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e-dubbc11 · 2 years ago

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Out of Left Field

Photos are not mine. They are courtesy of Pinterest/Google.

Pairing: Billy Russo x F! Reader

Warnings: Mentions of alcohol, a tiny bit of violence but not really, drunk fan, a couple swear words, fluffy bunnies and unicorns

Word Count: 1.8k-ish

Summary: You’re attending a baseball game with a friend and you weren’t expecting to meet a tall handsome stranger.

A/N: This is part of the Thirsty for Cox writing challenge for the month of June. The prompt was “Hey, is that guy bothering you?” It was difficult to NOT set this one at a bar because let’s be honest, that’s the most likely place someone would use that line, amirite? 🤣 Anyway, I hope you like it! 💕

As always, thank you for reading! I appreciate it so much and comments, reblogs are welcome and encouraged. Don’t be shy to tell me your favorite part. 💕💕 💕

“These are great seats! How did you score these?” Your friend Jackie, asked.

When your stepfather said he had four tickets to the Yankee game this weekend, you jumped at the chance to go.

It was the beginning of June, sunny with a few fluffy white clouds slowly moving across the bright blue sky and thankfully the hot summer weather hadn’t arrived yet so it was still just warm and dry.

A perfect day for baseball.

Sitting on the first base line, you’ve never been this close before. The warm early afternoon sun kissed the high points of your face as you took in the view.

You were only three rows back from the on-deck circle and could smell the sunscreen the players had on as they waited for their turn at-bat.

“A client gave them to my stepfather and he couldn’t go so he offered them to me. We have these four seats so we don’t have to worry about anyone sitting next to us.” You told her.

Suddenly, you felt a pinch in your side.

“OW!! What did you do that for?!” You yelled and glared at her.

“Oh I didn’t pinch you that hard, listen…really hot guy checking YOU out. Your four o’clock. Don’t look yet.” She said.

Waiting a couple of minutes before turning around, you looked over your shoulder and there he was…a baseball hat covered his dark brown hair, he had a short well-groomed beard, eyes as dark as the night sky and a smile that would stop anyone dead in their tracks.

“Jackie, are you sure he was looking at me? Because he has to be the most handsome man I’ve ever seen in real life. Every woman in this area is looking at him.” You whispered to her.

She started to chuckle at little. “Well he sure as shit wasn’t lookin’ at me, I’m married anyway and he wasn’t looking at ANY of those other women, he was only lookin’ at YOU.”

Another inning went by and it was time for another beer so you stood up and headed for the concession stands. Walking up the stairs, you phone vibrated in your back pocket. It was a text from Jackie that said:

Hot guy is following you up the stairs, YAY!!

You couldn’t help but laugh a little and shake your head as you put your phone back in your pocket. And now that you knew he was a few steps behind you, it wasn’t the sun that was making you feel warm anymore. Another text came in:

You look really cute today, relax!!

She knew you all too well. She knew you were shy and easily flustered so that was a text pep talk to calm you down a little.

Standing in line, you could feel him behind you, watching you but almost in a protective way. You noticed there were a lot of people around that had already had a few too many, one of them being directly behind you. Swaying in place, and looking like he was about to fall over at any moment, the man spoke to you.

“Y-you look like you wanna buy me a beer! You are a p-pretty thing, aren’t ya.” He slurred.

The man took you by surprise, yelling in your ear like he did, but you tried to be as nice as possible.

“You sure you need another one? You look like you’ve had enough already.” You said with an uncomfortable smile.

The man tried to move closer to you but you stepped to the side a little.

“W-well I w-want you to b-buy me another!” He said, putting his hand on your shoulder.

And that’s when your tall handsome stranger stepped in.

“Hey, is that guy bothering you?” He asked, trying to get in between you and the drunk.

Looking a little nervous, you nodded.

His eyes looked darker than they were when you saw them before, his lips were pulled back to expose clenched teeth, and the heated glare he gave the man was filled with rage.

“Take your hand off of her…now.” He said with a low growl.

The man grabbed your shirt at the shoulder and gripped it tightly in between his fingers. “This doesn’t concern you, pretty boy. This is between me and her.”

And with those words he shoved you backwards into a person carrying two cups of beer that ended up splashed down your back and caused you to fall to the ground.

What happened next, happened so fast that you missed it but looking up after hitting the ground, your admirer suddenly had the drunk man pinned to ground face down when security came running over to take him away.

The handsome stranger rushed to your side and gently placed his hand on your shoulder.

“Are you ok, miss?” He asked, looking you over to make sure you weren’t hurt.

“Well…I have beer all over me but other than that, I guess I’m fine.” You answered.

He laughed a little and continued to smile that perfect smile at you.

“Well this is not how I wanted to introduce myself but HI…Billy Russo.” He said in a slightly sarcastic tone and extending his arm for you to shake his hand.

You gave him a warm smile. “Well it’s nice to meet you, Billy Russo. I’m y/n. Thank you for what you did, I’ve never really had anyone come to my rescue before.”

He gave you his hand for you to take and helped you to your feet.

“Well I’m just glad I was the one to rescue you. Come on, let’s go buy you some dry clothes.” He said.

A little embarrassed, you told him you only brought enough cash with you for beer, the rest of your money was with your purse, at your seat. He said it was on him and he wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“What? No Billy, I can’t ask you to do that. They charge a small fortune for all this stuff.” You said.

Billy winked and smiled at you. “You didn’t ask, sweetheart. I offered.” His slight New York accent coming through. “This way…”

He was so handsome and charming. It was hard to say no, so you didn’t and he led you to a shop to get some dry clothes.

You picked out a new DiMaggio t-shirt since your other one was soaked with beer and a pair of joggers, you were thankful that your socks and sneakers didn’t get wet. Billy had the same t-shirt on.

“At least this one doesn’t smell like beer.” You laughed. “What do ya think?” You asked with a smile and a 360 turn.

Leaning against a rack of clothes, he smiled back at you. “I think you look perfect.”

You felt yourself start to blush. “Thank you for this, Billy. You really didn’t have to. Can I take you dinner, as a thank you?” You asked him.

“Hey that’s my line.” He said with a sly smile as he inched closer to you.

Looking up at him through your dark lashes, you could not take your eyes off of him and he couldn’t take his eyes off of you. It suddenly felt like it was a thousand degrees inside the store.

“Tell ya what…let me take you to dinner and you can buy me a beer on the way back to our seats. How does that sound?” He asked.

You extended your hand for him to shake it. “You got yourself a deal, Mr. Russo.”

On the way back to your seats, you bought four beers. Billy’s friend Frank needed one as well and when you got back to your seats, Frank was sitting with Jackie, and they were showing each other pictures of their kids.

“FINALLY! I’ve been dyin’ of thirst down here.” Jackie said. “Ummm, why are you wearing different clothes? What have you two been doing?” She asked with a wink.

“It’s a long story, I’ll tell ya in a minute.” You said.

You smiled and extended your hand to Frank. “Hi, I’m y/n.”

Frank firmly shook your hand. “Frank Castle. Nice to meet ya.” He said with a smirk.

You handed him his beer. “It’s nice to meet you too, Frank.”

Looking at Jackie, you introduced her to Billy. Her response made you crack a smile.

“Oh I’ve heard a lot about Billy from this guy over here.” She said, pointing at Frank.

The four of you enjoyed the rest of the game together, sharing peanuts, drinking beer, and singing Take Me Out to the Ball Game.

Billy told you he and Frank were in the Marines together but now Billy owns his own private security company and Frank works closely with him.

As the game went on, Billy snaked his arm around you and draped it over your shoulder. Goosebumps peppered across the exposed skin on your arm as he lightly brushed it with his long slender fingers.

You could feel him stealing glances at you when you’d lean over to talk to Frank or Jackie, or rubbing your back before he’d get up to use the restroom or if it was his turn to make a beer or snack run.

These little gestures caused your ears to turn red and gave you butterflies in your stomach. You were already smitten with him.

After the game was over, you were chatting with Billy outside the stadium when you heard Jackie’s voice.

“So are you guys goin’ out on a date or what?” She asked, very directly. “You two look pretty cozy already.” She said, looking at Billy’s arm snaked around your waist.

You smiled nervously at her before looking at Billy then turning back to Jackie. “Uh, yeah. Billy wants to take me to dinner.”

She looked at you, then at Billy, smiled and whispered in your ear. “I have a good feeling about him.”

“I do too.” You whispered back.

You bit down on your lower lip and looked up at Billy. He gave you a little wink as he took your hand in his and kissed the back of it. “I’ll call you later, sweetheart.”

“I look forward to it, Mr. Russo.” You said with a smile.

He leaned forward and feeling his warm breath against your ear, Billy whispered. “Ya know it drives me absolutely crazy when you call me that.” And he planted a light kiss on your cheek.

“Well, I’ll have to remember that.” You said with a slight smirk. “I’ll see you soon, Billy.”

Billy took one last look at you as you walked away from him. You could feel his eyes on you just like earlier waiting in line, watching over you and making sure you were safe. Once you were out of sight, Frank turned to Billy and said.

“I have a good feeling about that one, Bill.”

Billy smiled as he quickly glanced at the ground and back up to look back at Frank and said.

“I do too, Frankie. I do too.”

Tag List: @mindidjarin @saintmurd0ck @wheresthesunshinesblog @rafaelakelley @idaoftheburningmind @snowkestrel @xdervyxccgh @mattmurdocksscars @fakehappy27 @music-indie-tv @fictional-hooman @kayhi808 @munsonownsmyass @gijos @celestialams @idek-what-to-put @anastasianeedstoread @ratsys @k-marzolf @nutmeg17 @rosaleenablack @vaguekayla

Others that might enjoy: @itwasthereaminuteago @fluffyprettykitty @jvanilly @simple-lovebot @russosafehaven @mrsbillyrusso @imagine-a-fictional-boyfriend

If you’d like to be added to (or removed from) my tag list(s) for the ever so handsome Billy Russo, just let me know and thank you again for reading! 💕💕💕 If I tagged you but you didn’t want to be, just let me know and I’ll never do it again.

#billy russo x reader #billy russo fanfic #billy russo imagine #billy russo #billy russo fluff #thirsty for cox June challenge #tfc writing challenge

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thesquirrelqueer · 1 year ago

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@woah-uhuh-uhuh-uhuh already made a post about this that you can go check out here but here’s mine with other stuff from the show I noticed from today’s bac bmc performance!

(these aren’t in any specific order it’s just by when I remembered to write it down)

they really said SCARY stockboy cause he had a knife and he yelled a lot

scary stockboy was playing the knife game before jeremy and michael came in

my mothers would be thrilled was added in

crystal pepsi was changed to ecto cooler (broadway version)

mixed up line during bmc pt 2: the “everything about you makes me wanna die” bit was accidentally switched with the “everything about you is so terrible” bit

whenever squip was controlling someone’s dialogue he mouthed along with them

chloe and brooke held hands a lot

there was a literal tango between madeline and zac during the squip tango

rich yelled “hey short ass where’s my money?” at aubrey during the mts reprise

dustin was shoplifting at the mall

the squip looked through files whenever jeremy did something wrong (think like tony stark with jarvis)

during gtikbi reprise christine had headphones on (she is so neurodivergent <3)

mixed up line during ilprl: “is this where you sign up for the play” “no this is where you sign up for the swim team”

the photo used during the mall scene is actually a photo of the real life menlo park mall

chloe pushes up/adjusts brooke’s boobs for the second dywr verse

one of the ensemble threw up in the hood of jared’s onesie during gtikbi reprise

the squip did stewart clarke’s opt up during tpc

michael started screaming when everyone else was screaming during the play

michael’s mailbox during the pants song said “mell box”

jeremy had an x-men shirt during vimh

michael has more than one red hoodie but they're all slightly different

after rich writes boyf on jeremy’s backpack he like does a kiss towards jeremy’s cheek (not like leaning in to kiss his cheek but more like a “mwah” noise)

#bac bmc #jeremy heere #michael mell #christine canigula #the squip #jenna rolan #jake dillinger #brooke lohst #chloe valentine #rich goranski #broadway #musicals #be more chill #bmc #shut up dani

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dandylion-virtual-adventurer · 1 year ago

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My Outer Worlds posts aren’t getting much attention, but I’m still hyper focused on it (and the Vicar) so I thought I’d get my thoughts out about the game! Lots of words under the cut lol

I was interested when it was first revealed, but didn’t play it because I generally do not want to play in first person perspective. Without a toggle for third person, I pretty much checked out and didn't pay attention to anything about the game for a long time. I had tried it (years ago) during a game pass trial but did not make it into Edgewater. If I had, I firmly believe I would have played it so much sooner.

I picked it up for less than $10 a few months ago and finally played it this month. Boom. It’s my new obsession and it’s very, very sad to be so in love with something that no one seems to talk about anymore.

But anyway, here’s my thoughts on the game, admittedly rambly and not well put together:

First of all, I think it’s important to know that I have not played Fallout: New Vegas. In fact, I’ve only played Fallout 4. I became pretty obsessed with that game when I played it as well. But even still, not to the level that I am now with the Outer Worlds. I write all that to say that I wasn’t comparing this game to New Vegas, as so many other players were. I was, however, comparing it very much to Starfield.

This blog of mine sees me post a lot of Starfield photography and a lot of Sam Coe. But to be honest, the game was overall very disappointing to me. And I don't even actually like Sam that much. In fact, there are aspects about him I actively dislike lol. But he seemed to be the only option for me to romance in the game. (Barrett was my beloved gay uncle idk what to tell you lol).

I think The Outer Worlds succeeded in a lot of ways that Starfield failed. The most obvious way being the tightly crafted world. Starfield's randomly generated areas have nothing on the hand crafted environments of smaller titles, and feel so hollow in comparison. TOW was such a delight to explore in that way. It was always so exciting to land on a new planet or explore a new city. The scale is so much smaller, and I do wish it was bigger...more. But what is there, satisfied that itch of what I wanted adventuring into new alien worlds. It also offered up a better attempt at creating a new universe, in my opinion. I appreciate that Bethesda was trying to create something slightly more serious with their title, but I prefer the dark humor of Obsidian's new lore and more whimsical art direction, even if I feel the former wasn't nearly fleshed out enough. I deeply wish we knew more about other colonies and about the Earth our Captain left behind.

Gameplay wise, I never really did get over the first person thing. Since the game is relatively short compared to other open world RPG’s, at least half a dozen times a play session, I found myself attempting to toggle to a third person view. The persistent problem of the forced first person perspective throughout the entire experience was a constant grating annoyance. I simply do not like it. Especially in a world like this. It is so important for me to be able to see my character and it hugely took away from my experience that I could not. It's incredibly baffling that they included a character creator at all. Even more irritating, is that there are multiple quests about clothing, dressing up, and disguises. Sure would be nice to actually see yourself in that context, wouldn't it?? I also found it frustrating that the developers clearly understood people would want to take pictures in the world they created, but did not, and have never included a photo mode. It's written right there on the option to turn off the HUD. But no, no photo mode.

I don't have much to say about combat. I played on the easiest difficulty, again not being overly familiar with fps, and didn't have many issues. I enjoyed the companion commands and found them way more useful in combat scenarios than many other titles with followers. And how refreshing to be able to have more than one at a time! Their banter reminded me more of Dragon Age than Bethesda titles where it can feel somewhat lonely with a single follower. The dialogue between the Unreliable crew was a delight, but it seems to be the only real time you will get to see their personalities playing off one another, as there are very few moments where the whole cast is together. Admittedly, I still sometimes go out with just the Vicar ;)

And oh how that Vicar so quickly became beloved! I've never read fanfiction in my life, but here I am now. I just turned 30 last year and I'm scouring the internet for fics and fanart of this man. Lamenting the complete lack of merch. Is it any wonder? I definitely feel he's the most well explored character in the game. It's a pity I couldn't explore his body. Not only do I find him attractive and fun to have around, but by the end of his quest I felt a deeper connection to him, as I saw my own journey with deconstructing religion reflected in his story. Frankly, I felt most of the other characters' quests felt like afterthoughts in comparison, and I was hoping for a little more.

There are some other rough edges to the game for me as well. I was greatly aggravated by the level cap being sat at 36. I'm playing the og version with DLC installed. I had no idea it was coming and was frustrated I couldn't tweak the characters further. And of course, combat became a waste of time as it was no longer rewarding by mid to late game. I essentially played the entirety of Peril on Gorgon and the last few missions of the main campaign without earning a single shred of xp. I appreciate that I can take certain companions to boost my skills that I'm weak at, but preferred to take companions I liked and let my clothing do the supplemental work for us. Unfortunately this was a very tedious task without a load out system or any way to sort the armor by affect. One wonderful perk I must sing the praises of, however, is the ability to travel while over-encumbered! If only the map itself weren't so darn cumbersome! I never took on any flaws in my first playthrough, and think I'll save that for my low intelligence run, so I can't comment on that system. It did not look appealing to me while playing on easy.

One last thought before I sum up my opinions here. The DLC. Peril on Gorgon was fine. I'm disappointed I didn't get an Archibald Excelsior outfit for Max, but it's fine. I think it was a mistake to play it after Murder on Eridanos though... because I LOVED Murder on Eridanos. It felt bigger, more exciting. Different. It was such a blast to play and I think it stuck out to me more than any other part of the game.

The biggest complaints one can have with The Outer Worlds somewhat slink away when you remember the limited time and budget Obsidian had. I wanted more places to explore. I wanted more fleshed out world building and companions. I wanted a longer third act. A more satisfying conclusion. I admit, I hate that the crew drifted a part. Most of these things could be addressed in the sequel, but the fact that we won't get them for the Halcyon Colony and the Unreliable Crew saddens me to my core. If they add romance in the sequel, that would be wonderful. But if I won't be romancing Vicar Max then what's the point... *sigh*

Hey, maybe we can get a game where the Unreliable crew is reunited to solve another murder mystery?

Eh, it could happen.

#the outer worlds #my gaming thoughts #outer worlds #video games

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hux-and-gay · 7 months ago

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Kylux Ask Game

so I’ve been having lots of fun writing shorts for the Kylux shorts fest, and I just recently updated and organised my Kylux playlist again. So I thought what better to do than continue to fill up my ask box with things, I will get to eventually.

Here’s How this works My Klux playlist is linked below. Either pick a song yourself or shuffle the playlist then SEND ME AN ASK that has that name of the song and any other details you want to add, I will write a short based on the song and the details you give me. Please be sure to include the emojis listed below in the ask to indicate what type of writing you want.

You can include multiple

💙- banter

💗- Fluff

❤️- passion

💛- Steamy/Dirty

🖤- angst

💔- breakup

🩸- Violence/Gore

—————————————————————————

again, don’t expect these to be answered any time soon 😅

There are 50 songs to choose from, you can send multiple songs in the same ask but I may not do all of them if it seems too complicated

The cover photo for the Spotify Playlist IS NOT MINE, it’s beautiful fan art by @queenstardust

They aren’t on these playlists but I will also take

Take me to War, The Crane Wives

Money Power Glory, Lana Del Ray

Mama, My Chemical Romance

if you want one just about Hux

—————————————————————————

@lessdenied @fives-ren @jaynesilver @thegeneralorder @diabollicallyangelic

@existing-sadly

@theosb0rnway

@dragonflies-draw-flame @hpdmism @fridayincarnate @tomatette

@transmasc-vampire-is-tired

@bostarsky

@nancyreadsandwrites

#ask game #kylux #huxlo #music #ship playlist #writing #kylo ren #armitage hux #star wars #general hux #Spotify

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meadowclarks · 3 days ago

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I tested out communicating with a commission scammer so you don’t have to.

(A warning guide for other newer artists!)

Yesterday, I got a comment on a recent post of mine asking if I took commissions. At first, I was excited! Commissions are few and far between for me, but I enjoy doing them (and I could use the money, as most artists could).

I began corresponding with this person over DM, and at first all seemed well—while the “pet portrait” scam thing is known in some circles, the post this person had commented on was legitimately a series of pet portraits. If someone was going to seek out an actual pet portrait, contacting through a post tagged “pet portrait” doesn’t seem unreasonable.

The first red flag came when this person offered me what was way, way more money than the price point I set out for the commissions. I was suspicious—but admittedly hopeful. There are cases where commissioners want to pay an artist more than their set rate if they think an artist is undervaluing their work (I’ve been one of those commissioners myself in better financial times!), and while this is extreme… that money would be huge for me right now, especially as I don’t live in the USA and the currency conversion would almost double the dollar amount I’d receive in my own country’s currency. That’s a week’s rent for me. I was also, admittedly, flattered by this person’s compliments of my art—like many newer artists I don’t have a foothold on social media yet, and the validation of compliments is easily seductive (Of course, that’s the point).

I pressed on, cautious but optimistic. If this was a real commission, that money would help me out a lot.

I’ve heard of commission scams where a commissioner offers to pay by (phony) check. Like many artists, I prefer PayPal. When this commissioner suggested PayPal, and was open to going through invoices (the best way to protect yourself in the event of a PayPal dispute as you have strict evidence of the terms of the transaction, in my opinion!), I retained my cautious optimism. What the hell, I thought. If this is real, they’ll pay. If it’s fake, they won’t.

Of course, this person did a good job setting things up to look legitimate. They sent convincing-looking screenshots showing they’d paid my invoice. Great, I thought! This is a real commission, how lucky am I!

Of course, that’s when things quickly took a turn. They immediately started harping on about the money already being deducted from their account before I’d received anything (which, yes, that’s how PayPal works).

They commented twice on the money being already deducted, and the repetitive language is when I was finally like “yeah, okay, definitely probably a scam, huh?” Until now, this person had done a good job seeming normal—they’d sent relatively plausible messages, hadn’t spammed me even if I took a while to reply, and of course had provided reference photos and screenshots of their “payment.”

When I checked my email spam folder, though, the game was then predictably obvious—

This email is obviously spam. The language, odd spacing and grammar, and general tone are clear indicators. So is the email address it came from—I know what the actual PayPal contact email addresses are, and this one was obviously fake (for one, it came from an @gmail account, rather than an @paypal account).

I put my foot down when the “commissioner” next emailed me. They, of course, went silent after this.

I looked at their profile after, which provided more clues to their being bullshit in hindsight. They didn’t have a profile picture, and all their reblogs were generic photo sets. These aren’t necessarily indicators an account isn’t real—some people like the default profile pic and photo sets!—but they are things I think I’ll definitely be looking out for with future commissioners.

The real thing I noticed, though, was when I went through this person’s (unlocked) likes. Small art post after small art post—all with the exact same comment I received. Dozens in a single day.

So, uh, if you receive a commission inquiry that seems a bit sketchy, maybe check their likes haha.

So what did I learn here? Maybe it’s obvious, but to be cautious lol. I took a gamble engaging with this person from the start, and I probably should have broken off contact the second that impossible amount of money was set down. The seductive quality of compliments, and how much that money would do for me as a young person struggling to pay my bills each month (like many others!), overrided my suspicions temporarily. But I still took precautions I’m glad for—using an invoice, monitoring through PayPal itself for a payment, and, obviously, not engaging with a spam email. In the end, no damage done other than someone having my dump email account… and like, I get so much spam to that account already haha, because I’ve been using that email for over a decade since I was a kid and that’s just what happens.

But I wanted to write this post because I thought others might benefit. There’s stuff out there about commission scams, but a lot of it can feel abstract—or you can think “well this person talks more organically than that example description, so maybe this is real”. For newer, younger, or hungrier artists the gamble can feel worth it, but take precautions—and know when to pull the plug!

(Oh, and go ahead and block @optimisticdefendorluminary —who is still active, but unsurprisingly quickly blocked me when I called them on the scam—just to be safe).

#commission scams #online scams #scams #art scams #art commissions #commission #avoid scams

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art-of-manliness · 5 months ago

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Iron Your Jeans, Pardner

YOU DO NOT IRON A CREASE IN YOUR JEANS! That’s been the golden rule of denim for years. Why? Simple. Jeans are casual. Workwear. Creases spell formality. Mixing the two? It’s like wearing a tuxedo to mow the lawn. But my old man, Tom McKay, ironed his jeans religiously. Well, he wore ironed jeans. My mom did the actual ironing. As a federal game warden, Dad’s work uniform was a pair of crisply ironed bootcut Wranglers, a pique polo, and cowboy boots. As a kid, I remember watching Mom iron a sharp crease into my dad’s jeans while she watched Touched by an Angel and thinking to myself, “What gives? Jeans aren’t business slacks!” Fast-forward to me in my 40s, and I’m flipping through old photos at my folks’ house. There’s Dad in his razor-sharp creased Wranglers, and damn if he doesn’t look like he means business. Tom McKay, meaning business in his ironed Wranglers, circa 1989. But I also started noticing ironed Wranglers in other places besides my old family photo albums. The troubadour George Strait rocks creased Wranglers like they’re dress pants (even wearing them with a tuxedo top). Cowboys in rural Oklahoma sport pressed denim like it’s their Sunday best. Turns out, there’s a whole subset of cowboys who swear by starched, ironed jeans. Their reasons? * Protection: They claim the starch acts like armor. (Debatable — science says it might weaken the fabric.) * Looks sharp: A crease in your Wranglers says, “I’m ready to bale some hay, but I could also take my gal to Cattleman’s Steakhouse right afterward.” Besides seeing them on 90s country music legends and cowpokes in Blanco, OK, I’ve also been seeing ironed Wranglers amongst the hip, young crowd. Bootcut Wranglers, ironed to perfection, are becoming a thing amongst fashion-forward cool dudes. Even the Wrancher — a polyester cowboy dress pant (another style staple of Tom McKay) — is gaining traction. And so, curiosity got the better of me. I took the plunge and ironed my Cowboy Cut Wranglers. Reader, it’s a solid look. At least, I think so. Here are a few looks I put together with my ironed jeans: Calling this first fit “The Tom McKay”— ironed bootcut Wranglers with a pique polo shirt and a thick leather belt. Pops was a Land’s End polo shirt man, but he had a few Lacoste polo shirts too. He mixed Southwestern desert vibes with 80’s tennis preppy. The man had style! Sporting my Grandpa Bill Hurst’s Western sport coat and bolo tie. Great for Sunday church services or when you’re solving a murder in a Cormac McCarthy novel. Repping my New Mexican heritage with the yellow Zia red sun t-shirt. Tucked-in, natch. Cowboy belt from Zilker. It’s funny how life works. Here I am, channeling my dad’s 40-year-old style. Cat’s in the cradle, indeed. A Few Thoughts On Ironing Jeans: * Stick to bootcut Wranglers. Ironing your jeans is a Western thing. Your straight-fit selvedge denim? Don’t iron them. Also, since you’re ironing your bootcut Wranglers, wear cowboy boots with them. * Iron them just like you would dress pants. See our extensive guide on how to iron pants. My mom recommended that you use a lot of steam to get that sharp crease in the jeans. I starched mine and liked the results. It might not be good for the fabric, but boy howdy does it provide a nice, crisp crease. * Dress high, medium, and low. Dress up your ironed jeans with a fancy Western shirt and sport coat, go Tom-McKay-business-casual with the pique polo, or take things down a notch with a tucked-in tee and a cool belt. Want to shake up your style? Give ironed Wranglers a shot. They mean business. Help support independent publishing. Make a donation to The Art of Manliness! Thanks for the support! http://dlvr.it/TD8nzK

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dustedmagazine · 1 year ago

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The Paranoid Style – The Interrogator (Bar/None)

Photo by Tad Unreasonable

Listening to Elizabeth Nelson talk erudite shit on The Interrogator, I can’t get Isabel Baker’s dusty, full-throated “I Like God’s Style” out of my head. It’s the jaunty theatricality, the way both Baker and Nelson barrel into their music, the assured grandiosity in their vocal bearing. With vastly different recording fidelity, the barely researchable, proto-Christian Rock teenager Baker and the cosmopolitan, multi-hyphenate Nelson each demand center stage from note one.

Other, perhaps more sonically precise things come to mind over The Interrogator’s 13 tracks: ZZ Top’s fuzzed-out sleaze; the wry, sneering energy of Supersuckers; Elvis Costello’s frothy take on Americana; even Liz Phair with quicker-to-hand, if shallower, retorts. I also couldn’t shake the sound of the full-on rock band iteration of The Mountain Goats — Peter Hughes, Jon Wurster, horns. To my ear, there’s a lot of John Darnielle in Nelson’s delivery too, not only the verbose spiels, but how she wrings melody and affect from that verbosity when she wants to — the shudder in her voice on “The Findings” as she finishes the line “and then the youth movement always fails,” or the empathetic rendering of her characters in “Print The Legend,” an update of Robert Earl Keen’s “The Road Goes On Forever.” Darnielle finds great ferocity in desperation as a vocalist, but desperation isn’t really Nelson’s game. The overwhelming sense is that she’s seen it all, or at least that it's important for the listener’s suspended disbelief to think so. Another of Baker’s songs, “This Ol’e Worlds’ a Big Let Down” seems like a good pass at Nelson’s starting point. For Baker, the bummer is redeemed because there’s something better on the other side, while for Nelson, watching the world burn isn’t even revelatory, because what else would it do? Still, she’d like to discuss the shortcomings that got us here.

“The Ballad Of Pertinent Information (Turn It On)” is a particularly successful expression of this sentiment. A heroic piece of power pop, the song includes a killer call-and-response chorus and houses telling lines like “let’s dance until something awful happens” and “burned in the fire/hung in a cell/there are oh so many dudes who think they get me so well.” To that last point, even if, like me and Robert Christgau, you aren’t sure you do get all of Nelson’s jokes, songs like “...(Turn It On),” “The Return Of The Molly Maguires,” “A Bad Day For The Group Chat” and “The Drop Is Steep,” find her holding triumphant court, gleefully riffing over tasty riffs — often courtesy of new lead guitarist and former-dB Peter Holsapple — on everything from financial precarity and long-dead humorists to Irish politics and aging. In most of The Interrogator’s best moments, The Paranoid Style are a pummeling bar band. A charming balance between playing tight and loose, at once exhilarated and weary; drunk on their ability to turn out phrases and tunes, tracing a route through the higher and lower forms of societal chaos.

Nelson’s urge to namecheck historical happenings loses urgency in the tossed off litany of 20th century antagonists on “Styles Make Fights.” And while “I Love The Sound Of Structured Class” gets in some good, character-sketching lines (“still waiting on the lifeline/from the kind of folks/who share opinions like mine” and “I’ve spent time in education/I’ve spent time in jail/I’ve drunk from the river basin/I have skied in Vail’ among them), the song crashes on the awkward quasi-wordplay of its titular refrain.

“Are You Loathsome Tonight?” is a more successful near-pun. The eighth song, it’s one of two slower numbers on The Interrogator and finds Nelson matching twinkling piano and mournful slide guitar with a vocal performance that isn’t hesitant but thoughtful. It allows her the space to evoke melancholy from unexpected places, like “savoy truffles, finely baked minds/media kerfuffles” and “believe me I know/how to vouchsafe a nation.”

“The Findings,” paced at the same tempo, is Nelson’s clearest statement of purpose. Over airy keys and wavering guitar chords, she gives a survey of her lyrical darlings. The digs (“you’d be the scariest thing in The Shining”), the politics (“passage of the 26th amendment”), and the unsettling contradictions of modernity (“come for the hors d’oeuvres/and stay for the horrors”). Following a winking quotation of “My Way,” she ends the song, and the album, repeating “and those are the findings/those are findings.” Isabel Baker may have found the Good News, but Elizabeth Nelson found the rest of it.

Alex Johnson

#the paranoid style #the interrogator #bar none #alex johnson #albumreview #dusted magazine #Elizabeth Nelson #isabel baker #the mountain goats #elvis costello #lyrics first #peter holsapple #Bandcamp

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yungkiszka · 3 years ago

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|NSFW Alphabet | Josh Kiszka

A/N: I’ve been waiittiinngg to post this, I love reading these so I said fuck it and made my own so this is the first one. enjoy ;)

Warnings: SMUT OBVIOUSLY! STRAIGHT FILTHHYYY MY MAN

(all writing I post is mine, please do not steal my work)

─────────⊱⁜⊰─────────

A= Aftercare ( what they are like after sex)

•Josh is the biggest softy you know. He tries to hide it from others, but you know how he truly is.

• He will kiss your body on any surface he left marks on, grab you water, play with your hair, start a hot bath for you, literally anything. He treats you like a Queen.

• He is a bit of a switch so when your dom, he always wants cuddles and kisses right after you guys are done.

B= Body Part ( favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

• On him: his lips, 100%. He knows damn well they can make you crumble.

• Kissing your lips, down your body, when the graze over your pussy.

• They are so fucking soft and he knows they drive you crazy just looking at them.

• On you: BOOBS. Joshua is such a boob guy lmao

• He not only loves laying on them, but also cumming on them.

• He loves to tease you by kissing then, lightly sucking your nipples.

•Hickeys. All over your tits.

C= cum (literally anything to do with cum)

• If he’s not cumming inside of you (in your pussy or mouth) he’s definitely cumming on your tits.

• he loves to watch you take your finger, scoop up some of his cum and lick it off the tip of your finger.

•Literally has a breeding kink. No doubts.

D= dirty secret (little dirty secret of theirs)

• he’s always calling you mama, so one day you ‘jokingly’ called him daddy.

• Little did you know, that word drove him absolutely insane.

• He’d whisper in your ear “who’s daddy’s little slut, hm?”

• Knowing he liked it so much turned you on even more.

E= Experience (how experienced are they?)

• man’s got game. For sure.

• You definitely made a more wild side come out of him, but he knows EXACTLY what he’s doing. No further questions about it.

F= Favorite position (you already know)

• Cowgirl is his fucking favorite.

• Seeing your face while you ride him, that smirk on his face ugh.

• He can grab your throat and say “what a good girl mama”

• He can thrust into you fast, making you fall on top of him, tits in his face while you moans are muffled into the pillow under his head.

G= Goofy (are they more serious in the moment, or are the humorous, etc)

•Josh is definitely a serious one during sex

•He’ll only giggle when teasing you, it amuses him to see how needy you are for him.

H= hair (how well groomed are the down there)

•he definitely keeps it cleaned up, not very long at all.

•He doesn’t go full on bald, he leaves a good amount but trimmed very well for you.

I= intimacy (how are they during the moment, romantic aspect…)

All depends on his mood

He can be very gentle

He’ll praise you, your body, telling you how beautiful you are and how much he loves you

Then there’s other times where he’s degrading you non stop

You’re like a toy to him, he will throw you around

“You like being my little slut, huh?”

Choking, slapping, hair pulling and all that good stuff.

Calling you mama no matter what he’s doing to you, obviously.

J= jack off (masturbation headcannon)

before you he jerked off a good amount, but he does even more now that’s he with you.

He gets lonely when you aren’t able to be with him for some shows

Sexting all the time when you’re not with him, you like to tease him a lot. He’ll be sitting in his green room before a show, looking at some spicy Polaroids he has of you and photos in his phone. Instantly he gets hard, he’ll undo his jumpsuit, grabbing his throbbing dick and jerking off to you. His head thrown back, imaging what you two could be doing in that moment.

Also, he makes sure to record videos or take pics for you when you aren’t there.

K= kink (one or more of their kinks)

daddy kink, 10000% and he loves to call you mommy when he’s sub.

“You gonna beg for daddy to fuck you mama?” Or “please mama I can’t take it anymore, I need you.”

breeding kink.

He loves to blindfold you, not knowing what he’s gonna do to you.

He loovvvees leaving love bites all over you, he’d does not give a single fuck who sees them. Especially when he’s on tour and can’t be with you, that man basically owns you let’s me real. He’s protective af.

L= location (favorite place to do the deed)

this man will fuck you anywhwre.. and I mean ANYWHERE

you guys had a picnic on a hike once, no one was there so yoy bet he fucked you on the top of the trail.

Shower sex, car sex, simple bedroom sex it doesn’t matter.

Minutes before he has to go onstage, fuck it, he’s pulling out a quickie.

That man loves to fuck. (As dr.jmk once said “it’s all about fucking”🤣)

M= motivation (what turns them on, or gets them going)

When you starte right into his eyes with those fuck me eyes, biting your bottom lip.

He loovveess when you wear skirts, seeing your thighs peeking out, how it rises when you sit down, damn it drives him insane.

Simply calling him ‘babe’ or ‘baby’ in a certain tone will make him grab you right then and there and fuck the life out of you.

N= no (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

•He’s literally down to try anything, but of something makes you uncomfortable he won’t do it.

•However, he will NOT share. No threesomes or anything, he’s so fucking protective.

O= oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc )

•that mans mouth/ tounge works WONNDEERRSS

•he’s talented is so many ways ;)

He lovvves eating you out, it boosts his ego ngl. Seeing you squirm under his touch, his tounge.

Licking up all your wetness, pulling his fingers out of you and putting them in his mouth with that fucking smirk on his face.

However, he fucking loves fucking your mouth, hearing you gag on his big dick drives him crazy. He literally smiles watching you choke on it.

P= pace (are they fast and rough? Slow and sensual? Etc)

again, all depends on his mood.

He does love fucking the shot out of you though, you’re always being a brat so he likes to punish you.

But, he also likes to give it you slow and tease you

Nice sensual slow sex is y’all’s when you’re feeling down and he wants to show you how amazing you are, just some you some love.

And most of the time, he’s just railing you tbh.

Q= quickie (their opinion on quickies, how often, ect)

like said before, this man is always down for quikies before meetings, interviews or shows.

So it does happen often

He still makes sure he shows yoy how fucking beautiful you are.

R= risk (are they down to expirement? Do they take risk? Ect)

YES! The thought of being caught makes him so fucking hard

There’s been times where one of the other guys have walked in on you just making out but not full on fucking, he wishes someone would. Why? You’ll never know, just turns him on.

S= stamina (how many rounds can they go, how long do they last..)

This guy can go for a least 3 rounds, he will never get sick of fucking you let’s be real

His stamina is pretty normal, but it does take a lot to actually make him tired.

You on the other hand, you’re dead after the second round but you always want more.

T= Toy ( do they own toys? Do they use them in their self or even their partner?)

vibrating panties. He lovessss using them in public, when you guys are out with the boys, anywhere. You never know when he’s gonna turn it on and make you squirm.

Vibrating wand, he uses that in hopes you’ll squirt, which you do.

Handcuffs, rope, all that good stuff for suuuree;)

U- unfair (how much they like to tease you)

He’s a master at teasing, and you hate it but love it.

He has a decent amount of self control so he can keep touching you and doing whatever he wants to you without wanting to fuck you right away

V= volume (how loud they are, wfat sounds they make..)

he’s either grunting in your ear or whispering praises in your ear.

He can be loud af but you love it

“Ah, fuck mama! You’re gonna make me fuckin’ cum!”

Very vocal.

W= wildcard (lost a random headcanon ;) )

He lovvees seeing you in a plaid skirt, he will slip his hand under and start circling your clit no matter where you two are.

X= x-ray (let’s see what’s goin on under those pants )

Josh is thick AND long

We are talking a solid 8 inches, and decently thick.

Y= yearning (how high is their sex drive)

So high.

This man thinks about sex all the fucking time.

He can control himself, but he doesn’t want to.

Z= zzz ( how quickly the fall asleep afterwards)

he never falls asleep before you

He makes sure you’re all set and sound asleep before he even thinks about shutting his eyes.

#josh kiszka #josh kiszka x reader #josh kiszka smut #jake kiszka #jake kiszka x reader #jake kiszka smut #sam kiskza #sam kiszka x reader #sam kiszka smut #danny wagner #danny wagner x reader #danny wagner smut #gvf #gvf x reader #gvf smut #greta van fleet #greta van fleet x reader #greta van fic #greta van fleet smut

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yuikomorii · 3 years ago

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Yui’s friends

I've had a strong desire to write game scenarios based on Yui's life prior to meeting the Sakamaki brothers. I also didn’t name the friends since in the game the classmates or other characters are basically nameless and only letters such as A, B, C and so on are used to differentiate them. This was mostly inspired by an old post in which it was shown that Yui has never had true friends(sadly). Enjoy! <3

Yui: (Today is my first time going out with someone other than my father, therefore I'm definitely looking forward to it! I'm glad I was finally able to make some friends, these girls… They appear to be very nice!)

Friend A: Hello~! Earth to Yui-chan, are you there?

Friend B: Seems like someone is spacing out again, huh?

Yui: Eeh!? Ah..— I’m so sorry! Have you called me for a long time…?

Friend A: Don’t worry about that, shall we finally go now?

Friend B: We should if we still want to catch the mall open.

Place: Mall

Yui: Uwah… it’s so big !

Friend A: Fufu…haha..!

Yui: Eh? Why… Why are you laughing?

Friend A: N-Nothing, I just liked your reaction; it’s only a regular mall.

Friend B: Say Yui-san… you never went shopping before, did you?

Yui: T-That’s…— I did but the mall I visited with my father… it definitely was different from this one.

Friend B: I see… well, don’t you think this is your chance to find something nice to buy?

Yui: That could be the case. Although, I wouldn’t like to spend a lot of money.

Friend A: Eeh? Why not? Those are yours for a reason, no?

Yui: Uhm… not really. You see, my father gave me some money for today, I didn’t work for it, for this reason it’s not entirely mine.

Friend B: However, you should not pass up the opportunity to buy anything you want simply because of this. Don’t you think your father would be pleased if you bought something that made you happy?

Yui: Well, now that you’re phrasing it like that…

Friend A: Come on~ Look at that shop! The prices aren’t even that high, we should check it!

Timeskip

Friend A: Hoh… heavy…!

Yui: Do you need help?

Friend A: No, no, I’m fine. Anyway, what did you buy?

Yui: Me? Ah… I didn’t buy anything.

Friend A: Wah…——! N-Nothing at all!?

Yui: That’s correct. I thought the outfits were cute but something else actually caught my attention.

Friend A: Let me guess, it was a boy, right~?

Yui: W-Woah… that’s not it! I just thought the necklace over there looked really pretty…!

Friend A: And? What’s stopping you from buying it?

Yui: Hmm… I don’t think it’s very affordable.

Friend A: What a pity!

Friend B: Girls! The mall will close soon, we should really hurry up!

Friend A: But Yui-chan should buy something t—

Friend B: There’s no time for that anymore!

Place: Alleyway

Yui: Over there is a cotton candy shop, and it looks delicious!

Friend B: Really? Cotton candy?Are you perhaps still a child?

Yui: Eh… I can’t see what’s so bad about it. Cotton candy is for everyone!

Friend A: Didn’t know you had a sweet tooth fufu, but you should get one if you’re already drooling.

Yui: W-What…!?

Friend A: Just kidding~ Now go, go!

Timeskip

Yui: Yummy! Do you want some?

Friend B: No thanks, I’m not really a fan of sugary stuff.

Friend A: Look at the new purikura cabin!

Yui: Ah… Uhm… I actually got to go. I'm about to miss my curfew, and if I'm late, my father will be worried...

Friend B: Geez, it’s just a photo, it won’t take that long!

Yui: But… the queue is long! I really don’t want to be late and get scolded…!

Friend A: Scolded…? Your father still does that? But you’re not a child anymore, you know.

Yui: Yes but uhm… my father is rather protective hence he simply wants me to be safe.

Friend B: Fine, fine, you can leave. I'm going to stand in line.

Friend A: Hey Yui-chan… before you leave, I want to let you know that I’m sorry you couldn’t get that necklace.

Yui: Don’t worry about that. I’m simply happy I got the chance to hang out with both of you today. You see… it was actually my first time spending time with girls, for this reason this day already became very special to me.

Friend A: And it won’t be the last time, our friendship will just keep blooming more and more!

*flashback ends*

Place: Ryōtei Academy

Monologue

I couldn't help but feel caught in a confusing emotion

as I remembered those moments.

The once-blooming bond between us

disappeared without trace.

I had to come to an abrupt conclusion

that I could never have predicted.

The reply I was longing for

Was never received.

#yui komori #diabolik lovers #dialovers #komori yui #admin

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cheries-things · 3 years ago

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secret santa

pairing: yunho x reader

summary: you and yunho are each other's secret santa

photo: ateezfilm on twitter

Ms. AZ, your Art 10 professor’s favorite holiday is Christmas.

She adorned the classroom with fairy lights, made everyone decorate the tree she brought to school, and played Christmas carols every day starting from December 1st.

So, it was not surprising when she announced on the last week before break that the class would be playing Secret Santa.

The rule is simple. Each student draws a name to become someone’s Secret Santa, and on the last day of class, everyone will receive their gift.

You didn’t even think much of it until you read the name you had chosen from the bunch.

Jeong Yunho.

Yunho is the guy everyone likes, and it would be lying if you said you were an exception.

He is always smiley and full of life. It really is not difficult to feel comfortable around him.

But, at the same time, his friendliness and all-too-perfect persona make him unapproachable.

Although he regularly borrows your supplies, your relationship is nothing more, nothing less.

You didn’t think you would be able to buy a gift for someone you barely know, but it turns out you do know a whole lot about him. Yunho likes to collect electronics, dance, and play games.

But what can you get that he doesn’t already have?

After a few hours of wandering from mall to mall, you decide on a “not-so-lame gift”—a reservation for glow-in-the-dark bowling.

You slipped the confirmation receipt in a nice envelope along with a scrawly message, Merry Xmas! I hope this will be a fun way to spend the holiday.”

(Flash forward to the last day of class)

The bell rings, and everyone goes to pick up their Secret Santa gift. You and your friends sit together to open them. Your friends got teddy bears, snow globes, and perfumes, but yours was...a map???

“There are 4 treasure chests Y/N! You’re getting 4 presents!”

Wow, your Secret Santa really knew how to make it interesting. After deciding that you would go treasure hunting after school, you couldn’t help but wish for time to pass faster.

As soon as class was dismissed, you dashed out the door with the map in your hands.

In no time, you reached the location of the first treasure. Digging under the pole of the gym’s volleyball net, you found your first gift: a used eraser???

Okay, now you HAVE to know who the Secret Santa is. You followed the map to find the rest of the treasures: a used ball-point pen and an equally used brush.

The last treasure was on the campus’s rooftop, but even though you searched every nook and cranny, you couldn’t find a gift. You were about to give up when someone tapped you from behind.

It must be your Secret Santa!

Lo and behold, it’s Yunho.

Yunho’s smile drops when he sees you freeze. “Are you disappointed it’s me?”

“No, it’s not that, it’s just- I wasn’t expecting you.” To describe you as flustered would be an understatement.

“Are you the fourth present?” you asked, and it’s his turn to blush, “Well, that would be nice, but there’s also this,” he extends his pretty hands to give you a box with a big bow.

Inside, there were so many art supplies that you ran out of fingers to count. “I asked your friends about what you already have, so there shouldn’t be any duplicates,” Yunho says, suddenly shy because you’re beaming at him.

It was such a thoughtful gift, and you were so happy that you almost forgot to ask him about the 3 other gifts. “Why the used eraser, ball-point pen, and brush?”

“Don’t they look familiar to you?” He replies, causing you to scrunch your brows.

Right...they do look awfully familiar.

“They’re mines, aren’t they?”

Yunho nods and laughs, “I borrowed them from you, but you never asked for them back.”

“I’m not really good at confrontations. But you could have just left them on my desk...”

“Actually, I was borrowing them as an excuse to talk to you. I thought I’d get to strike another conversation when you ask for them back, but you didn’t. By the third time, I realized you were just not going to.”

Before you had the chance to process what you have just heard, Yunho (with his long legs) is already halfway out of the rooftop.

“Merry Xmas!!!” he says hastily and runs down the stairs so he won’t do something stupid like turn red.

“Wait, Yunho!” You barely caught up with him halfway down the stairs. “What would you have said if I did come to ask about the stationery?”

“I wanted to ask a few questions.”

“Yeah? What are they?”

The fact that you still want to hear what he has to say after his not-so-smooth act earlier sent him a surge of confidence.

He takes a step up so that he’s closer to you.

“1. Do you have a boyfriend?”

Your breath unwillingly hitched, “No...”

The corners of his lips tugged upward, and he takes another step up, but you’re too fluttery to notice.

“2. Do you already like someone?”

You shake your head.

“3. Are you free this Saturday?”

He is one step away from you, but his height made it close enough to feel the heat from your blushing cheeks. You shake your head again.

“4. Can I take you on a bowling date?”

You can feel your heart explode. He clasps your hands as soon as you squeak out a “Yes,” and the two of you head down the stairs together.

Christmas is indeed a magical season. After all, who would have thought that your first date would be at the bowling alley you reserved a week ago as a Secret Santa?

thank you for reading; likes and reblogs are highly appreciated; for more of my cliché, click here!

To support me on Ko-Fi, click here!

#ateez #ateez imagines #ateez scenarios #ateez fluff #ateez yunho #jeong yunho #yunho #yunho imagines #yunho scenarios #yunho fluff #yunho x y/n #yunho x reader #yunho x you #kpop #kpop imagines #kpop scenarios #kpop fluff

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stanyek · 3 years ago

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BYOND DEEP DIVE

or: an essay on “dead” games

I have a long history with BYOND (short for Build Your Own Net Dream, a name and acronym that betrays its age.) A really, really long history. About half of my entire life, all the way back to, from what I can remember, December of 2009.

Like the vast majority of the people using it, I downloaded the platform for Space Station 13. I remember the exact framing, too: it was Christmas Eve or Christmas and my mom pulled me away from the computer for a family photo. I was pretty excited to get back to the game, because a scientist was busy ripping the brain out of my body to put inside of a robot.

The map that happened on doesn’t exist anymore and, as far as I’m aware, there aren’t any pictures of it, so my introduction to this game exists only in my memory, dreamlike, the 32x32 sprites rendered far more impactful and lifelike thanks to a mixture of time and a kid’s imagination.

Basically, before we can get to BYOND’s insane, seemingly undocumented and mostly unloved hoard of weird, borderline not-games, we need to talk about SS13. I’ll keep it brief, since this post/article/essay/whatever isn’t about it.

To get to the point: Space Station 13 has a Wikipedia page and the engine it’s built on doesn’t, even though it’s been around since, from what I can tell, the late 90s. ‘96 if you’re counting precursors, ‘99 in its more-or-less current state. It’s been accused of looking like spyware. It isn’t, but it looks like it.

SS13 usually has about a thousand simultaneous players during peak hours. The spot for number two is contested between Eternia and Sigrogana Legends 2, both JRPG influenced roleplaying games that, honestly, occupy that weird space between a video game and a late 2000s freeform roleplaying ProBoards forum. I played Eternia in middle and high school and it’s okay if you’re into that sort of stuff. I assume the other one is fine, too.

You boot up Murder Mansion. A social sort of murder mystery game: one player’s the killer, the others aren’t. Stop him-her. It inexplicably has a single player option (complete with bots) and the soundtrack is a handful of (presumably stolen) MIDI renditions of horror movie themes.

A friend of mine on IRC hosted the game every day for about a month in, I think, summer of 2012... aside from SS13, this’ll be one of the only games showcased that I have an actual, personal connection to.

What gets me about Murder Mansion is that it’s so obviously a labor of love. Almost all indie games are. There are seven large maps and, with the player’s slow speed (there’s a run option but there’s a 50/50 chance you’ll trip or slip on something and, quite literally, die instantly) they feel a lot larger. And the maps aren’t re-skins, either, all of them have tons of unique assets, items, etc.

Dead MMOs are sad; thousands of hours of development work over what may be a decade or more, an entire community, and what amounts to someone’s vision of a living, breathing world are strangled by the invisible hand of the free market.

Dead indie games - the multiplayer type you find on BYOND - are sadder. In Murder Mansion’s case, the developer updated it consistently for ten years, from 2003 to 2013. What we’re left with is something that feels empty, but not completely lifeless. Someone loved this game! They loved it enough to update it for years and years.

Wandering around in this game is wistful.

Mitadake High is more or less the same genre of game as Murder Mansion, except it’s set in an... anime high school.

The main difference is that, from my memories of playing Mitadake High, people got super into it. It is absolutely amazing when someone is trying their best to get into the character of a blue-haired anime boy who just killed eight people and explains to you that their motivation for murdering a pile of people is that they have tuberculosis.

Probably the only BYOND game, aside from SS13, to have a TVTropes page. Which, by the way, is extremely expansive.

Games like these are fantastic: someone saw Higurashi or something and decided to make a video game out of it. The main menu music is ear-piercingly loud and ripped directly from the show. I was once murdered for knowing someone’s name because the gamemode was literally Death Note. I saw the guy who made Tails Gets Trolled on here once and played a round with him, because of course he played this game, it’s practically made for him.

Years ago, when people still played this game, I saw someone say “Oh my Kami!” as a substitute for saying “Oh my God!” multiple times in complete seriousness.

Your middle school id laid bare to up to dozens of people, all of whom are competing for the non-award of being told after the game that your character’s improvised backstory was compelling, tragic, and deep.

In Freeside, two glowing orbs appear and compel you to commit a mass shooting in an almost entirely colorless (there’s some grass) and empty city. The roads lead nowhere: to the same grey concrete walls that make up the city’s buildings, almost completely empty except for crates and guns.

This is the Platonic ideal of a shooter. Very little explanation other than, explicitly, go forth and kill. You can’t win, but there’s a score. As far as I can tell, it isn’t uploaded to a leaderboard anywhere. This more or less illustrates the crux of what a lot of BYOND games are: hyperindividual and disconnected minigames, whether it’s competing for the title of most tragic anime mass murderer amidst an honestly hostile and combative ‘community’ of roleplayers, a sperm-based maze game where you’re racing to fertilize an egg, or a mass shooting with a score that never mattered to anyone except you.

It’s beautiful: even when there are others, there’s an audience of one.

Elora brings an issue to the fore: BYOND has games that I’m almost certain only a dozen or so people close to the developer have played longer than a minute.

The presence of a chat function insinuates that there’s something already missing; I tried, in vain, to find a monster, but the game’s selection of monsters seems limited to the cast of Back to the Barnyard, wolves, and deer. The sound your character makes when you move causes my eardrums to pulsate and throb. Elora is dozens of lakes, circular mounds of black rock, tracts of grass, dirt, and fruit trees. None of the animals, even the snarling wolves, try and hurt you. Elora is a depiction of paradise. Wolves will stand side by side with cows, boars with pigs, and so on. Jannah rendered in 32x32, just like God would’ve wanted.

Maybe you’re reading this and thinking that, outside of the top three titles, two of whom are borderline identical and one of which is probably among the most resilient and popular indie games ever made, BYOND is dead. It’s not. I’m not a mortician or an archaeologist. BYOND is very much alive: games are still being made. People still post on its antiquated forum and, more than anything else, this obscure engine for multiplayer games from the 90s is still up and running.

Certain games are dormant, sure, but they’re still full of life. Say they’re sleeping, not dead - say they’re dead and it’s for real. I already called Murder Mansion dead, probably thanks to sentimentality.

One of the most famous “dead games” isn’t even dead, for fuck’s sake.

Brief but relevant detour: when someone first posted about Worlds, a still-running 3D chatroom from the last century, on /x/ way back in 2010, 11, or 12, I can’t remember, it was marketed as a ‘dead game.’

It wasn’t: as it turned out, there was a still-active community of people playing the game. Geriatric? Sure, some of them have even passed on in the decade between then and now.

Sidenote, in case you’re the type of person to think there’s a cult in Worlds: there is no cult in Worlds, the locals are just fucking with you! Everyone used to do it. I know I did.

Still: there’s something off-putting about it all. Hundreds if not thousands of games, most of them ranging from bad to okay, all of them charming in their own way. How many hours of work, collectively, does BYOND’s catalog represent? Probably somewhere, not joking, past a million if you count SS13. Get rid of that, somewhere in the low hundred-thousands.

Most BYOND games wouldn’t be out of place on Glorious Trainwrecks - there’s an extreme earnestness behind them. Someone really wanted to make a video game, made it happen, and then moved on; orphaned games. Almost like a litter of, I don’t know, cats in a cardboard box outside of a supermarket.

According to BYOND’s hub, I am the first person to play Birdland since 2014. The menu helpfully states that the first five games are free: I have to pay for more.

As far as I know, this is the only BYOND game you have to pay for. A slow, borderline non-puzzle game with no sound aside from birds shrieking that came out in 2002. I genuinely wonder how many people bought a lifetime subscription. The link no longer works and another link, totally inert, leading nowhere, tells me that I can discuss the game on a “Birdland forum”, which no longer exists.

I am left picturing what Birdland aficionados discussed on their forum, because the game itself isn’t deep enough to answer that question.

CryptHead is less than a year old. There are four people online, just one short of the number required to start a game. I type “hello?” in chat - no response.

Hard to sum up my feelings on BYOND. If I were cynical, I’d probably use this AVGN quote: “When I was eleven years old, my whole world was video games. Just locked in my room playing Bart vs. the Space Mutants and all this crap... man, I wasted all my time on this shit. I want it back. It ruined my life.”

I’m not, though, so I’ll say this: BYOND’s the reason I started doing sprite artwork, something I really, really enjoy but haven’t been able to do lately. Something felt wrong about making art for games that I didn’t have the skillset to actually give life.

After going through the plethora of games BYOND has to offer - some good, some bad, all of them real, tangible games made by, most of the time, a single person - I can’t say I can look at it that way anymore. Sometimes, making stuff is its own reward, even if you’re the only person who’ll ever see it.

Games Shown or Mentioned

Space Station 13, Exadv1, 2003

Murder Mansion, SuperSaiyanGokuX, 2003

Mitadake High, Devourer of Souls, 2007

Freeside, Doohl, 2013

Life, Jittai, 2013

Elora, Kozuma3, 2015

Worlds Chat, Worlds Inc., 1995

Halloween: Terror, Ganing, 2009

Birdland, DDT, 2002

CryptHead, Magicbeast20, 2020

#byond #ss13 #gamedev #gaming

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malboraslihan · 2 years ago

Text

midnights starters 🕰️✨🌌 (part 2)

just a heads up: i’ve changed some words to make them work as dialogue for starters. so if it’s different than the original lyric, that’s why.

karma

you're talking shit for the hell of it

karma's a relaxing thought, aren't you envious that for you it's not?

don't you know that cash ain't the only price?

ask me what I learned from all those years

ask me what I earned from all those tears

ask me why so many fade but I'm still here

sweet nothing

they said the end is coming

i find myself running home to your sweet nothings

outside, they're push and shoving you're in the kitchen humming

all that you ever wanted from me was sweet nothing

to you I can admit that I'm just too soft for all of it

mastermind

you and I ended up in the same room at the same time and the touch of a hand lit the fuse

what if I told you none of it was accidental and the first night that you saw me, nothing was gonna stop me

what if I told you I'm a mastermind? and now you're mine

we were born to be the pawn in every lover's game

if you fail to plan, you plan to fail

no one wanted to play with me as a little kid so I've been scheming like a criminal ever since

i’ve been scheming like a criminal ever since to make them love me and make it seem effortless

this is the first time I've felt the need to confess

i'm only cryptic and Machiavellian 'cause I care

hits different

i washed my hands of us at the club

you made a mess of me

i pictured you with other girls in love

they say that if it's right, you know

each bar plays our song, nothing has ever felt so wrong

moving on was always easy for me to do

it hits different 'cause it's you

i used to switch out these Kens i'd just ghost, rip the band aid off and skip town

now the sun burns my heart and the sand hurts my feelings

i never don't cry at the bar, my sadness is contagious

i slur your name til someone puts me in a car

i stopped receiving invitations

make it make some sense why the wound is still bleeding

you were the one that I loved, don't need another metaphor it's simple enough

you once believed in me

i felt you and I held you for a while, bet I could still melt your world

is that your key in the door? is it okay? is it you?

have they come to take me away?

love is a lie

shit my friends say to get me by, cause it's you

the great war

my hand was the one you reached for all throughout the Great War

i vowed not to cry anymore

i drew curtains closed, drank my poison all alone

i really thought I'd lost you

we're burned for better

i vowed i would always be yours

bigger than the whole sky

every single thing I touch becomes sick with sadness

you were bigger than the whole sky

you were more than just a short time

i'm never gonna meet what could've been, would've been, what should've been you

did some force take you because I didn't pray?

i've got a lot to live without

paris

your ex-friend's sister met someone at a club and he kissed her, turns out it was that guy you hooked up with ages ago

did you see the photos?

i'm so in love that I might stop breathing

no, I didn't see the news ‘cause we were somewhere else

i was taken by the view like we were in Paris

romance is not dead if you keep it just yours

sit quiet by my side in the shade

i want to brainwash you into loving me forever

i want to transport you to somewhere the culture's clever

high infidelity

i didn't know you were keeping count

put on your records and regret me, i bent the truth too far tonight

do you really want to know where I was April 29th?

you know there's many different ways that you can kill the one you love, the slowest way is never loving them enough

do I really have to tell you how he brought me back to life?

glitch

we were supposed to be just friends

you don't live in my part of town but maybe I'll see you out some weekend

i was supposed to sweat you out

five seconds later I'm fastening myself to you with a stitch

I'd go back to wanting dudes who give nothing

i thought we had no chance and that's romance

would’ve, could’ve, should’ve

if you tasted poison you could've spit me out at the first chance

if I was some paint, did it splatter on a promising grown man?

all I used to do was pray would've, could've, should've if you'd never looked my way

i damn sure never would've danced with the devil at nineteen

now that I'm grown, I'm scared of ghosts

now that I know i wish you'd left me wondering

you made me feel important and then you tried to erase us

god rest my soul, i miss who I used to be

i regret you all the time, i can't let this go

i fight with you in my sleep

the wound won't close

living for the thrill of hitting you where it hurts

give me back my girlhood, it was mine first

dear reader

if it feels like a trap you're already in one

get out your map pick somewhere and just run

never take advice from someone who's falling apart

you don't have to answer, just 'cause they asked you

i prefer hiding in plain sight

if you knew where I was walking to a house, not a home, all alone

my friends found friends who care

no one sees when you lose when you're playing solitaire

you should find another guiding light

#taylor swift lyrics #taylor swft #rph #indie rp #ask prompt #okay done <3

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rat-bastard-fics · 4 years ago

Text

Post Date Night

Paul X (curvy) Reader

Summary: Paul misses date night but he makes up for it.

Warnings: Smut (outside), Seduction, Teasing, Swearing, Exhibitionism, Spanking, Squirting, Unprotected Penetration, Ripping clothing

Note: None of the pack members (including Paul) are my own creations. I do not advise having unprotected sex.

Words: ~950

Paul has a very serious love-hate relationship with leggings. He loves the way they show every single curve of my legs, the way they cup my ass. He hates the way other people notice. And, more than that, he hates how difficult it is to remove them. Ever since I yelled at him for ripping a pair—despite how much I enjoyed what ripping them led to—he’s careful to take his time. Something to know about Paul: he’s painfully impatient. Especially when he wants something—something like you.

Last night, Paul forgot date night. Instead, he spent the evening playing video games with Jared. We aren’t big spenders—mostly because we can’t afford to be—but I still felt miffed that I missed out on one-on-one time. If I couldn’t have it last night, I guess I’ll have to get it tonight.

I slowly approach Emily’s door as I reposition my shirt—well, technically Paul’s shirt. He never wears them anyways and I love the look in his eye when he sees one on me—as though it’s an outward sign of me being his or vice versa. I tied up the bottom to land at my hips to avoid covering my ass. When Paul sees these leggings, I’ll have him on lock.

“Y/n!” The boys call my name as I walk in the door, greeting me without looking away from the television screen.

“What are you guys watching?” I stand by the edge of the couch near Paul, pretending I don’t notice how quickly his eyes are on me.

“Playing.” Quil corrects me.

“Fortnight.” Embry chirps up, popping a chip in his mouth. To my side, I feel Paul’s fingertips brush against my thigh.

“Sounds fun.” I can feel his eyes raking across my skin through my clothes. “Can I try?” I step away from Paul and his frustration is palpable. Quil offers me his controller and I sit all too near him so he can show me the controls. To anyone else, this is innocent. I’m not much of a gamer—at least not for Fortnite—and Quil is probably the least threatening guy around here second only to Seth. But Paul knew the game I was playing.

“Ah shit, y/n, didn’t your mom want us to stop by tonight?” It only took minutes for Paul to speak up.

“That was canceled, remember?” I speak over my shoulder, tossing him a knowing look. He’s playing with his fingers on one hand, rubbing them together. He sucks on his tongue, making a brief clicking sound. I smile and turn back to the game.

“Fuck! This game sucks”

“Oh come on, y/n, you’re such a sore loser,” I repeat Jared’s word in a mocking tone before passing the controller to someone else. I wasn’t trying, not really. This wasn’t the game I gave a shit about. Stepping back from the game I walk over back towards Paul and sit on the armrest beside him. Without hesitation, Paul grabs my hips and pulls me onto his lap, wrapping his arms around me tightly. As I press back against him, I can feel his halfie poking against my ass. I lean my head back against his shoulder and look at him, smiling as I bite my lip.

“Last night was date night.” Immediately, he groans and leans his head back.

“Shit.” He lifts his head again and looks at me, apology clear in his eyes. He couldn’t get too soft in front of the guys and I respected that. Instead, I just smile and nod, kissing his cheek. He knows we’re good. That, of course, doesn’t mean I’m done with my game, though. I pull out my phone and begin scrolling through my camera roll. During all the downtime I’d had last night, I’d chosen to take a few risque photos--and by a few, I mean a lot. I know Paul can see my screen just as I know nobody else can. I begin to flick through a series of photos that slowly, garment by garment, position by position, get more explicit. His arms tighten, fingertips pressing into my hips, and I can feel him getting harder beneath me. I drag my fingertips along his arm--a seemingly innocent sign of affection. Paul loves when My nails are just a little extra long--he loves the feeling of them pressed into his skin, scarring his back.

I can feel myself getting aroused--I suppose I’m even better at this than I remember. I put on my best acting chops, looking down at my phone confused before getting up and walking towards the door. I pretend to call someone, pressing the phone to my ear as I step outside. As soon as I’m out of sight I begin walking towards the woods. It’s not long before I hear the screendoor slam behind me and Paul catching up. He grabs my arm and spins me back towards him, his eyes lust blown. He takes in my appearance now and my breath quickens from need alone. I grab Paul’s hand, pulling him with me as I walk backward, pressing my back to a tree. He caresses his hands down my sides, not missing a single curve, and I whimper against his touch.

“You’ve been playing with me.” He states the obvious in a possessive whisper, hot breath spreading against the skin of my neck.

“It was only fair.” I swallow hard, trying not to look as wanton as I felt, “You made me wait--”

“So you did the same to me.” His lips hover just a breath away from my skin and I arc my back, pressing myself against him. He lets out a heavy breath, trying to subdue a groan. “I want you.”

Grabbing one of his hands, I use it almost as a prop to push up the edge of the shirt I’m wearing, slowly letting the heat of his skin spread through my torso, until landing it on my breast.

“Prove it.” That’s all it takes. His lips are against mine in a raging hot need. Without hesitation, I hop up and wrap my legs around his waist, my arms draping around his neck. He catches me with one arm in anticipation and aggressively presses my back against the tree behind me. The bark scratches my skin but only adds to my arousal.

He pushes my bra aside, popping out my tits, and lowers his head to begin sucking on my nipples. One arm still supporting me, he slaps my ass hard with his free hand and I can’t help but moan. He growls--fucking growls--at this. Grabbing my waistband he looks at me and I nod, giving him permission to break my rule, and he tears them from my body. Pushing aside my underwear, he’s quick to unzip his shorts before plunging into me. I gasp as he moans, filling me up, hitting those deepest parts that ached for him and only him. He begins thrusting, reconnecting his lips to mine and now using that free hand to rub my clit. His calloused fingers add a friction far better than a smooth hand might and my orgasm quickly builds.

“Fuck, Paul, I’m so close.”

“Cum. Cum for me.” He nips my ear and my body quakes as I cum but his pace is unrelenting.

“Uh, uh, uh, uh” I moan with every thrust, my nails pressed into his back.

“Fuck, just like that. Shit. Fuuuuuck.” He groans as my nails dig deeper, the tree against my nearly bare ass scrapes my skin and I’ve never been so happy to be overstimulated. “I’m close--” he grunts and begins rubbing my clit in just the perfect way--the way I love the most. He wants me to finish again before him. He wants to make me--

I gasp and moan his name loudly, my nails dragging down my back as I spasm around him and squirt on his dick. I can feel him throbbing as he cums and he leans his head against mine. We both pant heavily, looking at each other before I laugh.

“You better not use this as an incentive to miss date night again.” He pouts briefly but agrees.

“Only if you don’t put me through damn near cumming in my shorts around the guys.” I laugh and kiss his nose.

“Promise.”

#Smut #twilight smut #Paul #paul lahote #paul lahote fanfic #paul lahote fanfiction #oneshot #twilight imagine #imagine #wolf #imprint #paul x reader

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pan-fangirl-345 · 4 years ago

Text

Hidden Panthers

Summary: Soulmarks aren't rare, and neither are soulmates, but what is rare, is a person who doesn't want to meet their soulmate, but Toho Academy has two.

Or: Five times Aomine was curious about your tattoo, and one time he saw it.

TW: a small amount of angst, I suppose one part might be comparable to a panic attack, and some swearing, but I promise it's mostly fluff.

A/N: I had an idea! Since I have no requests currently in my inbox, I thought I would jot it down before I forgot about it.

"You guys do realize that you should be practicing, right?" you asked when you walked into the gym and the boys were all shirtless, showing off their soulmarks.

"They're trying to prove who's is the biggest," Momoi informed you, making you snort.

You were almost one hundred percent certain that you had them all beat, except for maybe Aomine.

Your soulmark was a special image somewhere on your body, and animal, a place, something like that. They were colorful, and looked like tattoos.

The mark on your body corresponded with the one on your soulmate's body.

You knew that Aomine had your matching tattoo, not that he knew that, and that was okay.

The black ink of his tattoo was stark against his tan skin, but you knew that he wasn't showing it off with pride, it was him just proving a point.

Top dog on the team, biggest soulmark, he was unbeatable.

Aomine had made it clear that he didn't appreciate the thought of soulmates, that he was fine with not knowing who they were, not knowing who you were, in your case.

"What's yours (Y/L/N)-kun?" one of the boys asked and you snorted, a hand flying to cover your mouth, sometimes you hated hanging around teenage boys all the time, it made your mind go to weird places sometimes.

"Sorry boys, you don't want to see my mark, trust me," you muttered, touching your shoulder softly.

Aomine's eyes were on you, burning a hole through your body, but you ignored him.

"What is it?"

"None ah," you said.

"None ah?"

"None ah ya business," you replied, dropping your bag by the bench.

The boys peeled off into laughter, and Momoi gave a small giggle.

You smiled softly, tugging your sweatshirt off.

The boys were getting to practice, though Aomine was still watching you, watching you with those startling blue eyes.

"Are you going to practice or are you going to just stare at me like a creep?" you asked, crossing your arms over your chest, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Nah," he muttered, moving to head out the door, but you moved in front of him.

"Nope, you're here," you told him, throwing your arms out. "If you're here, you're practicing, even if that means you have to practice with me."

Aomine squinted at you, and you were 99% certain that he was going to try and shove you out of the way, but he sighed, heading back to work in drills with the other boys.

Momoi was watching you, eyes glinting in the way they did when she watching a game and her data was proved correct.

"Momoi-san," you said, "why are you looking at me like that?"

"It's just a hunch," she murmured, wandering off to watch Aomine play.

You frowned after her, wondering what the hell she was talking about, but you shook it off.

Those two were weirdos.

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

"So, (Y/L/N), what's your soulmark?" one of your friends asked, and you sighed.

"It's nothing all that impressive," you lied, flipping the page of the textbook you were skimming through.

"But what is it?" she persisted.

"A pain in my ass," you muttered, touching your shoulder lightly again.

"(Y/L/N)-kun," one of your classmates said, "one of the basketball boys is waiting for you outside."

"Thanks," you replied, gathering your stuff up.

You were a back-up manager for when Momoi was away watching other teams play.

You were surprised to find Aomine leaning up against the doorframe, practice clothes on.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey yourself. Are you actually going to practice again?" you asked, hauling your bag over your shoulder, wincing at the weight.

He made a small noise, which made you think that that was his version of a yes.

"Why don't you show off your mark?" Aomine asked.

"Why don't you?" you replied, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Soulmates are bullshit," he muttered. "I don't like being told what to do. I hate being told who to love even more."

"My soulmate doesn't want me," you admitted after a moment of walking, readjusting your bag on your shoulders. "No point in showing off something that symbolizes someone who hates that I even exist."

Aomine paused, running his eyes over you again, and you glanced back at him.

"What?"

He didn't answer, he just stood there watching you. He had been doing that a lot, and you were a little worried about it.

"Are you coming or what?" you asked, heading for the gym.

He followed behind you, eyes boring into your back.

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

"What's your soulmark?" Aomine asked.

You had gone to the roof to tell him to get his ass to practice. He had been coming more and more often, but he had been staring at you for most of it, despite urging from both you and Momoi to actually practice.

"Nothing important, not like you practicing," you deflected, standing in front of him with your arms crossed.

"Snippy," he quipped. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

"Perv," you muttered. "And I've already seen your mark."

"Yours is on your shoulders, right?" he asked. "You keep touching them whenever someone brings them up."

"Yeah, it's a pretty big one," you admitted, reaching to touch your shoulder absentmindedly before you registered that you were doing it. You dropped your hands to your sides again, frowning.

Despite the fact that you already knew your soulmate, and how he felt about the whole thing, the mark was still comforting to a degree.

Aomine was still watching you, he had been doing it a lot, though you weren't entirely sure why. Every time he did, it jump started your heart, making you wonder if he knew.

He made a small noise, then dragged himself to his feet.

"Gotta go to practice," he mumbled, bumping shoulders with you as he headed down to the gym.

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

Aomine started appearing more and more after that. He wasn't following you exactly, but it was almost like your schedules had overlapped.

Then you had gotten assigned to do a group project together.

"Nice place," he muttered when he walked through the door into your home.

"Thanks," you said, shutting the door. "I'm telling you this right now, Aomine, I am not doing this entire project by myself, and if I do end up doing it by myself, you are not getting your name put on this. Do you understand me?"

"Yes ma'am," he muttered. "Do you have any bread?"

"What?" you asked, then you remembered his weird carb obsession. "Uh, yeah, just . . . give me a minute," you said, setting your things down on the couch before you headed into the kitchen.

Snacks were something you could do.

You got him a drink too, and when you set a plate and a drink down in front of him, he glanced up at you appreciatively.

"Thanks," he said.

"No problem," you told him, sitting beside him on the couch.

"What are we doing the project on?" he asked.

"I have no idea," you muttered. "It would be easy to do a keynote or something, but there are going to be so many people doing that."

You pulled the project requirements out of your bag, your eyes flitting over it.

"What if we did like a . . . a soulmark examination?" you asked. "We were reading a book about how people think soulmarks mean something to the pair that share it instead of simply being an indicator, right? All we would have to do it take a picture of one of our soulmarks and make up some sort of metaphorical bullshit and make it look pretty when we present it."

"We should do yours," Aomine immediately suggested.

"Why mine?" you asked, panic starting to float into your veins.

"Because I want to know what it is," he replied, grinning at you.

"How about we do yours? You have your own fan club and I'm sure they'd be ecstatic to know what it is. Besides, yours is easier to do than mine," you told him.

"How so?"

"Mine is across my back," you informed him. "That means that I would have to take off my shirt and my bra for us to get a picture, and there are so many things that could go wrong with that. Besides, it's not like anyone in the class hasn't seen your back already, it's not new information."

"Fair enough," Aomine said. "But, when I get fakers pretending to be my soulmate, you have to be the one to fight them off."

"Deal," you said, holding your hand out to him.

He took it, shaking it firmly once, before he tugged his shirt over his head.

"Let's get this over with," he muttered, curling his shoulders forward so that you could get a clear picture of the black panther lounging across his shoulders like it was a tree branch.

You snapped a couple photos from different angles, and resisted the urge to touch it.

It was the same as yours, and you wondered vaguely if you had ever found your tattoo as beautiful as you found Aomine's.

"We good?" Aomine asked.

"Yeah, we're good," you croaked, then cleared your throat as he pulled his shirt over his head again.

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

Your project had gotten a great grade, and you were both proud of it, but now Aomine seemed to be hellbent on figuring out what your mark was.

"Just show me!" he'd whined.

He'd been up on the roof again, and you had been charged with getting him off the roof and down to practice.

"No, Aomine. Now get off your ass and get down to practice," you told him, arms crossed.

You had been in this position for the past couple of weeks, and it was almost routine now.

"I won't even be a dick about it," he had promised you, his eyes looking almost sincere as he pleaded with you. Almost.

Aomine, you had learned, had adopted you as a friend, in the last few weeks of being stuck around him.

You and Momoi had started walking to class together, and Aomine had started trailing behind like a lazy guard dog, much to the chagrin of Momoi's many suitors.

"He really likes you," Momoi said one morning.

"Oh yeah?" you asked, chuckling.

"He hasn't liked someone like this in a while," Momoi told you. "He's a long time basketball junkie, so seeing him take an interest in someone that doesn't have much of a connection to the game is a relief to me."

"Momoi, I thought we agreed that you wouldn't profile me," you told her, giving her a small smile.

"I can't help it," she whined, taking a hold of your arm. "You have to tell him (Y/F/N)!"

"Sorry Momoi-san, I can't do that," you replied. "He doesn't want that."

"How do you know if you won't tell him?" she asked, pouting.

"Momoi-san, he's made his stance on soulmates exceedingly clear, and he likes me now because he doesn't know. I want it to stay that way. I'd rather be a friend than anything else. Besides, he doesn't like me like that," you informed her.

"I've been friends with him since we were kids," she said, glancing at you with those eyes. "I think I know when he's interested in a girl."

You snorted, but your conversation tapered off when Aomine joined you again.

"Seriously, what the hell is your soulmark?" Aomine demanded. "I have asked literally everyone I can think of that might know. No one in this entire fucking school seems to know what it is."

"Sorry Aomine," you said, slipping into your classroom, throwing a grin over your shoulder at him. "A girl needs to keep her secrets, besides, you aren't the only one with a soulmark thing."

His growl resonated into the classroom and you chuckled lightly as you sat down at your desk.

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

Of course, the one time the teams tries to do some team bonding they chose to go to the fucking beach.

Of course, Aomine had also been the one to suggest the beach. The others thought it was because he wanted to see girls in bikini's, but he had glanced at you and winked.

He wanted to see what your mark was.

"I hate you," you snarled, cornering him, before he left for his house. "You scheming son of a bitch."

"Such vulgar words," he teased, giving you a dark look. "And I have no idea what I could've done to make you hate me, baby girl."

"You know exactly what you did," you growled, ignoring the pet name. "The whole beach thing was your idea."

He grinned, and you suddenly understood why your mark was a panther.

Something flashed through you, and your let your own grin show through.

"You want to play games Aomine-kun?" you teased, keeping eye contact with him. "Fine, then let's play."

"What do I get if I win?" he asked.

"You'll have to choose that for yourself, if you win," you told him, storming out of the doors.

When the day came to go to the beach, nothing was out of the ordinary, save that the boys had decided that one of them had to be with you and Momoi at all times.

"You guys don't need to babysit us," you chided when you climbed onto the bus. "We tend to stick together anyway, and pervs, unless they're in groups, tend to pick the girl that splits away from the pack. Momoi-san and I can stick together and reduce the risk. This is more for you guys than it is for us anyway."

"Yeah, we don't need a guard dog," Momoi agreed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'll stay with them," Aomine offered, wrapping an arm around your shoulders and Momoi's, and you rolled your eyes.

"You just want to know what my soulmark is," you told him, glancing up at him.

"Wait," Sakurai murmured, "even Aomine doesn't know what your soulmark is?"

"Nope," you said, popping the 'p'. "He's been trying to figure it out for weeks now. That's why he suggested going to the beach."

"You clever son of a bitch," the captain said, and you shrugged.

"He and I have a small little wager going," you admitted, shrugging his arm off your shoulders. "If I can keep my soulmark hidden from him for the whole day today, he drops it."

"And if he wins?"

"She's being cryptic about that," Aomine said, and his eye twitched lightly.

"If he sees it, he can decide what he gets for winning," you told them. "He'll understand if he sees it."

And so the game began.

"Are you going swimming, (Y/F/N)?" Momoi asked you.

"Are you?" you asked her.

"No, I want to work on my tan," she admitted, waving a small bottle of tanning lotion.

"Then I'll stay with you. I have some reading I need to catch up on anyway. Besides, I want the sunscreen to sink in, I burn easily," you admitted, having applied it as soon as you got to the beach.

You were wearing a one-piece bathing suit (since it was harder for something to happen with one on), but you had thrown a thin white crop top on over it to cover your shoulders.

After Momoi asked you to get her back, you settled onto your towel, pulling your assigned literature book out of your bag, finding your page.

"Seriously, why don't you just show us what the damn thing is?" Aomine asked, settling down next to you forcefully.

"Because it's a part of my body, meaning I can show it off when I want, or cover it up when I want. Besides, I told you earlier, my soulmate doesn't want me," you said, flipping your page leisurely. "Don't need them hating me more than they already do without knowing my identity."

Aomine was clearly displeased, but it wasn't like he could argue with you about it, soulmarks were a very personal thing to some people.

"You're at the beach," he began a few minutes later, tone incredulous, "and you're reading a book. What is wrong with you?"

"A lot, which issue are you referring to?" you asked nonchalantly before he scowled at you. "I don't feel like going into the water," you told him, glaring at him over your sunglasses. "I have work to do, and this is a good time to catch up on it. Besides, shouldn't you be with the rest of the team? This was for you guys."

Aomine scowled, but stood up, heading for where the team was playing a game of beach volleyball. Or, they were attempting, none of them seemed to be having much luck with it.

"You know, not very many people can keep Dai-chan at bay as much as you're able to," Momoi said, making you snort.

"You just have to know how to deal with it. You can do it."

"But not for long, and not once he makes up his mind about something. You've kept him at bay for months, I've never been able to do that. My top score is a week."

"Does it bother you?" you asked quietly.

"No, not at all," she said, a little too quickly. "Okay, well, it bothers me a little. I've known him since we were kids, and you can handle him better than I can just after a few months, but I know why."

"Honestly Momoi, I don't think it's because we're soulmates, because he doesn't know. I think it's just I refuse to let him win at all."

"You two are definitely two of the most stubborn people I have ever met," she agreed, rolling over onto her stomach.

"I'm not sure whether that's a compliment or not," you muttered.

Momoi giggled and you smiled. It was nice, hanging out with her. It was nice to have a female friend.

"I'm a little peckish, do you want a pretzel or something from the concessions thing?" you asked, gesturing to the snack shack type thing that they had set up a few meters away.

"No, I'm all set, thank you though," she said.

"Alright, just thought I'd ask," you told her, standing up, wiping sand off your legs as you headed over with your wallet.

You dodged a pair of kids that looked like twins, who were trying to splash each other with water, and you laughed as one of them tackled the other.

"Idiot, you can't just wander off," Aomine chided as he sidled up next to you.

"I didn't," you pointed out. "I told Momoi where I was going."

Aomine frowned, glaring at a guy that stepped too close for his comfort.

"The point of this trip was so that the team could bond," you told him, "so that means that you should be over there with the team."

"You're a part of the team too right?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow at you.

"Technically, yes, but I'm talking about the part of the team that plays on the court. I just tend to make sure that your ass shows up."

You glanced at Aomine, who was frowning.

"Out with it," you demanded, glancing around as you walked to make sure neither of you bumped into anyone.

"Does your mark make you uncomfortable?" he asked, carefully choosing his words.

"No," you admitted. "It's comforting actually, but there's no point in showing it off. Besides, it makes my back really hot when I'm out in the sun. That makes me uncomfortable."

You placed your order, which consisted of a fruity drink on ice and a small snack that would hold you over until lunch.

"What have you eaten today?" he asked.

"Nothing. I had coffee this morning and then left the house. I don't normally eat breakfast," you told Aomine.

"How are you alive?"

"Have you taken health classes?"

"Not what I meant, asshole," he snapped. "You're gonna run yourself into the ground."

"Aomine, I'm fine," you assured him. "Besides, I'm drinking plenty of fluids."

He frowned, but he seemed to realize it was useless to argue with you about it.

"Go back to the team, Aomine, I'm fine," you told him, shoving him towards where the boys were sitting in the sand.

You tossed your snack wrapper in a garbage can that was placed strategically, glad for the little bit of food in your stomach.

But then the kids ran by again, and one of them got you instead of their brother.

"Sorry!" he called, darting away.

Normally you wouldn't have minded, the water felt nice against your skin, but you knew that your cover-up would start to be see through, and with the breeze blowing off the water, it was sticking to your back.

You sighed, slipping it over your head as you headed for your towel.

After drying your shoulders off, you set your shirt out to dry, then began rooting around in your bag for your backup, before remembering that you had forgotten to put it in your bag before you left.

"Fuck," you muttered, glancing at where Aomine and the other boys were chatting.

You supposed that it was fine for now, but you would have to be careful if they came back over.

"Momoi, please, for the sake of our friendship, you can't say anything to the boys about this," you said when she looked over and saw your back.

"Why are you so worried about him finding out?" she asked, carefully running a hand over your back, tracing the lines of the mark.

"Because, he might be a dick, but he's a friend, and I don't want to lose that friendship because of some dumb cosmic presence that decided we were meant for one another."

"Do you love him?" she inquired.

You licked your lips, then pursed them.

"Do you love him?" she repeated.

You waited for a few moments before you confessed, "I might. Whether it's love or a crush, I can't say for sure."

She sucked in a breath.

"What?" you asked.

"You know that he likes you back, right?" she asked quietly. "You know that it has nothing to do with the Mark. It's not like he's seen it and knows that you're the woman he's going to marry."

"He'll hate me if he finds out."

"No, he won't."

"I think he will."

"How long are you going to keep this from him?" she demanded. "He at least deserves to know that you're an option!"

"I'll wait until he's married if I have to," you snapped, making her rear back. "Satsuki, in the end, this is my choice to make, and I've made it. He can't know."

"It's his decision too," she reminded you. "This isn't a one way street!"

"Right now, it is," you snarled. Then you softened your tone. "If I'm ever put in a situation where he finds out, I will let him make his own decision, but right now, it's my decision, the ball is in my court so to speak, and this is the move I'm making."

"I think it's the wrong move," she whispered.

"Luckily, it's not your move to make," you replied. "I don't mean to be cruel, Satsuki. I want him to be happy. I just don't think that he'd be happy with . . . me."

"How are you so sure?" she demanded, looking close to tears. "How are you so sure that knowing you're his soulmate would make him miserable? Why can't you accept the possibility that maybe him knowing would make him love you even more?"

You remembered all the times he had raved to you about how soulmates were bullshit. You remembered every vehement denial that he wanted to know who his soulmate was. Every venomous word and the pure hatred in his eyes.

If he looked like that just because of the idea, how would he react to the real thing? Something physical he could take his anger out on?

You highly doubted that Aomine would ever physically hurt you, but the idea still sent a shiver up your spine, despite the warm weather.

"Call it a gut feeling," you murmured, wrapping your arms around yourself.

"I just want you both to be happy," she whispered.

"I can't speak for him," you told her, "but I'm content with the way things are right now."

"Content and happy aren't always the same thing," she argued.

Something in your eyes must've told her that you weren't in the mood, because she sighed, going back to her tanning.

You laid on your back, trying to think of ways to hide the mark, but it took up the entire expanse of your shoulder blades, there was no way to hide it unless it was completely covered with a shirt or you laid on it.

"Momoi-san, (Y/L/N)-san, do you wanna come play two truths and a lie with us?" Sakurai asked.

"Sure, I would love to," Momoi said.

"What about you?"

You paused, thinking it over, before you grabbed your shirt, throwing it over your head after beating most of the sand out of it, making sure that no one saw it.

It wouldn't do much, you didn't think, but it would make you feel better all the same.

"Okay," you murmured, wandering over to fit in the circle with the boys.

They had decided that the person to their right was going to have to guess which was the lie, and you despaired to find that Aomine was on your right.

"Since the girls have now decided to join, new score," the captain said and you winced.

"Ladies first," Aomine said, giving you one of those glances that made you want to kiss him and punch him at the same time.

You decided to find a good compromise and you pinched his arm, hard.

"Okay," you murmured, trying to think. "One: when I was six, I popped my elbow out of my socket throwing a tantrum. Two: I have more than five dresses in my closet. Three: my music selection has a disturbing amount of love songs."

The others started whispering amongst themselves, and Aomine squinted at you.

"Number two has to be the lie. I've seen your music selection, and you mentioned the arm injury when you first became the manager," Aomine declared confidently.

"Wrong," you told him, grinning. "I have six dresses in my closet. I wasn't throwing a tantrum when I popped my elbow out of my socket. I fell off the monkey bars at the park."

Aomine glowered at you, and you laughed.

"You're just shitty at paying attention."

The boys were surprisingly bad at this game, either that or you were just good at guessing when someone was lying.

"One: I hate cherry lip gloss. Two: I can play the guitar. Three: I've never had a celebrity crush."

"Every girl has a celebrity crush," Aomine muttered, but then glanced back at you, frowning. "I say one is the lie."

"Nope! I can't play the guitar. I was taking lessons until I was eleven but I can't remember any of it."

"Wow, despite how much time you guys spend together, you really don't know much about her, do you Aomine?"

"Shut up," he mumbled, cheeks flushing.

Momoi, who was situated on your left, seemed to be very concerned with how good you were at guessing hers.

"That's the sixth one in a row that you've guessed right!" Satsuki cried, and you laughed.

"Sorry Momoi-san, but you're just very transparent and I'm too competitive to lose."

Aomine hadn't managed to guess any of yours, and you could feel him simmering beside you.

"Alright, since Aomine sucks at this, and (Y/F/N) is simply too good, let's change it up a little."

Suddenly, they were all going against you.

"I take it back, we all suck at this," Imayoshi muttered a few rounds later when they had yet to get one right.

"Sorry guys, I'm just good at hiding things," you said. "Remember, I've been hiding my soulmark from you all since the beginning of the year."

"That's it!" Satsuki cried, pointing at you, making you jerk towards Aomine to get away from her. "If we can get one right, just one, then you have to show us your soulmark!"

You wanted to decline, you wanted to act your way out of it, you knew what would happen if you lost, but that glint in her eyes made you want to prove her wrong.

"Deal," you told her.

"Okay, think about your answers carefully," Aomine said.

"Shouldn't they be saying that to you?" you asked him as you thought of something to say.

After listening to the ocean for a moment, you said, "One: I sleep like a baby during thunderstorms. Two: snapping turtles scare me to death. Three: I have a college age reading level."

Everyone started deliberating, and you smiled, leaning back, soaking in the sun.

"We have an answer," Imayoshi said, and you cracked open an eye.

"Shoot," you told them, sitting up.

"It's number two," he said.

The blood drained from your face.

You knew that they had taken a wild guess, but you hadn't expected them to get it right.

You took a deep breath, closed your eyes, and nodded, not trusting your voice.

You took another steadying breath as you stood up, brushing yourself off, trying to control the shaking in your hands that was slowly spreading up your arms.

You vaguely heard Imayoshi telling you that you didn't have to, that you had the right to say no.

You wanted to take the out he was giving you. You wanted to act your way out of it, you wanted to try and run, and you wanted to tell them that you backed out but . . . .

But you had been keeping this to yourself for a very long time. And you wanted to know sooner rather than later whether Satsuki was right or not. You wanted to know whether this was as terrible as your mind was making it out to be.

You got a firm grip on your shirt, and you were about to lift it off, but suddenly Aomine was in front of you, his hands covering yours as he stared you down.

His eyes were boring into yours, and his hands were firm, but gentle, in their grip.

He was telling you that you didn't have to, that as much as he pried, he wasn't going to let you feel pressured into doing this.

You stared at each other for what felt like an eternity before you shook your head, lips pressed together in a hard line.

"You deserve to know," you whispered, barely able to keep your voice from shaking.

Aomine nodded, slowly moving his hands, before he settled back down where he had been.

You took one last, steadying breath, turning your back to your team.

You tugged the shirt over your head, pulling the straps of your suit to the side so that they could see the expanse of the mark across your back.

Your entire team was silent as they realized what they were seeing.

"Holy shit," someone breathed, though you weren't sure who it was.

"I'm sorry," you whispered, though you weren't entirely sure who you were apologizing to.

Momoi was suddenly in front of you, pulling the straps of your bathing suit back up.

"(Y/F/N), you're shaking," she murmured.

"I know," you told her.

"He's gone," she informed you, and you collapsed into the sand, letting out a shaky breath you hadn't known you were holding.

"How pissed with me is he?" you asked her.

"I-I don't know," she confessed. "I've . . . I've never not been able to read him. He . . . he was completely blank. I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault," you murmured, staring at the sand in front of you. "I should have taken the out. I should have stayed home. I knew what he was trying to do. I knew that you wanted me to tell him. I knew how he would react. And a small, foolish part of me dared to hope that I was wrong. A small, naive, stupid, masochistic part of me believed that it wouldn't matter. I should know by now that I'm rarely wrong about this kind of thing."

"But I know him!" Satsuki said, looking close to tears. "I know how he looks at you! I see the little things! I don't why he . . . ."

"Don't worry about it Satsuki," you told her, standing up, turning to your team. "Sorry guys."

You headed for your spot, gathering up your things, making sure that you had everything that you had come with, just to give yourself something to focus on.

"Are you going to be okay?" Sakurai asked.

You saw that the whole team, save one member, was standing there in various states of shock, anger, and something akin to pity.

"I knew it would happen eventually," you murmured, then told them, "I'll survive. I'll be myself at practice on Monday, promise. Have a good rest of your weekend guys."

You dug your phone out of your pocket when you were far enough away from the team.

"Hello?"

"Taiga, hey, can you come pick me up?" you asked. "Something went down with Aomine."

"I'm on my way," he said. "Hold tight. Wait, where are you?"

You sent him your location, heading for the parking lot.

By the time Kagami actually found you, you were pretty sure you had cried yourself out.

You didn't remember crying, but Kagami had taken one look at you and wiped at your cheeks.

You had gone with Aomine when he had challenged Kagami at the street court, and you had stayed in touch with the red-head slowly becoming friends with each other.

He knew about your mark as well, though he had promised to keep it to himself. He hadn't told Kuroko either, which surprised you.

"What happened?" he demanded.

"He knows," you admitted, letting him wrap an arm around your shoulders. "He saw it."

As you explained what happened, Kagami got quieter and quieter, and when you glanced at his face, you were surprised to see a serious amount of anger on his face.

"Taiga?" you asked quietly.

"I'll murder him," Kagami growled. "He's such a fuckin'-!"

"You don't have to murder him," you told the red-head, who looked shocked at your response.

"But-!"

"No, I knew it was going to happen. I knew that I would lose him, I was just trying to hold on for a little longer. He hasn't done anything wrong," you said. "I guess that means that I don't have to hide it anymore."

"He's an idiot," Kagami declared.

"I already knew that though."

"Did he even explain himself to you?"

"No. But he doesn't need to. I already know that he doesn't want me. I knew when he started pawing around about my mark. I knew, but I didn't stop him. I led myself to this point."

"Stop taking responsibility for him being a dick!" Kagami snapped. "Do you realize how many people would kill to have you as a soulmate? Or to have one like you?"

"That's not the point!" you told him. "The point is that the one person I want to want me as a soulmate, doesn't. And there's nothing I can do to fix that! Because he seemed to like me just fine thinking I wasn't anything special to him, but the moment fate steps in, I'm fucked. So unless there's a way to pretend like this mark isn't a permanent reminder that the guy that's supposed to be perfect for me, hates my guts, then I guess this is my life now!"

"Kuroko is so much better at this than I am," Kagami muttered to himself. "Look, have you tried calling him?"

"He made it pretty clear that he wanted nothing to do with me."

"Try it anyway."

"I think I'm good. My heart's been broken enough today, thanks."

"Seriously, this is fucking insane," Kagami stressed, opening a door for you. "From what I've seen, your the one person he actually listens to and hears."

"Because he didn't know what I was! I took advantage of that, and now I'm paying the price for it. I should have just told him and dealt with the consequences when I didn't want him! Now it hurts that much more and I have to watch us go back to being strangers. Maybe I should just transfer."

"Um, (Y/F/N)," Kagami said, tapping your shoulder.

"No, I'm serious! Why torture the team with our angst when I can just move schools? There are plenty in the area. Maybe I could move to Seirin. My parents-"

"(Y/F/N)!" he hissed, turning your head to look at something.

"Fuck," you muttered, locking eyes with Aomine, who had his hands thrown up like he had been using them to make a point to Kuroko, who was glancing back and forth between the two of you.

Kagami dropped his hands from your face and you took the opportunity.

You turned and bolted from the Seirin gym.

You should have been paying attention. You should have made Kagami take you home, you should've asked where you were going before.

Multiple people shouted after you, but you ignored them.

You had to get away from him, you had to make sure that he didn't think you were trying to-

Do what?

You slowed down with a sudden realization. If your life had been a cartoon there would've been breaking sound effects and skid marks behind you.

Why should you care what he thought when you had walked into that gym? He didn't care anymore, not now that he knew what you were, why should you?

Fuck what he thought!

If he wanted to let you go, who gave a fuck what it seemed like? You were friends with Kagami, and by default, Kuroko.

How were you supposed to know that he would go to Kuroko after this sort of thing?

Was it really that weird, that wrong, for you to do what you had just done?

You took a deep breath, letting yourself relax. You were probably over thinking things yet again.

A street court caught your eye and you stared at it for a few moments before heading over.

Someone had left a ball there, whether from pure forgetfulness, or a trust in humanity that someone wouldn't take it.

You pushed on it, checking the air, before you dribbled it around.

You could have gotten on a team if you had wanted, but after middle school, you had had enough of the inter-team drama, and had decided to give it up. So you had managed the boys team to be close to the sport without having to deal with a lot of the drama.

You practiced with them sometimes, when Momoi was managing and you had nothing better to be doing.

You made a few lay-ups, a few foul shots, and moved onto half court shots, soaking in the sound of the ball falling through the net.

The heat of the day was soaking through your t-shirt, soaking into the mark, and you touched it lightly, wondering what you were going to do on Monday.

You had promised the team that you would be back to normal, but would you be able to fake being okay well enough to fool them? How much would it take to fool Aomine into thinking that you were okay?

"Why him?" you asked yourself, tilting your face up to the sun. "Why did it have to be him? It could have been literally anyone else, and you chose the one guy that would never be able to love me for what I am, for what we are."

A breeze rustled the trees around you and you breathed it in, moving to leave when you caught sight of him standing in the entrance of the court.

"Shit," you muttered, looking for another way out. There was no chance that he hadn't seen you, even Aomine wasn't that much of an idiot, but you were seriously considering climbing the fence to get away when he spoke.

"I'm sorry," he started.

"No, stop, I don't want your apology," you told him, wrapping your arms around yourself, not able to look at him. "You have nothing to apologize for. I knew when I made that damn deal that I was risking our friendship, I was just tired of having to hide the damn thing. You of all people realize how much of a pain in the ass it is to cover up. And now that I think about it, it's probably better that this happened now. I can't imagine how badly it would've been if I had gotten even closer to you.

"Besides, now you're free to make your own decision. Satsuki got what she wanted in the end. Go figure, I guess. Anyway, you don't have to worry about it. You won't have to worry about me doing anything now that you know. And I already told you that if you won you would get to decide what you got for winning. You won't have to deal with me after this, I promise. I'll disappear since that's what you want."

"So when you told me I got to choose, you were basically telling me that I could choose whether I wanted you or not?"

"Yeah, pretty much, and I shouldn't've. I already knew which one you were going to choose, I was just being naive."

"That's not how it works dumbass," Aomine said.

You screwed your eyes shut, turning your head away from him.

"I know," you whispered. "Why are you even here?"

"I was looking for you, obviously," he grumbled.

"Why? I already know that you don't want this, you made that abundantly clear with your stories and reactions to me at the beach. What are you trying to do here, Aomine?"

"Trying to tell you that I like you," he stated. "But you keep trying to push me away."

"Huh?" Your eyes flew open at the words, and you stared at him.

"Idiot," he murmured, walking over.

You backed up, trying to keep the distance but he backed you against the fence.

"Do you want me to be honest with you?" he asked softly.

You nodded, wondering what the hell he was doing.

"I might be in love with you, and not because you're my soulmate," he said, which made you cock your head in confusion.

"But . . . all that stuff you said about hating soulmates and not wanting to meet yours . . . ."

"I didn't think you were my soulmate moron," he murmured, reaching out to toy with your hair. "I'm okay with it being you. I'm grateful for it actually."

The look on your face must've said it all because he sighed.

"You should've told me sooner," he told you. "I want to go out with you. No secrets, no lies, no weird games where I'm trying to get you to take your clothes off."

"You had me until that last one," you muttered, taking the hand that was playing with your hair.

He laced your fingers together before you could take your hand away.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it," he told you, wrapping his other arm around your waist. "So what do you say? Go out with me?"

You watched his face as much as you could in the crappy lighting, waiting for any sign that he was joking, waiting for him to yell 'Psych!' and walk away.

But his arm stayed wrapped around your waist, and he seemed too busy watching you to question what was taking you so long.

"If I say yes, am I going to be the laughing stock of the school?" you asked.

"No, I may be a dick, but I'm not that mean," Aomine told you.

"Okay," you whispered. "Yeah, I'll go out with you."

The smile Aomine gave you could've lit the whole court.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"I hope you realize that Kagami and Tetsu think we're both crazy now," Aomine said.

"They already knew," you told him, wrapping an arm around his neck. "You have to be crazy to put up with the both of them."

Aomine snorted, nudging your forehead with his.

"I'm sorry that I ran from you," he said. "I shouldn't have done that."

You waited, sensing that he had more to say, he was just gathering his thoughts.

"I don't know what I was thinking," he muttered. "I just had to get away from my own stupidity I guess. I should have guessed that I was your soulmate. You were so on edge whenever I brought it up, but when someone else brought it up it was more like you were sick of the questions. I know you enough to know that if you reacted differently to me that it was because of me. I just . . . I acted on instinct."

"You don't have to explain anything to me Aomine," you told him, burying a hand in his hair. It was softer than you had thought it would be.

"No, you deserve an explanation. I am the whole reason you're even at Seirin."

"I was at Seirin because I wanted to talk to Kagami and that was where we ended up. We could have just as easily gone to his place or to mine."

"Tetsu's been trying for years to get me into the whole 'soulmate' thing, so he was the first person I thought of that could me explain what the fuck was going on. I wasn't upset that it was you, I was upset because you hid it from me and that you thought I was going to flip out about it. I mean, I did, but just not the way you expected."

"I figured you would yell at me, maybe push me around a little bit," you confessed. "I didn't think you were going to run like your ass was on fire to go talk to Kuroko."

"I wouldn't hurt you, for multiple reasons, the main one being I like you."

"I know, but the mind is a strange thing, and mine has a tendency to think worst case scenario first."

He hummed, and you saw the tension melt from his shoulders.

"Come on, let's get out of here," you told him. "Maybe you could go practice with Taiga and Kuroko."

"I want bread, we should go to a coffee shop or something," he suggested.

"Actually, yeah, that's a better idea," you agreed. "I really don't feel like explaining to Seirin what this whole thing was about. I'll call Taiga and explain, how about you call Momoi-san and tell her that everything's okay, 'cause she was really worried when I left."

"Yeah, I got it," he murmured, digging his phone out of his pocket, but he didn't unwrap his arm from around your waist.

"Hey, Taiga," you said when he picked up his phone.

"Where the hell are you, idiot?" Kagami asked.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to worry you even more. Everything's fine now. Aomine kinda cornered me in a street ball court."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, we worked things out. You don't have to worry about it, I promise. We're gonna go to a coffee shop somewhere nearby. I'll call you when I get home so that you know that I got back safely."

"Alright, but if he starts being a dick again, just give me a call."

"I will, thanks for everything Taiga," you told him, ending the call.

It wasn't really explaining things, but you could always tell him about it later, which you were probably going to have to do.

"-fine, Satsuki," Aomine was saying, looking exasperated. "She wants to talk to you."

"Hi Momoi-san," you said when he handed you his phone.

"(Y/F/N)! Are you okay? Where are you?"

"Momoi-san, breathe," you ordered, laughing. "I'm fine. Aomine and I worked things out, I promise."

"Are you dating? Because if you aren't then that's not working things out!" she cried.

"Momoi-san, we worked things out," you assured her.

"So you're dating then?"

You pursed your lips and glanced at Aomine.

"You'll find out soon enough I suppose," you told her, hanging up before she could say anything else to you.

"I think she likes you more than she likes me," he said, and you could hear the repressed pout.

"Nah, you'll always be Dai-chan to her," you told him. "You're her best friend, I just happen to be someone she needs to like because of my affiliation with you."

"You make it sound like this is some sort of business thing," Aomine whined, wrapping an arm around your shoulders.

"I'm not used to you liking me, Aomine, you're going to have to let me adjust to this. I have been deliberately avoiding the fact that I like you all year."

"Fair enough," he muttered. "But don't expect me to be all conservative about this."

"What's this?" you asked him.

"Us, the fact that you agreed to go out with me."

"I retain all rights to pretend like I don't know you if you get too dramatic," you warned him, which made him scoff, like he wasn't expecting you to go through with it.

"Bold of you to assume that I'm joking," you said, letting his arm slip off your shoulders and he paused.

"You can't be serious," he muttered.

You kept walking.

"(Y/F/N)? You aren't serious right?" he called after you, slight panic in his voice when you didn't turn around.

"Right?" he asked.

#aomine x reader #daiki x reader #aomine daiki x reader #daiki aomine x reader #knb #knb imagines #aomine daiki #knb aomine #knb x reader

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choking-on-tae · 4 years ago

Text

ATEEZ Reaction To: Having a lazy day full of cuddles

A/N: I wanted to write something cute and fluffy for these boys that I love with all my heart. May have gotten a bit carried away with San's one, but then again I love gaming so please don't blame me. I hope you guys like this and as usual gifs aren't mine and credits to the rightful owners! x

Seonghwa

Seonghwa has been waiting for this day for a while. To just be able to spend the entire day doing absolutely nothing but cuddle and spend time together. You're cuddled up against your boyfriend as Seonghwa's chin is resting on top of your head. His arms wrapped tightly around you as the two of you watch a movie. Seonghwa doesn't seem so invested in the movie anymore as he's instead focusing on how it feels to hold you in his arms. It's been a while since he was last able to do that. You lean in to press a kiss against his neck, which catches Seonghwa off guard.

"W-Why?" He chuckles, feeling embarrassed as he looks the other way. "I just love you. That's why."

Seonghwa blushes at your words as he bites down on his lower lip, trying to stop himself from laughing as he glances back at the TV. "C'mon, let's go back to watching the movie."

Hongjoong

Hongjoong chuckles as he sees you coming back into the living room, carrying a bowl of popcorn and two glasses of soda. He was surprised you were able to carry all of that it one go. Hongjoong quickly helps you put everything down on the table and goes to sit back down on the couch. You do the same as you pull the blanket over both of you. Hongjoong starts the series the two of you are watching together and snuggles closer to you, so his head is resting on your chest. The bowl of popcorn within reach so you're able to grab some while watching your favorite show.

"We should do this more often." Hongjoong hums against your skin. "I agree." You whisper, pressing a soft kiss against his head before going back to watching your series.

Yunho

Now Yunho is a cuddle bug. He loves cuddling and spending time with you so a day like this would be high on his list of things he absolutely has to do with you. Yunho prepared everything for the day, so it'd be absolutely perfect. He didn't want anything to go wrong. Luckily for Yunho things couldn't have been more perfect. During your day both of you turned off your phones so there were no stupid interruptions. Your boyfriend knows he isn't the best cook but he's also not the worst, and since you love cooking he decided it'd be the perfect opportunity to bake something together. When you walked through the door and saw everything set up in the kitchen you couldn't help but smile.

"You want to bake something together?" Yunho nods softly as a shy smile spreads across his face. "Yeah, I thought you'd like that."

You move closer to your boyfriend, so you're mere inches away from him and wrap your arms around his neck. "I'd like that very much. Thank you, Yunho."

Yeosang

Both you and Yeosang love reading so what'd be more perfect than to spend the day reading your favorite book together? You're laying between Yeosang's legs, your back pressed against his chest as he's holding the book in front of you, so both of you can read it together. Yeosang's head rests on top of yours as his eyes scan the pages. You do the same as you rest comfortably against your boyfriend.

"This book is pretty good, right?" You hum at his words as you nuzzle against his chest, burying your face in it. Yeosang chuckles as he closes the book.

"Don't want to read anymore?" "No, I'd rather cuddle with you."

Yeosang giggles as he wraps his arms around you, holding you tightly. "Alright, then let's cuddle."

San

San loves gaming and thankfully for him you do too. However, it took a while to find a game both of you like. One day Wooyoung randomly suggested you'd play Mario Kart so you decided to give it a try. That was a mistake. Both you and San are very competitive, which makes it hilarious to watch. You're done choosing your characters when San moves to pick the worlds you're gonna race in. "I want that one!" You say, pointing at your favorite worlds. "But then you're gonna win!" He pouts, turning to you and flashing you his adorable pout.

You're unable to resist your boyfriend's charms and give in. Leaning in to softly peck his lips. "Fine. You can pick the worlds."

San smiles brightly as he clicks on his favorite worlds, the game starting shortly. The countdown begins as San moves around, moving to sit down behind you and pulling you up to his chest. He places both arms around you and holds his controller in front of you. Now you're completely trapped in your boyfriend's embrace but you don't mind one bit.

You're so distracted that you don't even notice the game starting. San smirks softly as he tries not to laugh. His tactic seemed to work. Once you snap out of it your boyfriend is way ahead of you, and you realize you're never gonna win. You groan in frustration as you lean back against San's chest.

"Giving up baby?" "This is not fair, San. You know how much I love your cuddles."

San giggles as he pauses the game, placing his controller down. Now giving you his full attention as he hugs you tighter, holding you close as he presses kisses all over your face, making you squeal.

Mingi

Going for hikes is something you have started doing ever since the pandemic started. You grew tired of your apartment real quick and sometimes you just want to get some fresh air. What's new however is that your boyfriend has started to join you more often. Knowing when you go for your morning walk and such. Today is no different. You open the door to walk out when you spot Mingi standing outside, ready to go for a walk. You giggle as you see the blush on his cheeks and lock the door behind you. Quickly going to your boyfriend, taking his hand in yours as you start walking.

"Have you been waiting for a while?" Mingi hums as he holds your hand tighter. "Nah, maybe 3 minutes or so."

You nod as you admire the beautiful scenery. It doesn't take you long before you spot a beautiful cherry blossom tree that's blooming.

"Mingi! Will you stand in front of that so I can take a photo of you? Please? It'll look so pretty!" Mingi chuckles at your excitement as he nods his head, crossing the street to pose in front of the tree. You snap a few photos as you summon him back. Mingi looks at the photos as he leans down to press a kiss against your cheek. "Thank you, can you send it to me please?" "Of course I can baby."

Wooyoung

"Are you sure you don't want me to help? I can cut some things for you to help you out maybe?" You ask your boyfriend, who seems fully set on cooking a romantic dinner for the both of you, on his own. One thing Wooyoung is known for is being incredibly stubborn, so of course he wants to do everything by himself. So you press a few kisses to his cheek, trying to persuade him to let you help him.

"Okay, you can cut some onions for me if you really want to help. I wanted to do this just for you baby." He pouts, turning his face to look at you.

"I know sweetheart but I feel bad letting you do this all by yourself." "But I like cooking for you." You chuckle softly as you turn to your boyfriend, wrapping your arms around him and pulling him against you. "But cooking together is more fun, right?"

Wooyoung nods in agreement as he leans in to bury his face in the crook of your neck, his hot breath tickling your skin.

"It is, let's just cook together then. But next time I'm really cooking for you!"

Jongho

(This is my fave Jongho gif I mean just look at this cutie!!!)

If there's one thing you and Jongho love it's going to the arcade. It's a place you spend a lot of time at and with Jongho's competitiveness it's even more fun go to there. So when both of you have the day off it's where you go. Jongho spots a claw machine that has a lot of kakao friends plushies. Apeach being your favorite you press your hands to the glass as you stare at the big plushie. "It's so cute!" "I'll win it for you, baby."

You frown at his words as you turn around, seeing Jongho rolling up his sleeves as he gets ready. Putting a coin in the machine and grabbing the handle.

You chuckle as you watch him in amusement. These machines are made to make you lose a lot of money, and you're afraid your boyfriend will fall victim to it because of his competitiveness.

"Jongho, it's okay if you don't get it. These games are extremely difficult anyways and-" You stop as soon as you see the plushie fall through the hole. Jongho smiles proudly as he takes it out of the machine and gives it to you.

"Here you go baby." You just stare at your boyfriend in shock as he chuckles softly, clearly amused by your expression.

"Wow, you really are amazing. You know that?" Now it's Jongho's turn to be startled as he feels his cheeks heat up. You lean up to press a kiss against his lips as you stare at him lovingly.

"You really are the best, baby."

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