Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

ALL SINGLES WILL BE PAIRED

What a joyful experience you’ve found yourself in—you think this with much sarcasm (yes, much sarcasm). As the third wheel to the lovely clam-bank that made up the completely platonic relationship between your lady friends, you were left to serve as that tag along guy that would glare at all the idiotic guys that your lady companions deemed to be unsatisfactory to their visual sensors. Things would’ve been well rounded and evened out with the fourth member of your small but tight nit group of friends, but Yatsuhashi had fallen ill with a 24hr bug and had kicked the three of you out of the hotel room while he slowly descends into future ailment.

You point to the sign in good humor, waggling your burnt orange eyebrows (yes the curtains matched the drapes and all the other accessories) at your female companions. You were the single in question for this ride and you were, in fact, single as well.  Coco snapped a picture at that with her phone and you were almost about to question if she was posting it on to her social media sites or sending it to Yatsuhashi, but knowing her she was going to do both.

Velvet pulls both you and Coco along and up the stairs to the end of the line. The screams and whoops of riders could be heard from where you stood and Velvet’s arms quivered ever the slightest. Before today she had never ridden a rollercoaster and before today she had never wanted to. You’ve been at the park for two hours already and the three of you were able to usher the quieter brunette of the two (because Coco was the loud one) onto three of the smaller rollercoasters.

This was the first of the big ones and ohhh boy were you ever wishing that you would be able to experience the fear in her eyes as the car neared the top. But alas, that would not be the case. Coco started poking that one spot in-between your ribs and dancing out of the way when you would swipe at her half-heartedly. The line was shuffling along quick enough and the summer heat wasn’t faint worthy yet.

Velvet’s hands shook in intensity the closer the three of you got to the front. Coco wrapped an arm around her shoulder and spoke in her ear, “its okay. This is going to be fun, you’re going to have a lot of fun,” the music forced her to talk loudly to the girl instead of whisper. You rubbed the top of Velvet’s head as the line shuffled up and there were ten people ahead of you and your group now.

Velvet nodded grabbing at Coco’s arm as the people ahead of them were strapped into their seats and the first shouts were starting. They weren’t even moving yet; you don’t understand why people do that. Velvet flinched when the gears clicked and the cars made their way out of the station, her face paling when the excited and nervous whoops reached her ears. “You’ll be fine,” you say just as the next group pulled up and began piling out of their cars.

The man minding the gate pulled it open and ushered the appropriate amount of people in. Velvet and Coco were directed to a space that called for two more people in that row in the middle, while you were sent to the front car (and the front row) where three other guys were just settling in. You huffed looking back to Coco and she laughed at you.

You took your seat at the edge and rolled your neck. The man beside you raised his green eye brow and shook your head, “third wheel?” he questioned.

You shrugged, “yeah, our other friend caught a 24 hour bug.” The man grimaced and nodded like he understood. You look at the two guys beside him, a blue haired guy and a blond, and jutted your chin out in their direction. “You too?”

The man returned the shrug motion, “our other friend had to sit this one out—he likes the teacups and rode them until he threw up.” You bare your teeth at that, “so he’s sitting this one out.”

“Redhead hunched over the garbage can out front?” you couldn’t help but ask. You remember laughing about his misfortunes on your way to this ride. There was just something about the misery of others that make you feel so much joy.

The man sighed heavily and nodded, “yeah, that’ll be where I left him.” The man stared at you for an added second before holding his hand out towards you, “Sage.” And you’re willing to bet that was his name.

He was handsome, what with the tattoos and the muscles threatening to tear through his too tight t-shirt. All dark skin and golden eyes—shit you could probably go and wax poetry to Coco after this and she’d laugh and joke about that sign actually working.

It hasn’t yet, you’re still single. But damn it you’re going to turn up the charm for him.

“Fox,” you reply with a purr, finally taking his hand in your and shaking just once. You removed yourself from his hold and pulled the bar towards yourself. You thumped your head back against the headrest and sighed, you weren’t nervous about roller coasters but it was still a matter of taking a couple of breaths before actually making your way up the incline. “You from the area?” you ask him after those quick two breaths.

Sage shook his head, “nah. Visiting from the Mistral area with these idiots.” He gestured to the guys sitting on his other side. The blond bounced in his seat excitedly. “Though we should’ve waited until school started again, Beacon is a hell of a lot closer then my home town.”

You blink, “you go to Beacon too?” The wheels lurched forward and your heart jumped in your chest, shit you weren’t expecting that. Sage waves you off in one of those universal ‘we’ll talk later’ fashions that leaves you with your heart beating faster than expected and you’re unsure if it’s because of ride or the guy sitting beside you.

--

It was the guy beside you, just for the record.

You figure this out later after you’ve shuffled off the ride with a light wobble in your knees and the thought of that picture is going to be fucking awesome. The two of you continued talking all the way to the pictures. You were almost the same height, though he couldn’t have more than two inches on you—couldn’t. Though your perspective of height was cynical and biased; that sick friend of yours was 7’ and he took up a lot of space. But then again, so did Sage but that could be the muscles... maybe that shirt too.

That thing was pretty sinful—sinfully gorgeous and did wonders to showcase the goods.

You handed him your phone with a new contact open and ready, you raised an eyebrow pointedly at him. “So we can meet up when you’re on campus again,” you say with a flick of your hair. As much as you loved your hair and the bangs, it did at times get in your eyes. He took the phone without a word and typed in his name and contact information, saving and handing it back to you. You quickly fired off a text to be sure—you will not go willingly into the night thanks, ‘cause fuck it this boy and his endless muscles will be yours.

His phone went off and he added your information to his own phone. It was just the two of you in the entrance to that hut-like building that held all the monitors with the photos. You still wanted to see how it turned out, but this was a little more important. “How do you know I’m not straight?” he says and you blink, a grin breaking out over your lips.

“That comment right there,” you poke the center of his chest, leaning in until you shared the same breath. “You were checking me out,” you dragged your finger south.

He smirked, “you were looking first.”

That little shit; you hooked your finger in that area behind his belt and in front of his pants, pulling him towards you. “You caught m—AK!”

“Too aggressive, Fox” she scolded. Coco’s arm wrapped around your neck and she pulled you back and away from the man. You gripped at her arm, heels dragging against the ground and your heart thundered in your chest. You weren’t expecting that, holy shit you weren’t expecting that. And if the wide eyed look at flustered expression Sage wore was anything to go by, then he wasn’t expecting it either. She forced a laugh and tightened her hold when you began to squirm—still able to breath, just would rather not be dragged off from the cute guy by your ex (it was middle school, shut up) and best friend, thanks. “Bisexual men, right?! So assertive,” you could feel the pointed look she was throwing at you.

Okay, so you could be a little too pushy when it comes to putting the moves on someone. But you were pretty damn great at reading the signs, and Sage didn’t look put off by it all—if the cocky grin, and eyebrow raise was anything to go by. You could’ve sworn you felt a little tug at your hip moments ago, before Coco swooped in all mother-hen.

Sage, bless this man, only gave her a tight-lipped smile and nodded towards his blue haired and blond friends. “I’m well acquainted with bisexual guys,” it was how he said it that made you stop your struggling. He wasn’t bisexual—you could pick that much up from that. You squinted at him and he raised a brow at you.

Velvet skipped over to you and Coco holding up the printed copies of the pictures—shit they actually bought them? “I got them!” she grinned, not even batting an eyelash at the situation that she waltzed into.

Coco nodded, “then let’s go win you some rabbit stuffies!” Damn it, no. No no, nononono, no. She began to pull you away and you shifted so you could stand on your feet, though the hold she had refused to lessen and forced you into a hunched over position.

“I text you,” Sage called after you and you almost missed it with the conversation that your female companions dove into. It wasn’t until you were three rides away and Coco finally released her hold on you did you grasp the fact that he’d text you.

You stopped, a grin breaking out over your face and your friends turn to stare at you with raised brows. You fist pumped the air and pop the collar of your shirt (even though you lacked the proper collar for popping), “he said he’d text me.”

Coco rolled her eyes grabbing your shirt and pulling you after them, “oh shut up.”

Chapter Text

Fox:

“velvet wants the zoo, so we’r goin there”

..

Scarlet spends hours inspecting himself before he bothers to even show his face outside of his house— it used to be an hour in the bathroom, an hour in his room, and maybe another hour some place in the house. It used to be a lot worse before the surgery and he used to wear a binder, it used to be even worse when he didn’t have a binder. Now though, now Scarlet spends an hour in the bathroom then and an hour sitting around waiting for the rest of them to get ready.

‘Cause Neptune takes just about as long as him, and he doesn’t have a good reason for it.

The shower is going off for the fourth and final time that morning and you flipping through your phone with Scarlet flopped back on the spot beside you on the bed. “Did you sleep at all last night or did you just text that dude?” he asked, chin digging into your shoulder as he stared down at the phone in your hand.

You had to lie, you had to. It was embarrassing if you didn’t. “Full seven hours of sleep,” you replied and Scarlet snorted sneaking around and plucking the phone from your hand. You groaned, reaching out to grab his arm but the damn bastard rolled out of reach. You had only gotten a solid three (maybe four) hours of sleep in this morning and you haven’t had any caffeine to wake you up.

You and Fox had spent the vast amount of the time texting and at one part in the evening you were sent a video by an unknown number (a woman named Coco if the people in the video were anything to go from) that was taken inside Fox and friends hotel room.

“Jesus H. Christ, dude. Why the hell did no one tell me he was this ripped?” And shit Scarlet just found the video. Now it was nothing bad, per say, just... Fox conversing with his friends while shirtless and dripping wet (freshly changed—no towel around his waist, a shame really). Drinking something in the classic red solo cup, argument of we’re drinking that tomorrow and I’m only having a glass! That broke out into a little thing of shut your whore mouth between Fox and the woman that you assume to be Coco.

It was an interesting video... you watched it four times.

And a lot of it was because of the lack of clothes, the other part was the dialogue.  

You hear the video repeat and Sun is now watching your phone with widening eyes. You want to just curl back under the blankets and pull the pillow over your head but you had just fixed up your hair and you didn’t feel like restarting your morning routine just because of these idiots. Neptune peeked his nose over Scarlet’s shoulder, hair still dripping and a towel fashioned around his waist. “Well he’s good looking,” he voiced and the other two nodded.

You stand up and pluck the phone out of Scarlet’s hands now that everyone had gotten a decent enough look in on the guy you were obviously flirting with. He started it and you were inclined to continue it—hey, he was an attractive guy and if he was interested in you who were you to turn him away without testing the waters out a bit?

“Who’s up for the zoo?” You quickly pocket your phone before Scarlet could dive back and steal it from you (again).

--

You know when Scarlet spots him when the redhead’s elbow dug in deep in your side. His boney elbow pressed into your kidney and twisting as he leaned in and hissed, “There’s lover boy,” in that sickening sweet teasing voice of his. You’re going to strangle him one of these days... or throw him into a fountain. Water always seemed to be Scarlet’s natural enemy.

The main reason as to why you never had to worry about Neptune and Scarlet dating—their conflicting emotions on swimming proved to be a constant tension in their grand friendship.

The woman that you met briefly the other day tugged at Fox’s hood pulling him towards the direction that you and company were coming from. The sleeves of the dark gray hoodie cut off and you notice the fraying around the shoulders. “What the hel—oh,” his shoulders dropped and he shifted from one foot to the other, orange hair swaying with the motion.

It looked soft; you wanted to twirl the long strands between your fingers and maybe even tuck it behind his ear and away from his face.

He looks up at you through his lashes a small shy smile tugging up the corners of his lips and you can feel your own mirroring his. You feel a sudden wave of timidness grip your gut and you stare at his zipper when your face begins to heat. It’s funny to think that yesterday the two of you were sharing the same air without a shimmer of nerves biting at you. It’s funny to think that both of you spent the better part of the night texting and at one point of that conversation things did in fact dip into a more lewd area of conversation.

“So I’m Coco, this is my boyfriend Yatsuhashi,” you look up as the woman points to herself and her companions, “and this is Velvet and Fox.” The petite brown haired girl waved her hand and smiled prettily—you could see both Neptune and Sun perk up and eye each other at that. You don’t want to even think about what crossed those two’s brains.

But Fox was eyeing them now and his hackles were rising.

Scarlet stepped forward pointing to himself, “seeing as we’ve been nominated as honorary spokespeople; I’m Scarlet. The blond doofus is Sun and our blue-haired companion is Neptune. Sage and I will try to keep them from climbing into the lemurs and fish aquariums—most likely in that order.”

Velvet squished the gravel under the toes of her boots, “I was promised that I could pet the bunnies in the petting zoo so...” Her cheeks coloured as she tucked a strand of chocolate brown hair behind her ear. “As long as I get to see rabbits I’ll consider this a successful day.”

“Oh come on!” Coco exclaimed pawing at the other female and taking her under her proverbial wing. “You said you had fun on the rollercoasters yesterday!”

The two girls took off towards the Indonesian-Malaya exhibits and the rest of the group fell into step behind them. Fox would bump against your side as you walked, your fingers itching to grab hold of his when they’d brush and linger against yours. Fox divides his attention between glaring holes in the back of Sun and Neptune’s heads and glancing at you out of the corner of his eye—much like how you were doing to him when you knew he was glowering at your friends.

You grab his hand and weave your fingers together just as he was in mid-threat, his head whipped down to your hands and his mouth clicked closed. You could see both Neptune and Sun snake away towards Scarlet now that Fox’s attention was away but you didn’t dwell on that. No, watching his body posture change from a challenging, aggressive stance to something... dare you say, bashful was awe inspiring. It brought a new batch of butterflies out to tickle and flutter against your stomach when he smiled at you.

The group breaks for lunch after making their way through the first three zones.

Sun and Neptune pull you down to their level when Fox gets waved over by Coco—her grin huge and teasing and you can only guess what she’s going to be harping that poor man about. They drag you towards the table that Scarlet found for the group and the quickly sprout out their pleas. You aren’t sure what they’re begging for until Scarlet pipes up with a, “they want you to distract your boyfriend so they can ‘make the moves’ on Velvet.”

The look they both give you makes you feel slightly bad for even considering it, “and how exactly do you want me to do that?” You decide to humor them, and yourself, and let them explain their plan. When they continue on with their exploration you were supposed to distract Fox in anyways (Scarlet mention kissing) possible while Neptune and Sun took Velvet and ran (with Scarlet tailing after them because those two still needed some supervision). “You owe me,” you sighed pushing away from them and rounding the table to save a seat for Fox to join your side.

Lunch continued like the noisy endeavor you expected from your friends; Sun at least had the courtesy to cover his mouth with his hand when he couldn’t keep his mouth silent. You and Fox slipped your hands under the table, intertwining your fingers together as you stole fries from his container. His hair tickled your shoulder as he sat as close as possible, those hand fingers clutching your hand. You’ll remember them later, picture them elsewhere on your body—gripping places, exploring others, palms sliding and… you stop yourself from continuing.

Coco and Yatsuhashi split from the group shortly after lunch; a quick word with both Fox and Velvet before the couple left hand in hand back towards the African part of the park. It was when they were making their way to the Artic section of the zoo when Neptune and Sun threw you a pointed look.

And… well, that’s what you have to do sometimes. Sometimes you need to do a brother a favor. “You owe me big,” you mouthed to the two men on either side of the brunette before stopping. Fox continued on until their intertwined fingers pulled him back.

“Sage?” the man questioned, turning his inquiring eyes towards you. You tug him in, ignoring how Sun and Neptune take Velvet under their wings and grab hold of Scarlet as they ran with the girl. “What are you—?” It was like a movie.

You tugged him in by his hand, cupping his face with your other hand before kissing him. Stealing away his breath, his body seemed to swoon beneath your lips and touch. Kissing him was like the first gasp of breath after a panic attack. That full feeling when you can finally get that first true lungful of oxygen—you didn’t know how much you needed it until now.

Fox wrapped an arm around your shoulders, mouth opening beneath yours. His tongue beckons yours in, lulling yours into his mouth as his hand wiggles free from your hold to cup your neck in return. You moan into his mouth and one of his answers; “Sage,” he whispers before kissing you anew. Your hand grips his belt, dragging his hips to yours and grinding your crotches together. “Sage,” he clutches onto you, reeling you in—holding you there.

Weren’t you the one that was supposed to hold him back? Or was he the one that kept you pinned down now?