#3 minutes and your art becomes famous

[shaoversekahn64]

MUTIGER WAKE UP ! YOUR ART IS ABOUT TO BECOME FAMOUS THANKS TO THIS VIDEO !!!!!!!!!

@mutiger-seemann

mommy and daddy ain't in the mood

look doesn't matter <3

three legendary bullies

guys, hold shang tsung!!!!!!!!!!

big bro and kids

just random stuff))

[malavera]

Good Girl (18+) — Hugh Jackman One shot

summary: hugh sent you this picture of him and warned you to be ready when he gets back to you.

warning: SMUT! MDNI. Basically filthy sex, unprotected, porn with no plot, pet name 'kitten', calling hugh papi, don’t cum inside guys.

check out my other works here!

‘Yeah? What am i supposed to do with this information, hey?’ You giggled as you typed your text before pressing send.

‘i just wanted to say i’m not going to apologize for what is there to become of me tonight.’ Hugh replied in a matter of minutes. You scrunched your eyebrows in confusion, you wouldn’t be seeing him until 3 days, at least that’s what you knew.

‘wdym?’ you typed back and when it showed delivered, a knock landed on your door surprising you in your seat. You hurried yourself off towards your door, and when you opened it, it revealed the current obsession of yours; Hugh Jackman, your 5-months-low-profile-boyfriend.

You gasped, “What are you doing here?! I thought you weren’t supposed to be in New York until the 3 days!” You squealed jumping to engulf him with a hug. Hugh laughs seeing your adorable reaction while entering the cozy space of your apartment, kicking the door shut with his feet.

“Well, I’m here now aren’t I, kitten?” You blushed from hearing the pet name he loves to call you slipped from his lips. You bit your lip trying to suppress a smile before crashing them against his. Hugh hummed and sighed in content, dropping his duffle bag on the ground. His arms wrapped around your petite body while yours trying to pull him close, your toes tip toeing on the floor.

"Now, you wanna show me what you just sent me, papi?" You lowly spoke against his lips once you broke away from the kiss. Hugh stared at you, humming and pursing his lips.

"Do you think you deserve it?" He spoke before kissing you again, turning both of you around as he pushed you gently against the wall. His lips pulled away from yours to move down to ravish the delicate skin of your neck. You softly moaned when you felt his warm tongue nibbling against it, eyes rolling back to the back of your head. "Have you been a good girl while I was away, kitten?"

"Mmmh... Yes, papi. I have." You pouted slightly, hugging him.

"Hmm yeah? 's that so?"

"Yeah," you pouted when he broke contact with your neck as he looked down at you grinning. "Please..."

"Well, in that case, you deserve it then." You gasped when your feet have lifted off the ground and by instinct, you wrapped your legs around his waist as he carry you through your shared bedroom. Hugh softly plopped you down on your cushion before you propped yourself up with your elbows to look at him with an excited grin.

Hugh smirked, shifted his head side to side while tutting at you. You watched as both of his hands went to grab the hem of his shirt as they pull it upwards to discard the material off his body. Your lips went agape slightly, you still couldn't believe it. Dating the famous Hollywood actor, who is 55 years old, and has the body of a Hercules? You really want to thank god for, other than his genes, his dedication and passion to work on his body.

"What do you think, baby?" Hugh said with a Cheshire smile, flexing his abs, tilting his body slightly to show his work of art. You bit your lip, suppressing a smile, your head nodding away for approval. "Yeah?" He added, you didn't say anything instead you rub your thighs against each other, feeling yourself pooling your panties.

Hugh laughs at you before he put one knee on the bed and dive himself down to you, pushing you to lay against the bed. "Cat really got your tongue huh, kitten?" You hummed in approval before crashing your lips to him. Hugh pressed himself against you, grinding his clothed cock against your clothed cunt. You moaned, feeling the big bulge rubbing softly against your heat, couldn't wait to feel his thick and heavy cock inside you.

Hugh broke the kiss on your lips to kiss your neck, he knows how much you love neck kisses and he'd be honored to rain you with lots of kisses. You moaned even more when you felt him nip your delicate skin with his teeth, your legs spread wider to welcome him as he ground his hips more against you, dry humping you at this point.

"Hmm, papi, please..." You pleaded, you gasped in surprised when his hand reached down inside your panties, gliding against your slicked pussy, gathering your arousal with his fingers. Hugh pulled away from your neck and lay his forehead against yours, his eyebrows pulled together, eyes staring down at you.

"I know, kitten, I know, let me play with your cunt a little, yeah?" He coo'ed. You gasped, eyebrows furrowing once you feel him push his index finger inside your throbbing cunt. "So wet for me, kitten. Tsk, tsk." Hugh tutted, thrusting his finger inside you slowly.

"Can you take another one?" Apparently that was a rhetorical question as you were about to provide him an answer, he pushed his middle finger inside you earning a loud moan from your agape lips. He laughed under his breath, watching you fall apart just by his 2 slender fingers curling and flicking inside of you.

"Fuck, papi, so good... So good... Don't stop." You moaned, closing your eyes as Hugh looks down to watch himself work on you.

"Oh, I'm not gonna stop kitten, never. Come on, spread your legs wider." You obeyed to his command, watching him straighten himself away from you. His free hand went to rip your panties off, shredding the fabric. You gasped as your face contorted into disbelief and were about to protest before he beat you to it,

"I'll buy you new ones, kitten. Don't worry, I got you." He breathed, watching his fingers working on your pussy as you let out a loud moan. Hugh can tell when you're nearing your edge, and as you were about to reach it, he pulled his fingers out of your cunt as your body jolted in surprised.

"Hugh!" You protested, but he was too busy getting his shorts off. "Wait!" You yelped, twisting your body to the side trying to reach your nightstand to find a condom, but there were none. "We don't have a condom!" You shrieked.

Hugh pulled you by your thighs, before grabbing the hem of your shirt discarding them off your body, revealing your full-rounded breast. He climbed himself on top of you, his throbbing cock rubbing against your glistening pussy. One hand on top of your breast, kneading them and giving your nipple a play with his thumb, the other is holding on his cock, rubbing the tip against your pussy.

"I need to be inside you now, kitten." Hugh panted, you moaned looking down to his hand on his cock. He gave himself a couple of pumps before guiding himself to sink into your tight hole. Hugh grunted from your tense pussy, choking just a half of his cock as he attempted to get into you. He swatted your thighs as he grunted, "Baby, relax for me, let me get my cock into this pussy, come on." You whimpered, closing your eyes as you tried to relax.

Once he got himself all the way in, you both moaned in sync. Hugh kept his gaze on your pussy, watching his cock, slowly thrusts in and out of you but not completely pulling himself out. When he recognized your pleasurable moan, he knew you've adjusted to his size and that's when he started to increase his pace. Taking off his gaze from your pussy, to your face. Both of his hands groping your tits as his hips snapped back and forth.

"Ngh... Baby, so good. You're so big." You faintly moaned the last sentence.

Hugh grunted, "Pussy so good, like it's made for me." You moaned at his filthy words. "Such a good girl... Taking me so well, kitten. Who's a good girl?" Hugh leaned forward, connecting his forehead against yours, cooing at you.

"M-me.."

"That's right, baby. My good girl, tell me how much you love my cock?"

"Love it so m-much, baby."

"Yeah?"

"Yes! Oh so good, papi. Love your big cock so much in my pussy." You sob out a moan, closing your eyes shut.

"I know, baby, I know." His free hand went down to reach your clit before his thumb starts playing with it. The action drove you crazier, moaning even more out loud as you feel yourself reaching your edge.

"Hugh, I'm- I'm- I wanna cum." You cried.

"Do it, kitten. Cum on my cock, come on, make a mess for me, yeah like that huh?" He whispered against your lips before he crashed them against yours. You shrieked against his lips, as you felt your thighs shake before creaming down on his cock. Hugh moaned against your lips, feeling your orgasm on his cock, as he increased his pace even more to reach for his high.

"Mmmh, fuck, gonna cum, gonna cum so much, kitten. Pussy so good." Hugh grunted as you moaned, watching him rolling his eyes to the back of his head. His hand went to wrap around your neck, as you moan to the action.

"Yeah, papi? Cum for me. But PLEASE DON'T CUM IN ME!" You shrieked.

"Fuck, can't pull out, pussy's too good." Hugh grumbled, hand around your neck went tighter.

"Hugh!!" You shrieked, as he roared before forcefully pulling his cock out of your pussy and give himself a couple of pumps before shooting out strings of his hot cum on your belly.

You sighed in relief, you love and adore the man, but you weren't ready to be a momma just yet.

if you enjoyed this one do give a reblog, a like, and buy me a coffee ;)

[lonelyharmonies]

all is fair in love and war

when you meet a guy once and forget his name, the last thing you expect is meeting him again on your new job.

pairing: haechan x fem reader genre: fluff; college!au; (sort of)  coworkers! warnings: suggestive; cursing; and i think that’s it. word count: ~19k a/n.: another repost <3 i love this one very much

"How's the job search?" your roommate asks while putting her earrings on.

Another week of failed attempts of looking for an internship, you think. Maybe you weren’t in your right mind when you decided to quit your job of 2 years at the campu’s café, but it was time for you to start looking for jobs related to your field of study. You want to become a journalist, you need real experience! Did you quit after impulsively screaming at your annoying boss because you were fed up with his rudeness? Yes, but you were unhappy and senior year is getting closer by the minute, you have no time to waste. At first, your parents and friends supported you, but after almost two months of unemployment, you were starting to question your own decision.

"Nothing yet." you mumble, playing a game on your phone.

"Have you thought about what Renjun said?" she turns her head to look at you expectantly. 

"We've already discussed this," you sigh and she turns her head back to the mirror in front of her. "If it was only for the money, I could just go back to 7Dream,” you stubbornly answer.

“And you think they’ll take you back?” your roommate raises an eyebrow at you “I know it’s not the best choice, but listen to Renjun this time. At least it would be something.”

Huang Renjun, your roommate’s boyfriend, is a fairly rich art major and, in your eyes, a very sophisticated person. At least one of the most sophisticated people you know. The only one, actually. But as he comes from such an influential family, you thought he would be able to find you a job at a good newspaper or a famous magazine. You had to ask him for a job recommendation because, hell, if you’re friends with a nepo baby, take advantage of them.

Needless to say you were not expecting to be offered a part-time position at a beaten-up theme park in the city. You obviously declined, being too stubborn to go from one underpaid job that made you miserable to another.

You did accept, however, the invitation to his friend's birthday party. Free food, free alcohol and some socializing, you couldn’t say no to that. That’s how you end up in an overcrowded apartment in the downtown area of the city to celebrate the birthday of Renjun’s friend that you have never seen before.

As soon as you got there, you were introduced to the birthday boy, Lee Jeno, before being ditched by your roommate and her boyfriend. Deciding that it was too awkward to just stand in the kitchen by yourself, you are left with no choice but to choose your drink: cheap vodka with cranberry juice or cheap canned beer? Hard choice.

Your eyes were scanning the alcoholic drinks shoved in the kitchen sink when you felt someone standing right next to you. You cursed silently, too tired to deal with drunk men flirting tonight. You decided to grab a beer and get out of the kitchen as fast as possible, when the person next to you spoke.

"These ones in the sink are always hotter than the ones in the fridge no matter how much ice they put in there," you turn your head to meet the person next to you, beer in your left hand. "If I were you, I wouldn't grab the drinks from there."

"So I should just stay thirsty?" you ask ironically, raising an eyebrow.

"No, you should grab a drink from the fridge," the brown haired boy smirks and goes straight to the kitchen's fridge.

He grabbed an expensive Japanese beer from inside and placed it on the counter between the both of you. Your eyebrow is raised and the boy still has a smirk on his lips. He motions his head towards the bottle, silently telling you to take it.

"How do I know you didn't spike this drink?"

"How do you know the one you just grabbed isn't spiked?" he challenges you, tilting his head to the side. 

"Isn't it a little impolite of you to just open someone's fridge? Especially to grab an expensive drink to give to a stranger?" The beer is long forgotten when you cross your arms and see the boy moving one step closer to you.

"If the stranger is cute it’s fine," he shrugs and you raise an eyebrow, clearly not falling for his attempts at flirting. "Plus, I bought these,” he points at the bottle he put on the counter “And the birthday boy is my best friend and roommate."

Oh, boy, he was bold and you didn’t even need to wonder why: if you looked that hot only in a pair of jeans and a simple Adidas shirt, you would be brazen too. 

"Hm, I believe you," you puckered your lips and looked around the kitchen as if uninterested.

"I'm serious, we've known each other since we were little, I’ve seen Jeno butt naked thousands of times," he blurted out and you stifled your laugh. 

"That's…" you can't really find the words to answer whatever that information meant. “I…I have no words.”

"What? We barely talked and I'm already leaving you speechless?" he got one step closer and you had resist the urge to move away. "Damn, I didn't know I was this good."

"You think you're smooth, but you were just spilling nonsense," you uncrossed your arms and moved to hold the cold bottle of beer he got for you.

"And yet you're still here listening," he moved one step closer, and this time you could even see the small moles spread across his face and neck. 

"I find you really, really annoying," the smile on your face contrasted with the words leaving your lips. 

"I get that a lot." He chuckled and you moved a little bit closer and felt him holding his breath.

"Yeah. We need to do something to shut your mouth for a bit, don’t we?" you were looking straight at his lips and he didn't waste much time, kissing you right after. 

You find yourself in a very complicated situation the following day when the alcohol wears off of your system and it seems like you remember every little detail of that party, except the name of the boy who kissed you all night long.

You don’t really have much time to dwell on the boy’s name because you find yourself getting more desperate thanks to your financial situation, so all Renjun had to do was mention the job one more time.

“The Lee family is very influential in the entertainment business, you know? I’m sure they will transform that place in no time.” He said one night.

“I bet,” you answered uninterested, eating the soup your roommate had made you. 

“It’s a way of having some income while looking for internships,” he reasoned “you can always quit when you find something better.”

“Okay, you’re right,” you sigh defeated “What number should I call?”

Fast forward to three months later: you are working in the job you’ve sworn you wouldn’t take.

That’s the story of how you became a ride operator at Sunny’s Funfair Park and Recreation  last April. It is a very big name for a park that small, though, you have to admit. The Funfair is just as nonsensical as the name, but it’s not the most unpleasant workplace. Plus, you found out it’s a very traditional theme park in the area, the neighbors say it has been around since the 70s (considering how old everything looks, you don’t doubt it). It is like the city’s Disneyland, just dirtier. And smaller. And uglier. And unsafer. But it’s just like the city’s Disneyland. I mean, there’s even a mascot: the brown bear named Sunny who seemed to be fairly popular among children.

"How do these kids seem to like Sunny so much? He’s creepy,” you think out loud chewing the jelly Jisung just gave you.

“He’s like our Mickey Mouse,” Jisung turns his head to look at the bear as well.

“But Mickey is not that creepy.”

“Have you seen him in the 50’s? Girl…”

"Who are you talking about?" Yuta, one of the managers, creeps behind you and your friend.

"Hyung, that’s not cool!” Jisung jumps as he gets startled by Yuta’s sudden presence and you can’t help smiling at how much of a scaredy-cat he is.

“Mickey Mouse” you say, stealing another Jelly from Jisung. “Who do you think is creepier, Mickey or Sunny?” 

In the beginning you were still very reluctant to accept that it was a good idea to take up Renjun’s offer (and your only choice). But the thing is that you need the money and the job is so much easier than working at the café, considering the Funfair is slow basically every single day. So, you adapted to the Funfair in no time and, slowly, started to see how fun it can be to work in a place like that. You have to admit that the job in itself is usually boring, but the people here are the highlight of it all. 

“Sunny’s not that creepy,” Jisung says, making you scoff.

“No, it’s just an old ass costume of an ugly bear wearing a blue overall. Why do kids like it?” You say looking at the semicircle of children cornering the bear near the merry-go-round.

“Who’s Mickey Mouse, though?” Yuta asks you and Jisung.

“Are you kidding me? The Disney rat, hyung,” Jisung looks mildly offended at Yuta’s question.

“He’s not a rat, he’s a mouse. It’s literally his name,” you say, faking interest just to steal one more jelly from Jisung’s bag of candy.

“Never heard of this Mickey guy,” Yuta says with a poker face and you snicker. 

"You don't know… Mickey Mouse?" You think Jisung’s face is priceless. Oh, the ever so sweet and gullible Park Jisung.

"Where is he from?'' he asks again, leaving Jisung even more confused.

“Hm… Hollywood? I don’t know where he’s from,” Jisung fishes for his phone and you are sure he is about to google ‘where is mickey mouse from’. 

“Oh, I’m from Osaka. That’s probably why we never met.” Yuta finishes talking and walks away, leaving a bewildered Jisung behind.

“I don’t know what to do with this information,” you start feeling bad for him, the boy just looks utterly confused. “He’s joking right? They do have Mickey Mouse in Japan, right?” 

“Yes, Jisung he is joking,” you pat his shoulder, but he seems hesitant. “He’s messing with you because you're literally the only one that still believes in any absurdity that comes out of Yuta’s mouth.” 

“It makes me kinda relieved, I'm not gonna lie,” he sighs and you just chuckle. Why are your coworkers so dramatic? “I mean, it’s Mickey Mouse. Everybody likes Mickey Mouse."

“I don’t know about that…” your eyes go back to the weird bear as he starts moving around, now having Taeyong as a bodyguard to protect him from the kids jumping at him. "Wait, I think this is the first time I see someone actually dressing up as Sunny. Is it a new thing now?”

"I don't know, it's my first time seeing it too," Jisung frowns "Should I ask Mina?" you shrug. It didn't really matter, it's just that, working in such an uneventful workplace, anything could be something.

"I think you should start running if you don't want Doyoung beating your ass up," you say leaning on the railing of the bumper cars. 

Jisung turns to look at his back and sees an angry Doyoung coming for him. "Shit."

"PARK JISUNG, DON'T EVEN TRY TO RUN." 

"Serves you right for purposely shutting down the merry-go-round." 

"If you had to stay there, you would understand the stress I go through," he says, handing you his bag of candy and running away from Doyoung.

So much for an uneventful workplace.

After you started working at the theme park, you had less time for parties and pubs and even dates. It was hard to fit in any social interaction in your now tight schedule: your shifts were usually 4 to 10 p.m on weekdays and 6 to 12 a.m on weekends. You never had time to go out to drink with your friends, unless they agreed to go clubbing on Monday. Damn, you didn’t want to go to a club on Monday, you had morning classes.

Juggling your job, your degree and your social life was not easy, and you started realizing that you couldn’t catch up with some of your friends and, eventually, they just stopped inviting you to hang out. Inevitably, you have to start hanging out with your coworkers and that leads you to Jisung’s dorm, a round of cheap beer, spicy snacks and a game of truth or dare in the crack of dawn on a Saturday. You, Jisung, Chenle, Yeri and Mina were all sitting in a circle looking at the bottle that was about to stop. 

Bottom asks, top answers.

“Truth or dare, Mina?” Chenle asks mischievously and she whines. 

“I don’t want Chenle!!! Please, someone else ask me” 

“He got the bottom of the bottle, though,” Jisung smiles apologetically. 

“Okay, truth.”

“Is it true that in middle school you had a crush on Jis-”

“DARE!!!! I WANT DARE!” she stands up on her knees, profusely shaking her arms so Chenle would stop talking.

Funfair might not be too amusing for the customers, but the whole workplace drama is absolutely entertaining to you. Yeri’s family owns the property where the theme park is located, so she (forcefully) works there to help her cousin Taeyong run the place (though she rarely does any actual work). There is an ongoing rumor that, since last year, she was in a love triangle with Taeyong’s accountant, Suh Johnny, and a mysterious guy named Lee. No one knows exactly who the Lee guy is and what happened between them. Chenle says he’s not brave enough to ask, but he thinks “Lee” is the last name of the guy, which also makes it weird because it could be another one of Taeyong’s relatives.

Taeyong is the sweet boss in charge of all of us, including the managers Yuta and Doyoung, although there has always been a suspicion that the latter is his (boy)friend.

Chenle, Jisung and Mina are freshmen that have been friends since elementary school and decided to work together at Funfair because it was their go-to spot to skip classes ever since they were little. You’re sure they chose the park, though, because they wouldn't be allowed to work together in any other environment, they are all just a bunch of kids. Chenle is that outgoing and kind person yet a menace, especially when it comes to Mina, Jisung and their painfully obvious crush on each other. 

After some hair pulling (Mina got really angry after Chenle tried to make her confess to Jisung) and the last rounds of truth or dare, everyone starts to get sleepy. 

“Alright, guys, I think it’s time to go home…” you stand up, but Mina holds your arm to stop you.

“Wait, before we all go, did you guys know about the new part-timer that got hired?” Chenle perks up and Jisung lifts his body from where is laying on the ground to look at Mina.

“What guy?”

“Another part-timer? I thought Taeyong was on a budget considering how slow the business has been since… forever,” you say truthfully and Chenle’s eyes widen .

“Do you think the Funfair is some sort of money laundering scheme?” 

“I don’t think Taeyong would be driving that old ass car if he had a choice,” Jisung says, and you gasp.

“That’s mean, he’s always giving you rides!”

“What are you guys talking about?” Yeri asks, coming back from the bathroom “New part-timer? Oh, you’re talking about Donghyuck.”

You frown, feeling that you know that name, and yet can’t give a face to that name. Do you know anyone named Donghyuck?

“Do you know him?!” Mina exclaims a little too excited for Jisung’s liking, who scoffs.

“Yeah, I asked Taeyong if we could hire him,” she says sheepishly and you and Chenle exchange confused looks “What about him, though?”

“I was just curious,” Mina answers. “I saw this cute boy two days ago near the breakroom and he said ‘hi, I’m the new guy Donghyuck’ and then, never again.” 

“Why are you so curious? Do you wanna see him that bad?” Jisung asks, clearly bothered and the three of you roll your eyes at the sight of a blushing Mina.

“It’s not like that…” she scratches her head “It’s just that I never saw him again. Where is he even working?”

“I think Taeyong put him in the ticket booth or something,” Yeri brushes the girl’s concern off and just grabs her bag.

“No way, I was in the popcorn stall near the entrance today and I haven’t seen him at all,” Mina affirms with wide eyes.

Yeri, tired of all of you and the workplace gossip, just brushes it off by shrugging and wishing everybody a goodnight before leaving Jisung’s dorm.

"What do you guys think of Sunny?" you suddenly ask and your friends make a confused face. "Sunny, the bear, guys."

"Creepy" Chenle says without second thoughts

"Not you again with the mascot rivalry. Be proud of our Mickey," Jisung points at you, making you roll your eyes.

"It's weird looking, but it's a very fun mascot," Mina says, drinking the remaining soju in Jisung's bottle.

"Not like that, guys." You apologize, starting to feel drowsy. "I should've worded it better."

"Are you already drunk?" Chenle scoffs and Mina motions to kick his legs.

"I meant,” you say louder, glaring at Chenle. “What if the new guy is Sunny?" 

"It's plausible considering Mina hasn’t seen him again. Or any of us, really."

"Bear or not, I think he's Yeri's boyfriend." Jisung says as a matter of factly.

"His name is not Lee, though." Mina points out. "Plus, I'm team Johnny."

"You're all so nosy," you make a judging face at them, but giggle right after "I like it."

The four of you there stay there in Jisung's dorm for a couple more hours, conspiring about who was the new part-timer, what he was doing there and creating what had the potential to be the new hot gossip of Sunny's Funfair.

"I can't believe you're here again," you roll your eyes when you see Jisung standing next to the control panel for the bumper cars. 

"Change places with me one day, that's all I ask!" he pleads and you turn away to pay attention to the cars that had just started to move around. 

"Go to work, Jisung. I don't know why Taeyong hasn't fired you yet." 

"Because he knows I'm a valuable addition to the team.” He fights back, making you scoff.

"Nah, it's probably because he has noticed that the high school girls keep coming back to flirt with you." You glare at him when you see him blushing. “Stop with this act, we all know you love it because it makes Mina jealous.”

“What’s with you today, woman?” he raises his hand defensively “I’m just keeping you company.”

“You should be at the merry-go-around. Working.”

“That’s why I always go to Mina,” he complains. “She always talks to me.”

“It’s because she doesn’t like working either,” you say harshly.

It’s Sunday and the park is fairly busier than usual, you think. Not enough to make children line up on the bumper cars, but busy enough to keep running it every three minutes. Suddenly, a stereotypical carnival music starts playing, startling both you and Jisung, who never really noticed there were speakers spread throughout the park. Then, you see Sunny happily walking around greeting small children and their parents. 

“What the fuck is this?” you spit out and look at Jisung who has the same dumbfounded expression as you.

“Our Mickey Mouse is here,” Jisung laughs and you keep staring at the scene in front of you.

“I swear to god if they put this song in a loop I’ll k-”

“Where’s Mickey?” a little girl wearing a Disney t-shirt smiles at the both of you. “I like Mickey Mouse!"

“If you like Mickey so much, where is he from?” Jisung asks and you roll your eyes, going back to the control panel to see how much longer until this round is up.

“Well, I don’t know…” her smile falters and Jisung holds a finger up in the air while saying.

“Well, you can only ride the bumper cars if you know where Mickey Mouse is from-”

“But… I…” you see the girl’s eyes watering and you punch Jisung’s arm 

“No, you don’t,” you say, giving him the stink eye. “But you do need to be old enough to ride it by yourself. How old are you?

“I just turned eight,” she smiles confidently with both hands on her hips.

“Sorry, sweetie, if you are under 12 you need adult supervision,” she deflates so fast that you almost feel bad for her. 

“Can’t he go with me?” she points at Jisung and you scoff.

“He can barely supervise himself,” you smile at her. “Plus, there is no one else to ride the bumper cars, you would be all alone.”

The little girl tries to persuade you to let her go but you can’t. You could bend the rules a little and supervise her in the car, letting Jisung in the control panel, but you didn’t trust Jisung that much. Plus it wasn’t worth it getting in trouble because of a cute little girl. Eventually, you convince her to go talk to the creepy bear, saying he was friends with Mickey Mouse, and she runs to where he is standing.

“By the way, Mickey Mouse is from Mouseton in Calisota,” Jisung says looking at his phone and you groan.

After months working in the same place, with the same people, you are bound to get into a routine. Yours consisted of arriving at the Funfair around 3:50 pm, going to the break room, filling your water bottle, putting your backpack in locker 606 and putting your lunch box with some packed dinner in the fridge. 

Any minor change in this calculated routine could mean something big.

That’s why you are surprised to arrive one day and see a black insulated lunch bag inside the fridge. You were used to see Mina’s green tupperware, Chenle’s half-eaten subway and Yuta’s energy drinks inside the fridge. You were not used to see an insulated lunch bag inside the fridge. You brushed it off as someone changing habits and bringing healthier food to work. It could even be Taeyong packing food for him and Doyoung. 

You should have taken that more seriously, though, because the second change in your routine was much bigger and much more inconvenient than the lunch bag. 

The next day, the lunch bag disappeared, but now, there was a backpack in your locker. It wasn’t that the locker is specifically yours per se, but there is a silent agreement of which locker belongs to whom. There are 9 lockers in total, Jisung and Mina’s are 607 and 604, the top left one and the one right under it. Chenle takes 608 and Yeri takes the one next to yours, 605. The only available lockers, then, are the 609, top one on the right, and the 3 lockers at the bottom, that are rarely used. 606 is an unavailable locker and yet, one day you get there, slightly late, and you see it occupied by a backpack that’s not yours — and locked. 

Differently from the lunch box, the locker issue does not go away. In fact, no matter how early you get there, every other day there is a black backpack locked inside the 606. You aren't tall enough to reach 609, forcing you to use one of the lockers at the bottom. Everytime you try to crouch down to get something from your bag, you curse at the person who’s using your locker.

The last change to the quiet routine you led at Funfair was Sunny, the bear. In three months working there, last week was the first time you started to actually see it walking around. Of course, during your training, Taeyong made sure to give you a very detailed explanation of the origins of Sunny and even let you see the bear costume. Seeing someone wearing it, though, was something completely different. Considering the near-bankrupt financial situation Funfair has been suffering for a while, it is normal that the park is understaffed (and not a real problem because there aren’t many customers, anyways). But, with some many improvements to be done, why did Taeyong decide to hire someone to give life to that creepy looking bear? No one besides Taeyong seemed to care about Sunny’s presence, why is it around now?

You are too focused on your own thoughts to pay attention to Mina and Jisung entering the breakroom. They seem excited about something and trying to speak at the same time.

“Shut up, Jisung, I will tell everybody!” she squeals and Jisung mumbles something along the line ‘I barely breathed’. “Where’s Chenle? I have bombastic news.”

“He texted the group chat saying he will be late,” you answer unamused.

“Girl, cheer up, I have hot gossip.” You hum, more interested in your sandwich than the gossip. 

“We saw the new guy enter Yeri’s car yesterday after work.” Jisung blurts out and Mina slaps his shoulder. “What? Someone can appear in the breakroom any minute.”

“We already know she knows him. Taeyong hired him because of her, remember?” You bite your sandwich and see Jisung deflates, agreeing that it wasn’t the big deal he was thinking.

“Well, she didn’t say that his last name was Lee,” she whispers the last word, making you and Jisung snap your heads to her direction.

“You didn’t tell me-”

“Doyoung told Yuta who told me that the name of the guy is Lee Donghyuck and he works part-time here every other day. That’s why we don’t see him that much.”she says, pulling a chair for Jisung to sit on.

“Do you think he is the Lee in the love triangle?” Jisung whispers, fishing for his phone. “Oh, Chenle’s gonna love this.”

“Have you guys seen this Donghyuck in the breakroom, yet?” you ask, looking at the lockers. “Or coming to work, at least?”

“Nope.”

“Do you think he is the one using my locker?” They look at you confused. “I usually see it locked with a black backpack inside.”

“Well, he works every other day,” Mina starts “I don’t think it’s him, you’re here everyday.”

“Who would do that, though? The managers use Taeyong’s office. I’m sure it’s him. I don’t like him.”

“You don’t even know him,” Jisung reasons, making you glare at him.

“He stole my locker!” you fight back making them shake their heads at you.

Two whole weeks have passed and everybody but you have met the locker thief. It's not that you are obsessed with knowing who the hell this Lee Donghyuck is, especially not after Mina tells you in secret that he is very funny and very hot (and begged you not to tell Jisung that). You are curious to meet the one who is behind the creepy bear that makes children laugh and forces all of you to listen to circus music (Taeyong said it is a new tactic so people can associate the song to Sunny and they will know when he is around. You don’t care, you just hate both the bear and the song).

It is on a Friday evening that you understand why people say “curiosity killed the cat”. You are sent to help Mina in the food stalls because Jisung, being the annoying brat he is, ended up breaking the merry-go-round thanks to his habit of shutting it off to avoid the children. When one of the rides breaks down, it means sending someone to help with the food stalls, but Taeyong knew that between sending Jisung or a lamppost to work with Mina, the lamppost would be more useful. That’s why Jisung is at the bumper cars right now and you are stuck in the food stall, with your hair and clothes smelling like butter and old popcorn. 

"Hey, what's broken today?" she asks, leaning her arms on the counter and bending her body forward.

"The merry-go-round," you roll your eyes. "I bet it's Jisung’s fault for shutting it down on purpose at least three times per shift to avoid the little children."

“I thought they would send you to the haunted house to give Doyoung a break, though.” She hands you wet wipes so you can help her clean the counter.

“Nah, Doyoung has too much fun scaring away the horny teenangers trying to have sex and use drugs in there.”

"Aw, at least you're here with me today!" she smiles and you give her an unamused smile.  "I'll be nice, I know you hate the smell, so I’ll stay here and you can do the stocking tonight!"

Your problem is being a little naive around your friends. Sure, the popcorn smell was bad, but you didn't know that stocking the stalls would mean walking around, back and forth, carrying paper bags, corn bags, cans of soda and even organizing the pantry's shelves. You also didn’t know the stockroom is basically all the way across the park.

"Who knew we sold that much soda here." You murmur after your 5th trip to the pantry to restock soda.

"It's not that we sell a lot, it's just that this mini fridge is too small."

"Yeah, I noticed," you narrow your eyes at your friend who just laughs and talks to a new customer.

After a couple of hours, things start to get slower at the stall, so you have time to organize and store everything in their right place. You were definitely not used to this kind of job, just staying behind the scenes, not dealing with annoying adults and small children, but you seem to enjoy it. You pull out your phone and plug your earphones to listen to some music to pass time. The stockroom was a container that stayed behind the ferris wheel and the walls of the park didn’t allow people to see it.

The songs coming from your headphones distract you so much that you don't notice someone hiding behind the open door of the container. They opened from outside, so they blocked the view of who was behind it, but the lights from the ferris wheel allowed you to see a weirdly shaped shadow. You get closer and jump at the sight of the Sunny, the bear too close to your face.

"What the fuck?" you hear him say and you get so startled that you end up pushing it, almost making it fall on the ground.

"I should be the one saying that, dude," you answer, holding the stack of popcorn bags close to you. "What are you doing here?”

"Hiding," you can faintly hear the person's voice through the gigantic head of the costume.

"What?" 

"I'm hiding from the kids," the bear points to your left, the direction of the park. "There is a little kid today that is just obsessed with kicking my ankle."

You laugh at that and go back inside the stockroom to put the popcorn bags in their place. The bear stays outside and you wonder if this is your chance of finally seeing the mysterious not-so-new guy that has been the hot topic for a while.

"Hey," you lean on the door's frame, calling the bear's attention to you "How long have you been working here?"

"Since the 90's, or something like the story Taeyong told me." you laugh at that, hearing the bear chuckle as well. "I started some weeks ago. Why?"

"I was just wondering, because I’m seeing Sunny around too often," you shrug. "You’re the new guy Donghyuck, right?"

"You have a lot of questions, I see," you hear the teasing tone and just roll your eyes. “Flirty, much? Can’t resist the bear’s charm?”

"I hope you can't see shit with this big ass head in this terrible lighting, and end up falling."

"HEY! I was just kidding, don't be mean," he moves a little bit closer to you. 

“You are very good at being vague and changing the topic, mister Sunny, the bear.”

“What can I say, I like being mysterious,” with the silence between both of you, you can hear Taeyong cursing, which is very unusual of him. "Shit, I think I hear Taeyong." 

"Are you afraid of getting fired?"

"No, I'm afraid he's gonna make me work," he answers and you can't help but laugh, calling Taeyong's attention to you and the bear.

Ever since that shift, you started getting somewhat closer to Sunny, who you are sure is the Lee Donghyuck, even though he didn’t confirm it. You still haven't got the chance to see him without the costume and your interactions are always short, but there is something so familiar about him… 

It is also very fun to see Sunny interacting with the staff. Sometimes, he walks past the food stall and shakes Mina's hand, or hi-five Chenle when he passes by the spinning cups. But your favorite thing is when he stays next to the merry-go-around, right across the bumper cars, and throws flying kisses in your direction. It feels like Donghyuck is showing a little bit of his personality through Sunny and you have to admit that the guy is pretty nice to be around. And just like that, what was once a very creepy looking bear that you avoided at all costs, becomes a very creepy looking bear that you expect to see during your shifts. 

Today, Donghyuck decided to walk past the bumper cars and make a “call me” sign, right after sending you hearts and dancing with little kids. You try not to pay much attention to him, but it’s cute how he never forgets to interact with everybody around him and doesn’t leave until he makes his coworkers smile at least for a few seconds.

There is a particular child giving him a hard time, though. You see the little boy, probably ten, trying to take the bear's head at all costs. It tried climbing on Donghyuck, pulled his arms and even kicked his ankle once. There was usually someone to keep him company to avoid annoying kids like those. Where is Taeyong? 

"Hey," you see a girl getting out of the bumper cars all by herself. "You, pigtail." The girl seems tall and strong enough to win a fight, you think . "I'll give you five bucks if you push that boy over there."

"Make it ten and I'll pull his hair too," she opens her hands, motioning you to give her money.

Eventually, Taeyong ends up putting you in trash duty for three days after finding out that you "incited" a fight in a family friendly environment, even though you will deny it forever. You don't mind it too much, because it allows you to walk around the park and talk to everybody, and whenever Sunny is around, you can get a little bit closer while he sends you flying kisses. 

You don't know why, but having that huge weird-looking bear around has definitely made working here better.

"Well, I have some news," Taeyong says, calling everyone's attention. "We will be shutting down the haunted house, the merry-go-round and the spinning cup."

You shouldn’t be surprised, really. Although you were all expecting that summer break would be a game changer for the business, only a miracle could save the Funfair. To be fair, Taeyong had managed to improve a couple of things here and there: he repainted the front of the park, fixed the broken trash cans and even hired Renjun to make a nice mural at the front (which was really nice for marketing, because teenagers love to take pictures there). There was a general feeling that the business was changing and the summer was a breath of fresh air to everybody, but the summer break wasn’t as miraculous as your hopeful and young minds thought.

"Why the spinning cups? They were fine though," Chenle pouts and Taeyong just shakes his head. 

"I know you like it there, Lele, but a third of the cups aren't spinning properly and there are just so many vomits I can clean up in a day," he sighs and you feel the tense atmosphere in the air. 

“We should have shut down the haunted house a long time ago, in my opinion,” Yeri says, eating a lollipop. “I don’t know how Doyoung endured horny teenangers trying to have sex in there for so long.”

“It was nice staying inside to scare them away,” he shrugged.

“I bet the merry-go-round is Jisung’s fault though,” you say, provoking Jisung, who sticks his tongue out.

“Actually, the engine is heating up so, if anything, Jisung shutting it off every now and then actually helped.” Yuta says besides Taeyong, leaning on the lockers.

“Okay, let’s stop,” he says, visibly stressed. “This is a report, it’s not open for comments, everyone.”

“But, I have ques-”

“Shut up.”

"I know you are all wondering what's going to happen, but don't worry, we got this!” Taeyong starts speaking again, expecting us to be silent. “I have reorganized everybody’s positions: Jisung will take the bumper cars. Y/N and Chenle can decide who will take the ferris wheel and the roller coaster, I just can’t have Jisung on neither because I don’t trust him with the safety procedures. No offense, Jisung." 

“None taken, hyung,” he says, eating a lollipop.

“We don’t have experience in those rides, it was usually the more experienced staff who took care of it,” you raise your hand, worried.

“It’s okay, we’ll train you.”

“What about Doyoung hyung and Yuta hyung?” Chenle asks worriedly.

“Kids, don’t worry about anything else, alright?” Taeyong smiles reassuringly, ending the meeting and sending everybody home. 

A week after the sudden change of positions, everything was running smoothly. Doyoung and Yuta helped you and Chenle and for the first three days, teaching you how to control the rides and slowly letting you do it by yourselves. Despite everything looking almost the same as usual, you couldn’t shake the weird feeling out of your chest. Why did Taeyong suddenly shut down part of the park? It’s not as if there is much of it left anyways. He didn't say much about Yuta and Doyoung after they stopped training us. Did they get fired? You haven’t seen Sunny in a while. Did Taeyong fire Donghyuck too? Will you be next?

The prospect of getting fired makes you realize you haven't really worried about looking for a good internship in a while. You can’t really blame yourself for getting tired of it after the countless no’s. And, honestly, you were comfortable working for Taeyong. Sure, the pay wasn’t great, but the job isn’t demanding and your boss is not pressuring you to do anything more than come to work, press a few buttons, make sure no one gets into an accident, and go home. But your parents had already started to worry about your career, thinking your job at the theme park wasn’t as temporary as they thought it would be. You think it’s time for you to start worrying about it too, so you decide that as soon as the summer break is over, you must find somewhere else to work. 

Even though you know you need to find another job, a tiny little part of your heart hurts at the thought of leaving everyone behind. Would you be able to find such nice and welcoming people anywhere else? You realize your mind has wandered for too long when you see brown paws shaking in front of your face. 

"A penny for your thoughts?" you hear Donghyuck’s voice and smile.

"Sunny does not use human language to communicate. Taeyong will get angry at you," you cross your arms and lean on the railing behind you.

"It's not like there's a lot of people around anyways. The only kid is you" he stands next to you, just looking at the empty park. You slap his arm and he chuckles. "It's almost closing time, I don't know why I'm still wearing this."

"You get more breaks than we do, work for once, please," you joke and hear his sweet laugh muffled by the costume.

"Try walking around with this gigantic stinky head to see if you wouldn't need a break every 30 minutes too." You smile and make your way to the control cabin when you take a look at the time. 

“Time to turn off the lights and go home,” you say, pressing a few buttons on the panel.

“I didn’t know they changed your position,” you hear the boy speaking loudly so you can hear him from the cabin. "I found out the hard way.”

“And what is the hard way?” you scream back, starting to get out of the cabin and heading to the stairs. 

“I can’t really see from afar with this mask on, you know…” He sighs and you frown at him. “Yeri told me today I had spent the past week sending flying kisses to Jisung and not you.” 

You cackle with laughter from the sudden confession. Now it makes sense why you have spent the entire week without seeing a sign of him. You just thought Sunny was one of the things Taeyong was slowly getting rid of.

"You must be completely blind with this head on," you say, walking down the steps and being face to face with the bear. "Can you even see anything now with the lights off?"

"I can figure it out."

You extend your arm, offering it. "C'mon, I'll lead the way."

“The ferris wheel is very far from the breakroom, you know. That’s why I never come here,” he says, locking arms with you.

“Yeah, I know. On the weekend I always have to run if I don’t wanna miss the last bus.”

“Will I have to keep walking all the way down the ferris wheel to see you?”

“Yes,” you laugh wholeheartedly as he groans. You start walking, your arms linked together, and your curiosity perks up. "I have a question," you hear some humming and decide to keep going. "Why have I never seen you, Donghyuck?" 

"It’s because I’m not Donghyuck, I’m Sunny, silly!” you scoff and listen to his cheeky laugh.

"You are a little frustrating, you know that? I like it better when you can't speak." you huff, but keep walking towards the exit of the park. "Should I wait for you outside the bathroom to know who you are?"

"Don't be a creep,” he teases, and you slap his arm covered by the costume.

"I just think it’s unfair how you know who I am and I only know your name because Mina loves gossiping around,” you pout and feel a pet in your head.

"You really have no idea who I am?” he scoffs, sounding disappointed and you get confused. “Yeah, didn’t think you would remember me.”

“What are you talking about?” you frown and he just shrugs it off. “Am I supposed to know you?”

“I don’t know, are you?” 

“Stop it!” you say, slightly frustrated. 

“Okay, okay," you hear him chuckling. "I think our schedules are just incompatible.”

“I think you are just ugly and are embarrassed,” you tease and you hear him gasp. 

“Holy shit, you’re mean,” he pretends to be offended as you laugh. “But, wait, have you been thinking about me and what I look like?”

You can’t see his face, but the smugness you hear in his voice is enough to annoy you (and make you blush, because… yes, you have.)

“If you don’t stop with the nonsense I’ll leave you to walk alone in the dark,” you warn him, passing by the merry-go-round, reaching the middle of the park.

“I think you are the one who doesn’t want to be alone, honey,” he teases you again, and you motion to unlink your arms but he immediately apologizes. “No, no, sorry, sorry. I’ll shut up.”

You keep walking in a comfortable silence until you decide to speak again “Do you think we’re getting fired?”

“Why do you think that?”

“It’s just…” you sigh and Donghyuck starts to slow down your pace. “I mean, we know this business is not flourishing, but I can’t lie, I thought summer break would help. Now with Taeyong shutting down part of the park, summer break is almost over, I don’t know…”

“I think you shouldn’t worry too much about that,” he says sincerely and you scoff.

“Yeah, sure,” you keep silent for a little while, but Donghyuck feels you still have some things to get off your chest. “If I get fired before getting an internship I don’t know what I’ll do. I’ve already disappointed my parents so many times, and I’m so frustrated with myself. I.. Should I even keep trying to become a journalist? I think I should just ask Renjun to set me up with some rich dude. I don’t think he would, though, He was the one that found me this job when his parents are filthy rich and know basically every businessman in the city.”

“Renjun’s parents are not that rich, they just know a lot of people,” he adds, making you sigh again.

“I wish I knew a lot of people. Actually, I wish I knew the right people. I wouldn’t be here struggling to find an internship if I did.”

“Well, I think you shouldn’t worry too much about this.”

“Yeah, easier said than done. I have been trying to get an internship for, what, six months? I must be really bad because I didn’t even get a single interview.”

“I think you shouldn’t worry too much because what is supposed to happen, will happen.” He turns his head to you and tilts it to the right. “Maybe, you won’t find the perfect job you’re looking for right now, but there will be some other opportunities that might help you achieve your goal. Have you ever watched Monsters University?”

“Oh, you are not about to give me advice based on a Pixar movie,” you chuckle and Donghyuck gets defensive.

“Well, if you haven’t seen it yet, you should, because you’re being very Mike Wazowski right now,” you laugh at his comparison, promising him you would see the movie as soon as you got home. 

Even after the heartfelt conversation, you haven’t met Donghyuck as himself yet. You don’t know if your schedules really didn’t align or if he was actively avoiding you after you just spilled your worries out of nowhere. You don’t think it was a reasonable option considering he would still go out of his way to greet you at the ferris wheel, even if it meant cutting his break 5 minutes because it took him longer to get to the breakroom.

But you can’t help but feel weird when you hear Yeri and Mina casually talking about Donghyuck's opinion on the drama they are watching together. How did they even get that close? I mean, there was still the theory that he was Yeri’s boyfriend so you guess that made sense, but why wouldn’t he talk to you about the drama too? You could start watching it. Even Chenle seemed to socialize more with Donghyuck outside work than you, as he constantly mentions how they meet up sometime to go to a cybercafe to play games. Why are you the only one that has short interactions with him dressed up as the fucking creepy bear? Plus, there is the constant feeling of familiarity when you’re around him, but you can’t remember from where you might know each other. It was all driving you really, really mad. 

“Why are you frowning?” Doyoung asks as you’re sitting down in Taeyong's office, waiting for him.

“I’m not.”

“Yes, you are. Your face looks like a raisin.”

“Don’t call me raisin!” You raise your voice, getting angrier by the minute. “Do you know Donghyuck?” 

Doyoung seems startled by your sudden change of subject. “Of course I do, he works here.”

“Have you met him outside work? Like, in normal clothes, not in a bear costume.” 

“Obviously, he’s Jeno’s childhood friend,” he says matter-of-factly. Jeno? You know that name… “Why are you being so-”

“Wait, Jeno? Lee Jeno? As in Huang Renjun’s friend?”

“I don’t know any Huang Renjun, but, yeah, Lee Jeno, he’s like a brother-”

“HOLY SHIT,” you gasp and cover your mouth. “Shit, what the fuck, this is not real.”

“I know you’re off the clock, but it’s sorta rude to curse like that.”

“Doyoung, I know Donghyuck,” you ignore him, standing up and holding his arms with pleading eyes. “I know who Donghyuck is.

“Considering you have been working together for a month or so, that’s… great?” He says cautiously.

“Tell Taeyong I’ll talk to him tomorrow, I have to make a phone call,” You say, grabbing your backpack and bolting out of the room. 

As soon as Doyoung mentioned Jeno, everything clicked together.

You remembered the night at the party, when you met that cute guy and you just decided to kiss all night long, chat about the most random things while you get drunk on the expensive Japanese beer he said he bought, but you find out later that it was Jeno’s. You remember talking about your favorite seasons and him telling you you might be meant to be because you love summer and his gaming nickname meant fullsun. You should have recognized him as soon as you heard him tease you for the first time. Damn, he even mentioned Renjun’s parents as if he knew them personally and you didn’t bat an eye. How could you be so stupid? 

The first problem is not recognizing him. The second problem is how are you going to face him after taking so long to recognize him. Now you understand why he probably didn’t want you to see him without the costume, imagine how embarrassing it will be for you. 

Donghyuck never works two days in a row, so hopefully he won’t be here today, right? Wait, was he here yesterday? You don’t remember. If you don’t remember, he probably wasn’t, so, does that mean you will have to see him today? But maybe it’s just your bad memory. You needed advice about this situation, what would you do from now? You are sprinting to the breakroom, ready to put your things away and call your roommate.

When you get there, you immediately couch down to put your things on the locker, not bothering to look if the 606 locker is available. It hasn’t been ever since Donghyuck started here anyways. As you are having trouble shoving the backpack inside the small locker, you see someone standing behind you, silently opening one of the lockers too.

“Your phone’s on the floor.”

He points out to the bright screen of your phone that has fallen from your hands and is sitting right beside you. You take a glance at the lock screen, seeing Doyoung’s threatening message, and scoff.

[doyoung manager (dangerous)]: If you canceled this meeting to gossip with the other kids, I’ll make Taeyong put you in trash duty for a whole month. 

“Honestly, I’m here having a crisis and Doyoung thinks I’m gossiping,” you grumble while still trying to shove the backpack inside “What’s wrong with this locker tod-”

“Do you need help?” 

You feel like someone has knocked the air out of your lungs when you see Donghyuck crouched down beside you, wearing a cheeky smile. You fall on your butt and he immediately holds your arms to help you stand back to your original position. 

“Do you need help?” he repeats, his head motioning to the lockers and you simply nod. “It can be tricky to fit the whole bag inside these lockers.”

You just nod again, and stand up, letting him put it inside the tiny metal box and close it. “Password?” you look at him confused. “Are you not locking it?”

“No, we never lock it,” you shake your head and gasp. You move a little to the side to see the 606 locker taken, and look back at him angrily. “So it was you this whole time. You stole my locker!”

“I didn’t steal anything, it was there and I took it.”

“It was my perfect little locker, perfect height., perfect size,” you mourn half-jokingly.

“Why don’t you take the other ones?”

He stands up, meeting you face to face and you have to admit that it is a whole new thing to see him in good lighting without his bear costume. He is hotter than you remembered. His hair is also longer and wavy, different from when you first met. Damn you and your thing for boys with long hair.

“They're all taken and I can’t reach the one above yours,” you shrug, avoiding his eyes. “I didn’t know you had work today, Haechan.” You use the nickname he told you back at the party and that makes him smile.

“Oh, so now you remember me?” The smugness of his voice makes you shy and he notices it by the way you smile and starts to move away from him.

“Yeah, about that, I should apologize,” you say, sitting down in one of the chairs. “I should have connected the dots as soon as you told me about Renjun’s parents.”

“Oh,” the smug expression on his face dies as he lets out what seemed to be a disappointed sigh. 

“What?” you ask with wide eyes. “Am I being stupid again?”

“Oh, no,” he chuckles humorlessly as he leans on the lockers and puts his hands inside the pockets of the leather jacket. Be damned the leather jackets, you think. “I thought you were going to apologize for not calling.”

“What?” you let out an airy laugh.

“That night at the party, you said you would call me.”

“I don’t have your number though, how would I call you?” You remember the kissing, and his hands, and his hoarse voice whispering sweet nothings in your ears, but you definitely don’t remember having his number.

Donghyuck takes his hand out of his pocket and stretches it out in front of you, asking for your phone. You give it to him, open it on the keypad, and he gives a few taps before handing it back to you. He didn’t even need to finish typing the whole thing because it was there, on the top of the screen: “Lee Donghyuck” written in bold, with his number right beside it. 

You start to think you don’t remember as much from that night as you thought you did. You grunt and he just chuckles.

“At least now I know I wasn’t rejected, you just forgot” he jokes and sits in front of you, who was hiding your face in your hands. “I just don’t know if that’s better or not.”

“I don’t know what happened, I wasn’t that drunk to forget your name and your number.”

“You forgot my name too?” he says half-offended, now understanding why you didn’t recognize him before. “Damn, were you that cock drunk?”

“Now, don’t cross a line, Lee Donghyuck,” you immediately sit up straight, sending him a glare. “We didn’t go that far.”

“Sorry, bad joke,” He lowers his head, avoiding your eyes, “We could’ve.”

“We could have what?”

“If you had called,” he says, leaning his body on the table as he doesn't break eye contact. “We could’ve gone as far as you wanted.”

“WHAT’S UP!” Chenle says loudly as he opens the door abruptly. “What are you guys talking about?”

You use that as your cue to compose yourself from Donghyuck’s very suggestive words, and point at your own ears, giving Chenle a sign that he needs to lower the volume of his earpods.

“Oh, sorry, was I screaming?” he puts his stuff in his locker and sits between you and Donghyuck, painfully unaware of the tension in the air. “What were you guys- Oh, Y/N, you finally met him!”

Donghyuck snaps his head in Chenle’s direction and you start praying he will not say anything that could embarrass you. “You were so jealous that you were the only one that hadn't met him properly yet.”

“I wasn’t jealous,” you say distressed, stressing your distaste for his choice of words. “It was just weird how-”

“Oh, you so were,” both boys giggled and you rolled your eyes, standing up hastily, making the chair screech. “Please, you got all pouty the day I mentioned we play together.”

“Honey, if you wanted my attention you could’ve just asked.” Donghyuck is clearly having the time of his life with Chenle’s information.

You groan as you leave the breakroom and they keep teasing you. You definitely need better friends.

"Who would have thought that all you had to do to start dating was confessing, right?” Chenle says sarcastically while all of you are hanging out in the breakroom. 

“Wait, so you weren’t dating before?” Taeyong asks the couple sitting in front of him.

“No, they were just very much in love and just as oblivious,” you say, munching on the chocolate chip cookie Taeyong baked for the staff today.

"Well, it’s not like that, I was already planning on confessing…" Jisung scratches the back of his head and Chenle scoffs.

"Yeah, since freshman year… of HIGH SCHOOL," and you see Mina blushing when Jisung giggles and kisses her cheek, giving her a silent confirmation that Chenle's statement was nothing but the truth.

"Oh my god, she still blushes at everything he does!" Yeri exclaims and Chenle gags, muttering 'disgusting'.

Apparently, the past weekend has been full of surprises. Taeyong had a “pressing family matter” to attend to, so he decided to close the park and give everybody the Saturday and Sunday off. Probably not the smartest move for a failing business but who are you to complain? 

With two days off on the weekend, everybody had their own thing: Yeri went to the beach with her boyfriend (Mina is still Team Johnny, but Jisung and I think he is too tall compared to the silhouette photos Yeri showed us). Chenle went to a basketball game and adopted a dog, out of nowhere. He only shut up about the game to show us Daegal’s pictures which we very much appreciated. Jisung had invited Mina on a picnic date, but she accidentally heard him practicing his confession, which led them to, finally, become boyfriend and girlfriend. 

You, well, you had a date with Donghyuck. It was a friendly date, he just asked you out to get some coffee. And have lunch. And you eventually ended up going with him to his friend’s photography exhibition. In your defense, he was very pleasant to be around and it’s always good to be in contact with the arts.

You woke up that Saturday ready to do something fun, but your roommate and her boyfriend already had plans, just like everybody else from work. At first you decided to stay at home and just enjoy your day alone, but then you remembered how long it had been the last time you had a free weekend. Like, the whole weekend. After the whole ordeal with Donghyuck, you became good friends so you thought it wouldn’t hurt if you messaged him to see if he wanted to do something, right? As friends, of course!.

[you - 10:30 a.m]: hey how’s your day off?

[donghyuckie - 10:30 a.m]: damn honey

[donghyuckie  - 10:30 a.m]: not even a whole day 

[donghyuckie  - 10:30 a.m]: miss me already? 

[you - 10:30 a.m]: oh fuck off

[you - 10:31 a.m]: i just wanted to know if you had plans

[you - 10:31 a.m]: because i don’t and i’m bored

[donghyuckie  - 10:32 a.m]: i can be free

[donghyuckie  - 10:32 a.m]: why?

[you  - 10:33 a.m]: wanna get some coffee?

[you  - 10:33 a.m]: u pay

[donghyuckie  - 10:35 a.m]: 🙄

[donghyuckie  - 10:35 a.m]: meet me at 7dream in 10 min

[you  - 10:35 a.m]: i need 30 to get ready tho

[donghyuckie  - 10:35 a.m]: be there in 10 or you pay

You did your best to look as presentable as possible in record time, only for Donghyuck to arrive at the café twenty minutes later, saying he didn’t think you would take him seriously and would just take your time getting ready. He did apologize for being late and after eating breakfast, he waited as you went back home to look more presentable during lunch.

You see, spending time with Donghyuck was very confusing for you because he always made flirty comments and dirt jokes around you, but never really tried to initiate anything. He was pretty hard to read, in your personal opinion, but it was so fun to have him around and he was always so thoughtful and nice, that you never let useless thoughts fill your mind. And what if you made out once in a party months ago? You didn’t remember his name, you never called and you only met again by chance. You could totally be friends, all the “tension” that you once had, if you ever had it, was water under the bridge!

At least that’s what you thought.

"Are you gaslighting me into thinking I don't like you?" Donghyuck asked with a raised eyebrow. 

"I am simply stating the fact that you are most likely only having fun flirting with me," you explained, sipping your drink. "It's like a sport to some people."

It was late, really late. The workers at the diner were probably cursing both of you for getting there as it was about to close, so you just decided to keep drinking your milkshake so you both could leave as fast as possible.

"Well, not to me," he scoffed, leaning back on the couch feeling frustrated at your words.

“Earth to Y/N,” Mina shakes her hand in front of your face, taking you out of your thoughts.

“OH, sorry, what’s up?” 

“What did you do on the weekend?” Yeri asks, and you suddenly feel shy when everybody’s attention is on you. “Wait, are you blushing?”

“No way!” Jisung exclaims and you start to feel your face hotter by the second.

“And just know she was so distracted…” Mina smirks and your eyes widen, shaking your head.

“Y/N’S GOT A BOYFRIEND, Y/N’S GOT A BOYFRIEND,” Chenle sing-songs like a nine year-old and the other ones join him. 

“It’s not-” you try to speak but they just sing louder, making you sigh in frustration.

“Stop, children,” Taeyong calls their attention and you sigh in relief, thinking he is going to scold them. Your peace doesn’t last long, though. “We don’t know if it’s a boyfriend or a girlfriend!”

They all look at each other before Chenle starts singing again:

“Y/N WENT ON A DATE, Y/N WENT ON A DATE.”

“You are all absolutely insufferable,” you say, standing up and pretending you don’t hear how they keep teasing you about your “date”.

Donghyuck opens the break room door right when you are ready to leave. You stop yourself before your bodies collide and he simply smiles. “What’s going on?”

“Noth-”

“Y/N WENT ON A DATE, Y/N WHEN ON A DATE.” Chenle chants again and you turn your body to face him from across the room.

“Shut up, Chenle! Nobody said it’s true.” You don’t have time to lay a guilt trip on Chenle because Donghyuck beats you to it, giving the crowd exactly what they wanted.

“It’s true, though, you went on a date with me,” Donghyuck says seriously and everybody gasps. He walks towards the lockers and smiles when he sees that you took locker 606 before him today. “We spent the whole Saturday together.”

You see Jisung flabbergasted as he lets out “Oh my god, you’re dating Yeri’s boyfriend?”

“Shut up, Jisung,” Mina elbows him at the same time that Yeri, Taeyong and Donghyuck scream a “What???”

“It was a friendly date, I’M NOT DATING ANYBODY!” You scream the last part, storming off the break room and pretending you don’t hear Donghyuck quietly say ‘yet”.

“So you’re telling me you have a boyfriend and his name is Mark?” Mina confirms the information, still not sounding quite sure of it yet.

“Don’t mind her, she was team Johnny.” Chenle tells Yeri, making her look more confused.

“Team who?” Taeyong just stands there, trying to understand the whole situation. “I have so many questions…”

“And you,” Jisung says, turning to Donghyuck. “Met Y/N months ago at Yeri's boyfriend party, fell in love, but she forgot about you, so you had to get this job as Sunny, the bear to make her fall for you again and remember you?” He finishes, leaving Donghyuck absolutely stunned at the boy’s lack of ability to hold a single information in his brain.

“This is not what I said at all, you literally made up 90% of this story.”

After you stormed out, you went outside some of the opening tasks for today and you were hoping someone would come to help you out soon, but twenty minutes later, only Doyoung appeared, asking where the others were. After not having any answer from you, he calls Taeyong who just says ‘wait 10 more minutes and we’ll have so much to talk about’. He decides to go to the breakroom and see for himself what on earth is going on in the park today, only to find the boss, one of the managers and all the other workers sitting around the table, gossiping.

“She does seem a little silly, I have to admit,” Yuta says nonchalantly.

“She’s worse than Mina and Jisung together, honestly,” Chenle shakes his head, “Dumb as a door.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Doyoung says in a serious tone, startling everybody.

“I told you to wait 10 minutes, Hyuck is about to finish his story,” Taeyong shakes his head, shooing Doyoung away. “Someone needs to be in charge. Go, go, I’ll tell you later.”

“YOU are the one in charge.” Doyoung scoffs, but goes anyway, someone should be helping you. 

Donghyuck retells the whole story of how you met and how disappointed he was when you didn’t call. He told everyone about how he got this job because his friend’s girlfriend, who is Yeri, knew he needed a part-time job. He got to the Funfair having no idea what he was going to do, much less knowing that you worked here too. He told them how happy he got the first time he saw you helping Mina at the food stalls, and how he recognized you by your voice, because he couldn’t really see much when he was wearing the costume. 

He told them all about how he tried getting your attention as Sunny when you didn’t seem to recognize him, but it backfired because you couldn’t remember him and he was starting to get sad. He told them that he actively avoided you when he wasn’t wearing his costume to avoid the embarrassment of you not knowing who he was. Then, he said how you accidentally found out who he was, how he got closer to you each day and how it all backfired when he confessed last Saturday and you rejected him. 

"Are you gaslighting me into thinking I don't like you?" Donghyuck asked with a raised eyebrow. 

"I am simply stating the fact that you are most likely only having fun flirting with me," you explained, sipping your drink. "It's like a sport to some people."

"Well, not to me," he scoffed, leaning back on the couch feeling frustrated at your words.

"Either way, it's probably not real feelings. At least not towards me." you said, not looking in his eyes.

"You are unbelievably stubborn, blind and borderline rude," he spitted out, feeling the anger building up. How dare you have a say on what he feels about you? 

"See? Why would you like someone with a nasty personality like that?" your arms moved around excitingly, as if you were proving your point. "You like the chase, not me!" 

And then, Donghyuck confessed how he was ready to look you in the eyes and fight back, but the words died on his throat when he saw the huge smile on your face. He paid attention to the way your palms were open in front of you, arms stretched towards him, the way that wrinkles were all around your eyes from how much you were smiling and how excited you looked. He admitted that it dawned upon him that he likes you to the extent that he could let you keep thinking, for a moment, that he's not absolutely in falling for you if it meant that you would keep smiling like that. 

Donghyuck understands that he can't always win. So, he gave you that one, letting you think you were right. He let you go back to your milkshake and your pancakes tasting of syrup and the satisfaction of being on the winning end of an argument. 

He let you win that battle so he could win the war. Eventually.

“How will you win her over, then?” Mina looks at him curiously.

“I don’t have a plan,” Donghyuck sees the disapproving look on their faces and quickly adds. “Yet.” They all look at him suspiciously, and he can see Taeyong’s amused face. “Can’t you guys help me? You’re all her friends.”

"Oh, no," Chenle clicks his tongue while excessively shaking his index finger "No, no."

"We're here to judge not to meddle," Jisung says and all of them start moving around, getting ready to go to work.

"Yeah, take Jisung and Mina as an example, they got together by themselves. We never helped, only judged.” Yeri complements, making Jisung agree with a sad ‘yeah’.

"That's so messed up," Donghyuck shakes his head in disbelief. "You are all insane."

"Well, I can call her a coward if it helps you," Chenle. "It's what I did to Mina all these years."

"That's mean, Chenle,” Taeyong says disapprovingly. 

"Frankly, it worked eventually," Mina replies as she stands up from the seat and stretches. 

She kisses Jisung cheek and heads out, and, slowly, everybody goes to their normal, uneventful job at Sunny’s Funfair Park and Recreation.

After the eventful Saturday when Donghyuck confessed, you never touched the “feelings” subject anymore. He is still Lee Donghyuck, your friend and coworker whom, sometimes, you go out with. Nothing more, nothing less. And on days like today, when it has been raining non stop since 10 a.m, it was amazing having an energetic friend like him. 

You don’t know how he did it, really. The rain caught you all by surprise, so Donghyuck, who works outside, had to stay in the breakroom until the rain stopped, and that only happened around 9 p.m. There were no customers at all, the park was empty and even though you were supposed to stay open until midnight today, Taeyong decided to let you all go home early. 

Chenle was complaining how the last hangout had been the one at Jisung’s house before Mina and him were even dating, and just like that, all of you end up in Donghyuck’s apartment drinking hot chocolate and playing card games.

It’s time for all of you to show your cards and you hear Chenle groan as Donghyuck smirks and gets all the tokens from the table.

“It’s rigged, he got a full house twice and then royal flush right after,” Chenle scoffs and Donghyuck just laughs.

“Damn, he really won three times in a row?” Mina says and you and Jisung just exchange confused looks, having no idea what had happened.

“Poker is a very confusing game,” you think out loud and Donghyuck smiles sweetly at you.

“Lucky at cards, unlucky in love,” he mumbles, shuffling the cards. “Do you wanna play again or will you keep crying?”

You look at the empty popcorn bowls and mugs beside you and look at Jisung who is just as confused as you. Tired of playing a game you can barely understand, you just shake your head. “You can keep playing, I’ll wash the dishes.”

Before you can even get all of the mugs around you, Donghyuck is standing up, holding the popcorn bowls and a few mugs. You don’t have time to tell him to keep playing because he just goes straight to the kitchen, making you follow him. When you get there, he already has the gloves and the sponge on his hand. 

“I thought I said I’d do it,” you angrily put your hands on your hips, scolding him with your eyes.

“I’m sorry it’s against the house rules to have a beautiful lady washing the dishes,” he bumps his hips with yours, making you scoff as you try to hide your smile.

“Where’s Jeno, by the way?” you say, leaning your back on the kitchen sink, right next to him. “You invited us over before telling him, didn’t you?”

“Nah, it’s cool.” He shrugs. “He told me he wasn't going to spend the night here today anyways.” 

“Girlfriend?” You raise an eyebrow, leaning a little to his side, almost brushing your shoulders together.

“Why are you so curious? Do I have to compete with Jeno?” He asks playfully and you just push his shoulder.

“I was just asking.” You mumble, moving back to your original position. “By the way, Doyoung told me the other day that Jeno is like his brother? And Yeri gave you this job? Your relationships are so confusing.”

He laughs looking at you fondly. “What do you wanna know? Ask away.”

“Hm, how do you know Doyoung? And Yeri? And Jeno?” 

“Do you want to know my family tree too?” He jokes and you show him your tongue. “Jeno, Mark and I are childhood friends, Doyoung hyung’s family is really close to Jeno’s, so we all just know each other from birthday parties and stuff. We are not that close though.”

“Oh.” You mumble nodding. “Yeri told us she got you the job though?”

“Yeah, she's been dating Mark for like a year?” He says, shrugging. “Either way, that was a coincidence, I didn’t know she knew Doyoung hyung. Actually, I thought he was working at his father’s law firm? I don’t know what happened, his family is weird.”

“Damn, I was here waiting for the tea and you don’t know anything!” You huff, faking annoyance. “You’re really bad at gossiping.” You notice he is starting to rinse the dishes in the sink, so you grab the towel that’s on the counter. 

“And you’re really bad at poker.” He fights back, giving you some mugs to dry and put away. “Why did you say you liked playing cards if you’re bad at it?”

“It’s because I don’t know how to play poker,” you answer, lining up the dry mugs on the counter. “I like to play rummy, not poker.”

“You should have said so.” He gently places the two big popcorn bowls and closes the faucet. “We could have played that instead.”

“It’s okay, I just wanted to hang out with you.” You confess, hoping he understands you weren’t using the plural form of the pronoun. “I didn’t know you were that good at poker, though, I thought you only played League of Legends or whatever.”

“I’m not good, it was rigged,” He leans to whisper in your ears and you feel your pulse hammering on your neck. He chuckles at your startled expression, thinking you’re reacting to his confession, not to his proximity. “I’m joking, don’t be that shocked. Jeno and I just play a lot.”

“What about your other friend?” you ask, not really minding his proximity.

“Mark?” He scoffs when you nod. “He can’t bluff to save his life.”

“You smell nice,” you blurt out and his eyes go wide at your sudden confession. “I- I meant your house.” You use this moment as an opportunity to slide away from him. “Your house smells nice, do you use scented candles?” He chuckles, ready to tease you, but lets it slide. 

In the living room, Jisung is sleeping like a rock on Mina’s lap, who is starting to doze off as well. Chenle pokes his friends' arms, saying he has to go because his mom is already worried about his whereabouts. Slowly, they all start to collect their belongings and when you and Donghyuck are back from the kitchen, they are all ready to go. The two of you are taken aback as they bid their goodbyes and thank Donghyuck for being the host for the night.

You decide to stay a little longer to help the owner of the apartment to put everything back in place, when he suddenly asks you to stay the night.

“It’s late, I’ll worry if you go back now,” he pouts. “Don’t roll your eyes at me, I’m serious.”

“I go home late everyday, it’s fine.”

“You have 2 choices,” he raises his index and middle finger in front of you. “Either I take you home or you stay the night.”

“Why didn’t you suggest taking the others home too?” you cross your arms in front of him, clearly challenging Donghyuck. Oh, he is so ready for another battle, but this time he won’t bend.

“Because Jeno has the car.”

“Then how are you taking me home?” you tilt your head playfully. 

“I’ll get an uber,” he shrugs, making you laugh. 

“I was already gonna do that, silly,” you fish your phone out of your pocket to open the app, but Donghycuk steals the phone from your hands. “Donghyuck!”

“I’ll get an uber,” he says, locking your phone and putting it in the front pocket of his sweatpants. “And go with you to drop you off.”

You laugh, clearly amused at his absurd suggestion. “There is no way I’ll let you do that.”

“There is no way I’ll let you get inside a stranger's cars by yourself at 1 a.m.” The firm tone of his voice was enough to let you know he was not dropping this argument like he did last time.

“And how will you get back to your apartment?” 

“It doesn’t matter, it’s none of your-” you get too close to him and he feels the words dying in his throat at the thought of you hugging him. Donghyuck quickly reacts, though, when he feels you putting your hands inside the left pocket of his sweatpants, making him hold your arms to keep you in place. “HEY. Bad girl.”

“Don’t say that, I’m not a dog.” You grunt, trying to break free from his hold. “Give me my phone, back Hyuck.” 

Your whines don’t affect him too much, as he keeps his strong hold on you. You start to take a few steps around the living room, shaking your arms as you try to make him let go. Picturing this scene in your head, you start laughing at how ridiculous the whole thing must look. 

“Good girls don’t fight with daddy!” He forces a mocking sexy voice, making you laugh even harder. “Damn, I love you laugh.”

You are still giggling when you turn to look at his face. Donghyuck is already staring at you with utmost adoration and slightly curved lips. Your heart skips a few beats when your eyes lock and he bites his lips to hold his ever growing smile. 

“I really love the sound of your laugh.”

His face is closer to yours than you remember, and it’s when he loosens the hold on your arms, only to slide his hands to hold yours, that you realize you have been holding your breath.

“If you don’t want me to go with you, then, stay.” He whispers, using your interlocked hands to pull you closer to him. “I just want to make sure you’re safe.”

“You suggested riding the uber with me,” you smile shyly, slightly moving your head to the side, giving him the space he wanted to pull you closer and nuzzle up against your neck. “Aren’t you being overprotective?”

“Is it a crime, now?” you get goosebumps when you feel him mumbling against your neck.

“It’s toxic,” you joke, taking your hands out of his grasp and raising your arms to place them around his neck. “You smell really good,” you whisper again and feel him taking a deep breath, before wrapping his arms around your waist.

“Stay, please.”

Donghyuck may have not convinced you the first time he confessed because he had been too straightforward, too casual about it. He should have known better than that. Casual flirting and occasional dates weren’t enough to win you over. That’s why he lost the first battle. But when he wakes up in the middle of the night to turn his AC on because even though you’re both sweating, you don’t let him get out of your arms, he knows he’s one step closer to winning the war. 

The first thing you do when you open your eyes the following morning is wonder what time it is. You palm the side of the bed to look for your phone, only to feel a human arm. You open your eyes, recognizing Donghyuck’s room. He has one of his arms under your neck, the other one is lazily around your waist and his head nuzzled against your nape. You smile, dreading the moment he wakes up and starts teasing you for staying the night and sleeping on his bed holding him.

You consider calling out today, because you are almost sure that by the time you get there, everybody will be aware that you and Donghyuck cuddled all night long.

Carefully, you get out of bed and go straight to the kitchen to get a cup of water. You shouldn’t feel as comfortable at somebody else’s house as you are right now. When you were about to head back to Donghyuck’s room, Jeno entered the kitchen, with damp hair and wearing only gym shorts. The boy stops on his tracks and you two stare at each other, frozen.

“Hello?” The boy greets you with a frown and closed fists, and you give him an apologetic smile.

“Hey. Hi. Good morning.” You answer avoiding eye contact, completely mortified of the encounter. “I-I just- Hyuck told me-”

“Oh, you're with Hyuck?” he acknowledges, smiling at you. “I thought somebody had broken in.”

“Yeah, sorry. I thought he had let you know I was staying the night.” You apologize again, and suddenly feel self-aware of your outfit consisting of Donghyuck clothes. “I’ll go back-”

You hear a door opening and steps heading towards the kitchen, and, suddenly, Donghyuck appears. Swollen face, bed hair and shirtless… you feel like melting right there. 

“It’s not even 11 yet, why did you-” He looks at Jeno with his squint eyes and then back at you, only to gasp and slap his friend’s chest. “JENO? BE DECENT, GO PUT ON A SHIRT.”

“OUCH, THAT HURTS, ASSHAT!” The boy soothes the place where he was slapped, looking angrily at his friend. “You’re shirtless too!”

“I JUST WOKE UP!” He slaps his friend again, now getting in front of him to block your view. “HONEY, DON’T LOOK!”

“AND I WAS JOGGING?” Jenos slaps Donghyuck Back and you just laugh at how childish they look. “Oh, wait, honey?” He moves to the side to look at you again, but Donghyuck stays in his way. “Dude?”

“Stop moving around, she doesn’t need to see how ripped you are.” Donghyuck bites back and you chuckle. 

Jeno shoves Donghyuck to the side and waves at you. “Sorry, he’s very impolite and didn’t think about introducing us. I’m Jeno.” 

“SHIRT, JENO. SHIRT.” Donghyuck shouts, as he pushes his friend towards the hallway.

You stay there in the kitchen, holding your laugh, because of course you couldn’t have a nice and calm morning with Lee Donghyuck. 

“Hey. Hi. How are you?” Donghyuck comes back a few seconds later, panting. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah.” You nod, biting your lips to hold your laugh while Donghyuck just walks towards you very, very flustered. “Why are you shirtless? I clearly remember you going to sleep fully clothed.”

“Well, if only someone wasn’t holding me so damn tight the whole night…” He grabs you by the waist, making you yelp in surprise. “When did you wake up?” 

“Not long ago.” You answer as he nuzzles your neck and hums.

“What about Jeno?” He asks again, pressing you closer to him, making you involuntarily put your hands on his shoulder to keep your balance. “Did you stare at his ripped abs and toned arms for a long time or did he just get here?”

“You’re so annoying.” You cackle at his question, which only makes him hug you tighter. “Why? Are you jealous?” He tightens his hold on you even more, making you let out chuckles and whines “OUCH, you’re hurting me.”

“I’m holding you.” He answers, walking with you further down the kitchen. “I know the competition is strong, but, come on, I’m hot too, right?” He creates some space between you, just enough to look at you, pouting.

“Donghyuck,” you start and he hums, telling you to keep going. “Do you think you could set me up with Jeno?” You say mischievously, making him squint his eyes angrily at you. 

He pokes his cheek with his tongue and rolls his eyes at you. Before you can see it coming, he presses you against the kitchen counter and starts tickling your sides, making you squirm and beg him to stop, but having fun nonetheless. 

You can’t say you didn’t see it coming. After that night in Donghyuck’s house, it was getting harder and harder to ignore the butterflies in your stomach each time he did something for you. 

You really try to restrain yourself as much as possible, but there is so much a human being can resist when Lee Donghyuck comes out of nowhere and slides his hands from your nape down to your lower back and kisses your cheeks right after. Or when you’re sitting next to each other in the break room and he plays with your fingers under the table. Or when you’re eating out and he makes sure to keep your hair out of the way for you. Or when he takes Jeno’s car and picks you up late at night from your shifts, even when it’s his day off. Or when-

“Hey, pay attention,” Mina nudges you as Taeyong enters the room, followed by Doyoung, Yuta and a panting Donghyuck, who’s late.

“Sorry, I’m late, I had-”

“Just sit down, Hyuck.” You have never heard such a serious grave tone coming out of Taeyong's mouth before. “Please.”

You all look at each other worried about what is about to happen. When the words leave Taeyong’s mouth, you shouldn’t be as surprised as you all are, though. It’s still shocking, though. From the moment you started, you knew this job wouldn’t last. 

“You’re closing forever?” Jisung asks cautiously, making Yuta look at him fondly.

“Yeah, buddy. My parents decided to sell it.” Taeyong smiles apologetically at the three best friends. Chenle is frozen, staring at the managers with his mouth agape. “I know how Sunny’s Funfair is special for the three of you, I’m sorry, Lele, Ji, and Min. I wish I had something else to say, but I can only apologize for this news.”

“Don’t make a speech or else Jisung’s gonna cry.” Chenle tries to joke to lighten up the mood, but his friend only reacts by giving him a light tap on the shoulder.

“In the meantime, we will keep working.” Doyoung moves around the break room and hands us a sheet of paper. “Opening tasks, everybody! Let’s do our best during the time that’s left.”

You take a glance at Donghyuck who looks at you worriedly. You offer him a sad smile and shrug, which he mimics, making you smile wider. 

“Hey, you two, did you hear Doyoung?” Yuta points at you and Donghyuck. “Stop flirting, go back to work!” 

The gloomy vibes don’t go away for at least four days, when Taeyong appears with a cake and a box full of old pictures. The park was closed, but he asked us to stay, telling us it would be worth it and promising to give us a ride home. 

We are all seated around the table, eating cake, with taeyong in the middle seat showing us old pictures of the park. There were pictures of families, of former employees, and even of Taeyong and his family. You could see from the first day at the job how much he liked being Sunny’s Funfair Parks and Recreation. It was more than an old park that he had to manage because it’s what his parents told him to do. He actually believed that this small, beaten up amusement park could serve as a way of bringing happiness to the community and help families build cheerful memories together. But there is only so much one can do. You could see that this moment of bringing together the staff and encouraging us to share our best memories of the park is a way of giving Taeyong some comfort. 

You sigh, looking sadly at your boss as he rummages through the box of pictures and feel Donghyuck’s arm resting on your shoulder, slightly bringing you closer to his side.

“A penny for your thoughts?” He whispers in your ear and you just turn your head to look at him. Oh, you owed Sunny’s Funfair so much.

“Just thinking.” You lower your head to look at the piece of cake in front of you. “Taeyong did a great job.”

“Hey, you two lovebirds, stop flirting,” Taeyong says, quickly standing up. 

“When did I become the butt end of your teasing and not Jisung and Mina?” You ask no one in particular, but Chenle replies.

“Ever since you and Donghyuck started dating.”

“We are not-”

“I have THE ultimate picture here in my hands.” Taeyong interrupts you, as he holds one picture close to his chest, with the back facing us. There is something written behind it and you squint to try to read it, but he is too far from you. “This one here is our most prized possession as a team. We have to cherish this picture.”

“Show us this damn picture.” Chenle’s impatient demeanor falters when Taeyong turns the picture and we see three little children holding hands at the entrance of the park. “What the-”

“How did you get that picture?” Mina tries to take it from Taeyong, but fails.

“Is that us?” Jisung asks dumbfounded.

“There’s a note too.” Taeyong flips the picture and reads the note. “ ‘Today is the day where our Chenle is celebrating his sixth birthday. Thank you so much for the fun memories, Sunny!’ and it’s signed by Mrs. Zhong.” 

After their initial shock, you start analyzing the picture, looking at the details: the birthday hat on Chenle’s chubby face, Jisung’s missing teeth and Mina’s ice lolly that was melting in her hands as they were taking the pictures. Then, you see dozens of other pictures, all sent by Chenle’s mom with a note, thanking the staff for the happy memories they created with the children. Taeyong says that his mom was one of the people who used to send messages and pictures to the administration, back when the park was a little more lively. 

When you get home, almost ready to go to bed, you reflect on how that place has meant so much for some people, how it is full of memories and how it holds stories from the entire neighborhood. You think about how that was supposed to be only a job, and yet, it is the place that has brought amazing people to your life. You know Funfair’s closing is inevitable, but you finally understood what Taeyong was trying to do that night: closure. He doesn’t want to shut it down and just let everyone move on with their lives as if it didn’t matter, because, for many people, like Chenle, Jisung and Mina, it mattered. 

Sunny’s Funfair Parks and Recreation holds stories and you might not be able to save it, but you are ready to tell them.

“Shouldn’t you be looking for another job?” Donghyuck asks as he enters the parking lot. “I mean, I think it’s a nice idea, I really do. But…”

“I am looking, I just haven’t found anything yet.” You say, taking the parking ticket from his fingers and putting it inside your bag.

“I know you’re lying because you've been saying this for three weeks.” He parks the car and turns off the engine, but doesn’t open the doors. “Have you at least applied to anything?”

“Look,” you sigh and hold his face in your hands. “You don’t need to worry about me, I’ll figure it out.”

He sighs as he sees you unbuckling your belt and unlocking the door. “I hope you know you can’t be my trophy wife yet, I don’t have enough money to pay both of our bills.”

“To be your trophy wife, first and foremost, I need to be married to you.” You turn around to see him leaning on the car with the door open. “We’re not even dating yet.” 

“Because you rejected me when I asked you out.” He closes the car’s door and reaches for your hand.

“Ask me again, then.” You say raising an eyebrow at him.

“Will the answer be different?

“I don’t know. Ask me out again.” you shrug and interrupt him when you see Donghyuck opening his mouth. “Properly.”

“Damn.” He sighs and you chuckle at him. “Why me? The world is female, you can ask too, you know?”

You enter the building, telling Donghyuck to wait while you talk to the receptionist. A few minutes later, a very stressed Renjun appears to talk to you. From afar, Donghyuck can see that the boy seemed frustrated at whatever you were arguing, glaring at you and sighing a lot. He knows Renjun was forced by his parents to drop out of art school and start business so he could work in his family company, so the least he needed right now was a very stubborn you adding to his stress. 

At some point, he sees Renjun grabbing his phone from the inside pocket of his blazer and making a phone call. Donghyuck starts to think that it was better if you went to a more private place, but you seemed adamant about cornering Renjun in public. Not even two minutes later, he finishes the phone call and tells you something that makes you hug him and Donghyuck sees how his angry demeanor falters. You bid him goodbye and wave at Donghyuck so you can both go.

“What was that?” He asks as you hand him the parking ticket.

“I just needed one last favor from him.” You simply say, reaching for his hands.

“And that is…”

“You’ll see.”

It’s when you intertwine your fingers with Donghyuck and beams at him, that he knows he’s ready to confess again. 

You did promise that he would see. Well, not only Donghyuck but the whole student body as well. A week after that weird interaction with Renjun, there is an article about you in the school’s official website, first page. It was also mentioned on the school’s newsletter and official social media pages. It was not only an article about you, but about Chenle, Jisung, Mina, Taeyong… All of you at the Funfair. 

Donghyuck had to admit that when you told him your idea at first, he didn’t think you would go through with that. You wanted to tell the others the stories that the Funfair had seen throughout the years throughout an article and later, compile them in a book of memories, with pictures, messages, notes, stories about the place. He really didn’t think you would go through with that considering how much time and planning something like that takes, but, somehow, you did it.

It’s your last day. You spent the past month talking to people, curating pictures, writing, organizing schedules… you were tired, but it was all worth it. You wanted to let this old beaten up park tell the stories it held, even if it was gone. That’s why now, when the lights are already off and Taeyong is only waiting for you to come outside and lock the side door for one last time, you hand him a book with a small bow on top. You see, a little far from where you stand, your friends looking at each other confused, Yeri particularly impatient to go home.

“I want you to have this.” Taeyong looks at you confused. “It was a lot of work to get this done, especially because I’m not very artsy, but I think I owe you this one.”

He opens the book only to find, in a very neat handwriting, the words “Sunny’s memories” written. He looks between you and the book, slightly confused about what it is about, but when he flips the next page, he smiles. He finds a picture of him, Doyoung and Yuta taken many years ago. There were a few arrows connecting their faces to the words “boss”, “manager #1”, “manager #2”.

On the side, there was a small text about each one of them, how they ended up working there, what were their thoughts about the job and their favorite memory there. Every piece of information you gathered in these months working at the park was there, even some of the stories your boss has told you. Taeyong keeps flipping the pages, only to find more pictures of each one of you working there, your names, your thoughts, your memories, all written as if it was from Sunny’s perspective. He looks at you with watery eyes and pulls you to a hug.

“What it’s all this?” He sniffs.

“That day, when you showed us the pictures, I realized places hold stories and this one had many to tell.” You smile and he pats your head. “I know you didn’t want to close the park and let everybody move on as if it never mattered to anyone because it did. To some of us, at least. You did a great job, boss.”

“Oh, kid.” He sniffs and once again hugs you. “It’s perfect!” Taeyong said happily, taking you and his present towards the others. “Everybody, you need to see this!”

Now, after Sunny closed down, you are back to square one.

It’s a Friday night and you were invited to a party, but you managed to convince Donghyuck to stay at his apartment with you. You certainly needed a distraction after another week of failed attempts at getting a job and you know Donghyuck is much more entertaining than any party.

Your relationship status is still pretty much complicated. Even though it was already clear that you both liked each other, Donghyuck still hasn’t asked you the question, waiting for the right moment. It was really hard for him not to cross the friendship line, though, especially when, more often than not, he has make out sessions with you on his couch.

The worst for Donghyuck is how your friends have been keeping their promise of not meddling, but making sure of judging the both of you each time you deny you’re dating while Donghyuck’s hands are intertwined with yours. Tonight, with Jeno away at a party, you have his apartment all to yourselves and Donghyuck decides to make the most out of it. He needs to confess today. 

“Hi.” You smile, showing him the take out bag you’re carrying when he opens the door. Your smile falters when you see him frown. “Am I too early? I can-”

“I thought I was supposed to pick you up.” He pouts, moving to the side to let you go inside. “And you shouldn’t have brought take out, I told you I could cook for us.”

“Oh my god, I barely got here and you’re complaining already?” You put the take out on the kitchen counter and go wash your hands. 

“It’s just that you’re ruining my plans.” Donghyuck says while peeking inside the bag. “Is this…”

“Yeah, your favorite, kimchi-jjigae.” You turn around to look at him when you hear his groan. “What, now?”

“I had the whole thing planned, you just-” 

“Well, maybe you should have told me then!” You scoff. “I just wanted to make something nice for you because I know your new job at the office is killing you, but I’m sorry I guess?”

You start to feel frustrated at his reaction. You were expecting tight hugs, warm smiles and maybe some cuddles, but all Donghyuck has done in the past few minutes is complain and blame you for ruining something you didn’t even know that existed. He senses your frustration and sadness and just quietly holds your hand.

“I’m sorry.” He mumbles, not really looking at you. “It’s just that I really wanted to do something nice for you too.”

“You always do nice things for me. You’re too nice to me.” You say, turning around to grab bowls to pour the food in. “I got this one.”

Despite Donghyuck’s plan of picking you up, bringing you to his apartment, cooking your favorite food and confessing the words that he has been dying to say failed, he still needs to do it tonight. Well, after months of pining, it was now or never. If you reject him again, he needs to be ready to move on. 

“How’s the job?” You ask before taking a bite of your food.

“Hell.” He answers, groaning. “I don’t know why I thought it would be a good idea to study business. I hate that job.”

“Do you really hate the job or do you just hate the boss?” You raise an eyebrow, knowing fully well that Donghyuck doesn’t really hate what he does, he just can’t stand the presumptuous guys in his office, treating him like garbage just because he’s an intern.

“What about you?” He frowns when he sees you pouting at your food. “I don’t like this face.”

“Yeah, me neither.” You laugh humorlessly. 

“I told you, give me five years and you can be my trophy wife.” He jokes, knowing how much you hate the idea.

“Wow, five? That much?”

“I can compromise and make it three if you don’t want kids in the future.” You laugh at his words and try to kick his leg from under the table, but he traps you.

You keep moving between topics because it was just that easy to talk to him. You mentioned how you had seen Mina and Jisung at the campus the other day and Donghyuck points out how he thinks they’re going to get married before graduation. You disagree, Jisung is still a kid. Then, he mentions how he had often seen Chenle around his office, only to find out later that the company he worked at was his grandfather’s. After the Funfair closed, he started working at the family’s company, but Donghyuck says that they are in different departments. You asked about his family that you haven’t met yet, but always heard stories about, and he tells you everything about his younger brother’s record card and his middle sister’s new boyfriend. He doesn’t forget to mention Jeno’s friends with benefits situation, and that he only found out after finding lingerie lost in the washing machine. 

After dinner, Donghyuck suggests teaching you poker for the tenth time, which makes you slightly annoyed because, at this point, you just hate the game. You are both sitting on the floor and he is leaning his back on the couch while you are seated between his legs. He says the proximity is for “pedagogical purposes”.  

“No, honey,” He stops your movement by putting his arm around your body and pulling you closer to him. “Look at my cards! I’m showing you my cards!”

“I don’t know what your cards mean!” You groan as you throw your cards on the pile in front of you and lean your head on his shoulder. “I wanna play rummy.”

“It's a children's game.”

“Well, it’s the only one I know how to play!” you exclaim, easily convincing him with a kiss on his cheek. 

You realize playing games is not working very well because you shouldn’t see each other's cards, but that’s a very hard feature to achieve when you don’t want to move away from each other. Eventually, you also get tired of Donghyuck constantly cheating and just suggest that you watch a movie instead.

“Should we watch Monsters University?” you ask, leaning your head on his shoulder and he nods.

“Let’s go, Mike Wazowski!” 

You move to the couch, complaining about being too uncomfortable for your butt, and at the end of the movie, you are both sprawled on his couch, with a blanket over you and your legs tangled. You see his eyes closed and smile at how tired he must be, but still chose to spend the night with you. He is close enough for you to nuzzle against his neck, making him stir at the sudden contact. You don’t smell his cologne, but the faint smell of your favorite lavender soap is there, making you smile against his neck. 

“A penny for your thoughts?” He asks, running his hands from your nape down your spine. 

“You owe me so many pennies.” You joke and he smiles. “I’m just thinking that I’m happy.”

Things didn’t happen the way you wanted from the beginning. You still feel like your life is a mess and sometimes you really think it will be the end soon. But you don't need to think that you’re alone anymore. Not when you have your friends. Not when you have him. 

“I’m happy too.” He hums and a comfortable silence rests between you, the only sound is the music from the movie credits on the TV. 

You think you are about to drift off to sleep, when Donghyuck stops his hands on the middle of your back and, because you're still nuzzled around his neck, you feel his pulse quickening. You hear him gulp a feel times before he has the courage to speak.

“There’s something that would make me happier.” He cautiously changes your positions, so he can face you when whispering the question he has been dying to ask and you have been dying to hear. “Do you wanna date me?”

“Do you know how impossible it is to say ‘no’ to you?” You kiss his cheek and he closes his eyes, feeling relieved already. “It’s especially unfair when you keep me so close like this.” 

When you close the gap between you, holding his face tenderly and giving him the sweetest kiss he has ever tasted, he knows he has won. He definitely has. He moves, making you lie down under him, and as he kisses your neck, he says: 

“All is fair in love and war, honey.”

Donghyuck has always tried to communicate with Jeno not only because they are childhood friends and roommates but because they also need privacy. Everybody does. So when Donghyuck tells his friend that he will be away for two days because of a conference, Jeno understands that he will have the apartment all to himself. 

What Donghyuck doesn’t expect is to get an email as soon as he arrives at the airport telling him that the conference was canceled and he should head back to the office. He gets so mad that nothing would make him more happy than just killing his boss. He shouldn’t though, because he had promised to make you his trophy wife in five years, so he needs to get a promotion soon. He smiles, thinking of you, and decides to pick you up today.

Even after months of dating, he was still pretty much elated to say that he could pick up his girlfriend at work. His girlfriend. As soon as he pulls up in front of the office’s building, you send him a message.

[mike wasowski - 5:35 p.m] are you here already?

[donghyuck - 5:35 p.m] just got here babe.

[donghyuck - 5:35 p.m] ready?

[mike wasowski - 5:36 p.m] can you give me 15 more minutes?

[donghyuck - 5:36 p.m] i’ll be in the parking lot.

He smiles as he sees you exiting the building wearing a scowl. Oh, he was so ready for your work gossip. Your scrunched up face doesn’t last long, because you can’t help but smile when you see him waving at you. You run to him, hugging him tightly and kissing his lips tenderly, which is his favorite part.

“Hi, girlfriend.” He steals one more kiss from you, making you smile. 

“Hi, boyfriend.” You smile, pushing him away from you and opening the car’s door. “Let’s go, I need to tell you what that bitch made me do today.”

That's how you spend the whole drive to his apartment, complaining about one of the managers that keeps making redo things, only to say that you’re slacking off and never get things done. ‘I could get things done if she didn’t keep asking me to solve problems that don’t even exist’, you would always say. He let you vent your pent up anger, so he would do the same about his coworkers.

You had finally found a job at a publishing house, a small one, and it wasn’t exactly the experience as a journalist that you wanted to have, but learning about publishing and editing is surely something positive and way more useful than working at a café like you used to. When life closes a door, it opens a window. 

And your boyfriend is very proud of you not only for taking his advice and applying for your current job, but also for admitting that he is very smart. Donghyuck is smart in a lot of areas, it’s just that when it comes to you, he gets a little stupid. That’s why you get to his apartment and see something both of you shouldn’t. You really, really shouldn’t.

“WHAT THE FUCK, JENO?” Donghyuck screams and you run to the kitchen, thinking something bad happened. “NO BABE, DON’T COME, CLOSE YOUR EYES!” He puts his hands on your face before you can even understand what’s going on.

“WHAT THE FUCK, DONGHYUCK? YOU TOLD ME YOU’D BE AWAY FOR TWO DAYS.” Jeno screams back, hurriedly looking for his shirt to cover himself. 

“I DIDN’T KNOW YOU WOULD BE BALLS DEEP INSIDE SOMEONE ON THE KITCHEN COUNTER!” You fight him, trying to take his hands off your face, but Donghyuck is faster than you. “Don’t try to look, what are you trying to look at?” 

“Jeno, I-” The girl sitting on the counter looks mortified.

“I’m not trying to see anything, I’m trying to set free because you’re crushing my skull.” You keep moving, trying to fight him while Jeno and the girl are putting their clothes on.

“I know you’re tryna see Jeno naked. I’m your boyfriend, the only dick you’re allowed to see is mine.”  He keeps his hand pressed against your eyes making you whine even more.

“Stop being a freak! You’re just pressing my eyes too aggressively.” You reach forward, trying to find his face. “And what about you? Uh? Are you trying to see Jeno’s girlfriend naked? I’m the only one you’re allowed to see naked.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.” “She’s not my girlfriend.” Both of them say at the same time, looking at each other sheepishly, while you and Donghyuck keep bickering at the kitchen's door.

“IF I CAN'T SEE JENO’S DICK, YOU CAN’T SEE HIS GIRLFRIENDS BOOBS!” You say, accidentally slapping his face as you try to cover his eyes as well.

“Are you SLAPPING me because I won’t let you see JENO’S DICK?” Donghyuck complains.

“I SLAPPED YOU BECAUSE I CAN’T SEE SHIT, YOU MOTHERFUC-” 

He cuts you off by kissing your lips and pushing you to the hallway, warning the ones left behind: “JUST CLEAN EVERYTHING WHEN YOU’RE DONE!”

Donghyuck thinks that the first step before turning you into his trophy wife is buying his own place.

[kraro-school-life]

✦ 17. 11. 24 ✦ 📓 ✦ Sunday ✦

Yesterday I legit sat the whole day and worked on my art assignment. And I loved it. I had to finish it this morning but I am so proud of it!! It´s a comic about me on our art class Venice trip (that was kinda the task).

But today... I have to say, my blog name is not made up and actually spot on. Because HOW did I manage to start and finish my philosophy homework the last minutes I planned for studying today??? I do is subconciously, it´s crazy! It makes me not want to try and change, because why fix something that works?? But I really should...

Oh, and reminder to everyone who needs it (after me): Wash your hair. The world will not feel like it´s falling apart after you have clean hair. trust.

Okay so now a longer update about school in general (Studying, exams, routine, etc.):

I love studying so much. I actually love to learn new shit and RIGHT NOW I am even excited about exam prep. I am aware, that it´s because I haven´t yet started, but I will from tomorrow on. Now I don´t have any test coming up soon, so I don´t have excuses anymore. I somewhat got a plan of what I need to do and decided that I will change my method slightly. But more about that later.

Now, for that to work I have a few challenges I need to overcome. I even had some today that I indetified:

-> mindless screen time: Even right now! Even right now I am twitching for my phone. Why? Simple - to procrastinate. Because I don´t have a problem with watching content I actually want to watch (Rip Mumbo in wild life yesterday). I more so feel like it has become a habit to scroll just to pass the time. Which is not optimal. I lose time, but I also just feel like shit afterwards. Lose lose situation. Ugh. How do I not do that?

have all kinds of tasks to do: big middle and small to choose instead of being overwhelmed with the big ones and scrolling instead.

just lay on the ground. Just lie down and after a moment you will be ready again, intead of entering the famous hole of the rabbit (that was supposed to be funny, it wasn´t)

Just plan more and make yourself deadlines.

Have a reminder that says all of this.

If anyone has read this far which i doubt, and has useful tips, pls tell me! Asks are always open <3

-> tiredness: planning will help with that so that my tasks will be sorted accordingly (I do sleep enough).

-> routine: I tried so may times already, but it will not stop me from trying again. I will do it :) (well..)

I probably have more to say but I need to go to sleep now. Goodnight!!

[lordansketil]

I've been slowly reading Character & Caricature and leaving perhaps somewhat embarrassingly gushy comments - but, look, it's transcendently good. I'm curious, do you have a particular person/piece of art/etc. in mind as a visual reference for Gwen? I'd love to see your idea of how she looks. Ditto, Prinny's voice is described (beautifully) in the text - do you hear him as Peter Egan in Prince Regent, or a bit different? What about Gwen, what does she sound like?

Oh, you are too lovely! I tend to just imagine the character in my mind rather than cast someone, but Gwendolyn, with her dark brown eyes and black hair, is inspired by a combination of Regency fashion plates and portraiture, but with much thicker naturally curly hair rather than the perfectly set hair that was in vogue. I recently saw this painting of the Duke of York's famous mistress, Mary-Anne Clarke, by Adam Buck is which comes close (although Gwendolyn is thinner due to all she's been through). The amazing @suburbanbeatnik did a drawing of Gwen and Prinny that I love.

I actually gave Gwen my late mother's voice, which I realise doesn't help anyone as a description. A little hoarse (sometimes shrill) and she's very aware of this and consciously softens her voice. In terns of how I write her speech patterns, she speaks very correctly. As a poor relation from the lowest rung of the gentry, with lower class relatives, she clings to what she understands as "proper" speech to give the impression of being better educated than she really is.

Prinny's speech patterns, on the other hand, are a whole different ball game. I don't hear him as Peter Egan... except when I've just re-watched the show!

George IV is recorded as being a bass-baritone and, while his letters are very elaborate and over the top, reports of his speech tend to be fun ("give me your little paw"), dry ("I always find the day is long enough for doing nothing"), distinctive ("Kingston, Kingston, you black-whiskered good-natured fellow!"), and ridiculous ("a sort of mishmash, Solomongrundy, ollapodrida kind of business") and there's lots of reports of him being self-deprecating ("my tyrannical self at breakfast"), grovelling to his lovers ("thank you, my dear, thank you... you cannot please me so much as by doing everything you please to show that you are mistress here") and exaggeratedly boastful ("at last, godamme, ma'am, he rode slap over my favourite bitch, Ruby. I could stand it no longer, but jumping off my horse said: 'Get down you rascal! Pull off your coat!' By God, he did, and we fought for an hour and twenty minutes. He was carried off senseless, whilst I had hardly a scratch!").

Apparently he pronounced "oblige" as "obleege", which suggests the very fruity accent that's associated with British royalty, and used ain't ("she's my daughter, ain't she?"). Beau Brummell said he could have been a great comic actor and he was considered to be an extremely talented mimic.

So with this as a base, I've given him a consciously exaggerated way of speaking. A sort of theatrical patter that involves mixing a Scarlet Pimpernel style drawl with period slang and swearing that comes across as charming, but not at all proper... right up until he gets offended by something and then his speech becomes ultra formal and intimidating. At some point I decided as a hard rule that he says "'tis" and Gwen says "it's" and there's probably something there about her careful speech and modern contractions and his more casual speech and antiquated contractions.

Thanks for the ask! <3

[lethby]

Panacea ⍣ ೋ

- A solution or remedy for all difficulties or diseases.

Art by: Mm39572_02

Pairing: Bachira Meguru x Reader (fluff, like, lots of)

Summary: When you coincidentally reunite with your boyfriend and are welcomed with a joyful surprise from him

Spoilers: u-20 match and the fun bowling chapter

The feeling in your heart as you seated in front of the TV could only be described as pride. You watched as the boy whom you haven't seen in weeks is becoming one with the ball, leaving behind members of the U-20 one by one.

Your eyes have been glued to the screen since the beginning of the match, and your heartbeat accelerated with adrenaline upon the entrance of your boyfriend in the field. Even if the quality wasn't the best, you could still see how his hair got longer and he got a little bit taller and muscular. Your gaze was on him the whole time, even when he didn't have that ball; and a frown was visible in your face when the camera moved and he would get out of frame.

Although, when he got the ball to make his amazing play, you noticed how Bachira's skills have improved since the last time you saw him drible in the school's pitch, now expertly dancing with his feet, handling the ball as he pleases. You were sure your neighbors could hear your excitement when he almost scored a goal, even more when finally, in the last minute, the Blue Lock 11 won the match.

You hopped exhilarated across the room, but looked at the TV just in time to see Bachira blow a kiss to the camera and mouth 'that was for you, y/n'. You felt your heart skip a beat through your ribcage and blood running up to paint your face red.

"Such a dork" you said to no one with a fond smile.

God you hoped you could be there right now and give him the biggest kiss in the world. You knew his mom was there since, hilariously enough, her cheers drowned the whole audience's. You chuckled at the scene.

What caught your attention next was the team's celebration. It was noticeable throughout the match, but now it was clear how much fun he's had and will have with his teammates, which you could see were very good friends. At this, your heart tightened yet again for Bachira. You knew he would make friends eventually with the same passion as him; and surely, he did.

When the program ended, you had a simple dinner and went to bed with only thoughts of your boyfriend and how happy you were for him. He was now a professional player to cry out loud! Finally, with a smile on your face, you let the dreamland catch up to you.

The next morning you awoke from your slumber only to see a notification in your cellphone

‌Megu 🐝

- ‌Hey n/n guess who got his phone back plus a 2 week vacation for winning the match!!

You wouldn't be more excited about a text even if it said that you won the lottery. You eagerly responded to the message, but had to wait some time for the sleepy and lazy man to awake. When he did, you both had a sweet and very chaotic conversation, ending up planning a hang out for tomorrow. 'Today some of the team members are going out, but I assure you the rest of days are only yours! <3' That's what he said. Not that you mind much of course, you'll have plenty of time all for yourselves to catch up.

Figuring you had nothing to do today, you decided to treat yourself to something nice in a famous cafe. It was somewhat far from your home but you needed to drain all this energy you had from the anticipation of reuniting with your boyfriend again.

Finished with preparing yourself, you exited to the street and started heading towards the cafe. The weather was good, sunrays warmly caressing your skin. After getting distracted by a few chirping birds and a unimaginably cute stray cat, you safely arrived at your destination. Nevertheless, upon rising your gaze, your steps came to a halt and your eyes widened.

'Is that...?'

In a table not far from the entrance were three boys that were very much recognisable. A feminine boy with long pink hair and eyes, a black-haired teen and, back facing you, a boy with shoulder length, semi-dyed blonde hair enjoying his smoothie.

The situation was surreal, I mean what are the odds? You wanted to laugh at the coincidence but you were left to stunned to even blink. You really wanted to see him, but meeting him like this out of nowhere after weeks left you speechless, like he wasn't real. The man that yesterday was sweating after literally fighting for his life is now here, chatting with his friends joyously as he takes a sip of his drink.

In the end, before you had time to process what was happening, your playful side, that you very much took from him, took over you and were sneakily approaching the group with a grin on your lips. Then, Bachira felt a pair of hands cover his eyes followed by a singed "Guess who~?".

At the instant recognition of your voice, Bachira quickly got up and turned around while holding your hands like an excited puppy.

"y/n!"

His eyes lighted up in a familiar way, like when you told him he could teach you how to play football. You wished you could've admired his features more, but your feet didn't touch the ground for much longer since he picked you up by the waist and cheerfully spun you around not caring if he made a scene, both of your laughs giving each other tons of serotonin.

"Megu! I saw you on TV! You were amazing. I'm so proud of you I feel like my chest is gonna explode. You sure improved a lot your skills and that dribbling was so impressive! I couldn't stay put in my seat for the love of God. I don't know how to put it into words I just felt like I was gonna-"

He interrupted you with more laughs, this time grateful and amused ones.

When he eventually put you down, dizziness taking over your body, he kept holding you in a bear hug. Hell, even bears are humiliated by how tight he was embracing you. His now stronger arms had no intention of letting you go, pressing you firmly against his figure. His head rested against the crook of your neck and you could feel his silly smile on your skin. God how you missed his hugs. As energetic as he is, Bachira wasted no time in covering you with butterfly kisses, all the way from your neck, to your jaw and every spot on your jolly face; widening the smile on your lips.

Seeing this man had no intention to stop any time soon, you put a stop to his attacks by closing the gap between your lips, sharing the so long awaited and yearned kiss. The plan worked as wonderfully as expected, him reciprocating it without a second thought. It was messy and chaotic, but that's just how bachira was, and you loved it, like you were made for each other.

When you went out of breath, you gave him a quick rest by opting to press your foreheads together. Nevertheless, before he was able to dive in for another kiss, you were interrupted by a male voice behind Bachira.

"Oi Bachira, are you gonna present us your girlfriend or what?"

You let go a little from Bachira (action that was not welcomed by the male, that held you tighter) to look at the grinning, falsely annoyed redhead and his somewhat awkward blue eyed friend. Bachira then smiled widely before spinning you around to face his teammates.

"Of course! Say hi to y/n!"

After the little bit of embarrassment left your body, you decided to start a conversation.

"I know you. You're Chigiri and Isagi right? I saw the match yesterday."

"You got that right."

Isagi then intervened "Bachira you have a girlfriend?! you never told us!"

"You never asked."

You chuckled at the interaction and they offered you to sit with them . You complied while teasing Bachira a bit.

"Didn't you want to hang out with the boys today?" Intentionally putting ironic emphasis in 'the boys'.

"Come on bumblebee don't be like thaaaat. Now that you're here I'm not letting you get away so easily!" His face made a funny twist before turning to you again "Actually, what are you doing here?"

Your mouth made an 'oh' shape as you remembered the previous coincidence, laughing a bit at it.

"In fact I was gonna ask you the same. I just went here to grab some coffee when I saw you."

Bachira chuckled in realization and rubbed your cheeks together.

"You can never escape from me, can you?"

"Not that I'd ever want to." You playfully responded.

Then, the conversation continued at the table. You watched as the three friends chatted and you couldn't help but but fondly smile at the sight of Bachira having so much fun. Seeing the outcome, you were glad that he took the Blue Lock project. You took a few sips of the drink that Bachira offered you, laughing at the almost-too-much sweetness. In the end, he never changes. On Bachira's side, he was euphoric seeing as you swiftly got along with his friends. The sight of you made him fall in love all over again. In not one moment did he let go of you during the conversation; let it be interlacing your pinkies together, putting and arm around your shoulders or waist or keeping your knees in touch under the table.

He only separated from you when you all got up and prepared to leave and Isagi called him over to show him something on his phone. He approached what you assumed was his best friend after patting your head and childly ruffling your hair. You were left chatting with Chigiri, quickly realizing he was a pretty nice guy to talk to and that you had a lot in common. Loud footsteps interrupted your talk about a podcast and, unfortunately, you didn't react fast enough to dodge your boyfriend that just jumped in your back, making you lose balance and almost fall. Chigiri, who was in front of you, was successfully startled. Not that he wasn't used to Bachira suddenly attacking people, of course.

"Megu, you weight to much for me-"

"y/n y/n! There's a friend of us in a nearby arcade, let's go jump him!"

In a split of a second, he switched your places and energetically threw you over his shoulder, almost dropping you. He then proceeded to shameless make a sprint towards said arcade, completely leaving his surprised friends behind.

"MEGURU PUT ME DOWN I'M GONNA FALL" you yelled in a panicked tone. You were grateful that the streets were practically empty, so the passerbys wouldn't be blessed with this scene.

Chuckling as he tightened his hold in your legs and waist he said "I'm not gonna let you fall. Let's go before Chigiri catches up to us!"

You couldn't see his face, but giving his high-pitched joyful laugh, you didn't need to to know he was having the time of his life. He freed you from his grasp when you arrived at your destination, slightly out of breath. His hands lovingly hugging your waist, yours around his neck gently playing with his golden locks. You gave yourselves a moment to take in each other's features as you recovered your breath, mostly maintaining eye contact. You wished this moment lasted forever. In others' eyes you probably looked dopey right now, but you were to lovestruck to care, seeing the fond look and dork smile in the other's face.

Bachira's eyes softened even more in pure adoration for you as he started to draw shapes in your hips with his thumbs in a soothing motion. Your curiosity was piqued by the affection.

"What?"

"Nothing, just missed you so much bumblebee"

His smile never once faltered. Instead, it keep getting wider. It was contagious in a way, making you jelly under his arms.

"I missed you too, Megu. Everyday I wondered how you were doing and what were you up to. It quickly got boring without you around, you know?"

He sweetly chuckled, making your legs weak.

"Yeah, must be torture not having me around huh"

'and that goes both ways' he wanted to add, but you got the message through his sarcasm.

"God, I'm so glad you're finally back, even if it's temporary."

"Me too." He partially sighed.

You pulled him closer and rested his head in your shoulder, enabling you to run your fingers through his scalp, which was welcomed by a relaxed sigh from him. After a while in each other's arms, you felt him reach for something in his pocket in a swift motion and fiddle with it behind your back. Before you had time to question him he pulled back a bit to face you.

"You know, part of the reasons I didn't hang out with you today was because I had to get something I ordered without you knowing, but managed to do it before we met at the cafe."

With that, he brought his hands between the two of you and slipped a small metallic object in your finger. When you glanced at it, you were met with a gold ring with a dolphin design on it, kinda similar to the pin he wore attached to his jacket. Looking up, you saw Bachira's hand raised, showing a silver ring of his own with a (fav animal) design instead.

'He got us..."

"Ta-da! Matching rings! How do you like the surprise? I figured this way we'll have each other near even if we're far away phisically. They even have our favourite animals on them! See?" He explained to you as happy as a puppy who just got a treat.

This time, it was your turn to fall in love all over again. You felt like crying while seeing your smiling boyfriend and the rings, with the sweetest thought put into them. You were left speechless.

At your lack of response, Bachira tilted his head.

"y/n?"

You threw yourself at him and he picked you up effortlessly with his arms.

"I- Meguru I love it so much. I love you so much. Thank you I really don't deserve you."

Bachira, as he shone brighter that the sun, wanted to say many things, but opted for one instead.

"You're very welcome, my panacea."

Additional time!

"Where did you even learn that word?"

"There's a lot of weirdos in Blue Lock to learn from."

As he said that with the most innocent grin, you could catch sight of Chigiri and Isagi plus a group of more teammates chaotically interacting together, which you assumed they encountered in the way here.

"Can tell."

Finally done with this fic it took forever!

I don't have much to say except that I hope you liked it! It's certainly very fluffy and I enjoyed writing every second of it.

I never have motivation to write but when you pop you can't stop and I ended up spending the weekend writing this.

I think I portrayed well the character's personalities which is very important to me so cheers for me.

Remember to drink water, Lethby ༊*·˚

[jynxpsiche]

Hello!!👋🏾 could I perhaps request dad!lemon headcanons or a one shot?

A’RIGHT! I👏🏻AM👏🏻IN👏🏻! We also need Dad Lemon, it’s important for our hearts!! <3 <3

Against my morals

💌. Summary: during a mission, Lemon had to help a lost child find her mother…

or

…Lemon meets his future girl and kid.

💌. Warning: fem reader, slight use of y/n, slight canon gore, swearing, made up names. English is not my first language!

The sultry summer air hit the crowded Italian city hard. Tourists filled the main streets and numerous alleys of the famous city of art.

Enthusiasts of Italian and Renaissance architecture stopped to observe the beauty of the period names and to learn more about their history.

But that was certainly not what Tangerine and Lemon were there for.

As usual, the two were in the beautiful city of Florence for a job, so they had no time to waste with visits or verses of amazement at the Renaissance beauties.

“Remind me, why do I have to do this?” Annoyingly asked Lemon through the phone, his eyes cautiously scanning the whole perimeter.

“I reckon you had lost a paper scissors stone match. Am I wrong?” Said the brother on the other end of the phone in a knowing tone but also teasing him slightly.

“I wasn’t ready.” “Oh you weren’t? Well, too bad. Your fuckin’ fault, not mine.” Tangerine blurted out acidly. It was too early to deal with his brother's complaints.

Lemon huffed audibly, continuing to look around as if searching for something. Or rather someone.

With the phone still close to her ear, Lemon's attentive gaze scanned each and every face. One by one.

“Since you decided to fall asleep soundly like a baby yesterday, here's what you have to do.” Tangerine's voice partly awakened him from his trance-like state.

Lemon only hummed in response, his gaze still fixated on the big crowd of people.

"Apparently, our target is young woman, name's (Y/n). I've sent ya a photo of her. Be careful and don't fuck it up, Lemon." Tangerine hang the call harshly, his tone clearly expressing his earnestness.

Lemon slipped the phone into his jacket pocket after rolling his eyes at the last words spoken by his brother. He knew that Tangerine actually cared about him, but he also wanted to prevent the customer from becoming dissatisfied.

Not only would it have been unprofessional on their part, but they might have lost their skin as well.

His phone buzzed again and with a soft groan he picked it up again and noticed that this time it was a message. The target's photo.

Why would someone kill a woman, he thought with furrowed eyebrows, often lifting his head to scan the people there, unless she's a killer or a heartless bitch.

But just looking at the photo, Lemon came up with the conclusion that his target wasn't a Diesel at all. But a job was a job, so he had to finish it as fast as possible.

Only when his eyes locked with a particular figure, he took action. Swiftly and quickly he moved across the large crowd of people without tearing his gaze from the spotted target.

It was the same woman from the picture and he had to follow her in order to complete his job succesfully.

The female moved smoothly and gracefully among the tourists and Lemon almost lost her in the crowd a couple of times. Almost.

Then, when he was at her heels, just a few inches divided them, his phone rang. Lemon cursed silently, hoping that the woman hadn't heard him. His pace slowed down a bit and he picked the call.

"Bruv, have you found the target yet?" Tangerine's voice reached his ears and his face wrinkled into a sour expression.

"Almost had her, if you hadn' fuckin' called..." mumbled quietly Lemon into the phone, his tone mostly stern and irritated. He liked to finish things quickly, so he didn't have to lose unrequired and precious time.

Time he surely could be spending watching Thomas and Friends.

"Don't get your fuckin' panties in a twist. I'll call you every twenty minutes to cheek up on ya." The other referred solemnly in a flat tone.

"Look how you're enjoyin' giving me orders sittin' comfortably at a fucking bar--" he spat out in a sarcastic tone, lightly envying his twin.

"Stop actin' like a fuckin' baby and move y'ass." His brother argued back, ending the call brutally, leaving Lemon with his sour expression.

He knew his brother was simply concerned about him, but stressing him out like that wasn't healthy at all!

Only when the call ended, the man spotted the woman enter an small alley almost hidden from view. It was common to find such alleys in Italy, but these were so intrigued and intertwined with each other that they formed a real maze.

Closely Lemon chased the young woman and he plainly was astonished by her speed and grace. Her body moved so graciously and freely that she could even be compared to a nymph.

Her pace slowed as she approached a doorway. The man copied her movements, staying hidden behind a wall. Her figure now motionless, as if waiting for something. Lemon noticed how her gaze often fell on her wristwatch.

Undoubtedly she was waiting for someone.

This was his moment, he thought with a determined look on his face.

He studied the area well to make sure that no witnesses could make the job more complicated.

With a plush but quick step, Lemon approached the young woman, gun ready in hand but still concealed in his jacket.

Let's make this quick, he thought.

When the distance had shortened considerably, Lemon kicked out his gun and aimed at the woman's head, never slowing his pace.

"Mommy! Mommy!"

He froze on the spot. A child's voice reached his ears out o f the blue, his gaze widening at the sight.

From the main entrance of a building, a little girl happily skipped towards the woman, engulfing her legs in a tight embrace. Lovingly the woman patted the little one's head.

But by now Lemon was too close, and with confident gesture he had already removed the safety catch. The sound made the woman turn her head.

Swiftly she covered her daughter eyes by bringing her face in her lap. Her facial features were twisted with hardness and solemnity.

No words left her mouth, her rosey lips into a thin line.

Although his face did not show any other feelings, Lem could not help but be impressed. Surely he had been left speechless by such a majestic figure.

Quickly the man lowered his weapon.

“Woah woah woah! No one told me ‘bout this!” He spat out anxiously, seemingly not expecting such a plot twist.

The woman took a step forward, hiding the little one behind her. Her gaze fixed on the man.

“The Rider sent you, didn’t he?” Her rigid tone sent chills down Lem’s spine. And this was the first time in his life. Not even the unbearable anger of his brother.

But Lemon didn’t answer.

“Look” he sighed rubbing the bridge of his nose “just…please wait here love.” Hurriedly he grabbed his phone and typed a number.

“So? You done?” Tangerine’s bothered voice echoed through Lem’s head. “We hav’ a problem bruv.” “Fuck hav’ y’done?” His dark eyes darted from the child to the woman.

“There’s a child.” “What d’ya mean a child?” Lemon exhaled loudly “There’s a child with the target.” The phone line fell dead silent.

Then a heavy sigh.

“We can’t do it. It’s immoral.” “I know it’s immoral. What should I do?” Suggested Lemon, never tearing his gaze from the woman.

“Just—“ but Tan’s voice was harshly interrupted by a loud bang resounded in the alley, shortly followed by another and another one.

Lemon cursed under his breath and with quick steps he urged the couple to follow him closely.

His eyes were pleading them to follow him.

And without breathing out a sentence, they followed the gentle sour fruit.

Lemon opened the large door of the building with a well-aimed kick, managing to open it with a sharp snap and without attracting attention. "Move move!" he silently whispered, urging them to follow his request.

When they managed to lock the entrance they were met with an almost silent building, afternoon sunlight filtered through the stained glass windows, giving the room a hint of mystery. The outside shots muffled successfully.

Hastily Lemon loocked at the woman, his breath shaky from the sudden running. "'S there 'nother way out?" He panted out, catching his breath as best he could.

Nervous eyes moved from one part to another of the building, her mind clearing retracing the blueprints of the apartment complex. Then her face lit up.

“The garage! This way!” She whisper-yelled, already moving to pick her daughter up. But Lem’s hand stopped her. “Let me.”

And with a quick motion he picked the little child in his arms, placing gently his hand on her head to cover her from the gunshots outside.

The woman observed the whole scene with wide eyes, clearly not expecting something like this from a contract killer.

Only when shaken off by her dozing state, she guided the man towards the secondary exit.

They both were running, leaving the gunshots behind.

“I’m Lemon by the way.” He panted out in a rather quiet tone.

The woman looked at him and sent him a faint smile. “(Y/n.)” she answered.

I know, he thought, smiling back at her.

The couple was now walking peacefully, long away from the sudden accident. The small girl was fast asleep in Lemon’s arms and even if the mother proposed to take her from him, he always refused, not wanting to wake her up.

But in reality, Lemon was just enjoying this moment. He didn’t know how or when but the small child already occupied a soft spot in his heart.

No words were shared between the two, they simply enjoyed the animated atmosphere given by the young tourists enjoying their night.

The two just kept walking at a slow pace, neither of them wanting to part ways. They finally got along.

Lemon discreetly shot her a glance, trying to memorise her beauty before being called back by his brother.

He still didn’t receive any calls from him. And it was quite strange. But he didn’t worry much since he knew that Tan was safe and sound at the hotel.

It was still quite late.

Only when they reached another apartment complex, far from the other one, they both stopped. Their eyes immediately locked together.

The woman spoke first.

“Even if you tried to kill me…I wanna thank you for your help. And for saving both me and my daughter.” She kindly thanked him, this time flashing him a sincere smile.

His heart skipped a beat.

“Killin’ a mother is against my morals…so if the client isn’t satisfied, he can go fuck himself.” He simply answered in a hush tone, aware of the sleeping child in his arms.

Slowly and gently, the mother picked her daughter, who slightly stirred a little and the returned back to sleep deeply.

(Y/n) flashed him another smile and then turned and walked towards the building’s front door. But she was stopped by Lemon’s voice.

“Wait!” When she faced him again she was met with a slight nervous Lemon. Confused she tilted her head, waiting for him to continue.

“Can I…hav’ your number…?” He quite timidly asked, rubbing his neck in attempt to maintain his cool and calm himself.

She faintly chuckled, sending him a teasing look.

“Since you knew so much about me, I think it won’t be hard for you to find my number…” she teased him “…but if you can’t, you at least know where I live.”

“Goodnight, Lemon.”

He sighed amused, a small grin on his face.

“Night, love.”

[detroitpedxing]

In Interviews, Kamala Harris Continues to Bob and Weave

Her media swing showed how she often responds to uncomfortable questions by acknowledging them, yet not fully answering them.

Running an abbreviated campaign in the final sprint before Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris blitzed the media this week in a series of interviews to speak to voters who say they still don’t know enough about her.

One thing they learned: how she keeps answering the question she wants, not the one that was asked.

Politicians, and presidents in particular, have long treated the ability to bob and weave through uncomfortable questions while remaining on message as a skill to be mastered, like the precise footing required of a carpenter navigating a high-pitched roof.

Bill Clinton’s famous line, “I feel your pain,” was deployed to diffuse an activist’s plea for details on how to end the AIDS epidemic. George W. Bush sabotaged questions about climate change by treating facts as partisan assertions. Barack Obama took his message to social media and largely avoided interviews with White House beat reporters.

This week, Ms. Harris put her own stamp on the art of the dodge.

On “60 Minutes,” she declined to answer a question about whether she considered Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, to be a close ally. She also refused to detail how she would pay for a $3 trillion economic plan.

When asked on ABC’s popular daytime show, “The View,” about accusations from Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida that she had only offered to help with a hurricane as a presidential candidate, she swiftly implicated the criticism as proof of his own partisanship. When Howard Stern asked her on his SiriusXM program later that afternoon if she would select Liz Cheney, the Republican former congresswoman, for her cabinet, Ms. Harris refused to be buttonholed. “I gotta win, Howard,” she said with an air of first-things-first. “I gotta win. I gotta win.”

Her media swing provided a glimpse into how she often responds to unpleasant questions without answering them, questions the very premise of questions she finds unfair and can take it upon herself to reword a query she considers unhelpful.

Ms. Harris, 59, can turn the typically defensive crouch of a non-answer into a bit of verbal jujitsu, as she did in declining the opportunity to identify Mr. Netanyahu as an ally. She can nimbly field a query and quickly lace her reply with trip wire for her opponent, as she did last month in her debate with former President Donald J. Trump.

A trained prosecutor, Ms. Harris is lawyerly, argumentative and fundamentally defensive. She often deflects or sidesteps. She can speak passionately about her values in a way that leaves listeners feeling as if the question had been acknowledged, even if the substance remained unaddressed. To avoid delineating her stance on some issues, she will instead focus on her dedication to progress and inclusion.

Her verbal acrobatics may be contributing to the impression that some voters have that they do not know her or her policy views very well. It has become a key weakness as she rushes to sway millions of undecided voters in the battleground states.

Her opponent is playing a different rhetorical game, maybe a different sport. Mr. Trump continues to shatter the norms of generally accepted practices of political communications. He is known for defending blatant lies. He rambles and reverts to nearly decade-old slogans to avoid answering a question. He regularly sheds a prodigious amount of exaggerations and falsehoods. After two presidential campaigns in which he took pride in ignoring fact-checkers, he has recently refused to participate in interviews or debates that include fact-checking.

The roughly three dozen interviews Mr. Trump has given in the past five weeks have been almost exclusively with conservative outlets or with hosts who are openly supportive of his White House bid. He has declined an invitation for a second debate with Ms. Harris, and canceled an interview he had previously agreed to with “60 Minutes.”

There is no fair way to assess Ms. Harris’s performance while sharing the spotlight with Mr. Trump, an opponent who, earlier this week, insisted he had visited the Gaza Strip, the site of a violent war he has claimed he would end within days of taking office, without any record of him setting foot in that part of the Middle East.

But voters’ lack of familiarity with Ms. Harris means she has little choice but to endure the inequity. In a New York Times/Siena College poll last month, one out of every four voters said they needed to learn more about Ms. Harris — compared with just one of every 10 who said the same about Mr. Trump.

Voters wanting more information about Ms. Harris were primarily young and Black or Hispanic, according to the poll. They typically did not identify with either political party and largely consumed news from social media or online outlets rather than newspapers or cable networks.

Of former President Donald J. Trump’s recent interviews, all but one have been with conservative outlets or with hosts who are openly supportive of his White House bid.

Ms. Harris’s schedule was essentially a media map of those specific demographics.

During her appearance on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast, a chatty entertainment program popular with Gen Z and millennial women, Ms. Harris took aim for the first time at comments made by Senator JD Vance of Ohio, the Republican vice-presidential nominee. She called his remarks about “childless cat ladies” in positions of power “mean and mean spirited.”

It was the 65 minutes she spent with Mr. Stern that was the most personally revealing.

Within the first few minutes alone, she engaged in a debate over Prince’s best album (she said it was ���1999,” while Mr. Stern maintained it was the “Batman” soundtrack) and drolly dismissed her husband, Doug Emhoff, as a Depeche Mode fan from her perch as a self-described “hip-hop girl.”

Oct. 2, 2024

David Axelrod, the former Obama strategist who had publicly urged Ms. Harris to engage more deliberately with the media, praised her performance this week.

“Most candidates hone those skills during primary campaigns,” Mr. Axelrod said of Ms. Harris’s truncated campaign. “She was thrown into the deep end of the deepest pool there is 90 days before a general election. And if she isn’t exactly Katie Ledecky yet, she seemed a lot more comfortable than she was a few weeks ago — and the sheer repetition of doing these will help.”

Her appearance on “60 Minutes,” the one traditional news program she agreed to this week, offered some of the clearest examples of her weaving talking points with hints of policy.

Bill Whitaker, the correspondent conducting the interview, asked how she would pay for her $3 trillion economic plan, and Ms. Harris responded by touting the potential benefits for the middle class. When he pressed her, she suggested raising taxes on the highest earners. When he doubted Congress would agree, she said, in not so many words, that she was trying to win an election — not a favorable score from the Congressional Budget Office.

“I cannot afford to be myopic in terms of how I think about strengthening America’s economy,” Ms. Harris said. “Let me tell you something: I am a devout public servant. You know that. I am also a capitalist. And I know the limitations of government.”

In one revealing exchange, she was repeatedly pressed on the war in Gaza and the wedge that conflict had driven between Washington and Jerusalem as Mr. Netanyahu has refused calls for a cease-fire and defied America’s appeals for restraint by invading Lebanon.

Asked if the United States had “no sway over Prime Minister Netanyahu,” Ms. Harris described diplomatic relations with him as “an ongoing pursuit.”

Mr. Whitaker pushed back. Mr. Netanyahu “was not listening,” he said. Ms. Harris responded with a similar answer: The administration was “not going to stop pursuing” an end to the war.

Mr. Whitaker made a third attempt. This time, he asked bluntly whether she considered Mr. Netanyahu to be “a real close ally.” Ms. Harris seized control of the questions.

“With all due respect,” she began, “the better question is, ‘Do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people?’ And the answer to that question is yes.”

It was a move that at first blush appeared to be an audacious display of chutzpah over what was or was not a “better question.” Instead, it may stand as a historic marker in U.S. foreign policy: The potential 47th president of the United States deliberately declined the opportunity to call the Israeli prime minister an ally. And did so with an artful dodge.

[paintedstories]

My Romeo

(angst to fluff) H.H x she/her

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

"I love you, I dream of you I miss...... you... "Miss" has a strong meaning, but also, it has the most regretful meaning for my heart, but, but, when I think of you... It becomes the most painful thing I have ever experienced. I miss your smell, I miss your eyes I miss your smile. I miss you biting me I miss your way of walking. I miss. I miss you, my love. Please, I'm begging, come back to me, and I will treat you how you truly deserve, my queen.

Rain was pouring on her now-soaked running body, running as fast as she could possibly run, as fast as her poor legs could go, and if they would give up on her in the middle of the way. She would go on four legs if needed to.

Regret was washing over her poor broken heart that still held hope, hope that maybe she will get to him in time. The train would need to live in 20 minutes, but she was 40 minutes away from the train station.

she sobbed and cussed, and cussed, and cussed, more, and mor every time while gasping for air, feeling her lungs on fire from the cold oxygen and poor rapid breathing, cries and rapid breathing could be heard from the running girl.

"Please, please my love stay, wait for me!" she screamed as if he could hear her, she hoped that at least god would.

when she arrived smiling thinking she will see him, scanning her surroundings...she saw... no one

broken, the girl threw herself on her sore knees and started crying and sobbing.

3 years later

She still longed for her dearest, her only hope of love, leaving her when she realized what love was.

easily said, love left her.

Now she was at an art museum looking through some of her most famous paintings.

"The lost soulmate" and "painful love"

smiling with sorrow and pain she continued to walk around looking at her paintings, feeling even more sad after seeing many people understanding her pain, well at least trying to understand. She continued to look through people taking photos and sometimes talking in a group about her paintings.

smiling slightly she started to go outside, wanting to go home to her art studio and continue to paint her most unique painting, that after 4 years it still wasn't done, feeling like today was her last day, she wanted to end her day after finishing the painting

"my Romeo"

when she wanted to open the door she was too lost in her thoughts and bumped into someone. when she opened her mouth to excuse herself, she saw... saw those dark brown eyes she dearly missed, and those plump lips. With her hands on her moth she started crying as he hugged her.

"you did not come after me, my queen."

him

she hugged him as tightly as she could, scared it was one of her many sad dreams.

"I-I searched for you, I ran to find you- But when I got there you left I lost you for four years, four years of hell!!!" she sobbed and sobbed as he softly dragged her from the front of the museum door. Kissing her head softly and massaging her back while crying too, he said the sentence that she always wanted but never knew needed.

"Marry me, so that I will be stuck to you for life, my love"

she kept sobbing while nodding and saying yes repeatedly, still not letting him go as he took her bridal style and went to his car and drove to her apartment. of course after hard convincing of her letting him go.

That night was the first night after 4 years of making love with anyone. both loved one another too much, and where so broken that they did not feel the need for sex.

that is how strong love can be

that night was the night when both of them healed slowly with tinny steps and their poor heart.

master list 📃

comment if you want part two

feel free to request

[ick25]

Rockman EXE Movie Review. Part 1

Oh yeah! The people have spoken! The Megaman Battle Network Legacy collection is finally here! So to celebrate it I’m “Reviewing” the Rockman.EXE movie, The program of Light and Darkness.

A few things before starting. First, the “movie” is less than 50 minutes long, so it’s more of a very long episode with better animation than usual. Second, the movie takes place during the Stream saga, a season of the anime that never aired in America because the plot was “too dark” for a kid’s show, like Axess wasn’t violent and dark enough already. It’s even worse for people in Latinoamerica because Axess never aired there either, so enjoying this movie would’ve been impossible for me if I hadn’t watched the episodes online.

For those who haven’t watched the Stream saga, this is what you need to know:

1. The movie takes place somewhere after episode 17 but before episode 31 of Stream, I say episode 17 because Raika, the Hypocrite, now uses Cross fusion, just like everybody else.

2. The plot is based on Battle Network 5, minus the whole teams thing.

3. The whole story of Rockman.EXE Stream is not relevant, except for episode 2 because that is when Forte came back to steal Rockman’s Ultimate program, but after he fails to get it, he was defeated by an extraterrestrial Navi named Slur who throws him into the depths of the Undernet, where the movie begins.

Forte is shown floating in the cyberspace of the Undernet where he is woken up by strange light and a familiar evil laugh.

Those who played BN5 know what that thing is.

We cut to England, which is probably called Kingland, where a giant beam of light suddenly appears and disintegrates everything in it’s path.

Leaving behind a very ugly but also familiar face.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Japan, our heroes are in a Net Battle tournament taking place in a very weird building with roller coasters coming in and out of it.

Seems very dangerous to be honest.

Of course, as Netto plugs in Rockman, we get the theme song Be somewhere, with the karaoke, timing, and Spanish translations provided by yours truly.

Don’t believe me?

Yep, I was the head of this project, sure, I didn’t get paid and other people helped made this possible, but I’m still proud of this. Too bad not many people have access to this.

During the intro song we see Rockman fighting Gridman’s aka Footman’s first appearance in the anime, before becoming some random Navi in Beast. And in case you were wondering, no, Meijin is not Footman’s operator, it is actually this guy.

The guy who just gives hints in BN3 white version.

I think he is Mr. Famous’s aide, but I don’t remember.

Anyway, Netto wins, his friends, with new changes of cloths, congratulate him, and Meiru appears out of nowhere to hug him like she was already his girlfriend or something.

I personally don’t like this art style, it makes Dekao look even uglier and Meiru looks like she has less hair than usual.

Now, a surprise for those who haven’t  seen Stream, Dingo and Tomahawkman are now part of the cast! And Dingo for some reason has blue eyes in this shot.

I honestly don’t know why.

After Dingo wins his battle, we see more of the weird and unsafe building where they are with the indoor rollercoaster and all. Apparently this is Akihara’s 100th theme park.

We get a small appearance from Shuko and Higure-san who are riding the roller coaster, but its more of a segway to the next scene because Higure somehow spots Mariko-sensei while screaming. Like, how? Mariko-sensei was wearing a helmet until Netto and friends arrived. Turns out, she is cosplaying as her favorite Sci-fi character in a convention that also takes place in the weird building.

But she only appears for Netto and friends to mention that she has a lot of hobbies, and to have this very weird cut to the next scene that made me think it was an editing mistake.

Seriously, she didn’t even finish her line.

We immediately jump to a not so traumatizing scene of a group of men getting vaporized by the same light beams we saw in Kingland.

NOT TRAUMATIZING AT ALL! 

Turns out this was in Ameroupe as we join Meijin and Yuichiro watching footage of the damage.

Yuichiro seems to know something and after seeing a satellite image, his suspicions are confirmed.

The Internet service that is NOT all about you.

The light beams left what looks like giant algorithms, this is enough for Yuichiro to say some vague words, first “Spectrum”, and then “The Wily Program is active”.

HELLO? Why did we cut to a Duel Master scene?!

Oh, right, turns out the people who worked on this movie also worked on the Duel Master movie which was still a thing back then. That is why they made a little animation at the beginning of the movie were we see Crossfused Netto and Shobu working together to fight their respective opponents. They also put like 3 second cameos in both movies to let us know that both the Net Battle and the DM tournament are happening in the same weird building. 

For this movie, it’s a clip of Shobu summoning a monster or something, and for the DM movie we get an actual shot of Netto and friends cheering for Shobu in the audience.

It’s not even the same art style, or background! At least Meiru still has her hair intact.

In that movie they actually say Shobu’s name, in this one they just play the clip and then cut to Netto and friends reacting to something. Personally, I never cared for DM, I watched one episode and that’s it, I always saw it as a Yugioh bootleg.

The cameo is interrupted by Yuichiro who calls Netto to tell him that he must get to the Trident Tower ASAP, with no details whatsoever. Netto says bye to his friends and wishes them luck for their upcoming battle

Apparently some time passed after Netto leaves for the tower, because in the very next scene we cut to Yuichiro typing really fast in a computer (still not giving Meijin details as they watch the light beams appearing in Choina), and then asking if Netto is already at the tower.

LOL, he is stuck in traffic.

Although it is nice to see taxi drivers still have jobs in this future. At least the paying method is accurate.

Netto decides to skate all the way to the tower. I like this scene, its been a while since we’ve seen Rockman giving Netto directions from inside the PET and Netto showing off his sweet skating moves.

Will Netto  make it to the tower in time? Will Yuichiro finally tell us what’s going on? And will Meiru’s hair ever grow back? Stay tuned for part 2.

[wynnyfryd]

AO3 first lines

rules: post the first lines of your 10 most recently published AO3 stories. if you have less than 10 fics posted, post the first lines of all your fics.

a masterpiece of art, it’s true | yogi steve x adhd eddie pt 3, M, 3k

In the three minutes it takes them to get from the couch to Steve’s bedroom, Eddie seems to remember that he’s completely worn out from the combination of whiskey and coming so sweetly all over Steve’s tongue. Steve licks his lips, savors the evidence still lingering in his mouth, and tries not to look too over the moon when Eddie flops back onto his mattress with an exhausted huff.

stupid fucking star stuff | stardust au, M, 3.4k (in progress)

“Munson, stop tongue-fucking my merch displays,” Guy scolds him, shoving Eddie away from the glass he’s been drooling over. His beloved is laid out inside the case, lit up from behind like some fair maiden sleeping in a mystical wood, just waiting for her one true love to come and plant some sick riffs on her gleaming body.

“I’d be so good to you, baby,” Eddie whispers to the guitar, fingertips trailing over the glass lid.

relax (that’s that) | yogi steve x adhd eddie pt 2, E, 2.6k

The bats are choking him. One of the stupid little fuckers has its tail around his throat, and three more curl around his thrashing limbs, sinking their teeth into the soft flesh of his belly, gnawing their way through to the good bits, the muscle and sinew and his fucking intestines and—

“—Eddie!” Steve shouts, shaking his shoulders with his big warm hands

relax (lay back) | yogi steve x adhd eddie pt 1, E, 12k

“Eddie!” Steve calls out playfully as he weaves his way through the rows of mats, surveying the class’s posture. “Get those buns out of the air, come on, now.”

So yeah, becoming weirdly close friends with his former sort-of nemesis turned yoga instructor crush in the wake of surviving unspeakable evils together is, uh…

It’s going horribly.

TITS! magazine | exactly what the title says lmao, E, 11.8k

Now, this is a story all about how

My life got flipped turned upside down

And I'd like to take a minute

Just sit right there

I'll tell you how I came on the tits of a guy with great hair

No Son of Mine | hurt-comfort, M, 4.4k

I seen those boys kissing boys

Open-mouth in the street

But I raised my son to be a righteous man

I made it clear to him what fear of God means

The path we walk is only narrow and straight

No son of mine will wander astray

- Desert, Brand New

Steve shows up at Eddie’s door at 8:46pm.

i’ll stop the world and freeze with you | ice skating drabble, G, 617

Eddie flounders, arms flailing as his feet slip out from under him for the fourth time, and he lands chin first on the scuffed-up ice with a hard thud.

The Great Scavenger Hunt of 1986 | christmas fluff, T, 7.9k

“Steve,” Dustin calls as he skids into the Harrington kitchen on Christmas Eve Eve with his muddy shoes still on.

babysitters and book signings | famous author eddie au, G, 4.4k

Eddie’s not staring. The man currently shepherding a gaggle of college kids up to his booth is tall and blond and tan with wire glasses perched on his freckled nose and biceps that threaten to burst right out of his silly striped polo shirt, and Eddie is a professional who meets thousands of fans at conventions every year and he’s. not. staring.

patience is a virtue | edging pwp, E, 1.7k

Steve’s gonna fucking die. He’s close to planning his funeral arrangements at this point, absently running through a list of florists and pianists he might still know from his church days, desperate for a distraction because—

“Keep your hips still, sweetheart,” Eddie chides, forearm like a crowbar over Steve’s jolting hips as he pins him down again.

thank you for the tag @infinite-orangepeel 💜 tagging @gorgeousgreymatter-x @steddielations @aidaronan and anyone else who wants to play

[myhughniverse]

World Music Awards - via social media - "Happy Birthday to the gorgeous chart-topping, history making, top-selling Singer, Actress, Fashionista, Global Icon and Legend, the One & Only Kylie Minogue!

Kylie Minogue is the best-selling Australian Female Recording-Artist of All Time, with record sales of over 80 Million! Time named her one of the most influential people in the world! Kylie became famous starring in the Australian Soap Opera 'Neighbours' from 1986-88! She began her music career in the late 80's, becoming hugely popular after releasing 4 very successful dance/pop albums via PWL, and scored several top ten singles in Australia and the UK, including with the hits "The Loco-Motion", "I Should Be So Lucky", "Especially for You", "Hand on Your Heart" and "Better the Devil You Know". In 1993 Kylie signed with Deconstruction Records and released the albums 'Kylie Minogue' (1994) and 'Impossible Princess' (1997). In 1999, she released the #1 hits "Spinning Around" and "On a Night Like This". 'Fever' (2001) became her best-selling album to date, spawning the smash hit "Can't Get You Out of My Head" which she performed at the 2002 World Music Awards! It became one of the most played, top-selling singles of the 2000s, with over 5 million units sold. "In Your Eyes" and "Love at First Sight" were also huge hits! Kylie continued to release global hits including "Slow", "I Believe in You", "2 Hearts" and "All the Lovers". In 2023, Kylie made a huge comeback with the critically acclaimed and hugely successful album 'Tension' which debuted at #1 in Australia and the UK. With its lead single, "Padam Padam", she became the only female artist to achieve a UK top 1O hit from the 1980s to the 2020s. The single won her an ARIA Award for Best Pop Release and a Grammy Award for Best Pop Dance Recording. In November 2023, Kylie embarked on a concert residency, 'More Than Just a Residency', at The Venetian in Las Vegas. The show sold out within minutes. Kylie is also a very talented actress having starred in 'The Delinquents' (1989), 'Street Fighter' (1994), 'Moulin Rouge!' (2001), 'Holy Motors' (2012) and 'San Andreas' (2015). She is also a big TV star, appearing as a judge on The Voice UK and The Voice Australia in 2014. Her other ventures include product endorsements, books, perfumes, charitable work and a wine brand. Kylie's Awards include 2 Grammys, 2 MTV Video Music Awards, 3 World Music Awards, 3 MTV Europe Music Awards, 4 Brit Awards including the Global Icon Award in 2024, 6 Mo Awards and 18 ARIA Music Awards! In August 2004, she held the record for the most #1 singles in the ARIA singles chart (9)! In January 2011, she received a Guinness World Record for the most consecutive decades with top 5 albums in the UK! In February 2011, she made history charting 2 songs in the top 3 on the U.S. Dance Club Songs chart, with "Better than Today" at #1 and "Higher" at #3! In June 2012, the UK Official Charts Company named her the 12th best-selling singer of All Time, and the 3rd best-selling female artist, with over 10 Million singles sold! In December 2016, Billboard ranked her the 18th most successful dance artist of all time, honouring her with the Women in Music's Icon Award earlier this year. In November 2020, she became the only female artist to reach #1 on the UK Albums Chart in five consecutive decades! In 2007, Kylie became the 1st Female to receive a Music Industry Trust award for her 20-year career, hailed 'an icon of pop and style'! In July 2008, she was invested by Charles III as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and in January 2019, she was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia. Kylie is an ARIA Hall of Fame inductee, a Chevalier (knight) of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and an honorary Doctor of Health Science

[myloveforhergoeson]

top 3 iconic roxy moments

ahh omg this is so hard!

the first thing that popped into my mind was a scene at the end of the 21st chapter (big time fans) where she gives one of her old songs to jenny tinkler and her new band. it's not particularly groundbreaking by any means but i think after learning about her musical past, how often she doesn't really share her writing, and the whole mess they'd gone through trying to help jenny become famous that day, i just think it's a sweet moment between her and a side character. obviously the main focus is her and the band, but i think it was a tender display of affection that shows writing to her is more than a job :)

i also really love the scenes in chapter 16 (big time fever) where roxy has some pretty intense moments of anxiety surrounding her dad and all the things her mind concocted that could have affected him because she was living in Hollywood. while not really 'iconic' in the sense of the word, i think btrtv missed out on homesickness as a person instead of homesickness as a place. we really never see their parents, and roxy's dad is like her number one, so having a few scenes as a reminder of that were important for me as a writer and stand out when i think about roxy and her character :)

i'm doing my best not to make this 'top 3 iconic rames moments' but more recently in the story, i think there's a lot to be said about roxy and her growing levels of confidence now that she isn't so focused on dealing with her emotions and getting into a relationship lmao. while that's not really a good way to phrase it, she's definitely changing. one of the big things for her now is learning to be more open about what's going on in her head, especially because she now has someone to rely on in more than just a friendly way. in chapter 28 (five minutes to midnight) she takes james to the basement show and people keep coming up and asking her if she was ever in a band and it freaks her out quite a bit. james asks her about it and they have a moment of confrontation where she's like "ah, i don't want to talk about this!" but she's able to pivot what they were talking about into something she was okay with discussing. taking the conversation from one about her old band to one about the shows they played and how much she loved being on stage and sharing her art. i think that was an important moment that kind of marked her realizing she's able to control the narrative, talk about what she wants to talk about, and all that jazz. at least, that was big for me as a writer hehe - i need to be more careful about how i go about her conversations from now on :)

thank you so much for your question!! i tried to dig deep <3

ask me anything! save my life!

[all-or-nothing-baby]

15 QUESTIONS

thanks sm for my tags @greyhavenisback and @novemberhush ily both for the distraction! <3

1. ARE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? kind of. my middle name was the name of my dad's first partner (who was also my mum's good friend) who died. my mum and dad then ended up getting together after becoming close in their shared grief.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? about 4 minutes ago when i read something that moved me. i cry everyday, sometimes more than once. i'm highly emotional and there are always so many things around that can make me happy/sad/passionate/angry/moved etc.

3. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? yes, two, and they're amazing xp

4. DO YOU USE SARCASM? oH nO, nEveR! i don't usually tend to use it on here tbh, as when written it can be easily mistaken imo. but in meatspace? i'm so bad for it! i don't always understand when it's being used on me, though lol.

5. WHAT'S THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT SOMEONE? i think whether or not they have a spark? like, that certain twinkle in their eye that tells me that they get it, that they're aware of the fact we're in it together; this very weird journey we are all on that we collectively call life—if any of that makes any sense?

6. WHAT'S YOUR EYE COLOUR? blue-grey-green.

7. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? scary movies! love me some horror. psychological and supernatural themes are my jam.

8. ANY SPECIAL TALENTS? i can play the william tell overture on my teeth with my fingernails, does that count?

9. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? blackpool, the UK's most famous seaside town. there was a murder-mystery musical TV show made about it staring david tennant! it's situated in the dreary north-west of england.

10. WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES? making art, reading and writing fiction and poetry, cinema, playing guitar/singing, making mixtapes, horror movies, getting obsessed over TV blorbos, looking at the inside of other people's houses on rightmove.com lol.

11. DO YOU HAVE ANY PETS? yes, four cats! two are pretty ferel tbh: an older all-black beauty and a tortoise shell rough'n'ready bruiser who only really come indoors to eat, or to sleep when it's raining outside. the other two are the complete opposite and are real homebodies, more often in—lounging around the place and demanding milk and treats—than out and about. one is black and white and an absolute whore for cuddles, the other is a tabby that everyone mistakes for a pure breed bc he looks like he is tbh, even tho he's a little 100% mongrel beastie! love them all.

12. WHAT SPORTS DO YOU PLAY/HAVE YOU PLAYED? none, now. i used to complete in running competitions as a kid but my body is now broken with hEDS so. no can do anymore.

13. HOW TALL ARE YOU? 5'2". short king.

14. FAVOURITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL? art and english.

15. DREAM JOB? would be something i'm good at and fully capable of within my many limitations, in a dream society that sadly doesn't exist.

tagging, play or nay: @petrichoravellichor @rauko-is-a-free-elf @aloha-cowgirl @crack--attack @shealynn88 @sharkfish @slytherkins @jmeelee @wulfnerd @raisesomehale @halinski @rajalagang @ohhalefire @blue-eyedbeta @demonlandline @deklo @catboynecromancy @princecharmingwinks @radio-chatter @jimmypricegf @harrgrove @lovebillyhargrove @witchsickness @thisgirlsays22 @ltleflrt @kikiroo

[nysocboy]

Asteroid City: Bleak play-within-a-play-within-a-play, with one teensy gay kiss and a lot of Ionesco

Movie night was Asteroid City (2023), which I thought would be about atomic testing in Nevada in the 1950s.  Instead, I was watching the Theater of the Absurd.  Maybe Ionesco, where your mother turns into a giraffe and offers you brownies,  or a Monte Python episode where one sketch bleeds into another, so Vikings are suddenly talking to the Minister of Finance about the hippodrome tariff. 

As far as I can tell, there are two plays with plays.

1. In an old-fashioned black and white tv studio, a narrator tells us that what we are witnessing is a story, not real. The curtain opens to reveal:

2. The Playwright (Edward Norton) auditioning an actor for the lead in his play (Jason Schwartzman), who brings him ice cream, changes into a different costume, and delivers a nonsequiter monologue.  

They kiss..  But don't get excited: it's in the distance, and never referenced again, while there are three or four heterosexual romances coming up. We cut to the main story:

A lot of people arrive for the Junior Stargazers' Convention in Asteroid City, Nevada , where an asteroid crashed to Earth (they mean a meteor).  During the opening speeches, an alien descends from a spaceship and grabs the asteroid.  Everyone is put under quarantine, while the government tries to convince them that nothing happened.  After a week, the government is about to lift the quarantine, but the alien returns and gives the asteroid back.  The quarantine is on, but everyone riots, and the next day they are gone.  Maybe it was all a dream.

While all this is going on, there are several soap opera stories.  Steinbeck (Jason Schwartzman again, I think) arrives with his son and three young daughters.  He was going to leave the son and go on to his wealthy father-in-law's house to bury his wife's ashes, but his car broke down.  During the quarantine his three daughters, who are witches, bury the ashes in the desert and perform a spell to resurrect her.  She isn't actually resurrected, but she apparently appears in a flashback or flash-sideways scene.

I figured that Steinbeck must be the famous novelist and nude model, who was active in Hollywood at the time, so I went scurrying to wikipedia for his biography.  It doesn't match.

Steinbeck falls in love with the famous actress in cabin next door.  Mostly they gaze at each other morosely for interminable minutes and say nonsequiters, but -- grossness alert -- she takes off all her clothes, top and bottom  both. 

Meanwhile his son  Woodrow (Jake Ryan), a 40-year old playing 14, falls in love with her daughter.

And someone, I don't know who, buys a parcel of land out of a vending machine.

And a Dad and son have to live in a tent, because their cabin burned down.

Eventually the story spills out into the playwright's world (where we find out that he died in an auto accident), and then to the studio. Along the way there are several nonsequiter scenes that don't fit anywhere. 

1. An actress on a train receives a note apologizing and saying they work well together.  Woodrow, the boy delivering the note, spends the night with her.

2. A woman tells a guy who lives on sound stages that she wants a divorce; they kiss.

3. A man says he needs some air ("You won't get it -- it's all soundstages") goes out onto the balcony of a soundstage street, where he interacts with the woman on the balcony of the sound stage next door. They stare at each other morosely and say nonsequiters.

4. A lot of people in various situations tell us: "You can't wake up if you don't fall asleep," over and over until it becomes painful.

Maybe our takeaway is that life is meaningless, so art should be, too. 

The full review, with more non sequiters and a lot of nude photos, is on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends

[mysterybooks-world]

fan fiction & fan art always decided on Jack Spicer's story

But what about Jack himself?

Doesn't he have the right to decide?

I mean what is Jack's personal opinion or feeling on this matter of his life

I'm with Jack Tell him and Show him about this

He became mad at these people and their thoughts about him.

Here's what Jack says

Jack: Are you kidding me? What is your problem people?

Firstly: I didn't dye my hair This is my natural color is red.

secondly: For your information (Some people naturally have white teeth and others have slightly yellow or beige teeth) that is Real information

so my teeth are normal color.

thirdly: My skin color is white so Why are some of your drawings about me with a different skin tone? huh

Fourthly: Why do your stories about me make me more miserable? tragic unhappy. wretched. afflicted. agonized. hurting. I am Murderous, crazy, or I kill myself

Or make me The good side.

I know I'm lonely but this is too much.

Fifthly:I'm not Transgender I am him or he

a boy & male.

Don't forget that.

Sixthly: The thing that's really crazy about me is the ships

Why are you making me love Chase Young this way?

okay, it might seem that way but Chase Young is just my hero in evil

You know like when you meet your idol, actor or singer.

I mean do you know his age?

he is over 1,500 years old.

I am with Wuya Are you crazy?

She's like my teacher or my grandmother And her age

A 1500-year-old Heylin witch.

Katnappé aka Ashley hates me and I hate her So it's impossible for us to be together.

I did speak to Le Mime Only twice Season: 1 Episode: 2 (Like a Rock!) Season: 3 Episode 13(Time After Time: Part 2)

I don't even know anything about him, just a mime from France who had magical abilities.

As for Vlad A thousand no

Gigi Only sees me as his servant or his pet.

Shadow (Xiaolin Chronicles)

She literally part of Chase Young, this is very strange.

the wors is another part with the Monks.

Omi Just a kid

somewhere between the ages of 8-10 (Season 1 start) and somewhere between 10-12 (Season 3 end).

I'm like his big brother figure

Raimundo and Clay are nothing for me

as for Kimiko Yes, she is cute but She has anger problems And I'm not her type.

And the another ships From different dimensions

Blossom Utonium (Powerpuff Girls)cartoon.

Princess Morbucks (Powerpuff Girls)cartoon.

Betty Barrett from (Atomic Betty) cartoon.

Tom Lucitor from (Star vs. the Forces of Evil) cartoon.

Hunter from (The Owl House) cartoon.

Red Son from (Monkey kid) cartoon.

I don't know these people

And did anyone ask me if I was gay or Bisexual.

I may be asexual.

What about you guys.

me with The reader or me with your oc Character and I don't know whether I should feel happy that I am famous or uncomfortable They interfere with my privacy.

Jack: <Especially if your story have +18 0r s##>

Me say toJack: Welcome to the tumblr sexyman club While you are there Can you Send my regards to sans, bendy, freddy,huggy wuggy, wally darling And to the new member tadc jax from (the amazing digital circus)

Jack looked at me with an insanely angry look

I want a lawyer To stop this stupidity.

I'm tired of you all

I will go on long vacation with myster and Ye

Good day Wait a minute, I mean Bad day

Jack got sick of you all and comes out of the rooms.

Me: I don't blame Jack

I mean, I like drawings of Jack, but It better be original and Classic

I mean let Jack be Jack

True, we make him an amazing Jack, or his story is a sad Jack, or he becomes a good Jack

Ye: What did I miss? I didn't pay attention to the conversation I was enjoying ice cream Taste.

Me: Pack your bags We're going on vacation with Jack.