#Best Cheap Earphones

[piyushflip]

lenovo bluetooth headphoness price in india

Lenovo is entering the second round and is not just presenting an “old for new” concept. In fact, the second edition of his True Wireless Earbuds was inspired by other sources. After the first Lenovo HT10 TWS was actually good, but apparently lacked quality in terms of durability, the HT10 Pro now has to prove what they can do.

The new TWS appears rather unspectacular. The predominant color is black or gray. The charging station uses an ordinary design that is completely different from its predecessor. The single earbud is 24 mm long, 25 mm wide and 24 mm deep. The shape is breathed in a drop shape. There are no edges in places that are close to the ear. The center at the top is adorned with a 12 x 9 mm button that is roughened and also has a teardrop shape. The button has a good pressure point, although a touch field would have been clearly more elegant and would have more suited the style of the headphones. The fact that the entire edge of the button is illuminated with a blue/white LED, which indicates whether the earbuds are connected or being loaded, also plays into this consideration.

The Lenovo HT10 Pro are a nice development of the Lenovo Air. The Chinese are improving the earbud in almost every way, only the exotic charging station had to be replaced by a less spectacular one. All other data read similarly or better. Highlighting the aptX support again, the codec alone is guarantee of good sound and surely very beneficial.

Bluetooth 5.0 Mic – Yes Range – 20m Charge time – 2 hrs Standby time – Upto 150 hrs

[seattlesellie]

not about love: part three ♡

ೃ⁀➷ read part one | part two | part four

pairing: college loser!ellie williams x fem!reader

synopsis: you go to a frat party, ellie is a dumbass.

warnings: heavy sexual themes, alcohol, weed, JEALOUSY (both ellie and reader but reader goes through it)

You stirred from your nap, your eyelids fluttering open as you gradually became aware of your surroundings. It was hot, too hot, and the AC wasn’t working. Neither was the fan. So much for one of the “Best colleges in the world!” as they liked to boast on their little website page. A faint buzz emanated from your phone.

You groaned. Dina's persistence was relentless, and she refused to accept no for an answer. The thought of going to a Kappa party was one thing. Sweaty bodies, lame college boys who thought they were hot shit because their daddy was the CEO of toaster strudel or whatever, cheap liquor that burned inside the pits of your stomach even three days after the party was over…

That was the least of your problems.

The problem was, you guessed it — Ellie.

Wherever Jesse and Dina went, Ellie was always there, tagging along like a lost little puppy. They never turned her away; they actually seemed to enjoy her company. And who could blame them? Ellie had a wicked sense of humor, and some might even say she had a sweet side. Plus, she always had a fat joint tucked away in her pocket, ready to be shared. The thing was, Dina and Jesse were a fucking couple, and Ellie somehow managed to squeeze herself into their most intimate moments too.

You asked Dina about it once, and she just shrugged — “She’s a little lonely sometimes, so why not?”

Dina was right. Ellie was… a little lonely. When she wasn’t with you, shed lock herself inside her dorm room (which she thankfully shared with no one), solemnly strung on her guitar, broody and quiet. She’d blast metal when she was upset, and draw till her arm hurt. It was “by choice” she always told, shrugging off your attempts to convince her to socialize, enjoy the college life, have some fun. She wanted to tell you that you were enough. That she didn’t need those random hookups, that parties were the last thing that interested her, when you were around. Her cheeks would blush a soft, dusty pink whenever she entertained the thought of confessing her feelings to you. The uncertainty of your response weighed on her mind like a pesky little irritant. What would you think then?

None of it mattered, anyways, because you and Ellie hadn’t talked in a week. That was the longest time without contact since 10th grade. Granted, you did fight that Christmas night, just a year ago — but you never went completely cold. Not like this. Ever since that day in her room, something shifted. You saw her in the cafeteria, Sitting alone with white string earphones in her ears, she bopped her head to the rhythmic tunes of Bob Dylan. Pretending not to see you, she shifted her gaze towards the window, fixating on the birds' nest nestled within the tree nearby.

She thought you knew.

She thought her secret was out.

“You’re not” Was the last thing that left her mouth that day.

Ellie was delusional, Because you didn’t fucking know.

“I cant see her EVER again” she scribbled in her journal with dark ink, pressing down on the pen until her thumb turned white.

When NASA released the stunning images of millions of galaxies, your thoughts inevitably gravitated towards her. She was a constant presence in your mind, after all. You sent her a message, a sweet one. “thought of u” it said, with a picture attached.

It was radio silence. No response, no call, nothing. Cold.

This is why you didn’t want to go to the party today. And maybe, this is why you did go — regardless. Stand up to her, ask her what was wrong. Did you do something? did you hurt her feelings? did you finally fucking break her?

It was 9PM, and there you stood, butt naked, facing your closet.

“fuck you Dina” you whispered sotto voce, as the weight of blame rested squarely on her shoulders. She’s the reason you’re here, your mind completely blank, staring at a pile of unfolded clothes, Your makeup sprawled open on the table, the powders and the colors creating an accidental artwork. You had a half empty bottle of boxed wine in your hand. Definitely Dina’s fault.

“Nothing!" you exclaimed, flinging a delicate light pink tank-top onto the floor in frustration. “To fucking wear!” you groaned, tossing a black pair of jeans of across the room. It was your turn to throw a tantrum now.

You dialed Dina on the phone, more than ready to complain to her over your lack of clothes, her stupid kappa party, maybe even over the pumping headache you had three days ago, maybe that was her fault too.

She picked up.

“Heyyyy pretty” Her words slurred, and the scent of vodka almost wafted through the screen. Oh god, she was drunk already. Just great.

“You pregamed without me?!” You yelled, perplexed.

“Wh— I called you like five times! So did Jesse, you didnt pick up the phoneeee”

“Pick up the phoneeeee” you heard Jesse mock Dina, his laughter echoing in the background.

“Fine, whatever. I have nothing to wear, I’m gonna look like shit, my ass hurts because I slipped AND I think this white wine’s poisoned. Plus I need something that makes my tits look good and all i have—“

You grabbed a crumpled white corset top from the floor, its fabric wrinkled from being discarded.

“Is a stupid corset! and you still didn’t give me back my dress!” You whined, pacing around the room, still naked, still chugging on some “poisonous” white wine.

“You’re on speaker, babe”

“I dont care. Hey Jesse, you sound wasted too” You tried on the white corset, surprised at how good it fit around your body. Huh. Maybe you didn’t need to iron clothes like, ever.

“Heyyyy” his voice came through muffled, mixed with fits of laughter as Dina had apparently spilled vodka on herself.

“D, I’m sending you a picture of my fit, I have no pants on so don’t save it, weirdo”

She coughed.

“On speaker” she repeated.

“Jesse doesn’t care” You rolled your eyes, as you struggled to zip the corset top up.

“Ellie’s here”

Oh.

“Oh” you froze. Of course she’s here.

“Say” Dina's voice descended to a hushed tone, as if her words were no longer intended for your ears.

“Say hi” it was quiet, but you could hear.

"I don't—" Ellie's voice emerged, subdued and suppressed, barely audible.

Dina shoved the phone to Ellie’s hand.

“Hey”

You gazed at your complexion, transfixed as if you were trapped in a moment suspended in time.

“Hi” you quietly said.

“Okay— whatever you two have going on… figure it out, be there in twenty. And send me that pic!”

Dina hung up.

Be there in twenty. Okay, you got this. You looked at yourself in the mirror, half naked, your hair a mess, your heart beating out of your chest. Maybe you don’t got this.

Frantically, you swiftly gathered yourself. You hastily slid into a sleek black skirt, styled your hair, generously applied a thick layer of lip gloss, and quickly slipped into the tallest heels you could lay your hands on.

“Skirts too long” you whispered to yourself.

It wasn’t too long, the plush of your ass was almost peaking out of it.

It was borderline comedic, how you fast you shifted when you heard her voice. How quickly you went from not giving a shit, whining quietly about the sweaty bodies you’re going to bump into, and the thick smell of cigarette smoke and cheap alcohol you were going to have to breathe through, to caring so heavily, and so deeply, about something completely different. You put the shiniest pair of hoop earrings you could find in your drawer, spritzed a thick layer of sweet, vanilla and almonds perfume, and took another glance in the mirror.

This is how she was going to see you. She’ll smell your perfume, you were sure of it. Perhaps she’d even glance at your legs if she got close. you see, Ellie had a habit of… looking up and down. She thought she was sleek, she thought she knew what she was doing. She thought she was hiding it, and hiding it well, but she never did. You always noticed how her eyes would flicker up and down, how a rosy pink would grace her cheeks.

This isn’t about Ellie, though — right?

There was a loud thud that echoed across the room, originating from the big window above your bed.

Dina and Jesse were here. Oh, and her.

“fuckfuckfuck” you frantically whispered to yourself as you went to grab your purse. You glanced at your reflection again. You looked good, and you knew it. Hell — everyone would know it, but not everyone mattered.

You took a deep breath, and with that, you were out of your room.

Click-clack—the sound of your high heels grazing the ground filled the air.

“oh sh—“

you almost slipped.

Right as you exited the building, your eyes landed on them.

Three, slightly inhibited, babbling adults standing besides each other.

You moved closer, the sparkling keychain attached to your purse swaying and jingling with every contact against your figure, a touch of girlish charm to your stride.

“Holy shitttt” Dina gasped, her eyes widening in awe.

You didn’t even glace at Ellie. Non existent.

“Jesse” she nudged his arm. “I’m leaving you for a girl”

She wrapped you in a tight embrace, her sweet but subtly spicy perfume filling your nostrils. The moment your eyes met hers, any lingering anger you had towards her completely melted away. The Dina effect.

“You look so hot” she teased, flashing you a sly smile.

“Hey idiot” Jesse chimed in, embracing you tightly, looking dapper with a tight, black t-shirt adorning his body.

“Look at those muscles” you said, punching his arm lightly.

And there she was.

a black leather jacket, a white button-up shirt with the top buttons left undone, a tight pair of jeans and her trusty old Chuck’s.

She dressed up. She never dresses up.

Her eyes were glued to the ground. What was she hyper-focusing on now? The ant crawling on the ground? a dry, crumpled leaf? Perhaps on your high heels, and the thought of you keeping them on while your legs are resting on her shoulders?

Her throat closed up at the thought.

“Hey” she said, her voice low.

You could tell she had been drinking, based on the dazed look she had on her face. Maybe she smoked some too.

“Hi” you said, and flashed her a small, awkward smile.

“Start walking idiots” Dina exclaimed, and grabbed your hand in her palm.

The walk to the party was not quiet. It was anything but. Filled with aimless giggles, and Jesse almost walking in to a pole. Ellie dragged by quietly, chuckling to herself at a funny anecdote someone had made. She never was quite like this. Of course, she was broody, some would say somber, but she was not a “quiet” person. Not when she was with her friends. Tonight was different. Tonight, Ellie had something else in mind. The way you swayed side to side, giggling loudly and boasting into a Britney melody made her heart swell in her chest. She couldn’t stop replaying the events of that day in her mind. The way she got close, the way you whispered that you weren’t like Dina and Jesse, and the way she agreed. The way she had never come so hard in her life, with her hand between her thighs and her phone in her hand.

Tonight was going to be fucking difficult.

You finally arrived to the party.

As anticipated, the scene unfolded before you— a pulsating mass of sweaty bodies, shirtless college guys, and scantily clad girls grinding against each other, moving rhythmically to the beats of a 2013 Jason Derulo song.

“Shots?” Dina questioned, her eyes scanning the crowded house.

“Shots” you responded, a slight panicked look on your face.

“Sure, yeah” Ellie quietly said, her hands stuffed inside her pockets.

Dina was out of your sight at the speed of light.

You were left alone with her.

It was suddenly harder to breathe, and it wasn’t the lack of oxygen from the dozens of people breathing it in.

“So…” you said, trying to be as loud as you could — so she could hear you, amidst the loud music and the occasional screams.

She was standing in front of you. God, was she beautiful. She didn’t even try, was the frustrating part. The way her hair rested half down, the rest of it tied in a bun, the way a small strand of hair framed her face — she was flawless. Her freckled cheeks were glowing, a red hue caressing them, and as her hand came to scratch her face, presumably a nervous reaction, it flexed slightly. You always stared. Just like she stared at your tits — you always stared at her hands. It was a silent agreement, tit for tat.

“So many people” you chuckled.

“Listen, I-“

“Tequila for you” Dina’s voice startled you from behind, making you flinch.

“And… a shot of whiskey for the lady” She handed Ellie the short glass.

“3, 2–“

It was warm inside your throat, and it slid so uncomfortably, you had have a reaction. Your face twitched, tongue peeking out of your mouth.

Ellie couldn't help but crack a smile, stifling the urge to burst into laughter.

Ellie never made a face when she drank. Swallow it in, Joel taught her. Hold your breath — and let it slide.

“EVERYBODY!”

the loud voice of a college frat-boy echoed through the room. Did he have a fucking microphone?

“SPIN THE BOTTLE IN KEVIN’S ROOM TO THE LEFT!”

You rolled your eyes.

“What are we, thirteen?” you sighed.

“No…” Dina responded, her gaze shifting between you and Ellie.

“But you need to get some” she nudged your arm.

“And so do you” She whispered to Ellie.

Ellie could feel her heart beat fasten up. Funnily enough, it wasn’t because she was embarrassed to play. It wasn’t because she cared about it, or wanted to “get some” — It was the thought of you. The thought of you, getting some. How could Dina even dare to suggest such a thing? Of course, Dina didn’t know about Ellie’s… situation. Still, how could she say that? How could she endure the thought of you with somebody else? What if you end up meeting somebody? What if you, god forbid, end up kissing somebody? Ellie felt it in her stomach. It was that same rage she felt when you had your first girlfriend, Emily, in 10th grade. When she caught you kissing behind the bleachers. She remembers how her mind went blank for a second, fully white. A moment after, she saw red. She punched a fucking wall, and promised herself that if she ever gets the chance — the actual chance, she’d beat Emily up so bad it would leave her bleeding. Of course, she never got the fucking chance. Emily was nice to Ellie, hell, Emily loved Ellie, and Ellie never had the guts to do it, so she punched her pillow instead, every goddamn night.

“Let’s go, c’mon” Dina exclaimed, taking hold of both your hands and skillfully maneuvering through the bustling crowd.

—

At first, the bottle landed on a sweet cheerleader named Amy, and a dumb jock named Steve.

“I dare you to make out shirtless in front of everybody” Kyle, a blond frat guy said, gaining himself a couple of “Oooo” sounds from the people gathered around the room.

“It’s not truth or dare Kyle—“ A loud voice popped off from the background.

“My house, my rules” He shrugged as he responded.

“I should be paid to watch this” You said in a whiny, slightly bitchy tone, Ellie and Dina chuckled in response.

They went at it, shirtless and sloppy. Tongues clashing in an unsynchronized dance, slurping each other up like animals.

“Okay, okay — next round” Kyle exclaimed, burping into the mic.

“Ew” you gagged.

The bottle spun.

You were standing besides Ellie, her shoe nudging yours. At one point, she accidentally touched your thigh, followed by a breathy “Shit — sorry”.

There was absolutely no way it would spin pointing at her, and then point at you. But she fucking hoped. Maybe, if it was a dare, shed have the balls to do it. Maybe she’d be too embarrassed to say no in front of all these people, who might think she was even a bigger weirdo for turning a game down, so she’d have to kiss you. Maybe her lips could touch yours like she desperately desired. Maybe shed manage to put her hands on your waist, and hold you still. Maybe you’ll feel it, finally, and give into her.

Slip a tongue in, who knows?

It landed on her.

“Fuck” she hissed under her breath.

“Oh” Kyle said into the mic.

“Who are you?”

“Ellie” she said quietly, internally punching herself in the gut.

“Cant hear”

She cleared her throat, feeling her face heat up.

“Ellie” she said, louder.

You felt your throat close up. This can’t possibly be happening. Dina was ecstatic.

“Okay… Ellie, never seen you around here… Spin”

“I don’t—“ she quietly said, looking at you from the corner of her eye.

Something was wrong. Your body tensed up.

“Cmon, El” Dina nudged her arm.

She spun the bottle, the sound of the glass grazing the floor filling up the room.

It landed on a ginger named Alison. You recognized her from one of your classes. Alison was a nice girl, popular, but kept to herself. She was pretty, a sweet pair of big brown eyes, and a cleavage that left no room for the imagination. Alison smirked at Ellie, tilting her head.

You weren’t exactly a firm believer, but you prayed to god louder than anyone has ever did.

Please don’t kiss. Please don’t kiss.

“Ellie… Alison… Who else thinks those names go fucking along?” Kyle exclaimed into the mic.

The crowd whood, the crowd of people cheering this… Obscenity — as you’d call it.

Ellie shifted uncomfortably, digging her short fingernails into her palms.

You lifted your chin up. Shit.

“Ellie and Alison,” Kyle whispered dramatically.

“Kiss.”

Dina squeezed your hand.

“Ellies gonna get some…” She melodically hummed in your ear.

Your face twitched.

“Alison — take your shirt off. Ellie, gotta give us a show”

Ellie went bright red. She didn’t want to do this. She didn’t want to fucking do this. It buzzed in her ears, echoing inside her brain.

It was almost as if a comically bright light bulb appeared on top of her head.

What if this was payback.

She could never have you, couldn’t she?

What if this one hurt.

What if you realized.

Ellie didn’t dare to look at you, but she felt it. She felt you shift, she felt the harsh breath that escaped your mouth.

Alison crawled closer. So did Ellie. Her shoe grazed your knee as she moved.

You swallowed deeply.

Alison’s eyes twinkled amidst the dim lights.

Ellie felt her toes curl inside her Chuck’s. Her breathing got heavier, and her heartbeat fastened up. It wasn’t because of Alison, or Andrea, whatever her name was. It was beating because you were watching.

Alison initiated it. It was a small peck, at first.

Your hand was trembling.

“Go Ellie!” Dina cheered.

Ellie took it as a green light.

She parted her lips slowly, and sucked Alison in for a kiss. A hungry one, slow and steady, a wet tongue slipping in, gently swirling inside the shirtless ginger’s mouth. When Alison whimpered silently, Ellie brought her hand up to squeeze her breast. The crowd was cheering her on.

You felt like a monster took over your body. Your throat closed up, eyes growing moist. Oh shit. You were about to fucking cry.

Ellie grabbed Alison’s neck, and held her firmly.

It felt like it was going on for hours.

And then it stopped. Alison was panting, and Ellie was too.

There it was. The first tear that crawled down your right cheek.

“I’m going to the bathroom” you whispered to Dina.

Ellie looked across her shoulder.

You weren’t there anymore.

“Where’d she go?” She wiped her wet mouth on a black leather covered shoulder.

“Bathroom” Dina said, absentmindedly with a smile.

“Fuck”

｡ﾟ•┈୨♡୧┈• ｡ﾟ

♡ part four ♡

[starry-eyed-wild-child]

🥀 charlie walker boyfriend headcanons 🥀

charlie walker x reader

. my sweet, sweet baby charlie - this man is so obsessed with you

. like it's low-key creepy but in such a sweet way you'd never even know

. i like to imagine you probably met in his film club, but he'd probably seen you in the hallways at school and he was just smitten after that. or even if you sat behind him in history class or smth and he tried his hardest to not look at you

. will be the most loyal boyfriend you could ever imagine, this man would die (and kill) for you in a heartbeat

. okay so, either you had to ask him out OR a bunch of mutual friends grouped together to get yous together because they were just sick of your pining

. honestly, robbie's ears are talked off about you, poor guy can't catch a break

. speaking of robbie, he definitely teases charlie about his little crush and will subtly drop hints in front of you just to embarrass him

. but robbie is also definitely 1000% your biggest fan, this man would literally make a movie just about how awkward your get together was, he adores you and thinks you're perfect for his best friend

. charlie stutters a lot when talking to you, he just struggles to believe he actually pulled you, the girl of his dreams. and he BLUSHES too, omg this man is a walking mess for you

. movie dates ofc are a given, if you're not a fan of horror movies, charlie will still happily sit and watch whatever you want. i personally think that charlie would draw the line at rom-coms tho, but that's just my personal opinion. like he will, but he'll criticise it all the way to the credits

. charlie is 100% a night owl. you'll probably be waking up as charlie is getting ready to go to sleep. not that he likes watching you sleep or anything 😳

. BOARD GAMES - play some cluedo with this pathetic little man, he lives for board game nights. play some music in the background, a bottle of cheap rum or smth between the two of you and that's charlie's dream night fr

. absolutely loves holding your hand in public. I don't think that's charlie's that big on pda but he's a sucker for hand holding and nose kisses

. is the king of remembering little details about you. remember that necklace that you got when you were six but lost somehow? no? charlie definitely does and would probably get you a new one

. his favourite thing is your eyes. it's his absolute favourite colour. he'd get a bracelet specifically with a stone that is the same colour so he can look at it when he misses you

. loves listening to music with you and making you your own playlist. he's the stereotypical romantic of where he loves sharing earphones with you so you can listen together 🥹

. okay I hate to admit it, but charlie is probably a terrible cook. BUT he tries his hardest to cook your favourite foods for you just to see you smile

. the most giggly, awkward boyfriend you've ever had and ever will have. he loves your smile, he's always trying to make you laugh

. I have a theory that charlie's laugh is very contagious. this man would giggle once and have the whole class in a fit of giggles because his laugh is just so adorable

. wear. his. shirts. this man LIVES to see you in his clothes

. would probably eventually end up giving you the ones he doesn't wear anymore

."they look better on you anyway" 😖 an absolute sweetheart

. soft, gentle kisses are the usual. he's so gentle with you like he's scared you'll break ALTHOUGH when he kisses you, he will grip at your waist really tight

. will not, under any circumstances, have you involved with the ghostface killings. charlie can be quite frightening when he's angry so he makes sure jill knows her place

. would probably lie to you about his involvement, as much as he hates lying to you, he couldn't stand the thought of you hating him and leaving

. no seriously, charlie would have a full on mental break down if you were to ever leave him or break up with him

. speaking of breaking up with him, lol, yeah no... not happening. it's the last thing he'd let you do

. the relationship is low-key a bit toxic but in a 'you can't leave, you're the only person I have' kinda way? y'know?

. sex would be hella awkward at first, charlie would have absolutely no clue on what to do, poor boy :(

. he just wants to make you feel good. speaking of which, PRAISE. praise this man, he thrives of knowing how good he makes you feel

. loves you on top, and when you tug at his hair when you're close to finishing

. is the most whiny mess during sex. he's so LOUD. he moans, groans, whines and whimpers so much and he's not embarrassed by it either

. makes sure you cum first every single time. charlie will not stop until you do, even if it take until morning

. king of aftercare. he'll clean you up, cuddle with you, talk with you, make you a cup of tea and a snack, All OF IT

. don't be fooled though, he loves some aftercare himself. playing with his hair as you lie on him, completely blissed out. cuddle him, tell him how good he was, and boy MELTS

. overall the dream boyfriend and i'm desperate for a charlie in my life (rory culkin a chance, please?!)

. 100/10 would recommend

[taesanluv3r]

lost in love songs.

han taesan x reader

a short, three part, friends to lovers story.

ੈ✩‧₊ hidden love unfolds when taesan's ipod nano accidentally ends up in the hands of his best-friend, yn. a certain playlist catches her eyes, revealing the true feelings kept within the depths of the boy's heart.

part two: about a girl.

reader goes through an overwhelming amount of emotions (shes crying 😿), some cuss words, myung jaehyun (reader's older brother) comforts her <3 lowercase intended, excuse any spelling mistakes / grammatical errors! enjoy :3

wc: 2,009

masterlist 𖦹 part one 𖦹 part three

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖

"damn, can't believe that dork writes songs about my loser sister…i say we give it a little listen and-"

jaehyun's words are interrupted, "get out of my room" yn says sternly, a finger pointing out the opened door and her face dead serious. her brother rolls his eyes, "whatever, i'll leave you to it i guess. weirdo…maybe you two are meant for each other" the girl flips him off, climbing off of her bed to forcefully push her annoying sibling out the door, slamming it shut behind him. she sighs, turning back around and staring intently at the silver device that remained on her white bed-sheets. her stomach hurts as she sits down beside it, her heart pounding straight out of her chest, though she doesn't know why. yn takes a deep breath as she holds her friend's ipod in her hands, the size of it unfamiliar to the girl who was so used to her larger phone. the wired earphones were tangled and grey from how worn out it was, she hesitates for a moment, wondering if it were really a good idea to be listening to the song her friend made a point to keep hidden from her. but it was right there, staring at her with her name written on it, literally. yn scoots, her back making complete contact with her pillows, a fluffy cloud-shaped plush toy sandwiched between her chest and her knees. she sticks an earphone into her left ear, beginning to do the same on the other side when the ping of her phone stops her. turning over to the device, she blinks slowly at the contact name on her screen.

han taesan.

she watches from afar as countless texts and a few missed calls came in, her arm reaching out to grab her phone. yn contemplates for a moment, his urgent warnings forming a sense of hesitance as she falls into a dilemma. once again, she sighs, turning her phone on do not disturb, ignoring the guy's begs and pleas before she averts her attention back to the ipod nano. blocking out all outside noise, the other side of his earphones find place in her right ear, a finger grazing against the white buttons that decorated the silver music player. yn exhales, finally pressuring the tips of her nail, pushing play on the very first track,

'about a girl.'

the name directly stolen from a song by his favourite rock band, the girl fully expects her friend's usually grunge-y sound. however, yn is taken by surprise when a soft guitar acoustic hits the surface of her eardrums instead. the rhythm of the track almost as sweet as the lyrics that he begun to sing. taesan's voice is smooth like butter, matching perfectly with the rather simple strumming pattern of the stringed instrument. being fully produced in his bed-room on a cheap microphone he got at the thrift shop, the girl finds herself smiling slightly at the shuffling sounds she could still hear in the background, breath hitching when she finally processed the words.

i listen to love songs in hopes they come true. i listen intently to conversations with you. my mind turns into mush and i can't seem to speak. in seconds i'm out, the door shuts with a creak. i could talk about her for hours on end, i could talk with her, or maybe not, it depends. cause she drives me insane, and i've got worms for a brain. and i can't get her out of my head.

the girl doesn't know what to think. it just all sounds so…foreign. the taesan she knew never wrote songs like this, or at least none that she knew of. the shy and reserved boy would never be caught dead showing this much emotion in real life, his honey-like voice fades out as the instrumental gets louder, giving the girl a moment to think. a million questions swarm into her head. he wrote this song…for her? she's lost in the music for a moment, her mind racing as she goes through about a billion thoughts per second. her heart fluttering at the very idea of this whole thing- i mean, it was as if all those romantic dreams she's had were finally coming true. a whole song written for her? frankly, the girl was on cloud 9. yet still, yn can't help but doubt herself, does he really feel this way for her? her best-friend since middle school? the ever so introverted han taesan who's never even spoken of love, this is him? as the questions swim through her brain, his soft singing wakes her up again.

this girl that i know, she's a girl that i like. but she won't feel the same, i don't know though, she might. i just can't, and i won't, let her know how i feel. i fear it might slip and it'll all become real. for my mouth only speaks around her, and my mind only thinks about this girl.

after another beat or two, he sings the final words of his love song,

still, you drive me insane. and i've got worms for a brain. think i might like you more than a friend.

with that, the first track in the two-song playlist comes to an end. the room is silent, the only thing she could hear was the quiet sound of her deep breaths. yn's mouth hangs open, her body freezing up like she had just been transported to the arctic without shelter. she doesn't even want to listen to the other song, in fear it'd make her heart beat faster than this one did. unconciously, a single tear begins to run down her cheek. "i know you said to go away but mom's asking what you want for dinner" the sound of her older brother's voice shakes her out of the daze, her eyes blinking rapidly as her head turned towards the door. "are…are you crying?" jaehyun asks, eyes widening as he began to walk over to where she sat on the bed, taking a seat beside her. "i…" she starts but doesn't continue, not really knowing what she was going to or even wanted to say. "so…you listened to that song, huh?" the boy asked, his features softening at the sight of his tearful sister who looked…well, lost.

she nods slightly, "just…just the first one" she mumbles, gulping all too loudly as her hand moves up to wipe at the tears that stained her blushed cheeks. "so? does he like you, or what?" jaehyun's question comes out a bit rushed, like he was impatient to know. "i…i don't know" and before they knew it, the girl had broken down into tears again. she still didn't know why though, the lyrics of her friend's song was nothing but sweet. however, the truth about the feelings he had, the ones he must've been keeping from her this whole time…it made the myung girl overwhelmed, not really knowing how she had to react. "hey, don't cry" her brother coos, a hand stiffly patting against the small of her back as she sobs into her hands. "yn…i know you hate it when i tease you but, don't you think it's obvious he's always liked you?" she lifts up her head, fully looking at her older sibling with confused eyes. "and don't lie, yn. we all know you're a terrible liar. i can tell by the way you smile when you mention him, i can tell by how annoyed you get over silly things about him that you, whether you like it or not, you're just in love as he is" jaehyun lets out a breath after talking too fast, his lips pursed into a line as he hits his sister with the reality of her feelings, and her best-friend's.

"but…" she starts again, stuttering as the salty taste of her own tears managed to seep into her mouth that started to feel a little dry. "but what if it's all a misunderstanding? i mean, what if i got it all wrong? what if this ruins our relationship forever? i shouldn't have…i shouldn't have listened to this. i-" the rambling girl gets cut off, "yn!" jaehyun's voice is louder by a decibel, his hands pressed firmly against his shaking sister's shoulders. "yn, look. there's only one way to find out. and you and i both know that things will only get weird if you don't talk to him about this, right?" the myung girl sighs, nodding at him, a grateful look on her face for her older brother and his big heart- even if he bullied and teased her half the time. "you're right…" another ping grabs their attention away from each other and over to the phone she had tossed to the other side of the bed. "i think that's him…" jaehyun smiles softly at his love-sick little sister, reaching to pass the phone over to her before patting her back lightly. "talk to him, yn. tell him the truth. what's the worst that could happen, right?" he says, earning a half-assed smile in return from the girl.

"besides, he did write love songs dedicated to you- something tells me you two are going to be just fine"

the boy gets off of the bed, "i'll tell mom you're not hungry yet. let me know if you need anything, okay? and if it is all a misunderstanding, which i doubt it is, i'm only a call away and i'll fight the guy for you!" the last part makes the girl giggle, breaking away from her somber state for a moment, rolling her eyes as the older sibling began showing off his non-existent arm muscles. he shot her a quick good luck before he was out the door again. leaving myung yn alone, alone with the thousands of messages and calls from a panicked han taesan.

emo loser (taesan) yn, whatever you do DO NOT touch my ipod. yn answer my calls!!!! yn please. yn, don't do it. it's too late isn't it? yn… i'm sorry.

the girl can't help but feel sick, the guilt of it all making her stomach turn and her heart to swell in pain. she takes a deep breath, the ticks on the bottom right of his messages turning blue, signifying that she had finally read them.

emo loser (taesan) you listened to them, didn't you?

yn's breathing gets heavy and fast, her fingers trembling as she began to type out a response.

i need to talk to you.

she bites her lip, nervously watching as the three dots appear then disappear on his end of the chatroom, like he had started to type but stopped half way through. yn shuts her eyes, opening them to stare at the ipod nano that had turned itself off at some point before. her gaze is turned back to the phone in her hands when he finally texts her back.

emo loser (taesan) meet me at the playground tomorrow? i have so much to say you'll listen right?

yn smiles softly, a sudden feeling of warmth engulfing her previously frozen body. she nods to herself, fingers hovering over the digital keyboard.

tomorrow at 1?

this time, he texts back almost immediately.

emo loser (taesan) i don't think i can wait that long meet me there at 10 unless you're still sleeping, lazy ass.

the boy's teasing joke, after the whirlwind of emotions she had just gone through, comforts her a little. suddenly, the girl feels confident that her brother was right and that they'd be okay after all.

see you at 10 then, weirdo

the conversation ends there. yn hides under her covers that night, her stomach empty though she didn't feel the need to eat, and her body exhausted though she couldn't seem to sleep. she's still in disbelief. the sound of his voice playing over and over again in her head all night. the lyrics tattooed onto her brain as she finds herself lost.

lost in the love song he wrote for her.

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖

first of all tysm for 100 followers !!! HEHEHEHE taesan straying away from his usual emo grunge music to write secret love songs for yn 😿 featuring the lyrics that i wrote myself <3 THOUGHTS??? reblogs n feedbacks are highly appreciated!! send me an ask, let's talk abt this 💭 see u guys in the final part!! love, kona.

[chaseadrian]

left unattended

It's past midnight at your gym security job, and the cute member who's been coming around for months slips off the treadmill. What starts as a panic quickly turns into something a lot more exciting. [masterlist]

pairing: adrian chase x f!reader tags: 18+ ONLY, explicit, strangers to lovers, injury, casual voyeurism if you squint, semi-public sex, somewhat canon compliant, this does use my headcanon for adrian's healing factor, cunnilingus, fingering, protected sex, cute ending word count: 7.1k+ a/n: no, this isn't a joke, it's my best boy's birthday and i wanted to do something!! hope yall enjoy!

The back office at the gym was a jail cell. A tight, stuffy room with air conditioning that blew up at the ceiling and rattled a loose tile incessantly. There you sat, an envoy on wheels in front of four cheap monitors, overseeing the entire gym. Members weren't even aware the place was staffed after sunset, the sparse three or four gym goers coming to lift in peace.

That's how you like it, locked in your trashy little back office with snacks from the vending machine and the whole place mostly to yourself. Got a lot of reading done, and sometimes...sometimes, something interesting happened.

Tonight is one of those nights.

You'd seen him in the gym now and again when the sun was far gone and the night was settled into its typical peaceful terror. Dark brown hair, wire-rim glasses, always in a baggy shirt and black sweatpants. Sometimes he'd come in with a sheen of sweat already, his hair sticking to his forehead and the glasses askew, but as long as he did his reps without strangling himself, it wasn't much your business what state he came in.

The one thing that really stuck out was that he scanned his member card at the empty desk when he came in. It was already required at the card reader by the locked front door, but he always scanned it twice. A little peculiar, but better than the guys who thought midnight meant they could have their shirts off while they sweat all over the equipment.

You shudder to yourself in the room watching one of those exact men hop around from machine to machine without wiping them off. It isn't your job to clean up after grown men, but when he leaves, you still slump out of the chair with a grumble and make a quick trip around the floor, rag and disinfectant in hand.

There were horror stories of diseases transmitted via gym equipment, and the thought alone is enough to keep you scrubbing.

The sound of a muffled beep from outside stops you in your tracks, however, and you all but throw the supplies away as you dash back to the office.

A second beep from inside the gym settles the lingering nerves, and you sip your water as you watch Glasses slip into the locker room. You prefer not to assume the worst of the guys who work out at night, but this one seemed especially harmless. If he'd seen you, it wouldn't have been the scariest thing in the world.

You throw your feet up on the desk and recline in your chair as he comes out of the locker room, heading for the treadmill. He pushes his glasses up before he starts running, adjusting a pair of wired earphones as he finds his rhythm.

The picture on your monitor isn't exactly high definition, but he's got a nice profile, good stature. He runs with a little pep in his step. You can see his reflection in the monitor to the left, camera centered on a row of mirrors in front of the weight rack. He grimaces as he runs, bottom lip pulled down, teeth gritted.

Watching him breathe in through his teeth jumpstarts your own manual breathing. You close your lips and focus on pulling breath in through your nostrils, eyes trained on the stranger running on screen.

You watch him do the same as he slows the treadmill half a mile’s speed, one heavy breath out to reorient himself.

His eyes flick around to the nearest camera, or at least, it looks like they do, and for a second it's like he's in on the moment, breathing with you.

Shaking your head, you laugh quietly to yourself and flick your thumb over the pages of your book. All you could do during the night shift was imagine, these sappy, fantastic words carrying you away, sometimes head over heels.

You'd never heard Glasses speak, didn't know his name, and he was unaware you even existed.

He's just a cute stranger on a treadmill, and you're just bored.

You watch him speed back up, fumbling with his earbuds once again, when he loses his feet out from under him.

You gasp, sitting up and rushing out of the back office before you see him settle into his fall.

“Oh my god, sir, are you alright?” You keep a couple foot's distance. He isn't twisted or bent in any weird ways, by all appearances he just fell flat on the floor, but you'd rather not risk the liability by touching him before he asks for help.

“Ow, motherfucker.” His voice has a kick to it, with an edge of irritation, and he starts pushing himself up with the arm that landed under his torso. “Shit! Ow!”

You give him a wide berth as you come around to turn the treadmill off, the emergency clip crumpled at the bottom of the cupholder.

“Sir, I work here, I'm the night security officer, can I help you get up?”

He extends his free arm toward you, “This arm is the uninjured one.”

You wrap it around your shoulder, settling your hand on his back and supporting him best you can as he wobbles up. There was weight to him that you didn't expect, and couldn't surmise based on the squashed ratio of the office monitors.

“There's a first aid kit in the back, okay, and I'll call you an ambulance if —”

“No! No hospitals, I'm sure I'm alright. Just need a nap.”

He favors his arm as you guide him to the manager's office, parallel to the security office and tucked away from the floor.

“A nap is probably the last thing you need...if you have a concussion or—or a broken arm—”

“Mm-mm, didn't hit my head.” He lets you sit him down on the cheap couch in the office. Your boss said it was for wooing investors, but it's been a nap couch more than anything. Now it served as a half-assed gurney.

“Sir—”

“Adrian, my name is Adrian.” There was a coarseness to the way he spoke now, like the shock and hurt had settled into anger and impatience.

It felt informal and just too personal to use his name, the spirit of customer service holding tight to formality and pleasantries. Still, you relented, knowing pleasantries were the least of your worries right now.

“Adrian, you're bleeding from your lip, and your arm...”

He licks his bottom lip, smearing the blood away with his tongue, and his nose scrunches in response to the taste.

“I'll take an alcohol wipe.”

You dart over to the first aid kit on the wall and return with gauze, wipes, and a handful of bandages. Sitting down on the coffee table opposite Adrian, you pull back when he reaches for the supplies.

“Sorry, I have to administer first aid care if you don't want me to call an ambulance. They made me take a whole course and everything.” You slip on a pair of gloves.

“Understood, laying back down, and just so you know, I'm not allergic to latex.” He settles into the corner of the couch, cradling his arm, slowly circling his wrist, then his shoulder, his fingers pressing along the bones to feel for pain. He watches you tear open the alcohol wipe.

“We don't use latex gloves, but thanks. This will probably sting, sorry.” You press the wipe to his lip, and his nostrils flare, but he keeps from hissing or flinching, if he'd had the notion to do so at all.

Wiping the blood from his lip, you replace it with the gauze, “Once we get this bleeding stopped, we can see how bad it really is. When you ran your tongue over your lip, did it feel like you busted it? Just nod or shake your head for me, don't talk.”

He shakes his head, and you catch sight of his eyes for the first real time. It isn't so much the glinting pale green as it is the way he keeps them open, wide and alert, like a deer in headlights. He doesn't seem afraid, just aware, watching you as you press the gauze into his lip.

“That's good.” You gingerly nod, “And the arm? You don't think it's broken?”

He shakes his head again, and stretches the arm out in front of him, wincing, but circling his wrist to show off the mobility.

“Okay, okay, don't do that. You could have a hairline fracture or something, you landed on it right?”

He nods.

“Could have pinched a nerve or bruised something. I'll have to write up an incident report, especially since you don't want an ambulance called. Are you sure you don't want me to call?”

He nods again, and you press a fresh piece of gauze to his lip, dabbing to be certain the blood has stopped.

“I'm gonna take a look at your lip now, do you mind?”

“All yours.” His voice is still low, and he lets you tilt his face this way and that as you inspect the lip. His breath hits you as you tug his lip down to check the inside, a small hitch before an exhale, his body stiff for that split second.

“Alright, it's not totally busted, looks like you bit it during the fall, but just the outside punctured. There's really not a good bandaid for lips, unfortunately, but it should scab soon.”

You get up to toss the used supplies in the trash, and pull a sheet from the bottom drawer of the desk.

“I'll need your autograph on this guy once I've filled it out, sound good?”

Adrian half smiles at you, and shakes his head, “I don't sign anything without a lawyer present.”

You stare at him and press two fingers to your forehead, sighing, “I—okay, I'll have to call the general manager then, and—”

“Gotcha! Just a joke, you know, to lighten the mood. This is all pretty serious, but I'm fine, really! I just need a nap.” He settles horizontally on the couch, blinking hard, “I'll sign your paper after, deal?”

There's a pause, and he squints his eyes at you, “C'mon, are naps illegal here or something?”

“Well, no, but it's really dangerous for you to nap right now, I'm sorry, sir, but—”

“Great, then you can just watch me sleep the whole time. If I start dying, wake me up, but I'm one-hundred percent sure I'll be okay. I've fallen hundreds of times in my life.” He yawns, “And my name...” His eyelids slide closed, “...is Adrian...not 'sir.”

Before you can protest again, he's passed out, and you watch his chest rise and fall steadily. You grab a pen from the desk and sit on the floor next to him, scribbling out the incident report, your free hand hovering in front of his mouth to keep track of his breathing.

It's a short report, you stare at the last sentence, bolded with your pen: MEMBER DENIES EMERGENCY MEDICAL TRANSPORT AND ASSUMES FULL RESPONSIBILITY OF INJURY UPON LEAVE FROM THE PREMISES.

You sit for several more minutes, rereading the report, watching Adrian's breathing. The arm he hurt slowly falls from where it lays atop his chest, settling parallel to his body. He doesn't wince in his sleep, and his lips stay parted, a quiet snore vibrating past his mouth.

His sweat dried hair curls over his forehead, dark strands shining under the warm table lamp light.

When the adrenaline calms, and you aren't so immediately terrified of Adrian's state of injury, your thoughts again begin to wander.

He sleeps so peacefully on the couch, his features—objectively pretty whether you agree or not—still as he breathes, strong jaw giving way to a muscular neck, collarbones peeking out from the loose neckline of a too-big tee.

This man is gorgeous.

His little visage in the monitors didn't do him justice, a tiny grainy thing that lost the detail of his eyelashes, and the curve of his arms.

You aren't sure where to put this ill-timed, odd-placed attraction to the injured, sleeping man in front of you. You're sure it's inappropriate on some degree, unachievable on another.

He stirs for the first time and you jump up into one of the chairs around the coffee table, rereading the report again and again as he blinks awake with a quiet groan.

“Morning, were you watching me the whole time I was asleep?” He has a real smile, and you watch him push up to sit with ease, weight on his injured arm.

“You told me I should, so...” You slide the report closer to him, and offer the pen, “Deal's a deal.”

“That it is.” He scans the paper, muttering to himself, and nodding in approval. “Yeah, I'll take responsibility. I'm good as new, anyway.” He reaches for the pen with the injured arm, and signs the paper.

“Your arm sure is doing better.” You slip the paper into a folder on the desk, and drop the pen back in its place.

“Told you it would be.” He pushes himself up and walks over to you, placing both hands on either hip. “Sleep is the best medicine, after all.”

“Pretty sure laughter is the best medicine.”

He laughs at that, “That doesn't make any sense.”

You chuckle alongside him, a little charmed and a little thrown off.

“You're not wearing a nametag, you know, and you never introduced yourself.”

Adrian shifts gears faster than anyone you've ever seen, and you stutter in response, “Oh, right, well I don't really interact with the members so I just don't bother.”

“Long name.”

He smiles again, and you laugh before finally offering up your name.

“That makes more sense. Now onto the second most important question.” He leans in, hands still on his hips, “Can I see the security footage of me falling?”

“I— well, I can't take anyone into the security office...”

His features go crestfallen, and he looks away from you. Something about disappointing him drives a stake through your chest, and you're eager to wipe that upset from his face.

“B-but, I can take video of it on my phone and show you.”

As quickly as his demeanor falls, it lights back up, and he leans against the desk, crossing his arms, “I'll be awaiting your return!”

You tut, “Can't have anyone in the office without supervision either, you can wait out on the floor.”

“Say less.” He hops up and hurries out of the room.

You pop across the hall into the security office, rewinding through footage on the attached laptops. It doesn't take long to find movement amidst the minutes of stillness.

It was a hard fall, and you're genuinely amazed he made it up with minor scuffs and a possible bruise.

Flicking your gaze up to the current monitors, you see Adrian pacing the rows between machines, weaving in and out, doing figure eights at random. He pauses to look around, finding the nearest security camera, and he gives a quick wave before pointing toward the locker room. He shakes his hand over his mouth, like someone drinking from a glass.

If you were thinking differently, it could be something more suggestive, but the thought doesn't cross your mind. Not even for a split second.

Crossing the gym floor, phone in hand, you knock at the doorway to the locker room, “Adrian, you in here?“

“Yep, and I'm totally decent.”

“Well, I'd hope so.” You find him sat on a wooden bench, screwing the lid back onto a sad looking water bottle.

“Well, it is a locker room.” He says it without attitude, just an apparent fact that yeah, he could've been indecent in here.

You sit down next to him, and he scoots closer, your shoulders brushing together briefly, “It was a pretty bad fall, brace yourself.”

You're not exactly sure what reaction you were expecting from him, but the raucous laughter that follows the video isn't it.

Adrian leans back, his hand on his stomach, and he just about slips off the bench before catching himself. You're not sure you've ever heard such true laughter before, not for a long time, at least.

“Can I see it again?” He can barely get the words out, but you play it again, and he continues to lose it. The laughter echoes in the tile covered locker room, and you can't help yourself when you start to laugh as well.

Covering your face with a hand, you catch his gaze, laughing together for several minutes before you have to find your breath. His hand is on your shoulder, steadying you both, not harsh, just stable.

“Oh, man,” His voice has lifted, and he shakes his head, “You've gotta send that to me. Please tell me that's allowed.”

“Yeah, sure, nothing in the rulebook that outlaws that.” You cool with the last dredges of your laughter, cheeks warm and smile lines firm in your face. “Here, put your number in.”

He hands the phone back to you, having sent himself a text that says 'Hi Adrian!'

You send the video right then and there, watching as he pulls his phone out from his bag with a smile. He loses it with laughter upon replay, and he texts back a string of merman emojis.

“Merman? Didn't even know that existed.”

“The ocean is full of crazy stuff, Aquaman is really just the tip of the iceberg.” He slips his phone back into his bag, and turns to you, a smile stuck on his face.

You smile in response, too awestruck to speak. He has the enthusiastic cadence of a party clown, with none of the added discomfort. You actually feel at ease sitting here with him in the late hours of the night. Panicked beginnings aside, he'd woken with what seemed like a new lease on life, and pulled a total 180 on you.

He shifts the conversation when you break eye contact, his firm stare warming your cheeks and kicking up butterflies.

“My friends and I go to this bar on Saturdays, you should come and tell the whole story to them! The video is cool and all, but nothing beats an eyewitness account, it'd be so badass.” His voice sounds genuine, but it's a pretty big leap from one moment to the next.

“I—” You let out a quiet laugh, wanting to jump at the opportunity to see him somewhere in the actual, real world, and not immediately following a potentially catastrophic fall. There's no way he's serious, though, and you shake your head without meeting his eyes.

He swings a leg over the bench and scoots closer, “Are you shy or something? You were totally cool and collected when I busted my ass an hour ago…” Pondering for a moment, he frowns, “Oh, or do you not want to drink beer with me and my friends? It's your choice, but I gotta say you'd be missing out, one of my friends is a lesbian so she can get us into a bar where the beer tastes like skittles.”

You laugh again, and meet his eyes, “I just kinda thought you were joking about that.”

He furrows his brow, “No way, dude, it really would be badass! And maybe my best friend would finally get off my ass about finding another chick to join the crew.“

Getting carried away, he animates with his hands, and changes his voice, “He'd be all 'Wow, Adrian, where'd you find this babe, that's so awesome of you.' and I'd tell him how you came to my rescue like a minor league superhero, then you can tell them the rest of the story.”

Catching your unwavering eyeline, he straightens his posture, “Or, y'know, something totally different and more casual.”

All you can do is laugh. You're being pulled between calm familiarity and daunting giddiness. By all accounts, you should have returned to the back office, bidding Adrian goodnight and hoping the nap truly was some magic fix-it.

But here you were, sitting in the sterile, silent locker room next to him, in a pause that only grew more tense with each passing second.

“I'm in.” You finally speak, swallowing the nerves that thrum in your chest, “As long as you actually do introduce me as the babe that saved your life.”

You extend a hand.

Adrian lights up, and he takes it, “Deal.”

A good handshake should last two or three seconds, based on every job interview you've ever had, but Adrian shakes your hand for a long, long time. His smile remains enthusiastic, but you're almost certain he's slowly pulling you in with the tight grip of his hand.

You let it ride, inching closer on the smooth lacquered wood of the bench, almost invisibly.

His eyes stay wide as he makes his first obvious move, leaning in, your hands close to his chest.

“Would it be weird if we kissed right now?”

Your breath hitches. The question comes out of thin air, but with the constant whiplash of your entire time knowing Adrian, it isn't a complete surprise. You part your lips to respond, a weak stutter escaping.

“Wait—”

There's an immediate disappointment that pounds in your heart, and you watch Adrian's eyes flicker around the locker room. He leans closer, “Are there cameras...in here?”

“No.” You whisper, and then, a little louder, “To both questions.”

The slow smile of realization crosses his lips, and before you can even decipher why, he's kissing you.

It isn't rough or quick or even with very much passion, but it's a good, solid kiss. He wraps his hand around yours, cradling them between your chests, smiling through it. This doesn't have the familiarity you felt sitting next to him, but it wasn't lighting you up inside either.

It was a first kiss, truly. Bumpy and awkward, and you found your mind rewinding through the night, wondering how you ended up here. How you'd managed to find the one gym weirdo who put you at ease and was cute enough to kiss so early into an official meeting. Another part of you felt like a creeper, having seen him so many nights, having fixated a little when you got restless with your books.

You pull away, and he searches for your lips with his eyes closed before accepting the loss, still holding onto your hand.

“Adrian, I know we honestly literally just met, but I feel like I should tell you something.”

“Okay.” He sits expectantly, his glasses askew.

“I've been watching you in the back office for like, a long time.” Your eyes settle on your intertwined hands.

He tuts, and rolls his eyes with a smile, “Of course you have, it's your job.”

“No, like, you specifically. I dunno, you're the cutest person who comes in during the night shift, and it's pretty boring back there most of the time. It just felt weird because I've known of you for a while, but you didn't even know I was here, and, I don't know, I feel like a creeper kissing you.”

He raises his eyebrows, “You think I'm the cutest person? I kinda thought you were kissing me out of pity, like, maybe you're afraid I really do have a concussion and could die.”

You laugh, “You sure you don't want to go to the hospital?”

He shakes his head, “Nope, don't need it.” Leaning in, there's an excitement in his voice when he next speaks, “I will take another kiss, though.”

The next kiss is less awkward, and Adrian's free hand coils around your waist to pull you as close as he can get you on the bench. He drops your hand and slips his fingers around the back of your neck, enveloping you with his touch.

This feels like the kind of kiss that happens more than once. You knot a hand in his shirt, and rest the other atop his thigh. You're certain he had you tight in his grip, but the hand on his thigh was more a mental ground than anything else, your fingertips squeezing his musculature.

You could get very easily carried away in a kiss like this, and with Adrian's hold tight around you, it doesn't take long to decide you'll go as far as he wants in this locker room.

Slipping a hand in his hair, you tug him away from your lips, exposing his throat. Your eyes meet his as you drag your mouth up towards his cheekbone, dotting kisses around his face, down to the edge of his jaw, and finally to the pulpit of his neck. The faintest trace of salt is stuck on his skin, a remnant of the workout that led you here, and you latch your lips to the spot until all you can taste is skin.

When you pull back, there's a rosy pink mark, and his eyes are glossing over. You peck his lips with yours, and he blinks hard, leaning into the direction your fingers graze against his scalp.

His eyes catch yours, and as he comes back to the moment, you see the faintest flicker of his eyelids, the slightest kick of his eyebrow.

Without a word, he tugs you into his lap on the bench, and you fumble at the sight of his arms flexing around you.

He's cute alright, but the bits of his body that you can see are absolutely outrageous.

His hands find home on your hips, and he leans backward to lay on the hardwood, pulling you down with him, your breath connecting your mouths before you can find enough footing to kiss again.

You don't need the guidance of his hands to start rocking back and forth on top of him, the need that follows his tongue in your mouth is more than enough to get you going, but the burning touch of his fingerprints isn't unwelcome.

Between kisses he mutters, “You comfortable? Your legs spread just right?” It should come off more facetious than it does, there's a layer of desperation to it, a desire to please.

You hum into his mouth, “Mm, for now.” And he chuckles at the response, whispering, “Good, and you're sure there are no cameras in here?”

“Certain, but we can move somewhere else if you're nervous.”

He shifts a hand from your hip to your hair, running a fingertip along the hairline, his thumb over your eyebrow. He taps you on the nose, “Not nervous, just don't want you to lose this cool job because of me.”

You lean down for another kiss, and slip a hand under the hem of his shirt, “It'd be worth it.”

Adrian shuts up then, letting you slide the shirt over his head and toss it into the open bag beside you. You knew on some level he had to be muscular—he came to the gym five times a week, but you still aren't prepared for the breadth of his muscle. His pecs are spattered with light freckles, and he has a harsh farmer's tan on his arms.

You sit back on his lap, just admiring the view, circling your hips a little to watch him squirm underneath you.

He giggles, the faintest blush blooming under his cheeks.

“Wow. I—wow.” You exhale.

Tugging you back down, Adrian shushes you as he buries his head in the crook of your neck, kissing from your pulse to your clothed shoulder. Your skin underneath almost burns for his lips on you, and you wrench off the branded gym shirt without his prompting.

“Woah, I thought I was the eager one.”

You shush him now, and with the decision made for him, his hands roam over the warm body you've given him.

He doesn't ask when he slips his fingertips underneath the cup of your bra, his palm over your breast, the other hand fiddling with the clasp. When it snaps free, he's quick to wrap his mouth over your exposed breast, tongue swirling around the field of nerves, just faintly sucking.

Grinding your hips down harder, he pulls back from your chest with a pop! and his eyes drag down your body.

“I can't believe this is happening.” He breathes, both hands coming over your breasts now, sliding up slowly to watch how they fall back into place when he lets go. He seems mesmerized, and you draw his attention by pulling a hand up to your mouth, and letting him slip two fingers over your tongue.

You haven't exactly been dreaming about this moment, not really. It's more an intrigue, a curiosity. Adrian wasn't a crush, just the cute boy at the gym that got you through your boring night shifts sometimes.

And yet, he was here, laid out in front of you, his fingers in your mouth, and his cock hard underneath you.

In your wildest dreams you wouldn't have imagined this much.

Everything you do seems to mesmerize him, and now he watches with awe as you swirl your tongue around his fingers, his interest cut with moans as you grind on his bulge.

His hips languish towards you, not bucking exactly, just pushing, an almost involuntary side effect of the desperation that's spiraling in him.

You take the soaked fingers from your mouth and guide them down to the hem of your track pants, watching as Adrian's eyes follow with excitement.

He's all but given himself over to you—there are little moments when you can feel him trying to gain some control, but he just as quickly falls back into this quiet hypnosis, eager to please and ready to do whatever you want of him.

Guiding his hands over the wet folds of your cunt, you rest his first two fingers on your clit and circle them just so.

Adrian wrests free from your grip in this moment, sitting up and forcing you backward on the bench. He hovers over you, leaning down to whisper in your ear, his breath hot and harsh, but still with a smile, “I know what I'm doing. Just because I'm in awe of your body, of your tits, of that fucking hot tongue of yours, doesn't mean I'm clueless.”

He tugs down the waist of your track pants, pressing sloppy, wet kisses from the center of your pelvis up between your breasts as his fingers slide along your lips, slick with saliva and arousal. He circles your clit before slipping back down towards your entrance, and he presses two curled fingers inside you. The instant shot of pressure has you arching your back up off the bench, but he sets his free hand firm on your stomach, forcing you back down.

You curse and writhe as he fucks you with his fingers, his thumb stretching up to circle your clit best it can, little nicks of flesh that drive you crazier than if he were to go full on.

The harder you fight, squirming under his touch, the deeper you can hear his smile as he coos at you.

“That's it,” and “Good girl,” and “I told you, huh?” as you struggle underneath his hold.

Adrian lets his weight settle onto you eventually, swallowing your moans with his kisses, the cotton bulge of his sweatpants grazing your thigh. You reach blindly for it, and he lets you palm him over the fabric, his touch on you faltering just barely before his resolve steadies.

The ebb and flow of his fingers doesn't grow stale, but you do grow more desperate, and with each kiss you wish more and more that it was his mouth between your legs.

“Adrian, mm, fuck, can you—”

He pulls away, slowing the rhythm of his fingers, and you jerk up against him.

“Jesus, use your mouth. Please, I need it.” You choke out, and you hear his smile once more. It seems to never go away.

“Anything for my guardian angel.”

The pet name shoots a warm spiral in your belly, and you know you've no right to even be referred to as anything heavenly, especially not now, but fuck if it doesn't sound good with his cheerful cadence.

He lays his tongue flat over your lips, shaking his head left to right to settle it into your folds and hit as many nerves as he can as he licks up once, twice, three times before he lets the tip run over your clit.

The feeling is white hot, a mess of spit and flesh and his warm, spongy tongue. Adrian stares up at you as he works, his gaze menacing from this angle. He seems pleased to keep his eyes fixed on yours, but the angle cranes your neck uncomfortably.

You let your head fall back on the bench with a thud, pressing your hand hard over your forehead to push away the beads of sweat that form. Your free hand slips into his hair, combing through the strands, and grabbing tight when you can no longer keep rhythm.

His hands wrap tight around your thighs, keeping you latched to his mouth, and if you were asked, you couldn't even wager a guess as to what he was doing down there. His spit pooled on the bench, and he sucked two wet marks into one of your thighs, the faintest nip of teeth punctuating them.

“Am I gonna make you come?” He asks, breathless and muffled from between your legs, and all you can do in response is whine and grip his hair tighter, pushing him into your cunt, “Fuck, I love those noises you're making.”

You feel one of his hands leave your thigh, and he moans against you, a deep, shuddered breath that hits your pussy in a way you're sure he didn't intend to feel good.

“Adrian, you know I'm gonna take care of you, right?“ You can barely get the words out, staving off the impending orgasm that coils in your body. ”Don't make yourself come yet, I wanna do it.”

The groan that he emits in response is hungry, and the slick noises of his tongue on you grow filthier, louder, faster. He hums against you, and as he slides a hand up your stomach to hold you down again, you lose it.

Arching away from the bench and into his hand, your moans echo off the lockers, legs shaking in a wave that starts at your stomach and radiates out through you. They're quick, successive pulses, and if Adrian's hold on you wasn't so strong, you're sure you would've rolled right off that bench.

He laps up the viscous mixture of spit and arousal until the touch grows overwhelming, and you have to tell him it's too much.

“Come here.” You say, and he swipes a hand over his sheening mouth as you sit up and tug at his sweatpants, kissing around the harsh lines of his pelvis.

“You don't have to—”

You shush him, pressing your lips around the outline of his bulge as you drag the fabric down. Staring up at him, you watch his wide eyes flicker between you and the near exposed erection, his hands dead at his sides.

You're certain you look the same way he did when he was playing with your breasts, mesmerized and taken aback by the hot stranger that's allowed you to touch them. His erection springs out from the boxers that come down with his sweatpants. It isn't the largest you've ever seen, in person or not, but it's swollen and dripping with precum, and it jumps when you faintly smear the precum over the tip.

Standing back up, you tug Adrian to your lips with a hand around his neck, the other slipping up and down the length of his shaft. He whimpers into your mouth, and your cunt starts to throb.

“We're gonna fuck, right? Oh, please tell me you want me to fuck you. I have a condom in my bag, if you want that.” Adrian pulls back from you, his Adam's apple straining hard in his throat as he regains some sense of composure.

You laugh, and nod, and it's all Adrian needs.

He pushes you backwards towards the cheap excuse for a vanity, and you hit the edge of the counter before he lifts you up and sets you on it.

Breaking to rifle through his bag, you spend this moment taking in the sight of his entire body. His cute, hapless face and wide eyes are antithetical to his broad musculature, but the dimples at his lower back make you smile. He turns around with a wrapped condom in hand, waving it at you with a half smile, pushing up his glasses.

His lips latch to your neck as he gets his hands under the backs of your knees, letting you fall into the mirror, body curved as he slots himself just in front of your entrance.

He pulls away and rests one of your legs atop his shoulder so he can roll the condom over his length, and fuck if he isn't sensitive. He shudders just doing that, and you wonder how easily he could come if there was nothing between you for protection.

Grabbing at your legs, he tugs you onto his cock, your ass half on the counter, mostly supported by him. The tendons in his neck strain as he lets out a string of quiet expletives, and you gasp at the full pressure of him inside you. He turns his head and kisses the side of your knee, bucking his hips forward slowly at first.

He grits his teeth and screws his eyes shut, leaning forward to envelope you best he can as he picks up the pace. He's just shy of your lips, but he takes the offering of your thumb in his mouth, fingers splayed over his cheek.

You grind your head back against the mirror, focused on your breathing, moans escaping on each exhale.

You don't know that anyone has ever felt better inside you.

Adrian fills you up entirely, his pelvis rutting against yours, the head of his cock like a ball of lead inside you that hits over and over again, muddying your insides.

He finally finds your mouth, his tongue pushing between your lips and slipping around without rhythm or care. These kisses are sloppy and desperate, interrupted by whimpers and curses and Adrian's tendency to wander down to your breasts.

Digging your nails into his lower back, you push him impossibly closer, and his teeth sink into the flesh of your chest, tongue flicking over the hard bud of your nipple. He stops fucking into you and starts grinding his pelvis instead, cock buried deep inside you, and the friction of his skin on your cunt sending shockwaves down your legs. If the pressure wasn't enough to get you close again, the byproduct of his movements was.

You grip him tighter, hold him closer, you want every inch of his skin on you, sticking and sweaty and so harsh it'll hurt to peel away at the end of this.

Adrian licks from your nipple up your chest, along the side of your neck before latching his lips to the edge of your jaw.

“Fuck, I'm—shit—” Your hair musses up against the mirror, and before you can get a full sentence out, you're shaking under him again, the pressure in your gut rising up through your body, like a string tugging you toward Adrian, your body arching until your spine feels like it's going to snap in two.

He breaks away from your neck, kissing you through the second orgasm, his hands squeezing underneath your knees.

You barely register the gasp he lets out into your mouth, but you're riding the last dredges of your climax when you feel his rhythm falter. He lets one of your legs slip out of his grasp and rest in the crook of his elbow as he braces himself with a palm on the mirror.

Through gritted teeth he moans, sucking in harsh air, and he rests his forehead against yours as he comes, still pumping inside you through it, pulling every last bit of pleasure he can from the moment. You feel it pool beneath your entrance as it slips from the opening of the condom, fucked out and overflowing.

As he regains some composure, he gently sets your legs down, his hands gentle on your hips to keep you from sliding off the counter, slick with sweat.

“Maybe I do have a concussion,” He pants, leaning forward to give you a soft kiss, “Something that good only happens in my dreams.”

You laugh, and kiss him again, “This is the last time I'll offer an ambulance.”

He meets your gaze, fingers smoothing the back of your hair, and he shakes his head, “I think you healed all my ailments.“

There's more laughter, more kissing, but eventually you peel away from each other, and it does hurt, but Adrian takes your hand and doesn't let go.

“Are there showers in this place? I never thought to look because showering in public is a biohazard if I've ever heard one.”

You nod, “Yeah, the women's are used less though, so they're cleaner.”

Rifling through the pocket of your track pants, you pull a small set of keys out and open up the supply closet in the locker room, tossing a towel to Adrian before wrapping one around yourself.

He gathers your discarded clothes and his bag, following you into the other locker room with his fingers wrapped around your wrist.

The running water fills the silence of the gym, and you both crowd under the spout, sighing at the warmth.

It's a quick rinse, Adrian combing his fingers over your scalp, you pressing a kiss to the hickey you'd left earlier. Neither of you say anything, all shy smiles and admiring glances.

When you get out, he roughs the towel over your head and you dry each other off before sitting in the warm steam of the room in the damp towels. You're opposite him in the hallway by the showers, legs against each other.

“So, you're going to come to the bar, right?” He asks, fiddling with a loose thread.

“Deal's a deal.”

He smiles, “I'm glad you saved my life.”

You roll your eyes, but his voice is earnest. There's something special about him, you're certain, and you really think he'd give you the chance to figure it out. He doesn’t seem like a one and done kinda guy, his eyes glistening as he stares at you. You could get attached to this kind of casual admiration.

You crawl over to sit next to him, taking his hand, “Hey, maybe one day you can return the favor.”

[your-local-baguette]

Rather Be, Rather be

part 1

Warnings:not proofread, contains triggering subjects, read at your own risks. Cheap ass german btw manga spoilers

Half of this was made a lot later, so, apologies if they are a few incoherence. Enjoy!

You walked next to isagi, the first match was in ten days, you were simply walking in silence, both with one earphone. You grabbed the hair tie around your wrist and started tying up your hair in a small ponytail. You yawned before holding the door open for Yoichi, walking inside the cafeteria with him. You went to sit at a table, while isagi went to get his meal, you took out your phone, scrolling through some messages. Mostly from your mom, sometimes Anri, but that was pretty rare. Someone sat in front of you and it wasn't Yoichi, you raised your gaze to be met with micheal's, you raised an eyebrow at him. "Why hello" he said, that fake ass smile still attached to his face, you didn't answer at first but you gave him a little wave. When isagi arrived, he sat next to you, placing his plate, while he took out the earphone you gave him, handing it to you. Yoichi looked at your lack of food " not hungry ?" You shook your head, while he raised his shoulder, pretty much ignoring kaiser. "I simply accompanied you here so i wouldn't spend the evening in my room" he nodded, before placing his chopstick on the rest. "That's understandable, anyway, what training did you do today?" He asked, legitimately curious "i did core strength and dribbling" he chuckled "just sharpening your best skills gain, mhm ?" He had managed to get out a little smile out of you "yea.."

"dribbling huh ?"

A voice behind you said, one you knew a little too well, you looked over your shoulder only to be met with a pair of teal eyes. "Rin..." He didn't say anything else "you should sharpen your other skills instead" he said, still with his emotionless face. "I do, i do, but just not today" you said of a gentle voice, your features softening around the itoshi, when he sat down next to you, you rested your head on his shoulder, while he rolled his eyes. Nonetheless, he didn't move, acting as if he didn't care ( he does care). As for kaiser, that was sitting in front of you, was smiling, 'that fake ass'.

You lifted your gaze to cross the blond, letting it linger far too long on his his.

'wait a damn minute..'

'that look he had...'

"micheal...?"

His lips tugged into a smirk, raising an eyebrow.

"calling me by my first name now, what is it ?"

You rolled your eyes at his teasing tone

"can we talk later..alone"

"oh ? Sure hübsch" ( i'm so sorry if i didn't spell it right, i'm sure it means pretty but correct me if it doesn't)

"i'll come get you.."

For once, the blond was actually quite cooperative, simply nodding and walked off.

"Say rin ?"

He hummed

"did you see it too ?"

"...yes"

I nodded, raised my head from his shoulder and stretched my arms out a little.

"i'll see you two another time, i have to go talk to choppy hair"

Yoichi snickered, but as you walked away he glared at rin, the two didn't get along that well, but not the kind like shidou and rin. The older player got up and walked away with his empty plate, leaving rin lost in thought.

As for you, the quiet sound of your shoes hitting the ground couod be heard, you were walking quite fast to reach choppy hair's room. You walked past many, many doors until you reached the desired one.

Although you asked him to talk, you felt quite nervous about this, but you knocked. It didn't take long before the blond opened the door, inviting you in, you nodded and walked in.

"you seemed serious about talking to me earlier, what is it "

"micheal, i know it might be indiscreet to ask this, but i'll get to the point"

...

He stayed silent

"why do you hate yourself?"

Kaiser swore he felt his breathing stop hearing your question. You're right, why did he hate himself, he didn't even know.. No that's not true, he knows why, but he doesn't want to admit.

"why do you wanna know that ? You care about me, hübsch?"

He responded, still with that cocky smile of his, but his gaze crossed your again, contrary to his, the energy you gave off, you were dead serious.

That's when it hit him, you were being for real, real, you actually cared, being that sassy exterior, you fucking cared. That's what made it harder for him to say it...but guess what ? He did it anyway.

"because i'm not good enough, if i don't get better then my career will just go down...i need to surpass N-"

"that's the problem, setting goals for yourself is fine, it'a good even. But if you can't do it now, take a step back to take two forward. You're allowed to rest micheal, but i can tell, that's not the only thing bothering you, is it"

That wasn't even a question, he couldn't answer that, he knew that you already know, but, now did he expect you to hint towards it ? No he fucking didn't.

The more his eyes loosed themselves in yours, the more he felt like you read him as an open book.

"body dismorphia? It isn't easy, is it ?"

He didn't answer, but what purpose would it do anyway, you already knew the answers to all that.

" why?"

....

"why do you ask me all this when you know the answer ?"

"because i want to know how you feel it"

..

"but micheal, it i'll be fine, so hang on a little longer, mkay ?"

What followed after this was the last thing he expected, his forehead was resting on your shoulder, and he broke. The tears, they spilled out, he just couldn't anymore, he felt your arms around him.

'oh, as much as this comforts him, he'd rather be, rather be, somebody else'

_________________________________________

Thank you for reading up until now, now, this story was not necessarily romantic with micheal, but more platonic. Hopefully you weren't disappointed.

[medusapelagia]

09 AU-gust: Cleaning Crew

Rating: Teen and up Relationship: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson WT: omegaverse, implied reference to prostitution, Omega Steve Harrington, Alpha Eddie Munson, Dad Steve Harrington WC: 2643

Since he started working for a cleaning company three years ago, Steve has never gotten a complaint. He is quick and tidy and when he leaves the house he always leaves a bouquet. It’s not that he has money to spare but it feels good leaving some flowers on the kitchen counter even if it’s not his. Some clients even tip him for it. His work is really appreciated and some clients started to request him specifically. This means more money but less time with his little bug. Every morning, when he leaves the house, his little bundle of joy is still sleeping, and when he comes home they hardly have enough time to play and have dinner, and then his baby girl is ready for bed. “You work too much.” Robin scolds him while cleaning the dinner plates. “I need the money, Rob. You know that.” “You could try to find a better job! Or a new position at the cleaning company.” She insists. “What if they fire me, Rob? I’m an unmated omega with a child! And there is only one kind of job for people like me!”

She shakes his head “That’s not true! I know it’s harder for you but you could go to community college and…” “Look. I don’t have enough time to spend with Elisabeth and you are trying to convince me to go to community college? It makes no sense!” “It would be just for a little bit, and I could help with Lizzie!” She already helps a lot, he can’t ask her anything more. “I’m going to bed. Tomorrow it’s my day off and I’m eager to spend it with Lizzie.”

***

His phone is buzzing. He opens his eyes but it’s still dark. He looks at the caller: Chrissy, his boss. “Hello?” “Hi, Steve! I’m really sorry to bother you but I need a favor. One of our clients had a party last night and tomorrow they are going to do a shooting in the house. His manager requested our best cleaner, saying he would pay double, and I immediately thought of you.” Fuck. It’s his day off! He was already thinking about going to the park with Lizzie and… “Send me the address.” He replies with a sigh he can’t really turn down someone willing to pay him double. His little girl stirs in her sleep. He hugs her, whispering in his ear “I hope one day you’ll know that I’m doing this for you.” He kisses the crown of her head and then he wakes up Robin “Are you up for babysitting duty?” “But I thought…” “They pay double.” She looks sadly at him but nods “I’ll leave her with Vicky. It’s that ok?”

***

The house seems like a battlefield. There are bottles everywhere: whoever the owner is, he likes to party hard. He has already filled four bags of trash with just bottles: it’s a mix of expensive champagne and cheap beers and some bottles of wine. There is a big stain of red wine on a white couch that Steve already knows that it’s going to be a bitch to clean, but he will because he is the best. He works hard, cleaning every surface while he blasts the music in his earphones and dances around the kitchen. He is so concentrated that he doesn’t hear the client entering the kitchen and he yells when he touches him on the shoulder “What the fuck man! You scared me to death!” Steve barks, turning off his headphones and trying to slow his breathing. “Sorry, I thought you heard me. You are quite a dancer by the way.” Steve studies the man for a moment. His voice is rougher than it was and he looks older than he is but he is undoubtedly the same man he knew. The one that left him while he was pregnant. He can’t smell anymore, but he is sure that he still smells of sandalwood. The man’s nose wrinkles. “Why are you upset?” He doesn’t remember him. He got him pregnant but he doesn’t remember him! “I’m just pissed because you interrupted me. Now if you let me finish I’ll be out of your hair in no time.” “Good. I just wanted to offer you a coffee.” “I’m fine, thanks.” He gets closer “You smell familiar? Have we met before?” Steve shakes his head, lying “Maybe I cleaned your house before.” “Did you?” He keeps silent. He can’t fucking smell but he can. “That’s what I thought. Why are you lying to me, sugar?” He keeps still. His alpha’s hormones are futile with him. He just has to… His phone starts to buzz and he looks at the caller: Vicky. “Steve I’m sorry but Lizzie is unwell and she keeps asking for you. I think it’s just a cold but…” “I’m on my way.” The man at his side glares at him “I thought you had a job to do.” “Yeah. Picking up my sick child is more important than cleaning after a wasted shithead!” He rebukes, then he changes back and is ready to leave when the man stops him “I’m sorry. I was a dick.” He puts a pair of crumpled bills in his hand. “I don’t need your pity, Eddie.” He says leaving the house “Do we know each other?” the alpha asks again but he is already in his car.

***

“Steve, I want to talk to you. Can you come to my office as soon as you finish cleaning the house you are working at?” That doesn’t sound good. “Am I in trouble?” “I’d like to talk about that in person. Is that a problem?” It’s not a problem but it’s not good news either. “I’ll be there in an hour, ok?” “Perfect.” He tries not to worry while he finishes working but he can’t. He can’t lose this job. He has a child and… He takes a deep breath, trying to calm himself. He has done nothing wrong. He is the best. He leaves flowers in strangers’ houses. It can’t be bad, right?

***

“Listen, it’s the first time that we got a complaint about you so I wanted to talk to you personally.” A complaint about him? Who? Why? “Do you remember the job I gave you a couple of weeks ago? It was last minute but with double pay?” Shit. “I don‘t know if you knew that but that was Eddie Munson’s house and his manager was quite pissed because you didn’t clean the house properly.” “I already told you, I got an emergency. I cleaned all I could and I didn’t take the money for the job.” “I know that, but Nancy Wheeler is quite a name in the system, and if she starts talking trash about our services we are doomed.” He nods “I’m sorry. Lizzie was unwell and she needed me.” “I know that you have a child, Steve, and I tried to be supportive, but if you can guarantee a good job maybe you should find another place of employment.” “Are you fucking kidding me? You want to fire me because a drunken music star couldn’t clean after himself while my child was unwell? It was my fucking day off! And still, I was there.” “I told you they were going to pay double. You could have told me that you couldn’t and I would have asked someone else.” “Lizzie was ok when I left…” “Listen, I don’t want to talk about that. You have two options: or you can convince Nancy Wheeler that we are the best or you can find yourself another job.” “Thank you, Chrissy. You are really a friend!” “I hired you when none else would!” “And now you are threatening to fire me!” he yells back, getting up so abruptly that the chair falls to the ground. They stare at each other for a long moment, then Steve says “I’ll see what I can do.” and leaves the office slamming the door behind him.

***

He hasn’t drunk in three years. Not even on Year's Eve. And now he is fucking drunk and parked a few miles away from Eddie’s house. He is sure that he has some kind of security so he should sleep it off in his car and go back home. He should. If he was clever enough. But he never was the sharpest tool in the box. He gets out of the car and gets to the gate, the code is still the same as he used two weeks ago, and so is the door’s one. Five minutes and he is inside the stupid mansion. “Eddie!” he starts to scream, drunkenly “Eddie!” He doesn’t even know if he is on tour or what else. Maybe he is just making a fool out of himself for nothing. But the man is there. “Sugar. I thought you had enough of me.” he replies with a smirk. Steve gets closer to him. trying to slap his face, but Eddie is quicker and grabs his wrist before he reaches him. “What the hell do you want from my life? Haven’t you done enough? Leaving me pregnant was not enough for you? Now you are going to make me lose my job?” he yells “I know that I mean nothing to you, but I need my fucking job, ok? I have to pay for the rent, and the food, and my pup deserves the world and I’m going to give it to her! So say to your fucking manager that you are a dick and that the cleaning company is a good one!” he starts to cry without even noticing “I need the job. I really do. I don’t want to be back on the streets again…” He still remembers how hard it was before he met Robin. How cold the streets were, how no one helped him, and the few that did help wanted something back as a payment for their generosity. He will not get back to the street. He can’t. He really can’t. “What the hell are you talking about? Who the fuck are you.” “I’m Steve, you fucking moron! I’m your high school sweetheart! Do you remember that? Do you remember prom? When you drove me to the woods and we made love and the next day you disappeared?” “Steve? That’s not possible. He died. He died in the arson of his house a couple of weeks after I got my first contract. How the fuck do you know about him?!” “What the hell are you saying? I left the house as soon as that fucking test turned blue! My parents weren’t going to raise a bastard, that's what they said! They called my little bug a bastard!” He falls to his knees, too overwhelmed by the alcohol and the emotion. “Is it you? Is it really you? Why is your smell so… off?” “I… I had a difficult birth. I almost died during childbirth. They saved my life but I lost my ability to smell.” he tries to explain while Eddie kneels with him on the floor. “Is that you? Is that really you?” Eddie keeps asking, trying to find his scent under the alcohol. “It’s me…” he whispers between the tears “I need my job. Please, Eddie, I have never asked anything from you but I need my job. I really do.” Eddie picks him up bridal style and takes him to his room. Steve hears him talking with the security but he is too tired and confused. “Sleep, omega.” he whispers in his ear, and all he can do is obey his alpha.

***

Steve wakes up with a startle. He is not in the apartment he shares with Robin and Lizzie is not sleeping at his side. “Lovebug?” he calls, confused and with a terrible headache. On the nightstand, there is a glass of water and a couple of pills. He takes them and when the door of the room opens he is surprised to see Eddie holding a tray with breakfast. “The pancakes are burnt, but the eggs are edible.” he says. “Eddie? What are you doing here?” “It’s my home, Steve.” “Your home? Oh shit! Shit! Shit! I’m sorry! I was fucking drunk! I didn’t mean to come here, but Chrissy was going to fire me and…” “Your job it’s safe and your lovely housemate is taking care of Elizabeth.” “How do you know her name?” “Your phone kept buzzing and I had to answer. She wasn’t very happy to find out that you almost blacked out at my place but she agreed that it was better to let you sleep it off here and not in your car.” “Lizzie?” “I’m sure she is fine. Do you want me to drive you home?” Steve studies him for a moment “You want to meet her.” he states. Eddie shrugs and then sits on Steve’s bed “Are you sure she is mine?” Steve burst out in a laugh “I’m very sure Eddie. You are the only alpha I have been with. And she looks just like you. Can you give me my wallet please? It’s in the back pocket of my pants.” Eddie takes Steve’s pants and gives him his wallet, inside there is an old picture of Steve holding Lizzie, it was her first birthday. “She has your eyes. And your freckles.” Eddie says, caressing the picture. “And your hair, and your smile. And Wayne's nose I think, but it’s still too soon to say.” “I have a daughter…” Eddie says, astonished. “You do. And it’s the most lovely kid in the world.” Steve studies Eddie’s reaction, then he asks “Would you like to meet her? She knows nothing about you. Only that his dad is a musician and that he is always on tour.” “You would let me?” Steve sighs “I hated you for so long Eddie, but I’m not so cruel to keep you away from your child. If you really want to meet her you have to promise me that you’ll be present in her life, that this is not just a whim of the moment, and that you will stop drinking like you do.” “I’m not the one who was totally wasted last night!” Eddie rebukes, offended. “My house, my rules.” Steve insists “And you will not meet her soon. I want to prepare her and be sure that she wants to meet you too. If she says no then it’s over. Is that ok for you?” “At one condition.” “What?” “That no matter what, if Lizzie wants to meet me or not, both of you will receive a percentage of my royalties.” “I can’t accept that. I have my job and… Oh god. I do have a job, right? Chrissy didn’t fire me for coming here?” Eddie hugs him, trying to calm the omega with his pheromones even knowing that he can’t smell properly. “You are good. You still have your job, your kid, and your house, ok? Now rest a little more and then we will speak.” Eddie is still holding the picture in his hands. “Keep it. I have more pictures at home.” Eddie nods, lying in the bed with his omega “Can I hold you?” “Did you miss me?” he asks teasingly. “Every single day. I thought you were dead. I thought I was going to die too. Without you. But my death was slower.” Eddie kisses his head “Will you tell me what happened?” “I will. But not now.” “Sleep love. I’ll be here when you wake up.” “You will?” “Of course. I'm not going to leave you again sweetheart.”

***

Since he started working for a cleaning company three years ago, Steve has never gotten a complaint. The only one that he got brought him back to the love of his life and to their newfound family.

[mikeyforreal]

some random adrian chase head cannons :P

a/n: just some random thought about my favorite crime-fighting goofball :)

cw: fluff, some cussing, a few depictions of violence

miscellaneous hcs

• okay so first off, i know this isn't really a head cannon but james gunn confirmed that the visor in vig's suit is prescription and idk i just love that fact

• anyway, real head cannons now

• i'm like 99.99% sure he has a playlist for when he's on patrol and makes chris listen to it with him

• also, i think he'd have the same wired earphones from like 2014 that came with his iphone 6

• adrian's favorite candy is probably skittles or m&ms because of the fun colors (sometimes he likes to sort them if he's feeling a bit bored)

• i just know he has a collection of vhs tapes that he bought from a secondhand store/had as a kid

• speaking of collections he probably also has a bunch of cd's

• i dunno why but i feel like adrian loves star wars and has since he was little (and also has all the og trilogy movies on vhs)

• definitely has a cheap walmart lightsaber lying around somewhere

• GOLDEN RETRIEVER ENERGY !!!

• i feel like as a kid he loved finding bugs, digging for worms, ect.

• one time he tried eating one, didn't turn out good for him (he couldn't stop throwing up for like 3 days)

• since it's cannon he played/plays dnd, he'd probably play magic, the gathering as well 😭

• i also think that he'd really love the artificial grape flavor ??

• LMAO i think he'd have a little chainsaw keychain lying around somewhere

• def listens to abba, spice girls, and yung gravy

• probably good with kids? he'd set the the house on fire if he watched some but he can keep them entertained at least ?

• manchild (i will not elaborate)

• he reminds me of jake peralta from brooklyn-99

being best friends/in a relationship with adrian

• let's face it, they're practically the same thing

• i justttt know that he made like 10 secret handshakes for the two of you

• his love language is probably words of affirmation, quality time, or touch (maybe all of them, who knows)

• wants to teach you how to play mtg and dnd !!! (please let him teach you he'll be over the moon)

• def has a playlist that he wants to listen to with you

• two words: movie dates

• adrian loves watching movies with you !! even if he's seen it a few dozen times, he'd watch it again just to see your first time reactions :)

• THEMED COSTUMES !!!

• if you're down, he'd want to match with you ever year, something different and cooler than the last

• if you wear glasses, you better bet your ass that he's switching with you 24/7

• you cant go an hour without your glasses getting taken off and replaced with his

• also, i think that adrian wouldn't have the cleanest glasses 😭 you def gotta give 'em a good scrub every now and then

• dr. pepper enthusiast fs

• discounted/sometimes free food and fennel fields

• if you can work from home and go there often just to eat and work, he's definitely spending his 15 minute breaks (and longer than that) sitting with you and chatting

• he's always bringing home leftovers or breadsticks that he stole

• i think adrian has a pretty decent comic collection, and would go to shops with you for dates or hangouts

• he's probably super good friends with the owner (or at least that's what he thinks)

• when he's patrolling, he randomly facetimes you???

• like he has a guy near death and he's having a full conversation with you

• adrian has tonsss of silly and random nicknames for you !! he just calls you whatever you remind him of

• whenever he goes over to your place or vice versa, you two have a special knock that lets either of you know immediately who it is

• one of his ideal dates would probably be going to the park and feeding ducks !! (and him trying to catch them)

• he also randomly makes machine gun noises ?? what's that about ??

• the two of you'll just be chilling watching tv or something and then you hear 'CHCHCHCHC' and see him doing finger guns or whatever

• and when you ask him about it he's just like "what do you mean babe?"

• would probably beg you to get a little cat or a dog

• if you initially say no, he's gonna pull out a whole powerpoint presentation on why you should say yes (and he's wearing his fanciest clothes)

• FRIENDSHIP BRACELETS !!!

• it doesn't matter where or what they look like, if he sees some at the gas station, store, theme park, wherever, he's buying some for the two of you

• your relationship is basically that one scene in bobs burgers scene where tina makes a friendship bracelet for louise and tina's like "oh you don't have to wear it" and louise snatches it and says "no i'm gonna wear it forever, back off"

• proud malewife

• adrian is in the kitchen a lot, always fixing up snacks for you

a/n: let me know if i should make another one of these with another character !

[littlecarnet]

So off the bat...Love it! I am so love with these systems. Just a warning, I wrote like a novel length review down below.

The SP gives me so much nostalgia just handling it, feels almost identical to my pink GBA SP, but is a tad bigger in my hands. Or maybe my hands are just tiny. As I expected, it comes with a few goodies: a screen protector, screen cloth, headphones, adapter, and SD card with over 2000 games pre-installed. The system is even pre-charged for you. You can play right out of the box! These make holiday great gifts for that reason alone. But, if you're like me and want to customize the system, you can do that too. I honestly don't trust the provided card for long term use, they're pretty cheap and go bad eventually. So right there, I transfered the OS to a much better SD card I bought, then picked the games I actually wanted on the card, which frees up a lot of space.

Everything is drag and drop from your computer, it's that easy to install everything. I used a card reader to transfer not just games but music, video, and ebooks. Also added some new backgrounds too. I didn't delete the pre-installed games though! I saved those on a thumbdrive, so should I want to install them on another card or device, even give a few to friends, I have a collection on standby.The buttons are not cheap, they feel solid and sturdy. They have that satisfying clicky-click sound. There's a dedicated menu button, volume controls, two SD slots, HDMI port, and a speaker on front. The screen adjusts three different ways, from upright to a nice angled view that feels very Gameboy-ish. However I'm a bit iffy on the quality of the hinge. It feels too tight, like I'll break it if I don't fold it slowly. But maybe the hinge will loosen up a bit after a few uses.

The main body has a nice weight to it, not enough to feel like you're carrying a brick in your pocket or purse, but it doesn't feel like cheap thin plastic either. The battery life on one charge has lasted me about 5 hours while turned on with light gameplay. The device states it has 3 hours of gameplay but the battery is lot tougher than that. It keeps a charge even after 5 days sitting in a purse while powered off. It does get warm though, and I recommend you do not leave it plugged in a charger overnight, might damage the battery.

The screen is bright with vivid colors, the games look amazing on it, probably even cleaner and crisper than their native devices. I installed Pokemon Firered, and it looks soooooo nice! The emulator it's on even has a black bezel that replicates the look of a GBA and you can adjust the look even further by making the pixels smoother or play on a GBA that looks like the screen is faded on the edges, I think its called Vignette. I prefer a nice clean screen with the original pixels. Next, I played Ecco the Dolphin on it. Gorgeous! Though with each emu you gotta adjust and fine-tune the key mapping to really get the best experience. I played the game pretty well on the usual settings though. There was some lag on the higher frame rate stuff like PS1 and Dreamcast games, but after adjusting the settings, they look and run better. It's not the device itself but the emulator you're using, and I'd suggest installing more current emus that run better, like Lemuroid.

Hooking it up to HDMI, as to be expected some games look better than others full screen. Gameboy stuff looks bad, but it was never meant to be played on screens bigger than a handheld. But stuff like Street Fighter and Metal Slug looks really good! They even had Zombies ate my Neighbors, and that looks good too. The sound isn't the best on it, and it's best to get external hardware. Since the device can't connect online, you have to use wired earphones and speakers. Bit of a bummer as I'd love to connect it to my Bluetooth stuff, but it's not a deal breaker for me. It plays video and music well, and I think all it really needs is an FM radio, and it'll be 100% complete in my eyes. But it's already packed to the gills with what you need to emulate games. I would recommend this device for people who miss the handheld era of the late '80s-early 00s, but also want a music/video player. It's super compact, and makes a nice gift for anyone who like retro gaming stuff.

All in all, I'm very happy with my SP, I think it'll be a nice travel companion in my roadtrip gear or even daily on-the-go play. But I'll definitely get a protector case for it.

Now the 406v.

This device is like my dream device. Its like having an Android tablet and an arcade in one package. Just like the SP it can be played right out of the box with its pre-installed games and full charge, making this a nice gift for gamers. It has a screen protector, screen cloth, SD card, and charger. If you got the roms, this thing can play almost any game ever made, from Commodore to Atari to the Wii. And if I was impressed with the SP graphics, this blows it out of the water with how clear and bright everything looks. Again, the games look better than on their native devices, and some even play better too. It has some good sound, nice and loud, not too crunchy. But if you want really amazing sound, this device connects to Bluetooth. I'm tempted to connect it to my Divoom TVoo for that extra retro goodness.

The buttons have that nice clicky-click but also those bouncy roller buttons that make playing racing games so much fun. It has bumper buttons on the back, again, perfect for racing games as well as shooters. Nice and responsive, no drift, and then top that off with custom color LED rings around them. They can run through a rainbow in various settings or just chose your favorite color. The device feels pretty bulky in my little girly hands, but I think guys would love that aspect, it's wide enough that your hands don't feel cramped but not that wide that it won't fit in a pocket or purse. But I really wouldn't recommend putting this in your pocket because the roller buttons might get caught, even break if your pockets are tight like mine. I feel it would need a case to protect it for the longevity of the device.

It naturally has an HDMI port, SD card support, and a button designed to take you directly to the gaming front end, so no need to root around for your games, anything you drag and drop into their respective folders will automatically be scanned and added to your library. It has a dedicated fan in the back that keeps things cool, though I've never felt it actually turn on while playing, so the device handles processes very well! You can adjust the fan settings too. The screen is a touchscreen but you sadly can't draw on this device worth a crap, but then again that's not what this device is for. My ass is spoiled with Wacom enhanced screens, and I already have a drawing tablet for that purpose. But it would be nice to be able to draw art on this too.

Speaking of, that's where this device lacks. It does not handle dual screen games well, they look like ass, and trying to play them is an exercise in torture. But any games that are single screen work great! Very little lag on any of them, and best of all, you can easily update or install better emulators as creators improve on their quality. If Anbernac creates a dual screen device that has decent drawing capability ala the 3DS, I'm automatically getting it. Shut up and take my money! Considering that this company is improving leaps and bounds on their products this past three years, it's inevitable they will be creating a dual screen in the future, I give them til the end of next year.

The OS is Android 13. You can access the internet on it and Google Play. Which automatically can turn this into more than just a gaming device. While not every app looks or runs great on it, many do. I ran Nightwave Plaza on it, works like a dream and ran in the background while I played Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. It runs my favorite note taking apps, internet radio streams, I can read books, and chat online. You can download roms on it directly too, I've been downloading mp3s as well. I'm not wild about the installed media player, but that's easily corrected by just installing a better player. Because it's an android, you can customize the look of the UI to your heart's content, live wallpapers and everything, and I'm already thinking of giving it a nice retro reskin to accentuate the device. One thing I feel this needs is a camera. Yeah, I know it's already stuffed with features, but a camera would elevate this to the point it could replace my phone or at least compete with it. It doesn't even have to be a dual camera, I'd be happy with just a back facing lens.

All in all I give it a full 5 stars on what this device is and what it can be turned into. It's got so much packed into it, I think even long after its android OS becomes outdated, it'll continue to give years of enjoyment.

[squidsandthings]

Hii sqwid <3 7, 12 & 52?

Hi Meli!!!

7. Earbuds or Headphones?

Cheap wired Earbuds have my heart as someone who loses stuff all the time. Everything I own is a liability so something cheap and easily replaced is my best friend in the earphones/headphones debate. In terms of a sensory experience I like headphones more but I lose them too easily

12. name of your favorite playlist?

Of my playlists: Echo songs, The (not) official squid campaign playlist, and Dear me, Dear made to be

Of not my playlists: cannibal corridors, I want to be a bard, and spooky jazz

52. favorite font?

ooooo tough one

This is one I have in my Adobe library I like a lot

Ty for the ask!!!

ask game

[cynamonowo]

001 999, 002 shukita, 003 do-yoon

i love u so much let's Go

(link)

001 | Send me a fandom and I will tell you my:

Favorite character:

akane!! girl of all time. she did nothing wrong (except everything) and that's so cool. she's so cool

Least Favorite character:

uhh that'd be a draw between the ninth man (bc he makes me feel queasy) and ace (bc i liked him at first. betrayal)

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon):

lotus/seven, junepei, junpei/santa, junpei/snake, but tbh this isn't a fandom i'm in for shipping reasons

Character I find most attractive:

lotus... hot

Character I would marry:

see above lol move over, seven, i will parent her daughters instead

Character I would be best friends with:

santa! we'd bitch about our little sisters while drinking shitty coffee and watching the timeline get tangled like a pair of cheap wired earphones

A random thought:

while ppl have been saying vlr is decent, to be fair idk if i wanna check it out :/

An unpopular opinion:

uh. none? idk

My canon OTP:

junepei i guess

Non-canon OTP:

lotus/seven

Most badass character:

either clover or snake. to be fair seven too... and akane in a way

Pairing I am not a fan of:

shrugs. idk. anything with ace? or clover/a man

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another):

uh. i don't know? maybe lotus bc while she is sexy af her outfit is. yeah.

Favourite friendship:

mm. maybe junpei and clover? or clover and seven. those would be nice

002 | send me a ship and I will tell you:

when or if I started shipping it:

about a month or so after finishing p5 lol at first i wasn't sure. then the brainrot got me

my thoughts:

it's such a good pairing like?? they're helping each other become better people while acknowledging the darkness in their hearts

What makes me happy about them:

THEY'RE JUST SO FUNNY SOMETIMES like the crucifixion pose gdhdhdg

What makes me sad about them:

that they're not Canon. what the fuck.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me:

yusuke being Smooth and Collected. i can see him having some confidence, but that autistic boy would be quite surprised to find out his crush likes him back

Things I look for in fanfic:

i see transmasc yusuke and i go ape

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

i guess it'd be pegoryu & akekita lol

My happily ever after for them:

after a few years of brooding and navel gazing, they get their shit together, start a relationship, move in, and live a quiet, happy life, with akira as a counselor and yusuke as a well-known and respected painter

003 | Give me a character & I will tell you

How I feel about this character:

THAT'S MY SON but he's also sooo me. he's so autism. i love him. i want him to rest but also to go through even more horrors :> do-yoon han you are my everything. you deserve a chocolate bar

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

that'd be just gyu-hyuk and woosuk lol the latter as a past fwb that'd rather eat a flipflop than admit anything

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

oh man i love do-yoon being inha's chew toy and juyoung's pet cat. every lesbian deserves a weird guy to care for and/or pester

My unpopular opinion about this character:

there's only like ten ppl in the fandom so i wouldn't say it's unpopular but. he's autistic and also trans. spot a pattern :P

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

oh man it's kind of a shame we didn't hear him laugh... to be fair there was little to laugh about in the Horrors

My OTP:

gyuyoon ftw <3 there's so much you can pack into their dynamic.

My OT3:

platonic ot3 but, as mentioned above, do-yoon and the girls is such a fun squad. to me. inha as the wise guy, him as the straight man, juyoung as the unwitting audience to their bickering

[dont-leafmealone]

we took a hard left (but we're alright)

A missing scene from chapter 11 of cancel your reservations / no more hesitations, where Jet is reunited with part of his found family and Smellerbee learns about her best friend's new boyfriend.

read on ao3

"Bee? Someone's here to see you!"

Smellerbee looked up from her notebook and the summer homework she had for Science, frowning. Anita — her soon-to-be stepmom — knew the names of her friends, which meant whoever was at the door wasn't one of them. Who is it, then? She wondered. It was late enough that anyone visiting was weird.

She put aside her notebook and took out her earphones. They didn't work for playing music anymore, but helped at least muffle the noise around her and let her focus on her work. She opened her bedroom door; Anita stood outside in the hall. 

"He asked for you. I don't know if you know him from school, or..."

He. That at least helped narrow it down, though not by much. Bee sighed. "Thanks, Anita." She squeezed past her, going toward the front door. Anita's footsteps were close behind her. Through the window, she could make out the bed of a pickup truck, but the dim light made it hard to distinguish a color. Don't get excited. Everyone and their mom drives a truck around here, she told herself, squashing down the ridiculous hope that had come up. If it was somebody from school, chances were it was their mom's, or dad's, truck.

She opened the door. For a second she didn't register who it was; when she did, her jaw dropped. 

"Jet."

"Bee!" Jet smiled, the same crooked way he'd always done, and Smellerbee could have killed him. 

Jet was still riding high on the feeling of being back here, having Zuko reunited with his uncle, and getting to see his family again. It hadn't crossed his mind, until Smellerbee answered the door and immediately leveled him with a ferocious glare, that maybe he should have called or something a little sooner. Possibly three days sooner. 

"When did you get here?" Smellerbee demanded, pushing past Jet to get out on the trailer's small porch. The door shut loudly behind her. 

"Today," he said, stepping out of her way. "What's going o—"

"It's been days since we heard from you! I had my mom call the hospital after you didn't get back with us, and they couldn't tell us anything except that you were gone. And you didn't answer your phone." 

Jet winced. He'd been unable to find his phone at the cheap apartment he, Bee and Longshot had been less-than-legally renting, and had figured it would turn up somewhere in his truck. It hadn't. "I'm sorry."

"Do you have any idea how worried we were about you?"

"I didn't," he said. "Now I do."

"Well, what the hell else were you thinking about?"

Jet had a choice here. He could tell her what he'd been thinking about, that he'd been selfishly thinking about turning around and going back to the shitty apartment, about staying in Washington, until he'd seen Zuko standing there by the road. That, for a moment, it had seemed possible — easy, even — to make a new life somewhere nobody knew him, nobody depended on him, and the excitement he had felt at the prospect terrified him now. 

Or he could keep his mouth shut, shrug, and say none of that, because that would only make her more upset, and the thought of delivering a blow like that felt like someone dropping a brick from ten stories up into his stomach. He hadn't been thinking about her and the other kids, when he'd considered staying away, but that was the problem, wasn't it? The last thing she needed was being forgotten and abandoned, even if that wasn't how he meant it. 

"I guess I wasn't thinking," he said, which was close enough to the truth for now. The heavy stuff could wait. 

"God, you're such an asshole," she said, throwing her arms around him. He instinctively returned the hug, feeling the tension ooze out of her bony frame. 

"I'm sorry," he said, burying his face in her shaggy hair. "You can still be mad at me if you want."

"Don't give me that permission," she grumbled against his chest. "I'll hurt you."

"Understood," he chuckled. He stepped back. "Am I allowed to come in?"

Bee sniffled, rubbing her eyes with a glare that dared him to say anything about it, and nodded. She pulled open the door. 

"Anita! Jet's coming in for a while!" she shouted. 

Anita. The name was familiar from dozens of phone calls, and the description he remembered matched the tall, dark-skinned woman who'd answered the door. "That's your —"

"Mom's fiancée," Smellerbee said. "They're getting married in winter."

"Huh." Jet tried to decipher Bee's attitude. "You like her?"

Bee shrugged. "She doesn't bitch about me wearing boys' clothes or too much makeup," she said, shoulders hunched. Jet guessed that was the closest thing to a 'yeah' he was going to get. 

"Well, that's good." He ruffled her hair. "Come on, it's too hot out here."

"Syd and Cameron are at the house this week," Bee told Jet, handing him a cup of iced tea. He sat in the rocker next to the couch, his tattered tank top and cutoffs looking out of place with the old-fashioned carved wood and plaid cushions. He gave a hum of indifference as he sipped the tea through the straw. 

"Were they disappointed to hear I made it?" he asked, putting the cup down. Smellerbee frowned. 

"Syd didn't really say anything when I told her what all had happened. Just hung up the phone. I guess she'd probably already got a call, being your guardian 'n all that."

"Some guardian," Jet muttered. He sighed, rocking the chair a couple times while he sipped, ice cubes clinking in the glass. "Guess I'm sleepin' in the truck bed again. You know how many bug bites I got over he last couple days?" He held out his arm, where red bumps covered his wrist. "Total nightmare. It's just a good thing it didn't rain overnight."

"Your piece of junk truck made it over all the state lines again?" Smellerbee asked with wonder.

"Yep. She's stronger than my ribs, you know," he said, and Bee couldn't help flinching. His amused look faded, guilt replacing it. "Sorry. I'm working on not doing that."

"You wouldn't be you if you weren't making people uncomfortable," she said, taking a long drink of her tea. "Other than the bugs, how was the drive?"

Jet held his cup with both hands, looking down into it. "Pretty good," he said, ducking his head, not enough to hide the red creeping up his neck. His voice was a couple octaves higher than usual, and he quickly cleared his throat. "I mean, it was fine. You know."

Bee stared at him, before getting up on her knees and shoving his shoulder. "Don't tell me you went and got a girlfriend!"

"Ow!" he exclaimed, rubbing his shoulder, and rebalancing his drink to keep it from spilling. "Fine! I don't have a girlfriend!"

It was too genuine to be a lie, but that blush hadn't faded. Smellerbee scoffed. "What happened, you hook up with some guy at a truck stop?"

"No! Jeez." He rolled his eyes. "He needed a ride home, so I let him tag along. We got along pretty well, so..."

"Oh my god. You picked up some random guy and, what, wined him and dined him in the back of your shitty truck?" she asked, laughing.

"This is why I don't tell you things, you know that, right?" Jet said, deadpan. Bee shook her head, still in disbelief. 

"I thought you had standards, man."

"I do."

"It's been a total of, what, a whole week since you left Washington —"

"Three days."

"And you found your true love at some truck stop —"

"It was a quarter mile from a bus stop, get your facts straight —"

"And in that time you've gone and fallen in love with this random stranger." Bee stared at him. "Do you even know where he lives?"

"Next county over with his uncle. He knows Jin," Jet said, with a raised eyebrow like he dared her to argue with that point. What are even the odds of that? she wondered in bewilderment. 

"Fine. Fine," she said, raising her hands in surrender. "I'm sure you and the weirdo who somehow fell for you after spending time inside your truck will be perfectly happy together."

Jet shoved her shoulder, but smiled a little. "His name's Zuko," he said, with the sappy look she'd been used to seeing in association with Jin's name; then Haru's; then Katara's.

 Oh brother. He's in deep, isn't he? 

"Zuko like the guy from that crappy '70s movie?" she asked, wrinkling her nose. Jet rolled his eyes. 

"No, ​​​​​​not Zuko like the guy from Grease. You think I'd date a tool like that?" he asked, leaning back in his seat and chewing on the end of his straw; he looked off at the other side of the room, his expression suddenly a million miles away. "He's...he's like me, you know? He knows what it's like to do shit you regret and to run away from it. And...you can't, you have to come back and face it. I think I need someone like that."

Smellerbee watched Jet, quiet. He didn't really talk about his feelings a whole lot, but when he did, it was hard not to listen. She sighed. 

"Okay," she said. "I wanna meet him, though, so I'm reserving judgement until then. And I will put the fear of death in him if he so much as looks at you wrong," she warned. Jet cracked a wide grin, ruffling her hair. 

"I missed ya," he said. 

"Oh, cut it out," she huffed, pushing his hand away with a fond glare. She got up, grabbing his empty cup. "Come on, Anita made cookies this morning, let's see if she'll let us have some."

Jet smiled and got up, tucking her under his arm as she led him to the kitchen. She wrapped her arms around him, breathing in the dry-grass and gasoline smell of his clothes. 

It was good to have him back. 

[cowboy-like-moony]

Dear John

What a masterpiece, possibly one of the best songs she has ever written. I am not big on the WiUwiUUWii guitar in the beginning tho, please don’t cancel me if that is an unpopular opinion. But this song is so fucking powerful. Oh my god. I read this to my therapist (not because I was in a relationship with an inappropriate age gab, I wasn’t, I just think the lyrics are awesome and I need everyone to hear them) also the way she name-dropped j*hn m*yer without namedropping him was genius and not cheap at all, if you disagree get a less basic name. Even tho j*hn m*yer is my nemesis we will leave him be for now because I absolutely agree with Taylor that this should not be about her exes. It’s like some of you care more about them than about the actual music. Usually, I also do feel a little bit bad for those guys because obviously she writes about her subjective experience and I think it is kind of unfair to attack someone you don’t know over that, especially when it happened a decade ago, if someone was a bad boyfriend to her, she gets to be mad, but not us. I however truly believe j*hn is a bad person and I think anyone can be mad at him for that, I just also believe, despite all of his whining, he wants us to attack him, why else would he complain about lover lyrics like this whole fandom doesn’t despise him? Also, Taylor knows that everyone leaves their Christmas lights up until January, it’s about appreciating the mundane things in a relationship because some exes made her feel like the floor could fall through at any second and every blue sky could turn to rain JOHN. He just needs a piece of her success huh? It’s giving bloodsucker, fame fucker (I know he was like super successful when they dated, idc, not to me). Soo, I guess I did not leave him be… Sorry, the man is just soo irritating to me, I also don’t think he makes good music, my only piece of evidence for that is that once I was buying shoes and listening to speak now (the album, but I had also just reached that song in the album) and I took my earphones out and thought the music in the store was horrible and I usually don’t think stuff like that, but then the chorus came on and it said something about somebodies body being a wonderland and I know that that’s a j*hn m*yer song because emma stone screams about it in friends with benefits. So I am assuming that was his song and I hated it before I could be biased against him (I was so happy when I left the store and could finally put my earphones back in and Dear John came on) I also despise the song he wrote about Taylor, I once saw a video of him performing it and it sounded awful. Anyway sorry for that rent, but I will now forget that this man exists and return to Taylors incredible music again.

[purplesurveys]

1635

Look out of the nearest window. What do you see? Details, please. I’m settled in bed and it’s too dark out to actually see anything, but I can tell you that the only things you’d be able to see are the neighbors’ houses (from my room you can see the houses to the left of and behind ours) and some trees.

When you think of the word “posh”, what springs to mind? The Spice Girls. > Okay, same!

When you have chocolate, do you eat it room temperature? Or are you like me and stick the bar into the fridge first? Well we have to put in the ref because otherwise it will melt and become all messy and a hassle to eat. We also can’t leave it out anyway because ants.

What’s the most shocking thing that’s happened in your part of town? There was a house in this neighborhood that got raided or something a few years back because of drug possession; even got featured on national TV. I didn’t care much for it and if anything the only reason I paid attention was the fact that the route we take going home was featured on the news LOL

Which brand are your headphones/earbuds? It’s a generic, unbranded pair. I lost the earbuds that came with my phone so I just opted for something cheap as I don’t usually use earphones anyway.

Do you see planes fly over your house at all? Yeah they come around fairly regularly.

Are there any constellations you recognize just by looking at them? Just those three stars that are part of Orion but otherwise I’m not good at all at identifying constellations.

Which room of your house/apartment do you spend the most time in? Either my room or the dining area since we let the dogs roam around there.

Which insect do you find the most beautiful? Fireflies.

Did you have crafts/woodwork at school growing up? Nope.

If so, what was the best assignment you did for it? We never had it but we did do some fun things for home econ (although I didn’t find them fun at the time, ha) like sewing, crocheting, cooking, baking, etc.

Do you have a friend who likes to tell you everything? Yes, my best friends love sharing stories with me. Andi’s are usually about their adventures and annoyances in law school; Angela tells me about pretty much everything going on in her life.

What was the last thing you got very excited about? Jihope visiting Jin at the military gave me a level of happiness nobody would ever be able to understand. He looks so happy and healthy and well-fed :) You can go to any city in any country you want. Which city do you go to? SEOUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you like gardening? If so, what do you grow? No.

Do you enjoy puzzle games? If so, which one’s your favourite? In the Seom. Thanks for reminding me! I’ll need to play it before bed so I can get a few levels up hahaha.

Is there a substance you avoid at all costs? If so, what is it and why? Hard drugs, for obvious reasons.

What would you absolutely hate living next door to? A family with a tantrum-prone toddler.

What would you love to live next door to? A household with ARMY or with lots of dogs. Or both!

What gives you nostalgia? Visiting UP.

When you think of a classy drink, what comes to mind first? Martinis.

Do you prefer eating out or cooking your own meals? Tbh neither; I like getting my food delivered. But if I had to exclusively pick between these two, I’d go with eating out.

Which language do you think is the most complicated to learn? Just about every single form of Chinese. Mandarin, Hokkien, Cantonese...just the way that the meaning of same-spelling words differ depending on the tone it’s said is already super overwhelming. It’s very fascinating.

Is there a place that you might call your second home? UP.

How do you imagine your later life to look like? Satisfaction with who I’ve grown up to become and ended up achieving, and lots of leisure traveling.

What is a job you would never in a million years want to do? Film production. I’ve participated at several video shoots for work and have dreaded every single fucking part of it. The early call times, set design changes, multiple takes...I’m just too impatient for it all.

Is there a piece of jewelry that you feel naked without? No.

Do you ever “go commando”? Rarely.

What’s the sweetest thing someone’s done for you? I have to go with the time Andi gave me a handwritten letter, a physical copy of Petals for Armor, and a CM Punk shirt for Christmas – in the same year. That was the lowest I’ve ever been, so it felt nice to have someone who apparently remembers everything I love.

Which wild animals are a common sight in your area? Just birds and frogs.

What’s the weirdest building in your city? The architecture is not weird per se, but we do have an abandoned Starbucks when you drive up the mountain part of the city. Apparenty the contractor or owner or whoever it is got caught up in permit issues and the store never actually launched, so now it just looks like a sad, lonely Starbucks overlooking the Metro Manila skyline.

How do you keep in touch with friends usually? Messenger. All other messaging platforms are reserved for work, so I don’t like talking to friends on those because it makes me more stressed than anything.

Do you get a lot of visitors? Nah, my friends and I get together at home usually only when there’s a BTS thing happening...so safe to say we’re not getting any of these sessions any time soon, at least until 2025 or 2026.

Is there a subtle way your partner gets you excited easily? I don’t have a partner.

Do you recognize friends’/family’s vehicles by sound? Not me but the dogs are excellent at identifying when my mom’s about to arrive back home.

Which Disney villain is your favourite? I don’t really have a favorite Disney villain. Non-Disney villains on the other hand...Gus Fring will always have a special place in my ever-cold heart.

On a regular day, what do you usually do at 3 o'clock in the afternoon? Neck-deep in work.

Which possession would you not want to inherit from a relative? Clothes. Secondhand clothing makes me feel icky for some reason.

What is something you would never dare to do in public? Uhm...masturbate, I guess??

Would you/ did you have a hen night/bachelorette party? Sure, if I reach that point.

Has anyone taken you on holiday somewhere? If so, where? No. When you left the house last time, where did you go? Just church. Went home right after as all of us were feeling pretty tired.

How did you spend your last birthday? Filed a leave off work and sat on the couch all day until I took my family out for a ramen dinner. Then that same weekend, my friends and I went to Zambales for a quick beach vacation.

[peppermintquartz]

you can get cheapass earphones. i have one nice pair from Sony i use at home for work reasons and one average pair from Daiso that go out with me so i won't mind if i happen to lose them (which happens!). Those from Daiso cost me S$2.18.

like, if you're outside, you're probably not trying to have the Best Audio Experience. You just wanna hear what's being said or have some background music while you go about your day. Also, the cheap ones? they let you hear what's happening around you, so you're not 100% unaware of sudden changes that might happen

Get cheapass earphones.

i'm literally begging people to relearn how to use earbuds and headphones. i don't wanna hear your fucking tiktok while im waiting for my flight.

[voodslifestyle]

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