#//i had to pause before i could finish the episode earlier lmao

[championsofthegate]

//Percy has really earned his nickname of no mercy Percy lmao

[hannie-dul-set]

araw-araw [na jaemin]

(EVERY DAY)

part of “the puhon playlist” collection

SUMMARY | mahiwaga— someone or something that you’ll choose every single day no matter the circmstance. and for you, that was na jaemin. even if time decides to set you apart PAIRING | na jaemin x female! reader GENRE | childhood friends to lovers! au, college! au, romance, slow-ish burn, fluff, humor, tiny angst, biology major jaemin and art major mc HEHE WARNINGS | excessive swearing, insecurities, some sex jokes LMAO, i project a lot in this i’m sorry JSFJG WORD COUNT | 14.5k TAGLIST | @prettyjaems @lcvemark @shra-vasti @danishmiilk @probablygonnahurtsomebody @jccv @rebel-lious-alien @dalkomhanchocolateicecream @kthpurplesyou @fullsuhnshine​ @dejvns @nctzun @sweetjaemss @sehunniepot @wownajaemin @emoshishi @holywaterbetch @ukiyoneo @injunified @huangxx​ @jaehyunnie3​ @nct-writers​ @czennienet​ @neowritingsnet​ @kpopscape​

a/n: HERE IT IS.... MY PRIDE AND JOY JHSFJSD gahh okay i’m gonna keep my rambling to a minimum but this fic is very close and very dear to my heart and if it isn’t obvious that i’m in love with jaemin then this fic will make it obvious LMAO

also do yourself a favor and listen to ben&ben’s araw-araw on loop while reading this!! adds to the ~vibe~ hehe

Five-thirty-seven in the morning, grey clouds stretching throughout the sky as you peeked outside the window, falling right above oceans and buildings and people that you couldn’t even see. You sighed as you sank deeper into your chair, closing your eyes and adjusting your earbuds to clear your thoughts that were brought about by your sudden move.

You felt a nudge from beside you, coming from your mother (your dad was long knocked out since earlier), and so you politely pulled the earbuds away. “Excited to come back to Korea?” she asked. You simply responded with a smile and hum.

It wasn’t like you didn’t like the idea of returning— it was the prospect that it did not even feel like you were returning in the first place. Indifference was what you felt. After moving to Los Angeles when you were twelve because of your father’s job, you had to say goodbye to all your friends living in your hometown, all the traditions and customs that you were used to, and all the memories that you have built up in order to get used to a new environment. Seven years later when you thought you were just about to fit in with the west, your father comes out with the news of going back to Seoul again.

So it was difficult to manage a full smile.

You had a thought as you looked down through the window, recognizing a few of the landmarks that stood out: how strange it was to have somewhere that used to be home feel so foreign.

Just as you were about to put in your earbuds back in, your mother suddenly brightened, looking at you with a large smile on her face, eliciting your curious gaze.

“Oh! Do you still remember your old friend Jaemin?”

A smile tugged at your lips. How could you forget him?

Na Jaemin. Nana. Jaems. Your childhood best friend for six years until you were forcibly shipped all the way to LA. You still remembered how hesitant you were to tell him that you were moving because you didn’t want him to cry— only to have you crying and refusing to let go of him until your parent's pried you off of him at the airport. He assured you while wiping away your tears that you’d still get to see him one day.

Maybe that day would actually be one of these days.

“Yeah,” you mumbled, fiddling with the drawstrings of your jacket. “Why? I haven’t been in contact with him for years now.”

“His mom and I talked the other day and I told her that we’re moving back! And just earlier, she told me that Jaemin volunteered to pick us up from the airport so we won’t have to take a cab. Isn’t that great? You’d get to be reunited with your old friend again.”

“Ah,” you paused for a moment, in thought, just before pressing your lips together into a tight smile. “Yeah, it would be nice to see him again.”

That was what you said, but even until you left the plane, lugging your baggage across the cold floors of the airport with your music at full volume to drown out the noise, you were actually rather conflicted about meeting him again. A lot could happen within seven years, and therefore there was no assurance that things would still be the same. You weren’t sure if he’d still be the same sweet boy that was determined to fight the park swings after you fell and cried, if he’d still be the same kid that stopped talking to you for three days because you tricked him into eating a strawberry flavored lollipop. Maybe he’d still be, maybe he wouldn’t, but it was exactly that uncertainty that made you feel uneasy.

Still, there was still a hint of excitement, a string that tugged your heart away from all the uneasiness, just enough to bring a smile to your face at the thought of seeing him again.

“Y/N, let’s go?”

Your father called out to you and you didn’t even realize that you have actually stopped walking amidst your musings.

“Oh, yeah I—” you stumbled in between the ever moving airport crowd, looking down to see your shoelace had become undone, and so you let go of your suitcase. “You two go ahead, I’ll catch up in a sec!”

You ducked down, right beside the large, grey case to fix it, lips pursed in concentration. People passed by without minding you too much, but at one instance, just as you had finished retying your shoelace, your suitcase moved away from you with a shadow looming from above. Panic struck, and so you jolted up, instincts forcing your hand to move, quickly grabbing the handle. There was another hand resting on it. Your eyes moved up to meet with the culprit's.

Weirdly enough, he was just as shocked as you are.

Even weirder— he looked way, way too attractive to be a thief. Or maybe that was the modus these days? Still, you harshly dragged back the suitcase, ripping it away from his grasp with a glare. “What the fuck—”

At that moment, you recalled your mother’s words. Jaemin volunteered to pick us up from the airport. This guy looked a little too much like your old friend from your old neighborhood.

It felt like you were looking into the exact same large, dark eyes that used to be always accompanied by a pretty smile, now matched by a mouth hanging slightly agape from surprise. He even had the same dark hair that always messily fell over his eyes. There was a moment of pause in between the rush of bodies, the both of you in a frozen trance staring at each other until you had finally realized that motherfucker— this was Na Jaemin.

When did he get so hot?

“I—”

He flashed you a smile. The same damned smile. It brought you to the conclusion that seven years really didn’t do anything except make him far too attractive for his own good. All of a sudden you felt self-conscious about your own appearance as you gawked at him. God really liked to play favorites, huh?

You could see him say something, his lips moving just enough to represent a few words, but it was muffled thanks to the blaring music. Your confusion reflected clearly on your face contorting, and Jaemin only shook his head and laughed before reaching his hands to your face, bringing you to a momentary halt of haywire because what the actual fuck was he doing.

“You shouldn’t listen to music too loudly in public,” he said, pulling your earbuds out of your ears and gingerly placing them into your open palms with a smile. Holy fuck, his voice got so deep. “I’ve been calling out to you since earlier, but you couldn’t hear. Let’s go, your parents are waiting.”

Before you could even try to recollect yourself from the sudden crashing of events, Jaemin took your suitcase in your stead, leading you to his car.

If you still weren’t sure whether or not this was Na Jaemin from your past, you were now because although a bit watered down, he was just as excessively weird and sweet as he was ages ago. You found yourself feeling stupid for even doubting it in the first place. Of course, he was still the same; he even chirps your name in the same way as he always did before.

“There we go,” with a huff, the trunk came to a close. He threw your suitcase in there after seeing your mini struggle episode with far too little effort for your peace of mind. “You should just ask me next time. Okay, Y/N?”

“Thanks,” you gave him a small nod, flustered when he pinched your left cheek while making a questionable noise, and he opened the car door for you to enter.

Maybe it was you that had changed.

You were fairly quiet throughout the car ride while your parents and Jaemin decided to catch up after everything, only listening and giving your reactions whenever needed. You weren’t a morning person and your jetlag wasn’t doing you of any help either.

“You’re in your third year, right Jaemin?” your father asked, sitting at the front seat as your mother and you sat behind.

“Yep, yep,” he happily replied.

“Time really does fly fast, doesn’t it?” your mother joined in. “What uni do you go to, Jaemin?”

“Ah,” he sounded, eyes still directed on the road. “NCT U. It’s the closest at home, and I didn’t really wanna move out.”

“Oh, what a coincidence! Y/N isn’t that where you’re planning on going, too?”

“Really?” you could see Jaemin’s eyes brighten from the mirrors. “Y/N, do you want me to help you with your requirements? Have you enrolled already? I can give you a tour if you want!”

He’s really the same. You thought, smiling. “It’s fine, Jaemin. I already enrolled and took care of everything online.”

“But I should still tour you, though!” he retorted, the pout and whine evident in his voice. “The campus is really big so you might get lost. Ah, but aren’t universities in the States much bigger? I can also introduce you to some of my friends if you like.”

Jaemin went on for a while, telling your parents not to worry and promising that he’d take care of you throughout your college life here in Korea despite your protests that you could very much take care of your own self. Eventually, your mother asked about his major, and his animated expressions dimmed down into a slight bashfulness after answering that he was taking biology. You joined the conversation upon hearing that. “You said back then that you wanted to be a surgeon, right?”

With a shy smile, he nodded, and at that moment you felt a rush of awe for your childhood friend. Your parents seemed to have reacted the same way seeing as he was growing a little more embarrassed. It was amazing how he held on to the same dream he held since he was a kid— the amount of passion and dedication he must have for it. You on the other hand—

“What about you, Y/N?”

You jumped at the sudden subject switch. “Oh, I’m—” a pause in your statement. “I’m… taking an arts course.”

“Wow! As expected, Y/N is as cool as always,” he doted, which caused you to flush.

“It’s— it’s not really that amazing, it’s just the only thing I’m kinda good at so—”

“No, no, no. Y/N, you shouldn’t say that,” he scolded, clicking his tongue while his hands remained on the wheel. Your mother was beside you yet he was the one doing the mom nagging. “Who is that again? Bob Ross? Leonardo DiCaprio? You’re gonna be much much much better than them someday, I just know it! I have something called Nana vision, you know.”

You stifled a quiet laugh, not having the heart to correct him that it was not DiCaprio. “Does your Nana vision also see that we’re already almost at the complex?”

“Oh!”

At your words, Jaemin’s attention was now a hundred percent back on driving, profusely apologizing for getting distracted. You could see his ears slightly reddening from your seat which lasted until the end of the drive. Jaemin helped your family carry everything to your apartment on the eighth floor, even volunteering to help you unpack. Your mother firmly declined, however, insisting him to take a rest after all his help, but she did invite him and his parents over for dinner tomorrow. A little reunion of sorts.

“Six in the evening, right?”

“Yes. You should head back home now, Jaemin. Thank you for everything.”

He shot a bright smile before readying to march outside. “We’ll be here by five!”

She laughed at him, shaking her head, and proceeded to look for you inside the mess of the living room. You were about to disappear inside your room, luggage in hand to unpack, but she quickly dragged you back by the ear. “Go see him out the door!” she whisper-yelled, and so you did. Fortunately, he was stopped by your father before he got to leave, so you took this opportunity to smoothly stride beside him as he slipped past the door when he said goodbye. The door clicked to a close. He raised a brow at you.

“Mother’s orders,” you answered.

“So you wouldn’t have gone out if she didn’t tell you to?” he huffed, pouting. “And I was really happy to see you, too. I think I might have to take that back.”

You rolled your eyes at him, laughing, and eventually you made it to the end of the hallway. “Too late. You can’t take back your happiness. It’s good to see you again, Jaemin.”

The both of you stopped right in front of the elevator, and you waited for him to depart, but he didn’t. He had his arms crossed over his chest, accompanied by an expression on his face that you couldn’t quite tell if it was hurt, disappointment, or offense. Probably all three. Definitely all three.

“What? are you putting up a wall between us? Don’t I mean anything to you anymore?” he groused, nose scrunching. “What happened to Jaems? Nana? Y/N, you’re seriously hurting me over here.”

Laughing at the way he was sticking his frown right into your face to prove his point, you playfully shoved him off, pushing him into the elevator after all of his complaints even though he was the one moving his feet, anyway. You missed him, that much you could conclude, therefore you decided to stop his whining just before the elevator doors came to a close.

“See you tomorrow, Nana.”

You grinned, not missing the way his eyes lit up in between the small gap. You really did miss him, and you were lucky enough to have him as a small memory to remind you that this place was indeed home.

Maybe it wasn’t just Jaemin that you had missed. The entire family was just a smack in the face of early childhood nostalgia that you nearly cried (thank god you didn’t) when Mrs. Na buried you into a bone crushing hug the moment she saw you when you opened the door. You were really happy to be back— even when you weren’t exactly sure before.

“Mom, I think you’re suffocating, Y/N,” Jaemin pointed out as he left his shoes in front of your doorstep, walking inside with his father following behind him.

“Oh my, I’m so sorry, Y/N. I just couldn’t believe that this is you!” she coddled, and somewhere in between Jaemin found himself beside you. “I think I have pictures of you two when you were younger, hold on—”

Mrs. Na was pushed forward by her husband as she dug through her phone for a decade old Facebook posts of you and Jaemin (you hoped she wouldn’t remember you had an entire album). The older man ruffled your hair as he passed by with a fond smile, disappearing into the dining table where your parents were preparing and leaving you and Jaemin behind.

He was looking at you. Questionably so.

“What?”

“It’s not fair,” he whined. “I didn’t get to hug you yesterday.”

Oh my god, you shook your head, grabbing the sleeve of his mint jacket and leading him to where your parents were to help. “You’ll have more opportunities, you loser. It’s not like I’m going anywhere.”

Jaemin was speechless for a moment as he let you drag him along, but a happy smile broke through and he matched your steps halfway.

“Yeah,” he agreed. You weren’t going anywhere.

Dinner followed the usual sequence of events: reminiscing about the past, asking both parties what they have been up to, and of course talks about the future. During the meal, Jaemin asked when your classes were starting (next week), and he proposed his promised tour to be held this Tuesday— two days from now— because he didn’t have a lot of classes that day. He wouldn’t take no for an answer, neither did your parents, so you ended up agreeing.

Unfortunately for you, your mother pulled out the ancient photo album of the past right after dinner, and the stark contrast between yours and Jaemin’s reactions were also album worthy. By the end of it, you were sure that smoke was emitting from your ears because your good friend had an affinity with screaming over how cute you were, even going as far as stealing one of your baby pictures right before they decided to make their leave.

“Ah, ah,” he pulled the photo away the moment he sensed your attempt of theft. You two were standing right in front of the open door, his parents already having left ahead. “I’m keeping this. You look so cute here.”

“How am I so sure you won’t blackmail me with that!”

An offended gasp. “I would never,” he took out his phone, inserting your picture inside his colored phone case with you watching his every move. “It’s for me to see only, so you don’t need to worry.”

You looked at him. Then to the phone that he was holding up with a confident smile. You let out a sigh.

“Fine,” you begrudgingly relented, and he waddled over to you with a big smile on his face to envelop you into a hug. He smells nice, you thought, reciprocating the embrace. Wait, isn’t this my perfume? That would explain what he was doing inside your room earlier. You could only sigh inwardly let him keep on hugging you. He was whining about it earlier, after all.

It lasted long, maybe a bit too long because his dad came back to fetch him.

“Mhm, you can trust me with anything, Y/N,” Jaemin mumbled before finally pulling away, his hands still resting on your shoulders as he did. “Anyway, before I go— should we exchange phone numbers?”

Tuesday came by, and you were met with two realizations. Both of which made you feel very very small in comparison.

One, NCT U was really freaking big.

Two, Na Jaemin was really freaking popular.

Granted, he had only shown you around the STEM department, but with every turn that you took and every hallway that you passed through, there was least one person that stopped by to say hi to him. Even some of the teachers were close with him. You should have expected it considering he was literally nice, smart, handsome, and everything you could ever ask for, but it still made him feel just a tiny bit out of reach.

“Are you feeling tired?” he asked, breaking away from a conversation with a senior. He put a hand over your shoulder with concern that reflected in his eyes. “We can take a break around the benches if you want.”

“Yeah, sure. After you—”

“I’ll talk to you later, hyung. See you around.”

Jaemin waved off his older friend, Yuta, you had overheard, and proceeded to lead you to the aforementioned area on the ground floor before stopping by a vending machine to get some drinks. You pressed your lips together, feet shuffling as you waited behind him, and then you finally decided to speak. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“Do what?” he asked, slotting in a few coins into the machine.

“You— you with your friend,” you fumbled, trying your best to speak your mind, but how were you supposed to say ‘cut your conversation short with your friend because of me’ without seeming like a total headass? You could have waited until they were finished.

With a soft smile, he passed a canned, carbonated drink into your hands— lemon, you read— and took one for himself. He didn’t answer your incomprehensible question and decided to walk across the field leading to a bench area, but you were sure he got what you were trying to say. He simply chose not to answer. Or did he? Hell, you didn’t even know anymore. Annoyed, you decided to gulp down the drink in one go to distract yourself, even when the bubbles stung your throat. Jaemin stared at you in horror.

“Were you that thirsty? You should have told—”

“Na Jaemin!”

In sync, your heads snapped towards the direction of the ear-ripping screech, which was quite coincidentally where you two were headed. There were two boys sitting on a bench, one more on the table with a guitar. You assumed that it was one of them that screamed out your friend’s name— probably the one that was making eye contact with him before dramatically turning away with a butchered sob.

“Na Jaemin! Traitor of the brotherhood! I remember when he would still come running the moment I call his name but now— forgotten for dust! He doesn’t care about us anymore, Renjun. He even has a new—”

“What are you on about this time, Haechan?”

Haechan’s evidently fake sobbing stopped, pushing away the boy that he had just been crying into moments prior. “Oh you’re here,” he deadpanned.

It was almost horrific how three pairs of eyes immediately zeroed in on you as you meekly hid behind Jaemin, causing the hairs at the back of your neck to stand as if you were about to die in a fucking horror movie. You could tell from that alone that despite having many friends, these guys were probably his closest— whether it was better or worse, you had no idea. All of a sudden you were dawned with the intimidating task of trying to get them to like you, which was already way too out of reach because the one with the guitar was practically ripping you to shreds with his eyes alone.

“Please stop trying to scare, Y/N. Jeno, you might actually make her cry, stop that.”

“Whoops,” Jeno stopped his death staring. “Hyuck initiated it.”

“Actually it was Renjun, but whatever,” before Renjun could even bite back after being falsely accused, Haechan had already blocked him off and had directed his attention towards you, legs crossed and a critical gaze. “Fuck formalities. Y/N, right? Who are you and why are you trying to steal—”

“Alright, no more scare tactics. Y/N, there are my friends, Jeno, Haechan— or Donghyuck, whichever you prefer, he doesn’t mind— and Renjun. They’re just trying to mess with you, don’t worry. Friends, this Y/N L/N, my childhood friend for like four, five years before she left Korea and moved to LA.”

The term childhood friend lit a spark within the three boys, but before they could do or say anything dangerous that would jeopardize your relationship, Jaemin the ever popular boy was called out by a group of girls. He excused himself to leave for a moment, but not before apologizing to you a million times over (“If you’re really sorry,” Renjun chided before he ran off. “Treat us and Miss Y/N to Kun’s, yeah?”). He agreed without even hearing him properly, and now you were left with his three friends that felt more like three sharks that circled around you. They were fucking out for blood.

“So,” the moment Jaemin disappeared from the parameter, Haechan pulled you to the bench in between him and Renjun with a devilish grin. “Childhood friend, huh?”

Your eyes snapped over to Renjun who was on your right to ask for a way out of this, but the guy was busy filming the entire thing on his phone. Why did Jaemin leave you behind? You had no chance of escaping. Haechan locked you down by swinging his arm around your neck just as you were about to stand. He signalled at his friend who was sitting on the table. “Jeno, drop the beat.”

There was a moment of miscommunication in between because instead of dropping the beat like Haechan asked, Jeno started strumming a sickeningly sweet tune on his guitar. Or maybe that was what he intended. Either way, Haechan was flexible enough to go along with it.

“You know what they say about childhood friends,” another strum. Haechan sang. Was this a fucking oration? “You either end up forgetting each other, hating each other, or you end up toge—”

“That is not—”

“Hush!” he silenced. Renjun was losing it at the side. So was Jeno, because the guitar tune was long replaced by fits of strangled laughter. “It is, clueless Y/N. It is. How many childhood friends have you met that stayed as childhood friends? None, I assume. I’m never wrong, you see.”

“Weren’t you and Mark childhood friends, too—”

“Shut the fuck up, Huang. This isn’t about me. Y/N, listen.”

Grabbing your shoulders, Haechan pulled you away from Renjun, the sudden movement nearly giving you a whiplash.

“From my expert calculations, you and Jaemin are undeniably going down route three, but the both of you are moving at an agonizingly slow pace, correct?” you stared at him, wide eyed, and he was staring right back. “Correct! Now, in order to speed things up a bit, all you have to do is follow Hyuck’s five step guide on How To Trap Your Childhood Friend Into—”

“Isn’t this the same guide that ruined your—”

“I said shut the fuck up!”

The two ended up quarrelling and you ended up being forgotten. You weren’t sure whether to be thankful or be offended. Jeno shot you a look of remorse on behalf of his friends, bringing you to the conclusion that this must have been a normal occurrence. Your eyes shot towards the sky, clouds covering the sun just enough so you wouldn’t be blinded, ears picking up the argument occuring that went back and forth on both of your sides. They’re a lively bunch, you breathed out, a subtle smile on your face.

Eventually Jaemin showed his face again, jogging over to your group and you greeted him with a beaming grin. “You guys seem to be getting along,” he said the moment he stopped before you.

“Oh, Romeo returns,” Renjun decided to stop picking a fight with Haechan. “Where’d you get dragged off to this time?”

There was silence, all four sets of eyes heavily sparked with curiosity as you waited for Jaemin’s response, but the boy was rather hesitant. “Well—” he fumbled, a faint baby pink blush powdering his cheeks. Sheepish, he continued. “Someone confessed to me.”

The first person that reacted was Jeno, who released a loud snort and scooted a little more forward. “Shouldn’t you be used to it by now?” Jaemin indignantly refuted as he continued to be teased by the other two boys, the remaining uncharacteristically not joining in. At that very moment you could feel Haechan looking at you, a gaze that you couldn’t quite put a finger on but it was enough to shoot him a glare back.

“Who was it? Is she pretty?” you chose to ignore the annoying male beside you and decide to focus all of your interest and attention on Jaemin instead.

“Jiah,” he mindlessly answered, pushing Haechan to the side so he could sit next to you. “From nursing? I think?”

“Dude,” you turned your head to Renjun. “Kang Jiah? Holy shit, that’s crazy.”

Noticing the lost look in your eyes, Renjun proceeded to explain that not only was the alluded Kang Jiah arguably the prettiest in her department, she was at the top of her class too. You didn’t understand which part about that was crazy because for you, that was exactly the kind of person that Jaemin was destined to end up with. You wouldn’t be surprised if they do become a thing— well, there was only one way to find the answer to that.

“Well, what did you say? You said yes right?” you asked him, looking forward to his answer.

“Oh,” he shrugged. “I turned her down.”

What?

“Of course,” Renjun scoffed, shaking head with his arms crossed. “Only you would turn someone like Jiah down. At this rate you’ll end up dying an old hermit.”

“You have a crush on her or something?”

“Pff— no? I just think she’s pretty,”

“You’re not fooling anyone, dumbass. Come over here, I’m gonna squeeze it out of you—”

While the two quarrelled again in the middle of the field with Jeno being the one filming this time, you remained frozen in your seat, somewhat surprised. Huh, you blinked, wanting to ask him why he turned her down but frankly it was none of your business. You turned your head to face him. “Wow, I didn’t expect you to turn into such a heartbreaker, Jaems.”

He clicked his tongue, face scrunched into a bitter look of disapproval as reached out to mess up your hair. “Stop thinking weird thoughts,” he scolded. “Instead, why don’t I finally take you to the art building?”

Your eyes immediately lit up after the mention, and he stifled a laugh at your reaction, patting your head once more before sneaking off without the other three’s knowledge.

Jaemin’s tour of the whole campus actually deemed to be pretty useful because after three whole weeks of going to NCT U, you’d only gotten lost seven times— pretty remarkable if you do say so yourself. Within those three weeks, you had actually expected that your old childhood friend would leave you off on your own once you got used to everything, but no. He tried his best to meet you in between classes even though your buildings were nowhere near each other, and the times when he couldn’t, he’d never failed to call or text you. “I promised your parents!” he reasoned, but you weren’t sure if that promise included asking you if you’ve eaten breakfast every morning.

“Breakfast?”

You repeated into the phone as you and your recently made friend Soorim walked to your Visual Studies class. You’d met her during your first week and the both of you immediately hit off. It was nice to have someone else other than Jaemin and his friends, but of course you appreciated their company, too.

“I, uh, actually haven’t eaten— no wait! Before you nag me, I have a valid excuse, okay!” Soorim gave you a sidelong glance, curious and suspicious over your loud phone call so she tried to lean her ear closer to the device but you quickly evaded without even looking at her. “Listen, I was in a hurry to school! I actually planned on grabbing a bite on the way but I… forgot my wallet because again, I was in a hurry and— no, shut up, you don’t have the right to scold me for this, too! You literally left your report at home yesterday and I had to walk all the way back to save your butt so you’re no better, Mr. Na.”

Without even realizing, you were already in front of the doors to your classroom, and so you hurried a goodbye to Jaemin just before you and Soorim took your seats at the near back.

“Alright, I’m in the classroom now. See you later. Yes, I’ll eat after, yes, I promise to double check my wallet from now on. Bye.”

The moment you settled on your seat, setting your phone and backpack aside, Soorim swiveled her chair to face you, legs crossed, hands resting with poise on her thigh, and she batted her eyelashes expectantly. You ignored her, twisting open your water bottle because it was the only thing you had that could somewhat silence your crying stomach.

“So,” she started anyway. The bottle opening was hovering over your lips. You narrowed your eyes at her. What the fuck was she doing. “When are you introducing me to your boyfriend?”

You choked while drinking.

“Boy— what,” with a grimace, you ripped away the bottle from your face, slamming it down on the table. You looked at your friend in disgust. “If I had one I wouldn’t be hanging out with you.”

Soorim rolled her eyes, sneering at you. She held up her hand to the side of her face, all fingers closed except for her pinky and her thumb, shaking it a little. You sighed.

“He’s a friend.”

“The same friend that kept on calling you during our night out because he was worried?”

“Yes, well,” your sweat dropped. “He’s just like that, you know?”

“Sure,” she scrunched her nose, haphazardly throwing her giant notebook on the table. There was a brief moment of quiet that overtook because Soorim decided to stop egging on you as you waited for your professor, but that quiet only lasted for a while. She nudged you, and you looked up from your desk. “Oh, look who's coming.”

Huang Renjun sauntered in with an expression not fitting for a “good morning” greeting, so you chose to remain silent and simply stare at him in judgment as he settled right before you and Soorim, plastic bag in hand and binder in the other. What shat in his coffee this early in the morning?

“This is all your fault,” with a grunt, he dropped the bag filled with all sorts of food and snacks right in front of you, immediately pulling out a chair and sitting his ass onto it after. “My plans of turning up late are ruined because of you.”

Your eyebrows furrowed, picking out a small container of strawberry milk from the bunch. How was this your fault? Furthermore, what exactly was all of this?

“Ooh, you making moves on Y/N, Huang?” Soorim, on the other hand, was digging into the rest of the goods, stealing a bun filled with red bean paste with a happy smile.

“Ew, as if.”

Renjun fake gagged, earning a look of offense from you which he completely ignored and disregarded. He took a box of pepero from the pile, shooting you a smug look before adding.

“It’s from Nana.”

(“You’re at school already? It’s very early. You’ve eaten breakfast, right?”

At a convenience store nearby the school, Jaemin and Renjun decided to eat their first meal there. Though, it appeared that the latter was the only one doing all the eating because his friend seemed to be far too preoccupied with his conversation on the phone to even notice that he took some of his sushi right in front of his face. Renjun silently chewed as he watched the colors on his friend’s face change at each sentence.

“Aish, it’s the most important meal of the day for a reason. How many times do I have to tell you—”

Another piece of sushi stolen. He wondered how far he could get away with it.

“Y/N, I—”

Jaemin let out a long sigh, causing Renjun to drop the food back onto the plate, retracting his chopsticks back to his own food— a bowl of ramen noodles that he had still yet to finish. He discreetly slurped it down as if he hadn’t been stealing since earlier. He was sure that Jaemin noticed though, but knowing his friend, he probably just let him. Renjun noticed the small pout on Jaemin, eliciting his curiosity.

“Okay,” he’s whining, Renjun concluded. “See you later.”

The moment Jaemin shut off his phone, Renjun expected him to say something, to air out why the fuck he was being all that this early in the morning, maybe even tell him what the call was about like a friend would, but no. Instead, Jaemin promptly stood up from his seat, disappeared into the limited selection of isles in the store, basket in hand, and started throwing a mountain full of food with a scrunched out, concentrated expression. Renjun had his mouth hanging open, brows knitted together, and wondering what in the ever loving fuck was going on with his friend as he stared at him pay for everything at the counter.

He sat back, eyeing Jaemin as he returned in front of him, who placed the full bag on top of the table as he took a seat.

“The hell?” a particular carton caught Renjun’s eye, and he immediately fished for it in primal disbelief. “Strawberry milk? You literally hate strawberries and milk separately yet you’re buying them combined? Are you sick?”

Jaemin did not answer. In fact, he dismissed the question completely with a smile, deciding to ask one of his own.

“It’s almost time for your first class, right? Visual Studies?”

At that point it hit him— the call, the food, the stupid behavior of his friend. It was completely obvious.

“Oh,” Renjun dropped the drink back onto the table. “Oh my god, you’re so fucking whipped.”)

“Shut up.”

After hearing Renjun’s story, you couldn’t look at all the multicolored snacks laid in front of you without heating up a million degrees anymore. It was ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.

“You’re just messing with me, shut up.”

Renjun scoffed. “Why would I even make up something so stupid? C’mon, Y/N. You know I’m way better than that.”

You couldn’t argue that this wasn’t something Jaemin would do. No, because this was exactly something sickly sweet Jaemin would do and your sad attempt of denial was simply because your heart might actually run away if you admit it to yourself. And as if to give you more assurance or to fluster you even further, your phone vibrated, causing you to jump in your seat. Before either of the two’s nosiness could take a peek, you quickly snatched your phone, leaning your chair all the way back to read the message.

[<nana3: never skip breakfast okok?!? u don’t have your wallet right? wait for me in front of the bio building later. let’s eat lunch together 🥰💚]

Dear lord Jesus, have mercy on your soul. Renjun took your squeak as a sign of victory.

“Wait a minute,” Soorim looked at you wide in a sudden moment of epiphany. “Nana as in Na Jaemin? The fucking Na Jaemin? Is he the friend you’ve been mentioning? The guy you were calling and bought all this? Holy fuck, Y/N—!”

Your body moved before you could think and you thanked god that your professor wasn’t here yet because you would have caught the entire class’ attention when you leaped forward to slap your hands over Soorim’s mouth.

Renjun’s excessive giggling brought you back to reality, pulling your hands off of her with a gasp and an apology. “Oh gosh, I’m so sorry.”

“What the fuck, why did you do that?”

“I don’t know, it felt like you were about to say something stupid!”

She gave a look, half done and half amazed at your willpower. You’d never been this fired up for anything. “Is it stupid to say that one of the hottest guys on campus is literally—”

“Stupid!” another slap on her mouth. Renjun was about to fall off his chair laughing. “You were going to say something stupid. Please don’t even think about finishing that.”

Lucky for you, your professor had finally come in. Unlucky for you, Soorim shot you the signature dirty stare which meant that you wouldn’t be let off that easily. How fun.

Class went on quiet and boring as usual— you’d never been one for technicalities, preferring heading straight into the creative process with nothing but inspiration coursing through your veins, so your professor’s voice was nothing but white noise running in the background as you busied yourself with your thoughts. Your eyes flickered to the floor, cheek resting on your palm, and you gazed down to the plastic back beside your backpack. Twirling your pencil between your fingers, you pulled out a scrap piece of paper, every move that you made triggered by nothing except the abstract flow of your mind.

There was only one person you were thinking of. The same person living inside your head the moment you stepped foot back into Korea, the same person that made you feel as if you were someone special out of all the eight billion people in the world, the same person that bought you three persons worth of food because he didn’t want you skipping breakfast, the same person that felt more like a dream than anything.

Mindlessly, you started sketching the face of your childhood friend, filling in all the details of his face that you could see whenever you closed your eyes, up until the bell rang that signalled the end of the class.

“Y/N! Your father and I are leaving, now!”

“There’s extra money on top of the fridge if you want to eat out.”

Saturday evening. Your parents decided to go out on a well-deserved date that night, leaving you alone inside your apartment. You saw them out the door, locking it up once they left, and as you pressed your back against the white washed wooden door, your eyes darted over to the clock hanging on your living room wall. Six-twenty-three. There were still a few hours until closing.

An art exhibition was to be held on the same evening, and this was the last day that the actual artist was going to be there. Free and you got to meet world renowned artist Ten Lee? You’d be insane not to go. Though, as you made your way into your room to change out of your raggedy old sweatpants and Jaemin’s (stolen) mint hoodie, you’d come to a realization that maybe the venue was too far for you to just walk. Your parents were using the car and it wasn’t like you could drive anyway. You could commute, but there was a better idea in your system.

Opening your phone, a smile involuntarily tugged at the corners of your mouth as you pressed the contact number that seemed to have never left your recents.

[you: nana! are you free rn? there’s an art exhibition out of town! i need a ride :p and you need some time off your studies too bcs i noticed youve been more tired than usual so good idea i think yes hehe]

As usual, he took no more than a minute to reply. But after lighting up when you saw his name flash on your screen, you bit down your bottom lip to prevent a frown from forming.

[<nana3: TT i’m attending a seminar for an org rn y/nie huhu i don’t know what time it’s ending so i’m not sure if i can make it 😫😭]

[you: it’s okay!! jhfdj sorry for disturbing u!! please listen well to the speaker hehe and tell me how it went]

[<nana3: i’m so sorry]

It was difficult to pinpoint how you exactly felt.

You chewed the inside of your mouth, staring at the phone screen. He shouldn’t be apologizing.

After shutting your closet door down to a close, you fell face down onto your bed, your phone thrown over to the side. Yes, you were disappointed, but it wasn’t what weighed you down; the actual reason feeling like a disgusting, throbbing feeling writhing underneath your skin after being suppressed for awhile now. It never left your system the moment you'd arrived, the moment he showed you what his life was like, making you realize the stark difference between you and him.

You couldn’t care less about the exhibition now. In fact, fuck that entire plan entirely. As you were loitering, fooling around, planning on going to pointless events that wouldn’t be of benefit to your future, Jaemin was there, making connections and decisions and taking a step further into life.

It made you wonder what exactly had you been doing these past seven years— what haven’t you been doing, what you should be doing. You were ashamed to admit it, but it plagued the back of your mind since you got here.

Jaemin was far too out of reach.

It made the wrench in your gut worse whenever he made an effort to not make you feel that way. He’d always include you whenever he’d be with his other friends, always made sure that you didn’t feel left out since you came here, whether it be by his little cute texts even though you were in the same room just to make you smile, or by giving you all of his attention despite the many people vying for his. God, you didn’t deserve him. You didn’t deserve to like him.

What did you deserve?

Just then, there was a knock on your front door, followed by a buzz from your phone.

[<nana3: open the door!]

And you did, scrambling out of your bed and nearly tripping over your feet as you ran just to swing it open. Jaemin stood before you with his hair tousled by the wind, a purple and orange varsity jacket covering his frame. He greeted you with brightened eyes.

“I thought you had—”

“I left early,” he smiled at you, walking inside. “Why aren’t you dressed yet? Hurry, I’ll wait here.”

You blinked at him as he passed you by to sit on your couch, unable to understand what led him to such a decision, staring as he stretched his arms over his head with a yaw. He shouldn’t have come here. “Jaemin, it’s just an exhibition, it’s not as important as your seminar.”

He raised a brow at you, stealing a pillow into his lap. “But you want to go, right?”

“Well…” you did want to go, even after your small episode earlier. “Yeah, but—”

“Then it’s more important.”

He smiled at you. You cursed at yourself for letting your heart dither.

“Besides, you actually think I’d let you go out alone this late at night?” Jaemin stood up from the sofa, resting his hand on top of your head with an affectionate gaze. “You should go change. Or maybe not. You look good in my clothes, anyway.”

It was cold outside, so Jaemin made sure that you were wearing enough layers so that you won’t get sick, forcing you back inside when he deemed that you weren’t covered enough.

“Jaem, I’m fucking sweating.”

You huffed as you lugged yourself to the front seat, but your padded winter coat was preventing you from making a smooth landing inside.

“Sweating is a good sign! That means you’re healthy,” noticing your struggle, Jaemin relented to leaving the coat at the back of the car, but keeping it there just in case. He got in after you, starting the car and turning on the radio for some background noise. “Reconnaissance Gallery Right? What’s the name of the show?”

“Mono,” you replied. “It’s by Ten Lee.”

“Oh! I remember you talking about him once,” he exclaimed. “We should hurry then.”

It was a generally quiet car ride, but the silence was welcomed. After asking where you wanted to eat dinner once you were done with the exhibit, Jaemin didn’t talk anymore. Your eyes followed the moving lights that were lit up all around the night scene, and from time to time they flickered over to admire the boy beside you who seemed to be far too engrossed with his driving. An unconscious smile grew, warmth fluttering inside. You were lucky enough to meet him again in this lifetime, even after being set apart for so long.

“Something wrong?”

He asked without looking. He must have noticed you staring.

“No,” you replied with a soft voice. “Just remembered how baby-faced you were back then.”

With a laugh, he shook his head, one hand stretched out to the steering wheel. “You’re one to talk. Alright, I think we’re here.”

You felt a rush the moment you went past the glass doors, met by a relatively large interior with walls painted either black or white and lined with numerous paintings that contrasted the wall they were hung on. With a large grin, you quickly tugged Jaemin’s arm deeper into the venue, your footsteps making hollow echoes inside the place. He was taken aback by your sudden action, heart racing when he felt your grip on him, never slowing down even when you stopped in front of one of the larger works in the exhibit. “Oh my gosh, I love this painting— wait let me take a picture.”

As you fumbled with your phone, Jaemin couldn’t help but stare at you as if you were a part of the exhibit itself. There were more people inside, yet he didn’t even notice them; paintings as pretty as the night sky, yet it was you that he couldn’t take his eyes off of. Your phone camera captured it with an audible click, and he took it as a signal to scramble and take his out too.

Click!

“The painting’s really pretty, right?”

He nodded at you. “Yeah,” it wasn’t the painting that he wanted to capture. He dug his phone back into his pocket after sneaking a brief glance at your excited grin behind the screen. It wasn’t every day that you smiled like this since you were usually reserved. He didn’t want to miss saving a memory. “You wanna walk around more?”

At his suggestion, you and Jaemin decided to move deeper into the exhibit. You knew he wasn’t that knowledgeable about art, but he still listened intently whenever you told him something about the strokes and composition of some of the works displayed. You hadn’t run into Ten Lee yet even after an hour of walking around and taking pictures, but you didn’t mind at all. Jaemin froze in front of a certain painting— the visage of what seemed to be a face formed together by different objects, drawn in a style similar to the rest with the black and white motif, graffiti-esque structure, and the overall whimsical and abstract feel to it. There was a smile on his face, you wondered what he was thinking about.

“One day, it’s gonna be your paintings that will be displayed here. You promise you won’t forget about me when that happens, okay?" he started, turning his attention to you. “You should also paint a portrait dedicated to me," he joked, nudging you a little.

You smiled at him. Jaemin noticed that this wasn’t your usual smile, but he chose to not say anything. “Okay,” you breathed out before looking down seconds before he could see your expression melt away. How was he thinking so highly of you when it was him who was too far to reach?

He was about to ask— he didn’t know what to ask— but he would say whatever just to erase whatever was bothering your peace of mind. But he wasn’t able to. In fact, just as he lifted a hand to rest over your shoulder as an act of comfort, your head shot up, turning to face the sudden eruption of a commotion that Jaemin had failed to notice in his worry for you.

“Holy crap,” you gasped. “Is that—”

Ten Lee, just a few feet away from you with cameras and crowd surrounding him. You wasted no time to run to him, grabbing Jaemin’s hand in a flash to drag him behind. His eyes softened upon seeing the excited bounce of your hair as you ran. At least your spirits were brought back up again.

Jaemin watched as you nervously fiddled with the hem of your jacket as you waited for an opening to talk to the famous artist, how you would stand on your toes to peek above the small crowd and stand back down again after feeling too shy. Eventually the crowd dissipated to only around four or five people. This was your chance. You looked at him Jaemin. He nudged you with his shoulder. ‘Go,’ he mouthed. You pressed your lips together before finally deciding to march up to the artist. He didn’t realize you have been holding his hands until you let go.

“A-ah, hi!”

He followed after you in case you were feeling too nervous, but he was relieved to see that Ten Lee was pretty down to earth and easy going for someone famous. He stayed a few steps behind you as he listened to the ongoing conversation.

“I can’t tell you enough how much I adore your works. Especially, Monarch! I took a picture of it earlier and it’s so much more captivating in person,” you said, watching as Ten signed your phone case. “Actually, I—I look up to you a lot as an artist. A few of my paintings were actually inspired by your style, but of course it— it would be an insult to compare.”

“You shouldn’t compare,” he scolded, adding in a little sermon about your art is yours and that it should stand alone as your own. He handed your phone back, a smile on his face. “Can I see?”

You couldn’t believe what you were hearing. In a flustered rush, you quickly scrolled through your gallery folders to find the specific paintings you were referring to, and Jaemin, out of curiosity, hovered over your shoulders to see as well. As you passed through your works with your friend’s mouth hanging open in awe (he wanted to gush about them, but figured this wasn’t formally appropriate), his eyes caught a glimpse of an image that you quickly swiped past— far too glaring too miss because he was sure that it looked something like his face. It was a different kind of pride that he felt when he saw that.

Ten’s eyes flickered as he saw through your paintings, something formulating within even after you hid your phone. He looked at you, grabbing your hands without any warning which caused you to squeak. “Y/N, right?” you nodded, wide eyed. “You know, I’m hosting an online gallery within the upcoming weeks. It’s for young, aspiring artists like you to be recognized at a larger scale.”

Hold on, you tried to catch on to what he was saying. Was he—

“Are you interested?”

—serious? Was he actually serious? It looked like he was because when he let go of you, a business card suddenly materialized in your hands. Holy shit.

“Think about it, okay? Just email me your portfolio and everything. Who knows, what if you get recognized and scouted after this?”

He winked at you, shooting you a thumbs up. This had to be a dream. You were still trying to process the piece of fucking paper that you were holding and now all of a sudden Ten came in between you and Jaemin, swinging his arms around your neck and giving you a pat on the back

“Anyhow, thanks to the both of you for coming to my show. And Y/N—” he looked at you with a grin. “Looking forward to your more of your works.”

Ten disappeared off with two other people, their footsteps clacking against the cold, tiled floor. You stared at the card in your hands for a few moments— Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul, it wrote— before snapping your eyes back to Jaemin who was wearing a far too large smile. “Oh my god.”

Jaemin wasted no time in drowning you into a hug, knocking the air out of your lungs when he nearly toppled you onto the ground.

“Y/N,” his voice was soft in comparison to the roughness of his actions, sweetly fluttering into your ears as he rocked you left and right with his squeezing embrace. “I’m so proud of you.”

His words nearly broke you down to tears.

“This calls for a celebration, right?” he pulled away, hand automatically falling to hold onto yours as he led you to the gallery’s exit. “My treat! I know a place nearby, we should eat an entire feast!”

“Nana, you already treated me to lunch last time, I can’t just—”

“No, no no! I’m treating you, okay? This is your achievement so I should congratulate properly.”

There was no point arguing with him when he already had his mind set, but even during your drive to a nearby barbecue place, even when you were already halfway with the meal, you kept on insisting that you’d pay him back for all of this someday. He’d only laugh it off, telling you that he doesn’t mind as long as you’re enjoying yourself. You downed a shot of soju after hearing that, hoping that it would make you forget momentarily about how fast your heart was beating.

Somehow the clock eventually struck nine, and rather than going home, the both of you took an impulsive detour to a nearby public beach. The sounds of waves crashing against the solemn quiet of the night was heard as you neared the area, bringing you to a moment of peace.

Instead of going to the sandy shore, you two decided to take a spot on the beach cliff right above the rolling water. “Be careful,” Jaemin whispered from behind as he guided you along the rocky surface, heating up from the way he was so, so close with his hands steady on your back. You two sat side by side on the cliff, underneath the veil of stars, with the ocean right in front of you.

“Are your parents okay with you staying out this late?” he cocked his head to face you in a manner that was far too cute for you to suppress a giggle.

“Jaems, they’d probably allow me to disappear off to Italy as long as you’re with me.”

The both of you broke into laughter, but it was eventually replaced by the noises of the ocean. You breathed in the salty scent of the sea, folding your knees to your chest with your arms hugging them together. For a moment your eyes flickered over to Jaemin, and a chord was strung, tugging your heart towards him, but it was impossible for it to leap out of your chest so it only rattled against your ribcage desperately just like the waves. You stared at the way his dark hair melted into the night sky, the wind brushing it away, the way he had his legs stretched out freely over the rocks while you squeezed yourself as small as you could get, and lastly, the way he flashed over to look at the exact moment that you wanted him to.

If there was such a thing as a perfect instance where the stars of the night sky aligned, it would be this.

“You know,” you started, letting your arms fall to your sides as you looked over to the distance. “I envy you sometimes.”

Jaemin was taken aback by your confession.

“I also admire you,” you pressed your lips together tightly, forming it into a smile. “A lot. I admire you a lot. To the point that it made me feel like you’re living in a completely different world from me and that I wasn’t deserving of you.”

You’d finally mustered up the courage to tell him everything you’d pent up during your first month back here— it was better than just letting it fester into something worse, even if there was a risk of completely ruining your friendship. It was better than playing pretend.

“We’re both only a year apart but it seems like you have your life all tied together while I’m still barely able to walk on my own two feet. I wouldn’t even have been able to go to the exhibit if it weren’t for you,” you crossed your legs, a mirthless laugh slipping past your lips as the wind brushed against your cheeks .“I don’t… want to seem ungrateful for everything you’ve done or make you feel bad or anything, because Jaemin—”

You turned around, looking at him.

“If I had the choice to stay back then, I would have gladly chosen to spend those seven years together with you.”

Jaemin stared at you, speechless, unblinking. He had a gut feeling that there was something bothering you all this time, but he never had thought that it would be this.

“But the feeling of seeing you again after all this time is a feeling that I wouldn’t trade for the world either,” you hummed, looking down as you traced the creases of the rocky ground with your fingers, a shaky breath slipping past you. “If only… I wasn’t just so insecure then maybe everything would be perfect.”

For a moment there was nothing— only the lulling sounds of the sea that became quieter after you laid your heart out to the ground. The next moment, Jaemin spoke up.

“I got into an accident four years ago.”

You shot up in a single instant.

Jaemin laughed a little, bringing his hand to the crown of your head in assurance. “I had a herniated disc which got worse during a dance camp. It was definitely scary, how it seemed like I was in a standstill for two years while everyone else carried on with their lives,” he continued, letting his hand drop once more right beside yours. “It’s hard to get out of that hopeless mentality. It takes small steps, but once you do, things will eventually start looking up.”

He shot you a smile, eyes twinkling under the light of the moon. You couldn’t help but put your head down after hearing everything.

“I understand how and why you’re feeling that way, don’t worry I’m not upset. You don’t think I am, right?” he caught you sniffling, leaning forward to take a look at your face but you kept on turning away. “Y/N— Y/N, look at me, okay? I’ll be your personal cheerleader from now on, yeah? Up until you realize that you’re actually greater than you think you are.”

He was too good to you.

“I’m— I’m sorry I couldn’t be there when you were having a tough time.”

You silently muttered, meekly sneaking a glance at him to see that he was actually smiling at you this entire time. He’d always been like this.

“It’s alright, you didn’t have a choice, right?” he assured. “And I’m all better now, as you can see. I can even jump off the cliff into the ocean without having a single scratch!”

Right, you managed a laugh from his silly proclamation. He lit up upon hearing you. Maybe you can try to be like that too.

“What’s important is that from now on.”

There had been a gap between the two of you that entire time, but Jaemin bridged it the moment his hand brushed against your skin, his pinky interlocking with yours against the coarse ground. You met his eyes. He shot you a smile. That same smile that you could never get enough of.

“You’ll be with me.”

“Jaemin, please put your shirt back on.”

When you walked back into the living room, easel and canvas in your arms, you did not expect to be met with your childhood friend-slash-boyfriend mid-strip. In fact you were far too in shock that you dropped everything to the floor at that exact moment, only managing to utter those previous words once you were busy picking them all back up and not looking at him. He quickly ran to help you.

“Oh, I thought this was—” he passed you a paintbrush, helping you stand back up once you’ve gotten everything. “Aren’t the models for your classes usually, like, naked?”

“You think I was gonna paint you nude?!”

“Well,” he mused, holding his shirt to his bare chest. “If you want— okay, sorry! Shirt on! Shirt on!”

You settled down the easel that you just threatened to launch at him near the window where the afternoon sunlight was leaking through. A few days prior, you had contacted Ten Lee regarding the online exhibit, asking when the deadline was because you wanted to include one more piece in your portfolio.

“Nana, can you sit over here?”

There was a stool situated a few feet in front of the easel and right beside the window. He did as you said, now fully dressed and sitting properly and well behaved. You marched up to him, moving around his limbs into a specific pose. Jaemin wore a subtle smile as you grabbed his arms to a certain position, his shoulders into a certain angle, and when your fingers landed on his jaw to adjust his head, he just couldn’t help but throw all your work out the window by pulling you towards him by the waist.

“What are you—” a kiss fell on your nose. Jaemin shot you a cheeky smile.

“Sorry,” he said. “I couldn’t help it.”

You weren’t inclined to do anything else but forgive him, even if it meant refixing him into position, but somehow you managed. Running back behind the easel, you wore a satisfied smile upon seeing the composition, flicking your wrist to start the initial sketch. There was music running in the background. Jaemin sat still for thirty whole minutes.

“Can I move for a sec?”

“Yeah, yeah,” you answered. “I got the basic shapes down anyway.”

He let out an amazed gasp, lips forming into an ‘o’ shape. “So cool,” he said, and you let out a little laugh.

You were trying to focus, but in between a few strokes of your pencil, he wiggled his eyebrows when you looked at him again. You threw your head down to suppress a barrage of giggles. “Okay, this is— this is going nowhere. Can I just take a picture of you?”

Even taking a shot of him was difficult because he just wouldn’t sit still. He’d always do something to make you laugh or smile just when you were about to take a picture. You scolded him, telling him that all you needed was a few takes then the both of you can make a run for some popsicles at the nearby store. He straightened upon hearing, and you finally got to do the job.

“Do you have a title in mind for the piece?” he asked, just as you finished taking the last photo of his face up close.

You did have one. In fact, you’ve had it in mind for a while now.

“Yeah,” you answered, smiling. “Mahiwaga.”

Haechan, for whatever suspicious reason, volunteered to treat you out to lunch today at a family restaurant near the uni. You did not know why, and he would not tell you why, but you could not pass up free food. You texted Soorim to follow just in case you needed mental support because as you sat across him, looking up from your phone while munching your fries to catch the terrifying stare he was giving you, you could tell that you needed at least one other person around.

[you: dude, i think hes actually planning on killing me please hurry up]

[soorim: omw babe]

[soorim: but ur paying for me right]

You sighed, telling her yes you already ordered her food, and she replied with an annoying heart that you refused to mark read. Just as you were about to shut off your phone, ready to hear whatever Haechan was brewing, another message was sent your way.

[<nana3: baby, i saw the exhibition!! 🤩 you know, you’re so amazing, you know?!?! nana is super super proud of you 🥺💚 and i’m sure your parents are, too!! i sent the link to all of my friends yesterday hehe. also i’ll call you immediately after my class, ok?? don’t forget to drink lots of water today 😚 byebye! 💚]

“Are you two fucking yet?”

Haechan’s question caused you to choke on your fries, dropping your phone to the table so you can reach for the glass of Sprite. You looked at him, appalled. “I’m sorry?”

“What are we talking about?”

Soorim had belatedly joined in the party, pushing you farther into the seat to make room for herself. Her eyes zeroed in on the table, choosing the giant burger to attack first. You scrunched your nose as you looked at her.

“We—”

“Whether Y/N and Jaemin have done the dirty yet,” Haechan interrupted. You looked at him in offense and horror. He reciprocated with a deadpan stare. “You have, haven’t you? I went to Jaemin’s house at four in the morning yesterday and—”

“Why were you at his house at four?!”

“Doesn’t matter.”

You looked at him in disbelief, scoffing, and you looked over to Soorim with the words ‘can you believe this guy?’ ready to fire from your tongue. You could not say it. Not when Soorim looked absolutely compelled by Haechan’s bullshit allegations. She even stopped scarfing down her food. You made a mistake in calling her up here.

“What matters is that he looked absolutely fucked out absolutely naked, but not only that!” a scrunchie. He pulled out a scrunchie from his backpack. That was yours. Even had your hair on it. “This is yours isn’t it? I’ve caught you red handed, Y/N, now answer me—”

Haechan’s eyes were out to kill.

“You wrapped it, right? I’m too young to be called Uncle Hyuck so please tell me you did.”

“We are not—”

“That explains why you were walking all weird yesterday!” Soorim exclaimed. “Y/N, you know you could tell me these things, right? There is no—”

“We are not fucking!”

This wasn’t the best conversation to have at a family restaurant.

A waiter stopped serving the table next to you, it’s occupants (that included three kids and their parents) froze and looked at you in horror. An innocent passerby spilled his drink on his tray. You sharply inhaled, bowing your head apologetically. Thank god there weren’t any managers here— the three of you might have actually gotten kicked out.

With a cough, you collected yourself, giving both of your companions the stink eye for putting you in such a compromising position. “Can I not sleep at my boyfriend’s place without— without doing anything of that sort?” you huffed, ignoring the red hot heat creeping up your neck. “And as a matter of fact, I was walking weird because I fell down the while lugging plywood up the stairs, so shut the fuck up.”

The two of them let out a shriek at the same time.

“Boyfriend?! And what— you fell off the fucking stairs?!”

“Did you do as I told you?! Did you follow Hyuck’s five step guide on How To Trap Your—”

“Quiet!”

You shushed the both of them before the three of you actually got kicked out.

“Yes, boyfriend. Yes, I fell off the stairs. No, I did not follow Hyuck’s guide to whatever,” you spitefully took a sip from your drink. “You never even told me what the hell that was.”

As Haechan started to further explain his guide with Soorim enthusiastically taking everything in, you were caught by the buzzing of your phone. The screen lit up. Someone sent you an e-mail— the sender you did not recognize at all. You wiped your fingers with some tissues on the table before taking the device, clicking on the notification immediately after.

“Right. After you tell him that you’re— hey! Y/N, are you even listening?”

You shot up. Haechan noticed the distraught look in your eyes. His brows furrowed together.

“What’s wrong?”

The following weekend, you went out and treated Jaemin to dinner at a fancy Chinese restaurant despite his many complaints. He was about to pay for everything again, but this time you were faster in stealing the check. Afterward, you stopped by a nearby hardware store to buy another two pieces of plywood. You’ve been painting a lot more frequently lately, and you’ve been experimenting more on larger scale works. It was fortunate that Jaemin was there to help you bring the large sheets of wood this time.

“There we go.”

Jaemin settled the wood resting upright against your living room wall, right beside a few stained cans of paint underneath layers of newspaper. You thanked him, smiling, and he ruffled the hair on your head.

“You should ask me whenever you need to do some heavy work alright? We don’t want a rerun of last time,” you cringed upon recalling. That wasn’t a pretty fall. “How are your legs? Have the bruises healed?”

“Almost. You don’t have to worry,” you assured him. He sighed in relief.

Dinner and a shopping trip weren’t the only reasons you called him out tonight. You had actually been meaning to tell him something within the past three days. Your parents knew, Haechan and Soorim found out during lunch last time, Renjun and Jeno might have already found out thanks to their loudmouthed friend. All that’s left was Jaemin. It was his reaction that would help you make the decision.

But why was it so difficult to start talking?

“I’m gonna head out now,” he hummed, pulling you into his chest. You bit down your lip, contemplating, and maybe he noticed your unease and hesitation, as if he could hear your unsaid thoughts, because he lightly pulled away to look at your face and spoke. “What is it? Do you wanna tell me something?”

Of course, you thought to yourself. He’d probably know you’re hungry before your stomach could even rumble.

You gently pried away his hands from your arms, a hollow smile directed to him. Concern flashed through his eyes, but he held back his tongue, waiting for you to say your mind instead.

“Yeah…” you started. “I— I do have something to tell you.”

That was what you said, but as the clock ticked a couple dozen times in the background, you still had yet to tell him. It wasn’t easy to tell him. Because you were afraid that the moment you opened your mouth to squeeze out a single word, you might not make it to finish the entire sentence. If it were him, this might have been easy. But you were not, so it took a little more effort on your part to let the words go.

Maybe you shouldn’t have looked him in the eye, because the moment you did, your eyes stung from the threat of tears and so you jerked your head to the side.

But you weren’t able to evade, because Jaemin decided to follow you. You turned away again, looking towards the unplugged television, but it was once again replaced by Jaemin’s dark brown eyes. Your eyes stung, your lips pressed together, and at that moment you couldn’t help but laugh at his ridiculous actions throwing your head down in the midst of it, but your laughter got choked up by the sudden streaming of tears that you had come unprompted.

Jaemin panicked.

“Hey, hey, baby, what’s wrong? What is it?” he ducked down to reach your face, cupping your cheeks with his large hands as you wiped away your tears. “It’s okay, you can tell me, baby. I’ll listen to everything, okay?”

It took you a while to regain your voice, but Jaemin patiently waited with words of consolation. You couldn’t understand how one person could have this much goodwill and kindness in them.

Eventually your sniffling died down, and so you finally willed yourself to speak. “I— I joined Ten’s exhibition, right? And— and there was a possibility that other artists or institutions might be interested in the participants, right?”

“Mhm,” he replied, stroking the back of your head as you tightly gripped the front of his shirt. “Go on.”

“I— I got scouted? You know PIOA? In Paris? They— they offered me a full scholarship if I…” you paused for a moment, biting the inside of your mouth. “If I transfer there for the remaining months until my last year.”

Jaemin took a while to absorb it, silence flooding along with your occasional sniffles.

“Isn’t that a good thing? Ah, ah, baby look at me, look at me,” he grabbed your shoulders, frowning when he made contact with your red stained eyes. He brushed your cheek with his thumb, heart heavy from seeing you like this. It pained him to see you this way. “Why are you crying? Don’t you want to go?”

A beat of silence. You swallowed, speaking in a small, shaky voice.

“Do you want me to go?”

Another beat of silence.

“Of course! Can you imagine that out of all the people that joined that exhibit, they chose you! Your talent and hard work shouldn’t go to waste,” Jaemin inhaled sharply in between his speech, managing a smile for you to see. “I’m really proud of you, Y/N. An opportunity like this doesn’t come that easily.”

“Jaemin.”

You softly sounded, letting your head fall into his chest. He held you close, as if you were leaving at that instant.

“You know I was so happy when we got in touch again, when I came back to Korea. I know I don’t have a lot going on for me, but I could easily forget all of that because I’m with you,” once more, you felt the tears start to rise up again, but you tried your hardest to swallow them down. “It hasn’t even been that long since we got reunited and now you’re… you’re just telling me to leave you again miles, miles away as if it’s nothing.”

“It’s not like that, Y/N. It’s hard for me too, you know,” he muttered into your hair with a slight whine, his chin resting over your head. “But it’s not like we’re never going to see each other again, right? We managed for seven years, what’s two or three more?”

When he heard you stifle a laugh, laughing despite your sniveling, he couldn’t help but laugh along too. Once more and perhaps the last that night, he pulled away so he could look at the smile on your face, eyes still red and watery, and he pressed a warm kiss on your forehead.

“You have nothing to worry about, baby. We can visit each other during breaks and—” he breathed out, lips curling into a smile. “I’ll call you every day.”

Right, you wiped away your remaining tears, huffing out a brief, airy chuckle.

You looked at him, hopeful, earnest.

“Every day?”

You asked.

“Every day.”

He answered.

You were never going to get used to airports. They always carried a bitter, cold air that signified a goodbye that you were far too familiar with. Today was no different.

“Don’t forget to drink your vitamins alright? It’s a new environment so you might need some time to get used to it. Oh! And—”

“Dude, you’re worse than her actual mom.”

Jaemin shot a smile to your mother at the mention, who was waiting for your group to finish from a distance with your father. Your mother was to stay with you in Paris for a week until you got everything settled down while the four boys, Soorim, and your father decided to send you off today. Though, unlike your usual experiences with leaving and returning, today was much louder, more rowdy. It was a nice change— you only wished that it would last longer.

“It’s okay, I appreciate the concern,” you laughed. “Do I have to report back to you everything before I go to bed?”

“Well, if you can,” Jaemin mused, locking his pinky finger with yours and swinging your hand into the air from side to side. “Kidding, kidding. I trust you’ll take care of yourself there.”

A chorus of gagging noises broke out when you pulled his shirt, burying your face into his chest, prompting him to smile and wrap his arms around you. You drowned them out, though, only focusing on how warm he was despite the cold brushing of the wind, how he held you with so much gentleness that one would think he was afraid that he might break you.

It was funny how free you felt when you were trapped inside his embrace.

“How many times do I have to say goodbye to you at the fucking airport?” you grumbled, tears welling up again and so you wiped them away with your sweater sleeve. “Wait, why aren’t you crying. Aren’t you even at the very least sad that I’m gonna leave?”

Jaemin chuckled, replacing your hand with his to brush away the stray tears.

“If I cry in front of you then you probably won’t even board the plane.”

You hated that he was right.

“I’ll do it after you leave,” he let out a laugh, tucking a strand of your hair behind your ear. At that moment, the pre-boarding announcement rang throughout the area's speakers, signalling that it was time for you and your mother to go. Grabbing your suitcase, you sent a grateful look to each one of them— your father, Jeno, Renjun, Donghyuck, Soorim, and—

Jaemin suddenly grabbed your suitcase handle before you could go, his hand right beside yours. You locked eyes with him, wide and surprised.

He landed a kiss right on your lips.

“Call me when you arrive, okay?”

You mindlessly nodded, still in the midst of recovering from shock. Your mother called out to you to start moving.

As you walked away, head still locked behind, you watched as the four screamed, cheered, and teased your boyfriend as they shook and pushed him around like a ragdoll, while he just kept on looking at you with a smile.

“Don’t worry, Y/N! I’ll record his crying face!”

Haechan screamed despite being several feet away already, and you stifled out a laugh.

You might have to say goodbye today, but time will come when you would meet again.

Across the cobblestone tiled sidewalk, people were walking about, the streets were filled with tourists and natives, the mid noon sun was just in reach. Summers had always been crowded in the city, and you were swimming in the middle of the crowd in a far too inappropriate attire, sweating as you spoke into the phone.

“Oh, yeah. I’m on my way to the gallery now— I had to stop by at a cafe first, though.”

“You seem busy.”

Jaemin’s voice echoed from your phone’s speakers. The streetlight turned red. You followed the crowd as you crossed the street.

“Yeah… It’s a lot of back and forth work, even on the last day of the show, but it’s all worth it,”you replied. “Did you know that people kept on asking me who my muse was for Mahiwaga? Ever the popular boy, even when you’re not here.”

It has been a year and a half since you first got to France. Things have been going well on your part with your budding art career— and so far you’ve guested in three exhibitions, but you have yet to have one solo. Even though you and Jaemin promised to see each other during breaks, it was practically impossible to align your time. He was busy with internships and his organizations this year and so were you. But one thing the both of you have faithfully maintained throughout the course of your time away was calling each other every day, even if it was just for a few minutes.

A cyclist sped past you. Jaemin’s voice was heard again. He laughed at your last remark, saying that he wasn’t that popular, but all of a sudden his voice turned into a more serious tone.

“Since you have a lot of work these days…”

Your brows furrowed, squinting as the light shone into your eyes. You clutched your sling bag, heels clattering as you passed by the cream, brown, and grey buildings.

“Should we call less often?”

You stopped in your tracks.

What?

“No— no, Jaems, what are you saying? Are you sick? Are you not feeling well?” you were almost late for the opening, but you couldn’t care less at the moment. What was he on about? Call less? Never had that crossed your mind even once. “I don’t even get to see you anymore, so if anything… we should call as often as we can.”

A few people passed from behind. His end of the line was silent. Your lips scrunched into a frown, confused.

“Jaemin?”

“That’s a relief.”

Before you could even ask him anything, the call ended.

“What the hell?” you huffed, staring at your phone screen in perplexity before you returned it to your pocket. Maybe he was feeling a lot more lonely than usual— that was unavoidable, but the both of you made it work. You should ask him what that was all about later. Now, you really needed to head to the gallery. With a sigh, you marched forward, stopping at an intersection where the large, eggshell white walls of the gallery stood across.

You stopped before the crosswalk, the lights green, and a few vehicles passed by, and your thoughts were once again clouded by Na Jaemin and why did he suddenly propose that. Was he getting sick of you? Was this his way of hinting a breakup? Your face contorted into a look of horror. No, you shook your head at the notion. He literally sent you a picture of a weird keychain last night  saying it reminded him of you. Another sigh. The light went red. You crossed the street.

Maybe it was because you were thinking too much of him, maybe you were missing him too much, but the moment you reached the middle of the crosswalk, your heart suddenly stopped, legs froze, eyes stuck to the sight right in front of you.

There he stood, right before the front stairs of the gallery with dozens of people disappearing and passing by. He spotted you, eyes lighting up, the corners of lips automatically quirking upwards. He sent you a small wave.

You ran.

“Hi— woah!”

Maybe you were causing a scene, but you didn’t care. You couldn’t find it in you to care when Na Jaemin was right fucking here. He chuckled when you suddenly ran into him, wrapping you in a tight hug that matched your own. “You know, I was afraid that you’d actually agree to limiting our calls,” he started, and you looked up, the light shining into your eyes. Jaemin’s smile was as bright as the sun. “I thought I would have to deport myself back to Korea.”

Your lips quivered, unable to hold it back. Yeah, you shook your head, a shaky laugh leaving your lips. It’s always been like this.

“Is this where you’re holding the exhibit? Wow, it’s a lot bigger than in pictures.”

There are points in your life where you’re met with a choice— to stay or leave, to smile or cry. Always him between something else. Twice. You’ve said goodbye to him twice choosing to leave. For a moment, it might seem that you’ve chosen the other. But that was never the case, because at the end of each day it was him you were thinking of, it was him that your lines end, it would always be—

“Y/N? Y/N? Are you crying?” he exclaimed, frowning as he wiped away your tears. “Ah, it’s such a happy day today, you shouldn’t be crying.”

“I missed you, you dummy.”

—Him. You’d always choose him. Na Jaemin. Jaems. Nana. Your childhood best friend. Your boyfriend—

He smiled at you, eyes shining, pressing a kiss on your forehead before taking you into his arms once more with a shaky breath. “I missed you too.”

—Your mahiwaga.

hannie-dul-set, 2020.

[meltwonu]

| 🍒 CH-CH-CHERRY BOMB! 🍒 |     [CHAPTER 7]

pairing; dom!seungcheol x camgirl!reader

this chapter’s notes; camshow, fingering, daddy!kink, dirty talk, ‘cuz you can touch touch me~ 😏 ur gonna need to imagine headband/bandana wearing left&right cheol for this cuz that’s the fantasy i was imagining for this chapter the entire time i was writing it hehe 🍒 quick apologies to anyone who thinks this is moving a little slow 😩 I literally don’t know how to shut up and I end up writing too much LMAO and as always, thank you for the continued interest! Have a great weekend bbys! 💕 

chapters; 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - ?

dom.cheol has donated $400

therealchan99: yea this is about right on course

dom.cheol: what, did u miss me? 😏

gentleman_josh95: loosely

chwenon: more like the obscenely large donations were missing lolol

You jokingly roll your eyes, exhaling deeply as you push your toys off to the side of the bed. You’d just finished your Saturday show without a hitch, albeit feeling a little lonely. “Aww, c’mon you guys! Don’t tease~” Glancing around the room, it did feel a little odd to you now that Seungcheol wasn’t there but he had called earlier in the day and told you that it might’ve been better if he stayed back.

In truth, you understood exactly how he felt.

Part of you was ready to throw all caution out of the window when it came to Seungcheol and he felt it too. But at the same time, you knew it wouldn’t be that easy and that there were still things that the two of you needed to discuss before deep diving into intimacy, especially when it came to powerplay.

kitty_junjun: hey dont take this in a weird way but like

kitty_junjun: i feel like i saw u earlier today…

universe_WZ: ooo i never thought abt that before

sleepy_wonu has donated $75

xcaliburDK: have ppl recognized u irl before? :o

dom.cheol: i feel like i might’ve seen u irl before too…

Your cheeks bloom a hot pink; a nervous giggle on your lips. “Oh! I mean, yeah, there’s been a handful of times. I’ll wear wigs out sometimes though. Can’t have people calling me out in a grocery store, y’know?”

kitty_junjun: wait so maybe i did see u? I dont wanna give out locations tho…

“Maybe! I’m still out on my little weekend trip and I was out and about earlier~ if you see me next time, don’t hesitate to say hi! I promise I don’t bite~” You pause, leaning closer into the webcam as you wink.

“Unless you want me to~”

You start running a bath right after you end your show, stretching and turning on some music as you start to unwind. Thankfully you didn’t have a tiring show today, so you decided to take the rest of the night to pamper yourself in preparation for your day with Seungcheol.

Biting your lip, you pick up your phone, already seeing a multitude of messages from Seungcheol on your lockscreen.

cheollie ✨: don’t forget ur glass of water!

cheollie ✨: also don’t forget i’m picking you up at 9:30am

cheollie ✨: hope ur ready to spend all day at the roller rink with me baby

You can’t help but grin, already excited to see how Seungcheol spent his day at work. Typing a response, you quickly hit send before setting your phone down onto the nightstand and making your way to the bathroom.

‘I can’t wait! I’m so excited~ u promised me free skates and free food so don’t forget!!’

It’s exactly 9:29AM when Seungcheol messages you that he’s downstairs.

You check yourself in the mirror one last time, smoothing down your dress and hair and grabbing your bag before you rush down to meet Seungcheol. 

There’s a mild feeling of nervousness that pours over you, but you quickly shake it off once you see his blue headed figure standing outside of the lobby.

“‘Cheollie!”

He turns around to face you just as you stop in your tracks; gasping when you see the cute way he’s styled his hair for today. “Whoa… wow, uh, j-just.. Wow. You look great in bandanas...”

Seungcheol laughs, eyes forming crescents. “I don’t usually work the weekends so I thought I’d spice it up a little. Guess it looks good?” You can only nod shakily, mentally cursing yourself when you feel the arousal already pooling inside your body. He winks at you once, opening the passenger’s side door as you slide into his car.

“Hope you’re ready to have a boring day at the roller rink with me.” He gives you a tight lipped smile, shutting your door before he rounds the car to get in on the driver’s side.

“I’m telling you, it’s not going to be… y’know, anything crazy.”

“Who says it has to be! I’m excited to see where you work and anyway you promised!” You tease, poking him in the arm as he starts the car. “I know, I know… I just---I don’t want you to be disappointed. I bet you thought I was some rich old hotshot before, huh?” Seungcheol shoots you a glance, smiling gently.

“Mmm.. not really.”

“No? You didn’t think I was some lonely CEO with loads of money with a thing for camgirls?”

You laugh at his response, placing your hand over his on the gear shift.

“Nah, if there’s anything I thought about you, it was that you were way too nice to be on some camming website.”

The two of you have idle conversation as Seungcheol takes his time to drive to the roller rink. In all honesty, he was a little nervous himself, although he’d never say it to your face.

“Oh my god, is that it?! It’s so cute!”

He parks close to the entrance, turning the car off as he jogs over to your side to help you out. “‘Cheol, you know you don’t have to be so sweet~” You pout, latching onto his arm as he locks the car.

“Oh but I do. You deserve to be spoiled once in a while!”

A blush coats your cheeks yet again, shy eyes fixated on the floor as he walks you towards the entrance. “Yeah, but all you ever do is spoil me… That sybian was no joke and my god, Seungcheol, the price! I almost had half a mind to return it…” You end in a mumble. Seungcheol laughs, opening the door for you as you unlatch from his arm and step in first.

“You’re worth spoiling. Now stop worrying, okay? I promise I’m not up to anything illegal in order to afford your gifts.” Giggling, you lean up to kiss him on the cheek, nodding firmly.

“Fiiiiine, I trust you, y’know?”

“I know, baby. I trust you too, now let’s go meet my best friend who’s going to play butler for you today.”

He leads you over to the concession stand where an equally tall yet bored male stands. “Hey, Jeongguk!” The said male looks up from his phone, eyebrow quirking when the two of you walk up. “Uh, hey Seungcheol-hyung…” Seungcheol feels a weird tenseness fall over the three of you, clearing his throat to get Jeongguk’s attention when he finds the younger male staring.

“Um, this is my friend. She’s---uh, she’s gonna be hanging out here for the rest of the day. I promised her that you’d give her free food, so uh, just--just let me know how much it is so I can tell Namjoon to take it out of my paycheck.” Jeongguk grins, a sly look in his eyes when he finally meets Seungcheol’s concerned eyes.

“Sure! Can I talk to you over there? It’s about our paychecks actually.” Jeongguk turns to you, leaning over the counter. “Sorry, employee only info, ch--uuuuuh, you know the deal.”

“Yeah, of course!”

Jeongguk points off to the side, gesturing to Seungcheol who follows suit.

The younger male makes sure they’re a safe distance away, watching as you pluck your phone out of your purse before he starts talking in harsh whispers. “What the fuck, dude!? You’re---no, you’re not fucking Cherry. She doesn’t have a boyfriend so what the fuck?”

The blood drains from Seungcheol’s face; the feeling in his fingers going numb as his throat goes dry. “Wuh--what? What are you---what are you talking about?” Jeongguk scoffs, eyes rolling jokingly.

“So, hyung, how do you know her?”

“You’re asking me?! How do you know her!?” Seungcheol’s eye twitches just as Jeongguk shoots him an incredulous look, arms crossed in mock annoyance. “I’m a horny boy, what can I say.”

“Please do not ever use those words to describe yourself again.”

The younger male stands in silence, nodding in thought.  

“Fuck, wow, I should’ve noticed. All those extra shifts you were taking, the reason why you could never come hang… You don’t like working here as much as Yoongi-hyung but you--holy---holy shit, wait--you… you can’t be…”

Fuck, here it comes.

“You’re fucking ‘dom.cheol’ aren’t you? You’re the one always leaving her insane fuckin’ donations all the time… and the gifts.. Oh my god. The ‘cheol’ was from Seungcheol, I should’ve known...”

Seungcheol dies a million deaths inside his head; the ringing in his ears becoming unbearable while Jeongguk stares at him in mild disbelief. “It all clocks out, holy fuck. No wonder you were so fucking eager to pick up so many extra shifts…” Seungcheol’s mouth opens and closes a few times, unsure what to say.

“I mean, fuck hyung, I--I’m kind of impressed but wow. You think you know a guy, huh?” Jeongguk laughs, patting the older male on the shoulder. “She’s only one of the hottest camgirls out there right now. You’re a lucky man, hyung.”

A weird possessiveness washes over Seungcheol, hands gently balling up into fists at his side. “Okay, well, she… she’s just here to chill, alright? Don’t do anything weird. And most of all, don’t say anything weird either.” The younger male nods, already walking back to where you were standing.

“Hey, sorry, hyung’s paycheck is gonna be pretty sad next week and I had to let him down gently. Anyway, I’m Jeongguk. You are?”

You give him a fake name; shaking his hand over the counter as he grins at you.

“It’s my pleasure.”

You spend the first two hours on the floor skating; catching Seungcheol’s eyes on you from time to time as he sits nearby cleaning skates. The place seemed pretty empty, which was something that Seungcheol was immensely glad for.

Eventually you skate off out of the rink, making your way to Seungcheol who smiles at you when you come sit next to him. “Told you. Bored already, huh?” The two of you share a laugh, watching as the few other people continue to skate around the rink.

“I mean… it’s different! Right about now I’d usually be six episodes into a new series or something… It’s nice to be somewhere else and doing something different.”

He nods in return, slightly pouting when he turns to face you. “I hate that you have to go home tonight.” You mirror his sentiments, lips quirking into a sad smile.

“I know… I don’t wanna go home…”

Seungcheol bites the inside of his cheek, eyes flitting over to Jeongguk. “Hey, maybe we can bail a little early. This place is pretty dead anyway, and I--I can have Jeongguk clock me out when he leaves. My shift is supposed to end at 3PM and it’s noon now so… We can leave in a hour? Maybe get a late lunch?”

“Seungcheol… I don’t want you to get in trouble…” You mumble, brows furrowing in concern. “Really, it’s okay! We can just hang here ‘til then and still have time to get dinner!” He sighs, knowing you were right. Now was not the right time to be testing the waters with Jeongguk and Namjoon.

“Okay, okay, you win, baby.”

It takes 45 minutes.

45 minutes and a free drink from the concession stand before your mind starts wandering.

You watch Seungcheol converse with Jeongguk behind the concession stand; his cute laugh sending you into orbit when your eyes meet and you can’t stop the thrums of lust pouring over your body when a certain idea pops into your head.

Seungcheol turns his attention back to the younger male and you quickly start to unlace your skates and put your normal shoes back on before Seungcheol’s entire break gets taken up. 

You walk up to the two; Seungcheol cleaning off his hands before he exits from behind the counter.

“Seungcheol…” You softly call out; a look of concern crossing his features when he stops in front of you. “Hey, is everything okay?”

“Yeah, mmhmm! I just--I need to talk to you, if that’s okay?” Jeongguk already turns to leave, wiggling his eyebrows at you.

You drag Seungcheol away, tugging him towards an even emptier part of the roller rink as the concern builds up inside of him. “I have an idea.” He feels himself gulp, already anticipating what you have to say.

“And…?”

“Well… It’s… It won’t t-take long I don’t think, just… hear me out?” You question gently, head tilting cutely up at Seungcheol who already knows he can’t say no to you. “Okay, shoot.”

“Wh--what if we… film a small POV v-video… like, not a live one! Just a small upload on my channel to test the waters maybe? I just---you don’t have to say anything and--and it’ll be quick, and--and like, nothing major just a little, um, f-fingering and--oh my god, sorry, I shouldn’t have a-asked, that’s just---I’m s-sorry I was thinking about it and it kinda got to me and I’m---I’m kinda already wet just thinking about it and--”

“No, let’s… let’s do it. To be fair, people seem to like risqué public things like that right?” A crimson blush falls on Seungcheol’s cheeks as he turns the tables, wrapping a hand around your wrist as he walks you to the employee restroom. “It’s… there shouldn’t be anyone in here so we should be safe.” He mutters, checking to make sure before he ushers you inside and locks the door behind him.

“I don’t know what to do so you’ll have to guide me a little here, baby.”

You nod, pulling your phone out and opening the camera app. Scrolling, you put it in video mode, clicking the red button before passing it to Seungcheol. “I’ve never done it either but I’m sure I can just… crop it and I m-mean it’s meant to be a little shoddy, right?” You giggle nervously, body already on fire when Seungcheol makes the camera face you. “You don’t have to say anything if you’re not comfortable with your voice being in the video, I just need… this.”

You reach for his free hand, playing with it as you run your fingertips across the veins. “I’m sorry, daddy… I just… I couldn’t help but think about your fingers inside my tight pussy...” Seungcheol almost loses his grip on your phone; palm clammy when he watches as you bring his hand underneath your short dress.

“Please… please, won’t daddy fuck me with his fingers? I promise I’ll be good for the rest of the day if he lets me cum on his fingers…” You whine.

Seungcheol isn’t ready to have his voice heard yet, so he nods, fingers twitching in your hold.

You take this as an okay to continue, dragging his hand up until his knuckles graze your panties. “O-oh, fuck…”

This time Seungcheol takes the lead; his own body ablaze when he can already feel your wetness soaking through your panties. He presses into it, digging his fingers into the wet material until it sticks to you like a second skin. “D-daddy, please, please, put them inside, I need it!!” You mewl, trying to keep your voice down as much as possible while still being audible enough on camera.

He shoots you a look; one that tells you to hike your dress up until your soaking panties are seen through the camera lens. And you easily follow, holding your dress up as Seungcheol drops to his knees, angling the camera upwards until only his fingers and your clothed pussy are in view. You spread your legs a little more, back resting on the wall behind you.

“Please, I can’t wait any longer…”

He gulps once, saying a prayer before he slowly pushes your panties to the side. And you all but lose any semblance of sanity the second he runs his fingertips through your wetness, pussy clenching around emptiness. “Fuck--fuck me, please!”

Once Seungcheol deems his fingers wet enough, his eyes meet yours, asking for silent consent before he makes any further moves. You nod frantically, fingers gripping the material of your dress tightly.

Seungcheol bites his lip the second he starts sinking his first finger into your tight warmth; already feeling the drool pooling in his mouth when you moan loudly. He starts a slow pace, mentally noting just how obscenely wet you are when he drags his finger out slowly. “Ngh, daddy m-more, please, I can take it, I wanna be f-full~” He gives it a few more thrusts of his index finger before he adds his middle finger; this time slowly sinking both digits into your pussy as you whimper above him.

His eyes flit up, mesmerized when he sees your face contort in bliss. “O-oh my god, I’m--I’m already so close… Daddy’s fingers are so much bigger and thicker than mine, it fuh--feels so good…” You mutter; squirming when Seungcheol doesn’t move.

And it takes him a second; too fixated on the way your tight walls only seem to suck his fingers in deeper.

But he starts a moderate pace, scissoring and curling his fingers inside of you until you’re reduced to whines and soft breathy moans.

He can already feel you getting tighter around his fingers after a few more minutes; doubling his pace when you start to beg.

“Oh my god, oh my god, ‘m so close, fuck! P-please touch my clit, daddy, please make m-me c--cum!”

Seungcheol feels his cock throbbing in his pants but he focuses on you, thumb immediately on your clit as he rubs harsh and quick circles on the swollen nub. He doesn’t know how much time has passed or if his break is over, but the look of absolute pleasure on your face is enough to make him not care.

He curls his fingers into your g-spot, holding them still as he continuously rubs your clit until you’re cumming; thighs shaking as you let out shaky breaths above him.

“Oh m-my god, daddy!” You mumble in a hurried frenzy, thighs clamping around his hand between your legs as the pleasure washes over you.

Seungcheol lets you ride out your high, gently wiggling his fingers inside of you as he starts to slow down.

“Mmh… Seungcheol…”

Oh fuck.

He definitely liked it when you moaned his name. 

“Y-yes…?” It’s his cue to turn off the camera, shaky finger pressing the ‘stop’ button. He gently slides his fingers out of you, muttering an apology when you wince.

“You don’t have to say sorry! It’s just… ‘m sensitive…” You mewl, already missing the feeling of his fingers inside of you. “Y-yeah, of course! I, um, I hope that was okay? I’ll give you a second to get cleaned up, I’ll uh, run and get you some water.”

You nod in response, thanking him before he quickly washes off his hands and bolts out of the restroom; ears and cheeks redder than a tomato.

Once you’re alone, you quickly open your camera roll, clicking on the video as you hurriedly crop out the beginning and end, making sure that the short video didn’t have any incriminating details before you open up your camming homepage.

There’s a moment of unsureness that makes you pause. You bite the inside of your cheek, weighing the potential outcomes of posting this to your page. 

But before you can change your mind, you quickly start the upload; adding a title and a short description before you lock your phone to let it process.

In the meantime, you get cleaned up, checking your appearance in the mirror once before picking up your phone again. Unlocking it, you find the upload has finished and you exhale sharply, publishing the video before locking the device again.

You move to exit the restroom, already finding Seungcheol holding a bottle of water on the other side.

“Oh, there you are! Everything okay?”

“Mmhmm! I uploaded the video before I could change my mind so I’m a little nervous…” You trail off, accepting the bottle that Seungcheol passes you.

“Well, the good news is, we’re bailing, now. I told ‘Guk to clock me out so we should get out of here so I can get your mind off of that.”

He shoots you a genuine smile, offering his hand which you take.

“Let’s fuckin’ get some ice cream, I think we deserve it.”

Seungcheol takes you on a scenic drive, taking you to an ice cream shop further away from town.

The two of you sit down in a booth towards the back of the shop and he helps clear your head, talking about various topics to keep your mind off of the huge risk you’d just taken.

“Anyway, that’s one of the reasons why I’m never bar-hopping with ‘Guk again. He’s got no limit, nobody can keep up and nobody wants to keep paying the uber fees.” You laugh as Seungcheol finishes his story, taking a sip of your milkshake.

You can’t help but sigh after a few seconds, pouting at Seungcheol who blinks questioningly at you. “‘Cheollie, I don’t wanna go home…” He stares back, unsure of what to say. A million different thoughts run through his mind in the split second before he opens his mouth.

“Why don’t you stay with me for a couple more days?”

Seungcheol doesn’t understand the gravity of his words until they spill out of his mouth; a panicked look on his face when you go completely silent in the seat across from him. “I m-mean, uh, I mean, like, fuck. I’m sorry, that must’ve been way too out of bounds. I just---it’s just, you don’t want to go home and---and I can take care of you while you’re here! Even if it’s just a couple days. I can help you film too!” He curses himself for rambling; immediately shutting himself up.

“I--I don’t want to bother you, ‘Cheol… That’s really too kind of you…” A shy blush coats your skin; chewing on your bottom lip when you shyly avoid his gaze. “A-and my filming stuff is back home too… I brought a few toys with me so I could film my weekend shows but--but my camera…”

“I can ask Jeongguk!”

You shoot him a bewildered look, brow quirking. “He--he streams sometimes too, like, video games ‘n shit. He actually offered me his extra equipment a while back, if I ever wanted to get into it myself. I can ask to borrow it, if you want?”

You drink in his words, unsure. The thought of staying with Cheol might’ve danced across your mind a handful of times, but now that the offer was on the table, you weren’t sure how to respond.

You trusted Seungcheol, and you knew by now that he would never do anything to hurt or betray you. But this was a far leap from how things were the last time you’d seen him.

“Listen, I can see the cogs in your head turning, baby. You don’t have to if you don’t want to, I’m not forcing your hand into anything you don’t want. But I know you’ve been wanting to get out a ‘lil more and… well, in truth, I think it’d be nice for both of us? I can take care of you while you’re here with me and we can keep each other company.” He pauses, smiling at you from across the booth. “But I can also take you back to your hotel room and let you pack so you don’t get home too late.”

“‘Cheol I trust you.. It’s just that… I’m s-scared…”

“Scared? Of what, baby?”

The warmth blooms inside of you; shy eyes meeting his.

“Scared that I’m not gonna wanna go home…”

Seungcheol takes it easy for the rest of the day and doesn’t make an effort to get an answer out of you. He takes you around the city, tugging you into shops he thinks you’d like and walking around with you aimlessly until the sun goes down.

But time seems to go even faster once he takes you to dinner; a sigh on his lips when he knows he has to bring the topic back up.

“I hate to ask but… I have to take you back to your hotel after this so…” Seungcheol trails off, leaving it open-ended for you.

“I know… I just want to know… Why do you like me so much?”

The question takes Seungcheol by surprise; eyes wide as saucers. “I--I’m sorry I don’t follow?” You chuckle under your breath, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear.

“It’s just… we were strangers, kind of, before Friday, you know what I mean? And now you’re offering your place to me to just… crash at for a few days? What if I rob you blind? Or what--what if you try something with me that I don’t like?” You suddenly start catastrophizing; mind going a mile a minute with potential outcomes.

“Hey, whoa, whoa, wait. Calm down, sweetheart. It’s okay! Breathe!” You let out a shaky exhale, groaning as you hide your face in your palms. “God, ‘Cheol, ‘m sorry, I--I really want to stay with you for a few days. It’s just that my brain is going light speed and I can’t keep up. I really like you too, you’ve been nothing but kind and sweet and you’re so handsome, it’s just so crazy to me...” Your words are slightly muffled but Seungcheol catches it, a soft chuckle on his lips when he leans his head on his palm.

“I’ll sleep on the sofa and leave you alone. You can take the bed. Hell, you can even rob me blind and I’d say thank you.”

He reaches his free hand over, fingers circling your wrist as he pulls your hand down. “And I’m offering you my place because I like you as you. You’re cute and funny, and so fuckin’ humble. And I want to get to know you better. In person, y’know?”

“Y-yeah… I wanna get to know you better too. And it’s only a couple days right?”

“Right.”

Seungcheol drives you back to your hotel, a smile on his face when he sees you in better spirits.

He parks his car in front, turning to face you. “So I’ll just wait here while you grab your things and check out, okay? I’ll contact ‘Guk to see if I can swing by and take that extra equipment he offered.”

This time you nod cheerily, body buzzing with excitement as you hurriedly step out of his car. “I’ll be quick!”

He gives it a moment before he picks his phone up, taking a deep breath before typing out a message to the younger male.

‘Hey, ‘Guk I have a favour. Get back to me asap if u can.’

Jeon 🥴 : bold of u to msg me…

Confusion crosses Seungcheol’s features; fingers hovering over the keyboard. ‘What are you talking about?’

Jeongguk takes a second to send a screenshot, Seungcheol’s cheeks burning a crimson colour when he sees the content.

Jeon 🥴: it’s the employee restroom for me.

Jeon 🥴: bruh it’s also the fuckin way i knew it was u before i even played the video… fuck man is that why u too so long on ur break? u do kno u went over right, I clocked it cuz i was expecting u to come back sooner

Jeon 🥴: for the rec im not mad, actually im impressed just cant believe this is u

Seungcheol ignores Jeongguk’s messages, instead opening the screenshot again and re-reading the video title.

‘I was so needy… 🥺 so I asked daddy to finger me in public…’

Jeon 🥴: bitch i kno ur reading this im dropping the hyung bc u kept this from me!!

Jeon 🥴: after i even offered u my extra camming stuff u were already doing it behind my back…

Seungcheol rolls his eyes at the younger male’s dramatic nature, fingers quickly swiping across the keyboard.

‘Alright, I’m sorry okay? I just didn’t think my online habits needed to be public knowledge and for the record, that was the first time I’ve ever done anything like that. I promise no more secrets, unless absolutely necessary. And also speaking of that extra equipment, can I swing by and grab it from your place?’

Jeon 🥴: r u gonna cam now? u got one sip of the devils juice and now ur all in?

‘Would u stop being dramatic oh my god. It’s not for me, it’s for ‘cherry’. She’s going to be staying with me for a few days and I fully expect you to keep your mouth shut on this.’

Seungcheol grimaces when he calls you by your online handle; already feeling unfamiliar with it.

Jeon 🥴: o i c. sure, u can come pick it up, simp. I’ll make sure she’s got all the necessary things before u get here and u owe me one!! i fully expect u to come stream with me at least once for keeping ur secrets 

‘It’s a deal. I’ll be there in an hour and a half.’

A sigh escapes Seungcheol’s lips, his eyes dancing over to your figure that skips towards the car. He locks his phone just as you tap on the glass, popping the trunk before he steps out.

“How’d it go? All checked out?”

“Mmhmm! Did you get in contact with Jeongguk? What’d he say?”

A nervous laugh spills from his lips as he puts your small luggage in the trunk, slamming it shut before rounding the car to open your door. “I’ll help you get settled in at my place and then I’ll drive over really quick and grab the stuff from his place.”

You hop in his car, fiddling with the seatbelt until Seungcheol slides into the driver’s seat.

“He didn’t ask what you needed it for?” Gulp. Shit.

“I just told him that I was thinking about streaming, for--for gaming stuff. He was okay with it.”

He’d tell you the truth. Soon, he promises.

No. Now.

Seungcheol sighs, hands on the wheel as he stares straight ahead. “No, no, I--I can’t sit here and lie to you. Jeongguk knows you. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you earlier, I told him to keep his mouth shut because I didn’t want him to bother you while we were at the roller rink.”

“I--oh…”

He can only nod; eyes dancing over to you as you play with the hem of your dress. “Yeah, I--I’m really sorry. He--He also found out I was ‘dom.cheol’ too and, fuck, I--I don’t know, I kind of panicked too. I hid that part of me from everyone I know so it was just… it was a lot.”

You meet his sad eyes, shooting him a small smile of your own. “It’s okay! It’s a little funny that happens right after that ‘kitty_junjun’ says he saw me in person too, huh? I mean, thanks for trying to protect me at least. It must’ve been weird for you too.”

“Yeah… If you’re not comfortable anymore, I… I’d understand too.” Seungcheol prepares himself for the worst, knowing that there was a chance that this was goodbye.

“Are you kidding! What’s one person gonna do? And you said he’s your best friend and you trust him… I’ll have to take a leap of faith on that one but… I trust you.”

You lean over the center console, kissing him on the cheek. “And anyway, as long as he’s not one of those weirdos asking for ‘favours’, I think we’re in the clear, right?”

Seungcheol grimaces; as long as it’s from me and not you, he thinks.

[salparadiselost]

The demons being big dangerous cats make me wonder: if you woke one up would they go "mrrrp?" (If they didn't immediately take you down because you never startle a bat lmao)

I’m going to let Dick answer this question. -----

“Hello, loyal viewers. Thank you for tuning into another pulse-pounding episode of ‘Dr. Dickinson’s Demon Discovery Programme’. I am your illustrious host, Dr. Grayson MD PhD of Harvard. Today, we continue our ongoing investigation into today’s most important question: are demons just large cats? Let us go and see if we can gather additional research into this question,” said Dick as he smiled brightly into the camera. He had stolen it from Tim about a month ago and the incubus had yet to find out it was him. Mostly because he suspected Damian and was pursuing that line of allegations. Dick panned the camera around the Manor. It was late afternoon on a Saturday and the windows were letting in soft light. Everything was calm and caught within the overwhelming atmosphere of “naptime”. All the other occupants of the house were sleeping (except Alfred who took the afternoon to shop in the city and get some time for himself) and recovering from late-night patrols. Dick had been sleeping earlier himself, but he usually was the first one awake from the typical mid-day siestas. Which meant he had to find some way to entertain himself until the rest of the house stirred. “Now as my loyal viewers know, I have spent most of my life integrating myself into this specific demon pack. They see me as one of their own and accept me as if I am a demon myself.”

Dick climbed up the stairs and directed himself to the Manor’s family wing. All the doors to everyone’s rooms were closed. He looked at the three rooms he knew were occupied and mentally ‘eeny-meeny-miny-moed’ to choose a door. He went to his randomly chosen door and placed a hand on the doorknob. He returned to talking to the camera in his best David Attenborough impression.

“This is the private den of the second eldest demon packmember. He is of the incubus variety and there are some who call him… Tim.” Dick paused for dramatics and good filmmaking. “Now, Tim is young by demon standards and commonly referred to as an impling by the Heart of his pack. When I show him to you viewer, I’m sure you will also come to the conclusion that he is, in fact, baby. And, perhaps, a cat if our research goes well. Before I enter the den, I must warn you not to approach unfamiliar wild demons in your own research. I am a trained professional. I have spent a majority of my life studying demon behaviourisms and getting to know the individuals within this particular pack. With safety measures out of the way, we can further our research. Let us commerce.” Dick opened the door silently and crept into Tim’s messy room. The space was dim, cool and Dick could instantly feel the relaxing swirl of sleepy incubus emotions. The only part of Tim that was visible was a puff of Tim’s hair sticking out of a blanket burrito. He mumbled as Dick walked in, curling further into the blankets. “Watch as I approach the demon.” Dick focused his video camera on to Tim, zooming in on the tiny sliver of Tim’s face before zooming out again. He crept forward trying to remain silent, but it was hard to sneak up on a Bat. Tim sleepily blinked his eyes open, trilling when he saw Dick. The little ‘mrrp’ made Dick’s heart warm and he didn’t hesitate to slip into Tim’s bed. With gentle hands, he unraveled the demon from his blanket burrito and gathered him in a one armed hug while the other one balanced the camera. The demon began purring instantly and trilled happily again when Dick pulled him close. “Hey Dick,” Tim said, voice rough and still half-asleep. “Why you got a camera?” Dick laughed and pet Tim’s hair gently. He felt the incubus tug at their bond and instinctually begin to amplify the warm and comfortable emotions around them. Tim didn’t usually act so much like an incubus. He had a bad habit of getting in his own head about these things and overthinking what he naturally wanted to do. Tim was so sleepy now; he probably didn’t even realise what he was doing. “I’m conducting research,” Dick whispered, even though he wasn’t even sure whether Tim was listening. The demon was still mostly asleep and seemed keener on cuddling and purring than thinking about cameras. “Wha’ kinda research?” Tim’s voice was slurring together with slumber. “If you’re actually a cat.” Dick was having a hard time keeping the camera straight as Tim nuzzled along the bottom of his jaw. His hair tickled against Dick’s face, but there was no way in Hell Dick was going to pull back. Tim squinted his eyes and frowned. Dick had to hold back a coo at the adorableness of Tim pouting into nothing. “I’m not a cat. Imma Tim,” the demon declared as seriously as his sleepy state would let him. He sighed, seemed to finish his bout of nuzzling and settled his head on Dick’s chest like it was a pillow. Tim’s purrs didn’t stop though, and Dick felt the vibrations shaking in his own chest. “That’s right, smartypants. You’re a Tim.” The demon smiled in satisfaction like he had won an intense argument. He looked like he might say something else, but then he fell asleep while still being half on top of Dick. With the demon curled on top of him, Dick knew that he was effectively trapped until Tim woke up again. Dick chuckled softly petting over Tim’s silky hair soothing him further into sleep. Once he was sure Tim was sleeping, Dick smiled and held the camera up over his head pointing at him and the slumbering demon. “Well, it seems that our research will have to come to an end because, as you can see, a demon has fallen asleep on top of me and I am legally not allowed to move. This, of course, only adds to our theory that demons are actually just large cats. Thank you for joining me on this episode of Dr. Dickinson’s Demon Discovery Programme. Give me a like and hit that subscribe button for more content like this. You can get visit my merch store at the link below and I hope to see you next time. Goodbye!”

[thotsforvillainrights]

~Called to the Office~

Au: Kaishi

Part: Eighteen

Theme: General/Comedy

Little fingers scrambled on the semi-sticky screen as the digital fruit played a slicing animation just before the boy sighed in annoyance. His dad has been in this meeting since 4 p.m. and he’s been stuck out in the hall watching Mimic and Hojo stand guard while simultaneously baby sitting him. If it weren’t for you being out with Pops today, he would just go cuddle up into your side. Kaishi groaned and turned the pad off before tucking it into it’s designated case and standing up from the his crisscross position on the ground. “How much longer is daddy going to be in this boring meeting uncle Mimic???” The beanie baby (lmao) looked up to see hopeful, large golden eyes peering down in desperation. “Eh look kid, it’s already almost 5:45. It’s gonna be alright.” Mimic tried to reassure him while Hojo just nodded off to the side. “When is daddy going to let me join him in a meeting? He said it himself, that I’m supposed to take over when he stops working like grandpa did for him. I’m old enough now to go to meetings too. It’s boring sitting here just listening through the wall.” Kaishi continued complaining. Hojo chuckled and Mimic sighed. “Hey I wouldn’t rush it. Your daddy hates the shit too, so I know you would.” Suddenly the kid gasped and Mimic instantly regretted it. “Uncle Mimic, that was a curse word.” Hojo was holding in as much laughter as he could while the boy kept a finger pointed down at Irinaka. “A curse word is just uhh...it’s just like a sentence enhancer. Yeah that’s it!”

“Sentence Enhancer?”

“Sure kid, aint you ever seen that one episode of SpongeBob?” Kaishi paused to think about Mimic’s words, his little finger pointing into his chin as he thought before gasping. “Oh yeah I remember! But I can’t remember how it ends. I just remember dolphin noises!” Hojo at this point was gasping for air while Mimic sighed in relief. “Look kid, I’ve said worse than ‘shit’ when I was your age. You just gotta make sure nobody catches you saying it and you’ll be fine.” Mimic dismissed it...Which was a mistake. Kaishi took it so literally that he was practicing in the mirror that night after he finished brushing his teeth. Over and over the boy kept whispering “shit, shit, shit...” as if it were a prayer of some sort. His plan was to be the first kid in his class to start saying it. Maybe then he would be seen as cool by the other kids. Maybe then the kids would stop targeting him and singling him out due to his ties with the yakuza. Maybe then he could even impress his little friend Ishida? 

He squealed into his pillow and blushed at the thought of it before rolling over and settling in for bed. Before he knew it, the big day had come and his confidence was through the roof. In fact, the entire day went well for the first half until a teacher overheard him in cafeteria saying: “I don’t know why they keep serving us this nasty shit.” Next thing he knew, he was sitting in the office with his eyes facing the ground, kicking his feet in the chair and waiting for you and Kai to show up...

------------------

“It’s rare that they bloom during this time of the year.” You spoke while leaning down and getting a closer view of the plants by the Koi pond. Kai stood faithfully by your side, googling info on the plants when suddenly Pops called from the edge of the porch. “Hey you two might wanna pack up gardening hour because the school called and requested for you to come and get my grandson from the office!”

“What????” Both of you said in unison. You quickly swiped the keys and Kai groaned in frustration as he dawned his beaked mask in favor of his simple black one. “I swear this had better not be some sort of discrimination again. Haven’t we already dealt with enough of this in the past?” He complained in the car while you focused on driving. “Chisaki it could be anything. Don’t forget about the times he came home banged up from fights. Or what if it’s something really bad like he had an allergic reaction to something he didn’t know he was allergic to?!” Kai reached out to gently stroke your shoulder and calm you down while you drove. “It could be any number of things but I suppose it’s better if we keep calm until we get there.” He spoke and you tried to calm down. Once on premises you both jetted down the halls into the office, scaring the front desk lady at the way the door urgently jutted open. “Chisaki I presume?” She asked and you both nodded. “He’s in there.” She pointed at the principle door and you entered first. 

“What is the meaning of it this time.” Kai grumbled while you squatted down next to the chair to check out your baby and ensure he was safe. “Well today one of Kaishi’s teachers caught him speaking in a derogatory way by saying, and I quote: “Shit”. Apparently we have a few witnesses that say they heard him say it over and over but they weren’t quite sure until earlier. I’m sure you both know the consequences of this, but I’m willing to let it slide since he’s a fairly well behaved boy under normal circumstances. I will however have to remove him for the rest of the day. I trust you two will follow through with discipline at home yes?” 

“Oh you don’t have to worry about that.” Kai spoke darkly. You could only stand to side and look with a disappointed look as your child looked up at you to at least show mercy. The car ride home was silent with tension so thick that it could be cut with a knife. Once the car was parked, Kaishi quickly gathered his things and ran into the house before you and Kai could even take your seatbelts off. He sighed and looked at you flatly. “No bargaining, Angel.” You frowned and reluctantly nodded. “Kai please just go easy on him at least?” You begged and he sighed in reply before getting out of the car. To say the least, you had to watch your son become the personal maid for the house carrying on for almost 3 weeks while Mimic got a pay dock when Kai found out he was the influence behind this. Safe to say Kaishi abstained from cursing until he was at least 18 out of fear that his father was listening somewhere somehow.

»—————————–———————————————————–✄

Instagram: @pastelbattydraws & @pastelbattystore

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRNMJH7vHL7APNobUykhK4w?view_as=subscriber

[illfoandillfie]

5 Simple Rules for a Successful Fake Relationship: Failure To Launch

5 SIMPLE RULES MASTERLIST

Pairing: Ben Hardy x Reader

Summery: Tensions rise as you try to deal with Ben's secret and keep your fake relationship afloat. But when the script calls for an argument, will too much be said?

Warnings: Still pretty innocent. Some swearing, passing reference to Ben smoking, references to sex but not explicitly so, a discussion of a douchbag ex, a public argument.

Words: 6587

A/N: We’re really in it now folks. 

Originally there was going to be more in this chapter but it was getting too long and kind of undercut what is now the end of the chapter, so I rearranged some stuff. But that just means there’s a whole extra chapter that I didn’t think would be there when I wrote the masterlist lmao. 

Taglist:  @laedymoon  @dtfrogertaylor  @vee-ndetta @atomic-watermelon @kellypenac @labessieisallama @deakyclicks @jennyggggrrr @drowseoftaylor  @hannafuckingsucks  @i-cant-hangout-im-drumming @queenmylovely @supersonicfreddie @tenement-funstah 

@coni-martina @johndeaconshands​

When you finally found the courage to leave the bathroom Ben was waiting for you in the seat he’d vacated earlier, now under a crocheted throw and staring at his phone. He looked up at the sound of your footsteps, smiling softly when he saw you. “Sorry,” you blurted out, dropping onto the end of the couch furthest from where he sat. “No worries,” he laughed, “you ready to keep watching?” “Mmhmm,” “Are you alright? You look a little pale,” “Fine, thanks. Just tired. Might call it quits after this ep.” “You wanna share the blanket?” “Nah, I’m not that cold,” your heart was racing with every word of forced naturality, white noise filling your brain and nervous butterflies filling your stomach. Did he always smile like that when he saw you? What other signs had you missed? You tucked your legs under yourself and pulled your phone out, a barrier between you and he, and a way to keep your hands busy as you tried to focus on the show. It was pointless though. It felt like an age had passed since you began the episode. A dramatic shift in your reality had occurred. You couldn’t remember what had been happening when the pause button was hit let alone understand what was going on now. There just wasn’t space in your head, not when you had to keep reminding yourself to breathe and not look over at Ben. God how you wished you hadn’t gone into the kitchen. Ignorance truly was bliss. You rubbed your thumb over the locked screen of your phone, occasionally unlocking it and opening an app before locking it again, the episode dragging on in the background. Finally, it finished, after much too much time. “Ready for bed or d’you wanna squeeze in one more?” Ben asked, apparently completely at ease. “Definitely time for bed,” you yawned as you stood up, praying Ben wouldn’t stop you. “Alright. I’m gonna stay up a bit longer so if the TVs too loud let me know.” “Night,” “Sleep tight, cuddle bunny.” You could feel Ben’s eyes on you as you headed through the doorway, only barely stopping yourself from sprinting to the safety of your room. You weren’t at all tired, but you turned the light out all the same, stumbling towards your bed by the glow of your phone. As you settled again the pillows you let out a long breath, finally allowing yourself to relax. There was nothing else to do but try to distract yourself, until you felt tired enough. You checked your emails again, but there was nothing new besides some spam for bitcoins. Then you opened youtube, hoping to find some sort of relaxing video that would help you get to sleep. It worked for a while, made you focus on counting your breaths and the meditation that was calmly being spoken. But then it stopped working, thoughts of Ben wriggling back to the forefront of your mind, making a lump form in your throat. A little while later you heard Ben’s footsteps pass by your door as he made his way to his room, the low hum of voices on the TV now quiet. You held your breath as he paused outside your room but his footsteps backtracked, a light flicked off, and then the door to your spare room shut behind him. You didn’t dare move until you were sure he was in bed. But he didn’t stir again, and you fell into a fitful sleep, interrupted by dreams in which you and Ben walked around hand in hand, sometimes blissfully happy, sometimes unable to separate, glued together like a bug caught on flypaper.

The sun had risen by the time you called a time of death on a decent night’s sleep, though it was still what you’d normally consider much too early. It was even too early for Ben who, as you’d come to learn in your months crashing at each other’s places, usually woke before you and enjoyed teasing you about being a teenager for sleeping in so late. You tiptoed to the kitchen and tried not to make too much noise as you brewed yourself a coffee. Maybe it was the new morning bringing clarity or maybe it was delirium from lack of sleep, but you felt you had a better grasp of the situation now. The fact was you didn’t like Ben in that way. And he knew that. So the obvious thing to do was nothing. If you said anything, confessed that you’d overheard him, it’d just end up with both of you feeling embarrassed and you having to put what you both already knew into words that would just hurt Ben more. And that would only add extra stress onto whatever dates and staged relationship moments you’d have to take part in. Because you couldn’t just stop pretending to date. Not when your story was creating buzz for your movie. Not when you were looking for a new job and every scrap of notoriety you could find would help increase your chances of actually landing some of the roles you auditioned for. You’d just have to grin and bear it for a few months. But you supposed that’s what Ben had been doing since who knew how long. With coffee in hand you made your way back to your room, fortifying yourself for what was to come.

It was a few hours before you saw Ben, sleep tousled and searching for caffeine. He took one glance at you and then stepped in close, bringing his hand up to your forehead. You were too stunned by the sudden warmth and how all the air suddenly smelt of him to do more than quietly ask what he was doing. “Checking your temperature. Not like you to beat me out of bed. And you still look kind of pale. Are you sure you feel okay?” “I feel fine Ben.” He withdrew his hand slowly but didn’t move away, his eyes darting to your lips and away again. You stepped back. Ben cleared his throat and turned back to the coffee he was halfway through making, “Are you still okay to give me a lift back to the pub?” “Yeah, of course. Just let me have a shower first.” “Yeah, no rush.” You managed to mostly avoid Ben until you were both in the car. The evidence of his breakfast was loaded into the dishwasher when you got out of the bathroom but he himself was standing on your back patio, looking up at the overcast sky as smoke from his morning cigarette dissipated around him. He waved through the window when he saw you. After that all you had to do was wait for him to brush his teeth and gather up his bag while you flittered from room to room making yourself look busier than you were. Once in the car you started a safe conversation about what you’d be doing for the rest of the day. “I’m going over to a mates house in the afternoon to watch the football but that’s about it. What about you?” “Um, nothing much really. I have a couple of scripts to look over but other than that nothing. I’ll probably just go back to bed though.” “Probably a good idea.” “Do I look that bad? I thought the concealer covered the worst of it.” He shook his head with a smile, “No, you look lovely. Always do. But I heard you tossing and turning a bit last night, didn’t sound like you got much sleep.” “Yeah, just had one of those nights,” you tried to wave him off, back to safer waters. “Are you sure you’re okay?” “Yes, I promise I’m okay,” when Ben didn’t stop looking concerned you added, “Just had some weird dreams, that’s all.” “You should’ve come hopped into bed with me. Nothing like a boyfriend to scare off weird dreams.” You forced yourself to laugh along, “Not sure fake boyfriends work so well. And it really wasn’t that bad.” He shrugged, “The offer stands for next time.” You didn’t know what else to say so you fell quiet. On one hand it was Ben. Ben who’d come to be one of your closest friends, who could make you laugh at the drop of a hat, who geeked out about sports and didn’t mind when you teased him for it. Usually you would have called him a dork and made a joke about how you’d hog the blankets or kick him in your sleep if he was unlucky enough to share a bed with you. But now that didn’t seem right. You didn’t want to lead him on at all. Didn’t want him to read more into your dumb jokes than you meant. So you let the radio fill the silence until Ben thought of a new topic. Thankfully the pub wasn’t far away, and you only had to fill a few more minutes with idle chatter until you arrived. You followed Ben inside and up to the bar where an amused barman handed over the keychain as Ben thanked him profusely. “God I would have been screwed if they hadn’t been there,” he said, relieved, as you stepped back out into the grey street. “Good thing they were there then,” you knew your tone was off, knew you should be standing closer to him in case anyone was looking, but you couldn’t bring yourself to take the step, “Where’re you parked?” “Just around the corner. Thanks for the lift, cuddle bunny,” Ben stepped close enough to pull you into a hug. Your chest tightened as you tried to stay relaxed, throwing your own arms over his shoulders like you normally would have. “Have a good day. Get some rest,” he said, kissing your cheek as he let you go. “I’ll try. Have a good day yourself.” With a wave Ben took off down the street and you got back in your car, driving in the opposite direction. It wasn’t until you were back home in your pyjamas that you realised that if Ben had heard you not sleeping, he mustn't have been sleeping either.

 Filming being over was a blessing, even if it did mean you were unemployed. It at least gave you a reprieve from being around Ben, although, as much as you didn’t want to admit it, it also felt weird to not see him every day. He’d become such a consistent part of your life, even without the whole fake dating thing, that the absence of his almost constant presence made you feel a little off kilter. You hadn’t seen him since he’d stayed the night, too nervous about how to act around him now, but you had exchanged a few texts and he called once to check that you’d caught up on sleep. It was the sort of thing a friend might do, so it didn’t make your stomach do flips the way seeing him in person did. But seeing him was unavoidable, especially after Mary called you to organise the next photo session. She gave you the time and the place and then asked if you had any concerns. You paused, weighing up whether it would be worth it to tell her. Would she tell Peter? Would it get back to Ben? “No, that’s all good. Ben knows?” “Yes, Peter’s talking to him about it. We’ve also been talking about the argument you’ll need to have.” “Oh?” “We’re considering planting someone in the area to record it on their phone. Pictures are good but video is better.” “Okay, that, uh, makes sense, I guess. I s’pose that means we should work out what it’s going to be about.” “That would be useful, Y/N. We’re leaning towards doing it next week.” “That soon?” “Yes, that soon. There’s been an upswing in comments online about the relationship potentially being fake and we’d like to try and clamp down on those.” “People are onto us?” “No, no, there’s always a few unbelievers, we were entirely prepared for that. Every Hollywood couple has endured the same sorts of comments at one time or another, no matter how real they were. But there’s been a few more this week than there were before. We hope that if people see you being unhappy with each other, they’ll be less likely to think it’s fake because A, fake relationships should be happy and B, it’ll make you seem more down to earth, relatable. Every relationship has moments when things aren’t the best and your relationship should reflect that to seem natural.” “Okay, so next week we fight. What about this week? Should we still act super happy and loved up?” “Look, there are pros and cons for that. On one hand if you act like everything is perfect now, it’ll take people by surprise when the argument happens which some people will see as normal and some will see as more evidence for it not being real. On the other if people suspect something is happening then the argument story could lose some of its impact when it runs. Either way, if people are talking about you it’s good, so it’s really up to you and Ben how you want to play it. Maybe give him a call and figure it out before you get there.” That made you feel a little better, hopefully any awkwardness or tension you weren’t able to hide would just be seen as a couple going through a small rough patch.

You bit the bullet and rang Ben as soon as Mary hung up, while you could summon the courage. “Hey, Ben, it’s -,” “Y/N!” A few male voices in the background rose up making high pitched oooo noises and someone wolf whistled. “Sorry, I’m just in the middle of kicking these dickhead’s arses in FIFA, gimme a sec,” “Sure thing,” You hung on the line, trying to work out what you were going to say as you listened to the guys trash talking each other and controller buttons being mashed. Eventually there was a cheer from Ben followed by a hearty suck on that, wanker, and then his laughter. “Hey, cuddle bunny,” The teasing voices started buck up again, but they faded as Ben carried the phone into another room. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” he asked as he closed a door behind him. “Have you spoken to Peter yet?” Ben’s voice lowered, “You mean about the shopping photos? Yeah, he called about an hour ago, why?” “Did he mention the fight next week? “Yeah, it came up,” you weren’t sure whether the melancholy tone you heard was in your heard or not, “is that why you called, to work out what we’ll argue about?” “Not really. Um, I was more thinking about the photos this week and the sort of, um, mood they’ll have.” “Mood?” “Well, like, if we’re leading into a fight wouldn’t it make sense to, I don’t know, kind of hint what’s coming?” “I’d just assumed we’d be all over each other like usual.” “Yeah, I mean, not a huge change. We’d still like hold hands or whatever they want us to do but y’know maybe if we just like make things look a bit tense?” “Oh-kay,” there was definitely less of a smile in his voice now than before, “I don’t know if I’ll be able to pull it off though.” “You’re a good actor Ben, I’m sure you’ll manage,” “I wasn’t fishing for that but thanks. It’s more that I’ve missed hanging out with you as much since filming ended, it’ll be hard to hide how happy I am to see you.” “That’s sweet” You wondered if that was because of how he felt about you or just a change in routine throwing him off that way it had done you, “It has felt kind of odd not seeing you every day.” “So let’s just see how we feel on the day then, before we decide what we’re going to do.” “Ben you know I like to plan more than that,” “We have a plan. Go out. Hold hands while we go shopping or whatever and some guy takes our photos. Go home. That’s a pretty solid plan.” “Not quite what I meant though.” There was a muffled shout and you heard Ben cover the receiver and shout something back. “Sorry, the boys think we’re having phone sex or something,” he laughed. “No, I’m sorry, I’m interrupting, I should let you go.” “It’s okay, they can play without me for a bit,” “No, no, you go back to your game.” “Wait, we didn’t talk about what we’re gonna argue about.” “We can discuss it while we’re shopping. Wouldn’t want them to overhear you anyway. You go have fun beating your friends, I’ll see you in a couple of days.” You hung up before he could say anything, feeling more unsure than when you called.

The day of the photos you spent the trip into London psyching yourself up, reminding yourself that this was just acting, and acting was something you could do blindfolded with one hand tied behind your back. Besides, if some of your discomfort showed, it wouldn’t matter, at least you hoped it wouldn’t. Ben was already at the designated meeting spot when you arrived in the city, a photographer nearby waiting to capture your reunion. Having someone to perform for helped ease the tension that had been weighing on you. You smiled at Ben as you approached, legs feeling unsteady, heart racing. As soon as you were close enough you leaned in to steal a quick kiss and let him brush a strand of hair behind your ear, almost whispering your greetings. With the hellos out of the way he took your hand and began leading you up the street. “So where are you taking me this time, babe?” “Nowhere specific, babe,” he laughed, “They just want us to like, be out and about. I’ve been directed to walk us up this way, maybe pop into a shop or stop for a drink or something.” “Any idea how long it’ll take?” “Why? you got somewhere to be?” “Nah, just curious. I can stay for as long as the job takes.” Ben’s fingers flexed against yours, but you weren’t sure if it was in response to your statement or just a coincidence. Either way it made you worry that you were putting more emphasis than usual on this being work for you. Ben couldn’t suspect that something had changed, he couldn’t know what you knew about him. You corrected yourself by squeezing his hand and smiling up at him. As you walked you tried to treat it like you were filming a scene in a movie, just with less blocking and more improv. You were playing a role, playing the girlfriend, and nothing outside of the scene mattered, though occasionally you couldn’t help wondering what was going through Ben’s head. Was he trying to remind himself it was all manufactured or was he letting himself believe it was real? You shook your head and pulled yourself back into the scene. Together you ambled past shops, stopping to look in the windows of some, actually going into others. Inside a cute secondhand bookstore you’d seen but never been in before, Ben insisted on buying you something. He jokingly showed you a copy of the Kama Sutra, softly assuring you that the inernet would lose its mind if that book was seen in a photo. You shook your head and laughed and he put it back and let you pick something much less suggestive. You tried to tell him you could buy it yourself but he took it from your hands with a, “nuh uh, I spoil my girlfriends,” taking it up to the counter before you could protest. All the same you repaid the favour by pulling him to a halt outside a donut shop and buying the both of you a snack. It had the added bonus of giving you an excuse to drop his hand, needing both to keep from dripping chocolate ganache down your front as you continued walking. Ben wasn’t quite so neat as you managed to be, a spot of raspberry jam smeared across his lip and chin. As soon as you noticed it you pointed it out to him, earning a groan as he tried to wipe clean the wrong part of his face. “No, to the left more. My left, sorry.” “Why don’t you just get it for me?” “Really?” “yeah, c’mon. That’s the sort of cute couple thing they want. It’ll go over well on twitter with everyone who mashes our names together in hashtags.” You couldn’t think of reasonable argument not to so, with a smile you hoped didn’t seem too fake, you swiped your thumb over the patch of jam, hesitating for a second before you brought it to your lips and sucked it clean. A soft blush rose on Ben’s cheeks before your eyes and, seemingly unconsciously, he pulled his lower lip between his teeth. You didn’t want to hear whatever he might possibly say so you quickly turned to set off walking again, “So, our argument next week.” Ben shook his head, “Right, that.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “It’s gotta sound believable if there’s going to be a camera.” “Guess that rules out all the which brand of tea is best type arguments,” “Yeah, it should probably be a little more serious than that,” you conceded with a chuckle “Have you ever had a public argument before?” “Umm,” his question distracted you from the tension you’d been fighting since you arrived, “not like a full on fight but there’ve been snippy comments and disagreements. Sometimes they turned into full on fights once we were home. You?” “Once. At her parent’s place during their anniversary party.” “Yikes,” “Yeah, pretty much,” he chuckled, “We found a spare room before we really had it out, but people still heard.” “God that would have been horrible. I think my worst one was when me and my then boyfriend went out for dinner with some other mates. They were new parents and it was like their first night out since the kid was born and they were talking about how wonderful it all was,” “It’s a miracle don’t you know,” You laughed, “So they said. But they were talking about how hard it had been to start having sex again and then my boyfriend said something like it’s hard enough to get Y/N interested and that’s without a kid.” “Jesus,” “It gets worse. He had another dig at me later for not being adventurous enough and I realised it was because I’d said I wasn’t comfortable with something he wanted to try in the bedroom.” “What an arsehole. Please tell me you broke up with him on the spot,” “God I wish. I stayed with him for another two months,” you sighed at the memory, “But what about you though, what happened with the anniversary fight?” “Uh, well, it all happened pretty quickly. One second I was joking about what we’d be like at our anniversary party, the next she was saying she didn’t see us getting married and then we were in her old bedroom tearing into each other. And not in the fun way.” “Oh shit,” “It was for the best. We were way to young anyway but, still, not super fun. I don’t know if that helps us at all, with our fake argument I mean.” “Well, ours both started with small comments, right? So maybe we start with something small, like how you never put the toilet seat down?” you nudged his shoulder. He laughed, “Yeah, makes sense.” “Then we just have to work out what it builds to,” “Uhhh, things couples fight about… moving in together? Sex? Money? Control?” “Not sex. I’m invoking rule one here, sex is off limits. That’s way too close to home.” “Okay, fair enough.” “What about meeting the parents? We’ve apparently been seeing each other for three or so months now, so that’s not an unreasonable thing to argue about.” “Yeah. And we’re already both coping it from our families anyway, so they’d believe it if one of us wanted to do the family meeting thing and the other didn’t.” “Exactly. So, should I be the hesitant one or you?” “Honestly? I normally would have brought a girlfriend home by now. My parents think it’s really weird that I haven’t.” “Okay, so that makes me the hesitant one then.” “You okay with that?” “Yeah, absolutely.” You were slightly relieved at your role, figuring it’d be easier to act averse to the concept than all for it. “Let’s stop in at that café up there, talk though some things we could say. Give them a shot of us feeding each other chips or something.” Ben said with a playful smile, pointing ahead. You nodded, letting him take your hand again, returning the reassuring squeeze he gave you.

You were woken from another dream about Ben by your phone ringing. Groggily you answered. “Y/N, oh my god, is everything okay with Ben?” “Felicity?” you groaned, trying to push away the surprisingly detailed picture of Ben and you and a page from the Kama Sutra that your brain had conjured during the night. “Were you seriously still asleep? It’s midday.” “Shut up, I’m allowed to sleep in. No job, no auditions. And a shit night sleep.” “Was it because of Ben?” “Why would it be because of Ben?” you asked too quickly. “I saw the photos of you and him out yesterday. Is everything okay between you two?” “What photos?” “They’re on the Heat homepage,” You wedged the phone under your ear as you grabbed your laptop from the bedside table, willing your fingers to work a little faster as you found your way to the website. There was a gallery of photos. You and Ben smiling as you greeted each other. Walking hand in hand. Him through a shop window holding up a book and you laughing at it. You licking jam from your thumb. You paused for a second longer on that shot than the others, automatically focusing on Ben’s expression. Did everyone else see the flush on his cheeks and the look in his eyes? “Why would anything be wrong?” you asked, forcing yourself to move to the next photo, “These all look fine. Normal.” “Really? What about those last few?” Rolling your eyes you keep clicking through until you reached one of Ben, hands in his pockets, frowning a little. The next was you, sitting at the café, looking away from Ben. “Are you going to break up with him?” “What? No, definitely not. We were just talking about something kind of serious, that’s all.” “Break up serious?” “God, Felicity, no,” you almost laughed at the irony of her suggestion, “I guarantee you, we’re not breaking up anytime soon.” An idea came to you. If the world was going to see you arguing about meeting his parents then why not get the ball rolling early, “We were talking about meeting each other’s families. We haven’t done it yet.” “Really?” “Yes, really. He wants to but I’m not super keen to rush into that and it was just a kind of serious conversation. Everything is totally fine.” “Well one of the betting apps has odds up for when you’ll break up. And for who’ll actually end it. Odds are on you, by the way.”

Later that day Mary emailed to let you know the photos were working perfectly – the talk of your relationship being fake had died down – and when the argument would happen. They wanted you to go out to dinner and leave before you were finished, looking like you were on the verge of blowing up. Easy enough. You were prepared. You and Ben had hashed out some things you could use in the argument, without going so far as to write a full script. But the mention of the photos made you curious. What exactly were people saying about you now? Could anyone see what was actually going on, how one sided it all really was? In the days before the scheduled argument you found yourself looking at your own photos more and more. When you weren’t spending your time rehearsing for an audition or with your friends you were on twitter, falling down a rabbit hole of comments and reposted photos. If Felicity, or anyone else you knew for that matter, had found out she would have called you a narcissist. So you kept it to yourself. Your guilty pleasure. Seeing the comments about what a cute couple you were made you feel simultaneously pleased and queasy. You got a strange delight from knowing people believed you enough to speculate about your future, to write fanfiction about you. It was hard to pull your eyes away once you started and it definitely didn’t help you stop dreaming about Ben. The trail of reposted photos in your couple name hashtag led to compilations of screenshots of every comment Ben had left on your photos. All of them flirty and playful and beyond sweet. And he meant them. They weren’t just for show for him, they were real. The queasy feeling grew but still you kept scrolling. Day after Day as you killed time, night after night before sleep took you. Photos posted on Instagram by you or people you’d worked with on The Perfect Match, copied and reuploaded to twitter followed by screencaps of yours and Ben’s comments. Photos of the two of you on set, on dates, cuddled up on your couch. Every single one of them commented on by him. Kiss face emojis or cutesy pet names or sincere messages of attraction, love. The more you looked the more uncomfortable you felt about the whole situation. If Ben really did feel something for you beyond just friendship, then your arrangement wasn’t just unfair it was downright heartless. But, as you reminded yourself, he’d chosen it. If he’d had a crush on you and had still gone ahead with the studio’s plan, that was on him. You could hardly be blamed when you’d been working with half the information. And if it had developed afterwards then it was on him to talk to Peter and call the whole thing off if he had to. You huffed out a breath when you saw the first photo he’d posted of the two of you. The last day of filming, snuggled up in bed. My perfect match. As fucking if. You scrolled further down the hashtag and then back to his photo. The queasy feeling was lessening, being replaced with frustration and anger. Why would he have agreed to the arrangement if his crush was real? Why wouldn’t he have come up with some excuse? You’d expected him to say no anyway, it wouldn’t have surprised you or upset you and they’d had made it clear that you had the option to say no. Who was he to indulge his fantasies about you like this? Without telling you. Was he so sadistic as to enjoy torturing himself like that? If you could only ask him why. Ask how long he’d felt like that. But you couldn’t without admitting to eavesdropping and you couldn’t put an end to it anyway. You were stuck. It was enough to make you want to scream. With a long exhale you made your way to the kitchen for a calming cup of tea. As you reached into the cupboard for a mug your fingers brushed against a handle of his, the one you’d painted for him. You pulled it out and examined the lyrics you’d so carefully lettered. Why’d you have to pick that song of all things? Did he take it as encouragement that you’d picked a song with such lovelorn, infatuated lyrics? You had the sudden urge to smash the mug against the bench top. But you refrained, putting it back and grabbing another.

By the time you were getting ready to meet Ben for the dinner before the argument you were fed up with him and the whole arrangement. You couldn’t open a social media app without seeing a comment or a direct message from someone about Ben, if not from the man himself. You had no one you could talk to about it since, aside from Ben, Mary and Peter were the only people who knew your relationship was fake and neither of them was going to put an end to it if Ben wasn’t uncomfortable enough to mention it himself. Once or twice you’d considered messaging Joe, since he apparently knew everything too, but you’d chickened out every time, not sure how to go about it since you’d never met him and he was likely to tell Ben, even if you swore him to secrecy. You’d even considered telling Felicity but, though you trusted her to keep it to herself, she was kind of getting on your nerves too. Whenever you saw or heard from her, her first questions were always about Ben. She was mostly well intentioned, checking that you were happy and asking how things were between you, but sometimes she was closer to straight up gossiping – updating you on the odds given to those betting you’d still be together by the end of the month, slyly telling you what the latest article in Heat implied. And every time you were reminded of the impossible situation you found yourself in you couldn’t help but blame Ben. You wanted to have a crack at him about it, call him out for being a selfish git. But you had a job to do, and you were nothing if not professional. You went over the plan again – a snippy comment about him not putting the toilet seat down, he’d say something about a bad habit of yours, you warning him no to start something, him starting something anyway by suggesting you weren’t as invested since you refused to meet his family. Lots of crossed arms and unhappy glances and then the strained suggestion you leave. You’d walk back to his car in silence and let the photographer get a few shots before you got in and drove away. Easy.

Ben greeted you outside the restaurant with an easy grin and a complement. “Tone it down, Ben, we’re not meant to be too happy tonight.” “Hey, I’m allowed to be happy until we get into it,” he stopped talking as you went inside and found your table, waiting until the waiter had disappeared with your drink orders before he said anything more to you, “You nervous?” “Not really. It’s just acting.” “So having a public spat doesn’t bother you but you almost lost your lunch over our first date?” You looked down at the menu, “That was just because the whole situation was new and I felt weird about going on a date with you.” “Right,” he looked at his menu too. You didn’t care if it had sounded mean or if he took it personally, it was the truth, “Are you nervous?” “A little.” “Any particular reason?” “Uhh,” he drew the sound out as long as he could, “I just get more nervous before argument scenes than love scenes. I don’t know why. They’re harder to make convincing maybe?” He shrugged and made a face like it was a random suggestion pulled from thin air and not an excuse he’d come up with while stalling for time. You put the menu down and tapped your fingers on the table, looking around at the other patrons but barely taking notice of them. Ben glanced at you but only for a second. It was a relief when the waiter returned with your drinks and asked for your orders, though that didn’t help the strained silence that fell once he’d left again. “So, seen Felicity lately?” Ben asked, making a valiant attempt at polite conversation that you weren’t going to rise to. “The other day.” “How is she?” “Fine.” “That’s good. She still subscribed to Heat?” “Unfortunately. Brings you up every time I talk to her.” You huffed. Ben sighed. Even that annoyed you. You bit your tongue to stop from saying something bitchy before the food arrived. There was a plan to stick to. “How’re you going with auditions?” Ben tried again. “Okay I guess.” “Any callbacks?” “Not yet. You?” “A couple,” he shrugged, “You’ll get one soon, I’m sure. You’re too good an actress not to.” “Yeah, maybe.” Ben took a sip of his drink and sighed again, the noise grating on you, “What’s got into you tonight, Y/N?” He leaned forward and dropped his voice so as not to be overheard, “I know we’re meant to argue but you’re obviously not in a good mood anyway. Did something happen?” “Nothing, Ben. Everything’s fucking peachy.” “Doesn’t really sound like it.” “Drop it Ben.” “Fine. Suit yourself.” He leaned back in his chair and took another drink. You took a drink too, staring at the other side of the room. You hoped that the hired paparazzi was in position and getting some good shots.

The food arrived and you forced yourself to eat some of it, though you didn’t feel like it at all. Ben tried again to get you talking, asking how your meal was but you gave him another short answer. You stopped trying to eat and just moved the food around your plate. He took another drink and gave you a concerned look, “Y/N, if this is about something I’ve done, can you please just tell me.” You couldn’t hold back anymore, all thoughts of the plan, of the argument you were meant to be having, gone, “Of course it’s about something you’ve done.” “Then tell me what it is so I can try to change it.” “You can’t change it Ben.” “Not if I don’t know what we’re talking about. Just talk to me. Do I leave the toilet seat up? Do I load the dishwasher wrong?” He was trying to pull you back on track, “Whatever it is I can fix it. I never want to upset you.” His last sentence was said with such sincerity that you felt your chest constrict, “That’s what I’m talking about Ben. It’s too much.” “Babe,” he reached across to grab your hand but you pulled it back out of his reach, “What do you mean?” “I mean this – us, you and me. You’re so earnest and I can’t keep….” “Y/N, don’t.” “I can’t keep pretending that everything is okay Ben. Not when you’re posting on Instagram that we’re a perfect match and you’re calling to check up on me and acting like we’re super fucking serious. You’re clingy and needy and I can’t keep pretending I love you as much as you love me.” You bit your tongue before you could say anything more you shouldn’t and stood up, “I’m sorry. I need some space.” Ben looked completely stunned only managing to blurt your name out once you’re back was to him. With a hand over your mouth you hurried from the restaurant, able to feel the eyes of everyone in the room burning into you. There was a clatter of cutlery as Ben stood up behind you. but you didn’t know if he’d followed. You didn’t turn back.

[littlespoonevan]

i think you’ve done one before where ian and mickey run into trevor? but i’d love another one like that. or caleb. or kash. or literally anyone from the earlier seasons (could even be an old school mate who we don’t know!) and who has a shocked reaction that they are still together/married.

anon said:prompt: ian and mickey introducing each other as husbands at a group event scenario

so because i combined two prompts here, have two blasts from the past!! (though idk who’s gonna be happy to see caleb lmao hopefully the 2nd guest makes up for it) i hope u like it!!! :D

*

Mickey loosens his tie as he scans the room, idlywondering when exactly he’ll stop putting himself in uncomfortable socialsituations for Ian’s sake. Then again, Ian walking towards him in his fancyblazer with the top few buttons of his shirt undone and a bottle of beer ineither hand is a very particular fantasy he’s enjoying right now.

“How’re you holding up?” Ian asks, handing one of thebeers off to Mickey and sliding his free arm around Mickey’s waist. It’s prettyfucking ridiculous how quickly it makes Mickey relax but he figures he marriedIan for a reason.

When Ian had first told him about the benefit all theSouth Side emergency services were holding to raise money for a new hospitalwing Mickey had thought it sounded like his own personal version of hell. Buthe’d realised pretty quickly it was also Ian’s personal version of hell so he’dagreed to go.

Now that he’s here he’s gotta admit it’s not so bad.The charming, confident persona Ian used to wear back when he’d drag Mickey toafter-club parties back in the day seems come back to his husband easily enoughwith Ian flashing everyone hundred-watt smiles and schmoozing with thehigher-ups. There have been a few moments where Mickey’s felt uncomfortablestanding next to him but only because of his total lack of understanding aboutall the medical bullshit everyone is spewing rather than him actually feelinglike he’s being excluded from the conversation.

Plus, he can’t help the way he inwardly preens everytime Ian introduces him as his husband.

“’m surviving,” Mickey tells him, leaning into Ian’sside. “This place’s got good beer.”

“Its one saving grace,” Ian jokes, dropping a kiss onMickey’s temple. “Sorry, I know you’re probably bored. Just another hour or twoand we can hit the Alibi.”

The last thing Mickey wants to do is stay out evenlonger when Ian’s standing next to him looking like he does but he hums in acquiescenceanyway. Not like Ian’ll be complaining later on.

“It’s fine, man, I get it,” Mickey says, turning intoIan so they’re facing each other and putting his free hand on Ian’s hip. “You’restill on probation and it’s a fuckin’ miracle your old job even took you back.You need to stay here and act like employee of the month – I know the deal.”

Ian’s beaming at him by the time he’s finishedtalking and Mickey clears his throat, aware his ears are probably turning red.

“You’re the best,” Ian tells him, the words half lostto Mickey’s mouth as he darts in to kiss him.

“Yeah, yeah,” Mickey huffs when he pulls away, tryingnot to act as flustered as he feels. “You can show me how much you appreciateme later.”

Ian’s smile turns devilish and he uses the arm aroundMickey’s waist to draw him in closer. “Oh, I plan to.”

Mickey’s just about to incite a game of chicken whenIan suddenly freezes and Mickey raises his gaze from Ian’s mouth to his eyes.Turning to look over his shoulder he attempts to follow Ian’s gaze but there’stoo many unrecognisable faces around for him to tell who Ian’s looking at.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, squeezing Ian’s hip to gethis attention.

Ian blinks, looking back to Mickey with an expressionthat’s some weird mix of panicked, apologetic and determined. “My ex is overthere.”

Mickey whips around again to look before he remembershe has no clue what Ian’s ex even looks like. “The firefighter?” he guesses.

Ian nods, offering him a tight smile. “Caleb,” hesays. “It’s fine, I don’t think he saw me.”

Which is probably the stupidest fucking thing Iancould’ve said because, of course, five seconds later someone’s calling out adisbelieving, “Ian Gallagher?”

Ian plasters a fake smile on his face and Mickeytakes a moment to pray for patience before he turns around to eye up the guymaking his way towards them. He’s attractive, in that clean-cut all-American way.He looks like the very definition of normal which Mickey knows just translatesto boring in Ian’s brain.

Ian had told him a little about him when they’dtalked shit through in prison. Said he’d been Ian’s attempt at a “normal”relationship that didn’t require all that much emotional effort because he’dpretty much been trying to haul himself out of a depressive episode when they’dmet. He’d also admitted he’d been trying to shove Mickey out of his mind at thetime which had hurt but he gets it, he thinks. God knows, he’d tried to drinkIan away in Mexico. It doesn’t hurt all that much now with Ian’s arm around himand Ian’s ring on his finger.

“Hey Caleb,” Ian greets half-heartedly when Calebreaches them and Mickey takes a drink of his beer to hide his laugh. It’s astark contrast to the enthusiastic friendliness Ian’s been sporting all night.

“How’ve you been?” Caleb asks, all earnestness thatMickey doesn’t trust for a second. “It’s been what? Nearly four years?”

“Yeah, I guess about that,” Ian agrees, voicecompletely neutral. “I’ve been good. I’m-“ he pauses and looks down at Mickeywith a smile that makes his knees weak. “Well, I’m married now,” Ian  says proudly, arm tightening around Mickey. “Thisis my husband, Mickey.”

Caleb’s mouth drops open in shock as his eyes flashto Mickey and Mickey immediately feels himself puffing up his chest. He’s readyfor whatever bullshit this fucker tries to throw at him.

“Wow,” Caleb splutters after a beat. “Congratulations.I- you’re his ex, Mickey, right?”

Mickey clears his throat and rubs at his eyebrow,pointedly using his left hand so he can show off his rings. “Not exactly his exanymore.”

“Right!” Caleb says quickly. “Sorry. You get what Imean, just- you two were broken up before.”

“Yeah, almost the biggest fucking mistake of my life,”Ian cuts in and he’s over-exaggerating a little for Caleb’s sake but Mickey canstill tell he means it. “No way am I letting him go again.” He directs the lastpart to Mickey and Mickey can only hold his gaze for a couple of seconds beforehe has to look away, throat feeling thick with emotion.

Caleb looks at a complete loss for words and Mickeyfeels privately vindicated. Yeah, gocrawl back to whatever hole in the past you came from, he thinksmutinously.

“That’s um- I’m glad you’re so happy,” Caleb says finallyand Mickey’s just narrowing his eyes to try and figure out if he means it whenhe hears another familiar voice calling his name.

“MickeyMilkovich?”

And Christ, Mickey never thought he’d ever be happyto hear a fucking cop calling hisname.

He promptly turns away from Caleb, hearing Ian’sexcuse of, “Sorry, an old friend,” before he turns with him and then they’reboth standing face to face with Tony fucking Markovich.

“Don’t tell me you’re a cop now,” Tony jokes andMickey had not expected him to lookso happy to see him.

“I don’t think they let ex-cons join the force,” hesays, blinking in surprise when Tony only laughs. Huffing an unsure laugh ofhis own, he nods in Ian’s direction. “Nah, I’m only here for Ian.”

“He’s my arm candy,” Ian cuts in, moving his arm fromMickey’s waist to drape it around his neck.

Mickey rolls his eyes but watches Tony carefully forhis reaction.

“Glad to hear you two worked shit out,” Tony says,looking painfully sincere, and since when the fuck did Tony the cop know theywere even together? “I was always rooting for you two.”

“I’ve got him locked down all official now,” Ianboasts, flashing his ring proudly at Tony.

“No way!” Tony exclaims, grin becoming impossiblywider. “That’s amazing, congrats! Let me get you two a beer later, consider ita belated wedding gift.”

Ian barks out a laugh beside him and Mickey is soconfused right now. “Hey, how’s your boyfriend?” Ian asks then. And what thefuck?

“We’re living together now,” Tony admits sheepishlyand before Mickey can stop himself he blurts out, “You’re gay?”

Tony laughs, rubbing his neck awkwardly. “Yeah, Ian hadthe same reaction when he discovered that little revelation a few years ago.”

“It’s Fiona’s fault,” Ian tells him conspiratoriallyand Mickey finds a laugh bubbling out of him unexpectedly.

“Dan’s around here somewhere,” Tony says, craning hisneck to scan the room. “Hey, how about I find him and we get that drink? I haveto hear the proposal story.”

“You sure?” Mickey scoffs. “It’s a long one.”

“Eh these things are always boring anyway,” Tonyshrugs, gesturing to the banquet hall at large. “It’ll keep me entertained forthe night.”

Ian snorts beside him and waves Tony away. “Go findDan. We’ll meet you at the bar.”

Tony nods before taking his leave and Mickeyimmediately twists to face Ian once he’s gone. “What the fuck just happened?”

Ian barks out a laugh, depositing his beer bottle ona nearby table to wrap both his arms around Mickey. “The cop that you used toterrorise as a teenager just saved you from an awkward encounter with my ex.That’s what happened.”

Mickey shakes his head in disbelief. “I’ve had a lotof fuckin’ weird social interactions when you’ve dragged me to this kinda shitbut that has to be the weirdest.”

Ian laughs again, hugging him close and pressing hislips to Mickey’s forehead. “Just accept the free beer and remember it’sprobably good for us to have a friend who’s a cop.”

“A gayfriend who’s a cop, apparently,” Mickey scoffs, leaning his forehead againstIan’s shoulder a moment later. “Tony better not cheap out on the beer.”

Ian rubs his hand across Mickey’s shoulder blades, breathinghim in. “Pretty sure he’s on better pay than both of us so I think we’re good.”

“Come on,” Ian says then, catching Mickey’s hands anddragging in the direction of the bar. “I’ll buy you a shot of tequila first tocalm you down.”

“I can think of something else that’d calm me down,”Mickey says pointedly, nodding in the direction of the bathroom and raising hiseyebrows.

Ian halts, sizing him up for a moment and Mickeyknows he’s won before Ian even opens his mouth.

“Tony won’t miss us for a couple of minutes, right?”

Mickey grins, triumphant, and begins towing Ian inthe opposite direction.

He could get used to these benefit things.

*

[rosa-leche]

Slowly - TeamWin Ficlet

so no balcony scene? *smashes phone, breaks skateboard* yeah so i was Upset there was no balcony scene like the cast talked about, so here’s my interpretation of that. the rest of win’s room wasn’t really shown, so i’m gonna go ahead and assume there was a balcony lmao

word count: ~1.5k

genre: fluff, suggestive imagery at the end there oops

general tags: established relationship (that was canon, right?), team take your shoes off challenge, team is easily flustered, win is a caring bf

summary: a continuation of teamwin’s date in the last episode, team’s feet hurt and win takes his shoes off for him, it all spirals from there

-

“Hia…” a drawn out sigh came from Team, tired from walking around all day. “My feet hurt.”

Win, who had the key in the handle to his dorm room, glanced at the younger boy in exasperation mixed with fondness. It wasn’t the first time Team had mentioned his sore feet. 

“Can you wait 5 more seconds?” he asked, turning the key and unlocking the door. He pushed it open and Team went flying past him, dropping his shopping bags on the floor before throwing himself facedown onto Win’s bed. He let out a contented noise, happy to take the weight off of his aching feet. 

Win rolled his eyes and moved into the room. He leaned down to take his shoes off, then looked back up when he was done to find that Team hadn’t moved an inch. 

“Team,” Win began, walking towards him. “You need to take your shoes off.” Win stood over Team, looking down at his deflated form on top of the soft covers of Win’s bed. In response to Win, Team made a disgruntled sound and continued to lay there, unmoving.

Seeing that Team had no intent to take his shoes off himself, Win bent down to do it for him. It was a little difficult to untie the laces, since Team’s feet were upside down. It was also a little difficult because Team had started to roll over and move his feet around when he felt Win’s hands starting to take them off. 

“What-Hia… I can do it,” Team muttered, but Win had already undone the laces on one foot and was slipping the first bright red shoe off. Win looked up and met Team’s gaze from his place on the floor.

Quickly, Team turned back around and pressed his face into the bed again, flustered by Win’s actions. It wasn’t something overtly romantic, but there were some very strong traces of intimacy in taking the shoes off of someone you were dating, especially when he smiled at you like that. Team was very aware of this. 

By the time Win had gotten the second shoe off, Team was glad his face was smushed into the blankets, since his cheeks had gone rosy and he had his eyes scrunched closed in embarrassment. Win had already stood back up to carry Team’s shoes to beside the door, but Team still laid right where he was, not wanting Win to see his face.

Suddenly he heard some rustling of paper, and a quick peek up had told him Win was going through the shopping bags. Which meant Win was distracted. 

Slowly, quietly, Team pushed himself up and off the bed, then crept his way towards the balcony door with his back facing Win. All he had to do was get outside to cool off for a bit.

However, the moment he cracked open the sliding door, Win heard the noise and looked over to Team, whose shoulders were tensed up and his hand had stopped tugging on the door handle. Team peeked behind him, then made eye contact with Win, who had seen the pink tint on his face. Team whipped his head back around and finished opening the door before slipping out onto the concrete floor of the balcony and closing it again. 

“Silly…” Win chuckled. He continued to go through the shopping bags, putting items away and folding the new shirts Team had helped him pick out. He let Team have his moment to regain his composure, feeling amused about having such a large effect on him and knowing he would have many more chances to do it again. 

A few minutes later, Win was finished with his share of the bags, the rest belonging to Team. Since the younger boy still hadn’t come back inside, Win went out onto the balcony to join him. 

When the sliding door made its noise, Team didn’t turn around. Instead, he kept his eyes trained in front of him and his arms folded on the railing. Win moved next to him and rested his back against the railing so he could face Team, whose peach-blushed complexion had calmed down.

Team looked calm, his eyes focused on the lit-up cityscape in front of him. Win smiled at him, words of adoration stewing behind his lips. The lights from the surrounding buildings offered a warm glow in the darkened sky, and Win noticed how they embraced Team’s face in a gentle yellow hue. 

Team turned to face Win, whose softened eyes looked fondly back at him.

“Hia, were you proud of me today? For ordering the coffee?”

Win nodded. “I was very proud, Team.” He reached out and ruffled Team’s hair. “You did well.” At this, Team pressed his lips together and fixed his hair, but there was still enjoyment in his eyes. The two boys were silent for a moment, content to just take in each other’s presence. Then, Team spoke up.

“I want to know more about you, Hia. More than just what coffee you like.” Win paused, thinking back to what he had said earlier that day.

We can slowly learn about each other.

It was true. If all went according to Win’s plan, they would be together for a long time, meaning they could go slow with learning each other’s likes, dislikes, and more. 

“Well,” Win began, “there’s no rush.” Win reached up and started taking out his hair tie, his head starting to hurt a bit from having his hair up all day. “We can take our time and get to know more about each other.” Win’s hair was now out of its tie, and he used his hand to give his hair a good fluff after being tied up for such a long time. 

Before Team could stop himself, his hand had already weaved its way into Win’s messy blond locks, twisting a piece of it by Win’s ear with his thumb and index finger. 

“I guess you’re right,” Team said while nodding, his lips pressed together in agreement. 

They were quiet, only the sound of the cool night breeze whistling around them and filling the silence. 

“Team…” Win started, his voice barely above a whisper as he placed his hand over Team’s in his hair. “I really like you,” he said, his face getting closer to Team’s. 

Team looked into Win’s eyes, not even having to think before he replied. “I really like you, too, Hia.” A little smile found its way onto Team’s face, and another, bigger smile was on Win’s face. Win took that moment to quickly press his nose against Team’s before drawing back to look at his face. He found Team’s eyes staring at his lips, but he waited for Team to make the first move. 

Team’s hand, still in his hair, moved back and out from under Win’s hand that covered it, finally resting it on the back of Win’s head with a fistful of hair. 

“Hia…” Team didn’t need to say anything else before they were kissing, slow and steady and sure. Most of the time when they kissed, it was quicker, since Win liked taking things fast. But then and there, they had both decided they would take things slow. They would slowly learn more about each other, and slowly fall more in love. 

When they broke apart, they did that slowly too, not wanting it to end. Team took a deep breath, then put his head against Win’s shoulder. Win reached his hand up and swept it through Team’s hair, while his other hand went to rest on the small of his back. 

“Let’s go inside. Don’t your feet hurt?” Team nodded into Win, then let go of the hair he was still holding. He wrapped both of his arms around Win, pulling him into a tight hug.

“You’re not moving, Team. Do I have to do things for you again?” Win didn’t give Team a chance to answer. Instead, he picked him up, and Team reacted by putting his arms around Win’s neck and his legs around his waist. 

“Hia! I can walk by myself,” Team protested, a pout making itself present on his features. Win just ignored him and carried him inside after opening the door to the balcony. Team was the one to close the door, seeing how Win had struggled a bit to get it open while holding him. 

Win sat Team down on the plush blanket covering Win’s bed, then bent down to meet his eye level. Looking down, Win took Team’s hands into his, then met his eyes again.

“We can take our time, Team,” Win whispered, his gaze fixed but soft, eyes unmoving but warm.

Team looked at him like he was the last person he would ever love this way. His eyes were unblinking and full of wonder as he leaned back, tugging Win along with him while keeping their eyes met. 

They took their time, pulling soft fabric off of softer bodies. They took their time, leaving heated traces from fingertips across bare skin. They took their time, sweeping reddened lips along new plum-colored blooms. They took their time, sharing loving looks in the quiet orange light.

They could take their time, since all of the rest of their time was together. 

[maychild]

sotus the series ep. 14

SUCH A SOFT EPISODE HONESTLY

so before i watched this ep, i googled it and ended up being spoiled by the summary (the previous thirteen episodes i didn’t google & therefore had no idea what they were about going into them), and just wanted to say: DEAR ARTHIT, THERE IS SUCH A THING AS ADOPTION. and surrogacy. like, u are a college student almost finishing up your degree...and u have gay friends so (well you have one out gay friend so far)...i honestly do not know what is going on in your mind. although...i should be more understanding bc this liking-a-guy thing seems like a whole new world to him so maybe he just needs some time to get over his insecurities and realize kongpob is happy with him even if he isn’t a woman.

ANYWAY, that was a whole rant i had before even watching the episode.  

OH BRIGHT, u comedic relief character 

I still miss Wad. Give Prem and Wad their own series u cowards. 

so after their kiss, they are clearly not out to their friends, or...whatever their status is. (are they boyfriends??? have they actually talked about it at all, and i don’t mean just bumping into each when getting dinner?), but i have to admit i do like the trope of secret relationships as well.

“is this...considered a date?”

“no! it’s not!”

LOLLLL arthit is doing to kongpob what kongpob did to him at the beginning of their acquaintance. 

i do like whenever the show lets the characters wear casual clothes, and not just their uniforms.  

“I actually thought to myself that if I’m going to have a baby, I want a son.” 

OH

OH THAT’S WHAT STARTS ALL THE DOUBTS

wAIIIIT WHEN DID HE RE-TIE THE STRING?? (i feel so cheated out of that scene. was it right after their first kiss?? when they got back from the wedding?? was it the next morning???? these are important scenes, u aholes.)

BUT I CANNOT BELIEVE THEY RUN INTO A FEMALE CHARACTER THAT THE LOVE INTEREST GETS JEALOUS OF--AGAIN (this is like beat-for-beat what happens on their first “date” when kongpob goes shopping for his niece.)

also...the way prae & kong kept talking about this movie, i was definitely getting the feeling that it was free promo the director snuck in (i don’t know what the movie is, and i tried looking up who the director of SOTUS was--Lit Samajarn--but he hasn’t directed any movies i could find, so it’s not a promo for his own work, i don’t think, lmao. but he is the director of My Engineer which is definitely on my long list of dramas i need to watch like yesterday.)

...someone should clue in arthit on prae’s own sexuality. sigh. but of course kongpob won’t out his friend without her permission.

wow. i’m not here for cold arthit. i get he’s jealous but still do not like it. not one bit. 

KNOT IS THE BESTEST, I KEEP SHOUTING 

why is he surrounded by idiots

so there was this song that played in the background of this ep (and one earlier ep i forgot) which i fell in love with, and i managed to eventually track it down--it’s called “I Wanna Be Your Everything” by Thomas Collins, and honestly it’s a bop. (it doesn’t seem to be on the “official” OST for the show, but can be found on this spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/73Up8y79kWEQezGVtX4XP3?si=mlKPisckRpu2A_B550wrIg)

KONGPOB’S LOVE LETTER

I CANT WITH THIS BOY he’s so precious and romantic like honestly such a cinnamon roll.

SO arthit goes to untie the string on kongpob’s wrist and kongpob--before he gets with the program--honestly looks SOOO CRUSHED and it’s both the funniest shit and the most romantic??? like the background music isn’t helping either.

BUT DON’T WORRY BB U’LL GET SOMETHING BETTER

AND IT LOOKS LIKE BOTH PREM & KNOT WITNESS THIS PRECIOUS MOMENT BETWEEN THEM?? WHICH IS ALSO HILARIOUS???

and a close-up: 

at first glance, i thought they were just looking forward and in the *general vicinity* of this moment, but upon many pausings, they do divert their glance toward kongart half-way through so they must see it.

AND THEN THEY ACTUALLY PLAY-ACT WHAT’S HAPPENING BEHIND KONGART AND I CANT STOP LAUGHING AT WHAT’S SUPPOSED TO BE A ROMANTIC SCENE

THESE TWO DUMBASSESSSSS STAPHHHH MAKING FUN OF YOUR FRIEND this is really a big moment for him.

PREM + KNOT REALLY MADE THIS SCENE MORE THAN KONGART, I’M SORRY (lol, tbf, their friend did just come out as gay)

BUT YES, GET YOUR MAN, ARTHIT!

...i could’ve done without the “i don’t like men, i only like arthit,” but we can’t have perfection, i suppose.

“To be honest, I don't know what the future holds. But I would like you to know that, right now, at this minute, you are someone special to me. And... you are the only one whom I love.”

“I know. I also would like you to know that, right now, you are the only one I love.”

SUCH SOFT BOIS

AFTER ALLLL THIS, KONGPOB *THEN* ASKS IF ARTHIT LIKES PRAE???? AND I’M LIKE, BOI, DID U NOT HEAR ARTHIT TELL U HE LOVES YOU???

i swear this show is filled with idiots, and the only one with *any* brain cells is knot (and those brain cells he often has to share with prem).

and the show proves me once again they’re all idiots with one brain cell among them: kongart had met before kong enrolled in engineering but ofc arthit doesn’t remember.

“nobody knows what the future holds.”

this explains why kong was so enamored of arthit when he first met him as head hazer.

[frostythefelix]

Lost in a Cornmaze With Jisung

Spooktober 10th

Word count: 2375

Genre: super fluff lmao

Summary: you lose your friends in a cornmaze and come across an equally lost jisung.

This story is dedicated to my wonderful editor and friend @eccentricpineapples she has helped me out tramendously since the beginning of this month and she deserves the biggest shout out!

This was written to fit her and her personality for a gift of sorts? Anyway, thanks Aliese! Idk what I’d do without you lmao

•••

When you woke up that cold Saturday morning to a text from your friends inviting you to a corn maze, you were excited. Fall may not have been your favorite season, but you couldn’t deny that place in your heart for oversized sweaters, pumpkin spice, scented candles, and fallen leaves. That said, there was not a place in your heart for abandonment.

Upon arriving at the makeshift parking lot of the maze, you make the observation that there was no one there. Besides your vehicle and your friend’s mini van, the only other cars were a couple of expensive-looking black Sedans. The lack of people surprised you; this place was all over the typical white-girl’s instagram page.

“Hey, Y/N!” Your friend Karen greeted, leading the rest of the group to the entrance of the maze. You jogged to catch up with them, an excited smile on your face.

“Ready to have fun?” Another friend, Annika asked. You grinned.

“As ready as I’ll ever be!” With those words, your group of five made your way into the maze. As time passed, your group became three, and then suddenly one. The group split due to a stupid disagreement between your friends Ariel, who insisted you go right since that was her “lucky” direction, and Karen, who was having none of that after the sixty-seventh turn. Not that you were counting. You were sick of the bickering, and instead of going against your fear of confrontation, you went off ahead of the group until you couldn’t hear the argument anymore. After taking some breaths to calm down, and a few sips from your half-exhausted water bottle, you decided it was time to head back. But there was one problem. You couldn’t find your friends.

You tried to calm your anxiety. Being alone in an unknown place was not something that brought you happiness in any way. Seeing that you only had a whopping 16% battery life left didn’t help your situation at all. You began to wander, hoping you could find your way back by yourself. Having no signal anyway, you put your phone on airplane mode and stuffed it in your pocket. You were sure you’d need the flashlight at some point, so you had to preserve the small amount of battery you had left. You silently cursed yourself for not charging your phone before you left the house. You walked for a solid fifteen minutes, not hearing a single sound other than the corn stalks rustling in the wind. How big is this place, you wondered. It’d been over an hour since you lost your group, and if you were honest with yourself, you thought you would have found them by now.

“This maze sucks!” You sulked, kicking the corn to your left. Though you felt less stupid when you came across a porta potty in the maze. Clearly, this must happen a lot if the owners had to put a bathroom in there. You continued to walk by yourself, thinking of a strategy to get out when you remembered the other cars. There were more people in there, unless they already got out and left. You shook the negative thought out of your head, convincing yourself that they had to be in there with you somewhere. The cars looked expensive, and expensive cars meant rich people. Rich people meant fancy phones, and with a smile, you came to the conclusion that fancy phones had service. All you had to do was find one of those rich people, and you could use their phone to call your friends. You sped up, hopeful. Your plan was foolproof! Although, in reality, the only accuracy in that sentence was ‘fool’. You couldn’t even find your friends, what made you think you’d find anyone else?

Lost in thought, you didn’t hear the footsteps approaching you until they were almost rounding the corner. You paused, your heart rate suddenly picking up. You thought you were going crazy at this point. You’d been lost for two hole hours and you were almost out of water. A male voice sounded over the footsteps, recognizing the language immediately as Korean. You’d never heard it in person, only ever on youtube and in all the kpop songs you listened to, but you could distinguish it immediately.

“Hello?” The voice called, the english words echoing throughout the silence. Hesitantly, you repeated his call.

Earlier that morning, Jisung woke up to chaos. All eight of his members were crowding his bed, throwing themselves at him and laughing joyously. Seungmin shoved a piece of paper in his hands and it took him a moment before he could actually comprehend what it said. The nine of them would be going to a corn maze while in America for an episode of The 9th. He was excited to say the least. He needed the break from everything. Don’t get him wrong, he loved his life, but he needed a break from all the chaos being an idol brought.

Each line was given a camera to share between the three of them. Whichever group made it out first would win a prize of sorts. They weren’t allowed to know what that prize was until the end, though, they knew it was something big. That brought out the competitive side of all the members, each determined to win. The moment they were given the go, Chan grabbed Changbin from his conversation with Hyunjin and Felix by his arm and dragged him into the maze at sonic speed, assuming Jisung was right behind them. He was not. No worries, he thought, I can do this on my own. He chuckled at the thought of his friends arriving at the finish line first, but losing because he wasn’t with them.

Jisung had been wandering for a while, with slightly more success than you. He almost caught up with the vocal line, but Seungmin was blasting Day6 so loud that Jisung’s calls never reached them. He never regretted leaving his phone behind more than he did at that moment. His luck changed suddenly at the sound of footsteps. He raced toward the sound, calling for help in his native tongue before coming upon the realization that he was in America, and statistically, the person he was chasing did not speak Korean. Not a problem for our multilingual prince. He called out in English, finally receiving a response. Rounding the corner he came face to face with a terrified you.

You weren’t terrified, you were surprised. Right in front of you was a face that you had plastered on your bedroom wall. A face that you watch constantly on youtube and vlive. Han Jisung, a member of your favorite kpop boy group, Stray Kids, was stood right in front of you. You even made a remind account that morning, to remind all your friends to vote for Stray Kids on mnet. But you couldn’t freak out. No matter how excited you were, Jisung was your only way out of this place.

“Hey, I’m Y/N. Is there any chance you saw a group of dumb ass girls all shorter than me?” You asked, hopeful. He shook his head, a sorry smile on his thin lips.

“Nice to meet you, Y/N. I’m Jisung. Any chance you’ve seen a group of dumbass boys pretty much all taller than me?” You took a deep breath. The rest of Stray Kids were there, too! But that doesn’t help that you were both lost, although now you had a companion. It’s awkwardly silent for too long before Jisung breaks it suddenly.

“Hey, so my friends and I are doing this video where we’re competing as teams to get out of the maze-” He started, you interrupted with a laugh.

“So, you’re losing?”

“Well, yeah, but not for long.” he replied, leaving you a bit confused. “There’s no way my friends will win. They’ve got, at most, six brain cells between the two of them and the older one has most of them.” You want to ask which of the members he was teamed with. They never had specific groups they’d team with in any of their The 9th episodes. “Anyway, even if they did get out first, they can’t win without me.” You say nothing, still confused as to why he was telling you this story, not that you didn’t want him to tell you. If you were honest, you would listen to him talk about a garbage can all day and never complain.

“What are you getting at?” You asked.

“Well, why don’t we become a team and win the prize instead?” He suggested. You didn’t really have to think about it. His proposal wasn’t something you could say no to. You would escape the maze an idol, albeit an idol that didn’t know you knew he was an idol, and you could make your friends jealous. It was an easy yes. You nod, determined.

“I think we’ll make a great team, Jisung. Let’s get out of here!” Suddenly both of you had so much energy, sprinting off in the same direction. Jisung decided the best plan would be to “become the maze”. The two of you began trudging through the corn walls, avoiding the actual paths. The two of you chat to pass the time, asking each other questions and talking about your hobbies.

“Oh, you rap?” You ask, you know, like a liar; as if you didn’t bump to Matryoshka on the daily. You tell him about your classes, advising he never take AP Physics, not that he would ever have to. The two of you opted to playing other games like two truths and a lie, but facts version. You had to feign innocents when you guessed facts correct, insisting you were just a great listener. At this point, you were having so much fun that you completely forgot the revenge plan, laughing and joking together like you’d been friends forever. It wasn’t until you pushed through the last wall of that stupid maze that you remembered.

“Why’d you leave me?” You shout angrily. All four of your friends were waiting at the entrance of the maze, remorseful expressions covering their faces. The audacity.

“Y/N, we thought you died-” Karen shushed your friend Ariel.

“Oh, gosh! We’re so sorry. Once we realized you were gone it was too late.” You wanted to roll your eyes at her. “We figured it was our best bet to come up with a meeting place outside of the maze, but then you didn’t show, and our calls weren’t going through-”

“It’s okay, guys. I mean it really hurt my feelings, but we can talk about that later. Meet my new friend!” Jisung, who has an impeccable sense of timing, pops out from behind you with a cute squirrel-like smile. You’re completely prepared to rub him in their faces, but they aren’t even fazed. Annika smiled, a small yeah-about-that smile that made your heart drop. Before you could question her though, a shout resignated from behind you. A group of boys, easily recognizable as Stray Kids themselves, come running out of the main building. Jisung huffs at the sight of them, but you’re frozen in your place, shocked to your core.

Woojin is the first to make it to your group. He started to apologize profusely and you were proud that you at least could grasp that. When Jisung started to respond, you turned towards the rest of the group as the began to surround him. You’re mouth hung open at the sight of your bias, sweet and soft, right in front of your face.

“Oh my g- it’s Felix Lee!” You shouted before you could stop yourself. Felix is caught by surprise, mumbling a shy hello, but before you could get anything else out Jisung’s hurt face appears in front of Felix, having put two and two together.

“You knew who I was the entire time, but didn’t say anything?” He asked, a prominent frown etched on his face. He knew Felix was more popular than him, but did you just not like him or something? Why hadn’t you reacted that way to him?

“I just didn’t want to sound like a creep and you’re just really cool.” You tried to explain. “I don’t know. I just didn’t want to make you uncomfortable. I’m sorry.” Jisung couldn’t help but appreciate that. His smile was so wide, but it dropped when he realized something.

“So you cheated in Two Truths, One Lie?” He practically yelled.

“It wasn’t cheating!” You insisted. “You really do have a Virgo vibe!”

For the next hour your two groups interact as much as you can. There was a lot of translating and confusion, but by the time you had to go home it felt like communicating got much easier, and you scored at least twenty photos with the group.

It came time to say goodbye and suddenly the atmosphere became somber and cold. You didn’t want to say goodbye to Jisung. You avoided it the best you could, saving his goodbye for last. After having a borderline mental breakdown in front of Felix, telling him how pretty he was with his freckles, how he shouldn’t let anyone edit his beautiful skin, and how proud of him you were for graduating early and not being afraid to cry, it was Jisung’s turn. You frowned at him, not ready for this.

“Don’t be sad!” He said, pulling you in for a hug. He was sad too, but he wouldn’t admit that to anybody. He gave you a tight squeeze, leaning back to smile at you. “Today was really fun, even if I did get totally abandoned-” Changbin shrieked in protest behind you causing Jisung to laugh. “Anyway, even if we were lost in a corn maze, I’m glad it was with you.” He let go of the hug with one last smile before walking away with the rest of Stray Kids. When he was out of earshot, you finally could breath, letting out a loud, strangled shout of excitement. Your friends laugh at you as you all make your way to your cars as well. It isn’t until you sit in the driver seat that you feel something in your pocket.

Pulling out a small piece of paper, your eyebrow furrowed. On the piece of paper, scrawled in messy pen, was a simple tumblr URL and a smiley face. Your jaw dropped, eyes ogling the paper. All this time you thought it was Chan sneaking around the interwebs of Tumblr, but it was that sneaky snake Jisung all along. As much as you wanted to go home, you couldn’t. Before retreating to your car, your friends had made dinner plans. You were to meet them at your favorite pizza place as an apology for abandoning you. As thankful as you were, you wanted nothing more to get home and search up the URL. You couldn’t believe it. The fact that it was Jisung this whole time boggled your mind.

Finally, around ten o’clock PM, you opened the door to your home. You ran up the stairs to your room, skipping two steps at a time. Yanking your laptop open, you impatiently typed in your password and watched as Stray Kids popped up on your screen. You chuckled at the irony, clicking the Google Chrome icon before going straight to Tumblr and typing in the URL Jisung gave you. You couldn’t help but snoop around his Minho blog for awhile before clicking the message button.

“Heyy, I’m Y/N. Is there any chance you’ve seen a smol squirrel rapper boy with a secret tumblr, is there?” You typed, a smile on your face. His response came faster than you thought.

“Nope, sorry, but have you seen a cute anxious girl that got abandoned by her friends around here?” Your eyes widened at his words. Cute? You squealed, rolling around on the floor before getting up, taking a deep breath and typing back a response.

That corn maze debacle actually resulted in something amazing: the start of a beautiful friendship accompanied by memes, eventual late night facetimes, group hangouts whenever he was in town, and maybe a little bit more than just friendship. All you knew was that that night was the best thing to ever happen to you, and little did you know, Jisung felt the same.

masterlist

[verdigrisprowl]

April 7 Bevel’s Movie Night - Star Trek: TNG and Steven Universe

We watched the first episode, with Q. Prowl said almost nothing because I can’t fucking stand Q.

Bevel 7:51 pm *don't anyone mind the scattered machine parts and tools, she's in the process of moving them off important surfaces like couch seats and trying to make the place look a little more presentable, hope everyone likes the broken engine with a long flat piece of metal welded atop it, it's the new table* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:02 pm *Gave up on fixing the engine, did she? Soundwave stretches feelers down to see the, uh. New furniture. Before moving to his seat.* Bevel 8:02 pm *she might have broken it permanently by mistake while trying to fix it* *it's ok, she's building a new one upstairs* Bevel 8:05 pm Hi, Soundwave. *she tries to wave and nearly drops the armful of items she's carrying over to a crate* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:06 pm *Soundwave nods.* [[In a mood for romantic music, are you.]] Omicron 8:08 pm *Icy stumbles in, and pretends she didn't, nope, she's a strong predacon thank you* Bevel 8:08 pm *shrugs and dumps her armful* Sometimes it is really nice sounding. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:10 pm *Soundwave politely pretends her pretense worked.*

[[It is, at that.]] Bevel 8:10 pm *sticks her tongue out at him and then sings quietly along to the Song of Durin while she finishes cleaning up* Omicron 8:11 pm hello friends 😀 *yes is grinning, good mood almost rolling off Icy, chirps at Bevel!* Bevel 8:11 pm *chirps back* Omicron 8:13 pm ((icy's redesign is almost done...well the first stages is)) ItsyBitsySpyers 8:13 pm [[Good evening, queen.]] Bevel 8:13 pm ((congrats, hope it goes smoothly Love songs. *amused look at Soundwave* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:15 pm [[What.]] Omicron 8:15 pm to you as well soundwave, *shakes a wing and shakes Racer down, but catching him to let him run along after as she finds a place to settle* Bevel 8:16 pm ((gonna start after this song is over if that's ok? Omicron 8:16 pm (yep) VProwl 18:16 pm *appears* Ratchet 8:16 pm *pops in* Omicron 8:16 pm Racer: *startled meep at the appearances* Bevel 8:17 pm *waves to Prowl and Ratchet* Ratchet 8:17 pm *waves* Bevel 8:18 pm *watch your steps, she might have missed a tool or twelve* Omicron 8:18 pm *Ice Queen lifts a wing to them and lays down in her beast mode, pauses and gets up to pick up a tool and lean over and hand it back. yay for long necks* Ratchet 8:19 pm [[ did that say micheal bell ]] [[ is ratchet gonna think someone sounds a lot like prowl ]] ItsyBitsySpyers 8:20 pm ((it is exactly who you think it is)) ((he's in ds9 too)) Omicron 8:21 pm ((I never realized that)) Bevel 8:21 pm ((I love Star Trek guest stars VProwl 18:22 pm ... Is this the beginning of their serving together? ItsyBitsySpyers 8:22 pm [[For this crew.]] Omicron 8:22 pm Racer: *sniffing pedes if its okay* VProwl 18:22 pm Mm. Ratchet 8:22 pm [[ isn't this like episode two or three ]] Bevel 8:23 pm ((It's the 1st and 2nd episode. Omicron 8:23 pm [oooh god XD] .....the frag ItsyBitsySpyers 8:27 pm [[As bad as the greyfaces.]] Omicron 8:27 pm Who is that? *icy frowns* Bevel 8:27 pm Queue? Omicron 8:28 pm Racer: *puzzled, but sniffing to look for prowl if aloud* VProwl 18:29 pm *back by Ratchet.* ((i'm sorry i just. i hate q so much.)) ItsyBitsySpyers 8:29 pm ((feel free to yell ooc)) Omicron 8:29 pm ((you're not the only one)) Bevel 8:29 pm ((or ic if need be VProwl 18:29 pm ((i don't even want to yell i just hate it)) Ratchet 8:30 pm [[ i also hate q ]] Omicron 8:30 pm Racer: *pats at Prowl's pede once finding it* (he's such an aft) Bevel 8:31 pm ((*loves him* >_> Ratchet 8:32 pm [[ i wish they had kept the cute miniskirt uniform forever ]] VProwl 18:32 pm ((i prefer them to have gender-neutral uniforms)) ((therefore: i'll accept the miniskirt only if spock wears it too)) Omicron 8:32 pm (he's a well written character, I'll admit, for what he's supposed to be but...meh) Ratchet 8:33 pm [[ what no i meant the one that male crew member was wearing ]] VProwl 18:33 pm ((oh i thought you were talking about tos)) Bevel 8:33 pm ((there's only one more Q episode I'll be showing after this two-parter, much as I love most of the Q episodes, so y'all won't have to suffer too much TNG with him. Omicron 8:36 pm ...what the frag? ItsyBitsySpyers 8:37 pm ((god)) VProwl 18:37 pm ((no, yeah, i can see this in 20 years)) ((ten. ... five. five years.)) Bevel 8:38 pm ((next week? Omicron 8:38 pm ((ews)) ItsyBitsySpyers 8:38 pm *Soundwave blips. How dramatic.* VProwl 18:38 pm ((i read that as soundwave bleps and it was adorable)) ItsyBitsySpyers 8:38 pm ((LMAO)) Bevel 8:38 pm ((awww ((was just thinking this would remind Prowl so much of a Quintesson courtroom Omicron 8:39 pm ((that would be awesome for soundwave)) Racer: *sitting on a prowl pede if needed?* VProwl 18:40 pm *...... reaches down to awkwardly pet?* Omicron 8:42 pm RAcer: !! *loves touch, but has a present* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:42 pm *Tired thought-mumbling.* [[Mockery court.]] Omicron 8:43 pm *Icy rumbles an agreement to soundwave, reminded of predacons being judged for their more primal ways* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:45 pm *Perk.* [[Pleasant.]] *Not often a gift like his is shown.* Omicron 8:47 pm are all of that race that...aftish Bevel 8:48 pm I never met an alien like that. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:49 pm ((michael bell everyone)) Ratchet 8:52 pm [[ GEORDI ]] [[ i love ]] Bevel 8:56 pm It can not be that hard to reconnect the two sections. VProwl 19:01 pm ((he looks like such a dweeb)) Bevel 9:02 pm ((Who? VProwl 19:02 pm ((riker)) ((a shaven-faced dork)) Bevel 9:02 pm ((He looks so much better with the beard Omicron 9:02 pm (XD) VProwl 19:02 pm ((yep)) ItsyBitsySpyers 9:02 pm [[Ah! The Doctor Bones.]] VProwl 19:03 pm *ugh.* Omicron 9:03 pm *Icy tilts her head* VProwl 19:04 pm *anyone who hates mechs AND Vulcans is someone who gets absolutely none of Prowl's support.* Omicron 9:07 pm Racer:: *been trying to get something unstuck from his teeth, and pops out one of his crystal shards, offers it to prowl* VProwl 19:08 pm ... *did he take it out of his mouth* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:09 pm ((i forgot how rough the pilot was))

*Soundwave looks at Racer's crystal shard from afar. He's offering mouth gunk?* Bevel 9:10 pm ((1st season in general is a little rough Omicron 9:11 pm That's one of the crystals he dug up in the mine, he keeps getting things stuck in his fangs. *Icy glances over, its not gunk, racer has no subspace access yet* Bevel 9:11 pm ((ah yes when the ferengi were still supposed to be threatening VProwl 19:11 pm ((*ferengi waving chainsaw* "Capitalism!")) ItsyBitsySpyers 9:11 pm ((LOL)) Bevel 9:12 pm ((lol Ratchet 9:12 pm [[ i keep falling asleep...... ]] ItsyBitsySpyers 9:12 pm ((fabu go sleep)) Bevel 9:12 pm ((*pats Fabu* Omicron 9:12 pm Racer: *drops the crystal shard, picks it up after licking it clean, then offers it to prowl* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:12 pm ((Friday the 13% Interest Rate)) Bevel 9:12 pm ((omg cro *whistles* Omicron 9:13 pm (*offer blanket for snugles*) VProwl 19:13 pm *kind of, stares it.* ... I see. Omicron 9:14 pm he's been learning how to give gifts, if you don't like it set it aside and offer it back after a time VProwl 19:15 pm *No, Data, you should never want to give up being what you are to be an organic. You're fine the way you are.* Oh, is that what—? All right. *Better help him learn about gift-giving. He takes it and sets it next to himself.* Thank you. Omicron 9:17 pm RAcer: *excitedly dances in place, not on prowls pede, and sits very proud of himself, meeping a welcome attempt* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:18 pm ((oh hey so fun fact: when i was little i used to take this hairclip my mom had and wear it and pretend to be geordi because i thought it looked like his visor. a couple years ago i found out his visor is literally that kind of hairclip painted.)) VProwl 19:18 pm ((oh wow)) Omicron 9:19 pm (that's awesome) ItsyBitsySpyers 9:19 pm ((it's not easy to see through, for the record.)) VProwl 19:19 pm ((it must not have been functioning correctly)) ItsyBitsySpyers 9:20 pm ((LMAO)) Bevel 9:21 pm ((they also designed it like that so Levar could see some, earlier versions were so hilariously bad looking VProwl 19:21 pm (("god i can't see a thing" "good, you're already getting in character")) Omicron 9:21 pm they need a living ship, doesn't matter if the sparkling touches anything...most of the time Bevel 9:21 pm ((omg ItsyBitsySpyers 9:22 pm *He feels Picard's frustration.* Omicron 9:22 pm though messing with captain chairs isn't wise VProwl 19:24 pm (("as my son tries to tell you" yeah how dare the captain express immediate concern over a fucking child ignoring an instruction not to touch things and messing with the buttons on his chair, this literal military officer should be grateful at this civilian minor casually inserting himself into the chain of command.)) *... picks up the crystal to look at it.* Omicron 9:29 pm hmmm VProwl 19:33 pm ((I CAN' F UCKING STAND THAT PIECE OF SHIT)) Omicron 9:33 pm *its a relatively large sodalite slice, a sliver-white-blue* VProwl 19:33 pm ((T)) ((I WANT TO DRIVE A PICKAXE INTO HIS STUPID LITTLE CHIN CLEFT UNTIL IT CLEAVES HIS HEAD IN HALF)) Omicron 9:33 pm ((*offers and anger pop-stick*)) ItsyBitsySpyers 9:34 pm ((my goodness)) Bevel 9:35 pm ((it's ok, this episode is almost over and then it's just one more episode with him after that ((but that episode also has Guinan and stuff VProwl 19:35 pm ((daft, smug, sanctimonious, arrogant little shit)) ((i spelled EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE WORDS WRONG MORE THAN OCNE)) Metrotitans. Alien metrotitans. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:37 pm [[Hmm?]] Omicron 9:37 pm ....living ships *Icy purrs fondly at that idea* VProwl 19:37 pm The ship and the city are independent sentient beings. Bevel 9:37 pm Oh! VProwl 19:38 pm *Was kind of obvious the first time Zorn started talking to his surroundings, but the ship made it obvious.* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:38 pm *He thought perhaps there was someone camouflaged hiding in the room.* Omicron 9:39 pm can we get Primus, somehow to be aware of this...Q thing? ItsyBitsySpyers 9:39 pm [[And do what?]] Omicron 9:39 pm Flick him? VProwl 19:40 pm ... It's a prisoner. Bevel 9:41 pm Space jellyfish. Omicron 9:41 pm jellyfish ship VProwl 19:41 pm ((jellyship)) Omicron 9:42 pm ((Rapture would love to meet them...and try to snuggle them)) VProwl 19:43 pm ((Q YOUR COMMENTARY IS COMPLETELY FUCKING UNNECESSARY JUST GET OUT OF THE SCENE AND LET THEM TALK ABOUT THE JELLYSHIP)) ItsyBitsySpyers 9:44 pm *...It's kind of pretty, for an organic. It has good taste in limbs, anyway.* VProwl 19:44 pm ((YOU'RE CONTRIBUTING NOTHING BUT SNEERS)) Bevel 9:44 pm ((color coded pink and blue jellyfish so you know one is a girl and the other is a boy space jellyfish ItsyBitsySpyers 9:44 pm ((soundwave's ultimate forms)) Omicron 9:44 pm [let primus flick the anoyance far, far away on the godly scale of things] VProwl 19:45 pm ((I CAN SEE YOU MOVING YOUR SHITTY MOUTH Q)) ((KEEP IT SHUT)) Bevel 9:45 pm ((omg puff Omicron 9:45 pm aw, look at the squishy happy jellyfish ships VProwl 19:46 pm ((FUCK OFFFFFF)) Bevel 9:46 pm ((Q plz VProwl 19:46 pm ((UGH)) Bevel 9:47 pm ((I'd try to explain him but yeah. ((Onto better, non-Q things Omicron 9:47 pm at least their Captain has a good head and spark Bevel 9:48 pm I like Picard a lot. Omicron 9:50 pm *Icy nods, lets Racer climb over her to find another stashed crystal, resigned a long time ago for letting hatchlings hide things on her* Bevel 9:51 pm ((i want that backpack so bad sometimes Omicron 9:53 pm Racer: *inching over to Bevel, pads at what he can reach with a small paw* Bevel 9:53 pm *reaches down to pat him* VProwl 19:54 pm ... How did he successfully throw the sweaters across. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:54 pm [[Good arm strength?]] VProwl 19:55 pm The vortex should have pulled them down too. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:55 pm [[Perhaps it only registers living things.]] VProwl 19:56 pm The red one threw a rock. Omicron 9:56 pm Racer: *happy muffled meep, drops two shines and offers one to Bevel* Bevel 9:56 pm Garnet. VProwl 19:56 pm Gourmet. Bevel 9:56 pm *accepts with a smile* Is this for me? ItsyBitsySpyers 9:56 pm ((whoops i forgot the rock)) ((i'm not multitasking or anything no)) [[They're gems. It could mistake a rock for one.]] Omicron 9:58 pm RAcer: ya! -bounces and flaps a wing, then nuzzles against her- ItsyBitsySpyers 9:59 pm [[No, you broke it.]] Bevel 9:59 pm Thanks, Racer. I will have to get you something too next time you are here. VProwl 19:59 pm TECHNICALLY he didn't break it. He just completely failed in completing the one simple task that could have prevented it from breaking. Bevel 10:00 pm At least he tried. Guess he got too excited. VProwl 110:00 pm He should be blamed, but not for the thing he didn't do. Omicron 10:00 pm I have a feeling that might be my life when this one, or his clutch mats get older Bevel 10:01 pm *she tucks the shiny away into her subspace* Omicron 10:02 pm Racer: *happy hatchling, and picks up the other shiny, tail waves* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:05 pm [[It's like dealing with Smokescreen.]] Omicron 10:05 pm reality breaking somehow? VProwl 110:05 pm And here I was, trying to like him. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:05 pm [[Oh. He apologizes.]] Bevel 10:06 pm *giggles* Omicron 10:06 pm Racer: *paw pats at Soundwave's pede now* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:07 pm *Glances down.* Omicron 10:07 pm Racer: *offer the last crystal shine to him* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:08 pm *Soundwave accepts the shard and offers Racer a tiny pat.* *All right. Maybe he can relate to Garnet a little after all.* Omicron 10:09 pm Racer: *purr attempt at the pat* Bevel 10:12 pm ((wow sorry if i deafened anyone there Omicron 10:12 pm [its okay] Bevel 10:14 pm This looks like fun. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:14 pm [[...It does.]] VProwl 110:14 pm ... The instructional infographics are insufficient to describe how to accurately replicate the desired moves. Omicron 10:14 pm RAcer: *bounces around to the music, icy might be bobbing her head to it too* Bevel 10:14 pm I could find a version for Dancitron? ItsyBitsySpyers 10:15 pm [[He thinks they are reminder only. It looks like the main figure does the full moves.]] [[...And he would appreciate that. Take it to Arcade if you do.]] [[Rumble and Frenzy would appreciate it, he's sure.]] *Cover cover.* VProwl 110:15 pm Then you don't know what you're supposed to be doing until the exact moment you're already supposed to be doing it. Bevel 10:15 pm I will. *she's going to Earth anyway, might as well grab some game stuff for Arcade to play around with* VProwl 110:16 pm Unless there's an entirely separate training program. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:16 pm [[There might be. It could also be a matter of repeat exposure. Hmm.]] Bevel 10:17 pm Even mistakes are fun though. Omicron 10:17 pm true VProwl 110:18 pm *"mistakes are fun" what in the hell is bevel talking about* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:18 pm *She gets a lot of weird ideas. Blame her creators.* Omicron 10:19 pm Soundwave? ItsyBitsySpyers 10:20 pm [[Hmm?]] Omicron 10:21 pm I have an insecticon that wants to meet you at some point. she asked me to tell you that. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:21 pm [[...Why.]] *If this is going to be a joke at his expense about Insecticon queens...* Bevel 10:21 pm *oh teaching song, sits up* VProwl 110:22 pm *Prowl's not going to be around for that meeting.* Omicron 10:22 pm She heard you got racer to eat silver, it's made her life easier. I think its to give a thank you Bevel 10:23 pm Does Racer not like silver? Omicron 10:23 pm He didn't not like it, he wasn't sure it was something to eat until soundwave said so giving him a bit Bevel 10:24 pm Oh ok. I thought maybe he did not like it like how I do not like latinum. VProwl 110:25 pm ((does she think latinum tastes... too rich)) Bevel 10:26 pm ((lol Omicron 10:26 pm since Racer is the oldest, if he's eating things the other sparklings on the ship are interested it it too. Doesn't matter if me or their sires are eating things too ItsyBitsySpyers 10:27 pm [[Then he is glad to have helped so much. A little silver is a good treat now and then, he's told.]] [[And helpful for forming new plating.]] VProwl 110:28 pm ((*hears the Robot Words*)) ((ariel is a transformer now)) Bevel 10:28 pm ((yes Omicron 10:28 pm yes, or coating other metals to get them to eat something that's not just gold sweet ItsyBitsySpyers 10:29 pm *He's feeling personally attacked by this one.* [[Indeed.]] Bevel 10:29 pm *sorry Soundwave* *not intentional* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:30 pm *He's so sure.* Bevel 10:30 pm *makes a face at mention of gold* Omicron 10:31 pm ...? Bevel 10:31 pm Too sweet. Omicron 10:32 pm ah, yes at times Bevel 10:32 pm *doesn't like sweet things* Omicron 10:33 pm do you like copper or nickle wire? *yes she knows she has a bad habit of chew on those* Bevel 10:35 pm *shrugs* I like rust sticks if I am gonna snack on something, but I usually just eat or drink energon instead. My frame-type uses a burns a lot of energy. VProwl 110:35 pm *sometimes prowl is reminded that, to most people that aren't him, most of the environment around them is at least partially edible* Bevel 10:36 pm I eat treats other people make sometimes though. It is nice eating something else. VProwl 110:36 pm *hearing them talk about eating wires is one such reminder.* *it's wild.* Bevel 10:36 pm *Cybertronians evolved from scraplets?* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:36 pm *DON'T YOU START ON THAT* Bevel 10:37 pm *"there's still scraplets how could we have evolved from them?"* Omicron 10:38 pm I don't know why, human refined copper just... tastes really good. so do some of their cars ItsyBitsySpyers 10:38 pm [[...You consume their cars?]] Omicron 10:38 pm .......not all the time? ItsyBitsySpyers 10:38 pm ((did frasier ever have a musical episode and if not WHY NOT listen to him)) Bevel 10:38 pm Earth cars are not sentient. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:38 pm *...What is this.* Bevel 10:39 pm ((it did not but Niles and Fraiser did sing a few times ItsyBitsySpyers 10:39 pm *...Is this language humor.* Bevel 10:39 pm *yes* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:39 pm *Scoot scoot.* Bevel 10:39 pm *she found it when she was struggling with learning English* Omicron 10:40 pm *knows its bad but sometimes can't help chewing on old cars when on earth....junk food like craving* VProwl 110:42 pm *... this video is stressful* Bevel 10:42 pm *oh Prowl* Omicron 10:42 pm ....huh VProwl 110:43 pm *there's a whole lot of moving things to read, it switches fast, and words are hard* Bevel 10:43 pm *yeah Bevel didn't learn much from it until she listened to it a buncha times* Bevel 10:51 pm ((didn't think y'all wanted to sit through a 20m version of the Misty Mountain song ItsyBitsySpyers 10:51 pm *Soundwave's very... VERY very tired from recent events, and his ability to mask in public is running thin. He'll probably leave shortly. But not until after this song.* VProwl 110:54 pm *he's not alone.* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:55 pm *Soundwave stands and dusts himself off, as though he'd been sitting there long enough to collect any.*

[[He appreciates the look into the Picard human's life, but he requires recharge.]]

*Nodding to each one in turn.*

[[Prowl, Ice Queen, Bevel. Goodnight.]] VProwl 110:56 pm @S «... Can I come over?» Bevel 10:56 pm *waves goodbye* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:56 pm @P: [[Without question.]] Omicron 10:56 pm have a good evening VProwl 110:56 pm @S «I'll meet you there.» Bevel 10:57 pm I will not be able to show anything for a little while since I am leaving soon. I tried to get Rolodex to host but *she shrugs* VProwl 110:57 pm *he slides his crystal gift into a thigh compartment, and disappears.* *the crystal clatters down onto his seat.* *he has apparently forgotten things don't come with him when he disappears* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:58 pm @P: [[All right.]]

[[The ingrate. Good luck with your... mission.]]

*Soundwave moves over to where the seat was, picks up the crystal, opens a bridge and trudges through it. He's too tired to even take the opportunity to fly.* Bevel 10:58 pm Thanks. Omicron 10:59 pm good night *chirps at Bevel, standing up* Bevel 11:00 pm *chirps back* Omicron 11:01 pm *icy gets up, with racer on her back and gives a head bump, remembers the stress she had before* Omicron 11:02 pm (thanks for the stream) Bevel 11:02 pm ((np!

[j-whirl44]

New Promises

Royai Week 2017

Day 4 Prompt: Promise

I haven’t written anything in about 7 months and anything Royai related in a good year lmao so i’m a bit rusty!!!!! and i didn’t proofread so sorry!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let this moment be the first chapter, where you decided to stay.

And I could be enough And we could be enough (x)

Enjoy! ((please tell me what you think also that’d be cool too I guess))

The air was still between the two of them. They both sat up in their beds in the dark hospital room, the only light from the moonlight peeking through the curtains.

“You promised me Lieutenant,” he said. She snapped her head up at him, straightening her back while doing it.

“I’m sorry for disobeying your orders sir,” she said, “but I’m not sorry for breaking that stupid promise.”

“Stupid?” he asked, his jaw clenching. If he was being completely honest, Roy was still feeling the after effects of his episode from earlier. His body was still hot from that bloodlust sensation. It also made his stomach sick. “We agreed that you’d shoot me on sight. Your insubordination could’ve gotten Fullmetal and Alphonse killed. You…” he paused, “you could’ve gotten yourself killed,” he said quieter.

Riza couldn’t help but laugh at that. She knew the timing wasn’t right, but she didn’t care, “You never give yourself enough credit,” she said, “Sir, even when I agreed to that promise I knew that when it came down to it, I would’ve been able to talk you down.”

Roy’s mouth dropped his mouth in surprise, the quickly smirked and shook his head, “Really? You’re rather confident aren’t you,” he asked.

“I learned from the best,” she said.

For a moment the mood in the room was as it’s always been between them, light and soft. They both relished in its familiarity, but it was short-lived.

“What else is on your mind, Lieutenant,” he asked. There was silence as the mood quickly shifted back to the severity it was before. “Riza…” he pleaded, his voice softer.

“Sir, when we get out of here. The other promise…” she started, Roy tensed up. There’s only been a handful of times Riza has been vulnerable because of him. The night of the burning, the run-in with Lust, and now. “Do you still intend to keep it?” she finally asked, her breathing becoming heavy.

Roy sat and thought for a moment, “If I was, what’s to say you won’t go behind my back again?” he asked, a coy tone in his voice as he tried not to let the desperation he felt leak out.

They were at a standstill now. Both of them holding up their masks to one other, even though they knew it was useless against one another. They sat like statues for a few minutes before Riza talked again.

“I can’t…I can’t let you do it sir,” she said finally. Roy released the clenched fist he was holding and let out a breath.

“Lieutenant. I won’t stand for subordination twice.”

“And I won’t stand losing you twice,” she snapped back, “Sir, Roy, just think about it please,” she said.

Roy closed his eyes and rubbed his face. Flashes of Hughes and his funeral flashed in his mind. He blinked hard to make them disappear. “It’s late, I think, we should get some sleep.”

“Sir-“

“Goodnight lieutenant,” he said, interrupting her.

———

The air between them now was just as heavy as it was that night. Roy looked at himself in the mirror as he fixed the collar on his uniform. He spots her watching him from the back of the room. Her knuckles white and her posture stiff. There was a pang of guilt that hit him as he turned to face her.

“You should probably bring some circulation back into that hand,” he said, perhaps he knew that a joke wasn’t the best thing to say right now, but he was at a loss for anything else. She looked at him with an expression that had both anger and pain. He looked away.

“Sir. I can’t let you do this.”

“My job is done, lieutenant,” he said.

“Why leave now? Why leave all the good you’ve done? Why-“ she said, hesitating, “Why leave me?” she finished. Tears started rolling down her face. Roy reached out to her but she pulled away.

“That’s not the promise I made.”

“Fuck that promise. It was made years ago by a broken man who didn’t know what he does now. It was made by a coward who only thinks of himself,” she yelled stepping closer to him with every word until their noses were practically touching. Roy backed up slightly and grabbed shoulders, she didn’t resist this time.

“Riza,” he started, the sound of her name made her look at him, “I’m sorry I-“

“No. No! Don’t say there’s nothing you can do. Bullshit, you made that promise to yourself. There’s no one forcing you to do this,” she said. She once again broke away from him as she sat on a chair facing him.

After a while she spoke again, “Promise me you won’t do it. Promise you won’t leave me, not like this.”

Roy wasn’t expecting those words. Her eyes were filled with rage. Roy felt trapped. This end game has been his only goal for the past 20 years. Of course he’s had his doubts, as time went on and as he grow closer to Riza he knew how hard it was going to be to actually be to follow through.

He was hesitant though. Was he really prepared to let go of this promise after all this time? Could he be able to live with himself afterward? Riza sat there shaking, waiting on his answer. One look into her eyes and he knew his answer.

He walked over to her and held out his hand, helping her up so they were eye level.

“I promise lieutenant,” he said. Riza’s eyes went wide. She wasn’t expecting that answer. She didn’t know how to respond, so she did the first thing she could think of.

She kissed him.

It was a simple kiss, but urgent. Roy was surprised but quickly kissed back, he wasn’t going to waste their first kiss by being too dumbstruck to react.

They pulled apart after a moment, both with blushes on their cheeks.

“What was that?” Roy asked. Riza showed a slight smile.

“I just, didn’t think it would be that easy to change your mind after all these years. Are you…are you sure, sir?” she asked, trying to not get her hopes up, she knew how much this meant to Roy and how much he’d work towards this moment.

“I realized that I don’t want to leave you, Riza, I-I’m finally happy. You were right, I made this promise when I was selfish and young and scared. Now I have things, people, to live for,” he hesitated, “I promise you. I’m not leaving.”

Riza didn’t stop the sob from leaving her mouth as she hugged him tight. Roy hugged back as she buried her face in his chest.

For the first time, Roy didn’t have a plan for what to do next, but maybe it was better that way.

[hmniay]

Tokyo Trip Report (Part 4)

This is the last of the Japan report! Lots of photos this time. Thank you for sticking with me.

Feel free to blacklist the tag “japan 2016″ if you don’t want to see these posts! The images may look squished if you read this outside dashboard due to my blog theme. Everything is under the cut.

←Previous

Day 10: Tokyo Comic City

The main reason why we picked mid June to go to Japan, other than that Jen has summer school and to avoid the crowdy July-August break, was because I wanted to meet some JP mutuals tabling at the con >///<  (thank you Jen for agreeing to this)

I especially wanted to meet Rui-san, whose art I looked up to a lot (and buy her books while I’m at it), but she had work last minute and couldn’t come... Maybe next time ;__;

The event is 11pm~3pm. We planned to go at 12 to avoid the crowd, but we woke up late and got there at 1pm😂😂  It was located at Tokyo Big Sight in Odaiba, and this place is like an airport!! It’s huge and even has conveyor belts, and people were carrying luggages around (to store the merch they bought??)

(No photographing allowed inside)

1/3 of the tables already packed up and left... Apparently in Japanese events, people list out exactly what they’re going to buy and go straight for it the moment the doors open. We didn’t plan to buy anything, but it looked like going in late wasn’t a good idea. Something to keep in mind in the future.

I saw a Miyoshi/Maki mini print and thought “hmm I’ll come back after we check everything out” and then it was sold out ;;;;;;

Free postcards at the door promoting upcoming only-events.

From what I understand, onlys are smaller, fandom-specific events inside a general bigger event? There are games and stuff but we didn’t understand it XD I noticed that tables of the same fandoms were grouped together, sorted by ships. Convenient for the shoppers, but I wonder what happens to multi-fandom artists? And there’s the whole concept of “circles”... It’s certainly very different from what I heard about Western cons, which I’ve not been to.

Also!! Most artists give out free prints! ...At least that’s what I 98% sure they are, but I didn’t have the guts to take them, especially when I’m not buying anything💦💦  I should’ve done some research first.

We met up with Ran-san (again) and Nori-san, who gave me some oisuga poster and postcards. It was a prize for a game on twitter and the poster was supposed to be first-come-first-served, but she saved one for me ahhhh;;;;; As promised I sticked it to my face.

And the poster is now on my wall ////

I suddenly forgot all my Japanese so there was a very long awkward pause before I said I would like to buy a charm from her www (After we got home I was able to talk to her on twitter fluently again what the heck)

Ran-san then took us to meet Kurot. She kept laughing at Kurot for being “crazy” from the lack of sleep. Kurot called me “Kiyo-san” at first, then questioned herself why she’s speaking Japanese when we can speak English😂😂  Please have a good rest after this!!!

I tweeted a photo of my shirt for mutuals not tabling to find me so I can give them Canadian omiyage (maple sugar lmao) and Saki actually managed to find me!! She gave me a iwaoi bag she made (bottom left in the above photo) with lots of candies inside. Thank you ////

Then we met up with Uma and walked around the con. The con was ending and we were about to leave when I saw copic markers on sale on the side. 10 markers for 1000 yen!!!! I never tried it before so I only bought 10, but I now regret not getting more.

I forgot to go back to say goodbye to Ran-san and Nori-san before leaving...

Uma, Jen and I decided to go to Ikebukuro for some afternoon snack. Yamate Line had an accident (someone fell off the platform??) so we had to take another line. Then it became clear how the accident probably happened. THIS WAS THE MOST CROWDED TRAIN WE EXPERIENCED ON THIS TRIP. I could barely take this photo. I was leaning on someone’s (sweaty) back with my feet half off the ground, and when the train arrived at a station, it becomes like a strong river where you literally get pushed around and have no control of where to go.

We finally found a place to sit down and eat.

We exchanged our sketchbooks and had a doodling session until we got politely kicked out an hour later XD

We window-shopped for a bit at Sunshine City before parting ways. Our host family offered us to make BBQ on the rooftop, but it was too late so we just got ourselves some konbini dinner.

Family Mart’s fried chicken is so good!! I finished it before we even got home.

Thank you so much for an amazing day!!! I hope we can meet again.

Day 11: Yokohama

Today is the last day of our trip and we decided to spend it in Yokohama.

Animate Yokohama was really close by so we dropped by quickly for last minute weeb shopping. Jen went to look for CCS and Digimon merch while I went to play the Joker Game Q&A (each week you can get prizes - a print I think - for answering a question related to the week’s episode).

Q: What was the pill left on the floor in Maki’s room? A: Aspirin.

But they ran out of the prize so I only got a stamp...

Heading to Hakkeijima Sea Paradise! This is where we will spend most of the day.

Kalbi onigiri. Yum. In Taiwan I prefer 7-11 much over Family Mart, but here Family Mart is my best friend.

The station is really cute.

We’re here!

It’s a giant amusement park on an artificial island. The right half is the “ground” rides, but we’re only interested in the “sea” side today. 

There’s not a lot of people.

Ahhhh they look like spiders and why are they so big!!! Jen: Are they edible

OMG so I happen to witness this guy eat... It pressed the fish in between the glass and itself, and wiggled until the fish got to its mouth... then swallowed it whole.

Our tickets also included fish-your-own-fish. 

I’m so sorry ;;;;

Jen is vegetarian so I got 2 for myself. It was really good and I wished I got more...

More animals on the other side of the park!

Hydrangeas near the entrance/exit.

We wanted to end the day with Yokohama’s famous night view at Landmark Tower, so we rushed back (it takes about an hour).

The Red Brick Warehouse!

We didn’t remember we wanted to go to the Cup Noodles Museum until we walked passed it lmao (it was closed already)

We finally got to Landmark Tower. Had a quick dinner at a Oyako don place.

We didn’t know we were making a big mistake. THEY STOP LETTING PEOPLE ONTO THE OBSERVATION DECK AT 8:30. We finished our dinner and got there at exactly 8:30. The directions weren’t really clear so we walked back and forth for a while, before realizing that the man we saw putting up a sign at a door was the deck staff closing the door. If I realized it a minute earlier I would’ve begged him to let us in ;____;

It would be frustrating to come all the way here and not be able to see the view, so we headed back to the port beside the warehouse and ended our Yokohama adventure there.

Someone on the train was reading Jump!!

We returned home to see this on the bed ahhhh... Inside the bag was 2 big boxes of shrimp cookies that homestay dad bought on his business trip. This host family was much less experienced (we are their first), but they were so sweet😭😭😭

Day 12: Departure

I leave Japan today and go to Taiwan next. Jen was staying for another day because she booked her tickets wrong hahahaha

Homestay mom helped us book the direct bus to Haneda Airport; we didn’t want to go through the pain of pulling luggages through the subway system again.

We got off at Terminal 1... BUT JOKE’S ON ME IT’S ACTUALLY SUPPOSED TO BE TERMINAL I FOR “INTERNATIONAL” WHO THE HELL THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA!! So we had to quickly take the airport shuttle to the correct terminal to check in.

The airport was decorated in Edo? style.

I decided to have Mos Burger for my last meal in Japan. I grew up eating their rice burger in Taiwan so I wanted to try the real one in Japan. They only had regular burgers here though!!

Our last doodle together.

It was hard to say goodbye to Jen. We’ve been together since elementary school and who knows when we will see each other in person again...😢 We dragged on until last minute and I almost missed my plane lmao

Bye bye Japan! Thank you for a wonderful time and I hope I can come again soon!!

Is Laputa in there

The flight was only about 3 hours so by the time I woke up from a nap we were already landing. But then...

WhaT

IS

HAPPENING

I WAS LEGIT TERRIFIED OMG I hate flying and I would think that if the plane needs to make FIVE GODDAMN CIRCLES above the airport, something might’ve happened down there. 

After what felt like forever, we finally started descending. Everything looked fine?  

Then it became obvious why we couldn’t land. It was like a typhoon down there and the plane was shaking so much while landing. There were no actual typhoon though. Just your regular crazy Taiwanese summer afternoon-storm.

Yep I’m definitely back in Taiwan

The moment I stepped out of the plane I could feel the intense hot humid air, like usual... The storm was crazy big and part of the subway was experiencing outage, so I had a rough time getting home. Good to be back though.

Souvenir for my grandma! She loves matcha stuff. These are matcha-white chocolate cookies, bought at Haneda airport.

My loot from Japan. I managed to control myself hahahaha

Corn flavoured stuff is the best!!!!!!!

And this concludes my Japan trip report!! It is almost 8 months since the trip I can’t believe I took so long to organize this😂😂  I might write a little bit here and there about the Taiwan trip later. Thank you for sticking around and I hope you enjoyed reading!!