#aaand probably someone did that already and i’m being late to the party

[as-frightened-as-you]

This is such a nice scene, right? A happy ending, a feeling of the sun on his face.

…but boy was I freaked out during my first playthrough. The game took a moment to focus on him going out in the sun, it was very cinematic, and it made me so damn sure that Salim was bitten during the fight in the hut and he’s going to scream in pain or burst into flames or something like that. I know the HoA “vampires” probably don’t work like that, and I have no idea from what vampire movie or show my brain got the picture, but that was… vivid.

I kinda want to write a oneshot about that? If only for the sake of angsty hurt/comfort jalim moment? I mean. The infection makes you afraid of the sunlight, like Rachel instinctively tried to get away from the UV lamp. Someone probably would need to physically force Salim out of the hut… and probably hold him so the infection can burn out completely… You know. Somebody.

Fuck, I really want it now. Didn’t plan to. Oh well.

[hwangsies]

LIMERENCE

(n) the state of becoming infatuated with another person

pairing: hyunjin x female reader

summary: you haven’t spoken a word to hyunjin since he ghosted you after a fun new years eve together, so what’s the worst that could happen when fate (or chaeryong,...well, same thing) pairs you up for a road trip across the country?

warnings: e2l (ish), university student!au, non idol!au ,a lot of swearing. alcohol consumption,long flashback, mentions of infidelity, hyunjin is a giggly sweetheart, smut as in: dom!hyunjin, unprotected sex (wrap it up luvs),fingering, oral (f recieving), slight choking, praise kink, hand & strenght kink (manhandleing oopsie), slight overstimulation, hyunjin is really enthusiastic about consent (as you should be, periodt), reader is nervous and scared of hyunjins big pickle (ew i hate myself), motel sex (but it’s not trashy i promise!)

8.6 k words ,meaning grab a snack and a drink,

and enjoy!<3

---

"alright everyone" your professor rubs his hands together "that was it for today... i hope you all have a great break and i'm very exited to see all of you again next semester. hopefully in person again" he chuckles.

You and your classmates exchange goodbyes with him before one after the other exits the zoom call.

"fuck" you sigh after closing your laptop and lean back on your bed.

"you did it girl" your dormmate chaeryong claps, at which you giggle before shifting your eyes to her on the other side of the room.

She's sitting on her bed, folding her clothes before putting it in her suitcase thats placed in front of her.

"finally" you sit up and watch her roll up a pair of socks.

"my last class was yesterday and mrs kim teared up" she giggles "it was kinda cute not gonna lie"

"oh god" you snicker.

"hey did you find someone to take to yongin?" you ask, remebering chearyong talking about wanting to find someone to share gas expenses with in exchange for a ride to her hometown.

"oh yea, i did" she turn to you "i think you know him, seo changbin?"

You furrow your brows in thought, you feel like you've heard of the name.

"he's a music major, one year above us, hes also from yongin" she continues folding a pair of jeans "funny you'd ask actually cause he told me one of his friends was looking for a ride to seoul, isn't that where you're going?"

"Yea i was thinking about finding someone honestly because gas is really fucking expensive if you aint rich" you say, placing your laptop onto your nightstand.

"Mm you aint gotta tell me girl" chaeryong mumbles, folding a sweatshirt.

"so who's that friend?" you ask, stretching out on your bed.

"he's in his grade, hyunjin"

Your neck almost cracks from how fats you whip your head “hwang hyunjin?”

"Oh yea" she points at you "you know him?"

"unfortunately" you huff.

"o-oh, what"s the tea?" your roommate wiggles her brows at which you shake your head.

"nothing much really" you sigh, leaning back again "he's just like the most arrogant and stuck up fuckboy ever"

"wow, well thats not nothing" chaeryong laughs "any reason as to why you think that?"

"you could probably ask any girl on campus and she'll tell you the same" you scoff.

"really girl?" chaeryong squints an eye at you playfully "cause i've only heard of him being hot but never of him being a hoe. And you know i'm the first to know the hot gossip" she winks.

Laughing defeatedly, running your hand through your hair.

"it's just- we hit it off at the campus' new years eve party, like really hit it off- at least thats what i thought"

"oooh spill it spill it" chaeryong leaps over to your bed to sit at the end of it.

"well there's really not much to spill, i gave him my number and he was talking all that smack about taking me out and stuff aaand to make a long story short i never heard from him again"

"well" chaeryong speaks slowly, biting her lip guiltily "i dont think you'll be very happy about me giving changbin your number for him, then?"

"you did what???" your eyes almost pop out of your head.

"sooorryy" she jumps up from your bed, clutching her hands apologetically "i didnt know"

"aaaaarghh" you whine, burying your face in your pillow.

"maybe he won't even text you though" chaeryong tries to console you, but the damage is already done...

-

unknown number - hey i got this number from changbin, i heard you're driving up to seoul, i'd love to tag along if you're looking for someone to share expenses with -recieved at 9:12 am

You huff looking at the message on your phone.

After chaeryong had left last night you really convinced yourself that he couldn't possibly dare to reach out to you.

But here you are reading his message after just waking up, and your day is already ruined.

you - who is this? - sent at 9:56 am

You know who it is, but you're not going to give him the satisfaction of thinking that you do.

Scoffing when he answers almost immediately.

unknown number - this is hyunjin, did i reach the right person? - recieved at 9:57 am

You have two choices at this point.

1. be petty and bitter about a boy who probably doesn't even remember you.

Or 2. move on and help someone who is also just trying to get home and also maybe get some closure.

So you curse your mother for rasing you so well and suck it up.

you - yea sure, i planned on leaving tomorrow at around 6 pm - sent at 10:02 am

Damn you and your common human decency.

he sus - oh okay great :) i only have one suitcase and a backpack btw so i wont take up alot of space or anything - recieved at 10:05 am

he sus - also i feel weird bc i dont know ur name or anything changbin literally just sent me the number and nothing else lol, also 6 sounds good should we meet at the main building then? -sent at 10:06 am

You're quite honestly not shocked that he seems nice over text because he was the same when you met on new years eve.

you - sure lets meet at the main building, my car is white and my name is y/n - sent at 10:09 am

Cringing as you press the send button because you are 99% certain he won't answer anymore; not that you'd care, obviously.

he sus - alright y/n see you tomorrow at 6 then :) - recieved at 10:14 am

You raise your brows when your phone lights up with his message, does he really not remember you?

Was he that drunk?

Well, it doesnt matter because you don't want to pay for all this gas alone and he seems to be the next best option to fix that.

So you shrug it off and get out off bed to run some last errands and start packing.

-

Your heart is beating unreasonably fast when you take a turn towards the main building at 5:55 pm the next day.

Calm down y/n it’ll just be 5 hours and who says you have to talk to him?

However you do know deep in your heart that you only wanted to arrive just a little early so you could complain about him being late.

That plan got cut short because your eyes fall on him as you pull up to the main building.

He’s- oh my god he’s blonde. You stop your car and he looks up at you.

“it is you!” hyunjin smiles at you when you step out of the car.

“who else would it be?” you ask, a little irritated at his reaction.

His face drops a bit when he sees you clearly annoyed by him, but the doesn’t blame you; he’d be mad too.

You open your trunk for him to put his weirdly small suitcase into, looking him up and down as he lifts it inside.

He’s wearing dark baggy pants and a windbreaker jacket, the top part of his chin-length blonde hair is pulled back into a messy ponytail.

He seemed to have bulked up as well, shoulders looking broader than what you remember.

The hair is different than the jet black hair that you remember on him, but it suits him very well; to be honest he would look good in any hair colour, not that you’d care though.

The first thirty minutes of the ride go by agonizingly slow and in complete silence.

When you drive onto the freeway you can’t take it anymore and mumble something among the lines of ‘wanna listen to some music?’.

You don’t wait for an answer, pressing the radio button right as you finish your sentence.

“uh, actually” hyunjin starts, his hand lifting to turn the radio back off, your eyes snap towards him, is he serious? Turning off your radio in your car?

“I wanted to address this situation” he says rather quietly.

You scoff “what? You realized that this is awkward just now?”

“no- I mean- yes I understand why you would think that but I just really want a chance to explain myself” he stutters.

“explain yourself” you repeat after him before mumbling “sure because there’s so much to explain”

“listen, I know you think I’m an asshole who just ghosted you b-“

“listen, I can handle rejection, you could’ve just said that you weren’t looking for something serious and I would’ve accepted that. The thing I’m mad about though is you literally making false promises and shit” 

Hyunjin blinks at you “can I please just explain to you what happened?”

You let out a long huff “sure” you wave your hand “go ahead”

“when you and your friends left at around 4, you wrote your number on my arm with your eyeliner, correct?” he asks.

Glancing over at him, you nod.

“after you where gone, I was already pretty drunk but then my friends decided to drag me with them to a different party that was still going” you see him fiddling with his hands in your peripheral “well I got super fucking shitfaced at that party and ended up puking on this one guys shoes”

You raise your eyebrows and hold back a laugh, which he notices.

“its okay you can laugh” he chuckles as well.

“anyways that guy was not very happy about it and busted my lip before kicking me and my friends out, so then back in the dorm my roommate sat me in the shower because I was full of alcohol, blood and puke”

“ew” you chime in.

“and when I woke up the next morning your number was gone��� hyunjin looks over at you “we don’t have any mutual friends, I didn’t know what your major is so I couldn’t even asks for you in the administrating office, and then the covid lockdown happened and here we are”

“you called the administrating office?” you look over at him, he nods a little smile on his stupid pretty lips.

“yep, so, sorry to tell you but your eyeliner is not waterproof” he jokes at which you playfully knit your brows at him.

“believe me, I wanted to text you. I really wanted to take you out; and when you sent me your name yesterday I didn’t know if this was a lucky coincidence or if you’re a different y/n, that’s why I didn’t say anything” he explains.

You take a deep breath as you realize you have to apologize for going off on him just now, you believe him but you hate apologizing.

“well, I feel like an ass for going off on you like that after hearing all this” you chuckle “I’m sorry” you eye him shortly before looking back on the road.

“it’s okay, you don’t have to apologize I get how it looked, very much sus” he laughs with you.

-

Coming back to your car after you took a bathroom break on a highway rest-stop, you see hyunjin sitting in the drivers seat.

“what do you think you’re doing?” you smile as you sit down on the passenger seat.

“I thought maybe you’d like to sleep since its dark already and you’ve been driving for almost 3 hours” he suggests while putting on his seatbelt.

“well, I wont say no to that” you shrug and put your seatbelt on as well.

“so when did you go blonde?” you ask curiously.

“uh- around end of june” hyunjin chuckles “it was a dare if I’m being honest but I ended up liking it and got it redone”

“oh okay” you check out his profile once more and follow his hair with your eyes “I like it”

“yea?”

“yea, which is weird cause I’m usually not into blondes at all” you wonder.

“hm” he grins “must be me then” he says before winking at you.

“pfff, in your dreams” you rebuttal playfully, at which he laughs and mumbles a ‘true’.

You don’t react to it because you think your ears are playing tricks on you.

“hey I have a question too” hyunjin says.

“what’s up” you lean your arm against the window as you look over at him.

His face is slightly lit by the lights of the other cars, no seriously, how can a side profile be so perfect?

“why did you even agree to take me with you if you thought I ghosted you?” he grins.

You laugh “well, I’m a nice person and I know not a lot of people there are from seoul and my mom raised me right, okay?”

“okay okay” he giggles, the way his eyes crinkle when he does makes you smile everytime.

“or…did you have such a good time with me on new years that you just had to jump on this opportunity?” he quips, carefully stealing a peek at you.

“sure, why do you think I was so upset when you didn’t text” you feign sadness.

The both of you laugh before falling into comfortable silence.

When looking outside your window, you think back to said new years eve.

-(flashback)

“oh my god” you said, stepping into the big hall that usually is the universities gym. But whoever planned this outdid themselves.

A dj was placed on one of the tribunes and a whole buffet of drinks and punches on the other, as well as a big disco ball hanging from the ceiling, making the room shimmery and shiny.

You could see people coming out of the doors that connected into the universities hall on one side and into the locker rooms on the others, as if it wasn’t already packed.

“this is fucking insane” lia, your roommate from last semester, squeaked while grabbing your arm and jumping a little, her voice overpowering the blasting music..

“I wanna get fucking hammered tonight” you turned to her.

“oh babe don’t worry,  we didn’t come here to drink soda” she laughed before spotting some of your other friends.

About five minutes before midnight you and some more girls gathered at the buffet of drinks and started doing shots.

You all had decided that instead of kissing someone at 12 o’clock you’d ring in 2020 with a shot, because alcohol can’t cheat on you.

You were laughing at something when some people started the countdown.

10!

9!

8!

7!

6!

5!

4!

3!

2!

1!

“HAPPY NEW YEAR”

Every one shouted and celebrated in union as you downed your shot.

“happy new year babe” lia hugged you after downing hers.

“happy new year!” you shouted into her ear, full of relief that this stressful year was over.

“lets do another one” she grinned widely after your whole friend group had shared their wishes with each other.

A girl you didn’t know very well handed you another shot, just as you emptied your glass you heard a guy yell something before stumbling into your back.

“jesus” you stumbled forward a bit before turning around, ready to throw someone a dirty look.

“I’m so sorry, are you okay?” in front of you suddenly stood a tall dark haired young man with almost too perfect facial features, frowning a little out of concern.

“nothing happened” you smiled, taking a step towards him so he’d hear you better.

“I’m glad” he replied, a grin slowly stretched across his handsome face

“I’m y/n” you giggled as you held out your hand.

His eyes crinkled with his smile as he took your hand in his “I’m hyunjin” he said before pressing a kiss to the back of your hand.

“okay guys let her have her fun lets go over there” you hear lia usher your friends away from behind you.

“happy new year y/n” he said before instinctively pulling you a little closer to him when a group of people passed behind you.

“happy new year hyunjin” you replied, a slow blush creeping on your face from how intensely he was taking in your appearance.

“well yea happy fucking new years to me for running into you” he joked before taking a sip, your brain wasn’t able to function anymore so you just giggled and nervously pushed your hair behind your ear.

It had been way too long since you’d talked to a guy, especially someone as attractive as him

“you’re fucking stunning” hyunjin complimented you and lifted your hand with his to make you spin for him, to which you complied because you took a long time getting ready and always appreciate being appreciated.

“thank you” you were crimson red by now but hoped he wouldn’t see because of the dimmed lights.

“how come I’ve never seen you around? I would’ve remembered you” he tilted his head.

“oh this was my first year here and I live on the other side of campus so…” you nodded slowly “but yea I would’ve remembered you too”

He grinned before downing his drink and putting on the table next to the both of you.

“wanna dance?”

That’s how you found yourself on the dance floor with hyunjin pressed against your back.

Slowly but surely the alcohol made you braver; and it didn’t take long for the dj to play perfect songs to grind yourself against his toned body to.

His reaction was instant, hands gripping even harder at your waist and his own movements matching your own.

You looked back at him just to have the air knocked out of your lungs, a barely there sheen of sweat was covering his forehead; his pupils were dilated and his lips were slightly parted before his tongue swiftly swept over his lower lip.

He looked like sex on legs and moved like it too.

His plump lips formed into a grin when he noticed you staring, you didn’t know if it was the alcohol running through your system but you so desperately wanted to kiss him.

“can’t stop looking at you either, pretty” he lowered his head to mumble against your cheek before pressing a kiss there.

“you’re so goddamn sexy” you blurted out as you turned around to face him, running one of your hands through his dark hair before positioning them on his firm chest.

He threw back his head as his chest vibrated with laughter.

“don’t laugh at me” you laughed as you locked eyes again.

“you’re cute when you’re drunk” hyunjin brought one hand to your face to tuck a strand of hair behind your ear.

“you dont even know me sober” you giggle “also i’m not drunk!” you protested playfully, his hands found your waist in the meantime to pull you flush to his body; at which you gasped almost inaudibly.

“oh really?” he looked down at you, clearly amused “didn’t you drink like 5 shots half an hour ago?”

“well well well, I didn’t know I had an audience” you countered, looping your arms around his neck.

Hyunjin prodded at the inside of his cheek with his tongue before looking away for a swift second, slightly embarrassed because he just exposed himself.

You felt yourself gush a little when he licked his lips again after bringing his gaze back to you.

“so you almost knocked me over on purpose?” you grinned even bigger when he shook his head laughingly.

“listen” he chuckled, leaning down unnecessarily close because you could hear him perfectly fine but you weren’t going to complain.

“I actually didn’t run into you on purpose, that was my friends doing after he saw me notice you” he said.

You mouthed an ‘ahh’ while nodding, feigning disbelief.

“I’m serious” hyunjin laughed “I still have to thank him later; I would’ve probably chickened out”

He got quieter at the end of his sentence, his eyes jumping to your lips when you wet your lower lip with your tongue quickly.

“i-m glad he pushed you then” you replied, trying to hide the fact that your heart was pumping your blood in record time.

“yea” he inched his face closer to yours as you tilted your chin up to meet him in the middle “me too”

His eyes switched from your lips to your eyes one more time before closing the gap between the both of you.

His lips were firm but soft at the same time in the way they moulded against yours, you swore you could hear lia squealing from somewhere but maybe you were just hearing things.

But when his tongue touched yours in the most tentative way you lost contact to what was going on around you, slinging your arms tighter around his neck and deepening the kiss.

A tiny groan escaped hyunjins throat when you carded your fingers through his hair to tug on it and release some of the adrenalin that rushed through you.

He was slow and explorative and let you take control from time to time before sucking on your lower lip and making you loose it.

You didn’t know how many songs had passed; to be honest you didn’t even remember what song was playing when you started kissing.

All you knew in that moment was hyunjins lightly flushed cheeks, swollen lips and dark glistening eyes.

“let’s go somewhere else?” he questioned in a whisper when you bit your lip, nodding at his question.

He grabbed your hand in his before manoeuvring the both of you through the dancing and celebrating crowd.

Before you knew it, hyunjin pulled you into the entrance hall of the university where multiple people had the same idea as you.

Couples scattered across the big room, some just talking, most of them however making out heavily.

“come on” he softly tugged at your hand, smiling when your gaze falls on him.

He lead you up the big flight of stairs onto a floor of the building you’ve never been to, stopping in front of a random room before pulling a small set of keys out of his back pocket.

After unlocking the door, he opened it to let you step inside.

It was a dance studio, the wall right across from you was just one huge mirror through which you could see the big couch in the back of the room and the water dispensers next to it.

“why do you have the keys for this room?” you asked, giggling.

Hyunjin grinned as he closed the door “I’m a dance major, we all have keys for the practice rooms”

“that’s so cool” you beamed “I wish I could dance” you looked around the room, walking towards the mirrored wall a little bit.

“you were moving just fine earlier” hyunjin came up behind you, nimble hands finding your waist as he looked you up and down through the mirror intensely, now that you were under the bright lights of the room.

You couldn’t help but to smile a little at that, the tight little glitter dress that you had chosen really did accentuate your curves in the best way possible, paired with the cute black heels which made your legs look way longer than they actually are.

“but that was like club sexy dancing, you know?” you elaborated.

“hm” he hummed amusedly “whats wrong with sexy club dancing?” you turned around to him.

He didn’t look to shabby himself, all in black, a chic button up with some jeans and a belt; accessorized with rings on his pretty fingers, a  dainty silver necklace and some small earrings.

Some might say he was underdressed, but the way he carried himself with such confidence, and that face of his must for sure be a panty dropper, you thought.

“nothing but… I don’t know, teach me something” you pleaded.

“what do you want me to teach you?” he laughed.

“I don’t know a pirouette or something” you suggested, laughing as well.

“okay” he grinned “this is like the base stance” he positioned himself correctly before looking at you to see if you were following his instructions.

“mhm” you hummed, replicating what he was doing.

“and then you get momentum with one leg to be able to swing yourself around, like this” hyunjin explained before executing a perfect pirouette and ending it back in the base stance.

“that was fast” you chuckled.

“your turn” he grins before moving behind you “try to keep your eyes on yourself in the mirror otherwise you’ll loose balance”

“okay” you said unsurely.

“I’ll catch you if you fall” he winked at you, at which you scoff playfully before carefully swinging yourself into a pirouette.

You landed on wobbly legs but before you could tip over hyunjin stabilized you with a firm grip on your hips.

“you’re a natural” he grinned at you through the mirror.

“well thank you” you playfully feigned cockiness before he spun you around himself.

A few seconds pass of the both of you taking in each others features in silence, the only thing you could hear was the faint music of the party downstairs, before hyunjin spoke up.

“can I kiss you?”

You fell into giggles again as you let your forehead rest against his collarbone before looking up again “we’ve kissed before”

“yea but that was like a moment and I don’t want to catch you off guard or anything” he mumbles cutely.

“mm” you nod “ you can kiss me”

And with a smile, he does.

You weren’t surprised when his first gentle ministrations turned into more desperate ones rather quickly because you could feel the warmth spread in your lower regions as well.

He walked the both of you over to the couch, only parting from your lips when he sat down on the black leather material of the couch.

“come here, pretty girl” he took your hand to help you straddle him, your dress riding up but you couldn’t care less if he saw your safety shorts, and he didn’t seem to care either by the way he feverishly connected your lips again.

His hands travelled down to squeeze at your waist before smoothing over your ass and grabbing a handful of each cheek, you moaned into the kiss when you realized how big his hands were.

Your own hands were squeezing at his shoulders before one moved into his soft hair while the other softly rested on his cheek.

The kiss was messy and desperate, teeth clinking together and tongues licking at each other.

The things that riled you up the most however were his groans and praises.

“you’re so fucking sexy” he groaned before moving down to kiss at your jaw and down your neck.

A needy whimper escaped from your throat when he started suckling the sensitive skin at the base of your throat.

“fuck-hyunjin” you moaned when his teeth grazed over your clavicle.

Your hands fumbled before landing on his belt, at which he pulled away from your skin, gently taking your hands off of his belt.

“I’d love to take you out first, actually” his pretty kiss swollen lips twitched up into a shy smile as he pants.

“oh” you were taken aback, you were almost certain that this was something regular for him “I thought-“

“I mean if you just want to fuck we can fuck of course” he chuckled “but- I actually think you’re really cute and fun and I’d love to get to know you better”

Your mouth stood a little agape “uh- I mean-I” you stuttered, your brain not functioning properly because of the alcohol running through your veins but also him!

“its okay if you just want, you know-“

“no!” you blurted out all over sudden, making him flinch a little “sorry, uhm- its just been a while since I had a date” you smile apologetically.

His expression visibly brightens “that’s okay” he giggled “so is that a yes?”

You grinned, leaning in to just barely brush your lips with his, his head twitching upwards in an attempt to connect them fully.

“yes” you whispered, at which he smiled brightly before pulling your in for a kiss by your neck.

-(flashback end)

“y/n”

“hey, y/n” you grumble when you feel someone gently rocking your shulder.

“mmm-what?” you peek your eyes open just to see hyunjin smile at you.

“good morning sunshine” he teases as you sit up in your seat when you realize you aren’t driving anymore.

“just kidding its not morning” he says as you look around your car, realizing your on a parking lot.

“where the fuck are we?” you whip your head towards him “did you bring me here to kill me? kidnap me?”

“wha?- no” he laughs “no, I’m sorry. Right after you fell asleep there was this huge traffic jam because of an accident and we stood there for almost 3 hours so I drove off and found this” he points out the rear window, where you see a small motel building.

You look back at him before checking the time on your phone, seeing it was indeed almost midnight.

“fuck” you swear to yourself.

“I didn’t know if you wanted to keep driving because I was getting tired so I thought maybe-“ hyunjin starts rambling guiltily, not wanting you to thing that this was an attempt to get in your pants.

“hey” you put your hand on his shoulder after taking off your seatbelt “this is good, you made the right decision I think we both could use some sleep” you say.

You each take your suitcases and walk inside, it’s an old building but it looks pretty clean for a motel off of the highway.

“good evening you two” an old lady sits behind the, probably just as old, reception.

“good evening, could we get 2 single rooms, please” hyunjin speaks up politely.

“I’m afraid we only have 2 double bed rooms available, if you’d like to take them, they will however be more expensive than the rooms for one” she explains politely.

“its okay, we’ll take one of those, please” you decide, hyunjins head snapping towards you.

“is that okay?” you ask him.

“yea- sure” he nods.

“alright, room 301 it is” she hands you the key before stating that you’ll have to checkout before 12 pm and what the room costs.

“do you accept card?” hyunjin asks at which the friendly old lady nods before taking his card and swiping it through her little machine.

“I’ll venmo you half of what you paid” you say after unlocking room 301.

He tsk’s at you before shaking his head “don’t, it was my idea so I’ll pay”

“are you sure?” you ask closing the door behind you when he turns on the lights.

“yup-oh” he exclaims.

“this room is cute” you say, it’s small but the walls are a soft sunflower yellow, decorated with paintings of autumn leaves .

The bed looks clean, and when you smell the mouse gray blankets and pillows, they smell fresh as well.

“stop smelling the pillows” hyunjin laughs.

“I’ve never been to a motel, I thought everything would be dirty or ancient” you confess comically.

He chuckles as he comes out of the small bathroom “the bathroom is clean too, don’t worry” he says when you look at him expectantly.

“I’ll sleep on the floor if you want” he offers as you open your suitcase to get out your toothbrush and pj’s.

“it’s fine, hyunjin I’ve slept in the same bed as a male before” you joke.

“well how am I supposed to know that?” he counters, at which you throw your pj shorts at him out of reflex.

When you realize what you had done it was too late, he was already holding them out in front of him before giggling.

“very cute choice” he mocks the small white shorts with red hearts all over it.

“stoop” you whine, trying to fish it out of his hands but he holds them over his head like a kindergartener.

“I remember why I don’t like you” you pout, crossing your arms.

His face drops alongside with his arms “I thought we were past that”

You use his moment of weakness to snatch your shorts out of his hands “gotcha”

-

“see I told you I was gonna take you out” hyunjin beams at you before looking down at the various snacks he took from the motels vending machine, which were laying in between the both of you on the bed.

“and so luxurious too” you joke, crossing your legs.

“only the best for you” he grins when you open a pack of fruit jellies.

“you know, I was thinking about new years” you say “ and I realized that it was your fault!”

Hyunjin throws his head back as he groans playfully “why?”

“if you hadn’t lost your phone when we got back downstairs, I wouldn’t have had to write my number on your arm; or you could’ve just given me your number and I could’ve text you. But you didn’t even know your own number!” you laugh in reminiscence.

“listen” he laughs “I was drunk and you’re hot! I couldn’t think” he defends himself before taking a bite off a chocolate bar.

You blush a little but play it off with a laugh.

“but yes, I admit, it was indeed my fault” he dramatically holds his hand in front of his eyes.

“yeeees!” you exclaim victoriously.

“I’m kidding though” you pat his knee “I forgive you”

“I’m glad” he smiles.

After the both of you are done eating way too many sweets, you find yourself being really comfortable when talking to hyunjin.

He’s funny, doesn’t seem like he’s full of himself and just in general seems like a very kind person.

“I thought you were a fuckboy when me met” you confess, looking at him.

Propped on one elbow looking down at you, while you lay on your side towards him, his face illuminated only by the little lights on each of your nightstands.

“you did?” he asks confusedly.

“yea” you chuckle “you were so confident and…sexy I don’t know” you place your hand over your face in embarrassment.

“oh that was the liquid courage talking, I’m usually pretty shy” he shakes his head smilingly when you peek through your fingers.

“don’t lie” you push his shoulder softly.

“I’m serious!” he laughs.

“you were the first guy to approach me at a party” you pause “like ever”

“no way, you’re lying now” he furrows his brows.

“nope” you shake your head.

“but I was really close to not talking to you as well, I’m sure there were many guys before me that just didn’t have the liquid courage, like I did” he speculates.

“maybe” you say.

“have any exes?” he asks after a few seconds.

“yea, one”

“well how did you meet him?”

“he showed me around on my first day of freshman year, I transferred like in the middle of the first semester so I wasn’t with any other freshmen” you tell him.

“why’d you break up if I may ask?” hyunjin asks carefully.

“oh we were only together for like three weeks, you can’t even call I relationship. He used me to make his hot ex jealous and cheated on me with her” you say “but hey they’re back together at least” you scoff.

“i’m sorry” he mumbles at which you look up at him.

“it’s not your fault” you chuckle.

“well, still no one should feel that way” he says “you know that you were way too good for him right?”

You nod.

“what about you? Have any exes?” you ask back.

He snickers “only one in seoul”

“why didn’t you last?”

“it was a long distance situation, she was super jealous and couldn’t trust me. which I can understand to a certain degree but everytime I went out she wanted me to facetime her and show her what kinds of people were there with me. That was just too much” he explains.

“wow” you chuckle “that doesn’t sound fun either”

Hyunjin shakes his head “nope, but hey we got rid of ‘em, didn’t we?”

“yea” you giggle “plus if I hadn’t broken up with him I would’ve probably never gone to the new years eve party”

“I guess I owe him something then” he grins as you scooch up on the bed.

“can I kiss you?” you ask after a few seconds of silence.

“hm?” hyunjins eyes almost spring out of his head.

“I don’t want to catch you off guard” you grin as you repeat his words from the night you met, sitting up.

He licks his lower lip as a grin stretches over his face as he sits up as well “do your worst”

You get up on your knees to shuffle over to him, when you get close enough hyunjin grabs one of your thighs and lifts it over his legs so you’re straddling him.

Once you sit down on his lap, your eyes lock again and you’re once again baffled as to how someone can be so god damn attractive.

His eyes flicker from your eyes to your lips expectantly, a shaky breath leaving his lips when you lean in.

Your lips connect and it feels like all the pent up energy of liking him since that night finally gets set free, sparks glowing behind your lit and his hands leaving a trail of fire where ever they go.

They squeeze at your thighs and waist, pulling you impossibly close to himself.

A whimper tears from your throat when his tongue licks at yours, he tastes like chocolate and what could only be described as him.

He moans into the kiss when you tug at the blonde locks that weren’t pulled back into the ponytail; before pulling the hair tie out of his hair to free it and finally card your fingers through all of the blonde glory.

Before you realize what’s going on, hyunjin lifts the both of you before dropping you on your back and crawling above you.

The fact that he just lifted the both of you from a sitting position as if you weigh nothing makes you feel all types of hot.

“you’re so hot holy shit” you pant as you push his long hair out of his face.

“ditto” he only grins before attaching his lips to your exposed collarbone and sucking a bruise into the skin.

“take it off” you moan as you tug on the dark blue calvin klein shirt he’s wearing.

His lips release the skin of your collarbone before sitting up to pull the shirt over his head.

If your mouth wasn’t already open from your heavy breathing, you would’ve opened it now because his body is more sculpted and toned than you had expected.

Your hand lifts to smooth over his abs, muscles flexing as he connects your lips again.

His one hand slides from your waist up to cup one of your breasts, gently palming the soft flesh.

“I know I said I wanted to take you out first but-“ he mumbles against your lips.

“you bought me a lovely dinner” you interrupt him, threading your fingers through the hair that’s falling down into his vision.

He grins, dropping a short peck to your lips before his the grin gets wiped off his face “I don’t have a condom with me”

“I’m on the pill” you let him know “I got tested before the lockdown and I haven’t been with anyone since soo…”

“yea, me too, I was tested a few months ago” he nods.

You nod back, biting your lip as you absently play with his hair.

“do you trust me?” hyunjin asks, observing your demeanour.

“yea- yea I do I’m just nervous” you smile awkwardly.

“no” he coos before kissing you “why are you nervous?”

“just haven’t been with anyone for a while” you confess.

Hyunjin nods understandingly “if you don’t want to do this we’ll stop”

“no I really want to” you look into his eyes as confidently as you can.

“okay” he smiles, planting his lips on yours again.

“can i?” his voice gives you goosebumps when he mumbles against the sensitive skin under your ear, his fingers slowy undoing the loose knot of your heart shorts.

“yes” you say when he locks eyes with you.

“I love these shorts” he softly presses a kiss to your knee, trying to calm your nerves a little, before he gently rocks your hips to pull them off of you.

You blush a little out of embarrassment but smile when you lift your hips to help him.

“cute” he whispers when he see’s your panties have a little bow on the front.

He chuckles when you hide your face in embarrassment, pulling you closer to him again by your thighs before you let him kiss you again.

“can I take this off too?” hyunjin whispers, softly pulling at the fabric of the tank top you’re wearing, at which you nod.

You are still wearing a bra when he pulls it off so you take it into your own hands and unclasp your bra.

Your nipples stiffen a little at the sudden exposure to air, as well as to hyunjin’s admiring gaze.

“fuck” he muses when palming your breasts in his big hands, gently pushing them together an running his thumbs over your nipples.

A whimper involuntarily leaves your lips when he wraps his plump lips around one of the perked up nubs and sucks gently.

“so fucking pretty, princess” you feel yourself pathetically clench around nothing at his praise.

You feel one of his hands wander downwards to provide some friction for you, he slots his lips against yours when you tentatively roll your hips against his hand.

Hyunjin feels his cock get even harder when an almost desperate moan tumbles from your lips against his. So he ads a little more pressure and starts circling your clit with two fingers, your sighs of pleasure mixing into the kiss.

“you’re so sensitive baby” he whispers as he parts his lips from yours “can I go down on you?” he grazes his lips over your chest, looking up at you seductively.

You nod as you bite your lip, hyunjin placing a few kisses on your tummy before shortly sitting up to also free you from your soaked panties.

The first stripe he licks up your slit, and how he swirls the tip of his tongue around your clit expertly sends you to heaven.

His hands are gripping your thighs to prevent you from closing your legs, your hands are tangled in his hair and the sheets.

“hyunj-fuck” you cry out when his tongue enters you.

He carefully prods one finger at your entrance “is that okay?” he asks, his voice hoarse and dripping with lust.

“yea” you sigh.

Once you adjust to one finger, he adds a second one, curling them upwards to search for that specific patch inside of you.

“yes-fuck right there” you moan when his fingers press onto the sweetest spot inside of you, tugging at his hair a little harshly. But you feel him moan against you, getting lost in your taste as he sucks your clit in between his soft lips.

Your hips buckle against his mouth as your eyes roll backwards, feeling the warmth of your orgasm approach rapidly.

“fuck fuck yes-hyunjin” you cry out just before he tipped you over the edge with his skillful ministration, your orgasm rushing up your spine and into your head, endorphins spreading everywhere.

A cry of pleasure fills the room as your thighs starts trembling with the aftershocks, clamping around his head when he drives you into overstimulation.

“oh-shit-“ you pant as you softly pushed on his forehead to get him away from your clit, his fingers still inside you, guiding you through your high.

He nibbles on your inner thigh apologetically. You can still hear your heartbeat in your ears after hyunjin removes his fingers from you and sits up, gently holding your legs together to help you calm down.

“fuck” you mewl, a soft smile tugging at his lips.

He’s wanted to do this for so long and there you are, with all of your naked glory in front of him.

While he’s daydreaming about you, you sit up and start fiddling with his sweatpants.

“you want more?” he quips, once he realises what you’re doing, leaning in to kiss you.

“mhm” you humm into the kiss affirmitavely when his hand holds you close to him by your jaw.

With a quick last peck to your lips he simultaneously shimmies the soft black sweats and his boxers off of himself.

You apparently visibly gulp at the sight of his cock because hyunjin smirks cockily “like what you see?” as he crawls above you again, his lips finding yours again and not waiting for an answer.

“I don’t know if you’ll fit” you mumble when he suckles at the soft nook of skin under your ear.

“we can stop here” he offers softly before locking eyes again.

You shake your head as you reach down to fist his length, slowly pumping it and smearing the few drops of precum around.

“no, you’re just really big” you huff with a shy smile on your lips at which hyunjin groans.

“you’re gonna be the death of me, you know?” he mutters against your lips before kissing you deeply, his hand smoothing over the slope of your waist before coming up to gently pinch at one of your nipples.

Eliciting a soft high pitched moan from you, this only spurs him on.

Rolling his tongue against yours desperately and making you taste yourself before sinfully sucking at the wet muscle.

All the while you’re stroking him with your small hand before cupping his balls, as if he didn’t already feel like he’s gonna blow his load way too early.

“please” you whine, guiding his reddened tip towards your entrance.

Hyunjin releases a shaky breath before replacing your hand with his, rutting his hips against yours a few times, coating his length in your wetness.

This already had your toes curling, suppressing a whine as you lock your legs around his waist.

“tell me if it hurts, yea?” he breathes, only pressing inside you after you nod, dropping a kiss to your swollen lips.

“fuck” he swears softly, tucking his face in the crook of your neck when he breaches your tight walls for the first time.

Your fingers tighten in his hair at the back of his neck when a subtle sting flares up inside of you.

“ah-“ your body flinches a little when he presses further inside, hyunjin notices, observing your expression before kissing your cheek and sitting up slowly.

“you’re doing so good, baby” he lifts his thumb to his lips, swiftly kitten-licking the digit before bringing it to where your bodies join.

Gently rolling your clit under his thumb to distract you from the pain.

“you look so perfect like this” his other hand travels over your stomach to gently squeeze at your breasts “all spread out for me”

You whimper, arching your back when hyunjin thrusts into you carefully; the pain slowly subsiding and the ache to be fully filled up by him growing exponentially when his cock rubs against your g spot.

“hyunjin” you moan, gripping onto his hand, which is resting atop your breast.

“yes baby, I’m here” he groans at how tight you feel once he’s balls deep inside of you, abandoning your clit to grab you by the hips for leverage.

His other hand resting on your cheek now, after a few trusts you moan “harder, please”

Hyunjin groans and fulfils your wish, at one particularly harsh thrust, you latch your lips around his pointer and middle finger, sucking at them.

“oh my god-that’s so fucking hot” he grunts through clenched teeth.

His cock dragging along your walls deliciously, filling you up to the brim as you hum around his slender fingers in pleasure.

“you like my hands that much baby?” his jaw is clenched and the grip on your waist is rough , the contrast to how sweet he was just a few minutes earlier had you clench around him furiously.

“fuck-“ he breathes when you nod to the best of your abilities, eyes wide open and holding his gaze.

You only release his fingers from in between your lips in favour for a loud high pitched moan when his other hand finds your clit again, rubbing harsh circles into the bud.

“-gonna cum-huynjin” you dig your nails into his biceps, eyes squeezing shut.

“yea?” he grits through his teeth the fingers that were previously trapped in your mouth now wrapping around your bared throat.

Not squeezing tightly, just resting there as if to show you that you’re his now.

Your thought gets confirmed when he rasps “you’re gonna date me after this, right pretty girl?”

You do look so pretty right now, tits bouncing and skin slapping because of the fast rhythm that he’s snapping his hips into yours, not to mention the subtle sheen of sweat that’s coating the both of you.

A desperate breathy chuckle tumbles from your lips “ yes-yes fuck” you feel your second orgasm creeping up on you.

“cum for me princess, all over my cock” he urges you on, his tip hammering into the sweet spot inside of you repeatedly before you crash into your second high of the night.

Your body convulses in pleasure as you call out his name mixed with profanities, your toes curling so hard you’re not sure if you can ever uncurl them again, and your nails probably leaving painful indents in his skin.

His thumb on your clit slows down until you grab his hand for him to stop, his hand around your neck grabs your free one, holding both of your hands over your head now.

“so good, baby” he mumbles, kissing your lips; mostly just breathing into each other as he rocks you through every wave of your orgasm.

Hyunjin looses himself in you not long after with a guttural moan and his eyes squeezing shut.

You coax him through it when he rests his face against your neck again, running your fingertips through his damp hair and over his broad back, muscles tensing under your gentle touch.

i“don’t fall asleep on me” you whisper sneakily, grinning when he chuckles against your neck, tickling the soft skin there.

He props himself up again to scan over your features, pushing some hair out of your face before kissing you tenderly.

“you okay?” his hand resting at your temple as he gently runs his thumb over your hairline.

“more than” you assure him, cupping his cheeks to pull his lips onto yours again.You think you can never get enough of his lips, anything about him for that matter; not when he makes you feel so cared about and safe.

“so does this mean we’re dating now?” he whispers after he has cleaned you up and tucked the both of you in bed.

“hmh” you nod your head sleepily, positioned on his bare chest.

“so I can spoon you once we fall asleep?” he asks, grin evident in his voice.

“you can spoon me but you can’t wake me up in the middle of the night if you get horny” you mumble jokingly, enjoying his fingers running down your spine as your eyelids get heavier.

“okay” he giggles softly, pressing a kiss to the crown of your head before you whisper your good nights to each other.

And as promised, he doesn’t wake you up in the middle of the night because he’s horny.

It’s you who wakes him, because after 10 months of wasted time, you have a lot of catching up to do.

-

a/n: oml this is my first ever long fic so pls pls pls give me feedback, i had so much fun writing his even though it made me feel even more single but hey :))))

allsooo i waited til after work to publish this and i just saw i hit 500 followers?!?!?! thats crazy to me omg i started this like 2 months ago and so many ppl liked my stuff so much that they decided to follow me?? so i just wanna say thank u thank u thank u for hitting the follow button even though im very unorganized and everything i do is spontaneaous and not thought out well. but hey i guess there is a reason that u followed me so thank u!

(i’d love if u sent me an ask with the first one of my writings that u stumbled across, and how <3 ...only if u want tho no pressure) 

anyways thank u so much for reading if you’ve made it this far! i hope you have a great day/ night! much love

-aj

(this is a work of fiction and does not represent the real actions of stray kids or hwang hyunjin)

[themuffinbee]

Lore Olympus Novelized, Chapter 4

First Chapter - Previous Chapter

Hey, it's been a while. Life has been rough, so this took some time to finish. Since I'm having to play with the chronology of the chapters a little to fit a literary narrative format, the comic's Chapter 5 is LON's Chapter 4. It’s finally Pining Hades o’clock, my friends!

As always, this is merely an unofficial fan adaptation. All plot and dialogue belong to the talented Rachel Smythe. I'm just playing in her sandbox.

—————————————————

“I’m not into this.”

Silence.

“I’m not happy with myself,” Eros said, a little louder this time. Still, his mother ignored him as she flitted from car to car.

He glanced around the moonlit parking lot in the hope that there would be somebody, anybody around to put a stop to this nonsense. Of course, there wasn’t a soul to be seen.

“I’m so uncomfortable right now.” What an understatement. Eros had that creepy-crawly sensation like a thousand bugs moving under his skin when he thought about all the rules of consent he had broken in the last two hours. Ugh!

He kept his eyes straight ahead as he shifted the dead drunk, unconscious goddess in his arms, attempting to make her more comfortable. After all, it wouldn’t do for her to have a cramped neck or pinched nerve after a night like tonight. He had to have some standards.

“Oh, stop fussing and hurry up. Serves her right for being so trusting,” Aphrodite said without even a glance in his direction. She stopped and cocked her head. “Eros, do you know how to pick locks?”

For crying out--

“Ma, what the fuck are we doing?” Yeah, okay. He probably should have asked that question a couple of hours ago, but whatever. “I left a perfectly good orgy for this, I thought you had an actual emergency. It's late. I'm cold.”

His mother finally looked him in the eye, and, much to his disappointment, she seemed far more annoyed than concerned at his insubordination. 

“Look at this girl." He held up Persephone, her head lolling to the side. “She’s like the personification of a friggin’ cinnamon roll! An adorable, pink cinnamon roll!”

Aphrodite only crossed her arms and glared at him.

Oh, my gods. What. Even.

“Why are you jealous of a cinnamon roll?!” Eros took a calming breath. Getting angry with his mother only made her more stubborn. He took on a more coaxing voice and said, “Let’s just take her back to Artemis and tell her you’re feeling a bit more deranged than usual.”

That got a reaction. 

“Check that sassy attitude, Mr. Man,” his mother said with her hands on her hips, using a tone she normally reserved for his younger siblings. She turned away and clasped her hands to her chest, eyes misting over far too quickly to be sincere. “You still owe me big time after that bullshit you pulled with Psyche.”

Then she glanced back towards him, her eyes now narrowed in a chilling gaze. “You want to see her, right?”

And that was that. Eros pressed his lips into a thin line and remained silent.

“Yeah, I thought as much. Now help me find his car.” Aphrodite flipped her lavender hair over her shoulder and continued down the parking lot, her fists clenched at her sides. “Stupid Hades!”

Why was she acting so weird tonight? Everyone already knew she was beautiful, especially when she wore a getup like she had on tonight. Iridescent white with her purple complexion? Always a winning combination. And, besides... “Since when did you give a crap about the King of the Underworld?”

His mother shot him a glare over her shoulder. “It’s about respect!”

Eros sighed. “I’m pretty sure that breaking into someone else’s car is a crime...”

“Listen--”

“...aaand it’s not very respectful.”

“Listen.” She spread her hands out to the side of her face and little sparkles of light shot out of her fingers. “Listen.”

The sparkles formed a hazy image of a cartoonish, disgruntled Hades.

“We’re gonna hide her in his car." Aphrodite gave a little twirl of her finger and the cartoon Hades flung open his car door to reveal an equally indignant Persephone. “Once he gets home, he’ll find her. She’ll be super drunk and do a buttload of embarrassing stuff. He will think she’s totally gross.”

The imaginary Persephone fell to the ground crying as the cartoon Hades shrugged. Aphrodite lowered her pitch to something exaggerated and rough and not at all like the King of the Dead. “I’m a big stupid idiot and Aphrodite is the most beautiful goddess ever.”

“And then!” His mother returned her voice to normal as the image of Hades pushed a judgy-looking Persephone off of his driveway. “Since he took her home drunk, she’ll think he’s a creepy, old man."

Aphrodite smiled and closed her eyes, looking so content that she may as well have spent the day at a spa. “That’s the plan.”

Eros stared at her and tried to make sense of the raving nonsense he had just heard. At least this was Hades and not one of his brothers they were talking about, so Persephone should be safe enough. But still, this was beyond messed up. Did his mom really think this would work?

Aphrodite’s smile dislodged a bit and one of her eyebrows crooked upwards as she looked up at him, waiting. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “Fresh hell, I am embarrassed for you.”

She tried to protest, but he kept talking, “Mom, you seem to have such a distorted view of people these days...when did you stop seeing the best in people?”

Aphrodite pinched her mouth shut and spun on her heel with a “Hmph!” as she continued her march through the parking lot. 

"When did you forget about kindness?" Eros followed after her, "When did you forget about love?"

Still, Aphrodite walked onwards. 

It was at this point that Eros realized he may have given his mother a complex. Gods, what a fucking mess.

—————————————————

Hades pulled his car into the driveway and proceeded to sit and stare out the window, not really finding the will in his bones to move. This was the worst night he had put himself through in a while, and he wondered just how much more scotch it would take for him to wipe it from his memory.

Not only had he somehow fucked things up with Minthe, but he had acted like a complete fool at his brother’s party, all for a pretty girl he had never met. Looking back, even his thoughts were embarrassing. ‘Like a rose in a snarling mess of brambles?’ Where had he come up with a phrase so disgustingly saccharine?

Just then, a small sound from the back seat cracked through his ruminations. He turned his head and saw…

What. What the...why...how???

She was there. Persephone. In his car. Somehow. 

She was curled up asleep in his backseat, covered in roses of all things -- because of course she was -- and she looked, she looked…she looked miserable. Pale and sick. There was a small slip of paper attached with tape to her thigh, and drawn on it was a delicate little heart.

Aphrodite. 

She must have overheard him at the party, but he didn't remember seeing her there at all...which was probably Aphrodite's problem. The Goddess of Beauty had always been a diva that never liked to share the spotlight, but when did her ego get so fragile?

Hades shut off the engine and walked around the car as quietly as he could. When he opened the rear passenger door, Persephone let out a small, whimpering groan at the sound, but stayed limp, one of her knees dangling so far off of the seat that it almost drooped to the floor. There was no way she would be able to walk in that state.

Deciding to look only at what his hands were doing, and not at the disheveled goddess slumped over in the back of his car, Hades half-knelt on the floorboard and began brushing Aphrodite’s signature roses off of the seat, their cloying scent filling the air. His gaze remained glued to his fingers as he peeled the little note off of Persephone’s thigh and crumpled the offending piece of paper into a ball.

Trying to be gentle, and most likely failing, Hades hooked one arm behind Persephone’s shoulders and the other under her knees, sliding her out of the car and doing his best to avoid bumping her into anything. Her head lolled against his shoulder and the smell of alcohol on her breath replaced the scent of the roses. A lot of alcohol. 

As he walked towards the house, an emotion between sadness and anger grew behind his ribcage. There was no reason for her to be here, no reason for her to be mixed up with someone as...volatile as Aphrodite. No reason except for--

Hades felt Persephone stir against his chest and she let out a little moan, now reaching out an arm as though she were attempting to grab hold of something. A small butterfly made of pink light appeared on her wilting fingers while another fluttered about between her neck and his shoulder. Hades finally let his gaze drift up to her face and...hell. Even in as pitiful a state as she was in now, with her brow all furrowed and her skin far too pale, he would still say Persephone was more beautiful than Aphrodite. Thank Gaia the little goddess was practically dead to the world right now, otherwise, she would be able to hear his heart beating a thousand miles per minute and--

Hades frowned and looked away, resuming his path towards the house. He was not one of his brothers and he was not going to act like them tonight. Staring slack-jawed at someone across the room in the middle of a crowded party was one thing, ogling an incapacitated woman you were carrying into your home was very much so another.

A low whine pierced through the silence as a shape made of darkness padded out from the shadows. One canine head split into three, all six ears standing at full attention.

“Settle down, you might scare her,” Hades said as he motioned with his hand to halt his guard dog’s advance. He held Persephone closer with his other arm, vaguely realizing that one of her hands had curled itself around the lapel of his coat. Cerberus whined again, but his ears and tail relaxed by a fraction.

Good boy.

With only the minimum amount of fumbling and jostling, Hades managed to get the two of them through the sliding glass doors and into his living room. He shifted Persephone in his arms and bent over to deposit her into the nearest chair. Before he could lower her so much as two inches, he heard her make the smallest whimper into his shoulder as she flopped one of her arms around the back of his neck. Hell on Olympus, she sounded so sad, so scared. And why was she clinging to him? Was she so drunk that she thought he was someone else? That had to be it.

Cradling the back of her head in his hand, he whispered, “I’m just - I’m just going to put you down for a sec, okay?”

She did not answer, but he felt her arm slide off of his neck. As he laid her down in the chair, he tried to ignore how much he didn’t want to let go of her either.

Tasks. He needed tasks. Tasks were going to be his best damn friends tonight.

Task one: water.

His feet took him from the living room to the kitchen without further thought, his hands on autopilot. Open cupboard, grab glass, close cupboard, place glass under faucet, turn on faucet, turn off faucet, walk back to the living room, and--

He came to a halt the moment Persephone came back into view. She still looked miserable, of course, but even with her sickly pallor, she positively glowed in the darkness. Seeing her splash of bright pink against the ever-present shadows of his home, a dusting of wildflower petals gathering around his chair, it dawned on him just how foolish his attraction to her was. The King of the Dead together with the Goddess of Spring? The very thought was laughable, absurd.

Hades sighed as he knelt in front of the chair and Persephone opened her eyes, half-lidded and unfocused. He held the glass aloft in his hand, shaking it a little in an attempt to get her attention. “You should drink some water.” 

Her expression remained blank, a slow blink being the only sign that she may have comprehended his words. When she made no move to reach for the glass, Hades leaned forward, placed a tentative hand under her jaw, and held the glass to her lips. Though a few drops did spill out the sides of the cup, he saw her throat make weak work at drinking. Good.

Now for task two: accommodations.

Once she had nearly drained the glass, he set it aside and again picked her up from the chair, heading off towards whichever of his abandoned guest rooms he thought most likely to be ready for seldom-seen company.

As he carried the inebriated goddess through the darkened halls, Hades felt her sink deeper against his chest with every step, until she had nestled her head against his cheek, her fingers toying with his bowtie. Nobody had the right to be that damned adorable when they were blackout drunk. He tried not to think of what would have happened if Aphrodite had dumped her in someone else’s car by mistake. Someone like Zeus, or Ares, or Apollo.

He crossed the threshold of a suitable room and a knot formed in his throat as he came upon the third and final task of the night: sleep.

“Sorry for manhandling you…” Hades said as he sat down on the bed and pulled back the covers, Persephone’s legs splayed across his own. Somehow speaking aloud made this feel less...creepy. He let go of her once they were settled, expecting the little goddess to lie down and bury her face in a pillow. Instead, much to his contradictory discomfort and happiness, she steadied herself by looping her arms around his neck and slumped her head onto his shoulder.

Wow...right. Okay. This was not going the way he had planned. He cleared his throat and reached towards her feet.

“If you sleep with your shoes on, you’ll get sores on your feet,” he said, deciding that narrating his actions to the silent goddess made him at least feel much more comfortable. Though taking her shoes off wasn’t nearly the same as, say, changing her into pajamas, it still felt like it passed some boundary of intimacy. As he slipped one stiletto heel off and then the other, he noted that they came off a little too easily, like they were half a size too large. Hades thought of all the nights he had crashed on his office couch, too exhausted to bother taking off his shoes. The ill-fitting ones had always left behind the worst blisters. He winced a little at the memory. “Trust me, I know.”

Lifting the covers with one hand and cradling her back and head with the other, Hades managed to steer Persephone’s legs under the sheets. Her arms, however, stayed outstretched and draped over his shoulders even as he laid her head on the pillow. Damn, if he didn’t know that she was too drunk to even sit up on her own, he would have thought she was trying to seduce him--

A shiver ran through Hades, electrifying enough he might have mistaken it for one of Zeus’ lightning bolts. So light that he could barely register the sensation, he felt the slight brush of her fingers skimming over his hair. It stole the breath from his lungs. One by one, her fingers traced over his ears and ran along his cheeks, her touch gentler than anything he could remember. But, the pads of her fingers were also somewhat...rough. Not the soft, downy skin he would have expected of the dainty goddess.

For a moment, he wondered if she were attempting to map his face through touch as each finger spread over his features. Some outlined his cheekbones, one of her thumbs glided over the side of his nose, and a few of her fingers, gods, slid along his jaw. Each digit only made the barest, most tantalizing bit of contact with his skin, and that alone was nearly overwhelming. It wasn’t until her other thumb grazed the corner of his mouth that he realized had been sitting spellbound this whole time, his eyes shut as he leaned into her touch. Practically a puddle in her hands.

…Would she want to map out the rest of him with those hands?

You are not your brothers. You are not your brothers. Snap out of it! You are NOT your brothers.

Hades sighed and brought his hands up to catch hers before they went anywhere else. “Now stop that.”

Looking down, he could indeed discern a set of calluses padding her rosy fingers and palms. The puzzle of Persephone only continued to grow. It was a good thing he still had his gloves on, otherwise he would be so very tempted to explore those callused hands with his own.

Who was he kidding? He was already tempted. Which meant that he needed to leave.

“I’m going to bed now. Goodnight, “ he said as he released her hands.

Yes. Good. Satisfied that he had done the correct, gentlemanly thing (to the best of his abilities at least), he headed for the door.

And then he heard it.

From behind him came one loud, giant sniffle. And then a small whimper. And then another sniffle.

Oh. 

Oh no.

She was crying.

Before he knew it, he was back at the side of the bed, kneeling on the floor. “I can take you home if you want,” he said, noting more of those luminous pink petals had formed on the dark sheets, “I just don’t know where you live.”

“Please don’t tell my mom how drunk I got tonight,” she whispered, her voice all cracked and warbled. Tears were already streaming down her cheek as she clung to the pillow beneath her. “She’ll make me move back home if she finds out.”

Hades nearly chuckled, “Your mother? Demeter and I aren’t exactly best buds. I may be a lot of things, but I’m no snitch.” Surprised to find his hands moving on their own, he wiped away her tears in an attempt to stem the flowing tide. “Sweetness, don’t get worked up. Everything will seem one thousand times better in the morning.”

With one last baleful look at him, a gaze reminiscent of her earlier flash of sadness at the party, Persephone closed her eyes. Hades pulled the covers up and over her bare shoulders. At least his reassurance had given her some kind of peace.

After shutting her door behind him, he wandered through the shadowy corridors, his feet finally leading him to the rooftop patio. Hades breathed in the chill of the Underworld’s eternal night. The cold air on his skin, however, did nothing to reduce the memory of Persephone’s delicate touch on his cheeks.

Damn.

She shouldn’t be here.

Sunlight and wildflowers and warmth had no business being in the Land of the Dead, especially when she didn’t have a choice in the matter. Not that she would ever want to come here of her own accord anyway.

Hell, this entire night had been a new level of idiocy for him. Of course, Minthe was tired of his dour bullshit. Of course, Aphrodite would have been in the Olympian suite at the party. Of course, she would spite a less powerful goddess out of petty jealousy. Of course.

Hades gripped the handrail of the balcony as he surveyed his shrouded, dead kingdom, and had what he considered to be his most logical thought of the night:

This is all my fault.

[marvel-lously]

Bittersweet Revenge

Words:4.8K

Genre:fluff with a tiny bit of angst and some good old family drama

A/N: Heyo, I’m finally back! I am so sorry I’ve barely posted any fics lately and I am so grateful for all of you who still stick with me. I got the idea for this story quite a while ago, but I’ve only just had the time to finish it now because being a senior in high school really be like that sometimes. Anyways I’ve got quite a few things in mind for the next part, so let me know if you want me to continue it. Now I know this has been said many times before, but, if you like my story please reblog and comment. It means so much and it really encourages and motivates me to write more.

I love you all and I really hope you enjoy reading this!

»C'mon Y/n, you have to go to this party with me!«  Your best friend begged you.

It was Friday night and you lay sprawled on a two-seat, mindlessly staring at the ceiling while trying to ignore the events of the past week.

»No, no I really don’t actually, in fact, I don’t have to go anywhere, so please, just let me wallow in self pity, while I watch some stupid rom-com and eat a pint of ice cream, AT HOME.« You protested, annoyed with how persistent she was.

»No, Y/n, stop it right now. I won’t let you do that, you know I won’t. They don’t deserve your heartbreak and they certainly don’t deserve your tears, so please, just go with me. I promise you’ll have fun, plus, you never know, you might even meet somebody.« She smirked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively while you simply rolled your eyes at her statement.

»Seriously? You think I’ll go to a place full of sweaty, drunk people to get hit on by a bunch of guys who’ll barely be able to remember their own names, nevermind mine and who will only be flirting with me because it’s convenient, not for actually taking an interest in me?« You snorted in disbelief.

»Wow, you really have taken  it upon yourself to be miserable today, haven’t you?« She sighed, crossing her arms in dissatisfaction.

»Well, I try.« You feigned a smile.

»Okay, how about I promise to make you coffee every morning for the rest of your stay here?« She tried, knowing that you would go as far as to sell your own soul to satan just to get a cup of coffee when you wake up.

Coffee was basically your life fuel and her idea was tempting, but you had a really bad day and an even worse week and a cup of coffee just wasn’t going to cut it this time. You scrunched your nose in contemplation, letting out a doubtful hum.

»Ugh, you’re impossible! Fine, I will let you wear my favourite dress for your cousin’s wedding, if you just please come to this party with me.« She sounded exasperated.

You finally perked up at her suggestion.

»So… I get a cup of coffee every morning for the next three weeks aaand I get to wear your favourite dress?« You asked, now smirking.

»Yes, will you please go now?« She asked, frustration evident in her voice.

»Hmm, let me think…« you pretended to still be considering her offer, although you have already made up your mind »fine, I’ll go to your stupid party.« 

»Yes!« She started jumping joyfully. »Oh and it’s not some stupid party, it’s the best party in London and darling, you’re going back home in three weeks and I’m just worried that you’re not gonna get  the full experience while you’re here.« She smiled cheekily.

»Ha ha Y/b/f/n, really, hilarious. I’m here on praxis remember? If that doesn’t do for the full experience of London life, then I don’t know what does.« You chuckled, some of your bad mood already dissolving, seeing how enthusiastic she seemed about you going.

»Eh, whatever, get dressed, I’ll do your makeup and then we can go.«

You were glad she offered to do your makeup, because other than putting your mascara on, you were completely useless with it.

When you two finally arrived, the entire place was already drowning in the amount of people and you two had to elbow your way to the counter.

»First drink’s on me!« Y/b/f/n shouted to you.

You merely gave her an anxious smile, downing your shot of tequila. After the second shot, you started to feel the effect and you could feel yourself caring less and less about the crowd, and by the fourth one, you actually started enjoying the music.

Y/b/f/n practically dragged you to the dance floor and you two started to jump around like maniacs when the 80’s music begun to play.

»Oh my god, I can’t believe they’re playing the 80’s!« You yelled, excited. You much prefered rock to techno and pop and it seemed that this club was perfect for you.

»I’m getting myself another drink, want anything?« You asked Y/b/f/n, heading back to the counter when she shook her head no.

Sipping on your pina colada, you suddenly felt someone standing behind you and immediately recognized her perfume. »Oh god no!« You thought to yourself.

»Y/n, hi, so good to see you!« Her high pitched voice somehow managed to outdo any other sound in the room.

»Hi Charon, I can’t believe I’m seeing you here.« You offered her one of your famous fake smiles, reserved especially for her, your cousin.

»Oh, yeah, you see Tim and I came here ‘cause he’s looking for a place for his bachelor’s party and he heard a few good words about this place, so here we are.« She giggled as if she’s just been told the most hilarious joke of all time. God you hated her guts.

»I think Tim should be here any moment now, he just went to the man’s room. You know, you guys should totally catch up.« She smiled innocently, as if she didn’t know she was putting daggers in your heart by merely being present.

»Abort, abort, abort!« Your mind was telling you.

»You know, I’m actually here with a friend and, uh, I should probably head back so she doesn’t get too worried.« You already started backing away, hoping to get to Y/B/f/n as soon as possible.

»Oh okay, some other time then.« She shrugged nonchalantly.

You pushed your way through to Y/b/f/n, only to see her dancing with a handsome guy. You decided to at least let her have some fun and opted to get some air instead, sending her a quick text not to worry before leaving the club through the back door.

You sat on the stairs just outside the door, playing with a straw. Why couldn’t you enjoy one single night out without her showing up and ruining your life over and over again. You wanted to cry, to scream and possibly throw something at her, but of course, you didn’t. You’d never let her see how much she really hurt you, you wouldn’t give her the satisfaction.

»Bad day?« A husky voice interrupted your thinking.

»I’ve had better.« You mumbled incoherently, but the man somehow managed to understand, seeing as he chuckled and sat down next to you.

»I’m Tom, by the way.« He introduced himself, offering his hand.

»Y/n.« You replied, wiping your sweaty palm on your thigh and shaking his hand.

»Nice to meet you Y/n.« He smiled kindly. »So what got you in such a bad mood?«

»What, I can’t be in a bad mood just because?« You retorted, raising your brows in question.

»Sure you can, but then you wouldn’t be here. You would probably be at home, eating chips while criticizing some cliche movie that you found on a random chanel and complaining about it to your friends.« He smirked.

»True.« You said after a while, shrugging your shoulders.

»So?« He prompted.

»So… what?« You took a sip of your drink.

»So, what got you into this mood?« Tom rolled his eyes playfully.

»Why should I tell you anything? I don’t even know you.« You asked, sassiness clear in your voice.

»Well you don’t have to tell me anything, however, I think you would definitely feel better if you did.« He smiled.

»What are you, my therapist?« You snorted, almost choking on your drink in the process.

»No, doesn’t mean I’m not still trying to help  and make you feel better.«

You gave him an unsure look before giving in.

»It’s my cousin.« You sighed.

»What about them?« He questioned, a wrinkle forming between his brows, confusion clear on his face.

»She’s marrying my ex.« You explained, your shoulders sinking.

»Oh, oh wow.« He said, taking a swig of his beer, trying to come up with a right response. »How long after you two broke up did they start dating?«

»Oh no, they didn’t bother waiting, my ex cheated, so basically they started going out before Tim and I even broke up, and they’re now getting married, less than five months after he officially broke up with me.« You chuckled bitterly. »And now she just had to be here to ruin my night out with a friend.« You added, taking another sip of your pina colada.

You didn’t even know why you were telling him this. I mean, he did seem like a nice guy, and a bit familiar too, was it possible you’d seen him back in the club already? Maybe it’s all just alcohol.

»Damn! Wow! Just, I don’t even know what to say except that your cousin and your ex are like the shittiest people alive.« He commented, a shocked expression on his face.

»Yeah, tell me about it.« You sighed. »What’s your story?«

»Hmm?«

»Well, you’re not inside partying either so… what’s your story?«

»What are you, my therapist?« He repeated your line from earlier, earning a chuckle from you.

»I don’t know, just, my job I guess.« He shrugged his shoulders, fidgeting.

»What about your job?« You inquired, a curious expression on your face. He seemed to be deeply troubled by this, so it couldn’t have been just a nosy colleague or a  fallout with his superior.

»I have this major opportunity that would really change my career…« He trailed off.

»But?« You prompted.

»But my friend’s been trying really hard for the past year to get this same opportunity and I don’t know how he would react if I took it.«

»Yikes, that sucks mate. Maybe you could talk to him about it?« You suggested.

»And say what? Hey mate, listen I know you’ve been trying to get this job for the past year or so, but you see, they just offered it to me and I’m actually thinking about taking it, no hard feeling tho k?« He pulled on his hair in frustration.

»Yah okay, I see what you mean.« You looked to the ground, not really knowing what to say.

»Damn our lives suck.« He chuckled bitterly.

Before you could reply someone busted the door open, nearly tripping over you two.

»Move!« The man grumbled.

»Dude, you have like at least five feet of the stairs free to walk on on your left, just leave us be.« You hissed back.

»Wow, feisty are we? Don’t talk back too much babe, you don’t want to get hurt now do ya?!« The man slurred, trying to sound threatening, but nearly tripping on his own feet in the process.

»Oh really? And who’s gonna hurt me? You? Oh I’d love to see that.« You pushed his buttons.

»Okay I think that’s enough alcohol for you.« Tom said dragging you away from the man.

»What? No! Tom, let me go! Let me go, right now!« You yelled when he literally had to carry you away from the scene.

Once he thought you were far enough from the ‘charming’ man, he let you back down.

»Why did you do that? He was piss drunk, I could have taken him!« You pouted, crossing your arms.

»Yeah, you’re not in a much better condition love. You would get hurt.« Tom replied, trying to reason with you.

»Would not.« You didn’t back from your statement.

»Sure you wouldn’t.« He rolled his eyes, not really feeling like fighting with you. »Do you need a ride or do you want to go back inside?« He asked, pointing at his car, parked across the street.

You weighed your options for a moment. You really didn’t want to go back inside, not as long as there was a possibility of meeting Tim and Charon again, but you also couldn’t help yourself but think whether Tom was perhaps one of those strangers who act nice at first, but turn out to be murderers in the end. You decided that being murdered was, in fact, still better than meeting the devil’s couple, also, Tom didn’t really give off the 'murderer vibe’.

You took the passenger seat, now smelling Tom’s cologne for the first time. It was a really good cologne and you suddenly felt the need to lean closer, to get more of the intoxicating smell.

»Okay so where do you need me to take you?« Tom asked in a kind voice.

»Narrow Street.« You answered curtly.

Tom started driving and soon the combination of the passing city lights and the slow pace of the ride made you feel drowsy. Without even realizing, you fell asleep.

»Where to exactly?« Tom asked, not yet taking notice of your unconscious state.

»Y/n?« He turned to face you, only to see your head leaned on the car window, your arms falling numbly against your body.

»Y/n?« He gently shook you by the shoulder.

»Five more minutes.« You mumbled incoherently and Tom had to suppress his laughter.

»Y/n, I need to know where exactly to take you.« He tried again.

You slowly started coming to your senses.

»Just around the corner.« You told him. You really didn’t plan on taking him to your exact address, at first, but currently being too tired to care, you decided to just fuck it, if you got killed tonight, at least you didn’t have to go to your cousin’s wedding right?

»Here.« He said, stopping right in front of your entrance.

»Ah shit.« You hissed, rummaging through your handbag. »No, no, no!« You started to feel like crying.

»What is it?« Tom wondered, witnessing your sudden outburst of emotion.

»I forgot to take my key.« You sighed in frustration. »I thought I was going home with Y/B/f/n and I didn’t take my own key.« You explained.

»Well, you can try and call her?« Tom suggested.

You took your phone out, dialing your friend’s number.

»Great. Straight to voicemail.« You sighed, burying your face in your hands.

Tom was silent for a while, then, after a minute or two, he spoke up: »Okay please don’t think I’m a creep because of this, but you could come and sleep over at my place?« He fumbled nervously with the sleeves of his shirt, waiting for your response.

You weren’t going to lie, you were a bit shocked at his offer, but considering your options, there really wasn’t much point in contemplating it.

»Okay.«

»Okay?« Surprise coloured his face.

»If you’re really okay with it too, then yes, I’d like to sleep over at yours.« You offered him a nervous smile.

———————————————————————————————————–

When Tom pulled over at his place, you first thought he was joking. His house was huge, as in, almost villa huge. You only started believing it really was his house, after he unlocked the door.

»Holy shoot!« You exclaimed, seeing the beautifully furnitured inside.

»Are your parents like crazy rich or something, or how exactly are you able to afford this luxury.« You asked bluntly.

»Oh no, I’m actually a bounty hunter.« He said in the most serious tone possible.

You looked at him incredulously.

»I’m joking, obviously, jesus Y/n.« You laughed nervously.

»Hah, good joke.« You said, hoping to relieve the somewhat awkward atmosphere you’ve just created.

»No, it was a horrible joke really. I don’t know why I said that.« He rubbed the back of his neck, his cheeks turning a bright pink.

»Yeah it was.« You smiled, this time sincerely. »Listen, I know you’re already offering me more than I could ever ask for, but if you don’t mind, could I borrow one of your tees? This dress is killing me and I don’t think I’d ever be able to sleep in it.«

»Yeah, no of course, let me just go to my room and get it for you.« He said, hurrying upstairs.

You took a look around. The house was beautiful, so warm and cozy, yet modern and sophisticated. There were photos hung on centre wall of the room and you were just about to go take a look at them when Tom came back, holding a grey T-shirt in his hands.

»There, I picked the most comfortable one I could find, I hope it suits you well.« He handed you the soft material.

He showed you to the bathroom so you could change,offering to get some blankets for you to sleep on the sofa in the meantime.

You took your dress off and unhooked your bra, the lush cotton of Tom’s shirt felt so much better on your skin than the tight fitting artificial leather. You washed your face with cold water, wondering what the hell were you doing in a stranger’s apartment. You seriously wanted to cry. Why didn’t you just insist on staying in, you could be at home right now, drinking hot chocolate in the company of your good old telly. Instead, you were here,standing in the bathroom of a man you did not know, gathering the courage to deal with the shit that’s happened to you. You decided to head back to the living room, you really didn’t want to get any suspicious looks from Tom.

»Wow you look miserable.« Tom outed before he could stop himself, quickly covering his mouth after he realized what he had said. »Sorry.« He added, grimacing.

»No, I happen to agree with you, although I do wonder how you would look after such an event.« You scoffed.

»I’m sorry, you’re right. I didn’t mean it like that. Want me to make you some hot cocoa? And we can watch some lousy TV while drinking it? I can’t sleep after drinking so much alcohol anyways.« He suggested.

»I’d actually like that.« You smiled, following Tom into the kitchen.

———————————————————————————————————–

»No, no, no don’t go in there. Gosh! Do you think people really are that stupid?« You asked Tom, watching how the girl in the horror movie you and Tom decided to watch entered a dark room.

»I would normally say no, but then again I’m sitting next to a girl who decided to blindly trust a stranger, willingly go to his house and drink something he made her-you know I could’ve put poison in there right?« He chuckled.

»Alright, alright.« You hit his shoulder playfully. »Although I don’t think poison is necessary in this case. I should’ve known better than to drink milk on top of alcohol.« You scrunched your nose at the unpleasant feeling in your stomach.

»Hey can I ask you something? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to tho.« He said, looking very nervous and a bit uncomfortable.

»Sure, go ahead.« You replied.

»Are you still in love with your ex?« He uttered, playing with a zipper on his hoodie to avoid your gaze.

You were a bit shocked by his question. Everyone who knew about the situation so far just gave you a pitiful look, changing the subject as quickly as possible. You cleared your throat before answering. »I wouldn’t say I’m still in love with him… I actually think I stopped being really in love with him even before we broke up, I uh, probably sensed something was wrong somewhere deep inside, I was just too afraid to consciously acknowledge it. I am still very hurt by what he did though and by the fact that they both have the guts to invite me to their wedding.« You laughed bitterly.

»They invited you to their wedding?!« He literally almost dropped his jaw in shock.

»Yep, and my mum won’t allow me to ditch it, lecturing me how I’d come off as weak if I don’t go and how I have to show them I’ve moved on.« You sighed.

»Well you could go and ruin her wedding if you really, truly must go, you know?«

»How? By destroying her cake? Don’t you think that’d be a bit pathetic?« You rolled your eyes.

»No, but what you could do is, you could get engaged at her wedding and ruin her big moment.« He suggested.

»And how do you propose I do that, I’m very much single at the moment.« You laughed at his incredibly ridiculous idea.

»You ask a friend of course, you make up a story about how you two met and immediately clicked and fell in love and whatnot, you know how it is in the movies, and at the wedding, instead of making a toast to the newly weds, he asks you to marry him and voila, her big moment is now yours. And what’s great about it is that you don’t have to go through with it, you can keep it up for another few months and then say you decided you worked better as friends instead of lovers and the situation is solved.« He seemed very proud of his master plan.

You couldn’t help but just stare at him incredulously. »Are you serious right now? You’re not serious are you?«

»Why not? It’s a great revenge plan.«

»No, it’s a horrible revenge plan! If my family ever found out about it, they would have me disowned!« You nearly yelled now.

»So, you don’t let them find out! It’s not that difficult!« He contradicted.

»Yes, it is. Especially if your parents already know all your friends! Who would I even ask? You?« You scoffed, laying back on the sofa, defeated.

“Maybe?” He now sounded much less confident. Look Y/n, I was just trying to help, but clearly all I’ve done is make you even more upset, so just forget I said anything okay?« He said, genuinely sorry for making you feel bad.

»It’s fine. I’m sorry, it’s been a rough week and I just don’t feel like dealing with it all yet.« You apologized, covering your face with your hands and sighing in frustration.

»Hey, it’s all good, honestly. Do you wanna watch this movie and bet who gets killed next?« He challenged, wiggling his eyebrows.

»Sure, what’s the prize for the winner?« You asked, intrigued by the idea.

Tom seemed to be deep in thought for a moment before answering. »Okay so I have this huge chocolate bar in the kitchen, so how about whoever makes the best guesses, gets the entire bar-sharing is completely up to the winner.« He suggested, offering his hand for you to shake.

»It’s a deal.« You shook his hand firmly.

You two spend about another hour watching the film, shouting at the TV and yelling frustratingly at the characters’ choices. You won somehow, but for some unknown reason you ended up doing shots instead of eating the promised chocolate bar, each having to do as many shots as wrong guesses, and although your number was considerably smaller than Tom’s, things you remembered happening after that were a bit blurry…

———————————————————————————————————–

You woke up, feeling like you were about to ignite from how hot you were. You wanted to move, but you found yourself unable to do so, seeing as someone’s hand was wrapped around your upper body.

»Holy shit!« Your heartbeat fastened. »Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!«  You thought to yourself. How could you let this happen? Tom lay naked behind your back, wearing nothing but his boxers, and somehow you ended up not wearing any underwear under his T-shirt. Carefully, you lifted Tom’s arms, slowly wiggling your way away from him. Standing up, you finally took a note of the mess you two made last night. Yours and Tom’s clothes were all strewn carelessly on the floor, along with crisps’ wraps, empty, plastic shot glasses and was that a lemon peel? You miraculously managed to find your underpants in this mess quickly putting them on. You made your way to the bathroom, grateful to have correctly remembered where you left your dress. With much wiggling and jumping, you were finally able to put it back on, but your sweaty skin made it fairly difficult to move in it. You folded Tom’s shirt neatly, putting it on the washing machine. You made your way back to the living room, picking up your phone, ready for your walk of shame out of Tom’s house.

You have just closed the door, when you noticed a taxi driving down the street. You ran, still barefoot, down the driveway, hoping that the cab-driver would notice you waving at him. You got lucky, the cab stopped just in front of you and you jumped in, hoping you would never have to deal with the consequences of what happened last night. You opened your phone, ready to call Y/b/f/n to ask her if she’s already in you apartment. You nearly had a heart attack when noticing you had 40 messages and 10 missed calls from her. Shite, you must’ ve left your phone on vibrato, you usually do that because you don’t hear the phone ringing in the club anyways, but you do feel it vibrating in your pocket. Apparently though, you slept through it all. You took a deep breath before calling your friend, preparing yourself to be lectured.

»Where the fuck are you?« Came Y/B/F/N angry voice from the phone.

»Good morning to you too love.« You replied.

»Oh don’t you dare be offended Y/n, you nearly gave me a nervous breakdown, I was just about to call the police, hadn’t you called me right now. Do you have any, ANY idea how worried I was? The last message I got from you was that you went outside and then nothing, for 12 hours nothing!« She continued yelling.

Twelve hours? Shit was it really 11 am already?

»Y/b/f/n I am sorry, I really am. I ran into Charon last night and you know I can’t stomach her, so I went outside and then I met this guy, and he was about to take me back to our place, but I forgot my key because I thought I was going back home with you, and I nearly lost it at that point, but fortunately, he offered me to stay at his place, so I did and…« You were about to continue when she interrupted you.

»I’m sorry you went home with a stranger?« She asked, surprise colouring her voice. »Is this really Y/n on the phone?«

»Ha ha. Yes, I went home with him, what was I supposed to do? Sleep on the street?«

»No, it’s just… very uncharacteristic of you.« Her voice sounded calmer now. »Okay you have to tell me everything! The devil’s in the details love.«

»Oh so now that I’ve got a story you suddenly aren’t angry with me anymore?« You joked.

»No, no, I’m still mad at you, you’re just lucky I’m one of the most curious people you will ever meet in your life and my thirst for a good story overpowers my anger.« She chuckled.

»Fine, I’ll tell you everything once I get home. You are at home right?« You asked, desperate to get back to your apartment, to shower and put on something comfortable.

»Yes I am home, wait, why can’t you just tell me now?« She asked, a hint of amusement in her voice.

»Because I’m in a cab and it’s an embarrassing story to tell.« You tried to explain.

»Embarrassing how?« She snickered, then after a while the realizaton seemed to hit her. »Oh my gosh, Y/n?! Did you sleep with the guy?« She asked, gasping.

»I’ll tell you, at. home.« You were a bit agitated now.

»You did! You nasty!« She laughed loudly into the phone.

»Okay, goodbye now.« You hung up, letting out a groan. She wasn’t ever going to let this go.

———————————————————————————————————–

»You bitch!« She greeted you at the door, punching your shoulder.

»Ow!« You cried out before being pulled into a bone crushing hug.

»Don’t ever scare me like that again!« She said, her voice carrying a slight tremble.

»I won’t, I promise! I am so sorry.« You said, tightening your embrace.

»Y/n? Can I tell you something?«

»Hmm?«

»Please don’t be mad, but you smell like you just spent three hours at the gym and it is not a pleasant smell.« She laughed, slowly letting go of you.

»Ugh, I know, and this dress isn’t really helping the situation either.« You laughed, relieved to be back at your place.

»Okay so how about you go take a shower, while I make us some coffee?« She proposed, already pushing you towards the bathroom.

»Yes please!«

———————————————————————————————————–

»Fuck!« She outed, mouth hanging open.

»Yep.« You took a sip of your coffee, shifting uncomfortably in your chair.

»What the fuck?« She repeated, still in shock. »Okay so let me rewind that. You left with a guy you knew absolutely nothing about, except his name, and you willingly went to his house and spent a night there, got wasted with him and even slept with him?«

»No, I said I might have slept with him, I can’t really remember, all the tequila hasn’t really been good on my memory, on that note-remind me never to drink a single sip of it again…«

»I’m sorry, I thought you were joking earlier, but no, you really did the dirty with that guy.«

»Okay it’s not like I’m the first to do it with a stranger from a club,since when did you get so judgemental?!« You were a bit offended by her reaction.

»No, no I am not at all judging you, I am just really shocked because I’ve known you for years and it’s so not like you to do something like that.« She tried to reassure you.

»You promise you’re not judging me?« You asked, unsure.

»Of course not!« She leaned across the table to hug you. »How about we just spend a day in today, just the two of us? We can do face masks and catch up on Friends?«

»I’d love that.« You said, already getting up from your chair.

You had just turned the TV on, when there was a commercial for a new film called Chaos Walking.

»Holy… Y/b/f/n!« You yelled. She was still washing the cups.

»Hmm?« Her head peaked from the kitchen.

»That, that is the guy I was with last night.« You stuttered.

»She looked at the screen then at you, a laugh escaping her lips. »Yeah right, Y/n you can stop pulling my leg now.« She snorted.

»Y/b/f/n, I am not! Seriously, this is the guy I spent last night with.« You swallowed anxiously.

She stared at you, gawking.

»You slept with Tom Holland?!«

You looked at her, still in disbelief yourself. »I slept with Tom Holland?«

Tags (because I need validation): @starksparker @zophora @screamholland @peachyhollands @stardust-revengers @buckybcrnes @mandatheredpanda @parkeret @spokenforunicornism @purespidey @spidergirlwanab @ryleighisapanda @beautifullydisconnected @slut-for-fandoms @anxieteandbiscuits

[mybodyfails]

hi hi hiii. finally back home from berlin, caught a few zzz’s, still sleep deprived, but i’d do it again in a heartbeat!

i‘m gonna ~try to do bullet points here, but you know me... probably not gonna happen. sorry, you have to deal with my longwinded ramblings now, i‘m posting this mostly to remember it all for myself.

let me preface this with a quick disclaimer, these kind of events are usually not really for me, too awkward, too cringy, i’m shy as fuck and socially incompetent in general... but druck has had such an impact on my life, it was a no-brainer for me to go.

biggest shoutout to @lapalooz (with no access to her real tumblr, get on that!) for making the waiting time not only bearable but enjoyable with her engaging presence! aaand i’m pretty sure i wouldn‘t have made it to the meet&greet (aka hi&cry) if i didn‘t have the amazing @matteounterdruck by my side. thank you tina, so much!!! you really kept my spirits high and taught me how to release nervous energy through dancing! lmao ❤️❤️❤️

okay. let’s start at the beginning. the exhibition of and appreciation for all the fanart was one of my favourite things when we walked into that location. druck really said this show is as much about YOU as it is about US and just how lovely is that???

the q&a wasn‘t as bad as it could‘ve been... i just wish it would have been a bit longer though! they seemingly were prepared for the ‚why did amira‘s season end after 7 eps‘ question, but tua being honest and saying fuck yes, i wanted 10 eps for her too... iconic.

surprise surprise, the two people i truly didn‘t expect to be there were milena and michi. and then they were! and they were whispering to each other a lot <3 and michi was the most adorable awkward person to ever exist. you can tell he really is such a shy and private person, and i think seeing that spelled out right in front of us like this made it all the more special that he showed up at all! the things he ~did say were really witty and charming though, so there‘s that. 💕

the bloopers were so good, it was moving to see how much fun they had on set and that their friendships aren’t contrived in the slightest! all i kept thinking was “i can‘t wait to reblog the gifs of that to my tumblr“ haha. SO WHERE‘S THE VIDEO @DRUCK?!

for someone who went in there expecting to have a complete breakdown i was actually okay...ish when we watched the ep (i was so relieved to finally see amira again!) and david‘s film... until the cast went up on stage during anselm‘s second song and mile was stood there, tears streaming down her face, leaning on lukas for comfort. oi, that broke me. :(

quick shoutout to the person behind me who was crying in the club as they say, no, actually it was full on SOBBING. in my mind i just kept going ~SAME~. and, you know, anselm‘s songs didn‘t help the cause either... what a mess.

now on to the meet&greet. if you’re not interested in the people behind druck, or you think meeting them in person is weird or whatever - then this part is not for you and you’ll want to x out of here right now, please spare me the comments, i‘ve already had enough negativity in this fandom for years to come, whew.

i‘ll put this under a cut, just to be extra sure.

you know, i‘ve grown so attached to these characters over the last 1.5 years and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to say thanks to the actresses/actors who made them come to life. for real though, i think really looking them in the eyes and saying THANK YOU was the best thing about the whole experience for me.

this‘ll be chaotic, i’m just gonna list everything i remember off the top of my head, please bear with me.

first of all: best. cast. ever! every single one of them was lovely in their own way... some of them are really high energy people (keep in mind we went in reallllly late, they had been doing this for hours at that point!)... think anselm, tua and mile. they just carried everyone else with their energy!

anselm was as warm and welcoming as i expected, yet it still surprised me how confidently he handled the whole situation (unlike me rip)... i literally blurted out “you‘re such a good host!“ to him and he sounded really flattered when thanking me. he just has the best vibes <3

naomi... oh my god. i was really shocked to even see her at all which was only right before it was our turn with her group. she made a little sarcastic remark about how she “can‘t wait to be tagged in alllll the pictures“ lmao. just leave it up to her to make me fall in love in real life too. :(

i don‘t know if they did it in all of their pictures, but her and hassan were hugging it out in the background of ours like the laura/mohammed crackship that they are. loved that! lmao

speaking of hassan though, i only had the BRIEFEST interaction with him bc how does one cope with all that beauty up close?! one doesn‘t, that‘s how. damn.

i lovelovelove that they kept the five girls together for the photo op, now the pictures ended up looking like we‘re part of their squad!

tua was the life of the party, she made the whole room dance and sing along when ‘geiles leben’ came on (that was when most people had left already bc we went in so late)... it was such a special moment!!! she was also really confused whether to speak german or english to us, bilingual queen!

lea gives the BEST hugs that was so unexpected for such a tiny person, she REALLY goes in wow.

jobel... all i remember is that my face was literally buried in her hair while we were hugging and she smelled amazing!

and lilly omg... lilly! my favourite bean, so easy to talk to, the best aura! she was kinda stretching her legs out when we got to her (l m a o) and kept thanking us for waiting so long (which... a few of them said that... and i always replied with a hä?! thank YOU for doing this for so long!) and rolled her eyes just at the thought of the aftershow party they had planned and told us she‘ll only drink water though! lmao

mile as i mentioned earlier was being so motivational, yelling “we‘re gonna do it! we‘re gonna get through all of you!“ in between again and again, probably more for herself than any of us haha. we did end up talking about food with her, which... you know. foodies amongst each other. ;)

found a whole new appreciation for louis... who poured so much of himself into carlos oh my god. chill. quick witted. hilarious!

so now i left lukas for last. as i briefly mentioned before, i didn’t go up to him after romeo&juliet, but this time i did (there really was no other option when you were there, that would‘ve been rude lol) and i wasn’t let down. at all. he was one of the few people who actually properly introduced himself and that is SO nice, one of the things i’ve always loved about people who are in that kinda position, you know? he is just the sweetest sweetheart, we all know it, he’s proven it over and over. he ran across the room bc some fans forgot their photos at their table, that’s how considerate he is. while we were waiting for our pics to be printed, he came over and hugged us AGAIN and made it a point to say goodbye. MY HEART. 💕

oh, also... we noticed that the mile/flo/louis/lukas group was the most organised with the whole picture situation... they had a ~system going y‘all. lmao

okay. i think this might be it for now. OOF. if anyone actually read all that... you deserve a cookie. i know i promised coherent thoughts, but this is. what you’re gonna get. oops?

if i remember other bits and pieces i‘ll put them in my tags or whatever.

i‘m gonna see myself out now.

[chim-chimmie]

Dancing with the Devil

CHAPTER 7: THE BONNIE & CLYDE CONCEPT

✧ pairing: jungkook x reader ft. taehyung

✧ genre: angst

✧ words: 7.5k

✧ description: being locked up with taehyung wasn’t half as bad, but being locked up with jungkook was pure hell.

✧ warnings: violence, weapons/guns, hostage !!!

prologue | one | two | three | four | five | six | seven

“Well, it’s half as bad,” Taehyung exclaimed after nothing but silence filled the thick air, and the quiet snicker in his low tone was making you decide whether he was being serious or not.

You exhaled and once again inhaled deeply as if it took you all the strength in the world to start talking, but you weren’t even sure how to react. “Are you serious?” was the only thing you brought out in a tired voice.

Pulling your hands once again, you realized it was pointless now and there was no chance for your skin to be freed from the tight rope cutting in your wrists. And honestly, the more the both of you tried, the more the tie dug into your stomachs as well. You sighed, giving up officially as you leaned back your head against Taehyung’s. The sweat lingered between your backs, overflowing your bodies with it, making you two stick together like glue.

“Actually, no,” Taehyung answered in a deep breath.

You closed your eyes to at least blend out the small room you were in – grey, dusty, dirty and more over without any windows. You had always wondered how it must feel to be locked in such a room – you watched way too many crime shows – but now that you were one of them, you wanted nothing else but to escape. Why did you always have to be so god-damn curious? “Are we going to die?”

The man behind you now laughed out loud and almost rolled over, pulling harshly at the rope in your skin.

“Ouch, stop doing that!”

He immediately brought himself back up, calmed himself to at least a shy giggling and responded, “I’m sorry.” “Well? Are you laughing because you don’t want to face the truth of us dying inside of here?” you cocked up an eyebrow in annoyance now, even though he couldn’t see you, and underlined your question with arrogance.

Taehyung firmly answered, “No, I laugh because you do not know Jungkook very well as I do. He’ll get us out of here in a minute.” “I’m going to count then,” you divulged.

“Okay, I didn’t mean it literally. But do you know how often I was stuck in places like this? I’m not even afraid anymore.”

You snorted in high disbelief, this shouldn’t be something to be considered normal, was it? “Fucking hell, great for you. But I’m clearly not used to it.”

“Well,” he started and you could hear the exhaust in his voice, “when I started, I was all lonely and could help myself out of trouble somehow. But since I’m in Agma, I knew from the beginning I can trust Jungkook with everything I have.”

First, you frowned your eyebrows as his respond had no correlation with what you said. Of course, he had to make this about him and talk about his oh-so-brutal experiences. But as you started processing his answers, you knew this was your chance to bomb him with questions and more questions, because again, your curiosity needed to know everything. “Wait, what do you mean with when you started? Started what? And how long have you been with Jungkook? And how did you even get there? Was he like hiring people for stuff like that? I don’t get it.” “Woah there, that’s too many questions at once,” Taehyung chuckled and you were left breathless as you again asked way too much – things, to which you probably would never get any concrete answers like you wanted to. That’s what you got from being you.

So, you just wanted to let it be – just sit there and wait for the almighty Jungkook to get you out of here. You couldn’t lie, you were scared for life and that’s not exactly what you imagined yourself to get into. But slowly, your brained started processing what all of this meant, what it meant to be with that man, what Jungkook had been trying to tell you all the time. But it was too late now, the rush of excitement in your blood got it out of you as you were trying to avoid him but simply failed. You started understanding this way of living step by step, tapping in small puddles of water – but as you didn’t watch your steps accordingly, you fell into this deep and dark sea. And now? You needed to learn how to swim properly to keep your head out of the water.

Taehyung made notice of your silence way too quickly, so he added, “Look. I’m not someone to lie and say things you want to hear or soothes your heart. It’s not all flowers and sunshine, and I keep it realistic when it comes to serious things. So, if you seriously want to ask me about us, you better prepare yourself for some harsh truth.” You swallowed a big lump down your throat as it has been itching since day one you met Jungkook. Taehyung’s words weren’t harsh or rude, but they sure made your stomach tighten in a weird way. This was your chance to finally make the drought in your mouth stop, so you went for it. “I see… I appreciate that, really. I love honesty.” “Hah, that’s great,” the man cackled in a degrading way, “So?”

You let the disgusting air wash your lungs one more time and straight forward asked, “What exactly is your job?”

“External or internal?”

You frowned, “Is there a difference?”

“Well, would you kill a guest in the casino in front of everyone else’s eyes?”

Silence. The only thing you could hear was your breaths along your heart pounding, and pounding, and pounding… Second by second passed by slowly as ever, his question echoing through your brain. He did… what?

“Exactly, you wouldn’t. It does make a difference. For the face of the casino Agma, I am simply the controller. You know, things like taking care of events, organizing stuff, keeping the whole business going and keep all processes under control. For example, I also clear up fights between guests,” he told you like an open book and in that moment you were scared of the continuation of his answer.

But your ears perked up, all of your tiredness suddenly gone even though you could literally feel the long bags under your eyes. Your chest burning from the rush in your blood, your heart bouncing loudly still. “And… internal?”

“Hmm, a similar role. But there is a completely other business going on behind the scenes. Not always legal ones,” he paused then cackled, “Well, barely legal ones. And there are way more things going wrong, so I have to take care of that.” “Which includes killing?” you gulped, and you have never been more anxious about an answer.

Taehyung snickered at your innocent question. “Exactly, but only if I really have to. I don’t like doing it, honestly. Imagine, that person owes you five million dollars and we kill him. Five million gone, right?”

“Mhmm,” you murmured with widened eyes and nodded, trying to understand what he was talking about. “And what exactly is the business you do behind the scenes?”

“Ah, Y/N, you’re asking questions…” the man sighed in frustration and you were sure he was forbid to talk about that to any third-parties. What else would you have expected.

You shook your head, “No, I’m sorry. I’m just very curious, you don’t have to answer of course.”

“I mean, Chocolate is really attached to you, so I’m sure he’d tell you sooner or later anyways and-“

You had to interrupt him now, “Ch-chocolate?”

Taehyung laughed out shyly, “Oh yeah, that’s how we call Jungkook most of the times. Especially undercover.” “Why?” your mouth somehow formed a smile.

“Ah, we used to call him Kookie at first and we all know he loves cookies. And his favorite are the chocolate ones, plus he eats a lot of chocolate anyways. I don’t know, I think Jin called him that one day and since then, we all do it.” You didn’t know why exactly, but his answer made your heart warmer with every beat of it and every thought of Jungkook. You imagined how he’d react when you’d call him his favorite taste in the softest way you could. To be honest, it even fit him – chocolate, like his dark brown hair, his beautiful brownie eyes and his skin. Oh god, his warm and soft skin glowing in the perfect melanin, and sweet, sweet as chocolate. Chocolate, you grinned harder than before and made sure to engrave it in your head to use the nickname – hopefully – sometime soon.

“Anyways, what I wanted to say: I haven’t seen him like that in such a long time. He’s in a great dilemma because of you.”

Your lovely day-dreaming drained down in a second, and confused you asked, “Dilemma? Why that?”

“I mean,” Taehyung started but hesitated with a long pause, probably thinking about an answer, where he wouldn’t say too much. But he realized, there was no point in that. “He really likes you.” “And?” You couldn’t deny those words, those little four words, shot straight to your heart, having the biggest impact on it as it spread sparkles through your whole body. But you really weren’t satisfied with a little sentence as an answer.

“I can’t really remember the last time he talked about a woman non-stop. Mmh, maybe two years ago? Three? Something around that… Anyways, he really likes you but exactly that is the reason he doesn’t want you to be hurt. Aaand that is most likely going to happen, or has happened already. I mean, look where you are now. Women usually leave him after they realize what he does, or simply take him granted for his money. He didn’t know anything else than people constantly running away from him. He’s in the biggest confusion ever with you. Jungkook doesn’t want to lose you, but his actions are going to push you away sooner or later…”

Meanwhile, a tear rolled down your cheek, followed by another one. Your vision blurred out a little as you listened to Taehyung. You knew he must say the truth as he had known Jungkook for years for him to even say something like this. And it hurt, it really hurt, that’s why it must be honest. You didn’t cry because you got yourself in this position, but you cried because you could see yourself in him. People running away from you, people taking you for granted, you pushing people away, getting hurt all the time, not knowing what true love is… All the same. You always thought if you let yourself on a ride with any man ever again, it would happen all over again. That’s what you thought with Jungkook too, and that’s why you didn’t want to get to know him in the first place. But now you only realized, he was in the same position as you. The little game in the beginning, the push and pull, the seduction but the rejection. What started off as something meaningless and seemed small, turned into something huge so quickly, without realizing. Neither of you knew and that was it. For someone outstanding to watch this, of course, quickly processed what it was. So, Taehyung told you what he had to – he also only wanted the best for his friend.

“Are you crying, Y/N?” he now asked, turning his head but it wasn’t enough for him to see your reddened eyes.

You dried your skin on your shoulder, probably smearing all of your make-up and then answered, “S-sorry. I just fell in thoughts.”

“I told you about me being brutal honest, so don’t cry now,” Taehyung said and his soothing voice made his words sound less harsh than they actually were.

You now fought a little laugh, “I know, I know. It’s good to hear the truth, but I just realized he’s the same as me. And I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or not. I was used to get hurt, my partner was used to hurt without having any bad feelings. But I’m not sure what will come out if both people in a relationship are being used to get hurt.”

“Do you like him, Y/N?” Taehyung asked, lingering his fingers between yours, trying to hold them.

By your surprise, you felt relieved in that moment, to know you weren’t alone at all. You were sure he was a good person, even though he killed people, and so was Jungkook and the rest of his men. “I do, Taehyung, I do. But I am scared.”

He now squeezed your fingers, whispering, “Call me Tae. And see, you have mutual feelings. It’s all good.”

“But what if it doesn’t turn out good in the future?” you asked, fingers shaking and he stopped them.

“You’ll never know if you never try. Yeah, it’s a cliché saying, but it’s true. If you throw it away, you’ll always wonder what would’ve happened if…”

You exhaled the heavy air from your lungs and firmly nodded, “You’re right. But right now, I just wonder if Jungkook is fine.”

“What exactly happened there anyways?”

After explaining what exactly went wrong with the plan and how you were frozen watching Jungkook getting beaten up by his fiend. When you finished, the tight and warm grip around your fingers disappeared and you heard Taehyung swallow hard, his breath shaking. It wasn’t exactly the reaction you expected, but now you were even more worried than before. “Is everything okay, Tae?”

“Y-yeah, we’ll get out of here, d-don’t worry,” the man babbled, but when you felt his shivers running through you as well, you couldn’t really believe him.

You pushed your elbow softly into his body, whatever part it was, and starkly asked again, “Are you sure? You don’t sound very confident in your answer.”

Now he let out the loudest and most grunty sigh you had ever heard, and in a lower octave, he kept his answer the same, “I am sure. He’s probably locked up as well right now, but I think Jeehyung only got me, you and him. The rest had escaped, so they’ll come for us.”

You let your head sink low now, because you were tired at this point and didn’t have any other choice but to trust in his words. Only then, she crossed your thoughts and you had to take a deep breath. “That’s great, when you’re missing, and you know they’ll come and get you,” you flashed yourself a smile, a bright fake and tiring one.

“Huh, what? Something happened?” Taehyung now shot his back up, probably heard the sadness in your voice.

You pulled your knees up to you and leaned your forehead against it, every inch of your lower body hurting and pinching for whatever reason and you suddenly felt cold. There was that feeling in your throat again, where it all felt stuffed and narrow.

“Y/N?”

You opened your eyes only to look down at your dress, not so bright and shiny as it had been few hours ago – only darker and dustier. The cotton caught drops of your tears and as it was material of high quality, they dried very quickly. Everything seemed half as bad when you watched that, then you spoke up, “My best friend Hana. We live together and ever since she found out Jungkook is a criminal, she wanted me to stop seeing him, which I tried at first. But I couldn’t hesitate to help him when Yoongi came by and now I haven’t seen her ever since. I bet she doesn’t even care anymore. She’s probably so filled up with me.”

“Oh…” Taehyung whispered at your unexpected rant, then grabbed your hand again – warmth rushed through you and you felt so safe. “Haven’t you guys like texted or something? Didn’t you call each other?”

“Well, I tried reaching her multiple times with Jungkook’s phone but she didn’t pick up. She’s probably having the time of her life now without me always being a burden to her,” you wailed quietly.

Taehyung exhaled loudly, then stated as he was about to go off like the biggest drama ever happened, “Okay, that Hana is a bitch.”

You cackled a little at his answer and he immediately continued, “Listen, Y/N. We always think we are a burden to someone. But we definitely are not. Hana simply couldn’t handle you or Jungkook, she was too weak for something serious like that. I’m sure she’s someone who likes simple things without any big complications. And she needs to know life isn’t as easy and smooth as she thinks. Stupid things will happen, heart-wrecking stuff will occur, and if she is not there to handle it with you together, then let her be. Everybody needs at least one person, who will go through thickest and heaviest walls with you, and in that case, it clearly is not Hana.”

Your lips parted at this whole life advice Taehyung just gave you, but when you came to think of it, his words did make sense, they were true. “Wow, I mean… You’re totally right. But I always considered her as my best friend – since pre-school to be exact. If it’s not her, who then?”

“That is a question I cannot answer you. It’s your duty to go out, walk around, go on adventures and find out who will stick by your side. Maybe it’s me, maybe it’s Jungkook, maybe it’s even Jeehyung. Maybe it’s the son of our president. Maybe it’s a dog. But you have to step out to find out.”

You let his wise words wash through you and thought about it. It was a similar feeling Jungkook had been providing you all the time – the stepping out of the comfort zone, walking barefoot, exploring new things. You felt comfortable with not only Jungkook, but now with Taehyung too – well, of course not in the same intimate way. But you were so sure Agma was so much more behind the casino than only the illegal business. It was friendship, it was family, and you were finally starting to feel and recognize it. If Hana thought you’d get back home anytime soon, you could bet on everything you wouldn’t. Not before you found out about this world outside.

Your mouth widened in a grin, “Thank you, Tae. You’re so right.”

“Of course I am,” Taehyung laughed out only to break the tense and depressing air. “By the way, Jungkook is by far the least criminal out of us all.”

Before you could come to words, you only caught breath and then the heavy door got torn open and smacked the wall loudly, making you and Taehyung both jump up like scared cats. You looked to the side, seeing the grand outline of Jeehyung standing in the door frame and his loud cackling penetrated your ears. “Jungkook the least criminal? Shit, Taetae, you must be day-dreaming.”

“Shut the fuck up, you don’t even know him,” the man behind you hissed and pulled his body aggressively to the front, causing you to cough as the rope dug into your skin even deeper.

Jeehyung’s heavy steps tapped on the concrete floor and only turned louder and more unbearable the closer they got to you. He stopped right in front of you, but you didn’t dare one bit to look up to him, so you simply broke the gaze down to your knees while you watched them tremble as if they had a hurricane on their own inside them.

“We both know very well that I have known Kookie since we were children, Taetae, isn’t it?” his tone sunk the lowest it could, giving you goosebumps.

You literally felt his body hovering over Taehyung’s, and you thought the only thing you could hear right now was your heart whipping in angst. But you were very mistaken in fact, when you heard a sharp clang of a knife struck echo through the small room, piercing into your ears as if he had just directly cut into your ear-drums. You gasped, way too loud to your unfortunate, but Taehyung just snickered behind you. While you were heavily scared for life, the man was literally mocking this whole situation. What the hell was wrong with him?

Jeehyung’s breath now neared your shoulder and you trembled in your very own place, unable to move any inch or react at all. You were stuck under him, feared of this dark and large feature above you and when you felt his resting on your shoulder, your dry throat let out a small but very scratchy and significant cry. Taehyung grabbed your hands again and you held onto them as if it meant to hold for your dear life, but it didn’t help at all.

“Y/N, Y/N… Look at me, gorgeous,” he demanded in a very calm and generous tone to your surprise. “Breathe, breathe. I won’t kill you if you think that’s it. You just need to look me in the eyes now, will you?”

Your eyelashes twitched quickly to regain at least a little clear sight from all your tears before you collected all of your courage to lift your head and turn to his side. When you finally did, your irises shook from side to side, not knowing whether to look into his deadly eyes or any other part of his face that seemed less intimidating. He was unbelievably close, his warm breath brushing over your nose and cheeks, and the handsome face you had seen on Tinder suddenly disappeared. Not that he turned ugly, but somehow all of his beauty faded away in this very second. The bags under his eyes were dark and heavy, his face frowned and he seemed very angry in fact. Strands of his hair fell into his eyes, but he didn’t bother at all and the more you observed, the more you felt like you were staring into pure emptiness. Yes, that was it – he looked so empty and soulless. Heartless. Antipathy washed through you and you’d rather spit into his faced right now more than anything.

After a while of silencing and icing, Jeehyung’s lips moved to a small smirk, then he asked in the same soothing voice as before, “Do you want to see Kookie?”

“Yes!” you screamed from the bottom of your lungs and it took all your breath away at once. How could you even think of hesitating to answer this question. You didn’t even know in what condition he was, if he was okay, if he was hurt. You needed to see him yourself.

The man chuckled at your quick response and brought his long dirty fingers up to your face – to which you immediately flinched – pushing your hair behind your ears. The last thing you wanted was to be touched by him. “Then come with me,” he inquired with a grin, but there was so much evilness hidden behind it, you were so sure.

The next second, the knife swooshed through the air and stood still only inches away from your nose, right between you and him. You watched the metal now twist and turn in between his fingers, showing off tricks or whatever with it and your eyes couldn’t keep up with it. What was he up to now? The sharp object stood still again, Jeehyung’s hands didn’t even shake one bit, while you were drowning in a wild tsunami internally. What a contrast.

“Cool, right?” he asked, his eyes wandering along the length of the tool as if he was in love with it. Well, he probably was.

Were you supposed to seriously answer his question now? But before you could think rationally, you nodded fast, in hope he would simply accept your sincerity instead of cutting you or something. God, why was he holding you on the line for so long – all you wanted was to see Jungkook!

And before you could realize, he already lifted his knife and you could only follow the weak shimmer that was left as a trace in the air – then the rope between your and Taehyung’s body got cut off. Air filled your lungs and your stomach heaved up and down in final freedom. You thought Taehyung might jump up and attack Jeehyung now that he wasn’t tied to you anymore, but he stayed still. Although you were surprised at first, you knew there wasn’t much he could do with his hands still tied behind his back, so he stayed calm and of course trusted in Jungkook. But how was he supposed to get you two out of here when he was probably locked here too?

“C’mon,” Jeehyung said and in contrast to his soft voice, he gripped your arm harshly and pulled you up. Only now you realized how much your feet actually hurt and when you looked down, you still found your high heels on them. As the tall man was dragging you out of the room, you looked back to Taehyung, who mouthed ‘Be careful’ and you nodded firmly, kicking your painful shoes off your sore feet.

You stumbled behind Jeehyung, the callous and icy floor crawled in the skin of your bare feet and you were sure it wouldn’t take much longer until your muscles gave up. Only few seconds passed by until you reached another heavy door at the end of the dark and narrow hallway. You supposed this was a cellar or something – well, it certainly was your rock bottom now.

Without any words, the door creaked open and without any respect, you got pushed inside. Jeehyung followed with closing the door behind and realized this room was even smaller when he switched the light on. But what you noticed next, was the figure leaning against the wall – hands up high as they were tied with chains hanging from the ceiling. Your jaw dropped low and your eyes widened at the picture of him being in this position. But moreover, it felt like someone would nonchalantly punch into your chest.

“Y/N!” Jungkook fought to say as soon as he looked up at you.

Your lips trembled when you neared him, observing how his thighs trembled and his breath uneven. The snow-white suit jacket he had worn last night – last night? or was it only a few hours ago? – was thrown to the ground. His purple shirt was torn open to expose his stomach and chest, and only then you saw the stains all over it, as lilac as the cotton hanging from his torso was. You could only imagine what he must’ve gone through by swallowing Jeehyung’s punches and you wondered if there had been more by the time he was locked up in here. “Jungkook…”

“Sorry, your man had to take some more punches,” Jeehyung whispered as he grabbed your arm to pull you backwards to him. “I hope you don’t mind, it’s what he deserves.”

Jungkook observed how Jeehyung untied the rope from your wrists and oh, did he look mad. His eyes were glaring with so much hatred, but when his eyes fell into yours again, they softened. They were sad, filled with so much regret and apology, then he spoke, “Y/N, I’m so sorry. I know you can never forgive me this.”

You gave him a light head-shake as an answer because nobody was at fault, really.

“God, you two make me want to throw up,” Jeehyung exclaimed, and pulled at your wrists even more aggressively now. Only now you realized your hands were freed, but not too long as you felt getting heavier stuff attached around your wrists. When you looked back, you saw that he was binding chains instead.

“Then puke,” you spat out, and now you were feeling much more hate than anxiety. In this room together with Jungkook, you suddenly felt energy rush in you, and you felt stronger than seconds ago. So, you were about to fight back, no matter if it only meant verbally.

Jeehyung mumbled in a smirk, “Hah, kinky.” Then dragged you a few inches further until you stood right in front of Jungkook, where only a hand could fit in between your bodies. You got lost into each other’s eyes, you blended out what the asshole was blurting about and more than that, you weren’t realizing what he was doing to you. You just let everything around you happen, while a tear flowed down your cheek – delighted and wretched you got to see Jungkook again. Delighted, because you were in his presence, alive. Wretched, because this horrible room, where you both were restrained, was the current setting.

“What the fuck are you doing! Let her go, Jeehyung!” Jungkook suddenly shouted as only now he awakened from the same trance as you and saw you as his mirror-picture – hands up high, chained, hanging from the ceiling. When reality hit you, you started shaking your arms, in hope you’d somehow slip out of the chains. But as Jeehyung only laughed at you in mockery, you comprehended you were done for good.

“Now, stay still,” Jeehyung demanded in a harsh attitude, “neither of you want to get killed, I suppose.”

He walked right to the side of the both of you and watched you, his grin sickening and evil. One knew how to possibly shut someone up with threatening and you had to give him that point. You didn’t want to die yet and neither did Jungkook – but if you compared yourself to him, you were more likely to be ice, frozen and unable to even move one inch. But he was the fire itself, his animosity burning inside of him and you wondered which point was needed to be reached until he’d flip tables.

“So, thank you for coming to this little party, my friends,” Jeehyung began and looked into this very small round before he continued his monologue, “I see you found your little Bonnie, Jungkook.”

“What fucking Bonnie are you talking about?” Jungkook hissed at the other man, gaining no reaction whatsoever.

“Don’t you know Bonnie and Clyde? That couple, which goes through crimes together and loves each other unconditionally. I mean, she isn’t the first one in this position here, right?” Jeehyung stated calmly, exchanging looks between the both of you in a friendly tone, as if he was waiting for a serious answer.

Anger slowly started building up in your gut and you couldn’t listen to his voice anymore, so you just fired back, “So what? I’m his Bonnie now, and? Why would that be your business?”

“It is my business indeed, because sooner or later he’s gonna get bored of you and will sell you to me,” he tilted his head in pure joy and you only opened your mouth in disbelief as you looked over to Jungkook again.

He firmly shook his head and defended himself, “I never sold any woman, Jeehyung, why are you saying this crap?”

Now Jeehyung started cackling out loud and seemed to have the time of his life, then added, “God, why do you take everything so serious? This is a little party, we should be joking around, hm?”

You breathed out exhaustingly and rolled back your eyes in tiredness, not knowing how much longer you could bear all of this. Not only were you chained up, but the man you desired as well – on top of that, Jeehyung was humiliating the both of you. Just when you let your head sink low to show no feelings anymore whatsoever, Jeehyung’s phone rang. Your head snapped back up and the man quickly checked it, stating, “I’ll be right back. Until then, you two try to fuck each other or something.” With that being said, he stormed out of the small room and seemed to have walked all the way down the hallway to pick up his phone. Pure relief extended under your skin when you now could finally bore your eyes into Jungkook’s again, without having to fear anyone else’s attendance.

“Jungkook…” you whispered, one edge of your lips lifting in a painful smile.

Instead of words, he simply leaned in to crash his lips on yours, filling you with relish and the comfort you just needed. You kissed him back, even harder but passionate enough for you to be left breathless.

When you broke the kiss, neither of you pulled away, you just stayed like that, forehead against forehead, feeling each other’s cold sweat and burning hot skin. “Say nothing and don’t be scared. Yoongi and Xio are on their way,” he murmured, softly rubbing his nose against yours to show his affection and care.

You asked back insecurely, “How are you so sure?”

“I just know it. They never leave me hanging…”

You fought another smile and so did he, and Lord, did it feel good and safe just to even be with him despite the horrible setting. You were simply glad he was alright and here with you.

“And I know you will never forgive me this, so I’m not sure how to even start apologizing. You don’t deserve any of this, this isn’t your world,” Jungkook stuttered in fear, but you wished nothing else but to hold him in your arms and give him warmth and strength.

You sighed, “I mean, this isn’t exactly what I expected when I let myself into you. But you made me fall in love again, so you can bet I won’t let go of that anytime soon.”

His head popped up with widened eyes. “You f-fell in love?”

“I-“ you swallowed hard, overthinking your next response very well as you didn’t want to say anything wrong. But where was the point in lying now? “I think so… I don’t remember the last time I have felt so wild, free and mostly alive. You provide me exact that feeling and I want to go on adventures. With you.”

His beautiful face now lightened up and a bright smile crossed his sharp but gorgeous features. Jungkook didn’t respond and you didn’t even expect him to. It solely felt virtuous to let out your feelings for once. You were more than ready for him.

“Then,” Jungkook started off, taking a break to breathe in properly, “you’ll need to know more about me, about the business behind.”

And there was it again, the adrenaline flowing in your blood. God, how eccentric and altruistic it felt, you could get addicted to it. You were totally going irrational.

“I don’t think we have enough time for everything, right? Jeehyung will be back soon. Just tell me superficial about it, because I have been curious about it way too long,” you bit your lower lip, all excited like a little child who was about to open their Christmas present.

Jungkook smirked at you directly, his gaze sending shivers down your spine. “You’re right, my dear. Let’s just say, I trade with a lot of things. Weapons, drugs, money, different currencies, illegal funds, and stuff like that.”

His expression was insecure for sure, but you gave him a small peck on his pretty mouth, saying, “Thank you for trusting me.”

As soon as you heard heavy steps from outside, you pulled away a little from Jungkook and both your expressions turned blank. As you assumed, Jeehyung stormed back in, a lot angrier this time and directly walked towards Jungkook. He pulled at his hair to get him to look in his face and you went numb when you watched the scene.

“This is it. You snatched my sister? Is this what we’re gonna do now? I won’t hesitate to pull the trigger this time, Jeon,” Jeehyung barked into the other’s face, and you weren’t sure if his eyes were red and his face covered wet because he was tired as hell or if he had just cried his eyes out.

You tried gaining your own little space by shyly pulling away from Jeehyung as you remembered Jungkook’s words from before. You better shut up before making everything worse, although it was easier said than done as you had no other choice but to watch them go off, letting outrage build up inside of you.

“What are you talking about?” Jungkook blatantly asked, white shock washed over his face.

Jeehyung rolled his eyes and clenched his jaws to the maximum, the outline of his face turning sharper than any sword. Before continuing to ramble, he pulled out a gun in under a second, now shoving the tip right under Jungkook’s chin. He was now forced to have his chin up high, eyes avoiding you in every way possible and you? You were completely anesthetized by now.

“Don’t lie to me. How dare you to touch a member of my family? That’s very disrespectful and you know what I do to people, who disrespect me. I kill them without hesitation,” Jeehyung growled and you closed your eyes in greatest fear. But when you heard the click-clack of the metal in his hand, you knew it was only a matter of seconds before he pulled the trigger for real.

“No, shoot me instead!” you cried out, unpredictably, and tore your eyes open again just to find them both glaring at you – one definitely amused and the other begging you silently to shut up. But that wouldn’t stop you. “Go ahead and kill me. If you’re going to kill him, kill me first!”

“Y/N, hold your mouth, you’re crazy! You don’t know what you’re talking about! If you want to kill anyone, it’s me! Let her go!” Jungkook pleaded from the depth of his heart, you could feel it.

And of course you were providing Jeehyung the best show he had ever witnessed, making him laugh a little – at least he felt some kind of joy with what he was doing. “Oh, Bonnie,” he now turned to you, whispering, “here you go again. This man is worthless, believe me.”

“No! I won’t let you kill him for fuck’s sake!” you screamed and the squealing noise was immediately followed by a gun shot, making you flinch abruptly and look to the ground, not wanting to see what you were afraid of.

Your quick heart pace caused your lungs to stop functioning normally as your breathing got uneven and too fast for you to catch up. Did he really just-

“You little bitch have no right to order me around!” Jeehyung spat out, lifting up your chin in a forceful grip – to let you see dust falling from the ceiling down on all of you, and Jungkook still shaking helplessly with the gun in his throat. Thank God, he only shot upwards.

By now you were covered in cold sweat and so were all of you as far as you could see. When you dared to catch Jungkook’s eyes again, you saw how much he begged you to shut up again, how his mouth formed words and sentences but no sound came out. Everything occurred in slow-motion now and it took you seconds to even process what was happening, who was talking about what, who was swearing who and who is begging and pleading and who was shouting and, and, and… But you didn’t want to give up yet, how could you be able to watch Jungkook go under right in front of your eyes? Was it supposed to end like this? Would that teach you a big lesson? No, you didn’t want it to end and the least thing you needed now was a wise lesson from all this bullshit happening.

It was again the push and pull. Jungkook didn’t push you away, he was pushing himself away from you, for you to not be hurt, for you to be free. But what you were doing, was the exact same thing. You were used to sacrifice yourself for someone else and so was he. If any of your exes would be in Jungkook’s place, he’d try and get out of here as fast as possible, caring about his own will to live. But the man in front of you would take all of it just to get you out of here, even if it meant his death. You pulled him, but he only pushed you into freedom, falling back all alone. You weren’t going to let that happen.

“No, Jungkook, you shut up. Jeehyung!” you fumed at both of them, leaving them both in surprised shock now. When you got the man’s attention, you simply repeated, “Shoot. Me. C’mon. Shoot. Fucking hell, shoot now!”

All of your anxiety turned into the biggest hurricane of adrenaline, causing everything inside you to burn and you weren’t going to let that sit still in there. You were ready to burst out, even if it meant to show a side you hadn’t even seen yourself but right now, you couldn’t sit there and cry, wait until someone from above came to save you. Your look fixed on Jeehyung, you were angry and made sure to not let his intimidation dominate you, but to let your abhorrence rule over him.

“Wow, Y/N, you’re the first girl to ever talk back to me like that, but you know what?” Jeehyung chuckled again, not letting himself down for sure.

As he observed Jungkook’s face one more time, the other man spoke with tears breaking through his eyes, “Y/N! Stay still, please, you’ll get killed for real. I want you to live, I want us to live. We can solve this somehow else.”

His words and the aching look on his face pinched you in the heart but it was too late now to regret your lost head from just seconds ago – Jeehyung had already picked another gun out of his pocket and you felt the cold metal shoved into your skin as well. A tear rolled down your face but that won’t do anything better, right?

The gun thrilled in your veins and you were constantly changing between breathing in a fast pace and not breathing at all for a few seconds. The only thing you were left to do was stare into Jungkook’s dark and hurt eyes, which at least filled you with some last hope.

“Hmm, how about we change from Bonnie and Clyde to Romeo and Juliet? I kill you both. It isn’t exactly suicide, but you die together and can continue your love in hell. I’ll be happy to engrave you two together forever,” Jeehyung lectured in a tone of a pure psychopath. Your head was sure lost already, but you wished you could now turn the tables somehow and kill him instead.

Jungkook didn’t dare to move one inch but he whispered in definite pain, “I told you, I fucking told you. Fuck.” Then he turned to Jeehyung, “Please, can you put the gun off her. I beg you. She has done nothing, man, nothing. I’m carrying all the weight and you know it.”

“She does have a little weight. Cheating on me in that poker game. You thought I wouldn’t realize, hm? I only let her go because I knew I’d catch her again sooner or later. And having you here in a package is the best thing that could happen to me,” Jeehyung snickered and kept shoving the guns deeper into your skins, and soon you would be off edge.

“So, who are we going to kill first? Or are we going to do it at the same time?”

You shut your eyes close very tightly, in hope to let this all fade away, let all the pain and fear of death disappear. In hope to wake up in the king-sized bed in Jungkook’s arms. But when you unsealed your eyes again, Jeehyung’s visage was still inches close to yours, frowning nauseatingly, a horrible grin put up and the devil spread all over his figure.

“We’re gonna do it as a surprise! I’m going to count from three, alright? Careful,” he announced and if this was truly going to happen, you’d want your last sight to be Jungkook’s eyes.

“Three…”

This short amount of time you spent with him was more meaningful than with any man you had ever met. He had shown you so much more than you ever thought you’d needed.

“Two…”

And this was how it’d all end. Not only the relationship, but your whole life. And you were only left to wonder if you’d ever meet him again in the after-life or whatever there was coming.

“One-”

“You’re not going to kill anyone, or you’ll be the next dead body lying on this floor!” a sudden loud female voice intruded the ceremony from behind Jeehyung and to the back of his head, he now had a gun breathing down his own neck as well.

---

a/n: ok guys, I’m dead and gone idk where to go from here I feel... empty. :)

[sack-thing]

You know what I’m not even gonna reblog the thing and wait for asks; I’ll reply to some of those OTP questions myself. I’ll just answer the ones that inspire me.

Using Luu Kah and Ramsey as my OTP of course.

1: Who spends almost all their money on the other?

Mmm they don’t really do that on a regular basis, but Luu Kah did buy new daggers for Ramsey at some point and weapons aren’t cheap.

2: Who sleeps in the other’s lap?

Both, but Luu Kah is likely to do that more often.

3: Who walks around the house half-naked and who yells at them to put on some clothes?

Hahaha Luu Kah likes to wear light stuff so he’d be the half-naked one. Ramsey doesn’t really have a reason to yell at him for that, but he would remind him to wear something from time to time, like, “what if someone comes by and you’re wearing nothing like that?” Not that Luu Kah minds very much, but you know.

4: Which one tells the other not to stay up all night and which one stays up all night anyway?

Luu Kah tells Ramsey not to stay up all night (not as much as Délia does tho) and Ramsey does it anyway, if he found a new interesting thing to read.

9: Which one drives the car and which one gives them directions?

Luu Kah does the action while Ramsey knows where they’re going.

12: Which one of your OTP overdoes it on the alcohol and which one makes the other stop drinking?

Luu Kah only gets drunk sometimes when there’s the annual party. When Ramsey wants to make him hear reason it’s often already too late. =P And he has to bring him at home. I mean Ramsey’s home, ‘cause he doesn’t want Luu Kah to have problems with his parents in this state, so he takes him with him (when they’re each still living at their parents’ place tho).

16: Which one gives the other their jacket?

I guess Ramsey since you won’t often see Luu Kah wearing a jacket haha. At the same, Ramsey is more likely to be cold than Luu Kah, so... Well in those cases, even if Luu Kah doesn’t have a jacket to lend, there’s always body warmth to give you know. orz

17: Who keeps getting threatened by the other’s overprotective older sibling?

Lol none. Ramsey is the overprotective older sibling. =P And Gan Noo (Luu Kah’s big bro) isn’t really overprotective and doesn’t threat Ramsey, tho I can see him tease him about stuff. In any case he even kind of expected this to happen so they’re good.

18: Who’s the first one to admit they have feelings for the other?

I’m not there yet in my writing so not gonna spoil for my few readers. =P But as for who was aware of it first without saying anything, it was Luu Kah.

19: How good would your OTP be at parenting?

Luu Kah didn’t have a good parenting example and he’s not interested in that anyway. And if he has to think about it, he's pretty sure he wouldn’t be good at it. This role would probably be easier to Ramsey, but he’s fine if the only living beings they adopt are cats either way. =P

20: Which one types with perfect grammar and which one types using numbers as letters?

Ramsey writes perfectly and Luu Kah... Doesn’t use numbers since they don’t use this kind of writing. But he would do it (not overly so) if they did.

21: Who gets attacked by a bully and who protects them?

Both, ready to protect each other if needed.

24: Which one gives the other a piggyback ride when they’re tired?

I’d say both, tho Luu Kah is a bit heavier to carry.

26: Who takes a selfie when the other one falls asleep on their shoulder?

Yeah again they don’t have phones but Ramsey. =P

Aaand ok enough for now! It was fun.

[alluran]

a/n: pre-lion swap and fairly early months of voltron / female pronouns for pidge / also the subject of feeling overwhelmed in a crowd is the focus. I got the name for the random planet here.

summary: Maybe if he throws the glass in his hand hard enough against a wall or something it would be enough to get things to pause long enough for him to figure out what on earth he’s supposed to be doing or where he should be going. “Ah, Keith, no. ”The glass is taken from his hand and set on a window sill. So apparently, 1. His arm had already been raised to throw the glass. 2. Lance had somehow gotten them across the room without him even noticing. Admittedly, things were not going great for him.

He’s got no idea where Coran got the color coordinating capes, but he absolutely hates them.

Keith does his best to kick it out from around his ankles, but the fabric just lays back, stifling and too much on top of the paladin armor and diplomacy feasts and being extremely thirsty but not knowing if the drink in his hand is safe for humans. He’s got nothing to do with his hands and he just feels ridiculous. He promised Shiro to try, so he can’t really just leave and curl up in the comfort of Red’s maw where her understanding would soothe his terminal social cues and hopefully tell him whether or not the drink in his hand is the alien equivalent of drinking drain cleaner with a splash of Hawaiian Punch.

So, Red’s out because Shiro would absolutely check their first and drag him back. The floor obviously isn’t about to swallow him whole and while he doesn’t like the capes, he figured it would be easier to spot someone to help him at least look like a friendly defender of the universe - like Hunk. He had a really good time with him and the Arusians. Or at least Pidge, she would stand in solidarity with him on being too tired for this crap.

Shiro was definitely out, he would just tell Keith to go mingle or something equally embarrassing like “shake loose”.

Keith sweeps his gaze across the room, doing his best not to make eye contact with anyone that wasn’t someone he knew - which was harder than it looked, some of the species of the planet had four eyes or more. He’s not going out of his way to seem mean or standoffish, he just doesn’t have the energy.

Finally, he spots an empty part of the far wall that would do just fine for him and give him the chance to try to spot any of the team because seriously, they were wearing bight colored capes and matching armor. Were they even here???

And wouldn’t that just be the ultimate nightmare? If he missed some glaring memo that they were leaving and nobody bothered to count heads as they left.

His armor makes a muffled clink against the wall where he rests as he tries to breathe for the first time since being led into a grand ballroom with ceilings dizzyingly high and waves of beings wearing colors that have his vision blurring.

“A lot different from the Arusians, huh?”

He startles, his armor clacking with movement and woven with the teasing chuckle of his nightmares.

“You’re kinda jumpy tonight, aren’t ya, red?”

Lance is swimming in the blue of his cape that’s a little darker than the accents on his armor and Keith could only bite his tongue. He’s leaning against the wall like him, but he leans his head forward, eyes roving over the crowd. His long legs stretch out in front of him a little and cross at the ankle. It’s a very aloof stance, Keith thinks. Vulnerable if someone decides to just attack. Aaand he realizes a little late that it’s maybe one too many details he’s filing away.

Right, he’s creating an awkward silence.

He takes a breath.

Patience yields focus, they weren’t allowed to make any scenes, also he wasn’t allowed to leave five minutes after arriving.

They were currently standing at 3 minutes, 27 seconds.

Keith tries to keep in mind that part of him that strives not to disappoint Shiro. “I’m not a big fan of parties.”

“Y’don’t say.”

Keith cuts him a look, only to see Lance nonchalantly taking a drink from his cup then dipping his head politely as a couple passes them with a reverent greeting.

“Paladins.”

Keith waits until they’re back out of earshot before shooting Lance a halfhearted glare (he was tired). “Look if you just dropped in to give me a hard time, the cape and all of this already beat you to it.” His throws his hand weirdly out in front of him, disjointed with his nerves. “Besides, don’t you usually have some audience to brag to?”

“The drink is safe for consumption by the way.” Lance doesn’t even blink, doesn’t follow the line of Keith’s arm into a crowd that seems barely contained as their suns - that’s right suns, there’s two and a half - dip past the windows lining the hall and below the horizon

“I- What?”

“It’s not alcoholic. Shiro went to great lengths using Allura as translator to really get that point across. Though, I think I’d be more worried about it basically being battery acid if anything.”

This entire interaction has already deviated so far from how Lance and Keith navigate parties and each other. It has his brows scrunching in thought as he stares into his cup. “I was thinking Drain-o and Hawaiian Punch.”

Lance laughs, not boisterous when he’s exaggerating some grandiose tale about him and Blue. Not the one that he’s come to recognize as the rival cackle. It’s this something that he can only name as just Lance and isn’t that a terrifying thought that he can differentiate the various sides of Lance McClain? He gulps down the drink in his hand.

Better than nunvill, at least.

There’s a barely veiled snort from beside him. “Yeah, just give me a heads up if you’re gonna spit this one out though.”

Oh, he said that out loud.

It feels like a carpet is about to be pulled from under his feet. 

“Lance, why are you over here?”

And Lance - Lance finally jerks his head in Keith’s direction. He’s searching Keith’s face with this focus and weight that makes everything in Keith’s body go still. “Why wouldn’t I b-”

A surge of energy splits the crowd for a moment as music crescendos like a sonic boom in his chest plate before the crowd comes back together then splits and zigzags in any and every direction. The planet beneath their feet -  Indira, his mind distantly supplies - pulses and it’s a few moments before Keith comes to recognize the turns and movements are a dance. There was no ratio of dance floor to not dance floor and it’s only Lance’s warm fingers hooking in the crook of his elbow pulling Keith out of the pathway of five Indirans swaying and stomping into the spot he had been standing in.

He would have been fine, but no, Shiro insisted they honor some old paladin tradition and humoring Coran on the ridiculous capes. The fabric is tangling between his boots as he stumbles and there’s a drink in his hand that he’s not supposed to be spilling and they just got done with a battle, why do they always have to party immediately after?

An enthusiastic brunch would work just fine for him.

The music does something else that rattles his bones and he feels Lance tense up behind him.

At least then he knows it’s not only him.

Early onset heart arrhythmia wouldn’t fly very well with being a defender of the universe.

They’re just buyout in a mass of bodies as Lance tries to right their balance and find a safe corner. Keith should probably be helping with that.

But this, whatever this is, is a thing and he can’t think straight.

Maybe if he throws the glass in his hand hard enough against a wall or something it would be enough to get things to pause long enough for him to figure out what on earth he’s supposed to be doing or where he should be going.

“Ah, Keith, no.”

The glass is taken from his hand and set on a window sill.

So apparently,

1. His arm had already been raised to throw the glass.

2. Lance had somehow gotten them across the room without him even noticing.

Admittedly, things were not going great for him.

“Hey. Lemme get this.” And then, there were only Lance’s focused eyes and deft hands in his line of vision, taking away the cape and it feels every inch of the weight of the world lifting from his shoulders.

A punched out sigh beats out whatever communications skills he possesses. Which is great. Perfect even. Just the right fuel for fire Lance needs on him.

Except it doesn’t happen. Lance bunches up the cape and sets it next to their glasses on the window sill. Broad shoulders block the heightening festivities and any wayward dancers from Keith’s toes and general personal space. A warm hand splays at the small of his back and it’s nice. Sound stays at the fringes of his senses as Lance leans closer to Keith’s ear and it’s nice. New territory and a little terrifying since he and Lance are known for their more frequent louder moments.

He tells himself he doesn’t turn his face another minuscule fraction to incline himself further into Lance’s shoulder.

“-eith, are you good?”

Who’s talking to him, he dimly realizes.

Keith has no idea how long he’s been talking to him or how long he’s just sort of been standing there like a fish frozen in shock. He nods curtly. There’s a crest of gratitude that sweeps over him when Lance doesn’t move away when he stands up straighter.

Did Lance really just square his shoulders?

Or is it a trick of the light?

He feels the ghost outline of long fingers flex against his back. Having their lower spine unguarded is technically a huge design flaw in his honest opinion, but it’s good right now. It’s just their flight suits separating them.

“Like I said, I don’t really do parties.” And okay, he does lean into the touch but, like, because of a pulled muscle or something. “Thanks.”

Lance blessedly doesn’t tease Keith about owing him one, he shakes his head, fervently searching the crowd. “This....is not a good time. Also, how can Allura, Shiro, and the space mice collectively know what we’re up to every second on a huge castle-ship, but stick us in one room when we actually need them, and suddenly they’re invisible??”

He swivels around, following the up line of balustrades to Keith’s left. “Hey, do you think if I climbed into one of those balconies things and did like a store page, they’d come? “Four unaccompanied Earth minors are looking for their adults. If they belong to you please come get them. They need rest.”“

Keith huffs a laugh. “I mean, that would definitely get someone’s attention at least.”

He feels the covered fingertips graze over their spot on his back, absentmindedly scratching. His muscles relax a little more before the warm spot is replaced by a rush of cool air as Lance’s hand drops back to his side and a blur of green and yellow reel past them, then double back.

“Did you guys feel that?” Pidge’s eyes are owlishly blinking from behind her glasses and she sounds winded. “That was-”

“Unpleasant,” Hunk pouts next to her, one hand loosely hanging onto her cape.

“Agreed, buddy.” Lance groans and stretches to crack his back, arching his neck in yet another search of Shiro, Coran, and Allura.

“Well, I’m getting out of here,” Pidge huffs. She takes the sides of her cape and yanks them up around her like bat wings as she turns and makes for the door. A few Indirans pay enough attention to duck out of her way as Hunk falls in line behind her.

Keith snatches his discarded cape and makes for the entrance with Lance beside him. “Why do we always after to party right after a battle?”

It’s the ghost of Lance’s hand on his back, the same hand falling on his shoulder to rub comfortingly over it even though he can’t really feel it through the armor, that makes it all a little okay. A little worth it.

It’s a development.

Maybe an experiment in future diplomacy dinners. For science, the ratio to him wanting to vault himself out of a room and take off in Red to the number of times Lance whimsically appears at his side.

[optimisticcritique]

Gotham 4x17 - Review

The season is getting close to the end, things are about to get crazy(er). Let’s see what crazy stuff happens this week. Tagging characters that I mainly focus on in the review. Sorry if it is kind of long.

Getting right into the action! Go get him Bruce!

How did Jerome have time to get dressed, meet back up with Scarecrow, release Tetch, and send Tetch to hypnotize the guy before Bruce got there? He wasn’t that far behind Jerome. No GPS? Was he stuck in traffic? Maybe Tetch hypnotized his way through the traffic to get there first. I mean, that’s what I would do if I could hypnotize people.

Xander…yeah, seeing spoilers, I predict this is Jerome’s twin brother, right? This is the one time I wish I hadn’t seen spoilers, no big reveal.  

Oh boy, he has a bomb. Duck and cover!

See, now Jim and Harvey aren’t that far behind Bruce. Did they take the short cut?

Bruce trying to help the guy. I love it but I don’t know if it’ll work.

Question: Why did Tetch hypnotize the guy to trigger the bomb by a clock? Wouldn’t it make more sense to have him press it on like a key phrase (like “if someone asks you about Jerome/Xander, press it”) so that Bruce couldn’t have time to jump away? Or was killing Bruce (or anyone else) not the intention?

Shooting the clock! Quick thinking. Learning tricks from being a Tetch survivor.

Aaand he has a watch. Of course he does. Well, at least you tried.

Wait, it’s the dinner already? That happened fast. How did Jerome get them all together? How did he contact Oswald and Oswald just agreed? Did it take some time or was he reluctant at first? Were they all agreeable at first? Did he threaten them? Bribe them with free food?

This is the villain dinner I always wished for…if you had told me we would have all these villains together in one place seasons ago, I would have been floored. I probably would have freaked out, running down the street while yelling “Yessss! Bring me all the villains! A few years can’t come fast enough!!!!” as all the neighborhoods stare at me.

I love villains interacting. I also love seeing characters that have been previously introduced, having scenes with one another that they have never shared scenes with before. It’s the individual character build up and mixture of personalities.  

The only thing missing from this wonderful dinner is Ed :( I guess The Riddler isn’t considered “freak” enough for them…

“Put all questions on ice until the end” Awe the ice puns. Well great, now I want to know what Victor’s question was going to be. I do love how he just raises his hand, like he’s in school and trying not to interrupt the teacher.

“Mr. Oswald” lol well, that’s an interesting choice. I would have thought he would call Oswald by his Penguin name. Really gives me Ed flashbacks to “Mr. Penguin”, which is fun.

Oh Oswald looks just…I have no words. What a fashion icon. I love his fur coat and hair. Real perfection. Fish would be so proud!  One of these days, I really want to see him doing his hair in an actual scene, instead of being off screen. I’m curious how long he spends on it.  

This is Sofia’s old place that Oswald took over XD Wait, Oswald hosted? Option A: Jerome barged into the house and just told Oswald that they are having it there or Option B: Oswald wants to seem supportive, just so he can be involved and know what is coming for his city. Me: Probably both.  

“Anything for a friend” pfft uh huh. I bet. He is probably planning a back stab or just waiting for Jerome to fail.

Got to say, I wasn’t sure about the new scarecrow actor but he’s pretty good. His facial expressions are dead on.

Yeah, Oz doesn’t seem very keen on these plans. His facial reactions say it all.

He’s probably thinking either “What I have I gotten myself into” or “I should have made more food”  

Alfred!!! Where have you been? Been partying? Taking a spa day for a couple of episodes?

Jim, no! Let Bruce do his thing! Sure, he could potentially die horribly but be reasonable here…

Yeah, Bruce will not take no for an answer. Will Jim change his mind or will Bruce take on a mask again?  

“Maybe he wants him to build him something” You can’t fool us! We all know what he is really after!

Yeah, that woman is probably regretting not calling in sick to work today.

Jerome trying to whistle… it wouldn’t surprise me if that is the only thing he hates about his new stitched up face. Who cares that his face is different…he can’t whistle anymore!!!

“Don’t bother going to security! They are all…headless” Wait, you have a gun. You could shoot them in the heads but not cut off their heads. How are they headless?  

“Drop the gun!” “Oh you are such a stick in mud” Would you have preferred a western style shoot out or for him to just be like “Oh hey Jerome. Go on ahead and do what you do with the gun. Have fun” as he casually walks past you?

Xander knowing Bruce’s father…hmm…

“What time is it?!” Tool-no-Mail-no-Extra time!!! “Riddle time!!!” …that was my next guess.

Wow, everyone is so loving this. I guess this has been going on for quite awhile.

Speaking of which, what did happen between that pier scene and now? Did Oswald and Ed become friends again? Make a deal? Just go their own ways? I feel like there is something missing here.  

Oh, you know Ed is just loving this. This reminds me of that episode back in season one (1x09?), where he is listening to a game show on the radio and answering the questions as he is working. You know that was one of his inspirations for this!

Bet you that brief case has no money even in it. The Riddler is just that cocky.

“The street demons!” Lol the way that he says that! I just love it when he does voices or accents. Pulling out all the stops to make things extra.  

The Riddler totally doesn’t even seem like he cares about what is going on in this guy’s life.

How happy he gets when he hears “Riddler”. Not many people have called him that in the show yet, have they?

“I’ve fallen on hard times but happy to be here with you Riddler” I relate to this on a spiritual level. Ed making my week better <3

Ooh this Lila has the best get up. Please tell me Ed made it himself.

Lars, you are over thinking! Don’t ever over think it!

I would half expect the crowd to give out answers but you just know they want to see people getting tortured.

“Rabid sack of rats” Awe man, I was hoping for the barracuda stapled to the forehead….you know, for curiosity purposes…

“Enough!” Nooooo! Never! Don’t ruin this Lee!

I actually saw an interview right before this episode, with Cory saying the episode will end “hot” and “romantic”. It won’t surprise me if Lee/Ed kiss by the end of this.

Wow Lee, you look stunning. Love the new hair.  Also love Ed’s too.

What’s up with the new hair styles lately though? First we mourn see Jervis and Harvey getting their longer hair cut. Now we see Ed and Lee both have hair cuts, with Oswald serving up a new hairstyle. Did we miss a national “change your hair day” in Gotham or something? Or did one person do it and the rest got jealous so they changed their hair too? Or did the actors all decide to get new hair styles at the same time?

“We put Oswald on ice” you make it sound like you both attempted to kill him or something. The vagueness.

So I guess Ed knows about Sofia. Is he impressed with her doing that or not so because she didn’t finish the job?

“Whatever the hell this is, it’s over” “I don’t think so” I’m just waiting for this to be turned into a reaction gif. Like, people upset about something to Gotham writers and Gotham writers going “I don’t think so” or vice versa.

“And my name…is The Riddler” Awe so we are on this again. So, he still isn’t whole. Funny how he is still saying this to people a season later. Also, Oswald called him Ed…but maybe it is because he called him The Riddler first? Or “because we have history” thing? …Even though he and Lee technically have history too, with working together at the GCPD.

*challenges Ed* First: Lee that is bold and I am impressed with you. Second: Noooo! I knew this was going to happen but I didn’t want it to happen so quickly. We only got to see him have one contestant, who we didn’t even see get tortured. Let Ed/Cory have more fun! Let us have our showman Riddler!

Who is this woman? Just a random character that’ll die this episode or the next?

Umm are you implying Jerome is a dog? ;) Also, isn’t that cage a little bit small to fit Jerome in? I just picture her trying to push and squeeze him into that cage, just barely closing it.

Oswald and Butch reunited again! I kind of missed their…complicated relationship to be honest. They also have a long history, probably knowing each other as long as Oswald knew Fish so I can only imagine what Oswald will think of this new Butch.

Oswald’s eyes when he sees Butch. Yeah, totally unprepared for that.

“I will be honest, I like it…” It’s like when a friend pretends to like your bad hair cut, even when they know it looks bad.

“Just came from brunch with Jerome Valeska…” Oh yeah, that’s a great way to start this. He says it so casually, like it was just an everyday civil affair with food and great conversation. Bet he thought he would never utter those words though XD  

“Seemed to involve a great deal of paint” lol that was totally not the point of that, you forgot to mention the mass crazy Ozzie.

Oswald wearing green gloves with that outfit.

“You must be all out of allies” “Don’t be modest” Yeah, he still has Ed as an ally so he isn’t COMPLETELY out of allies. He has…one….

Again, what happened with Ed and why Butch? Option A: He asked Ed, Ed refused, saying he wanted to do his own thing. Option B: He started to ask Ed, Ed talked about a Riddle factory and he immediately went “yeah, nope. Never mind” Option C: He knows Jerome will want someone who is a “freak” to add to the group. Oswald also wants someone strong (let’s face it, Ed is not) and not easily killed. Butch fits that mark, not Ed. He doesn’t want Ed to get involved with this mess either. Which I think is the most likely. Option Q: Forgetting own writing.

Oh, you just totally made him angry. You won’t like him when he’s angry! …Wait, totally wrong universe and different comics.

Okay, I know you look bad now Butch. But look at the bright side, you’re strong, you’re practically immortal, and-with a good hair dye and spray tan-you could look fairly the same. Think positively!

*pushes Oswald on the floor* Nooo! Don’t ruin the majestic hair and coat! They must be protected at all costs!

I don’t know why but, even though I already love Oswald, this episode has made me love him a million times more… *stares at his hair and coat* Not sure why…

“like a flower” well, that choice of words is threatening but also not.

Oh sure, you only want them involved when you want something. It’s a two way street, Jim. Now you have to let him risk his life and you can’t say a thing.

“I love you” In your own twisted way, I bet.

*does a heart with his hands* Jerome fans: Awe that’s what we do when we see you on screen… :’D

He’s freely letting Harvey and Jim in? No booby traps? It kind of looks like a place that would have traps like that.

Ecco! In the same episode as the riddle factory…Some say this woman would be Harley Quinn because she is devoted to this guy…I kind of doubt it. There is also an Echo who worked with the Riddler (although I think Query was the blonde, not like it matters) The name is spelled wrong so she is most likely a throw away character but…why Ecco? Why use a similar name to tease fans?! Why?!    

“Oh my god, there’s two of them!” Oh Harvey…seriously, this is a Cameron/Jerome fan’s dream right there. Not one but two? Alittle over a season ago one didn’t exist and the other was “dead”.

“Please don’t touch that! That is very sensitive equipment” Yeah, sure looks sensitive to me. Especially the couple of buttons that turns it on.

Jerome doing yoga because why not?

Him waving right when Jim sees… o_o It’s like he knew…  

How much you want to bet that someone followed Jerome? If Firefly followed to the office, you can bet he didn’t go see Ecco on his own. It’s the only way I can see him getting out of there.

“She thinks stapling a live barracuda to someone’s head isn’t damn good entertainment” The nerve! Wait…did he just say “damn good”? Has he ever said that word before? :O But your fake swearing was so pure, what has the world done to you?!

I think it is interesting that he only puts his hat on when he speaks a riddle.

I’m not going to even attempt these riddles. I suck at logic.

Scenes like this make me wonder if we will ever get a “whole” Ed or just get this Riddler from now on.

Wow. Who knew the Riddler was so upset about all this?

Lee’s face…yup, she got what she wanted. Smart cookie right there.

The Riddler totally played himself.

Haha! Called it! Knew he would be followed. Don’t underestimate him.

“If I knew this thing was a 100 acres, I would have stopped and had a sandwich before we came” Harvey, you are so relatable. I don’t blame you. My ship of Harvey + food continues to sail. The ship I can always count on <3

“The End” Wait, is the episode over? Is this where the story ends?

Wow, the acting right here is so good. I keep forgetting both Jerome and Jeremiah are both Cameron.

“His bearded sidekick” Hey! He has a name and thy name is Harvey!

“Born bad” that’s lousy reasoning.

Ooh so he lied? Well, this intrigues me. I am so skeptical of this guy. I just know there is more to him than meets the eye. I don’t believe this facade!

“You killed our mother” “She did deserve it though” Lol no care whatsoever. Again with the lousy reasoning.

“Listen to what I have to say” “Oh hell no! You are not hypnotizing me again!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHH!” *Jervis and Jonathan run for their dear lives as Harvey charges towards them* ….LOL Oh my god. Harvey, you are a blessing to this world. Most iconic moment. He is so done with Jervis. The way he just let out a war cry, causing the duo to flee is just…it’s beautiful. I’m dying. I will never be over this. Favorite part of the episode. Batman should take notes.

Jim being like “Welp, okay then” as he follows Harvey.

Just imagine Harvey chasing them all around the maze, with the video sped up and silly music playing. Or slowed down with suspenseful music playing. 

“Must go! Must go! They’re after me and the Scarecrow!” Oh my god I love this so much. I am going to put this on a loop forever.

I love how Jonathan doesn’t even try spraying or anything. He just follows Jervis wherever he goes. I am loving this duo.  

Jerome watching them run off like “whatever”.

*can still hear Harvey screaming* Me: *is dead*

*kisses Jeremiah’s head as he flees* Awe brother love…nothing like wanting your sibling dead and in misery one minute and kissing him in the next.

Whoa. That disappearance happened fast. Did he find a prototype invisible jet or something? Or did Jervis just have the car right outside the door, Jerome leapt in, and they drove away as fast as possible? Scratch that, they are totally hiding on the side of that building, shushing and tip toeing away.

The Riddler being all cocky and smug. Yeah, you probably won’t be feeling this way in a few minutes…

Hey, even I know this riddle! Oh, I see what you are doing there Lee.

It’s simple Ed. Just look at the audience as you say “I love you”. There you go!

Wow, he is pushing Ed back so much that he risks losing in front of an entire crowd.

Lee outsmarting him, good on Lee but sucks for the riddle factory :( I feel robbed.

A little bit late but I’d like to imagine Ed making all of these props himself. Cutting out a giant wheel, painting it, sticking two giant beakers together…

Wait, Oswald knows how to reverse it? Will it actually work though? I kind of feel like it would be a bummer to get rid of Grundy after all this…

Hugo Strange! Of course it’s Hugo. If it is monster related, it’s always Hugo lol

Yay! Oswald and Butch team up once more!

Poor Ed losing his riddle factory. A loss for us all :’(

“they didn’t come here because they love you, Ed” Wow, that’s harsh.  

“Because I know what you really want…” Validation? Wait, no… Lee:  *pulls out the glitter suit from thin air* The Riddler: :’D You found it! I thought I lost it!

Knife to the neck! Always going for the neck.

Oh, they are totally going to go on a robbing spree. Does Lee really need the money? Or is this also a way to appeal to The Riddler to get him back on her side?

….

I am reserving any specific opinion/judgement on this situation until I see more of it. But I definitely see some manipulation at play here. The question is, is it just one or both manipulating? I am actually a bit surprised Lee would play this card.

Oh, I can just imagine reactions from others. Jim, Harvey, Oswald, Butch, Barbara…they all have a decent history with both of them.

The music is the same music that played when Ed killed Kristen. Hmm…This does not bode well. It never does for Ed and anyone he is involved with.

“I don’t know. I thought it already was” Oh, you have no idea how mad this city can get Harvey…you don’t even technically have the Joker yet.

No! Not Carl! We hardly knew thee. Justice for Carl!!! 

*Jerome punches Grundy’s shoulder, shakes hand* Parallel to when Ed high fived him and did the same thing. Probably like hitting a brick wall.

Joker toxin!!!

The Jervis reaction XD Like, he knew the plan right? He looks so shocked.

Everyone’s reactions emoticon style: Jervis: 😮Jonathan: 😬  Jerome: 😆  Bridgit: 🙂 Victor: 😏 Butch: 😕Oswald: 🐧  

Oh god that looks painful. Looks like the “fun” is about to begin.

Man, if Jerome does end up dying, I won’t know how to feel. Jeremiah intrigues me and I think he will eventually grow on me but...he doesn’t have the same history that Jerome has with the characters. Why even have the twin twist? ...I guess I’ll just have to wait to see how it all plays out before deciding what I think. I will say, at least Cameron will still be playing him so it isn’t gypping him from the role.

Over all: Good episode. I felt like some of it was a bit fast paced. I was a bit surprised by how quickly the dinner began, Jerome got his info, the riddle factory ended…that being said, some good villain interaction and Harvey being amazing. The legion of horribles succeed in finding Jerome’s twin brother Jeremiah, the GCPD to put Jeremiah in protective custody, the Joker toxin has been created, Ed/Lee kiss while deciding to go rob banks, and Oswald recruits Butch in promising he could reverse his condition by finding Hugo Strange.

Previous Review: 4x16  Next: 4x18

[pepperoniwhirlwind]

~Honesty Hour~

     I was asked by @lovelynhiddenkittens to do all 150 questions in the Honesty Hour tag! 😮 Thank you, lovely and curious stranger~! 😆 But since that’s a lot for one post, I’ll break it up into chunks of 50 questions so it’s easier for all my blogging buddies to digest. 😊 Starting... now! 😝

1. Who was the last person you held hands with?      That would have to be Alex. He was warming my hand for me because it was ice cold. Though he doesn’t know that’s because I intentionally held my super cold drink for a really long time with that hand, then casually mentioned how cold my hand was so he’d try to warm it... >//> Introverts are sneaky flirts, what can I say? 😆😏

2. Are you outgoing or shy?      Shy, definitely. Though there are alters in the system much more outgoing than me.

3. Who are you looking forward to seeing?      Tyler! 😄 I’ve been staying over at her apartment every weekend this past summer, and always enjoy our movie and gaming marathons. 😝

4. Are you easy to get along with?      I think so. I’m not very easily angered, a pacifist at heart, and a people-pleaser at my core. 😂 So it’s pretty hard not to get along with me.

5. If you were drunk would the person you like take care of you?

     I don’t know, Alex is a sweetheart so he’d probably help, and Tyler cares but she doesn’t do bodily fluids. 😆 So, it depends. And considering I’ve never been drunk, and seem to have too high a tolerance to get drunk without having to rob a bank to fund the sheer volume of alcohol needed, I doubt this problem will ever arise. 👌

6. What kind of people are you attracted to?

     Kind and funny people. 😊

7. Do you think you’ll be in a relationship two months from now?

     I have no idea, but I won’t rule it out. Alex has kinda been cute and flirty towards me lately, so maaaybe~? >//>

8. Who from the opposite gender is on your mind?

     Uh, well, the subject of the last question was Alex, so, him. 😆

9. Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable?

     A wee bit, yes. 😅 I put up a good facade though, but being asexual, sex is kinda... bleeehhh~ for me. e~e

10. Who was the last person you had a deep conversation with?

     That would have to be Tyler. :3 She’s my bestie from my ASL classes~ 💜 We have a looot in common, so we talk for hours at a time, in between movie and game marathons that is. 😆

11. What does the most recent text that you sent say?

     Context: I was spamming Tyler gifs of adorable animals earlier today.

     The Text: “Aaand now I gotta get ready for therapy, so this shall be the crowning gif of adorable goodness!”

     Followed by a gif of two golden retrievers fighting over a tennis ball, with a third retriever (being shoved into the frame by a fourth, offscreen, retriever) resting his head on the two dogs feuding over the aforementioned tennis ball. 💖

12. What are your 5 favorite songs right now?

     This is rather hard... so I’ll just list the songs that I listen to on repeat a lot.

     1. “The Cure” by Lady Gaga

     2. “Insomnia” by IAMX

     3. “Middle of the Bed” by Lucy Rose

     4. “All the Rage” by Allie X

     5. “Wires” by The Neighbourhood

13. Do you like it when people play with your hair?

     Yes. No. Kinda? It depends... If I’ve just had a shower and my hair is clean, I love it. ^w^ But if it’s been a bit and my hair isn’t all that clean I just feel embarrassed if people touch my hair. e~e

14. Do you believe in luck and miracles?

     Ehhh... Depends which alter you ask really. Me, personally? Not so much. My family has always told me our family line is cursed to have bad luck, so if I believed in such things, I guess I’m doomed. 😂

15. What good thing happened this summer?

     I’ve started working on myself and my social life, strengthening friendships irl and online, or, at least attempting to. 😅 Sometimes I’m just bad at not isolating. But this past summer I’ve been spending basically every weekend at my friend Tyler’s apartment and hanging out with her core group of friends. It’s been a nice break from the chaos of the school semester. 😊

16. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again?

     Well, considering she’s on the other side of the country back in my home state, probably not. She was a lovely first kiss, but I’ll leave it at that. 🤭

17. Do you think there is life on other planets?

     With how many planets there are in the galaxy; the universe? Not to mention how many planets within The Goldilocks Zone that share a similar atmosphere to earth within the observable universe alone... How could I not think other life exists? At the very least, in some kind of bacterial form, though, I dare to dream a little bigger. ✨

18. Do you still talk to your first crush?

     Well, I’ve never really had a crush, per se, though plenty of squishes. :3 But my first squish did not turn out well, so, no. :c

19. Do you like bubble baths?

     Yes, especially if I go all out and light candles and play music on my phone. 🕯️🎶😌 However, I don’t do that very often. I take showers mostly.

20. Do you like your neighbors?

     Yeah, they’re chill people. The neighbors with the overly-territorial pitbull that kept us prisoner in our car for hours and broke into our fenced-in backyard to take massive doggie dumps out of sheer hatred for us moved away because their dog kept terrorizing the neighbourhood and was going to get put down if it didn’t stop breaking out to chase children on trikes and joggers onto rooftops. So, the neighbors we have now are awesome! 😆

21. What are your bad habits?

     Sometimes I’m too honest and don’t know when to stop talking, other times I’m so socially anxious I might as well be a feature of the wall at parties. 😂 I also have trichotillomania, a compulsive disorder related to OCD, in which I get really strong urges to pull out my hair sometimes, so definitely a bad habit... Just talking about it kinda... ehhhh... moving on. e~e

22. Where would you like to travel?

     A lot of places. Though Scotland is at the top of my list. Scotland is a huge part of my family’s heritage, and some of my family still lives there. So I would love to visit and spend some time in nature there~  💕

23. Do you have trust issues?

     Yes.

24. Favorite part of your daily routine?

     Well, anytime I get to de-stress is nice. I know wiping down my face with a face wipe always feels nice and refreshing after a day out running errands and attending classes. It’s the little things that are the most help~ 😊

25. What part of your body are you most uncomfortable with?

     All of it. If I could edit my body, that would be nice.

26. What do you do when you wake up?

     Hit snooze on the alarm a couple times, get up, walk to the bathroom... you can imagine the rest.

27. Do you wish your skin was lighter or darker?

     Nope, I’m quite happy with my vampire pale skin, and even my dirty blonde, curly lion’s mane of hair, and my blue eyes ain’t so bad either. I’m not completely hideous, just 97% hideous. 👌😂

28. Who are you most comfortable around?

     Myself. My alters. Tyler. Alex. My Tumblr fam~ 💞

29. Have any of your ex’s told you they regret breaking up?

     No, because I usually cut them out of my life after they break my heart. Some have tried to stay friends with me or become friends with me again years later, but... no. I don’t need backstabbers in my life.

30. Do you ever want to get married?

     Maybe, someday. When the time is right, I’ll know, until then, I’ll enjoy my singledom~ :3

31. Is your hair long enough for a ponytail?

     Yes, it’s in a ponytail right now actually. 😆

32. Which celebrities would you have a threesome with?

     NONE.

33. Spell your name with your chin.

     gtlo nhy (Oh gawd... What a name. 😂)

34. Do you play sports? What sports?

     Mi-Suk used to play on tennis and basketball teams, but our spine is a little too deteriorated nowadays to attempt such things.

35. Would you rather live without TV or music?

     Without TV, hands down. I’d die without music. I bleed music.

36. Have you ever liked someone and never told them?

     Yep. I had a bit of a squish on this kid named Travis in elementary school and never told him. My frenemy told him I had a crush on him, and he never talked to me after that. 😭

37. What do you say during awkward silences?

     I either make a joke or just enjoy the silence. Depends what mood I’m in. Sometimes I’m more introverted and just want to sit in silence or listen to music instead of talk. Other times I just wanna connect with people and I tend to crack a lot of darker, self-deprecating jokes as a way to break the ice, or tension if I feel some.

38. Describe your dream girl/guy?

     I want someone who is genuinely kind, patient, and funny. It also helps if they are neurodivergent like me, and have similar enough interests, sense of humor, etc. to my own. c: Overall, I just want to feel comfortable and safe with someone. 😊

39. What are your favorite stores to shop in?

     I buy food at Fry’s... so... Fry’s?

40. What do you want to do after high school?

     I’m already out of high school, bub. Now I’m in college, and I still have no idea. I have dream jobs, dream homes, dream lives. But none of them seem realistic.

41. Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance?

     Depends on the crime, really. If I hired someone to babysit my hypothetical children, and they forgot to tell the children to clean up their toys, I believe a second chance is in order. If they, however, ditched the job to mack on Paul Puffy Lips next door, leaving my children to starve, I don’t believe I’ll be giving them another call.

42. If you’re being extremely quiet what does it mean?

     It means I’m probably really socially anxious at the moment and would prefer to not be made the center of attention. o~o’

43. Do you smile at strangers?

     Yes, sometimes to spread cheer and joy, other times because I’m worried they’ll think I’m an up-to-no-good deviant or zombified by depression, which is how I feel at least 80% of the time, and worry everyone notices, even strangers, who probably would not assume such things, but that’s social anxiety for you. 😂

44. A trip to outer space or the bottom of the ocean?

     Why not both? However, humans are so preoccupied with space that we’ve only explored 5% of our oceans. I don’t want the oceans to feel lonely, so I’ll visit them first. 💙

45. What makes you get out of bed in the morning?

     Sometimes the looming responsibilities in my life, other times I just don’t get out of bed. 

46. What are you paranoid about?

     A lot of things, but the most pressing concern of mine is that everyone will inevitably leave me because I’m a terrible, horrible human being who doesn’t deserve friendship. 😅

47. Have you ever been high?

     Every day, if I can help it. I have a medical marijuana card and have for a couple years now.

48. Have you ever been drunk?

     No.

49. Have you done anything recently that you hope nobody finds out about?

     No, not really. Nothing is coming to mind. 

50. What was the color of the last hoodie you wore?

     Well, I’m wearing a hoodie now, and it’s gray, with the Nirvana emblem on the front. 😝 It’s my favorite and coziest hoodie of all.

[ilovethings-somuch]

Grey or Blue (5/8)

Bucky Barnes x Reader

College AU

A/N: Okay so I know it’s kind of late, but it’s technically still Friday for me sooo it’s fine. I swore in this one, I’m sorry, but it was necessary. aaand I hope you like it and I love feedback :) 

(Part Four)

Breaking up with Connor turned out to be easier said than done. Everything about him is entirely perfect and if I wasn’t so caught up on Bucky I know he would be good for me. How do tell someone that you don’t feel what they do and they’ve just been a distraction from your real feelings towards someone else. You don’t.

“I just don’t think I’m right for you. You deserve someone who wants to be in a relationship and someone who’s ready to give you all of them. I just can’t do that”

“Right now”

“What?”

“You can’t do it right now, and that’s okay. (Y/N), we can slow down. I knew I shouldn’t have sprung that on you last night. We can slow down and work into this relationship or not relationship” He gives me a hopeful lopsided grin and I feel like I’m going to throw up, or cry.

“No, Connor, I don’t think you get what I’m saying”

“You’re not ready for a relationship right now, but you were okay with what we were doing before, right? We can just go back to that.” He stands in front of me and rubs his hands up and down my arms in a soothing pattern.

“I can’t keep you waiting around on me when I’m not sure that I’ll ever be ready.” I can’t meet his eyes anymore, if I do I know that I’ll cave. “Connor I can’t do this, anything, with you”

The movement on my arms stops before he pulls his hands away completely and pushed his fingers through his hair. “If that’s what you want” He mumbles and goes about getting dressed and picking up the few items he has scattered around my room. Once he has everything collected he turns to look at me “Why did you say yes last night? You could’ve just said no then. You didn’t have to string me on longer” His eyes are cold when I meet them and my jaw trembles as I try not to cry.

“I’m sorry. I- I” I manage to croak out while trying to think of something to say to make this better.

“Save it, I’m sure you’ll be happy with whoever he is” His voice is stone cold, something I never thought I would say about Connor, as he turns and leaves.

Whatever part of my brain thought this would make me feel better was wrong. I used to be good at being alone, but even the short time I was with Connor changed all that. Madison has been helpful, even if she doesn’t understand why I did what I did. We’ve done the cliche ‘eat ice cream, watch cheesy romance films, and cry’ thing and sometimes I think I'm getting better, but then I see Bucky or Amber, or worse, both of them together and everything in me crumbles down again.

"You need to get back out there" Madison tells me in her too cheery voice.

"Get back out there? As in move on from Bucky, didn’t we already try that?" I glare at her, but she doesn’t flinch.

"As in go out, have a good time and stop moping around, do something about it."

"Like what? I tried going out with someone different and that was a disaster and now Bucky is dating someone new and let's be honest, they're perfect for each other"

"That's impossible because you and Bucky are perfect for each other"

"Shut up, you know that's not true"

"Actually, I know that it is true, and if you two would just talk to each other for once maybe you would get that"

"I tried talking to him!"

"When? That time I texted him for you? Oh or that time when he was drunk and probably didn't even know what was happening. Those don't count (y/n)! You need to actually talk, in person and sober if you want this to work” she yells accusingly and I set my jaw before speaking.

"Well maybe I don't."

"Don't what?"

"Maybe I don't want this to work. Maybe I should just be alone forever like I planned. It was easier that way.” I stomped to my room, slamming my door like a child but Madison catches it before it closes.

"Don't do that. Look, I'm sorry I yelled at you but I just don't know how to help you.” It’s silent for a few moments as we both process our emotions. She sighs before speaking again, “I can talk to Steve, see if Amber and Bucky's relationship is really as perfect as it seems"

"Only tell me if it's not" I mumble and put my face into my pillow.

"But how real is it?" Madison presses Steve, hoping to find answers for her friend.

"I don't know, Madison, they don't come here"

"Like ever?"

"Well, I guess she slept over last weekend," He shrugs.

"She slept over? That's kind of a big deal!"

"No, but it was weird” He shakes his head and Madison nods for him to continue. “Well they were drunk when they got here, and I know when we're that drunk we're all over each other when we get back right?" she nods her agreement, "but I didn't even hear them come in. So I don't think it's possible they were getting it on and then in the morning I asked Bucky if it was (y/n) and he freaked out when I said her name, like shushing me and shit. It seemed like he wasn't happy Amber was here, but he was also hung over so maybe I read too much into it. We know he likes (y/n)."

"We know that, but how come they can talk to us about it and not talk to each other. I hate to intervene-"

"Oh shut up, you love to intervene" Steve interrupts her and she smiles slyly at him.

"You know me so well"

"So what's your plan?"

“I’m not leaving my bed. I live here” I groan into my pillow while Madison works around me. She throwing clothes around, supposedly looking for something for me to wear that the party I don’t want to go to.

“Stop whining, this is going to be fun. I promise!”

“Somehow I don’t believe you”

“Well you don’t have to. You’re going whether you want to or not,” she says. I sigh, knowing I’m not going to win this battle, and get up to look at the clothes she picked out for me.

“I’m not wearing that” I point to the dress she picked out, how she managed to find the one dress that barely covers my butt is beyond me.

“Okay fine” She hands me some pants and a top instead.

“Privacy?” I ask, looking between her and the clothes. She groans and turns around but doesn’t leave the room. “You’re lucky I love you” I tell her once I’m dressed and she turns around.

“See, it wasn’t so hard to say it! Now you just need to say it to Bucky, not me” She smiles and I huff as I move past her, flipping her off on the way.

"Wait it's at Steve's place? Madison what the hell, you know Bucky's going to be here"

"No, no Steve said he went home for the weekend. I swear, it's just free booze." she tells me and I surprisingly believe her. We manage to enter the party without Steve yelling our arrival for once. I follow Madison into the kitchen and before I know it there's a drink in my hand. I don't hesitate before taking a drink, though I probably should've asked what it was first.

"Is this just straight vodka?" I ask Madison and she shrugs at me in response. I roll my eyes but take another sip. Before long I'm on my third, or is it fourth, drink. The music taste of the almost frat boys gets better as the night goes on and I can't help but dance along to the music. Madison has been keeping a close eye on me and Steve has been hanging out with the two of us. I've noticed them whispering a couple times but I don't bother asking what it's about.

"Bucky's in the house!" Someone shouts from the other room and I choke on my drink.

"What? Why is Bucky back?" Steve asks, but his acting skills are lacking even in my drunken state.  

"Really, he went home for the weekend?" I glare at Madison.

"I really thought he was, (y/n) I'm so sorry. We can leave."

"No, you know what, I want to stay. I don't give a fuck who's here" I know it's probably the alcohol talking more than me, but at the moment I don't care. Madison smiles at me, but that's because she thinks I'm getting over Bucky.

"I want another one of these" I hold up my cup to Madison, not really knowing what's in it. She agrees and goes to the kitchen to get another one. I stay in my place by the wall, swaying slightly to the music and minding my own business. As I look around the room I spot Bucky by himself for the first time in weeks. I smile slightly, maybe due to a sick part of me hoping that he broke up with Amber. I'll blame it on the alcohol, or maybe it's just the crush, but I can't help but stare at him. The way he talks with his hands, always moving in a way where I can’t help but think how they would feel cupping my cheeks or holding my waist. He starts walking towards the kitchen and I practically swoon at the way he walks, always with a purpose and practically a strut. I probably look like a lovesick puppy, though I'm too lost in my brain to really notice.

"Hi, (y/n)" Bucky smiles at me. I jump, not sure how I missed him walking towards me.

"Hi, Buck, surprise seeing you here” He crinkles his eyebrows, clearly confused at my statement. “Steve said you were out of town this weekend."

"He did? I don't know why he would think that, but I didn't realize he was having a party tonight so I guess communication hasn't been that great between us this week" he shrugs before looking back up at me with a smirk when I hiccup. "Have you been drinking?"

"Maybe a bit, it's free booze" I shrug and try to play it cool even as I feel my face heat up and I hiccup again.

“I think it’s time to cut you off” He calmly takes the drink out of my hand and his smile grows.

“That’s probably a good idea. Hey, it’s kind of like last time there was a party here except that time you were the drunk one” I giggle which turns into a laugh much too big for my sad excuse of a joke. At least Bucky has the courtesy to laugh with me.

“Did we hang out at the last party?” He asks me once I’ve stopped giggling. “Weird, I don’t remember that”

“No? It was pretty eventful” he looks confused, making it clear that he really doesn’t remember. “I was sitting on the couch and you sat on me”

“I sat on you? That’s so weird, I actually had a dream about that but I didn’t think it actually happened. I’m so sorry, I hope I didn’t hurt you.” He reaches out and runs one hand down my arm and my heart flutters.

“N-no you didn’t” I stutter out, the alcohol clearly not giving me all the courage I hoped for. The silence turns awkward after that and I do my best to fill it, “Um, where’s Amber I feel like I haven’t seen you two apart in forever” I try to say it lightheartedly but it probably didn’t sound that way if the look on Bucky’s face is any indication.

“Um, yeah I didn’t plan on hanging out with her tonight, but I also didn’t know there was a party. I guess I should probably invite her” he shrugs and goes to pull out his phone.

“I didn’t mean you had to, I just, I don’t know. Sorry” I look away, expecting Bucky to walk away, but he slowly puts his phone back in his pocket and moves to lean against the wall next to me.

“Do you want anything, water or some food?”

“I’m actually starving, Madison told me there would be food here but I feel like Steve planned this party like yesterday”

“I think he did” Bucky laughs. “What do you say we go get some food? I can drive us somewhere, get some nice greasy take-out?” He asks me in a singsong voice and I can’t help but smile.

“No, no I don’t want to impose” I try to wave him off.

“You’re not imposing, I haven’t eaten yet either and you should really eat if you’ve been drinking”

“Since when are you the responsible one?” I squint at him accusingly.

“That’s a good question. Come on, food, it’ll be good. I’ll go find Madison and tell her where we’re going, and I can take you home afterwards.” The smile he gives me makes it impossible for me to say no, so I nod and smile as he grabs my hand and leads me through the crowd. 

(Part Six)

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[h-styles-babes]

From your prompt list: "scoot over a little bit please" Aaand btw i love your fic😍😍

Thank you so much for the request and your kind words, lovely. Hope you like it :)

18. “Scoot over a little bit, please.”

Y/N and Harry were sat on the love seat in the Winston’s home in LA, watching a film with Ben, Meredith, Lou and Lux, having taken a break from promo for just the day. Harry was due back on set for The Late Late show in a few hours, so they had all taken to the Winston’s house for their down time. 

Y/N was cuddled up to Harry’s side, her legs curled up in his lap, nearly completely on top of him. She was glad to have been able to fly out with him for his week in America to promote the new album that he had worked tirelessly on for the better part of a year. She was incredibly proud of him, and although she knew the traveling back and forth and the time spent in Jamaica were necessary to get everything squared away, she had missed him terribly. She was afraid her work wasn’t going to let her have time off in order to come out with him, but they’d happily granted her the week off, so long as she came back, hitting the ground running when she was due back. 

They were on day three of their trip—day two of his week long stint at the night time show, and Y/N had greatly enjoyed watching Harry in his element the night before. She’d been his friend long enough to have seen several of his shows while he was touring with One Direction, and they’d been dating long enough for her to catch the tail end of his final tour—mostly the promo for their last album. She’d been with him through his much needed break at the beginning of the previous year, and she was there when he’d gotten the role for Dunkirk. She visited him a few times while he was on location for filming, and she’d made sure to see him as frequently as possible while they were set up in London. She had visited him for a week when he was recording and writing in Jamaica. She had attended the launch party for his magazine shoot, proudly stood by his side as they viewed all the amazing photos that had been taken of him back toward the first part of the year. 

The only part that she had really missed was his first few performances, which she hated, but she knew there was no way around them. She wasn’t able to jet off from her job any time she pleased, which weighed heavily on both Harry and her, but they made it work. She was there in studio when Harry went on Grimmy’s show to play Sign of the Times for the first time, and she beamed proudly when she first heard the notes play out through the room. She’d heard the track before, but that didn’t take away from her excitement at all. 

Unfortunately, she couldn’t go with him to New York when he did SNL, but she made sure she was up in time to catch it on a live stream. She called him as soon as she knew he was done and squealed and cried while she gushed to him about how amazing he did. And she watched just as dutifully when he played on the Today Show, cringing only slightly when she heard Carolina, but quickly brushing it off. She never wanted to be that girlfriend, and he’d already warned her that there would be a few songs from girls from his past on the album. Being his friend for so long, she knew exactly who he was crooning about, and she honestly couldn’t be that mad. She’d liked the girl well enough, though she hadn’t been more than a brief fixture in Harry’s life. She was probably the most genuine of his flings, and she could appreciate that. 

It had been about a month since then, and now promo for the album was in full swing. She’d been there when it debuted of The Breakfast Show, yet again. She enjoyed watching Harry and Nick rib each other back and forth. They’d been friends nearly as long as Y/N and Harry had been, and she considered herself close to the radio DJ as well, so the atmosphere was relaxed but buzzing with energy as they went through the album. 

Being there with Harry for a full week as he did his residency on James Corden’s show was pretty exciting, though. She didn’t know what his full participation in the show would be, because he had specifically kept it a secret from her—kind of like how he’d kept the entire album a secret from her until it’s release (except for the first single, because he was just too giddy to not have her listen before the rest of the world). She’d almost been expecting the first night’s run, though. Harry sitting and chatting on the couch to someone she had only ever seen on screen was something she was nearly used to (barre that time they were sat next to Ian McKellen on Graham Norton. That had been a trip), and she had enjoyed watching them play Flinch. She cringed as Harry cursed on live television, but she hadn’t really expected anything less of him. He played by his own rules a lot now that he had the freedom to. Jeff scolded him lightly during a break, and Ben and James took the piss out on him for not going more than a few minutes without having to be bleeped out, but it was fine. 

For that night, she knew Harry had something else planned for the show, because he’d disappear with Ben a few times throughout the day for nearly an hour at a time into Ben’s office, and they’d both emerge with cheeky grins and little chuckles being shared between them. When Y/N would raise her eyebrows in question, Harry would just shrug and say, “Yeh’ll find out tonight, love.” She remained curious, but she wasn’t about to ruin her boyfriend’s fun.

So, around five that evening, they all headed off to the studio where the show was recorded, all of them piling into Ben’s Range Rover so as not to have to take separate vehicles. They were all headed to the same place anyway. When they got there, James greeted Y/N with a kiss to the cheek before whisking Harry away with a shouted, half-arsed apology over his shoulder, not sounding at all apologetic or sincere. Y/N just rolled her eyes and headed back to Harry’s dressing room, since the men seemed to be heading in a different direction. 

Lou already had her things set up in the room from the day before, all of the products she used on Harry piled on the vanity. Y/N took up the bottle of cologne she had become familiar with over the years and took a little whiff, smiling at the potent scent that was a bit more diluted on Harry’s skin. The scent of the laundry detergent they used and the mint that was typically on his breath mingled a bit more with the cologne, but it was still the most prominent thing on his person. She’d jerk her head up any time she smelled the scent in public, anticipating seeing Harry, and be sorely disappointed when it was some businessman or something, standing in front of her in line at Starbuck’s. She wanted to be ridiculous and request that Tom Ford discontinue the scent for public consumption and only send it to Harry from now on, but she knew that was out of the question. She was in no position to be asking for things like that, and she really didn’t want her boyfriend to become more of a diva than he already was sometimes. 

After a bit, Y/N could hear the sounds of music playing out in the studio, though she couldn’t hear much more than the bass, so she couldn’t tell what song it was. She knew they’d run through the song a few times for their rehearsal, so she took to sitting on the couch, scrolling through her phone and listening to Lux chatter about her visit with her dad last week. Y/N had known Lux very nearly since she was born, and they were as close as could be thanks to Y/N’s close relationship to Harry, who was basically Lux’s family at this point. Y/N saw Lux like a niece, and Lou was thankful for the loving people that surrounded her daughter.

Lux hopped up when the dressing room door opened. Harry stepped through in his jeans and a Harley Davidson t-shirt, his sunnies pushed into his hair, though he hadn’t been outside in nearly two hours. He smiled as Lux launched herself at his legs, swooping herself up in his arms to settle on his hip. She was nearly six, but she was still tiny compared to Harry, and seeing them together was one of the most precious things Y/N had ever seen. She had been teased many times over the years—mostly by Lou—about the stars she got in her eyes when she saw Harry with children. She brushed off comments like, “Just wait ‘til it’s him with your guys’s babies,” with a chuckle and a shake of her head, but the pinging in her heart at the longing she knew she harbored happened every time. She knew they were a long way from settling down like that and having kids—hell, they weren’t even close to being anything more than boyfriend and girlfriend—but she couldn’t help the way her ovaries ached. Damn biology and hormones.

“Yeh’ve got about an hour before I gotta start gettin’ yeh all pretty,” Lou announced, briefly looking up from her own phone. “Do yeh need a shower?” Harry shook his head as he placed Lux back on the floor. “Took one this mornin’.”

“Alright. Relax for a bit. Love on yeh girl,” Lou suggested. “I’m gonna go find James. Gotta have a chat with him.” 

The statement sounded a bit cryptic to Y/N, but she shrugged it off as Lou left the room, throwing out that she’d be back in about twenty and to keep an eye on Lux, as if Harry or Y/N would ever really let the child out of their sight. Harry plopped himself down on the sofa beside Y/N, immediately dropping his head onto her shoulder and slinging an arm across her lap. Y/N chuckled as he nuzzled his head into her neck. She reached up to run her fingers through her hair, enjoying the fluffiness of it having been washed earlier in the day, and a content little grin stretching across his face. He hummed as she scratched her nails lightly over his scalp.

“Missed yeh,” he murmured, turning his face in to press a kiss to her shoulder. 

Y/N couldn’t help but smile at his little affections. “Yeh’ve only been gone about two hours.”

“That means I can’t miss yeh pretty face?” he questioned indignantly, peeking one eye open up at her. 

Y/N shook her head. “Not what I’m saying. Just mean we’ve been in the same building this entire time.”

He shrugged. “Still missed yeh.”

She dropped a kiss to his temple. “Missed yeh, too, babe. Can’t wait to see yeh perform tonight.”

Harry popped his head up and grinned cheekily at her, her favorite grin of his. It was a little cocky but also a little goofy, and his dimples pressed deep into his cheeks. She thought it brought out the youth in his face, like she was stepping back into 2011 when they met for the first time and she had been instantly taken with his charm and playfulness. 

“Think you’re gonna like it,” he said excitedly, the hand resting on her opposite hip squeezing slightly. “And I’ve got a few surprises, so yeh’ve gotta be in the audience tonight.”

She reared back a little, instantly suspicious of his demand. “What for?”

“Yeh’ll see. Just go with it.”

“Yeh know I hate hearing that phrase just as much as you do,” she reminded him, her eyes squinting at him.

“Promise it’s good,” he pleaded.

She was about to respond, but Lux came up to them, her iPad gripped in her hands, headphones already plugged into the jack. Both Y/N and Harry made the correct assumption that a Peppa Pig marathon was about to begin until show time. She stood between Harry and Y/N’s legs, looking back and forth of them expectantly, like she was waiting for them to do something without any type of verbal communication. When they both just looked at her in curious anticipation, she sighed.

“Scoot over a little bit, please,” she said, looking at Harry, since Y/N was the one pinned to the arm of the couch. 

“Yeh can sit on the other side of me, Lux,” Harry offered, patting the free space next to him. 

She cocked her hip out as she looked at him. “I wanna sit next t’ Aunt Y/N, Uncle Haz, not you.”

Harry’s mouth dropped open in faux offense—or what Y/N was assuming was faux, but Harry was slightly offended at the girl’s demand. Y/N couldn’t keep in her giggle at Harry being slighted by a girl that was essentially his niece, who was usually attached to his hip. He wasn’t used to playing second fiddle to anyone, not even her parents.

“Yeah, Uncle Haz, scoot over,” Y/N teased, pushing at his chest to get him to back up.

“See how much I’m loved ‘round here,” he mumbled as he shifted over on the couch, opening up a sliver of space for Lux to wedge into. 

She settled herself between them with a little wiggle and a satisfied smile before pushing the little buds into her ear and beginning her episode. Y/N couldn’t stop giggling as Lux leaned her head into her side and Harry pouted. 

“Put that lip away, Styles.”

“She just kicked me out of my spot!” he protested.

Y/N’s giggles turned into chuckles. “Yeh can tell her ‘no.’ Yeh know that, right?”  

“Her pout is more adorable than mine; I don’t stand a chance.”

Y/N reached over and flicked at his bottom lip that was still stuck out. “You’re gonna give her a complex. Gotta tell her ‘no’ every once in a while.”

“That’s what her parents are for,” he shrugged. “And have yeh seen her throw a tantrum? Never wanna experience that again.”

“Kids throw tantrums, H. Just a part of life.”

“Yeah, an annoyin’ one.”

If you want, you can make a request from this post :)

[displeasingaesthetic]

Yuri’s file

(I decoded Yuri’s file! Aaand I’m definitely late to the party..but, this is for all of those newer fans of ddlc who didn’t know how the hell to do this.. If you want to know how to find the story below it’s pretty much the simplest one to open: Open Yuri.chr in Notepad, copy all the Base64 code and paste it into a Base64 decoder, I used this one https://www.base64decode.org/ , click “decode” and you’re done! So this should be what you find.)

“If you found this note in a small wooden box with a heart on it, then *congratulations!* You are probably the first person to read this. I didn’t really plan on sharing this with anybody, but for some reason I think it’s exciting that somebody out there, a complete stranger, will come across this note and read my story. Someone I will never meet, sharing such a personal bond with me. I’m fascinated that either one of us could die - even as soon as tomorrow - with the other being completely clueless to the fact. To you, my entire life is within this note, and so I will live for as long as your memory can carry me. Writing this, I’m wondering if that makes you feel fascinated or violated. It’s so exciting.

I’m sorry if my story is a bit disorganized, but I’d like to get it down while it’s still fresh on my mind. First, I’ll tell you a little bit about myself. I’m a first-year college girl and have led, by most standards, a pretty unspectacular life up to this point. I grew up in an upper-middle class school district with decent teachers. I did track in middle school and some of high school, and I’ve had two boyfriends. Now, I’m studying for a career in occupational therapy, because I feel the field is undervalued and provides tremendous help to people.

I’m giving you this background because there’s this strange misconception that if you want to kill someone then you’re either sick in the head or you have anger management issues. But, it’s very apparent that I don’t fall into either of those categories. It’s true that most murder cases are in a domestic setting where someone loses control of their anger or something. But the thing is that those people kill under provocation, whether by a singular outburst or by a slow-burning series of misfortunes. Those people kill because in that brief moment, they want a specific someone, for a specific reason, to be hurt or killed.

What I’m talking about is wanting to kill someone for no specific reason, maybe just to see what it’s like. Do you ever get that? I wouldn’t know how others feel, because it’s not something I ever talked about. But I’ve been curious about what it’s like to kill someone ever since I was a child. Not killing anyone in particular, just a random person. It’s always just fascinated me that if I put my mind to it, I can approach anyone, and in five minutes they would be completely gone from this Earth.

But I’ve never done so for a couple of reasons. First of all, for most of my life it was logistically impossible for me to do it without getting caught. I only got my driver’s license a couple years ago, and even then, the preparations would take too much time, definitely stirring suspicion. It was only once I started college that I realized this was no longer an obstacle.

Another reason is that I was afraid of causing harm to too many people. You might laugh reading that, at how hypocritical it sounds. But, let me explain: Why should I feel bad about killing someone if they’re too dead to care? Who would I be feeling bad for? Contrarily, it’s the grief of the living that I’d rather not be responsible for. Because of this, I knew it would take a good deal of research before finding a suitable person to kill, and I’ve never had the means to do so - again, until I started college.

And now, having just experienced it, I’d say it was pretty satisfying in the end. Something I would try again? Probably not, since my curiosity has already been satisfied. It really wouldn’t be the same a second time.

But anyway, if by any chance you’re also curious to kill someone, then you’re welcome to take notes. :)

***

I started a hobby of people-watching soon after I entered college. People-watching is interesting to me because it’s taking one of the infinite extras in your life and turning them into a main character - without them knowing, of course. It’s so easy to forget that every single one of the hundreds of strangers you pass every day has a life story as deep and complex as your own. One thing I noticed about people-watching, and wanting to kill someone, is that you are in more constant awareness of this. When I find a person to observe, their story slowly becomes more clear to me over time, gaps being filled - it really is amazing.

I usually went to grocery stores on weekends and looked around in people’s shopping carts. If I saw something that interested me, I decided to observe the person for a little bit. Of course, since my goal was to find someone to kill, I ruled out anyone who had children or a partner with them. Wedding rings were another tell-tale sign.

So maybe once a weekend, I would find someone who fit my criteria, at which point I would follow them home and note their address. From there, it became incredibly easy to investigate a little bit more; most people have normal work hours, meaning I could spend afternoons going through their mail or looking around in their house. I repeated this with several people (and had one close call), but for varying reasons I didn’t really feel satisfied enough with them to kill any of them.

I started getting a bit impatient and thought that I might just settle for killing the man named Devon, even though I didn’t really want to kill someone wealthy. But then, I came across someone new - someone who just, felt perfect. The feeling only strengthened as I investigated her further, and I knew that she would be the one for me to kill.

A young-looking woman I met at the grocery store, as per usual. She was doing some light shopping with a basket. Her hair was wavy and dark brown, sitting inelegantly on her slumped shoulders and surrounding her tired-looking face. Her bare fingers told me she might be single, but beyond that, my gut was almost certain of it. This woman just seemed so…plain, really. I guess I felt a greater acuity for the personal lives of strangers ever since I started my people-watching. But the way she carried herself, I just got the feeling that if she suddenly died, nobody would be around to miss her. Of course, I still wanted to investigate her a bit.

I followed my usual routine of checking out her place during her work hours. I learned immediately from her mail that her name is Linda Watson. Linda lived in a quiet apartment complex, her mailbox easily accessible right outside her door. Instead of quickly shuffling through it, I decided I could take her mail back to my dorm and return it before she was finished with work (she only lived about 15 minutes from me). I did some research and learned how to open and reseal the envelopes without damaging them, which took some technique along with a hair dryer, rubbing alcohol, and Q-tips.

This made it easy for me to learn a little more about her. Linda was a 33-year-old woman who worked for a small accounting firm - I’d rather not name the place outright. Her birthday was December 11th which, coincidentally, was approaching in a couple weeks. I also managed to find a bank statement that gave me a nice look into how she’s been spending her past month. It was at this point I realized that my assessment of Linda Watson as an extremely plain woman was pretty spot-on, because there was absolutely nothing interesting on the list. A trip to Old Navy, a bunch of Starbucks, something about $40 from Amazon - no restaurants, no movies, nothing that would really imply she was spending any time socializing. That aside, I also found a cooking magazine, so I guess she was into cooking.

Apartments are harder to break into than suburban homes, because there are fewer doors and windows. Every time I got Linda’s mail, I would check the front door and the windows in the back, but they were always locked. This was a bit frustrating because I was really interested in getting into her house. So, I came up with a sort of plan that I thought would be fun, even if it didn’t work.

Last Saturday, I visited Linda Watson’s apartment complex as I would on weekdays. The difference is that this time, I wanted her to be home. I thought it would be interesting to have a conversation with her. If I got lucky, I could take advantage of the situation to discreetly unlock a window from the inside. So, I walked up to her door wearing nothing warmer than a light sweatshirt, and knocked. The adrenaline rush was crazy. I was afraid I might screw something up.

The door opened, and in front of me stood Linda Watson, exactly as I remembered her from the grocery store. It was at that moment, making eye contact for the first time, that I realized I was running the risk of beginning to care about this person. As selfish as it is, I couldn’t kill a person I cared about, even if it’s a 33-year-old woman standing in a doorway with a slightly perplexed look on her face, giving me a reserved “Hello.”

Arms crossed from the cold, I shyly returned Linda’s greeting. I explained that I was walking my dog near the woodsy area behind the back of her apartment, and that he had gotten away. I had been looking for my dog for an hour and was wondering if Linda may have seen him roaming about. Of course, Linda sympathetically apologized for the situation and that she couldn’t be of use to me, but that she would keep an eye out. I wore a defeated expression in response, apologizing in return for troubling her.

It somehow went exactly as I had hoped - Linda invited me inside to warm up a bit with some coffee. I outwardly hesitated before accepting her offer, although on the inside I wanted to jump through the door and hug her for cooperating so well. And that’s how Linda Watson ended up with a 19-year-old girl next to her on the couch - who knows if it was just a nice gesture or if she really has no better way to spend her Saturdays than talking to some kid she just met (who happens to be interested in killing her).

Linda soon learned that my name is Maria (it’s not) and that I attend the nearby community college (I don’t). I was a little bit nervous that she would ask me too many questions because I didn’t have many answers prepared. I was able to steer the conversation toward her, and she was pretty happy to talk. I asked what she does, and she told me that she works for the accounting firm I already knew about, communicating with outside clients and keeping records. I told her I was pretty nervous about growing up. She told me to enjoy college and to make lots of friends because there’s less opportunity once you start working.

When I asked if she was married or anything, she laughed. Of course I knew she wasn’t married, but I wanted to hear more about her love life. She said that she doesn’t currently have a boyfriend (I guess she’s at least had boyfriends, but who knows how long ago). When I asked her about kids, she said she doesn’t want them until she gets a better job. On top of that, she told me that her family has a history of some genetic diseases such as arthritis and depression, which she is afraid to give to her kids.

It’s funny that she mentioned that because when I asked to use her bathroom, I noticed a tube of prescription pills on the sink. It was labelled duloxetine, which I looked up later and discovered that it is in fact an antidepressant. I had a joking thought that maybe by killing her I’d be doing her a favor, but quickly decided I was a terrible person for coming up with that.

The rest of the visit was pretty dull. We talked about food and some other mundane stuff before I eventually made an excuse to leave. I didn’t get the chance to unlock a window or anything like that, but I didn’t really feel the need to go through her apartment anymore. As early as the drive back to my dorm, I was already thinking about how I would best like to kill Linda Watson.

The choice was between effectiveness and fun. I decided to go with fun, because it would be way more satisfying to kind of dissect her as I killed her, rather than just getting it done and calling it a day. Fast-forward one week to December 13th - today, actually. Linda Watson turned 34 two days ago. I made a fun little wager with myself where if Linda was spending her birthday weekend alone, I would pay her a visit and kill her. If she was out or had company, I would stop by next week or something instead.

So this morning, I drove over to Lowe’s and bought an axe. Again, I expect you’re laughing, but that’s also kind of the point. An axe is so kind of cliche and a “movies” thing that I actually thought it would be the most fun. Swinging it at someone and everything, it’s a really entertaining image. They actually had a bunch of different axes, so I picked one that had a good weight but was still light enough for me to swing quickly.

The drive after getting the axe was when the adrenaline really picked up. All that kept going through my mind on the way over was “Wow, I’m really doing this.” Not in a bad way, just like a surprised this is real life sort of thing. I also got this strange rush of recollections of the time I spent with Linda. It was like my life was flashing before my eyes, except it was just the rather mundane hour I spent with Linda - like snippets of our conversations, the sound of her laugh, her facial expressions and stuff.

I also wondered to myself what the crazy serial killers would be feeling at a time like this - schizophrenic delusions? Sexual buildup? I have no idea, but what I felt was kind of like ridiculously alert and numb in the senses at the same time, however that’s possible.

Before getting out of the car, I had the sense to stuff the axe into my backpack to look a little less ridiculous walking across the parking lot. The handle was sticking out, but that didn’t really matter. At that point my heart was pounding so hard I could feel my throat throbbing. I tried controlling my breath, but it’s really hard to not breathe fast when your heart is pounding like that.

I reached Linda Watson’s door and quietly put my ear to it after setting down my backpack. I heard a voice that wasn’t hers - company? No, it was just the TV, mixed with her occasional tapping footsteps behind the door. I actually kept my ear there for a really freaking long time, because I wanted to make absolutely sure nobody was over. Probably 10 minutes of that and a lot of reassuring myself convinced me.

I quietly opened my backpack zipper and held the axe in my hands. My fiercely shaking hands. What the hell was this kind of reaction that my body was making? I told my body to shut up, that it’s no big deal, but of course it wouldn’t listen. It was actually bizarre how much my hands were shaking. It must be the adrenaline buildup. I rolled my eyes at myself and got my hand to rest on the doorknob. If it’s locked, I’ll knock, it’ll be basically the same. I took a deep breath and forced my muscles into action.

I swiftly turned the doorknob. Not locked. In one movement, I opened up the door and slipped inside. Linda Watson, just a few steps away into the kitchen. I see - she was in the middle of cooking. She immediately jumped and turned around, startled. I expected that. Quickly, I let go of the doorknob and adjusted the axe into both hands. In the following split second, I realized that she would probably start to make a lot of noise. Looking back, I’m an idiot for not considering that. Just as Linda’s mouth opened to speak - maybe even started speaking - I forcefully swung my axe into the side of her head.

But, my axe was facing backwards. I hit her with the blunt end of the blade. I actually did this on purpose, because in that split second I somehow decided that it would be the way to keep her noise to a minimum. It actually worked. I felt barely any resistance in the swing as I collided with her head, knocking it clean aside. Linda’s half-formed syllable came out as a kind of weird grunt - a noisy exhalation is probably the best I could describe it. That happened at the same time as her head smacked into the cabinet from the force, and she fell backwards without any ability to keep her balance. I didn’t hesitate at all to keep swinging at her while she was half lying down on the ground, this time my axe facing the right way. I didn’t really know where to swing, so I kind of just started hacking at her collarbone area and chest. It didn’t feel like the axe was going too deep, but there was a nice “thunk” sort of sound every time the axe embedded into her. I even felt the soft sinking sensation ripple into my hands, like the axe was a kind of physical extension of my sense of touch.

On a whim, I swung once at her throat, but most of the swing actually missed and I hit the floor by accident, causing a loud, dull whack to resonate through the apartment. I didn’t have time to think about it. I swung again with better aim and got a more centered hit, feeling the bone or cartilage or whatever is in there, so I must have split it open. Right after that, I decided to swing at her face, and I got this diagonal cut along her nose and mouth, which felt pretty good so I did it once more.

I finally briefly stopped to survey the damage. Linda was bleeding ridiculously. The blood was kind of coming out in waves, in sync with her beating heart, probably. It was pooling all around her and riding along the cracks between the tiles. Her light blue shirt was all torn up and stained dark, kind of mixed with a fleshy mess around her chest. It was all just glistening red. Her face wasn’t much better, covered in dripping red at this point, and her lip was kind of hanging off, revealing red-stained teeth in a really weird way, like a zombie or something.

Linda wasn’t dead, though. Her limbs were kind of weakly, aimlessly trying to move while she was stuck on her back. More than anything, she reminded me of a bug that you crush but it still pitifully moves its legs around before it dies completely. That’s basically what she was doing. But I didn’t know how long it would take for her to die, or what kind of condition she was in. I ended up grabbing a big knife that was on the counter that she was using to cut up meat. Trying to step around the blood, I reached down and carved into the upper half of her neck, trying to sort of saw it from the left side to the right. It was a little awkward because the area was so soft and squished around the knife as I was cutting. But the sensation was completely different from the axe. It actually felt like I was cutting a tough piece of raw meat (which I guess technically, I was).

The blood started pouring out, and I hoped that I severed the most major arteries in there. It must have worked, because after a moment Linda’s limb movements kind of just had the strength drained from them, soon resting still on the floor. I took a few seconds to catch my breath. No time to stick around and think about the experience. I shook the knife blade through a dirty pan in the sink to clean off the blood, then threw the knife into my backpack. I did the same with the axe. I also took her laptop that was sitting on the counter. It had some recipe open for veal and mushrooms. I didn’t really take the laptop to use it, since I have a perfectly good one myself that I got for college. I just wanted to look through it for fun.

I finally went outside and closed the door behind me. I got some blood on my sweater and jeans. But funnily enough, I actually anticipated that so I wore dark colors.

The drive back to my dorm was just a constant replaying of the experience in my head. I guess that’s still kind of happening even now, actually. But it felt pretty nice. Linda Watson is dead. I kind of let the weight of that sink in. The sensation of having completely removed a human life from existence. It’s crazy. I don’t know how else to describe it.

Anyway, I threw the axe and knife into a dumpster on campus, which I think is picked up every Monday, so they’ll be gone by then. My roommate goes home on the weekends, so I have the dorm to myself today. It gave me the chance to go through Linda’s website history. I was right in thinking that’s where her deepest secrets would lie.

There was actually a lot of dirty stuff, like the names of websites for porn videos and stories and things like that. Same with her searches. A lot of the websites were boring, like cooking websites and recipes, and game websites like Bejeweled and stuff. I eventually got to the “one week ago” section of her history, and it gave me a chill.

There were a whole bunch of searches like “methods of suicide”, “how to tie a noose”, “dangerous household chemicals”, “carbon monoxide poisoning” - like a lot of them. She was probably ready to write a book on suicide after all the research she did. So I guess Linda was contemplating suicide. I wonder if it was influenced by her depression.

The irony is actually striking. Maybe Linda was going to die anyway. Or maybe she couldn’t find the courage to do it. If that were the case, I almost literally gave her a birthday present by killing her. That’s actually really comical in a messed-up way, and it leaves a weird taste in my mouth. The part I don’t get is that I didn’t see any of those searches up until the “one week ago” section, nothing more recent than that.

I ended up throwing the laptop in the dumpster with the other stuff. It’s been a few hours since then, so I’ve had some time to calmly think about everything. Like I said, it was pretty satisfying and I’m glad I finally got around to it. I feel like I can finally cross it off my bucket list, or like I’m tying loose ends with myself. This is probably the first and last time I’ll write the name Linda Watson - it’s back to living a normal college life, except I might do some people-watching every now and then because it’s definitely fun and interesting.

But I’ll always wonder how many people there are like me. I’m sure there has to be a lot, because there is just nothing strange about it to me, being curious about killing someone. Sadly, it’s something that people can’t exactly just talk about, so I guess I’ll never know. I’m sure that anyone would just lie about it even if you asked them. But you can’t help but wonder if that person in the grocery store, who stares at you as you pass by, might be considering what it would be like to kill you. If I could, I would tell them all about it, so they could decide for themselves.  But who knows, maybe I got lucky, and that person is you. I actually really, really hope so.

~♥”

[summertime-children]

KanoKido Week Day 1- Like it always has been

Prompt: Pining / Dating

Word Count: 2 672

Summary: The dan has decided to have another meet up to finally spend some time together again and see how much others lives have changed. Unfortunetely some of them’s haven’t much. (post str)

Comment: It’s a collab between me and @limamelon (shuuyakido)!! Unfortunetely you have to read that one first, but then you can go to her *cough* better *cough* part! [here]

“Hey, thanks for picking me up!” said Seto enthusiastically to which the blond sitting across the table smiled.

“No problem! I have always time for you, especially since you were finally nearby.” To the last part the dark-haired boy shifted his gaze slightly to the side in guilt. “Besides it’s always nice to meet one-to-one!”

“Ahaha, thanks again, Shuu… I mean Kano.” That little slip certainly did make the other laugh.

“Haha, so Kido already told you about this idea of calling each other by our ‘code names’ for today? Man, that’s really so~ like her! Ha, she’s adorable when she so invested in that whole ‘gang’ stuff, isn’t she? But well, what could you expect from the leader?” He looked at his friend to see his reaction, but he received something he didn’t expected and couldn’t quite place a finger on. A content look.

“Yea, I guess.” He suddenly changed the look on his face to like as if he just remembered something. “So how much time we have left?”

“Two hours, easy.” Kano waved his hand in dismiss.

“But to the dinner, right? Didn’t Kido tell you to be an hour earlier to help?”

“What would I do without you?” Kano shook his head. “Ok, so we have an hour left. We won’t be late, don’t worry. It’s still pretty enough time, isn’t it?” he took a sip from the ice tea he ordered and smiled with his lips still pressed to the glass. “Like how are things with Mary’s… I’m sorry Mary and your house?”

“It goes pretty well ,thanks! I think the renovation will be over soon.” Seto sure did lighten up. Not that it was so unusual for him. “When we finish, we’ll invite you two to a party!”

“Haha, I can’t wait!~ Glad to hear it’s been good for you and Mary.”

“Speaking of, how are things going between you and Kido?”

Wait what?

“Speaking of? What do you mean by that?”

“Well, you know…” he stirred his coffee, looking at it for a moment as if it was supposed to answer for him, “did you tell her?”

“Tell her what? Seto, you gotta be more specific.”

“How you feel?…” The silence fell upon them for a moment. That question really did leave Kano surprised.

“…Uhm, I feel fine, thanks. Beside that I don’t understand why should I be telling this Kido, I think she pretty much knows.” Somehow this answer visibly irritated Seto. Like he wasn’t the one talking nonsense.

“Kano, please, I’m serious. Stop joking around.”

“I’m joking around? Seto, buddy, you’re the one that jumped with weird questions out of nowhere.” Now he was loudly irritated as he let out a prolonged groan.

“Ok, fine. I’ll be straight-forward. I’m way better with this.” For someone who hasn’t tell a single lie his whole life definitely, Kano thought.

“Yes, please.”

“Kano,” the dark-haired boy looked him right in the eyes, as if trying to see right through them to his mind. It felt almost nostalgic, “did you tell Kido you love her?” he raised his hand to stop Kano from answering just yet. “In romantic sense.”

There was a fairly awkward moment of silence filled with Kano staring at Seto with big eyes until he finally gave an answer. Well, if you can call it that.

“Wha… what?!”

The taller boy looked at him with a disappointment in his eyes that Kano had never seen before.

“I always thought you’re a better liar.”

“I’m… I’m not lying I genuinely don’t know what you’re talking about!” he slightly raised his voice and immediately regretted it. He furtively looked around to see if he got anyone’s attention. Not everyone needed to know about his non-existent romance with Kido. Definitely not strangers.    

“Kano… “his companion said in a hopeless voice as he limply fell on the back of the chair, seemingly unaware or uncaring about the noise Kano made. ”…it’s been fifteen years.”

“So what? Was that enough time for me to fell in love with her?”

“I think you had that covered in less than fifteen days.” Seto raised an eyebrow. “I rather meant that it was enough time for you to finally admit your feelings to her, but…” he looked over him (with a hopeless expression) as if desperately trying to find something in the blond look that would disprove what he was about to say, but ultimately gave up and sighed deeply “…apparently you haven’t even admitted it to yourself.”

That only made the blond irritated more. Although, most probably because he never was able to hold any strong irritation towards his childhood friend, somehow he felt like it was directed at himself. Strange.

“Just where did you even get that from?”

“Ehh, could you at least don’t act like I never was in your head before?”

“And what? You want to tell me you have read how I ‘love’ Kido?”

“You haven’t thought exactly that, yes. But… “ he stopped for a moment, seemingly to think about what to say, “…but she did always occupied your mind a lot, didn’t she?”

Good shot. That certainly left a blush on his cheeks.

“Well, I mean…” Kano grunted. Because something tickled him in his throat, not to give himself more time to think. Obviously. “…when we were little she did require our attention. Since her powers were out of control and all…”

He looked at Seto to see if this answer satisfied him (or in the best-case scenario made him entirely drop the subject), but the other boy just squinted his eyes at him.

“Yea, alright. Don’t worry, I have more examples.”  

Dear lord. Kano’s gaze desperately wandered to the clock hanging on the wall. Twenty-five minutes left.

“You know, it’s really not only about what you think. You literally say out loud how ‘cute’ and ‘beautiful’ she is all the time.” Ok, now that was dumb.

“So what? She is cute and beautiful. What, now we are not allowed to say facts? Or are you trying to say that she is not beautiful?” Guilt card, good move. Hopefully that will settle it.

“I’m… I’m not trying to… Ok, fine. She is beautiful.” yes, “But I don’t feel the need to constantly talk about it. And as I recall you even went as far as calling her the most beautiful.” dammit.

“I still stay by my case.”

Seto rolled his eyes. “That she’s the most beautiful?”

“Yes. Like, who do you think is?”

“Well, you know, for me it’s be Mary.”

“Seto, let’s be real. You know you’re biased because you’re in love with her.”

Kano swear he had never seen so much irritation in his Seto’s eyes before.

Kano sighed deeply as they finally arrived at home… well, for today base. Seto was a great friend and Kano whole-heartedly missed his company, but after their conversation he was a bit drained out by his presence, especially after he kept pressing the subject. It felt kind of like back in the old days when dark-haired boy’s powers would go out of control and he ended up reading a little too much in Kano’s head. And even then, just like he always had been, he was too candid, too honest to just dismiss it and pretend like he saw nothing. Only this time he certainly didn’t read in Kano’s mind. Not at all.    

That little slip of relief certainly didn’t went unnoticed by Seto, but the taller boy didn’t comment on it in any way. At that moment Kano wished that that’s how the rest of the evening would go. (Not that there would be anything to notice in the first place.)

“I’m back!~” Kano exclaimed as they walked through the door. There was a noise heard coming from the kitchen followed by a quick “Finally!” in the well-known for both of them voice.

“Why? Did you miss me?~” the blond answered in the sing-song  voice. Somehow he was already in better mood.  A simple exchange was enough to make him feel like they’re back into routine and that maybe today won’t be so weird after all?

Aaand it was ruined by the quiet snort behind him. Thanks, Seto.

“Yeah, right. After those few hours I already forgot how you look.” Kido stepped out of the kitchen and they could see her rolling eyes. “I think I missed Seto more.” She smiled and came to the taller boy with spread arms.

“I missed you toooo!” Seto exclaimed as he lifted Kido up slightly above the ground and swing her around.

“Hah, I also missed your strong hugs!” Kido said as she imitated rubbing her back from pain. (Or did she? Seto’s hugs could be that strong, Kano knew from experience.)

“Ahaha, sorry! Do you need help with anything?”

“See Kano? That’s the spirit.” She spared a falsely shaming glance look at blond before turning back to Seto. “But actually I’m mostly done since someone is late to help me.” This time she didn’t give him even a glance. Instead he could feel on himself reproachful look from Seto. Right, like he didn’t have anything to do with it. “You can set the table though. The rest should be here soon.”

They did as she pleased (it’s not like they ever had any other option, but they still did it gladly) and proceeded to help her with the final preparations. Soon the rest of the gang did arrive as predicted and the trio got caught up in enthusiast greetings.

And Kano would love to get lost in catching up with others, listening what they all had been up to, telling them about himself in the exchange, if he hadn’t been currently still lost in his own thoughts about too much of a catching up with Seto from earlier that day. If he got to choose though, he’d much more prefer to be lost in the first one. (Not like he didn’t like to think about Kido, but it’s also not that he somewhat especially liked to think about her. He got from it just the right amount of pleasure. He also didn’t sit close to Kido not because he didn’t like being near her nor because he was avoiding her in any kind of way now. Sometimes he’s actions are not dependent on Kido. Maybe he just wanted to be near salmon?)

The meal was still pretty nice though. Even if he wasn’t as focused on others’ stories as much as he’d like to, he still was able to catch this and that. Plus the meal itself was very nice. (He was actually glad that it was nice to the point where practically the whole time he had his mouth stuffed, otherwise he would had spilled that thought out loud and giving the latest circumstances he didn’t want anyone to read too much into this. “Is this what you want Seto? For our dear childhood friend to not be deservedly fully appreciated for her amazing work?”)

Eventually the meal ended and in the end Kido did receive the well-earned praise. (Oh, so now it’s called ‘simple politeness’?)

“Hey, how about we move the conversation to the living room? There’ll be more comfortable.” Kano heard Takane saying from his left side. Oh, so they were talking about something. Well, makes sense, since apparently everyone finished their meals some time ago.

“Do you need help with cleaning the table, Kido?” asked Seto, obliging as always.

“Nah, Kano will wash the dishes later since he didn’t help much with preparing, right?” Great, attention was on him again. Smile. Focused gaze. Like he never was lost in his thoughts.

“With a pleasure~”

“Ok, so since it’s settled can we go now?” Takane unknowingly interrupted whatever something stupid he was going to say if they didn’t move off the subject.

“Wait, I just wanted to have another portion of salad.”

“Haven’t you eaten too much already, Momo?”

“Shut up, big brother.”

“I-I wanted another cup of tea.”

“I think you can take it with you, Mary.”

“Actually, we can just take some food with us if anyone wants anything.” suggested Kido, creating only bigger bustle, assumingly oppositely to green haired girl’s intent.

After some time of even more bustling, banter and returning talks about how couches and even floor would me more comfortable to sit on during chatting (incidentally kinda rude if Kano had to be honest for once; for this one set of chairs he and Kido actually had paid) they finally did move to the living room.

Somehow in the new setting he ended up sitting close to Kido. It looks like just a moment of not being focused is enough for this to happen. Is it really his fault? But enough thinking about that. It’s time that he’d finally focus on what his friends have to say. He’ll listen now to Momo talking about tour she came back from and stories about all the amazing places she’d visited and won’t devote any fraction of his mind for thinking about his relationship with Kido and whether Seto is right or wrong (he’s wrong) and how to prove to him that he’s wrong and stop making it seem like he’s right. No, now he’s all about that concert Momo gave in… Ok, they’re talking about her new album release now.

Agh, that was the worst. Kano had been in school… not so long comparing to others, but the feeling he had now reminded him of the one he used to get there back in the old days. That no matter how much he tried to listen, he just wasn’t able to. Only this time he actually cared about what the person in front of him had to say.

“And you, Kano?” asked Momo, disrupting his thoughts. “What was your favorite part of our trip to amusement park?” Oh, so they moved to the memories.

“Hmmmm…” he made the noise to indicate that he was intensively thinking which wasn’t exactly a lie. He used that time for his brain to slowly process the question and check in his memory if his subconscious had caught any fragments of the recent conversation, while pretending he was paying attention the whole time. “My favorite part of our first trip to the amusement park?…” No protests. Ok, so that was the one they were talking about. “I gotta say… rollercoaster?” Well, won’t hurt to elaborate. “What can I say, I have the weakness for this kind of rides… Well, not the same kind as our NEET…” a small laughter came from the group drowning out a quiet protest from Shintaro. “…but yeah, it was fun. Not as fun as the one we had later that summer, but more fun than that one in Koto. You know, something like top five. Plus it was the first attraction we went together on, right? So it has some nostalgic value. And everyone enjoyed it… although Kido was really terrified back then! I can tell ‘cuz she was sitting with me in the same trolley and let me tell you how hard she was squeezing my arm! It was cute how later she pretended how tough she is though~”

He felt a punch in his arm and when he turned to the source of it, he saw Kido’s bright red face. He laughed lightly at that and was about to apologize, but he only managed to open his mouth when he heard a laugh yet again coming from everyone and then Takane saying,

“Heh, finally it begins to feel like in the old days!”

“Yes, without Kano’s comments like that it’s not the same, right?” added Mary. Everyone apparently decided that laugh is as good as an answer.

Kano was sitting there in shock for a while and had to blink several times to get out of it. His gaze went through everyone’s faces and to his surprise on all of them was painted the same look. Amused with hint of… nostalgia.

Has it really always been this way?

[delicioussshame]

Last part of the fake dating fic. Thanks to everyone who followed along!

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Tetsuya wakes up two days after that disastrous party groggy. His sleep has been lacking lately. On most nights, he’s already plagued by fleeting fragments of dreams he can’t quite remember, remnants of that drunken folly with Aomine-kun. How annoying that he still doesn’t quite know what happened. And now, on top of that, he spent the whole night haunted by the memory of Aomine-kun at that last party, staying too close and trying to get him a drink he kept refusing. Except in the dream Tetsuya doesn’t refuse, and instead of leaving to go talk with other people they stay together all night, talking and laughing and breathing the same air.

Enough is enough. He’s played along with Aomine-kun’s crazy idea for longer than he should have. In fact, he shouldn’t have allowed it from the start. Nothing good came out of it for him. The constant glimpses into what he could never have aren’t helping him out in any way. It’s not even a very funny joke to play on people. If anything, he’s the butt of that joke. Maybe Aomine-kun finds the idea of them dating hilarious, but Tetsuya really can’t say the same.

He knows that if he wants to put an end to that charade once and for all, the easiest way to do it is by himself, by which he means throwing Aomine-kun to the wolves.

Since this is how the whole mess started, Tetsuya honors the tradition and just send a mass message containing the following words: Regarding my relationship with Aomine-kun, we’re not really dating. We were just drunk. Aomine-kun thought it would be funny to let you believe we were. I should have stopped him, and for that I apologise.

There. It’s done. Tetsuya can just go back to ignore his phone until the fallout has passed.

…Yeah, right. Tetsuya expects something to explode in his face in the following hours at the latest. 

…It’s sunny outside. Maybe he can go take a nice, calming walk outside for a little while.

_________________

It’s not like he is surprised to see Aomine sitting on the floor, his back to the door. Tetsuya definitely expected him to show up to tell him off for ruining his fun. Whatever. He’s already decided he’d rather deal with this than be stuck where he currently is forever.

Now, to see if his resolve holds. “Aomine-kun. Hello.”

Aomine-kun turns to look at him and sighs. “Just let me in.”

Tetsuya can do that.

A key and a few minutes later, Aomine-kun is sitting in front of him, each of them with a cup of tea but neither of them feeling like drinking it. Tetsuya looks at the steaming liquid in front of him and wonders if he should be the one breaking the silence. No. Aomine-kun started it, he can continue to do so.

He takes a sip. He doesn’t taste it.

He takes another one anyway.

“Are you gonna ignore me until I leave or are you gonna say something?”

The first one looks good to him. “What do you want me to say? I thought my feelings on the matter were obvious.”

Aomine-kun laughs at him. Right in his face. It’s not a nice laugh. “Tetsu, the only thing your feelings are obvious about is basketball. Hell, we wouldn’t be in this mess if you could talk instead of staring ahead like a robot.”

Is Aomine-kun… blaming him? Really?

How dare he. “I have no idea how this could possibly be my fault. Please, enlighten me.” Even he can hear the frost in his voice.

“I can’t, you remember fucking nothing!”

…Oh. That’s… unexpected. “Did something happen while I was drunk? Besides what’s obvious, I mean.”

“Maybe, maybe not! It’s not like you can tell!”

This is going nowhere. “Either tell me why you’re this angry or come back when you’re willing to.” This silent anger isn’t what he was expecting when he sent the message. He imagined Aomine-kun would be annoyed, maybe a bit frustrated at having his fun cut short. That’s not what’s happening right now, and that’s confusing. And maddening.

“…You really don’t remember a thing about what happened that night, right?”

“No. I thought I said that already.”

“Do you wanna know what you did?”

Remembering by himself would probably be preferable, but it’s probably not going to happen at this point. At least, if he knows he’ll be able to do something about it and maybe soothe whatever is disturbing Aomine-kun this badly.  “Yes. Tell me.”

Aomine-kun takes a deep breathe. “Do you even remember how you got this drunk?”

Hmm… “I think someone forced drinks on me.” Now that he thinks about it, he has no idea how that happened. He’s not a good drinker and he knows it. He usually takes a beer or two and stops. His friends often need babysitting anyway.

“Yeah, no. Akashi’s knockoff sat beside you and mocked your drinking power. Before I knew it, you were drinking your way toward unconsciousness and he was just mocking you more, so I stole you away before I had to drag you to the hospital.”

“You’re lying.” Mayuzumi-san wasn’t even there, and he wouldn’t let himself be taunted by such flagrant provocation.

“No I’m not. I think you might have drunk a little bit too much even before he arrived. You were walking around and deliberately appearing out of nowhere to freak people out, then you smiled at them. It was creepy. Hilarious, but creepy.”

“Aomine-kun, there’s no way that happened.” He wouldn’t have. He knows he wouldn’t have.

He shrugs. “Hey, you don’t have to believe me.”

Tetsuya really isn’t convinced, but he might as well listen to the whole thing before he judges. “Please continue.”

“So I was trying to drag you somewhere you could sober up a little, maybe drink some water to help the upcoming hangover. You weren’t making it easy. At first, I thought you couldn’t walk straight anymore, but I understood later that you were all over me because you were making a pass at me and being terrible at it.”

…Damn it. Damn it all. He really doesn’t think Aomine-kun is lying. He doesn’t look like he is. Plus, it’s not like if he really, really got drunk, that’s not the kind of thing he can see himself doing. Hit on Aomine-kun while he can dismiss it as nonsense if necessary probably seemed like a wonderful plan at the time.

Aomine-kun continues. “Out of the blue, you asked me if I had a girlfriend right now. I said no. You asked me if I had a boyfriend right now. I started thinking something was going on at that point, because you don’t usually ask about my relationships. I said no. You asked me if I wanted a boyfriend. At this point I was starting to get what you were getting at, so I said I wasn’t against it, and you then you fell down my throat and after that Takao showed up, so we stopped. You were pretty far gone at that point, so I took you home, ignoring the terrible passes at me I didn’t know you had in you by the way. And that’s it for that night.”

How is Tetsuya supposed to answer to this tale? Ridiculous? Of course it is. Impossible? Sadly not. “I apologise for having been this rude.” There. That’s a start.

Aaand it didn’t work. If anything, Aomine-kun, who had quieted a little while telling the story, becomes visibly more annoyed. “I don’t want fucking apologies! If I had been offended, I’d have stopped you and that would have been that! Anyway, I knew you would feel like shit the next morning, but I didn’t think you wouldn’t remember, or freak the fuck out at what you did! What was I supposed to do about that! I’ve been into you for a while now, and I had no idea if you were just out of your mind at the time or just tipsy enough to find the guts to confess, but now you were panicking. Confessing didn’t seem like the right thing to do, so I improvised. Sue me! That kind of stuff works in movies! I didn’t think you’d hate it that much! It’s not like you told me about it before complaining to everyone we knew, asshole!”

Tetsuya wishes he could tell Aomine-kun to just shut up and go take a hike for a few hours. He needs time to think all this through. At the moment, he just has no idea how to even react to all this. Did he even comprehend all Aomine-kun said? He doesn’t even know where to begin after that rant.

“You’re not even gonna answer me!?”

“I’m thinking. Please wait a little.” He busies himself with the now even less tempting cup of tea and doesn’t look at Aomine-kun’s reaction to this.

He hears him curse and mumble under his breath anyway.

So. Apparently, he got drunk enough to hit on Aomine-kun. Okay, let’s begin by accepting this as truth. Nothing can start without this much. He hit on Aomine-kun and Aomine-kun reciprocated. He did, right? He did. Tetsuya has photographic proof of this. Plus, since he remembered it all, he can’t have been anywhere near as addled as Tetsuya himself was. The next day, Tetsuya himself didn’t remember and was appalled at the result of his own actions, but when he tried to smooth it out Aomine-kun stopped him. He unveiled his brilliant idea for a prank. Tetsuya didn’t stop him because he’s powerless against Aomine-kun. He went along with it until he didn’t, which bring them to this moment.

Now, what to do about it all. “Aomine-kun.”

In barely a second, Aomine-kun rises from lying on his table. “You’re finally done thinking. Good. I was gonna fall asleep in a few minutes top.”

Yes, well. “In the end, what was the point of the joke?”

Aomine-kun… is blushing. “For fuck’s sake, can’t you tell?”

He has an idea, but. “I want to hear it from you.”

“Fine, fine, whatever. It’s not like I didn’t confess hours ago.” A pause. “At first, the idea of having to tell everyone that what I wanted was just a mistake was just too shitty to contemplate. Later, well, might as well have fun with it. Even later, it seemed like a good way to test whether you were into me or not. Not that it worked, but hey, I tried.”

…So, pretty much what he imagined he would say.

Tetsuya takes a deep breath and tries to quiet down the suddenly too fast beating of his heart. “For your information, I did feel tested. It was quite troublesome. Imagine how you would feel if someone you were attracted to kept falsely hitting on you.” Here. That should be enough.

Tetsuya looks at Aomine-kun to see how he took the news. Who, of course, won’t meet his eyes. It’s probably his time to wait.

“Oh well, at least it all worked out in the end… It worked out, right? Right??”

Tetsuya takes Aomine-kun’s hand, hoping he’s not being too forward. Considering they already made out in public, it’s probably fine. “I think we can say that.”

_________________

If everyone would just forget I ever sent that last message, I’d be forever grateful. Please excuse me again for all the trouble.

_________________

 Bonus

Kurokocchiiii!! You can’t play with my heart like that! It’s not fair!!!!

Kurokocchi!! Answer me!!

Kise, stop involving everyone in your unrequited suit.

Yeah, Kise-chin. You’re annoying. It’s not like you ever had a chance.

I’m afraid I have to agree with the others. Momoi gave up months ago. You should do the same. It was only a matter of time.

I hate you all ;_;

[brazilianism]

What’s going on in Brazil? #10

So, this is gonna be me trying to put A LOT of stuff into very few words. Written at 26/05/2017.

Alright. You know how the whole world is kinda feeling like its situation can’t possibly get any more scandalous at this point? it’s what we felt about two weeks ago, too. I mean, between our ex-president being on a crusade against the justice system and the media and all the unpopular measures taken by our politicians lately, including reforming the labor laws and social security to make them shittier, and a new small corruption scandal every week, y’know, you figure it can’t get much worse than that. 

And then it happened. It was a beautiful Wednesday (or was it Thursday?) night. All was its usual mess. And then a businessman came forward like, “ops I recorded the president negotiating to bribe someone who’s in jail to keep quiet and the other presidential candidate negotiating on how to get his usual 2 million in bribes discreetly lol did I mention he might have mentioned the possibility of killing someone?” BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM. 

If you screamed right now, imagine how much we did. There were so many memes. So many. The jokes, the glorious jokes. I hadn’t have that much political fun in ages. But you’re probably still confused (we are, too), so imma explain it a little better.

Businessman Joesley, owner of the biggest meat company in the world, was caught in corruption schemes. Who wasn’t, right? so, like it happens in Brazil, he started negotiating his sentence by giving other people away. And he sure as fuck named a lot of people, like anyone else, but this guy did something that other people hadn’t yet: he recorded it. You’d think more people would’ve been this smart just in case, I guess, but so far, nah. And obviously the most polemic recording is of a conversation our now President Michel Temer had with him, negotiating bribes to Eduardo Cunha. If you’ve read my older posts, you’ll know his name. He’s the main dude behind Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment (if you have no idea of absolutely nothing i’ve just said, dude, go back to the other posts, this is quite saga already). Did I mention he’s in jail??? yeah. Arrested for money laundering sometime ago or something (one cannot remember all the scandals in brazil for more than 2 months since there ARE SO MANY NEW ONES ALL THE TIME). Still, he did swear he’d bring two presidents down, and now it seems the time has come, one way or another (we’re so dramatic, omg, this is gonna make for excellent movies someday, we’re already out-houseofcarding house of cards).

BACK TO IT. So. The president is on tape negotiating quite a crime. In most countries that’d lead to the guy resigning. And we thought he would, too, actually. This dude scheduled a press conf. and we were all on the edge of our seats waiting to see the second president down in less than a year. But guess what? dude goes “I’m not resigning”, gives pissed off speech, alleges everything is a fake and says if we want him down we’ll have to bring him down. He also kinda tries to forbid people from using his pictures in memes, which leads to opposition party creating a whole gallery online of pictures they bought of him for people to do their memes safely. I ain’t joking. The most brazilian think to ever happen, probably.  

Meanwhile, remember I said there was a second recording? Yeah, it was from Aecio Neves, and you might remember him too: he ran for president against Rousseff at the last elections, and he was the main activist for her impeachment after he lost the elections, all “against corruption” and shit. Lol. Dude was literally negotiating how to get his money, cursing a lot, and saying they’d need to find good people to do this money transporting thing, it had to be someone, and I quote, “that we can kill before they can make deals with the police”. And then he proceeds on suggesting his cousin’s name. Talk of family issues, right? Anyway. It came as no surprise for us with half a brain that both these man were corrupt because honestly there had been people saying that before, but nobody had them on tape yet. Aecio’s sister has been arrested, he has kinda stepped down from his senate position and his apartments are being raid by the police, let’s see where this leads. 

Back to Temer, remember when he told people we’d need to take him down if we wanted him down? Yeah, people took that quite literally and a couple of days ago in the middle of a protest some SET FIRE to a few ministry buildings. Nothing much happened to anyone there tho. But Temer took that as a good opportunity to give especial authorization to the Army to be on the streets and do whatever was needed which was pretty fucking scary since we haven’t been out of a dictatorship for thaaaat long??? but the order has been revoked by now so we’re ok. For now. I guess. Who knows. 

So the question now is how long can Temer hold himself in power. If he does fall, which is complicated, since he’d likely have to resign (there are already a few impeachment processes opened against him, but since they depend on the ok from chamber president, who still supports him, it’s unlikely to work, and it’d take months anyway), but if he did fall, we’d get either president of the chamber of deputies in power or president of the supreme court in power (cause president of the senate can’t, since he’s a defendant in a corruption investigation) - and I said “OR” there because there’s a chance president of the chamber also becomes a defendant in corruption charges through the next months so we can’t really be sure on how the succession line will be in the future. Yeah, that’s how screwed we are. Anyway, if any of them get to power they are bound to organizing new indirect elections, by the constitution, since it’s past half the term and we’d only need someone to basically finish this year and the next one when there are elections again, hopefully. However, with congress as it is, with most people there charged with something, you’d think brazilians are.... less than happy with the idea of our congressmen choosing their own fucking president. And you’re right. Most of us are. Which is why there is a campaign to make a change and try for direct, real, voting elections (and to get Temer out, obviously). 

It’s worth noticing that a lot of powerful people are still behind Temer, though, especially big businessman and the media, because of his austerity measures and probable cuts on labor laws, and also, because a lot of them are scared shitless of we actually getting a direct election and Lula winning. Yes, our ex-president, yes, the one in trouble with the law that I mentioned early. Aaand I would like to have covered him and our asshole hygienist new são paulo mayor whose biggest ability so far seems to be shitty decisions here, BUT this post is long enough as it is, so if y’all wanna know about them ask away and I’ll cover it in another post. For now, just remember: it can always get worse if you’re brazilian :)