#teacher's notes

A/N: Sonny, this gave me the vibes of pure fluffy pining between Grian and Taurtis so I hope you enjoy it, my dude fjfnnsnsndns

Taurtis sighs softly, a small goofy grin overtaking his features as he looks over at Grian.

His strawberry blonde hair falls gracefully down the nape of his neck, tied into a small ponytail with a thin red silken ribbon that Yuki had insisted she give him. His fair skin is dotted with a small galaxy of freckles, drifting down under the collar of his uniform. His light pink lips turn up as he lets out an intoxicating laugh at some joke that Dom tells, revealing the little gap between his front two teeth that he's so self-conscious about. His onyx eyes twinkle happily as he playfully rolls them and then he meets Taurtis' eyes.

The world almost seems to freeze between the two as both boys feel their cheeks warm with a small blush.

Grian can't tear his eyes away from Taurtis' warm skin, pulled taut over a small amount of muscle, or away from the shy excitement bubbling his mismatched red and blue eyes or away from the tiny smile that plays at his lips or the way that his curly hair flops messily over the tops of his eyes, barely held back by his headphones. He doesn't want to tear his eyes away.

However, all good things must come to an end and the end of this thing is brought by Sam clearing his throat loudly and the two jump, sputtering apologises for holding up the group. Sam raises an eyebrow and scoffs, shaking his head.

As Taurtis moves to head into the gym locker room with the rest of the boys, Sam grabs him by the arm, pulling the teenager away from the crowd despite his protests.

"Dude, what the hell?" Taurtis asks in a low tone as he's tugged outside and into the little alleyway between the gym building and the main school building.

Sam grunts as Taurtis pulls his arm out of his grasp, but he stands right in the path of Taurtis' exit.

"I should ask you that too, Taurtis. You've been acting so weird around Grian for the last couple of months and it's honestly getting annoying. What the hell is up with you two?" Sam asks back, narrowing his eyes as he crosses his arms over his chest, trying to appear more intimidating despite the height difference between him and Taurtis.

Taurtis blinks in surprise. That, of all things, was not what he was expecting to be confronted about by Sam.

With a sheepish, almost shamefully, blush painting his face a bright red that could rival Grian's signature sweater in color, Taurtis shakes his head.

"I-I've got no idea what you're talking about..!" He weakly denies, turning his face away when Sam moves closer in disbelief.

"Y'know, I may be dumb, but I'm not an idiot. You look at him the way Sookie and Soul look at each other. You're in love with him, aren't you?" Sam jabs, trying to force the truth out.

The split second of a wide-eyed expression was the only confirmation that Sam needed and he grins with a laugh.

"Oh my god, I knew it! Dude, you gotta tell him!" He exclaims, much to Taurtis' chagrin.

"Sam, are you insane?! I can't tell him! He's so oblivious that he'd take my confession and think it's just a friendly thing!" Taurtis whisper-yells, panicking a little at just the suggestion of telling Grian.

Sam rolls his eyes with a huff, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

"Fine. If you think that, I'll be your wingman."

Taurtis physically reels back in shock as if he'd been slapped.

"Sam. Dude. I do not want the romantic help of you. You get violent when people get in your way and I refuse to do that." Taurtis deadpans with a grimace.

"Hey! That was one time!" Sam argues childishly before sighing. "I've gotten better. I really do wanna just help."

Taurtis rubs his temples, feeling a little stress headache building up.

"You know what? Fine. But only so you'll stop bothering me about it..."

A/N: This one was hard bc I couldn't understand the lyrics that well (bc I'm hoh), but I got a sad kinda vibe from it, so that's what you're gonna get bro kdjdndjsnsnd

The light pitter-patter of rain on the roof of the school soothes Grian's frazzled nerves a little. It had been nearly two decades since he had step foot into this place and he had almost hoped it would stay that way, but, of course, Meri had gotten into another fight with Dom and J's kid and Ellen was at work so he was the one that needed to come pick her up.

Okami and Rowan give him small, tired smiles as they pass Grian's daughter off with only a week's suspension this time. Absentmindedly, Grian notices how his former teachers looked so much worse for wear, grey hairs overbearing and wrinkles gathering where they weren't before. They make small talk for a couple minutes, Grian asking about Silly and Necra's well-being and Okami asking in return about his and Ellen's relationship and Sam's therapy.

Slowly, Rowan hobbles over from the empty student desk he had been sat in top of and claps Grian on the shoulder firmly, nearly causing the young man to fall over from the force. It seemed, even in his old age, Rowan was still tens times as strong as Grian would ever be.

"You know, kid, you never did say goodbye..." Rowan says gruffly, his booming voice now but a distant memory.

Grian draws his brows together.

"No, I said goodbye when I graduated. I would have never forgot because you two were the closest I had to actual parents." He says in confusion.

Okami sighs softly and shakes her head adjusting her glasses softly.

"No, dear, he doesn't mean us..." She murmurs, her voice just as soft and sweet as the day she started teaching their class.

Grian pauses to think before it hits him like a bag of bricks and he looks down sadly, tugging at a loose string on the sleeve of his sweater.

"Is... Is he still down there?" He asks softly, feeling a little embarrassed and ashamed.

Okami nods and Grian sighs.

"I'll only be down there a few minutes..." He mumbles, despite everyone knowing he's lying.

If he finally goes to say goodbye, everyone knows he'll finally break down and probably be there for a couple hours.

With a confused huff, Meri follows after her father, down the first flight of stairs and into the lunch room. Off to the back of the room, there was an iron gate closed over a doorway in the wall that she had never noticed before, but Grian goes right up to it and pushes it open with no problem. He walks over, the rain misting over his skin and clothes and the humidity frying his hair, but he pays no mind to it as he spots the small row of gravestones.

Teacher Gareth, a man he never met, but had heard great things about.

Salex Brown, a girl he had heard so many things about, hearing she was so kind and so pretty and so amazing.

And...

And Taurtis.

Grian tears up as he sighs, moving to sit cross legged on the grass in front of the stone as he runs his hands over the text engraved into it.

Taurtis Tanaka.

1999-2015

A brave and loving soul.

Grian bites his lip to try to stifle a small sob that threatens to escape. Taurtis died that night on Halloween while trying drive the bus and, for so so many years, Grian never wanted to accept that. He didn't want to say goodbye because he knew, when he inevitably had to, he would never be the same again.

Slowly, Grian looks over at his daughter, who looks wide-eyed, surprised to see her strong and happy father so emotionally vulnerable.

"Meri... I think I'll be a while. Go on home if you want to, I trust you." He says, his voice cracking as he tries to pull himself together.

The teal haired teenager nods and turns on her heel, already reaching for her phone, likely to call Ellen or Uncle Sammy to have them make sure Grian is okay. Grian doesn't notice though as he looks back at his friend's gravestone.

"Hey, dude... Long time no see..."

A/N: Wither, bro, I would literally kill for you because I have been searching for this song since 2014, holy fuck!

Taurtis swallows nervously, bile rising in his throat at what Sam had just drunkenly admitted to him.

He had been the one to run over Salex.

Slowly, Taurtis turns to look over the dinner table at Sam, through the booze bottles stolen from Crabman Carl's shop.

"Pl-please tell me this is just one of your horrible jokes..." Taurtis murmurs pitifully and hopefully, his voice tight and his eyes picking with tears.

Sam giggles as if he hadn't just confessed to being the source of Taurtis' biggest guilt and shakes his head, his cheeks flushed from intoxication.

"Of course not! She was always so annoying and, well, you know what happens when you don't look both ways when crossing the street!~" He chirps in a horrible singsong voice that makes Taurtis want to claw out his own eardrums.

"You're a killer!" He finally snaps, hot angry tears surging down his face, standing quickly and knocking the table with his knees in the process.

"You're my best friend and she was trying to take you from me!" Sam exclaims, dropping the bottle of whiskey in his hand and widening his honey brown eyes to try to make himself look like the victim. "You're not being fair!"

"YOU think it's unfair?! YOUR situation?! Try living with this awful guilt for months on endless months! I thought this entire time I got her killed!! I thought it was my fault!" Taurtis yells at the top of his lungs, not caring if the neighbors called the cops again as all his grief he was never allowed to fully process comes flooding out in pure unadulterated anger.

Sam growls, his ears twitching as he stands to try to match Taurtis' height.

"Get over it! She's been dead for long enough!" Sam yells back, getting up in Taurtis' face to make him back down like he usually does.

However, the alcohol made him bolder.

Without a second thought, Taurtis pushes Sam back, sending the rabbit boy stumbling back across the apartment, landing in a pile on top of some clothing chests.

"I literally hate you!! I should have listened to Grian and gone back to England with him!"

Taurtis turns away from the shocked Sam and he grabs a jacket from the sofa, hastily throwing it over his shirt and storms out of the apartment, leaving a whirlwind in his wake.

He'll make Sam regret this for the rest of his life. Just wait and see.

17. "I’m supposed to hate you for what you did."

Sam sighs. It was easily at least two in the morning and he had exams at school today, but for some reason, he just couldn't sleep. So, in order to try to remedy the situation, he slipped a jacket on over his pajamas and went for a walk. He walked and he walked, but if anything, this only seemed to be making whatever was keeping him up worse. Soon enough, Sam found himself on the beach, the tide hissing softly over the sand and remnants of the day passed still dotted about in the form of litter and half-destroyed sand sculptures.

Sam stops at the edge of the shoreline, letting the water lap at his toes, his shoes thrown off to the side.

Footsteps sneak up behind him, crunching on the sand, and Sam tenses. He quickly relaxes, though, when he spots the familiar red sweater of one of his closest friends from the corner of his eye.

"Why'd you follow me?" The rabbit boy asks, crossing his arms over his chest and just barely looking over to look at Grian.

Grian shrugs, looking over the horizon.

"Taurtis heard the front door open and then saw you weren't in bed so I promised him I'd go looking for you before he got even more worried." He says, though, judging from his tone, it almost seemed like that wasn't the full story.

Sam, however, knowing he won't be told anything that stubborn Grian doesn't wanna tell, slowly nods before looking away.

There's a long, long silence that neither of the teenagers wants to break, but after a few beats, Grian stuffs his pride aside and turns to Sam, taking a step away from the water.

"Why are you out here at this time of night? You know the Yakuza are still hunting our heads right?" Grian asks, waving his hands around as he talks as if to prove how much of an idiot Sam is being.

Sam looks down a little guilty before shrugging.

"I've... Just been thinking lately. I needed to go somewhere quiet to get my brain in order." He says, his brash and overconfident tone suddenly gone, replaced with a soft and almost anxious whisper.

Grian raises an eyebrow. Never ever in his lifetime of knowing Sam has he ever seen the boy get nervous, unless it was about a girl. A little unsure, Grian nods, motioning for Sam to keep talking, which he does.

"I just... I just keep thinking about how I keep fucking up every single goddamn good thing that happens to me." Sam continues, catching Grian by surprise yet again.

Grian considers for a moment before slowly opening his mouth.

"... What makes you think you're fucking up..?" He asks hesitantly, thinking maybe he'll just have to keep up Sam's ego so he doesn't snap.

He can handle that. Much better than having a proper emotional conversation.

Sam laughs dryly, falling back onto the sand to stare up at the overcast starless sky.

"Shouldn't you know? I mean, you've been the person who's been at the center of the majority of my fuck-ups." He says coldly.

Grian opens his mouth to protest, but Sam quickly shuts him down.

"We all know it's true. Even I know I did, even if I'm too much on an asshole to acknowledge it."

Grian pauses before sighing and nodding, slowly sinking down to lay next to Sam.

"I don't think I've ever told you how much I regret doing the things I've done. All the gross things I did to Sookie and Soul... Stabbing Taurtis and making you pretend to be him. Just... Absolutely everything." Sam says, his tone becoming strained with bottled up emotion. "And I know I can't ask for forgiveness because everything I've done is beyond the realm of apology. I crossed that line so many times."

Grian's heart stutters in shock for a moment. As if in slow motion, he turns his head a little to meet Sam's eyes and sees nothing but pure and overwhelming remorse and the shine of unshed tears. Sam may be very good at lying and manipulating, but he could never hide his true intentions from his expression.

"I'm supposed to hate you for what you did... But I'll give you one chance. I can't say the same for everyone else and I sure as hell am not immediately forgiving you. You need to work for my trust again. You mess up again and I'm leaving and I'm taking Taurtis with me back to England." Grian says, watching Sam's face go through a rollercoaster of disbelief to excitement to shock before finally settling on hardened determination.

Sam nods and quickly jumps to his feet.

"Grian, I'll do absolutely anything to prove it to you." He says almost desperately.

Grian sighs softly as he slowly stands as well.

"I know, Sam... C'mon, let's just get home for now and get some rest. Okami will get pissed if we fall asleep during our tests."

Loyal.

That is the one word that Taurtis has been described with his entire life.

Loyal to a fault.

It is never a surprise to anyone when he follows his friends through hellfire just to keep them by his side. It is never a surprise when he sacrifices his own happiness or even safety to keep his friends' approval. It is never a surprise when he pushes himself vastly beyond his limits just to make sure his friends are happy.

He is always loyal to his friends. He has to be.

So, with his known reputation of loyalty, its no surprise when Sam latches onto Taurtis like the parasite he is.

Sam twists that loyalty like a knife in his back (or, rather, stomach for Taurtis), forcing that loyalty against people around them.

Taurtis tried to break away a little, to try to give that loyalty to the beautiful girl with a blue streak in her hair in another class, but he was punished. By who? Who knows... Taurtis blames the universe, shouting his grievances to the heavens through tears, blaming whatever dieties he could think to until his throat was raw and Ellen came to comfort him with words that his love would watch over him through the Veil between Worlds.

After that, Sam quickly became a crutch for Taurtis' loyalty to give blindly, thinking that if he tried to leave again, the universe would punish him again.

Taurtis' loyalty, for better or for worst, is solid as stone, unwavering and truly unstoppable and Sam knows this, exploiting this to his every greedy whim.

He knows Taurtis will never leave.

No matter how much he wants to, his own faults would never let him get far.

A/N: This one was hard ngl, but I'm really proud of how it turned out bc we need more wlw vibes in this fandom

Soul sighs softly, fidgeting with the feathers on her arm boredly.

Tonight was supposed to be the night that Soul finally proposed to Sookie, but her boss had decided last minute that he needed more help around the store and the two women were in need of as much money as possible now that their landlord had raised rent by another hundred dollars so Soul took the extra hours.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Soul was able to clock out. Her joints ached from the repetitive motion of putting up stock and the little box in her pocket felt like a hundred pound weight of disappointment. The owl woman gets into her car just in time for it to start raining against the night sky. She huffs and starts up her car, heading home as some random music from the radio plays softly, just enough to calm her senses.

As Soul pulls into the apartment complex parking lot, she smiles upon seeing the lights in the apartment window still on. Bolting quickly through the rain as she doesn't have her umbrella with her until she reaches the lobby and just as quickly goes up the stairs since the elevator is out of order. Again.

"Hey, babe, I'm home!" Soul calls into the apartment as she opens the door only to be met with silence.

"Sookie? Love?" She calls again, wandering further inside.

The living room wasn't lit with the usual lights and was instead lit with a mass amount of warm toned fairylights and the occasional candle, giving off a soft cinnamony smell. Soul smiles as she breathes it in, her favorite.

On the couch, there was a single pastel pink rose with a little letter attached to it with a white string. Soul sits as she gently takes it, fiddling with the stem as she unfolds the paper.

'My Dearest,

I have a little surprise for you. Please go change out of your work uniform and meet me outside on the balcony. You'll love it, I promise :)'

Soul smiles and nods to herself, gently tucking the letter away.

As quickly as she can, she rushes to the bedroom to put on her favorite outfit to wear for these romantic dinners that Sookie plans, a simple dark red dress that poofs out a lirtle just above her knees with a halter neckline, pairing it with a matching kitten heels. She gives herself a little look over in Sookie's vanity mirror, grinning at how nicely the dress still fits her after four years, cupping the curve of her hips just right. Once she's satisfied, she makes her way out to balcony, opening the curtain to the sliding glass with a soft gasp of awe.

A tarp had been thrown over to top of the pergola, keeping anyone outside from getting wet and creating a soft pitter-patter sound. More candles had been lit, left to drip down onto a floral candle dish on the center of the small glass table at which Sookie was sat. The swamp monster woman herself had cleaned up very well, her normal blue sundress swapped out for black pinstripe dress pants and a white lacy blouse and her auburn hair tied up into a loose bun. Her grey eyes shone with excitement when she looked up to see Soul.

"Welcome home, Soulmate." Sookie says with a grin.

Soul laughs softly and blushes a little at the use of Sookie's favorite pet name to use.

Sookie gives her girlfriend a large hug before presenting her with a bowl of spaghetti with a meaty sauce.

"I tried a new recipe tonight for the sauce, so I hope you like it."

Soul nods.

"You know you make the best food this side of town. There's no hoping because I will." She teases softly, beaming at the giggle Sookie gives.

The two women catch up over what happened over the day as they are, Soul spinning tails of her idiot coworkers and Sookie explaining her ideas for three pieces of art she was commissioned to draw, as they eat, simply enjoying each other's company.

After a while, Soul looks down at her lap, where she hid the box with the engagement ring for Sookie, and she considers. Maybe it's not too late.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Both women ask in unison, laughing in surprise.

"You go first, dear." Soul says with a little smile, thankful for the moment to soothe her nerves.

"Well, y'know, I've been thinking for a while that we've been together so long, almost fifteen years and we've done so much together, but I've just been wondering. Do you think there's anything else we could do?" Sookie asks, standing from her seat across the table with a hand hidden behind her back.

Soul's eyes widen, her heart speeding up and her mouth going dry as she realizes where Sookie is going with this. As if the world was in slow motion, Soul watches as Sookie gets down on one knee in front of her, presenting a small velvet box from behind her back and opening it to reveal a golden ring with a single blue gem embedded into the band.

"Soul Owl, will you marry me?"

Soul shakes herself out of her frozen stupor and she laughs, causing a little confusion and a lot of panic from Sookie until she sees Soul grab a small box herself. She opens it, showing of the delicate silver ring, one larger shimmering white gem flanked by two smaller pink pearls, and Sookie laughs as well.

"Uno reverse?" Soul jokes, sliding down to the ground to wrap Sookie into a bear hug.

Sookie giggles and returns the hug.

"God, we both share one braincell, don't we?" Sookie asks, pulling down to put her ring onto Soul's finger, Soul mimicking the action.

"I wouldn't have it any other way, though." Soul says before giving Sookie a joyful kiss.

A/N: Of course I'm still doing the song thing! I'll keep doing it until I feel bogged down, but that won't happen for a while. Please send as many asks for the song thing as y'all wanna because I'll be accepting prompts for quite a long time.

Sam stares up at the ceiling, sprawled out across the top of the sleeping bag he had set up on the floor of Chan's bedroom.

The ravenette had decided she was going to throw a big sleepover at her house and invite the entire class over for "endless fun", as she had said. However, she fell asleep before the clock even struck midnight and everyone else closely followed.

Or so Sam thought.

As he laid awake from insomnia, Sam's ears perked up at soft sounds coming from the kitchen. Slowly, the rabbit boy gets up to investigate, stepping carefully over J and Soul and Sookie, who were cuddling closely, to exit and closing the pastel painted door behind him gently. With a small sigh, Sam begins to make his way to kitchen, which was pitch black except for the light of the fridge, illuminating the form of a familiar boy.

Dom's hair was messy, likely from sleeping because Sam remembered he fell asleep on the couch shortly after Chan, and his light violet eyes seemed to have a little gleam in the dim light of the fridge.

"What are you doing?" Sam asks, leaning against the door frame and snickering a little when Dom jumps in surprise.

The shorter teen whirls around on his heel, cradling a 2 liter bottle of orange soda and a large box of Twinkies in his arms, his eyes wide before he relaxes at the sight of Sam.

"Dude, you scared the shit outta me..." He mumbles, pressing a hand to his chest to calm his racing heart. "I'm just getting some food. Midnight munchies, y'know?"

Sam nods, not bothering to correct Dom about the fact that it was three A.M.

"Well, care to share of those snacks? I can't sleep, so I might as well hang out with you." Sam says, crossing the kitchen to stand in front of his frenemy, his feet making a small patting noise as he walks on the tile floor.

Dom gives Sam a look of disbelief, but slowly nods, walking past him to get back to the living room and couch, passing over the soda first. He plops down on the couch as he shoving his arm elbow deep into the Twinkies box and grabbing a large handful like the grubby raccoon boy he is and using his other hand to turn on the TV.

Sam gives a little laugh as he raises an eyebrow. He cracks open the soda slowly, the soft hiss of carbonation escaping filling the awkward silence between the two.

"So, uh..." Sam tries to start, grabbing a single Twinkie for himself. "You still living under that bridge?"

Dom grimaces through a mouthful of cream and sponge cake.

"Yeah. Dad says he won't let 'some fag' back into the house, so, until I can get a job, the bridge is my home."

Sam cringes a little, feeling bad for asking.

"Yeah, sorry about that..." He grumbles, taking a swig straight from the bottle, the bubbles of the soda tickling the back of his head a little.

"Yeah, I don't really care anymore. Now that I'm out of the house, I realized how bad of a person I was and I've been learning to be better." Dom says nonchalantly with a small shrug.

The two drift into silence, though a bit more comfortable than Sam thought would be possible, for a long time. The only noise that could be heard was the sounds of plastic wrappers crinkling as they ate the Twinkies and the sound of liquid sloshing as they passed the soda between them and the soft chatter from the television.

Suddenly, after probably about twenty minutes, Dom jumps a little when he feels a small weight on his shoulder. He looks down and snickers when he sees Sam fast asleep. The bunny boy seemed to be subconsciously drawn towards Dom's body heat and it didn't seem like he was planning on moving at all as he rolls a little closer.

Dom bites his lip on consideration as a small idea hits him. Slowly, he decides to take a little risk.

Gently, he brushes aside Sam's bangs from his forehead and he presses a soft little kiss to the spot.

He knows Sam will probably never return his feelings, but it doesn't mean he won't hide them forever.

Oh, thank you so much!!! >////< People complementing my writing really means the world to me kdjdnxjjsjdd

"Worlds Away" feels, to me, like maybe a Taurian story with some one-sided Saurtis and the story would be told from Sam's POV. I think it would be Sam pining over Taurtis and he feels like Taurtis is worlds away from him because of Grian's interference and he tries so hard to try to be more like Grian to try to get Taurtis to come back. However Sam always ends up messing up because he's Sam and he's a feral little gremlin man and Taurtis keeps pulling further and further away from him. Maybe one day Sam would accept that he and Taurtis were never meant to be and be tries to mend his relationships or maybe he never does and he keeps pushing too much until he finds himself alone from his stubbornness.

Send some fake fic titles and I'll tell you what I'd write for it!