Apr 23, 2024
Jackie, my best friend Jackie <3
pls i kept forgetting to post this
thank you so much @gutsfics for this super awesome pixel art of my HWU MC Jackie!!! I love it so much!!!
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Malaysia
seen from Canada
seen from Kazakhstan
seen from Türkiye
seen from Australia
seen from United States
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Kazakhstan
seen from United States
seen from Kazakhstan
Jackie, my best friend Jackie <3
pls i kept forgetting to post this
thank you so much @gutsfics for this super awesome pixel art of my HWU MC Jackie!!! I love it so much!!!
Choices Pride 2024 Week 2 Masterlist
Alpha
Kalani Picrew - m!MC (Kalani Mochizuki) - @peonyblossom
A Very Scandalous Proposal
SpreadJoy #885 - Nigel Brookes - @storyofmychoices
Blades of Light and Shadow
Forever my tiny human 💛 - nb!elf!OC (Nyx Selenastra) x Aerin Valleros - @storyofmychoices
Happy Pride 🌈 from Daenarya & Maiele - f!human!MC (Daenarya); elf!MC (Maiele Nightbloom) - @lilyoffandoms
The Elementalists
MC Pride Hearts - MC (Apollo Solaris); Atlas Erndhart; OC (Lance Hartley) - @saibug1022
High School Story
Evie and Aiden Picrews - f!MC (Evie Ayana, HSS) x Aiden Zhou - @cadybear420
Jamie is ready for pride! - nb!MC (Jamie Baxter, HSS) - @peonyblossom
Ria and Maria Picrew - OC (Ria Morena) x Maria Flores - @lover-also-fighter-also
Picrew - MC (Cher Lee, HSS:CA) x Ajay Bhandari - @cadybear420
Picrew - MC (Jordan Price, HSS Prime) x Julian Castillo - @cadybear420
Picrew - m!MC (Alan Parke, HSS) x Emma Hawkins - @cadybear420
Picrew - f!MC (Evie Ayana, HSS) x Aiden Zhou - @cadybear420
Pride Heart Picrews - f!MC (Lola Williams, HSS Prime); nb!MC (Jamie Baxter, HSS) - @peonyblossom
It Lives Anthology
MC Pride Hearts - MC (Val, ILITW); MC (Leon, ILB); MCs (Athantis Twins, ILW) - @saibug1022
Picrew - m!MC (Devi, ILITW) - @gutsfics
Picrew - f!MC (Harper Addison Vance-Fisher, ILB) x Tom Sato - @cadybear420
Picrew - f!MC (Jo Hunter, ILITW) x Lucas Thomas - @cadybear420
SpreadJoy #886 - Lily Ortiz - @storyofmychoices
SpreadJoy #882 - Andy Kang - @storyofmychoices
Laws of Attraction
Bisharpe pride heart icons - MC x Marcus Sharpe - @saibug1022
Murder at Homecoming
SpreadJoy #884 - Stevie Sun - @storyofmychoices
Open Heart
Edits - nb!MC (Baxter Lucafont) - @gutsfics
Some Sydney Picrews - nb!MC (Sydney Valentine) - @peonyblossom
Red Carpet Diaries
SpreadJoy #883 - Seth Levine - @storyofmychoices
Untameable
y'all means all - m!MC (Jules Rojas, Untameable); m!MC (Barrett Kemp, Unbridled) - @peonyblossom
Crossovers
Picrews - MC (Jiahao, ID) x Cas Harlow; MC (Fiona Lightwood, LOA) x Gabe Ricci; MC (Rams Erndhart); MC (Sawtooth, Alpha) x Channing Lowe - @choicesmc
Sea of People
AO3 Link Fandom: High School Story Prime Pairing: Wes Porter & Simon Klein (M!MC) (GEN) Length: 612 Words Rating: General Audiences (if u ignore the one (1) cuss word) Prompt: an image of a large group of people, many with rainbow flags Summary: Large crowds of people aren't for everyone, even if its an event for gay people and you are a gay people. A/N: for @choicespride. just personally speaking, as someone who gets overwhelmed in crowds. today's prompt image of a crowd is vaguely overwhelming to me. so i wanted to write something that reflected that. also i havent ever written wes before so if he's not in character. whoops. its a 600 word fic idc.
Simon knew he should be enjoying himself, but he was hot, and thirsty, and his binder had never felt as tight as it did now, with sweat suctioning it to his chest. Not to mention the crowds, and with crowds came noise, and noise meant overstimulation, but he didn’t dare turn off his hearing aid just in case he needed it to find the friends he had lost after his band, Kingslayer, finished their set.
It had been nice to be up on stage with his friends, since they all went their separate ways after graduation, but now that the event had lost it’s shine- at least for him, anyway- all Simon felt was tired and overwhelmed.
He staggers through the crowd, almost aimlessly, trying to find his way out, or at least someone he knew, but it felt like trying to swim against a current with concrete shoes on.
“‘Scuse me, Pardon me,” he mutters quietly as he tries his best to fight his way over to where the booths were set up without smacking the daylights out of anyone by accident.
Then someone grabs his hand.
As tired and disoriented as he was, he decides to just let this whoever-it-was tug him through the crowd and to the outskirts of the park the pride event was set up in.
When they stop in the shade of the tree, Simon flops down with a sigh. As he catches his breath, his savior hands him an ice cold bottle of water.
“Oh, thanks…” he rolls the bottle over his forehead for a few seconds, eyes closed. Then he chugs about half the bottle and pours the rest over himself. “Fuck, that feels good.”
His savior laughs and sits next to him, and now that he’s had a moment to calm down, he realizes that it’s--
“Wes!” Simon tosses an arm around him. “I didn’t think you’d be here!”
“Yeah, big crowds like this aren’t really my thing, but Ezra wanted me to see Kingslayer preform. I’m glad I caught you, though. You looked like you were about to pass out.”
“Yeahhh… I was too busy putting away my bass to realize everyone else had scattered until it was too late. Thanks for getting me outta there.”
“It’s nothing.” Wes bumps his shoulder against Simon’s.
They people watch for a few minutes, but it doesn’t take long for Simon’s sweat and water soaked binder to begin to really bother him.
He wiggles in place, trying to tug it away from his body enough to get comfortable.
Wes looks at him. “You doing alright?”
“No! It’s so hot and noisy and my binder feels way too tight!”
“Do you want to get out of here, then? Come back to mine and Ezra’s? We could get dinner and catch up.”
“That sounds nice. Way better than this.”
Wes and Simon grab each other’s hands, both pulling in opposing directions to tug each other up.
“Let me just text Ez and let him know that we’re going. He was planning on staying out later than me, anyway, so he’ll probably catch a ride from one of the others.”
“‘Kay.”
Once Wes’ phone is back in his pocket, he tosses an arm across Simon’s shoulders and leads him back around the crowd and out of the park.
Simon gives one last look over his shoulder and sighs. “I tried to like it, I really did. I just wasn’t expecting it to be so… much.”
Wes laughs quietly. “You don’t have to enjoy big pride events like this just because you’re queer, Simon. You can celebrate just by being yourself.”
“...Yeah.” Simon smiles at him. “That’s way better.”
Asexual Awareness Week 2023 Masterlist
High School Story
Ace Headcanon Questionnaire - Myra Khandaar - @cadybear420
Immortal Desires
Ace Questionnaire - nb!MC (Skylar Barnett-Lyons) - @aallotarenunelma
It Lives Anthology
Ace Awareness Week Questionnaire - m!MC (Isaak Vance) - @peonyblossom
Ace Questionnaire - f!MC (Riikka Yläkorpi) - @aallotarenunelma
Meet My MC - m!MC (Isaak Vance) - @peonyblossom
Laws of Attraction
Ace Awareness Week Questionnaire - m!MC (Reigan Lee) - @gutsfics
Transgender Awareness Month 2023 Masterlist
Bachelorette Party
Aisha Bhatt Moodboard - @lorirwritesfanfic
Blades of Light and Shadow
Hades Nightbloom Redesigns - m!elf!MC (Hades Nightbloom) - @peonyblossom
Odette of Riverbend Redesigns - nb!orc!MC (Odette of Riverbend) - @peonyblossom
Bloodbound
Meet My MC - f!MC (Magdalene Constantino) - @gaiuskamilah
Trans Questionnaire - f!MC (Jasmine Yin) - @cadybear420
Crimes of Passion
Dewdrops and New Names - nb!MC (Jenna Rose) - @peonyblossom
Headcanons - nb!Trystan Thorne - @peonyblossom
Fanart - MC (Ceri Rose) - @choices-ceri
POV Fanart - MC (Cameron Shina Rose) - @cassie-thorne
Foreign Affairs
Transgender & Ace Questionnaire - nb!MC (Cillian Degroot) - @gutsfics
High School Story
Headcanons - Michael Harrison x nb!MC (Jamie Baxter) - @peonyblossom
Transgender Questionnaire - m!MC (Simon Klein) - @gutsfics
Transgender Questionnaire - m!Twin (Bear Lee) - @cadybear420
It Lives Anthology
Kofi Request - Noah Marshall x m!MC (Harry Spear) - drawn by @somewillwin; requested/submitted by @peonyblossom
Open Heart
HE!!! - Ethan Ramsey - drawn by @mydemonsdrivealimo; commissioned/submitted by @peonyblossom
Crossovers
Headcanons - High School Story/It Lives Beneath - Michael Harrison, Danni Asturias - @peonyblossom
EVERYBODY LOOK AT THIS BEAUTIFUL TRANSPARENT @gutsfics MADE OF HWU!JACKIE
[FIC] Earthquake Prank (GONE WRONG) (GONE SEXUAL) (I DIED???????!!!!!!1???) | Part Two
AO3 Link | Previous Chapter (AO3 / Tumblr) | Next Chapter (currently not available
Fandom: Hollywood U
Pairing: Thomas Hunt x Avalon Hammond (M!MC)
Length: 5,643 words
Rating: Teen
Warnings: Teacher-Student Relationship, Fake Death, Canon Atypical Cursing
Summary: How do you apologize to your boyfriend after faking your death for a prank? Whatever your answer is, it's incorrect.
A/N: special thanks to my beta readers, @lame-kid-on-couch and @spacepumpkins ily smooch <3 they also beta read chapter one
Thomas Hunt watches in horror as Avalon falls through the open skylight and vanishes in the fog. “AVALON!” He screams, rushing to the edge. “Avalon! Avalon! Quickly, Ethan, downstairs! We have to--”
Ethan puts a hand on Thomas’ shoulder. “Professor… It’s too late..”
Lisa shakes her head sadly. “There’s no way Avalon survived that fall…”
“No…” Thomas stares into the smoke, kneading Avalon’s cardigan into a ball with his hands and pressing it to his chest. “I- I-” his voice breaks as he tries to speak. “I never told Avalon… how much I-- why didn’t I ever say…”
“Say what, Professor?”
Thomas whips around to see Avalon leaving the library, followed by Spencer and a few other students. “Avalon!” Relief floods his face. “You’re-! How?”
Ethan grins. “Do my eyes deceive me, or did Avalon successfully prank the Thomas Hunt?”
Lisa bounces excitedly. “We! Pranked! Hunt! We! Pranked! Hunt!”
“Is this the proudest moment of my life?” Ethan grabs Lisa’s arms and bounces with her. “Yeah! Yes, it is.”
Thomas looks in disbelief at the two bouncing happily, then at Avalon, who’s smiling- albeit somewhat sadly, and can’t meet his eyes. Slowly, he scowls. “No! You did not prank me! I never actually thought-”
Avalon tips his head to the side. “Come on, Professor. Accept defeat with a little dignity.” But even his gloating is a little flat.
Thomas stews silently for a moment, then throws Avalon’s cardigan back at him. “You may have won the day... but mark my words, I always have the last word.” And with that he turns and storms off.
Avalon reaches out to Hunt. “T-” He sighs and shakes his head, dropping his arm. After a moment, he pulls his cardigan back on and looks at his friends. “You guys owe me, big time.”
“That’s fair.” Ethan shrugs and pats Avalon’s back.
The five of them stand silently around the open skylight for a few seconds.
“So…” Lisa looks at the others. “What now?”
“I think we should clean up the screening room. We made that mess after all.” Avalon catches Bianca’s arm as she tries to slip away. “Nope. You too.”
Bianca huffs and frowns. “Isn’t that what the custodial staff is for? Why should we have to clean it up?”
“No. I’ll let the custodial staff know there’s a broken skylight out here so they can do something about the hole, but we’re cleaning it ourselves.” Avalon turns to the main building on campus. “You guys get started with the shelves and reels. I’ll be back with brooms for the broken glass. Crash, keep an eye on Bianca so she doesn’t try to get out of it.”
An hour and a half later, the five students lean against the walls and lie on the floor of the screening room. With the exception of the broken skylight, the room seems to be pretty much back in order.
“Ugh, is that it? Are we done?” Bianca moans. “Can we go home now?”
Avalon sighs and looks around the room, running a hand through his hair. “I think so… I mean, unless y'all wanna help me reinstall the skylight.”
The other four groan in response.
Avalon nods. “I thought you might say that.” Stretching, he pulls his phone out of his pocket and turns it off airplane mode. Instantly, he gets flooded with notifications. “What the hell-” He unlocks his phone and turns twitter notifications off before scrolling through them.
“What do they say?” Ethan looks over his shoulder.
“Well… it looks like a few are congratulating us for pranking Hunt…” He clicks his tongue. “...And the rest are condolences for my loss?” He squints, confused, and scrolls faster. “...Oh. Jenni tweeted that I died.”
“Oh my god!” Bianca laughs. “What did she say?”
Avalon finds the original tweet and reads it out loud. “‘OMG, just saw ‘@avasham’ fall through a skylight! Don’t think he survived. Sad days, he’s one of my close friends-’ with a frowny face, and the hashtags ‘RIP Avalon’ and ‘you will be missed’... since when was I one of her close friends?”
“Since tweeting about your death would get her a bunch of sympathy likes. Look.” Ethan points at Avalon’s phone.
Avalon rolls his eyes and types out a reply to her tweet. “‘Thanks for the condolences. Stop tweeting that I’m dead.’” He hits send and slips his phone back into his pocket. “Whatever. Since we’re done here, I’m gonna go talk to Hunt and apologize for all of us.”
“What, apologize?” Lisa jumps up. “What for?! Pranking him?”
“Yes,” Avalon says flatly. “Honestly, I think we took it way too far.”
“Well, you’re the one who jumped through the skylight!”
“Exactly. That’s why I’m going to apologize.” Avalon waves his hand and starts heading out of the room. “Y’all do whatever you want, I’m doing this.” He leaves before anyone can say anything else.
Crash watches him go, then looks at the other three. “Hey… do you guys think the professor will notice if some of his dried fruit goes missing?”
Avalon knocks gently on the door to Hunt’s office, then lets himself in without waiting for an answer. He locks the door behind him. “Hey…”
Hunt scowls. “What do you want, Avalon?”
Avalon sighs and takes a seat across from him, not meeting his gaze. “To apologize. We took our prank way too far, and that was even before I let them convince me to fall through the skylight. What we did in the basement was dangerous and stupid, and what I did after was even moreso.” He shakes his head sadly. “Most importantly, I’m sorry for putting you through that, Thomas. I was devastated when I thought you were knocked out, I can’t imagine what thinking I was dead must have been like for you.”
Hunt doesn’t say anything for a few seconds. Then he slowly stands up, putting his palms flat on his desk. “Don’t you ever-” he growls, but his voice quavers in a way that betrays his emotions- “scare me like that, ever again.”
Avalon looks away, ashamed, biting his lip. “I won’t. I promise.”
Hunt pulls the blinds on the window closed, then slips around his desk to grab Avalon’s hands and pull him out of the chair. He wraps his arms around Avalon, holding him close. He presses his face into the juncture between Avalon’s neck and shoulder. After a moment, he whispers, “Stay at my house. For the rest of the week. I don’t think I can let you out of my sight again after that.”
Avalon nods, turning to kiss the side of his head. “I will. I am so, so sorry.”
Hunt lifts his head, pressing a tender kiss against Avalon’s lips, and the two men stay like that for a while, holding each other in their arms.
Eventually, Hunt breaks away from the kiss and places his forehead back against Avalon’s neck with a sigh. “How am I supposed to get you home? You didn’t drive today, did you?”
“Fuck, no. I fucking hate LA traffic; Ethan gave me a ride so we could finish setting up…” Avalon gently strokes Hunt’s hair. He hums quietly in thought. “I do have an idea, but unfortunately for you, it does involve us spending about an hour with my friends.”
“Great.” Hunt grimaces and looks up at Avalon. “But I don’t think that’ll help to keep our relationship private.”
“It will if we play our cards right, but leave that to me. You should just think of it as getting to know your partner’s friends.” Avalon kisses the side of Hunt’s head, just above his ear. “Like the Spice Girls.”
Hunt sighs. “...Like the Spice Girls.”
Avalon leads Hunt to the common area of Lisa’s dorm where she, Crash, and Ethan are recounting the events of the day to Addison.
“--and that’s when Avalon fell through the skylight!” To emphasize what he was saying, Crash tosses himself over the back of a couch.
“I thought you said he didn’t die!” Addi exclaims, dismayed.
“He did, but he’s fine now.” Crash pops back up, leaning over the couch. He points to where Avalon is standing with Hunt, at the edge of the room behind the other three. “He’s right there, actually.”
“Oh! Ava!” Addi lets out a squeak, somewhere between surprise and relief, and rushes over to wrap Avalon in a tight hug. “I’m glad you’re not dead!”
“I’m also glad I’m not dead!” Avalon responds cheerfully, returning her hug. “That’s a whole thing I would prefer to keep y’all from experiencing!”
“Hey, quick question,” Lisa interjects, “what the fuck is the professor doing here?”
Hunt frowns. “Language, Miss Valentine. I know classes are over for the day, but I still expect a certain professionalism from my students while on campus.”
“Oh, sorry.” Lisa rolls her eyes. “What the fuck are you doing here, sir?”
Avalon lets go of Addi, but keeps his arm slung casually across her shoulders. “I’ve invited him to get dinner with us. As an apology.”
The other students look at each other, then at Hunt- who seems slightly startled himself- and then at Avalon.
Lisa speaks up first. “Why?”
Avalon tips his head to the side, eyebrows raised and eyes wide. “...As an apology. I just said that. Apology dinner!” He wiggles his fingers. “It’s the least we can do.”
Ethan stares at Avalon for a few seconds, then shrugs and stands up. “Well, we were planning on getting dinner already so I don’t see why not.”
“Well for one thing, he locked us in a basement,” Lisa retorts.
Avalon snorts. “We locked us in the basement, Lisa. He just took the key.”
“I just don’t see why we have to apologize at all! Especially since you already did a few minutes ago!”
“You saw his reaction. I don’t think a single, verbal apology is good enough.”
Lisa frowns and crosses her arms. “Wednesdays are supposed to be the nights where we hang out and pretend we don’t have unstarted homework due. How are we supposed to do that with one of our professors sitting with us?”
“Lisa… are you not doing your homework?” Avalon asks, concerned. “I can help you if you need it.”
Lisa’s face flushes and she scoffs. “Uh- of course I am, dad! I was just saying, you know, hypothetically if we didn’t have our work started…” She shakes her head and storms for the door. “Whatever! Let’s just go get this stupid apology dinner over with!”
“Right, well, we should get going before the dinner rush hits.” Ethan glances at Hunt and Avalon. “Crash and Lisa, you’re with me. Addi too, if you’re going to join us.”
“I’d love to!” Addison winks at Avalon and shoots him a thumbs up before following Lisa, Ethan, and Crash out.
“Wait- Ava didn’t drive, how’s he going to get there if he’s not coming with us?” Crash asks as Ethan herds him toward the door.
“Don’t worry about it.” Ethan looks back at Avalon one last time before leaving the building.
After a moment of silence, Avalon turns to Hunt. “Ta-dah!” He jazz hands. “An alibi.”
“Are you sure this is a good idea?”
“It’s better than nothing!”
Avalon sits in the passenger seat of Hunt’s sports car as they speed through LA, following Ethan in his porsche.
“Just as a heads up,” Avalon begins, gripping the inside of the door frame as Hunt zips through traffic. “This place we’re going, it ain’t exactly Michelin rated. It’s nice, yeah, but it’s one of them somewhat-cheap-but-high-end-feeling type places. Outta the way enough that we don’t gotta worry about paparazzi swarming us when Lisa is around, but still nice enough that TMZ or Dirty Hollywood ain’t gonna say anything stupid about us being there if someone does get a picture.”
“Thank you for the warning.” Hunt glances at Avalon while they’re paused at a red light.
“Mhm,” Avalon hums in response and turns to look out the tinted side window. They sit in silence for a moment before Avalon speaks up again. “By the way. Addison knows about our relationship. I think Ethan does too, but I haven’t told him.”
“What?” Hunt brakes a little too hard.
Avalon grips the doorframe tighter. “That first night we spent together, Addi and I had brunch planned for the next morning.” He shrugs and rubs the back of his neck. “I didn’t really think we were gonna see each other again so soon, much less because you’d turn out to be our teacher, so when she asked how the evening before went, I told her I went home with a cute guy named Thomas, and after that first day of classes she was able to put two and two together.”
“She hasn’t told anyone?”
“Of course not! Don’tcha think there woulda been tabloids and… I don’t know, weirdly invasive slash fiction on Tumblr by now if she’d told someone? Word travels fast, and gossip even faster.”
“I suppose…” Hunt sighs. “And Ethan?”
Avalon shrugs again. “Like I said, I haven’t told him, but he’s a smart guy so I’d be more surprised if he didn’t know. I mean, he figured out Janey and I have been each other’s beards since highschool without me saying anything about it. Besides-” he pokes Hunt’s shoulder- “You told Chris.”
Hunt waves Avalon’s hand away. “I was drunk! He didn’t even know I was talking about you until you told him your side.”
“Well how was I supposed to know you were also fucking him? You didn’t talk to me outside of class for, like, two months!”
“Because you’re my student, Avalon!” Hunt makes an exasperated noise and shakes his head. After a moment, he quietly says, “Do you know how hard those two months were for me? Having you so close, but just out of reach?”
“I know,” Avalon sighs. He gently places a hand on Hunt’s thigh. “It was hard for me, too.”
Hunt tightens his grip on the steering wheel and keeps his eyes locked on Ethan’s car ahead of them. Slowly, he lowers his right hand and places it on top of Avalon’s, lacing their fingers together.
He keeps Avalon’s hand firmly in his grip until they turn off the road and into a small parking lot, next to a smaller restaurant tucked away between the city and the suburbs. He puts his hand back on the steering wheel as Avalon moves his own back to his lap.
“It’s… quaint. I didn’t know this was here,” he says, quickly finding a parking spot.
“That’s the point.” Avalon smiles and taps the side of his head. “Not many people do.”
“Right…” Hunt sighs and looks at Avalon. “Let’s get this over with, then. I’d like to take you home as soon as possible.”
Avalon snorts and laughs, touching Hunt’s arm. “Dirty old man,” he says, fondly.
Hunt’s face flushes. “I didn’t mean it like that-” He frowns. “And we’re the same age.”
“I’m just teasing you, darlin’. I gotta get it all out of my system before I slip up and say something in front of my friends.” He begins to lean in to kiss Hunt on the cheek, but stops a few inches away and pulls back. Instead, he hooks his pointer finger around Hunt’s and gives it a gentle squeeze before letting go and exiting the car.
The two men walk toward the restaurant, where Avalon’s four friends are already waiting by the door.
“Took you long enough,” Lisa says hotly.
Ethan lets out a small laugh and opens the door, holding it for the others. “They were right behind us the entire time.”
“Whatever,” Lisa grumbles, following Crash and Addison inside.
Avalon laughs and shakes his head, stepping up onto the curb. For the second time that day- only this time by complete accident- he puts too much weight on his twisted ankle and begins to fall. For just a second, his body goes into panic mode. Instead of just catching himself, he braces for impact.
Which never comes.
At least, not in the way he expected.
Hunt pulls him upright, arms wrapped securely around his waist and concern in his eyes. “Are you alright?” He asks quietly.
Avalon’s face flushes. “Yeah,” he breathes. “I just tripped, that’s all. I could’ve caught myself.”
“It didn’t look like you were going to…” Hunt tucks some of Avalon’s hair behind his ear.
“Then I’m glad that you did…” Avalon gently places a hand on Hunt’s chest.
The two men lean towards each other, lips parted slightly.
Ethan clears his throat, still holding the door open while pointedly looking away from them.
“Hm.” With that, Hunt lets go of Avalon and enters the restaurant.
Avalon stands there, dazed for a second before shaking his head and following Hunt inside.
As he passes Ethan, Ethan grabs him by the elbow and says quietly, “Hey. Be careful.”
“I am being careful.”
“Ava, that wasn’t careful in the slightest. This is the kind of scandal that could ruin your entire career if it got out. As your agent-- more importantly, as your friend, I can’t let that happen to you.”
“Gah-- I know, it’s just...” Avalon takes a deep breath and sighs. He runs a hand through his hair. “It’s hard to be careful around him sometimes. I have to spend so much time around him every weekday pretending that I don’t-- that I’m not in a relationship with him. When he gets too close, all of me goes a little bit crazy.”
“I can’t say I know what you feel. But at the very least, please try to keep your hands to yourself in public.” He starts to enter the restaurant, but pauses and turns back to Avalon. “And maybe stop screwing around in his office. That’s a guarantee you’ll get caught.”
“Huh- wh- uh-! We weren’t--! We don’t--!”
Ethan laughs and shakes his head, and the two of them enter the restaurant together.
Try as he might, there was no way for Thomas to see the dinner as a way to get to know Avalon’s friends, not in whatever way Avalon had meant. They were his students, first and foremost, and the only things he could think to ask them about were class related. So, instead he opted to sit quietly and sip his water.
As did everyone else at the table.
Thomas couldn’t exactly place it, but something felt off. He’d had enough one on one time with Avalon that he felt rather comfortable in figuring out how Avalon felt most of the time, but the same could not be said about his friends. Conversation died out as quickly as it started, Avalon’s friends glancing oddly at Thomas every time. It was easier before the waitress took their orders, he just pretended to be as invested in the menu as everyone else seemed to be.
He did find that a little odd, considering he was sure Avalon had said they’d all been there multiple times.
“So,” Ethan says, finally breaking the silence that had fallen over the table since the waitress left. “Ava. How on earth did you get $30,000 in property damage?”
Thomas nearly drops his glass of water. “You… what?” He stares at Avalon in disbelief.
“Like I said the other day, prank went awry.” Avalon shrugs nonchalantly and sips his margarita. He was the only person at the table who had ordered an alcoholic beverage; Thomas realizes with a start he had no idea if Avalon’s friends were over the legal drinking age or not. He knew Avalon was, but he typically didn’t care to know the exact ages of any of his students.
“But how?” Spencer- Crash, Thomas reminds himself- presses, leaning across the table. “And how come we haven’t heard anything about this?”
“Because it was forever ago- literally, not like last week or something- and also in Texas. It happened when I was in high school. Senior prank gone wrong.” He takes another sip of his drink.
And doesn’t say anything else.
Thomas glances around the table, trying to gauge the reactions of Avalon’s friends, before clearing his throat and speaking up. “Yes, but how exactly?”
“I’d tell you, but we took a blood oath never to speak the details.”
There was a pause.
Then Lisa started laughing. “Good one, Ava.”
“I’m serious. Look.” Avalon sits up and holds his right hand out, palm up. He points out a thin white scar that ran across it, barely there anymore. “It hurt like a bitch and I couldn’t use it for a while. It still hurts sometimes, honestly. They don’t ever bring that up when characters do it in movies.”
More silence.
Ethan took a deep breath, rubbing a hand across his face. “Wwwhyyyyyyyyyy. Why would you do that.”
“To make sure we don’t talk about it, obviously.”
“Yes, but why?” Addison asks.
“Why do teens do anything, ever? Edgy bullshit is usually the answer.” Avalon shrugs again and waves his hand. He picks his margarita back up and goes to take a sip, but stops. “Hey. T-- Professor, you said you were a production assistant on Battlefield Earth?”
Thomas frowns. “Are you really using that to change the subject?”
“Yup. That must have been interesting, huh? That movie was made by some… interesting people, wasn’t it?” Avalon leans a bit closer to him, eyes wide.
Beautiful, beautiful brown eyes.
Thomas clenches his fist under the table, digging his fingernails into his palms to keep himself from reaching out and tucking that strand of hair back away. “If you’re talking about John Trevolta, I don’t know if he’s homosexual. It was 1999 and I barely interacted with him.”
Avalon let out a laugh- loud and beautiful- and that weird offness around the table seemed to dissipate, at least a little. “No! I didn’t mean John Trevolta-- well, I guess I kind of did? But not for that reason!” He suddenly turns serious and slaps his hand down on the table, staring intensely at Thomas in a way that makes him feel… something. Something enjoyable. “Scientology. That’s the reason.”
Thomas blinks, chasing away those lingering thoughts. “Oh.” He scrunches his face and shakes his head. “Why do you want to know about that?”
“Honestly, I wanted to know if you believed that cr--” Avalon cuts himself off, looking like a deer caught in headlights for a second before shaking his head and returning to normal. “But your expression kind of answered that.”
Thomas scoffs. “The only way I would be in a cult is if I was the head of one, and I already deal with enough people who can’t think for themselves.”
Avalon’s friends share a look, and Avalon himself takes a particularly big sip of his margarita.
Thomas furrows his brow, confused for a second, and then realizes what he just said. “Oh, not-” He frowns and glances over his shoulder. “This doesn’t leave this table at all, but you five are the least intolerable of my students this year.”
“Wow,” Lisa says, flatly, “That was almost a compliment.”
“Don’t let it go to your heads.”
“I mean, we can try, but we're bound to end up with inflated egos if you keep sucking us silly like this.”
Avalon chokes on his margarita.
“Anyway, Professor,” Ethan says, leaning forward to put himself between Lisa and Hunt.“I wanted to know how you found out about the prank if Avalon didn’t tell you. I spent four years working on it!”
“Perhaps you should have taken another four years,” Thomas responds.
Avalon gives him a look.
Thomas sighs. “As much as this… pains me to say, you did put a previously unseen amount of effort into your prank.”
Lisa scoffs and begins to say something, but Avalon reaches across the table and shoves a complimentary breadstick into her mouth. “Quiet, child.” She glares at him, but eats the breadstick, slumping back into the booth seat with her arms crossed.
“If you must know,” Thomas continues, ignoring them, “there was a variety of things that tipped me off. Did you really think transporting a machine big enough to simulate an earthquake of that size onto campus would go unnoticed?”
Ethan frowns at Avalon. “I thought you were distracting him during that.”
“I was,” Avalon states. “In some ways.” Then he chugs the rest of his margarita to avoid elaborating.
“Your second mistake,” Thomas says, “Was allowing Miss Stone to, ah, help. Not only am I well aware that none of you like each other, but she tells her friends everything she does, and in turn Miss Whitman tweets everything she says.”
“Hey, why did you invite her?” Addison asks. “I could have helped.”
“Because she overheard us talking about it,” Ethan answers, “and I got the feeling that if I didn’t let her join, she would do everything she could to ruin my plans.”
“She did that anyway.”
“Yes, but not as bad as she could have.”
Lisa scrunches her nose. “I liked it better when we were talking about anything but Bianca.”
“Well, the good news is, we don’t have to talk about anything now,” Avalon says, gesturing at the approaching waitress.
Although the conversation had all but died down again, Avalon was glad to note that the silence was considerably more comfortable than it had been when they first arrived. On one hand, Crash and Lisa still seemed a bit uneasy to be sitting with their professor, but on the other Ethan and Addison had quickly realized that this was a perfect opportunity to grill their friend’s boyfriend-- nothing too invasive or inappropriate for students to be asking their teacher, of course.
During a lull in the questioning as they ate, Avalon discreetly- unconsciously, almost- shifts his leg to press it against Hunt’s. When he notices Hunt looking at him, he smiles innocently. The corner of Hunt’s mouth twitches upward slightly for not even a half of a second before he presses it back into a line.
Once the food is eaten and the bill is paid, the group quietly files out, no one really wanting to extend this apology dinner for longer than necessary.
“So,” Lisa begins, hopping once in place and turning to her friends when they reach the parking lot. “Apology dinner is over, we don’t have to spend anymore time with the professor, I think we should go clubbing! Just the five of us. No offense, but I don’t want some old jackass tagging along.” She pauses. “Actually, no. Full offense.”
“Avalon is the same age as I am,” Hunt mutters under his breath.
“Yeah, um, actually-” Avalon stifles a yawn. “I’m kinda tired. Y’all go clubbing without me if you want to go. I think I’ll head home.”
“Aw, what? I wanted to celebrate our prank. We couldn’t have done it without you!”
Avalon sighs and rubs his face. “Lisa, it’s Wednesday. We have class tomorrow.”
“So?”
“So we’ll take Avalon home and then we can go clubbing,” Ethan states, cutting in.
“But it’s not as fun without him!” Lisa whines. “Plus, I’m 100% sure Ava is going to love this club.”
“I’m sure I will, on a day that I don’t need to work on a three page essay for one of the harshest professors I have a class with. Honestly, I think you should go home and get started on your assignments as well.” Avalon gives Lisa a pointed look.
“Ew, no, I’m still going clubbing. We’re just going to have to party extra hard this weekend.”
“We’ll see. If that's it, I’m going to call myself a cab and head home.” He glances quickly at Hunt.
“Don’t bother,” Hunt says. “I’ll take you home.”
Lisa raises an eyebrow. “Really? You seemed like you wanted nothing more than to get the fuck out of here and away from us. I’m surprised you haven’t left already.”
“Forgive me if I want to make sure the student I watched fall two stories into a basement gets home safe, Miss Valentine.”
Lisa turns back to Avalon, scrunching her face. “You’re not going to go with him, are you? I’d hate it if he knew where I lived.”
Avalon shrugs. “Hey, a free ride is a free ride. If he’s offering, I’m not going to turn him down.”
“Alright, but it’s on you if he eventually decides to break into your place to murder you in your sleep.”
“Yeah... something tells me he’s not going to do that. You don’t have to worry, I’ll be fine!”
Lisa pouts. “...okay. Fine. But you should check if he keeps any test answers in his car.”
“I won’t. And I’m sure he doesn’t.”
“Check anyway!”
“I will if you study tonight!”
Lisa scoffs and sulks off.
Avalon hugs the rest of his friends, then climbs into the passenger seat of Hunt’s car. As Hunt starts the car up, Avalon turns to him. “Hey, can we actually stop by my place? I know I’ve got enough at yours that I can stay there for the rest of the week, I just…” He sighs and lightly touches the spot on his neck where a gold band usually hangs from a chain. “I left my necklace at home because I didn’t want to lose it, and you know I hate not wearing it.”
Hunt nods briskly and begins the drive to Avalon’s neighborhood.
While Avalon changes into his pajamas, he can’t help sneaking glances over at Thomas, who has turned away. His partner was attractive, he couldn’t deny it, but currently he was focused more on how unusually quiet Thomas had been on the drive back from his house. The guilt from earlier that day had come back and was beginning to gnaw at him again.
He peels off his T-shirt, tossing it into the hamper and grabbing his sleep shirt from the nightstand. He slips the new shirt on, leaving it unbuttoned as he crosses the room to wrap his arms around Thomas's waist, pulling him close.
He gently kisses up Thomas’s bare shoulder and neck. “Hey, you…” He says quietly.
Thomas puts his hands on Avalon’s arms, leaning into his embrace with a soft sigh.
Avalon strokes Thomas’s hip lightly with his fingertips. “I know that it won’t make up for today at all, but…” Avalon kisses Hunt’s jaw. “Let me take care of you tonight?”
Thomas closes his eyes, sinking farther into Avalon’s arms just for a second. Then he stands up straight and shakes his head. “Go to bed, Ava.” He pulls away.
“...Okay.” Avalon lets his arms drop to his sides as he watches Thomas leave the room, turning the light off as he goes. “Okay.” He buttons up his shirt and crawls into bed, lying so he faces the door. He grips the gold band on his necklace for comfort, grateful for its reestablished presence.
A few minutes pass before Thomas returns. He barely glances at Avalon as he makes his way across the room to the other side of the bed. He settles down under the covers, his back to Avalon.
Avalon shifts, turning slightly. “Would you like me to-”
“No. Not tonight, Ava.”
He nods, swallowing hard. “Right. Okay.” He lies back down, hugging his pillow. He takes a few deep, steady breaths. “Toma, I… I’m sorry.”
There's a pause.
“I know, Ava.”
Normally, it didn’t take long for Avalon to fall asleep.
Normally, he could just shut his brain off as soon as he got comfortable.
Normally, he wasn’t fighting with Thomas.
That’s what this was, wasn’t it? He had upset Thomas, and now he was mad and they were fighting. He just wished he knew what to do to let Thomas know exactly how sorry he was and how much he regretted what he did. He sifts through idea after idea trying to figure out something- anything- that would work.
And then Thomas rolls over and presses against Avalon’s back. He puts a hand on Avalon’s waist and rests his forehead between Avalon’s shoulder blades.
Avalon freezes, unsure of what to do as Thomas’ shoulders start gently shaking. He squeezes his pillow, and for a few minutes just lets Thomas cry quietly.
It isn’t until Thomas lets out a strangled half-sob that Avalon rolls over and wraps his arms around him, holding him close and stroking his hair.
Thomas hurriedly wipes his eyes, trying to even out his breath. “You’re--” He takes a shuddering breath. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“You didn’t wake me, I wasn’t asleep…” Avalon kisses Thomas’ forehead. “I couldn’t sleep. Not after today.”
“If I had known you were awake, I wouldn’t have…” Thomas trails off and shakes his head. “I’m sorry you had to hear that.”
Avalon frowns. “Don’t be. I understand why, Thomas. You don’t need to be sorry.” He strokes Thomas’ cheek lightly. “I’m just glad you’re not keeping it all bottled up.”
Thomas nods, turning his head and kissing Avalon’s palm. “I thought-” His voice breaks and Avalon can feel tears beginning to slip down his face again. “I thought I lost you, Ava.”
“I know.” Avalon kisses his cheeks before resting his forehead against Thomas’. “I know. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have done that…”
“I know we haven’t been together for that long, but I--” Thomas cuts himself off and takes a shuddering breath. “I care so much about you, Ava. I don’t know what I would have done if you had-”
“But I didn’t. I’m right here with you. I’m not going anywhere, Toma.”
Thomas nods and kisses Avalon before burying his face in Avalon’s shoulder. Avalon rubs Thomas’ back and runs his fingers through his hair, not unlike how he had earlier in the day.
And the two men hold each other.
Until they both fall asleep.
[FIC] Earthquake Prank (GONE WRONG) (GONE SEXUAL) (I DIED???????!!!!!!1???) | Part One
AO3 Link | Next Chapter (AO3 / Tumblr)
Fandom: Hollywood U
Pairing: Thomas Hunt x Avalon Hammond (M!MC)
Length: 5,959 words
Rating: Teen
Warnings: Implied Teacher-Student Relationship, Implied Death, Canon Atypical Cursing
Summary: Normally Avalon Hammond would not care to prank anyone, much less the man he's in a relationship with. In fact, despite his involvement he'd really rather be doing anything else.
But sometimes you do stupid things for your friends.
And this prank is really, really stupid.
A/N: I originally posted this almost a year ago, both here and AO3, and now that im gearing up to post the second chapter I felt like i should come back and repost this first one bc i dont like how that original post looked. also not to mention it wasnt the whole first chapter? dont know why i did that. anyway hope you enjoy. also there is actually no sexual content in this fic i just named it Like That bc of prank youtubes
“If you ever expect to have a career like mine,” Thomas Hunt turns to address his students, close to the end of the class. “Which, let's be real, you shouldn’t, you’ll have to handle Hollywood’s high pressure environment on your own. As in, without me holding your hand day in and day out.”
Avalon snorts and shakes his head. “As if you do that already,” He mutters under his breath.
“Hey!” Bianca exclaims, scowling. “Don’t lump me in with these losers! I can handle pressure!”
“Then you’ll have no trouble this week when I arrange high stakes projects for you to all complete, because each and every one of you-” Hunt glares around the room- “desperately needs practice. Especially you, Miss Valentine.” He fixes a cold stare at Lisa, sitting slumped next to Avalon and only half paying attention. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten your quote-unquote performance at the Staples Center.”
“Ugh.” Lisa scrunches her nose. “I mix up the lyrics to the national anthem with an Usher song one time, and I’m never going to live it down! That was forever ago!”
Avalon lets out a quiet laugh. “Lisa, that was last week.”
“Yeah, forever ago!”
Hunt clears his throat, bringing attention back to him. “All I can say is, be prepared for anything. Class dismissed.”
Lisa groans as Avalon begins packing his notes from the class. “He thinks he’s so cool, I really just wanna take him down a peg!”
Avalon shakes his head and begins to say something, but is interrupted by Ethan, a row behind them. “What if I told you that you can? Or at least, that you could try?”
“What do you mean, Ethan?” Avalon frowns, turning to his friend. “Also why are you here? Aren’t you a senior?”
“Let’s just say there is a tradition at Hollywood U...” Ethan leans forward over the row of seats, obviously planning something with that mischievous glint in his eye. “Once a year, Hunt's class goes all out trying to prank him. The mole rat in the briefcase came the closest but no one has succeeded in flustering him at all!”
Avalon tips his head and raises an eyebrow, but bites his tongue to keep from saying something he might regret.
Lisa pops out of her seat, slamming her hands on the desk. “Yeah, but none of these classes had Lisa Valentine! Come on guys, don’t you wanna give Mr. Perfect a scare and show him that he isn’t as amazeballs as he thinks he is?”
“Oh. My. God.” Bianca muscles her way into the conversation. “Are you guys seriously talking about pranking Professor Hunt?”
“They are,” Avalon says hotly, gesturing at Ethan and Lisa. “I want nothing to do with it. I’m still $30,000 in property damage debt from the last prank I pulled.”
Ethan blinks. “You’re what?”
He waves his hand dissmissivly. “Don’t worry about it, I’m getting it paid.”
“Ugh, I don’t care about how broke Avalon is,” Bianca announces, making a face. “I just want in on whatever dumb prank you’re planning.”
“Wait, really?” Lisa asks, surprised.
“Um, duh? Professor Hunt is, like, the only person who annoys me more than you people.”
Ethan laughs in disbelief. “The enemy of my enemy…”
Bianca frowns. “What is that? Like, a stupid haiku?”
“Nevermind that,” Ethan shakes his head and turns to Avalon. “Are you sure you don’t want in? You could really help us with this.”
“Well…” Avalon looks at his two friends and Bianca, frowning slightly. He sighs and lets his gaze fall on Hunt, who’s finishing up packing his own things for the end of the day. For a brief moment, their eyes meet and a soft fondness crosses Hunt’s face before he looks away. Avalon turns back to his three classmates. “I’d rather not not, but honestly, I kinda get the feeling y’all might get into some shit.” He sighs and shakes his head. “What the hell. I’ll join, if only to make sure two thirds of you don’t go too buck wild.”
Ethan grins. “Great! This is happening!”
Lisa high fives him. “Hell yeah, we’re so gonna prank Professor Hunt!”
Bianca scoffs and rolls her eyes.
The group, along with a few other students, follow Hunt out of the building. When he reaches the glass doors leading outside, he pauses for a second before holding the door open for the student closest to him, Lance.
He gestures with a small nod. “After you.”
“After me?” Lance exclaims, genuinely touched by the small and, frankly, meaningless gesture. “Professor… I’m straight up honored!”
Hunt frowns, annoyed. “It’s a door, Mr. Sergio. Don’t make me stand here all day.”
Lance nods quickly and steps outside, but before he can make it beyond the threshold he’s doused in red slime. “Bleeech!”
Hunt drops to a knee near Lance, focused. He reaches out and grabs what appears to be nothing off the ground, until the light hits it just right. “Yes, of course… a near invisible tripwire linked to a spring trap industrial fluids tank…”
A few feet away, a group of students pop out of their hiding place and scatter.
“You think you can Carrie me? Really?” Hunt shouts, standing up. “I expected a little more ingenuity from my thesis lab!” With that, he skirts around Lance and the puddle of slime he’s standing in and heads to his car.
Lisa shakes her head in disbelief. “Shit, did you see that?”
Bianca grimaces. “I saw my boyfriend get totally humiliated. Ew.”
“That, and Professor Hunt saw the prank from a mile away. What on earth do y’all think we’ll be able to do to get him?” Avalon asks.
Ethan grins. “We’re going to have to go big.”
That evening, Lisa and Bianca meet at Avalon’s house off campus to discuss their plan.
Bianca looks around the little trailer, disgusted. “Ew, do you seriously live here, or am I on some reality show about squalor in America?”
Lisa glares at her. “Quiet! Lisa’s talking! We still need to decide how we’re pranking Hunt.”
“I know!” Bianca says. “Why don’t we steal all of his underwear?!”
Avalon grimaces. “What the fuck, Bianca.”
Lisa shakes her head. “Dumb. I’ve got a better idea. Why don’t we frame him for murder? That’d really make him sweat!”
“What the fuck. What’s wrong with you two? Do you--” Before Avalon can reprimand them any further, there’s a knock at the door. He opens it and Ethan steps inside, carrying a large, rolled up blueprint under his arm.
“What’s that crap?” Bianca asks as Avalon clears off his coffee table.
“Some would call it a prank. Others, a masterpiece. I’ve been planning this since the day I got here.” Ethan spreads the blueprint out across the table.
“Good to know some of us know there’s a proper way to go about a good prank.” Avalon huffs as they all gather around. He blinks slowly, taking the plans in. “Okay, I know I’ve already said it. But seriously, what the actual fuck. Ethan, when I said I’d join to make sure two thirds of the group wouldn’t go off the rails, you were not one of the two thirds I was thinking of.”
“Come on, Avalon. Hunt’s students have been pranking him for years. If we want to get him, and get him good, we’re going to have to go all out. Going big budget like this is the only way he won’t see it coming.” Ethan touches Avalon’s arm gently. “You can back out if you want, but we really need you for this- or anything, honestly- to work.”
“What- why?”
“Because, somehow, you’re the only one who would be able to convince Hunt to be where we need him.”
Avalon groans, rubbing his face. “Ugh- fine, but only because I know it will end badly otherwise. But I’m saying it now: I think this plan is dangerous and stupid, and could very much go wrong.”
“Great!” Ethan claps his hands together, grinning. “We should get started immediately.”
The group spends the next day and a half setting up the prank. Once they’re sure everything is in its place, Avalon brings Professor Hunt to the university’s film library under the guise of needing a teacher’s assistance with research for a group project.
“I must confess,” Hunt says, unusually chipper, as he leads the group to the elevator in the back of the library. “I was… surprised when you asked me for a special screening of The Isle of Love.”
“What can I say, knowing the school owns one of the only copies of a poorly-recut propaganda silent film starring a drag queen was interesting enough, how could I not want to actually watch it,” Avalon responds.
Lisa elbows him in the gut, but Hunt doesn’t seem to notice the tone sour tone he took on. “Do not blow this for us,” she hisses as Ethan and Bianca drop back, closer to the two of them.
“Hah, it’s working!” Bianca whispers excitedly. “He totally bought that we want to see that stupid movie.”
“Maybe it’s because I actually want to see it,” Avalon mutters.
“Nevermind that,” Ethan pats Avalon on the back. “You have the key I duped?”
Avalon sighs and holds up the little silver key.
“And you will lock the door behind us?”
“I said I would and I’m here right now. What do you think?”
“I think you need to chill out, maybe. It’ll be fine,” Lisa says before touching the tiny radio in her ear. “Come in, Crash. How are the effects? Everything in place for ‘EarthPrank’?” She pauses. “Or did we call it ‘PrankQuake’?”
Avalon winces as static from his radio fills his ear, before Crash’s voice breaks through. “All effects locked and loaded. Operation Aprankalypse is a go.”
“Right, that’s what we decided on.”
“This thing is safe, right?” Bianca whispers into her own ear piece.
“I don’t know the meaning of the word,” Crash responds. There’s a pause that makes Avalon regret his choices from the past few days. “Okay, fine, yeah, we borrowed the device from the set of San Andreas. It’s ‘perfectly calibrated for optimum resonance’ or something.”
Hunt clears his throat. Startled, the four college students look up to see him already in the elevator, holding the door open. “Are we doing this or not?”
Avalon narrows his eyes and mutters, “Last chance to back down and actually watch the movie.”
“We’re doing this,” Ethan replies cheerfully, and ushers the other three into the elevator.
After a short elevator ride, Hunt leads the group through the door to the cavernous screening room. “Ah, Screening Room H-6. My favorite spot on campus.” He glances discreetly at Avalon. “No one ever comes here.”
Avalon lets out a low whistle, slowly turning and taking it all in: rows of towering shelves, filled with film reels, a large silver screen covering the opposite wall, and, high above them, skylights almost entirely blotted out by thick blinds. “I can see why you like it so much…” He meets Hunt’s eye and grins.
“It's like his Batcave,” Ethan says.
“It’s the Huntcave!” Lisa agrees.
“And already I regret bringing you down here.” Hunt pulls a film reel down from a shelf. “Let’s just get started, okay?”
As he sets up the film, Avalon sighs to himself, locks the door, slips the key into his pocket, and nods to Ethan.
Ethan nods back and mutters, “Package secured. Green light.”
Over the radio, Crash responds, “Roger. Time to shake and bake! ...But mostly shake.”
For a tense moment- near silence, filled only with Hunt quietly humming to himself. Then, as a large mechanical contraption in the maintenance level directly below the screening room rumbles to life--
“Does… does anyone else feel that?” Hunt asks, gripping the cart the projector sits on.
The four college students glance around at each other as the entire basement begins to shake, nearly imperceptible at first, but steadily growing stronger. A few reels of film fall off of various shelves as they rattle around the group, all struggling to keep balance.
“Whoaaaa!” Lisa turns to hiss at Ethan. “What the hell! You didn’t tell me it would be this bad!”
Ethan throws up his hands for a second, before grabbing onto a shelf. “I didn’t know either! Crash and his guys really kicked it up a notch!”
Bianca lets out a shriek as another reel falls off a shelf, landing next to her.
“Calm down!” Hunt barks at her, now pressed against a wall for support. “It’s not even a four-pointer! Didn’t you grow up in California?”
Lisa catches Avalon’s eye and gestures at Hunt, barely keeping balance herself. “Come on, Ava, you gotta sell this earthquake!”
Avalon rolls his eyes but takes a few shaky steps closer to the wall, “accidentally” losing his balance and stumbling toward Hunt, who throws an arm out and catches him. “Woah-”
“Your grace and poise continue to astound me, Avalon,” Hunt says, as flatly as one can when in an earthquake. He helps Avalon to the wall, but keeps a tight grip on his arm- “Just in case…” he mutters, just barely loud enough for only Avalon to hear.
“Thanks, I’ve literally never been in an earthquake before,” Avalon retorts.
And like that, just as quickly as it began, the fake earthquake dies down. Ethan discreetly signals for the other three to begin the next phase before darting over to the door and yanking on the doorknob. “It’s stuck! We’re trapped down here! Help! Help, somebody!”
Avalon takes a shaky breath and slumps down the wall, visibly shaking but attempting to remain calm as he pulls out his phone. “I don’t- I’m not getting any cell service- we can’t call for help-”
“We’re doomed!” Lisa wails. “We’re all gonna die down here!”
“All of you, shut the fuck up!” Everyone stops what they’re doing and looks at Hunt, surprised that he cussed. “You’re all fine, no one is hurt. The gravest danger right now is that your annoying voices will give me an aneurysm. Help will be here any minute so just relax, will you?”
“But-” Bianca starts.
“No. Shut up. Avalon, stay off your phone. Ethan, stop pulling on the door. Conserve your strength. And Bianca, get out from under those skylights, an aftershock could shatter them.”
“How are you not freaking out?!” Lisa wheels around on him, spreading her arms. “We’re trapped underground by an earthquake! This is super scary!”
“Yeah! We’re in the middle of a major disaster!” Ethan scowls.
“I was a production assistant on Battlefield Earth. Trust me, I’ve survived disasters.” Hunt shakes his head. “Now then, I had a late night grading your papers and re-evaluating my life choices, so if you four don’t mind shutting up for once, I’m going to take this opportunity to get some rest.” With that, he tucks himself into a corner and closes his eyes.
The four students regroup in the middle of the room.
“Dang, looks like it didn’t work,” Avalon says wryly. “Guess the only thing to do now is cut our losses and go home.”
Ethan sighs and shakes his head, disappointed. “He didn’t even flinch. The man’s unflappable! We didn’t even match the exploding soda prank of 2013…”
“What? You can’t give up, Ethan!” Lisa grabs his shoulders and shakes him. “We’re so close!”
“Close?” Bianca scoffs. “Hunt is literally napping through your stupid prank right now! We should have done my idea…”
Avalon scrunches his face. “Bianca, I’m pretty sure your idea could have ended up getting us all charged with a felony. Again, let's just take the loss and leave before we think up any more cockamamie schemes.”
Lisa glares at him. “Well I’m not giving up! He’s not better than us. He’s only human after all; we just need to turn up the pressure.”
“We really don’t-”
“What do you mean?” Ethan asks, ignoring Avalon.
“It's just like an earthquake,” Lisa states, matter-of-factly, “Pressure builds beneath the surface until something finally snaps. Hunt’s only so calm because he thinks help is coming… but what if we make him think it's not?”
“And how do you suppose we do that?” Bianca huffs, crossing her arms.
Ethan nods, a smile slowly spreading across his face as he pieces together an idea. “Just a little more movie magic…”
Avalon throws his arms up, turns off the radio in his ear, and stalks into the corner opposite Hunt, sitting cross legged with his back to the rest of the room, leaving the rest of the group to plan their next move.
About an hour later, Avalon is shaken awake by Lisa. “Huh- wuh-? We can leave now?”
“Of course not! We’ve figured out what to do next and we need you awake!” she whispers.
“Bluh- why?” he pushes himself up slowly, yawning and popping his back.
“Plot reasons. Come on.” She tugs him over to a wall-mounted TV Ethan and Bianca have been fiddling with. She turns to where Hunt is curled up. “Professor! You’re gonna want to see this!”
He opens an eye and glares at her. “Ugh. I was having the best dream… that less of-” he catches himself- “none of you were here. What do you want?” He gets up and joins the group next to the TV, where a breaking news segment has started.
Avalon grimaces and rubs his face as he recognizes the newscaster- standing in front of a digital backdrop of a ruined street- as one of his classmates.
“Coming to you from Sunset Boulevard, you’re seeing live images of the destruction from the tremendous quake that struck earlier today!”
Ethan glances at Hunt. “It looks way worse than we thought, doesn’t it, Professor?”
Their classmate continues, “Is it the end of the world? Who knows! The one thing we do know is that emergency services are overwhelmed. If you are in need of any help, perhaps trapped underground in some capacity, do not expect rescue for at least four days.”
Bianca gasps, still a bad actor even without a camera pointed at her. “Oh no!”
“I guess help isn’t coming!” Lisa exclaims. “How will we survive? We’re going to starve down here, aren’t we, Professor?” She turns to look at Hunt, who is already halfway across the room. “Um, Professor?”
Hunt stops at a cabinet and begins to dig through it. He pulls out an armful of protein bars and bags of dried fruit. He carries it to a table and dumps it all down.
“Where’d you get all that?” Ethan asks.
“I told you, this is my refuge. I come here often, so forgive me for enjoying a snack now and then.” Hunt starts divvying the food into piles. “A quick calculation based on calorie content… and I’d say that there’s enough here to ration among us for over four days.”
Lisa peeks over his shoulder. “Are you sure? That doesn’t seem like a lot. I think we’re still going to die.”
Avalon scoffs and rolls his eyes. “Obviously, if we run out, we resort to cannibalism. I say we start with the person the rest of the group wants here the least.” He doesn’t even try to be subtle when he looks at Bianca, who scowls and sticks her tongue out at him.
Hunt glares at Avalon. “We will not be doing that. I once stretched a 1.2 million dollar budget across 72 shooting days and a six-month post-production cycle. This is nothing.”
As Hunt separates out the rations, the four students regroup once more.
Before they can plan their next move, Bianca glares at Avalon. “You’d eat me? Really?”
“God, that was a joke! Does my last name sound like Dahmer to you at all?!” He shakes his head. “Whatever. Who cares. Let’s just call it here. Operation Aprankalypse died as it lived, a terrible idea. Time of death-”
“It’s not finished!” Lisa growls. “We’re getting under his skin, I just know it!”
Ethan frowns. “But what can we do? He had a secret snack stash here! We’re in over our heads with this guy, Lisa. I hate to say it, but Avalon is right.”
“There’s still one thing we can try! Hunt was worried about aftershocks, remember? We just hit him with another earthquake. Even stronger this time!” Lisa looks at Avalon. “Please? One last try?”
Avalon looks each of his friends- and Bianca- in the face, sighing and rubbing a hand against his chin. “...Fine.” He turns his earpiece back on, wincing at the static it produces on start up. “Crash? Could we run another earthquake, stronger this time?”
“Yeah, totally!” Crash exclaims through the earpiece before pausing. “Wait, no, okay that was premature, I’m being told that the earthquake generator isn’t meant to exceed certain--”
“Just do it!” Lisa snaps.
“Okay, fine, jeeze, no need to shout!”
A few moments later, the earthquake generator stirs to life again, far stronger than before.
“Woaah!” Avalon stumbles, barely able to keep himself upright.
“Okay, maybe this wasn’t the best idea!” Lisa grabs Avalon, either trying to help him stay up or to stay up herself.
“An aftershock!” Hunt shouts. “Get out from under the skylights!”
The four students scatter, barely keeping balance as the skylight above them shatters, sending glass showering down where they had just been standing.
Avalon takes refuge next to a massive storage shelf full of empty film reels. He puts a hand on the shelf for support, taking deep breaths and trying to calm down. “It's fake,” He mutters to himself. “Nothing bad will happen, we’ll be fine.”
Hunt lets out a shout. “Avalon, look out!”
He turns to see the shelf toppling towards him. He lets out a strangled yelp and shuffles backwards, but he’s not fast enough.
Just before the shelf comes down on top of him, Hunt darts toward him full tilt and tackles him out of the way, wrapping his arms securely around his waist.
The two men roll across the floor before skidding to a halt, empty film reels skittering past them.
Ethan yelps. “Avalon! Are you alright?”
Avalon groans. “I’m- fine-” He begins to sit up, but freezes as Hunt falls limply away from him. “T- Thomas?!” He grips the Professor’s shoulders, pulling his head onto his lap. “He’s not- he’s not moving! Crash! stop the machine! Now!”
Immediately, the fake earthquake stops, leaving the room completely still. Lisa, Ethan, and Bianca gather around the two men on the ground.
“Oh fuck, oh shit, oh crap!” Lisa twists her hands together anxiously.
Bianca shakes her head in disbelief. “Oh my god, we killed our professor! I had nothing to do with this, it was all you people!”
“No, he’s- he’s still breathing, but-” Avalon’s breath catches in his throat as he runs his fingers quickly through Hunt’s hair. “I can’t feel- there’s no wound I don’t think, no blood-” He shakes his head. “I don’t- I don’t know- the shelf must have hit him, but I don’t know-” His voice dies in his throat and he puts a hand over his mouth, trying to keep from openly crying.
Ethan nudges him. “Try to wake him!”
“I don’t-” He shakes his head again. “I don’t know what-” He looks around, lost, then leans down and gently presses a kiss against Hunt’s-
“What are you doing, Avalon?! CPR is for when you’re not breathing! That’s the whole point!” Ethan grabs the back of Avalon’s shirt and pulls him back upright.
Bianca puts her hands on her hips and scowls. “What, did you just want an excuse to kiss him or something?”
Avalon’s face flushes. “What- no! I just- I panicked, okay?! And usually when I kiss guys, it wakes ‘em up!”
“Yeah, suuure.”
Ethan frowns at her. “Lay off him, alright, Bianca?” He sighs, rubbing his face. “Well, if that wouldn’t wake him up, then I don’t know what will. He’s out cold.”
“We are so screwed.” Lisa moans, putting her head in her hands.
“Okay, okay, okay, think, Ethan, think.” Ethan moves away from the group and begins pacing, running his hands over his hair. “We can figure this out, no big deal.
“No big deal?!” Bianca scoffs. “You knocked out our professor!”
“It’ll- it’ll be okay-” Avalon hiccups, still running his fingers through Hunt’s hair. “We just- we gotta get him some medical attention- He’ll be- he’ll be fine-” He does not sound like he believes what he is saying.
Lisa claps her hands together. “Right! Yeah! Avalon, go unlock the door!”
Avalon nods absently and starts to stand up, gently shifting Hunt to the floor before reaching into his pocket.
And he reaches into his pocket.
And he reaches into his pocket.
And he reaches into his pocket.
“It's- the key! It's gone!” Avalon quickly stands up the rest of the way, patting his pockets and shaking out his cardigan. “It must have fallen out-! Help me look!” He scrambles over to the shelf that nearly knocked him over, sifting through the scattered film reels and broken glass.
As Lisa and Ethan begin to help him look, Bianca bolts to the door and rattles the knob fruitlessly. “Fuck- We’re actually trapped!”
Ethan sits back on his heels and turns to her, doing a double take. “That’s… not our biggest problem.” He points at a plume of smoke billowing out of a floor vent. A quick glance around the room and the four realized it was coming from all of the vents, and steadily the air in the room began to grow hazy.
Lisa shouts in surprise. “What is that?!”
Ethan touches his earpiece. “Come in, Crash, we’ve got smoke coming in through the floor! What’s going on?”
There’s a brief pause before Crash responds. “Um, the tech guys are talking pretty fast… but it sounds like pushing the machine past its limits might’ve… overheated it? You’re gonna want to get outta there ASAP!”
“We can’t get out, Crash! We need help, get over here before we all suffocate!”
“We’re coming! Hold your breath!” Crash pauses. “But don’t really, because we’re across campus and it’ll take a while to get there!”
“Hurry!” Ethan turns his earpiece back off and shakes his head. “There’s no way they’ll make it in time. The smoke’s coming in too fast, and there’s no other way out!”
Lisa throws her arms up. “Way to think positive, Ethan! Maybe try being constructive and think of something!”
Bianca stalks over and gets up in Lisa’s face. “Well, Little Miss Mermaid, maybe if you had just realized you’d failed and gone home, we wouldn’t be in this mess!”
Ethan sighs and shakes his head. “I can’t believe I’m agreeing with Bianca right now, but she’s right. You’re the one that wanted to build up the pressure, but the only one that snapped was you!”
Avalon scrunches his face and covers his ears, not wanting to listen to the three bicker. Unable to continue looking for the key with the smoke getting increasingly dense, Avalon stands up and runs his hands through his hair, slowly turning and looking around the room, looking for something- anything that could help them. Slowly, his gaze is pulled upwards to where small amounts of sunlight stream in through the smoke…
“...Oh! Guys, I have an idea!” But the others ignore him, still screaming at each other. “Hey!” Avalon kicks the fallen shelf. Stunned into silence, they all stop and turn to look at him. “Shut the fuck up for a second! I have an idea! There’s still a way out!”
“What?! Where?” Bianca grabs him by the cardigan and shakes him. “Tell me!”
Smiling, he points directly above them to the broken skylights. Then he pries Bianca’s hands off himself.
“The skylight?” Lisa huffs and shakes her head. “Yeah, okay let me just grow some wings, and we’ll get out no problem!”
“Lisa’s right, Avalon.” Ethan sighs. “That doesn’t help if we can’t reach it…”
“But we can! The shelves aren’t bolted down, we can stack ‘em and climb ‘em to get out!” Avalon grabs the one that nearly crushed him and starts dragging it under the skylight.
Bianca starts to protest. “But what if-”
“Nope! No time! Bianca, you clear off what’s left on the shelves, Ethan, start settin’ up a wide base and I’ll help you once I move Hunt, and Lisa, you climb on top and we’ll pass shelves up for you to stack. Come on, move! We don’t have time!”
As the other three students begin working, Avalon shrugs out of his cardigan. He walks over to Hunt, folding it as he goes, and gently lifts Hunt and moves him farther from the vents, propping him against the wall and placing the cardigan under his head. He sighs, taking Hunt’s hand in his own and giving it a small squeeze. “...I don’t think I’ll be able to carry you out through the skylight… I’d rather not leave you here, but I might have to, just for now. I’ll be back as fast as I can.” He presses a kiss against Hunt’s forehead. “I promise you’ll be alright, Thomas…” He gives Hunt’s hand one last squeeze, then goes to help Ethan with the shelves.
Moving quickly, the four students make short work of stacking the shelves, and soon enough, just as the smoke is getting too thick to see through, Lisa calls down, “We’re at the top! I can climb out!”
She pulls herself out and Ethan follows, but Bianca has trouble pulling herself up. “Ugh- a little help would be nice, you know!”
Avalon glances one last time at where he thinks he left the professor. He sighs to himself and bounds up the stack. “I’m gonna put my hands on your waist to hold you steady, okay?”
She nods, and Avalon pushes her up through the skylight… right as the stack wobbles and begins to fall out from under his feet.
With a yelp, he throws himself upwards as the stack collapses. He flails and catches the edge of the skylight. Panicking and barely thinking, he swings his legs, first forward, then back. Pushing himself up with his arms, he does a flip and lands, albeit a bit awkwardly. “Oh- ouch-” He begins to fall, but Ethan catches his elbow and steadies him.
“Holy shit, how did you do that?” Lisa stares at him in disbelief.
He waves a hand dismissively. “Adrenaline. Whatever. Doesn’t matter. We can’t just stand around chatting, Th- the professor is still down there! We need to find a key and get him out! I should have driven today, my lockpicking kit is in my glove compartment...” He turns, wincing slightly as he puts weight on his twisted ankle, ready to head back into the library, but freezes when he makes eye contact with- “T-- Professor- you’re... okay?”
“Nicely done.” Hunt slow claps as he crosses to where the four students are standing, Avalon’s cardigan folded neatly over his arm.
“But- how? You were out cold, I- I- I thought you-” Avalon snaps his jaw shut and covers his mouth to keep himself from saying anything too suspicious. “...How did you get out?”
“Through the front door, of course.” Hunt holds up a familiar silver key.
“You... took it off me?”
“Obviously. When I tackled you out of the way of that shelf.”
Lisa frowns. “But… Why would you steal it? I mean, how would you know to steal it, unless…” she wheels around on Avalon. “You told him, didn’t you?!”
Avalon throws his hands up. “Of course I didn’t! As much as I’d have rather not gone through with this, I know what it means to Ethan! I may be a buzzkill but I ain’t-- aren’t! a snitch!”
Hunt puts a hand up to quiet them. “Avalon had nothing to do with me knowing- not intentionally, at least. You lot think so highly of yourselves, I knew you couldn’t resist taking a shot at the king. But I told you from the beginning, this week was about learning to cope with real pressure. It’s pathetic that, out of all of you, Avalon was the only one to show even the slightest bit of real leadership.”
“I’m taking that as a compliment, and it has already gone to my head!” Avalon grins, giddy.
Bianca glares at Avalon for a second, then scrunches her face. “What, so you mean you were awake for all that? You weren’t really knocked out?”
“Holy smokes...” Ethan lets out a short, disbelieving laugh, running his hands through his hair. “You pranked us.”
Lisa scowls. “Hey, not cool! We could have died in there!”
Hunt waves dismissively. “As if I have the time for that lawsuit. As soon as I caught wind of your plan, I simply cleared out everything valuable and installed a harmless fog machine next to your earthquake generator. It never overheated, and you were never in any danger. You were simply… pranked.”
“Wait…” Ethan looks at Hunt, then Avalon. “If you weren’t really unconscious, then you were awake when Avalon, uh… kissed you?”
“I-” Hunt looks startled- and a little embarrassed- for a moment, but he quickly pulls himself together. He clears his throat. “It’s called acting, Mr. Blake. Rest assured, however, Avalon and I will discuss the importance of consent soon enough…” For just a second, his eyes meet Avalon’s. Although unnoticeable to those who might not know what to look for, there is an intense look that sends a jolt of excitement through Avalon, which he quickly squishes.
“I can’t believe it,” Lisa shakes her head. “Maybe… maybe he is as amazeballs as he thinks he is. I mean, he pranked our prank just to teach us a lesson.”
“Two lessons, Miss Valentine. First, the value of quick problem solving under high pressure.” Hunt clasps his hands behind his back. “And second… that Thomas Hunt has never been pranked…” He leans in. “And he never will be.” Smugly satisfied, he turns to leave. “Perhaps now you’ll be more receptive to standard lectures. Come along now.”
Lisa sighs. “I can’t believe we couldn’t prank him, Ethan…”
Ethan pats her shoulder. “We’ll get another chance someday. Maybe sooner than we think.”
Just as the group begins to follow Hunt, Crash’s voice crackles over their earpieces. “Ethan! Lisa! We’re here! Where are you guys? Rescue team’s got no one to rescue!”
Avalon, Lisa, and Ethan lean over the skylight, and, through the thinning smoke, see Crash and his effects team. The three look at each other, then at Hunt, then Lisa and Ethan look at Avalon.
Avalon frantically shakes his head.
“Well…” Ethan sighs, playing it cool and turning his earpiece back on. “Just when we thought things were looking up…”
A pause, and then Crash’s voice comes back over through the radio. “Guys! What are you doing up there?”
Ethan straightens up and turns to Hunt. “Gosh, Professor. We had such big plans to prank you… but they fell through!”
Avalon shakes his head harder.
“I feel like you’re trying to tell me something…”
Lisa grins. “Yeah, Professor Hunt caught us in the act!” She glares at Avalon and mutters, “It has to be you.”
“Fell through? Caught us? Oh… oh!”
Avalon grimaces as Crash starts directing his team to take down the silver screen, but quickly flattens his expression as Hunt turns, impatient.
“Stop moping and come on! You lost! Accept defeat with a little dignity!”
Avalon sighs and shakes his head. “Sorry, Professor, we’re coming…” he starts walking, but purposely puts a little too much weight on his twisted ankle. “Agh-” His feet slip out from under himself, and before anyone can react-
Avalon
topples
head-first
through
the
open
skylight.
Hunt screams.