#YEP THATS THE BOY IN THE BAG

[mikodrawnnarratives]

Je t’aime (I love you) je te hais (I hate you)

je t'aime, je te hais, je t'aime, je te hais

I've been thinking abt when to post this and decided recently when's the time? NOWS THE TIME I WANT TO SHARE NOWWWW

I made this for one of my art classes's redesign project and what better than my favorite of the three books. I used watercolors for this and scanned it once it was done and goddd i'm so so SO happy with how it turned out! If I ever meet MM in person I want to get this signed tbh

Anyway, I finished this b4 Ma Meilleure Ennemie came out but i REALLY LIKE LISTENING to that song while looking at this, in generally when thinking of nodrian, so thasts why i linked it

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

Danny was having a blast!

Leaving Amity was one of the best choices hes ever made! He spent the last year fighting off what he's come to know as Justice League level threats only for some guy to literally spit in his face as he carried him out of a burning building.

In. his. face.

Danny dropped the guy and ignored his enraged shouts as he continued rescuing the people and animals from the other apartments. Was it wrong to leave that guy there? Probably. Did Danny care? Not anymore. Jazz had graduated early and gone off to an Ivy League collage while Tucker had gotten a scholarship to some fancy private high school and his parents shipped him off somewhat against his will. Tuck, being Sam's counterbalance was sorely missed and Danny was getting more and more fed up with her pushy attitude.

Eventually she said something that set him off and he stormed out of her home. As he walked he realized something. He had Go bags stored all over the city, many of which no one but him knew about and no one would be any wiser if they were to go missing. He had full unrestricted access to all of his parents lab equipment, including the Specter Speeder and had full scale survival training in most terrains thats to Fenton Family Traditions.

He could just...leave. leave and never look back. Heck, he could enter into a new reality all together thanks to his Halfa status and no one would be able to follow him thanks to him being the only one of his kind.

So thats what he did. He didn't exactly thinks this through but he knew if he put it off he would screw it up by overthinking it and getting caught by Sam and guilt tripped into staying.

Next think he knew he was coughing on smog. Yep. This is a big city all right, one Sam would either love thanks to the gothic architecture or hate for the pollution and obvious corruption. Tucker would definitely love it here. The tech in the shop windows looked way more advanced than anything that didn't come from his parents lab.

Speaking of which he needed to find a place to hide the Specter Speeder (he needed a new name for that) he could keep flying it through the city invisibly. He was going to get tired soon.

On the plus side it was easy to phase the speeder and all his stuff into an underground cave that didn't have an entrance yet. It did have an underground waterfall however and Danny was loving it.

It wasn't long before Danny had built an antire jet out of scrap metal he'd stolen from the junk yards and his parents stolen tools. Flying through the city's sky was so much fun. When was the last time he flew a jet even inside an emulator?

Too long.

He heard his radio beep signaling that someone was trying to contact him but he ignored it. Danny took pride in his work and knew he wouldn't be shot down easily, new tech or not. If worst came to worst he could use his ghost powers to bail.

Several more failed attempts to contact him later a larger black jet appeared behind him. Danny grinned, "Let the chase begin."

As it turned out this city was filled with a team of vigilante heros with a bat and bird theme and oh boy, they were good. There were a few times when his jets had been shot down and Danny would have to actually bail. Danny was so impressed that he decided to leave them gifts whenever that happened. That's right.

Danny dropped loot.

The bats still had no idea what he looked like or what he wanted, even going so far as to call him "The Phantom Flyer" which Danny cackled at the irony.

[smuttopiaa]

MUTUALLY PARASITIC #1 - Inspection

WARNINGS : Non-con, but kinda dub con, slight stalking, drug use, self hate, attempted suicide, mention of self harm scars, low self esteem, overdose.

Just a huge massive trigger warning! Please protect yourself.

-

Today was bleek, like the days blending into each other, similar to some painting being smudged slowly overtime, distorting day by day. The days blended into each other, everyday was the same. Awake by Four o'clock in the afternoon, high until you crash around Five AM, the only thing you chased was that high, that's all that mattered, each day pieces of you were being chipped away. Not that you cared. Your parents dragged you to an island, like that would fix your issues. But it only isolated you.

The only person you knew was Barry, your dealer. But he didn't count as a friend, although you chatted, but it was short chats.

Here you were again, at Barry's rusty trailer. The only place you knew on the island. You knocked on the door, and Barry let you in. The trailer was poorly lit, by orange light bulbs, and the pale moon that watched over the sky. You stepped in, seeing a face you've seen before, but never dared to talk to. "What you want today?" Barry asked, while the blond boy stared at his phone, "The usual,"

As the brunette stepped into the other room, you caught a glimpse of dark blue eyes, that belonged to the blonde. "Your new." He noted.

"Just moved here." you replied without looking at him.

"I'm Rafe."

"Y/n"

Barry waltzed back in the room, handing you a clear bag, the Xanax pills poking exposed to the whole world, while you handed him a fifty dollar bill. "You good, though?" Barry asked. "Yep." you lied before walking out, not even bothering to say anything to Rafe.

You entered your car, and zoomed off to the beach. It was you favorite place in the obx, parked in the parking lot, overlooking the dark waters, that were once so vibrant, colorful, and full of life, but now, all that life drained by darkness. It reminds you of you. The moon watched as you sat in your car, swallowed three pills. Then waited, but all that met you was self hate, tears pooled in your eye. "Fuck!" you screamed, hitting the steering wheel. On the dashboard you made eye contact with the small bag which contained five more pills. You didn't even hesitate, as you swallowed the all. Then silence, the buzz that drove you from your home, out to the cut was gone. You sat in your car, and waited.

Your body started feeling heavy, like you were floating on air, in the clouds where your shitty reality seemed fake, you felt at peace. You were nodding out, slumped over your car seat. But then the unexpected, a knock at your window. You jumped out of your haze, as alert as you could on a shittongs milligrams of Xanax.

It was the blonde. Rafe.

You rolled down your window, "Are you okay?" he asked, your brain was as slow as a snail so it was hard to interpret what he was saying. "Huh....? I um...yea I am okay." you manged to say. "Xannys kicking in huh?"

"What are you-How'd you get here?"

"Truth be told, I followed you."

"Thats not creepy or anything."you slurred. He chuckled more to himself. This should've been a bad sign, but your brain is fried, and you didn't really care." Right, mind if I hang out with you for a little bit? " which sounded more of a statement than a question." I have a feeling I can't say no." you shrugged. He so kindly opened the door, and you so intoxicatly stumbled out. You felt uneasy, like your legs were gonna give out, like the world was spinning on its axis and you were ammune to gravity. You didn't quite know when it happened, but you remember making contact with the floor, the cold pavement touched your face. Then darkness.

You re-gained concousiness. You were in a car, moving slowly. But you were too weak to say anything, too weak to move even. You were trying to keep your eyes opened, but you couldn't. Then that same darkness overtook you.

Again your eyes opened. Only this time, you were met with light, too bright of lights. And you were wet, the clothes were still on, and you seemed to be in a bathtub. The bathroom door opened, and in came that blonde. Rafe! You remembered his name, you opened your mouth to speak but you couldn't utter any words, shame, guilt. You felt like such a failure. A sob escaped your mouth as you tried to speak. "It's okay." He rushed over to you. Embracing you tightly, as you sobbed into his shirt, without a doubt staining it. "Shhhh. It got you." He said, gently runing his hands over your hair. You didn't know him at all, but in that moment you felt safe.

A few hours into the night, you memory was still hazy, but you remember being sat on his bed, you'd changed, into an ill fitting shirt, which you assumed was the blonde's because it hung losely on your frame. You were alone in the room, staring off into the distance, trying to make your brain work, but it seemed to lag behind. You heard the door open, Rafe stepped in, a warm smile plastered on his face. He silently sat next to you.

"Thanks." you said looking at him, In turn, he looked into your eyes, you felt captivated by his deep sea eyes, they grabbed grabbed you and held you. "Why'd you take all the pills?"

"I don't know." you scoffed sadly, in truth they were many reasons, you couldn't pick a single one out. "Is it for the same reason you cut yourself?" he said looking at your exposed thighs, you quickly put your hands over them in embarrassment. "No need to feel ashamed." He put his hands over yours, and you couldn't help but notice the size difference. "The darkness makes us do things, that we can't explain." He utters, his eyes deeply engraved into yours. His rough yet soft hands cupped your cheek, pulled you closer, so close you could feel his breath. "Don't hurt yourself, your too beautiful." He smiled. It was the first time a guy has called you beautiful.

Most of them opted to call you 'hot', 'fine' and other objectify names, but no one has ever used the word beautiful to describe you. You leaned in, smashing your lips against his. His other hand interlocking with yours. Quickly his tounge slipped onto your mouth, you could taste alcohol on him. He scooped you up, putting you on his lap, his hand on your lower back, the other cupping your jaw, his tounge intertwining with yours. Uncontrollably you started grinding on his, rising memeber. You could hear as he softly moans into your mouth. This seemed like a bad idea.

He threw you on the bed, stripped his shirt, before climbing back on top of you, slowly grinding into you. You could feel arousal pooling inbetween your legs. His cold palms, sneaking up your thighs, his digits sliding over your panties and Inside of you. A soft moan escaped your lips as he slid his fingers into your entrance, then slowly begnning to slide in and out of you. This was a bad idea. This shouldn't be happening. You tried to stop rafe's fingers, by grabbing at his wrists, but you were much too weak.

"Wait, this isn't a good idea." you choked out, but he seemed to be deaf to your protests. You attempted to push him off, but it didn't work. So you resorted to bitting his shoulder, "Ow what the fuck." he let up a little bit, you felt a sharp sting as he struck his hand across your cheeks. You used this opportunity to get out from under him, running into the bathroom, "Get back here." He screamed, running after you. You shut the door behind you, but before you could lock it, he burst right in.

He grabbed your throat and squeezed, his puplis dilated, like predator looking at it's prey. You clawed at his hand, at his chest, but nothing, he only squeezed harder. He shoved you over the bathroom counter, bending you over. "Please don't!" you screamed, resisting as much as possible, but only seemed to turn him on more. "Shut the fuck up!"

"Rafe please get off me!" you yelled, tears pooling into your eyes. You tears stream down your face as he slammed his cock into your vagina. Not letting you adjust to his length, before he began thrusting in an out of you. "Get off of me." you sobbed. "Aww are you crying, shut up and take it!" he thrusts into you. It was making you sick that your body was reacting to this, it felt good physically, not mentally. The harder he pumped into you, the closer you were to climax. "Come on baby, I know your enjoying it." He said after a moan escaped from your lips.

You could feel your belly tightening up, the coil snapping, he was pushing you over the edge. Your vagina pulsiated around his thick length. Your brain became foggy, thoughts unclear.

" Oh fuck baby! Your pussy is taking me so well. Good girl." He whispered into your ears. The room was filled with the sound of skin slapping on skin, and rafe's groans and dirty talk. You clamped up as orgasmic euphoria washed over your body, you felt rafe release inside of you. He paused for a moment, panting. Then he slides out of you. "Hope your on birth control." He shrugs, getting into the tub, drawing the shower curtains, and turning on the shower.

You slumped down to the floor. You legs were shaking. Your emotions heightened. Emotionally you felt violated, you sobbed silently on his bathroom floor. You felt disgusting. You were disgusting.

You managed to pick yourself back up. Putting on your soaking wet clothes. You walked out of the room, down the stairs and out the door. You didn't really know how to get home. You wandered on the streets for what seemed like hours, before eventually finding your way back home.

The front door was unlocked. You stepped inside, locking the door. Your heart froze as you heard soft footsteps behind you. You turned only to see your step dad, you scoffed and walked past him, saying nothing. But the look of confusion painted on his face lasted in your memory longer than you wanted.

You rushed to your room. Locking the door behinding you. You entered the shower, scrubbed your skin raw, hoping to scrub the flith off your skin. Tears rolled down your cheeks, as you came to the horrifying truth. You liked it.

I hope you enjoyed. Critisim is highly appreciated.

[asahicore]

moonlight - psh (m)

this work contains smut - minors please do not interact pairing. dancer!sunghoon x fem!reader synopsis. In August 1963, your monotonous summer vacation becomes a lot more exciting when you meet a group of dancers that work as the entertainment staff of the resort you and your family are staying at. Your fascination with them, and particularly dancers and close friends Sunghoon and Chaewon, pushes you to help them out by taking Chaewon's place at another hotel's show when she's unable to dance. The week you spend with Sunghoon as he teaches you to dance and the events thereafter give you a lot more than the ability to mambo. genre. dirty dancing au, strangers to lovers, summer au, poor boy x rich girl trope, the Big 3 (fluff angst n smut) word count. 32.2k a/n. it's finally here !!! i've been working on this for a while so i hope you guys will like it, please lmk what u think ur feedback is super important to me !!! if you've seen dirty dancing you'll see that this is like.. a complete copy of the movie lmaooo i'm sorry i didn't wanna stray from the plot cz i love it 2 much <//3 i'll make a posting schedule shortly after this so you guys can see which of my old works i'll be reposting and all that :)) enjoy !! also thanks to @ozymandia-s for betareading this u deserve the world and u made this fic a thousand times better <333 and yep thats a compliment from me to u so u better treasure it fr.

It’s the summer of 1963, everybody calls you Baby, and it hasn’t occurred to you to mind. You’re 18, have plans to change the world, and are sure there isn’t a better man than your father.

After years of being too busy to leave work for over a week, your father has finally retired, and you can all go on a long, well-deserved summer break. Like most people your age, your dream vacation would be to backpack through Europe or Asia, discovering the wonders the world has to offer, meeting people from all walks of life and eating all sorts of foreign delicacies. But your parents wish for something more laid-back, so, on the first Sunday of August, after a six-hour drive, you get out of the car at Kellerman’s, a summer resort that belongs to your father’s old friend. You are to spend the rest of the month here, until the last day of the season.

The resort is truly a sight to behold. Even though it’s only four floors high, the main building is downright massive in terms of how much space it occupies. You can imagine the many rooms it must hold, such as the different restaurants and their respective kitchens, the ballroom and other leisure rooms, the stage for various shows, and some offices and apartments where the highest members of staff reside. Tables are scattered all across the front lawn, mainly older ladies and gentlemen sitting at them, drinking lemonade, playing cards, gossiping. You can make out a golf course and a small pond from afar, as well as the back lawn where you’re told most of the activities take place. Such activities include the outdoor dancing lessons, which your mother and sister Seeun want to get to immediately.

Max, your father’s friend, greets you as soon as you arrive as if he’s been waiting for you. Amused, you watch as they clasp each other’s hand before coming into an embrace, giving three hard but friendly pats to the other’s back. “So glad to finally have you here, Doc,” Max says earnestly. “I promise you, one week here and you’ll feel like you’ve never worked a day in your life, that’s how relaxed you’ll be.” Your father laughs and nods, and you turn your attention away when they start talking about work, and how life’s been, and how your daughters have grown, and other things you don’t care much for. 

You notice that a member of staff has begun to unload your numerous bags from the trunk, about half of which are your sister’s (“See, Mommy, I told you I should’ve brought those coral heels!” you hear her complain), and start helping him out. He turns to you with a smile as you haul a suitcase onto the trolley.

“Hey, thanks a lot! You looking for a job here?” he jokes, making you smile.

“Just wanted to help out, but I’ll let you know. I’m Baby, by the way.”

“Baby? Is that your real name?” he asks with an amused expression and a quizzical tilt to his head.

“No, but it’s what everyone calls me,” you beam back.

“Alright then, Baby. I’m Jake.” He wipes some sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand before extending it to you, and you take it, shaking it enthusiastically. 

Your conversation stops there when your father calls out your name, motioning for you to follow him and your mother and sister. “Come, Baby, let the staff do their work.” You give Jake an apologetic smile and wave him goodbye, but he simply shrugs and turns away, seemingly used to this kind of dismissal from guests.

“See you around, Baby,” you hear him say as you start to walk away.

-

Seeun only gives you a few minutes to settle into your shared room and unpack your suitcase before she practically drags you outside, eager to get to the dance class in time. Your older sister absolutely loves dancing. No matter where or with who, if there’s music, she’ll start moving. 

You, on the other hand, have two left feet, which doesn’t make dancing such a fun activity. You like it, but always feel you look like a fool. As for dancing with a partner, the intimacy that comes with it is too much for you, and isn’t something you particularly want to share with boys you barely know, nevermind complete strangers, like the people at the merengue class your sister is making you rush to. 

It takes place in the gazebo, which is wide enough to host about thirty guests and the instructor, who introduces herself as Chaewon. You try to follow her “1, 2, 1, 2” as best you can but it’s hard to focus on the rhythm when you have to avoid being stepped on by the lady to your left and stepping on the man to your right. Everything around you is turned upside down when she cheerfully calls out, “Let’s get into a circle! Gents on the outside, ladies on the inside! C’mon now!”

You manage to make your way into the inner circle, holding onto the hips of the woman in front of you, and finally start to sway to the rhythm a bit more. “Come on ladies! God wouldn’t have given you this body if he didn’t want you to shake it!” Chaewon shouts enthusiastically, emphasizing on the “shake” with a movement of her own.

“On the count of three,” she calls out, “ladies, you’ll turn around, and meet the man of your dreams! 1, 2, 3!”

You find yourself face to face with a grandma that had ended up in the gents’ circle and force on your best smile as you dance with her. She looks delighted, but that expression might just be stuck on her face permanently.

The class comes to an end and the afternoon with it, and you leave the bungalow while everyone gets ready for dinner, yelling out that you’re going to look around as you close the door behind you. It’s the early evening and the sun has just started to set, but not enough for the gentle breeze to be too cold. The small, round bushes and colorful flowers that line the pebbled path from the bungalows to the main building have been expertly tended to; there isn’t a stray weed, nor branch that hasn’t been cut properly nor a wilting plant. It’s all so perfect, it almost looks fake. Yet, when you bend down to feel a petal, it’s soft under your fingertips and very much real.

You walk on the porch that surrounds the main building until you reach the outside entrance to the restaurant. Max’s booming voice catches your attention and you’re able to peek through the ajar door, making sure you can’t be seen from where you stand. Your father’s friend sits at a table while the waiters stand in a half-circle in front of him, hands locked behind them and heads slightly bowed.

“Tonight’s the start of the second half of the season, so I’ll use this opportunity to set a little reminder. You’re here because I chose you lot from the most prestigious schools in the country and you need some financial help, correct?” He doesn’t wait for an answer. “So do your job, and do it well. And if you want extra compensation, the gents here may be very generous if you show their daughters a good time and keep their wives happy. But no funny business, you keep your hands off. Got it?”

A quiet flurry of yeses is heard throughout the room just as a group of young people stride in, the sight of them piquing your interest. They’re wearing much more fitted and fashionable clothes compared to the waiters’ simple white vests and trousers, and carry themselves with a confidence you’ve only seen in celebrities and important people. The man that leads them particularly catches your attention: slicked-back hair, useless sunglasses now that the sun has set, all-black clothes, too much leather for the summer weather and the prettiest face you think you’ve ever seen to top it all off. He looks like an off-duty movie star.

“You hear that, boys? No funny business,” he says with a smirk to the group behind him, and they chuckle in response, eyeing the waiters up and down. They work at the same establishment, but they seem to be from two totally different worlds, you notice.

“I think you’re the one who should keep that in mind,” one of the waiters says just as the group passes by him, just loud enough for the other guy to hear. He reacts immediately to the taunt, spinning around and pointing a threatening finger to the waiter’s chest. 

“And I think you should heed your own advice, you jackass,” he spits, unfiltered venom in his voice. The waiter only smirks condescendingly, as if proud his remark had struck a nerve.

“Alright, alright, calm down, Sunghoon, and lay off of Heeseung. You’re booked and busy this week, and your whole entertainment team has work to do, okay?” Max says, tone stern as if telling a child off.

Sunghoon takes a step back but doesn’t look away from Heeseung as he scoffs a simple whatever. He then pivots back around and leads his team out of the room. You decide you’ve seen enough and turn around yourself, heading back to your family’s bungalow with quick steps.

Barely half an hour later, you’re back at the restaurant. The tables have all been set, the candles have been lit, a band is playing soft jazz in the corner, and the waiters are taking care of the guests’ orders and keeping them content. You’ve just sat down when Max himself approaches, introducing your waiter for tonight to your table. You try not to let your astonishment show when you instantly recognise him as the one who had had that scuff with Sunghoon earlier.

“Doc, this is Heeseung Lee, and he’ll take care of you tonight,” he addresses your father, a paternal hand around Heeseung’s shoulder. “He’s a third year med student at Harvard and has been working here every summer for the past three years. A very reliable and hardworking young man.” You feel like you’re being sold a car, but your father just smiles and nods approvingly at Heeseung.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Heeseung,” your father greets, holding out a hand for the young man to shake.

“The pleasure’s all mine, Doctor,” Heeseung responds, a most dazzling smile on his lips. If you hadn’t seen him earlier, you wouldn’t believe that this smile could turn snarky and patronizing.

“This is my wife, our eldest Seeun and our youngest Y/N, but we all call her Baby. She’s going to change the world,” your father introduces, beaming proudly at you.

“Yeah, and Seeun’s going to decorate it,” you say, turning to your sister. A bit unprovoked, perhaps, but this is just the way you and your sister have always been. You smile and tilt your head innocently as she glares at you.

“I think she already does,” Heeseung says, your eyebrow raising up in surprise as your sister looks down at her hands, the sudden compliment making her blush.

“Alright, Heeseung, go get these folks our best champagne. On the house!” Max exclaims, beaming at your parents.

“Yes, sir,” Heeseung says, bowing his head slightly to Max and your table before shooting your sister a smile and walking off. 

“Oh, and here’s someone else I want to introduce to you - Jay, come here! That’s my grandson Jay. Yale Business School,” Max says emphatically. Jay approaches your table quickly, a somewhat self-assured yet awkward smile on his face. He greets your parents and sister with a nod of his head until his eyes settle on you. “This is Baby, I was telling you about her earlier. She’s going to study at Yale too, and her dad says she’ll change the world!”

Jay’s lips form a pout, the kind of pout one makes when watching kittens play or a child running to his mother, as if he finds your ambitions endearing. Used to this kind of reaction from men, you raise your eyebrows and a small smile spreads on your face as if to say, “yep, that’s me.”

“How nice, Baby. But before you go off and do that, how about you save me a dance? Tomorrow night at the ball?” he offers, and the urge to kick him in the balls is hard to resist, but resist you must.

“Of course she will!” your father answers for you, and you have no choice but to put on your best fake smile, but none of the three men seem to see through it. If your mother and sister notice how annoyed you are, they don’t say anything. Knowing them, they probably think you’re being unreasonable if you’re not already throwing yourself at such an obviously intelligent and respectable young man.

That’s how you find yourself the next day, hands stiffly clasped behind Jay’s neck and his own on the sides of your waist, dancing with him to a slow-paced but lighthearted live song, although dancing might be an overstatement as it’s impossible to find a proper rhythm with someone as clumsy as him. You never thought you’d meet a worse dancer than you, but here you were. You have to keep yourself from snorting everytime he winces or tuts when you “accidentally” step on his foot, and you make sure to leave ample room between the two of you for the Holy Spirit.

Most of the dance is spent in awkward silence, probably due to the fact that Jay’s gaze, one that is perhaps meant to be seductive but only comes off as creepy, seems to linger on you for too long and too many times. When a pair of kids spins right by you, looking far more talented and serious in their dancing than the two of you, Jay seems to think he needs to step up his game and tightens his grip on your waist. Although you try to disguise it as best you can, the action makes you look up at him in alarm, and you have to stop yourself from visibly flinching when he bends down to say something in your ear although the music isn’t that loud.

“So, Yale, huh? What are you going to study? Design?”

“Um, Environmental Studies and Politics, actually. I’m particularly interested in how underdeveloped countries work and how we can change things there for the better, rather than making things worse,” you correct him, slightly raising your voice so he can hear you from where you’re standing. 

Jay is visibly taken aback by your detailed response, and all he can do is nod. “Right, right, that’s-”

To no one’s disappointment, you never find out what Jay was going to say next because right then, the music suddenly picks up and one of the musicians announces “Sunghoon and Chaewon of the Entertainment Team for a mambo demonstration” into his mic. Your ears perk up at the sound of those two vaguely familiar names, and you quickly recognise Sunghoon as the leather-clad man from earlier and Chaewon as the merengue class instructor from yesterday. He’s now wearing a black suit jacket and matching trousers with a tight white button-up, the clothes fitting him perfectly and making the muscles underneath them appear when the light hits him just right. On her is one of the most beautiful dresses you’ve ever seen, the red fringed fabric draping over her body like it was created for her, her toned upper back and arms on display.

The crowd of guests quickly forms a circle around the couple, giving them enough space to put on their show, and everyone, including you, is immediately enthralled by their performance. You’re mesmerized by how elegant and energetic at once their dance is, the smiles on their faces unfaltering and their legs and arms forming perfect lines at all times. Their posture is proud and their gazes are always fixed on each other even as they spin around, somehow never getting dizzy. They move in perfect synchronization as one entity rather than two separate people simply dancing together, and even though it is probably due to an impressive amount of practice, you can’t help but find that their chemistry is what makes them so fascinating. When he lifts her into the air, it’s with so little effort that she looks like she weighs no more than a feather. There is not a step out of place, and you’re reminded of those impeccable bushes and flowers from the day before. It makes you wonder how it is possible for two people to look so perfect together, and if that perfection is only superficial or not.

“Who are they?” you ask Jay, your curiosity about them greater than your aversion to talking to him.

From the corner of your eye, you see him looking surprised by your question before he leans in and answers. “Sunghoon Park and Chaewon Kim. They’re part of the dance people. Here to keep the guests happy and entertained.” He sighs, crossing his arms over his chest and tilting his head in discontentment. “They shouldn’t be showing off with each other like that, it won’t sell lessons. I’ll need to have a talk with them later.”

You barely register Jay’s words after he’s answered your question, your attention focused back on the dancers in front of you. On the other side of the room, you spot Max frowning at them and marching towards them. As soon as Sunghoon and Chaewon notice him, he waves them off and they separate, choosing a guest as their new partner to dance with, which you assume is their way of doing a taster session.

Jay drags you off to sit at a table and for the better part of an hour, you let him bore your ears off as he tells you either things he can’t fathom you’d already know even though you do, or things you couldn’t care any less about. It’s such a shame that a man with that handsome a face and that charming a smile would have the stalest of personalities, yet deem himself the most interesting man to walk the Earth. You nod and hum when you’re supposed to, and that’s all he needs to think you’re listening intently, when really you can’t stop thinking about the dancers you just saw, and even steal glances at them still dancing with some guests mere meters away from you. All you want to do is get up and get Sunghoon’s, or even Chaewon’s attention so they could show you how to move like them - just touching their shoulder or waist would be thrilling. But when you catch your mother’s eye a few tables away and she beams at you, two thumbs up in the air, you know you need to stay planted in your chair.

Thankfully, the amount of guests in the room starts to dwindle, and you use this dip in the evening to run off, telling Jay it’s getting late and you need to get back to your bungalow. You don’t let him try to convince you to stay back, and grab your purse, excitedly waving goodbye at him. He’s probably confused, but you’re too giddy at the prospect of finally leaving to care. 

You were on your way to the bungalow, you really were - but just as you reach it, light from a tall lodge about five hundred meters away catches your attention, and you’re too curious about the building you hadn’t noticed before not to investigate. So you continue walking up the small hill where all the guest lodgings rest until you find yourself before a sign that reads “STAFF QUARTERS - GUESTS KEEP OUT,” which you promptly decide to ignore.

In just a minute, a wooden bridge reveals itself, enabling you to cross over the current that separates you from the other bank, where the lodge stands. If you looked to your right, you could’ve made out some more, smaller and dingier-looking bungalows than the guests’ that hosted the staff behind all those trees, but you run into a familiar face before you can take notice of them.

“Hey! I recognize you. Baby, right?”

“Yeah, and you’re Jake!” you beam, surprised not only by seeing him again here, but by the three huge watermelons he carries in his arms like oversized newborn triplets. 

“Yeah…” he trails, squinting his eyes at you, his enthusiasm turning into suspicion. “You can’t be here. Max would kill me. Go back to the dance, Baby.” He can only take a few steps forward before you grab a watermelon from his unsteady hold, putting your most convincing smile on.

“I’ll help you carry these!” you state rather than offer, and march forwards across the bridge. Behind you, Jake sighs and shakes his head, then rushes to stop you in your tracks.

“Didn’t you read the sign? This area is staff only, you can’t be here,” he repeats, punctuating his words. He stays unwavering even at the receiving end of your very menacing glare, so you simply huff and stack the watermelon back on top of the other two and turn away. It takes him approximately two seconds to change his mind. “Can you keep a secret?”

Jake doesn’t prepare you for what you’re about to see when you enter the staff common lodge, but you don’t think anything could. The smell of a room full of people sweating and moving about hits you instantly, the heat it creates hanging heavy in the air. The breeze coming in through the open windows is practically useless in bringing the temperature down, but you aren’t curious to find out what it’d be like with the windows closed.

The music, a genre your father always bristles at when he hears it on the radio, is now blasting in your ears rather than whistling through the wind, and it takes you a few moments to adjust to the volume and intensity of the bass and drums bouncing off the walls of the room. The guitar sound is sensual and almost yearning, the singer longs for his lover, and the tempo is just fast enough for the dancers to find a swaying rhythm.

As if the lyrics themselves aren’t enough to make you blush, the way the staff dances makes you feel like you’re intruding on something. You try to look away as a couple thrusts their hips into each other’s, only to find another lowering themselves to the group until they’re crouching then slowly rising again, using each other as support the whole time. Skirts bunched up around hips, shirts almost fully unbuttoned or even discarded, hands grabbing onto the partner’s clothes or bare skin - you’ve never seen anyone dance that way. Far from the choreographed performances you’re used to, here, they’re simply letting their bodies move to the music without any second thoughts or a care in the world. You hadn’t even known this could be considered dancing, but surely, when your body molds itself this perfectly to the melody and your partner’s hands, then you can only be dancing. 

Watermelon in arms, you follow Jake as he snakes his way to the back of the room through sweaty bodies holding each other close. You recognise a few people here and there as the entertainment staff who host activities, teach dance classes or help guests find their way around. They peer back at you, expressions either confused or disdainful - you aren’t sure whether that’s because they don’t know who you are, or because they do and don’t like seeing you there. Even if they don’t know that you’re Baby, your dress at least is a dead giveaway of your being a guest. Your mom had picked it out for you - a white sleeveless summer dress that reaches almost to your knees and cinches in at the waist before flowing out over your hips. And no cleavage, of course. Along with your impeccably curled and styled hair, your prim and proper attire is a far cry from the short skirts, tight t-shirts and denim that the staff wears, revealing sunkissed skin and toned muscles. And if all of that still isn’t enough to tell you apart, then your wide eyes like a kid seeing fireworks for the first time should do it.

You finally reach the back of the room and set your watermelon on a bar counter. Jake rests his hands on his hips and watches the dancers, a smile on his face, the kind of smile you wear when you can never get enough of a sight even though you witness it everyday. You watch them too, but you must look a mix of fascinated and terrified - sure, they all look terrific, but if your dad caught you here, you’d be dead.

“Where’d they learn to do that?” you lean in to ask Jake as the next song starts playing, your gaze not leaving the dancers who adjust easily to the more upbeat tempo.

He looks at you, stunned. “Don’t you know? This is how the kids dance these days. This is what American basements look like on Friday nights.” His surprise turns into amusement and he steps in front of you, one hand extended for you to take and a mischievous look on his face. “Wanna try?”

Your eyes immediately double in size and you shake your hands in front of you, but he grabs one of them anyway and starts leading you back into the middle of the room. You’re saved by the doors suddenly bursting open, catching everyone’s attention. In run Sunghoon and Chaewon, wearing the same clothes from earlier, although Sunghoon has ditched the suit jacket and popped the top buttons of his shirt open. Your stomach flips at the sight of his flushed cheeks and hair slick with sweat.

Jake chuckles when he sees how transfixed you are by the two of them, dancing so differently from earlier, their moves far more sexual, hands not so polite anymore, completely free to do whatever they wish. Rather than a smile, Sunghoon wears a small frown and bites his bottom lip, deepening his dimples, and it all seems to make each of his moves that much harsher. The sheer sex appeal that he exudes is absolutely undeniable, and it makes you feel things you’ve never felt before - things you’re not quite unsure how to name. You let out a small gasp as Chaewon jumps and hooks her legs around his hips effortlessly, then as she leans her upper body back until her head almost touches the ground. Sunghoon’s hands are tight around her waist and his biceps apparent under the thin fabric of his dress shirt. You realize how strong Sunghoon must be when he carries her all the way to his shoulders, letting her rest her knees there as she plays with her skirt and swings her head from side to side. You’ve never seen anyone look so good while having so much fun.

“They look great together,” you blurt out without thinking.

“Don’t they?” Jake says, looking out at them with a fond smile. “You’d think they were a couple.”

This makes your head pivot towards Jake. “Well, aren’t they?”

“Not since we were kids, no. They’ve just been dancing together for so long that they’ve developed this- this chemistry and understanding of each other, I guess.” 

“Do you know them well?”

“Sunghoon’s my best friend from home. He met Chaewon when he started working here when we were 16, and then he got me this job when we were 17. The three of us are 22 now.” He meets your gaze and his smile grows wider. “Why, you interested?”

The sudden question (and the very obvious, very embarrassing answer) takes you aback and you stammer out a few nonsensical syllables before frowning at him. Your reaction just seems to amuse him. “No, I’m not. Just asking,” you manage to say.

He looks back at them, and you follow his gaze. “Well, good, cause we’re not allowed to get involved with the guests anyway. Which is why you shouldn’t be here in the first place.”

Just then, the song ends and Sunghoon and Chaewon laugh before they separate, finding another partner to dance with. As Chaewon heads towards someone else, Sunghoon catches your stare and walks to where you and Jake stand, eyes fixed on your face. You feel small under his gaze, but you will your knees not to buckle underneath you, although that’s hard to do when his eyes sweep your figure, giving you a once-over.

“What’s she doing here?” he questions Jake without looking away from you.

“That’s Baby, she came with me,” Jake says, not really answering the question.

“I carried a watermelon,” you blurt, not really answering the question either, but that seems to satisfy Sunghoon. His eyebrows raise slightly before he heads back to the dancefloor and starts dancing again. You release a breath you hadn’t known you were holding, but another one catches right in your throat when, after barely thirty seconds, he pivots back around as if there was still something he was curious about. His eyes stay focused on you, unreadable.

And then, he bows his head slightly, looks up at you through his eyebrows, raises his hand, and beckons you to him with his index finger. As if spellbound, your feet move on their own until you find yourself in front of him, his hands reaching immediately for your hips and holding on tight there. All the nerves in your body are on edge and your heartbeat speeds up, almost matching the fast tempo of the song resonating throughout the room. Simply remembering to breathe becomes an arduous task. Jake’s voice is a faint sound as he says, “So you go dance with him, but not me?”

This kind of dancing is completely unfamiliar to you, so you have no idea what to do. Thankfully, Sunghoon doesn’t seem to expect anything else, and he knows how to guide you so that you get the gist of it. “Keep your eyes on me,” he commands quietly, gesturing with two fingers for your gaze to stay on his. “And move your hips in a circle, just like that,” he adds, executing the move for you to mirror. “Just relax, you’re too stiff. Relax your arms. Put them around my shoulders.” His hands brush down from your shoulders to your wrists, sending a trail of fire all along your arms, grabbing them and resting them on his shoulders himself before settling back on your waist. His arm snakes its way around it, bringing you closer to him. You aren’t sure what’s more electrifying, his gaze or his touch.

You start to focus on the music and on getting your body to move along to it, and it feels like a miracle when your hips, firmly pressed against his own, sway side-to-side in rhythm. Remembering what you saw earlier, you lean back slightly, hips still moving in small circles, trusting him to keep you from falling. You lean back as far as you can, and something about it is so liberating, you feel the adrenaline rushing through your body as if it’s the only thing keeping you alive. When you come back up, your palms are flat against his chest and he looks at you with a proud but surprised smirk that lits your insides up. “Just like that,” he whispers, but his face is close enough for you to hear him over the music.

He spins you around a few times, and as quickly as he appeared, he’s already gone, having weaved his way through the crowd back towards Jake. It takes you a few seconds to register his absence, but when it does, it’s like all the warmth he filled you with is gone; you’re left only with the heavy heat weighing the room down and you with it, when you’d felt light like air not a moment ago.

Before you can decide on what to do next, someone taps your shoulder, and you turn around to find Heeseung frowning down at you. In the fraction of a second, you can tell this is the snarky Heeseung that you’d seen when you were snooping around the day before rather than the polite Heeseung that had waited your table that night.

“Baby, right? I don’t know what you’re doing here, but your sister and parents are looking all over for you. If I were you, I’d go now, and quick.”

Alarm shoots through you as you realize you’d been here for twenty minutes at least, the sort of absence that wouldn’t go unnoticed by your family this late at night. You thank him rapidly and practically run towards the door before risking a look back at Jake and Sunghoon, still standing in the corner of the room. Jake looks worried, so you send him a thumbs up, but Sunghoon simply peers at you, sipping on a beer as his back rests against the wall, that same unreadable look from before back on his face. You don’t linger to figure it out and rush to your bungalow, coming up with an excuse that you got lost on your way back for your parents to believe. Because their Baby would never do anything she isn’t supposed to, right?

That night, as you toss and turn in bed, trying to fall asleep, your mind wanders off to those warm, big hands firmly planted on your waist, and how they had guided your body until it moved on its own accord, until it let itself go and only followed the rhythm. How far can you go until your body no longer belongs to you but rather to the music, or to the person holding you close, you wonder? And if that happened, would you, for a moment at least, no matter how fleeting, be freed of all your worries for your future and of all the pressure on your shoulders?

Your feet already ache - from dancing or from wanting to dance some more, you can’t quite tell.

-

Every year when August comes, it takes you by surprise how early the sun sets. Just as you’d gotten used to the sky still being fairly light by 10 p.m., it was already getting dark at nine. This is what you think about a few nights later as you look out at the dark sky, the bright full moon and the hundreds of stars lighting it up. You’re standing next to the gazebo with your parents as you watch other guests dancing about; clearly, since you’re thinking about the state of the sky and the sun in the summer, you’re very entertained. Your sister has managed to become friends with some of the other guests’ kids, as well as some of the staff, and has even formed a budding romance with Heeseung, which your parents have made it obvious they approve of. This means that she is excused of any activities she might not want to partake in, while you have to follow your parents everywhere.

Your gaze follows Sunghoon as he dances with an older woman, guiding her through the dance and teaching her a few steps. You can’t help but frown slightly at his forced smile when she lets her hands wander a bit too far down his back, and you wonder why he doesn’t say anything when he looks so obviously uncomfortable.

“You see that woman over there?” you hear Max ask your father as he motions to the lady dancing with Sunghoon. “Vivian Kim. We call women like her bungalow bunnies. Their husbands work all week and only come back on weekends. That dancer Park Sunghoon is pretty popular with them, if you know what I mean,” he comments with a dark chuckle. “But I gotta pretend like I don’t know any better, otherwise the wives are unhappy. And if the wives are unhappy, so are the husbands, and then I lose money.”

You daze out of the conversation when you see Jay approaching, his steps quick and headed directly towards Sunghoon. “Where’s Chaewon?” he questions impatiently, taking no notice of Vivian, who seems to take no notice of him either and continues swaying her hips to the music.

“What do you mean where’s Chaewon? She’s on a break, Chaewon needs a break,” Sunghoon bites back, tone just as harsh as Jay’s. That seems to shut Jay up, and he just squints at him before turning his head to where you’re standing. His whole demeanor changes instantly as he walks towards you, that smile one would reserve for children that he always looks at you with.

“Hey Baby, wanna go on a walk?” he asks, but with the intent way your parents, Max and Jay himself are peering down at you, you know you don’t have much of a choice.

You put on your best forced smile and take his extended hand. “Sure, Jay.”

He takes you to a small wooden bridge that overpasses a small but feisty current. The walk there is fairly silent, which you’re thankful for, because it’s easier to pretend Jay isn’t here when he’s not talking, but the fantasy is shattered everytime he sighs and hums contentedly. It’s like he thinks spending five minutes without talking will make the world implode, and he has to make some kind of noise to keep the balance.

When you reach the bridge, you lean back against the rail, and he leans on his side, apparently so he can look at you better. “I love to watch your hair blow in the breeze,” he says after a few moments, and it takes everything in you to keep your laughter in at the sudden romanticism.

“You know, not to brag,” he starts, and you know he’s about to say the most pretentious thing you’ve ever heard, “but around here, I’m known as the catch of the county.” He’s smiling, but you know he’s being fully serious. “I mean, it makes sense, doesn’t it? I’m handsome, parents love me, and I go to the best school in the country. People ask me, ‘well, what’s the difference between you and any other guy at Yale,’ and I say, ‘five hotels and a million-dollar inheritance!’” He bursts laughing like he’s just made the funniest joke ever, although you’re not sure where the joke is. You chuckle awkwardly and nod, remembering your mother’s advice - when in doubt, just nod. You’re not particularly in doubt, but you’re also not sure how to respond to such ostentatious self-praise.

To your great despair, Jay is about to open his mouth again, but a voice coming from the exit of the forest near you stops him in his tracks. “Heeseung, please, you have to help me with this-,” the voice says, and you recognize it quickly as Chaewon’s.

“I told you, it’s none of my damn business.”

“But it is! Please!” she shouts back. He walks ahead of her and she tries to catch up to him, and just like that, they’re already gone without having noticed you or Jay.

A hand placed delicately on your shoulder snaps you from your thoughts. You turn to Jay who has a sad look in his eyes and who sighs as if pained to say what he has to say next. “You know, Baby, sometimes, in this world, you’ll see things you don’t want to see. And sometimes, you can’t do anything about them. It’s all part of growing up,” he finishes, his tone self-important like he’s just taught you a world of knowledge. 

“You hungry?” he suddenly adds, all cheery. “C’mon, eating something might take your mind off of this. We can go to the kitchens and get you anything you’d like.”

He indeed takes you to the restaurant kitchens, completely empty due to the late hour. He opens up a fridge, and even though he basically does, the way he acts like he owns the place makes you wince. “So, what have we here? Some smoked salmon canapés, some ham sandwiches… ooh, brownies! What else…” he trails off, but your attention has been caught by something else. 

You can hear someone snuffling somewhere in the room, and when you lean to the side to peer behind the wall, you can make out a female figure crouched down in the dark. She’s trembling from head-to-toe, and when she lifts her head to look at you, you recognize her as Chaewon. You’ve never seen anyone looking so scared.

Thinking quickly, you grab Jay by the shoulders, smiling at him as you say, “You know what, I don’t think I’m actually that hungry, let’s just head back to the gazebo, yeah?”

For once, you’re the one who doesn’t let him answer your question and you speed out of the kitchens and back to the gazebo. You find Jake immediately, rushing to him to tell him what you saw, and he in turn rushes to Sunghoon, who apologizes and drops his dancing partner’s hand as soon as he hears what’s going on. Ignoring Jay’s confused look, you run with them back to the kitchens, from which Chaewon hasn’t moved an inch.

Sunghoon sits next to her, taking her in his arms and helping her up. “It’s okay, you’re okay, I’m here now. Everything’s fine. Let’s get you back to my room, okay? It’ll be quiet there,” he coos, getting her snuffles to calm down and her breath to steady itself.

Since none of them tell you to go back, you follow along, Chaewon in Sunghoon’s arms in front and you and Jake not too far behind. “What’s wrong with her?” you ask Jake quietly.

“She’s pregnant.”

“Jake!” Sunghoon calls out indignantly, sending him a look as if to warn him.

“What? It’s not like she’d tell anyone.”

“Still, it’s none of her business,” Sunghoon replies, glancing briefly at you.

“And what’s he gonna do about it?” you can’t help but ask. This makes Sunghoon pivot on his heel and Chaewon frowns at the sudden movement.

“‘What’s he gonna do about it?’” he repeats, venom in his voice. “Oh of course, cause it’s my baby. Of course you’d assume that,” he practically spits at you. You try to stutter out a response, but nothing comes up. How could you not assume that, when you’ve only seen him taking care of her like she’s his responsibility?

You thought all staff lived in small bungalows, but the place you reach is more like a one-person studio. Sunghoon sits Chaewon down on a couch, covers her shoulders with a blanket and brings her a tall glass of water.

“So, whose is it then?” you ask again, eyes darting back and forth between the three figures that stare back at you. Sunghoon starts towards you, an accusing finger out, but Chaewon stops him.

“It’s fine, Sunghoon.” She sighs then lifts her gaze to look at you. Her eyes seem drained, like her tears took everything out of her. “It’s Heeseung’s,” she answers plainly, and you think your eyes bulge out of your face. What you’d witnessed earlier starts to make more sense in your head.

Next to you, Jake looks like he’ll explode if he has to keep in the words he wants to say any longer. “That bastard Heeseung. She needs money to get an operation, and she needs it soon, but he doesn’t give a shit,” Jake spits.

“But, Heeseung, he’s got money, I’m sure if you just ask him, he’ll-”

“Baby? Is that your name?” Chaewon asks softly, interrupting you. “Well, you don’t know shit about my problems, Baby,” she continues, her tone doing a 180. “You don’t think I’ve asked him? You don’t think he knows?”

“But-”

“Go back to your playpen, Baby,” she dismisses you, a finality to her tone. Sunghoon just glares at you while Jake shrugs, so you decide there’s nothing you can do than leave, and head back to your bungalow, heart heavy, but determined to help Chaewon out. There has to be something you can do, you just know it.

-

The next day, you pretend to help Heeseung set the tables for the lunch service to have a talk with him. You waste no time starting your interrogation, not even greeting him before diving straight into it.

“I know about Chaewon, Heeseung. You need to help her out,” you say sternly, using a random water pitcher you’d found at the entrance to fill up crystal glasses.

“Well hello to you too, Baby,” he says with a sarcastically sweet tone. His fake smile drops when he sees you won’t play into his game. “I don’t need to do anything,” he scoffs. “Not like it’s any of your business anyway.”

“Haven’t you seen her? You can’t leave her alone in a time like this, she needs your help. Even if it’s mostly financial help. It’s the least you can do.”

“Girls like her, they get into trouble all the time, okay? Hey, watch what you’re doing!” he whisper-yells when water spills over one of the glasses, not wanting to rouse the suspicion of any of the diners around.

“Yeah, because of guys like you,” you bite back, but he ignores you.

“She was bound to get knocked up at some point, going around like that.” You follow as he moves on the next table. 

“So you’re not going to do anything? Just put her in a bad situation and then run away?”

He finally turns to face you, looking at you like he’s exasperated, like you’re the bad guy here. “That girl’s not my problem, okay? She brought this upon herself.”

You take a step closer to him, a fakely sweet smile plastered on your lips. “You’re a jerk, Heeseung. You stay away from me, stay away from my sister, or I’ll have you fired.” You then raise the jug of water up to his chest, and keep that same smile as you pour it on him before marching away, ignoring the gasps that echo all around the room and Heeseung as he yells at you to come back.

-

Your mom is struggling to get the ball in when you find your parents on one of the many golf courses. Your dad smiles as he sees you nearing them, asking you if everything’s alright.

“Daddy.”

“Baby?” he answers, looking amused by your seriousness.

“You know how you say I should always do my best to help out others when they need it?”

“Of course.”

“Well, I’ve got friends who need some help.”

“What kind of help?” he asks, slightly frowning as he realizes you’re not being serious for no reason.

You take a big breath in. “Money.” You don’t like asking your dad for money, but it’s the only solution you’ve come up with.

“And just how much money?”

“Three hundred dollars?” you say, your sentence coming out like a question as you slightly wince in apprehension.

Your father sighs. “That’s a serious amount of money, Baby. This isn’t anything illegal, is it?” he adds after a beat, taking you aback. Is this illegal? If it is, your father doesn’t need to know it.

“No, no, of course not, Daddy,” you say, trying your best at a reassuring smile. It seems to work, because his expression softens and he smiles back.

“Of course not,” he repeats, “I should know that.” He takes you in his arms. “I’ll have the money ready for you tonight.” You hug him back, thanking him before skipping away to whatever activity you might find to distract yourself before the evening.

-

After dinner, when your dad’s given you an envelope filled with cash, you throw a quick excuse your parents’ way before rushing to the staff quarters, making sure no one sees you on your way there. The music emanating from the common room makes you hopeful you’ll find the people you’re looking for.

And indeed, you do - Sunghoon and Chaewon are holding each other close, her head resting on his chest, and swaying together to the slow and sensual rhythm of the music at the back of the room when you find them. You feel a ping of something uncomfortable in your heart but ignore it and head straight towards them. Chaewon turns around when you tap on her shoulder, her and Sunghoon both looking at you with unmasked animosity, but you just smile as you hand her the envelope. Jake notices you and walks over to stand next to his cousin.

“Here you go. I hope it’s enough,” you say, relieved to see her surprised but ecstatic expression when she opens the envelope and sees all the bills in there. Jake wears a similar expression but Sunghoon just leers down at you.

“Oh my God, Baby, this is amazing,” Chaewon exclaims in disbelief. “How did you get Heeseung to change his mind?”

You purse your lips. “It wasn’t Heeseung…”

She frowns slightly but her eyes widen at the realization that if it isn’t from Heeseung, it has to be from you. “Oh, Baby, thank you so much,” she murmurs.

“Yeah, takes a real saint to ask daddy,” Sunghoon says sarcastically. Chaewon’s head snaps towards you and she starts to shake her head, forcing the envelope back into your hands.

“I can’t accept it, then.”

“Why not?” you, Sunghoon and Jake blurt at the same time.

“Who cares where it comes from? You need the money,” Sunghoon says, trying to persuade her, but she just continues to shake her head.

“It doesn’t feel right. And I can’t go to the appointment anyway,” she chuckles defeatedly, and Sunghoon looks at Jake in confusion.

“I can only get her an appointment next Thursday, when you guys have your act at the Sheldrake,” he explains guiltily, as if it’s his fault.

“For fuck’s sake,” Sunghoon breathes out, looking up to the ceiling in despair, hands on his hips.

“Can’t you miss just that one night?” you ask innocently, but apparently it is the stupidest question on earth, judging from the harsh glare Sunghoon fixes you with.

“No, we can’t miss just that one night. This is our job, and if we cancel the Sheldrake, not only do we lose this summer’s salary, but also next summer’s gig. Our livelihoods depend on this,” he hisses.

“So… can’t someone fill in?” you ask again, and wince when he raises his tone.

“No, Little Miss Fix-It, someone can’t fill in. Everybody works here, unlike you. Unless you wanna do it,” he adds after a pause, chuckling sarcastically, “take some time off of Simon Says?”

You can only glare back at him, even though you couldn’t look as condescending as him if you tried. You’re just trying to help them out and find solutions, no need to be so rude about it. Jake looks back and forth between the two of you, a look on his face like he’s thinking things over.

“You know, maybe she could do it. You weren’t so bad last time, were you, Baby?” he says, eyebrows raised at you as he waits for your answer, a hopeful look on his face that makes you feel bad for letting him down.

You shake your head fervently - learning a complicated choreography and performing it in front of an audience is unthinkable to you. “No, no, I can’t even do the merengue.”

“C’mon!” he insists.

“You heard her, Jake, she can’t even do the merengue,” he repeats, adding venom to the words.

Chaewon doesn’t seem to think this is such a bad idea either. “But Sunghoon, you could teach anyone to dance, you’re an amazing leader,” she says eagerly, but Sunghoon just rolls his eyes and sighs.

“The act is in a week, even if I was the best teacher in the world, she couldn’t learn the whole routine in that time. It’s a lost cause,” he sneers, his gaze fixated harshly on you. You’re not sure whether the lost cause refers to the situation or to you.

You squint your eyes at him, trying to match his gaze. It’s one thing that you think it’s a bad idea, but it’s a whole other thing now that he’s so against it. Jake’s right - you weren’t that bad last week, you’re sure you could be an okay replacement. Sunghoon raises an eyebrow at you as if in challenge.

Challenge accepted, you think.

-

“Now it’s one, two, three, four,” Sunghoon says, synchronizing each number to the beat of the music. “You don’t dance ‘til the two.” This is probably the fifth time he tells you this in the past half-hour, and although you know what you’re meant to do, your body will simply not listen to your head.

You’re in the dance studio, trying as hard as you can to get your body to shape itself into what Sunghoon wants it to be. Arms up at shoulder-level, core engaged, back straight, head proud. He may repeat those directions over and over again, you aren’t used to holding yourself like that, and it’s a lot harder than it seems, even though he makes it look so natural.

He moves the tonearm of the record player so that the music starts from the beginning again and walks towards you, his stern gaze never leaving your eyes as if to say, “you better not mess it up this time.” It makes the room feel a lot hotter than it actually is, and the strong summer heat coming in from the open windows doesn’t help.

You can’t help but wonder if Sunghoon is this impatient with all of his students - surely he’d be out of a job if he actually behaved like this with the fancy ladies of the resort, so he must have some kind of problem with you. It wouldn’t take a genius to figure out that he isn’t the fondest of you, anyway. The fact that you’re only doing this to help him out and not for your own pleasure seems lost on him, but you’d rather not aggravate the situation by pointing that out.

His hands firmly holding yours, his gaze still fixed on your face, you hear your cue approaching and tell yourself “on the two, on the two, on the two,” but it’s no use, your foot starts to move a beat too early. But this time, Sunghoon anticipates your movement and says, softer than you expect ‘no,’ and you put your foot back down instead of stepping on his like countless times before. Then he instructs ‘now’, and you finally get it right, getting into the flow of the music properly. You repeat this process a few more times, and only take a break when he’s sure you won’t make mistakes anymore.

You’re halfway through a one-liter bottle of water when you hear him say, “Finally got the basic footwork down, only took an hour.” You scoff at the snarky remark and are about to come back at him with something just as petty, but you notice the shadow of a smile on his lips, more playful than patronizing, so you bite it back and try to suppress a smile of your own. With Sunghoon, you’ll take what you can get.

He doesn’t give you more than another minute of break, ignoring your complaints and urging you back towards him in the center of the room. “Let’s move on to the second part.”

You only have a week to get ready, so you practice like crazy, Sunghoon trying to reduce his working hours as much as possible and you slipping away from your parents and sister whenever you can. You go over the steps on your own, taking any opportunity to do so, whether that’s when you find yourself alone in your family’s rental or as you walk back across the bridge and lawn to the main grounds, letting your body move to the music in your head.

When she can make it, Chaewon also comes to practice with you. Her presence is always helpful - she sometimes stands behind you, holding you by the hips and correcting your posture, sometimes replaces either you or Sunghoon so you can watch her and mirror her moves from different perspectives. 

Although she was originally wary and dismissive of you, when she saw how intent you were on helping her, a complete stranger, out, her view of you completely changed. You can tell how thankful she is by the constant kindness she shows you, encouraging you to compensate for Sunghoon’s lack of praise.

Indeed, all three of you are surprised and happy to see how quickly you’re progressing, but Sunghoon has a knack for keeping his emotions behind a veil and his praises to a minimum. Sure, that means his compliments, his small ‘you did well today’ or ‘good job’ make you blush a little redder, but you wouldn’t complain if they were more frequent, either.

What he can’t hide from you, however, is that he is clearly starting to become more tolerant of your presence. You’d like to say you knew all along that he would soften up eventually, but truth is, you were scared he was going to stay this cold for the length of your time together, so it comes as even more of a relief when he stops reprimanding you so harshly for small mistakes or when he smiles along with you as you celebrate getting through a big chunk of the routine flawlessly for the first time. When one day, he actually laughs with you instead of berating you, you almost explode in on yourself out of joy. You convince yourself that those butterflies you feel erupting in your stomach is because it’s so surprising to see someone usually so guarded letting himself go a bit more, that it isn’t just the simple sound of his laughter making you feel lightheaded.

On the fourth day of practice, you manage to find enough time to practice for almost three hours in a row. Towards the end of the session, after feeling like you were about to pass out due to extortion, you have a strange surge of energy. Sunghoon, on the other hand, has almost exhausted his very impressive stamina, but still wants to go through what you’ve learned up until now.

The music starts, and you don’t know if it was this surge of energy, or if it was Sunghoon’s tired expression that made you want to tease him, but you decide it’d be funny to repeat back to him the directions he always gives you - you know them by heart at this point. 

“Hey! Head up,” you joke as you face each other again after a spin. “Lock your frame. Wiggly arms!” You’re happy to see he laughs along with you, shaking his head in amused disbelief at you.

The laughter immediately halts, however, when at the end of the routine, because of your lack of concentration, your foot slips and you find yourself much closer to him than necessary for the ending pose. Your breath hitches in your throat, and your cheeks immediately burn up. After a long moment, Sunghoon looks away, clearing his throat, and you take a big step back from him as if being any nearer might make you spontaneously combust.

“That was, um, that was good today. Good job,” he says quickly, then rushes to grab his stuff and leave the room. Forget the proximity the two of you were just in - was that a flustered Sunghoon you got to see? And was it because of you? It’s almost unfathomable that you could render him shy like that, but a small smirk plays on your lips at the idea of it.

Over the week, you start reaching for the thin tank tops and shorts you own, and steal some of Seeun’s lipgloss and mascara. If Sunghoon notices it, he doesn’t say anything. But perhaps, you’re the one who hasn’t noticed the way he glances at you in the mirror when you take a break or practice on your own, how he can’t help raking his eyes over your body when you aren’t looking, unable to reign his curiosity in. That you might want to get some kind of a reaction out of him doesn’t even cross his mind - because no matter how attractive he may be, he can’t imagine that a serious, educated girl like you with big plans for the future might be interested in a guy like him.

So even if his iciness thaws a bit, he doesn’t let it show that having you around messes with his head, and stays a stern instructor who wants you to get the routine down to a T. “We can’t afford to make any mistakes,” he always says. But there’s something about the way he delivers his instructions sometimes that makes it impossible for you to concentrate on the dance. He’s always either dancing with you, your bodies just a foot apart, or sitting on the floor close to you and watching you, so he doesn’t need to speak so loud for you to hear him. It’s this quietness mixed with the strictness of his tone that makes your insides completely melt. Soft yet rigid, intimate yet steely. 

“Don’t put your heel down, stay on your toes.” 

“Keep your eyes focused on me, especially when you’re spinning.” 

“Always keep your core and your head straight.” 

Words that have no double-meaning whatsoever, yet it doesn’t take long for you to start wondering if he keeps this tone everywhere. Whenever those thoughts cross your mind, you’re practically unable to look him in the eye and speak without stammering. He makes you dizzier than the spins you practice.

It’s on the fifth day that you realize how deep your infatuation with Sunghoon truly is. The routine isn’t exceptionally long, so after five days of practicing, you have all the steps down, except for the lifts which he keeps putting off for later. He watches you do it on your own, and although he admits you know it in and out, he said there’s still something missing. The pang of disappointment you feel at his words soon turns into anticipation as he comes to stand in front of you, closer than usual, and brings your hand to his chest, keeping both of his own over yours.

“Feel this?” he says, voice almost a whisper. By now, you’ve gotten used to the intensity with which he always stares at you, but this time seems different; there’s something more vulnerable, more intimate about his gaze, something you don’t quite understand. You just stare right back at him, unable to look away.

You aren’t sure what he means so you lightly shake your head no. “Here,” he insists, pressing your hand more firmly to his chest, and it clicks. He wants you to feel his heartbeat. Your eyebrows jump slightly, and his lips form a small smile at your realization. “Close your eyes.” he says softly, and you do as told. 

“The steps aren’t enough, Baby. You have to feel the music. It’s within you, it’s within me, it’s within all of us. You just gotta find it.” This was something you’d heard a lot of times before, said by singers on the radio, by some of your friends in the high school choir - that they felt the music. But you’d never quite understood what they meant until now, until Sunghoon showed you. With two fingers, he starts tapping against the back of your hand to the rhythmic beat of his heart. 

“Du-dum, du-dum. Feel it now?” he asks, and you nod, too transfixed to produce actual words. His smile widens, and your heart swells because of his expression, more affectionate than you’ve ever seen it. 

“Now dance.”

Your body moves as if of its own accord, the moves now ingrained in your muscles and coming as a reflex to you. Together, you go through the whole routine with no music. You hadn’t needed to check yourself in the mirror to know you did perfectly - the smile on Sunghoon’s face tells you enough.

When the evening rolls around, there’s a lightness to your demeanor that both confuses and delights your parents, but even if they asked you to explain what happened, you don’t think you’d be able to find the words to do so.

-

Sure, Sunghoon doesn’t look at you like he hates you with every fiber of his being anymore, and he even dares crack a smile or laugh once in a while, but it’s not like you’re the best of friends either. There are still moments when he gets frustrated with you - one of those being the time you practice the opening of the routine. He hadn’t yet taught you that part, but as soon as he showed it to you, you understood why.

You stand back to him, heads turned towards each other. Your heights match perfectly so that, when standing so close together, his lips are right in your eyeline. His beautiful, plump, kissable lips that you find yourself thinking about too many times.

Your left arm stays by your side but your right arm is raised so that he can trail his fingertips all the way from your hand down to your waist - a sensual move that, despite setting the tone for the routine, you are not at all ready to perform. Not because it requires any kind of complex technique or years of practice, far from that, but because you don’t yet have the professionalism that Sunghoon, Chaewon and other performers like them have. Nevermind his fingers brushing past your armpit, which is obviously a ticklish place, you can’t handle the seriousness that comes with such intimacy, nor can you resist the urge to laugh every time. This, of course, does not please Sunghoon.

The first couple times it happens, he just rolls his eyes and sighs, thinking you just need to get your head in the dance and then you’d be fine. So he gets back into position, again, again, and again, and even though your full-blown laughters turn into quieter snorts or chuckles, you still can’t find it in you to keep a straight face. 

After the sixth time, his patience runs out. You can tell he wants to blow up at you by the redness of his face and the iciness of his stare, but when he speaks, he doesn’t raise his voice - his tone is so harsh that there’s no need for it. 

“You pull yourself together, or we’re done here.”

Whether he means you’re done for the day, or completely done with the practice, meaning all your efforts this week go to waste and you don’t perform on Saturday, you aren’t sure, but you don’t think this is the right time to question him. You get back into position, and finally, on the seventh try, you don’t laugh. After so many times, his touch doesn’t tickle so much - rather, it burns. Now, instead of resisting laughter, you have to keep yourself from completely melting under his touch.

But then, you realize that this is what you’ve been daydreaming about this whole time - to have him close, to have him touch you. Even though this was still part of the routine, the point of this move was to show the chemistry between the two dancers, the attraction they needed to, or at least pretend to, have for each other to take the performance from good to mesmerizing. Good thing you didn’t need to pretend.

Of course, Sunghoon has touched your waist and shoulders thousands of times by now, but after so many days together, you start to crave a different kind of touch, and in different places. You never let yourself relish too much in the warmth of his palms for fear of getting too used to it, and, worse than anything, missing it when he’s gone - as if that wasn’t already the case. But with this opening move, you can finally let yourself melt under his touch and play it off as being really into the dance. If anything, he’d probably be glad you’re letting your reserves go.

And so you do. Eyes closed, head tilted towards him and slightly back, revealing more of your neck, you feel his fingertips brush along your side until they reach your hand, and you start dancing. For the two minutes of the routine, you aren’t even thinking of the steps anymore, only looking into his eyes and letting your muscle memory do the work for you.

At the end, you stay in the final pose for a few seconds longer than usual, looking into each other’s eyes. Sunghoon isn’t the most expressive person ever, so you’d quickly learned how to decipher the slightest changes in his face. In this moment, he looks at you like he sees you for the first time, really sees you, with something like pride in his eyes. You smile at each other, and his next words make your heart skip a beat in surprise at first, then swell in satisfaction.

“I think that was the best you’ve danced so far. If you do it like this on Saturday night, it’ll be perfect.”

-

However, there’s one last thing you needed to learn: lifts. Sunghoon has been putting them off almost the whole week, saying you’d get to them later, that you needed to get the other steps down before. There are two in the routine, and whenever one comes up, Sunghoon says “that’s for later,” and keeps going with the dance. Except later never comes, and soon enough, you only have a day left to learn and perfect those lifts. The stress of not mastering them on time starts to get to your head, and your stress must be contagious, because Sunghoon explodes for the first (and only) time on Friday afternoon when you make a mistake in the basic steps.

“Are you kidding me?” he suddenly yells, taking a wide step back away from you and looking at you with uncharacteristic anger. Sure, he wasn’t always the most pleasant with you, and you were no stranger to Sunghoon’s expressions of or dislike, but you hadn’t seen anger on him until now. No matter how beautiful he is, you have to admit this isn’t his best look.

“What?” you respond, voice at the same level as his, not understanding his sudden burst of impatience.

“What?! This is a basic step you shouldn’t even be thinking about anymore, let alone not get right. The performance is tomorrow, you can’t be making stupid mistakes now!” He sighs in frustration and tears his gaze away from you for a moment, then looks back, his eyes hard. “Is this your idea of fun?”

You scoff and cross your arms over your chest. “My idea of fun? You really think I’m doing this for fun?” He doesn’t say anything, just keeps on staring at you. “I’ve been breaking my back and sneaking around for almost a whole week just to save your ass, I don’t get anything out of it, and you have the nerve to ask me if I’m doing this for fun?” You can see he wants to say something, but you don’t let him. “Oh, and I’m glad you seem to remember the performance is tomorrow, because I’ll have you know you still haven’t taught me those damn lifts! How can you get mad at me for a small mistake when you won’t even teach me the whole routine?!”

You’re out of breath after screaming so loud and so quickly, but still Sunghoon doesn’t move for a few seconds, until suddenly, he pivots and walks towards the door. At the threshold, he turns to you and tells you to follow him, as if that should have been obvious. He doesn’t give you any time for questions so you run after him. Outside, a heavy summer rain is coming down, and your clothes are soaked through after just ten seconds. You walk a few steps behind him as he heads to his car, muttering a curse under his breath when he realizes he’s forgotten his keys inside the locked vehicle. You let out a small shriek when he breaks one of the backseat windows to open the door from inside, reaching for his keys still resting in the ignition. You just stand there, watching him in confusion, until he calls to you from the driver’s seat. “C’mon! There’s a place I need to show you.”

You know it’s a bad idea - you’ve already been gone for over an hour, and if you leave with him for God knows how much longer, your parents would start to wonder where you are. But there’s something about his face, his anger that had completely disappeared and let way for what seemed like excitement, the rain pouring down and the loud sound of his car’s motor; it all creates a rush of adrenaline in you, and you want to know what he has in store. So you get in the car, and as soon as you’re buckled in, Sunghoon backs out of the parking lot and starts driving, the destination completely unknown to you, but you trust him enough to not be bothered by that.

The two of you drive for around ten minutes in comfortable silence, sometimes catching the other’s eye in the rearview mirror and bursting into giggles. You don’t know why, but when you open your window and let your arm out, letting out a big whoop, he laughs like it’s the most amazing thing he’s ever seen.

In the week you spend together with Sunghoon, these are the moments you love the most. When he’s seemingly let go of his barriers and lets you see a side of him that you don’t think many people get access to, a side to which laughter comes easy. Although it gives you whiplash when he so suddenly goes back to his serious and stonelike nature, you’d rather get glimpses of his carefree self than forever be stuck with the face he usually puts on with you. You aren’t sure if he is always one or the other with other people, or if he keeps his tendency to almost switch personalities with everyone, but you’re just glad it doesn’t feel like he’d always prefer to be somewhere else than with you anymore - and that it almost feels like he enjoys, or at the very least tolerates spending time in your company now.

He parks in what seems to be the middle of nowhere, on a small patch of gravel between the road and a forest, right before a bridge that crosses over a current. He gets out and starts towards what looks like a forest, telling you good-humoredly to hurry up and follow him. The rain has calmed down to a drizzle, gentle as it falls on your shoulders and a refreshing break from the sweltering heat of the past few days. Faster than you expected, you’ve reached your destination, which is a point where the current is calm and a wide trunk tree crosses it. You have no idea how Sunghoon ever found this place, but you’ve never seen him wear such an ecstatic expression, so you don’t even question it.

He takes his shoes off and gets on the tree trunk, spreading his arms wide to keep himself from falling. You sit down, one leg on each side of the trunk, and watch amusedly as he titters and regains his balance, sending sheepish smiles your way when he gets close to plummeting into the water. 

“Where’d you learn to dance?” you ask suddenly, the question forming in your head and leaving your lips simultaneously.

He considers you for a second, then plops himself down on the trunk, letting his legs sway over the emptiness. He looks out to the current when he speaks, as if talking to the air around him rather than directly to you. “I lived and went to school in a low-income neighborhood, so there were always these people coming and going, trying to get kids like us to start working and get out of the neighborhood, or make it better or something. One day these people came in, saying they were giving out lessons to become a dance instructor, and it was the only one that ever caught my interest. I did it, aced the test, and they gave me a spot here that I managed to keep every summer. Haven’t wanted to do anything else since.” He looks back at you and you catch a glimpse of cautiousness, perhaps a fear of finding judgment in your eyes, but his expression turns friendly again when he finds only curiosity and sympathy there.

“What about the rest of the year? Do you also have a teaching job back home?” you ask, daring to go further in your interrogation of Sunghoon’s personal life. Just a few days ago, you’d never have dreamed of asking him something like this, but there’s something about him today that makes you think it’s okay to get closer, if you tread lightly.

He snickers humorlessly and looks down at his hands, palms resting on the trunk in front of him. “I’m lucky I get to escape that place just three months a year when I’m working here. Otherwise, I’m stuck with the old man and his carpenting business I’m fated to inherit when he retires.” Before you can say anything in response, he jumps back up on his feet and holds a hand out to you, making a motion for you to come to him. You’re slightly taken aback at the sudden switch in his demeanor, but you know better than to force anything with Sunghoon. “We didn’t come here to chit-chat, did we? Come over here.”

Devilish - there’s no other word to describe his expression at that moment.

“Nuh-uh, I’m not getting on there, I’m gonna fall and break an ankle,” you immediately protest, but he doesn’t need to say anything, just approaches you with a mischievous smile and reaches his hands out to you - and you take them, letting him bring you to your feet.

You climb up tentatively, glad to see the trunk isn’t slippery even after the rain, and hold on tight to Sunghoon’s hands until you’ve managed to find your own balance. “Okay, what now?” you say breathily, half-paralyzed in terror and half-pumped with adrenaline.

“Let’s dance,” he says, a playful smile teasing his lips.

“What, here?” you reply, looking at him like he suggested you rob a bank.

“Yes, here.” He grabs your hand tighter and brings you closer to him, securing an arm around your waist before you can stumble off of the trunk. It’s definitely your near-death experience and not his proximity that makes your heart beat faster, definitely.

He quietly hums the song, but you’ve heard it so many times at this point that you could do the dance with no music at all. More than dancing the same steps, there’s something electrifying about knowing that the same song is playing in your and Sunghoon’s heads right now. You wonder if he feels it playing in his heart too.

What you’re doing isn’t quite dancing - you’re just taking small, careful, clumsy steps together, giggling as you try to stay atop the trunk and letting out a yelp when he attempts to spin you but it only results in you two almost falling off. He holds you close as if making sure that if one of you goes down, the other goes down with them. Your face is right in front of his chest, and when you risk a look up at him, he’s already gazing down at you, his playfulness making the light in his eyes shine even brighter. 

Your breath hitches in your throat when his eyes drift down to your lips, moving as you talk, but you still manage to get the words out, whispering them in the small space between the two of you. “You’re supposed to teach me lifts, aren’t you?” 

“Yeah. Let’s go,” he whispers back, but makes no move to leave the trunk or distance himself from you.

“Okay,” you breathe. You repeat the word and take a step back, somehow gathering the will to tear yourself away from him, from his eyes fixated on your parted lips. “Let’s go.”

He leads you back through the woods to a wide clearing. After the downpour of the early afternoon, the sun is starting to shine again, rays of light making their way through the grayish clouds and high pines, and bathing your surroundings in a comforting glow. Sunghoon stands facing the sun, and the sunlight hits his face so perfectly, you have to keep yourself from snorting at how ridiculously handsome he is.

The only instructions he gives you are as follows: “You’ve seen lifts before. You know you just run to me to gather momentum, then when you’re close enough, bend your knees and keep your core and whole body tight as I lift you. But the most important thing is that you trust me, alright? If you don’t, we could both get hurt.”

The first few times, you just practice the running and the picking up, not wanting to venture into the actual overhead lift right away. It’s easy enough - just find the right distance, the right speed, and remember not to let your body go limp in Sunghoon’s hands.

But when you’ve gotten the hang of it, and Sunghoon tells you to try the complete lift, you freeze. You just stop right in front of him, looking at him with wide eyes. “This is too scary, I can’t do it.”

To your surprise, instead of letting out an annoyed sigh or rolling his eyes, Sunghoon smiles. His eyes go soft and the corners of his lips tug up.

“What’s scary?”

“Falling. Getting hurt, hurting you,” you say, looking into his eyes with the hope that he’ll make all your anxieties go away.

“Don’t think about those things. Don’t think about anything, just trust me. Let yourself be picked up first, and then we’ll worry about your form and how to keep it, okay?”

“O-okay.” You walk a few steps back to regain some distance, and he nods reassuringly as you take a deep breath in, and a deep breath out. You run to him, and as if his words had gone straight from his mouth to your limbs, you let him lift you - and the world looks so different from this high up.

You marvel at the feeling of floating in the air, but you quickly start to feel yourself slipping forward, and Sunghoon is yelling “Hold it, hold it!” and before you know it, you’ve dipped forward and fallen right on top of him. Thankfully, it was a slow fall, and he had time to soften the blow, so that the immediate reaction from the both of you is to burst into laughter.

You roll over so that you’re laying on your back next to him and rest your palms on your stomach, feeling it shake with laughter. Once you’ve calmed down, you turn your head towards him and he imitates you a second later. You probably look like idiots, out-of-breath and smiling widely at each other in this field, but there isn’t a thing you would change about this moment.

“Do you know what the best place to practice lifts is?” he asks, and you watch how his dimples disappear and reappear as he talks. You shake your head. His dimples deepen. “The water.”

You change locations again, heading back towards the current and finding the lake it stems from. You and Sunghoon turn your backs to each other as he takes his t-shirt off and you, your denim shorts, not wanting them to weigh you down in the water. When you turn back around, you have to force yourself to detach your eyes from his perfectly defined abs and shoulders thanks to years of dancing and physical exertion almost every day. You stare out at the lake like it’s the first time you’ve ever seen so much water, otherwise you’d be gawking at him like it’s the first time you’ve ever seen a man. Your cheeks burn up when you feel his eyes on your legs, taking your half-naked figure in, and he chuckles as you rush to hide yourself in the water.

Once in the water, you practice the actual lift, which consists of Sunghoon hoisting you high above his head and you keeping a straight posture, with your arms perpendicular to your body and your chest slightly lifted as if you were truly soaring through the air. It already looks difficult, and yet it’s even harder than it looks. It does help being in the water because at least you’re not scared for your life when you lose your balance and dive forward, but you let out a yelp nonetheless each time it happens. Sunghoon keeps on telling you to hold your posture, but each attempt ends in you falling into the water and bringing him down with you.

You drift apart and swim back towards each other every time, your arms wrapping around his neck and his hands coming to your hips to get back into position for the lift. You’re having a lot of fun, too much fun, probably, when the performance is just a day away - but getting to see Sunghoon’s smile and hear his laugh as you play around and try your best at the lift makes it worth it. When the strap of your tank top slips over your shoulder, you notice out of the corner of your eye Sunghoon’s hand reaching for it just as you put it back yourself. He plays it off by raking a hand through his wet hair, getting it out of his eyes, and smiles shyly at you when your gazes lock. You have no idea what’s going to happen after the performance, if you’ll stay friends or if he’ll pretend like this never even happened - all you know is that you’d be happy doing this all summer.

“One last time?”

-

And just like that, it’s late Saturday afternoon and the performance is just an hour away. You barely eat or speak during dinner, partly out of nervousness, but mostly because you want your lie of having a headache and needing to rest in your room more believable. Chaewon had said she’d help you put your dress on and get ready before the show, so when you’ve escaped the dinner table, you rush to her cabin.

But just as you exit the building, an old woman you recognize as Mrs Jung walks in. She must be surprised at your sudden appearance because she slightly bumps into the door and drops her bag. An unusual amount of wallets fall from it, but you don’t think too much of it - you’ve seen rich people do weirder things. 

You bend down to help her gather her things, and she chuckles lightly, thanking you. “Such a sweet girl, isn’t she, Harold?” she says to her husband who had appeared behind the door as well. You wish them a nice evening and part ways, gushing to yourself over how cute old couples are as you head to the Chaewon’s cabin.

She does your hair, pulling it into a tight bun and securing every stray strand with a bobby pin. You have no experience with makeup since it’s always been off-limits in your house, so she expertly applies eyeshadow, mascara and lipstick to your face. The sticky feel of it is unfamiliar but once you look in the mirror, you almost can’t look away. It’s still you, of course it is, but the bright colors make you look glamorous, like performing in front of a large crowd is just routine for you. You thank Chaewon, a huge smile on her face, and watch her own light up in relief that you like the makeup.

As she zips your dress up, a flowy baby pink dress she got out of her closet just for you, you repeat back all the instructions Sunghoon has given you over the week to make sure you remember everything. “I just gotta keep my head up, keep my core and my arms straight, follow the mu-”

“Thank you, Baby,” Chaewon quietly interrupts, and the slight tremble in her voice and the vulnerability with which she looks at you lets you know she really means it. You stop your declamation immediately and smile at her, kindness in your eyes.

She looks down and tries to find her words. “You know, I- I just want you to know that I, I don’t sleep around, and Heeseung, I really thought he loved me, and-”

You can see the tears already forming in her eyes so you bring her into a tight hug, resting your cheek against the side of her head. “I know, Chaewon, don’t worry. And even if you did sleep around, it wouldn’t matter, Heeseung should take responsibility no matter what. We’re all here to help you. Don’t worry.” You lean back to hold her face in your hands and try to give as reassuring a smile as you can.

“I’m scared, Baby,” she whispers, trying to calm her sobs to get the words out.

“Everything’s gonna be fine, Chaewon,” you say, and you hope she believes it as much as you do. “Everything’s gonna be just fine. You’ve got Sunghoon, and Jake, and you’ve got me too.” 

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath in. When she opens them again, she grabs your hands and shakes them between the two of you, mirroring your smile. “Okay, okay,” she murmurs. “Sorry, this isn’t the best time for me to break down. You feeling ready?” she asks, and even if it’s just for now, you’re glad she’s feeling better and got to let her emotions out.

“Not at all, I’m so nervous. I don’t want to mess something up and let you or Sunghoon down,” you admit, your smile wavering for a second.

“Whatever happens, you won’t let us down,” she says, squeezing your hands. “It’s amazing, what you’re doing.” 

You can’t help but look away at her words. “It’s the least I can do,” you mumble.

“No, Baby, you’re doing more than most people would. And Sunghoon, he might have his own way of showing it, but he’s extremely grateful for you,” she says, and it puts a smile on your face.

“By his own way of showing it, do you mean not showing it at all?” you joke.

“That’s Sunghoon for you.” You giggle quietly together, but her eyes drift to the clock on the wall behind you and she lets out a sigh. “It’s time, Baby. And don’t worry, I know you’ll do amazing,” she says, bringing you into a brief hug.

You’re so nervous, everything that follows is a blur - leaving Chaewon’s cabin and sneaking over to Sunghoon’s car, the drive to the Sheldrake Hotel, the staff there leading you backstage, and finding your spot on the stage. You only snap out of it when the curtains lift and a voice booms from the speakers in the room, announcing “Sunghoon Park and partner dancing the mambo” as the audience breaks into polite claps.

The music starts, and Sunghoon can immediately feel the tension in your body. He trails his fingers all the way down your arm to your waist, just like you’d practiced a ton of times before, and he uses the proximity between the two of you to whisper “Relax” into your ear. “Just follow my lead, you’ve got this,” he says, loud enough for only you to hear, and extends his arm to send you spinning. 

You manage the first few steps, trying to let go of your anxiety, but it’s got a tight grip on your body and makes your stomach twist. You think it’s all over when you mess up a turn, going right instead of left, but Sunghoon’s quick to whisper “over here” and you find your way again. “Look at me,” Sunghoon says once you’re facing each other again, and you lock eyes with him. And for some reason, that works - focusing only on him makes you feel like it’s just the two of you in the room, just like so many times this past week, and it dissipates all your nerves, makes your muscle memory kick in. You finally let him lead you and follow the music, thinking of nothing but Sunghoon and dancing together.

And yet, when it’s time for the lift, you freeze again. You find your position and run to Sunghoon, just like you know you’re supposed to, but you can’t let him lift you, your limbs turning into lead in his hold. Thinking quickly, you come up with another step on the spot, hoping it isn’t too obvious to the audience you just messed up. Sunghoon takes the lead again, and the rest of the performance goes smoothly, the other moves and the smaller, easier lift realized perfectly by the both of you.

You finish off the number, and the sound of the applause directed at the two of you fills you with a pride you’d never felt before, a feeling much more satisfying than any good grade or won argument ever had. Another sort of daze fills your mind now, and it makes you feel like there’s a small cloud under your feet so that you’re floating instead of walking everywhere. It almost makes you miss the Jungs, but when you see the old couple slowly walking out of the room, you’re scared you might be done for.

You rush back to the parking lot with Sunghoon, whooping in excitement as soon as you're out of anyone’s earshot. In the backseat, you change out of your dress and back into your regular clothes.

“God, that was- that was amazing, I can’t believe you get to live this every week during the summer, it was just- my God…” you say, struggling to get your right hand through the sleeve of your blouse.

“Yeah? Did you have fun?” Sunghoon answers, a smile on his face that turns into a gulp when he sees your half-naked body in the rearview mirror. He can’t help but risk a few more glances, hoping you don’t notice.

“I did, I really did, but I- I messed up that one turn, and I didn’t do the lift-”

“That doesn’t matter,” Sunghoon says firmly. “You did real good, Baby.” And after a beat, he adds: “Thank you. You did real good.” Your eyes lock in the mirror but you look away before he can catch sight of your reddening cheeks.

“And oh my God, there was that couple, the, the-”

“The Jungs, right? Yeah, I saw them too,” Sunghoon chuckles. “I got so scared.”

“Right? Me too! They won’t say anything, will they, do you think?”

“Probably not. I don’t think they even recognized either of us.”

You button your jeans and climb your way over to the passenger seat next to Sunghoon, grateful for the lack of headrests in his car. It suddenly grows quiet between the two of you. You want to ask whether you’ll keep meeting now that you’ve done your part, but you’re afraid Sunghoon might want to have nothing to do with you from now on even if it doesn’t seem like he dislikes you anymore. So you stay silent, watching out of the window, sometimes turning your head towards Sunghoon and catching his eye, then smiling at each other shyly.

Something in you is screaming at you to reach out to him, brush a hand over his hair, interlace your fingers with his - any kind of touch. You thought the ball of nerves in your stomach would disappear after the show, but it’s still there, and it’s taken hold of your entire body now, the anticipation of whatever is to come almost unbearable. You notice Sunghoon’s gaze ping-ponging between you and the road, and the tightness with which he holds the steering wheel, and you dare let yourself hope, just a little bit, that he shares those same wild thoughts jumping around your mind.

When you reach the parking lot next to the staff quarters, Sunghoon is quick to get out of the car, while you rub at your eyes and lips, trying to get as much makeup off as you can. Your parents would most likely be in bed by now, but just in case they were still up, you didn’t want them to catch you with bright red lips and blue eyelids. Sunghoon walks around to your side and opens your door for you, even grabbing your hand to help you out of the car. Once you’re out, he takes your other hand in his, facing you as he walks slowly backwards, and with the way he’s gazing down at you, you think those unspoken thoughts might finally come into the light. But before either of you can say anything, you hear quick footsteps rushing towards you, and a familiar voice calling out to Sunghoon.

He swings around to find a panting, alarmed-looking Jake. “Sunghoon, it’s- it’s Chaewon, something went wrong, she’s not feeling well-”

Neither of you need to hear more before you’re running to the cabin, reaching it in record time. There’s way more people than there should be in and outside Chaewon’s room, all watching and doing absolutely nothing except for another girl you recognise as part of the dancing crew holding a wet cloth to her head as Chaewon, her face covered in sweat and her eyes shut tight in pain, moans and mumbles incoherently, slightly delirious from fever. The girl at her bed steps aside when she sees Sunghoon approaching, and he kneels next to Chaewon, holding her hand in both of his and reassuring her as best she can.

“It’s that doctor,” Jake starts, “he was so shady, had a folding table and a dirty knife, and I- I heard screams coming from that room, Hoon, awful screams, and I tried getting in and getting Chaewon out but they wouldn’t let me-”

What’s obvious to you right now is that Chaewon is in desperate need of an actual doctor, and nobody here can provide that for her, so you rush out of the room, and, as fast as your legs can carry you, run to your father and wake him up in a hurry, grabbing his doctor’s bag. You’re glad for your father’s blind trust in you - other than an instinctive “Is Seeun alright?”, which you nod your head at, he doesn’t ask any questions, just sees you need his help. He listens to your unclear and frantic explanations of what’s going on as he follows you to the staff cabin. 

“Alright, out of the way, everyone, give the girl some space,” your father says as he enters Chaewon’s room, the way he carries himself and speaks instantly commanding obedience from the group. People filter out as he takes Sunghoon’s spot next to Chaewon, checking her pulse and temperature. “Who’s responsible for this lady?” he asks without looking away from his patient.

“I am,” Sunghoon says, taking a step towards him. “Is she gonna be okay?” He seems so distressed you want to take him into your arms and tell him it’ll be okay, but you can’t do that - not here, not in front of your dad.

Your father turns his head to take a look at Sunghoon, his expression unreadable, then turns back to Chaewon, leaving Sunghoon’s question unanswered, floating in the air ominously.

He makes you all leave the room, and you wait for what feels like hours until your father finally comes out, his briefcase in hand, and announces that Chaewon just needs some rest and then she’d be okay. He lets Jake thank him and shake his hand agitatedly, but once again just stares Sunghoon down and ignores him when he tries to do the same. He takes you by the shoulder, making you walk away with him without saying goodbye to anyone. He’s silent for a few moments, waiting to have gone down a few steps before he speaks, and when he does, his voice is tense and almost trembles with anger.

“Is this what my money paid for? I’m disappointed in you, Baby. You’re not who I thought you were.” He doesn’t even let you defend yourself, just keeps walking without looking at you. “I don’t want you to hang around those people anymore, do you understand?”

“But dad-”

“I don’t want to hear it,” he says firmly, and the slight increase of volume catches you off guard. Not once has your dad raised his voice at you, or at least not since you were a child - that’s how you understand how truly upset he is at you. He finally turns around to look at you, his eyebrows furrowed. “And get that stuff off of your face before your mother sees it.”

The rest of the walk back to your bungalow is done in unbearable, utter silence, and you can’t wait to be away from your father and the anger pouring off of him in waves. But that silence doesn’t seem to go away, even when you finally reach your bed, even when your sister starts snoring quietly, completely oblivious to the events of the night. The silence grows so loud in your ears that it creates a fuzz all around your brain, making your head throb and blurring your thoughts, rendering them incomprehensible. The sheer weight of it forces your eyelids closed even though you don’t feel tired at all - there’s too much going on in your mind for you to fall asleep.

There’s the relief of your father having helped Chaewon, and the knowledge that she’ll be okay thanks to him; but there’s also the image of his disappointed expression etched into your brain and the words “You’re not who I thought you were” playing on a hellish loop. There’s the worry he won’t ever see you the way he used to, that you won’t be his little girl anymore, but there’s also the satisfaction of that exact thing, the liberation that comes with your father finally realizing you’re not perfect and make mistakes too.

And then there’s Sunghoon.

There’s Sunghoon, and his concern for Chaewon’s safety, his love for his friend that he’s known for years, the hurt on his face when your dad didn’t shake his hand, and the way he quickly retracted his own thereafter, a defeated expression like he was used to such disrespect. But before that, there’s his dimpled smile and sharp canines you find weirdly endearing, the carefree sound of his laughter after you fall on top of him in the water, his warm hands guiding you from step to step, the quick glimpses he throws your way when he thinks you’re not looking but hopes that you are. Even before that, there were the ice-covered walls he put around himself and his friends that could melt as quickly as they could freeze back up, until finally one day he opened the door for you to come in. There was the elegance in his moves and the feeling like all the air in the room had evaporated when you watched him dance, only for it to fill you back up when he took you by the hand and showed you how to let yourself go for the first time.

The fog in your mind clears at the thought of him, like sunlight forcing its way through gray clouds after a thunderstorm. You need to see him.

You need to check on him, to make sure he’s feeling alright, and laugh with him if he is or cry if he isn’t. You need to hold his head between your palms and graze a hand through his hair and do and say all the things you’ve been wanting to this week.

You climb out of your bed and grab the first cardigan you see, then slip your shoes on and make your way to the front door. You try to be as quiet as possible, but once outside, you hang back just for a few moments in case anyone has heard you leaving, so that if they come to check, you can just say you’re getting some fresh air on the front porch. No one seems to stir so you rush to Sunghoon’s cabin. It’s past midnight and the only light guiding you is that of the stars and the bright moon up above.

When Sunghoon opens his door, he seems at once relieved and surprised to find you there. “Baby,” he simply says, gazing down at you. He looks so tired, you think. The performance at the Sheldrake was just a few hours ago, but it already feels so far away.

“Hey. Can I- can I come in?” you ask, slightly out-of-breath from your walking so fast.

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” he says, turning his body to let you in his cabin. Since your first time here, that night you’d found Chaewon crying in the kitchen, you’d learned more about this place. Thanks to his seniority here, Sunghoon has a separate studio-like cabin further down the path where all the staff bungalows are, and it’s bigger than most of them, even though it’s still just one room that accommodates his bed, a closet, a desk, a sink and some other chairs, shelves and drawers.

A soft song is playing in the background and the main light is off, the small lamps here and there providing enough light for you to see. You hadn’t at all thought to look around when you were here last, so you’re curious to really see what Sunghoon’s living space is like.

You walk further into the room, taking in your surroundings and reveling in all the traces of Sunghoon’s life - discarded clothes here and there, a stack of record players from the early fifties to now, posters of movie stars and famous singers, some photos of him with Jake, Chaewon and other members of the entertainment team. He looks around like he’s seeing the room for the first time too, maybe trying to see it through your eyes and imagining what you could be thinking of it. He picks up clothes from the floor and from an armchair only to throw them in his closet, gesturing for you to sit down, and rubs the back of his neck in what seems like an embarrassed gesture.

“It’s not much… you’re probably used to a lot better…” he says with an apologetic tone.

“No, no, it’s great,” you say quickly, not wanting him to feel embarrassed. You look at him with a smile. “I love it here.”

He mirrors your smile, letting out a shaky breath of relief, then sits down at the edge of his bed, too far away for   your liking. The tense atmosphere from earlier in the car is back, filling the room with the silence of a thousand unspoken words. A beat passes before you speak up. “I’m sorry about the way my father treated you, Sunghoon. It wasn’t nice.”

Sunghoon looks genuinely shocked upon hearing your words and starts to shake his head fervently. “No, no, your father was great, the- the way he took care of Chaewon, I could never do anything like that in my life, he was amazing.”

“Yes, but I’m talking about you, Sunghoon, not Chaewon. He completely ignored you, he should have treated you with more respect.” His eyes find yours, and the look on his face like he wants to believe you but can’t quite bring himself to makes your heart ache.

He chuckles and lets his head hang low, looking down at his hands. “Why should he? I’m- I’m nothing,” he says quietly, so quietly that you think you might have misheard, because never in a hundred years would you have thought that someone like Sunghoon could think so lowly of himself.

Your surprise makes it hard to gather your words and say something coherent, but you try your best. “What- Sunghoon, how could you say that? You’re not nothing, you’re- you’re everything,” you say, the last word coming out breathy.

He looks at you like he’s never heard those words before, never had somebody tell him he was so much more than he thought he was - but maybe that’s because he’d never told anyone how he really felt. A pained expression flashes across his face, and you’re scared you might’ve said the wrong thing but his next words reassure you that that’s not it.

“You don’t understand… One month, I’m living off of scraps and struggling to make ends meet, and the next, rich ladies are stuffing hundred dollar bills in my pockets and giving me the key to their room. Everywhere I am, people just use me to get what they need. My dad basically forces me to work with him and doesn’t give a crap what I really want, the women here use me to escape the boredom of their lives, and Max and his asshole grandson Jay just want me to make as much money as I can so they can get even richer.” His voice gets louder the more he talks, the anger getting to him. He chuckles darkly, but his expression softens when he catches your gaze. “I have to live like this. If I start thinking I deserve more, that I- that I’m everything, like you say, I’ll never be satisfied. I’ll always want more. I can’t handle that.”

“It doesn’t have to be that way. It shouldn’t be that way,” you say quietly, shaking your head and looking at him sadly. You don’t know how to make him see that for the joy he brings everyone who gets to see him dance, for the care and safety he gives the people he loves, and the way he’s made you feel like you can finally escape the thoughts in your head, he deserves everything he wants in the world. You don’t know how to make him see his worth and the respect he deserves as much as anyone else.

He smiles at you wistfully, like he can see his own, long-gone, naive hopefulness on your face. “I’ve never met anyone like you, Baby. You look at the world and you think you can make it better.”

It’s your turn to chuckle humorlessly. “Yeah, I run to my daddy, like you said.”

“No,” he says firmly, his tone catching you off guard. “No, that took a lot of guts, doing what you did. I love that about you, you just go ahead and do things. You didn’t even know Chaewon, and yet you learned a whole professional routine in a week just because you wanted to and you could. And now you risked your relationship with your father just to help her out once again. You- you’re not scared of anything!”

“Me? I’m scared of everything!” you cry out, suddenly standing up, the emotions boiling in your stomach making you unable to sit any longer. “I’m scared of the disappointment in my parents’ eyes, of failing school, of being stuck in a life I can’t escape from…” Your gaze travels around the room before it settles on Sunghoon once again, your gazes locking each other in so tightly you don’t know if you’ll ever be able to look away. “But most of all,” you continue, voice shaky and desperate, “I’m scared of leaving this place and never, ever feeling again the way I do when I’m with you.”

His jaw tightens and he has to force himself to look away from you, his eyes focusing on a random object in the corner of the room. With the way he huffs air through his nose and tenses his whole body, he almost looks angry, but you know that’s not it - finally, after a week of torturous hesitation and not-knowing, you understand how Sunghoon feels about you. He feels just like you. All those lingering gazes, those small shocks of electricity whenever you touched, those loud heartbeats at his constant proximity, he felt them too, and it drove him crazy too; you’re sure of it.

Or at least, almost sure of it. And there’s only one way to confirm your suspicions.

Sunghoon thinks you’re not scared of anything, so you’re going to prove it to yourself. You take a step towards him, then another one, and another one, until you’re standing right in front of him. You extend a hand out to him and he doesn’t question it, just takes it and rises, now towering over you as you had over him just a second ago. You’re as close as you usually are when you dance together - or perhaps a bit closer than that.

“Dance with me,” you whisper into the space between your bodies.

“What, here?” he whispers back, finally looking at you. His gaze lingers in your eyes before dropping to your lips, his pupils slowly dilating - there’s your confirmation. 

“Yes, here,” you reply, echoing your conversation on the tree trunk, which somehow was only yesterday.

You wrap your arms around his neck just as his hands come up to hold you by the waist. It’s a position you’ve found yourselves in a hundred times by now, but tonight, it feels so different. The air around you is charged with electricity and all of your moves are purposeful, trying to make the other feel all that you’re feeling with just a touch.

Tight in each other’s arms, you sway to the slow rhythm of the music, your head resting in the crook of his neck while his hands travel from your waist, to your shoulder blades, back down to your hips. Even with two layers of clothing between your bodies, the feeling of having him so close sends shivers down your spine, even though your skin burns everywhere it comes into contact with him. Your breath makes goosebumps appear on the side of his neck, and when his grip on your hips tightens, you take it as a green light to start pressing faint kisses to his skin. He bunches the fabric of your blouse in his hands, slowly pulling it from the confines of your jeans and over your head, making you raise your arms. He makes a ball out of your top and throws it somewhere across his room, his attention fully taken by the sight of your now half-naked body. He immediately discards his own t-shirt, putting his hands back on you as quickly as he can, as if scared you might suddenly disappear.

You go on dancing together, bodies moving in harmony, as if you’re one being rather than two. You let your hands travel over his shoulders and chest and rest them on his stomach as you lean your upper body backwards, trusting him to hold you while you circle your way back to him. When you do, his hands roam down to grab your ass and hike one of your legs around his hips, the friction of your pelvises rubbing together eliciting a heavy, relieved sigh from both of you.

Finally, your lips find each other, and you kiss like you’re each other’s sources of oxygen. Of course, Sunghoon is one of, if not the best, kissers you’ve ever had the honor of sharing a kiss with, because how could he be anything other than perfect? The way he kisses is intense and a little bit messy, and it ignites your whole body, making you crave only more and more until you’ve had everything you want. Your hands and his are restless, endlessly drifting over each other’s bodies, grabbing at shoulders or hips or strands of hair.

He walks backwards to his bed, never once breaking the passionate embrace, until the back of his legs hit the mattress. He sits, spreading his legs wide enough for you to stand between them. His face is right at the level of your chest, and the way he looks up at you as he presses hot, open-mouthed kisses there makes your insides burst and the fire in your core burn harder. Keeping eye contact with him is too much to handle, so you close your eyes and let your head back slightly, grazing your hands through the soft locks of his hair and simply enjoying the feeling of his mouth on you. His warm hands roam your lower back before traveling north to the clasp of your bra. He undoes it but doesn’t take it off - instead, he calls your name, and it’s never sounded better than on his lips.

“Baby?”

“Hm?” You look back down at him and find in his eyes a sort of lustful, dreamlike daze that you’re sure must reflect your own perfectly.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asks breathily, wanting to be certain this is okay for you, but sounding like it’d be the death of him if you said no.

You smile softly and take his head in your hands. “I’ve never been more sure of anything.”

He smiles too, exposing his sharp canines and pretty dimples, and sighs of relief. “Thank God.”

Your bra comes off, and you almost laugh when his pupils blow out at the sight of your naked chest, but your amusement dies, cut off by a loud moan as soon as he takes one of your nipples in his mouth, twirling his tongue around and sucking on the sensitive bud before moving on to the other one. One of his hands rests on your ass while his other arm is wrapped around your waist, and his grip on your waist tightens every time you make a sound that he particularly appreciates. You’re pulling at his hair so much, you’re almost scared of hurting him, but truth be told you’re too focused on the way his mouth feels on you to really be careful about it.

“Come here,” he says, voice hoarse. His jeans aren’t doing a very good job of hiding how hard he is, and he groans at the sudden contact when he pulls you down into his lap. You press kisses everywhere you can - his cheeks, the crook of his neck, his hair, before finding his lips once again. You don’t even realize you’re grinding yourself against him until he breaks away from the kiss to let out a quiet moan, and you bury your face in the dip between his shoulder and his neck, breath hot against his skin as you whine in pleasure.

You could do this for hours, and maybe you do - but at some point, you start needing something more and your core throbs, desperate for more attention. And what better way to communicate that to Sunghoon than to show him exactly what you want?

You unwrap your arms from around his shoulders and let your hand roam down to the waistband of his jeans, smiling shyly at him as you get down on your knees in front of him. He watches with a pained expression, like the anticipation of what you’ll do next actually hurts him, as you unbutton and unzip his jeans, then slide them along with his boxers down his legs. To distract from the fact that his size slightly intimidates you, you take him in your hand right away, circling his reddened tip with your thumb before starting to bring your palm up and down his shaft while your other hand rubs his thigh.

You’re absolutely breathtaken by the sight in front of you: Sunghoon’s abs tensing visibly at your ministrations, his head hung back and his neck and Adam’s apple flushed red on display for you, moans increasing in volume as you continue. You had a feeling Sunghoon wouldn’t be a quiet one, and you’re proud to be proven right.

You put your own needs aside for now, just wanting to see Sunghoon in as much pleasure as you can give him. You bring your head forward and lick a stripe up his length, satisfied when he lets out his loudest moan so far. You don’t tease for too long, only licking at his tip for a bit before taking more of him in your mouth. You keep one hand at the base of his shaft and swirl your tongue around the part you’re able to reach. 

This is the first time you’ve gotten so much pleasure from giving - maybe because Sunghoon’s reactions feed your ego, maybe because you’re so obsessed with him that knowing you’re making him feel good is enough, or maybe both. Definitely both.

But Sunghoon doesn’t let you have your fun for too long, and soon pulls your face gently away from him. His flushed face and fucked-out expression is gratifying to say the least. You look up at him with a smile, rubbing his thighs with your palms as you wait for him to catch his breath.

“A minute longer,” he says, panting, “and I would’ve died.” You giggle at his dramatics and hoist yourself back up, about to position yourself again on his lap but Sunghoon has other plans. He lays you down on your back and comes to rest on his side next to you, holding himself up on a forearm; that way he has both full access to and full view of your face and body. Perfect.

His face is close enough to yours to press kisses there and on your neck while his hand makes his way down your body. When it reaches the waistband of your jeans, you don’t wait for him to say or do anything and undo them yourself, which makes Sunghoon smirk.

“Impatient, are you?” he teases.

“You’re one to talk,” you bite back with a smile, even though your cheeks start to burn.

He slips a hand under your jeans, and gathers slick from between your folds before starting to rub small circles on your clit with the pads of two fingers. He soon gets frustrated from the way your clothes restrict his movements, and whispers in your ear, “Might as well take everything off while we’re at it, don’t you think?”

You roll your eyes at his playful tone but comply, more than happy to undress if it means he can touch with more ease. And indeed, he wastes no time before slipping a finger inside you, smirk widening at the loud half-gasp half-moan you let out at the feeling. “Much better,” he whispers again, but any comeback is wiped from your mind as he adds a second finger in, curling them so that they hit just the spot. You’re drenched at this point, your arousal sticking to the inside of your thighs, but that only makes it easier for him to slip his fingers in and out and means you’re more than ready for him. He keeps his thumb on your clit so that the friction there doesn’t stop either, and it isn’t long before you start to feel that familiar knot twisting your insides, appearing much quicker than you’d like it to.

“Sunghoon- I’m gonna, I’m-”

“You are, huh?” he breathes against your neck in between kisses. And just like that, as if you’d told him to stop and not that you were about to finish, he slips his fingers out of you, watching your reaction with a devilish, amused smirk.

“What? No, no-” you whine, but it’s no use. He rolls away from you, opening the drawer in his bedside table to retrieve something, and he’s lucky it’s a condom, because you might have killed him if it was anything else.

“Just because it’s our first time, I’m making you cum on my cock,” he explains as he rips open the small packet and puts the condom on. He comes back and places himself over you, pressing a kiss to your cheek and aligning himself with your entrance. “Next time, you’ll cum on my fingers and mouth as much as you want, Baby.”

And then, he pushes in.

You don’t need to tell him to go slow, or to wait before he starts moving; he knows. He holds himself up on his hands, biceps tight, and watches your face carefully for any sign of pain or discomfort while he furrows his way in, inch by inch.

When he finally bottoms out, he presses a soft kiss to your glistening hairline and bends down to whisper in your ear, “I’ve been thinking about this all week, and it’s even better than I imagined.”

The corners of your lips tug upwards, but the feeling of Sunghoon filling you up like this makes your brain go fuzzy and you can’t even begin to form coherent words or thoughts. You grab on to his biceps and shoulders as he starts to move back and forth, slowly at first, but progressively picking up speed, your moans egging him on.

He takes one of your legs and hikes it up around his hip, allowing him to go deeper and hit that spot that has you arching your back and crying out. You’re clawing at his back, eyes shut tight and mouth going dry, and his fast, regular rhythm is bringing you to the edge once again. Either Sunghoon has terrible timing, or he knows precisely how close you are and wants to tease you, because he slows down and pulls out. “I just want to make it last a bit longer,” he explains, murmuring the words in the crook of your jaw and neck before pressing a kiss there.

He pushes himself away from you and sits up on his bed, his back against the headboard. He looks at you with a lopsided smile, and when you position yourself on his lap, you take a couple moments to admire him before taking him again. His hairline beads with sweat, his face and upper body are flushed a light red color, his breathing is quick and shallow, mouth slightly agape, and his eyelids are heavy with lust, eyes almost closed. He’s never looked so good. 

“Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?” he asks, and you smile both at the compliment and at the fact that you were thinking the same thing about him just a second ago, as if you shared each other’s exact thoughts. You shake your head, and his gaze turns loving as he brushes a stray strand of hair behind your ear. “You’re so fucking beautiful, Baby. There. Said it.”

You kiss him passionately before taking him in your hand and raising yourself on your knees to guide his tip towards your entrance, keeping eye contact with him as you sink onto his length. The new position hits even more sensitive spots and makes the two of you moan simultaneously. 

Deciding to let him rest for a bit, you start moving yourself up and down on his cock, quickly settling into a nice rhythm that doesn’t tire your legs out too much but still manages to make you see stars. You hold onto Sunghoon’s shoulders, hands sometimes grabbing onto his hair while his stay firmly planted on your ass, kneading the soft skin there. You try to hold his gaze for as long as you can, but the pleasure starts to overwhelm you and you can’t do anything but shut your eyes, head falling back as loud moans escape your lips. There’s no way you could have kept it quiet, so you’re extremely grateful that Sunghoon’s living quarters are far enough away to avoid an audience.

Despite the immense pleasure of being on top of him and of choosing your own rhythm, your thighs start to hurt after a few minutes of this. Thankfully, Sunghoon notices your decreasing pace and the way your legs falter, and takes things into his own hands, finally ready to stop edging and bring the both of you to your ends. One hand on your lower back, one arm wrapped around your shoulders, he presses your chest firmly to his, hugging you tight, and starts bucking his hips into you at a pace that has you crying out into his shoulder. Your hands find purchase in his hair, pulling tight enough to hurt at the roots. If Sunghoon stops, it might be the death of you, so even if it’s a struggle to get the words out, you want to let him know how you feel.

“Fuck, Sunghoon, right there, please don’t stop, please- oh, my God!”

The sound of your two bodies coming together is lewd, but it only adds to your bliss, and in just thirty seconds of this, the knot in your stomach breaks loose and sends your whole body trembling against Sunghoon’s. He’s not long after you, the sound of his name over and over on your tongue as you cum sending him tumbling over the edge. You feel hot tears streaming down your face at the relief of finally having come undone, and the sounds leaving your lips now are fainter, your body too weak to even make any noise. 

You stay like this for a few moments, body limp on top of his, allowing your breaths to return to normal. You’ve had two boyfriends before, and they were the only two you’d ever had sex with, so it’s not like you had already discovered everything about the joys of sex, but you knew for sure that it didn’t always feel like this, didn’t always take you to heaven and back. Usually, you’d have stood up and cleaned yourself by now, but with Sunghoon, you never want to leave this spot. Fall asleep like this, wake up like this, stay as long as you wanted like this. But after a few minutes, Sunghoon stirs and you jolt out of your daze, getting off of him, wincing slightly at the sensitivity between your legs. 

He slips from his seated position and lays on his back. You follow suit, turning your body towards the ceiling, suddenly feeling shy at the idea of touching him, of getting closer - or maybe scared that he’ll suddenly want to be left alone, or worse, never want to see you again. But all your negative thoughts dissipate when he shifts to his stomach, sliding slightly down the bed to rest his head on your chest, burying his face there, hugging your waist tight, and letting out a contented sigh. Although your heart swells at his ridiculously cute actions, to say you aren’t a bit surprised would be a lie - after seeing a leading, more dominant side to him all week, since he was the one teaching you the dance and guiding you through the moves, you had thought it would translate to the way he was in bed. Yet, he had let you do what you wanted, let you set your own pace, as much as he had himself. And now, he was perfectly happy seeking out your affection and not making you come to him. It made you appreciate him that much more.

One of your hands makes its way to his back, grazing your fingernails along the expanse of it, while the other plays gently with his hair. You fall asleep in record time, perfectly at peace and exhausted from so much exertion.

-

When you wake up a few hours later, you’re still laying on your back, and although Sunghoon has drifted away, probably due to the heat in the room, your legs are still intertwined and he’s got an arm resting on your midriff. There’s nothing to let you know the time, so you look out the window and notice with panic that the sun has started to rise, which means it must be close to six a.m. You try to shake Sunghoon awake, but he just grumbles something incoherent and hugs you tighter to him, which you absolutely would have swooned over if you didn’t need to get back to your bungalow - and so you shake him harder.

“Sunghoon, wake up!” you say, far too quietly for it to actually wake him up, but he looks so cute asleep that it’d break your heart to wake him up too harshly.

“Why…” he whines, face buried in your neck and voice coming out muffled.

“I don’t want my father to notice that I’m gone,” you say, the aftertaste of the words bitter in your mouth.

“Why, what time is it?” he asks, slowly coming to his senses.

“I’m not sure, but he never wakes up late, so I don’t wanna risk it.” Your father, needing a real break from intense work days, had started waking up at 6:45 instead of 5:30 every morning. How relaxing.

“But I want you to stay,” Sunghoon grumbles, and you bless him for speaking your own thoughts but also curse him for making it harder to leave.

“I know, so do I. But I’ll see you later, okay?”

A beat. “Fine,” he sighs, then pushes himself off of you. He doesn’t look at you while you put your clothes back on and walk out of the room, but you know he can’t have fallen asleep again so quickly, so you’re terrified of having said or done something extremely wrong, but you can’t take it back now, so you just close the door behind you and rush back to your own bed.

The breakfast table is completely silent, the tension between you and your father clear to your mother, who doesn’t say anything, scared of accidentally adding fuel to the fire, and even to your sister, who eats her grapefruit quietly, darting her eyes back and forth between the three of you. Jay shows up from only God knows where and, not even trying to read the room, asks cheerfully what you’re all planning on performing at the show.

“We won’t be at the show,” your father says, making everyone’s heads snap towards him. “We’re leaving tomorrow morning, miss the weekend traffic.”

“We haven’t discussed this, honey,” your mother says just as Seeun whines, “But Daddy, we’ll miss the show!” You keep quiet, pretending the overcooked scrambled eggs on your plate are the most interesting thing you’ve ever seen. 

“It’s the biggest night of the season!” Jay chimes in, also trying to persuade him.

“Yeah, and I wanted to sing something!” your sister adds.

Your father looks back and forth between your mother’s and sister’s bewildered faces, then sighs and begrudgingly bows to their wishes. “Alright, alright, it was just an idea.”

A smile breaks on your mother’s face and Seeun clasps her hands together with a small noise of joy. “Perfect,” Jay exclaims, pointing a finger at you as he walks away. “Baby, I’ll need you for props.”

“So, Seeun, what songs do you have in mind?” your father asks and gets up, gesturing at your sister to follow him, although he looks completely uninterested. She practically jumps up from her seat and starts listing all her song ideas, leaving her half-finished breakfast behind.

You finish eating your own, making small talk with your mother for long enough so that she isn’t suspicious of your trying to escape, although you can tell she knows something is up and just won’t mention it. You thank her silently for it, and excuse yourself from the table to go check up on Chaewon.

When you get to her room, she’s still in bed, but isn’t sleeping and doesn’t look in pain anymore - she’s sitting up, flicking through a fashion magazine. She smiles brightly when she sees you at her door, discarding the magazine and extending her hands out to you.

“How are you feeling?” you ask as you take her hands in yours, crouching next to her bed.

“Much, much better,” she says, sounding relieved at her own answer. “You just missed your father. He’s an amazing man.”

You only have time to talk for a minute when the door opens once again to reveal Sunghoon. Seeing him creates a pit in your stomach, either from the memory of what you did last night or from the way you had to escape soon thereafter. You stand up straight, taking a few steps away from Chaewon. He looks at you briefly before turning his attention to her, and asks the same question you did moments prior.

“I’m feeling a lot better. Baby’s father says I’m still able to have children.”

“That’s great, Chaewon, that’s amazing,” Sunghoon says, sounding relieved.

“But what about you guys? How did the show go last night?” she asks, a hopeful expression on her face.

Sunghoon glances at you, and you avoid his gaze as best you can. “It went well,” he simply says, not explaining any further. 

“Yeah, I didn’t do the lifts, but other than that it went well.”

Chaewon looks at him, then at you, and all at once notices the awkward tension in the air - and she understands the situation as clearly as if it had been written out in black and white for her.

It’s silent for a few seconds until you speak. “Well, I guess I better go then… I’ll see you around.” You give Chaewon a small smile and head to the door, letting your eyes linger on Sunghoon before slipping out. But of course, you can’t actually bring yourself to leave, and sit on the stairs a few meters away from the door. From where you are, you can hear every word spoken inside the cabin.

“Sunghoon,” Chaewon starts.

“So, you’re feeling better, huh?”

“Sunghoon.”

“But you should still get some rest, right?”

“Sunghoon, stop it.” That shuts him up. “What are you doing? You’ve told me so many times not to get mixed up with them,” she says, sounding at once worried and reproachful.

“I know what I’m doing, alright?”

“Sunghoon, listen to me you gotta stop it, you know it’s not gonna end well-”

“I said I know what I’m doing,” he snaps, but seems to immediately regret it. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Chaewon, I just- you’re in no position to be worrying about me right now. I know what I’m doing. I trust her.” There’s a small silence, and you have no idea what expression Chaewon must be wearing right now. Is she unsure, satisfied, worried, angry? Is she nodding, trying to respect his decision, or looking like Sunghoon’s making the biggest mistake of his life? “I’ve gotta go, but I’ll see you later, alright? Rest up.”

“Alright, see you later, Hoon,” she says quietly, and when Sunghoon opens the door, he finds you waiting for him. You stand up and just look at him, unsure how to express what’s on your mind. You’d completely forgotten everything you had meant to tell him.

“Oh, hey, Baby,” he says upon seeing you.

“Hey.”

You both just stand there, staring at each other, no idea how to start the much-needed conversation.

“Look, I’ve got a uh, a lesson I need to go to right now, so…” he trails off.

“Right, right, no problem,” you say, nodding far too vigorously.

“But I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah, you will.”

Neither of you move for a few moments, and you feel like you’re completely stuck in place, unable to move until you’ve had the reassurance that things can stay as they were between you and Sunghoon. But he walks past you, already a few meters away when you gather the courage to call out his name, and he turns around so quickly, you dare to hope he might have been waiting for you to do so. You don’t say anything, you just smile, and hope he understands. He smiles back, an actual smile where his dimples appear and the corners of his eyes crinkle, and you know that for now at least, everything is okay.

-

“God, I am so sick of this rain,” your sister complains as she dabs powder on her face, covering up non-existent blemishes. All four of you are in the living room of your bungalow, resting after lunch and getting ready for the rest of the day. You and your father play a boring game of checkers, trying to make the tension disappear slowly, while your mother reads some detective novel.

“Where is my beige iridescent lipstick?” Seeun asks furiously, punctuating each of her words, as if that was the kind of everyday thing that lies about in everyone’s house.

Your father wins the game and looks relieved that it’s over more than anything. You pick up a light raincoat and head towards the door, but your mother calls out your name, stopping you in your tracks.

“Where are you going in this weather?” she asks with curiosity rather than wariness in her voice.

“They’re playing charades in the main lobby,” you reply casually, used to giving out random excuses by now.

“Quite the little joiner, are we?” your sister teases, and you’re not sure if she’s just making fun of you or if she knows you’re up to something but you ignore her anyway and walk out of the cabin.

You make your way to Sunghoon’s place as quickly as you can to avoid the rain. You had ran into him that morning and, when your parents weren’t looking, he let you know that he was free all afternoon with a smile that was as good as a spoken invitation.

He brings you into a hug as soon as you’ve closed the door behind you and presses a kiss to the top of your head, murmuring an apology into your hair. “I’m sorry I acted so awkwardly yesterday. You left so suddenly that night, and I was scared you regretted it…”

You lean back and gaze into his eyes. “I regret absolutely nothing, Sunghoon.”

He breathes out a relieved sigh, smiling as he nods. “Good. Me either.”

You press your lips to his, and although the kiss starts out slow and soft, it doesn’t take long for things to heat up. You let out a small yelp when Sunghoon lifts you up and carries you to the bed, laying you down gently on the mattress. He holds up to the promise he’d made the other night - namely, making you cum on his tongue and fingers as much as you want, or rather, as you soon find out, as much as he wants.

He starts by undressing you slowly, taking his time to revel in the sight of your naked body and the idea that it’s all for him. He only leaves your panties on, rubbing small circles over your clothed clit as he works his mouth on your nipples and breasts, paying each side its due attention. He then makes his way down, leaving warm kisses everywhere he can from your stomach to your inner thighs, and makes sure to work you up and have you squirming before actually slipping your panties off and giving you what you want. Once he’s wrapped his lips around your clit, it’s like he can’t get enough. With two fingers inside you, he sucks and licks at the sensitive bud for what feels like so long that you don’t know how his wrist and jaw don’t get tired. You don’t even try to count the number of times he makes you cum, simply taking every orgasm in stride, and even though you get so sensitive after a while, you’ve entered some sort of blissful, exhausted daze that you can’t bring yourself to break away from.

Afterwards, you’re lying next to Sunghoon, your head resting on his chest and grazing your fingernails up and down his arm while he plays with your hair. You’ve somehow managed not to fall asleep despite the tiredness filling your entire body, and you and Sunghoon talk quietly, the sound of the rain outside like a peaceful background song. You listen to him describe his dream of opening a dance school someday and choreographing professionally, then he listens as you talk about all the places you want to visit and the things you want to learn about the world. You share childhood memories and awkward first kiss anecdotes and compare your relationships with your parents and the similar sort of pressure they put on your shoulders, albeit for two very reasons.

“My dad especially, he just doesn’t understand that dancing can be an actual profession. He sees it as some kind of hobby I’ve had since I was a teenager and that it’ll pass soon when I realize I can’t make a living out of it. He completely ignores the fact I get paid more in three months here than in half-a-year with him, but he doesn’t mind taking the part of my salary I give our family when I come back, that’s for sure,” he chuckles humorlessly. “I’m scared he’ll think I’m betraying him if I don’t take up his carpentry business.”

“I was top of my class in elementary school, and my parents thought that meant I was the brightest little girl in the world and would grow up to achieve great things,” you explain in a joke-admirative voice. “And even if they tried not to say anything, I could see the disappointment on their faces when I brought home a B or was ranked third at a test. I’m happy I got into Yale, and that they can afford to pay for my studies, but it’s just gonna be even more pressure for four more years.” After a beat, you decide to add, “I can only forget about all of this when I’m with you. You just make all of my worries disappear for a while.”

The conversation takes a slightly sentimental tone as you tell each other what your first impression of the other was. You admit sheepishly to Sunghoon that you were attracted to him as soon as you saw him dancing with Chaewon that first night, and that you hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him after he danced with you, even though you found him a bit of an asshole the first couple of days he taught you the dance. You tell him you were sure he hated you at first, and he reveals that he didn’t at all.

“But I can see why you thought that. I just… I had never met anyone like you, Baby. Someone who thought she could just show up somewhere and decide to help a stranger out for no other reason than to help them out of the kindness of their heart. I didn’t know if you were the most foolish or the bravest person ever. And yeah, I’ll admit, I wasn’t the nicest to you at first. I kinda have this thing against… against rich people, I guess,” he says, chuckling softly. “For me, a wealthy person is like Max, or Jay, or all those ladies here. They use their wealth to get you to do what you want. But you’re not like that, and it took me a while to understand that. I’m sorry,” he finishes, pressing another kiss to your hair.

“No, no, it’s okay… I’m sorry they’ve all treated you like that. You deserve better.” He thanks you quietly and a comfortable silence settles between the two of you for a few minutes and you’re close to falling asleep when Sunghoon calls out your name.

“Hm?”

“What’s your real name?”

You raise your head to look at him and flash him a big smile. It’s been ages since someone asked you that, most people not bothering to question your nickname.

“It’s Y/N.”

“Y/N…” he echoes, gazing at you lovingly. “It fits you perfectly.”

You press a gentle kiss to his lips in response, and you think it’s gonna end at that, but Sunghoon pulls you back in right as you’re about to lean out, and you know you’re done for. You’re still extremely sensitive but that only adds to the pleasure of him filling you up, intertwining your fingers with him as you make love, his thrusts slow but deep and your bodies pressed flush against each other. Your heart is bursting with something that you can only recognize as love.

-

That night, as you’re on the verge of falling asleep, your sister says something that jolts you awake.

“I’ve decided to go all the way with Heeseung,” she says, a hint of a smile in her voice. 

You snap your head towards her. “What? Seeun, no, you shouldn’t-”

“I’ve already thought about everything. I want it to happen on the night of rehearsals, I know what I’ll wear-”

“No, Seeun, listen, you can’t do it with Heeseung, I’ve already told you he’s bad news!” you whisper-scream, trying to get some sense into her head without your parents overhearing.

“Who else with, then?” she whisper-shouts back.

“Just- I don’t know, but not with him, it needs to be with someone you actually love, someone you can trust-”

“I can trust Heeseung. I do trust him - more than I trust you, actually,” she says, the conversation taking another turn.

“Seeun-”

“No, Baby. You don’t actually care about this, or even about me. All you care about is that you’re not Daddy’s little girl anymore. He listens when I talk now.” She turns her back to you with a huff.

“Seeun-” you try again, but she’s already done talking.

“Goodnight.”

You want to find a way to stop your sister from wasting an important experience like having sex for the first time on a guy like Heeseung, but you also know that once she’s set her mind to something, it’s hard to stop Seeun from doing it. Maybe this will be a lesson for her to learn from, you think, trying to reassure yourself.

The next afternoon, when your parents are busy playing cards with another couple and Seeun is off somewhere with her friends, you sneak off to visit Sunghoon in his dance classroom. He has an hour free in between classes and you use that opportunity to mess around for a bit. You put on a song you both love and dance together whichever way you want, acting out and lipsyncing to the lyrics. You have fun teasing him by swerving your head when he leans in for a kiss or trailing your hand along his arms, shoulders and back.

The sound of loud footsteps coming up the stairs spoils your fun, and you quickly position yourself face to the mirror and pretend you’re practicing basic mambo moves while Sunghoon heads to the record player. The one and only Jay stands at the door and seems to falter for a second at seeing you here.

“Hey, Baby, taking dance lessons?” You simply nod at him. “I could teach you kid,” he says, mirroring your moves and dancing a few steps until Sunghoon makes the record scratch, stopping the music abruptly. Jay’s arms drop to the side and he gives you a look as if to say “check this guy out,” and you try not to roll your eyes at him. 

“Sunghoon,” he says, walking towards him with all the confidence of a boss talking to his employee. The addressee simply raises his chin at him, pretending to busy himself with the record player. “My grandfather put me in charge of the talent show, and I’ve been thinking about the final dance. I’d like to uh, you know, do something different-”

“Yeah?”

“Move with the times-”

“Yeah? That’s great, I’ve got plenty of ideas-” Sunghoon says, speaking so quickly he cuts himself off, but Jay’s smile drops instantly. “We’ve been working on something with the staff, it goes like-”

You watch in the mirror as Sunghoon dances a step you’ve never seen before, and it looks really cool but Jay shakes his head, gesturing at Sunghoon to quiet down like he would a kid, as if they weren’t the exact same age.

“Woah there, you’re way over your head, boy.” Sunghoon stands up straight once again, jaw locked tight. “I was thinking, instead of doing the last dance to the mambo, how about, this year, doing it to the pachanga?” Jay asks, looking at you with a smile and nodding, as if he’d just said the most revolutionary thing ever.

“Right,” Sunghoon says coldly, bursting Jay’s bubble.

“Well,” he says, clearing his throat, “you’re more than welcome to do the same tired number as the previous years, but I’m sure that next summer, we’ll find a dance instructor who’s-”

“The pachanga,” Sunghoon cuts him off, raising his voice over Jay’s. “Great idea, Jay, let’s do that.”

A satisfied smile grows on Jay’s lips as Sunghoon turns back to the record player, and he struts back towards you. When he’s close enough, he leans in and says conspiratorially, but still loud enough for Sunghoon to hear, “He’s, uh, a bit hard to get through to sometimes, but the ladies seem to like him.” He doesn’t realize that you’re one of said ladies. “Make sure you’re getting the full half-hour you’re paying, kid,” he says once he’s at the door, and slips out on that graceful note.

Sunghoon’s next class takes place on the gazebo, so you accompany him there, trying to keep up with his long strides made quicker by his frustration. “God, I just hate that guy, he has no idea what he’s talking about. He wouldn’t recognise a good idea if it hit him in the pachanga,” he huffs angrily.

“But can’t you just talk to him? I’m sure he’d listen if you’d just tell him-”

“Didn’t you see what happened, Baby? He won’t listen. I can’t get everything I want just by asking, he’s the one with the money, with the power, I can’t do anything-”

“But it isn’t right! You have to fight harder-”

“That’s not how it works for me, Baby-”

You let out a small gasp, interrupting Sunghoon whose head pivots towards you, but you take him by the shoulders and bring him down to a crouch next to you. He follows your gaze to find your father, leaving a building with Heeseung and Seeun. Your dad brings his arm around Heeseung and shakes his shoulder in a fatherly manner while Seeun looks at them with a smile. 

Sunghoon’s muscles tense in realization - you don’t want to be caught with him, especially not by your father. 

You’re completely oblivious to this, and stand back up when the three of them are out of sight. “Alright, I think they’re gone,” you say, and only realize what you’ve done when you see the tight expression on Sunghoon’s face.

“Fight harder, huh?”

You just messed up real bad. “No, Sunghoon, I was planning on telling him, I just haven’t yet-”

“I don’t believe you, Baby. I don’t think you’ve ever had the intention of telling him,” he says, shaking his head. His eyes look down at you harshly, and it hurts so much more now than when you’d just met. 

“Sunghoon, please-”

“I gotta go. I’ll see you later, Y/N.”

You watch Sunghoon’s shrinking figure, cursing yourself for your cowardice and for your inability to do exactly what you preach. Your father was already so disappointed in you for simply being friends with Sunghoon, so if he knew what you were actually up to, he might go and disown you.

A few hours with no one to spend them with get you thinking. You had always thought your father was the best man on earth. Funny, loving, kind, fair. But you now realize it might not be so - he is prejudiced towards people who aren’t like him and isn’t forgiving of others’ mistakes. He made you believe in a world where everyone should be equal, but he himself doesn’t treat everyone the same. 

You also hate what this is doing to Sunghoon. You, who had told him he deserved everything he wanted, weren’t even capable of holding his hand proudly for everyone to see. So, for Sunghoon’s sake as well as for your own, you have to tell your father how you feel for Sunghoon, and put up a fight if he tries to stop it.

But first, you had to find Sunghoon and apologize. It’s nearing dinnertime, and he shouldn’t be working anymore, so you go look for him in his room. He isn’t there, so you head to his dance studio, then the gazebo, and anywhere else you can think of where he might have classes. But he’s nowhere to find, and after half-an-hour of running around, your last option is to go ask Chaewon where Sunghoon might be. At least, you know she’ll be in her room, still recovering.

You take a second to catch your breath then knock on Chaewon’s door, then wait until she calls you in to open the door. “Hey, Chaewon, have you seen Sunghoon?” you ask, only realizing after you’ve said the words that it might be rude to be so direct, but you don’t have time to apologize because your eyes shift to the other person in the room, who is, of course, Sunghoon himself. He stands up from his seat on the armchair in the corner, looking at you with an unreadable expression. He could be anywhere on a scale where one extreme is ‘he hates you and never wants to talk to you again’ and ‘he has never been so relieved to see you’ and you’d have no idea.

“Can we, um, talk? Outside, if it’s okay?” you ask, eyes darting back and forth between Sunghoon and Chaewon. She smiles and jerks her head towards the door, silently telling Sunghoon to go with you. He purses his lips and nods, following you outside and closing the door behind him.

He rests his palms on the banister of the front porch, looking out at the lawn and the resort buildings in the distance. You stand behind him, bringing your palms up to his arms and kissing his shoulder. He closes his eyes and sighs, basking in your touch despite himself. “I’m sorry, Sunghoon. I’m sorry.” 

He turns around, gazing down at you with that unreadable expression on his face. “It’s okay. I understand.”

When he kisses you, the relief in your bones is like nothing else, better even than coming home to your bed after a long, tiring day, or than getting a good grade on a test you thought you’d failed. Your arms wrap around his neck while his find their way to your waist, and you revel in the closeness of your bodies and the taste of his lips, like mint and something uniquely Sunghoon that you can’t ever get enough of.

But unfortunately, you stay long enough in this position to attract the attention of a one-man audience. “Damn, guess I picked the wrong sister,” you hear Heeseung chuckle, and when you pull away from Sunghoon, you see that insufferable smirk on his face. How you wish you could just smack it off of there. “Didn’t know you put out like that, Baby.”

It all happens so quickly, you don’t have time to understand what’s going on, let alone stop Sunghoon from jumping over the banister. He stomps over to Heeseung, grabbing him by the collar and shaking hard. 

“Repeat what you just said, I dare you,” he says in a low, menacing voice, face close to Heeseung’s. The latter’s smirk falters for just a split second before coming back, as if incapable of not looking like an arrogant asshole for more than a few seconds at a time.

“I said,” Heeseung starts, “that I hadn’t thought Baby was so fucking easy.”

Heeseung has barely finished speaking that Sunghoon has raised his fist back, ready to strike the insolent expression off of the boy’s face. It’d be satisfying, that’s for sure, but it wouldn’t be worth risking his job, so you call out his name and make him stop in his tracks. He doesn’t look back at you, though, just keeps his hard gaze fixated on Heeseung, breathing heavily in anger.

“Sunghoon, please,” you repeat, pleading with him. 

“So, what’s it gonna be, loverboy?” Heeseung teases, but Sunghoon just drops his fist and pushes him away, making him stumble a few steps back. 

“You’re not worth it,” Sunghoon practically spits, sending one last cold look his way before walking back to you.

You don’t care enough to check how Heeseung reacts, just watching Sunghoon make his way back to you, relieved nothing happened. He stands in front of the banister, the height difference allowing you to hug his head to your chest and you press a kiss to the top of his head, whispering in his hair that you’re proud of him.

Soon afterwards, you have to head back to the building where the talent show will happen. He could do it anywhere else, but Sunghoon decides to plan out his performance in the same room, using the excuse of needing to see the stage just to stay around you. 

You’re painting some sort of fake coconut tree while competitors rehearse their performance, your sister by far the loudest of them. You try not to cringe as her dissonant voice reverbs around the room, but nobody pays her too much attention. It’s hard not to steal glances every two seconds at Sunghoon, and you tell yourself that he just looks especially good today in his tight black t-shirt and black jeans, but you also know he looks good everyday. His gaze also strays towards you more often than not, and you try not to burst into giggles every time your eyes meet, not wanting to raise any suspicion. 

This room is also where a group of men play their games of poker, and since it was big enough to host all of you, they had decided to stay there even through the preparations, sure that it wouldn’t disrupt their game. 

The not-staring takes on another level of difficulty when a lady you recognize as Vivian Kim leaves her spot standing behind her husband at the poker table to make her way to Sunghoon, walking in a fashion far too languorous for your taste. 

From where you are, you can’t hear exactly what she says, but it’s not hard to guess - an invitation to spend the night with her while her husband is busy, one last time before she leaves the resort and goes home.

Sunghoon stays silent but that doesn’t seem to deter her, and she flashes him a lurid smile before walking back to the poker table. He turns his head to check if you’ve seen what happened, but you look away from him and back at your coconut tree, hoping the jealousy you’re feeling isn’t written all over your face. 

Vivian’s husband calls out Sunghoon’s name, waving him over good-naturedly. You watch once again as Sunghoon walks over to the table and as Mr Kim pulls out dollar bills from his wallet. “Tonight’s the final poker tournament, so how about some dance lessons for my wife?” he asks, and you can’t tell from his tone whether he thinks that dance lessons really are what his money is paying for or if he knows what’s actually going on.

Sunghoon takes the money and Mr Kim smiles at him, returning to the game, but Sunghoon just stands there, staring at the bills in his hands, then to Vivian, behind him to you, and finally back at Mr Kim. “Thanks, Mr Kim, but I’m all booked up for the rest of the week ‘cause of the show, so I don’t think it’d be fair to take the money.”

Mr Kim nods as Sunghoon hands him back the cash, saying he appreciates his honesty. Vivian looks at him, eyes wide, obviously surprised at his sudden refusal. Sunghoon walks back to his seat, sending a small smile your way, and you try your best not to gloat. 

-

In the past few days, it’s become a bit of a habit to sneak out of your bungalow and rush to Sunghoon’s when your family has gone to sleep. Except tonight, what you don’t know is that Seeun hears you, because she’s planning on doing the exact same thing and paying Heeseung a visit. You’re already with your own lover when she heads out of the room, skipping in excitement and anticipation the whole way there. She’s applied lotion to her entire body, sprayed perfume to her neck, wrists and ankles, and has read all the sex advice columns of her favorite magazines - she’s more than prepared for this.

She reaches the door. Takes a deep breath in, stands up straight. Calls out, “Heeseung, it’s me!” but no answer comes. So she opens the door slightly, and almost drops her bag at the sight in front of her, gasping loudly. She has just enough reflex to close the door again and rest her back against it, taking a few seconds to let it sink in before running back to her bed, where she promptly explodes into tears.

Now more than ever, she wishes her sister was here, whether to comfort her or to say “I told you so.” She wishes you were here to help her make sense of finding Vivian Kim and Heeseung naked together in his bed when he had spent weeks making her believe he wanted to be with her and her only. She wishes you would curse him out and call him all the names she wants to but doesn’t have the courage to.

But unfortunately, you’re not there with her. Instead, you’re with Sunghoon, laying together in bed, your head resting on his chest and your legs intertwined. You’re both spent from a night of lovemaking and from your shower that was supposed to be innocent but quickly turned steamy. You wake up at dawn, knowing you’ll have to go soon but heart breaking at the thought of tearing yourself from Sunghoon’s warm embrace. You press soft kisses to his neck and whisper his name, trying to wake him up gently. His eyes stay closed as he tightens his arms around you and pleads with you to stay just a little bit longer, and you’re not strong enough to say no.

“I had a dream earlier where your father called me ‘son’ and put his arm around me like he did with Heeseung earlier.” His morning voice is raspy from sleep and sends butterflies straight to your stomach.

“I’m sorry, Sunghoon,” you hum. “I’ll talk to him today. I’ll tell him about you.”

You feel his chest rise up then down as he sighs. “I thought about it, and I feel like it’d make things even worse if he knew about us. He just seems to think I’m a bad guy, for some reason, and me being with his daughter will only make him hate me more.”

“But you’re not a bad guy. You’re the best guy,” you say, voice slightly whiny. You’re too sleepy to come up with a better reply, and it makes Sunghoon chuckle.

“Thanks, Baby.” He presses a kiss to your hair, and it’s become such a familiar gesture that you’re not sure how you’ll live without it once you go home.

It’s not long before you have to head back to your bungalow, and Sunghoon walks you outside, slotting his lips with yours for one last time this morning and making plans to meet up later. You don’t pay attention to anything other than him - not to the slight breeze picking up, or the sun rising, or the staff bungalows, off to the side from Sunghoon’s. But not paying attention means not noticing a figure standing on one of those staff bungalows, not seeing her eyes squinting at yours and Sunghoon’s embrace, first recognising him, and, once her initial shock wears off, recognising you. Because of course, just like you, Vivian Kim has to leave Heeseung’s bungalow before anyone notices - except that in your case, someone notices you.

And the consequences of it appear only a few hours later, as your family are having a late breakfast with Max and Jay. When the conversation first begins, you don’t think it’ll be of much importance to you.

“You know that feeling when you look at a patient and think he’s all fine, but then you get his x-rays and something’s completely wrong?” Max starts, addressing your father. “That’s exactly what it is to find out one of your staff, a trusted one at that, is a thief.”

“What happened, Max?” your father asks, eyebrows furrowed.

“Mr Kim’s wallet was stolen,” Max simply says, sighing. Jay jumps on the opportunity to explain the story himself, leaning in conspiratorially.

“It happened yesterday night when he was playing poker. One minute, his wallet was right there in his coat pocket, hanging on his chair behind him, and the next, it wasn’t.” Your sister lets out a small gasp.

“Vivian says she saw that dance kid Sunghoon walk by,” Max continues, and your head snaps up at the mention of Sunghoon’s name. “So we go and ask him if he’s got an alibi, and he says he was in his room alone all night, reading.”

Jay snorts. “There is not a single book in Sunghoon Park’s room.”

The whole time, you’re shaking your head slightly, unable to believe that Sunghoon might be wrongfully framed for this. You turn towards Jay, a pleading expression on your face. “Listen, there’s been a mistake, there’s no way Sunghoon did it-”

“There’s been similar thefts at the Sheldrake and even here. Three wallets stolen, and now Mr Kim’s!”

“No, I know he didn’t do it-”

“Stay out of it, Baby!” Jay snaps at you. You look at him in disbelief, because of the way he just talked to you, because of what they’re accusing Sunghoon of, but above all because it’s inconceivable that your parents ever wanted to set you up with a guy like him. Entitled, judgmental, unkind.

But you can’t just stay out of it - this concerns Sunghoon, and if you can stop it from happening, you’ll do everything so that he doesn’t lose his job over a false accusation. So you turn towards your father and Max, and plead Sunghoon’s case.

“I know Sunghoon didn’t take Mr Kim’s wallet, I know.”

“How can you be so sure?” your father asks.

“I-I can’t tell you, but Daddy, please, you have to trust me.”

Your father sighs, turning his attention back to his plate. “I’m sorry, Baby, but I can’t.”

“But- it could’ve been anyone else,” you continue, looking at Max now that your father avoids your gaze. “Maybe it was- oh, maybe it was that little old couple, the Schumachers, I saw her with a couple of wallets-”

“The Schumachers? Impossible,” Max refutes as your father furrows his eyebrows at you, raising his voice slightly.

“You don’t go around accusing innocent people, Baby!”

“But I saw them, I saw them at the Sheldrake- you said something was stolen at the Sheldrake, right?” you say, turning towards Jay again, your voice growing desperate.”

“Listen, Baby,” Max cuts in, voice calm but firm, “I’ve got an eyewitness and the kid has no alibi. Come on, Jay, let me show you how to fire an employee.”

You catch his wrist before he can turn away and gulp, preparing yourself for what you were about to say. “Wait a minute. I know Sunghoon didn’t do it, I know it, because he was in his room all night, and I know that because,” you pause for a second, risking a glance at your father, “because I was there with him.”

The table goes silent. You can feel yourself weighing down under the heavy gazes of everyone seated. After a few seconds that feel like an eternity, Max clears his throat and awkwardly says, “Right, well, we’ll investigate some more in light of these news-”

He’s cut off by the screech of your father’s chair being roughly pushed back. You watch as your father leaves the room, steam coming out of his ears, and you can only hope revealing the truth will be worth it in the end.

After giving your father some time to cool off, you find him in the empty gazebo, looking out at the lake. The water is still except for the parts where ducks dip their heads in and back out. Even now that the rain has stopped pouring every day, clouds still render the sky a blinding white, and the sun only appears now and then when they part enough to let a ray through. There’s a slight breeze that makes leaves flutter around, and you need to tighten your light cardigan around your shoulders.

You know he sees you approaching, but he keeps his gaze fixated on the lake, even when you call out to him. 

“I told you I wasn’t lying about Sunghoon,” you start. “But I’m sorry I lied about the money. I’m not proud of myself for that, you know. But you lied too,” you say, and he finally looks at you, awaiting an explanation. “You told me everyone deserved a fair break, but you meant everyone like you. You said I could change the world, but you meant by becoming a lawyer, or an economist, and marrying someone from Harvard!”

He closes his eyes as if in pain, then looks back out to the lake, staying silent. “I made a mistake. There’s things about me you don’t know, and things you might not like, but I’m in this family too, and if you love me, you’ll have to love my faults too.” Your voice shakes and your eyes start to water. Seeing your father’s eyes do the same only adds to the difficulty of saying what you want to say.

“Because I love you, Daddy, and I’m sorry I let you down, but you let me down too!” Your voice completely breaks on those last words, and you turn away, letting your feet guide you wherever before your dad can hear the sob that escapes your throat. You know your dad’s silent treatment won’t last for long, so you leave him in the gazebo to think and cry as much as he needs to.

Your body must have developed new instincts, because soon enough, you find yourself in Sunghoon’s cabin, unsure how you even got here. His things are still there, which reassures you of the fact that he hasn’t left yet. You pace back and forth in the room for a few minutes until your emotions suddenly come crashing down, all the stress and tension and strung feelings, leaving behind only exhaustion. You lay on Sunghoon’s bed, thinking you’ll just close your eyes for a few minutes. But when you open them again, they fall on Sunghoon’s face, and you have no idea how long you’ve been there.

“Sunghoon?” you murmur.

“I have been looking for you all over,” he says, crouching in front of you, and gives you time to sit up and rub the sleep out of your eyes. “You were right about the Schumachers. Fingerprinted their glasses. Turns out they were wanted in a bunch of other states for theft too. They found them when they were already trying to leave the resort,” he explains, and your smile grows wider and wider as he speaks. 

“Oh my God, that’s amazing! I knew it’d work out!”

But Sunghoon diverts his gaze down, unable to match your euphoric expression. “I’m out, Baby.”

You quickly put two and two together. “They fired you anyway because of me.” 

“And if I leave quietly, I get my summer bonus,” he says sarcastically.

Your anger makes you stand up, walk to one corner of the room then back, your voice rising on its own accord. “So I did it all for nothing, then? I hurt my family, you lost your job anyway - it was all for nothing!”

“It was not for nothing!” Sunghoon exclaims, volume matching yours. “Nobody has ever done anything like that for me!” He searches your eyes for the reassurance that everything that happened this summer was worth it, but he only finds sorrow in them.

“You were right, Sunghoon,” you say with a sad smile, voice lowering to a hum, “you can’t change anything no matter how hard you try.”

“No, Baby,” he says, walking towards you, “I don’t want that from you, you hear me? You can. You can do whatever you want.”

Your gazes stay locked in each other for a few painful moments until it becomes unbearable and you have to look away. “I used to think so too.”

There’s nothing left to say. You watch silently as Sunghoon begins packing the few belongings he has in two small suitcases and a rucksack, then help out when the passivity starts to make your muscles ache. He hasn’t got much, so he’s done in just a few minutes, and you don’t realize you have tears pooling in your eyes until Sunghoon himself notices and wordlessly takes you in his arms.

You’re heading to his car when he suddenly stops in his tracks, saying he has something he needs to do first. You don’t question it, just agree to wait for him. It’s not like you’ve got anything better to do anyway.

A few minutes later, unbeknownst to you, Sunghoon is knocking on your cabin’s door. Just as he’d hoped, your father is the one to open the door, squinting his eyes meanly at the young man behind it as soon as he realizes who he is. Your father stays silent as he stares Sunghoon down, making a chill run down Sunghoon’s neck. He clears his throat before speaking. “Doctor, I-” he starts, already cutting himself off to take off his sunglasses. “I’m going anyway, and I know what you must be thinking-”

“You don’t know anything about me,” your father interrupts, shaking his head in disdain at Sunghoon. “Anything at all.”

Sunghoon had really wanted to stay calm and focused, to just say what he wanted to stay, but now that he’s leaving, he has no reason to put up with the blatant disrespect and contempt of the clients and higher-ups any longer. “I know you want Baby to be like you. An admirable person, the kind people look up to, but if you could just see, she’s already like that-”

“I know my daughter far better than you do, so don’t you tell me what to see,” your father practically barks, unable to contain his anger. “What I see right now is someone who got his partner in trouble and sent her off to some butcher, then moved on to a younger, innocent girl like my Baby.”

Rather than frustrated, Sunghoon’s eyes grow tired and sad. There’s no fight left in him anymore - he can see he won’t be able to change your father’s mind, there’s no point even trying. “Yeah, I guess that’s what you would see,” he murmurs before walking away, back to you, the only person who’s ever wanted to truly understand him.

And then it’s goodbye. 

While you were waiting, you kicked pebbles, brooding over the fact that your already shortening time with Sunghoon was getting cut off even more. But as soon as you see him, those thoughts evaporate, and you’re left with bittersweetness in your mouth. You spent the most incredible summer with him by your side, and even though it’s coming to an end, maybe the experience and the memories are all that matters.

Sunghoon closes the trunk when he’s done packing it, and walks over to where you’re standing, back against the passenger door, arms crossed over your chest. He rests his forearm on top of the car and neither of you are able to look the other in the eye for fear of emotion overwhelming you.

“Guess we took them all by surprise, huh?” you say, trying on a light-hearted tone to dissolve the tension in the air.

“Guess we did,” he chuckles quietly, risking a glance up at you. Your eyes meet and before you can break down, you turn your body towards his, nesting your face in the crook of his neck. He presses a kiss to your hair like a hundred times before and it’s enough to make your heart break. 

“I don’t know what I’ll do without you around.”

He rests his chin on the top of your head. “You’ll just have more time for card games and croquet,” he jokes, but you can’t laugh. “And Jake and Chaewon will still be around.” It’s silent for a few more minutes, and you try to commit the feeling of him against you and the smell of his skin to memory. “I’ll never be sorry,” he finally says, voice muffled by your hair.

“Neither will I,” you whisper against his neck.

He inhales deeply and tears himself away, gazing down at you sadly. With his thumb, he wipes a tear as it drops down your cheek, and presses his lips to yours in one last kiss, tasting the saltiness of your heartbreak. “I’ll see you around, Baby,” he says against your lips, forehead resting against yours. But he can’t linger - it would only make this impossible moment even harder.

Your vision is too blurry for you to see properly as he walks to the other side of the car and disappears in the driver’s seat. In a matter of seconds, his car becomes a fuzzy black dot in the distance, and you’ve no choice but to walk back to the place that made you discover love only to rip it from your hands.

-

The three days until the talent show feel like eternity. Counting down the minutes until you leave doesn’t make time go by any faster, but you don’t feel like doing anything else. You hang out with Chaewon and Jake and their friends when they’re free, going back with them to the staff main quarters one night, and even though the music is the same as the first time, Sunghoon’s absence changes everything. You can’t dance without imagining his hands on your waist and his voice guiding you through the steps. 

Seeun is also a lot nicer to you. She tells you what happened with Heeseung, and it’s like your shared love troubles bring you closer, reminding you that you’re not so different after all. As you get ready to go watch the talent show, she sits next to you on the bed, offering to do your hair. But then she takes a strand of it in her hands, trailing her fingers through it, and looks at you with a soft smile. “You know what, I think it looks perfect just like that.” 

You mirror her smile and drop your head to her shoulder. You stay like this for a few seconds, words unnecessary to understand each other. “You’ll do great tonight, Seeun. I can’t wait to watch you.”

“I know,” she replies, making you both giggle. “Now let’s go, it’ll start soon.”

You’re not surprised to see that your parents have chosen to seat you in a corner, trapped between a wall and your father. Practically the same thing, you think, but you’re wise enough to keep the comment to yourself. 

The performers have gathered in a line on the stage, your sister included, to sing the resort’s last day song as a conclusion to the show now that Sunghoon isn’t here to do the final dance. Max even gets his own solo. The song goes on for far too long to your taste, so you take the time to look around the room.

The lights are dim, save for the ones on the stage so that the focus of the audience stays on the performers, and wall fixtures next to the exits so they can be found easily. Chairs have been brought to the center of the room right in front of the stage while tables line the walls, candles adorning each one. Staff don’t get seats - instead, they stand at the back of the room, their backs against the wall as they watch the stage with boredom written all over their faces. You catch Jake’s eyes and he winks at you, a mischievous smile on his face, and you chalk it up to his usual playfulness.

Heeseung walks near your table, and your father stands up, calling out to him. He gets something that looks like an envelope out of his pocket, handing it to him. “Good luck in medical school, son.” Heeseung takes the envelope, looking down at it with a smile, and your father rests a hand on his shoulder.

“Thank you so much, Doc,” Heeseung beams. “And I also wanted to thank you for your help with the Chaewon situation, I guess we’ve all gotten into messes like these, huh?” Your father stands with his back to you, so you can only imagine the way his smile falls and his eyes harden.

“What?”

Heeseung’s smile falters slightly and he chuckles awkwardly. “I-I thought Baby told you… Look, it’s what Chaewon said, but I’m not sure, you never know with girls like that, they could pin it on anyone-”

Your father snatches the envelope back from Heeseung’s hands, glaring at him, and walks back to his seat next to you without a word. It’s only now that you understand your father’s dislike of Sunghoon - he had been certain Sunghoon was the one who had gotten Chaewon into such trouble. How could you have missed that? All this time, you thought it was just because Sunghoon was part of the staff and didn’t come from your world. Regret and frustration bubble up in your stomach. So many misunderstandings could’ve been avoided if only you had known what your father thought.

It’s only after a few minutes that he breaks the silence. “I’m sorry, Baby.”

You take a deep breath in. “Thank you, but I’m not the one you need to apologize to, Daddy.”

He turns his head to look at you. “You’re right. You’re right,” he sighs.

Just then, Jake walks past your table and towards the stage, disappearing behind the curtains on the side. You lift your head, trying to see what he’s up to, but the sound of the doors at the back of the room opening and closing loudly catches your attention. It seems to catch everybody’s attention - you hear small gasps and small murmurs of a familiar name, and your mind directly lands on the possibility, but you don’t believe it until you see it standing right in front of you, a hand reaching out to you - Sunghoon’s here.

“Nobody puts Baby in a corner.”

You take his hand and let him guide you away from the table. You’re so enchanted by seeing him again that you barely notice your mother having to keep your father from stopping you. Together, you climb up the small set of stairs, walking past the performers and standing in the middle of the stage, the music stopping abruptly. His voice booms throughout the room when he speaks.

“Sorry for the disruption folks, but I always do the last dance of the season. This year, I was told not to. So I’m gonna do my kind of dancing with a great partner. Not only is she an amazing dancer, but she also taught me that people will stand for other people no matter what it costs them, and about the kind of person I want to be myself. Miss Y/N Y/L/N, everyone.” 

Whoops emerge from the back of the room where the staff are standing and you watch as Sunghoon walks to the side of the stage, discarding his leather jacket and exchanging a nod with Jake. The music starts to play - it’s a song you’ve heard before, a song you know well because you’ve danced to it many times with Sunghoon. It’s a song you love. 

He walks towards you, a smirk on his face, eyes heavy with desire. He places his hands on your waist, your own coming up to his forearm, and dips you backwards in a circle, which elicits more cheers from the dancers. He then stands behind you, imitating the starting position of the dance for your performance at the Sheldrake. The music picks up, and after that, it’s like magic. You and Sunghoon know exactly what to do, a mix of the choreography he’d taught you and of other moves you had picked up when you just danced together for fun. All the steps and turns come to you as if you know this dance by heart, and the whole time, you’re looking into each other’s eyes as they shine with happiness.

Sunghoon makes you spin away from him, and, your arm extended between you two, brings your hand up to his lips and places a delicate kiss to the back of it. Then, he jumps off the stage, prompting gasps and cheers from all around the room, and makes his way while dancing to the back of the room, where the dancers join him. Seconds before the second chorus is about to start, some of them run to you and help you off the stage, and Sunghoon nods at you from the middle of the room. So you run to him, gathering momentum until you reach him and he picks you up, lifting you from the ground up into the air, and you manage to keep your bird-like position for a few seconds. A huge smile breaks on your face as everybody cheers, your mother and sister clapping excitedly and even your father looking at you, astonished, proud. 

Sunghoon brings you back down slowly, grinning as he gazes at you with only love in his eyes. “I knew you could do it,” he whispers.

The staff starts to invite the guests to dance with them, pushing chairs to the side and getting people to stand up. Jake shows Seeun how to move, reminiscent of the way Sunghoon had done with you, your mother and Jay dance together, and the whole room turns into a dancefloor where couples and small groups can let go and move however they want to. 

You and Sunghoon head to the exit to find a quieter place, but your father calls out to you before you can slip away. “I found out you weren’t the one to get Chaewon in trouble.” Sunghoon simply nods. “I was wrong. I apologize,” he says solemnly, and the corners of Sunghoon’s lips tug slightly upwards.

“Thank you, Doctor Y/L/N.”

Your father’s eyes drift to you, and his polite expression turns affectionate. “You looked great up there, Baby.” You sigh, relief washing over your whole body and alleviating the weight on your heart. You let go of Sunghoon’s hands to wrap your arms around your father’s neck, and he takes you in a brief but tight hug.

“I’ll let you two go now. I need to find your mother, haven’t danced with her in ages. That’s something else I can thank you for,” he says, smiling down at you.

You watch him walk away for a few seconds until Sunghoon takes your hand in his again, and you slip out the doors to the front lawn. Outside, you close your eyes and take a deep breath of fresh air in, laughing for no reason other than simple joy when your eyes meet his.

He leads you to the gazebo and brings his hands to your waist again. The song is nearing its end but you can still hear it drifting through the open doors and windows of the room. You know that even when it’s over, it’ll keep playing in your head - and in your heart.

Just like you’ll always keep Sunghoon there.

You move slowly to the rhythm of the last chorus, gazing into each other’s eyes. You want to enjoy this moment for what it is, but the fact that you’re leaving tomorrow won’t leave your thoughts. This might very well be the last time you and Sunghoon ever dance together, or ever see each other. You can give each other your address and send letters, or exchange home phone numbers and call, but how long will that last? You’ll go to college while he goes home and starts working with his father again, or finds a way to fulfill his dream.

He probably sees the sadness in your eyes and brings you closer to him. He doesn’t say anything, but he doesn’t need to - you know the same thoughts are cramping his mind. Words are unnecessary, and promises are futile, so for now, you forget everything else, and focus on the sway of your bodies and on his hands holding you tight against him.

Resting the side of your head on his shoulder, you look up at the night sky. The stars are shining bright, unbothered by any clouds, and the full moon gazes down at you protectively. Even when you’re apart, you and Sunghoon will still sleep under the same moon every night. You may be just one of the many love stories she’s witnessed, but you dare to think that yours is a special one, one that can’t be reproduced, one that is uniquely yours.

You continue to dance even when the song is over, letting your bodies bask in the moonlight.

fic taglist: @jaetaimjadore @sleepingsag permanent taglist: @ozymandia-s @bbujiikseu @sunghoonmybeloved @lalalalawon @sd211 © asahicore on tumblr, 2023. please do not plagiarize, repost or translate my works. feedback and reblogs are always appreciated!

[dronebiscuitbat]

Oil is Thicker Then Blood (Part 4)

Uzi was near silent on the way back to her apartment, rubbing a hole into the plastic strap of the bag she was holding. N was equally so, committing to memory the tiny droneling he'd held in his arms, and how serene Uzi had looked while feeding her.

When she got to the door she stopped for a moment, turning to N.

“My Dad's probably home by now, don't mention the nursery stuff to him. He'll probably be all “aww look at my daughter being soft.” And then I'll have to throw up.” Her voice was monotone and guarded. Prepped for talking with her dad, N nodded.

The door opened, revealing Khan milling about the kitchen, making some kind of drink that was radioactive blue. Humming cheerily to himself.

“Hey Dad, I'm back.” Her words immediately had bite, N had to surpress a laugh at how typical that was.

“Hey kiddo! How… was… uh.” His sentence died in his throat as he turned around, eyes falling on N before his own daughter. That somehow was even more typical.

“Hi Mr. Doorman.” N replied, smile a mile wide and politeness leaking through his voice, he hoped he was somewhat changing whatever opinion he had of him.

“Uh… Hello, er N. What brings you here?” Khan awkwardly fumbled his words, eyes flicking from him to his daughter, who looked already completely finished with the conversation.

“He stayed the night dad. You'd know that if you paid any attention to me.” She rolled her eyes, pushing past him to get to her room.

“He what…? In your room!?” N had not been so impolite, so now Khan was in-between them, but turned in the direction of his daughter, looking concerned and angry.

“Yep. In my room.” She deadpanned, turning back to look at him, N could see the parental panic rising in him, so he decided to take action.

“I was overheating this morning, I needed somewhere to stay until the sun went down. Totally unplanned, otherwise I would have asked.” He smiled again at Khan, trying to give the man respect.

Khan looked suspicious, still glancing between the two before sighing, shaking his head.

“Uzi, I really would like to know when you have a friend over. Especially a boy.” N felt himself stiffen, although that was super fair, he wasn't sure he'd be entirely okay with that either if he had a daughter.

Why did he think of Tera?

“I'm sorry Mr. Doorman, it really was an emergency.” He explained. Ignoring Uzi's attempts to blow off her dad. “And if it makes you feel better I would never hurt your daughter, she's my best friend.” He added, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Uzi fluster.

She was always so shy about being vulnerable.

“I-I It does… actually. I'll admit I don't know a lot about you N. How… do you feel about my daughter?” Khans question wasn't accusatory, which was a great sign in N's book. And even better, this question was easy!

“She's awesome!” He replied simply, not knowing how better to explain how dear she was to him.

“N!” She hissed, crossing her arms and looking away embarrassed.

“What? You are!” He replied, turning back to Khan who looked deliberative.

“Thats not exactly… ah well, I suppose that is an answer.” Khan then seemed as if he was reassured, if only a little, and turned to N again, smiling even if it was wary.

“Then maybe we should sit down and talk sometime. If my daughter has friends, I aught to get to know them.” N beamed, this was what he'd wanted! If Khan liked him, maybe he could hang around Uzi more!

“I wouldn’t mind that, Mr. Doorman. “

“N, come on, I wanna get this stuff sat down!” Uzi called his attention, and they both disappeared behind Uzi's bedroom door, leaving Khan as he started. Alone.

Was he really okay with this? Letting a murder drone into his home to “hang out” with his daughter? He was conflicted, on one hand, he was happy his daughter had actually made a friend, he was concerned that she'd end up being alone one day. On the other, N was a disassembly drone, He'd killed so many worker drones, so many of his friends, and was part if the squad that took Nori from him.

He sighed, he would have to sit down with the boy after all, if only quell some of these thoughts.

“Ugh… Dad is so nosy!” Uzi cried out, throwing herself into her chair and the bag into her fridge, spinning the chair around in irritation.

“He's just worried about you. I'm not exactly the safest thing around.” N pointed out, still standing just inside the door, gesturing to himself with his hands.

“He left me for dead, he doesn't get to be worried. And also you are! I always feel safe with you.” At the end if that sentence, she blushed, spinning her chair sway from him so he couldn't see. She hadn't intended that to be anything but internal.

“Aww, Uzi.” He grinned, knowing she would be embarrassed at herself for saying that. But more than that, he felt warm, knowing that he made Uzi of all drones feel safe. Even though she could probably easily kick his ass, was a very nice feeling.

“Bite me, your sappiness is rubbing of on me.” She mumbled, before spinning back around in her chair. Still looking upset.

“My dad…he left me to die the day we met. He was fully willing to let you do whatever you wanted to me.” She said, her voice small.

“But now that we're friends, he thinks he can boss you around?! He's lucky you didn't eat me like you were supposed to! He should be groveling at your feet! Not treating you like some… teenage boy trying to get in my pants!” She yelled, stamping her foot, for a moment the solver symbol appeared in her eye, not that she noticed.

“We don't have-”

“Figure of speech.” She clarified before giggling “And we're both adults, if you wanna completely tear it down.”

They both laughed, N looking around for somewhere to sit before deciding the floor worked just fine. He plopped down, sitting cross legged with his tail in his lap.

“Almost adults, I'm just 19.” He said, startling her a little. Huh.

“Wait really? I thought you were older?”

“Nah, well I mean. Yes? Uh, Tessa, the girl who rebuilt me, found me in a junkyard. So I guess I'd have to been around awhile? But I don't remember what my life was like before that.”

“And that was 19 years ago so… uh.”

Oh wow, he could have lived an entire life before we was rebuilt. Did that count? Was he like 60 or something? Ew… that would make his and Uzi's friendship kinda weird.

“I mean… the version of you in your memories looked pretty young, older drones tend to be boxier, my guess is that you had some sort of defect. Like V and her vison.” Uzi said, making him feel better, he didn't feel 60 either, 19 felt right. He was completely reset when Tessa rebuilt him, so it had to be.

“Right, and J with her uh… aggressiveness.” He replied, he had quite a bit more to say about her, but that would be impolite.

“I mean, I'm only 18, and you had the same body type as Thad, who's the same age as me. 19 is probably right. Was there anything you struggled with when coming online?” She asked, cocking her head to the side, the chair and her hovering over him.

He thought for a moment, before something hit him. Literally, his tail had swung up and had hit him in the face. Uzi supressed a laugh, he found himself blushing, weather at his own screw up or how weirdly pretty her laugh sounded.

“I was clumsy. I am clumsy.”

“That would be it. Can't have an accident prone worker. You were probably decommissioned pretty soon after assembly… damn humans.” Her face fell, although she was still hovering over him, she no longer looked at him. Although he had to admit, she looked really nice from this angle.

Huh, that was a different thought. But he didn't disagree with it, he had thought that way about a lot of drones at prom. Everyone had been so dapper!

Still, the room fell into a comfortable silence, it was dark by now, he had no more reason to stay. But he found himself not wanting to leave. Besides it's not like if he went home V would even talk to him.

The spire had been so lonely lately.

“I'm still thinking about Tera.” Uzi broke the silence, head resting on one of her hands, her eyes glancing over at the door as if her dad could hear through it.

“She's so cute…” N immediately replied, his core immediately beginning to melt at the thought of the baby drone.

“Yeah, but that's not what I was thinking.” She hummed, using her solver to lazily open her fridge and crack open a cannister of oil, putting a straw in it.

“Her parents just, abandoned her, and they didn't even have the decency to name her!” Her frustration was clear, and N for once felt himself share it. Tera was the cutest thing alive, she deserved awesome parents! Not people who would just create her and then dump her.

“I like the name Tera though.” Is all he said, keeping a lid on his frustration for now, besides, Uzi was expressing enough of it for the both of them.

“I do too, not the point. I just… I don't want a baby to feel the way I did that day we met.”

Oh

Oh

So that's where this conversation was leading to.

Uzi had felt abandoned that day for sure, but she'd felt that way long before that. Khan had absorbed himself in his work when Nori had died, leaving her in her room, alone, so many nights…

“I know someone is going to adopt her. She's a really happy baby. No one can resist that. I just… really hope she won't be effected by it.” Her frown was evident, and she'd completely ceased paying attention to N, instead lost in her thoughts.

If she hadn't been, she might have seen him stand up.

In a second she was lifted bridal style, before being crushed in a massive hug. She squeaked, both at the suddenness of it and at N's arms wrapping tightly around her.

“E-N?! He-”

“I won't abandon you.”

Oh… did that make her core swell, it was heavy and it ached. She nearly wanted to cry, or scream maybe. N had gotten her right in the vulnerable spot, as he often did. She found herself leaning into his hug.

“I-I Know.”

“Sometimes I don't think you do.” He replied, squeezing tighter. She wondered if he ever felt the same, being tossed away like actual garbage, and then turned into something that was the literal antithesis of who he was.

“You know… I won't leave you either right?” She wasn't as good with words as he was and boy did it show, but still she felt his entire body stiffen before his hug somehow got tighter.

“Thank you.” Was his only reply, before he slowly sat he back down on the chair, Uzi looked away, willing her blush to go away before turning back to face him. Half-surprised to see a slight blush dusting his face.

“Do you want to keep visiting her? At least until someone adopts her? That way, neither of you will feel alone.” N suggested, even in the back of his mind, he knew it wasn't a wise idea, he was already getting attached, and he knew it would be hard on him when she had new parents.

But he'd deal with that, so long as he didn't have to see Uzi feel like she didn't matter anymore. Or worry about the little droneling feeling that way.

“Yeah… I'd like that.”

Next ->

[dirtybitfic]

Here for a good time not a long time

Matt Sturniolo X y/n

contains - party , drinking , smutt, dom matt, choking, slapping, dirty talk, pet names(sweetheart, baby, slut, whore)

Y/n pov-

I was sitting in my last lecture of the day when I got a text from my friend about a party in the woods tonight. I obviously agreed to go since I had nothing else to do tonight .

Once my boring ass professor ended class I drove back to my house that I share with my best friend and two other friends . I entered into pure chaos the second I opened the door.

Hey y/n how was class my best friend Ally said as I set my bag down

Boring as always ... what the fuck is going on in here I ask as I look around to see clothes scattered across the furniture and my other friend Mara running from her room back to the bathroom .

We're all trying to find outfits for tonight and we're stressing out she answers as I see her pull out mouse ears.

What... why and what are the ears for? I ask in pure confusion. Its never calm in this house but this is a whole new level of chaotic.

Oh did you not see the theme for the party Mara says as she comes out dressed like a bunny .

No what is it ? I ask as I start to panic knowing I probably have nothing to wear either.

Predator and prey ... girls are supposed to dress as the prey obviously she says pointing to her outfit doing a little spin.

Fuck ... I definitely don't have an outfit for this shit I sigh as I walk to my room deciding to look through my closet.

I looked through and found an outfit that could work .

Okay guys what about this outfit I can be a deer? I ask nervously hoping they'd like it .

Ally , Mara and haley look at me studying me making me nervous.

You know what I like it Haley says as she smiles

Yeah me to mara says as she nods in approval.

Wait I think I might actually have deer antlers you can wear Ally says as she scrambles to her room.

Im questioning why she would own antlers but you know what they are coming in handy so Im happy about it.

Okay yep here they are she says as she hands them to me .

Thanks but why do you even have these I ask as I put them on.

Oh I went as a deer to a halloween party freshman year and just never got rid of them she answers with a smile before pouring herself a shot.

Ally was a bunny, Mara was a mouse and Haley was a sheep .

I honestly don't know what to expect with this party tonight since the fraternity thats throwing it is more on the bad boy side . Almost every guy in this group is covered in tattoos and peircings which I find hot as fuck but some others disagree. These guys's parties compared to the other frats are always out of the ordinary but thats what keeps things interesting.

Okay guys we got like 20 minutes before we need to get going haley says as she starts pouring herself a drink.

We turn on some music and dance around in the living room as we take shots and sip on drinks.

The 20 minutes rolled by quickly and we are all now making our walk to the woods for there party. I know having party in the woods might sound weird but its actually pretty fun here. Our college is located in outside of a city in Pennsylvania meaning we're surrounded by woods.

Guys I don't know why but i'm getting a very weird feeling Mara says as we start getting closer to the woods .

Im glad you said that cause ... I am to Ally says in a slightly wobbly tone.

Guys we're fine we drank a lot so maybe its just the alcohol I say trying to reason with how they're feeling

They all laugh and agree with me after realizing how drunk we really are.

We finally reach the opening path that leads down a dark trail to where the party clearing is .

We all take out our phone using our flashlights to see as we stumble into trees and each other giggling .

The closer we get music begins to flood our ear and light from the campfire comes into view.

We enter the clearing entering the crowd of people and making our way over to the line of tree stumps you can sit on by the fire.

We all sit down and take a look around to see all the guys in black hoodies and sweats holding animal masks. Predator animal masks making me gulp. I start to get a weird feeling when the leader of the frat stands on a big tree stump and yelling for everyone to pay attention.

We all go quiet as we wait of him to speak.

Okay you're all probably wondering about the theme right? he asks with a large smirk . All of the girls nod since all of the guys obviously know .

well we decided it would to change things up and ... play a little game she says as he jumps down from the stump smirking and looking around the crowd at all of our confused faces.

Another guy jumps up and I have to keep my jaw from dropping. He is the most attractive man i've ever seen , Tall with blue eyes and brown hair . I stand there in a trance until I snap out of it as he starts to speak

As you can see all of you girls are dressed and animals of prey he says moving his hand motioning to the crowd . Me and my friends share glances sharing looks of annoyance just wanting him to get to the fucking point.

and us guys all have masks of predator animals he says holding up his mask . I look at his mask noticing it's a wolf .

he smiles as he meets eyes with me making me gulp.

We will be matching a girl to a guy based on their natural predator and prey ... and you girls will be given 10 minutes to run and hide and if you are found by your predator we will be mmm let's just say our way with you . he says smirking .

So i'll give any of you girls the chance to leave right now if you do not wish to play this game . There is no shame in leaving I understand this might not be some peoples taste and thats okay I can see a glimmer in his eye as he watches me waiting to see if i'll leave .

I look over at my friends who look apprehensive about the situation.

I don't know about this guys mara says as she turns to look at the way we came in .

Yeah I just... this is not what I was expecting I mean... they obviously mean sexual shit and I don't think I want that haley says as she steps closer to mara.

Me and ally look at each other with a knowing look silently agreeing were staying.

We're gonna stay i'm kind of intrigued about how this will go but we understand if you wanna go I answer and smile at them letting them know we aren't judging them for wanting to leave.

okay well we'll see you guys at home okay be safe please

just text us when your on your way home so we know your alive

we will see you guys at home love you ally answers and I say I love you before they head back down the path we entered through.

About 15 other girls left leaving only about 20 of us left.

Okay now that all the pussys are gone lets get started matching up and then ill explain the rules he says with a wide smile that sends chills down my back.

Me and Ally laugh at the fact he called the girls who left pussys and waited for him to continue.

Okay james , Max and Atlas are fox so any of you who are a bunny raise your hand .Ally raises her hand as do two other girls .

Ally is Matched with the guy who's name is Atlas . I have to say he's hot as fuck he has tan skin covered in tattoos, sandy blond hair and light green eyes. I smile at her nervously as she stands next to him.

He gets through everyone else before i'm the last girl unmatched.

You're with me sweetheart he says as he smirks at me motioning me to him . I gulp as I slowly make my way to him.

I step up to his side and notice how significantly taller he is then me .

he looks down at me smirking then looks back at the crowd .

so here are the rules he says as his hand snakes around my side pulling me closer making my breathe hitch. All you girls will have ten minutes to run and hide ... after those ten minutes we will make our way out to try and find you . When we find you we will be able to do anything we want to you ... sexually . Im guessing everyone of you who stayed understood what I was insinuating but just do be safe I need you to confirm to your partner that we have your consent before start the timer.

I watch as the other girls turn and nod smiling giving consent

I swallow thickly as I look up at him and he smiles down at me .

so do I have your consent he asks as he bends down a bit to be closer to my face

yes you have my consent I say with a smile

just so I can gage what you like real quick ... do you like things rough and hard or soft and slow he whispers in my ear making me whimper .

mm rough and hard I say as a smirk plays on my lips . He groans as he looks into my eyes.

Good thats music to my ears he smirks as he stand back to his full height

wait ... I don't even know your name I say softly making him look back down at me .

Its matt and what's yours he asks

Y/n I smile back

Beautiful name he smiles down at me making me blush

Thank you Matt I say and then he turns back to the crowd starting to speak again.

Okay ladies step up behind the stump and stand at the tree line he says . He looks down at me smiling and taps my Sade then let's go letting me make my way to the tree line . Me and Ally stay next to each other .

She grabs my hand and I look at her

We run together okay and then well split apart when we find a good spot to hide she says obviously knowing were both scared of the dark and neither of us want to run alone in the dark ass woods.

Agreed its dark as fuck out there I say motioning to the woods were about to enter.

Okay i'm going to count down from three ... you guys ready? he asks and I look back at him nodding .

3... 2...1! he yells and we all take off going in different directions.

Me and Ally and running getting smacked left and right by tree branches and plants . The moon light is enough to let us see a little bit but not enough to avoid getting smacked by shit around us.

Hold up i'm getting tired lets slow down for one second I say as we slow to a fast paced walk as were both breathing hard.

God it got kinda cold she says and she shivers

yeah my nipples could literally cut through this shirt right now I say making us both laugh .

after catching our breathe we start sprinting again .

why are we running 10 minutes is actually a lot of time ally says out of breathe again.

okay you actually have a good point I say back as I slow my pace but smack my side into a tree making me cry out in pain.

Fuck fuck oh my god that actually really hurt I cry but also cant stop laughing

thats gonna leave a nasty bruise ally laughs making me laugh harder.

One thing about me and ally is we can never be serious any any situation .

We should definitely start trying to find somewhere to hide ally says as she realizes we probably don't have much time left . We start walking until ally finds a large fallen tree to sit behind .

Im gonna go closer to the cliff seems like a safe spot I tell her before hugging her wishing her good luck.

I make my way through the woods following the sounds of water . One thing I love about this part of Pennsylvania is the cliffs something about them is just so beautiful especially at night.

I finally make in to the cliff side and find a large rock to sit in front of and sit quietly looking out at the sky . The full moon shining down as the starts beam around the dark sky . It's so beautiful I almost forget why i'm out here.

Im snapped out of the trance i'm in when I hear a girl scream in the distance making my entire body jolt.

The tension is slowly building as I sit . My heart is starting to race and my legs shake a bit causing leaves under then to shake a bit making me grab the trying to stop them from making any noise that can be detected.

I try and control my breathing to slow my heart when I hear branches snap close by and leaves rustling as someone or something .

the rustling gets closer and I hold my breathe when all of the sudden a red fox appears next to me only a couple inches away.

It looks at me as if its curious I so badly want to reach my hand out and pet it but I choose not too since I don't exactly want to get bitten and end up in a hospital with I don't even know what.

I watch carefully as it inches closer to me sniffing the air i'm guessing it is picking up my scent. It steps even closer not right by my leg its tail grazing my skin tickling me making me want to laugh but I hold it back so I one don't get found and to not scare the fox.

It makes noise almost as if its laughing scaring me a little bit but it rubs on my shoes shocking the absolute fuck out of me because its obviously wild but I let it happen .

I whisper hi baby in the softest voice as It looks back at me but runs away when it hears a deep voice say " hello" making me jump up with a scream.

"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST" I yell as my hand flys over my heart and I bend over panting.

He walks closer making me look back up at him .

I would say i'm sorry for scaring you but... I'm not Matt says with a dark smirk making me gulp .

he steps closer making me back into the rock I had been hiding behind.

your so beautiful sweetheart he whispers to me as his hand slides up my arm making me shiver and whisper a thank you.

come with me he says as he grabs my hand leading me back into the woods.

we walk until we find another clearing where another part of the cliff side is with a much flatter surface.

we walk around a tree and their was a blanket layer out on the rocky ground making me smile and look at him.

I just thought I would make it a little more comfortable than fucking you on a jagged rock or against a tree he says with a shrug

I appreciate that I say with a smile

The sweet moment is gone in second when his large hand wraps around my throat and he pulls me into him as his lips hover by my ear sending shiver down my spine.

im going to make you feel really good sweetheart does that sound good to you he whispers in a deep gravely tone making me whimper as his grip tightens on my neck .

I nod my head answering in a shake out of breathe tone y-yes

mm good girl he says as his lips attach to mine is a deep lustful kiss that has me moaning into his mouth.

his free hand comes to my head pulling off my antlers and throwing them down onto the ground then its on my ass grabbing it roughly making me whimper.

he pulls away as he looks into my eyes with a smirk on his face that has my pussy clenching around nothing.

strip he says in a gravelly voice making me immediately tear off my top and skirt leaving me in only a thong the cold air making me shiver and my nipples to literally harden so much they feel like rocks.

god your perfect he groans as he takes in my figure making me feel nervous .

He smiles at me as he pulls me to him again then walking us back to the blanket and slowly lays me down .

I groan when my back hits a sharp rock thats under the blanket

he slowly lowers himself to be between my thighs as his fingers loops around the band of the thong and slowly pulls them off setting it a side .

So wet for me he groans as he takes in the view of my glistening entrance.

I gasp when is mouth meets my pussy and he licks and sucks expertly in all the right spots .

f-fuck oh my god I whine as my legs start to tremble slightly from the pleasure i'm in.

yeah that feel good he asks before going right back to it.

ugh fuck yes I cry out as he sucks on my clit and slips a finger into my entrance heightening the pleasure more than I ever thought possible.

I grab onto his hair pulling it making him groan into me causing me to moan loudly and buck my hips.

fuck -fuck oh m-my g--od i moan and gasp as I feel my orgasm getting closer.

come on slut cum for me I can feel you pulsing he says into my pussy as he sucks harder and his finger speeds up making my legs shake harder and I cry out as my orgasm rips through me and my juices flow out onto his finger and he laps them up easing me through my orgasm.

i'm honestly shocked he made me finish most guys cant especially not from head but that was fucking amazing .

fuck you're really good at that I pant as he comes up and hovers over me as his chain dangles in my face.

yeah? he asks in a teasing tone making me flush red .

mhm I say as I look into his eyes and move my hands to the base of his shirt tugging signaling I wanna take it off . He lets me slide it off and I put it beside us as my hands run down his warm skin.

he groans as his hands glide over my bare body making me sigh in contentment. His hands move to his belt as he unbuckles it and sets it aside than slips his pants off . I watch in awe of the way his muscles move as he undresses the rest of the way.

My eyes shift down to the large bulge in his boxers making me gulp . He's big like really fucking big . He notices by unease and grabs my chin making me look at him.

You'll be okay I promise he soothe me as his thumb traces my bottom lip. I nod at his statement taking a deep calming breath.

He slides his boxers down as his dick slaps his stomach and my eye widen I know this is gonna hurt like a bitch. Don t get me wrong i've had sex just not with anyone this big before.

He spits on the tip and for some reason its the hottest thing i've ever seen . I watch as he he spread it around then he comes back over me as his tip meet my entrance.

You good he asks waiting for my answer before he makes a move to put it in.

I nod my head

words baby he says in a sweet tone making me blush.

ye-yes i'm good I answer

he nods as his tip slides in making me suck in a breathe.

he not only long but also thick .

Fuck so fucking tight he groans as he pushes into me more.

I whimper at the stretching feeling and my eyes squeeze tightly shut.

I know sweetheart I know im going as slow as I can he says .

After a couple long painful seconds he's bottomed out . Over never felt so full in my life. He starts to slowly thrust in and out making me whine and put my hand on his chest pushing him away .

He grabs my hand and holds it down by my head.

I know it hurts but do not push me away he says in a assertive tone making me immediately apologize .

He continues thrusting slowly and the pain finally goes away and I cant help the moans that escape my mouth.

fuck oh my - f-faster please I whine and he immediately does what I ask.

His tip hits my g-spot with each thrust making me cry out repeatedly

fuck you think you can handle it rough hmm he asks in a breathy tone that has my eyes rolling back and my back arching.

I nod my head and he grabs my throat roughly .

use your words when I ask you a question y/n he growls making me moan.

y-yes fuck I can handle it I moan as my stomach starts to feel pressure signaling another orgasm is close.

He starts pounding me rough and hard making me scream out.

OH FUCK M-MATT I scream as my hands move to his back and my nails drag down making him groan and pound me even harder.

such a good fucking whore taking me so well he groans as he lightly slaps me making me cry out.

My legs start shaking and I cant help but scream his name as I cum around him . His pace doesn't slow one bit he continues pounding into me making me smack his bicep repeatedly .

f-fuck I c-cant I whine as my hands come to his stomach as I try to push him away.

he slaps me making me cry out in pain .

Put your fucking hands down he growls and I move them reluctantly .

good girl now take it he groans as one of his hands move to my clit rubbing fast circles making me scream . My hands move as I go to grab his wrist but I stop myself knowing hell just get mad.

you're gonna cum for me again like a good little slut he says as he angles his hips to perfectly hit my g spot making my entire body tremble .

n-no I cant I whine as tears well up in my eyes from how over stimulated i'm becoming from the overwhelming pleasure i'm in .

No ... oh sweetheart your gonna need to learn to do what I tell you too he says as he grips my throat roughly and swiftly lifts my legs onto his shoulder moving his body fully over mine so my legs are pressed into my chest.

He pounds into me so roughly i scream and my hips lift off my ground completely . He just grabs my waist continuing to pound me into oblivion .

I scream as another orgasm rips through me and my hearing goes out as my body shakes and my hands fist .

Good girl thats it he groans as he fucks me through my orgasm and my hips fall back to the ground .

He pulls out and flips me over onto my hand and knees .

Arch your back for me baby he says as his hands moves over my ass cheeks giving them a squeeze.

I arch the best I can and he shoves back into me making me gasp and bounce back into him.

He slaps my ass enough time to leave hand prints on each cheek .

he grabs my hips and pounds into me harder making me scream and my hand flys back to grab his wrist .

FUCK FUCK SO FUCKING DEEP I scream as he hits so deep I can feel him bulging inside of me .

yeah you feel how deep I am he asks in a dark tone as one of his hands moves to my lower stomach and presses onto where hes bulging in me making me cry out .

Im moaning and shaking under him as I bury my face in the blanket .

who's fucking pussy is this he ask as he slaps my ass .

I croak out a "yours" but with my face buried in the blanket he didn't hear it.

He grabs me by my hair pulling my face up .

who pussy is this he demands in a deep raspy tone

yours I whimper out

louder slut

Y-YOURS IT YOURS I scream out as I cum all over his dick again and my legs give out and they shake uncontrollably .

He move with me continuing to pound into me rough and deep.

Thats right all fucking mine he groans as he starts to loose his rhythm .

I know he getting close and I couldn't be more happy about it . Im so overstimulated I cant even form words anymore . Im whimpering and gasping as his his start too sputter and he groans loudly .

Fuck gonna fucking fill this pussy up he groans as he grips my hair tighter .

F-fuck p-please I whine as I push my ass into him .

yeah you want me to breed this little pussy he groans as his dick twitches and his breathing becomes loud .

I clench around him from his words nodding my head over and over

y-yes yes fuck please I want it so bad.

oh fuck he groans as him hips snap into me and I feel his cum filling me up.

He slowly thrusts a couple time before sliding out and flopping beside me on the blanket.

Our breathing is heavy and loud both exhausted from the events.

Wow that was the best sex- ive ever had he says with a smile as he looks over at me .

Same that was so fucking good I say as I smile back at him.

we lay catching our breathes looking at each other smiling.

Its fucking cold I say making him laugh

Yeah it is he agrees as he grabs his boxers and throwing them on.

He rolls me over as he uses his shirt to shirt to wipe me clean making me smile.

He helps me get my outfit back on then pick me up as I keep the blanket wrapped around me .

Piggy back? he asks making me laugh .

I nod my head . My legs are not working so well right now .

He bends down and I hop on as I wrap my arm around him making the blanket now cover both of us .

he starts walking back to where we started as I rest my head in the crook of his neck .

I need you to know that your mine now there is no way i'm letting you go after tonight he says making me smile .

I think I could be okay with that I say placing a small his on his neck making him smile

good he says back as we walk out of the woods and back into the area with the logs and campfire still burning .

I spot ally and dear god she's been though it . Her hair is disheveled her makeup smudged everywhere and she's wearing the guys sweatshirt .

wait go over to ally she's my friend I tell Matt and he immediately heads over to her .

He sets me down next to her and she smiles at me .

Jesus you look like shit she jokes with me making me laugh.

I could say the same to you I joke back as we giggle .

You going home or... she asks smiling at me

I down know... am I I ask looking at Matt next to me

he smiles before answering

yeah ... but with me he smirks as I blush and look at ally who's already smiling ear to ear.

well then I guess I will see you tomorrow ?

mhm I smile as I shake my head

she gives me a hug as she says bye .

Me and Matt make our way back to through the path out of the woods and he leads me to a white convertible mustang .

wow nice fucking car I say as he opens the door for me

thank you he says as he helps me in the car then shuts the door and gets in starting up the car then starting a playlist and pulls out of the spot and onto the road.

1.23.23 by Dominic like plays as we drive though the dark night streets and after a couple minutes we pull up to a gate and he presses a button and it opens .

I watch as light posts pass by up a long driveway up to a large house actually mansion . He parks behind a fountain in the middle of the circular driveway.

He Gets out and comes to open my door .

We make our way up to the large front door as he uses his key to unlock it .

come on gorgeous I think we both need a hot shower he says leading me up a long grand stair case then another one to the 3rd floor .

We make it all the way down the hallways to a large door at the end .

He uses another key to unlock this door and make his way in with me following behind .

My jaw drops as I look around at the huge room .

damn this is nice as fuck I say as I walk around taking in the surroundings .

yeah its a bit... extra but im not complaining .

shit I wouldn't complain either I mean your room is the size of my entire apartment

he laughs as he leads me to the bathroom

he starts the shower and helps me undress then undresses himself .

We take a hot ass shower and he rises me down . I smell like man but I don't care i'm just sappy I'm clean and warm .

After the shower he puts me in one of his sweatshirts and we get into bed .

We lay their cuddling as he plays with my hair . I start to drift in and out as he kisses my forehead and I smile as I nuzzle into his chest more .

good night little deer he say as I fade into sleep .

This is for the anon who requested another story like my other one Hallowseve.

Sorry this took so long I had so much shit going on these past weeks

💋❤️

Taglist- ( If anyone wants to be added to the tallest please let me know I never know if some people only wanted to be tagged in specific series I was writing or like for every story I write so just let me know)

@junnniiieee07 , @riasturns , @lexisecretaccx

[whois-jess]

This request is a bit strange: can I request a Rhea x Fem! reader in which reader just gave birth to their baby (they had them with an IVF) and Rhea comforts their baby who's whining during their first bath at the hospital and when Rhea attempts to change their diaper, the baby pees on her? You're free to delete this if you're uncomfortable.

Baby

Rhea Ripley x Fem!reader

(It may be a little weird but if you ask i will do unless its very weird and creepy)

Y/n and Rhea were put in a room after Y/n had delivered there first child, a beautiful baby boy "you okay babe" Rhea said sitting by Y/n their son the other side all wrapped up "yeah just tired" Y/ns head turned to their son "he so pretty" she smiled "he is you did amazing baby" Rhea said softly standing up going to their son putting her pinky out for him to hold "my two favorite people" Y/n said slowly putting her arm and hand out for him you hold as well.

Sometime past Y/n was now asleep leaving Rhea and her son "come on baby boy lets get you clean while mummy sleeps yeah" Rhea slowly and carefully pick him up supportive his head "you look just like mummy but somehow have my eyes and nose that's weird" she lightly chuckles walking over to bath the nurses set up for baby "okay lets get you clean,yeah" she takes his baby onesie off and nappy before holding him in the water "i might have to dress you mummy will put in too cutesy things" she giggles "look at you clean boy" the baby babbles and starts to wiggle "oh baby its okay mama is here" the baby keeps whining "okay almost done bubba" she finishes cleaning and puts an animal towel with a hood "aw you little koala".

she picks him up taking him to a changing table looking over to see y/n still asleep "lets put a clean nappy on you" she places the baby down going over to the bags "okay we got everything time to change the baby" she says unwrapping him from the towel, she places the nappy under him "well done sweetie- and you pissed on my hand, yep that happened" Rhea walks to the wipes cleaning her hand "you be good i wont tell mummy" she says pointing at him "aw i can be mad at such a cute face i wish i could kiss you little chubby cheeks" she says and the baby giggles "that funny is it" she wiggles her finher in front of him.

"I will say thats a good first time changing a nappy" she said pick him up and putting him back next to Y/n. Y/n starts to wake up "hi baby" she smiles and kisses Y/n cheek "yeah how is the little guy" Rhea smiles at Y/n "he is fine best baby in the whole of America" Y/n chuckles "yeah but i don't want to think about the bill" Rhea chuckles this time "don't think about just rest you basically pushed a melon out of you" Y/n smiles at Rhea "can you somehow cuddle with me?" Y/n asks looking up at Rhea "i will try, we also got to facetime my parents and show them our little burrito" Y/n nods as Rhea somehow cuddles up to Y/n "home soon baby" Rhea says kissing her forehead.

[equallyshaw]

the one where - | nico hischier

─ nico x erik johnson oc sister

warnings: swearing, anxiety attack. angst, thats all i can say. a bit slow burning as well. sexual themes at end, but its like pg.

word count: 5.8K

shoe link.

dress link.

clutch link.

second outfit.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

the first time they met.

miranda stepped into the prudential arena for the first time since she had been hired by the management team. she followed the team assistant that had been waiting for her as soon as she walked into the staff wing, and the two made their way up to her office than she would be getting a personal tour of the arena. miranda johnson was hired as as the devils second in command to their head psychologist, thought she was hired for the social worker aspect. "is it true your erik johnsons little sister?" the assistant asked and the girl nodded towards the older girl. "yep unfortuntly." miranda hummed causing the blonde girl to giggle. "i have an older brother too- id like to kill him sometimes." and miranda laughed. "oh good lord, i want to sometimes as well. sometimes they need their lives threatened every once in a while." miranda joked as casey opened her office door.

four walls covered with grey paint, a desk, small leather couch, mini fridge, a tv, some fake succulents and a desktop computer filled the room. "home sweet home." miranda said softly, setting her bag down under the desk. "lets head down to the ice, I'm sure its different then denver." casey smiled and miranda grinned. "well for starters yall have no mountains." miranda joked. miranda had done her undergraduate and graduate degree at the university of denver, and as soon as her brother was traded she no longer wanted to be in denver. so she headed out to the east coast, looking for different jobs in the new york area and came across the devils. match made in heaven she thought, doing what she loved and working within the sport she adored. the two headed down talking about jersey and the team themselves, "i would say the captain does a great job of keeping the team together but he's also younger so sometimes it doesn't always work out." casey explained and miranda nodded. "good to know." she hummed, now walking down to the bench. the ice was clean, patiently waiting for the players. they sat on the bench taking in the quietness of the arena. "it definitely is different than ball arena." miranda commented, with slight sadness in her voice. the two spoke about the team, the coach and anything else casey had to say. they stood up just as some of the players began to filter out. "casey!" the boys said as they noticed the girls. they smiled at miranda before stepping out on the ice, and then nico stepped out. "hi casey!" he said and then stalled seeing the dark haired girl. casey noticed him trying to figure out who miranda was as she watched the players skate around. "oh this is miranda johnson, the new social worker we just hired for the team!" casey explained and miranda was pulled out of her trance and turned to look at nico. "miranda johnson, nice to meet you..." she trailed off as she held out her hand. he took off his glove and held out his hand, "nico hischier, captain." and she nodded before pulling back her hand. "hopefully we arent too much work." he joked and she waved him off, "nothing i cant handle." she smiled and he chuckled softly. "let me know if that's the case in a...week." he joked before stepping onto the ice. miranda looked at casey, "you're gonna hate jack hughes in a week." casey joked causing miranda to smile respectfully. "trust me, you will..." casey added, before the two headed back upstairs.

°

the time she ended up at his place. and one where she got fired.

it was saturday night, before a early afternoon game between her brother and the devils in jersey. she had been with the devils for about two months already and was enjoying her time, and most definitely understanding the chatter (mostly harmless) around jack hughes. he definitely had a lot to say, and most of the time it was just drama he wanted to talk about. she had to remind him many times, that she was a mental health professional not somebody who talked about drama all day everyday. he still came around, to do just that. but she enjoyed getting to know the other players and some of their wives, all of them wanting to meet the person on the team who had been knocking some sense into their men and who was making progress. like real progress. and creating an environment that made the team, staff, and everybody who came across her safe.

she smoothed down her black mini dress and stepped into her baby blue heels, making sure everything looked good before she left her apartment. she quickly made her way down to her car, sliding in and letting erik she was on her way. about 35 minutes later, she pulled up to the Italian restaurant in lower manhattan and pulled up to valet, letting them pull her car around back. she made her way in and greeted the hostess, and they took her towards her brother. "bean!" he said wrapping his arms around her 5'5 frame. "hi bear." she smiled, taking in the hug she had missed the most. they parted, and he pulled out the chair for his sister and she thanked him. "so tell me about jersey, how is it?" he asked as she sipped the wine he had ordered for the two. she smiled, "its good! i've pretty much have found my groove with everybody. i think they're really taking to my style of work and i think the way everybody has responded to it has been good. though." she paused giggling, "there is one guy that quite literally just wants to gossip with me, he knows my role and stuff but just wants to gossip. half the time its funny shit but others its like serious and so i tell him he cant go around blabbing his mouth but i know he doesn't listen." she said and ej laughed. "hows buffalo though, hows josty?" she questioned, a small smile forming on her soft pink lips. ej laughed, "he's great! he's happy to have me on the team...y'know he still asks about you." ej said grinning and miranda rolled her eyes. "last time i checked..isn't he the one that said we couldn't be together after he was traded? that he didn't want to do long distance?" she smirked, quirking an eyebrow. he shrugged, "i think because im now there, he realizes how much he's missed having a johnson in his life." he said with a toothy smile. she rolled her eyes, "alright big bear." she hummed.

_

as the dinner progressed, miranda's phone hadn't stopped vibrating in her clutch that sat next to her. erik took notice of it, but did not say anything at first. "hey randy, you wanna check your phone?" he asked slirping spaghetti in his mouth. her eyebrows creased in confusion, and she pulled out her phone to see multiple messages from nico as well as a few phone calls. she read the messages, nico clearly in some sort of distress. "do you need to take it?" ej asked and she looked up at him, "its one of the players." she said looking back down debating if she wanted to call or text. she chose the latter,

miranda: you ok?

nico: i dont know whats happening

miranda: whats going on? are you hurt? do you need an ambulance or me to call somebody?

nico: thats why i was calling you. my chest hurts, i cant breathe.

miranda sighed knowing what was happening.

miranda: do you need me to call?

nico: can you come over? i need to talk face to face with whatever this is

miranda thought long and hard, before looking back up at erik. "one of the players needs me to come to his place and i-i don't know." she paused to bite her lip, thinking if ethically she could. "ej-im sorry." she said looking up at him but he waved her off. "your job calls, don't worry randy. go, ill take care of the bill. ill see you tomorrow." he said standing up to hug the girl. the big bear wrapped his arms around her, kissing her head before they pulled apart. "ill let you know when i get home!" she said before taking off towards valet. she texted nico, asking for his address and he responded quickly. back to jersey.

_

she knocked on the highrise apartment, alerting the swiss inside. he stood up and dragged his feet towards the door and as soon as she saw the state of nico; she knew she was in for a long night. he opened the door wider for her, and she took in the surroundings. clean, crisp, and sleek, she thought. she turned around to face nico, keeping a bit of distant between the two. he took in her attire and then looked at her. "were you on a date?" he questioned, with somewhat of a distaste in his mouth. she shook her head, "no i was out with my brother. him and buffalo just got in." she said and he was confused. "my brother is erik johnson." and then nico's eyes went wide. "i had no idea, I'm so sorry!" he said feeling bad, his anxiety rising even more. she shook her head, "no no, its ok! i just want to make sure you are ok nico. whats going on?" she asked softly. he closed his eyes and sighed. she took in his composure and his inability to relax. may it be because he's the captain and he feels as if he can't show any weakness or maybe its pride. "take your time nico, you don't need to spit it out all at once i promise. whatever you feel comfortable with." she said trying to gage his reaction. he nodded, reopening his eyes, and looked towards the kitchen. "would you like some water?" he asked shooting himself in the foot, calling himself stupid for not asking it to begin with. "sure, ofcourse, thankyou." she said following him towards the kitchen now. she could tell that it was eating him up inside, and knew at some point she'd need to inquire about it. but tonight was not the night. she sat down at the island counter, and he pulled out a bottle of water for himself and her.

"how are you feeling right now nico?" she asked sipping a bit before setting it back down. he shrugged, "i feel a bit better, after you said you were coming i kind of calmed down a bit but my mind wont st-stop racing. which is causing my to be nervous about something, i have no idea." he rambled as bit and she nodded. "what are the thoughts you're having? are they about hockey, personal things, family?" she asked tilting her head to the side just a bit. he bit his lip, "its-its nothing." he said closing off, and she nodded "okay. in order for this to work nico and to understand more of why you called me, can you explain a bit about how you were feeling earlier?" she questioned, treading water. he was either going to answer it or retaliate and get upset. he sighed, "it felt like i had a weight on my chest or something, i couldn't breathe. my breathing was fast and shallow, i was sweating..i-i cried a bit." he said looking down at the ground. "I've never had that happen before though, it was a shock and so that made it worse." he said looking up at miranda. "well it is completely normal, nico. i can assure you that. sometimes our bodies can not always tolerate or compensate our anxiety. thus, leading to anxiety attacks. so we have chills, the sweats, overwhelming thoughts for various reasons. could be from work, could be our family or personal life or it can just be triggered for no apparent reason." miranda explained and nico nodded. "i don't want you to feel as if its wrong or that it means you are weak, because that is far from the truth. i like to say that when people have an anxiety or panic attack, it shows how strong mentally we are because to get to the point of an attack we would have had to gone through so much turmoil mentally and emotionally. and sometimes the only release is for those to happen. to think of how much you might have been taking on and that is remarkable in itself. besides, having an anxiety attack makes humans more resilient." and that made nico relax just a bit.

"well good thing you said that, i was feeling like a freak over here." he said cracking a small smile. she nodded, "yeah no, you are from a sneak i can assure you. if its considered to be a freak, then call me one. i don't wanna feel left out." she hummed, "you've had them before?" nico asked quickly. she nodded after realizing what she had said and the fact that she shared personal info, "uh yes. I've had them throughout my childhood and adolescence. its gotten better over my young adult years but i still get them occasionally. especially when i feel like a fraud at work or in my personal life." she said shrugging. "a fraud?" he questioned, moving towards the kitchen island and resting his elbows on it, their hands now only inches away from one another. she nodded, "yes. i believe and feel as if i don't belong where i have ended up. i believe that i don't know enough, have enough experience for the work i do. and then i don't feel as if i deserve the friends i have, especially the ones i made back in denver. I've always thought that if they did not know my brother, they wouldn't give me a second look." she said shrugging before she took some sips of water.

nico took in that information and his heart broke just a bit, she didn't understand what a god send she was. how kind, open hearted, always willing to help in any way she could and on top of that, she was hilarious. always had a joke or two to cheer up some of the guys. he didn't like how she sold herself short over friendships. "i don't buy that for one second." he said, "the friends part. you're pretty rad miranda." he hummed and she felt her cheeks heat up just a bit. "oh really? i guess ill add that to my case file." she said laughing, and nico chuckled softly with a smile forming.

"what do you like to do to relieve any stress or anxiety?" she asked, trying to regain focus on why she was here. he shrugged, "does hockey count?" he asked genuinely. she nodded, "ofcourse but that is also your job. so anything else that you do outside of work would be a good place to start." she said and he nodded. "i uh like to hang with the guys, um i read a bit, i like to workout and play video games." he said, "but i don't know if those count." he said but she nodded anyways. "ofcourse! anything you do to distract yourself in a healthy way and relieve stress are coping skills, the ones you have are great nico!" she said smiling and he nodded, mirroring hers. "i would stick with those but would not limit yourself to just those. there are so many out there, i can definitely offer some others when i go back into the office monday." she offered and he nodded.

"thankyou, i definitely am feeling much better now. you've relieved a lot of anxiety i had tonight, by just talking and listening to me." he stated and she nodded. "I'm glad nico, i find that talking about things in a safe place can do wonders. and having somebody understand you as well can be beneficial. would you like to come see at some point this week?" she questioned and he nodded. "yeah id like that." he said smiling. the smile he gave everybody closest to him. "great, ill send out a few times for you and we can go from there." she said standing up. he nodded, again taking in her outfit. "sorry, i came right from manhattan so i didn't have time to change." she said feeling self conscious, "nonsense..you look uh, you look really nice." he said. really nice? oh my god, he thought. "well uh thankyou nico, ill see you monday. text me if you need anything else." she said praying to the universe to get out of there as quick as possible. he nodded her walking her back to the front door, he thanked her once more and she slipped out.

_

she woke up the next morning to a text from her boss, stating the he needed to see her in the office today. she groaned as she stood up, her body feeling the effects of only getting 6 hours of sleep. she quickly got ready and stopped at starbucks before heading over there. when she walked into the arena, some of the players had just begun to arrive. she slipped between arena personal trying to get to her office. once she opened it, she saw nico sitting in one of the seat two seats in front of her desk. "ah hi nico, how can i help you?" she questioned setting her bag down under her desk and sitting down. "i wanted to apologize for calling you over last night. it was way outta line and it shouldn't have happened." he said feeling remorseful and guilty for the reprimand she was about to get, "oh uh, no problem nico. its all good." she said trying to reassure him but she could tell that by the look in his eye, it was not. "i have to go see larry, ill stop by and talk to you guys soon. just check in." she said as they both stood up. he only nodded before walking out. she sighed, placing her hands on her hips. what did all this mean? she did not have time to ponder anymore because larry knocked on the door. "hi larry! what did you want to speak about?" she questioned, her hand raising for him to sit down in front of her. he sat down sighing, not sure of how to say what he was about to say. "you're fired miss johnson, i'm sorry i have to do this. but you are not permitted to treat players at their residences." larry said feeling horrible, he really liked miranda but nobody from upper management liked that she did what she did. "wait-what? he was having a crisis! i went over there, besides. nobody wanted to tell me this, tell me what i cannot do?" she said as her heart beat began to rise. he shook his head, "it was in your contract." he stated and she shook her head. "larry excuse my language, but what the fuck? it was not!" she said taking out the contract she kept in her desk. she threw it on the table before them, "you no what no. I'm taking this." she said snatching it up and putting it in her bag. "seriously larry what the fuck. fuck you." she said angrily. she hoisted her bag up and threw open the door, and made her way down the hallway toward her car.

"miranda!" he screamed but she didnt budge. she continued walking faster now, weaving in and out of people. she sighed knowing that she was about to pass the lockerroom and most likely a group of guys playing soccer. "miranda!" larry yelled again, gaining some attention from people. "don't you fucking say another word larry. you guys will be hearing from my lawyer." she spat as she turned around to face him. larry froze taking in the words, and knew she was serious. the group of players looked up as soon as she had said that. all of them confused and looking at one another. she shook her head turning around and continued towards the exit. larry stood there shocked, and mentally panicking. they did not need a scandal to get out, and he quickly made his way out to find somebody in upper management.

°

the one where she confronts nico.

she sat at the bar, sitting next to a friend she had made in her time here in jersey. "i cant believe they didn't even give you a warning! fuck them, I'm never supporting them ever again." molly spat, and miranda chuckled. the two had had there fair share of cocktails the past 2 hours as they conversed. "but that means you can come work with me!" molly added causing the dark brunette to giggle. "we'll see. I'm sure erik would want me to come to buffalo." she sighed. "or ill go back to denver." she said shrugging. molly nodded before swearing, "you are fucking kidding me." she growled seeing some of the devils players walk in. miranda followed her eye sight before the taste of vile hit her throat. "fuck off." she mumbled, pinching her nose. "lets go." molly said looking at her phone calling an uber. "yes lets." miranda sighed, "lets head outside it'll be five minutes." molly said and they both stood up. as they began their dissent out, nico took notice of the dark haired girl. he immediately felt guilty and a sense of dread washed over him. "isn't that-" jack didn't even finish his sentence before nico was off to go talk to the girl. molly and miranda held hands as they filtered their way through and miranda felt a tap on her shoulder as they were close to the door. she turned around and looked up at nico. "oh no not you." she growled but he wouldn't let her leave that quickly. "wait miranda!" he said but she was not in the mood. "what do you have to say nico, huh? wanna let everybody else in the world know that i came to your place last night to talk? huh! you wanna tell explain to them that that was the only reason why i came over? you wanna tell management that that was all that happened? because they think other stuff happened and i'm you know quite disappointed in you, being the captain and all. let me know if you need some help, i know a great captain that can help you out if you need it." she seethed, molly and the rest of the team taking in the interaction between the two. nico felt like an ass watching her as she walked out. he felt like an idiot too for telling a trainer that they had seen each other last night. not thinking anything of it when they asked what he did over the two day break.

°

the one where nico apologizes.

miranda was back in denver by new years, taking on a new position with the denver hospital. she would be working in case management and was happy to be back with her friends and the organization that adored her. she worked part time for the avalanche, after nathan mackinnon begged for her to come on for the rest of the season. he accredited some of his work these past few years to her. even if she was just a student at the time, her advice had helped tremendously. it was right before all star break when the devils came into town and she was dreading the game. she stood down near the entrances that the players used to get to the lockerroom. she was chatting with the head sports psychologist about a research article they'd both read in the past when nico saw the girl. she did not notice him at first but when she heard jack, she knew that the devils were arriving. she turned to look when she heard the whiney voice call her name. barabra the psychologist laughed and then bid her goodbye until after the game. "if it isn't mr hughes." she said crossing her arms, "oh it is me johnson. I'm sure you've missed our gossip sessions." he said cheekily, smiling widely. she rolled her eyes, "not in the slightest, bud." she said smiling just a bit. he grabbed his chest where his heart was, "that hurts." he said causing her to giggle. she saw luke walk in and she smiled to him and he waved back with one. "hows luke doing?" she asked the older brother, and he shrugged. "taking it one game at a time. day by day." and she smiled. "well good, im glad." she hummed. nico stood by jack, waiting to continue their walk together but also hoped there would be a chance to apologize. "well jack, good luck with the game." she said bidding her farewell. he nodded, saluting her briefly before turning back around. as miranda was about to take off, she heard her name. "miranda!" nico called out, his thick swiss german accent sending shivers down her spine. she sighed stopping and turned around, "yes?" she asked curtly. "can we talk..in private?" he asked and she thought for a brief second. "come e're." she said motioning for him to follow. they walked off into a hallway over from the opponent's lockerroom that was deserted. "yes, nico?" she asked, and he sighed. he knew he didn't have much time, "im sorry." he blurted, and her lips turned inward. "im sorry i said something without clarifying what had happened. im sorry i didn't defend you or speak to management. i fucked up badly, i know that and i wish i could take it all back." he said taking in her reaction.

her arms were crossed per usual, her neutral stance. "nico, i-i cant talk about this." she said shaking her head. he knew why, he knew about the lawsuit going on. "yeah, i know. I'm sorry about it though." he said and she nodded. "yeah, thanks." she mumbled. " i really am, you were an asset to our team. larry couldn't crack half these guys in the time he's been here and it took you all of 2 days to. the guys miss you, especially me." he said the last part softer. her eyebrows crinkled, "you made my job easier ofcourse." he teased. "ahh gotcha." she said rolling her eyes playfully. "its unfortunate that you guys are the most affected by this. the constant in and out of psychologists and therapists is not good for the morale and the mental health of the team, so I'm sorry you guys are going through the ever-revolving door." she said and he nodded. "yeah its too bad. i don't particularly feel comfortable talking to any of them." he said non chalantly. alrighty, she thought. "i hope things get fixed soon nico, i really do. if any of the guys need a place to talk outside of larry, i can send some referrals out." she said looking at nico in the eye, and he nodded. "thankyou miranda and again...i really am sorry." he said genuinely. she nodded, "its all good." she said. "good luck tonight, you'll need it." she said grinning as she began to walk backwards towards her team. his face lit up in a cheeky smile one second and in the next she was gone.

°

the one where they confess.

molly and miranda laid out in the sun of sunny hawaii, as by week had finally rolled around for the nhl. molly jumping at the opportunity to join the girl, her brother and her brother's fiance. the two chatted for a while in the sun, sipping on some mimosas after brunch. miranda stood up, stating that she was going to get another. she walked from the private pool area where the villas were and walk towards the main one that had a bar. she took in her surroundings, lots of families, couples, and great, the familiar group of guys from jersey. she sighed hurrying towards the bar across from them, and she quickly ordered another mimosa and a water bottle. she tapped her fingers tapped the wooden bar and took in the slight chill that was coming off of the ocean just beneath them. "holy fuck- johnson?" she heard to her right and she turned to see john marino. "john!" she said smiling softly, "how are you?" she asked taking the mimosa and water bottle from the bartender. "good, good! can never be sad with by week." he mused and she nodded, "no you cant, or else i would knock some sense into ya." she teased and he laughed. "oh don't we know it." he said laughing. "randy!" she heard her brothers name from the left of her, and she turned to see him waving her over. "good luck with the rest of the season and have a wonderful rest of the week." she said before walking off.

she walked towards erik when she heard the group of guys talking loudly, all now looking over to see the girl. nico took in her two piece suit, the soft waves hanging off of her shoulders and the confidence she possessed. "whats up bear?" she asked erik, shielding her eyes from the sun. "dana wants to know if you guys wanna get dinner at 7." he stated and she nodded, "i don't see why not. we didn't have any plans." she said and erik nodded, "see ya bean!" and she smiled, "see ya big bear." and the two went their separate ways. nico watched as she went back to the private area with bungalows. he prayed to the universe he'd see her again.

-

it was 6:20 when molly and miranda went down to the hotel bar before dinner. the two had napped and sobered up since their mimosas and sun time. they stood there drinking some champagne, when molly had left briefly to use the washroom. miranda sat down on the bar stool and took out her phone. she heard the familiar deep voice of the swiss she hadn't seen for a few weeks. she turned to her right and saw him in black collard shirt, black suit jacket and black pants. he looked good, she thought. too good. she turned back to her phone and hoped molly would come back soon. "fancy seeing you here." she heard and she turned towards nico who had a toothy grin. "hi nico." she said setting down her champagne. "what can i do for ya?" she said turning towards him. "well for one you can let me join you." he said boldly and she was taken back, but found her self nodding softly. he sat down next to her, "how are you enjoying your by week?" he questioned, sipping his drink. "its been nice thus far, especially when i'm not the one footing the bill." she grinned and nico chuckled. "i told ej to spread the wealth one time years ago and thankfully he hasn't stop providing." she teased causing nico to laugh again. "all jokes aside, im extremely grateful for him. he just doesn't know how to take no for an answer." she said as nico looked at her. "oh really? so you're not a moocher?" he grinned, and she grinned. "not in the slightest!" she said placing a soft hand on his arm. he looked down at it, and then back at her. she didn't move it, especially not when he looked back at her. she left it there for a few seconds, before pulling away. "sorry, i should probably be finding molly. we've got dinner with my brother and his fiance." she said clearing her throat. nico nodded, a tad bit sad. "well i think she'll be a bit occupied for a while longer. saw john sneaking her into the elevator as i walked in." he mused and miranda's eyes went wide. "no way!" she said, her hand going back to the spot it had just occupied.

"things have happened since you left, that happened quickly after you screamed at me in the bar." he said and her face flashed through guilt and remorse. "yeah...sorry about that." she said biting her lip. he shrugged, "i needed it. it knocked some sense into me." he hummed finishing the rest of his drink. "well now i don't feel as badly." she grinned, enticingly. he looked at her, and she at him. her hand softly moved down his arm, her head cocking to the side. call it alcohol, call it the heat of the moment, or the fact that she'd been thinking about nico since she spoke to him in his apartment. "maybe you could also sneak me into the elevator." she whispered just loud enough for him to hear. nico had a mischievous look on his face, once he realized what she was getting at. "lets go." he said pulling her off of the bar stool by her hand.

as soon as they entered the elevator, nico placed his hands on her waist pulling her in closely. "god I've been waiting for this." he whispered in a husky voice. "oh really?" she teased innocently, catching the heat in his eyes. "hmm mmm. couldn't wait to tell you that i like you...the first moment we met i was a goner." he said as the elevator dinged to his floor. "is that so?" she grinned, feeling butterflies flutter in her chest. "uh huh. surprised you didn't notice that long stares, always finding ourselves in the same area and the smiles i reserved just for you." he said as they entered his room. "i thought you were just being nice, nico." she hummed, placing her hands on his chest. "oh no, only reserve those smiles for the girl who stole my heart one casual conversation at a time." he hummed sliding out of his suit jacket as she began to work on his buttons. "i feel quite flattered, cap." she grinned looking up at him with a glint of excitement in her eyes.

clothes were quickly discarded after that, teasing and many kisses were exchanged after that. "well its a good thing i like you too, nico." she said as she laid in his arms. she looked up at him with a smirk, before he leaned down and kissed her. "how bout i come to denver after the season ends?" he questioned and she nodded. "id really like that, really would." she smiled resting her head on his chest. they looked at one another for a minute more, "now tell me whats going on in that pretty head of yours." she smiled and he blushed. "where do i begin?" he smiled.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

pls like and reblog if you enjoyed, it would mean a ton!

@hischierhaze @nicohischierz @jayda12 @skatesnstuff

[bobawitch]

Highschool Battlefield | C.S

pairing: chris sturniolo x fem reader <3

cw: none!

wc: 2,379

a/n: OMG YALL IM SO SORRY! i did not mean to disappear off the face of the earth thats so my bad. life got crazy and my writers block was unrelenting. but heres the first chapter in a chris fic that ive been working on off and on. hope yall enjoy ;P

Chapter One:

You always had a distaste for “normal” highschool activities like pep rallies and homecoming afterparties. Which landed the question of why were you here? At the homecoming pep rally for your highschool. Well that was easy, your best friend Allison had dragged you. She had begged you for the last week and a half to come and eventually you gave in. Now Allison was the literal opposite of you, popular, bubbly. She was the girl everyone loved, and you were her best friend that no one understood. Most of the school just knew you as Allie’s friend, it wasn’t uncommon for people to not even know your name. She had it all, the style, the boyfriend, the grades, she was head of student council as well as head cheerleader. Honestly sometimes you wondered why she was your best friend, you were nothing like her. You were the outcast art kid that could have amazing grades if they cared, but you didn’t. Honestly if you hadn’t met Allie in 2nd grade you doubt y’all would’ve become friends. So now you sat on the top of the bleachers watching Allie lead the cheerleaders in their big routine, the football boys sitting on the front of the bleachers as the rest of the school screamed and cheered. Even though the homecoming pep rally was mainly for the football team the other sports teams were encouraged to wear their jerseys. Among the jocks you saw Chris, anybody that was anybody knew who Chris Sturniolo was. Potentially the most popular lacrosse player in the whole school, and way out of your social group. Though his older triplet brother Nick was a good friend of Allie’s so sometimes you’d cross paths. Your eyes drifted from his messy curls over to Allie and her beaming smile. You grinned to yourself, looking down at the sketchbook in your lap. A small sigh escaped your lips as your thumb pushed the volume button on your phone. Djo blared in your ears and you closed your eyes, laying your head back against the wall.

As you drifted into your own imaginary world you felt someone tap your shoulder and your eyes shot open. You were met with Allie’s big blue eyes and toothy white smile. You nodded at her as she sat next to you. “Hey.” You mumbled, tugging your earbuds out of your ear by their chord. You grabbed the pencil out of the ring of your sketchbook, opening it to the page of doodles of people in the auditorium. “I’m so glad you came Y/N!” Allie nearly yelled into your ear. You smiled over at her. “You’re my best friend, of course I came!” You shouted back. She grinned, leaning her head on your shoulder as her boyfriend came up to her. Jackson, Allie’s boyfriend, head of the football team. They were textbook prom queen and king. You gave a half smile at Jackson as he nodded to you, pulling Allie back to her feet. “Hey babe, the sports teams are going to get some pizza, wanna come?” Allie nodded before looking back at you. “Yep! And you’re coming with Y/N.” You looked up, your eyes fluttering in a confused look. “Uh, no thanks I’m good.” Allie shook her head and grabbed your arm, tugging you to your feets and causing your pencil to drop next to your docs. You sighed, Allie got like this sometimes, where she’d decide it was her turn to pick what we did. You slowly bent to grab your pencil and stuff it along with your sketchbook, back into your bag. You then adjusted the ratty flannel that clung to your arms as Allie let Jackson lead her away, following closely behind. You loved Allie but whenever she tried to force you into going places with Jackson and her cheerleader friends you felt a bit out of place. It was overall uncomfortable for you and usually no one would talk to you. 

Soon enough the 3 of you arrived at a pizza place by your school and you stepped out of the car. A singular earbud securely tucked into your ear as Allie and Jackson pranced into the place, arm and arm. You crossed your arms as you walked in afterwards, finding a seat at the end of the table where some of the hockey and lacrosse players sat. You pulled out your sketchbook and began drawing again, peering into the back where a tall boy with black hair flipped some pizza dough. You quickly began a sketch of the boy, it was a hobby of yours to just sketch the people around you. It was so common that you had almost managed to draw everyone in your small high school. “That’s really good.” You jumped slightly from the sudden voice, looking up and being met with bright blue eyes. You stared at none other than Chris Sturniolo who met your gaze before looking behind him to see the boy you were drawing. “You’re really good at drawing.” He spoke again. “Oh uh, thanks. It’s just a hobby.” You shrugged, suddenly feeling the need to put your sketchbook away. He watched as you slid your sketchbook closed, setting down your pencil. “You’re Allie’s friend right?” He kept eye contact with you as you looked at the rest of the table. All of his teammates were chatting and laughing and yet here he was looking at you. “Uh, yeah.” You finally answered his question, looking at Allie who was talking to Chris’s other brother, Matt. Matt was on the hockey team with the triplet’s friend Nate, though you could still feel Chris’s eyes boring into the side of your face. “Does Allie’s friend have a name?” He spoke once more, causing you to turn. “Oh, sorry. Yeah hi, I’m Y/N.” You quickly muttered out. You weren’t good with socializing and you couldn’t quite wrap your head around why Chris Sturniolo of all people was talking to you. “I’m Chris. Nice to meet you Y/N.” You smiled lightly before looking down again, staring at the cover of your sketchbook. “Oh Y/N you met Chris?” Allie was suddenly sitting shoulder to shoulder with you, smiling with joy. “Uh, yeah.” She smiled and leaned closer to Chris. “You’ll have to excuse her, she’s not very social.” She said, nudging you playfully. You rolled your eyes before nudging her back, a smile tugging at your lips. “I am too, I just wasn’t expecting anyone to talk to me here.” You rebutted, looking at Chris again. His lips were tugged into a playful smirk. You rubbed your nose, your rings gently clicking against your septum piercing. You looked back towards where the pizza boy was, he had since left causing a sigh to escape your lips. “Did your muse disappear?” Chris teased from across you. You rolled your eyes. “Not my muse, I just like drawing candids.” “Then draw me.” You scrunched your nose, furrowing your eyebrows as you studied the boy’s face. “Uh no.” You shook your head, slowly opening your sketchbook and swiping past the drawings of the pep rally. “Why not?” You could’ve been imagining it but you almost thought you heard genuine hurt in the boy’s voice. “Because.” You tried to search for a reason but honestly you didn’t know why you wouldn’t draw him. “Because why?” He leaned closer, his tone a teasing and playful one. You sighed and flipped to an open page. “I don’t draw people when they are posing for it.” It wasn’t your best argument but it would work. “First time for everything right?” You sighed, examining the blue-eyed boy that sat in front of you. You chewed on your inner cheek before giving in. “Ok fine. Just act like I’m not drawing you please.” 

Chris’s grin was impossible to hide as he bounced up and down in his chair. He cleared his throat before looking directly at you, apparently this was how he wanted you to draw. You shook your head, yet another sigh escaping your lips. “No, just start talking to your teammates and I’ll draw you. I don’t want to draw you staring at me.” He furrowed his brows, obviously confused as to why you cared so much but obliging anyway.

You stared at Chris’s features as your pencil danced along your sketchbook paper. You hated to admit it but Chris was actually pretty fun to draw. His hair swooped it a way that you enjoyed replicating. After about 20 minutes you had filled an entire page of your sketchbook with quickly drawn poses of Chris. You cleared your throat to catch his attention, him immediately stopping his conversation with his teammate and looking at you. He smirked when he noticed the clutch you had on your sketchbook. You slowly slid your sketchbook over to Chris before sliding your hand back. For some reason watching him inspect your drawings of him made you anxious, your heart beating out of your chest as you waited for some kind of reaction from the boy. He stared intently at the page before his hand gripped the edge of it. With a long ripping noise he pulled the page of drawings out of your sketchbook. You watched with an agape mouth as he folded it up and placed it securely in his pocket. “Thanks pretty girl.” He winked at you before turning to his teammate and beginning to speak again. You were absolutely stunned, staring blankly at the insanely popular boy. “Uh… yeah. Don’t mention it.” You looked over to your phone that lit up and frowned, taking your sketchbook and stuffing it in your bag. You stood, leaning over to Allie. “Dad called, I gotta get home. See you tomorrow.” Before you left the pizza place.

-

You gazed into your friend’s mirror, glaring daggers at your own reflection. Once again you found yourself questioning what you did to get into this predicament. You were in a black denim mini skirt with a black lace tank top hugging your curves, complimented by your signature fishnets and platform doc marten boots. You looked over to Allie’s bed where your green denim jacket laid. Quickly you grabbed it, snaking it around your arms before pulling it around your waist, hiding your torso from yourself. You hated when Allie made you dress up for things and today was no exception. Somehow you had talked Allie out of making you wear a big dress to homecoming but when you attempted to talk her out of making you go you were less successful. So you sighed and put on your least tomboy outfit before heading to Allie’s. She also insisted on doing your hair and makeup. You had sat as still as possible as the girl did a “clean girl” look on you. You quickly fixed it by adding some dark eyeliner and a little bit of liner on your waterline, darkening your eyes. Seemingly content with your look and her own, Allie dragged you to your truck. You had agreed to drive her so she could get wasted even if it meant you had to be at a high school dance completely sober. Not only that but Allie had already signed you up for going to at least one homecoming after party. 

Within no time you had gotten Allie to the school, helping her tipsy self out of your passenger seat before walking her over to Jackson. Jackson smiled at her and she quickly tackled him, smashing her lips against his. You cringed and looked away, making a fake gag face. You hated PDA, maybe just because you had never experienced it with someone, maybe because watching people swap saliva was gross. Who knows. After the two broke apart Jackson led Allie off towards the opening of the dance, looking back at you and nodding for you to follow. You looked down at your beat up boots before sighing and slowly dragging your feet to the front. Alison walked in with Jackson without a second glance at you, just expecting you to blindly follow her into your own personal hell. The overwhelming urge to cover your ears hit you like a ton of bricks, followed quickly by the smell of teenage sweat. You sighed walking over to a table that Allie had thrown her bag on. You sat down and pulled out your pocket sketchbook, grabbing your pencil from the messy bun you had thrown your hair into. You were granted a few fleeting moments of peace before you felt a tap on your shoulder. Upon swinging your head around you were met with a newly familiar pair of eyes. You felt your heart leap through your throat as you stared at the Sturniolo boy. “Hey pretty girl. Wasn’t expecting you to be at one of these, doesn’t seem like your thing.” He spoke in his usual charismatic way though he was forced to a near shout by the loud music. Chris held eye contact with you as he sat in the plastic chair next to you. “It’s not my thing, Allie made me come.” You replied to him in a shout, looking over to where Allie danced with her boyfriend. You sighed before looking back to Chris, a smirk still on his face. “Oh and stop calling me pretty girl. I have a name.” Chris chuckled, causing you to wonder if what you had said was funny. Chris opened his mouth to say something but before he spoke you felt a weight collapse on your shoulders. Your nose was immediately filled with the rosey perfume you knew Allie wore to events. Your hands moved up to hold her arms that had wrapped around you. “Hey Allie.” You said, Allie’s drunken giggling in your ears. She looked up and smiled at Chris. “Hii Chrissy!! I’m so glad you met Y/N, she’s so funnn.” You looked at Chris who was softly admiring you. Eyes darted away as your cheeks grew warmer. You stood, one hand still holding onto Allie’s arms and the other catching your sketchbook. “Come on Allie let’s go dance.” Allie smiled and moved her arms, grabbing your hand instead. You set down your sketchbook and gave a glance to Chris before walking off to the dance floor.

[archivalofsins]

hey so im not trippin right? chronologically, the events in meme take place after the events in double, at least from what i can gather. if thats the case then what the hell happened for mikoto to go from 'giant eyebags and grey hairs at age 20 whatever' to perfectly fine? its probably just that the artstyle wasnt fully finished baking but idk it could be something too.

Oh boy howdy anon you're going to love this. You're right the events on the train do happen before MeMe. However, that's at the start we actually see the events of MeMe play out in the middle of Double. Plus we see the events of Double play out in MeMe as well.

We're just viewing it from a different side like Deco said when Double released.

Also John totally appears in MeMe. So, let's get into this.

So first yeah, the murder repeats in Double. Like we see, the murders occur again during each of the prisoner's trial two songs. I believe the murder is re-illustrated in Double during these scenes.

As you'll be able to see during these scenes the blood splatters inside the train, but the broken doll pieces are outside of it. Mirroring how the murders actually occurred outside in MeMe.

As you can see in MeMe the train that Double takes place within is actually passing through when the murder is committed. We're also shown in MeMe that all of Mikoto's attacks just canonically happen outside the train.

Hence the theme being a dialogue between the front and back. MeMe is the front Double is the back. We also see Mikoto with bags in MeMe but they're less pronounced this is seemingly done purposely to make it more difficult to distinguish between the two of them.

He can be seen with bags under his eyes when they're looking at each other in the mirror, and when he's waking up in the tub. The scene of them looking in the mirror basically mirrored at the beginning of Double.

It's also shown that Mikoto doesn't have bags beneath his eyes when being brought to Milgram. Yet, as soon as it's implied that Mikoto (John) has been fronting the most suddenly guess what's back.

Yep, the bags under his eyes. This is why the line,

"Take a good look at me."

Is repeated through MeMe and why Mikoto's first voice drama emphasizes looking him in the eye as much as it does. Also, why when he does draw a blank and is shown disposing of evidence his eyes are conveniently omitted.

Yet even then before that scene when he does get up lines can be seen drawn under his eyes.

And they can definitely be seen here as well,

And here too!

Mikoto the one Milgram has recognized as a prisoner is the only one not to have bags under his eyes throughout their music videos. Something Milgram does nothing to hide.

In fact it's like the staff has been doing their best to highlight this.

Like if it was just a matter of art style that wouldn't explain how he went from no eyebags to eyebags at the beginning of double and from the beginning of Milgram to now. Or why he went back and forth between them in MeMe.

At that point this is something being done out of intent. Intent that is confirmed in Double when Mikoto (John) goes-

"Aghhh- I'VE GOT YOU, LEAVE IT TO ME!"

After Mikoto's facial expression changes from happy well rested no bags ultimately ending on this expression-

I lovingly call, "Shut the hell up I heard you the first time okay I'll do something about it."

But yeah Mikoto consistently switches between alert, attentive well rested and please, please god let it end i don't remember what a bed looks like let alone feels like please I can't take it anymore. Instead of illustrating this through eye bags in Double it's illustrated through body language more so but the focus on the eyes is still there.

Even with the eye bags. In the first shot Mikoto's eyes are downcast while in the second he's alert and looking at something ahead of him. Similar to how he is in MeMe

So, yeah chances are it could be nothing. Or the one we see with bags under their eyes and seemingly tired throughout both songs is Mikoto (John). Whereas, the one who is energetic and doesn't have as prominent or any bags under his eyes is just Mikoto.

Overall it's an interesting tidbit about Double and MeMe. Simply because it's so easy to miss. I personally think it's there to differentiate between the two but it could be nothing. This retroactively makes this scene funny because there's no bags to be seen so it's more than likely just Mikoto.

And this one because also no bags

Which again by this logic means that is just simply Mikoto. Also calls into question why we never see the face of the Mikoto hunting the other down in Double just their back. Along with all the times they deliberately decide not to show his face. Like he didn't even commit murder in the clothes he's on the train in.

Because the anniversary art is literally all of the prisoners after their crimes. So like it's kind of funny he's been getting away with this so easily.

[pynky]

boy next door • p.sh

# • pt.1??

☆ • pairing; neighbor!sunghoon x m!reader

☆ • genre; fluff, romance

☆ • summary; you meet sunghoon while giving out leftover food to your neighbors. thats when things spark between you two.

☆ • includes/warnings; none

yesterday, your older sister had come over because she wanted to throw a gender reveal party for her incoming child. it was fun, you admit, even though you're not much of a party person. no one was upset with the fact that it was a boy, and the food that your mother had prepared was wonderful. however, she did make a lot, and there was a lot leftover.

"mom... why did you make so much food? you didn't even have that many people over." you ask, crossing your arms.

"well, I didn't know that. if they wanted seconds, there was plenty." there were about ten go-to plates that were filled and put into a black delivery bag. "can you do me a favor?" she asks, and you hum affirmatively in response. "you are gonna give out these leftovers to our neighbors."

"oh." normally, this wouldn't be an issue, but considering you live near a dead end and you had one neighbor that you weren't ready to talk to, you were unsure about this favor. "but-"

"ah-ah-ah. you gon' do it." your mother says with a smile. You sigh, walk over to the bag, and put it on your shoulder. luckily, you were already wearing decent clothing to go out with. As you head to your door, your mother yells a 'thank you!' and you respond with a 'yep.'

the next house was an issue. should you skip them? hell no, that's disrespectful. you know what? just do it, you're sure his parents will be the ones to answer, right? you walk up to their door and knock, praying to the gods that he doesn't answer the door. You hear steps and your heart races, really unsure of who's going to open the door. you shut your eyes just before the door opens.

"are you...okay?" your eyes open to see sunghoon, the neighbor you've been seeing around. the one that you cant help but stare at. the one that haunts your mind everyday. you don't know why, but he is so stunning to you, and if you're ever near him, your heart would practically beat out of your chest. it's not like you have a crush on him, well you do, but think of it like a hallway crush. you know absolutely nothing about him.

"oh yeah no, i'm fine. um..." he's looking at you, and i mean straight into your eyes. your gaze quickly averts to the ground beneath you.

"what do you need?" he asks, beginning to lean on the doorway and cross his arms. even with your head down, you can feel his eyes boring into your skull.

"oh, right. my mom made like so much food yesterday, and she wanted me to give out her food to the neighbors.” you respond. your voice is small, and your hands toyed with the strap of the bag. you open and reach into the bag, pulling out a tray full of warm food. you pick your head up and hand the food to him. when you glance at him to see his face, he's still looking at you, and then his eyes immediately lock with yours. quick to react, your eyes immediately drop down to the ground once again, earning a giggle from him.

you don't know it, but he finds it very cute. he's seen you around as well and definitely thinks the same way you think about him. he'd take the chance to approach you, but you seemed to be avoiding him every time he's around, so he respects your space, as he should.

"tell her I said thank you," he says. "are you sure you're okay? why are you so nervous?" at this point, he's reading you like a book. not that he's cocky, but he knows that he's making you act like this, but he doesn't question it.

"it's nothing, enjoy your food!" you turn on one heel and walk away. sunghoon calls out to you but you act like you don't hear him and begin to speed walk to the next house.

you open the door too your home and see your mother on the couch, watching her usual tv shows. “you’re back!” she turned to smile at you. “you finished?”

“yeah”

“oh, by the way.” she begins, sitting up and turning towards you, “i saw you talk to that boy. the one next door.” she grins.

oh dear.

“this is the year my son finally gets a boyfriend!!” She celebrates quietly, humming a tune and clapping her hands.

you groaned and reminded her, “we only exchanged a few words and some food, don’t get your hopes up.” she laughed, earning an eye roll from you.

"alright. whatever you say." she goes to sit back down on the couch. you head to your room, overthinking everything that occurred. fortunately, this puts you to sleep instead of keeping you up.

# • author’s note; im ngl guys i had no fucking clue where to stop this. so if it was abrupt im so sorry. and excuse the no caps thing i like the look of it.

[alicentrasers]

Hi there ! For the WIP game, can you tell me about Monnk le Vod'ika Grande or Oceanic discovery please ? 🙏

Of all the things for you to pick, it's the one I know the least about and the one I can talk forever about, lmao

-*-

Monnk le Vod'ika Grande is basically a series of cobbled together ideas that I've been slowly going through and cannibalizing for other works. It was mainly written by an old co-author I had back in 2021, with discord convos and 3am rambles.

It is literally only 4 paragraphs of rambling, and only 3 of them pertain directly to Monnk or Fisto lol

Here's a section I have deemed Safe for Public Consumption:

"CC-4583, hold his hand and walk him slowly. SHAAK TI FUCKING PLANNED THIS BC SHE KNEW BABY BOY NEEDS TO BE HELD AND THAT KIT IS A FUCKING HUGGER

Shaak Ti, expert clone/jedi matchmaker.

MONNK HAS GLASSES AND EVERYONE CAN FIGHT ME ON THIS

Kit Karking Fisto is hanging out with his wonderful Commander in the Senate building, the Mon Cala Senator has arrived and they were the escort, one of the bitchier Senators calls Monnk to soft and stupid to even have the honor of being considered canon fodder, it was prolly that one Kaminii, and Kit Karking Fisto pushes her down the stairs, Picks up his Commander, and leaves"

There was originally more than 4 paragraphs... Those have been, uh, /displaced/

-*-

Oceanic Discovery

Literally been working on this for over 3 years. That sounds impressive - it is not. Especially considering the fact that it's been rewritten 4 times and has sprouted 2 other fics that need to be completed and posted in sequence with it. It's a mess, I love it dearly, it's the bane of my existence.

General timeline places it after the Blue Shadow Virus and after Rex was shot in the chest- but I made both slightly more severe and the Clones a little more particular and paranoid about who exactly is allowed to care for their Captain (there's a lot of lore and background behind that decision that I will not explain here. Perish.) Basically leading them to break Rex out of Naboo and send him on a shuttle w only Kix to Coruscant in order to recover the majority of his medical care from literally their top scoring clone CMO.

That's the only background I'm giving as THATS COVERED IN ANOTHER 3 WIPS, OMG WHY AM I DOING THIS.

anyway

A portion Command squad is on leave- Rex wants to escape Kix's loving care, Fox knows a guy at the aquarium, Jellyfish.

Here's a section deemed safe for public Consumption:

"Thorn: @cody are you still alive, coaster?

Cody: I hate you both

Thorn: lol, I'm not the one stealing your captain

Keeli: Where are you guys going, all civvied up?????

Cody: This is the only day we all have leave, so we're headed to the aquarium

Rex: I get to see 💞✨Jellyfish✨💞

Rex: 🌟😊🌈⭐✨💞🥰😍✨

Bly: careful, you're going to set the monitor off >~>

Rex: no I wooont~

Rex: 💖💞💓💗💖💕💞💗💗💓💕💓💞💗💗💓

Rex: I set the monitor off….

Rex: Kix threatened to take away my comm ;-;

Cody: lol, I'm on the way. Did Kix pack you a Go-Bag?

[Rex sent an image] i.d. Shows a medical wheelchair with an odd bag strapped to it, holding a portable O2 filter, Med kit, and small emergency O2 tank

Rex: it looks so unbalanced, attached to the chair 😣

Keeli: I'm sure it's function outweighs the appeal, lol

Rex: did you swing by Jesse’s room to grab my stuff????

Cody: yep

Rex: 💖💖💖✨✨💖✨💖💖✨

Rex: o shit

Bly: Wait, why was it in this “Jesse”’s room??

[Rex is now offline]"

Uh... It's currently in the middle of a rewrite and the only thing acceptable to me, right now, is the beginning texting portion....

ANYWAY

I have made artwork for this fic, and it's posted in the 79's Discord. Feel free to search up my name as I do not remember when I posted it.

-*-

Xoxo, hope that answered some curiosity. I'll answer follow up questions as well. Most Lore related stuff is answered in my ongoing chatfic Landline Across the Galaxy on AO3.

[stiffyck]

yep. tcd has definitely taken over i havent read everything so some may be repeats who knows! scars camera, a shitty camcorder that he got from his dad when he was a kid is one of scars prized possessions. him and his brother used to use it to document whatever wild ideas they came up with when scar ended up being alone (with no name. he barely remembers having a brother- did he even have a brother to begin with?) he deleted the old footage for memory. he never rewatched the footage, it hurt to think he actually had a happy life before something out of his control killed his family. he still used it to document. (don't speak of the way some of the recordings were just breakdowns. or how some were so short, and clearly accidental. a young boy, barely in his teens warily looking off to the side before realizing the cameras on. how the last recording was 30 minutes long, documenting how a barely-adult basically walked into suicide, and 20 minutes of it is just dead footage, of barely anything being able to be seen. just the sounds of groaning and darkness before it abruptly ends. the battery died. (just like who was holding the camera))

scar's sketchbook, another one of his prized possessions. it was his first (and only... until he left the hellscape he was born in. (not raised- he was never raised the zombies got to his family before he could grow up-)) sketchbook, and he got it as soon as he told his mom he had an interest in drawing. he never was the best at it, but it helped him keep... some of his sanity. (please ignore the torn and blood covered pages.) scar's notepad, really only ever used to tally days and tally kills. (he lost track after the third year) scar's plush cat keychain. it was originally just a cat plush, a toy he's had since he was a baby. after losing his family, (oh how they loved him. they are the reason he lived. he doesn't know if he hates them.) he frankinstiened it into a keychain for his backpack. it's covered in dirt, and blood, and any zombie that dares to touch it gets killed even more brutally. No One touches jellie. many years later, he still has these objects. it's in an old, blood and dirt covered travel bag in the deepest depths of his closet. damn i made this a whole lot longer than i anticipated

GOD YES.

Imagine scar writing or drawing in the notebook in blood. maybe he just lost his pencil and didn't have anything else on him but... he does have a wound thats still bleeding.

GOD I LOVE THIS WHOLE THING YEA.

Also consider the idea that jellie isnt an actual cat but just the plushie. consider the hermits thinking scar is talking about an old pet he lost. but there was never really any pet, was there. it was just him and his blood stained cat plushie that brough him the only comfort in his childhood.

This also goes well with the clip from lim life where theyre doubting that jellie is actually real

[sea-salted-wolverine]

Had a weird nightmare about a cult

It was in a church, just an average protestant midsized church, you would expect boy scout meetings in the backroom kind of a place. I was there with some anonymous friend/ acquaintance, the pretty older girl from high-school who was popular and yet genuinely nice, her mom is friends with your mom, her family is well known and well liked, offending her would be social suicide not because of anything she would do but because everyone you know would take her side and grant her victim status because she's just so nice.

She had invited me to some function and I was going out of curiosity and obligation, which is the only reason I'm ever in a church anyways. I was guaranteed to know people there, in the same roundabout, you-know-people-I-know kinda way.

Because its about to be relevant, I'm wearing skinny jeans and a sort of blousey black tank top. I've also got black nail polish and thats a fully normal irl outfit for me. Maybe a bit casual for a Sunday-best style church function, but I was not under the impression that's what I was going to.

I show up and am promptly ushered into the coat closet because what I am wearing is completely unacceptable. (I'm calling it a coat closet because that's what it is, but the churches in my area all have a full sized room set aside for outerwear storage because for half the year everyone shows up in a full down parka and that takes up a ton of space)

Anyway, I'm like, "oh shit I didn't realize this was formal, I can run home and change if its okay that I'm a few minutes late, or if someone has a spare dress I'll wear that" which is also something I have done irl. No one ever tells me anything but I'm small and can cinch down big waistlines and make it look intentional that I'm wearing wildly misfit clothing. So like, the dream is getting weird but in the same way that my real actual life gets wierd.

So then she hands me what is fundamental the same thing I'm already wearing, a pair of slightly darker wash skinny jeans that are slightly higher waisted and with more spandex and buttons, and a black polyester/lycra cropped tank top, which is a shirt I've been looking for irl. And she's apologetic about it, as in, "sorry 😞, hope these fit, 😔 might be a little small"

It's a transparent body shaming attempt, because everything is a xs or a size zero, and meant to make you feel uncomfortable and ungainly in too small clothes, but its so badly executed that I just kinda roll with it, like, okay 🤨. Also I like the tank top.

So I change, and she's finding me a bag to stash my clothes in, and some dude sticks his head in the coat closet as I've got one leg in the new pants. And the whole thing feels so very staged, like I'm supposed to be embarrassed about squeezing into too tight pants in front of some acquaintances hot older brother. Either that or my brain is trying to set up some bad porno wet dream and none of the options are working.

Because the pants fit fine and if you have somehow reached adulthood and are scandalized by the sight of a thigh you're the wierd one for being raised under a rock by blind snakes. So I'm figuring out how to fit my phone and wallet into my waistband because these pants don't have pockets and trying to remember whats-his-faces name, I'm almost certain it starts with a j and I've definitely heard it before but I can probably get away with claiming I mixed him up with someone else and not be considered rude, Jacob? Jason? Jeremy? Jed? Oh wait, is he somebody's boyfriend rather than somebody's brother?

But now he's holding my hand and tut-tuting over my nails because I absolutely cannot have black nails, and wouldn't I prefer a nice dusty pink?

At which point I think I kinda woke myself up because the no rice on Tuesdays tactic of high control groups popped into my head, by name, as that specific phrase, and I went "hmm, yep, this is weird, gimme my shit I'm leaving"

But that only conjured up the first girls mom, complete with a really nice travel duffle with my clothes in it. So I'm yanking my clothes out of the bag, because if I take the bag and leave they're going to want it back and that gives them another opening for things they think you owe them. Anyways shes dissapointed in me, in that performative manipulation kinda way. She says something like if I wanted her daughters shirt I can just have it, heavily implying that I'm causing a scene and being an unreasonable bitch, at which point it occurs to me that it's fucking wierd that they have clothes this small at all because everyone in the building is at least 6 inches taller than I am.

Whats-his-face is still hovering and now he's got a hand on my shoulder thats meant to be reassurance and all I can think is wow you guys are really bad at this. I can hear people in the next room and I know they're people like, my grandparents friends and prospective employers and other important social connections and I need to get out of here without making a scene, which isn't gonna happen.

At some point I said Jesus Christ in the context of a frustrated curse word, which they all jumped on and said I needed to let the lord into my heart or some shit. To which sleepytime subconscious responded to with CAUSE A SCENE AND CONTROL THE NARRATIVE!!!

So I raised my voice loud enough to be heard in the other room and told the guy to get his hands off me or I would punch him in the dick. And because no one believes you when you tell them you're going to punch them in the dick he did not take his hands off me and was calmly and rationally requesting that I calm down and be civil so I followed through and punched him in the dick.

Committing physical violence in a dream always wakes me up, pretty much immediately, but I did get a few glimpses of storming out through a crowd, yelling about entitled pricks in closets and if anyone ever felt like leaving the cult I would give them a hand.

So yeah. What's your religious trauma look like?

[charmixpower]

Issue Seventeen: The Ghost of Balmoral

It's cute how the comics show that absolutely none of these girls are native to Magix and it implies that Alfea still follows Magix holidays even if it's extremely multi cultural

So THATS neat, I was always wondering if Day of the Rose was an entire dimension thing or just the planet of Magix thing

How the fuck does Flora not know what camping is?????? Stop lying to me

Also the moonlight comic

Stella really just remodeled Bloom's entire room instead of just making it larger fjsjdbejsb such Stella energy

Hey wait a fucking second, why would Musa of all people be judging how large the room is??? That doesn't seem right

S4 was absolutely missing everyone looking at cars on earth and being like "YOUR STILL USING FOSSIL FUEL AND GAS??? ARE YOU PEOPLE INSANE!!!"

Stella got a bunch of boys to pitch her tent for her, and the girls are dragging her for filth about it

Their behavior is so funny, some one will offer to do something for Stella and she's like "yes 🥰 thank you 😍 if I have to pitch a tent I'll die" and everyone else is just 👁️👁️ at her

Also Stella's hair is much more obviously vampire bangs in the comics and i continue to dislike it so much

Awe they are so adorable

Plz look at how cute they are 🥰

Conquer??? Stella bestie??? What does that mean??

Stella goes back to Magix and brags to Brandon about bagging another man???? I have no clue what she's trying to communicate tbh

This is the most suspicious way to start a conversation

You know I'm only now thinking about how magic actually being real just not accessable to humans would affect earth

Like ghosts are real, that's literally just a fact

Straight wilding

This is even more suspicious!!!!

You'd think after dealing with the Trix and shit they'd be a lot more suspicious of strangers and yet

Tecna being a good friend 💜🧡

What the absolute fuck is this plan

Like genuinely

"to destroy this business I'm going to make a shitty fake ghost to pretend it was always a fake ghost"

Everything going on over here is absolutely insane

Nothing makes sense, thank you Winx club comics 💗💗

GUNS IN THE WINX CLUB COMICS???? OKAY THEN FJABDKSBAJDJABA

Btw after this they're more busy trying to figure out if that was a real ghost they saw, normal people overhere

I love that their reaction is just to document it

Like yep there are ghosts, but not many, so we have to make sure we can get some pictures bc this will be on the front page!!

There is no hinge

Someone can go from being a ghost to alive in the comics very easily

Uh, two things

1) Hey Taylor, ghosts are alive

2) Daphne

I love how things tend to show up again in the comics and I'm genuinely curious about where this is going

My first thought is sicking real ghosts on Mitzi but it can go in any direction

[fisbyartarchive]

Pinoko

Cutie patootie of mine whom i hath giveth him pileful, plentiful of angst from his dawn of birth. Yep, a fucking object oc.

Pinoko then was a caring, adventurous, impulsive, and labile orphan who live in a simple orphanage somewhere in Everaland. Nothing terrible happen on him, everything's good and lackadaisical. He have a roommate named Rudy, a metal rod. They both being best friend for so long in that orphanage. He is an active child, and sometimes causes trouble to caretakers (usually keeps missing from orphanage :P). He loves adventure stories and wants to be an Adventurer.

Now he is a teenager and heard the rumor of great treasures hidden at a land around Everaland. Since its a rumor we usually just shrug it off, but Pinoko keep thinking about it and wanted to find it out himself (dammit boy dont do it-). And one day, he decide to actually finding it himself. He prepares many stuff for adventures without anyone knowing.

At night, while everyone is asleep, He asks Rudy secretly about that. For sure Rudy denies that, questions Pinoko's dangerous plan, and urges him to cancels Pinoko's plan. But well, Pinoko keep insisted to go wether Rudy likes it or not. Pinoko then tells his friend that he wont be long, and left him through window.

2 days he spent on a coastal sea without guidance because he doesnt know which land the treasure is hidden. But he is having fun anyway, because its his first adventure. Not long after, he found a big rocky island with many signs floated around island. "Turn back" "do not enter" "hostile beast inside" was the sign's warning, yet Pinoko wont heed those warning since he just wanna explore the beach and nothing else. And for sure that beast is sleeping now, because he didnt see any creature there. So he's safe right?

(No. You got yourself fucked, boy)

He finnaly enters the island, walking and digging around in hopes for treasures or atleast something interesting. Not long, he sees a stone road and a small cabin. He is curious, but scared about the sign's warning. So he continues digging. But his curiosity is way more tempting, what hes going to do now.

...

He brace himself, and goes deeper to this land. This will be short, he promise himself. Entering the cabin, theres nothing, so dissapointing. But the stone road leads deeper to land's centre. More curious, he follows without second thought.

What will he found is a cavern that shines inside. Pinoko slowly peeking inside. And boy, turns out the treasures he seeks is here all along (or so he thought...). He goes inside, and takes as many things as his bag could fit them all. Jewels, goblets, and others he puts in his bag. He keeps searching and collects, not knowing something's woken up from their sleep..Youre doomed Pinoko :/

A gorgon witch suddenly snares Pinoko. The gorgon absolutely enraged by Pinoko's acts of trespassing the land and robbing their house, despite all sign they puts around the land. Pinoko being terrified and scared by the witch. He trying to reasons but stuttered and being too panic to says anything. So, the witch, like a bitch they are, goes "thats it! you are punished cruelly!!!" then electrocutes and flings Pinoko to nearby small land.

Long after Pinoko finnaly wakes up and realizes hes lost somewhere and lost his belongins. So he searches for it. He notices so much stones he sees in this land looks like various livings. Damn, who the hell leave their statues here?

He sees a critter, and the critter looks back. Suddenly the critter turns into stone. Pinoko got scared and runs away seeing that shit. On the way he keeps seeing more and more statues, and this terrifies him more. Pinoko then stumbles on a pebble and falls on a lake. Good thing its not that deep, so Pinoko gets up easily. While goes tothe ground, a snake falls on him, and he screams again.he tried get rid of that, yet he couldnt. He pulls that snake, and it hurts so much, like he just pulling his leaf.

...wait a minute, leaf?

He stops. And looks at his own reflection...

He is a Gorgon now...holy shit.

Screams of horror were let out from his mouth. He pulls his snake hair again, no avail. He tried to kill them with rocks, it also hurts, like you just suffocate yourself...Theres nothing he could do now, so he lay down and cries at his own fate. What will he going to do now? How is he hoing back now? How he's going to tell Rudy if he home?

In fear of his new self, new ability and his curse, he hides himself and sleeps in a cave...for 5 years. And one day, a bunch of adventurer ask his sleepy ass if they could use the cave as a shelter, since its the only cave exist in his land. Pinoko just agreeing and hides away from them. The adventurers didnt care, probably we asks some invisible guy. 4 days goes smoothly and then one adventurers tries the portal circle and Pinoko accidentally falls on it. They didnt even notice bruhhh.

So..where Pinoko goes now? To Planet Inamoth where its basically Earth but for Objects!!!!! LMAO

In a nutshell, he lands besides cabin on a forest. Found out about a big city. Tries to live and learn while also hiding from society. Stole a beanie. Works on a random, way too minimum wage job, and constantly changing job. Accidentally petrified some civilians two times, overly got scared and guilty, then drowning their statue body to a lake. And got two friend that randomly befriends you. You guys are all idiot.

Holy fucc this is the longest backstory ive ever write-

Created on september 2022 (?)