back2n0rmal
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Summary
Kiara Carrera knows who she is, and she knows what she wants. At least, she always thought she did.
As she braves her freshman year at UNC Chapel Hill, everything Kiara thinks she knows about herself will be challenged through interactions with people old and new. As she's forced to spend time with Rafe Cameron in particular, the last person she ever thought she'd be friends with, Kiara must grapple with complicated feelings and desires that deviate from the idea of herself she's always had in her head. Will she be able to make peace with these changes? Will the other Pogues?
Set in an alternate universe where the Pogues never went treasure hunting and are living as normal college students.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 107,017
- Chapters:
- 18/18
- Comments:
- 252
- Kudos:
- 398
- Bookmarks:
- 46
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- 10,406
Bookmarked by back2n0rmal
20 Aug 2025
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You can’t say you hate me, then call me when it hurts.
Before the Pogues, before the loyalty and the saltwater and JJ’s warm hands on her hips — there was Kiara’s Kook year. There was Rafe Cameron, all cigarettes and shadows and whispered promises he never meant to keep. Their relationship was a secret, a sin, a slow-motion car crash that no one ever saw coming.
Now, a year later, Kiara’s back where she belongs. JJ makes her laugh. JJ makes her feel safe. But something’s missing. Something’s wrong. And when the ache gets too loud, she finds herself calling the only person who ever made her feel like the world was on fire.
But Rafe isn’t easy. Rafe doesn’t forgive. Rafe says, “You can’t walk away, then come back to what we were.”
And he’s lying. Because he’ll always answer.This is a story about the girl who ran.
And the boy she keeps running back to.Inspired by the song That’s Not How This Works by Charlie Puth.
Bookmarked by back2n0rmal
09 Aug 2025
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At midnight on your eighteenth birthday, the universe leaves you a name. The name of your soulmate, etched onto your wrist—a fated tattoo.
Kiara ends up with the worst-case scenario burned into her skin: Rafe fucking Cameron.
He’s the last person she ever wanted to belong to.
But maybe… the only one who ever really saw her.Bookmarked by back2n0rmal
28 Jun 2025
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“What the hell are you talking about?” Sarah says, leaning forward. “Everyone thinks you’re together. You guys are delusional if you’re still calling each other just friends."
John B. was shaking his head slowly. “Didn’t – don’t you guys go on dates together all the time? Am I missing something?”
“No, the fuck we do not,” Rafe answered.
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The "didn't know they were dating" AU.
Bookmarked by back2n0rmal
28 Jun 2025
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Summary
Kiara never meant to fall into a summer-long situationship with her best friend’s hot, emotionally repressed, surprisingly soft himbo of a brother.
But sneaking around with Rafe Cameron gets complicated fast. Especially when a case of mistaken identity threatens to blow it all up!
Bookmarked by back2n0rmal
28 Jun 2025