#Highly highly recommend the movies; so far there are two in the universe

[siixkiing]

Also, for anyone new here...I also run @iimexpensiive which is New Gods version of Sun Wukong.

[kithtaehyung]

u suck !! (m) (3tan special) | myg

3tanoween special: u suck !! pairing: 3tan!yoongi x reader(f)  series: masterlist | three tangerines | fireworks | house party | basketball |  stay |  sidewalk talk | friends | dalo | like that | anytime | sundress season | yoongi’s interlude | forfeit | flutter | video call | busted rating/genre: m (18+) ; angst , fluff , smut ; brother’s best friend au, implied age gap au summary: jimin’s cul-de-sac is filled to the brim with autumn leaves, trick-or-treaters, and halloween spirits. but the scariest part of the night? yoongi himself. and the way he looks downright sinful in his costume. note: BOO!! :))) happy halloween and i love you all so so much. if you haven't read three tangerines or the rest of the series yet, i highly recommend diving into that first! this would make a whole lot more sense lol note 2: this is gonna be heavily unedited bc i literally started it on tues🥹 and consider this a pocket universe/side story for now until i mention anything otherwise :)) warnings: [explicit warnings under the cut] language, house party, alcohol/drug mentions, vampires are present but there’s a different type of sucking going on HEYO!!, tight spaces, yoongiiiiii🥺🥺🥺, one (1) uncomfy hug, jimin is a warning, yoongi is a bigger warning, kissing is a staple warning atp, yoongi in black leather and chains ahahahahah, tension, angst bc it’s me🤪, you have to be quiet :)), but it’s so hard :))), yoongi hands🥴, so many doll mentions, cus this reader is a barbie!!!, this yoongi is out of control and i’m not stopping him 🤷, ermmmmmm yoongi’s voice🧍‍♀️this is all i can say🧍‍♀️, ...VMIN??? drop date: oct. 28th, 2023, 12:17am est  word count: 11.5k🫣

explicit warnings: choking, head/hair tugging, min yoongi king of consent wbk, fingering, breath play, oral (m rec), ass play, chains lmfaooo, tears, face fucking, back shots, cum swallowing, breast play, protective sex, …public sex🫣, nasty dirty talk, he’s rude and we love it and he knows that we love it😩

—

—

“Oh, did you get the cookies?” 

“Yeah, they’re already in the back,” you huff out as you rush around the car. After getting in and catching your purse strap on your very pink heel, you explain while slipping it free, “And don’t worry, I made un-iced ones for you.” 

Your brother sighs in relief, as if you’ve never done that for him before. “Thank god.” As he backs out of the driveway, he gives your costume another glance. “That damn movie. I feel like I’m gonna see three hundred of y’all tonight.” 

“Barbie was great and you know it.” 

“Whatever. Aren’t you gonna be cold later?” 

“I got this.” 

Steering the wheel, he sighs, “Okay.. You’re gonna regret that.” 

“Yeah, probably.” 

Fixing your tee and smoothing out your skirt, you make a mental note that he didn’t comment the usual things about your costume this time. Whether it’s because you grilled him about the Dalo incident or not, you’re pleasantly surprised. 

The only thing he complained about was that couldn’t dress how he wanted in peace. 

“You still could’ve been Ken, you know,” you think out loud. “All you had to do was throw fur over that jersey.” 

“Nah, the coat I got is expensive as fuck.” 

“So is the jersey?”

“I have two of these.”

“…I will never understand you.”

The drive to Jimin’s isn’t too far, and the streets are already occupied with people in various characters. When you pass by a Ghostface costume with pink heels and a sign that says ‘This Barbie has a knife!,’ both you and your brother give it an approving laugh. 

If the atmosphere in the neighborhood was buzzing, it’s Jimin’s cul-de-sac that bursts with the biggest Halloween charm. 

Every yard around the semi-circle is chock full of decorations, from the ghoulish to the whimsical. Orange and purple lights scale whole houses, trees are covered in ghosts, and inflatable spiders and kittens rest on every surface you can see. Glee spreads throughout the whole setting as trick-or-treaters of all ages stop along the sidewalks, gawking at the views and running up to doors to procure sweets. 

It’s magical. 

But you can’t enjoy it at the moment because your brother has to park way down the main street. Which means you’re subjected to his teasing as you make the trek in enormous heels. 

Ugh. 

At least he’s carrying everything. 

“Damn, look at that house,” you point, adjusting your purse and almost teetering over.  

“That’s a shit ton of cobwebs.” 

“The lights are so nice, though.” 

“Uh huh.” 

After forever, you finally get to Jimin’s house, going through the open garage and already greeting the yells and hugs upon arrival. Some people are dressed up and some are in their regular clothes, but everyone seems chipper. 

And it’s even louder inside the house. All of you have to practically yell to hear each other. 

“Hey! You made it!” 

Damn, Jimin looks good as a vampire. 

As your brother says hi, you try super hard to not stare at his silver hair, avoiding his bare chest under that ruffled white shirt entirely. “Hey, Chim! You’re all decked out, holy shit.” 

“Ah, thank you! We both are. The lady at the Halloween place gave us a discount.”

“For what?” 

“Uhh, being cute? What else?” 

Adorable. If he went with Taehyung to get costumes, you wonder how extravagant your best friend looks. 

When you laugh, Jimin stops to look at you with his jaw dropped. “Wow, look at you, Barbie!” Turning to your brother, he teases, “You let this happen?” 

“I will throw you against the wall right now, fang boy,” he responds with no hesitation, which pulls a high cackle.

“No fighting tonight, please,” you drone, smiling while giving the handsome vampire a side hug. “Everything looks so good!” 

“Yeah? Spent all day decorating.” 

“Well, it shows.” Noting how Jimin always has great cologne, you take the trays from your brother while asking, “Where do you want these?” 

“Ah, in the kitchen! Here,” he offers, sliding them onto his puffy sleeves. “Follow me. You can see what we have.” 

His cloak brushes both your legs as you’re led into the big area, and your eyes feast on the assortment of themed desserts and drinks. 

Whoa. There’s even a bubbling pot of red punch? Jimin really has gone all out this year. 

Maybe Tae has something to do with this uptick in ambition. 

“Yoongi! You, too?” 

Huh? Him, too? 

“Yeah, it’s fucking hot.” 

Hot? What could possibly be—

Oh. 

Fucking.

Hell. 

It’s your fault for assuming it was Tae that Jimin went to the store with. It’s your fault for not even entertaining the possibility that Yoongi would dress up. 

And it’s all your fault for not being able to process what’s happening because even your own brother teases you when you cannot form words. 

You can’t help it. There’s literally no way. 

Because seeing this man up close, decked out head to toe in shiny black leather and hair properly tousled as if he just had wicked sex? 

How the fuck are you supposed to react! 

“I think you broke a wire in there somewhere,” Jimin comments through puffs of giggles, finally snapping you out of your inappropriately timed trance. “Ah, there she is!” 

Recover. Holy shit, you gotta recover.

“I just—” You gesture to the demon with your hands. “I didn’t think you’d ever dress up.” 

And Yoongi has the audacity to respond with, 

“Why?” 

“I mean. I thought you were..” Flailing for anything, you blurt, “I dunno, boring?” 

Amusement shoots out of both your brother and Jimin, carving a sickly upward curve into Yoongi’s face. When he looks away to poke his cheek, you know something’s coming.

But when he glances back and drags his eyes from your feet to your awaiting face, you're completely unprepared when he drawls, 

“And you dressed basic for what?” 

Disbelief slams your jaw straight into the ground, your little audience bent back with laughs so loud that some people around your group glance over. 

Oh, you wanna launch yourself at him so fucking bad. Wipe that stupid, smug taunt off his face. 

But there are other ways to come out victorious. And you can’t exactly do anything with your sibling so close. 

“Alright. Okay,” you hum, nodding and thinking of a thousand ways to incite revenge in private. “I’ll remember that.” 

“Won’t help you, doll.” 

Shit, did he really just call you that out loud?

Ignore it, ignore it, ignore it he’s just saying that in the open because you’re a Barbie. “Whatever, Neo.” 

Yoongi quickly smiles in confusion. “Neo? I’m a vampire!” 

“Oh, yeah, cus you suck.” 

Your brother and Jimin are full on titillated now. While one blows out air, the other plants a hand on Yoongi’s shoulder while creasing over from glee. 

And you spot your friends arriving, which turns into perfect timing for you to slowly retreat with a middle finger and a lip bite. “Bye, suckas!” 

Your brother can only shake his head before turning to grab a cup, and you barely—just barely—catch the fiendish spark in Yoongi’s eyes as he bites his grin right back. 

You can’t believe you got through that whole interaction so smoothly. 

Because every time you’ve caught peeks of Yoongi since then, your body’s reaction is downright visceral. Borderline feral.

And it reaches its peak when you get a text from the devil himself.  

Yoongi [10:02pm]: Fuck 

Shit, you can’t do this. 

If you start texting now, too? There’s no way you’re gonna be able to resist him. 

But the two drinks in your system are very smooth talkers, and you’re convinced immediately. 

You [10:02pm]: what🥺 

“Let’s go!” Yuri yells, dragging you along. 

“Where’re we going?” 

“Garage. Table’s about to be open.” 

From the backyard, it takes a minute for you all to weave through the people inside to get to the designated card game area. So you don’t get to read Yoongi’s text until you’re waiting for a table to clear. 

Yoongi [10:04pm]: You know exactly what 

You [10:04pm]: 🤪🖕

Yoongi [10:04pm]: I better not find you alone 

Fuck, you want that. Frankly, there’s literally nothing you want more right now. 

It’s been way too long since you’ve seen each other, and even more since you’ve gotten to do anything that leaves you breathless. 

So being this deprived and witnessing him in that costume? Yoongi’s the vampire but you’re the one that wants to suck the soul out of him. 

You [10:07pm]: maybe i want that 

It’s official. You can’t hold back your replies tonight even if you try. 

Between drinking and a haze of thoughts solely connected to him, you find yourself getting more and more needy. 

Yoongi [10:07pm]: You don’t 

You [10:08pm]: but shyyy 

You [10:08pm]: whyyy* 

This is bad. 

Why can’t he be super annoying instead—

Yoongi [10:10pm]: 🤷‍♂️ 

Well. 

You [10:10pm]: 😐 

Yoongi [10:10pm]: Lmaooo 

Taehyung chuckles next to you, and you immediately lock your phone while giving him a slight nudge. “Shut up…” 

“I will once you stop sexting.” 

“We are not!” 

“Uh huh. And I’m not wearing a suit.” 

Scoffing, you give him a once-over, wondering why everyone except for Yoongi decided to forego a goddamn shirt today. “What are you supposed to even be?” 

“A model.” 

He’s full of shit. “You just wanted to wear this outfit, huh.” 

“Yup.” 

Small huffs leave you both as you wait just a bit longer, and you let the night air and music lift your spirits until you get another text. 

Yoongi [10:13pm]: You look great, doll 

Why does he have to say all the right things?

You truly don’t know how you ended up here. To be able to receive compliments like this from him of all people? It’s a wonder this whole thing isn’t just one big dream. 

Fueled by the excitement and comfort only October can bring, you lean into this conversation and type a genuine reply. 

You [10:13pm]: so do you baby 

You [10:13pm]: i better not find you alone either 

Wait. 

Have you ever been that bold? 

Seems like tonight is making you a bit scary, too. 

Yoongi [10:14pm]: 👀 

And rude. 

You [10:14pm]: 😛😛😛

“Get off your phone, babe! Enjoy the night!” 

“Sorry, sorry,” you whisper, belatedly dropping your device in your purse and following everyone to scraping chairs and rustling clothes. 

The air feels even chillier at the table, and you’re thankful for the warm metal seat this time when your bare skin makes contact. Peering out of the garage, you can see that the night is still active as ever with more and more people walking around. 

Maybe poker and cool autumn weather will quell the heat swirling in your core. 

Nope. 

Even your card game can’t distract you from what happened. You still have the whole thing running through your mind, replaying Yoongi’s expressions and feeling more and more want build between your legs. 

Under a skirt that's completely the wrong length for how it feels outside.

But you try your best to focus on having fun with all of them, especially since Dom and Tae keep eyeing each other and smirking at you whenever you try to ask what’s up. 

“You know what’s up.” 

“Dom!” 

“Don’t act like we can’t see it.” 

Hiding your smile with a cup, you break, “What!” 

“Babe, you are thinking hard about something,” Dominique points out as she swishes her long white locks—a perfect Storm on your left. As she lays out cards, another comment flies out, “And I don’t like that smile you got going on.” 

“Yeah, what’s that all about!” Yuri joins in, and you pout at her high pigtails while she stares at her hand, chucking her cards in the center. 

Then Reia folds, too, her pretty nails extending the sleeves of her ninja getup so well. “Probably thinking about her boyfriend.” 

“He’s not my—”

Four pairs of eyes instantly give you a look to just give it up already, and you flounder as they all tease you in various ways. 

“Is he coming?” 

“Yeah, are we finally gonna meet him?”

“Yeah, babe,” Tae repeats, resting his smug cheek on a palm. “Are we gonna meet him?” 

Glaring, you respond to the pair of cards in your hand. “Not yet,” you answer honestly. “Call.” 

It’s you against Taehyung, and Dom flips another card in the center. 

“Hold on,” he stops. Turning to you, he bets, “If I win, we get a name.” 

What? 

Gawking, you try to send him every single signal in the universe telling him to take that back. The chills you get compound with the dropping temperatures, and you suddenly can’t move your fingers.

Even Dom is shocked trying to play fair. “Hey, we don’t have to force them.” 

But Yuri and Reia are already all for it, siding with Tae and getting excited for the face-off. 

Shit, shit, shit. Your cards are good, but you never fucking know with your opponent. Someone even more mysterious than Min Yoongi. 

Fuck it. “Fine,” you blurt, watching Tae’s eyes fully enlarge in surprise. 

Oh, shit, did he not expect you to call his bluff? 

Fuck, what if his hand is better! 

Sweating while frozen all over, you wait for Dom to flip the final card. 

Damn, damn, damn. You can just make up a name, right? You can just brush it off with a pseud and call it a night. 

But you know they’d be able to tell you’re lying. So you have to win this, you have to win…

That last card may have just saved your ass.

You and Taehyung give each other a look, and you can’t tell if he wants to beat you or is sad that he thinks he did. Either way, he looks stricken.

“Straight,” he claims, laying down his cards while Yuri and Reia cheer. 

And you breathe, checking your hand one more time before regarding him again. 

With a flourish, you reveal your cards with a boisterous, “Full house, bitches!” 

Loud groans mix with Dom’s close-call hiss of an exhale, and all the slaps on the table get the attention of everyone in the garage. 

And outside of it. 

While you’re raking in everyone’s chips, you glance over to see Jimin and Yoongi looking in from the sidewalk, some of their friends also wondering what the hell happened. 

At this, you get so shy that you don’t even acknowledge them, instead turning right back to the table and sitting down with your winnings. 

When Dom gives you a look, she asks, “You good?” 

“Yeah, yeah,” you stumble, rubbing the cold from your arms. “Let’s keep going.” 

After another shuffle and deal of cards, you finally gain the courage to look out into the driveway. 

Only to see them talking amongst their group again. 

This is agonizing. 

Why the fuck did Yoongi have to dress up? It’s doing things to your insides that you never would’ve guessed, and watching him be all casual while looking like sin incarnate isn’t helping. 

Maybe it’s the way his hair is still so ruffled, or the way his shoulders stand so broad—which never fails to destroy you.

Or maybe it’s the way some people give him the biggest heart eyes and others rope him into pictures, knowing that you’re the one that he just texted. 

Your next hand is quick to be tossed on the table, which gives you a chance to glance again. 

Of course, the thought that some people here are probably ones Yoongi’s been with before awakens darker parts of you. 

Like that girl that just caressed his arm. 

But they aren’t as powerful as before, because you’ve been reassured a thousand times over. 

He’s not like that anymore. 

But as he’s pulled in for a picture with some other Barbie’s, you’re promptly reminded that he’s still not outwardly taken, either. 

Which coaxes another, sadder side of you to come out of hiding, casting a shadow over a fun Halloween night. 

How much longer can you take being the one in the dark? 

Screw waiting to find Yoongi alone.

You’d rather be standing together. 

Activities bustle about the house while the neighborhood is very much still alive.

Some kids do brave Jimin’s scary yard and, thanks to his foresight, anyone who’s near the open doorway simply tells them to grab as much candy as they want from huge plastic cauldrons—while hiding any drinkware they might be holding. 

The only reason you know any of this is because you found yourself near his front door with your friends, and two tiny witches walk up to the porch with full buckets. 

You and Tae are the ones to greet them, with him beaming a hi and you following up with a question,  

“What’s your favorite candy?”

“Chocolate!”

“I like gummi bears.”

Ah, that might be a no-go for the second one.

Leaning forward, you rummage through one of the plastic bins. “Ooh, I know we have plenty of chocolate, but.. I don’t know if we have gummi bears out here. Tae, can you check inside?”

“Yeah! One sec.”

As he leaves, you keep searching while Reia asks them another question,

“Can we know what spells you ladies are learning?” 

One of them doesn’t respond, but the other in a frilly dress fires out an answer, 

“I’m learning how to turn boys into cats!” 

Excellent. Wide-eyed, you wholeheartedly support their decision. “That’s the best spell to learn. Can I see?” 

“Yeah!” 

Just as timing has it, Taehyung is far gone. 

But a wonderful replacement shows up in Jimin and Yoongi as they're spotted walking across the yard, and you quickly call them over. It seems they’re joined at the hip tonight. 

“What’s up!”

“Come here real quick!”

When they oblige, you check with the parents on the sidewalk and see if you’re taking too long. 

When they give you a thumbs-up, you turn back to the kids, “Alright, let’s see it!”

“Okay!”

Yoongi gives you a look, and you grin. “She’s learning a new spell.” 

As soon as the girl waves her wand, she shouts, “Turn into a cat!” 

Straightforward. Succinct. Admirable.

Jimin immediately lets out a gasp and holds paw hands in front of his face, which makes the little witch giggle like hell. 

But what Yoongi does makes everyone react, and your jaw unhinges while something wildly potent rushes through your stomach. 

The man puts fingers on his head in the shape of cat ears—something you didn’t even know he knew how to do—and in the plainest voice, lets out a low, 

“Meow.” 

Oh. God.

Not only does Jimin burst at the seams, but you, your friends, the little girl, and her quiet companion all start laughing. 

And Yoongi’s wide grin at the child almost brings tears to your eyes. 

“That’s not a cat!” she corrects while smiling, and he’s immediately affronted. 

“Yes, huh!” 

“No!” 

“Look! I have ears!” 

“No! You sound like a human!” 

“You need to keep practicing that spell then!” 

Delighted, the little girls burst into laughter again. 

Who is this man? You feel like you know more about him than you ever hoped to, and yet… Yoongi’s still a mystery. 

One beautiful, scary, amazing mystery that you will never get tired of discovering piece by piece. 

When your thoughts dissipate, you notice that he’s now aiming expectant eyes your way, and your heart beats extra extra loud. 

But quickly, you understand. Raising your arms above your head, you do the same ear-shape with your fingers, beaming when he looks satisfied and feeling full when the little ones try it, too. 

“We’re all cats now!” you exclaim, and they shout in agreement before running down the sidewalk to continue their adventure. 

You have no idea what just happened. Zero clue. 

But what you do know? 

You’re not letting that go. There’s no way Yoongi’s escaping that interaction and you’re gonna hang it over his silly old head forever. 

“I didn’t find gummi bears but we have fruit snacks—oh, they left?”

Swiveling, you regard Tae with shock. “Wait, you really looked that whole time?”

“Ah.. Yeah. Felt bad cus, umm. All the gummies in there are definitely not for kids.”

“Oh, it’s okay.” Chuckling, you give the other two boys a grateful look. “I think they left pretty happy anyway.” 

There’s one other thing you know for sure. 

Seeing how Yoongi can be with children? 

Any sanity you had left to give has been absolutely, positively vanquished.

Jimin’s whole cul-de-sac seems to always throw parties that people love to stay at. 

An hour later, it’s still packed around the semi-circle of houses, and even you are delightfully buzzed and joining in some of the action. 

But even though the alcohol is helping, you are still freezing. 

Of course, there’s no way you’re letting your brother get another told-you-so in his bucket, so you endure the cold as you watch him and Shiv challenge Yoongi and Jungkook in beer pong. 

To no one’s surprise, the youngest one has also chosen to not wear anything under his white suit. With clattering teeth, you refuse to believe he’s not shivering under that thing, too.

“Y’all took so long to win that one,” your brother shit talks early. “You ready?” 

Kook’s brows pinch as he whines. “I thought he was good at this!” 

“I am!” 

As Yoongi fires off excuses to an unconvinced Jeon, you and a couple people laugh at their spat. But it’s when he claims that he’s just rusty that your sibling interjects, 

“Oh, bullshit, Yoong’s lying! I do all the work when we duo!” 

Ah. There they go. Eyes and mouths adorably creased to hell, “The fuck you don’t!” 

“Oh, yeah? You don’t do shit!” 

“Me? What the fuck happened last time!” 

Gosh, there’s a lot of bodies walking through the backyard right now. You have to shift around as they pass your area, and what the fuck did someone brush your ass? 

You jut your head sideways to see if anyone looks guilty, but the whole crowd just keeps moving. 

Well. It wasn’t a blatant slap or anything. You definitely would’ve thrown hands if that was the case. 

Their argument comes back into focus as you shiver. 

“When?”

“At Hobi’s?”

“Okay, wait, that doesn’t count.” 

“It does—!” 

Your brother’s unannounced shot drills into the cup right in front of Yoongi’s crotch, and everyone around the table stops on a dime. 

“Can we play now?” he asks, tilting his head. “It won’t take long.” 

Shiv adjusts the red cap on his head, and it’s hilarious seeing him so serious in a full pokemon trainer costume. Especially when he shrugs at your opponents while they pin him with annoyance. 

If you weren’t freezing, you would’ve laughed a little more. Your arms are fully caging you in at this point, and it’s hard to even rub your legs together. 

More people walk through the area, and you have to shuffle backwards again to make room as they pass by. 

“You look so good, Barbie!” one of the girls praises, and you compliment her matching aesthetic just as genuinely.

Your brother was right yet again. 

There are plenty of pink and white outfits walking around. 

Unfortunately, this combo that you decided on pulls eyes the whole night, all of which you are choosing to ignore. 

There’s only one person you dressed up for today. Everyone else can take a damn hike. 

Maybe this is why you’ve gravitated towards your brother and his friends instead of wandering more. Taehyung and the girls went back to playing cards, but you wanted to watch this game despite going solo. 

Oh, well. There’s a whole group of you watching and you’re getting a little warmth from body heat now. 

“Course it won’t take long.” Yoongi rubs a wrist, and you puff out air when he gives Shiv flack. “Not with him on your team.” 

“Hey!” 

The game commences, and everyone’s missing cups by the slightest mistakes. But one by one, they get set aside as shots finally start falling for Shiv and your brother, and pretty soon they’re down to the last one while Yoongi and Jungkook have a bunch. 

Frankly, you don’t exactly remember how it all went down. Because all you can think about is how attractive Yoongi looks when he competes.

And watching him dip soaking fingers in water cups isn’t helping your mental in the slightest.

Fucking hell, you didn’t think this through. The price of finally getting to be around him? You can’t do much else except watch.  

And your self-control has never been tested so egregiously in your life. 

“Any last words?” your brother asks, his partner rolling an airy ball in his fingers. 

And Yoongi takes a deliberate sip of his liquor before responding with a drone, “Yeah, hurry up.” 

Smiling, you feel pity for the vampire. Because he’s about to lose whether Shiv makes this or not—which he in fact sinks with no issue. 

Your brother only shrugs as people yell around the table, and you taunt Yoongi with your eyes as he turns to poke his cheek, fishing out the shot with long fingers. 

Still a goddamn menace. 

“I thought you were good at basketball,” Jungkook complains in a huff, roping his attention. 

“I am.” 

“So do something!” 

“Am I holding a basketball?” 

Jeon groans, but Yoongi quickly eyes Shiv with all the confidence in the world as he switches his attitude with a resigned, 

“Fine.” 

And he makes a quick dagger shot, too. 

All of you react as mister basketball holds lazy arms out, and your sibling calms the crowd down with swipes. “Fluke! Nah, hey, that was a fluke!” 

“Don’t listen to him.” 

“Okay then, do it again, bitch.” Immediately, your brother hits a fast one into the same last cup, and people erupt again while Yoongi and Jungkook regard the solo with dread. 

Your laugh seems to reach both their ears, because they both look at you with different faces, 

“Whose side are you on!” 

“You got something to say?” 

“I’m not on anyone’s side,” you clarify with a smile. “You all suck.” 

While Yoongi cocks a brow, your sibling calls you out with a knowing laugh, “You wanna shoot for them?” 

“No, I’ll make it.” 

He chortles again, and you get the strangest look from his best friend—someone that doesn’t know you’ve had plenty of experience doing this with your brother when you were both bored at home. 

Is that pride? Curiosity? An intriguing mix of both? 

Whatever it is, you feel wings flutter about your stomach and fight to keep your emotions internalized.

“Just lose already,” your sibling taunts. “Then we can do that thing Jimin’s talking so much shit about.” 

“The haunted house?” 

“Yeah, that.” 

After both guys fail to make a comeback, you watch your brother and Shiv gloat as much as they possibly can. 

And you’re about to move forward when another group of people blocks your way, damn near tripping as you step back. 

While you’re waiting, a guy spots you and throws his arms up in recognition. “Hey! What’s up, how’ve you been!” 

Huh. 

Who is this man? Are you supposed to know him? 

“Hi!” you call back, deciding to stay polite more than anything else. 

Truly, you kinda feel bad because you have no idea who this is oh he’s going in for a hug. Okay. Strange but that’s whatever okay whoa it’s a full hug. Ah, he’s really squeezing you. Alright. Interesting. 

As he lets go, you try to make small talk and ask how he’s doing. Because you feel terrible for not… remembering him...

He’s already walking away. 

And you feel the most uncomfortable you’ve felt in months. 

Umm.

What the fuck was that? Did he know you or not? 

…Did he just want a hug to feel your tits?

Motherfucker.

Your eyes find Yoongi as soon as you feel an ick, now exceedingly cold both inside and out. All this time, you’ve avoided all the stares and only smiled while politely leaving others behind. 

So to feel that disrespected just because you were considerate makes you want to hurl.  

But when Yoongi moves to strip off his coat, you freeze for another reason. 

Because he’s watching that dude leave. 

Looking pissed. 

Something deep inside of you rumbles to life, and you can’t explain what it feels like wait what’s he doing now? Why’s he walking right towards you why is he—

He’s not—

What is he doing?

He’s not gonna—not in—not in front of everyone, right? Not in front of your brother, right? 

Right?

…This is bold as fuck. 

Your denial is so substantial that you don’t even move when he gets close, handing you incredibly warm material and looking murderous in a black tee and pants. 

“Here,” he offers, voice hardened gravel. “Put it on, doll.” 

Damn. No subtlety this time?

You don’t even wanna know what your brother could possibly look like right now. All you feel are several eyes watching your every move, including some that aren’t particularly friendly. 

But you whisper out a quiet thank you before he shakes his head. 

“I should’ve done this sooner.”

“You didn’t know.” 

“Doesn’t matter.”

When you take one look at his expression, you drop any other sentences you were gonna say. 

Yoongi is actually furious.  

Your stomach churns up a flurry of emotions as he turns, nodding to your brother that’s looking over with Shiv. 

Ah, fuck. Did all of them see that, too? 

They don’t need to do anything drastic. You’re fine if just.. feeling a little violated. 

Okay maybe you’d look the other way if they avenged you.  

“Y’all good over there?”

“Yeah.” 

Oh. Your brother didn’t see a thing. 

That’s probably best for everyone involved. 

“Let’s go then!” he yells, finishing his drink while Shiv puts all the cups back in place.

And Yoongi stays next to you, not caring if people give him looks. “Come on,” he mutters. “Just stay with us.” 

“Okay.” 

No other words are spoken as you walk out the backyard. 

But when Jimin pops up with Taehyung and your friends, Yoongi pulls him aside while you ask how the poker games went. 

The usual comments spring up immediately. Yuri complains about Taehyung being too good, and Dom and Reia quickly tell her she needs to work on her face. 

Laughing the edge off, you see your brother checking his phone. 

And just like the shadowed expression Jimin now has on his face, the hand your sibling smoothes over his head doesn’t seem like a good sign.

The haunted house was amazing, and it was a wonder you got through it in your shoes. 

But you need a break after all that screaming. And you already spent a lot of time saying goodbye to your friends before they left. 

So instead of joining Taehyung and his group in conversation, you keep to your own thoughts, sipping on punch while watching balloons cross kitchen tiles. 

Ironically, you need anything to get through the loneliness. 

Even more people latched onto Yoongi earlier. Which you should’ve seen coming after his whole ensemble was revealed. 

But he had to keep them entertained because he isn’t taken. Not officially; not to them. There couldn’t be hints of him being cuffed, especially when your brother could see him at any moment. 

Did you feel jealous? Upset? 

To your pleasant surprise, not really. 

Because unlike New Years, there’s been more history between the both of you that can never be repeated anywhere else. Ties that have woven between your bones and connections that you have no plans to sever. 

You cherish them. And you’d like to think that he does, too. 

All the flirting just sucked to see up close, though. 

A sudden tap on your shoulder makes you jump. 

“Fuck, sorry. You okay?”

As you see your brother and not another stranger, relief floods your system. And you hate how jumpy you are. 

So you lie a bit. “Yeah, why?” 

Hmm. He looks… out of sorts. You’re halfway into questioning the bend in his brows when he quickly asks, 

“You good to go home with your friends?” 

Wait, huh? That’s new. “Oh. They left but Tae’s here. You okay?” 

“Something came up at work so I’m heading back.” 

“The fuck? On Halloween?” 

He shakes his head before running a hand over his chin. “Yeah, I dunno. But if you don’t wanna leave just have him bring you back.” 

Damn. He’s not even concerned about you staying? What the hell is going on? 

And thinking about things… do you wanna stay anyway?

Looking out into the house, you do a quick sweep before deciding that you’re gonna tough this night out. Taehyung’s still here, and you can hang with his circle. 

You’re staying. Wishing for the best, you let him go. “K. Hope it’s all good.” 

“Nah, it’s fine. I just have to clean up someon's mess.” Your sibling squeezes your shoulder in a final goodbye before stepping away. Pointing to the ground, he warns, “No one better try shit with you.” 

“Go,” you usher with finality. “Text me when you’re home.” 

“K.”  

He heads out, and you’re left with your cup that you forgot you even had. 

Staring into it, you somewhat wish you heard a familiar laugh in your ears. Throwing yourself back to that New Years night when Yoongi hung back in the kitchen just to talk. 

Maybe he’s still preoccupied. Even after you gave him back his coat, ignoring his look of confusion.

After another half hour of feeling alone, with no vampire man in sight, you admit you're a little defeated. 

Maybe you should have left, too. 

Your purse buzzes, and you slowly fish out your phone while not looking at anything in particular.

But when you focus on your screen, your heart squeezes in double time. 

Yoongi [12:43am]: Where are you?

Feeling a mix of emotions—relief, confusion, anything in between—you text back. 

You [12:43am]: kitchen. but i was about to leave..

Yoongi [12:44am]: Don’t

Yoongi [12:44am]: Gimme a sec 

This is it. 

This is why you stayed. 

Because one thing Yoongi has always proven to you is that he will make time. Whether it takes him a day, three months, or two hours. 

Yoongi [12:50am]: Come up, doll

And you will wait forever. 

However long it takes.

You [12:51am]: ok

It’s a short trip up the stairs from near the kitchen, and you wonder what’s gonna greet you when you get to the second level.

Are people up there? Is he just telling you to come so he could be near you? Or is this a clandestine meeting where he steals you from the night like the fiend he’s dressed as? 

All of these thoughts wander about your head like specters. 

But as soon as you reach the top, all you see is Yoongi, glancing up from his phone before stowing it in a coat pocket. 

So unfair.

In the obnoxiously red and orange lighting, he looks even more devastating, standing like he’s been haunting your dreams for years. 

And you hate how small your voice is when you greet him with a measly, “Hi..” 

Very much unlike yours, Yoongi’s energy is loud. Powerful. He takes his time, consuming you with his gaze and making you feel so, so shy in heels that are somehow still on. 

“Come here.” 

“You sure?” 

He hesitates. 

And with a heavy heart, you wonder if he has the same question. 

But he walks toward you instead, and you feel vulnerable. Nervous. 

What’s he doing? What are either of you doing?

There’s a lot of people here still, and it’s not like they don’t know you. And they clearly know Yoongi quite fucking well.

God. You hate this uncertain, murky feeling. Because it could be solved so simply, so quickly. 

But nothing in life is ever quite that easy for you, nor for him. So the paranoia lingers and lingers. 

However. 

When this man leads you away from the stairs, your fear spins into thrill, your nervousness taking on a new meaning. 

“Yoongi…?” 

With a shuffle of leather, you’re positioned right in a corner, breath catching because holy shit anyone could come up at any moment. 

Why is Yoongi not nearly as concerned as you feel? Is he not jittery with nerves? 

Judging by his lowered lids and unbothered line of lips, no, he is not. 

As he looks around, warmth from his coat slowly swallows you on both sides. His hair cascades forward; his breath can be heard in the space between.

And you really do feel like he steals you away—from the night, the party, the world.

“Now what,” you whisper in pure nervousness. “Gonna bite me? Drink me? Suck me… Dry…”

His lips ghost along your neck, and you grant him all the access you have when he murmurs, 

“Is that what you want?”

Your check for understanding is a sigh, “Want…hmm?”

“Me to suck you dry.”

You know what he means. And you’re already fighting for air as your exhale shakes. “Yes,” you admit. “Lemme do it, too.” 

His dark hum rumbles your core. “Uh uh,” he rejects, one arm separating you from the rest of the room. “Only good girls can do that.”

That’s unfair. Fuck, that is really unfair.

You pant before gripping his coat in your fingers. “I’ll be good.” 

“You’ll be what?” he asks, licking a small stripe along your throat and making you flinch. 

“Fuck.” Your breath is harsh now. Very, very harsh. “A good girl.”

“Good.” 

You feel the slightest nick of teeth as he lunges into your neck, and you have to clamp your lips shut to keep from mewling out loud. 

Holy fuck, you’re already so wet.

There’s no way Yoongi can suck you dry at this point. Certainly not with the limited amount of time you have.

And the motherfucker knows it, his laugh pulsating down your spine. “So sensitive.”

“Yoongi—”

Again, he attacks, sucking hard once before running his tongue along the sting. 

Thoroughly overwhelmed, you dissolve into mush. Your legs buckle under the pleasure, sparks of desire firing along your limbs as your ankles work double to keep you upright. “Baby...”

“You taste so fucking good.” 

More. You need more and you need it now. “I wanna—”

Without warning, his lips finally find yours, arms fully encasing you in leather as he slams both hands on the wall. 

“Yoo—”

And your heart leaps into the kiss while your fingers zip right to his face, tugging him in until your noses smush. 

For someone with a million concerns before, you’re devouring him without any shits given and it’s magnetic. Electric. Magic. Sparks zip down your skin, pebbling your nipples and sending your toes in curls. 

Hints of whisky and smoke pepper your tongue, and you know your breath proved similar if just a bit more reserved.

But you can tell something’s off.

He’s holding back.

Why? Why are his hands still firmly on the wall? Why is he keeping his distance even though you’re standing right here?

If you’ve been fiending to touch him the whole night, he had to be feeling the same way.

So what’s with the sudden hesitation?

Your body thrums with need, yearning for those large palms to roam and venture across every inch. Aching for him to erase that stupid hug from earlier in a way only he can. 

“Baby,” you whisper. “Please.” 

“Please what.” 

“I need you.” 

“I’m right here.” 

“No, I”—you grip one of his wrists—“Please touch me.” 

“In here?” He pauses, pinning you with concern. “You sure?” 

Swallowing, you take in the music and conversations downstairs, hearing laughs and other exclamations. 

Were they always that loud?

“I’m doing this for your own good, doll.” 

Heart stuttering hard, you question, “Why?” 

Yoongi only lets out a huff. “Cus…” Leaned in fully, his hot breath fans your face, all of his dark syllables drenching you in hellfire, 

“If I touch you, I’m not gonna stop.” 

“Fuck,” you rush out, breathing so hard your chest billows out. “I want that.”

“You don’t.”

Fuck yes, you do. You aren’t letting another chance pass by. You’re feasting on him whether it’s for two seconds or one thousand, and he’s gonna do the same to you. 

Because as much as he’s holding back, you can tell he wants nothing but to tear you apart. A monster in the red lights strung around the game room.

And you’ll let him.

Consequences be damned. 

“I do,” you finally admit with a whoosh. “I don’t give a shit right now, Yoongi, just do it—”

Any other words are snatched from your mouth as you’re pinned against the wall, your reward in the form of rough skin and thick leather sliding all along your sides. 

Immediately, the coil in your belly rumbles to life, tightening click by thrilling click as you tug him in even closer.

Between kisses, you grit out how stupidly attractive he looks, and his chuckles are so dark that you feel them shake your core.

“Thought I was boring.”

Another groan into his mouth. “You know I didn’t mean that.”

“Say sorry then.”

It’s your turn to giggle, “And if I don’t?”

Fingers ghost along your throat before they squeeze in warning. “Try it.”

Attempting a whine, you press your shoulders back into the wall, fingers still clinging to his dark shirt. “I kinda… I kinda want to.” 

“I know you do.” He shoves one of your legs away with a strong thigh, pushing his weight forward and accusing, “Wanna be a brat so bad, huh.”

Desire is doing wonders for your confidence. You’re not gone, but you’re influenced enough to let your thoughts flow. 

All you needed was the last hit of this man’s magnetism. “Wanna be a lot of things for you..” 

Amusement rumbles out like thunder. “Like what.”

Giggling, you admit, “I didn’t dress like this for nothing.”

“I know.” He kisses you in a way that has you swooning. “I could get used to this.” 

“This wouldn’t get old?” 

“Fuck no.” His hands move straight to your ass. “Not if it’s you.”

Confused, you pout in a whine. “You said it was basic.”

“It is.” He goes right for your neck for another feast. “And it’s fuckin’ hot.” 

He then nips your skin in earnest, tugging his name out of your throat and causing you to claw into his hair.

“That guy just wanted to feel me,” you suddenly sigh, hating how you’re still thinking about it even now. 

“I know.” Yoongi stops before watching your eyes. With a finger on your chin, he checks, “You okay?”

“Just make me forget it.”

He keeps his gaze on you for a moment more, forehead pressing against yours before he vows, “You will. He won’t.” 

And your lips are fully captured before you can respond. 

You missed this. You missed this so fucking bad and you’re pretty sure you’re saying everything out loud but you don’t mind. Yoongi deserves to hear it and you are gonna live this out to the fullest.

If he doesn’t hear you, he certainly feels you. In the way you rake at his hair, tug at his chest, sling your arms around his beautiful neck.

But your frantic actions are stopped when he growls,

“Fuck, you shouldn’t’ve come up here.” 

“Wait, why—”

“Cus now I’m—Fuck it, come on.”

Before your mind catches up, your body is being rushed into the nearest door: a guest room that’s surprisingly not occupied. 

“Yoongi, what—” 

He holds a finger on his lips before peeking through the door, and he shuts it with a click when he seems convinced. 

And you’re even more alone with the demon of your dreams—now shrouded in bright white from the string lights in this space.

You have no choice but to submit to his hands, stomach flipping as he seizes your lips with newfound energy. When you respond in kind, he backs you up until your legs hit the guest bed, setting off another alarm in your fizzing brain.

“Baby, you sure?”

“I won’t do much.” Yoongi lowers you down, steadying himself on an elbow. “Do you trust me?” 

“Yes.” His gaze is steady on yours. “Nervous, though.” 

Because it’s true. Even if your brother isn’t in the house, there’s a high possibility one of his friends walks through that door. One of Yoongi’s friends, even. 

“We don’t have to, doll.” 

And if you’re honest… 

The thrill of it is enticing.

“We can.” 

“I got us,” he assures with a kiss, now grinning like mad. “Lemme live this out just once.” 

A bit shy, you bite your lip to combat your nerves. And the million butterflies raging in your ribcage. “And what would that be.” 

“Not telling.” 

Of course. “You suck.” 

Puffs of mirth leave his mouth before he consumes you, and you feel unbelievably scandalous and loving every second. 

Because you saw Yoongi leave the door unlocked. There’s no recovering if someone opens it without you both hearing them, because the closet is opposite from the bed. You will absolutely not get there in time. 

Be it the holiday itself, or the fact that Yoongi’s positively enjoying himself, you feel more enthralled by the danger than you’ve ever been. 

And the fluttering in your chest triples when he lifts your tee. “Baby—!”

“Chill, love,” he laughs, a glint in his eye as he kisses your bra. “Never done this before?” 

“No, but—fuck.” 

Your soft moan stems from him slipping your bra down, licking at your chest and groaning at your scent. 

“God, you’re so perfect.” 

Fervently disagreeing, you reply so lightly, “Not at all.” 

“You are.” Another kiss to your lips before he moves down to your throat, squeezing one of your breasts with purpose. His weight feels heavenly on your torso, which you label the most ironic given how sinful he looks. “Couldn’t fucking wait to get you alone.” 

Fucking hell, do you feel the same. Truthfully, you didn’t think you’d even get the chance. As you arch into his chest, your bare skin heats under his mountain of dark clothes. “Wanted to be with you all night…” 

“Same.” The next kiss proves deep, and he slides a hand under your head to claim as much of you as he can. His lips leave yours with a pop before he grips you with conviction. “Fuck, you should’ve been.” 

Oh. 

You know why he’s holding you so hard. 

And it touches the deepest, softest parts of your soul. 

Gently holding his taut wrist, you whisper, “It’s okay, baby.” 

His eyes stay closed, blocking you from hearing anything that he could be thinking. 

But it’s your turn to lift his chin with a finger, and you reassure him with everything you have, 

“Nothing happened. Don’t worry, okay?” 

Yoongi still doesn’t answer, which makes you sad. One dude shouldn’t ruin both of your moods hours after the fact. He can eat shit and Yoongi deserves to be the one enjoying a perfect night. 

So you vow to make that reality. 

“Besides,” you continue, waiting until he finally looks at you. When he does, you slyly smooth both hands over your breasts, pushing them together right in front of his face. “These are yours, right?”

Like a switch abruptly flipped, Yoongi’s whole demeanor changes on a dime. 

Hungry eyes rake over your chest before he plants a kiss on your fingers before anything else. “What else is mine.” 

Your cunt quakes at the question, making you drag one of his hands down to the side of your ass. “This,” you whisper, biting back glee as he grabs right at it. 

His mouth hovers over yours now, voice so low it sounds more like distant thunder, “What else, doll.” 

And whatever made you so bold washes away in an instant. Because you know what you wanna say but it’s the hardest one to let fly. 

Of course, Yoongi knows this. It’s the only reason he’s being so cheeky about it now. “That it?” he asks with a lilt. “You sure?” 

Gnawing your lip, you shake your head, garnering more and more courage to tell him one last answer. 

“Don’t be shy,” he orders through a wicked grin. “Tell me.” 

Just say it. All you have to do is whip it out of your mouth and you can get on with it—

A bunch of voices start getting louder and louder from outside the door, and Yoongi reacts before you can process what to do. 

Tee shoved back on and skirt rumpled to hell, you’re quickly rushed to the closet, thankful that Jimin’s house is fucking enormous and gives every bedroom double-doored enclosures for clothes. 

Conversation gets even closer. Someone is definitely coming in holy shit shit shit. 

Adrenaline courses through your veins as you settle on a sidewall, and the fact that there’s enough room for you to stand sideways is enough to distract your harrowing thoughts. 

But Yoongi shuts the doors with practiced ease, dousing the space in darkness with only small strips of light to illuminate. 

So fucking unfair. 

Just him peeking through the crack in the doors makes you suffer, chains dangling from his chest and the mischievous glint in his eyes giving you pain. 

Why does his side profile have to be so perfect? Why is this bad boy adjacent version of him enough to send you into orbit? 

Suddenly, two voices burst into the room. 

And you recognize both of them. 

“—like you said, right?” 

“I know, but…” 

It’s Tae. 

And Jimin. 

“Then hey,” you hear your friend say with hope. “It’s okay.” 

The coincidence of those words in that room does not get past you. 

“You really think so?” 

There’s a bit of silence before Taehyung responds, but you suddenly get distracted by someone much, much closer. 

Because Yoongi’s slowly roaming a finger along the hem of your skirt, hooking it in and slowly tugging you forward what the fuck!

When your wide eyes meet his, you can tell he’s thoroughly enjoying this. And you have to clamp your mouth shut when he casually starts feeling over your shirt.  

What the fuck is he doing! 

This man is going to be the end of you. 

“So yes. Let’s go back down, yeah?” 

“Okay… Just give me a moment.” 

Delirium. You’re approaching delirium as Yoongi now watches you suffer, and you buckle when he travels under your tee—up, and up, and impishly ducking his thumb under your bra. 

And you almost can’t deal with the feeling. 

Because your senses are upped to the highest setting, body on full alert and having to keep quiet when at his mercy. 

You feel legitimately wild, mad, drunk off Yoongi’s presence alone. There are literally people on the other side of thin wood and he’s driving you up every closet wall in the house. 

Out of your mind, you aim for his neck when you launch your own silent ambush. 

And it’s his turn to suffer when you grab at his chains, because you tug him enough to get access to his neck as soon as you hear your friend again. 

“Even this room looks nice and it's unused. Seriously, you did a good job.” 

“Most of it was your idea.” 

“Me? I only suggested it because I knew you could do it.” 

Yoongi’s breath puffs over your shoulder, and he buries his head in your tee while you lick and suck him with a vengeance. His hands grapple your hips, taking no time in circling back over your ass. 

“Thanks. Okay, I’m ready.” 

“Finally. It was getting boring in here.” 

A laugh tinkers out before Jimin hums in confusion. 

“Weird. Thought I told people to not touch this bed.” 

“You just sat on it.” 

“I didn’t sit on that side.” 

Taehyung responds right as you grope Yoongi’s crotch, and his body locks so hard you flinch at his grip.  

“It’s probably nothing. The bed’s still made.” 

“Yeah, you’re right.” 

Mercifully, the guest door opens again before shutting, and you’re left in the weighty silence and faint bass of music coming from downstairs. 

Adrenaline still at its peak. 

“You’re gonna pay for that.” 

“Says you,” you pant, mewling when his lips latch onto your neck for the umpteenth time. “What do we do now?” 

After another suck, Yoongi lifts his head. “With what?” 

“This,” you clarify, gesturing to the closet space. “We have to leave, right?” 

“Do you want to?” 

You pause. 

If you leave now, you can sneak out of the room and no one will ever know you spent seven minutes in heaven with Min Yoongi. 

But if you stay… 

“Not really,” you whisper in admittance. “You?”

“Fuck no.” 

Your giggles end up in his mouth when he claims you, and you grab at his chains in earnest, tugging him closer before raking impatient fingers through his ruffled locks. 

And you’re already fine with this situation. Making out with this man in a closet? Who would’ve thought you would have this opportunity in the history of ever? 

So when you feel wandering fingers between your legs, your reaction comes out a high mewl. “Wait—What are you—”

“Careful, doll,” Yoongi quells. “Gotta keep that mouth shut, yeah?” 

You nod before realizing he probably can’t see, so you whisper an affirmative before slamming your lips shut. 

Because one touch of his fingers on your covered slit has you already losing it. 

A manicured hand slaps over your mouth as you widen your legs, gripping his coat with the other as he surrounds you mentally and physically. All you can think about is the way he’s calmly shifting your panties, expertly sliding over your cunt and chuckling right in your ear. 

“You’ve been this wet this whole time?” 

Gasping, you hum out a yes, and Yoongi laughs the scariest you've ever heard him,

“Nah, we’re fucking in here.” 

Holy fuck, what? 

“Baby,” you plead in his ear, wanting him in every way possible but knowing you don’t have a condom. “We can’t.” 

“Why not?” 

“We don’t have—”

“Yeah, we do.” When he senses your confusion, he peeks out the closet door before... leaving. 

What the fuck! What is he doing why is he going for a casual stroll with a boner right now? 

Oh, he’s back already. But you’re still holding your heart with a goddamn fist. 

When Yoongi holds one up, he laughs. “I actually didn’t know if he had some up here, by the way.” 

“Sure you didn’t.” 

He smirks before pocketing the package, grabbing your face and kissing all the lingering fright from your features. His tongue slides all along yours before he sucks, and his teeth drag over your plush when he lets go. “You down?” 

Drunk off his continuously great make-out sessions, you slur out, “Hmm?” 

“We don’t have to.” 

Your smile is automatic. Knowing Yoongi’s still asking even though he was dead set on it makes giving him the go-ahead even easier. 

But you both hear another smatter of activity in the game room outside. And it seems like people are starting to use the pool table. 

Fuck. 

Do you really go for it? 

You’re gonna have to be silent as the grave if you do, because this will be the most sordid position you can be found in. 

…Fuck it. Screw it. It’s Halloween and you’re dancing with the devil. 

“Yes we do,” you scoff. “But if you break my heels we’re gonna fight.” 

His quiet bout of laughs makes you melt, and his fingers feel positively intoxicating when they find your cunt again. 

Your shoulders hit the wall with a soft bump as you arch, back to sewing your mouth closed and smushing your head in his clothes. His name slips out on your breaths, and his growls make you quiver with more and more impatience, 

“So fucking wet.” 

Fuck. 

“Gonna take this dick so well.” 

Nope. You can’t wait anymore. You don’t care who the fuck is out there, you’re folding and folding fast. 

“Please, baby,” you pant. “I need you. Now.” 

Yoongi obliges immediately, spinning you around and pinning your front against the wall. 

Well, you think he’s on the same page. 

Until he clamps a hand over your mouth before fingering you from behind holy fuck you might come any moment now. 

Your hands slide into fists on the wall as you moan in his fingers, shoving your ass back to glean as much delicious friction as you can. 

“There you go,” Yoongi praises. “Just like that.” 

You’re gonna come. You’re already gonna come and he’s hitting every fucking spot to speed up the process. It’s almost unbelievable how quickly he can launch you off the edge, but you suspect this time has something to do with the thrill of your whole situation. 

You feel bad. 

And it feels fantastic. 

“Babe,” you whisper, turning your head. “I’m already close.” 

When you clasp a hand around his wrist, he finally finally finally grants you into heaven’s gates. You feel him let up, and you wait with tiny shakes as he rips the condom pack open with ease. The clink of his belt tickles your ears just right, and you quickly think about other dark things. 

After a moment and more clothes shuffling, you feel his hands slide along your hiked up skirt before gripping your ass, never failing to worship your body and making you feel fucking pretty. 

When he leans forward, his warm shirt and chilly chains on your bare skin alone push you even further. “Hands over that mouth, doll,” he rasps in your ear. “Can’t be loud for me this time.” 

“Mmhmm.”

“Good girl.” 

As soon as you do what you’re told, you regret not pressing down harder. 

Because Yoongi plunges into you so smoothly that your moan almost flows right out of your fingers. 

Holy shit you really were that wet. But he's still so big. So, so big, and filling you too well fuck are you being too loud because it feels so fucking—

“Thought you were just gonna dip without saying bye?”

Oh, fuck.

Yoongi did not wait until he was inside of you to say that.

“Think you’d just show up looking cute and talk some shit, huh.”

Damn it. He did. Fuck, fuck, fuck, he’s a demon and you have nowhere to run now. 

Delightfully frightened, you shake your head in denial. Repeatedly and full of terror.

“Show me up then.”

He stops all his movements, and you’re left to your own devices. Stranded on his dick with only the wall and your heels to support you.

Oh, he’s a killer. 

And he’s all yours.

Thrusting back, you start slow, groaning into your hand at how large he is. It’s a wonder you can even move, and your jaw unhinges when you feel his dick hit a certain spot just right.

Again, and again, you fuck him as deep as you can take, slamming your ass into his pelvis and finding pride in the divots he’s sinking into your cheeks.

Yoongi’s still unhelpful, but you can tell he’s breaking. His grip is getting harder, his minuscule groans lower and more forced. Even the tiniest curse makes you preen, and you throw a look over your shoulder to hear him better.

Which is the worst best thing to do. 

“Fuck, doll.”

With quickness, he rams himself into you, a sweaty hand clasping right over yours just as you yelp.

“We aren’t finished with that,” he promises through gritted teeth, and he takes over before you can process what that means. 

And his pace is relentless, pumping into you so well that every thrust catapults you across space and time. 

You’re outright panting now, feeling him deep in your guts and the strong lines of his forearm pressed into your chest. 

“Breathe in for me.”

And you do, feeling his hand close around your throat while fingers lodge themselves inside your mouth. 

Fuck! 

Your eyes roll so far back you can probably see him if you had light, and you’re mercifully let go before you need to gasp for oxygen. 

“Again.”

When you obey, Yoongi chokes you again, and you’re finding it euphoric as he clasps your column even harder. Every time he does, you clench around his cock, and a warm feeling washes over you every time he lets go. 

“How’s that feel, baby girl,” he asks, humming in approval when you drag a reply out,

“So good.” 

“Good.” He kisses your sweaty cheek before easily admitting, “I like it, too.”

Stilling, you turn as far as you can to regard him, asking in the tiniest voice, “You do?”

He darts his eyes to your lips before nodding. “You can try it next time.”

You smile, not knowing why you feel shy in this position of all things. But maybe you’re just happy that he said that. Because he didn’t need to admit something so intimate in the moment. 

“We’ll do whatever you want,” you vow in a murmur, closing your eyes when he captures your lips.

After sliding a tender hand down your cheek, he whispers, “Turn around.”

You immediately do, untwisting your back and relieving the tension in your neck. When you slowly move to face Yoongi again, he steadies you the whole way. 

And as soon as you’re settled, he kisses you so hard you fall back against the wall again. 

Hands come up to shove your tee upward and unhook your bra, and he gropes at your chest before ducking to take a nipple in his hot mouth.

Surging with pulses, you bury your face to muffle your moans, squeezing your eyes shut from pure ecstasy.

How the fuck are you doing this? With him? If you travelled back in time to tell yourself that this was gonna happen at a party someday, you would’ve been told to piss off. 

“Love these tits,” Yoongi grits. “Fuck.”

“I didn’t wanna wear a bra.”

He immediately chuckles. Darkness and sin brushing your chest. “I would’ve left.” 

You hum in mirth, knowing exactly what he means by that. As much as you wanted to tease him, you know that decision would’ve immediately gotten him in trouble. 

And definitely other people, too.

But the more he keeps licking and sucking, the more you feel it coming. Release. The inferno. It’s on the horizon and you’re just awaiting the crash of relentless deluge.

“There you go,” he rumbles. “You gonna come?”

You pant out before nodding, every muscle thrumming like hell. 

And he orders low in your ear, yanking your orgasm right out of your very center,

“Then come for me, doll.”

Your body wracks with jolts, stabs of lightning hitting every limb and locking them at hard angles. A rush of pleasure surges through, filling the closet with a heady scent that makes Yoongi groan pride into your neck.

“Uh huh,” he praises. “Still wanna talk shit?”

And you do. Tears leak from your eyes as you nod, orgasm riding farther than ever, waves unending and your mental shore nowhere in sight. 

“Course you do.” Yoongi claims your mouth. “Fuckin’ love it.”

Still, you feel pulled, lost to the universe that’s him and him alone, and you want to reciprocate the same pleasure that he’s providing. 

“Baby, I’m still—”

“Fuck—”

You don’t know what comes over your brain, or your body, or whatever else runs on autopilot. But you use the rest of your strength to shove him back, pushing him until he hits the other wall of the closet.

“D—”

You rush out a question before lowering yourself, “Did you come?”

“No, but—”

“Take it off.”

Stunned, Yoongi rushed to unsheath the wrapper, rubbing himself before you take control. 

Nothing will stop you at this point. Anyone could come in and you’d still be pleasuring Yoongi until he breaks. 

Because you want this. He’s earned this. 

Your knees hit the ground right as you take him in your mouth, tasting the strange mix of salt and latex but knowing it won’t be for long. 

This is what you’ve been wanting to do since he gave you his goddamn coat, and your imagination has been so vastly outdone by reality that you feel like none of it’s truly happening. 

When you flick your eyes upward, you get another thing you’ve been yearning for. 

Yoongi is fighting for his life. 

You can barely see that his eyes are squeezed tight, and you catch a tiny glimpse of his mouth agape before he bites it shut. When you suck in hard, his whole body flinches, and for the first time that night, he’s the one with a hand over his mouth. 

And you feel so fucking elated that you welcome the hot strings of cum painting your mouth, groaning around him and giggling when his essence slips right down your throat. 

He’s promising dark and wonderful things above your head, and you feel him grip your chin as soon as you pop off of his dick.

“Open that mouth.”

You show him, hoping he can tell in the dim light that there’s no drop left on your tongue.

“Goddamn.”

You’re tugged up before your mouth is smothered by his, and you teeter on your heels for balance as he whips you back against a solid surface.

It looks like he wants to say something. 

But nothing comes out as he clenches a fist next to your head. 

As you both calm, only your breaths fill the closet, your scents of passion clinging onto coats and jackets, all of which you could’ve worn in place of the one he gave you. 

But Yoongi did something so bold tonight that it was only natural for you to want to take the same risk. 

As he kisses you slow, you respond in kind, rolling your lips with his and enjoying coming down from this high with him every time. 

Shouts and yells from the game outside pierce into the closet, but both of you exist in your own little world. With you tracing the lines of his shirt and him gently straightening your clothes. 

“Thank you,” you whisper.

“For what, doll,” he asks in return. 

“Making me yours.” When you slightly pull on his jacket, you hope he gets what you mean. “Even if no one else knows.” 

His tiny peck on your cheek is genuine and, if you aren’t mistaken, a little prideful. “They’re going to, doll,” he vows into your skin. “I told you, you're gonna get tired of me.” 

"Lies," you sigh in peace. “So I get Halloween pictures with you next time, too?” 

Yoongi freezes, standing straight before fishing out his phone. 

And you fuss up a quiet storm before he lets you fix yourself, smiling at his camera as he squishes his sweaty, satisfied as fuck face right next to yours. 

If anyone ever comes across those pictures on his phone, you will never ever tell them the context. They'll never know why your makeup looks like that, or why his hair is even more haphazard, or why you both look way too happy to be in a closet.

Even if they frightened you to death. 

Some time later—and after a stressful time sneaking out with a smug Yoongi in tow—you find yourself downstairs and heading out the door with Taehyung. 

After he asks where you were, you simply tell him the truth: you were with Yoongi. And end it at that. 

With one look at your neck, he hums in amusement.

And you immediately slap a hand over it in shock, embarrassed to hell when he laughs.

But you let Tae tease you all the way home, knowing that you also caught a small glimpse of his life with Jimin. Not that you’ll tell him that until months from now. 

When your phone buzzes, you immediately check what awaits you. 

And you dissolve into mush yet again.

Yoongi [2:45am]: Text me when you’re home 

You [2:45am]: but im not going to your place :((  

What is home, if not where you feel the most at peace? Where you feel like you can be yourself and not worry about sneaking around? Where you know someone will protect you and be that person you can go to without any questions asked? 

Yoongi [2:47am]: Next Halloween you will be 

It’s definitely with Yoongi. 

Right now, you know your home is with him. 

Smiling, you type another text, full of contentment and looking towards the day all of this can be lived the way you both want. 

You [2:47am]: turn into a cat 

Yoongi [2:47am]: 😒

Taehyung looks at you when you laugh, and his grin grows when he can tell you’re genuinely happy. 

And when Yoongi actually sends you a selfie matching the ear gesture he did earlier, you feel the endearing prick of hot tears in your eyes. 

Yoongi [2:49am]: 1 Attachment 

He has a distinct matching mark on his neck.

And you are one thousand percent sure he took the picture knowing it's visible.

Yoongi [2:50am]: Meow :)

Happy Halloween indeed. 

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end :)

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🍊ahhh what do we think !!🍊| join the taglist!

a/n: thank you all for reading! i know this is super super late to post but i wanted it to be decent for y'all before letting it free. if you did enjoy, please interact however you can! even a like is okay at this point, but all tags, reblogs, comments, messages, and submissions in the feedback box are super appreciated.

a/n 2: to any men reading this series, let me tell you.. that hug situation happened to me and some people i know and it suuuucks :(( ladies - and guys, anyone really - if you've had that happen to you i am sending you the biggest genuine hugs and a 3tan yoongi to make it better. and if it hasn't happened to you, then good.

++feedback box: ⇥ of course, any reblogs/comments/messages are appreciated! ⇥ for the ones that are too shy to reblog with a review, comment on this, or send a message, i went ahead and made another anonymous form where you can send in what you think! ⇥ no emails collected, no need to put in a username. it’s literally just a comment dropbox :D feedback can be as short/sweet or as long as you’d like! ⇥ here! ++ more links: ⇥ masterlist  ⇥ three tangerines masterlist

[bethecliche]

my love mine all mine l vincent renzi x f!original character

summary: after seeing her for the first time, he just fell (deeply) in love word count: 3.7k content: female reader (no description of genitalia), mention of sex, mention of stretch marks, description of hair and eye color (but not texture or skin color), french laws and locations being misinterpreted, use of tv shows and books I didn't watch or read, non canon note: english is not my first langague! I wrote this in portuguese and then translated to english myself, there's a chance you'll find an error or something. I'm sorry sorry! I highly recommend you to listen to the song while reading.

you can check the aesthetic references for this oneshot here but take note that none of the people actual faces on this reflects on the character identity that I wrote, so don't base all of the details on the references for the characters in story.

The first time he noticed her, she was sitting on one of the wooden benches outside the courtrooms. She seemed nervous, shaking her legs and glancing restlessly between the watch on her wrist and the clock on the hallway wall, as if it made much difference. Regardless of her worried expression and furrowed brow, Vincent felt that he had never seen such an attractive woman in his life. From her brown hair to her brown boots, looked like she stepped out of one of those '70s fashion advertisements he'd seen in vintage magazines as a kid. He didn't had time to notice much more than that, as he crossed the hallway and headed to his session. At the end of the day, of course, she was no longer there.

What seemed to have been one of those street crushes that you see when crossing an avenue and never think about again, stayed in Vincent's head for a few days. Every time he passed by the corridor, he waited to see if the brunette would be there. He tried to guess what she was doing there that day and whether there was a possibility of bumping into her again, a question to which the universe answered “yes”.

Two weeks later, this time leaving work, he looked down buttoning his blue coat, distracted in his thoughts when he noticed the same brown boots a few steps in front of him. The stranger held a cigarette between her fingers and had her arms pressed against her body. Although it was snowing lightly, it was extremely cold for an autumn day. Her look was different, probably due to the weather, with a coat with a puffed collar and puffed sleeves, once again looking like she belonged to a previous decade. The wind ruffled her hair a little and the moonlight illuminated her posture, a scene Vincent believed could have come from a movie.

All his past relationships were comfortable. Someone he knew in high school, someone he knew in college, someone who was introduced by friends or someone his friends encouraged him to talk during an outing. He didn't consider himself an introvert, but he never needed to pursue someone who was interested. Things just happened for him. It wasn't his comfort zone just to approach a stranger like that, much less at the door of his work, but something that day said it was the right thing to do.

He took a cigarette out of his pocket and approached the girl asking to borrow a lighter. His sudden plan only went so far.

As soon as she turned to face him, she gave a friendly and inviting smile, taking the object out of her pocket and activating the flame in front of his face. Vincent stood still, staring into her eyes throughout the action, mesmerized by her and her sparkling brown eyes.

“Will I ever meet a lawyer who doesn’t smoke?” She asked as she extinguished the flame, placing the lighter and her free hand back in her pocket. Too cold to let it out.

His response took a few agonizing seconds, as his mind was far away and still lost in her gaze. He composed himself, running a hand through his hair and looking away.

“The day this happens, let me know. I want to be there.” Vincent laughed awkwardly, causing the girl to laugh as well. At that moment, he felt that he wanted to provoke more of this reaction, he wanted to see more of her smile and so the conversation flowed.

His first question was how she guessed he was a lawyer and not a passerby to which she replied, "You stand like a lawyer." He shared how being a lawyer was boring and tedious, but it did have its dramatic moments in court when she asked if the career was challenging like its portrait on TV. He also discovered that she was there to pay a car ticket caused by her younger brother, hence the great nervousness when he first saw her a few weeks ago.

“When my parents told me that my 20th birthday present was a baby brother, I already felt within myself that I would be the best sister in the world. That I would try to make his life as easy as possible. 18 years later, he asks to borrow my car to visit his girlfriend - which I don't hesitate to do, after all I support young love. And the little shit-head makes sure on parking in front of a fire hydrant.” The girl blew smoke to her right side, not taking her eyes off him. “Would you be my lawyer if I try to choke him?”

Vincent could only laugh at her spontaneity, easy way of talking about life and easy way of making conversation.

“Just threaten him, it will be an easier case for me to win.”

They talked about Metz and how her family decided to move to Paris when she was a teenager because they knew the city needed more beautiful people, a fact Vincent agreed with. In order not to dismiss him, in a very charming way, she praised his Parisian accent and said that such a comment did not apply to him and only God knows how Vincent felt inside after that.

The two shared their tastes, such as reading romances and watching Dix pour cent every night before bed. It was as if they knew each other much more than the 1 hour they spent together under the snow. They shared maybe two more cigarettes before realizing it was getting a little too late to chat like that on the street.

He doesn't even know how he got out of that situation alive and managed to get home with her number.

Their first date was at a local cinema on a Friday night for a re-showing of Buffet Froid, a film Anne had never seen.

He didn't remember the last time he felt butterflies in his stomach, although it was guaranteed that nothing could compare to this time. As he got ready and tried to match his best t-shirts with his beige pants (which he eventually changed out of, finding them too tacky), Vincent remained nervous thinking that she might not show up or that this would be the first and last time they would meet in this circumstance.

In the end, all the “first time” flutter went out the window when he saw her smiling and waving on the other side of the street, already with the tickets in her hand. “I'm glad you came.” She said, holding his arm as they walked through the door of the establishment.

“I wouldn't miss it.” he replied.

The two took watching films very seriously, so it was only during the ending credits, after a lot of laughter, small comments and bumping hands on the popcorn bucket, that the two kissed.

He felt the softness of her skin on his hand and her sweet scent of perfume, in addition, of course, to the hot and saccharine kiss. It was slow, serene, just as they both wanted, being able to feel each other in that moment. It was also Anne's desire to slowly run her fingers through his hair and she didn't hesitate to take advantage of the opportunity.

After throwing their trash away, the two walked out of the cinema, now closer to each other, hand in hand. The weather wasn't as cold as when they first met and they were free to enjoy the warmth of their bodies without so many layers covering them.

“For a great 70's mind, you never having watched Buffet Froid is an insult.” He pointed at her with his free hand, wanting to tease her.

Anne rolled her eyes. Even though she liked the film, she didn't want to give a taste. “Obviously you would like action movies like that. It suits you.”

“I’ll make you like it too.” He stated, trying to imply that he wanted them to meet again, to which she responded by kissing his cheek and saying, “Next time, let's watch a romcom.”

Once, twice, three, four and a few more times, all being unusual dates. Sometimes she would call during his workday and say she would pick him up for an adventure. She drove aimlessly, just the two of them talking about their days and observing the city lights. These were Vincent's favorite “dates”, as they all ended with the two of them making out like two teenagers parked in the driveway of his apartment.

The more he got to know about her, the more he wanted to constantly be a part of her life. Anne owned a clothing store downtown, something he never tired of saying was the “most suitable job for her”. On the last date they had, she took him to the closed store and put on a fashion montage for him, with improvised note cards on paper left on the counter and all. But she knew that the judge had been bought when he only gave her 10s. She also took the opportunity to get Vincent to do the same, putting him once again out of his comfort zone to find out that bell bottom jeans don't really suit him.

They even got to watch a car race - something that not even Anne had done, she had just decided that it was an experience they needed to have. They both entended up hating it, but the important thing was that the company was great.

That was one of the nights Anne slept at his house.

They ate some junk food from the fridge and watched a silly but captivating show on TV while they chatted more. When she realized she could sleep at any moment, Anne got up to brush her teeth and change her clothes, putting on her uniform for whenever she was there: a Vincent t-shirt.

Vincent found it charming how she captivated his gaze regardless of what she was doing. He loved her unique and sophisticated style, but he also loved seeing her like this, casually wearing his clothes, in his home, as if she were his. And lastly, he loved seeing her with nothing on.

Every detail of her body, her birthmarks on her shoulder and that one next to her beautiful eyes or her stretch marks on her back, everything about her seemed to have been chosen down to the millimeter. When they made love, his hands went everywhere, trying to reach as much of her as he could, to feel the warmth she exuded.

And the best way to love her was by looking into her eyes, admiring her beauty, running his lips up and down her body, being grateful for the privileged position it was to be able to love her.

Mornings were like nights, with him waking up earlier and being able, once again, to admire the woman beside her.

“You are even more beautiful in the morning.”

The two walked through the streets of Paris, both tipsy, looking for an available taxi in the dead of night. With their relationship now more established and their schedules aligned, they made it a challenge to come up with these unusual date only once a month so it wouldn't lose its fun. Today had been the day to go to the opera and due to their lack of sobriety, they didn't seem to have left anywhere other than the shabbiest bar on the corner.

The event was boring as fuck and they left halfway through to drink somewhere more enjoyable. They found an open bar showing a PSG versus Marseille match. Neither of them supported the teams or understood about football rules, but this seemed like a new opportunity for them to have another different experience that day.

One laughter after another, some passionate kisses between drinks and the two were celebrating PSG's victory at the bar with some strangers whom they befriended.

“My mother wants to meet you. My brother too. I said I might have a lawyer for the next time he's up to no good. Do you think it’s too early?”

When drunk, Anne tended to speak fast and slurred, but Vincent understood perfectly. He smiled, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing the tip of her nose. “I will love to meet your family.”

They never actually asked each other to go steady, but it was clear that they already belonged to each other at that point.

Vincent was on his cell phone writing a text to his mother about the shopping list for Christmas dinner and their desire to participate in decorating the tree (Anne's request to spend more time with her mother-in-law) while his girlfriend was lying on his lap reading his copy of Around the World in 80 Days (and she was loving it, for sure).

It was a lazy day for both of them at Vincent's place. A year into their relationship, the two of them loved sharing these moments together doing different activities.

“She said she misses you a lot and looks forward to seeing you on Christmas, but that you're banned from being near the kitchen when it is time to prepare desserts. Everything you touch that is sweet ends up burning for some reason.”

Her smile, excited by her mother-in-law's affection, turned into a face indignant at the rule she imposed. "What?" She looked up from the book and pulled Vincent's hand to check if the message was real and it was. “This is so unfair!”

“Sorry, Anne, you’re just really bad at this.”

She lightly pushed his arm and pretended to be uncomfortable, although she knew it was true and wasn't really upset. Before she could return to her book, Vincent placed his cell phone on the table and began talking.

“One more thing, huh,” he cleared his throat, “I made one more space on the rack for you. I don't want certain clothes to get wrinkled in the drawer. I’ll make room in one more drawer too.”

Anne put the book aside and knelt on the sofa, facing her boyfriend. “Won’t it bother you? I already have space in my bedroom drawer, bathroom… In fact, there are a lot of my things scattered around the house. I don’t want to impose my space here.”

This was a subject that she had also been waiting to comment on for some time. By working her own hours at the store and having an employee to take her place wherever needed, Anne had a more flexible schedule than Vincent and it was easier to stay at his house, helping to keep everything on track and cooking for both of them. He would arrive just before dinner time and they could enjoy together without rushing to do the chores.

Because of this, the few clothes she wore just to sleep there became a full drawer, her makeup in the bathroom sink and her shoes near the door.

The gray-haired man hugged her around the waist, kissing her forehead and assuring her of his action. “You are not imposing anything, mon chéri. I want you to use this space. I want to have more and more of you here.”

For him, having her scent permeate the rooms was a gift wrapped in the best bow. Knowing that every day he would come home to see her welcoming smile and welcome kiss was the biggest work incentive.

“It feels like my home.” She whined.

“It’s your home. Our home.” He insisted.

In his favorite action, he cupped her face and looked warmly into her eyes, admiring her features trying to associate with what he was trying to say. They both smiled at each other realizing where the topic was going.

“Are you…”

“I want you to move in with me.”

The beautiful smile that filled his heart appeared on her face and Vincent, who was sure of her choice, but a little afraid of her accepting it, smiled too at her positive reaction.

In conclusion, he ended up needing to make more closet space for her countless boots, but he was happy that she could call the space her own (and she looks great in those boots, he would never complain about making room for them).

The snack table was almost empty and that made Anne happy. She might not be good at desserts, but her food was always praised and she almost never had leftovers while cooking for her friends.

“This sandwich is delicious, aunt Anne!” Daniel stated, taking another one from the table and sitting on the sofa next to her. “Can I take some home?”

“Of course you can! There’s more stored in the kitchen, I’ll put it on the side for you to take.” She continued, now coming closer to whisper. “You can give Snoop a bite, I won’t tell your mom.”

“Hey, I’m watching you two!” Sandra said towards the back of the sofa, pointing at the two jokingly. She was talking to Vincent leaning against the wall in the hallway, looking anxious.

There was approximately 10 people spread throughout the room at this gathering. The couple chose to host a celebration for the launch of Sandra's new book, a dear friend of both, and tried to make room for everyone present. She was very delighted with the honor, although unaccustomed to the positive attention she was receiving.

Even though they weren't glued to each other at the party, Anne and Vincent always stopped for a moment to exchange a kiss and ask if everything was okay. He, even more so, couldn't stop admiring his girlfriend from afar. Parties like this always made him happy to be able to share the love he had for her and also show others that this was his girl.

It was around 6pm that they said their goodbyes and thanked their friends for being there. After closing the door, Anne took a deep breath and leaned against it with Vincent kissing her neck and hugging her waist.

“Had fun today?” He asked against her neck, kissing slowly until he reached her face. Hugging him back, she just nodded yes, pulling him into a longing and passionate kiss.

Vincent pressed his body against hers and tightened his grip, placing his free hand against the wall for support. Everything was going well, until Vincent suddenly stopped, as if he couldn't give in to temptation yet.

He also took a deep breath, with a shy smile as he looked at her.

“Is something wrong?” She asked, still leaning against the door and resting her hands on his shoulder.

"What?" He retorted.

“During the party, you kept looking at me like that, with those heart-eyes, that fool in love face of yours. And now you're doing it again. It seems... different.”

Vincent laughed awkwardly, as if he was unprepared to respond that quickly. “In my defense, I always look like a fool in love when I’m with you.”

Before anything else, Vincent took a red velvet box out of his pocket and opened it, showing a silver ring made especially for her. With the hand that was on her waist, he slipped into her hand and intertwined their fingers.

“Kneeling isn’t your style, nor are long speeches in front of our friends, but I can’t just leave the ring in your hand without saying anything. The day I saw you for the first time, I was intrigued. The second time, that feeling I had of needing to talk to you urgently, of not letting the opportunity pass, I think, somehow, I knew we were going to get to this moment right now. By the third time - I was already in love. Head over heels, worshiping the ground you pass, heart-eyes, whatever you want to call it. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't feel those butterflies in my stomach before seeing you, that I don't feel the eager to be by your side. If you do me the honor of marrying me, I can promise that you will have a man who wakes up in love with you every day. Forever.”

Anne's eyes were already full of tears as soon as she saw the box and she couldn't help but shed them when she heard the proposal.

The last 4 years of their lives were instinctive, passionate, in a way she never thought she would experience. All her last lovers didn't last long, they couldn't handle her personality or couldn't love her right, so she was left with no hope that it would change. But Vincent's speech was something that she not only believed, she felt. Every day, she felt his love, his affection and his care. Wave of action speaks louder than words and she trusted her man.

There was no other answer than yes.

The same word was repeated by the two of them at the registry office a few months later. The idea was never a big party, it didn't suit either of their personalities, but Anne always wanted a dress and a veil, so they were both there, in their wedding clothes just before lunch time in the registry office next to Vincent's work place.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride!”

With that sentence, the two shared a classic wedding kiss, with Vincent holding her around the waist and Anne throwing her leg up. They could live that moment over and over again, but they needed to go out for a little celebration party with their friends before they left for their honeymoon (and Anne was more than eager to have her friends around so she could toss the bouquet).

Outside, in another snowy day, Anne reached through the car window and took a black bag from the glove compartment, handing it to her now husband.

“What is it?” He held on, swinging by the loop to feel the weight so he could find out what it could be.

“It's your wedding gift.” She cheerfully replied.

He stole one more kiss from his wife before opening the bag, already imagining what could be inside.

“It has our initials and today’s date on it,” she pointed to the bottom where the details were, “so no other girl coming out of court will need to offer you the lighter.”

Vincent took a cigarette out of his jacket pocket and lit it with his newest gift, but without inhaling, just lighting it for the sake of it.

“No one will have my love. Only you, mon chéri."

[notforpenance]

Hey! This is for the askgame, because I’m sure that I’d love any recommendation from you :)

💖 a fic you recently read, loved and why!

💗 a fic you’ve reread again and again and why!

my tastes can be a little all over the place, so i hope some of these interest you C: i wanted to do one carcar and one lestappen for each but then i found like five lestappen fics i wanted to say so you get a few more than one.

💖 a fic you recently read, loved and why!

You'll Just Have to Remind Me by the_e_sea (t, carcar, memory loss) this fic is still in progress, but so far, I'm loving it. carlos has antiretrograde amnesia which means he wakes up every day thinking it is the same as the day before, and he keeps going to the convenience store every night where oscar works to buy dryer sheets. oscar begins to realize that there's something a little strange about the same guy buying dryer sheets every single night and engaging him in the exact same conversation each time. when i first started it i was a little confused as to how it could be carcar if carlos never remembers what has happened during his day but the dynamic is carried out so well and it feels really natural and lifelike. definitely recommend it, i'm excited to see more of this one.

blood chem by @sediciii (e, lestappen, vampire, roommates) i'm a sucker for vampire fics (pun intended). this one is probably my favorite i have ever read. it's a lestappen oneshot. max is a vampire, and charles is his all-too-willing-to-help roommate. max looks forward to charles coming back to the room so that he can feed, and charles looks forward to letting max feed for... other reasons. it's very sexy and a little soft, and i love the dynamic between the two of them

💗 a fic you’ve reread again and again and why!

purpose in you by @charlescoded (e, lestappen, arranged marriage, dune au) it's a lestappen dune au oneshot. if you know about dune, charles is a member of the benegesserit and max takes on like a feyd-rautha-type role, and they have an arranged marriage. it got posted right when i was watching the second dune movie for the first time, so it was perfect timing to hook me in. i wish there were more fics in dune au because i feel like that universe has a lot to offer. i cannot express enough how much i am absolutely obsessed with this piece. it is written at a level of writing quality i can only aspire to ever write in my lifetime. the whole piece is entirely enthralling. it is the second part of the series, but this is the one i always reread. the first part is breeding grounds

Ruckus by @tylersayscool (e, lestappen, dystopian battle royale) let me start by saying that everything I've read from this author is so good, i highly recommend checking her out if you haven't already. this one is my favorite, here's the description because i don't think i can do it justice. "The students are taken to a deserted island, fitted with explosive collars, and given random weapons. They are instructed to kill each other until only one survivor remains. If no one is killed within a set time period, the collars will detonate, killing everyone." this fic has such a chokehold on me that i literally was quoting sections in my journal and dissecting them in like essay length entries LOL. the writing is so high quality and the plot is so interesting and unique.

Open my mouth, on my knees (for you) by @lovelylotusf1 (e, carcar) a little less than a year ago i was scrolling through the second round of F1 Kinkmeme submissions looking for oneshots to read and i found this one. funfact: my one fic "you're too sweet for me" was originally supposed to be a lestappen fic and then i read this piece and i was like 'damn i wanna write carcar' and i switched it to that instead. this is a carcar oneshot. here's the description: "Oscar has to deal with the consequences of a drunken confession he sent to Carlos. He gets more than he bargained for." i keep coming back to it because it has such a special place in my heart.

okay i will stop rambling now! there are a few more i would've thrown in but this is already super long i feel like, so i hope some of these are fresh for you to enjoy C:

[ichiwashername-o]

Sorry to bug you, but I had a question: as someone who's full extent of knowledge re: Oz and Wicked is "I have seen the 1939 Wizard of Oz movie, and I've been told both that the books are super crazy and Dorothy's actually gay as hell, and also been told Wicked is the secret sad gay backstory of Glinda and Elphaba." I'm surprised to learn a) that Scarecrow was a real guy, b) he and Tin Man knew each other pre-Oz movie's story, and c) he apparently dated Elphaba, so my question is: is he a "her boyfriend until it turns out she was gay and the romance was doomed" boyfriend, or was I lied to about the nature of the story of Wicked being a sad lesbian backstory?

Oh boy, a lot to unpack here so let's see if we can break this down XD

Without getting into spoilers, it's important to know the book Wicked is a very, very different thing from the musical Wicked. I admittedly had never read any of the original Wizard of Oz books beyond the first one so I don't know anything about the whole "Dorothy is gay" thing but apparently that's true? I'll leave it to others who've actually read the series to verify on that.

My comics are solely focused on the musical adaptation of Wicked and such major plot points and characters are very different from the book, and if you'd like a break down, I'll post it under the spoiler below. Although I would recommend either waiting in eager anticipation for the movie to come out this November or find a Wicked bootleg slime tutorial on Youtube if you'd like to see the theater adaptation yourself. I highly recommend doing so.

Ok, so to break it down: Yes, both the Scarecrow and the Tin Man were actual people before they become the iconic figures we know and love (at least as far as the musical is concerned) And yes, Wicked is gay as hell, and though the musical isn't nearly as gay as the book, the relationship between Glinda and Elphaba that can absolutely be read as gay.

The Scarecrow, whose name is Fiyero, was a prince who initially dated Glinda but then things happen and he falls for Elphaba instead. He breaks off his engagement to Glinda to run off with Elphaba. The two have a steamy sexy duet together but tragically the relationship is bitterly short; the Wizard's guards take Fiyero prisoner and try to torture him for information on where Elphaba is hiding. In a desperate gambit to save his life, Elphaba casts a spell on him, which turns him into a scarecrow.

Also Fiyero and the Tin Man (who in the musical is Boq) went to university together so they sort of know each other. In fact, all four of them went to school together, which is where the majority of Act 1 of the musical takes place.

The book is very, very different: Tin Man (Nick Chopper) keeps his original backstory of getting his limbs chopped off by an enchanted axe and Fiyero dies (I can't remember exactly how but probably somewhere along the lines of "Wizard's guards capture him and beat him to death"). Obviously the musical changed these things to tie all the characters together and give it a bit of a happier ending.

I do not blame you if you are now more confused than before.

[brezelzeit]

*nonpolitical I do not condone or support any hateful fascist ideology*

Fans of ww2 German related media who like fruity stuff: I just wanna talk about this new Indiana Jones video game- Indiana Jones and the Great Circle- and the fact two of the Nazi villains in it are so fruity and queer coded ahhhh. Dunno if intentionally but they feel sooo gay and I LOVE IT.

This is Emmerich Voss- the one with the glasses, and Viktor Gantz, the blonde Wehrmacht dude

They hate each other but they have the best kinda toxic yaoi dynamic. I see them definitely as the enemies to lovers trope. Let’s be for absolute real he’s totally planning on kissing Gantz in that cutscene, Voss

I highly recommend y’all either play this game or watch the gameplay or any content of it on YouTube (like I did because I’m not a gamer although I might play it we’ll see) because it’s a good story and these two characters are so damn lovable and funny and shippable and I love their angry homoerotic tension ❤️ it’s developed by the same people who did Wolfenstein- Bethesda/MachineGames, and I know that’s popular with a lot of y’all ww2 media fan folk so you can trust this game to have some memorable German military characters xD

Im a big fan of the Indiana Jones franchise overall especially the films that well have the Germans in them and I’ve noticed quite a few of the Germans have a sorta gay coding to them that again, probably isn’t intentional, but makes for fun fandom nerding purposes xD I could elaborate more on that later but alas! I’ve crushed on several of the Germans in the franchise but I think these two are perhaps some of the most conventionally attractive and well developed so far- and the ones who have some sorta non crack explanation for being shipped

I definitely recommend checking out the actual Indiana Jones movies- Raiders of the Lost Ark, Last Crusade, Dial of Destiny- those are the ones with the Nazis in them, just to immerse yourself in this universe better if you’re not familiar as there are references to the former two in this game etc. but you could totally play this game without any prior knowledge of the film(s) as well but it would be advantageous to do so and you’d gain more characters to crush on😆

Ship fanart of these two is coming! Already came up with a ship name- either Emmerichtor or Emmeriktor

Also did I mention the voice actor for Gantz, Tom Beck, is a singer. He has a beautiful voice and I can sleep peacefully knowing Gantz can sing to me. 😂 ❤️ Spotify screenshot below!

[ice-mage]

ICE MAGE READS 2024

This year, I joined a book club in an effort to read more actual books. I’ve always enjoyed reading, but over the past decade or so, I would only read a handful of books in any given year. Well, even though I didn’t read anything in the month of April, I’ve managed to read 26 books so far this year (and one I did not finish that I didn’t list below). I’m hoping to add a one or two more before the end of the year (while I’m visiting family over the holidays).

Full List (in the order I read them):

New Adult by Timothy Janovsky

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

The Parliament by Aimee Pokwatka

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

Sun of Blood and Ruin by Mariely Lares

Ocean’s Godori by Elaine U. Cho

Wolfsong by TJ Klune

Ravensong by TJ Klune

Heartsong by TJ Klune

The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei

Surrender Your Sons by Adam Sass

Brothersong by TJ Klune

Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis

Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

Time’s Agent by Brenda Peynado

Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

The Back Passage by James Lear

A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal

The Secret Tunnel by James Lear

Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik

The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner

The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch

Favorites

The Library at Mount Char: I don’t know what to say about this one other than that it’s wonderfully weird. A (sub)urban fantasy that begins with a murder mystery, with characters that would fit right into a horror movie, this book is fucked up in all the best ways. I don’t want to say too much about it because the way things are revealed throughout the book is one of the reasons I enjoyed it. Definitely give it a try.

Sorcery and Small Magics: A mixup with a forbidden spell results in Leovander Lovage being bound to obey his rival, Sebastian Grimm’s commands. Leo and Grimm endeavor to find a counterspell that can undo it and set Leo free again. This book is the beginning of an enemies/rivals to lovers tale. It is so expertly written, you’d be surprised to learn it’s the author’s debut novel. The book does a wonderful job at pacing; you get a great balance of character moments and plot. The magic system is intriguing, requiring two people, scrivers that write spells and casters that cast them. The magical creatures are imaginative. But what really grasped me was the evolution of the relationship between Leo and Grimm. I highly recommend you give this one a read.

Honorable Mentions

Heartsong: This is the story of Robbie Fontaine, my beloved. We learn about Robbie’s tragic backstory, and then get thrust into angst, angst, and more angst. It is my favorite book of the Green Creek series (I don’t care that Jon with his @bigassbowlingballhead has a different opinion). Given that this is third novel in a series, I don’t know what I can say about it without spoiling the first two books, so I’ll leave you with the author’s own words when this was rereleased earlier this year:

Ocean’s Godori: This is a cozy space opera set in a universe where Korea dominates space travel. I really liked all three main characters: Ocean Yoon, a space pilot; Teo Anand, second son to a tech empire; and Haven Sasani a Mortemian and a medic. The dynamic between parent and child is a theme of the book, and each of the three main characters have unique issues with their parents that shape them as characters. The relationship between all the characters, these three and the rest of the crew on the ship Ocean pilots, is a high point of the book. And the actual plot, once we get into it, is really interesting. Unfortunately, the book just ends suddenly. It doesn’t have an Act III, and I’m not sure it finished Act II. It’s like the publisher took Cho’s book and chopped it in half and only published the first part. It feels incomplete. That’s why I can’t recommend this book to anyone yet, at least not until the sequel, Teo’s Durumi, comes out in August 2025.

Most Disliked

Sun of Blood and Ruin: Seeing this book as the March pick was a big factor in me deciding to join my book club. The book promised to weave “Mesoamerican mythology and Mexican history two decades after the Spanish conquest into a swashbuckling, historical debut fantasy with magic, intrigue, treachery, and romance.” As someone of Mexican ancestry from all sides of my family, I was really excited to read this one. Boy, did it disappoint. The protagonist, Leonora de Las Casas Tlazohtzin, is the half-indigenous daughter of the Spanish viceroy in Mexico. She is also La Pantera, a masked, magical vigilante. Although Leonora living a double life is a big part of her character arc, she is by far the worst at it, two other characters are introduced that do it far better than she does. One of those characters also does magic far better than she does. The writing is stodgy at best. And there’s a gay relationship thrown in that feels slapdash and inauthentic, like the author only inserted it because it’s the thing to do these days. This book is by far my least favorite book of the year, 0/10, do not recommend.

Dishonorable Mention

Time’s Agent: I’ll start by saying that this book was nowhere near as bad as the previous one. This book features pocket dimensions, or pocket worlds as they are called here, that people can enter from our own world. Only, these pocket worlds aren’t necessarily co-synchronous with our world. What feels like days in a pocket world could only be minutes in our world. And conversely, only seconds in the wrong pocket world could be decades in our world. Which is what happens to the main character. This book had a really intriguing premise, and seeing the main character work through her grief was interesting. Unfortunately, I think this book suffers from being a novella. The short length means the author doesn’t have room to really explore the pocket worlds or the other characters, meaning you end up not caring about either. If it had been twice as long, I think this could have been a really good book.

[pinkkop]

Day 51 - 15 Days BL Challenge (part 4)

Day 51 - Top 3 BLs that you'd never want to explain to your parents

I'd like to send a letter of complaint to whoever decided that this prompt was a top 3 (past me) because I'm really struggling with narrowing it down

Pit Babe

I already used ABO in my description for this prompt so why not keep it going with this show, because as much as the creators of the show wanted us to believe it wasn't ABO, this is drenched in omegaverse.

This show had such a crazy plot line and I do not want to explain the dynamics of this universe to my parents or really anyone outside of the fandom space. The show itself however committed to the bit and that made it easy to buy into the world of Pit Babe, the plot and the characters, which makes this a really good watch.

Utsukushii Kare (My Beautiful Man)

I find this show hard to explain and also if I do manage to explain the plot to someone, it's probably also going to sound weird to an outsider, so I'd rather not.

It is however one of my favourite Japanese shows and I'd highly recommend it to anyone within the fandom. It's not a dynamic for everyone but Japan does it soooo well in this show.

I'd highly recommend watching at least the full season 1 because a lot of context is given at the end of season 1, so don't give in to any knee-jerk un-comfortableness. Also the final confession is sooooooooo good!

You can find season 1 and 2 fansubbed here or on Viki. The full series with both seasons and a final movie definitely has my stamp of approval!

Look I made more GIFs! Based on the subbed version by lollipopsub linked above.

Don't Say No

No denying that Mame likes to write about trauma and sexual assault and she usually leans into D/s dynamics. Don't Say No is no exception to this which makes it a hard one to explain to outsiders without getting into that.

Love In the Air is my favourite MeMindY show (which could also fit on this list) but Don't Say No is not far behind.

Most of the plot points during this show are wild, like two occasions of blackmail, an abusive mother and a lot trauma, but I really like the basis for this show: childhood best friends who get together after a long struggle, but then they have to figure out how to be boyfriends with all their baggage and assumptions, both of their own but also of the people around them.

It's a battle between what they want, what they think the other person wants and what they think they should want.

Part of that is them finding their roles in the D/s relationship they both want but are struggling to communicate which I find super interesting to watch.

Also I freaking love a Uke that's more sexually experienced than the Seme. No Blushing Maiden Ukes in this show!!

Honerable mentions

If you were wondering how I'd get around the 3 show limit I set for myself, this is it! Neither are full BL shows so I think I'm good

Innocent

This is Taiwanese mini-series about a relationship between a man who's main personality is 5 years old and the man who saved him from an assault.

The show revolves around how his two personalities interact with his partner and how they find themselves in a loving secure relationship

As with most shows out of Taiwan this topic is treated seriously and not used as comedic relief. Even if this is a realistic relationship and the series doesn't revolve around an outlandish plot, I'd still think twice before trying to explain this show to just any stranger.

Sweet Curse

Finally Sweet Curse is a Strongberry short that I have such a soft spot for. It's a horror comedy romance with high heat and a wild plot.

Let's just say: A friend of Ha Jun is jealous of him and decides to summon a demon(?) to haunt Ha Jun, but something is a little wrong (or right?) with Ha Jun so he isn't scared so easily.

The short is 30 min and it's on Gagaoolala (though not all locations but a VPN can fix that easily)

The original challenge is here, part two here, part three here, and four here.

[generic-sonic-fan]

Hullo there ! I love your " a father’s embrace " fanfic it got me into metal sonic more so i was wondering if u knew any other fanfics i could read that includes him , I would be very gratful for it ☆

Thank you so much! I'm really glad you enjoyed it. Be sure to also give a look to (shameful self-plug here, apologies) I Can't Take All This and a prompt fill I did for him a while back! Also keep an eager eye out for my Metal Sonic longfic that I'll post. . . eventually.

Without further ado, here's my rec list! I'll sort my recs into four categories: non-ship, Metamy, Metadow and Metonic.

Non-Ship:

The first thing I'll put in this category is actually not a fic, but an official piece of Sonic media. You are now legally obligated to watch the Sonic OVA!! This movie fundamentally changed the way I characterize Metal Sonic forever, and is the basis for at least one fic I'm recommending on this list. 2D animated Sonic is genuinely one of my favorite things on the great green earth, and the OVA has it in spades. If you love the Sonic CD intro, you're gonna love this one. The only drawback is that you have to deal with 90s sexism in some parts, but that's pretty minor.

Now, with that out of the way, let me get on to my actual fic recommendations:

and so I transformed myself with my own hands - by @couch-house. This is THE transfemme Metal Sonic bible right here. But not only that, it features a terrifyingly well-written Eggdad and a great take on Sage. Every scene where Eggman and Metal verbally spar in this one had me on the edge of my seat. The tension and pacing of this one is absolutely fan-fucking-tastic. So don't just read it for trans girl Metal- read it for everything else as well.

Situation: Optimal - by ModOrbot. Metal Sonic battles Sonic and pushes himself to the breaking point- and Eggman gets concerned. Featuring good dad Eggdad and some interesting angst from Metal.

Honorary mention to METACOGNITION - by Chaos Theory (Lizardmind). This one's still ongoing, but I really like this author's narration for Metal so far, and the alternate universe premise they're building is fascinating to watch as it unfolds.

Metamy:

Carbon Cafe - by @metallix-mixin. A post-redemption Metal waxes poetic about the bakery he now runs, and the lovely guest who visits him there. A short and sweet story with a charmingly verbose and romantic narration style for Metal that I haven't found anywhere else. I think about this fic whenever I pass a bakery.

Bird Calls - by Fumiku. Metal stumbles across Amy while she's bird-watching. This one's simply the best Metamy I've ever read. Period. GOD I love this one. Most of the time, I simply tolerate Metamy to get more content with Metal Sonic in it, but this fic makes me believe in love. The emotions that both Metal and Amy go through in this one are just so in-character, and are so, so good.

Beauty is in the Beholder - by Fumiku. This is the only fic I've ever found that's about Metamy after the introduction to their relationship. In this one, they've been dating for a while now, but Metal's been having some issues with mental health and body image. Good thing Amy's there to help :)

Metadow:

Mutually Beneficial, Whatever It Takes, and A Form Chosen By Himself, But Not For Himself - by @south-sea here on tumblr. In fact, you really should just check out everything Sea has ever written for their Second Chance AU that they have starring Shadow and Metal. They write Shadow and Metal in a queer-platonic relationship and their writing is honestly what sold me on the relationship in the first place. Everything they touch with these two characters is solid gold. The narration style they use for Metal is brutally effective. I can't recommend those fics highly enough.

Metonic:

Halves of the Same Coin - by @sunnimint. OVA Universe. This fic is MANDATORY READING once you've seen the OVA. This fic dragged me from the highest fluffy happiness to the most gut-wrenching of angst. This fic destroyed me. This fic remade me. And this fic just got its concluding chapter. It's the perfect time to read it.

Iron Oxide - by TheEnigmaMachine. This is the other mandatory reading for Metonic, this time set roughly in gameverse. This fic is fascinating because it's actually a high-concept science fiction novel neatly disguised as a ship fic. This one's a pleasure to read because Metal actually narrates in and utilizes actual computer and science terms (the tags for "quantum mechanics" and "physics" aren't kidding!) It genuinely blew my mind when I first read it. Don't let the weird premise scare you- roll with the angst, bunker down for the enemies-to-lovers slow burn, and give it a shot.

Beginnings of an End - by @sunnimint. If any of you were crying because you don't want to watch the OVA but still wanted to read Sunnimint's absolutely phenomenal prose, look no further- she's got one in gameverse too. This one, opposite of her other one, features a Metal raised by a good dad Eggman, and all of the baggage that comes with it going into a Metonic relationship. It's a fascinating read. The only problem is that it's unfinished, but what's there is solid gold.

[strugglingyetvibing]

let me put y'all on something real quick

we all know children's animation rocks (bluey, phineas and ferb, steven universe, etc etc etc)

well i've stumbled across a banger of a show that either i have yet to find the fandom for or is being incredibly slept on

it's called "Go! Go! Cory Carson," it's on netflix, and it is so freaking adorable

first of all, this is the character design:

i mean, look at them!! the little green one is Chrissy, and she is the goat of the show. the orange one chrissy is sitting on is Cory, the blue one in the background is Mama, and the one with wood paneling is Papa.

the world of the show is super cute as well! i won't bombard with photos, but the plant life is all this neat felt-looking texture (which you can kind of see in the tree in the background of this pic), and the world itself is quite adorable, using over-exaggerated hills for much of the landscaping with sparse trees and bushes adorning them (which is reminiscent of a child's landscape drawing)

the show isn't built for older kids, like shows such as steven universe, but it's also not structured in a 'dora-style' format like some shows for kids are (being overly interactive with the audience with overwhelmingly positive protagonists or pointing out the obvious every five seconds to really drive home whatever message the show is sending)

the show is about cory and how he learns about life through playing with his friends and his family. it's really endearing, with a solid cast of characters, and the storytelling is very well done. the episodes, while short, are usually nicely paced, and they provide good messaging about healthy relationships with friends, family, the world around you, and even with yourself.

the characters are decently fleshed out as well. of course, headline protagonist cory has the most character development, and we ride along with him for most of the episodes. but chrissy is a pretty fleshed out character for being a toddler who still calls 'superheroes' "Scooplbeeple," and Mama and Papa have their moments that connect with older audiences that aren't just overused stereotypes. some of the episodes also vaguely spoof popular movies and television (like mission impossible's theme and dance dance revolution), which make these already cute episode even cuter

part of my system of deciding whether a piece of media is good or not (in my super subjective opinion) is if it can make me cry. it's not always a factor, but usually, if it makes me cry that's a pretty good thing. that's because there was enough emotional heart in the media to tug at my heartstrings enough to make me cry. bluey absolutely smashed this category out of the park (sleepytime, granddad, rug island, to name a few episodes that made me sob), and i could talk about how good that show is for quite some time. cory carson has six seasons so far, and i'm part of the way through season three. so far, two episode have made me cry, "Grandpa's Treasure" and "Show and Tell," so this show definitely passes the test.

long story short, "Go! Go! Cory Carson" is an adorable little Netflix show to check out if you have about 8 minutes to spare for an episode and want to see adorable little cars zoom around their cute little town, and i highly recommend it if you like children's animation similar to shows like bluey

but, really though, chrissy is the best character in the show, hands down. she's a little car of few 'words,' but when she speaks, you listen

[picnokinesis]

Hi!

(A mild panic on the topic of: This is not a question, oh god, this is NOT a question. This is a recommendation of a fandom at BEST.)

So I was reading a fic one day and my brain went very quickly in succession:

a) /Oh/, this is the good stuff

b) No wonder you think so, remember spydoc telepathy edition (And you, Taka, are like an ambassador of that land in my mind)

c) Actually many fics from this fandom are like this

d) Do we think…?

So I had two facts:

1. This is a thing someone I have a great respect for would probably enjoy.

2. There was no indication Taka has seen or engaged in the fandom of Pacific Rim. Despite its notoriety in this neck of the woods due to the concept of drifting in particular.

And what I am doing with those facts is telling you this. I think you are great and I think you would like the fics of Pacific Rim. So if you feel like checking it out, it’s very low effort on entrance. Only one movie to see. Or two. Depends who you ask.

Here are two excerpts to judge for yourself. (Is this a spoiler? I know people for whom this would be a spoiler. For me it’s a tester.)

1) What’s a Little B&E Between Friends? By VoiceOfNurse (Part 20, Chapter 1)

No need to reach for the void, when he was so complete, nestled up against the part of Them that was Hermann. 

…safe… 

Newt was aware, in as much as Hermann was aware. It was difficult to separate himself out, when Hermann’s mind was locked around him like a steel trap made of numbers and chalk dust and spite. They were one organism in two parts- four lungs, drawing breath, two hearts beating in time. There was cold, and there was pain, but it was far away. 

There is no room for (masters-monsters-precursors) here. They are (insects-vermin-insignificant) when faced with (memory-language-connection). We are (brilliant-unstoppable-rockstars). We are (music-logic-science). We are (Newt-and-Hermann) and they are nothing. 

2) What’s a Little B&E Between Friends? By VoiceOfNurse (Part 20, Chapter 2)

They were Drifting. Tendo couldn’t quite work out the whys and hows of it, especially now that he was being bitten to within an inch of his fucking life, but he was certain. He’d hurt Hermann by moving too fast, probably jostled the guy’s leg, actually, which was folded weirdly under him with Newt on top, but the closest set of teeth bit him. Newt wasn’t even conscious in the traditional sense of the word, but Hermann was. Hermann was, and apparently Newt’s teeth were available to rectify the situation. Newt’s urges, too, because Tendo didn’t really picture Hermann as a biter. 

HELLO MY FRIEND oh my days I'm SO sorry but I'm laughing so much because this probably happened because tumblr search function is useless but 'no indication' sksksksk, oh my sweet summer child: here's the pacific rim tag on my blog LMAO - or, even better, the entire pacrim au I came up with for s12 of doctor who one time. Also. Also. Buddy. This is so funny, I love you so much. Are you aware that I'm obsessed with the works of one of the biggest Pacific Rim fanfic writers ever? I did, to be fair, literally take their name off my blog description yesterday to replace it with Bloodywood instead, and I'm more on the Stargate Universe side of things these days - but cleanwhiteroom is one of my favourite authors, and I read Designations Congruent with Things before I touched any of their Stargate material. If, my dear anon, you've not heard of cwr, then I really highly recommend their stuff, but I'll add a link below and see if I can dig up the other fic that I really loved from back in the day. Thank you for the fic rec though!! Those excerpts look excellent haha, I shall check that fic out when I get chance because you're absolutely right I love that kind of thing.

(also, absolutely DELIGHTED that you read this sort of stuff and thought of me - that is SUCH an honour oh my days! Like...rancid spydoc telepathy ambassador....what a title, I'm dead chuffed at this haha bless you!)

I think this is just so funny to me because - you couldn't possibly know this, of course, but like you know where I got this from? This love for writing weird, messed up mental connections between people?

Pacific Rim fanfiction HAHAHAHAHA

(and, later SGU - but I mean, mostly just cleanwhiteroom tbh. I was 16yo and I imprinted okay. But there were also other fics too, and they had an influence. Guh, Newt/Hermann post-drift fics are PEAK man)

Okay but actually let me tell you the story of how I got into pacrim because I think it's hilarious. So most people get into fandoms by like, yknow. Watching the film, reading the book, seeing the show, etc. I mean, how else would you do it? I'll tell you how. I was pottering about on deviantArt, back in the the grand old year of - oh, it must have been 2014. 2015? Something like that. Anyway, I stumbled across some Newt and Hermann fanart, and I didn't know the fandom but I was intrigued and REALLY liked the artstyle (I think the artist was feriowind?) - anyway I went on their profile and was MORE intrigued when I found they'd done some gorgeous cover art for THIS FIC, which got me so curious that I decided to read it. Without having watched the film. What I did was: read the plot summary on wikipedia, watched a couple of newt and hermann fanvids/clips (LIKE THIS ONE) so I could see them/hear their voices right, and then just blitz on through the fic with google images open in another tab so I could google thing like 'the shatterdome' and 'the LOCCENT pacific rim' and stuff like that for visual reference SKKSSK. Damn this is a throwback, I'm having a great time. ANYWAY. Read the fic. Loved it. Read the sequel. LOVED IT. Started looking for more fanart and stuff like that - and found a bunch of people kept on mentioning this fic called Designations Congruent with Things. Searched it up, found it on ao3, read the first 6 chapters and it almost melted my brain LMAO so I stopped. Then I couldn't stop thinking about it and I came back to it and oh my days. Oh my days. It fully rewrote my brain and DAMN I was obsessed. By this point I was vibrating in place at the mere thought of actually SEEING THE FILM, YKNOW. The film I'd read hundreds of thousands of words of fanfic about. Anyway, my friend who got secret santa for me that year literally had the easiest job on the planet HAHAHAHA so I watched it on Christmas Day and it was so so funny because like. You probably are aware of how much damn lore this film has. Like I knew the names of most of the jaegers that aren't even mentioned in the movie, I knew about Caitlin Lightcap and Sergio D'onofrio, but I had NO IDEA what was extended canon and what was fanon and what was actually. Y'know. In the film. So when I watched it I was like BUT WHERE'S LIGHTCAP for most of it HAHAHAH, but yeah it was great. SO GREAT. Guh I love the concept of the drift SO SO MUCH it's absolutely fascinating and just. AHH!! So so good.

Anyway. Absolutely losing it, bless. Sorry this is all over the place, I'm very tired but my goodness. Yes. Talk to me about drift bonds any day of the week, I'm here for it. If you want cleanwhiteroom fics, you can find them here. I linked the other one above, but there were a couple of others I read too...like I read a LOT of fics, and this was before I had an ao3 account rip so I don't have it in my fic reading history. There was one called Occam's Razor that I read a lot of, but I don't think I finished it. OH but I also liked this one (that i thought I found but it turned out to be the wrong one, am looking again now lol), from after Pacific Rim 2!! Which, as a film, I mostly consider to just be like. A fanfic with an exceptionally high budget ksksksks so yknow. I don't hate it because I don't consider it canon as much as I consider anything outside the original film canon. ANYWAY LOVE YOU

[eleanorfenyxwrites]

Roses Are Falling

Time for another installment in the Orville Peck Cinematic Universe! (With bonus accompanying art from @littlesmartart for today's Drawtober post!) Our boys go on a few romcom-worthy dates ❤ (and those dates are heavily inspired by these two videos, highly recommend watching those for context ;) )

--//--

As it turns out, Meng Yao’s initial musings on the purpose of the chairs on the front porch had been absolutely correct. Mingjue and Xichen have pushed the chairs close enough to each other for the armrests to function as a surprisingly sturdy seat and Meng Yao sits perched on them tailor-style, Xichen’s hand rubbing gently back and forth between his shoulder blades like he doesn’t even realize he’s doing it, and around them evening has begun to fall in a pleasant haze of deep violet shadows and a cool breeze is skimming along the fields just enough to make everything feel fresh.

The sun is setting beyond the mountains in a blaze of orange, the undersides of the evening clouds every hue of pink and purple he can imagine stretching for miles and miles up into the unbroken sky overhead. Three forgotten glasses of too-sweet lemonade sit on the wooden planks of the porch, sweating condensation in the evening heat, and Meng Yao’s mouth is still tingling and pink from the kisses they’d traded between them rather than sipping at the drinks.

They sit in comfortable, mutual silence for a long time, longer than Meng Yao can ever remember himself being comfortable with before. There’s always something to say, some way to ingratiate himself, some compliment to give, a question to ask to prove that he’s present and paying attention like he should be…there’s always something to say. But something about his companions, and something about the open silence around them, stays his anxious tongue and he’s shocked to realize he’s relaxed. He doesn’t ever relax, but then again he doesn’t ever have this either. This is still very new less than a week after his and Nie Huaisang’s arrival, but he already sort of feels like maybe it’s not that new after all. It’s far too comfortable to be new, but that’s also absolutely ridiculous so he keeps that thought to himself.

“A-Yao?” Xichen eventually murmurs, too soft to startle, and Meng Yao hums in the back of his throat, a wordless acknowledgement that he’s listening. “Mingjue and I have something we’d like to talk to you about.”

Hm. Alright, well the relaxed atmosphere was nice while it lasted.

Mingjue snorts and reaches up to practically scruff him, gripping the back of his neck in one enormous hand and squeezing (lightly) in a way that has no right to be as grounding as it is.

“I told you not to say it like that, A-Huan, look how tense you made him. No one likes hearing ‘we need to talk’.”

“It’s fine,” Meng Yao protests like he doesn’t desperately need the impromptu slightly-too-rough massage Mingjue is giving him. “What’s up?”

“Well…we really like spending time with you and we were hoping-”

Oh god this is it, the ‘you’re fun and all but when does the sex start?’ talk. Meng Yao has heard it before, more times than he’d like to recount, and his stomach drops with an unpleasant swoop, disappointment already dragging his heart down with it. He’d thought Mingjue and Xichen were different, somehow, but he should have known the men who would ever be interested in him are all the same –

“-that you’d let us take you out on a date or two?”

Meng Yao’s racing thoughts screech to a stop and he blinks at the golden sunset in front of him, uncomprehending.

Dates?

Do…people still do that? Yes of course he knows that people go out for drinks, or to dinner, or maybe the movies, but those are all such blatant preludes to sex that Meng Yao privately doesn’t think they count as dates. Not the way he thinks of dates anyway, outdated as he knows his own secret fantasies seem. And he supposes that Mingjue and Xichen could still mean the former — taking him somewhere to butter him up, making him more likely to give it up to them, wanting his body more than they want him…but his traitorous heart whispers that he still thinks they’re different.

“What kind of date?” he asks, wary, and closes his eyes against the view of the mountains deepening to the deep purple-blue of evening as the red disk of the sun disappears behind them.

Immediately, Xichen replies, “Nothing untoward, I swear,” because he talks like a Jane Austen novel sometimes and Meng Yao finds it painfully charming. “There’s a rodeo coming up in a couple of days a few towns over and I’ll be riding in it, so we thought we’d ask you to come along with us. We’ve also got a place we like to go out dancing sometimes…or anything else you’d like, really…Though I’m sure options here are much more limited than you’re accustomed to in New York.”

Meng Yao turns at the waist to find Xichen smiling up at him, innocently expectant and not at all looking like he’s hoping any of these options will coax Meng Yao into opening his legs for them. He twists a little further to gauge Mingjue’s feelings on the subject but he’s much less easily-read than Xichen’s open friendliness. Still, it’s hard to imagine Mingjue being…pushy, and so far he’s seemed to have little to no expectations, simply accepting whatever affections Meng Yao wants to give him with pleased surprise.

“Yeah,” Meng Yao says, matching Mingjue’s raised eyebrow with one of his own along with a shy smile slowly growing wider. “You can take me out on some dates.”

“Gracious of you,” Mingjue grumbles, teasing sarcasm, and Xichen’s laugh is warmer than the fading sunlight when Meng Yao sticks his tongue out at Mingjue for lack of any better way to retaliate.

--//--

“And hot outta the gate here’s Jackson Walker from Billings hangin’ on for dear life — and it’s lookin’ like he’s got a good sturdy seat there–”

Mingjue takes a long pull off his beer and glances sidelong at A-Yao sitting beside him, further away than he would’ve expected. He doesn’t feel like he had an unfair expectation, either, considering how A-Yao has apparently decided to take up nearly-permanent residence in his lap on the rare occasions Mingjue is actually sitting down for any significant length of time, and he’d sort of (desperately) hoped that the same would prove true now that they actually have hours of free time in which to sit and hang out with each other in the stands of the one of the rodeos A-Huan rides in every summer.

But no, A-Yao’s sitting a solid foot and a half away — his back ramrod straight in a way that no one but a Lan would actually find comfortable — and staring pointedly out at the packed dirt arena like bull riding is the most fascinating thing he’s ever seen, despite the way he winces every time someone gets thrown and chased back to the gates.

“A-Yao,” Mingjue calls over the cheering from the crowd as the run finishes with, he can see from the corner of his eye, a rather spectacular throw at least a good 4 or 5 feet into the air and the announcer hops back onto the crackling loudspeaker to call for another round of applause for the longest ride of the afternoon so far.

“Mhm?”

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.”

Mingjue glances down at A-Yao’s white-knuckled grip on his glass bottle of Coke and would very much like to call bullshit.

“Bullshit.”

When A-Yao turns an affronted look on him he glances down at his hands again more pointedly, his obvious tension a direct opposite of Mingjue’s own much more lax position, leaning back on one elbow propped against the unoccupied riser above them and his boots resting on the equally unoccupied riser just below them.

“If you want to leave we can,” he tells him when A-Yao just shuffles his weight a bit and looks back out at the arena just in time to wince again as the latest rider goes flying off after hardly three seconds on the bull. “We’ve got some friends here too with extra space in their trailers, someone could give A-Huan and Shuoyue a ride back to the ranch.”

“Absolutely not!” Mingjue tries his damndest not to snicker at the sheer offense in A-Yao’s voice. “We’re not leaving Huan-ge here, don’t be ridiculous.”

“Then did I do something to piss you off? You were all over me in the truck like an hour ago.”

Granted, it’s not as if his truck leaves much space for A-Yao not to be all over him when sharing the single bench seat with both him and A-Huan, but there’d been a good four or five inches of free space that meant A-Yao hadn’t needed to spend the entire drive tucked up tightly under his arm and letting Mingjue kiss him whenever the mood struck (which was frequently). He’d liked that quite a bit actually, considering that usually when he and A-Huan drive to rodeos his partner is so busy worrying about driving slowly and carefully enough not to spook his ridiculous high-strung beast in the trailer that he doesn’t let Mingjue do anything fun to keep from getting bored. He’d been looking forward to not having to sit through the entire rodeo pretending to be completely entertained just watching that either, which makes the abrupt change in A-Yao’s attitude all the more upsetting.

“No!” Well, at least A-Yao’s protest is quick and vehement enough that Mingjue believes him, though that doesn’t really help with figuring out just why he’s acting so weird then. “Everything’s fine!”

“Don’t make me say you’re bullshitting again, obviously you don’t like it.”

This time A-Yao’s jaw clenches along with his grip on the bottle in his hands and Mingjue wonders if he should stop pushing him. But he’s really not that interested in bull riding and it’s bothering him to sit here knowing A-Yao isn’t having a good time but not knowing what to do to make it right, so if he has to be irritating to get down to the bottom of it then he will be.

A-Yao holds out for another 10 seconds (the announcer is helpfully counting out the latest ride time) before he huffs out an angry sigh and shakes his head. He downs the rest of his Coke like he wishes it was something much stiffer before he turns and brings his legs up to sit tailor-style sideways on the metal bleacher, eyes flinty with determination.

Mingjue freezes with the mouth of his own bottle pressed to his lips and raises his eyebrows, a silent question because he knows already that if he actually says anything then A-Yao will take the excuse to not voice whatever he’s just decided on.

“People are staring.”

Oh. Is that it? Mingjue takes the waiting sip of his beer and glances around to find that’s…sort of true? A few people are looking at them, sure, but it’s not like it matters, and he wouldn’t exactly call it ‘staring’ either. More like glancing, like they’re curious. Mingjue’s pretty damn used to it at least, since his height alone usually makes people do a double-take when he goes somewhere new, and he would’ve thought someone as gorgeous as A-Yao would be pretty used to being looked at, too.

“Okay…so what?”

“What do you mean so what?? Aren’t they…judging?”

Ah.

Mingjue sighs and sits up straighter to set his beer aside with a little clang of glass-on-metal so he can reach over and tug A-Yao closer with one hand on his waist and the other hooked over his knee.

“Wha-Mingjue!”

Mingjue lets go, giving A-Yao more than enough of a chance to slide away again if he wants to, but after a second he settles in, grumbling, and lets Mingjue draw his legs across his lap and tuck him neatly under his arm again like they’d been sitting in the truck. He just fits so nicely there, small and warm and as sharp as he is soft, all pointy elbows and pinching fingers when he’s annoyed and soft kisses when he isn’t. Mingjue likes him enormously.

“I’m going to let you in on a little secret,” Mingjue tells him, muttering it into his hair. “No one here actually cares if you sit next to me. You could straddle my lap and no one would really give a shit.”

A-Yao makes some vague noise of protest in the back of his throat but after a moment he nuzzles closer, hiding his face in the crook of Mingjue’s neck to pause and take a deep breath. Mingjue’s noticed him doing that a lot, the deep breath thing, but he hasn’t really been able to pick up on the pattern of why or when he does it, and it feels like it would be kind of rude to ask. Maybe he doesn’t even realize he’s doing it, and if it’s to help him deal with anxiety or something then having it pointed out would probably just make it worse. (A-Huan, he thinks, would be proud of this evidence of his developing sense of tact.)

“Aren’t people…not in a city kind of…backwards though?” A-Yao finally asks, still hiding, and Mingjue just barely manages not to laugh. It’s a valid question, he tells himself sternly, and A-Yao hasn’t met their queer friend network yet, he has no idea that there’s more of them in the middle of fucking nowhere than anyone not already in the know would suspect.

“Sure, some of them. There are plenty of backwards people in cities too, they’re just more diluted by general population density,” Mingjue says with a shrug that jostles A-Yao enough to make him pinch his arm lightly in warning not to move so much, or maybe not to be quite so flippant. “Yes, fine, there are people here who probably don’t want to see two guys all over each other for whatever bullshit reasoning they have. But who’s going to look at me and decide it’s a good idea to come say that to my face? So long as they don’t make trouble, who gives a fuck? And trust me, no one’s going to want to make trouble for me.”

A-Yao goes extra still for a moment and Mingjue can practically hear the cogs in his head turning as he thinks that through. He has to bite down on another laugh when A-Yao starts essentially petting his chest, running his fingertips idly over the curve of his pec and down to his abs, though he at least has the good sense not to lift up the hem of his t-shirt to do it. (Not that there’d be much to see, in Mingjue’s opinion, since his body’s built for work not for show, but A-Huan likes it anyway and he doesn’t think A-Yao would exactly be opposed either.)

“You know, you make an excellent point, ge,” A-Yao finally says and Mingjue loses the battle with his laughter, though he does at least muffle it behind his fist and attempt to turn it into a cough halfway through, with dubious success.

“So are you going to stop sitting over there like someone’s going to run up here and demand we leave room for Jesus between us?”

A-Yao leans back to wrinkle his nose at him, dark brows scrunched down in obvious distaste and this time Mingjue laughs for real, a deep belly laugh that turns more heads for a brief moment than anything else about their presence has yet.

“What, isn’t that what you’re so afraid of? I promise to keep you safe from the bible thumpers and the backwards idiots, alright?”

“Not in those words specifically, ugh,” A-Yao grumbles as he makes a little show out of standing up and brushing himself off, settling his clothes to rights before he puts his hands on his hips and, imperiously, adds, “So how do you want me to sit with you then, Mingjue?”

Mingjue grins up at him, completely charmed by his put-on huffy little attitude. “I thought you’d never ask.”

A-Yao submits to being manhandled (gently) where Mingjue wants him with lots of grumbling Mingjue doesn’t buy for a second. Once he’s got A-Yao sitting on the riser in front of him between his feet, he coaxes him into leaning back and resting against his chest so Mingjue can wrap his arms around him and prop his chin on top of his head; A-Yao relaxes almost instantly, which Mingjue is pretty sure he’ll be feeling smug about for at least the next two days. A-Yao leans back without an ounce of hesitation and rests his weight against Mingjue with a little sigh so Mingjue rewards him with a few slow kisses to the top of his head and a tight, squeezing hug.

“Well this position has at least one benefit — no one can even see me past your stupid biceps anyway.”

Mingjue snickers and pops his feet up onto the metal bleacher on either side of A-Yao’s knees, completely boxing him in as he curls over him to kiss his cheek instead. “You know, I always want to sit like this with A-Huan but he’s too lanky to fit up against me like this. You’re so conveniently pocket-sized – hey!”

A-Yao laughs, a little vindictive but mostly just happy, as Mingjue reaches across him to rub at the brand new pinched-red spot on his arm.

“Don’t be rude, Mingjue, don’t you want to make a good impression on a first date? And no, the party doesn’t count.”

“Are you not having fun?” Mingjue teases back, only it’s a bit too sincere to really come across as teasing. A-Yao doesn’t reply immediately, but when he does he’s definitely also too sincere to be teasing anymore.

“I am. I’m having a really good time.”

“Folks, let’s hear another big round of applause for all our daring riders this afternoon; we’ll be back in 20 minutes for barrels, you won’t wanna miss it! During the break don’t forget to check out a couple’a today’s generous local sponsors, Big Papa’s BBQ and—“

--//--

As per Xichen’s insistence, they wait to celebrate his rodeo victory until they have another free evening the following week to head out for a bit of drinking and dancing at a spot he and Mingjue swear Meng Yao will like. Meng Yao — who had thoroughly enjoyed watching the incredibly fast and skillful maneuvering of man and beast together at the rodeo — has already given Xichen many, many rewards beyond his blue ribbon and doesn’t quite understand why they have to go dancing to continue to celebrate, but he’s already learning that Mingjue is incapable of saying no to anyone he likes, so here they are.

Meng Yao hops down out of the truck after Xichen and looks somewhat dubiously up at the bar they’ve wound up at, very creatively named ‘Bar’ in red neon letters haphazardly attached to the front of what could very easily just be a barn. Perhaps even a shack, if he’s being uncharitable.

Mingjue’s already loping towards it, enormous ground-eating strides that’s just how he walks because he’s a fucking giant who exclusively surrounds himself with other giants and therefore expects everyone to be able to cover the same distance; so far Meng Yao has thoroughly enjoyed the way he gets kind of embarrassed when he gets where he’s going alone and only realizes his mistake when he looks around and can’t find Meng Yao at his side anymore.

Mingjue reaches the door just as Xichen presses a hand to the small of Meng Yao’s back to gently usher him forward, and — yep, there it is, a brief little apologetic grimace and a slight reddening of Mingjue’s cheeks when he swings the door open for the pair of them still a good handful of yards away.

“Eager?” Meng Yao teases him and earns himself an eye roll that would put some of Huaisang’s best ones to shame (which rather neatly answers the question of who he’d learned them from once upon a time).

“Don’t sass me, A-Yao, or I’ll step on your feet once I get you out on the floor,” Mingjue grumbles, good-natured under the gruff rasp in his voice, and if Meng Yao were in any doubt as to whether or not he was teasing then Xichen’s warm chuckle from behind him would clue him in.

“Be nice to him, ge, or he may not dance with us at all.”

Despite his misgivings, the interior of the bar is…fine. It’s cleaner than he’d expected it to be anyway, and he’s just going to pretend he doesn’t see mounted animal heads up near the ceiling in a couple of corners not otherwise plastered in old beer or tobacco ads, tastefully interspersed with the occasional poster of a scantily clad woman that may or may not have been ripped out of a vintage Playboy once upon a time. It screams ‘Man Cave’ in a way Meng Yao has never had the opportunity to fully appreciate before, and his misgivings go approximately nowhere fast. Forget the potential for unpleasant confrontation at the rodeo — if anyone’s going to sneer at them for being queer it’ll be in a pit of sweaty, stale machismo like this.

“Just trust us, come on,” Mingjue ducks down to mutter in his ear on his way past them to head for the bar. Xichen’s hand on his back slides down so he can link their fingers together instead, and when Meng Yao looks up at him he finds the other man already smiling down at him a little dopily, like he can’t believe Meng Yao is actually standing right there with him.

“Did I tell you you look lovely this evening?” Xichen asks him eventually and Meng Yao has to bite the inside of his lip hard to keep from snorting. He had not, in fact, said that, but it’s not like it’s the kind of compliment Meng Yao had been expecting, either. It’s sweet, though, and laughing at him would be rude, especially since it’s kind of giving him butterflies to be watched with such clear adoration.

“You didn’t. Thank you,” he manages and Xichen’s smile somehow grows just a shade brighter.

“A-Huan, A-Yao, get over here,” Mingjue calls over the general chatter from the other patrons; the bar’s not particularly crowded by Meng Yao’s New Yorker standards but it’s not deserted either; a fairly healthy population for a Thursday night in a town with no more than two decent hang-out spots, Meng Yao would think. He lets Xichen tow him between the tables to the actual bar and he hops up on a stool next to where Mingjue’s leaning so hard against the countertop he’s practically all the way over it, like he knows exactly how good it makes his ass look in his work-worn jeans.

“Hey Lily! Come over here and meet our new boyfriend!” he calls to the bartender just finishing up sliding a beer to a guy who openly ogles her up and down in clear appreciation. Meng Yao starts a little at being referred to as anyone’s boyfriend when they haven’t exactly had that conversation yet, but he’s not opposed so he doesn’t bother to correct Mingjue (though he also doesn’t stop Xichen from swatting his partner on the back of the head with a hissed, “Ge, I said we have to talk to him about that first!”).

“New boyfriend, huh? How on earth did a cute little thing like him get mixed up with you two?” the bartender asks, leaning over the bar close enough that Meng Yao can smell her perfume and the faint sugar of her pink bubblegum even over the general miasma of beer and hay dust and stale sweat poorly masked by cheap cologne. He’s too busy cataloging all of that and attempting to come up with an answer to her question to immediately notice the pins all over her denim vest, but when he really looks at her his properly huffy reply dies in his throat.

“Told you there’s more of us out here than you think,” Mingjue mutters to him out of the corner of his mouth. “Yes darling, I see your point,” Meng Yao replies, still staring at the sheer volume of enamel pins and old round plastic buttons so densely coating the front of Lily’s vest that there’s hardly any denim to be seen. To be fair, he’s more than a little surprised to find that every single one of them is a pride flag or a vintage queer pride slogan (though he certainly notices that more of them are trans-themed than anything else). 

Xichen leans across the bar to kiss Lily once on each cheek, saving Meng Yao a bit of face for an extra moment at least. “Hello sweetheart, good to see you. He got mixed up with us the same way good things always happen to Mingjue — his brother packaged him up all pretty with a bow and brought him right to our doorstep.” 

Meng Yao finally snaps out of it and looks Lily in the face only to sheepishly realize that she’s snickering at him, her arms crossed over her ample chest and her hot pink lips pursed like she’s trying not to laugh outright.

“No no honey, I paid good money for those, you look all you want. And I don’t mean the pins.”

Meng Yao is pretty sure he blushes up to the roots of his hair. He definitely had not been staring at Lily’s chest (not like that) but there’s no way to refute it now without sounding incredibly guilty. She takes mercy on him though, finally giving into her laughter properly with a wave of her hand to stop his apology before he can even figure out how to voice it.

“Stop, stop, I’m teasing!” Lily chuckles with a little flutter of both hands as she dutifully turns to his companions to say, with a slightly rehearsed air, “Hi Huan, hi Mingjue. Am I gonna have to get coached on how to say your new boyfriend’s name too?”

He cuts in finally before either of the other two can to tell her, “It’s Yao.”

“Oh hey nice, that one’s easy!” Lily laughs as she starts pulling a Heineken from the tap. “Well it’s nice to meet you, Yao, but you still haven’t answered my question yourself. What’s a pretty thing like you doing with these meatheads?”

“I take offense to that,” Mingjue retorts and takes the glass Lily passes to him, raising it briefly in a toast enthusiastic enough that he sloshes a trickle of foam over the rim. “Just because I raise meat doesn’t mean that I am meat.”

“Baby, do me a favor and take a good look in a mirror next time you get naked then get back to me on that one. You’re barely one step above your herd and trust me, I know men. You’re the beefiest beefcake I know, and I’ve got a couple cows of my own for comparison.”

“Lily’s owned and run the Bar for about 20 years,” Xichen stage-whispers to Meng Yao with a conspiratorial smile. “She takes absolutely no shit, and ge loves her.”

“I take offense to that, too,” Mingjue huffs, kicking half-heartedly at Xichen’s shin. “Just order your drink already, we came here to dance.”

“Meatheads, I told you,” Lily leans over to say to Meng Yao with a wink and a bubblegum pink smile. “They won’t dance until they’ve both had at least one beer. You need some liquid courage, too?”

Meng Yao raises an eyebrow at his…boyfriends(????) and leans his elbow on the bar to clearly draw a line in the sand, himself and Lily in cahoots on one side, Xichen and Mingjue on the other.

“Do you really have to drink to loosen up just to dance?” he asks (like a hypocrite, because he will absolutely be needing a cocktail).

Surprisingly it’s Mingjue who shakes his head. “Not me really, just this one,” he says with a jerk of his thumb at Lan Xichen still waiting patiently for the beer Lily hasn’t pulled yet. “He’s all…Lan-ish until he has some alcohol, and then he’ll let me have a few turns.”

“Scandalous,” Lily fake-gasps, pressing a hand to her chest with the clatter of her extensive collection of plastic costume bracelets. “Mingjue this is a family establishment, talk about your turns out back with the rest of the degenerates.”

“Oh cut the bullshit, Lily,” Mingjue grumbles; Lily just laughs as she pushes up off the bar top again to start working on Xichen’s beer with deft hands, a few rings flashing in the neon lights of a few of the more elaborate beer ads lining the walls.

“This is usually the part where she makes fun of Mingjue for the things we like to get up to out behind the bar,” Xichen says and side-steps Mingjue’s next kick aimed for his shin rather neatly. “They’re far from family appropriate.”

“Degenerates,” Lily whoops with a cackling laugh, turning a few heads nearby and making Meng Yao suddenly wish to melt into the floor. The last thing he wants is attention from the rest of the bar, he just wants to hang out with his…boyfriends(!!!!).

Mingjue grumbles something inarticulate into his beer but he’s grinning around the next sip and Xichen looks like the cat that ate the canary, so really..it might not be so bad, a bit of teasing. Not when it makes them so happy.

Lily finishes serving their first round with a Manhattan for Meng Yao and then waves them off to find a place to sit while she moves on to the next customer. Meng Yao trails behind Mingjue and Xichen to a corner booth under a burnt-out lamp, the spot dim and inviting even as it offers a perfect view of the only-slightly-better-lit dance floor. Meng Yao settles in, happily tucked up right against Xichen’s side to sip at his drink and enjoy the weight of his arm wrapped snugly over his shoulders.

Mingjue settles in across from them with what is definitely a dad noise that Meng Yao very sweetly does not point out to him. Around another sip of his rapidly-disappearing beer he asks, “Alright — do we really need to have the label talk? We’re, y’know…us, and A-Yao can be whatever he wants. It’s not really worth a whole discussion, is it?”

“Well love that’s really up to A-Yao, don’t you think?” Xichen chides, sounding fondly exasperated. “You can’t just spring being our boyfriend on him like that, maybe he doesn’t even want to be our boyfriend.”

“I do,” Meng Yao cuts in before Mingjue can continue to argue. He feels his neck heat under the press of Xichen’s arm but he forces himself not to hide behind his drink and instead face Mingjue’s frank gaze head-on. “I want to be your boyfriend, if that’s what you want to call me. But I have a condition.”

“Alright,” Mingjue offers as he leans back against the cushion of his booth, gesturing with his glass for Meng Yao to continue. “What’s your condition, A-Yao?”

Demanding that they wait to have sex until he’s ready (if he ever is) feels…silly, considering it hasn’t been an issue at all so far. A niggling little voice at the back of his head is trying to tell him that he should set that boundary now anyway, that plenty of people think that a change in labels or relationship definition means that certain things are now on the table when they weren’t before, but…he’s pretty sure Mingjue and Xichen don’t even have sex together as often as one might assume, just the two of them. Bringing it up now feels…presumptuous.

Instead, he clears his throat and sits up straight, taking an extra moment to put himself in visible order as if gearing up for something deeply important. Nie Mingjue raises an eyebrow at him and takes a long pull that nearly drains his beer without breaking eye contact, practically daring Meng Yao to say whatever it is.

“My condition is this: one of you needs to teach me how to ride a horse. If we’re going to fully embrace this utterly ridiculous romcom situation that A-Sang has dumped us into then we are going to do it right.”

Meng Yao takes a pleased sip of his cocktail as both Mingjue and Xichen burst into laughter, the pair of them sounding startled and delighted in equal measure.

“Well I think that’s something we can make happen,” Mingjue eventually chuckles. “It’ll have to be Xichen though, I’ve got a new batch of guys coming in to help me with a roundup this upcoming week and they’re almost more trouble than they’re worth if you don’t keep them busy, but Xichen’s not tough enough to ride them hard like they need.”

Meng Yao blinks and tries desperately not to make an innuendo when Mingjue is so clearly talking about work. He doesn’t have to though; Xichen snorts into his glass and clears his throat a few times like it’ll hide that he’s trying not to laugh. Mingjue grins because he’s an asshole who knows exactly what he’s done, and Meng Yao thinks maybe romcoms aren’t so bad, actually. Maybe they kind of know what they’re talking about. Every once in a while.

Xichen and Mingjue finish sipping on their beers slowly, seemingly content to hang out and chat about anything and nothing, and Meng Yao is as surprised as ever by how comfortable it is to be with them like this. Sure they’re busy, he won’t deny that; the ranch is hard work that wakes them before dawn and keeps them going until sunset most days. But there’s just something about the ranch, this town, this place that makes it all feel much less urgent than the type of ‘busy’ Meng Yao is used to. It’s tough to put into words, but despite their schedules it feels like life overall simply moves slower here, with them. He’s not only allowed to slow down to match but expected to, to fit into the rhythms of, for lack of a better way to put it, the earth itself, rather than the hectic man-made pace of home.

He hadn’t really known that was an option, before now. He hadn’t known how much he would crave it, either, until he was presented with the possibility.

“Alright, you’ve had your beer,” Mingjue says as Xichen drains the last sip. “Whatever the next song is, you’re dancing to it. No matter what.”

“Those are the rules,” Xichen agrees sagely. Meng Yao smirks and tips his head to the side when, immediately after, Xichen ducks in to pepper his cheek and neck in swift little kisses, punctuating them with a nuzzle of the tip of his nose against his ear and a hand creeping up to stroke at Meng Yao’s opposite ear.

“Sorry, he’s a handsy drunk,” Mingjue sighs as he tries to kick Xichen’s feet under the table.

“Is he drunk? He had a beer,” Meng Yao laughs.

“Oh yeah, that’s all it takes. Gotta love that he’s a cheap date, though. Xichen c’mon, get up. This song’s almost over.”

Meng Yao turns his head to give Xichen a conciliatory kiss when he mumble-whines, “But a-Jue!” and then he can’t help but give him another when he pulls back to pout, ever so slightly.

“Go on, you promised him,” Meng Yao tuts with a gentle push against Xichen’s chest. His boyfriend goes easily, grumbling good-naturedly but smiling a bit as he does it. He’s loose-limbed when he clambers to his feet but not swaying where he stands; that doesn’t stop Mingjue from curling both hands around his trim waist to hold him up though, and Meng Yao certainly can’t fault him for being such a clever opportunist.

As predicted, the song currently pumping through the speakers comes to an end with a too-twangy strum of guitar, and in the pause between it and the next Mingjue and Xichen make their way to the edge of the dance floor currently playing host to just a few other people, an older couple and, at its fringes, a group of people chatting and laughing, doing nothing so much as just horsing around.

Meng Yao doesn’t spare anyone else more than a glance; Mingjue and Xichen look good together in the combination of yellow lamplight and the glow off the neon signs around the walls that end up turning the space some indeterminate shade of purple. Mingjue’s ass looks incredible in his tight jeans, Xichen looks as polished as ever in his usual sort of outfit topped with what he dubbed his ‘fancy’ hat — a white Stetson that Meng Yao is pretty sure looks nearly identical to the hat he wears for working on the ranch, but far be it from him to question.

Meng Yao would not, in any universe, claim to be a connoisseur of country music. But he thinks that anyone would recognize Shania Twain, and he bursts into laughter behind his hand as the next song starts with a very distinctive horn riff and a sultry, “Let’s go girls~” that Meng Yao swears he sees Mingjue mouth to Xichen around his own laughter.

Xichen leads. Perhaps this shouldn’t surprise him, but it does, and Meng Yao feels something he can’t define at the moment clench in his chest as he watches Xichen grin while he guides Mingjue into spins and dips that feel almost like swing dancing more than anything else in between the smooth back-and-forth circling of their feet, boots shuffling easily across the polished wood floor around and around, always in time, and always in sync.

“Those boys are really somethin’ else,” someone says at his elbow, and when Meng Yao tears his gaze away from his boyfriends just long enough to glance up it’s to find Lily standing beside the table, a tray of empty glasses on her palm and her elbow resting on her hip to relieve the weight of it. She isn’t looking at him but rather out at the dance floor, where Mingjue is lifting Xichen’s hand to his mouth for a quick kiss to his knuckles in the instant before Xichen spins him again, back to front, to hold his hands out to the sides. They stay there just long enough for Xichen to tuck up behind Mingjue’s back and kiss his shoulder before they spin away from each other again connected only by the curl of their fingers around each other’s, smiling all the while.

“They’re wonderful,” Meng Yao says like it’s a secret, bashful and a little afraid that saying it aloud will jinx it, that if he acknowledges how happy he is some cosmic force will take it all away from him again.

“Yeah I’ll bet they are, hon. Two of the nicest guys I’ve ever met, I can tell you that. I’d say you’ve gotten pretty lucky gettin’ their attention, and I can also tell you they don’t just bring anyone around to my bar. If I know them at all then I know they’re pretty damn into you.” She sighs a little and blows a bubble, gum popping as Mingjue finishes a little body roll against Xichen’s front that’s just suggestive enough to make Xichen swat at him with a laugh to coax him into another quick spin that he ends with dipping him again. “You want another drink, sweetheart? Someone looks a little ~thirsty~”

Meng Yao laughs at the familiar flavor of teasing (something tells him Lily and Huaisang get on like a house on fire) and accepts, asking for another Manhattan; he’ll need to loosen up a bit more if they’re expecting him to dance like that, considering he has no idea how to swing dance at all and certainly not in the way they’re doing it. (That being said, it’s not like he’s at all opposed to being taught by large, warm hands on his waist and kisses for rewards when he gets it right.) 

Xichen reels Mingjue in one last time as the song draws to a close (“I feel like a wo-man!” He can hear Mingjue singing along from here, loudly enough that he must be doing it to embarrass Xichen, who promptly laughs and covers his face with both hands now that he doesn’t need them to guide Mingjue around the floor). Four minutes was not nearly long enough, in Meng Yao’s completely unbiased opinion, but at least it means that his boyfriends are flushed with pleasure and perhaps a little giddy when they come back to him, which in turn means he’s treated to enthusiastic kisses from both of them before they settle again for the next round of drinks Lily brings to the table.

She plunks down a stack of quarters next to the tray with a wink; “You boys wanna control the jukebox for a while?”

Mingjue leans in so sharply to slap his hand down over the quarters that Meng Yao jumps a little — a necessary intervention at just the right speed, judging by the way Xichen’s palm slaps down over his a millisecond later.

“I would love it, thank you, Lily,” Mingjue says with a shark-like grin; Xichen groans and slumps back, defeated. In consolation, Meng Yao doesn’t bother resisting the urge to lean up and kiss Xichen’s cheek, still pink with exertion and embarrassment and/or a little hint of an alcohol-flush.

“You’re going to play more Shania Twain, aren’t you?”

“That’s between me and the jukebox, my A-Huan,” Mingjue says through another certified Dad Noise™ as he stands again to scoop up the quarters and trundle off towards the front door, where from here Meng Yao can just barely see the pink neon strip that frames the jukebox.

“He never used to be like this, you know,” Xichen leans in to tell him (and, naturally, to kiss him on the cheek, but that’s really just par for the course by this point).

Meng Yao smirks a bit and leans into the kisses, as expected, and teases, “Like what? A menace?”

“Mn. For a few years I nearly forgot how happy he could be; he spent a long time angry and miserable, it’s always nice to see him having a good time these days.”

Oh. Well that’s just…more emotional than Meng Yao had expected. The squeezing in his chest comes back tenfold and this time, no longer distracted by watching his boyfriends goofing off, he can properly identify it as want. Not necessarily in a physical way, either; he just wants to be part of this, part of them. He wants to know them in every way, he wants to keep seeing Mingjue laugh, and he wants to learn what embarrasses Xichen so he can do it too, and he wants them to know him, despite the fact that the thought of being known (being seen) is also mildly terrifying.

He just wants to be near them, that’s all. He wants to be allowed in their life.

“Xichen, A-Yao, get up! Your turn next!”

Meng Yao has approximately half a second to panic before Xichen is hauling him to his feet, maudlin mood apparently forgotten as quickly as it had descended in favor of excitement. He doesn’t resist as he’s towed to the dance floor (gently) by the hand, and he at least breathes a little sigh of relief when Mingjue adds, “It’s a slow one, A-Huan.”

This is apparently important, as Xichen says, “Ah!” with a happy sort of realization and readjusts their stance and the grip he has on Meng Yao’s hand easily into something that wouldn’t be out of place at a high school prom. Or at least that’s what it feels like until the song (that’s definitely not Shania Twain, he thinks) starts with some gentle steel guitar and the soft rasp of a brush on a drum keeping easy time. On some instinct he would have never guessed he had, Meng Yao steps further into Xichen’s space to rest his head on his chest and fits himself into the long, lean lines of him with ease.

Xichen curls around him, right hand in the small of his back and the left cradling Meng Yao’s hand between their chests as he starts to gently lead Meng Yao into a simple rotation, hardly more than swaying in time. Xichen’s chest vibrates a little against Meng Yao’s cheek as he starts humming along with the singing when it starts, his voice just as rich, just as warm as the man’s voice crackling a little through the speakers overhead.

Meng Yao is sure his face is on fire, but at least like this it’s perfectly acceptable for him to bury it in Lan Xichen’s chest to hide from everyone for a little bit so he can appreciate these few minutes properly. Xichen just slides his hand up the length of his back to cup against the back of his head instead, holding him right where he is so he can press kisses to his temple, each one a delicate little pause in his humming.

The song isn’t long, a mere few minutes of listening to Xichen’s steady heartbeat and his soft bass hum, and as it trails off with a slow steel guitar riff Xichen brings them to a drifting stop. They linger there in the hush between songs, just breathing through Meng Yao feeling like Xichen’s hands on him are the only reason his feet are still on the floor, but of course it can’t last forever.

The next song starts and though he doesn’t recognize this one, Meng Yao knows within the first few words that it is, as threatened, another Shania Twain song. Xichen’s exasperated, “Mingjue!” would be a clear enough sign even if he didn’t recognize her voice, and before he can even start laughing Xichen is whisked away by Mingjue’s hands on his waist for another round of quick-footed turns and what can only be called (oddly graceful) goofing around.

“Don’t laugh at us,” Mingjue shouts over the music, “You’re next!”

Meng Yao has more than half a mind to ask Lily if he can just hide with her behind the bar instead, flex his old bartending muscles from years ago, pretend that he has no idea who Mingjue is while he’s apparently on a warpath.

But…it looks fun, what they do. He’d like to learn how, and if the only way to do that is to allow his boyfriend to embarrass him a little then, well, that seems like a trade-off he can probably handle. He very graciously lets Mingjue take him by the hand when his and Xichen’s song finishes and the next is even faster, but all that means is that Meng Yao gets lost instantly in the sheer joy of letting Mingjue guide him, laughing, into what he’s pretty sure is truly swing dancing with the way he’s getting tossed around.

“You’re a natural, A-Yao,” Xichen tells him when Meng Yao gets passed to him for the next round, and Meng Yao rides the high of that simple praise for the rest of the night, well after they’ve gotten back to the ranch and parted ways to go to their beds, flushed and happy.

--//--

‘Take A-Yao to the Roadhouse,’ Huaisang had said.

‘Oh that’s a great idea, that’ll be fun,’ Mingjue had said.

Xichen, currently sitting alone at a little table for three, doesn’t know whether to thank his partner and his didi-in-law or to shake them down for answers as to why they think this was an acceptable torture to visit upon him.

As if teaching A-Yao how to ride a horse hasn’t been inciting enough.

As if his easy competence in anything he does and his sly smiles and his enormous eyes aren’t all inciting enough–!

Xichen clenches both hands into fists on his knees, feet planted properly on the floor and his back ramrod straight in a way that even his uncle’s high standards would likely find no fault with, because that is the only way he can possibly resist making a Scene in the middle of one of his and Mingjue’s favorite date spots when they want to get out of town.

It’s a nice place. The staff are good people; a lot of them have worked for Mingjue at some point over the last few years during roundups for some extra cash, and the ones who have are always happy to see them in. It’s pretty clean, as far as these things go, and the bartenders all know how to make really nice mocktails for when Xichen doesn’t want to end up crying on (and/or groping) his partners in public.

Oh and there’s a mechanical bull. That fun fact is, in fact, a vital part of why Xichen is more than a little conflicted about the possible motives behind Mingjue and Huaisang deciding this date night was such a great idea.

Of course Mingjue is on the bull. There’s no question about that. He doesn’t ever want to do it for real, and Xichen wouldn’t allow him to anyway considering the whole point of living out here is to, well, live, rather than dying young of a heart attack (or getting trampled to death, potato po-tah-to), but a mechanical bull? He’d be hard-pressed to keep Mingjue away from it. That part’s fine. That part he can (mostly) handle.

What he absolutely cannot handle is that not only is Mingjue on the bull, but so is A-Yao. Sweet, delicate little A-Yao who’s been showing him all week long just how good his balance is, his incredibly advanced body-control, his flexibility, and just how naturally he adjusts to communicating with a horse using little more than readjustments of his weight and delicate pressure from his knees and heels in the exact ways Xichen has been teaching him. He is, as with everything Xichen has personally seen him try, a natural at horseback riding.

He is also, apparently, a natural at mechanical-bull-and-boyfriend riding. Simultaneously. At the same fucking time. Because Mingjue had so cheerfully suggested, “A-Yao come up there with me, yeah? Just for the first one to get used to it, I won’t let you fall off.”

A-Yao had smiled that sweetly evil little knowing smile up at him and said, in honeyed tones so thick it’s a shock Mingjue hadn’t picked up on the fact that he was being deeply ridiculed, said, “Oh of course — thank you, da-ge.” Because he’s a menace and a tease and Xichen likes him so much.

Naturally Xichen knows, as A-Yao’s riding tutor every day this past week and a half or so, that it would take more than an easy ride on a mechanical bull to unseat him. Still, in the interest of only adding to his own misery — because he might as well, they’re already here — he’d kept silent and just shared a conspiratorial look with A-Yao as he’d shrugged out of his jacket to leave draped over the back of his chair before trailing after Mingjue and doing an admirable job of looking a little lost so Mingjue would put his hands all over him.

Xichen can respect that.

Finally though they’d settled on the damn thing and in the moments before the ride started, judging by the look on Mingjue’s face, Xichen thinks he had realized his first mistake which was, to wit: forgetting for just long enough to see A-Yao settled in straddling his lap that they both find him devastatingly attractive.

For A-Yao’s first go, Xichen is certain Mingjue programmed the machine to its easiest setting. It started off with a gentle rocking, a simple back and forth, and Xichen had watched in real time as Mingjue realized his second mistake which was, to wit: underestimating how skillfully their boyfriend can wield his good looks and their mutual infatuation with him for his own amusement.

But it had been too late to turn back, and so now here Xichen sits, watching A-Yao deepen the rolling of his hips to grind against Mingjue’s lap in time with the slow, deep rocks of the machinery underneath them. There’s a rope overhead to grab for stability (he assumes), but A-Yao uses it like a damn pole, one hand over his head to grip the knot at the bottom tightly and use it to pull himself upright as the other hand runs up the length of Mingjue’s chest to coax him into leaning back from where he’s curled over to bury his face in his neck and instead give A-Yao more room to work.

With fumbling fingers, Xichen finally pulls himself together enough to get his phone out of his pocket in the interest of recording this for posterity and potential spank bank material later on down the line, and he’s so glad he hits record when he does. Within moments, A-Yao smirks down at Mingjue lying nearly flat against the bull and steals the Stetson right off his head to put it on himself with an obscene arch of his back, an extra-slow roll of his hips, and Xichen swallows. Hard. (He’d just known that letting Mingjue borrow his nice hat for the night would pay off somehow. He’d just had a feeling.)

Who could possibly blame Mingjue for grabbing A-Yao’s ass with both hands as soon as he’s recovered from that devastating attack? Xichen can see how hard he’s gripping him from here, the muscles in his forearms sharply defined as he gropes at their boyfriend who looks more than happy to play along for as long as Mingjue wants to feel him up.

The mechanical bull slows to a stop before they can take things any further and A-Yao slows down with it until he simply leans down to kiss Mingjue, holding the hat on until he sits back upright and takes it off to return it to Mingjue with a deceptively sweet smile.

Xichen stops the recording and, before he can think better of it, fires it off in a text to Huaisang with the simple caption: This is the most homoerotic thing that’s ever happened to me.

A minute or two passes in which Xichen watches Mingjue help A-Yao down off the bull with his hands curled almost entirely around his waist and the pair of them do something he can’t see safely hidden behind the bulk of the machine (though whatever it is leaves A-Yao flushed and smiling and a little rumpled around the edges when they step back around to come back to the table, and he has a pretty good guess as to what it could be). A-Yao sits down as Xichen’s phone buzzes in his hand, and within seconds of each other, Huaisang replies with a string of cry-laughing emojis, an incomprehensible jumble of letters Xichen is pretty sure is called a keysmash, and lastly, in all caps: YOU’RE SO WELCOME ER-GE!

Xichen pockets his phone again without answering in favor of leaning around the curve of the table to pull A-Yao in for a kiss deep enough that their friends behind the bar wolf-whistle; Xichen’s just glad they arrived early enough that no other patrons have come in yet, and he can get a little needy without worrying that A-Yao’s going to be made uncomfortable by how little Xichen cares about having an audience.

A-Yao humors him, kissing him as thoroughly as Xichen could possibly hope to receive in public, but there’s a familiar itching under his skin even when he allows A-Yao to pull away that he doesn’t think he’ll be able to take care of in public; certainly not without causing a scene, anyway. Mingjue must be able to tell, at least, as he reaches over wordlessly to slide a hand over his thigh and squeeze, a silent promise. He’s been more exhausted than usual this last little while and honestly Xichen has too, and it’s not as if their sex life is exactly an every day sort of affair anyway…but it’s been a while since they’ve done more than some casual making out in their shared bed. They haven’t had sex at all since A-Yao and Huaisang arrived, and if he’s remembering correctly their most recent time had been at least a few days if not a week before that, and, well. Sometimes he finds that what he can do on his own in the shower or next to Mingjue while he either watches or sleeps just isn’t quite enough to tide him over indefinitely.

Mingjue gives him a Look that promises at least a few hours later tonight spent making sure he’s taken care of, and that’s good enough for now.

“Is now the right time to tell you that A-Yao’s riding lessons are going extremely well?” he asks into the relative silence with an innocent smile. Mingjue switches abruptly from squeezing his thigh to swatting at him instead as A-Yao bursts into sparkling laughter poorly hidden behind one hand.

“You fucker — you knew he’d get up there and be totally fine?”

“Of course,” Xichen purrs with another smirk at A-Yao, a mirror of their conspiring glance mere minutes ago. “A-Yao is wonderfully skilled in so many things, why not this too?”

“Asshole,” Mingjue mutters with no heat into a kiss against his cheek as he stands to head for the bar, and Xichen raises his eyebrows safely hidden behind a sip of his mocktail. One look at the tension in Mingjue’s shoulders, at the carefully controlled way he’s moving, and Xichen believes he can safely readjust his expectations of later tonight towards something more involved and…vigorous than simply being taken care of. Mingjue doesn’t always want the pleasure to be reciprocated and that’s perfectly fine, but when he does?

Perhaps it’ll be more than a few hours. And perhaps he should go ahead and warn A-Yao that their riding lesson will not include him riding Shuoyue beside A-Yao on Hensheng as it has every other day so far.

A-Yao glances between him and Mingjue’s retreating back and sips at his drink with a knowing gleam in his eye.

“So. You’ll be busy tonight?” he asks with delicate neutrality. They haven’t really talked about this yet, all together, and somehow this doesn’t feel like the right time either. But A-Yao has brought it up of his own accord and Xichen doesn’t want to simply brush him aside, especially considering he was trying to find a way to bring it up himself without pressuring him or making him feel like he wouldn’t be more than welcome to join them, a fine line to walk and disastrous if he gets it wrong —

“A-Yao is perceptive,” he demurs, accidentally slipping towards formality in his nervousness.

A-Yao chuckles around the next sip of his drink. “I am, but that’s not how I know. Mingjue said coming here always gets you worked up and I could, quote, ‘help me with him if you want to, but you’ve got your own space for a reason, you know?’ Does he always talk about sex like he talks about getting help around the ranch?”

Xichen lets all the tension leave his shoulders along with the breath caught in his chest, escaping as a huff of helpless laughter. Of course Mingjue already brought it up. And of course he did it as bluntly and as practically as he does everything else. One would think Xichen would be used to it after so many years as his best friend and then his partner (in every sense of the word) as well, but apparently it can still catch him off guard.

“Usually, yes,” Xichen replies, reassured by A-Yao’s little affectionate smile. “Though I assure you, he approaches the task as anything but a chore.”

A-Yao snorts at that and hastily tries to act like he didn’t just do something so undignified. “Good to know,” he says and it comes out a little tight, like he’s trying desperately not to laugh. “I think I’ll uh…see for myself some other time?”

“That’s fine, A-Yao, whatever you’re comfortable with,” Xichen says, and while yes he’s still a little bit warm under the collar from watching his partner and his boyfriend together he still means every word of it.

Mingjue returns with a fresh round of drinks — a sweating bottle of Coors for himself and refills for both Xichen and A-Yao as well as some water bottles tucked under his arm — and he dumps his bounty on the table with all the grace of a bull in a china shop.

“I think if I ask Xichen to get up there with me we’ll do something rated X and never be allowed back in. You two mind if I go take a turn on my own?”

“Oh I think we’d both really like an opportunity to observe you from here, ge,” A-Yao smirks with a little glance up and down the always-impressive figure Mingjue cuts.

Xichen smiles and leans his elbows on the table to rest his chin in his hand as Mingjue darts a hand across the table to attempt to ruffle A-Yao’s hair in retaliation, though A-Yao is a little too good at dodging and Mingjue’s heart clearly isn’t really in it.

“Mm, seconded,” he hums as they subside. “I should probably stay where the table provides me with some plausible deniability, but you go have fun.”

Mingjue ducks down to kiss his forehead first and then A-Yao’s before he heads over to tinker around with the settings on the bull again, no doubt increasing the difficulty at least a bit.

“You know. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such uh…elaborate foreplay,” A-Yao comments idly as he stirs his new cocktail with the maraschino cherry garnish.

“Oh this is nothing. Just wait for baling season.” A-Yao’s eyebrows crinkle ever so slightly in the middle, and Xichen saves him the embarrassment of having to ask what that is. “Just imagine Mingjue, shirtless and sweaty, hauling bales of hay out in the pastures and then into the barn for about a week in August.”

A-Yao’s eyes go properly glassy and Xichen indulges in the opportunity to fantasize for a moment as well. It really is a sight to behold, and he’s been trying for years to convince Mingjue that the loft full of fresh, sweet-smelling hay is perfectly fine for fucking in so long as they lay down a blanket or two. (Mingjue’s argument, that wins every year by the narrowest of margins, is that hay is not only scratchy and pokey but that it also gets everywhere no matter how many blankets they could use to cover it, and he’s got no interest in getting the stuff in even more places than he already finds it. Unfortunately, Xichen can’t fault his logic.)

“…I see.” Xichen doesn’t think the flush in A-Yao’s cheeks can be blamed entirely on his drink. “Fuckin’ intricate rituals,” he mutters next into his glass, and when he turns in his seat to watch Mingjue start showing off Xichen pulls out his phone to fire off another text.

A-Sang, what are ‘intricate rituals’?

The answer is, once again, immediate and full of far too many laughing emojis, though it is at least followed up with actual words: I’m assuming Yaoyao said that. Think ‘every excuse you use to feel up da-ge’ and you’ll be close enough

That is unfortunately a very vivid explanation, no further clarification needed.

--//--

Meng Yao sits once again on the arms of Xichen and Mingjue’s chairs, balanced neatly between them to watch another stunning sunset paint the tops of the mountains gold.

Mingjue’s Baxia is grazing nearby, patiently waiting to be taken back to the barn for the evening for her dinner. Mingjue had been combing her down when Meng Yao and Xichen had stepped out to join him for their nightly sunset-watching ritual, her saddle and blankets thrown haphazardly over the porch railing and her reins hanging straight down to the ground as she stood stock still except to give Mingjue the occasional nudge with her nose or stamp one dinner-plate-sized hoof.

The boards of the porch creak a little as Mingjue shifts his weight enough to sling his arm around Meng Yao’s waist, his skin still tacky with sweat and a little too warm through the thin cotton of Meng Yao’s t-shirt, but he wouldn’t dream of trying to squirm away. Mingjue has been…handsier, since the mechanical bull incident a few nights ago, as prone to pulling Meng Yao close for a quick, almost perfunctory (yet still plenty passionate) make-out at any moment of the day as he is Xichen. He wouldn’t have thought that it was possible for Mingjue to get handsier considering the way he’s been all over Meng Yao since that party his first night here, but, well, here they are.

And he knows that his boyfriends don’t expect anything from him. He knows that, because Mingjue has told him that, and that means that it’s nothing but the unvarnished truth, plain and simple —

Still. It feels like he’s quickly losing his chance to set that boundary for himself, and so he takes a deep breath in, sharp enough to make him sit up a little straighter and for Baxia’s ears to flick in his direction while she grazes.

Feeling strangely clumsy, he clears his throat and says, “So. You’ve taken me on some dates.”

Warmly, Xichen hums and agrees, “We have.”

“They were..really nice dates,” Meng Yao says and ignores the way the sharp, craggy outline of the peaks so many miles away suddenly turn into purple smudges. He’s not going to cry over how good these men are. He’s not.

“Yup.” Ah Mingjue, a man of few words whenever possible. God Meng Yao likes them both so much.

“What next?”

The silence feels…contemplative, nothing to break it save their breathing and the switch of Baxia’s tail as she flicks a fly off her leg.

“More dates?” Xichen finally offers, hesitant. “We could do some less..public ones? Mingjue and I usually try to go camping for at least a day or two around mid-July, we could show you some of our favorite trails.”

“Could show him the lake,” Mingjue muses. “Good swimming this time of year, and we’d probably have it to ourselves right about now.”

Meng Yao shuts his eyes against the dusky blue sky just beginning to light up with some stars high overhead and smiles, so full of fondness he feels like he’ll burst.

“Those sound good, but I meant more…you know. I um…I’m still not really ready for sex?”

It shouldn’t be as hard to say as it is; it shouldn’t make his neck burn under the collar of Mingjue’s flannel that he stole two days ago, and it shouldn’t make him want to crawl into one of his boyfriend’s laps to hide his face in a warm, inviting crook of a neck. But it is, and it does, and he just barely resists the urge to cover his face with both hands.

“A-Yao,” Xichen tuts. “Sweetheart, we’re not expecting you to be, it’s alright.”

And that’s..Yeah alright, he knew that already. He did. But also they don’t have all the facts, namely: “But what if I want to sleep with you in your bed anyway? Without sex?”

Mingjue snorts and Meng Yao knows better by now than to be offended. “A-Yao — we barely have sex, pretty much all we do in our bed is sleep. Of course you can too, if that’s what you want.”

Oh.

Xichen leans forward to kiss the back of his shoulder and Meng Yao turns to look down at him and meet his devastatingly beautiful smile head-on.

“No strings attached,” Xichen murmurs; the intensity of his gaze this close is almost unbearable. “Anytime you want, alright? Trust us, we want you to be there if you do.”

And he does trust them. He doesn’t know how they managed it so quickly or what he’s done to deserve their affection but he trusts them, and really what else is there to say?

They sit together until the light is nearly gone, and Meng Yao goes with Mingjue to put Baxia in her stall for the night, brushed down until she gleams and keeping pace between them with her reins looped over her neck so she won’t trip over them. When she’s backed into her stall she graciously lowers her head for Meng Yao to be able to carefully pull the bridle off over her warm, velvet-soft ears, and when he passes the clinking contraption to Mingjue he gets a kiss for his trouble before his boyfriend sets the tack aside for the night, in easy reach for the morning.

There’s nothing really all that different about the rest of the evening. Mingjue heads upstairs for a shower as soon as he knows he’s in for the night, and Huaisang whines all the way through helping clean up the dishes from dinner. Xichen sits down at the piano in the living room to play through some simple exercises and Meng Yao lays on the couch to read and listen to him, only moving when Mingjue comes back downstairs to join him and let Meng Yao use his incredible thighs for a pillow.

Tonight, though, he heads upstairs when Mingjue and Xichen do, and he very pointedly ignores Huaisang’s raised eyebrows and suggestive grin in the process. Their nightly routines vary in length such that by the time Meng Yao is done brushing his teeth and doing his skincare the other two are already in bed, Xichen barely awake but striving valiantly to wait up for him and Mingjue sitting on the edge of the mattress, shirtless, to rub IcyHot balm into the ball of his shoulder. Meng Yao takes over for him without a word, kneading and massaging the cream in until Mingjue’s head droops forward and he seems to startle a bit when he sits straight again; drifting off then, Meng Yao figures, and kisses his boyfriend’s clean shoulder to let him know he’s done and they can finally go to sleep.

He doesn’t bother replacing his shirt before he lays down and leaves an obvious gap in the middle of the bed between himself and Xichen. Meng Yao settles himself into it with a pleased little smile that only widens when they both immediately move to squish him a bit between them.

Their goodnights are quiet, and when Xichen turns off his bedside lamp the room falls into warm shadow, the sky still glowing ever so faintly out the window. Meng Yao closes his eyes to truly appreciate the sleepy kisses he receives from both boyfriends, chaste things pressed to his cheek, his temple, the top of his head before they kiss each other once and settle in. They both drop off to sleep within minutes, and Meng Yao isn’t far behind.

He’s never been so relaxed, after all, so at ease; held safely between Mingjue and Xichen and confident in their respect and regard for him, how could sleep not find him quickly?

[underthebrightmooninterests]

5 great Kdrama’s you probably haven’t seen

#1. At A Distance Spring Is Green

At A distance Spring Is Green: 2021, 12 episodes

coming of age, college romance

main lead: Park Ji Hoon & Kang Min Ah & Bae In Hyuk

summary: A coming of age story about young people in their twenties and the problems they face in university. Nam Soo Hyun and Yeo Joon, two boys with contrasting personalities, unexpectedly become friends when working on a project together.

Depicts the realistic worries and conflicts of university students in their 20's, centered around 1st-year student Yeo Joon. Even though Yeo Joon has an attractive appearance and comes from a wealthy background, he carries pain inside. His character is a puppy-dog freshman who takes a liking to a sunbae and follows him around, leading to an unlikely friendship between two very different boys.

opinion: (Can you tell I went through a Park Ji Hoon phase? lol) This drama really doesn’t have a revolutionary storyline which is why I think so many people didn’t watch it. But, I can name multiple reasons for why you should watch it, even if it’s only once. The warm romance between Park Ji Hoon and Kang Min Ah, the brotherly love between Bae In Hyuk and Park Ji Hoon and the dynamics of the trio together were all big reasons for why I enjoyed this drama as much as I did. Furthermore it has a meaningful plotline that you can analyze to your hearts content and watching the characters heal their traumas through their friendships with each other was very heartwarming. I haven’t read the webtoon it was based on but as far as the drama goes, I definitly enjoyed it and would recommend you give it a shot.

#2. 18 Again

18 Again: 2020, 16 episodes

romance, fantasy

main lead: Lee Do Hyun & Yoon Sang Hyun & Kim Ha Neul

After nearly twenty years of marriage, Jung Da Jung and Hong Dae Young seem to be well settled in their domestic lives. The proud parents of a pair of eighteen year old twins, the devoted couple have worked hard to build a happy home together. But what seems like an ideal life on the outside is really anything but. Fed up with Dae Young’s incessant nonsense, Da Jung is at her wits’ end. When Dae Young announces that he’s been fired, Da Jung gives up completely. Convinced life would be better without her husband in it, Da Jung wastes no time in filing for divorce. 

Shaken by his wife’s decision to leave him and utterly disappointed in where life has taken him, Dae Young takes a hard look at his life. It doesn’t take him long to see all the places where things went wrong, and soon he finds himself regretting absolutely everything about his life. The moment the thoughts of regret enter his head, his body is instantly transformed into that of an eighteen year old, while his thirty-seven year old mind remains intact. Suddenly given the chance to re-do his entire life, Dae Young changes his name to Ko Woo Young and enrolls himself in his children's’ school. Seeing life from an entirely different perspective, Dae Young soon finds that despite keeping his middle-aged brain, he still has a lot to learn.

opinion: This drama really had no right to be as good as it is. I watched this purely because a drama based on the 2009 Zac Efron movie ‘17 again’ just sounded so stupid that I just had to check it out. Someone please tell me why this was one of my favourite drama’s from 2020? The acting was great, the plotline kept you hooked and the drama managed to capture the story of life choices and regret better than the 2009 movie did. Also, it doesn’t have a weird incest plot line like the movie did which is a plus ig. Highly enjoyable story that makes you love and root for all the characters involved, there’s not really any huge negative points to note in my opinion.

#3. Hit The Top/ The Best Hit

The Best Hit: 2017, 32 episodes

Comedy, romance

main lead: Yoon Si Yoon & Lee Se Young & Kim Min Jae & Cha Tae Hyun

Lee Ji Hoon and Choi Woo Seung are two childhood friends who also happen to be preparatory students for the civil service exam, although Ji Hoon has a secret dream to be a singer and songwriter. One day they meet Yoo Hyun Jae, a popular but problematic member of a popular '90s idol group who accidentally traveled through time to the year 2017 from the year 1993. Thus begins the story of passion, love, and friendship among 20s youth in the entertainment industry.

opinion: I feel like I have to preface this recommendation by saying that it has been YEARS since I’ve seen this and I’m purely going by my memory of really loving this when I first watched it. I also don’t remember it being 32 episodes but the episodes are only half an hour so it’s basically just 16, one hour episodes. This drama was enjoyable, very entertaining and had a unique concept but there is a part of me that feels like they didn’t quite know what they wanted it to be. At some points it felt like a sitcom and in other points I felt like they spent so much time on the mc that it was just straight up romance. That being said, I don’t think any of those elements really take away from this being an enjoyable viewing experience none the less.

#4. A korean Odyssey

A Korean Odyssey: 2017, 20 episodes

Comedy, fantasy, romance

main lead: Lee Seung Gi, Oh Yeon so, Cha Seong Won

In 2017, Son Oh Gong and Ma Wang are in conflict with each other as they look for a true light in a dark world where evil thrives. Having made a contract with Seon Mi 25 years ago, entitling her to seek help from Son Oh Gong whenever she calls him in exchange for letting him free, the two meet again in a fateful encounter. From there, Son Oh Gong is bound to his protective role towards Seon Mi, the little girl he had met years ago.

opinion: When I tell you I was OBSSESSED with this drama while watching it, I really mean it. The acting is good, the comedy hits and the dynamics between the characters are very entertaining and probably one of its strongest selling points. Every scene between Lee Seung Gi’s character and Cha Seong won’s were GOLD. That being said, if I’d have to note one down side to this drama it would probably be the fact that the later half starts dragging a little and the drama could’ve probably been told in 16 episodes. I’m also still not sure how I feel about the ending. All of that being said, this is drama was good overall and fueled my Lee Seung Gi obssesion to what it is today.

5. Tomorrow

Tomorrow: 2022, 16 episodes

Action, fantasy

main lead: Kim Hee Soon, Rowoon, Lee Soo Hyuk

Choi Joon Woong seeks a job, but it's hard for him to get hired. One night, he witnesses a man trying to end his life and decides to stop him. He gets acquainted with grim reapers Koo Ryeon and Im Ryoong Gu, who belong to a crisis management team. Their purpose is to prevent people from committing suicide. After Joon Woong ends up in a coma and becomes half-human and half-spirit, he is employed by a company of grim reapers as the newest member of the crisis management team.

opinion: South Korea ranks fourth in the world when it comes to suicide rate. This drama explores that heavy topic with fantasy elements and surprisingly funny comedic moments. The topics in this drama are HEAVY but the drama does a good job at not becoming gloomy or depressing to watch. ‘Tomorrow’ does a great job at both tastefully discussing serious matters and undercutting the heavy stuff with sweet moments and comedy. minimal romance but maximum trauma.

[unsaidcontemplations]

UNVEILING STUDIO GHIBLI

A Tale of Discovery and Delight

Until recently, Studio Ghibli was a complete mystery to me. I had no idea about their films or enchanting universe they created. It was only through a dear friend’s recommendation that I stumbled upon this magical world. They’ve a bunch of films 23, to be exact. Intrigued by the prospect of exploring new realms of storytelling, I began watching their films one by one. Each movie took me to a different world with cool characters and great stories, they made me feel all sorts of emotions. Now, I’m excited to share my top 5 favourite movies out of 10 I’ve watched so far. There’s “Grave of the Fireflies,” a touching story. Then there’s “Howl’s Moving Castle,” a fun journey. “When Marnie Was There” is mysterious and touching. “Ponyo” is a cute underwater adventure. And of course, there’s “Spirited Away,” is a story of mysterious world of spirits.

1. Grave of the Fireflies:

“Grave of the Fireflies” from Studio Ghibli portrays the direct and indirect effect of war and teaches us the importance of life and food. It is a moving story that takes place in Japan during World War II, which shows us the problems and difficult journey of two siblings, Seita (Elder Brother) and Setsuko (Younger Sister), as they endure the challenges of war and hunger. It is about a family of four mother, father, brother and a younger sister. Their father goes to the war, after some days the village gets struck by an air raid in which their mother gets caught in an airstrike, she battles for her life as the airstrikes continued, but with limited access to medical support and facilities she dies. This shows us the direct effects of war. On the other hand, without a home the siblings try to find a way to survive amidst the turmoil and devastation of the war. They go to their relative’s home, but their relatives are not kind, they take the belongings of their mother sell them for some rice and keeps all of it for herself and treats them so lowly. Seita eventually realises and leaves that place along with her sister. Despite hunger and hopelessness, the elder brother Seita does everything he can to care and fill his sister Setsuko’s stomach. But their situation becomes increasingly desperate and worse. The sister gets sicks because of poisoned lake water and dies one day. The brother who was hoping for his father’s return gets to know that his father is no more loses all his hopes and eventually dies because of hunger and shelter. This shows us the indirect effects of war. This war takes the lives of 4 peoples in 4 different ways. The movie shows us the tragic consequences and impact of war on the normal innocent people, emphasizing the strength of the human spirit in the midst of suffering and hunger. I highly recommend this movie as it teaches us to be grateful for each and every small thing in our life.

2. Howl’s Moving Castle:

“Howl’s Moving Castle” from Studio Ghibli quickly became my all-time favourite. It was absolutely stunning and captivating, like a true masterpiece. It has its own charm and beauty with a stylish wizard (Howl), a witty fire demon (Calcifer), a young apprentice of Howl (Markl) and a girl under a curse to age rapidly (Sophie), all residing in a magical moving castle which can transport them to other kingdoms and world. Howl, the main character, is truly fascinating as he navigates between preventing a war and battling his own inner demons. He has the ability to transform into different animals. The storyline was so unique and enchanting, bleeding magic, fantasy, and a bit of romance seamlessly. I highly recommend this film to anyone who hasn’t experienced the magic of Studio Ghibli before.

3. When Marnie was there:

“When Marnie was there” tells the story of a 12-year-old young girl Anna, who is shy and insecure about her looks. She considers herself as an outcast among her associates. Soon she learns about her foster parents and gets to know that they are getting paid to take care of her. She feels even more insecure about this by questioning herself that they truly loved her or not. After that she’s sent to live with relatives in the countryside to improve her health, Anna discovers an abandoned mansion near the swamp. There, she meets Marnie, a mysterious girl who becomes her first true friend. As their bond deepens, Anna uncovers secrets about Marnie’s past and her own family history, leading to a journey of self-discovery and healing. This touching film teaches important lessons about friendship, acceptance, and the power of love. Through Anna’s experiences, we get reminded of how connections with others can transform us and how unexpected relationships can heal us. This movie encourages us to reflect on our own lives and relationships, encouraging us to accept and offer support to those in need. With its stunning animation, heartfelt storyline, and wonderful messages, “When Marnie Was There” resonates with audiences of all ages, reminding us to value the connections we make and to remain open to finding friendship and healing. I recommend this film to everyone as watching this film is more than just entertainment.

4. Ponyo:

“Ponyo” is a tale of cute underwater adventure, friendship and the power of love. The story follows Sosuke, young boy who lives on an oceanside cliff discovers a Goldfish and names it Ponyo and traps it inside a jar. Later Ponyo magically transforms into a human girl and becomes friends with Sosuke, as this happens the balance of the Ocean gets disrupted and disaster occurs. They both set out on a wonderful journey to restore the balance of the Ocean. This film teaches us about empathy, kindness, and taking care of our environment nature. With its eye-catching animation, wonderful characters and beautiful storyline “Ponyo” is a movie that will touch the hearts of both small children and adults as well. It reminds us to embrace the magic of childhood, appreciate the beauty of they nature and cherish the bonds of friendship. I would happily recommend this movie to others especially for children and those who loves tale, as this is more than just a movie- it’s a delightful adventure that will leave you with a smile on your faces and warmth in your heart.

5. Spirited Away:

“Spirited Away” is a captivating story about bravery, courage and power of kindness. This story follows Chichiro, a young girl and her parents who recently shift to new city and get lost in the way which ends them up in a mysterious world of spirits. Chichiro’s parents gets turned into pigs and she end up alone in that world of spirits. There she meets a boy Haku who is also a human like her, he saves her from the other spirits their and tells her a way to restore her parents back as humans. He tells her the world of spirits is rules by an evil witch Yubaba, if she can join their as one of the workers and wins the trust of Yubaba she can transform her parents back as humans. But he says that it is highly risky because Yubaba is so evil she can turn Chichiro into a spirit if she’s of no use to her. As Chichiro navigates through this mysterious realm and works at a bath house of spirits, she discovers her inner strength and learns valuable lessons about friendship and empathy. It reminds us of the importance of staying true to ourselves, even when faced with challenges. It’s an unforgettable journey that will capture your imagination and touch your heart. With its twist plot and wonderful theme, it is an absolute must-watch.

To sum it up, my encounter with Studio Ghibli has been a transformative journey filled with wonder and delight. From Just knowing nothing about their films to now being captivated by their wonderful stories, I am happy that my friend recommendation opened the door to this magical world. I have eagerly shared my experience with Studio Ghibli, hoping that it helps others discover this beautiful journey as well.

[Image Source: Pinterest]

[nitrateglow]

Halloween 2023 marathon: 6-8

La Llorona (dir. Ramon Peon, 1933)

Dr. Ricardo de Acuna and his wife Ana are celebrating their son Juan's fourth birthday. Ricardo's aged father is not so pleased about it though because he is convinced their family has long been cursed. Years ago, Ricardo's older brother was murdered on his fourth birthday, so the old man is convinced the same fate will befall Juan. A skeptical rationalist, Ricardo isn't worried, but little does he know there is a shadowy figure lurking about the house intent on snatching up his son. And what of reports of seemingly supernatural murders accompanied by the wailing of La Llorona, the ghost of a wronged woman who murdered her own child in spiteful rage-- a ghost whose story happens to be connected to Ricardo's family.

I first heard about La Llorona from the Haunted Blowfish YouTube channel. As far as can be known, it is the first Mexican horror talkie. The story is inspired by the legend of La Llorona, or the Wailing Woman. There are many variations of this tale, but the gist is that a woman murders her children in a rage (usually to spite an unfaithful husband or lover) and then is doomed to eternally mourn them. This legend has inspired several horror movies over the years, though this is the only one of them that I've seen.

La Llorona has some genuinely creepy moments. The sound of the titular ghost's cries are eerie and the lore behind the curse is fascinating. You can detect a lot of influence from Universal horrors like Paul Leni's The Cat and the Canary and Tod Browning's Dracula: the modern characters scoffing at the gothic horrors of the past, the house with secret passages, a cloaked criminal popping up undetected, etc. I also liked the film's connections to Mexican history, particularly to La Malinche and the conquistador period.

That being said, this is a movie where the parts are more satisfying than the whole. It's extremely slow-paced and not in a tense, slow-burn way. Some scenes go on way too long to no purpose, like when the camera lingers on kids stuffing their faces at Juan's birthday party. There are two major flashback sequences-- the first is fine because it occurs earlier in the movie and establishes the lore behind the family curse, but the second occurs so late in the game that it gives the movie the sense that it's stopping and starting, lurching along. That's the sequence that draws the connections to La Malinche, but its placement just feels awkward.

If you're a horror buff, this should definitely be on your radar. Its historical importance is immeasurable and even though it has its flaws, it still has some spooky scenes and an old-school gothic vibe I will never not love.

Dead of Night (dir. Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Critchon, and Basil Dearden, 1945)

Architect Walter is invited to the country for a job. He encounters several other people in the country house-- and is surprised that he recognizes them all from a reoccurring nightmare he has-- a nightmare that happens to take place in that very country house. The other guests find this perfectly strange and end up sharing their own encounters with the supernatural and the unexplained.

This was another film I first heard about from Haunted Blowfish (both this movie and La Llorona were featured on his 100 Years of Horror series, which I highly recommend). It's an early example of a horror anthology with a particularly strong frame story. In fact, the frame story is the creepiest part of the whole movie, but more on that later.

All of the stories are really good, not a bad one in the lot. While the final tale with a killer dummy is the most celebrated, it wasn't my favorite. I loved the Christmas one, an understated little ghost story that reminded me a bit of The Innocents, and the mirror story, which actually creeped me out quite a bit. The mirror one involves a woman who buys her fiance an antique mirror, but anytime he looks into the glass, he sees a dark, sinister bedroom completely unlike the chamber he's standing in. It turns out the mirror has a sordid tragedy associated with it and the soul of the previous owner begins to overtake the woman's fiance until matters get deadly.

But the most chilling thing of all is the frame story, which takes on elements of ontological terror. I was genuinely surprised by the ending. If you haven't seen Dead of Night, I don't want to spoil it, but just know it gets really trippy, almost verging on science-fiction with its final twist.

Highly recommended!

PS I kept thinking to myself that the actor playing the architect in the frame story looked super familiar. It turns out he played Bob Cratchit in the Alastair Sim Christmas Carol!!

The Bird with the Crystal Plummage (dir. Dario Argento, 1970)

American writer Sam is vacationing in Italy with his British model girlfriend Julia when he witnesses a woman struggling with a mysterious man in black. The woman is stabbed and Sam is just able to contact the police in time to save her. However, the killer is still on the loose, striking down young, beautiful women. Sam and Julia aid the police in their investigation, only to become targets themselves.

I've been watching more giallo lately-- if you're unaware of what that is, the term refers to a cycle of Italian horror movies from the 60s and 70s that combined crime, Hitchcockian thrills, and exploitation elements into a stylish, dreamlike genre. Dario Argento is one of the giallo masters. I'd seen his Suspiria and his Phantom of the Opera (in which the Phantom is raised by telepathic rats... yes, that is a movie that exists, and a movie I enjoy enough to own on bluray, heaven help me). The Bird with the Crystal Plummage was Argento's directorial debut and it's a strong one at that.

This is a good example of what I think of as a "vibe movie." I wasn't too invested in the specifics of the mystery of the killer, but Sam and Julia are likable characters and there's a weird hangout vibe to the scenes where they're just going over theories and evidence in their messy apartment. Aesthetically, this is a great time capsule showing the transition of the late 60s into the 1970s. There's oddball humor scenes and some scary moments, like when Julia realizes the killer is outside her door and she does everything she can to keep herself secure. I was shouting at the screen during that scene, something I only do if a movie has me by the throat.

On a not that related note, it was weird for me to see Tony Musante as the hero. I'll always associate him with The Incident, a really tense 1967 thriller in which he plays one of the nastiest thugs in cinema history. Seeing him as a good guy is just surreal after he scarred me for life in that earlier movie.

Anyways, this is a good one, stylish and entertaining. You can catch it on Freevee.

[kitkatt0430-recommends]

The next wave of my favorite of my FFnet bookmarks as I dig through old links. Some have been migrated to Ao3, so I'll provide those links where I can. Though it seems this batch is mostly FFnet links. As always, the story summaries are in my words instead of the author's to convey my own feelings about the fics.

The Weekly Hyrule News by BatNeko - A modern day Legend of Zelda AU. Zelda feels like she can only be herself when she's Sheik, Link's having a bisexual crisis, and Dark Link is too busy enjoying his new day job to care about what Ganondorf wants.

I love the genderqueer take with Zelda and Link getting hit over the head with the fact that he's bi because he's attracted to Zelda whether she's Zelda or Sheik, every moment with Dark, and just… it's a really fun fic that I've read several times and will continue to love forever. The ship is Zelda/Link and the rating is T. Sadly I could not find it on Ao3, so the link points to FFnet.

New Blood in A New Hope by Michael Weyer - First of a four part series. After a spell goes wrong, Buffy, Willow, and Xander find themselves scattered across a galaxy far, far away. And the Empire looms large over them all…

I don't think this series was finished the last time I read it so I'm excited to see the final fic Return of the New Blood is complete. The series does a great job of combining the Buffy characters with the Star Wars universe and it's a lot of fun to have them hanging out with Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie. It's rated T and is found only on FFNet (that I could find, anyway). The ships wind up being Buffy/Luke, Leia/Han, Willow/Kasan Moor, and Xander/Mara Jade, though the first fic of the series is gen.

The Scruff Factor by JastaElf - In which Aragorn's scruffiness becomes an excuse for some highly entertaining elven hijinks of the ridiculous kind.

It's a silly K+ rated fic over on FFnet that is mostly the movie-verse except where it's heavily influenced by the books. An extremely silly fic for having a fun time reading.

Slayers of the Old Republic by Michael Weyer - When Buffy fails to escape the collapsing Hellmouth, she lands in a starship in a galaxy far, far away… just in time to witness Revan's defeat.

Another series by Michael Weyer, though this series is unfinished as it only makes it to the events on the Leviathan (two planets and the Star Forge left to go to complete the KotOR plotline). I still recommend it because it's a really interesting concept that I remember enjoying a lot. It follows the plot of the Knights of the Old Republic pretty closely, but still has a distinctly Buffy stamp on things and it turns out Buffy's not the only one who found her way to other worlds. Rated T and found over on FFnet.

Cry for Hyrule by Seldavia - There are more secrets beneath the seas than the former King of Hyrule wants Link to learn. But Ganondorf intends for Link to learn them anyway.

I particularly like this Wind Waker re-imagining because of how it plays with the idea of good and evil and the importance of knowing one's history. Ganondorf is still the King of Evil from the Ocarina of Time the same way he was in the Wind Waker game, but his character is given a lot more depth here.

The Darkest Gate by Lauhau - When an ancient magical gate opens, it transports Sarah far away to the world between the Underground and the Upper Lands. There an ancient evil seeks to invade both and the only two who stand between their worlds and destruction are Sarah and the strange Goblin King, Jareth.

I actually read this before I saw Labyrinth for the first time - honestly, you don't need to have seen the movie to enjoy it. But knowing the movie makes me smile now on re-read to see the way parts of it have been woven into the plot and background. It's not on Ao3, so the link is to FFnet. The rating is T and the ship is Jareth/Sarah.

Welcome to Stalag 13 by L J Groundwater - Colonel Robert Hogan arrives at Stalag 13 and immediately starts thinking of escape; but when he gets his chance, it seems fate has other plans for him as he's faced with the choice of going home or risking it all to go back and bring the final radio part needed at camp with him.

This is probably one of my favorite takes on how the setup from Hogan's Heroes came about. L J Groundwater wrote a lot of Hogan's Heroes fanfics and, honestly? I recommend every single one. If you're a fan of the show, then Groundwater's fics definitely feel like a series of love letters to what made the show so great. This one is rated T and found on FFnet.

One (Last) Chance by Kirsh - When Time Compression returns Squall to the day of his SeeD exam, he has to admit the reason why. He wants to save Seifer.

I've got a real fondness for FF8 time travel fics - after all the game's premise lends itself to the concept so well. This fic is a good take on it, with Squall trying to keep the timeline on the right path to defeat Ultimecia while trying at the same time to keep Seifer safe and feeling guilty that while he can change things to protect Seifer he's having to make choices that he knows will put others in harms way. I do wish it deviated a bit more from canon, but Squall's struggle with keeping to the timeline is pretty interesting too. It's a Seifer/Squall story on FFnet, rated M.

The Summoner's Knight by Ms_Starlight - Quistis is a Summoner without a Guardian and Seifer intends to change that, whether Quistis likes it or not.

A Seifer/Quistis (FF8 characters) fic set in the FFX universe, with the events of FFX taking place in the background. I do enjoy a good belligerent UST couple; Seifer and Quistis are definitely that in spades. The FFX fusion is well done - you can tell that Ms_Starlight really enjoyed both games a lot. Ms_Starlight's fics look to have all been cross posted to Ao3, which was nice to find. This one is rated T.

This Final Heaven by Ms_Starlight - An excavation into Ancient Centran ruins may be very well bringing about the restoration of Hyne. In order to find the truth, Quistis is going to need the help of former Sorceress Knight, Seifer Almasy. Who isn't exactly all that interested in getting tangled up in SeeD problems again.

This is another Seifer/Quistis fic and drifts into horror a bit in places, particularly with what happens to Squall and Rinoa, since Rinoa's Sorceress powers stem directly from Hyne here. And Hyne is, uh… very much not good. This fic is rated M (because there's sex, not for the mild horror) and is also cross posted to Ao3.