LOCAL DRAMA BOY

 Lucielle wished she had actually taken a seat, every next word of her boyfriend’s mouth a new BLOW that she wasn’t sure she could actually stomach. “In a week,” she echoed dully. There was no way this was actually happening. Too many emotions raged inside of her for her to actually even begin to wonder what to do so she did what she did best - remained outwardly impassive while her brain worked its ass off to make sense of what the boy was telling her. Because IAN wouldn’t do that to her, would he? It made no sense. He loved her. She loved him. Hell, he’d asked her to trust him and she had. Truly. If there was anyone outside of her family that Lucy was sure would never betray her, would never play her for a fool it was him. But as she searched his face for any signs that he was messing with her, that this was all a horrible, terrible JOKE, the blonde realised he was being serious. 

 He was engaged. Marrying one of her best fucking friends. Who hadn’t told her anything either. Did she know about this arrangement? She would have told her if she knew, right? She and Alek were friends. They were close. They talked about almost anything. Surely, SURELY, she would have told her something this big… right?

 She took a step back. Was the room spinning? Lucy grit her teeth, desperately trying to get it together. Somehow, she managed to find her voice and somehow, she managed to not sound as WEAK and PATHETIC as she felt. “How… how long has this been going on?”

Ian let his eyes observe Lucy’s features, trying to understand where her thoughts were. That was the thing about Lucy, she never showed too much, she always tried to hide it. Even if it wasn’t caused by him, her pain was never on display to Ian, no matter how hard he tried. And now more than ever, he knew there was no shot of getting a glimpse into her true emotions. Especially since he was the cause, he was the one who directly inflicted whatever pain she was feeling, whatever betrayal, shock or abandonment she felt as a result of his announcement. Her lips parted, echoing his words of when he was expected to get married. He remained silent, just watching her, waiting for something that he could potentially work with. 

His eyes dropping to her feet once she stepped back, feeling a sting in his chest at that moment, realizing that this was likely the end of it. Was there something that he could work with? Was that even a thing for them at this rate? Suddenly, she spoke, asking a question that he would rather not answer. His eyes staying on her feet for a moment longer as he thought about her question. He knew why she asking, she wanted to know how long he had kept it from her, how long he was able to deceive her for, smile in her face while knowing that he was going to be married off in a matter of time. Feeling it getting harder to breathe, Ian shut his eyes for a moment as he tried to think of how to make this less... worse. Better in some way, how could he possibly make it better? He felt desperation surge through him. He needed to make it better. 

“Oh… okay,” Benedetta spoke slowly, her hope running dry as she prepared to go searching again. It was stupid of her to try to rely on a stranger anyway, not when she was nearly an adult and perhaps attending this very school next year. If that were the case, it would be better for her to get familiarized with the campus by herself. Her eyes glanced back at the boy as he sighed, listening carefully as he questioned her. “They were getting seated for the dinner, I thought I could remember where they were,” Benny explained, feeling embarrassed at her absent-mindedness. “There’s four of them: my mother, father, and two brothers,” she explained nervously, babbling as if it would keep her calm. “Is your family here?” she inquired, her curiosity getting the better of her about the brunette boy. 

“A lot better now? Why? Did something happened?” Amelia’s happy expression changed for a worried one, frowning softly as she took a seat and pulled Ian to sit next to her, holding his hand. “Boys…” She chuckled softly, shaking her head while they teased each other. “I’ve been good, busy with work. You know how your father is…” The woman pointed, raising her eyebrows at him as she smiled, hoping he’d understand what she meant. “But I’ve missed you two. You and Hunter never visit! Is there something wrong with visiting me once in a while?” She turned to her son now, as if questioning him before turning to Ian again.

Hunter watched the two hugging each other with a soft frown, not that he was surprised, by now he should be used to seeing his mother and Ian like that, but it was weird to him that someone saw so many good things in Amelia as Ian did. “I can’t with you two together. Seriously, this should be forbidden to happen,” The blonde teased, but his laugh showed he wasn’t serious about that, standing next to them. “Which energy? The one she’s stealing from me lecturing me all night?” Hunter joked, half-smirking, but happy that Ian had joined that, that was the only way Amelia would stop lecturing him about anything. When the woman turned to him, questioning why they didn’t visit. “Busy studying,” He lied. “That’s not what we’re supposed to do here?”

As Hunter complained about the two of them embracing each other, Ian let out a dramatic sigh. “Hunter, always wanting to forbid the good things in my life.” He spoke as if he was some sort of victim. Hearing Amelia ask Ian if something happened, Ian let her pull him into the seat next to her and grinned gently as she took his hands in her own, feeling the sort of comfort that only Amelia could offer... and he was sure his mother could as well, but not like that was an option. “You should ask me what didn’t happen.” He responded with a shake of his head. “I’ll tell you about it later, don’t wanna ruin the mood.” He said with a shake of his head, not wanting to bring up something that would cause Amelia to be worried or for either Amelia or Hunter to feel like they have to make Ian feel better, which would be almost impossible. “Well, maybe you should be asking yourself what you did wrong that Amelia would lecture you.” Ian suggested before sticking his tongue out at Hunter childishly. 

Hearing Amelia mention his father, his smile fell as he pressed his lips together and nodded, a fake smile now replacing his other one. “Don’t have to tell me about him twice.” He pointed out. Looking over at Hunter, he had to control the urge not the roll his eyes at his friend. How could he be so bad at lying. “Yes, actually, your son here is quite the bookworm.” He said, playing along and trying to hold back his laugh.

 She nodded slowly as he reassured her that everyone was okay, her eyebrows furrowed as her confusion only grew. What was so BAD, then? The anticipation was driving herself but she trie to summon some patience in herself when she took note of just how hard speaking seemed for Ian. It was quite unsuccesful but Lucy clutched the ends of her cardigan and bit her lip to stop another onslaught of questions. “I - sure? Yeah.” That was sort of the norm with rich people, she figured. But Hwi Chul was a special brand of UNPLEASANT. Though, her opinion on Ian’s father was heavily biased and had a lot to do with the man’s behaviour towards her. Lucielle was rarely ever disliked by parents. She was rich, properly-mannered, pretty. What more could anyone want? “Why?”

Closed starter for @miknai​​

“Jesus Christ, mom, no…” Hunter sighed heavily, massaging his temple with his eyes closed for a brief moment. It was a constant in his relationship with his mother disagreeing in almost everything, and the more time they spent together, the more possible it was that they would end up arguing at some point, especially if his father was not around. “Oh look,” The blonde suddenly opened up a wide smile as soon as he spotted Ian. “Here comes my mom’s favorite son,” He teased.

“Hunter, I’m serious! Can you listen to me for once?” Amelia tried to make her son listen to her point one more time, but of course he was not having it. If her husband was around, maybe he would listen to it, or at least consider it, Richard knew way better than her how to deal with Hunter. Her eyes then moved away to look at the other boy, her grin growing wider. “Ian!” The woman opened up her arms to hug her son’s friend. “God, Hunter, stop it,” She rolled her eyes discreetly at her son’s comment and chuckled softly. “How have you been? It’s been so long since the last time I saw you.”

Ian had been on the phone with his father, who was in the literal same room but then again Ian had been avoiding him. After the entire fall through with the arranged marriage to Alek, Ian didn’t feel like being around his dad who would just try to throw other solutions at him that he didn’t want to hear. His relationship came to an end and for virtually nothing in the end. Just as his call ended, Ian a familiar voice calling his name, looking over as he was ending the conversation with his dad, he saw the one person who could make him feel better during these times: Amelia. Feeling his heart soften, he hung up before feeling his smile spread across his features and making his way over to her as he enclosed her in a hug. “Amelia!” He said, his hug a big tighter than usual as he searched for comfort, feeling a bit better already. “I’m doing a lot better now.” He commented truthfully, pulling back from the hug after a solid moment a bright grin on his face. Looking over to Hunter he placed his hand on his shoulder to greet him. “I almost didn’t see you there, your mother’s energy is blinding.” He teased Hunter with a playful wink before dropping his hand and looking back to Amelia. “How have you been?” He asked, returning her question. 

Benedetta’s eyes widened at the boy’s response, not believing for a second that Marcello was the boy he was painting him to be. “He is not!” she practically demanded, although her voice was still wavering with uncertainty. Her blue eyes closed for a moment as she felt tears start streaming down her cheeks, not realizing she was so defensive over her older brother. “He’s tall and he has brown hair and he has a beauty mark right here,” Benedetta raised her finger to the middle of her cheek, feeling the wetness of the tears that had escaped. “And he’s nice,” the redhead insisted, a slight scowl covering her features as she looked at the other boy. Okay, perhaps Marcello wasn’t the kindest person around, but he had always treated her fairly. She was no stranger to his cruelty, but she believed him to be growing more patient and open as the years passed. A part of her admired his strength and ferocity, if only because it was something she had a hard time channeling. She took a deep breath, remembering the breathing techniques her mother had taught her. “I’m sorry. I’m Benedetta. I’m sure you have your reasons, but he’s a good boy, I promise. I just want to get back to him and my family,” she continued, her voice slowly stabilizing. Her hands raised to her eyes, wiping away the remaining tears as if she could pretend they never existed. She offered a small smile at the boy, although it was still blatantly obvious she had just been crying.

 Everything was so… WRONG. It was almost surreal. Things with Ian were always comfortable and easy and warm and she felt exactly the opposite. “Is it Sora? Jiho? Are they okay?” The questions poured out from her as she came closer. “Your - your dad?” Lucy tilted her head, twisting the end of the cardigan between her fingers. She considered sitting down next to him but her nerves were TOO MUCH for that so the blonde just hovered awkwardly nearby, ready to comfort him if he needed it. If there was something that unnerved her, though, it was being kept in the dark when it was so painfully obvious that everything was NOT ok. “Come on, Ian,” pleaded Lucy. “Spit it out!”

“Now, I may stroke your ego a bit with this, but you are very handsome. However, considering you are madly in love with one of my best friends, I don’t think I’ll be flashing my tits at you any time soon,” she stated, shaking her head. “But then won’t people wonder why isn’t the other one hard? Why isn’t there a piercing on that one? I don’t really notice it much. And as a woman, we are subject to so much judgment on our breasts already. I would be proud of everyone seeing my nipples and piercings all the time. When I’m not wearing a bra that is,” she explained. 

“Of course I’m handsome, you don’t have to announce it. We all know.” He commented. Choosing not to comment on her statement about Lucy, but not making it obvious. “Kenzie, you always know how to leave me speechless by confusing me with our conversations.” Ian commented with a chuckle, not even sure what was going on at that point. “You just shared concern about people wondering why the other isn’t hard and then followed up with being proud about everyone seeing your nipple piercings. I was just saying for yourself, I don’t care about what other people think. One nipple always being hard sounds uncomfortable.” 

“Obviously because I want you to stare at my tits,” she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes at Ian. “I am just asking for opinions, Ian. And yes, it is weird to just have one! It seems like it would just be off balance,” she added. She giggled at his question, shaking her head. “I mean, I don’t really care if my nipples are hard the rest of my life. That is more about making other people uncomfortable than me. And I usually wear a bra, but it might encourage me not to wear one to show them off.”

“I mean, sounds like that’s the reason to me.” Ian said with a simple shrug as he held back his smug smirk. “Well, if you only get one piercing, then only one nipple will be hard forever.” He pointed out, his smirk now spreading across his features. “You don’t feel uncomfortable when your nipples are hard?” Ian asked, confusion on his features, a slight expression of judgement appearing on his facial features. 

 When Lucy recieved THE text, she was in the middle of falling asleep on the phone with her mothers. Their chatter was comforting and she was all cozy and snuggled up in bed so it wasn’t hard to lull her to sleep. So when she got a message from her boyfriend, she was initially very tempted to just pretend she didn’t see it and talk to him in the morning but then the weird LOCATION caught her eye and her stomach flipped. Why would he need her to come to the pool? Had something bad happened? Was it related to the Circle or the Crusade? Her worry was overwhelming enough to spur her into action and the blonde wished her parents goodnight before hanging up and slipping into a cardigan.

 Her heartbeat was loud in her ears as she pushed the doors to the pool open only to see JUST Ian there. “Hey,” she called out to him, looking around in suspicion. No dead bodies, no blood, no nothing. There weren’t even any traces of anything date-related! Lucielle’s shoulders sagged in RELIEF, her anxiety over the situation adding to her tiredness from before. “It’s quite late! You aren’t filming a TikTok, are you?”

Ian had sent a text for Lucy to meet him where the indoor pool was located. Not wanting the chance for anyone to overhear their conversation or for anyone to interrupt them. All other locations seems like they would likely have people around, but it seemed unlikely for anyone to be at the indoor pool at night when there was classes the next morning. Pacing around back and forth, Ian felt anxious at the topic of conversation that he was going to bring up. The exact feeling that made him push this conversation to the very last possible moment. He also knew that telling her something so grand, so late, was probably going to be one of the biggest mistakes he’s made. Or was it? The devil on his shoulder kept telling him that if he told her sooner, he wouldn’t have gotten to have her for so long, she would have left. Of course she would have. Why would she stay knowing that it wasn’t going to last? Pushing it off to the last moment was better, because then they had the chance to be together for longer without having that chip on their shoulder.