#I swear I’m not an extrovert but lately I’ve been meeting people who really make me question that

[lyssa-ohno]

.

[lubdubsworld]

GIFT .

Genre : Brother-in-law Jungkook x OC!

Warnings : Yandere Jungkook! Non Consent. Manipulative behaviour. Explicit Sexual Content, Violence, Murder

Author's Note : I love reading Yandere fics so I just wanted to write one!! Its very different from what I usually write... So proceed with caution.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first time I met Jungkook , it was five years into my relationship with Namjoon.

Namjoon had told me all about his baby brother, a final year student in SNU. Jungkook majored in Business , training to take over the company business . Namjoon often mentioned that it was Jungkook's offer to switch majors that had helped him pursue his own dream of being a music producer.

So when he told me that Jungkook was on a break from university and his parents were looking forward to having a proper family dinner with all of us, I was excited to meet the boy , I'd heard so much about. Namjoon was endlessly fond of his little brother and I wanted him to like me just as much.

Namjoon and I had met seven years earlier in the University Library and had become fast friends. We were both quiet, intellectually driven individuals, preferring to spend our time in the library as opposed to partying with our friends. And yet, in a twist , against our family’s wishes, we had chosen not to pursue an academically driven career either. I’d always felt out of place in my own friend group, most of my friend from Journalism being extroverted and fun loving. Namjoon for his part had only two very close friends, Yoongi and Hoseok and preferred spending time by himself as well.

So it was only natural that we fell in with each other with ease. His beautiful dimpled smile tugged on my gut, even as his gentle nature and gorgeous mind made my heart pound. I fell in love with him, between the late night laughter in the library and the soft secrets whispered against my skin, in the privacy of his bed.

“Nervous?” His voice drew me to the present, fingers inking with mine as he lightly knocked his shoulders against mine, staring down at me with a dimpled smile. I shook my head quickly, squeezing his hand gently.

“Of course not. I just want him to like me.” I whispered and Namjoon chuckled.

“Jungkookie isn’t very expressive so don’t worry if he isn’t very vocal in his affections. He’s very shy with new people but I’m sure, he’ll love you.” Namjoon reached out and lightly, brushed the hair off my face before leaning down and giving me a quick kiss.

I gripped his waist, pressing in closer, lips parting instinctively  , eager to chase the taste of him. He groaned and gripped my elbow, pulling me around to press up against the tall , lean strength of his body and this was it, this endless need to touch him even after seven whole years of being together. I moaned when he bit down on my lips, my back arching a bit to press into him.

“Hyung?”

We parted, surprised and I felt my face flame, lips slicked wet and no doubt red from where Joon’s teeth had sunk in.

What a first impression.

“Ahh… Jungkook-ah… You came out?” Namjoon looked a little flustered, dimples peeking out in an abashed smile as he laughed embarrassedly I found myself smiling at Jungkook, who looked nothing like I’d imagined.

I’d been expecting someone cute and friendly.

Jungkook was dressed in all black, tall and intimidating. He was also almost surreally beautiful, gaze piercing and steady as he stared at me. I felt an instinctive urge to hide, not missing the way his gaze trailed up and down my body, lips parting gently to reveal a pair of bunny teeth that looked jarringly adorable on a face that was , quite simply put, arrestingly gorgeous.  

He hummed, still standing in the doorway, eyes trained on me and I swallowed when he smiled , wide and open. His tongue darted out, lightly licking his lower lip .

“Hi, Hana.” He said softly and I startled.

“Hana? I’m sure you mean noona…..” I laughed nervously and even Namjoon looked surprised and Jungkook merely smiled, shrugging.

“You don’t feel like a noona.” He said casually.

I merely stared at him, not sure what he meant. Namjoon laughed a little as well, moving over to lightly hug his brother.

“Yah! You’ve just met her. Isn’t it too soon to start being a brat?” He ruffled his hair playfully before turning to me.

“Come on, Hana. Come say hi to my parents.” Namjoon walked in and I rushed to follow him, pausing when I reached the doorway. I smiled at Jungkook, holding a hand out slowly.

“I’ve heard so much about you Jungkook, I hope we can be friends…” I said sincerely and he stared at my hand, not taking it. Instead he gave me another soft smile. Before leaning down and pressing a kiss to the back of my hand, making me jump .

“You don’t feel like a friend either.” He said with a shrug , before moving away, leaving me stunned on the doorway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two years later :

“Seven months? Namjoon we’re getting married in seven months! How am I supposed to plan a whole wedding , with you away from the country?” I asked desperately, watching as Namjoon sat with his head in his hands. He looked stricken, regretful and pained and I felt terrible for being unreasonable but it was impossible not to feel hurt.

“I know..  I know hana, I’m so fucking sorry. But this is such a huge opportunity and its not just me : Hoseok and Yoongi depend on me. I can’t screw things up for them too.” He whispered and I exhaled.

Namjoon had been offered a chance to produce for a very high end recording label based out of the US and they wanted him to stay there for a minimum of seven months. The offer had been a complete surprise, out of the blue and the timing couldn’t have been worse. I’d been accepted into an internship at a popular magazine and it would be impossible for me to go with him. And I was so desperate to go.

We’d never been apart for more than a few days, in the entirety of our relationship and the thought of not seeing him for months made me want to throw up.

“I’ve spoken to Jungkook. He’ll help you with all the things that have to be done. And I swear that I’ll be back at least a month before the date, alright? No matter what happens.” Namjoon said firmly. I swallowed, nodding nervously.

It was true that I didn’t like the idea of being away from Namjoon. But the thought of keeping him away from a dream that he had worked so hard for, was almost unfathomable.

Besides, Jungkook was reliable and sweet. The perfect gentleman. Especially now that he’d taken over as his father’s Executive Assistant, Jungkook was incredibly good at organizing and planning things out.

With his help, I could plan out our wedding to perfection.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next five months were spent in a haze of appointments and fittings and bookings. Jungkook had arranged for a shift in my internship hours, so he and I could spend a solid four hours every day, visiting different vendors, picking out the perfect floral arrangements, napkins, brocade and what not. And for once, I found myself completely enthralled by the idea of spending money of frivolously pretty things. Whether it was the florists or the patisserie, the dress fitting or the invitations, I felt my excitement bubbling over , amazed because marrying into Namjoon’s family meant an unlimited budget and for once, I didn’t mind being extravagant.

What was more, I didn’t miss Namjoon nearly as much as I thought I would. Because deep down , I knew that he wouldn’t have enjoyed this all that much. And I would have felt guilty , dragging him everywhere.

And Jungkook was the one to thank for all of it. He picked me up everyday for an early breakfast , followed by hours of combing the streets for ideas and appointments. He was funny and enthusiastic, eager to help me in every way and I was so grateful that I couldn’t thank him enough.

“I owe you so much, Kookie. You’ve been a life saver.” I groaned, collapsing on the couch and dropping my head back against the backrest. Jungkook chuckled, sitting down on one of the Turkish ottomans and lightly grabbing my ankle, pulling my foot onto his lap. I flushed a little, still not used to how touchy he was.

Jungkook liked wrapping his arms around my waist when we were out and about, fingers fluttering up my sides or brushing hair off my face with easy familiarity. I didn’t mind. He reminded me of my little brother back in Ilsan.

Most of the people we met assumed he was the groom and Jungkook told me it would be better to keep up the ruse because wedding planners were more comfortable when couples came together and I’d agreed, albeit a little reluctantly. I missed Namjoon and I wondered if he would mind. But when I mentioned it in passing to him during one of our daily video calls, he’d merely laughed it off.

“You’re so tense, Hana. You should relax. Everything is going to be okay.” Jungkook said softly, soft fingers digging into the curve of heel before brushing the arch of my foot. I smiled when he tugged my foot close, placing it down on the firmness of his thigh.

I gazed down at him, feeling uncomfortably nervous. This whole thing seemed oddly intimate somehow and I felt the first tendrils of guilt begin to curl around my gut. I swallowed, hating myself for tainting something that was no doubt innocent. I ought to be grateful that my future brother in law was this kind to me.

“I know. Thank you. I just miss him sometimes.” I said softly. The fingers stilled on my foot.

“Only sometimes?” He teased, eyes narrowed and tone just a little colder and I hesitated.

“I don’t miss him when you keep me company. You help me forget that I’m doing all of this by myself.” I said honestly. Jungkook inhaled sharply, his gaze flicking to mine, holding mine with an intensity that made me balk a little.

“You mean, that?” He asked quietly and I laughed at how serious he looked.

“Of course I do.  I was so sure this whole thing would be me being miserably lonely but you’ve kept me laughing and happy. I’m going to ask Namjoon to buy you something expensive and amazing when he comes back.”

“He already has something amazing. It’s the only thing I really want.” Jungkook said quietly, fingers stroking up, gently massaging my foot all the way up my calf. I groaned at how good it felt.

“Really what is it?” I asked curious.

Jungkook squeezed my knee before carefully placing my foot down , reaching for the other one.

“You’ll know soon, Hana.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

True to his word, Namjoon called me exactly a month before our wedding date.

“Guess who’s leaving the God forsaken place this weekend?”

I felt warmth flood my insides, heart racing with pure joy, tears brimming over because I’d honestly resigned myself to the fact that he wouldn’t be able to make it back on time.

“Monday i, I’ll be there. Can’t wait to kiss you, my love.” He whispered and I nodded, laughing.

Finally, Everything would be okay.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Namjoon’s flight was due to arrive late night ,somewhere between twelve and one in the morning. I’d taken a nap in the afternoon, so I could be up to welcome him back. Jungkook arrived at around seven with Takeout and flowers.

He didn’t ring the doorbell, letting himself in with the spare key I’d given him for emergencies. I found myself scrambling for my robe because I’d taken a nice long shower and slipped on a silk negligee, short and ending just over my knees . I could feel his eyes on me as I hastily tied the sash together, flustered. The robe wasn’t long either and I felt absolutely exposed, even worse than when he’d stepped into the dressing room during my fitting, offering to help me with the zipper.

“ Jungkook, what are you doing here?” I asked nervously and he shrugged, eyes still trailing over my legs, the skin bare. I felt his gaze like a caress and some instinct told me I was in danger. I shook my head to clear it. How ridiculous.

This was Jungkook. Sweet, wonderful Jungkookie. My best friend these past few months. There was no one else I could be safer with.

“I knew you’d be excited, what with hyung coming back and all. So, I thought I’d drop by and at least make sure you’re well fed.” He grinned, holding the tae out up. I smiled and nodded, moving to get plates and glasses from the kitchen.

I heard Jungkook moving around in the living room and when I went back in , I found that he had two glasses of wine ready on the table, an expensive bottle of merlot opened nearby. I smiled a bit, shaking my head.

“What are we celebrating?” I asked curiously and he shrugged.

“Namjoon hyung is coming back right? It means I’ll be getting my amazing gift tonight.” He said softly, picking his glass up and taking a sip and I rolled my eyes.

“You’re such a child. You can’t wait for a day to get your gift?”

Jungkook hummed. He looked ethereal in the dim golden light of the apartment. Like something out of a fairytale. All dark ebony hair and porcelain skin. I wondered, again….why he never dated. He was easily one of the most beautiful humans I’d ever seen in my life. And that voice.

The voice of an angel.

“I’ve been waiting for years, Hana. I’m sick and tired of waiting.” He said softly, voice low and eyes somehow dark and I tried to hold my smile.

“Well, I hope you enjoy it.” I grinned and he smiled, all teeth.

“Oh, I intend to. Thoroughly.”

I took my own glass and took a deep sip , before holding it against his.

“To no longer waiting and finally getting what we want.” I said cheerfully, thinking of the long months without Namjoon and the few hours till he would be back in my arms. Jungkook chuckled and clinked his glass against mine.

“To you, Hana.” He said simply and I blushed, surprised and flattered.

We ate the take out but just a few bites in, I felt my eyes getting heavy which was so unfair. It was barely eight. And I’d slept in the afternoon. What was wrong with me? I was supposed to be up till Namjoon came home.

“You alright, love?” Jungkook asked sweetly , getting out of his chair and making his way over when I almost knocked the glass of water over, fingers trembling. I pouted, even as his fingers curled over my shoulders, gripping lightly.

“Why am I so drowsy?” I whined in desperation and he leaned down, lightly resting his chin on my shoulder.

“You need to rest, hana. Come on, let’s get you to bed…. “

Eyes heavy and limbs turning to jelly, I could barely blink as he reached down and scooped me into his arms , carrying me into the bedroom. I felt his fingers tug on the sash of my robe, a protest building up at the action but he shushed me gently.

“I’m just helping you out of this, Hana. Rest now… Namjoon hyung will be here soon and we have a long night ahead of us, you and I.”

I could feel my mind churn at that, confusion warring with apprehension because why was Jungkook inserting himself in tonight? What did he have to do with Namjoon and I ?

Sleep beckoned and I found myself slipping into the darkness before I could fully ponder on his words.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up sweaty and damp , body overheated and my head foggy. I made to move and felt my heart pound when I realized my hands were tied up to the headboard. I blinked, only to be met with darkness because there was something tied around my eye as well.

“Jungkook?!” I called out panicking and there was a low chuckle.

And then a very familiar scent.

Namjoon.

I sagged in relief.

“Joon…it’s you….” I breathed out . “ Come on, do we really have to do this right away? I wanna see you…” I whispered desperately.

Fingers brushed over my ankle and I jumped.

“Namjoon?” I whispered . The bed dipped next to me, and I felt the brush of his shirt against my bare arm. It was soft and silky , familiar because I’d bought it for him for his birthday and he’d sent me a pic of him wearing it, from the airport today.

“Okay… I’ll play.” I laughed softly. “ Just untie me… I wanna touch you..”

“Sshhh…..” A finger pressed against my lip and I startled. Throat dry, I gulped.

But I didn’t say anything, biting my lips nervously as I felt him climb over me, one knee on either side of mine, fingers curling on my thighs, lips pressing against my cheek. I sighed, relishing the soft press of his lips, up and down my neck, the damp wetness of his tongue as he licked the skin right after, teeth nipping gently and then with more force.

I trembled as soft fingers tugged on my negligee tugging the fabric up and away from my body, raising it up till it pooled near my chest. I felt the tug on my panties, yanking the fabric off and then the weight of him went away, a breathy exhale that sounded both calm and somehow desperate, his body moving down to lightly hold my knees, parting my legs.

I bent my knees, spreading my thighs the way he clearly wanted me to, hearing him groan in return. He used his thumbs to gently part the damp folds of my centre and I felt my entire body shudder at the press of his tongues against the most intimate parts of me.

Choking, I could only lay there and take it, his tongue licking the slick folds, over and over again with an almost curious insistence, like he was tasting me for the first time and I could feel his body trembling on the bed as he did. I felt his teeth tug on the hardened nub, bruising hard and yet somehow almost playful and cheeky and I found myself squirming in pleasure, wetness seeping out of me .

The tip of his finger found my slit, running up and done the length of it in a slow, gentle caress, gathering the moisture there and I trembled when he reached my clit, gently rubbing circles on the little bundle before moving back down to trace my entrance. I was so wet, getting wetter by the second and I’d never wanted to be fucked so bad.

“Please…..baby… I want you ….in me…” I choked out and he chuckled, a little mischievous and unlike him.

The finger dipped in, shallow and barely in and I whimpered in desperation.

“More.. Please…. I want more.. Want you… Its been so long…”

I felt him move back at that and then he was there, right between my legs. I felt the clink of metal as he unbuckled himself, the sound of his zipper and the rustle of fabric as he pushed his trousers off. I could feel the hard muscles of his thigh against the back of mine as he scooted closer, felt the brush of his hard length against my center, the head dipping in just lightly.

He pushed forward, driving in with so much force that my entire body shuddered in shock. And in just that second, I knew, with dawning horror…….

This was not Namjoon.

I screamed, so loud my own ears rang and  a palm pressed down into my mouth, forceful and unrelenting. And terrifyingly unfamiliar.

“Hana…” Jungkook’s voice near my ear made me choke on my tears, my mind splintering in shock and betrayal, body going rigid in terror as he pulled out , only to slide back in.

“Knew it would be worth it, keeping myself pure for you….” He crooned against my skin and I whimpered, wetness spilling over my eyelashes as I tried to squirm away, my mind body and soul only screaming for the man I loved.

“Don’t worry about anything ….Hyung’s in a better place now. “ Jungkook chuckled deeply and I felt my skin go ice cold at the implication. He moved his hand away and I coughed, choking.

“Jungkook….”

The blind fold came off and he kept pumping into me, hips moving erratically, no rhythm or grace and it was obvious he’d never done this before, obvious in the way he looked : blissed out and feral, eyes unfocused as he stared down at me. I felt him tremble and shake, before going still . I felt warm wetness flood my insides and bile rose, nausea making breathing difficult. He stayed on me and inside me, his body so large and immovable, heavy and suffocating over my own.

“what are you doing Jungkookie?” I sobbed out in disbelief and he glared at me.

“What does it fucking look like I’m doing? I’m taking what I fucking deserve….” He snarled. “ Two fucking years…. He doesn’t deserve you. Spends all his days and nights holed up in that studio of his with his friends….leaves you to fend for yourself. You deserve to be waited on, hand and foot… you deserve the world, hana…and he wouldn’t let you experience any of it. Fucking bastard….

“No… No.. God …no..” I choked out. It was the shirt.

He was wearing Namjoon’s shirt. And his cologne. The shirt I knew my boyfriend had been wearing today. How did he get it??

Jungkook brushed his fingers on my cheeks .

“What’s wrong baby? Are you worried about him? Wondering where he is…” He chuckled. “ I told you..he’s in a better place right now..”

“No… you’re lying..you wouldn’t…”

“Wouldn’t I? You know me that well , hana?” He teased.

No. No I didn’t I didn’t know him at all.

“How about this? If you marry me…. If you let me have this dream wedding with my dream girl…. “ He smirked,” If you let me love you the way you deserve , maybe I’ll take you to visit him…someday. ”

I closed my eyes.

I couldn’t process what I’d just heard… I didn’t know… if he was bluffing. What if he had actually killed-

I couldn’t believe that. I couldn’t. It would break me.

“Okay… Just…please don’t hurt him…” I whispered.

Jungkook smiled.

“Just relax Hana. Everything’s going to be okay.”

AUTHORS NOTE : THIS IS LITERALLY MY FIRST TIME WRITING SOMETHING LIKE THIS PURELY OUT OF IDLE CURIOSITY

~~~~~~~~~~~

[with-love-anu]

Kiss me

Pairing: James Potter x Reader

Summary: You are the quidditch commentator who loves to tease all kind of players and James gets annoyed, not knowing how awkward you are.

Warnings: none that I could find, swearing, maybe?

Word Count: 1,769

James walked into the pitch feeling confident. They had trained hard, the weather was as good as could be, he was there for the win. Moreover, Lily was watching. He had to be good to impress her. He shook hands with the Ravenclaw quidditch captain, nodding briefly. He mounted his broom, kicking himself off the ground. 

***

“I. HATE. HER.” James said angrily.

“Mannn you won the match, let’s celebrate! what’s the problem?” Sirius said slapping his back. James scoffed.

“Ha! James yet again shows off and misses the quaffle, James needs new glasses he’s missing goals even though being a foot away. James. James. James.” James said imitating your voice.

“She teased literally everyone? on both teams?” Remus said, trying to cheer him up.

“Look me in the eye and tell me she makes as much fun of everyone just as me. And my team because I am the captain. Besides the jokes are funny!” James glared at Remus making him gulp.

“Sirius, a little help here?” Remus asked, nudging him. Sirius sighed.

“Mate, if it bothers you so much just go talk to her. I mean, we already know she isn’t bad, not one of the bad slytherins at least. She always hangs out with Evans.” Sirius said.

“You know what? I’m gonna do just that.” James said leaving.

“James, hey! Nice-” Lily said but stopped.

“Later Lily!” he said rushing out of the tower opening up the map trying to find the footsteps labeled, “(Y/n Y/l/n)”

Of course. The library.  James took brisk steps  muttering and hissing. Why him? He never did anything to you. Why did you always make fun of him? He didn’t run hands through his hair THAT much! He did not know when he reached there. Looking around, he tried to find (Y/n) between the shelves. He found you, hunched over a big stack of books, studying.

“(Y/l/n)!” James called out making you look up. You looked around confused before your eyes landed on James.

“Umm… hi?” you asked, unsure why he was looking for you. James narrowed his eyes. Did you have to act so oblivious?

“Why are you out to get me every time?” James asked, cutting off all formalities.

Your eyes widened as you tried to come up with a response. Because he always seemed so carefree whenever you were with Lily? Because you thought he didn’t take offence to things? Because you thought he would get your sense of humor? All these didn’t seem to be true now, though. James cocked an eyebrow and you realised you’d been quiet for too long. You felt a shiver go through you before you thought about the right words to say.

“Umm… I didn’t mean to offend you. I thought I was having innocent fun. I won’t do it again if it bothers you.” You said at last, leaving James for the loss of words.

“You…” James cleared his throat. “So, you’re saying you didn’t mean those things.” 

You forced a smile shaking your head.

“You are actually a very good player, the swing move which you do is quite commendable.” you informed him. 

“Oh.” James breathed. He had a speech ready on how every single thing he did in the match had an intention behind it, but you were sitting there complimenting him. He suddenly felt foolish. How many times, did Remus and Sirius tell him it was just a joke? Why didn’t he listen to them?

“I’m sorry if I made you feel bad.” your voice comes breaking him off his reverie. You looked down. Why couldn’t you talk to people like a normal person? Did you have to make jokes every time you meet someone new?

“Hey! Its okay, no harm done. I confess, I may have seen too much into things” James looked at you finding you nodding along awkwardly. It then clicked suddenly. You weren’t much of an extrovert he thought you’d be. He smiled.

“So, what are you doing?” he asked, trying to avert topics.

“Transfiguration.” you said glumly. “It seems no matter what I do, I never get the spells!” You dramatically dropped your head down making James chuckle. 

“I’ll help you. I’m good at that subject.” James plopped on the chair beside you. 

“You wanna help me after all those jokes about you?” You said looking at him.

“Well, you did say I was good later.” James smirked.

***

The two of you stayed in the library for hours. James cleared every single one of your doubts and you found yourself lowering your guards. It was easy around him. It felt like he could make anyone open up to him.

“No that’s not… wait?!?” James snorted, red from laughter.

“Get it?” you choked words out. Your stomach was paining from how much you laughed.

When the both of you calmed down you noticed the time. The library had long since closed and the only lights on were the one above yours.

“We should be leaving.” you said getting up.

“Yeah. See you in transfiguration tomorrow?” James asked.

“Sure! You got it lover boy!” you said pointing finger guns at him. James roared out laughing, at the term you used for him. You were allowed to call him that, after all the chasing he did for Lily.

***

It happened so slowly that neither of you realised it. You fell in love with James. And he was completely whipped for you. Not that the two of you knew it. James found himself visiting the library so very often, even if to say hi. You met him after his quidditch practices brought him some food and drinks. James would never admit, but he loved seeing you there. Showed that you cared. You loved his goofy smile and he loved you could make him laugh for a change.

It was when one evening, you broke down completely. You had failed transfiguration yet again. You hid in a small opening you were sure no one knew about. 

“(Y/n)?”

Of course you were wrong. You turned to see James standing behind you.

“(Y/n) what’s wrong?” he asked, concerned. You let out a dry laugh.

“Why do I even try?” you said handing him your transfiguration paper. He studied it for a moment before settling down beside you.

“Look here.” James said pointing towards a question. You rubbed your eyes, directing your attention towards it.

“You see, the answer you wrote is factually correct, but it is definitely not framed nicely leading to the deduction of marks. And here too, you see you are right but you missed out on an important term and that was the frame of mind while performing this spell. ” 

James spent the next few minutes pointing out what you did wrong and you felt so foolish. They were all such silly mistakes.

“So you see,” James said, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. “You are smart, you know these things; you’ll soon pick up on the writing part too!”

You smiled. 

“You know, I always thought you were this egoistic little girl-”

“Heyyy” you said smacking his arm.

“But then I realised you were actually this cool, beautiful girl who has her shit together. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone like you, and in a good way.”

Your heart beat so fast and you didn’t know when you had come so close. You felt his breath over your face and he moved away abruptly. You shook yourself. What were you thinking?

“I should go.” you stood up and walked away fast. What had you done?

That night you both got very little sleep. The realisation that you in fact had started to like James hit you like a brick. He liked Lily, obviously he did. He deserved it too. He deserved someone who wasn’t socially awkward. You didn’t want to ruin the friendship you had. You would act as if nothing happened. So why the hell did it hurt so much?

James couldn’t sleep. He liked Lily. Had since forever. Then why did he want to kiss you so badly. He knew what he would do. Act as if nothing happened. He could not put the friendship in jeopardy. Then why the hell did he still keep thinking about your lips?

***

The two of you acted as the moment never happened. Sirius and Remus could sense something shifted. They knew James had fallen for (Y/n), but couldn’t understand why he wasn’t acting on it.

“James wanna join me for a study session at about 6?” Lily asked.

“Sorry. Not today.” James said, directing his attention towards his friends. Sirius raised his eyebrows.

“Let me guess, going with (Y/n)?” Sirius asked.

“Yes.” James looked at him as a loopy smile emerged on his face.

“Are you sure you like Lily? I mean you keep blowing her off. You sure you don’t like (Y/n)��� Sirius asked, cocking an eyebrow. 

“No.” James said in a small voice.

“Fine, then spend the evening with Lily today.” Sirius said simply. James frowned.

“Fine, I will.” James huffed. He called out to the girl. “Lily, on second thoughts, I would love a study session.” James winked towards Lily making her giggle.

“Don’t be late.” she said.

***

James did not like this. All he could think about was how Lily was not (Y/n), how she did not get his jokes, how she did not smile the right way, how she did not tease him back.

And it struck him. He was so not in love with the girl in front of him. He stood up abruptly, muttered an apology and left to find (Y/n).

***

You were sitting under a tree near the lake when you heard your name. You turned to find James huffing.

“What happened? Why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be with Lily?”

James shushed you taking in gulps of air.

“Want to hear a crazy idea?” James asked standing up straighter.

“Okay...” you said unsure.

“I love you.” James stated.

You opened and closed your mouth several times.

“What?” you asked.

James nodded.

“Yeah. I didn’t believe it either. But I do. And I really wanna kiss those lips.”

You stood silently taking it all in.

“Okay” you said at last.

“Okay, what?” he asked.

“Kiss me.”

James' hands were on you in a second as he kissed you. Hard. 

“It’s so much better in reality!” James whispered, pulling away.

“Kissing me? You dreamt of kissing me pottah?” you smirked and cocked an eyebrow.

“Just kiss me.” James said as you smiling doing exactly what you asked him too.

A/N: This was written for the lovely anon. Here is the request. It would mean alot if you dropped by something in my inbox telling me if I did it right. Also, this is my first James fic so reblogs and feedback is very much appreciated.

[writingsfromhome]

Bad Timing I(.5)

A/N: This is the sort of backstory to Harry and you, I think it can be read on its own if you want, or before you read the first part too. It’s angsty af, but it has some death and sensitive topics jsyk. I tried to keep it concise but it got a little wordy as angst does. xx

Part 1

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

About 12 Years Ago:

“So are you coming to that party or not?” My roommate asks. She was one of the first people I’d met last year when we started uni and even though we came from different backgrounds we remained friends over the last year, even choosing to room together again. She got me to open up and find the extroverted part of me that was able to enjoy uni outside of academics.

“Ugh, I’m volunteering for the voting booths for the rest of the week. Maybe if I can make it?”

“You’re actually doing that?” She scrunches her nose. “I don’t get it. You’re just way too nerdy to be my friend.”

“And yet you loove me,” I squeeze her against me and she laughs. “It’s my mom, she said I had to do at least one extracurricular so I could meet friends this year.”

“You already have friends,” she points to herself, and with her came her group of friends that’d quickly taken me in last year.

And my mom doesn’t like that I hang out with you, I think. She thought we partied too much even though my grades stayed decent. “She wants me to have nerdy friends too, I dunno. They’re helping me pay my tuition until I get a job so I kinda have to play nice.”

“Parents suck,” my roommate flicks through her closet. I agreed, this was just something I would get through to get through. Then they would leave me alone for the rest of the year.

Little did I know the person they’d partner me with at my polling station was someone who would be in my life for the next decade.

“I’m Harry by the way,” he’d said after we received our orientation and assigned the building we were going to babysit the votes in. “Second year.”

“Me too! I’m Y/N. What’s your major? I’ve never seen you around.”

“Law--well I haven’t decided if it’s law but that’s what I’m in right now.”

“Really? Law?” I was openly judging, he just didn’t seem the law type.

“Well what are you in?” He demands.

“Business,” I cringe.

“Really? Business?” He has a cheeky smile on, one that would become familiar to me.

“Well, you just don’t seem like the law type. They’re usually more uptight, dress way too smart for me.”

“I know, it’s like, we’re not even in the courtroom yet,” he joins in and it makes me laugh--how he could poke fun at his own people. That’s when I knew we would get along fine, and I actually looked forward to the next few days getting to know him better.

“I’m definitely telling my mum about you, she’s been begging me to make friends outside of my circle. I’ll tell her I’m friends with a law student.”

“So we’re friends already?” We’d reached our booth and began setting up the partitions. He takes over when I set it up wrong.

“Obviously,” I say. “I actually like you which means you’ll have a hard time getting rid of me.”

“I’m alright with that,” he grins and I notice the laugh lines that are brought to life as he does. It somehow made him seem more genuinely.

We spend the rest of the time swapping stories, classes, rants. We check student IDs and hand out voting cards in between but it doesn’t feel like a drag anymore. At the end of the day, I invite him to the party my roommate was going to with our friends. If he was going, maybe I would too. He seemed like he might be fun at a party.

“Er,” he suddenly seems nervous. “I’ll have to ask my girlfriend, she wanted to hang out tonight.”

“Well bring her too!” I say excitedly. “Is she law as well?”

“No, she’s in the arts.”

“I like her already,” I push. “Bring her, my friends are fun you’ll learn how to have a good time.”

“I know how to have a good time,” there was the flash of his dimples again. “Text me the address.”

And thus began a friendship for the next four years, partying together, studying together (trying to), and hanging out in each other’s rooms. We would set each other up with other friends, double dated, went out for sunrise-hikes, and took long drives at night when we had to blow some steam off from being over-stressed, over-studied uni students. Our friend circles overlapped, the fabric of our lives eventually bleeding together. We were made of the same fibers, sticking together even after uni, when our friends got more serious about their careers. When they moved out of the country or to another city, we made sure to rent places close enough that we could still see each other often. And somehow, in the new chapter of our lives, without the partying and our other friends to buffer, we became closer than before.

We cared for each other--we didn’t deny that ever. And somehow that platonic love turned romantic as we depended on each other while we navigated adulthood. I can’t exactly pinpoint where things changed, but one evening our relationship was changed forever.

7 years ago:

“She literally wants me to stay until 7, and she was offended when I said no! I’m not even getting paid for that!” I was bitching to Harry about my shitty job.

“That’s bollocks” Harry shrugs. “Just say you’ve got family obligations or something.”

“I said that the one time she wanted us to come in on a weekend and she gave me shite work the following week! I just...I can’t afford to lose this job Harry.”

“That’s shitty, I’m sorry.” He takes the last swig of his beer. “Want another one?”

“I haven’t even finished this one,” I moan at my now warm beer that I’d been nursing for the last hour, too busy ranting to drink it. “It’s getting late though I should head home before it’s dark. Don’t want that nutter that hangs around my building to harass me again.”

“I’ll walk you home,” Harry suggests. He lived a 15 minute walk from me.

“No no,” I get up and take our dirty dishes to the sink. “I didn’t even ask about you, how was your day?”

“Same old,” he sighs against the counter. “I feel like I don’t fit in, everyone my age is finishing their law degree but I don’t think I want to.”

“I knew from the day I met you, you weren’t destined for the courtroom.” I pull him into a comforting hug. “Do what makes you happy, or what doesn’t make you want to say fuck it and quit your job to hibernate.”

“You really know the perfect thing to say,” Harry chuckles but he pulls me tighter against him. I stroke his back, reassuring him he’d be alright in the end.

“Y/N-” he pulls away to say something but freezes mid sentence. I raise an eyebrow but he’s still, staring at my face.

“Harry?” I ask, but he continues staring. “Hello? You alright?”

“Yeah,” he breaks into a sudden smile. That was weird--I make sure he’s okay before letting go.

Before I leave, I kiss Harry’s cheek goodbye--I was never shy in the affection I gave my friends and Harry’s bummed mood needed extra affection tonight. But what I don’t expect is for him to catch me before I pull away, staring intently into my eyes. The lighthearted energy between us disappears instantly as it dawns on me, how close we were, the unspoken feelings in his eyes, the hesitation before he presses his lips to mine.

I kissed him back then, barely understanding what was happening, before pulling away. I give him a smile but that’s just what he sees at the tip of the iceberg, underneath my mixed feelings churn away. My best friend just kissed me, and I wasn’t totally mad about it.

“It’s getting dark I-” I say as Harry says, “Sorry was that okay?”

We laugh awkwardly, neither of us sure what to do at this point. We decide to ignore it instead.

“I’ll talk to you later,” Harry lets me go and opens the door for me. “Watch out for the neighbourhood nutter yea?”

I stand in place, feeling the fibers of our friendship unraveling but feeling hopeless in mending the tear. “Take care Harry.”

I high tail it out, my thoughts going at an impossible rate as I sort out what happened. And we try to ignore it the next couple weeks,

We hadn’t made it official then, too nervous to face what this meant about our friendships. It was only at my sister’s wedding, that I realised what was wrong between us. I’d been mourning our old friendship, and avoiding him in the weeks since the kiss. But what I didn’t realise was that our friendship had been changing over the last year anyway, and getting drunk on champagne and dancing with Harry, while my sister celebrated the happiest day of her life, made me realise there was a cause for celebration here: a new chapter in our lives.

A couple days later, after a stressful day at work, I’d taken the tube to his flat and waited for him outside. He was surprised to see me there, not saying much except to open the door and let me in. As soon as he’d closed it, my lips were attached to his and we’d let our bags drop, coats, and any piece of clothing between us. After that night, we didn’t even try to deny how we felt about each other.

“I didn’t think I could ever be this happy,” he’s whispered to me after. I thought he’d fallen asleep but his whisper in the dark made me grin to myself. “Are you awake.”

“I am. Awake and happy.” I turn to face him, giggling. “Who knew this could feel so right.”

“Our first kiss was quite wrong though wasn’t it?” Harry says and it makes me laugh.

“That’s why I needed to do a redo,” I tease. “Can’t leave you to plan anything.”

“It wasn’t planned I swear, I was trying to be spontaneous.”

“Let’s not try ‘spontaneous’ again then,” I kiss him in the dark. He pulls me snug against him, I never knew how safe it felt. The safest I would ever feel, wrapped in the warmth with my best friend and now something else.

It was a good few months, testing the waters as our relationship underwent a transformation. All of our friends were supportive, but we never missed the glances between them. Apparently, they were waiting for this to happen. But as sweet as those first few months had been, finding out my mum was sick with a timeline was devastating. I came apart at the seams but Harry stayed through it all, holding me together. He’d proposed then, wanting my mum to be part of the ceremony. We had a small wedding, intimate but still magical. It was bittersweet, the amount of love and happiness I felt towards Harry and our loved ones around us as he said I do and as he took my arm and swept me across the dancefloor. But the amount of sadness crushing my chest kept me from being the weightless bride I always thought I would be.

Through it all, Harry stayed by my side. While we were hopeful, the day our hopes were dashed, the days and weeks I mourned. When my sister and her husband came to stay with their crazy toddlers and Harry kept them entertained giving my sister and I time together. I thought he was perfect, that I’d lucked out.

That lasted a few years, 3 and a half to be exact. There were months leading up to our split and we could point to a bunch of things that could’ve led to it. a) him wanting kids, and me wanting to wait or b) long hours we worked as we changed careers and tried to make our way up or c) how hard getting pregnant actually was. Maybe I pushed him away, or he didn’t love me enough to try and make it work.

I think I lied to myself, avoiding the tension creeping into the relationship. The tired excuses and time spent apart, the lack of usual affection, or casual conversations. I was an idiot, I realise every time I think about the end in retrospect. Maybe if I caught on earlier I could have fixed us before we fell apart. Maybe I could have saved us.

“There’s someone coming in Tuesday morning to fix the broken washer, will you be home?” I ask, still in bed and scrolling through my phone. I hadn’t meant to be up this early but Harry woke me as he got up and I couldn’t fall back asleep.

“No,” Harry responds, his back to me as he ruffles through the dresser. “I’ve got a thing that morning.”

“Well I’ve got to go in early Tuesday-I thought you might be home.” I say. I hear an edge to Harry’s voice but I try not to focus on it. He’d been a little cold all weekend and I was scared to think what it meant.

“You couldn’t be bothered to check in when you confirmed the date?” Harry asks harshly.

“I...guess not.” I put my phone down and wait for Harry to turn, maybe I could read his expression. Maybe he was stressed. “Harry?”

“What?” He turns, but he looks at me with no emotion. No stress, no frustration, not even anger. It’s the lack of emotion in his face that cause my eyes to prick with tears. Harry raises his eyebrows and I shake my head, untangling myself from the sheets so he doesn’t see any tears. I rush to the bathroom but forget to close the door out of habit.

“Y/N,” a kinder Harry appears by the doorway. His face has smoothed out the harsh lines, his eyes hesitant and cautious.

“What’s happened with us?” I blurt out. “Why are you so cold all the time? Am I doing something wrong?”

Harry’s face falls and he walks towards me but doesn’t touch me. “It’s nothing like that. It’s...I don’t know. We should talk.”

He reaches his hand out but I flinch away. “Did you meet somebody new or something? What are we talking about?”

“Let’s not do this here. Right now.”

“Why not!” I finally had enough. “I’ve been walking on eggshells for months Harry! I don’t know what’s wrong and I keep waiting for you to bloody tell me!”

“This isn’t working!” Harry raises his voice to compensate for mine. I’m immediately silenced by the volume, and then the words sink in.

“Is there someone else?” I ask.

He doesn’t answer, his gaze on the hanging vines by the window. My heart drops into my stomach like a boulder, and I find it hard to breathe. I clutch the porcelain sink and ask in a surprisingly even tone, “Harry. Answer me.”

“What we have, Y/N...it’s dysfunctional.” He says quietly, meeting my eyes. “It doesn’t matter if there’s someone else, we’ve been fighting for months. Things aren’t the same between us-”

“Who is she?” I ask. I needed to know.

“That’s not relevant,” he shuts my question down quickly. “I’m sorry Y/N, I...I don’t want to hurt you. I care about you, I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Then don’t,” I’d pleaded. “We can go to counseling, talk it through-”

“I can’t Y/N.”

“Because of her.”

“No, because this isn’t good for either of us.” He’d walked up to me, cradled my face. “We’re not good for each other, not like this.”

“Who is she?” I yank his hands away.

“She’s...it doesn’t matter, I swear nothing happened between us Y/N. Knowing who she is isn’t going to help this situation--”

“It is! If it weren’t for her, you’d be willing to work on us--to see a future. You...Harry how could you do this to me? To us?” The tears come with no control. “You’re moving on before we’re even over. How are you giving up on us like that?”

“I’m not!” his voice booms in the tiled bathroom. “I’m not bloody giving up on us! I tried Y/N, so many times. I tried! You just keep pushing at me to be someone I’m not and-”

“I can say the same thing about you!” I throw the brush in my hands into the sink. “We were good! And you got it in your head you wanted a baby even though we’re young, oh my god Harry you kept pestering me to change my mind even though I told you I needed time!”

“It’s not like we could have a fucking baby anyway,” Harry says bitterly before realising what he’d said. “Shit-”

“There you go,” I mock. “I knew it. I knew you were holding that against me. And that,” I jab my finger into his chest. “Is what’s made you so moody, so mean and why we’re always fighting. You held it against me.”.

There was absolute truth to what I said. Last year, Harry had brought the baby topic up. I’d told him we were only in our mid-20s, we had a lot of time, and we still had a career to establish. But he would bring up the topic often enough that I’d given in.To make him happy. And months went by, trying for a baby. Went we finally went to our doctor, she’d told us why it was so hard, it could take us years she’d said.

Harry came home that day dejected, and left me feeling like a failure. I think it tore us up.

“You wanted a baby so fucking bad and when I couldn’t, it made me feel like a complete failure. And I told you that! And you did absolutely nothing to make me feel better. You held it against me, Harry! You didn’t even try to tell me it was okay.”

“It’s not so fucking simple,” he says, his cheeks flushed pink. Maybe it was anger, or maybe it was embarrassment from being confronted with an ugly truth.

“It is. And now you’ve upgraded to a newer model, maybe her version comes with a fertile womb.” I take the cheap shot.

He doesn’t say anything though. And I don’t know why that hurts more than knowing he’d fallen for another woman while he was still married to me. My best friend in the whole world had just broken my heart into a million irrevocable pieces.

“It’s a bunch of things Y/N,” he finally says. “That’s just part of it. We’re not...we’re just not working!”

“Did you even try to make it work?” I ask, swiping my sleeve across my face. “Did you ever think how I felt? How you made me feel Harry? You’ve been slipping away from me without talking to me-” I break off. I couldn’t speak through the heartbreak, the thunderstorm of grief threatens to consume me and my sobs are the only thing that manages to come out.

“I never wanted to hurt you,” Harry tries to place a hand on my shoulder but I jerk away, moving to sit on the edge of the bathtub. “Y/N...”

“Just go,” I say through the tears.

“We can talk more about this later-”

"Just go,” I say louder.

Harry’s phone rings again from the bedroom and he sighs. But he leaves me, crying on the bathroom floor. The sadness that was always in my peripheral consumes me. I’d carried this sadness for a long time--ever since I found out my mum was sick, the sadness plagued me. I’d neatly packed it up once I decided to move forward with my life like my mum would want me to, but now it comes back tenfold, marrying the grief of losing Harry like this. And I stay on the floor crying my grief away for hours, eventually crawling into bed and sleeping the daylight away.

When I wake, it’s 6 and Harry isn’t home. I take that as a sign and get up to pack up a few things. I call my sister who still lived in London then, and crash on her couch, staying there for a few weeks and ignoring any call or text from Harry. When I need to go back, for my things, I find him sleeping on the couch with the TV on, something I always found endearing. But I can’t afford to dwell on how much it hurt seeing him like that.

He must have woken from the noise because when he finds me, he tries to stop me and tell me that we still needed to talk.

“About what?” I ask, just tired now. Too many tears shed and too many hours laying awake thinking about the exact moment we went wrong.

“Us,” Harry looked tired too. He was probably throwing himself into his work with nothing like me to hold him back, I think bitterly. His girlfriend had probably already been to our house--his house.

“What about us?” I barely look at him as I begin folding away all my clothes.

“I don’t know,” Harry sits on the bed. “Don’t you want to talk?”

“I’ve got nothing to say, do you?”

Harry sighs, “I don’t know.”

“Nice talk then,” I say, shoving the rest of my things in just so I could get out.

“I just want you to know I care about you Y/N, I don’t want to hurt you.” He says as I pack.

“It doesn’t matter anymore. If you cared about me, and you didn’t want to hurt me you wouldn’t have done this to us.”

“I wasn’t trying to--I didn’t mean to go and fall for someone else-”

“Just stop,” I cut him off. I couldn’t hear it, how the man I loved fell for someone else. I couldn’t break down here. Again.

He said he cared but it didn’t feel that way. It hurt more than I wished to admit. He knew what I’d been through and he still betrayed me, tossed my heart like it was replaceable. The cut he left in me ran deep.

As I leave he tries to talk to me, but I barrel past him. He still reaches for me and pulls me into a hug, I struggle against him but he’s too strong. He wraps me in his arms until I go still but it’s too much. A sob escapes me, and this time he lets me push him off and leave, my bag banging into my hips every time I take a step. As soon as I got into my Uber, I can’t stop crying. There was an infinite pool of tears where Harry was involved.

3 years ago:

My trust and my heart had been been lost in the war between Harry and I. It only took him a month to mail my divorce papers which sat collecting dust on my dining table until he showed up at work one day and demanded I sign them by the end of that week. I’d taken the day off the day I mailed those in, mourning the end of something that was once so safe and beautiful.

When a close friend calls me on a warm July afternoon, I don’t consider her warning that I shouldn’t check Instagram. That I still had Harry’s friends on my list. I open Instagram before she can tell me why, and see it. Harry was getting married, again. To the woman he gave up on us for. I try to zoom in on a picture without liking it, she was pretty...and blonde. She looked familiar--probably from his office. It didn’t take him long.

It was like someone had taken a retractor to the wound I thought had finally scabbed over. The physical proof that Harry had moved on is just the salt on the wound.

I cry myself to sleep that night.

2 Years ago;

The guy in front of me drones on about his job, mansplaining to me how a mortgage worked as if I wasn’t in finance myself. I excuse myself to use the restroom, checking my phone to see a text from my sister. She’d moved to Scotland this year, to where her husband was from, and I’d missed her terribly in the last year.

A little birdie told me your demon-ex just got divorced 🥂

I stare at the screen, chest feeling tight. I felt vindicated somehow, but I also felt a small bit of sadness. What a fuck-up.

Good for him I had texted back. A part of me wanted him to hurt the way he hurt me.

I went back to my date with a renewed enthusiasm. I’d ordered more wine and got so drunk he was actually interesting enough to take home.

About 1 year ago

“Y/N,” a voice from my past says, one that haunted me some nights. I turn as I exit the shop I was just in. I blink at the sight before me, Harry in a vest and hat. He realises what I’m staring at and laughs awkwardly. “I’m in uniform.”

“You’re...police?” I look up to his face finally. He hadn’t aged a day, although the hat he wears makes him look a little silly.

“Yeah I joined the force uhm...almost 4 years ago now...law didn’t really suit me.”

I know what he was doing, trying to find a baseline to have a conversation. But he was dead to me, and I didn’t want to invite him back in when I was finally forgetting about him.

"Seems like you dropped a lot of dead-weight four years ago.”

I watch his face fall as he realises I wasn’t going to pretend to be friendly.

“Seems that way to you,” he says cautiously. “But that’s not how it happened.”

I shrug. “So. I heard about the divorce. Must’ve been hard being put through that.”

I knew I was being petty, obviously I never got the closure I want (according to my therapist) and I wasn’t over him hurting me the way he did (also according to my therapist). This was how I got my peace, and it wasn’t the best version of me but it was the only one I knew how to be right now.

“Yep,” he crosses his arms over his chest. “So, are you seeing anyone?”

He knew I wasn’t, I don’t know how but the way he stoops to my level I know he knows I hadn’t had a long term relationship since him.

“Not at the moment,” I say awkwardly. “Just focusing on my job...trying to get this promotion.”

“Sorry,” he seems to shake off whatever had come over him. “That was...nosy, I shouldn’t have asked.”

Having him be the bigger person sets something off in me, like there was an anger-bomb inside my mind where he lived and knowing that he was doing okay enough to be able to be the bigger person disrupts this calm I was trying to keep.

“Maybe you shoudn’t have stopped me to ask anything at all. We don’t have anything to talk about anyway.”

I turn around and start to walk away but he catches up, “I wasn’t trying to upset you-”

“Well you have a way of doing that. Please just leave me alone Harry.”

He huffs beside me, “After all this time, can’t we just bloody talk like two adults?”

I freeze and turn to him slowly. He seems to sense this was the wrong thing to say because he takes a step back. “After all this time? Are you serious? I was the one you left behind Harry when you went off to lives your best lift Harry. We’re not living the same life, and we’re not coming from the same bloody place. Don’t fucking patronize me and ask me to talk to you like an adult when you bring out the worst part of me. I meant what I said: I want you to leave me alone. And you know what, if we ever run into each other again, just don’t even talk to me. Pretend you don’t know me. I want nothing to do with you.”

He opens his mouth but his partner calls him from the shop’s entrance. He stays silent, letting me go. As soon as I turn the street corner I rush the rest of the way to the tube, collapsing into a seat and trying to sort out my breathing. It was a shitty feeling, knowing someone was going to be in your life forever because you shared so much history that even when that part of your life ended they were still there. There was so much apart of me, around me, that reminded me of him. And it felt so lonely carrying that around. I wanted to be done with him, I wanted my heart to purge him out. But it couldn’t stop carrying him around everywhere I go.

[dameferre]

can we see a snippet from the "penpals!" courferre one :0

of course! i will warn you this will. most likely never see the light of day BUT it’s based off of ‘the year of secret assignments’ by jaclyn moriarty, a... kind of ridiculous book i bought at a charity shop at like. age 10? or something

basically these three sets of teenagers are assigned pen pals at a neighboring school, and hijinks ensue, with one set of penpals giving each other secret assignments (hence the title), the other set of penpals being a girl who writes to a guy who uses a fake name (that plotline ends horribly, it would not have done so in my fic lmao)

one finally one set of penpals (a boy and a girl) decide to start having practice dates, so the guy can hone his skills and ask out a girl he likes, and the girl can critique his form, and... i mean i think we all know how this goes.

anyway, it’s half in letter format, half actual writing the story. here’s a snip! (under the cut because i. couldn’t help myself)

Official Assessment of the Second Meeting By Chance executed by The Lord of Flowers, Combeferre, henceforth referred to as the Subject, as reviewed by Courfeyrac the Ravishing, henceforth referred to as The Operative.

NOTES

When the Operative (and Guest) approached, the Subject smiled very nicely. It was a sort of surprised, warm smile that lit up his face. Did the Subject practice his ‘oh I was hoping to see you and I’m so glad I have’ smile in the mirror?

The Subject did a very good job of consoling the Guest, and as it turns out, the Subject’s height is not as offensive as previously thought, as he holds an umbrella perfectly.

The Subject was much more relaxed this time, and funny, and his hair fluffed a little in the humidity which was adorable. He had a great way of explaining things to the Operative without being patronising, and teased admirably. The Operative spent a good 80% of the walk laughing, but upon writing report can’t remember a specific instance of hilarity. The Subject should have more memorable jokes next time.

Overall, great work Combeferre. You’ll have Feuilly falling over himself to get to you in no time.

Yours,

Courfeyrac the Ravishing

--

Courfeyrac,

You seem to be losing your touch; that last review lacked the mildly insulting bluntness I’ve grown so accustomed to. Does this mean we’re becoming friends?

Anyway, I’m now, as you would say, ‘balls-deep in tech week’ and halfway through my descent into the deepest pit of hell. The entire production is an original script written by a friend of mine, named Jehan Prouvaire, who decided to rewrite the final scene this weekend. They’re my friend, have been for years, but even I wanted to murder them slowly. The cast is hard at work trying to learn the scene, while I had to stay late last night redoing all the cues.

The worst part of it is, the new ending is fucking fantastic, so we can’t even stay mad at them.

It’s exhausting. Literally exhausting; I got three hours of sleep last night.

Anyway, I’m writing this as a way of avoiding calculus homework. Not that I wouldn’t write to you if I didn’t have calculus homework, but it is harder to just ramble on about my life now that we’ve met in person. I don’t think I ever would have told you about Feuilly if we had met before we started writing. There was something in the anonymity that made it easier, like writing into a diary. I hope you don’t take this as an insult- what I mean to say is that now that I know you, I want you to like me. And by extension, I want you to know a lot less about exactly how lame I am.

Anyway, I wanted to say I won’t be able to make a meeting by chance this week, though I know telling you that ruins some of the fun. If I’m around next week, which is really looking less and less likely every time an actor misplaces a prop or mic pack and I am forced, once again, to weigh the pros and cons of murder, I’d be happy to accidentally run into you on my way home from school.

Side note- Avi(my brother) comes home next week, which lines up nicely with Mom’s birthday and means he’ll be able to see the show. It’ll be nice to have him back. I think you’d like him; he’s the attractive one in the family, and the extrovert. He’s also a mechanical engineer who medal-ed in track when he was my age. Basically, he got all the good genes, but he’s too nice to admit it.

Anyway, calculus beckons.

See you on the other side, Combeferre

p.s. Only you would practice a smile. Mine was genuine, I swear.

--

My Dearest Combeferre,

FIRST DAY OF PRACTICE STARTS TOMORROW HELL YEAH

I mean, yes, technically the other guys on my team have been practicing for two weeks but I have sadly been out of commission. BUT NOT ANYMORE BABY THE BITCH IS BACK

This will help distract me from the pain and yearning as I wait a whole week to see you again. I’ll be wistfully wandering the moors before Saturday, mark my words.

I’m also fascinated by the idea of a brother who’s you, but more attractive. Does it hurt to look at him directly? Do strangers fall in love on the spot? Is he officially considered a menace to society because he’s caused traffic accidents and ruined weddings by walking past at the wrong moment?

Someone should put a stop to him before things get out of control! No man should wield such power.

The idea that you, of gorgeous cheekbones, perfect hair, jawline, and eyes and face in general, notorious multi-tasker, valedictorian and walking encyclopedia, not to mention polyglot, could think someone else got the good genes means either you are humble to the point of actively lying to yourself or your brother is a minor deity.

Courfeyrac, I can hear you saying, flattery really isn’t necessary.

But it is! Enjolras, who I’ve mentioned before and is my best friend in the whole world, is gorgeous to the point of being inconvenient to look at. I’m a notorious flirt, I know this, and I’m good at it, but we’re not even in the same league when it comes to making people question their sexualities. He walks into a room and you can see half the people inside mentally decide they’re bi-curious. He’s also a raving lunatic and antagonistic asshole, which he openly accepts and takes pride in, but try to tell him he’s attractive and he looks at you like you’ve just suggested he’s got wings or a tail. So what I’m trying to say, I think, is that I’m used to people not realising how good looking they are. And bludgeoning them with compliments is my way of dealing with this.

Anyway. Getting sidetracked.

I’m flattered you use me as a method of procrastination! I’m gonna make myself a button that says ‘more interesting than calculus’ and wear it with pride. Also, is writing to pen pals not mandatory at the Academy? We’re given a half hour block during the study period. When we first started, Enjolras said the whole thing was “infantile and outdated and a waste of time”, but at this very moment he is on page six (6) of his latest aggressive correspondence to his mystery R, even though I saw what R sent him last time and it was, I shit you not, an envelope that was empty except for a tiny (approx. 3 centimeters long) rubber chicken. For context, the one before was a thorough analysis of wage inequality written entirely in pig latin.

I hope one day I meet this person, even if immediately afterwards they steal my kidney or turn me into a newt or whatever minor trickster gods do these days to pass the time when they’re not torturing my best friend.

Anyway, gotta go, stay sane, don’t kill anyone unless you really have to, and if so lemme know and I’ll help you get rid of the body. I know a guy.

Courfeyrac

p.s. I already like you, idiot.

[forgeandgredimagines]

Foolish 『 Percy Jackson x Spy! Reader 』

Request: I was wondering if I could request a Percy Jackson x reader imagine? Taking place during the pjo books and the reader is the spy for Luke instead of Selina. Percy falls for her, and at first she started dating him just to use him for information, but eventually, she falls for him too and has a change of heart. But before she can tell him he finds out some other way and feels really betrayed/upset. You don’t have to though, I just love your imagines and wanted to see you bring this idea to life! A/N: woot woot, this has been gathering dust in my drafts for so long. I really liked the concept but it took me a while to write something I was happy with because I’ve never really written angst much hehe but I tried my best!! I hope you enjoy Warnings: Swearing :>  Word count: 2.8k

Masterlist!!

You still remember when you first joined the Titan Army. You were so undeniably naive and filled to the brim with unprecedented hate and resentment towards the gods. Towards your father, whoever he was. Towards the entirety of Olympus. Joining Kronos’ forces would mean that you could actually make a change, that you could actually amount to something. However, in a few short months, you would come to realize that that person was a fool. A dumb, dumb, fool.

-

You were eating breakfast when a satyr ran into the mess hall announcing the arrival of new demigods, two girls who were from the same school, but they didn’t seem to be siblings. Arriving at camp is a feat in it of itself but two demigods arriving at the same time was rare, to say the least. That wasn’t what was important, what was important was that the young halfbloods and their assigned satyr made it to camp safely.

You were there to greet them when they arrived, along with a handful of other campers and Chiron. They were bruised and bit shaken up but ultimately unharmed. Lucky, extremely lucky. They were healed and patched up and being the only camper in the Hermes cabin around, you were the one to lead them towards their temporary lodging.

You decided to tour them around camp a few hours after their arrival. You always enjoyed watching the easily impressed campers’ faces as you first show them the pegasi stables, the lava spewing climbing wall and all the other wonders the camp had to offer. You recall to when you still thought of camp to be paradise, a secret haven you never wanted to leave. But lately, it started to feel like a prison. Like you were a bird stuck in a cramped cage.

Later that evening, as the campers were gathering around the amphitheater, one of the girls from earlier was claimed by her godly parent. She was a child of Apollo. Her companion, later claimed that same week, a child of Hephaestus.

You were glad for the campers but every time someone was claimed, you couldn’t help the rage and envy bubbling inside you. Why? After all your years at camp, why doesn’t your father bother to claim you. Over the years, this feeling of hate just kept on festering and growing, until it completely engulfed your being.

It was no surprise for neither you nor Luke that you accepted his offer to join his side so wholeheartedly. It was your long awaited chance to get justice for you and the world, justice from the wretched gods.

What was a surprise however was that Luke didn’t want you to leave camp with him and his army. In fact, he wanted you to stay put.

This didn’t bode well for you. You were itching to leave, itching to go do something worthwhile, not to just rot at camp like you always have. But Luke was the boss, his word is law. You couldn’t do anything but comply with his instructions to be a spy for the Titan Army.

-

You stared contemplatively at the Big House as you sharpened your sword, your ears falling deaf of your cabinmates’ gossip about how Silena and Charles were caught making out in the strawberry fields.

You had been a spy for months now, gathering information and plans, and sending them off to Luke. But now, it wasn’t enough. You realized that every single detail of plans and courses of action weren’t disclosed to the average camper. The people that were entrusted with this information were the cabin counsellors, other important campers and staff members.

You pondered becoming the counsellor of the Hermes cabin before realizing that you couldn’t do that in a span of a few days. You grumbled and return your focus on sharpening your sword before your attention was once again drawn towards the big house.

A meeting had just ended. A dozen or so campers and staff members leave the big house, whispering amongst themselves, a serious look in their eyes. It’s evident that they were talking about something important. You were positively dying to know what it was.

The last people to leave was Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, who were discussing something with Chiron. Those two were undeniably the campers Chiron trusted the most. He’d never admit it, like how a parent would say they don’t have a favorite but secretly they really do.

The realization of what you have to do in order to get the information you needed hits you in a flash. You needed them. More specifically, you needed Percy Jackson.

-

The plan itself was simple and straightforward. It was inconspicuous and foolproof. You realized that you had to gain the trust of an important camper. Slowly, bit by bit, lowering their guard until you have them wrapped around your finger without them knowing it. They’d unconsciously tell you about their plans, their thoughts, and whatever info they could spill about the camp and Olympus, and you’d send this off to Luke and the army.

It was absolutely perfect.

Ideally, Annabeth would be this person. She was arguably the smartest camper and is the one who knows the most things regarding battle plans and strategies. But with that in mind, she might catch on to you and blow your cover. You decide that she may not be the best option, thus leading you to the next best one: Percy.

You know that Percy wasn’t an idiot, but he was certainly more softhearted than Annabeth. More extroverted and easier to befriend. He was an easier nut to crack. Asides from that, Percy was extremely loyal, once he trusts you, it takes a lot for him to take that trust away. You knew how much he tried to see the good in people, even when there really wasn’t.

You ignored the small pang of guilt you felt in your chest as you thought through your plan and force yourself to go to sleep.

“Hey! Jackson!” You call out, waving your hands out to him. “Can you lend me a hand?”

Percy jogs towards you and greets you goodnaturedly. You were surprised that he knew your name. He took in your drenched, cold state but didn’t say anything. “What’s up?”

You chuckle sheepishly and gesture towards the canoe a few feet into the lake. The water was still shallow, only reaching your knees. The canoe you were using earlier had tipped and water gathered into the it, making it start to sink. You tried to row back to the land as fast as you could but it kept on sinking until it got stuck on the sand. Well, that’s what it looks like anyways.

“--and now I can’t get it to budge.” You conclude, thoroughly embarrassed. “I’ve obviously never really done this much before.”

“It’s fine! I got it.” Percy smiled kindly and started to manipulate the water into pushing the canoe to the shore. “You shouldn’t have tried canoeing on your own if you’re this inexperienced, you could have drowned or something.”

You shrug and sigh glumly, kicking the sand around with your feet. “I just, wanted to be alone for a while I guess.” You avoided eye contact from the male but you could sense him watching you carefully. “It was stupid of me, I know, I’m sorry.”

The canoe was now back on land and dry, as if it wasn’t just submerged in the lake a few seconds ago.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Percy asked cautiously.

You looked up at him and stared at his sea green eyes. They were so soft and kind. Your chest panged once again, just like it did a few days ago, but you ignored it.

“I’d like that.”

-

After that day, you and Percy started to spend more and more time together. That day in the lake, you two sat on the dock as you told him about your struggles in camp, with your parents (both mortal and immortal), and with your concerns regarding the safety of the camp.

Percy was surprisingly a really good listener, and actually gave you really good advice. He actually even made you genuinely laugh a few times.

You two slowly started to hang out more, you would have lunch together, train together and just goof around.

All though you were just forcing yourself to hang out with him before, you slowly started not to dread seeing him. It didn’t feel like a chore to spend time with him anymore. You would never admit it, but you actually looked forward to when you would see the son of Poseidon next.

He wasn’t all that bad, in fact, he was actually really fun. He didn’t make you feel like an outsider, he actually listened to you and you listened to him.

He made you laugh, and momentarily forget your woes, your mission, that this was fake, that your friendship wasn’t real.

Over the weeks, and soon months, the pangs of guilt taking root into your heart and conscience just kept increasing in intensity and frequency. But you keep on ignoring it, you knew where your loyalties lie, you already picked your side.

-

“--okay this is really hard, why is this so hard? Oh my gods, what the hell?”

You place your hand on Percy’s shoulder and stop him from rambling even more. You two were on the docks again by the lake. It was a secluded area and where you two first got close, it was where you two usually met up.

“Calm down, dummy. What is it?”

Percy took in a deep breath and said softly. “I like you...”

You take in a sharp intake of breath and heart began to pound as your cheeks began to heat up. You felt...*happy.*

“Wha-what?” You mutter out, completely flabbergasted.

“I said I like you! And you don’t have to say anything else, I just wanted you to know because I’ve liked you for a while now. Even before we became close I already thought you were really pretty and I always wanted to talk to you so I was really glad that we became friends and---“

Percy’s rambling started to fade out as a background noise as you realized what this meant.

It felt as if a million thoughts were flying in your head. All contradicting each other, all colliding and butting heads.

Your brief moment of joy was replaced by the guilt, the regret, which was more intense than ever. Your heart pounded even more, but this time it hurt with every beat.

Tears prickled in your eyes. “I--I like you too.”

Percy’s rambling was cut off short, his cheeks too were dusted pink. “Really? Oh my gods, I can’t believe it, wait, why are you crying?”

You didn’t realize that your tears started to pour freely. “Are you okay?”

I’m sorry.

“I’m just really happy.”

I’m so sorry.

Percy grinned sheepishly and embraced you tightly. Which only made you feel worse as you cried silently into his shoulder.

-

You were now dating Percy Jackson. People congratulated you, patted you on the back and wished you two the best. You even started to get closer with Annabeth and Grover. Things were going great, they were unfolding just as the plan said it would, it was going better than expected actually. Yet, the dull ache in your chest never seemed to cease.

Even as Luke commended you for your work, praised you and made promises that would normally have make you ecstatic, the pain never stopped.

The only time it stopped was when you were with Percy. When he holds your hand, wraps you tightly in his arms, only then does it stop.

When he kisses you, and whispers sweet nothings, only then do you feel at ease. He made you forget, just as he did before you two were together.

You found yourself seeking out for him, even when you didn’t need any new info to pass through to Luke. You began to seek his presence, his touch, his love.

It was like a disease spreading throughout your being. A poison injected into your bloodstream and it was without a cure.

You started to love him.

With each passing day of genuinely loving him, the feeling of guilt and shame tripled. You were trapped, you dug your own grave.

You didn’t know how many times you cried yourself to sleep, or how many prayers you’ve offered to the gods. You just wished for all of this to be over.

When you were with Percy, you liked to pretend that you two were just regular people. Mortal people, with normal lives where all you had to worry about were college entrance exams and assignments. And everything was okay, for a moment, all that mattered was that you were with him, and that was enough.

The spell wore off when you were alone. And you’re back in reality again and the guilt comes back in waves, always increasing in strength with each one.

How could you be so foolish?

-

“Hey where’s Percy?” You ask around camp, most of the campers shrugged and told you they didn’t know. It was still early in the morning, he was usually out and about at this hour.

“He and a couple campers left a few hours ago.” A nymph answered as she stared at her reflection in the lake, stroking her hair absentmindedly. “Someone came and said they spotted a couple members of the Titan Army near camp.”

You pressed your lips together disappointedly and thanked the nymph. You spent the morning in the strawberry fields as you thought through your new, more morally ethical plan.

Your mind was clear for the first time in months and your chest ached less frequently. You hadn’t been this calm since before being with Percy.

You supposed that you had subconsciously chosen your true side when you started feeding Luke false information a few weeks ago. But now you truly accepted it, you knew what you had to do. It was only right.

You realized that Percy might not want to be with you anymore once you tell him the truth and although the thought of it hurt, you knew that it was for the best. He deserved better than you anyways.

He would hate you. Well...you supposed you deserved it. You had it coming after all.

A small part of you still hoped though, that he might forgive you, that he might still want to be with you...that maybe he might still love you.

You were sitting on the dock when the sun was about to set. You were absentmindedly flipping through an old manual written in ancient greek, your mind elsewhere, when someone began to approach you.

You quickly recognized the footsteps and jump up to greet Percy.

“You’re back! I was so worried about you, they said--“ You go to hug the male but he backed away.

His head was low, his jet black hair covering his face. You took in his disheveled appearance. His clothes were torn in places and singed in others. His leg was bandaged and his arms were covered in cuts and bruises. They stayed locked at his side, his fists were clenched and shaking slightly.

“Percy what’s wrong--“

“I know.” He says, practically whispering, his voice wavering. “They told me, they told me everything.”

“You what? What do you mean--?” His face whips up and you knew what he meant even before he said anything.

His eyes, which used to be filled with joy and affection when they were on you, were now wounded. The pain was evident, the betrayal in them as clear as day.

“How could you?!” He cries out, his voice loud and shaking. “We trusted you, I trusted you.”

You take a step forward, he takes one back. Your hand starts to move on their own, inching its way to wipe the hot tears from his face.

He slapped it away. “Don’t fucking touch me!” He spits out. His eyes, no longer pained, but cold and hard.

It hurt, not the slap, but the way he looked at you. Like you were the lowliest scum of the earth.

He finally sees you as you truly are. You thought bitterly to yourself. It’s what you deserve anyways.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Percy, please, I can explain.” You plead as tears began to flow freely down your cheeks. You were shaking now as well.

As much as you tried to plead with the son of Poseidon, you knew deep down that it was of no use. The damage was done. And you couldn’t do anything about it.

You couldn’t believe how much of a fool you were.

[dis-easedfairy]

Oink The Stuffed Pig

WARNINGS: Swearing | Mentions of Sex (a dirty joke or two) |

Pairings: Kim Seokjin x Single Dad!Male Reader

Genre: Parent!au, neighbor!au, some angst (just a lil), fluff, humor 

Word Count: 11,838

Summary: Due to complications, M/n moves to a new city with his son. Though struggling, the two grow to like their new lives and new neighborhood, especially Kim Seokjin, their neighbor across the hall who is more than kind. 

A/n: IM ALIVEEEE! I suck at endings so like... my bad. I tried to get this out because I know a few of you were excited for this. Turned out a little more angst than I plan but uh... surprise? Again sorry it took me so long to finish it! 💙☀

I sighed and looked out the window as the train I was in, drove down the tracks. I looked at my watch it was around 7 pm and I knew it was going to be a long night. I looked over to my son, he was happily playing a game on an old phone of mine. I let out a sigh as my eyes trailed down to look at our backpacks on the floor.

I’m sorry we have to go this far.

I leaned forward, opening the side pouch of my backpack to take out my phone. I had muted it days ago and didn’t bother to look at it.

I unlocked it and looked through my messages.

Mom: Okay, just be safe, okay? The both of you.

Dad: remember to secure the new home. it will give everyone a piece of mind

.

Unknown Number: you cant just take him! I said I wanted to work this out!

I rolled my eyes at the last one, deciding just to message my parents since we were more within the city.

M/n to Mom: I found a nice little neighborhood, close to his school and there are some good jobs I can get for the time being, just until I save up a bit. We’ll be safe. Don’t worry too much.

M/n to Dad: I had a security system kit sent with some of our stuff. I’m going to go to the store tomorrow to look for tougher screws for the doors. We have a balcony so I have to figure something out! Safety is my second priority!

“Who are you talking to?” I heard my son’s small voice ask.

I looked over to him, his eyes were big, full of curiosity as he lifted himself up in order to look at the screen. I only smiled.

“Your grandparents.” He gave me a small pout.

“Why the pout?” I asked with a sad chuckle, “…Expecting someone else?” I asked dejectedly.

I swore I saw his eyes twinkle, “Aunt Hyejin!” My heart dropped to my stomach.

I tore my eyes away from his, prepping myself to lie, “Ha… Aunt Hyejin… she…” Oh god, what would be a good lie to tell him?

I glanced back at his perfect brown orbs, stabbing into me for an answer.

“A… Aunt Hyejin is not herself right now. So… I can’t talk to her right now, okay?” I wasn’t lying, but it sure in the hell felt like I was.

I could see the sadness enter his eyes, as well as those same eyes water. My eyes widened as I quickly held my hands up as if he were now holding a weapon to me.

“But why?” He asked, his voice sounding very upset.

“Junseok-ah, it’s complicated. BUT you’re going to make new friends and have your own room!” I tried to sway my son.

“I don’t want new friends I want Aunt Hyejin!” He was now crying, I grimaced.

I looked around the empty train car almost frantically, as to search for something to get my son to stop crying. I let out a heavy sigh.

“Listen, Junseok-ah, stop crying. Some people aren’t going to be in your life for the rest of your life. Some people have their own lives to live, some care dearly about you, and some will care only for themselves. It has nothing to do with your personality or who you are as a person. Aunt Hyejin… I have a feeling she only cares for herself right now. And right now, I have to care about you, and you have to care about yourself right now too.” That probably made no sense to him.

Oddly enough my son only nodded his head, using his sleeve to wipe his tears, I offered him a small smile.

“Don’t worry, I got us a place to stay and you have your own room!” Which I have no Idea how I’m going to pay for it.

“We live near a school you’ll be going too!” Some of your new teachers think I’m irresponsible for moving so late in the year and hate me already.

“I’m getting a new job, so new cool things!” You might not get anything good for your birthday if it's a low-paying job.

“Our new home is in a nice neighborhood with lots of kids so you’ll make friends.” You’re more extroverted than me and the families will more than likely hate me.

“It’s a little far from grandpa and grandma, but this is a better life!” I’m scared.

“…Okay. Can we get something to eat before we go to our new house?” He asked softly.

I nodded, not wiping the smile off my face, “We’ll get whatever you want. Just don’t be sad or scared. Just know that I love you with all my heart. Forever.”

Junseok sniffled a bit and moved closer to wrap his arms around my neck. I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him onto my lap to keep him closer. I could feel him relax in my hold as I moved my hand to rub his back.

“We have reached Hoehyeon Station.”

“So how have you settled in?” My friend Jeongguk asked, he was the one who convinced me to move to Seoul.

I could hear my son let out a scream as he ran around with a plushie pig toy and a Spider-Man toy, a throw blanket tied around his neck as a makeshift cape. I soon then heard a bump and something clatter to the floor. I was unpacking a box on the kitchen counter, taking out glasses and plates.

I let out a heavy sigh, “As settled as we can be I gue-,”

“NO! NO! NO! NO!” I could hear my son shout, making me snap into action as I threw everything I was holding down and ran to his voice.

He was in my bedroom, the window open and him half hanging out.

“Junseok! What are you doing!?” I demanded, running over to yank him away from the open window.

“I dropped Oink! I have to get him!” My son protested as I threw him over my shoulder to stop him from squirming out my grip.

“You won’t get anything besides a trip to the hospital hanging out the window like that!” I scolded, sitting him on my bed.

I pulled back to see his tear-filled eyes. I let out a deep sigh, “If I tell a friend of mine to look after you, will you behave while I look for Oink?” I can’t believe I was going to search in an ally for a stuffed pig.

Junseok quickly nodded his head, almost desperate to get his oldest friend back.

“Fineeee.” I groaned, walking back to the kitchen to get my phone.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” I grumbled, moving a trash bag out the way as I tried to look for a bright pink stuffed pig.

I let out a growl of frustration, “Where are you, you little bitch?” I grumbled, trying to think of new places to look.

I looked at my watch and sighed, I was in a hoodie and jeans but it was only getting colder as the sun was no longer in the sky. It was close to 11 pm and I didn’t want to spend all night looking for a stuffed animal. My son cherished that stuffed pig since it was his first stuffed animal but was it really worth it?

Yes, it was. My son loved it so I will find it.

I groaned at myself, kicking a trash bag and going back to looking for the lost pig.

I was ready to give up thirty minutes later until I saw pink fuzz that looked familiar. I quickly moved whatever was in the way and yanked the pig up into my view.

“Fuck yesss!” I chuckled in satisfaction as I began to dust off and examine the pig.  

I frowned when I noticed how flat and lumpy it was, it was less to it being dropped out a window, and more about the years of washing, drying and laying on it.  

“Mmm, you need a good stuffing, huh?” I asked the pig, examining it more for rips or stains.

“…Uhhh…” I heard a voice draw out behind me.

I immediately spun around to face the person. A man, he was a little taller than me, wearing a white sweater, dark sweatpants, and white shoes. He had broad shoulders and had the most handsome face I’ve ever been blessed with ever seeing. His eyes were wide as he held onto a trash bag, his eyes dropped to see the flattened stuffed pig and he let out a breath of relief with a chuckle.

“I…” He let out a very unique laugh that tumbled from his rose-colored plush lips, bending over, “I thought… Oh my god…” He tried to speak but only laughter came out.

He looked fairly young but I had no idea how I was supposed to address him, “S-Sir? Is something funny?” I asked, praying he wasn’t some guy who lost his mind and planned to murder me in an ally after I spent an hour and a half looking for a stupid stuffed pig.

He held up one finger as he continued to laugh. I assumed it was to give him a minute so I did.

“You have to understand,” He began, trying to catch his breath, “I just heard your words and saw your back and nothing more!” I saw red begin to bloom in his cheeks.

I tilted my head slightly in confusion. He took my confusion as the go-ahead to explain which he only did in few words, with a smirk.

“Fuck yes? You need a good stuffing?”

It slowly clicked together as heat began to rush to my face and embarrassment washed through me.

“I-I was just talking about a stuffed animal!” I raced to explain, which only made him cackle more.

“Wait! No! I’m not fucking the stuffed animal! That sounded wrong!” The man was now leaning against the building, trying not to fall to the ground from laughing so hard.

“M-My son dropped this out the window, he can’t sleep without it.” I explained nervously.

The man straightened up, trying to gain his composure, “You’re a dad?” He asked breathlessly.

I know I’m ‘too young’.

“Yeah. He’s four… This is an awkward way to meet… We just moved in today.” I gave the man a small smile.

He looked surprised, “Really? Nice to meet you! I’m Kim Seokjin!” He introduced himself happily, moving to shake my hand.

“L/n M/n.” I informed, shaking his hand.

“Welcome to the neighborhood, hopefully, there are no more… misunderstandings.” He joked.

I felt a wave of heat travel to my face again, “I hope not.” I agreed with a nervous giggle.

Seokjin opened his mouth as if he was going to say more but as interrupted by my screeching friend.

“M/N! WHAT IS OUR SON’S FIXATION WITH THE TOILET!? HE TRIED TO FLUSH MY PHONE!” Jeongguk shouted out the window.

Well, that was a nice moment…

I let out a deep sigh, “Sorry, I have to head back up. I’ll talk to you soon, Seokjin?” I questioned.

He nodded, seeming at a lost for words. I frowned a bit. He was so open a few moments ago. I walked past him, giving him a small wave as I began to jog back into the building.

I ran to one of the two elevators and pushed my floor number. Using the time to think of what jobs I could apply to and how to make sure ‘Aunt Hyejin’ didn’t come to visit my son while he was in school.

The ding of the elevator broke me from my thoughts and I went to my apartment door. Before I could dig in my back pocket for my keys, my door flung open to reveal my friend Jeongguk.

“He keeps flushing things in the toilet. You lost a roll of toilet paper. ” My friend informed me, crossing his arms, looking upon me in judgment.

“He’s acting out because he wasn’t very excited about coming here…” I notified, rubbing the back of my neck with the hand that wasn’t gripping the stuffed animal.

Jeongguk sighed. I could hear another ‘ding’ but took it as the elevator I got off of closing it’s doors and going back down.

“I know he’ll like it here, you will too. Did…” Jeongguk looked down, biting his bottom lip as he chose his next words carefully.

“Did Hyejin know where you were going? I don’t think it’s a good idea if she knew where we live.” Jeongguk voiced apprehensively.

“Don’t worry about her. I just told her I was leaving town. She tried to tell Junseok that he could stay at her place if he didn’t want to go.” I stated bitterly.

“Are you fucking with me? She literally doesn’t quit does she!?” Jeongguk scoffed, anger beginning to radiate off of him.

I shook my head, “I was just wondering how we would get him to school without her finding him.”

Jeongguk’s eyes widened, “Do you think she’d go school hunting!?”

“I wouldn’t put it past her.” I grunted bitterly.

Jeongguk let out a frustrated sigh, leaning on the doorframe and pinching the bridge of his nose with two fingers. After a few moments, Jeongguk looked up, sadness and sympathy in his eyes. He reached out, grabbing the collar of my hoodie and pulled me into a hug. He wrapped one arm around my waist and his other hand was in the middle of my back. He let out a long exhale as he began to rub my back. I wrapped my arms around him, fully accepting the comfort in my friend’s embrace, even going as far as to bury my face in his shoulder.

“We’ll figure this out together, M/n. I’ll introduce you to some friends of mine, we’ll settle you in, get you a job and support you for as long as you need, okay?” Jeongguk promised.

I felt a weight lift off my shoulders, knowing I wouldn’t do this alone. I was prepared to do it alone, but I knew Jeongguk wouldn’t let me. He was my best friend. I really counted on him and he counted on me.

The comforting resolve was disrupted by the sound of a flushing toilet.

Jeongguk let out an irritated growl. Jeongguk yanked away to turn to look into the apartment.

“WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT THE TOILET!?” Jeon demanded, grabbing my arm and dragging me into the apartment with him.

I made a wild grab to close the door behind us, trying to fight Jeongguk’s tight grip. I pushed the door closed and Jeongguk let me go, deeming me as the reason he couldn’t move fast enough to scold my son. I only chuckled, moving to the kitchen to throw the stuffed animal in the washing machine.

“YAH! NO SON OF MINE WILL FLUSH IRON MAN DOWN THE TOILET!” I rolled my eyes at Jeongguk’s words.

I could hear my son whine a response as I set the washer to quick wash. I heard footsteps and turned to see Jeongguk holding an armful of toys.

“Uncle Gukkie!” My son whined, trailing after him.

“No! You can’t have these back until you learn how to treat them right.” Jeongguk huffed, dropping the toys in an empty box and swiftly picking it up so Junseok couldn’t snag a toy back.

“Why all his toys?” I chortled.

They both looked over at me, my son with pleading eyes and my friend with the eyes of determination.

“Because our son needs to know what ‘stop’ and ‘don’t do that’ means.” He asserted.

“Stop calling him ‘our son’, people will get the wrong idea.” I giggled, moving to get the detergent.

“No! I’m helping you raise this brat, so he’s my son too!” I shrugged my shoulders. Fair enough.

“Any ideas for dinner?” I asked, starting the washer.

“Daddd!” Junseok whined in complaint of me not defending his toys.

I just knew Jeongguk made up his mind and I mostly agreed with him.

“We’ll order take out for now. Tomorrow we’ll have a better plan, we might be a little too busy for a sit-down meal though.” Jeongguk smiled, happy I wasn’t fighting him.

I nodded in understanding, “We’ll have to get some kind of ‘we are new to the neighborhood, don’t mind the screaming’ gift.”

“I think we’ll be fi-” Junseok cut Jeongguk off by jumping up and grabbing the edge of the box.

Junseok yanked down, causing the box to rip and toys spill out.

“JUST WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!? I said you don’t get these back until you learn how to treat them!!” Jeongguk began and ‘our son’ began to argue back.

“I’m thinking baked goods.” I sighed.

“Jeongguk, you…” I growled, holding one end of the entertainment center as Jeongguk held the other.

“You what!? Finish your sentence!” Jeongguk challenged, stopping in the middle of the entrance.

“You soggy piece of toast! Stop pushing me! You’re making me lose balance!” I snapped.

“You’re so fucking slow!” He clapped back.

“You’re so fucking impatient!” Thus the best friend bicker began.

Soon it wasn’t even about the stupid entertainment center, it wasn’t anything too harmful, just us venting out the stress of the day, per usual. We even set down the entertainment center to argue better.

“NO ONE EVEN LIKES THAT RAMEN SO WHY WAS THAT ONE ON SALE?”

“MAYBE BECAUSE NO ONE GOT IT SO IT WAS GOING TO EXPIRE!”

“THAT MUST HAVE BEEN IT!” After a few minutes of this, we finally drew some breath.

“Okay, now we can get back to work.” Jeongguk exhaled.

I have a quick glance around, “Uh… where is Junseok?” I asked blankly.

Jeongguk quickly spun around to face the living room, “He WAS on the couch!??”

Jeongguk and I slowly met eyes as the realization dawned on us. My best friend and I jumped into action.

“CALL THE POLICE!” Jeongguk shouted as he ran at the door.

As soon as the door opened I could see the door across the hall slightly ajar. This led me to think that my son got curious as to what the door was because he’s never lived in an apartment before.

I tried to grab onto my best friend’s shirt to stop him but he was already out the door and down the hall to the stairs before I could say anything. I heard him shove the door open to the stairway and take off. I sighed, wishing he would’ve saved me the effort of having to call him.

I hesitantly closed my apartment door and made my way to the door across the hall. I lightly pushed open the door, caution pulsing through my veins. I could hear bad playing of a guitar flood the nice-lit, comfy apartment.

“Don’t go too hard on the strings or they will break.” I heard a familiar male voice softly instruct.

The air smelled like muffins and I could hear the sound of a tv. I entered the apartment as quiet as I could, taking off my shoes and taking a deep breath. I raised my hand up and tapped my knuckles on the wall beside me.

“Come in!” A cheerful voice chimed, making the place seem even more inviting.

I stepped forward out the entryway to round the corner. My son was sitting on the floor, holding a guitar WAY too big for his body. His tongue was sticking out, his eyebrows furrowed as he tried to focus on the cords he was strumming.

The man I met in the ally, Seokjin, was sitting on the chair with the stuffed pig on his lap. The pig was plushier than before. I assumed Seokjin restuffed the animal since he had a sewing needle in hand, mid-tug of the thread. Seokjin’s eyes seemed to widen at my arrival.

“I’m sorry if he interrupted your afternoon. He was on the couch one moment then he was gone the next.” I apologized, bowing my head in remorse.

“That’s okay! He hasn’t caused me any trouble.” Seokjin assured me.

I lifted my head up, “Really!? He’s been bratty since we arrived.” I was dismayed. My son listened to a complete stranger more than me!?

Seokjin’s plush lips pulled into a smile, “Yes. Your son has been well behaved!” Seokjin grabbed the scissors and snipped off the extra thread from the pig. Seokjin stood up, a new aura around him that was ignored by my son as Seokjin seemed to strut up to me.

“If you feel that bad about interrupting my afternoon, you can treat me to a better one this week?” Seokjin implied, his eyes whirling with confidence.

I almost choked on air. Did my attractive neighbor just ask me out?

“I… Well…” I was at a loss for words.

Seokjin’s small smile turned into a bigger one, almost cocky, “How about tomorrow? Here. At six.” He tempted, one of his hands moving up to fix my shirt. I’m pretty sure he could feel my heart going faster than it’s ever gone before.

Seokjin’s eyes playfully cast up, awaiting my response.

“So what did you tell him?” Jeongguk asked, getting himself a glass of lemonade and leaning against the kitchen island I was currently sitting at. Head in my hands as my body burned with humiliation. Junseok was on the couch, too emersed in his game to understand how badly I ruined myself.

“I shouted ‘I’m gay’ and ran out.” I grumbled.

Lemonade shot out from Jeongguk’s nose, spraying out onto the countertop. My eyes widened and I jumped up to get him some paper towels, grabbing a few myself to catch the liquid that threatened to ruin the floor. Jeongguk grabbed the paper towels and held them up to his face as he began to cough and sputter. I swore I heard slight chuckling in the distress.

“I-I don’t… I don’t think that line works in THIS scenario…” Jeongguk coughed as he moved his cup to the sink, having no desire to have lemonade again any time soon.

“I panicked!” I tried to defend myself.

“Do you want to go on a date with him?” He inquired.

I threw my hands up, “I don’t know! I hardly even know the guy!”

My best friend rolled his eyes, “Well, you won’t know him anytime soon with you shouting ‘I’m gay’ while running out his apartment like he was asking you if you knew his lord and savior Jesus Christ.” Jeongguk smirked.

“I didn’t say ‘I’m gay’ while running out! I said it then ran out. Get your shit straight, Jeon.” I dropped back down to my seat with a pout. I leaned forward, dropping my head so my face was against the cold countertop, groaning in defeat and embarrassment.

“Okay, I’m sorry.” Jeon tried to refrain from smiling, but was failing horribly, “I shouldn’t tease you about this. Maybe go over, see if the offer stands and if he was serious. He came on a little strong. You never know, he might be as freaked out as you.”

My head lifted up and my eyes filled with hope. “Will it be that easy? You think so?” I asked in ease.

“No. He definitely thinks you’re weird and probably has another date set up in your spot. When you get there tomorrow, you’ll be interrupting his date.”

There were a few moments of silence as my expression fell and his lifted.

“I hope that lemonade burned your nose.” I muttered, laying my head back on the island.

"But Uncle Jeonnnn." My son whined from the kitchen island the next day, after a busy morning.

"No. I said we'd get ice cream AFTER you put away all your toys." Jeongguk asserted, lightly kicking the large box of toys that had been taped up from being ripped.

I only shook my head as I loaded the fridge with groceries.

"But I already cleaned my room, helped dad in the kitchen and helped you!" My son bargained.

"He has been helping a lot today, Jeon," I informed with a small smile.

Jeongguk's head snapped to face me, betrayal written in his eyes, "Who's side are you on!?"

I let out a sigh. I had two toddlers now.

"I'm not picking a side. Junseok, he said after you put your toys away. But Jeongguk, you can't discredit the work he's put in today without being a brat or complaining once. " I resolved.

My best friend pouted, deep in thought. He then turned to my son.

"How about we get junk food and play video games for an hour as your reward?" Jeon suggested, making my son's eyes light up.

"Good, because I don't want to go back on my word. You only get ice cream when you put away your toys. Go get ready." Jeon chuckled.

My son jumped up and rushed to his room quickly as if Jeon would change his mind in under thirty seconds. Jeongguk stood next to me to open the fridge for a bottle of soda.

"Are you sure you're okay with this? I know you said you wanted to help, but I don't want you to be doing all this because you feel obligated to." I frowned.

Jeongguk raised his eyebrow and swallowed, "M/n? I'm only taking him to the convenience store and back?"

"That's not it, " I rolled my eyes, "You've helped me mostly unpack, arrange the apartment and even took a week off from work to get us settled in. You've given a lot in the past few days."

It was then my best friend's turn to roll his eyes, "Seriously? Friends help friends move. And BEST friends arrange your fucking apartment for you because you don't have your shit together. If I didn't want to be here I wouldn't show up. You and your son deserve some happiness right now, so if I have to call another customer service line to help me set up a shelf, I fucking will."

I smiled at how much determination filled his eyes. "You didn't have the right tool, like a dumbass," I recalled, trying not to cackle.

"The manual said I didn't need a hammer!" He snapped.

"Your voice got a little offended there. Did I hit a nerve?" I teased.

"Know what? Fuck you, " Jeongguk stated dramatically as he put down his soda and began to stride out the kitchen, "I'm leaving you! I'm going to stay with my parents and I'm taking our son with me!" He ranted as he walked into the hall.

I chuckled, shaking my head as I moved back to stock up the kitchen. After I loaded the pantry I looked around for the box with the plates. I walked more into the living room to examine the stacked boxes by the door but didn't find any more boxes for the kitchen. I frowned.

"Hey, Jeongguk?" I called rotating boxes, hoping I read them wrong.

"Yes?" He called back from my room.

"Do you know where the last box for the kitchen is?"

"Check the hall! There are a few boxes out there that just got delivered!" In the hall!?

I shook my head in judgment and walked to the front door and out into the hall. Sure enough, to the left of my door were two stacks of boxes, four boxes high. I jogged back into the apartment to get my box cutter off the kitchen counter and ran back out to get to work on opening the last kitchen box that conveniently sat on the top of the first stack.

After I cut the tape open, I retract the blade in the box cutter and shoved it in my front hoodie pocket for easy access. I opened the box and took out a plate to examine it for any damages.

I could hear Jeongguk and my son talking as they entered the living room, then the entryway to pull on their shoes.

"Off to get junk?" I asked, checking other plates.

"Yes! He even dressed himself." My eyes widened at my best friend's words, making me spin around to face my mismatched son.

He had on red pants, a white T-shirt, green converse, a pink hat, and a yellow zip-up hoodie.

"...Junseok...Why?" I wasn't disappointed or judging, just confused.

Junseok shrugged, "It's comfortable."

"I mean, at least that's what matters." I gave him a warm smile.

Jeongguk reached in his back pocket, "He's adorable, I should take a picture." Jeon froze.

"Fuck! I forgot my phone. Wait here, Seok." Jeon gave my son two quick pats on the head and dashed inside.

My son and I gave each other and look then shifted our gazes to the apartment to give my best friend a judgemental look he couldn't see. Once Jeongguk came back, he took my son's hand and gave us both a big bunny smile.

"We're off!" He announced, puffing out his chest.

"To see the wizard?" I teased.

"Off what?" My son questioned.

Jeongguk deflated, "Let's just go." He grumbled as I held back a chuckle.

"Bye, Dad!" Junseok happily waved and began to drag my best friend down the hall.

"I'll grab you the usual!" Jeon quickly told me as my son dragged him to the elevators.

I giggled, shaking my head. I turned back to the boxes and lifted up the kitchen one. I took the box into the kitchen, setting it down on the island and made my way back out to the hall. I grabbed the top box on the second stack, turning it to get a better look at what I had written on the side of it.

As I was checking I could hear footsteps behind me. I smirked, figuring it was my friend forgetting something, "Forgot your wallet now, Jeon?" I teased, turning around.

I was met with someone who wasn't Jeongguk.

Seokjin was looking down at the floor. It looked like he had been biting at his lips and his hands were shoved in his pocket.

"Hello, M/n..." His voice was awkward and I didn't expect it from the man who was so confident and straightforward yesterday.

"Seokjin! Hi! How is your day so far?" I asked just as awkwardly.

There were a few moments of uncomfortable silence. Seokjin let out a groan of frustration as he pulled his hands out his pockets and lifted his gaze.

"I wanted to apologize!" He stated, his chest seeming to puff up.

I pressed my lips together in an effort to not smile, "Apologize for what?"

"I came on too strong yesterday." -Seokjin looked down at the floor again- "You had barely met me and I thought if I made an impression, you'd be as interested as me. I talked to my friend about it and he called me a dumbass. I understand why though. You and your boyfriend seem to be happy together and have a son an-" I raised one finger up as I let out a small giggle of disbelief.

I knew it was rude to interrupt but I just had to.

"Y-You... You think Jeongguk and I are boyfriends?" I held back laughter.

His eyes widened slightly, seeming even more embarrassed, "Are you not??"

"Jeongguk is my best friend, he has a habit of calling my son 'our son' because he's been around him since birth and helped me a lot with raising him. I feel nothing but platonic feelings for Jeongguk and he feels the same. We're like brothers." I explained, a smile on my face.

So Seokjin was a softie. I should've guessed.

"I... I could've sworn... Well, that makes sense!" Seokjin threw his hands up and groaned, turning around so his back was to me and put his face in his hands.

"Seokjin? If the offer still stands I would love to go on a date with you. I just don't know if I can do it tonight." I smirked, feeling bolder now that I knew he was as awkward as me.

"I'll admit you DID make an impression. You made me so flustered I told you I was gay and ran." I added light-heartedly.

I heard Seokjin let out a small laugh and saw his shoulders shake a bit.

I pressed my lips together, thinking of how to make this situation less awkward.

“Would you like to have a drink with me? I’m kinda tired and need a break.” I smiled.

Seokjin nodded, only moving when I began to walk into my apartment.

“Woww!” He exclaimed in awe.

“What is it?” I asked, spinning around, full of fear.

“Your apartment looks so clean!” I let out a breath of relief.

I thought he found something bad. Like my son leaving a half-eaten sandwich on the floor or even Jeongguk forgetting my underwear on the couch because he insisted that he do laundry today.

Glad it wasn’t anything bad, I strolled to the kitchen to serve us glasses of lemonade. Seokjin looked around a bit before making his way into the kitchen.

“So, who’s your friend with the blunt advice?” I giggled, lifting my glass to my lips.

Seokjin smiled, “Yoongi. He goes back and forth between staying at my apartment and our friend Hoseok’s apartment. The day I did that was the day he was at Hoseok’s. He said I was like a toddler who he couldn’t leave alone.”

“Jeongguk says the same thing. He teased me endlessly for what I did,” I chuckled.

“Well, now we’re having a conversation like adults.”

“More like teenagers, because we’re having lemonade awkwardly.”

“Adults awkwardly drink lemonade too!” I laughed, only shaking my head.

“How old are you anyway? I want to say you’re my hyung, but the way you act contradicts that.” Seokjin pressed his hand to his chest in fake offense.

“I’m 26!”  

“So you’re a goofy hyung.”

“And you’re a rude dongsaeng!” Now it was my turn to be offended.

“How so!?”

“You should’ve asked my age when we met!”

“Well, I’m sorry I was distracted!”

“I know I’m handsome but please have manners!” My face pretty much heated up the whole room.

“It’s because Jeongguk shouted out the window! Then the second time you cornered me!” I defended my honor as best as I could.

“Ahh, I knew my handsome face affected you.” He smiled playfully, shifting his hand to blow me a kiss.

“…I will kick you out of my apartment.”

Seokjin let out a laugh, “Why?”

“Because you’re backing me into a corner!”

“If it makes you feel any better, I think you’re handsome too.”

“…Where is Yoongi-hyung when you need him.”

“Yah! Why do you automatically call him hyung and not me!?”

“Because I learned my lesson!”

“Why didn’t you learn it before me!?”

“…I’m sorry, Hyung. I’ll do better next time.”

Seokjin smiled bigger, “Ah,” He clutched his chest, his face scrunching a bit like he was touched and proud, “what a respectful young man I’m raising you to be.”

“…I’m kicking you out.”

Over the next few days, Seokjin and I would wave to each other and sometimes he would knock at my door just to hang out. Jeongguk and Junseok seemed to really like him. It wasn’t long before I gave him my number so he could just text me when he would come over so I could just leave the door unlocked and so we could talk more.

If he wasn’t complimenting himself or me over text he would be giving me horribly good dad jokes.

I settled in easily and got a job working at Jeongguk’s ‘assistant’ since he worked as a camera operator. I was supposed to be as qualified as him, but what ends up happening is him teaching me how to work the camera and then him judging me when I fuck up. I am getting better, and I’m happy to have my best friend working with me.

After work is usually when Seokjin invites himself over. Since Jungkook and I are mostly attached to the hip, we pick up Junseok and all go home to my apartment together, so we make a ton of noise.

I needed to clean my apartment and go shopping one day, so Seokjin agreed to watch Junseok. I thought he would mind at first but he said he ‘would be honored to teach this young man his ways’ if I just promised that I would feed him dinner too… I wasn’t sure if I should’ve left him with Seokjin…

I had Seokjin stay at my now clean apartment while he watched Junseok since it would be easier. It was just Seokjin and Junseok since Jungkook had to go back to his own apartment to clean up.

I looked at the two bags of chips, one was ‘original’, meaning salt and a ton of grease and other one was octopus flavored. Since I haven’t tried the octopus flavored chip, I figured ‘what the hell’ and dropped them both in my basket.

“Old habits never die huh?” I heard making me freeze.

Please don’t be her.

I spun around and felt my blood boil, “Hyejin, what the actual fuck are you doing here?”

She gave me an awkward smile, “It’s nice to see you too.”

“Drop the crap, what do you want.”

“You just leaving was cruel. He’s my son too.” I narrowed my eyes at her, fighting every urge not to explode in a semi-busy store.

“You wanted nothing to do with him because it inconvenienced your ‘perfect life’. So you can fuck off with that. You literally delivered him, then handed him to me and never even visited until a few months ago. ”

“Because I regretted my decision.”

“Because the party was over. The people who ‘knew you better than me’ decided you were expendable.”

She sighed, “Stop being so mean!”

“Stop pretending like you came to this decision yourself and like you actually give a fuck.”

“What makes you think that I don’t!?”

“What’s the name of Junseok’s pig?”

There was silence. I sighed at her look of panic. Maybe I was too harsh, but I didn’t want MY son to be hurt by an unreliable person who only cared about themselves.

“Listen,” I began, looking down at my hands, trying to think over my words, “We used to have something and I didn’t plan on having a son so soon. You basically took matters into your own hands and forced this on the both of us. You had him, then handed him to me and never even looked his direction. I moved here to start over with him. So he wouldn’t hear stories of his mother at least for now. You left us both. You can see where I’m coming from can’t you?”

I looked up at the end of my rant to see her fuming.

I guess she couldn’t see where I was coming from.

“You can’t just pick up and start over without me! I’m his mother!”

“A mother doesn’t give her child up for partying and people who don’t care about anyone or anything.”

“Stop bringing my friends into this! It’s YOUR fault!”

I let out an annoyed sigh. This was going nowhere.

“You’re obviously not mature yet. Please leave me and MY son alone. I would consider you visiting my son if you grew up a little bit because you obviously haven’t learned anything. He starts school soon, and if I see or hear of you stalking him there or waiting at the fucking gates, so help me I will get every lawyer I can get my hands on to MAKE you stay away. So I’m politely telling you to go fuck yourself.” I grabbed another bag of chips and began to push past her.

“You can’t take my son from me!” She yelled as I walked away.

“I didn’t! You handed him over!” I called back, trying to walk away in fucking style.

I couldn’t stop thinking about Hyejin on the elevator ride up to my apartment.

Maybe I WAS too harsh.

Or maybe she was too stubborn to take a fucking hint.

I kept wondering if there was a compromise we could come to or if something was wrong with my logic.

I was afraid she’d get bored like before then leave again. Play nice for a few weeks then leave.

I didn’t want someone like that in my son’s life but she was right, she was his mother and she had rights.

What if I DID have to involve the law?

What if they decided that I shouldn’t get my son?

What if it all went downhill because I was too stubborn to just let her see him??

What if I DID let her see him and she took him from me??

I was so stuck in my thoughts that I didn’t notice that I got out the elevator and shoved open my front door.

I didn’t snap out of it until I heard a male scream. My head snapped up to see Seokjin leap from the couch and frantically look around for something to defend himself. After finding nothing he, for some reason, settled on Oink who was laying on the couch, cocking his arm back like he was going to throw it at me.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa it's just me!" I held my hands up in front of me- "Put. The. Pig. Down!"

"You don't just walk into a man's home!" Seokjin scolded, shaking the pink stuffed pig at me in a demonstration of dominance.

“It’s MY apartment!”

“It was MY territory before you entered!”

“Like hell it is! I pay the bills!”

“I babysit and grace this place with my looks! Now tell me who REALLY provides for this family!”

As much as I tried to fight it, that made me smile. Despite me being too stressed and worked up to focus when I walked in, Seokjin made it all melt away in a matter of moments.

It was like 10 tons was lifted from my shoulders.

I sighed, letting my body relax, “You, Seokjin.” I smiled tiredly as I walked over to him.

He looked a little shocked at my words, still holding his guard up as I threw my arms around him to pull him into a thankful hug.

“You provide for this family more than you know.” I spoke, letting the silence hang in the air.

Then too much silence. It was only a few seconds of silence but it seemed like minutes. I was considering apologizing and pulling away, but I felt Jin wrap his arms around my waist and pull me closer.

It was now peaceful, comfortable, and reassuring silence.

It wasn’t like a hug with Jeongukk. Though it was filled with love and comfort, it felt like that but so much more.

I could feel my emotions pool in my chest and threaten to spill out. All from a simple hug.

“…I’m lost.” I admitted, hiding my face into his well-built shoulder.

Seokjin let out a small sigh, his arms tightening around me, “I’ll always be here to guide you.” He seemed to promise in a soft tone.

Maybe I could be willing to let Seokjin into my life more than I already had.

It really wouldn’t be so bad to let Seokjin be the person he wanted to be to me… Would it?

“So…about that date.” I began.

“Remember not to put the glass pitcher in the front of the fridge!” I called to Jeongguk as he was sat on the floor with my son.

I could hear their loud game continue, letting me know that they were far from listening. Their bowls of noodles sat behind them on the coffee table, untouched as they numbed themselves to the gaming world,

“Yah! Eat your food!” I snapped, making Jeongguk roll his eyes with an annoyed groan.

“Fine, MOM. We’ll eat.” He sassed, tapping my son’s side to get him to turn to the table.

I could hear a soft knock on the door that made me rush over to it. I pulled open my door, ready to tell Jin to just come in because I needed to wait for my socks to get out the drawer but my jaw dropped at the sight of him.

Black leather jacket, black shirt, dark jeans, and dark boots. A beautiful earring dangled from one of his ears, giving just the right amount of flash to draw attention.

I couldn’t help but stare in awe of the man I happened to snatch up by chance. I was taken by surprise by the outfit. He usually went for a more softer look. So my dumbass was wearing an oversized sweater and jeans to match his soft look but now that wasn’t happening.

Seokjin began to smirk at my obvious staring but just like that, it was over. The moment ruined with a noodle flying across the room, sauce splattering a bit on his face and my son cackling like the tyrant he was growing up to be.

My eyes widened and I quickly ran to get paper towels as Jeongguk began to scold my son about wasting noodles.

I made a mental note to scold my son for not only wasting noodles but ruining a perfectly good leather jacket.

“Sorry, Hyung! I should’ve warned you not to wear anything nice.” I let out a small awkward laugh.

“After all I’ve done to save Oink and THIS is how I’m treated!?” Seokjin mocked offense, a smile blessing his face, making me let out a breath of relief.

Seokjin the ran over to my son to ‘tackle’ him to the floor and wiggle his finger’s against my son’s side, causing my son to squeal with laughter. Jeongguk quickly picked a side as he jumped on Seokjin’s back to annoy him, causing Seokjin to yell at Jeongguk, but not causing him to stop tickling my son.

I smiled as warmth spread throughout my chest. Despite Seokjin’s attire, he was too soft for his own good and I loved that about him. He didn’t prod at my personal life, he didn’t push his boundaries, or judge how young I was with a son. Or even judge my relationship with Jeongguk. He just took it as it was and didn’t try to change it, he just wanted to be involved. He wanted to know me. He wanted to be a part of my life and take care of us.

“Yah! You’re ruining my date!” I complained, causing Jeongguk to blow into Seokjin’s ear as a form of rebellion.

“Stop giving foreplay!” I snapped at Jeongguk, causing his eyes to widen and for him to freeze in place.

Seokjin used Jeongguk’s pause to his advantage, grabbing Jeongguk to have him on his back so Seokjin could tickle him relentlessly too. Jeongguk let out a loud laugh as he tried to squirm out of Seokjin’s grasp.

“M/N! GET YOUR BOYFRIEND!”

“I don’t know, man. The way you were teasing him makes me think he’s YOUR boyfriend…”

“LESS SHIT TALK, MORE HELP!”

The date was not what I expected, but in a good way. Seokjin said he had a reservation somewhere and I thought it was a restaurant but after a few minutes of walking, he bought two bags of chips and some drinks as we casually strolled, which was gradually making my sanity decrease.

“So… Is this the date?” I asked as Seokjin’s eyes were trained on looking in his bag for the perfect chip.

“Would it be terrible if it was?” He asked, not bothering to look up.

“Not really, I just don’t really understand why we took an hour train ride to walk around.”

Seokjin only smirked. A moment of silence.

“So what do you think of koalas?” He tested.

“WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING!?”

Seokjin let out a laugh and kept walking. I glared at the back of his head, wondering if it would be too cruel to trip him.

Words can never explain how much I felt like a child as I hastily pulled off my shoes and put them away. I practically vibrated with excitement as Seokjin led me into the empty place.

A trampoline park.

No one else but us and staff.  

I was frozen in place, taken by surprise at just how huge this place was, “How did you manage to do this!? Are you rich or something!?” I gasped, “Am I your sugar baby now?” I asked as Seokjin un-glued me from my spot by pulling me by the hand.

“As much as I want you to think I’m perfect, my friend Taehyung works here. He offered the night to us.” He explained, stepping on the boarders of the trampolines on the floor so he could walk easily.

“…Are all your friends cool?” I asked, causing Seokjin to stop in his tracks and whip his head around to face me.

“Yah! Why do you want to know? I’m the coolest out of them! I’m the only 10!” I pressed my lips together in attempts to not burst out laughing.

Seokjin shook his head, “Let’s play a game! There are a few balls around, I go on one side and you go on the other, it hits the wall behind me, you get a point, I hit it behind you, you get a point.”

I could feel my competitive spirit spur in my chest, “Oh you’re fucking on!” I smirked, playfully pushing him to the side and rushing to get to the other side of the room.

“WHY DID YOU PUSH ME!?”

“PLAY THE GAME HYUNG!”

Seokjin decided to set a timer, 20 minutes, whoever got the most points in those 20 minutes was the winner. The loser had to buy dinner and the tickets back home. A few minutes into the game and I was only pulling 2 points ahead.

Seokjin was more athletic then I gave him credit for. Soon it got way too hot in the sweater I decided to wear. I was so used to playing these kinds of games with Jeongguk that I didn’t question it when I yanked off my sweater and threw it to the side to quickly get back into the game before Seokjin attempted to score.

However, that didn’t happen. Seokjin was walking with the ball, eyes too focused on me to the point where he stepped wrong between two trampolines, causing him to slip and the brightly colored borders to go directly into his groin. My hand flew up to my mouth as I heard the wind get knocked out of him painfully. I could feel second-hand pain in my stomach as he fell to the side, his hands cupping the now extremely sensitive area, his eyes watered.

“Holy shit! Hyung!? Are you okay!?” I asked, trying to run over but ended up losing my balance. Which ended in me doing a useless belly flop in his direction.

Seokjin let out a pain-filled chuckle, “Stop being cute I’m dying!”

“I’m sorry, Hyung!” I apologized quickly, getting up as fast as I could and stepping on the border so I wouldn’t lose balance again.

Before I could race to him Seokjin’s words stopped me, “YAH! Put on your shirt first!!”

I nodded rapidly and rushed over to grab my sweater, yanking it on and turning to sprint to Jin. Which made my impatient ass slip.

Again.

I let out a frustrated groan as I belly-flopped again.

“Oh just fucking forget it!” Seokjin murmured breathlessly, rolling onto his back.  

“How about I just walk?” I suggested.

“That would be best considering this place is a death trap.”

I stood again, moving to walk carefully on the borders until I got to Seokjin. I kneeled down beside him, petting his head in attempts to comfort him.

“…Thank you.” He muttered, staring at the ceiling, looking like he was questioning every choice he’s ever made.

“…This means I win right?”

“Gloat all you want but I’m never bringing you here ever again and I’m telling Taehyung that he tried to kill me.”

“…No one had you staring.” I tried to hold back the laughter that was bubbling in my chest.

“SO NOW IT’S MY FAULT THAT YOU GOT NAKED IN FRONT OF ME!?” Seokjin suddenly popped off.

“I just took off my shirt. It was too hot.” I defended.

“TOO HOT IS RIGHT! YOU CHEATED! YOU KNEW THAT WOULD MAKE ME FLUSTERED! I WANT A REMATCH WHEN I CAN FEEL MY LEFT LEG AGAIN!” Seokjin ranted.

I giggled, “Hyung, just admit that you like my body and you lost.”

“I didn’t lose! You cheated! How would you feel if I took off my shirt during a game?”

“I would like it very much.” I teased.

I could see color bloom in Seokjin’s cheeks and ears.

I could feel adoration fill my chest, “You’re so cute.”

“I’m a 26-year-old man. I’m not cute.”

“If I get you dinner can I call you cute?”

“You get me dinner and I charge you for getting to have a meal with me.”

“You called me cute, this isn’t fair.”

“Don’t talk back to your hyung.”

“…My hyung just broke his balls…”

“And it demands respect!”

I half expected Seokjin to take me to a cafe or something, but instead, he was arguing on the phone as I‌ grabbed chips out of a vending machine.

“I set up that reservation three hours ago!”‌ My eyebrows shot up.

“How the fuck did you even do that in the first place??”‌ Seokjin pressed his hand to the phone as if to completely keep the person on the other line from hearing.

“Someone canceled and I booked it.”‌ He responded in a hushed tone.

The other person seemed to say something because Seokjin quickly removed his hand and snapped, “They DID cancel!”‌

I only shook my head as I looked around. There were a few small restaurants. One looked like it had some good looking noodles. Another one had shrimp wrapped in something that I first thought was noodles. It was more like a batter of sorts, it was all dipped in the deep fryer. I was more curious about what the hell that dough was than hungry for it.

I‌ did see one stall that stood out though. An older woman was making knife-cut noodles. She didn’t have many people since there was a constant battle of everyone one-upping each other.

I turned to Seokjin, who was still arguing with this person who wasn’t budging. I grabbed his hand and began to pull him towards the stall. He was too focused on bickering that he just let me drag him along. I pushed down on his shoulders to make him sit then turned to the surprised woman.

“Two bowls please!”‌ I‌ eagerly asked.

“Would you like chicken or pork in your bowl?”‌ She asked, mirroring my smile.

I frowned a bit looking over at Seokjin, still arguing. I wasn’t really sure what he would prefer.

“One bowl of each? He’s a little stubborn.”‌ I chuckled awkwardly.

She only nodded in understanding as she began to cook the noodles. I was excited, getting chopsticks and looking over the add-in options.

“Hyung, she has soybean paste!”‌ I exclaimed.

I didn’t hear a break in his stupid dispute.

“WHY TELL ME THERE WAS A CANCELLATION IF THERE WASNT!? THEY CALLED TO CANCEL THEY CAN'T JUST TAKE IT BACK!”

I let out a huff. Well at least I know he’s passionate about what he believes in.

I reached up and grabbed his phone, ignoring his appalled face as I ended the call.

“Yah!‌ I was winning! That was rude!” He scolded me.

“You weren’t winning!‌ You were arguing with a wall! Pay attention to me.”‌ I grumbled, moving to shove his phone in my pocket.

“Hey! Give me my phone!”‌ He tried to lunge for it but I held my arm out to just keep it out his reach.

“We came out to have a nice time!”‌ I whined.

“We are having a nice time!”‌

“You arguing about a table is not a nice time!”‌

Seokjin was about to retaliate but was cut off by the woman setting the bowls in front of us.

“Thank you!”‌ I smiled at her, successfully pocketing the phone.

“Pork or chicken?”‌ I asked, handing him chopsticks.

Seokjin wordlessly grabbed the chopsticks from me and slid the bowl with chicken closer to himself. A pout rested on his rose lips.

I‌ groaned, “Hyung, the reservation wasn’t THAT important to argue for twenty minutes.”‌

More silence.

I let out a sigh and pulled the pork bowl closer, mixing the noodles and beginning to eat. I looked over to the add-in options and got the hot pepper paste. I put a decent sized dab in my bowl and offered it to Seokjin, who just took it in more muteness. I only rolled my eyes and went back to eating. Who knew an argument could mean so much to him.

After about half a bowl of noodles, he finally spoke.

“I‌ wanted tonight to be perfect.”‌

I raised an eyebrow at him. He was only staring at his noodles in defeat.

“And it is so far… except for you arguing for twenty minutes then ignoring me for ten.”

Seokjin turned to me, sadness in his eyes, “But you finally said yes!‌”

His words slowly sunk in as he continued, “I didn’t get a lot of time to set this up, but I still wanted to blow you away.”‌ Oh great now I felt like a dick for not planning the date at a later time.

“I said yes because I wanted to know you more, not what you could offer me. I understand you want it to be perfect but I honestly feel more comfortable eating noodles at a stall than in a fancy restaurant that I have to get glares every time I laugh too loud. This IS perfect, Hyung.”‌

Seokjin looked back down at his bowl, “…If I would’ve known you were this cheap I would’ve had a picnic at the park.”‌ He grumbled.

“CAN WE!?”‌

Seokjin shook his head at me, a disapproving look on his face.

"I make a KILLER lemonade!"‌ I added with a proud smile.

I‌ saw Seokjin try to hold back a smile, "We'll have a picnic date next time."‌ He confirmed, lifting up a bundle of noodles.

We heard a clatter to the side of us. We whipped our heads to look towards the woman. She had dropped a spoon and looked a little... surprised?

"Ma'am, are you okay?"‌ I asked softly.

Seokjin only frowned, "Yes, we're on a date. I've even seen him without a shirt and I liked it."‌

My head snapped over to look at Seokjin, "Hyung!"

"We're planning on going home together,"‌ Seokjin added to my horror.

"OKAY!THANKYOUSOMUCHFORTHEMEALWE'REGOINGTOGONOW!" I yelled in one breath, frantically trying to pull my wallet out of my pocket.

"He even has a son so we don't need to adopt. We're going to raise a CHILD. TWO MEN."

"HYUNGSTOPTALKING!" I slammed the money on the table, just knowing I gave more money than was needed.

My face was way too hot and my brain was far too scattered to deal with what Seokjin just did.

I grabbed his hand and began to try to yank him away. It was useless. The man didn't budge.

"I'm going to use the belt tonight because he made me lose an argument."‌

World.

Just open up and take me now.

It wasn't just the woman who was staring now, it was others around the small market as well. I‌ wanted to melt into the floor.

“Hyung…”‌I‌ whispered, “If we leave now I’ll buy you cake.”

The ride and stroll home was by far my favorite part of the date. Even though I had to buy Seokjin a pretty expensive slice of cake –I’ve never seen someone shove a whole slice of strawberry cake in their mouth– we still talked the whole way home. Embarrassing stories of our childhoods, who our friends were and everything in between. It was amazing until the dreaded topic was brought up.

“What about Junseok? Does he talk to his mother?”‌

Fuck.

I looked down at my feet as we walked, thinking over my works. I tried to figure out how I was going to tell this story without being biased or have Seokjin thing badly of Hyejin.

Seokjin must have thought I didn’t want to tell him, “You don’t have to tell me if it’s too sore of a subject…”‌ He added, a little disappointed.

“It’s not that!”‌ I‌ quickly said, looking up as fast as I spoke.

I let out an awkward laugh from my outburst, “It’s just that I‌ don’t know how to really tell the story in a neutral or fair way. I only know one side of the story so it’s a little complicated.”‌

Seokjin let out a sigh. He reached over to grab my hand and dragged me over to some stairs close by. He sat down and patted beside him, “This sounds like it will take a while, so start from the beginning. We have the time.”‌

I looked down at him, shaking my head, “You just want to torture my best friend.”‌

“Looking after that well-behaved, future child of mine, is not torture.”‌ I raised an eyebrow.

“Future child of yours?”‌

“Just sit down and spill.”‌

I sighed, and plopped down next to him, this was going to be hard explaining this to someone who didn’t know Hyejin.

“I used to have two best friends. Jeongguk, and Hyejin. Hyejin was a girl and she kinda stuck around us,” I‌ began, trying to keep my eyes dead ahead so I wouldn’t have to look into his eyes. I‌ was almost afraid he would judge me.

“Jeongguk was in sports and had two other friends, Jimin and Taehyung. So sometimes Jeongguk and I couldn’t hang out. I‌ wasn’t mad about it, I mean I‌ didn’t expect him to not have other friends. But Hyejin made it seem like it was like he committed treason,”‌ I‌ scoffed at the ridiculousness, “She kept saying ‘if he’s having fun so should we’.”‌ I‌ mocked her stupid voice.

I could see Seokjin press his lips together to hold back laughter. I‌ sighed and began to rub my hands on my thighs nervously.

“I‌ was an art student. I‌ was trying to keep my grades above average and I didn’t care about having fun. But Hyejin kept going on and on and I knew that she wouldn’t stop until I gave in and went with her at least once. So I did. ” I‌ could feel my heart speed up at the thought of finishing the stupid story that seemed to affect me years later.

“Jimin had told me once that Hyejin was giving me heart eyes. I‌ told him she was our childhood friend, so he was wrong. Jeongguk and I talked about how she seemed to be the most unconvinced when I‌ came out, but I was too idiotic to think she would just let it go.”‌ I could feel anger begin to build and sting the back of my eyes.

“So sure enough, I‌ got black-out drunk and wandered upstairs. I just wanted to pass out and have someone drag me home in the morning. I‌ remember diving onto the bed and texting Jeongguk. I‌ remember Hyejin coming into the room and asking if I was plastered. I‌ remember saying something stupid like ‘I’m not plaster, I’m a person.’. I‌ remember her flipping me over and complaining about taking me home. I just remember her hovering over me. I‌ thought she was just going to complain more and take me home like a decent fucking human being would.”‌I nearly growled.

Seokjin scooted closer to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. He pulled me close but said nothing, allowing me to continue.

“The last thing I‌ remember was her stupid fucking face hovering over me. I‌ woke up next to her. Being the idiot I was, I‌ woke her up and told her we would keep it a secret. I‌ dumbly thought she was as wasted as me and we just happened to hook up. We didn’t talk about it and I told her that if she brought it up, we wouldn’t be friends anymore.”‌ Even the summarized version made my blood boil.

“A few weeks later, she called in sick to school. When Jeongguk and I called in to check up on her, we were yelled at by her mom. Well… I‌ was yelled at by her mom. I‌ was called a low-life player and a bunch of other stupid shit. When I asked her what the hell her problem was, she told me Hyejin was pregnant.”‌

“I had to explain to Jeongguk what happened. Of course, Jeongguk was pissed. My family wasn’t very stable financially. But Hyejin’s family was. I had to explain to my parents. They weren’t as hard on me as they could’ve been, but they were disappointed. Jeongguk was the first to say she did it on purpose.”

“I believe him.”‌ Seokjin’s voice was barely above a whisper.

“I‌ do too. I tried to get a job, I‌ mean I was going to have a kid. So I stopped taking school as seriously. I figured if I‌ passed just above the bar it would be enough for art school. Hyejin kept telling me that being a parent was a full-time thing. She wasn’t going to let me go to art school. I told her that I WAS going. There were plenty of fathers in college! I‌ tried damn hard to get above the bar while working. It’s was 8 months of hell with Hyejin. Jeongguk would invite me to hang out with him and his friends, only for Hyejin to somehow find us and tell off Jimin like he was trying to steal me away. I‌ told her to cut it out, only for her to tell me I was hers until the baby was born. Jeong–”‌

“Bitch.”‌ I choked on air.

Seokjin patted my back as I coughed and sputtered, “Are you okay!?”‌ He questioned, worry written all over his face. My choking turned into laughter as I leaned onto Seokjin’s lap.

“What!? I’m sorry, but that’s crazy stalker level bitchery!”‌ He defended, only causing me to laugh more. Literal tears.

I felt Seokjin’s fingers comb through my hair as he let out small laughs of his own, waiting for me to calm down.

It wasn’t so bad in Seokjin’s lap. It was warm and comforting. Just what I needed for the finale of the horror story. My laughter died down. He didn’t stop playing with my hair as my breath evened out.

“Jeongguk was going to move here. But he stayed until Junseok was born.” I‌ said softly.

I rubbed my face more against his thigh, “That was nice of him.”‌Seokjin’s voice was feather-light.

“She left us.”‌ I‌ stated.

Seokjin’s fingers froze.

“Her parents were insisting I should marry her. My parents would fight back. A few weeks before Junseok was born, her parents put us in an apartment to live together. My mother hated it. It was pretty high-end. A few days before Junseok was born, Hyejin and I got into a fight about us getting married. I wasn’t going to do it. I would support her and my child. I‌ would make sure he grew up right, but I wasn’t going to trap myself in a loveless marriage. So when Junseok was born. She ignored me almost the whole time. Only waking up to feed him then going back to bed. Jimin, Taehyung, and Jeongguk were more excited to see him than she was. It was no surprise that as soon as she was able to walk around, she packed her things, handed me Junseok and left everything to me.”‌

I felt wet hit my cheek.

After a moment of confusion, I looked up at Seokjin. His eyes were red, tears beginning to streak down his cheeks.

I‌ quickly sat up to cup his face, “Why are you crying?”‌ I asked, trying to wipe away as many tears as I would.

“He’s such a great son. Why wouldn’t she just give him a chance?‌!” I’ve never seen him so hurt and angry.

I let out a sigh, “She came back last year. She tried to act like nothing happened. She just kept coming over and saying I was the problem for not giving her a chance. He knows her as his aunt, which creeps me out. So I moved so she would leave us alone. She just knows I’m in Seoul.”‌ I sagged my shoulders and dropped my hands to his thighs.

“Well she can suck my ass he’s my son now.”‌

“WHY IS EVERYONE TRYING TO CLAIM MY SON??” I‌ demanded.

Seokjin chuckled, “I’m telling you, he’s a great boy. You did perfect.”‌ His voice was soft and comforting.

He placed his hand in my hair to ruffle it, “You and your son are perfect for me.”‌

He’s face was still blotched red. His eyes shined with the light and his nose was as red as his ears. He was beautiful. It hurt to see him cry, but I couldn’t help the fondness that built in my chest.

“You’re perfect for us too.”‌ I‌ whispered.

His eyes turned into crescents as his smile grew.

“You’re even handsome when you cry.”‌ I‌ smirked.

“Yah!”‌ The switch flipped.

Seokjin drew back to smack the back of my head, “I’m starting to think you only want me around for my looks!”‌

“That’s not true!” I rubbed the back of my head with a pout, “I keep you around because you cook and make dad jokes.”‌

“…Do you appreciate them?”‌

“Very much so.”‌

“…Then I will continue to stay.”‌

Seokjin and I walked into the apartment building hand-in-hand. I would occasionally swing our hands, being the idiot I‌ was. Seokjin had a thing for winking at people who stared, which I had to scold him for.

Upon exiting the elevator, Seokjin turned to me, “How about I hang out at your apar-”‌

A‌ loud shriek cut Seokjin off. Making us both jump and look down the hall.

“JUNSEOK GIVE ME THE BASKET OF TOWELS!!!”‌ I could hear Jeongguk’s muffled yelling from in the apartment.

“SECRET AGENT SEOK WILL USE THEM TO ESCAPE THE EVIL VILLAIN!”‌

“YOU USE THEM TO CLIMB OUT THE WINDOW AND I WILL GRAB SCIS- STOP TYING THEM TOGETHER YOUR FATHER WILL KILL ME!”‌

I let out a deep sigh, turning to Seokjin, “You still sure he’s a good son?”‌

Seokjin gave me a big smile, “He’s tormenting Jeongguk. He’s the best son.”‌

I‌ could hear Junseok scream.

“SCREAM ALL YOU WANT! YOU CAN’T GO OUT THE WINDOW!!!”‌

Seokjin let out a sigh of his own, his hand tightened around mine, “Let’s go handle our son, shall we?”‌

[twistinghearts]

Twisted Wonderland Tag Game: Post Release Version (template)

Rules: Answer the following questions, then tag 3 or more blogs to keep the game going. Have fun, and may the gotcha goblins seek favor upon you!

~Your twisted tale begins!~

1. Y(o/u)u just woke up in a coffin trapped with this talking rat thing that swears he isn’t a tanuki. How do you actually react?

-Freeze. Honestly I tense up when I get scared, so I would just close my eyes and pretend to be dead. If he go to annoying, or mean I’d try and kick him. 

2. Let’s pretend for a second that you’re not at the mercy of a magic mirror and incompetent bird dad, choose which dorm you would like to be a part of. Why, and do you think the mirror would agree?

-I know we don’t know much about them yet but Pomfiore. Not only would I fit in and feel safe in that dorm, I feel like they’d look out for me. Also I would probably improve myself a lot being in that dorm. I have good drive and determination I’m just bad at getting started. Jogging is still a no though

3. Going back to twst reality, where you don’t have magic and get sentenced to Ramshackle; what is your first thought upon seeing this safety hazard of a building? What’s the first thing you choose to fix there?

-Bed. That is the first thing I fix and then I can sleep and pretend that none of this is happening. As long as I have my one cozy safe space I will be okay

4. In an alternate reality where you don’t immediately get lumped together with Ace and Deuce, who in the school becomes your best friend(s)?

-So, I have recently found that I am bad at making friends, and am much better at getting ‘adopted’ by extroverts. So that would mean... i don’t know who ever takes and interest in me. I don’t like most of the extroverted character though. Maybe Ruggie, I’d baby him. Cater also seems chill, and I’d probably try and weasel into a friendship with Vil. 

5. Which existing club would you give a shot? Any particular reason why?

-Movie Appreciation club! I love movies, making them, making up things about them, also just sitting and watching movies doesn’t sound bad though I’m sure would make it way more serious. But it doesn’t involve running sooooo

6. Don’t be shy, we know there’s a certain someone who’s caught your eye! Who are they? How did you meet?

-Like half of them. Have you seen them! I keep mentioning Vil, also he is taller than I thought which yes. Hanging around the Pomefiore Dorm, is probably just how we met.  

7. Which of the events was the most exciting for you?

-Ghost bride? I really didn’t participate in the other events... I haven’t actually read all of any of the events. 

8. Ghosts: delightful dorm mates or unholy terrors?

-Unholy terrors. I wouldn’t mind them if it didn’t feel like they were evesdropping all the time. Like they just show up randomly but it’s not random they’re just always listening, always around.

9. Choose a champion (no further context, just pick).

-Vil. Whatever it is he will likely try his best, even if he fails. 

10. Would you rather (a) film a movie with Vil, (b) play a round of magic shift with Leona, or © go gargoyle sighting with Malleus?

- Flim a movie with Vil, as stated for reasons above. I like movies and I like being techy and movie things. 

11. Thoughts on fairies?

-I have always loved faries.

12. “Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” (Choose wisely now)

- All the boys over 6′ 

13. Would you rather (a) keep Azul from eating fried food, (b) be responsible for dragging Idia out from his lair, © break a rule with Riddle standing right in front of you, or (d) tell Kalim to his face that Jamil isn’t all that great (not true).

-B, because I feel like I could do it? I’m not all that interested in doing it, but I’ve dealt with people like that before myself included, so it feels do-able. Though D sounds kinda fun~ If it doesn’t just lead to a lecture on why Jamil is great. 

14. You stumble upon Rook stalking another student from inside the bushes. What do you do?

-Watch him. It would probably be an accident, just freezing up at suddenly finding him in a bush, staring at him to see what he does next. I wouldn’t stop him, or inform the other student. 

15. Which homeland (that we know of) would you like to learn more about?

-Hmm that’s difficult because I want to know more about most of them. The Idia world, because I want to know how they relate it to the underworld.

16. Thoughts on Grimm?

- I THINK HE’S GOING TO TURN IN TO A PRETTY ANIME BOY AND I DON’T LIKE THAT! His voice is fairly cute. 

17. If you had magic, what would be your unique magic?

-This is hard to answer when you can only think of negative traits about yourself for some reason. A rage mode? That doesn’t sound too bad. Uh... I have a pretty good memory so maybe the ability to recite an exact conversation word for word. 

18. Favorite ship? (oc ships are cool too)

-Probably Rook/Leona, and Leona/Malleus I’m not too into any ships with the game yet. I-ifocshipsarec-coolIlikeshippingsangoandrookbecausetsunderewithoverlyaffectionateannoyingiscute So by that logic, also the Writing-Raven and Jade~

19. Favorite theory?

- Can I say mine about Vil’s backstory and him being poor even though it was based entirely on a miss-translated line? 

20. The school year is coming to a close, how are you feeling? Any thoughts?

-What comes next? I’ve been freed. Don’t you know how hard it is to lead? I’m on my own. Oh no. Crap. I don’t have a clue, so guess I’ll nap. 

21. “Starlight, star bright, first star I see tonight; I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight.” What do you wish to see from the game in future stories?

-Honestly, outfits. I really like costumes. Also just in general exploring more of the magical parts of their world.

Tagging: I’m not tagging anyone since I’m answering so late, but please feel free to answer in your own post. It’s such a fun idea to think about!

Tagged by: @fluiditism @edda-blattfe

[jacobtimothys]

ANTONY, BENVOLIO, CELIA, CIRCE, CLAUDIUS, CORDELIA, DESDEMONA, EDMUND, HAMLET, HECATE, HELENUS, HORATIO, JULIET, LADY MACBETH, MACBETH, MERCUTIO, MIRANDA, OPHELIA, PARIS, PORTIA, PUCK, ROMEO, ROSALIND, ROSALINE, TYBALT

ANTONY: What bad habits do you need to break?

I think I’m too nice to girls sometimes. Like I think I tend to lead them on being so sweet, but it’s misinterpreted as romantic. Not saying I need to be a hard ass, but I should save some of my sweetness and be more sarcastic maybe?

BENVOLIO: What comes to mind when you think of peace?

Being surrounded by a bunch of tools and projects. Give me something to focus on and tinker with all day. And a ton of food.

CELIA: Do you want to fall in love?

Of course, who doesn’t?

CLAUDIUS: What is the worst thing you’ve ever done?

I’d have to say sleeping with my dead friend’s ex about a few weeks after it happened. Like, I know what I was trying to do, but that timing was terrible. I felt like I betrayed him or something after me and her had this big blow out. We’re better now together I think, but doing it back then? It just wasn’t right.

CORDELIA: Do you consider yourself a good person?

I like to think so, but I’m not perfect.

DESDEMONA: Do you believe that the truth will set you free?

Of course.

EDMUND: Do you ever wish you’d been born someone else? If so, who?

Maybe Tom Holland or anybody that got to have sex with Kendall Jenner.

HAMLET: Do you prefer to think things through thoroughly or act on impulse?

Sometimes I act on impulse, only if it’s something I want. Otherwise? I’ve always got a plan.

HECATE: Do you consider yourself an introvert or an extrovert?

Extrovert

HELENUS: Do you believe in God?

Sure, not a full on St. Clare, but I think God’s up there.

HORATIO: Who do you love most?

My mom and dad, Clare, (and Eli but that’s a secret 😉)

JULIET: What is your favorite luxury?

I’ve got a rolex I bought with my first big check.

LADY MACBETH: What is your favorite thing about yourself?

I think it’s my ability to make people smile or laugh. Even if I have to be the butt of a joke, I like making people feel happy, if only for a few moments. Everybody’s got stuff they’re going through, so we could all use a laugh or a smile here or there.

MACBETH: Have you ever killed anyone? Would you?

Oh god no! I’d never kill anyone.

MERCUTIO: Is there anyone you would die for? 

Pretty much all my friends and family.

MIRANDA: Is happiness a choice? 

It can be, but sometimes it’s hard to be happy when life’s keeping you down. You can’t just say ‘i wanna be happy’ and you’re just happy. it takes work to be happy and love yourself.

OPHELIA: Is there anything you regret not doing? 

I guess not talking to Tori sooner. I don’t know what I was so nervous about, but like, we get along great. I’ve loved seeing her face and finding out what she’s been up to. And not going to that party..I think if I was there, I could have stopped what happened..

PARIS: If you had the chance to rule the world, would you? 

Nah, too much work. I’ll settle for exploring it.

PORTIA: When did you lose your innocence?

I was about 15 and in Vermont on a vacation to a ski resort. Me and this girl kinda got carried away in her room while her parents were skiing..best 10 minutes of my life. Ending up meeting up with her in LA and marrying her a few years later, but that story’s not so fun to tell.

PUCK: Do you consider yourself a mischievous person?

I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.

ROMEO: How far would you go for love? 

Pretty far, love is a special thing folks.

ROSALIND: What does your ideal day entail?

I’d say going to play guitar in the morning, followed by building something new, then getting my assignments done before I have a meeting with my frat on proper conduct. And if I’ve got time? Drinks at Frozen’s with all you can eat wings.

ROSALINE: Which people from your past haunt you?

OK..I wouldn’t called this being ‘haunted’ but like..sometimes, when I’m really out of it, I’ll hear Luke’s voice, and I can see him. We talk, have conversations, but it’s like he only talks the way he does because he knows what I know. And lately, my sister’s been joining him on the ‘why are you a moron, do the right thing’ train. 

And this part like..it stopped, a few years back. But I used to hear cries in my dreams. Baby cries..a girl, a boy, I couldn’t never tell. And it would get louder and louder until I heard Tori’s loud scream and then the cry just..stopped. I haven’t had that dream in a long time, but I still think about it sometimes.

[purplesurveys]

858

Who named you? Both of my parents did. My dad came up with my first name, my mom with the second. On edge about anything at the moment? On edge is irritable right? I hate how hot it is rn, and it’s literally almost 11 PM. Pretty sure I’ll be giving myself a second shower for today, ugh. The thing that last shocked you? My mom unknowingly watched a jumpscare video earlier and since she likes keeping her phone’s volume at a high level, I got to hear the demonic scream that came with the jumpscare -______- My entire family jumped but I was the only one who started to tear up hahahaha Ever have dreams that come true later on? Like, sleeping dreams? I guess, but they’ve all been deja vu stuff. Like a random thing will take place in the present and I’ll just suddenly remember that I saw it happening in a dream before, if that counts. Is it sometimes hard for you to accept what people are saying as the truth? I guess, especially when I’ve become used to a different side for much longer. For instance I really loved my grandpa and always saw him as this gentle giant who liked telling me trivia, so it took me a while to accept that he had his issues with alcohol and that he’d turn into a different person whenever he consumed it.

Who is worse: The liar or the hypocrite? Hypocrites are annoying but when it comes down to it we all have our hypocritical tendencies, honestly. I’ll go with liars. Is your mom your number one fan? No, she’s very passive about my successes and will always make it a point to look like she’s not interested enough about what I dabble in. The one time she looked genuinely supportive and excited for me was when I passed UP, and that was because that was her dream for me. Do you sing in front of people? Neverrrrrr. I only do that when I’m drunk enough at a club and my voice is guaranteed to be drowned out.

Is there a scent that makes you feel nostalgic? Sure, there’s the smell of nature in my old school, my grandparents’ cabinet which has given off this musty smell for as long as I can remember, and the scent of my dad’s luggage whenever he arrives back to the country. Last time someone had a bad opinion of you? The last time I was around to hear it was last week when my mom hurled insults at me and my siblings, but I’m sure others have spoken badly about me behind my back. Was it for the wrong reason? Yes. Would you rather ask or be asked? Ask/be asked what? Who are you the most uncomfortable around? My mooooom. I get very wince-y when I’m alone with her...I feel like a barrage of insults or criticisms is gonna be thrown at me any second.  Are your parents overprotective? They were I was never allowed to join in the Friendster craze because my parents took the 16-year-old requirement seriously, I didn’t have my first sleepover until I was 16, I wasn’t allowed to go to anyone’s house but Katreen as a kid, among other limitations I had to live with. But idk, for some reason something must have flipped in their heads and I was suddenly allowed to do a bunch of stuff when I turned 16. Is there a part of you that you've tried to bury? Yuh, my entire childhood. A recent creation that you're proud of? Hdjshjsjdh I made onion rings a couple of weeks ago and they turned out yummy and I was really proud of it. It was also the first time I made any kind of food from scratch so I was ecstatic when I took my first bite and discovered that it wasn’t bad at all. Who's your favorite comedian? Not really into comedians...I’ll go with Grace Helbig, even though I primarily know her for her YouTube stuff. What makes you squeamish? Injections. What do you like in your omlettes? Everything that’s available. When I’m having a breakfast buffet at hotels I just tell the chef to just put in every ingredient they have at the omelette station. Who has your heart? My two dogs and my girlfriend. Do you have any online friends that you wanna keep, but not meet? Continued from last night because I was tired enough to pass out in the middle of this survey, apparently. Not really. I always find myself wanting to meet online friends. The worst I’ve felt is not wanting to meet an online friend again after I’ve met them, because irl them turned out to be a big dickhead. What’s something you want that has not changed as time has passed? To somehow get into the pro wrestling industry in any kind of capacity. Are you gullible? Sometimes. Though an exception to this fact is that I can somehow always sniff out whenever a parent or a friend has a surprise for me, so I’m rarely 100% taken aback by them. Does it take a lot for the opposite sex to impress you? I’m easy to impress in general. Are there seriously subliminal messages within Disney movies? I don’t care. I watch Disney movies to feel like a kid, man. I ain’t got time to look for symbols that flash on the screen for 0.0000001 seconds. Should cloning ever be allowed to happen? I don’t know enough about biotechnology to hold an opinion that I’m confident with, honestly. Your last injury was what? I have a bit of a gash from when I hit my right hip on the corner of our dining table. I’m pretty sure I also recorded this as my last injury not too long ago, and I swear this is a new gash LMFAOOOOO fuck I’m so clumsy. Are all of your friends going to be lifelong? I don’t wanna set anything in stone. I said my high school friends were gonna be forever, and I couldn’t be any more wrong about it. How long can you stand hanging upside down? :P I can’t even get into that position in the first place, lol. Should pot be legalized? I don’t know. I guess. I haven’t heard any instance where it seriously harmed a person. Weed is generally a taboo subject where I live – and the only thing I know about it is that it’s dealt by the richer, more boujee college kids lmfao – and a consequence of that is that I hardly know anything about it. Is" Family Guy" too random? Random wouldn’t be the first word I’d use for it? but yeah it can be, sometimes. I do remember finding some scenes a little bizarre. Do you have any friends that you love but they annoy you a lot? Yeah this was definitely me with Katreen in high school. In college, the only person I can think of is Mils; sometimes Reiven. Who would you live with if you got kicked out tomorrow? My grandma. I’d move back to our old home, basically. The most repulsive tactic the opposite sex uses? Obviously I wanna avoid generalizing but I’ve encountered so many screenshots of dudes throwing a fit when someone turns them down, or gets surprised that politeness ≠ flirting. It’s so annoying but at the same time I can’t get enough of those screenshots too lol. Are you impatient with really shy people? No, I’m one myself. I have a lot more patience with quiet people than with extroverts. What's gonna happen in year 2012? The year didn’t end, I got into One Direction, I got braces, I met my best friend, and life started to slowly look up from there. Do people consider you "easy to read"? You’ll have to ask people. What's your least favorite curse word? Cunt. Eugh, I winced just typing that out haha. What's a pet your parents never let you have when you were a kid? :( I was never that desperate for a pet. We had enough stray cats that hung out around our house because my grandma would always give them leftovers. Have any websites that have become a habit? Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, YouTube. Who do you wish you could change, if anyone? My mom, but it’s too late for that now. Has your house ever been broken into? Never. That’s a fear of mine, too. Do you always give your honest opinion when people ask for it? I guess. I’ve stopped being blunt, but I’ll always add a bit of truth into what I say.

[roger1na]

careful ch1 - john deacon x reader

summary: you are a ballet student at the royal ballet academy. To pay for your tuition, you work part-time at the celebrity gossip magazine, Seven. One fateful day you’re sent to interview a band on the rise, Queen, post-concert. When you’ve got your material and the goofy band is set to leave, you learn that John Deacon may be the sweetest gentleman to ever grace this planet.

words: 2.5k+

warnings: swearing

author’s note: this is my entry for @bensroger 3k fic challenge! congrats <3. the promptline is bolded at the end. (and just as a little nod to me, the magazine Seven doesn’t exist in real life, at least i don’t think so. i took it from a horrible gossip magazine in finland, Seiska, who’s known for paying celebrities to get into scandals so they can write about it.)

[ch1] [ch2] [ch3] [ch4] [ch5] [ch6] [ch7] [ch8]

chapter one

The venue was filled with people. Screaming girls and guys who wanted to play it cool in their leather jackets and long hair. Every atom in your body was begging you to leave, to not get caught and melded into these people, but you pressed on, earning dirty looks from some hardcore fans. You held on tightly to the camera your magazine, Seven, had lent you for the evening, adrenaline making your hands tremble ever so slightly.

You were almost at the front of the stage, unscrewing the lens cap slowly, painted nails shimmering in the show lights.

“Thank you all for coming out tonight, we really appreciate it darlings,” the booming voice of tonight’s band’s frontman echoed through the concert hall and was met with loud cheering. Freddie Mercury sure could handle a crowd. You peered at him through your camera, lights catching his eyes and shadows strengthening his jawline and snapped a picture.

Queen was worth every bit of praise ever given to them by fans and undeserving of the snobby critique from so called experts in music. And they could really put on a show. It was a real perk of part-time magazine work. Free (but, to be fair, very lousy) tickets to noisy concert halls and backstage passes and enough confidence and status to elbow your way to the front of the crowd.

You’d never seen Queen live before. Of course you knew their music, who didn’t, but their tickets were either costly or the shows were at bad times. Your training schedule didn’t allow too much time for late nights and parties. You only had one day off a week and even that was spent stretching and practicing, making sure your joints didn’t ruin themselves with the amount of ballet you danced. You began wondering if you should’ve come sooner. Everything was mesmerising.

When your favourite song of theirs, Liar, started playing the bassist moved very close to where you were standing. His brown curls bounced as he skillfully played his solo, occasionally bringing his index and middle finger to his lips and licking them to keep them running more smoothly on the strings.

You turned on your camera flash to catch the metallic glint of his bass strings and he saw the light in the corner of his eyes and turned to you, small smile playing on his lips. He locked eyes with you for what seemed like forever before turning back to his instrument, licking his lips slyly. A small blush tingled at your cheeks.

Disappointment washed over you as they finished the final note of their last song, Nevermore. “You’ve been a lovely crowd, London! Thank you very much!” Freddie bowed on the stage, absorbing the cheers of the crowd. Somebody in the crowd was crying. Each member had sweat glistening on their cheeks and they were breathing heavily but still managed to look perfectly put together.

They disappeared backstage and you had to rush to beat the crowd. With your backstage pass you slipped past security, waving your Seven worker ID and made your way quickly to the dressing rooms. Though you had tried you best to beat the groupies and one-time fans, the amount of people yelling and waving autographs and chattering excitedly was almost sickening. It was worse backstage. Your heart jumped to your throat and your chest tightened. “I fucking hate this job,” you mumbled.

You’d spent the day rehearsing as an understudy for the main role in Swan Lake, then you had to rush to the office to grab your camera and audio recorder before taking the tube to a small concert hall in east London. You were tired, anxious and now had to fight for an interview with the band.

A wave of dizziness and nausea cut through you and sent you walking funny, looking like a drunk. You set your hand against the wall to gain your balance, bile rising to your throat. The nausea came in waves, each one stronger than the last, sending you weak at the knees. When was the last time you ate? You skipped lunch to rehearse extra, then didn’t you have that meeting? You drank coffee? Black as usual. And then? It’d been hours. You steadied yourself, breathing slowly.

”It’s going to be ok,” you told yourself. ”Not going to make a fool of myself. Not today.”

And with the balance of a newborn calf you hobbled ahead in the crowd, using your elbows rather rudely to get to the front. Once you were faced with an underpaid security guard, you coughed to get his attention.

”Excuse me, I have a backstage pass, can I get through?”

His face scrunched as if to say I’m-totally-tough-and-qualified but his nervous nod told you he was just a buff college student.

”Thanks,” you say without looking him in the eyes and quickly slipping past.

The dressing room door was adorably adorned with a star with the band name Queen on it, just like in some movie. You supposed the movies must’ve gotten their inspiration somewhere. You knocked determinedly, hearing clamour inside as loud voices fought over who should answer.

”Listen, John, you’re closest to the door, it makes sense!” An annoyed voice ushered someone inside.

”Freddie, you’re the frontman, I don’t want a 16 year-old drooling here again, you can turn them away,” a quieter voice replied.

You had to roll your eyes, before replying. ”Listen, I’m not a drooling teenager. I’m here to interview you, Y/N Y/N/L, from Seven.”

A triumphant laugh was heard before the lock turned. A sheepish bassist gave you a soft smile, hiding mostly under his hair. You returned the smile, before stumbling in, legs still shaky. ”You okay?” He grabbed your arm to steady you.

”Yes,” you nodded. ”It’s just been a long day.” He looked wary to let you stand on your own.

The band in all their glory, looked like silly kids, with their brightly coloured dressing gowns and long hair and little snickers and inside jokes that ran around the room quickly, sometimes only through eye-contact.

”Y/L/N? Don’t think I’ve heard of you before,” Freddie spun around gleefully in his chair.

”Well, I don’t usually write the articles or get credit. I only work part-time, getting the material, then a more popular writer takes the credit so we get more buys of the paper,”

”Scandalous,” Freddie laughed, before gesturing to the grey and slightly dumpy sofa across from him. ”Sit, I want to get this over with while there’s still hours left of the night.”

Slowly, the rest of the band gathered around you. Brian May with his poodle hair and soft laugh, Roger Taylor with his high-pitched singing voice but incredibly scratchy speaking voice and the shy and quiet John Deacon, who was the most attentive, laughing at just the right moments.

You set your little audio recorder on the sofa before beginning. ”So, I had to fight my way through quite the crowd of- John, how’d you put it? Drooling teenagers. How’s that feel?”

The extrovert in you shined as you chatted with the band, each of them giving you half-assed but hilarious answers.

”Oh you know, it’s our scene. This is usual.” Freddie flicked his wrist bashfully.

”I have to battle fangirls when I step outside all the time,” John quipped back and you threw your head back laughing. Queen was making it big, but was yet to hit that sweet goldmine of number one songs. And they were yet to have too much of an international career.

The interview continued well but soon the boys grew tired of talking about themselves and were arguing about meaningless things together. With that you shut your little recorder and took one last photo which showed them deep in discussion before coughing loudly. ”I think that’s it, Queen. I got some good material. Thanks!”

”I’m up for a drink now. Talking so long parched me.” Taylor got up, fluffing his hair slightly. The band hummed in unison, getting up and dusting themselves off.

You flipped through the notes you’d taken to help the final writer get an idea of the scene as the dressing room emptied. John stayed behind, packing his bass carefully into the its case.

“Not the man for partying, are you?” You leaned closer to him on the couch.

“Ha, well not today. It was a long show.”

The voices of the band got further and further away. You stayed sitting for just a little longer, intently watching John in thought. You thought it wasn’t possible to look flattering in bright white lights but clearly he was here to prove you wrong. He glanced at you when he felt eyes on him and you both blushed before turning away.

“Right,” you snapped your notebook shut. “I’ll get going.” You maneuvered yourself off the couch and managed a few steps ahead before the world went black.

It was disorienting to find yourself on the floor with no memory of how you got there. Your ears were ringing and the light stung your eyes. “Oh my god, are you okay?”

He was leaning over you, long hair tickling your cheeks, eyes wide with concern.

“Mmwh happened?” You started to mumble, throat dry.

John sighed, relieved before helping you sit up against the couch. “You must’ve blacked out.”

“Lovely,” you said sarcastically, rubbing your head.

“Should I be concerned?” He whispered to you, sitting down awfully close. You felt your heart rate pick up. He smelt like a generic brand of after-shave mixed with something fruity, like a cocktail.

“Not at all,” you slowly rose to a more upright position. “I just haven’t eaten in a while,”

“That’s not very good.” He chuckled. “I’ll be a little concerned, just in case.”

You managed a feeble laugh and looked down at your hands. “I’ll be ok.”

“Yeah, once you’ve gotten home and eaten. You must be so overworked. I can drive you home.”

You set your face in your hands, embarrassed, and sighed. “God, y’know what I told myself today? That I wasn’t going to make a fool of myself. And here I am, not only being a fool but being a bother.”

“You’re no bother. I would’ve had to drive out of here anyway. Now I’ve got company.” He gently pried your hands away from your face.

“You’re too sweet.”

You were both very close, hands on top of each other on the floor. When he looked your way you could feel his short, shallow breaths on your face, as if he was afraid to break the moment. “It’s nothing.” And yet, in those few memorable seconds, it was everything.

“Right then,” he coughed and stood up. “Can you walk?”

“Yeah, thanks,” you bit your lip and tucked stray strands of hair behind your ear. He helped you stand and you leaned on him for support.

“I feel like a right idiot,” you started.

“Don’t fuss about it.”

Meekly, let him help you into the van, his long fingers wrapping entirely around your wrist. When you were safely strapped in, you looked up at him. He was leaning on the roof of the van and you felt his warm breath on your cheeks. ”Thank you,” you managed to breathe out.

He looked away, red spreading on his face. ”You’re welcome.”

He got into the driver’s seat swiftly, turning the keys in the ignition. The purr of the engine lulled you softly into a trance-like state of only taking notice of the cars passing you by. John kept stealing glances at you. You were so breathtaking. Even when you weren’t talking, he was sure you’d captivate a room with you clever eyes and the left corner of your mouth that twitched upward when you were suppressing a laugh.

“I never asked any questions about you,” he finally spoke up as he turned to you. “I spent all that interview talking about myself and never once wondered about you.”

“Well, that’s good. I wasn’t the one being interviewed.” You shrugged, a bit dazed but still paying attention.

“Can I ask about you now?”

You tried to not let a blush rise on your cheeks as you replied. “Sure.”

“You mentioned you only work part-time at Seven. Why’s that?”

“I’m a dancer student at the Royal Ballet Academy. But it’s costly and celebrity gossip pays surprisingly well.”

It was like talking to an old friend. Conversation flowed easily. He asked about your career and you talked about his music. John felt like he’d been quiet for forever and finally it was all spilling out. The fame he’d taken on after auditioning for fun as a student. The anxiety surrounding meeting fans who screamed his name.

You finally park on the corner of the street you lived on. A line of rusty cars and motorcycles with chipped paint made it very hard to park the van. You let yourself yawn, your mouth opening wide, like a lions. Not only had you been practically starved all day, it’d also been way too long since you slept. John helped you up out of the van.

“Are you tired?” He whispered. The world was so quiet at 1am in a dusty corner of London.

”A bit yeah,” you grinned. ”I think I’ll eat something and then crash. Boom, out like a light.” You stumbled a bit in your step.

He noticed your weak attempts at walking. ”Here,” suddenly he was leaning in front of you, as if trying to give you a piggyback ride. ”Hop on, I’ll carry you the rest of the way.”

”What?” You flushed.

”You heard me. I think you’re about two steps from collapsing again.”

With an embarrassed huff, you clambered onto his back, your skirt riding up your thighs as he hoisted you up. You buried your face into his hair as he slowly made his way over to the apartment. ”Sorry the parking’s so shitty and you have to drag me like this.” You whispered, very close to his ear.

”Don’t worry,”

”But seriously. Bet you, this isn’t how you saw the night going.”

”No, but this is better. You’re good company.”

”Shush,” you laughed.

At your front door he set you down and let you settle your skirt before turning around. His hair was ruffled and his cheeks flushed but he grinned like an idiot. ”We’re your castle, I suppose,”

You managed a small laugh before a yawn took over. “Tonight’s been great, thank you.”

“My pleasure.”

“Alright then.” You paused, wanting to stay with him for longer. “Goodnight, John.”

“Goodnight, Y/N. And good luck. With your dancing.”

“Thanks.”

You swallowed hard, and with a small wave you turned around and unlocked your door looking one final time at this strange bassist, with his bouncy curls and soft smile. You paused a bit before calling out.

“John?”

He looked up, eyes glinting in the orange glow of the streetlights. “Yes?”

“Will I see you again?”

He grinned. “I hope so,” he got into his car and rolled down the window. “It’s a small world, after all.”

You laughed, leaning against the doorframe. “Alright then, John Deacon. I guess I’ll be seeing you.”

And with that, he drove off, music playing down the street through his open window. You felt your heart skip as you closed the door to your apartment.

[lavender-hemlock]

Aw.. Shit, here we go again. (Questions below the cut because I’m not an asshole like the below.) 

@kazexvoss

Get To Know Me Uncomfortably Well

1. What is you middle name?

Marie

2. How old are you?

23

3. When is your birthday?

October 7th

4. What is your zodiac sign?

Libra

5. What is your favorite color?

Burgundy

6. What’s your lucky number?

7

7. Do you have any pets?

One dog

8. Where are you from?

The US-Tragedy-A

9. How tall are you?

Hahaha.. 5′.  10. What shoe size are you?

Size 6

11. How many pairs of shoes do you own?

Probably over ten.. and more than half are boots. 

12. What was your last dream about? Asked by breaking-from-grace

13. What talents do you have?

I guess I have a talent for my empathy, art, and writing? Not sure what merits as a talent without being overzealous. 

14. Are you psychic in any way?

I’ve been called a witch because of intuition for emotions of others? Or being scary close to presuming things. 

Sadly can’t bend any spoons, stay tuned. 

15. Favorite song?

Toooo many. Music is too vast to pick just one, but I’ve been listening to Day Dreaming - Jack & Jack a lot lately. 

16. Favorite movie?

Probably the Phantom of the Opera version with Gerard Butler. 

17. Who would be your ideal partner?

Someone who is capable of respecting the flow of my energy. When I need space, when I’m all for being close. It isn’t that I’m picky or moody, but I know what I need and also don’t need them being worried when I’m just being quiet and reading a book. It’s just a mutual respect and understanding. 

Ya feel? 

18. Do you want children?

Yeah. Which is weird to think about. I’m not in any rush. 

19. Do you want a church wedding?

I think it is right for me to pursue it, but kinda no. I want a venue probably really low key done up in lights, curtains, and simplicity that doesn’t need a huge budget. Its about the bond, right? 

20. Are you religious?

Yep, I am a christian. 

21. Have you ever been to the hospital?

I have! I had a piggy bank get knocked on top of my head when I was little and my mom rushed me to the hospital. I think that was the first time I saw stars. Only time though!

22. Have you ever got in trouble with the law?

Yeeeeap. 

23. Have you ever met any celebrities?

Yes! I’ve been fortunate to meet a few bands and also see the cast of Fast and the Furious. I got to go on set for the 5th movie! I was lucky. 

24. Baths or showers?

Showers. 

25. What color socks are you wearing?

Black. I hate this question. I’m looking at only one person rn. 

26. Have you ever been famous?

Kinda? Yet I think famous in this way is very subjective? I had my old (and first) RP community for like eleven years. Its not fun when everyone knows your name, I’ll tell you that. You get put on a pedestal or get called terrible things if you don’t respond. It was a whack time. I don’t miss it. I was just famous for the designs I would put for the community and being like a “veteran” member with tons of “powers” (community bling). Blegh. 

27. Would you like to be a big celebrity?

Nope. I admire those that do great things and gain that attention for the work they have put in, but its a double sword. Everyone knows your business and looks at you. Seems like a ant under a magnifying glass analogy.  

28. What type of music do you like?

I like a lot of pop/alternative. I listen to generally everything except some heavy techno/bass stuff isn’t really for me. 

29. Have you ever been skinny dipping?

Nope, don’t plan to. What if a snake bit my ass? How do I explain that to a doctor. 

30. How many pillows do you sleep with?

3!

31. What position do you usually sleep in?

I have to pick one!?

32. How big is your house?

It’s modest. 

33. What do you typically have for breakfast? Asked by Caewen!

34. Have you ever fired a gun?

Yes! I have been trained to use one strictly for defense over the home. What a sad world. 

35. Have you ever tried archery?

No, but I wish!

36. Favorite clean word?

Cleaaaan? 

37. Favorite swear word?

Fuck. 

38. What’s the longest you’ve ever gone without sleep?

Hahahaha 72 hours. I like sleep. 

39. Do you have any scars? Asked by Sangria-Fangs!

40. Have you ever had a secret admirer?

Yeah! It’s.. okay. Kind of creeps me out tbh. 

41. Are you a good liar?

No. I would psych myself out. 

42. Are you a good judge of character?

Yeah. It took a lot of fuck-ups to figure that out!

43. Can you do any other accents other than your own?

Poorly. All of them. 

44. Do you have a strong accent?

No.

45. What is your favorite accent?

Gosh. British or Australian. 

46. What is your personality type?

INFJ. 

47. What is your most expensive piece of clothing?

Boots! 

48. Can you curl your tongue? Cries. Asked by Caewen. 

49. Are you an innie or an outie?

Innie. This is weird. 

50. Left or right handed?

Right handed!

51. Are you scared of spiders?

Don’t @ me. 

52. Favorite food?

Snow crab.

53. Favorite foreign food?

Italian. 

54. Are you a clean or messy person?

SO fresh and SO clean ~

55. Most used phrased?

”I dare everyday.” She says before she does something stupid. 

56. Most used word?

Ye. 

57. How long does it take for you to get ready?

Anywhere from 5 minutes to over 30 minutes. There is no inbetween in this. 

58. Do you have much of an ego?

Either the biggest in the room or the smallest. There is no inbetween. 

59. Do you suck or bite lollipops?

BITE. 

60. Do you talk to yourself?

When I’m trying to focus really hard. 

61. Do you sing to yourself?

Only to myself, yes. In my car and forgetting there’s someone in the car next to me? yes. 

62. Are you a good singer?

I’d like to think so. 

63. Biggest Fear?

Snakes. 

64. Are you a gossip?

No, but I’ll discuss, not spread. 

65. Best dramatic movie you’ve seen? Asked by Hingan-Fox!

66. Do you like long or short hair?

I like both!

67. Can you name all 50 states of America?

Unfortunately. 

68. Favorite school subject?

Literature. 

69. Extrovert or Introvert?

Kinda inbetween. Ask me on a random day, it may be one or the other. 

70. Have you ever been scuba diving?

No but it sounds cool!

71. What makes you nervous?

Confrontation. 

72. Are you scared of the dark?

Kinda. 

73. Do you correct people when they make mistakes?

It depends on the thing. If its not my place, I won’t. If they’re ignorant, it depends if its worth it. If they deserve it- passionately. 

74. Are you ticklish?

I will stab you. 

75. Have you ever started a rumor?

Nope

76. Have you ever been in a position of authority?

Yep!

77. Have you ever drank underage?

Yeeeap. 

78. Have you ever done drugs?

Mary Jane. 

79. Who was your first real crush?

A boy in kindergarten who drew me cards everyday and left them in my desk each morning. ; ; 

80. How many piercings do you have?

None! Needles and I do not work out. 

81. Can you roll your Rs? 

I can’t even curl my tongue and now I get this question. 

82. How fast can you type?

90 WPM average. 

83. How fast can you run?

Fast as fuck boi. I’m just memeing now, aren’t I? Just trying to get through this. I don’t think anyone will get this far. 

84. What color is your hair?

Dark brown!

85. What color is your eyes?

Green-blueishhhh. Depends on the day/lighting. 

86. What are you allergic to?

Wax and bees. 

87. Do you keep a journal?

I used to until someone read it lol. 

88. What do your parents do?

Work? 

89. Do you like your age?

I kinda have to? 

90. What makes you angry? Asked by Caewen! Oo boy. 

91. Do you like your own name?

Yeah, I’d say its just fine. It’s mine.

92. Have you already thought of baby names, and if so what are they?

Jace and Claire. 

93. Do you want a boy a girl for a child?

Happy with either.

94. What are you strengths?

Empathy, understanding.

95. What are your weaknesses?

Patience (depends), Failure. 

96. How did you get your name?

They said they just shouted it out until they figured they could say it everyday for the rest of my life and not get tired of it- and the meaning is pretty. 

97. Were your ancestors royalty?

I don’t think so. Never looked into it. 

98. Do you have any scars? Asked by Sangria-Fangs!

99. Color of your bedspread?

White.

100. Color of your room?

White, greys. I like snow and furs and lights. 

Now, after all that- I am clearly no bitch @kazexvoss. Do yours. 

[eerienature]

Now it's my turn🙈💚 1, 2, 8, 11, 13, 15, 20, 21, 24, 27, 30, 37, 42, 56, 57 and 59 sorry that this is late🙈💙

ayyyyyyy my guy! ❤️

1) selfie

ditto so I’ll dm you em! x

2) what would you name your future kids?:

so i’ve always liked the name layla because i really admire the beauty of a night sky but then it literally means sheep in aapni zerbaan so ye lol; i think the name marina is pretty too like the whole nature element, i liked marwa as well till my sister said it sounds like ‘marijuana’ which just ruined it for me totally lol; yusuf is a nice one, you know because of his whole story which i just find really moving and im sure i had some more prophet names which i really like but none of em spring to mind at the mo

8) have you ever cried because you were so annoyed? 

yesssss so the other day i was dress rehearsing for an interview (pray i get the job! x) and none of my smart-wear would fit so i just angry cried it out; i have bipolar as well and before i was on the right meds i’d do that daily but now i seem to be doing a lot better alhamdulilah

11) are you listening to music right now? 

astaghfirullah sister skskskk but naa i stopped listening to music about a year ago i feel like it just dragged me down might just be me but like even the uplifting stuff has melancholic vibes to it 

13) how do you feel right now?

so like i think i missed my meds this morning and at round 7pm i got this really intense agitation where my mood randomly switched within the space of like an hour and i got angry that i was angry but now that im home and talking to you i feel a lot better - I was really on one earlier on in the day when we were messaging tho bc i was like ‘OMG IVE FOUND A NEW FRENNNNN’ which is a huge positive for me!

15) personality description

aaaaaaa i could go on forever, hope you enjoy the cv! so im a really perceptive person - i have a strong insight into my own situations and mindset as well as those of others (a positive side to mental illness i think, like the whole self awareness aspect) i’ve been told im ‘compelling’ which is an incredible personality trait to have! i have a mad sense of humour, talkative, very outgoing, very extroverted and i love a good bit of banter with the right people, love meeting new people and hearing their perspectives too. I’m very intellectual, i love discussions and acquiring knowledge and anything which makes you think or reevaluate your current opinions! but ya im really proud of my identity purely bc i genuinely didnt think i’d make it past 16 (suicidal depression, self harm, mad mania, abuse, overdoses, etc) but like alhamdulilah here i am and i think its my perseverance and my relationship w god which i really admire - im really proud of who i’ve become! (but i mean theyre trying to stamp a personaity disorder diagnosis onto me so i guess i could be chatting bubbles and all this could be totally subjective *x files theme toon plays*)

20) what is your favourite song at the moment?

i mean i hear the odd bop over the radio every now n then n the ‘JUST BC ITS OVER DOESNT MEAN ITS REALLY OVER N IF I THINK IT OVER MAYBE YOU’LL BE COMING OVER AGAINNNN’ song just really seems to get me

21) age and birthday?

ahh see i feel like an old granny ting now compared to you! i’m 20 and my birthdays the 5th of april so i guess we’re both april babies!

24) height

5′2 but i dont look as short as i sound i swear lol

27) things i hate

im no longer a hateful person like even the people i hate i pray for but bidah has got to be #1 without a single doubt, aside from that its all the usual stuff such as bigots, nonces, etc

30) favourite tv shows

mostly stuff on netflix like at the moment im watching ‘sacred games’ and ive never been into the whole bollywood vibe but i swear ive been missing out like! peaky blinders is amazing and tommy is beautiful i dont care if hes my dads age, bedlam was incredible, period dramas like victoria n bbcs les mis are really good, you should check out this is england, shameless, dark and NSU: german history they are mint; i love a good documentary as well

37)  favourite actor/actress

angelina jolie i think! like i have an entire hashtag dedicated to her so ya i guess shes the one!

42) favourite books

kite runner and a thousand splendid suns (defo recommend them both yasmin esp tss - if you ever do read it give us a shout and ill send you the coursework i did for it in Alevel!)

56) favourite food

ben and jerries along with cookie dough are my absolute weaknesses but im inshlla cutting down on sugar so we’ll see if anything changes w those ones!

57) favourite animals

cats for sure! mines called marno shes now 5 alhamdulilah and she is my life n soul - i like dogs but they get over excited way to easily which startles me a bit esp as im v spaced out a lot of the time so a dog tryna hug me is like arghh wyd but i mean i admire their intentions lol that n the fact theyre najis is also bit of a problem for me (whups)

59) why i joined tumblr

so i think i came across tumblr on a random google search n i figured it’d be a good form of self expression n a good emotional outlet esp as i was in a v v bad mind-space at the time so i felt i needed something to call my own which eventually became my lil blog - but ye if you go allllllll the way back to my old reblogs its literally just those black and white depression posts and gifs which is actually really upsetting to me; like although im no longer in that place anymore tumblr continues to be a very good therapeutic outlet so im v grateful for that ❤️

and thats all! thanks for reading this far b and feel free to ask me any other questions, i enjoy answering them! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

[deanssexplorations]

Connecting People

I test as an extrovert on the Myers-Briggs scale and like to think I’ve always been a fairly gregarious, outgoing person. I enjoy meeting new people in my vanilla life, and I especially enjoy meeting new people in the lifestyle. And though it may sound strange, I am really enjoying meeting men in the play scene, and not just women.

Lately, however, I’ve sort of fallen into the role of introducing cool, like-minded people within my group of friends. This has happened a number of times in the past several months. I introduced my friend Kristy to my (now her) friend Hercules. I also introduced her to a couple I met on Feeld and we had a wonderful foursome date at Twist. When I discovered my friend Heather was as keen to meet new people, both men and women (and play with them) as I was, I was happy to introduce her around. I invited her to my first date with Adam and Jennifer, which I’ve already blogged about (and she did too) so no need to go into further detail there, and I brought my new connection Maria into a date I had already set with Heather, another fabulous evening I’ve already blogged about.

But it extends beyond actual current friends to the realm of erstwhile strangers. There was a 20-something guy who found my blog via one a dating app  (where I post the URL for fun). He reached out to me, told me he liked the blog, and we started up a conversation. I discovered he hadn’t yet, but very much wanted to, have a range of adventures including a threesome and being with an older woman. I took him under wing and put out some feelers. I actually had a threesome date set up with - you guessed it - Heather, before he flaked and disappeared from the radar.

[Author’s note: No wonder my age-appropriate female friends tend to swear off 20-something guys. They find them too flaky. Meanwhile I tell them that if 20-something females were throwing themselves at me I would not be as discerning in my tastes.

Oh well.

And, by the way, if that particular adventure had played out, I already had the blog entry title picked out: Sex Protoge.

Like I said, oh well.]

Another example came during a recent trip to LA. I was swiping on Feeld, the premise of which I love as it’s pretty much designed as an enabler for the swinging lifestyle, and which I’ve met a few women on. But on Feeld I’ve found that by far most of the women there are partnered, and a great many of the profiles are manned by the guy. (See what I did there?) Which means I’ve spent my fair share of time chatting with the guys.

Which is totally cool. Lifestyle people are fun to connect with and have a great outlook on life. I’ve met some fun guys this way. But not one of them I wanted to fuck. Anyway, I was swiping in prep for my trip to LA and started chatting with this guy whose girlfriend lives in Chicago. He was not surprisingly finding it a bit challenging to navigate the lifestyle as a single guy so we shared some war stories and I offered to put him in touch with Katya, my FWB who also lives in LA - (whom I met on Feeld the year previously - and whom I was already planning to see on my trip.  Enjoy, guys, as this is one of the few pictures still left on the blog after the censors did their job...).

I don’t know if they connected, but I just sent him a text to find out. Stay tuned and I’ll let you know.

Maybe my favorite example comes back to Heather and my friend Elena, the star of the Orgasmed with Her Pants Still On blog entry. Which was a crazy fun encounter. Well, I shot Elena a text fairly recently to see how she was doing and she informed me she had dropped out of the casual sex scene. She had met a guy who she was crazy about and they had gone monogamous on us.

Except that she still wanted to have sex with a woman. She had never done so, and hadn’t made it happen during the window between her breakup and this new guy coming along. And it turns out her new guy was also down with the idea of inviting a woman into bed with them (surprise). I was getting excited at this point of the conversation and told her I thought there was a decent chance that one of the females in my circle might be interested in being their unicorn.

A few texts later, and - yes, I already telegraphed it - Heather was all in. I set up a three-way thread and a lot of fun, sexy, playful banter ensued. Eventually the two of them started texting directly, which led to a date being set, which led to some wine being imbibed (hastily, I understand), which led to a hotel room being defiled. From what I understand all three of them had a very fun night.

Which I was absolutely thrilled to hear. I am having a hard time articulating the rationale for it in my own mind, but I get a huge amount of satisfaction when I can connect people and they can have their own delicious moments. And I don’t even necessarily have to be there. I think it has to do with the thrill I get from being able to orchestrate events. My FWBs often say they think I get as much fun out of planning a date as the date itself. And they may be right.

It’s one thing to make a connection, to be courteous and charming, and make that connection happen myself. It’s an entirely different thing to introduce two people for whom there’s positive energy and for them to have sex. It’s almost like anyone can seduce a woman. I get satisfaction helping other people in their seductions.

Maybe it’s because it is the most interesting and powerful gift I can give another person. Maybe it is sort of my own form of kink. I like groups mostly because I find sex to be the most delicious and interesting way to connect with another person, and when you get more people in the room, the number of delicious and fun connections just multiples. Maybe making a connection between two people even when I’m not in the room has a similar attraction, just with a different flavor.

I kind of always just took it on face value that I do this in the spirit of fun, adventure, and generosity. And I just assumed that the people I connect all felt the same way. I think they do for the most part, but I recently learned the hard way that not everyone looks at it the same way I do.

Because I recently had my first really bad experience trying to play matchmaker between two people in my circle of friends. In fact, I lost a friend with benefits (with whom I had had great chemistry) over it. And it wasn’t that they had gotten together and she didn’t like his company, or that they had slept together and it had gone badly. No, it hadn’t even gotten to an introduction yet. It was the very fact that I was TRYING to make an introduction that started us down the path of tanking our relationship.

I’ll tell you that story, but I think I’ll do that in my next blog entry...

[holy-ghost-fire]

All of theeee odd nunbrs

(I’m only doing this because you’re my favorite)

1. What is you middle name? 

Mmmmm I’ll answer that one privately :)

3. When is your birthday?

December 21st, otherwise known as the shortest day of the year lol

5. What is your favorite color?

Black!

7. Do you have any pets?

No :(

9. How tall are you?

6′0!

11. How many pairs of shoes do you own?

I have four pairs, two sneakers and two formal shoes. That’s twice as many than I usually have lol

13. What talents do you have?

Uhhhh it’s not so much a talent but I’ve done a lot of work combing through old newspapers and yearbooks for projects of mine. Other than that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

15. Favorite song?

I have so many but I usually say “Let The Cards Fall” by Blitzen Trapper is it

17. Who would be your ideal partner?

Someone who loves Jesus and strives for the best in herself and in me. Also someone who likes sports and can humor me with all my weird interests lol

19. Do you want a church wedding?

It would be an option if we found a good little church to have it in but its not a must. I’d just be happy getting married haha

21. Have you ever been to the hospital?

I’ve been a couple times when I was younger but I’ve generally been alright enough to never need to go

23. Have you ever met any celebrities?

I wouldn’t say I’ve met any celebrities, but I’ve met some notable people here and there. I got to meet Rand Paul at a rally in Seattle and General Mattis at WSU when he spoke there. Other than that its just been athletes, indie artists, and other people who I think are interesting

25. What color socks are you wearing?

Black, thats the only color socks I wear

27. Would you like to be a big celebrity?

Hell no, I’d rather just be rich and not known by anyone lol

29. Have you ever been skinny dipping?

Nope

31. What position do you usually sleep in?

I sleep on my back, sometimes I can fall asleep on my side but never on my front.

33. What do you typically have for breakfast?

A nice egg sandwich or cereal, but if I’m in a rush it’ll be coffee and a granola bar.

35. Have you ever tried archery?

Not really, it’s not my thing. I prefer firearms much more

37. Favorite swear word?

Probably “fuck”, usually because I mostly swear when I’m frustrated so it works lol

39. Do you have any scars?

I have some small scars here and there but I have scars on my face from stitches I got when I was bit by a dog and when I played ultimate frisbee too hard. They’re not too noticeable unless you look

41. Are you a good liar?

My Mom doesn’t think so lol I think if you know me well enough, you’ll know when I’m lying and when I’m honest

43. Can you do any other accents other than your own?

Man I wish, but nothing that’s convincing

45. What is your favorite accent?

Texan, its like a Southern accent but better

47. What is your most expensive piece of clothing?

Probably the slacks I bought for a wedding this last December, they were about $100 bucks.

49. Are you an innie or an outie?

Innie, outies are weird

51. Are you scared of spiders?

I hate spiders, they die on sight

53. Favorite foreign food?

Mexican, my family makes it perfectly and I love it.

55. Most used phrased?

“Better late than never!” since I run late sometimes

57. How long does it take for you to get ready?

I get up two hours before I have to leave for work or class because I like to take my time and eat breakfast.

59. Do you suck or bite lollipops?

Bite? I think I do both tbh

61. Do you sing to yourself?

Only when I’m in the car

63. Biggest Fear?

Dying before I accomplished anything notable

65. Best dramatic movie you’ve seen?

“Good Night and Good Luck” is one of my favorite dramas

67. Can you name all 50 states of America?

Yes I can, I ain’t no filthy foreigner

69. Extrovert or Introvert?

I used to be very extroverted but I think I’ve become more introverted or at least I’m more selective about when to be extroverted and talk to people. I enjoy my time alone but I like people

71. What makes you nervous?

Thinking about my future, and also going to places I’ve never been before still gets me nervous from time to time..

73. Do you correct people when they make mistakes?

Sometimes, but I’m much more tactful about that than I was before

75. Have you ever started a rumor?

I don’t think so? I enjoy the tea, I don’t make it

77. Have you ever drank underage?

I had sips of alcohol before I was 21 but nothing crazy.

79. Who was your first real crush?

In 9th grade, there was this Mormon girl named Brooke who I had a huge crush on for like a year.

81. Can you roll your R’s?

Not that well but a little bit

83. How fast can you run?

I hate running

85. What color is your eyes?

Brown! Its plain but I’ve been told I have nice eyes

87. Do you keep a journal?

I do, I usually write once a week about life and my thoughts.

89. Do you like your age?

I don’t dislike it, but I really don’t like getting older

91. Do you like your own name?

I never really liked my name. I like my last name but there’s a couple reasons why I go by a nickname nowadays.

93. Do you want a boy a girl for a child?

Both! Ideally I’d want two boys and a girl for children but if I had to pick one, I’d have a son.

95. What are your weaknesses?

Hooo boy, there’s too many to list here.

97. Were your ancestors royalty?

Not to my knowledge, my grandfather being mayor in his town is the closest thing I can think of. My parents never really talked about our family history.

99. Color of your bedspread?

Black and gray

Thank you! :)

[imnotinclinedtomaturity]

Love Yourself (Chapter 5)

title: Love Yourself summary: A lot of things about Dan’s life are pretty great. He gets to make the music he wants, he’s got a great fanbase, and his manager is his best friend. A few things about his life suck a bit more. He’s currently lacking inspiration, he’s rather lonely, and he’s stuck in a rut. Dan’s been going to the same coffee shop for years. It’s quiet, it’s quaint, it’s near his home. Most importantly: none of the employees give a shit that’s he a world-famous singer. Things change when he meets the new barista. chapter words: 5k story words: 20k (so far) chapter: 5/? rating: t warnings: language genre: singer!dan, coffee shop au, barista!phil, slow burn [[ao3]] [[previous chapter]] [[first chapter]]

Dan woke up to a persistent vibration coming from under his head. Sleepily, he pushed himself up on his elbows and tried to dig his phone out from under his pillow with his eyes closed. Finally, his fingers latched around the phone and he tapped the answer button without processing who was calling.

“About time you answered, Daniel. I’ve called three times today.” His mother sounded annoyed, but not distressed.

“Sorry, Mum.” Dan forced himself into a sitting position, propping up against the headboard. The curtains were drawn tight over the window, blocking almost all light from entering the room. “What time is it?”

“It’s nearly 8:30. I thought you said you had a busy day today. Are you’re just now waking up?”

“Huh?” Dan rubbed his free hand down his face, trying to wake himself up. What am I supposed to do today? Mentally, he ran through his to-do list. Grocery shop, working on writing new music, plan Germany — Ah, yes. That’s what he was supposed to be working on today. Belatedly, he realized he hadn’t answered any of his mother’s questions. “Yeah, I just woke up. I kind of had a late night last night.”

“Oh.” His mother’s voice was clipped. “I suppose you and Isabella did something after dinner, then?”

All at once, the previous night’s events rushed back to him. Fuck. “Um, no, actually. I, uh… I didn’t spend any more time with Izzy last night.”

“Oh?” The tone of his mother’s voice shifted. “Why was that?”

“You were at the same dinner as me. I’m sure you can imagine why.”

His mother was silent for a minute. Dan wasn’t sure if she was hoping that he would elaborate, but there was no other information he was willing to volunteer on the matter.

Eventually, his mum spoke again. “It’s been a long time since you introduced us to anyone you’ve dated, you know.” Dan could tell that whatever she meant to say, that wasn’t it. Or at least not all of it.

“What’s your point, Mum?”

“Just that after you broke up with Alex you implied that you weren’t planning to bring anyone else home unless you were… how did you put it? Sure of them?”

“Correct, that’s what I said.”

“Does that mean you’re sure about Isabella?”

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and the Camel.

“You practically forced me to bring her, remember Mum?”

“You’ve been dating nearly a year, surely that’s long enough to mean that you’re sure of someone.”

“That’s… one thought.”

“She’s talking about wedding rings, how else am I supposed to think?”

Dan fell forward, burying his face into the fluffy duvet. “God, that actually happened, didn’t it?”

“I think you should really consider whether this is the person you want to marry.” Dan tried to interrupt, but his mother kept barrelling on. “Out of all of the people you’ve brought home, she’s by far been the worst. She was rude and controlling and condescending. You’re lucky your sister is so confident or I’m sure your girlfriend—” the word was dripping with distaste "— would have upset her.”

“Mum— ” Dan sat back up, shoving the duvet off him. If his mum was going to get into this conversation, he needed coffee.

His mother kept talking, ignoring his protest. “I cannot believe you’re serious about someone like her, Dan. Do you not see how vain and self-absorbed she is?”

“Listen—” Dan tried to interrupt her again.

“And the way she talks about you, it’s very concerning dear. I don’t want to speak out of turn—” Too late there, Mum. “— but she seems to only be interested in your relationship for shallow reasons.”

“MUM, STOP.” Dan all but screamed. “Let me talk, will you?”

His mother sighed deeply, but didn’t say anything else.

“I’m not thinking of marrying Isabella. That was the first time I’ve heard her mention a ring and — well, that’s not where I’m at in this relationship.” Dan grabbed a plain black mug from the cabinet.

“Then where are you in this relationship?”

“I’m not serious, I promise. I’m, uh…” Dan trailed off, not sure how phrase this gently for his mother. “In it for pretty shallow reasons, too.”

That shut his mother up.

There was almost a full minute of silence while his mother recovered. While he waited for his mother to piece together what was so shallow about their relationship, Dan began pouring coffee grounds into the coffee maker.

“You mean you’re using her for publicity and money too? Your career is going plenty well on without that!”

This time, Dan was the one shocked silent. Dan snapped out of it when the coffee grounds were overflowing from the basket onto the counter. Shit fuck. Desperately, Dan tried to shovel some of the grounds back into the bag.

“Dan? Are you still there?”

“Sorry.” Dan called it good enough and flipped the machine on. Guess the coffee is just gonna be strong today. “Um, no. That’s not what I meant.”

“What did you mean, then?”

“What do you mean?” Dan was baffled.

“She’s clearly using you, Dan. You know models rarely get the kind of recognition that very famous singers do and, well, I get the impression that that is what she is looking for. I don’t know what you could possibly be getting from her that makes it a fair exchange. The way she treats you is dreadful, and it’s so obvious that she —”

“SEX!” Dan interrupted before he could process his own words.

“What?”

“I don’t know what you think I’m in it for, but, um…” Dan trailed off, fiddling with his empty mug.

Finally, his mum seemed to get the picture.

“You’re telling me you’re just in this relationship for sex?” Her tone was eerily neutral.

Dan could feel his cheeks burning. “Well, um… Do we have to have this conversation, Mum?”

“Yes, Daniel. This is important.”

“Jesus fucking… It’s not just that…” Dan tried to think of how he’d phrased it to Louise last week, and find a less descriptive way of saying it to his mother. “Look, being in a relationship is nice right? You get a lot of… stuff that you wouldn’t get if it were just… that.”

“You’re going to have to be more transparent.”

“She likes going out to bars and restaurants and she pushes me out of my shell, which is good sometimes. She’s affectionate and can be really nice, I swear. I know you didn’t see that last night, but I promise. I just like being with her, when it’s just us, and she’s. You know. More herself.” Less shitty, Dan tacked on in his head.

His mother silently contemplated his words. “But you’re not thinking of marrying her?”

“Fucking hell Mum, I already told you. No.”

“And it’s not serious?” She sounded hopeful, happier than she had the whole phone call.

“Not to me.”

“It clearly is to her. Does that mean it may become serious?”

“Look, Mum.” Dan ruffled his hair. “I’m not dating for a life partner right now. I’m just dating.”

“Well, Daniel, I’d highly advise you to stop seeing her before things do get serious.”

“What happened to liking and supporting everyone Addie and I bring home? You adored Adaline’s last boyfriend and he was a dumbass.” With more force than necessary, Dan pulled the coffee pot from the machine, a bit of it sloshing out and burning his hand. What a great start to the day.

“You know I support you, and your sister, no matter what. And that’s why I’m saying this. Isabella seems like danger, mark my words.”

“Jesus, you make her sound like I’m dating the fucking devil or something, Mum. She was nervous, she wanted you guys to like her. Sure, she was… a lot, but that’s not how she is all the time, okay? And just because she’s more extroverted than me doesn’t mean she’s controlling.”

“She didn’t come across as controlling just because she’s more extroverted, she came across as controlling because she seemed to have very strong opinions about how and where you spend your time. Don’t think I didn’t notice her reaction to you giving Adaline that ticket.”

“Oh.” What the fuck was he supposed to say to that? “I mean… to be fair, she’s gone on the last few little trips with me, so I can see where she’s coming from.”

“I don’t care if you’ve taken her on a million trips, she still shouldn’t expect that you bring her somewhere and be mad when you don’t. I can’t fathom why you’re dating her if you aren’t serious. Surely you could find sex elsewhere. I’m not sure if you realize this, but you’re famous.” Right. That was where he got his snark.

His cheeks had only just calmed down from the last time his mother made him talk about his sex life, but they flushed red hot again.

“Mum, I told you. It’s not just… sex.” The word came out strangled. “That was a poor choice of words earlier. It’s more than that. It’s nice to have someone who always wants to do something with me, especially when we decide just to lounge at her place and watch a movie in bed together. You know I’ve always been a physical person and I can’t get that from a friend and I certainly can’t get it from a… fuck buddy.”

“So find someone else to have intimacy with,” she said, almost begging.

“I don’t have time for that, Mum. I’ve been traveling almost constantly and now I’m working on a new album.”

“Get one of those dating apps that your sister uses. She’s been on three dates since she’s been single.”

“Right, I can see that going fantastically. I’m sure famous people have great luck finding meaningful relationships on Tinder.”

“Okay, well maybe you’re right there. But regardless, darling, I want you to be happy, both now and in the future. I think you need to remember that by dating her, you are closing yourself off from other relationships. And even if you are only looking for something temporary and light, you can do better than her, Daniel.”

Dan’s phone started buzzing. He pulled the phone away from his ear enough to look at the caller id. “Mum, Louise is calling me. I need to answer this.”

“Tell her hello and I expect her round for dinner soon. Think about what I said —”

Dan cut her off before Louise’s call could go to voicemail — and before she went into another lecture. “Goodbye, Mum. Love you.”

Phil was mopping up the rainwater that customers had tracked in when the door chime rang. Great, another customer to bring in more water. Phil started to make his way back to the register, looking up at the new customer.

“Dan!” He smiled brightly.

Dan looked adorable — a mess, but adorable. He was sopping wet from the rain, his hair drenched, and his white jumper soaked through and clinging to his body. In his arms, he was carrying a young girl — maybe five or six. She was wrapped in what appeared to be Dan’s black raincoat. He flashed Phil a brief, but warm smile before turning his attention to the girl.

“Okay, Darcy, down you go.” The girl shook off the raincoat as Dan lowered her to the ground. In her hands, she was holding Dan’s phone, coloring books, and a laptop.

“Here you go, Uncle Dan.” She held the objects up for him. Dan took them from her hands, setting them on the bar. Phil briefly thought through his last conversation with Dan — he’d said that his sister was turning eighteen? Or nineteen? Regardless, this couldn’t be her child, right?

“Thank you. Darcy, can you say hello to Phil? Phil, this is Louise’s daughter, Darcy.”

“Hi Phiwl!” The little girl — Darcy — waved up at Phil eagerly. “Can I have something to drink?”

Phil waved back at her as Dan lifted her into one of the high chairs at the counter. “Of course, but what do you tell Mummy?”

The little girl put on a stern face and wagged her pointer finger around. God, she’s the cutest. “Uncle Dan said no sugar!”

“Good girl. Now, how about some hot chocolate?”

She clapped her hands together. “Yayyy!”

Finally, Dan properly looked up at Phil.

“Hey Phil,” he said, dimples on full display.

“Hey Dan.” Between Dan’s cute interaction with a tiny child and his deep dimples, Phil couldn’t stop smiling. He dragged his eyes over Dan’s outfit once again. His black jumper was soaked completely through. “You’re wet.”

“Am I really?” Dan deadpanned. He pulled out his wallet — which was somehow also a bit damp — and smiled again. “I only had one waterproof jacket and I figured better me than her.” He jerked his head towards Darcy.

How sweet. “Why’d you go out at all? It’s downpouring out there.”

“The wifi cut out at my flat and I desperately need to do some work today.”

“I see. So you’re going to be here for a while?” Phil wiped down the counter where Dan was dripping water.

“Yeah, if you don’t mind Darcy and I bothering you,” Dan said with a nervous chuckle.

“Of course not. You look freezing though.”

“Er, yeah. Didn’t think this through.” Dan pulled the wet jumper away from his chest slightly. “Sorry, I’m getting the floor all wet. You were just mopping, too.”

Phil shrugged. Secretly, he thought it was worth the floor getting wet again if he got to see Dan looking so adorable. Plus, his wet jumper was clinging a bit tighter than usual and… well, it didn’t leave a ton to the imagination.

“Don’t worry about it. I wasn’t finished anyway.“ Phil tapped his employee id into the ipad. "So a hot chocolate and triple espresso, one sugar?”

“Yup,” Dan nodded. He lowered his voice. “Go a little light on the whipped cream, though, will you? I’d rather her Mum not completely kill me.”

Phil giggled. Apparently Dan was the fun, only somewhat responsible, uncle. But then again, “only somewhat responsible” was probably the best you could hope for when that uncle was a loaded, famous musician.

Phil swiveled the ipad around to face Dan and grabbed two mugs, moving down to the espresso machine. He’d long since stopped telling Dan how much he owed, partially because it was often the same, but mostly because it always made Phil feel more awkward when Dan left a fifty percent tip.

When Dan was done paying, he held up a finger at Phil and mouthed be right back. Phil watched him out of the corner of his eye as best as he could while he made the coffee. Dan had returned to the little girl and was helping her pick out a picture in her coloring book while trying to dig out the crayons from the small box. Honestly, he’d probably be better off just letting her get the crayons out; his hands were much too big to be easily fitting in the box.

“Which one are you going to color, Darce?”

“Hmmm. I like this one and this one.” The little girl pointed to two of the pictures. “I wanna make one for you for your fridge-a-gater.”

Dan smiled at the little girl, playing with her ponytail. “I’d like that. You pick which one.”

The little girl looked at the book with serious concentration. “I’m gonna do Eeyore because you were all grumpy this morning.”

Phil could see Dan trying not to roll his eyes. “That will look great on my refrigerator. I’ll be right over there okay? Let me know if you need me.”

The little girl was too entrenched in her coloring to respond. With a quick glance back at the girl to make sure that she was okay, Dan slid down the bar until he was in front of Phil. He leaned his long arms on the counter and rested his head in his hands, flashing Phil another wide smile.

“Hey there,” he drawled. Flirty?

“Long time, no see.” Phil sat Dan’s coffee down in front of him. “Drink up, Mr. Grumpy. Apparently you need it.”

“Shut up. I had an early morning, okay? My mother decided to call at eight thirty.”

Phil looked up from the hot chocolate he was making, unamused. “I’ve been here since seven, I don’t want to hear it.”

Dan shot him a sympathetic look. “Yeah, well, I was up super late, okay.”

“For your sister’s birthday thing! How was it?”

Dan winced. “I don’t want to get into it. She was great, family was great, food was great. Isabella, not so great.”

Ah, right. Isabella.

Phil didn’t know much about her, other than what he saw in the media. Dan rarely talked about her — really only bringing her up if he was on his way to meet her. From what he’d seen online, they looked fairly happy. They were always photographed out and about, usually at bars or fancy restaurants. Phil knew how relationships in the public eye could be though — sometimes they looked amazing from the outside but terrible from the inside. From the little he’d heard Dan mention Isabella, it didn’t seem like the best relationship. But, hey, who was he to judge.

“Uh oh, that doesn’t sound good,” Phil said.

Dan made an expression that, if there wasn’t a child present, would probably have been accompanied with a fuck it. Instead, he brought his coffee cup up to his lips, taking a tentative sip.

“Ah, warmth. That’s great. I’m freezing.”

“Oh!” Phil suddenly remembered. “I have a jumper in the back. It’s dry. You could put that on if you want?”

Dan’s eyes widened. “Yeah that’d be great, actually. If you don’t mind.”

“Of course not. I’ll be right back.”

Phil ducked into the back room. Well, more of a closet really. He opened his backpack and gently unwound the jumper from his camera. With less care than he should, Phil set the camera back in his bag and headed back into the coffee shop.

“Here,” he threw the jumper at an unsuspecting Dan. The jumper smacked him in the face and fell to the counter with a soft thud. “It’s a bit off brand for you, sorry.”

Dan held up the bright blue jumper. “Pugs not drugs?” he read, laughing. “God, Phil, you’re too precious for this world.”

Phil could feel the blood rushing up to his cheeks. Dan had always been known for his high end, edgy fashion sense. Phil’s quirky pug jumper was probably really different from what he was used to wearing. Phil hoped it would be okay.

Dan looked towards the door and then Darcy, who was concentrating on her coloring. Seeing that nobody was around, and with absolutely no warning, he pulled the soaked white jumper over his head, leaving him bare chested in the middle of the coffee shop. Phil could see cursive words inked down his left ribcage. Oh god.

Suddenly, Phil was worried about blood rushing to a different part of his body entirely.

“Yes, Daddy.”

The words were out of Phil’s mouth before he could stop them. Luckily, they’d come out in a joking tone, at least, but he still couldn’t quite believe he’d said them. Before Dan could so much as react, Darcy interrupted.

“Why did he call you daddy, Uncle Dan? You don’t have any babies.”

Dan trained his eyes on Phil, quirking an eyebrow.

“That’s a good question, Darcy. Apparently Phil doesn’t realize that I’m definitely not a Daddy. I’m much too little.” Dan said slyly, his tone not-so-subtly hinting at a double meaning.

Phil choked on air and did his best to remain composed. He didn’t feel like he was doing a great job. How could he? Dan was standing just across the bar, shirtless, and dropping hints that he was into, well, that.

“That’s… something to remember.” Phil’s voice came out husky.

Dan winked at him. Was Dan flirting with him? “I bet Phil wants to be a Daddy though.”

Phil swallowed thickly. He glanced over — Darcy appeared to have lost interest and gone back to coloring. His eyes flickered back to Dan, feeling daring. “Not exactly the name I’d choose, if given the option.”

Dan’s eyebrows shot up, looking both stunned and interested. “And what name would you choose, if given the option, Phil?”

Phil leaned his elbows on the counter and placed his head in his hands, much like Dan had earlier. From this position, he was eye level with Dan’s chest. It wasn’t a bad view. “You’re a smart boy, I’m sure you can figure it out.”

Dan looked down at him with an unreadable expression in his eyes. His tongue darted out to wet his parted lips.

“Sir?” Dan’s voice sounded strangled.

For the first time since Dan had pulled his wet jumper off, Phil finally sensed he had the upper hand. Curious to see Dan’s reaction, Phil lowered his voice. “Good boy.”

From where he was leaning, Phil could see a deep red flush spread across Dan’s bare chest, up his neck, and into his cheeks. His head fell back in a quiet groan. “Jesus, Phil. Warn a guy, will ya?”

The groan that tumbled from Dan’s lips sent Phil’s mind to dark places. He had visions of Dan making that noise from underneath him as Phil kissed down his neck. If Dan was so reactive to being called “good boy” in a coffee shop, Phil couldn’t even begin to imagine what it did to him in the bedroom.

Phil shook his head, trying to drag his mind back into this moment and away from… thatimage. Forcefully, Phil let out a gruff laugh.

Dan gave him an unamused look, still looking suspiciously pink, and defiantly pulled the jumper over his head. The sweater hung a little looser on him than it did Phil. Dan’s hands were just barely peeking out of the sleeves and his sharp collar bones were jutting out above the neckline.

Those collar bones. They should be illegal. Phil had to bite back the urge to trace his finger down them.

“It looks good on you. It’s good to see you in —” Phil cut himself off before he could say my clothes. “Colors,” he amended.

Dan fiddled with the hem of the jumper. “Thanks. It’s a bit different from the monochrome, huh?”

“It is. The monochrome is good, too. This is just… brighter.” Sexier.

Dan chuckled, pulling himself together, and opened his laptop as he sat on the stool nearest Phil. Phil knew Dan had to work, but he wasn’t willing to let Dan stop talking to him just yet, especially not when it was possible they just been flirting.

“So, what’s it say?” Phil asked, nodding his head at Dan.

Dan looked back up from his laptop quickly. Clearly, he wasn’t too opposed to a distraction. “What’s what say?”

“Your tattoo.” Phil leaned across the bar and poked Dan’s side for emphasis.

“Oh!” Dan smiled. “It’s ‘don’t waste your time, or time will waste you’. It’s a line from—”

“Knights of Cydonia,” Phil finished for him excitedly.

“Yeah.” Dan tilted his head. “You know Muse?”

“I love Muse,” Phil corrected. It felt like the more he learned about Dan, the more they had in common.

“I like Muse and you like Muse, let’s be friends.”

Phil laughed at Dan’s antics. “So what inspired the tattoo?”

“One, Muse is amazing.” Phil nodded his head in agreement, smiling widely. “Two, they are kind of who got me really into music. Three, it’s a good motivator.”

“I like it, it’s cool. It looks good on you.” Phil’s voice unintentionally dipped low again.

Dan blushed again — god he blushes so easily. “Thanks.”

Phil was about to mention the idea for a tattoo he had, but was interrupted by the door chime. He looked apologetically at Dan. “Sorry, I’ll be right back.”

Dan smiled back. “No worries, I should probably actually do some work, seeing as that’s why I came here and all.”

Phil walked back to the register to serve the customer, who fortunately only wanted a simple coffee and a muffin. Dan beamed at him from behind his laptop when Phil walked passed him on the way to the bakery display. Without thinking, he grabbed an extra muffin, setting it down in front of Dan on his way back to the register.

Dan glanced up and mouthed “for me?” Phil sent him a quick nod and handed the customer her bagged muffin.

When the customer was gone, Phil sat down on the employee stool and pulled out his phone. His eyes flickered up to check on Dan, almost out of habit. He saw that Dan had torn the muffin in half and given the bigger half to Darcy. God, he’s just too perfect.

Suddenly, Phil was hyper aware of the fact that Dan had a girlfriend. He was in a relationship. He probably had fans that ignored that fact all the time, and here Phil was totally disrespecting the fact that he wasn’t single.

Embarrassed, Phil turned his attention back to his phone, deciding to let Dan work uninterrupted for a little while.

Dan must have a fairly short attention span, though, because it wasn’t forty five minutes before he was pestering Phil.

“Whatcha doing, Philly?” Phil lazily glanced up from his phone, a little surprised Dan was talking to him.

“Oh, you know, twitter, tumblr, the usual.”

Dan leaned forward over the lid of his laptop. “So you do have a twitter!”

“Yeah, I thought we established that.” Phil sat his phone down on the counter, confused by where the conversation was going. He hadn’t said he didn’t, he’d just… not wanted to give his username to Dan, that was all.

“Does this mean you’ll finally give me your handle?”

Phil wavered for a minute. What was worse, Dan looking him up on twitter, or Dan getting offended that Phil wouldn’t give him his username? Well, odds are he would find out eventually, so…

“Under one condition.”

“Deal.” Phil was taken aback at how quickly Dan responded.

“You haven’t heard the condition!”

Dan shrugged his shoulders. “Doesn’t matter. Deal. What is it?”

“You can’t look me up until you’ve left the coffee shop.”

“Ugh, fine,” Dan groaned, not looking pleased.

“I’ll know if you break your promise,” Phil threatened, wanting to make sure that Dan would keep his end of the bargain.

Dan looked unamused. “Yeah, yeah. Just tell me,” he whined.

“AmazingPhil.”

Dan instantly turned back to his laptop and tapped at his keyboard.

“Hey! Hey! I told you to look me up later!” Phil complained, darting down the bar, and lightly pushing on the lid of Dan’s laptop.

Dan laughed, pushing it back to its fully open condition. “I’m just writing it down, you spoon.”

“Oh.” Phil felt a little chagrined. “Right, sorry.”

“Although on second thought…” Dan closed his laptop lid, eyes gleaming excitedly. “I’ve sent all the emails I need, so I guess I’m done here. Darcy, are you about done with your picture?”

Phil grimaced. He should have known Dan was incapable of delaying gratification. Well, at least Phil wouldn’t be in the room when Dan found out.

Darcy held up her coloring book. She’d moved on from Eeyore to a picture of Tigger and Pooh.

“Perfect.” Dan helped her pack up her things and wrapped her back in his raincoat, making sure the laptop was tucked in well, too. It had mostly stopped raining, but Phil didn’t blame Dan for being careful.

���Well, Philip,” Dan said, turning back to Phil. “It’s been lovely, as always. I’ll be following — I mean, seeing you soon.” Dan laughed at his own joke, gave Phil a quick two fingered goodbye salute, and gathered Darcy up in his arms.

“Tell Phil bye and that you’ll see him soon, Darcy.”

“Bye, Phwil!” Darcy waved her tiny, adorable hand in Phil’s direction. As disappointed as he always was when Dan had to leave, Phil wasn’t completely sorry that Dan was leaving now. Phil wasn’t sure if he could continue looking him in the eye after giving him his twitter handle.

Phil grabbed Dan and Darcy’s mugs to put in the dirty bin and spotted Dan’s shirt on the counter.

“Wait!” Phil almost yelled. “Your jumper.”

“Right!” Dan circled back to the counter, and Darcy grabbed his wet jumper. “Oh, that reminds me, did I leave my coat here last night?”

Phil looked around in confusion. Dan had left his jacket here? Then he remembered the black peacoat in the backroom that had been here when he’d arrived to work. “That’s your jacket in the back? I thought it looked familiar.”

“Black and depressing, who else could it belong to?” Dan said humorously.

Phil rolled his eyes at Dan on his way to the back room. When he brought it back out, Dan was still holding Darcy.

“Er,” Dan mumbled. He tried to extend one hand far enough from Darcy to take the coat, but it wasn’t enough to be able to hold it.

“Um, here.” Phil muttered back. He walked up behind Dan and draped the coat around his shoulders. His fingers lingered a beat longer than they strictly needed to, and he could have sworn he heard Dan’s breath hitch.

“You can bring my jumper back to me next time I see you, yeah?”

Dan turned around to face Phil. Suddenly, they were very close, even with Darcy between them.

“Uh, yeah. I’ll do that. See ya, Phil.”

“Buh bye Phiwl!” Darcy yelled again.

When the door shut behind them, Phil sank onto one of the stools to collect himself, letting out a deep breath. Had this afternoon really happened? Phil wasn’t sure. Dan had a girlfriend, after all, so there was no way he’d been flirting — and besides, Phil didn’t even know if Dan was into guys. But it had felt like they were flirting. It had felt like there was something there.

Barely ten minutes later, Phil’s phone lit up with two notifications in quick succession.

“@danielhowell is now following you.”

“@danielhowell: @AmazingPhil hey there you snek”

let me know what you thought :) i was v excited about this chapter

in case you’re curious, this is the original summary i gave @auroraphilealis for the last scene: Phil goes and gets it for him and Dan strips off his wet jumper and undershirt right there in the middle of the coffeeshop and phil is like yes daddy.

[[next chapter]]