#actually johnny *would* be qualified but he's an ass

[merge-conflict]

wednesday workin'

screaming crying throwing up trying to write this damn piece, finally satisfied to let valentine vent a bit of her temper– usually she either bottles it all up or picks up a weapon (kerry here having had firsthand experience of the latter)

“What the hell do you want me to do?” V snaps back, so viciously that Eurodyne actually looks surprised. “It’s done. I fucked up. I’d love to shoot at something but my gun is locked in a safe in another building, so I’m at least trying to do something useful. If that’s alright with you?” “That depends,” Eurodyne answers testily, “Are you going to try to stab me if I disagree?” V lets out a choked laugh. “My knives are gone too.” “Looking at your handiwork right now,” he replies, a little more relaxed. He pulls out a cigarette, patting his pockets down for a lighter. “What’s his deal, anyway? Thought he was supposed to be some Saka elite–“ Eurodyne pauses as Goro turns his head to make eye contact, a mean little smile spreading across his handsome face. “Doesn’t really seem like your type. Not usually into ones that are so…” He makes a dismissive gesture with one hand, finally having located his lighter. “Docile,” V suggests, grabbing Goro’s jaw to move his head back into position. She delicately presses the edges of the last cut together, and tapes it in place. “He’s just feeling guilty.” Eurodyne laughs humorlessly. “Or he’s trying not to piss you off. Seems to be working pretty well– Johnny’s right about you being a sucker.” “Johnny Silverhand isn’t qualified to make judgments on my personal life.” V’s response is stiff, jaw clenched in anger as she leans to pull a small bottle from the medkit. She opens the cap, pausing to look at Eurodyne before spreading some sort of gel onto her chrome fingers. “Neither are you for that matter.”

[phantomoftheorpheum]

I’m not sure if I’m the only one, but I just? Genuinely hated the finale.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s always nice to see who the killer is at the end and the big reveal and to finally get some damn answers. But like.

The fuck????

Okay, let me start from the beginning.

Summer school.

ya know? For it being summer school, you sure know what they don’t actually show a lot? Yeah. Summer school. I think the entirety of them spent there could literally be under five minutes. Which is? Kinda pathetic considering that was supposed to be like the entire damn theme of this season.

LOL get yonked, I genuinely laughed when it was revealed they did disastrously worse on their tests and they’re so shocked about it. Like ‘Wow! Who knew meant going to summer school means we actually have to learn things and do assignments and turn in homework! It’s almost like it’s school- oh wait!’

Lordy the way I fucking hate Jen with an eternal passion. I’ve literally never hated a gay character in my life but she is literally cross bounding my boundaries to light an eternal pyre of hatred. Like she’s actually sociopathic at this point. She gets Noa to cheat on her boyfriend with her. Lies to her. Manipulates her. Literally fucking STEALS AND ROBS from Shawn. Ya know after he literally gave her 2000 dollars to bail HER ASS out of jail. The audacity. The entitlement. The way every decision from her is more morally corrupt one after another. I genuinely despise her character more then anyone. And for her to suggest Tabby and Imogens boyfriends was so damn random. Like. Girl you have a criminal record longer than A’s victim list. Maybe they should take a double look at YOU! You literal PSYCHO.

Noa actually being a hypocritical bitch and accusing both their partners when hers is literally the most sus. Lol and turns out it was NONE?! Of the partners. Insane. Actually crazy.

Damn Imogen. Honestly you’re low key a red flag 😭. I felt so bad for Johnny when they found out he was innocent. Like imogen literally gave him massive cerebral trauma and left him for DEAD.

Also also. I fucking HATE plot holes. But how the FUCK were those bodies in their for weeks on end and no one saw them??? If Johnny wasn’t in on it how did they even get in there?!!!? It’s not like Wes or Mrs. Langsberry even worked there. Also??? You telling me after weeks they never did restock? Never needed to refil a single bucket of ice cream? All imogen has to do was move ONE bucket to see the body. They didn’t even hide them well. Theirs some giant ass cavern of space behind a wall of poorly placed ice cream.

WHAT was the entire point of Imogens plot line with her dad??? It had to relation to the story. And why the fuck was Rebecca even introduced 😭. 0 reason.

I’m also confused how the fuck they managed to plant the Davie mask in Christians house. Like. Does he not have parents??? How did they just casually break and enter into the house. Their would be 0 reason for either of them to visit. Were they all just master breaking and enterers? Come on they can’t have all taken lessons from Jen!

Speaking of her. WHAT WAS THE DAMN POINT???? Noa screwed Shawn over so bad and I actually hate who she’s become. And it’s disgusting the writers are trying to frame is as okay because it’s gay 🏳️‍🌈✨! Like NO! We love representation yes but NOT at the expense of manipulation, literal mental abuse, mass stealing, mass property damage. Threatening someone’s fucking life. CHEATING. At this point I honestly feel like it could even in a way somewhat qualify as r*pe. Noa literally used Shawn for money, housing and Sex. KNOWING that she wasn’t in love with him and was actively cheating on him (while lying and pretending to let him think she loved him). So maybe not in a way. They both technically consented. BUT that consent was explicitly taken under false pretenses and lies. You better know Shawn would not have had sex if he knew literally everything Noa was doing and lying about.

Like. It’s a horrible double standard. Because if a Man did this to a women you know people would be all over it. Like for a show that’s so amazing in showing r*pe and surviving and dealing with it and how women have to go through things like this all the time. You’d think they would have given a shit when the same horrible things happen to men.

Also literally what was the entire point of Noa and Jen’s relationship. The only thing that came out of it was Jen teaching Noa to Hotwire a car. (Which like. I swear to god this show is trying to glorify breaking the law like that. Like your telling me the ONLY WAY they could have gotten to the church fast enough was through hijacking another persons car 😭. What about ASH?! Who was dropped from this episode like a damn hot potato. Mouse could have called him and you bet he would have sped up as soon as damn possible to drive them!!!)

Also so random. But like. These girls are all sophomores right? How do they all know how to drive?! How do they all have their license? You only took drivers ed in like sophomore year so how is it they all have their licenses? The timing literally doesn’t add up.

Also was Jen showing noa how to Hotwire a car supposed to be attractive? That’s the last we hear from her and it just? Literally reminds us all what a trash being she is. Like why 😭.

Tabby’s test.

okay but I genuinely hated this. It was such a let down from what I thought it was gonna be. Although I am proud I got the whole religious connection thing right. The kneeling DID come into play.

but like… they put Tabby in that confessional thing and what? Just awkwardly waited there? What if she didn’t have the strength to break it down. 💀. Also there was 0 damn test. If she was stuck in their nothing would have happened.

also ROSE FUCKING WATERS WTF?!? Like damnnnn awesome gory twist but also? Plot relevance at all??? There was 0 point to doing that. And also LITERALLY THEY NEVER COME BACK TO HER?!?? Like HELP. Being skinned is excruciating but it’s also not enough to kill you. It’s only the top layer of skin you have muscles and a bunch of shit that still holds you in place. And since it was the face there was no major arteries cut. She should definitely have been bleeding more considering the lack of bandages. But also she definitely would have still been alive. The cuts weren’t deep enough to kill. Just remove the outer layer of skin. Like when you take a really hard fall you can rip the top layer of skin off but you don’t die. And another gruesome example. A person can be scalped. But it wouldn’t kill them.

So that was another plot hole. And there was literally 0 reason for Wes and Mrs. Langsbary to do that to her. Especially with Langsbary being a fellow grieving mother. Wouldn’t she sympathize???

But yeah. Back to tabby’s shitty test. All that jazz and what? It’s just to get a false confession? They don’t even hurt her? They’re like ‘Lie or ELSE!’ 💀. But then they don’t do anything besides like. Show that their outside her moms house. Like Wes kept saying they’d do it ‘the hard way’ and then literally stopped BR from actually harming Tabby. And then they also say they’re just gonna kill her at the end too. So like. Why would Tabby do anything for them 🥴 if their gonna kill her either way.

Also i genuinely hate who the villains were. Like. Mrs. Lansbury? The LEAST SHOWN character the entire season? We saw her like three times. And she’s so on the nose it’s stupid. Like her entire thing was supposed to be hatred on Imogen and Tabby.

so WHAT THE FUCK was her beef with Mouse Faran and Noa? Literally NOTHING. She was a HORRIBLE villian. And Wes?? Spontaneously being a psychopath?????

He could have just stayed at the Orpheum. Literally him leaving suddenly made him all the more suspicious. And he didn’t need to do the full apology to Tabby if he was just gonna be like PSYCH JK!

Although, I am laughing hysterically at the irony. Hes doing this whole thing cause he thinks it’s so hard to be a straight white man but he literally needs Tabby to be the star of his movie for it to work. 💀

Also I feel like the Wes x Lansbury thing was so stupid and un needed. Like. Literally NO ONE would have guessed that. And it added 0 plot. It would have been the exact same vibe if they were just friends. And it’s such a random pairing too that no one would have guessed it at all. Which. Makes it kinda annoying. Like. You gotta be able to make a connection somewhere and they really just didn’t.

Also!

Wes ‘All the exits are blocked!!!’

Tabby : immediately after literally runs through the frail glass window.

Wes ‘I was HOPING she’d do that!’

WHAT?!? If you were hoping she’d do that then you should have posted a goon outside the damn window 😭.

Also who was the sacrafice??? The reckoning was? Literally just killing tabby? Or what? This whole build up for what??? All the girls survived. The movie failed. and something that’s killing me

WHO WAS THE FUCKING ARCHANGEL??? Why did they have that on the poster if there was no third person.

How the fuck was the church involved in this. What was the entire point of their weird little cult if they just killed the pastor and didn’t recruit any of the church goers for the event. The entire church plot was USELESS. And even the Pastor and Mama Beasley were talking about the Reckoning. But what did they think it was gonna be??? Not a rent a church for a murder spree HUH?!

Literally who were the people even worshipping in that weird circle cult? What was the weird mystical powers that kept taking over everyone? What made it so addicting and caused people to become literal shells of their former selves?? None of that’s explained? You can’t tell me it was just god or Jesus or something???

No and literally WHAT was the point of Hell house??? How did they even know all those intricate things about the girls if it wasn’t connected to someone who knew them like that.

WHAT was Mrs. Beasley doing to Kelly?! I truly feel for my girl and I genuinely want the best for her. But i swear to god some CPS involving shit was happening in that prayer closet.

Also the girls just kinda rapidly forgave Kelly. I mean. Imogen went from ‘IM GONNA MAKE YOUR LIFE HELL 👹’ to ‘Omg we’re FGE besties 👯‍♀️💅✨’

And again. I want them all to be nice to Kelly and besties cause clearly she did all this shit because of her genuinely fucked up and traumatizing household. Her Dad was physically and mentally abusive. She was constantly overshadowed and criticized for not being her sister. Her sister is KILLED and (omg?? Didn’t she kill her dad??) her dad dies. Then her MOTHER becomes some super Tyrant Christian cultist leader who ALSO turns psychotic and mentally and physically abusive. Oh also Kelly was literally KILLED and revived. She needs some damn therapy.

Also also. What the hell did Mrs. Beasley accomplish with killing Kelly??? She didn’t even get a damn warning. It wasn’t even a test. Their wasn’t even a fated poster.

? was it jsut cause Kelly was digging around? Getting suspicious? She was suspicious of her MOM not Mrs. Lansbury???

Although honestly out of anything this season has made me radically ship Faran and Kelly. Like hell they both had the same boyfriend. And they have insane chemistry

Okay hmm. Ending. Tabby just KILLS Wes? That final confrontation was super weak and sudden. They definitely should have fought a little bit. Or something.

(also. Tabs. I love you. Self defense is awesome) but logically. The likelyhood of her defeating 4 grown men with minimal fighting and like 0 injuries is not logical. It was badass of course. She slayed. But considering size and strength difference (and the fact we haven’t seen her do any strength training like Faran has) makes it kinda goofy to see her just. Absolutely hand four men their ass on a gourmet platter. The logistics get thrown out the window.

OH AND??? We’re just gonna ignore the fact she KILLED Wes on a LIVE STREAM?!? I was waiting for the show to address that and they just didn’t. Like. She didn’t even do it off camera or anything. Wide shot you have Tabby running and impaling Wes with a Camera unprovoked. (I mean of course I know it’s not unprovoked. But In a court case a snooty lawyer would easily jump on the fact Wes didn’t make any motion of violence to her first)

like also it was a livestream. Someone would have noticed he’s dead and reported it? Something official would have happened??? I want Tabby absolutely ripping everyone to shreds in court. I want Faran to ACTUALLY use her Lawyer mother to help Tabby! Give us some more one on one girl time! That isn’t just Imogen and Tabby!

(but also. When will the writers realize we all just collectively want Tabogen to be canon like I swear to god their baiting us at this point did you see their last convo scene 😭)

speaking of that.

Tabby : I can’t wait to move forward and look to the future! A is totally dead!

A : On his way to murder Dr. Sullivan ‘Hehe so glad to still continue my original plan from season 1!’

Oh and DR SULLIVAN??? She had zero relation to Wes and Langsbury but they just spontaneously kidnapped her and shoved her in the cabin for no reason.

and come ON. A DOUBLE deepfake?? I loved her character but now she’s once again like secretly a jerk???

Also the liars all knew she was illegally recording them for her book why the hell would they go back to see her again. Like. They know she’s not BR but she definitely still committed a crime.

Also i actually hate how they killed her. Come on. On her knees begging to know if Archie killed Sebastian and not being told before she’s killed? That was actually the cruelest ever. And the most darkest kill honestly.

And yeah uh. That’s my reaction to the finale. I hate the ten million plot holes. Despise the villains. Love the actresses. And uh? Guess I want a third season! Cause they really need to get A off the streets and maybe we can finally have some dang answers. Also I need more time for Tabogen to be canon lol!

Sorry this was so long. I just had so many thoughts towards this episode

lol okay this was long I and I will answer as my points as I can, but the thing that jumped out at me was when you were talking about Faran and Kelly and Greg and my brain went, "Faran/Greg/Kelly" polycule? because.... I could see it. lol. I did also already take my ambien, so maybe that's helping. But that kinda makes sense?

Okay, here are my thoughts in response to everything.

I didn't hate the finale. Overall, I had a fun time watching it, which is basically what I'm here for, but I do agree that there's a TON of stuff that just doesn't add up or make sense and could have been done way better.

Yeah, there was literally NO reason to put the girls in summer school? Like I actually can't think of one. They're never there. They all could have gotten their part time jobs. They would all still be going to therapy presumably. It just doesn't have to be a plot point??

The way they handled Noa, Jen, and Shawn this season will never make sense to me. It was so obvious how every writing choice they made would make more and more people annoyed/upset at Noa and Jen. It's like they thought Noa was so popular she could get away with any behavior this season. But Noa was so popular because people liked how she handled the conflict in her life (rationally, but with a sense of humor), which is the opposite of what happened here. And then none of it even mattered. Exhausting.

And I hear your point about the show not handling consent well in this particular situation. Informed consent is important, and Shawn never got the chance (because he was not informed) give (or not give) that. And that's shitty. And that shouldn't have happened to him.

I hear you about the plot holes. I have guesses on a few, but a lot of them I've got nothing.

I do think the 3rd figure in the poster is Chip, it's just that the ghost of his life is the motivation for Rose. When Tabby & Imogen visit her earlier in the episode, she shows them a picture where Chip has wings and a halo.

But here's the big one, WES ISN'T EVEN DEAD!! I totally missed this when I watched the episode, but I went back and checked and Dr. Sullivan says "Mrs. Langsberry and Wes have been arrested." gshjgfhjsdgfhjs How is he not dead???

I definitely hear and share a lot of your frustration. I had a good time, but there are a lot of things that I think either need to be addressed in season 3 or were just flat out plotholes, and I do think too many character arcs were rushed (like Kelly) and yeah. It was a lot.

[sweetestcaptainhughes]

https://www.tumblr.com/uluvjay/760937520779476992/do-you-have-a-picture-of-john-marinos-tattoo

<< I FOUND IT but toooo blurry

https://www.nhl.com/devils/news/marino-brother-in-a-time-of-adversity-335014640

<< like come on NHL you had one job show us his ribcage🙄

btw Johnny anon here😂🙋🏻‍♀️

And thanks to you I checked canucks insta & YouTube damn we missed that curly toothless hair boy🥹🫶🏻 I hope Utah insta gives us great content Hahahaha

Ugh I used to take psychology during high school it was useful but our boy with Harvard and psychology and finance is just too delicious to be real ugh wait did he graduate or straight to nhl ?

Welp now he has new task to analyze the new team😂🤣😂

YEEEESSSS just made Johnny the header for Utah!!!!!! 🥹🩵🤍

Nooooo hope work wasn’t awkward today my dear!! 😳🕺🏻I’m in a work crisis right now, I have to pick a new job, and first time in my life I have four offers and so hard to decide🥴

See that’s the same photo I found. And like maybe I need to wear my glasses more cause don’t see any tattoo. 🤣 maybe Utah will give the ppl what they not only want but need with some pics of Johnny shirtless because I am lowkey convinced it doesn’t exist. I mean he already has posted content from Utah so there is hope. 🤞🏼

Ooo not it being time for me tell everyone about useless information I know about hockey players. So Johnny was drafted originally by the Oilers in round 3 I believe of the top of my head? (Someone might wanna fact check me on that). But as most guys drafted in round 3 or 4 basically he signed a contract that said that the oilers owned his name. But they never called him up to play for them. So he literally just went about his life at 18 and went to Harvard. He never actually thought he would get called up to play so he just played on Harvards team while in school. It was the summer before his senior year like 2 weeks before he was suppose to go back that Oilers traded his name to Penguins. Pittsburgh immediately was like “yeah we need you get your ass on the next flight.” So yes he did attend Harvard he was actually only one semester away from qualifying for graduation. His brother works for the NHL actually which I found hilarious using his own math degree.

His entire family is lowkey genius and I believe Harvard alum if I’m not mistaken. Johnny is actually known as the “not smart twin.” 🥺 but yes I would love to sit down with him one day and compare notes specifically about the NJ devils but I will give anything he’s willing to share.

[insipid-drivel]

Southern Colloquialisms To Enrage ESL Bloggers:

I see a few posts asking international and other tumblr bloggers to supply the literal English translations to common colloquial phrases for the sake of the sheer silliness, strangeness, and outright lunacy of what happens when you take a colloquialism and take it literally (Factoid: linguists refer to this process as “Pidgin”)

But what about Southern colloquialisms from the United States that don’t even make sense in their native language? Hello! My great-great grandmother was born in a ditch outside of a mud house with mud floors in the Dust Bowl in the United States and I didn’t know I had a Southern accent until my friends in the Pacific Northwest pointed it out!

I have relatives from all along the Bible Belt, aka the “Old South” that, you know... Yeah. A few of my cousins are awesome people and we trade notes over ridiculous phrases our relatives and elders used that we never understood, but accepted on a spiritual level. Here are some I grew up with:

“Got myself a short cold.” - “I have seasonal allergies and just mowed the lawn.”

“Oh, crap and molasses!” - “I forgot something at home and we’re already almost to our destination and I don’t want to swear in front of polite company and small children.”

“Eating high on the hog tonight!” - “We’re not eating scrap cuts and offal for dinner because steaks were 2-for-1 today.”

“Hoecake” - A form of pancake or “Johnny Cake” made from corn meal instead of flour. They’re delicious.

“Catawampus” or “Cattywampus” - “I’m gonna have to wash that off the ceiling but at least it worked. It’s messy.” 

 “Piddling” and “Piddly” - Any worthless or time-wasting endeavor or result that helps no one. “This paycheck is plum piddly, hoss. Quit piddlin’ ‘round and gimme that re-GI-nal manager’s job y’all know I’m qualified for.”

“Hoss” - “Boss” that you also think could probably beat the crap out of you behind an alley for catching you cheating at pool.

“That boy’s bigger’n a brick shithouse.” - “Your physique and muscular stature is intimidating to the degree that I am complimenting you by comparing you to a solid structure everyone would regret trying to knock down.” 

“Crazier’n a shithouse rat.” - “Dude, please talk to a psychiatrist.”

“Doohickey” - Any object or concept you can’t remember the name of but need urgently. Often accompanied by aggressive hand waving in the approximate direction of said object without actually looking at it.

“Y’all better hush up back there!” - Your grandmother’s polite way of warning you she’s going to take a flyswatter to your ass if you don’t shut the fuck up in Church.

“Y’all’d’ve” - A real contraction I can’t even stop myself from using meaning “You all should/would have” and am leaving here just for the English majors out there. 

“Dude” - A completely urbanized individual who has no idea how to live or function in a rural or wild setting without technology and utilities and can’t ride a horse or milk a cow.

“Proudboy” - Oh yes, it was already a thing. In Southern slang, a “Proudboy” is a neutered male horse that still acts like he’s a badass stallion the mares will want to mate with. “Poor proudboy ain’t noticed yet, bless his heart.” 

“Bless his/hers/your heart.” -  “Because the Good Lord sure didn’t bless your head.” It’s also used as a heartfelt form of “Thank you” when someone goes out of their way to offer you a kind and thoughtful gesture. Context is important.

“Don’t let the door hit ya where the Good Lord split ya.” - “You are no longer welcome in this space and if you don’t leave now I’m literally going to slam the door on your ass.” 

“Living in high cotton” - “I have achieved fiscal success and am using a colloquial term to refer to it without considering the fact that the term originated out of slave plantations.”

“If the creek don’t rise.” - Basically “Knock on wood.” A term meaning, “I’ve prepared for everything but what I can’t prepare for or anticipate and will achieve my goal so long as it is within my power to do it.” Bonus points if you pronounce “creek” as “crick”.

 “Fixin’ to” - Another polite way of indicating you’re about to aggressively undertake a task. “I’m fixin’ to whip ya ass, son.” This is not to be confused with “Fixin’s” singular, which refers to the ingredients or catalysts required to cook or complete something that requires assembly.

“Doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.” - A hill of beans is a Southern unit of measurement for anything that remains worthless regardless of how much of it you have, much like NFTs. “Your anti-TERF ‘sources’ don’t amount to a hill of beans, proudboy.”

“(Way) Over yonder” - “It’s over there, and the number of times I repeat the word ‘way’ prior to ‘over’ is indicative of how much yonder is between you and there. Sorry, what’s a yonder? You just asked me to show you! It’s way, way over there! Bless your heart...”

“Madder than a wet hen.” - “Oops, you have reached ‘yikes’ level of pissed off. Better skedaddle!”

“Skedaddle” - “RUN AWAY FAST NOW AAAAAAAAAAAAAA”

“It’s blowin’ up a storm.” - The sensory indicators of an oncoming heavy storm or hurricane that presents with the smell of ozone, high humidity, and an abrupt drop in temperature. Yes, it’s a thing; I can also smell when a storm’s gathering and it is a distinct set of very subtle odors.

“Pretty as a peach.” - “That individual whose pronouns are irrelevant but is most commonly a woman or proud of rocking a femme aesthetic is exceptionally beautiful and I admire them.” 

“Busy as a cat on a hot tin roof.” - “We’re overburdened and understaffed to the point that I am numb to all forms of communication that don’t involve someone being on fire.”

“Aren’t you precious.” - Not a question unless it begins with “Well,”. Depending on tone, it either is a high compliment toward someone’s appearance or behavior being exceptional, or as a sarcastic response to when someone says something insulting to you. “Awww, you’re so sweet, baby sister!” vs. “That insult was just adorable.” 

“Yes Sir/Ma’am/Mx” - Also applies to “No”. Answering a question with “Sir”, “Ma’am”, or “Mx” to someone that is your age or older is just considered universally respectful in polite conversation. If a Southern person suddenly stops answering your questions with your preferred pronouns or never does at all, it probably means they have 0 respect for you. When the small niceties disappear, you’ve fucked up.

“Frunchard” - “Front yard”, the opposite of the back yard. 

“Quit being ugly.” - “Stop being an asshole.”

“He thinks the sun comes up just to hear him crow.” - “You’re so stupidly full of yourself you’d probably honestly believe the sun rises and sets just for you.”

“That dog won’t hunt.” - “I know you believe it’s a good idea, but uh... it’s not.” Also used in place of replying to a person’s excuse you know is 100% bullshit.

“Well, I declare...” - “I am about to obliquely reveal broad adjectives reflective of my emotional state or opinion about this state of affairs and you should probably prepare yourself for more nonsensical colloquialisms.”

“My eyeballs are floating.” - “I need to pee so badly it isn’t going to be an option very, very soon.”

“Can’t never could.” - “Can’t never could do nothing!” That’s... that’s literally it. I can’t elaborate any more than saying it’s a term indicating you’re feeling optimistic. 

“Give him two nickels for a dime and he’ll think he’s rich.” - “This person’s stupidity is physically painful to experience.”

“That makes me wanna slap my mama!” - “I am so impressed/pleased with that experience that we’ve circled around to domestic violence somehow.” 

“You could start an argument in an empty house.” - “Go to anger management classes.”

“Ain’t got the good sense God gave a rock.” - “I cannot fathom this level of lack of common sense and forethought and require divine intervention immediately.”

“Slicker than pig snot on a radiator.” -  “That person is the Webster’s definition of a scumbag.”

“About as useless as a screen door on a submarine.” - I think that one is pretty self-explanatory.

“There’s not a pot too crooked that a lid won’t fix.” - “There’s someone out there for everyone. Don’t give up on finding love and companionship just because you’re different.”

[sanchoyo]

danny phantom 14-20 thoughts!! I finished up s1 :D these last few eps were actually really really good!!!

-did. did tucker really just say esperanto was a dead language only spoken as a secret code between geeks. google says around 100,000 people actively speak it. oh my god...it being an auxiliary language doesn't mean its 'just for geeks to speak in code' ...it helps bridge gaps between people who don't have a language in common...

-danny really isn't pulling punches when it comes to fighting the ghost-cop possessed people huh. like he SLAMMED KWAN INTO THE CONCRETE SO HARD. HE THREW PAULINA INTO A BILLBOARD. will that...I mean it WOULD carry over to their bodies non-possessed, right? like if the ghost piloting their bodies gets hurt?? itd be so upsetting to be possessed, lose time, then wake up covered in bruises (and possibly, broken bones??) real horror movie stuff im sure wont be addressed in any way

-tuckers parents seem nice! I like them :)

-WULF IS CUTE AND I FEEL BAD. im so glad the gang realized he was only causing trouble bc of the shock collar walker put on him and helped. also, him wearing that big hoodie with the hood on, and thinking its subtle. we can tell youre still a giant wolfie :) THEN GETTING SUCKED INTO THE PORTAL AAAAH :( anxiously waiting to see Him Again....

-DANNY BLASTING HIS PARENTS THINKING THEY WERE OVERSHADOWED LMFAO GET THEIR ASSES. maddie marking how many ghosts she gets with lipstick tallies on the side of her portal gun? kindaaa iconic tho. (ALSO, SHE WAS LIKE, 2 FT AWAY FROM HIM RIGHT AFTER SHE TRIED TO SHOOT HIM. HOW DO YOU NOT RECONINZE YOUR OWN SON??? like sure, he might have diff hair/eye colors. but like, if one of my family members dyed their hair, and was wearing contacts, its not like id be like 'wHO IS THIS STRANGER!!!' ...he still has all his facial features!! same everything!!! I hate it here)

-paulina being #1 girl realizing danny's a friendly ghost immediately. smart queen. lancer and kwan ran away right after he made this sweet baby face at them:

which is hilarious.

-ok. im not saying his bullying is JUSTIFIED, but. dash looked so pleased with the (cute!) poster he just painted, and danny comes thru the wall and spills paint on his nice letterman jacket. his anger is justified maybe 65% of the time so far...(not the way he handles it, but STILL.) at least lancer is stepping in!! and them making a silly little bet was...cute?? until dash pulled out his GROSS UNDERWEAR AND SAID DANNY WOULD HAVE TO EAT THEM???? WHAT THE FUCK MAN. TUCKER WAS SO RIGHT ITS FUCKING WEIRD TO CARRY THOSE AROUND EWWW. THIS KID IS UNWELL. lancer was right, his animatronic setup was SUPER IMPRESSIVE?? hes actually pretty creative. danny meanwhile is stealing the fright knight's design...I hope dash is taking art classes or smth with his sports

-fright knight is the most bestest ghost so far i LOVE THAT DESIGN. I am biased towards knights, and characters with swords, but he fucks so severely. and should sue danny for copyright infringement for stealing his design for his haunted house. if some 14 yr old broke into MY house and stole MY sword, id also be pissed. his evil winged unicorn rules too with its FANGS. and he just CAN SHOVE THE PORTAL OPEN WITH HIS HANDS??? is he the strongest ghost weve seen so far? idk but hes my fav. SOUL SHREDDER IS SUCH A COOL SWORD NAME TOO. ANY NAMED SWORD ALSO FUCKS. 'flaming bedsheets of DEATH' funny king. ALSO he was polite to dash and tucker when just asking for directions and telling tucker 'oh maybe, just a suggestion, maybe be nicer to me and be more respectful :)' I LOOOVE HIM.

-I noticed this in the Ember ep, but jazz has an electric guitar in her room!! talent musical queen!! its cool to see hobbies just in the bg.

-fright knight's murder castle reminds me of the booby trapped murder castle in zexal!! another supposedly 'for kids' show with murder/trap castles! we love that. if you are a dp fan reading this, give yugioh zexal a try. its also got 13-14 year old protags and involves (alien) ghosts. the cardgame is just a vessel for the plot, which is really good. (I just want more people to watch my fav yugioh, man)

-danny. with a SWORD.

-danny doesnt NEED TO WIN this contest, dash didnt STEAL HIS DESIGNS AND STEAL A SWORD. he also got excited to hear lancer got sent to a dimension with his worst fears too just so he could win the contest? DANNY WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!!! BRO MAYBE YOURE 14 AND HAVENT FULLY DEVOLPED YOUR WHOLE BRAIN YET, BUT...THATS FUCKED. this kid casually says the most deranged things, I do worry for my spooky son. once again, therapy needed. that judo toss was great tho. I wonder if he actually did pick up some martial arts stuff from his mom?

-danny can fly 112 mph!!! thats so fast! I love the lil montage of him and his friends testing his abilities and stuff, very cute and a good way to showcase what he can do by now and how much more proficient he's gotten from ep 1!!! I'm sure he's going to get more abilities :)

-im glad...maddie's at least TRYING this ep. I do feel for her because her husband is a man baby. but the fact it took 16 episodes to get a kinda semblance of any kind of real concern or attempts at bonding. hmm. jack's 'BACK OFF SHES A MINOR' @ the ghost trying to attack jazz. also was very funny. and him wanting to make an action figure of her? are the parents redeeming themselves to me? slightly. they gotta Work Harder

-THE GHOST. IS FLYING. THE PLANE.

-fenton machete. but she doesnt carry a PHONE??? ???

-I mean I expected vlad when you namedrop him earlier in the ep, and also the title card picture, and dalv corp being fucking vlad backwards. but seeing him just pull up on a golf cart made me bust out laughing. WITH the gift baskets prepared. why wouldnt you at least be suspicious. also, if he wants danny to be his lil sonboy, why is he so fucking malicious?? dude you are going about this in such a bad way. stop it. get some help.

-maddie not even hesitating to drag danny out. fucking good. danny is so right, go on the internet to date. get a cat. how do you spend...how many years?? has it been since college?? at least 20, right, since the parents/vlad are in their 40s? hung up on ONE girl. my god, man. incel drama queen. her kung fu IS impressive, but dude. 'we both know hes a creep' SO right. it sucks but they do need a phone and shit being in the middle of NOWHERE. also, just stealing his helicopter was great. <3

-'you must be exhausted carrying the weight of that mistake you made years ago' 'well we all make mistakes. maybe I'll make one now!' WHY DID THIS EXHCHANGE SEND ME. AND VLAD WITH THE BREATH SPRAY EWWW BITCH. 'OLD BAIT BREATH' SOO RIGHT. both danny and his mom playing him HAHAH hes so dumb. or rather, I think he thinks with his emotions too too much and is...actually pretty gullible? lmao he believed danny was ready to give in SO fast. (which is sad hes that hopeful, like you have SO MUCH MONEY YOU COULD EASILY GET ANOTHER GIRL WHO HAS A KID. AND WOULD WANT TO BE WITH YOU AND BE SUPPORTED. GET OVER THIS (1) WOMAN ALREADY IM GETTING SECONDHAND EMBARRASSMENT AAAAH)

-GHOST BEAR GHOST BEAR GHOST BEAR. it was also in the title card, but I still got very excited. we love bears here

-SAM'S BAT SWIMSUIT COVERUP!!! her outfits are simply iconic.

-'i'd tell you to go to the mens room, but I don't think you qualify' top paulina transphobic moments. :( and him wearing a tanktop to the swim park? hmmm! (actually I think she was overshadowed by then, so, KITTY top 10 transphobic moments??)

-kitty just piloting paulina around makes me feel SO bad tho, paulina's gonna wake up and be like 'wtf do you mean I was dating this rando' like youre leading danny on to make johnny jealous, and also just POSSESSING POOR PAULINA. dude take your relationship problems ELSEWHERE. last time we saw them, they seemed like such a cute couple!! wtf johnny!! I mean, she sucks for trying to make him jealous, he sucks for looking at other girls...maybe they need a break, but Not Like This. or, you know, just. better communication...

-and the A-listers having a full packet and a stamp system. who organizes this. kwan fucking owning being the new danny though, this is hysterical. THE TUCKER/KWAN FLOWER FIELD TWIRL. UNIRONICALLY ADORABLE. and him giving it his all for the poetry slam. bless his HEARTTTT.

-Star owns. actually, all of the extra characters are shining this ep and I love it.

-INVISO-BILL??? NOOOO THEY DID HIM SOO DIRTY. DANNY SWEETIE IM SO SORRY.

-johnny and danny bein friends and staging a fake fight (which danny takes too seriously, once again this child has aggression he NEEDS TO WORK OUT) I hope these three stay friends, I said it before but danny needs more friendly ghosts to hang with.

-at this point, Danny's ghost enemies are a lot like, I dunno, batman's rouge gallery is the first thing that comes to mind. they all have their own gimmick and unique designs, but most of them are easy to beat after learning the Moral Lesson. I still get excited when any of them show up again, though. 18 is another valerie episode!!!! :D skulker really said you two will get along if I have to handcuff you together <3 and the gym teacher really said, youre married now, have a flour baby! ngl, I'm not really watching this show for the shipping stuff (which I am very scared to look at the fandom for after I finish this watch through- I feel like there's probably discourse/arguing about ships...) but. I'm gonna put my opinion out there. valerie/danny > sam/danny. maybe I just really love the enemies to lovers trope. And the secret identity stuff adds Extra Flavor.

-SKULKER JUST HAVING THE BOX GHOST AND DANGLING HIM BY A STRING. HILARIOUS. and him watching them with binoculars and making his silly little commentary. AND MAKING THE SACK BABY CRY. LMAO. THIS DUDE IS A BABY KIDNAPPER. skulker is super fun

-danny, you just...collapsed the water tower. and then attacked the nasty burger machine...mascot thingy...out of anger..I KEEP SAYING HE'S GOT ANGER ISSUES BUT. HE REALLY NEEDS A LESSON IN MANAGING COLLATERAL DAMAGE!!! So does valerie!! They're both pretty focused on each other. I mean it's good of Danny to say he's trying to make sure PEOPLE don't get hurt, but... (I mean I guess it's not something 14 year olds WOULD worry about, but as an adult im like, who's going to fix that? how much money will that take??)

-TUCKER MAKING BANK. and sam and tucker being super emotionally attached to their flour baby and being pretty good parents. that's cute...also him just straight kissing her and being like. WAIT. O_O JDSKAFHD. his mom baking them into cookies was the funniest possible result. tbh I dont feel like this is on tucker, if anything the other kid's shouldve been more responsible! He was just taking an opportunity to get that $$ which I respect

-Danny being more understanding of Valerie's situation in the end (helping her at her job, too, and trying to keep that a secret for her!!!) And seeing them work together this ep, and also her letting phantom get her out of the ghost zone...was very sweet. LOVE that. more valerie eps pls

-me when I realize vlad's big stupid house exploded because of his own carelessness with changing the ghost portal ectofiltrator or whatever: *pointing and laughing*

-me when I realize it means he's gonna go make danny's life hell for it somehow: >:(

-SCOOBY PARODY!!! I feel like there's gotta be some scooby doo/danny phantom crossover stuff, right? also, 'guys in white' men in black wishes

-'oh, that's right! dad married the love of your life! you're bitter and alone!' DANNNNNYY GET HIS ASS ONCE AGAIN WE ARE POINTING AND LAUGHING AT VLAD

-'jack, you captured the ghost boy!!' UMM. he did nothing <3 'we have a weapon's vault??' YOU HAVE A WEAPONS VAULT??? and jack didnt put a handle on the inside. of fucking course he didnt! why would you leave that to your son!! or expect him to clean YOUR LAB when its where you work with probably dangerous chemicals and weapons and hes 14!! give him normal chores, like, I dunno, vacuuming, laundry, dishes...CMON. I hate it here. But I'm glad Jack is more chill about danny while he's a ghost, and willing to work with him for this ep. AND. I DID ENJOY JACK PUNCHING VLAD IN THE FACE. AND GENERALLY JUST OWNING HIM. the ghost punchy fists are actually amazing. like yeah, just punch a ghost in the face. that rules.

-ep 20 opens with the coolest fucking ghost lady design. her tattoos can come off and fight. MA'AM. I like ur nose ring and your cape maam hello 👉👈😳

-sam's grandma is hilarious and the most valid member of her family and I love her. thats my grandma now. and tucker covering for sam by dressing as her. thats true friendship <3 also skipping school to go to a goth circus. just bestie things! sam's parents are haters but for all the wrong reasons.

-'my family has controlled ghosts with this for generations!' WAIT. WAIT FREAKSHOW /ISNT/ A GHOST? I didn't expect that...he's just a fucked up guy controlling ghosts? anyway watching danny shoot at police cars and rob banks while mind controlled. its like, the most stereotypical 'bad' things lmao. (tbh an evil ghost circus troupe is a sick concept)

this gives off big deviantart emo edit vibes

(I'm going to assume evil circus reaper danny has a lot of fan content. people love an edgy au, except this one is canon (even tho its via mind control...having the protag go evil otherwise might be hard, I guess?) but au where he stays with the troupe...that has to exist, right?)

ANYWAY. excited to start s2!! lowkey surprised by how many notes some of these posts have gotten. I've gone back and tagged them all with 'dp thoughts' so they're easier to find on my blog! ^^ and I will probably possibly do (more) fanart on my art blog after I finish the watch of the whole show, so like. @sanchoyodraws follow my art blog :)

[crystal-methionine]

The Post-Eurovision ranking and comments from an American that nobody asked for:

1. Switzerland 🇨🇭 Gjon’s Tears - Tout l’univers: I absolutely was enamored by this song, its artistry, and the artist. He can really sing and one of my early favorites from this year. So happy for him to get in the top 3 bc it was well deserved. 100/10

2. Italy 🇮🇹 Måneskin - Zitti e Buoni: Deserved winners. As queer as you can get and I am here for it. Another early favorite of mine constantly fighting with Switzerland for the top spot. 100/10

3. Iceland 🇮🇸 Dadi og Gagnamagnid - 10 Years: A beautiful song dedicated to his wife and deserved Top 5 for sure. Last year’s song would have won hands down so I’m bummed he couldn’t win the first one for Iceland but brilliant song and I hope the group stays together to produce more music. 99/10

4. Bulgaria 🇧🇬 Victoria - Growing Up Is Getting Old: Eurovision fandom will forever say Imaginary Friend or Ugly Cry was the better song to send, but I don’t think they would have won the contest either. This year was strong, and I personally think Growing Up was a perfect choice from Victoria. It deserved top 10 so I was pissed that it came 11th on the night and received so few televotes. 97/10

5. Ukraine 🇺🇦 Go_A - SHUM: To all y’all who said this wouldn’t qualify when the new version came out, eat those words hun. This was a masterpiece, and the live performances just elevated it further. Honestly, Kateryna could step on me, and I would let her. Who doesn’t love an ethnic modern fusion rave? 95/10

6. Serbia 🇷🇸 Hurricane - Loco Loco: I honestly have to say when it came out, it was never breaking my top 20, but here we are. This group of gals is amazing. The choreo, hairography, and the still great vocals won my gay ass over. They served and deserved top 10 in my eye. 90/10

7. Greece 🇬🇷 Stefania - Last Dance: Much like Serbia, I kinda dismissed this as a top 10 song at first, but after many listens and then the live shows, it was one of the best songs this year. Last year’s song was nowhere near a qualifier for me, and then I thought they had a good chance of being top 5 this year. Amazing improvement and can’t wait to see what comes next from Stefania. 80/10

8. Malta 🇲🇹 Destiny - Je me casse: Not going to lie, the studio definitely did more for me. It was up with Italy and Switzerland for winner contention until the live shows. Don’t get me wrong, Destiny is still amazing live, and the song is a deserved top 5 song. However, the costume and staging just really didn’t add to the song and I think detracted a bit. Her song last year was also much better in my opinion. 75/10

9. San Marino 🇸🇲 Senhit ft Flo Rida - Adrenalina: Oh boy this was a party, and the fact Flo Rida actually was there made it even better. The staging and costuming was absolutely camp, and I was here for it. This was definitely not underrated by fans beforehand, but the jury and televote were beyond robberies in my opinion. Granted I know the backing vocals were carrying the chorus a lot so in terms of vocals, I can see where this song got dinged, but this should have been San Marino’s best ever result at Eurovision, and it wasn’t so I’m mad. 60/10

10. France 🇫🇷 Barbara Pravi - Voila: The new Edith Piaf and probably one of the most representative of the country’s culture for a song. A definite deserved runner up on the night but for me 10th place. I loved the staging, the costume, the emotions. It was all right for Eurovision and me. 50/10

11. Cyprus 🇨🇾 Elena Tsingarou - El Diablo: Come through Cyprus with another female pop banger. I’d say if the formula ain’t broke don’t fix it, but wasn’t really enough to crack top 10 this year. Another early favorite of mine this year but soon got eclipsed. Still going to be listening to El Diablo for a while. 49/10

12. Russia 🇷🇺 Manizha - Russian Woman: I can’t lie that at first, this song was absolutely trash to me but quickly rose the ranks and became one of my faves. Same thing happened last year with Uno. We also always love a good female empowerment moment with the native language thrown in. Manizha is a girlboss without the gaslighting and a true queen. Deserved top 10 the night of. 40/10

13. Lithuania 🇱🇹 The Roop - Discoteque: An earworm for first listen and was top 10 for a while for me but like Cyprus, lost out to some others. No doubt this is a deserved top 10 the night of. 35/10

14. Croatia 🇭🇷 Albina - Tick Tock: The first song to get me pressed on it’s placement. Deserved to be in the final over both Israel and Norway (please come for me I don’t care). They freakin rocked that stage during the semis and the song is absolutely a bop. Albina deserved better. 30/10

15. Sweden 🇸🇪 Tusse - Voices: A beautiful song by an amazing artist. Sure the lyrics were a bit cliche Eurovision but guess what...it’s Eurovision. I can hear the voices. Keep carrying on Tusse. 25/10

16. Albania 🇦🇱 Anxehla Peristeri - Karma: This song grew on me a lot. I liked it but wasn’t a don’t skip for a while on my playlist. The live performance changed it for me. She slayed and the staging was everything for Miss Thing. Also native language brownie points. 24/10

17. Finland 🇫🇮 Blind Channel - Darkside: Before you come for me for having this at 17th, keep reading. I’m not a big fan of the lyrics but the song is absolutely fantastic. This style of music isn’t something I pull out on a playlist often, but I had my middle fingers up for this one (and pointed at Germany but we’ll discuss later). Deserved top 10 as they rocked it on stage. 20/10

18. The Netherlands 🇳🇱 Jeangu Macrooy - Birth of a New Age: I absolutely do not understand the hate for this song. I was also a huge fan of Grow last year so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised for being generally alone again. The fact it got 0 points in the televote and only 11 in the jury is not surprising but extremely disappointing to me. This song is a masterpiece much like the ones ranked above it. Jeangu, you are amazing and deserved so much better than this. 20/10

19. Belgium 🇧🇪 Hooverphonic - The Wrong Place: Fantastic song but fantastic artists. Always here for a dark pop moment. Gonna go get my own Johnny Cash T-shirt. 15/10

20. Spain 🇪🇸 Blas Cantó - Voy a Quedarme: Such a heartfelt ballad. I enjoyed it quite a bit and don’t understand the hate it has. Didn’t deserve 0 points in the televote. 14/10

21. Denmark 🇩🇰 Fyr og Flamme - Øve Os På Hinanden: Look we all know this song is cheesy but it’s the cheesiest Velveeta queso loco so it’s ranked so high in my opinion. This is a nod to the whacky and weird Eurovision I love. It’s always in my head and I always find myself dancing along. Deserved to be in the final over two of the songs in Semi 2. 13/10

22. Azerbaijan 🇦🇿 Efendi - Mata Hari: As far as the song goes, it’s enjoyable, but the stage show was a hot mess in my opinion. The choreo looked a mess and the different sheer legging configurations on the backup dancers was not the correct fashion choice in my opinion as I was distracted by the thought of why are they all different. Did deserve their spot in the final though. 12/10

23. Moldova 🇲🇩 Natalia Gordienko - Sugar: The studio version of this song is a heavily replayed one on my playlist bc of the drop and dance-ability of the song. However the downfall of the song was it’s live performance. The staging was fine and the choreo was great but those attempted sexy whisper vocals were not the choice to go with. I don’t want to sugar-coat this 😝 so they were terrible. Glad she made it but I felt her position in the final was one of just pure luck. 11/10

24. UK 🇬🇧 James Newman - Embers: The nul points was a huge ass oof. This song isn’t bad but I can see where people didn’t vote for it bc it’s not super memorable in terms of who all was participating this year. I like the song and always sing and dance along. 10/10

25. Israel 🇮🇱 Eden Alene - Set Me Free: This is how to do a revamp and be successful. Eden is a fantastic artist who can clearly sing, but the live performance was not all that sans the whistle tones. Yet the whistle tones aside, the song is lacking a lot. When looking back at the songs available, this one should not have been the selected one. I was always on the fence with this one and still am. 9.5/10

26. Czechia 🇨🇿 Benny Cristo - Omaga: The live definitely hurt this song in the first minute and a half. The second half was absolutely what should have happened in terms of vocals. Still like the song and listen to it often. 9.25/10

27. Ireland 🇮🇪 Leslie Roy - Maps: This song was a victim of a super strong bloodbath and shoddy staging ideas. The song is arresting and a bop. Leslie’s gruff voice mixed with the modernized Irish sounds is a match made. The staging of this song that required Leslie to run along with the beat and the distracting and constantly changing bits of the performance we’re definitely it’s downfall. It didn’t deserve last place in Semi 1 though. 9.25/10

28. Portugal 🇵🇹 The Black Mamba - Love Is On My Side: I am the first to admit that while I don’t like the song, it deserved the final. The staging and atmosphere elevated the song. 9/10

29. Austria 🇦🇹 Vincent Bueno - Amen: In the battle of the Amens, this one wins solely based on the classy and amazing staging. Don’t get me wrong, Slovenia’s was also elevating but this one did it better. 8.5/10

30. Australia 🇦🇺 Montaigne - Technicolor: This song is a fantastic one for studio. The live since the Sydney Mardi Gras performance has been rough and didn’t necessarily improve. I feel bad bc I do really love this song but it definitely didn’t deserve to qualify. This being said, I love Montaigne, and Don’t Break Me was my runner up last year, and I still listen to it as my anthem when I’m feeling down. I wish I could rank this higher but I can’t. 8.5/10

31. Romania 🇷🇴 Roxen - Amnesia: This song is great in the studio but it got old real fast for me and I don’t know why. This mixed with the poor vocals and the bizarre costume:stage combo was really what did this in and got this low in my ranking. 8.25/10

32. Slovenia 🇸🇮 Ana Soklic - Amen: The loser of the Amen battle, but just barely. The song and vocals are better in my opinion but the whole package was just barely edged out in the end. 8/10

33. Latvia 🇱🇻 Samanta Tīna - Moon Is Rising: Look, this song is nowhere near as good as last years. The queeeeeen sashayed away with that annoying trap beat. 8/10

34. North Macedonia 🇲🇰 Vasil - Here I Stand: Leave it to the gays for bringing musical theatre to Eurovision. The song honestly isn’t that special or memorable but he’s higher up bc his stage and voice are amazing. 7/10

35. Norway 🇳🇴 Tix - Fallen Angel: A great message on mental health outside of the song and Tix seems like a quality fella but I do not like the song. I preferred it in Norwegian. And this low ranking is not at all influenced over him beating out Keiino (but maybe a slight bit tho). 5/10

36. Estonia 🇪🇪 Uku Suviste - The Lucky One: While this was 1000% better than last years entry, it still was relatively boring. The stage was equally as boring so sorry Estonia, but you didn’t make the mark. 4.5/10

37. Poland 🇵🇱 Rafael - The Ride: This throwback to the 80s was a bad one. The attempt at a one hit wonder vibe really hurt it along with the artist’s terrible vocals. Also half the time, he was behind the pyro and relying on backup vocals. 4/10

38. Georgia 🇬🇪 Tornike Kipiani - You: You really should not have to wait so long for the more upbeat rock ending of this. If it was that last 30 seconds for 3 minutes, it would be much better. A definite step back from last year. 1/10

39. Germany 🇩🇪 Jendrick - I Don’t Feel Hate: Jendrick might not feel hate but I do bc that is all I feel when this song comes on. 0.5/10

[bbykpoper]

Chapter 2 // Masterlist

GENRE: mafia au, fluff, a bit of smut, a smudge of angst if you squint your eyes hard enough, possible fantasy????

SYNOPSIS: A centuries old feud which kept itself silent suddenly ignites once again as two warring gangs face each other for the first time. A family of established immortals who came together after the war, a band of humans who began remembering their past lives and officials breathing down their neck threaten the world once again as fantasy and reality clash in the form of a young man hell bent on being in the lead and a young woman hell bent on ending this meaningless feud. A story will unfold before you now, questioning your morals as well as grinding your nerves to the edge.

“A princess turned assassin?”

“A coward turned prince?”

Who will survive the last wave of this war?

°˖✧

Loud music blasted into the night as people stood around parked cars of different neon colours. Men boasted their engines, while women walked around with drinks in hand going to their respective groups of friends. Two men sighed by a neon orange car which had a few girls around it, glaring at the driver who was more than enjoying the attention.

“Jun, get a hold of yourself.” The man got a loud smack to his head. “We’re not  here to entertain but to observe.”

“Whatever Song, they’re still not here.” The man named Jun answered, scratching his head and looking to the other young man for help.

“Don’t get me involved in this.” He laughed. “I’ve been told to expect them around 1 a.m. We have a few more minutes until then.” He turned.

“What else did you manage to find out Bobby?” Song looked over to him.

“NCT was invited especially for this race.” The chill in his voice summoned the night breeze. “It doesn’t sound good. It could be a deal or something more. But by the faces of some of Bangtan’s boys, it’s dangerous.” 

“We can’t exactly interfere, nor can we arrest them.” Song sighed. “This is such a pain in the ass.”

“But hey, we’re the best at this job.” Jun smirked, looking on at the incoming cars. “Uh-oh, that doesn’t look good.”

The trio noticed a car stop not far from the black sleek 2006 Mazda RX-8. Three men got out and their eyes widened when they noticed NCT’s right-hand man Johnny, followed by their sharp shooter Bulls Eye and their bomb expert as well as head of operations Brain. They followed them walking with their eyes and almost sat down on their asses when they noticed four of Bangtan’s highest waiting for them.

“We need to report this to Han.” 

“Don’t. Not yet.” Bobby grabbed a hold of the man before he could leave. “Everybody here is being observed right now. You don’t want to allert them to us, do you?”

Song kept still, glancing nervously at the scene unfolding before them.

°˖✧

Johnny buttoned his blazer as he came closer to the four individuals casually standing around a car with extremely prominent pink neon lights underneath it. The black 2006 Nissan 350Z stood out not only because of the pink details on the black body, but because of the young woman sitting on the hood of the car, her gaze fixed on the group of young teens in the distance by the starting line of the track. Her booted feet were dangling off the edge as her baggy pants covered her long legs, three to four sleek belts firmly tied around her thigh. A simple crop top covered her upper body, a small purple heart hidden on the hem. Her face sported the usual black mask, something which became a trademark for her. Johnny couldn’t take his eyes off of the girl, his breath stopping in his throat as he became starstruck by the white haired beauty before him. 

“Close your mouth pretty boy, she’ll notice the drool coming from your mouth.” The sudden whisper had Johnny backing up, his gaze turning to the smirking man beside him. “I would have never taken you to be a scaredy cat Johnny boy.”

“I never took you to be a trickster Mastema.” Johnny cleared his throat as all the attention turned to him.

“How come?” The black haired man looked at him, his mouth forming a smirk. “Didn’t little Jaemin tell you what I’m like?”

“You’ve met him?” Brain now stepped forward but was short in his path, the tip of a large blade eerily pressed agains his neck. “What the-”

“Place the blade down baby, we don’t want to scare our guests.” 

“He wanted to hit you.” Her voice was so soft and soothing, it took all three NCT boys by surprise. “He represents danger to you and I don’t like it.”

“Ah, you’re so cute.” The black haired man known as Mastema spoke out, coming up to hug her and lower her arm which held the weapon. “He won’t attack me, because I have you.” 

The girl backed up, placing the sword before her, both hands placed on the decorative grip as she stood back and glared at the men. Johnny noticed only then the lotus flower around her exposed belly button and his mind started wandering. 

“Eyes here Johnny.” His view was blocked by the one man that never left the girl’s side. 

“Now look what you’ve done.” Mastema sighed. “You’ve angered poor Solas.” 

“Where is Jaemin?!” Brain yelled out, catching the attention of the three.

“Tell you what, if any of you manage to beat my top driver I’ll tell you where he is.” Mastema smiled, his eyes sharp as ever. “But if you lose, you’ll have to tell me why you sent one of your own into our ranks.”

“We don’t have a driver.” The third person, Bulls Eye, finally spoke up. 

“I don’t see the issue with that. Why doesn’t Johnny boy drive? He did start out as one.” Mastema smirked. “You’ve taken an incredible ammount of cash from these races Johnny. I’m pretty sure you are qualified to drive.”

His jaw clenched and he looked over at the two men that came with him. Now he actually understood why Boss mentioned to take one of the cars. He really didn’t want to race, bad memories crawled into his mind before he even turned towards the car, but his eyes still went over to the girl. She was observing him too, her white hair falling around her masked face purely to taunt him. Those brown eyes stared right at him, lifeless and cold. 

But he knew better. 

“Yeonjun!” Mastema called out and young boy, with extremely pink hair walked over to him, a sudden blush creeping up on his cheeks. “Be sure to win this race.” The man’s eyes were sharp and held the promise of murder in them, the young boy nodding.

“Good luck Yeonjun.” Fae spoke up to him as he walked past her to the black Nissan.

“Thank you Lady Fae.” He squeaked out as his blush deepend.

This made Johnny furious and he was in the car in a blink of an eye. He started his engine and pulled up to the starting line as both Solas and Fae walked over to Mastema. 

“How did you know he would agree to this Yoongi?” The girl asked, as she sheathed her sword. 

“Isn’t it obvious?” Yoongi laughed as he looked over to the the cars speeding off. “He is sickeningly obsessed with you.”

Johnny had so many thoughts running through his head as he raced down the street, trying to catch up with the black nissan. Those brown eyes haunted him as he rapidly accelerated. On the other side, Brain and Bulls Eye glared at the three, the first of the two stepping out and demanding answers. Yoongi only put his finger on his own mouth, the smile never leaving his face. 

“You need to be patient. You should already know that seeing as you build bombs for a living.” He laughed, when he heard a group cheering as Yeonjun passed the final check point before the finish line, his ass in front of Johnny. “Oh no, it seems Johnny boy has lost his flavour.”

The cars came into view, inches moving between the fronts as they neared the finish line. The girl observed closely, surprised and impressed at the skill NCT’s right hand man was showing. The cars passed the line, Yeonjun winning by a literal inch. Yoongi clapped in amusement as Johnny angrily slammed the door of the mazda. 

“Well done Yeonjun, you never disappoint.” Yoongi spoke up as he walked over to Johnny and leaned on his mazda.

“Congradulations kid.” The girl patted the pink haired boy on the shoulder as he went to join up with his friends, a bright smile on his face.

“I’m waiting.” The three men looked at each other, none making a move to speak. “A deal’s a deal. You don’t want to go back on your word, right?”

“We just wanted some information.” Johnny sighed out.

“About?” Solas was becoming irritated by this whole thing and all three men noticed.

“The weapon deal you’re doing with the Chinese. We wanted to fuck that shit up so that we could take over the market there. But here we are.” Bulls Eye spoke up, rolling his eyes at the same time. 

“Yuta Nakamoto.” Mastema spoke up. “I’d believe that story if it came from Johnny’s mouth, but seeing as it came from yours I’m having a hard time with it.”

“He’s not lying.” The girl suddenly spoke up, her eyes fixed on Yuta. “He is telling the truth but there is more behind it.”

“Perceptive.” Brain spoke up, his anger evident.

“He mentioned the Chinese. Beelzebub has had some issues with the shipments the past few months. I believe they are working with the Chinese but not to take over our market there.” She looked over at Johnny, their gazes trained on each other. “They most likely threatened you to take us out. They have something on you which you can’t refuse.”

“Oh my, it seems you were spot on Fae.” Yoongi laughed at the troubled look on the men’s faces. “So, what do they got over you?”

“How did you figure that one out?” Johnny asked. “Did Jaemin tell you?”

“No. She’s just really good at reading people.” Solas said with a shrug of his shoulders. 

“They have our Chinese branch under control. They broke in and took over, placing our men into a full on hostage situation.” Johnny began explaining. “They contacted us about a month ago, demanding we take out the round table of Bangtan. They want your position in Asia.”

“Jesus, so you predicted this right it seems Fae.” Mastema sighed looking over at the girl. “Let’s go, we need to tell this to Forcas.”

“Wait, what about Jaemin?!” Brain yelled after the three and Mastema turned with a smile.

“You didn’t win the race.” He shrugged his shoulders and walked away. 

The girl turned around and looked at the men, taking pitty on them and their devastated faces. She stopped in her tracks, Solas also stopping to wait for her. She looked over at Johnny who was already staring at her and her lifeless eyes turned darker as she spoke up.

“Na Jaemin is dead. I killed him.”

[littlespoonevan]

I feel like we always see Mickey jealous of Ian and never the other way around! Fic idea maybe? Ian finally jealous of someone hitting on Mickey lol

mickey gets a promotion in this fic bc it’s what he Deserves so he’s no longer mickey, the scary old army security guard with the tattoos, but mickey, the hot mall security guard with the tattoos lmao enjoy!!!

*

Mickey’s gotta admit, making the step up from OldArmy security guard to overall mall security guard comes with some perks. Forone thing he doesn’t have to wear that ugly ass uniform with the lilac poloshirt anymore. The pay’s better and whenever he doesn’t feel like interactingwith people he can always spend a few hours in the back office watching thesecurity cameras. Not to mention the vague sense of smug amusement he gets atthe way his new uniform almost makes him look like a cop.

There is one downside though.

He’s acquired some…fans.

He gets it, sort of. The rest of his colleagues arebalding middle-aged men with beer bellies – well, all of them except Sharonwhose tattoos are even more questionable than his and who doesn’t exactly talkto shoppers so much as barks orders at them if they’re in her way – so he getsthat he’s probably the closest thing that qualifies as eye-candy for all theteenage girls with weird security guard fetishes that hang around the mall.

Doesn’t mean they don’t get fuckin’ irritating thoughwhenever they interrupt his lunches with Ian.

Ian, the piece of shit, finds the entire thingfucking hilarious and makes sure to tell Mickey as much every time he catcheshim trying to dodge one of them while he’s trying to take his break.

Honestly, Mickey would retire to the back officeindefinitely if it weren’t for the fact that he’s the only one besides Sharonwho can outrun the little shits that try to steal stuff. So that means heusually gets stuck on patrolling duty, stalking up and down the mall untilsomeone radios him about an issue.

The mall’s been relatively quiet so far today, prettystandard for mid-morning on a weekday. Mickey’s just considering taking adetour past the pretzel cart when Johnny radios him from back office.

“Mick, can you swing by Game Zone? The cashierpressed the panic button, looks like some kids are hassling him.”

Mickey holds in a sigh and unclips his walkie-talkie.“On it,” he says, turning on his heel to go back the way he came.

He’s so not in the mood to deal with teenage assholesthat should be in school trying to disrupt his morning patrol because they feellike stealing a fucking video game. When he arrives at the store he sees threekids, all about fifteen if he had to guess, cornering the cashier while afourth is shoving games into his backpack.

Rolling his eyes, Mickey squares his shoulders andcalls out a sharp, “Hey!”

The three over by the counter all snap their heads inhis direction and the one with the games freezes mid-thievery. Mickey marchesover to him first, grabbing him by the scruff of his t-shirt and snatching thebackpack from him. “I’ll take that,” he sneers, sounding menacing enough thatthe kid relinquishes the bag without a word. Mickey gives him a warning lookbefore glaring at his friends. “I’m gonna give you little shits five seconds toget lost before I’m bringing out the taser. Your choice.”

They don’t need to be told twice, hightailing it thefuck out there. Mickey pulls the kid he’s still got a hold of close and pitcheshis voice low. “I ever find out you or your friends step foot back in thismall, it’ll be the last thing you do. Hear me?”

The kid’s eyes widen in fear and he nods frantically,stumbling a step when Mickey releases him before running for his life.

Mickey watches him go with a faint smirk beforeturning back to the cashier. “You okay, man?”

The cashier stares at him, dumbfounded, before heseems to find his words. “Y-yeah! Yeah, I’m good, thanks! They just caught meoff guard.”

Mickey nods, suppressing a snort. The guy’s skinny asa beanpole, Mickey’s not sure how much good he’d be if he was on guard or not.He makes his way over to the counter then, upending the backpack full of games.“Have fun restocking the shelves, I guess.”

“Thank again, um…Mickey?” the cashier says, squintingat his nametag and holding out a hand. “I’m Robbie.”

Mickey nods and gives the guy a once over. He can’tbe older than twenty-one, probably some college kid just trying to make a fewbucks so he can get wasted at the weekend. Taking pity on him, Mickey shakeshis hand. “Those kids shouldn’t be coming back to bother you.”

“Thanks,” Robbie breathes, opening his mouth like hewants to say more but Mickey’s radio starts going off again.

“I gotta deal with this,” Mickey says, silentlygrateful he doesn’t have to stick around and socialise. “See you around.”

*

Mickey doesn’t think much of it when he starts seeingRobbie around the place after that. He just figures it’s one of thosesituations where now that he knows who the guy is he’s able to distinguish himfrom the faceless shoppers Mickey encounters every day.

And Robbie’s an okay guy. Mickey doesn’t mindengaging in a couple of minutes of small talk with him when he passes thestore. He gets that Robbie probably gets bored during his weekday shifts – old peopleand soccer moms aren’t exactly the target demographic for a video game store.

Honestly, he doesn’t think anything of it at all untilIan does.

Mickey is on his way to the food court to meet Ianfor lunch when he hears someone calling his name. He turns around to findRobbie jogging towards him.

“Hey,” he says with a slight frown. “Everything okayat the store?” He was just about to take his fucking break; he doesn’t needthis right now. Ian’s only got half an hour before he needs to get back to theambulance.

“Yeah,” Robbie assures him with a wave of a hand oncehe reaches him. “I just thought you might be on your way to the food court? Younormally take a break around now, right?”

Mickey raises his eyebrows. He hadn’t realised theywere at the point of learning each other’s schedules. “Uh yeah?”

“Cool,” Robbie says, falling into step beside him.“I’m on break now too.”

Mickey doesn’t recall ever seeing Robbie in the foodcourt at this time but then again, Mickey doesn’t tend to pay much attention toanything besides his lunch and Ian when he’s on his break. The walk is short andslightly awkward and Mickey breathes a sigh of relief when he spots Ian waitingfor him at their usual table, both their trays of food already laid out infront of him.

“I’ll catch you later, man,” he says, absently givingRobbie a wave before making a beeline for Ian and dropping into his seat.“Hey,” he greets, bumping his foot against Ian’s under the table. “Thanks forgetting the food.”

“Who was that?” Ian asks, an odd pitch to his voice.

Mickey looks up from his food with a frown. “Who waswho?”

“The guy you came in with,” Ian says, looking weirdlyintense at some spot over Mickey’s shoulder.

“Who? Robbie?” Mickey answers around a mouthful offood. “College kid who works at the video game store downstairs.”

Ian nods, mouth a tight line. “He seems…friendly,” hesays, voice all clipped and seriously, what the fuck is wrong with him?

“I guess?” Mickey shrugs, can’t say he’s ever thoughttoo much about Robbie’s personality before.

Ian nods again and Mickey fixes him with ascrutinising look. It takes him a second but he manages to place the pinched upexpression on Ian’s face. The last time he saw that was around Byron and…

“Holy shit, are you jealous?”

“Wh- no!” Ian sputters, face twisting into a scowlwhen Mickey laughs. “I’m not fucking jealous,” he insists, slumping back in hisseat and crossing his arms. “I just don’t like how he was lookin’ at you.”

“Uh huh,” Mickey says amusedly.

“Shut the fuck up,” Ian grouses, avoiding Mickey’seyes and suddenly appearing very preoccupied with his lunch.

“You realise we’re literally married, right?” Mickeypoints out, trying and failing to keep the amusement out of his voice. “Sometwenty-year-old hipster that can’t even defend himself against a couple ofteenagers isn’t gonna steal me away.”

“I know,”Ian huffs, rolling his eyes before meeting Mickey’s gaze with a pleading look.“Forget it, I was being an idiot.”

“Yeah, you were,” Mickey agrees, reaching across thetable to take Ian’s hand. “In case you missed the memo, I’m in love with you,dumbass.”

And finally, a reluctant smile spreads across Ian’sface as he squeezes Mickey’s hand. “I love you too,” he says and Mickey willnever get tired of hearing that. “Can we enjoy our lunch now?”

Mickey nods and releases Ian’s hand to pick up hisfork. By the time he has to get back to work, he’s all but forgotten the Robbieconversation.

*

A couple of days later Mickey’s shift is just aboutto end when he gets waylaid by Robbie.

“Hey Mickey,” he says, managing to corner Mickey justbefore he can get to the back offices to grab his shit. “You finishing up forthe day?”

“Yep,” Mickey says, impatient enough that he hopesRobbie will get the memo that he’s in a rush. Ian actually has the day offtoday and Mickey’s 90% sure they have the whole house to themselves and dammit,he wants a few hours alone with his husband.

“You got any plans?” Robbie asks hopefully,barrelling on before Mickey can answer him. “Because, you know, I still haven’tthanked you for helping me out that one time and I was thinking we could maybegrab a beer or-“

Robbie abruptly cuts off at the exact same momentMickey feels an arm settle around his shoulders.

“Hey, Mick,” Ian greets far too enthusiastically. (Mickeyisn’t gonna complain about the cheek kiss though.)

“Hey,” Mickey says, giving Ian an I-know-what-you’re-doinglook. “Get tired of waiting for me?”

“You realise how rare a free house is, right?” Ianasks, raising his eyebrows meaningfully. “We need to take advantage of everysecond we can.”

Mickey lets a slow smirk spread across his face andis just about to let Ian lean in for the kiss when he hears a noise that soundsvaguely like a squeak and remembers Robbie is still standing there.

He looks away from Ian and finds Robbie staringbetween them with wide, bewildered eyes. He’d almost feel bad for the guy ifseeing Ian get needlessly jealous wasn’t so funny.

“Oh I’m so sorry,” Ian announces, all faux-politenessas he turns to Robbie. “I didn’t even introduce myself. I’m Ian,” he says,sticking out his hand. “Mickey’s husband.”

“Husband!” Robbie sputters, voice high-pitched andcracking, and Mickey makes a valiant effort to keep a straight face.

“Yeah, how lucky am I, right?” Ian grins, squeezingMickey’s shoulder where he’s still got his arm around him. And Mickey knowsIan’s only saying this shit for Robbie’s benefit but it still makes him preen alittle.

Robbie seems at a loss for words and Mickey finallytakes a pity on him, deciding to end the one-sided pissing contest.

“We better get going,” he says to Ian, touching hishand to the small of Ian’s back. He has to bite the inside of his cheek when hemeets Ian’s gaze so he doesn’t start laughing. “See you later, Robbie!” hecalls, hearing Robbie’s faint, “See you,” as Ian starts steering them away.

“You enjoyed that way too much,” he mutters to Ian assoon as they’re out of earshot and Ian scoffs.

“Says the guy who used to stand over me like a guarddog when I worked at the club.”

“Those guys were literally trying to shove theirhands down your pants!” Mickey argues, elbowing Ian in the side before lettinghis arm wind round his back again.

“Fine, so we’ve established neither of us likes toshare.”

“No shit,” Mickey snorts.

Ian hums, pulling him to a stop just before theyreach the door to the back offices. “I meant it though,” he murmurs, drawingMickey in close until there’s only a few inches of space between them. “I amlucky.”

Mickey watches him for a minute, feeling his cheeksheat up and attempting to cover it up with a casual. “Fuck yeah, you are.”

Ian only smiles, looking too fond and tooaffectionate and Mickey so isn’t prepared for those eyes right now.

Patting Ian’s arms, he looks up at him with asuggestive raise of his eyebrows. “Now how about you let me get my jacket so wecan go home and I can show you how lucky you are?”  

Ian’s smile transforms into something more and hesqueezes Mickey’s hips before releasing him.

Mickey hardly gets two steps away, however, beforeIan’s dragging him back into a kiss. He figures he’s pretty damn lucky too.

*

[soybeantree]

pairing: johnny x reader

genre/warning: fluff, magic!au

word count: 3k

description: you hated him. his stupid face smiling. his stupid charisma that would always woo the customers - of which you had no doubt was aided by the use of magic. his stupid cousin - that you actually adored and would kill to have him even notice you, but who continuously chose johnny over you for assistance. and most of all you hated how your lungs forgot their one job whenever he was within 5 feet of you.  

a/n: from the essem: rosemary by moonlight universe. not necessary to read that first, but some things may not make complete sense.

"I'd like an iced caramel Frappuccino with low fat milk and a pump of pep. To go." The customer rattles off her order as she approaches the counter, never sparing you a greeting or even a glance. From her clean-cut bob to her khaki shorts and salmon button down, you know exactly how this conversation is going to go.

Contorting your cheeks into your best customer service smile and using your most pleasant tone, you inform her, "I'm sorry ma'am, but any drinks with magical add-ins must be consumed within the cafe."

Now, she glances at you, her wallet poised in her hand as her face falls into what you refer to as the entitled scowl. "Excuse me?"

“Any drinks with magical add-ins must be consumed within the café.” You repeat, despite the fact that you enunciated clearly the first time. To help with any possible confusion, you gesture to the bright golden script at the bottom of the menu which states the same.

The woman scoffs, and you inhale a deep, imperceptible breath. “Why?” Indignation laces the word and colors her cheeks red.

Many reasons. Most of which revolve around negligence and exploitation, but that explanation drags. Reminding yourself that you want this job and have jumped through hoops to get it, you dredge up every ounce of patience in your body. With a smile still in place, you say. “We strive to abide by the standards set forth within the Council’s Magical Charter. I would be more than happy to complete your order, but any drink with magical add-ins must be consumed on property.”

“I-“ You brace yourself for the entitled tirade, but the woman’s face melts into a bewildered smile. A glance over your shoulder reveals the reason. Johnny, your fellow barista, stands behind you, his cheeks pulled back by a swoon worthy grin. 

With a sigh, you step away from the counter and let Johnny work his magic. Quite literally. Johnny, like you, has the skill of enchantment. As a member of the Essem Family, he has had access to training and knowledge all his life. You on the other hand come from a no name family who has one grimoire passed down from generation to generation, and the two-page section on enchantment only works for curing melancholy. 

In moments, Johnny has the woman pacified with an iced caramel Frappuccino with low fat milk and no pump of pep, to go. She sends him another smile before she nearly collides with the door on her way out. After a giggle which Johnny echoes, she is gone, and you’re ready to vomit. 

"Did you add a shot of charm to your coffee this morning?" You ask as you resume your position.

Johnny flashes you a grin while raising a single smug eyebrow. "No, I'm just naturally this charming." You gag as you turn away which elicits a chuckle from him. “What, you don’t think I’m charming?”

“I think you are a talented witch.” You say as you reorganize your station. While leaning over the counter to schmooze the woman, Johnny managed to throw the entire place into disarray. You return the business cards to their holder and the pencils to their cup.

“You really think I’m using magic when I calm irritated customers?” 

A twang in his voice draws your attention back to him. Glancing over your shoulder, your stomach twists. For such a tall man, he can make himself appear so small. His shoulders hunch in as he fiddles with the ties on his apron. The posture throws his long bangs into his eyes, obscuring them from your scrutiny.

The answer to his question is “yes”, but the answer brews from a petty spite which you stoke every time Minseok, the café’s owner and the foremost expert on enchantment magic, chooses him as an assistant over you. The whole reason you strived for a position at the café was to become Minseok’s apprentice, but every day he chooses Johnny to help with his brews. While you enjoy blaming Johnny, you know the favoritism is due to the inclusiveness of the covens. After all, Johnny is Minseok’s cousin. 

“Since when do you care what I think? I thought I was just the hired help.” 

His head snaps up, the ties of his apron forgotten as he gazes into your eyes. The contact cools your spite, and it sours. Your stomach rolls at the discomfort, and you clear your throat and return to your reorganization.  

“Minseok doesn’t hire just anyone to help in the café.”

You know this. You badgered him for a job ever since Johnny told you about his cousin and his café. Minseok had been the sole employee for years after the café’s inception, hiring Johnny only when the café’s popularity grew. Eventually, the work became too much for the two of them, and rather than hire a qualified enchantment witch, Minseok had hired the girl with little-to-no skill who practically lived at the shop.

“Whatever.” You grumble as you throw another pencil into the holder. The force sends the jar spinning. It falls on its side spilling its contents across the counter. With a growl, you reach for the scattered pencils, but Johnny’s long arms reach around you. The pencils disappear into one hand as his other rights the holder before returning the contents. 

You duck out from under Johnny’s unintentional embrace, your cheeks burning. He has to be using his magic. You hold tight to this belief as you breathe to calm your racing heart. 

“Minseok likes having you here. You’re as detail oriented as he is.” Johnny nods to the front and back counters both of which have everything in their place and a place for everything. “I’m pretty certain you’re the only person in the world who understands his organizational method.”

“It’s not that hard. Ingredients are organized first by purchase date and then alphabetical. Supplies are..." You trail off as you catch sight of Johnny’s smirk out of the corner of your eye. “You really expect me not to think you’re using magic when you always seem to know exactly what to say to distract me?”

He shrugs, but his smirk only grows. “There are other reasons, I might know that.” Before you can question him further, the bell above the front door jingles. “Duty calls.” He tips his head to you before disappearing back into the brewing room. 

With a deep breath, you shove the conversation from your mind and rattle off the customary greeting as you turn to face the new customer. 

“Good morning, Y/N. How goes the grind?” You blink a moment as your brain registers that your cousin is here. She misses your confusion as she is too busy chuckling at her pun.

"It’s great. How goes your fruitless endeavor to start a school of magic?"

She scowls which brings a genuine smile to your face. "It's not fruitless. It's slow moving because covens are full of stuck up assholes who refuse to share their knowledge because of what? They're afraid it will diminish their power and their prestige. They need to get their heads out of their asses and think about how much better the world would be if we all worked together and shared our knowledge." 

This tirade is as familiar as the Entitled tirade. "And yet, you always get coffee at an Essem café?" You comment as you punch her order into the register.

"Minseok has the best coffee.” She hands you her card. “Everyone in the city knows that. Everyone in the world probably knows it too."

"But you're supporting the coven with the most stuck up assholes." You return the card to her.

"You're working at the coffee shop."

"But I don't have the same issues with them that you do." Not mostly at least. You would appreciate it if Minseok occasionally asked you back into the brewing room. 

She shrugs. “Did you place that order for here or to go?”

“To go?” You raise a brow. 

“I need it for here.”

“Why?” You stretch the word into two syllables. 

“Because I’m staying here.” Rolling your eyes, you adjust the order. "I'm supposed to be meeting up with Yuri." She explains as she checks her watch. "But, she's late as usual."

Your finger pauses above the register as you gawk at your cousin. "Yuri? As in the hedge-witch of the Stahn Family?"

"Yuri is much more than a hedge witch."

"Okay, whatever,” You hold up your hands, stopping whatever tirade she will surely start. “But she’s a Stahn and this is an Essem cafe?"

"Yes,” she crosses her arm, and there is no stopping this coming tirade. “Why is it so hard to understand what me and the Fantagios are trying to do? We want to create a world where people can see beyond their family covens and share knowledge for the benefit of the world."

Leaning forward, you shorten the distance between you and your cousin. The more heated she becomes the louder she gets. The customers have already started to side eye her, and the last thing you need is for Johnny and, especially, Minseok to hear her. "That's great and all. But your dream is not reality and you agreed to meet up with a Stahn on Essem territory. They're basically mortal enemies. This could end in bloodshed, and I could lose my job because I'm related to you."

"Calm down. Yuri wouldn't have agreed to meet here if she was worried for her safety."

You swallow your rebuttal as you hear the hinges of the brewing room door squeak. Your cousin’s eyes grow to the size of saucers, and you wonder why Minseok is delivering her coffee. He rarely leaves the brewing room, leaving all the deliveries to Johnny.

Minseok extends a mug to your cousin who whimpers a “thank you” as she takes it. She sips. Her cheeks flush, but whether that is due to Minseok or the heat of the coffee only your cousin knows. 

“Is it good?” Minseok’s question raises one of your brows. In the year and a half that you’ve been working for Minseok, you have never heard him ask a customer’s opinion of his work. Pink tinges the tips of his ears, and you have to refrain from pinching yourself. Maybe, this whole day has been a dream.

“It’s delicious.” Your cousin, the queen of social justice tirades, simpers.

The nausea from earlier returns as you suffer through the ensuing conversation. Despite your effort to tune it out, you hear Minseok comment on your cousin’s frequent visits to the café. She explains that you’re her cousin, which you wish she would have left out given what is about to happen, and that he makes the best coffee in the city. His whole ears brighten at the compliment, the red creeping into his cheeks. Surely, a customer is bound to come in soon and end this disgusting display of emotions.

“Y/N can keep you company while you wait.”

 Your name snaps your attention back to the conversation. You blink as you search your brain for the lead into the statement but find nothing. “What?”

 “I was telling Uko,” Your cousin must have introduced herself while you attempted disassociation, “that you can take your break early to wait with her.”

“Oh, I mean sure if you’re okay with that.” The look on Minseok’s face screams that he would be okay with anything that your cousin wanted. 

“Go ahead.” He motions for you to be on your way, and with a slight nod, you head into the brewing room which offers the exit into the main area.

Johnny, busy at a cauldron, eyes you as you walk past him and remove your apron. “Where are you going?”

“I’m taking my break.” You say with a shake of your head as you hang your apron on its hook.

A glance at the clock scrunches up Johnny’s face and puffs out his already large lips. “But, your break’s in an hour?”

“Listen,” you say, turning to face him completely. “I don’t know what I just witnessed out there.” You gesture to the door behind which you are certain the uncomfortable situation is continuing. “But, Minseok said go to break, so I am going to break.”

“What did you witness?” Johnny grabs a mortar and pestle from the counter and adds three pinches to his cauldron. A faint smell of strawberries wafts through the room bringing with it the image of sunlight fields and a gentle breeze. He’s brewing happiness. The ingredient he added was green. Was it an herb? A stone? A mixture of different things? “Y/N?”

“What?” Your mind snaps back to the moment as you remember that Johnny did ask a question. “Is your cousin dating anyone?” You ask rather than answer.

Johnny pauses mid-stir and stares at you. “No.” He draws out the word as he slowly starts to stir the cauldron counter clockwise. “Are you asking for a friend?”

Your eyes narrow at his tone. “No, I’m asking because he’s currently flirting with my cousin, and it’s gross.”

“What?!” His whole face lights up, and he nearly spills the cauldron in his haste to reach the door to the order counter. Sprinting across the room, you reach the door before he does and block it with your body.

“What are you doing?” You pant as your lungs struggle to refill.

“Our family, at least the cool people in our family, have a bet going that Minseok has a wife and two kids in hiding or that he is a celibate monk. I bet that he hasn’t found the right one. Now move, so I can prove I was right and win the bet.” He tries to shove you to the side, but you dig your heels in and refuse to budge. “Come on.” He whines, pulling his bottom lip up into a pout.

“If you want me to move, then you had better use your magic because this is already ridiculous enough.” Fortifying yourself for the oncoming attack, you blink in surprise when Johnny steps back with a shrug.

“I don’t need to. I can ask Minseok about it when he comes back here.” He returns to the cauldron. The potion has turned a putrid shade of green, and Johnny hisses as he tries to fix the problem. 

Staying would provide you valuable knowledge, but Minseok has yet to approve your assistance with the brewing. Staying also means you would witness the next installment of this non-thrilling saga.

Minseok and your cousin are still talking when you exit the brewing room into the main area. They probably haven’t even realized how long you’ve been gone or that their conversation was almost interrupted by an overly inquisitive mind.  

“There’s a free table over there.” You bust into the middle of a conversation about magical vs. non-magical cleaning products. 

“Right.” Your cousin looks to you, then back to Minseok. “It was very nice talking with you.” Her smile stretches across her face. “Maybe we could talk more later.”

Minseok’s smile is more subdued than your cousin’s, but it’s more than what you witness on a typical Tuesday. “Yes, I would like that.”

“Minseok.” Johnny’s head pops out of the brewing room. “I need your help with something.” The stench of rotten fruit leaks through the open door. Minseok mutters a quick apology before disappearing into the brewing room. 

You take a seat at the free table, a smug smile on your face. Your cousin is slower to take her seat, her smile still in place. “Is this really the first time you’ve met Minseok?” You ask when she finally settles in her seat.

“Yes,” she answers though her eyes remain on the brewing room door. “He had already graduated when I started high school. I heard about him from the upperclassmen, but they did not do him justice. He is one fine man.”

“Gross. Can you take your thirsty ass and get out of my place of work?”

“You work in a coffee shop, a place where thirsty people are literally supposed to come.” She quips back, finally glancing at you.

“Please, people don’t come to cafes because they’re thirsty. They come to work, socialize, or take aesthetic photos, and maybe sometimes for caffeine.” 

Before she can formulate a rebuttal, the bell above the front door jingles, and in walks the reason for your cousin’s visit. In your disgust, you had forgotten the threat to your job. Panic races through your veins as your attention shifts to the counter. You wish for all the luck in the world, but luck abandons you. Instead of Johnny coming to greet the new customer, Minseok emerges once again. Habit controls him as he smiles and gives the customary greeting. Only after the last word leaves his mouth does recognition register in his eyes. 

"Yuri." The name is a question and a greeting.

The hedge-witch tilts her head a fraction of a degree in the semblance of a nod. "Minseok." She returns the greeting. You wait - breath held, heart racing - for the coming altercation.

"Kyungsoo's been looking for you. He seems to be worried about something. Is everything okay?"

"You can mind your own damn business." She huffs, her arms crossing over her chest.

You flinch, but Minseok chuckles. "I'm merely a messenger."

"Well messenger, you can tell Kyungsoo - and please make this verbatim - 'I'm fine. Thank you. You can suck my dick'."

Minseok jots the message down on his guest check book, glancing up at Yuri when he finishes. "Anything else?"

"No, that's all."

"Would you like to order anything?"

"Hell, no. I'm here to meet with someone." She glances around the shop. 

You shrink down in your chair, hoping to avoid detection, but your cousin shreds that hope. She waves her hand, drawing both of their attention to you two. Minseok’s eyes rest on you for a moment before shifting to your cousin. 

Yuri returns the wave as she walks to your table. "Hey Uko, sorry I'm late. The potion needed to brew a little longer this morning than I anticipated. I blame this muggy weather. It's messing with everything I make. Is this your cousin?" She nods to you as she plunks into the last of the three chairs at your table. Uko nods her head. "Nice to meet you."

"You might not think it's so nice. She works here."

A hiss slips out as Yuri shakes her head. "Why must the young always be corrupted?"

"Don't worry. I might not have a job for much longer." You sigh as you push yourself out of your chair. "Breaks over. I’ll find out soon enough if I do or not."

"Minseok might be an Essem, but he's not going to fire you because you have a connection to me.” Yuri assures you. “If he does though, let me know and I'll kick his ass." Yuri grins, showing all of her teeth, and you chuckle despite the anxieties waging war in your stomach.

Walking back into the brewing room, you grab your apron and slip it on while keeping your back to Minseok and Johnny. With a deep breath, you turn to face them. Johnny stands over the cauldron which is a deep forest green and simmering pleasantly. You breathe in the smell of strawberries and hope the happiness has rubbed off on Minseok who is standing beside Johnny and whispering instructions. 

With a glance up, Minseok pats Johnny on the shoulder and walks towards you. Lifting leaden feet, you meet him by the door to the ordering counter. 

A volley of words waits on your tongue, but they retreat when Minseok asks, “Can you give this to your cousin?” The “this” he is referring to is a folded scrap of paper.

You take the paper, nodding as you slip it into the back pocket of your jeans. “Sure. What is it?”

A small smile lifts his cheeks, and his voice is soft when he says, “My number.”

You choke on your response, and you can hear Johnny chuckling as you attempt to regain your breath. Minseok offers to get you a drink, but you wave off his concern. “What?” You finally manage to get out.

“I forgot to ask for your cousin’s number when we were talking.” He pouts. “I was hoping you would give her mine and tell her she can text me whenever.” 

“Sure.” You pause before asking, “Should I go back to work now?”

“Of course.” His response is instantaneous and a flood of relief washes through you. “And thank you.” He adds, the corners of his mouth quirking up. With a nod, he returns to Johnny’s side. 

Exiting the brewing room, you shake your head. On the plus side, you still have your job. On the negative side, your cousin might start dating your boss which may not be a complete negative but it definitely isn’t a positive.

[nightwingshero]

Can I get uhhh a number 6 for WrenMike so I can officially leave this fandom in shame? x

Abos-fucking-lutely! You’re not allowed to leave though! Also...I’m very sorry...because this is...oof. I’m gonna go hide now. IT’S NSFW FOR A REASON, OKAY?! I AM SO SORRY!!!!

I sighed, downing the rest of my bourbon, trying to focus on it instead of the steady scent of his cologne next to me. If you had told me that this was what I would be doing a month ago, I would have laughed and punched you in the face. Because I thought everything was so perfect, and the last person I needed in my company was Michael fucking Hughes. 

But here I was, the both of us drinking away. It started with his usual banter, the sly smirk and wiggle of his eyebrows, but slowly it turned into something else. Sensing something was wrong, he sat--without my permission--next to me, ordered us another round, and just talked. That must have been the biggest hint, because when had I not risen to his bait?

It wasn’t a therapy session by far, Mike was in no way qualified for that shit. But, as much as it pained me to say, it did make me feel a little better. Hearing him talk about how he understood, and then finding some dumbass thing to say to try and make me smile. It shocked us both when it actually worked.

I eyed him, setting my empty glass on the bar. He’d gotten rid of his jacket long ago, the heat of the Spread Eagle becoming too much for it. His hair was a bit messy from him running his hand through it so many times, and I almost giggled at how adorable he looked doing it. His shirt fit nicely, and you could see the outlines of his muscles. I feel the sudden urge to reach out and touch them--

Jumping from my chair, I stagger a bit, capturing his attention. “You alright there, doll?”

“Going to the bathroom.” I muttered as I walked away quickly. Bursting through the door, I clutch the counter tightly before turning the sink on. I cupped my hands, and splashed the cool water on my face, hoping for some clarity. And while it helped some, it didn’t help in the way I needed it to. Naturally, I weighed my options. Would it be so wrong to just give in? I bite my lip, pressing my thighs together tightly as I remember how heated his gaze. 

Catching my own gaze in the mirror, I can tell I’ve already made up my mind. I feel calm then, as if everything fell into place. I adjust my skin tight black dress, and leave the bathroom. He’s checking his phone when I get to him, so he doesn’t notice me approach. But his head jerks the second I place my hand on his shoulder, and lean in, my lips brushing his ear. 

I can feel his shiver, so I know I have his attention, but I decide to push it a bit further by placing my other hand on the inner of his thigh, barely brushing his jeans. “You wanna get out of here?”

“I--ah,uhm.” he took a second to clear his throat before continuing. “Yeah. Yeah, let’s go.” I take his hand after he throws a few bills on the table and grabs his jacket, and I ignore the daggers Mary May is throwing my way. 

Outside is a lot cooler and more deserted. With this late at night, we could probably get away with what I had in mind. His car was parked in the back, mostly hidden in the dark. My heart hammered as we made our way to it.

“You wantin’ me to take you home?” he asked, a teasing tilt to his tone. “A little too tipsy to drive--”

Turning, I tugged him closer, his body slamming into mine as I hit the car, the cool metal hitting my thighs. I’m breathing heavy as I look up at him, and he smirks even wider.

“Wanting something else then, hmm?” His hands finally find my hips and I can’t help but be somewhat entranced. He was so different than what I was used to. It’s his turn to lean in and whisper in my ear. “And what would Little Johnny say now?”

“John’s not here.” I ground out, ignoring the pang in my chest. Michael pulls back, his eyes going soft for just a moment.

“You know, I never thought the Queen of Holland Valley herself would descend enough to let this happen. Never thought I’d be doing this with--”

I sigh heavily as I grip the lapels of his jacket tightly and try and pull him forward, but he’s rock solid. “Would you just shut up and kiss me already?” I snapped. 

Michael didn’t need much more persuasion than that and his lips crashed against mine. He wasn’t gentle, and I was thankful, because that’s not what I wanted. He grips my hips tighter and the pressure of it is pleasure all in itself, enough to make me gasp and he takes the opportunity to slip his tongue in. 

He’s shockingly dominant and it’s hard to believe, but I’m melting against him. His hands travel, pressing me harder against him as he cups my ass with one hand and grabs my hair with the other. With a nice little tug, he angles my face so he can deepen the kiss and I moan. If anything, Michael Hughes was an excellent kisser. 

I gasp in shock when he pulls away, and I can’t breathe with his eyes burning the way they are now. His eyes travel down, taking in my dress and body as his fingers trace the edge of it. I suddenly feel insecure and I wish I had worn something else.

“John always hated this dress.” I muttered, suddenly too shy to look at him. 

Michael just scoffed before gripping the fabric tightly. “Well, he’s a fucking idiot. I fucking love this dress. Damn girl, I wanna fuck you now more than I ever have.”

He shoves the dress over my hips, and I’m gasping for air, because I wasn’t expecting that. A heated make out session, sure, but this? “We’re in public, Mike.��� I breathed out. 

“Guess we should give them one helluva show then, doll. And you look fucking gorgeous enough to do it.” Shoving his hand under my thong, his fingers finding just how wet I’ve gotten for him in such a short amount time. “For me, hun? Oh, you shouldn’t have.”

He knows me well. Well enough to know that I’m about to shoot a retort at him, and he takes advantage of that. Without restraint, he rubs my clit fast, and I’m unprepared, so I can’t stop the high pitched moans that are coming from me. Michael just smiles before he holds my face, covering my mouth as he does. 

I’m too drunk to care as I feel my eyes roll back, my knees are getting weak and my heart just keeps pounding. I grip his arm tightly because it’s too much too fast, but he doesn’t stop. My nails dig into his skin, and we both know I really don’t want him to stop, not for a second. The car behind me is all the support I have as he works me expertly with his fingers. 

“Feels good, doesn’t it? Told you I could treat you better than him.”

And that’s what makes me cum. I almost collapse, but he doesn’t let me. I’m breathing heavily as he holds me. I hate it, but I’m only partially satisfied, and to show him I want more, I rub hand over the erection straining in his jeans. His head falls back with a moan.

“Holy fuck, yes, you’re perfect. Turn around, we’re not done.” He turns me, pressing me against his Chevy, and shoves my thong to the side. I can hear his zipper and a crinkle of plastic before he’s at my entrance with a quick slap on my ass. I whimper, shifting to try and get closer, to get him inside, but he won’t let me. “Wren, you want this, sweetheart?”

“Oh for fuck’s sake.” I hissed. “Fuck me, Michael. Please.”

He pushes in, all the way to the hilt and I’m practically squealing at the feeling, and he keeps up a rough and fast pace that has me curling my toes. It’s not comfortable, being bent over a car like this, but I couldn’t care less. Michael made me feel things I haven’t in a long time, and part of me knew that this wouldn’t be a one time thing. It was too good to be. 

I bite my lip to try and stay quiet because we’re still out here, and at any point someone could find us. Michael’s hands are to busy pulling my hair and holding my hip to keep me in place to do it for me. And eventually, I can’t help it, even as my lip bleeds. He’s hitting the right spots and I’m already so close again. 

“God, you feel good. How the fuck could anyone give this up?” he groaned. “Is it good, baby?”

“Fuck yes.” I moaned. “Harder, Mike, please.”

“Anything for you, doll. Just keep saying my name just. Like. That.” he punctuated each word with a sharp thrust, and I cried out his name again as he pounded harder into me. There was nothing to hold onto as I came undone around him, my walls contracting around him as he continued. Michael wasn’t far behind, and with a whisper of my name and a grunt, he hit his own climax. 

We stayed still for a moment, our heavy breathing mixing with the loud noise of the bar. I don’t know what to say, unsure of where to go from here. It happened faster than I thought it would, and I have a sinking feeling at the thought of having to go home alone now. But he breaks the silence, pulling me away from my thoughts.

“So...I was gonna ask earlier, but we got kinda busy. You wanna...go to my place?” 

[shurisneakers]

espresso [1]

Summary: In which your best friend’s brother begins to set you up on dates when you mention that you haven’t been in a relationship in years, but things don’t go as expected.

Warning: a lot of swearing

A/N: hi :))) this is my entry for @bithors writing challenge! Thanks for the huge extension, k <33. Also, huge thanks to @samingtonwilson for being my beta reader and reading the same draft like 3 times. Unfortunately I love you, Taal.

here’s my ko-fi if you’d like to support my writing <333

Espresso Masterlist

College wasn’t easy.

It was actually pretty shit.

“A whorehouse full of caffeine zombies and nervous breakdowns.” As Rebecca once put it, the filter on her vernacular seemingly disappearing the moment she left her mother’s radar. “And you and I, friend, are in the smack middle of these hormonal beasts.”

Rebecca Barnes had no concern for her dressing sense or her family’s reputation of being polite and proper.

As she trudged beside you in her worn out sweatpants and a pink hoodie, her white converse dragging tiredly across the ground, she was a sharp contrast to your jeans and normal sweater.

It was a chilly morning, but there was a smile on your face because the beginning of autumn at college wasn’t actually that bad. The air was slightly cold, the trees looked beautiful and the warmth of coffee in the morning was something you’d come to love.

You weren’t exactly excited about college, but you would rather not have to write “Please” on the “Why should we give you this job?” part of your application. You were just as sleepy as Rebecca, but you handled it better seeing as you had one of the best roommates ever who let you sleep in for five more minutes.

“I just don’t see why I was forced to pick classes in the crack ass of dawn,” she grumbled, eye bags seeming to hold the weight of the world. 

“From what I remember, you only picked morning classes because you thought you had to compete with James to assert your dominance.” You quirked an eyebrow at her amusedly, as she groaned.

“Listen, first of all, it’s too fuckin’ early to diss you, so here’s a fuck you. Second of all, don’t call him James, it’s so weird. You’ve practically known him your whole life; just call him Bucky like everyone else.”

She tugged the hood of her hoodie over her head and pulled on the sleeves to cover her fingers. You already defended your choice of clothing in the morning, saying that you preferred to feel the sharp coolness of the air before it turned too cold.

You loved Rebecca. Honestly, you did. She was extra as hell, had the mouth of a sailor and quoted Vine references like an English major could quote Shakespeare. 

Too bad none of them could be used in her law course. 

“I know, but-” you began before you were cut off by a sudden push from Rebecca. You nearly tripped before her hand tugged you back into place, preventing you from hitting the tiled floors.

Jesus fucking Christ-

“Ah, here’s my favourite piss goblin and her best friend! Good morning, ladies. How’s the first week of the second year treating you?” Bucky’s cheerful grin as he ruffled his sister’s already messy ponytail made you laugh while she swatted his hand away.

“I’m the piss goblin? Remind me who was the one who peed their bed every day until they were 10?” She narrowed her eyes at him, shoving him away, only to earn a chuckle from him. “Egotistical ape-”

“The first week’s going okay, barista boy,” you interrupted her before she got more graphic, tearing his gaze away from her and to you. You noted the way his hair was sticking up slightly after being messed up by his cap, and the small stain on the corner of his sleeve that he didn’t seem to notice.

“I told you not to call me that,” he whined, removing his arm from around his sister’s shoulders as she squirmed furiously away from him. He sighed before ignoring her altogether.

“You called me Mario for six years straight,” you responded with a grin, sparing him a sideways glance. You wondered if he was feeling cold under that plain white full sleeved t-shirt because his nose and the tips of his ears were slightly pink. 

“Still does, sometimes,” Rebecca piped up, unable to keep the laugh out of her mouth at your indignation. You narrowed your eyes at Bucky who looked away quickly. 

“You promised you wouldn’t tell, snitch!” 

“Don’t you have some American McFrappegrande- or whatever they’re called- to make, barista boy?” she retaliated, earning a huff from him.

“Your face is a-”

“If you both don’t shut up right now I’ll cut off both your arms and beat you both to death with them.” You stepped in between them just as he opened his mouth to spit something equally senseless. 

“Geez, you’re full of fire today, Johnny Storm- ow, fuck, what was that for?! Have you seen that guy? It’s a compliment! He can flame on my ass anytime he’d like.” Bucky rubbed the part of his arm that you punched, glaring at you.

These were the people you willfully chose to hang out with on a daily basis.

“Anyways, you know Thor right? The one who got fuckin’ hammered and nearly lost an eye? He’s having a kick-back tonight at his apartment. Not a party, more low-key. I thought you both might want to come.”

“Is Natasha invited too?” Rebecca murmured, adjusting her bag straps over her shoulder.

“Of course. The more the merrier.” Bucky winked at her. She just rolled her eyes.

“I guess. You’ll drive me back to my dorm, right?”

“Do I fucking look like-”

“Alright, here are our respective stops. Please fuck off now,” you announced loudly. “Have a good day, infants.”

“I’ll see you there, right?” he asked hopefully, walking backwards while facing you both.

“Yes, you mosquito fucker, you’ll see us there.” Rebecca rolled her eyes again, shaking her head.

“Awesome.” He grinned before turning around and taking off in the opposite direction. “Have a great day, Mario! Go fuck an orange, sis!”

The both of you shared only English and while you personally enjoyed the class and the creative liberty it allowed you, Rebecca thought it was the next worst thing since Joss Whedon.

“What were we supposed to read for this class? I don’t even remember,” Rebecca asked drearily, stepping into the large room.

“We were supposed to read something?”

___

Thor was the exact opposite of what everyone expected him to be. With short cropped blonde hair, blue eyes and the impressive height of Wreck-It Ralph, he is the nicest human being on the campus.

His apartment ceilings often had fairy lights strung across it, he had numerous potted plants thanks to his shy roommate Bruce, and each wall was off-white in colour.

Thor and Bruce were fucking pure.

All of you were gathered in their living room, some a little tipsy and some who were sober. Sam, Thor, and Bruce were on one of the couches, Nat and Rebecca were on the floor where Rebecca’s head lay in Nat’s lap and Steve was draped across the armchair with Peggy half lying on him. Wanda and Bucky were the designated drivers for the evening, but Wanda took a grand total of fourteen minutes before she grabbed a beer as well. Having no other place, the three of you were shoved onto the last couch with you in the middle.

“Dude, Professor Cage was there today as a substitute. His biceps were bigger than all my hopes and dreams,” Sam groaned, dropping his head into his hand. “He could like, strangle me and I’d thank him.”

“Gamora, though,” Nat added, shaking her head. “She’s a fucking badass.”

“I swear, Professor Gamora owns my whole ass. I would literally die for her,” Rebecca declared to the raising of a couple of bottles. “It isn’t fuckin’ fair. “How can someone be so smart and good looking at the same time?”

“I think I’m best qualified to answer that, sis.” Bucky grinned, earning a snort from you and a few laughs.

“You are, without a doubt, the ugliest fucking thing I have laid my eyes on, James.”

“There is a mirror in your room for a reason, Rebecca. Use it sometime.” He took a swig of his beer, tipping his jaw up as a sign of smugness.

“I’ll shove that mirror up your ass so that maybe you can finally see how deep your head is in there, Bucky,” she grumbled, to which Nat laughed, continuing to thread her fingers through Rebecca’s hair.

It was around 11 and the earlier part of the evening had been spent in eating pizzas, or anything you could get your hands on really. There was a debate about whether the colour changing dress or the Yanny-Laurel shit was more annoying (which Sam ended up winning, for some godforsaken reason no one could remember) and the excitement had worn off so there was just a comfortable silence hanging in the air.

“Does anyone want to play truth or dare?” Steve asked from the couch, his voice muffled by his girlfriend.

“No.”

“Fuck you guys.”

“Been there, done that, wouldn’t recommend,” Peggy said, shrugging. He poked a finger into her side, making her jump and curse at him, but retreating back to her original position with the hint of a smile playing at her lips.

You stared at them, head tilted. “You guys are disgusting. Feel like ’m going to vomit glitter.”

“Just for that comment, truth or dare?”

“Oh, fuck me in the ass- dare.” You threw your hands up, spilling some of your drink onto Bucky who winced. You immediately mouthed an apology that he shrugged off with a smile, an amused expression on his face.

Everything was hazy and little funnier and happy. You liked it.

“I dare you to eat that bug on the wall over there.”

“Truth.” You ignored his statement, nodding your head at him.

“Fine, would you eat that bug on the wall over there?”

“Never have I ever.”

“That’s not how this fucking game works-“ Steve shot up as loud laughter cut him off. “I hate you.”

“I can live with that,” you said, shrugging.

“Bucky, truth or dare?” Bruce offered, shooting Steve a half smile who instead returned an appreciative nod.

“Truth,” he said lazily but smiling albeit.

“Most embarrassing moment of high school?”

“Um,” he paused, eyebrows furrowing, “I-I’m not sure-“

“Oh, how about the time Y/N walked in on you writing a love letter?” Rebecca raised her hand helpfully, only to be met with a glare.

“Jesus, Becks!”

“That was a love letter?! To who?!” you exclaimed, twisting your body to look at him.

“Nobody!”

“Liar! I remember that day! You nearly jumped out the window so that I wouldn’t see it.”

“I am not answering the question.” Bucky huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Spoilsport,” Thor called out only to receive a middle finger.

“Tell us who the special person was, James,” you sang, leaning your head on his chest, laughing.

“You tell us the guy you were hung up on the entirety of high school,” Steve fired back in defence of his friend, a smile on his face. Your body immediately stiffened up before you forced yourself to relax.

“It was no one,” you mumbled, sitting up straight. “I’ve been single all through high school.”

“Didn’t you date-“

“I’ve been single all throughout high school,” you say loudly, hoping to get your point across. Fuck, one of the reasons you joined Becka as she moved across half the country was to avoid this exact scenario.

“Well, shit-“ Sam’s eyes widened “-we need to get you laid.”

“Who said I’ve been lacking in that department?” You raised your eyebrows, feeling Bucky shift under you before returning back to normal, except wrapping an arm around your shoulder.

“Damn.” Peggy whistled, chuckling to herself. “How about a boyfriend?”

“What about one?”

“Don’t you want someone to have that cheesy college romance with?”

“I gotta say it isn’t on my top 3.” You shrugged, downing the rest of your drink before standing up. “Besides, there isn’t anyone on this campus who is dateable. Maybe if there was someone, I wouldn’t mind. It’s getting pretty late, so we should probably get moving.”

You avoided everyone’s gazes, and instead offered your hand to Nat who waited until Rebecca moved to pull herself up and dust herself off. Wanda had already fallen asleep, so Sam offered to help carry her back to Bucky’s car, which Bucky accepted.

After a round of quick goodbyes, the five of you got into Bucky’s car. Sam and he were roommates, as were Rebecca and Wanda.

“Bucky. Play Africa by Toto.”

“I will not play that godless song in this car.”

“Lil’ bitch.”

After fifteen minutes of ridiculous arguments, he finally dropped Rebecca and a half dead Wanda to their dorm building and rounded the corner to yours and Nat’s.

As Nat got out and you stepped out behind her, you turned to say goodnight to Bucky and Sam, finding them finger wrestling over the radio controls.

“Bye, guys. Drive home safe.” You nodded, shutting the door behind you.

“Mario, wait!” Bucky called out, making you spin on your heel to look at him. He had half his body out of the car window, looking at you over the roof of his car.

“I can- I can help you out if you want,” he said loudly, half shrugging.

“With what?” you asked, confused.

“F-finding someone who’s- you know- dateable. If you want.”

You stared at him blankly. You hadn’t considered this possibility when you said that.

“Why do you want to help me?”

“Because I care about you?” he said incredulously. “You’re like my little sister. Of course I’d help if you wanted it.”

That made sense. You’ve known Bucky as long as you’ve known Rebecca, including through his teenage emo phase, his high school jock phase, and his mature college phase and in that time you both helped each other equally, even though your only common link was his sister.

“I don’t want you to feel like I'm forcing you or anything, I just thought-“

“How?” you interjected, tilting your head.

“What?” His eyes widened comically as he leaned forward slightly.

“How are you planning to help?”

“Oh. Oh. Oh okay, yeah, um, I’ll tell you tomorrow. Meet me at the coffee shop?”

“Alright barista boy,” you agreed, giving him a half smile that he reciprocated. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Awesome,” he breathed out, a grin growing on his face. “Awesome. Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow. Night Mario.”

You waved at him as he popped back into the car and started up the engine before turning around to walk back into your building.

“Is that such a good idea- you know- considering the circumstances?” Nat’s voice broke the silence. She had her hands wrapped around her torso with a small look of concern on her face, her red hair slightly out of place because of the wind.

“What circumstances?” You knew what she was talking about, you just didn’t know how to answer it.

“High school. With him. Shit, Y/N, you were torn up for over a year-“

“It’s fine. I’m over it. It doesn’t matter now,” you interrupted her, shaking your head. You began walking towards the building, ignoring the beating of your heart.

“Are you sure?”

“Postive.”

Part 2 

[danepopfrippery]

I hate to qualify it but mark proksch’s was making fun of zwarte pete, a dutch tradition STILL DONE TODAY 2021 in blackface . It was a 5 sec cutaway with the joke being Dwight (grandson of nazis) is racist and made his desperate lackey (mark proksch) dressing as he made him. It was ballsy tho even then and an apology would be nice. I dated a dutch guy in 2007 (this ep aired in 2012) and boy he thought it was just overblown. I told him he was an ass and we didnt date much longer.

As for Kayvan fuck bro…he needs to apologize. And apologize for defending it like a whiny bitch (very nandor) in 2018. I know disney (which owns fx which produces the show) loves blackface and racism (they still sell song of the south just not in the us) but shit if cruella cant smoke maybe make ur guy go sorry.

I really am hoping hes just like the Bojack dude who did pretty much the whiny defend (bobs burgers too) and later apologized and said hes sorry and he had been embarrassed thats why he defended it. But i dont know his motivations for disappointing me. My limit is more defenses or doing it again. That would make me tune out since i didnt know about it til recently.

And tbh i think a lot of fans dont know. The office is boring and most people dont watch the last seasons (that mark was in for 5 mins). And most americans or non brits have no clue wtf facejackers was. But they should know now. The pics say it all.

Last night Always Sunny debuted their new season and went right for the meat of it: Lethal Weapon 7. 5-6 had Mac in blackface (and dee) with the bit about blackface being Mac thought respectful blackface exists (trying to look like a real human vs bosco cartoon) with Dennis correctly saying all blackface is racist. And true to form they switch characters in both w Dennis refusing the blackface making it look even odder. In the new ep admitted he had been wrong, tho end of the ep he decides nah he should be able to do it again lololol (he doesnt).

I studied race in pop culture before i seen any of these and i thought always sunny called the issue out well. Despite the oddness of al jolson thinking he was respectful (‘honoring’ black music like Fred Astaire in Swing Time the biggest let down ive ever seen) and actual black people being made to cork up to look ‘really black’ (bert williams) or being fired for refusing (fredi washington). Some gave in cuz you couldnt act unless it was racist shit (hattie macdaniel) or just passed as white cuz it was easier (indian not black but merle oberon). It went on way longer than u think (white christmas ends in blackface but is usually cut off, archie did it on tv in the 70s and mac around 2010). I think i really enjoyed the point made in the last ep about red face (danny devito did it in the ep). No one ever loudly bitched about that, or named it with the blackface. Hulu didnt pull it for that. Seems ur good if its not black or yellowface. Johnny Depp was redfacing not that long ago in Lone Ranger and made up heritage to shush the legit complaints about him.

hey just a reminder do not fucking stan kayvan novak and/or mark proksch because they have both done blackface and have never apologized for it, and kayvan even went on record defending his use of blackface. he in particular has a long and horrendously racist history of putting on what were in essence modern day minstrel shows.

mark did blackface on an episode of the office and has yet to acknowledge his shitty behavior.

please for the love of god spread this shit. im tired of everyone being so quiet about evidence of horrible shit these dudes have done especially because it's so goddamn readily available.

[hamilton-one-shots]

Hamilton High School AU 56

And, sitting in a circle with a few friends, he was. Everyone was looking over their finished makeovers proudly, especially Lucy, who was new to the whole thing.

"Show Tommy how pretty I am!" she begged as she bounced in place.

John smiled and took a picture of her, sending it to Thomas. [She only cares what you think, no other boys are mentioned]

As much as he was against the idea, he couldn't help but smile at the caption and at how happy Lucy looked. [Good, no other boy should see her when she's this beautiful xx] [Besides you, of course xx]

He sent a picture of himself to Thomas and Alex separately with the same caption. [Laf is an artist!]

Thomas chuckled and gave Aaron the phone. "Here, take a picture of me when I say." He laid down on the ground as if he'd passed out.

"You're a strange man, Thomas Jefferson." He took the picture anyways and gave back the phone.

Thomas sent the picture as it was.

Alexander didn't know what to say or do, his boyfriend was too gorgeous for words. [U r prfecshun! I dont deserve u]

John responded to him first, too busy giggling at Thomas's picture to respond. [Trust me, you deserve me. <3]

Alexander smiled and got back to work.

John responded to Thomas. [I guess I should never send these pictures again, then? : P]

[I'd rather actually die than hear those words again ; ) xx] [I gotta go help Burr, I'll see you later, beautiful xx]

Lafayette sent his own picture to Hercules.

[How did I get lucky enough to find a datemate like you? ; )] [You're going to look so stunning at the dance, nobody but me will be able to look at you without fainting.]

[If that is true, it will be because of your dress more than anything else.]

[Baby, you're beautiful! Don't forget that.]

He smiled and went to his bag, where Rosie had been sleeping and was now trying to escape.

The second that he let her out, Lucy squealed and ran over, picking her up. "A kitten!"

She mewled, displeased, and Lafayette took her back before she could hurt Lucy or before Lucy hurt her.

"You must be careful with her. She is just as alive as you and me. You wouldn't want someone picking you up and shaking you around, would you?"

"No.. Sorry kitty..."

"Her name is Rosie. Here you go. Nice and gentle."

She carefully held the kitten and pet her head. "Hi.. I'm Lucy."

Susan came over and pet her back, giggling. "Hi, kitty."

John smiled and took a picture, sending it to his boyfriends. [This is how I die. Cuteness overload.]

[Surprised I'm not dead yet, then ; ) xx]

[Ur so much cutr tho]

He chuckled. They were so similar in some ways, especially when it came to John.

He and everyone else sat and watched movies for essentially the rest of the day, as if it were a girl's day in. Around 6, Thomas and Alexander got to the apartment and John buzzed them in, despite everyone else protesting.

"Hey, Sunsh-" Thomas was interrupted by everyone besides John throwing pillows at him.

"No boys!"

"This is a girl's day!"

Alexander laughed until he was also assaulted with flying pillows.

John laughed and stepped outside with them. "Sorry. You know how it is, girls day in."

"... But you're a boy, aren't you?" Alexander asked.

"Yeah, but I qualify. They said I'm pretty enough." He smiled proudly.

"I could've told you that, hon." Thomas winked and John rolled his eyes.

"Alright. You guys heard the rules. No boys besides me." He waved them off.

Thomas tutted. "Alright, but you owe me a date tomorrow."

"I know and we'll be disbursed by tomorrow at three, at the latest."

"I'll see you then."

John nodded. "And I'll see you later, too." He kissed Alexander's cheek.

"I'll see you Monday." He smiled and pecked his lips, frowning a bit when Thomas did the same. It hurt seeing his boyfriend, his John, kissing another guy. But he wasn't about to complain about it. He made John happy and that was all that matters.

John also wanted Alexander to be happy, though, and he could see that he clearly wasn't.

"Hamilton, are you coming? I'll take you home."

"Yeah.."

"Actually," John said, "Can you give us a minute? I want to talk to him."

Thomas nodded and went downstairs, waiting outside of his car and taking a smoke break.

John pulled Alexander into a hug and kissed his cheek. "Are you sure you're okay with this?.."

"Yeah.. I just.. It's going to take some getting used to."

"You know I still love you, right? I love you just as much not as I did before I realized I loved him too."

"I know.. It's just kind of weird after everything that happened."

John nodded. "I get it. He's not pushing you out of the picture, I swear that much to you."

Alexander buried his face in his chest. "Can we talk about this alone? Before you go out with him tomorrow?"

"Of course we can. I'll probably need to borrow something to wear from Laf, anyways." He kissed the top of his head. "I'll see you then."

"Okay... Am I bad for being jealous? Like... I know I promised I wouldn't be, but I can't stop it and I'm sorry.. I shouldn't be jealous after-"

"Hey.. Slow down there. I understand if you're kind of jealous.. You're really doing a lot for me through this.. But nothing is going to change, I swear. I still love you just as much as before and nothing's ever going to stop that." He pulled away from the hug and kissed him.

Alexander melted against his lips. John always made him feel better and kissing John always made the world feel alright again. Whether or not John was dating Thomas, nothing could take that away from him. When he pulled away, he smiled. "Thank you..."

"Anytime." He pecked his lips one more time before watching him go downstairs, then going back inside.

Alexander looked better as he went to Thomas, tutting as he saw him smoking. "Does John know you do that?"

"Yeah. Got a problem with it?" He stomped out the cigarette before getting in the car, Alexander getting in the passenger's seat.

"It smells disgusting and secondhand smoke kills. I don't want John to die."

"Says the man who left him alone when he had a panic attack to the one who makes sure he's away from John before smoking."

Alexander grumbled. "Stop holding that over my head!"

"I could hold a lot of things over your head, Hamilton. My point is I'm pretty sure John hated having a panic attack for hours while you exposed his life to the public, then having to lie about it a whole lot more than some bad habit." Thomas had half a mind to start smoking in his car to prove a point had he not remembered that Lucy's booster seat was in the backseat. The last thing he wanted was for her to begin smelling like smoke because he wanted to be petty.

"And I'm pretty sure that I hate the fact that my boyfriend likes someone else even more than all of that combined, but you don't see me kicking your ass to the curb."

Thomas sighed. "You're impossible. You do realize that I'm not a threat to your relationship, right? John's not leaving you for me, he made that clear. He loves you."

"And he loves you."

"And we love him. Lord knows I'd love for him to drop you, even before you added me in, but I'm not going to make him because, for some unknown reason, having you around makes him happy and that's all I care about. I don't give a damn about you and you don't give a damn about me. There'll be hell to pay if you make John suffer for it, that's a promise."

Alexander went quiet. He didn't know if it was because Thomas scared him or because he was right, but he went quiet.

"Look. I'm not going to lay a hand on you, I promised John I'd back off. But if I hear you hurt him again, you won't be so lucky. He wouldn't hurt you no matter what you did. You screw up, I'll kick your ass. I screw up, Lafayette kicks my ass. So we both work to make John happy. We're dating him, that's our job. Get it?"

"Of course I want to make John happy. I'm not the one that tried to rape him."

"I did not try to rape him. I'd never do that, not to him."

"You tried to rape me."

"I hate you."

"Great excuse."

Thomas gritted his teeth. At least he was trying to fix his mistakes. Alexander was just trying to excuse his. "Look, we're at your place. Get out."

Alexander gladly did just that, getting out and slamming the door shut.

Thomas drove off and went home.

"Where's Lucy? I thought you were watching her?" Kevin asked as soon as he walked through the door.

He guessed his mom was home. "She's sleeping over with some friends. I just want to go to my room, alright?"

"Thomas, treat him with a little more respect."

"Come on, mom, I'm tired. I've had a long day."

She sighed. "Alright, fine. Go upstairs."

He went upstairs and took a long, hot shower, then collapsed into his bed. Things were still so complicated.

John ordered pizza for his sleepover and helped Lucy clean the makeup off of her face before eating with everyone.

"Johnny, are you and Tommy dating again? He seems all happy like he did when he dated you before."

John smiled. "I think we are."

She pouted. "You get two boyfriends?.. Why can't I have one?"

"Because having a boyfriend is a lot of responsibility. Sure, there's the fun of having him carry your books and give you compliments, but you have to make sure he's happy, too. And, don't tell him I told you this, but most girls date once they're about my age."

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen. I began dating when I was sixteen."

She counted on her fingers. "How many more years is that?"

"Ten, but it'll go by really fast if you're a good girl. If you keep being mean to the kids at school, then it'll take longer."

"Why?"

"Because growing up is all about learning from your mistakes and the more mistakes you make, the more learning you have to do."

She nodded, completely trusting him. "Why did Tommy say I can't date until I'm thirty? I'll be old by then!"

John chuckled. "Its because not all boys are princes. Some are really mean and they don't really like you and they hurt your feelings. He just wants to make sure that you don't get hurt."

"I understand.." After a few seconds, she had one more question. "How did you know I was being mean?.. They only tell mommy and mean Mr Kevin because they're grownups."

John always had an answer to that one. "Santa Claus told me."

She gasped. "You know Santa?!"

Susan came over. "Yeah! He helps Santa get my toys."

John nodded. "It's true."

"Wow! I promise I'll be better!"

"That's great. You know he's always watching."

She nodded and took her plate from John once he finished cleaning off her makeup.

Maria smiled and sat with John. "You are such a mom."

"This coming from an actual mom."

"I'm serious. And I don't mean it in a bad way. You're so good with kids, no wonder Susan and Lucy love you."

Lafayette nodded in agreement. "It's true."

He chuckled. "Thanks, guys.."

"On an unrelated note, when did you start dating Thomas?"

"Yesterday.. Alexander knows how I feel about him and asked him to kind of join in.. So, we're going on a date tomorrow."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?.." Maria asked quietly, Lafayette seeming just as worried.

"He's different. I know he is. I trust him."

"You know that if he hurts you, I will kill him," Lafayette promised.

"That won't be necessary. I really like him.. He made some bad mistakes, but he's past that. I know he is."

They looked at each other, still a bit unsure, but they ultimately decided to trust John and, by extension, trust Thomas. Still, they'd be keeping an eye on him.

After a night of pizza eating and Disney movie watching, everyone fell asleep on the floor. In the morning, Maria had to leave for work, but everyone else stayed in the apartment. While Lafayette took Rosie out for a walk, John made breakfast and fed the girls, eating with them. When Lafayette came back in, he asked him to keep an eye on the girls.

"I've so been slacking on my art. I want to work on it today, if that's alright with you."

"Of course. These two are angels." He smiled and waved John off.

"You're a lifesaver." He went to his room and shut the door behind him as he began painting. Like James said, he was painting to go with a supernatural theme, sticking with mainly ghosts and spirits. All of the paintings were done in warm grays and very little color, an eerie feeling in the room as he put them all around to dry. So much so that when Susan walked in, she burst into tears. John picked her up and took her out, rocking her. "It's not real, it's just my painting. I promise You're okay."

She sniffled and cried on his shoulder for a minute.

"What did you need, sweetie?"

"Mr Laf told me to tell you it was lunchtime.."

"Okay. I'll be over there in a second." He kissed her cheek and put her down when she was finished crying, sending her back to the kitchen.

John went back and cleaned up his paints, then locked his bedroom door and went to the kitchen, finding that Lafayette had actually cooked something. "Oh, thanks, Laf. You could've just ordered out, I could've paid."

"Nonsense, it was no trouble. Come eat."

John wasn't going to argue with food. He sat in the living room and ate with everyone else, taking a break. By the time that Alexander had gotten there, he'd practically forgotten his paintings in favor of Lafayette's amazing cooking. He hopped to his feet and buzzed Alexander in, then went and checked on the paint while he waited for him to get to the apartment.

Lafayette answered the door and smiled. "Hello. Sorry, John just went back to his room to put up his paintings." He let Alexander in and shut the door behind him.

He waved at the girls as they sat on the couch, but was more concerned with getting to his boyfriend. He went back to his bedroom and felt a chill go down his spine as he pushed the door open. "Hey.."

John smiled and turned to him, going and hugging him. "Hey. Sorry about the mess.. Let's go to the other room."

Alexander didn't even know John had another room. He assumed that door led to some closet, but no. There was a whole other bedroom, this one with plastic all over the ground and clay and a bunch of other materials in the corner. "What's that trashcan in here for?" It would've been easy to ignore had it been a regular kitchen trash can and not a full sized, metal garbage can.

"It's a furnace. I couldn't really afford a real one, so I made that one. It's good for metal and for firing clay, so yeah."

"Metal?"

"Yeah, melting metal and making new works out of it. That's why I put it in the room with the balcony, to let the fumes out."

"Oh.. Anyways, I'm sorry.."

"For what?"

"I shouldn't be so jealous... I talked about it with Thomas and I get it.. I shouldn't be this jealous of him.."

"Oh, honey.. It's okay to be a little jealous sometimes.. That's why I didn't tell you I wanted to be with Thomas, because I didn't want you to think that it meant getting you out of the picture.. That's not what I want at all. I love you just as much as I love him."

Alexander smiled. "I love you too.." He leaned up and kissed John, sighing contently.

John hummed into the kiss and wrapped his arms around him, holding him close. He never wanted to lose Alex, not in a million years. Alexander was his other half and Thomas was the missing piece in his heart. He loved them both in the same way, but in different ways, in a way that he could hardly describe. But he didn't have to describe it because they understood. Without a word, they both understood. "I'm so lucky.." he muttered as he pulled away.

"Oh, come on, you're not nearly as lucky as I am. I get to date you." He smiled.

John chuckled. "Let's agree to disagree.." He checked the time. "I should get ready soon.. Do you mind?"

"Of course not. You have your date with Thomas and I can hang out with Laf and Susan at home." Again, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't a bit jealous, but it was a lot more manageable than it was before. John loved him, he knew he did. Making sure Thomas wouldn't get in the way of that was the true problem.

John kissed his cheek before walking off, going to the bathroom and taking a shower, then getting dressed in a plain shirt and shorts. He even shaved his legs, just like he had for his date with Alexander.

Once he was ready, Lafayette drove everyone to their house, even taking Lucy and Susan over after John told Thomas and Maria. The girls went up to his room and Alexander and John waited in Alexander's room, laying in his bed.

"I'm glad to see you've been taking care of Squirtle."

"Of course I have been. I love him almost as much as I love you."

John kissed his forehead and sighed. "This is nice.. Just laying here, in the quiet."

Alexander nodded and cuddled against him.

[angermango]

For the alphabet meme: F, K, P, S with Dragon!Raiden, T, and Z

hhh anon you spoil me~ :) I’m gonna go for a mixed variety if you don’t mind (cut for length)

F - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom?

gollygosh golighty, it is probably the Kirby fandom. if my math is correct, I’ve been a fan since 11 years and counting!

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

Johnny Cage from Mortal Kombat. man went from obnoxious fuckboi jackass comic relief and butt monkey of the entire franchise to an honestly funny, caring and loyal guy who’s also a shockingly good parent and can even be pretty mature and reasonable if he needs to. Midway/NRS clearly didn’t like him all that much in the OT and made him pretty cringey, but now he’s actually bearable without losing the original ego and bad sense of humour that makes him who he is. got to say, I really love him now.

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas).

Pokemon SU/MO AU where instead of protag being recruited to hunt UBs Guzma ended up being drafted into it as a half ‘community service’ to make up for what he did with Team Skull and Lusamine, and the fact he also qualifies as a Faller. It’s not totally willing or a happily made decision (sort of imagining Looker or someone strong-armed him into it), but maybe he was desperate due to having nowhere to stay let alone a livelihood after disbanding Team Skull and wanting an escape and something to do. And there’s gonna be complications, such as others like Plumeria or perhaps even Nanu disapproving of his new ‘job’ (though it’s more like they’re angrier at the guys like Looker who dragged a guy who is clearly in a bad place into their dangerous ops) and the fact Guzma has a justified phobia and probably PTSD because of Ultra Beasts and Lusamine. It’s a redemption story yes, just an alternate path instead of going back to training with Hala like he did in the games.

I’m a little surprised how few people actually try to explore how Guzma’s experience in the portal affected him, and how it may have contributed to his heel-face turn in both timelines of the games.

S - Show us an example of your personal headcanon (prompts optional but encouraged)

(hhhhh I can’t believe you remembered this one esp when i haven’t officially done anything on it but in the tags of that one post!)

The dragon form is actually closer to Raiden’s ‘true’ form than the humanlike mortal body we know best. In his truest form Raiden is a shapeless mass of sentient lightning which would blind/vaporise any mortals who saw it, so a dragon made of lightning is his next best ‘safe’ form before actually taking a mortal vessel. In this form he’s possibly the most powerful and free in his element without being in his ‘raw’ form.

This is true for all gods, who if they can’t be bothered to take a more humanoid form or an actual mortal body they will turn into an elemental dragon - the next step between dragon and mortal form is an elemental humanoid form like the unnamed gods in SZM.

Basically think of it like a weirdass Pokemon evolution line roughly like: Shapeless elemental mass > elemental dragon > elemental humanoid > human vessel

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending? 

Mortal Kombat: RAIDEN IS A GOOD PERSON WHO CARES AND ISN’T A FAILURE, YOU ARE ALL JUST MEAN.

Marvel: Tony Stark finds it easier to talk to and connect with robots and AI/VI than humans. His robots are like his kids and he’d totally have pictures of them in his wallet.

Kirby: (Game) Kirby’s impulsive, naive and childish but not a complete idiot. He often understands what’s going on and what’s at stake in serious and even pretty complex and highly dangerous situations, but he’s just the type who can put all that aside and single-mindedly focus on what needs to be done to save the day. True, he does have too-big a heart and often approaches things too simply in black and white terms, but it’s more of a merit of his that he has seen so much shit and yet can still trust and be kind even to total strangers in the direst of circumstances.

Madness Combat: Deimos is younger than Sanford (and a lot of the other characters) and isn’t as happy or ditzy as he acts a lot of the time - he’s got a fair bit of baggage for being a defector and the bloody and thankless ‘job’ he and Sanford have now. Sanford knows this, which is why he lets him off the hook [lmfao half-intended pun] for goofing around so much.

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go! (Prompts optional but encouraged.)

free pass to ramble? OK!!

sooo I just really like the Kirby series? It’s such a dependable series that is so enjoyable for all ages and fans, it has excellent art and music and always hits the right amount of throwback and new innovations and rarely disappoints or fails to deliver. Everything’s cute and colourful and accessible for the kidduns, there’s some juicy lore and deeper storylines for older fans to sink their teeth into and all round there is hardly anything to complain about in the canon media and the fandom. plus the Anime is like its own bomb ass ‘canon AU’ verse and can be taken separate, and that too is a barrel of fun with a cute and cheerful world that can be studied and mined endlessly for all sorts of story potential and themes without being exhausted. honestly, just everything about the Kirby series is superb and i would say it’s one of the best franchises ever, period.

[spearbe]

sorry to bother you but i noticed that you post a lot of nct content and i was wondering if you could tell me a little bit about each member? maybe even link some videos (don't worry if that's too tedious)? im a new NCTzen and i would like to know more about nct :)

omg hello fellow NCTzen and welcome to this crazy and amazing fandom! it’s not a bother at all, hopefully others will find this helpful as well :) now let’s get this party started!

taeyong:

known for having “2D visuals” bc he’s so handsome but he gets really shy when ppl compliment him IT’S ADORABLE 

super powerful stage presence like just watch any nct u or nct 127 live performance and he will BLOW YOUR MIND

if he didn’t become an idol he 100% would’ve become a world famous chef  

actually pretty sensitive like he seems tough + cold but he just wants to be loved so LOVE HIM PLS

taeil:

vocals voCALS VOCALS 

kind of awkward and a total dork but also really lovable

really likes mark’s ears lololol

would truly succeed if he debuted in nct dream

johnny:

his iconic parrot impression. enough said

1/3 of the foreign swaggers squad (he’s from Chicago) 

really genuinely cares about all the members (not to say that the other members don’t but he especially sticks out to me as such); he cheers everyone on and is super supportive 

is a daddy

yuta:

his healing smile could cure cancer 

loves winwin with all of his heart

so underrated like he can sing, rap, and dance (HE HAS IT ALL) but still doesn’t get much screen time or lines 

secretly the most savage person in nct

kun:

SM did him so dirty bc he has yet to debut in any of the current NCT units (but there are rumors about a china unit debuting soon so hopefully he will debut then or sometime soon!!)

so good at magic tricks like the whole world was shaken when he performed a card trick on one of nct’s v lives

a total sweetheart like you can tell that he’s a genuinely nice person 

nicknamed “fat kun” by his roommate, lucas (who else)

doyoung:

his eyebrows move a lot when he sings

does not and will not deal with anyone’s shit (like a no nonsense sort of guy but in a more relaxed way if that makes any sense lol) 

part bunny 

if you let him mc and host his vroom vroom talk show he will be a very happy camper

ten:

a dancing legend, his hit the stage performances are proof; this one is my favorite

a total scaredy cat 

you honestly can’t not love him he’s so full of love and gives so much love 

surprisingly really funny like some of the things he says will make me cry actual tears

jaehyun:

1/3 of the foreign swaggers squad (he lived in america for four years which totally qualifies him as a foreigner lol)

can go from cute to sexy in half a second

apparently a couple people from his high school find him unapproachable bc he’s too good looking lolol 

has the cutest dimples

winwin:

needs more lines + screen time + appreciation 

ridiculously flexible

used to be kind of lost bc he didn’t speak much korean but he understands and speaks a lot more now! 

needs to be protected

jungwoo:

looks A LOT like taemin

so fluffy and soft i just want to hold him he’s so precious alskdjghada 

can impersonate several of the nct members

sweet + soothing vocals

lucas:

will pick his nose anywhere (especially on v live) if he deems it necessary L M A O 

really wants to be part of the dreamie squad (he knows literally all their choreo) 

basically the most extra member of nct 

justin bieber’s doppelganger 

mark:

so so so hardworking he tries his best in everything and is the only member to be a part of all three current nct units

rly doesn’t want to be a square 

1/3 of the foreign swaggers squad (he was born + raised in canada) 

gets bullied by the dreamies 24/7

renjun:

a true angel but may actually be the devil in disguise? like you do not want to get on his bad side he will FIGHT you 

used to have an adorable snaggletooth but it’s gone now :( 

a good bro to chenle; he used to translate a lot for him but chenle’s korean has improved a lot so renjun doesn’t have to translate anymore! 

early riser maybe idek lol 

jeno:

has a beautiful eye smile :) 

“no jam” meaning he’s no fun (at least according to the dreamies); i beg to differ

animal lover 

goddamn he can dance (he and jisung need their own sub unit) 

haechan:

a very affectionate troll (especially with mark); he will hug you + kiss you + LOVE YOU but he will ROAST ur ass a hot second later 

such a brat but everyone loves him anyway 

in my opinion he’s kind of an underrated vocal like i wish people would appreciate his voice more 

basically the king of covering other groups’ dances 

jaemin:

he was one hiatus for a while due to a back injury 

like it became a huge thing and fans were really worried but now he’s back better than ever!!

his rapping will set you on fire 

lowkey kinda jealous and possessive of everyone LOL

chenle:

has the cutest dolphin laugh 

didn’t really know a lot of korean when he first debuted (renjun translated for him a lot) but now his korean is really good! 

really clingy + affectionate + overall just plain adorable 

has the potential to become a really powerful vocal, especially as he gets older

jisung:

lowkey the most savage person in nct #maknaeontop 

made all the noona fans faint with his lemonade dance challenge

do not let him choose yaja time as a game bc he will go hard on your sorry ass 

used to be such a smol but is now all. grown. up. 

i hope this was helpful and that the videos (credit goes to all original owners) were enjoyable! sorry if this is ridiculously long haha. if anyone wants another “starter pack” like this one for a different group feel free to pop a request in my ask box! anyway, have a great day anon and i hope you learned more about nct and love them even more

[chipsandwaffles]

fallen into you

After going through sixteen different bodyguards, your parents finally pick one that somehow sticks. At least he’s not bad on the eyes.

The bodyguard au based on this picture aka end me and delete me. this shit is 20k and somehow i dONT hate it. warnings for violence, kidnapping, and some ridiculous cheese by johnny. enjoy…?

On a Tuesday in November, you’re being called down to the main hall of your house by one of your parents.  

You had an ice cream and study date with your best friend, Sicheng, soon, so you hoped whatever they wanted wouldn’t take too long.  

You slip on your jacket and your backpack and head down the hallways that lead to the long, winding staircase, rushing down it until you’re near the last landing before the bottom and can see into the main hall. Your parents look up at you when they see you and you quickly walk down the rest of the stairs, smiling at them when you’re close enough for them to see it.  

“Hey, what’s going on? I have plans with Sicheng soon so…” Your words trail off as you notice the man next to your parents. He stands up when he sees you and bows before standing up straight, putting his hands behind his back like any other proper man you’ve met.  

Which, meant he was either one of two things. A marriage candidate, one of the many your parents have tried to set you up with. He wasn’t bad on the eyes or anything, really. He was actually awfully handsome and if he was just a guy you met you’d totally fawn over him. But you didn’t have time for that, nor did you even want to think about getting married so young. 

“Uhh, if this is a marriage candidate again I really don’t have the time today. Sicheng and I have finals to study for- 

“He’s not a marriage candidate, Y/N,” your father says.  

Which, meant he was option number two. The worst option of the two.  

“This is Johnny Seo. He’s your new bodyguard.”  

A frown settles on your face and you look between your parents, watching to see if maybe they were just fucking with you. When there’s no sign of any hilarity in this situation, you shake your head at them.  

“You have got to be fucking kidding me- 

“Honey, language- 

“Don’t “honey” me. I’m an adult I don’t need a bodyguard- don’t you think after number sixteen tried to kill me you’d stop with the whole bodyguard crap?” You ask. Johnny sits back down and watches the exchange you’re having, as if he was expecting it. You already don’t like him.  

“Johnny is far more qualified than he was. He’s different and, unfortunately, when you’re the heir to a million dollar company, we can’t leave you alone with anyone. Not even Sicheng.”  

 “Are you saying I can’t even hang out with my best friend, who I grew up with, without tall boy over there following me around?”  

Your parents nod their heads in unison, and you roll your eyes, pushing past them to get to your shoes.  

“No wonder Taeyong ran away.” Your mother says something to you on your way out the door, most likely something that involves you not mentioning that name (which, in in itself is another reason why said person ran away, because there’s no talking about important things) but you’re too busy with wanting to get out of there before Johnny could catch up and you were stuck with him for the day.  

You rush off to the front entrance where there's a car waiting and quickly slide in, telling the driver he could go.  

He doesn't move though, and you understand why when the door opens and a body slides in next to you, telling the driver that now he could go.  

You glare at Johnny with the hardest glare you can manage and cross your arms in a pout. You hated Johnny, and you hated the fact that your parents had already managed to tell everyone about your new bodyguard. Now you couldn't go anywhere without him. You wondered if maybe that included the bathroom.  

You'd ask, but you don't want him to laugh nor do you want to hear him talk.  

Johnny laughs anyways when he sees you pouting next to him and you huff, turn away from him, and stare out the window.  

You hate your parents for doing this to you for the seventeenth time. When you were little, having a bodyguard was fine. You and your two brothers needed one with the mischief you caused together. And having one when you were a rebellious teenager was fine. Even after eight of them quit and three got fired in that time period, thinking back on it now it was fine to have. Really. Some of them did keep you from doing some stupid shit.  

But in the past four months, you deemed having bodyguards completely stupid. Part was because you were an adult and you could take care of yourself. You knew self-defense and you carried a knife with you. You didn't need a bodyguard.  

The other part was because after your big brother ran away from home, you know you had been stubborn and went back to your rebellious phase again. It was far more toned down than before in terms of not listening to your parents, but it was still bad, especially when it came to bodyguards. Ever since he ran away, three bodyguards had quit on you, and one had gone to jail.  

And now, here was number seventeen, first day on the job and he had already seen your quick temper. You pondered for a few moments how you could get him to quit by the end of the week when suddenly he reaches across you. You flinch at the action and hit his arm, but he ignores you as he pulls the seatbelt across you and buckles you in.  

"Safety, miss." 

"You could've just told me to buckle up," you snap at Johnny. He laughs at you.  

"Figured you might have just told me to go shove a... shove a watermelon up my ass?" You frown at the insult and turn away from Johnny again, glaring out the window. That insult had been used on bodyguard number fourteen, which means he knows what you've said to six, eight, nine, thirteen and fifteen too.  

He knew everything about you, and that was unfair. This was the worst. It was seriously the worst.  

As you drive, you think of escape plans you and Sicheng can employ to get Johnny out of your hair for the rest of the day. You didn't need someone looming over you while you focused on studying, nor while you and Sicheng ate ice cream. And there was no doubt in your mind that Johnny wouldn't just stand in the hallway while you studied.   

You wish this wasn’t a thing. You really hated the idea of bodyguards, especially Taeyong level bodyguards. The lack of privacy was ridiculous. How were you supposed to do anything when someone was breathing down your neck?   

You really can see why Taeyong ran away from home.   

You make it to the library where you and Sicheng were studying, the car stopping in front of the building and you hopping out of it immediately. You rush to the door, hoping maybe you can lose Johnny on your way to the elevator, but, low and behold, somehow he's there before you can even shut the door.  

"How are you so freaking fast?" You ask him. He smiles at you as the door closes.  

"I was a bodyguard for a six year old. If I couldn't keep up with her, I wasn't doing my job right," Johnny says.  

Well, outrunning him wasn't the answer. That means hiding would have to be your best option. You and Johnny make your way to the third floor of the library, finding Sicheng sitting at one of the tables in the far back. Optimal studying area, really. You take your seat across from your best friend and start spreading papers on the table, asking Sicheng how far he got in studying, but he's too busy staring at the guy sitting next to you to answer.  

"Uh... Y/N?" You sigh and gesture to Johnny.  

"Sicheng, this is Johnny. Johnny, Sicheng. He's my bodyguard," you tell Sicheng.  

"Is he going to be here all day?" Sicheng asks. You really hope Johnny can't understand Chinese.  

"We can lose him on our way to ice cream." Your best friend smiles at you and you glance at Johnny who looks utterly confused.  

"What is it Johnny?"  

"I thought you could only speak Korean. Your parents didn't say anything about you speaking more than one language."  

"What? Are you impressed or something? I can speak English, too," you say. Johnny's face lights up at that fact.  

"Really? Like, basic English or...?"  

"I can speak it better than my Korean sometimes."  

Johnny nods in understanding, looking mildly impressed at your ability. For a short second you wonder if he can speak any other languages too. Maybe you could get him on your side by speaking in another language.  

Maybe this new bodyguard wasn't such a bad idea. At least, for later down the road.  

For now, he was still your enemy.  

- 

At some point, when you and Sicheng both get tired of studying, he tells you he wants ice cream. You glance over at Johnny who had started reading a book (Harry Potter, in fact, which makes you think he’s not that much older than you, the nerd) and then back at Sicheng. You nod your head once at him, and he stands up, walking towards the elevator. In your head, you count for 120 seconds before standing up yourself.  

“What are you doing?” Johnny asks immediately. You look down at him and smile.  

“Bathroom, duh.” You begin walking around the table but you see Johnny stand up from the corner of your eye and sigh.  

“Johnny, it’s just the bathroom. I’ll be back in five minutes.” Johnny contemplates whether he should let you go or not and you have to give him one of your cute, pouty faces to get him to give in.  

“...if you’re not back in five minutes I’m coming to get you,” he says. The pouty face always worked. 

“Sure.” Johnny allows you to leave and you make your way through the bookcases, to the stairs, immediately rushing down them and out the front door. Sicheng is standing there, grinning at you. The two of you make your way down the street where an ice cream parlor sat. It’s one of your favorites to go to, especially on days when you studied.  

You and Sicheng enter the shop and quickly order, jumping up and down in excitement when they hand you your ice cream. The two of you are already eating it before you even sit down at your usual table.  

“How long do you think it’ll take before he realizes you’re gone?” Sicheng asks. You shrug and take the spoon out of your mouth.  

“Like, five more minutes. Maybe he’ll believe I’m having a hard time in the bathroom.”  

Sicheng laughs and you continue eating your ice cream in peace. It was just you and Sicheng, just how it should be. No looming presence behind you or following you around. It was perfect.  

Eventually, you and Sicheng do have to go back to get your things, so you throw your ice cream bowls away and exit the shop.  

When you’re outside, you immediately notice the car parked across the street and Johnny standing next to it with your things.  

“Oh, shit.”  

“He looks mad,” Sicheng says. You glare at him for pointing out the obvious.  

“Let’s just get it over with.”  

You grab Sicheng’s hand and walk over to the car. Johnny doesn’t even say anything, only opens the door and gestures you inside. You and Sicheng climb in, and after Johnny hands you your bags, he shuts the door. A short moment later the front passenger door is opening and Johnny gets inside, telling the driver to go when he shuts his own door.  

It’s an awkward, quiet car ride to wherever, even Sicheng staying silent and not making any quick remarks. It makes you uncomfortable not hearing anything but the quiet radio in the background, reminding you of car rides you’ve taken with your parents whenever they’ve picked you up personally from big trouble. The air was filled with disappointment.   

Sooner or later, the car stops and the door is opening on Sicheng’s side, Johnny gesturing him to get out. Sicheng says goodbye to you and Johnny climbs in. He tells the driver to continue on, and you’re going again.  

The silence is deafening, you just waiting for Johnny to say anything. You knew he was mad, and for some reason, it made you feel like shit. It shouldn't, really, because Johnny was just another bodyguard you didn't want. It should make you feel proud that he's angry.  

It doesn't, though, and when you pull up to the gate of the house, Johnny gets out without saying another word. You follow after him, hoping maybe he’ll just say anything to you when you’re inside. He makes his way through the house, up the stairs, down a few hallways until stopping outside your room. He opens the door for you and gestures you inside, so you step into the doorway and turn back to look at him.  

“Aren’t you going to yell at me?” you ask. He raises an eyebrow at you before chuckling at you.  

“That’s what you want, right? For me to yell about how much of a brat you are?”  

You glare at him. “I am not a brat.” 

“Then why do you act like one?”  

Johnny is smirking at you, like he knows every little thing about you and like no matter what you say, he’s going to be right. Every other bodyguard had called you a brat, just not like Johnny. You step back into your room, frowning at him. He really was different than your other bodyguards. 

“You’re an asshole.” 

Johnny laughs again and steps back, bowing a second later.  

“At least I'm not denying it, princess. See you at dinner.”  

- 

"And he called me a brat, like what the fuck? Does he know who I am?" You frown when there's no response to your words. "Taeil, are you even listening?" 

"Honestly? No." You reach across the table to hit Taeil's arm, but he only sits back in his chair, glaring at you.  

"What? What's that look for?" You ask.  

"You act like your brother, do you know that?" Taeil says. You soften at Taeil's words, curious now that he's mentioned Taeyong.  

"Do I?"  

"Don't look smug about it. Taeyong was a brat too," Taeil leans closer to the table, gesturing for you to lean in. You do as he says, ignoring the whole brat debate, wondering what he might have to tell you.  

Taeil was the only one who kept in contact with Taeyong anymore after he ran away from home, being yours and his tutor for as long as you could remember. Taeyong and he were closer than that though, so you only ever heard something about your brother from him. If Taeyong was mentioned, that meant he contacted Taeil recently.  

"Admit you were being a brat to Johnny and I'll tell you what Taeyong is doing recently." 

Your face turns sour in seconds. You were not being a brat to Johnny. Johnny didn't know his place yet as your bodyguard.  

It had been three days since the incident, since Johnny became your bodyguard. He hadn't decided to quit yet, and instead continued to be a nuisance in your life. He followed you around needlessly, even going so far as to standing outside the bathroom while you did your business. It was annoying beyond belief, and when Taeil had finally come over, it was time for you to let out all your feelings that you had already let out to Sicheng.  

Taeil clearly hadn't cared much, and now here he was, telling you to admit something you hadn't been.  

No way that was happening.  

"You sure care a lot about Johnny more than me. We've known- 

"Ah, you can't use that on me. I've known Johnny since he was a kid too." Taeil grins at you as you pout at him. No wonder he wanted you to admit that you were in the wrong with Johnny.  

"Taeil... Please tell me about Taeyong? I'll study well for my exams if you just tell me." 

"Nope."  

You whine and sit back in your seat, crossing your arms in frustration. Taeil could be stubborn when he wanted to be.  

"It's really important, Y/N. But... I don't have to tell you..." You whine some more but only to let Taeil know he was being a big butthead. You were only doing this to get information about Taeyong, nothing else. 

"Ugh! Fine. I was being a brat to Johnny. Now tell me about Taeyong," you admit. Taeil shakes his head. 

"Ah, you need to apologize as well." 

"Apologize? No. I did what you asked. I'm not apologizing to that tree of a man. He follows me to the bathroom, Taeil. I don't want to apologize." 

Taeil laughs at your misfortune, sitting back in his chair and covering his mouth. He looks fond thinking about whatever might be on his mind, which, you're pretty sure is Johnny. Great. He was fond of Johnny. 

"I think that's habit from being a bodyguard for kids, honestly," Taeil says. "At least think about apologizing, Y/N. You worried him when you ran off." 

You roll your eyes at Taeil. "He read my file. He should've known that I take off all the time." 

"Even if he did, you still worried him. Apologize and I'll tell you about Taeyong," Taeil says. His words are final and you have no choice but to give in.  

You stand up and head for the door of your study room, opening it up. You peek out and see Johnny standing there, his hands behind his back and glancing at you. You're sure before you came out of the room he was staring at the wall, or maybe even taking a little nap.  

His job must really suck if all he could do was stand at the entrance of different rooms.  

"...you look lonely." 

"'m fine. Was there something you needed, miss?" Johnny asks. You step out into the hallway and close the door. You didn't want Taeil to hear this embarrassing crap.  

"About... the other day..." You look at the floor, rocking back and forth on your feet. The words didn't want to come out, especially not to Johnny, but, if you wanted to hear about Taeyong, you had to apologize. 

"It's fine, Y/N. I should've known better than to trust you wouldn't run off on my first day."  

You look at Johnny, frowning. "Okay, but I was going to come back- you don't understand how it is, Johnny. I've had bodyguards since I was a kid and one of them tried to kill me. It's fricking hard and especially when I have no say in it. And it's even more bothersome when everyone treats me like I can't take care of myself, because I can! Who do you think took down the bodyguard that tried to kill me? Going to get ice cream with my best friend at the same ice cream shop we always go to really isn't that big of a deal." 

You pause in your frustration, looking back at Johnny and away from where you had veered your eyes back to the floor. He's smiling at you, and you frown deeper. "Why are you smiling?"  

"You sound like a you don't like being treated like princess." 

"Excuse me?"  

"I mean, okay, that was a joke, don't look so upset. What I mean is that it sounds like you don't like being treated like a child or like an object that needs to be protected, right?" You nod your head a little. He was definitely right about that.  

"But everyone treats you like that... especially your parents?" You nod your head again. Johnny turns to you, leaning against the wall in a more casual manner, different than what he usually did.  

"I can't do anything about me being your bodyguard. I can't exactly go against your parents- 

"You could quit," you say. Johnny laughs and puts a hand up to silence you. 

"I need to eat somehow, Y/N. But, how about we make a deal, okay?" You nod for the third time, slowly, waiting for Johnny to continue. "I'll try and be less protective of you if you stop running away from me. We can be friends- 

"Acquaintances." 

"Friends- because friends are comfortable around each other and trust each other and stop making that face! I'm trying to make this easier for you!" Johnny laughs at you and you move your hands to your face, covering it up. You have no idea what kind of face you were making, but if Johnny didn't see it then he couldn't tell you to stop making it.  

"You and I have to work on trusting each other, Y/N. Okay? We'll start with that." You peek through your fingers to look at Johnny who is smiling softly at you. It's stupidly cute and you're glad you're covering your face because you're pretty sure you were blushing. 

"Okay..." You put a foot out and kick softly at Johnny's leg, in a gesture to get his attention. It wasn't needed since you already had it, but, it was supposed to be friendly. "You promise not to treat me like a kid or that kind of shit?"  

Johnny nods. "I promise not to treat you like that." 

"Okay. Then I promise to... not run away as much, I guess. Be more compliant. Yeah," you agree.  

"Good- 

"And! Uh..." You uncover your face and look back to the ground, resuming your nervous position from earlier with rocking back and forth on your feet. You hear Johnny laugh quietly, and you reach a hand out to hit him.  

"Hey, no laughing. I'm... apologizing. For the other day too. I'm sorry for running off and worrying you."  

"...it's okay. I figured you'd try something like that. Next time take me to get ice cream with you, okay?" You look up at Johnny and for once, you smile at him.  

"Yeah, okay. Next time you can come along," you say. Johnny smiles back and then turns back to his previous stance, hands behind his back and eyes looking straight. His smile falls from his face into a neutral look. 

It really must suck just standing there all day. 

And, if you two were going to trust each other more, then he could at least hang out with you instead of standing outside of a room by himself.   

You reach out and tug at the sleeve of his suit jacket, gaining his attention once more. He looks at you with confusion, and you smile at him again. 

"Don’t stand outside by yourself, loser." 

"That's my job- 

"No, your job is to protect me. What if Taeil turns out to be a killer and slits my throat while you're out here?" You ask. Johnny looks at you with an incredulous look, shaking his head.  

"He wouldn't do that," he says. 

"You're right, but still. Come inside." 

"Do I get to sit down?" You nod your head. Johnny breathes a sigh of relief and drops his stance, gesturing for you to enter the room. It was good to know all it took for Johnny to listen was apparently to let him sit down for a while.  

You turn to the door, opening it up and pulling Johnny along with you into the room. He shuts the door behind you and you head back to your seat, seeing Taeil busy playing on his phone.  

"Oh, Johnny is sitting with us now?" Taeil asks when he notices you.  

"Mm, yeah- oh! I forgot!" You quickly sit down and lean across the table, staring at Taeil. "Tell me about Taeyong."  

Johnny comes to sit next to you and scoots close to you. "You're talking about Taeyong? I thought you weren't allowed to talk about him." 

"That's just my parents, Johnny. Everyone else still talks about him. Pretty sure the maids still gossip about him all the time," you explain to Johnny. He looks like he doesn't really understand and instead of saying anything more, he shuts up. Taeil leans closer to you, smiling.  

"So, he called me the other day telling me he had big news," Taeil says. You smile, nodding along already. 

"Yeah, yeah. What kind of big news?" You ask.  

"Big news like he's coming back to Korea."  

Your eyes widen in surprise. Taeyong was coming to Korea? If he was coming to Korea, that meant you could see him instead of always hearing secondhand information from Taeil.  

"When? Why? He's really coming back? For how long? Why?" Taeil shushes you quickly and starts messing with his phone. You watch as he starts scrolling through some messages and a few seconds later he's talking again.  

"End of March, for about a week. He didn't say why, though. Said he'd tell us in person." 

You bounce up and down in your seat at the prospect of seeing your older brother in person, after months of not seeing him. You can't stop the smile on your face. After Taeyong had ran away from home with his girl, things weren't great and you missed him.  

And now, you were going to see him again. You couldn't be happier. 

"He said you can come to the airport when I go and pick him up," Taeil says. 

"Duh, of course I’m going! Taeil, I'm going to see Taeyong again." 

"I know." Taeil smiles at you, but then he's hitting the book in front of you, pointing at you. "But, in the meantime, you have things to work on." 

You groan and sit back in your seat. The mood wasn't ruined quite yet, but if you studied for long enough it would be. "Do I have to? Can't we talk about Taeyong some more?"  

Taeil shakes his head and hits the book again. 

Oh well. You would study up now, and then when Taeyong came around, you wouldn't have to think about it.  

- 

Time goes by slowly when you're waiting for something, and you certainly learn that firsthand while you think about how you were going to see Taeyong at the end of March. You swear it can't come fast enough, and when you look at the date you realize it's really only been three weeks since you learned about the announcement.  

You're sitting outside in the garden on one of the benches, and when you look at your phone, you whine loudly.  

"Something wrong, Y/N?" You look to where Johnny is standing by the entrance to that particular part in the garden, and you whine louder.  

"It's so long away before Taeyong comes home... It's too long," you draw out your words in a louder whine and Johnny laughs. How dare he laugh at your misfortune, that jerk. "Don't laugh, Johnny! This is serious!" 

He nods his head and walks over to you, gesturing for you to scoot over. You do as he asks and watch him sit next to you. "You have to stop thinking about it. The more you think about it, the slower it's going to come."  

"How can I stop thinking about it? It's the best news I've heard in a while. It's like, the most important thing in my life right now," you tell Johnny. He puts his hand to his chin in thought, thinking of something to get your mind off your brother. Clearly he hadn't thought his statement through very well, since he can't even think of anything.  

Eventually, he stands back up and offers his hand to you. "Come on. I'll get your mind off things." 

You stare at Johnny's hand, debating whether to actually take it or not. You should trust him. You should. You end up slipping your own hand in his, letting him lead you to where he wanted to take you.  

Johnny ends up taking you to the garage of your house where all the cars and limos were parked. You hadn’t been down here in months, the last time being when you and your brother took a car to sneak out to go see a movie. You smile at the memory until your eyes spot a ragged, beat up station wagon that looked ready to fall about at any instant next to all the nice, expensive cars in the garage, and Johnny heading straight for it.  

"Oh my god, is that your car?" You ask. Your suspicions are confirmed when he pulls out the keys and unlocks it with the key fob. You take a step back away from Johnny, taking your hand back with you.  

Johnny looks back at you, frowning in confusion. "What? What's wrong?" 

"That thing looks like a death machine- do you seriously drive that?" Johnny narrows his eyes at you. He moves closer to the thing, patting the hood of his car. 

"Don't listen to her, baby. You're still perfect," he says. 

"Don't lie to the car, Johnny. Let's just take another car. I'd rather die old than in a car explosion." 

"My car isn't going to explode, Y/N. It works just fine. Just because it doesn't look as nice as the cars your family owns, doesn't mean it’s not good. Come on.”  

You stand firmly in your spot, not wanting to move any closer to Johnny’s rust bucket. You had never driven in something like it before, and just the thought of it breaking down when you were in it scared you.  

“Do you need me to hold your hand while I drive princess?” Johnny asks, his tone teasing as he asks. You’re pretty sure he didn’t mean to sound so mocking, but it rubs you the wrong. It makes you feel like a child, something Johnny had said he wouldn’t do. 

He seems to understand that what he said wasn’t exactly appropriate and comes over to you, putting a hand on your shoulder.  

“Y/N, hey, I’m just kidding. My car really isn’t gonna break down. It’s reliable. I’ve been driving it for years and nothing terrible has happened so far. Trust me, okay?”  

You stare up at Johnny, a frown still on your face. You didn’t trust the car but, you were starting to trust Johnny. “You know I’m worth like 100 million, right? If I die, you’ll have to pay my parents that plus the funeral money plus anything else that comes with my death. Are you sure your car is fine to drive now?”  

Johnny laughs and nods his head. “Definitely sure of it.” 

Johnny drives slow and cautious like he doesn’t trust anyone else on the road around him. Either that or he really is nervous that his car is going to fall apart and he just didn’t want to admit it earlier. It leaves you gripping the ceiling handle, trying to find your trust for Johnny once more. It wasn’t like he was necessarily a bad driver, but his driving made you feel anxious just by being there. 

“Johnny please stop being so nervous. You act like we're going to crash,” you tell him. Johnny laughs, nervousness clearly in his tone.  

“I don’t usually drive like this, I swear. It’s just… after you said how much you’re worth I… got paranoid.”  

“Oh my god-  

“It’s fine. I’ll just pretend you’re like, a really terrible serial killer or something so I stop being like this,” Johnny says. You’re about to open your mouth to say something, but Johnny says something more, and if the radio had been on or the window was down, you wouldn’t have heard it.  

“A really pretty serial killer…” The serial killer part isn’t what gets you. It’s the fact that he said you were pretty. It’s not that you hadn’t been called pretty before, but hearing it from Johnny, the guy you didn’t even want in your life, the guy who you got off on the totally wrong foot with, makes you feel… weird. You’re not sure what kind of weird, but just some kind of weird. 

You turn away from him, facing the window and focusing on anything other than Johnny and his words. He needed to focus himself anyways.  

- 

At some point you must have fallen asleep, because Johnny is next to you, shaking you awake. You blink your eyes open, sitting up in your seat and looking around. The first thing you notice is the body of water just a few feet away. You look down at Johnny's feet, seeing he's standing in sand, and you're not sure where you are but water and sand always seemed good to you.  

You sit up and rub your eyes to get the sleep out of them before looking at Johnny. "Beach?"  

He smiles and nods his head. "Beach."  

Johnny helps you out of the car after you take your shoes off and the second your feet hit the sand, a smile hits your face. You can't remember the last time you had been at the beach, the last time being some point when you were a kid. You remember being with your brothers though, Taeyong and Mark, playing in the water while your parents watched. You never went out often as a family, but whenever you did it was the happiest you had ever been.  

"You look surprised," Johnny says. You begin walking, enjoying the way the sand moved between your toes.  

"I haven't been to the beach in years. This is so... awesome," you say. Johnny comes to walk next to you, and you notice that he's no longer wearing his suit, one of many that he normally wore whenever you went out. He's changed into a regular t-shirt and some jeans, barefoot just as you were.  

Looking at him, it kind of occurs to you that it doesn't feel like you're with your bodyguard. It felt like you were just hanging out with a friend, like you were just being normal like anyone else.  

Johnny really did know how to get your mind off of Taeyong.  

"Come on- race you to the water!" You shove Johnny to get a head start, laughing as he actually falls over into the sand. You quickly run off, closing your eyes and spreading your arms as you go. The wind is just nice, not too cold even for early December and the whole entire experience makes you feel like a kid again.  

And then, suddenly, you feel arms wrapping around your middle and lifting you off the sand. You squeal in surprise and open up your eyes, looking back too see Johnny running backwards towards the water. You try and fight to get out of his grip, but it's to no avail and his feet end up hitting the water first.  

"Ah- you cheated!" You yell at him as he sets you down. He only laughs, shrugging in triumph.  

"You didn't specify any rules sooo. I won fair and square," he says. You roll your eyes and once again shove Johnny. He stumbles back a bit, seeming like he wasn't going to fall, but before you know it he ends up falling back into the water. This time though, he drags you with him.  

Johnny manages to pull you further into the water, until you're absolutely soaking wet. At first you panic, because your phone was in your pocket, but, upon inspection you don't find it there. You figure maybe it dropped on the beach, so to get away from Johnny you dunk his head under the water and swim off. 

"Y/N- you get back here!" Johnny yells after you. You laugh and try and hurry out of the water, wanting to get away from Johnny before he tried and pulled you back in.  

Your feet luckily hit the dry sand, but, the moment they do you're being lifted up off your feet again from behind and being directed back towards the water.  

"Johnny! You let me go- I lost my phone on the beach I gotta find it- 

"It's in the car! You're going back to the water- 

"NO! It's cold- Johnny!" You squirm in Johnny's arms, hitting at them with your fists and trying your best to get out. Johnny wasn't a bodyguard for no reason though, his strength clearly getting the best of you as he dunks you into the water. You go under, shutting your eyes and holding your breath for a moment, staying under. If Johnny wanted to play like that, then you were going to scare him.  

You swim backwards a little, still managing to stay under even in the cold water. When you're back far enough, your breath runs out and you resurface, quickly wiping your face and looking at Johnny. He's not even looking at you, but he's calling out your name. He sounds worried, and you giggle, seeing that your plan worked.  

"Hey, over here!" Johnny turns around as quick as possible and seems to sigh a breath of relief. 

"I thought I accidentally drowned you or something!" He yells. You laugh and swim your way over to him, splashing water at him when you're close enough.  

"You're just trying to get me killed today, aren't you? First the car, now this- 

"Okay, but I didn't, did I?" Johnny asks. You splash him again.  

"Yet. The water is cold. We could die in here," you say.  

"Oh my god, please don't jinx it." 

You and Johnny splash each other a little more in the water until he tells you there's food and when the cold water starts getting unbearable, making you rush back to the car as quickly as you can. You hadn't realized it since Johnny had been distracting you, but you were starving. 

Johnny pops the trunk of his station wagon when you're back, and waiting for you is a box of pizza, soda, a towel, a warm looking jacket, and your cellphone. You immediately grab the towel and start drying your hair, taking a seat in the end of his car. Johnny starts it, turning the heat up on full blast to get you guys warm and then comes to sit back there with you. 

"Dude, was I seriously out long enough for you to get all this stuff?" You ask. Johnny looks up from where he's serving pizza onto a plate, and he nods.  

"You were snoring and everything." Your eyes widen and you hit his arm, shaking your head.  

"I was not!" Johnny laughs and slides over the plate to you, and you take it, pouting and eating the pizza. At least it was good pizza, so it made up for the snoring comment.  

You two eat in silence, Johnny practically swallowing the pieces of pizza he was eating whole. It makes you giggle, the way he eats, and you quickly steal a piece of pizza from the box before he decided to eat it. You still had to eat after all. 

Once you're finished, you sit in the back of his car together, looking out the sun that was getting ready to set. You really must've been out for a long time. 

"So." 

"Hm?"  

"You speak English?" You ask Johnny. You both look at each other, and he smiles, nodding his head.  

"Yeah. I was born in America, so it's actually my first language," he says. You'd never had a bodyguard born outside of Korea, so, hearing that was actually pretty interesting. You nod your head in understanding, opening your mouth to ask more questions.  

"Have you lived in Korea long then? Or did you study Korean back in America or...?"  

"My family spoke it at home, so I grew up learning both." 

"Ohh, cool, cool. That was like me. I mean- sort of. I learned multiple languages growing up too. So did Mark. Taeyong wasn't ever really into that. He hated studying stuff."  

"Mark's your little brother, right? And Taeyong is... your big brother." You nod your head. "I still haven't met either yet." 

"You're probably not going to meet Taeyong any time soon. He ran away from home with his girlfriend back in July. And Mark is... he's busy finishing up school, so he's never really free to do anything. If he is, he usually hangs with his friends or his fiancée."  

You don't mean to sound bitter about your brothers, but, as you grew older clearly you separated and drifted apart. You don't see Mark unless your parents call for you to be in the same room or you're eating a meal, and even then he's usually at school. And Taeyong of course had run off when he found the love of his life a year ago.  

Your family wasn't really a family anymore. It felt more like you were the only child to a million dollar company, learning the ropes and finishing up college before you took it over in place of your parents. Taeyong had given you that job when he ran away. 

Johnny is silent for a moment, and you feel like you've suddenly ruined the mood with your talk of your brothers and probably your brooding manner. You open your mouth to apologize, but Johnny steps in before you can. 

"I read so much about you so I could be your bodyguard but... I feel like I don't really know anything about you at all," he says. You look at him, waiting for him to continue. "I mean, I know stuff about you but... I don't know you. Does that make sense?"  

You nod your head slowly. You and Johnny knew things about each other, but in reality you didn't know each other at all.  

After today, with Johnny taking you out to get your mind off of Taeyong and just having fun with you like any friend would, you want that to change. You want to know Johnny, and for him to know you in return. 

"We got off on the worst foot," you say. Johnny laughs. 

"The absolute worst. But, hopefully this makes up for it?" You smile at him.  

"Totally." 

You stand up from the car, stretching a little and slinging on the jacket that Johnny had provided you before poking him in the shoulder. "Take a walk with me. Let's talk about ourselves."  

Johnny looks up at you, and after a moment, stands up. He shuts the trunk of his car, then wraps an arm around you, leading you into a walk.  

"You know, I used to guard the President back in the U.S," he says. You look at him in disbelief.  

"No way."  

"Yeah, no. But I did guard a president who owned a chain of hotels... And there was this lady who owned a bakery..." 

- 

It's halfway through January, and you're being invited to a fancy party for one of your parent's friends. A rich friend, of course, who so happened to be the parents of none other than the infamous ladies' man, Jung Jaehyun.  

You were half excited because you got to take Johnny to meet Jaehyun and you know they'd get along, but you were also dreading it because Jaehyun's parents and your parents had been trying to get you two together for years. As much as you liked Jaehyun, he was just a friend and anything more really wasn't what you wanted. But, they always had to say something whenever you were all in a room together. 

"Hey, sis, how do I look?" You turn around from where you were putting on a necklace in front of your mirror to see your little brother, Mark, looking dashing as ever in his suit. You clasp the necklace and coo at him, finding your brother still adorable.  

"Oh my god- you're so cute!"  

"Ahh, don't say that..." Mark looks shy and you walk over to him, pulling him into a hug.  

"Marker, you're growing up so fast- when did you get taller than me, huh? I bet you're taller than your fiancée- 

"Oh my god, Y/N, shh. I'm still going to be younger than you- ow!" You pull away from your brother and glare at him.  

"I think you're learning too much from Donghyuck these days," you say. Mark laughs awkwardly before taking a step back towards the door.  

"By the way, we're leaving in like two minutes, so hurry up. You know mom hates waiting." Mark leaves with that and you move about the room, getting the rest of your things. You put on a bracelet to match your necklace and then grab your phone, finally finished getting ready. You walk over to the door and grab your shoes, flats, because wearing heels at a Jung Jaehyun party only spelled blisters and sore feet by the end of the night. 

You head down the many halls, to the stairs, and finally stepping into the main hall where your parents, Mark, Taeil, and Johnny were waiting for you. You're about to roll your eyes because of course they're all there before you but then you see Johnny staring at you with wide eyes. You walk over to him and hit his arm, frowning at him.  

"What are you staring at? There isn't a stain on my dress or something, right?" Johnny takes a moment to shake his head and he turns away from you, moving to open the door for your family. You exit with Taeil, looking back at Johnny in confusion. 

"What's up with him?" You ask. Taeil wraps an arm around your shoulders and sighs.  

"Don't worry about it, Y/N. You'll figure it out later." 

"Huh?"  

Taeil doesn't say anything more as you walk to the car. You really were confused, especially since last you knew you and Johnny were good friends. After your walk on the beach, you only grew closer and closer, Johnny seeming less like a bodyguard and just a friend that hung around with you daily.  

And now, he was acting weird.  

You get put between Mark and Taeil in the car, almost whining when Johnny sits next to your parents. There's no way to ask him what's up without literally everyone hearing or your mother telling you to put your phone away if you tried to text him, so you'd just have to wait until the party.  

The first one to greet you when you arrive is Kim Doyoung, Jaehyun's head butler and one of your friends. You have to stop yourself from hugging him, considering he was busy greeting people at the door.  

"Kitchen?" You ask when your family is passing him. He grins at you and nods before moving onto the next guest. Whenever you, Doyoung, Jaehyun and Taeyong needed to catch up on things, you'd always go to the kitchen because the maids and other servers were constantly in and out of there. You had plenty of time to gossip.  

Your family separates the minute you're in the house, leaving you alone with Johnny finally. You turn to him, ready to ask him what was wrong but he talks first.  

"You look nice," he says. You swear you can see a blush on his face as he looks away from you. But that couldn't be right. Johnny blushing? What was there to blush about?  

"Y/N!" You take your eyes away from Johnny to see who was calling your name, grinning when Jung Jaehyun comes jogging over to you. He immediately pulls you into a hug and spins you around, making you giggle while you hug him back.  

"Ah- hey, please don't- 

Jaehyun stops in his spinning to look at Johnny, and you look with him, still staying in his hold. "Who's this? Your date, Y/N?"  

You snort and pull away from Jaehyun, hitting his shoulder. "As if. This is Johnny. He's my bodyguard."  

"Ooo, mister bodyguard. I've heard things about you. Good things," Jaehyun says. You roll your eyes at him and look at Johnny, who doesn't look at all happy at meeting Jaehyun. That wasn't good. They were supposed to get along. You swore they were going to.  

"Okay, Mister Brooding. This is Jaehyun. Jaehyun, Johnny." Jaehyun sticks out his hand for Johnny to shake, and, reluctantly, he takes it. It's a short, stiff handshake, and it leaves you feeling worried about Johnny's mood. You're confused as to what happened that might have caused it. He was fine earlier in the day, and now suddenly he was just acting weird. 

"Come on, Y/N. I want to dance." Jaehyun takes your hand in his and drags you off, leaving Johnny only to follow after you into the dance hall. You let Jaehyun walk you to the main floor, let him put one hand on your hip, the other in your hand, and allow him to lead the dance. Just like he always did.  

"So, I heard Taeyong is coming back soon," Jaehyun says. What a way to start a conversation.  

"Shh, you shouldn't say that around here."  

"Y/N, you know everyone is paying attention to us dancing and not what we're talking about." Jaehyun did have a point, considering most of the adults around here, including your parents, were probably just waiting for Jaehyun and you to kiss at some point. 

Not like that was going to happen though, especially since you didn't like him and because one of the maids that worked for his house was bound to kill you if they found out you and Jaehyun were doing anything besides being friendly.  

"...yeah, okay. He's coming back at the end of March. Not sure why, so don't ask." Jaehyun spins you around once before bringing you back into his arms, smiling at you.  

"Bet you're happy," he says. You nod your head. 

"So freaking happy." 

You and Jaehyun keep dancing, other couples around you joining in. It's pleasant and you're glad you wore flats, knowing that heels would already be killing you by now. Jaehyun and you exchange more small talk, mostly things about him traveling recently. Eventually the song changes into a slower one, and Jaehyun moves his hand that holds yours to join with his other one at your hip, while you move yours to his neck. 

"So, there's this new maid," Jaehyun mumbles to you. You're this close to rolling your eyes, but you let him continue on. Of course there was a new maid. "She's super cute and everything but... not sure she's into me." 

"Not into you?" You ask. That seemed preposterous. Every maid that got hired into Jaehyun's house was into him. 

"Mmhmm. She's been here almost a month but..." 

"You haven't gotten anything? Wow. That's a first." You want to say something else, something about how Jaehyun being hung up over her was also a first, but you know he'll just avoid the subject. "Maybe she has a boyfriend." 

"A- a boyfriend?" Jaehyun seems surprised at your accusation, and you shake your head at him.  

"Yes, Jaehyun. People have those." 

"...Doyoung and Ten said I was losing my charm," he says. "So, I guess your explanation is... better."  

"Why do you look so disappointed? Do you like her, Jaehyunnie?" You tease. Jaehyun glares at you, which absolutely proves your point that he did like her. That was a surprise, really. Jaehyun never liked anyone, he just fooled around with everyone.  

"Shut up, I don't. What about you and your bodyguard? What's going on there?" He asks. You tilt your head in confusion.  

"What do you mean?" Jaehyun is silent, staring at you like you should understand exactly what he was talking about. But you didn't. How were you supposed to know? 

"...never mind. Speaking of maid though, I see her. See you in the kitchen in ten." Jaehyun lets you go and walks off, leaving you alone on the dance floor. You walk off quickly, not wanting to get in the way of anyone or pulled in by any other guy for a dance. You make your way out of the hall, moving through the house and up the stairs. You needed a breath of fresh air, and the balcony outside of Jaehyun's room was the absolute best place to get it.  

Jaehyun's room is unlocked, luckily, and you step in, moving past his things and straight to the door leading outside. The night air hits you, making you sigh in relief at the feeling. Being in a room with a hundred and more people could get hot fast, and this was perfect to cool off and just relax for a few moments.  

You lean against the railing, looking out on the garden below Jaehyun's balcony. There's fairy lights adorning the bushes and the flowers, lighting it up beautifully in the darkness.  

And, down below you can see people mingling, some talking, others walking. There's two people that almost look like they're arguing, and you kind of wish you could hear them to see what they were arguing about.  

The January air keeps you from staying out long, but it was nice while it lasted. You turn around, ready to head back in, only to see a man standing at the entrance to the balcony, a gun in his hand. Your eyes widen and before you know it, his finger pulls the trigger.  

The first thing you hear is the gunshot. The second is another gunshot. The third is a few screams from down below in the garden. The fourth is a scuffle in front of you. You had closed your eyes and ducked, hoping you'd dodge the bullet in time. It seemed that you did, so you open your eyes to see what was happening. You see the man on the ground, Johnny above him with the gun in his hands. He brings the butt of the gun down on the man's head, effectively knocking him out with one swift movement. 

You stare at the two in shock, not sure what to make of the situation until Johnny and you make eye contact. He scrambles off the man and over to you, the gun being placed on the floor and his hands coming to cup your face. 

"Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?" He asks. You shake your head, not sure what to say. Johnny breathes a sigh of relief though, pressing his forehead to yours and closing his eyes. The proximity between you two makes you kind of breathless, and being like that makes you notice little things about Johnny's face. The length of his eyelashes, his nose, his lips, and, for the shortest second you think about what it'd be like to press yours to his. 

"Y/N?!" Johnny pulls away from you as quickly as possible and you look to the door leading into Jaehyun's bedroom. Your parents, Mark, Jaehyun and plenty of other guests are standing there, looking on into the scene that unfolded just moments before. Jaehyun and Mark both rush over to you and you let them help you up.  

"Are you okay?" Mark asks. He looks ready to cry and you smile at him, ruffling his hair once you're on your feet.  

"I'm okay, I'm fine. Johnny got to him before he could get to me. I’m okay." Mark hugs you and sniffles, and you hug him back, trying to console your little brother.  

"Are you sure you're okay? I was in the garden when I heard the shot- I saw you fall and thought you got hurt." You look at Jaehyun and shake your head, smiling to reassure your friend. 

"I'm fine. Really. I'm not hurt."  

- 

You walk into your bedroom, over to your bed and sit down, staring at your feet. You felt drained even though it wasn't even ten yet, but the events of the night had sucked all your energy up. The party was cut off early, police came to take the man away and to get some words from you, and then you were being taken home. At least your parents didn't ask about thinking about dating Jaehyun. 

Johnny had sat next to you in the car, as close as he could possibly be, and just his presence alone made you feel at ease. Which, made you end up asking him to sleep in your room for the night. You could still hear the echo of the gunshot in your mind, and just in case anything else happened, you wanted Johnny nearby.  

You’re not sure why you’re so surprised, because it wasn’t like a gun has never been held up to you before. You’ve been in situations like that when you were younger, but something about this one shook you up more than other times. Maybe it had just been because it hadn’t happened in so long, or maybe because you thought you might actually die since before you had a bodyguard around you. 

You felt kind of stupid for not letting Johnny know where you went, but, you're glad he knew to follow you around. Without him, you really could've been dead.  

You lay back on your bed, letting out a sigh. Tonight had just been weird and you just wanted to get to sleep so you could let today's events die in the past.  

“Hey, the maids couldn’t find the futon so I can just sleep on the floor.” You sit up on your elbows, seeing Johnny standing there, a few blankets and pillows in his hands. You don't want him sleeping on the floor, but, you're not sure where else he would sleep.  

"Are you sure?" He nods his head and starts placing pillows and blankets down in a makeshift bed. You turn your body so you can lay back down and still look at Johnny, but watching him makes you feel bad. He shouldn't have to sleep on the floor just because you were feeling scared.  

"...Johnny, you can sleep on my bed with me if you want," you tell him. He pauses his actions and looks at you, surprise written all over his face. He looks like he's contemplating it, and, before he can deny you scoot over to edge where your bed touches the wall and pat the space next to you. 

"It's going to be more comfy than the floor."  

"I... I'm not sure that's appropriate- 

"We're friends, Johnny. It's fine. It's just an offer though. You don't have to." You say he doesn't have to, but you want him to. You didn't want him sleeping on the floor.  

Johnny stares at you for a moment, looks back at his makeshift bed, and then, after a few silent moments between you two he stands up and walks over to you. He slowly climbs into the bed, laying down next to you on his side with a pillow in his hands. He sets it between your bodies and you frown at it.  

"You just made this so awkward," you say.  

"It's- It's just weird- 

"You're weird." You poke Johnny in the chest once, yawning as you do so. "You were acting weird earlier too. Was something wrong?" 

Johnny pokes you back. "No." 

"Don't lie, Mister Tree. I know you." You yawn again, poking him once more.  

"Mister Tree? That's new." He pokes you back before standing up. You watch as he moves over to the blankets, gathering them up in his hands, over to the light switch and shutting it off, and back over to you. He drapes a blanket over you first, tucking you in like you were a little kid who couldn't do it yourself.  

Which, you couldn't. You were tired and Johnny was doing it of his own accord anyways, so who were you to stop him?  

You feel the bed dip when Johnny gets into it, and hear him shuffle about until you guess he's situated and has his own blanket over him. You could have very well slept under the blankets on your bed, but, once again, you were going to let Johnny do what he wants.  

"Y/N, can I ask you something?" Johnny mumbles. He sounds thoughtful and unsure, and you hum out a response. You're on the verge of sleep though, your eyes already closed and your body relaxed, so you hope he asks fast. 

"You and Jaehyun... there's nothing between you, right?" It takes you a minute to register what Johnny is asking. Of course there was stuff between you. You were friends and had known each other for years. But, that isn't what Johnny was getting at. He wanted to know if there was something else between you. Something more than friendship.  

You reach out from under your blanket to poke Johnny again. "As if. Jaehyun is... Jaehyun. Not my type."  

Johnny grabs your hand to stop you from poking him another time, and you don’t have the energy to take it back from him. You sit there in silence, Johnny next to you with your hand in his. You feel safe and warm, and the thought of someone coming in and hurting you doesn't even matter to you.  

Not with Johnny next to you.  

You feel Johnny rubbing circles with his thumb into the palm of your hand, and the sensation makes you feel awfully close to him. If you moved your hand, you could entwine your fingers together. If you took the pillow between you away, you could cuddle up to him. If you got close enough, you could kiss him. 

The events from earlier on the balcony come back to you, Johnny's forehead pressed to yours, his hands on your face. If you had leaned in just a bit, you would've kissed him then too. 

You were tired. You needed to go to sleep. Otherwise, you were going to keep thinking weird things. You move your hand out of Johnny's and turn over on the bed, curling up with the blanket Johnny gave you. 

"Goodnight, Y/N."  

"Goodnight, Johnny." 

- 

The rest of January passes by in a cold, snowy blur, the winter beginning to come to a close as February hits. Doyoung's birthday passes, then Jaehyun's, and at the end of February, Ten's, Jaehyun's best friend. When all the birthday's come and pass and March 1st arrives, you ask Johnny when his birthday is. Surprisingly, it had never been brought up in any previous conversations you'd had with him, and sitting together in your bedroom while you typed up a paper seemed like the perfect moment to ask.  

And you needed a break anyways.  

"Birthday?" Johnny looks over at you and he rubs the back of his neck, taking his eyes off of you only a second later. "It was... uh. February ninth.” 

It takes you a moment to register that Johnny’s birthday had passed and even more time to register that you had missed it without getting him anything. Of course, you couldn’t get him anything since you didn’t know, but you still feel bad about it.  

“February ninth? That was like a month ago Johnny!” You don’t mean to sound upset, but you and Johnny were friends. You couldn’t just miss his birthday. “Why didn’t you say anything?” 

“You were already celebrating all your friend’s birthdays… I didn’t want to- hey!” 

Johnny tosses the pillow you had thrown at him back at you and manages to dodge the second one. You have a stare down for a moment, Johnny waiting for you to finish contemplating whether or not you were going to throw a third pillow at him.  

“Give me a reason not to throw this pillow,” you reason. Johnny looks at you helplessly, nothing seeming to come out. He has no excuse even after you give him time which means he was getting the pillow thrown at him. You crank your arm back and toss it as hard as you can, watching it soar through the air before it hits Johnny square in the face.  

As it turns out, throw pillows that are used for decoration can actually hurt pretty bad if thrown hard enough.  

Which explains why you and Johnny are in the kitchen, an ice pack pressed to his face while you sadly eat ice cream.  

“I really didn’t think I threw it that hard.” 

"It's fine, Y/N- 

"Why didn't you tell me about your birthday?" You ask, interrupting Johnny. He takes a seat next to you, stealing the spoon in your hand and taking a bite from your ice cream. If he wasn't already hurt, you'd totally hit him in the face with that spoon. He got lucky this time.  

"All your friends were having birthdays I didn't want to... intrude," he explains. He goes for another bite of your ice cream, but instead of letting him have it you smack the spoon out of his hand, glaring at him. 

"You're my friend too, idiot. I would've bought you a gift and had a party and everything." Johnny is silent next to you, and you wonder if maybe you should say more about the situation. You would've celebrated his birthday just like you had with anyone else. He wasn't just your bodyguard anymore, not since you and him had agreed to be friends, and especially not after that day at the beach.  

He deserved attention and a celebration for his birthday just like anyone else you cared about.  

"Can I ask for a gift now even though my birthday has passed?" Johnny asks. You look at him only to see his expression unreadable. You're not sure what he could possibly want. 

"Yeah, sure. Go for it."  

Johnny is silent once more, but you wait patiently for him to tell you what he wants. If it took him a while to ask you, that was okay. You stand up to get another spoon and to pick up the one that was laying on the floor, putting it in the sink before moving back to your seat. You take another bite of your ice cream and turn your eyes on Johnny, offering a small smile when he looks at you.  

"Y/N, I- 

"MISS! Miss, are you in here?!" You watch as Johnny stands up, pressing the ice pack to his face and stepping away from you. You wanted to hit whoever was calling for you, because Johnny was saying something important, but you'd just have to ask him about it later. You turn your attention on the kitchen door, seeing an out of breath maid. She breathes a heavy and surely needed sigh of relief when she sees you and gestures to the hallway. 

"Miss you- visitor- Mister Kim- Seokwoo is here for you."  

You feel your spoon fall out of your hand and clatter onto the countertop, a groan coming out of you when you hear the name come out of the maid's mouth. You had completely forgotten he was going to be there today, Johnny totally distracting you. 

"He's waiting in the dining room, miss."  

You stand up and quickly move to put your ice cream away, telling Johnny to follow after you. The maid leads you both from the kitchen, down the hall, and to the dining room. Through the glass doors you could see him sitting there, bouncing around like the big puppy he was. You sigh once and turn to Johnny.  

"Just a heads up Rowoon is... kind of clingy so if you see him charge at me, don't worry." Johnny nods his head in understanding, but you're pretty sure he was more confused than anything. You turn back to the door and nod at the maid, allowing her to open the door for you.  

The moment she does, Rowoon turns to you, a grin spreads across his face, and he comes straight for you.  

- 

“Rowoon, did you seriously come over just to cuddle with me?” Said boy nods his head and nuzzles his face against your neck. Any other person you would’ve pushed away, but, Rowoon was your childhood friend after all. You couldn't just push him away, lest you wanted to see his pout. You hated the pout.  

"I've been overseas all winter. I've missed you," he says. You groan in annoyance and look to Johnny who was watching the fireplace, his ice pack pressed firmly to his face and his eyes set on the fire. How dare he not help you when you needed it? 

It's not like Rowoon was terrible, he could just be too much sometimes. Now was one of those times. You wanted to be giving Johnny a birthday present, not handling the huge puppy that was Rowoon.  

"Rowoon, I'm kind of busy today. I have an essay to finish and- my parents- they need me to sit in on a meeting at three since they're out of the country- 

"You told me that you were free all day when I asked if I could come over," Rowoon says. He pulls away from you, frowning. "If you were busy you would've told me you had things to do." 

You glance over at Johnny for a quick second before looking back over to Rowoon, sighing. "I was distracted and forgot to say anything. We can hang out another day- 

"Y/N, actually... Can I talk to you for a minute? Alone?" Rowoon is suddenly serious, his eyes on Johnny. You look over to him too, seeing him frowning as he stares back.  

"I'm her bodyguard. I'm supposed to stay with her- 

"It's okay, Johnny," you speak up. "Just step out for a minute." 

Johnny opens his mouth to reason, but ultimately gives up. He stands up and walks out, not happy at all that he had to leave. If Rowoon hadn't been serious, you wouldn't have asked him to step out but usually when he was like this, it meant there was business that needed to be discussed between you two.  

"What is it?" You ask Rowoon.  

"Your bodyguard he... he's just your bodyguard, right?" You tilt your head in confusion at Rowoon. Of course Johnny was just your bodyguard. You were friends too, but you’re pretty sure Rowoon is trying to get at something more. Which was weird, considering Jaehyun had said something similar to this at his big party.  

Did people think you and Johnny were… dating?  

“He’s just my bodyguard. Why are you asking?” You ask Rowoon. He leans back on the couch, giving you a straight face as he looks at you.  

“The way he looks at you… you don’t notice?”  

“Huh? Does he look at me a certain way?” 

Rowoon frowns and repeats his previous statement. “You don’t notice?”  

You shake your head, confused beyond belief now. What way did Johnny look at you? You’d never noticed anything different before, because it just looked normal to you. The only difference between his looks was when he first became your bodyguard where he only had that straight faced, proper and polite look and to now where you’d say his look was happy and maybe even fond whenever he was around you. You’re not sure of any other look that Johnny might have had. Unless it was worry but he didn’t wear that all the time.  

“What are you talking about, Rowoon?” You ask. He takes a long pause, looking between you and the door before leaning in, whispering to you.  

“I think he might be in love with you.” 

- 

“I think he might be in love with you.” 

The words won’t get out of your head. No matter how hard you try to forget them, they just stay there.  

It’s even worse since they’re words that regard your bodyguard, someone you have to be around for all the hours you’re awake. Someone who now whenever you look at him the words just run across your mind like the unimportant news on the bottom of a news report except since it kept appearing it kept catching your attention and you couldn’t even pay attention to the big news on the screen.  

The big news being your upcoming exam and your study session with Sicheng, of course.  

How were you supposed to focus on an exam when all you could focus on was Johnny and his “really obvious feelings” according to Rowoon and stupidly kissable looking face that you couldn’t stop thinking about either.  

You swear you didn’t like Johnny, but every time you’ve looked at him recently you found your eyes staring at his lips more often than not.  

“Ahhh!” You shove your books away from you, startling both Sicheng and Johnny next to you.  

“Y/N, are you okay?” Johnny asks. You stand up, slamming your hands on the table. You couldn’t focus, especially not with Mr. Tree next to you. You mumble something out that sounds like “bathroom” and storm off, leaving Sicheng and Johnny to stare after you.  

You take a short walk to the bathroom, making sure to lock the door when you’re in. You didn’t want anyone to intrude. You make your way over to the sink and turn the faucet on cold water. Maybe you just needed a cold, wet slap to the face.  

You gather the water in your hands and lower your head, taking a deep breath before splashing it against your face. You repeat the action two more times before turning the faucet off and reaching for the paper towel to wipe down your face. You toss the paper towel when you’re done and look into the mirror at yourself. Clearly it was self-reflection time.  

You’re not sure why you can’t get the thought of Johnny liking you off your mind. It’s not like people haven't liked you before. You’ve had plenty of suitors wanting your hand in marriage, mostly for business deals, but there were some that wanted you in general, at least three you can think of off the top of your head. It’s not like it was a foreign concept, so why were you feeling like this? Why was it so prominent in your mind that you couldn’t even focus on studying? 

Maybe because it was Johnny, the guy you didn’t like nor want around that became your friend. Maybe it was because he was your bodyguard. You've never had a bodyguard around your age, so most didn't usually like you like Johnny apparently does, nor did you ever treat them as a close friend. Maybe it was weird because Johnny was close in age. 

Maybe it was weird that he was closer in age because then it'd be easy to date him. 

Your eyes widen at the thought of that, and your mouth drops open. Why were you thinking about dating him? Johnny was your bodyguard you couldn't date him.  

Your first original thought about Johnny crosses through your mind. When you first met him, you had thought he was awfully handsome, and, if he were any other guy you would've liked him. You wouldn't second guess the thought of dating him. Another thought crosses through your mind, when he had been so close to you the night you got shot at. You could've kissed him not once, but two times that night. 

Thinking about it, you wouldn't have even minded. 

You quickly turn the faucet on once more and quickly splash your face a few times. This was not happening.  

This was not happening. 

"Y/N?" 

"AH!" You jump at the sudden knock on the door and the voice calling your name, pressing a hand to your chest to calm your racing heart. You take a few short breaths and after wiping your face again, move over to the door, unlocking it and opening it up to reveal Sicheng on the other side.  

He has a worried expression on his face and you whine at him, frowning. He steps into the bathroom with you and closes the door behind him, and you whine at him once more.  

"SIcheng, I have a problem..."  

"Did you run out of toilet paper or something?" You shake your head. 

"I... Sicheng, I think I- oh my god, I can't believe I'm saying this..." Sicheng squeezes your shoulders and shakes you a little.  

"Spit it out, Y/N. You've been acting weird all day," he says. You whine at him for a third time. 

"I think- fuck, I think I like Johnny. Like… you know. I- like him."  

Sicheng is silent for all of two seconds before raising an eyebrow at you. "Aren't you dating?"  

You squint at him, shaking your head. "No we aren't- what do you mean "aren't we dating" wouldn't I have told you if- what do you mean? Does it seem like we're- oh my god, does it seem like we're dating?!"  

Sicheng squeezes your shoulders again, getting you to stand still in your place. You wanted to pace so bad, or even rock back and forth to calm yourself down. Did it seem like you and Johnny were a couple? You don't remember doing anything couple-y with him, only being friendly and warm to him.  

"...I don't know the way you two look at each other sometimes is a little... ah, I don't know the word for it. Lovey? And every time I'm at your house the maids in the kitchen always talk about it... And Jaehyun also thought there was something going on between you two..."  

You stare at Sicheng in silence. You didn't know what to say. What were you supposed to say? Did everyone just think that you and Johnny were an item? Even your best friend thought so.  

You're not sure what you're supposed to do with that information. 

You're not sure what you're supposed to do with your feelings or Johnny's feelings either. You had an exam in two days, you needed to think about that and not Johnny and definitely not everyone thinking you were dating in the first place. 

"...I need to go home. I need to take a nap my... my head hurts," you tell Sicheng. He nods his head and takes your hand.  

"Okay." 

- 

"Y/N..."  

"Five more minutes..." 

"Y/N, come on... I gave you ten extra minutes." 

You blink open an eye and look up to see Johnny, dressed in pajamas and a tray of food in his hands. You take in the scent that hangs in the air, a smile forming on your face knowing that what you were about to eat was delicious.  

You sit up in your bed and stretch your arms, letting a big yawn out as Johnny sits down in the bed next to you.  

"Are you excited for our date later?" You nod your head as Johnny leans forward to kiss you, happily kissing him back.  

"Are you nervous about telling my parents afterwards?" You ask. Johnny laughs, nodding his head.  

"Shouldn't be... but I am." You lean forward to kiss Johnny again, a kiss of support and love. "It'll be fine. They'll love you." 

"Mm, hope so." 

Johnny and you begin eating, exchanging kisses every few moments because what's breakfast in bed if you didn't have kisses? It's happy and warm and everything you want, until your alarm goes off. You reach for your phone on your pillow, ready to shut it off but you can't find it. The alarm keeps getting louder and louder the more you let it go, and you rush to find it. It was killing your ears this early in the morning.  

You throw pillows off your bed, then your blanket, and eventually you end up hitting the floor.  

The impact makes you open your eyes and you blink a few times as you stare up at the ceiling. You sit up a moment later, looking around the room only to see no Johnny and no food.  

It was a dream.  

You can't help but slap your cheeks a few times, scolding yourself for having another ridiculous, sweet, kiss-filled Johnny dream. Ever since the day at the library where you had told Sicheng about your feelings, the dreams came almost every night. Today marked the fourteenth day, and the third time you've ended up on the floor.  

The dreams wouldn't be so bad if Johnny and you were just normal people. You had accepted your feelings about him, so it was a mutual thing. Easily, it seemed like you could date each other and the dreams would become reality.  

But after a short conversation with your parents at dinner about who you could date, after you had refused two marriage candidates, was all you needed to realize that your dreams were just that. Dreams. There was nothing real that could come out of it.  

You sigh and lay back down on the floor, looking up at the ceiling once again. Your alarm is still going off somewhere in your room, but your mood stops you from looking for it to turn it off.  

You wished Johnny wasn't your bodyguard and that he was someone of wealthy status. Then dating him would be easy. He could be your boyfriend and satisfy your parents desire to have another kid with a wealthy significant other, like Mark and his fiancée.  

But, that wasn't going to happen. This was a whole Taeyong situation again. You liked someone of lower class, your parents definitely wouldn't accept it, and then you'd have to run off to be with Johnny.  

You groan and kick your feet in the air like an upset child. You didn't want to run away with Johnny. You wanted to live a happy life and date him like a normal person and have your parents like him as your boyfriend and not just your bodyguard.  

You wanted to be able to walk around the house together holding hands and go on dates and go to fancy parties with him as your date. You wanted to kiss his stupidly kissable face because he was your boyfriend.  

You sigh once more and lay still on the floor in defeat. Johnny wasn't ever going to be your boyfriend, and even if he did, you'd have to sneak around everywhere and try not to get caught by your parents and the one maid that had to tell them everything.  

This sucked. 

And not to mention you totally bombed your stupid exam even after studying like crazy with Sicheng and with Taeil's help during your tutoring sessions.  

This really did suck.  

You sigh for a final time before standing up, beginning the search for your phone. You blame Johnny's ridiculously kissable face for this situation and the failed exam.  

- 

It's the 26th of March when Taeil wakes you up at seven in the morning to go get Taeyong from the airport. You nearly trip out of bed in excitement, rushing around the room to throw on some clothes. There was no time for a shower, you just had to get ready as quick as possible.  

You get stopped though when Taeil tells you he's going to go call Johnny. That was unacceptable. You didn't want Johnny tagging along to go see your brother. Or, anywhere in general. It's not that you didn't want Johnny meeting Taeyong or anything, but, Taeyong had keen eyes. He'd probably tell that you had feelings for him with just one look. You didn't need your brother thinking there was something going on between you two too.  

Because there wasn’t, unfortunately. 

"No, wait, Taeil!" You're rushing out of the room to catch up to him and you quickly have to snatch his phone out of his hand to stop him from calling Johnny. He stares at you, confused, and you put your hands behind you to keep him from reaching for his phone. 

"Johnny can't come with us," you say. He narrows his eyes at you. 

"Why not?" 

"...because..." You try to think of a reason that Johnny can't come, one that isn't "I don't want Taeyong to know I like him" but you can't really think of one. Taeil sighs at your actions and holds his hand out. 

"Because nothing. Give me my phone back," he says. You take a step back, shaking your head. 

"Becaaaaaauuusssee, Taeil... Um..." You bite your lip, trying to think of something. "Because- oh! Johnny had a really long day yesterday. Because we were hanging around all of Mark's friends and you know how they can be..." 

Taeil raises an eyebrow at you and crosses his arms as if silently asking are you done yet and you groan. You didn't want Johnny there. It was a stupid reason, but, even so. Johnny didn't even need to go.  

“Taeil, please. I just want to see Taeyong without having to fuss around with Johnny. Please.”  

Taeil ends up giving in when you give him puppy dog eyes, ones that you learned from none other than your big brother himself. You happily give him back his phone when he agrees to not call Johnny and you head back to your room to change.  

Once you're finished, you go back out to see Taeil and he leads you out of your house and to his car parked out front.  

The drive to the airport is almost half an hour, and you nearly fall asleep from the quiet ride and Taeil singing under his breath to some random song you’ve never heard before. The excitement from thinking about seeing Taeyong keeps you awake though, and you smile out the window for most of the drive there.  

You were going to see Taeyong. You were going to see him and it wasn’t just some sad dream you had that when you woke up, he wasn’t really there. You were actually going to see him.  

Before you know it, Taeil is parking the car and you’re heading in, taking a seat as you wait the few minutes for Taeyong's plane to arrive. You’re bouncing in your chair, barely able to contain your excitement and Taeil can't help but laugh and join in. You’re sure he was just as excited to see Taeyong as you were. Not seeing him for months clearly affected both of you, but you’re glad that you had someone else to share the same emotions and experiences you did when it came to Taeyong. 

“Hey, Y/N...” You look at Taeil, giving him your attention. “You and Johnny… Are you…” 

“Huh?” You swear you feel your face flush just thinking about what Taeil was trying to ask. You hoped it wasn’t about you and him dating. You really hoped it wasn't. 

“Well, you know… is something going on between you?”  

You haven’t ever said no fast enough and you’re pretty sure you’ve never said it louder than that before. 

Taeil stares at you, clearly taken aback by your reply. You didn’t mean to yell, and you quickly look away and down at your fingers that were now tapping nervously at your thighs.  

You couldn’t be thinking about Johnny today. Today was Taeyong day. This week was Taeyong week. Johnny was about as irrelevant as your parents when they told you about marriage candidates. He wasn’t important right now, and thinking about anything else but Taeyong was just going to ruin your mood.  

Because no, unfortunately, there wasn’t anything going on between you and Johnny. And just thinking about that for too long was going to put you in a bad mood.  

“Oh, Taeyong's flight just landed.” 

You jump up faster than Taeil, ready to be done with this conversation and to move onto other things.  

You and Taeil take a quiet walk to the gates, sitting and waiting as you watch person after person get off the plane. You keep an eye out for Taeyong, waiting to see a head of silver hair pop out from the crowd. 

It doesn’t, but instead you notice a head of pink hair, barely covered by the hood of a hoodie. You wouldn’t have actually known it was Taeyong if he didn’t have that keychain you got him for his birthday last year hanging off his backpack, because at first glance it didn’t really look like Taeyong. Not to mention he had a face mask, so the keychain was the only thing making you do a double take.  

And when you do, Taeyong and you make eye contact.  

You’re not sure who's running to who first, you just know you meet each other half way, and when Taeyong has you in his arms he’s lifting you up off your feet and spinning you around. You’re laughing and crying while you hug him back, so ridiculously happy to see your big brother after almost a year without having any contact with him.  

“Hey, squirt.” 

If this had been any other time, you would have hit Taeyong and told him that you were definitely not a squirt, but you didn’t have it in you to say any of that. You were too happy to just hear Taeyong’s voice and to be able to touch him again.  

“I missed you so much,” you manage to tell Taeyong. He sets you down and tries to pull away from you, but you continue to latch on, not wanting to let go in fear that if you do, he was just going to leave again.  

“Y/N, they’re telling us we have to move. Come on, let’s get my luggage and then we'll go get breakfast, okay?”  

You hesitantly pull away and reach for Taeyong’s hand, wanting to still hold onto him as you moved. Taeyong just smiles at you and squeezes your hand in return. 

- 

“So how have you been? What are you doing right now? You have a new phone, right? And, oh! Your girlfriend, how's she?” 

Currently, you were sitting at a small little café a few minutes outside of the airport, Taeyong and Taeil sitting across from you in the booth you shared. You hadn't really talked to Taeyong on the ride there, mostly just taking him in because he was here, back home, and you needed to admire him before he left again.  

"I've been good. Right now I'm just working and saving up money. Not like I really need to, but, it helps her out. Actually, though... she's not my girlfriend anymore." 

You and Taeil both almost spit out your coffee.  

"Not your girlfriend- what?!" Taeil grabs Taeyong by his shoulders and starts shaking him. "You ran away because you were in love with her- how can she not be your girlfriend anymore- 

"Fiancée! She's my fiancée!" Taeil pauses his shaking, the words sinking in for a moment. You smile at Taeyong, happy that they were getting married now. That was amazing news.  

You're surprised though when Taeil starts shaking Taeyong again. "Ah, you always worry me- both of you! You could've just said that- you two take off ten years of my life daily, I swear..."  

Taeil lets go of Taeyong and picks up his coffee, and Taeyong just laughs. The dynamic between the two is one you’ve definitely missed a lot.  

“What has Y/N been doing to take years off your life though? I know she was killing mom and dad but…”  

You look to Taeil, knowing exactly who and what he was going to talk about. You try and give him a look to tell him please don’t mention Johnny or I'm going to kill you but it doesn’t seem to get across to him.  

Or, it does, but he just chooses to ignore it.  

If the mischievous smirk on his face is anything to go by, you’re pretty sure it was the latter.  

“Well, there’s this guy… Johnny.” You frown at Taeil. Why was he making it seem like Johnny was something more than a bodyguard? What did you do to make Taeil mess around like this today? Was it because of earlier? You were going to punch him later for this. 

“Johnny?” Taeyong’s tone is one of defense, and you have to keep yourself from face palming. This is what you wanted to avoid. “Who's Johnny? Is he- oh my god, do you have a boyfriend?”  

“No! No he’s not- he’s just my bodyguard! He's not... my boyfriend." You don't mean to sound so sad about it, but, you couldn't really help it. You were sad about it. 

"Pfft, just a bodyguard..." Taeyong looks between you and Taeil, confused and clearly out of the loop. You didn't want to explain your feelings to Taeyong, and the more you talked about it the more you knew it was going to bring down your mood.  

"Do you want him to be your... boyfriend?" Taeyong asks. You sigh and shake your head.  

"I mean, I do but- you know mom and dad. If I'm not dating someone who has some sort of money then I shouldn't date at all. Not to mention he's my bodyguard. I'd have to sneak around all the time to be with him. And mom and dad would have a fit- 

"Y/N," Taeyong cuts in. "Since when have you ever listened to mom and dad?"  

You stare at Taeyong, knowing he was somewhat right. You mostly did things on your own, because Taeyong had been next in line to take over the company. You never really worried about any of the stuff they wanted and focused on yourself because you didn't have to. It was why you weren't engaged yet, nor did you ever stick with the same bodyguard for very long.  

You always made it a point to be your own person.  

Until Taeyong left, and then you had to pay attention to your parents affairs that much more. You had to sit in on meetings, and you had to take business classes, and you had to focus on taking your life seriously instead of having fun like someone your age should.  

Of course, you still tried to be your own person, resulting in you being rebellious, especially with the whole bodyguard situation. Not to mention you could only stand being scolded about the same things over and over again so many times.  

You didn't want to just give up the position as next in line either though. It wouldn't be bad to take over, and you'd definitely be good at it. And, you'd rather take over than let Mark do it. You didn't want to do to Mark what Taeyong did to you. Not like he could really run the company anyways.  

But, if that cost a lot of your freedom like choosing who to date and marry and if you could even hang out with your friends, you're not sure it was really all worth it. 

You were in such a tough situation, you realize. No wonder you were always quick-tempered when it came to this kind of stuff.   

"Y/N, the second I stopped letting mom and dad decide my life, the happier I was. You and I both knew I wasn't going to be able to take over that company. And, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying run away but... if you like this Johnny guy, then tell him and be with him.  

"It's not like mom and dad will do anything about it besides throw a fit. They let you do stuff on your own for a reason you know that? Because they knew if I flaked out, you were all they were going to have left. Because, let's face it, Mark sucks at business." 

You can't help but laugh at Taeyong's words. He was right. Mark did suck at business. 

"Squirt, tell him you like him. Just... at least try." 

You stare at Taeyong, letting his words sink in. You knew a lot of the things he said was true, but you also knew a lot of things could go terribly wrong with this entire Johnny thing if you told him how you feel. If your parents found out too soon, they'd probably fire him and send him away. If you didn't tell him though, you knew you'd just be miserable. 

At least try. 

You sigh, and smile at Taeyong. This is why you needed him around. All your bad thoughts could be changed just by some small advice from Taeyong. 

Really, what harm was there in just trying? 

- 

"Oh, crap. I forgot my wallet inside." You turn to Taeil and watch him rush back into the shop, leaving you and Taeyong to stand by the car as you waited for him. He could've unlocked it for you, but, what could you do, especially when it came to Taeil? 

You had talked some more with Taeyong and Taeil, not about Johnny anymore, thankfully, but more about Taeyong and his now fiancée. Apparently he had come back to Korea for the sole purpose of getting married back home, back where he and she met. It was romantic and cute, and you couldn't wait for them to get married. You couldn't wait to attend the wedding either.  

"Oh, before I forget Y/N. You asked for my number... It costs a ton of money to call and what not so... We can use apps instead. It's been long enough." Taeyong pulls out his phone and asks for yours. You happily give it to him, glad that finally, after so many months, you'd be able to communicate with your brother again. Before it would've been too risky considering your parents, but, they weren't really looking for Taeyong anymore. 

"I'm gonna message you every day, I hope you know that," you say. Taeyong just smiles, continuing on with exchanging contact info.  

When you hear footsteps behind you, you turn around to greet Taeil, happy that he was finally back. 

Only, you don't see Taeil. There's three, large, dangerous looking men instead. You immediately reach for your knife that you carried and try to tell Taeyong that there was danger right in front of you, but they're much faster than you. One grabs you, and the other two go for Taeyong. You're about to scream for help, for someone in the parking lot, but the man presses something over your mouth and nose. You immediately take in a sweet scent and the dizziness is instant.  

You stop struggling in the man's arms, letting him pull you into a van nearby. When had that gotten there? It's only moments later that Taeyong gets pulled in too, and the van door closes. The van starts moving and before you know it, everything becomes fuzzy, the sweet smell is too overwhelming, and you black out. 

- 

You wake up with your face pressed to a cold floor and your hands tied behind your back, numb from being tied too tightly. You roll over onto your back and kick up, giving yourself enough momentum to be able to sit up. Then, you look around. 

Your surroundings are about as great as you expected. You're locked in a cage within a building, most likely a warehouse if you're thinking about it. There's boxes lining the fence of the cage, making it hard to see out into the rest of the place but the only thing you really need to see is the guy pacing the entrance of the cage. He was clearly meant to watch over you in case you and Taeyong did anything. 

Taeyong. 

You whip your head around to find Taeyong, seeing him still passed out on the ground. You sigh in relief to see he's not terribly hurt or anything and scoot your way over to him. You press your foot to his shoulder and push it, hoping to shake him awake so that he could help you get out of your confines. The moment you were, you could get him and you out of there.  

"Taeyong." You whisper his name at him, continuing to press your foot against his shoulder, but he doesn't budge. He couldn't be knocked out that long. You move your foot to his side, pushing him there, harder and harder until finally he stirs. He tells you to stop but you don't until he's rolling away from you, glaring at you from a safe distance.  

"What are- you..." He maneuvers himself to sit up and looks around, taking in everything just as you had moments before. He groans and then struggles at the rope that has him tied up, only to give up a moment later and put his eyes back on you.  

"How are we supposed to get out of this one?" He asks. You roll your eyes and scoot over to him.  

"You remember how to untie rope?" You ask. "If you can untie me then I can get us out of here."  

Taeyong stares at you, his expression telling you exactly what you need to know. No. Of course Taeyong doesn't remember how to untie rope. He was too busy napping to listen to anything during your self-defense class. You put your foot out to kick him, earning a yelp from your brother.  

"What was that for?"  

"Because I forgot how worthless you are in situations like these," you tell him.  

"Well if you remember that stuff then why don't you untie me?" He asks.  

"Because I can barely feel my hands, Taeyong. So, basically we're stuck here until, fuck, I don't know. We die?" 

Taeyong whines at the thought of that. "Please don't say that. I'm supposed to be getting married- 

"Maybe you should've paid attention in self-defense class then." You turn your head away from Taeyong and scoot away from him. There was nothing either of you could do, with his lack of knowledge on how to untie you and your numb hands. You probably were going to die here. 

You feel like crying at the thought, especially since you know it could've been avoided. If you hadn't been stubborn and leaving Johnny at home, it would've been fine. You wouldn't have been kidnapped and wouldn't feel so helpless in this situation.  

And, not only did you get yourself kidnapped, Taeyong was kidnapped too.  

Today was supposed to be a good day. It was not supposed to turn out like this.  

You sniffle, feeling tears already starting to prick the corner of your eyes. This was all your fault. If you had just listened to Taeil and let Johnny come along then it wouldn't be like this.  

"Hey, Y/N, don't cry- Y/N what do you think they want?" 

"I don't know, Taeyong- how would I- 

Suddenly, a loud noise sounds in the warehouse, one that you're pretty sure sounds a lot like a gunshot. You look at Taeyong, and then to the fence where the guard that had been pacing is now gone. Another gunshot sounds, a third, a fourth, and ends on a fifth.  

You're not at all sure what was happening, but you just hoped it was something good. 

"Y/N, we should- Y/N, come here. We can hide in the corner so if it's bad- 

"Y/N?!"  

The voice that calls your name makes you stand up ridiculously fast and you rush to the entrance of the cage, trying to look to see if you heard right. It couldn't be him. It could not.  

"Y/N?! Are you here?!"  

"I'm- we're in this cage thing!" You yell out. A moment later you see Johnny running towards the cage, relief written all over his face. His fingers wrap around the fence wire and he smiles at you, and you can't help the tears that fall from your eyes. 

"I'm so glad you're okay," he says. You sniffle at him, pressing your head to the fence to try and get closer to Johnny in any way.  

"I thought- I thought we were going to die here and- and that you couldn't- how did you-?" You pause in your thoughts, noticing there was blood all over Johnny's suit jacket and a gun sitting in a holster on his belt, blood on the handle as well. Your eyes widen in fear, looking up at him. "That's not- is that your blood?" 

Johnny shakes his head. "No, it's not mine. Come on, we have to get you out of here. Is Taeyong in there with you?"  

You nod your head at Johnny and he nods back. He steps away from the fence and moves over to the lock that keeps it closed. Somehow he must have found a key because it only takes a short moment for him to unlock it, and then the gate is opening and you're being wrapped up in Johnny's arms.  

"I thought I lost you." 

You want to enjoy Johnny's words and his embrace and the relief of him being there, but your hands were still tied up. You squirm in Johnny's hold, and mention that your hands were tied up to get him to help you instead of holding you. He quickly pulls away and moves around you to help. You feel the rope being tugged at just a little until it's loose around your wrists, and then it's being cut away from you, falling to the floor when it's off. You bring your hands forward and start rubbing at your wrists, hoping the circulation would come back quickly.  

You hear Johnny helping Taeyong to your right and you turn to them, seeing Taeyong smiling at you with a knowing look. You quickly look away, moving one of your hands to wipe at the tears that had fallen earlier when you saw Johnny. That had to be so embarrassing.  

You hear Taeyong thank Johnny a moment later and then he's next to you again, his hands on your face and moving it so that you're looking up at him. 

"Are you sure you're okay?"  

Your breath hitches in your throat at seeing Johnny again, especially up close like this and you feel like crying again. You were so relieved to see him, to see him here fussing over you and making sure you were okay.  

You're not sure what you would do if Johnny wasn't in your life.  

"I'm okay," you finally get out, and Johnny smiles at you. In the moment with him, staring at him, you forget where you are. You forget Taeyong is with you, and that there's blood on Johnny and he probably shot someone. You forget because Johnny is here and he came to save you and he has his hands on you and all you want to do is kiss him to tell him how grateful you are and how much you like him and how much he means to you.  

Without him, you wouldn't be alive.  

You needed him. 

"Johnny, I- 

"Y/N! Johnny! Watch out!"  

You hear the gunshot first.  

And then you feel Johnny push you.  

And then a scream comes from Johnny.  

You try to steady yourself quickly but you look back at Johnny only to see him fall to the floor. 

"JOHNNY!"  

You try to rush to Johnny but you hear another gunshot, the bullet whizzing past you. You tear your eyes away from Johnny to see the guy who had been guarding the cage earlier, a gun in his hand while the other hand holds a bloody spot on the side of his body. No doubt that came from Johnny.  

"Get. Over here. Now." The man's glare makes an unsettling feeling take place in your stomach and you can't help but listen. If he didn't have a gun, you might be able to take him down, but, even so, you knew there were other people here and you didn't know how many of them could be back up like him. You couldn't risk trying to take him down. 

You feel the man grab your arm and press the gun to the middle of your back, sending a shiver down your spine at having it so close to you. Taeyong doesn't move from his spot, staring at you in horror as the man holds you there.  

"We're going to leave, you hear me? If you move one spot from there, I'll shoot her. Don't think I won't. You hear me? We're going to get that ransom money- even if it's half of it- fuck. You hear me? Don't move!" Taeyong can't do anything but nod and you yelp as the man yanks you around, forcing you to walk forward with him.  

You're only a few steps away from the cage when you hear a gunshot ring out. And then another, and another, and then you hear the man's gun clatter to the floor behind you. And he, only a few seconds later, falls to the floor with it, his grip around your arm releasing.  

It takes you a moment to turn around and when you do, you see Johnny sitting there, his gun in his hand. You quickly take the gun that had fallen to the floor and step over the man, rushing back over to Johnny and Taeyong. You're by his side when he falls back to the floor and you notice a small pool of blood under his shoulder.  

That must've been where he got shot, and you can't help but feel some relief that it wasn't somewhere else. 

"Johnny? Hey, Johnny? Are you okay?"  

You hear him laugh, and even in this situation, you can't seem to mind. It was the best noise you've heard all day.  

"I'm better now that... you're here," he says. You almost want to hit him. "Fuck- my shoulder- 

"I thought you- when you fell I thought you were gone- you scared me!" 

Johnny laughs again and the hand that isn't holding his gun moves up to your face, caressing it. Your hand moves up to his hand on instinct and you press yours over his, holding it there.  

"I learned that trick from the six year old..." You'd have to ask about that story from Johnny later. Right now, you needed to get him out of here and get his wound looked at before he lost too much blood. Taeyong seems to think the same thing because he kneels down next to you and asks Johnny where his phone is. 

"Coat pocket... Call... Taeyong, call Taeil after. Tell him I... saved you." Taeyong finds Johnny's phone and stands back up, moving away to call the police. You sit there, watching Johnny, making sure he didn't close his eyes or anything. It occurs to you that you could be pressing down on his wound, but when you try and move Johnny keeps you there. You weren't going to fight with him. 

"Have I ever told you how beautiful I think you are?" Johnny suddenly asks. He just got shot and yet... 

You smile, shaking your head.  

"Nope. Never." 

"Thought that from the first time I saw you. Even though you... were a total brat," Johnny says. You laugh, and once more you feel tears threatening to spill out. You were so glad Johnny was okay. You were happy and relieved because he was going to be okay.  

"I'm so glad you're okay," you mumble to him. Johnny smiles.  

"I'm glad you're okay too. I'm glad I... managed to keep you safe. Y/N, I- 

"Johnny, do you know where we are?" Taeyong suddenly butts in. Johnny and you break eye contact and you look to the ground, letting Johnny tell Taeyong any missing information Taeyong couldn't tell the police. When he's done, he moves onto talking to Taeil, but you and Johnny don't say anything more to each other until the police and the paramedics arrive and are carting Johnny away.  

"We'll talk later," Johnny says. You slip your hand out of his and nod.  

"We'll talk later." 

- 

You're sitting in the hospital, waiting for someone to tell you you can go see Johnny. The bullet that hit him had been removed a few hours ago, and you were ready to go see him again. After talking to police and being scolded by your parents and being hugged by Mark and watching as your family all went silent when they saw Taeyong and then being scolded again for going to see him, you were exhausted. Your parents got busy with talking to Taeyong, so it left you to sneak off with Taeil to go see Johnny at the hospital.  

You weren't exactly worried about his condition, because he wasn't shot anywhere vital. They just had to remove the bullet and replace the blood he lost, and after some rest he'd be good as new.  

You just wanted to see him. You're pretty sure the both of you had things to say, so, the sooner you could say those things, the better.  

You're brought out of your thoughts when you hear someone call your name and you look up from the floor, seeing the doctor that had been assigned to Johnny and a nurse next to him. 

"Yes, that's me." 

"He's been asking for you. You can go see him."  

The nurse that had followed the doctor out leads you to Johnny's room, opens the door for you, and gestures you inside. Johnny is sitting on the bed, his eyes fixed on whatever was playing on the T.V. He kind of looks out of it, which makes you want to laugh. It was cute.  

You walk inside his room and over to his bed, sitting down on the chair that's placed next to it. He only notices you when you sit down, and when he does, a goofy smile spreads across his face.  

"Y/N... When did you get here?" He asks. "I was watching uh..."  

He points to the T.V., and you look up, seeing him watching some weird kid's show. You giggle and look back at him. "Looks like a good show." 

"It is." 

You and Johnny are silent for a bit, with him staring at you with that goofy smile, which makes you think he's probably drugged up just a little bit.  

Or. Maybe a lot, because suddenly his hand is grabbing yours and he's bringing it to his lips, kissing it. You stare at him in utter confusion, not sure if you should hit him or just take your hand away.  

"Y/N, I'm glad you're okay," Johnny says.  

"So glad that you had to kiss my hand?" You ask. He looks at you, a sudden serious expression on his face.  

"I'd rather kiss your face but you might not like that."  

You look down at your hand in Johnny's, words on the tip of your tongue. Taeyong's words from earlier ring in your mind again, almost as if they were encouraging you.  

At least try. 

"I'd like it but I'm pretty sure you're on like three different pain killers right now so you might think it's a dream if you kissed me," you tell Johnny. You aren't looking at him, because you're pretty positive you're blushing. Johnny didn't need to see you blushing.  

"...you'd like it?" Johnny asks. You pull his hand towards you and start playing with his fingers, not sure what else to do right now. His fingers are long, you notice, kind of chubby too, but they're nice. His hand is warm, and you can imagine in the winter time being nice to hold.  

"Y/N? You'd like it if I kissed you?" You try not to whine at Johnny. You told him you'd like it, did he really need confirmation? 

"Don't make me say it again," you tell him. Silence falls between you and you're pretty sure Johnny is waiting for a response. 

Until you see him move out of the corner of your eye. He tries to maneuver himself in such a way that he can kiss you, but just as his lips barely ghost over yours, he ends up straining himself like the idiot he was. He falls back against the bed and you put your hand to your lips, shaking your head at him.  

"Fuck, I really thought I could get to you- 

"You're so dumb. Don't try and kiss me when you're hurt. Get rest, stupid," you tell him, pulling away entirely from him. You didn't want him trying that again. You cross your arms and look down at the floor, your face feeling even hotter than before.  

Who were you kidding? You wouldn't mind him trying it again if it meant he could kiss you. But you weren't going to be the cause of him pulling out any stitches or doing something worse. 

"Does that mean I can kiss you when I'm better?" He asks a few moments later. You bite your lip to keep yourself from smiling, and shake your head once more. 

He was so dumb. 

"Get rest, Mister Tree." 

- 

It was a few days after the whole incident with the kidnapping and Johnny being shot, and you were currently sitting in your bedroom on your bed, reading some article about your kidnapping. Something about wanting money in exchange for you and Taeyong, and something about Johnny coming to save you after questioning the guy that had shot you back at Jaehyun's party. It was kind of funny, really, reading about yourself and about this drama.  

And also seeing Johnny laying in a hospital bed looking drugged out of his mind was pretty funny too.  

"What are you giggling about?" You look up from your laptop to see Johnny standing in the doorway of your room. You shake your head and close your laptop before he can come see what you were doing. You watch him close the door, and then he moves over to your dresser where you had your iPod sitting, plugged into a music player. He looked kind of suspicious as he switched out your iPod for his phone, plugging it in.  

"What are you doing?" You ask, climbing off your bed and standing up. Johnny doesn't answer and continues doing whatever he was doing, and before you even get to him, a song starts playing throughout the room.  

It's slow and romantic, and you almost blush when Johnny walks over to you, sticking out his good hand to you. "Can I have this dance?"  

"You- what are you doing?" You ask.  

"Asking the girl I like for a dance. What else?" That makes you blush. That makes you blush and step away from Johnny, crossing your arms. You couldn't just give into him so easily (even though you wanted to so badly). 

"You know I'm worth like, 100 million, right? What if you step on my feet? That's like... 200 thousand right there."  

Johnny laughs and suddenly he steps forward, closing any distance between you as he wraps his good arm around your waist.  

"I'll be careful," he says. You can't help but give in at this point. You uncross your arms and move them so they can wrap around his neck. You're close, awfully close and almost too intimate for two people who were still friends and who had not talked about being anything more.  

Maybe it was because Johnny had been resting and you had made sure not to disturb him. Maybe it was because your parents had kept pulling you away every time you did have a chance to talk to Johnny. Maybe it was because Taeyong had also took a lot of your attention away, mostly to talk about his wedding.  

Whatever it was, you still hadn't talked.  

Maybe that's what Johnny was doing now.  

Hopefully.  

"So... a little birdy told me you liked me," Johnny speaks up. You look up at him, frowning.  

"What little birdy told you that?" You ask.  

"Taeil," he says. You nearly laugh at Johnny for giving away who the little birdy was so easily. "And, if I remember correctly, you would've liked it if I kissed you back at the hospital. Is that still a thing or...?" 

You shrug. "I mean, I don't know. I kind of have strict parents and if they found out we were together they might kill you. You know that, right?" 

Johnny smiles. "I know that. I'm willing to take that risk." 

You stare at Johnny in shock. He didn't seem fazed at all by the thought of something bad happening if your parents found out. How could he not be fazed at all? That's all you could worry about when you had thought about talking about this with Johnny. 

"You're... not scared?"  

"No. Why should I be scared? With you by my side, I could do anything." 

Your face scrunches up and you shove Johnny's good shoulder, shaking your head. "I'm not dating you if you're gonna be cheesy like that." 

"But, you'll date me otherwise?" Johnny asks, a stupid, silly, ridiculous grin on his face. It makes you smile just looking at him.  

"I- yeah. As long as there's no cheese."  

"No promises."  

For a few short moments, you and Johnny just sway back and forth to the music, both of you smiling at each other in silence. You feel like your heart might burst just staring at him smiling at you like that.  

You don't mean to be cheesy like he had, but, you feel like with Johnny by your side, you really could do anything. You feel like he was worth being with even with any and all risks involved.  

Which, seemed totally crazy considering when you met him all you could think about was how much he was going to hinder your life. And then, he saved your life twice. 

Oh, how the tables have truly turned. 

"That means we're going to have to sneak around a lot," Johnny says, interrupting you from your thoughts. You nod your head, silently agreeing with him. "Which means... I have to kiss you in secret all the time." 

You nod your head again. You're pretty sure you know where he was going with this. 

"And... we're mostly in secret right now..." Johnny tries to play it off like he's totally not asking for a kiss, but you know better than that.  

"Go on, Johnny." 

Johnny doesn't even say anything more, he just leans down, coming in so close that with just one more movement, he could kiss you. You close your eyes just waiting for him to do it.  

"I'm gonna kiss you now," Johnny mumbles. You feel his breath on your lips and you nod your head, and just a few seconds later, Johnny presses his lips to yours.  

On a Thursday in March, you're being kissed by Johnny, bodyguard number seventeen and the one you're pretty sure is never going to leave.