointing to where the two siblings were playing. “Of course.”
~~~~
“The snacks are here!” Rayla called into the house, arms laden with shopping bags. Callum shut the door behind them, similarly burdened with the case of soda.
The pounding of feet sounded overhead, and several heads poked over the stairwell to glimpse the pair in the kitchen. “Finally!” Soren cheered, racing downstairs to try and rifle through the bags Rayla was carrying.
“Not yet, you lump,” Rayla scolded, pushing past the senior boy, “We’ve got to get upstairs at least.”
“Thanks for going to get snacks,” Claudia called, and her thanks was echoed by the other kids there. Callum and Rayla both shrugged, and made their way upstairs to the game room, where they’d all be studying.
Sitting on the various bean bag chairs and couches, the rest of the study group cheered when the food and drinks arrived. Andromeda, Callisto, Ram, Skor, and Marcos all leapt up to snatch the snacks they wanted. When everyone was sitting again, food in hand, Callum gave a dramatic clearing of his throat, turning all the heads in the room towards him.
“So, uh, thanks for coming over. Hopefully we can all actually get some studying done, since, you know, that’s what we’re here for.” He fixed a firm glance on the two couples in the room. “Ground rules: no making out in my house, don’t be super messy, and also please actually study. Soren, no idea what you’re doing here since you’ve already taken this history class, but okay.”
The older boy shrugged, taking a big gulp of his soda. “Moral support. A welcome distraction.”
Callum clapped his hands together once. “Okay then. I actually made a schedule for this, and if we follow it, we can cover all of the sections by… midnight, I think. 11 pm if we work really fast.”
“You made a schedule for studying?” Callisto asked in disbelief. Andromeda laughed, throwing an arm over her partner’s shoulder.
“Yes, I made a schedule for studying, I think it’s going to be very helpful!” Callum defended, crossing his arms over his chest. Even talking with the other two people, his green eyes somehow still managed to find Rayla’s.
She met his gaze, just for a second, heart pounding, before she looked away again. “Well, guys, if Callum wants to make a study schedule, good for him. Let’s just get started; I really need to pass this test.”
“Since when have you been worried about grades, Rayla?” Skor snorted, reclining in a beanbag chair, dumping spicy chips into his mouth.
“Since I’m in four extracurriculars and if I don’t pass, I don’t play.”
“Try-hard,” Soren coughed from his seat. Rayla just flashed him her middle finger, eliciting wild laughter from the rest of the room.
“Guys,” Callum whined, “I’m trying to be productive-”
“Okay, let’s start,” Claudia said, placing a gentle hand on Callum’s arm. It took everything Rayla had not to glare at the other girl, biting back the unwarranted flash of jealousy.
That’s all in the past. We figured it out.
Usually, she could forget just how close Callum was with Soren and Claudia. But then, something like this would happen, and she’d be reminded that before he met her, it was the siblings who were his best friends.
Having known them his whole life, it was no surprise that he’d developed a massive crush on Claudia in middle school. And he never shut up about it.
His confession at the end of seventh grade had very nearly torn their friend group to shreds. He wanted to ask her to the end of year dance, and when Claudia accepted he was ecstatic. Rayla had been happy for him, and just hoped that when they started dating, they wouldn’t be weird about it and make her and Soren uncomfortable.
But as it turned out, Claudia only thought of Callum as a friend. When she told him, Callum was crushed.
Rayla could still remember opening up her front door to see her best friend standing there, tears streaking down his face.
“Rayla, I just- I can’t believe how stupid I am-”
She pulled him into a fierce hug, and didn’t relinquish her grip on him until his mother came to pick him up. At school the next day, nobody could stop her wrath as she stalked up to Claudia and demanded answers.
“How could you?! You know how Callum feels about you, and you led him on anyway!” Rayla shouted.
“I didn’t want to hurt his feelings!” Claudia insisted, “And I do know how he feels and I didn’t want him to get the wrong idea-”
“No, I know what flirting looks like, and you led him on! He believed that you felt the same way!”
Claudia looked on the verge of tears, and some sick part of Rayla was glad for it. Let her feel bad for her actions, let her feel the same way Callum was feeling.
“Look, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings. I just… I don’t see Callum in that way.”
“Then why’d you keep flirting with him?” Rayla’s voice was dangerously low. Their shouting match had attracted a small audience in the school cafeteria.
“I…” She was at a loss for words.
“You know what?” Rayla snapped, “Save it for someone who cares. Explain yourself to Callum, not me. It’s him who needs the apology.”
The next few weeks were tense. Hardly any of them spoke to each other. Even though Soren was in high school and had nothing to do with the drama, he still sided with his sister, like Rayla knew he would.
Things worked out. Slowly, but surely, they worked out. But not without a lot of tears from everyone involved, a lot of yelling, a lot of accusations. Things worked out.
But even after Claudia and Callum were on speaking terms again, he decided to ditch the dance. Rayla, who never was going in the first place, was more than happy to offer up her couch for a night of movie watching and junk food eating. And sure, Claudia’s Instagram photos were cute, but for Rayla, nothing could beat the fun she was having with her best friend, right here.
Rayla was pretty sure that was when she’d started to fall in love with him. Or, more accurately, when she realized that she already had fallen in love with him.
However, confessing your love to your best friend after a recent heartbreak seemed like a bad idea. So she kept it to herself.
Which, she supposed, was how she found herself here, three years later, still madly in love with her best friend who was none the wiser, getting jealous over a relationship she both knew was purely innocent and also she had no claim over anyway.
Cool, Rayla, very cool.
Shoving down her stupid feelings, Rayla listened as Callum went over his plan for the evening. Review through chapter 2, take a 15 minute break, review through chapter 4, continue pattern until they got through all the chapters they needed.
The plan was met with a loud groan of complaint from Soren’s end. “Callum, why are you even doing this? You literally have a photographic memory.”
“Well, you guys don’t, so really I’m helping all of you!”
“I mean…” Rayla snorted, “Soren does have a point. Why are you so worried about studying, Callum?”
The teenage boy scratched at his neck awkwardly. “Well, uh, it’s kind of embarrassing, but… I’ve only skimmed for answers this entire time. I need to actually read the passages to remember it.”
Rayla just rolled her eyes. “Callum. Everyone on earth just skims for answers. We know you’re all goody two-shoes, teacher’s pet, but chill. You’re going to be fine.”
“How are you so chill, Rayla?” Callum demanded, “Weren’t you just freaking out, like, two seconds ago? Hello, Miss I’m-in-every-sport-imaginable?”
“Changing the subject!” Rayla declared loudly, “Open up the textbook, Callum!”
~~~~
“Time check,” Ram moaned from where his face was pressed into one of the beanbag chairs, “How much longer?”
“We’re at-” Callum attempted to respond, but was cut off by a yawn.
“Chapter six?” Rayla asked, though she wasn’t too sure herself. All the words were beginning to jumble together on the pages. At some point her notecards had gotten mixed up, and random dates and events were scattered all over the room.
“No, the time,” Ram complained. The other boy sat up, brushing his shaggy white hair from his eyes. “What time is it? My curfew is 11:30.”
Callisto grabbed their phone and took a glance. “11:15.”
“Ok, let’s review,” Callum suggested. However, the entire room gave a loud groan of complaint.
“My brain is melting!” Soren cried, dramatically tossing his head into Marcos’s lap. His boyfriend rolled his eyes at his antics, though he threaded his fingers through the other boy’s blond hair.
“Soren, you don’t have to take this test tomorrow!” Claudia snapped, “Don’t start whining!” The girl looked almost ready to start pulling her hair out.
“Alright,” Andromeda sighed, “My mom’s calling; she’s probably here to pick me up. Thanks for this, Callum. If I find a quizlet I’ll send it in the groupchat, okay?”
“Yes!” Skor cheered, “Quizlet is my lifesaver!”
“Pass me some Doritos, Rayla,” Callum muttered in quiet defeat. Rayla hummed in agreement, grabbing the chip bag from the pile of snacks nearby. Her friend was so tired that he didn’t even complain when she took a couple for herself.
One by one, the room began to empty. Callisto’s dad came to pick them up, Ram agreed to drive Skor home, and Claudia, Soren, and Marcos piled into Soren’s little car to drive off into the night.
That just left Rayla. And Callum. Alone.
“Place is a mess,” Callum sighed, taking in all the damage. Although they’d started out pretty clean, as the night wore on everyone got lazier and started just piling the trash where they were sitting. Crumbs spilled over the carpet, and empty soda cans rolled about.
“Let me help clean,” Rayla offered, “I mean, some of the mess is mine.” She gestured to the notecards spilled everywhere. Her mind was a bit fuzzy from exhaustion, but she was pretty sure she and Soren had started throwing them at each other at one point.
“No, it’s fine-” Callum sputtered, but Rayla just rolled her eyes.
“Let me help. Then we can both go to bed and you won’t get in trouble for the mess.” She left no room for argument, and started gathering up all the garbage and stuffing it in the empty grocery bags.
They worked in companionable silence, just tidying up the room. Rayla knew his house well enough to know where everything went, and tossed out all the garbage and swept up the lingering crumbs. Soon enough, the room looked nearly spotless again.
“See, fast!” Rayla chuckled. She glanced at her phone. “Just in time, too. Runaan’s asking where I am.”
Callum surprised her with a sudden hug, catching her off guard for a moment before she returned it, trying to calm her fluttering heart.
It’s just a hug. Friends hug all the time, don’t get all excited.
“Thanks for coming,” Callum said, a tiny bit breathlessly, “I know you were worried about the test and I wanted to help, sorry it got kind of out of hand.”
“You… organized this all… for me?” Rayla hoped her face wasn’t as red as it felt.
“Well, yeah,” He laughed, “Even though you probably didn’t need it. You know all the material really well.”
“Only thanks to you, and you know that,” Giving him a friendly punch to the shoulder, Rayla couldn’t contain her grin. “I do feel better prepared, though. I’ll pass. If my brain doesn’t turn to mush first.”
“You’ll ace it,” Callum assured her, “I’m sure of it.”
His green eyes were so bright. And his smile so genuine. Rayla returned it, albeit with less enthusiasm. “Thanks.” Her voice sounded stupidly high-pitched, even to her.
He held her gaze for another long moment before glancing down, at the buzzing phone in her hand that she hadn’t even noticed, too caught up in staring. “You should go. Get some sleep for the test tomorrow, huh?”
“Yeah,” Rayla breathed, “You too. I’ll see in English tomorrow.”
It was an effort to leave the room. To walk down the stairs, quietly so she wouldn’t wake his parents, and out the front door. To open up her door and get in the car, turn the key in the ignition.
The entire street was silent. That’s how it always was, she supposed. The first to arrive and the last to leave. A glance up told her Callum was staring out his bedroom window at her, watching her leave.
With a heavy sigh, Rayla put the car in reverse. Pulled out of the driveway.
She wasn’t naive. Callum had always been big on physical contact, and it had never meant anything more than he cared. She wasn’t willing to put her heart on the line like that, not when she was sure he didn’t like her that way.
Rayla was a risk taker. Always had been. But this? To risk the relationship she already had with her best friend? That was one risk she would never be willing to take.
~~~~
a/n: Poor Rayla! I would like to apologize to everyone in advance; the pining is not going to get better for a LONG TIME
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quicksilversquared · 3 years
Text
Move to Safety: Chapter 2 (of 6)
After Adrien just happens to spy Nooroo in his father’s office, he’s sent into an panic. His father is Hawkmoth, which means that Adrien is in serious danger.
Thankfully the Dupain-Chengs are more than willing to step up to the plate and lend a helping hand.
links in the reblog
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The next akuma attack was three days post-discovery. Adrien had been concerned- or, rather, frankly paranoid- about the sudden lull, but Plagg had reminded him that his father was busy at this time of the year, the end of the school year and exams lining up almost perfectly with the push to finalize the summer line, coordinate the summer runways and photoshoots, and in general make sure that Gabriel was in the best possible position going into the summer season. It meant long hours going over designs and then making sure that the finished product lined up with the vision, of making sure that staff were lined up for all of the events, of ensuring that Gabriel's international locations were doing well...
Well, it was really no wonder that Hawkmoth's activity had slowed for the time being.
During his first year as Hawkmoth, his father had left the coordination of pretty much all of those things to Nathalie and a couple of the senior designers, presumably so that he could keep akumatizing people at the same rate as he had before (the official excuse, of course, was that he had still been suffering from grief because of Mrs. Agreste's disappearance and wouldn't be able to juggle everything). Apparently things hadn't gone quite as perfectly as Mr. Agreste had wanted (and it was really hard for his designers and other staff to get last-minute things done when akumas were interrupting them practically every day), forcing Mr. Agreste to switch the majority of his attention to the company during the frantic rush. That in turn meant that his attacks had to step down for a period.
Of course, dialing back on the attacks didn't mean stopping them, as evidenced by the akuma alert lighting up Adrien's phone.
Adrien swallowed a groan as he silenced the alarm, sliding his phone back into his pocket before anyone could notice it. At least the akuma had showed up between classes, making it easier to slip away. He headed to the bathrooms, hiding in a stall until the other boys in the bathroom had cleared out and it was safe for him to transform. Chat Noir slipped out the bathroom window, then charged across the city to join Ladybug, who had gotten there before he had. She was already focused on the fight, eyes narrowed as she spun her yo-yo and sent bits of the melted marshmallow that the akuma was shooting at her flying away.
Chat Noir really, really wanted to taste the marshmallow and see what it was like- it smelled amazing- but Ladybug had had words with him about eating akuma-generated food before and he really didn't want to get scolded again.
(But marshmallow...)
"It's a chocolatier," Ladybug told him breathlessly as he dropped down next to her. "He was trying to make something with marshmallow filling and his intern accidentally tipped the entire vat over and spilled it. Or that's what I'm guessing, at least. It's hard to tell."
Chat Noir frowned as he extended his baton, pushing the Chocolatier back. "He got this upset over that?"
"It wasn't the first time that the intern has spilled stuff, I'm guessing."
"Gotcha."
Soon enough, their battle was in full swing. Chat Noir focused on the akuma as much as he could, but in the back of his mind there was the constant reminder that it was his father behind this. The same person who had (occasionally, rarely, once in a blue moon) tucked him into bed at night when he was younger, the same person who had used to proudly smile when Adrien first started modeling and showed a talent for it, the same person who Adrien had spent years of his life trying to please- that was the man terrorizing Paris, preying on people's emotions for- what? Presumably Mr. Agreste was trying to get Mrs. Agreste back, to prevent whatever it was that had made her vanish.
She wouldn't have wanted all this to happen, of that Adrien was sure.
The lump in his throat only went away when he remembered something Marinette had said the previous night as they had worked on their homework together shoulder-to-shoulder on the floor, wrinkling her nose in disgust as she pointed out that Gabriel Agreste, world-renowned fashion designer had been (perhaps somewhat indirectly, they didn't know how the akuma victims' personal preferences played into their outfit design) responsible for the parade of what were frankly fashion disasters. He had been the one to come up with the names, presumably had some hand in dealing out the powers, had definitely been the one responsible for his own (incredibly tacky) design as the Collector, and yet...
Audrey Bourgeois had just written a scathing column about the akuma designs, in an odd twist of irony. No wonder his father had been in a bit of a foul mood right after that.
"Well, that was a bit of a sticky situation," Ladybug joked as she released the purified akuma at the end of the fight. She watched it go, fluttering over the sagging mountains of melted marshmallow. "Not a bad akuma, though." Her teasing grin turned towards him. "Good job not eating any of the marshmallow."
Now that the fight was over, guilt and anxiety promptly weighted down his gut like lead. He should tell her about Hawkmoth now, before they had to split and go back to their respective schools. But the lump in his throat was back in full force now, and he could barely form words around it. How was he supposed to tell Ladybug without letting on who he was? He hadn't figured that out yet. "I- yeah."
He didn't want to tell Ladybug who he was, not yet. He was worried about her treating him differently and thinking that he couldn't handle the fights anymore, worried about her judging him for not figuring it out sooner, worried- well, that it could mess everything up. He had begged Marinette right away after they got back up to her living room not to tell Ladybug who he was, in fact. Not that he thought that Marinette would go behind his back to do that, but he just- he wanted to be sure. He couldn't handle another reveal, not even with his partner.
She had tried to- to protest, he assumed, or at least tried to say something, but he had cut her off. With her family's support, he could manage his father's defeat without adding more identity reveals to the mix.
Ladybug's expression turned anxious, even as she tossed her Lucky Charm into the air to cast the Cure. "Are you okay, Chat Noir?"
"I-" He was choking on his own words. Ladybug's fingers ran down his arms, wrapping around his wrists steadyingly. "I, uh-" He had to spit it out, he had to!- "Yeah, I'm fine. Just- just tired."
Ladybug's eyes scanned over him, then nodded. "Okay. Take a nap? I want my partner feeling his best."
Chat Noir managed a smile. Today wasn't the day he would be telling his partner about his father, apparently. Next time, for sure. He had to pull himself together soon. "Right."
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  Adrien couldn't help but be thrilled to be allowed to have dinner with the Dupain-Chengs that evening. Nathalie hadn't even needed to consider the request before allowing Adrien to go, which was a relief.
If she or his father had noticed that he wasn't sleeping at home anymore, she wouldn't be allowing him out. The fact that he was still getting his freedom meant that so far, his nightly escapes were going unnoticed.
Of course, it was still early. Not even an entire week had passed yet.
"It's going to be weird to go home and then come right back," Adrien told Marinette with a small laugh as he helped her chop the veggies for dinner. He had headed over to her family's house right after school, and was going to be staying there until the Gorilla came around to pick him up (walking to and from Marinette's place to his own and without supervision could only happen during broad daylight, apparently), and then staying at home for all of thirty minutes or so before going right back over. "I'd rather just stay over, but I know they wouldn't allow it. I mean, it took how long for them to allow me to sleep over at Nino's house, and he's, uh..."
"Also a guy," Marinette filled in when Adrien floundered. She reached over to scoop up his chopped vegetables and toss them into the frying pan. "I get it. And I know you've mentioned that you aren't planning on telling Nino about, uh, everything, and you staying over here, but you could probably tell Nathalie that you're going to sleep over there on, like, a Friday or Saturday evening, so then you can sleep in on the weekend instead of having to wake up super-early. Unless she would check in with Nino's family ?"
Adrien blinked at the suggestion, pausing mid-chop and then setting down his knife to properly consider it. It was really, really tempting- they were just coming up on their first weekend with the new arrangement and even the thought of having to get up early so that he could go back to the mansion without being spotted sucked- but would Nathalie check in with Nino's family?
Ugh. He really, really wanted to, though. Being able to sleep in and then actually properly get to sit down and eat a Dupain-Cheng breakfast? That would be amazing. But did he dare risk Nathalie finding out that he was lying about his whereabouts?
"We could also claim that we're having a sleepover for all four of us here," Marinette offered after a minute had passed without Adrien saying anything. "That might be more acceptable. We can say that it's so we can do lots of studying for finals together, without wasting the time to go home and then meet up again the next day."
"Maybe," Adrien agreed, liking that more. "And we can actually study, and invite Nino and Alya over during the day." He grinned, remembering their last "study" session. "As long as they actually study and don't pull us off-track again. We'll have to tell them that they'll get booted if they start making out or flirting with each other again." He glanced over at Marinette. "This weekend, do you think? Or next weekend, so that I can be more fully rested going into finals?"
"Why not both?" Marinette smiled at his startled expression. "Mention both at once, and see if she'll go for it. If she says that two is too much, then decide which weekend you want to go for."
Adrien smiled. Marinette was so smart. "I'll do that."
They worked in silence for a few more minutes, Adrien finishing with the vegetables and Marinette taking over the cooking from him, expertly stirring things together and adding in spices. It smelled amazing. Adrien hovered, not sure what he could do to help, but he knew that if Marinette could think of anything for him to do, she would tell him.
"Ah, Adrien, I was hoping that you would be here!" Mrs. Cheng said cheerfully, sticking her head around the door. "I need something from your room and I was wondering if you could grab it for me."
Adrien blinked in surprise. "I- I mean, sure, I can go in, but- why do you need to wait for me? It's your house, you can go in."
"Oh, I couldn't! That's your room, sweetheart. I'm not going to go in there without your permission." Mrs. Cheng smiled at him. "It's your space now, and I don't want to intrude on it."
Adrien frowned, still not quite understanding. "But... it's a guest room. In your house."
"And we gave that room for you. We don't want to intrude on your space. It's your room now, not the guest room." Mrs. Cheng glanced over at Marinette, then back at Adrien. "Would it help to have you redecorate a bit? I know it feels like a guest room, but we can change it up a bit if it would make you more comfortable."
"Yeah, we didn't exactly have much time to redecorate for you when you moved in," Marinette chimed in right away, before Adrien could protest. She reached over and shut off the burner. "We can go do something about that right now, if you want. Dinner can wait for a little while."
Adrien glanced at Mrs. Cheng, but she was nodding and sliding into the kitchen behind Marinette to take over the cooking. "You two go do that. I'll take over this, and then I can come help once this is in the oven."
Blinking in surprise but not resisting- there was no protesting when any of the Cheng women put their minds to something, Adrien had learned that long ago- Adrien let himself be dragged down to the guest room's door, then nearly ran into Marinette when she drew to a sudden stop in front of the door. He blinked, then realized what was going on when Marinette stepped aside and looked at him expectantly.
She wasn't going to go into his room before him. He had to go in first and then invite her in.
"I'm really fine with you guys coming in," Adrien told her with a small, self-conscious laugh as he pulled the door open to the guest room that he was staying in. "I'm used to it. I mean, at h- at the mansion, the maid comes in when I'm not there all the time. And then Nathalie and my father just come in when they want- I don't know if they come in when I'm not there, but when I'm there, they just come in if they have something that they want to tell me. The Gorilla always knocks before coming in unless it's an emergency, but he doesn't always wait for a response before he does."
Marinette was frowning. "That's not right. I mean, sometimes my parents come into my room, but it's only when I've given them permission, or there's an emergency, or- okay, maybe sometimes they get a little over-excited when I have, uh, friends over and then they pop in, but they've gotten better about it after I talked to them about that. It's important to have privacy in your own room."
Adrien smiled slightly. "That sounds nice. I'd love to have- well, I think it sounds nice, to have a space that's private. To only have people come in who I want to come in, and when I want them to come in..."
"You'll have that here." Marinette waited until Adrien waved her in before entering the room. She glanced over the room, then winced. "Oh, this really looks like a guest room. It doesn't look like you've used the bed at all!"
"I wanted to keep it tidy!" Adrien protested. "In case...uh, in case anyone came in, I guess." He ran a hand over the top blanket. It had taken a few minutes that morning to get it perfectly straight, with sharp corner folds. "I wanted to keep it looking nice."
Marinette was staring at the bed in- surprise? Horror? "I think I was the one to make the bed last before you came, and it didn't look nearly this neat. And I only make my bed, like, half of the time when I get up. You don't have to get up early to make the bed to- to photoshoot standards."
Adrien swallowed. "Right. Okay."
"I mean, if you want to, that's a different story," Marinette said hastily, apparently completely misunderstanding his expression. "Then it's fine! But if you're just doing it because you think we expect it of you...that's not the case, not at all."
"Right." Adrien shuffled from side to side, looking at the room. "So, uh... where are we meant to start?"
He honestly didn't know. After all, it was a very nice room- a pale blue on the walls, some decorations that Mrs. Cheng had probably brought back from China and family photos hanging on the walls, some with Dupain-Cheng family members who Adrien recognized and others with people that Adrien didn't know- the Cheng grandparents, he was guessing, and some other extended family members on both sides. There was a bookshelf with an assortments of books- some baking, some cooking, some about family histories and culture in China. There were a couple books in Mandarin, and others in Italian. There was a dresser with an attached mirror part that had a gorgeous embroidered piece of fabric draped over it, with a couple knick-knacks placed on top of that, and a very standard bed: sheets, two pillows, a couple plain fleece blankets that had been folded at the foot of the bed, since it was too warm to use them. Under the windows there was a radiator, painted gleaming white. A storage chest sat at the foot of the bed, and a small table was next to the door, the perfect spot to set keys or a bag to grab on the way out.
In short: it might have been smaller than he was used to, but it was cozy and, like the rest of the house, had been put together to reflect the Dupain-Cheng family and their interests, instead of just being pulled from an interior design magazine.
"The bed," Marinette decided after a moment. "We have a bunch of sheets that we can use for this one, actually- uh, we keep them in this closet, actually."
Once again, it took Adrien a second to realize what Marinette was doing, and then he smiled. She wasn't going to go digging in his closet without him going first. He rounded the bed- there wasn't as much space as he was used to, but it was hardly cramped- and opened the closet, stepping aside so that Marinette could step in front of him to scan the piles of linens.
No matter how important Marinette found it for him to take the lead in his own room, the fact remained that he was significantly taller than she was and if she was going to help him out at all with figuring out which set of linens to pick, she needed to be able to actually see the options. The closet was pretty full of sheets and blankets, and Adrien had no idea which ones were the right size for his new bed.
"Okay, so this bed is the same size as mine," Marinette said, glancing back at the bed. "Which means that you'll be looking at this side of the closet. And, uh, I really had a thing for having a differently colored bed every week when I was younger, so that's why, uh..."
Adrien laughed. "That's why you have an actual rainbow of sheets in that size, you mean?" He reached out, running his fingers over the pile. There were a good eight or nine colors at least, which... well, that was pretty impressive. "How long did you spend in 'zillion-different-colors' phase?"
"A couple years?" Marinette shrugged at Adrien's expression. "I don't remember. But there were enough sheets that they never really got worn down, so we just stuck them all in here when I grew out of that and decided to decorate my room in a pink theme instead."
"Ah." Adrien looked at the closet again, then reached for a set that was a blue that reminded him of Ladybug's eyes. "I like these."
"D'you want help switching out the sheets?" Marinette asked, reaching in to help Adrien pull the sheets out without disrupting the rest of the stack. "And- hmm. We have a couple blankets that could go with those sheets. Not that you really need a blanket right now, since it's almost summer and it's getting hot, but if there's any cold nights and you get chilly, it's better to have them out and ready."
Adrien nodded as he picked out a green blanket to go with the blue sheets, though he had a really hard time imagining ever feeling cold here. Aside from the fact that they were above a bakery- the warmest possible business Adrien could possibly imagine, the entire building just smelled warm, if warm could have a smell- the whole atmosphere was just so warm and friendly and welcoming. "Help would be good. I can tidy up a bed in the morning, but making it from scratch I'm not great at." He grinned, remembering the one and only time when he had tried to make his bed at the mansion, after the maid had to leave early due to a family emergency and had only gotten as far as washing and drying Adrien's sheets. He had assured her that he could handle the actual bed-making so that she could go right home and... well, he had tried.
Fitted sheets were hard, that was all he was going to say. It did not help that his bed at the mansion was so large.
(There might have been some less-than-optimal language that he let loose while wrestling with the fitted sheet. No one could prove anything.)
"It's easier with two people, at least," Marinette said cheerfully, setting the linens down at the foot of the bed so that she could start stripping the sheets that were there. "Easier to wrestle with the mattress that way."
Adrien grinned. "Yeah. I've only got a white belt in mattress wrestling. Just a beginner."
Marinette snorted. "Does wrestling have belts? I thought that was karate."
"You question my qualifications? How dare!" Adrien flopped down on the bed dramatically, pressing the back of his head to his forehead. "...but you might be right."
Marinette laughed and gave his side a gentle shove. "Get up and help me, you lump."
"And now I'm being bullied!"
Adrien loved Marinette's unrestrained laughter.
It didn't take long to remake the bed with the new sheets. The blanket that Adrien had grabbed was a little large for the bed, but it didn't seem to bother Marinette. They just made sure that there was an equal(ly large) amount of blanket hanging down either side of the bed, placed the pillows on top, and then stood back to admire their work.
"You can bring some of your books and things over and we can make space on the bookshelf," Marinette said, leaning over to look at the bookshelf. "My parents can get another bookshelf and stick it in the living room and move their books there so that you have the space. They just have things in here because it had just been an extra room. And then I know I have pictures of you and Alya and Nino and I, and one of you fencing, and- oh, we can look. These others can probably find a new home, too. And the storage chest- that should be empty. It's mostly there so that visitors could put their suitcases inside and have them out of the way."
Adrien stared at Marinette. "That- that's a lot. Like, getting another bookshelf and moving it- that's pretty permanent. Like, Ladybug and I will defeat my father by the time summer starts, probably."
"Yeah, well, you'll need somewhere to live afterwards, won't you?" Marinette sat down on the bed, patting the space next to him. Adrien settled next to her, unable to resist the invitation. "And maybe the city will try to make arrangements for you to be able to stay at the mansion, but you can stay here, too. I know it's not as big, but..."
"I love it here," Adrien assured her, leaning back on his hands and admiring the room, too-wide blanket and all. He didn't need things to be perfect, or huge, or expensive. "If your parents are all right with me being here, I'd love to stay. I've had enough of the mansion for a while, I think."
Marinette's head rested against his shoulder. "Okay." He could feel her shift as she settled. "I'm glad you like it here. We just want you to feel like it's actually your space."
He still didn't think that that was entirely necessary, but Adrien wasn't going to argue with them. Instead, he leaned back into Marinette's side, enjoying the quiet warmth. After a few seconds, though, he couldn't keep quiet any longer.
"I haven't told Ladybug yet," Adrien said quietly, dropping his head back against Marinette's. "I tried, during the last akuma attack, but I chickened out."
"I- I can tell her, if you can't," Marinette offered after a moment. "Next time she comes nearby during patrol, or during an attack."
Adrien shook his head. "I swear that I'll tell her at the next attack. I just needed more time to figure out how. It's only been a few days." He swallowed, remembering the way that his throat had closed up around his words. He had wanted to tell Ladybug, but he didn't know how. "I don't- I've been trying to think of how to tell her without giving away my identity, but I just blank."
He could hear the frown in Marinette's voice. "Are you sure that you don't want to just tell her who you are? I don't- she doesn't seem the type to judge you about the whole situation, and it seems like it would be easier-"
"Not right now. It's not safe." Maybe the final battle was (in theory) in sight now that he knew Hawkmoth's identity, but he was leaning towards the safer option of not letting any more people find out who Chat Noir was. He had seen the downsides of when superheroes knew each other's identities in action with Rena Rouge and Carapace, and they did not need anything like that happening again. "Like, whenever we have distractions going on in our civilian lives, it shows during battle, even if we try not to let it. It's the same when we have superhero stuff that we're distracted by. This would probably be the same. Like, what if we know each other? What if we slip up and yell the other person's civilian name during battle?"
Marinette nodded, an odd expression on her face. "Yeah, I can see where that would be bad."
"It would be awful. Our advantage would just be gone." And since they currently had a serious one-up on Hawkmoth and Mayura, they really didn't want to lose that. "So I'm not going to tell her until Hawkmoth is defeated. And like I said, I don't want her treating me differently, either, and I worry that she might if she knew that Hawkmoth is Chat Noir's father. I can still fight."
Marinette was watching him consideringly, but she smiled when he looked up at her. "That's understandable."
"I just want to be careful, and not knowing each other's identities has worked out for us pretty well so far." Adrien let out a long sigh, trying to let go of the stress that he had been holding on to. "After he's in jail, though, I want to tell her. Hopefully we'll be allowed to then."
"I'm sure you will be." Smiling, Marinette leaned forward to give his hand a gentle squeeze. "But for now, let's not worry about that. After all, we have a room to redecorate."
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  By the time dinner was ready to come out of the oven, the guest room was...well, not quite Adrien's room, not yet, but it wasn't nearly as guest room-esq as it had been before. Marinette had pulled some photos she had of him and their friends from her room and put them in some empty picture frames that they had around so that he could put them up in his room, and Mrs. Cheng had cleared off the desk and dresser surfaces so that he could put some of his things on them. There was space on the bookshelf, too- apparently Marinette's parents had an extra bookshelf in their bedroom and could move things there- and even a little in the closet, though Marinette's parents were still brainstorming where they could move some of the stuff in there so that it would be accessible when they wanted it.
Adrien still thought that it was overkill, but the idea of having a room that he knew people weren't popping into without his knowledge was- well, it was really, really nice. And he couldn't deny that being able to make the space his own was a fun idea, and if he was going to stay there after Hawkmoth and Mayura were defeated, like the Dupain-Chengs were clearly planning... well, he would feel more comfortable if he felt like the space was really his own, Adrien knew that.
It was just that they were going so out of their way to accommodate him. Marinette's parents were busy, he knew that, and yet they had spent a not insignificant amount of time clearing out the guest room so that he would be able to move in more fully.
"You can bring more stuff over tonight, or whenever you have the time," Marinette was saying as they sat down around the table. "Books and more pictures and whatever knickknacks you want to have here."
"The Jagged Stone CD you signed," Adrien said immediately, grinning when Marinette blushed. "And the posters!"
Mrs. Cheng laughed. "Any possessions that my daughter didn't make and sign?"
Adrien had to think about it. "Uh...there's the jacket that Marinette made me last year. That isn't signed."
"I embroider my signature on everything I make," Marinette reminded him. "So that's signed, too."
That made Adrien pause. "Oh. Uh, then I guess other gifts that I've gotten from friends? I'll see as I go along, probably. And I'll probably wait to move a lot of stuff until after school is over." The and until after my father and Nathalie are in jail went unsaid.
"We can help," Mr. Dupain assured him. "We might need one person working the counter at all times, but the rest of my staff can keep the kitchen running in back. Just say the word."
Adrien couldn't hide his smile. "Thank you."
"And now- did you have a good day at school?" Mrs. Cheng asked, changing the topic, and Adrien couldn't help but smile as Marinette chimed in, telling her mom about the exam review that they were doing at the moment.
He loved having people who he could talk to about his father, because it made the whole process a little less lonely and he knew that he didn't have to handle it all alone (excluding Plagg, of course), but it was nice to talk about normal things, too. To be part of a normal family that sat down and ate dinner together, instead of sitting alone at his family's long dining room table and hoping that his father might show up.
Adrien wasn't going to be hoping for that anymore, that much was obvious. Even when he had dinner at home- and he was going to have to, he knew well enough that he wouldn't be able to get away with going to Marinette's house for dinner every night- he would be hoping that his father and Nathalie were busy, or even better, out of the house entirely.
It wasn't likely, but he could still hope.
The Gorilla picked Adrien up after dinner and he spent a cursory hour in his bedroom at the mansion (no one even checked in on him, which was unsurprising) before zipping right back over to Marinette's house. She let him in via her balcony, and Adrien gave her a quick hug good-night before heading down to his room.
As Adrien settled into his bed, he couldn't help but smile. The room felt a lot more comfortable now, even though they had only really changed a few things. That, and knowing that the Dupain-Chengs considered it his space, not just an in-use guest room...
He hadn't even known that he wasn't fully relaxing before but now, Adrien could sleep soundly.
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neocrush · 4 years
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to the fools who dream.
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pairing: idol!renjun x fem!trainee!reader
prompt: when two fools with the same dream collide and tragically fall for each other. except, one has already achieved said dream. the other is willing to sacrifice everything in able to reach that same dream. through experiencing love and heartbreak for the first time, they learn to separate dream and reality.
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TEASER UNDER THE CUT.
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“Five, six, seven, eight!” The dance teacher counted to the beats of Boss Bitch by Doja Cat. You kept a strong gaze, looking at your dancing figure on the mirror. You and your fellow trainees  squatted on the ground as you stayed in that position, waiting for your respective solo parts. As your solo part came, you stood up and gracefully went to the center. After sixteen counts, everyone else stood up as you led them into the chorus. As the song ends, you stayed still in your ending pose. You and Saerin’s heavy breathing being the only audible thing to your ears. 
Your ending pose included you perching one arm up her right shoulder as both your bodies faced each other, meanwhile your actual faces faced the floor. “Good job, girls! That’s a wrap for dance practice today!” The man who previously had a stern face, smiled proudly at your hard work. “Your managers told me that none of you have any extra classes or training after this one. Therefore, you are allowed to go back to your dorms. Rest up, tomorrow is the monthly evaluation.” 
All twelve of you bowed as your dance teacher left the practice room. “Finally..” Haryeong sighed, collapsing to the floor as she sprawled her body in a funny manner. 
“I’m so nervous. I-I don’t think I’m ready for tomorrow’s evaluations.” Hannah stuttered. She was fairly new to the company, so her being extremely nervous for her first evaluations wasn’t that surprising to any of you. What surprised you, was that she started crying. Jaera, the eldest female trainee engulfed her in a motherly-like hug. She wiped the tears that fell onto the gray-haired girl’s cheeks away. 
“Hannah, look at me,” She softly spoke. The younger girl looked up, indicating that she was listening to her elder. “You’re going to do amazing. I know that for a fact. I’m not just saying this because we’re friends or because I’m trying to cheer you up. You are truly talented and hardworking. You entered this company without knowing how to count beats and stay on key. That was nearly a month ago. Now you’re up for the Main Dancer position and our vocal coach praises you on the daily. Heck, you even started rapping! Do you see what I’m trying to say? Your hardwork won’t go to waste. None of ours will.” The speaking girl looked around at her fellow trainees. Some of you starting to tear up a bit.
She continued, “I say this with all my heart. We all deserve to debut. When the time comes, our company will realize that our talent and hardwork can’t go to waste. If they fail to do so, then they’re missing out on so much potential.” The sobbing girls wiped their tears as they laughed at Jaera’s last line. Sumin pulled everyone into a hug as you cherished this moment, knowing it won’t forever be like this. 
The hug fell apart as Wonchae’s phone buzzed, receiving a call from one of your managers. Soon enough you all bid your goodbyes, as you were travelling in different cars to your dorms. Everyone walked to building’s main lobby and black vans arrived. It was 3:58 AM and you were in need of rest. As you put your white mask on, you heard a voice call out your name. You turned around and immediately removed your mask, bowing at the person who was nearing you. “Yoongi-sunbae, hello.” You properly greeted your senior.
“Ah, good thing you’re here. The CEO wants to see you.” You widened your eyes at what the taller man had just told you. “Don’t worry, it’s probably nothing bad.” He chuckled at your tense figure. “I should probably tell-” “No, no, it’s okay. They already know.” He reassured as he cut you off mid-sentence. “I can walk you there. My practice room is on the same floor.” You firmly nodded at his suggestion. “Let me just get some iced coffee, which is what I initially was going to do.” You both chuckle as you trailed behind him to the vending machine and to the 12th floor via elevator. 
You walked through the spacey hallway that led to the CEO’s office. Yoongi took a turn as he opened a door that revealed six boys chaotically doing shenanigans in a big practice room. You just chuckled at the sight of the six hyperactive men you had to deal with since you were a mere child. “Y/n! Hi!” A deep but cheerful voice that belonged to none other than Taehyung joyfully called out your name as he energetically waved at you from a distance. “Hi Taetae-sunbae!” You smiled ear-to-ear and waved. 
“See you soon? Good luck for the evaluations tomorrow by the way.” Yoongi calmly voiced out.
“Oh, Thank you, sunbae. See you soon!” You bid your goodbyes as you properly bowed - he was your senior afterall. You continued your mini journey to the CEO’s office as you walked straight towards the end of the hall.
You were now face-to-face with the door that led to the CEO’s office. The words  ‘BANG SI HYUK’ on top of ‘CEO of BigHit Entertainment’ with big, golden letters and a bold font were plastered on the big white door. It was quite intimidating - you must say.
You entered the room full of hesitation and got lost in your see of thoughts, until a man voiced out. “Ah, y/n. I have been waiting for you.” Your boss, Bang Sihyuk, smiled softly. You bowed, “Hello, sir. I apologize for being late.” “It’s alright. Take a seat.” He pulled out a chair that was in front of his large desk, gesturing for you to sit on it. “Thank you, sir.” You took a seat, smiling at his extremely kind gesture. He took a seat on his large leather chair, facing you from the other side of his desk.  
“It’s very late right now, so I’m not going to keep you here for a long time. I’ll just get to the point, okay?” The middle-aged started as you firmly nodded. 
“You have been training with us since you were 12 years old. When you auditioned, I saw the talent and potential in you. I knew you were going to become a star one day. An extremely successful one. You are very talented and hardworking. You already know that, of course. Everybody in BigHit does. Even our cleaning staff.” You both chuckled at his comedic remark.
 He continued with a more serious tone, “I’ve watched you grow into an amazing artist. There was never a day where you would let me down. After every performance, you always remind me why I accepted you into the company in the first place. You never fail to improve. To be better. To be stronger. You are extremely independent for someone your age and you should be proud of that. But most importantly, you are passionate and humble. Wherever you go in life, remember to keep those core traits as they will always bring good things to you. I, as your boss, am extremely proud of you and the person you’ve become.” 
You smile at the amount of compliments that you were being showered with by one of the most important people in your life and career. 
“I made a deal with SM Entertainment.”
Your smile altered to a confused-type-of-look as the words that had just rolled out of the man’s tongue irked you in a way. It wasn’t that you hated SM Entertainment, they were just - a joke - to your company. Your fellow trainees who were in the same class as some of the SM trainees would always talk about how celebrity-like they acted. The girls would joke about how self-centered they were here and there. Of course, you just stood there and listened. You went to an international school and trained almost your whole life, resulting in you almost never interacting with trainees from other companies. Hence, not knowing how they behaved in real life. The only exception was when you appeared in Stray Kids’ music video for God’s Menu. Then again, they weren’t trainees.
“They have decided to transfer a male trainee from their company. He wasn’t exactly fit for their company, but I saw lots of potential in him. They didn’t want to properly let him go. They weren’t going to risk losing another trainee. Therefore, they proposed a deal.” 
I think know where this is going.
“Our team had a meeting with their team. We showed them all of the latest monthly evaluations. They decided that they were going to select one of our trainees to be transferred to train at their company and vice versa.”
Oh no, it’s actually happening.
“With lots thinking and negotiation. They chose you. You’ll be picked up by your new manager here at around 8 AM. Y/n, I truly believe that you are going to be an amazing artist. No matter which company you are under. I have faith in you, y/n.” 
You were tearing up, “So is this goodbye? An end to years of training here? My home?”
Bang Sihyuk replied, “This isn’t me completely letting you go. It isn’t an end to anything. It’s the start of something wonderful. You are extremely talented, passionate, kind, hardworking, and humble. Whichever company you are in won’t matter. You are an amazing individual and you know it.” The chubbier man had engulfed you in a warm hug. “BigHit will always welcome you with open arms. Whenever you’re feeling empty, you know we’re here for you. You know the boys will do everything to protect their sister, right?” 
You nodded into the hug as you pulled away and smiled, “I’ll do my best. I always will. It’s what you taught me.”
“Show ‘em SM kids how they raised you in Bighit!” you laughed at the man, who in a few hours, won’t be your boss anymore. 
You spent the few remaining hours of being under the company you grew up in with the members of BTS and TXT. Together, you ate ungodly amounts of Spicy Ramyeon while reminiscing the boys’ trainee days with you.
Oh, how you were going to miss your brothers.
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a/n: no nct yet sorry! but we need this for character building :)) did your faves make an appearance/get mentioned?
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none atm so send an ask to be added !
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prose-for-hire · 3 years
Text
I [still] know what you did last Halloween...
Part one // Part Three // Part Four
Pairing: Scooby gang x reader (platonic)
This is the second part to a platonic story with the reader as part of the Scooby gang. Set season 3. This is a multi-parted serial killer/slasher fic for Halloween. Yes, I had to include Spike. Yes, I am sorry. Reader lived with Giles, but is not related. 
Warning: It is a serial killer fic, main characters are going to die (I’m sorry, it’s Halloween). Violence. Blood mention. Alcohol consumption. Swearing.
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Sunnydale students: SOS
Sunnydale Express, October 1999.
The Sunnydale slasher strikes again, leaving one teen dead and two injured. There was a house party last night [12/10/1999] which left the student body with one less. The identity of the teen, who is yet to be identified based on extensive injuries should be announced to the public after the family is informed.
However, it makes us at the Sunnydale Express question: was it the teens fault for breaking curfew?
It was the day of the funerals. There was to be two back-to-back.
The first funeral was Giles’. It was an intimate ceremony, the core group and a Watcher who had never met Giles alive. He was there to ‘oversee’ matters but Wesley told him where to go. This had surprised you, the man wasn’t usually so forthright but he had appeared to be fond of Giles in some way.
Your group stood, staring into the open grave. You were now minus two members. There had been some crying earlier, but everyone’s faces were stony now. As if they were set in place. Exhausted from crying, not sure if you would die from dehydration if you wept another drop.
All of the colour had been sucked out of the world and you were all now aware that you were only briefly passing through this life. You weren’t aware everyone else was sharing your cynical thought, but they were.
You felt the most immeasurable guilt. You felt guilty for Giles’ death. For being the reason he was gutted so brutally. Used to write a crude message on the wall. His life had come down to being the ink in someone’s pen and it angered you that this was what his life had been reduced to. But mostly, it sickened you.
And, as Willow tapped you on the shoulder and gestured that it was time. Your mind still trying to wrap your head around the imagines you had seen in the past week. It was never going to get easier.
It was all a blur. It was screaming and rushing of bodies all around you. 
The room had started to thin. Only the injured and your friends remained. Willow had started to mutter something, a kind of protective spell - she grabbed your hand needing your strength. 
The slayers danced around each other, their fight mean and brutal. he appeared human, but his reflexes were good. Almost, too good.
He was blocking them at every turn. He appeared to be enjoying it. He was studying them. Learning their movement. Anticipating what would come next. They fought hard. Buffy hissing as the tip of the scythe cut into the flesh on her upper arm.
Then it happened. You could barely stomach thinking about it. Xander had walked into the room-
Xander had been a good friend to you. He was never perfect and you liked that about him, he never pretended to be someone he wasn’t. He looked out for you and he had been there for you when you had almost broken down and run to the police months ago. He had been firm that it had to be kept secret what you had done, but never refused you a shoulder to cry on.
His funeral was a lavish affair, his parents turning on the waterworks despite everyone knowing how they would treat him at times. They had paid for only the best, with a large number of people attending. The church was packed out. It made you wander that if any of them knew what he had been involved in with the rest of you, would they be so quick to say they had always liked him? Always seen him as brave and strong?
Any time the family saw any of the people that were there that night they scowled. They glared. And they burst into more tears. Why were you spared, when he wasn’t?
The six of you huddled together. Oz was more distant than usual, his hand on Willow’s shoulder as she couldn’t control her sobbing now. Buffy was sat with you, trying to hold it together as you wrapped an arm around her - willing yourself not to fall apart either. Cordelia and Faith had started bickering. It was getting progressively louder and your group was getting funny looks. They eventually stopped but only when the priest shushed them and started to say the final words before Xander was cremated.
Bravery. It was a word that had been said a lot that day, in that stuffy church hall. But it rang true, clearer than the tolling bell.
He had been brave.
 Everything stilled when he entered the room, as if time had been slowed for that one moment. And who knows, maybe it had. It was Sunnydale. The masked figure stopped fighting Buffy and stepped over an injured party-goer. He had been waiting for this. the guest of honour.
The masked figure had just been killing time fighting the slayers. Xander’s fate was decided before he had got to the party that night. 
Xander’s face had twisted in horror, his eyes met yours and you started to scream. He nodded, resigning himself to what was coming. The figure swung his scythe back, shrugging Faith off him who had tried to tackle him and swung at Xander.
A sickening noise. A splatter of blood sprayed the entire room. Willow dropped your hand in horror, stunned into silence as Xander’s head rolled to Buffy’s feet, the same look in his eye. 
There were media crews set up everywhere outside the church. They were using Xander to tell their stories. It would anger you, but you felt too washed out to say anything. You didn’t even comment when you overheard Harmony on her fifth interview, now talking to the local news outlet.
“Did you know the victim well?”
“Well, yeah. He was a total dork- which was so cute we all loved him” She smiled saccharine sweet making sure nobody had noticed her initial look, “Like, everyone wanted to date him he was a total stud-bucket”
“Were you there that night?”
“Yeah – everyone was, duh! But Carrie totally crashed and I don’t hang around with losers. Even being seen with her is like social suicide!” Harmony maintained firmly, as if that was the most important thing she had been interviewed on, “So I left early”
“Okay- that’s great Harmony. One last question: how are you and the rest of your high school class going to cope after this devastating loss?”
“Well, we’re all gonna graduate as long as we’re not all dead first. I am going to be a counsellor at Camp Crystal Lake in the summer. I’m just pleased to have a break from Sunnydale – senior year has been kind of a bummer so far what with the killings” Harmony shrugged and turned away, swishing her long blonde hair as she walked and her clique followed her. Even Cordelia rolled her eyes as Harmony walked past your group.
You stood motionless for a moment, it felt like a second to all of you but to onlookers there had been enough time to paint a detailed impressionist painting. The only title fitting was: loss. 
“Where do we go from here?” someone finally spoke up.
“To the function”
“I-I don’t think I can” Willow sobbed into Oz’s shoulder.
“It’s worse if we don’t show our faces. Even if it’s just for a minute…” You suggest, really wishing the words hadn’t come out of your mouth. You didn’t want to have to face Xander’s family again, “Angel said he might come, what with the sun going down soon”
“Free alcohol. Score” Faith smiled.
“You’re right” Buffy said, still staring into the distance.
“You wanna get drunk?” Faith raised an eyebrow that lowered when Buffy shook her head.
“No. Y/n’s right. We should go. But we all need to talk – in private, when our heads are clearer. Need to figure out what’s going on” Buffy spoke, her usual self-assured tone was weakened slightly. Her voice hoarse from all of the crying.
You all nodded distantly, walking into the function room together, but feeling miles apart.
Death! Destruction! Mayhem!
Sunnydale Express, October 1999.
Rioting of many stores in the centre of town has been widely reported by those on the ground. Many young people, have taken to the streets to ‘protest’ the curfew. These troubled teens do not understand the importance of hard work and have instead taken to looting and picking up where the killer left off: damning our town.
They have old friends to meet; Disco music to dance to and big ticket items to steal from struggling small businesses.
Meanwhile, the death toll of the cases related to the ‘Sunnydale Slasher’ is now 5, and we ask the residents of Sunnydale: when will they learn?
You walked into the magic shop, one of the only shops on the row that appeared to be untouched. Maybe people knew better than to loot a magic shop. The rest were fair game. You had been hoping to find some kind of ingredients that would help you sleep. Or at least, allow you to relax for even a minute. You felt responsible. For everything and you weren’t sure how to deal with it anymore.
But apparently, this store hadn’t been untouched by those taking what they wanted. You stumbled in on a vampire having a midday snack. Spike. Shit.
You started to back out slowly, but he had seen you. He dropped the corpse of the shop-owner and stepped over her, walking slowly towards you. You sighed, you really weren’t in the mood for this. Everyone around you was dying and now you had to talk to one of the undead.
“Don’t move” He warned, pointing at you as he licked the side of his mouth to catch the blood that had been dripping there. When he noticed that you weren’t even scared, almost a little bored – waiting for him to finish he got annoyed, “You know what I could do? I could snap your neck and-”
“I already have one killer after me, what’s one more?” You sighed again. He raised an eyebrow and you just shrugged, not willing to get into it. Not until he said something.
You had sat, sliding down the wall and he had for some unknown reason (to either of you) decided to join you. He was sobering up and needed some kind of distraction at any rate. He had been staring, sitting beside you and scanning your features in a way that would make you feel uncomfortable if you had cared what he was deciding on.
“You seem different, y/n. From last time, I mean. Not sad, but damned near it - you’re almost making me feel better about my Dru”
“I killed someone. Well, not me, but I helped cover it up…” You admit, after a huge sigh. Spike barely even blinked, this kind of confession didn’t phase him in the slightest.
“Who did?”
“Slayers”
“I think they have a licence to kill, love. Don’t make it right but there it is” he shrugged, ready to get back to his feet and look for some liquor. Until you spoke again.
“He was human” You say softly, “Mr Bates. He had a name and a-a family-”
“I’ve killed hundreds of humans, so what?” He spoke over your turmoil. He didn’t feel guilt in that way, so he couldn’t really relate to your low mood.
“It hurts. It aches… but worst of all it makes every experience I’ve ever had… tainted. Wrong in ways I can never describe. It’s like I’m walking through a nightmare, and everyone else is right there with me. It’s not as if I can go to the police. Or talk to anyone else about it… not properly”
“Thanks, that’s sure to make a fella feel special” implying he wasn’t counted in anyone. But he wasn’t very hurt by the statement. This was the first full conversation you had together, he wasn’t that invested in your relationship.
“You know what I mean” You shrugged. And he did. He started to explain to you why he was back. About Dru and everything that had happened since you last saw him. You tried your best to wade through your own thoughts and chip in here and there. He clearly needed to vent too.
You and Spike eventually left together. You had convinced him, after hearing of his predicament, he needed to convince Dru to take him back and he agreed. You walked part of the way before he was going to go and get into his car and you were going to head home.
Night had fallen and you were about to part ways when he came for you. Spike heard him before you saw him. But the figure still made the both of you flinch slightly, before Spike rolled his shoulders and decided he would have to fight doubly hard for showing that weakness.
The hood was down and you could see the mask properly. It was a black material, with a chiselled grey skull etched so forcefully it was as if it was his actual face. The bones were harsh and looked as if it could cut despite it being a plastic mask.
Spike ran straight for him and started to match his offensive blows with his own. Spike appeared to have the upper hand as you just stood and watched. You knew if it came down to it, you could be collateral damage and neither of them would be too bothered.
Somehow, Spike had been knocked to the floor and before he could get up, a scythe had been lodged deep into his torso, hitting the ground beneath him with a horrible metallic sound. The reaper hacked at Spike, who hissed and cursed at him, but didn’t die as the killer had suspected. The reaper stepped back a few paces. It allowed Spike to get to his feet. There was a lot of blood running down Spike’s torso. His shirt was in tatters.
“I bloody liked that shirt!” He snarled, looking down. Trying not to choke on the blood that was moving up his trachea. If he had been mortal, he would have died ten minutes ago.
The masked figure cocked his head, figuring something out. Not working. Not human.
Spike charged at him, throwing punches and blocking the scythe easily. He was stronger. Spike had bit into him and knocked him to the floor. He started to stamp on him repeatedly until a gargled choking sound was heard from behind the mask. He landed on more swift kick for good measure before deciding he was as good as dead.
Spike turned back to you, for some unknown reason, and for probably the first time in his un-life he went to check on you. A human. He felt that you had some kind of bond after you both shared your woes. He was about to ask if you needed any help before he drained the killer and left to find Dru, but the words never left his lips.
“Spike!” You screamed as you saw the killer rise to his feet and remove a stake from his pocket. It all happened in slow motion. Spike wasn’t able to turn quick enough, he had been caught off-guard. Bollocks. The killer plunged the wooden object directly into his heart and the bleach-blonde vampire exploded into a pile of dust.
“You did this” He spoke for the first time. His voice like gravel. He knelt and took a handful of dust and walked towards you. You stumbled back, hitting a brick wall. You had nowhere to run. You were backed into a corner. He threw the dust over you, leaving you spluttering and rubbing your eyes. You were expecting death any moment, but it never came.
When you opened your eyes again, there was nobody except you in the street.
Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust
Sunnydale Express, October 1999.
Many have petitioned the Mayors office due to the large volume of litter and dust that has appeared, often overnight, leaving citizens having to take matters into their own hands. The large number of ash filling our streets tells us that unauthorised fires and barbecues have been set up through town with little being done by authorities to subdue this illegal activity – especially after our newly enforced curfew.
We implore the mayor’s office to make an immediate press release and ensure there is enough man-power to make sure our humble town is cleared during the night.
You were in Giles’ house. It had been left to you. You were touched, but every footstep you made in that house filled your body with guilt.
You were hosting a scooby meeting. You didn’t have any food in, everyone had started to pass around Giles’ single malt, drinking it straight from the glass. Even Buffy took a sip every now and again. You all needed it. Life was starting to become unbearable. Cordelia had joined late, rushing straight from cheer practice.
“What do we know?” She asked as she set her bag down and looked around as if you had the killer tied up in the bathroom, waiting for her to come so you could unmask him. 
“Zip. Nothing”
“The killer is targetting us, that’s all we know. Some kind of twisted revenge. We just need to find out how he knows and why he’s so strong”
“Simple then” Faith shook her head.
“Oh and he takes out anyone in his way, so it’s not just us”
“What did the swim team ever do to him?” You wondered out loud
“It’s the tight pants, he likes a little modesty” Faith snickered and you scowled. How could she be so okay with this? She was the one that had stuck the stake in his hear, finished him off. You were feeling all this guilt and she just didn’t seem to even care.
“But does he even have any proof? Let’s just go to the police and say we’re being targeted”
“Yeah there’s witness protection! We could get new names!” Willow backed Buffy up quickly.
“That won’t change anything. We’re still killers” You mutter and everyone stopped. You had never said anything like that out loud before. You were usually the one that kept everyone optimistic. But it was too hard at the moment.
“Shut up! We’re not! It was an accident. Just an accident”
“How do you explain Giles?” you said glumly, glancing sideways to where his body had been.
“What is up your ass today? God, people are dead. We all feel it. But you’re just giving up! It’s not right!” Cordelia shouted. 
“I’m living in our dead librarians house. Rent free” You sighed, “The house we cleaned and made look like an accident”
“Can it, y/n. None of this is our fault. We gotta do this or we’d be in jail”
“But if we keep doing this, we’re going to die” You replied, “Like Spike… he was gone. Just… dust”
“Well, I can’t say I’m gonna shed many tears” Buffy muttered.
“He was… nice. The last thing he did before he died was come over to check on me”
“Oh come on, y/n! He was probably gonna eat you”
“Whatever. I know what I saw and I can’t help feeling that you’re suddenly on team psycho” you muttered. Faith was watching in interest, but didn’t speak up again. She took another swig of alcohol and shrugged. You couldn’t help think you saw a satisfied smirk on her face, but it may have been a trick of the light. Or the whiskey. You set the glass down and went to see what Willow was looking at some research. 
Giles had left some books open on his desk. He had been looking into the Sunnydale slasher, it seemed. When the books gave you nothing, you turned to the internet. You all started looking for some magical solution. There had to be something.
As the night wore on and the words got blurrier, it was getting harder to concentrate. And harder to get along.
“There’s no- no trace!” Willow said, getting more frustrated, “I can’t find anything”
“Maybe if someone did less cheating on her boyfriend and more reading” Cordelia snapped.
“That’s so not fair! I’m doing more than you!”
“Will, you’re doing the same amount as her” You offered. Cordelia had been researching too.
“Why are you always on her side – you’re supposed to be my best friend”
“I’m just being fair”
“You think this doesn’t involve you, huh?” Faith suddenly stood up and stared you down. You had been the first to admit you were at the centre of it all, but the way she phrased the comment, just made you snap.
“Well, you were the bitch that killed the poor man and managed to be surprisingly cool about it. Maybe you’ve done this before. Maybe, you did it on purpose!” You shouted and Faith pushed you hard. You landed on your ass.
“Fuck you!” She screamed. Not as cool or collected as you thought. The flash in her eyes spelled danger. It concealed guilt and deceit. It told you everything you needed to know. You got to your feet, walked straight out of the room and slammed your bedroom door. Allowing them to let themselves out.
Cordelia had gotten worked up as you stormed out, standing up to Buffy and shouting, “Sunnydale would have been better without you in it! All you do is attract stuff like this. You know who I blame, Buffy? You. You’re a Slayer all wow and look at me but what have you done? What have you done to protect any of us?!” Cordelia flung her arms out in annoyance, the glass that had been holding the whiskey flying out of her hand and crashing to the floor.
“Cordelia-” Buffy started.
“No, let her speak” Faith said nodding along.
“They’re picking us off one by one and of you – either of you – have done anything except hide bodies and celebrate that you’re slayers so you’re not gonna die! What about us!? What about people that are meant to be your friends?” Cordelia shouted. She was scared. She was angry. She couldn’t trust any of them anymore. You had given in. Willow just agreed with Buffy and she had a history with her. Buffy and Faith didn’t seem to be anything and she just wanted to escape. Hopefully with her life intact.
“Cor, we’re doing everything-”
“You’re not! You’re so not!”
“So what’s your plan then, huh? Lay down and wait for the killer to come get you? ‘Cause I haven’t heard anythin’ helpful come out of your mouth” Faith
“Shut up anyway, you just got here and you expect us to care? I hope you go next!” Cordelia screamed in Faith’s face. Faith just shrugged, but the whole room could tell that had stung her. She then turned back to Buffy,  “This is your fault, Buffy. This, everything that has happened since last Halloween is your fault”
“Get out” Buffy said firmly, “Go!” she raised her voice as a tear slid down her cheek and Willow quickly went to comfort her.
“Fine. I’ve had enough! I’m leaving – I’m moving! I don’t wanna see any of you ever again!” Cordelia shouted, slamming the front door behind her and cursing every single one of you as she huffed and stalked away into the night.
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thefirstcourtesan · 3 years
Text
First Love and Other Complications: A My Two First Loves rewrite Chapter 1
First Love and Other Complications
By Misha
Disclaimer- Not mine.
Author’s Notes- This chapter combines the first 2.5 chapters of MTFL and introduces all the LIs but changes things around a bit as we set up the premise. The MTFL timeline sucks (like every choices book), so I will be playing around with that too.
Pairings- Mason/MC, eventual Noah/MC
Summary- Jess and Mason take a big step but not everyone seems thrilled and Jess is saved by a mysterious stranger.
Rating- PG-13
Chapter One- The Beginning of Everything
“Mason, I like you.”
I practiced it out loud and then groaned. “Ugh. That sounds stupid. Of course he knows I like him.”
I took a deep breath and tried again. “Mason, I like like you.”
Another groan, that was even worse.
“Mason, I—“
My final attempt at preparation was cut off by a sound at my window. He was here!
Mason had been crawling in my window for years, although it was a little harder now that he lived a few blocks away instead of next door, but it felt right. Especially tonight.
I let him in and drank in the sight of him. Tall and muscular with a friendly grin that melted my heart. Thankfully he didn’t seem to notice me staring, instead he seemed just as focused on me as I was on him and my heart skipped a beat. Could he feel the same?
I stepped closer, almost hesitantly, and Mason immediately wrapped me in a warm hug. Instantly everything felt right again. Mason’s arms had always been my safe place. Suddenly I felt doubt about my decision. What if he didn’t feel teh same and I lost him? Could I handle that?
I pushed that thought aside. No, I had to do this. I had to know.
“Mason-“
“Jess-“
We started to speak at the exact same moment.
“Great minds, I guess,” Mason said with a laugh as we stepped back from the hug, “you first.”
Great. I could do this. I had to do this.
“Mason... I love you,” the words came out in a rush and I could feel the heat rushing to my cheek, “and not... not as a friend.”
There. I had done it. After three years of bottling it inside, I had told Mason Jennings how I felt and now it was out of my hands.
Mason looked stunned by my words and he was silent for a long moment, long enough that dread started creeping in and I wished I was anywhere else. Why had I said that? What had I done?
Just as I was about to tell him it was a joke or something, I felt Mason’s hands on my waist and realized I was being pulled into his arms, pressed right up against his muscular chest.
“I have wanted to hear that for so long,” Mason said, “I feel the same way. It’s you, Jess, it’s always been you, I have just been so worried about losing our friendship, afraid that you didn’t feel the same way.” He gazed at me with wonder. “But you do.”
I nodded shyly. “Yeah.” My hands rested on his shoulders, wondering what came next,
I didn’t have to wonder for long because Mason lowered his head and his lips met mine. I had spent all of high school daydreaming about kissing Mason Jennings and the reality was better than anything I could ever have imagined. It was easy to lose myself in the kiss, the feel of Mason’s arms around me and i could have stayed like that forever, except for the sound of footprints coming up the stairs.
Mason and I broke apart in a hurry.
“My dad!”
“I guess I should go,” Mason said reluctantly, moving towards the window, he turned back to smile at me, “Jess, I am glad we’re doing this.”
“Me too.” I told him, though I wasn’t quite sure what he meant. Kissing? Talking  about our feelings? Where did we stand?
The footsteps got louder.
“Mason!” I whispered urgently.
He grinned. “I’m going. After all, it would be a bad start to Senior Year, if I got murdered by my girlfriend’s father for being caught in her room after curfew.” He said the words so easily and I felt warmth rush through me again.
Girlfriend.
Just like that I was Mason Jenning’s girlfriend. I had everything I had ever wanted and as I watched Mason climb out the window, our eyes meeting to share one last smile, I was confident that Senior year was going to exactly the way I planned.
I was so naive.
**
The next morning I was floating on air when I went for breakfast but that faded fast after a fight with my dad over my outfit. A fight that left me standing in my room trying to figure out what to wear that wouldn’t make me look like a soccer mom.
I was weighing my options, these jeans weren’t too bad, when my door opened.
“Coast is clear, Dad got called into work,” my sister Mackenzie told me from the door way.
I sighed with relief. “Oh thank god.”
“Yeah, now you don’t have to show up your first day as Mason Jenning’s girlfriend dressed like you are 40,” she teased.
I turned to look at her. “How did you...?”
“Thin walls,” she answered with a shrug, “besides I spent the entire summer watching you obsess over your cell signal and waiting for texts from him, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out there was something going on.”
Before I could think of a response, my phone went off and Mack slipped away as I checked the text.
Forgot to ask last night, do you need a ride?
No, I am riding with Ava, but thanks for asking. ❤️ 
See you at school then. Bet you look beautiful. But then you always do. 😘
I was smiling widely as I read Mason’s texts. He really was such a sweet guy and officially mine. If it was a dream, I never wanted to wake up.
I was back to feeling like I was floating on air when I ran out the door to meet my best friend, Ava Lawrence, the Cheer Captain to my Vice Captain and my partner in crime since Freshman year.
“Jess, you look amazing!” She exclaimed, taking in my short skirt and pink crop top, “two months in the wilderness obviously agreed with you!” She wrapped her arms around me in a quick, enthusiastic hug before we got in her car. “I am so glad hare back!”
“Me too, fill me in everything I missed,” I encouraged, “the parties, the fights, the breakups.”
Ava laughed, “that will take more than 5 minutes but I will give you the highlights.” She gave me a quick rundown on the most intense hook-ups and break-ups and then gave me a sly smile, “what about you? Did you fall madly in love while in the middle of nowhere?”
I laughed, “not while I was in Wyoming, no, but I do have news.” I smiled widely, unable to contain my happiness, “Mason and I... We’re together.”
Ava froze as she was about to get out of her car, her hand on the door. “You and Mason?”
I nodded, “yeah, I know we have been friends for so long that it might seem surprising, but I have been in love with him forever and I finally got the guts to tell him.”
“That’s... great,” Ava told me, though her expression was more surprised than thrilled, “I’m really happy for you.”
I would have questioned her reaction, but as soon as I stepped out of Ava’s car I was wrapped in strong arms.
“Hey, you.” Mason told me, smiling down at me.
“Hey,” I said softly, leaning into him. I let myself melt into the warmth of his embrace and bask in the fact that this was my new normal. It was a long moment before I even realized that Ava had slipped away.
I wondered a little bit about her strange reaction, but then Mason tilted my face up to his and all thoughts of anyone else faded as I gazed up at him. “We need to plan a first date,” he reminded me, “I have football practice and I know you have cheer, but after that?”
“I’d like that,” I told him, leaning against him for another moment before sighing, “but first I guess I should go to class.”
“Yeah, my dead would murder me if I skipped,” Mason agreed, he kissed the top of my head and let me go, giving me one more heart-melting grin before we parted ways.
**
“Oh look who it is, Jess Price. Looking hot as usual, Jess.”
I groaned at the sound of the voice. Darren Hastings was Eastridge’s resident creep and he had been harassing me since Freshman year.
I shoved my books in my locker and turned around. “What do you want Darren?”
“Since you’re asking so nicely, how about a date?” He said with a slimy grin, leaning in and pinning me against the locker.
“Not in your wildest dreams.” I told him, trying to push him away. I was strong from four years of cheerleading, but not strong enough.
Darren took it as a challenge and leaned in closer. “Oh come on, you don’t mean that.”
Just as I was considering my options (including a kick to the groin), someone pulled him away forcibly.
“I believe the lady said no.”
I looked up into the incredibly handsome face of a boy I had never seen before.
Darren was scowling. “Noah Harris, they let you come back, huh? I thought this school had standards.”
Noah, if that was his name, looked unphased by the insult. “Apparently not, since the let you attend.” He shot Darren a decidedly unfriendly look. “I think you should find somewhere else to be. Pronto.”
Darren took the hint and scampered off, after giving Noah one more nasty look.
“Are you ok?” Noah asked, turning his attention to me for the first time.
I smiled. “I am. Thanks for that, I have been telling Darren no for years and he just never stops. Usually, it’s more annoying than anything, but...”
“No, I get it,” Noah assured me, “you shouldn’t have to put up with that.”
“Are you new here?” I asked after a moment, “I thought I knew everyone.”
“Not new, exactly,” Noah answered slowly, “I’ve been... away.”
That sounded mysterious but at the same time I didn’t want to pry. “I guess I don’t need to offer a school tour then?” I teased.
Noah grinned. “I don’t know, a tour could be nice, re-acquaint with me all the hot spots. If you are willing, of course.”
The offer had been in jest, but he had done me a favor, so... “of course, follow me.” I laughed. “I guess I should introduce myself first, I’m Jess.”
He took the hand I held out and shook it. His grip was warm and firm. “Noah.”
“Well, Noah, follow me and I will give you the official Welcome to Eastridge tour.”
**
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benditlikepress · 4 years
Text
let our hearts do their parts
recently found out @justkindaoverhereobsessing and I our soulmates. please enjoy this cheesy mess I wrote in her honour. cynthia ur the best and mayhaps I'm a little in love with u
@coffeedepablo @indestinatus @ncisjes
Read here on ao3
////
"It is DiNozzo now."
"Excuse me, Age.. Mrs DiNozzo. The two of you can go right on up."
Ziva smiled politely at the receptionist as she hastily back-spaced and handed over her visitors card.
Tony was already waiting by the elevators and turned to look at her as she approached him across the NCIS lobby. His hair was dripping from the unexpected downpour that had caught them on their way in, and there was a slight look of unexpected trepidation on his face.
"You ready?"
"As I'll ever be."
The elevator doors opened and they stepped inside, planting their feet a little too close together so that as Tony pulled off his wet jacket it flicked water onto Ziva.
"Sorry about that."
"You did not have to stand so close."
"It's the rule in here."
Ziva shook her head as she pressed the button for the correct floor and the elevator slowly jittered to life. Familiar sensations came rushing back. Jokes and arguments and barely-contained flirtations and tension-filled silences and the incessant on/off flick of the power lever.
"Still feels a little weird after what happened."
“You will have to be more specific."
"The time we got trapped in here and the building blew up?"
"Ah. That time."
"Yeah, that one."
They smirked to themselves as they reached their destination, Tony evidently as much as Ziva being flooded with memories from the building that never much changed in spite of everything.
The bullpen was quiet when they got upstairs. As though recognising the mixed emotions each other was feeling, they walked slowly towards the empty cluster of desks. Ziva's mind was once again flooded with images and sounds and memories, just as it was the last time she was here.
"This is weird."
"I never thought we would be back here together."
When she got to her desk there was a flash of a conversation they’d once had about eloping – toeing the line, as always, but as close as they’d ever have dared to get to actually crossing it. So much time spent circling each other, seeking out the attention of the other but fearful of what would happen if they actually got it.
She touched a finger along Tony’s desk as she stopped there. He spun on his heel and faced her, a couple of steps ahead.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Just-”
Tony looked away, over her shoulder, and Ziva stopped talking.
"Uh.." Ziva heard Torres first, a confused acknowledgement that, when Ziva turned around, encouraged McGee and Ellie to look at what had caused him to stop.
"Guys?"
"Surprise."
McGee blinked a couple more times, taking them in. Ellie and Torres were more receptive, dumping their bags and then approaching Tony and Ziva.
"What're you doing here?" McGee eventually spoke, bewilderment in his voice.
"We thought we'd come to say hey."
"You flew to the US to say 'hey'? Isn't that why webcams were invented?"
"Y'know I mentioned that job interview? They asked if I'd be willing to come over and so we thought we’d surprise you. Here, I thought you'd be happy to see us."
"I am happy to see.. Ziva." McGee added after a pause, coming over to hug his friend tightly. "How are you? Where's Tali?"
"With Senior. His insistence. Knowing those two, she will refuse to come home with us. They are thick as sleeves."
“Thick as what?” Torres asked Ellie in a quiet, confused voice. Ellie shushed him but Ziva shrugged, figuring she could be forgiven for whatever error she’d made after years out of the country.
Ellie hugged Tony, and after a second of pretend hesitation McGee did the same.
“Tony DiNozzo.”
“Nick Torres. Good to meet you. Heard a lot about you.”
“Oh yeah? All good, of course.”
“Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.” Torres looked at McGee who held his hands up and changed the subject.
"So what's going on? You guys wanna grab dinner tonight?"
"Tomorrow. Rumour has it Ziva has a hot date tonight."
"I do? I thought you and I were going out."
McGee started laughing.
“Alright, cool it. It’s not that funny – she did marry me, after all.”
“Hm, more fool me.”
“One day I’m gonna get my feelings hurt and you’re gonna regret it.”
“We’ll see.”
Tony didn’t hesitate in bending down to kiss her, and any trepidation Ziva felt about such a public display of affection dissipated as soon as their lips met. She lifted her hand to his chest to implore him to move away but was interrupted by a voice over her shoulder.
"Hey!"
Tony reacted like he'd been burned, jumping away from her and then self-consciously rubbing his hand over the back of his head. "Sorry Boss. Ziva.. had something on her face."
"So you licked it off her?!"
Ziva ignored Tony and McGee’s bickering as Gibbs approached them, doing a better job at keeping his poker face than the look of horror mixed with shock that had passed on McGee’s when they’d kissed.
“Surprise?” She tested, an apologetic smile at not having visited sooner or at least called to let him know. That earned her a small grin as he closed the space between them and pulled her in for a hug.
“What did I tell you about coming back soon?” He whispered into her hair as she pulled away, holding his hand for a second before dropping it.
“Sorry. There has been a lot going on.”
“What’re you doing here?”
“Tony’s interview is tomorrow.”
Gibbs turned to look at the man in question, and Ziva saw the way he coughed to try and hide the strange nerves he had apparently developed after a few years out of Gibbs’ company.
“Boss.”
“Gonna have to stop saying that someday, DiNozzo.”
“I will when you will.” He responded to his surname, holding out his hand. It seemed to surprise everyone except Ziva when Gibbs ignored the gesture and pulled him in for a short hug, tapping his back firmly. “It’s good to see you kids. Where are you staying?"
"The Barclay."
"Isn't that the hotel where you guys went undercover?"
"Yes, picked especially. Did you kn-" Ziva put a hand on Tony's arm and squeezed before he could continue talking to McGee. He stopped talking and chucked weakly. "Only for tonight, though. The only one we could get on short notice so we're switching tomorrow to a different hotel with a proper bed for Tali. She's picky."
"Like her dad, huh?"
"Three of you are staying with me tomorrow."
Gibbs statement was matter-of-fact.
"Um. OK. Thanks boss."
“You seen Palmer?”
“Not yet. We were going to head down there now.”
“Gonna have to wait.”
“You got a case?”
“Uh-huh.”
McGee, Ellie, and Nick all disappeared behind their desks to grab their bags. Tony and Ziva stood in the middle of them, redundantly, old muscles still twitching at the sight.
“Right. Sure. Guess we’ll catch you guys tomorrow?”
“Sounds good. I’ll speak to Jimmy and let you know.” McGee called the words over his shoulder as he began to jog towards the elevators with the rest of the team.
Tony and Ziva, quickly, found themselves stood alone again in the middle of the office.
“Well. That was.. brief.”
“The world keeps turning.” The words were more thoughtful than she’d meant them as she watched the back of Tony’s head, staring as he was at the elevator. “Do you miss that?”
He turned back to her with a slight look of confusion that soon turned into a smile. “Honestly? Not really. I thought I would, but... different priorities. Right?”
“Right.”
“Come on, let’s go and find something to do for the afternoon. Young, free, and single. Or at least 1 out of 3.”
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Text
Meet Me in the Middle Chapter 7
Meet Me in the Middle Chapter 6 
Word Count: 1705
The next day Rosetta checked the clean up schedule. Her name wasn't on it but she was going to stay anyways. Right now she was still too upset with her parents to go home and she didn't feel like showing it.
She got to leave classes early that day though it was just her afternoon courses and those were the ones were music was actually involved so it didn't matter much anyways.
Rosetta got ready quickly, slicking her hair back into a ponytail and retouching her makeup before she put on her suit and tucked a red flower behind her ear like every performance for school. It was a formal, black and white event where you had to wear fancy clothing in the given colors. There was a dress code sent to everyone but it never changed so Rosetta didn't bother to read it though they were allowed one small item with color to personalize their look a little and Rosetta always chose a random flower. She and Beck kept a lot of plants in their room so taking a flower from their room wasn't a hard task.
Beck and Rosetta met up with Kiki in the hall, Beck wearing a black jumpsuit he borrowed from Lana with a bright blue baseball cap on backwards and Kiki wearing a black, flowing dress with a beautiful, patterned hijab to go with. They each had a very different aesthetic going on for themselves but somehow they still fit together, even if Kiki and Beck were the ones in a band together and Rosetta was doing her own solo act.
"Okay, outfit check," Meg said, holding up a printed list of the rules. "We're not having any repeats of last year."
As in last year she meant the time Beck forgot to check the rules and got sent back to change right before he went on and nearly missed his slot. His dress was an inch too short and Mrs. Octavius was strict about the dress code.
"I brought my measuring tape," Ellie said, coming out of her room. She had a big kit of sewing supplies and had at least 10 measuring tapes scattered among her things.
Kiki was done first and while she had no skin showing besides her face, Meg made sure the colors she had chosen were cleared. Like every time, she was perfectly fine.
They moved onto Beck next, Ellie measuring how deep the neckline was and unfortunately, it was too deep.
"Oh no!" He said sarcastically. "They're going to see my tits what a horror."
"Hey man if they would do that to me then they're going to do it to you so don't be a whore," Rosetta snorted.
"Speaking of which, while we can adjust Beck's straps, you need to button up some more because your bra is out," Ellie said as she stood behind back and fixed the straps.
"Suck it dipshit," Beck said, sticking out his tongue. Rosetta stuck hers out in retaliation and flipped him off.
Meg started to redo the buttons, despite Rosetta's complaining and wriggling to get away.
"There," she said, satisfied with her work. "And Kiki I'm tasking you with making sure she doesn't undo those buttons right before she goes on stage. Rosetta if I have to see your bra while you preform I'm going to murder you."
"It's not even a bra it's a crop top and it looks cute under my button up so I'm willing to take that risk for the aesthetic. Besides I hate the notion that girls breasts are inherently sexual and boys can go around without a shirt so why the fuck can't I!"
"Because it's a formal event idiot!"
"I have decided to ignore that."
Meg and Kiki face palmed while Beck and Ellie laughed. Rosetta then grabbed her cello from her room and put it on her back as Beck and Kiki collected their things.
The three of them left and went to the Glass Auditorium, nicknamed for having a class dome as the roof above the seating. Mrs. Octavius inspected their outfits before checking them off, Kiki and Beck putting their things in the back room before they all went to their tier. Their other instruments were already in the orchestra panel. Instead of an orchestra pit like literally every place, the orchestra was tiered upwards behind the stage.
While everyone had their own individual performance, they also played background music if needed. Not many people really needed it aside from a few things, but it also gave them all a place to sit when waiting for their turn.
Rosetta was in the center tier with her lavender cello on one side and a harp on the other. Beck and Kiki were on the bottom in the percussion section, Kiki at a keyboard and Beck on drums. Kiki also had her guitar behind her chair for her actual performance.
Larger instruments like harps, drums, and a piano were on stage for those who would use them for their performance, like the drums Beck would use and the piano Rosetta would use smaller things like guitars and flutes and violins were kept with their owner and brought on stage with the performer.
Mrs. Octavius had them all test their instruments and they did vocal warmups as well as a few run throughs of songs. Then she had the crew get everything in check like lighting. In the booth Rosetta could see Lana, her black hair pulled back in a ponytail. She waved and Lana responded by blowing a kiss, making Rosetta grin.
By the time everything was in order, the curtains dropped and the first performer, a girl named Alyssa, was on stage with her violin, ready to go.
Mrs. Octavius gave a welcome speech to the parents and left the stage, the curtains raising and the lights going on to center on Alyssa. Rosetta had heard her play before. She had heard everyone play before but Alyssa's music always stuck out a little more to her for some reason. It was most likely because she was the only female solo violinist in the school, but regardless she played beautifully.
In the crowd Rosetta easily spotted Ellie and Meg lounging in the student section. She also found Kiki's parents and brothers in the crowd sitting besides one of Beck's sisters, Kayla. His other sister, his two brothers, and his mom couldn't make it. His mom had to work that night and his other three siblings had their own activities.
Her heart dropped a little.
It wasn't fair that their families could be there and not one person from Rosetta's, that she wanted to come at least, was there. But she was close with both of their families and knew that they would also be there for her as much as their own children. At least there was that.
Alyssa finished and it seemed like performers flew by until it was Beck and Kiki's turn, Rosetta perking up and going down to the stage floor with her guitar as she was two slots after them. She could hear them playing, Beck on drums and Kiki singing and playing guitar.
They played two songs, both of which weren't theirs's. That was the point of the Starter Showcase, to show that they could play different music and had learned their instruments or whatever it had said on the curriculum. Rosetta spaced out reading it before she could comprehend what was happened because sometimes, despite taking medication, her ADHD got the best of her and she couldn't take in information.
Regardless, it was the Ending Showcase that they would play music they wrote to prove something along the lines that they could write. The Ending Showcase for the Seniors was far more important anyways as scouts for different labels and businesses would come to look for whatever musician they needed to hire or just to make record deals with new artists before anyone else did. It was a competitive field.
Rosetta waited a few more minutes before she went on stage. It was completely silent and she could feel nerves building but shook them off. Ellie gave her a thumbs up and Meg grinned at her which helped a little bit.
She was singing two songs; Why Do You Feel So Down by Declan McKenna and Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift. They were vastly different songs in every possible aspect but LaceyRosetta
Rosetta sang and played and didn't even realize her slot was finished until she was done. She always lost track of time and her thoughts when she played, completely in a world of her own.
She took deep breaths and curtsied as the audience clapped. She looked up and saw the heart hands Lana shot her from the lighting booth before she left the stage and went back to her tier.
By the time she got there, the last person finished and the Showcase was over. Mrs. Octavius gave her closing speech and the curtains dropped and the lights went on. The audience left, flooding the halls as they waited for their kids.
Students started packing up, Rosetta putting her instrument in its case and leaving. The harp was school owned as Rosetta couldn't afford nor had the space for her own. She wasn't even sure what she would do with it besides just play at home. She couldn't move it everywhere often and discreetly for performances.
She didn't feel like dealing with the crowds as much as she loved Beck and Kiki's families, instead choosing to take the hallway off of the back of the bottom tier and taking the long way. As soon as she stepped through the main door, Ellie was waiting for her, smiling brightly.
"I figured you'd be here. You did amazing," She said once she spotted Rosetta, looping her arm though hers.
"Thanks," Rosetta said, grinning. "Where's Meg and Lana?"
"With Beck and Kiki. They're also taking the train home."
"Right." Rosetta nodded.
"And now it's time for the sleepover to begin. Get ready and then meet me in my room right after," Ellie said wickedly, making Rosetta's heart pound. She already knew she was in too deep.
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freddiesaysalright · 4 years
Text
Soft in Love Part 1
A Gwilym Lee x Student!Reader Fic
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Summary: Y/N is an acting student in her last semester of college. When a professor unexpectedly can’t make it for the senior capstone class, a very famous (and handsome) substitute is called in. When they connect, they face a few challenges. 
Word Count: 2.6k
Tag List:  @psychosupernatural​, @someone-get-a-medic​, @bensrhapsody​, @deakyclicks​, @crazylittlethingcalledobsession​, @minigranger​, @crazyweirdocalledfriday​, @benders-diamond-earring​ If you’d like to be added, let me know!
A/N: Well, you all voted, and here it is! The promised fic! I hope you all enjoy.
Warning(s): None. Just some eye contact and the beginnings of pining!
Part 1 here we go!!!
Gazing out at the auditorium, you swung your legs back and forth as they dangled over the edge of the stage. Your classmates chatted among each other, but you were content in your own thoughts. You preferred not to speculate on why Professor Bennett was so late. Since she was thirty-seven weeks pregnant, it could be anything.
“D’you want to run lines with me, Y/N?” came the voice of Sloan. “Might as well be productive while we wait.”
You turned your head and smiled at your best friend. “Yeah, sure.”
Pulling your knees up, you got to your feet, grabbing your script off the stage. You headed downstage with Sloan. You flipped to a scene you had together, of which there were plenty. You were playing sisters Esther and Rose Smith in Meet Me in St. Louis. You decided to pick the scene before the party in the Smith’s home. You started.
“I’m going to let John Truitt kiss me tonight,” you began.
“Esther Smith!” she gasped.
You shrugged. “Well, if we’re going to get married, I may as well start it.”
Sloan shook her head. “Nice girls don’t let men kiss them until after they’re engaged. Men don’t want the bloom rubbed off.”
“Personally, I think I have too much bloom,” you read. “Maybe that’s the trouble with me…”
Sloan opened her mouth to read the next line, but at that moment, the door burst open and two men walked in. One, you recognized from the department - Dr. Hugh Curtis. An elderly man that loved his job far too much to retire. He was also helping out your class by playing Grandpa in the show. The other man, much younger than Dr. Curtis, but older than you and your classmates, you didn’t recognize. He was handsome with angular features, rich brown hair, and startling blue eyes. He was tall as well. His eyes found yours and you inexplicably blushed.
“Holy shit,” Sloan said under her breath. “That’s Gwilym Lee.”
You pulled your eyes away from his blue depths and looked at your friend.
“Who?” you whispered.
She rolled her eyes. “Seriously, Y/N? Gwilym Lee, the actor. A famous one.”
“I’ve never seen him in anything,” you returned with a shrug.
“He was in Bohemian Rhapsody just last year,” she remarked.
“I never saw that,” you reminded her.
When the men reached the class, you and Sloan stopped your whispering debate and focused on them. Your eyes lingered on Gwilym, whose striking face made you feel so incredibly...something. You weren’t sure what. Attraction? That seemed too obvious. Desire? That wasn’t really like you. Attachment? You hardly knew him.
“Good morning, everyone,” said Dr. Curtis. “I’m pleased to announce that Professor Bennett went into labor last night, and delivered a healthy baby boy.”
Andrew, your other best friend and co-star in the show, whooped loudly while the rest of the class politely applauded. You and Sloan exchanged excited smiles.
“Yes, yes,” Dr. Curtis went on, quieting everyone down. “Mother and baby are perfectly well and are expected to go home from the hospital tomorrow. Unfortunately, since she is now on maternity leave, she’s unable to teach this class and direct your show. To replace her, I called in a dear friend and former student of mine, Mr. Gwilym Lee.”
Everyone clapped again as Gwilym smiled bashfully and looked around at the class. When his eyes met yours again, you nearly stopped breathing. His face seemed to freeze as well, but he quickly shook his head and cleared his throat. Then he looked at the other students.
“Hello, everyone,” he said with a friendly wave. “I’m very excited to be with your class. Luckily, you’re only a week into the semester, so I hope I don’t have too much catching up to do.”
“We’re lucky to have you,” Edith, your older classmate, spoke up. She was around thirty, and was going to college later since she had children so early in life. “If you need any help, catching up, you can always ask me.”
Gwilym smiled kindly and nodded at her.
Sloan leaned over your shoulder and whispered in your ear, “Desperate, much?”
You bit back a laugh. You didn’t enjoy making fun of Edith, but she did have such a superiority complex about being the oldest in the class. She was also a bit more experienced, acting in small productions outside the city. But she was awfully confident for someone who had never actually starred in anything. You could almost hear how everyone else rolled their eyes.
“Thank you, Edith,” said Dr. Curtis. “Now, this class is only seventy-five minutes, we’ve got to begin rehearsal.”
Gwilym looked over at you and your friend, willing you to catch his eye again. You didn’t. He sighed and wondered why that disappointed him so much. That first moment of eye contact had him reeling. You were captivating and beautiful. And he didn’t even know your name.
The woman named Edith tapped him on the shoulder, pulling him out of his reverie.
“I’m Edith,” she said, sticking out her hand.
“I gathered,” he returned, shaking it.
She giggled.
“It’s nice to meet you, Edith,” he said. “Gwilym.”
“Oh, I know who you are,” she replied, raising her eyebrows at him.
“Who are you playing in the show?” he asked, becoming slightly uncomfortable under her gaze.
“I’m Katie, the maid,” she told him, and he detected some bitterness there.
“That’s great,” he said. “I think I’m gonna just - well - introduce myself to everyone else.”
Dr. Curtis saved him further by grabbing his arm and insisting on the exact same thing. To Gwilym, it was like torture as he made his way from small group to small group, slowly approaching where you stood with two other students. You laughed and his heart skipped a beat. He hardly even heard the other students’ names or the parts they were playing. Finally, they made it to your group.
“This is Sloan, she’s playing Rose,” Dr. Curtis said. “That’s Andrew, and he’s playing John Truitt.”
Gwilym shook their hands. 
“Wonderful to meet you,” he said.
“And now, we’ve saved the best for last, the star of our show,” said Dr. Curtis with an excited clap. “Y/N Y/L/N, who is our Esther.”
You held out your hand with a dazzling smile, and Gwilym shook it. A shock went from your palm to his, something only the two of you could feel. The warmth of familiarity went through your veins.
“Nice to meet you,” you said nervously.
“You as well,” Gwilym returned.
“Y/N is a bit of a diamond in the rough,” Dr. Curtis said. “She’s normally so quiet, you wouldn’t expect her to be an actress. But you put her on a stage with lights and an audience and she shines like the star over Bethlehem!”
“Dr. Curtis!” you replied, a deep blush turning your cheeks pink.
“Well, it’s true,” he insisted. He looked at Gwilym. “Such talent. And at just twenty-two years old!”
Gwilym’s chest tightened. Twenty-two. That made him thirteen years older than you. He forced all thoughts of your beauty down, tucking them away forever. Besides, you were a student and he was your teacher, at least for this semester.
“She’s graduating in December,” Dr. Curtis went on. “We’ll be very sorry to lose her. But I’m sure we’ll see her soon enough on Broadway!”
Your eyes remained fixed on Gwilym’s face. His expression shifted when Dr. Curtis had mentioned your age, but you couldn’t put your finger on the emotion. You figured that was expected. You hardly knew how to phrase what you were feeling. 
“Who knows?” Gwilym said. “Maybe she’ll come to the West End.”
“If you steal this girl from New York City, we will never forgive you,” Dr. Curtis teased.
The two of them walked away together, Gwilym looking back at you just once more. You offered a soft smile before he turned away.
“Well,” said Sloan with a sigh. “I bet you’d let him kiss you before you were engaged.”
You elbowed her.
“Shut up!” you groaned. “He’s our teacher. That’s weird.”
“Not that weird,” Andrew pointed out. “There’s like, loads of porn out there about just that.”
“Ew!” you replied. “You just made it even weirder.”
He shrugged. “I’m just saying!”
“Well, don’t just say,” you said. “You guys are being ridiculous.”
You ignored the skeptical look they exchanged.
Finally, Sloan’s sister arrived with her daughters, Lily and June, who were playing Tootie and Agnes (the youngest Smith sisters) in the show, respectively. With them there, you could start from the beginning.
You were basically doing another read through. It was so early on, and this was Gwilym’s chance to see each of you read as your characters. Since Dr. Bennett’s husband was no longer able to play Mr. Neely the iceman, Gwilym filled in. A jolt of excitement went through you at seeing a real actor like him perform. Though you weren’t familiar with his work, he was still in exactly the career you wanted for yourself. You made mental notes of everything he did as he read. You quickly saw just how talented he really was.
As class drew to a close, Gwilym was giving everyone pointers. Edith thanked him excessively. You and Sloan met each other’s gaze and you both rolled your eyes. 
“Y/N,” Gwilym said as he came to you for his critique. “Excellent work today.”
You paused, waiting for him to give you something to improve on. When he didn’t you just lowered your head and thanked him, blushing again.
“Right, well, since we’ve only got five minutes left, let me just say, I’m very excited about this semester,” Gwilym said, looking around at all of the class. “I think this is going to be a wonderful show, and I feel incredibly…” his eyes found yours and he froze. “Lucky. I really look forward to seeing how the semester goes.”
The whole time, he had held your gaze. When he looked away, he dismissed the class. You quickly retrieved your things and hurried out of the auditorium. The feelings you got when he looked at you were terrifying, especially considering the positions you were in. You inwardly scolded yourself. There was no way a man like that would be interested in you. He was too handsome, too successful, and too...too much older than you.
“Hey, Y/N!” Andrew called as he and Sloan jogged to catch up with you outside. “Why are you sprinting out of here?”
“Sorry,” you muttered. “I just...I need to get to the library.”
“For what?” Sloan asked.
“For a secret rendezvous with Gwilym,” Andrew joked.
During class, Gwilym had asked that you not refer to him as “Professor” or “Mr. Lee.” He wanted everyone to use his first name. His justification for which was that you were all adults. This wasn’t a lecture hall, and he considered the show something collaborative between himself as the director and the class as cast and crew.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” you snipped. “Edith was the one drooling over him.”
“Oh, God,” Sloan chuckled. “I hope we haven’t abandoned him to fend her off on his own.”
“Nah, Dr. Curtis is there,” Andrew replied. “He’ll swat her away if he has to.”
“Are you sure you’re okay, Y/N?” Sloan asked. “You look rattled.”
“It’s just…” you trailed off. You spotted the perfect excuse emerging from the theater as well. “Daniel.”
Daniel, who played your brother in the show, was your ex. You performed together in a showcase last semester, and had fallen for each other while rehearsing “We Kiss in a Shadow” from The King and I. But over the summer, when he went home and you stayed at school, he cheated on you. When you found out, you ended things immediately. He didn’t protest.
“Oh,” Sloan said with understanding. “It sucks that he’s in the capstone class with us.”
“Don’t worry about that cheating asshole,” Andrew added. “You’ve got one last semester here, and you should just enjoy it.”
You smiled. “You’re right, I should.”
“Now come on,” he said. “Let’s get to the dining hall, I’m starving.”
You started to follow your friends. Then, Gwilym and Dr. Curtis came out of the auditorium. Gwilym’s eyes - as if drawn by some magnetic force - found yours once more. He grinned and waved. You wiggled your fingers back shyly. Your heart rate quickened and you took a deep breath to try and steady it. You watched Gwilym go until he disappeared around the corner.
“Y/N?” said Andrew. “You coming?”
You shook your head to clear it. 
“Yep!” you assured him, and hurried over, following your friends.
You didn’t see Gwilym shoot you one last look over his shoulder.
After lunch, you did go to the library. You needed to pick up a couple books for a paper you were writing on Shakespeare in another class. You loved classics, so you’d jumped on the opportunity to take a class entirely on the famous playwright. Sloan and Andrew had other classes, so you were on your own as you perused the shelves, scanning the spines of the volumes until at last you found the one you were looking for.
“Good choice,” said a voice from behind you, making you squeak and jump with fright.
You whipped around to come face to face with Gwilym. It was actually more like face to chest. He was well over a head taller than you.
“Sorry,” he chuckled. “Didn’t mean to frighten you.”
“You didn’t,” you lied.
He raised an eyebrow at you.
“You just surprised me, that’s all,” you said. “Anyway, I’m glad you approve. I’m writing a paper and validation of sources is important.”
“That is important,” he agreed. 
“What are you doing in the library?” you asked.
“Browsing, really,” he said. “Since I’ve got so much time off, I’d like to read some more.”
“Time off?” you questioned. “You’re teaching a class.”
He shrugged. “I’m really acting as more of a director. Not that I’m complaining. But, I’ve always thought about teaching.”
You smiled. “I think you’ll be great. We’ll learn from you no matter what.”
He felt his cheeks warm. “Thank you.”
“You do have a sort of professor-y vibe,” you said. “I mean, your blazer has elbow patches on it.”
He laughed and you felt your heart race.
“It is sort of dorky isn’t it?” he joked.
You looked earnestly into his eyes.
“I didn’t say that.”
You looked at each other for another long moment. You felt certain that his eyes would be the death of you. That he would one day look a moment too long at you and your heart would explode out of your chest.
You cleared your throat.
“If you’re looking for something good to read,” you said, killing the moment. “Try that one.” You pointed to a book on the next shelf. “It’s about Shakespeare’s sonnets and how they reflect his view of women. Interesting stuff.”
He pulled it delicately down and looked it over. 
“I think I will,” he said.
“And when you’re done, you can tell me your thoughts,” you blurted out. “And we can talk about it…”
He smiled kindly down at you. “I’d like that very much.”
“Great!” you said, just a little too loudly. “Sorry. Um, that’s great. But I’ve got to get to my next class, so I’ll see you on Thursday?”
“Unless something drastic happens, you will,” he replied.
You grinned. “See you later...Gwilym.”
His name rolled from your tongue comfortably. With one last meaningful look, you disappeared from behind the shelf. He stood there, book in his hand, stricken by how much you already affected him.
“Y/N…” he said to himself. Then he smiled. He really was looking forward to this semester.
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darth-el · 4 years
Text
Senior Year (Chapter 1)
Pairing: Steve x Reader x Billy (Zombie apocalypse AU) Warnings: Language, descriptive gore, death, angst.  A/N: I was given a list of ideas in a request (and I will do the others as well), but this was to do with a reunion in the zombie apocalypse. I could not resist this one at all because zombies are my thing. There will be a part two, and maybe a part three. Oh also there’s spoilers to the film Zombi Holocaust and a lot of other zombie film references. Also quick disclaimer: I have no idea how to hotwire a car, I’ve just gone by what I’ve seen in films.
Part 2 Part 3 
Masterlist
The world had gone to shit. You don't know how or why it went to shit, all you knew was it went to shit.. You always thought that zombies were saved for movies but boy you were wrong. Hawkins was now a wasteland with very few survivors, you didn't know why the survivors stuck around there because they were going to die soon like everyone else.
Fortunately you had watched enough zombie movies to know how to survive, that was more than what the poor sucker formerly known as Mr. Smith, who was your nosy neighbour, could say. There was something quite satisfying putting him out of your misery. Yes your misery, because the amount of times he would snitch on you to your parents when you would go meet your boyfriend Steve in the middle of the night, only to have them be waiting for you when you would sneak back in before they were meant to be awake. You yearned for those days when everything was simpler and the only worry you had was who was going to throw what party at the weekends and overdue assignments. This was not how you envisioned your senior year. Fighting for your life.
You trudged through the forest taking note of trees you could climb with the supplies in your backpack which you had stolen from a grocery store that you had stumbled across accidentally not knowing where you were exactly. You thanked the heavens your dad was bit of a gun nut who made you go hunt with him starting when you were too young to even hold a gun because he always wanted a son, not a daughter. When the news hit months ago that the “dead were rising” and you needed to “repent your sins” you shaved off all your hair so nothing could grab it and bought yourself skin tight clothes, again to stop it getting caught, beyond that you had no idea how to survive in a world gone to shit, this was going to become trial or error. Errors ending up in death. After god knows how long, the only thing you did know was that the sun was not overhead now you found a stream which had fresh water in without thinking you pulled a flask from your backpack and started filling it. This meant you didn't have to touch your water supplies for a little while and you were thankful for that. You also noticed there were fish in it, you had never been huge fish eater but beggars could not be choosers. You had never been fishing before in your life and now were going to attempt to get one with your bare hands. You put your bag and weapons, including a large, point stick that you fashioned yourself down on the bank and got into position not knowing what to do but when you felt the time was right you pounced making you fall over causing a huge splashing sound that echoed in the empty forest. “Shit.” You muttered as you pushed yourself up water dripping off you. You ran to the nearest tree that you saw earlier knowing you could climb it. You threw your backpack up and it caught on a sturdy branch as you pulled yourself up so you could see if the noise had attracted any movement. You heard rustling in the bushes and something stumbled out clumsily. You pulled your gun with the silencer already on out your holster and ready to fire when you noticed that the first person wasn't a zombie, but the four things behind him were. You took four shots, taking them all out. The person looked around wondering who killed them. You stuck your backpack on your back and pushed your handmade weapon the ground as you climbed down from your vantage point. You walked over to him stabbing the already dead zombies in the head, just to make sure they were dead before smiling at him. You recognised him from the world before, you were sure he was the new kid in town that got all the girls and middle aged women flustered. As you looked at him you wondered to yourself how he had survived this long.
“Thanks,” He said panting bent over with his hands on his knees. He was sweating and coming down from the adrenaline rush.
“No problem,” You handed him some of your water as he looked like he needed it which he accepted with a slight reluctance. One he was finished with it you filled it back up and went to carry on your journey to nowhere in particular. You looked back at him “You coming?” You asked which made him very confused because he didn't know you and you didn't know him, yet you were trusting him not kill you and steal your stuff. He shrugged taking the opportunity that was being offered him.
“I-I'm Billy Hargrove,” He stuttered still dumbfounded due this stroke of luck.
“That's your name,” You laughed to yourself as you couldn't remember his name and it was bugging you. He furrowed his brow at you in confusion which you clocked. “We had like a two weeks worth of classes together before this happened,” You smiled at him, beyond that tough exterior he could see instantly you were the complete opposite. “You had a weird fascination with my boyfriend,” You said nonchalantly as you walked ahead as he stopped in his tracks trying to figure out what you meant.
“I don't swing that way,” He sounded offended by what you potentially accused him of being.
“Didn't say you did,” You looked back at him as he caught up with you. “There was a lot tension there though.” You winked at him as you started to climb up a steep slope. He cracked his neck before following you.
“I didn't want to fuck your boyfriend princess, I don't even know who your boyfriend was.” You started to think that he was protesting too much.
“My boyfriend was,” You paused not knowing if Steve was still alive or not as you and him got separated early on when you went hunting for food. “Is Steve,” You lowered yourself down onto the floor pulling him down next to you as you couldn't see over the slope and weren't sure if it was safe or not. He grunted as he hit the ground harder than he expected.
“Where is 'King Steve'?” He had venom in his voice as he asked this while you belly crawled up the slope.
“Shut up a second,” You hissed at him, you were tempted to kick him in the face if he was going back chat you. You scoped out the surroundings and there were a couple of zombies roaming about but nothing worth wasting bullets on. You pulled a knife from a holster that was on your thigh and handed it to Billy who looked confused. “You take the one on the left, I'll take the one on the right and be quiet when you do it,” You whispered as you instructed him. “Go for the brain and don't be afraid of overkill.” You ordered and he nodded not quite understanding when he started taking orders from you. You crept up the slope quietly and hid behind a bush and Billy followed suit, you gestured that he should kill his target now which he did. He stabbed in the brain repeatedly and you could see that he had some unresolved issues as the knife was plunged into the zombie's head. This caught the attention of the zombie and you made your move and stabbed it from behind using your homemade weapon. The stick was poking out the eye of the zombie and made a squelching sound as you pulled it out. Billy turned slightly green from this like he was going to throw up as he handed you the knife.
“How have survived this long?” You teased rolling your eyes cleaning up your weapon and he handed the knife back to you shrugging in response to your question.
“You didn't answer my question,” He still venom lingering in his voice.
“I don't know.” You didn't look at him as you answered because you didn't want to think about it either.
“King Steve left you out here on your own to die,” You could hear the arrogance in his voice. You pulled you knife out and pushed him against a tree pinning him by the chest and the knife to his throat. He was looking down at you with his cocky smile on his face as he ran his tongue over his teeth as he knew he had hit a raw nerve.
“I swear to god if you mention his name ever again I will slit that pretty throat of yours and happily watch you choke on your blood,” Your anger was getting the better of you as you ran the already bloody knife against his throat with enough pressure to scare him but not enough to draw any blood of his own. The smile had been wiped off his face. You punched him in the gut as you unpinned him making him double over in pain.
“You are not what I remember.” He wheezed clutching his stomach where you had punched him.
“And you are exactly how I remember,” You spat at him as you walked off not waiting for him to decide if he wanted to apologise or not. It had been about ten minutes you guessed when you felt something grab your arm. You spun round ready to kill with your knife and it was him, you were making up your mind to kill him or not but unfortunately the moment passed before you could fully make up your mind. “Are you here to apologise?” You huffed angry at his mere presence.
“We're better if we stick together.” He held up his hands as the knife was pressed against his throat again. You lowered the knife.
“I'm better on my own.” You eyed him up and down in disgust before walking off again.
“I'm not.” He called after you. You chewed your cheeks wondering if you should let such a liability team up with you. You were willing to before he crossed the line, but he did cross the line. You were conflicted. You took a deep breath and carried on walking leaving him to feel helpless.
“I'm sorry,” He gulped as if he had literally swallowed his pride you turned on your heel and cocked your head to the side waiting to see if there was more. “You didn't deserve that, especially since you saved my life.” He threw his arms in the air, you could tell he had never apologised for anything in his life as his voice was strained as if something was trying to stop him from apologising.
“No I didn't.” You hissed.
“You gonna accept my apology or what?” He exhaled sharply let his hands fall to his side.
“Not yet, but I'm not going to let you die out here,” You smiled at him, but it wasn't kind smile. There was a bitterness to it. “You have to do everything I say.” You wondered how far you could push that as you said it.
“Okay.” He shrugged like it wasn't a big deal.
You both managed to find an empty road which had a few abandoned cars near by. Nothing you could steal though as they were either torched or unusable. You didn't want to venture to far in case Steve was nearby, but you hung around these parts for months and nothing. Maybe it was time to move on from here and go onto the next place.
“I think I've found one.” Billy tried to keep his voice low, but loud enough for you to hear as he jimmied the car door open. You walked over to him aware of your surroundings with your knife in your hand. He checked to see if there were keys in ignition but unfortunately no luck.
“I'm sure you know how to hot wire car,” You said still sounding angry from earlier.
“Why would I know?” Billy raised an eyebrow at you.
“It just seems like something you'd know.” You shrugged pressing the tip of the knife into your index finger and twisting it slightly mindlessly.
“I don't,” He huffed pulling himself out of the driver's seat. “I thought you would though.” He was standing over you waiting for you to answer. You rolled your eyes and shoved him out the way to sit in the driver's seat. You started fiddling about under the steering wheel with the wires hoping something would start the car soon. Suddenly a spark shot out at you making you jump and the engine started. He had his arms folded and shook his head as you shut the door unlocking the passenger side for him to climb in. You looked in your rear view mirror and to see how clear the road was behind you as you reversed and turned the car around like you were in some sort of action movie.
“Seatbelt.” You instructed before driving off.
“We're in the middle of the apocalypse and you're worried about the seatbelt?” He said sarcastically watching as you strapped yourself in.
“We hit something, you aren't going to be worried about zombies. You're going be pureed on the road.” You shot a quick smile at him as his eyes went wide at this image and strapped himself in. You drove off, you had never driven a car in your life on the road, all you knew was off-roading so you were both going to be in for a bumpy ride.
“How did you survive this long?” Billy asked clutching on for dear life onto anything he could.
“Apparently I have pretty good survival instincts.” You said moving the steering wheel dramatically to avoid a zombie and Billy squeezed his eyes shut in panic hoping this would be over soon. He wasn't sure what “this” was though. It either meant the apocalypse or your driving that's all he knew. You were sure you heard a small squeak leave his mouth as you put your foot down on the gas some more.
“Please let me drive.” He pleaded sounding terrified. That's all he's been since this started, and instead of being terrified he was going to be eaten alive he was terrified that he was going to die because of your driving. You came to a sudden halt and he slowly opened his eyes to make sure it was safe. You unstrapped your seat belt and climbed out the car and he watched walk around the front it and he climbed over the console and into the driver's seat as you hopped into the passenger seat. You never would have clocked Billy to be scared during the end of the world, if you were honest with yourself you thought the roles would have been switched.
After hours of driving you both found a cabin which looked empty. You investigated the outside surroundings and picked the lock. The door creaked on it's hinge as it opened. It was dusty, but it looked like that it had been used just before everything happened. You slowly walked through the rooms to see if there was anyone or anything lurking about. You noticed a ladder climbed up it which led to a well lit, really nice bedroom which had a great view of the area. You checked to see if the ladder could be pulled up, which it could. At least you could sleep knowing you were safe. You walked outside to check on Billy who was keeping watch.
“It's safe and there's supplies.” You pulled him in barricading the door with large cabinet which blocked the door. You barricaded the windows with whatever furniture you could and grabbed the supplies you shoved them in your bag and made your way to the safe bedroom.
“Where you going?” Billy tilted his head as you carried yourself with such confidence.
“Safety,” You looked at him like it should have been obvious. “Grab what you can and follow me.” You smiled at him motioning your head towards the ladder. You were feeling calmer and hated him slightly less than earlier. He picked up what he could and waited for you to climb the ladder and passed up everything which you put to the side he grabbed and climbed up. You pulled the ladder up and he grabbed a few cans of food and made him comfortable on the bed letting the cans spill out next to him.
“What would Steve think of us now?” He teased smiling stroking the bed next to him as if he wanted you to join him and you glared at him.  
“Do you not remember what I said earlier?” You said with a scary calmness pulling your knife out and walking over to him. You hovered over him a stroked the blade of the knife across his face gently before reaching over him and grabbing a can of peaches and using your knife to open them. You could see he was holding his breath as he let out a sigh of relief. Once opened you offered him a couple of peach slices and sat down opposite him on the other end of the bed.
“I know he wouldn't have left you,” Billy finally said chewing on a peach slice.
“We got separated early on,” You sighed as you held up a peach slice over your mouth letting the syrup drip into it before you started to eat it.  “I went to hunt for food, I get back to where we were and there was a small hoard surrounding the place. He was gone,” You didn't know why you were telling Billy this as tears filled your eyes, you bit your lip trying to stop yourself from crying. Billy put his hand on your shin as a way to comfort you.
“He got up and left?” Billy sounded pitiful.
“Fight or flight,” You said your voice finally broke and you started sobbing. “I d-don't even know i-if h-he's...” You started sobbing hard as you tried to each word out. You couldn't even finish the sentence. Billy moved the can of peaches and moved so he was sitting next to you. You had face burrowed into arms which were wrapped around your knees. You felt Billy's arms wrap around you and pull you in close as you continued to cry. He didn't say anything, he just let you just work through it. You hadn't felt another human's touch in months, you didn't realise how much you actually missed it. Once you had calmed down, you climbed into the bed. Something you hadn't been in for months. It was the most comfortable bed you had been in ever, or at least that's what it felt like after sleeping on the forest floors for months on end and not getting any proper sleep. Billy went to get up as you noticed there was a door on the other side of the room.
“Don't forget my knife,” You sniffed trying not to cry again. “In case anyone or anything might be in there.” Billy grabbed the knife from the table and opened the door slowly hoping it was an empty bathroom which is exactly what it was.
“All clear.” He said softly looking at you where you had wrapped yourself up in the blankets. He climbed into the bed with you. You were fully clothed still and he had stripped down to his boxers which confused you in case you needed to make a hasty escape. He was trying to keep as much of a gap as he could between you which let the cold air into the bed and you also didn't want that from him. You wanted some sort of intimacy, even if it wasn't true intimacy. You rolled over so you were facing his back and edged in closer which made him curious at what you were doing. He didn't say anything he just wanted to see how this played out. You weren't sure yourself what you were doing so stopped there and made yourself comfortable. He looked at you over his shoulder.
“The cold air was coming under the blankets.” You muttered feeling embarrassed.
“Fair enough.” Billy muttered back pulling the blankets over him more.
Next morning you woke up with Billy sitting up in bed eating the leftover peaches. One arm was wrapped around you which made you feel safe. “Morning,” He muttered with a mouthful. You jumped out of the bed to look out the window to see how safe you were once you left the confinements of the room. “We're safe,” He held out the rest of the can for you to eat which you accepted. It was times like this where you really missed the luxury of staying in bed all day. “There were a few that clawed at the door downstairs last night, but nothing serious.” You looked at him with puzzlement on your face.
“What do you mean clawed at the door?” You furrowed your brow trying to figure out if that meant what you think it meant.
“They tried to get in, it was like they knew we were in here,” He shrugged not understanding the potential implication of this as he put on his pants. “By the way you are a really heavy sleeper.” He smiled at you as he put on his shirt. You weren't paying attention to him, you were muttering yourself about how they knew you were there.
“Are you injured?” You said finally breaking your own thoughts.
“Not that I know of,” Billy was slightly concerned by this and started wondering if in fact he was injured.
“I have an idea,” You grabbed a first aid kit from you bag, knife, and gun. You pushed the ladder and climbed down Billy following you. He helped you when he realised you wanted to get out by pushing cabinet out of the door's way.
“What do you need me to do?” Billy asked inhaling sharply.
“Do you know how to fire a gun?” You responded as you held a gun in his hand. He nodded slowly. “Keep watch then while I do this.” You ordered as you walked around the side of the house where you were completely open and could see the bedroom window clearly. You sliced open your hand with your knife and made sure the blood hit the ground. You smeared it on the grass where you were standing and a small area. You wiped up any remaining blood with an alcohol wipe and let it wipe float to ground. You quickly bandaged yourself up.
“COME AND GET ME YOU FUCKERS!” You shouted into the open field hoping a few would appear. “COME ON!” You shouted again before screaming loudly trying to attract anything. Billy's eyes were wide as you ran in and you both locked the door and pushed the cabinet in front of the door and made your way back upstairs so you could watch for any potential activity.
“You're either a genius or a fucking lunatic.” Billy whispered sitting behind you as you watched out the window at the zombies approaching in the distance.
“If this works, I'm a genius, if not I'm a dead lunatic and you're just dead.” You whispered back not taking your eyes off them.
“What is your plan here?” Billy sounded scared at the potential danger coming towards him.
“Beyond seeing if my blood entices them. I have no fucking clue,” You admitted shaking your head looking back at him. You could see him tense up. You put your hand on his thigh. “We'll be fine though.” You smiled, trying not to let him see you were also panicking.
“Look.” Billy pointed at the zombies crowding round the area where the blood was, they started walking away looking like they were following something, which could have been the alcohol wipe that had blown away.
“Holy shit.” You uttered in disbelief blinking slowly.
“You're a genius Y/N,” Billy's mouth was agape in shock. “How did you figure that out?”
“What you said about them acting like they knew we were in here,” You beamed a smile at him. “The only thing that would have been left would have been our smell,” You then smelt yourself realising you had bathed in what must have been over a week. “Speaking of which, is there a shower in that bathroom?” Billy laughed at this question.
“Yeah there is.” He was trying to stifle his laughter as he also realised that he was in the same boat as you and didn't think of taking advantage of indoor plumbing last night.
“Oh my god yes,” You let a couple of sinful moans as you let the warm water wash over you, which made Billy laugh when he heard you. You came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel revelling in it's softness.  
“Good shower?” Billy asked raising his eyebrow smirking.
“Better than sex,” You sounded breathless and blissful.
“That says a lot about King Steve,” Billy teased laughing and you threw the empty peach can at him as he dodged it and ran into the bathroom while you got changed. You heard Billy let out a couple of sinful moans which meant he was in the shower. You were fully dressed, you were wearing leather pants, a skin tight black t-shirt with a tight biker's jacket over the top. Your shoes were over the knee leather boots, which were also skin tight. Billy came out the shower as you laid on the bed with your leg in the air trying to get one of the boots on and doing up the zip. “Good shower?” You mocked Billy's tone from earlier while you were still struggling.
“You were right.” Billy confessed as he grabbed his clothes and went to get changed. When he came out you were still struggling with the zip. You were determined to get this zip done up, especially as they were your only shoes.
“Need help?” Billy asked sitting on the side of the bed watching you struggle.
“I've got it!” You laughed triumphantly and jumped of the bed doing a little dance.
“What's the plan?” Billy asked ruining your triumphant moment.
“Make this our base, go search for more supplies and find a way to make the downstairs more secure.” You were surprised how you came up with that so quickly. You weren't even thinking.
“Do we go together or one of us staying here?” Billy was ready for your orders.
“Together.” You couldn't deal with another loss, even it was Billy.  
While you walked through a long abandoned town you found a DIY/gardening store which was perfect. It had everything you needed from seeds if you were going to make the cabin your base to gardening tools. You were interested to see what would happen if you used a pair of large shears to cut off head, and how easy it would be. You signed to Billy to be quiet and follow you which he did. You pushed the door open slightly and grabbed a rock that was beside you and threw it hoping it would hit something. The clang of the rock hitting ceramic was heard and a couple of low growls from in the building were heard. You threw Billy your holster which had the knife in and picked up your very sharp stick. This was slowly becoming your weapon of choice. You crept in trying not to make too much noise, the zombies were too busy hovering where they heard the noise. You signed to Billy which one to take down and you both did it on the count of three. The angle you got you stick in meant it was point out the top of the skull. You twisted it around for good measure and pulled it out swiftly letting the zombie fall to the floor as it lost the only thing propping it's lifeless body up. You stabbed both of them again. Billy looked at confused.
“Making sure they're dead,” You ran your hand over the head feeling the fuzz of where your hair was growing back. “You okay if we separate?” You asked quietly and Billy gave you a thumbs as he pointed where he was going to look and you silently agreed. You gave him a look which said be careful. You kept low and walked around the outdoor area seeing what you could pick up when you were suddenly ambushed from behind by zombie you somehow missed. You rolled round and managed to keep it far enough away from biting you. It smelt worse than death. There was a liquid coming from it's mouth, you weren't sure what it was but you knew it wasn't saliva because this was brown. You were struggling when the head of the zombie suddenly rolled off the body and down the small slope into the store. The body landing on top of you and you were covered in blood. Billy helped you up holding a pair of bloody hedge shears. You felt sulked slightly because he got your dream kill.
“You okay?” He asked checking you for bites from afar.
“I'm fine.” You put you hand on your hips and squeeze into your stomach with your finger as you try to calm yourself. You walk over the to the zombie head which was trying to bite you still. You looked at Billy with a smile on your face.
“Come with me to the car.” You held up the head by it's hair and Billy was disgusted at how easily you could handle those things. When you were back at the car you threw head in trunk so there was no chance of it biting you if it rolled about. You drove to the outside of the shop.
“What is your plan?” Billy asked still trying to comprehend why you had a severed head in the trunk of the car which was still 'alive'.
“Get anything you can to make a fence, preferably something with spikes. Mesh, ya know something we can tie these things to,” You instructed as you cut the heads of the already dead zombies and threw them into the trunk with the other zombie. “I'm going to get tools.” You told Billy as he found metal fencing which had spikes on. You came back hugging an array of sharp tools. You dumped them on the back seat as Billy found something to tie the metal fencing to the roof of the car.
“What is the plan?” Billy asked again hoping for answer.
“We need to collect bodies.” You said to yourself not fully listening to him.
“Y/N, what is your plan?” He was getting agitated by you not responding.
“Sorry, the plan is to put the fencing around the cabin, sticking the heads of the zombies on the spike and if we can somehow do it tie live ones to it as well,” You pondered at how you could do the latter. “Might have to find a vet or a shelter,” You muttered to yourself. “Vet, we need to find a vet.” You looked up at Billy smiling.
“Why?” Billy was highly confused and bit annoyed as he felt like he was out of the loop.
“Medicine,” You said like this was the most obvious thing in the world. “People raid hospitals, but don't think about vets.” You tapped your temple as you had told him this brainwave. He contemplated for this a little while and couldn't fault the logic. He went to get in the car before you ran off again into the shop. You came back with a stack of flower pots in one hand and dragging compost in the other. Billy grabbed the flower pots from you and put them in the back seat.
“You planning on making our little cabin home?” He had a flirtatious tone in his voice.
“It's for the seeds I grabbed,” You explained as you climbed into the car. “Do you know anywhere I could get a crossbow?” You turned to him in your seat tapping your chin thinking.
“I'm not a redneck, so no.” He sighed as he turned the car on and drove off to find a vet.
The vet raid was quick and painless which you both found astonishing. You could hear the low growls coming from the trunk of the car. You burst out laughing at this because it was too surreal. Billy looked at you wondering what had got you so worked up. “If someone told me I'd be driving around rural Indiana with a growling severed head in the trunk of a stolen car a year ago I would have begged them to give me whatever they were on,” You were laughing so hard that you ended up with hiccups.
“I don't think we're in Indiana any more,” Billy pointed to a shop sign which had “Ohio” on it. You looked bewildered. When did you end up in Ohio? You knew you were walking a lot and never really stayed in one place, but you figured you were staying in the same area.
“How did we get here?” You looked at Billy unable to comprehend when this happened.
“We were driving for a long time before we found the cabin.” Billy shrugging not really giving it a second thought.
“We need to get back to Indiana though,” You felt desperate because you thought that would be where Steve would be.
“Steve's not going to be in Indiana now though,” Billy glanced at you trying not to sound too harsh.
“What do you mean?” You looked at him with your mouth opened wide in shock.
“You've accidentally made it into Ohio, he might have accidentally made it into Kentucky or Michigan.” Billy reached over with his hand cupped your chin and gently pushed your mouth shut which made you giggle slightly. You sunk into your seat biting your thumb nail realising what Billy had said. Steve could be anywhere by now. The thought of finding Steve became more of a pipe dream now.  
“There might have a crossbow.” Billy gestured with his chin as he parked up outside an army surplus store which looked promising. You got out the car and surveyed the area.
“Keep watch, I'll call out if I need help.” Your voice was hushed. You repeated your actions with the rock and throwing it to see how empty it was in the store when you heard a bang on the window above you which made you and Billy jump. The zombie managed to get out the door after a couple of minutes. You stabbed it in the head instantly, unfortunately the weapon got stuck in the head and you yanked it out with such force that the head split in half and the brains spilled out onto floor.
“Do you think we can still use this?” You said to Billy kicking the top of the head across floor making it spin like it was on ice.
“It'll be messy.” Billy was slightly scared by you. He was sure you were going to kill him in his sleep at some point.
“Messy is fine,” You started to saw through the flesh with your knife which was not meant for decapitating dead people. After a struggle you managed to cut through it enough to be able to pull it off with part of the spine still attached to it. “Catch.” You threw it to Billy like it was nothing more than a basketball as he dodged out the way making splatter over the ground and up Billy's legs.
“We definitely can't use it now.” Billy tried to joke but in reality the splattered remains made him feel queasy. He kept watch while you went inside and did your thing. He was really craving a cigarette which was a craving he had to put into the back of his mind. You came out looking happy with a crossbow hanging over her shoulder with bolts in hand. “I even got bullets.” You squealed jumping up and down and made your way over to Billy.
“Why do you need a crossbow?” He laughed at your over the top reaction.
“It's silent and useful when hunting.” You winked at him as you threw it into the car.
“Why do we need to go hunting, there's supplies everywhere?” Billy was not one to plan ahead and this comment really showed that.
“Supplies run out.” You threw your arms up him as you walked around the car to climb in.
“Where to next?” Billy asked trying to start the car at an awkward angle. After a small struggle you decided you needed to help him which put you in a compromising position.
“Don't say anything Hargrove,” You looked back at him and he had a smug grin on his face.
“I could get use to this view,” You wanted to knock that smirk off his face.
“My mouth is dangerously close to your dick-” You started to say.
“Oh I know sweetheart.” He interrupted.
“Meaning so are my teeth.” You bit the air as you finished your sentence ignoring him, you could feel him tense up slightly. You hated to admit it to yourself but you were enjoying Billy's company, not that you'd ever let him know. The car's engine started as a spark from the wires bounced off making you both jolt up. You almost headbutting Billy in the chin.
The next few days involved you foraging for supplies to make the cabin safer, both inside and outside. You knew though it wasn't going to last long. It never does. You may have watched far too many zombie movies so that could have been clouding your judgement. They wouldn't be interesting if you just watched a group of people live their life normally in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Your mind then went to Zombi Holocaust and you thought about becoming queen of the zombies. You were sitting on the sofa resting your on your hand taking a small break from securing the fencing. Your lips were pursed in thought, as you continued to think about Zombi Holocaust.
“What if we operate on a zombie?” You blurted out to Billy who was walking in and out of the cabin while finishing the fencing.
“What are you on about?” Billy was really starting to question your sanity as over the past few days you have spoken about seeing how long it takes for them to starve, wearing their guts which got a hard no from him, using them as decoys while you hunted, and now you were talking about operating on them.
“Just to see what really makes them tick,” You smiled at him like this was a completely rational thought. “Or we could try and train them, use food as an incentive.” You said unsure if you were serious or not yourself.
“How are you going to do this?” Billy asked. He felt like he slowly slipping into madness listening to you.
“Trick them?” You said jokingly but you were completely serious. You were feeling desperate and didn't know what to do with yourself.
“Y/N,” Billy sounded genuinely concerned. “I need you to stop talking and help me.” That sentence didn't end how you thought it was going to. You pushed yourself up off the sofa and carried on helping him with the fencing. Once that had finished you pulled the severed heads out of the trunk.
“This dude won't stop.” You laughed holding up the one that Billy decapitated days before. Billy edged away from you but apprehensively took the head from you in case you decided to have another game of catch. He slammed the base of the neck onto the spike with some force to get it on but not enough to destroy the head fully and the growling stopped. Billy felt some what relieved by this because you couldn't accidentally kill him with it now. You stuck the other heads on spikes and stood back to admire your work.
“She looks good,” You sighed wiping the sweat off your brow with your arm and tested how sturdy the fence actually was. You were shocked it was very secure despite your lack of everything needed. Billy gave you a half hearted smile in  response. “I think we should go inside and celebrate.” You had a cheesy grin on your face as you pulled him in by the arm.
Earlier that day Billy found a liquor store to raid and stole as many packets of cigarettes as he could a few six packs. You sat on the sofa enjoying what Billy had raided. It reminded you of the good times you had. Billy was spread out on the sofa, his arms resting on the back behind him. He had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.
“What happened?” You asked, the beer had gone straight to your head and any filter you had was gone.
“What do you mean?” Billy asked raising an eyebrow as he took the cigarette out of his mouth.
“When we met in the forest you had four things chasing after you,” You clarified. Billy bit his bottom lip and thought about it for a little while.
“It's better to travel light,” He was being deliberately cryptic.
“You're preaching to the choir man,” You leaned over and pulled a cigarette out of the opened packet and Billy lit it up for you.
“We were surrounded,” Billy's voice had a remorseful tone. “I couldn't save everyone and I just remember seeing those things devour them like they were Thanksgiving dinner,” Billy sighed licking his lips and taking a long drag on his cigarette. You told him about Steve, he figured he at least owed you an explanation. You didn't push the subject any farther, he could tell you if he wanted to but it was his choice.
“I had to kill my little brother,” You let out a small laugh because the horrors you had both seen were unreal. “He had his guts torn open, by the time I killed the zombies he was still alive and I had to put him out of his misery. Steve offered to do it but I just couldn't let him, it felt like it had to be me,” You felt numb saying this. It didn't feel real. “He was eleven and he had already seen our parents make a mistake that cost them their life.” Amongst the numbness you felt manic and started laughing and you couldn't stop. It felt like a defence mechanism for speaking about what happened for the first time. The laughter quickly turned to tears, Billy took the cigarette from between your fingers and put it in a makeshift ashtray. He realised in that moment that you were trying to work through the pain that this world had caused, you wanted it to stop. You were going to try everything you could to figure out how to fix this mess. You were a fighter and you weren't going to give up. You calmed yourself quickly, tears were still running down your cheek and you looked at Billy who was looking at you. There was a sorrow behind his eyes. Your eyes quickly moved down to his lips. You needed some intimacy, you tried to justify your swirling thoughts by telling yourself Steve wasn't here, but Billy was. Whether or not Steve was alive was unknown, but you damn well were. You grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him in for a kiss, he wondered what had come over you for a few seconds before giving in. Your hands ran through his hair pulling at it making him smirk. His hands were trying to doing the same except in the heat of the moment he had forgotten you shaved your head. You pulled him on top of you as you laid back on the sofa not breaking the kiss. His hands exploring everything inch of your body. The kiss was slow, needy, and messy, nothing like you expect from him. A banging on the barricaded door interrupted what could have been.
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unpopular-bishop · 3 years
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protective team and injury
Win is very tired. He’s been very tired for about four days now, which is how many nights its been since he and Team got into that stupid argument. They’ve since made up, but Team hasn’t been coming to his room and Win knows that it takes time, that Team got spooked and is just working the nerve up to start coming to him again. He knows that. He knows that.
Still, Win is very tired. He can’t sleep now, knowing that Team is probably sleeping as badly as he is, if not worse, and is just - staying in his room, probably staring at the ceiling, which is his floor, so it’s almost like Team is staring up at him, just daring him to rush him in this. Win won’t rush him; Win’s working on his part of this relationship the same as Team is and he’s trying not to be pushy or demand more than Team is able to give. That means that he needs to give Team space and time. He can’t just demand Team come back and be comfortable in bed with him. It wasn’t a knockdown, drag-out fight but it was definitely their most serious argument and it hadn’t lasted more than a night, but it was enough to shake them both, just a little. Team will come back to bed soon; he’s already sitting next to Win at lunch again. Yesterday, they held hands under the table. At the beginning of practice today, Team kissed him outside the locker room while the rest of the team was getting changed. Win just has to be patient and in the next few nights, he’s sure his boy will be back in bed and they can both get a good night’s sleep without a worry.
But that’s in a few nights. Right now, Win is very tired.
Very tired and not willing to put up much of a fight when he gets cornered after practice by four nongs who are supposed to be cleaning up the pool and locker room this week.
“Please, Phi?” Book drops dramatically to his knees while Key and Mew clasp their hands together and shake them wildly, “We’re so behind on class and there’s a project due tomorrow!”
“Why didn’t you finish your project earlier?” Win can’t help but ask, smile tugging at his lips despite the drag of exhaustion behind his eyelids. He’d wanted to go home and take a nap, maybe hold Team’s hand and conveniently forget to let go until they were already in front of Win’s door and it would only make sense for Team to come in with him and maybe nap too.
“We didn’t realize we’d need to spend so much time in the library,” Dew pokes at the squeegee broom he’s leaning against, looking put out and stressed, “I’m sorry, Phi. It’s really rude of us to ask so suddenly. You probably have other stuff you need to do that isn’t covering for your idiot nongs.”
“You aren’t idiots.” Win pats Dew’s shoulder firmly, trying to come off as a reassuring vice president and not an exhausted senior. He regrets not ducking out as soon as practice ended like Dean had. Where was Pruk when Win needed him? Probably off with Manaow and Del, the traitor. Win glances around and doesn’t see Team, which does not make his heart sink just a little, not even a bit.
“Well…” he starts to say slowly, reluctantly, “It wouldn’t do for you guys to get a bad grade, especially so close to meet season. We need everyone on top of their grades and their game. This can’t happen again, okay?”
“Yes, Phi.” All four of them chorus at once and it makes Win laugh despite the little jabs of annoyance in his stomach.
“I guess I can do -” he gives in, already reaching for the squeegee broom - and then there’s a loud crash from inside the locker room and a familiar squawk of pain and surprise.
Win doesn’t actually remember moving or even recognizing the voice that had just yelped like an angry bird. It’s more that...one moment he’s standing by the poolside, talking to his nongs, and the next he is inside the locker room and taking in the site of Team clutching his leg close while he sits on the locker room floor in a pile of cleaning supplies.
“Team!” He kneels at Team’s side, hands hovering awkwardly over Team’s skin and then busying themselves with shoving aside the buckets and mop handle still laying on top of Team, “Are you okay? What happened!?”
Team doesn’t answer for a few seconds, just curled over his leg with his head bowed too low for Win to see his face, but when he finally looks up, it feels like Win’s brain has shortcircuited.
Team has tears in his eyes.
“I just tripped.” Team sniffles, slowly rubbing circles into his knee. He’s wearing his street clothes already, sweats and one of Win’s shirts, though he’d never admit that he picked it up from Win’s floor one day and just refused to give it back. His back is damp from the floor, still wet from after practice, and Win feels it when he carefully rubs a comforting hand along Team’s spine.
“What happened to your leg? Did you sprain your ankle? Pull a muscle?”
“I dunno,” Team wipes his face quickly as more footsteps echo from the hall. Win had forgotten his nongs were still there. “It just - hurts. I think I hit it when I fell down.”
“We need to take you to health services.”
“I think so too.”
“I’m taking you to health services. You could have really hurt yourself.” Win narrows his eyes at Team, and then has to stop and process because he was fully expecting Team to argue with him, not agree.
���P’Team?” Key says from the doorway, sounding worried, “What happened? Is everything okay?”
“It’s fine,” Team says at the same time that Win says, “Team fell. I’m taking him to health services.”
“Hia,” Team starts to complain but Win doesn’t give him the chance, just stands up and pulls him up, too.
“You guys can just clean up around the pool and then make sure the floor in here is dry today,” Win says to the four other team members in between forcibly pushing at Team until he acquiescence to letting Win piggyback him. “And make sure these supplies are put away. Come back tomorrow after class but before practice and finish cleaning up.”
“Yes, phi.” Book says and Win would take a few seconds to apologize for leaving them after just promising to clean up but Team needs him now and is a heavy, solid weight on his back. It’s the closest they’ve been in four days and it is already driving Win crazy.
Team doesn’t struggle too much, just slings both of their bags over his shoulders so Win has more free movement with his arms and Win is out of the locker room and then the gym and then the main street in a matter of minutes.
It isn’t until they’re well away from the pool and the club that Team finally taps at Win’s shoulder and huffs into his ear, breath warm and gentle where he’s so close.
“You can put me down now.”
“I don’t think I will.” Win decides as he continues down the sidewalk. It’s late enough in the day that most people are either already left campus or found their camping spots for the next few hours.
“Hia, I’m really okay.”
“I’ll put you down when there’s a doctor to look at your leg.”
Win feels Team press his face to the skin of his shoulder exposed by his tank, more warm breath and warmer lips as Team brushes against him. “Hia, I didn’t hurt my leg. I don’t need a doctor. Can we just go home?”
Win stops, processing that with a brain that doesn’t really want to process anything right now. “You didn’t hurt your leg? Then what happened back there?”
“Can you put me down first?”
“No.”
“Hia!”
Win tightens his arms around Team’s legs, bracing for a struggle, but Team just sighs explosively and shifts his weight to force Win into turning toward the parking lot where his bike is parked. Win staggers but gets his feet under him again and reluctantly turns away from health services in exchange for parking.
“Happy? Now explain.”
Team doesn’t explain. Win has long given into the fact that Team will never speak when he doesn’t want to, that Team’s preferred method of torture is the silent treatment and that Team’s go-to response when he’s unsure is the same thing. It can make figuring out if Team is upset with him or just processing a little harder than Win is used to working to make sense of people, but Team has always been worth the extra work.
He’s confused and now he’s curious, but he lets Team have his time. He’s been so stressed the last few days, so tired, and guilty for his part in the argument even after apologizing. He’s missed Team. Now he has Team, a warm weight on his back with his arms draped over Win’s shoulders and his thighs strong and firm under Win’s hands. When Team’s forehead thunks against the back of his neck, Win has to breathe in slowly and tilt his head back so he’s resting it on Team’s. Just for a few seconds. Just for a few seconds.
They’re both quiet. The campus is nearly empty, the weather is nice, the air smells fresh. Win has a beautiful boy in his arms and is heading home with him. He feels relaxed for the first time in days, even with the confusion.
They still have a few minutes before they reach the parking lot when Team finally speaks up. When he does, it’s muffled against Win’s skin.
“You’re too nice, hia. People take advantage of you.”
Win smiles, looking straight ahead even though all he wants to do is figure out how to keep holding Team like this while also staring at him.
“I’m not too nice.”
“You are.” Team asserts, “You were gonna stay and clean up everything on your own, weren’t you? Even though it was their turn and you’re supposed to have a partner, anyway.”
“It’s my job as a responsible phi -”
“Too nice.” Team interrupts and tugs at his hair to make a point, “You’re getting taken advantage of. Why do you think they asked you and not anyone else, huh?”
Win doesn’t have an answer for that.
“So what happened with your leg?” he decides to change the subject but Team just sighs again, like Win’s being excessively thick about things.
“I really did fall.” Team admits, “But I didn’t actually get hurt. I just wanted you to take me home.”
“You could have just asked!” Win can’t help but ask, “I would have!”
“You would have felt bad for Mew and the others.” Team shrugs, “It was a risk I couldn’t take, hia.”
Win nearly drops him he’s laughing soo hard. He finally has to relinquish his hold so he can bend over, hands on his knees. It shouldn’t be this funny, but the delivery of the line was so serious and straightforward like Team really meant it, despite the ridiculousness of it. He’s so stupidly fond of this kid.
Team stands with his arms crossed, not quite pouting but looking close to it, brows crumpled above his eyes in annoyance. “Stop laughing, hia, I’m serious.”
That just sends Win off again, but he manages to chortle standing up this time and doesn’t hesitate to grab Team’s hand and squeeze it as he starts to walk.
“Thank you for saving me, then, Team.” he says and hopes Team can hear the sincerity. It’s really, really funny, but he can see that Team just faked an injury to get him out of cleaning the locker room for what it is, and he appreciates it. In ten years, he wants to tell the story to their kids.
Team just huffs, but he holds Win’s hand back. In fact, he tangles their fingers together and steps closer.
In the end, Win doesn’t even need to pretend to forget to let go of his hand. Team follows him to his room without complaint and they take a nap.
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ireadyabooks · 4 years
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The Best Summer Reads! 🏖
Even if you can’t read a book on the beach this year, it’s still summer! 
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We’ve pulled together some binge-worthy summer reads that will have you swooning over an adorable romance or turning the pages of a fast-paced thriller.  
I Love You So Mochi by Sarah Kuhn
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Kimi Nakamura’s mother disapproves of her passion for fashion design, and when they get into an explosive fight, Kimi's entire future seems on the verge of falling apart. So when a surprise letter comes in the mail from Kimi's estranged grandparents, inviting her to Kyoto for spring break, she seizes the opportunity to get away from the disaster of her life. And what begins as a trip to escape her problems quickly becomes a way for Kimi to learn more about the mother she left behind, and to figure out where her own heart lies. Start reading!
The Night of Your Life by Lydia Sharp
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All year, JJ's been looking forward to going to prom with his best friend, Lucy. But nothing goes according to plan and the best night of their lives quickly turns into the worst. That is...until JJ wakes up the next day only to find that it's prom night all over again. At first, JJ thinks he's lucky to have the chance to get innumerable chances at perfecting the night of his life. But each day ends badly for him and Lucy, no matter what he does. Can he find a way to escape the time loop and move into the future with the girl he loves? Start reading!
Lie to Me by Kaitlin Ward
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Ever since Amelia woke up in the hospital, recovering from a near-death fall she has no memory of, she's been suspicious. Her friends, family, and doctors insist it was an accident, but Amelia is sure she remembers being pushed. Then another girl is found nearby -- one who fell, but didn't survive. Amelia's fears suddenly feel very real, and with the help of her new boyfriend, Liam, she tries to investigate her own horrific ordeal. But how can she tell who's trustworthy, and who might be -- must be -- lying to her? Start reading!
Screenshot by Donna Cooner
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Skye's social media game is always on point. Until her best friend, Asha, films an embarrassing video of Skye at a sleepover and posts it online. But Asha quickly deletes the post, so everything's okay. Right? Then Skye gets an anonymous message. Someone has texted her a screenshot from the video. This person threatens to share the shocking photo online . . . unless Skye does whatever they say. Skye's perfect image -- and privacy -- are suddenly in jeopardy. What will Skye do to keep the screenshot under wraps? And who is trying to ruin her life? Start reading!
Listen To Your Heart by Kasie West
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When Kate’s best friend, Alana, convinces Kate to join their high school's podcast, Kate is not expecting to be chosen as the host. But to Kate's surprise, she turns out to be pretty good at the hosting gig. Then the podcast gets in a call from an anonymous guy, asking for advice about his unnamed crush. Kate is pretty sure that the caller is gorgeous Diego Martinez, and even surer that the girl in question is Alana. Kate is excited for her friend . . . until Kate herself starts to develop feelings for Diego. Suddenly, Kate finds that while doling out wisdom to others may be easy, asking for help is tougher than it looks, and following your own advice is even harder. Start reading!
Wherever Nina Lies by Lynn Weingarten
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Nina was artistic, fearless, and wild. She inked landscapes onto the soles of her Converse, and covered her tank tops in portraits of people she saw on the street. She was Ellie's big sister and favorite person. And then one day she was gone. Two years later, Ellie stumbles upon a drawing of Nina's that might just contain a clue of where to find her. So she takes off on a road trip with the one person who believes she's got a chance. Start reading!
Faceless by Alyssa Sheinmel
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While on a run one day, Maisie gets into a terrible accident. A hot-burning electrical fire consumes her, destroying her face. She is lucky enough to qualify for a face transplant. But with someone else's features staring back at her in the mirror, Maisie looks -- and feels -- like a stranger. The doctors promised that the transplant was her chance to live a normal life again, but nothing feels normal anymore. Before, she knew who she was -- a regular girl who ran track and got good grades, who loved her boyfriend and her best friend. Now, she can't even recognize herself. Start reading!
It’s Not Me, It’s You by Stephanie Kate Strohm
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Avery Dennis is a high school senior and one of the most popular girls in her class. But a majorly public breakup with the guy she's been dating causes some disastrous waves. It is right before prom and Avery no longer has the perfect date. Post-breakup, Avery gets to thinking about all of the guys that she has ever dated. Avery decides to investigate: she tracks down all of the guys she's ever dated, and uses that information, along with the thoughts of her friends, family, and even teachers to compile a total account of her dating history. Avery discovers some surprises about herself and the guys she's spent time with just in time for prom night! Start reading!
The Beautiful Lost by Luanne Rice
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Ever since her mother left, Maia has struggled with depression -- which once got so bad, she had to go to an institution for a while. She doesn't want to go back. Maia's sure that if she finds her mother, if the two of them can talk about whale songs and constellations, then everything will be okay again. When Maia sets off on a road trip in search of her mom, her crush Billy unexpectedly comes along. They drive up the East Coast, stopping along the way for lobster rolls and lighthouses. Maia learns that Billy has dark secrets of his own -- and wants to outrun his past, too. But what will the future hold if they reach their destination? Start reading!
Where She Fell by Kaitlin Ward
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Eliza knows the legends about the swamp near her house -- that people have fallen into sinkholes, never to be seen again, maybe even falling to the center of the earth. But when her best friends drag her onto the uneven ground anyway, Eliza knows to be worried. And when the earth opens under her feet, there isn't even time to say I told you so. As she scrambles through one cave, which leads to another, and another, Eliza finds herself in an impossible world -- where a small group of people survive underground, running from vicious creatures, eating giant bugs, and creating their own subterranean society. Eliza is grateful to be alive, but this isn't home. Is she willing to risk everything to get back to the surface? Start reading!
Lucky in Love by Kasie West
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Maddie's not impulsive. She's all about hard work and planning ahead. But one night, on a whim, she buys a lottery ticket. And then, to her astonishment, she wins! In a flash, Maddie's life is unrecognizable. No more stressing about college scholarships. Suddenly, she's talking about renting a yacht. And being in the spotlight at school is fun . . . until rumors start flying, and random people ask her for loans. Now, Maddie isn't sure who she can trust. Except for Seth Nguyen, her funny, charming coworker at the local zoo. Seth doesn't seem aware of Maddie's big news. And, for some reason, she doesn't want to tell him. But what will happen if he learns her secret? Start reading!
Truly, Madly, Royally by Debbie Rigaud
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Zora Emerson is not here to play. She's enrolled in a prestigious summer program, and is ready to use what she's learning to change the world. Zora's not expecting to vibe with any of her super-privileged classmates. So she's shocked to find she's got chemistry with Owen Whittelsey, who is charming, funny, undeniably cute...and turns out to literally be a prince. As in, his parents are the king and queen of a small European country. What? Suddenly, Zora's summer is looking a lot more complicated -- especially when Owen asks her to be his date at his older brother's wedding. Can her feelings for Owen, not to mention her sense of self, survive the royal chaos? Start reading!
Maybe This Time by Kasie West
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Name the occasion, and Sophie Evans will be there. Well, she has to be there. Sophie works for the local florist, so she can be found at every big event in her small hometown, arranging bouquets and managing family dramas. Enter Andrew Hart. The son of the fancy new chef in town, Andrew is suddenly required to attend all the same events as Sophie. Entitled, arrogant, preppy Andrew. Sophie just wants to get her job done and finish up her sketches so she can apply to design school. But every time she turns around, there is Andrew, getting in her way and making her life more complicated. Until one day she wonders if maybe complicated isn't so bad after all. Start reading!
Snow in Love by Melissa de la Cruz, Aimee Friedman, Nic Stone, Kasie West
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It’s still summer, but we’re already looking forward to the holidays and snuggling up with a mug of hot chocolate! So what's better than one deliciously cozy, swoon-worthy holiday story? Four of them! Snow in Love is an adorable, wintry collection of four short stories about the romance of the holiday season, from some of today's bestselling YA authors. Start reading!
Fake by Donna Cooner
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Maisie Fernandez is fed up with the bullies who taunt her about her size and her looks. So, one night, Maisie goes online and creates a fake profile. "Sienna" is beautiful, skinny, and confident -- and soon she's messaging the most popular kids in Maisie's school. Maisie doesn't care about being friends with them. She wants to use Sienna to take them down. But as Maisie's web of deception grows, she's in danger of being exposed. And what will happen when the actual Sienna -- the girl whose photos Maisie has been using -- shows up in real life? Start reading!
Sorry Not Sorry by Jamie Reed
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Janelle and Alyssa used to be best friends. They knew each other's deepest secrets and went through the hardest times together. But that was then. Now? Their status is somewhere between frenemies and full-on rivals. Until the day Alyssa collapses and is rushed to the hospital. Suddenly, everyone knows about her declining health and race against time. And, in a stunning twist of fate, the only person who might be able to save Alyssa's life -- is Janelle. But will the girls' bitter past get in the way of their futures? Start reading!
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