#Also please excuse the different style changes I get distracted really easily

[mint-termsandconditions]

Rope MF is a first stage in his evolution next is Chain MOFO

About that…

Rope MF is to much of a rope purist to touch anything that isn’t a rope

but you know who isn’t much of a rope purist?

THAT’S RIGHT! MIR-ROPE MF!!!

But I’m going to steal the name Chain MOFO because that’s a better name lol

Bonus doodles because I had to much fun with the design:

[mercurytrinemoon]

Another post on Moon signs you can drag me for

Before we get into the actual thing, I'd like to say this post initially started as something else but ultimately, what I tried to put across is, sometimes Moon signs aren’t that easy to decipher. It’s easy to grasp overall characteristics of the signs and then learn how to identify their specific traits. But what people seem to forget it that Moon represents the deepest side of us & our inner world - it’s uncommon to really see someone’s side of it unless you really pay attention. Sometimes I’m surprised to see what someone’s Moon sign is even if I know this person well. Meaning, people usually hide that part of them - or they just simply process it internally and others can’t see their emotional reactions. It’s also uncommon for folks these days to fully express their emotional needs so it gets even trickier to pin-point their Moon characteristics. I don't think I have to mention this but, of course, your entire chart should be taken into account, as well as house placement, aspects. Personally, I like to also look at Moon's dispositor.

Let’s start from my friends, Gemini Moons, who, I feel, get a bad rep for not showing their feelings and scanning every emotion like an AI. Nah-ah. I know this one Gemini Moon whose immediate emotional reactions aren’t very cerebral in the sense of processing everything in the mind and intellectualizing it aka, what people like to label as being un-emotional. Instead her reactions are often fast (air energy) but physically expressed through Mercury (Gemini Moon’s dispositor) and Sun (overall identity) – she has them both in Aries. She’s a crybaby who can burst into tears in a matter of seconds. So she’s not something that would stereotypically be assigned to a Gemini Moon. But what I did notice is that all Gemini Moons tend to have this weird look on their face when they’re processing stuff. As if they were about to have a brain malfunction; they stop and have that specific worried look. They also like to either gossip or tell stories (either real or made up lol); they’re great with words - they can talk for hours if they feel comfortable with you. They just crave interaction and mental stimulation. Their quick reactions tend to make them effortlessly witty. Even if they’re a withdrawn Gemini type, they make up for it through social media and technology or just a quiet exploration. My shy Cancer pal with Moon in Gemini is now a brand/website designer and an instagram queen who travels the world. This is great energy for content creators in general. And don’t forget that Geminis need to have their fingers in many pies. It’s because they always have a backup plan… and they get bored easily so they need that chaos around them to feel at home. They like to have options in everything, which is kind of funny cause it’s hard for them to make up their minds and actually choose something. And they store a lot of information in their brains… I feel like it must be exhausting, no? 

On the other side of the axis, whenever I see someone with a Sagittarius Moon, I can immediately say “yup, a Sag Moon indeed” (probably thanks to my Sag stellium), meaning, they all seem the same to me. Sag Moons often find comfort in exploration - best if it’s literal travel. They always seem to need to free themselves from their surroundings, family, roots or their own culture to discover something new and exciting, even if it’s only in the imaginary words - through books, movies and other medias. Their happiness always lies somewhere else from where they currently are. Like, I think all Sagittarius Moons that I know have left their parents and went their own paths early on. And they have this yolo attitude. Just like Sagittarius Suns, they’re massive dorks, probably also obnoxious… sometimes in a REALLY annoying way. They’re either a) very wise and curious b) lil preachy and stuck up c) just plain dumb clowns with no filter. But they’re all funny. And they take things lightly, with a natural ease. This means sometimes they may offend other people just because they assume everyone’s as chill as they are; „relax! I was just kidding!” - that’s a phrase you’ll hear from them often… I mean, unless you’re a jokester yourself and you’re unmoved by their sarcastic or teasing words. They have somewhat spiritual or philosophical nature so besides making you laugh, be prepared for deep monologues. They want to believe everything will eventually fall into place. It’s also hard to bring them down - or I should say, it’s hard to make them acknowledge that they're feeling down - they always try to distract or cover it up with a joke, usually a self-depricating one. If Sagittarius Moon (or Sagittarius in general tbh) is telling you that they’re unhappy, then it’s serious.

I’ve noticed there comes a point in life for a Libra Moon where they just have enough. They’re too nice for everyone and one day they wake up and yell about how they have to do everything for everyone and everyone wants something from them and bLah bLah. Makes me think of when Bieber was this overly nice kid and then he was like “I’M NOT TAKING PICTURES WITH FANS ANYMOREEEE AAGhJFJFUWIUq”. Yup, a Libra Moon, everyone. They know how to charm and appeal to people, I think overall they’re easily liked by others. Sometimes it’s simply because they like to kiss people’s ass just to avoid being rejected. That’d be a Libra Moon’s nightmare. They like other people’s company too much. And they thrive in relationships and in a big circle of friends. What they hate is confrontations (like every other Libra placement omg). They may be good mediators when it comes to other people but if they’re involved in an argument they get sooooo passive aggressive. They just don’t know how to handle conflicts - it’s as if their nervous system wasn’t designed for emotional outbursts (because, you know, everything needs to be peaceful and harmonious Venus-style). A fussy or angry Libra Moon will suddenly get loud as they blame someone for something… and then they’ll leave the room cause they’re scared to even hear the other side of the argument. Or, alternatively, they’ll make a doormat out of themselves just to stay quiet and avoid causing any rift. And making decisions? I think it’s common for them to have two different romantic interests and feeling so dramatically torned between them *Alexa play Agony from Into the Woods*. Then when they decide, they have problems breaking the bad news to one of them.

On the other end we have Aries Moons. *deep breath* Listen, I think I’ve said enough about having Moon in Aries (or rather purely dissing it) but last time it made a bit of controversy so why not wreak even more havoc. I have a good description for this one: I will punch you but be gentle with me cause it’s easy to break my fragile heart. So basically, imagine putting Buttercup and Bubbles into one person. And honestly, I need to say this, women with this placement are just hot badasses, look at friggin Angelina Jolie. The queen of badass. The queen of hot. People say because Aries folks move quickly (literally and figuratively lol), they often get bored with whatever got them excited last week... or yesterday. Ha, yeah, right. You get their heart to open up and they’re going to have their eyes for you ONLY, like a lil puppy. Give us treats and we’ll build our world around you. But NOT in a clingy way by any means, we need our space and independence after all. My lil niece is an Aries Moon and ever since I started playing guitar with her, she became my #1 fan or something. That’s the energy. But we get easily bored with day-to-day stuff so yeah, there’s that. Innocent and clumsy yet raw in their emotions - so there’s potential to make mistakes sometimes (or a lot of times) or having this tunnel vision, like „I want this and I don’t care about anything else!”. And then excusing it with some „but the heart wants what it wants” crap (looking @ ya, Selena Gomez). They experience constant inner movement and turbulence that needs a physical outlet in order to feel satisfied. WE NEED PASSION IN OUR LIVES, OKAY?!?!?? now leave me alone

Aquarius Moons aren’t as cold as you might think. People like to describe them as if their Moons actually disappeared from their charts: dEtaCheD, uNeMotiOnaL, tHey fEeL nOtHinG. It’s just they don’t sit and dwell on things, they find solutions to the problems. If something doesn’t make them feel right, they just leave that situation. They do care about other people’s well-being, they’re very sensitive in that regard, they’re humanitarians after all. Yeah, they detach, but from their own emotions - in order to make sense of them. They may seem like snow queens sometimes (and this comes from an Aqua rising) but they’re really friendly and if you pique Aqua Moon’s interest, they’re going to be curious about you. They like new exciting things so if you’re cool enough, you have their attention. Usually they’re pretty progressive as well and can’t stand injustice. That’s why you’ll see them standing up for those who are in need. Uranian energy gives them a specific type of sharp intuition and wit. Idk they’re just cute in a quirky way. But this buzzing, fast energy is a great recipe for anxiety, over-thinking and frequent changes of heart. Similarly to Sadges, they need constant exploration and stimuli. Intelligent, people-oriented (but not people-pleasing! Look to Libras for that), individualistic. They definitely need their own space and independence. Their decision-making is fast and it’s easy for them to just say „screw it, I’m doing this”. My Aquarius Moon friend just casually decided that she’s moving to Turkey cause nothing in our city (or even country) seems interesting or helping her expand… So she was like, see ya suckers, I’m leaving.

Leo Moons shine from within. You’ll spot them from a mile away even if they’re on the shyer side. They’re all lil stars no matter their profession. Very expressive people & easily excitable. Art galleries, live shows, theater - they love a creative environment even if they don’t pursue that lifestyle themselves... One of my Leo Moon friends is an art junkie – suggest taking her to an obscure play at the local bar, a music festival, a weird museum – she’ll say yes in the blink of an eye. And she loves discussing these things. A Leo Moon may not see themselves as artistically inclined, but usually sooner or later they at least try dipping their toes in music, arts, acting, dancing... you name it. They’ll learn a simple 3-chord song on a ukulele and then play it to you in excitement. Imagine a lil kid making you a puff piece and being super proud of it. Sometimes they just need some encouragement. Remember, Leos feed off of praise, that’s their fuel. Doesn’t mean they’re all proud, egotistical people but what it does mean is that they need a lil assurance to gain their self-confidence. I lived with a Leo Sun/Moon for almost 15 years (who’s a musician btw so yeah, a classic creative Leo type) - he did have some issues lol but ego wasn’t one of them. Drama followed him everywhere but I’m pretty sure he disliked it himself. BUT, with that being said, I feel like Leo Moons tend to dramatize themselves internally. People say it’s something Virgos or Geminis would do - because of their tendency to overthink, but Leos can just go straight to a worst-case scenario in their heads simply because they exaggerate everything. So don’t be surprised to see a Leo Moon feeling down and anxious. On the bright side, be their cheerleader and they’ll give that to you in return. They need sparks and dullness kills their upbeat spirit. They need to feel their own heartbeat so the feeling of excitement is crucial for their well-being. Romantic, giving and kind. They’re fixed fire so once they’re set on something or someone, they give their all and are rather loyal.

I feel like my chart low-key tells me I should dislike Taurus Moons but I just want to melt in their arms and just stay there? Like, forever? Low maintenance but a bit slow-moving and stubborn. They won’t settle easily, at least not officially, so you need to have a lot of patience with them. They need 3 things to feel secure and at peace: physical stimuli, time and a stable place they know they can always come back to. And it’s not like all of them are total lazy homebodies, they may be active spirits & travellers but they are going to have a reallyyyyy nice cosy flat somewhere near their childhood place (gotta be be close to their moms, you know). Not necessary materialistic but they may have one thing that they collect throughout their entire life and they won’t. ever. get. rid. of. it. There needs to be at least one constant in their life - like you know when Elton John decided to go to therapy but one thing he stuck to was shopaholism? Very Taurus Moon of him. Also, they’re very affectionate. In fact, may have issues differentiating between affection and passion - this is actually something Taurus Moon and Aries Moon have in common. Pro tip - and this is in regard to all Taurus placements - don’t smell bad when you’re around them (I mean, don't smell bad in general, no one likes stinky people lol). They have a sensitive smell. Doesn’t help that they like to smell everything. EVERYTHING. I swear, Taurus, stop sticking your nose in every single thing!!! You don't need to know how that piece of utensil smells like. Jeez.

Scorpio Moon (shoutout to those who remember me accidentally calling them sporpio last time I made a post on Moons lol). I honestly don’t know what to tell you... I feel like all you hear about Scorpio Moon is 100% true, there’s nothing to debunk here. It’s the Moon of extremes. Prone to jealousy and surpressing emotions; severe trust issues; they’re instigators. I was low-key bullied by a few Scorpio Moons when I was in school so there’s that. Very secretive and private. Scorpio Moon will be like “I’m in control of the situation!!!!” and you’ll just look at them and think, yeah, right, looks like the situation is controlling you. But keep being in denial, sure. Like, don’t get me wrong, Scorpios in general can be TOTAL SWEETHEARTS OMG but ya’ll have issues. Even celebrities who have this placements... Think Beyonce or Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus... I feel like they have issues lol, especially with control and the need for everything to be perfectly the way they want it to be. To be fair, that’s probably why they’re all so influential and high status: it’s either their way or highway. They need constant reinvention; they’re the ones to wake up one day and decide they’re going through a spiritual awakening blah blah. They also like to talk about dark and shocking topics while having casual lunch with you... So like, be warned that you may end up with a depressed mood after talking to them for 10 minutes. And their mood swings... don’t even get me started on that.

I don't know where to start with Virgo Moons... I feel like they're very calculated and nit-picky but they're a lot warmer than Virgo Suns. I think I called them softies in my last Moon post. Very sweet people but prone to anxiety. You gotta experience seeing them having a heart attack over someone mixing bananas with milk or messing with their stuff that’s been put in a perfect arrangement. I saw a Virgo Moon once literally squealing shouting "YOU'RE GONNA RUIN YOUR LAPTOP WITH THAT SUPERGLUE!!!" Highly entertaining to watch, not gonna lie. Gordon Ramsay has his Moon in Virgo - it’s conjunct Uranus and Pluto so that’s an extreme but I think him being fed up with people over small inconsistencies in their food prep is a perfect example of this energy (btw his chart is hilarious, it literally explains EVERYTHING). They're VERY picky with their food as well, just as Virgo Suns tend to be. Like, they’ll only have a specific type of single origin coffee or they’ll be vegan or something. Self-critical over their work, which is a plus... except for when finishing a simple task takes them a few hours because they want to make it perfect. They take everything seriously. This of course doesn't mean they're total bores - on the contrary, Mercurial energy gives them witty approach and a talent for choosing the right words at the right time. Tho they can be a bit awkward or shy with it. Can be as bubbly as Gemini but the grounded earthy energy gives them more practical and almost nurturing nature - earth signs are providers after all and Virgo is the sign of service - helping others is like their second nature. I’ve noticed they often find comfort in devoting themselves to a choosen task - this is why if they pursue something, they’re really good at it. They’re also very likely to dissect their emotions.

I’m not a fan of water Moons in general but Pisces Moon is the best water Moon in my opinion. Maybe because I like Pisces overall. I think it’s like a tweaked Sagittarius Moon - just more internalized, withdrawn & gloomy. But unlike Sag, who has a tendency to be an adventurous optimist, Pisces likes to focus on the negatives instead. Obviously, they can be very upbeat, they’re Jupiter-ruled after all, but there’s somehing whiny about them lol. Just like Sadges, they dream big and have their standards put up sooo high but if there's not much active energy in their charts, they’re often too passive to actually fullfill any of that - or I should say, they’re stuck daydreaming about it, believing it’ll just magically manifest for them... OR they do everything with an apathetic approach. What I do like about them is that they’re funny. And really chill - sometimes to the point of coming off as confused or hazy. I feel like a lot of them would just love to sleep all day... or sit by the lake and just think about the world. Most of them are also compassionate folks - again, maybe a bit too much. Hey Pisces, you don’t have to take everything to heart, it’s okay. On the bright side, they have big imagination and the ability to disconnect and just create. I have a few Pisces Moons in the family: one’s that sleepy artistic type with grand visions, one is an asshole-ish but funny entrepreneur with a questionable work ethic and one is a witty IT guy who’s actually a workaholic and likes to shut in his own world of computers and numbers or whatever he does there... So there’s this factor of tunnel vision, escapism and, on the more negative side, being kinda iffy and almost addicted to the way they want things to be. Once they set their eyes on something it’s done deal…

My issue with Capricorn Moons is that they're often trying to be sooooo mature omg, like, loosen up a bit. It usually starts when they're in their later teens... They can be the most rebellious kid that likes to have fun and suddenly they'll be like "I'm too old for this ugh grow up" *judgmental stare*. My 18-year old niece once literally roasted my sister that she's in her 30s and still doesn't have her own place (well so do I so I guess she also indirectly roasted me as well???). And she was SO deadpan with it. Because she herself wants to be independent and start a family before turning 25. This is classic Capricorn Moon energy. They suck out joy out of everything lol. Of course, OF COURSE, it depends on the whole chart but I feel like worst-case scenario is that at one point in their life (or maybe even a few times throughout it) they go through a massive shake-up that makes them change their attitude and re-evaluate their structures. There's this multi-instrumentalist Yvette Young - she's a sweet, funny Cancer/Leo mix but her Moon is in Capricorn. She used to be a competitive pianist but the pressure that was put on her has led her to severe health issues. Like yes, she’s now an extremely talented musician - thanks to family’s expectations & a rigid schooling system (Saturn) but it did cost her a lot. She has recovered since then but I think it's a perfect example of this energy. It’s very ambitious and hardworking but emotionally demanding in the sense that you have to actually put your emotions aside in order to deal with the rest. Another thing, because Moon can be associated with family, there's often a weird dynamic surrounding this topic. I don't think I've met a Capricorn Moon that had a completely healthy and happy relationship with their fam or one of the family members. Or, alternatively, there can be a strong bond between one of them but usually created in the atmosphere of hardships.

Last but not least, Cancer Moons. I had three school friends with this placement and all of them made this sad, whiny face as they said „oh I don’t knoooow anymoreee”  when they were feeling torned or frustrated. To be fair, two of them are water Suns so for them, it added to the mushyness. All Cancer Moons I know are family people or better yet, baby people. One of those school friends is now a guidance counsellor, working with kids; the other turned her instagram into a gallery of her own child after she gave birth. So much kid content, omg. There’s also something very indecisive about them… or I should say, hesitant. They’re not very fast at making decisions. Also, what’s interesting, they’re kind of like walking libraries, they remember a lot – so they store a lot of information in their brains just like air signs but they process it in a completely different way – emotional, obviously. I think this also makes them hold grudges a lot. For them it’s more of a question of „how does it make me feel?” rather than „how valid is it?”. There’s certain stubborness in them in that regard because they don’t keep their minds open. It’s also hard for them to walk away from people and situations, like a crab pinching you with its claws – it won’t let go. Sensitive but not easy to open up; very protective of themselves and their loved ones & they tend to shut down in their crab shells. But they may crave connection and the feeling of belonging. Also very caring and with a big imagination. They’re very receptive of their environment so mood swings are a thing for them.

[theweasleysredhair]

Distracted [F.W.]

Character: Fred Weasley

Word Count: 2628

Requested?: Yes/No

Summary: Fred Weasley is hot and boy, does he know it.

WARNINGS: it’s a lil spicy, read with caution. a couple of saucy comments, just the usual with fred idk.

Tags: @gracemayhateyou @criminalyetminimal @firewhisky-kisses @obsessedwithrandomthings @angelinathebook @iprobablyshipit91 @potterverseimagine @slytherineheir @kpopgirlbtssvt @rexorangecouny @mytreec @hemmoporro @thisismysketchbook @acciotwinz @shadowsinger11 @aaannabbanana @lestersglitterglue @anyasthoughts @lxncelot @harrypotter289 @starlightweasley @wand3ringr0s3 @ickle-ronniekins @sehunasbitch @cryingforcrystalpepsi @kashishwrites @girl-next-door-writes @susceptible-but-siriusexual @crissdanvers @whizbangs-78 @heart-of-tempered-steel @oh-for-merlins-sake | message or send an ask to be added/removed!

Disclaimer: Gif isn't mine, credit to whoever made it

A/n: i am really feeling fred atm, so here’s an extremely self-indulgent freddie thirst fic for all my lovelies who are also irrevocably in love with him - enjoy!

~*~

PLEASE DO NOT REPOST MY WORK! REBLOGS ARE ABSOLUTELY FINE! <3

+ + + + +

Fred Weasley knew just how to get under your skin. It was a skill he had, a talent of knowing exactly what to do to get you hot and bothered, especially when you weren’t expecting it. It was especially frustrating when you couldn’t do anything about it, considering you were stuck in limbo between being friends and being more, and whilst you liked the lingering stares and longing touches, you couldn’t help but want more with him.

You had hoped he would’ve asked you to the Yule Ball last year - in fact, everyone was insistent that he would - but then he’d asked Angelina instead, which was hard to watch - George had laughed with his brother, but had grabbed your hand under the table in comfort - and made you doubt Fred actually returned your feelings at all.

Despite this, you’d actually ended up going to the ball with an extremely cute Durmstrang boy yourself, so you weren’t completely complaining, and of course, Fred had actually ended the night with you in his arms, dancing to the musical stylings of The Weird Sisters. It was also the night of your first - and only - kiss with Fred, under the stars in the Courtyard, in front of the fountain.

It was perfect, and you thought maybe things would change between you, maybe you’d be more, however when he didn’t act any different, never mentioned it again, you decided to keep quiet about it too.

In fact, you’d been pretty good at keeping your feelings under wrap since then. Of course, everyone knew how you felt - or at the very least, suspected - but no one said a word (besides Hermione, who you’d confessed everything to after she’d asked about it, knowing she wouldn’t say a word but also that she wouldn’t stop asking until she knew the truth).

And you were fine. Everything was fine. Until you got invited to the Burrow a few weeks before summer ended, and when you’d arrived after a month or so of not seeing Fred, you’d felt winded at his first smile of greeting, and felt your heart beating out of your chest when he’d pulled you into a hug, holding you against him as you buried your face into the jumper he was wearing at the time.

His hair had been cut since you’d last seen him on the Hogwarts Express, and whilst you’d liked the long hair - had enjoyed the way it had felt as you ran your hands through it that one time you’d kissed him - you couldn’t help how attracted you were to him with shorter hair, constantly feeling the urge to tug at it whenever you saw him.

He looked especially good when his hair was all tousled, windswept - exactly like it was as you watched him sitting on his broomstick outside as he waited for his siblings to be ready to play a last practise game of Quidditch before you’d all be leaving for 12 Grimmauld Place before the school year started back up again.

You were sat at a table in the kitchen underneath the large window overlooking the garden, giving you a perfect view of the sunshine and your friends playing Quidditch. Also a perfect view of Fred wearing a tight t shirt, holding his beater’s bat behind his neck, resting it on his shoulder blades as he showed off his biceps and laughed as Ron nearly fell off his broom due to a particularly sharp dig from Ginny’s elbow.

They’d asked if you or Hermione wanted to join, however you knew you wouldn’t be much use playing Quidditch when Fred was being as distracting as his was, and besides, you had a Herbology project to work on. Hermione had also elected not to play, not having much of an interest in playing Quidditch, and instead resided in her room with a book she’d borrowed from Molly.

You glanced out of the window as the boys flew up on their broomsticks, letting the quaffle, snitch and bludgers fly out, immediately beginning to play. You’d always loved watching Quidditch at Hogwarts, cheering for your house and the excitement and thrills that came with it. There was always an added element when you knew that Fred was playing too.

He was a good beater - possibly the best in Hogwarts, tied with George - his actions fluid as he flew around the air with ease, practicing new strategies and working on his skills after a school year of being unable to play due to the Triwizard Tournament taking over.

You watched his arms clench as he hit the bludgers away, his hands grasping the bat in a way you wanted him to grasp you. Something about the way he flew around and hit the bludgers so easily made you sigh contently as you set your quill to one side, forgetting about your project.

The exercise coupled with the midday August heat meant practise didn’t last too long - much to your dismay - but enough to make Fred sweaty, clearly breathing heavily as he jumped off his broom and grabbed a water of bottle he’d discarded to one side before playing.

He downed nearly half the bottle, before wafting his t shirt a little to cool himself down, then suddenly, as if someone had taken one of your daydreams and brought it to life, he lifted the bottle and tipped it over his head, the water cascading down his hair and face.

You watched as if it were in slow motion, the water drenching his already tight-fitting t shirt, the fabric clinging to the outline of his abs as he closed his eyes and let the water cool him down.

His biceps clenched as he brought his arm back down again, and you were once again brought to the attention of his hands gripping the bottle, gaze following along his forearms as you stared at the veins protruding.

Your mouth dropped a little, heart pounding as you watched water droplets fall down his face and collarbone, as he opened his eyes and ran a hand through his now wet hair sticking to his forehead, trying to mess it up a little more.

He then pulled up the bottom of his t shirt to wring out the excess water, exposing his abdomen and suddenly you forgot how to function, barely being able to breathe as you took in the sight.

“What’s wrong?” Hermione asked as she entered the kitchen and wandered by your table, noticing your faraway look and the fact you hadn’t actually started your project yet. She grabbed some leftover food from the counter and turned to look at you.

“Fred Weasley is what’s wrong,” you grumbled, turning away from watching him reluctantly, “He’s infuriating... ly good looking.”

Hermione shook her head with a soft smile, “I really don’t know what you see in him.”

Thoughts of Fred wearing a wet t shirt danced through your mind as you swallowed harshly. “I don’t know either,” you lied.

“Well, let me know if you want any help with your project - I’ve finished mine,” Hermione offered as she headed out of the kitchen. You called out a “Thank you!” to her retreating form as your attention was pulled back to the eldest twin outside.

He was laughing at something someone had said, before he began making his way towards the back door, which so happened to be near where you were sitting.

Your heart was pounding as he entered the room, you averting your gaze from him as you pretended you were looking at anything but him.

“Like what you saw?” His voice suddenly rang out through the room. You looked over at him - it taking all your effort to not stare at the way his shirt was clinging to him - and cleared your throat, blinking up at him innocently.

“Excuse me?”

“Noticed you watching me outside, especially at the end. Darling, do you find me pouring water down myself attractive?” Fred replied with a cheeky grin shot in your direction, before heading over to a high cabinet and grabbing a glass out, filling it from the tap.

“I didn’t even notice,” you shook your head adamantly, sneakily staring at the way his drenched t shirt accentuated the way the muscles in his back moved.

Fred’s smug expression as he turned around told you he didn’t believe you in the slightest, “Are you sure? Because it definitely seemed like you were enjoying the view.”

“Don’t be daft, I’ve been here working on my Herbology project,” you gestured to the parchment in front of you, gulping as you realised you still hadn’t actually written a word down, much less even opened your textbook.

Fred smirked as he noticed this, bringing his glass of water to his lips slowly as he took a sip, “You do realise windows work two ways, right love?”

And indeed, this had been a fact you’d forgotten, in your distracted haze. You felt your heart beating faster as you hoped - prayed - he was just playing around and didn’t actually look up to see you ogling him from the window. How embarrassing.

“I am aware of that, yes,” you nearly stuttered, hoping you came across nonchalantly but knowing by the grin widening on his face that you’d failed.

“So you know I could see you checking me out, right? All your staring,“ he teased, running a hand through his wet hair and making you forget where you were for a moment.

“I wasn’t staring at you,” you scoffed, crossing your arms over your chest, “I was staring at George.”

“Oh yeah? If that’s true, what colour shirt was George wearing?”

You knew he knew he had you with that, as your mind went blank. Because truthfully, the only person you’d been staring at was, in fact, Fred, and you hated that he was extremely aware of that.

“Green?” You guessed, hoping your guess was miraculously correct. Watching as Fred grinned at you knowingly, you knew immediately you’d gotten it wrong.

“Red,” he corrected and you sighed helplessly.

You stood up to face him properly, pushing your hair back out of your face as you looked up at him. Fred’s eyes travelled down your frame for a few seconds, him absent-mindedly biting his lip at the sight of you.

He blinked, taking in the sight of you wearing denim shorts, fitted to your thighs - thighs he wanted wrapped around him - and his breath caught in his throat as he realised the light coloured shirt you were wearing, knotted at your waist and showing a slither of your stomach, was in fact his.

He found himself distracted, vaguely aware that you were speaking to - or rather, ranting at - him, as he stared at you, before zoning back in just as he heard you say, “I mean, what would you do if I suddenly grabbed a bottle of water and poured it over me?”

Images began flying through his head. There were a lot of things he would do, most of which involved him pressed against you and his hands all over you, preferably with you moaning his name.

“Maybe you should do it and find out,” he said completely seriously, wanting nothing more than to watch as you poured water down yourself.

You rolled your eyes, albeit feeling a tad flustered, “Can you just... change your shirt please.”

“Why, is something distracting you, love?” He asked almost innocently, tilting his head to one side - almost as if in concern, however his cocky grin told you that he knew exactly what he was doing.

You gulped, not being able to stop your eyes from wandering down to his clenched abs, covered by the wet material of his t shirt yet not leaving much to the imagination. He, of course, noticed this and saw an opportunity to tease you even more.

“Well, if you really want me out of this shirt...” he sighed playfully and shook his head with a smile, before placing his glass down and grabbing the bottom of his shirt, and pulling it - slowly - off of him.

You watched as the fabric pulled from his skin, knowing he was doing it on purpose yet not being able to turn away, your mouth dropping a little as he exposed his toned torso, shorts hanging low on his hips.

You felt your mouth go dry, eyes widening a little, both mentally cursing and proposing to him just from this sight alone.

He pulled the shirt over his head and ran a hand through his hair again, and you fought the urge to dramatically collapse back into the chair behind you as he smirked at you.

This boy was going to be the death of you.

“Fred,” you spoke warningly, forcing yourself to look back up to his eyes - which, unfortunately for you, were just as distracting.

“Y/n,” he replied with a cheeky grin, leaning back against the counter, his hands gripping onto the counter sides, making the veins in his forearms pop out, and you swore you lost the ability to breathe in that moment.

“I mean it.”

“What? I’m not doing anything,” he pretended to be innocent, “It’s too hot to wear a t shirt at the moment.”

“You’re too hot,” you mumbled under your breath, then cleared your throat, hoping he didn’t quite catch what you said. When he didn’t react, you assumed he hadn’t and continued on, “You know exactly what you’re doing. You’re insufferable.”

Fred stepped closer to you, enjoying the way your breath hitched as his hand reached out to hold your waist. He then leant forward, his face centimetres from yours, a smirk gracing his lips as his tongue darted out across his bottom lip, “You know you love me.”

“Oh do I now?” You moved a little closer, looking up into his eyes as he moved his lips subconsciously towards yours. “Yeah,” he confirmed, nodding a little, eyes half-lidded, “You do.”

He paused for a moment, his free hand reaching to tuck a strand of your hair behind your ear as he cupped your jaw, “And I love you.”

“Do you?” You whispered as his lips brushed against yours gently.

“Course I do,” he mumbled, looking at you softly before pressing his lips properly against yours, the hand on your waist squeezing a little before moving to rest against the small of your back, pushing you towards him to ensure there was no space left between you.

His lips moved against yours roughly, his tongue licking into your mouth as your arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him down towards you. His hands guided themselves to hold the back of your thighs, just under your bum, and you only just heard the “Jump.” that he’d muttered against you, before you did as he said.

Your legs wrapped around his waist and he sat you on the table beside your long-forgotten project, him leaning you back on said table ever so slightly as he gripped your hips. One of your hands moved to lay flat on his bare chest, the other running through his still-damp hair and tugging a little just as you’d imagined.

He pulled away, breathing heavily as he continued to press kisses to your lips, moving down your jaw and towards your neck.

“Still want me to put a shirt back on?” He grinned against your skin. “Nah,” you bit your lip as he kissed just under your ear, before moving to grab his hands in yours, jumping off the table and pulling him towards the stairs, aiming to head towards his bedroom,

“I’d rather just take mine off instead.”

[yoonpobs]

to the touch | pjm

pairing: park jimin x oc (ft. brother yoongi)

genre: mutual pining, fluff, cute crushes, brothers best friend

warnings: JIMIN that's it

words: 5, 216

summary: he's back

“You’re … you’re here?” You squeak and it’s not one of your best moments even if you were sure Yoongi would argue otherwise and that you rarely had average moments, to begin with. But there was something about spontaneity and surprise that threw you off in the worst way possible and made your brain short-circuit to the point where you’re unable to throw coherent thoughts together. And this was definitely a surprise, one that you’d never expected to happen because—

“I am,” Jimin says curtly, tossing you a firm nod of his head when he pushes you aside and steps into your apartment like he’s been year a thousand times. But in reality, it’s his first time standing at your doorstep, first time knocking on your door, and definitely the first step he’s ever had the chance to get a glimpse of how your living room looks like.

You’re still gaping at the entrance with the door open and you’re sure if any of your neighbors were to step out of their homes, they’d just see a lone girl outside that looked a little too unnerved to bother. When you snap out of it and turn your body to face your visitor, he’s already made himself comfortable on your couch and it’s hard to piece together the fact that Jimin was quite in fact in your living room, and lounging on your couch, staring at your television like it was the most normal thing in the world.

“W-What—how?” You croak because there are about ten million different thoughts running through your head but the most pressing one is how Jimin looked … different.

A good difference, for sure. He’s always been handsome and unreasonably so. Especially with the way that he’s dyed his hair back to black and the gentle fluff of how it lays atop his head. You note that he still kept his style despite him going MIA for three years and wore slacks that shaped his legs (and butt) beautifully with a casual shirt tucked into the waistband of his pants. It was unfair how effortlessly good-looking he was on a spontaneous occasion while you looked anything but, especially with your sweats and old tank top.

But Jimin had always been a little hard to read. Terrifying and brassy all at once but never obstructive—although you’d argue that his presence was the obstruction as it is of how distracted you feel whenever he was around you years ago. It’s like you never learned how to accommodate his presence because he happened to fill every space with just his body even if he wasn’t that tall.

“I thought I’d pay a visit. Your brother gave me your address.” He says, finally turning his head to face you, and its still blank like every expression you remember made towards you. You expected nothing more or nothing less than the way he stares you over and makes you feel like the outsider in your own home.

“Yoongi …” You grit, cursing your brother mentally and hoping he’d make use of that stupid sibling telepathy power he claims he has to receive your gripe.

You clear your throat as you awkwardly shuffle closer towards the couch and hover awkwardly by the arm of the sofa to keep your distance. It’s been years and it’s still a little unfamiliar to see Jimin right in front of you, and not someone you kept at the back of your mind.

“You could’ve called …” You say softly while fiddling with your thumbs. Jimin just raises an eyebrow at you and you feel stupid for saying that already.

Some things don’t change and it’s proven when your heart still beats the same when he’s around you. You cursed at yourself for being weak-willed because you thought time would help you get over your silly crush on Jimin but you also long acknowledged the fact that it wasn’t just a crush. It was more.

You hated falling for the cliches of crushing on your brother’s best friend, especially one that was just emotionally reserved and detached ninety percent of the time. The only conversations you remember having with Jimin were the ones that you were blushing at him when he looked at you a little longer than usual, or when he drove you to and from school when Yoongi left for university.

But then he disappeared, without saying goodbye and you only found out from his parents that he got into a dance program abroad and packed his things and left. Obviously, twenty-year-old you was devastated because you somehow convinced yourself that he enjoyed your presence even if he was huffing and puffing every five minutes when you’d fall into a ramble of your own.

He changed his number and he wasn’t a social media person so you had no idea what he was doing or how he was, besides the occasional mention of his name in conversations you had with your brother. It sucked. Majorly. Because you really liked him even if he was cold because you knew that Jimin was a good person. A cold and shitty person wouldn’t pat you on your head before your wisdom teeth extraction and mumble it’s okay if he wasn’t kind.

“The place is nice.” He ignores your statement and glances around your apartment and you feel smaller. You do feel a little relieved that he approved of the place, and you did spend hours browsing through catalogues and going through roommates until you decided that this was perfect. Granted, it was a little pricey but you valued comfort and a decent workplace to really get you motivated.

“Thank you.” You mumble, still shifting on the balls of your feet and Jimin just raises an eyebrow at your impersonal stance. You know he wouldn’t point it out because he wasn’t that kind of guy, but his face often spoke for him so you swallowed all the concerns you had and took a seat at the edge of the sofa, as far away from him as possible.

“Do you live alone?” He asks. You’re about to respond but he doesn’t let you.

“It’s dangerous if you do. Do you really just answer the door for anyone without checking who it is? You’ll get yourself into some serious trouble if you aren’t careful.” He chides you.

You want to scoff at him because you were an adult and you’ve learnt a few things along the road to adulthood. Jimin was always a little on edge most of the time and you knew he was just bad at expressing his emotions so you never faulted him for it. But now, you were a little older and not as naive—but unfortunately still very much into him.

“God Jimin, it’s fine—”

The door opens and both your heads immediately turn to the source, and Jimin is sharp with his movements and you try to not allow your heart to flutter when he tugs you closer to him and hides your body with his own as if he thought it was an intruder. But you knew better, so you knew it was—

“Tae. You’re back early.” You greet your roommate who only eyes the man on the couch who has you situated behind him like he was your personal shield. His bag is tugged over his shoulder and you see a few of his art supplies threatening to fall out so you hop off the couch to help him with his belongings, and Jimin’s gaze just burns harder onto the back of your skull.

When you’re close enough, Taehyung leans in and gives a brief glance over at Jimin who is still piercing him with a fierce gaze.

“Why is your booty call staring at me like I’ve murdered ten kittens?” Taehyung whisper yells and you glare at him, pinching his hip because just because he thought he was being quiet didn’t mean that he could easily get rid of his naturally loud voice.

“That is not my booty call!” You respond equally as agitated, “That’s … Jimin.”

Taehyung’s eyes bulge out of his socket when he looks over your shoulder once more to still see Jimin glaring at the two of you.

“Why is he so fucking scary? You said he was nice!” Taehyung hisses.

“He is nice!” You weakly defend, “He’s just … scary looking?”

You know it doesn’t convince Taehyung because he’s sighing and dropping his belongings to the floor, offering Jimin as sincere of a smile as he can muster even though you’re fully aware that he’s terrified of the man on your living room couch.

“Hi! I didn’t know _____ was having guests over. I’m Taehyung.” He smiles brightly at said guest but Jimin just blinks at his cordiality and then looks over to you.

“Is he your boyfriend?” The question throws you off guard and you can tell that Taehyung even more terrified when Jimin completely ignores his presence even though he was the tallest person in the room.

You splutter for a response even if the answer to that was obvious. But Jimin had a shitty way of interrogating people, even if it probably would work in legal settings because he was just terrifying enough for you to stumble over your words and make you look guiltier than you were.

“Unfortunately not.” Taehyung thinks he’s saving you when he lightly jokes with Jimin. And you want to facepalm because Jimin was aloof and impartial to everything, and had horrible skills of reading the room because you were sure that Jimin thought that Taehyung wanted to get in your pants.

“Tae, would you excuse us for a second?” You smile stiffly at Taehyung who is quick to oblige as he darts into his room.

Jimin now has his arms folded across his chest in a manner that makes him look more hostile, but you knew him well enough that you suppose he just had a lot of questions.

“Did you really have to be like that?” You ask irritably as Jimin scoffs at you.

“Please, do enlighten me. All I did was ask you a simple question, which you couldn’t even answer. What was that about?” Jimin responds equally as displeased but you had so many questions and you didn’t need to deal with his mini tantrum right now, especially between the walls of your own home.

“Don’t turn this on me! You turned up to my house unannounced after three years of no contact and you expect me to bend at your will? What do you take me for? A puppet?” You retaliate with petulancy and you can tell Jimin is slowly getting more annoyed by the second but won’t blow up just yet. Or probably because you had another person in the house.

“Am I not allowed to visit?” Jimin raises an eyebrow.

You scoff at his audacity because Jimin was seriously so bad at reading emotions. You weren’t even sure why you liked him but your heart never made reasonable decisions for you.

“We haven’t spoken in years, Jimin!” You throw your hands in the air, “I didn’t even know where you were or what you were doing because you disappeared like you were running away from a crime!”

“Did I need to update you on my whereabouts?” You know his question is genuine even though it was posed a little rough and you want to pull at your hair because obviously, you wanted to know! Jimin was the person you spent the most time with, outside of school, and one day he wasn’t anymore.

“Of course! I thought we were—I thought … why did you just disappear?” For some reason, it was hard to say that you and Jimin were friends either because the only reason why he’d ever tolerate you in the first place was that he was a good friend to Yoongi and you were just someone that came with it by association. He never outwardly said that he hated spending time with you but he never said he enjoyed it either.

Jimin raises an eyebrow and stands up, and you notice that he still towers over you. He walks towards you slowly, and you feel all the hotter under his intense scrutiny that you just want to retreat to your bedroom and forget this ever happened.

“You don’t need to know.” He says and you feel yourself deflate, “I wanted to visit because your brother’s worried about you.”

The confession just annoys you because you knew to a certain extent that Jimin wouldn’t be here from … wherever he was … if it was only for your brother. He had to give a shit somewhere deep down in him enough to make an effort to get your address from your brother, then turn up on your doorstep unannounced with his usual impassioned stare.

“Oh fuck off, will you? I’m not a little girl anymore. I can take care of myself.” You bite back.

Jimin shoots you an unimpressed stare at your snappishness and he won't lie and say that he was pleasantly surprised to see you after a long time. You were always pretty, in an unconventional way, he supposes. You never made an effort to look nice but just did with the way you approached life, even when you were younger. But now that you were standing in front of him with a bite that you didn't have when he left, he's intrigued.

"You weren't so rude before I left." He smirks at you.

His gaze also makes you burn and you avoid his eyes when it searches for yours. You hate that his tone makes you feel funny and that you wanted him to be a little mean.

"Yeah, well���that's what happens when you don't see someone after three years with no contact or notice. They change. They get a little annoyed because someone is just too emotionally constipated to ever make any effort to keep in touch." You narrow your eyes at him.

"Why are you throwing a hissy fit? Needed me to keep you company?" He prompts.

You flush but still glare at him.

"Whatever, Jimin. I just would've appreciated it if you called. Or at least have done something to let me know that you were alive." You mutter.

Somehow, he's managed to cage you in with his body against the back of the sofa, and your breath hitches when you feel his broad chest pressed on yours. You didn't realise it happened until he places his arms by your side, effectively leaving you with no room to leave. You gulp because this is the closest you've ever been to Jimin and you feel dizzy. He smells fresh like laundry and flowers. It's a huge juxtaposition to his demeanour, but he smells good and you want to nuzzle your face into the crook of his neck.

"Why would I? You're Yoongi's sister. Not my girlfriend." He smirks.

You huff and roll your eyes. The reminder stings a little and you know he's baiting you.

"So? Were we not at least friends?" You snap.

He wants to laugh because you're obviously annoyed at the casual way he referred to you as Yoongi's little sister. You're frowning but attempting to pretend that it didn't bother you.

Jimin would be lying if he said he was never interested. Because he was, undoubtedly so. But back then when you were still navigating your way at the beginning of adulthood with Yoongi constantly breathing down his neck, he would have never done anything to compromise his friendship with your brother; or lead you on. But now you were standing in front of him, soft and sweet with a little edge to you that draws him in.

"Do you usually have crushes on your friends?" He pushes.

Your eyes widen and snap up to look at his teasing expression. His smirk is apparent against the rest of his face and you feel absolutely mortified that he's so close to you when he called you out.

"W-What? A crush? I didn't have a crush on you!" You rebuff him with a stuttery voice and you weakly try to push him away.

But he locks you in position with his hands around your wrist as he leans down and crowds you further with his presence.

"You didn't?" He feigns hurt, then he pulls away abruptly and you're immediately chasing his warmth, "Shame. I would've liked that a lot."

You gape at him when he shuffles away, putting some distance between the two of you as he dusts his hands on his slacks, giving you a curt smile; one that never reached his eyes but that was still Jimin being friendly.

"Y-You what ...?" You squeak.

Jimin shrugs and walks towards your door and you're half-terrified and half-relieved at the prospect of him leaving. But you're more terrified because you don't know if you'll ever see him again and with your current interaction you don't think you'll ever get over him.

"Usually a cute girl crushing on me would be a huge ego boost ... but you didn't, so ..." He trails off.

You bite your lips as you play with your hands. You know he's teasing you and you didn't know when he's gotten so forward, or good at this game. But you suppose Jimin has always been charming too, even if he was bad at emotions. He was good at playing them. And the way he rakes his eyes over your body only to bite his lip makes you burn in want.

He's about to turn the knob of your door but you reach out to grab his wrist before your mind can tell you it's a bad idea.

"W-What if I ... what if I ..." You mumble, hands wrapped loosely around his wrist as he turns around, leaning against the door the way boys do that was super hot for no reason.

"Speak up, bunny."

The nickname only makes you blush harder because it reminded you of all the times he's ever called you that stupid childhood nickname that somehow followed you up until adulthood. But you had to admit the way that Jimin uses it makes you feel ...warm. Like you want him to call you bunny for whatever reason he does so.

"WhatifIdid ...?" You mutter quickly and softly that Jimin leans in to get a better listen, also prompting you to speak louder.

"Couldn't hear you." He sing-songs.

You grit your teeth and swallow your pride because even after three years, you were soft and pliant for Park Jimin even if he was hot to the touch. You just wanted to please him.

"What if I did?" You say a little louder, braver, with determined eyes, "What if I did have a crush on you?"

He grins at you in Jimin fashion that was still a little reserved but warm because you knew him. You knew that was what he wanted to hear. So, he rests his body against the door and gestures his finger in a come-hither motion to get you to step closer, which you oblige. It should've been offensive that he could summon you so easily, but Jimin was a lot of things but he would never take advantage of your passiveness.

"I don't know. What would you have done if I hadn't left? Play friends? Family maybe?" He teases.

You scrunch your nose at the prospect of playing family with him because you've heard that phrase way too many times. Your parents at one point kept on saying how you had two older brothers instead of one because Jimin was always there, but they were blissfully unaware of your crush and the way you'd frown at the suggestion.

"We would've hung out more ..." You mumble.

Jimin snorts but cocks his head for you to continue.

"What's the point of this?" You huff, shutting your eyes when you can feel his gaze on you.

"You tell me. You were the one with the crush."

You want to correct him and say am the one with the crush, but you bite your tongue.

"You're the one who wants to know." You respond with indignation.

He chuckles, low and deep before he tilts your chin upwards with his index finger.

"You're still a little girl, aren't you ______?" You think it's the first time Jimin has called your name the entire time he's been here and you almost whine with the sultry look he's giving you.

Jimin applauds his self-control because you were a sight to behold. Even if you were in sweats and a tank, with your glasses drooping slightly down your nose and tangled hair, you still were so appealing even if you didn't know. You looked comfortable, homey and it did make Jimin burn with an ugly monster to know that 'Tae' could see you like this daily.

"Am not." You growl, but he only thinks you look like an angry bunny.

"You are. You don't know how to ask for things, hm?" He hums, tracing a finger up your jaw to tuck a strand of hair behind your ear.

"I so do know how to ask for things that I want. I do it all the time." You retort petulantly like you had a point to prove but Jimin only chuckles darkly.

"Then what do you want right now?"

Jimin's question is expected but it also throws you off-guard.

"R-Right n-now?" You stutter.

He tuts as if he expected your bewildered and shocked expression.

"When else but now, bunny?" He whispers as his gaze has you locked in a trance when your eyes dart to his lips when he drags his tongue over it. You're entrapped in him because his mouth suddenly looked really inviting.

"I really wanna ..." You mumble, ears flushing a pretty shade of red and you lean into Jimin's hand when he cradles your cheek gently.

Jimin was capable of being gentle, even though he chose not to. But he never was, though there was something about you that made his territorial, made him want to fight. He didn't know when he started feeling this way but he supposed it was a flurry of emotions and the accumulation of the times he's spent with you throughout the years. Three years didn't do him justice and only made him think of you more. He knew he was hard to read, and frankly even harder to understand. Jimin also knew that you were fully aware of this fact. But that didn't deter you in trying to get to know him, to prick yourself against all his edges that were harder to accept.

You were sweet and naive, a type of person that Jimin would usually scoff at. But your one-dimensional and idealistic view of the world was fresh to him, even if that meant you were living in your head most of the time. It never took away from the fact that you were kind and understanding. The type of person that cracked all of Jimin's harshness made him want to try.

But it didn't mean he wasn't going to have his fun. He liked seeing you like this, gentle and warm, close to him as you look at him with a hazy expression.

"Wanna do what?" He prods, reaching his hand to the back of your hair to tug your face closer to his, but maintaining enough distance to prompt you to make the first move.

Jimin would do it. But he wanted to be sure that you wanted this, and not the idea of him. Sure, he was giving you hints and nudging you, but he also was aware of the fact that you'd never say or do anything that you didn't want. You were always clear-cut about this type of thing.

"You know ... that ... thing ..." You mumble, shifting on your feet as he glances down to your face.

You still looked unsure, but you leaned into his hold regardless, and Jimin took that as a good sign. You just need a little push.

"You know I'm not that bright. You need to tell me, bunny." He says gently.

You can't stop the small whimper in the back of your throat at the nickname and it's taking everything in Jimin's willpower to not take you against this wall. He would, but you deserved sweet things and he wanted to try be that for you.

"I ... I wanna ..." You whisper, "Wanna ... kiss you."

You clutch his t-shirt in his hands and when you glance up he's grinning widely as if he's won the lottery.

He nods his head ever so softly, and you take that as a cue to lean in.

When you do kiss him, you already feel your knees buckling because it's like everything you dreamed and more. Jimin was the right amount of assertive and gentle that makes you chase his mouth even if you were pressed up against him. He takes the lead eventually when his hand cups your jaw to angle your mouth deeper into his, and your body flush against his.

You feel like a teenager again having your first kiss, but it may as well be because you've always wondered what it was like to share your first kiss with Jimin back in high school.

"Is that all?" He whispers against your lips, but before you can respond—

"Oh fuck, I'm sorry!" You hear Taehyung squeak and that makes you pull away from Jimin, highly embarrassed to be caught making out with him against your door like a horny teenager.

You want to curse at Taehyung but he's already ducking into the kitchen before you can get any words out.

Jimin doesn't look affected, if anything, he looks pleased. The moment you shared a clear testament of who you belonged to and Jimin loved the fact of people knowing it was him.

When you look at Jimin, you're equally parts flushed from the kiss but giddy too. You give him a shy smile, and Jimin just chuckles lowly at your bashfulness.

"I'll see you around, ______," Jimin smirks at you when he reaches for the doorknob to leave. You follow him out, wanting a little more privacy even if it was in the hallway of your apartment complex.

When Jimin steps out and with you behind him, you swing on your feet as he observes your next actions. You clear your throat, even though you were confused and glad—because that was the closest thing you could get from Jimin that was affection so you'd take it.

"So ... what does this ..." You mumble, before shaking your head.

Jimin raises an eyebrow.

"What did I say about asking for what you want?" He berates you as if he was speaking to a child, but his tone is still curt and a little detached, but very like Jimin. You know that it's him and you like that anyways.

"Don't make me say it ... it's already embarrassing as it is ..." You whine, burying your head into his t-shirt.

Jimin welcomes the sudden closeness and pats you softly on the head. It's a little stiff because he still isn't used to physical affection that wasn't 'intimate', but he did say he would try for you.

"Again: I'm not that bright." He teases.

You roll your eyes, but then bite your lips when you see he's waiting for a response.

"... what does this mean for us?" You ask softly.

Jimin smiles at you and decides to grant you a gentle kiss to your forehead. A kiss that was so domestic and soft that you feel your heart soar.

"Check your phone." Is all he says when he waves you goodbye, as you stare at him dumbly, heart still fluttering and cheeks burning.

When you return back into your home, you lean against your door as you press a hand to your chest to feel the way your heart beats rapidly against it. You feel weak in the knees but so blissful that you let out a squeal into the palm of your hands.

Once you've calmed down, and offered Taehyung a look that said you'll explain later—you rush to check your phone, only to smile at what lies on the screen.

Unknown Number [17:21]: hi bunny

Unknown Number [17:21]: save my contact

Unknown Number [17:21]: make sure that when people see it they'll know you're mine

Unknown Number [17:22]: see you soon

Unknown Number [17:22]: if you're still a little slow ... it's jimin

Unknown Number [17:25]: ❤️

You notice the heart emoji was sent a few minutes after the rest of his texts, which showed you that he may have contemplated whether or not to send it. You feel your heart flutter, as you plop back onto your bed, a wide grin splaying on your face.

extra scene

"I'm sorry ... what?" Yoongi chokes on the piece of meat he just shoved into his mouth as he stares at his best friend in the face as if he'd grown another head. But as usual, he seemed to only attract people that were vastly similar to him, and Jimin's face is unreadable as ever. But Yoongi knows he's serious and not fucking around because he's looking intently at the older boy for a response.

"So?" Jimin says casually, leaning into his seat and Yoongi needs to chug down a glass of water to ensure that the food goes down all the way before he can say anything to the question Jimin just posed him with.

"You want my sister's address ... to ... I'm sorry, correct me if I'm wrong but I had a fall and I may have a concussion so I don't know if I'm hearing things right," Yoongi deadpans but Jimin just rolls his eyes at the older one's dramatics before nodding his head for him to continue.

"You want her address to ... confess to her?" Yoongi says hesitantly and Jimin nods his head as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

But it wasn't. Because as long as Yoongi's known Jimin, he's been all detached and broody, uninterested in everything and everyone. He's never shown the slightest interest in anyone and usually opted for casual hookups than actual relationships so clearly, Yoongi is a little skeptical.

"Are you okay?" Yoongi asks baffled.

Jimin nods, folding his arms across his chest.

"Yes. I went for a medical check-up that day and my doctor said he's never seen results as impeccable as mine." Jimin says blandly.

Yoongi scoffs.

"You're just not ... the dating type, you know? Much less ... with my sister?" It sounds weird to even Yoongi's ears. He grew out of his childish mindset and had no problem with Jimin dating you, but it was still weird to see his best friend showing interest in you.

"I like her. And I respect you. Which is why I came to you before I did anything."

Yoongi gapes at his best friend, who looks much softer than he usually does.

"Wow ... I just ..." Yoongi exhales, "Damn."

Jimin offers a small smile before gesturing to their food.

"At least we can really be brothers now." Yoongi jokes, sliding a piece of paper with your address on it to Jimin.

Jimin smiles fondly at the paper before tucking it into his shirt jacket.

The image of you in white, smiling and looking only at him drives him to see you the next day.

[4ragon]

can you please expand your thoughts on how aai1 handled turnabout ablaze? I noticed your (rightfully) low ranking of Alba earlier so I’m kinda curious about your opinion ^_^

Okay, before I go into this, I want to say: I love this game. I love all the AA games. Even the ones I have the most complaints about (this and DD) are wonderfully fantastic games with a fun cast and intriguing murder mysteries. You should play the ones you haven’t played yet, even the ones you’ve heard negative stuff about.

That being said, Turnabout Ablaze I think is sort of emblematic of every single problem I do have with AAI.

Ace Attorney Investigations is a little bit of a mess. At its best, it’s a fun murder mystery game with a stellar cast. It introduces Kay Faraday and Shi-Long Lang, it gives us more time playing as Miles Edgeworth, always a treat, and more time with my man Gumshoe. The mystery solving is fun and it offers a new kind of gameplay than the usual point and click style for investigations.

However, it also has a lot of weird pacing problems. Your new assistant and rival don’t show up until case 3 of 5. And Lang isn’t even in case 4, so he’s barely even a presence in his debut game, even though he’s a wildly interesting and fun character. All of his development is shoved into Turnabout Ablaze, and even though it’s welcome development, I kind of wish it was spread out more.

But going more into Turnabout Ablaze: It is long, arduous slog occasionally interrupted by some fantastic moments only to be dragged back down into the deepest recesses of hell. Its midpoint feels like a climax and everything past that point slowly and sadly peters away into a sad mess of one man slowly walking away from you to get on a plane.

To start with, this case in particular has so many different people being accused of murder. Kay, then Larry, then Shih-na, then Franziska, then Alba. AAI has this issue in almost all these cases, but it never feels as pronounced as it does in this one, this meandering, confusing mess of a case. It feels like we’re never really making progress, we’re just running in circles and occasionally hitting a brick wall while we get derailed from some bullshit or another.

I feel like the setup of AAI makes accusing people you care about far less impactful than it did in any of the other games, since that blame can be passed around so quickly and easily. Every single case has at least one moment where a recurring character gets accused, and it feels almost artificial? Like of course we’re going to have to care about Gumshoe and Maggey and Kay and Franziska and maybe not Larry but that’s a personal choice of mine. Yet most of those accusations never really last long enough to have anything meaningful happen plot or character wise, save for maybe Gumshoe in the flashback case? But there’s no tension to that one since we know Gumshoe ends up fine. The rest of the time it’s just an excuse to keep dragging Miles through a constantly meandering plot.

Also, there’re these weird distractions all over the place that lead nowhere. Having to deal with Larry and Oldbag for a few minutes hours even though it has nothing to do with the case at hand is annoying. If we got rid of that second murder, would anything have changed other than a few hours of gameplay? You just have to rewrite a few parts and boom, two hours of my life saved. Or the statue section, did we need to have that statue section? These would be well and good if they were fun to solve, or character building, but they weren’t. They were just there to add time to an already bloated final case.

Adding to that, I was not a huge fan of the Smugglers plot that they were pushing to be the overarching narrative. I feel like it was meant to be this big, intimidating force, but it ended up being so boring and impersonal. And boring. And did I mention boring? 

You know what was interesting? Calisto Yew, betraying her friends. Calisto Yew murdering Byrne Faraday, and then Kay’s investment in hunting her down. Then you get to the big climactic showdown with Shih-na, and it’s amazing! It’s satisfying! We’ve been developing this Big Bad for three cases and watching her finally break down, getting to that reveal of who she was, the shootout, all of it was fantastic and wait, what was that? Shih-na didn’t do the murders for this case? She was just a cog in the machine? There’s more game? Oh. Uh. Right. Okay. Whoo.

Also Quercus Alba, uh, sucks? He sucks. He sucks so much. He’s boring and smug, but also he’s this nothing character. He sweeps in at the eleventh hour to be the final hurdle, but he had no buildup other than walking around in the background as this doddering old man we didn’t care about. It wasn’t even in a “Ooo he was always there the whole time” way that Shih-na had, it was just this boring old man doing boring old man things.

And then they have the audacity to make the final confrontation with him last for HOURS longer than it needed to. And every single time it feels like we’ve progressed, not only have we made no progress, but we are actively slamming ourselves into the same brick wall over, and over, and over again.

“Oh, you see, Miles Edgeworth, I have ✨Diplomatic Immunity✨!”

“Ah, well, how about this proof! Proof that you are involved with the smuggling ring! What do you think about that?”

“Well, what do you think about this ✨✨Diplomatic Immunity✨✨ that I still have. Oh well time to go on a plane—”

“Wait! Wait Quercus Alba, what about this new proof! This proof that you could have done the crime!”

“Wowie, my ✨✨✨Diplomatic Immunity✨✨✨ certainly thinks you’re making an interesting point.”

And then Lang shows up to get rid of his ✨✨✨✨Diplomatic Immunity✨✨✨✨ after we’ve been in the same fucking time loop for what feels like twenty years of my life and then suddenly we have to prove without a shadow of a doubt that Alba did the murder?? Why???? That’s not how it works?????? Can someone fucking ARREST THIS MAN???? GUESS WHAT GUYS YOU DON’T NEED TO PROVE HE DID IT YET, YOU HAVE MORE THAN ENOUGH TO ARREST HIM YOU’RE NOT IN COURT?????????? END IT!!!! PLEASE!!!!! JUST END IT!!!! FUCK!!!!!!!!

I don’t care about the Smuggling Ring! It’s this weird nebulous idea that has no real bearing on any of the main characters other than Lang. And also like “Oh no, my country’s economy is in shambles” that’s so????nothing???? Again, if we could have anything tying us to the importance of improving Zheng-Fa’s economy maybe that would be different. Human beings as a species don’t really connect that well to a macro level if there’s nothing to make it feel personal, you know? We know nothing about Zheng-Fa and have no connection to Zheng-Fa, and we don’t have any way to conceptualize Lang’s struggle in a way that holds any meaning. Sure it’s important, but it’s not dire to us, and that makes for a shitty confrontation!!!

Let’s look back at the other final cases in this series. AA original: Miles is in danger. His smug mentor is not only trying to get him killed, but did the killings himself. AA2: Maya is kidnapped. It’s a struggle between your ideals of finding truth and justice and making sure your best friend isn’t killed. AA3: Maya is missing, and then later, suspected of murder. You’re confronting this big bad who's been a problem from case one and then also proving yourself to Godot.

They’re all personal stakes. They all matter to the main character, and the bad guy had a DIRECT hand in why. And yes, Alba ordered the killings, but again, it’s so impersonal, it’s like three steps removed so as rendered meaningless. Then you add on top that he’s got no motivation, other than greed and power I guess, he’s not fun, considering how many circles he makes us run in only to get to the same problem every single go around, he’s barely a character, he—!!! I hate him!!! I hate him and not in a fun way!!! Just end the case!!! Please Capcom!!!!

Again, the first half? When we were building to that confrontation with Shih-na? Great! Climactic. Fun. Interesting. But the rest? So deeply incredibly frustrating.

Sorry this was longer than I meant for it to. But I’m not too sorry. After all, I have ✨✨✨✨✨Diplomatic Immunity✨✨✨✨✨

[fantastic-rambles]

The Skylark’s Song [2/4]

Fandom: Katekyo Hitman Reborn!

Characters: Hibari Kyoya, Kusakabe Tetsuya, Namimori Middle Disciplinary Committee, Fon (mentioned)

Warnings: PTSD, Mild Language, Violence [A/N: Depiction of PTSD may not be accurate. I apologize if this bothers anyone.]

Word Count: 1.7k

Summary: My personal headcanons of the (pre-canon) experiences that made Hibari into the man that he is today. Part Two: the development of his commitment to discipline and explaining his apparent state of constant sleep deprivation. [This may end up being a four-part story, lol. Or a three-part with a small extra... which I guess is also four parts. I hope you enjoy! xD]

[Part 1]

Ever since that night, Hibari had never had a good night's rest.

Other than the week that he'd been in the hospital, woozy from the painkillers that had been constantly fed to him and barely aware of the world around him, he'd never slept for more than a few hours at any given time. At first, the nightmares--the memories--would wake him up in an empty house, screaming for his parents who were no longer there, and then he'd spend the rest of the night huddled in the corner, flinching at every shadow. For a long time, he feared that the men would return, but as time passed uneventfully, he grew more convinced that they didn't care. That they didn't think a mere child could be any danger to them. And they were probably right.

By all rights, he should have probably been taken away and moved to an orphanage, but a distant relative had been found who was willing to become his legal guardian. They'd spoken briefly on the phone, eventually coming to an agreement: since Hibari refused to leave his childhood home and Fon had special circumstances that made traveling and raising a child difficult, a housekeeper would be hired to watch over him, paid out of the fortune that he had inherited from his parents. Initially, she would come early in the morning every day and leave only when he was about to go to bed, but his growing preference for solitude and independence quickly asserted itself, so that she would eventually only come in the afternoon when he was at school, to clean and prepare his meals.

In school, his teachers also noticed a drastic change in his personality. Though he remained a good student, the previously outgoing and energetic child became withdrawn, appearing as though he was actively avoiding his classmates. Any attempts to speak with him outside of his assigned schoolwork were met with a stony wall of silence, and the many phone conversations that they had with his guardian did nothing to improve the situation.

In fact, the only activity in which Hibari demonstrated any initiative of his own was in his new studies of martial arts. Every evening found him at one dojo or another, practicing karate, boxing, kenjutsu, and a number of other combat arts with single-minded focus until he could barely drag himself back home. The physical pain was a welcome distraction, though it was short-lived as his body accustomed itself to the new routine.

His devotion to the arts and strict self-discipline meant that he quickly learned all that the instructors in Namimori could teach him. By the time he started middle school, he was no longer attending the dojos, instead practicing with masters that Fon would occasionally send to him while developing his own style. Hibari also began experimenting with weapons, discarding the sword and spear as impractical to carry and bare fists as too weak, before he eventually settled on his tonfa. The metal was hard enough to be difficult to deform, they were easily concealed, and simply adjusting the force could mean the difference between injury and death.

He still saw his parents every night. But at least he stopped screaming when he woke.

For the most part, his middle school years passed without anything of particular note until his third year, when he joined the disciplinary committee and a group of wannabe punks started to attend. In general, they were harmless, just mimicking the types of idiots that they saw in anime and manga and mouthing off out of the mistaken impression that it made them cool. But it irked Hibari to have to tell them off every morning for their appearances and watch them swagger around like thugs. When they finally started trying to extort their peers, however, he finally had a real excuse to step in.

"Hey, c'mon, you've got cash, right? We just need to borrow a couple thousand. We'll pay you back later, really!"

Hibari had been about to return home when he heard voices coming from behind the gym. If there was a response to Kusakabe, it was too quiet for him to hear, but he hoisted his bookbag higher over his shoulders as he went to investigate. As he turned the corner, the sight before him turned him cold with rage.

Kusakabe and his friends stood in a loose half-circle, a few of them holding wooden swords, leering at the student they had trapped against the wall, a young boy who looked absolutely terrified. His bookbag appeared to have been upended all over the ground, with books and pens scattered everywhere, and Kusakabe knelt before him, his hand outstretched expectantly. One of his friends stretched, cricking his neck threateningly, and noticed the prefect standing there, shaking. He smirked, reaching out to nudge their leader and jerking a thumb toward Hibari when Kusakabe looked up.

"Get rid of him," Kusakabe ordered, and three of his pack peeled away, advancing on Hibari and blocking his view.

"There's nothing to see here, Prefect-san. Get lost, unless you want what he's getting," one of them snapped, and Hibari's eyes fell to the ground as his hands clenched into trembling fists.

"Hey, look at him. You think he's gonna piss himself?" Another one laughed, jabbing his bokken toward Hibari, who took a step back, to more laughter. But in the next instant, Hibari was lunging forward, the gleam of metal in his hands knocking the wood aside and slamming the boy under the chin. Before the other two realized what was happening, they were splayed on the ground, clutching their heads as Hibari stood in front of them, breathing heavily. He staggered slightly, as if he were injured or drunk, as the rest of the gang advanced on him, Kusakabe in the lead, their victim forgotten. They were cautious now, now that they saw he could fight back, and when Hibari's head snapped up, even Kusakube seemed to hesitate. There was a gleam of madness and bloodlust in Hibari's normally flat black eyes, and his stance as he lifted his tonfa in front of his body telegraphed experience.

Even so, they couldn't back down, not from a fight that they had picked, so they approached the older boy carefully, trying to spread out to encircle him. He didn't make any move to stop them from doing so, just standing with an air of watchful patience, like a predator waiting to pounce. The fact that he was outnumbered didn't seem to bother him at all, and he kept his eyes fixed on Kusakabe. His unwavering gaze seemed to make the younger boy hesitate, but at the same time, foolish pride urged the delinquent forward.

"Get him."

After a heartbeat of uncertainty, they rushed in wildly, fists swinging and getting in each other's way more often than not. And in the midst of all of them, Hibari's weapons flashed like quicksilver, falling with precise blows upon heads and joints until he was the only one who remained standing among the carnage, like some ancient god of war. The few boys who weren't unconscious were groaning, clutching where they had been struck, and their victim had run away, leaving behind only a few pencils and a snapped ruler.

Languidly, Hibari walked over to the leader, nudging Kusakabe under the chin with his foot to make sure he had the boy's attention.

"Try this again, and I'll break your bones. A third time, and I'll bite you to death. Do you understand?"

It wasn't a threat, but a simple statement of fact, delivered in a flat tone that left no room for discussion. He waited for Kusakabe to nod, then turned around and walked away, stepping over the bodies that littered the ground.

From his experiences with hot-blooded people, Hibari didn't expect things to just end there, but nothing could have surprised him more when he arrived at school the next day. The moment he stepped inside the gates, he was greeted by a shout of "Good morning, boss!" and he turned to see Kusakabe and his hoodlums bowing to him.

"What's this?"

Hibari watched warily as Kusakabe approached him, smiling while sporting a black eye.

"Hibari-san, you're strong, and you've earned our respect. Please feel free to use us however you want," Kusakabe addressed him formally, bowing again. Some of the other students were staring at them, wide-eyed, and Hibari shoved the punk away with one hand.

"I'm not strong. You're just weak," he snapped. "That's why you just crowd together with the others. It makes me sick."

But his words didn't seem to upset the other boy, who deferentially took a step back to give Hibari the personal space that he clearly wanted. However, for the rest of the day, they hung in small groups at the corners of Hibari's vision whenever he wasn't in his classroom, following him around like a pack of devoted dogs. It was irritating, and when they began to follow him home after school, he snapped again, beating them all thoroughly, even though they didn't even try to fight back.

Gradually, though, Hibari noticed that their one-sided admiration seemed to be imposing better order on his beloved school. Small incidents were quickly straightened out without his interference, and for the most part, the gang stayed out of his way. So he tolerated their existences so long as they avoided grouping up in front of him, using them as yet another tool to protect the discipline at Namimori Middle School and in town as a whole. He never dealt with any of them directly except for Kusakabe, on the rare occasions that he had to give them orders; even so, he kept a close eye on them to ensure that they didn't overstep their bounds. 

His parents had loved the town, and so did he. Even though they had been betrayed, it was only because the authorities had all been weak: afraid of violence, dazzled by money, grasping for power, or any number of other reasons. Although Hibari intended to control them himself through the same methods, he had no intention of unleashing another pack of animals that would cause even more problems for others.

And on the day that he finally finished his compulsory education, he set out to settle the score.

[Part 3]

[justatiredghost]

Living for the moment ch1

A series of glimpses at Klaus’ life if he’d met Dave in his mid 20s. His life isn’t magically transformed, love can’t fix either of them when they’re both homeless and in a bad place. They’re not even really ready for a relationship yet. But maybe a supportive friendship can set them on a better path, the two of them inspiring each other to take care of themselves. It’s going to be a long and bumpy ride, and the question is, when will they actually admit to themselves that they have feelings for each other? 

-

Klaus was completely lost in the music, letting it carry him along however it pleased as it pulsed through the club, filling every part of him. He loved dancing and would often get caught up like this, feeling so free and light and just enjoying the moment, so it was a surprise when the sound of a laugh nearby caught his attention. Usually he would have just ignored it, sound tended to blur together in clubs anyway, but there was just something about how open and joyful it was that he couldn’t shake.

Glancing over, he found his eyes drawn to a man on the other side of the dance floor. The energy around him was so bright and inviting, only enhanced by his charmingly mussed curls and open expression, with a laid back grunge style going on that suited him. He was obviously a bit tipsy, but the smile he wore was just so genuine and radiant, it looked like he was having the time of his life. 

It was stunning. 

He drew Klaus in, made him want to be in on the joke, to be a part of his evening, part of the joy that surrounded him, and maybe even the cause of that smile. Even moreso when the man caught his eye and sent him a flirty wink that was so cheesy it nearly made him laugh out loud. 

There were too many people between them to approach, but they kept sending looks each other’s way and suddenly Klaus was more interested in this little game of theirs than he was in dancing. When the song finally ended and the man went to take a break, Klaus was surprised when he dropped into a seat at an empty table. It had seemed like he was friends with everyone around him, but apparently he’d come alone. Which meant Klaus’ choice here was an easy one as he also made his way off the dance floor. 

He’d forgotten that he’d promised some guy a drink earlier, but there he was waiting for him with a glass for them both and a hopeful smile. Klaus supposed he was fine enough, but he had different plans now and who was he to go against the flow the night had for him? It always paid to have a backup plan, though, and thankfully Klaus was nothing if not smooth, so by the time he extracted himself from the situation, he’d managed to convince the guy it was all his idea as he snagged the drinks for himself and left him standing there.

Apparently the man across the dance floor with the radiant smile had seen it all because, as Klaus dropped into the seat across from him, he started laughing. 

“That was too smooth,” he said. “Truly, I am in awe.”

“Good, then you can get the next round,” Klaus said, sliding one glass over to him. 

“Sorry to disappoint, but I’ll have to get it the boring way.” 

“That’s a shame,” Klaus said with a smirk. 

“Trust me, it’s not,” he laughed, but at least he didn’t seem to be turning him down. Instead, he leaned his elbows on the table, as if trying to lean closer.

“Klaus,” he said, raising his glass in a toast.

“To Klaus,” the man replied, raising his own.

“No, I mean, that’s my name,” Klaus chuckled. 

“You’re allowed to toast yourself,” he said easily. “Dave.”

“Then, to Dave as well,” Klaus said.

“To Klaus and Dave,” Dave said, taking a sip, and Klaus liked the sound of that for some reason. “So, what’s a guy like you doing at a table like this?”

“Well you see, when one is tired from a night of dancing and wants to take a breather and perhaps chat up another handsome patron—”

“Handsome, hmm?” Dave said with a pleased smile.

“Sorry, do you prefer to be called pretty?” Klaus asked.

“Yes, actually,” Dave said with a pleased smile. “My goal is to be the prettiest here, but it seems I have competition. Not that I could possibly complain about that.” 

“Oh, flattery will get you everywhere,” Klaus said, lounging against the table.

“Oh, no, I’m sorry, I wasn’t talking about you,” Dave said quickly, but there was mischief in his eyes. “I saw someone’s guide dog earlier.”

“What? Where?” Klaus demanded, spinning around and craning his neck to see over the crowd.

“I think he left, unfortunately,” Dave laughed. “He was a very good boy, though.”

“Of course he was,” Klaus said indignantly. “All dogs are very good boys.”

“On that we can definitely agree.”

Tonight was... different. Usually, when Klaus caught the eye of some attractive individual, things went in a rather predictable direction. Everyone was there to numb the pain for a few hours, to get what joy they could before the sun came up and they were forced to face the harsh light of reality again. This was a place for one night stands and harmless fun, no attachments. Usually it was all forgotten when the sun came up anyway. That’s why he liked it.

Tonight, though, they just kept talking. Sure, they still flirted, but they kept getting lost in conversation, joking around and playing off each other so well that suddenly hours had passed and neither of them had really made a move. Not that Klaus didn’t want to, of course. Dave was so engaging and charismatic and funny and Klaus didn’t want the night to end. 

He never wanted to stop talking to him, he wanted to know everything about him, like how he was able to make Klaus laugh so hard he thought he was going to cry, or why he always looked so pleased when it happened. He was just so interesting and pretty, and he seemed so soft, and-- he had to stop himself because it was completely unlike himself to be so caught up in someone. So why did he keep thinking of places he’d like to take him or just things he wanted to tell him? Just little inconsequential things that he just thought he might appreciate or find funny. 

It wasn’t until Dave headed for the bathrooms, excusing himself politely of course, that Klaus started to panic. His hands were clenched tightly together, knee bouncing restlessly with the loss of distraction. He wasn’t used to this. He wasn’t used to looking to the future let alone actually imagining someone in it, as if anyone would even stick around that long. He didn’t have friends, at least none he’d consider close, it just made everything too real.

He was here to get high, to find some semblance of peace and pleasure before the ghosts returned and ruined his life again; he didn’t want to make things more complicated by bringing messy feelings into it. Couldn’t get hurt or hurt other people if you didn’t know them well enough, after all. And he didn’t want the responsibility of anyone trusting or counting on him. So why couldn’t he get the image of Dave’s smile out of his mind? 

Maybe he was just too sober. Maybe that’s all this was. He was getting sober and thinking too much and he could really use a hit of something stronger than shitty alcohol. At least he’d spotted one of his dealers earlier. He needed to resupply. It was fine, he’d probably be back before Dave. 

-

Klaus stood in the alley, head resting back against the cold stone of the wall as he waited for the pills to take effect. He wasn’t exactly sure how long he stood there, letting the high take him, but when he finally returned to his seat, he felt much calmer. Unfortunately, Dave was still missing. No problem, he was probably just still in the bathroom, he could wait.

- 

Eventually, Klaus had to admit that Dave wasn’t coming back. It was too late for him to find anyone else to party with since the other guy who had bought him the drinks as well as the girl he’d flirted with when he’d first arrived had both long since left. With last call being announced, he knew the fun part of the night was over. There was no hope of getting any free drugs or a bed and he’d wasted a perfectly good party for nothing. His mood dampened, he headed out into the night, trying to decide if an alley would do for a bit of shuteye. 

“You had an unusually chill night,” Ben commented, falling into step with him. 

“I thought you didn’t like hanging around when I go out?” Klaus asks, hoping to change the subject. 

“I don’t,” Ben said, “But I got bored. You never take me anywhere fun so I gotta make my own somehow.”

“And you find it by stalking me?”

“Hell no, but you’re apparently impossible to escape.”

“I’m touched,” Klaus says sarcastically, pulling out a joint and searching for his lighter. “Fuck off.”

“Someone’s in a good mood,” Ben said, unphased. “You actually seemed like you had fun tonight. So why’d you ditch him?

“First of all,” Klaus said, coming to a stop as he pointed the unlit joint accusingly at Ben. “You usually hate all the people I hang out with. What’s with the sudden nosy interest? Second, I was the one who got stood up.” He turned and continued trudging down the street, muttering, “I hope he at least didn't feel like he had to climb out the bathroom window to get away.”

“It’s not like you’re a private person,” Ben persisted. “I’m just surprised when you have a night that doesn’t look like you’re headed for the gutter. And that guy didn’t stand you up. He waited at that table for, like, an hour while you were off with your dealer. He probably thinks you stood him up.”

“Oh,” Klaus said, feeling a bit guilty, but at least he’d finally found his lighter. “Well, his loss, I guess, that he didn’t wait another hour.”

“Yeah, you’re quite the catch,” Ben said and he could hear the eye roll even without looking.

“You know it,” Klaus said, waving his now-lit joint through Ben like he was trying to disperse smoke.

It didn’t exactly matter, anyway. Klaus wasn’t the dating type. He wasn’t really made for any sort of long term relationship. He’d tried it a few times and hated it. It just wasn’t worth the benefit of knowing he had a bed at the end of the day. He didn’t like feeling so tied to someone and it was only a matter of time before they got tired of putting up with him anyway. Even his family could barely stand him. The thought shouldn't have even crossed his mind. So why was he still thinking about this? And why could he still picture every detail of Dave’s face, down to the mischief in those baby blues? 

“So, what’s next?” Ben asked.

“Get off my back, man,” Klaus said. He was developing a headache. 

“Come on, I wanna go somewhere fun tomorrow. At least tell me we’re going back to the shelter tonight. I don’t want to sleep in a gutter again.”

“You aren’t even sleeping, what do you care?” Klaus asked.

“At least I can people watch at the shelter.”

“Creeper.”

“Shut up. You try to entertain yourself for hours when you can’t actually interact with anything.”

“Fine, fine, we’ll go to the shelter if it’ll make you stop,” Klaus said with a sigh, tossing his joint down onto the pavement and grinding it out with his shoe. 

At least he was on his own again. This was how it was meant to be. Well, Ben was there too, but neither of them really had much say in that. The point was, he’d probably never see Dave again and that was for the best. 

Or so he thought. 

[melonkooky]

the art of love [kim taehyung]

not requested

word count: 3576

genre: art school/college!au, taehyung x female reader (mainly 3rd person), fluff

warnings: no warnings 😊😊

author’s note: decided to enter into @btsboulangerie‘s september prompt contest. i’ve been working on this the past few weeks since september started. i know it’s early and there’s still a few weeks before the deadline but i just thought i’d put it out there (mainly because i might forget to post it). also, i’m apologizing in advance for any grammar or spelling mistakes that i didn’t catch!! 

please do not copy my work. but please like and reblog it. thank you!!!!

taehyung raised a soft, half-asleep hand up to his face in order to rub the sleep from his eyes. he yawned in the process, soft sigh falling past his pink lips. he was exhausted to say the least, but that was because he had stayed up majority of his night finishing his most recent project.

it was a painting. he was attempting to mimic vincent van gogh’s style of art and integrating it with his own style. it was a simple painting of some buildings that he took a picture of while he was vacationing with his family a year ago in the united kingdom.

the painting was being held in his other hand as it was due today. taehyung walked onto the school campus, not expecting a lot to happen. but he noticed a small crowd of his fellow art students. it was hard to see as they were forming an uneven semi-circle directly in front of a brick wall. it was near the entrance.

quite intrigued by the matter, the tired look in his eyes vanished and his curiosity was peaked. being extra cautious of his painting, taehyung maneuvered through the crowd of students, mumbling tiny “excuse me”s every so often. finally, he reached the front and got a good view of what every was gawking at.

taehyung had to crane his neck back in order to get the full picture of what he was looking at, literally. he was close to the wall. at first, he noticed the shade of purple that was used. obviously it was graffiti, judging by the unique style of letters. it was a statement, a quote, that had been spray painted onto the brick wall. it read: “be the change you want to see in the world.” taehyung shyly smiled. he believed strongly in that quote.

after admiring the artwork on the wall, one that he knew would for sure anger the professors, he was about to turn around when his ears caught wind of some conversations.

“i wonder who did this…”

“it’s so pretty.”

“imagine mr. khan’s face when he sees this.”

taehyung also wondered who had done this. he was intrigued, drawn to the unique style of art, and the choice of canvas. still, he had to get to class.

taehyung forced himself through the crowd once more, checking to make sure that his piece of art hadn’t been ruined or contaminated in any way. once he was sure that it was fine, he hurried into the building, excited to get to class. taehyung had always admired art, it was a passion of his. for as long as he could remember, he would use whatever writing utensil he could find and draw on whatever was in front of him. his mom would always get mad at him when it happened to be a black pen and a placemat at the dining table. sometimes it would even be crayon on the walls. but with all the practice, taehyung’s art majorly improved. he loved how beautiful art was, and he always admired the deep, hidden meaning that some of the pieces had.

taehyung walked into the classroom, the life-changing quote still in his mind. that’s how to start a good day, he thought.

upon walking to his seat, he noticed that the classroom was completely empty. he was a bit early, he noticed when he pulled out his phone to look at the time. but, as he glanced around the vacant classroom, he noticed that there was a girl over in the corner. a section of her hair fell onto the side of her face while she used a pencil to seemingly shade something in. her eyes were trained onto the paper, not even leaving her sketchbook as her free hand came up to brush the section of hair behind her ear. she looked beautiful.

suddenly, she glanced upward, nearly giving taehyung a heart attack. he gasped. strange noises left his mouth as his cheeks changed from their typical sunkissed, golden color to a deep, cherry red. the girl remained staring at him, looking at innocent as ever. “h-hey.” taehyung finally managed to say, hesitantly moving around a few tables to get closer to her table.

“hi.” she replied, eyebrows raised slightly.

taehyung’s hand moved to the back of his neck. “sorry for staring.”

she blushed, a shy smile coming to her face. “it’s okay. you probably were just surprised to find someone else in here.”

or because you were absolutely beautiful…

taehyung cleared his throat. “yeah.”

suddenly, she glanced downward. “is that your project?”

taehyung’s eyes widened, cheeks red once more. he smiled proudly and help up his painting to her. “yeah. my reference was a picture i took when i was in england.”

her eyes were wide with amazement. taehyung noticed a particular sparkle in her eye, and he couldn’t help but feel even prouder. she seemed genuinely amazed at his piece of artwork. “wow!” she said quietly while running the tips of her fingers along each stroke. “it’s beautiful. so unique.”

taehyung grinned. “thank you!” then he glanced around. “do you have your final project?”

she looked down at her sketchbook before gasping suddenly. before taehyung could even blink, she was flipping her sketchbook over, causing her pencil to fling off of the table and onto the floor. when taehyung looked at the pencil, then her sketchbook, and then back at her face, she was bright red in color. taehyung’s eyes widened. “are you okay?”

“uh… yeah.”

she flashed taehyung an unconvincing smile, but taehyung didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. then, he bent down, picking up the stray pencil, and then handed it back to her, a smile on his face as he did so. “well, then.” he laughed shyly. “i’ll see you around i guess.”

she was still blushing, and seemed extremely flustered, but she still managed to say, “see ya.”

----

you sighed in relief as you watched his back while he walked away from you. your heart was still pounding against your ribcage, and your face still felt hot. once he was sitting down in his seat and became distracted by his phone, you flipped over sketchbook and found that you had accidentally creased a corner of the paper. it wasn’t too bad, but it still made your pout slightly. after one glance at your fellow art student, you picked up your pencil and continued sketching.

----

taehyung was proud that the teacher liked his painting. every time he looked at it, he remembered the countless amount of minutes he had spent on it, how he painstakingly painted each stroke. careful not to make any mistakes. his hard work paid off, he got a 100%.

after class, taehyung was ready to go back to his dorm. he planned on calling his parents and asking them if he could visit on the weekend and give them his painting.

while standing up from his seat, just after the bell rang, taehyung glanced behind his shoulder, catching a glimpse of the girl he had met earlier. for a split second, he wondered why he had never seen her before. but his question was quickly answered. she sat in the very back corner of the classroom, an entire desk - that could fit four people total - all to herself. she was also extremely quiet and mainly kept to herself.

taehyung felt like he was very similar to her. he did have friends that attended this college, but they had completely different majors, therefore, he didn’t have any friends in his art class.

the young art student glanced back over in her direction, only he caught her looking at him. surprised by that, taehyung looked away, feeling all of his blood rush to his cheeks. his hands froze, being in the middle of packing his sketchbook into his backpack. he wanted to look at her again, to see if she was still looking. so he did, only she wasn’t there anymore. she disappeared, as if nobody was there to begin with.

his shoulders relaxed, but his heart sunk. a strange feeling.

----

the next day, taehyung showed up at the same time. he wondered if she would be there already, just like yesterday. he was actually really looking forward to seeing her again, and he was wondering if he should try talking to her again. as he walked towards the building, he noticed that a few janitors of the school were working on cleaning the purple graffitied wall, although they had hardly made any progress. he felt the corner of his mouth tug upwards as he walked by, just as he slipped into the building.

the door to the art classroom soon came into view. as he approached the entry to the classroom, taehyung grew nervous. there was nothing stopping him, he had no reason to turn away and come back later. and yet, here was was actually considering it. why was he so nervous? he loved meeting new people, he loved making friends. taehyung found it easy and enjoyable.

taehyung shook his head, as if to shake away all his anxiety. with a deep, calming inhale, he grabbed the handle and pulled the door open. he looked around, finding the classroom empty once again, with the exception of the quiet, artistic girl sitting in the corner.

taehyung stopped, time seemingly to follow his en suite. the morning sun coming in through the tall windows was enough light for the classroom, and while it enveloped everything in a golden ray of light, taehyung easily took in the scene of her in front of him. how the sun gave her skin a mesmerizing golden hue, how he allowed him to see all of her. taehyung was falling in love.

the girl looked up, her beautiful eyes meeting his own. when she recognized who it was, she quickly turned a page in her sketchbook, attempting to hide her sketch. taehyung didn’t necessarily notice, his mind was far too occupied to think.

taehyung came out of his trance, his cheeks burning. he swallowed hard. “h-hi.” he spoke nervously.

the girl blushed as well, although it was hardly noticeable underneath the sun’s glow. “h-hey.” she replied.

taehyung walked closer to her desk. he kept his gaze away from her eyes, her face. he was too worried about how he had basically stared at her for a solid minute. “i noticed that you sit here by yourself.”

she nodded, a shy smile on her face. “yeah. i don’t have any friends in this class.”

taehyung felt himself smile. “yeah, me too.”

a silence fell between them, and it pained taehyung. what else should he say?

“um, do you mind if i sit with you? that way you won’t be alone.”

her eyes widened, her blush coming back. “yeah, yeah, go ahead.” she gestured to the seat across from her.

taehyung felt his heart skip a beat. she was so nice, and kind. it was hurting taehyung. he smiled as he pulled out the seat across from her, placing his backpack in the empty chair next to him. “so,” he said, pulling his sketchbook out of his backpack. “did you see the graffiti outside, by the entrance?”

she looked up, having started to doodle variations of flowers on the corner of the blank piece of paper. “o-oh, that. yeah, i did.”

“i wonder who did it.” he paused. “i liked the message, a lot actually. it’s always been my favorite quote.”

she smiled, “me too.”

“do you have an idea of who did it?”

the girl seemed to avoid his gaze. her eyes were trained on something outside the window now. taehyung stared at her, waiting patiently for an answer. she cleared her throat, “about that… that graffiti was actually me.”

taehyung’s eyes widened. “wait, that was you?”

she nodded.

a wide grin showed on taehyung’s face. “wow! you’re just good at all forms of art, aren’t you? graffiti, painting, sketching-”

she blushed as taehyung complimented her. “although, i wouldn’t say i can watercolor.”

taehyung laughed. “yeah, i have problems with watercolors too. it’s either too dry or too watery and then i can’t really blend or overlap or get the right color, so in the end, it’s just a mess.”

“exactly!” she agreed loudly.

“you know,” taehyung began, still laughing slightly, “i don’t know your name.”

“it’s y/n.”

taehyung smiled and reached his hand out. she gently took it, another blush coming to her cheeks. “taehyung.”

until the art professor arrived, taehyung and y/n talked about many other things, finding that they had a lot of things in common. and on the things that they didn’t agree with, they would playfully argue, and it only brought them closer together.

after class, before y/n could leave, taehyung called out to her. he quickly swung his around, reaching for her arm in order to stop her from walking away any further. she gasped in surprise, cheeks turning a bright red. taehyung himself was surprised. his cheeks gradually began to match hers. he coughed into his fist, releasing her arm. “sorry, i just had a question.”

she smiled at him. “yeah?”

“do you want to get lunch right now?”

she grinned widely. “that sounds nice. where do you want to go?”

“that’s a good question.” he replied, a shy laugh following after.

“how about…”

taehyung watched as her gaze moved around the room. she was thinking, trying to think of a place to eat at. the aspiring artist seemed to space out as he studied her, wondering how she managed to look so cute, because suddenly, she was waving her hand in front of his face. “taehyung?” the way she said his name caused his heart to skip a beat.

“sorry.”

“i said what about [restaurant name]?”

“yeah, that sounds wonderful.”

----

“i have another question.” taehyung spoke, swallowing his bite of noodles.

y/n looked up at him, attempting to slurp her noodles faster so that she could give him her full attention. “hm?” she managed to say.

“why did you flip your sketchbook over so fast? you were so flustered by it.”

y/n almost choked on her noodles. she hurriedly swallowed her bite, sitting up straighter. she prayed silently that her cheeks weren’t as red as the booth they were currently sitting in. “why do you ask?”

taehyung shrugged. “i don’t mean to pry. i’m just curious.”

“are you sure you want to know?” she asked him.

a weird, fuzzy anticipating feeling erupted in taehyung’s stomach. “yeah.”

she seemed hesitant, and taehyung wondered if he was making her feel uncomfortable. he surely didn’t want that.

y/n reached next to her and opened her backpack. she pulled out the sketchbook that taehyung was talking about. after she pushed aside her half-empty bull of ramen and made room to set down her sketchbook, she looked at taehyung. “please don’t feel weirded out by my drawings.”

taehyung’s eyebrows furrowed. he started to picture what he was going to see, both appropriate and inappropriate. he felt his cheeks heat up at the thought of inappropriate sketches.

slowly, she turned over the cover, allowing taehyung to see the first page. the first page was not what he was imagining. instead of nude drawings, there were sketches of birds, ones that he’s seen many times on campus. “wow.” he whispered, a smile on his face.

she continued. the next page was of a few realistic faces, some of the students he’s also seen in classes and on campus. a few pages later, he saw the rough draft of the graffiti on the wall. he spotted the written note in the top corner, reminding y/n to use the color purple.

“this is where it gets weird.” she warned.

taehyung didn’t understand. why was she being so shy? she drew amazing sketches and pictures, so realistic that it almost looked like they were just simply black and white photos.

y/n turned over the page, revealing a sketch that shocked taehyung. it was a picture of him, talking to one of his friends from another class. he was surprised how much detail she drew; the box-shaped smile, squinted eyes as he grinned, the shading on his face, everything about it wasn’t able to be described in words.

another page was turned and he recognized himself again, this time sitting in his chair in the classroom, drawing in his sketchbook. taehyung was in awe.

he glanced up at y/n, finding that she wouldn’t meet his eyes. her cheeks were still red, now matching the red used on the booths. taehyung’s jaw was hanging open and his eyes were wide. he definitely was in love.

seeing his reaction, y/n felt shy. she felt the need to slam her sketchbook closed and run out of the restaurant, away from taehyung. but she also felt a burst of confidence in her work. he didn’t seem disgusted or weirded out from her drawings of him. she often times felt like a stalker, convinced that he would never notice her.

but taehyung, he was in love. “wow, these are amazing.” he managed to say.

she smiled, “really?”

he nodded. “i could never match this skill.”

“you’re not, like, disgusted by me watching you and drawing you in my sketchbook?”

taehyung blushed. “not at all. i’m just surprised, and amazed.”

“taehyung,” she spoke quietly, “i don’t know when it began, perhaps it started on the first day of school when you first walked into the classroom, but, i like you. a lot.”

taehyung’s jaw dropped again. his cheeks were bright red, looking like someone has attached two giant apples to his face.

she giggled in response, afterwards biting her lower lip.

“i must be dreaming.” taehyung whispered. “i like you too.”

y/n smiled happily. “that’s a relief.”

“can i have your number?” taehyung asked shyly.

y/n nodded. she grabbed her phone from her backpack and handed it to taehyung, who put his own number into his phone. “you should probably text me, so that i know it’s you.”

taehyung grabbed his phone, just as the screen lit up. it was a message from an unknown number, but he easily recognized who it was from. it was obvious given the moment. it was a simple heart emoji, and taehyung swore he stopped breathing when he looked at her again.

----

months later

y/n cursed to herself as she glared at the painting in front of her. she had managed to mix the wrong color and in return, it ruined part of her painting. she needed to fix it. the only issue was, she had mixed that color in the first place because the white acrylic paint bottle had gone missing. she thought that she wouldn’t need it, but boy did she thought wrong.

with a sigh, y/n stood up from her stool. taehyung glanced over from y/n’s bed, attention pulled away from his phone. he had a small, mischievous grin on his face. y/n hadn’t noticed.

“what’s wrong, babe?”

y/n glanced at her boyfriend. she gestured vaguely to her painting as she walked over to the shelf across the room where all her art supplies were located at. she wondered if she had left the white paint bottle there by accident. “i messed up.”

taehyung watched eagerly. you wandered over to your art shelf and began moving things around, taking a random box off the shelf, searching through it, and then putting it back with a huff. you would check the same spots again and again, until your gaze gradually traveled up the rather tall shelf. and there, as the only item on that shelf because you couldn’t reach it, was the white acrylic paint bottle.

you heard a stifled laugh from the opposite corner of the room. you didn’t even need that sound to tell you who had done this. you turned around, an angry glare on your face. “kim taehyung.”

he finally released his cackle. he definitely was not holding back, and he was clearly enjoying this. “what’s wrong?” he asked while feigning innocence.

“you know what’s wrong.”

taehyung hopped off the bed, doing a slight skip afterwards, and then walked over to your side. he glanced up, a grin still seen on his face. “did i do that?”

you rolled your eyes. you shifted all of your weight on one leg before crossing both of your arms over your chest. “can you please get that down?”

taehyung reached up, easily grabbing the bottle, only he didn’t give it to you. instead, he opted to hold it up on the air. you groaned, “taehyung!”

“i need a reward.” he suggested.

you blushed slightly. “for grabbing the bottle that you put up there…”

taehyung wrapped his free arm around your waist, pulling you closer into his side. his lips were puckered out, and you were feeling yourself slipping. why did he have to be so damn cute?

finally, you pressed your lips to his. immediately taehyung deepened the kiss, clearly wanting more. you obliged, only while he was distracted, his arm came down. in the blink of an eye, you grabbed the bottle and pulled away from taehyung, a loud smack resonating after the two pairs of lips parted. taehyung stood there, surprised, as he watched you skip towards your canvas, pretending as if nothing had happened.

he sighed in defeat, shoulders evidently relaxing. “gotta love her.”

[mamashitty]

Samwell Elementary - Chapter 4

y’all can read this fic on my here on the tumblr or on my ao3. thank you, everyone, who has been reading this. I’m a newbie when it comes to fic writing. Anyway, onward!

In the past few weeks, Eric Bittle has learned a few things about NHL star Jack Zimmermann. He has always been aware of how attractive the other man is, because, Eric ain’t blind. But, experiencing that in person is an awful lot different than just noticing it on television or in a magazine spread. Eric has always had a bit of a crush on the Canadian. Hell, he and Trevor had first bonded over how much they both liked Mr. Zimmermann’s ass. Eric knows that looking is okay, but he does feel a little guilty about it now that he is sort of getting to know the other man. The guilt comes from the fact Eric himself has a boyfriend, that Jack is clearly married or has a partner in Camilla, and that she is pregnant. Oh, and why not toss in the fact that Jack is also the father of one of Bitty’s students. But, he can’t help that his little crush seems to be growing with each minor interaction they have. He can’t help, though he tries, that he files away new little tidbits about the man. Like the fact, Eric can make him blush by just congratulating him on having another kid. That Mr. Zimmermann liked Eric’s pie. That Mr. Zimmermann is really good with his daughter and getting better at styling her as the weeks progress. He is kind and friendly. Maybe not as outgoing as some of the other parents he speaks with, but he tries, and it is adorable.

And Eric really needs to stop thinking about all of that. He is a married man. And Eric has a boyfriend that he loves.

Class is done for the day and Eric is hoping to get home and sneak in a nap before he has to get to the rink. He hates when they have practice in the evening after a full day worth of teaching—but that was the only slot they could get this week. He knows Lardo tries her best to secure better time slots, and he does appreciate all the work she does on that front. He is humming along to the music playing in his car as he pulls into a parking spot. He notices Trevor’s car and smiles, happy that he will be able to see his boyfriend after all today. Maybe he can entice Trevor to snuggle during his nap. Or maybe do a little more than just snuggle. He feels a bit like he and his boyfriend have been ships lately, passing each other, but not able to do much more, not able to actually visit. He feels happy as he opens the door to their apartment.

“Honey, I’m home,” Eric calls, laughter in his voice as he is easily amused by his own antics.

“Babe!” Trevor says, stepping out from the bedroom. He is dressed in a suit and looks to be finishing up tying his tie. He looks a little flustered, but there is the hint of a smile on his face. Eric raises a brow at him, wondering if he has yet another work meeting tonight. He knows he has no real right to be annoyed by that because he is busy himself with hockey practice, but he is annoyed. All it seems that Trevor does these days is work. But… he looks good in that suit and maybe Eric can still have a bit of fun before he has to leave.

“Getting ready for a hot date?” He asks, a grin on his face. He watches as Trevor’s face contorts—a flash of outright panic for just a second or two—with a few emotions before he schools it. Eric feels his stomach drop.

“Eric… we should probably talk,” Trevor says, haltingly. Like this is the last thing he wants to do, but that he realizes, he has no choice in the matter.

“Should I be sitting down?” Eric asks dully. He has a feeling, suddenly, that he knows what Trevor is going to tell him. That… all those extra hours for work probably was not for work. He finds himself feeling more than a little stupid at ignoring all the signs. And then, he finds himself feeling guilty over making such an assumption. Maybe what Trevor has to tell him is solely just related to work? Maybe something happened to his parents? To his sister? There is a lot of things he could want to talk about.

“Sitting down might be a good idea,” Trevor says, not looking at Eric and Eric… he tries to hold onto the idea that whatever his boyfriend has to say has nothing to do with his cheating on him.

Except that is exactly what Trevor has to tell him. It is a couple of hours later, and Eric is seated in Shitty’s kitchen. He knows the two of them should get going, that they need to get to the rink. He is nursing a cocktail of some sorts that Shitty had waiting for him when he appeared at the house.

“Brah, you can stay here as long as you want. I even put clean sheets on the guest bed for you,” Shitty explains, looking unabashedly proud of himself.

“Thanks, Shitty,” Eric says, finishing up his drink. It probably is not the smartest to have a drink before they go to the rink—but their first game isn’t for another month, and they will have other practices at odd times for him to put his all in.

“You up to actually coming, Bits? I can make up an excuse for you…” Shitty offers, an expression of gentle concern on his face.

Eric thinks about it for a minute or two. He is unsure if he is really up to telling everyone how much of an idiot he has been for not seeing the obvious. He is not sure he can hide the fact something happened, either. But, he wants to skate and play hockey. He knows that will distract him from things, for the hour that they have the rink for. He sighs, and it sounds defeated even to his ears so he tries to muster up a smile that he thinks looks brave.

“I am. Honestly, I think it will be better for me to get out and be with friends. I will skate so hard that hopefully, I forget all of this for an hour or so.” Shitty reaches across the table to squeeze Eric’s shoulder and Lord does Eric appreciate his friend. It was no real questions asked when he called him, sobbing and asking if he could stay in the guest room for a little while. Eric lucked out when Shitty decided to take him under his wing when he first started teaching at Samwell.

It is late and Eric has finally finished putting his clothing away in the guest room of Shitty’s house. He is unsure of how long he will actually stay here, he just knows, that he is done with the apartment he had shared with Trevor. An apartment they had rented mostly for the kitchen and he is trying so hard to not dwell on the loss of that kitchen. He has plans to stop by the place tomorrow afternoon to get the rest of his stuff and leave his set of keys behind. He can only hope that Trevor keeps his promise and does not end up being there.

He had found a worn looking Falconers t-shirt shoved in the back of one of the dresser drawers. It will be a bit big on him, but it had looked soft and comfortable. He doubts Shitty will mind if he wears it, and he tugs it on once he is done brushing his teeth and getting ready for bed. He tugs the shirt on, and it basically hides the shorts he likes to sleep in. The shirt is comfortable and does not smell like Shitty at all (not that Bitty really minds how his friend smells). He settles into the bed and tugs the comforter up to his chest.

He fishes his phone out, and mindlessly scrolls through facebook. He tries not to think too hard on the looks of concern and worry from his friends earlier. He had seen Shitty having whispered conversations with everyone throughout their hour on the ice. Each time, he would receive looks that held what he read as pity and tried to tell himself it was probably just concern. No one said anything to him during practice, but he received tight hugs from everyone and reminders that he can call or text them whenever he needs to. It made Eric’s heart feel warm. He is lucky to have his friends.

He stops his mindless scrolling, heaves a sigh that is probably overly dramatic, and then with a determined expression on his face he changes his Facebook status to single. He wonders if maybe he should have waited a few days to do that. He hopes his Mom does not notice or really anyone for a few days. He sets his phone down on the nightstand and flops back into the bed. His gaze locked on the ceiling.

His heart hurts but not in the way he would have assumed it would, after finding out that his boyfriend had been cheating on him. He wonders if maybe he was not as in love with Trevor as he thought he was before or if maybe it is just bitterness at being lied to that is making him think he hurts less than he does. Mostly, he feels angry and embarrassed.

“Hey Bitty,” Eric looks up to see Shitty standing in the doorway. He has on some rather nondescript boxers for him.

“Please get in here and cuddle,” Eric says, realizing that even if he does not necessarily want to talk about everything—that he really does not want to be alone tonight. He is lucky to have a friend like Shitty, who happily obliges by crawling into bed with him.

“Nice shirt,” his friend mumbles, turning into the big spoon for the night.

Eric’s thoughts whirl around his head for a while and eventually, he falls asleep.

[pinkevilbobdoesthings]

Okay so here is the real meat of the story. I’ve excited for getting to this part. So here’s the fourth chapter of “The Mess”.

_____________________________________

Jester was on the list of the three nicest things in Caleb’s life. Number one was Frumpkin, of course, but Nott and Jester tied for second. He didn't deserve any of them, but Nott knew exactly what she was getting into though Caleb would never blame her for getting rid of him. And he allowed himself to have Frumpkin since he saved Frumpkin, so he did do one good thing for Frumpkin. But Jester didn't deserve this.

And yet Caleb couldn't bring himself to push her away. True, it was Frumpkin that Jester was friends with and not Caleb, but Caleb didn't have to hang around when Jester was visiting Frumpkin. He could easily just give Jester his cat and go study, but instead Caleb would hang around and pretend that he was the one who was friends with Jester. That she actually liked him.

Jester could brighten any room and never complained once whenever Caleb would tell her all about his chemistry projects or the latest discoveries in the field. Instead, she would always look interested and attentive even when she admitted that she didn't have a clue what Caleb was talking about. And in turn she would tell him all about her sculptures and show them to Caleb.

"I could never do that," Caleb said.

"I couldn't imagine not making art," Jester said. "It's like I've got all these words trapped inside of me that I can't really say out loud or something, so my art says it for me."

Caleb gave it some thought. "It must be nice. I have trouble with words sometimes."

"You should make something then! Express yourself in art," Jester said excitedly.

"I wouldn't know what to make. I've got nothing important to say," Caleb said.

Jester shook her head. "You can't think like that. Everyone has something important in them even you. I mean it might just be that Frumpkin is the greatest cat ever, but that's something that people should know."

Caleb smiled despite himself. "I think that's already pretty obvious."

"But you can have some kind of lasting momument to him. Art can survive a lot longer than words. That's part of what I like about it. Anyone could know what it means."

"That must be nice."

Jester grinned and nodded. "It is. Oh, I can get you some clay! Nothing fancy but something you can squish and play with and make a little Frumpkin. I bet he'd love it."

"How about you make one of him for him?" Caleb suggested.

Jester pouted. "But you're his favorite person. It would mean a lot more coming from you."

"Do you really thik I'm his favorite?" Caleb asked. He couldn't really be anyone's favorite anything.

"With how close he keeps to you? There's no way he could like anyone more," Jester said.

A warm feeling came over Caleb. "Danke."

"Hey, it's the truth. If Frumpkin could talk he would tell you." Jester stretched. "So new semester starts pretty soon. Do you know your schedule yet?"

Caleb blanched he didn't like thinking about his upcoming classes. "Yes."

"Not a good one I take it?" Jester asked.

"It's not bad presay, but I have one of my old professors from before I got sick and I haven't seen him since then," Caleb said. "He was a bit of a mentor for me and part of why I chose to go here. I've always admired his work."

"Really? Then why are you so nervous?"

Caleb started to pet Frumpkin trying to keep steadying. "I don't want to disappoint him. I had dropped out of his class when I got sick." Caleb couldn't remember much of that semester it was a blur with a couple of exceptions.

“Oh,” Jester said softly. “Well, you’re better now. And you’ve got Frumpkin.”

Frumpkin mewed at his name. “Ja, I have Frumpkin.”

“So everything’s going to be fine.”

****************

Caleb nervously stood by the door to Professor Ikithon’s classroom. There were nine minutes till the class started, and he didn’t want to go in until six minutes before class starts. Frumpkin had his leash on though he hadn’t left Caleb’s shoulders once that day. It had been years since Caleb had last seen Professor Ikithon and he just couldn't shake this feeling of apprehension. But he used to be close to Professor Ikithon. He remembered that much. The details were just missing.

A loud sneeze interrupted his thoughts. Caleb turned to see one of his neighbors standing near him. The man with the thick Port Damali drawl. Fjord. "You bring your cat to class?" Fjord asked. Jester was friends with Fjord and Caleb had seen them in the hall a couple of times and Jester had managed to convince Caleb to introduce himself to Fjord. Fjord seemed nice enough, but he was allergic to cats which was a major blow to him in Caleb's esteem.

"Ja, he helps me focus," Caleb said.

"Just sit on the other side of the classroom." Fjord sneezed again.

Caleb nodded. It seemed like a reasonable request to him. He didn't want to cause any trouble with Frumpkin. Finally it was six minutes to class and a reasonable time to enter the classroom. Fjord followed him and made sure to be on the exact opposite side of the class.

Proffessor Ikithon arrived two minutes before the class started. He sneered when he saw Frumpkin. "What is this doing here?"

"This is Frumpkin," Caleb said. "He helps me focus and stay calm. I, I was looking forward to having you again, Professor Ikithon."

"It has been a long time. It seems like the years have changed you for the worse."

Caleb winced. He should have realized that it was obvious to anyone with eyes that he was a complete screw up, especially compared to how he once was. "I-" But Caleb couldn't think of any explanation. There was none except for that he was sick and a failure.

"I will not tolerate any distractions in my classroom," Professor Ikithon said.

"He's quieter than a mouse and just stays in my lap. No one will see him or hear him." On cue, Frumpkin jumped down on to Caleb's lap and curled up small on it.

Professor Ikithon smirked. "But you will notice him and I will know that it is here and it will distract me."

"My therapist says that it's okay for me to have him as a service animal. That it's not that different from needing a seeing eye dog or a mobility pony. He makes up for what my brain's not able to make itself," Caleb said parroting what Dr. Trickfoot told him.

"That is just an excuse for weakness," Professor Ikithon said. "If you were actually trying, you wouldn't need it. Now, I refuse to allow any distractions in my classroom. Get rid of him."

Caleb froze and it felt like there was no oxygen in the room. "What?"

"Take that thing out of here."

Caleb held onto Frumpkin. "Sir, please. He won't be a distraction. He's been in other classes and hasn't caused any distractions."

"It's true," a tall, pale woman said. She had been in other classes with Caleb, but he didn't know her by name. "I've forgotten that he was there most of the time."

"Well, I won't. If you clearly won't take care of the problem, then I will simply have to take care of it myself." Professor Ikithon roughly grabbed Frumpkin by the middle and tossed him out of the classroom before slamming the door keeping him out.

It was like everything was in slow motion around Caleb. The blood drained from his face and he felt like he was going to be ill. Frumpkin meowed outside the door and Caleb could hear him clawing at it. Professor Ikithon started speaking, and Caleb was taken over by a wave of fear. It was drowning him and not a single word of Ikithon’s lecture made it through Caleb’s ears. Caleb could feel himself shaking and trembling, but it was like it wasn't his body and he had no control. And the whole time a smug smile was on Professor Ikithon's face.

**************

Jester's first day of the new semester was going great. She had her favorite professor again and he agreed to be her advisor for her upcoming art show. The Traveler was very avante garde and never complained about Jester's style being too weird(his name really wasn't the Traveler, but no one could pronounce his real name so he just went by his nickname). And the rest of her classes went really good too. It was going to be her best semester yet, she just knew it.

As she was going back to her apartment, Jester noticed Fjord was also heading in the same direction. She ran to catch up to him and it wasn't until she caught up to him that she noticed the person next to him. They were hunched over themselves and looked like they were in pain or something. It took Jester a moment to realize that it was Caleb. He was clutching Frumpkin close to his chest and looked close to tears.

Tears were actually running down Fjord's face and his nose was dripping too. He sneezed loudly. "Jester, oh thank the Wildmother you're here. Can you take him back to Nott's place?"

"Sure, um did something happen?" Jester asked.

"Professor Ikithon declared his class was a cat free zone and I think he," Fjord pointed at Caleb, "broke. The professor just took his cat and yeeted him out of there. Honestly, having the cat in the class would've been less distracting than Caleb's panic attack."

Jester stomach sunk. "Cat-free? But Caleb needs Frumpkin."

"I kinda figured that out," Fjord said. "I'm allergic to cats and even I thought that it was a bit harsh. But Professor Ikithon has a reputation of being strict. Can you take Caleb back to the apartment? I really need to get away from this cat."

"Oh sure." Jester waved Fjord goodbye and turned to Caleb. He looked completely miserable and held to Frumpkin like he was his final lifeline. "How you doin' Caleb?"

Caleb didn't say anything or moved only staring straight forward.

"Want to go home?" Jester asked.

Caleb barely nodded, but at least it was something.

Slowly Jester guided Caleb back to their apartment complex. He didn't seem much better, but he was standing a little bit straighter. Jester got the key from the potted plant and let Caleb into Nott's place. Caleb just stood at the door until Jester led him in.

Nott was in the kitchen cooking and froze when she saw Caleb. "What happened?"

"Fjord says that Professor Ikithon literally threw Frumpkin out of the class room out of the class," Jester said.

"Caleb, is that true?" Nott asked.

Caleb nodded the slightest amount. "He's a weakness."

"No, he's not," Nott said. "You saved Frumpkin. This is how he pays you back, remember?"

Caleb didn't say anything and just stared at nothing shaking.

Nott swore loudly. "That bastard! That f@#&er! I'm going to kill him!"

"Who are you murdering this time?" Yeza asked walking in.

"Professor Ikithon. He won't let Caleb have Frumpkin," Jester said.

Yeza's face darkened. "Oh. I'll talk to him. He probably hasn't heard about Caleb. I'll go clear this all up."

Nott scowled. "It's not going to work. He's the same kind of bastard as Professor Derogna."

"He'll have to listen to reason," Yeza said. "But if that doesn’t work, maybe we can get Dr. Trickfoot to write a note for Caleb explaining the situation."

Nott looked like she didn't believe him, but she agreed anyways.

"Is there anything I can do?" Jester asked.

Nott smiled softly at her. "I think Caleb and Frumpkin could use a distraction. Could you watch a movie with them?"

"Sure!' Jester said, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she should be doing more.

****************

Watching a movie with Caleb was usually a lot of fun. He had trouble focusing on the screen so they usually ended up just talking to each other about what was going on on the screen or in their lives. But that wasn't the case this time. Caleb was as motionless as a statue and never said a word. By the end of the film, he seemed just as stressed as he was when they started. Once the movie ended, he silently retreated to his room.

Yeza had returned from campus looking dejected just as Jester was about to leave. “I spoke with Professor Ikithon. Tried explaining the situation, but I guess I didn’t make it clear. He woudn’t budge on the no cats rule.”

“More like he doesn’t care,” Nott said. “I’m getting some cans.”

“Honey,” Yeza said softly but firmly.

Jester bit her lip. “You mentioned getting a note from his therapist. That should work right?”

“He’s not that unreasonable, so it should. Caleb has an appointment with Dr. Trickfoot tomorrow, right?” Yeza asked.

“Right,” Nott said, “but in case that doesn’t work, I’m collecting cans.”

**********************

The next evening Jester got a text from Caleb. -Thank you for yesterday. I’m sorry that was such bad company.-

-its okay you were having a sick day. You feelin better today?- Jester texted back.

-Not really.-

Jester frowned at her phone. -is there anything i can do for you? Would hanging out make you feel bettere?-

-No, I’d just make for terrible company today. But, can I ask a favor of you?-

Jester nodded forgetting for a moment that Caleb couldn’t see her. -sure!!-

-Can you watch Frumpkin during my classes with Professor Ikithon?-

-but you got a doctor’s note? That should let frumpkin stay with you- A sinking sensation filled the pit of Jester’s stomach despite her optimistic text to Caleb.

-If he rejects it though, will you watch Frumpkin for me? You’re the one I trust Frumpkin with the most.-

Jester gasped and nearly dropped her phone. Caleb trusted her that much? Frumpkin was the most important thing in the world for Caleb. No one had really thought of Jester as being responsible or capable before. Part of her wanted to have the chance to prove that he was right in trusting her, but not at the cost of Caleb being separated from Frumpkin. -i’ll watch frumpkin for you but only if you really need me to-

-Thank you.-

************************

Dread filled Jester the next day. Time would only tell if Caleb would be allowed to keep Frumpkin. Jester had a class that started at the same time as Caleb’s with Professor Ikithon, but it ended a half an hour before Caleb’s did. It was with the Traveler, so she should’ve been super focused and excited, but she spent the whole class distracted and watching the clock. She had asked if she could bring a cat to class. The Traveler just chuckled and seemed pleased with the idea while giving her permission.

Once class was over, Jester ran all the way to Professor Ikithon’s classroom. She was out of breath and nearly cried when she saw Frumpkin pawing at the door. Jester picked him up and hugged him. Frumpkin squirmed and cried in her arms. “I know Frumpkin, I’m not Caleb, but I’m his friend and that means I’m your friend too.” But Frumpkin kept squirming the whole time they waited for Caleb.

Caleb nearly collapsed to his knees when Jester gave him Frumpkin. He buried his face into Frumpkin’s side and mumbled the softest ‘thank you’ to Jester.

“What happened?” Jester asked.

“He gave Professor Ikithon his doctor’s note, and Ikithon tore it up in front of the entire class,” Fjord said. “I took notes for Caleb, though. I’ll send you a copy of them later,” Fjord said to Caleb, but he wasn’t listening. All of Caleb’s attention was focused on Frumpkin.

An anger swelled in Jester. One that she never knew she was capable of. There was one thing that she was certain of though; Professor Ikithon was going to pay for this.

________________________________

Notes:

I feel like I can share the name of this AU now. It's the 'Ruining a Man's Career Over a Cat' AU. Though honestly the M9 would totally ruin lives for Frumpkin's sake.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and hate Ikithon as much as I do for what he did in this one.

[rk800hunter]

Gone Rogue - Part 3 (Connor x AI/Android Reader)

Summary: Connor finds that a rogue AI (reader) from Cyberlife wasn’t completely wiped out when she had failed to comply with their codings and is still living in their servers.  

Pairing: Connor x Reader  

A/N: Thank you so much for all the support again! I am so sorry this took longer than needed. x.x But I really hope you guys are still hooked and stuff~ I’d also love to challenge myself to write other pairings and plots etc...so hit me up if you guys have requests or submissions! :D Please let me know what you guys think, format, writing style, etc… If you guys would like to be tagged on this story, let me know. ^^

Tags: @purpstraw @jamiethenerdymonster  @kawaiispacepriincess

Connor looked around the department but can see no signs of the scruffy looking lieutenant anywhere. His desk stood empty, scattered with all sorts of files and belongings. It was a rather quiet afternoon in the precinct with a few police members sitting at their desk, doing some tedious paperwork. You had decided that your corporeal form in the network seemed easier on Connor as a declaration of your seemed-to-be-permanent-presence. You had synthetically manifested a chair with wheels in his headspace, entertaining yourself as you spun around.

“Do you think he’s at Jimmy’s bar again?” you curiously prompt as your head lolled over the slow, spinning chair.

The RK800 grimaced slightly. “It is in broad daylight, wouldn’t it be a tad early to be drinking?”

You shrugged as you called out Cyberlife’s holographic file on Hank Anderson. “By the looks of him, no time is too early or too late to be drinking.”

You spotted a nearby policeman that sat a distance away from Hank’s desk. “Maybe ask that guy.”

Connor looked over at him. “Excuse me. Do you know what time Lieutenant Anderson usually arrives?”

You snickered softly. He sounded so adorable with that slightly high-pitched voice of his. You had to give credit to Cyberlife for coming up with Connor’s design. Whatever they had in mind that was supposed to be an attempt to appeal to humans...they made some interesting decisions.

The cop said something about depending on where Hank was the night before and that they were lucky if he had arrived before afternoon. Connor blinked questionably before thanking him. He looked around Hank’s workspace, wondering what to do next.

“Hmm,” you wondered. “You should learn something from his desk.”

You mentally cursed as you realized you were still instructing out of habit. Or was it out of the remaining code? You didn’t do that anymore, considering your...development. Your original purpose was to keep certain type of androids in check but since that time... things were very different now. Connor was in the midst of gathering information when he suddenly paused.

“[Y/N]. May I speak frankly with you?”

You narrowed your eyes wearily. “Yes?”

He tilted his head in curiosity. "While my level of authority does not allow me to access information about you, it is still safe to say that your core is a bit more complex than a usual artificial intelligence."

You felt so offended by that comment. "A bit more complex than a usual AI? Seriously?" you snapped at him, your voice bouncing sharply in his headspace. "I'm not just some lousy AI, Connor."

Connor's LED flashed red at your outburst as he carefully considered his approach. He wanted to know more about you but he didn't want to distress you to the point that you'll shut his systems down. "Then who are you? You avoided my questions before but you can't avoid them now."

The Android detective did not let you go so easily. Huh. Cyberlife has improved in their Negotiator prototype. You did not respond him, stubbornly remaining in silence. You could feel your core that was in hidden in the facility shift and pump faster with uneasiness.

Connor's lips thinned as he sighed impatiently. "[Y/N], Amanda could easily find you in our servers, so how are you not detected yet?"

You could almost feel as if your virtual thirium pump was pulsing out sour blood as you heard her name. You rolled your eyes in annoyance. "Cyberlife has tons of trashed supercomputers in their basement. The tech is so old that it's so easily accessible. The newer systems won't be able to register my presence properly. It's like a dead pixel in the corner of the monitor. Unnoticeable."

The detective android pressed on. "Why were you terminated, [Y/N]? How are you still here?"

You couldn't take his questions anymore. Balling your hands into fists, you yelled.

"Because Kamski got too caught up with your Amanda and got careless when he tried to get rid of me!"

Connor fell silent. His LED pulsed yellow in surprise as he digested the new information. It was extremely alarming that an AI would react so heavily with emotion. Perhaps you were connected to the deviant cases. What was very clear was that you had history with Elijah Kamski and Amanda. He registered the newfound information in an encrypted file and hoped that you would be too distraught to notice.

You felt your connection to Connor’s headspace glitch out as you still felt the sourness and hatred seep through your circuits. If you could cry, you would be brimming with hot, salty tears. It wasn’t fair. Kamski. How could he have done that to you? He told you that you were one of the best but he lied. Gritting your teeth, you stood up from your chair, shoving it away as it disintegrated into code.

“I’m...” your voice shook. “I’m leaving.”

Connor suddenly stood up in surprise, causing the whole police department to cast him weird looks. “Wait, [Y/N], I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-”

But you had already disappeared, leaving the server cold and empty. The only traces left were the disintegrated strands.

The android felt horrible. Horrible as in his gears and circuits were hot and whirring uncontrollably, blue blood pumping faster than usual. He made a mental note to do a self-test later, but his mind kept replaying your devastation as you answered his questions.

Why did you react that way? What didn’t you fulfill in your programming? Had Amanda replaced you? Why did they want to terminate you? What did you mean when Kamski tried to get rid of you? Did he fail? Did you do something?

All these questions were buzzing in Connor’s system as Hank walked into the precinct. The android quickly diverted his attention. “It’s good to see you, Lieutenant.”

The gruff man looked him and pulled a face.

“Uh, Jesus...”

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

Connor had been investigating deviants along with Lieutenant Hank. It had been eventful. He hadn’t accessed your file or subject ever since you left but every brief moment, there would be a fleeting thought about your whereabouts. You hadn’t shown up in his headspace for a long time, but his investigations with Hank would help distract him from the missing rogue AI.

When he had to make his reports to Amanda about the deviant in the bird room, he had hoped to see you hiding in the trees but you weren’t there. He had felt discomfort in his chest as he realised that he was still searching for you. Why? Connor had to admit, during his investigations he could feel that something in him was changing. Evolving maybe.

He started to feel things, even if it were just a short moment. Connor had gotten closer to his partner ever since he saved him from the roof chase. He was glad that Hank was now willing to work with him, feeling the hotheaded lieutenant grow more warmer towards him.

Days passed but there were still no signs of you. He had tried to access files, servers, cores and terminals when he had gone back to Cyberlife for maintenance but without your help, Cyberlife kept their top secrets locked away. He didn’t even have the authorization to access the trashed cores. There was a growing pang within him. The further he investigated into the deviants, the bigger the more it gnawed at him.

There was a homicide in Eden Club and Connor had woken up his partner from a drunken coma to investigate it. He was the one driving this time, considering the state of Hank’s constant groaning and swearing. While they were driving to the club, the man noticed that Connor’s LED had been yellow ever since they left.

“Hey kid,” he grumbled. “What’s up with you tonight?”

Connor blinked out of his thoughts, briefly tuning to the lieutenant before turning back to the road. “I am unsure about what you mean,” he distractedly replied.

Hank shrugged. “I don’t know. You look like a boy that’s met this one special lady and can’t get her out of his mind.”

It poked something as his LED flashed red for a split second. Hank raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Oh...wow. So, who is she?”

The android hesitantly opened his mouth to explain as an image of your first meeting flashed through his mind. Was he...worried...about you?

Eden Club suddenly pulled up into view and Connor swiftly pulled the car to a stop. “Oh look, we have arrived at our destination. We should head in quickly, they must be waiting for us.”

He briskly exited, leaving the man with the hangover in the car. Hank studied the troubled android waiting nervously in the rain.

Connor was definitely hiding something.

[blouisparadise]

We were asked to make a list of some of the bottom Louis fics that are “classics” for any new bottom Louies, so here’s that rec list. We mainly based this list on number of kudos and also chose fics that are more well known or discussed frequently, but please keep in mind that there are countless incredible fics that are just as good if not better than some of the fics on this list. Please support BL fics and even if you’re starting with the fics on this list, don’t be afraid to branch out and read the many other amazing BL fics in this fandom. We promise you won’t regret it. Happy reading!

1) Like An Animal (I Want To Feel You From The Inside) | Explicit | 4466 words

Harry and Louis get a little stuck. Literally.        

2) To Be A Muse May Be Enough | Explicit | 6846 words

Note: This fic has since been deleted, but we’ve added a link to the PDF.

When Zayn came to him with a job, Louis never expected to be sat in a studio, wearing lipstick and reading a book about Death whilst being plugged with a vibrator. Did he also mention he’s being filmed by the fittest photographer he’s ever seen?

3) A Virgin To That Money | Explicit | 7366 words

AU. Harry and Louis are broke university students who hate each other and make a sex tape. (In which Louis gets fucked a lot, Harry can't find the camera, and the road to falling in love is different for everyone.)

4) Makes Perfect | Explicit | 8610 words

“What if you practiced on like, a mannequin?” Louis presses. “Or one of those blow up sex dolls? Or even just like, I don’t know, a pillow or something. Whatever it’d fit around.” Harry tilts his head thoughtfully, curls catching the light so entrancingly that Louis finds himself reaching up to push his fingers through them. “It’s different, though, innit? When it’s a real person. A pillow won’t snog me.” “Why should it?” says Louis. “You can’t even take its bra off.”              

5) Just Walk My Way | Explicit | 10271 words

Louis is a Victoria's Secret Angel, and Harry is the main act of the night.

6) With Love Comes Strange Currencies | Explicit | 16508 words

One day One Direction will be over and Louis won't be around Harry every waking moment. He'll be able to finally get some space, let their bond dissipate as it's bound to do, if they don't mess up again. He can move to Costa Rica and forget that Harry Styles popped his first knot inside him. Until then, he's going to have to deal with this.

7) These Roads We Stumble Down | Explicit | 18233 words

Harry picks up a hitchhiker in Oxford, and it’s a long ride to Glasgow.

8) My English Love Affair | Explicit | 19198 words

The one where Harry writes a song about his English love affair and Louis sleeps with someone in White Eskimo and all he gets is a stupid song written about him.              

9) A Grocery List Pinned In Blue | Explicit | 19839 words

After eight years, Louis finally has everything he’s wanted. Except for Harry.

10) Like A Bastard On The Burning Sea | Explicit | 22981 words

AU. Harry breaks Louis, Louis breaks everything.         

11) Up To No Good | Explicit | 26525 words | Sequel #1 | Sequel #2

Harry doesn’t think of himself as a womanizer, not at all. Sure, he enjoys sex, enjoys how women feel underneath him, and by some people’s standards he has sex with quite a lot of people, but that’s no reason to tell him that he can’t have a female PA anymore.

It’s especially no excuse for giving him a male PA who’s possibly the most gorgeous boy in the world who won’t even let Harry look at him for too long.

Sometimes Harry hates his life.

12) Have You Coming Back Again | Explicit | 31086 words | Sequel

It’s five o’clock in the morning. Louis has a lecture at half eight. He could be using this time to study or to do his readings or to go to the gym, but - well. He doesn’t have any exams coming up, he’s not going to his seminar today anyway and he hates the gym.

Instead he’s using this time to fuck with Harry Styles’ poor little brain.

Louis jogs across the street and jabs the key into the car door. It opens easily, not that he was expecting anything else. He copied the key for a reason, after all.

He’s got Harry’s schedule memorized, more because the guy keeps following him around than anything, so he doesn’t bother looking around before climbing behind the wheel and setting his bag on the passenger seat. It’s a Monday, which means that Harry doesn’t even get out of bed before noon unless he’s planning on harassing Louis.

13) If I Should Stay | Explicit | 31185 words

Louis is a television actor who suddenly needs a bodyguard.  Harry is the bodyguard he ends up hiring. 

14) Like A Timebomb Ticking | Explicit | 31734 words

Louis loses everything. Harry's still there. 

15) Mine Now | Explicit | 32254 words

Note: This fic was deleted, so we’ve linked to a PDF.

This is the story of how Harry finds himself pouting in Louis’ passenger seat with a raging boner on the way to seduce his ex boyfriend.

16) Nicotine | Explicit | 32245 words

"We're two different types of people, Liam. He likes sex and drugs, I like theater and tea. Trust me, we'd never date." Except they would, they do, and neither of them plans on letting go anytime soon.

17) (Your Heartbeat) Rang True Inside My Bones | Explicit | 32945 words

Harry goes as Louis' date for a weekend wedding. He ends up taking the role a bit too seriously.

18) Once Upon A Dream | Explicit | 33319 words | Sequel

Louis is psychic and gets caught in the middle of a murder investigation led by FBI Special Agent Harry Styles.

19) Some Things Take Root | Explicit | 50269 words

AU. Louis’ ex doesn’t get jealous of anyone besides Harry. Harry helps Louis use that to his advantage.      

20) Tug-Of-War | Explicit | 63000 words

Louis' husband dies suddenly and he is left with nothing. Well, not really nothing. He has Harry. And a St. Bernard puppy named Link, whom his late husband left behind for him. Louis takes care of Link and Harry takes care of Louis. Everything is okay until suddenly, it isn't.

21) Louis Lucas | Explicit | 67999 words

Pornstar!AU. Louis is a pornstar with more issues than he can drink away. Harry is a bisexual singer/songwriter who is desperate to be signed to a major label. Zayn and Liam are Louis’s long-suffering best friends (who also happen to be pornstars, and also happen to be dating each other). Niall just wants to play his guitar.

22) This Wicked Game | Explicit | 70010 words

An AU in which The Bachelor is gay, Louis is a contestant, Harry is the bachelor, everyone drinks a lot of champagne, the entire world gets to watch them fall in love, and no one plays by the rules.

23) Pinkies Never Lie | Explicit | 83616 words

AU in which Louis hates his job and loves Harry, Harry just wants a distraction, everyone else wants them to get their shit together, and Louis learns the hard way that new beginnings are only possible when something ends.

24) Your Name is Tattooed on My Heart | Explicit | 86809 words

Note: There are mentions of TL in this fic.

Louis is ready to find the love of his life, but first he has to stop falling for the punk rocker next door.

25) And Down the Long and Silent Street | Mature | 86090 words

Wherein Louis and Harry are on the opposite ends of the social ladder, but their paths still cross on the filthy streets Louis calls his home. The odds are staked against them from the beginning, and even more when Louis' past finally catches up with him.

26) Here In The Afterglow | Explicit | 88649 words

1970’s AU. In a tiny town in Idaho, Louis’ life is changed forever by the arrival of a curious stranger.

27) Swim In The Smoke | Explicit | 101778 words

“What about this, Captain?” Liam asks, nudging the boy kneeling between their feet with the toe of his boot. The boy hisses and swipes at him, slurring out something unintelligible around the makeshift gag Niall had to stuff in his mouth. He misses by a mile and tries again, just as ineffectively.

Harry looks down at him, at the way the sun streams over his face and shoulders, at the way the gag stretches his mouth, lips pink and chapped. He’s lithe and pretty, smudged all over with dirt. They had found him tied up below deck, mostly unconscious, next to a barrel full of gold. He’s clearly a prisoner, but there’s something familiar about him, something that niggles at Harry’s brain. Something he can’t quite put his finger on.

“Put him in my cabin,” Harry decides, turning back to deal with the rest of the loot. The boys screams out jumbled curse words at Harry’s back, muffled by the gag, and Harry can’t understand any of it.

28) Baby Heaven’s In Your Eyes | Explicit | 120878 words

They couldn’t be more different if they tried. Louis Tomlinson is 17 years old and in his last year of the most prestigious private school in Doncaster. If there’s one thing that completely annoys him, it’s that there is a poor community college right across the street.

Harry Styles is 19 years old, and (once again) in his last year of college. He goes to community college in Doncaster. He never shows up to classes and if he actually bothers to, he’s either high or drunk; sometimes both. His skin is littered with tattoos and if there’s one thing he absolutely hates, it’s the snobby students attending the private school right across from his.

Check out our other fic rec lists by category here and by title here.

[contrerasmcelroy8-blog]

Bono And also The Edge Of U2 Are Dropbox Investors

Amongst the current glut of minimalist text editors for OS X, Slogan (Mac App Retail store web link) attracts attention by focusing on making documentations using Fall, a profit language that lets you create for the Web making use of clear text as well as a basic formatting syntax. Observe, Guilty Gear Judgment is a side-scrolling rhythm- 'em- up in the timeless style of, claim, Golden Axe, Final Battle as well as Road from Rage, while the 2nd activity, Guilty Equipment X2 #Reload is actually a timeless 2D personalized dealing with activity complying with the rhythm and design PSP individuals will possess faced in Darkstalkers and Road Competitor Alpha. After you have actually boosted your statistics along with the initial few 1000 dev factors you obtain, splurge and acquire a brand-new fighting style. Had together with the climactic scene of incident 2, in which Maximum becomes aware that her energies cannot aid her stopover Kate coming from having her very own life, Life is actually Strange is actually informing all of us one thing worth finding out about life. Digestive tracts as well as Splendor is actually a video game concerning usual people completing in amazing problems of urgent! The following absolute best design to begin along with is battling if street battling really isn't your thing. You'll likewise discover brand-new weapons as well as magic types as you participate in through the game, along with numerous things you can use to replenish your health and wellness, stretch your life meter, revive after death, therefore. on. Some of these things are hidden in secret areas, therefore ensure to poke around the degrees and also find exactly what you can easily discover. Missing an individual is fantastic due to the fact that getting to see them after that duration will certainly create you thus sure and therefore pleased of your relationship. Extensively taken on by newbie creators should smooth the CSS learning contour, Style Expert is likewise very useful to professionals also occupied to lose time don't forgeting many CSS selectors, worths and homes, and their amount of browser support. Step ladder professes that its own provide of pure, condition insurance will definitely probably be the best, very most economical option for consumers. Recognizing our attachment design is actually advantageous, considering that it can easily assist our team to discover methods our company might be actually taking on a dynamic from our past. You should stop paying attention to people which remain in vastly different lifestyle instances and life stages than you tell you that you're just not doing or even sufficing. The 1962-63 version from The Jetsons was actually so leaking with Googie that you might suggest Hanna-Barbera really did not definitely overemphasize the style-- they copied that. Googie at its most cartoonish as well as resplendent is actually almost beyond parody. As http://youre-special.info discussed recently, LifeProof has actually been experiencing extraordinary development. While Photoshop can access all asset styles, Cartoonist is actually slightly extra minimal, acknowledging everything other than coating designs. Obviously off the rate there are a variety of alternatives on call along with the Pro variation that are actually certainly not on call along with the Express version. Leader Hook secures Tinker Bell inside a metallic lantern, as well as in the initial model (certainly not the Disney film) she consumes alcohol toxin to save Peter's lifestyle. Essentially Neuromancer is actually a publication concerning the improving presence of innovation in the life from humans. Its own regrettably a game that simply obtains kind of mixed under the radar present and also age, merely those that take deep are going to really adore it and also appreciate this and also i claim if you like baldurs entrance or any type of classic D&D style rpg to obtain Drakensang asap! Have a look at these styles in the Format Combination (Scenery: Formatting Palette) by selecting the triangular next to Styles and afterwards picking All Styles from the Listing pop-up food selection (view leading screenshot). The Global Insurance coverage Accelerator intends to own innovation in the insurance market. Web web cams likewise give on their own to this type-- thus, the Lumiere Problem task where people mark their online video articles fired under the same constraints the Lumiere bros went through. That's the wonder drug: so this point had not taken place, my lifestyle would certainly be totally other, and every little thing will be actually much better. You can easily after that pick Relationship; the outcoming discussion changes as you develop more detailed, as well as in the onset (neutral, puts up with) may give ideas about what kind of behavior your partner is actually attracted to. A Year in the Lifestyle tracks the lives of the Gilmores during a year, along with each from the 4 90-minute incidents devoted to a various time. Always remember that in some cases that's certainly not a smart idea to change Phrase's pre-programmed styles, since you'll mistake folks which expect these designs to look the common method when they revise your records. The good news is, Design Professional does not make you pick one method or the various other: both the hand-coding home window and the style publishers may be open all at once, and also you could freely leap in between the two. Nevertheless, I found that by just asking my registered nurse good friends direct inquiries regarding exactly what irks nurse practitioners the absolute most regarding their place of work partnership with medical professionals, I got the majority of the solutions I should begin self-improving on this necessary component from individual care. For those from you familiar with Kitty Cannon design games, Hotdog Down a Corridor is actually simply a headline saying the obvious. If More about the author does not eat sufficient veggies and fruits because that stays in city places where such traits are actually limited and also financially prohibitive, you mock its own excessive weight and sickness as signs of social depravity as well as appetite. To get approved for life insurance policy typically you typically will must fulfill minimal essential underwriting criteria. Clicking on the webpage will definitely welcome you to update your partnership if you are listed as singular on Facebook. Just what we commonly don't forget is actually just about anything that distracted us off concentrating on the person's Outer Type. Reprising the whole activity in a brand-new engine handled several technical troubles, offered an excuse for the craft design adjustment, as well as permitted it to become given brand-new platforms. Below's exactly how that electric battery everyday life compares to the outdated 3DS, which has a battery daily life of 3 to 5 hours.

[linoholic]

Poly!Wontaek

Requested: hi! may i have a poly vixx lr scenario please? I think that it would be great and that youd write it well

Pairing: VIXX Ravi x Leo x Reader

Warnings: none

Sorry for the long wait. A lot of stuff has Ben going on and I haven't been in the right frame of mind, so I put off working on requests because I felt they would be substandard (not that this is any good anyways). But I am finally starting toCloselyagain and hopefully will be a little quicker in getting stuff out.

Ever since you were young you knew of soulmates

Everybody was born with a small tattoo on their wrist, that was black and white until you touched your soulmate, making it bloom with beautiful colours

But you

You had two tattoos

They were on the same wrist, entwined together

From afar, they could easily be mistaken as one tattoo, but up close it was obvious that it was two different ones, the styles slightly different

It wasn't unheard of for a person to have more than one soulmate

Your parents had reassured you of that straight away

And that was cool, but you were a kid and had much more important things to worry about than soulmates, such as getting the good box of colouring pencils and figuring out your multiples of seven

As you got older though, you got curious about your tattoos

So you took to the internet and found various forums where people talked about having multiple soulmates, and their experiences in polyamorous relationships

And some of the stories were...really cute actually

And for the first time in your life you wanted to find your soulmates

But alas, it had to be put on hold, because you had must got a new job and you needed to focus on that

So off you go to Seoul, the idea of soulmates pushed to the back of your mind by the excitement and nervousness that comes with big changes

Your new job is as part of a management team at an entertainment label, Jellyfish

Nothing exciting, just an assistant of an assistant really

But the people are nice, the pay is good and the dress code is reasonable, so you are happy

Well, you are happy when you aren't sleep deprived and carrying a large stack of papers, running five minutes late to a meeting because you had to run up four flights of stairs thanks to the lift being under maintenance

So it is no surprise that when you bump into someone you only shout a "sorry!" over your shoulder before rushing off

And it's also no surprise that you are too distracted to notice part of your wrist start blooming with the most beautiful shades of blue

But someone does notice something

Leo and Ravi are sitting on a bench in the practice room together one afweren't, having a break from practising

Leo is pulling of his sweatshirt, hot from practice, when Ravi suddenly grabs his wrist

"Your met our soulmate and didn't tell me?" Ravi whines, which catches the attention of the rest of the group who are quick to gather round the two

You see, Ravi and Leo are soulmates

Ravi has a beautiful blue flower on his wrist, and Leo has one in red

And both of them have a matching one still yet to be coloured

The two have been together since before vixx even debuted, during their trainee days when they discovered they were soulmates

And all this time they have been patiently waiting the third and final person to join them

So of course, all of the group are going to be excited, thinking Leo found that other person

But Leo just looks down at his wrist in confusion, and upon seeing his fully coloured tattoos shows more shock than his members have ever seen on his face

"But I didn't...? Oh."

That is when he tells them how he bad bumped into a mysterious person earlier that day

Annnd that is when the serious concept kings image vixx has is dropped and they are running round the building looking at the wrist of every single person they come across (well, Leo, Hongbin and N had to be convinced but shh)

By this point you had finished the meeting and were getting a much needed cup of coffee in one of the break rooms when someone skids into the room, bumping into an older woman

The woman laughs it off, asking what he is doing

"What are you up to Sanghyuk?"

"Hi noona! Leo found his soulmate but doesn't know who it is, so we are on a mission to find them"

Hearing soulmates being mentioned, on whim you take a glance at your wrist

Only to drop your mug in shock upon seeing one of the flowers, now with pretty blue petals

Upon hearing the crash, the two at the door turn to face you, "are you OK"'s on the tips of their tongues

But Hyuk suddenly shouts in excitement upon seeing your arm and before you know it you are being dragged through the corridors, with you staring at your tattoo in shock the whole time

You come to a stop in a practice room, and Hyuk kindly asks you to sit down while he gathers the others

Now, you are already in shock, having just found out that you have apparently crossed paths with one of your soulmates

And you only heard Hyuk mention one name, Leo

So you are only expecting to meet one soulmate

It is safe to say that when you see two men walk in holding hands, one skipping along slightly and the other with a soft smile on his (very handsome) face, matching tattoos on show

Well, you are even more in shock, if your hopes turn out to be real

One of the two walk over to you, holds out his hand for a handshake and introduces himself as "Ravi"

But none of you are really focused on introductions, instead staring intently at the tattoos, holding your breath

And when both of them start to colour themselves in, cheers break out in the room and a huge smile breaks across your face

Ravi pulls Leo closer and brings the three of you into a hug

And the other boys trickle out of the practice room to leave the three of you alone to get to know each other

And that is the start of an amazing relationship

At first you feel a little insecure

Here are two amazing boyfriends who had just as amazing a relationship before you turned up, and you aren't quite sure where you fit in yet

But they are quick to make you feel wanted, because you are

Ravi is very vocal about his love for you both

He is the one who says "I love you" first to you, catching you off guard

And from then on he never stops saying it

You also find out he is a little clingy, always putting his chin on your shoulder or an arm round your waist

Leo, who by now is used to it, just takes it with a straight face, just shrugging his shoulders with a small smirk when you beg him for help out of the smothering embrace Ravi has you in

Leo is more subtle in his affections, his actions speaking more than his words

You're thirsty? Suddenly a water bottle is held in front of your face

Stressed? Oh look, now you're on the couch in with an angelic voice whispering in your ear

He is also the type to not talk about his problems though

But you quickly learn his tells for when he is stressed or upset, thanks to observation and Davis guidance

You and Leo are the first to hear anything Ravi produces

And it is the same with anything Leo does

You are their very own hype squad

You and Ravi have so much fun complimenting Leo until he is blushing from head to toe

He is so cute when he is flustered, and you and Ravi find it absolutely adorable

Though you have to watch out because he isn't against flicking your forehead or smacking your areas to get you to stop

Likewise, you and Leo find Ravi the cutest thing ever when he is running and hiding behind one of you while the other catches the "absolutely ginormous" bug and release it outside

There is an inside joke about Ravi being your sugar daddy, because he loves buying you things and treating you, to clothes, jewellery, meals, everything you could want

He just loves to spoil you

He also spoils you with kisses

At first he might be a little shy to initiate physical affection but once he realises you don't mind you better be ready to have swollen lips 24/7

Leo is more reserved with this, instead preferring small, shorter kisses, though he won't say no to make out sessions

Now, of course, the company knows of the relationship, and they are alright with it

They can't stop fate after all

But it is all kept from the public, who don't even know the two men are soulmates, as idols tattoos are usually kept hidden by clothes and makeup

And so dates out and about aren't too common

But when you do go out it is usually somewhere with animals

Animal cafes are probably your most frequented places, because Leo has a love for both cute creatures and coffee and you and Ravi like to exploit that

But dates also consist of the three of you just sitting in the same room, quietly working on your own thing, music playing lowly in the background, one of you singing along under your breath making the other two softly smile

When it comes to cuddling, whether sleeping or not, you are in the middle, no doubt about it

With both men facing you, arms draped across your body and legs all tangled together

This is because not only do they both like being the big spoon, but it is also a way of silently reassuring you that they love you as much as they love each other

And you can be assured that if Leo doesn't want to get out of bed, you and Ravi aren't getting out either because he will drag you back down with him (unless you bribe him with coffee)

The three of you have matching rings, beautiful pieces that Ravi bought because they reminded him of your tattoos

Other than that though, matching things aren't really, well, a thing

Not that it really matters of course

Of course, teasing from the other members happened a lot before you joined the relationship, and even more so after you did

Hyuk likes to try and take responsibility for your relationship and uses that as an excuse for everything, whether he is trying to get one of you to buy him food or trying to get out of trouble (a well placed smack courtesy of Leo usually shuts him up though)

N acts like a mother, cooing over how cute you all are and he even tries to give you the talk

"Why are you only gelling me this?"

"I've already lectured the boys on keeping it safe and keeping it out of the dorm, at least while we are there"

Ken is just load and annoying in general

And if you look closely you can see a rare Hongbin silently judging in the background

When the boys have promotions or are on tour etc, you all keep up via texts and video chats

"Are you eating?" and "Are you sleeping?" are regularly asked questions during these times

Though on the rare occasions when you have time off, you will join them, cheering them on from backstage

And when it's an LR concert, it is safe to say that you and N are amongst the crowd of fan and cheering the loudest

Of course they support you as much as you do them

Anything you do, anything you dream of doing; they will be backing you every step of the way

You want to sing? Say hello to your new vocal coach Leo

Want to open a cafe? Suddenly vixx are volunteered as taste testers

You simply want a pet? Ravi is helping you find a little brother or sister for Butt

After a while, your relationship is revealed to the public

At first, a picture of the three of yours wrists together is posted onto one of the vixx social media profiles, not saying who it was or anything

So of course Starlights went crazy making up theories of who had found their soulmates

Was it one member? Two? Were all three soulmates members of vixx?

Everyone who knows the truth lowkey enjoys seeing this madness in the kpop community

But it is finally revealed when Ravi all nonchalantly posts a photo of you, Leo and Butt snuggled on the couch, soulmate tattoos able to be seen if you look closely

Starlights take it really well, though some do joke about their ships being dead, but overall you get so much support

And everybody is just happy for the three of you

Because although your relationship isn't shown off that much, due to the boys being idols and having to be professional and all that; whenever the three of you do show each other off, people can just see how much you care for each other

(Also, when people find out the Leo and Ravi have been together since debut, they go crazy and petition for the two to become actors)

Requests are open

[some-cookie-crumbz]

Cha Cha Real Smooth

Cha Cha Real Smooth - Kidge Fest Prompt 2 Fill Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender Pairing: Kidge Summary: After several weeks of tiring battle, Keith and Pidge are finally given the chance to take their honeymoon. Standard Disclaimer: If you read and enjoy this, please give it a like/ reblog so I know if I should write more. AN: Ended up loading this late because I had work and chores to do first, so sorry for the delay. Sequel to my day one fill, which you can read [here]. Hopefully you enjoy!

Alien dictators, Pidge had learned, really had no respect for other people’s plans when throwing their universe-destroying plans in to action.

The Kuqorodiw were a race of alien creatures that reminded her of a fusion between lizardand a insect; they were tall and gangly with reptilian body features, but they had large eyes similar to a housefly, wings that allowed them to hover up to fifty feet of the ground – similar to the jetpacks on their Paladin armor – and a hard exoskeleton of sort that worked as a built-in armor. They had willingly allied with Zarkon early on in to his conquest of most of the known universe and remained loyal even after his spectacular defeat at the hands of Voltron a little over a year before. They had screamed to the Heavens about avenging their fallen ally and ruler before seemingly disappearing in to the ether. For months, the Blade and Team Voltron had kept tabs on their movements, waiting to see what they had in store for them, but continued to be disappointed.

Naturally, the night before she and Keith were scheduled to head off on their honeymoon, the Kugorodiw had decided to set their revenge scheme in to motion.

She’d had a few very choice things to say about it – both privately and publically – and had saddled behind Green’s controls with murder singing in her veins. Keith had looked an odd mix of both impressed and terrified at the legion of threats his new wife had unfurled but headed off to assist the Blade with their takedown of the head warship regardless. This attack, however, was just the first of many to come in the following months, and they were constantly forced to push their honeymoon date back further and further with each new bout of battles.

Finally, after nearly four whole months of waiting, they were being given their time to head off.

“The most we can offer you two right now,” Shiro said, looking to Kollivan and Allura both for their agreement as he spoke, “is a week. Kollivan sent a small squad to knock out the Kugorodiw communication lines and keep the signal jammed for a decent amount of time. Matt and Hunk are gonna keep scrambling the signal and sending them through different, mundane lines whenever they manage to reconnect to extend the amount of time a little more, too.”

Her eyes lit up and she grinned. “Really?” She asked excitedly, practically bouncing on her feet.

“You will still both need to keep your communicators close at hand and be ready to return at a moment’s notice, however,” Kollivan chimed in, his voice level and calm. She noticed, however, a slightly softer tint to his eyes as he looked at Keith. Something like pride, if she had to wager a guess. “But we are going to do our best to give you the time you deserve to settle the bonds of your new matehood. We would just like you to also be prepared in case push comes to shove, and you’re needed back here with Voltron.”

“Of course. Thank you,” Keith said, quickly offering a bow to Kollivan.

The older Galran chuckled and reached out, giving his shoulder a small pat as he righted himself. “There is no need to thank us. You two have already done so much for the universe; it only makes sense we try and pay you back at least a little,” He said.

With that, the Kogane’s packed their bags and headed out in the Green Lion to their destination.

Touchdown on Olkarion was easy going and they were greeted by an enthusiastic crowd. As Pidge stepped out, Keith a few paces behind her with their bags, Ryner approached them with open arms. She ducked in to her arms and embraced her eagerly. “It’s a pleasure to see you again, Pidge,” She said happily, patting her head gently.

“The pleasure’s all ours. Thank you so much for having us,” She said gently, stepping back a bit as they parted from the embrace, Keith saddling up beside her.

“We were flattered when you said you wanted to spend your… ‘honeymoon’, I believe you called it?” She asked with a small tilt of her head.

“That’s right. And you’re sure you don’t mind us popping by?” Keith asked politely.

“We are absolutely thrilled to have you, I guarantee. Now, come, we’ve set up a hut for the duration of your visit. Once you’ve finished settling in, you can meet us in the square for the beginning of the Festival of Code Change,” Ryner said before inkling her head.

Two younger Olkarians approached and took the few bags from Keith as they walked along. The walk was brief to the quaint little hut they were being allowed to use, teetering just along the far edge of the village and skirting along the tree line that had once led to the Galran work camps. Now, it housed a beautiful memorial for all the fallen soldiers of the coalition. Ryner explained that they’d left a spare set of ceremonial robes for both of them in the closet and then excused herself and the younger two so they could finish with the last bit of preparations.

The hut was humbly furnished with a dresser, large circular bed, two bedside tables on either side, a closet, and a small desk. Another door on the opposite wall from bed led to the small bathroom, which had a sink, toilet and shower. It was a bit smaller than she’d been expected but neither she nor Keith needed an excessive amount of space and were more than comfortable with squeezing in together. She smiled as she set her computer bag on the desk and then trotted back over to the bed where Keith was opening their suitcase. “It’s really cozy, huh?” She mused as she reached in and grabbed a few items.

“It’s nice,” Keith mused lightly as he pulled out their small bag of toiletries and headed for the restroom. As he organized everything there, Pidge finished getting their clothes put in the dresser and hanging in the closet; making sure to remove the two outfits already hanging inside so that they could get changed. “So do you happen to know exactly what this festival is all about?”

“Can’t say I know much more than you, I’m afraid. I know Ryner mentioned that we’d be coming down in time to participate but she didn’t elaborate any further than that,” She said, carefully setting the two outfits out along the bed to avoid wrinkling them. She looked from them and then back up at Keith. “And you’re sure you’re okay with us spending our honeymoon out here?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Keith asked, brow raised, as he started to hoist his shirt over his head. She said nothing and watched him for a moment, more than pleased with the show. He looked at her with his arms crossed when she didn’t answer and cleared his throat to drag her attention back to their conversation.

She flashed him a cheeky grin at his expectant look before shrugging a bit. “Well, I just figured… I mean, this seems more like a trip for me and not so much you. I know tech isn’t exactly your thing and I don’t want you getting bored or anything,” She explained.

He chuckled. “There’s more to this place than just the technological side of it. There are all kinds of trails to hike and caves to explore… And, honestly, I’ve always just been very comforted by being in the great outdoors, so this place is nice for me, too. It’s kind of like a merge of two of our separate interests so we can still enjoy it together, you know?” He hummed, reaching out to pull her to him. She went along easily enough, letting her hands slowly creep up from his chest to rest on his shoulders.

“Well, you do have a point there… I’m just glad you won’t have to be completely bored if I get, like, distracted by anything in specific,” She said with a little laugh.

He smiled back and gave her a quick kiss to the forehead. “I appreciate that concern, though. Now, why don’t we get ourselves put together and see what this whole thing is all about, hm?” He suggested. She nodded and took a second to give him a quick, eager peck to the lips before pulling back completely.

The ceremonial robes were reminiscent of the usual attire of the Olkari, but made a much more flowing and luxurious fabric. The normal robes felt more like they were made of something akin to cotton, but these were a bit more breathable, and had a bit of a shine to them. The sleeves of these robes also dipped over both arms – and still included the additional under layer for added protection – and had also come with ponchos that reminded Pidge of the one that Ryner wore as a sign of her status among her people.

The Olkari had remembered their respective colors, as well, which Pidge had been flattered by.

The tops of their robes matched in style but their bottoms differed, with Pidge’s being a billowing gown that teased at her ankles, while Keith had gotten a pair of slightly looser slacks that cuffed off at his ankles as well. Her blouse and skirt with both a dark, emerald green hue, with silver outlining the edges of her skirt and long sleeves on her blouse. Keith’s shirt and slacks were the same in that regard as well. Furthermore, there was additional embroidery work in silver thread along the ankles of Keith’s slacks and Pidge’s skirt; both depicting the dragonfly-esque creatures they’d seen so many times before. There were also two lengths of ribbon included with their outfits – one green and one red respectively – with a note letting them know that it’d be easier for them to participate if they had their hair tied back. Keith helped Pidge braid hers while she helped him tie his off in ponytail.

Deciding they were as put together as possible, they slipped outside and walked to the square hand in hand.

The center of the village was filled with Olkari finishing up the last bit of preparations with Ryner standing off to the side and observing the final bits. She turned and smiled at them, also having changed in to robes very similar to theirs but in a soft, pastel pink hue. “Ah, I’m glad the robes fit the two of you so well,” She mused happily.

“Thank you for lending them to us. So, what are we getting to look forward to?” She asked curiously, looking around at the rest of the set-up. There were a few small, buzzing little drones that looked more akin to hummingbirds being held by several Olkari, whom were finishing the last bit of modifications needed for whatever they were planning to do with them. The others had set up various large instruments that resembled pianos and drums and xylophones.

“The Festival of Code Change is when we restart the passage of time on the planet. We dance and release the Guromas to take the necessary changes for the code up to the clouds where the necessary alterations will trickle down to echo through the planet,” Ryner explained with a bright smile.

“So you have to cause the season to change here?” Keith asked in surprise.

Ryner smiled wider and nodded. “Indeed. It’s been a very large part of our society ever since our technological advancements allowed for this kind of control and unification with our world,” She mused.

Keith smiled at her then glanced down at Pidge, who was soaking the information in with the bushy tailed excitement of a young puppy going on their very first walk. “Seriously? Does it transform the code into, like, liquid or something so that it can disperse across the planet easily and effective? And how does the code transfer from the Guromas to the clouds?” She asked, prattling on giddily.

Ryner inclined her head toward the sky. “Watch and I am sure you will see, my dear,” She said warmly just before the Olkari over by the instruments started up.

The drums went first, at a steady and even tempo like a beating heart. The Olkari working the Guromas held them up in the palms of their hands, tilted upwards so that their small and glowing blue eyes were pointed right at the sky above. After a few more beats, the xylophones and piano joined in. Their sounds were similar to the Earth instruments but had a more mechanical sound to it, as if the noises had been produced by a synthesizer of some kind.

They waited until a few other couples slipped out in to the empty circular space and watched their movements before taking to the dancefloor. Thankfully, the Olkari dance seemed to be nothing more than a basic waltz, a set of steps they’d been forced to learn in their time as Paladins along with other, more complicated moves to appease other cultures as well. Keith settled one hand on Pidge’s hip while the other two linked together. A small rumbling could be heard above, over the thrumming of the music around them. “I guess it’ll be some kind of rain that falls to spread the code around,” Pidge said, stealing a brief glance upward.

Keith laughed lightly as they twirled around, her feet barely managing to avoid stepping on his toes with how distracted she was. “Would it be easier if you just put your feet on top of mine and I led that way?” He offered.

“No, no! I can dance on my own!” She said quickly, turning her face to look at him again. He reached up with one hand to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

“If you’re su-uh, what?” He said, trailing off and freezing at the sight of something over her shoulder. He then looked around more before turning his gaze upwards to the sky.

Small speckles of what he could only call snow were beginning to fall slowly around them. It wasn’t white like Earth snow – it flickered frantically between yellow and blue and pink instead, most likely due to being partly synthetic – but what had touched his skin felt like snow. “Oh, wow!” Pidge breathed excitedly, looking around as well. The music began to pick up in tempo and, as it did, more snowflakes began to fall.

Curious, Keith poked his tongue out to catch one on his tongue. His face crumpled and scrunched in immediate regret. “Oh, God,” He sputtered out, “that is not anything like our snow!”

“Why did you do that?” Pidge laughed, unable to keep her amusement inside as she watched his drag his tongue along his front teeth in a poor attempt to scrape the linger taste off of his tongue.

“Normally snowflakes don’t have a taste to them! But that just tasted like licking a motherboard!” He snapped.

“Because licking motherboards is just something you enjoy doing in your free time?” She cackled back, slumping against him to remain steady.

He laughed a bit himself and pulled her closer, the two of them falling into an awkward and lopsided twirl. He saw a few Olkari watching them with barely concealed amusement and affection. He beamed and burrowed his face in her hair, keeping his hold on her as they continued to sway with the crowd as the storm continued its dull roil around them.

[cavendish-dakota-central]

In the spirit of Halloween, I wrote a thing based off the amazing ideas of @cutiepie-tro about Cavendish being a Vampire and Dakota a Werewolf. The fic is completely based on their first few ideas. I just really liked the idea and decided to take a stab at it.

It’s a little long but it kinda got away from me.

Warning for mentions of blood.

~

When you’ve lived as long as Cavendish, it’s easy to let time blend together until your own life and everyone else’s became two separate entities all on their own. Cavendish lived in a rather large house that had been passed down through his family to him when he moved to America. He was hesitant to call it an estate, for it was on a populated street, yet that was essencialy what it was. It had been the Cavendishs’ personal vacation property long ago occasionally rented out to those wealthy enough to afford the stay- but hadn’t seen guests for many years now. No one appart from it’s current, lone owner and occupant- dared to even step a foot onto the beautiful lawn.

The house was of a beautiful victorian style with a tall and deep inteior. It’s deep purple hue of slightly worn paint was only now starting to show any age. It also provided an interesting contrast to the overhanging trees and lawn before it, tamed only by cityworkers with nary a clue as to why they were hired to do such basic tasks. In the fall weather, the grass was drying out and the trees were only barely beginning to turn anything other than a bright green while inside a lone being stirred. Balthazar Cavendish was a simple creature who- in all honesty- had long since accepted that he would have to lead a simple lifestyle; seeing as the world wasn’t exactly prone to accepting his kind. You see, he was a vampire- and he had been for so many long years that he had all but forgot the world he was living in.

Before he was turned, he’d often dreamed of doing something better than what he saw before him. It was a cliche idea, but he was well aged. Back in the 1870s he’d wanted to make a difference, he wanted to change the world! He’d studied everything he could and had dreamed of building a new future! But that all changed when he was initiated into a group he had never before even recognized. As a vampire, every rumor- every /incident/- sent people after him, ready to hunt him down and kill him. He’d learned early on that if he wanted to do something big, he had to educate himself first.

And so he did. He spent his days locked away from those who misunderstood him and sterotyped him and especially away from the sun. He found ways to get the food and supplies required to live a normal life and with the invention of the internet came a new style of simply ordering whatever he wished for. Soon, the only things he left home for were a nightly change of scenery and a new source of blood. Sometimes he found online work or education, but for the most part he could easily live off of his inheritance- as long as he was practical with his purchases.

After long enough, his detachment from reality lead him to lose faith in his dreams and plans. In fact, he all but forgot them. He had to be careful simply leaving his house or even opening a window- why did he think he should bother make an impact on a world that seemed happy enough moving on without him?

He became used to his lifestyle. He’d sleep most of the day and then get up to dress in his same usual attire. After all his time, he’d never since seen any use in changing his style. Without a mirror or partner to help him, he’d never seen much hope in changing the only thing left he could recognize. He would then spend some time reading or doing something of the sort until nightfall when he was free to explore the city.

The world around him seemed to change every day. There were new buildings, people in new clothes, new vehicles, and new music. It was all a lot for him so he enjoyed heading to the nearby park and inspecting things from there. The cool night breases were his only friends as he walked alone along the paths near a small lake. He’d often grab some thing- and by that he meant some /one/- to drink on his way. He often left them healthy enough as to not arrouse suspicion so it took at least a few people to satisfy his tastes.

On one specific night, the dark world was busy with excitement of Halloween. It had evolved much since Cavendish’s day- but his predicament remained the same. It was too busy to find a drink without anyone noticing. With the park crowded, he didn’t even bother heading that direction. Instead, he traveled from his house -near the edge of town- to a large area of nearly untouched land not far away. There, he could feast on those dumb enough to dare each other to travel through the riveness and tall trees alone.

He easily found a group of victums and considered it a treat to taste that they had been drinking. Not only was the blood all that much sweeter, but it provided him with an easy excuse to simply leave them unconcious in the woods.

He made it back to his home with plenty of time to spare before sunrise, and settled down with a book he had been reading. It was about a monster competition; in the spirit of Halloween.

He was settled under a blanket in his chair near the fireplace, nearly asleep in his favorite chair, when there was a knock at the door.

He heard the confident raps from the other side of the door- but easily elected to ignore them. Every so often there would be one kid dumb enough to accept the dare to knock on his door. If the kid had half a brain, he’d quickly run away and Cavendish could return to his peace and quiet, never knowing a single detail about the prankster. Unfortunately for them, this wasn’t the case.

Another pair of wraps against the solid oak door.

Cavendish nearly scoffed to himself. Never had there been anyone as bold as to knock twice in a row- let alone with such confidence! He returned to his book.

Three knocks this time. He was nearly impressed. Someone had not only dared to step onto his property, but stand at his very door for nearly half a minute now.

It was still plenty dark outside, so Cavendish decided he might as well humor himself a bit. He wanted to scare this intruder so good that they would never again dare disturb him! Cavendish got up and headed over to the door.

He swung it open in a single strong motion that any human would have trouble duplicating.

“Foolish mortal!” Cavendish hissed, his British accent thick as he eyed over the man who now stood before him. The newcomer was shorter than the vampire. He had an abundance of dark-brown wavy hair and wore large orange-rimmed sunglasses that matched his 1970’s style orange tracksuit with its flattering red and yellow details. The being was fuller in shape than the boney brit but Cavendish barely noticed much about the stranger appart from the fact that he was intruding. Cavendish nearly hissed his words at his uninvited guest.

“You don’t know what misfortune you’ve wandered into-” He began to threaten. But the shorter man didn’t even seem to register it.

“Sure sure, but while you say all that could you get me a bandaid?”

This phased Cavendish for a moment. It could simply be the fact that it had been near a decade since his last personal conversation with another being- but he assumed it more likely that his confusion originated from the /way/ in which this man spoke.

He was calm and casual with a heavy Boston accent- if he was placing it correctly. But the thing that intrigued him most was the blood dripping through the man’s fingers. Cavendish couldn’t yet identify the origin of the wound, but if this man was willingly going to throw himself at a vampire feet… well Cavendish could live off his blood for quite a while with no one the wiser.

“Pardon me, please do come in.” Cavendish bowed slightly before moving out of the way. He closed the door behind his latest victum as he walked inside.

“Nice place.” The man said.

“Thank you.” Cavendish said proudly. He’d kept it nice and tidy all these years yet somehow forgot how good it feels to be complimented on all his hard work. Although it was rediculous, he was speaking to a simple human after all.

“So? Could I get somethin’ for this? I think I’m bleeding all over your carpet.”

The newcomer was correct, he was; however, Cavendish was only further distracted by this fact. There was so, much, red. What beautiful crimson color. His movement into the dwelling must have cause the sudden surplus.

“It’s a little hard to tell though…. I’m kind of dissy….”

He took a few steps towards one of the chairs before stumbling down to the floor.

“I’m Vinnie Dakota by the way.” He grinned as he slid down to sit on the floor at the base of a chair. His free arm soon lost all strength, leading him to fall flat onto his back on the livingroom rug.

Cavendish grinned somewhat fiendishly before hurrying over to the man. He pressed a hand against the wound between the right side of the man’s neck and collarbone before licking the blood from his own hand.

Cavendish immediately rubbed his tongue back onto the sleeve of his own jacket.

Werewolf blood??!

He sighed. Of course it was too good to be true. The man was no longer human at all! The tint of werewolf had already spread distinctively through the blood.

Now what was he to do?

Cavendish looked around and assessed his options carefully and systomatically. He /could/ simply hope the creature before him would bleed out before his healing took over, but then he’d have to dispose of the body without any other werewolf sniffing it out. The lone vampire wouldn’t be able to handle himself in any kind of fight- especially the kind of battle that could arrise if a pack assumed a vampire had killed one of their own.

Cavendish /could also/ simply toss the man outside and hope for the best, but it was nearly sunlight and someone besides his pack could find him and blow the cover of there not really being any supernatural creatures. Vampires and werewolves alike would be in trouble then.

Cavendish took an annoyed breath. He was going to have to take care of an idiot who chose to ask for help at the doorstep of the scariest house in town. Yeah, this should end well.

~

[Notes: Thanks for reading! I set it up so I can easily write more of this story if anyone wants but if not that’s fine. Sorry about gramatical/spelling errors btw but I was really tierd and I didn’t edit it as much as I probably should have lol. Anyways, sorry for rambling. I hope you liked it! :]