#Picture rescue app

[heegyukeluv]

a hundred sunsets (sjy)

pairing: jake x afab!reader

synopsis: Using a dating app in order to find a lover rarely worked properly to you, which was the reason you never planned to do so. But bumping into someone so charming as you texted your possible future love interest wasn’t on your plans either. 

my's note: hello!!! it's not only my first time writing in english but also my first time using tumblr to post a story  i’m honestly kinda nervoussjdjdjs. a few things I want to say before anything: those are fictional characters, also i know almost nothing when it comes to other country’s educational systems sooo i’m sorry if something is off, and mostly important: enjoy!!! 

i wasn't planning to write this much but i think i got a little carried away lol

warnings: quick mention of alcohol (all characters are of age!), slow burn kinda?, at least one ‘kms’ joke srry, strangers to friends to lovers, pet names (sweetheart, pretty, sugar, etc..), lot of language, jake is downnn baddd, there’s a slightly jay x y/n moment (they go on a date lol) but not too much dw!!!, reader blushing/turning red! eventual smut (MINORS DO NOT INTERACT) - jake is kinda a sub, oral sex (both), unprotected sex (don’t do it!!!), j. cums inside (consensual), overstimulation (m), slight dacryphilia. enha’s jay, sunghoon and heeseung + lesserafim’s yunjin and chaewon as side characters. LMK IF I FORGOT SOMETHING.

wc: 22k

NOT PROOFREAD.

EXTRA (epilogue kinda?)

As comfortable as your couch was and even though you very much loved watching “Pitch Perfect���, that wasn't the fun weekend you had planned, actually you didn't plan anything at all. But there you were, licking your fingertips in order to clean up the salt flakes of the chips you devoured during the last minutes.

It wasn't like you really cared about what your lifestyle was turning into during the few months that passed by, opting to stay at home doing your little things here and there, taking a fair break from the crazy parties at suspicious places alongside a lame try to hang out with very random people... 

The initial excuse of "I'll focus more on my studies" was holding a bit, however you couldn't help but feel bored at your choices at this point. 

You sighed, opening the message app on your phone and re-reading the last texts you received in your friend group.

Jinnie 💘: my sweet little y/n i’ve been here watching you ROT down in your apartment and i’m tired!!! sure you don’t wanna party anymore or wtv BUT FOR GOD’S SAKE i love you but truth be said YOU NEED TO GET LAID!!!! download the app pleeeeasseeee it’s not like you’re gonna match with a weirdo (i guess Chaebae 💖: Worst case scenario you just call me and I go to rescue you with my very muscly arms Best case scenario you win a good fuck !

You laughed again at the texts, picturing Chaewon with her baby face and a very packed body. Would she be able to really punch someone on the face in order to protect you? For sure she would. And she didn't even need muscly arms or whatever. 

Being friends for God knows how long you thought about trusting them. They wouldn’t try to mislead you, right? 

You always had little to no interest in dating apps. The few times you tried you constantly felt like you were practically selling yourself as some product with specific traits, where the buyer doesn't have enough chance to get to know more parts of you before anything, chasing for the next step so eagerly.

Although your heart beats fast for people you just met seemingly outwardly interesting, the real feeling of wanting to be with them, to go out on dates, to trust enough to let parts of yourself to be shown comfortably needs time and usually grows slowly.

You never really dated anyone in order to fulfill momentary desires, your own body wouldn't let it happen as you lose interest as soon as you feel too pressured by the other part or when the connection wasn’t clicking right.

Chaewon and Yunjin were different though. They had the free spirit to just hit that one night stand and be happy about it. You were happy about it, loving to listen to their crazy dates and nights out, sharing the most terrific stories about it while drinking some wine on your balcony.

Nevertheless, you were kinda desperate. Your last relationship ended one year ago, the one you rooted for a very long time – two years and five months, to be exact, until one day you caught him cheating on you with one of his "best friends that you don’t have to worry, baby". Very much cliché but also a big trauma in your life, leading you to this very moment of neediness but not enough courage to trust someone again.

Since then you have been hooking up once and a while with random people you met at parties, but never felt right or enough especially because you tried so hard to either not get attached – and with that lose the brief sexual interest – or on the very other side of the hand, to build up some kind of relationship.

Every single one turning into a big failure. 

Sighing again, your fingers typed on the screen keyboard.

You: Can you send me the name again?  Chaebae 💖: OH??? YUNJIN Jinnie 💘: I KNOW [LFS] hope you enjoy!! hihi You: What's with the acronym lol Chaebae 💖: "Love at First Sight"  You: Oh god And you rly think it’s a good idea? Chaebae 💖: ..yeah? Jinnie 💘: a great idea actually! You chuckled. What could go wrong?

Everything went wrong.

Not every single thing, but a bunch for sure. 

You didn’t know if your taste was too specific or if overall men were just that boring. You had good features, your pics weren’t that bad either and your personality… Liking video games, some astronomical stuff, movies and dogs couldn’t be a big red flag, right? 

But every match got you thinking “what happened to the old ‘hi, how are you?’”. Maybe because of those exact traits you put on display made the weird nerds attracted to you as a potential match, thinking their fantasies would be fulfilled by you. 

Of course you understand people on those kinds of apps sometimes have very clear goals setted, but how frustrating is it to try to have a good conversation and the least creepy answer be “is it weird that i want you sucking me while i play league of legends? lmao”?

No matter how defeated you were feeling you weren’t one to give up. And that leads to this very moment as you type fast on your phone with your current attempt. 

Park Jongseong, or just Jay, was hot. Like, very hot. And his talking wasn’t going to weird places so far, which at this point was a big win. He was funny and somewhat endearing, sharing avidaly about his travels and his music interests with so much passion that you started to rethink your own life choices thus far – was the ongoing college degree a good choice? Should you give up everything and start to live as an artist? 

Lost in your train of thoughts about maybe having found somebody worthy of your time as you walked down the hallway heading to your next lecture of the day, you didn’t expect to hit your face straight into someone’s chest. A very strong and hard chest by the way, you thought briefly, scented with some woody essence that got straight into your senses. The sweet voice of the owner wasn’t expected either.

“Oh shit, I’m so sorry!”, the boy uttered with a worried tone looking down at you trying to see if he had hurt you in some way. You almost didn’t catch his thick accent. “Are you okay?” he questioned softly, still concerned. You blinked a few times before coming back to reality, looking up confused at his face and answering hurriedly with slightly widened eyes.

“I’m the one who should be sorry! God, I’m so stupid, I should be more careful,” you started to blather as you lost yourself in that pretty face you just hit into. The whole combo was breathtaking. Plump glossy red lips and puppy eyes full of worry; the silky brown hair was just as normal as any other brown hair but what the fuck was that face? “I was looking down at my phone and I didn’t see y–”, you were interrupted by the honeyed voice again “I mean, I was also using my phone and didn’t see you either,” he chuckled. “You’re fine, sweetheart.”

Your eyes widened even more at the same time as a smirk decorated his beautiful lips. You don’t know what got you more flustered, the pet name or the double meaning of that simple phrase. You could feel your cheeks burning hard and your first instinct was to look down to the floor and wonder if hiding yourself beneath the tile was a good option.

“Well, sorry again,” he said and you forced yourself to swallow down the saliva that got stuck on your throat and to look up again, facing now a cute small and shy smile that made your heart beat fast. Too fast. “See ya!” and just like that he went his own way, not even waiting for your response.

You were sure someone had glued the sole of your shoes on the ground while you two had that small and awkward talk, because there’s no way your legs stopped working properly just because of him.

You looked over your shoulder in order to see his back going away but it was already too late, since he wasn’t around anymore. You thought to yourself he was certainly a new student, because you would have noticed him sooner. How could you not?

His chocolate eyes and sweet voice were the only things on your mind as you picked up your phone to text back Jay, trembling a bit from the encounter still.

You: of course we can see each other this friday!! :) 

You tried your best to fully focus on your upcoming assignments, but your library time has reduced quite a bit and even in your house your attention was wandering constantly. For the last three days you walked around your whole campus trying so hard to bump into that good-looking visage one more time, going back and forth that hallway hoping to see that guy.

Describing his appearance to Chaewon and Yunjin didn’t help a bit, especially because everything you could remember was his sweet voice, his silky brown hair and his very beautiful smile. Just like any other guy. 

But he wasn’t. 

He looked smooth, confident and whatever other compliment you could build to him – like, you never really met him to know more than just the appearance, and his looks exuded that so you just guessed. The fucking “sweetheart” coming from his mouth sounded too good for your own heart. And that was everything you got from him. Not even a glimpse of something else like what classes he got or anything like that.

“I don’t know, I’m starting to worry you are seeing ghosts or making people up, girl”, Yunjin said as her hands unwrapped her sandwich right before she took a big bite.

“I’m not!” you whined with a pout. “I swear to god he exists. I need him to exist. He’s too fine,” you whispered the last part, even though they both heard you.

“This is definitely something someone who is starting to see things would say, y’know that, right?” Chaewon said with a laugh, making you chuckle a bit because, well, it’s true. How does one prove a person exists given that no one but you saw him?

The campus was big enough for you not to see him ever again, however after the quick encounter you noticed he walked towards the end of the hallway, to classes that only someone with an area of study similar to yours would go to.

“This is frustrating,” you stated, looking at the people wandering around still hoping to see him. Your lunch already forgotten in front of you.

“Don’t you have a date in like a few hours?” Chaewon questioned with a raised eyebrow. “Shouldn’t we be worrying about you and that hot Jay guy instead of you and the we-don’t-even-know-if-he-exists guy?”

“She’s right, baby,” Yunjin added. “Jay looks adorable. You should focus on him.”

You nodded defeated, sighing and forcing yourself to re-read your texts with the said guy. “You’re right”, you smiled a bit.

Jay: Looking forward to our date tonight! <3

You: yeah, me too :) 

And just like that the afternoon has arrived and you got yourself in a dilemma of clothing and accessories and shoes and makeup and even between your perfumes! Everything seemed terrible together, nothing was right, no cloth piece looked good enough to match Jay’s insane visuals and taste in style. Through his photos you noticed the way he fashioned himself, wearing fancy brands with a generous constancy, looking too good for yourself.

You were on the verge of crying when Yunjin called you, as if she felt in her guts you needed her.

“Hey,” you answered the call, quickly accepting the change to a video call and propping your phone on your desk. “How we doin’, baby?” She asked curiously with a big excited smile. “Why aren’t you ready yet?” You noticed she had makeup on and was doing her hair while talking to you.

“Not doing well, Jinnie…” you pouted, looking at the mess around you. You were dealing with a lot of emotions at the same time and felt so lost. “I don’t know what to wear,” you said sincerely. “I feel like nothing I have here is enough to match Jay’s.”

In your defense, it’s been a long time since you ever went on a date, especially a dinner date and with someone so elegant like Jay.

You weren’t expecting Yunjin almost screaming at you. “Don’t you dare to say anything like that ever again!” You startled. “Y/N, you will look good in any clothing you decide to wear, because you are hot. Not your clothes or accessories or anything. They just complement your own beauty!”

While Chaewon normally was the one who would speak up for the whole group in terms of defending her girls, Yunjin worked on the other part of bringing the mood and the self esteem up. And both of them always did a great job.

“You are so fucking right, Yunjin,” she smiled proudly after you spoke, continuing her job on doing her hair.

You looked around one more time, getting out of the frame just to change yourself in a simple black dress long enough to cover half of your tights and the exact amount of tightness that hugged your curves with close perfection. “Thoughts?” You appeared again in front of the camera after a few minutes of trying some accessories.

“Sexy. And pretty. You are so getting laid tonight!” You chuckled. “I think I’m not the only one, though?” You wiggled your eyebrows playfully and she just giggled, before saying a quick goodbye and ending the call.

Just like you, she had things to get done. 

Putting on some lip gloss as a final touch, you were ready. And just in time as you felt your phone vibrating inside your purse with Jay's text.

Jay: I’m here :) You: Coming!

The big car greeting the door of your building was expected at some point, nonetheless your shocking expression was hardly disguised with a nervous smile. As Jay stepped out of his car, you quickly analyzed his outfit and had to take a breath because his white button up shirt with the sophisticated black trousers was getting yourself out of orbit. You felt a little dizzy when his hand positioned on your waist as he leaned to greet you with a little kiss on the cheek and a pretty smile.

He opened the door for you and when you both had settled down on the car seat, he said “You look great, Y/N”. With his help, you put on the seatbelt and thanked with a kind smile. "You look good yourself too, Jay."

The drive to the restaurant was quite normal, a few words being exchanged here and there, the conversation was pretty ordinary. You were a pile of nerves and you had to almost physically stop yourself from moving your legs up and down due to the feeling of anxiety. It’s not like Jay was making you uncomfortable, but you didn’t felt too comfortable either. The whole fancy type of thing was getting you too hesitant for a first date. You were more like a cafe date girly, stargazing at some open air park or maybe a picnic. Now you were blaming yourself for not letting that out beforehand.

Jay parked the car at the parking lot. “We’re here”, his voice broke you out of your mind and when you glanced up at the restaurant you felt like dying inside.

Too fancy.

“It’s… amazing,” was everything that slipped out your mouth as you got out of the car with Jay’s help. “I’m glad you liked it, princess.”

The pet name didn’t get you the much you hoped it would, actually it made you think about the fucking hallway guy and his smooth “sweetheart” saying, sending shivers down your spine.

When both of you reached the table reserved under the name Park Jongseong and you looked through the menu, you knew you were fucked up. With no shame, though, you asked “Could you order for me? I know little to no ingredients on this paper.”

Jay let a small breathy laugh and nodded ordering for both of you. He picked a wine impressively saying the name and the year and whatever other things wines have in its description trying to impress you. However, your focus was on the view that you finally noticed on your right side that faced a big window. The night sky was impressive and the moon was shining prettily. 

“Enjoying the view?” he asked after sipping a bit of his wine. “Yeah, it’s incredible. I love the moon, actually I–” you didn’t had the chance to even start on your probably long talk about how much interested you are in the moon, being cutted of by Jay.

“Did you know that once I almost had the chance to go to the moon?” Your head snapped so fast towards his direction that you thought you would break your neck. “What?” The discredited and doubtful expression adorning your face was so clear still you were not afraid of showing it off.

With that, you discovered a not so good part of Jay: his somewhat annoying and exaggerated personality of trying to impress you with exorbitant things, too different from the texts you guys had exchanged. You had no interest knowing that his first birthday present was diamonds or that his dad bought him a car even before he turned eighteen. Let alone that he traveled to every single place you said during the conversation.

The way he would blurt out interrupting you in order to say "It's so amazing there! You would love the beaches and the museums, and the..." so it goes, every single time was really angering you.

Feeling left out in a duo talk was a new experience to you. How could someone be so full of himself and act like his life is the only one that matters? His gentlemanly aura was falling down very fast.

“You don’t seem to be enjoying our date,” he pointed with elegance when you went full quiet, looking directly at you. You sipped a bit of the wine that actually tasted too bad for your palate, noticing how half of your food was left out on your plate. You forced yourself to eat as much as you could handle, but the aftertaste of that food was worse than the taste itself. 

“Oh, now you noticed me,” you artificially smiled.

“What do you mean by that?” he asked, a bit offended. You got nervous, but didn’t let that get on you. “I mean that for the past two hours all you talk about is yourself. At first I was like ‘okay, this is how we know each other!’, but since then I haven’t had the chance to talk about anything related to myself, like my likings or whatever,” you vented, having to take a deep breath and drink some more wine afterwards. 

“I’m sorry, but I don’t get it,” Jay seemed honestly confused.

“Are you stupid?” the question slipped your tongue a bit too fast for your own thinking. You widened your eyes and covered your mouth with your hand. “I’m sorry I–” 

“I don’t think I’m stupid, but I really don’t get it. It’s my first date in a while and I don’t really remember having to listen to the girls at all…”

Squinting, you questioned genuinely, “What do you mean? Like, the girls you took out on dates just… listened to you bragging about diamonds and travels?” He kinda mimicked your expression and replied as if it was obvious “...Yeah…” 

After you blinked a few times you recomposed yourself and drank the whole wine on your glass at one go wishing you could just get drunk enough to forget that night. Jay watched you with a fazed expression as you got up from your chair. “I’m sure you’ll find someone that likes you the way you are. But with all due respect, to me, you kinda… Y’know. So I’m leaving.” You pointed with your thumb to your back, not even knowing if the exit was that way. “It was… an experience, I think.” You forced a smile. “Do I have to pay for something?” 

“No, don’t worry about that,” he was quick in his response, feeling a bit ashamed and soon adding “But I can get you home, you just have to wait for me to p–”

“Nah, I’m fine. I’ll call a cab or whatever,” you interrupted him as soon as you could, not wanting to spend any more second with him. Being in a closed space with him for more than a few seconds would be too embarrassing. 

“Y/N, come on. It’s the least I can do for you. You don’t have to walk alone at night, it can be dangerous.” You sighed, tapping his shoulder softly when you got closer to him. “Jay, it’s fine. It was not meant to be,” you tried to sound certain but what left your mouth was a mix of sneering with a doubtful tone. When he said nothing more, you left.

You were free. And also hungry. And a bit tipsy.

Maybe it was not the best idea to walk alone at that time of the night, but somehow you managed to feel better outside than with Jay. He was great, but definitely not for you.

You questioned yourself if calling Yunjin or Chaewon or maybe both could be a good idea, but knowing them they would show up in no time and try to beat the crap out of Jay and you weren’t in the mood to witness a murder. Actually all you needed was food. And maybe a cozy place. Nevertheless you typed on your phone just to update your girls.

You: Date went down the hole Guy’s kinda suck ngl Chaebae 💖: WDYM ARE YOU OKAY  DO YOU NEED ME TO GET THAT BASTARD OR WHAT WHAT DID HE DO WHERE ARE YOU Jinnie 💘: i’m very much drunk rn but tell me his address and i'll kick his ass and get you home or are you home already?

You laughed at the quick replies you received and typed some reassurance to them while continuing your walking process. Your goal at that point was to find a convenience store where you could get some lamen and perhaps a soda.

While you wrote down your last message walking slowly not to trip, you bumped into someone, face straight to their chest.

Firm and cunning hands held you by the waist since you lost balance because of your heels, preventing you from falling. Before you could even say anything, that fucking woody essence went directly through your senses and it was as if history was reescribing itself, like a gift from fate. This time, you were fully in his arms.

You looked up. “I’m so– Oh, you again?” He showed his charming smile. Because of the proximity you noticed how the corner of his lips were a bit curvy. So attractive and for what? 

Just like the last time, you blinked twice before realizing what really was happening, feet fixed on the ground. “I’m starting to consider that you like bumping into my chest, sweetheart,” he said with a grin, his mentoled breath hitting straight on your face.

Thank god his hands still held your waist, otherwise you would definitely fall. Your baffled expression had him chuckling a bit. “Did I hurt you?” he asked with care, looking directly at your eyes. His pretty chocolate eyes were hidden behind black specs this time.

You kept gazing stupidly at him like he was a distinct specie, an alien or something, not being able to say a word. Your throat was dry, you were sure you had lost the ability of talking. “Have you forgotten how to talk, pretty one?” He sniggered and bold but gently placed a strand of your hair behind your ear with his free hand. You shivered and almost leaned into the touch. “I remember you having such an endearing voice,” and just like that you finally let your body respond and blushed, taking a deep breath while starting to move away from him “I’m sorry, I didn’t see yo–”

“Cut that off, sweetheart," he let you go, making sure you were stable on your feet. You missed the warmth of his body on yours right away. Also you took your time to appreciate his clothing. The deep red shirt with white stripes covered with a black jacket looked too good on him. "I’m worried our encounters will keep happening like this. You might end up getting hurt for real,” the concerned tone did not go unnoticed, even mixed with the teasing-flirtatious one.

Your eyes wandered his face quickly before you let out a chuckle and diverted your attention away. You decided to ignore the buzzing sound of your phone as you put it inside your purse. “That wouldn’t be fun, would it?”, you said.

“Definitely not,” you looked back at him, caughting the shining eyes staring at you already like all he had down his sight was you. “A beautiful face like yours cannot be hurt, am I right?” And again there was that too attractive sly smile adorning his lips. You decided to smile back but shyly yet unable to hold the visual contact for more than a few seconds, cheeks still reddened. 

“I don’t know you enough to say that but you seem a bit… off”, he was now looking at you with his gleaming puppy eyes, head slightly tilted to the side. “Yeah, I might be a little bit tipsy.”

Normally you would be mad at the fact the small amount of wine was hitting that hard, blaming your weakness towards alcohol for making you feel kinda dizzy and too bold for your own good – you internally debated if that dizzines came from the alcohol or from other sources, like the very good looking man standing in front of you.

Still you thanked the fearless feeling running through your veins at that very moment, otherwise where would you find enough courage to say what you said next?

“Are you down to get some lamen at some random convenience store with me?”, you had no idea what your words could mean to him and honestly weren’t expecting much, but as soon as his face lit up like you told him he won a good amount of money, you felt victorious. “Is this your way of flirting? Because if it is, it’s working on me.” 

“That’s good to know, nameless boy”, you scoffed with a seductively undertone, the little smirk on your lips and your now boldness to maintain eye contact making him laugh as a failed attempt to hide his flustered self. The next moment you both were greeting each other with a quick handshake after he offered his hand to you. “I’m Jake”.

The hallway boy finally got a name, and not only that, you were now sure of his existence.

Sitting on a bench at the little shop you managed to find, the angry owner’s expression facing you two was as clear as crystal water and got you thinking if you were being too loud. Without caring much you just let it be, since being with Jake apparently meant you will be noisy eventually. It was not necessarily his fault, the both of you just shared too many common interests that made it difficult not to get overly excited during the conversation. 

It all began with just a normal “no way you like this flavor!” – with a very strong Australian accent from his side – and since then the flow went smoothly. His company had been greatly enjoyable so far and you let yourself be more and more comfortable about sharing some self information.

For example at some point you discovered he was a physics student, and with that you instantly shared about your love for the moon – also the lack of acknowledgement about it. You explained that you were affectionate to the moon because of its beauty, shining brightly in the sky even when behind heavy clouds. Looking at it always made you feel somehow free, especially when some breeze hits your body simultaneously. 

Jake carefully listened to you with fond eyes and after you finished, he started to explain a bit of theory to you, sounding too smart. He looked very attractive saying words you didn’t even know the meaning behind and you noticed you were paying way too much attention to the way his charming lips were moving as he did so. 

And just like that you traveled around many subjects. You being more emotional and Jake more rational, respectfully giving each other the chance to speak, constantly but easily finding ways to match one’s energy. You finally felt heard that night. And one of the topics being, of course, the whole date situation.

“Ok, so what you’re telling me is that this Jay guy told you about his whole financial status, which I admit makes me kinda envious, and you still managed to end up here with me at some very random convenience store eating cheap lamen?”, he shook off the empty package of said lamen, staring at you with an amusement look.

“Yep,” you nodded, slurping the last bite of your food. “And also I called him stupid.” 

“At his face,” he completed the very important piece of information, finishing his food as well. Jake licking his lips to clean it up didn’t go unnoticed by you. “I swear if I was Jay I would be crying right now,” he stated as a fact and you groaned.

“Don’t make me feel bad for him, please,” you uttered with a whine and he laughed at you, his eyes turning into little crescents as he did so. “I swear he was nice and prolly had good intentions, but y’know…” you left unfinished, but Jake concluded for you. “He bragged about diamonds hoping you would fall for him or something.”

You furrowed your eyebrows and shook your head before drinking the last sip of your soda, “yeah, definitely not my type.”

Jake decided to restrain the urge of asking what your type would be, a little afraid he was off league. “Well, at least you got on a date with me,” he sneered. You chuckled. 

“I knew I would hit my pretty face directly on your so toned chest when I walked out that date,” you said sarcastically and then added “that’s why I decided to go in the first place.”

You were feeling way better now, belly full of good food that really pleased your taste buds and not drunk anymore, although you still let the boldness command your words through the talking once and while. You found out that behind Jake’s flirtatious and teasing way of speaking to you, there was also a very sheepish boy that would get flustered from time to time, like right now. He laughed off and drank the rest of his soda in order to run away from your very sharp but playful eyes.

Jake was so entertained by you. The way you expressed yourself so cheerfully and vibrantly. Whenever some topic of your liking was on the track your eyes would instantly get an almost childish sparkle as your hands motioned in a very exciting way and your detailed explanations would be voiced out.

Also he discovered you were a lot more confident than he thought you could be. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t liking this side of yours, audaciously flirting with him whenever you got the chance to do so, without holding back your bold responses. The feeling of the top of his ears burning knowing they were very much red was starting to become common for him. He did not had to know that you not only noticed his reactions, but was loving every minute.

Despite that, he tried to keep his cool.

“What are you up to after here, sugar?”, Jake asked forcing a nonchalantly tone while playing with the rings adorning his fingers, and yet again you were forced to remember the fucking cute pet names that got you flushed everytime he dared to say them. You looked away for a bit before answering.

“I don’t know, maybe go home… Watch some videos until I fall asleep”, you shrugged. Early on that day you weren’t expecting to find yourself in a situation like that, actually the whole program was to get “dicked down” – as Chaewon worded. However, you weren't disappointed either with how the evening turned out to be.

“Come on, Y/N,” your name went out too smoothly on Jake’s plumpy lips, his honeyed voice never failing to make you flutter slightly. Still you tried to keep your composure. “It’s friday and you’re wearing such a beautiful dress to what? To go home, watch videos and sleep?” He mocked the last part and you chuckled before lazily smiling in his direction, fully facing him. You recognized the tiredness starting to consume your body slowly which did not go unnoticed by Jake. Your tinted cheeks from the compliment also did not go unnoticed by him.

“And what would you recommend me to do, Jakey?”

“Jakey?” He raised an eyebrow, liking the way you pronounced the nickname a bit too much, thinking it was definitely something he could grow used to.

You just kept smiling, looking up at him through your eyelashes. You perceived how close on the seat you both were as if a magnet pulled you two together through that night, your bare shoulder slightly brushing against his clothed one from time to time.

“To be honest I just wanted an excuse to point out how gorgeous you are in this dress,” he licked his bottom lip as a habit while you didn’t even have the chance to properly receive the compliment, Jake being too smooth with it. “I don’t have any good recommendations, but if you’re down we c–”

The sound of your phone ringing interrupted Jake’s possible plans, making both of you startle. You saw Yunjin’s name on the screen and wondered whether to answer or not.

“Aren’t you gonna pick up?” Jake asked with curiosity. 

“Actually, yes I will,” you remembered you left your friends hanging on your texts and have been unintentionally ignoring them, so it was only fair to give a quick update just to make them sure you are still alive. 

“Hi baby”, you picked up the call with a smile, hearing a very drunk Yunjin on the other side. “No, I’m not home yet”, Jake watched as you talked on your phone with a neutral expression. He himself feeling a bit worried with the usage of nicknames and with your cute tone towards the person.

He knew you just went out on a date, assuming that you were at least looking to have some fun, however that fact should not be enough to stop you from being unavailable. Jake thought that a pretty girl like you probably already had a love interest in line.

“Don’t worry, Jinnie. You don’t have to come pick me up”, you glanced over at Jake who was now paying too much attention to the table in front of him, lost in his own mind and also trying to give you some privacy. You grinned, “I’m not alone.” Jake accidentally heard a very loud “WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU’RE NOT ALONE?” through your phone and had to hold back a laugh. “I’m with… Someone,” you kept your eyes on him as you spoke to Yunjin, grabbing his attention when you indirectly mentioned his presence. “I’ll talk to you later, yeah?” and then you ended the call with a “Love you, bye.”

“I didn’t mean to hear it, but I’m intrigued…” you knew where Jake was going with that, so you just kept your smile. “‘Someone’, huh?” He said with a smirk, clearly messing with you. 

You turned your head to someplace else because no matter how bold you can be sometimes, the following line that you let out made you hesitate a bit beforehand.

“Well, in my defense I don’t plan to introduce you to my friends through my phone, let alone as a mere guy I just met,” although you tried to keep your cheekily tone, it was obvious how shy you were feeling, gazing briefly at Jake’s direction as you said.

Jake hadn’t noticed until now that he was holding his breath a little, relievedly letting it out as he watched your pretty face and expressions. Regardless, the whole phrase made his head spin, replacing previous thoughts with new, more intense ones, all at once. What do you mean by that?

“Then how are you planning to introduce me?” he boldly questioned leaning towards you a little in order to find a way to look you in the eye again, finding adorable your demeanor right now breaking every little eye contact way too quickly. 

You giggled.

Jake thought he had just found his favorite sound in the world.

“We’ll see, Jakey.” 

Jake rode you home.

He noticed how lazy your hooded eyes started to look and decided to end the “date” instead of taking you to somewhere else, which you particularly found endearing. The bar was low, you admitted to yourself, but a cute guy being considerate for your entertainment other than just leading you anywhere else for his own amusement made your heart flutter. 

However, the moment he offered to take you home you immediately refused, emphasizing that he didn't need to worry and that you would not let him waste gas for nothing. The reply he gave was a not so subtle “I don’t care”, alongside with “I’ll not let you freeze outside waiting for a cab and I don’t trust you enough to let you borrow my jacket for tonight,” making you laugh at his little mischievous tone, especially because as soon as you both were in his car he put his black jacket on your shoulders.

“I thought you don’t trust me enough to have it?” You referred to the jacket, feeling too inebriated by its smell. 

“There's a big difference between leaving it to you alone without knowing if you'll ever hand me back and letting you have it under my watch, sweetheart.” His smug face looked too charming as he spoke and the damn sweetheart again got to you with ease. You chuckled while watching the street lights passing by. 

The ride was calmer than you expected. The radio played on some random station working as a beautiful background to the soft words exchanged between you two. You noticed Jake’s attractive side profile as he focused on the road rambling some physics thing in a very excited way. Your body felt too tired to keep any thoughts on track, leading you to just listen to his sweet voice embracing you mildly until you both arrived in front of your apartment building.

Of course he didn’t let you open the door and also helped you to get out. The touch of his warm hand under yours sended a shiver down your spine. 

“Thank you for the ride, Jake,” you said with a gentle smile.

“My pleasure, sugar,” your cheeks reddened hard as you started to take off his jacket. “You don’t have to,” he shook his hand in front of him, refusing to get the clothing piece back. You looked at him with a stunned-confused expression, lips parted a bit. Before you could even protest he interrupted you. “I need an excuse to see you again, right?” And send you a wink.

As if he said just a normal thing, he confidently got back to his car, letting behind a very flustered you. 

Little did you know how shaky his hands rested on the wheel as he drove off, looking forward to meeting you again.

Of course you had to spend your whole weekend waiting for Monday to come – a peculiar behavior you admitted to yourself. But neither you nor Jake got each other's phone number so all you could do was to wait and hope for the best. You didn’t even know if you would meet him again at the campus because you searched for him nonstop the last few days and never got the chance to do so, making you regret even more about not getting any information about where to find him.

His jacket rested on your desk chair as you deeply stared at the little stars adorning your bedroom ceiling. Stars that remembered how shiny Jake’s eyes looked when he started to talk about Theory of relativity or anything like that. You also remember paying just enough attention to understand and to keep the talking flow, focusing more on the way his lips moved as doing so.

You groaned, rolling on your bed sheets. How long a weekend can be? You were acting like a teenager for having a crush on a stranger! You knew little to no things about Jake. You knew his age – one year older than you, you knew his majoring and you also found out the reason behind him being at your campus block – he had to deliver some paperwork to a friend of his. But other than some common interests and his music taste, that was it. 

Was him a good person? He showed you a good personality for sure, to the point your heart sank with the idea of losing all that excitement to see him again just because he’s good looking and has a great talk. Still you kept questioning yourself. What if he was the player type? Just hitting for one night stand and that’s it?

Monday morning arrived but you did not had enough time to develop any more thoughts when you got to the university. As soon as you reached it, Chaewon and Yunjin flooded you with a very long investigation about what the hell happened that friday.

Talking in person was always an option for the three of you, the feeling of looking eye to eye and reading each other's expressions was more interesting than having to guess it over a phone or video call. Normally you three would pick a place to go and have a little "friends date" and talk about the stuff that happened for hours. However this time you choose to use the excuse you were busy studying, having too many assignments left behind which neither of them bought it from you.

“So Jay sucks?” Chaewon asked. “I don’t like putting it like that,” you murmured. “But yeah, we just didn’t hit it off, y’know?” You just shrugged.

You three were walking towards the class you shared that morning, not caring much about being a little late. 

“Baby, you’re too nice,” Yunjin hugged you sideways and smiled at you. “You can say a man is stupid.”

“Actually I did,” you smiled mischievously and they both looked at you with shocked expressions. “Not my proudest moment, but I said it to his face. Unintentionally, I swear!”  

Chaewon and Yunjin broke down the shocked expressions to laugh out loud with the idea of you calling your failed date a stupid right to his face.

 “And what’s with the jacket?” Yunjin questioned when you stopped to grab your things from your locker.

She knew every clothing piece you had as if it was hers because of your constant need for help in terms of putting together what you like, and even though the jacket looked good on you, definitely wasn't part of your wardrobe. 

“It’s Jake’s, I’m planning to send it back to him today.” 

They already knew about Jake, but not too much. You shared a little through texts not wanting to fill too much of their expectations. Knowing your two best friends, they would go crazy if you detailed your night out.

They both exchanged glances before Chaewon spoke “If he really exists.”

You rolled your eyes playfully, picking up all you needed from your locker before answering. “He does. And he’s… pretty nice.” You tried your best not to sound too whipped at that time, especially because you were still worrying if he would be loyal to his words or if the whole talk about meeting you again was just a big bluff. 

But apparently one thing about Jake it’s that he can counter you with ease. As if you summoned his presence, the honeyed voice that you didn’t realize until now you missed hearing, said from behind you. 

“Hey, pretty one.” your head snapped to the direction faster than you would like to admit, meeting the beautiful plump lips turned into a little smile. He looked you up and down, checking on you. “I don’t think I’ll need the jacket back. You look better on it anyway.” His eyes were locked at you, and only you. You had to remind yourself to breathe, because, God Jake was so hot. 

That day he opted to wear just a normal white shirt with dark jeans and black shoes. At first he thought about really getting his jacket back, because you didn’t know that but that jacket was his favorite. But as soon as he put his eyes on you and noticed how cute you looked with his clothing piece seeming too big like an oversized one, he gave up.

“H-hi,” you damned yourself for stuttering, being fully aware that your friends looked as astonished as you at that moment, but for different reasons. You started to get the jacket off your body by saying “Of course I have to give it bac–”, he shushed you with his index finger before you could finish and your eyes widened, making you stop all your movements.

“Don’t worry, I meant it when I say you look good on it,” you gulped as you nodded speechless. “Here,” he handed you a little paper and your shaky hands took it, you saw numbers written. “It’s my number, you can text me whenever, yeah?” He licked his lips suddenly feeling nervous.

Apparently being around you was an easy break of his flirtatious self. However, he forced himself on this one and said “I gotta go now, I’m kinda late,” he ruffled your hair gently before leaning close to whispering on your left ear, lips lightly touching your skin “See you around, sugar.”

You immediately choked on your own saliva, your cheeks burning like hell, fully unable to say a word. “And bye to you both as well!” Jake referred to the girls as he started to run down the corridor to his own campus building. 

“Bye!” both Yunjin and Chaewon said in unison. You had to blink twice before realizing what just happened. “Girl!!!” Yunjin screamed and you noticed Chaewon covering her mouth as well. “What the fuck?!?!” 

“I–” you tried saying anything but you couldn’t, not only because of your own brain turning into mush, but because your friends were way too hyped and interrupted you. 

“The way he looked at you?”

“THE PET NAMES!!!”

“‘Pretty one’!? He so down bad, what the actual fuck?”

“And he’s cute as hell!!!”

You were overwhelmed with all of that, walking just because the two girls were forcing you to move forward while keeping squealing about Jake's actions. 

“I know that nose can do wonders,” Yunjin said cheekily as soon as you sat in your class seats and you immediately turned to look at her with a terrified expression.

“Huh Yunjin!!!”, you smacked her shoulder with wide eyes and she just laughed together with Chaewon. 

As your ordinary Monday normally would go, you were now sitting under a tree reading the latest book your teacher assigned for an assignment. You always loved to take a break from the library and to literally touch some grass, using your free time to catch up with all the paperwork you needed.

A shadow approached you, blocking the sunlight and catching your attention. You didn’t expect to see Jake hovering over you. With a raised eyebrow, you asked. “Are you following me?”

“No, I just missed you.” He ironized, taking a seat near you and looking at your book. “You’re such a nerd,” he mimicked your position, so his head was also resting on the tree behind you two but he was facing you. Too close. 

You nervously gulped before saying, “Yeah, cuz I’m the one who likes to show myself off to a girl talking about Theory of relativity and other physical terms”, you sounded too sarcastic and instantly felt bad. “I’m not complaining, by the way,” you whispered looking away, part of you hoping for him not to hear but due to the proximity he obviously heard. And smiled.

Jake was afraid you could hear his heartbeats at that moment. Your side profile enchanted him in ways he could not describe. Your shy little smile got him thinking if it would be too weird to take a picture to have it with him forever.

He looked away, enjoying the silence.

“It’s very calm over here,” he said in a deep low voice, resting his chin on his knee. You took advantage of him not facing you anymore and watched him as he watched other people wander around, almost forgetting to say something back.

“Yeah, I like it here because it’s always calm like this,” he looked back at you when you talked. You forced yourself to keep eye contact for as long as you could, trying your best to ignore your burning cheeks. 

Jake looked away. You noticed he was flustered too. 

“And what about you, Jakey?” The little nickname spilling out your mouth like sugar, he almost melted. “Isn’t your campus like a few blocks from here?”

He chuckled, “Yeah, but I’ve got like an hour to spare before my next class.” You hummed. “So I decided to come over and thought I could maybe bump into you again,” he slyly smiled at you. You laughed at the term he used. 

“But I can go away if you want me to, sweetheart.”

You instantly shook off your head and almost grabbed his arm as if trying to stop him from getting up. “You can stay.”

“Okay.”

And he did. 

There was a brief silence moment before you plucked up the courage to ask. “What’s with the pet names?”

“You don’t like them?”

The worried puppy eyes he gave you almost broke your heart. “It’s not that… It’s just, y'know…”, you shrugged, trying to find the right way to put it. “Do you use them with everyone?”

You needed to know. You noticed Jake shuffling on his seat a bit, as if he was uncomfortable. And well, he wasn't fully comfortable either. There was no good explanation to why he called you all of that, and no, he didn’t use pet names with no other people but you. He dated two other girls before and of course called them cute pet names while being with them, but now you were the only one on his mind since the first encounter and he could not help it.

Jake was a believer of “love at first sight”, however he understood the necessity of getting to know the other person if he wanted to build something with them and never really got carried away with the primary delusional feeling.

With you he was kinda different. He let his flirtatious side shine way more easily than he would normally do. When he noticed how cute the girl who bumped on his chest that day was, he just let it all out. Little did you know that his first instinct of flirting with you was due to his nervousness. 

Now he would be down to a one night stand type of thing if you wanted to, but didn’t sound right to do so. You looked too precious to him. He wanted to be close to you and get to know every single piece of you before anything. He wanted to know your likings, interests and overall personality.

He could let himself fall in love with you.

Immersed in his own thoughts, he didn’t even realize he had become quiet and left you hanging kinda in a compromised position.

“You know what? Forget it,” you shook it off, feeling embarrassed. It wasn't like he owes you any explanation about his life or what he does with it. If he decided to play with your feelings, then you should know your position of not falling for it. “Tell me something very nerdy about your area,” you asked brightly. “I’ve got a few minutes still.”

You noticed how bold you became around Jake. Apparently that's how it worked between you two. 

He would be the one starting the whole thing, making you get too flustered for your own good with the cute names and shameless flirting, until he breaks out the character for a few seconds, enough for you to be the audacious one and make him blush.

At some point you started to get used to Jake’s presence in your everyday life. Both of you would constantly reach for the other during free time just to hang out, and sometimes to grab some food together. Yet you never let him get too close, fearing that you would let yourself get too attached to the feeling. You made it a rule not to fall for him and you’ve been holding on so far, even with Jake making it way too difficult. 

Jake was sweet, caring and not afraid to express his feelings when he needed to. Not only that but he also would remember little details about you, like your favorite coffee order or the fact that you can only listen to the first half of a song because you think the rest sucks – Jake always skips it when playing on his car radio. 

He got along with your friends easily as he’s a well spoken person as well, and even introduced you to his own friends. You met Heeseung and Sunghoon, the last one being a classmate of Jake while Heeseung studied music, both older than you. You found out that Heeseung was the said friend who made Jake wander around your campus causing the whole bumping-into-each-other situation and it became an inside joke among all of you.

Jake made it normal to ask you out from time to time within the excuse that both of you were overwhelmed with the university duties and deserved to see the outside world.

So after today’s classes you walked down the parking lot after receiving a text from him saying he would take you to a place – he refused to tell you where you were going. 

He was already waiting for you, being too attractive as he leaned against his car while looking at something on his phone. Your heart started to pump fast in your chest, making you take a few deep breaths beforehand. 

“Hey,” you greeted when you got closer and he glanced over at you, immediately opening a big smile and embracing you in a hug.

“Hi, gorgeous,” you took your sweet time to feel the warmth of his body and perfume. “Ready to go?” 

You moved back from the hug and watched as he opened the door car for you.

“Mhm, but you got me extra curious, so I’m having high expectations,” you tried to exaggerate in your words in order to get a little hint, but of course Jake was already getting immune to your tricks at this point so he just laughed.

“I’m sure you’ll like it, sweetheart.”

You settled yourself in his car, feeling way too comfortable with the amount of time you already spended there with him as you threw your bag on the backseats and chose the song for the trip. 

Jake dared you to show him your favorite songs every time you two drove together, but you wanted to get to know his music taste as well so you two decided to alternate who chose the songs for that day. And it was your turn.

“Paramore for today, huh?” He pointed out with a small smile.

“Yeah, you don’t like it?” 

“I love it.”

One of the reasons your heart beat fast when around Jake was the freedom to be yourself and just do whatever you wanted to do, without even noticing you caused the same to him with your charming behavior. Every time he stopped at a red light he would look at you bobbing your head and lip syncing to the lyrics excitedly while doing a little dance. 

He tried his best to not show how dearing he was looking at you, but you caught the cute brown eyes facing your side from time to time and the only reaction from both of you was to look away and blush. 

As the conversation flowed, he shared a bit of his day to you, telling about how stressed he has been because of his study partner being a pain in his ass, and the only hint of where you were going he let out was “And because of that, I need to de-stress and that’s why we goin’ where we goin’”. 

You pouted and forced the best puppy eye you could while looking at his direction. He almost broke out. “You’re mean. You don’t make a girl curious like that.”

“Don’t worry, we are almost there.”

You gave up trying to figure out where you were going and hoped for the best. You knew that with Jake nothing could be bad, because his presence alone was enough. 

Jake felt similar to you, not admitting out loud that just the fact that you were with him already reduced a lot of his stress. You may not know that but everyday he was eagerly waiting for the moment you both would meet during the day, and when you couldn't find time to do so, he was thrilled to receive a simple text from you.

Your presence was enough to make him happy.

It didn't take longer than a few songs for you to arrive at the place you instantly recognized as a beach.

“A beach?” You sounded excited, but also a bit confused. You don’t think you have clothes to enter the water and the sun was already starting to set, so you didn’t get much of his idea at first.

Jake parked the car and as usual, he opened the door for you. “Yep. I know it’s kinda late for a swim or anything like that, but it wasn’t planning to do anyways,” he helped you to get out.

Normally he would let your hand go as soon as you felt stable on your feet after leaving the car, but that day he decided to hold your hand as he gently pulled you in the direction he wanted to take you.

You said nothing. How could you? The slender fingers holding yours had broken you down. The air felt thick in your airways as you walked alongside him, heart beating louder and louder while you watched the beautiful view of the sun finding its way down the horizon. The cold breeze hit your face and brought so much peace to your inner self. You could live forever like that.

Jake suddenly stopped walking and since you were a bit behind him, you bumped slightly at his back, hands still together. You looked over his shoulder and gasped. The place you two were now had a better view of the sunsetting and the waves calmly hitting the rocks sounded way too heavenly.

You blinked slowly, reluctantly letting Jake hand go as you walked a bit forward. Behind you, he watched as your hair flew due the breeze.

"It's so pretty..." you uttered under your breath, mesmerized by the look of the orange and pinkish colored sky. You felt like crying. 

He took a few steps and glanced at your serene expression. 

While you enjoyed the view, Jake enjoyed you.

"Yeah, very pretty."

You had no clue of how fast Jake’s heart was beating right now. He was hypnotized by you, a sudden urge to kiss you building up his mind right away. 

“I now understand why you come here to de-stress”, you said after a while, the sound of your sweet voice bringing him back to reality. He had literally lost himself on you at that very moment. 

You lazily smiled, feeling extra calm and glanced at Jake, who was already looking at you with soft eyes.

“Thank you, Jakey,” you hugged him sincerely. “For bringing me here and for being here with me. I needed that.”

Jake sighed, hugging you tightly. At this point there was no way he could hide the thump-thump in his chest, and honestly? He stopped caring if you noticed or not. 

He stopped caring if you noticed he was – not so slowly – falling for you. 

It was a stressful week for you, not only were you on your period but also dealing with a bunch of deadlines. You considered throwing yourself in front of a bus when you realized how left behind you were in your assignments. Your finals getting closer and closer didn’t help either.

For good and long days you almost locked yourself at the library in order to catch up with everything, because even with the help of some friends that shared the classes with you you were barely holding on.

Jake would appear out of nowhere and give you a cup of warm coffee, some muffins and a little kiss on your forehead before heading out and letting you do your thing.

“I just wanna make sure you’re eating well, princess,” he would say every time. And no matter how lovingly his actions would be, you couldn't allow yourself to feel them because of your anxiety of failure.

And yes, ever since you asked about the nicknames and stuff he started to use them more often than your heart could handle, especially after he discovered that you liked them, even if you didn't admit it out loud.

Friday arrived. You wished you could get excited about going out to the little party Jake said Heeseung would be throwing that evening, but you needed a good night of sleep and your whole body was aching due to your period. You just wanted to sink on your bed sheets after taking a hot shower.

One thing that became normal in your life was getting a ride with Jake some days of the week, unfortunately he didn’t have any classes on fridays so you just had to walk your way home. You took your sweet time to feel the cold autumn breeze hit you on the face hoping it would take away all your stress. The buzzling sound of your phone caught your attention as you saw Jake’s text on its display.

Jakey 🐶:  Hey there princess It’s been three days since I last saw you and I’m ngl, I kinda miss your pretty face lol I hope you’re doing well I left you a little smth at your apartment.  At the door, ofc Don’t freak out, I didn’t stole your keys or broke into your house or smth Please, don’t stress yourself too much <3 And dw, I’m not mad you’re not going to the party Have a good rest, pretty girl. AND PLEASE don’t forget to eat!!!!

You almost cried reading all of that and blamed your hormones for being a mess of feelings. 

You: Hi Jakey!!  Kinda miss you too you left something to me? i’m kinda scared I’m dealing with cramps rn so I’m not so fine, but I’ll eventually, dw! And yeah, I’ll make sure to eat and rest well enjoy your night, pretty boy <3

You noticed you felt much braver through texts than in person, but this was the first time you were the one using a nickname so you were shaking a bit.

Jakey 🐶: AJDKSSJDJS SORRy I Yeah, uhm No need to be scared, princess, I’m sure you’ll like it  Cramps? Take on some medicine, please!! Do u want me to come over? Are u home yet?

He sounded so desperate and nervous that genuinely made you laugh out loud. But with a simple text back saying “no, you go enjoy your night out and I’ll enjoy my bed” you finished the conversation as you finally arrived home. 

Near your apartment’s doormat, there was a pretty bouquet of daisies alongside a little box of chocolates. You noticed a little hand note inside the bouquet. 

“I remember you saying you like these flowers and everyday I pass by a flower shop and always think about buying it for you, so today I finally did. There’s chocolate too. Hope you like it.

Have a good rest, princess.

Jake”

You took a deep breath in order to hold back the tears trying to escape. Not falling for Jake was a difficult rule to follow, and you didn’t know if you wanted to keep doing it anymore.

“So what you're telling me is that Jake left his house on a fucking Sunday morning and brought you ice cream because you... were feeling too lazy to go buy it yourself?”

“When you put it like that…” 

Chaewon, Yunjin and you were sitting at one of the furthest tables in the cafeteria that you usually went to when the three of you wanted to gossip or just meet to catch things up. It was a late afternoon on a Tuesday and you barely had time to see them in the last few days, mainly because you had missed a few classes to finish reading other teachers' required books.

“The real question is: why aren’t both of you dating already?” 

Yunjin was flabbergasted by what you were describing about Jake. There’s no way that guy wasn’t in love with you at this point. She didn't understand what was taking you so long to ask him out already, especially because she noticed that Jake was kinda holding himself back.

“Yeah! He follows you like a little puppy and looks at you like you are a goddess or something!” Chaewon added. “I mean, you are a goddess, but to get someone to look at you like that?!”

“Girl, you gotta bag him ASAP!” Yunjin playfully pushed your shoulder, but you weren't feeling that happy about all of it.

You sighed. “But what if I’m just a fun little game to him?”

“What?!” It was funny the way both of them said in unison, but instead of laughing you just continued with a sad voice tone.

“Y’know, he’s been flirting with me since the very beginning. I don’t know. Part of me believes his words and actions, they seem genuine. But the other part is way too afraid of trusting too much,” a single tear ran down your cheek as you frowned. “I don’t want to be hurt again.” You whispered as you looked down. 

“Baby,” Yunjin, who was sitting next to you, hugged you sideways and planted a sweet little kiss on top of your head. “We know you’ve been through a lot of shit because of your stupid ex, but I don’t think Jake’s like that.”

Chaewon, who was in front of you, took your hand in hers as she spoke. “Yeah, and you know, If he tries something or if he dares to break your heart, you’ll always have me to make his life a living hell.”

You smiled through the tears running down all over your face. With a reassuring look, Yunjin asked. 

“Give it a try, yeah?”

Jake knew what he was getting himself into. He would be fine if you put him in the friendship side, but the thought of having you to himself pleased him way too much. The idea of other guys touching you the ways he wanted to, knowing that none of them would treat you right, consumed his mind as much as the vision of your pretty smile. 

The urge of getting physically closer to you was itching him incessantly. 

Ever since he discovered that he was in fact falling in love with you, he became unable to get you out of his head. It was like a kind of mantra that chanted your name every time he saw something that reminded him of you, and almost everything reminded him of you.

He didn't had the courage to ask you out on a proper date so far, because even though the both of you had developed an incredibly nice friendship, he was too afraid that he was seeing beyond reality because of his delusional self, and more than that he was scared as hell of losing you. 

You probably only thought of him as a friend who you could playfully flirt with, he would say to himself. At the same time, the way he sometimes caught you looking at him seemed much more loving than it should.

There seemed to be more love than friendship in that relationship of yours. 

He was also having to deal with the hard job of avoiding kissing you. Recently he found himself getting lost on your lips too often. A dangerous play. Still he kept you as close as he could, hugging you or having at least one of his arms around your shoulder or waist in order to fulfill a bit of his neediness. 

Thinking about you and only you, he sighed, finishing his business at his locker, finally reaching the book he was looking for and placing it in his backpack. 

"Ok, quick question", Jake almost screamed at your sudden appearance when he closed the metal door, widening his eyes and dramatically putting a hand on his chest. You laughed. 

"Firstly, what are you doing here?” He said after catching his breath. “Secondly, why do you like to scare me so much?", he kinda whined and you laughed.

"I just wanted to know if your name is really Jake or if it's a nickname", you smiled innocently. Jake on the other side of the hand didn't buy your "pure" expression, glancing at you with a raised eyebrow.

"Why would you run all the way through here just to ask about my full name, which I’m pretty sure you already know?" He wasn't buying any of that.

"Because I wanna manifest you in my life," you answered like it was obvious and you both began to walk side by side. You were going to be very late to your class but your professor has to understand that sometimes you have more important things to do other than attend classes.

"I thought I was already in your life...?" Jake was trully confused.

"Yeah, but I kinda wanna you in my life more than just what you are right now.”

"What are you talking about, Y/N?" Saying your name was an indicator that either he was serious or very confused, either way you didn't care much so you just carried on with your talking. 

“Go on a date with me.” He stopped walking and so did you. Jake looked at you, blinking without saying a word. "On a date, you know,” you motioned with your hands, losing a bit of the courage you had to build up to do all of that. “We go to someplace, grab some food, wait for the night to fall down and boom, stargazing while we talk about our amazing theories of life or whatever.”

Jake gulped, scratching the back of his neck nervously. Normally he would be the one programming the whole thing and just saying you are both heading to somewhere, but to have you asking like that… If he understood it right, you were asking him to go on a real date.

"Sounds like something we already do." He let out a breathy and nervous laugh, still trying to thoroughly understand what you were saying, looking if there was some kind of joke hidden behind your eyes. 

You looked extra attractive today, as if you dressed yourself up just for this moment. Just for him. He noticed you were wearing his jacket as well.

"It pretty much is, but at the end of this one I want to be able to kiss you,” you said in one go. “On the lips, if it's not clear."

Jake now was more speechless and completely baffled than ever. He was sure he was dreaming. It became normal routine for him to dream of you lately so of course this was all a trick of his own mind trying to compensate for his neediness of you. 

He was so fucking dreaming.

With the lack of response, you thought you fucked up. 

“I-I’m sorry, I–”, you started as you felt your confidence running away from you immediately. “Just forget about what I just said, I should not have said anything to begin with. I’m so sorry, ok?” You noticed your hands trembling. Due to your nervousness, everything you had on the back of your mind just went out. “I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to come here and try to take our relationship to a next level or something. But it's been so hard to be around you without wanting you even closer,” you whined. “And I finally got the courage to ask you out on a proper date, but you clearly don't see us like that so forget about it. I’m sor–”

No one. Not a single soul could prepare you to be silenced by Jake’s lips on yours. His hand automatically grabbed your waist as yours went to rest on his chest.

Kissing in the middle of the university hallway wasn’t the ideal way of tasting each other's for the first time so Jake decided to not take too long on holding the contact, breaking it to say “I’m sorry, I needed you to shut up.” His lips brushed on yours as he spoke. You blinked twice and breathed heavily, feeling the touch of his warm hand on your skin as he cupped one of your cheeks. You looked for his brown honeyed orbs, catching them exchanging glances between your lips and your eyes. 

 “We can go out on a date,” he brushed his thumb softly on your bottom lip. “The one where we go to some place, grab some food, do whatever you want and I can properly kiss you.”

Jake was fighting demons not to kiss you again. He was absolutely certain he would go crazy, just a little taste of you and he already felt like he was starving, his body totally dependent and reactive because of you. 

“Okay,” your voice was barely a whisper and you had to use all your strength to stop yourself from leaning in to feel his touch again. Instead, you reluctantly pulled away, immediately missing all of his touches; you felt your skin tingle in every place he had touched you. Still his hand rested on your waist, unable to let you go. “I gotta go,” you noticed how his eyes wandered all over your face, like he was taking a picture with it in order to save it from the rest of the day.

You smiled, hesitantly sliding your hands away from his chest. 

“Alright, sweetheart,” before you could let him go, he grabbed one of your hands and planted a gentle kiss at the back of it. “I’ll text you later then?”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

You had to hold a scream when you heard your doorbell ringing. Chaewon and Yunjin who were in a shared video call squealed for you.

They looked more excited than yourself and you really appreciated the effort they took to help you out even with their busy schedule for the day, deciding to call you not only because they knew you would be nervous as fuck but also because Yunjin was willing to help you with your outfit choice.

You ended up wearing something cute, but cozy and warm: a matching pair of a top and long loose skirt, patterned with a black background and some stars and moons, a black boot and as a final touch: Jake’s big jacket. You also did a little hairstyle with two small braids at the front and the rest of your hair loose. 

Yunjin noticed how confident you were in choosing the clothing and even doing your hair, showing that you didn’t need much of her help – which normally she would dramatically react to, but today she just felt proud and happy for you.

Jake made you comfortable enough to be yourself whenever you were with him.

And you were going on a date with him.

A fucking proper date.

You said a quick ‘goodbye’ to your girls who replied with a very high pitched ‘good luck!’ and then hung up, walking towards the door and needing to take a few deep breaths before opening it.

As you did, you greeted a very smiley – and hot – Jake.

He was glowing. 

Not only was his face glowing but he seemed overall confident. He was wearing a reddish flannel jacket that covered an oversized black shirt together with his everyday silver necklace, jeans and black boots. A perfect combo, especially to you who loved to see a man in red – you once told him about this preference of yours and was questioning if he did it on purpose.

The silky brown strands fell perfectly in place again when Jake ran his hand through it and licked his lips after shamelessly checking you out.

“Hi b– Oh my god, you look stunning.”

Early the day through your texts you decided to go simple but special on the planning due lack of time. The whole idea was kinda in a hurry, but after getting to taste a little of how it is to kiss Jake, you needed the action of kissing him to become an everyday routine as soon as possible, so the initial plan – the date will be happening on a chill day for both of you, mostly likely Friday – was replaced by a very eagerly “Ok, I’m taking you to a place” said by you.

“And you look hot,” the wording flew out your mouth faster than you expected and instantly your eyes went wide.

Jake smirked as he leaned into the door frame. “Appreciate it, baby.”

Baby.

You were so fucked up. There’s no way your heart could handle this the whole night. 

Jake noticed the way you just blinked at him without saying a word and he just knew you were absorbing the whole situation before becoming confident over him. It was the way you worked and he loved that. 

So he decided to take his sweet time and take a bit of advantage over your flustered self as he walked closer to you. “I brought what you asked,” he sounded a bit too sexy saying such simple words and little did you know that he deepened his voice a bit just for fun.

Due to the closeness, Jake scented your perfume and swore he was getting drunk, too intoxicated by your sweet smell.

You looked at the bag he lifted and nodded, fully in a trance. You forced yourself to snap out of it as you reminded yourself you have a fucking date and finally spoke “Oh, right. I’ll go pick up what I’ve prepared for us!” You walked towards the kitchen. “Do you want anything? Water maybe?”

“Just you.”

You choked on your own saliva as your cheeks started to burn. You foolishly thought that at least Jake wasn’t aware of your reaction, but as soon as you got back from the kitchen after picking up the picnic basket with the sandwiches you made, you realized he was very much aware and messing with you with the flirting as usual. You could see in his eyes a strange mix of false innocence and mischievousness. And of course, in that little game of yours you would always win.

“Well, you already have me,” you winked at him as you pulled yourself together and now was time for Jake to lose his composure, blushing. “Let's go?”

“Y-yeah.”

You gave him an address and he drove you both to the place, fully trusting you. You wanted to surprise Jake since he was usually the one who surprised you, but you hadn't gotten your driver's license yet so you needed him to do the driving in order to achieve your goal. That's why you decided to give him an address a little further away from your final destination, so both of you could walk there without him suspecting anything.

Jake was feeling like a happy puppy, very excited about what was going to happen tonight.

He was curious about your plans, especially after you asked for a picnic blanket and some beverages – “a night picnic?” he asked as you two texted. He remembers you just replying with “lol don’t fool yourself”.

He didn’t know what to expect about the place really, and not only that, he couldn’t stand the urge to kiss you properly. God, he was so in need of you it hurted. Having you next to him, your scent all over him, your sweet and lively presence, and not being able to touch you was driving him insane.

“I don’t wanna you to get high on expectations, Jakey,” you said softly after a while with a concerned voice. Jake had stopped at a red light and the silence wasn’t awkward, but it was undeniable that you were worried about the outcome of that night. 

What if Jake doesn’t like what you’ve prepared? What if he thinks you’re too dumb and leaves you? What if he doesn’t really wanna be with you? 

“I’ll like whatever you’ve planned, sweetheart,” just like Jake was reading how anxious was your mind, he uttered. “You are my company for tonight. That’s all I need,” he reassured you, holding your hand and resting it on your thigh. 

You glanced over at him to see his lips turned into such a gorgeous smile you almost cried. Jake was perfect.

“Okay,” you brought his hand to your lips and planted a small kiss. You tried to let it go after, but he refused.

Jake drove the rest of the way holding you, only letting it go when needed, but catching it again as soon as he could.

The warmth and softness of his touch took all the worry out of your head in a minute, and just like you arrived. Jake parked where you told him to do so and opened the car door and helped you to get out as usual. This time though he intertwined your fingers as he let you guide him through the way. 

“Don’t we need to bring the things?” 

“Nah, we have something to do before,” you tried to sound enigmatic, forcing an expression which made Jake laugh, totally endeared by you.

“Ooh, so mysterious.”

You both walked for a bit rambling about the surroundings. It was kinda in the middle of nowhere, with nothing much around and plenty of open space. Jake noticed there was a big building and before he could say a thing, you began to explain.

“So I know we both like astronomical stuff, right?” He nodded, looking at you. So pretty. “May I say you especially in a very nerdy way,” you softly pushed his shoulder with yours and he playfully rolled his shining eyes while failing to hold back a smile, full of adoration for you. “I thought about this when I realized I wanted to be more than just friends with you,” you stopped walking to completely face him, holding both of his hands. “Behind you at this exact moment there’s a stellar observatory,” you stopped him from turning around wanting to finish your speech first. “Apparently fate had worked through this, since today they don’t normally open to everyone. Only for reservations or something like that.”

You finally let Jake turn around and take a proper look at the place. You watched as his eyes began to shine even brighter, it looked like he was about to cry. You also noticed how his hand tightened around yours, as if he was nonverbally thanking you.

Jake was genuinely flabbergasted. How the fuck did he managed to find someone that amazing? 

“I’m not gonna ask how you managed to get a reservation here,” he joked.

You raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?” He just laughed it off. “Well, I kinda didn’t,” you suddenly felt small, even tried to restrain your hand from his but he refused to let you go.

You ran away from his intense gazing, not wanting to see the disappointment on it as you kept talking “We’re not going into the observatory. We’re gonna use the telescopes they have open for use down here,” you explained. “Since today it’s a reservation only or whatever day, we get to use it freely. It’s definitely not the same thing, but I’m sure it can be cool.” you forced a smile still afraid to look at Jake’s direction. “I tried to book it for us I swear I did, but it was too expensive,” you uttered apologetically and again you were rambling due to your nervousness.

Jake not saying a thing helped nothing either. Little did you know he was as speechless as amazed with your witty self for figuring out a way of making that night special in such a short amount of time. He knew how hard it is to come up with ideas like that and to make it work. And you did it. Flawlessly. 

He was so falling in love with you.

“...I’m so sorry if I raised your expectations too high. I wanted to do something nice since you’re always doing nice things to me, you deserve bett–” 

Jake once more interrupted your nonsense speech by pressing his lips on yours and you instantly melted in his arms, your hands moving up to find comfort on his shoulders as his own went down your back until they rested on your waist, squeezing lightly. 

You moved your head to the side wishing to deepen the kiss, the whole fantasy of waiting for the special moment to finally kiss him was already blown apart as both of your bodies searched for the other’s. 

Your heart was beating fast and all your senses were heightened and sensitive, as if Jake had awakened a new sensation in you. A genuine sense of desperation for closeness. You needed more. Like reading your mind, Jake’s tongue touched your bottom lip at the same time your fingers scratched the back of his head, getting lost through his soft strands as you pulled him closer.

Jake touched you with care, he was kissing you so tenderly yet you could still feel his hunger for you. You weren’t different either. One of his hands came up to hold your face to help with the movement of your heads. You quickly found a pace, like two puzzle pieces being a perfect fit.

Neither of you wanted to part away, feeling too addicted to the contact. So whenever one broke down to breathe the other would reach over and start again, until your lips were a little bit sore. You pulled away unwilling, leaving little pecks on his plump lips as he did the same on yours.

Jake was unable to hold back his smile and didn’t even tried to, too happy about finally kissing you. “We have a little problem, baby,” he whispered as his dazzling eyes wandered all over your features. You looked even more stunning under the moonlight. “What?” You quietly asked back. “I don’t think I can or want to stop kissing you.”

You giggled, feeling shy under his intense but gentle gaze. He was adoring you and you could feel every piece of it.

“You don’t have to stop.”

And just like that you kissed again. And again. And again. 

You felt like a drug to Jake, so addictive, so intense, so you. He had the impression that all his problems would be solved instantly if you just kissed him. He decided that from now on at the end of a stressful day, he would search for your touch and your touch only.

“But I kinda want you to stop for a bit, so we can go see the stars,” Jake chuckled when you broke the kiss to say. 

“You love stars, don’t you, pretty girl?” He gave you a final cute little smooch while hugging you tightly. 

“Yeah.”

And even though you had observed dozens of stars that night, none of them shone brighter than your eyes together. 

You were dating. 

Actually there was no big difference from what you and Jake acted before, other than the fact that everyday that he went to pick you up to the university, you got to kiss him, which made you two develop the routine of waking a bit early just to get enough moments together. 

Also you started to feel comfortable to call him cute names, your favorite being pretty boy, very effectively when you wanted to fluster Jake and see him giggling.

The dynamic was similar, but way better.

When you told your friends about the night, they literally screamed. Of course you kept as a secret how romantic it was to lay down under the moon and starlight with Jake as you cuddled and shared kisses. But everything about Jake sounded dreamy. 

He was so cute and you were not so slowly falling in love. He would leave you at your classes everyday and kiss you good luck. Due to his recent research project his time was getting tighter, nevertheless he would squeeze his whole schedule just to see you for a minute or two. And of course, to steal a kiss from you. 

Most of your lunch time was with him, either when you had time to grab some food and eat in peace or when some of you two were in a hurry. On days like that, you normally would find him in the library, leaving him some snacks, water and a sweet kiss. He would do something similar to you. 

Gradually your relationship was growing stronger, however you still hadn’t done anything on the bed yet other than kiss and sleep together. You weren’t complaining! You loved to kiss Jake and to feel his warm body embracing yours.

He was very respectful towards you and you really appreciated that. He would initiate the kisses sessions most of the time, but rarely deepen it waiting for you to do it. His hands would never go further down your hips, even when you tried to force him to do it by putting it on your ass he relocated them back up.

But you were a woman after all. A woman with desires and needs. Strong desires and needs.

Even though you had a long-term relationship, it was only after the breakup that you discovered that your ex didn't give you any pleasure – or gave you anything at all. Your previous relationship was a mess, to be honest. Talking to people and listening to their experiences made you realize how shitty you were being treated back then – in every aspect!

You knew how to please yourself and most of the time was enough. However, it’s been a while since you last had sex and you could live without it normally, but there was Jake, all over you.

His smell, his pretty face, his touches, his lips, his fucking nose and his slender fingers… The way his veiny hands would hold the steering wheel drove you insane. You needed him.

It was a cold Saturday and you were watching him play your video game. Yeah, apparently Jake liked your video game more than you – this was you being dramatic every single time he stopped to pay all of his attention to you and decided to play something, but as soon as he starts to celebrate for defeating a boss, you just smile and forget about the drama.

Today was a bit different though. Normally you would pay attention to either the screen or to his pretty face and reactions, loving how expressive he was, always thinking Jake was a sculpture or something. But on this very specific day you paid more attention to his hand movements. 

The way his grip was strong on the controller and how his fingers moved on it was making you mad. He was biting his lip more than usual as well in order to concentrate and, God, you could feel your panties get wet just by watching him like that. 

Part of you felt like a perverted. 

At some point he groaned. Apparently something bad happened to him on the game, but you didn’t gave a fuck. The sound he left woken a strong feeling inside you.

“Why is this so difficult?” Jake asked frustrated, throwing the controller away on the couch in defeat and looking at you.

He wasn't expecting to meet your intense gaze on him, eyes darkened as your tongue traveled through your lips to wet it. 

His confused puppy eyes and parted lips were your last straw. 

You straddled over his lap, hungrily kissing him. You almost instantly sucked his bottom lip, looking for a more intense contact. You could feel he was a bit confused, hesitantly resting his big hands on your hips, not knowing what to do.

When you bite his lip you heard a whimper and that alone made you grunt against Jake’s mouth in response, pulling him even closer. You pulled a few strands of his hair and again he let out a sound for you, feeling him getting hard beneath your body.

Before you could continue doing your job, he said in an urge, his breath heavy. “I gotta go.”

You shook off your head whispering “No,” and pulled him again to keep making out with him, lewd kissing sounds filling the room, a total mess happening in your living room.

The feeling of his hardened bulge hitting directly on your covered wet cunt was making you rub yourself against it, hoping to get more friction. At this exact moment Jake forced you to move away from him, gripping your hips to stop your movements. 

“I really gotta go, I have some uni stuff to do,” he was breathless. You noticed how his eyes were different from ever, face red and skin hot. You blinked a few times as you just watched him put you back on the couch and stand up, trying to cover his obvious boner with his oversized jacket. He gave you a little kiss on the cheek and said goodbye to you before rushing out of your apartment. 

You had to satisfy yourself alone that night. And after that, you cried.

You started to question yourself. 

Yeah, Jake looked at you like you were the only one in his life. But was it enough? Does he find you attractive? Or better: does he find you desirable? Sexy? Hot? Sensual?

Since that day Jake started to run away from your more passionate touches like he was running from death. 

At first you thought he could be a virgin, and no problem with that. You would let him feel comfortable enough with you to try to do something more, however you knew he had other relationships and weren’t inexperienced either. 

Actually you even went to Sunghoon and Heeseung to ask them about it, to which they answered that Jake may be “boyfriend material” and only have intimate moments with people he somehow trusts, but he definitely wasn't inexperienced in that field.

So doubting yourself was your only option. You could also ask directly why he never did more than just kisses with you, but that option needed more courage from you than you had. 

“What’s with the frown, baby?” Yunjin asked you one day as you both decided to lunch together. You were giving excuses to Jake during the whole day in order not to talk to him, saying you were too busy and that maybe today you wouldn’t be able to meet him.

You sighed, playing with the food on your plate. “I don’t think Jake likes me.”

“What? There’s no way. He almost licks the floor you walk on. What did he do?” She was ready to throw hands.

“The real problem it’s the opposite. He don’t do it.”

“Do what, baby?”

“We’ve been dating for weeks and we haven't had sex yet. I’m almost crawling on my bedroom walls.”

“Wow,” Yunjin was shocked, eyes widened. For the way you two acted together, she thought that every single room of your house was blessed already. “Well, have you asked him why? Because that’s pretty much a ‘he’ problem as it seems.”

“I’m afraid,” you stated sincerely. 

“Of what, baby?”

“Of him saying something I don’t wanna hear. I don’t wanna lose him, Jinnie,” you uttered with sorrow. 

“Y/N, my pretty baby, remember we are talking about Jake. The man who woke up in the middle of the night and went to your house to kill a cockroach because you called him. The man who has a photo of you in his wallet. The man who had literally skipped classes just to spend some time with you because apparently he can’t live without you,” you started sobbing. “He likes you very much, Y/N. And he has shown to be someone who listens to you with adoration. Anything you say or ask him he would do his best to listen and talk about it, you yourself said that to me once when we were ranking green flags, remember?” You nodded. 

It was the truth. He was Jake. The man who demonstrates so much affection in every action. 

“I’ll talk to him. Thank you, Jinnie.”

“You don’t need to thank me, sweetie.” She kissed the top of your head. “You know I’m always here for you and just want you to be happy. You deserve it.”

You decided to talk to Jake on the next day. You weren't planning to “arrange a sex meeting with him” or anything similar, but to talk about it. So you invited him over that day, knowing he would be completely free because it was a Friday. You did a test early that day and were free as well.

Since he was going to your apartment quite often you gave him a key to make things easier for both of you, so when you heard the front door opening as you drank some water your heart started to beat fast in advance.

His scent followed all the way through your house directly to you. You felt his arms hugging you from behind and for a few seconds you let yourself get lost in his warmth. “Hey, gorgeous. How are you?” He whispered close to your ear, kissing your neck. You turned around to face him. “You look sad. What happened? Are you ok?” He flooded you with questions as his eyes worriedly wandered over your face. You just pecked him quickly before taking his hand on yours and leading him to the couch. 

Jake felt his heart sinking.

He maybe was going crazy, but he felt that you had purposely ignored him the day before, constantly finding a rather lame excuse for every solution he gave. He preferred to believe that you were not having a good day and respected your decision. But when you invited him over, it became undeniable how anxious he was feeling.

And the way you welcomed him at that moment made him even more worried, especially when you said the cursed phrase.

“I wanna talk to you about something.”

He swallowed, trying to keep it cool by saying gently “What is it, sugar?” as he reached for your hands to mildly squeeze it in reassurance. 

Even though Jake was quite tense, he would always prioritize you and the fact that you had some difficulty verbalizing what normally was bothering you, so he knew it was consuming you just as much.

“I– Actually I don’t even know how to say it,” you started shyly with a low voice, avoiding Jake’s gaze. “But I’m…”

“Y’know you can say anything to me, right?” Jake tried to encourage you as he gently pulled you closer and just like that you moved to sit on his lap, each of your knees on either side of his legs as you trapped him underneath you.

Without saying a thing, you hugged him to hide your face on his neck. Jake wasn’t fully aware of what was happening, but he wanted to give you some comfort so his hands caressed your back slowly.

After a while you muffled his skin with your breath while asking “Do you think I’m unattractive?”

Oh?

Jake had a delayed reaction to your question. “Baby, what?”

You drew apart from him enough to see his confused expression before looking away. “I don’t know if you aren’t sexually attracted to me or what, but you can always tell me y’know. I’m sure we can figure something out,” your voice was almost a whisper due your worried self about confrontations. 

“Baby, I’m so confused right now. What are you talking about?”

“I– I’d prefer you saying to my face you don’t wanna have sex with me instead of pulling me away from you every time we go further with our kisses,” as you finished saying, you felt your cheeks burning. 

Jake frowned, completely baffled.

Little did you know that Jake lost track of how many times he woke up with a painful boner after dreaming of you. Or how fast he would run away from you after a makeout session with you because of his body response to it.

He would first try to cool down with a shower, but everytime he ended up jerking himself off to get some relief, you being the only one in his mind, always moaning your name when cumming.

But, God, every single time he felt nasty, disgusted with himself. You deserved better. You're like a divinity to him, a beautiful and sweet woman, you needed to be handled with care and love and he was so afraid of hurting you.

The day you told him about your ex and how badly he treated you, especially in the sexual field  by not caring about anything but his own pleasure, Jake got mad. Really mad. 

How could one in their right mind leave you hanging, when your expressions of pleasure alone were enough to drive any man crazy? He could treat you way better. 

Sometimes Jake would get carried away while kissing you, going down to your neck to trail his lips over there biting and sucking slightly. And when he backed a bit to look at your face, he always met you with closed eyes nibbling your bottom lip, a ridiculously lustful view. 

Too hard to handle.

He had to almost physically hold himself back every time. He was afraid of scaring you with how much he needed you, with how much he wanted to get lost between your legs, making you scream nothing but his name, with how much he was willing to make you feel good.

And now he got to know that his actions were the ones making you doubt yourself, making you doubt his feelings and needs for you… He was feeling so dumb.

“I– I’m sorry, Y/N.” 

You froze. No nicknames, just your regular name.

“I never wanted to make you feel like this. I’m really sorry.”

You gulped the guilty feeling down your throat. “It’s okay, Jakey, I get it,” you smiled awkwardly, not knowing what to do next. That meant that Jake didn't want you in that way, right?

You were about to start rambling as usual and before you did so, Jake shut you up with his mouth on yours. You startled before reacting, moving your tongue with his and dipping your fingers into his silky strands, both of your bodies starting to get hotter.

Jake squeezed your ass while pulling you closer. “I want you, Y/N,” he was serious when you drew apart to catch your breath. “I want you so bad, my darling,” he was so desperate, your panties dampening just by how his voice sounded.

“Yeah?” You smirked, breathing heavy. “How bad, Jakey?” You noticed his eyes darkening. “Show me.” 

Getting back to work with his mouth in yours, kissing you very messily, Jake impulsed to stand up with you in his arms. You surrounded your legs around him to keep yourself steady as he stumbled a little on the way to your room. You giggled against his lips when he dropped you softly on the mattress and hovered over you, not breaking the kiss for a second.

Jake’s mouth tasted so sweet and hot on yours, you couldn't help but scratch his back and neck with your fingernails thinking how good he would be doing all that job down your cunt. His dick was getting harder and you could feel it, your mouth watering at the thought of sucking him off. You wanted so bad.

He parted away from your lips just to trail his own plump ones to your neck and collarbone, kissing, sucking and nibbling all the area before finally whispering against your skin, sending chills throughout your body.

“I really wanna eat you out,” Jake sounded determined. “I wanna taste you before anything, sweetheart,” your only reaction was a sigh mixed with a “please” that you were unsure if he heard.

But Jake was catching all of your sounds, from the quietest little whimpers to the slightly more intense ones, like the one you released when he removed your shirt and bra to work on your tits, his mouth sucking your left one while his hand cupped the other before he switched to do the opposite.

Before he continued to get down on you, you quietly asked him to remove his shirt and as he did, he revealed to you part of his perfect body. By the superficial touches over his clothes and of course the preview bumps, you knew he had a toned chest, but to see it all on display to you… You literally moaned at the view.

You promised yourself that later on you would give every bit of that skin the attention it deserved.

You watched him smile shyly before kissing your inner thigh, without breaking eye contact. Jake was absolutely certain he would cum in his pants at any given moment. The mix of your little sounds with the way you were looking at him like you were about to eat him alive triggered a strangely pleasant feeling. 

“Can I remove these?” He asked between kisses on your skin, pointing to your shorts. You nodded. “And these?” He pointed now to your panties and you nodded again, head resting on your pillow. “Yes, please. I want you.”

Jake noticed how wet you were through your last clothing piece and he literally had to hold himself back to not just dive right into you. He was getting dizzy by your smell, eyes hooded as he removed the only thing that stopped him from touching you like you deserved.

Jake salivated admiring your pussy, breathing heavily as he swallowed nothing.

At this point you were on the verge of crying due to your desperation and his unnecessary slowness, so you spread your legs even more and pleaded. “Please Jakey, I really want you,” you whined, grabbing his hair with your hand and forcing it down your cunt. “I don’t want you to hold yourself on me, pretty boy.”

And as if you casted a spell, Jake looked at you one more time before burying his face in you.

You gasped. 

He felt you dripping on his mouth and grunted, collecting some arousal with his tongue to spread all over your area before flicking it on your clit, sometimes sucking just the right amount and sometimes doing big licks. His tongue worked so damn well, you just rolled your hips in order to get more. You were so sensitive and so needy. His grip on each side of your body got stronger as he pulled you closer.

You moaned Jake’s name when he decided to use one of his fingers together with his mouth, pressing it on your entrance with care, just to familiarize you with the sensation before adding one more. After all, he just wanted you to feel good and not to be hurt. 

You kept rubbing yourself on his face and now grinding on the two fingers inside you. Jake was doing such an amazing job on you, curling his fingers the moment he needed to like he knew you from inside out, using the tip of his nose to rub your clit as his tongue and mouth worked in the rest.

“You’re doing such a good job, pretty boy,” you praised between moans and heard Jake groaning between your legs and intensifying his movements, eating you out as his life depended on it. 

“I wanna you to cum all over my face, princess,” he said, muffled. His skilful fingers moved at a steady pace. “I need that, give it to me, babe, please.”

Your orgasm was already building up inside your core. You felt the familiar sensation growing bigger and bigger until you let it out the loudest moan of the night as your back arched. Jake’s words and all the combo of his warm mouth and fingers inside you were enough to make you achieve your climax, trembling beneath his touches, grabbing his hair tightly.

Jake drank you like it was his favorite drink, licking every single drop of you with pleasure, his dick now painfully compressed in his boxers. He could get himself off just by eating you out.

He drove you through your high, movements slowing as he felt your grasp on his hair softening and your body less shaky. He kissed your pussy a few times and then crawled over you to kiss you on the lips. You watched your juices decorating his chin, nose and a bit on his cheeks before you felt your own taste in your mouth. 

Jake's hard, covered bulge rubbed against your bare cunt and you whined, breaking the kiss to down your hands all the way to his cock and to utter “Babe, you’re so hard.” Jake whimpered against your mouth and you flipped over to be on top of him. “Let me help you with that.”

And as you promised yourself, you trailed kisses all the way down his chest, putting your mouth and tongue to work through his soft skin, making him squirm a bit underneath you. 

You stopped once you got to the waistband of his pants, taking it off with Jake’s help and removing his boxers as well. You sighed, mouth salivating at the view of his veiny dick right in front of you.

However, you needed to feel him inside you, so you let your other desires for later, starting to move in a way you could sit on him.

“I wanna ride you,” you announced as if it was your only goal in life. “Like, really bad.” 

“Fuck, babe,” Jake groaned, watching you positioned yourself comfortably on top of him, quickly moving his hands to hold your hips. “Go on. Use me,” he threw his head back to just enjoy the sensation of finally feeling your walls around him, before realizing something was off. “But wait– Sugar,” he said with widened eyes, sitting up to hold you before you did anything. “You’re going in raw?” Jake questioned in disbelief. 

You blinked at him, confused. “You’re clean, right?”

“Yeah, but–”

“So am I. And on birth control, don’t worry.” 

Since you were still wet due your orgasm and because Jake’s little sounds aroused you enough, you pushed him back to bed, giving him a little peck before holding his dick and placing it on your sensitive area.

Jake knew he wasn't getting out of there alive. There was no way. How would he survive you? God, you were insane. And the way you slowly slid down on his length, using its precum to lubricate, sent him out of orbit in an instant.

He did nothing but open his mouth and moan, eyes rolling back to his head with the amazing feeling of your pussy coating him so tight and warm. He could feel you everywhere. He almost cummed just because of that alone, having to close his eyes tightly in order to concentrate enough to not let it happen.

“Oh, fuck,” Jake bit his bottom lip the moment you moved a bit, adjusting yourself. “You feel so fucking good already, fuck.”

You watched every reaction of his, enjoying it as a show. The frowned face in pure pleasure, the red wet lips, face all flustered and glowing, not to mention the dim light of your room working to make the view even more gorgeous and pleasant. 

Jake felt you staring and how you stayed still for a while, finding support on his chest with your hands. He opened his eyes to glance at you. You gave him a little smile and he reciprocated, caressing the skin of your body under his touch as he waited for you to feel comfortable enough to move by yourself. Jake watched as you started to move back and forth slowly on his cock, your eyes closing with how good he was filling you up. 

Although Jake's hands rested on your hips, he didn't force a single movement, letting you find your pace. He admired you for a moment, “you look so, so pretty right now, baby,” he praised sincerely, watching the way your expressions changed to pure pleasure as you moved faster.

You leaned forward to find his mouth with yours, kissing him, missing those pretty lips of his on yours. Your moans got lost between your mouths as you continued to move faster until you found the pace of your liking, Jake now helping you to keep it going. 

Lewd sounds of your bodies shocking against each other filled the room, mixed with whimpers as well as the wet kissing sounds.

Jake reached down with one of his hands to rub your clit, and by the way his cock twitched inside of you, you deduced that he was close to cum and didn't want to do it alone.

You drew apart from the kiss to rest your head on the curve of his neck, sucking the skin as well as whimpering against it. The position leaded Jake to have his mouth directly on your ear, and with all the stimulus happening at the same time, his dick hitting your g-spot, his finger rubbing your sensitive nerve and his voice moaning your name in your ear, you started to clench furiously on Jake’s length.

“Wait–”, you barely heard him saying, too lost in your pleasure already. “Where do I c–”

“Inside,” you answered quickly before he tried to pull off.

“Fuck.” Jake’s head was spinning, he was seeing stars. “Be my girlfriend,” he let it out in one breath.

“What?” You asked back under your breath, questioning if you were hearing things due pleasure.

“Let me be your boyfriend,” he said panting. “Officially. Be my girl, please. Be mine,” he begged with a groan, cumming inside of you. 

You openly moaned his name, rolling your eyes back as your orgasm also hit you. You thought that alone could answer his question, keeping on the movement to ride you two through your highs, his strong hands gripping you tightly and your whole body shaking.

You stood over Jake's body for a while after you stopped your movements, catching your breath and feeling his liquid leaking from inside of you. 

He helped you to lay back on the bed, both still panting, both so happy about what just happened. You forced yourself to stand up just enough to kiss him before you said, looking deep into his eyes. 

“I’m already yours, pretty boy.”

That weekend was intense. Still, you just couldn't get enough of Jake. And he wasn't too different. 

Now your routine had changed a little more. He was still the sweet and kind Jake, worrying about you, asking about your day, listening to you rambling about random things, and always bringing you food on your busiest days. But it seemed like you had awakened a monster inside him.

Of course you didn't complain, especially because the one who was getting the benefits was you, who wasn't that different either, never getting enough of him.

Whenever Jake was stressed, he would usually take you somewhere to watch the sunset or to stargazing while talking about life and theories and obviously, kissing you.

Now he started eating you out. Almost every time. And sometimes he would mix these two, taking you somewhere beautiful and eating you out inside his car.

Jake had eaten you out in every room of your apartment, saying that him eating you out got him off more anything else, and you actually witnessed him cum untouched a few times, looking so fucking hot while doing it.

Nevertheless you still couldn't had the chance to give him a proper head. Jake would be saying you didn't have to do it, like you felt obligated. Little did he know that you wanted to feel his dick filling up your mouth and his cum going directly down your throat. Oh, you wanted so badly.

At this exact moment, you were sitting on your kitchen counter with your legs spreaded being supported on Jake’s shoulders as was getting lost between them, diving in your juices, making you cum with his tongue deep inside you. You reached for his hair with your hands, grabbing to bring him up and kiss him fervorous. 

“Take me to the bedroom,” you demanded with an urge. 

And how would Jake deny such a sweet request?

The moment you got into your bedroom, you tossed him on the bed. You were hungry for him, and him only. 

You saw his already hardened cock marking his sweatpants and without giving Jake time to complain, you removed all his clothing pieces – he was already shirtless – and had him naked underneath you. 

As usual, he thought you would ride him. Out of all the positions you’ve tried so far, this was a favorite of his – to look at you while you use him for your own pleasure felt too insanely good, so he got excited in advance. But you decided to surprise him this time, contradicting his expectations as you bend over to be at the same height of his pulsing cock, head pretty close to it.

He panicked.

“What are you doing, sweetheart?” He asked and tried to sit, but as soon as he did you pushed him back to the bed. 

“Imma suck you off,” you said like it was obvious. You wrapped your hand around his length and started to pump it.

“Y–you don’t have to, princess,” he stuttered, feeling hot under your soft touches. “Let me fuck you, mhm? You deserve to feel good.” He tried to sit again and you pushed him back one more time.

“Sucking you off will make me feel good too, Jakey,” you blew a bit of air on his shaft, he shivered. “Don’t you get that?” Your hands worked slowly on his dick, moving up and down, smearing the precum out of his slit with your thumb. He bit his lip to hold back a whimper. “Or do you think you're the only one who gets horny by giving pleasure to others?”

You ran your tongue all over his shaft, closing your eyes as you felt the salty precum taste spreading through your mouth, playing a bit with his tip.

Jake kept hiding his sounds from you.

His hands were squeezing the duvet under his body to the point his knuckles started to get white when you gave a little more attention to his head, realizing that this was his sensitive area. You took advantage of that.

Without a warning, you put his whole cock in your mouth in one go, feeling it hitting on your throat.

“Mhm,” he tried to contain his grunt, hips thrusting forward slightly and his left hand smacking the bed one time before grabbing the sheets again.

You held your position for a few seconds, making sure to breathe through your nose, before moving back and forth twice. Jake squirmed under you, still quiet.

“Why are you hiding from me, pretty boy?” You asked with a low voice when you backed off to breathe, hands replacing your mouth as you did so. Jake finally let it out a little whimper and you smiled. “I wanna hear you, baby.”

“I’m sorry,” he said apologetically, once more biting his lip in order to contain himself. 

The reason behind his choice of behavior under your touches was literally due his fear of scaring you off. He would be a total mess if he let it all go as he really felt. Your hot mouth around his dick sent him to hell and heaven all at once, you didn’t had to do much for him to start seeing foggy and being a whimper mess.

Jake felt your lips coating him again and groaned, back slightly arching.

“So gorgeous, Jakey,” you backed off only to encourage with a smile, jerking him off before going back to suck him. He couldn’t hold back his loud moan, eyes rolling when you sucked his sensitive tip. You quivered. You wanted more of him. “Keep on making these pretty noises for me, yeah?”

Although he was afraid of scaring you off, one thing he loved to do was to obey you, to fulfill all of your requests. Whatever you told him to do, he would do it. So when you told him to be vocal, he started to be vocal. 

Your mouth swallowed all his throbbing cock, his tip going deep in your throat, precum going down on it. Jake threw his head back, open mouthed, spilling all the little noises you loved. “Fuck, mhm, that’s it, babe,” he breathed out between groans and put one of his hands on your head without forcing you down or anything, just resting there.

The way your throat was pressing his sensitive tip as you swallowed around it, God, he was getting stupidly close. Jake dared to look down at you, meeting your strong gaze as you devoured him like a last piece of meal. “Fuck, you’re doing so good,” he gasped, rolling his eyes. Jake felt a familiar burning wave all the way through his body. “Fuck, I’mgonnacum”. 

You kept your movements steady, lightly scratching his thighs before you felt Jake’s body start to shake, his moans intensify and his cum hitting down your throat. You swallowed every drop of it before letting his dick with a pop and using your thumb to clean up the corners of your lips as you crawled back to kiss him passionately. 

At this point you were already horny again, so as you kissed him, feeling his shaky hands all over your body, you pressed your bare cunt on his softened shaft and moved a bit. He parted the kiss, trying to push you away.

“I– I don’t think–”, he tried saying. “I’m sensitive, baby– Ahh...”

“Yeah?” You rubbed your bare cunt on his dick with a sly smile. “So you don’t want me to ride you, Jakey?” You kept waving your body on him, forcing a disappointed face with a fake pout.

Jake trembled, feeling his eyes water in a painful pleasure. “Of c–course I– I do, fuck.”, his voice cracked, eyelids closing. He was fully unable to stop you at this point, and he didn’t wanted to anyway, so he just started to sob as you kept sliding on him, back and forth, slowly, painfully slowly.

You were sending him into overstimulation, loving his reactions, loving how desperate he looked. Legs squirming beneath you, eyes tearing up, hands messily trying to figure out what to do, facial expression switching in a mix of pain and delight.

“Please…” He begged. He didn’t even knew for what. Neither did you, so you asked. “Please what, Jakey?” You stopped moving. “You want me to stop?” 

He hurried to answer “No! Please, don’t– Don’t stop.” Definitely his begging wasn't about stopping. His breath was short as you started to move again, still slow. Too slow.  “Go faster, please darling.”

And how could you deny such a sweet request?

The wet sound of your pussy rubbing against his cock was too lewd. You leaned to kiss Jake, who wasn’t able to kiss you back properly due his undergoing situation. His was dick hardening again against your folds and that was your last straw.

Yeah, he was desperate because of overstimulation, but you were desperate to feel him inside you. So you repositioned yourself to slide him deep on you in one go, making both of you scream.

You threw your head back and instantly started to grind on him, making circle movements, sending both of you to cloud nine. 

“Babe I– I’ll not last long– damn.” Jake said breathlessly, hands helping your hips to move.

“Make me cum with you, please,” you begged and of course he would never leave you hanging, so he did his work, rubbing your clit at the same pace as you bounced on him.

You felt your climax building up rapidly, breath getting heavier and heavier, body shaking as you heard Jake saying under breath "I'm cumming", while throwing his head back and filling you up with his warm liquid. You shivered, moaning louder and achieving your peak right after.

Your body fell over Jake’s, who immediately hugged you, panting, all sweaty. “This was…” He started to say after a while, still inside you. 

“Good?” He analyzed your expectant eyes when you got up to look at him and chuckled at the difference of the demon eyes you were giving him earlier.  “Incredible,” he kissed your forehead. “You are always incredible, my love.”

It was a weirdly sunny day when Jake seated you on his car hood, fitting himself between your legs while his hands rested on your hips, drawing little circles there. 

You both decided to go out that day to celebrate your new job. But instead of going for a fancy dinner or anything similar, you decided to follow the roots of your relationship and asked Jake to take you to see the sunset. 

And he would never deny anything to you. So here you were, looking at the pretty sky behind Jake’s back when he himself was sunk on your neck. 

"Why does the sky turn orange during sunsets?" You asked nonchalantly, feeling Jake's kisses on your skin. He was inebriated by your scent and acting as if he was getting drunk on you. 

He loved that. 

He loved you.

"It has something to do with the light traveling through the atmosphere. Don't make me do my homework right now, baby," he said muffled, unable to leave your warm embrace. You chuckled.

You loved that. 

You loved him.

"Sorry," your fingers slid through his hair, scratching slightly. He hummed in response. 

It’s been two weeks since you started to call him your boyfriend and he started to call you girlfriend, the honeyed voice always making you melt. 

Nevertheless none of you said I love you yet. Not that you two needed to. You felt Jake’s love on every action of his. The way he would look at you so dreamily at any point of the day, how he would embrace you so tightly at the end of a stressful one. Or how he would always clean you up after the sex, even when he was tired as hell. He treated you like a goddess. You felt it. 

It was as clear as crystal water that you loved him too, at least you thought. 

You would purposely ask questions about astronomy just to have him speaking animatedly in technical terms that you often didn't understand very well, but loved to see him sparkle in joy. Or when you cooked his favorite meal just to see his puppy eyes widening in surprise and thank you with a sweet kiss. Or even when you watched him play video games for hours without complaining, actually enjoying and hyping him up, sometimes playing together when he asked you to. 

Jake, actually, noticed every bit of it. 

He himself making sure to love you every moment of his day, making sure you were safe, fed, warm, and most important: happy.

Jake loved your smile. He loved to see you ramble about your favorite songs and flowers and chocolates and movies and everything. 

He loved everything about you.

You exhaled. The feeling was consuming you, you had to let it out. The ache of holding it to only your actions wasn't enough. You needed to say it.

And you did. In one go.

“I love you.”

Jake lifted his face off your neck to look you in the eyes, kind of shocked by your sudden statement. “I don’t care if you don’t love me back, but I love you. More than stargazing, more than feeling a cold breeze under the moonlight, more than listening to my favorite artist. None of those feelings overcomes the feeling of having you around,” you caressed his cheek. Jake listened to you with attention. 

“You color my world by just being around. Every part I go I look out for you,” you could see Jake’s eyes watering. “And I do find you in everything, because, Jake, you became my everything. It’s scary how much I need you. It's scary how much I can love you,” you rested your forehead on his, closing your eyes. “So yeah, I love you,” you whispered at the end.

Jake's breath got heavy as he assimilated all your words.

God, he loved you as much as you did. Lately he had to deal with the urge of telling you the three words, afraid of scaring you off as always. But now he knows you are as much in love with him as he is with you, and he felt so damn lucky.

"You wanna know something that has nothing to do with physics?" Jake spoke softly after a while in silence trying to find the right words. You weren't expecting that question after your confession. "What?" you asked in a whisper.

He looked so gorgeous under the golden light. 

"I can watch a hundred sunsets with you," he said softly, loving eyes at you. He gently put a strand of hair behind your ear, as usual, and continued, "And you’d still be the prettiest view."

Jake didn’t had to verbalize “I love you” after that, but he did. 

He did it continuously. He did it before you went to sleep and when you woke up. He did it before leaving you at your classes and as soon as he picked you up. He did it out of the blue, while you were vacuuming your apartment and he was dusting the furniture. Because no matter how much he said, it didn't seem enough.

It was love at first sight, blessed by the moonlight keeping their love secrets and under the sunset light, keeping their sweet passion burning.

[floorpancakes]

had some thoughts about my semi-oc ideas for the in universe parody of xxxholic (and a few other series) that one of the heart render protagonists will be into and i went back and forth on the hair situation w the doumeki expy (the douwata equivalent r yuri for funsies) and despite being a huge fan of mirroring imagery and giving every character from fictional media or OCs that one bob style i was like nah. yasuho would still have super short hair i can't imagine a super feminine doumeki expy even if the character would be a girl i also considered a himecut ojou type but i just wasn't feeling ANY resemblance at all and the whole point is i can riff and meme on some of that so why would i divert so far and yeah my tired brain was just like no 💛

[lisenberry]

The mountain is you

Ch. 2 - I don't know what it is that I'm climbing to

~2.4k

E/MDNI/18+

CW: BDSM negotiations, dom!Price, dom!Ghost, pain play

(Chapter 1, Chapter 3, Chapter 4)

It’d been a while since John had spoken to his former lieutenant, and even longer since he’d seen him.  The last few years had passed in a fog, so it was a shock when he saw the familiar number come across his phone.  He only briefly hesitated before answering. 

Soap and Gaz texted him all the time.  Links of foolish videos on the clock app, and pictures of mysterious rashes on their body parts that they needed help identifying.

But Ghost wasn’t one to waste anyone’s time.  Whatever it was, it was important.  And as it turned out, he had a proposition for him.

“You need a project, Cap.  Something to keep you sharp.”

“Are you worried about me, Simon?”

“We all are.”

John had been the one to start Life Connect 141.  An opportunity that gave the lads a place to channel their post-combat restless energy in a way that wouldn’t get them a murder conviction or a stint in a maximum-security psych ward.  It kept them together as a team and gave them a purpose.  And the opportunity to launder some of the not-quite-above-board money they’d liberated over the course of their travels.

Some veterans of special ops worked with rescued pit bulls.  Others started fitness programs, backpacking guide schools, and preparedness training facilities.

His boys filled their own rewarding niche.  Even after John’s departure, the company had flourished and from what he could tell, they were all staying out of trouble.

Judging by Ghost’s concern, he was the one who was floundering.  A marriage to the wrong woman, and the subsequent messy divorce, had left him dangerously adrift.  He’d thought about returning to the work, but his heart wasn’t in it anymore.

“Just meet her.  Trust me.  You can decide then if you’re doing me a favor, or the other way around.”

And he did trust Ghost.  With his life.  And if anyone had been keeping track, he imagined the scales were just about even between who owed whom more.

In the end, he agreed to the meeting.  For no other reason than to see for himself what had one of the toughest, most resourceful bastards he’d ever known seeking his expertise. 

They’d been at the table for a half hour, going over your file and discussing the particulars when John glanced up to catch his first impression of you.  A breezy blouse and a long, colorful skirt.  You looked around the outside seating area but didn’t see them.

Or more likely, you didn’t recognize Ghost without his mask on, judging by the surprised laughter that met his ears a few seconds later.

“Ah, dove.  There you are.”  Simon grinned as he stood, pulling you into a friendly hug. 

“You’ll have to forgive me, I’ve never seen you without the mask before.  I’m trying to reconcile the picture in my head.  I’ll try not to stare.”  An endearingly warm smile lit up your face.

You weren’t at all what John had pictured, either.  He’d clearly have to adjust the conclusions he’d reached based on your file.  He’d read about your stressful, demanding job, your high intelligence and predilection for punishment, and he’d imagined someone harder.  Colder.

There was a notation in the margin on one of the pages that had stood out as well. 

Daddy issues??? Undisclosed but probable.

He made his own note to inquire further, suddenly anxious to know everything there was to know about you.

“The mask is an improvement, don’t you think?” Ghost shrugged.  Was he actually blushing? 

Surely it was just the heat of the sun or a trick of the light.

“It has its charms, but you have a very honest face.”  The way you laid your hand reassuringly on his lieutenant’s arm made John clear his throat and offer his own hand in greeting.

As cute as your connection was, you were there for him, and he noticed the way you’d nervously avoided meeting his gaze.  The way you’d chosen to cling instead to Simon, the devil you knew. 

He had no desire to forcibly extricate you from your bond with your previous Dom.  That wasn’t how it worked.  At best, John could match it.  Slowly.  If he did his job right, in time, you’d come to look at him with a similar trust.

“Nice to meet you,” your eyes finally flitted to his as he took your cool, smooth palm into his own. 

It was then that he felt it.  The twitchy, fevered thrill of a worthy mission.

“So, what does that file say about me?”  You sipped your pint, finding your throat suddenly dry and your forehead warm, and in need of something to do with your hands. 

Ghost had excused himself a short while before, after making the introductions and sharing a few stories of his and John’s time working together.   

You’d found being alone with him to be...intense.  He seemed impenetrable.

He didn’t look down at the folder, and kept it closed on the table.  His pen held between his two hands, contemplative and resolute.

“That you’re a pain slut.  With a high tolerance.”  His voice didn’t rise above his gruff, conversational tone, and you didn’t bother to look around at your fellow patrons seated near you.  With the din of the restaurant, they wouldn’t be able to hear.  “Does that bother you?”

“No.  It’s the truth.”  You didn’t have anything to hide.  Not from him at least.  Not if this was going to work.

“What is it about pain that you seek out?”  He crossed his arms over the table and leaned in closer.  Biceps bunching under his t-shirt.  Ghost had always worn a suit.  John looked like he came from a construction site.  Unshaven and slightly dangerous.

You didn't hate it.

“When it’s done right, there’s a moment right before it gets to be too much that my body starts to fight back.  As if to say, ‘Go on, I dare you.  Is that all you’ve got to give?’  And just then, right before I give in and quit, it’s the most powerful I’ve ever been.  The most alive.”

“It’s the rush then, is it?”  He studied you like a therapist.  And you felt like a patient.  Only this therapist’s job was to tie you up and make you cry.  And come.  And cry again.  The thought made you shudder inwardly with anticipation.   

“It doesn’t work for all pain.  It’s not the blood or the risk of injury.  I don’t get off at the thought of the dentist...” you trailed off with a light laugh, finding it easier to talk to him about this than you'd thought. “But sometimes, the more helpless I am, the stronger it feels.  There aren’t too many things you can do without thinking about it.  Against your will.  Beating, breathing, feeling.  There’s a freedom in it.  Again, if it’s done right.”

“You don’t like to think, then.  You’d rather be surprised?”

“I don’t mind surprises.  I like them, actually.  We don’t have to negotiate everything ahead of time, so long as it feels right in the scene.”

You finished off the last of your pint and smoothed the napkin that had caught to the condensation on the bottom.  A first date, a therapy session, and an interview all in one.  And yet it didn’t fill you with the same anxiety as it should.  It could’ve gone wrong in a hundred different ways, and yet the more you confided, the more you relaxed. 

“Talk to me about these hard lines.”  He opened your file, skimmed it, and moved his pen back and forth as if he was underlining something boldly.

“Always be honest with me about what you’re going to do.  Don’t play games or make me have to choose something in order to please you.  Keep me engaged, but if I have to make a decision it will take me out of it.”

“That’s important to know, thank you.”  He made another note on the page.  “It also says no choking, but with an asterisk next to it.  Care you elaborate?”

“When I was little, I had terrible asthma.  Life threatening at times.  It’s under control now, but not being able to breathe, or even the threat of it, doesn’t...” you paused, searching for the right word to convey your biggest fear, “arouse me.  Let’s just say.”

“I understand why it wouldn’t.”  No sympathetic indulgence, thankfully, just a solid nod of support. 

Could he relate?  You wondered what hard lines he had.  You couldn’t imagine anything scaring him. Ghost had reacted the same when you’d had this discussion.  No questions, no bargaining.  Just respect for your vulnerability.  Surprising, from two men who seemingly had none themselves.

It prompted you to delve in further, and leave no room for misunderstanding, just in case.

“No collars, no ribbons, bows, belts, neckties, your hands, anything please.”

“Neck is off limits.  Noted.” 

“You can still kiss me there, if that’s something you like.  Or you can slap me, to get my attention.  And if you need to move me around or hold me down, you can grab my hair.”

You punctuated the last with a helpful smile and a shrug of your shoulders.  His gaze seemed to find your neck then, perhaps contemplating what it’d be like to kiss it.  Did the thought bring him as much excitement as it did you?

“Fair enough.”  A contented grunt was all you received in response.

“You said that this would be a reciprocating agreement.  What do you want from me?”  The question that had been on your mind since Ghost had called you.

With him, you just paid him money.  That was your end of the deal.  Without payment, that left too much to your imagination and you’d let it run a bit wild. 

“I’ll tell you what I want, and when I want it.  Is that clear?  I won’t ask for your permission, and you’ll never have to wonder what I’m thinking.  I don’t hear yes and no, or green and yellow.  Red means take a break and try something else, and the safe word is a hard stop to call it a day.”

“Understood.  Thank you.”  It was a plan you could definitely work with.  “But what about you?  What do you hope to get out of this?”

“I like to be in charge.  Take care of things.  And do the hard things that need to be done.”

“And who takes care of you?”  A simple question, but he seemed to bristle at it.  Perhaps you’d pushed him too far, too soon. 

“Good little girls who listen and behave.”  He adjusted himself in his seat, straightening as if to get back some control.  “Let’s talk punishments.  No spanking, obviously.  You’ll enjoy it too much.”  His eyes seemed to darken in both amusement and desire.

No doubt proud of himself for changing the subject and redirecting the friendly interrogation.

“Hopefully I won’t displease you, but you could ignore me.  That will make me rethink my attitude real quick,” you replied, with an answering grin.

“Ignore you?  I think that would hurt me more than you, sweetheart.”

Sweetheart.  You liked that.  Probably said as much with the flood of heat to your cheeks and the breathless giggle that sounded so foreign to your ears. 

“I think we’ll get along just fine...John?”  You questioned what name he wanted to be called.

“Sir.  Just sir.”

On the day of your appointment, he texted you the location and the key code for the door lock.  You found the building easily, and stepped into the elevator, double checking the apartment number to be sure you were in the right place.

When the code worked on the door to the fifth floor, you entered to find that it was someone’s home. 

The office of Life Connect 141 was in a nondescript office space on the outskirts of Canary Wharf, not far from your office.  If anyone spotted you, you could use the excuse of taking a meeting or doing your due diligence on a property you were looking to liquidate.

This, on the other hand, was well off the beaten path.  A restored factory building in a neighborhood you weren’t familiar with, but appeared to be up and coming judging by the activity along the street.  You’d already noted a few restaurants to try on the short walk from the Tube station and filed them away to pick up something to eat on your way home. 

A flat of this size and builder quality must have cost a premium, or else the owner bought in cheap before the neighborhood began to blossom.  It was well-appointed and comfortable.  Floor to ceiling windows that opened to look just above the shorter buildings next door.  Privacy from looking directly at your neighbors, but still connected to the bustling down below.

Once inside, you followed his directions to the letter.  You’d arrived early, dimmed the lights and set your bag on the hook by the door.  Cell phone ringer turned off and your shoes in the basket in the hall.

"I’ll leave what I want you to wear on a chair, you’ll know which one.  Wear nothing else.  There will be a pillow on the floor, you’ll know which one.  You’ll greet me on it."

As you moved in past the entryway, the remaining room was an open concept.  A kitchen with an attached dining area, and a living space on the opposite side.  Two plush sofas and an assortment of chairs and tables.  You didn’t know what to expect.  A pleasure room, maybe, or a dungeon of racks and toys.

It was just a living room.

Any nerves you’d been holding onto dissolved when you spotted the fabric draped across the lapis lazuli velvet wing-backed armchair.  Was that going to be his seat?  It was large enough to hold both of you comfortably...if you were on his lap.  It was certainly a statement piece.

The outfit he’d chosen was a simple, pink silk backless slip dress.  Not cheap satin, but the softest, sheerest gossamer.  You shivered as you stripped from your street clothes and gently settled the confection over your skin.  It barely covered your ass as you folded your things and hid them out of sight.

You briefly warred with whether to leave your hair up or down, deciding on the former, before you finally took a deep breath to center yourself.  Whatever happened next was out of your control.

When your knees met with the pillow at the foot of The Chair, your mind emptied and you felt the tension that you’d been carrying for weeks start to fade.  

Just in time to hear the click of the front door.

[bullet-prooflove]

Buck + ferry ⛴️ flowers 💐 firetruck 🚒

Tagging: @kmc1989 @mckinleysbones @sophiah2253 @qutequeersstuff @gatefleet

Buck meets you at Catalina Island during a call out. You’re dangling from a top rope halfway down a cliff face, rendering first aid to another climber, whose hanging 50 feet up in the air after knocking himself unconscious. It takes them a while to get down to you, they’ve come by air rescue because the fire truck can’t make the ferry trip to the island. They have to find the right anchor points to rappel down safely, bringing their kit and a backboard with them.

He can tell you’re on the job from the way you relay the information regarding the other Luis, the other climber’s condition. You use the same terminology, talk in a calm precise manner and you’re not squeamish, especially not about the bone that’s sticking out of the guy’s arm.

“They’ll get him down and then I’ll clip you in with me, the two of us we’ll go down together ok?” He says to you as Eddie and Chim begin to guide Luis’s form further down the cliff face.

“Honey,” You drawl, fixing him with a shrewd stare. “Trust me, I’m perfectly capable of finding my own way down.”

Honey…

For some reason the term makes Buck’s cheeks color.

As you start the descent it becomes clear to him that you’re a skilled climber, your movements are smooth, careful and in coordination with his own. The two of you set a quick pace as you abseil down the cliff. If it were any other circumstance he’d probably find it fun, but Luis has just woken up and he’s screaming blue murder because he’s just realised his forearm looks like something out of a gore movie.

“You’re one of us aren’t you.” He says when you both reach the bottom and you give him a quizzical look as you unclip the carabiner from your rope. “A firefighter?”

“Mountain rescue.” You tell him loosening the harness around your waist. “I usually work out of the national park. Today’s my day off, I thought I’d get some time in on a different rockface so I came out here to the island and then-” You gesture to Luis, shaking your head. “- your guy over there ends up bashing himself on a couple of boulders trying to get a picture with those flowers sticking out for the ‘gram.”

He's about to respond when Bobby calls out to him, he turns his head to acknowledge the words and by the time he turns back you’re already walking away to pack up your kit. He guesses you won’t be doing much more climbing today.

He can’t stop thinking about you on the way back, he takes out his phone and Googles the Los Angeles Mountain Rescue website, he finds your name on the Team Section. He spends the rest of the shift going through your Instagram feed, scrolling through your pictures, getting a sense of the person you are.

Fun, adventurous, a little wild, a little soft.

All traits that appeal to Buck in a partner.

“Are you gonna keep cyber stalking her?” Chimney asks as he drops down on the couch alongside him. “Or are you actually gonna do something about it?”

Sliding into your DMs reminds him of his dating app days and Buck, he’s not looking for something casual, he wants to settle down, experience something real.

It’s a few days later that you run into each other, literally. He’s grabbing a smoothie order for the firehouse when he collides with you in the doorway, he’s skimming through your feed again, whilst you have your eyes fixed firmly on your own screen. He apologises as he knocks the phone out of your hand, bending down to pick it up and that’s when he sees it. His profile live on your screen. It looks like he’s not the only one that’s been doing a little cyber stalking.

“I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself the other day.” He says as he hands the phone back to you. “I’m Buck.”

Love Eddie? Don’t miss any of his stories by joining the taglist here.

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[bones4thecats]

Basically life in Rise! TMNT for our Reader;

Dating App Issues... Leonardo: Who would you swipe right for? Shredder or Draxum? Reader, who is holding grudges on both: I would delete the app.

Sharkboy and Lavagirl = Scary? Cassandra Jones: Let’s watch Sharkboy and Lavagirl. Foot Clan! Reader: Okay. Cassandra Jones: And make out during the scary parts. Foot Clan! Reader: Th- Foot Clan! Reader: The scary parts... Foot Clan! Reader: Of Sharkboy and Lavagirl...?

Student Appreciation Day (Strictly Platonic) Casey Jones: You know, Y/N gives April flowers each year, I wish you'd do that too. Leonardo: Okay. *Later* Leonardo: *gives April flowers* April O'Neil: ??? Leonardo: I don't know, I'm confused as well.

Is Being Smart Attractive Now? Reader: Smart is attractive. Educate me on something I don't know! Donatello: The mouth of a jellyfish is also an anus. Reader: Stop. Various ROTTMNT Characters After Being Asked About Their Confession... Donatello: Yeah, you're lucky. I like you. Raphael: I'd understand if you didn't feel the same way... Casey Jones: *has a panic attack* What confession? Leonardo: *winks* I know, babe. You like me too. Baron Draxum: So what? Are you going to date me or not? Shredder: It was a dare.

Tracking the S/O... Raphael: You can track Y/N? Donatello: Of course I can. If the NSA can do it, so can I.

Rescue Mission Gone Wrong... Splinter, alongside his sons and April: What have you done with Y/N? Baron Draxum: Nothing. Why, do you think I should?

Kinky~ Reader: Are we fighting or flirting? Shredder: I'm pinning you against a wall with my hand around your neck- Reader: Your point?

When Donnie Tells Mikey About His Crush... Michelangelo, talking about the new human friend, Reader: Why don’t you go talk to them? Donatello, sarcastically: Oh. Yeah, sure. Michelangelo: What? So you go tell them they’re cute, what’s the worst that could happen? Donatello: They could hear me.

Word-Jumble Time! Donatello: I truly hate it here <3 Leonardo: Now replace 'it' with 'women'. Not so funny now, is it? Michelangelo: Now replace 'it' with 'women'. Not so funny now, is women? Raphael: Now replace 'funny' with 'women'. Not so women now, is funny? Donatello: I’m having a fucking stroke. Reader: Now replace 'stroke' with 'baby'. Congrats!

Tea-Time Therapy with the Reader... Reader, talking to Splinter over tea: You know what your problem is? Splinter: I only have one?

Oroku Saki and Reader's Development Be Like; Reader: Shredder has only knocked me out three time this week. Our friendship is really developing.

Arachnophobia At It's Finest... Casey Jones: Treat spiders the way you want to be treated! Reader, with Arachnophobia: Killed without hesitation.

Neon-Leon's Rarest Moment; Having An Idea... Leonardo: Hold on! I’m having one of those things... a headache with pictures. Reader: What the fuck? Donatello: He's having an idea.

[afeelgoodblog]

The Best News of Last Week - May 15, 2023

🐕 - Now It's a Paw-ty

1. World's oldest ever dog celebrates 31st birthday

Bobi was born on 11 May 1992, making him 31 years old, in human years. A big birthday party is planned for Bobi today, according to Guinness World Records.

It will take place at his home in the rural Portuguese village of Conqueiros in Leiria, western Portugal, where he has lived his entire life.

2. The FDA has officially changed its policy to allow more gay and bisexual men to donate blood

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that they’ve eased restrictions on blood donations by men who have sex with men in an effort to address blood shortages. The new policy recommends a series of individual risk-based questions that will apply to all donors, regardless of their sexual orientation, sex, or gender. Gay or bisexual men in monogamous relationships will now be permitted to donate blood.

3. Illinois passes bill to ensure community college credits transfer to public universities

The Illinois General Assembly has passed a bill that would help community college students transfer to public universities.

It would ensure that certain classes taken at community colleges could be transferred to any higher education institution in the state. Some schools currently only count community college coursework as elective credits.

4. Brazilian President Lula recognizes 6 new indigenous territories stretching 620,000 hectares, banning mining and restricting farming within them

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has decreed six new indigenous reserves, banning mining and restricting commercial farming there. The lands - including a vast area of Amazon rainforest - cover about 620,000 hectares (1.5m acres).

Indigenous leaders welcomed the move, but said more areas needed protection.

5. More than 1,000 trafficking victims rescued in separate operations in Southeast Asia

More than 1,000 trafficking victims were rescued in separate operations in Southeast Asia over the last week, officials in Indonesia and the Philippines said. 

Indonesian officials said Sunday they freed 20 of their nationals who were trafficked to Myanmar as part of a cyber scam, amid an increase in human trafficking cases in Southeast Asia. Fake recruiters had offered the Indonesians high-paying jobs in Thailand but instead trafficked them to Myawaddy, about 567 kilometers (352 miles) south of Naypyidaw, the capital, to perform cyber scams for crypto websites or apps, said Judha Nugraha, an official in Indonesia's Foreign Affairs Ministry.

6. A peanut allergy patch is making headway in trials

An experimental “peanut patch” is showing some promise for toddlers who are highly allergic to peanuts. The patch, called Viaskin, was tested on children ages one to three for a late-stage trial, and the results show that the patch helped children whose bodies could not tolerate even a small piece of peanuts safely eat a few.

After one year, two-thirds of the children who used the patch and one-third of the placebo group met the trial��s primary endpoint. The participants with a less sensitive peanut allergy could safely tolerate the peanut protein equivalent of eating three or four peanuts.

7. Critically endangered lemur born at Calgary Zoo

The Calgary Zoo has released pictures of its newest addition, a baby lemur. The zoo says its four-year-old female black-and-white ruffed lemur, Eny, gave birth on April 7. The pup’s father is eight-year-old Menabe. The gender of the pup has not been confirmed but the Calgary Zoo says the pup appears bright-eyed and active and is on the move.

The black-and-white ruffed lemur is registered among the 25 most endangered primates in the world, due mostly to habitat loss and hunting.

----

That's it for this week :)

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Buy me a coffee ❤️

Also don’t forget to reblog.

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[selfaware-bungou-stray-dogs]

Self-Aware! BSD x SAGAU Imposter AU Crossover ideas. The Government and Others Edition

Parts: [I] [II] [III] [IV] [V] [VI] [VII] [VIII]

⛩️ Santouka Taneda is staying in the real world, taking care of people of Teyvat, who helped you and who were transported into the real world.

Taneda will teach you how to play shogi and go.

💻 Ango Sakaguchi, with his ability, collect information, that will help BSD Cast to blackmail and expose Fake Creator and their followers.

Ango will find any app/computer program you want. Renews your film/anime collection daily.

🥷 Mizuki Tsujimura is on a spy duty. She will gather information about followers and festivals, Fake Creator will take part in.

Mizuki will watch spy films and paranormal documentaries with you. Will offer you to re-create some scenes from spy movies to make you laugh.

🕶️ Ayatsuji Yukito is helping Ranpo in setting up people, who wronged you. He's also using his ability to get rid of some of them.

Ayatsuji will let you touch and play with dolls from his collection. He and his cats will keep you company. You will spend evenings in his doll collection room. You and Ayatsuji will play mahjong, his cats will be curled on your lap. Both of you will drink coffee and in every given moment you can stand up and take any doll you want.

👻 Oguri Mushitarou is using his ability to destroy evidence of BSD Cast's crimes.

Oguri will tell you about occult practices. Will offer you to use some of them to make something nasty happen to people of Teyvat.

⌚ André Gide is helping Hunting Dogs in dealing with official organizations. If needed, he will attack patrols.

He is acting as your bodyguard. Will offer to read to you.

🐉🍎🍏 Tatsuhiko Shibusawa is using abilities from his collection to cause harm/apply damage to anything/anyone he can from Teyvat.

Shibusawa will bring ability crystals, that you might find useful, to you. Will let you do whatever you want with his hair.

🐈‍⬛ Natsume Soseki will join "The Steambird" to keep a track on Teyvat's news. He will spy on people in his cat form, to find dirt on any important figure he can find. Will publish found information in the newspaper.

He will read books to you. He will also become your moral support cat.

🤖 Adam Frankenstein is on a rescue mission to transport people, who helped you, from Teyvat to the real world. Working as a lie detector, if BSD Vast capture someone

Adam will talk to you about everything, starting from the animals and ending with space.

👧🏻 Aya Koda is staying with you and act as a moral support. If needed, she will act as a spy to gather information about Fake Creator.

🚸 Oda's kids are always trying to include you in their games. They will draw pictures for you. Sakura, Kousuke, Shinji, Yu and Katsumi, same as Aya, are ready to do some spying on Fake Creator, because, as kids, they have more chances to get close to them.

_____

Tag list: @withered-blossoms

[callsign-ryker]

Disney Planes/Planes: Fire & Rescue Magazines (updated and pinned)

I download almost all of the issue of Disney Planes and Planes: Fire & Rescue on Readly, except for Issue 25 is downloaded by @valkyrieres (thank you so much Res!). I decided to update the link and making this as an independent post as I want to make this as clean as possible.

I may try to retain the file on my cloud storage as long as possible, but I'm hoping someone can mirror this as much as they can, so it will still preserve on the internet for the fandom in the future.

I've also added posters on the middle of the magazines page that I stitched using an app on my phone. It has its own folder now for easier access.

Available mirror:

Main mirror (All the files are 100% available to access and download)

Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1AkVg8Fp6viwfTNRf-rXAS8LQqKW6Umvw?usp=sharing

MEGA: https://mega.nz/folder/zBEFULKZ#yX_ZDtXnMe047GqTllFXjQ

Filen: Can't share link, see how to gain access here once you make a Filen account.

Backup mirror (Some files are not available and/or not enough storage to store on these cloud storage)

Box: https://app.box.com/s/7ayjajf320b0p30cndqzm2dz4rxywqab (No stitched PDF File for Issue 19, 24, and the comic of Planes: F&R, everything else is available as a picture PNG files)

pCloud: https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=kZX92I0ZCozaXOMkAyHeMSmofehhOLDaXyoy (Stop at Issue 16, not enough storage to store more)

Please notify me if these links are inaccessible through DMs or comments.

[alder-saan]

Rescue

Miranda x reader

TW: cancer, surgery, recovery from surgery, low self esteem, men

words count: 2.3k

thanks to @tanith-rhea for beta-reading it.

You took a deep breath. It was your first date in several years now. It took you time to accept your body after the surgery. But now you wanted to start a new life. You wanted to date, to find a lover. You had taken hours to be ready, today. Hours to choose THE dress, THE makeup, THE hairstyle. You wanted everything to be perfect. There weren't a lot of people in the café. A group of friends on the terrace, and a blond woman near the window, on the inside. When you walked by her, she gave you a big smile. It warmed your heart. Maybe this date would go well. You hoped so. You sat on a chair, several tables away from the woman who was still looking at you. You blushed and looked away.

“Hi, I’m Miranda, you look stunning,” she said, “Your boyfriend is a lucky boy!”

“I… don’t have a boyfriend… Well not yet. Maybe I will. It’s just our first date today. But thank you.”

“Really? Good luck, then.” She gave you an even bigger smile.

This woman was so kind, it comforted you a little. You waited a few minutes. He was late. Not too much, though. Five minutes, at most. A man entered the café. It wasn’t your date, yours didn’t look like this. But he approached you.

“Y/n?” he asked.

“Er, yes, it's me, who are you?”

“I’m Matt, nice to meet you in real life.”

He wasn’t at all like his profile photo. You started to panic. He lied to you. It wasn’t the same. Your mind was racing. Was he as kind as he was in his messages? 

“Well, it’s nice to meet you too, Matt. I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you, your profile picture is different-”

“Yes, I put a picture of someone else, if I don’t do this, no girl wants to talk to me. They all are so superficial.”

You gulped. Okay, You had to keep cool. That maybe was a way of speaking. You wanted this date so badly to go well. You could give him a second chance… He sat in front of you and smiled.

“You look great, maybe a little too much makeup. If we continue to date, you should wear a little less, I don’t want other boys to look at you.”

You nodded. What could you reply to this? You weren’t as confident. And he intimidated you.

“So, what do you want to drink?” he asked as a waiter went to take your order.

“Er, well, a hot chocolate would be good, I think I will take a pastry too.”

“You shouldn’t, I don’t want you to turn fat… I think you should do some more sport, by the way.”

“N… No pastry,” you shyly asked the waiter.

You wanted to cry. Was all this a joke? How could he be like this? He seemed so friendly on the app… Your date ordered a coffee.

“Sport is important.”

“I do some sport.”

“Really? What do you do?”

You breathed out. Finally, he seemed genuinely interested in you doing some sport. Maybe the second… the third chance was worth it.

“I swim a lot.”

“It’s not a girl’s sport, you should run or something like this. I want a girl in my bed, not a man!” he laughed. “I don’t say that to be mean, it’s just not feminine at all.”

You looked at the table. No. Not worth it.

“Yes, I guess I’ll try.”

The waiter arrived with your hot chocolate and his coffee. You watched him drink. He was still smiling, and you were crying inside. It was just a matter of an hour or maybe two. It was over, soon.

“Good. So, why don’t you already have a man?”

“Well, I… I didn’t date anyone for five years.”

“Anyone? You were looking for the good one? I see?”

“No, not really. I… I had breast cancer, it wasn’t a good time for me. And then I had to do a full mastectomy. I needed time to accept my new chest.”

“Well, at least you got new boobs, they look great!” he bursted into a laugh.

You went pale. Your heart was beating in your ears, tears began to appear in your eyes. You gulped. You couldn’t even hear what he was saying right now. Why did he have to be so cruel? Why was that happening to you? You had met nice and kind men all your life, why did you have to meet this one right now? He was the worst person you’ve ever met. How could a human being be so cold-hearted? Maybe it was your fault. Maybe you were wrong. Maybe you were not worth a love life. Maybe he was all that you could ask for. You wanted to disappear right now. You hated your body. You hated it because it had cancer. You hated your new breasts. It wasn’t even yours.

“Are you okay?”

You looked up. It wasn’t Matt’s voice. All your thoughts disappeared when you saw the blond woman in front of you, in his seat. She was kindly smiling at you.

“I… I’m not.”

“I heard what he said. I’m sorry.”

“It’s my first date since my mastectomy… It couldn’t have been worse.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Where is Matt?”

“He went to the bathroom. You’re safe now. I’m not letting him talk to you again.”

Your date went out of the bathroom and seemed surprised that the woman took his place. You couldn’t look at him right now, so you just looked at the table, again.

“What the fuck is happening here?” he asked, angry.

“Well, I’m going to ask you to leave her alone, mister. She clearly doesn’t want to talk to you anymore,” she calmly said.

“What was it because of the tiddy thing? It was a joke!”

“A joke is supposed to be fun. If she’s crying, it’s not a joke. Please, go out. She deserves to spend her time with someone who can respect her.”

“Leave the table, woman, or I’ll show you what a man can do.”

You stopped breathing. You didn’t want it to become violent. You watched the woman who simply smiled at you and stood up. Was she going to abandon you? A part of you wanted this, you never meant to lead her in any trouble. But the other part wanted her to stay with you, and you were a bit disappointed. Then you realised why she was simply standing in front of him. She was tall. She was very tall. Taller than him. She was towering over him, a smirk on her face.

“Go on, man, show me what you can do, besides making your date cry.”

The man hesitated for a few seconds. He opened his mouth and closed it pathetically.

“Leave,” she demanded.

He left.

You bursted into tears. She sat next to you on the bench seat and pulled you into a hug. You froze. You weren’t used to that, you didn’t know what to do, you didn’t know how to- She seemed to understand how you felt because she let you out of her embrace.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I should have asked you,” she chuckled in embarrassment. 

“N-No, it’s okay,” you said, “it surprised me, that’s all.”

“I’m going to do things right.”

She opened her arms before you, a soft smile on her face.

“Do you want a hug?”

You threw yourself in her arms, crying more and more as she rubbed your back.

“It’s over, now. You’re safe with me.”

“I wanted this date to be nice! What’s wrong with me?”

“Shhh… Nothing’s wrong with you. It’s his fault and only his.”

“My afternoon is ruined… My day is ruined.”

“Meeep,” she said with a nosy voice.

You raised your chin to look up at her, confused.

“It was the sound of a buzzer. You can argue that a buzzer is supposed to make a sound like “bzz”, but I personally find “meep” more accurate.”

“Why… Why did you buzz?” you said, wiping away a few tears, half laughing.

“Because you’re wrong, again. Your afternoon isn’t ruined. Not at all. What if we spend it together? We could go for a walk, and I’ll buy you a pastry. Or more, if you want more. We’ll find the best spots to swim in the sea, and I know some that are totally unknown. Or we could just stay here over a coffee or something.”

Your eyes widened. Why would a complete stranger do that? Was this a kind of trap?

“If you don’t want to, it’s okay. I can totally understand. Don’t be afraid to refuse.”

You shook your head.

“No, I- I was just wondering if you were an angel coming to rescue me.”

She blushed and laughed, it was clear, she tried to hide her embarrassment.

“Well, I try to make people feel safe, ya know? It’s not a big deal.”

“I’d love to spend the afternoon with you, Miranda.”

“Great!” she said, a big smile spreading on her face, “so what do you want to do?”

“I want to get out of here…”

She nodded and stood up, helping you to do so. She almost ran to the counter and said she paid for you as well. You frowned. She did not need to do this. But as you walked towards her to tell her you could pay, she shook her head.

“It’s on me.”

Then she took your arm and went out of the café. The fresh air filled your lungs. You felt a lot better. You closed your eyes, appreciating the sun on your skin.

She began to laugh. It was a frantic laugh. You liked it, even though you didn’t understand why she was laughing. You looked at her, a bit confused. Was she laughing at you?

“I’m sorry,” she said, trying to stop laughing, “it’s just…”

She breathed in and out for a few seconds.

“I was so afraid when I was standing before them. Like, what if they actually hit me? What if he was very strong? What if my height didn’t impress them? I was so scared that it was useless and I was being pathetic by trying this. I was all bluffing! What if he knew or noticed it? I can’t believe it worked. I know I looked like I was confident and all, but on the inside, I was like ‘I don’t know what I’m doing right now, I don’t know what to do next, please lord I want it to work’, because I had no idea what to do if it hadn’t worked.”

While talking, she was staring far away, as if she was replaying the scene in her mind, gesturing with her arms and hands. You smiled a bit and placed a hand on her arm, causing her to come back to earth.

“Thank you again. It was very brave of you.”

Her cheeks were coloured in a pale pink.

“It was nothing, don’t worry about that,” she said, dismissing your compliment with a wave of her hand.

“It was clearly something if you talk about it now.”

“No it-” she sighed, “I didn’t think, ya know? It wasn’t brave if it was an automatism.”

“I understand. Yet, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

You walked a bit, silently. She was guiding you near the ocean. It was beautiful. You liked the view of the waves crashing against some rocks which emerged from the water. The white foam flying all around seemed to be kind of shooting stars.

“I’m sure you’ll have plenty of good dates. Don’t stop searching for someone because of a man like him.”

“Yes, I guess… Do you have a boyfriend?”

“Not my area.”

Your face went red. She gave you a smile, you couldn’t tell if it was genuine or a bit mocking. Maybe a bit of both.

“So, do you have a girlfriend?”

“No.”

You looked away, a bit flustered. So she was a lesbian, huh? What if… she was interested in you? What if it was the reason why she complimented you earlier? You blushed as you realised this idea seduced you. 

You loved how her blond hair was tucked behind her ears, in the cutest way. You loved how her blue eyes followed everything that crossed her sight. You loved how smiles spread on her pink lips, lighting her face. You loved her little nose, her neck, her height, lord, her height. It made you feel so safe. And she was brave, funny, and kind.

“This is the moment where the straight girl says ‘I’m sorry, I hope you’re not interested in me.’ or something like that,” she said and chuckled.

“I’m not straight.”

“Oh!”

She blushed a bit and remained silent.

“Hoisted by your own petard,” you smirked, “I’m bi. Why? Could you be interested in me?”

She didn’t say anything, and looked at the beach and the people swimming in the waves. She was cute, with that.

“Look, there is a-”

“Don’t change the subject.”

Her face was slightly pink, she avoided your gaze.

“Miranda, I find you beautiful, cute, and kind, and brave. So if you want this to be a date. It can be.”

Her eyes widened in disbelief. She turned towards you.

“I-”

You gave her a soft smile. 

“Yes, I’d like this to be a date.” she whispered.

You almost didn’t hear. But even if you hadn’t, you would have known.

“Then it’s a date.”

________________________________

post credit scene:

Matt walked his way home when someone stopped before him. It was Rhea. She looked at him with nothing but anger and hatred in her eyes, then her fist met his nose and he fell onto the ground. He spat some blood, and a tooth.

"Who are you?"

"Don't you dare talk to her again. And if I learn you treat badly an other woman, I kill you."

Rhea walked away and disappeared into the darkness of the street.

[iamvegorott]

Magicians Don't Need Superheros Pt3

First: Link Prev: Link Next: Link

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Marvin muttered to himself in thought as he tried to recall phone numbers. There were a few he had memorized but they were close enough that he had to dig into his brain to make sure he was calling the right person. 

When he had first stolen Jackie’s phone, he was ready to find a way to use magic to unlock the phone. There was a fingerprint scanner on the back, maybe he’d find a fingerprint on the phone somewhere and transfer it. He was prepared to use a complex spell or something to get into the phone but he had a feeling that the passcode wasn’t going to be too advanced and he couldn’t help from laughing when ‘1234’ worked. 

“Tony’s pizza shop, how-”

“Damn it.” Marvin cursed and hung up the phone. 

Did he dial the wrong number? No. That’s the number. Why did it connect to a pizza shop?

“Maybe I traveled through time?” Marvin mused out loud. Was it likely? No. But right now he was open to some of the more outlandish concepts. “I hope not, though. That would be very inconvenient and annoying.” 

But also if he did send himself to a different point in time, he’d have to find a way to send himself back and that did not sound fun. That sounded like a lot of work, effort, and time, and having someone basically hunting him down made that task sound even more difficult to deal with.

“He should have a calendar app on this phone. I can check the date.” Marvin swiped around and opened the app he was looking for. “It’s still the present. There goes that theory.” He hummed as he decided to be a little nosy and started going through Jackie’s phone. 

Finding the pictures was fairly easy and he started scrolling through them. Marvin wasn’t shocked by the selfies up on roofs and bridges, places that weren’t safe to be taking pictures from but Jackie only had excitement in his eyes. 

What a dork. 

“They must be some of those ‘Septiceyes’.” Marvin saw pictures of others. He did notice how they looked similar to each other but the more he looked, the more different they became, as if changing before his eyes. “No shirtless pics?” He joked as he continued going through the photos. Marvin paused and looked up, seeing the crosswalk light telling him to go and he crossed the street, eyes back down at the phone. “Alright, I have to admit that’s cute.” A picture of Jackie lying on the ground with a dog popped up, the two had nearly identical smiles and energy. 

“Look out!” A voice called as a loud horn pulled Marvin from his thoughts. He looked over to see a truck flying toward him, showing no signs of stopping. Marvin barely had time to start a reaction before he was tackled out of the way, the truck going past him and plowing into a parked car that bumped into another parked car and that was enough to stop the truck from going any further. 

“That was embarrassing.” Marvin sighed as he found himself on his back in the street. He kept his eyes closed for a little longer, thinking that maybe that didn’t just happen and he would wake up in his bed. But, instead, when he opened his eyes he saw Jackie looking down at him, his own eyes filled with worry. 

“Are you okay?” Jackie asked. “I didn’t hurt you, right? I get a little carried away with my rescues sometimes.” 

“Just a bit of a bruised ego.” Marvin sat himself up on his elbows. “I guess you really are a hero, thank you.” His pride might be sore, but he still had some manners. 

“I try my best.” Jackie perked up. 

“Now, could you get off of me?” Marvin gestured at how the two of them were situated. 

“R-Right! Yeah!” Jackie scrambled away and stood up. “Let me help you.” He took Marvin’s hand and yanked him up to his feet as if he weighed no more than a feather. Marvin now had proof to Jackie’s boasting of his speed and strength. He patted the dust off his clothing and saw Jackie picking up a jacket from the ground, smacking dust off it as well. The jacket was the same read as his hoodie, meaning there was a good chance it was his as well. 

“What’s with the spare jacket?” Marvin asked. 

“Oh! It’s for you.” Jackie held the jacket toward Marvin. “I noticed the last time we saw each other that you looked cold. It’s supposed to get colder tonight and I figured you could borrow it until you get to the House and get your own clothing. It’s a little big on me, so it’ll be big on you, but it’s a lot warmer than it looks since the inside is a little fluffy. The sleeves are meant to be kind of long and it has like little holes on the end for your thumbs. I thought that was pretty cool so that’s why I got it.” 

Usually, Marvin would have stopped Jackie’s rambling a few sentences ago, but the kind gesture caught him a little off guard. Despite Marvin literally pushing him off the roof of a building and causing him to fall off a tree branch, Jackie still wanted to make sure he was okay. Was this man made out of rainbows and clouds or something?

“Help! Someone help, he’s stuck!” A person cried out from where the ruined truck was. 

“Shit. I gotta-don’t go anywhere, um-sir?” Jackie sounded like he was fighting between his ‘hero persona’ and who he actually was with that sentence. 

“Marvin. My name is Marvin.” Marvin decided it would be fair to at least give Jackie his name after what he’s done. 

“Marvin,” Jackie repeated with a smile before another cry for help pulled him back to the present. “Stay here, Marvin. Please.” He gave Marvin the jacket before running off. 

“It’s cute that he thinks I’m going to listen.” Marvin clicked his tongue and walked off, leaving the scene of the crime while Jackie was busy. 

It wasn’t long before he did put the jacket on. The further down the sun went, the colder the air got. And Jackie was right, the jacket was a lot warmer than it looked. 

“Marvin?” Jackie was back to where he had left Marvin and sighed at no longer seeing him. He had a little too much faith that he would have waited for him. At least Marvin wouldn’t freeze overnight and he knew his name now.

Baby steps were still steps and he was getting more of them. 

[reborrowing]

reaching out

i forgot how limited tumblr formatting is so hopefully this is readable. if not, it's kind of angsty nothing anyway part of Stranger Swap

Azalea Heeren

Her profile came up before Val could finish hopping across the screen to spell out her name. This wasn’t the first time they’d looked for her. The square framed icon stared up at them, the familiar face making their guts twist out of place. They missed her. They hated her. They needed her.

They crept forward and opened a new message. They’d gotten that far before too. This time, they were going to pace back and forth to type something out and send it.

It would be easier on a phone than the tablet, with all the buttons close together, but Phoebe had her phone with her on campus. Val wanted to do this during the day, so Zee would be awake, and they hadn’t exactly told Phoebe that they were searching socials for their old friend. And they’d had a fight about if Val should be online when she wasn’t even allowed to mention them and…Val just thought it was better if she didn’t know.

Z its Val, hi!

They sat on the edge of the iPad and waited. And waited. They finished darning their sleeve. They poked around a little more. Her profile said she’d been online. They went back to their unanswered message.

Um little Val that is Cookie

Three bouncing dots. Val watched them eagerly.

fuck off riley

What? I don’t know a Riley. This is Val

A long wait.

…send me a pic then.

OK one second

They didn’t like to keep pictures of themself, given the whole secrecy thing. And it was tricky to take a selfie—or any photo really—with the tablet. They couldn’t prop it up like they did the phone, not without help or building up a whole system. They had to fiddle with the app to remember how to set up a timer, then dashed to lean over the front camera and wave.

The pic was blurry and dark, but looked passably like Val. Presumably not so much like Riley.

Miles away, the photo loaded and Azalea shrieked.

IT IS YOU OMG VAAAAALLLL I WAS SO SCARED YOU DIDNT MAKE IT! Mulch never came back to tell me ANYTHING BABYYYYYYYY OMG!! IM KISSING YOU ALL OVER!!!

The messages kept coming, a lot faster than Val could hope to respond.

You’re not back at the house right? I’m not there, I moved out so it’s just dad…so I hope you’re still at that apartment Mulch had me take you. Either way I can come get you! Tess can probably give me a ride out there when her lab’s done—she’s nice, I’d trust her with you Not that I’m letting go of you again so soon, I’ve missed you so much!

Val paused, an “I miss you too” waiting to be sent. They did. They missed her terribly. They wanted to hear everything she’d been up to, to feel her laughter, curled up against her collarbone. They loved her, or they had. But the thought of her coming here, looming over them again, taking them away from Phoebe…it filled them with an unwelcome, all-new dread. They didn't want to see her again, they just wanted...something. They wanted her to know they were alive, at least.

The messages kept coming.

can I call or video? I know typing takes you awhile lol are you even somewhere you can talk? somewhere safe I mean? I’m so serious about coming to get you, just tell me when and I'll rescue you from the dust I’m sorry I couldn’t before

Val stared at the chat until it blurred out of focus, chewed their lip until they tasted blood. Their eyes were watery. They didn’t read the rest. They logged out and pushed the iPad away from them. They didn’t want to be afraid of her again. They liked the memory they had of her, probably more than they hated her. They could convince themself of that. They loved her, mostly.

But they were right the last time they had logged in: they shouldn’t have messaged her.

[voodooveil-writes]

Marinette as Bakugo’s sister.

This is a concept for an au where Marinette is Katsuki bakugo’s sister. If you want more, then ask, or if you want to use my concepts credit me. Just note that I’m not the first to have this idea, I’m just adding a bit of flair. ALSO NOTE THAT I AM AGING UP THE CHARACTERS!!! Marinette and her friends will be 17, not 13, and Katsuki and his class will be 18, not 16. Marinette will not be a stalker! It’s frankly gross to ship two 13 year olds, AND make one of them a yandere. It also gives me as the writer more freedom to make the characters more independent. Character designs that differ from cannon will be pictured using the app called Gacha Life 2. For those of you rolling your eyes, Gacha is not all bad, and not everyone is one of those cringe 12 year olds making “heat” videos. I can’t draw very well and I personally use it to express my creativity in a way that is easy and fun. (this story will take place before any major story archs in the MLB series.) (this story with take place after bakugo was rescued from the league of villains.)

Ships: adrienette (Adrien x Marinette) ninya (nino x Alya) bakugo x (TBD) (I’ll post a poll for who bakugo should be shipped with.)

With that said; Marinette was born Miyuki Bakugo. She is very close with her 1 year older brother Katsuki, who has a quirk called ‘explosion.’ Miyuki’s quirk allowed her to change minor aspects of her appearance at will, like her hair color and length or her eye color. This requires energy though, and changing her hair color is the hardest to do over long periods of time. Also, Her quirk doesn’t work when she’s asleep.

Despite her quirk, she was born with heterochromia of both the eyes and hair. Her hair is mostly brown hair (from her father, Masaru), and blond in the front (from her mother, Mitsuki). Her right eye is red (Mitsuki) and her left eye is brown. (Masaru.) but because of her odd appearance, she was often called names. It was usually a ‘witch’, due to her duel-colored eyes.

All her life, Miyuki dreamed of nothing more than to move to Paris and be a fashion designer. As it happens, Masaru’s brother, Tom, lived in Paris because of his dream to be a baker! So when Miyuki was twelve, she moved to Paris with her aunt and uncle. She visits Japan twice per year to see her family. She socially changed her name to Marinette Dupain-Cheng to match her aunt, Sabine Cheng, and Uncle, Tom Dupain, who would pose as her fake parents to not invite unnecessary questions. It worked out great, Mitsuki’s half-Russian and half-Japanese DNA mixed with Masaru’s Japanese DNA made Miyuki Asian and Tom and Sabine are both Asian. (Tom same as Masaru and Sabine being Chinese) ethnically, her aunt and uncle fit fairly well. In Paris, it was never brought up. When she got to Paris, she used temporary dye to dye her hair dark blue, both to eliminate the risk of being judged for her two-toned hair, and to fit better with her aunt who had dark blue hair too (she used temporary dye because she likes her natural hair color, and when it begins to fade, it’s time for her twice-annual visit to Japan to see her immediate family anyways.) She used her quirk to change her eye color to blue, also to avoid judgment and fit better with her aunt and uncle.

Currently, Marinette spends her days designing clothes in her free time, spending time with her best friends Alya, Nino, Adrien (whom she has a crush on), and others, Saving Paris with Chat Noir as ladybug, and helping her parents in the bakery. One day, however, she woke up, not realizing that her dye was fading, and took a shower. She didn’t realize that her hair was back to normal until she stepped out of the shower and saw her hair in the mirror. Being out of blue dye and it being time for her to go to school, she used her quirk to make it blue. If you remember from earlier, her quirk drains her energy a lot and doesn't work while she is asleep. What will happen when she falls asleep during class? What will she say when asked what’s up with her wacky hair?

I hope you were intrigued by this concept! I'm open to questions, comments, and suggestions. The poll for who Bakugo should be shipped with will be up once I get three or more suggestions. I'm open to anything as long as it isn't disgusting (major age gap)

Here are some other designs for Marinette (and Alya because why not) that I made in preparation for this story!

[stormingfrost]

Reviewing all Rise Of The Guardians related media

I found as much media in this franchise that I could (I know there’s some more that aren’t available anymore, like the apps) and I’m here to give my opinion on all of them. Even if I gave something a low rating, I still love and cherish it as a part of my collection! 

There’s four sections: movie tie-in books, online comics, Guardians Of Childhood, and miscellaneous pieces of media I can’t sort easily 

Movie tie-in books

The Art Of Rise Of The Guardians

        Setting - 4 stars

    Plot - 3 stars

        Engagement - 5 stars

        Characters - 5 stars 

        Style - 5 stars

        Enjoyment - 5 stars

        Overall rating - 5 stars

        Recommendation - 5 stars

I love the concept art book so much. I find it very interesting to see how movies are made, especially animated ones. All of the different details and story elements and decisions are so cool. I had to do a double take on them calling Jack a 'hunk' that's so funny. And the art is just so gorgeous!

Guide To The Guardians

        Setting - 3 stars

        Plot - 2.5 stars

        Engagement - 4.5 stars

        Characters - 5 stars 

        Style - 3.5 stars

        Enjoyment - 5 stars

        Overall rating - 3.5 stars

        Recommendation - 4 stars

I love fun facts so much! Each guardian gets a section w/ information, and an activity to do. I really like it! It's my second favorite of the movie-tie in books! Has trading cards with even more fun facts! (I found high quality pictures of the cards from GoldenDragon on DeviantArt, if you wanna take a peek at them.)

Hidden Truths and Other Stories

        Setting - 3.5 stars

        Plot - 5 stars

        Engagement - 5 stars

        Characters - 5 stars 

        Style - 4.5 stars

        Enjoyment - 5 stars

        Overall rating - 5 stars

        Recommendation - 5 stars

It has two original stories:

Monty and Jamie discussing their experiences with the Guardians before the events of the movie

How the elves came to work for North!

Getting something from this world that I haven't seen before was so fun and exciting! My favorite of the movie tie-in books!

Hidden Truths: 

   The story of Jamie and Monty is really cute. Jamie keeps a book to keep track of the magical things that he sees. Monty shares a time when he was at a boys scout camp and got attacked by a stray dog, only to see ice appear out of nowhere.

With Friends Like These: 

    The elves are funny, and North and the yetis reaction to them is hilarious. They help North, and he decides to let them stay.

Worlds Of Wonder

        Setting - 2.5 stars

        Plot - 1.5 stars

        Engagement - 4 stars

        Characters - 3 stars 

        Style - 3.5 stars

        Enjoyment - 4 stars

        Overall rating - 3.5 stars

        Recommendation - 3 stars

I actually really like this. The play-set is cute and the little booklet gives some information about all the characters. It's something that I would've adored as a kid. It’s got a mixed rating bc it’s a pop-up play-set with mini paper cutouts of the characters, not a story. It’s a bit hard to rate with all the others. 

Rise Of The Guardians: Movie Novelization

        Setting - 3.5 stars

        Plot - 3 stars

        Engagement - 3.5 stars

        Characters - 4 stars 

        Style - 3 stars

        Enjoyment - 3 stars

        Overall rating - 3.5 stars

        Recommendation - 3.5 stars

It's not as well written as I hoped it would've been, but it isn't a terrible read. Overall, I like it, but it does change, add, and exclude lines that were in the movie. Some changes I like, some I don't. It's not bad, not good.

Just meh. If you're a fan of rotg, you'll enjoy it well enough.

Jamie To The Rescue!

        Setting - 3 stars

        Plot - 3.5 stars

        Engagement - 3 stars

        Characters - 3 stars 

        Style - 3.5 stars

        Enjoyment - 3 stars

        Overall rating - 3 stars

        Recommendation - 3 stars

It's a cute illustrated version of Jamie's view of the events of the movie. It’s a picture book for children, I can’t really enjoy this in the way it was intended to be read, because I’m not a kid. I like it, but it's not my favorite by a long shot. 

The Story Of Jack Frost

        Setting - 3 stars

        Plot - 3.5 stars

        Engagement - 3 stars

        Characters - 3 stars 

        Style - 3.5 stars

        Enjoyment - 3 stars

        Overall rating - 3 stars

        Recommendation - 3 stars

It's another cute illustrated version of Jack's view of the events of the movie. I like it, but it's in the same category as Jamie To The Rescue! in terms of kid books that an adult is reading. 

Rise of the Guardians: A Deluxe Pop-Up Book

        Setting - 4.5 stars

        Plot - 3 stars

        Engagement - 3.5 stars

        Characters - 3 stars 

        Style - 2.5 stars

        Enjoyment - 3 stars

        Overall rating - 3 stars

        Recommendation - 3 stars

It's fun to see the events of the movie in an interactive book! But some of the art is... just not very good? It's fine for the most part, but then Jack's eyes are suddenly in two different places and the characters look uncanny. Overall, I like it but the art leaves much to be desired.

Made In The North Pole

        Setting - 2.5 stars

        Plot - 2 stars

        Engagement - 3 stars

        Characters - 3 stars 

        Style - 2.5 stars

        Enjoyment - 2.5 stars

        Overall rating - 2.5 stars

        Recommendation - 2 stars

It's fun, but it's just screenshots from the movie and pngs with related text

Not a lot of effort was put into this as other books and it shows. It's cute tho, definitely a kids book meant for children. 

Rise Of The Guardians: Mix & Match

        Setting - 2 stars

        Plot - 2 stars

        Engagement - 3 stars

        Characters - 3 stars 

        Style - 4 stars

        Enjoyment - 2 stars

        Overall rating - 2.5 stars

        Recommendation - 2.5 stars

Not my favorite but I can recognize that I am not the target audience for this kids book. Probably my least favorite personality.  It would be fun for a kid though, the interactive element is good but overall it's not the best. It's just not for me.

Online comics

Learning To Fly

        Setting - 4.5 stars

        Plot - 5 stars

        Engagement - 5 stars

        Characters - 5 stars 

        Style - 5 stars

        Enjoyment - 5 stars

        Overall rating - 5 stars

        Recommendation - 5 stars

I like how he sees how the world works and learns from it. It shows how smart he actually is, and how much he had to learn in those 300 years. I also really like the panel where he is looking up at the birds. Very cool. Just Jack flying with a flock of birds is really cool.

Spring 1968

        Setting - 4 stars

        Plot - 4.5 stars

        Engagement - 5 stars

        Characters - 5 stars 

        Style - 5 stars

        Enjoyment - 5 stars

        Overall rating - 5 stars

        Recommendation - 5 stars

This art is just GORGEOUS. Short and sweet, although I do wish we got to see more about the blizzard of '68. You just know Jack is laughing in the background somewhere. I seriously cannot get over how pretty this comic is. I want this art tattooed on my SOUL

Cat Nap

        Setting - 4 stars

        Plot - 5 stars

        Engagement - 5 stars

        Characters - 5 stars 

        Style - 5 stars

        Enjoyment - 5 stars

        Overall rating - 5 stars

        Recommendation - 5 stars

This is so adorable I can't even. Sandy's attempts to entertain the cat and the cat just not having it. Short and sweet and it's Sandy and a cat. What's not there to love?

The art is gorgeous. So cute!

Winter Spirit

        Setting - 3.5 stars

        Plot - 5 stars

        Engagement - 5 stars

        Characters - 5 stars 

        Style - 5 stars

        Enjoyment - 5 stars

        Overall rating - 5 stars

        Recommendation - 5 stars

Jack making snowmen for a group of kids. Adorable. Also, new Jack outfit besides his colonial one and modern one. I love how the snowmen glow with Jack's magic it's such a cool detail. Jack making things fun for a group of bored kids is so on brand. Very cute and fun!

Pitch Black

        Setting - 5 stars

        Plot - 5 stars

        Engagement - 5 stars

        Characters - 5 stars 

        Style - 5 stars

        Enjoyment - 5 stars

        Overall rating - 5 stars

        Recommendation - 5 stars

Pitch gets offered to be a Guardian, but he refuses and takes offense to it. It's so interesting to see Pitch being more friendly to the Guardians, especially because this is the moment that started their fight. I love the different lore here. The books by William Joyce would've never had this happen. (Also ties in super well with Johane Matte's unofficial comics. I recommend reading those as well. This is her tumblr and this her deviantart) 

Guardians of Childhood

The Man In The Moon

        Setting - 4 stars

        Plot - 4 stars

        Engagement - 4 stars

        Characters - 4 stars 

        Style - 5 stars

        Enjoyment - 4 stars

        Overall rating - 4 stars

        Recommendation - 4 stars

Very cute. The drawings are amazing. The story is obviously simple, but it's a bit awkward trying to fit Pitch and the lore in there when the story is mostly about MiM making a smile on the moon’s surface and balloons. 

The Sandman

        Setting - 4 stars

        Plot - 4 stars

        Engagement - 4 stars

        Characters - 4.5 stars 

        Style - 5 stars

        Enjoyment - 4 stars

        Overall rating - 4 stars

        Recommendation - 4 stars

Different from the novels, but still good. Very cute, and the art is gorgeous. Golden Age/Pitch stuff was less sudden and awkward. 

Jack Frost

        Setting - 4 stars

        Plot - 4 stars

        Engagement - 4 stars

        Characters - 4 stars 

        Style - 5 stars

        Enjoyment - 4 stars

        Overall rating - 4 stars

        Recommendation - 4 stars

Very cute! Pretty art. Less confusion about the Pitch/Golden Age stuff, mostly because it was at the beginning as set up rather than just shoved in the middle as a long paragraph on one page. 

Nicholas St. North And The Battle Of The Nightmare King

        Setting - 4.5 stars

        Plot - 5 stars

        Engagement - 3 stars

        Characters - 5 stars 

        Style - 3.5 stars

        Enjoyment - 3 stars

        Overall rating - 4 stars

        Recommendation - 4 stars

Cute, whimsical. We see the very beginning of the Guardians- hints at Santa and Mother Goose. Start of the relics, the macguffins of the series (more on that later.) 

E. Aster Bunnymund And The Warrior Eggs At The Earth's Core!

        Setting - 4.5 stars

        Plot - 5 stars

        Engagement - 3.5 stars

        Characters - 5 stars 

        Style - 3.5 stars

        Enjoyment - 3.5 stars

        Overall rating - 4 stars

        Recommendation - 4 stars

I liked this book more than the first one. We set up Emily Jane, we get more characters, and the world is expanded on. I liked how Bunny is a dork, how Pitch's weapons absorb light, how Pitch touching Nightlight turned his hand human. I do wish there was more on Bunny's negative feelings towards Pitch, seeing as he did kill Bunny's people, rather than Bunny not really caring at all. 

Toothiana Queen Of The Tooth Fairy Armies

        Setting - 4.5 stars

        Plot - 5 stars

        Engagement - 3.5 stars

        Characters - 4.5 stars 

        Style - 3 stars

        Enjoyment - 3 stars

        Overall rating - 4 stars

        Recommendation - 4 stars

I wish we had more on Tooth's character. I love her so much. This book frustrates me because all of the other Guardians’ homes get exact locations, but Tooth's is just "Asia." Like where? Tooth's home is only implied, and it sucks. Plus, she's the only POC in this cast, and she's a bird. The book itself was okay (ignoring the orientalism). I liked some of Tooth's backstory and the build up to meeting Emily Jane. 

The Sandman And The War Of Dreams

        Setting - 4.5 stars

        Plot - 5 stars

        Engagement - 4.5 stars

        Characters - 5 stars 

        Style - 4.5 stars

        Enjoyment - 5 stars

        Overall rating - 4.5 stars

        Recommendation - 4.5 stars

I liked the full backstories and the pay off for Emily Jane, Nightlight, and the relics. It feels tied with the previous books. I don't like how rushed Sandy's parts are. Also the kiss thing is just weird. I love Emily Jane's character, wish we got more of her as Mother Nature. I liked how Sandy got blisters from the nightmare shield, it's reminiscent of his death in the movie. I liked it. Favorite book in the GOC series. 

Jack Frost The End Becomes The Beginning

        Setting - 4 stars

        Plot - 3 stars

        Engagement - 3.5 stars

        Characters - 3 stars 

        Style - 3 stars

        Enjoyment - 3 stars

        Overall rating - 3.5 stars

        Recommendation - 3.5 stars

This book is a WILD ride. But definitely a better read if you aren't expecting it to be like the movie at all. The ending was good. I liked Shadowbent. It's inconsistent with the other books, it retcons a bunch of things. Like the relics. They aren’t important anymore just because. This book has unnecessary details and tangents that could be cut out (or even just shown, rather than told) because they do not add anything to the story. Joyce should stop using real historical figures in this book. Jack's staff is alive, btw. I'm still not over that. Or that Tumblr sexyman Jack Frost, Elsa's boyfriend or whatever, is besties with Winston Churchill (????????????????)

Miscellaneous pieces of media I can’t sort easily 

 Rise Of The Guardians: The Video Game (3DS version)

        Setting - 3.5 stars

        Plot - 3.5 stars

        Engagement - 3 stars

        Characters - 2.5 stars 

        Style - 3 stars

        Enjoyment - 3.5 stars

        Overall rating - 3.5 stars

        Recommendation - 3.5 stars

I'm gonna be completely honest here: this game is a low effort cash grab. It’s a movie video game, my expectations are low and it met them. It's enjoyable if you like beating things up, but the gameplay gets repetitive quickly. I liked it well enough played it twice even but I wouldn't say it's the best. The game looks much better (better graphics, gameplay, voice acting, and multiplayer) on Wii/PS3/Xbox 360, I just don't have those consoles.

The Man in The Moon (2005 short film) 

        Setting - 3.5 stars

        Plot - 4 stars

        Engagement - 3 stars

        Characters - 3 stars 

        Style - 3.5 stars

        Enjoyment - 3 stars

        Overall rating - 3.5 stars

        Recommendation - 3.5 stars

The art style is a 3D version of William Joyce's art style (which is fine but gives me Coraline book cover vibes.) The bowler hat is apparently the boogeyman's, which is hilarious (because Joyce wrote the book that became Meet The Robinsons.) VERY early concept of this universe, used to pitch the idea to Dreamworks. It's funny how the core concept is there, but how different it is to both the movie and the books. It's alright, I do find it more interesting than entertaining, because of how much the concept changed. Can't have William Joyce without the robots. 

[trills-n-clicks]

Lieutenant Shre Laverick

Mainly going by Shre, he's the lieutenant of TF Arach.

NONE OF THIS INFORMATION IS OF ACTUAL PEOPLE, SOME DETAILS ARE TAKEN FROM MYSELF BUT IT IS NOT BASED ON ME!!!

TF Arach Masterlist

DOB: January 25th 1993. [30 years old]

Relationships: ↓

//////// Pentick- Ex-partner <dead>

Mary Laverick- Mother <alive>

Dawson Yolen- Biological Father <dead>

James Laverick- Step-Father <dead>

Sharlet Yolen- Aunt (Father's side) <alive>

Lin ////////- Niece (Mother's side) <alive>

Bornel /////////- Brother <dead>

Sally /////////- Sister <alive> {Married to Alicia ///////}

Physical details: ↓

Head: Black, chin-length, mostly straight (1A) hair(he likes to keep it in a ponytail and clipped out of his face). Dark brown and hooded eyes. Slightly crooked, down-turned Greek nose. Thin lipped. Oval face shape.

Body: Mesomorphic, trapezoid shape, only way I can describe his build is Sleep Bod™

Marks (scars, birthmarks, tattoos, missing limbs, etc.): Large Phoenix tattoo on his back, from shoulder to shoulder. Birthmark from nose ala to corner of mouth in a curved shape. Scars include cuts across wrists from SH and interrogation from enemies. Burns from actual fires(spanning from legs to neck in splotches) and cigarettes(he was used as a bit of an ashtray, so trauma :'( ). Missing limbs include just his left pinky lost during torture from enemies. He's got a nose bridge piercing as well.

Other (height & weight stuff, skintone, nationality, etc.): His skintone is very pale, no freckles, a few moles scatter his body and face though. He's Australian and with relatives from Thailand. He's 7'2 (2.18m) and weighs 285 lbs (129.2 kgs). Yes he is a big boy. He likes wearing a grunge and steampunk mixed style, but he despises gears, instead going for chains. He likes the cling-clangy sounds they make.

Personality details: ↓

He's questioning his sexuality but knows he's greyromantic and on the ace spectrum. He's also a cis man. He likes the colors navy and black but will never admit that he is quite fond of deep red-ish pinks, especially roses. Outside people describe him as reserved, gloomy and quiet, but Arach describes him as sweet, wistful and quite father-like. And he may be an introvert, but he needs social interaction, otherwise he'll spiral down. He does have a sensitivity to smells, just smells them stronger in general. But he also had a few mental disorders including PTSD, Anxiety, and he's slightly on the spectrum for autism.

And Military info!: ↓

He joined in 2011 at 18 years old and was transferred to work in the SNS just 2 years after boot camp. He has skills in hostage rescue, basic emergency medical aid, covert operations, sniper techniques and knife combat. But he struggles in self hostage situations(ooo trauma) and clearing bodies(the smell always gets to him).

Basic picture using gacha(I just use the app to visualize what they'll look like with color) ↓

And I will insert a photo I drew below ↓ (it will not have color)

Left is his hair up and right is it down, ok it's not the best but it was my first variant of him and the rest are doodles.

I'm sorry if it's too long, read if you want but you really don't have to, he will be basically described in the fic.

[p5x-theories]

P5X Summary

(updated 5/14/24)

Please keep in mind this game still has no official English translation, so this summary uses a mix of what happens visually, what I understand of the Japanese dialogue, and Google translate for the Chinese text, in order to get the broader picture here. This will be focused on summing up everything that happens overall, without getting into a line-by-line translation.

Contrary to this blog’s name, this post is going to have as little speculation as possible, and stick to confirmed facts.

The fourth beta covers the entirety of the first two Palaces in the game, and stops almost immediately after the second Palace ruler's change of heart press conference.

P5X starts out somewhere extremely familiar: the exact same place P5 and P5R start, Joker's escape from Sae's casino Palace after the Phantom Thieves have fought her Shadow. However, the screen glitches a bit as this cutscene plays out.

You can see a video of the beginning here, though this is from the third beta, and doesn't reflect the glitching effect added in the fourth beta. I'll also summarize:

The camera moves in towards Sae's Palace just like in P5/P5R, except periodically glitching slightly. We eventually see the casino guests, then guards, then Joker. Just before gameplay begins, Joker briefly glitches into the P5X protagonist, before glitching back into Joker. Joker then begins to escape and encounters a shadow which the player has to defeat, just like in P5/P5R. However, after defeating the shadow, someone else attacks Joker, who looks just like the P5X protagonist except with a white mask. Joker and the protagonist fight, but the P5X protagonist wins, and smiles at Joker before firing his gun. In a bedroom, we then see the protagonist shoot awake as if from a nightmare, to the sound of an alarm on his phone going off.

The protagonist then gets out of bed, gets dressed, and puts in airpods, pressing play on the song Ambitions and Visions on his phone, leading into the game's opening animation.

After the opening, we see an owl sitting in Shibuya. It looks around for a moment before flying off.

It then transitions to a shot of Kokatsu Academy, the protagonist sitting in class, with a form about what he wants to do after high school. He taps his pencil on the blank form, and looks out the window. His teacher, Kumi Katayama, instructs the students to fill it out with their names (and then the player is prompted to name the protagonist).

After writing his name, the protagonist feels sleepy, and drifts off. He then wakes up in the Velvet Room for the first time.

Igor welcomes the protagonist to the Velvet Room, and introduces him to himself and Merope. He says the protagonist is here because he made a "choice". The protagonist is only there briefly before he’s woken up by the girl sitting in front of him in class.

Katayama comes over and reprimands them, then collects the forms. As class ends, she warns everyone there was another "phantom" incident, and to be careful going home.

After getting out of class, the protagonist steps out into the hallway, but Katayama calls him over to talk about his empty form, and asks if he knows what he wants for the future. She seems troubled that he doesn’t really know.

After, he runs into some girls gossiping and blocking the stairs. They mention an update on an app, and that they think "Magatsukami" will recognize the person as a "phantom". One of them suggests maybe the police will get involved, but the others say when you meet a phantom, you think there's nothing that can be done. The protagonist has a dialogue option to try to ask them to move out of the way, but it’s like something stops him from doing it. His thought bubble describes the idea of asking them to move as "gradually disappearing".

Another student comes to his rescue, and suggests the girls sit and chat in the cafeteria instead. The girls bow in apology to both her and the protagonist before running off, calling her Tanemura-senpai, a bit starstruck that she talked to them. She tells them not to run in the hallway.

Tanemura comments that students are acting more "selfishly" these days, and also mentions Wonder could've just communicated with them himself, before leaving.

As the protagonist goes to exit the school, he walks by the owl, who’s landed atop the shoe lockers. It mutters to itself, wondering if it's really this guy, and saying something's been stolen. The owl then flies out the window when the protagonist looks in its direction.

As the protagonist steps through the front gates of the school, a girl walks by him, notably not wearing shoes. She says nothing but "...".

As the protagonist walks to the train station, he hears two girls in front of him gossip about a video showing a phantom.

At the station, he sees a woman trip (or otherwise fall), and the player’s given a dialogue prompt relating to helping her, but something vague once again seems to stop him. He seems to describe his thoughts as becoming "thinner" when this happens. The train leaves.

The girl in the grey dress from slightly earlier reappears, now on the roof of a building across the street from the train station, and throws herself off of it. The protagonist is the only one in the station to really react to this (the others just comment passively, one even saying they don't blame her because there's nothing to live for), but after they leave, he gets that vague feeling again, and says his "sense of disobedience" is disappearing.

Still, he seems frustrated he can't do anything for the girl. This reaction convinces the owl that the protagonist is the one he's looking for.

The next part is a series of cutscenes close together. You can watch it in gameplay (41:07 - 52:59) since it works better visually, but I’ll summarize it, too:

The protagonist boards a train, noticing the girl from his class also sitting on this train, and spots a strange app on his phone. He tries to delete it, but it comes back. The owl sits across from him, and says he's here, as promised. The strange app reappears. The owl continues to say that not being aware of an ability, and not having the ability at all, are two different things. The owl hopes the protagonist is the former case. It’s then cut off by screams, as a person on a bike rides into the train car. The person rushes the protagonist, causing him to accidentally tap and open the strange app. When he opens his eyes, he’s in Mementos, and the strange owl is there too, though he's changed into a more humanoid form. The owl introduces himself as Ruferu, and briefly explains the basics of this world being tied to humanity's Collective Unconscious, and that people's desires, including the protagonist's, are being stolen. This causes them to lose their will and stop caring. He says he can show the protagonist the exit, but as they head there they’re ambushed by shadows, leading to the protagonist getting attacked, and awakening to his Persona, Janosik.

Ruferu teaches the protagonist the basics of combat, but then they run into one last big shadow right by the escalators. Ruferu identifies it as being related to the theft of desires in this area, and the protagonist, remembering the girl from earlier, seems to become determined to fight it.

Ruferu reveals his own Persona, Rob Roy, and they take the shadow down together.

They encounter a strange woman on their way out of Mementos, who Ruferu identifies as a Shadow, but after he determines she’s not a threat, he says they can talk to her later, and the two of them run by her. She disappears.

When they leave, the protagonist is shocked to find himself in Shibuya, with his clothes back to normal and Ruferu back to being a "normal" owl.

Ruferu explains that he changes appearance in the other world due to having a strong "will of desire", and refers to their outfits as their "armor of the heart" that appears when they're recognized as an enemy. He then admits that he doesn't know everything, and some refer to it as the "spirit of rebellion" instead. Wanting to investigate something else, and give the protagonist a chance to rest, Ruferu suggests they part ways for today, but mentions he has a "job" in mind for the protagonist in the future.

Ruferu flies away, and the protagonist heads home. He doesn’t notice the blonde girl who sits in front of him in class standing nearby, who is puzzled to see him here in Shibuya.

When he goes to sleep, he wakes up in the Velvet Room again, and Merope and Igor tell him about “ruin”. Igor gives the protagonist some advice: to resist ruin, he should connect with others who have desires, and hone his own desire. He’s woken up by Ruferu pecking at his head.

Ruferu refers to the protagonist as his “business partner”, and says they’ll talk more about the "job" during the protagonist’s lunch break at school later. Ruferu’s Confidant is established. As the protagonist leaves for school, his mom texts him; his parents are at the airport, having left for a trip abroad today that they won't return from for a while.

(The protagonist’s outfit is changeable by the player from this point on, so in scenes outside of school and Mementos, it may not always be consistent in my screenshots, haha.)

When he leaves the house, he runs into a woman who introduces herself as Kayo Tomiyama. She knew him when he was younger and comments that he’s grown up into a handsome man, in the tone of a relative being surprised at how big you’ve gotten since they last saw you. She's the protagonist's neighbor and family friend, and, recalling that his parents are abroad now, says that if he has any trouble he can come to her, jokingly calling herself "big sister Tomiyama". Upon noticing the protagonist's uniform, she also mentions that her “Darling”, her husband, went to Kokatsu as well, making sure the protagonist knows the directions to get there.

After she leaves and the protagonist continues on to school, he runs into Merope in Shibuya, staring at one of the Rise posters. It gives her an idea related to "Personas" and "II", and she opens a Velvet Room door next to the poster and heads through, seeming to have barely noticed the protagonist in the first place.

As the protagonist waits for his train, a man stepping off the train bumps into him, then smiles kind of smugly and waves it off when the protagonist looks at him.

The protagonist gets on the train and leaves, but the camera continues to follow the man for a bit. He spots a woman in the station, and something seems to overcome him. He follows after her.

On the train with the protagonist, there are some Kokatsu girls gossiping about a hot guy, which the protagonist realizes is about another student on the train, whom the girls refer to as “Ikenami-kun” from Kiga High School.

When the train arrives, another Kokatsu girl bumps into the protagonist on her way out, and the protagonist catches her before she falls back.

She apologizes and hurries off the train, but the protagonist notices she dropped her bus pass, and picks it up.

He finds her in the station, and returns it to her, which she thanks him for profusely. After she runs off again, the protagonist takes note of the fact that he was actually able to help her (as opposed to before awakening his Persona, when that vague feeling kept stopping him).

The protagonist then heads on to school, and the view briefly cuts back to the man from earlier for another short cutscene.

He forces his way through the crowd to reach the woman he's following, and slams into her, knocking her to the ground. She looks up at him and, clearly scared, runs off.

The man smirks to himself, then moves on.

Returning to the protagonist, we see him in Katayama's math class. She notes the class seems uninterested in her lesson, and tries to tie it into the "phantom" phenomenon everyone's talking about, mentioning that people's thoughts are delicate, and one opportunity can cause them to "distort their hearts and become rebellious".

At the start of their lunch break, the blonde girl catches the protagonist's attention, and says she was surprised yesterday, bringing up the incident with person on the bike on the train.

The protagonist doesn’t really answer, so she speculates that the bike person was a phantom, and talks about a website called “Magatsushin” where videos of trouble-making people are uploaded. The owner of the site, Magatsukami (possibly translatable as "Calamity God", and/or a pun on "calamity" along with the real last name "Tsugami"), calls these people phantoms. Then, she turns serious, and says that she saw the protagonist disappear from the train yesterday and then reappear in Shibuya, clearly wanting an explanation.

That's 30 images (the limit for one post), so I'll reblog with the continuation!

[thecatfight2023]

ANNOUNCEMENT

mod calico and i live together now (with a third roommate) and we welcomed two new additions back in june that you guys may like to see :D

say hello to beanie weenie (bean or beans for short; gray one) and sassy alternator (sassy for short, calico) 🎉

will eventually update with more pictures when i get on browser bc of the apps 10 image limit 😔

but !! a little info about them ! my brother's fiancee and her parents rescued them since the mother ran off but couldn't keep them so we gladly adopted them :) and they have been a delight ! also despite everyone thinking bean was a boy and sassy a girl, they were confirmed by the vet to be both girls!