#Hong Kong company meetings | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

makeitmingi · 7 months ago

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The Babysitter Club [From: Our Shared Melody]

Genre: Romance, Fluff, Comedy

Pairing: Hongjoong x Reader (y/n)

Characters: Wife!Reader, Daughter (Kim Hwayeon), IdolHusband!Hongjoong, IdolUncle!Ateez

Summary: When your work requires you to travel, Hongjoong insists that he is fine taking care of your daughter on his own, with the help of her chaotic uncles. You were hesitant at first, considering he has never really taken care of your daughter on his own before. But what's the worst that can happen... right?

Word count: 11.4K

[A/N: Sort of Part 2 to 'Our Shared Melody' But it can be read as a stand alone too!]

"Baby?" You spun around in slight surprise, seeing a half asleep Hongjoong shuffling out of your shared bedroom. He finds you standing in front of your open on board bag, gathering what you need last minute for your flight.

"What are you doing up? You should go back to sleep." You scolded softly. But he shook his head, shuffling all the way to you and wrapped his arms around you.

"Did you really think I wouldn't wake up to send you off? You already wouldn't let me send you to the airport." He mumbled.

"Because it's 4 am and you have work tomorrow, Joong." You chuckled, resting your cheek on his shoulder.

"You all packed and ready?" He asked, stroking your head. It took a while for you to answer. Well, you didn't really answer him, you just let out a small, barely audible hum.

"What's wrong?" Hongjoong knew you too well. He knew that something was wrong. It was written all over your face.

"I don't know if I should go... You know, maybe I should just tell my boss I can't make it." You pulled away from the hug to meet his eyes.

"Baby... It's fine, it's okay. Melody and I will be okay. It's only 2 days." He said, hand tucking a loose lock of hair behind your ear, as he spoke to you gently. Hongjoong didn't make fun of you for worrying, he understood you and comforted you, trying his best to soothe your worries and hesitation.

"But I've never been away from her before... Since birth." Your voice wavered slightly. It's not that you didn't trust Hongjoong. He was a great dad and was great with his daughter.

"I didn't expect me to have separation anxiety but it's really killing me." You whimpered.

"Oh, baby. It's okay." Hongjoong brought your head back down to his shoulder as he rubbed your back.

"She'll be the same in 2 days, I promise. I know it's not easy for you to leave." He murmured, planting little kisses along your cheek and your jaw line.

"I know but-"

"This is a great opportunity for you. Your boss is giving you this great responsibility and you'll be able to network there. We both know you've worked hard for such an opportunity." He said.

You usually work from home but your boss had asked you to take a short trip to Hong Kong to represent the company at a conference. This was the major break you needed in your job. But you've been stressing over the thought of leaving your daughter.

Hongjoong was the one that convinced you to go when you were leaning towards turning your boss down. He wanted you to look good for your boss and the company.

"You shouldn't be late. Your car is arriving soon. Go say bye to melody." He encouraged.

"Okay." You nodded, leaving Hongjoong's embrace. He stood in the living room to wait for you and give you some alone time.

Entering your daughter's room, you were careful not to disturb her rest. You leaned over the floor mattress she was sleeping on, pressing your nose to her cheek.

"I love you. I'll see you in 2 days." You whispered, inhaling her familiar, comforting scent before giving her a kiss.

"Aww, baby." Hongjoong pouted, cooing at you when you exited the room with tears in your eyes.

"It'll be okay." He patted your head. He cupped your cheeks, wiping your tears with his thumbs before giving you a kiss.

"I feel like you're teasing me now." You frowned.

"Wouldn't dare to. I'll bring melody to pick you up from the airport when you get back, hmm?" He rubbed your arm. You nodded with a grateful smile, throwing your arms around him to hug him tight. You knew you needed to leave or else you would never leave. While wearing your shoes, you saw Hongjoong wearing his slides.

"You don't have to walk me down. She could wake up and need you." You told Hongjoong but he was stubborn as ever.

"I'm taking care of my first baby. There's no way I'm letting you walk out on your own. It's so dark." He said, ignoring you and wheeling your luggages out to the lift lobby to wait for you.

"Thank you." You slipped your hand into his.

"That's my car." You checked your phone, pointing to the cab that was waiting.

"Good morning." The two of you greeted the driver. Of course, Hongjoong loaded your bags into the boot, not wanting you to do any of the lifting.

"Goodbye, baby. Have a safe flight and don't worry, okay? Call me." He hugged you tightly, giving you a long kiss.

"I will. Thanks, Hongjoong. If you need me, you know I'll come right back." You said.

"I know you will but it'll all be okay, I've got things covered. Good luck during the conference. I love you." He stroked your cheek with a smile of adoration and love. Gosh, Hongjoong really loves you so much and you love him too.

"I love you too, Joong. So much." You smiled. He opened the door to the backseat for you to enter. Once you were in, he closed the door. You blew him a kiss and waved to him as the cab drove off.

"Bye." He waved back, standing there until the cab disappeared down the driveway. After that, he went back up to your daughter.

Your daughter, Hwayeon, is now 18 months. She was everyone's princess, having everyone wrapped around her finger. And until now, Hongjoong still calls her 'melody'.

"Eugh..." When Hongjoong entered the house, he heard Hwayeon's soft whimpers and rushed over immediately.

"Shh, shh. It's okay, melody." He was by her side instantly, patting her tummy to soothe her.

"Appa is here." He laid beside her, propping his head up with his free hand, continuing to comfort her until her whimpers died down and she was lulled back to sleep.

This was a common occurance now with Hwayeon waking up in the middle of the night to look for you and Hongjoong. She was still getting used to sleeping on her own, in her own bed and in her own room. So usually, you or Hongjoong would go comfort her in her bed instead of bringing her to your bed.

"It's okay..." Soon, even the rhythm of the movement from Hongjoong patting her tummy made him fall asleep too.

"Hongjoong ah?" Seonghwa called out as he entered the house, looking for the captain, who has not been answering his phone since the morning.

Scratching his head, Seonghwa went to your bedroom, hoping to find the captain there but the bed was empty.

"Bah!" Having heard the soft, familiar voice of his goddaughter, Seonghwa went to her room.

"Oh. My love." Seonghwa saw the little girl sitting up on the mattress. She shakily toddled to Seonghwa and he immediately scooped her up into his arms. That was when Seonghwa found Hongjoong fast asleep in his daughter's bed.

"Yah, Kim Hongjoong. Wake up, you're late." He nudged the sleeping male with his foot. Hongjoong frowned slightly and peeked open an eye, seeing Seonghwa standing over him.

"Oh, Seonghwa... You're here..." Hongjoong yawned, stretching his arms over his head.

"I'm here because you're late. I've been trying to reach you the whole morning!" Seonghwa scolded. Now, that woke Hongjoong up,

"What?! My phone was left in my bedroom, I didn't hear my alarm or the calls come in." He shot up, running his fingers through his hair as he woke himself up.

"Don't curse with my godchild in the room." Seonghwa reminded. Hongjoong slapped a hand over his own mouth, nodding.

"Go get ready. I'll handle Hwayeon." Seonghwa said as he exited the room.

Luckily, Seonghwa knew what to do, having helped you and Hongjoong care for Hwayeon from the moment she was born. Since they've met and Seonghwa carried her for the first time, he's been such a fool for her. He claims that he didn't know the true meaning of love until Hwayeon came into his life.

And although the hanja characters of the 'Hwa' in their names are different, Seonghwa still liked to think of her as 'baby Hwa' like she was really his daughter.

"What a cute bunny." Seonghwa cooed as he dressed Hwayeon up in a fluffy bunny jacket that he bought.

"I knew you would look cute in it." He chuckled, even if she didn't understand him.

One more thing, Seonghwa loves to spoil Hwayeon, something you and Hongjoong discourage but Seonghwa says that Hwayeon was born for him to spoil. It was hard to argue with him.

"Bah!" She babbled, as if repeating after him with a bright smile.

"That's right, cutie" Seonghwa tapped her nose. With her resting on his hip, Seonghwa put together a bag for her.

"Shall we get you some snacks too?" He stood at the fridge, grabbing a yoghurt pouch for her then grabbed random snacks from the cupboard. He also filled a water bottle while Hongjoong grabbed a spare set of Hwayeon's clothes.

"Ah! Wait, a minute. Where is that-" Hongjoong disappeared into his work room, tripping over his own feet and almost falling, making Hwayeon laugh.

"Even your daughter is laughing at you." Seonghwa chuckled with a shake of his head.

"Alright, alright, we're already late. Let's go, melody." Hongjoong said, slipping his shoes on and holding Hwayeon for Seonghwa to wear his shoes. He carried her down to the carpark.

"I'll strap her in." Seonghwa said so Hongjoong could start the car. He climbed in to sit beside Hwayeon.

"So, she left last night?" Seonghwa asked. Hongjoong knew who he was referring to.

"Yeah. Almost didn't want to leave but I managed to convince her. I think she has more separation anxiety than melody. But I don't blame her... I just hope that melody wouldn't just look for her randomly..." Hongjoong sighed as he drove. Even saying your name might remind Hwayeon of you so he avoided it.

"Yeah, let's hope then. And it's a mother thing, Hwayeon was practically a part of her for 9 months." Seonghwa said, completely understanding you.

"Here you go." He handed Hwayeon a yoghurt pouch since they didn't have time to give her breakfast.

"I've got to get to my meeting when I arrive. Can you look after her first? I'll come get her when it's over." Hongjoong asked.

"Of course. Just text me later." Seonghwa replied, too focused on smiling at Hwayeon eat the yoghurt. Anything that she did, Seonghwa would find cute.

"Okay, we're here." Hongjoong parked the car.

"I love you, melody. I'll see you later, appa has to work. Be good for Hwa, alright?" He showered his daughter in kisses.

"Thanks, Hwa! Bye!" Tossing the keys to Seonghwa, Hongjoong ran into the building.

"Your appa is seriously something else." Seonghwa chuckled, shaking his head. He helped Hwayeon out of her car seat and retrieved her baby bag. Slinging it over his shoulders, he locked the car and walked into the lift lobby.

"There we go. Stay close, lovey." Once they were safely inside, Seonghwa put Hwayeon down to let her walk. Not having to worry about the cars.

"Seonghwa hyung! Did you manage to find Hongjo- And who is this adorable bunny?" Yunho grinned, bending down.

"Yu!" Hwayeon giggled and slowly waddled over to Yunho. She gripped onto the material of his sweats to steady herself.

"Hi~" Yunho cooed. When Hwayeon made grabby hands at Yunho, the taller didn't even hesitate, hoisting her up into his arms. The Ateez boys were all fools for the captain's little girl.

"Hongjoong was still asleep when I went to look for him. I think he slept with Hwayeon somewhere in the night so his phone was left in his room." Seonghwa explained.

"Oh yeah, I forgot that captain's on his own for the next few days." Yunho said, remembering the note you sent to the group chat.

"Mhmm, she left last night. So for the next two days, we'll need to help Joong out." Seonghwa nodded.

"Well, of course. We'll always be willing to take care of the little angel." Yunho laughed and tickled Hwayeon, making her giggle and squirm in Yunho's hold. Seonghwa smiled softly, seeing and hearing Hwayeon's laugh. Her happiness was just infectious. The 3 of them took the lift up to the artists' lounge

"Yunho ah, put her down. We should be encouraging her to walk more to build strength." Seonghwa said to the taller male.

"Hyung, please let me have this. Sooner or later, she's going to refuse to be carried by us. At least now, she still wants us so let me savour this moment." Yunho pouted.

Hwayeon had just learnt to walk so you wanted to try to encourage her to walk to build strength in her legs.

"You're unbelieveable." Seonghwa clicked his tongue.

Yunho continued to make funny face at Hwayeon. Even if she didn't understand what was going on, she laughed, holding onto Yunho's cheeks.

"Who else is here?" Seonghwa asked. Yunho shrugged. He balanced Hwayeon in one hand as he pushed open the door to the artists lounge and pantry.

"Is that my princess?" San, who was having his meal, stood up upon seeing Hwayeon. Yunho put Hwayeon down and he patiently waited for Hwayeon to make her way over to San. He picked her up and she wrapped her arms around San's neck.

"I've missed you." San carried her, speaking in a baby voice as he showered her in kisses. That sent her into another round of laughter. Hwayeon really was loved by all her uncles.

"You should continue eating." Yeosang said, bringing Hwayeon to his lap to sit so San could eat.

"She might still be hungry since we rushed out." Seonghwa said, opening a pack of snack puffs for Hwayeon to pick at.

"Can I have 1?" Yeosang asked. Hwayeon grasped one in her hand and placed it in Yeosang's hand. The male cooed and kissed the top of her head before eating.

"Is there anything else we can give her? She seems hungry." San asked.

"We only have snacks until Hongjoong gets her lunch." Seonghwa said. He

"Hongjoong's in a meeting so we have to watch her until he's done." Seonghwa informed, taking a cup of juice for himself from the fridge. He filled Hwayeon's sippy cup with the juice as well before handing it to her. Of course, Hwayeon had a sippy cup in the KQ pantry. She was there so often.

"Hey, everyone. Hey, bun." Mingi entered, having finished his workout session with the trainer in the gym. He went straight to get some cold water from the cooler.

"Mi." Hwayeon made a grabby hand at Mingi. Mingi chuckled, putting the water bottle down to lift Hwayeon up.

"He's sweaty." Yunho crinkled his nose.

I'm not sweaty. I changed my shirt after the workout was done." Mingi scoffed, taking another sip of water then closing the water bottle so he could carry Hwayeon properly.

"Hongjoong hyung's not around?" He asked. Seonghwa shook his head.

"Mam mam." Hwayeon pressed a fruit puff against Mingi's lips to let him eat it. He happily ate it, even if there wasn't much of a taste.

"That's my bun." Mingi chuckled. Their bond was close, Hwayeon having grown up in Hongjoong's studio with Mingi always around. Mingi wasn't a fan of children at first, not knowing how to act around them but Hwayeon was too cute to resist.

"You guys, stop carrying her so much. (y/n) said that Hwayeon is supposed to be walking more to ween her off being carried by us." Seonghwa scolded.

"Soon she won't even want us to carry her already, hyung. Let us have our moment." San said.

"That's what I said." Yunho agreed, poking Hwayeon to tickle her again. She laughed and tried to hide in the crook of Mingi's neck.

"Looks like Hongjoong's meeting is running late. I might need to head to my vocal lesson soon." Seonghwa said, checking his phone to see the text Hongjoong sent.

"Why don't you go ahead, hyung? We got it covered, we'll take her to Joong hyung later." San offered.

"Fine but no stealing her and running off elsewhere. She has to remain in KQ. If Hongjoong finds out and can't find her, he'll kill all of us. I'm serious, guys." Seonghwa threatened them. They have tried to take Hwayeon out before, which ended up in the news with reporters thinking Hwayeon was their kid, not Hongjoong's.

First, it was Seonghwa having Hwayeon's picture as his wallpaper and showing it to ATINY at the airport, gushing over how adorable she was. That made everyone think Hwayeon was his daughter.

Then, Wooyoung calls Hwayeon his 'baby' which made everyone think he had a daughter and was a single parent.

The last instance was Mingi being pictured holding Hwayeon while recording and he posted it on his social media, captioning 'my bun'.

So basically, Hongjoong got fed up and jealous that people thought Hwayeon was his member's daughter and not his so he didn't allow them to bring her out alone.

"Says the one that has been trying to kidnap her since she was born. You even tried to hide her in your jacket once as if (y/n) and Hongjoong hyung wouldn't notice." Yeosang pointed out.

"Hey, I can't help that my goddaughter is the cutest baby ever." Seonghwa shrugged, not even denying it, reaching out to pinch Hwayeon's cheeks. Hwayeon giggled shyly, placing her own hand over Seonghwa's.

"Be good for samchons, okay? Appa should come soon." Seonghwa smiled at her, running his fingers through her hair.

"Papa?" She tilted her head, not knowing what Seonghwa was saying.

"Yeah. I'll see you later, my love." Seonghwa hugged her, showering her in kisses while she clutched onto the material of his hoodie. He put her down and she climbed back onto Mingi's lap.

"Hyung, you're only going for vocal lessons. You're acting like you're not going to see her forever." San laughed.

"Shut it." Seonghwa whipped his head around to glare at San. But he waved to Hwayeon with a sweet smile and left. Hwayeon was not really sure what was going on.

But Hwayeon's bottom lip quivered, sending the remaining boys there into a panic. San picked her up, stroking her back to soothe her. Luckily, Mingi shook his wrists and successfully distracted her with the jingling sound of his bracelets. San set her back down in Mingi's lap as she fiddled with the bracelets around his wrists.

"See? You're okay, bun." Mingi comforted, patting her back as she leaned against his body like he was a chair. After that, San, Yeosang, Yunho and Mingi brought Hwayeon with them to the dance studio.

"There you go." Yunho set her down on the couch, giving her some toys that Seonghwa brought.

As the boys practiced, they all made sure to keep an eye out on Hwayeon, watching her through their practice room mirror.

"Take 5." San panted, laying on the ground and catching his breath. Hwayeon, who was bored of her toys, slipped down from the couch and stood over San, tilting her head in confusion.

"Sannie samchon going night night, bun." Yeosang chuckled while Yunho laughed.

"Wanna dance, princess?" San sat up, encouraging Hwayeon with a soft smile. Mingi played the music and Hwayeon bounced on her knees. The four uncles swooned, clapping and bobbing their heads with encouragement. Yunho had his phone to video the moment.

"Go, bun!" Mingi, the hype man, cheered Hwayeon on. Hwayeon smiled, looking at the three with excitement, jumping up and down. She held onto San's hand, being a little wobbly.

"Little dance prodigy." Yunho stroked her hair.

"Hongjoong hyung's done with his meeting. I'll bring her up to the studios since I'm meeting Eden hyung." Mingi said, slinging his bag over his shoulder.

"Pack her stuff first." Yunho said, putting all her toys and belongings back into the baby bag.

"Aww, bye, princess." San opened his arms and Hwayeon gladly walked into them, he gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"We'll miss you, pretty princess." Yeosang smiled, hugging her too.

"Bye, princess. Yuyu will see you later." Yunho gave Hwayeon a hug too. He tapped his cheek and Hwayeon leaned in to give him a peck, making him grin.

"Let's go, bun." Mingi called. Hwayeon walked in front of Mingi as they headed up to the studio floor. They took their time, Mingi slowly walking beside Hwayeon, not wanting to rush her.

"Look who is at the studio today. Hello~" They ran into Maddox. Maddox was another familiar face to Hwayeon. But she shyly clutched onto Mingi's pant leg. Mingi continued to lead her to Hongjoong's studio. He knocked on the door.

"Ap... pa!" Hwayeon beamed, happy to see her dad come to the door.

"Hello, my melody." Hongjoong bent down to pick her up. Hwayeon immediately wrapped her arms around Hongjoong's neck. No one beats her dad.

"Thanks for looking after her and bringing her up, Mingi ah." Hongjoong said, taking Hwayeon's bag from the taller.

"No problem, hyung. We're always happy to take care of her. She had fun at the dance studio." Mingi grinned.

"Did you?" Hongjoong asked Hwayeon, tickling her.

"She might be hungry though, hyung. We didn't give her lunch but Hwa hyung gave her some snacks. Although it's not enough for a meal." Mingi informed.

"Alright, I'll order her some food before going back to work. Thanks, man. Say bye to Mingi samchon, melody." Hongjoong told Hwayeon. Hearing that another one of her uncles was leaving, she pouted and whined, shaking her head. She tried to reach out to Mingi again but Hongjoong held her away.

"Aww, bun. I'll be back to see you later, alright? I promise." Mingi pouted at her sad face, feeling guilty for leaving her.

"Mi." Hwayeon began to cry. Mingi grew conflicted but Hongjoong nodded at him to just leave.

"I'm sorry. Bye, bun." Mingi tapped her cheek before leaving to his meeting with Eden. Hongjoong closed his studio door with his foot as Hwayeon whined.

"Aww, melody. You just wanted to play with Mingi samchon?" Hongjoong cooed, wiping her tears.

"It's okay, melody. We'll see him later at dinner." He comforted her as he set Hwayeon's bag down in the corner.

"Appa is here, sweet girl." He whispered, kissing her temple. Sitting back down in his chair, He che let Hwayeon's body lean on his as he opened the delivery app.

"Let's get you some food and then a nap. You're probably tired, melody." Hongjoong brushed her hair back.

The food came and Hongjoong tried his best to feed Hwayeon so she wouldn't make a mess in his studio. It was rather successful actually, Hwayeon was too hungry to try and steal the spoon form Hongjoong. But he knew you would kill him if you knew.

You were trying to help Hwayeon develop more independent skills, as recommended by the paediatrician. But Hongjoong liked his little girl depending on him and didn't want her to grow up.

"You eat so well~" Hongjoong praised, wiping her mouth as she ate the last bite.

When she chewed, Hongjoong took the opportunity to take a bite of his food too. He wasn't that hungry since he was focused on her.

"All done!" Hongjoong cheered, making Hwayeon laugh. While watching her, Hongjoong began to clear up the area, throwing the trash into the plastic bag.

"Let's go." He lifted her up to bring her with him to put the trash outside.

"Alright. You can do some doodling." Hongjoong set up Hwayeon's drawing pad and crayons for her to doodle.

He let her draw and play with her toys until he noticed her showing signs of sleepiness. She rubbed her eyes with her hands and yawned as she doodled. Plus, this was the time she usually had her first nap of the day. But like every other child, Hwayeon wasn't a fan of being told it was nap time.

"Melody~" Hongjoong called out softly. Hwayeon lifted her head to look at her father. Hongjoong wheeled his chair over to her and patted his lap.

"Come to appa." He offered, lifting up the stuffed puppy that she has slept with since she was a baby.

"Mmm." She nodded, opening her arms so Hongjoong could lift her up onto his lap. She grasped the puppy, hugging it to her chest.

Another trait Hwayeon, fortunately, inherited from her father is his ability to sleep anywhere. So in a few minutes, Hwayeon was passed out in Hongjoong's hold, her body leaning against his.

"I love you." He kissed the top of her head softly. Hongjoong kept her there for a while, wanting to hold her close, before laying her on the couch.

'HOW'S MY BABY?! - (y/n)'

'Hello to you too, wifey. I'm doing great, thanks for asking. - Joongie'

'Good to know. How's my baby? Is she okay? - (y/n)'

'Yes, baby. Melody is fine, I just put her down for her nap after she had lunch. She's been great, soaking up the love and attention as the princess of KQ. Honestly, I think her samchons are having a greater time than she is. - Joongie'

'That's great to hear. I knew you could do it, Joong. And I was kidding, I miss you too. A lot. - (y/n)'

'I know. I miss you too, baby. But we'll see you in a couple days. I'm gonna work until melody wakes up. All the best for your conference. - Joongie'

"Hu..." Hwayeon fussed, whimpering in her sleep. Hongjoong put his headphones down and rushed to Hwayeon.

"Shh, it's okay, melody." He rubbed her back but she still continued to squirm around.

"Come here, melody." Hongjoong moved her to his lap again, adjusting his chair so he was in a leaned back position. He rubbed her back until she was soothed and back to sleep.

With the sleeping child on him, Hongjoong tried to wheel himself as close to the table so he could reach around Hwayeon to his keyboard.

'Let yourself in later. Melody is sleeping on me. - Hongjoong'

'Need me to take over? - Seonghwa'

'I'm good for now, I'm just working on my own stuff. But when Maddox comes for guide recordings, I'll need you to take her for her second nap if that's okay? I'm worried about the noise - Hongjoong'

Seeing Seonghwa react with a thumbs up emoji, Hongjoong put his phone down and went back to work. He was really grateful Seonghwa could help him, the latter was better with children than Hongjoong was. Seonghwa was proactive but knew Hongjoong too, he knew when to help and when to take a step back.

"Ap...pa..." Luckily Hongjoong only wore his headphones over one ear so he could hear Hwayeon slowly wake up from her nap.

"Good morning, melody. Aww, it's okay." He cooed and picked her up, rubbing her back to soothe her. Hongjoong felt Hwayeon bury her face into his shoulder while his hand cradled her.

"Mama..." Hwayeon whimpered.

"It's alright, melody. It's appa, it's okay." He comforted. Hwayeon frowned a little, recognising her dad.

"See, it's appa?" She wrapped her arms around his neck. He hummed and walked around his studio until she was calm. She yawned, resting her chin on Hongjoong's shoulder.

"Let's go wash up a little, hmm?" Leaving his things, Hongjoong grabbed the baby bag and went to the bathroom.

"Did you sleep well, my melody?" He cooed as he wet one of her baby towels to wipe her face. She grinned at Hongjoong in reply. Hongjoong smiled, kissing the top of her head. Then he changed her diaper and gave her fresh clothes.

"Since Hwayeon didn't want to be let down yet, Hongjoong held her in his arms.

"Is that my baby?!" A loud yell was heard in the hallway, making Hongjoong turn around and Hwayeon lift her head.

"Ah! My baby!" Wooyoung grinned excitedly.

"Wooyoung, she just-" Before Hongjoong could say anything, Wooyoung took Hwayeon into his arms. Wooyoung was another one that children just naturally liked.

"Ooh, you missed Wooyo samchon? I missed you too, my baby." He snuggled her and kissed her cheek.

"She just woke up so she may be fussy." Hongjoong sighed, patting Hwayeon's back as she latched onto Wooyoung.

"Nonsense. My baby is never fussy." Wooyoung scoffed. He followed Hongjoong back into his studio, sitting down on the couch with Hwayeon in his lap. Even if he acted playful, Wooyoung was also very attentive and careful when it came to caring for Hwayeon, as well as her growth and development.

"Mmmmm." Hwayeon whined, tired of Wooyoung's hold on her. Hongjoong smirked proudly and moved Hwayeon onto his lap, rubbing her back to soothe her.

"There, there, melody." He kissed the top of her head. But Hwayeon was restless.

"What's wrong, melody? Hmm?" Hongjoong asked her.

"Baby, shall we go find the other samchons?" Wooyoung sat forward, offering to help Hongjoong with the fussy child. Hwayeon peeked an eye open to look at Wooyoung, seemingly interested.

"Hwa's coming to get her soon before my meeting with Maddox." Hongjoong informed.

"I heard the baby bear was here?" Jongho poked his head in.

"Look who it is, melody. Jongho samchon." Hongjoong patted Hwayeon's back to try and get her excited but Hwayeon was just not in a social mood. She buried her face into her father's chest, as if wanting to hide from everyone.

"It's okay. Did she just wake up?" Jongho asked, stroking Hwayeon's back to comfort her. Hongjoong nodded in confirmation, still trying to settle Hwayeon.

"Alright, alright." Hongjoong stood up, walking around the place. Wooyoung took a video.

"I'm sending this to (y/n)." Wooyoung giggled.

"Send it to our group chat." Jongho leaned in. Hongjoong leaned in to see Wooyoung's phone, realising that there was a group chat with a title he has never heard of.

"Wait, are you guys in a group chat with my wife, without me?" Hongjoong's eyes widened as he paced with Hwayeon.

"Yeah, there are multiple." Wooyoung admitted with a shrug. Jongho punched his shoulder.

"Multiple?!" Hongjoong tried not to yell. He didn't want to scare Hwayeon.

"They're just group chats, captain. There's one with me, Seonghwa hyung and (y/n). Then there's one with all of us and her, without you. That's the most active one." Wooyoung tried to remember off the top of his head. He enjoyed seeing Hongjoong annoyed while Jongho sighed with a shake of his head.

"You're gonna hate this even more. There's one with her, San and Yunho called '(y/n)'s favourites'. The rest of us have been trying to get into that chat forever." Wooyoung smirked.

"That... is true. It is highly coveted to get in. Yeosang hyung was a temporary member before." Jongho conceeded and nodded glumly.

"If Hwayeon wasn't here now..." Hongjoong threatened.

"Yeah, (y/n) said no cursing around baby, hyung." Wooyoung teased. Jongho laughed. Hwayeon was soon soothed, leaning on her father's shoulder but clutching his shirt.

"Is this... normal for her?" Jongho asked with worry, gesturing to Hwayeon's behaviour.

"Separation anxiety starts around 18 months so that's about now. Plus she just woke up not too long ago. It's normal." Hongjoong said.

"Ah, well I've got to go for dance. I'll see you at dinner, baby." Wooyoung kissed Hwayeon's hand. Despite clinging to her father, Hwayeon still managed to shoot Wooyoung a tiny wave, making the male coo and wave back at her.

"Alright, I'm here. Hi, my love." Seonghwa entered the studio. He stopped when he saw her clutching tightly onto Hongjoong's shirt as the captain paced along his studio.

"Separation anxiety." Jongho explained. Seonghwa nodded, you have told him about this before.

"She was like this when Mingi dropped her off too. I think it's hard on her with all the goodbyes." Hongjoong said.

"Aww, my sweet love" Seonghwa pouted and kissed Hwayeon's head. She lifted her head and looked at Seonghwa, who smiled softly at her. She babbled at him, as if greeting him.

"Hi~" He smiled.

"Stay with Hwa for a bit, okay melody? I'll come pick you later." Hongjoong said, starting to peel Hwayeon off him.

"Euh..." Hwayeon began to whine, clutching onto Hongjoong tightly when Seonghwa tried to take Hwayeon. Hongjoong had to gently remove Hwayeon's grip on him, making her burst into tears. Seonghwa held onto her in case she fell from his hold but it broke Hongjoong's heart to see her reach out for him.

"I can't. I'm sorry, melody." Hongjoong took Hwayeon back into his arms but she was inconsolable.

"Sorry, Jong. Why don't you go ahead with Maddox? Tell him I'll reschedule and catch up with him later." Hongjoong frowned slightly, starting to feel stressed.

"Sure, hyung. Don't worry about it." Jongho sent a small smile and left the studio.

"Shh, shh, melody. It's okay, it's okay. My sweet melody." Hongjoong held Hwayeon as she continued to wail.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry." Hongjoong continued to bounce Hwayeon in his arms to soothe her. It made his chest ache at how Hwayeon cried and how he didn't know what to do.

Seonghwa watched Hwayeon cry, feeling his heart break as well. He wanted to help Hongjoong but he didn't want to overstep and make Hongjoong more stress or even risk making Hwayeon more stressed. But also, he didn't really know what to do.

"Appa is here, melody. Papa Hwa is here too, it's okay." Hongjoong said. Seonghwa took that as his cue.

"Oh, my love, see? It's papa Hwa." Seonghwa said, stroking Hwayeon's hair back as it stuck to her forehead from the sweat. He wiped the tears from her face.

"My sweet melody." Hongjoong kissed her temple, feeling her calm down. Her cries reduced to soft sniffles and heavy breathing.

"Here, my love." Seonghwa held the waterbottle out to Hwayeon and she sipped from the straw.

"Good girl." He smiled softly. Even with Hwayeon calmed down, Seonghwa didn't attempt to move Hwayeon to his hold, both her and Hongjoong needed to calm each other down.

"Papa." Hwayeon grasped Seonghwa's hand.

"Take 5." Seonghwa squeezed Hongjoong's shoulder as Hwayeon moved into his hold. As Seonghwa moved out of the studio to let some fresh air in, he walked up and down the hallway with Hwayeon in his arms. From the corner of his eye, he watched Hongjoong bury his head in his hands.

"Love, look at papa." Seonghwa said and Hwayeon lifted her head to look at him. He pressed his hand to Hwayeon's forehead, letting out a sigh of relief. At least she didn't cry herself sick.

"Come on." He brought her to the bathroom to wipe her face and to cool her face down.

"Oh, that's cold! So cold~" Seonghwa playfully pressed the cold towel to her cheeks, making her cackle and squirm.

"Let's go find your appa." He put her down and she walked in front of Seonghwa, somehow knowing the way to her father's studio.

Seonghwa saw the red rimming Hongjoong's eyes, evidence that the captain shed some tears of his own. It would have been stressful for anyone, having your kid wail and cry for nearly 30 minutes.

"Good?" Seonghwa asked.

"Yeah, thanks." Hongjoong took a deep breath. He would always put a smile on for Hwayeon. She toddled forward, holding her father's calves, as he stayed seated on the couch, and burying her face against his knees.

"You were overwhelmed, hmm? It's okay. Me too." Hongjoong smiled softly, carrying Hwayeon onto his lap. Seonghwa went to fix a snack plate for both father and daughter.

"There we go." Seonghwa placed the fork into Hwayeon's hand to train her to feed herself using utensils.

"No, my love. Like this... I swear you're gonna hold your fork like your father." Seonghwa sighed.

"Hey!" Hongjoong exclaimed, offended.

"Your studio is soundproof but I swear I could hear bun crying from next door." Mingi poked his head in. He bent down in front of Hwayeon, giving her a little wave.

"She had a little moment just now. But it's all good." Hongjoong spoke softly. Mingi nodded with a small hum.

"Hey, bun. Told you I'll be back." He tapped her cheek, making her squirm shyly. Hongjoong guided Hwayeon's hand to stab a piece of banana and she clumsily brought it to her mouth. When she successfully put it in her mouth, all 3 adults present cheered and clapped for her.

"My bun is a genius." Mingi praised. Hwayeon smiled, happily soaking in all the attention and praised.

"Papa." Hwayeon grasped one of her vegetable crackers, holding it out to Seonghwa like she did with Mingi earlier. Seonghwa gladly ate the cracker, stroking her head.

"Thank you, love. You're so kind." He grinned.

"What about me, bun?" Mingi pointed to himself. Hwayeon grinned and grabbed one, putting it against Mingi's lips.

"Yah! Stop stealing my daughter's snacks." Hongjoong scolded, using his fingers to push Mingi's forehead until he fell down from his squatting position.

"Hyung, no violence around bun." Mingi wagged his finger.

"Bun!" Hwayeon exclaimed, raising her fork in the air. Seonghwa, Hongjoong and Mingi stared at each other with wide eyes. Even though Hwayeon had said her first words and could say simple words, that was the first time she said 'bun'.

"That's right... You're my bun..." Mingi smiled softly as he felt tears start to form in his eyes. Seonghwa held Hwayeon's plate and Hongjoong put her down on the ground.

"Go give Mingi samchon a hug." Seonghwa whispered. Hwayeon giggled and toddled forward, falling into Mingi's arms.

"Bun!" Hwayeon giggled as Mingi wrapped his long arms around Hwayeon.

"The power melody holds over all of you." Hongjoong shook his head with a laugh and went to sit in his chair.

"Don't say it like you aren't one of us." Seonghwa rolled his eyes. With Hwayeon in a much better mood, Seonghwa and Mingi were able to lead her away for Hongjoong to get some work done.

"Look who is okay and happy." Wooyoung came over, cooing.

"You guys have a little bit of time to play before her second nap." Seonghwa said.

They went back to the artists' lounge to play with Hwayeon. And of course, Yunho made sure that there is a box of Hwayeon's toys kept there. They did simple puzzles and played with blocks. Only when Wooyoung noticed that Hwayeon was showing signs of being tired, he read a story to her.

"Let me set up a place for her to sleep." Seonghwa said and Mingi helped him. Hwayeon comfortably settled in Wooyoung's lap as he read to her.

"We should put her on the couch. It's the softest, even if we put floor mats down." Mingi told Seonghwa.

"Uh, I think that won't be necessary anymore." Wooyoung said softly.

"She's asleep?" Seonghwa asked. Wooyoung leaned down slightly to check and saw Hwayeon fast asleep, clutching onto her stuffed puppy. He hadn't even made it to the middle of the book.

"Just leave her like this, hyung." Wooyoung told Seonghwa. Mingi draped a blanket over her.

"Hey, guys-"

"SHHHH!" Seonghwa, Mingi and Wooyoung scolded San, who was taken aback at the sudden reaction. That was when Wooyoung pointed to the sleeping Hwayeon in his hold.

"Oh, sorry." San apologised. One by one, the other Ateez boys came to join, except Hongjoong, sitting together in the dark and eventually falling asleep. Even though he was asleep, whenever Wooyoung felt Hwayeon stir, he would pat her back to soothe her back to sleep.

So imagine Hongjoong's surprise when he came to look for everyone and found his members fast asleep, but in places around his daughter, as if protecting her.

'Look at them.'

Hongjoong took a picture and sent it to you. Just as he sent it to you, Hwayeon whined and woke up.

"Hi, melody. Did you have a good nap?" Hongjoong went to take her from Wooyoung's hold, hugging her to let her wake up.

"Yah, everyone. Wake up." Hongjoong said to the rest, turning on the lights as he went to the bathroom to change Hwayeon's diaper. He could hear the 7 groan at the bright light.

"Your silly samchons." Hongjoong chuckled. Hwayeon didn't understand but smiled, seeing her father laugh.

"Kim Hwayeon, why are you so cute? Hmm? Why are you so cute?" He cooed in a baby voice and tickled her, making her squeal with laughter. After putting her down, he washed his hands and walked with her back to the lounge. Jongho lifted Hwayeon up, raising her in the air, sending her into another round of laughter.

"Baby bear~" Jongho spun around and held her on his hip.

"You guys were supposed to be watching her. Not sleeping." Hongjoong scoffed, rolling his eyes. He showed them all the photo he took to send you.

"Aww, that's a cute photo though." Yunho giggled. Hongjoong checked his watch.

"It's a little early for dinner..." He thought out loud.

"It's okay, Hongjoong ah. I'm sure we can all eat now. Besides, little one should eat early and sleep early." Seonghwa said. The other boys nodded in agreement.

"What are we eating?" Yeosang asked.

"We should eat baeksuk. Hwayeon will like it and it's better for her." Wooyoung suggested, still mostly paying attention to San playing 'airplane' with Hwayeon.

"Okay, let's go everyone." Hongjoong clapped his hands. However, no one moved, too busy playing with Hwayeon to listen to the captain. Hongjoong let out a tired sigh of despair, marching forward and taking Hwayeon away.

"I'm confiscating melody! Since no one is listening to me." He glared at the boys who jeered back at him.

"Aww, party pooper." Jongho gave a thumbs down. Hongjoong rolled his eyes and ushered everyone downstairs. He put Hwayeon in her car seat.

"I can take one person in the back seat with melody and one person in the passenger seat. The rest, take the van." Hongjoong said.

"Ack! Hyung, no shoving!" Wooyoung yelled as Seonghwa shoved him and ran forward.

"Mingi?" Seonghwa blinked, surprised to see Mingi already in the backseat, playing with Hwayeon when he opened the door. Hwayeon was busy babbling at Mingi.

"You snooze you lose. I was already here the moment Hongjoong hyung put bun in her car seat." Mingi shrugged. Seonghwa sulked and sat in the passenger seat. He obviously wants to sit with his god daughter and 'being in the same car' is not enough fro him. The two watched the other members climb into the van.

"Okay, let's go. Ready, melody?" Hongjoong asked as he sat in the driver's seat and buckled his seatbelt.

"Ouh!" She cheered, raising her fists up, and Mingi copied her in cheering. She gave him a toothy grin, making Mingi melt.

"Why are you so cute, bun? Hmm? Why?" He lifted her stuffed puppy, playfully waving it around. Hwayeon let out a loud laugh and wrapped both arms around her puppy.

"She really loves that thing, wouldn't let (y/n) take it away to be washed..." Hongjoong chuckled.

"It's definitely seen better days." Seonghwa laughed.

"Pup-py. (멍멍이)" Mingi tapped the puppy's head. Hwayeon stopped hugging it, holding it an arm's length away to look at it. Mingi repeated the word again.

"Meo... meo-i." She tried her best to pronounce the word. It wasn't the most accurate but it was good enough for Mingi and the other two in the car. Seonghwa and Mingi clapped for Hwayeon and she clapped too.

"What a smart bun." Mingi cooed.

"You're never going to stop calling her bun, aren't you?" Hongjoong scoffed, shaking his head.

"Until the day I die~" Mingi replied, still playing with Hwayeon, letting her play with his rings. Hongjoong and you didn't only conceive your daughter but you conceived Ateez's daughter.

"Please don't talk about dying in front of her..." Seonghwa sighed.

"Why? Death is normal and inevitable." Mingi blinked in confusion, resulting in Seonghwa facepalming.

"Okay, we're here." Hongjoong pulled into the parking space. But as he was going to come out, Yeosang closed his door, trapping him in the car.

"Come on, baby." Wooyoung stole Hwayeon out of her carseat and brought her to the restaurant. They could hear Hongjoong yelling.

"Let him out, Yeo!" Wooyoung said once they were practically in the shop. Yeosang moved away and Hongjoong came out, yelling at the boys in disbelief. Hwayeon just blinked, tilting her head as she stared at Hongjoong lecturing and scolding the boys for trapping him in the car, stealing her and leaving him behind.

Hwayeon's bottom lip trembled before she burst out crying, burying her face in Wooyoung's chest, shocking all the boys and making Hongjoong stop his scolding.

"No, no, my love. He's not scolding you. It's okay. Come to papa." Seonghwa took Hwayeon into his arms to comfort her.

"Yah, look what you did, hyung!" Yunho frowned. Hongjoong gulped as he faced Hwayeon's angry uncles.

"If you guys didn't play around-"

"You scared bun!" Mingi pouted, seeing Seonghwa bringing Hwayeon outside to comfort her. Also, so her crying doesn't disrupt the other diners in the place.

"Ah, just go get the table." Hongjoong sighed, pinching his nose bridge as he went outside.

"I'm sorry, melody. I wasn't scolding you... Appa was too scary, right? I'm sorry." Hongjoong gently placed a hand on Hwayeon's back. Hongjoong gestured to Seonghwa to move Hwayeon to him. The taller male nodded and lifted Hwayeon off his shoulder.

"There we go. I'm so sorry, melody. I wasn't scolding you. You're a good girl, my sweet melody." Hongjoong put his hand on her head, guiding her to rest her head on his shoulder.

"I'll go in first." Seonghwa said softly. Hongjoong hummed.

"Appa..." She grabbed the material of Hongjoong's shirt in her fist. Hongjong hushed her, swaying from side to side.

"I'm right here, melody." Hongjoong whispered, turning his head to kiss her temple.

After Hwayeon calmed down and Hongjoong was sure she was okay, he brought her into the restaurant. He ignored the guilt that made his chest tighten.

"Baby bear." Jongho smiled as Hongjoong sat down with Hwayeon in his lap. Now, she just wanted to be as close to her father as possible.

"We've ordered for everyone already, hyung. So don't worry about it." Yunho said. Hongjoong nodded, still rubbing Hwayeon's back. San poured him a cup of cold tea. Everyone could see the mental and emotional exhaustion on Hongjoong's face so they all wanted to help him with even the small things.

"Here is the food." The servers brought the bowls of hot chicken soup and rice. Seonghwa portioned out some soup and added half a bowl of rice, tearing some chicken into it.

"I'll put it here to let it cool." He said.

"Thanks, Seonghwa ah. Look melody, yummy food." Hongjoong pointed and Hwayeon sat up.

"Mam mam?" She looked up at her dad, who nodded with a smile, smoothing her hair back. After touching the spoon to his lip to check the temperature, he fed Hwayeon.

"Aigo, my love eats so well." Seonghwa cooed. Wanting more praise from her uncles, Hwayeon took another mouthful.

"You like this, melody?" Hongjoong asked and Hwayeon nodded her head. He smiled and wiped her mouth.

"One spoon for melody. And one spoon for appa." He chuckled, watching how Hwayeon looked up at Hongjoong as he took his bite of food. She giggled, watching her father eat. Hongjoong was unaware of San videoing the moment.

"I'm going to send this to (y/n)." San whispered to Yunho.

"Mmm, send it in our group chat." Yunho leaned over to reply. Hongjoong watched Hwayeon eat her portion and even asked for more, he was happy to see her eat.

"You really love this, hmm? You're eating so well, melody." Hongjoong said, giving her the final spoonful.

After dinner, everyone returned back to the dorms since Hwayeon sleeps early. Seonghwa followed Hongjoong to help him.

"I'll run the water." Seonghwa said and ran to the bathroom to get Hwayeon's bath started. Hongjoong removed Hwayeon's shoes and undressed her.

"Bath time~" Hongjoong sang. Thankfully, Hwayeon was fine with baths since there were toys.

With Hwayeon in a good mood after her bath, Seonghwa took over in dressing her and getting her ready for bed while Hongjoong went to take a shower. Because there was no way he would be able to without someone watching Hwayeon, he would be too paranoid that something happens to her.

"Thanks for all your help today, Seonghwa. And all the boys too, wouldn't have been able to do it myself." Hongjoong said as he emerged, towel drying his hair.

"No need to thank us. We're always more than happy to be around Hwayeon. Besides, we wouldn't have left you all by yourself."

"It's not easy, I wonder how (y/n) does it on her own." Hongjoong fell onto the couch.

"Mothers are heroes, that's how. And (y/n)'s pretty amazing, she's a great mother." Seonghwa said, playing with Hwayeon who was perched in his lap.

"She is..." Hongjoong smiled softly.

"I think I'll work for home tomorrow or even take the day off to stay in. Spend some time with melody." He told his best friend.

"That's a good idea. Maybe we'll drop by for a meal. Or if you just need something, let any of us know." Seonghwa said and moved Hwayeon to stand up so he could stand up to leave. He leaned down to give Hwayeon a kiss on the cheek.

"Goodnight, my love." He smiled and waved to her.

"Thanks again, Seonghwa ah." Hongjoong waved and Seonghwa nodded before leaving to head to his dorm upstairs.

"Alright, time for bed, melody." Hongjoong brought Hwayeon to the room to start to put her to bed. He laid beside her in her bed until she fell asleep.

"You must have been tired, hmm?" He whispered, seeing as to how Hwayeon she fell asleep so fast.

"I love you." He kissed her forehead and left the room. Entering your shared bedroom, the first thing he did was text then call you.

"Hi, Joong." You came into view, leaning against the head board of your hotel bed. Just seeing your face and hearing your voice call his name, Hongjoong felt tears well up in his eyes. He covered his eyes with his hand as he let out a shaky breath. Your eyebrows furrowed as you registered the fact that he was crying.

"Joong? Are you okay? What's wrong? What happened?" Worry was evident in your voice as you sat up in your bed. Hongjoong reached for a tissue to wipe his tears.

"Nothing happened... I just... Gosh, I miss you so much, baby. And I'm sorry for all the time I've taken you for granted." He rambled.

"Taking me for granted? Where is all this coming from, Joong? I've never once felt that you've taken me for granted."

"It's not easy taking care of melody on my own. I don't know how you do it but I now know it's not easy. I feel so guilty, I did so many things wrong today." He shook his head.

"Ah, so that's where this is coming from. Tell me what happened." You spoke patiently and gently.

"I don't even know where to begin..." Hongjoong sighed but began to tell you all the events of today. You listened and didn't interrupt.

Hongjoong was a soft hearted, sensitive soul. He seems fierced and strict as a rapper and the captain of Ateez. But you knew him as Kim Hongjoong, the one who feels guilty easily and always wants to do his best for others.

"Joong, listen to me. I wasn't perfect from the start and probably never will be but that's okay. I'm still learning about this whole parenting thing too." You smiled softly.

"It's okay to make mistakes. I make mistakes too. And trust me, Hwayeon doesn't hate you. She still loves you deeply." You giggled.

"It broke my heart to see her cry so much. And twice in one day." Hongjoong pouted.

"It happens, we're her parents but we're humans too. And she had her wonderful appa there, her godfather and 6 goofy uncles. I'm sure she was fine after that." You said. Hongjoong nodded.

"I miss you, baby. So much." Hongjoong said.

"I miss you too, Joong. The bed feels cold and foreign without you here. And it's almost too quiet without Hwayeon." You shrugged.

"Just one more day and one more sleep, baby. We can do this, hmm?" He gave you a lopsided smile. You nodded, wanting nothing more than to hug Hongjoong. You knew he felt the same, he wanted to shower you in kisses. It was never this hard, being away from each other before Hwayeon was born.

"You're going to suffer when you go on tour." You commented with a chuckle. Hongjoong groaned softly, still hyperaware and listening out for the cries of Hwayeon.

"I'm just going to have to fly you both to every destination with us. Problem solved." He smiled victoriously.

"Well, I have to work but Hwayeon will be more than happy to go see her dad and uncles." You laughed and Hongjoong agreed.

"Won't you be excited to see us too?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Joong, our dating and married life has always consisted, and will probably continue to consist, of me being backstage with you and watching you on stage. If I wasn't excited about it, I wouldn't have went to every performance and concert you have." You pointed out with a chuckle.

"That's why I love you." He grinned.

"I love you too." You said. Reluctantly, you and Hongjoong had to end the call because Hwayeon started fussing and Hongjoong needed to attend to her.

"Shh, shh, melody." He whispered as he lulled her back to sleep. Although you wanted to see Hwayeon, you were worried that your voice and/or your face would remind her of you and make her cry.

"You miss her? I miss her too." Hongjoong spoke to his sleeping child, smiling endearingly at her.

"Thank you for being patient with me." He added as he laid down beside her.

Hongjoong was glad you both decided against an actual bed for Hwayeon. You had those soft mattress pads with two futons put over so you and Hongjoong could sleep with her comfortably.

"Sweet melody." Like the night before, Hongjoong patted Hwayeon's back to keep her asleep, until he too fell asleep, exhausted from the day before. Hwayeon ended up scooting close to her father, pressing herself against his chest.

It was a good decision to stay in because Hwayeon was extra clingy to Hongjoong from the moment they woke up.

"Are you hungry?" Hongjoong asked. He felt Hwayeon nod her head but still hold onto his shirt. Even when he was working, she wanted to sit on his lap.

"Alright, you can walk beside me." He placed her down. Hwayeon held her father's hand.

"Want this?" Hongjoong held the bag of granola bites.

"Eung!" She nodded. He gave her that with some fruits and yoghurt. The father and daughter love yoghurt. Adjusting her on his lap, Hongjoong put the spoon in Hwayeon's hand.

"Eat up, melody." He smiled, watching her try to feed herself. Hongjoong leaned back slightly to text Seonghwa. He updated him on how Hwayeon was and that all the boys shouldn't come over since it may overwhelm her like yesterday. The only person that Hwayeon might be okay would be Seonghwa.

"Papa Hwa's coming over, okay melody?" Hongjoong tucked his daughter's hair behind her ears. Hwayeon actually nodded.

"Papa!" She raised her spoon with a smile. Hongjoong couldn't help but laugh, finding his daughter absolutely adorable. He would gladly be the number 1 fool for her.

"Why are you so cute, Kim Hwayeon?" He playfully pretended to bite her, making her squeal in laughter.

"Appa, noooooo!" She giggled, holding Hongjoong's cheeks.

DING DONG

"Papa?" Hwayeon tilted her head. Holding her in his arms, Hongjoong went to open the door to let Seonghwa in. Thankfully, Hwayeon willing went into Seonghwa's arms.

"Good morning, my love." Seonghwa smiled as he showered her in kisses.

"Hold her. I've needed to use the bathroom for the longest time!" Hongjoong ran to the bathroom. Seonghwa laughed, shaking his head. Holding Hwayeon at his hip, Seonghwa cleared up her empty yoghurt bowl and wiped the table.

"Mmm, yeah." Seonghwa nodded along to whatever Hwayeon was babbling about, which was a mix of short words she knew and made up gibberish.

"She's always so talkative with you, ever since birth." Hongjoong said as he came back.

"Especially when she was 3 months old." Seonghwa chuckled. He sat down at the dining table with Hwayeon in his lap.

"I made Hwayeon some soup and food so we can just order for ourselves." Seonghwa said, nodding over to the food containers he brought down with him.

"Okay. You're so lucky, melody." Hongjoong tapped Hwayeon's nose. They sent the order in for their lunch.

"Since I only have you here for lunch, distract her while I finish up chores." Hongjoong said. He wanted to do the laundry and clear up the house as much as he could so you wouldn't have to do it when you come back, he knew you would be tired from travelling and having to unpack.

"Uh, do you want me to help with the cleaning instead?" Seonghwa raised an eyebrow. Having lived with Hongjoong and sharing a room with him, he knew Hongjoong's cleaning skills...

"I can do it. Believe it or not, I'm good at cleaning now." Hongjoong rolled his eyes. And just as he put a load of laundry in, the food came.

"Lunch time!" Seonghwa lifted Hwayeon up from where she was sitting with her toys.

"Hands." He instructed and helped her wash her hands.

"Be careful, my love." Seonghwa supported her butt as Hwayeon tried to climb into her high chair herself. But she still couldn't really get her leg over the table top so Seonghwa helped her.

"Appa~" Hwayeon whined when she realised she was alone, Seonghwa having left momentarily to get cutlery.

"I'm right here, melody." Hongjoong came to the table, tapping her cheek. He unwrapped all the food, laying it out on the table. Seonghwa put Hwayeon's bib on and placed the plate of what he cooked fro her.

"Alright, melody. Here you go." Hongjoong placed the spoon in her hand. She was content, with her dad on her left and her godfather on her right.

"Mmm, is it yummy, my love?" Seonghwa smiled, watching Hwayeon feed herself.

"Yum!" She cheered.

"Good girl, eat your vegetables, unlike someone..." Seonghwa cleared his throat, raising his eyebrows at Hwayeon's father, who was picking the vegetables out of his rice.

"What?" Hongjoong blinked. Seonghwa shook his head with a soft sigh, turning his attention back to Hwayeon.

"Let me help you, melody." Scraping the last few bites on her plate, Hongjoong fed them to Hwayeon.

"Want more?" Seonghwa asked. Surprisingly, Hwayeon nodded her head. Seonghwa stood up to get her more rice, putting the remaining soup into the bowl. He shredded the last piece of chicken that he cooked for her and mixed it into the rice and soup. Hwayeon kicked her feet happily when she saw more food.

"Your appetite is so much better today, my love." Seonghwa stroked her head.

"I think she's just happy to sit and eat with us now." Hongjoong smiled dreamily at his daughter. Watching Hwayeon eat always made him feel so full.

"To think, it feels like just yesterday I found out our baby was going to be a girl." Hongjoong said fondly.

"Don't start crying." Seonghwa chuckled.

"I already want the cry at the thought of her and boys one day. If I could, she'll never get to be around any boys. You don't need any boys, don't you, melody?" Hongjoong cooed.

"Eung!" Hwayeon nodded, even if she didn't understand what her dad was saying to her. Hongjoong laughed, nodding in approval.

"None of us accept any boys that's less than perfection for our princess." Seonghwa scoffed. He didn't like the idea of his 'one, true love' potentially having a boyfriend and even getting married one day. That'll be his death day.

"See? You're thinking about it." Hongjoong burst out laughing, seeing the deep frown on Seonghwa's face and the defensiveness that was evident in his posture.

"I'll take her and run away before she can start dating." Seonghwa said.

"You're worse than me." Hongjoong scoffed. Hwayeon looked between her father and godfather, waving her spoon happily.

After lunch, Hongjoong cleared up the area and did the dishes while Seonghwa played with Hwayeon. They did some reading, knowing that Hwayeon would have her first nap soon.

"Hwa, you can go if you need to. I'll take over." Hongjoong said from the kitchen.

"I'll wait for her to fall asleep then leave." Seonghwa replied, looking down to see Hwayeon yawning and rubbing her eyes.

When Hwayeon was showing signs of sleepiness, Hongjoong came to cradle her to sleep. She still sleeps best with her father so she fell asleep in his arms quickly. Hongjoong carefully moved to her room to place her down in her bed and Seonghwa gave her a kiss on the head before he left.

However, Hwayeon didn't stay asleep for long, starting to fuss and whine. So, Hongjoong stopped doing his chores and stayed with her, laying beside her.

"Shh, shh..." He rubbed her back to soothe her, knowing she was still tired and needed to nap more.

"Mama..." She whimpered in her sleep. It dawned on Hongjoong that Hwayeon's fussiness could be attributed to her missing you but not realising or understanding it. He looked down at his sleeping child.

"She'll come home to us tomorrow." He whispered, closing his eyes to rest with Hwayeon.

"Joong?" You pushed open the door.

After finishing your part of the conference, you told your boss you wouldn't stay on and wanted to come home. Luckily, your boss understood and let you leave early.

"Baby? Joong?" You left your luggage in the living room and went around looking for your family. There was a possibility that they were out. But when you pushed open Hwayeon's room door, you saw the two laying together in Hwayeon's bed.

"Mama...?" Hwayeon sat up, evidently awake while her father was asleep. You smiled and crept over to pick her up.

"Hi there. Oh, I missed you so much, my baby." You hugged her. You moved out of the room so you wouldn't disturb Hongjoong. Hwayeon buried her face in your chest.

"My good girl." You patted her back.

"Were you a good girl for appa and samchons?" You giggled. Inhaling her scent really comforted you.

"Hold on." You put Hwayeon down just go lay a blanket over Hongjoong's sleeping figure. Right after that, Hwayeon climbed into your arms again.

"Appa brought you to play with papa and samchons, huh?" You spoke to Hwayeon, who listened and babbled back.

When Hongjoong woke up, he noticed Hwayeon wasn't in the room with him. Panic shot through him as he heard rumaging outside. He was worried Hwayeon would hurt herself. Jumping to his feet, he rushed out of the room. But he froze in his tracks. There you were, standing in the kitchen with Hwayeon at your hip.

"Oh! Look who it is." You smiled, talking to Hwayeon.

"Appa!" Hwayeon grinned. You laughed and nodded. Hongjoong rubbed his eyes, he was dreaming, right? Because you were only supposed to be back tomorrow.

"You're not dreaming, Joong. I'm back a day early." You chuckled, knowing exactly what your husband was thinking.

"Here you go, baby." You put Hwayeon in her highway, giving her a small bowl of her crackers.

"Joong, I-" You were interrupted by Hongjoong engulfing you in a big hug. Now, Hongjoong's scent was home. You felt his face pressed against your shoulder.

"I missed you too, Joong." You spoke softly.

That was when you felt the dampness on your shoulder. Hongjoong often makes fun of you, saying you're his baby before Hwayeon is. But there were times when Hongjoong was like your son before Hwayeon was your daughter.

"Please don't ever leave me again." He cried. As much as you wanted to comfort him, you couldn't help but snort.

"Leave you? You were the one telling me to leave!" You exclaimed amidst your laughter.

"I know and I regret it." He sobbed. You knew that Hongjoong was really going through it so you stopped laughing at him and really comforted him.

"You did good, Joong. It's not easy doing it alone, hmm?" You patted his head.

"Not just that... I just missed you... I didn't like coming home and you not being there." He said in between his sobs, making you melt.

"Appa...?" You heard a whimper and looked up to see Hwayeon looking horrified at her father crying.

"Oh, no, no, no. My sweet baby girl. Appa is okay. Don't worry." With Hongjoong still stuck to your waist and refusing to let go, you shuffled over to pick Hwayeon up, balancing her on one arm while to other was still around Hongjoong. You sighed with a shake of your head, comforting your upset child and crying husband.

"It's okay, Hwayeon." You pressed kisses to her head to comfort her since you couldn't use your other hand to soothe her.

"You both... seriously..." You sighed with a shake of your head. Hongjoong lifted his head, cupping your cheeks and pulling you in for a deep kiss.

"Excuse me, your daughter is right here!" You slapped his arm. Hongjoong just hugged you again.

"I'm taking you both with me on tour. No negotiations." Hongjoong declared.

"Joong, no." You sent him a flat look.

"But baby~" He whined. You have been with him long enough to not be swayed by his whining anymore. Once Hwayeon was calm again, you set her down on her high chair to continue eating.

"Think about it. It'll be good for melody too, she can travel and experience things overseas. And she won't forget me." Hongjoong said as he pulled you onto his lap so you could both sit with Hwayeon as she ate. You sat across his lap, legs dangling on his side.

"She won't forget you, drama queen." You scoffed, slinging an arm around his shoulders as he leaned his head against your chest.

"Please~" He whined.

"Stop that, I don't want Hwayeon picking up on your whining." You scolded. Hongjoong pouted at you with a small frown, his last resort was always a tantrum.

"No promises but I'll think about it, okay? Let me speak with her paediatrician and stuff." You gave in.

"Okay!" He smiled, pressing a kiss to your cheek, his arms tightening around your waist.

"So, what did the two of you get up to while I wasn't around?" You asked, smiling at Hwayeon, who smiled back at you, her cheeks puffed slightly from the snacks she was eating.

"The usual, her ruling KQ like the princess she is. Her uncles and godfather spoil her too much." Hongjoong clicked his tongue.

"Coming from you?" You raised an eyebrow.

"She's a mini you, she was literally born for me to spoil. That's different." Hongjoong reasoned, rolling his eyes. You laughed, Hongjoong and Ateez would always be fools for Hwayeon, she'll never know the power she has over the 8. She'll always be Ateez's daughter, princess, baby, love and bun.

"You guys are unbelieveable. I can't believe she has all of you wrapped around her finger and she's not even 2. So much for pirate kings." You snorted in disbelief.

"Oh, please. We knew we were doomed to moment we found out our baby was going to be a girl." Hongjoong stated.

"Well, I'm glad you all had fun and bonded more. She's one lucky girl." You giggled.

"Mhmm. I think melody had fun too. But baby, I wanted to ask you something I learnt about. What's this about a group chat called '(y/n)'s favourites'? And why am I not in it?" Hongjoong finally asked.

"Ah... About that..." All you could do was send him a sheepish smile.

Masterlist

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thebiggerbear · 1 year ago

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"Sleep. I'll keep you safe." - Soldier Boy Prompt Response

Summary: You're tired of running and you go to Soldier Boy for protection. He agrees to do it but not without a price.

Pairing: Soldier Boy x Female!Reader

A/N: Prompt from @thelonelyempath. The original character I wanted to respond to this prompt with before deciding to make it multi-character. This scenario immediately popped into my head reading the line and I just had to write it. Hope it's okay.

Thank you to my beta @rieleatiel for her services. You rock, girl!

Sequel

Warnings: violence/murder; implied assassination attempts; sexual propositioning; Soldier Boy being himself; starts out as a blackmail type dynamic that appears as if a little dubcon at first; language?

Word Count: 2528

Taglist: @avada-kedavra-bitch-187

SB Taglist: @heartlessdelusions; @nancymcl; @brightlilith

Jensen Taglist: @samanddeaninatrenchcoat

You can also read on AO3

"Sleep. I'll keep you safe."

Beau version ✨ Dean version ✨ Jenny version ✨ Tom version ✨ Jason version ✨ Anael version ✨ SDV Alex version

You never thought in a million years that you would be seeking out one of the most dangerous Supes in the world for protection. Then again, you never would have thought that a multi-billion dollar corporation would be after you, intent on seeing you torn apart and scattered to the four winds. You didn’t exactly blow the whistle on them, but you didn’t exactly tow the company line either—something Stan Edgar was less than thrilled with and now the evil son of a bitch wanted you dead.

It was no secret that Edgar and Soldier Boy had a falling out of sorts after the truth about his being handed to the Russians had come to light. His old team may have made it happen, but it was Edgar pulling the strings all along. Surprisingly, the Supe who had been so focused on revenge hadn’t hunted Edgar down after this revelation, which made you wary about going this route. However, after narrowly escaping the latest death squad sent after you, you decided you had no choice but to take the gamble. There was nowhere you could run that Vought wouldn’t find you and you just hoped this would be more of an ‘enemy of my enemy’ situation rather than a ‘handing you right over to your enemy’ situation.

Once you had managed to track him down in Hong Kong while you were busy running yourself, he had shockingly agreed to a meet, and even more shockingly agreed to help you. Not without certain stipulations, of course.

“Let me in that sweet pussy of yours and you’ve got yourself a deal.”

You should have known, especially from the way he had been eyeing you up ever since he caught sight of you. Screwing your face up in disgust, you flat out refused. “Not happening.”

He shrugged and began to walk away. “Then you must not need my protection that badly.”

You scoffed in disbelief. “You’re seriously turning me down because I won’t fuck you? Whatever happened to the ‘Soldier Boy is America’s son’ bullshit? The OG superhero who fought Nazis and protected people?”

Soldier Boy stopped and slowly turned back towards you. “I’d be putting myself on the line to protect you. For that, I deserve one hell of a payment.”

You rolled your eyes and crossed your arms. “So now you’re blackmailing me into sleeping with you? Unbelievable.” You had heard he was more like America’s Asshole than its Son, but you still couldn’t believe your ears. You had even offered to help him take Vought down with what you knew, so long as he kept you safe. You knew he’d want that kind of information. Why else was he hopping from continent to continent in the last few months, trying to shake Vought just like you were? Instead, his dick was taking top priority. Typical.

“It’s the least you can do, doll.” He faced you fully again, shield hanging off of his arm as if it weighed nothing. “Like you said, I fought for this country, fought the Nazis, and now you’re asking me to play bodyguard while taking on Vought for you. I deserve something worth all that trouble.”

You ran through all other options in your mind. You still had a contact that could possibly put you in touch with someone that wouldn’t mind tapping into Vought’s offshore accounts that weren’t supposed to exist. You were already on Vought’s kill list; what would a few hundred thousand dollars of theirs matter? “I could pay you,” you offered.

“I’m not interested in money.” His eyes roved over you as he approached. “Besides,” he murmured as he came to a stop in front of you. You tensed as he reached up to tuck a strand of your hair that had gotten loose from under your ball cap behind your ear. ”I haven’t had a looker as pretty as you in a long time. Been locked away.” He gently gripped your chin in between his thumb and index finger, his eyes intent on your mouth before lifting to meet yours. A hint of a smirk started to appear on his handsome face when he most likely heard your heart beat starting to increase.

He released you and even took a step back from you, allowing you physical and metaphorical space. “Your call.”

You bit your lip as thoughts chaotically swirled inside your head. On one hand, you refused to be manipulated or pushed into sex with this asshole. No matter how physically attractive he might be, you weren’t willing to get on your back just so he would help you. But on the other hand, the cold hard truth was that you were tired — tired of running, tired of little-to-no sleep, tired of the paranoia that came with such a flight. Hell, at present, you hadn’t slept in almost two days and you were running on fumes; there wasn’t enough caffeine or energy pills in the world to get you through another day with no rest. Your reaction time was already dragging if your last narrow escape was anything to go by. If you continued this way, you’d be dead before the sun started to warm the sky; you were certain of it.

Soldier Boy stared you down. “What’s it gonna be?”

You didn’t answer. Instead, you glanced behind you at a small noise far off down the street. Thankfully, it was an old woman tossing something out onto the pavement, but you couldn’t deny it put you further on edge. You turned back to the Supe whose eyes stayed trained on you. You took a deep breath to steady your nerves and readied your response. His lips began to quirk upwards into a smile; he knew what your answer was going to be before you even said the words.

Vought Tower had been completely demolished. Luckily, it had been mostly evacuated before the destruction occurred. A fight between Soldier Boy and the now-dead Homelander had caused most of the damage, but the C4 that had been carefully lined throughout the infrastructure is what ended up bringing it down.

Before it went boom, Soldier Boy had approached Stan Edgar, who refused to cower in a corner. The Supe respected that, but it didn’t change what he’d come here to do. He gripped Edgar by the throat and lifted him in the air, choking the older man and ignoring the fingers that desperately clawed at his hand.

“I thought we had an agreement,” Edgar rasped out.

Soldier Boy shrugged. “She made me a better one.” He then snapped the man’s neck and tossed his body aside like a rag doll.

“Oi! We ought to get out of here,” Butcher warned after seeing Stan Edgar lifeless on the floor. “Frenchie’s about to blow this place to fucking hell.”

He glared over at the Brit and picked up his shield. He still didn’t trust him, not after what he and his merry band of assholes had tried to do the last time they’d teamed up, but he’d made a deal with you and he was intent on keeping his end of it. The only conditions Butcher and Captain Lesbo had given this time around was: no civilian casualties and Ryan was off limits. He did his best with the first and he could give less than a fuck on the other. As far as he was concerned, the kid was Butcher’s problem as long as the kid didn’t come looking for some payback once he got older, which Butcher assured he wouldn’t. That, and there better not be Novichok gas waiting at the end of this mission for him. They’d reluctantly agreed, knowing they had no other way to kill Homelander and take down Vought all in one swoop.

“After you.” Soldier Boy gestured for Butcher to leave first. The man scowled but obliged, keeping a wary eye out as he moved. Smirking, Soldier boy followed. The Supe might have enjoyed the reaction—or even tried to settle the score from Butcher’s previous betrayal—if he didn’t have you to get back to. He needed to let you know that you no longer had Stan Edgar or Vought to worry about. He’d kept up his end of the bargain you’d both made — now, finally, you were free.

You woke up to the sound of someone moving through the darkness in your room. You grabbed the gun from beneath your pillow and bolted upright as much as you could, trying to get your eyes to adjust so you could get a good shot.

“Relax, it’s just me,” Soldier Boy assured you.

Recognizing his voice, you slowly lowered the gun and focused on his location. When your eyes finally adjusted, you realized he was near the foot of the bed, completely nude, his hair damp from a fresh shower. “Ben,” you breathed out in relief. “You scared me.”

Through the beams of moonlight shining into the room from the window, you saw him give you a smile and lay his shield down on the floor next to him. “Didn’t mean to.”

You slipped the safety back on the gun and stashed it into the drawer of your nightstand. You hated having it under your pillow at night; it was super uncomfortable and you only needed to do that when Soldier Boy — Ben, as he’d asked you to call him instead — wasn’t around. “Everything go okay?”

“Better than okay.” You glanced back to see a smirk adorning that handsome face of his, with an all-too familiar gleam in those green eyes. You watched as he slipped on some sweats and then made his way to the opposite side of the bed. You moved onto your side to face him, smiling as he climbed in next to you and sat up against the headboard, turning to grin down at you. Within seconds, he had his arms wrapped around you, pulling you up against him, and he was kissing you a proper hello. He only pulled back when you needed air and tenderly rubbed his nose along yours, nuzzling you. “How about you, doll? Everything go okay while I was gone?”

You nodded and snuggled into his bare chest, letting out a relieved sigh when you felt his warm hands stroking your back. “Everything’s fine,” you assured him, closing your eyes. You’d never admit it aloud, but you felt so much better when he was around. Not only did you feel protected but you just felt better in general. You’d have to be under the pain of torture to admit to him (or yourself) that you actually missed him when he had to leave.

He pressed a kiss to the top of your head and let his lips linger there, continuing to rub your back just the way you liked. “Edgar and Vought are gone,” he murmured. “The Caped Cunt, too. You’ve got nothing more to worry about.”

Your eyes snapped open and you lifted yourself up to meet his gaze, your brows furrowed. “What?” You asked in shock.

“You heard me.” He stroked your cheek with his thumb, his grin now a smug smile. “You’re safe, baby.”

Your eyes widened when the realization hit you. “That’s where you went?”

Your only answer was the lengthening of that smile.

“Jesus, Ben.” So many thoughts and emotions swirled within you all at once. You were free, truly free. You no longer had to worry about Vought death squads hunting you down, Homelander coming for you, or Stan Edgar sending after you any ragtag Supes he could scrounge up. You were free. Although, Ben hadn’t told you that he was about to go on his most dangerous mission yet. He might be America’s original superhero and he might be tough to kill, but that didn’t mean he was completely invincible. He’d admitted as much to you over the last few months. “What if… What if you didn’t—”

He kissed you, effectively cutting you off. “I did,” he hummed against your lips. “Told you I would.”

You nodded, gently tracing his facial features with your hands before gliding down to his shoulders, dipping down the warm expanse of his back and then slowly returning to his chest. As always, he remained patient whenever you did this ritual of checking him for any wounds or injuries, knowing you wouldn’t find any but needing to assure yourself just the same. Truthfully, this man had come to mean more to you than you’d ever imagined would be possible. Hell, there had been a time when it wouldn’t have been possible at all.

When you were done, you met his gaze head on. “Do I want to know?”

Ben remained silent, but his eyes said it all: no, you didn’t want to know. You and Ben may have planned for the downfall of Vought and the ends of Homelander and Stan Edgar, the very same bastards that had put a target on your back in the first place, but that didn’t mean you wanted to hear the gory details of their deaths. You were just grateful Ben had come back to you alive and unharmed.

You gave him a thin-lipped smile in understanding. “Thank you,” you whispered.

Ben studied you for a moment, then pulled you in and kissed you again, his fingers slipping through your hair until he grabbed the back of your neck and urged you to meet him more fully. Just as you were getting into it, he broke away and chuckled. “You’re real eager for me, aren’t you, sweetheart?” You shot him a look and the smirk was suddenly back on his face. Without warning, he picked you up to rearrange you in the bed how he wanted you. “Too bad that you need to get some rest. We’re blowing the fuck out of here tomorrow and you’re gonna need to keep up.”

As if he would leave you behind if you couldn’t. “I thought you said Butcher would leave us alone after this.”

“I don’t trust that dicksucking Brit and I trust his bitch of a boss even less.”

You rolled your eyes, smirking when you felt him settle in behind you, knowing how much he enjoyed spooning you like this. “‘Kay,” you agreed. He had successfully protected you this far; you’d follow his lead on this one, too. You shut your eyes and snuggled into your pillow, content to feel his hands on your back caressing you once more.

You were just about asleep when you heard him murmur in your ear, “Sleep. I’ll keep you safe.” You smiled when you heard the words he’d been saying to you every night now for many months and your heart lightened when you felt his hands trail from your back to cup protectively over your rounding stomach, rubbing gently. ‘Safe’ is exactly how you felt right in this moment, and the little girl moving to meet her father’s embrace—like she always did when she sensed he was near—only cemented the knowledge that this was the first night neither you nor she were in danger any longer. It gave you a sense of peace you hadn’t known in a long time.

dividers by @firefly-graphics

#soldier boy x reader #soldier boy x female reader #soldier boy x y/n #soldier boy fanfiction #sleep i'll keep you safe #thebiggerbear writes

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guzhufuren · 15 days ago

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2024: the year when chinese queer media broke through

13+ chinese QLs get released:

BL The Spirealm (c) Meet You At The Blossom Blue Canvas of Youthful Days

short BL: Be Moon Meet Unexpectedly Gym Affairs Inverse Identity Uncle Unknown Player10 My School Exclusive Bully Boyfriend (c) GL: Soul Sisters (c)

short GL: I’ve Been Dreaming of You for a Long Time (Xiao Xiang Yi Jiu) My Hot Butch Roommate

4 QL shows with chinese wuxia/xianxia elements air:

Meet You At The Blossom Century of Love 🇹🇭 Battle of the Writers 🇹🇭 Soul Sisters

6 BLs get adapted from chinese novels by other countries and are released:

Unknown 🇹🇼 My Stand-In 🇹🇭 Battle of the Writers 🇹🇭 Addicted Heroin 🇹🇭 The On1y One 🇹🇼 Secret Love 🇹🇭

Lightly censored chinese horror-mystery BL The Spirealm gets released (leaked?) unannounced on iQIYI in February and pulled in less than 2 hours. Fans download it in time, upload and spread it online. The show is brought back to streaming through international platforms in April.

First ever uncensored chinese wuxia BL Meet You At The Blossom gets released internationally through a loophole: it was made by a thai production company, but kept chinese cast, filming team and styling team, and was filmed in mainland China. Despite receiving threats from censors, it is not taken down. Has kisses, sex scenes and a happy ending.

Leads of Meet You At The Blossom Li Le and Wang Yunkai become the first-ever branded chinese BL pair, get product brand deals, magazine covers, hold 7+ fanmeetings together in Thailand, Hong Kong and mainland China.

Lekai’s costars Kou Weilong and Li Yimu follow in their footsteps, become a branded pair, and star in another uncensored BL I'll Turn Back This Time (2025), made by the same team that worked on Meet You At The Blossom.

Uncensored modern chinese BL Blue Canvas of Youthful Days has its first episodes released in August on iQIYI. Because of mass reporting, it is removed after 4 hours. Comes back on international platforms in October. Has kisses and a happy ending.

Thai BL Battle of the Writers (adapted from a chinese novel) has wuxia scenes that were filmed in mainland China. The show has romantic and explicit sex scenes while in wuxia costuming.

First ever full-length chinese wuxia GL Soul Sisters airs, is lightly censored and has a happy ending.

15+ chinese QLs are announced for 2025, most of them uncensored:

Love and Punishment The Mountains and Rivers are Forever Silent City of the Sun Again 18 Chasing Ghost (c?)

Including upcoming adaptations of chinese novels by other countries:

Fake Slackers Beloved Enemy Sammy’s Children’s Day

and dramas that started filming or finished filming in 2024 ⬇️

7+ chinese QLs finished filming or were filming by the end of the year and were waiting to be released:

Old Days in the Middle of Summer The General's Son (c?) Desire (omegaverse, advertised to have mpreg) Caged Bird (aired February 2025) I'll Turn Back This Time (aired January 2025) Fireworks of Yesteryear (GL, aired January 2025) Who Knows Girls L or WKGL (GL, aired January 2025)

10+ completed censored chinese BLs that were frozen by censors are still waiting to be released:

Eternal Faith (January 15, 2022) Immortality (September 23, 2020) Winner is King (November 13, 2020) Guardians of the Lands (July 17, 2021) Chasing the Light (July 10, 2021) The Wanderers (June 21, 2021) The Story of the Bat (March 28, 2021) Dreamcatcher/Duo Meng (May 25, 2021) In Darkness (March 5, 2021) Justice in the Dark (! remaining episodes will air on March 7 through a japanese streaming platform)

Collaborations are the solution. Countries that assisted chinese QL industry in 2024:

Thailand 🇹🇭

1 CBL production 1 streaming pick-up 4 adaptations at least 2 upcoming CBL productions at least 2 upcoming adaptations

Taiwan 🇹🇼

2 CBL productions 2 streaming pick-ups 2 adaptations at least 2 upcoming CBL productions

Japan 🇯🇵

1 CBL production 3 streaming pickups 1 upcoming streaming pickup

Singapore 🇸🇬

1 CBL production

Support and uplift chinese queer creators and their fight. There is hope for an even better tomorrow.

#chinese bl #chinese ql #chinese gl #mine

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the-monkey-ruler · 2 months ago

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The Monkey King 2 (2016) 西游记之孙悟空三打白骨精

Director: Zheng Baorui Screenwriter: Ran Ping / Ran Jinan / Wen Ning Starring: Aaron Kwok / Gong Li / Feng Shaofeng / Xiao Shenyang / Luo Ziyi / Fei Xiang / Kelly Chen / Ngawang Rinchen / Peng Yu / Cheng Dong / Liu Chutian / Yu Xin / Wei Lu / Qi Xier / Mu Qi Miya / Zhang Zimu Genre: Comedy / Action / Fantasy Country/Region of Production: Mainland China/Hong Kong, China Language: Mandarin Chinese Date: 2016-02-08 (Mainland China) / 2024-09-14 (Re-release in Mainland China) Duration: 120 minutes Also known as: Journey to the West: Havoc in Heaven Sequel / Journey to the West: Three Strikes of Bone Demons / Three Strikes of Bone Demons / 西遊記之三打白骨精 / 西游记之大闹天宫续集 / 西游记之三打白骨精 / 三打白骨精 IMDb: tt4591310 Type: Retelling

Summary:

500 years after Sun Wukong's (Aaron Kwok) imprisonment under the Five Fingers Mountain, a young Buddhist monk Tang Sanzang (Feng Shaofeng) sets out for a journey to the Thunder Monastery in India to collect Buddha's scriptures. When he is attacked by a tiger, he is forced to free Wukong and the Monkey King learns that he has to protect the monk throughout the journey, because the Bodhisattva Guanyin ensured he would be bound by an enchanted circlet that can cause him pain whenever Tang Sanzang chants a certain sutra. Soon the duo meet Zhu Bajie (Xiaoshenyang), a lustful pig demon, and Sha Wujing (Him Law), a djinn-like monk. He fights a dragon, defeats it and transforms it into a horse as his mount.

The company travel to the Yun Hai Xi Kingdom, a land terrorized by the White Bone Demon (Gong Li) who has been eating people in order to extend her unnatural life and avoid the Wheel of Reincarnation. As the demoness learns about Sanzang, she decides to eat him in order to stop her reincarnation cycle and achieve everlasting demonhood. She takes the appearance of an old woman and lures the group into a cottage in the woods. To prevent Wukong from using his truth-seeking eyes to see through her disguise immediately, she throws tainted dust into his eyes that clouds his sight. Then while her disguised minions keep Wukong, Bajie and Wujing occupied, the demoness tells Sanzang a story about how she was forced to marry as a young girl, and when her village suffered famine, the people blamed her for it, even calling her an evil demon, and attempted to kill her as a sacrifice to the gods. As Tang comforts the old lady, she attempts to kill him, but is stopped by Wukong. The demoness escapes before Wukong can deal the killing blow and leaves the dead body of the old lady behind. Sanzang and the others don't believe Wukong that all the women he murdered were demons, and blame him for killing the innocent. Sanzang punishes Wukong by chanting the sutra and causing the circlet to tighten painfully on his head. Afterwards, Sanzang climbs to the top of a mountain where Wukong is sulking. Sanzang tells Wukong he thinks they are both very alike, for they both only trust what their own eyes sees. But together, they are better able to discern the truth. This is why they were all chosen to be on this journey together.

The group arrives to the kingdom's capital and the King (Fei Xiang) throws a feast for them, begging Sanzang to exorcise the bloodthirsty demoness from their land. Suddenly Lady White appears and demands the monk, but he offers her his help in enlightenment instead. She tells Wukong that they are both very alike, and tries to persuade Wukong to let her devour the monk, but he deceives her instead and a fight ensues. During the chaos, the King's guards kidnap Sanzang. It is revealed that it's actually been the King kidnapping and killing the children in a desperate attempt to cure himself of a cursed disease by drinking their blood. He tries to kill Sanzang, but Wukong arrives and saves the monk and the surviving children as well. All of the group are celebrated as heroes, but as a little girl approaches Sanzang, Wukong beats her and her mother to death as well, because his truth-seeking eyes perceive both were possessed by the White Bone Demon. In a fit of anger and disbelief, Tang banishes Wukong away. As soon as Wukong leaves, Sanzang gets kidnapped by the demoness.

In the demoness' lair, the White Bone Demon gives Sanzang a day to convince her to give up her evil ways and embrace nonviolence and enlightenment as the true path to immortality. She reveals to him the story she had told him earlier was true, recounting her previous life as a mortal. Right before Sanzang's time is up, he is saved by Wukong at the last minute. Wukong, Bajie and Wujing fight the White Bone Demon and her army and finally defeat her, with Wukong mortally wounding her. The Buddha comes down from the Heavens to collect the defeated demoness' soul and banish it to oblivion but Sanzang pleads Buddha to grant her mercy and give Sanzang one last chance to save her soul from destruction. Buddha tells him that he would have to lead her on the path herself, meaning he would have to sacrifice his own life. The monk begs the demoness to show remorse and accept the Wheel of Reincarnation, but the White Bone Demon would rather die as a broken tainted soul in Sanzang's body instead of returning to the Wheel of Reincarnation. Saddened, Tang begs Wukong to kill him, too. The Monkey King refuses at first, but Sanzang explains how he used to think he just had to recite Buddha's teachings to convince people to become good. Now he understands he must also lead by example and do good in order to convince people. Sanzang had to do this for his own journey towards enlightenment. Wukong finally understands the monk's desire to help the demoness change her fate, and tearfully agrees, promising Sanzang to wait for his return. Wukong brings his staff down and Sanzang's body is changed into a statue. In return Sanzang says if he gets a chance to do so in his next life, he would be glad to be Wukong's master again. Because of Sanzang's sacrifice, he succeeds in leading the demoness to her next reincarnation, freeing her of her pain and hatred.

Some time later, Wukong and his friends still wait for the return of the monk, but continue their journey to the Thunder Monastery. Wukong rides on Sanzang's horse with Sanzang's statue strapped to his back. From Heaven, Guanyin drops a bead of water from her magic vase that falls to earth and hits right at Sanzang's hand. The surface cracks, revealing a human finger underneath.

Source: https://movie.douban.com/subject/25827963/

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A7XSayGf04

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violetsiren90 · 1 year ago

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~BTS Masterlist~

Content key: fluff 🌸, angst ⛈, smut 🍑, hard smut 😈, crack 😂, tragedy 🥀, hurt/comfort ❤️‍🩹

All I Haven't Said - 🌸, ⛈, eventual 🍑 (ongoing)

Genre: soulmate AU; canon compliant; strangers to lovers; chapter fic

Summary: You found your soulmate - or rather, he found you. Turns out he's an idol of much acclaim who needs you for very real and unglamorous reasons. What could become of two hearts so used to giving of themselves when they are confronted with needing each other?

It Had to Be You - 🌸, 😂, eventual 🍑 (WIP - coming soon!)

Pairing: idol!Seokjin x f!journalist!Reader

Genre: soulmate AU; canon compliant; dorm-life era; enemies to lovers; chapter fic

Summary: You're a tabloid journalist looking for a big break in a cut-throat industry. Just when you're finally beginning to make a name for yourself, a disastrous encounter with Korea's hottest boy group reveals your soulmate to be the member who loathes you and your work the most.

All Ye Need to Know - ⛈, 🥀, ❤️‍🩹

Pairing: idol!Yoongi x Reader (ft. Namjoon x Reader)

Genre: Gender-neutral reader; one-shot; heavy angst; hurt/comfort; strangers to lovers; idol AU; canon compliant

Summary: You had no idea that you were what Yoongi had been looking for when he showed up at your cafe one rainy night - turns out he hadn't known either.

Send Me To Hong Kong - 🍑

Pairing: idol!Yoongi x f!Reader

Genre: one-shot; pure, shameless smut; established relationship; canon compliant

Summary: Yoongi discovers one of your major kinks.

Things That Grow - ⛈, ❤️‍🩹

Pairing: idol!Yoongi x Reader

Genre: Gender-neutral reader; drabble; canon compliant; established relationship; angst and hope; goodbyes

Summary: You've arrived at Yoongi's place to spend some time with him before he leaves, but the newest change is making his enlistment more of a reality than you can bear.

What the Moon Saw - 🌸, ⛈, 🍑

Pairing: best friend!Yoongi x f!Reader

Genre: one-shot; non-idol AU; young love; loss of virginity (sex between consenting adults); friends to lovers

Summary: Having been with each other through thick and thin, you and your childhood friend, Yoongi, realize that nobody knows how to say goodbye.

Drabbles: - Stolen Tides 🌸, ⛈ (You reunite with Yoongi after over a decade apart) - Beacons Ashore 🌸, ⛈ (A few months after meeting you, Yoongi finds himself at the hideaway on a night in March) - The Lighthouse Keeper ⛈ (Yoongi shares a beer with a friend on a lonely summer night years after you've gone) - Under the Hunter's Moon 🌸 (When Yoongi happens upon you at your school's Fall Fest, you find yourselves breaking an unspoken rule)

With What I Know Is In You - 🌸, 🍑

Pairing: idol!Yoongi x Reader

Genre: gender-neutral reader; drabble; vignette; established relationship; D-Day tour; canon compliant

Summary: You're there to meet Yoongi when the lights and screams of the stage fade.

A Madness Most Discreet - 🌸, ⛈, eventual 🍑 (WIP - coming soon)

Pairing: CEO!Yoongi x VP!f!Reader

Genre: chapter fic; corporate AU; slow burn; enemies to lovers

Summary: When Yoongi steps into his late father's shoes as the president of a large corporate conglomerate, his radical humanist ideals begin to rock the company by its foundations and you, as VP, are in the eye of his storm.

Make Me - 😈, plantonic?🌸, mild⛈

Pairing: idol!Hoseok x f!Reader

Genre: one-shot; idol AU; canon compliant; hard smut; BDSM; friends to fwb

Summary: You've been friends with Hobi for years, and he's your comfort zone - but when he gets wind of a dark secret you drunkenly let slip, things between you take a sudden extreme change.

Thunder and Pineapple Rum - 🍑 (WIP - coming soon)

Pairing: SO!Yoongi x f!Reader (ft. Yoongi x Jimin & Hwasa x Reader)

*Teaser here*

Genre: one-shot; established relationship; MxM; swinger AU; Yoonmin; PwP; ft. bartender!Hwasa

Summary: While visiting his alma mater for a class reunion, you and Yoongi stop by an intriguingly atmospheric bar for drinks with his erstwhile underclassman, Jimin. After Jimin and the beautiful bartender make a surprising revelation, you and Yoongi decide to help them close down for the night...and explore some uncharted territories.

Yet to come 💜

Blame Me - 🌸, ⛈, eventual 🍑 (ongoing)

Pairing: best friend's bro!Jungkook x f!Reader

Genre: chapter fic; childhood friends AU; summer love; noona romance; friends to lovers

Summary: Upon returning to your hometown after breaking off your engagement to your boyfriend of three years, you reconnect with your childhood best friend as you attempt to put the pieces of your life back together. It seems like nothing has changed in the sleepy little town until your bestie's younger brother returns home from college - very, very grown. As the summer stretches on, the stakes get higher - can you play with fire without getting burned, or have you ignited a flame that won't be extinguished?

Kissing the Members: Vibes Edition - 🌸

Genre: lists; "BTS as"; scenarios

Summary: What I think it would be like to kiss each member of BTS, vibes only

#bts masterlist #masterlist #fic masterlist

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paikothecateater · 1 month ago

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People I think the Hetateens either like or dislike in no particular order.

1) Romano: they absolutely adore him. If you think about it, all or most of the Hetateens have siblings who over shadow them and some of them even have younger sibling complexes, so they really empathise with Romano because of how over shadowed he is by his younger brother. So you have a majority of the collective nations who think Italy is better, and you have the Hetateens clinging to Romano with tears in their eyes like 'Romano deserves more love'

2) Germany: they do not like Germany much. He just takes life too seriously and has a tendency to yell and it just makes things super stressful. They probably get into a lot of trouble with him. Also, they're team Romano, anyone he doesn't like, they don't like.

3) Ukr/aine: I've split up her name because I do not want a big fat target on my head, so for the remainder of this post, I'll call her Raine. If you have good name suggestions, I would greatly appreciate them, and I would like to add that while reading this post, I want you to temporarily separate this character from Hetalia because my version of her is very different to the Hetalia one. I can do a post explaining my version of her if you want.

Sorry for that intro, but it's necessary.

They absolutely adore her. She is the ultimate older sister figure. She's incredibly kind and caring, but also not afraid to stand up for herself and others, so it's not an uncommon occurrence for the Hetateens to go to her for help or advice because she's super understanding and empathetic.

4)Tolys: they absolutely adore him as well. He's super responsible, but he doesn't suck the fun out of everything. Much like Raine, he is a pretty universal older brother figure.

5) Sweden: Sweden is a teenager magnet. He thinks it's genuinely miserable that a bunch of kids have to sit through meetings, attend to serious duties and all that junk, so he's always pretty supportive of dumb teenager behaviour because they should get to do dumb shit.

6) England: unless it's Hong Kong, the other Hetateens really do not care for him. It's not even because of any particular issues they've had with him. He's just very prone to losing his mind over literally everything. They don't hate him or anything, they're always polite, but they just... Don't particularly enjoy his company.

I might make a part two for this.

Okay, I normally don't have anything to say by the end of a post, but I do this time, so please bear with me.

The reason I use different names for the baltics and Ukr/aine is because people who are from those countries really dislike the usage of their country's actual name in hetalia posts, so I'm just trying to honour that. I'd appreciate if you guys could avoid using those tags in reblogs please. Thank you.

#aph headcanons

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collapsedsquid · 3 months ago

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Equally clear are Trump’s preferred means of getting what he wants in world politics. The former and future president is a strong believer in using coercion, such as economic sanctions, to pressure other actors. He also subscribes to the “madman theory,” in which he will threaten massive tariff increases or “fire and fury” against other countries in the firm belief that such threats will compel them into offering greater concessions than they otherwise would. At the same time, however, Trump also practices a transactional view of foreign policy, demonstrating a willingness during his first term to link disparate issues to secure economic concessions. On China, for example, Trump displayed a recurring willingness to give ground on other issues—the crackdown in Hong Kong, the repression in Xinjiang, the arrest of a senior executive of the Chinese tech company Huawei—in return for a better bilateral trade deal. Trump’s foreign policy track record during his first term was decidedly mixed. If one looks at the renegotiated deals for the South Korea Free Trade Agreement or the North American Free Trade Agreement (rebranded as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA), his attempts at coercion produced meager results. The same is true with his summitry with Kim Jong Un. But one can argue that this might have been because of the rather chaotic nature of the Trump White House. There were plenty of times when Trump seemed at war with his own administration, often leading to the characterization of his more mainstream foreign policy advisers (such as Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster) as the “adults in the room.” The result was a lot of personnel churn and inconstancy in foreign policy positioning, which degraded Trump’s ability to achieve his aims. That should not be an issue for Trump’s second term. Over the past eight years, he has collected enough acolytes to staff his foreign policy and national security team with like-minded officials. He is far less likely to meet resistance from his own political appointees. Other checks on Trump’s policy will also be far weaker. The legislative and judicial branches of government are now more MAGA-friendly than they were in 2017. Trump has indicated numerous times that he intends to purge the military and bureaucracy of professionals who oppose his policies, and he will likely use Schedule F—a measure to reclassify civil service positions as political slots—to force them out. For the next few years, the United States will speak with one voice on foreign policy, and that voice will be Trump’s.

I feel that this piece by Drezner is contradicting itself, Trump administration did not and will not speak with one voice, having more people like him is not what he does, he appoints people to rattle the cage and then tries to swoop in personally in a sort of good cop/bad cop thing. Or maybe he just doesn't really care if they speak with one voice.

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gremlinshatephilosophers · 30 days ago

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I was listening to Hozier and I liked how "Sunlight" and "Wasteland, Baby!" worked together. So I wrote a little story about Dan and Phil and the very slow and deceptively normal end of the world.

Wasteland, Baby (I'm in love with you)

Rating: T • Words: 3,570

I've put the intro below:

The world ends on a Thursday.

It also ended on Wednesday, and all the Tuesdays and Mondays and Sundays before that. It ends every day, every hour, every minute as time passes and another city drowns or burns without fanfare. Because the end of the world isn’t announced by angels with trumpets, or flesh-rotting zombies. Nor is it prefaced by gunshots and riots, burning cars and signal flares. People still go to work every day, because everything is remarkably normal, aside from the pervasive threat of death. The Earth’s demise is a slow and quiet one, as much as any apocalypse can be.

The first time the world ended might have been yesterday, or it might have been a hundred years ago, depending on who you ask. Did it begin when Edison and Tesla squabbled over electric currents, a reflection of Prometheus’ sin? Did it begin with Oppenheimer, and Truman, and nuclear warfare which decimated cities with a single word? Perhaps the end of the world started with the invention of the car, or the computer, or of generative artificial intelligence; humans developing unsustainable technologies to propel them to wealth and efficiency at the expense of their children’s future. One might look instead toward corporate greed, at private jets and oil drilling. After all, they knew that there was never enough water to cool the computers, never enough trees to filter out the polluted air.

Damp toes and ash-filled lungs were fine, most of the time. There had always been rain, and pollution, and natural disasters that menaced far flung corners of the globe for a five minute segment on the nightly news. For those who had the privilege to never question the airplanes above their heads or whether they could drink the water from the tap, the world first ended sometime around ten or twenty years ago. Somehow, the rise of fascism and malicious disinformation hadn’t been the breaking point - what was the truth if not a hollow vessel for one’s own political aims, after all?

But it was hard to ignore the heat of the fires, even through rose-colored glasses. In California, there has always been a “fire season.” But for cities like Los Angeles, fire season had become the scorched earth of inferno season - a season which lasted not three, but ten months of the year - and the brushfire dry spells had taken up residence in New York instead. In London summers, the rain had all but dried up, adopting a heavily seasonal pattern that it hadn’t prepared for. There was grumbling about installing air con, but who would trade away warm and sunny days for that endless drizzle again?

Of course, mother nature was not one to forget her karmic tradeoffs - with every California fire came a flood to end it and more. And the floods were not just a balm for the burn, but an overwhelming monsoon season that oversaturated the soil, spilling out for weeks until there were no visible roads within fifty miles of any coastline.

The coastline had experienced a makeover too; the sea did its fair share and rose to meet those parched cities. Amsterdam and New Orleans were inevitable casualties predicted well before a drop of rain had ever fallen and inspired no international mourning as such. New York, Hong Kong, London - the slick pavement instilled fear there for a moment, until the millions in residence bought taller boots.

The world was burning, drowning, quaking, starving - but you weren’t. You, who turned on the TV once the power company fixed the wires after another blackout and saw how beautiful Norwegian summers had become. You, who watched the BBC interview a poor woman whose house had washed away in Brighton, reminding her that if she’d simply worked harder when she knew this day was inevitable, she would’ve had the money to move someplace nicer and rebuild her house. You, who laced up your rain boots in the winter and sloshed down to the supermarket for a pallet of plastic water bottles before they ran out. It wasn’t your fault that things flooded and burned for those less fortunate, it wasn’t your fault that thousands died every summer in a heat wave - who could stop the sun itself

The world was ending, and nobody else had tried to stop it before it was too late.

#i really enjoyed writing this one #i had a vibe in my head and went with it #its fluffier than i usually write but theyre allowed to be in love when the world is ending #dan and phil #dnp #phan #dan howell #phil lester #fanfic #phanfiction #ao3 #aurelia writes #🔥🥀🌊🌞🖤#wasteland baby (I’m in love with you)

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justinspoliticalcorner · 9 months ago

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Bill Prutt for Slate:

On Jan. 8, 2004, just more than 20 years ago, the first episode of The Apprentice aired. It was called “Meet the Billionaire,” and 18 million people watched. The episodes that followed climbed to roughly 20 million each week. A staggering 28 million viewers tuned in to watch the first season finale. The series won an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program, and the Television Critics Association called it one of the best TV shows of the year, alongside The Sopranos and Arrested Development. The series—alongside its bawdy sibling, The Celebrity Apprentice—appeared on NBC in coveted prime-time slots for more than a decade. The Apprentice was an instant success in another way too. It elevated Donald J. Trump from sleazy New York tabloid hustler to respectable household name. In the show, he appeared to demonstrate impeccable business instincts and unparalleled wealth, even though his businesses had barely survived multiple bankruptcies and faced yet another when he was cast. By carefully misleading viewers about Trump—his wealth, his stature, his character, and his intent—the competition reality show set about an American fraud that would balloon beyond its creators’ wildest imaginations.

I should know. I was one of four producers involved in the first two seasons. During that time, I signed an expansive nondisclosure agreement that promised a fine of $5 million and even jail time if I were to ever divulge what actually happened. It expired this year. No one involved in The Apprentice—from the production company or the network, to the cast and crew—was involved in a con with malicious intent. It was a TV show, and it was made for entertainment. I still believe that. But we played fast and loose with the facts, particularly regarding Trump, and if you were one of the 28 million who tuned in, chances are you were conned. As Trump answers for another of his alleged deception schemes in New York and gears up to try to persuade Americans to elect him again, in part thanks to the myth we created, I can finally tell you what making Trump into what he is today looked like from my side. Most days were revealing. Some still haunt me, two decades later. [...]

Now, this is important. The Apprentice is a game show regulated by the Federal Communications Commission. In the 1950s, scandals arose when producers of quiz shows fed answers to likable, ratings-generating contestants while withholding those answers from unlikable but truly knowledgeable players. Any of us involved in The Apprentice swinging the outcome of prize money by telling Trump whom to fire is forbidden. [...]

Trump goes about knocking off every one of the contestants in the boardroom until only two remain. The finalists are Kwame Jackson, a Black broker from Goldman Sachs, and Bill Rancic, a white entrepreneur from Chicago who runs his own cigar business. Trump assigns them each a task devoted to one of his crown-jewel properties. Jackson will oversee a Jessica Simpson benefit concert at Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City, while Rancic will oversee a celebrity golf tournament at Trump National Golf Club in Briarcliff Manor, New York. Viewers need to believe that whatever Trump touches turns to gold. These properties that bear his name are supposed to glitter and gleam. All thanks to him.

Reality is another matter altogether. The lights in the casino’s sign are out. Hong Kong investors actually own the place—Trump merely lends his name. The carpet stinks, and the surroundings for Simpson’s concert are ramshackle at best. We shoot around all that. Both Rancic and Jackson do a round-robin recruitment of former contestants, and Jackson makes the fateful decision to team up with the notorious Omarosa, among others, to help him carry out his final challenge. [...]

Trump will make his decision live on camera months later, so what we are about to film is the setup to that reveal. The race between Jackson and Rancic should seem close, and that’s how we’ll edit the footage. Since we don’t know who’ll be chosen, it must appear close, even if it’s not.

We lay out the virtues and deficiencies of each finalist to Trump in a fair and balanced way, but sensing the moment at hand, Kepcher sort of comes out of herself. She expresses how she observed Jackson at the casino overcoming more obstacles than Rancic, particularly with the way he managed the troublesome Omarosa. Jackson, Kepcher maintains, handled the calamity with grace. “I think Kwame would be a great addition to the organization,” Kepcher says to Trump, who winces while his head bobs around in reaction to what he is hearing and clearly resisting. “Why didn’t he just fire her?” Trump asks, referring to Omarosa. It’s a reasonable question. Given that this the first time we’ve ever been in this situation, none of this is something we expected. “That’s not his job,” Bienstock says to Trump. “That’s yours.” Trump’s head continues to bob. “I don’t think he knew he had the ability to do that,” Kepcher says. Trump winces again.

“Yeah,” he says to no one in particular, “but, I mean, would America buy a n— winning?” Kepcher’s pale skin goes bright red. I turn my gaze toward Trump. He continues to wince. He is serious, and he is adamant about not hiring Jackson. Bienstock does a half cough, half laugh, and swiftly changes the topic or throws to Ross for his assessment. What happens next I don’t entirely recall. I am still processing what I have just heard. We all are. Only Bienstock knows well enough to keep the train moving. None of us thinks to walk out the door and never return. I still wish I had. (Bienstock and Kepcher didn’t respond to requests for comment.) Afterward, we film the final meeting in the boardroom, where Jackson and Rancic are scrutinized by Trump, who, we already know, favors Rancic. Then we wrap production, pack up, and head home. There is no discussion about what Trump said in the boardroom, about how the damning evidence was caught on tape. Nothing happens.

We attend to our thesis that only the best and brightest deserve a job working for Donald Trump. Luckily, the winner, Bill Rancic, and his rival, Kwame Jackson, come off as capable and confident throughout the season. If for some reason they had not, we would have conveniently left their shortcomings on the cutting room floor. In actuality, both men did deserve to win. Without a doubt, the hardest decisions we faced in postproduction were how to edit together sequences involving Trump. We needed him to sound sharp, dignified, and clear on what he was looking for and not as if he was yelling at people. You see him today: When he reads from a teleprompter, he comes off as loud and stoic. Go to one of his rallies and he’s the off-the-cuff rambler rousing his followers into a frenzy. While filming, he struggled to convey even the most basic items. But as he became more comfortable with filming, Trump made raucous comments he found funny or amusing—some of them misogynistic as well as racist. We cut those comments. Go to one of his rallies today and you can hear many of them.

If you listen carefully, especially to that first episode, you will notice clearly altered dialogue from Trump in both the task delivery and the boardroom. Trump was overwhelmed with remembering the contestants’ names, the way they would ride the elevator back upstairs or down to the street, the mechanics of what he needed to convey. Bienstock instigated additional dialogue recording that came late in the edit phase. We set Trump up in the soundproof boardroom set and fed him lines he would read into a microphone with Bienstock on the phone, directing from L.A. And suddenly Trump knows the names of every one of the contestants and says them while the camera cuts to each of their faces. Wow, you think, how does he remember everyone’s name? While on location, he could barely put a sentence together regarding how a task would work. Listen now, and he speaks directly to what needs to happen while the camera conveniently cuts away to the contestants, who are listening and nodding. He sounds articulate and concise through some editing sleight of hand.

Then comes the note from NBC about the fact that after Trump delivers the task assignment to the contestants, he disappears from the episode after the first act and doesn’t show up again until the next-to-last. That’s too long for the (high-priced) star of the show to be absent. There is a convenient solution. At the top of the second act, right after the task has been assigned but right before the teams embark on their assignment, we insert a sequence with Trump, seated inside his gilded apartment, dispensing a carefully crafted bit of wisdom. He speaks to whatever the theme of each episode is—why someone gets fired or what would lead to a win. The net effect is not only that Trump appears once more in each episode but that he also now seems prophetic in how he just knows the way things will go right or wrong with each individual task. He comes off as all-seeing and all-knowing. We are led to believe that Donald Trump is a natural-born leader.

Through the editorial nudge we provide him, Trump prevails. So much so that NBC asks for more time in the boardroom to appear at the end of all the remaining episodes. (NBC declined to comment for this article.) [... So, we scammed. We swindled. Nobody heard the racist and misogynistic comments or saw the alleged cheating, the bluffing, or his hair taking off in the wind. Those tapes, I’ve come to believe, will never be found.

No one lost their retirement fund or fell on hard times from watching The Apprentice. But Trump rose in stature to the point where he could finally eye a run for the White House, something he had intended to do all the way back in 1998. Along the way, he could now feed his appetite for defrauding the public with various shady practices. In 2005 thousands of students enrolled in what was called Trump University, hoping to gain insight from the Donald and his “handpicked” professors. Each paid as much as $35,000 to listen to some huckster trade on Trump’s name. In a sworn affidavit, salesman Ronald Schnackenberg testified that Trump University was “fraudulent.” The scam swiftly went from online videoconferencing courses to live events held by high-pressure sales professionals whose only job was to persuade attendees to sign up for the course. The sales were for the course “tuition” and had nothing whatsoever to do with real estate investments. A class action suit was filed against Trump.

That same year, Trump was caught bragging to Access Hollywood co-host Billy Bush that he likes to grab married women “by the pussy,” adding, “When you’re a star, they let you do it.” He later tried to recruit porn actor Stormy Daniels for The Apprentice despite her profession and, according to Daniels, had sex with her right after his last son was born. (His alleged attempt to pay off Daniels is, of course, the subject of his recent trial.) In October 2016—a month before the election—the Access Hollywood tapes were released and written off as “locker room banter.” Trump paid Daniels to keep silent about their alleged affair. He paid $25 million to settle the Trump University lawsuit and make it go away. He went on to become the first elected president to possess neither public service nor military experience. And although he lost the popular vote, Trump beat out Hillary Clinton in the Electoral College, winning in the Rust Belt by just 80,000 votes.

Trump has been called the “reality TV president,” and not just because of The Apprentice. The Situation Room, where top advisers gathered, became a place for photo-ops, a bigger, better boardroom. Trump swaggered and cajoled, just as he had on the show. Whom would he listen to? Whom would he fire? Stay tuned. Trump even has his own spinoff, called the House of Representatives, where women hurl racist taunts and body-shame one another with impunity. The State of the Union is basically a cage fight. The demands of public office now include blowhard buffoonery.

Bill Pruitt wrote in Slate that Donald Trump used the N-word on the set of NBC's The Apprentice in 2004 when referring to a Black contestant (Kwame Jackson)'s chances of winning the competition by saying "would America buy a n***er winning?"

This is yet another example of Trump's long record of anti-Black racism that dates back to the 1970s.

#Bill Pruitt #Donald Trump #The Apprentice #Kwame Jackson #Reality Television #Race #Racism #Anti Black Racism #Bill Rancic #Trump University #2005 Trump Access Hollywood Tape #Omarosa Manigault #Carolyn Kepcher #George Ross #Jay Bienstock

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cosmica-galaxy · 9 months ago

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hello there!, i am quite new to your blog and im very much perplexed on your art, character's and even your stories and origin's, i am making my own AU with three character's already made, i shall introduce them

meet birdie

meet vixilian, he just got injured by pissing off [INFORMATION LOSS] but don't worry, he has some pretty good regeneration factor and would be fine in the week

and lastly, the big guy, the alliance member's or specifically the camera faction, they found him first, in my universe doesn't have a name for him

the information is in my blog along with fact's and small thing's about them and place's that they would commonly be found, but im just thinking, hypothetically if our universe were to meet, what would my character's and your character's would think of each other and how would they do if they managed to form a friendship, this is only hypothetically okay

in my universe, the creature's are more prone to animalistic behavior's if provoked enough

i think the big guy would take a liking on Pal, because he remind's of birdie, minus the frill's and no second set's of wing's, but still find's Pal as a good company friend, the big guy would be curious on buddy since the big guy has never met a creature with such detail's on them so he would find buddy as a curious creature that he has never seen before because the big guy has only known his own species and no more on different type's of creature-cam, the big guy wouldn't mind meeting fiend despite hearing aggressive noises from him, he'll find it pretty cool to meet a creature, a tv even, he hasn't met some creature that is a tv (yes vixilian doesn't live in Antarctica and yes they hadn't met each other...yet)

vixilian would think of Pal as some energetic creature but would be friend's nonetheless because of Pal's social behavior and not being aggressive to him, so vixilian would think as Pal as an actual friend, vixilian would be intrigued on buddy but he mostly will keep his distance if he sensed tension on buddy because vixilian is a kind gentlemen, vixilian would be kind confuse on fiend, a tv creature that he doesn't meet occasionally that can actually keep up with him, he pretty much see fiend as a foreign friend because of their difference

and lastly my beloved boy

birdie would see Pal as an immediate flight buddy because of the two having wing's though birdie can be curious and ask small question's such as Pal's frills and lack of secondary wing's, though birdie can definitely see Pal as a flight buddy, birdie would be surprised to see buddy because of the structure of buddy's head is similar to the big guy's head structure it just lack's a few canine fang's, birdie is respectful when it come's to danger boundaries so he wouldn't bother buddy if buddy see's him as a threat, birdie would be curious boy on fiend and would occasionally ask him question's but not personal one's though, birdie would be curious on fiend but see's him as a friend

and now the three's thoughts on your human

they all would be curious on the human because they never met one in their entire long living life's, so they would cautous and curious on the same time on the human

───

so what are your thought's on their thought's on your mimic's and the human? the three are usually respectful, plus the big guy is stuck living in Antarctica anyway's, but this is all hypothetically idea's of our's!

but take your time on doing your request, get some good sleep and hydrate daily, my family and i are going to hong kong for 5 day's and i've alwY's wanted to ask and submit to my favorite blog's, and i hope my submit isn't that stressful to take...i just am excited to talk...but anywho! have an amazing day/night! bye bye --- These characters are all very lovely, agent! I love the work you have put into the art! <:) Buddy would be cautious with mimics that he isn't familiar with...or with strangers in general. He's protective of his human friend and the pack that they have formed together with the alliance and other mimics. He isn't unsocial, just guarded. He will talk to whichever mimic decides to speak to him upon an encounter. His own curiosity can get piqued at times and as long as the newcomers mean no harm to him, his pack, or the human; then he's cool with them! Pal is always looking to make new friends with mimics! He's a gentle giant and always loves to meet new faces, mimic, alliance, or human! Him and Birdie would get along swimmingly! Big Guy would be a little bit more concerning, since he's a new mimic hybrid they encounter, but once he's proven not a threat, Pal is the first to greet him! Vixilian should be prepare for a hug once they prove they're not a threat to the human and the pack. Pal is a big hugger and is much more willing to meet new faces! Fiend is a total grouch and wouldn't be as social. He would be much more concerned with guarding his human companion and judging the newcomers with a critical gaze. Especially the TV mimic, Vixilian. TV mimics can manipulate minds and perception, so he always has to be aware of rivals trying to mentally harm his human companion...and his pack too, of course. Birdie is just like every other speaker mimic to him, touchy, loud, and always seems to lull the group into letting them in close. The Big Guy would make him nervous, since it's a new mimic type. A water camera mimic...unheard of. Thankfully it lives in colder climates. At least they don't want to eat their human friend. The human would be very curious about the new mimics. Especially Big Guy! He's a new type of camera mimic that they haven't encountered yet! They would probably politely ask for a picture for documentation purposes, if refused, they will just draw what they look like to the best of their abilities. They are thankful that these mimics don't look to make a meal out of them, like some other packs try to do. The human would also be friendly if they are friendly in return, especially since being around mimics most of the time has enlightened them to certain behaviors. The human is more than happy to talk and have conversations with each mimic!

#submission #special-agents #not my art #skibidi mimic #skibidi oc #skibidi tag #skibidi toilet mimic #haxorus imp #cosmica galaxy

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matan4il · 11 months ago

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I follow you for your Israel and Jewish posts, and honestly I've no idea about anything Mileapo but it always makes me happy to see you posting about them because it means you got a fun little break from the hard shit

Awwwww, thank you so much, lovely Nonnie!

First, for following me. Second, for being so kind, and caring about me getting a bit of fun as well.

I'll just say Mileapo seem to be (on top of handsome and talented) genuinely kind. It's in little things like the way fans caught on film Mile behind the scenes, thanking the security staff at one of their events. People usually talk about how kind stars are with their fans, but I liked that he was kind with some of the people who are usually invisible, the ones who are not fans, nor fellow actors, or in the entertainment business at all, staff Mile might never see again in any other event, people who he's not likely to benefit from in any way after that specific event is over, but he took the time to acknowledge and thank them. Just being reminded of kindness is always beautiful to me, and extra needed during these times. From what I've heard about Apo, he's got social anxiety and is more socially reserved than Mile around strangers, but is equally as kind with everyone.

So yes, I do still follow them, even if I don't post about them daily like I used to. It means a lot that someone who doesn't know them, still cares about my well being enough to be happy over my Mileapo posts. It's like a circle of kindness, and that feels like a blessing, so again, thank you! And I hope you're also taking care of yourself, and making sure to find little comforts where you can find them! *hugs*

And just because, here's some Mileapo stuff anyway, just so we can have their pretty (and kind) faces included. ^u^ First, a reminder that this is how they look and smile at each other:

Second, the other day Apo shared a video on IG from his bday party back in February. Mile commented this -

And while it's def meant to come across as him teasing Apo, as if he's celebrating his 3rd bday anniversary, because he's such a joyful kid, I couldn't help notice that it's also 3 years since the first time they got to celebrate their bdays together. Coincidence? Maybe. Three is a typological number, so it's possible that when Mile wanted to throw out a random small age, it just happened to be 3. But this "anniversary" of them re-meeting and getting to do this together might have been somewhere in the back of his mind, too.

Speaking of things I have only guesses about, the other day Mile might have flown somewhere, possibly as part of a job for Guerlain. He posted to his IG story a pic from the airport, and added the bee emoji (bee is Guerlain's symbol, Mile's used this emoji before when posting about jobs he was doing for this company). Did he fly out, where to, or is this just a random throwback pic from a previous trip for Guerlain? IDK. But the very next day, Mile shared the song, "Ain't No Sunshine" (which goes, "Ain't no sunshine when she's gone"). We know that Mile and Apo have repeatedly used the moon symbol for Mile, and the sun for Apo, going all the way back to February 2021. So, it might be Mile missing Apo on main. Wouldn't be the first time.

Which reminded me of the last time when we know for sure Mile went away for a Guerlain event, in Malaysia. Mile wore a bee pin on his jacket, and performed "Nothing's Going to Change My Love for You." On the same day, Apo posted to his IG stories a black screen, with the exact same song playing as the soudtrack.

Yeah, I think music is def a part of their love language, and that day proves it beyond any doubt (whether we think that this love is romantic or platonic).

Third. Recently Mileapo went on a trip to New Zealand to film a Taiwanese variety show (and possibly do a Dior photoshoot while there as well). On the flight there, Apo was taking a pic with a Hong Kong celeb he's friends with, and in it, he was seen wearing a silver ring. In the past, this ring was identified as very likely Mile's, when Apo wore it for his own bday celebration in Feb 2023.

We also got this pic from the New Zealand trip. Beyond the fact that Mile's hand under Apo's jacket is doing things to me, that specific piece is the pink Dior jacket that fans suspect Mile bought for Apo ahead of the BOC Japan trip (where Apo was first seen wearing it), because Mile was caught on film talking to a sales lady right after Apo called him over to show him the jacket. So, did Apo fly to New Zealand with a ring and a jacket he got from Mile? IDK, but it's def a nice thought, and a reminder of how intertwined they are.

Meanwhile, Apo liked this fan art of Mileapo in the above pic:

And since I started this with how they look at each other, I'll end there as well. This is from the recent Vogue gala, mid interview. They're professionals, they know where the camera is, they know they're supposed to look there, and yet...

Hope people enjoy this! Never stop spreading joy and kindness, wherever you can. xoxox

(click for all of my past Mileapo/Kinnporsche/Man Suang posts)

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darkmaga-returns · 15 days ago

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The US wants to preemptively neutralize as many of the means as possible through which China could asymmetrically respond to this scenario in plausibly deniable ways such as by having its company that controls port facilities on both sides of the canal shut down transit in the event of a crisis.

Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino declared after meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio that his country’s 2017 memorandum of understanding with China on the Belt & Road Initiative won’t be renewed and that it might even terminate the deal earlier. His policy shift was preceded by Trump threatening that “something very powerful is going to happen” if Panama doesn’t neutralize China’s influence over the canal and follows Rubio elaborating on the US’ perceived threat assessment.

He told Megyn Kelly last week that the Hong Kong-based company which built port facilities on both sides of the canal is under the Chinese government’s control and could thus shut down transit through that waterway as part of Beijing’s contingency planning in the event of a crisis with Washington. It’s unimportant whether others share this assessment since all that matters is that this is how Trump 2.0 sees everything and is the reason why it’s coercing Panama over the canal.

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mariacallous · 1 year ago

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Shortly before noon on Aug. 19, 2023, a Russian cruise missile sliced past the golden onion domes and squat apartment blocks of the Chernihiv skyline in northern Ukraine. The Iskander-K missile slammed into its target: the city’s drama theater, which was hosting a meeting of drone manufacturers at the time of the attack. More than 140 people were injured and seven killed. The youngest, 6-year-old Sofia Golynska, had been playing in a nearby park.

Fragments of the missile recovered by the Ukrainian armed forces and analyzed by Ukrainian researchers found numerous components made by U.S. manufacturers in the missile’s onboard navigation system, which enabled it to reach its target with devastating precision. In December, Ukraine’s state anti-corruption agency released an online database of the thousands of foreign-made components recovered from Russian weapons so far.

Russia’s struggle to produce the advanced semiconductors, electrical components, and machine tools needed to fuel its defense industrial base predates the current war and has left it reliant on imports even amid its estrangement from the West. So when Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, major manufacturing countries from North America, Europe, and East Asia swiftly imposed export controls on a broad swath of items deemed critical for the Russian arms industry.

Russia quickly became the world’s most sanctioned country: Some 16,000 people and companies were subject to a patchwork of international sanctions and export control orders imposed by a coalition of 39 countries. Export restrictions were painted with such a broad brush that sunglasses, contact lenses, and false teeth were also swept up in the prohibitions. Even items manufactured overseas by foreign companies are prohibited from being sold to Russia if they are made with U.S. tools or software, under a regulation known as the foreign direct product rule.

But as the war reaches its two-year anniversary, export controls have failed to stem the flow of advanced electronics and machinery making their way into Russia as new and convoluted supply chains have been forged through third countries such as Kazakhstan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, which are not party to the export control efforts. An investigation by Nikkei Asia found a tenfold increase in the export of semiconductors from China and Hong Kong to Russia in the immediate aftermath of the war—the majority of them from U.S. manufacturers.

“Life finds a way,” said a senior U.S. intelligence official, quoting the movie Jurassic Park. The official spoke on background to discuss Russia’s evasion of export controls.

Some of the weapons and components analyzed by investigators were likely stockpiled before the war. But widely available Russian trade data reveals a brisk business in imports. More than $1 billion worth of advanced semiconductors from U.S. and European manufacturers made their way into the country last year, according to classified Russian customs service data obtained by Bloomberg. A recent report by the Kyiv School of Economics found that imports of components considered critical for the battlefield had dipped by just 10 percent during the first 10 months of 2023, compared with prewar levels.

This has created a Kafkaesque scenario, the report notes, in which the Ukrainian army is doing battle with Western weapons against a Russian arsenal that also runs on Western components.

It is an obvious problem, well documented by numerous think tank and media reports, but one without an easy solution. Tracking illicit trade in items such as semiconductors is an exponentially greater challenge than monitoring shipments of conventional weapons. Around 1 trillion chips are produced every year. Found in credit cards, toasters, tanks, missile systems, and much, much more, they power the global economy as well as the Russian military. Cutting Russia out of the global supply chain for semiconductors is easier said than done.

“Both Russia and China, and basically all militaries, are using a large number of consumer electronic components in their systems,” said Chris Miller, the author of Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology. “All of the world’s militaries rely on the same supply chain, which is the supply chain that primarily services consumer electronics.”

Export controls were once neatly tailored to keep specific items, such as nuclear technology, out of the hands of rogue states and terrorist groups. But as Washington vies for technological supremacy with Beijing while also seeking to contain Russia and Iran, it has increasingly used these trade restrictions to advance broader U.S. strategic objectives. For instance, the Biden administration has placed wide-ranging prohibitions on the export of advanced chips to China.

“At no point in history have export controls been more central to our collective security than right now,” Matthew Axelrod, the assistant secretary for export enforcement at the U.S. Commerce Department, said in a speech last September. U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has described export controls as “a new strategic asset in the U.S. and allied toolkit.”

Russia’s ability to defy these restrictions doesn’t just have implications for the war in Ukraine. It also raises significant questions about the challenge ahead vis-à-vis China.

“The technological question becomes a key part of this story and whether or not we can restrict it from our adversaries,” said James Byrne, the director of open-source intelligence and analysis at the Royal United Services Institute, a British think tank.

In the Russian city of Izhevsk, home to the factory that manufactures Kalashnikov rifles, shopping malls are being converted into drone factories amid a surge in defense spending that has helped the country’s economy weather its Western estrangement. Arms manufacturers have been urged to work around the clock to feed the Russian war machine, while defense is set to account for one-third of the state budget this year.

“We have developed a concept to convert shopping centers—which, before the start of the SMO [special military operation], sold mainly the products of Western brands—to factories for assembly lines of types of domestic drones,” Alexander Zakharov, the chief designer of the Zala Aero drone company, said at a closed event in August 2022, according to the Russian business newspaper Vedomosti. “Special military operation” is what the Russian government calls its war on Ukraine. Zala Aero is a subsidiary of the Kalashnikov Concern that, along with Zakharov, was sanctioned by the United States last November.

Defense companies have bought at least three shopping malls in Izhevsk to be repurposed for the manufacture of drones, according to local media, including Lancet attack drones, which the British defense ministry described as one of the most effective new weapons that Russia introduced to the battlefield last year. Lancets, which cost about $35,000 to produce, wreaked havoc during Ukraine’s offensive last year and have been captured on video striking valuable Ukrainian tanks and parked MiG fighter jets.

Like a lot of Russia’s weapons systems, Lancets are filled with Western components. An analysis of images of the drones published in December by the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security found that they contained several parts from U.S., Swiss, and Czech manufacturers, including image processing and analytical components that play a pivotal role in enabling the drones to reach their targets on the battlefield.

“The recurring appearance of these Western products in Russian drone systems shows a keen dependence on them for key capabilities in the drone systems,” the report notes. Lancets are not the only drones found to contain Western components. Almost all of the electronic components in the Iranian Shahed-136 drones, which Russia is now manufacturing with Iranian help to use in Ukraine, are of Western origin, a separate analysis published in November concluded.

Early in the war, the Royal United Services Institute analyzed 27 Russian military systems, including cruise missiles, electronic warfare complexes, and communications systems, and found that they contained at least 450 foreign-made components, revealing Russia’s dependence on imports.

One of the principal ways that Russia has evaded Western export controls has been through transshipment via third countries such as Turkey, the UAE, and neighboring states once part of the Soviet Union. Bloomberg reported last November that amid mounting Western pressure, the UAE had agreed to restrict the export of sensitive goods to Russia and that Turkey was considering a similar move. Kazakh officials announced a ban on the export of certain battlefield goods to Russia in October.

Suspected transshipment is often revealed by striking changes in trade patterns before and after the invasion. The Maldives, an island chain in the Indian Ocean that has no domestic semiconductor industry, shipped almost $54 million worth of U.S.-made semiconductors to Russia in the year after the invasion of Ukraine, Nikkei Asia reported last July.

Semiconductor supply chains often span several countries, with chips designed in one country and manufactured in another before being sold to a series of downstream distributors around the world. That makes it difficult for companies to know the ultimate end user of their products. This may seem odd—until you realize that this is the case for many everyday products that are sold around the world. “When Coca-Cola sells Coca-Cola, it doesn’t know where every bottle goes, and they don’t have systems to track where every bottle goes,” said Kevin Wolf, a former assistant secretary for export administration at the U.S. Commerce Department.

While a coalition of 39 countries, including the world’s major manufacturers of advanced electronics, imposed export restrictions on Russia, much of the rest of the world continues to trade freely with Moscow. Components manufactured in coalition countries will often begin their journey to Moscow’s weapons factories through a series of entirely legal transactions before ending up with a final distributor that takes them across the border into Russia. “It starts off as licit trade and ends up as illicit trade,” said a second senior U.S. intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The further items move down the supply chain, the less insight governments and companies have into their ultimate destination, although sudden changes in behavior of importers can offer a red flag. In his speech last September, Axelrod, the assistant secretary, used the example of a beauty salon that suddenly starts to import electronic components.

But the Grand Canyon of loopholes is China, which has stood by Moscow since the invasion. In the first days of the war, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo warned that Washington could shut down Chinese companies that ignored semiconductor export controls placed on Russia. Last October, 42 Chinese companies were added to export control lists—severely undercutting their ability to do business with U.S. companies—for supplying Russian defense manufacturers with U.S. chips.

But as the Biden administration carefully calibrates its China policy in a bid to keep a lid on escalating tensions, it has held off from taking Beijing to task. “I think the biggest issue is that we—the West—have been unwilling to put pressure on China that would get China to start enforcing some of these rules itself,” said Miller, the author of Chip Wars.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said: “Due to the restrictions imposed by the United States and key allies and partners, Russia has been left with no choice but to spend more, lower its ambitions for high-tech weaponry, build alliances with other international pariah states, and develop nefarious trade networks to covertly obtain the technologies it needs.

“We are deeply concerned regarding [Chinese] support for Russia’s defense industrial base. BIS has acted to add over 100 [China]-based entities to the Entity List for supporting Russia’s military industrial base and related activities.”

Export controls have typically focused on keeping specific U.S.-made goods out of the hands of adversaries, while economic and financial sanctions have served broader foreign-policy objectives of isolating rogue states and cauterizing the financing of terrorist groups and drug cartels. The use of sanctions as a national security tool grew in wake of the 9/11 attacks; in the intervening decades, companies, government agencies, and financial institutions have built up a wealth of experience in sanctions compliance. By contrast, the use of export controls for strategic ends is relatively novel, and compliance expertise is still in its infancy.

“It used to be that people like me could keep export controls and sanctions in one person’s head. The level of complexity for each area of law is so intense. I don’t know anyone who is truly an export control and sanctions expert,” Wolf said.

Export controls, experts say, are at best speed bumps designed to make it harder for Russia’s defense industrial base to procure Western components. They create “extra friction and pressure on the Russian economy,” said Daniel Fried, who as the State Department coordinator for sanctions policy helped craft U.S. sanctions on Russia after its annexation of Crimea in 2014. Russia is now paying 80 percent more to import semiconductors than it did before the war, according to forthcoming research by Miller, and the components it is able to acquire are often of dubious quality.

But although it may be more cumbersome and expensive, it’s a cost that Moscow has been willing to bear in its war on Ukraine.

Western components—and lots of them—will continue to be found in the weapons Russia uses on Ukraine’s battlefields for the duration of the war. “This problem is as old as export controls are,” said Jasper Helder, an expert on export controls and sanctions with the law firm Akin Gump. But there are ways to further plug the gaps.

Steeper penalties could incentivize U.S. companies to take a more proactive role in ensuring their products don’t wind up in the hands of the Russian military, said Elina Ribakova, a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “At the moment, they’re not truly motivated,” she said.

Companies that run afoul of sanctions and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a U.S. federal law that prohibits the payment of bribes, have been fined billions of dollars. Settlements of export control violations are often an order of magnitude smaller, according to recently published research.

In a speech last month, Axelrod said the United States would begin issuing steeper penalties for export control violations. “Build one case against one of the companies extremely well, put out a multibillion-dollar fine negotiation, and watch everybody else fall in line,” Ribakova said.

And then there’s the question of resources. BIS has an annual budget of just $200 million. “That’s like the cost of a few fighter jets. Come on,” said Raimondo, speaking at the Reagan National Defense Forum last December.

The agency’s core budget for export control has, adjusted for inflation, remained flat since 2010, while its workload has surged. Between 2014 and 2022, the volume of U.S. exports subject to licensing scrutiny increased by 126 percent, according to an agency spokesperson. A 2022 study of export control enforcement by the Center for Strategic and International Studies recommended a budget increase of $45 million annually, describing it as “one of the best opportunities available anywhere in U.S. national security.”

When it comes to enforcement, the bureau has about 150 officers across the country who work with law enforcement and conduct outreach to companies. The Commerce Department has also established a task force with the Justice Department to keep advanced technologies out of the hands of Russia, China, and Iran. “The U.S. has the most robust export enforcement on the planet,” Wolf said.

But compared with other law enforcement and national security agencies, the bureau’s budgets have not kept pace with its expanding mission. The Department of Homeland Security has more investigators in the city of Tampa, Florida, than BIS does across the entire country, Axelrod noted in his January speech.

On the other side, you have Russia, which is extremely motivated to acquire the critical technologies it needs to continue to prosecute its war. The Kremlin has tasked its intelligence agencies with finding ways around sanctions and export controls, U.S. Treasury Undersecretary Brian Nelson said in a speech last year. “We are not talking about a profit-seeking firm looking for efficiencies,” the second senior U.S. intelligence official said. “There will be supply if there is sufficient demand.”

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smolwritingchick · 1 year ago

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The Bangtan Gal Chapter 68- Under The Mistletoe

Chapter Summary: BTS attend the MAMA Awards. Jimin and Taehyung aim to get Jennie and Jungkook to kiss under the mistletoe

Words: 8,000+

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In Hong Kong, BTS prepared for their performance during the dress rehearsal. They were to collaborate with GOT7, which Jen was thrilled about.

"Hey, Bam Bam, look it's your future girlfriend." Mark teased as they saw Jennie stretching from afar.

"Shush!" Bam Bam playfully shoved him away.

"And you're drooling~," Jackson exclaimed.

After she finished stretching, she spotted the members of GOT7 and waved. Just before Bam Bam was about to approach her, he stopped when he saw Jungkook.

"Babygirl."

"Yes?" she turned around, greeted by Jungkook.

"Hobi Hyung wants to go over the choreography with you to make sure you got it. You know that one part."

"All right."

After the dress rehearsal, Jennie had slipped through Bam Bam's eyes as he wanted to take time to talk to her, but like she always does, she wandered around backstage. She saw Monsta X and approached them with a smile.

"Finally get to meet you guys properly. Hi!" she bowed.

"Jennie Walker! Miss BTS! It's nice to finally meet you properly, too! I'm Jooheon. This is I.M, Hyungwon, Kihyun, Minhyuk, Wonho and Shownu."

"I'm trying not to fangirl but oh my gosh, you guys are friggin badass. I am so looking forward to your performance at the show. I can see you guys making it big, I can just feel it. And I'm proud to announce that I am a monbebe~!"

The members seemed pleased to hear that as they welcomed her with open arms.

"What's your favorite song?" Minhyuk asked.

"Gone Bad is my favorite!"

"Oh really? Can you sing it?" Shownu asked

Jen nodded and sang out Kihyun's part, "Geurae hal mankeum haebwa oneul haruneun. Eodikkaji galji hanbeon nareul jigyeobollae."

"Wow~. I love it." Kihyun applauded.

"Continue." Jooheon challenged

"Okay." she accepted and started feeling herself while rapping to Jooheon, "E eee eee, neon hukhago gayo. E eee eee, neon hukhago gayo."

Jooheon immediately smiled and nodded his head as he rapped with her, "E eee eee, neon hukhago gayo. E eee eee, neon hukhago gayo tto hanbange KO."

She went on while Hyungwon joined in for his verse, "Ppittureojillae. Ppittureojillae ho. Ppittureojillae. Monsta X yeah we rock the show. Ppittureojillae. Ppittureojillae ho. Ppittureojillae. Monsta X yeah we rock the show!"

"We might need to let her be the 8th member of Monsta X, now." Kihyun laughed.

"Ha! I don't think Bangtan will take too kindly to that." she giggled.

"I'm sure we can work something out." Wonho smiled, causing her face to warm up

'Lord Jesus, I was born the wrong year. He's smiling like that on purpose.' she thought.

Wonho was one fine looking guy. Everyone here was.

"So, we heard that Wonho is your bias." Minhyuk teased. "So, who is your bias wrecker? Me, right?"

"No way, it's me," Shownu added.

The members began joking around and trying to impress her with funny poses, making her laugh.

"She doesn't have a bias wrecker because her heart belongs to me, right Jennie?" Wonho wrapped an arm around her and got closer to her face.

"Oh mah God~." she started feeling shy at how close she was to him and covered her face as he chuckled. Once she pulled herself together, she joked, "I know I'm too young for you, but I fit your ideal type because I can make some bombass ramen."

After goofing around, she asked, "Are you fellas nervous for your first MAMA Awards?"

"Very. It's a big moment for us. Do you have any advice?" Shownu asked.

"Honestly I was freaking out during my first MAMA. It's such a big deal, y'know? Huge event. But just have fun with it. You're performing in front of thousands of people and various idols from different companies. Show them who Monsta X is and show them that you guys are here to stay and take over. You're going to do great. I'll be cheering you on."

"Thank you, we'll take that to heart." they bowed.

"I remember your performance from last year's MAMA. You performed with Block B's Taeil. You were really good up there. Great charisma." I.M spoke in English, causing Jen to smile and speak in her Native language

"Aw, really? Thank you. It's still one of my favorite performances I had on stage. You're fluent in English, right?"

"Yes, I am."

"I'm giving you a warning now since we're going to be great friends, you're stuck with me and we'll be having a lot of English conversations together."

I.M chuckled. "I'll mentally prepare. Can we take a picture for Twitter?"

"Yeah!"

Getting in the middle, Jennie posed gleefully as they considered her their new Monbebe. I.M posted the photo on Monsta X's Twitter, 'With Miss BTS herself! She's our new Monbebe! Thank you for supporting us!'

Wandering around again, Jen saw The8.

"Jennie!" he happily waved

"Hey! It's been a while!" she rushed up and pulled him for a hug, surprising him as he shyly hugged her back.

After they pulled away he smiled softly. "You look well!"

"I'm surviving. You look great, excited for Mama?"

"A little nervous but Seventeen is working very hard."

"I saw a snippet of your performance. You guys are great! Mansae is one of my favorite songs."

"Look forward to us performing."

"Trust me, I will."

Once the show began, BTS and GOT7 performed their collab dance. Afterward, GOT7 performed If You Do and soon after, BTS came out to perform Run. Jen wore leather pants and a white leather jacket with the words, 'Love Yourself' and wore that same white butterfly necklace in their starting position. She stood back to back with Jimin.

Run...Run...Run...

Starting off with V walking to the members, they shift. Rapmon starts off and they perform.

dasi Run Run Run nan meomchul suga eobseo

tto Run Run Run nan eojjeol suga eobseo

eochapi igeotbakke nan mothae

neoreul saranghaneun geot bakken mothae

Transitioning to the middle, Jen sang while her hair bounced every time she ran, "Dasi Run Run Run, neomeojyeodo gwaenchanha, tto Run Run Run jom dachyeodo gwaenchanha."

The camera panned to some idols who were watching the performance and it showed some IKON members smiling and lip syncing when Jen sang. One of them covered his mouth to tell one of his hyungs that she looked pretty but some fansites that were filming them caught them and thought it was cute.

(Run)

Jen and Rapmon face each other.

Don't tell me bye bye!

(Run)

"You make me cry, cry!" she patted her hand over her heart

(Run)

"Love is a lie, lie!" they say in unison. "Don't tell me, don't tell me, don't tell me bye bye!" they push each other away

Once the chorus came again, Jen sang first this time as they danced.

chueokdeuri mareun kkonipcheoreom

sansani buseojyeoga

nae son kkeuteseo nae bal miteseo

dallyeoganeun ne deung dwiro

machi nabireul jjotdeut kkum sogeul hemaedeut

neoui heunjeogeul ttaraga

The fan chants could be heard as they noticed various ARMY bombs in the crowd. Jen was having a blast on the stage and before she knew it, the song was about to end.

(Run)

Don't tell me bye bye

(Run)

"You make me cry, cry!"

(Run)

"Love is a lie, lie!"

Don't tell me, don't tell me

Don't tell me bye bye

Later on, the members watched the rest of the show. Jen had stared at Ailee in admiration when she had won best female vocal performance. She was just so beautiful and ARMY was eager to see her reaction to Ailee winning while the members teased her about it. Jen was the first to stand up and applaud when she won as well, with a proud smile on her face.

Jennie also was so proud of Hyuna when she won best dance solo performance. Her life was slayed watching Jessi and Hyuna perform. She enjoyed seeing women take the stage. Hopefully one day she will be able to do that. She saw it as inspiration that she could get there, too.

BTS had won the World Performer award, which was a proud moment for them. Jen hoped that they'd be able to win even more awards as they continued what they were doing. Ever since the Melon Awards, Jen's reactions and dancing to performances have become iconic for those that have fancams of her because they were so amusing to watch and tonight was no exception.

When CL had performed, Jen was mesmerized. The charisma, how the crowd can get behind her instantly, she hoped to be like that one day. Being able to move a crowd like that by herself. She was so hyped that the camera kept filming her while fans said, 'Same, Jennie, same'

Just like everyone else, no one expected 2NE1 to pop up as Jen freaked out, holding onto poor Jin.

"HOLY SHIT! HOLY SHIT!"

Her reaction was bound to go viral as she also wiped a few tears when they performed Fire and I Am The Best.

And of course, once EXO had performed, she had to jam to them. She lipsynced all of Baekhyun's lines as her fansites filmed everything.

"Eodun miro soge gacheotteon. Whoa na Oh, geu eodum sogeseo, nal kkaeweo jun ni moksori deullyeowa, nal dashi taeeonage hae~" she sang out, jamming around.

The members slowly turned to her and were amused. She truly loved Baehkyun. When the lights went out and Chanyeol began rapping fast, Jen got even more hyped as EXO performed a lightsaber dance break. Then, with Drop That, it became a huge party as she danced with Taehyung and Hobi who were near Suho and Chen.

Jump jump jump jump jump jump E.X.O

Jump jump jump jump we are E.X.O

While watching Baekhyun perform, she soon saw him walking towards where she and the rest of the idols were. Her butterflies came back and all those thoughts about keeping her composure were out the window.

She soon noticed him looking her way and began to walk over to her.

'He's coming over here!?' she thought, widening her eyes.

He extended out his hand and she immediately took it, getting pulled forward and they started jumping and dancing together.

"Ah, she is so freaking out right now!" Namjoon laughed.

"I know. I'm surprised she didn't faint." Jin giggled.

Chen and Suho did the same with GOT7 and the rest of Bangtan nearby.

This was a moment that she'll cherish for the rest of her life and the members knew how much this meant to her. Baekhyun smiled at her and made his way back to the stage to regroup with the members. She couldn't wipe that huge smile off her face. It was nothing like being able to get hyped with one of your favorite idols like this.

Chen had blown her away with his high note and she had to lean back and place a hand over her heart.

'MY GOD! How did he do that!?' she thought

And once they performed Love Me Right, Jennie was no more good as she swayed around while standing and clapping along. Her ears were almost ringing from the screams of fans for Big Bang. Their stages were always unique. All of YG artists were. The way they were so composed and had strong charisma. She hoped to get there one day. To that point as a performer.

During the dress rehearsal, she had told G-Dragon that she hoped that BTS could have a longer stage at MAMA, and he told her that they'd get there one day. So she'll continue to work hard and remain patient for their time to shine.

When the camera panned to Jennie with Taehyung bopping to the song, she looked directly at it and smiled, pointing, "Bang, bang, bang! Bang, bang, bang!"

Spotting Kiyhun and the rest of Monsta X, Jen and Taehyung began to dance with them too. During PSY's Daddy performance, fansites filmed her laughing and asking Hobi and Taehyung how the dance goes, following their moves.

During Gangnam Style the camera caught her again, turning up and dancing around without a care in the world despite everyone watching her. She was dancing similar to how Taeyang was during Gangnam Style a few years ago. The members couldn't help but party with her. Jen feeling herself was such a mood and it made awards shows more enjoyable to watch because of her reactions.

Bam Bam had soon danced his way over to Jennie, tapping her over the shoulder. Once she turned, she danced with him as BamJen shippers were delighted. Jimin was not happy when watching them dance. He felt like his ship was getting ruined and didn't like how close he was to her.

Jungkook glanced up and saw them dancing, feeling some type of way as jealously crept up on him.

"Are you going to sit there or are you going to do something?" Taehyung asked in his ear over the loud music.

Jungkook soon thought about their conversation after the concert,

'Let everyone know that the person you want will be yours and no one is going to change that or interfere with your mission.'

Some idols were glancing at Jungkook, wondering what he was going to do. The gossip about Jungkook's feelings for his bandmate was going around fast. And it was also a known fact that Bam Bam had liked her for quite some time and was very vocal about it. The only thing stopping him right now was the dating ban.

Jungkook stood up and glanced at the 95 Liners who followed him. Dancing to the song, the three of them moved to where Jen was dancing. Jimin and Taehyung watched eagerly as Jungkook gently pulled her away from Bam Bam

"I'll take it from here," the Golden Maknae spoke.

Bam Bam and some members of GOT7 were disappointed that his moment was interrupted. But Jimin and Taehyung had low fived each other as they watched JenKook have a friendly and goofy dance battle, with Bangtan hyping them up. It certainly caught the camera's attention and made JenKook shippers happy.

Watching everyone perform tonight motivated Jen to do better and she had hoped that at next year's MAMA Awards, she would be able to blow everyone away with her charisma with Bangtan. Sometimes she felt like she wasn't doing enough. What can she do to stand out and get people talking about how much she has improved on stage? She will be practicing and working even harder to give a better performance for fans.

After the show, Jungkook went directly to Bam Bam. He wanted to have a long talk about everything.

"Can I speak with you, Bam Bam?" Jungkook asked.

Once Bam Bam agreed, they walked to a private area. "So, what's up, Jungkook?"

"It's about Jennie."

--------

"Thank you!" Jen pulled the table right inside her hotel room.

She was so hungry after the show, she had to order room service. She felt like she deserved a big meal after the pleasant time she had at the MAMA Awards.

Her face during 2NE1's reunion performance was sure to become a new meme as she already saw her face plastered all over Tumblr and Twitter. ARMY did not waste any time to capture her reaction. After eating, she prepared to shower, shutting the bathroom door behind her. Finally, she was able to shower. The whole night exhausted her. It was overall fun but with a big award show like this, it took a toll on her body. But nothing like a hot shower to ease her muscles. Connecting her phone to a portable speaker, she put her music on shuffle and walked into the shower.

Meanwhile, back in the room, a sasaeng had crawled out from under the room service table after hearing the shower turn on. They began to place hidden cameras all over the room and called their buddy who was also around the hotel.

"I'm in Jennie's room~! Our plan worked! I finally got in. The video is clear, right? Good." the sasaeng giggled and found her suitcase.

Opening it, they started to examine her personal belongings. They began to take some of her underwear and even took photos of her bra size. After having too much fun with her belongings, the suitcase fell to the floor and made a loud noise.

With Jennie, her stomach dropped, and she stopped everything that she was doing as soon. Hobi was not in the room yet because he was with friends so he couldn't be back yet.

Something was not right and someone was here.

What is she going to do?

Another sasaeng had walked into the room and it so happened to be someone who worked at the hotel. The same woman who had given Jennie her food. She eagerly helped the other person put Jen's stolen items under the table, including her friendship ring.

"We'll meet with the others later. Double check the cameras, and get out of here," she advised and left the room with the table.

Getting out of the shower while leaving it on, she put on a towel and disconnected her phone from the speaker to give Seijin a quick call to frantically tell him that there was someone in her room. After he told her that he was on his way with the others and security, she decided to stay in the bathroom, feeling anxious.

"Jennie~, I know you know I'm here! Come out so we can meet! I'm a huge fan~!" the sasaeng said in a teasing voice.

This was so scary. Never in her life had she ever been in this type of situation. She became anxious when she heard the doorknob rattle as the sasaeng tried to get in. She didn't know if the sasaeng had intentions of hurting her or had some sort of weapon.

After hearing various sasaeng stories, she never thought she would be one to deal with someone breaking in. She hated this feeling. The feeling of being helpless and paralyzed with fear.

"Open up!" the sasaeng yelled, making her flinch and shed a few tears.

The sasaeng didn't want to leave like they were supposed to. They wanted to get noticed by their bias.

Looking around, Jennie grabbed the nearest weapon, a toilet plunger, just in case they attacked her. It wasn't much but it was something. She let out a shriek when the sasaeng began to kick at the door. After a while, they managed to break in and as soon as that door swung open, Jen couldn't even use the weapon.

"Get away from me!" Jen shouted when she was grabbed by the arm.

The sasaeng had a tight grip, digging their nails into her skin, with that sick smile on their face. Seijin and various security guards rushed into the room, to go straight after the sasaeng while Jen screamed.

"No! No! I love her! Let me go! Let me go!" the sasaeng began struggling and managed to get detained while Seijin made sure Jen was all right.

Jennie watched with distress as the sasaeng continued to go crazy. When they were taken away, she, still shaken up, explained what happened while in tears, holding on to Seijin. After he made a few calls, it was certain that Big Hit would be taking serious legal action over this, immediately.

If Jen didn't have her phone with her in the bathroom, who knows what could've happened? Her blood went cold as she still felt that death grip on her arm. She then looked at her suitcase which was open with her items scattered.

Anger soon overcame her, "And they had the audacity to touch my shit?!"

She ran her hands through her wet hair, fearing for the worst of what might have been taken. When she got dressed in her pajamas, there was an investigation of how the sasaeng broke in. Clearly, the sasaeng had some connections in this hotel and someone or more people helped them sneak in.

When the members found out what had happened, they immediately rushed to her room, Namjoon being the first, running in to hug her.

"Are you hurt!?" he demanded with worry.

Jen was not happy. She was mainly angry at herself for being in that type of situation and getting so scared. She was considering taking self defense classes or something to defend herself if God forbid no one was there to save her. The members stayed with her while Seijin filled them in on everything. Yoongi, Namjoon, Jungkook, and Jimin especially struggled to keep their cool, while everyone was concerned for her safety.

Just to see how easily the sasaeng came in from a room service table was not good and they will be increasing security and doing more hotel room checks from now on.

"And we found hidden cameras." Seijin pointed out.

"You're the one with the good news, today, huh?" Jen asked sarcastically, shaking her head. "Man...hidden cameras? Unbelievable...well, I clearly made it because I now have people breaking into my hotel room."

This was sick. What if they filmed her when she was undressed?

Later that evening, Jungkook came back to her room while Hobi was showering. He was still shaken up by what had happened with Jennie. Everyone was. He had wished that he could've protected her.

Noticing something bothering her and decided to ask, "What's on your mind?"

"I'm so sorry..." she murmured, shaking her head as tears appeared in her eyes

"For what?" he asked in alarm.

"I'm so sorry, Kook..."

"Wh-what's wrong?"

"I lost the ring..." she mumbled.

"What?"

"I lost the ring, Jungkook. I-I thought they took it but it wasn't found on them. I dunno where it can be. It's not in the room, the sasaeng doesn't have it. It's gone. Th-they searched everywhere."

His eyes softened as he held her close. "It's okay."

"That friendship ring meant everything to me. Now it's gone."

"It's okay."

"How can you say that so easily?" she looked up.

"Because what we have isn't just a ring. Your safety is worth more than a ring," he responded firmly. "You or a simple ring, I'd choose you in a heartbeat. I'm just glad you're safe. That's all that matters."

There were numerous reports of Jennie being the next unfortunate victim of dealing with a sasaeng as fans had voiced their concern and hoped that she would be okay. It was going to be a while until she got over this but being with the members helped ease the tension.

-------

As a pre-birthday surprise, the members and MPD decided to prank Jin. First was a mission which was to make an acrostic poem with Hong Kong. When Jin was declared the winner, he was shocked.

"Why me?" Jin asked, flustered.

Since he was the winner, he went out with MPD while the production crew gave the members instructions. They were to have the lights off and the members not in the room but only a woman lying in the bed as they hoped that Jin would fall for the plan.

"Yo, V cannot keep a secret. He kept mentioning Jin's birthday." Jen said on camera while they hid in the bathroom.

"He mentioned it twice!" Rapmon added

'Trust me, I know.' Jungkook thought about the various times V almost blurted out his feelings for Jennie.

Thankfully Jimin kept him in check. After a while, Jin came back and entered the room with MPD, only to jump when the girl screamed from the bed. Jin instantly jumped and began shaking.

"What, what, what is going on!?" he exclaimed.

"Happy birthday to you~!" the members walked out with a cake while laughing. Jin continued to stand there, stunned while Jimin held onto him. "Happy birthday to our beloved Jin Hyung! Happy birthday to you!"

"I was so startled!" Jin exclaimed after blowing out the candles. "I was like what? Who's that?"

"Did you fall for our plan?" J-Hope asked

"I did!"

When it was officially Jin's birthday, backstage during a music show, Suga and Jimin started a V-Live and walked over to Jin with a cake. Everyone had sung happy birthday to him.

"Whaaaaaa!" Suga yelled while the members butt in the camera to get in the frame.

"It's so good to be with our members on my birthday. And it's even better to be with our fans. Give me a knife to cut the cake." the birthday boy requested.

"Here you go!" J-Hope pretended that his hand was a knife, pretending to chop the cake while the other members did the same thing.

After getting an official knife, Jin began to cut it.

"It's blueberry yogurt," Jimin informed.

"Looks mighty tasty~!" Jen added.

"Who wants it?" Jin asked

"You first, Jin." J-Hope answered

As soon as he took the first bite, J-Hope said, "Yeeeahhh."

When he ate another piece, the members said, "Yeaaaah."

Another bite.

"Yuuuuuum!"

"It's good, right?" J-Hope asked

And another bite.

"Yuuuuum!"

"So good!" Jin answered with his mouth full.

"53,000 of our fans are with us," Suga announced.

"It's my birthday and I hope you'll be happy too. We'll do our best to show you the best performance today. So please enjoy it." Jin beamed

"Happy birthday! Bye!" they wave goodbye.

After the V-Live, Jen presented Jin with a Mario themed birthday box. "Happy birthday~!"

"For me? And it's Mario? Oh wow, thank you, Jennie." he happily accepted it and sat down with her to open it. "I have been looking forward to getting your birthday box. It was one of my top birthday wishes."

"Oh really? Well, I'm glad this birthday wish came true. I hope you like it."

Opening up the letter, Jin couldn't help but giggle. On the top was a small ship she drew with the pun, 'Oh ship! It's your birthday!'

To my precious Jin,

Ah, you're getting older! But as each year goes by, you get more handsome. Just ask those who call you the car door guy back at the Melon Awards. Thank you for always taking care of me over the years. You have always looked out for me. Even that time when I was embarrassed when my period came unexpectedly and you were there and washed my sheets for me and took me to the store to buy what I needed. And as much as I hated that time when you forced me to take medicine when I got sick for the first time in Korea, I'm glad you did because even though we were just getting to know each other, you were concerned about me and wanted to help me.

You have no idea how proud you make me when I see you dance. I can definitely see the improvement and I hope you can too because your hard work is paying off. You have been working diligently on everything and just know that we appreciate all that you do. I will continue to help you clean and cook for the members. I don't want you to do all the work by yourself. I'll always be there to help you out. Oh yeah, and thanks for increasing my appetite because you were the main one wanting me to eat more when I came here. I want to be a part of Eat Jin soon, so invite me to your show!

Your laugh is one of my favorite things about you. It's contagious and I will continue to tease you about it. I also love your silly dad jokes. I swear I be like the only one laughing because of how silly they are but I always appreciate them. There are times when I think about them and start laughing and then the members stare at me like I'm crazy, haha. Including you! But you're the reason for my random laughter. Happy birthday and I wish you many more happy, safe, and healthy birthdays to come.

Love,

Your precious Jennie

After he had read the letter, he wrapped his arms around her for a tight hug and began giving her kisses all over her face as she tried to escape while laughing.

As the days went by in December, BTS promoted Run on music shows. During one show, V had the opportunity to MC. The members were very eager to watch him in action. Jennie wondered when she'd have that random opportunity to MC for a music show. It seemed a bit intimidating with the script and having to do all this random stuff. But she hoped that when it was her time to do so, it would be fun and a great learning experience.

"Ah shit, I accidentally got foundation on your face." she noticed some of her makeup on the side of Tae's cheek after she kissed him for good luck.

That helped calm his nerves since he was so nervous about MCing and he began to laugh at her struggling to wipe the brown makeup off.

"Stop laughing! I'm tryna help!" she giggled

"Hehehe, thank you, I needed this laugh." He responded as a stylist came to fix his makeup.

"You are going to be just fine. Everyone gets nervous when they do stuff like this for the first time. But you're a natural on camera. You're always so silly and bring in that adorable charm that fans love. We'll be watching you backstage, cheering you on, mkay? Ennie will always support you. Don't forget that."

Taehyung gave her two big kisses on her cheeks as she laughed.

"Oh, my gosh, Tae! You got my makeup on you again!"

And for Inkigayo with Rap Monster MCing, Jen and the rest of the members watched him from backstage.

"Bruh...I dunno what he was so nervous for. If he is, it clearly does not show on camera. Look at how smooth he is. He's doing so well." Jen said for a Bangtan Bomb.

On Music Bank, the members were hoping to get their first win for Run. Some members were asked what they thought about the possibility of getting their first win.

Jen answered, "Prayer is a powerful thing, so I'm praying that we get this first win. And I have faith in ARMY. Things will be fine."

Thanks to ARMY's hard work, Bangtan got first place as the confetti came down on the stage. Fans screamed louder than ever for them as the members broke out into huge smiles, applauding as they received flowers from the MCs. It was nothing like getting a first win and it was something that they will honor every time they get it.

"Thank you ARMY! Love you!" Suga said over the mic.

Receiving the mic, Jen happily shouted, "ARMY, you rock! Thank you!"

"Thank you so much ARMY!" V spoke

"Thank you, everyone! Woo! We won first place!" Jimin waved as their song came on while the other idols left the stage.

Since Bangtan won first place, they wanted Jennie and Jungkook to perform Adult Ceremony to become an adult. So, making ARMY scream louder than they were before, the members continued to slowly bend down and do a little bit of the choreography while singing run and waving.

Rushing off stage, Rapmon happily said, "We got first place! Jungkookie and Ennie are now adults!"

"Thank you!" Suga blew a kiss

"Woo~ First win! Woo! BTS Run first win, woo!" Jennie yelled in front of the Bangtan Bomb camera, grabbing it and giving it a big kiss on the lens.

"We got first place! We got first place!" J-Hope excitedly yelled

"You've worked hard~!" Jungkook waved

"Wow~!" Jin showed off the award, looking at it in awe.

"We won an award!" Jimin said, with Taehyung having his arm around his shoulder.

Backstage, Jimin and Jennie were filmed together with J-Hope making funny faces in the background and hugging Jen from behind.

"Jennie, since you became an adult and won first place, what are your thoughts?" Jimin asked.

"First, ARMY, you did this for us, your hard work and dedication to supporting us is always appreciated. So again, thank you and we love you very much. And since I've become an adult, I can have all the smarties I want without no one telling me no, muhahahah~!" she laughed evilly.

"Muhahahah?" J-Hope questioned

"Muhahaha!" she answered back.

"Muhahahaha~!" he copied her.

"You two are very weird." Jimin laughed.

-------

BTS were on another episode of Weekly Idol, discussing their RUN comeback. For random dancing, Coni mentioned, "As a way to motivate them so they don't make any more mistakes, what about giving a kiss to each other."

"Oh, that's really strong," J-Hope responded as the members looked astonished

"Who? Who?" Suga called out

"Say what now?" Jen added

"That's good, the first person to make a mistake will give a member a kiss on the cheek," Coni said

As the members began to dance, it started simple with no mistakes. But once Boy In Luv came on, it looked like Jungkook had messed up.

"Time out, time out. Jungkook!" Heechul exclaimed as they both went to him and J-Hope.

They thought J-Hope's facial expressions were way too obvious and he acted like he didn't make a mistake.

"I was a bit confused," J-Hope admitted.

"Is it better to be kissed by Jungkook or by J-Hope?"

"Wouldn't it be better if they just kissed each other?" V suggested

"WOW!" everyone shouted.

Jennie began laughing loudly as she saw the two poor boys cringing and taking a step back.

"Say, 'Let's not be wrong from now on', then hug and once...twice...do that." Coni demonstrated, kissing Jungkook on the cheek as he cringed.

Jennie giggled at his reaction. He was just too cute. Soon Jungkook and J-Hope held hands and stood in front of each other.

"Hyung, let's...not make mistakes," Jungkook said as they went to hug each other.

"Euahhhhhhhh~!" J-Hope yelled as they reluctantly got close to each other's faces. "This is cruel!"

Once J-Hope had yelled and kissed his cheek, everyone had to push Jungkook's head near J-Hope's cheek to kiss him. The boys were so happy when the torture was over.

"Everyone, this time, instead of a kiss, do one hit on the wrist," Coni revealed the next punishment.

When they continued their next round of random dancing, this time Suga got confused when I Need U came on and sheepishly tried to explain himself. He exposed his wrist out for Jungkook to hit.

"You have to kind of like it!" Heechul explained, demonstrating getting hit and dramatically saying, "Ah!"

It seemed too inappropriate for the broadcast as the members burst out in laughter.

"No, he did not just say that!" Jen laughed.

"That's too weird!" Suga exclaimed and got hit by Jin and Rapmon afterward.

"If you get it wrong the third time, this time, the butt." Coni demonstrated.

Jennie took a step back, exclaiming, "UH! UH!"

"UH UH!" "UH UH!" They replay her shocked sound effect as everyone laughed while she protectively covered her butt with her hands.

"I will knock somebody out," she announced, getting defensive, pounding her fist once against her palm.

Taehyung had accidentally slapped her ass during the War of Hormone era in one performance at a music show. She knew fans wanted the full story of how that happened. She planned to discuss it when she went to talk to JRE in January.

Her ass was not going to get hit by anyone. Not today. Not the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and so on. You have to earn it to touch her ass.

Jimin and Taehyung thought about Jennie messing up and trying to get Jungkook to be the one to give her the punishment, giggling to themselves.

As they danced again, War of Hormone came on and it popped up to Jen's verse.

Of course, it did...

Strutting to the front she danced powerfully.

...but I ain't you baby, you gotta earn that.

Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello!

I'll tell you what I want right now!

Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello!

I ain't giving it to you right now!

She successfully got the moves right as the chorus continued. She was not letting anyone touch her booty. They can look but they can't touch. If anything, you gotta be her significant other first.

Once Boy in Luv came on, Jimin was finally caught.

"We'll do the last punishment and after that, especially for you, we'll add another on top of that," Coni said. "The two MCs will hug Jimin and-"

"No," Jimin begged. "You don't have to do things like that." he fell to his knees and laughed

"A hug and a kiss," Heechul said while the members laughed and applauded.

Jennie, Suga, J-Hope, Taehyung and Jungkook gave Jimin pats on his butt and then he was hugged from behind by Heechul. When Jimin received kisses on the cheek, the members yelled, continuing to cringe.

During the next segment, BTS received phone calls from various fans who were very excited. The phone lines were down due to the high demand for Bangtan, which bewildered the members. One fan had spoken in English, talking to Jennie and she was moved that the fan was learning English to communicate with her. Jen made the fan feel good when she praised their English skills.

"So, what is this about Jin and Jennie wrestling?" Coni asked

Jin and Jen glanced at each other and laughed while the members thought about the hilarious memories.

"That was a fun day." Jen happily nodded.

"That match didn't count because she cheated. I was supposed to win." Jin exclaimed

"You tapped out. It doesn't get much clearer than that, Jin."

"AHHHHHHH~!" the members said with their loud laughter filling the studio.

They had played the clip of Jennie putting Jin in an armbar and him tapping out while Jin became flustered. His ears got red as he tried to explain himself.

"Will there be a continuation?" Heechul asked. "Round two?"

"I mean, we could. You down?" Jen turned to Jin.

"I still need to win so of course." Jin nodded eagerly.

"I dunno about all that but anyway." she teased as Jin blankly stared at her. "I guess when we have some free time, we'll think of some funny promos and work on what we want to do for Jin vs Jen Part 2. Stay tuned."

As the show went on, with Rapmon struggling to cut an onion, they had their idol on the grill segment. The male members would be called Bulletproof Girl Scouts while Jennie would be called the Bulletproof Boy Scout. They recapped the female idols the boys wanted to get closest to and how Jennie was very interested in EXO. So the plan was to dance to an idol song and they'll be given Korean Beef.

"Jennie! Which EXO song would you like to perform?" she was asked.

"Call me baby~," she answered and stood up.

"Of course." Jimin giggled.

"Yes, we are fully aware that you love this group a lot. Especially Baekhyun." Coni teased.

"I hope that one day I could have the opportunity to collab with an EXO member." she brought up. "That would be so cool. I learn a lot from groups such as them when I watch them perform. It motivates me to work harder. Collabing with a group like EXO, I'm sure I can learn a lot from them. Even if it's just one member, a simple dance collab, or singing together, I'd be grateful."

"EXO if you are watching, what is your answer?" Coni asked.

As the song came on, it started with the chorus after Chanyeol's verse. It looked like she would have to do some eye-opening pelvic thrusts. She even had her hand on her crotch and thrust her hips up. It surprised the members along with her fluent body rolls and movement with the song. The MCs were impressed with her powerful movements and praised her. When Jen watched the rest of the members dance, she immediately covered her mouth when Rapmon danced to EXID's Up & Down.

When it was Jungkook's turn, he mentioned that he wasn't familiar with any IU songs and decided to dance Up & Down instead. Sure enough, being the extra Golden Maknae that he is, the MCs hyped him up while the members laughed. Jennie dropped her jaw when he started to thrust up and down.

"Whoa! Yeah! Whoa! Yeah!" the MCs yelled as he displayed a different personality once again.

'Did you hear what Jennie said on Weekly Idol!?' fans asked under Baekhyun's Instagram.

What got everyone talking was that Baekhyun had only responded with a smiley emoji, causing everyone to flip out at the possibility.

Will SM Entertainment allow a member from EXO to collaborate with Jennie one day?

And will Big Hit allow Jennie to collaborate with a member from EXO one day?

These were questions on everyone's minds and it had been anticipated ever since she released that cover. It looked like they would have to stay tuned to find out.

---------

When Christmas Eve came, Jennie and Jungkook spent the day playing video games in Jungkook's room.

"Jennie, later I want you to help me bake," Jin called out, walking past the room.

"I got you, just let me know!" she answered.

Jin examined the living room of the dorm with a smile. Christmas music was playing softly in the background and the tree was decorated. After a fierce game of rock, paper, scissors, Jin was the one to put the star on the tree.

"And what are you two doing, now?" he asked when Jimin and Taehyung were wandering around the dorm.

"Put one right here...right here...right there...and there..." Jimin placed mistletoes all around the dorm with Taehyung, in hopes to finally get JenKook to kiss.

The 95 Liners wanted this done ASAP.

This needed to happen TODAY.

"Why are you putting so many mistletoes up?" Jin asked

"Shhh, not so loud, you want them to notice?" Jimin shushed him.

"Jennie and Jungkook? Oh my gosh, Jimin, Taehyung, this is not going to work."

"Yeah. You two should give it up. You're doing too much..." Yoongi mumbled from the couch, lying down.

"I don't think that is going to work. Just let it go naturally, all right?" Namjoon added

"Oh come on! This will be a great opportunity!" Taehyung whined.

"I dunno what we are going to do with them." Jin sighed and went to the kitchen.

Later that day, Jen helped Jin with baking tons of cookies and placed the last remaining gifts under the tree. Jungkook joined in to make sure things were in order.

Meanwhile, Jimin and Taehyung watched JenKook's every move, hoping that they would get under one of the many mistletoes they put around the dorm. They waited all day and still had no success in getting them under the mistletoe. It began to frustrate the 95 Liners.

It wasn't until later that evening they finally yelled, "Look who is under the mistletoe~!" when Jennie was right in front of Jungkook who was by the door in the bathroom and they looked up to see a mistletoe on top of the door.

"Oh. Oh wow." Jen chuckled softly.

Jungkook looked shooked once he saw it. He was not prepared as his hyungs were looking on in anticipation and cheering. The pressure was starting to get to him and he began to feel overwhelmed.

"I mean, you wanna...?" Jen's voice brought him back to reality as she was waiting for him to tell her what he wanted to do.

"U-uh, sorry." he quickly rushed away, flustered, going to his room.

That did not sit well with the 95 Liners.

"JEON JUNGKOOOOOOOOOOOK!" Jimin yelled in anguish, falling to his knees.

"NO!" Taehyung rushed after him with Jimin.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?! ARE YOU SERIOUS!?"

Jennie laughed at how silly they were acting. "Guys, it's all good! Relax!" she reassured. "Anyway, I gotta pee."

She, however, did deep down feel a little disappointed that he decided not to kiss her. But brushed the feeling aside. She shouldn't take it personally. He probably didn't want to be put on the spot like that. She understood.

With Jungkook who was trying to calm himself down in his room, he was a little angry at himself for chickening out but he wanted to kiss her without anyone looking. He wanted to do stuff like that in private. Alone, with no one else around or in another room nearby. But with his hyungs all around him like this, that wasn't going to work.

If they were truly alone, he would relax and show her a real kiss like he always dreamed about.

Once it was past 12am, Christmas Day, Jen had been cleaning up the dishes in the kitchen while everyone else had settled into their room. Hearing footsteps, she glanced up to see Jungkook strolling into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water.

"Ah, so you finally came out of your room," she called out as she watched him avert his eyes and set the water down on the counter. "Am I that unkissable?" she teased.

As soon as she said that, he looked up, widening his eyes. "N-no! It's not that, i-it's just..."

"Hey, it's fine, don't worry about it. I understand. It's a lot of pressure being put on the spot like that. I'm not one for kissing in front of an audience like that, myself."

"But-"

"Kook, it's fine. Really. I get it."

"I wanted to. I wanted to kiss you."

That caught her by surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah. I wanted to. I still do," he responded and saw her smile instantly from his words.

While JenKook talked, Jimin, Taehyung, and Hobi were spying on them from afar. The three tried not to make any noise as they eagerly watched them.

"What are you two doing-"

"Shh!" they cut Jin off and brought him close to them so he wouldn't get noticed.

"Oh my gosh...if they would just look up already. I planted a mistletoe right in the kitchen." Jimin complained in a hushed voice

"I know~," Taehyung whined.

"Now, what if this doesn't work?" Jin called out

"It will work! It better work!" Jimin grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him.

"W-we can always try New Year's!"

"No! Jimin and I want this done now! Long overdue! One step closer to our wonderful ship to sail." Taehyung replied

Back with JenKook, Jennie looked at him. Something in her stomach flipped and part of her felt thrilled that he wanted to kiss her. Throughout the entire rest of the day after the first attempt, she had that feeling in the back of her mind that she wanted to kiss him. But she couldn't understand why.

Should she be feeling this way?

Jungkook soon looked up and noticed that there was a mistletoe right over him, causing butterflies in his stomach and excitement.

The boys spying on them became so giddy that their cover was almost blown when they saw them find out.

Jennie and Jungkook stood in the kitchen in a comfortable silence, glancing up at the mistletoe and back at each other.

Did she want to kiss him? Should he make a move?

Noticing him trying to figure out what to do, Jennie decided to take the lead, slowly walking forward and gently grabbing his hands. As she looked up at him, she realized how much she loved how her soft hands fit nicely with his large ones and how handsome he looked up close.

Standing on top of his feet, she raised herself up on her tippy toes until she was right at his face. The faint Christmas music was heard in the background as they spent a moment looking at each other.

"Oh my God, oh my God, it's happening..." Taehyung fanboyed with Jimin in quiet voices as they looked on.

Jungkook watched her lean in, closing her eyes and he soon did the same until their lips met, softly. He felt so many emotions as he kissed her and even faintly tasted peppermint on her lips from the candy cane she had eaten earlier.

As soon as they saw them lock lips, Jimin and Taehyung covered their mouths before they screamed for joy. The two fell to the ground, rolling around in excitement while Hobi and Jin were jumping around in glee, back in the bedroom.

Jennie felt something strong behind such a simple mistletoe kiss with her best friend as she gently pulled away, releasing his hands. She felt her heart rate increase while Jungkook felt his cheeks flushed.

"There. Not so bad, right?" she took a step back and smiled softly. "Merry Christmas, Kookie."

Watching her walk to her room to go to bed, Jungkook touched his lips and let out a soft chuckle, overjoyed. Her lips were softer than he expected. Big difference from Rookie King.

Reminiscing on the moment he shared with her, he wanted to kiss her more than just once like they just did. The kiss felt too quick for him and he made a promise that the next time they kissed on the lips, he'd show her a real kiss to prove how much she meant to him.

-----

"Merry Christmas!" Taehyung dove on top of Jennie on her bed as she let out a groan.

It was too early for this. She was just dreaming about Nike finally noticing her and allowing her to endorse their stuff.

"Merry Christmas~!" Jimin ran in to dive on top of Tae, causing her to let out another groan.

"Merry Christmas~!" Jungkook jumped on top of Jimin while Jennie continued to deal with the torture of heavy bodies on her back.

She muffled something against her pillow while the Maknae Line tried to comprehend what she was saying.

"Guys, I think we're crushing her, hehehe." Taehyung giggled as they all got off of her.

She rolled out of bed and stood up. "Ow, my back...why are y'all so damn heavy?"

"Come on, we wanna open up presents! But Jin is making us eat breakfast, first! Let's go! Get a move on!" Taehyung dragged her out of the room to meet with the rest of the members.

Saying their good mornings, they sat to eat.

As breakfast went along, Jimin mischievously asked with a smirk, "So...did anyone get caught under the mistletoe, last night?"

Jungkook instantly narrowed his eyes at him but then glanced at Jennie. She looked unfazed and not bothered by the question.

"What about you Jennie? Kiss anyone last night?" Hobi asked.

"You kissed someone last night?" Yoongi asked with sleep in his voice.

"Who'd you smooch?" Namjoon asked with interest.

"I'm just glad there wasn't any tongue." Jin blurted out

"Wow, you just exposed yourself. You were spying." Jen called out, making Jin flustered.

"Darn it Jin!" Taehyung exclaimed.

"Come on!" Jimin yelled.

"Who kissed who?" Namjoon kept asking.

"She kissed Jungkook last night!" Taehyung announced loud and proud.

Jungkook felt himself blushing and looking down. He could never get a break from his hyungs.

"Did you like the kiss?" Hobi asked with a smile.

"Sorry, but I don't kiss and tell." she smiled and placed her dishes in the sink.

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