#ALSO THE FILTER IS SOOO PRETTY!!!!!!!!

[merry-andrews]

OH MY GOSH IT'S THE PRETTIEST GIF EVER!!!!!!!! @vergeltvng I LOVE YOUUUU!!!!!😭😭😭💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗 IT'S SOOOO GORGEOUS AND LOVELY AND GGGRRRRRRR SO SO PRECIOUS!!!!! I ADORE IT WITH ALL MY HEART!!! OH MY GOD I DON'T DESERVE SUCH A CUTE GIFT!!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!😭😭😭😭🥺🥺💗💜💗💜💗💜💗💜💗💜💗💜💗💜💗💜

I'm the upgrade. @homelander-rp-blog

[myapathyhaspeaked]

hey are the sides bedrooms that we see in the plushy video the same kind of room we see in the accepting anxiety and nostalgia episodes and theyre there because thomas is asleep or are they a separate thing entirely

[brairslair]

more smutty scenarios for monster trio x fem!reader

EVERYONE IS 18+ (minors please dni !)

a/n: sooo, i elaborated… switched it up a little from the original idea but basically just how i think some sleepy sex scenarios w the op men would go (please bear with me i wrote this while sleep deprived and have not touched it since)

don’t forget to like, reblog, and comment to support my work! mwah <3

“good morning”

luffy

wakes up with his arms wrapped around you, head in your chest, knees brushing yours

his head is all fuzzy with sleep, and you’re scent is surrounding him like a warm blanket

he’s already smiling all dopey and sleepy before he even opens his eyes

just bc he knows you’ll be there when he does

when you’re eyes flutter open he can’t help but stare at you

and maybe you have a little drool at the corner of your mouth, and maybe your hair looks like a total mess, but he couldn’t care less

he thinks you look so beautiful and sweet the way you’re looking at him, and then when you yawn out a soft “good morning” he can’t help but kiss you

because he can’t keep his hands (or his mouth in this instance) off of you for more than like 5 minutes max

he kisses soft little sweet pecks to your lips over and over until you’re both giggling, and he’s kissing all over your face

he’ll genuinely kiss every single inch of your face until he winds up back at your lips

except this time his kisses aren’t little sweet pecks

they’re still gentle and slow, but so much deeper

and then he’s slipping his tongue into your mouth and you guys are fully making out

his hands are slowly roaming up and down the sides of your body

luffy is usually pretty fast paced and straight to the point, so you only really get him at this speed when he’s tired ^^

things will get heated pretty quickly, languid, sloppy kisses paired with you hooking a leg around his waist

he’d firmly grab at your hip, bringing you down against his rapidly growing erection at a steady and slow rhythm, both of you still in your underwear

he’d be so gentle and tender about it

not wanting it to be too much for you

you stay curled up against each other on your side, invading each others space in the beat way

he loves being so close to your face

being able to watch you so closely as your lips part and your eyebrows furrow

he’s all smiley and fucked out already and you’ve barely done anything

but you’re so warm, and you’re soft little whimpers are so pretty, and you feel so good rubbing against him

his arm is wrapped around you, pulling you as close to him as possible, because he just wants to feel all of you

hand under the thin material of your t-shirt, cool against your warmed skin, he flips you so that you’re straddling him

and he’s still moving your hips to grind against him as he lives on you

his already blunt nature would increase tenfold, because he has absolutely no filter when he’s sleepy

he would also be mumbling and slurring his words because talking is too much effort

“feel s’good”

“lips are sooo soft”

“wanna cum together, can y’do that?”

he’ll absolutely melt if you rest your hand on his cheek or his jaw while you let him make you feel good

and he loves it if you litter sleepy kisses on his face and neck

loves when you get all mushy and melt into him, trusting him to take care of you

his hairs a mess, and his voice is scratchy with sleep, and his chest is warm against yours

his eyes stare at you like you built the earth from the ground up

your body feels like a live wire just from the intensity behind his gaze alone

he would just continue to gently manhandle you until you both cum in your underwear together, panting and whining soft little moans into each others mouths and grasping at each other like a lifeline

“good morning”

gets super energized and bubbly like 10 minutes after

probably walks to breakfast shirtless, hair still a mess, and the biggest grin on his face, dragging you along while your kiss bitten lips are still red

everyone knows

zoro

let’s be real, zoro’s always a little sleepy

like 85% of the time he just wants to take a nap

and sometimes his desire to sleep does not line up well with your needs

you’d find him laying down with his arms crossed, clearly trying to get some shut eye after a training session

but you’ve been waiting all day to get him alone

and watching him train does not help with your desires

but now the stars are out, and everyone else has gone off to bed, and you just wan’t the uncomfortable ache to go away

so you curl up beside him, his arm instinctively wrapping around you because he has your body committed to memory

an eye pops open to look at you anyway

he doesn’t say anything, giving you the space to use as you please

he knows you want something the second he looks at you

the way you smile up at him all coy and fiddle your fingers against his chest

“hi”

“hi”

…

you lay there in silence for a while after that, and he closes his eyes again

then you start kissing him

sweet little pecks across his chest, up his collarbone, his neck, his jaw, his cheek, making your way to his lips-

“did you want to ask me something?”

he’s very straight forward and to the point, and he doesn’t want you to beat around the bush if you have something you want to say

but then your hiding your face in his chest, core pressing ever so subtly against his thigh

and of course he notices, because he’s in tune with every little thing about you

“ohhh, i see. is that what this is about?”

he presses his thigh harder against your clothed cunt, almost like a test, reveling in the little whimper it pulls from your lips

he loves being right, especially when it comes to how well he knows you

he would compete in a trivia all about you if he could and he would probably win by a landslide

he’d reach his hand down, so close to where you need him, but not yet giving you what you want

he likes teasing you and getting you all whiny and eager

“want me to take care of this for you?”

“please-“

no matter how tired he is, he’ll always take care of you when you need him

especially when you ask so nicely

besides, the fact that you’re needy for him is enough to make him a little wound up himself

if he’s really tired he’ll let you ride his thigh, helping your hips move back and forth at a lazy pace

“is that better? does that feel good, hm?”

“thats it, just keep going like that”

“just get yourself there, sweetheart”

“doing such a good job”

but sometimes he’ll even let you ride his dick, relaxing into the pleasure and watching the view as you chase your release

“slow down, sweetheart, it’s not a race”

“yeah, shit- nice and easy, just like that”

“i know, honey, you’re so close”

he’ll leave lazy kisses all across your collar bone and your shoulder, and soothing strokes of his thumb on your hips

eyes lidded and tired

when you’re hips start to stutter and it all feels like too much, he will not let up no matter how tired he is

because all he wants is to make you feel better

and he loves watching you slowly unravel

he’ll grind your hips himself when it all becomes too much, pulling you down harder and watching in awe as you come undone on top of him

definitely a good relaxer before bed

gets both of you warm and fuzzy and ready to fall asleep wrapped up in each other

sanji

you’re already in bed and half asleep when sanji comes in

he curls up into your back, moving your hair aside to leave delicate kisses up your should and neck, landing at the sweet spot behind tour jaw

the action makes you stir, whining a little and shuffling around, a little fruatrated at being woken up

“hello, my darling.”

he greets between kisses, working at your sweet spot until you let out another pretty whine

his hips twitch involuntarily into your ass, and you come to your senses a little bit when you feel how painfully hard he is

“sanji, it’s too late for this”

you go to turn and look at him but he hold you in place

“no need to move, dove. you don’t have to do anything at all”

“just relax, i’ll do all the work”

“just need to be inside you so badly, mon amour”

“please let me feel you”

his desperate words, whiny tone, and sweet kisses are all more than enough to make your panties damp

he’ll pull your panties to the side under your night dress, holding you close to his chest as he slowly eases himself inside you

his mouth presses tender kisses right under your ear, allowing you to hear all of his pretty noises loud and clear

he’s absolutely desperate, having watched you walk around in a pretty little dress all day

his hips move almost on their own, needily rutting into you from behind with strings of “thank you”s flowing from his lips

of course now you’re really needy too

“shit- harder. need it, please-“

and his hips are pressing into you harder before you can even finish your sentence

he can’t last very long, because you’re squeezing him so well, and your so warm and wet, and he’s practically trembling with pleasure from being on edge all day

but he wants to feel you cum first

so he brings he fingers down to gently swirl against your clit, coaxing you towards the edge

“i’m so close, my love”

“you feel so amazing”

“want to feel you cum around me. will you let me feel you, angel?”

“please cum for me, darling”

so you do, and he follows suit seconds after you, eyes rolling back into his skull as he buries his face in your neck

asks open!

[starlightkun]

⏯ word count: 13.7k ⏯ genre: band au, punk band frontman!shotaro, venue manager!reader, shotaro is whipped, reader is emotionally unavailable, is it a slowish burn or is it angst?, whatever it is ur reading a starlightkun fic so there’s a happy ending :), ft. eunseok/sungchan/wonbin as shotaro’s bandmates welcome back boys & wayv as reader’s coworkers ⏯ warnings: some blood/violence (shotaro gets punched once), not necessarily a warning but since i do generally avoid describing the reader’s appearance in my fics, i wanted to give a heads up—reader works at a punk/alternative concert venue and is generally in/around that scene. reader is mentioned and/or implied to have some tattoos and piercings (other than earlobes) ⏯ extra info: set in the same universe as filler episodes, but u don’t need to read that in order to understand this one, filler eps!sungchan and sugarcoated!shotaro r just in the same band! also the title is from a 5sos song lol ⏯ author’s note: sooo after writing filler episodes and experiencing bbb/lucky shotaro, i couldn’t get punk band frontman shotaro out of my head… i fear the trajectory of my life has been altered ⏯ now playing… empty wallets – 5 seconds of summer | apathy is boring – bears in trees | dreaming girl – xdinary heroes

“You’re not stupid. I know you’re not.” He stood up, stepping closer to you. “You always stop yourself right before… I’m sure you think you’re not leading me on or whatever, but I know you know how stupidly head over heels I am for you, because I don’t try to hide it.”

Flipping through your keyring, you selected the right key by touch in order to unlock the rear entrance to the venue. Despite the sweltering summer heat outside, the basement was cool as always. You flipped the AC and lights on as you disabled the alarm that wasn’t actually connected to a security company, then descended the stairs. Venue:Hell, your home away from home. Actually, you were pretty sure you spent more time here than your apartment some weeks.

Your phone buzzed with a text as you crossed the threshold into the back office, and you opened it as you flopped into the creaky office chair.

[kun: attached image]

[kun: new schedule for the month. y/n, don’t forget that you’re covering the new weekly act starting today]

It was your manager, and you read over the list of events for this week with mild interest. The two of you had already discussed that you’d be taking over being point with Venue:Hell’s weekly spot. The venue had a recurring local act come in every week to perform, typically a smaller artist, to help them build a base among your regulars. These guys had recently opened for one of your previous weekly acts on a national tour and your manager liked them enough to ask them to fill in the weekly spot when the tour made a stop here. You’d had that particular night off, so this was going to be your first time meeting the band.

As you went through your usual opening checklist, other employees filtered in, starting on their tasks. The venue usually provided all the staff and equipment for the weekly act. They just needed to show up and perform.

You were with your sound guy Yangyang by his equipment when you heard your name being called from elsewhere in the building.

“Yeah?” You yelled back, walking out from behind the curtain to look around for whoever it was.

Ten, who worked the front, was approaching with four guys in tow, instrument cases in hand. Must be the new band.

“New weekly is here!” He called out.

You hopped down off the stage to meet them on the main floor. “You guys are early.”

The band looked at each other, obviously worried. One that had a guitar case on his back spoke up uncertainly, “Is that a problem? We weren’t sure—”

“No, it’s fine. I’m pretty sure it’s a first, though,” you snickered.

“You got them?” Ten asked you. “Kunhang said he needed help.”

“Go for it,” you nodded, dismissing your coworker from the group.

Looking back at the four guys that you were left with, you started your spiel. “So, I’m Y/N, assistant manager at Venue:Hell. If you ever have any questions, need anything, let me know. I’m sure Kun already explained how our weekly spot works, but you guys will perform here every Thursday at 10:00 and have a forty-five-minute slot. It’s not exactly primetime, but it’s consistent and we have a good pool of regulars. You’ll also have priority for inclusion on lineups for any special events we host. If your weekly slot ever needs to be moved or canceled, we’ll give you as much of a heads-up as we can, but sometimes it will be very last-minute. If you ever need to miss a week, we ask the same from you, tell us as soon as possible. Make sense?”

You got four hasty nods in return.

“Great, let me show you to your green room.” Just as you were about to turn around and head off, you realized something. “Ah shit, I completely forgot to ask your name. Sorry.”

The guitarist that had spoken earlier offered you a big smile. His ears were adorned with metal, and you spotted some jewelry glinting from his nose, lip, and eyebrow too. His hair sort of reminded you of a dalmatian, a light blonde base with spots of dark black streaking through it. Overall, fit right in with the scene, except for his smile, which seemed to be made of sunshine and rainbows or something cheesy like that. You swore you needed sunglasses just looking at him.

“I’m Osaki Shotaro, uh, guitar, and I sing!” He informed you cheerily. “It’s really nice to meet you.”

“Jung Sungchan, drums,” the tallest one nodded. “And our band is called Roses for Eyes, by the way. Since Taro here forget to mention that.”

He slapped his friend on the shoulder, making Shotaro wince.

“Right…” Shotaro rubbed his neck. “You-You can also call me Taro, too, by the way. Everyone does. Like boba tea!”

“Cool.” You nodded, looking at the other two expectantly.

“Eunseok, I’m the bassist,” another introduced himself. “Sing a bit, I guess.”

The last one, with dark black hair save for a single hot pink streak in his bangs, gave a small wave. “Park Wonbin. Guitar and I sing too.”

“I like the pink,” you commented, then pivoted on your heel. “Okay, I’ll show you your green room.”

“So what do you think?” Yangyang asked you as he fiddled with his equipment, and you helped him go over his checklists.

“I think it sounds fine,” you replied, checking that step off.

“I meant about the new weekly.”

“Oh, they seem fine,” you shrugged. “You worked the night they were here last time, right? What did you think?”

“Their sound’s good.”

“And Kun obviously liked them.”

“Do you think they’ll be a pain to work with?”

“Hm?” You thought on your sparse interactions with the members of Roses for Eyes, the introductions, and then Shotaro had asked you where the restroom was. “No, I think they’ll be fine. I don’t know, Yang, it hasn’t even been their first day. There’s time yet for them to turn into assholes.”

Footsteps approaching made you glance over your shoulder. It was the drummer… Sungchan, you were pretty sure. He seemed to be heading straight for you, and you looked at him with your eyebrows raised.

“Do you need something?” You asked him expectantly, listening to Yangyang call out that the next step was clear.

“Not me, but yes,” he answered sheepishly.

You held his eye contact, arching an eyebrow.

“It’s Taro,” the drummer continued. “He’s good, I just wanted to give you a heads-up that he kind of uhm, loses things a lot? Especially his in-ears.”

“Has he lost them already?” You checked your watch. “Your soundcheck is in five minutes.”

“Yeah…”

You sighed and held the clipboard out towards Yangyang, “You got this?”

He saluted you, “Yes, ma’am.”

You turned back to Sungchan, “Where’s the last place he saw them?”

“I told Sungchan not to tell you, I’m sorry,” Shotaro apologized as the two of you retraced his steps starting from the van they had arrived in.

“I told you guys—If you need anything, let me know,” you grunted, climbing over a spare amp in the back to look under the seats.

“This is just so embarrassing,” he complained, rifling through the glovebox.

“Hey, it’s your first performance as our new weekly, it’d be weirder if it went over perfectly.”

“I meant you having to search through our nasty van with me for them. Just being a few minutes late to soundcheck, I could deal.”

“It’s fine, Shotaro, I’ve done worse, promise.”

His big eyes peered at you inquisitively over the headrests of the front seats. “Like what?”

“I think we’ve scoured every inch of the inside of this thing,” you declared, wiping sweat off your brow with the hem of your shirt. “Have you checked under it?”

Shotaro was still staring at you.

“I’ll look.” You sighed and hopped out of the back of the van.

“No, I’ve got it!” He suddenly scrambled into action, dropping to his hands and knees on the gravel next to the vehicle to scour the ground underneath it.

You, meanwhile, kept your eyes peeled for the immediate vicinity of the parking lot around it. Finally, off in the direction towards the building next door, something caught your eye. You wandered over, picking up a square, black case. Flipping it open, sure enough, there was a pair of in-ears, one bright green and the other bright purple.

Walking back over to the van, you stopped next to the guitarist, who was still looking under it. “Shotaro.”

“Huh?” Thunk. “Fuck!”

“Watch your head,” you said dryly as he carefully extricated himself from under the van this time. You shook the case at him. “These yours?”

He lit up as soon as he saw the equipment. “Yes! Oh my god! Where were they?”

“Over by the neighbors.” You jerked a thumb at the building.

“Ohhh, right! There was a cat over there that I took a picture of when we got here. Do you want to see it?” He was already digging around in his pocket for his phone.

“No. Focus.”

“Right.” He reached for the case, but you snatched them out of his grasp before he could touch it.

“I don’t think so.”

Shotaro’s face turned endearingly confused. “What?”

“We’re not doing this again,” you declared. “These are mine now. When they are not inside of your ears, they’re mine. You will come get them from me before every performance and return them to me as soon as you get off the stage. If you do not need to take them somewhere else before next week, they’ll stay here with me the whole time. Deal?”

“So, Sungchan mentioned this isn’t the first time I’ve lost them?”

“Uh-huh.”

He nodded enthusiastically. “Deal!”

Roses for Eyes wasn’t half bad, from the bits and pieces that you heard while you were running around doing other stuff. You could easily understand why your manager chose them for the weekly spot. Your regulars seemed to like them, too. They had an infectious energy, kept the crowd engaged, and had good chemistry with each other on stage. After the debacle with Shotaro’s in-ears, the rest of the performance went over relatively smoothly, then you just had an open bar and dance night until midnight to deal with. Easy.

It was Yangyang’s turn to have his playlist hooked up, so you were planning on mingling to get some feedback from your regulars on the new weekly.

“Y/N!” A voice yelled out your name from elsewhere backstage, and you turned around.

It was Shotaro running at you, his guitar slung over his back. You held out your hands both in a gesture for him to slow down, and also to protect yourself in case he crashed into you. He managed to skid to a stop just in time, breathless and with a wild smile.

He held his hand out towards you, something crumpled up in his fist. “Here!”

You opened up your palm, letting him drop two familiar neon objects into it. His in-ears. “Ah, right. Thank you for remembering.”

Taking out the case that you still had in your pocket, you tucked them away, snapping it shut again. “You’re sure you won’t need these again before next week?”

“No, we don’t have anything planned.”

“Well, if anything comes up, I’m here most days. I’ll keep them in the office, so if I’m not here, you can get them from Kun or someone else with a key.”

“So what uh, what did you think?” His teeth played with his lip ring nervously.

“About what?” You checked the time on your phone.

“You know, our set?”

“God, I told Yang during soundcheck that Wonbin’s mic should’ve been turned up, but he didn’t listen to me, so we could barely hear him. But we’ll fix that next week. Is the guy always so quiet?”

“Yeah, yeah, he is.” Shotaro was still looking at you expectantly.

“Did you need something else, Shotaro?” You asked. “I was going to go talk to some people.”

“No, uhm, sorry for keeping you.”

“It’s fine.” You patted his shoulder. “And hey, we’re open until midnight tonight. You guys are welcome to stay and hang out. Staff gets half off at the bar, that includes you.”

He nodded and flashed you another smile. “Cool, thanks, Y/N.”

The next week, you were in the back office when there was a knock on the slightly ajar door, and a familiar head poked in.

“Hi.” Shotaro beamed at you. “Kunhang said you were in here.”

“Hi, Shotaro.” You minimized the window that had been up on your screen as he wandered around to your side.

“What are you doing?”

“Payroll. Which you can’t see,” you informed him, opening the top right drawer of the desk.

“Oh. Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” You handed him his in-ear case that you had just retrieved. “Here you go.”

“Thanks.” He accepted the case, but didn’t leave the office.

“Do you guys need something else?”

“No, uhm, finish your work,” he started towards the door. “But I uhm, is that new? The septum piercing?”

You touched the ring absentmindedly. You’d gotten it done over the weekend, you’d forgotten that it was new by now. “Yeah, it is.”

“I like it. Looks good on you.”

Before you could even say thanks, he had darted from the office.

Done with the payroll, you went out to the main floor, taking down the stools from the few high-tops scattered around the perimeter and setting them up at the tables. Roses for Eyes were just starting their soundcheck, providing background music of the sounds of them tuning their instruments.

“Hey, Y/N,” Eunseok’s voice came over the speakers.

“Yeah?” You called back over your shoulder as you continued setting up.

“So, did you like our set last week? Anything we can do better?”

You swore you heard snickers, but when you turned around, they were all standing at attention. “Everyone generally liked your sound. Good music to dance to. But you need some more variety in your setlist. Have a vibe-shift or two. Show people you can do more. If you can.”

Sungchan laughed as he spun a stick around with his fingers. “Is that a challenge or what?”

You shrugged. “It’s only a challenge if it’s hard.”

They all erupted into incredulous laughter, and you couldn’t help but grin too, glad that they didn’t seem put-off by your comment. You were genuinely trying to give them advice, not put them down. The band returned to their soundcheck, and you went back to your own tasks. You figured they were done when you heard a long stretch of silence as you were doing inventory of your in-house merch behind the merch counter.

“Hi.” It was Shotaro again, peeking at you from over the counter as you squatted down to count the t-shirts stacked up down there.

“Hi, Shotaro.” You held up your hand expectantly, and he deposited his in-ear case onto it. You tucked it into your jacket pocket. “Thank you.”

“Need any help?”

“This isn’t your job,” you pointed out, tapping a few buttons on the tablet balanced on your knees.

“You’re really good at that.”

“Counting shirts?” You snorted. “I’d be a lot better if I wasn’t talking while I did it.”

He chuckled. “I meant not answering the question you’re asked.”

You looked up from the shirts at him. “Hmph.”

“Did you hate our set that much?”

“Why does it matter what I thought?” You asked him frankly.

“You’re still doing it.”

You took a closer look at what he was wearing today, a neon pink longsleeve under his black t-shirt. “Your shirt matches Wonbin’s hair. Cute.”

He looked down at his sleeves, pulling them over his hands. “Ah, yeah, I guess. Do you like it? I—Hey, wait a minute!”

You laughed to yourself as you stood back up. “If you really want me to answer your question… No, I don’t need any help. I’m done now. Thanks, though.”

After Roses for Eyes’ set, Shotaro didn’t even have to find you, you were waiting just off-stage. He couldn’t hide his surprise, eyes going wide. “Oh, Y/N! Hey!”

“Hi.” You held out your hand expectantly, the case already open atop it.

He stuffed the in-ears back into it. “Thanks.”

“Thank you.” You snapped it shut and pocketed it. “And good set. I’m glad I got to actually see it this time.”

His face lit up. “Wait you—Is that why—? Thanks! You really—?”

“Hey, Taro, come on, we got places to be,” Sungchan grabbed his arm. “You got your in-ears?”

You arched an eyebrow, taking the case back out from your pocket. “You need these?”

Sungchan shook his head as Shotaro took it back from you. “Thanks…”

“Don’t lose them before next week,” you warned.

“I won’t.” He beamed.

The next day, you were at the venue early putting up some new decorations when you swore you heard the back door open.

“Ten?” You yelled out. “That you?”

“No!” An entirely different voice called back, right as the owner had descended the stairs into your view, propping his silver sunglasses up on his dalmatian hair.

“Shotaro.” You tilted your head at him curiously. “Pretty sure I haven’t been here that long. It’s not Thursday yet.”

“Not quite.” He grinned as he set a familiar case on the counter that you were currently standing on to reach the ceiling. “I didn’t lose them.”

“I’m very proud of you.” You pointed in the direction of the back. “Office is unlocked, you can put them on the desk before you head out.”

“What are you doing?”

“Decorating. We’re doing a Y’allternative Night tonight.” You held up the paper cowboy boots that you were prepared to hang up. “It’s all deejayed, no live music or we would’ve offered you guys a slot, sorry.”

“Can I help?”

“You really want to help me decorate?”

“Yeah.”

You sighed, looking down at the stack of decorations on the counter, and the others haphazardly strewn on the stage. “Ten was supposed to help but he hasn’t shown…”

“Is that a yes?” He asked hopefully.

“I can’t pay you for this,” you warned.

“That’s fine!”

“Put your in-ears away first.”

“On it!” He grabbed them off the counter and dashed away.

“So how long have you been working here?” Shotaro asked you as the two of you worked to decorate the venue.

“Few years.” You handed him the next cutout. “Mm, to the right. Yeah, good, higher. There.”

Shotaro was easy to work with, attentive, loved even the smallest bit of praise, and followed directions incredibly well. Kinda like training a dog, you figured. Though, you’d never had a dog.

“How long have you been with your band?” You asked.

“Oh, I’ve known Sungchan since I was like, seven,” he explained, scooting with you along the counter. “I used to be taller than him, you know.”

You snorted at that, genuinely trying to picture little Sungchan and Shotaro, the latter just a smidge taller.

Shotaro was grinning as he continued, “We spent like every day after school in middle school playing Rock Band. Begged our parents for real instruments for Christmas in high school. Then Sungchan met Eunseok in gym class, and I met Wonbin in art. So I guess it’s been… almost ten years? At least since we took over Eunseok’s garage after school for our first band practice.”

“That’s cool,” you replied genuinely, handing him the last decoration. “I like hearing that sort of stuff from the acts that come through here. Everyone’s got such unique stories.”

“Uhm—” He cleared his throat. “Is this good? For the-the thing?”

You looked at where he was holding the paper lasso. “Ehh… Turn it to the left a little? …Perfect, tape it.”

Shotaro hopped down from the counter and the two of you stepped back to admire your handiwork.

“Not bad.” You held your hand up for a high-five, which he eagerly accepted. “Thanks, Shotaro.”

The back door was thrown open then, Ten yelling into the venue, “I’m here!”

“Finally,” you scoffed.

“Sorry, sorry, I had to take Louis to the doctor,” your coworker rambled, obviously flustered as he rushed in. “Stupid asshole ate my charging cable.”

“His cat,” you informed Shotaro quietly, taking in the guitarist’s concerned look. Turning back to Ten, you asked, “Is he okay?”

“Yeah, one super expensive vet trip later, he’s fine, of course.” Ten seemed to notice Shotaro then. “Oh, hey, Taro. Are you guys performing tonight?”

“He was just dropping off some equipment and was nice enough to help me with the decorations,” you explained. “Speaking of—You remembered to pick them up on your way in, right?”

He pointed over his shoulder to the back entrance. “Yes, they’re in my car, will you help me with them?”

“I think we’ve got it from here, Shotaro, thanks again—”

“Uhm, do you remember how long it took last time?” Ten interrupted you pointedly.

You sighed ruefully, recalling very well. Clasping your hands together in front of you, you turned to the frontman, “If you’re not busy, would you mind helping us fill hundreds of balloons and also assemble a few cardboard cutouts? Please?”

Only one person could operate the balloon inflating machine at a time. One person would fill them with helium, then hand them off to another to tie them and release them to float up to the ceiling. Getting them back down would be hell. The third person was wrangling the custom-ordered cardboard cutouts out of the packaging and assembling them. That person was of course you. You had lost the rock-paper-scissors, and never had it in you to just pull rank when it came to this kind of stuff.

“What the hell?” You muttered, trying to cut the package open for the third time, barely crinkling the tape instead. Yanking on it, you cursed, “I swear this fucking tape is made of fucking Kevlar! What the fuck?!”

“Let me try?” Shotaro offered, abandoning his post tying balloons to join you. You huffed and let him gently take the box cutter from your hand, moving over to grant him access to the end of the box that you were struggling with.

“It’s probably that box cutter! Blade’s too dull!” Ten called out as he continued filling and tying balloons. “I think it’s older than Kun!”

Shotaro had just tried to slice upwards along the tape, but as soon as the box cutter hit resistance, it stopped, and his hand recoiled with the force. His fingers flew back down along the blade, and he dropped both it and the box immediately, letting out a long string of curses.

As soon as you saw the red welling up on his finger, you yelled out to Ten, “First aid kit!”

“Shit! Oh my god, you’re going to get fucking tetanus or something and die. Or lose your hand!” You panicked, latching onto Shotaro’s elbow. You dragged him into the nearest bathroom—the women’s room—and started running water in the sink. You yanked up his hoodie sleeves then yours, sticking both his hands under the stream. They were both bloody messes at this point.

Shotaro lit up as he looked at your inked forearms. “Cool tattoos, what—”

“So not the fucking time for a tattoo tour?!” You gestured to his own hands incredulously.

Ten brought the first aid kit in, and the women’s room that only had two stalls anyway was starting to feel cramped now.

“Go see if there’s any blood on the floor or something,” you shooed him out probably too harshly.

With him gone, you focused on washing and drying Shotaro’s uninjured hand before taking a look at the other. Only one of his fingers was cut, thankfully, but you knew the state that box cutter was in—old, rusty, and had probably never been cleaned once.

“I’ll be fine.” Shotaro was surprisingly calm as he watched you.

“You know there’s no cure for tetanus, right? Fuck, Kun’s going to kill me if our weekly can’t perform because I gave the frontman tetanus and he died.” You stressed.

“Oh, I thought you were just worried for me,” his voice was teasing, and if you hadn’t watched him injure himself and flinch in pain with your own two eyes, you would’ve wondered if he had any pain receptors, as he didn’t seem to be bothered whatsoever by you squirting soap onto the cut in that moment.

“Yeah, that too.”

“As an afterthought,” he snickered.

You pushed the shoulder of his uninjured hand. “Shut up and clean your cut.”

“Really, I’m touched.” He was still smirking as he obliged, gingerly running the tip of his thumb over the area to work the soap around the cut, the water finally running clear. You turned the sink off then grabbed paper towels and his hand, starting to dry the cut off. “Will it make you feel better if I tell you I’m upped on my tetanus booster?”

“Are you?”

He shrugged.

“Then no, that does not make me feel better,” you scoffed, inspecting the wound now that it was dry. On the bright side, the box cutter being as old and dull as it was meant that the cut wasn’t very deep. The bleeding had already stopped. As you went to grab the band-aids from the first-aid kit, you realized Shotaro was still watching you, this time with a funny smile on his face. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You’re always so… cool. In like this unreachable, detached way. Is it bad to say I’m kind of enjoying seeing you like this too?”

“Panicking and pissed off that you’re not taking tetanus serious enough?” You shot him an unamused look, ripping open a band-aid. “Yes, I’d say that’s a strange thing to enjoy.”

“Strange,” he repeated happily. “Not bad.”

“I suppose that is what I said.” You wrapped the band-aid around the cut. “There. All better. Unless you get tetanus and die.”

“I pinky promise I won’t get tetanus and die.” He held the pinky finger of his injured hand out to you.

You eyed his hand. “I super don’t think that’s how this works.”

Shotaro shook it more insistently. You sighed, linking your pinky with his. “If you get tetanus and die, I’m going to kill you.”

“I super don’t think that’s how that works.”

Thursday rolled around, and you were actually grateful when a spotted head of hair poked into the back office that evening.

“I’m alive!” Shotaro announced cheerily.

“So you are.” You smiled, taking out his in-ears from the desk drawer, as well as the brand-new bag of Sour Patch Kids you had tucked in there. “For you. I can’t pay you with money for helping out, but I really do appreciate it, Shotaro. And I’m sorry that you got injured helping me, too. If Sour Patch aren’t your thing, let me know what you do like and I’ll pick some up for you next week.”

Anybody else would’ve thought you’d just given him a handmade sweater the way he clutched the bag of candy to his chest and looked at you with big eyes. “These are my favorites! How—Did Sungchan tell you or something?”

“Took a wild guess.” You finished up the online order you were placing for restocking your in-house merch. “Also, do you guys have merch?”

“Huh?” Shotaro was looking right at you, but clearly hadn’t heard a word you’d said.

“Merch. Shirts, CDs, stuff for people to buy. Do you guys have any? We can keep it in stock here.”

He blinked, finally processing your question. “We sold out of all our shirts on tour… and we were talking about getting new designs the next time we got some made anyway. We’ve only got a few CDs left now. So… no…”

You clicked your tongue, logging out of the computer and standing up. “Well, whenever you get to it, we can keep them stocked here for you guys. Oh, and I know a few good artists who do that kind of stuff, if you’re looking for someone.”

As you talked, you had started ushering Shotaro out of the office, shutting the door behind you. He stopped in the narrow hallway outside it, made even more cramped by the cardboard boxes of miscellaneous props, merch, and decorations stored back here because you had run out of room in your actual storage closet. He was so close you were certain you could accurately count the piercings on his ears and face if you were patient enough. You tried to take a step back, only to hit your head on the office door that you had just closed.

“Fuck!” You hissed under your breath, clutching your head. “Shotaro, you mind? Don’t you have a soundcheck to do or something?”

“Sorry! Are you okay?” He winced sympathetically, still not moving away, if anything, getting closer as he tried to check on you. “That didn’t sound good—”

“I’m fine!” You insisted. “Soundcheck! Go do it!”

“Right!” He gave you a thumbs-up, then shook his giant bag of candy. “Thank you again!”

After he had sprinted away, you let out a relieved groan, leaning back against the door and looking up at the water-stained ceiling.

“Is that sanitary?” Eunseok’s voice announced Roses for Eyes’ arrival that particular afternoon, as you sat atop the bar counter, scrolling on your phone in one of your few moments of peace and quiet around Venue:Hell.

“Kiss my ass, Eunseok,” you replied without even looking up.

“Yeah, I’ll get in line,” he retorted, making Sungchan and Wonbin laugh.

That finally prompted you to slide your gaze up, just in time to see the three of them laughing over by the stage as Shotaro flipped them all off over his shoulder, making his way towards you. He had two cups in one hand, one with a bright green straw in it, and the other without a straw, and you saw that the other three band members each had a plastic cup with a straw sticking out of them as well. You silently watched Shotaro approach, raising an eyebrow at him once he’d stopped in front of you.

“We were getting boba on our way here, and thought we’d grab you one, too.” His cheeks were a bright pink as he held the unopened cup out to you, and fished a packaged purple straw out from the front pocket of his black jean jacket.

“Who’s this ‘we’ that you’re talking about?” You asked humorously. “They all apparently think getting me boba is kissing my ass.”

Shotaro straightened up, puffing his chest out. “Actually, yeah. Fuck ‘em. I got you one because I thought it’d be nice to get you one too since you do so much for us every week. It’s uh-It’s honey milk tea, because I didn’t know what flavor you liked.”

“Thank you, Shotaro.” You accepted the cup and straw from him graciously, to a chorus of snickers from the spectators on the other side of the floor. “Honey milk tea is more than acceptable.”

“But it’s not your favorite?”

“I don’t have a favorite.” You set the cup on the bartop beside you to stab the straw into it.

“You—Hey, are those mine?” He seemed to have finally noticed the sunglasses perched atop your head.

“What? These?” You teased, tapping the plastic accessory arm on one side of your head.

“I was looking for those today!”

You took them off, offering them out towards him. “You left them here last week.”

Shotaro took the glasses just to turn them right back around, take a step closer to you, and place them back on your head, a fond smile on his face as he did so. “I think you look better in them, actually. You can hold onto them for a little longer.”

You swallowed, your chest suddenly feeling too tight for your heart, and six eyes suddenly feeling like way too many to be in the room with you two right now. You chuckled, trying to keep up the congenial tone as you once more pulled them off. This time, you folded the arms and tucked the sunglasses into Shotaro’s jacket pocket for him. “Thanks, Shotaro, but I can’t take your sunglasses. They’re really rockstar sunglasses anyway, not for someone like me.”

At that moment, you grabbed your boba tea and hopped off the bar, scooting out from between him and the counter. You avoided looking at the others, beelining for the back office.

When Shotaro had to come get his in-ears from you just a few minutes later, you gave him the same pleasant smile as usual, handing him the case. “Here you go.”

“Thanks.” He tapped the case against his palm, the sound dampened by the fingerless gloves he was wearing that day. “What did you mean? When you said someone like you.”

“Wh—About the sunglasses?” You’d hardly expected him to confront you about that comment at all, much less alone now, just you and him in the office, no peanut gallery. While six eyes had felt like too many, this felt far too intimate. You somehow felt more exposed than before. “Like I said—They’re cool rockstar sunglasses, that’s what you are. You should wear them you know, up on stage, being all cool and stuff. I’m crew; no point in me wearing them while I’m sitting back here where nobody can see them.”

He frowned, but thankfully didn’t try to give them to you again. “I think you’re cool, Y/N.”

With that, he left the office.

“Hey—Woah.” Yangyang stopped midsentence, blinking at you from the office doorway.

“You’re losing your ears, puppy,” you snickered.

“I’m not a—!” He whined, catching the wolf ears that were sliding off his head just in time. “I’m a werewolf!”

“Sure,” you snorted, spinning your desk chair around to face him. “So what did you need, Yang?”

“Ten has a question about how we should set up the line out front.”

“Alright.” You stood up, smoothing out your long black dress. Today was Venue:Hell’s Halloween event, Hallowfreaks, so the whole staff was dressed up. You didn’t have time to think about a costume this time, so you just took out your Morticia Addams costume from last year.

Meeting Ten out front, you couldn’t even compliment his own “werewolf” costume, as he immediately tilted his head with interest upon seeing yours. You looked down at your dress, wondering if you had somehow spilled something on it unknowingly.

He didn’t leave you in the dark long, though. “You did a matching costume with Taro?”

“What?”

“Shotaro.”

The singer whipped around at the sound of his name. And there was no doubt as to who he was dressed as: His spotted blonde and black hair was slicked back and it looked like he had even used some kind of spray to make it fully black, he had donned a pinstriped suit and dress shoes, and drawn on a mustache to finish off the Gomez Addams look.

The initial recognition at his name being called turned to excitement as he realized what your costume was as well.

“Wait, seriously?!” He laughed, jumping up and down with elation. “That’s awesome!”

“I thought you guys would’ve done a group costume or something.” You crossed your arms.

“We were thinking about it, but Sungchan wanted to do a couple’s costume with his girlfriend. We thought it would look weird onstage if the three of us had a group costume without him, so we just all did our own thing.”

“Sensible.”

“C’mere, we’ve got to show them!” He grabbed your arm, and you let him drag you elsewhere backstage, into the green room where his other three band members were waiting around before their soundcheck. “Guys!”

“What’s this?” Eunseok grinned, pointing between the two of you.

“Taro, you didn’t mention you were doing a couple’s costume with Y/N,” Sungchan teased.

You rolled your eyes. “Not planned, you little shits.”

“Kinda weird that it happened, though,” Wonbin pointed out through a yawn. “Like, you know? What does it mean?”

“It means I was too lazy to buy a new costume and wore my one from last year, and Shotaro… I don’t know, something.”

“I like the movies,” he added quietly.

“He likes the movies!” You repeated triumphantly.

But the others were long gone, laughing and joking among themselves. Shaking your head, you turned back to Shotaro. “I’ll grab your in-ears.”

“I’ll come with.”

The venue was buzzing with excitement for the holiday, but the back office was quiet as always. You passed Kun in the hallway, giving him a quick nod as he rushed off to do something.

“Your in-ears,” you handed him the case, and a small bag of candy, “and Happy Halloween.”

“Sour Patch Kids!” His face lit up.

“Some place on my way to work was handing them out to people walking by. They’re not my favorite, so I figured I’d give it to you.”

“You don’t like them?” He questioned, ripping open the small package.

“They’re fine.” You shrugged, leaning back against the desk. “But you love them.”

He smiled as he grabbed a gummy. “Thanks.”

“This is Roses for Eyes’ first special event here, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it is.” He confirmed. “Sungchan’s really excited.”

“Why’s that? He really like Halloween or something?”

“This is the first performance since we’ve had this gig that his girlfriend is going to be here for,” Shotaro explained. “She’s been on the road for the past two months.”

“She’s in the industry too?”

“Yeah, she does tour management.”

You bit the inside of your cheek, trying to keep your voice as neutral as possible. “Good for them.”

“Yeah…” Shotaro looked at you carefully. “But why’d you say it like that?”

Not neutral enough, apparently. You purposefully avoided meeting his gaze. “Like what?”

“Like… I don’t know. Like you had another opinion.”

“I meant it. Good for them.” You hoped at least that much came across as genuine. “I’ve been around the scene for long enough to see plenty of relationships like that end badly. Especially ones between talent and crew.”

His big eyes watched you carefully as he chewed, swallowed, and cautiously asked, “Personal experience?”

“What did I just say? I’ve seen it. Not had it happen to me,” you replied firmly. Pointing to the door, you said, “Now go do your soundcheck, Shotaro.”

You were waiting backstage for Roses for Eyes after their set. The stage was being prepared for the next live act, and the band was still energetic.

“Good job, guys,” you congratulated them as Shotaro handed over his in-ears.

“Thanks.” Sungchan patted your head as he hurried by, apparently with somewhere to be.

“He’s got to find his girlfriend,” Eunseok informed you, wiping his face with his shirt, and taking half his No Face facepaint off in the process.

You narrowed your eyes at Shotaro. “Missing something?”

“I gave you them!” He defended himself.

“Your guitar.”

He patted his front and back, eyes going wide. “Shit!”

Wonbin and Eunseok burst into laughter as Shotaro darted back onto stage, apologizing to the staff and band still setting up. The other two wandered off, presumably to put their own equipment away. Shotaro snatched his guitar from the stand and ran back over to you, panting as he tried to catch his breath.

“Okay, that’s the first time that’s ever happened,” he promised.

“I’ll take your word for it.”

“I saw you in the back, during some of the set,” he was absolutely beaming at you.

“Yeah, with Kun here tonight, I can actually get some breathing room. I was able to stop and watch a bit.” You patted his arm. “Like I said, good job, mon cher.”

He rubbed the back of his neck, smiling down at his feet. “Thanks, cara mia.”

You couldn’t help but laugh, covering your mouth as you did.

“What? What’s so funny?” He asked with a chuckle.

“It is pretty funny that we accidentally did two halves of a matching costume. Everyone had a right to be weirded out.”

“Oh, yeah,” he agreed. “Weird coincidence, right?”

“Anyway, you should put your guitar away before you lose it again and I have to confiscate that as well, okay?”

“Okay, okay.”

“I’m going to put your in-ears in the office. If you guys don’t have anything better to do, Hallowfreaks is going on until 2 a.m.”

“Don’t tell me you’re working that whole time?” He asked in disbelief.

“Where else would I be?”

Winter rolled around, and you were once again crouched behind the merch counter doing inventory. Seasons change, but the pain of doing inventory never does.

“Nah, it’ll be Taro,” Yangyang insisted.

“I think it’ll be Sungchan trying to embarrass Taro,” Kunhang replied.

“Mm, could be Eunseok trying to piss Y/N off while simultaneously embarrassing Taro,” Ten gave his input on whatever the hell they were talking about near Yangyang’s sound equipment.

You poked your head above the merch counter now that you’d heard your own name. “Hey! What are you guys talking about?”

Three heads peeked around the black curtains. Ten answered your question, “We’re betting on which one of them will say something first when they get here today.”

“And none of you said Wonbin because he’ll probably be half-asleep anyway,” you guessed.

“Yep!” Kunhang nodded.

You just sighed loudly and went back to your task. A few minutes later, the back door opened, followed by the overlapping voices of Sungchan and Shotaro in a quiet but heated argument about… something indistinguishable to you. It was ended by an alarmingly loud smacking sound followed by dead silence, which prompted you to peer over the counter, a little concerned. The guys would playfight or bicker sometimes, but it always devolved into laughter.

The four of them were silent, but the angry tension was choking. You tried to quickly duck your head back down, hoping nobody saw you. But of course Shotaro did. It was only a few minutes later, after they put all their stuff down in the green room, that Shotaro was leaning over the merch counter on his elbows to talk to you.

“Hi, Y/N.” He offered you a smile, but you noticed it seemed a little strained this time.

“Hey, Shotaro,” you greeted him, not addressing the band’s entrance. Having just finished up with inventory, you stood up, groaning with relief.

The singer’s smile turned genuine then. “You’re wearing our merch.”

You looked down at the front of the hoodie you were wearing. “Oh, yeah. Don’t worry, I paid for it.”

“I wasn’t worried about that.” His eyes shined as he looked at you. “I’m—I didn’t think you’d…”

“I’ve gotta rep the home team, right?” You gestured to the building around you. “It’s super comfy, too. Come on, let’s get your in-ears.”

In the office, you grabbed the case from the desk, watching Shotaro fuss with his lipring with his front teeth, bouncing from his heels to his toes.

“Look,” you sighed. “You don’t have to tell me what it’s about��� but is everything okay with you guys?”

He pulled at his fingerless gloves. “You didn’t hear what Sungchan was saying?”

“No, nothing.”

“We’ll be okay,” he reassured you. “We’ve had worse fights. I mean, not since I was like, twelve, but it’ll be fine.”

You let your uncertainty be visible on your face. “Alright, you know him better than I do. Like I always say, if you need something, let me know.”

“Thanks, Y/N. I appreciate that you’re concerned about us.” Shotaro held a hand out for his in-ears, and you placed them in his waiting palm.

A little while later, you went out to start setting up the stools to find Shotaro alone on stage tuning his guitar. You went about your business as he seemed absorbed in his own task.

“I looked it up,” Shotaro called out to you before he played a chord, then adjusted one of the tuning pegs. “There’s no cure for tetanus.”

You looked at him over your shoulder, pulling a stool down from the high-top. “I know.”

Another chord. “I know you know.” More tuning. “You said that when I cut myself with the box cutter.”

“And…?”

“How did you know that?”

“My sister’s a doctor,” you answered simply, continuing to set up the furniture.

The guitarist stopped completely, staring at you. “Wait, really?”

“Why do you look so surprised?” You chuckled, leaning against one of the tables. “Can’t believe I’m related to a doctor and work in this place?”

“No, not that.” He shook his head as if trying to shake himself out of a stupor. “You just never tell me about that kind of stuff.”

“We both lived at home when she was in med school. I helped her with flashcards and stuff when she’d study.” You shrugged and went back to setting up. “Random stuff stuck.”

The other members of Roses for Eyes came out on stage then, cutting the conversation short as they started their soundcheck.

Poking your head into the band’s green room that particular evening, you were surprised to only find one member. Sure, a couple might be out on a food run, or wandering around the venue distracting your staff, but more often than not they were all in here between soundcheck and their set.

Regardless, you really only needed one of them at the moment. “Shotaro.”

“Yes!” He immediately shot up from where he had been sprawled out on the tiny couch, facing away from the door. His dalmatian hair had finally faded, and he was now completely platinum blonde with a shorter, spikier cut.

You quickly shot your boss a text back as you also flicked through the upcoming events spreadsheet for the venue. Not even looking up from your phone, you asked, “Got Valentine’s Day plans?”

Something collided with the edge of the table as Shotaro fell off the couch at that exact moment. You glimpsed the tail end of him scrambling to his feet, rushing to answer you, “No! Not at all! Uhm, what were you—”

“We’re putting on an Anti-Romantics Event for singles that night,” you explained, reviewing the details for the event on your screen. “Mix of live stuff and deejayed. Some games, raffles, that kind of stuff too. The headliner slot is yours if you guys want it.”

Shotaro nodded fervently. “Yeah! We can do it!”

You raised an eyebrow, looking around the empty room pointedly. “You’re not going to ask the other guys? I figured at least Sungchan might be doing something, you know…”

“Right. I’ll uhm, I’ll double-check with them.”

“I’ll pencil you guys in. Just let me know as soon as possible, okay?”

“Y/N?” Shotaro’s voice echoed as he yelled your name from the main room, obviously just wandering around shouting for you. Tonight was Venue:Hell’s Anti-Romantics Event, and Roses for Eyes had ended up accepting the headliner spot. Apparently, Sungchan’s girlfriend was really chill.

“In here!” You yelled back from inside the women’s bathroom, hunched in front of the mirror with an eyeliner pen and pile of used makeup remover wipes.

“Shit, sorry! I mean, uh—Never mind!”

“I’m doing my make-up,” you snorted. “You can come in.”

The swinging door opened hesitantly, and as soon as he was able to see that you were telling the truth, Shotaro entered fully. You wiped off your latest fail with a groan, grabbing all of the used wipes and tossing them in the trash.

“What are you doing?” He asked curiously.

“I’m trying to draw a broken heart on my cheek,” you explained. “But I can’t draw on my own face for shit.”

“Can I…?” He reached for the eyeliner. You handed it over, leaning back against the sink. He gently tilted your chin up and away from him to give him better access. You looked off to the side to avoid staring directly at him as he leaned in. “So you didn’t have any Valentine’s plans?”

“Nope.”

“Me neither.”

“I figured.”

He chuckled, his warm breath washing over your cheek. “Ouch.”

You rolled your eyes. “You already told me you didn’t have any plans.”

“Right.”

“I like your necklace.” You picked up the heavy chain from where it was sitting on his chest, several miniature heart lockets hanging from it.

“Thanks,” he murmured. “I think your makeup is nice.”

“I’m a sucker for a theme.”

Shotaro took a step back to look at his handiwork, nodding proudly. “Not half-bad, I think.”

You turned to check on it in the mirror, lighting up when you saw a much more legible broken heart than all the ones you’d attempted. “Oh, that’s so much better! Thank you, Shotaro!”

“You’re welcome.”

Eyeing the rest of his outfit, you were struck with an idea. You grabbed him by the shoulders, spinning the two of you around so his back was to the sink. “Your turn.”

“Hm?” He watched you with interest as you took the eyeliner pen from him and tossed it into your makeup bag, rooting around in there for something else. Finally, you secured a compact of blush and brush, holding them up eagerly.

“Trust me?” You requested.

He smiled fondly, relaxing back against the sink. “Go for it.”

You dusted the bright-colored blush across his cheeks and nose, focusing the majority of it in the center. When you were done, you had a victorious grin on your face. He now looked like a perfect little pop punk Cupid. The rest of his outfit was his usual mishmash of black and bright neon colors—this time solely hot pink—accessorized with more black, spikes, and metal chains. The blush was just the icing on the cake, especially when you saw that he had put a teeny, tiny silver heart stud in his nose piercing.

“Perfect,” you announced with finality, putting the makeup away.

Shotaro blinked his eyes open uncertainly, and you gestured for him to look in the mirror. He laughed, nodding his approval. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I thought you were doing.”

“Let me know how many numbers you leave with at the end of the night,” you quipped.

“What?” All the humor was drained from his features as he looked from the mirror over to you.

“Uhm, I don’t know how to tell you this, but you’re the frontman of the headlining act at an event for singles on Valentine’s Day, and I just made you look ten times more edible than usual.” You patted him on the shoulder. “You’re welcome.”

“I don’t want anybody’s number.”

You were slightly alarmed at the rate that this conversation had taken a nosedive, quickly trying to gloss over the tense moment. “Of course. Sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed.”

“You really think I’m edible?” He asked with a knowing smirk.

“Mm, I guess I did say something like that,” you answered noncommittally, grabbing your makeup bag. “I’ll go get your in-ears for you.”

“I’m not them.” Shotaro’s biting words stopped you in your tracks before you could even grab the door handle.

“What?”

He was still leaning back against the sink, crossing his arms over his chest as he held your confused gaze. “Whoever you’re comparing me to in your head. Whoever you think I’m going to end up being exactly like. I’m not them.”

“Shotaro…” You breathed out his name, unable to think of a quick deflection this time, hoping he would just let it go.

“You’re not stupid, Y/N. I know you’re not.” He stood up, stepping closer to you. “You always stop yourself right before… I’m sure you think you’re not leading me on or whatever, but I know you know how stupidly head over heels I am for you, because I don’t try to hide it.”

You winced, your stomach dropping to the floor. So he really did want to have this conversation. “I’m sorry. I should’ve said something. I thought… I don’t know, that I needed better words before I said anything. But saying something would’ve been better than doing this to you. I’m so sorry, Shotaro.”

“Tell me. Whatever words you do have, even if you think they’re bad,” he insisted.

“Why?”

“Because I still want to know everything about you, even if it’s the reasons you’re rejecting me,” he chuckled cynically, his eyes still shining as he looked at you.

You sank your teeth into your bottom lip as you tried to think of where to start. You knew you owed Shotaro this much, at least. Finally, you decided on, “I dated the lead singer of a band a few years ago, when I started here. I was young and stupidly in love with him and really believed him when he told me I was special. He was cheating on me the whole time.” You watched Shotaro’s eyes go big. “Every time he went on tour, even at concerts here. I think the worst part wasn’t even how many times he cheated on me, but how many times I caught him doing it and believed him when he said it meant nothing and he’d never do it again.”

“Y/N—”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, Shotaro. Really,” you reassured him. “I-I don’t know if I can trust myself to not… realize when something like that is happening again. To not realize when I’ve lost myself like that. I’m sorry.”

You rushed out of the bathroom then, unable to bring yourself to hear what he said next, whatever surely sweet, reassuring, reasonable thing he would say. You couldn’t hear it, not now. You were stuck, and now you’d gotten Shotaro stuck too.

Grabbing the in-ears from your office, you were glad to almost immediately catch Kunhang in the hallway. “Hey, give these to Shotaro for me.”

He thankfully didn’t question it, and you set off to keep yourself even busier than usual. Which wouldn’t be hard, as Kun wasn’t in that night, meaning that you were overseeing the whole event on your own. You didn’t even see Shotaro again until he was on stage performing with the rest of Roses for Eyes. You were helping out behind the merch table, as the limited-edition event merch you’d gotten was apparently very popular and the bunching up of people around the counter was clogging up the small area.

“They’re killing it tonight,” Ten commented loudly to be heard over the crowd and the music, nodding towards the stage.

“Yeah,” you agreed mildly, watching the performance out of the corner of your eye as you straightened up the stock.

“They’ve been doing really well with the weekly slot, too.”

“Mhm.”

“I heard they’re planning a mini-tour in the summer, though.”

“Cool.”

“Taro mentioned anything to you about that?”

You flashed him a sharp look. “Why would he have told me anything?”

“Because you’re their contact for the slot here?” He gave you a bewildered look back. “They’d have to tell you so you could tell Kun and find someone to fill the slot while they’re gone?”

“Right. Yeah. No, nobody’s said anything to me.”

“And also, he’s got a huge crush on you.”

“God, shut up,” you groaned.

“What? It’s adorable to watch him follow you around like a lost puppy,” your coworker snickered. “Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed?”

“I’m telling you to shut up about it.”

“Come on, taking the theme a little too literally, Y/N?”

You rolled your eyes, opting to not engage with the conversation at all since he apparently wasn’t going to move on. The presence of the headliner on stage was finally drawing some of the crowd away from the merch line.

Giving Ten an unsympathetic smile, you started backing away from the counter, “Alright, I think you’ve got it from here.”

Ten was still grinning and shaking his head as he let you go without a fight, helping the next person in line. You continued running around the venue, helping with anything that popped up.

As Kunhang was announcing the winners of some of the raffles later in the night, you had eyed trouble at the bar. Sicheng, your bartender, was obviously trying to decline service to an insistent patron while a line of other guests bunched up around the bar.

“Is there a problem here, Sicheng?” You asked, stepping into the situation.

“Oh, Y/N,” he breathed a sigh of relief. “He’s had too many, can you—”

“I’ve got it, you keep serving people,” you reassured him. With his attention on the next people, you turned back to the other man. The guy had clearly had too much to drink, pink-faced and swaying in place. “You’ve had enough, man. How about we get you a water, okay? Or a soda?”

“No, I want another beer!” He insisted.

“No can do, sorry,” you informed him firmly. “Water, soda, or nothing. Alright?”

“Who the fuck are you to tell me no?”

“Manager of the building you’re in right now.”

“Well, manager, tell him to get me another beer.”

“No,” you repeated. “Look, dude, I know tonight can especially suck, but there’s other things to do besides drink. You are cut off. Let’s get you a water, hm?”

“No.”

“Did you come with friends? I can help get you back to them.”

He got up in your face then, and you stepped back, unwittingly jamming the bartop right into your own ribcage. “I said no, bitch.”

“I’m going to ask you to leave if you don’t calm down and get out of my fucking face,” you informed him through gritted teeth. “Come on, dude, don’t make this a bigger deal than it has to be.”

Before he could say anything else, someone grabbed the guy by the shoulder, pulling him away from you. At first you hoped that it was come friends of the guy, finally caught on to what was going on, but your blood turned cold when you saw who it really was.

“Hey, get out of her face,” Shotaro told him, rather calmly, but firmly.

In the next second, the drunk guy had swung, his fist impacting with Shotaro’s face and making his head jerk back. The crowd around you three gasped and backed up, and you felt both anger and panic flood your veins.

“You’re done!” You announced loudly. “Out! Get the fuck out! Sicheng! Call security!”

Your bartender was already on it, his walkie-talkie up by his mouth and his request for back-up coming through your own earpiece very clearly. You watched the venue’s guard who very rarely had to leave his post by the front door lumber up, grabbing the guy by the collar and pulling him through the crowd.

Shotaro was stood in the same spot, slightly hunched over as he held onto the edge of the bar, cradling his cheek. You sighed, grabbing his arm. “Come on.”

He let you guide him away from the crowd, the din of the music fading as you took him into the back office, shutting the door behind you. You gestured to the desk chair for him to sit in, and he obliged. After getting out the small first aid kit that was kept in here, you leaned back against the desk, pulling his hand down from his face to inspect the damage.

“We have security, you know,” you said quietly, cracking a cold pack and massaging it in your hands to get the reaction going.

“Didn’t seem like they were helping you,” he replied.

You grabbed a couple tissues from the dispenser on the desk, pressing them to where blood was welling up from a cut on his cheek. “Because I hadn’t called them.”

“Why not?”

“Because I was handling it.” Tossing the bloodied tissues in the trash, you applied a band-aid to the open wound before holding the cold pack out to him.

He accepted it, looking down at his lap guiltily. “I’m sorry.”

“C’mere.” You stood up and stepped closer to him, reaching for his face with both your hands.

“Hm?” He looked up at you curiously. You turned his head so you could gently press your thumbs against his cheekbone and the area around his eye where he’d been hit. “Ow…”

“Sorry. I don’t think he broke anything. You’ll probably just have some bruising for a while,” you declared softly, pulling his hand that was holding the cold pack up to his cheek. “And a nasty cut from his ugly rings.”

He chuckled a little, and you smiled back. “Learn that from your sister?”

“No, just had to break up a few fights here before.”

“Really?”

“We weren’t always such a classy establishment,” you joked, sitting back down on the edge of the desk in front of him. “We’re called Venue:Hell for a reason, and not just because we’re underground.”

“Here I thought you guys were just trying to be edgy.”

You were still replaying it in your mind, of how quick it happened, from Shotaro grabbing the guy to him getting punched. “You thought that guy was going to hit me or something, right?”

“He was getting up in your face…” He hissed and pulled the cold pack down from his face for a moment, then put it back up, wincing. “Even if he didn’t, he shouldn’t have been yelling at you like that.”

“Occupational hazard,” you shrugged. After a beat, you added sincerely, “Thanks, Shotaro.”

“Why do you call me Shotaro? To keep me at a distance?” He asked, a thoughtful frown on his face. “Everyone calls me Taro, I even told you to call me Taro. But you never have.”

“I’m pretty sure you said that I can call you Taro, not that you wanted me to,” you pointed out. Seeing the distress on his face, though, you said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize it meant so much to you.”

“It doesn’t, really. But when it’s you… it hurts. Everything feels like the best thing that’s ever happened to me and the worst at the same time.”

“I…” You trailed off uncertainly. What were you even supposed to say to that?

“Like, I make you laugh and I’m fucking on Cloud Nine. And then I somehow take it too far, or say something that makes you run away and I kind of feel like I’m literally dying.” He slumped back into the desk chair with a sharp laugh, still pressing the cold pack to his face.

“That sounds awful, I’m so—”

“No, stop it. It’s not awful, and I want you to stop apologizing to me.”

“Okay.”

Shotaro sighed, looking down at his free hand as he futzed with his jewelry. “That guy’s rings were pretty ugly.”

You let out a sputtering laugh, happy for some of the tension in your chest to dissolve in that moment. “Yeah, they really were.”

That night, you got home from work in the wee hours of the morning, not even bothering to turn your apartment light on, simply tossing your backpack in the direction of your couch and shuffling towards your bedroom. You got ready for bed on autopilot, exhausted as you always were after work.

Wiping off your makeup in the mirror, you hovered over the broken heart on your cheek, recalling just how fast that conversation had gone downhill, then Shotaro getting punched later in the night. Letting out a deep breath, you finished up in the bathroom and shut that light off. After changing into your pajamas, you lay in bed alone, staring up at your ceiling. Alone. You’d be going back to Venue:Hell in less than ten hours. And after that, you’d come home again. Alone. Then go back to work. Then come home. Then go back. Then come home. Work. Home. Work. Home. Work. Home. Alone. Alone. Alone. Alone. Alone.

The line rang, and rang, and with every ring, your urge to hang up grew. Of fucking course he didn’t want to talk to you—

“Y/N?” Shotaro’s voice was foggy, and it was apparent you’d woken him.

“Taro, hey,” you said quietly, already regretting this. “I woke you up, didn’t I? Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” he grumbled, and you heard the sounds of him rolling over and readjusting in bed. “Is everything okay? You’re not still at work, are you?”

“No, no, I’m home.”

“Okay, good.”

“Uhm, I just—” You were cut off by a very loud yawn from him. “Sorry, it’s really late and you’ve got to be tired. We can do this later.”

“No, go ahead. You apparently thought it was important enough to call me at fuck you a.m. in the morning,” he chuckled sleepily. “We can do it now. I won’t interrupt again. Promise.”

You took a deep breath, still staring at the inky dark expanse of your ceiling. “I just was thinking… some more… And I do really like you, and if you still… want to… Do you have plans later?”

You heard something thunk, and a loud clunk right by the mic, making you wince away from your speaker, then the distant sounds of him cursing as he scrambled around.

“Sorry, dropped you,” he apologized, sounding much more awake now. “You mean like, not for work?”

“Yeah, like, hanging out. Not at work,” you confirmed. God, is your heartbeat always this fucking loud?

“Yes, absolutely. Yes! Fuck!” He agreed giddily, and you couldn’t help but grin too.

“Okay, uhm, I have to get the venue set up for a show at seven tonight, but we could do lunch before or something? If that works for you?”

“Totally! Yes!”

“Cool.” You smiled at your screen as you checked the time. “It is way too fucking late. Just text me when you wake up and we can sort everything out then.”

“I will. Absolutely.”

“I’ll talk to you then.”

“Yes.”

“Thanks, Taro. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Y/N.”

After some much-needed sleep, you slowly got up, sitting at the edge of your bed, letting your feet graze the carpet below. You were home now, alone, and later you’d be going to work. But before that, you were going to be doing something else. Going somewhere else with someone else.

Speaking of, your phone rang, an incoming call from Shotaro. You picked it up, still rubbing sleep out of one eye. “Mm?”

“Was it real?” He asked in lieu of a greeting.

“What?” You chuckled. “What are you talking about?”

“Do I need a lobotomy right now, or are we actually going on a date?”

You burst into laughter, holding your phone away from your mouth as your laughter devolved into a coughing fit, blindly grabbing for your water cup from your nightstand. After recovering enough, you finally answered, “Hold off on the lobotomy for now.”

“Oh, it was real,” he let out a sigh of relief. “God, I seriously woke up and couldn’t tell if I had dreamt that whole conversation or not.”

“No, I really did call you at ‘fuck you a.m. in the morning’ last night, sorry.”

He snickered. “I said that?”

“You did.”

“Well, you’re more than welcome to call me at fuck you a.m. any night, especially if it’s going to be something that good.” His grin was audible through the phone. “So what time should I pick you up?”

“We haven’t even decided where we’re going?”

“Lunch,” he said confidently. “I’ve got it. You did the hard part, let me do the rest.”

You looked at the time on your phone. “Two hours?”

“Done. Send me your address.”

“Hey—Oh my God,” you cut yourself off laughing, covering your face as soon as you saw Shotaro standing there with a bouquet of flowers. “You seriously—Oh my God.”

“What? What is funny about this?” He held them out to you even more insistently.

You accepted them, still shaking your head. “Nothing. Come in so I can put them in water.”

He obliged, quietly closing your door behind him.

“I just honestly don’t think a man has ever brought me flowers,” you admitted, opening your cabinet to try to find some kind of vessel. “I was caught off-guard. I didn’t mean to laugh in your face, I’m sorry. You’re very sweet, Taro.”

“Seriously?” He watched you bring down an old empty water jug and fill it up from your sink, then plop the flowers in there.

“Seriously.” You paused in front of him, eyes focused on his left cheek, where a bruise had blossomed out far beyond the edges of the bandage you’d applied last night. Frowning, you delicately touched just under his cheekbone. “How is it?”

“I’m fine,” he reassured you, letting you continue to inspect the wound. “Barely even feel it.”

“Liar.”

He beamed. “Maybe.”

“You know that I’m going to be kind of bad at this, right?” You asked in a lull in conversation at lunch, picking at your food with your utensil.

“At… eating?” Shotaro asked in turn, his cheeks full with his own food as he looked at you with wide, confused eyes. “You seem to be doing pretty alright to me.”

“No,” you chuckled and shook your head. “At… this.” You pointed between the two of you. “It’s been a while, and I didn’t have the best experience last time.”

He swallowed and nodded, offering his hand out across the table, palm up. “I know.” Hesitantly, you put your own hand in his, and he squeezed yours gently, a soft smile on his face as he gazed at you. “Like I said, you already did the hard part, that’s why I’m taking care of everything else today. I get how difficult it must be for you to be doing this right now.”

“Thanks.” You squeezed his hand back.

“You really don’t have to do this,” you sighed as you and Shotaro walked down the sidewalks together after lunch.

“What are you talking about? Of course I have to make sure my girlfriend gets to work safe,” he scoffed, elbowing you.

“Hey hey hey!” You smacked his arm. “We’ve been on one date, kinda. What’s with the g-word?”

“‘The g-word,’” he repeated with a snicker. “If it makes you feel better, you can call me the b-word.”

“Bitch?” You blinked at him innocently.

He elbowed you again. “Rude!”

You laughed loudly, clutching your stomach as you had to stop to catch your breath. “Come on, you walked right into that one.”

“Yeah, I did.” He agreed, watching you with a fond smile on his face.

“I’m serious though, you can’t just be throwing words like that around after one kinda-date.”

Shotaro grabbed your hand, lacing his fingers through yours as you kept walking. “And what is the difference between a date and a kinda-date?”

“I don’t know. We were just like… hanging out. You know?” You shrugged. “I don’t know, I told you I was going to be bad at this!”

He laughed. “I brought you flowers, paid for your lunch, we’re holding hands… I’m failing to see how this isn’t date behavior.”

You looked down at your entwined hands, skin heating up. “Point taken.”

You’d made it to Venue:Hell and approached the back door, taking your keys out of your pocket.

“You know what else people do on dates?” He asked slyly, tugging on your hand so you’d turn around and face him. “Kiss goodbye.”

“Talking like I’ve never been on a date ever,” you scoffed, hooking your fingers in his belt loops and pulling him closer. You smiled when you saw his cheeks turn bright pink—no blush necessary this time. Shotaro’s hands landed on your waist as you grabbed the back of his neck and slotted your lips together. The cool metal of his lip ring pressed against your skin, made even colder by the crisp weather outside. He met you beat for beat, never taking over, following your lead until you finally broke apart. The kiss was sweet, reminiscent of the boba tea you’d grabbed after lunch.

“Ah, shit,” he chuckled, hanging his head.

“What?”

“Now I don’t want to go.” He snuck another kiss to your cheek, just grazing the corner of your mouth.

“You’re a menace.” You sighed, in a similar predicament. With warning in your voice, you said, “You can hang out—”

“Yes!” He cheered.

“—until somebody else gets here,” you finished your sentence pointedly, turning around to unlock the door. “Because some people actually work around here, and you’re not performing tonight.”

“Pretty sure you’re the only person who actually does any work around here,” he teased.

“I know, which is why I can’t have you distracting everyone else even more.” You unlocked the door and disabled the alarm, leading Shotaro in by the hand.

“I’m not a distraction!”

“All you’ve been doing for the past six months is distracting me.”

“I help you!”

You clicked your tongue. “And get injured in the process.”

He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, following you into the office. “It’s the thought that counts?”

“Let me change your band-aid, while you’re here,” you offered, pointing to the desk chair. “You’ve still got the same gross one on from last night.”

Shotaro peeled off the old bandage and tossed it in the trash while you grabbed a new one from the first aid kit.

“I’m going to have to tell Kun,” you said carefully, opening the new band-aid. “About this.”

He stayed still as you applied the new bandage, then asked, “Me getting punched or us going out?”

“Both.” You groaned and rubbed your face. “Ugh, I don’t even know which one I should start with. Don’t say anything until I tell him, please.”

“I will not tell anybody else until you talk to Kun,” he promised, the phrasing making you narrow your eyes.

“You already told all your bandmates.”

He folded immediately. “Can you blame me? I was excited!”

“The whole building is going to know by soundcheck on Thursday,” you lamented, covering your face.

“I’ll tell the guys I was kidding.”

“They’ll think you’ve lost it.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, probably.”

“As much as I appreciate your willingness to have your best friends think you’re an absolute weirdo loser who would lie about something like that,” you patted his shoulders, “I won’t ask you to do that.”

“I appreciate that.”

You heard the distinct clang of the back door closing, and sighed regretfully. “That’s your cue.”

“Fine, fine.” He stood up, pecking your forehead. “Pick you up later?”

“I get off at midnight?”

“So?”

“Don’t be late,” you hummed, grabbing the door handle.

It was Kunhang who had arrived, clearly surprised to see Shotaro there. “Oh, hey Taro. What are you doing here?”

“He forgot something.” You used the most reasonable excuse.

“Maybe we should just start stapling stuff to you, man,” Kunhang laughed.

“Great idea.” You grinned, patting Shotaro’s arm as you continued ushering him towards the door.

In the stairwell, concealed from your coworker’s gaze, he leaned in, whispering right next to your ear. “I did almost forget something, actually.”

You arched an eyebrow at him, and he cupped your cheek, rings cold against your skin. Your eyes fluttered shut on instinct as you let him tilt your chin, connecting your lips. Your blood roared in your ears as you scrunched his t-shirt in your fist.

The back door opened, and you couldn’t reel back quick enough. To your horror, it was Kun standing there, blinking at you as his keys dangled in one hand.

“Excuse me,” he cleared his throat, scooting right between you and Shotaro in the narrow space of the stairway. He looked back, speaking directly to the singer with you, “Nice shiner there, Taro.”

Shotaro touched his bruised cheek on instinct, giving your manager a thumbs-up with his other hand. “Thanks.”

Kun said nothing else, whistling to himself as he walked further into the venue. You looked at Shotaro with wide eyes, practically shoving him out the door as he burst into laughter.

“Goodbye, Taro!” You said loudly over his cackles.

“See you later,” he whispered back, shooting you a wink right before you slammed the door in his face.

As you turned the corner, you were alarmed to see Kunhang peering at you from his station. “What?”

“Since when do you call him ‘Taro’?”

Upon entering the back office, you saw Kun sitting at the desk, working on something on the computer. He held a familiar pair of silver sunglasses out to you without even taking his eyes off the screen. “I think Taro left these here.”

“Yeah, those are his,” you confirmed, accepting the frames from him. “Uhm, a patron at the event last night had too much to drink, and ended up punching him, by the way.”

Kun looked over at you at that information, lifting both his eyebrows in disbelief. “Taro got into a barfight?”

“He didn’t hit him back, or start it, really. Sicheng and I were trying to cut the other guy off, but he was getting pissed off.”

“Ahh, he thought he was helping you.” Your manager nodded in understanding.

“About that, we’ve only been on one date, and—”

“I don’t need to know all the details. I just don’t want to have to enter the building like that ever again, okay?”

“Heard.”

He cracked a grin then. “I will say—I like him a lot better than the last one.”

“God, don’t remind me,” you groaned and shook your head.

“And that’s the last time I’ll ever bring him up. I’m glad he’s gone.” Kun held his hands up in surrender. “Now go find something to do.”

“Ten’s not scheduled for tonight, so I’m on the front.”

“Go do that.”

“Heard.” You clicked your tongue and gave him a casual salute, heading back out of the office.

Kunhang found you again setting up the barricades for the queue out front. He squinted at you, then laughed, “Oh, those looked like Taro’s sunglasses for a second.”

“They are,” you answered nonchalantly, pushing the frames back up where they were sliding down the bridge of your nose.

“Why are you wearing his sunglasses?”

“Because he forgot them here, it’s bright as hell out, and I don’t have another pair on me.”

“That’s… reasonable.”

“You said that weird.”

“Well, here’s the thing—” Your coworker stopped where he was rearranging the barricades, facing you. “I don’t think you’ve noticed but I’m like… 99% sure the guy has a huge crush on you.”

You kept a straight face. “Really?”

“Yeah, the poor guy is like… so down bad it’s not even funny anymore. Kinda a bit sad, actually.” He sighed. “So I just think that you wearing his sunglasses… it’s gonna mess with his head, you know?”

“You think so?” You scrunched your nose, pretending to think really hard about it.

“Yeah.”

You eventually shook your head. “I don’t know, I don’t think he does…”

It was ten till midnight, and you looked between the time and the back door.

“If you’ve got somewhere you need to be, you can go,” Kunhang nudged you with his knee.

“Yeah, you’ve been checking your phone every ten seconds,” Yangyang snorted, scrolling on his phone. “Seriously, we’ve got it. We’ve done a bajillion dance nights, and Kun is here in case something goes horribly wrong.”

You ignored them, instead looking directly at your sound tech. “Hey, Yang, weird question: Do you think Taro has a crush on me?”

He burst out laughing, grabbing his sides as he keeled forward, barely catching himself on Kunhang’s leg. Still giggling, he sobered up enough to say, “Well, duh. Y/N, oh my God, I never pegged you for an idiot. What the fuck? Did you seriously not—”

The back door opened then, and you immediately spotted Shotaro descending the stairs, looking around the crowded room.

“That’s spooky,” Yangyang muttered. “Do you think he like, heard me somehow?”

“He was here earlier to see Y/N,” Kunhang said pointedly. “See? He totally—”

You simply raised your hand and waved until Shotaro saw you, immediately perking up and making his way across the venue. Your coworkers had half a mind to shut up as the guitarist stopped in front of you three.

“Hey guys,” he smiled at the other two, then pointed at the sunglasses perched atop your head. “Those are mine.”

“You forgot them here,” you informed him smugly, leaning back in your seat and taking them off. You let them dangle by the arm off the tip of your finger as you held them out to him.

“I told you I forgot something,” he teased, taking the sunglasses back. He turned the shades around, leaning in as he tucked them back into your hair. “They look better on you anyway.”

You left them there this time, grinning up at him. “I think you’re right, actually.”

“You good to go?”

“Yep.” You got to your feet, tossing your dumbfounded coworkers a goodbye over your shoulder. Shotaro’s hand found yours, keeping you close as you weaved through the crowd.

It was Thursday again, and you were backstage, monitoring the band as they got ready to go on. There was a hustle and bustle like usual, and right as they were preparing to step onto stage, you called out expectantly, “Taro? Forget something?”

“Oh, right,” he grinned and shook his head, jogging over to you. He held your face with two hands, kissing you right there backstage, his lips still sugary sweet from the Sour Patch Kids he’d been snacking on moments prior.

After he’d pulled back, you held up his in-ears and pack, which he’d given you when he needed a very last-minute run to the bathroom. “I meant these.”

You could hear the snickers from his bandmates as he took the equipment from you, rushing to put it all back on. “Yeah, that too, I guess. What if I said I’ve been losing things on purpose this entire time as a genius ploy to—”

“Go perform already! I’m sick of you!” You rolled your eyes dramatically and pushed him away, back towards the stage.

“Fine, only because you asked so nicely.” He winked, dashing back over just in time to run out on stage with the rest of the band.

“What the hell?” Ten was just off to your side, staring at you, accompanied by Sicheng. You didn’t want to know who was at the bar right now.

“What?” You tilted your head innocently, walking over to them.

“Taro just kissed you?” He looked around, bewildered. “Sicheng, that was crazy, right?”

“Huh?” Your bartender glanced between the two of you, seeming just as lost. “Have they not been dating this whole time?”

⤷ masterlist

[holymusicalmothman]

I Wanna Be Yours

Spencer A x Ian’sSister!Reader

Smosh Masterlist

Word Count: 1.4k

Warnings: 18+! Smutttttt. Uuuuhhhhh female and male, oral (female receiving), swearing, heard y’all like being called pretty girl, also I just listened to sooo much arctic monkeys

Feedback appreciated! It’s really kept me going lol. Like seriously tho.

*******

His lips trailed from your mouth down along to your jaw, each kiss its own soft form of devotion. Your hands tightened in his hair as he kissed your neck, a soft gasp leaving your lips.

He froze. “You okay, baby?”

“Mhm…” You nodded, gently tugging at his hair, silently urging him to continue.

While makeout sessions and roaming hands weren’t anything new, it had never gone farther than that. Which was fine. Your boyfriend had made it more than clear that he was willing to go at whatever pace you set. Which had been more than fine with you.

“We can stop if it’s too much.” He muttered against your skin.

“No.” You said firmly, but quietly, not wanting to break the energy of the bubble that seemed to surround the two of you. “Don’t stop.”

He continued his gentle barrage of kisses across your skin, his touch setting you aflame. The fingertips digging into your hip tensed briefly, the air suddenly had a light charge to it. Almost hesitantly, Spencer’s hands slipped under your shirt, warm palms against the skin of your back.

All you could feel was the warmth. The summer sun filtering through the cracks between the curtains. Soft lips dancing their way down your neck. The air of the room, despite the AC and the fan. Warm hands wandering lightly over your back, your sides, your ribs. Hot breaths against your skin as he asked so very sweetly if he could take your shirt off.

“Can I take this off, pretty girl?” Gentle tugs at the hem of your shirt had you nodding, leaning back lightly so he could lift the fabric over your head, tossing it somewhere in your room to be worried about later.

Your skin cooled slightly as the air hit you, a brief moment of clarity passing with it.

Spencer was looking at you. Deep blue eyes filled watching you with rapture. This hadn’t been in either of your plans for the day, but you had the house to yourself as Ian was out of town for the weekend. And, as you sat straddled across your boyfriend’s lap, you couldn’t care less about your previous plans. Whatever they were.

That brief moment of clarity passed as soon as his lips found yours again, the flame in your gut returning.

A soft noise left you as he moved his jaw forward, hands brushing lightly over your bra. You could almost feel his thoughts stumbling over each other as he registered your sound, a quick breath exiting his nose before he seemed to surge into you.

Suddenly you were on your back, Spencer hovering over you, one of your knees trapped between both of his as legs tangled together, noses side by side, lips a hairs width apart.

“This okay?”

You could only nod. Everything seemed so charged but so perfect.

Your arms wrapped around him, nails scratching lightly against him as you attempted to pull him even closer. As you traced slow circles on his back with your nails, you were rewarded with an almost inaudible moan and raised gooseflesh spread its strange texture across the tattoos on his arm. You were suddenly aware of how much he enjoyed it pressing against your leg.

“Fuck, babe,” he dropped his forehead to your collarbone, tensing. “I don’t think I can stop if we keep going. I mean, I will, of course. It’s just…Jesus Christ.”

You found your voice, the almost whispered words leaving you as you suddenly found yourself breathless.

“And if I say I don’t want you to stop?”

For a moment no one said anything, both of you pressed into each other, the only sound being the AC switching off, leaving silence.

He pulled back, leaning on his hands above you, pupils blown wide. “Are you sure?”

Ever the gentleman, your boyfriend.

“Yes, I’m sure.”

But, as before, as soon as Spencer’s lips met yours, the air became stifling. Everything was too hot and not enough. You tugged impatiently on his own shirt, pulling a raspy laugh from him, his light stubble scratching against your skin.

He moved to sit up, pulling off his tshirt and sending it in the direction yours had vanished in, returning right back to your lips like a man starved.

Your hands greedily raced against the newly revealed skin, eager in their plans on memorizing all of him.

In response, warm thumbs rubbed gently into the skin just below your bra and before you had even thought your movement out, you had wriggled out of the item.

Those warm hands were on you in a heartbeat. A breathy ‘holy fucking shit’ coming from Spencer as he kissed his way from your lips down to your chest, open mouthed kisses and gentle nips of your skin behind felt along the way.

You weren’t quite sure at what point the both of you had lost the rest of your clothes, the specifics lost in a haze of mumbled words, kisses, and heat when you realized he had manuevered his way between your legs. His hot breath was on your thigh, eyes silently begging for permission. You nodded, bottom lip between your teeth.

It was your turn to let out several expletives as you tossed your head back. You could feel dark blue almost black eyes on you as he learned you from the inside out, obscene noises lightly heard beneath the almost whines that left you.

The string you were barely hanging onto snapped and you could’ve sworn you came so hard you blacked out. You felt a smile pressed into your neck as your bedroom slowly came back into view.

“That good, yeah?” The dark haired man couldn’t help the prideful tone that snuck into his voice. “Think you can do that for me one more time?”

You nodded, eager for more. “Please.”

“You’re absolutely sure? What about–”

“Yes, I’m sure, Spence.” You cut him off. “Plus I’ve been on birth control since I turned 19. Please, please, just–”

His hips ground involuntarily into your own at your begging, and the breath left your lungs.

Pushing into you slowly had him panting against your neck, more whines escaping you. The slight burn faded after a moment, and you pushed into him with your hips, a ragged moan greeting you in response.

He pulled himself from you, only to sink back in, finding a gentle rhythm. The two of you crashed together like waves kissing the shoreline. The slow, almost languid energy that had been around the two of you since the exchange started began to morph as soft sighs grew sharper and heavy breaths grew deeper. Your nails dug into his back, small crescent moons being left indented in his skin as his hips moved quicker.

The string was back. Right in the pit of your stomach, stretching further and further until it was about to snap again. You could hear the sound of your own voice begging ‘more’ and ‘please’ but it sounded almost far away as you clung to Spencer like a lifeline.

“Fuck, babe, I’m close. Where?” His voice sounded wrecked, deep and raspy.

“‘Nside.”

“Holy shit.”

The string snapped with the force of a tsunami, crashing over you and leaving white spots in your eyes. Spencer let out a loud groan and stilled above you, the bridge of his nose fitting perfectly into the side of your neck as he caught his breath.

Your eyelids fluttered in exhaustion, your body spent.

“Gimme just a second, pretty girl.”

You could barely feel him leaving your body as he slipped away only to return a moment later with a damp towel from your small en suite bathroom. After ensuring that you had been properly cleaned off and threw the towel in the laundry, he stopped to stare at you.

You knew your hair was everywhere and you probably looked a mess, but you got the feeling that with the way he stared at you, those thoughts hadn’t even crossed his mind.

You patted the spot next to you and he crawled back into the bed beside you, gently manuevering so your head rested on his chest and he could wrap his arms around you.

“Gonna sleep, baby?”

You nodded, his heartbeat lulling you into a sense of tranquility. “Only f’r a little bit.”

“Mhm, want me to stay?”

You nodded again. “Sleep.”

“Alright, pretty girl. I love you.”

“I love you, too, Spence.”

This was my first time writing smut. How’d I do?

[wasyago]

I'm so curious, but it's okay if you do not have an answer for me; did something happen to Etho in your recks au for him to need all of those robotic prosthetics, like an accident of sorts? Or did he, I guess, experiment on himself or something like that?

Wonderful design, by the way! I can't stop looking at it, I love it so much.

haha yeah something did happen :)c

so, as you may or may not know, the world of recks suffered from a catastrophe caused by the moon going off its orbit and almost crushing into earth; which caused the creation of many gravitational anomalies all over the planet; which caused most of the big cities to evolve downwards and move under the sea level; which created this odd phenomenon of many skyscrapers in the middle of the city being abandoned and staying vacant, even if the buildings are technically fully operational.

and so teen etho, our smart little boy, thought "Hey, i don't wanna live so low underground where the sun doesn't reach when there's perfectly good houses on the surface!" so he just kinda... left his home and moved to one of the abandoned buildings. which, i mean, good for him and all that. BUT.

see, the thing about run down buildings is that they don't have a good water supply. and the thing about water in recks au is that it has a ton of bad chemicals, moon debris, leftovers of destroyed infrastructure, etc, in it when unfiltered or filtered poorly.

and etho, although smart, wasn't smart enough to give proper attention to the metallic taste of the water in the building he moved in to. like, sure it tastes a little weird but otherwise it's fine, it's something you would expect from an abandoned skyscraper right?

well, little did he know that the water he drank for god knows how many years of his life, was actually slowly dissolving his insides and poisoning him! and yknow, sharp pain in your guts every so often is one thing, but actively coughing up blood is another. and thank god he met cleo by then, because they forced him to actually do a check up to see what was wrong.

everything was wrong how you might've already guessed, to the point where the damage wasn't reversible anymore and there was no way to heal naturally. sooo etho had to get the prosthetic and say goodbye to his organs. the other option was to say goodbye to his life tho so he got pretty lucky there i think. thankfully cleo is a prosthetics doctor neurologist person, and she was able to get everything sorted fairly quickly for him and get that man on the operating table as soon as possible.

so at the end, all of etho's vitals had to be changed, including his throat and lower jaw because it also god badly damaged by being in contact with the water. (turns out etho had the raspy voice not because he was cool but actually because he was dying 😬) and! let me tell you, removing someone's entire set of vitals and changing them for the artificial ones in one surgery without killing the person in the process is actually very hard!! who would've thought huh...

well uhmm, yeah so this is what happened to etho o3o

(the eye prosthetic is another story tho, this post is already pretty long so maybe next time)

[kisses4tom]

PT 2 OF TOM AS A DAD PLSSS

ᡣ𐭩 DAD TOM part 2!

───────────────

HEYY OFCC 🤭 SO MANY PPL ARE REQUESTING THIS ACTUALLY!! 😭 here is part 1

To be quite honest with you guys, I don't really know what else to add 😭, but I'll figure it out and make something up along the way! 💕

I hope it lives up to your expectations because, I will not lie, I ran out of ideas for a few of them 😭 yet I hope you like it either way! 🫶🏻

I also mixed various topics and scenarios for a little more inclusivity! especially because I made a lot of these hcs for a teen daughter

Obviously Tom is gonna be a girl dad 'cause what else would he beeeee 🤭🥹

───────────────

he would keep almost every drawing she's made throughout the years

HE WOULD LEND HER HIS YELLOW DOG PLUSHIE‼️‼️

when she's older he would love to get matching tattoos if she wants, but he's definitely getting one dedicated to her (did y'all know Bill and Tom have a matching tattoo with Leni? 👀)

definitely making her a photo album

if anybody says that the baby looks more like him than her mother he would act so proud istg

"Yeah, Y/n's genes said BYE!"

he would become her personal Instagram photographer

whenever his daughter brings a boy home he would be so sus of him and maybe even tell them to keep the door open 💀

DAD REFLEXES 🤭🤭‼️ so hot istg

he would get dragged into tiktoks and learn some dances together 😭

when the baby was younger, her mama would surprise Tom with matching fits and he would be sooo gitty and happy

always keeping an eye out for her in public

if he's talking to some people and he hears the smallest noise coming from his daughter, he would immidiately put everything on pause and make sure she's okay (if that makes sense idk) or he would turn to look at her

he would try to attend as many school/dance recitals as possible, but with work it's a little hard for him to find time (at times)

is she plays a sport he would cheer the loudest for her

if she ever comes out as an lgbtq+ member, he would be very supportive and just act casual after her confession

when the baby was just born and he had skin-to-skin contact with her for the first time, he got emotional

he would wake up in the middle of the night and feed her himself so you could rest (currently in between tears)

the band is OBSESSED with that child and always play with her whenever they have a chance

Tom knows he can rely on them as babysitters

why do I feel like him and Bill would FIGHT to choose who holds her

"Tom you always have her come onnn let me have her this timeee"

he's so protective of that child

when she first started walking he’d kneel down and open his arms towards her

he would also scoot back so she could walk more and then let her fall in his arms (imagine him picking her up and kissing her cheek after 😭)

istg he would bring that child everywhere (especially when she's older)

he would make sure to dedicate her an episode/scene on Kaulitz & Kaulitz where he talks about fatherhood and his story

he's veeery supportive of everything she does

whenever he's live on Instagram or TikTok with the band he would call his daughter over and prank her with filters or something like that

he loves dressing her up, but hates changing her diaper

he usually doesn't enjoy shopping, but he would bring her everywhere and spend time together

he's such a quality time dad

when texting, he would send pictures of his honest reaction LMFAO😭

he would make sure his and Gustav's daughter are like little cousins (spoiler alert: they are)

his daughter will grow up with "do you need a stepmom by any chance?" questions 😻

if Tom and the baby's mom broke up, co-parenting would be pretty hard on him, as he loves that child so much it hurts him to know he can't see her for some time

he would probably bring her to some meet and greets with fans (both now and back in the day)

fans would give him so many gifts for her

sometimes he gets emotional knowing she won't stay a baby forever, but he's still very excited to know her character and mess with her more

when she was a baby, at the beach he would dip her feet in the water

when she's older he would splash the hell out of her and push her in the water

if you have more ideas leave them in the comments so I can add them! 🤭

[osachiyo]

haiiii chiyoooo :3

which of the bsd men do u think is the best at dirty talk - my mind leans towards fyozai but that’s only because im biased and i need them to whisper filth into my ear until im a puddle (simultaneously or not i’d die either way)

-🪽

𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐑 — heya nonnie ! this kinda turned into "which bsd characters are into dirty talk" instead of who's the best lol hope it's still to your liking !

i also think fyodor and dazai would be amazing at dirty talk — these two smartasses don't know how to shut up. though fyodor is a bit more on the quieter side — his words are harsh, mean and more degrading towards you in contrast to dazai. he likes to see the fat drops of tears running down your pretty face and ruining your makeup — it gives him a sense of power, in a sick and twisted way. he enjoys the thrill of thoroughly picking you apart before piecing you back together — it's a twisted game of his.

dazai, on the other hand, likes to whisper words of filth into your ear to watch you squirm. he loves watching you fiddle with your fingers as your face heats up at his crude words — the sight makes his cock twitch in his pants. gets him even harder if you talk even dirtier to him, how cute. either way, it ends up with you either on your knees, getting face-fucked by him, or his face between your thighs — eagerness dripping off of the pink muscle that swirls around your clit.

nikolai is another dirty talker — and he's filthy. if you thought dazai had no filter, he's somehow worse. nasty words effortlessly rolling off his tongue — words about how he couldn't wait to fuck you, take all of your holes until you're all but dripping with his cum before he cleans you up with his tongue — it's so dirty.

another one is chuuya — he's really into dirty talk. he's a fan of whispering lewd stuff into your ear to gauge out your reaction — especially if it's in front of other people. he almost groans when he sees you rubbing your thighs together, trying to relieve yourself of the arousal he's borderline torturing you with. your words come out stuttered and breathy, making the other person's (higuchi or tachihara) eyebrows furrow in concern and ask if you're okay — to which you can only let out an embarrassed nod, catching the way chuuya smirks from the corner of your eye. bastard.

of course, what kind of post would this be if jouno wasn't here? he's another one who enjoys spewing dirty words only you can hear in public. he especially does this when you've been talking too much to tetchou or tachihara for his liking. the most infuriating thing is that he says all that filth with a smile on his face — no one (especially someone as dense as tetchou) would even guess that he was whispering about how he wants to spread you on the table of the meeting room and fuck you silly in front of his boss and coworkers to see.

— sooo these are all the characters i could think of ! if you think i forgot about someone (which is most likely to happen) then don't hesitate to comment about it, id love to know <3

[lunarmoves]

Hello its me again and once more I hope you're having a wonderful day/night!

I was wondering if you could give us some DCA fanfic recommendations! I'm very new to ao3 so finding good ones are hard for me :(

- (^⁠_⁠^) anon

nonnie i would LOVE to!! /cracks knuckles/ i have a hoard of them bookmarked in ao3 and im always sniffing for more! since you're new to ao3, ill tell you that when i go hunting for a fic, i usually type something like "dca/reader" in the little search bar and then click the "Daycare Attendant (FNAF)/Reader" tag on the first fic i see. then i go to filters and change the "date updated" to "word count" to sort it. i prefer long fics above all else haha

ANYWAYS. fic rec list under the cut! (all of these are dca/reader btw)

any of bamsara's DCA fics, including Celestial Omens (that really like Fishsticks) (mer au), Solar Lunacy and its affiliated one shots. probably The DCA Fic of All Time for me. it was my introduction to the fandom and i have not been the same since, esp with all the author's art!!

An Eye for an Eye by icedmetaltea. probably discontinued but i saw amazing art for this fic and consumed all 20k of it! definitely worth the read (aquarium/mer eclipse au btw!) also Occupational Hazards is an scp one shot that was v v good and I Watched You Become a Stranger (another mer one shot)

Coiled Around the Fine Line Between Love and Fear by crazedauthor. naga sun and moon! very very very good fic, probably my fav naga au on ao3! it begins on such a good hook and keeps you enthralled!

anything by muzzlemouths! i particularly loveee dreameater moon (we dance in synchronous rotation). all their one shots are SOOO goood and fluffy (mostly. im still hurt by a few of them </3)

Pisces Caelestis by S_V. SUCH a good mer au!! juicy cultural miscommunications and i just lovee moon in this LMAOO. sun is also a ball of sunshine!

Fish Out of Water by imagine_darksiders. a leviathan au that changed everything for me, i think. it was the first fic i read that had masssiveee mer sunmoon and i ate it up!

also literally anything by naffeclipse LMFAOO like, she has 42 fics on ao3, trust me when i say they are all bangers. the first fic i read was In Deep Dreams Between the Waves (leviathan eclipse) and i remember losing it over a certain scene at 4am shdkfsdf. Cryptid Sightings is also an absolute fav. id link more fics but it would be all 42 lmao

copper cogs rusted through by borashore. a post-fire au that i consumed in one sitting a long time ago. i dont remember much, but i know moon made me want to throttle him then hug him LMAO

Dealer's Choice by certified_handler. a club au fic that hooked me in from the START!! i love sun in this, he is written sooooo well and there's a lot of murdery business goin on >:) iirc the sequel is out and posting but im not caught up yet LOL

Weal and Woe by pure_plum. a fantasy/dnd kind of au with amazing descriptions!!! such a gorgeously written fic and sun/moon/eclipse are all sooooo touch starved <3 i need to know what eclipse's deal is!!

Celestial Sundown by pillowspace. THE god au of all time oh my god i cant express how obsessed i am with this fic!! and the art from the author?? phewww i think about sun so often, the designs are lush

The Hermit's Guide to Merfolk by esuerc. another mer fic, ofc, that i dont remember much of bc it's been a minute, but i remember one scene with eclipse that was so vividly described that it took my breath away!! also Supernova which i also dont remember much of, but i know sun was very unhinged in it!

My Baby by xmimi89er. an alien au where sun and moon are literally sooo adorable and angsty and they make u want to wrap them in bubble wrap and protect them forever. good fic for when you want to be the one protecting them. also the author's art is SOOO pretty

Ghost in the Machine by qwille. a multiverse type of fic with numerous versions of the dca! so very well written with good plot, lore, and characters. i'm sure you've probably seen character art drifting around on tumblr, either by the author or from fans. very very good designs, im partial to sol myself

(love is) a seed that grows by starboundpix, a farmer help au that's sooo cute!! very stardew vibes!! i always think about the descriptor that sun and moon have little flower/vine designs on their arms!! it's not too long, but def worth the read!

(In Their) Astral Orbit by rinzydings. my god this is SUCHHHH a good fic like!! it definitely deserves way more kudos than it currently has!! i could gush on and on about this fic, sun and moon are characterized so well and it's literally everything i have wanted in a dca fic

There Are Many Benefits (To Rethinking This Career Path) by moonliched (mer au). the worldbuilding in this is so good and the plot is LUSH!! love the dynamics between sun moon and reader!! constantly thinking about this fic ngl

Star-Crossed by cytokiine. a fae au that honestly had me hooked right from the start! there are a couple of plot twists in here that i truly did not expect. truly i hated moon at first, then i grew to love him within like, one chapter lmao

He's a Little Confused but he's got the Spirit by midnight_mourning. my god i think this fic actually gave me a conniption /pos. sun is written soooo well he is such a conniving little shit!! obsessed with him and it's really interesting seeing engineering details in the fic!

Love, Death and Rollerskates by spadillelicious, an 80s roller rink au with a sun and moon who are so very unhinged!! the interactions with them and reader are very very good. lots of tense moments, sun is definitely scary as hell sometimes LMFAO. lots of fanart floating around for it + drawings from the author, the designs are top tier!

Pluck my Heartstrings by pluck-heartstrings. a medieval times au post pizzaplex that honestly has a dynamic im so obsessed with?? there is so much miscommunication and sun is definitely a teeny tiny bit insane, i love him and moon <3 lots of art from the author!

As long as we are loved by shiracheshire. a living doll au that i just recently caught up on and it is sooo beautifully written! very heartbreaking at times, but i loved reading the progression of sun and moon's relationship with reader!

and that's all i've got so far lmao. i'll probably come back and update this as i read more fic, but!! hopefully this is a good start!

[thedvilsinthedetails]

rosekiller microfic band au pt3

heyyy pt3 is here yayyy

I haven’t rlly read it thru again and I’m feeling pretty tired today so if there’s a quality dip that’s why but also we have some nice Barty POV which I find easier to write sooo balances out ig

also we have some Marlene in this one (u can thank @good-oldfashioned-lover-girl because I wasn’t gonna put her in but she loves Marls [not that I don’t] to and yk she’s the boss so 🫡🫡🫡 Marlene is in the fic and I’m actually glad bc I love her part in this)

oh also Reg is autistic in this [in my mind] so when I mention him wearing headphones it’s bc he wears headphones on public transport/often in public/during gigs to help block noise <3

oh also all the skittles have matching nail polish and little tattoos on their wrists (idk if I actually mention it here but just so u have it in ur mind)

Tags for ppl that (I think?) wanted to be tagged <3 : @depressedtheatrekiddo @blu3stars @picklerab23 @lady-stardust-incarnate @always-reading @no-names-work @y0url0verb0y @2bluetwo85 @idk-what-to-put-here-123 @weirdtinkerbellversion @lulublack90 @nikholascrow (please please do tell me if you don’t want to be tagged bc idm and obviously won’t be upset but I just don’t want to tag ppl that don’t actually want to be tagged so I’m just sort of guessing by who commented last time so um yeah)

Link to previous part

link to part one

link to next part

(Cw: lil bit of homophobia in here sorry)

***

By the time the train arrived at their station both Barty and Evan had dozed off. Arms wrapping around each other, bodies curled into one another like a jigsaw puzzle. Evan didn’t wake up as gently as he fell asleep though because he was woken by Regulus kicking his seat aggressively. Once he finally opened his eyes he turned to face him. He was wearing his headphones, big and black originally but covered in splodges of spray paint from when Barty had offered to ‘customise‘ them for Regulus. He’d pushed them back though, now that the majority of people has filtered out of the little compartment.

“Hurry up and get your stuff.”

Regulus ordered before following Pandora and Dorcas who had already left.

Evan turned and tapped Barty gently to wake him up. Then when that didn’t work he shook him till he opened his eyes with a start. 

It took Barty a moment to realise where he was but even once he did he just grumbled.

“Ev don’t make me get up, please.”

He pouted, eyes wide and dilated in some kind of cheap attempt at cuteness.

“Come on you know you have to get up baby- Barty!”

Evan gaped, realising his mistake just too late. A slip of the tongue and he’d gone and fucked everything up.

“D’you just call me baby?”

A grin spread on Barty’s face and he poked Evan gently and laughed.

“You’ve been single too long Rosier.”

“You- you’re not mad?”

“Why would I be mad, baby?”

Barty winked, clicking his tongue as he got up and shuffled past Evan with a wicked smirk.

•••

Barty was going insane. 

Evan had called him baby. Baby. And fuck his reaction had been visceral. But like…in a good way? It made him want to bite down on something hard but that thing was the muscles on Evan’s arms. Or bruise something but that thing was Evan’s neck…with a hickey or two. 

Something about the way it had slipped out so naturally, so warmly. It just made Barty’s heart flutter. Made him want to grab Evan and shake the sense out of him enough to like Barty. Something along the lines of ‘kiss me, ruin me, dear God I’m begging you.’ Ah well, nothing you can’t really do about these kinds of situations except get on with it. Lying was something Barty had gotten very good at from a young age and not stopped since. Some might call it acting but those were the types of people who were just trying to convince themselves they were good and moral. Barty didn’t really care enough about that kind of stuff to bother. White lies this and how it contrasts with malicious lies that, like someone trying to section off a gradient in two. You can’t, it’s all the same monochrome blur in the end. 

Barty was lost in this little daydream when he heard Pandora roar.

“WHAT?!”

Now Pandora didn’t often roar, maybe laugh maniacally every now and then yes, but yell? Scream? That was never her type of thing. Save for some rare occasions that Barty could probably count on one hand. Pandora yelling meant it was time to stop daydreaming about Evan’s curls or Evan’s hands with their chipped green nail polish or Evan’s fucking tight t shirts. Yeah time to stop thinking about that and listen up. So he did.

“I do not intend to offend anyone by it.”

Riddle raised his hands up defensively with a cheap sleazy smile that immediately made Barty dislike him.

“I’m just saying that this venue prides itself on a distinct lack of…untoward behaviour. It’s not a massive deal, I think your lead and backup singers can use separate microphones for two nights of a six month tour. 

“What the fuck man?”

Barty stepped forward immediately hands curling into fists, Riddle was pretty short, he could definitely take him if that’s what it came to.

“Barty stop, that isn’t the right way to solve things. Come on let’s just- let’s come back later ok? See if we can talk to someone else, not this piece of shit.”

Dorcas spat out the last three words as she pulled Barty back to the group.

He was going to argue till he felt Evan put a hand on his shoulder, instead he just left Evan guide him away after the rest of the group.

“We’ll figure it out ok?”

“Fucking- Ev we can’t play there. They’re fucking homophobic.”

“Barty the O2 has been your dream since-“

“I DONT BLOODY CARE!”

“Barty shut the fuck up. I said we’ll talk about it and we will, we will figure it out but stop acting like a goddamn CHILD.”

Barty looked over at Evan who had his teeth bared, slightly wild look in his eyes. He was seething too, clearly. Just more mature than Barty.

“Ok, yeah.”

He breathed in.

“I’m sorry Ev.”

“Hey it’s alright. It’s just important the band shows a united front against this you know? We can’t split up or in fight because then, well then we all lose.”

“Yeah. Yeah you’re right Rosie. But we will do something.”

“I promise you they’re not getting away with this.”

Evan nodded. He tossed a hand over Barty’s shoulder, pulling him in just a little bit closer as they walked. Barty wasn’t complaining. 

•••

“You don’t get it Marls, we can’t just not play the O2. We’d lose way too much money off it, probably too much to be able to continue with the rest of the tour. Plus venues will think we’re unreliable and might cancel or pull out. Riddle is such a fucking dick, he only told us when we went there for a tech practice literally today.”

“Fuck yeah that’s shitty.”

Marlene was sat next to Barty on the floor of his hotel room, helping him repaint his nails. The entire band had them matching, a bright toxic green, his had started to fade though. 

“What if you just…ignore them? Do it anyway?”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s not like they can drag us off stage mid performance.”

“Not without exposing their homophobia.”

“Still…I wanna make a statement. Something big you know? Show them they can’t straight wash us.”

Marlene looked up at Barty, eyes twinkling mischievously.

“I might have an idea then.”

•••

Evan was sat in an alcove in the hotel corridor watching Regulus patiently braid and unbraid Pandora’s hair on the sofa opposite him. It calmed them both down whenever they were stressed. And Barty and Marlene, locked up together in Barty’s hotel room. Both raging homosexuals dead set on never following rules talking amongst themselves just before the biggest gig of the band’s history? Yeah that was a reason to be stressed. That’s when he heard the tell tale clump of Barty’s docs down the corridor. And he was walking with purpose.

As soon as he came into view Evan noticed the way his eyebrows were knotted together yet his eyes were glimmering with excitement. Evan had no clue what Barty was going to say next but it wasn’t that.

“Marlene thinks I should kiss you.”

Barty announced and Evan dropped his jaw, staring at him agape.

“What?”

“And I agree with her.”

“What?”

***

OK HOPE U LIKED IT

xxx BYEEEE

pt4 probs gonna come soon bc I swear this fic has a life of its own

[neflil]

Aah here is the text post...

The usual couple doodles ::D

And future projects / catching up vv

*taps mic* Yaelokre gabbro makes a return. Also new song is out! Go listen to it if you haven't jshfjjs

Just gabbooo :3c

Okay so, gather up everyone. Schools started, I suddenly have to study and memorize two latin texts within a few days, history, and ancient Greek philosophy analyses and translations. Not fun, kinda! I don't have as much time as I did during summer and I can't finish a full drawing within a day. *But* ideas are as vivid as ever. And honestly I really want to do some of the stuff I'm imagining. Some are already in the works !!! These are mostly gabbro/time buddies related. Sorry fans of other characters but I spent the entire summer only drawing slate </3

Sooo... What to expect from me? Well:

• I'm writing a short fic! Which is close to being done- Without saying much- a replay of certain memories before the eventual death/creation of everything.

• I am currently doing an OC piece with two owlks ::D this should probably be next post if I finish it soon!

• More short animatics. Cus I have... So many songs... That I want to draw with the time buddies. Short ranging from a couple of seconds, to maybe a minute, so don't expect much. All I'll say is- guhhh y'all better enjoy flower face because all of these are with her songs lmfao..

> There are two songs atleast that I want to make almost full animatics, but that's probably not going to happen, so instead I'll take sections from them.

> Two lyrics from the same song I made last time buddies animatic. Cus I had a vision and I must fulfil it. If this continues, at this rate I'll animate the entire song every time I get struck with a vision, part by part lmfao.

> A possible gabbro centric animatic with the chorus of a song.

• And well, more school doodles/drawings ofc.. but those are kinda random. Please, if you have any suggestions drop them in my ask box!

• A certain fic might get an animatic. I won't elaborate on this. Patience.

• Lastly Mica and Slate piece, bc apparently I've never drawn them and that should be a crime. Some fluff to break up all this incoming angst.

These have a priority list ofc, but the way I work is pretty much spontaneous. So whatever I'm up for will take priority. It'll take time but I hope to have finished all of these within the next couple of months. We'll see how things go... I also have to balance other things and art in-between so blehhh. It's a mess.

Reminder if anyone wants to browse through my art easier without having to go through my entire account- the tag #noofposting is here for that reason. o7

Also also, since I now have these two animatics and more to come- to not get lost in my acc, I'll also tag them with #noofanimatics to be able to filter through my stuff easier.

[fly-boy-in-the-sky]

Happy Halloween!

I was reading volume eight today which is probably my favorite volume (real reason is the Coney Island fight LMFAO the illustrations are sooo cool) because you get so much information on the actual underlying story (the drug) which is reeaaally interesting to me because I love fictional stories that surround government/military and is either symbolic or allusion to the real thing. Never see many fans talk about the actual storyline like the entire point of banana fish use is because the US gov is afraid of the spread of communism in South America after Nam and the correlation with mafia is to filter money through.

In Max and Ash’s conversation Ash brings up the ignorance of American citizens when it comes to government issues and there’s not really any hiccups within it either which is pretty cool to me when you think the story is coming from a Japanese person’s perspective during a time where there was no internet so she was really learning stuff from her visits, movies, articles that made it over. Point is it really blows me away sometimes that there’s not many inconsistencies on how American culture is portrayed imo (again with making a story with only limited resources)….

Also I highly recommend machine translating the guidebook. The analysis shit is really fucking cool. She basically gives whole history lessons and you really see the characters so in depth. There’s a bunch of pages on LSD, MKultra and psychological factors behind ptsd/sexual abuse that you see reflected in Ash’s character like his hatred for men or the way he reacts to things and his self depreciation especially around Eiji as he really starts going into a downward spiral towards the end of the series.

Anyway, just ordered some more books so expect scans soon!

[nobelowz]

pls recommend some obkk long-fics it's a necessity 🙏🏻 (not kamui blues cus i've already read it) or just your favourites

im gonna be so honest im like the worst person to ask for recommendations.. ive read pretty much every obkk fic on ao3 that passes my bare minimum filters and they are all fused together in my mind, i wish i was joking... youre better off sending me screenshots of a fic and letting me tell you how it affected me psychologically 😭

HOWEVER.. any of butter_peanut's (author of kamui blues) obkk fics are so so precious to me..

also anything by khalas is amazing but they literally disappeared off the face of the earth so none of their fics have been updated in a while... </3

also also anyone else please respond with your fav fics!!!

some recs vv

fine line by sixpaths, its not finished yet but i love the characterizations in this fic sooo much

living western by galeforcefish, honestly i think this fic is abandoned but cowboy obkk will always be a full course meal for me...

affection and mutual misfortune by bow_woww, im being 100% serious this fic is like crack to me. genuinely with every update im clawing at the walls shaking crying giggling screaming in agony screaming with joy. i like it a normal amount.

discography by malamanteau, i really can't recall the entire plot right now but i know ive reread it several times and enjoyed it!

these are whats off the top of my head forgive me for the format... tumblr moblie sucks🙇🏻‍♂️

[simping4-2manyppl]

Hi there! Can I request a Bill (2023) x yn (a fem!reader, who is also in the band and married to Bill ) fic where they react to fanfictions or edits abt them (abt Bill and yn back in the 2000s) during an Instagram live with the other members please ?

Take care 🫶🏻

Bill Kaulitz 🎤

“Memories”

AHH LITERALLY LOVE THIS REQUEST SMM!! IMMA DO MY VERY BEST!

Bill x y/n

I feel like this one turned out bad since i rushed it 😓 so sorry about that pookie 💔 may be some spelling mistakes!

You woke up, feeling the other side of the bed empty. You groaned, getting up and rubbing your eyes. You got up and made you way to the kitchen making coffee as you saw your husband fixing up his phone, positioning it so its facing him.

"Okay guys, now that everyones in here i thought we should do something that SOOO many people have been asking us to do." Bill said, laughing.

"Oh wait! Y/n!" He said turning around, motioning for you to come over. You picked up your coffee and made your way over to him,

"yes my love?" you said sitting down next to him, sipping on your coffee as you waved at the phone.

Seeing everyone wave, you smiled and pit your coffee on the small coffee table you guys had. "Hello everyone." You said giggling, "So?" you said turning to bill.

He smiled at you, "People have been requesting us to watch some edits i think thats what theyre called and fanfiction" (get ready guys 😣) he said with a big grin on his face. You furrowed your eyebrows and looked at him, “ill send them in our group chat so we can all see them at the same time.” bill said, pressing send.

You put your head on his shoulder, looking at the video, it was one of your guys concerts from when you were younger. “Oh gosh.. we were so little!” you said, a warm smile appearing on your face. “You were about 13 years old and i was only 14” he said, chuckling. “Exactly! Super young.” You said.

The edit was you and bill singing while there were some clips of tom, gustav, and georg playing. “When georg had his long hair!” you said laughing, “i was always jealous of his luscious hair.” You said, as georg laughed. “I know, everyone was.” He said winking, “it was beautiful.” He said, causing you to all laugh.

You watched more edits as they contained small clips of interviews you guys did when you were younger or other clips that you would sometimes record or someone else. You could remember them as if they were from yesterday, you felt old as you looked at your crazy younger self. Over the years you have had crazy looks as you never got to figure yourself out, you remember borrowing either tom or bills clothes or youd buy some clothes of your own but youd always prefer everyone else’s.

It was cute, looking back at how youthful you all were and you still were pretty young but just seeing your teen self brought back some of the best memories.

The last video bill showed was an edit of your guy’s wedding, including the members as they were also apart of it.

You loved seeing memories of the day you finally married the love of your life, you felt yourself smiling super hard as you looked at bill, “this is adorable, thank you my love.” You said giving his a small and quick kiss. “I love seeing these videos of our wedding, tom looks so silly right there.” He said laughing, “hey! No i dont.” He said rolling his eyes and he clicked on a new filter.

“Tom how do you get that, i want the cool filters too.” Bill said, whining and pressing on the screen, trying to figure out on how to get the filters. You rolled your eyes and laughed, they were always being so silly and that was one of the things you loved about bill, the relationship he had with his brother, considering you never grew up that close with any of your siblings.

“Okay, whatever. Lets move on to the fan fiction.” Bill said excitedly. You grabbed your coffee and sipped on it, “you guys, i dont know how to work this but im going to try my best. Ill be reading it out loud.” He said and clicked on an app. “Alright..” he said looking focused, trying to figure the app out.

he finally found one after searching and the title read “Your living nightmare.” ( i told yall to get ready 😓) “Ooo tom this ones about you!” bill said as tom looked at him confused, “what do you mean.” He said, “someone wrote this about you tom!” he said and started reading it, and boy was it odd.

They would go into deep detail of the character and tom, it was crazy how they made up so many things, i mean tom? A gangster? He was probably one of the nicest people you knew, obviously it didn’t appear like that to most people since he would put up an act but now you were just nervous about the rest of the fanfiction.

You wondered what people wrote about you and bill. After bill got bored and really weirded out by the fanfic he chose a new one, something called “oneshots” you didnt know what they meant but apparently they were like little chapters but each one contained a different plot and story.

He read out some about gustav and georg, some about tom and himself, he would squeal nervously when it was about him, and youd just laugh. This ones about you.” Bill said smirking at you, “something called smut?” you furrowed your eyebrows and nodded, you were now extremely nervous, “okay..” you said as he started reading, into the middle of the chapter his jaw dropped as he put his phone down, “yeahhh… okay, lets stop right there.”

He said, still shocked. “What? What is it?” you said confused as to why he stopped. He leaned over and whispered in your ear, “its about you and like.. sex related things.” He said, your face immediately turning red. “Oh wow..” you said shocked, you definitely weren’t expecting this but maybe you should have, i mean ever since you were a teenager you did always get alot of attention and some boys would catcall you and tell you things so you were pretty used to it but you never expected someone to write something sexual about you.

You laughed it off and just finished your coffee as it was already cold from you leaving it as you were busy reading the fan fictions with bill. “Well.. this whole thing was definitely interesting..” you said placing your lips together, pressing them shut.

As you said your goodbyes the live ended and bill looked at you, “some of the things they wrote about you were pretty accurate you know.” He said smirking, “you do love to moan my name out loud, dont you mein schatz?” He said, caressing your cheek with his thumb. His face now inches away from yours. Your face now as red as a tomato, “i-“ you tried to say but got interrupted, “shh..” bill said, placing his lips onto yours, slowly kissing you as you felt the kiss turn hungry very quickly. “Lets go to the bedroom.” He said getting up and grabbing your hand. You grabbed his hand and squealed in excitement.

[bluebearbasket]

Sooo I have a scene idea for ShikaHina, specifcally Shikamaru and Hinata during their academy days.

Basically, Hinata is quietly studying under a nice tree outside. However, her eyes are drawn away from the her notes as she sees Nara Shikamaru, one of her classmates that sits nearby her in the academy approach the tree with a bored look on his face. She nervously asks Shikamaru if he needs something, and Shikamaru just shrugs, saying that the tree is the best for napping and lays down beside her. Hinata blushes, wringing her fingers nervously saying she can leave if he wants to nap here, and Shikamaru, eyes closed, just says "It's fine, you're pretty quiet anyways." Hinata takes it as a compliment, smiling softly, not saying anything else and going back to studying. 

After what seems like an eternity, Hinata goes to softly stretch her arms, careful not to bother the boy beside her, but finds he's already looking her. Hinata startles a bit, blushing apologizing for disturbing him. Shikamaru just shrugs, saying she didn't, and asks her what she's studying. Hinata explains she studying her clan history, to which Shikamaru sighs, with a classic "what a drag..." But lifts himself up to see what part she's on. Hinata moves closer to show him, as she senses his thinly veiled interest, despite his outward demeanor. Shikamaru hums reading over her notes, his eyes piqued with intrest over the healing and medicine section as he mentions he didn't know their clans collaborated on that, he only knew vaguely about the Nara's history in it through his mother. The pair continue in peaceful, with the occasional comment on the subject and the scroll reading at hand. 

After sometime, Shikamaru notices Hinata's eyes drooping a bit as she rubs one of her eyes to focus back on her notes, he smirks, amused at the sight (which despite himself, finds kind of adorable) he comments that she has been studying for a while and could take a break. The tree's a pretty nice place to nap (he would know, he was napping before lol). Hinata blushes at being caught getting sleepy, and worries about her notes flying away while she does. Shikamura rolls his eyes good-naturally saying that, he's here so she doesn't need to worry about that. Hinata hums, already eyes drooping again as she leaves against the tree trunk. She softly thanks Shikamaru and dozes off lightly. 

Of course, as for timing, a light breeze passes by and nearly sends the papers flying, but Shikamaru had thankfully already prepared for that, and caught them before they flew away. "How troublesome," he mutters, but nonetheless folds them a put them in his pocket for safe keeping. He also lies back on the trunk relaxing, sparing a glance to Hinata once more, a small smile on his face pleased she's resting. He knows she's been studying like crazy recently for the upcoming exams, if she's not going to look after herself, he suppose, as troublesome as it maybe, he help her out in that regard, just a bit.

Maybe it could go something along the line of this:

~~~

A Quiet Pause

Bluebearbasket, August 25th, 2024, ~900 words

Hinata sat quietly under the shade of a large tree, the afternoon sun filtering through its leaves, casting dappled shadows on the pages of her notes. The academy grounds were peaceful, with most of the students having gone home for the day. She preferred this quiet time, where she could focus on her studies without distraction. But today, her concentration faltered as she noticed a familiar figure approaching. It was Nara Shikamaru, one of her classmates, with his usual bored expression. 

Hinata felt her heart rate quicken slightly as he drew closer. She wasn’t used to being approached, especially not by someone like Shikamaru, who she never really interacted with as he mostly always napped through class. She wrung her fingers nervously, trying to think of what to say.

“Um… Shikamaru-kun?” she began softly, her voice barely above a whisper. “D-Do you need something?”

Shikamaru stopped in front of the tree and gave her a nonchalant shrug. “Nah, just wanted to nap,” he replied, his tone casual. He glanced at the tree, then back at her. “This tree’s the best spot for it.”

Before Hinata could respond, he plopped down beside her, stretching out on the grass with a contented sigh. He closed his eyes, already settling in as if she weren’t even there.

Hinata blinked in surprise, her cheeks tinged with pink. “Oh… I-I can leave if you want to nap here,” she offered, her voice hesitant as she gathered her things, ready to move.

Shikamaru yawned, his eyes already closing as he replied, “It's fine.” He turned his head slightly, cracking one eye open to look at her. “You’re pretty quiet, anyway.”

Hinata’s cheeks warmed at his words, taking it as a compliment. A small, shy smile tugged at her lips as she nodded and went back to her notes, her heart fluttering just a bit at the unexpected company. 

For a while, the only sound was the soft rustling of leaves in the breeze and the occasional turn of a page. Hinata was careful not to make too much noise, not wanting to disturb Shikamaru’s nap. But after what felt like an eternity, she stretched her arms gently, trying not to draw attention to herself. 

To her surprise, when she turned her head, she found Shikamaru watching her, his eyes half-lidded but alert. Startled, she quickly dropped her arms and stammered, “Oh! I-I’m sorry, did I wake you?”

Shikamaru just shrugged, sitting up slightly. “You didn’t. What are you studying?”

Hinata hesitated, then showed him her notes. “It’s… about my clan’s history. I wanted to make sure I understood everything before the exams.”

Shikamaru leaned in, his interest piqued despite his usual laid-back demeanor. “What a drag… but I guess it’s important. Let me see.”

As Hinata moved closer to let him read, she noticed the subtle curiosity in his eyes, even though he tried to mask it with a sigh. They sat together, their heads almost touching as they pored over the notes. Shikamaru hummed in thought as he read about the collaboration between the Hyuga and Nara clans in the fields of healing and medicine.

“Huh,” Shikamaru muttered, “I didn’t know our clans worked together on this. I only knew about it from my mom.”

Hinata nodded, feeling a little more at ease now that they were discussing something familiar. “Yes… our clans worked together on developing certain medical remedies. It’s part of why we’re both known for our healing ointments.”

They continued in a peaceful manner, with Hinata explaining parts of her notes that Shikamaru found interesting, and Shikamaru occasionally adding his own observations or comments. The conversation flowed easily, and Hinata found herself enjoying the exchange more than she had expected. 

After some time, Shikamaru noticed Hinata’s eyes starting to droop. She rubbed one of her eyes, trying to stay focused on her notes, but the exhaustion was clear on her face. Shikamaru smirked, finding the sight unexpectedly endearing. 

“You’ve been at this for a while,” he said, a hint of amusement in his voice. “Maybe you should take a break. The tree’s a nice place for a nap, you know."

Hinata’s blush deepened, embarrassed at being caught. “I… I suppose you’re right. But… my notes… if the wind picks up—”

Shikamaru rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “I’m here, aren’t I? I’ll keep an eye on them. You just rest.”

Hinata hummed softly, her eyelids growing heavier with each passing moment. She leaned back against the tree trunk, the exhaustion from her studies finally catching up with her. “Thank you, Shikamaru-kun,” she mumbled, her voice barely audible as she drifted off into a light nap.

Shikamaru watched her for a moment, a small, amused smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He knew she had been working hard, maybe too hard, for the upcoming exams. It was just like her to push herself, always striving to do better. If she wasn’t going to take care of herself, well… he supposed it wouldn’t be too troublesome to help out a bit.

As if on cue, a light breeze rustled the leaves, and Shikamaru’s sharp eyes caught the movement of her notes just as they started to lift off the ground. With a sigh, he reached out and caught them, folding them neatly and tucking them into his pocket for safekeeping.

“Troublesome,” he muttered to himself, but there was no real annoyance in his voice. He leaned back against the trunk, letting his eyes close again. Before he drifted off, he spared one last glance at Hinata, making sure she was comfortable. He couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of contentment, knowing that even though looking out for someone else could be troublesome, it wasn’t so bad when it was Hinata.

~~~

[dollfxcx]

only if you're comfortable with it but... hate sex??? 🙏 like, reader talking back and Pennywise just having his way?? dirty talk, maybe?

I LOVED THIS ONE SO MUCH. HATE SEX IS JUST. SUPERIOR.

TW: nsfw, dubcon elements (not really, reader wants it REAL bad but doesn't wanna show it, yet I still wanna point it out)

Word count: (2.2k+)

Peter is extraordinarily ordinary. Just like the way he smiles at you, toothy and cheeky, the way his blond curls move in the wind, the way he strokes your cheek every time he separates from you at the door of your house. It's been a month since the evening at Derry's fair, where you two met.

"You dropped this." he said, handing you the wallet that had slipped out of your pocket without you realizing it.

"I couldn't help but notice how pretty you are." he'd also said, earning from you firstly a glare and then, eventually, a chuckle. Peter shouts a goodbye to you one last time after seeing you wave at him from your bedroom window, as you do every time, and you grin. Everything's normal. Normality is beautiful. Normality is.... normal. Dull, a bit boring. But that's normal, isn't it? You sigh, now suddenly and utterly hopeless, and collapse onto the bed, squinting at the sunset light filtering through the floral curtains. When you open your eyes again, the sun is completely gone, the room is dark, it's cold and raining. It takes a while to adjust to the darkness, but when you do the room feels smaller than usual, gloomy and narrow, almost claustrophobic. And hot. You sit up, feeling slightly dizzy, and reach for the glass of water on the bedside table. It's strangely sweet. You don't like it.

"Had fun tonight?" asks a voice, which seems to boom from every corner of the room, your heart starts pounding, so fast you're afraid it might leap out of your chest.

"Oh, I bet you liked it when he touched you with his filthy, filthy hands, didn't ya?" the voice giggles and you know that sound very well, it makes you tremble like a leaf and stumble back towards the wall behind you. Just when you're about to consider escaping, Pennywise pops out of the gloom, chin tucked into his shoulders and a grin on his face.

"But when it comes to poor ol' Pennywise, you're sooo hard to please, so picky." he's lying for the sole purpose of pissing you off and you know it, yet no matter how hard you try, you feel the anger begin to boil in your veins. In the middle of your stream of consciousness, Pennywise leaps onto the bed, arms spread wide in a mock embrace, and pins you down, his maniacally laughing mouth perilously close to your face. You try to hit him with your knee, but he doesn't budge one bit, he just gives you a bored glare and wags his finger in front of your eyes.

"Now, now, don't be such a naughty girl, give Penny a big smile." one of his eyes wanders around as his left hand tightens around your throat, a bead of drool falling from his lips and trickling down your chest. You frown, blabbing as you try to shove him away and shaking your head aggressively.

"No. No! Get off of me. NO. You won't get away with me again. I won't let you, I--" Pennywise shuts you up with a magnanimous growl, his gloved thumb lightly rubbing your lip.

"Mhh, such harsh words for these soft lips. Don't you think it would be better to put them to a more constructive use?" he purrs softly, his hand leaving your neck to slide slowly towards one of your breasts, squeezing it almost with care through the fabric of your shirt. You choke on a deep sigh, your eyes closing almost immediately at the touch you've missed so much. Pennywise chuckles softly as he spreads your legs wide to position himself between them.

"Oh, I was sure you missed me, pet. Little Petey could never make you feel the way I make you feel, could he, doll?" Pennywise lets the claws of his right hand shred your shirt with one smooth gesture, your nipples stiffen under his hungry gaze. He hums condescendingly, lowering his head slightly to wrap his lips around one of them.

"No, stop..." you try to push him away, without too much strength nor conviction, a soft moan escapes your lips when you feel him start to suck on it sloppily.

"Oh? What was that pretty sound? Lemme hear it again, it was so cute." You feel him smile against your skin as one of his hands slides quickly between your legs, starting to rub your crotch with the pad of his thumb through the thick fabric of your jeans, which drives you even crazier, because it's too much but not enough at the same time.

"You like it, don'tcha?" he rhetorically asks, slowly moving his lips from your nipple down your belly, leaving a trail of slobbering kisses on your skin.

"No." you snap, biting your lower lip to keep yourself from making sounds he might… misinterpret. His head snaps up, making you squirm uncomfortably at the loss of contact, his golden eyes narrow playfully.

"Ah, no? Aw, that's a real shame…I thought I was getting the hang of it…" he murmurs, falsely disappointed, and although you can clearly see how his hands are still on your thighs, soft gloves on your flesh, you feel your arms being pulled by two things you can't quite distinguish, only thing you know is that they are warm and vaguely slimy.

“Stop…” you mutter again, your neck falling back as your arms are brought over your head, outstretched as if you were being crucified to the bed. Pennywise gives you a beaming smile, raising both hands and shaking them slightly in fake innocence.

"I'm not even touching you. You asked me not to, right? I did what you wanted, Y/n, didn't I?" he purrs, persuasive, exasperating, he towers over you by holding himself up on his arms, without letting one part of his body touch yours. He then sinks his head against your neck, inhaling hard, you feel him vibrate above you, his torso stiffens as if he's trying to keep from bending you over and fucking you into oblivion.

"You sick fucker." you mutter, pushing your hips down to find a minimum of friction.

"Aw, you wound me…good girls shouldn't say such words. And you want to be a good girl, don'tcha?" his voice is hoarse, almost distorted, his cherry-colored lips rub against your neck like a butterfly's touch and you know very well that he is doing everything on purpose, that if it were up to him he would already be buried inside you up to the hilt, but he loves to play with you more than he likes physical pleasures. His eyes meet yours as he lifts his head up slightly and your lips crash against his, a sigh escapes your throat as he shoves his tongue forcefully into your mouth. The room is filled with slurping noises, he feeds on your flavor with such dedication you think he's sucking your soul out. Maybe he actually is.

"Good girl. Now open wide." he demands, taking your chin between his fingers and tugging at it slightly. You open your mouth obediently despite your inner conflict, and he hums in appreciation, shoving two fingers inside your mouth and pressing them against your tongue.

"Suck. Suck as if it were my cock." he orders, you feel the grip of those slimy outside things, which are apparently thin semi-transparent tendrils, tighten around your wrists. Your lips close around his pale fingers, your tongue caresses them with such dedication that a few drops of drool that you can't swallow in time drip from the corners of your mouth down your chin.

"Yeah, like that..." he praises you, as his free hand takes off your pants with a quick and almost violent yank, you feel him press his nose against your crotch, which is still hidden behind your underwear, your head tilting back dangerously at the contact.

"You're already so wet, just by sucking on my fingers. You want them, don't you? Deep inside your throbbing cunt? If you ask nicely, perhaps." he almost growls, his nose pressing beautifully against your swollen clit, sending an electric shock throughout your entire body, you can't stop the moan escaping your lips this time. Pennywise slips his fingers out of your mouth, licking them clean of your saliva.

"So good for me, huh? You want to cum on my fingers? D'you want me to tell you how hot and tight you are? Just for me? You have to ask me, doll. Oh I'd hate to do you wrong." The teasing is obvious, but at that moment it doesn't concern you. The only thing you want is to cum and the hatred you feel for him only fuels the desire, paradoxically.

"Shit." you grit your teeth, your hips move obsessively downwars for you to touch or rub against anything, but he remains completely still, a smirk on his face.

"Come on, it's not that hard." the tendrils double in number, the two new ones, thicker and coarser, making their way to your already sensitive nipples, pinching them so lightly that your back arches.

"Fuck me. Stop wasting time and fuck me, asshole."

He grabs the hem of his costume pants, tendrils stopping abruptly as he gives you a smirk, then he frowns slightly in concentration as he strokes and cups his obvious erection, which is trapped by the fabric, to tease himself, head tilted back slightly and lips parted. When he finally takes off his trousers, you can't help but yelp. His cock is thick and cherry red, like the color of his lips, narrower at the tip like a tentacle, and it pulsates with delicious expectation, writhing and wriggling as if it had a mind of its own. He clicks his tongue a few times, his right hand squeezes the base of his cock as he uses the other to spread your thighs further so that he's even closer to you and every inch of his body against yours invades you with tremendous warmth.

"You know you can't lie to me, right? You like it, I can smell it, you're just like a bitch in heat, aren't ya? But don't you worry, Pennywise is here to help, yes he is!" You wish you could talk back, but your voice dies in your throat as the tip of his cock suddenly presses against your folds, crawling inside you with an obscene squelching sound. His hips snap against yours, your body tries desperately to adjust to his length, a string of profanity makes its way to your lips when he's fully into you, up to the hilt. Pennywise growls softly, his back stiff and tense.

"I didn't remember you being so tight." he comments, as he begins to thrust himself at a slow, excruciatingly slow pace, you feel his cock bulge inside you, swelling until it manages to poke and caress every single spot of your dripping cunt.

"Are you planning to be like this the whole time or are you gonna fuck me properly?" you grit your teeth, eyes shut tight to concentrate on not cumming right away. Pennywise chuckles, but doesn't object, his rhythm gets faster, with each thrust his cock slips out of you almost completely just to be forcefully thrust back into you, making you moan every time.

"Oh, look at you, you're dripping wet" he observes, staring back at you without ever slowing down his movements, the pad of his thumb finds your clit and gives it a flick, caressing it more gently after he hears you whine at the action.

"You look like you were made for me, look how perfectly you wrap yourself around my cock. You want to fuck me, don't you? Hurt me like I hurt you, mh? Then do it, take all of me." he orders and the invitation is almost enough to make you cum, yet you try to hold back, wrapping your legs around his hips to make him sink deeper, your hands gripping his shoulders, pulling him closer to you.

"Such a good girl, Y/n, really." he buries his face against your neck, his lips closing around a patch of skin and sucking hard, you feel him tremble against you as he savors your taste. His cock is throbbing just like your cunt is, you know you're both close so you push your hips down to take in more of him, motion that makes him moan for the first time.

"Like that, doll. Keep fucking me, such good girl you are." You want to do as he tells you, but you cum as soon as you feel him sink his sharp teeth into the flesh of your shoulder, the sound of his tongue sucking and lapping at your blood is enough to push you over the edge. Pennywise dunks his teeth deeper as, with one last thrust of his hips, he cums too, you feel his hot sticky release filling you completely, it's so much that when he pulls out of you some of it pours out of your oversensitive cunt and pools on the mattress under your bodies. He smiles from ear to ear, one of his hands gently pressing your slightly swollen belly, squeezing out a little more of his fluids, then leaning over your crotch and licking it all away, as if nothing could go to waste.

"Don't go out with Little Petey anymore." he recommends, caressing your chin with his thumb, which is magically gloved again. You push his hand away and frown, trying to sit up.

"I do whatever the fuck I want." you spit, and Pennywise grins mischievously, his gaze falls between your legs, still smeared with cum and blood, and onto the damp mattress.

"Oh, I know that." and with a wink, he disappears.