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berryhobii · 1 year

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Reconnect (myg x reader)

Pairing: Idol!Min Yoongi x black!wedding designer!female! Reader

Word Count: 6K+

Warnings: fluff, established relationship, mentions of secret relationship, mentions of a wedding(but not Yoongi and the reader’s), reader and Yoongi are engaged, Smut(18+ but I don’t control what you consume), unprotected sex(please speak to your partners before engaging in this), vaginal sex, squirting, creampies, riding, doggy style, mating press/missionary, oral(f receiving), soft dom Yoongi(he’s super soft and vocal but also goes kind of rough😊), rough sex, multiple orgasms(f and m receiving), brief aftercare and mentions of amazing aftercare, reader has goddess locs(color and length not specified), reader also has that Wendy’s Strawberry Lemonade kitty, reader also also has nipple piercings, reader got a fat ass because who doesn’t appreciate a nice booty?

A/N: Hi! This is my second time uploading something. I’ve had this story in my drafts for a while. I had been writing it using she/her pronouns so I’ve been spending the past few days to change those to you/yours. If I missed any, I’m sorry but please let me know so I can make the story more cohesive. Reader is black but their skin color isn’t really described but I believe I referred to their nipples being dark so that’s it. My next post with either be a GreekMythology!Jimin or a Gamer!Jungkook. The Jimin story is actually really long so I think I’ll turn it into a small series but I’ll post the 1st chapter sometime next week. Thanks again for reading! Criticism is greatly accepted and I hope my black and melanated girlies feel good reading this! Have a good day.

“I’m sorry, baby. I know I said we’d have dinner but we have to do some last minute recording.”

You tried not to sound disappointed when you replied. “That’s okay. I understand.” And you truly did. You knew how important his job was and that it would be a priority of his.

You just wished that it didn’t take so much of his time. You understood that his music was his life and that it was his dream career. All of his hard work had led up to being able to do what he does now; to make music and inspire the millions of fans that listened. You were so proud of him. Seeing him live his dream filled you with a different kind of pride and emotion. He was happy and that’s all you ever wanted for him.

Still, you missed him. You two had barely spent any time together the past month while he’s been preparing for their new album. He’d come home long after you’d fallen asleep and he’d sleep into the afternoon, just to rise and immediately get ready to go again. You couldn’t even have breakfast together like you used to. You could barely even start a conversation before he was cutting you off with a kiss and rushing out of the door.

While you had your own career of designing wedding dresses, you still had so much free time on your hands. You had already designed your newest collection and it was currently in production to be created. You’ve even made multiple visits to a few stores and they were running amazingly. There was only so long you could bury yourself in work before your heart began yearning for Yoongi’s companionship.

“I promise when this is finished, we’ll go on a trip. Just you and me.”

That made you smile. You and Yoongi have traveled a lot together over the years; Bora Bora, Italy, The Maldives—and each experience had been just as memorable and romantic as the last. He proposed to you in Italy at the Orange Gardens. It was such a magical moment. Just thinking about it made you want to cry. The entire trip was just absolutely perfect; from taking a gondola ride on the gorgeous waters to the 5 Star hotel they stayed in for 3 days and 2 nights, all the way to the candlelit dinner where he got down on one knee. You remember it fondly.

While the promise of a trip together didn’t fix your loneliness now, it gave you something to look forward to.

You couldn’t fight the smile in your voice. “Okay.” Your eyes went over to the stove where dinner was cooking. You had just finished searing some steaks that were finishing up in the oven. There was no point of putting them away for him to eat later. They wouldn’t be as flavorful or tender.

“Hey, is it okay if I bring you some dinner? I know you haven’t eaten yet.” Your tone shifted to one of slight teasing but you knew you were right. His pause of silence was proof enough.

“You don’t have to do that, baby.”

“I want to though. I made steak and I’ll feel better knowing you’ve eaten. I won’t stay long or distract you.” Just knowing he had a home cooked meal would make you happy. You would nag him constantly about drinking too much coffee and eating take out. It came from a place of love, however and Yoongi never minded. He loved having someone so attentive to his health when he’d blatantly ignore it. It showed you cared. Also, he secretly loved being babied by you. He’d never admit it out loud or to his friends but you knew. There was nothing better than coming home, a bath prepared for him to soothe his sore muscles, a meal on the table, and cuddling into your soft breasts while your rubbed his back—always being careful with his shoulder.

Your already nurturing nature and tendency to baby Yoongi increased tenfold once he got surgery. You barely let him leave the bed, even following him to the bathroom to make sure he didn’t hurt himself. A little bit stifling but he was so grateful to you. You always took care of him.

“Then that sounds great. I’ll leave my door open for you. I love you, baby.”

“I love you too. See you soon.”

With a giddy pep in your step, you finished cooking dinner, packaging it nicely in cute Tupperware before putting it in a bag. You had already showered and your clothes were fine but you wondered if you should put on something different. While Yoongi thought you looked good in anything, you still liked to look pretty for him; wearing dresses and heels whenever you went out, keeping your nails and toes done, and making appointments to get waxed every month. Self care was important to you. It not only made you feel good about yourself but it was also something you just liked to do for your husband.

Deciding to change your clothes, you slipped on a t shirt maxi dress that hugged and showed off all of your curves, along with some short open toed shoes to show off your freshly painted white toes. It was simple but still dressy and feminine, just your style.

Checking your hair once more in the mirror and smearing on some lip gloss, you grabbed the bag of food and your keys before exiting your home.

HYBE Studios was a pretty moderate drive from your apartment. The reason for that is to keep crazy fans from ever finding it. Once the company realized other idols were having their homes broken into, there was a decision to move all of the boys about 30 minutes from the company in a luxury gated neighborhood. You had to admit, you missed your old apartment you shared with Yoongi since that was their first place together but you also couldn’t complain about the walk in closet and the jacuzzi bathtub.

You greeted the security guard in front of the car garage, him lifting the block to the garage. After parking close to the company cars that were often used to transport the boys during RunBTS, you exited your car and made your way through the side door to the lobby.

You nodded at the secretary, everyone already knowing who you were and letting you pass with no issue.

Yoongi’s studio was on the 8th floor at the end of the hall. Namjoon’s was just a short distance away as well.

Once you reached his door, you entered the pin code on the keypad. Besides a few staff members and the boys, you were one of the few with the password to his studio. He just preferred silence and no disruptions so the code was only used during emergencies or whenever you or the boys came to visit. There was also a group chat for everyone with his code, adorably named ‘The Plastics’, courtesy of Taehyung. If they ever needed to come to his studio, they’d send a text beforehand so he’d know to expect them.

The beep sounded and you opened the door, smiling at the sight of your husband who was cutely leaned over on his right palm as his eyes scanned the production screen for his music. You didn’t get most of it but you always found it adorable when he’d try to explain. He’d get so invested in telling you how reverb and delay could either make or break a song that he’d never see how endearingly you’d stare at him. And he’d always get surprised when you’d lunge to bite his cheek.

“You are just too adorable! I have to bite you!”

His headphones were around his neck so he turned at the sound of his door opened, a smile immediately rising to his face at the sight of you. He removed his headphones, standing to greet you.

You could barely put the food down before his hands were around you waist, pulling you in for a hug. You wrapped your arms around his neck, cuddling into his body as you inhaled his cologne and the gentle scent of his favorite body wash.

He pulled away a little to press a few pecks to your forehead. “Hi baby.” His deep, slightly tired voice sent shivers down you spine. It was almost like his regular voice was just his morning voice constantly and out of all of the little things you loved about him, his voice was towards the top of your list—right after his newly grown out hair, his hands, and that little habit of him slurping whenever he’d explain things.

You inhaled a deep breath, basking in the affection. “Hi.”

You two just held each other for a moment, locked in an embrace and not wanting to let go. This was your special kind of intimacy, just not speaking or moving, simply holding one another.

Yoongi considered himself a pretty private person. A little ironic considering he was a world famous idol who’s whole job was being put in the spotlight. However, when it came to his personal relationships, he did his best to keep that as private as possible. Just imagine the uproar when people found out he was engaged. You had been hidden from the public eye for 3 straight years before you got engaged. How? One part extreme luck, the other part moving quietly. Your relationship started off with you meeting for the first time at a staff member’s wedding. You had designed her dress and she was so amazed and in love with how you created her dream dress that she insisted you come to her wedding. Always happy to see people overjoyed with your work and excited to see your design in action, of course you agreed. Coincidentally, you were sat pretty close to the table the boys were at. When you recognized them, you softly smiled and introduced yourself, expressing how you were a fan and how many women said they were using BTS songs as their wedding songs. Yoongi was drawn in instantly, your gentle voice and sparkling eyes as you talked about your clients drew him in. He could tell you were passionate about your career, just like he was.

After exchanging numbers while the bride and groom were cutting the cake, you two mainly texted and called each other in your free time. It took about 4 months for you to go on their first date since Yoongi had to go to America for promotions. He thought you’d lose interest since he traveled and couldn’t take you on a proper date but you never minded. You liked talking to Yoongi and found yourself developing feelings for him. He was trying and effort was one of your biggest green flags for a partner. A little distance wasn’t that big of a deal to you. Of course, you wanted to be able to be close to him and hold his hand and maybe even kiss but you knew what you were signing up for when you started talking.

Once Yoongi went on break, he started dedicating a lot of time to you; dates, inviting you to his place for dinner and wine, and learning more about you. He didn’t think you would get along so well. Talking on the phone was vastly different than being in each other’s physical presence but you had melded together like the pieces of a puzzle. You were so gentle and compassionate, always looking after him and giving him affection he hasn’t gotten in years. You were perfect for him and vice versa.

Your eyes slowly blinked up at him, just taking in his handsome features. You could spot the bags under his eyes, feeling a little sad that he was running himself ragged.

“You look tired. Have you slept since his morning?”

He hummed. “I took a little nap around lunch. The new couch came in.” You turned a little to look at the new addition to his studio. Before, he just had a small leather couch, moreso for decoration than comfort. Once he got a bigger studio, he upgraded his furniture but kept that couch. After some prodding from you, he ordered a new and more comfortable couch—one that could become a pull out bed for those overnights at the studio.

“It looks great.” It was a dark grey color, wide and stretched enough to fully support 2 people if you wanted to spoon on it.

“Yeah. I just didn’t think it would take that long to get it in the door. Namjoon almost knocked over my synthesizer.” He said that with a shake of his head. You giggled, imagining the tall and clumsy man scrambling to pick up the keyboard.

“I can only imagine. I brought food. You should eat it before it gets cold. I should go.” You tried pulling away from him only for him to tighten his grip on your waist. You let out an “oof” as your face met the hard planes of his chest. All that physical therapy and time in the gym had really bulked him up. While you loved his body regardless, you definitely weren’t complaining about the extra muscle. He was filling out this black shirt just fine.

He nuzzled his nose in your neck, inhaling your favorite perfume that you’ve worn since he met your. It was one of his favorite scents. His hands rubbed up and down your back, feeling all over the material of your dress.

“No, stay. Eat with me.”

Yoongi could be very affectionate and straightforward when he wanted to be, normally when you were alone. He’d never show this side in public. Not because he was ashamed of his love for your, far from that. He just preferred to keep their intimate moments private. Maybe a little kiss here and there and some hand holding but moments like this were for you only.

Your manicured fingers went to his nape, scratching at the hair there. “I don’t want to distract you.”

“You’re not.” He pulled back to look you in eyes. “I want you to eat with me. I feel bad we couldn’t have dinner at home.” And he did. He knew his job demanded a lot of his time and attention and even if you understood that, it didn’t stop him from feeling guilty about leaving you alone all the time. He knew you could entertain yourself and had your own life outside of him but he still felt bad not being able to spend as much time with you as he wanted. He missed you just as much. While he loved his job, nothing beat coming home to your warmth and affection. To be honest, he was getting a little touch starved.

He led you over to the couch, waiting for your to sit before going to the mini fridge in his studio.

“Do you want juice?” He asked as he pulled out a couple of drinks. He always kept some of your favorites in his mini fridge just in case. You didn’t drink caffeine or really any alcohol, water and juices were your favorites.

You nodded your head, beginning to take out the Tupperware containers. They were still nice and hot. He placed a juice down on the table, along with an energy drink. You frowned at that, leaning forward to pick it up.

“You need to drink water. Don’t think I haven’t noticed those coffee cups on your desk.”

He rolled his eyes and sighed but couldn’t hide his smile. You were too good to him. Sometimes he felt like he didn’t deserve you. Taking the energy drink from you, he went back to the fridge to grab a water instead.

Ignoring the smug smile on your face, he sat next to you, waiting for you to open all of the containers. The smell was delicious, making his stomach growl.

Your handed him some chopsticks and a few napkins before sliding the steak over to him. “Here. Try it.”

You ate in silence, him using his chopsticks to place some pieces of steak and vegetables in your bowl. You smiled, the cute ways Yoongi showed he cared always making your heart warm. Fans knew he was more subtle in showing he cared and that wasn’t any different than him in private. You had to learn that his love language was acts of service but in a more quiet way.

After you finished eating, he helped clean up the containers, giving you some wipes to clean your hands and the table.

He let out of a groan as he sat back down on the couch, belly full and fully ready for a nap. But he knew he had to get back to work and that meant you had to leave.

“Thanks, baby. It was delicious.” His hand came to rest on your thigh, rubbing the soft skin. You hummed, placing your hand on top of his.

“Of course. I’m happy you liked it.” You both rested for a moment before you began moving. “I should go. You have work to do.”

You barely made it to your feet before he was tugging you back down on his lap. A surprised yelp came from your lips at the sudden movement, ass meeting his thighs when you landed. He situated you so that you straddled his hips, his hands immediately going to your ass.

“Baby….” You pouted, feeling a little shy all of a sudden. You were normally the one who initiated physical affection so for Yoongi to do it so roughly surprised you. You weren’t complaining, however. The way his eyes were hooded over and how he looked up at you with that dark endearment made your belly tingle. You knew where this was going.

“Stay.” His left hand pressed your body down so your chest squished against his. “You come here in this dress and my favorite shoes…”

You adjusted yourself to wrap your arms around his neck. “I hardly wear these.”

He shrugged. “I love anything you wear. You look so sexy.” His hand traveled up your dress, moving it up your ass so he could grope full handfuls of the fat. While Yoongi appreciated all parts of your body, your ass was his favorite. Genetics, exercise and a little bit of happy weight had all accumulated into jiggly ass he loved to squeeze and slap. When you met, you were pretty thin but in shape nonetheless. Fans speculated that you gained ‘happy relationship weight’ since Yoongi treats you right. Whatever the reason, he thanks the higher power every day for it.

You could feel the heat beginning to spark between you, along with Yoongi’s growing boner pressing against your panties. Now that you thought about it, it’s been a little while since you’ve been intimate. You and Yoongi have barely had any time for quickies, let alone a full session of sex. And you two could go for hours if you wanted. On the day of your engagement, you barely left the hotel room because you couldn’t keep your hands off him. How could you? He was your fiancé. Mmm, that word just got you hot and bothered.

Your hands ran up his neck and into his hair, scratching at his scalp. The low hum of contentment that came from him spurred you on. You brought your faces closer together, lips hovering before you trapped him in a kiss. He hummed again, lifting his head to kiss you deeper, hands still squeezing at your ass.

Your kiss grew more heady, both of your hands massaging each other and trying to stroke any piece of skin you could. Yoongi began pushing against you to make your roll your hips against him. His cock could probably cut glass from how hard he was. You always got him excited with barely doing anything. To be honest, he started getting hard the moment you entered the room. Just your presence got him feeling almost immediately horny.

And it was the same for you. Your cunt had began getting wet the moment Yoongi turned around in his chair. He just looked so comfortable and effortlessly sexy and the way his muscles strained against that shirt made your imagination run wild.

You pulled away to inhale a deep breath. “Yoongi….please…”

His lazy smirk sent a rush straight to your already wet pussy. “What do you need, baby? Tell me.”

God he was such a tease but you’d be lying if you said you didn’t absolutely love it.

“I need you.”

That was all he needed before he moved to flip you onto your back. You bounced against the soft couch cushions, barely getting your bearings before he was back on you, pressing his lips to yours.

His large hands traveled up your dress, lifting it over your belly and breasts. He leaned back to get a look, letting out a groan at the absolute beauty under him.

Your chest was heaving from just a little kissing, your goddess locks spread out under you, glossed lips plump and ready for more. You were so gorgeous and he made sure to let you know.

You squirmed under the compliment, feeling giddy and a bit bashful. You always received compliments and the occasional catcall and while you accepted the respectful ones gracefully, none of those ever mattered to you. Yoongi’s praise and compliments put you on cloud 9 and you really believed him.

His hands traveled up your body to your breasts, eyes catching something under your bra. He pulled the annoying piece of fabric down and if he could get any harder, he probably would.

“Fuck. You’re wearing your piercings? Did you come here to try and kill me?” The little diamonds sparkled under the light. He remembers buying the jewelry for your birthday last year. He also remembers sucking the sensitive nipples until you were crying just an hour later.

You giggled, biting your lip. “Of course not.”

His smirk widened. “You little sneak.” His hands went to grope at the soft flesh, a sigh falling from your lips. His thumbs ran lightly over the stiff peaks, pulling more sighs and little squeaks from your lips. Your nipples had gotten so much more sensitive after piercings. Yoongi couldn’t be too rough on them when you first got them, being careful of your healing process. He could barely touch them without you gasping in the slight pain from healing. Of course, he never complained, understanding your pain so he just stopped touching them. He just didn’t think it would test his control so much; seeing you walk around without a shirt sometimes, the already silky and delectable breasts looking more appetizing from the little barbells. Months had passed along with many maintenance appointments before you announced that they could be touched without pain. With the pain gone, your sensitivity skyrocketed and with Yoongi’s skilled tongue beginning their assault, your pleasure had been taken to a new level.

Your fingers tangled in his hair, pulling him closer and his mouth open to lick over your nipple. You let out a moan as his tongue swirled all around your piercing. He switched to the next one, giving it the same treatment.

The heat between your legs was becoming too much, your panties beginning to feel uncomfortable from how they were sticking to you.

“Yoongi….” You whined. His eyes lifted to lock on your flustered face, lips parted as puffs of air came through them, your eyes desperate and pleading for anything. Everything.

Reluctantly pulling away from your nipples, he helped you pull the dress from your body, tossing it somewhere in the room. Neither of you cared.

He kissed from your breasts to your tummy until he reached the apex of your thick thighs. You immediately dropped them open, revealing yourself to him. He groaned at your desperation but also at the sight of your soaked underwear. The thong barely covered anything, the baby blue fabric now dark from your arousal. It was practically leaking from you, the bottom of your ass shining. Kissing over the stretch marks that streaked down the inside of your thighs, he whispered words of praise to you.

“Fuck baby. You’re so fucking wet.” He couldn’t help himself, surging forward to suck on your clit through your panties. A shiver racked your body, your hands coming down to bury in his hair. The friction wasn’t as good with your panties still keeping his tongue from making direct contact with your clit but it was something. And it felt so good.

Your hips jerked against his face, trying to get more. His hands dug into the meat of your thighs, holding them open as his tongue licked at your clit.

More moans fell from your lips, pleasure causing your vision to go blurry. You felt so close already and he’s barely done anything. Blame it on you not having a proper orgasm for weeks. Your hands just didn’t feel the same and Yoongi had thrown out all of your vibrators once you two started having sex.

“You won’t need these anymore. All your orgasms should come from me.”

Now you were remembering why he threw them out in the first place. Only he could rip pleasure and orgasms from your body in seconds, playing your body like a piano.

Your hand came down your body, tapping against his forehead. He pulled away slightly, eyes searching your face for any sign of discomfort. You really only stopped him when you were shaking in overstimulation and he knew you hadn’t even cum yet so why were you stopping him?

When he pulled back, you grabbed onto your panties, pulling them aside to reveal your fat and dripping pussy to him.

How the hell did he get so lucky? Did he save orphans in his past life or something? Not only had he managed to put a ring on a kind, generous, and absolutely amazing person who treated him like a King and opened up the deepest parts of him, he also managed to snag a submissive, slutty, and needy woman who could ride his cock for hours and bend in ways he’s only dreamed of.

There was no way.

Eyes darkening in lust, he dove back in to capture your clit, licking at it more furiously than before. The heat from his mouth made that pressure build in your lower belly, your toes curling from their position in the air. Your loud moans only pushed him further, shoving 2 fingers in your tight heat. Your slick walls gripped his fingers so tightly that he could barely move them.

“Y-Yoongi! I’m gonna-“

He curled his fingers up, pulling away from your clit to lean up close to your face, his breath hitting your cheeks. “You gonna cum? You’re such a good girl.” He pressed some kisses to your open mouth, fingers thrusting in and out of your in a superhuman pace, veins and muscles in his arms shifting and bulging from the exertion.

When your orgasm crashed, you swore all of your senses except touch disappeared. You couldn’t hear and your vision blurred from the tears that had welled in your eyes. But Yoongi didn’t stop.

Your hand flew down to grab at his wrist, back arching as he continued his assault, helping you ride the huge wave.

He pulled his lip between his teeth. You were so sexy.

Once you came down, he slowly pulled his fingers from your, the digits glistening in your release. He sucked them into his mouth, moaning at the taste. He just couldn’t get enough.

Now he wanted more. Standing from the couch, he pulled off his own shirt and pants, taking his briefs with them. His hard cock slapped against his stomach, red at the tip and practically pulsing.

You bit your lip, thighs squeezing together as your pussy throbbed. Fuck you were so wet.

He flopped back on the couch, patting his lap. “Come ride this cock, baby.”

Not needing to be told twice, you crawled over into his lap, taking your bra and ruined panties off on the way.

His hands gripped your ass once you were straddled on his hips. You could feel the heavy weight of his cock pressing on your ass and it filled you with excitement.

Reaching your hand back, you gripped his cock, pumping it a few times. He groaned, head falling back against the couch at your touch.

Delivering a sharp slap to your ass, he growled, “stop teasing.”

His deep and demanding voice sent shivers down your spine. Never one to disobey, you lifted your hips, lining up his cock with your entrance. You rubbed the tip over your opening to gather some of your wetness before you slowly began sinking down on him.

A moan came from both of you as his thick cock began splitting you open. Your walls were squeezing him so tight that he felt like he could cum right there but he refrained. He wasn’t even all the way inside yet.

Your mouth was dropped open as his cock stretched you open, head tossed back and eyes closed as you basked in the feeling. Each ridge and vein was pressing against you in the most delicious way, the slight curve pressing against that spot deep inside of you. You felt like you could cum again just like this.

Once your ass met his thighs, you both let out sighs. Not only from pleasure but from being able to be close like this. This is what you needed; this closeness, this union, this intimacy. Sex was so much more to you than just getting off. It bonded you and brought you closer than ever, love spilling over and intertwining your hearts and souls.

Your arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him in for a sweeter and more sensual kiss.

“I love you…” you whispered against his lips.

“I love you too.”

Your hips began rolling against him, slowly at first to get accumulated to the stretch. He assisted you with one hand on your ass and one on your hip.

Before long, you began raising your hips, falling back down on his lap. The low clapping sounds spurring you on.

Yoongi groaned against your lips. “That’s it, baby. Faster.” With another sharp slap to your ass that made you moan, you bounced faster. Your ass jiggled each time it connected with his thighs and a part of him wished he could see it but the blissed out look on your face was too good to pass up.

Unwrapping your arms from his neck, you leaned back to get that perfect angle, your hands landing on his knees. A squeak fell from you as his tip began bullying your soft spot. Your head fell back, mouth dropped open as that delicious feeling began building in the pit of your stomach.

“Ah! Yoongi! Your cock feels s-so good!” You felt drunk, mind hazy and awareness faded. All you could focus on was the feel of him under you and the way his perfect cock slipped in and out. Your entire body felt like it was on fire, electricity spreading all the way to your fingertips and making your toes curl.

Yoongi couldn’t take his eyes off you. He didn’t even know where to look; your breasts, face, where you were connected? He could see how your arousal was dripping down to wet his pubic hair, a ring of your wetness coating the base of his cock. You were truly was a sight to behold.

That pressure was building faster than you thought. Sliding your hand down your body, your fingers connected with your clit, rubbing the nub in fast circles.

“Yoongi!”

He bit his lip hard enough to draw blood. Your walls clenched and constricted around him, almost suffocating him. His hands rubbed at your nipples, flicking at the piercings. You were seeing stars, the stimulation was too much. His hands roaming you, your own fingers on your clit, and his cock inside of you was all too much.

That pressure…..

“I’m cumming!”

Your hips lifted from his cock, it falling out to slap against his stomach. Your fingers rubbed at your clit until some drips of liquid came out. The motion of your fingers caused the droplets to fly everywhere, some landing on the cushions as well.

Once you were done riding it out, he was flipping you back on the couch, head pressed into the cushions and ass up in the air. He delivered a few slaps to your ass, pulling some moans from your at the sting. Your head was swimming, the sudden movement making you a little dizzy but that dizziness quickly left when Yoongi entered you again.

His cock entered you in one swift motion, hips immediately working to push and pull against you. Your ass clapped back on his hips, the fat jiggling and rippling with every move. His own orgasm was just over the horizon.

“You are so fucking sexy.” Each word was punctuated by a thrust. “You come in here looking this good and then you bounce on my cock until you squirt? Why the fuck have I been spending all my time here when you’re at home?” He was really talking to himself. Only a true idiot would leave a hot piece of ass like this at home all day. And he must really be a true idiot, probably the dumbest man alive. But not anymore.

Your moans were rising in pitch. With this position, you could every inch, every curve, absolutely everything. You could barely breathe, your brain only being able to form utterances of his name and begs of faster and harder.

That feeling in Yoongi began cresting, balls drawing up as his orgasm washed over him. His hands gripped your hips and ass hard enough to bruise but you could care less. He could bruise you up all he wanted.

His orgasm spread from the top of his head to the tips of his toes, shuddering his whole body. “F-fuck….” He breathed out. That was probably the hardest orgasm he’s ever had in his life.

Your own breath began to even out. You thought that was the end but you were suddenly flipped around back on your back. Both of your legs were hiked up over his right shoulder, thighs pressing into your chest in Yoongi’s absolute favorite position.

“You think I’m done with you?” His smirk was teasing and it caused more arousal to drip from you. He reached his hand down to line himself up before pushing into your heat. A gasp came from your throat at the intrusion, your hands coming to grip at the back of his neck.

His hips set a brutal pace, balls wetly slapping against your ass.

“Oh my god! Y-Yoongi!”

It felt like he was in your throat, every thrust hitting you in all the right spots. Your nails scratched at his neck, the slight sting only pushing him harder. He could feel your walls tightening, a tell tale sign of your orgasm. Your breasts bounced with every push, dark nipples looking incredibly enticing.

“Cum, baby. That’s it.”

Your body seized up as your second orgasm full body absorbed you. Your vision spotted white and your ears were ringing.

But not even your orgasm made him stop or slow down. He pushed faster and harder, the squelching noises getting louder as more and more wetness spilled from you.

It was like your orgasm wouldn’t stop. Wave after wave came over you. Every nerve was lit on fire, your mouth dropped but no sound came out. He had taken every word from you.

When he felt you squirt on his cock again, he shoved his full cock inside. Your toes curled so hard that you could feel them crack, legs shaking but he held them tightly. Your hands smacked against his shoulders as the stimulation became too much. You were so full.

“Yoongi!”

“Take it. Take all that cock, baby.”

You had no choice but you didn’t care. You’d give up every choice if it meant he’d fuck you like this.

He rolled his hips against yours a few more times before his own orgasm washed over him. He groaned into your throat, a full body shudder racking his body.

Lifting his head, he connected your lips in a soft kiss, a complete turn from what just went down. You hummed against his lips, hands roaming his soft skin.

He moved your legs from his shoulders, massaging your slightly sore muscles as you kissed. You both let out small moans as he pulled out of your heat, his cum flowing out of you.

Yoongi helped you clean yourself up, giving you a large elastic to tie up your hair. The sweat would definitely make your roots curl back up but that was a problem for another day. You put your dress back on as Yoongi pulled his shirt and pants back on. Your underwear found themselves tucked into his back pocket. A little silly considering he had endless access to you pussy but you guessed it was some man thing.

When Yoongi went back to his computer, leaning over the chair to click at some things, you visibly deflated, mood dampening. Was he really going back to work? You guessed you did just come to drop off food, the sex was a bonus and you did say you would leave afterwards. You just couldn’t help but feel a little sad and used. Yoongi was the king of aftercare, always running you a bath or giving you cuddles as you two calmed down from lovemaking. It’s not like this one moment would make you think Yoongi didn’t care but you did feel a little defeated.

Gathering your things, you were about to approach the door but Yoongi’s voice stopped you.

“Where are you going?”

You didn’t turn to face him, feeling a little embarrassed. “Home. Aren’t you going back to work?”

A snort came from him. “Of course not.”

You gasped when his body pressed against your back, also the feeling of his boner was right on your ass.

“Yoongi….”

“You really think I’m about to work and let you go home so you can wash my cum out of you? I’m fucking you until you can’t walk.”

Maybe you should come to the studio more often.

#bts fic #bts #yoongi studio sex #yoongi x reader #bts smut #bts x black reader #jimin smut #namjoon smut #hoseok smut #seokjin smut #jungkook smut #taehyung smut #yoongi smut #Yoongi imagine

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oakbuggy · 9 months

Text

Liar, Liar Chapter 5

Recom!Neteyam x female OC

Summary : Tala of the Tawkami gets captured by a familiar face and to both of their misfortune, they are trapped together due to circumstance. They are extremely vexed by this and each other and also very horny.

Warnings: Minors DNI, non-con+dub-con, explicit smut, dirty talk, authority, power struggle, mentions+depictions of blood, minor violence, character death, marking, biting, scenting, ANGST

!! Each chapter will have images throughout the chapter, only the AO3 will have the NSFW-uncensored versions. Please keep this in mind as you read !!

Chapter 5 (NSFW) ~9.3k words

AO3 Link Here!

Prev Chapter / Next Chapter

When Lo'ak woke it was through cold shudders and violent gasps, rousing Tsireya next to him awake.

"Yawne?" She called out to him so gently, "What is wrong?" Lo'ak couldn't hear her sweet tone but still his large hands grappled for hers, finding them within the darkness of the mauri and the night sky.

He could only think of the searing gaze of the brother he thought he lost so long ago and the grip of a knife he was actually so ready to use. The sound of the waves outside, mindlessly and rhythmically tumbling against each other, gave him some peace, so he breathed out hard, pushing beaded braids out of his face.

He could hear the water, yet why did it still feel like his blue skin was getting scorched?

"Lo." Tsireya's voice was louder and she willed his attention to her, her other hand cradled his jaw. The Sully's jewel-toned eyes flickered, anchoring their gaze on her blue ones.

"Sorry." He rumbled, voice still saturated with sleep. She shook her head and smiled softly, he could tell that her eyes were tracing all the stripes on his face, the star patterned marks of his forehead.

Lo'ak always liked her eyes, they looked like the sky.

He kissed her knuckles. "Thank you."

Tsireya nodded, her sweet smile dimpled and she pressed her lips against his brow, the hair tickling her. There they were, in their shared mauri, colorful and thick blankets adorning their bedspread and their limbs still tangled together in this safe harbor.

"What did you see?"

"..." The lump in his throat was heavy and painful. "I saw him. I saw Neteyam."

The Metkayina woman gasped softly. She couldn't believe it, she remembered too well how the eldest Sully son looked as he died. How she was there all too long with him, alone, as he bled out.

They didn't know how to feel, when they heard the news from the Tawkami alchemist, (tala full name). No one did, not when they saw the signs of struggle and blood in the Compass's photo album.

"Great Mother... How was he? Are you okay?"

"I'm okay, he's... he's a completely different person now, 'Reya. Mom was there, he barely even looked at her, kept saying shit about dad and turning him in," Lo'ak covered his face with his other hand, fingers splayed as he willed himself to stop shaking. He could feel his emotions rising, he knew his tendencies now and all had seen how intensely Lo'ak blamed himself for Neteyam's death. Impulsivity, stupidity- "He hates me."

"Don't, Lo'ak. don't do this to yourself." Tsireya squeezed his hand, darker blue and with an extra digit and so comforting as it held hers.

"It's the RDA, the vrrteps [demons], they've poisoned his mind when they brought him back, just like Tala said. You know that Neteyam would never actually blame you."

Lo'ak smiled weakly. Yes, he knew his older brother, yes, the Neteyam he knew would probably stab himself again than even 'look' at his family members the way he did in the dream. In a sick way, however, Lo'ak thought he deserved it all the same.

"Enough of that. You're doing it again." His mate cut off his spiraling again and this time he chuckled, his thumb rubbed her palm.

"How'd I get so lucky with a girl like you, 'Reya?" He joked, though sincere. It's been years and he's grown, tattooed and proved himself as both warrior and adult. And yet still he didn't know exactly how to return truly how much he loved her, when her floral and oceanic skin calmed him, and her scent drove him wild.

Tsireya smiled brighter, dimples showing cutely. "How funny, I was just thinking the same thing." She answered. It made him laugh, made him pepper kisses along her cheeks and dimples, her neck and shoulder and arms.

"Now you're just being cute." He snickered and brought her dark curls to his lips again, intending to kiss every part of her and take in her scent. She calmed him, she knew it and she rested her forehead on his.

A moment. A quiet. Every moment like this felt perfect with her.

But heat still glowed in the back of Lo'ak's mind, his brain was just too active, as evident by the way his tail swayed behind him restlessly. He kissed Tsireya’s forehead again. “I’ll be right back. I just need to clear my head.”

“Alright, just don't take too long.”

Tisreya never got tired of the way he’d smile at her, fangs showing through upturned lips.

“From you? Never.”

A few more lingering looks, Lo’ak stepped onto the pathways of the camp, Txampaytsrul [Ocean Nest]]. A new wartime settlement was established between the forest na’vi and the ocean na’vi tribes, as a way to protect their homes yet keep close to Bridgehead. It made another home away from home for warriors and healers like Lo’ak and Tsireya, those from different clans that allowed their love to grow.

The Omaticayan male stared all around him, at Eywa’eveng, his brother’s words reeling in his headspace. Their dad doomed this place, this place still teeming valiantly with life and beauty despite the RDA’s efforts?

Tiny pebbles of sand became smoothened rock and Lo’ak settled onto one that hung over calmed waters. He heard something… above him, he looked up.

“Hey bro.” He greeted upon seeing Spider, hanging upside down along the fronds of the tree above the rocks. Gracefully the smaller maneuvered himself next to his younger brother.

“What’s up? You alright?” He said, jerking blond locs away from his face. Lo’ak shrugged.

“Bad dream. What are you still doing up?”

“Haven’t slept much since I ran out of Tala's sleep mix.”

“Kiri’s not good enough?”

Spider chuckled. “Tala got some secret ingredient she’s never told anyone about. Kiri said she knows it but… she doesn’t want to use it. It’s Tala’s thing, something like that.” Lo’ak hummed in agreement. It’s been many months now since the Tawkami na’vi’s capture, and thinking about Tala inevitably made him think about…

"Dream was that bad?" Spider asked, a brown-eyed comforting gaze settled on his younger brother and Lo’ak sighed.

“I saw… Neteyam. And mom. It didn’t go well, it felt real and really hot, like it was burning.”

Spider’s eyes went wide.

“How... how is he?” He said, a lump forming. It had messed him badly enough to know it took Neteyam’s death to be truly accepted into the Sully family in the parents’ eyes, it was an awful reminder to him.

“Not good. It's like I could feel what both he and mom were thinking, we all could, and it wasn't... It was bad."

“What was he thinking about?”

“About how you were probably the only one he was sure he wouldn’t kill. Because of… you know,” Lo’ak shrugged and smiled at Spider in chagrin, “Quaritch.”

“Oh…” Spider starved carving into the stone with his thumb, “fuck.”

The mention of Colonel Quaritch still hung like a dead animal in the air between them, the body gone but the stench remained. Both men understood the emotions and rationalizing behind the choice, but Lo’ak could never forget it and Spider couldn’t ever quite forgive himself, even if some days he was sure there wasn’t anything to forgive. The smaller Sully sucked in breath through his teeth.

“Bro, I–”

“Brooo!” The younger groaned, “you already said sorry like a hundred times you skxawng. It’s not like it was ever going to bring him back. It’s been years.”

Relief soared through Spider’s heart instantly and he smiled.

“Right, right, yea.”

Lo’ak leaned back, both men more relaxed and sporting warrior garb and tattoos. They were brothers, they’ve already made their peace.

“Whatever Great Mother is planning, I hope she does it soon.” Lo’ak sighed, bringing a hand to his face.

“I wanna save him. What dad’s gonna say at the family meeting tomorrow though, I don't know.” Lo’ak huffed.

“We will. But yea, the family meeting...” Spider’s words were clipped, a family meeting was often a stressful affair, Neytiri could not help but look displeased with him there or for any other more intimate function within The People. Lo’ak noticed and clapped a large hand on Spider’s back. Their fingers matched in number and scars.

“That includes you, dude. Mom’ll lay off you, I promise, she’s been… okay.”

The smaller Sully scoffed but nodded. “By okay you mean no longer cursing under her breath whenever I’m near, then sure. She’s better.” Spider shook his head, admonishing himself slightly for his bitterness, “But if she had that dream too, I don't wanna upset her more. You know I would.”

Lo’ak snorted and tapped on the glass at Spider’s forehead. He was lucky he couldn’t give him a noogie for the dumb shit he just said.

“Spider. Bro. You’re a true Sully, look at how much the RDA wants to kill you! And Neteyam, even though he’s not allowed to!” the corners of his mouth raised, a laugh ready to bellow.

"Yeah, I guess that's what it takes to be a Sully, huh?" Spider joked and the two of them laughed, some stress finally leaving their young features. As the giggles quieted down and they returned to staring at the night sky.

"Maybe this will end the war." Spider broke the silence and Lo'ak hummed, agreeing. The end of the war, the two of them hoped. The return of peace, and maybe selfishly that included the return of their brother and their family.

"You think we'll all survive it?"

At this the smaller smiled. "If even Neteyam's alive now, I don't think it's bad to hope for it,"

"We'll fight for happy times to return, and they will, you'll see."

---------------------------

Neteyam was not happy. Neteyam knew he had fucked himself over when his eyes cracked open and eh saw the long length of Tala's back, which he stared at in frustration.

He could feel his veins bursting. Fuck. Fuck. This was exactly why he avoided her, the curves of her body made him recall all too vividly the way he completely let go in front of her. How he praised and begged for her–to feel that much more of her skin on his. He tried to block it out, but the feeling of her bite, her first mark on him, triggered so many feelings of possessiveness and desire in his head and his heart–wasn’t she supposed to be helping with his headaches?

His fingers grazed over the bandages she had applied the day before, still pristine and his overall condition did technically improve. But his digits twitched, Tala’s stupid little mark was right above the injury, on the curve of his neck.

It was barely noticeable, the bruise would purple up and disappear within the day. The soldier didn’t pay too much attention to how his tail thumped softly underneath the covers.

He had a full view of her striped back, they must have disconnected sometime in the night. With his hand, which Neteyam thought assuredly he was going to use to push Tala off, he surprised himself by tracing the line down her spine. His hand hovered over the fullness of her hips, pushing down the covers to reveal more of her, and his thumbs rested on the indents of her back dimples.

Tala… Tala… Li’Tala.

Remnants of their night together reached up and stained her ass, they had made such a big mess. He tried so fucking hard not to look at those swollen pussy ips peaking between her ass cheeks because they’d only be grossly caked in old cum–

Why was he hard. Why did that make him hard.

He internally groaned and quickly covered her body back up. The only silver lining Neteyam could figure in this situation was that Tala was working marvelously as a distraction of the usual mental battles he was forced to participate in every day of existence. She was just… too effective.

And that agitated him.

With a natural poise, the soldier kneeled up and grabbed at the starched lab coat without disturbing even a wrinkle of the blanket on her body. Quickly he searched through the inner pockets, carefully rolling the tiniest crumbs of herbs and plant matter. Not necessarily satisfying his need to prove her guilt.

The first outer pocket held only hard crumbs of honey he already knew of. It made his mouth water, he truly like he was a child again when she pushed the small piece of it into his mouth.

Her smile was nearly as sweet.

“Hmmmm…” Tala stirred, as if on cue, and Neteyam immediately hid the coat behind him, buried underneath his body as he resettled onto the mattress. Something in him saw this moment as peace and didn’t want to disturb it, not even with his suspicion active.

Just… not yet.

Tala sighed and turned and rubbed sleep out of her eyes. She yawned as she swore she saw a flash of dazzling yellow and heard quick movements of fabric but when her eyes focused on his form, he was breathing peacefully and sleepily.

Great Mother… She looked at the mark she gave him on his neck, her wrists and right ear feeling heavy. What had she done? What was she thinking? She turned to face him fully.

Tala was surprised to find herself still in his bed, all things considered. This was the first time she’s woken in warmth, in comfort even, she wondered how bad was his fever that he let this happen. Regardless, all the softness of the sheets or his heat didn’t stop a tightness developing in her chest, a pressure. She didn’t truly want her place to be a thing warming his bed.

Neteyam’s nose twitched and immediately Tala had to suppress a chuckle. Oh, how long had he been awake? Somehow he’d teeter on the line of just enough being adorable that it made tiny moments like this worth it, the fun she could poke at through his militaristic exterior. It was wishful, she knew, it was just pretend.

Tala planted her cold feet quickly onto his thighs and Neteyam snapped back.

“You skxawng!” He hissed childishly, the facade abandoned and she laughed.

“It’s what you get for trying to fool me, hona tsamsiyu [adorable warrior].” Tala replied teasingly, eyes too much mirthful. Whatever scathing dither he was about to spit out was unfairly interrupted when she suddenly sat closer, supporting herself on her side as she hovered her face above his.

“Good morning.” She purred musically.

Neteyam swallowed, her curtain of hair covered him slightly and it reiginited him, he breathed in her scent. Heady healing roses and charred honey now.

He pursed his lips, “...Morning.” The taste of honey sprung forth and the fact that she was not too unlike it. Her taste.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yes.”

His reply made the corners of her smile rise. “See what happens when you let a proper healer take care of you?” Her voice dipped low and nearly saccharine, her tail swayed behind her in self-satisfaction. The male na’vi’s nose twitched again, irritated, and he rolled his eyes. Impossible.

“Don’t get cocky.”

“Around you? Never.” Her words held an unspoken insult but her smile made it teasing and humorous, Great Mother he hated when she smiled like that.

Tala examined his injury, checking and complimenting herself on her work, and used the back of her hand to check his fever. Still warm, but not nearly as bad as before.

Meanwhile Neteyam was struggling, her leaf green eyes were so inviting and kind that he thought he was going to melt. Did she know how tenderly she was looking at him? Did she know the way her eyelashes framed them made him only want to stare longer?

He grabbed her by her shackle and those infernal green eyes only widened.

How many times did his heart find necessary to trick him into liking this woman?

“Is something wrong, Corporal?” Her using such a name made him grimace and jerk back, letting go of her wrist.

“You’re playing a dangerous game, Tawkami.” He replied, a sneer felt so much more natural to him now than soft words.

“What game?” Tala whispered. She closed her eyes and leaned forward, his eyelids too naturally closed. Except, to the utter demise of his ego, she only hovered in front of his lips.

Oh, she did deserve some fun, didn’t she?

“Would you like to kiss me?”

Damnit.

"Seems like you want me to." He murmured.

"Only if it's like last night."

"And how was it last night?"

'Like you cared for me.' Tala sighed pettily, "Fine, nevermi-"

Neteyam obliged so easily, the warm contact of her lips made him sigh, both of their bodies relaxed. He reached to bring her closer, curling his arm around her torso as Tala settled her hand on his cheek, their legs tangled together once more. Heat surged between their bodies, Neteyam almost dug his fingers into her flesh but Tala pulled back.

“No. Soft.” She whispered then pushed back into the kiss without letting him reply. He got the memo through, his hand splayed on her hips and near-affectionately massaged her softness.

Their kiss was slow, gentle, plush lips squeezed against each other. It was an entirely romantic kiss and both wholly melted into it.

Tala was as much lulled into Neteyam’s warmth as he was in hers and notes of regret and self-contempt seeped in. She knew it was wrong, her eyes peaked open when Neteyam gently held her jaw. Large and scarred hands that weren’t trapped in cuffs and surely had killed their own.

Tala was foolish, she always accepted that fact.

“Why did you call me Li’Tala last night, Neteyam?” She whispered softly into the kiss but all Neteyam heard were words that damned him.

He broke off the kiss and swallowed.

“Is there a reason I shouldn’t?” He challenged.

It made her scoff, "If you were to be my mate, why aren't you crying tears of gratitude right now?"

She remembered that? Of course she did, he did too. He chuckled dryly.

"I can call you whatever I want, you are my toy."

"You said you wanted to pretend."

He froze.

Tala closed her eyes and sighed. Of course, he wouldn’t give her an answer, it was probably too much for him to admit to wanting to feel loved, no matter how fake it was, no matter who it was with.

She pushed him and turned away and it flummoxed Neteyam. He was stunned by the quickness of cold surging through his body without her in his arms and his hands chased for her waist to hold her closely. It was as if he was the one being discarded and Tala wondered if he’d ever realize the depths of his immaturity, his neediness.

What was he doing? Neteyam couldn’t find it within himself to let go of her.

“Would you rather I call you syulang? Is that it?” He murmured meanly, a smirk on his lips, trying to distract.

“You’ve got many nicknames for me, don’t you, Corporal?” She replied with her own smirk. His dropped.

“Stop picking a fight with me, filtsyíp [little toy].” His voice had an experienced razor-sharp edge but it was tinged in pleading. Tala bristled at it all the same. She poked his nose, mockingly affectionate.

"You are needy."

Neteyam’s ears raised in complete offense, his brows went up so high, Tala couldn’t count the wrinkles on his forehead. "Needy??" He scoffed, not him! No, what the fuck?

"You are needy and stubborn and you find me irresistible, just admit it, you."

Her smile was irritating him now.

"You're crazy."

She giggled, "And you," She poked at his cock that was awake and at attention, he didn't notice before, "are hard for me."

Neteyam cursed in his head.

“That’s not for you.”

“Ahuh.”

She was supposed to be helping with his headaches, not being one.

He reversed their positions with ease, hand spread against her throat. He pushed her down by her neck and growled.

“Filtsyíp, you forget yourself.”

Her hands went up to cradle his face and it felt more like he was being ensnared. Her legs locked around his waist, bringing their hips together and Neteyam had to bite back a moan at his cock head perfectly pressing against her folds.

"Am I? Are you sure about that?~" Her singsong voice forced a shudder through his body.

Yomioang [chalice plant]. She was fucking dangerous.

Neteyam gathered his arms around her and just when Tala was thinking how predictable a man he was, he stood up, holding her, and walked towards his connected bathroom.

"Neteyam! What are you-!" He ignored her squawks and wiggling. This bathroom had a shower head affixed to the ceiling and Tala's eyes went wide. She screeched.

"Don't you dare!"

He dared. Neteyam turned the water on and it soaked them both, her tail pointed up violently, the water was so cold!

“Neteyam! What is wrong with you?! Let me go!”

He didn’t let her go, he let the freezing water ground him. He'd almost let her do whatever she wanted with him.

"Oh, poor Tala. Can't handle a little cold water?" He taunted, standing straight proudly as he cupped her ass to support her weight better. He held her up around her back, with his stupid strong arms. She closed in on his face with a petulant hiss, nails digging into his shoulders.

"Happy with yourself, soldier?"

He looked at her, watched the way the water streamed from her face, her hair, onto the valleys of her breasts and her tummy, creating a perfectly little triangle down her pelvis. He smiled, showing his fangs.

"Yes, thank you filtsyíp."

OH, he said it was such a smirk, she wanted to slap it off entirely. Great Mother, she wanted him to drop dead. Tala steamed for a good few seconds, the water slowly turning warm, and she watched dirtied water flock and swirl over the drain. Her tail was swinging back and forth, enraged.

"Seems like you needed to cool down, and took me with you because you're a..." Tala's reply devolved into grumbling curses and Neteyam laughed.

Soon the soldier turned off the water and sat her back down on his bed, now shivering. He contemplated giving back her lab coat, but it's not like the material would do much to dry her off.

He threw her an extra towel carelessly.

"Finally. You trying to get me sick now too?" Tala scathed. She continued to glower at him as she worked to dry herself off, looking away from him as she patted at her dark hair.

Neteyam rolled his eyes and walked close to her, kneeling towards her as she sat at the edge of his bed. The corners of his mouth were raised but Tala could hardly call it a smile, not with it brimming with arrogance like that.

"Want another shower, filtsyíp?"

She tightly frowned.

"Then keep that mouth shut."

Like a wet cat, Neteyam unceremoniously handed Tala off to Private Patty a few 10 minutes later.

"Corpor-aluhhhhh." Patty's composure was compromised, seeing two very wet na'vi as she stood in front of Neteyam's quarters. Her yellow eyes darted between the two, each face had irritation practically glowing from their features.

"Just take her back to Lab 12 now." He said tiredly and handed Tala off to the guard.

"Sir, yes sir."

The door closed and Tala sneered at him the second before it completely shut. She stood up straighter, a towel still covering her and she looked up at Patty.

"Do you even want to know?"

"No. Let's get going, troublemaker."

Tala sighed, her ears flat against her head in irritation. She followed Patty, casting one last glance at Neteyam's door. This was another lesson, it seemed, that she really should stop being so willful and think ahead for a second.

Because no amount of humiliation and guilt was worth the treatment of being HIS little toy. She prayed for his sake that he would not get hurt again, because surely, she would NOT be helping this time.

Neteyam fell back into his bed, slowly dressing back into his usual uniform now that that yomioang was out of his space. He wanted to welcome the usual drumming in his head, the usual migraine but Tala's scent was unfortunately everywhere still.

He wanted to punch something, so he figured getting up and getting some sparing done would do him immense good.

As Neteyam put on his headband he realized that the main source of her scent was still on his bed, her lab coat. He had forgotten to return it to her, having had too much fun mocking her towards the end.

With only little expectation now, Neteyam dug into the last pocket. Might as well, it was more about the principle than actually finding anything-

He felt the prick before he could see it and there it was… a thin and crude titanium needle, tiny and unnoticeable at the bottom of Tala’s pocket. The tips of Neteyam’s fingers held the needle in place as he excruciatingly slowly pulled it out, letting it glint even from the low light of his room.

Ah.

He should have known.

Patty turned first, hearing loud footsteps behind them as Tala walked ahead of her, wrists clasped together once more.

"Corporal Tom?"

Fingers poised as claws and it latched onto Tala's neck, her scream died as the hand began to squeeze at her windpipe. Her own hands flew to it, digging her nails into the skin but nothing deterred him.

“Change of plans, Private. I'll take her back myself." Neteyam husked and Patty knew immediately how pissed he was.

"Wha-what's wrong, sir?"

"None of your concern, Private. This won't take long." He roughly turned Tala to face him. His eyes looked like suns burning into her but he was emotionless. She was just so good at pretending, wasn’t she?

“You never did answer my questions, filtsyíp. It’s fair for me to get them now.” He discretely slid out the end of the needle from underneath his watch and Tala balked. Oh, shit.

"I-I can-"

Her words were interrupted when a larger group of prisoners shuffled across his path, a pair of guards to every few shackled na’vi. Their blue skin was drenched, still shaking and freezing from the pouring rain outside. They created large puddles as they walked on the otherwise immaculate Bridgehead flooring. There Anke’ti was, amongst the miserable group, having just returned from the dark and cloudy outside from digging useless trenches around Bridgehead. His body may have been numb to the bone but he could smell his best friend and his head snapped toward her

Green met green, Anke'ti's eyes widened at the scene he stumbled upon. That resurrected soldier, the Sully, hand squeezed around Tala's throat.

"Tala...!" He gasped, breaking the formation of the prisoners. It caused confused and agitated mumblings, hisses, from the other na'vi and the guards yelled at them to keep in line!

"Yayo!" Tala reached out for him, making Neteyam's sneer only worsen. Him again.

Against a well-rested soldier with minor injury, a starved and exhausted captive was definitely no match. Neteyam elected to sidestep Anke’ti and use the force of his leg to kick him back to the floor, next to the other prisoners. Tala screeched, a panicked voice bubbled from her constricted throat.

"Don't hurt him!"

“Don’t do this.” The soldier warned Anke'ti, ignoring Tala. He noticed another soldier about to strike at the group with a powered up baton and he opened his mouth to order them to stop when another voice bellowed out instead.

“You wanna blow out the entire facility? Turn that shit off, boy!” Quaritch’s growl and thunderous footsteps hushed the aggravated soldiers and warriors. Soldiers stood straighter, their batons turned off but at the ready as the prisoners huddled closer together, snarled and ready to strike back.

“The fuck’s going on, Tommy?” The older man barked, eyeing the entire group. An apprehensive prisoner, a strong grip around a smaller female, her smell strong on his Corporal. Oh, just great.

"I can handle this." Neteyam gruffed out. Quaritch snorted, golden eyes landing on Tala and instantly it made her cower, lowering her eyes back to Anke'ti.

"Anke, stop." She whispered hurriedly, eyes gazing at the rest of the prisoners. These were not warriors, perhaps she and Anke'ti may have been the only ones in that hallway, and that meant whatever her friend did, they would follow.

Anke'ti glanced at her, conflicted.

Neteyam noticed and with a silent huff, he let go of Tala's neck. He took a small step away, closer to the Tawkami male now, fingers lazily draped in the air.

See? Now get back in line.

Anke'ti's ears folded flat against his head, but after his friend nodded at him reassuringly, he straightened his posture. He no longer radiated aggression, and shuffled back to the group.

The other na’vi took notice, they too calmed their stances.

Quaritch sighed and jerked his head at the nearest dreamwaker. “What’re you waiting for? Take them away.”

Neteyam kept his eyes on the Tawkami long after the rest of them shambled away, though again the Colonel casted his stare on him.

He scoffed at his appearance and the little love bite, “Careful, revenge is a good motivator for a prisoner like that. A bit of stress relief ain’t supposed to get you killed.” When he called her stress relief Tala's ears pointed down, embarrassed and fearful. Was he going to tell him now about what she's done, especially about Halloway?

“We live stressful lives, Colonel. Everything we do can get us killed.” The soldier cooly replied. It made the old man's expression pinch.

“Jesus Christ, if that aint the truth… Regardless, glad to see you’re up and about, finally. That looks like that smarts.”

He glanced down, the blood through the bandage was no longer bright red.

“I’ve handled worse. If you'll excuse me, Colonel.” Neteyam glanced at Tala, who resolved to watch Anke'ti's back disappear into the distance. She was so worried now, he looked thinner still.

"Keep it short. Mission briefing’s at 0-900 hours." Quaritch started to walk away, leering at them both. "Private Eastin, follow me."

"M-me?" Patty owlishly blinked but nodded. "Sir, yes sir!" She scrambled to follow the older Recom soldier, she looked back only once at Tala and Neteyam. When they finally disappeared down the winding halls of Bridgehead, Neteyam's grip returned, now on her braid.

"Now, where were we?"

Tala hissed from the pain, forced to quickly follow the soldier's lead into an emptied and dark lab. He roughly pushed her against the wall as soon as the doors locked shut, seething. Neteyam's eyes looked like they were boiling through hers.

"Did you hope your yayo would save you now?"

The air was knocked out of her chest, his arm pushed against her harder onto the wall. The room was dark, darker than his room, and Tala felt suffocated further by the way his eyes glowed gold in the shadows.

"I-I don't know-"

Neteyam again pulled out the needle and she huffed. "That's literally nothing, Neteyam."

"It's what you used on Halloway, isn;t it? You wouldn't be dumb enough to have only one, would you?" He pulled her kuru back, making her whimper as it forced her to look up at him more.

“There’s a symbol being spread around the facility here. Was it you?”

Tala’s breath hitched, even if she hadn’t seen him for three weeks, he was still around Bridgehead. He must’ve been informed. Her brows pinched together.

"What are you even talking about?" She struggled to choke out, fingers gripping the metal wall. She tried to find any purchase, any bit of relief.

The towel fell from her shoulders and onto the floor. Without it, the na'vi was completely bare so she moved her legs closer together, only for Neteyam to kick them apart once more. He dug his knee between her thighs and she hissed at the friction, her skin against his rough camo-pants.

"You're just a little whore, aren't you, Tala? What, changed your mind? Decided you only wanted my cock?" Neteyam taunted, riding his knee further up so it directly and roughly rubbed against her cunt. Tala breathed deeply and quickly.

"J-just get to the point, Neteyam. Are you really this angry over a tiny piece of metal?" She laughed meanly, because she knew too well how to. "Or was the cold shower actually not very helpful?"

He growled above her and with both hands he forcefully dug into her hips, grinding her down against his clothed thigh. Tala mewled, shuddering violently.

Slick was already coating the waterproof material and the Omaticayan buried his face into her wet hair. He growled his amusement against her ear.

"Look at you... answer me and I can help you, little toy. It looks like you need it."

Tala squeezed her eyes shut, her fangs prodding into her bottom lip. Her handiwork, the mark she’d given him and her treatment on his chest, mocked her so vividly. She did forget herself.

"I-mmm!-I didn't..." She whined, balling her fists up against Neteyam's chest. He was fully clothed, now sporting a black tank top that let her lean against his bare neck. His scent, she hated that she was becoming addicted to the tree musk and sunlillies on his skin.

"I-there are metal scraps in-in the lab. I don't have any more." She explained, though she found it hard to focus as he continued rhythmically sliding her up and down his thigh. He was her only source of warmth now and she quivered as she chased it.

He sighed, suddenly stopping. Tala squeaked, supporting herself on her tippy toes as she gawked up at his smug expression.

"Were you planning on using it on me, little toy?" He asked, noticing though that she was struggling not to move at all. The material of his pants were driving Tala crazy, stiff wrinkles kept pressed against her sensitive vulva.

But the question knocked some sense back into her and she glared at him.

"Why would I do that after I just finished treating you? I didn't plan for you to get shot and then somehow I be available to heal you, if that's how far you're thinking."

Grumbling, Tala tried to step out of the muscled thigh. Her scent was heavy, it felt like it was almost suffocating him and Neteyam roughly held onto her ass cheeks now, commanding attention again. Her leaf-green eyes were dark, it made him think of lightning in the jungle.

"Who knows, maybe you've already flirted with some other guards while I was gone. Maybe you got yourself your own little group of rebels willing to fight for your escape. Your yayo was about to."

Tala's ears strained, his comment baffled her.

“How badly did the vrrteps mix up your mind, hm? One moment begging for me, the next stranglin–”

She couldn't finish the sentence when suddenly Neteyam forced them both into a large storage locker, he locked the cabinet from the inside and covered Tala's mouth. She was about to struggle when she heard a familiar click and whirr of the doors opening.

"So how much do we need?"

"Only like 30 kilograms, it should be somewhere around here." Tawtute voices rang through and Tala tensed.

Neteyam kneeled behind her and very slowly and silently, he led Tala's body to also kneel, able to disperse her weight on top of him--

She jumped away when she suddenly felt the delicious lick of pleasure of her hard cock against her shiny pussy lips. She whined but that only caused Neteyam's hand to clamp around her face harder.

"You hear something?"

"Huh? No?"

Tala dug her nails into her palms as they sweated against the inner metal walls of the storage locker. She tried to resist when Neteyam's other hand started forcing her down, squeezed against her clavicle and neck.

Her thighs trembled when once again the tip of his cock slid against her wet cunt, she couldn't even turn to see his expression. All she knew was that he was horny and insane and angry at her.

Slowly and carefully, the soldier moved his hand away from her face and she breathed as deeply and quietly as she could. His tail came in front to wrap around her waist, coxing her hips to lower more.

She shook her head, knowing he would be able to see her.

"You stay quiet and I'll forget the whole thing, hm? Besides," Neteyam mocked, whispering into her hair now as he embraced her from behind fully, "You like riding me, don't you?"

Tala cursed more expletives than she realized she knew in her head. Neteyam knew what he was doing was overwhelmingly unnecessary right then, that really he should have reported the entire affair and dust away any bitter feelings.

And yet, it crushed his ego to realize she was right. The cold shower did little and now her tight cunt was mere centimeters away from his weeping cock. He wanted to fuck her and fuck away all these strange feelings of betrayal, indecisiveness. All those feelings that swirled whenever he was around her.

Tala bit her lip as finally her hips lowered. Neteyam used his other hand to adjust his cock into her entrance, she stopped at the bit of resistance of her folds.

He squeezed her neck to kill her squeal as he pushed her down further on his ridged length, stretching her out in one thrust.

Her shackled arms reached in front of her, fingertips willing to not make any sound as she needed to keep her balance and sanity. Something about being in this extremely confined and dark space was making her nerves go on fire and her walls immediately squeezed around his ridges. Neteyam bit his own lips, he continued pushing her body down until her ass was flush against his hips.

Great Mother, his hard cock was pulsing warmth inside her, Tala couldn't control her inner walls spasming despite them not moving.

"Be good." He strained and Tala nodded, still unable to speak with his hand on her throat. Unknowingly, her tail wrapped around his forearm tightly. Oh, she felt like she was going to cum from him just being inside her now, what was happening.

Her eyes were fluttering open, eyes rolling back and her knees were shifting her position slightly, letting her rut tiny movements on him.

He couldn't help himself, she wasn't being good and in this situation, she would be far more mortified than he in getting caught.

So he let go of her neck, which let tiny sounds spill from her closed mouth. He brought both large hands to start playing with her tits, teasing the stiff peaks carelessly.

She hated this, she hated this. She felt so humiliated, how easily she became putty in his arms. She thought she'd gained some sort of foothold over him, but he knocked her down so easily and now his cock was so pleasurably rubbing against her sweet spot over and over, heating her up from the inside. Oh, she hated him, she hated him--

The voices outside stopped, the door whirred loudly closed and instantly Tala crumpled on top of him.

"NNnhg!" She moaned, high pitched and whiny.

"Was that the best you could do?" Neteyam teased from beneath her but before she could reply he fucked up into her harshly.

"I-MMM!" Tala brought back her bound hands to her mouth, trying to muffle the wanton moans as she tried not to fall over from his powerful thrusts. It was nothing like last night, he fucked her to dominate her even though she was on top.

"You wanted me to beg, hm? Wanted me to kiss you all nice and soft?" He pushed her face against the locked cabinet door, rutting into her even faster and rougher, their bodies smacking against each other in the dark heat.

"fuck,, fuck fuck!" She cried tightly to herself. Her tongue rolled out of her mouth, mind was getting hazy now...

"C'mon, ma'fil [my toy]. You want to do good for me, yes?" He groaned as he watched her fucked-out expression and the way her pussy squeezed and sucked in his cock hungrily. He could see all the details of her blushing flesh so easily in the dark, he enjoyed smelling their scents and their juices mixed together inside the locker.

"Ahh, ahh, mmg, gonna-gonna cum, please!" She whined, eyes rolled over. Her hands clasped together tightly, legs were beginning to shake from how roughly he was fucking her.

He just wanted to hear that pretty pussy make all of its pretty noises, wanted to make it squelch as it came from his cock.

But he had an idea, and as excruciating as it was to stop, he did. Tala gasped.

"Bu-what, please!" She whined, trying to grind her hips back on him but he suddenly fully sat down, caging her body in his arms. He leaned against her back, licking at the light sheen of sweat.

"Mmmh, please, Neteyam, please I need to---"

"Only good girls get to cum" He drawled out, he could feel his length twitching inside her and it drove him mad but he resisted.

"Good girls don't make sneaky little weapons or flirt with other men."

Tala cried out, "But-but I didn't~!" In the haze of her desire, the lies sounded extremely true even to her. Well, she never flirted with other men at least!

"Your poor yayo, wonder how he'd feel seeing you begging me now? How did he feel seeing my mark on you?" In place of his lust, Neteyam's cruel words were growing. Tala fidgeted, confusion laced in her every breath.

"W-what are-"

"Or your little mark on me?" He bit into her skin and desperately she squeezed his thick cock head inside her. It made him involuntarily buck, it's true, but it wasn't enough. Not by a long shot.

"We're not lovers, if that's what you're trying to say!" Tala huffed, frustration beading up. "M-maybe I did only want you, you inside me, okay?"

She twisted as best as she could, at least to make eye contact with him and he could see little droplets cling to her eyelashes.

"I’m your toy. Please let me cum~!" It was her final whimper, the only thing she could think to say in that moment and by Eywa, was it the best thing she could've said.

For Neteyam's yellow eyes widened, his pupils contracted even bigger as his possessive nature was stroked to perfection and he basically purred. She was his toy, wasn't she?

"Now you finally get it." His fangs gleamed even in the dark when set Tala against the floor of the locker now, ass raised up.

"OHH, MMMM!" Tala screamed when Neteyam plunged back into her hot and wet core, haggard moans and breaths punching out of her lungs.

He fucked her so hard she thought he was willing her to become part of the floor, but that didn't stop her juices from flowing out of her nonstop or her orgasm from skyrocketing.

"Ahh, ahh,-MM,MM oh, oh, great mother I’m gonna--"

"C'mon, cum for me, Li'Tala."

Tala screamed into her arm as her body convulsed, she was seeing stars as she came so hard she instantly felt numb. Neteyam growled loudly and his hips stuttered, her walls strangling his throbbing length and it coaxed his cum to coat her insides again and again.

A few moments later, Neteyam kicked open the locker door, letting in refreshing air to cool their skin as he cradled Tala against his body. They panted hard and in sync, their bodies twitching from exhaustion and ecstacy and now sticking together, sweaty.

Tala was exhausted, emotionally and physically. She didn't even register how Neteyam had entwined his tail with hers, otherwise she'd surely jump at the opportunity to tease.

"No more of these metal things." Neteyam huffed out.

"Okay..."

"Or those symbols."

"Alright..."

Neteyam shifted, nuzzling into her neck. He liked her perfume too much.

"And don't forget what you said... you're MY toy. Mine."

Tala weakly glanced at him, though his face was still hidden away in her hair. She bit her lip and looked forward, the way their legs tangled together.

"Yours..."

The word felt heavy and bitter in her mouth.

----------------

It’s been a week and Tala had found herself at an impasse.

By no means did she keep any such requests Neteyam had asked of her, Orlek’an simply insisted on her being more careful and that the Anurai woman handle the rest.

She sighed, Neteyam was becoming… overzealous. They had seen each other every day since that incident and each day increased in both intimacy and confusion.

“Something wrong?” Tala turned in her stool back to Dr. Hanson. She smiled cheekily, of all the scientists he had become her favorite. Extremely easy to annoy.

“My ass hurts.”

He choked on his coffee and Patty chortled loudly behind her. Tala sighed louder and stretched out onto the table, prompting the scientist to quickly move his coffee mug and digital pad away to make room.

“Can’t you spare me any zoslu paste? My hips feel like they’re about to break.” Tala whined softly, though truly she was not expecting any charity. Patty howled even louder and Dr. Hanson sputtered.

“I gave you advil! And Jesus Christ, get up! We still have 18 more samples and variations to look through!” Dr. Hanson yelled. Tala rolled over and looked up at him with fluttering eyes.

“Please, a break? I’ll be very cooperative after, I promise.” She asked meekly, her voice small and sad, and Dr. Hanson sighed into his mug.

“Fine. 20 minutes, and then back to work!” He grumbled. Tala smiled and purred against his arm, from 5 minutes to 20, she had done a good job wheedling him to be nicer and nicer.

She took off her new coat, for some reason Neteyam had permanently kept her old one, and laid it flat on the floor. It would be her only cushion and yet it was enough for her then anyway.

As Tala curled onto the floor, her ears could hear the soft whirring and vibrations of mechanical components and people walking and talking. She didn’t have many solid clues of how long since she’d been captured, a few months now at the very least.

It felt like a new lifetime. Eerily comfortable and constricted, Tala increasingly felt a weight settle on her chest with each new cold day she woke up to.

Tala looked down at her hands, inhibitors heavy on her wrists. How long has it been since she’s seen the skin underneath?

Why does she worry about these tawtutes, these bare acquaintances?

How much longer did she have to stay a toy for someone who obviously despised her?

Was there nothing she could do but wait for Eywa?

Tala sighed, she could feel her face heating up. Oh, she’s tried so hard not to think about any of this, she needed to compartmentalize it all, yet the moment she relaxed everything bubbled to the surface.

Not to mention everything with Neteyam. Especially after what had happened the week before, Tala wished desperately for his face to disappear from her thoughts. But it never did.

He was ruining her, though perhaps she was giving him too much credit.

The Tawkami put her focus back on listening to the machines clicking and vibrating. It was calming, she could get lost in this rhythm, she just needed to calm down. It reminded her of water and rain, and she wished she could see it again–

“GET UP, NOW!”

Patty violently hauled Tala up by her shoulder and only then did she pay attention to all the other noises. Shouting, some screams of panic. Tala snapped to Dr. Hanson who was cursing and gathering materials left and right as Patty impatiently punched in codes for the lab doors to open.

“Wh-What’s-?”

“Flooding in Sector C. It’s been raining hell for fucking days, and something’s punctured the fort!” Dr. Hanson yelled and scrambled after them as Patty dragged her to run down. Rain?

The hallways were filled with scrambling scientists and some guards barking orders, soldiers quickly clearing out rooms. Tala passed by the opposing hallway that led to the prison. “Wait!” She hissed, pulling at Patty’s kuru. The soldier yowled and glared at her.

“What the fuck!”

“Orlek’an, my friend!! What about my friend?!” Tala shouted over her. Patty made a face and looked towards the prison.

“I’m sure the guards cleared her outta there, now let’s move!”

“We have to check! Those guards are skxawngs, they barely even remember to feed us!” The Tawkami girl seethed desperately. “Please, Patty!” She begged loudly over the alarm now blaring through the compound. The lights went out and Dr. Hanson screamed more curses. She could hear Patty curse loudly. Tala yelped when she felt liquid spilling onto the floor and it only made her cling tighter to the soldier to beseech her.

“Please!”

The emergency lights came back on, shining green. Patty glanced at Dr. Hanson, obviously as scared shitless as they all were, and then back at Tala. She cursed again and hit some buttons on her wrist tech and Tala’s hands were freed apart.

“I’ve deactivated the magnets on your cuffs, and I've allowed you full access to the floor. Just hit this code on the door and you can get your friend, follow the blinking lights for the exits. My priority is the safety of Dr. Hanson.” Patty explained quickly and Tala nodded.

“Wait, you can’t just let her go-”

“We’re getting you out of here, Lloyd, no questions!”

“Patty!” Tala yelled.

She turned to Tala.

“Thank you.”

Patty’s mouth was tight as she nodded and she picked up Dr. Hanson, bounding the other way.

Tala looked for only a second until she too was running fast, making large splashes with every leap, basically tearing her lab coat off. She was trying to take care not to slip, but the water level was rising surprisingly quickly.

The water was up to her shins when Tala arrived at the prison doors and punched in the code.

“Orlek’an!!”

“Tala?!” The Anurai woman screamed out, her hands raw from scratching at the cages. Tala sped to Orlek’an, seeing her clearly for the first time.

“How did you-”

“No time!” The younger quickly punched in the code for Orlek’an’s cage and she breathed out in relief when it blinked white and the metal doors opened.

For the first time, Tala looked at her Anurai cellmate fully and wholly, she was older than her, she had already known, and beautiful. Her eyes glowed amber and quickly the two women held each other tightly.

Tala let out a watery laugh, the Anurai woman was so much taller than her, and she smelled like yovo fruit and waterfalls.

“Here, quickly.” Orlek’an handed her a bundle of darts, and bandaids to hold the sharp and rough metal by. Tala almost hesitated but gripped the darts carefully. Much bigger than the needle Neteyam had confiscated, these ones were coated in the nonlethal poison Tala managed to create behind the scientists' backs.

She nodded, finally, it was time to enact something they’d been preparing for weeks together, just them two.

“Let’s go now, young one!”

Orlek’an grabbed Tala’s hand and the two waded as quickly as possible away from the prison.

Tala strained her eyes between the dark and bright green, the lights blinking. She gestured for the Anurai to follow her and the two swam and paddled desperately.

This must be the disaster, the first one of Eywa’s Revenge. By Water.

They dove, a light at the end of the hall. When the women resurfaced at the exit, soldiers herded scientists and prisoners, scrambling all around in the chaos.

The rain made it still so difficult to breathe but Great Mother…

Tala inhaled deeply, the rain and the seawater, the mist and the dirt.

Finally, she was outside.

But only just.

Orlek’an and Tala ran behind more facilities as they made their way to the docks, which was no small feat. Though the sea wall was massive and easy for them to locate, Bridgehead was even bigger and water sloshed all around, making it difficult for any one of them to gain footholds.

The force of the waves was enough to topple over the people in large exoskeleton-machine suits and every so often, Tala or Orlek’an would throw their paralyzing darts. The rain was on their side, never did a droplet deter a dart from its trajectory and each throw left a dreamwalker or tawtute soldier falling to the ground, stunned.

When they neared the sea wall, they were not the only ones. There were multiple prisoners, each had risked their escapes by the raging ocean than by attempting a crossing of the RDA’s Kill Zone.

Tala’s eyes blinked away heavy raindrops as they strained, she turned to Orlek’an. “Why way?!”

The older woman also searched until her eyes landed upon the edge of the seawall, implanted into a rocky cliffside next to the edge of the sea itself. The older na’vi gestured for Tala to follow her as they sprinted towards the edge, losing their footing as the waves that tumbled inside Bridgehead city only increased in violence.

Tala gasped, eyes locked onto a figure already on the sea wall.

“What is it?” Orlek’an shouted.

“It’s– It’s my friend, Anke’ti!”

There he was, already deep in the water and crashing with violent waves, trying to scale over the sea wall. Each time he got closer and closer to the edge, and each time his blue body was more and more visible against the cement.

Tala clasped Orlek’an’s shoulders.

“Go on! I need to help him!!” She shouted and then hugged Orlek’an tightly.

“Goodbye, my friend. Eywa be with you.” She whispered with all her heart. She could tell tears were streaming down her face already, despite the torrent of rain. Her first friend, her only friend here.

“Eywa be with you, Tala.” Orlek’an kissed her cheek and they looked at each other for what could be the last time.

Tala squeezed Orlek’an’s hand, tried to smile, then dashed past the woman. Eywa, she prayed, she prayed deeply for all her friends to survive and to see them again.

She ran breathlessly toward the closest edge of the sea gate, enclosed by natural hills and mountains. She started climbing, feet singing as they crunched on the wild grass underneath. It was wonderful, but she could not stop to admire it! She needed to go faster!

Tala kept her eyes on Anke’ti as she climbed, he was so close, so close to reaching the edge, and – yes! Anke’ti grabbed onto the edge of the sea wall and started climbing himself up. The strain of everything, his thin body shook in both the wind and exhaustion. He had already been experiencing the pressure of rain on his back for many days now, he looked so tired.

“ANKE!” She screamed and she could feel herself smile for that briefest moment when his tail raised, ears flicked. Anke’ti continued his struggle, continued pulling himself up.

Hope filled Tala’s heart, she just needed to see him off, follow him once she knew he was over—

A spot of black in her peripheral vision, a malicious shine through the torrential rain, a gun – NO! It was pointed right at him!

Tala changed her direction towards the soldier, trying to climb faster but it simply felt too long, she felt too slow, she wasn’t going to make it in time, the soldier started to squeeze the trigger and–

Tala prayed to Eywa with a scream.

tag list: @xylianasblog @itchaboi-itchyboy @hotdsworld @pandoraslxna @luvv4j4ybe11 @neteyamsyawntu @akoyaxs @whatevenisagrapefruit @teyamsatan @justcaptiannoodles @theblueflower05 @neteluvr @neteyamssyulang @plooto @hao-ming-8 @teyamsilly @vivid-ink @vampirefilmlover

#liar liar #avatar way of water #neteyam sully #fanart #fanfic #atwow neteyam #neteyam x oc #smut #doodle #recom neteyam #AU #rda neteyam #avatar 2

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aettuddae · 4 months

Text

business matter — meet HeAVEN.

↳ synopsis: two of the most important kpop companies covet a partnership with a huge global brand, only to be surprised when the deal is extended to both labels. fearing potential sabotage and cynical strategies to secure exclusivity for just one of them, both CEOs resort to desperate measures. in a bid to maintain trust and prevent betrayal before the signing, they come up with a pact: forcing a fake relationship between the leaders of their star girlgroups. if one side attempted to fail the other, they threaten to expose it all to the conservative south korea.

masterlist | resident's archives | chapter 1

when was the last time...

you felt at ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑒?

✶ . ࣪ ׅ stay here, stay with us ' 🪐

⋆｡˚ ☁️ 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑. ✩˚ ⋆｡˚

— HeAVEN (헤이븐), is a 5 member South Korean girlgroup under Olympia Entertainment. The group consists of Serim, Yves, Minnie, Chaeyoung and Yujin.

"=⌕ Olympia Entertainment? / "The creators of a new entertainment world." A company founded in the year 2000 by son of entrepreneur, Shin Na Myeong. His dream was to create a narrative universe with a story that could be told through the debut of various groups.

The first OE group was inVAGANT, a 4 member male band. They succeeded in becoming relevant and well respected as one of the pioneers of 2nd generation of kpop.

But it wasn't until the debut of boygroup VOYAGER in 2010 that the company got established as one of the kpop leaders, earning a title as the "new big 4," thanks to its contribution to the entertainment scene and cultural impact as the trendsetters of storytelling and complex concepts.

With their debut in 2018, HeAVEN rapidly became one of the most talked-about groups of their era. Reaching the top spot of all the lists with their 2019 global song, "The War," title track of their high-selling first full album, "Promised Land."

the 𝑚𝑜𝑜𝑛 is always 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔.

(i got to bring it back to its original state)

✎﹏୭ 🧷 ᵎᵎ HeAVEN unifies the two words haven and heaven.

— It's directly connected to their lore, which talks about 5 girls who discover earth is not where they originate from and have to find their way back home. "Haven" being a way to refer to their natal land, and "Heaven" being where it is, the moon.

• ! A magical, mystic story that switches between space and earth, transports into various planets and is laced with uncertainty, despair, longing as well as hope, love and beauty. It brings music with cosmic and dreamy sounds, just as much as strong, powerful and dark marching anthems, by the hand of the very versatile HeAVEN, with their long-time, extremely talented, unique members.

when ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛 is not a place

i still find haven in 𝑦𝑜𝑢.

✎﹏୭ 🧷 ᵎᵎ songs that sound like HeAVEN...

! when there's hope.

*⁀➷

! and when there's war.

*⁀➷

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quixoticall · 7 months

Text

This Could Get Ugly Track 5: The Beginning of the End

Summary: It's 1983 and The Downsides need another lead singer and you just happen to need a band--it's a perfect match. The only issue? You have to pretend to be in a relationship with your bandmate, Steve Harrington, but you can't help but be drawn to the band's broody guitar player.

pairing: s.h. x fem!reader, e.m. x fem!reader, j.b. x n.w.,

warnings: ANGST, drinking, drug use, smut, oral and fingering f receiving, p in v sex, the Harringtons make an appearance.

a/n: It has been a while my loves! If you've been following me at all, you know I've had a rough month. I really, truly appreciate every single one of you who has reached out and checked in! I appreciate you! This chapter is extra long to make up for lost time and it contains smut. It's my first time writing smut, so hopefully, I did not disappoint.

wc: 11.2K

MASTERLIST🎸

PLAY PREVIOUS TRACK 🎵

APRIL 28th, 1984 PHILADELPHIA , PA—THE UPSIDE DOWN TOUR

If you wanted to be technical about it, the whole thing started with Argyle.

The two of you were backstage, sitting outside the dressing rooms killing time during the opener—some local band that you weren’t previously familiar with.

You had always appreciated Argyle’s ability to be friendly with everyone and float above the tensions, that was the case especially now when things with the others seemed to have fallen apart a little.

You were sitting next to each other on the floor, backs against the wall, as you were running him through some of the songs that had made the preliminary list for the next album and asking for his input while he threw a bouncy ball against the opposite wall. You liked working with Argyle, he was out of the box, creative, and one of the most technically skilled band members. You had been sitting with him for only 30 minutes and he had already made one of your songs infinitely better.

“What’s the move tonight, dude?” he asks you, nonchalantly as you scribbled down some of his suggested changes.

You shrug in response, “I dunno, I might just go home and sleep after this, maybe work on the arrangements for this—” You wave your beat-up notebook in the air, and he scoffs.

“You like never come out with us anymore,” he exclaims, “I miss when we all used to party together, dude. Now you are all dropping like flies and it’s not as fun anymore!”

It was your turn to scoff at him, “Please, I was never the life of the party, Argyle, c’mon.”

“Are you kidding, dude? People would always show up in droves to see you. Plus, you’re like totally fun. Remember when you and Steve did karaoke in Austin and you both got on the bar? That was totally cool.”

You chuckle at the memory and concede, “Yeah, that was pretty fun, but you still have everyone else!”

“Well, you took my dude Eddie too,” he points out without malice.

“What do you mean?”

“He hasn’t come out since St. Louis—keeps saying he’s gonna stay in just in case you want to write with him.”

Of course, this is news to you. You hadn’t taken up Eddie’s offer to write together since he had spurned you in Missouri (and since he starred in a very vivid dream of yours). It wasn’t that you didn’t accept his apology (presented in the form of a ridiculously large flower bouquet) it was that thing would have been far too awkward at this point.

It wasn’t that you had a crush on him necessarily, you were pretty sure that mantle was still taken up by Steve to some extent, it was more that there was an undeniable sexual something between the two of you below the surface that your dreams had made obvious and you didn’t trust yourself to be alone in a room with him without wanting to rip his clothes off.

Obviously, giving in to your desires was a bad idea for a multitude of reasons but chiefly, because:

a. It would wreak havoc on the band.

b. You were certain Eddie wouldn’t reciprocate your advances.

But then… you had heard what Argyle had said.

“Wait, are you saying Eddie has been hanging out after shows just on the off chance that I may call him?” You confirm incredulously.

Argyle nods in response, “Yeah. Did you put a spell on him or something?”

“No,” you respond wryly, “I’m not that type of witch, I’m the bad kind of witch.”

“Well, you definitely did something to the dude, he’s been obsessing over whether or not you hate him and keeps trying to get me to ask.”

This takes you aback completely. Eddie caring so much what you thought of him that he’d be willing to ask Argyle, of all people to discreetly scope that out seems improbable so you continue to probe.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, he obviously thinks you’re pretty and he’s just been waiting around for you to call him up, and he cares a lot about what you think of him, which is weird because last time I checked he kinda hated you—no offense.”

“How do you know all this?” You ask, ignoring the offense.

“He told me, duh.”

“Have you told anyone else this?”

“No one else has asked,” Argyle says plaintively.

“Well, how about we keep all of this between the three of us, then?” You propose.

Before the drummer can confirm, the thundering applause signaling that the opening act had wrapped up cut the conversation off.

Neither of you has the chance to continue the discussion before being rushed onto stage by a harried and high-strung stage manager.

Without knowing, Argyle had invertedly changed the course of everything.

***

EDDIE: We were in Philly. It was a great show—probably one of the best of that tour. The audience was feeling us the opener was sick and we were just gelling for what felt like probably the first time. It was like we were all finally on the same wavelength if that makes sense. No more guessing what the next move was or fighting to keep up. It was like we were finally learning to trust each other.

***

The Philly show was electric, all the elements had come together perfectly. You and Steve were particularly reveling in it. You spent most of the night singing into the same microphone, lips inches from one another, your hand grasping the back of his neck, fingers carding through his hair, and eye contact unbreaking. At one point, you were certain by the way he had captured your bottom lip under the meat of his thumb, that he was going to lean in and kiss you on the mouth, a barrier that the two of you had managed to maintain this whole time.

The audience must have had a similar thought by the sounds of their cheers—a sound that seemed to have shaken both you and Steve from whatever spell you had been under because the next thing you know the pressure of his thumb was gone and his eyes were turned away from you and towards the crowd.

The rest of the show was spent similarly—the two of you toeing the line and the audience following your every move. It was easy to get addicted both to the applause and the intimacy.

After the encores were sung and the last bows were taken, though, Steve was back to barely being able to look at you.

The only time his gaze does flit to you, ever-briefly, is when you politely decline Argyle’s invitation to go out after the show.

“Come on dude, you said you would come if I looked at your song,” the drummer gives a half-hearted attempt at bargaining which only makes you giggle.

“I never said that Argyle,” and truly you hadn’t, “I said that I couldn’t go out because I had to make those changes you suggested.”

In response, Argyle begins to boo you, loudly and the others join in eagerly.

You roll your eyes playfully and bid goodbye to Argyle and the rest of the band when you part ways for the night and you notice that other than yourself, Eddie is the only one missing from the boisterous group but you try not to think too much on it.

Your efforts to push all thoughts of Eddie out of your mind seemed to have the opposite effect and it was like the thoughts themselves were digging their heels in and had found your mind to be a welcoming home.

You had made the song changes you had told Argyle you would and even tried to make some progress on your plethora of unfinished songs. As it turned out, you worked slower when you wrote alone.

You knew that as the remaining tour dates dwindled and the band’s return to LA drew closer, you eventually would have to approach Eddie again to write together. It was indisputable that whatever the two of you produced together was almost always better than what you accomplished alone.

How could you possibly approach him when you could barely look at him without dying of mortification? With Steve, at least, you could get some of the sexual energy out on stage, but with Eddie you didn’t have the same luxury and it stayed bottled up.

All of this, along with Argyle’s words from earlier in the evening made focusing nearly impossible and you gave up on writing all together, deciding to call it a night and head to bed. To your chagrin, the better part of the night was spent tossing and turning trying to evict the thoughts and ideas that had begun to formulate in your mind fueled by a lack of sleep, stress and desperation. And suddenly, you had an idea.

Admittedly, it was not a very good idea. It was actually probably a very bad idea. A ruinous idea even. And yet, you found yourself pulling the covers off yourself and stumbling into a pair of slippers, perplexed by your actions. You wondered, as you blearily shuffled down the identical hotel halls why you weren’t trying to talk yourself out of this idea—one that you were certain was going to change everything. Perhaps you were itching for a new thrill. Or maybe you were as selfish as everyone seemed to believe. Maybe it was the poison that had settled in your heart before you were old enough to know better, insisting that there was no other option for you. Or maybe you were giving yourself far too much credit and you were simply horny.

Whatever the reason, it brought you directly to Eddie Munson’s door.

***

EDDIE: I swear I thought I was dreaming when I saw her there, standing outside my door in this tiny pajama top and even tinier short. They had little cherries on them. I remember thinking they were so cute. Her hair was all a mess. I thought that was cute too.

After probably 5 minutes of us standing there in the doorway, I finally got my brain to work enough to invite her in. She seemed nervous at first. Sort of paced around the room, not saying anything for a while and then—I swear to God—she asks, “Do you want to sleep with me?” out of fucking nowhere. If I hadn’t been there myself, I would’ve never believed it. Hell, even telling you now, part of me thinks I made it up.

My brain short-circuited because I couldn’t even respond. I just stared at her with my jaw on the fucking floor, trying to remember what the signs of a stroke were.

***

“Are you serious?” Eddie spits out, voice hoarse with shock at your overly-direct question.

You nod, wordlessly, trying to ignore the panic that has begun to set in.

“Why?” he presses.

You shrug, which he doesn’t find sufficient because he nods along, trying to draw the reasons from you.

“We both like sex,” you explain, clumsily, “and I find you attractive and I think you find me attractive, too—” he nods feverishly at this—“so why not have some fun?”

You try to say this last part enticingly but aren’t sure you pulled it off until you see a flush play itself across his pretty features.

“Why me? Why not Harrington?”

Even though you had anticipated the question, you can’t help but steel yourself as you respond, “Because we like each other enough for it to be fun but not enough for either of us to get attached.”

You watched, with bated breath as the thoughts played out over Eddie’s features and when you see a flash of what could be hurt you entertain for the briefest moment, the idea that maybe someone could get hurt but the thought is pushed away as a lazy grin begins to spread over his face and a newfound cockiness color his features.

Suddenly, he is much closer, and the space between your two bodies draws thin.

“Now?” he asks.

“Yes, now,” you squeak out as he encroaches in on you, fingertips grazing the bare skin on your hips.

You take a step towards him, moving to stand flush against his hip, invitingly and weave a hand through his unruly bed head curls. You want him to know how much you want this—how much you’ve wanted this. It was inevitable really, there had always been a tension between the two of you. Whether it was the hot friction of dislike , the bold spark of creative partnership or the hot embers of sexual tension, the two of you burned for one another just the same.

He leans in for a kiss when your impatience gets the best of you and you rush to meet him halfway.

He tastes like cigarettes and cherries, a taste you revel in as his lips move languidly over yours. Suddenly, he takes your bottom lip between his teeth and lightly tugs, and a moan tumbles out of you.

“We can’t tell anyone,” you mutter into the kiss and it goes unacknowledged.

The cold of his rings meets your nipples through the thin fabric of your strappy pajama top and your body arches in response.

The kiss is broken you are left gasping for air. Eddie wastes no time in attaching his lips to your neck, his tongue tracing over your collarbone hotly.

The straps of your top are shucked of your shoulders and the fabric bunched down towards your middle and a trail of kisses following in its wake.

Your knees hit the edge of the bed, and the hands in your waist guide you down in a fluid motion.

Your eyes flutter as wet kisses are peppered over your breasts.

“Come on princess, let me hear those pretty noises,” Eddie murmurs into your skin, his hot breath covering you in goosebumps.

A heady moan escapes you, almost on command. It would’ve embarrassed you if you still had the decency to care.

A trail of kisses and suddenly Eddie is thumbing at the waistband of your shorts. You nod fervently when his eyes suddenly trail up to find you, but that’s not enough for him.

“Come on, baby,” he teases, “tell me what you want.”

You throw your head back in frustration and want and Eddie takes this lapse in response to run his hand sloppily over your clothed core.

“So wet,” he murmured, “so pretty.”

You let out a desperate laugh at this and his eyes are back on you, expectantly and any resistant you have dissipates.

“Touch me, please,” you sigh, half plea, half demand.

It’s not a hard sell because your shorts and underwear are gone in a flash and cold rings are pulling your thighs wide open.

You reach out towards Eddie’s curls for purchase, gently tugging him closer to your core, hoping he’d get the message.

A moment of clarity cuts through your haze and suddenly you’re pulling him up by his hair, forcing eye contact.

“No one can know,” you insists.

He’s all half-lidded eyes and dazed smile when he’s looking at you.

Leaning in to grab his jaw in your palm, you pull him close. This is important.

“Eddie, no one can know. Promise me,” you repeat again.

He nods in agreement, even though his expression leads you to believe you could’ve asked anything in that moment and he would’ve readily acquiesced.

“No one can know,” he affirms before hitching your body closer with a harsh tug on your thighs and disappearing in between your legs, mouth latching hotly to where you need him the most.

***

EDDIE: We started sleeping together that night. A no strings attached type thing. We had to keep it a secret. She didn’t want to hurt Harrington’s feelings which I understood. He was a good guy and anyone could tell he was head over heels for her.

And she was just… well, I guess she was just afraid. We were kind of the same in that way. Couldn’t hold onto anything without crushing it into dust.

***

MAY 1st, 1984–STATEN ISLAND, NY—THE UPSIDE DOWN TOUR

Eddie’s hands are curled around your thighs, keeping your body balanced on the flimsy tour bus bathroom sink. His silver rings dig into the soft flesh of your thigh in a way that you are certain will leave bruises in their wake.

You have to be quiet, you know that. Even if the rest of the band had taken a quick pit stop between Philly and New York to explore the Staten Island Zoo and the likelihood of them coming back this early was low, it wasn’t non-existent . This left you stifling your own moans into the back of your hand as Eddie rocked into you languidly and delicious.

Your hand moved to steady itself behind you as he lets go of your left thigh and places the pad of his thumb on the soft flesh of your clit, causing you to forget nearly everything.

He seems to anticipate your next move though, because his mouth is quickly on yours, tongue gliding over your bottom lip and effectively keeping you quiet.

The angle of his hips meeting your core and his nimble fingers worked together to bring you closer to your release.

“I can feel it, baby, you’re close aren’t you?”

You nod feverishly, eyes screwed shut, “Yes, so good Eds. I’m gonna cum,” you manage to squeak out.

“C’mon pretty girl, look at me,” Eddie instructs firmly, but you can tell by the strain in his voice that he’s not too far behind, “wanna see you when you cum.”

You force your eyes open and he rewards you by pressing his unoccupied thumb into your bottom lip which you greedily take into your mouth.

Your release washes over you in a wave and you watch moments later as Eddie finds his own.

The two of you are left panting for a few moments as you try to steady yourselves. Once you find your bearings, you lower yourself from the sink and adjust the sundress that was so carelessly shucked to your hips and Eddie busies himself with disposing of the condom discreetly.

Turning to the bathroom mirror, you make an attempt at taming your haphazard hair and fixing your smudged lipstick before making a move for the door.

“Well, that was nice,” you offer before spilling into the tour bus’s common space.

“Wait,” Eddie cries out as he’s still adjusting his belt, “where are you going?”

You shrug nonchalantly in response but don’t turn around, “Back to the girls’ bus.”

“You don’t want to… you don’t want to stick around maybe? We could do some writing?” Eddie sounds out of breath when he asks but you chalk it up to the sex.

“Better not. It might look suspicious,” you explain as you take the stops down from the bus, two at a time.

“Right, wouldn’t want that,” Eddie squeaks out and you smile back at him, grateful for his understanding.

“See you later, Eds.”

Eddie doesn’t say anything back, but when you look back after having boarded your own bus, he’s still standing on the bottom step, eyes still on you.

***

EDDIE: Let’s get the record straight about something though, I didn’t steal her away from anyone. She is her own person first of all, not some thing to be stolen. And second of all, she came to me first. Not the other way around. And! She and Harrington weren’t even really seeing each other. So, other than the lying, it truthfully wasn’t that bad.

But then again, does the truth even matter? Especially now? After everything?

INTERVIEWER: It does to me and to you too, I think, otherwise you wouldn’t be here.

EDDIE: Has anyone ever told you you’re too smart for your own good?

***

MAY 3rd, 1984–NEW YORK CITY, NY—THE UPSIDE DOWN TOUR

It was easy, really, to keep your fling with Eddie a secret from the rest of the band. Most of them were barely paying attention to what you were doing anyway.

Nancy and Jonathan were once again preoccupied with waiting by the phone to hear from Jonathan’s mother, Joyce. Will’s condition had once again worsen and the two were on high alert.

Robin and Steve were busy sightseeing and pointedly only talking to you when necessary. They weren’t hostile, per se, (or at least, Steve wasn’t) but they also made a point to not invite you to their outing. You want to tell them to be wary of the paps since the city is crawling with them in a matter akin to cockroaches but you know better than to try to tell Robin what to do.

Argyle, for his part, is in his own world.

The two of you were essentially in the clear barring rehearsals, shows and any stray public appearance. Still, you couldn’t help but want to take precautions.

***

EDDIE: She would never sleep over. You know, after. She was too worried about what would happen if Steve or anyone else went looking for her.

It shouldn’t have bothered me as much as it did, she—we had made it very clear that this was a purely physical thing but, well, between you and me kid, I always knew it was never gonna be like that. At least not for me. I was in deep for way longer than I had realized.

***

Long, skilled fingers trace patterns along your naked spine. The movements are comforting, calming, you almost find yourself lulled to sleep. Except you know you shouldn’t—that you can’t.

Your eyes flutter open as you fight against the sleep that sets in. This isn’t your bed, you remind yourself, and you feel that in the brush of the sheets against your naked body that definitively do not feel like the sheets of your bed merely a few doors down. It’s a silly thought, truly, these sheets are probably the exact same as the ones on your bed and more so, you haven’t slept in your bed, a bed that is truly, strictly your own in years . Still, this does not feel quite right.

You will your body to stir, working actively against every nerve that is telling you not to move from the warm, comfortable haven you had found and the warm body next to you but you know better. This is a dance you’re familiar with: they ask you to stay but don’t really mean it and if they do it’s only to squeeze another quick fuck in.

“Why don’t you stay?” Eddie grumbles into your shoulder even though both of you already know the answer.

“What if someone comes looking for me, huh?” A question for a question, “it’ll be hard to explain to Hopper why I’m naked in your bed.”

“Bullshit. You’re one of the only ones Hopper doesn’t have to keep tabs on,” Eddie’s only partially playful in saying this.

“I miss my bed,” you rebut, plainly and the guitarist pouts in response.

“This is like the same bed, dude.”

“ ‘Dude’? You’ve been hanging out with Argyle way too much.”

“Whatever,” Eddie dismisses as his hand travels down along your spine to circle around the rise of your hip to the front of your body to pull you closer against his chest and you squeal.

His skilled fingers travel down to the apex of your legs and two of them swipe through your still-wet heat making you jolt. You’re still sensitive from earlier in the night and Eddie is using that to his advantage as he swipes over your clit.

You moan at the contact and your hips canter forward embarrassingly quickly.

“Don’t want to leave now, do you?” Eddie teases as he moves away from your clit to tease your entrance and you mewl in response. Before you know it a pair of lips are attached to your neck and two fingers are slowly, deliciously rocking in and out of your core. A hand moves up to grip Eddie by the hair as you moan.

“Just like that, please keep going.”

You feel Eddie’s length begin to harden against your back as his pace quickens and his thumb circles your clit bringing you closer to your third orgasm of the night.

“No fair,” you pant, as you feel a tightening in your lower stomach. “You can’t keep me around by giving me orgasms.”

He laughs at this, full-blown guffaws. “There’s no rule against it,” he says as his tongue slides over the shell of your ear. His fingers curl inside you and you gasp at the sudden pressure before succumbing to the feeling. Your release washes over you, unexpectedly and you cry out.

A few seconds reprieve give you a moment to come back to earth. You sigh contently feeling Eddie’s harden length against the swell of you ass.

It would be impolite to leave him hanging.

***

EDDIE: Not that I could complain about our arrangement.

***

You had fallen asleep. Accidentally, of course, but erroneously still. You realize this far too late as the harsh red numbers of the hotel room alarm clock blare at you angrily: 11:52 AM.

You scramble out of bed, covers flung in the process and you make a grab for your clothes that litter the floor. The sudden, frantic movement had inadvertently awoken the man sleeping next to you and you could hear the sleep in his voice as he tried to grasp the situation.

“Woah, woah where’s the fire, princess?”

“It’s nearly noon!” you respond, panic clear in your voice. “I accidentally fell asleep and now it’s almost noon!”

Your mind is overcome with worst case scenarios and conclusions that are easily jumped to as you imagine how this late morning can turn into your downfall.

Eddie tries valiantly to calm you down to no avail. You had done the one thing you said you never would: you stayed the night and now you didn’t know what to do with that other than panic and rush out the door half dressed and fully angered with yourself throwing a paltry goodbye to a very disoriented Eddie over your shoulder as you did so.

You try to fix your hair in the elevator along with your harried breath. Most of the band wake up late into the day, you try to remind yourself, especially after a night out.

It was not unusual to be walking the halls of your hotel room at this time, but you still felt overwhelmingly nervous walking back to your room in a way that you felt obviously gave away that you were coming back from a night of raunchy sex.

Your heart dropped to your stomach as the elevator doors slid open to reveal Steve Harrington waiting outside your door. This is what you were afraid of. Certainly one look at you and he’d know exactly what you were doing and probably with who and that would spell the end of the Downsides, you were sure of it.

You didn’t say anything as you exited the elevator and slowly made your way over, hoping to prolong the moment before everything came crumbling down as much as you could.

A few steps in and you had caught Steve’s attention. When he looked at you though, it wasn’t with anger or disappointment but with nerves.

***

STEVE: My parents moved around a lot after I left home. Indianapolis, Chicago, Phoenix in the winter and Bridgeport in the summer, you know, regular rich folks shit.

It’s not like I could ever go back home but when they heard the band was planning on making the stop they wanted me to visit them and they wanted me to bring my girlfriend to meet them. I hadn’t wanted to ask then, things were kind of awkward between the two of us, but they kept insisting. It’s like they didn’t believe I could’ve bagged a girl like her and they were willing to call me on it. So, I had no other choice but to ask.

***

You understood where Steve was coming from, truly, your own parents were rich and demanding. Plus, something about seeing your fake boyfriend waiting at your door after a night sleeping with someone else really made you susceptible to his request.

And really, there wasn’t a universe where you would say no to a request from Steve Harrington, so of course you were going to meet his parents.

***

MAY 6th, 1984–NEW YORK CITY, NY—30 ROCKEFELLER PLAZA

“So I heard you’re meeting the in-laws,” Eddie plops down in the makeup seat next to you

You’re backstage at The Nightly Show with Chris Palmer, getting ready for one of the few media appearances Hopper had managed to schedule during the band’s short stint in the city.

You can tell by the pinching between Eddie’s eyes and the snarl in his tone that he’s not in a good mood. You chock up his demeanor to the same thing that has dampened yours: the upcoming interview.

The lack of media appearances had been a welcomed change during the band’s time on the road and the adjustment back to them have been rocky. You, for one, are on edge at the idea of having to sit down with the smarmy, sexist, Chris Palmer who, on his late night show, had already taken a few swings at you for laughs and the thought of him having the chance to do so to your face, made you sick.

Which was why you barely responded to Eddie’s attempt t goading you and instead, shrug in response, tightly, “I guess.”

His eyes flit over you and his demeanor shift to one approximating concern. “Hey, you doing okay?” He moves closer, but not enough for it to be noticeable to anyone but you.

“Yeah,” you try to smile but it comes out a grimace, “just out of practice I guess.”

“Well, if it’s any consolation, I have an extra copy of Baldwin that I brought on accident if you want a distraction,” the book flashes in your periphery and this time your smile comes out genuine and unprompted.

While you can’t be one hundred percent certain, you’re familiar enough with the guitarist’s ways to know that this was no accident—he brought the book with you in mind.

You make a grab for it but have to keep yourself from leaning in for a hug at the risk of the others’ scrutiny and your makeup artist’s ire. Not knowing how else to communicate your appreciation, you give his shirt a quick—and hopefully discreet—tug. He seems to catch your drift because his fingers graze yours purposefully as you move your hand away.

The brief touch shoots electricity through you.

“Thanks,” you murmur before watching him jaunt away to his spot between Argyle and Jonathan, both of your moods seemingly lifted, if only for a moment.

You’re grateful for the distraction although it barely keeps your attention and instead end up thumbing through the pages anxiously to the chagrin of your makeup artist who is clearly relieved to pass you onto hair once the final touches of lipstick are applied.

You thank her profusely before moving next door where, to the surprise of exactly no one, you’re sat next to Steve. Or at least you think it’s Steve you’re sat next to given how little you can see through the thick mass of hairspray clouding the air.

“They don’t call me ‘The Hair’ for nothing, right?” He says when you catch his eye through the fumes.

His hair stylists laughs a little too hard for your taste and you can’t help but roll your eyes.

“I thought you hated that nickname,” you say, settling into your chair, ready to play your part as the doting girlfriend.

He shrugs nonchalantly, “there are worst things to be called.”

You scoff in response, your previous concerns regarding tonight’s host bubbling up again, “I am sure there are.”

Steve turns to you fully now, offering a charming apology to his stylist that leaves her a giggling puddle, and you can feel his eyes scanning you in assessment.

He suddenly reaches over to the vanity in front of him, “The vending machine in the hall is totally broke, it gave me four candy bars. Do you want one?”

You look over at the bars in his hand which he has fanned evenly and is waving as if they’re a wad of cash and you grab one out of his reach.

“These are my favorite,” you point out as you smooth a hand over the wrapper, remembering all the times you would raid the vending machines at venues or backstage before an interview for them.

“I know,” he says, impishly.

“Harrington, be straight with me, is the machine really broken or did you get me my favorite candy bar just to butter me up?”

He nods, self-satisfied, like a little kid happy to be caught doing something that they’ll know they’ll get away with. Your joint hairstylists coo in adoration at your dotting “boyfriend” and you can’t help but roll your eyes affectionately.

“You seem a bit nervous,” he explains, “and candy usually helps.”

You exhale a laugh at this and admit that he’s right, “candy usually does help,” before nibbling on the bar carefully for the sake of your lipstick.

“So, what’s up?” He asks after a beat, while the hairstylists are preoccupied cleaning their tools, “are you nervous about doing our thing again?”

He says the last part with an overly-dramatic eyebrow waggle and you giggle.

What do you mean?” You ask, avoiding his glance.

He almost rolls his eyes at this but catches himself, knowing better.

“You just seem off, like nervous almost? But not in the usual way you are nervous about interview, but like different. Normally you’re just nervous because you overthink it but now it’s like you’re dreading it.”

You snort at the way he saw right through you.

“It’s stupid but, Chris Palmer has made jokes about me in the past, you know, about my dating history and things like that and I’m not really looking forward to hearing what he has to say tonight,” you explain, bashfully.

“What do you mean? Do you and Chris know each other?”

“No,” you respond, shifting uncomfortably in your seat, “he just is, you know, one of those comedians who pokes fun at celebrities and he loves making fun of women who ‘get around’ or whatever and well, that was my reputation before you… and the band.”

You see realization dawn on Steve’s features, it’s almost like he doesn’t believe anyone could ever be mean to you. Realization quickly turns to anger.

“And you think he’ll make fun of you tonight in the same way? In front of everyone?”

You shrug at this, “maybe, he’s not exactly known for taking it easy on his guests, but I’m used to it, it’s annoying though.”

Steve shakes his head aggressively at your dismissal and bolts up from his char, “No, I’m going to go talk to Hopper or something, have him tell Palmer’s people he needs to cool it or we won’t perform.”

He’s marching down the hall now, purposeful and quick. You make a beeline after him running ahead to cut him off.

“Woah, hey, Steve, you do not need to do that.” The last thing you want is the band being labeled as difficult to work with this early on.

Standing in front of him with your hands flat on his chest, you suddenly become very aware of all the eyes peaking out of the different green rooms to watch the exchange curiously, band mates and crew alike.

Steve grabs one of your hands lightly in his and gives it a tepid squeeze.

“I’m sorry but I am not sitting up there tonight and listening to anyone say anything bad about you. That’s just not going to happen, okay? Please trust me, I won’t do anything crazy, I’ll just talk to Hopper and we’ll figure this out. I have your back, remember?”

You study his face as he says this and are caught up in the earnestness etched into every corner of it.

“Okay,” you finally say, softly and back away from his path, “thanks.”

And you watch him go.

***

STEVE: Hopper hadn’t known about the Palmer thing. He wouldn’t have booked us if he did. When I told him, he was pretty peeved and we immediately went to go talk to the stage manager—some smarmy guy whose name I don’t remember.

Told us essentially, that it was no use, that Palmer wrote his own material fresh before each show.

Well, after that, Hopper and I track down Palmer in his dressing room and, you know, we give him a shake down. Old school style. Like back when Hopper was on the force. … he did most of the shaking down, don’t get me wrong, I was definitely going to get in there, but he seemed to really enjoy it. Plus I had just gotten my hair done.

***

When Steve reappears in the green room half an hour later, Hopper is trailing him smiling giddily.

Coming up to your side, Steve wraps an arm around your shoulders and leans into your hair to murmur, “We took care of it.” The giant grin Hopper is sporting lets you know that they had and you exhale a sigh of relief, curling a hand against his bicep gratefully.

You spring back a few seconds later when you feel Eddie’s heavy gaze from the spot he occupied next to you, eyes boring into all the places your body is touching Steve’s.

You can sense Steve’s confusion at the lost contact but before anything else can be said or done, the stage manager appears to move escort the band to the sound stage saving you from having to navigate the complex social dynamic of interacting with your fake boyfriend who wants to be your real boyfriend and your band rival turned friend-with-benefits. Gratefully, you allow yourself to believe for the first time, that maybe luck would be on your side and tonight wouldn’t be so bad.

***

NANCY: Do I think Chris Palmer had a personal vendetta against her? No, not going into that night, anyway. I think he was just a misogynistic idiot who didn’t know what to do about a talented and beautiful woman who also did whatever she wanted. His mind couldn’t wrap around that.

That was true for a lot of men back then. And now too.

JONATHAN: It felt like Chris had a personal vendetta against her.

***

The first half of the interview went well enough.

The band was welcomed with great fanfare and everyone filed towards the couches in the center of the stage next to the large mahogany desk Chris sat behind. You and Steve were, of course, together at the forefront and you could hear the collective cooing when he helped you down the platform.

The interview started out mild, questions about the tour and being on the road. Thankfully, Steve took the helm for most of them with the band weighing in throughout.

To your surprise, Chris directs his next question to you and Eddie.

“You two are the newest additions to the band, how has the transition been coming from working as a solo artist and from a band of a whole different genre to the Downsides and what made you want to make the change?”

The question was surprisingly insightful which took you a second to process and come up with an answer that wasn’t “Well, Chris, we were forced to join The Downsides at the risk of our careers ending completely.”

Eddie beats you to it, “The royalty checks are better than they are when you’re in a metal band for one—“ it takes the audience a second to realize this is a joke, but when they do the laugh pays off— “but honestly, I like the stability. What they don’t tell you, kids, is that too much rock and roll can be bad for you.” He says this part directly to the camera with a devilish grin.

“What about you?” Chris turns to you once the laughter subside, “do you miss being a free agent?”

You ignore how pointed that feels and smile in response.

“Not at all, the band has been super welcoming and there’s something really rewarding about working together to make something great happen.”

“Don’t miss your old duet partners at all?” The host needles.

“No, not really. At the risk of sounding cheesy Chris, I think I found my forever duet partner,” you punctuate your response with a pointed smile at Steve.

The audience eats your response up but you can tell that Chris is not ready to let it go. Luckily for you, a well-timed commercial break saves you from further questioning.

When the cameras start rolling once more though and the segment is reintroduced, Chris flashes you a wolfish smile.

“So, does this mean you’ve settled down a bit more, now that you’re a one-duet partner type of gal?”

The question makes your throat run dry because you know that there’s another, much tricker question behind it.

“No, not at all. It’s nice to be a part of something,” you respond placidly.

Chris barely lets you finish before launching into, “well the press sure does miss writing about you! Did you know that, in the last year, you were one of the most mentioned stars on Subrosa, popping up a total of 65 times only rivaled by one Evelyn Hugo in 1967.”

You don’t really know what to say or where this is going but the feeling of dread in your stomach grows.

“In fact,” he continues, “why don’t we play a game that we cooked up with the help of your Subrosa mentions?”

Games were something Chris did with his guests pretty frequently and they varied in execution but in nature there was always something a bit embarrassing to them and tonight was no exception. But instead of going after the band as a whole, this game was targeted specifically at you .

It was a guessing game, “Simple enough,” Chris touted as his assistants bring out giant blown up headshots of various male celebrities, guess which of the men you had been involved with according to the media and which ones you hadn’t been. The joke of course was that you had been linked to all the men whose pictures had been provided.

The looks of shock on your bandmates’ faces perfectly countered the one of self-satisfaction painted on Chris’s smarmy face.

You felt Steve stiffen beside you, leg twitching as if he was getting ready to stand up and leave. Or punch Chris. Before he can, you place a stabilizing leg on his thigh and giving a squeeze. You didn’t want this to diverge into a fight and you refuse to let this vile man make a fool of you on live television.

“Well, this won’t do,” you smirk at Chris. “You only have half of my list out here, Chris! You’re missing quite a few other fellas. I thought you wanted to make this difficult.”

“Oh?” The host is clearly not expecting your response but has no choice to lean in since you clearly have the audience’s attention, “and who could we possibly be missing?”

“The crown prince of Monaco, for starters,” you respond, evenly, “and the entire Harlem Globetrotters ‘83 starting lineup—“ the crowd guffaws at your clear exaggeration, “—and most importantly, this guy,” you reach over to grab Steve’s chin and affectionately squeeze his face. At this, laughter turns into applause and from where you are sitting on the shared couch, you see Chris’s jaw tighten.

“Is there anyone who’s hasn’t made the list?” he cries, trying to turn the joke back on you.

“You, for starters,” you respond playfully, and then add before he can say anything, “but who knows? Maybe this band thing doesn’t work out and in a few years time I’ll become washed up and lower my standards and you and I can give it a shot.”

Before Chris can retort, Steve cuts in with an over-exaggerated, faux-jealous, “what about me?” That kicks off a jokey bit of banter between the three of you that takes the show all the way up to comercial.

***

NANCY: There was a second part to the game.

ROBIN: Yeah, that second thing was just mean. It was essentially the same premise as the first guessing game but instead of guessing different men she had been associated with, it was different nicknames she had been given by the media. They were not very nice names either, “Siren of the Strip”, “Heartbreak of Hollywood”, “Pop Music’s Maneater”, you get the gist.

Of course, like with the last “game” the joke was that it had been all is them.

***

The names had been a surprise. You didn’t know how to react and neither did your bandmates although you’re pretty sure you can feel the heat from Eddie’s glare from the other end of the set.

Still, you kept your cool and immediately admitted that all of them seemed familiar and instead turned the conversation into criticisms of each of the names, which was gaining too many laughs for Chris to try to stop it.

“See this one I don’t like at all,” you say, pointing to Malibu Minx that had been professionally printed on a giant poster board in newspaper font.

“Whys that?” The host asked wolfishly.

“Malibu Minx? Are you serious? Anyone with half a brain knows I’m from the Hills, not Malibu. Honestly, it’s a little insulting.”

“Come on, they can’t be that different,” Chris still plays along, even though your comment did not go where he wanted it to.

“Not at all! The Hills is where all the directors and actors live, Malibu is where divorced dads take their kids during their monthly weekend visits. It’s like, here on the east coast… well, I can’t think of an East Coast equivalent. Chris, help me out, where do you take your kids during your monthly visits?”

***

ROBIN: You should’ve seen his face when she said that.

NANCY: His first divorce had just gone public a few weeks prior. Guess it was still a sore spot. Not that he didn’t deserve it, he did, but he wasn’t used to his guests fighting back like that. The rest of the show was… tense and then after the show ended Palmer lost his cool.

STEVE: Honestly, I wanted to punch the guy since he brought out his stupid little games, but I was willing to leave things as they were that night, especially after she had put Palmer in his place, but we get backstage after the show and he starts yelling at her about having “embarrassed” him or something like he hadn’t essentially called her a bunch of names on live tv. Before any of us could even do anything though, Hopper had him pinned against the wall, saying stuff like “I thought we had come to an agreement about the jokes, Palmer.”

He gave him a good shake down, you know how intimidating Hopper can be. Plus Chris looked like he had never been in a fight in his life so he was shaking in his boots immediately. Security had to come to get Hopper off of him and we were all thrown out after that.

ROBIN: Yeah, we were never asked back after that not that we would’ve gone back.It was a shame for him, really, that 1984 episode of The Nightly Show with Chris Palmer was one of the most viewed episodes in the ten years he was on the air.

***

You return to your hotel room in the early hours of the morning, after having gone for celebratory drinks with Hopper and the rest of the band. Everyone had been thoroughly impressed with the way you had held your own against Chris and even previously-icy Robin seemed impressed and warmed by you.

You hadn’t had much of an opportunity to talk to Eddie throughout the night, something about the undecipherable expression he wore most of the night had left you curious and you couldn’t help but wonder if maybe hearing your entire history splayed out like that in front of him and the rest of the world had soured you and he no longer wants anything to do with you.

As you’re getting ready for bed, the ringing coming from the hotel phone jolts you.

“Hello?” You breathe out, harried and confused into the handset.

“Hey, I didn’t wake you did I?” Eddie’s concerned question statics over the line.

“No,” you respond, relief coloring your tone, “What’s going on?”

“Nothing, really, I was just thinking how hot it was when you told that dickbag off and I was wondering if you’d be up to me showing you that.”

“Showing me what, exactly?”

“Showing you how hot I think you are. If you’re up for it, of course?”

25 minutes later, with Eddie’s face buried messily in your pussy you’re near inching closer to release when you hear him muttering into the soft skin of your thigh while two of his skilled fingers begin pumping in an out of your tight heat.

“You know, if I didn’t know better, seeing you all hot and desperate to come on my fingers like this would make me think you are a minx.”

Hearing him call you that so low and growly, left you burning all over and you keen into his hands. Knowing his words had the intended effect, Eddie smirks into your thigh and speeds up his fingers.

“Only for you,” you respond once you can find your voice again.

Eddie give a low moan at this and in an instant he clamors up onto the bed and moves to replace his fingers with his dick.

“Say that again,” he challenges as he swipes his tip through your folds and you cry out.

“I’m a minx for you,” you nod along to what you’re saying, hoping that it makes him more eager to stop teasing and finally push inside you.

He does exactly as you hoped and pushes his hips into you hungrily, setting a punishing pace, “Only for me right?”

You nod along, fucked out and on the verge of coming agian, “Yes, only for you, Eddie.”

You don’t make it back to your hotel room that night either.

***

MAY 11TH, 1984–BRIDGEPORT, CT—THE UPSIDE DOWN TOUR

“Are you sure the’d still want to meet me?” You ask Steve one evening, brushing your hair standing in the doorway of the door that separated your hotel room from his.

“Yeah, of course! Why do you keep asking that? Wait… do you not want to meet them anymore? It’s okay if you don’t,” Steve is already trying to hide his disappointment.

“No,” you rush to correct as you follow the sound of his voice to the bathroom, “it’s not that at all it’s just that, well with all the Minx stuff in the news, I worry that maybe they won’t think I’m worthy of the Harrington brood or whatever.”

You’re of course referring to the drama that had followed the band’s appearance on the Chris Palmer show where Chris had given an interview to Subrosa after you had affectively embarrassed him on his own show calling the band talentless and you worthy of every bad name that the press could call you and more.

In response to the interview—and partially inspired by your encounter with Eddie following the interview— you had gotten the word ‘Minx’ embroidered on the back of your favorite suede jacket which you made sure to wear to all of your subsequent interviews and media appearances for the rest of the band’s time in New York.

“First of all,” Steve begins, rubbing shaving cream over his chin “neither of my parents would ever dream of reading a gossip magazine and even if they did, they hate Chris Palmer, always said he was too ‘blue’ whatever that means. Plus, historically, dinners with my parents haven’t been the most enjoyable affairs, so having you there would really mean a lot to me.”

You smile understandingly at him through the mirror and suddenly the whole domesticity of it all strikes you. In another life, the two of you could’ve simply been a couple discussing meeting one another’s parents in the bathroom of a shitty apartment the two of you shared.

The fantasy is interrupted abruptly by a bright cacophony of knocks at your door.

“That must be Eddie,” you explained, “he’s coming over to write.”

(He really was.)

With all the fucking the two of you had been doing, writing music had fallen to the wayside and as the end of the tour was insight and Murray’s quota of songs still not met, which meant you had to get writing.

You scramble over to your door and let Eddie in. He almost leans in for a kiss but catches himself when he notices the open door leading into Steve’s room where he is very much watching the interaction with prying eyes.

The two nod at each other in greeting. You linger in the middle between either sides the awkwardness tangible in the air. You look at Eddie’s urging eyes and then flash back to Steve whose puppy dog gaze and newly received information about his parents make you do something that is surprising even to yourself.

“Do you want to help us write, Steve?”

The situation is awkward at first, especially with the glares Eddie seems to shoot you and Steve’s shy insistence that he’s no good at writing music but eventually, after two bottles of wine, the tension subsides, at least a little.

Eddie and you had presented Steve with a few songs that were very close to done but just needed a bit more work on the melody hoping that maybe he had suggestions.

He scans over a song that Eddie had primarily written, “Wild Ride”. Steve had an idea for a rhythm that could match the song and before long, he and Eddie were fully invested, both of them bent over their guitars trying out the rhythm and shooting notes at each other. Arrangement was definitely not your strong suit, however, you were more than happy to watch the two guitarists work

Steve was fascinatingly somber when it came to writing. He would play the notes over and over again until he found what came next, treating the whole thing like a puzzle that needed to be solved and running his hands through his hair when he was particularly stuck on something. His eyes would close while he was thinking, his lashes fluttering on his cheeks and then blinking open prettily when he had finally thought of a solution.

Eddie was much less delicate and would play around with notes, sometimes scrapping what he had all together and starting new. He tucked a pen behind his ear and was constantly scribbling and crossing out. When he focused on playing, his tongue would stick out from the corner of his mouth a bit.

They worked well together, never talked over each other, and were always willing to listen to what the other had come up with. As Eddie would write notes down in his notebook, Steve would lean in really close, so they were almost cheek to cheek looking down at the paper together. It almost seemed like they’d forgotten you were there and you were too busy refining some lackluster choruses to notice.

Eventually, they hit a wall in their writing and more drinks were ordered through room service, and soon the three of you are sprawled across your bed, drinking French 75s and watching a late night marathon of “Night Court”.

“Hey Harrington, you excited to see your folks soon?” Eddie asks during a comercial break.

You turn to look and see Steve grimace at the question. You know Eddie means well in asking, but the question ruffles Steve nonetheless.

“Not really. We were never really close on account of them sending me away to boarding school when I was eleven and then when we were together my dad’s favorite pastime was criticizing me and my mom’s was drinking,” Steve says, finally, “seeing them once a year is probably the most I can stand, honestly.”

A beat of silence settles over the group before Eddie finally speaks.

“Sorry to hear that man. If it makes you feel better, my folks weren’t exactly parents of the year either,” Eddie responds.

“That sucks, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it, my uncle took me in. He’s a great guy. What about you, Princess? Were your parents the perfect image of love and support?”

You scoff. “Barely. I went back to their house right before the tour started, to get some of my things, and they thought I was breaking in and called the cops.”

“Well,” Eddie bristles, “looks like being a terrible parent can happen across all tax brackets, huh?”

“Yeah, we kinda got fucked over, a bit,” you say and the other two murmur in agreement.

The three of you stay silent for a bit, processing what had been shared and how to possibly move past such a heavy topic.

It’s Steve who finally breaks the silence, “Do you guys think Dan and Christine will ever get together?”

“Oh, yeah.” “Definitely.”

***

“This restaurant is obscenely nice,” you shift uncomfortable in your chair, taking in the surrounds and the unfamiliar unease of being somewhere where you felt out of place. Of course, you had grown up in fine dining establishments in California, but East Coast wealth seemed like a different beast entirely.

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Robin huffs next to you, “but what else can you expect from Stan and Carolyn? They’re obsessed with letting everyone know how rich they are.”

She of course, had the advantage of knowing Steve’s parents after over a decade of friendship and it made sense that Steve, wanting as much of a buffer between himself and his parents during this dinner, had invited her along as well. So far, she had only been a little hostile towards you which was a personal victory.

The two of you spot Steve entering the restaurant at the same time along with two middle-aged companions that, based off resemblance alone, you knew were his parents.

Steve’s father had the same starkly defined chin and nose as his son, but none his face didn’t turn up into a natural smile like his son. He stood stately and stern, eyes surveying the room with little interest. His wife, Steve’s mother, was made up of refined, delicate features offset by the bright eyes that were clearly passed on to her son. Her entire outfit was meticulously perfect in a way that almost seemed artificial.

Steve introduces you with fanfare and pride that you don’t consider yourself worthy of but you smile along anyway and graciously shake Mr. Harrington’s hand and exchange dotted cheek kisses with Mrs. Harrington.

You exchange niceties and think to yourself maybe they won’t be so bad.

“Stan, Carolyn, it’s so nice to see you again,” Robin grits out through a tight smile.

Carolyn pats her on the shoulder in response and says,, “Please dear, call us Mr. and Mrs. Harrington. We’re out in public after all.”

***

ROBIN: Yeah, Carolyn and Stan hated me. It was like they could smell the gay on me. Or the poor. From the moment Steve had invited me over to spend spring break with them in the Hamptons they did not like me. They despised the idea of their son’s best friend being some scholarship kid whose parents were public school teachers. However bad they were to me though, they were far worse to Steve, which is why I ever even bothered going to these lunches. I didn’t want him to have to suffer through them alone.

***

“Sorry we’re late,” Mr. Harrington drawls as the three of them take their seats at the table, “our idiotic son forgot to bring cash for the valet.” His statement is punctuated by a mirthless laugh and you can tell by the matching expressions on Steve and Robin’s faces and the way Mrs. Harrington makes a grab for the bottle of wine on the table that this level of disparagement is normal for the Harrington household. You remember the comment Steve had made a few nights ago about his father’s favorite pastime

“Don’t worry,” you respond with a smooth smile, “we’re so used to having drivers back in LA—“ a lie “—I can see why Steve forgot about valet. Although, I’m sure you both know what that’s like.”

Mr. Harrington stalled. Everyone at the table—including you—knew that the Harringtons were nowhere near wealthy enough to afford personal drivers but if there was one thing insecure men, like Stan Harrington would never do is admit that they couldn’t afford something.

You were familiar with these types of ego games from your youth, although you took no pleasure in them.

Your youth was spent tucked into your mothers skirts during luncheons and tea and fashion fittings, listening as the women would eviscerate each other with laser-edge precision. If there was anything your mother had taught you was how to sow the seeds of insecurity in someone and although it did not come naturally, you could make an exception for Stan Harrington.

***

ROBIN: It was easy to forget most of the time that she came from money but damn, the way she handled Stan that night made me think that some politician was missing out on having her as their cutthroat third wife. It was like watching an artist paint or someone do sleight of hand magic. He would say something mean about Steve and she would just turn it right back around on him but she would be smiling and batting her eyes the entire time. Even with that though, it wasn’t an easy lunch to get through.

***

“It’s so nice that Stevie was able to make something of himself through his little music,” Carolyn fawns. She means well, for the most part, but the four glasses of wine she’s downed during the last twenty minutes makes her words come out just a tad but demeaning.

Her husband sneers in response, “You say that now, Carolyn, but soon he’ll be back here asking for a spot in the firm.”

“Hopefully not too soon,” you giggle in response running a hand alongside Steve’s arm, “the studio wants us recording our second album as soon as we get back and then we’ll be touring again and we’ll need him for that.”

“But darling, you can’t possibly expect to do that for the rest of your life,” Mrs. Harrington sighs, “eventually the two of you will want to settle down and have children, live a normal life.”

“Well, yeah Mom, but that’ll be a long time down the road—“

“Making music is our life, we don’t want to ever stop—“

You and Steve halt your explanation once you realize what the other is saying. The two of you exchange blank, confused looks and it’s not until Robin says, “I’m sure that they’ll decide what their next move is when the time comes. We still have plenty of time.” That the two of you jolt back into the conversation.

“Right,” you add, “plus with the royalties deal we just secured on this new album, we will be pretty stable financially.”

The rest of the lunch is spent fielding Mr. Harrington’s questions about financials and Mrs. Harrington’s questions about grandchildren. It’s exhausting but the three of you come out mostly unscathed.

The five of you part ways outside of the restaurant, and not a moment too soon. The wave of relief that washes over the three of you once the Harringtons have been sent on their way in a taxi is palpable.

You and Robin offer to buy Steve a drink for having survived the lunch and Steve offers to buy the two of you a drink as a thank you for playing roles in that. Soon, one drink each turns into multiple rounds of drinks spent recounting all the agonizing points of the lunch.

This leaves the three of you stumbling into your hotel in the early hours of the evening, completely and utterly drunk. You ride the elevator together, a mess of laughter and then bid goodbye to one another in front of Robin’s door. She’s ready to sleep off the drinking and you do not blame her.

This leaves you and Steve to stumble back to your joint rooms together.

“You know, seeing you today having dinner with my parents and my best friend almost made the whole thing feel real,” Steve says lowly, standing in your doorway.

“Steve don’t,” you plea softly.

“I just don’t get it,” he cries in response, “we would be so good together. We are good together: we have so much in common and we just make sense, everyone thinks so except for you. Just… tell me why wouldn’t you give us a shot?”

You’re in your room now, perched on the edge of the bed , teary eyes focused on everything in the room other than the man who stands in front of you.

“Steve that’s not fair. It’s just never going to work, why can’t you accept that?”

“Because I’m in love with you,” Steve blurts out, “and I know I may not be your first choice, but if you give me a chance I will prove that I’m good enough—“

“Steve, stop please don’t say that, you’re plenty good enough for anyone,” you stand now, to face him.

“Just not you,” he says devastated.

“No, listen, it’s not like that. I just, I don’t know if I can be with someone in the way that you want me to, okay? You want someone to eventually settle down with and I’m not that girl. I’m the fucking Minx for God’s sake not someone’s future wife. In another life maybe, we could’ve made each other very happy, who knows? But in this one, I can’t be what you want.”

The two of you stand there in silence for what feels like an eternity. Finally, Steve moves, walking past you to sit in your vanity chair.

“Is there someone else you have feelings for?” He asks, timidly.

“No, no,” you insist. “I told you, I don’t do that.”

He laughs mirthlessly in response, “I think you’re wrong about that. I think you’ll find someone, maybe not now or in a year or in five years, but eventually you will find someone and they will make you want to try and you will love them and I will have to watch you fall in love with them and we will both realize I was just not worth it.”

PLAY NEXT TRACK🎤

Taglist: @rexorangecouny , @persophonekarter @mystargirl-interlude @brinleighsstuff @thegaysaretired @nothing2-see @harrysvirgogf @Prior-antidote @stardustofyesterday @buckleyverse

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zodiacmac · 27 days

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mortgage off your soul to buy your dream | steve harrington/eddie munson. rock band/rock star au. 2/3 chapters currently completed, posting third soon.

steve and eddie are brought together by their two labels merging and are forced to work together on music. enemies to friends to....muses? original songs and articles as world-building tools. basically eddie is a renowned lyricist who writes for his own band and many other artists, but has always held distaste for steve from afar because of the kind of music he makes.

“You’ll be working on Steve’s upcoming album together,” Hopper says, blowing smoke from his cigar directly towards Eddie, who feels a tickle in his throat from breathing it in. Eddie watches in dismay as Murray nods along to what Hopper is saying like they’ve discussed this already and have decided Eddie’s fate for him, as though he were a child they’ve been saddled with. With Steve, it’s clear that he acts like a child, so of course they’ve not consulted with him about this beforehand. Eddie, though, he’s not some whiny, entitled diva who’s losing fans faster than Murray’s hairline has been receding. He doesn’t deserve this.

“Because science has not yet allowed us the ability to combine Steve’s juvenile idealism with your radical pessimism to create one semi-talented stage performer with somewhat-intelligible lyrics, we’re settling for this.” Hopper pauses to look at Harrington, who appears to be gazing distractedly out of Hopper’s dusty window.

[spotify mix for them for which i made this cover art. ]

#just realized i haven't even attempted to keep up with linking my writing on here in literal years #steddie fic #steddie #steve x eddie #steve harrington/eddie munson #steve harrington #eddie munson #my writing

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isntitdelicatevivi · 5 months

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﹙𝓙 ﹚𝐉𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐲 ! 𝐀emond | Modern AU.

⠀⠀⠀⠀──────────── 🥀

♡ ◟𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚 : You are a rock star. You, Aegon and Aemond are part of a band, and Aemond discovers that you are having sex with Aegon too, and he wants exclusivity. Chapter 1 (?).

♡ ◟𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 : 18+, rough sex, jealous sex, dirty talk, rage sex, fingering.

English is not my first language, sorry.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀───────────────── 🥀

It all started when she was fifteen. When her parents told her she would be a failure, and then, suddenly, as if her subconscious wanted to play a trick on her, she put her insecurities aside and began to work on herself. "I've never heard a voice like yours," was what her first singing teacher had said to her. "It's the kind of voice that deserves to be heard," was one of the comments from one of the vocal coaches who had examined her. And then, everything seemed to make sense. Even when she played alone in the empty parking lot of a shopping mall, or when she played in a bar, to a unique group of drunk men. Part of her was there just for the music, but the other part wanted more. She also wanted fame.

"You've got an email," said her roommate, in the first month of college, close to her seventeenth birthday, when she had almost lost hope that music would really work out. And that she would have to convince herself that the covers for the internet were nothing more than just fun. She clung to the thought that not every artist makes it to the top and becomes the bright star everyone wants to see. But... Her feelings weren't buried that deep, not at all. And she only realized this when she read the email. It came from a discreet agency, an email dictated and sent personally, to the next toy of two Targaryens.

The fusion of Aegon, Aemond, and her occurred like the awakening of a future in music, of course, initially there were those who said that real talent was not the band's strong suit, that Aemond and Aegon, the two brothers; sons of the most powerful man in Westeros, were there only because of nepotism and the name they carried, and were using a promising and innocent young woman to divert the spotlight from their own lack of humility. Whether that was the case or not, people cared little after the first album. Obviously, money is power, and influence as well, some strings were pulled, but it became undeniable that they were indeed artists. And it all started with an email one April afternoon. And after that, she finally got what she wanted, the fame. Which, coincidentally, was one of the ways to prove her worth to her own family.

Being a rock star always meant a lot to her, it wasn't just about getting on stage, holding a microphone, and rocking out. There were also sore throats, calluses on the vocal cords, rehearsals, constant visits to doctors, singing teachers, and vocal coaches, hours on the treadmill, singing and running at the same time to train her breath, the exhaustion of always being in the camera's crosshairs, and a newly discovered lack of peace, but somehow, she survived all this, because deep down, she liked it.

The credit, however, was not solely in the peculiar ability she had to deal with fame, it was also in Aegon, and Aemond. At the beginning, when they met, there was a period of awkwardness between them, after all, it’s not every day that two "heirs" send you an email with a job proposal, which besides, was the realization of your dreams. But as the days passed, the pieces fell into place.

Aegon was funny; he was always cracking jokes in the studio, he was the one who would finish off the donuts, and who frequently fell asleep in the middle of a recording, with a cigarette between his fingers. He was the one who was always late to appointments, and somehow, he managed to make the situation funny.

He was also the one who dragged them to the most expensive clubs, to strip clubs, and other unhealthy places, where drugs became common. Aegon was like the sunshine, warm; cheerful, vivid, even with his negative sides, such as the obvious substance abuse, mommy issues, and depression; which turned into a joke for him. But within him resided a certain grace. Which was the perfect opposite of Aemond.

Aemond was cold, and distant. He hardly ever spoke, preferring to let the perfect sound of his guitar speak for him. He plucked the guitar strings like no one else, and was strictly professional when they were in the studio. He rarely smiled, not at Aegon's jokes, nor when she looked at him and stuck out her tongue, a common playfulness between the two; he was reserved, quiet, and yet, she could read him like a sad and somber book.

Aemond was like the midnight rain, cold, dark, frightening. And yet, beautiful. Perhaps it was Aemond's austere personality, or the way Aegon showed up high in the studio every day, or how Aemond liked to flick his fingers in the air, as if his muscle memory didn't want to stray from the guitar, or how Aegon was responsible for making her smoke her first joint, or how Aemond looked much more handsome without the patch over his glass eye, or how Aegon's stubble pricked her cheek when he kissed her... It was something between that, which made her fall deeply in love with them. And as the wise Katherine Pierce once said, "It's okay to love them both."

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀─────────────────

The flashes hit her face non-stop, so much time had passed since the first time she had to face the paparazzi, and yet, she never got used to it. The published photos always left her a nervous wreck, capturing her grimaces, or her face missing; she always told herself she would try to smile next time, but she never could. The car smelled of cheap cigarettes and sweet, exaggerated feminine perfume; it was always like this when she entered the car, the odor of smoke and sex greeted her much better than Aemond.

─ How did the photos go? ─ Aegon asked, sitting on the left side, his legs spread as if he owned the car, his silver-white hair was disheveled, and he held a glass of champagne in his hand, it was always a day for toasting for him. Hickeys were spread across the milky skin of his neck; it wasn't a surprise, and no one needed to know that those marks were actually hers.

─ I kind of had to wear a weird outfit. ─ She replied, sitting in front of them. She pulled down her skirt because the fabric insisted on riding up, and she was almost certain that it was intentional.

─ I saw. You looked like a slut. ─ The voice from the right side echoed. Aemond. His legs were crossed, and he held a book resting on his knee, not looking at her, not needing to and not even bothering. His long hair was tied up in a sort of messy bun, and the fringe fell over the patch on his eye.

─ Thank you? ─ She asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise, unsure whether that was supposed to be a compliment or an insult. ─ I'm going to be on the cover of KL Magazine. ─ She added, a smile spreading across her plump lips. Being on the cover of a magazine as prestigious as KL was like receiving a handshake from a king; she was so radiant that her glow spread throughout the car.

─ Fuck, wow! You're hot, this is going to be a hit. We should celebrate. ─ Aegon winked at her. His tongue gently passed over his lips, and she was almost certain she knew what kind of celebration he was talking about.

─ I'd rather throw myself in front of the nearest car than have any kind of 'celebration' with you guys. ─ Aemond replied, his sharp words cutting through her mood. He didn't even compliment her, and that definitely upset her. For a moment she even forgot Aegon's teasing, and how his tongue had passed over his own lips, which reminded her of how that same tongue so deliciously passed over her clit.

─ Gods, what's gotten into you today? Need a lay? ─ Aegon asked, a sarcastic laugh coming from him as he topped up his alcohol reserve with another bottle of champagne.

─ As you and her have been doing? No, thanks. Besides, you don't moan as quietly as you think. ─ For the first time since getting in the car, Aemond looked at her. That single shining violet eye, which seemed to hunt the secrets of her soul, pierced her reddened cheeks before shifting back to the page of the book.

An awkward silence echoed in the car, the sound of the wheels sliding on the streets, and the traffic seemed much louder now. She didn’t know what to say because she knew exactly what that meant. Aegon didn’t know she was also sleeping with Aemond. And Aemond didn’t know she was sleeping with Aegon. Well, apparently he knew now.

She always tried to maintain a relationship with both; it was common sense that a woman like her couldn’t ignore them. Each had their own charm, their foolproof method of seduction, and each had managed to take her to bed. In the beginning, it was easy to hide one from the other; they never even suspected that she was involved with both at the same time.

But Aemond, unlike Aegon, wasn’t so foolish; she should have foreseen that he would find out sooner or later. Aegon wouldn’t have the capacity to notice the tension between them after Aemond’s remarks, but she knew that the way he spoke indicated indignation and jealousy. A lot of jealousy.

─ Tsk. Jealous, Aemond? I bet you would like to make her moan too. Don’t be dramatic. As if you don’t ruin the mood everywhere you go as it is. ─ Her heart froze when the words "I bet you would like to make her moan too" came out of Aegon’s mouth. And mentally she cursed him for saying that so deliberately.

─ If it were with me. I bet she’d moan louder than with you... ─ Aemond murmured, and she saw him focus his eye on her again, like a subliminal message of what was true. Her hands began to sweat, and looking through the window, a sudden urge to throw herself from the car crossed her thoughts.

─ Can you stop talking about me as if I'm not here? Thank you. I think I have the right to do certain things, since as far as I remember I'm not committed to anyone. But, thanks for the heads-up, Aemond. ─ Although it wasn't a lie, she knew this would be held against her later. She didn’t have a serious commitment with Aemond, but they had spent so many nights together that it felt as if they did.

The journey to the hotel was uncomfortably silent after that. Nothing more was discussed among them, but she could almost read Aemond's dark thoughts and Aegon's lascivious ones. The elevator felt as hot and cramped as the car after what happened; for the first time, she felt claustrophobic and all she wanted was to throw herself on her soft bed and sleep until it was time to catch the flight the next morning. However, things never go as she wants, why would today be different?

─ I’m hungry. Anyone want to order something? ─ Aegon announced, as he threw himself on the nearest sofa, pulling out a crumpled pack of cigarettes and a cheap lighter from his pocket.

─ Ah... I’ll take Dornish food. ─ She said, trying to sound casual; she wasn't, however. Not at all.

─ I don’t like Dornish food. Can we order something from the cuisine of Essos? ─ Aemond replied with a sarcastic snort. His fingers stuffed in his pants pockets as he leaned against the wall. She looked at him, one eyebrow raised, trying to understand his argument, since she knew he did indeed like Dornish food.

─ I like Dornish food, I thought you- ─ Her words were cut off when she felt Aegon's firm hands pull her by the waist, dragging her in a quick motion onto his lap. Her cheeks burned instantly, not because she was embarrassed, but because she knew this would increase the jealousy and anger that Aemond must have been feeling.

─ Relax, babe. We can order both Dornish and Essos food, I don't mind. ─ Aegon said, his fingers sliding down to her hips, pulling her deeper into his lap. His right hand rested on one of her thighs, gently caressing the area. Although she wasn't looking directly at Aemond, she could feel his gaze piercing through them.

─ Great. Just don’t start making out while I’m still here. ─ She heard the loud snort that came from Aemond's lips. Of course, that was the reason for all the bad mood. And Aegon being far from discovering it made everything worse.

He stood up, leaving her seated on the cushion, a bold slap on her thigh made her shiver, and she had to look away to not see the expression on Aemond’s face when Aegon did that.

─ I'm going to the restaurant downstairs. Try not to kill each other, and don't light up any joints without me. ─ Aegon's footsteps echoed out of the room. Her body tensed on the upholstery as the door closed, and she knew she was alone with Aemond. The silence was beyond uncomfortable, it was torturous.

─ Aren't we going to talk about the elephant in the room? ─ Aemond finally said something. But she still couldn't look at him. ─ Fine, then I'll talk. What the fuck is this? You're sleeping with my brother? ─ His tone of voice wasn't the friendliest. She had witnessed it a few times, when he and Aegon would argue over the lyrics of a song, and she had to intervene before they started hitting each other.

─ Aemond... I— She was interrupted. Her bones trembled when she felt his hand grab her by the jaw, forcing her to look at him. His fingers were pressing, and she couldn't resist the thrill that ran through her when he did that.

─ Look at me, damn it! ─ He said, pushing her face back as soon as their eyes were fixed on each other. She felt her adjacent jaw ache, but it was the kind of pain she liked.

─ Aemond, I'm not going to be the 'I can explain' type of person, but... I don't know, it just... happened, the same way it did with us...

─ It happened... You blinked and suddenly you were with your legs open on his bed?

─ Aemond... I... What do you want me to say? Do you want me to apologize? I will, but I don’t understand why you're acting like we had something serious. ─ She stood up from the sofa, slowly making her steps toward him. His figure seemed imposing there. So tall and serious.

─ Was it just once? ─ He didn't even need a verbal answer; the way her lips tightened said it all. ─ How long? ─ She stayed silent, she didn’t know what to say, or rather, how to say it. ─ How fucking long?! ─ He shouted this time, his loud voice made her knees tremble, and she felt her clit throb; it was strange, but the way he reacted turned her on.

─ It was before you... ─ She finally answered, biting her lips nervously. She would probably leave there without Aemond, or maybe without both if he told Aegon too. But now the damage was done. She heard him snort.

─ What the hell... You were already with him when you slept with me for the first time? What are you? A whore? Are you so selfish and greedy that you needed both of us? What the fuck... I don’t even know what to say because now all that comes to my mind is you fucking with Aegon and then coming to fuck with me! ─ His voice was so loud, she thought maybe they would receive a call from the hotel reception, asking if everything was okay. She clenched her fingers, and crossed her knees softly, trying to contain the wetness that began to form in her pussy. ─ Fuck... You’re turned on...

─ What? ─ She looked up at him, shaking her head in denial as she watched him approach dangerously.

─ You cross your knees when you’re turned on. I know that because I always leave you like this. ─ His fingers grabbed her jaw again, pulling her closer to him. She could feel his hot breath against her face, he was fuming with anger, his eye closed over that proximity, and she felt his forehead pressing against hers as he squeezed her harder. ─ You’re such a whore...─ He whispered. Before kissing her. His lips pressed so hard against hers that her lower lip hurt. She could feel his tongue pushing into her throat violently, and yet, it was an exciting kiss.

Aemond's free hand clutched the hem of her skirt, and he used the fabric to pull her closer to him, pressing her small body against his aggressively. His lips devoured hers mercilessly, her jaw was weak from the grip and how he forcibly kissed her, the sensation was pleasurable, and she could already feel her panties wet, and her clit throbbing with such suggestively violent interaction. Aemond pulled away, his lips moist with saliva, as were hers, she supposed, he looked her deep in the eyes before gently pulling back.

─ Is it Aegon you want? You can have him as many times as you want... But first, I'm going to fuck you so hard you'll remember me when you're with him, you little slut. ─ His hand slid from her jaw to her nape, and he pushed her aggressively onto the coffee table in front of the sofa. His fingers dug into her skin, making her lean against the cold glass, her cheek stuck to the table, as well as her stomach, her knees were forced to bend, and she found herself completely vulnerable to him.

And this excited her even more. Without any care, Aemond pulled her skirt down, the buttons broke with the force he used to strip the clothing from her body, leaving it tangled at the bend of her knees. His fingers gently brushed her ass, like a gentle caress, before he gave her a strong slap on one of the cheeks. A soft moan escaped her lips, her fingers clutched the edges of the table as she tried to look at him from the corner of her eyes.

─ What's the matter? Prefer it when Aegon is slapping you, whore? I bet he doesn't even know how to do it the way you like...─ Another strong slap burned her ass, making her moan again. She could hear a soft laugh escape Aemond's lips, the way he was enjoying this only drove her crazier.

─ Aemond... ─ He pushed her harder against the glass before she could speak, squeezed her ass tightly, almost burying his fingers in her soft skin.

─ No 'Aemond' bullshit. I don't want to hear you say anything unless I tell you to, got it? You only speak when I tell you to. ─ He said, delivering another slap, even stronger on her ass. ─ Did you fucking got it? ─ She nodded immediately, making him release her just a bit.

He grabbed the start of her panties and pulled them down, making them slide down her thighs. A sigh, leaning more towards a moan, escaped Aemond's lips, and his fingers slid up to her tight pussy.

─ Your panties are soaked... Is this how Aegon leaves you? Or is it because of me? Or maybe... You're such a greedy slut that you're thinking about both of us fucking you at the same time. ─ At the end of the sentence, Aemond slipped a finger inside her, she was so wet that his finger was swallowed by her cunt, her walls tightened around his finger, prompting him to insert a second finger. Hearing her moan from this, he began to thrust his fingers rapidly inside her.

─ Aemond... Please... ─ His hand moved from her nape to her hair, he wrapped her strands around his fist and pulled hard back, making her cheek lift off the table.

─ What did I say about you speaking? I said you speak when I tell you to, bitch. I'm not fucking Aegon, if you don't obey me, there will be consequences. ─ His fingers began to move faster inside her, the sound of the thrusts caused by her wetness became audible in the room, along with the whiny moans escaping her lips. His other hand tightened around her locks, pulling her hair even harder.

Aemond pulled his fingers out of her after a few more thrusts, soaked with her juices, he knew they were sweet, he loved her smell, her taste, but now, he was too angry to focus on those details. His wet fingers passed around her lips, before he pushed the two fingers into her mouth, down her throat, making her softly gag.

─ Now. I'm going to fuck you. And I want to hear you moan loud. ─ He said while swirling his fingers inside her mouth, pressing his own body behind hers. She could feel his erection rubbing against her ass through the fabric of his jeans.

Aemond released her hair, also removing his fingers from her mouth. His hands moved to the buttons on his own pants, and he quickly opened his jeans, pulling them down just enough for what he wanted, along with his boxers. His hard cock freed from the fabric prison it was in, and she could already feel the tip touching her wet cunt. His fingers embraced his own erection, and he gently stroked it while looking at her ass, and the few red marks he had already left there.

─ Does he fuck you with a condom? Or are you so slut that you ask him not to use one?... Either way, I'm going to fuck you without one today, and I'm going to cum inside you until every drop of me is buried in your pussy. ─ Using his own hand, he dragged his cock across her pussy, making the length rub against her lips, brushing her clit, moans returned to the room, each time he rubbed against her, and only the tip of his cock bumped into her cunt. Finally, Aemond positioned himself at her, pushing everything in all at once. Her fingers gripped the edges of the table more firmly, and a louder moan escaped her lips, feeling him hit the right spots inside her on the first thrust. A pleasurable sigh escaped Aemond's lips, and he stayed still for a moment.

─ So tight... You got me addicted to your pussy... ─ He thrust hard at the end of the sentence, stopping again. ─ Made me fuck it every week... ─ And then another thrust, and another pause. ─ And I find out you were doing the same with that jerk... But even he won’t fuck you better than I do... ─ And finally, his hips began to move, thrusting several times inside her, the sound of his skin slamming against hers soon became audible, along with his panting breath and her moans. His hips moved faster and harder, hitting the pleasure spots inside her, making her tighten around him, which resulted in soft grunts from him. His fingers grabbed her hair again, holding it like reins in his hands, and pulling harder as he fucked her.

─ Who’s fucking you now, bitch? Speak! Say my name. ─ He said between pleasurable sighs, delivering another hard slap on her ass, his cock burying deep inside her with each thrust. But it wasn’t enough for him; he went faster, harder. The sounds became louder, as did his hunger.

─ Aemond! It's you... Gods... Aemond! ─ She moaned pleasurably, her teeth sunk into her lips, trying to control the loud moans that escaped because of the series of violent thrusts he was giving her, but it was impossible.

─ That’s right, little slut... I’m going to make you scream my name... ─ He released her hair, placing both hands on her shoulders, and using them as leverage to go even deeper inside her. She felt her womb being destroyed with Aemond's strong thrusts, every part of her body ached in pleasure with what he was doing. Her legs were already trembling and her knees hurt from being propped on the hard floor, but she didn’t care, she wanted this. She deserved this. The sound of their skin colliding filled the room, her moans were as good and pleasurable for Aemond as her music, her voice was absurdly perfect in every aspect, but he should have been the only one to appreciate her moans like this. Or so he thought.

─ Aemond... I’m almost... I’m close... ─ She whispered, her voice hoarse with pleasure, she tried to cling to the table, but her fingers were too trembling for that. Her eyes were already closed and she allowed herself to be guided to heaven, when she felt the climax on the edge of her senses.

─ What did you say? Did I just hear you're going to cum? That’s right... Cum, bitch... Cum on my cock while I fuck you... ─ His voice was as pleasurably suggestive as hers, he bit his lower lip while squeezing her shoulders, the sensation of her walls crushing him with each thrust was incredible, and he would never admit it out loud, but she was the first woman who made him feel so alive.

His hands moved down her back, grabbed her hips, and in a swift movement he pushed her to the floor, placing her back on the carpet, and her eyes fixed on him. It hardly seemed humanly possible that he could switch positions like that without coming out of her, but he did, as if his own body refused to let her go.

─ I want you to look at me while you’re cumming... I want to see your face when you get there screaming my name... ─ His hand circled her throat, squeezing excitingly while he used the other hand for support on the floor, continuing the firm thrusts, her parted lips left moans behind, as she did everything to keep her eyes fixed on him, but it seemed almost impossible, especially when her body trembled intensely, and the orgasm arrived.

─ Aemond! ─ She shouted, exactly as he said she would, the spasms hitting her in an extremely pleasurable way, her fingers clutched the wrist of his hand on her neck, digging her nails into his skin, her back arched and she made clear how intense that orgasm was. Aemond's hips continued, moving violently inside her, deeper and harder each time.

─ Yes... That's it, slut... ─ He whispered, feeling the juices of her orgasm soak the carpet and his pants as he continued thrusting hard into her. The grip on her throat tightened, and he let the full weight of his body fall on hers, burying his face in the strands of her hair spread on the floor as he also came. His lips were glued to her ear, and soft moans escaped his mouth, making her shiver even more. The thrusts slowed down in rhythm, and she felt every drop of his seed fill her.

His breathing was panting, just like hers, both seemed to have run a marathon, their bodies sprawled on the floor, him on top of her, still buried deep inside her, but with his hips now stopped. His fingers did not release her throat, but she no longer cared. Her mind was smoke, she could only focus on the intoxicating sensation of post-orgasm, and remember everything that happened there. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, and with her eyes open, she watched on Aemond's face, the most cruelly victorious smile she had ever seen.

─ You're mine... This pussy is mine... Understand? ─ He whispered, his warm breath on her ear, making her shiver. She closed her eyes again, and nodded gently, trying to swallow her own saliva, with his hand pressed on her throat.

─ Good girl... I hope this doesn't happen again... It's me or him. ─ It sounded authoritative, it sounded serious. Part of her wanted to accept the terms, but another part did not. What harm was there in having both? She loved them equally, there was no room for doubt, she had spent time getting to know them, on and off stage, she knew she liked them, and she knew she couldn’t lose either of them.

But she also knew that it would be a tough time trying to convince them of that. She chose not to respond, but Aemond couldn't tell if it was because of exhaustion, or not. So he let it go. In a sweet gesture, he kissed her lips softly, releasing the fingers from her neck and taking them to her cheek, which he caressed gently. It seemed like a good moment, it was romantic, his lips on hers felt right. But... It all ended when...

─ What the fuck is this?! ─ Aegon arrived.

To be continued?

#aemond fanfiction #hotd aemond #aemond targaryen #aemond x reader #ewan mitchell #house of the dragon #fanfic #modern #rockstar boyfriend #aegon ii targaryen #tom glynn carney

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hyuuukais · 1 year

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✧˖°ʚ🍓ɞ♡ SUNSHINE AND STRAWBERRIES

pairing ☆ lee felix x fem reader

synopsis ☆ Y/N is a new streamer. after months of planning, and her best friend & now fellow streamer han jisung convincing her, she makes a twitch and youtube account. thanks to jisung giving her a shoutout to his own huge following, she gains some unexpected overnight fame. but what was more unexpected was waking up to see her long-time favourite comfort streamer _sunshine.bbokari_ following her.

warnings ☆ mention of sick, mention of bleeding, swearing

[TAGLIST -> CLOSED]

MASTERLIST | PREVIOUS | NEXT

☆partially written, 8 screenshots☆

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT ☆ MILESTONES

"Honey-" Felix swerved a few people stumbling into his path. "I've been looking for you."

"And I've been looking for you!" You shout over the loud music, rhythm thumping in your chest. "I wanted to see your pretty face."

You laugh at the blush spreading across his freckled cheeks, playfully poking his nose. He smiles shyly, hand snaking down your arm to hold your hand gently.

"You look beautiful."

"I look the same way I always do," You shrug.

"Exactly."

You're about to reply when you're interrupted by shouting to your right. In front of the kitchen island is Jisung, getting right up on top. Chan and Changbin hang nearby, you notice, a knowing smile on your face.

"Can I get everybody's attention pleeeease!" He lifts his cup into the air, other hand holding a microphone. Below him are boxes covered in black sheets, guarded by the other two. "So I know this is a party Jeongin put together to celebrate me hitting one million, which, by the way, I'm so incredibly grateful for! However, I have another announcement." Jisung gestures to Chan and Changbin. "We have an announcement."

Carefully, he steps down from the island, crowd moving out of the way for others to see.

"This Sunday, we're releasing an album that's been in the works for the past months. Our baby," Jisung looks down at his feet, a small smile gracing his features. "You'll be able to find our music on all platforms under the name '3racha', and you'll all be gifted one of these."

Finally, Chan and Changbin move, removing the black sheets off the boxes to reveal multiple copies of their album. A few boxes contain CD'S, and others vinyl records, all of them signed.

An excited cheer goes through the crowd and you couldn't stop smiling. You know how much this meant to your best friend, that it had always been his dream to make music with the people he loved. You want to congratulate him, but as soon as he finished talking, the crowd moved into the island.

"I'm so happy for them!" You turn to look at Felix, but he was already looking at you with stars in his eyes.

"Me too," He nods, smiling wide, leaning in to press a kiss on your cheek.

notes ☆ FINALLY IT'S OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED ‼️‼️ and finally rising stars is dead and mari has left the internet

taglist ☆ @marcillfll @toplinelix @neri-ner @tfshouldidohere @imasimplol @samvagejkflxhrt @yennifersgeralt @aestheticsluut @evermourning @tenebrisirae @roseidol @veryjeongintxtkid @amara-mars @chrizzlaptop @bmnyy @sheeshhhhfelixsworld @ellelabelle @gini143 @mrsseals16 @veedoesntknaur @channiesstars @daydreamer5006 @luvvvash @amesification @skzswife @blamemef0rit @soulphoenix1618 @lovingmny @stvrfir3 @boo-ven9eance @adestayskz @rag-iii @enchantedgrunge @mytherapisttoldmenotto @strawberry-dreamland @oh-my-fancan @lucktales @cookielino @fantasyaddict123 @sleeplessmin @alexxxxxthebitxh @flirtyskzbutterfly @vixensss @hannahs-docx @hash2013 @lovestayforev @sserafimez @theblindhag @liknws @hannahhbahng

pink means i can't tag you

#✧˖°ʚ🍓ɞ♡ SUNSHINE AND STRAWBERRIES #skz #stray kids #skz smau #social media au #lee felix x reader #stray kids smau #lee felix #lee felix x fem reader #non idol felix #non idol au #stray kids streamer au #felix streamer au #streamer au

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starburstfloat · 8 months

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Let's Talk Innuendos and Queer Subtext: TXT's Poppin' Star Lyrics Analysis

One of the joys of making progress in my Korean language journey has been the ability to analyze lyrics more critically by dissecting tone, word choice, or rhyme schemes that would have otherwise slipped by me a few years ago. And as someone who has a deep love for literary analysis and kpop, there's an unparalleled joy in getting to bridge the two together. I'm happy I have this space to do that. So without further ado, let's take a look at TXT's Poppin' Star from their first full-length album, The Dream Chapter: Magic (thank you nika for requesting this!).

This song feels like a sonic representation of this memefied image:

It's literally bubblegum pop at its finest. It sounds sparkly, cute, uplifting, and deceptively adorable, and anyone who has seen the choreography can attest to watching the video with a ridiculous smile on their face.

I could give high praise endlessly about this underrated early TXT Bside, but I wanted to prioritize the lyrics for this post! We're going to talk about the superficial meaning of the song before we dissect some of the more suggestive, metaphorical elements. Heads up I'll be mentioning sexual innuendos, so if that's not your cup of tea then please kindly leave.

My goal is to get you to see that, at the very least, this song is not just about eating candy. Whether or not we agree on the queer subtext is another debate, but I'm hoping this analysis post can be a lesson on interpreting figurative language and grasping inneundos.

Whenever I do analysis, I always start with the surface level face-value of what's being presented, and then I try to peel the layers and discern the underlying themes or suggested connotations based on context clues. Usually I leave out the initial face-value in my posts because it's something so obvious that it feels contradictory to present it. But it feels relevant to include for Poppin' Star. So what is the face-value meaning of the song when we look at the lyrics as a whole?

On the surface, this song appears to be about a young male protagonist who experiences a burst of emotions - dizzying warmth, sweetness, and a clouded brain - after he eats a variety of flavored candies. He states that he is not satisfied with the burst of flavor he's experiencing - now that he knows this intense feeling, he's craving more.

cr. color coded lyrics (though I'm cross referencing multiple translations and using my own knowledge of individual words and tonal conjugations to understand the song)

It doesn't take much of an analytical eye to catch the innuendo presented in Poppin' Star. What exactly is an innuendo? An innuendo is an allusive hint to something typically sexual. The keyword here is hint - it's something you pick up on based on subtly provocative language. Critics could argue that "your brain must be in the gutter" if you find sexual context where there is supposedly none. I'd say blaming the observer for a sexual interpretation is disrespectful to the art in question. Inneundos are meant to be spotted and discussed - they have the potential to heighten the art and unveil a greater message. Just because something is sexual does not mean it is bad.

Now that we have that cleared, it's pertinent to reflect on the surface value of the lyrics in contrast to the glaring inneundo jumping out at the audience. Let's look at the opening lyrics together:

One look at the lyrics, and you'll raise your eyebrows and go, "Really? You sampled a mouthful of candy and can't stop talking about how you're tingling all over, feel dizzy, and are melting from the sweetness?" The song's lyrics and language is quite figurative: the audience is guided to see beyond the literal meaning.

If we break down the individual feelings our protagonist shares, it sounds reminiscient of a first kiss or sexual experience. Considering how strongly the lyrics center on oral pleasure (oral as in the literal sense of the mouth), the rightfully assummed metaphor here is kissing. Let's look at all the instances where the song connects pleasure to the mouth:

별가루 가득 물면 느껴지는 불꽃놀이일까? / (Is this) fireworks that I feel when I bite a whole mouthful of stardust?

입 안을 채운 콕콕 따끔한 이 느낌은 또 / This tingling feeling that has filled my mouth

혀끝에 건전지 / A battery at the tip of my tongue

Our protagonist talks extensively about the pleasure in his mouth in correlation to feeling dizzy, warm, fuzzy, electrified, and excited - all feelings heavily associated with heightened sexual experiences, and notably kissing.

A striking detail is the fact that our protagonist is not alone during the story - he's actively talking to another person, meaning he's not literally eating candy by himself and getting an explosive sugar rush as the superficial interpretation insinuates. We notice this from the opening line which calls to a direct "you":

짜릿한 정전기 you’re popping star / Electrifying static, you're popping star.

Not only is this a reference to the title, making it an important detail to note, but it's also inviting the audience into acknowledging the relevant prescence of another character, some unnamed you. He goes on to say:

머리가 띵하게 기분 좋은 my love / Making my head feel dizzy, that good feeling, my love

He's directly saying "my love," so this person is clearly special to him. This person is his popping star - someone who evokes all of these explosive, tingling feelings.

The chorus is riddled with suggestive language: "This isn't enough / I need something stronger / A chew full of lemon, lime, orange, yeah / I need more, more, more / A stronger popping / A chew full of lemon, lime, orange, yeah"

Our protagonist is craving more flavor as he seeks a pleasure high. My interpretation is that the other character is wearing flavored chaptstick, perhaps fruit-flavored or candy-flavored, and our protagonist wants to taste more of the character's lips. Another interpretation is that they're both chewing on flavored gum, and when they kiss, the flavors blend together in a satisfying burst. Both feel plausible to me. The chorus suggests a kiss through the explosive repetition of surprised "oh's" that the members sing. It's hard to explain without hearing it, so skip to 0:48 in the song to catch what I mean. The explosive instrumental paired with the high-pitched oh's feels representative of an epiphany, or at least a heightened emotional state.

Perhaps one of the most glaringly suggestive parts of the song is Beomgyu's line after the first chorus, where he says:

잠깐 쉬어갈 땐 slime vacation / When (I) take a short break, slime vacation

This implies he's taking a break from exchanging slime, or saliva, with the aforementioned "you". Keep in mind that Korean sentences don't always need an explicit subject, so it's unclear whether Beomgyu is saying "When I take a short break" or "When we take a short break". However, later in the song, during a critical moment that I'll get to shortly, Yeonjun explicitly mentions the pronoun 우리 (we/us) which means we can assume this whole candy-tasting fiasco is, at the very least, a pleasure-seeking high that our protagonist is doing with someone by his side.

The kissing metaphor is more strongly suggested when Taehyun says:

어제 했던 건 벌써 지루해 / The things that (I did/were done) yesterday are already boring

더 더 더 강한 popping이 필요해 / I need a stronger popping

which tells me the song is self-aware enough to recognize it's not just about eating candy. Why would yesterday's candy be described as "the things that were done yesterday"? I also find it interesting that he's using the verb 지루하다 instead of 심심하다 when mentioning boredom. Both of these verbs mean "to be bored", but 심심하다 refers to boredom through a lack of action, whereas 지루하다 has the connotation of being bored by something because you've been doing it for a prolonged time; as in, you're getting physically tired of it. So, Taehyun is saying that the stuff he did yesterday has become repetitive and tiring, and he's now seeking a stronger high. Very suggestive language.

There's a line from Heuningkai that really stands out towards the latter half of the song. He goes:

가끔은 조금 위험해도 돼 / Sometimes it can be a little dangerous

엄마 몰래 자물쇠를 열어봐 / Open the lock without my mom knowing

The conjugation here is very interesting!! He uses the 아/어도 되다 pattern at the end of the adjective for "dangerous", which is a conjugation used to give permission for something. So, rather than him stating the fact that it's dangerous, he's giving permission to the speaker to be a little dangerous. It's a subtle nod at him approving risky behavior, so perhaps a better translation would be "it's alright if sometimes it's a bit dangerous".

"Open the lock" reminds me of Soobin's verse in Sugar Rush Ride:

, which I interpret as a more blatantly sexual inneundo for losing one's virginity. I don't think Poppin Star implies more than kissing, but asking someone to open your lock without your mom knowing, and engaging in risky behavior, appears symbolic to doing something you wouldn't want your mom to see, so at the very least it's suggestive language.

This interpretation aligns with the direct album overview provided by Bighit, which states that "The Dream Chapter: MAGIC tells the story of 'magical adventures' that boys encounter together with their friends [...] the boys share their transformation, confusion and exploding emotions that arise during their transition to adolescence." Notice that the official statement itself says that the album centers on a boy and his friends as they transition into adolescence. Interesting.

I'd be happy to leave the analysis there and say, "See? The song is clearly an innuendo", but then the writers toss in the gayest shit during the last third of the song that forces the audience to pause and reinterpret.

Yeonjun and Taehyun sing the following lines:

이건 어쩌면 나라에서 허락한 / Maybe this is something that the country has allowed

우리끼리만 숨겨둔 유일한 / Something we have kept hidden just among us

자 아무에게나 허락된 게 아냐 / Alright, it's not allowed to just anyone

입안 가득 터뜨려 / Burst a mouthful

The verb used here is 허락하다 which means to allow, permit, or approve. Talking about what your country allows in connotation to something you've kept hidden among the two of you…feels queer-coded. Especially when the rest of the song has been dedicated to pursuing a thrill from "my love", a pursuit which they acknowledge is intimately private given the line "without my mom knowing". Why bring up what's allowed in your country in a song that centers on a boy seeking pleasure? The last line is odd too - it's conjugated as a command, so our protagonist is telling us, the audience, that we should pop a mouthful of the candy too. In connection to the line above it, it's implied that he knows popping the candy aka kissing his love is not allowed for everyone, but he's encouraging others to try. Adding to the intrigue is the fact that they repeat the last two lines again, but change the command to 입안 가득 터뜨려 봐 which is a less forceful command and more like "Give it a try".

If the song truly were just about candy, talking about what your country allows and who is allowed to do it feels very out of place and strange. This, paired with the striking fixation on oral pleasure makes me believe the song is about a boy kissing his friend, and it's been a fun, exciting little secret between the two of them.

It doesn't feel like an exaggeration to find queer subtext here. If you're an avid TXT fan, you'll know their songs are very queer-coded, from 0x1=lovesong having the most blatant thematic connection (I still regularly think about Soobin's "I can't go to heaven, I don't belong there" line) alongside Sugar Rush Ride, which suggests we "swallow the sugar rush"....sir, swallow what exactly??!

I hope this could spark your interest and see the lyrics from a new perspective. Sorry not sorry if this burst your innocent perception of the song...like I said, it sounds deceptively adorable 😂 let me know your thoughts and thanks for reading!

#lyrics analysis #txt lyrics #txt poppin star #kpop discourse #tomorrow x together #yeonjun #soobin #beomgyu #taehyun #heuningkai #txt moa

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pricelessemotion · 1 year

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Starstruck and Metal | E.M.

Summary: [4.3k] you meet eddie for the first time. it doesn't go quite like you expected.

Pairing: rockstar!eddie munson x fem!music journalist!reader

Warnings: none!

Notes: huge thank u to my bestie chuck for beta reading 🫶 also if you solve the crossword hint i love u

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InStereo magazine was not The Rolling Stones, but it was a start. The modest music magazine had a humble following, enough to earn some hums of recognition whenever someone made the mistake of asking what you did for a living. Most days, it’s great. You relish in the joy of working in a field some people only dream of entering. The leap from column writer to main article was a large one, but you insisted that you were ready. Your first assignment as a music journalist and of course you got stuck with Eddie fucking Munson.

Any self-respecting music journalist, anyone with some skin in the game would have laughed in the face of their editor. But instead, you smiled. You nodded enthusiastically, mimicking the bobblehead that has since been removed from your desk. When you decided to become a music journalist, you wanted to write about people who were changing the field. Instead, you were being tasked with writing some puff piece being used to save a wannabe rock star’s reputation. God forbid you gain the reputation of being a difficult woman–in a male-dominated industry no less–by turning down such a great opportunity.

Even if that opportunity included spending a day with Eddie fucking Munson.

You paid out of pocket for the cassette of Corroded Coffin’s debut album that was currently underscoring your drive to West Hollywood. You refused to meet the frontman without having listened to their music beforehand. They were good. A little rough around the edges, but it was to be expected. Outside of the occasional headlines, you hadn’t heard much about Eddie or his band. Corroded Coffin was making ripples, not waves. Of course, no one really cared about the music when they could be reading about who and what their lead vocalist was doing.

Still, you find yourself parking outside of a humble ranch-style home in a neighborhood full of similar housing that likely cost a fortune to live in. The modest proceeds from Corroded Coffin’s tour have obviously paid off, considering that nice area and affordable don’t usually exist in the same sentence when talking about LA housing. The June sun is beating down on the empty street, and you’re thankful that you decided to wear a T-shirt and jeans. You tell yourself that the sweat collecting on your brow is from the heat and not nerves.

Double-checking that you have the right address, you slam the door shut on your sedan and take a deep breath. The air feels cleaner here, less smoggy. You’re not sure if it’s because of the altitude or the tax bracket of the people who live here. Probably both. You reach into your purse and feel around for what you already know is inside. Pen. Notepad. Tape recorder. The holy trinity for a music journalist.

There were very few topics that Eddie wasn’t willing to talk about. You guess that when you’ve had your insides strewn across the pavement for everyone to see, you don’t bother trying to uphold any semblance of mystique. Beginning the daunting trek toward your assignment, you remind yourself of two things:

1) Don’t ask about his father

2) Don’t ask about what happened in Hawkins, Indiana in 1986

The first rule seemed simple enough. As far as the public was concerned, Eddie Munson came to Hawkins at the age of 12 to live with his Uncle Wayne like how a fully formed Venus sprang up from sea foam. He wasn’t and then he was. End of story. The fact that Eddie’s management went out of the way to make sure his father wasn’t brought up only made you more curious.

The second rule was a little harder to accept. Anyone who knew anything about Eddie Munson wanted to know about 1986. Despite the fact that his highly publicized murder charges and subsequent exoneration are part of what caused Corroded Coffin to skyrocket to fame, he’s remained very tight-lipped about the whole situation. He plays off every question about it in interviews with a smirk and a sly comment. Just charming enough to get away without answering. Just vague enough to keep people guessing. Maybe his publicist wasn’t such a waste after all.

Eddie Munson opens the door a few moments after you ring the bell. Using a ringed hand to shield his eyes from the midday sun, he squints at you. A pair of sweatpants hang low on his hips. He has a severe case of bedhead despite the fact that the time on your watch indicates that it’s nearly two in the afternoon. The confusion that draws his brows together also indicates that he has absolutely no idea who you are. Resisting the urge to roll your eyes, you state your name and purpose before realization graces his features.

“It’s you! Shit, yeah! You’re here for the– the thing!” He tosses a careless look over both of his shoulders before widening the opening. “Come on in.”

Eddie closes the door behind you and rushes down the hallway in order to put some real clothes on, leaving you standing in the empty living room. The inside is surprisingly clean for someone who’s gained the reputation of being a hot mess. It smells like cigarettes, weed, and lemon pledge. The lemon scent is strongest as if someone was trying–and failing–to use it to cover up the previous two. A record player is tucked into a corner, the vinyl still spinning. A line of electric guitars is propped up against the back wall, each of them no doubt costing more than your monthly rent. One of the stands is noticeably empty and you glance to your left to see a beat-up acoustic resting on the couch. On the coffee table, there are piles and piles of scrap sheets of paper. For most of them, the handwriting is too illegible to read or it’s been crossed out. Eddie seems to write lyrics like he lives his life: fast and all over the place.

Stepping closer, something along the upper corner catches your eye. Slyly lifting up a pile of paper, being sure not to disturb the configuration, you find that your suspicions are correct. Eddie received the same copy of Sub Rosa as you did. Obviously, it didn’t go over well. He’s used a pen to black out his eyes. Much to your amusement, you see he’s also drawn horns and a tail. The hand that’s flipping off the camera is illustrated to be holding a pitchfork.

That’s not the full extent of Eddie’s doodling, though. On the bottom right-hand corner of the magazine, there’s a smaller picture of him standing next to a certain brown-eyed beauty. You’re quick to note that he’s drawn a crude halo and angel wings on his long-legged companion. They’ve been scribbled out as an afterthought, making the halo look more like a crown of thorns.

So, you think to yourself, he’s a little immature. You can work with immaturity. Immaturity means that he won’t be as guarded as some of the other celebrities your coworkers have had the misery of meeting. In fact, from what little you know about Eddie, you wonder if he even has any guard at all. He did leave you alone here with stacks of potential songs for his band’s next album. If you were a better journalist and a worse person, you would probably take the time to decipher his chicken scratch and see if you could glean any insights into his creative process. But you don’t. Instead, you release the stack of papers and wait.

For a moment, you don’t know what to do with yourself. You’ve never been inside of a famous person’s house before. You’re not sure if you should sit down and make yourself comfortable or if Eddie has something else planned for the two of you to do. The specifics of your assignment were intentionally vague, most likely to accommodate Eddie’s spontaneity.

Venturing further into the living room, you come to stand in front of a shelf. Brushing your fingers across the collection of vinyl, you tilt your head to read the names along the spines. There are the usual suspects–Dio, Metallica, and Judas Priest–but what surprises you is that, in the midst of all the metal and hard rock, there’s an array of old-school country music. At the end of the lineup is the most surprising one of them all; Sentimentally Yours by Patsy Cline. It’s exceedingly worn, cracks and creases litter the empty sleeve. If you were a betting woman, you would say that the record is currently on the player across the room.

A muffled crash followed by a string of curse words breaks you out of your reverie. Eddie opens the bedroom door with the finesse of someone who is obviously used to being the center of attention. He’s traded his sweatpants and tank top for a pair of ripped black jeans and a v-neck. It felt reassuring to know that you hadn’t underdressed for the occasion.

It also gives you a moment to drink in the blinding light that was Eddie Munson. He’s leaner in person. Though he always looked lithe in every photograph you saw of him, his frame seemed more imposing and large. Maybe all the stars just look that way when they’re so high above you.

He was taller, too. The boots on his feet surely aided in that, given that the soles were at least an inch thick. Still, you didn’t anticipate how much you would have to tilt your head up just to look him in the eyes.

There, standing in Eddie Munson’s rented living room, you realize something; You’re absolutely starstruck.

Although you had turned up your nose at the prospect of interviewing him and regarded his reputation with the same disdain you reserved for bad drivers and shitty landlords, you were still a person after all.

With all of the stars around, it’s easy to think of Los Angeles as the center of the universe. But you are not a star or anything even close to it. You’re some space debris, hopelessly floating and waiting for something bigger to come around and influence you with its gravitational pull.��

Eddie is a heavenly body. You can’t help being pulled into his orbit.

“So, I see you’ve found my collection.” His voice is still rough with sleep. The sound makes you weak in the knees.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to snoop.” You mumble, tucking Patsy Cline back into the shelf. “You’ve got some really good stuff here.”

“Don’t worry about it. Actually, that reminds me, I have something for you.” He swiftly turns and stalks back towards what seems to be his bedroom, motioning for you to follow him.

The blood rushes out of your cheeks. The terms of your interview suggested that you would have a lot of access, but this was different. This was up close and personal. Your feet seem to have a mind of their own because while you’re still wrapped up in the fact that you’re gonna see Eddie Munson’s bedroom, you’re already following him down the hallway and through the open door.

It’s about as messy as you would expect. The furniture is all pale wood and earth tones, fitting the mid-century modern stylings of the rest of the house. You suspect that Eddie took the time to clean up a little while you were rifling through the stacks of paper. The bed is haphazardly made. There’s an ashtray on his bedside table, filled with the remains of a few cigarettes.

“I’m not supposed to smoke inside. Shh.” He brings his index finger to his mouth, pink lips barely brushing the skull ring he’s wearing. “Don’t tell anyone.”

You let out an airy laugh. Being reprimanded for smoking inside is the least of Eddie’s worries and you both know it.

Eddie’s nimble fingers skim the top of the dresser, brushing aside even more sheets of scrap paper. A couple of guitar picks plummet to the floor, but he pays no mind.

“I heard that metal isn’t usually your thing.” He remarks, still sifting through the clutter.

That much is true. While you dabbled in a little bit of everything, not only as part of your job but also as part of your interest in music, metal wasn’t usually the genre you gravitated towards. In fact, the most metal album that you had listened to recently was written and produced by the man standing in front of you.

“It’s not, but I’m open to everything.”

“Aha! Here it is.” Eddie holds up the cassette like it’s the key to the universe. Handing it to you, you can see that the writing on the sides is reminiscent of what you saw in the living room, though slightly neater. You’re familiar with some of the bands listed, but the songs don’t ring a bell. “I thought I would broaden your musical horizons.”

You gawk at him. For someone whose job is about words, you can’t find any. He took the time to make you a mixtape?

“Track five is a personal favorite.” Eddie says, leaning towards you and tapping the tracklist, obviously unshaken by your inability to form a coherent thought.

“Thanks. I’ll give it a listen.” You manage to choke out, tucking the cassette into the front pocket of your purse.

Looking around the room, you see that there’s a battered copy of The Lord of the Rings on his bedside table. The corners are frayed, and you’re certain that you could accidentally tear the cover off of the paperback if you’re not careful. Cautiously, you trace the spine with your finger, waiting for Eddie to say something. To tell you that it’s the one thing that’s off limits. But he doesn’t. He just stands there, watching you. Opening it, you can see Property of Eddie A. Munson written underneath the title in a childish scrawl.

“You like books? I mean–you’re a writer, so of course you like books–I mean, have you read that one?” Eddie is visibly flustered, the words coming out of his mouth at an alarming rate. It almost makes up for the way he rendered you speechless moments ago.

“I’m more of a Dune girl myself. But, I love The Lord of the Rings. My dad used to read it to me before bed every night.”

“Yeah?” A small smile tugs at his lips before he practically whispers his next words. “Mine too.”

A flash of something you can’t quite decipher crosses Eddie’s face.

“Right! Where are my manners? Would you like something to drink?” He shuffles out of the room like his life depends on it. You’re still reeling at the fact that he brought up his dad unprompted. Keeping a brisk pace, you put the book down and follow him into the kitchen.

“We have…” He trails off, opening the door to the refrigerator. “Nothing.”

He shuts the refrigerator and dashes to the table by the front door. He mumbles to himself before grabbing a few things, shrugging on a jacket, and finally turning to face you again. A pair of sunglasses covers the half of his face that isn’t plastered with a mischievous grin. From the tips of his fingers hangs a set of car keys.

“You hungry?”

–

You should’ve known that Eddie Munson would try to kill you within 20 minutes of meeting him. Lifting up the garage door, he reveals that the car keys were in fact, not car keys but keys to a motorcycle. The vehicle in question is an absolutely stunning deathtrap. It shines so beautifully that you can see your terrified face in the warped reflection.

Putting his helmet on, Eddie straddles the bike and looks at you.

“C’mon.” Eddie smiles wolfishly, tilting the spare helmet towards you. “I’m a safe driver. Promise.”

You’re still standing frozen. His wolfish grin melts into something more patient.

“Hey, if you don’t want to take the motorcycle, just say the word. I’m not gonna make you do anything you don’t wanna do.”

Despite the sincerity in his voice, you can’t help but take the words as a challenge.

“No, it’s fine. I’m fine.” You profess, though the shake in your voice is evident. Grabbing the helmet out of his hands, you ignore the way your face heats up when your fingers brush.

Eddie takes gross advantage of California’s lane-splitting laws, leaving you clinging to his leather-draped torso for dear life. Outside from the occasional shout of assurance that you can’t understand, the ride is quiet but for the roar of the bike and the wind in your ears. You’re vacillating between being absolutely terrified of crashing and secretly relieved at the fact that you didn’t have to make small talk on the drive from his place to wherever he was taking you.

You were very close to liking Eddie Munson. Now, you were sure that he was sent as some kind of karmic punishment.

“Parking in L.A. is always a pain. That’s why I love this baby,” He gingerly pats the handles as he kicks the parking brake down. “She can fit basically anywhere.”

You hum in agreement, mostly just happy to have made it to your destination in one piece. While Eddie hops off the bike with ease, you have a little more trouble. Swinging your leg over, your toe catches on the fuel tank, causing you to stumble and nearly fall to the ground. Out of the corner of your eye, you can see that Eddie is biting back a smile. He offers a calloused hand out to you. You brush it away out of embarrassment, planting both feet firmly on the ground and taking in your surroundings.

You had expected Eddie to take you to one of L.A.’s finer dining venues. Somewhere with fancy mood lighting and clientele with pockets so deep that they don’t even bother to put the prices on the menu. His management was footing the bill, after all.

The building that sits before you is none of those things. The diner is old and slightly dilapidated. Graffiti mars the stucco that hasn’t already crumbled away. The neon sign that says Zazie’s! blinks drowsily, more of an eyesore than eye-catching.

Eddie opens the door for you. As the bell above it jingles, you’re hit with a rush of conditioned air and canned nostalgia. The walls are covered in artifacts from a bygone era of poodle skirts and letterman jackets. A lonely jukebox sits in the corner, playing a soft hum to a Billie Holiday song you have long forgotten the name of.

A plump woman sits behind the counter doing the crossword in the newspaper. Likely, the same one you were doing that morning. A thoughtful look is etched into her soft features, and you wonder if she’s also stuck on 57-down: Idle during the heist. The ten-letter space confounded you so much that you were almost late. Luckily, it doesn’t seem like Eddie is the type of person to care too much about punctuality. At the sound of the bell, she looks up, squints, and smiles.

“Is that you, Toto?” The glasses that sit on the tip of her nose are attached to a chain around her neck. She lets them fall to her chest, her voice bright and amiable.

“You know it is, Dorothy!” Eddie gushed, an award-winning smile back on his face.

They fall into easy conversation, making it obvious that he’s a regular here. You keep glancing at him trying to find hints of ingenuity but there are none. Eddie regards the woman with the warmth and respect that you would expect from a boy scout, not a rockstar.

Sliding into a booth, Dorothy hands you both a menu and leaves to make a fresh pot of coffee.

“You have to try the french toast, it’s divine.” Eddie barely steals a look at the laminated folder before folding it back up and putting it down on the table.

“I’ve never really been a french toast person. I don’t know if I wanna risk it.”

Eddie gives you a pointed look, sunglasses slipping down the slope of his nose. “You rode a motorcycle. How much more risky is a plate of french toast?”

“Maybe that was all the risk-taking I had in me for one day.” You force yourself to shrug noncommittally. You don’t know why breakfast food is the hill you’ve chosen to die on, but you’re going down swinging.

“Well, you already trusted me with your life.” Eddie takes the sunglasses off and tucks his fist under his chin, forcing you to look into his deep brown eyes. “Think you can trust me with this?”

Suddenly, all of the fight in you disappears. There’s that sincerity in his voice again. You realize then that the best and worst thing about Eddie Munson is how genuine he always sounds.

“Yeah, I do.”

The smile on his face is so bright that you feel compelled to look away. Eddie orders for both of you. It’s enough food to feed a small army, but it seems that Dorothy is used to it because she leaves the table with a wink and says if y’all need anything just holler!

“Do you mind?” You say, pulling out the notepad and pen from your purse.

Eddie freezes for a fraction of a second. It’s almost imperceptible. Almost. In the small amount of time you’ve known him, it has become abundantly clear that Eddie wears his heart on his sleeve. Recovering quickly, he gives you the go-ahead and smiles. For the first time today, his grin doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

“So,” You begin, clicking the button on your ballpoint. “I have to ask. Toto?”

Eddie barks out a laugh. He goes on a whole spiel about how he was having a terrible day and walked into the diner feeling homesick and hungry. When he first came to L.A. he felt like Dorothy stepping into the technicolor world of Oz. Once the novelty wore off, he found himself missing when the world used to be so black and white. Upon telling the wise waitress, aptly named Dorothy, she lovingly told him, Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore. The nickname stuck ever since.

The story almost sounds rehearsed. A perfect sound bite that shows how you can take the boy out of the Midwest, but you can’t take the Midwest out of the boy. And yet, you feel inclined to believe him. Eddie just seems to have that effect on people.

The food finally arrives and you’re amazed to find that Eddie’s eyes are not bigger than his stomach. He talks about music and his band in between bites of pancakes and hashbrowns, both of them drowned in an inch of syrup. He speaks of his friends back in Indiana with a certain fondness, but you can’t help but notice how avoids naming his hometown. He also never refers to Hawkins as back home, instead saying where I’m from.

Conversation between the two of you flows as easily as the never-ending coffee from Dorothy’s pot. It’s almost too easy to forget that this is an interview. Remembering yourself, you take a moment to ask Eddie one of the harder-hitting questions you have in your back pocket.

“What about Evelyn Chau?”

Eddie winces. The open book that was sitting before you shuts tight with a resilient slam. The mouthful of pancakes and syrup seems to turn to sludge as his chewing slows. Despite having no regard for table manners earlier, he points at his lips and holds up a finger to indicate that he needs a minute to swallow.

After taking a sip of coffee and wiping his mouth with a paper napkin, he slouches in his seat and crosses his arms defensively.

“What about Evelyn Chau?” He repeats your question back to you but with an unmistakable air of forced nonchalance.

You want to crumble under his pointed gaze, but you don’t. You steel yourself with the reminder that asking uncomfortable questions is part of your job description. Besides, it would raise many more alarms if you didn’t ask about the raven-haired model spotted painting the town with him than if you did.

“Everyone wants to know if you’re together.”

“Everyone.” He exaggerates the word, using his index finger to trace the lip of his coffee cup. “Does that include you?”

The smirk on his face indicates that he’s either messing with you or flirting with you. Maybe both.

“Well,” you demure. “are you?”

“Evie is just a friend.” Eddie’s still perfectly composed, but the familiarity with which he says her nickname betrays him. His face twitches when he catches his slip-up. “A really close friend.”

It’s already too late. He couldn’t convince you that she was just a friend if he tried. A flash of a crossed-out halo and crooked angel wings comes to mind.

You’re about to ask him another question, but Dorothy and her impeccable timing interrupts the moment by placing the check on the table. Eddie throws down a few bills from an old leather wallet, while you’re trying to figure out how you can spin a two-hour diner date into an entire article.

Eddie stretches as he stands up, the hem of his black v-neck raises to expose a tattoo on his right hip that snakes down further than you’re supposed to look. On the other side, you catch a muddled array of purple and red scar tissue. Averting your eyes, you look up and are met with a stony gaze. He caught you staring.

“What do you say we get outta here?”

Because you’re a very stupid, stupid woman, you agree.

likes are appreciated, comments and reblogs are cherished ♥️

taglist: @twisted-wonderland-of-wren

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson one shot #eddie munson blurb #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fic #stranger things #stranger things fic #stranger things fanfic #mimi wrote ✍️#can i ask you a question?

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beautifulpersonpeach · 10 months

Note

Bpp I'm dying to know your song rankings in chapter 2 now they've all debuted. What are your top picks this year? I miss your writing and hope I can coax you back with 'a fun ask'

***

Okay. :)

Since you asked...

Top 10 Non-BTS K-pop Songs in 2023

10 - Watch It - The Boyz (this song just dropped and it's already in my top ten, yes)

9 - Seoul - H1-key

8 - Ay-Yo - NCT 127

7 - Sweet Venom - ENHYPEN

6 - Neverland Farewell - TXT (Say whatever you like about BigHit, they know how to make good music. Soobin sounds incredible on this song. Beomgyu too. Really, they all do.)

5 - Cool With You - NewJeans

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NewJeans isn't going anywhere, so everyone else really should get comfortable with the idea of seeing them at the top. That's all there is to say.

4 - Crying - BOYNEXTDOOR

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I don't know where my head was at when I ranked this the worst song on the album. Clearly, I was wrong. This song was a pleasant companion during the autumn months, and I can't wait to see what else they come out with.

3 - Chaconne - ENHYPEN

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Do you know what a chaconne is? That's not a rhetorical question btw. No shade either, I'm just curious. For those who don't know, a chaconne is a rhythmical and harmonic motif over a pronounced bass-line. That's my leftover understanding from music classes taken a lifetime ago. According to google, a chaconne is also "a slow, solemn dance in 3/4 time, of Spanish or Moorish origin, similar to the passacaglia." For a non-k-pop example, I recommend Hilary's rendition of Bach's chaconne (more leftover knowledge from a lifetime ago).

Anyway, this likely isn't important context. The use of "chaconne" in the song probably has more to do with how it sounds in the song, than what it means. In any case, Enhypen earned a gold star from me with this pantydropper anthem.

2 - Criminal Love - ENHYPEN

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I'm not sure how many of you were here when Heartbeat and Dream Glow were released. What I remember was shock, pure incredulity that BigHit would release songs of that quality for game OSTs. From ARMYs and k-pop stans alike, this was the sentiment. It was like a flex that BTS had such a peerless discography they could make songs like this for a side gig.

That's immediately what I was reminded of when I first heard Criminal Love, released as the OST for Enhypen's webtoon. It's moody, vampy, seduction in a song. That's what that song is. Sad too, when you hear the lyrics. Watching the live performance only drives it home.

1 - Blind - ENHYPEN

This song has given me one of the best auditory experiences I've ever had in k-pop. Which is a bit odd because yes a lot happens in the production, but the switches are so subtle you almost don't notice it.

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Heeseung, Ni-ki, Jay, Sunoo, Sunghoon, Jake, and Jungwon - all outdid themselves on this song. Vocally, they sound incredible. The writing, (again) is top notch. This is one of the only songs released this year that I genuinely struggle not to loop.

Top 5 BTS Solo Songs

5 - Yes or No - Jung Kook

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This is one song I'm praying and begging that we get thousands of remixes of. HYBE, please work your magic and give us 10 remixes of Yes or No. I need it. This is the perfect pop song in that it makes you crave more. I know it's got a predictable, common almost, chord progression in VI -> V -> I -> IV, but it's perfect in that it's impossible to get sick of it. It just worms itself into your head and all you can think of is all the ways to sing all over those chords.

Jung Kook's vocal work on that song is irreproachable. He's really set himself apart with this album and I'm glad he did it.

4 - Snooze - AGUST D, ft. Ryuichi Sakamoto & Woosung

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HUH?! should be here, as should Amygdala so consider this a triple entry: HUH + Snooze + Amygdala. The reason why is self-evident (I hope).

Anyway... I want to talk a bit about Snooze.

Yoongi loves using the piano. He likes the sound of it, and you can tell in songs like Snooze. He has such a profound love and respect for that musical instrument that it only makes sense a man like Ryuichi acknowledged Yoongi before he passed.

With everything that happened this year, remembering Moonbin, and knowing that Yoongi made this song for his juniors... the first time I heard this song it completely destroyed me. Anyone who hasn't paid attention to the lyrics yet should check it.

When I casually listen in to TXT, SVT, Enhypen, BoyNextDoor, and see the work they're doing, putting out easily some of the best music and performances in their generations, I hope and pray they develop a support system that genuinely values them, soon. I hope they survive this industry, and thrive in it.

3 - All Day - RM ft Tablo

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Not to be that person (since he's canceled for reasons and it actually makes sense why), but when I first saw the song title All Day, I immediately remembered All Day by Kanye West - one of the sauciest and meanest songs he's ever made. I was worried, given the tone of the album to that point, that Namjoon was going to give us his take on Ye's original. Joon is more than capable of dropping a track just as mean if not more. I didn't put it past him to pay homage to the Kanye joint by taking a spin on it. But, thankfully, All Day is nothing like Kanye's song, and it's my favourite song on Indigo because it's the best.

Joon's diction on this track is *chef's kiss*. His voice.... that outro, and thank goodness, Tablo came through. He actually has a presence on the track and made it even more worth the listen.

It kills me that we don't even have a visualizer for this masterpiece.

2 - Set Me Free Pt 2 - Jimin

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Thank you for giving me another chance to talk about Set Me Free Pt 2.

One reason all the anxiety and fear-mongering around Jimin seems insane to me is because Jimin dropped this song and ended k-pop in 2023. He literally has no real competition. He came in, showed out, and left. That song is the sexiest joint out of Korea this year. It's so nasty. He's absolutely disgusting on this song in how brutally he makes rubbish of everything beneath him. Like, he literally has people bowing down to him in the choreography. Bobbing their heads like Funko Pops, while he sings to be set free. I'm going on a bit of a tangent here, but I want to say something. There's a cruelty in the way Jimin speaks. Whether to someone else or to himself. It's often (somewhat) restrained, born of the way he sees the world I think, and it was especially brutal in their early days, but he's toned it down significantly since 2016. It's virtually non-existent in his speech patterns and word choice now. Jimin of the last few years communicates gently, directly, tactfully, and at worst, bluntly. A lot of that cruelty is toned down but he unleashes a whisper of it on SMF Pt 2. Just listen to what he's saying on that song. That autotune effect on his voice was for our benefit and safety. Nothing can convince me otherwise. And we haven't even yet gotten into the full symbolism of the MV and his lyricism...

The moment I heard this song I knew I would bias Jimin. He's a man who knows what he's doing.

Jimin is a one of a kind wonder. Real magic in a person. An artist. He proves it on Set Me Free Pt 2. Kudos to PDogg too - the GOAT.

1 - On The Street - j-hope ft J. Cole

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When it comes to song construction, I have to give credit where credit is due and the fact is Hoseok outdid himself with this song. It is perfect, my top pick for a k-pop song in 2023. Jermaine did good on it too. But, you know... Hoseok.

The whistle melody he came up with, the beat, the vocal layering, the mixing, the MV direction - all of it is perfect. If we were giving scores based on separate components, OTS would get 10s in every category.

Honestly, Hoseok coming out at number 1 is kind of expected of him lol.

#bts #bpp music posts #hoseok #jimin #namjoon #yoongi #jungkook #jikook #the boyz #newjeans #enhypen #nct 127 #h1key #txt #kpop #kpop music #2023 top 10

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binniesoob · 2 years

Text

A Summary of Tomorrow X Together's storyline

While waiting for the new album, The Name Chapter: Temptation, to come out, I decided to write a summary of TXT's storyline, focusing on the main themes, motifs and references of the music videos to get a general picture of it!

Feel free to share your insights and/or theories, or to point it out if you see any inaccuracies!

Edit: I'm in the process of correcting a few things and properly add The Chaos Chapter and Minisode 2 to the picture!

— DISCLAIMER

Just a warning that I'm going to leave behind some additional details and references for this, because:

there are way too many and I still don't know all of them (yet) lol;

as I said, this is made to be a summary focusing on the main motifs;

I still need to fully catch up with the webnovel on Wattpad that has lots of more info;

I don't want to overwhelm you, especially if this is your first approach to the storyline!

— PLAYLISTS

I created playlists on both Youtube and Spotify with the songs in the order I'm going to talk about today:

YouTube playlist here

contains music videos in the storyline order to watch while reading!

Spotify playlist here

includes some b-sides, but in this summary I'm only going to focus on those with a music video and the title tracks, so feel free to skip if they are not mentioned!

In this post, I'm going to add only those specifically needed to be watched to follow and understand my analysis. All the others are in the YouTube playlist anyway :)

Okay, now we are ready to start!

— WHAT'S THEIR STORY ABOUT?

TXT's story is about growth: they talk about the transition from adolescence to adulthood and all those changes that characterise it, the fear and refusal to grow up, the desire to stay young forever.

They tackle the theme both explicitly, through music videos and lyrics set in our time, and through symbolism using a fantasy plot with magical elements.

Actually, we could say that their storyline is a story inside a story : the fairytale, in which they find refuge from the real world in a magical one, Magic Island, is the story of the board game (in the Dungeon's & Dragon's style) or the videogame they are playing in the real world to "escape reality". This is why both the fairytale concept and the game concept are crucial to understand the storyline!

— IS THERE A MULTIVERSE?

My answer is yes, there is. As we're going to see, there are various ways in which their story develops and can be developed.

Additionally, last year Hybe announced the release of a Webtoon and a Wattpad webnovel to further elaborate TXT's storyline, both called "The Star Seekers". These two differ from each other and from the storyline narrated through the music videos: they talk about their alter egos called Star One, idols in a version of the real world where magic also exists. However, as I said earlier, we won't go into the details of it and we will stick to the basic storyline related to the music!

— THE STORYLINE

Now let's see how their story unfolds through the albums Chapters, their songs and related music videos. We, of course, start our journey with...

THE DREAM CHAPTER: STAR

– NAP OF A STAR

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🎶 Memories of childhood dancing in the sky / Even if it's fading away now 🎶

This song and its music video tell us about the origins and also the final goal of the group. When TXT were still children they met for the first time, played together and made a promise to each other and with a Star: "even if we were to part, we will find each other".

They actually separate and consequently the light of the Star goes out. Why is that? Well, how many points does a classic star have? ⭐ Five, right? And how many members does TXT have? Five! Each one of them is a part of the Star, and without them united there is no Star: the Star symbolizes their friendship. ✨ The power of friendship ✨ is the key to their whole story. This also explains why in choreos often TXT form stars by uniting their bodies.

from: 1) TDC:MAGIC concept trailer, 2) MMA 2019 performance intro, 3) MMA 2022 performance intro.

Years go by and TXT enter adolescence, symbolically represented by the development of physical peculiarities: Yeonjun has horns, Soobin long ears, Taehyun an eye with a star, Beomgyu thorns on his shoulders and Hueningkai wings.

Yeonjun, scared by the horns, runs away into the woods, thinking he has become a monster. Here, for the first time, he meets the blue and green eyed Cat that will haunt us for the rest of our days (😔), he gets wounded in the throat and runs away terrified. The Cat here symbolises all the scary and dangerous aspects of the world we come in contact with once we leave our childhood.

Refusing his new condition (and therefore change and growth), Yeonjun snaps one of his horns. He is then rescued by HueningKai and the rest of the group, and now that they're together again the Star turns on once again! This is what should happen at the end of aaaall the journey, but the road is long and rough...

– CROWN

🎶 Are you my savior who found me alone? / Who you, you? / Are your wings created from the same pain as mine? 🎶

The lyrics tells us what we saw in Nap of a Star: entering adolescence, symbolized by the sprouting of horns, not knowing who you are and wanting to run away. But TXT are not alone in their pain and confusion: when they meet, upon discovering that each of them has something peculiar and is facing the same struggles, they are reassured and no longer feel alone. And so, the horns form a "crown": they are no longer something monstrous to be ashamed of, but a symbol, almost of pride, of what one is facing.

🎶 This moment of my name being called 🎶

This is the first time TXT mentions “names”, a main motif of the storyline we are going to further elaborate.

The symbolism of the colors, mirrors, windows and props in the music video announce events of the storyline we're going to elaborate later as well.

– CAT & DOG

🎶 Oh my God, what the heck is this feeling? / I become a puppy when I see you 🎶

Believe it or not, even this one has relevance to the storyline! 😆

TXT's are dealing with their first crush, they want to be with them always, they are clingy like a puppy looking for affection. It ties to 0x1=Lovesong, Lo$er=Lo♡er and Good Boy Gone Bad, but also to Puma! As we will see, the "dog" represents their "good side", while the "puma" their "bad side".

obligatory FEEL LIKE CINDERELLA NAEGABYONJE LET'S PLAY FOREVER I JUST WANNA BE YO' DOG WOOF WOOF WOOF

Now let's move on to...

THE DREAM CHAPTER: MAGIC

– ANGEL OR DEVIL

🎶 Tell me, what should I choose / Either angel and devil / This struggle in my head 🎶

As it can be read in Cat&Dog lyrics, that are also referenced in this song in the third verse during Yeonjun’s rap, TXT usually act naughty (devil), but with their crush they behave like angels. In this song they talk about struggling with convincing themselves to confess to them.

🎶 "It's gotta be you", "You're the one love" (...) / Again the angel says, "firstly slow down / What if you lose all, forever?" 🎶

TXT's good side (the angel) starts to doubt their friendship and to think that maybe their love for their crush actually is salvation.

🎶 Spinning round and round again, the worries of Moebius 🎶

Reference is also made to the Moebius strip. What is that? Common strips, seen as surfaces like any other, always have two faces. If we walk on one face, we cannot find ourselves on the other, right? In the Möbius strip, on the other hand, you can! This is because it is obtained by joining the two ends of a strip after having given it half a twist.

The Moebius strip has been used in relation to time travel theories, as a possible way to have a loop, specifically an infinite number of possible attempts to change the course of events.

Whether the Moebius time loop is a single universe, or that each "side" is a parallel universe, is something debatable.

So, what does this have to do with TXT? As we will see, someone in the group has the ability to have premonitions about the future and this leads him/the group to try to change the course of events, especially by rewinding time.

In terms of the game they are playing:

rewinding time = playing again;

parallel universe = different modes of action to try change the results.

This song connects to the fantasy storyline not only though lyrics, but also with the drawings in the music video:

the Cat

TXT are divided into two sides: Yeonjun and Taehyun have devilish attributes, Soobin and Beomgyu have angelic attributes. This could symbolise which side of them, good or bad, has more power over the other.

HueningKai, on the contrary, is standing in the middle of the group and has both horns and angel wings, that can be either angel wings, as we see in Nap of a Star (his good side), or demon wings, as we will see in Eternally (his bad side).

– MAGIC ISLAND

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🎶 Remember our star song / We were stars in it / The melody that was shining with dreams / Don't forget, forever 🎶

When TXT met again as teenagers but they don't remember the promise (it’s a song, quick, act surprised!) they made as children, nor that they already met.

🎶 Our clumsy promises / A small island from which secrets began 🎶

In the music video we see that Soobin starts having strange dreams/nightmares about the five of them, but he can't seem to open up to the group about it. This is where they start keeping secrets from each other.

In the meantime, they have discovered a magical portal, in this case the train (that references Harry Potter), which leads to a magical world, where they can escape from reality: Magic Island (reminiscent of "Neverland" by Peter Pan), where they spend their time playing.

IMPORTANT DETAILS in the video:

(min 6:40) Soobin's cell phone shows 5:54 pm, one minute after 5:53 pm aka blue hour, the moment when the space that separates the real world from the magical one it's thinner and allows you to travel between them! So, when TXT travel between Magic Island and reality, there’s always going to be 5:53 and the sunset involved.

Soobin hears strange noises: if we connect his peculiar feature, long elf ears, with the dreams, it symbolizes his prophetic being!

Yeonjun hears it too though, and this time it can be noticed that it resembles the sound of a bell. Who often wears bells around their necks? Cats. Moreover, in the story of Peter Pan, the fairy who always accompanies him is called Tinkerbell and it is her magic dust that tempts children, because it can allow them to fly. We could then overlap the elements: Peter Pan = Cat, Tinkerbell = Temptations.

Why are only the two of them aware of this disturbance? We said that Soobin perceives it thanks to his prescient nature, Yeonjun because he is the most tempted of all and he is the one who will make a deal with the Cat.

Yeonjun injures his finger while lighting the bonfire and we need to keep that in mind for the next song!

TXT then have the great idea of making fireworks, in a forest, starting a fire: it can be seen as a metaphor for the destruction that their dark sides can bring, and for the troubles that adolescence leads us to make.

At this point the Cat finally shows up and, in the form of a train, runs over the group. The Cat is a shape-shifter 👀 and he's the one that brought TXT to Magic Island, like Peter Pan did with the Lost Boys.

Each of them is struck by excruciating pain in the parts of the body where their peculiar features are, and in the end, they lay on the ground, dead... in terms of (video)game they lost the current match.

At the end of the video we see a dragon, which symbolizes the biggest obstacle they will have to face. In the (video)game version it's basically the final boss.

Going back to the lyrics for a second…

🎶 A familiar and unfamiliar river (…) / Remember our star song (…) / Don't forget that night / You can't forget this place (…) / Remember us here? (…) / That cat with the different eyes (Mm-mm) / I'm tired of those eyes 🎶

TXT reset the game (or die at Magic Island and then come back to it again) trying to win against the Cat and everytime they do it they forget what happened last time they played: everytime they play as if it was tge first time. With the concept of R, AR, and VR of Minisode 1 this was further confirmed.

This also ties in with their ultimate goal, which is to remember their promise, the star’s song.

– RUN AWAY

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🎶 The train is departing / Bibbidi bobbidi our magic island / When we go through this tunnel / When we open our eyes / Our dreams become reality 🎶

TXT want to escape from real life because it's too boring, painful and scary ...the amount of details in this video is scary... we'll only talk about the essential ones:

HueningKai draws two lines on the ground with chalks, one yellow and one blue, which intertwine and surround the school, with TXT inside of it. I won't tell you what that means yet because we'll come back to it later, but keep it in mind 👀

Soobin instead draws a door on the blackboard: a reference to the portals that lead them to Magic Island. We will soon find out why he is the one who draws it. When he puts on the 3D glasses, the door takes shape and opens, and a pentagram appears, a magical symbol consisting of a five-pointed star generally inscribed in a circle and used as a ritual tool.

Remember that Yeonjun injured his finger on Magic Island? His finger is injured at the beginning of Run Away! After TXT died at Magic Island, they went back to the real world, not remembering of having been there, as we explained earlier. If we talk in video game terms it makes more sense: their character lost the game and Yeojun’s got injuried so he has less HP (life points) than before. As for D&D, whenever a character dies or mess up or gets a low roll when rolling the dice, they can go back in time and start again, and this is exactly what they do in Run Away.

Besides, Yeonjun is the one that lights the bonfire in Magic Island, and in this video he is the one who sets things on fire. What does it symbolize? That he's the one who plays with fire, who takes risks and gets into trouble, even if his intentions are good.

Beomgyu puts a plaster on Yeonjun: he is the healer of the group in terms of powers. He’s also the one who brings the fire extinguisher to put out the burning book, but the flames do not go out: Beomgyu can't fix Yeonjun's or others troubles, no matter how hard he tries. The thorns on his shoulders therefore also represent him taking on the problems of others.

Taehyun instead reads a book titled "how to put out the fire": he is the rational one, the observer, the investigator, and we know that his characteristic is the eye.

At the end of the video, they go back to Magic Island during the sunset. This time the magical passage is a door at the bottom of the pool instead of the train.

Again, Yeonjun is the cause of another door (symbolizing coming of age) catching fire, while he leaves behind a teddy bear (symbolizing childhood) which Taehyun picks up.

The "rewinding time" motif returns in the lyrics:

🎶 When this night is nearly ending / Rewind the clock, rewind now / The forbidden games and this magic hour

As we said, TXT move to Magic Island during the sunset, but when night falls they are forced to return to the real world. And so, they roll back the clock (or restart the game) to return, something they shouldn't do ("forbidden games") since this way they are stuck in a loop of childhood, but they should grow up.

– RUN AWAY JAPANESE VER.

The video introduces us to the concept that the fantasy aspect of the story doesn't happen in real life: Magic Island is actually the location of the game they play after school to escape their reality. I still haven't deepened this one, so this is all i'm gonna say about it!

– THE DOOM'S NIGHT

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This is where The Dooms Night animation comes in, summarizing their story in all its versions.

Details we are interested in:

connects to Webtoon/webnovel for the idols using magic;

there is an 18-sided dice which symbolizes the parallel universes, and it’s magical: it can open portals and show visions of the future to Soobin, the one who finds it;

Kai is approached by an evil shadow in a moment of "weakness": it's a temptation that is trying to bring out the bad side of him.

Yeonjun makes a deal with the Cat: what is it about? Relating to the Webtoon/Wattpad, having more power to protect and save his friends from enemies, but it comes at a price...

we see TXT playing as children, each of them has a role in the game:

Yeonjun = paladin/knight

Soobin = elf archer/ranger

Beomgyu = druid/mentalist

Taehyun = sorcerer/adventurer

HueningKai = mystic/bard

there's the dragon, and it turns out that the weapon to defeat him is "the song of a star" aka the promise they made as children.

Next we have...

THE DREAM CHAPTER: ETERNITY

– CAN'T YOU SEE ME

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🎶 Can’t you see me? / Like on that magical day, say “Believe me” / (…) My friends don't understand me, no 🎶

Remember when with Run Away we talked about Soobin not being able to open up to the members about his dreams? Well, this makes him feel isolated, distance is created between the group as time goes by because everyone feels there are secrets between them. In the video we see exactly that.

Details we are interested in:

"who's a liar? " sings Soobin, and in the choreography he crosses his fingers behind his back: he is the liar, because he doesn't open up completely with the others and therefore omits knowledge that concerns them all.

the lyrics refer to the promise they made as children, e.g. "like on that magical day, say believe me"

Beomgyu with the red light = his dark side. Beomgyu is another member of the group who feels left out, we'll go into that later with another song. Also, him being a druid, which is related to nature, explains his duality: he can be the kindest and most caring person in the world (healing nature), but at the same time he can become violent (cruel nature): we see him smothering Taehyun with a blanket. Why him? The two often clash in the storyline, as we will again see, because they see things and act in opposite ways. It could also be because Taehyun discovered a secret of Beomgyu and the latter feels threatened.

Yeonjun whose hands are covered in tomato sauce, which stands for blood: Yeonjun tries to protect the group and, although his intentions are good, he gets into big trouble putting them all in danger. When fire appears in the video it is particular linked to Yeonjun (the oven, the house on fire), reconnecting to what we said earlier with Run Away. Yeonjun says "save me": he begs to save him from it all.

In the bridge Soobin sings "bad bad, hoping this is just a painful dream". In the concept trailer of this album there is Drama playing in the background, and the only line sung is "I dreamed this drama": Soobin's dreams are coming true, being premonitions.

In the final pose of the choreo, if you look closely, it seems that they are removing masks from their faces: each of them is wearing a mask because they are not sincere with the others, their dark side takes over.

– ETERNALLY

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🎶 please stop this recurring nightmare everynight / tell me the meaning of this sad dream / my heart deep in this memory maze, save me 🎶

There is a LOT to say here. The video (which is 19 minutes, after all) is divided into sections and we're going to follow them.

1) Night of the Last day

First of all we see TXT with their monstrous features in a dark version, they are in a stadium destroyed by the dragon (as seen in The Doom's Night we talked about earlier). Soobin looks around and has a book in his hand, takes it to Yeonjun but sees him wounded and gets scared, waking up: this is one of Soobin's visions of the future, the Doom’s Day in which they will have to face their worst enemy.

This song is also connected to the Webtoon/Wattpad because we see TXT as idols in the video. Now, when the alarm goes off in the rehearsal room, not just Soobin, but everyone has visions. Important details:

the clock goes back from 10 to 9 with the second’s hand;

Soobin sees writing on the glass that says "Remember my name".

2) Song of a Star

Soobin finds himself in an amusement park and finds the magic dice on the ground. Then, a little boy arrives: it's HueningKai as a child, Soobin recognizes him by the way he wears his shoes. This upsets him, due to the fact that he doesn't remember the past and doesn't fully understand those dreams that are exhausting him.

A ghost girl comes to console him. As we said before, TXT think that their crush is salvation, that's why they identify the "girl" with the Star. But she's also a representation of MOAs who stand by TXT’s side and support them.

3) Promises

Yeonjun finds himself in the destroyed stadium and sees himself dead as well as the eyes of the Cat. He sees the consequences of his actions.

At the end of his section it reads: "I thought it was salvation, then": Yeonjun is going to think that the pact is the way to save himself and the others, when instead is going to bring them more harm.

3) Room n.17

Beomgyu is in the midst of infinite mirrors, a reference to the parallel universes, but also to the reflection of himself and therefore to its doppelganger, its dark side which we talked about earlier. The mirrors then turn into a door, number 17, and he peeks inside seeing a future version of himself trying to protect a book from an unidentified person who wants to get it. Suddenly the rage becomes such that thorns sprout on his back. The present Beomgyu takes out his phone to film, while the other Beomgyu appears to have attacked and knocked out the enemy, before turning right at the camera.

5) Moratorium* of Rest

(*a period of time during which a particular activity is stopped)

Taehyun ends in a flower meadow in the dark. In the distance he spots a familiar figure: it's Yeonjun. He calls him but he doesn't answer: realizing that there is something strange he approaches him. Yeonjun is unconscious, wounded in the throat and covered by brambles and flowers: it's a similar scene to the one we saw in The Doom's Night animation, only that here Yeonjun is dead, confirmed by the flowers that change into a skull.

At the end of his section it reads: "We will find a way" (to save Yeonjun and all of them too)

5) Girl of Eternity

HueningKai looks at the door Soobin disappeared from earlier, yelling his name. When he crosses the threshold, he finds himself in a corridor similar to the one Soobin went through: it is reminiscent of the effect that distorts surroundings into lines when traveling very fast, usually at the speed of light, through space-time. This makes me think that this is set in a more distant future.

Then stairs appear with a door at the top: once opened, he finds himself in the sky, and in front of him there's another door suspended in the air, from which the rest of the group comes out. Kai tries to walk in the void to reach them and his feet find a surface that undulates like water.

I still haven't fully understood the meaning of Kai's vision, also because it seems connected with the new chapter, The Name Chapter.

7) Beginning of the End

Finally, TXT are all back in the rehearsal room, the clock starts ticking forward again, and Soobin re-emerges through the door of the room. Everyone seems to not remember their visions (like it always happens with the memories when they leave Magic Island) and goes back to what they were doing before. Soobin, on the contrary, looks at the dice in his hand and at the mirror. Beomgyu films him. The song restarts during its dark verse: on the other side of the mirror is the dark side of TXT.

– PUMA

🎶 West side, east side / Didn't know where to, where to go / West side, east side / It doesn't matter anymore 🎶

It is about a real event: a puma was shot dead by the police after escaping from its enclosure at Daejeon Zoo in September 2018. In addition to taking part in the protest for the incident, "the perspective of the puma finally gaining freedom only to meeting its tragic ending depicts the harsh reality that the TXT members have experienced since they debuted in March 2019, where they were faced with heavy scrutiny from people online as Big Hit Entertainment's latest boy group after BTS." (c. Genius lyrics) This can be found in particular in Yeonjun's rap.

🎶 Still too young to stand alone / This world is a jungle full of warriors / The sight is aiming at your throat / A thousand eyes are accessing the internet / Be careful, your enemies spread in an instant / How long does it take to reach your dream? / Only gunshots spread with that question all the time / So that I can continue to breathe, again run up 🎶

For the storyline it is relevant because it is linked to what we said before with Angel or Devil: the crossroad at which TXT find themselves, having to decide whether to stay on the "good" path or move to the "bad" one. With Puma they seem to chose the second one: they are rebelling and escaping in search of freedom, however dangerous it may be. In fact, they end up making the deal with the Cat, that promises more power and freedom when he actually has them under its control.

– DRAMA JAPANESE VER.

Many theorize that it is set in a parallel universe, in any case it is linked to what is told and seen in CYSM. In the video Beomgyu joins the group but is usually not included in the activities and left behind. He abruptly realizes it when he falls off his bike and the others don't go to help him as he would like/dream.

I put Drama at the end and not before because it connects perfectly to the next song, where we see Beomgyu being the target of others' jokes and feeling left out...

MINISODE1: BLUE HOUR

– BLUE HOUR

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🎶 In that sky / The orange-glowing magic / Before it comes to an end / Freeze this moment / I wanna stay here / In the gap between the two worlds / I wanna be trapped in magic / Clue to stop the sun 🎶

TXT are at Magic Island sitting in a tree that refers to that of the Lost Boys of Peter Pan. The song revolves around 5:53, when the sun sets in October in Korea, the blue hour in which, as we said, you can cross the border between the magical world and the real one. TXT would like to always stay at Magic Island, not by continuing rewinding the time (or replaying the game) but stopping it (stay inside the game forever), but they can't do that.

🎶 The glow of the sunset on my time machine / I know it that the end will come / The sun is down, down / Before you disappear into the night / I take you into my eyes 🎶

Once the night falls, Magic Island shuts down, and we know that means they have to go back to the real world. Beomgyu, who sings "I know that the end will come", seems to be the only one who is fully aware of it, an important detail for the future.

🎶 At the hour between dog and wolf 🎶

Is a very interesting line: this expression is taken from a French saying “L'heure entre chien et loup” and refers to the moments after sunset when the sky darkens and vision becomes unclear, making it difficult to distinguish between dogs and wolves, friends and foe (c. Genius lyrics annotations). We said that TXT are doubting their friendship after all.

But this also connects to the fight between their "good" and "bad" sides: we said that the docile and obedient "dog" is the "good side", while the wild and dangerous "puma", and in this case the "wolf", represents the "bad side".

In the beginning, Soobin sings:

🎶 I really hate the awkwardness, I just laugh / Baby, I know we were special 🎶

Refers to the tensions that now characterize the dynamics of the group. They look back with nostalgia to the days when this was not the case.

🎶 That look in your eyes, like an emptied gift box 🎶

This instead refers to the real name of one of the members 👀 we'll talk about it later.

At the end of the music video we see that autumn has come to Magic Island: the end of their youth is approaching and they can't help it.

– BLUE HOUR JAPANESE VER.

Very similar to the Korean one and I haven't delved into it yet, so let's move on for now.

– WE LOST THE SUMMER

🎶 Cause we lost the summer / When we lost each other / Return my seasons / Oh, it's all gone 🎶

It's not only a song perfectly depicting teenagers and young adults (but adults as well) feelings during the COVID19 Pandemic, it also references their storyline.

We saw that with Blue Hour autumn arrived, and We Lost The Summer brings winter... it's time to explain the seasons motif!

In literature and art, often the seasons have been used as a metaphor for the stages of life:

spring/summer = youth, adolescence

autumn/winter = growth, ageing, adulthood

So, Blue Hour announces that their time on Magic Island, and therefore as children, is coming to an end, and that they will have to face the transition to winter, to adulthood. They're losing the "summer" of their life, and that means losing their escape, Magic Island, as well, because it's not enough anymore for them to escape reality, as we will deepen with The Chaos Chapter and The Name Chapter.

The lyrics focus on the seasons motif for growing up and on the loss of Magic Island:

We also see s blue butterfly, related to Beomgyu but also Taehyun: in Native American cultures it symbolize the transition from summer to winter.

🎶 We lost the sunset, now don't know what to do / Our time has lost the weather / I'm standing still in winter / Eternal winter / I want to see you again, our bright summer / Long gone we lost the summer 🎶

The loss of Magic Island in real life context can be interpreted as TXT not being able to play the game because everywhere is closed due to lockdown, included the arcade where we saw them play in Run Away Japanese version!

Another detail: mirrors are also included, which, especially in the final scene where Yeonjun looks through it in the dark, refers to their dark sides. These are triggered by the loss of Magic Island, the place where they usually can escape together to avoid being crushed by reality, but now can't reach for two reasons: first, adulthood is approaching, second, the lockdown forces TXT to separate and only see eachother through a screen.

THE CHAOS CHAPTER: FREEZE

The title of this album references two things:

The arrival of winter and therefore their adulthood

The "fight, flight or freeze" instinctive response of our bodies and minds to danger and stressful situations. According to the title, TXT's response to their reality is going to be "freeze" aka the inability to move or act against it, but it's going to be "flight" as well, as we see in...

— 0X1=LOVESONG

TXT are now stuck in reality dealing with the problems that characterise the transition from adolescence to adulthood, but that doesn't mean they have abandoned the magical fantasies that give them comfort.

The main character of this music video is Yeonjun. We see him alone at home, playing videogames to distract himself while his parents are fighting. He then decides to escape by stealing his parents car keys and go for a ride. We see him with the members, but at the end of the music video it is actually revealed that he was alone the whole time: Yeonjun was imaging being with his friends, who turn reality into a fantasy when they escape together. This doesn't mean that the others are gone or dead, they're simply not together, missing eachother and going through the same kind of despair, depression, loneliness, as we can interpret from the clips where they're all separated but together with the others in the distance.

We also see Yeonjun alone in his room watching his fish inside the aquarium, and, later on, one ends up in his room: Yeonjun is imagining of being inside the aquarium. That's the same thing that happens with TXT seeing fish over them while in the pool, and with Kai seeing it on the sky: the aquarium represents the comforting fantasy they run away to. They can't go to Magic Island, so they imagine it.

Yeonjun gets so lost in his fantasy that, when Taehyun falls into the pool and then removes his cast, Yeonjun snaps out of it and doesn't see the fish anymore: he's now imaging his friends being there with him as he wishes. Fantasy and reality are mixing together.

He then starts dancing, and this is a reference to a movie called "Days of Being Wild", where music and dancing is used as a way of expressing the isolation, solitude, lack of direction and belonging, experienced by the characters. That's why Yeonjun walks into complete darkness: he's falling into the black hole of emptiness inside himself, the hole that is referenced in the quote in the beginning of the music video.

Unlike the video, which focuses on friendship bringing relief and happiness, the lyrics tells us about the crush we mentioned at the beginning:

🎶 In this world of zero / I know you're my one and only / In this endless darkness like / Oh my god, so holy / From the tip of my fingers / Everything runs far away / My life before you was a mess / Couldn't win one round of this chess 🎶

TXT believe that their salvation is given by the love they feel for this person. They are used to being "losers" in this life, but they feel like "winners" with them.

🎶 Now I can't stop thinking 'bout you / When I'm sinking alone / Angel who one day appeared to me / Take me away to your hometown / I know it's real, I can feel it 🎶

The pre-chorus references their friendship as well, though: in the music video we see that Yeonjun is "sinking alone" while thinking about his friends, and the "angel" is the same referenced in Crown and in Nap of A Star: it's TXT, and especially Hueningkai, that saved him when he was in his lowest point, sharing his burden. The "take me away to your hometown" could also be interpreted as asking the others to escape together at Magic Island, that feels like a home to them.

🎶 I'm full of problems, love sick / No way to go / I was fine to die / I'm a loser in this game / The only (one) rule of this world / Save me / Take my hand / Please use me like a drug (I know I love you) 🎶

The chorus is foreshadowing for The Name Chapter: Temptation, TXT are willing to be used and consumed by this love in order not to suffer anymore. "Save me" recalls Can't You see Me.

THE CHAOS CHAPTER: FIGHT OR ESCAPE

– LO$ER=LO♡ER

is a prequel-sequel of 0x1=Lovesong! Especially because in the music video we see how Taehyun got hurt and his "LOSER/LO♡ER" signature on the cast was made.

( work in progress )

Frost's music video then came out, anticipating and connecting to the new chapter of the story, The Name Chapter! It's part of The Chaos Chapter, but I think storyline-wise its music video comes after, because the events it contains depend on discoveries that are going to be made during The Name Chapter. Let's talk about Minisode 2 before talking about it then!

MINISODE2: THURSDAY'S CHILD

– GOOD BOY GONE BAD

– GOOD BOY GONE VAD JAPANESE VERSION

THE NAME CHAPTER

– CONCEPT TRAILER

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First of all, it's important to specify that it doesn't only concern the album that will be released now, Temptation, but also the following ones that will be part of this chapter (two more mini-albums are expected, like for The Dream Chapter).

We've already mentioned Peter Pan a couple of times before: their story, with the fear of growing up, taking refuge in a magical world that you don't want to leave (Neverland), the temptations to stay there are all clear references to it.

This new chapter is heavily inspired by fairytales, not only Peter Pan, but others as well, such as Alice in Wonderland and Land of Oz.

Let's analyze what happens in the video, going over things we've already seen and adding more...

1) we are at sunset = blue hour = the moment in which one can pass between reality and the magical world;

2) eyes of two different colors = Cat, the creepy smile references Alice's cat. Cat by the window: who is at the window calling the Lost Boys? Peter Pan, who tempted them to go to Neverland, like the Cat tempted TXT to go to Magic Island.

3) blue/purple tunnel/portal: open passage to Magic Island, we saw it in The Dooms Night and we will see it again shortly;

4) we hear a whistle: it is the "call of the devil" (in the past, whistling was associated with the devil), the one who tempts TXT, therefore always the Cat;

5) we hear a reading of the original dark version of Peter Pan and see Yeonjun=Wendy manipulated and tempted by the Cat=Peter Pan;

6) Yeonjun/Wendy brings the rest of TXT (Wendy's siblings), and the Cat/Peter Pan "teaches" them to fly: instead of Tinkerbell's pixie dust, he uses a red potion, connected to the Webtoon/Webnovel. TXT now fly to Magic Island/Neverland;

7) while the narrator says that "Forever will never end (at Neverland/Magic Island)", Beomgyu looks at us and he's the only one who does it, like in Blue Hour: he's the only one of the group aware that sooner or later they will have to leave the magical world.

8) Remember we talked about mirrors and bad alter egos? We see TXT with their doppelgangers, which have the black feathers and masks we had symbolically seen in CYSM, on opposite sides of the mirrors (=the hangers).

Let's analyze the choreography:

The good/white TXTs move and the bad/black TXTs copy them, but then the blacks grab them by the arm and take their place. The good/white TXTs then enter the same side as the bad/black TXTs and HueningKai guides them to put the mirrors one after the other in line: what we saw with Beomgyu in Eternally. Now, if you think about it, even when you go to a place (it is frequent in elevators) where two mirrors are positioned opposite to each other, they create a potentially infinite corridor whose end you cannot see. Remember the chalk lines Kai drew around the school in Run Away? HueningKai locks himself and TXT inside a labyrinth.

Here they fight, first their own dark sides and they win: this should mean that their dark sides are now totally part of them, and therefore TXT can switch from one side of the mirror to the other freely, without being tempted or deceived by anyone: they are the ones who choose it. TXT have embraced their inner Peter Pan, rather than totally rejecting it.

But then, they fight among themselves and the order in which they do it is important:

Yeonjun and Kai, being the most tempted, unite;

Kai fights himself, his fully good side specifically;

After that, Kai collides with Soobin and prevails, (temptations prevail over knowledge);

Followed by Beomgyu, who instead manages to prevail over Kai (awareness of having to leave Neverland prevails over the desire to stay);

Kai is replaced by Taehyun, the one who saw the darkest premonition. The two fight until Beomgyu prevails (the awareness prevails over the fear of leaving), or, perhaps, Taehyun surrenders;

Finally, Beomgyu passes to the other side of the mirror to find only his reflection on the opposite side, which does not react to a possible attack: he hasn't to fight with himself because he always accepted the reality of things.

(I used colors to try making this less confusing, hope it helped 🥲)

Based on this fight, I already connected the names of the versions (Daydream, Nightmare, Farewell, Lullaby) of the album TNC: Temptation with each member, here. I recommend you to read it but only AFTER this summary, because we still need to talk about their "true names".

NOW, the fight scene it's a vision of the future that is not Soobin's, but Beomgyu's, who then opens his eyes.

TXT are now in a flying house, their refuge at Magic Island (which refers to the Lost Boys tree, but also to Dorothy's house from the Wizard of Oz). The house begins to collapse: Magic Island is no longer safe, they destroyed it too many times while rewinding time/replaying the game: they can't postpone growing up anymore.

It is also a metaphor for the tensions within the group, the things left unsaid, the secrets, the isolation, which have led to deep rifts in the friendship between the boys.

Soobin urges the group to leave and everyone follows. Last one is Kai who jumps… ready to enter the labyrinth.

– NEW LOGO VIDEO

Another important detail for what will happen in Temptation has been included in the new logo video! Translation of what Yeonjun says, both in reverse and played normally:

1) “You run after the shadow uselessly”: refers to the shadow that Peter Pan keeps losing. In the beginning of the concept trailer Yeonjun=Wendy is the only one without a shadow: he is losing it like Peter because of the temptations. Talking about it is his bad side, driven by temptations.

2) “It's sweet, but I should find my name": Yeonjun’s good side says that temptation is sweet, but he knows he has to resist and find a way to do it. Why does he talk about "finding the name"?

Having knowledge of one's true name gives you power over them, and knowing your own true name enhances your power and gives you more control over yourself, making it harder to fall into temptation.

Often, in order to get out of a labyrinth, to pass over an obstacle or solve a quest, you have to guess something, a secret word, usually by solving a riddle...

– FROST

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🎶 Drawn by the name, I stand in chaos /My fate is what? What's the right answer, really / In an unfamiliar name / There's fate or something else / Meanings that I don't understand 🎶

(I can't add the full lyrics here lol, but I truly recommend you fully read them because they are very exhaustive!)

It's strongly related to the Webtoon/Wattpad storyline, and it's very important to The Name Chapter because it relates to the theme of "true names".

In the video, the spring nature of Magic Island (which we see in the photos of Temptation, Daydream version) freezes: winter arrives, and so their adulthood.

In the video we see TXT escaping from the portal while it's snowing, but then we go back to the past, when they go to Magic Island before it freezes...

Soobin finds a purple/blue glass sphere: it has the same colors as the portal, and what did we say creates/opens portals? The dice.

Taehyun's eye shines purple/blue: his special feature.

Kai finds a playground-style game (a reference to childhood) and sees blue butterflies.

Yeonjun finds a dog, and we'll come back to this shortly.

Beomgyu turns towards us spectators, again, and a gust of wind carries away the flowers. On Magic Island there are dry leaves on the ground, it's Autumn

Then, all together they find a fortune teller's tent, who gives them cards that make them have visions that symbolize their "true names". In the Webtoon/Wattpad novel they are given the riddles to interpret to find out what they are:

Soobin = "the one who is believed by no one"

Yeonjun = "the one who shall not eat dogs"

Beomgyu = "what was in the deepest part of the box"

Taehyun = "the one hanging upside down from an old tree with deep roots"

Hueningkai = "the one who builds the labyrinth"

In the visions of the video we see:

Yeonjun is in the desert surrounded by dog footprints and has to fight against a huge sand snake to survive (the snake of Adam and Eve = the temptations = the Cat);

Taehyun hanging from the tree and then falling down;

Kai with mirrors. The mathematical formulas reference designing the construction of the labyrinth. He is tempted by his doppelganger, enters the mirror and chases it. In the end he, that has now both sides of himself united, breaks the mirror and exits.

Soobin is in a place on fire, sees a rideable horse for children and through the glass sphere/dice he sees a child riding it: the visions of their childhood being in danger.

Beomgyu and the looped box: after all the things that come out, what remains is only him... did you understood what it could be? 👀 (we'll explain it in a second)

TXT wake up and winter has arrived on Magic Island: they escape and with the portal they return to the real world. But Taehyun takes away one item from Magic Island: the fortune teller's BOOK. What Soobin has and Beomgyu protects in Eternally!

We find it again in the Webtoon and in the webnovel: it is a very ancient and powerful spell book that Taehyun studies and uses. It can also be seen in his hand in The Doom's Night when TXT play with each other as children.

— TXT's TRUE NAMES

Their real names, and therefore the solution of the riddles, were actually revealed in their early days, in their individual debut trailers via morse code: they have been under everyone's noses since the start...

Soobin = Tomorrow (based on a Greek myth: Cassandra had the power of foresight, so she had visions of the future, but she wasn't believed by anyone)

Hueningkai = Secret (refers to the Greek myth of the Minotaur, a "monster" that resembles TXT due to its peculiar characteristics, because it was a boy born with a bull's head. He was the son of King Minos, who had a labyrinth built to hide him, also hiding the secret of escape it)

Beomgyu = Hope (the box is that of Pandora, who after opening it unleashes all the evils in the world, and the thing that is at the bottom of it and will come out after everything else is hope. And we have seen that Beomgyu is the last one left after the fights to escape the labyrinth: he is the group last hope.)

Yeonjun = Promise (the riddle is a saying that stands for humans who behave like animals and are willing to use even cruel means to get what they want: what Yeonjun shouldn't do)

Taehyun = Clue (referring to Odin, the Nordic god who hung himself upside down on Yggdrasil, the sacred tree that held up the cosmos, to obtain the "clue", the runes, which would give him all the wisdom and ability to be able to develop writing)

– 0X1=LOVESONG Japanese ver

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I think it sees TXT falling down to reality from Magic Island, after they abondoned it once and for all. While they are performing they all have blood in their uniforms: they're all rather dead or injuried at the end of the game. Beomgyu is the only one in an hospital: he's the only survivor, the only player with still some HPs left, after all, we saw that he won over the others in The Name Chapter Concept trailer. Taehyun, on the contrary, has angel wings and in the end he disappeared, leaving his uniform behind surrounded by feathers on the ground: he fully died during the game, perhaps sacrificing himself. A bit more about this, here.

Now they are back to the real world, forever.

And we have, for now, reached the end of our journey! Now we just have to wait and see what The Name Chapter will bring us in detail (and see if my headcanons and theories are right lol).

Thank you so much for reading!!

READ NEXT -> The Name Chapter: Temptation Analysis

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