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ticketque · 25 days ago
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How Table Management Software Enhances Restaurant Efficiency
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In the fast-paced restaurant industry, operational efficiency is key to providing excellent customer service and maximizing revenue. One of the most effective ways to streamline operations is by implementing a table management software like TicketsQue. This innovative technology optimizes seating arrangements, reduces wait times, and enhances overall guest satisfaction.
1. Optimized Seating and Turnover Management
Managing tables manually can lead to inefficiencies such as double bookings, long wait times, and poor table utilization. With TicketsQue’s table management software, restaurants can efficiently assign tables, track occupancy, and estimate dining durations. This leads to faster table turnovers, maximizing revenue potential while ensuring a smooth flow of guests.
2. Reduced Wait Times with Smart Reservations
Long wait times can deter customers and impact a restaurant’s reputation. TicketsQue’s digital table reservation system allows diners to book tables online, reducing congestion at peak hours. Real-time availability updates ensure that walk-in guests are accommodated efficiently without overbooking issues.
3. Enhanced Customer Experience
A well-managed seating system enhances customer satisfaction. TicketsQue’s software provides real-time updates to guests about their wait times, sends automated confirmations, and even allows restaurants to personalize dining experiences based on guest preferences. Happy customers are more likely to leave positive reviews and return for future visits.
4. Seamless Integration with POS and CRM Systems
TicketsQue’s table management system seamlessly integrates with POS systems and customer relationship management (CRM) tools, providing restaurants with valuable insights into customer behavior, popular dining hours, and table utilization trends. This data-driven approach helps in strategic planning and optimizing staff allocation.
5. Efficient Staff Coordination
Managing a restaurant involves synchronizing multiple operations, including table assignments, order processing, and server availability. With TicketsQue’s software, restaurant managers can assign tables to servers based on real-time data, reducing confusion and ensuring efficient service.
6. Maximized Revenue with Better Space Utilization
Poor table management often leads to wasted seating space. TicketsQue optimizes floor plans and ensures every seat is utilized efficiently, boosting revenue by accommodating more guests without compromising comfort.
7. Data-Driven Decision Making
With built-in analytics and reporting features, TicketsQue helps restaurant owners monitor peak hours, average dining time, and guest preferences. These insights enable restaurants to adjust their operations for better efficiency and profitability.
Conclusion
Implementing TicketsQue’s table management software is a game-changer for restaurants aiming to enhance efficiency, boost revenue, and improve customer satisfaction. With features like optimized seating, seamless POS integration, and real-time updates, restaurants can stay ahead in the competitive hospitality industry.
Upgrade your restaurant’s efficiency with TicketsQue’s advanced table management solution today!
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theocxcanonweek · 2 months ago
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OC x CANON WEEK 2025! LET'S GO!!
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PROMPTS
Day 1. Kiss in the rain/snow Day 2. Intertwined fingers Day 3. Kiss during a sunrise/sunset Day 4. Brushing hair out of the others’ face Day 5. Kiss beneath/amongst the stars Day 6. Hug from behind Day 7. Kiss within foliage/a cityscape Bonus Day: Wiping away tears
DIALOGUE
Day 1. “Promise me!” Day 2. “So, are we official then?” Day 3. “Oooh. You’re so in love with me!” Day 4.“I never imagined I could feel this way…” Day 5. “Take my hand.” Day 6. “Jealous much?” Day 7. “I’d burn the world for you.” Bonus Day; “It was always you!… Always has been. Always will be.”
FASHION
Day 1. Pastels / Monochromatic Day 2. Practical / Avant Garde Day 3. Nautical / Wild West Day 4. Plaid / Sequence Day 5. Steampunk / Cyberpunk Day 6. Floral / Animal Print Day 7. Leather / Lace Bonus Day: Jewels / Chains
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RULES 1. This is a safe for work (SFW) event. We will only be promoting work that is safe for public viewing.
2. Tag us @theocxcanonweek and/or use the hashtag #oc x canon week!
3. Mention which day and prompt(s) you've used, as well as the canonical character(s) involved!
4. You don't have to use all prompts for each day, but you can interpret the prompts however you choose!
5. Even though it's called "OC x Canon Week," self-inserts and personas are also allowed!
6. Anyone and everyone can participate!
7. You can complete this challenge at any date. There is no need to participate every day, and you can do as many or little prompts you want. However, we will only be promoting for this challenge the week of March 17th, 2025.
8. Last of all, have fun! <3
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FAQ
"Do I have to do a prompt from each of the categories listed?"
You can do as many or as little as you like! So, if you wanna do one of each of the categories go right ahead! If you only want to do one in total, that's fine too! No stress here! 💖
"Are polyamorous ships allowed?"
Yup! As long as an oc/insert/persona is included in the ship with canon character(s) then it is welcomed! 💖
"I see OC x Canon Week is on both Tumblr and Twitter. Do I have to participate on both platforms? Or can I just stick to one?"
You can choose whichever platform you prefer to particpate on. You do not have to particpate on both. (However you are welcome to if you so please!~) 💖
"I like this days prompt with another days prompt. Is it alright to mix and match them?"
Yes!! You absolutely are welcome to mixing and matching prompts! The event is about having fun, so pick and choose as you please~ 💖
"I want to create multiple works for one prompt! Is that okay?"
Absolutely!! If you have the ability and engery to do so, then more power to ya!! ✨ We will take as many pieces as you can churn out! (But there is no pressure of course~💖)
"Can I participate with a familial/platontic oc x canon ship?"
While the event does cater to romantic intent, non-romantic ships are welcome to participate as well! 💖
"I found out about the event late!! Can I still participate and submit my work after the event is over?"
Yes! While the event runs for a “week”, there really are no set rules as to when you can participate. It’s all about having fun and spreading awareness for OC x Canon enjoyers!!
The blog will not be as active after the event is over , but I’ll still check in every once in a while to like and reblog what I can. (: Remember to us the hashtag # oc x canon week and tag the account so your work is seen!
"Have you considered running OC x Canon Week on other platforms, like Bluesky, A03, etc?..."
I have but truthfully it's already a huge workload managing the event on both Tumblr and Twitter by myself. If I were to bring it to other platfroms, I would definitely need some assistance. At this point, it's TBD... 🆕Update!! 🆕 We now have a collection on AO3 thanks to @atwstedstory!! 💕 It'll be open for submissions the week of the event! Thank you atwstedstory!! 💖
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Thank you for reading and happy planning!! 💕💕💕
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heavysighing-dreamyeyes · 6 months ago
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Random Headcannons
Ahem, now that the event is over, here are some of my personal Jason Todd headcannons for your consideration:
He's always going to be taller than you. Doesn't matter if you're 5'2" or 6'0". He's simply taller than you, and he's buying boots with 4" platforms to really seal the deal
Jason loves any nickname you call him. Call him Jay, Jace, or any pet name and term of endearment. It'll make his heart skip a beat, and his eyes go starry. His name never sounds so pretty than when it's falling from your lips
Serial Hand Kisser. He's kissing your knuckles, your fingertips, the back of your hand, your palm, your wrist. He doesn't even need an excuse or reason to do it. He'll just be sitting on the couch reading, and your palm is pressed to his mouth the entire time.
Drags you out into the rain with him to dance. Yes, you introduced him to the joy of spinning under the cloudy skies, but he's the one who pulls you out from under cover every time it starts to drizzle.
This happens even if you're in your apartment, when the storm starts. You have a fire escape and a roof for a reason, and you're going to use it
He has a bit of sweet tooth, and it's entirely Alfreds fault. Even if you dont like sweets, he's going to convert you. Jason will find the recipe that changes your mind to at least enjoying his baking
You'll have to actively convince him to let you backpack on his motorcycle. Bikes can be dangerous, no matter how safe he is, other drivers won't always be
If you manage to convince him, you're going to wear all the protective gear, and he's taking you onto back roads outside of Gotham to practice leaning into turns safely before he drives you anywhere near the city streets
Will fully lay on top of you when you start sharing a bed. He's a cuddler, and that's not a crime. (Sure, he won't do it every night, he likes it when you sleep on his chest, too. But he will smother sleep on you)
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halcyone-of-the-sea · 1 year ago
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The Invisible String Theory
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PAIRING: König x F!Reader
SYNOPSIS: You didn't expect the man who gave you his coat to be the same one to bust down the door where you and the other women slept - sniper hood scaring everyone within an inch of their life. You didn't expect him to become so important to you, either. (Based on König's in-game backstory).
WORDCOUNT: 9.2k
WARNINGS: Human trafficking, mentions of unwanted touching, trauma, blood, gore, guns, bullets, protective!König, soft!König, nightmares, mentions of bullying, etc.
*I do not give others permission to translate and/or re-publish my works on this or any other platform*
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'DATE: 25, NOVEMBER, 2021
LOCATION: BERLIN, GERMANY
TIME OF EVENT: 0230
MISSION REPORT: PENDING….'
You don’t remember much from the day that could be called out of the ordinary. Ever since you’d been moved here with the other girls, everything was predictable down to the time the men would come over, to the point where the screams had to be muffled by pillows. 
Never in your life did you think you’d be part of the nearly fifty million people stuck in this situation, and neither did you think you’d be the one in one hundred who got out. But before you can think about November twenty-fifth and those pale gray eyes, you have to go back to the beginning. To Al-Qatala. 
You hadn’t been with this cell initially—you’d been moved around and bartered off more times than you could count; the initial founder of your predicament was long gone at this point. North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania…you’d been practically everywhere and on every continent barring the obvious last. In Europe, you couldn’t name the countries, but you knew this for a fact: you’d never been to Germany before. 
They had you with five other women in a large SUV in the beginning, this international ring of human traffickers. You had watched from the window, face blank and eyes unblinking, at the men who met near the docks. They had brought you in through Hamburg, first—not only the largest seaport in Germany but the third largest in Europe; you think you read that on a flier at some point. One of those flimsy ones that you find in gas stations with bright lettering to attract the tourists with their interesting facts. 
You wished you were only a tourist. 
You’d watched the men shake hands, and that was when you knew your fate, as well as that of the five other women, was sealed. You were going to all be here for a long time. 
This Al-Qatala cell was ruthless, but you supposed with being around terrorists, ruthlessness was better than being executed. 
For days you’d be exploited with the false promises of moments of freedom, breaks, food, and water. For some of the women it was drugs or money, but when your stomach was empty and your eyes blurring from lack of sleep, even addictions seemed to pale for brief hours. But above it all was the threat of death at every corner. These men would kill you. 
It was only a matter of time unless you could give them what they wanted. 
You yourself had developed a system, and it was probably the only reason you were still alive. Pick one of the handlers, gain his favor, and pray that he treats you specially while you keep up the act of a mindless, weak, woman. 
Ivon was the man’s name this time around. Born and raised here in Berlin before the clutches of his fanatical ideations brought him to Al-Qatala. You hated him.
Hated his touch—hated his scent and how he talked; every bit of him was corrupted like a black dog at a crossroads, always leading people down the wrong path. Your only saving grace was that he was stupid. The other girls called you Cat—said you managed to nuzzle up to someone and soon after got them to give you what you wanted. Everything you wanted except freedom, that was.
You didn’t deny that Ivon did give you privileges, but that was the point. About a week into your stay in Berlin, he allowed you to go into public with him. Arm-candy.
A doll. 
The townhouse you’d been stuck in had disappeared into a spec behind the rearview mirror, the chilled air from outside making you shiver at the lack of heat and the thin shawl you’d been thrown. No jacket. 
The care of your health only extended to how well you were able to work—at the moment you were relatively healthy despite the bulge of bruises and constantly shell-shocked look behind your eyes.
But the trip—the trip. You supposed that was when it had fully started, and you didn’t even realize it before you saw those gray eyes again. 
“Come,” Ivon orders, holding tightly to your arm and dragging you along from the corner shop without making a scene. Your hands loosely brush the wrack of clothes, fabric soft under your fingertips as it sways. 
Fixing your shawl, you try to burrow your neck into it, gaining what little heat is available to you. It was cold out—you were shivering. People send looks, eyes tight as they shift up and down your form, but no one ever says anything. To be this bold, this cell had to have been at this for a long, long time. The realization didn’t make you feel any better. 
That was when you first saw him. 
You were standing outside a coffee shop, quivering like a newly hatched butterfly, Ivon making a call only a few feet away with fast motions of his arms. It was hard not to make a run for it right then and there; hard not to take those few seconds of open air and dash away—start screaming and yelling until the authorities came. 
It would save yourself, but what about the others? They wouldn’t be so fortunate, you’d be sentencing them to death. None of this was simple—it needed to be thought out. Two games of chess being played at the same time.
The irony of it was that König had been off-duty that day. It had been a shot in the dark. 
“Are you alright?” A thick Austrian accent makes you flinch as it appears beside your right ear, grating.
Your eyes snap to the side, moving one foot back as you blink wildly up at the blue-gray orbs that would become a staple. You liked to call it as everyone else did—the invisible string theory. A theory that stated that the universe connected people who were destined to meet one day. Through thick or thin waters, it was inevitable. He was inevitable. 
“Yes,” you say quickly, holding your hands tightly around you. The man ahead of you was tall, almost startlingly so, with muscles more bulky than a boulder and his buzz-cut head open to the chilled breeze. He wore a surgical mask over his lower visage, his hoodie under the thick material of a canvas jacket. “Yes,” you say again, hearing Ivon’s voice behind you still on the phone. “I’m fine, thank you.”
Gray eyes furrow slightly, gaze darting over your head. 
“Are you…sure, Ma’am?” 
“Thank you for your concern,” you fake laugh, eyes pained, backing up farther. That invisible string snaps into place, pulling tight at only those few simple words. 
His stature made you slightly nervous—large, intimidating; those hands could do quite the damage if given the chance. Your eyes had hit and bounced off the identity discs at his chest with little thought, too preoccupied to notice the fact that he was in the Service.
König’s eyes had narrowed softly, dark brows minutely moving in.
Ivon hangs up his phone. 
“Can I help you?” He asks, coming up and sliding a hand around your waist. The man had stared at him for a long minute, and you had felt Ivon tense slowly at the unblinking eye contact. 
This stranger had commented in German a long string of frim words, hands going to his jacket and grabbing at the arms—he slips out of it while still uttering. 
Before you can react, the large coat swallows you whole and you snatch at the heat that’s still inside instinctually, now only realizing how much you were shivering. Your body sags into the weight of the fabric, the scent of sweat and coffee. 
You don’t even pay attention to the growing tones, shocked. People look over to the two fast words being tossed.
Yet it could only last so long. 
Ivon’s hand latches onto the side of your arm, beginning to drag you back and away from this kind stranger like a lap dog while throwing curses behind him. Gray eyes meet yours as old shoes skid and stumble. 
König had taken a firm step towards you that day, his body tense and his hands clenched at his side—ready to do anything on a moment's notice should you ask for it. But all you do is stare, jaw loose, and the given coat still on your shoulders. You just couldn’t understand why he would do that. 
The stranger gets swallowed by the crowd, and just like that, he’s gone. 
That was all it had been; a moment—a few mere seconds in the large plot that was this almost impossible tale. You were glad it had been him, or else the events of the future could have been very different. 
Of course, they hadn’t let you keep the jacket, but the memory was enough to warm you for days even as old pains faded and new ones took their place. 
But those gray eyes would help you in the future, like a guardian; a protector in your dreams as you watched the snow fall from the sliver of outside light in your room with the others. Your mattress was on the floor like the rest, thin blankets and clouds of cold breath wafting up from sleeping forms. 
This was the time it happened, and you’d just woken up to find the curtains shifting as one of the women near it moved in her sleep. Shadows slip past, the light interrupted as it shifts over your tired face with broken fractures. 
You were always kept on the ground floor. 
'CLEARANCE: APPROVED 
TRANSLATING MISSION REPORT ‘RED FREEDOM’…
STAND BY…
Operation Red Freedom took place on November twenty-fifth, 2021, at approximately 0230 in the neighborhood of [REDACTED], at the residence of [REDACTED], Berlin, Germany. A squad of ten highly trained [REDACTED] personnel covertly entered the residence in two teams of five. Fireteam One advanced from the back entrance while Fireteam Two entered the residence from the balcony at the top floor, accessed via ladder.
Squad Leader [REDACTED], part of Fireteam One, set foot in the residence of [REDACTED] at approximately 0238 and began sweeping the ground floor as Fireteam Two cleared three of twelve known individuals belonging to the terrorist organization, Al-Qatala, on the top floor….'
You shift and shiver, your body trying to warm itself as the world blurs at the sides of your vision. Fingers twitch as your hand goes to wrap your waist, curled into the fetal position, creaking emanates from above you. Blinking softly, you frown and take a quivering breath, head nuzzling the thin mattress. 
“Cold,” you say, the following low exhale of air out of your lips only making it all worse as everything seems to drop another degree. The darkness didn’t help either, only that one line of light trying desperately to fill the room like a bucket descending into a dry well. 
You’re only clothed in the dirty and tattered remains of a large shirt, your legs feeling like they don’t hold any blood in them as they quiver without your knowledge—shaking the blanket above you. A few of the girls had said it would be okay to share, but everyone was afraid of the lock on the door clicking open and the men coming back in and seeing them. In the end, you could only look after yourself.
A thump makes you startle, drooping eyes snapping back open as you gasp. 
Head shifting, you blink rapidly upward to the ceiling, confused as to whether that had been a part of a failing mind or if you’d really just heard a muffled bump upstairs. Brows furrowing, you lightly sit up, hands still around yourself and legs limply outward; spine hunched. 
Your fingers had lost feeling, just as your nose had gone numb, but moving helped a little. Your hands dig into your flesh and your ears twitch at every creak in the wood—every pass of silent feet that suddenly becomes all the clearer as the sheen of fatigue slowly leaves your brain. 
Walking? Small pains move along your body like needles, poking and prodding, but you ignore them as easily as you do the vile hands that had touched you. Survival had forced you into a constant state of self-preservation—pain couldn’t bother you, because if you stopped, you wouldn’t get back going again. 
Your head tilts so you can side-eye the door to the room, sleeping forms all around shifting, singular groaning of tired lungs. But there’s something inside of you that stiffens like a prey animal, and you don’t know why. Inside of your sockets, your eyes hone in, bones stiff and your chest stilling as the grain becomes the most interesting thing to you beyond breathing. 
There was someone….out there. 
Watching, the sides of your vision shadow over to focus harder, your muscles tight. Your mind goes to the thumps from upstairs, the moving feet that sounded far more careful and deliberate than the ones your jailors took care to walk with. 
Inside your ribs, your heart patters a bit faster, adrenal glands sending a certain flight or flight through the few veins you hold that aren’t chilled over.
Something was happening. Something wasn’t right.
Only when you move to shake the shoulder of one of the women sleeping beside you does it happen. 
A yell. 
A scream. 
The girls in the room all startle awake, sounds of concern and shock entering the air that you mirror; faces snapping to the ceiling and the door. The townhouse erupts into gunfire and the sound of slamming wood—a warzone that only is separated from all of you by the thin material of the four walls.
You feel yourself being grabbed and held in fear in the dark, as your open face holds the expression of a rabbit in an open field, looking along the long, hidden grass. 
The sounds persist, loud German shouts going up over the house and echoing with heated fever. This continues for minutes, added in with the sound of doors breaking off hinges, bouncing off the ground, and shaking the foundation so hard that you can feel it reverberate. The women go silent. Stone-still. 
But the gunfire—so much gunfire. The constant pop of assault weapons and a pound of multiple booted feet. 
What was going on? You can't make sense of it, so you only freeze and listen; trying to understand the longer the fight goes on, heart hammering; mouth slack-jawed. And then it’s like it never happened.
Silence. 
You share quick looks with the others, all gripping one another and heads angled to the door. The heavy feet start back up again, coming closer. Your mind slashes to the window across the room, but it’s hard to think beyond the sudden body that shakes the door that leads directly to you all—the women scream, some standing up and racing to the glass with the same idea as you. 
'…Squad Leader [REDACTED], and both Fireteams successfully eliminated all targets inside of the [REDACTED] residence, leaving the room occupied by known hostages last to prevent casualties and/or the usage of bargaining chips. Squad Leader [REDACTED] made contact with hostages at approximately 0244 after the final sweep of the townhouse had been completed and all personnel accounted for.
Local authorities had been contacted by neighbors due to noise but were dismissed.' 
The door busts off its hinges and the room devolves into panicked yells and hurled bits of mattress material. Loud pleas and curses stuck like gums to teeth as they were forced out in fear and bone-crushing terror. You remember pushing back into the wall, many others doing the same, as a beast of a man enters the room with his face covered with a loose fabric hood of some sort. 
Large—brutish. Like a demon walking with the color of black printed over his entire body; gear hangs from a combat vest, hands holding an assault rifle as a sidearm is strapped to his bulging thigh. Forearms the side of your head stays near his chest, and in order to not hit his head on the doorframe, the individual has to bend slightly. Over that hood, the lenses and head-gear of a night-vision rig sit heavily before it’s moved back with a firm hand that is nearly double the size of yours.
A monster.
Your entire being is tight with quivering tension, eyes blinking away tears at the smell of blood that rolls in from the hallway. The women at the window duck down, hands to their heads as if expecting a bullet to carve its way between their skulls. 
“Cat,” one of the ladies behind you mutters, voice quivering. You shush her on bitten lips and move her farther behind you. 
“Don’t speak,” you mutter. “Don’t move.”
You don’t know what you expect, but nothing about this is correct. 
The man raises his hands, the rifle slapping his chest as it hangs from a strap. He speaks in German, and the heavy and fast noise of it makes your already addled head spin. No one answers beyond the slide of their own feet over the hardwood floors.
“Ich heiße König,” his head swivels from one to another, “Sprichst du Deutsch? Irgendjemand?”
You stare blankly, panting. 
After a moment, and a slow step forward from the stranger, he speaks again, though this time, it’s in English. 
“My name is König.” His voice is familiar to you, and you blink in confusion quickly, hidden near the back of the shaking bodies. “I am with the German Military, yes? We have conducted a raid on this residence.” 
Military? Raid? 
“...I am not here to hurt you.” He nears one of the women, beginning to bend down slowly. She squeaks, balking back—making him tense and halt. It didn't matter what he said, König was the epitome of a man who was intimidating on body alone; the gear wasn’t helping. Neither was the hood. 
A soldier appears in the doorway, calling out to him in his native language as you flinch at the noise. 
König calls back calmly, trying to keep an air of gentle strength around him.
The second soldier comes inside, dressed similarly despite the lack of fabric over his visage which instantly puts many at ease again. He clears his throat as König steps back, gargantuan hands coming up to rest at his vest collar as his legs shift. He seems a bit put off at the fearful stares from everyone, rolling his shoulders for a moment as he turns his head to look out of the doorway. 
Your eyes don’t move from him, though. A nagging feeling in the back of your skull. 
“We have to leave this place,” the second soldier tells you all, kneeling and resting a hand over his knee. “We’ll get you medical attention. Food. Water. There’s no need to suffer here any longer, hm? We can see to it that all of you will get the best care that can be provided.” A pause. “We can get you back home.” 
That certainly got the attention that was needed. 
Meek questions started falling out, then louder ones before pandemonium was roused in that tiny room pushed to the very back of the townhouse. Home. It was a word that had almost lost all meaning but was still that constant shining light in the back of everyone’s mind. 
Home.
Did you even have one of those left? 
As the rest of your fellows all got to their feet, taking you with them, you had to think over that fact as the soldier guided them gently out of the room to join the others waiting—trying to answer their questions and get them away from the gore before they saw it. 
You stayed behind, feet shifting over the floor and your lips thin. As the silence settles in, you hold yourself a bit tighter and glance at the mattress all mashed together and stained—those thin blankets as you shiver. 
“Are you alright?” Your head snaps over. 
You’d forgotten about König.
He still stands there, still and with his hands at his collar; he clears his throat softly, speaking up from his low utterance. “Please…do not be afraid.”
“I’m not afraid,” you say tinily, your voice cracking in the lie. 
You can’t see his eyes—not with the shadow from his hood or his head rig, but you can see the way his skull lightly tilts to the side, trying to see you better in the low light. 
“That is good,” he answers, not convinced. “I’m glad. I did not wish to scare anyone.” He moves back and motions with a hand to the door from where they hang. “Please. It is best not to linger, yes?”  
“Do I…” you hesitate, shivering. “Do I know you from somewhere?” 
König’s face isn’t visible, but you can still sense the feeling of confusion leaking out of him. The man takes a small step closer, and you gaze up at him until his eyes are visible. 
Blue-gray. 
You stare, mouth parting in shock.
König blinks twice, quickly making a noise in the back of his throat at the sight of your eyes gazing into his—the same woman outside of the coffee shop from days ago.
That little invisible string pulls you closer, small millimeter by small millimeter. 
“You?” You both say it at the same time, laced with surprise and shock. 
It’s a long moment of gazing into each other, a battered body and another more strong than an ox. All fear of the man dissipates. 
“You gave me your jacket,” you whisper, still torn up about it. 
König’s hood shifts as he glances back to the door, German speech over the radio strapped to his chest which he takes in and processes in the back of his skull. But he always looks back at you, eyes crinkled with concern and perhaps even a bit of misplaced guilt. 
A protective knife sides into his side.
“Come.” The man reaches out a hand, hovering it over your arm. You stare at the gloved limb for a moment before softly moving towards it with your breath caught in your throat, hesitant. König’s fingers delicately slide over the flesh, not closing around it until he feels your muscles loosen. “...Let’s get you warmer, Schatz, yes?” 
You blink.
“It’s cold here,” you mutter, letting him guide you along, his gray orbs always keeping you in the side of his vision. 
“Yes,” he agrees, nodding. “Very cold. Have you been to Germany during the winter before?”
Your head slightly shakes, bare feet padding along next to the pair of great boots—you lean closer unconsciously to the promise of warmth. König guides you away from the seeping blood on the floor and protects your eyes from the view of the bodies across the room with his own as a guard dog would. 
“No.” He notices your leaning and brings you nearer to him, letting you use him as a brace. The man knows the effects of shock, and you wear it as plainly as any other. “I’ve never been here before.” 
König hums and his free hand goes up to press into the radio, muttering in his native tongue. He releases the connection and asks as he blinks at you, “Do you require any immediate medical attention?” 
Again, you shake your head. 
“Where are the others?” You sink further into him, being guided to the front door, open to the soft snowfall and a chilled wind as your shoulder hunch. 
“Just outside,” König glances at the bodies across the room—the ones he’d riddled with bullets that still twitch even as the minutes draw longer. Gray eyes going from one to another, the house is heavy with the weight of dead men. Twelve in total and all getting colder just like the temperature outside. König didn’t feel bad about it, and when he’d finally busted open that door to find you and the women, he was satisfied with the blood on his hands. If hell were to be his home, he would walk there with a golden-fanged smile. 
But now wasn’t the time for that. 
“I will bring you to them,” the soldier speaks, snow blowing in from the entrance. “Slowly, now, Schatz, watch the steps. Allow me to help.”
You stop at the doorway, bringing a hand to your mouth to cover a haggard cough as König makes his way down the first concrete step ahead of you—large armored vehicles had pulled up from a ways away. The women huddle around one another, the rest of the soldiers sticking by them and opening the doors to the vehicles as the night gets only more cold and stormy.  
Gray eyes flicker for a moment down to your lack of proper protection, fingers twitching and tapping at his thigh as König remembers your expression the day he’d first met you. 
“Do you want me to carry you?” He says slowly, cautious in his approach. The man wasn’t stupid—he wouldn’t touch you unless you explicitly stated it was alright for him to do so. “I will be gentle, I promise. I do not wish for your feet to freeze, I...” He pauses as you blink, staring into his soul. “I…will not touch you if you do not tell me to do it. You have my word.” 
You continue to stand there for a moment, face unreadable before your head slowly turns to the vehicles in the street. 
The neighborhood was so normal it still caused you to wonder how no one had spoken up and seen something. Rows of connected houses now with their lights on—faces peeking from the windows like little children on Christmas morning; trying to get glimpses of Santa and the man’s reindeer. 
Finally, your gaze moves back to the hooded visage of König, able to see it better under the moonlight and the glare of falling snowflakes—a few of those frozen pieces sitting in the folds of the fabric.
“The hood scared them,” you utter about the others. König stiffens a bit, blinking at you but not looking away. “They’re used to people trying to hide their faces, but yours…with how large you are…”
“I understand.” König doesn't tear away his eyes. “...Did I scare you, Schatz?”
You don’t know why, but for what seems like the first time in years, the question makes you giggle. The beast of a man goes still with his feet on the ground, usually jittery and moving body captivated by the sound as it echoes over the night’s air—the puff of your breath as it moves around his hood; rustling it like leaves on a tree. 
Eyes widening only a sliver more, König’s breath is in his throat.
It was like listening to a bird’s song.
“Maybe only a little,” you whisper to him. “But it’s okay. I’m scared of most things.” 
He licks his lips, but you’re unable to see the slight quirk of them afterward. 
“Then I will make it up to you, yes?” He holds out a hand. “Let me? The car is warm and your friends are waiting for you. My men say they ask about your health.”
You softly nod, the shadow of the house trying to drag you back into it—its blackened arms reaching and latching onto old scars. When your hand connects with König's, the man takes his time putting one foot back to a step and scooping you up from behind your knees. With a tiny grunt, you settle at his chest, calming your heartbeat with the fact that you know he won’t hurt you. 
“I’ve got you,” he says. 
In his arms, your bare legs hang in the air, hand wrapping his neck, and with a slightly nervous look to you as your body hovers. König watches for a moment, hesitating before he begins walking to the same vehicle the other woman had been moved into out of the snowfall. 
“Can you tell me your name,” he asks to distract you from his hold, to get you more comfortable with him as his boots crunch through the packed powder on the ground—making sure to watch his step so as to not jostle you. 
“Everyone calls me Cat.” Gray eyes blink your way, visible skin painted black. König’s head tilts. You can’t help but find it endearing.
“Katze?” He hums, and you can imagine his lips moving slightly upwards from the innocent tone of his voice as if taken by the strange moniker. “That is…interesting.” 
You huff tinily, shivering again as your body moves to curl a little more. 
The soldier quickly reassures you. “Nearly there.” 
The vehicle is in front of you, and a nearby man opens the door for König as he carries you over. Nodding in thanks, the large individual eases you into one of the seats as the blast of warm air makes you sag—the other woman in there mulls closer, grabbing onto you and laughing through tears. 
Looking back at them, you smile and feel yourself get a bit teary-eyed as everything starts to slowly come into focus. 
Glancing outward, you stare at the snow that hits the dark hood of König, sticking and hanging off until the tiny white dots melt from the heat of his body. With his legs shifting he moves back a step and nods to you, eyes moving to stare at the ground for a moment. 
“We will take you to base. From there you will all be given dorms and fresh apparel to—”
“Thank you, König,” you interrupted him. He stares, lips parted with the half-tones of cut-off speech. “And please extend my thanks to your men as well.” 
“...Of course, Katze.” König stands straighter, always twitching fingers moving to the car door as engines start with a grinding roar. He nods again, the loose fabric swaying as the lenses of his rig stay firm at the movement. “There is no need to thank us. Relax. Sleep, if you wish to do it. The ride will be long.” The man’s gray eyes linger for a moment on your own, studying the bumps and small marks on your face. His hand tightens over the door as your gaze is stuck with his own; warmth blooming in his chest. He was glad he had found you. 
König slips out a soft, “There are blankets under the seats,” before he closes the door with a firm thump of metal. 
You can’t help but smile. 
'…Hostages were taken back to [REDACTED] and received minor medical attention on site. Housed in [REDACTED] and were admitted for needed treatments/medications - all details/names listed in File 3 Section 6 for future reference. DNA was placed into databases. 
Next of kin were informed of their family members’ position and/or state of being via phone call to the corresponding government official that then traveled through the appropriate channels once identified.'
You sit as a nurse hands you heating pads for your hands, which you take with a small thanks and clenched tightly, sucking every ounce of warmth from them to stop the shaking. Your body was heavy with the weight of new clothes and heated blankets, the room utterly normal in a way you’d not known for years. A corner table with books and a chess board—a connected bathroom stocked with amenities you may need; even a rug on the tile floor. You don’t know why that was shocking to you, but even the simplest thing was awe-inspiring. Your eyes had even slipped over a tiny nightlight near the door. 
It nearly made you cry. 
Your nurse moves back a bit, smiling down at you kindly. 
“Is there anything else you might need, Dear?” Her accent is prominent, though not as much as König’s had been. She waits for your answer diligently as the pitcher of water and a similar glass sit on your nightstand. 
“No,” you say, shaking your head. Your socked feet rub together like a grasshopper. “I think that’s all.” Your eyelids blink. “But…” you stop.
“What is it?” The lady asks gently, hands slack at her sides.
“The man—König,” you pause. “Is he here?” 
Blinking at you, the nurse tilts her head to the side in curiosity. “Not currently, no. At least, not in this specific building. He and his men are being debriefed across base. They will be there for a long while.” At your blank look, her brows slightly move up in accommodating comfort. “Would…you like me to tell him something for you?” 
Playing with the heating pads in your hands, your face gains a slightly embarrassed sheen. You liked the thought of being near König, truthfully. No one had made you feel safe like he did—him and his selfless action of a large coat given with no intention of getting anything in return. 
“Just,” you breathe softly. “Just that I’m sorry for losing his coat, and that I hope it wasn’t expensive.”
The nurse stares, very much confused but not about to question you. Her feet shift over the floor, and a light nod is sent your way. 
“Of course. I’ll tell him.” She motions to the bed with a hand and explains that whenever you wished to sleep, you were free to use the bed—and the TV was open to you as well, though you might not be able to understand the local stations. With that, she exited the room. 
Left alone, your head moves around the room slowly, taking it all in once more as the small bandages under your clothes pull at your flesh. The tears start slipping down your cheeks with no warning. 
Wrist coming up to your eyes, the limb presses in tightly, water staining the flesh as it dribbles down, and your lip quivers like a worm below it. You don’t know why you’re crying now and not when König had gotten you out of that townhouse. Why now, when there wasn’t anything prompting you to do so? 
But something was prompting you—the knowledge that you would never be going back to anyone who would mistreat you again. You had your own room. Good food. All the water that your stomach could drink down. A nightlight that pushes back the darkness even if you’re so used to living in it. 
Through your soft sniffles, chuckles move out, filling the space with a warm echo. You pull the blankets closer to you and collapse backward onto the mattress, smiling widely at the ceiling. 
That little invisible string dances as your heart pulls at it. 
König’s leg lightly jumps from under his table, signing off his name at the bottom of a report before he stands and rubs a hand over the top of his un-hooded head. He grabs the paper and slips it into a manila folder, hands pale with deep scars running the length of them like fissures in the earth. Deftly taking the item, he walks out of his office and begins moving down the length of the building, fingers tapping over the yellowish material with a small connection of flesh and thick envelope. 
Tap-tap, tappity-tap. 
His fingers were always fidgeting—moving, tensing, twitching. It was one of the reasons they never let him become a recon sniper; the more obvious being the blatant size of his body. Both of which had been the cause of much teasing throughout his childhood. 
But König’s mind was on something other than the report in his hands, and it was starting to become a very strong distraction. You. The women. Al-Qatala. 
He was angry he hadn’t acted outside of that coffee shop—angry he hadn't noticed the signs right in front of him even if he had been powerless to stop it then. The soldier’s jaw clenched, the strong muscles of his jaw roving. 
“Verdammt,” he hisses under his breath, glaring at the tile. “Should have done something.”
König gets to his commanding officer’s office and knocks, only staying long enough to hand him the folder with his finished report and leave once more. His mind wouldn’t stay silent tonight. There’s no doubt that he won’t be able to sleep unless he reassures himself that you and the others are okay. 
The man’s head shifts back to the email he had gotten from your assigned nurse, whom he’d taken it upon himself to know the name of when he carried you into the base’s hospital—Eva. 
‘...She says she wants to apologize for losing your coat…”
König’s heart had twisted at that—that was what you were concerned about? He had to tell you that it was alright, or else he would never know peace. Perhaps even ask how you’ve been treated so far, just to make sure that everything was comfortable for you. 
The man’s eyelids move slightly downward in thought, a pull at his heart to walk outside. He passes a few other soldiers in the hallway, nodding to them with a tiny greeting but unwilling to stop and talk. In only fatigues, König exits the main doors quickly, lightly moving into a jog as his body shivers at the sudden chill touching his arms under the black compression shirt. Under him the snow has grown deeper, the large lights illuminating the almost greenish reflections of the winter landscape of open roads and large buildings. 
Curfew was long past—this had to be quick. 
Just a check-in, König tells himself as he nears the hospital, his breath puffing in the air. Then I can wipe my hands of it. 
He slows as he nears the doors, huffing a breath as he pushes on the barrier, opening it with a squawk of hinges and metal. Entering, the front desk staff looked up at him in surprise, muttering his name in question.
“Katze?” He responds, pushing a hand over his head and feeling the melting snowflakes. His cheeks are a light shade of exposure-red, and inquisitive eyes shift over the two individuals slowly. “What room?”
The pair share a glance and tell him in the same breath. Room ten. 
It’s no sooner after that König finds himself there, hand hovering over the handle as the hallway clock ticks beside his right ear. His gray eyes blink at the door, feet shuffling from under him before he clears his throat under his breath, glancing away for a second in hesitation. 
Was this appropriate?
König didn’t have an answer, but the pull in his chest was tight and firm—he just needed to see you. A glimpse, nothing more. He raises his fist and raps his knuckles over the wood delicately, three tiny knocks that hit his ears like bullets from a gun; the bullets he’s put into pathetic Al-Qatala bodies and watched burst like sacks of fluid. 
He waits, hands going to grasp at his shirt collar, pushing out a low breath to calm himself. 
After a long moment, his foot taps the floor, blinking. Again he knocks—a bit louder. 
“She is sleeping, you evolutionsbremse,” he utters, accent low and grating. “Leave her alone.” But even if you are, his nerves peek their head over the brimstone wall of his brain. 
With his fingers caressing the handle, slowly moved to clutch it fully, swallowing the metal in his grip. König takes a deep breath into his lungs, letting it fill them up. Again, he tells himself, just a check-in. 
He twists the doorknob and sets his forearm on the wood, pushing the barrier open. 
König moves so that his body makes no noise, even with how large it is as he angles the side of his head through the opening. He finds a large mound of blankets atop the bed—stacked and layered so heavily that he has to blink in surprise at how you can breathe under them; because you were under them. 
Gray eyes make out the small sliver of skin peaking out from the side of the bed—fingers—and the top of your forehead near the pillows formed around your skull. Unconsciously, a soft smile works its way over König’s lips until he finds himself chuckling.
“Niedlich,” he mutters, scars over his face shifting as he speaks. 
Sighing lowly, König pulls back his head, beginning to close the door once more.
“König…?” Your tiny voice makes him halt like he had in the townhouse. 
Eyes wide and lips parted at being caught, the door remains open, only a sliver visible to your vision as your furrowed brows are stuck at the barrier. A red sheen moves across the soldier’s face in a slow sweep of embarrassment that goes bone deep.
With a lick of his lips, König re-opens the door slightly.
“I did not mean to wake you, Katze.” He finds your eyes and nods to you. “I apologize. Go back to sleep—you must be tired.” 
 “Wait,” you utter, moving your head fully out from under the blankets. König pauses, eyes staring as his other hand comes up to itch at the back of his neck. 
“What is it,” the man asks, opening the door fully and moving inside. “Do you need anything?” 
The question had hit you in your thin slumber, interrupted only partially by the opening of your door to the familiar pull of gray eyes and a strong build. A buzz-cut head. You take a slow breath to wake yourself up more, watching him from your bed. “...Did you know that I would be in that house?”
König tilts his head at the question, sighing slightly and glancing at the clock inside of the room on your nightstand. He frowns. 
“No,” he explains gently, coming closer. “No, I did not. I do not get told such things—only where to shoot and where not to.” The man tries a small smile, kneeling on one leg down by the bed and staring into your sleepy eyes. “But I am glad I found you again, yes? You had me worried.”
“You were worried?” You can’t quite grasp it.
“Ja,” he nods. “Your eyes—they have stuck with me, Schatz, you understand?” 
Your eyebrows pull up your face, blinking in shock. 
“...Yours, too,” you confess. König’s heart flutters, listening until your lips have fallen still. “They’re very nice, König.”
He goes sheepish, lips flicking up into a smile and his eyes daring away for a moment. “You can thank my mother for them, then.” He chuckles. “I have stolen the family's eyes, I was told.”
You chuckle with him, hand coming to rub at your cheek. A silence falls between the two of you.
“I don’t sleep well,” you tell him in the relative darkness, light from the hallway and your night light illuminating the dips and bone structure of his face. “I was awake when you opened the door.” 
He nods after a moment. “Ja.” A pause. “I don’t either…Nightmares?” 
You watch him before nodding tinily. 
“Ah,” he mutters. “They are not pleasant, I’m sorry that they have been plaguing you. Do you…” König wonders if he should leave—this was far more than he had anticipated. “Do you wish for me to stay?” 
 Why had he said that?
The string between the two of you tightens evermore, gaining another thread just as it would for the years to come until it became as unbreakable as steel.
“I don’t want to be a nuisance,” you begin but are quickly interrupted with a shake of a square head and a huff of a sharp nose.
“You are not. Do not call yourself such.” His accent deepens with emotion, eyes narrowing as the dark brows on his face pull in. “If you want me to stay, I will stay. Wake you if you become shaky, yes? Keep the bad dreams at bay.”
“But what about you?” Your voice moves around the room as König stands and goes to the table in the back, shifting one of the chairs so that it’s angled your way. You shift so you can watch him sit back, grunting as his legs move out in front of him, opening so he can be more comfortable. He needed a bigger chair, but he wasn’t going to complain about it. 
“I’m not tired, Schatz.” A lie. His muscles are heavy, and he longs for his bed in the barracks. He pushes out, “Please, go back to sleep. I’ll watch over you.”
You stare for a long while, studying him and how he fidgets in his seat of choice. A small laugh meets the man’s ears as he crosses his arms over his chest. König pauses, blinking over in confusion. His lips move upwards slowly. 
“What are you laughing at, then, hm?” 
“You look like you’re about to break it,” you mutter, head nuzzling the pillow under you as fatigue claws its way under your skin. 
König huffs, fingers twitching over the meat of his biceps as he slouches. He nods jokingly. “Perhaps,” he shrugs, the window behind him letting a slight tinge of cold air in from outside. “It would not be the first, I’m afraid, though it would be quite the embarrassment to do it in front of you, Katze.” He smirks. “But I’ll say, hitting my head on door frames hurts more than letting my arsch kiss the ground.” 
You laugh under your heap, your body jerking to the movement of your lungs. 
“I bet,” you say, fingers grasping one of your blankets and pulling it closer. “It’s a funny image.”
“You can laugh all you want,” König jokes, eyes soft as they gaze at you. “It does not bother me.” 
Your sweet sounds of amusement waft out from under the crack in the door, where a small group of curious nurses mull and listen with glances to one another. A doctor moves past the hallway where they stand, and all scatter on quick feet. 
'…Signed,
[REDACTED]
SUBMITTED: 0517, 25, November 2021
END OF MISSION REPORT ‘RED FREEDOM’
RETURNING TO SELECTION MENU…
STAND BY…'
It’s only after most of the other women leave—sent home to awaiting families or loved ones—that you know your time is coming to a close here in Berlin, Germany. While you’re excited to put this behind you, you can’t help but feel a bit…lost. 
There’s something that keeps you here, on this base, until you’re the last out of all of them, waiting. And then you’re given the green light to go—go home—and suddenly you have a backpack full of necessities and you’re closing the door to your room with the little nightlight’s plastic body pushing against your spine. Yet, you stand in the hallway for a long minute, fingers interlocked. 
You take a long, deep, breath. 
Over the weeks of recovery, König had been a constant companion when he wasn’t needed. He had eased you back into a comfortable state, letting you somewhat lose the black-and-white view you had gained of the world. But there was only so much he could do, even if his soft eyes were still stuck in your dreams—the good ones, of course. 
You needed to go home, and, today, the C-17 was whirring on the tarmac, waiting for you to be transported to a military base far from here where you would be processed and, ultimately, let go. 
Let go. It was jarring to think about, all of that freedom. What would you do with it? Right now, you don’t have the faintest clue. It was the best feeling you can remember having.
Smiling, you take one last look at the room behind you and walk on. 
At the entrance, you say a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to the nurses and doctors in broken German, shaking their hands as Eva kisses your forehead and whispers how happy she is to have had you here for such little time—you know what she means and you chuckle with her at the double-edged sword. 
König waits by the door, holding it open with…you blink at the item in his hands as well as his sudden appearance. Canvas fabric. A coat.
The coat. 
“I had to have it processed,” he says, smiling as you gape at him. “Very long process. It was found in the closet in the townhouse.” 
“Then why are you handing it to me,” you ask, tilting your head and walking closer. 
“I gave it to you, did I not?” The man hums, head tilting as he motions with it again. “It’s a good coat, Katze. Winters get cold.” Gray eyes crinkle gently. “I would hate for you to shiver, wherever it is that you end up, yes?”
You shake your head, cheeks hot. But your hands don’t hesitate to grasp the item, König’s hold on it remains fast, though, and you blink at him as you both keep it gently clasped like it’s worth its weight in gold. 
König stares at you, the door still kept open behind him. He opens and closes his mouth for a moment as you tilt your head. 
“Keep it safe for me,” is what he ends with, but his expression tells you he’s not talking about the coat. 
It makes your arms tingle—your heart skips a beat. 
“I’ll be sure it never gets lost,” you smile warmly, eyes malleable as the make of their color glints. There is a connection to this man that transcends words, and it is tied to you just as heavily as it is to him; unexplainable, incomprehensible, non-describable. 
Enigmatic. 
König’s reverential face is soft with care. 
“Good,” he mutters, unable to look away. “Very good.”
Clearing his throat, his grays dart to the floor, shifting his feet to move backward. He pushes open the door wider for you, and you hold your backpack in one hand as you shift past him and slip into his coat. 
It was exactly how you remembered it, and you sank into the fabric with a thankful sigh and a fluttering of your lashes. You shift the bag back over your shoulders, letting the straps fall into the bulk of the extra material. 
The snow wasn’t falling today, and the ground was shoveled of any white powder too. On the air, you can hear the whir of the C-17. 
König comes up beside you, a hand hovering over the small of your back as he guides you along. For the most part, the walk to the tarmac is silent with the weight of the future. You had no phone. No socials. You didn’t even know if you wanted any, to be honest. Your mind had convinced you that a good bout of soul-searching was exactly what you needed. And you had to do that alone. 
Your lips are thin as your legs take you closer to the plane, König’s scent stuck into the stitches of the coat and covered your senses. 
At the ramp, he stops as your feet take you onto the metal. Closing your eyes for a moment, you turn and lock gazes with him—gray hiding away what other, more human, emotions to be found. It was a slate of carefully crafted acceptance, and your own followed soon after. 
It had to be this. The string wouldn’t break, no, but it had to be stretched to such a point to come back stronger.
“Thank—”
“Don’t,” he says, not blinking, looking up at you. 
You smile. “What do you want me to say, then?” 
“You don’t have to say anything to me.” You hadn't known it then, but the both of you had truly thought that this would be the last of your meetings. It produced a pulse in both of your hearts that would never be told aloud. “....Live well,” König utters. “Heal, Mein Schatz.” 
The soldier wasn't one to give his chances to hope. 
Your eyes follow as he backs up, moving away as you stare. In his head, König pleads with you to stop and give him a reprieve from the hypnosis of your gaze, the addictive movement of your head as it tilts to the side. 
Live well. 
You send him a smile, a delicate thing, and then you back up a step and turn, disappearing into the darkness. 
The string follows, and it continues to do so even as your hands slip into your pockets hours later, bumping into the small form of a black flip phone. The note hidden inside of it. 
 ‘For whenever you find what you’re looking for.’
'REQUEST FOR ADMINISTRATIVE DISCHARGE
REQUESTED BY: [REDACTED]
ENTERED: DECEMBER 15, 2021
TIME: 1422
OPEN FILE?...
REQUEST CANCELED….
RETURNING TO FILE SELECT MENU…
FILE SELECTED….
TRANSLATING…
STAND BY…
REQUEST OF HONORABLE ADMINISTRATIVE DISCHARGE OF [REDACTED] APPROVED ON JANUARY 2, 2022
OPEN FILE?...
REQUEST CANCELED…
SYSTEM SHUTTING DOWN'
You sit in a coffee shop in Berlin, Germany, by the window. It wasn’t just any coffee shop, but you try not to think about all of that. It was all in the past—three years, now. You like to think you’d learned something in that time.
“Danke schön,” you say to the woman who brings you your drink, nodding kindly. You take a small sip, humming and winking at her teasingly. “Perfekt.” 
She chuckles, wiping her hands on her apron. “Möchten Sie noch etwas anderes dazu?”
“Nein, nein,” you shake your head, waving a hand that soft bumps the flip phone on the table. “Danke.” 
The lady walks away, and you take another sip of the hot beverage, never put off by the heat. 
It was winter again, and your eyes followed the flakes as they fell from a cloudy sky, finding the beauty in it easily as you sat inside. The scarf around your neck is loose—your gifted coat open. You smile to yourself and hum, watching people walk past outside, thinking about their lives and how they live them. 
A large form travels out from a shop across the street, a plastic bag in his loose grip. He was not small, no, this man was a beast of height and strength alike. The loping, canid-like, walk was accented by the twitch of his fingers over his quarry. 
Your wide eyes stay stuck to him for a long moment as he moves to the crosswalk, people shifting out of his way as he ignores them. Familiarity strikes like lighting—a buzz down your spine that leaves you straightening.
After a long moment, a breathless laugh sneaks out of you.
There were just some things that people were never meant to understand.
Your hand places your cup back on the table, picking up the old flip phone and pushing it open. Your thumb runs the keypad, moving to the only contact that had ever been entered into the device. 
Pressing, you move it to your ear as you watch with a soft expression, heart pattering. 
Across the way, the man tenses, hand patting his leg before the other hand moves inside his pocket and shifts the item out. People walk away, moving to the other side of the crosswalk as he stares at the contact. 
A minute passes, and all the while you hold your breath.
He presses and moves the phone to his ear, staying as still as stone. As still as a man afraid his hood might scare a group of terrified women. 
His voice graces your ear.
“...Katze?” You beam, trapped in the warmth of the coat around your shoulders.
“How do you feel about coffee, König?” 
Blue-gray eyes had never been more beautiful than when they snapped up to meet yours.
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searchingforserendipity25 · 2 months ago
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it's a good thing conclave didn't waste any time on making the stories about catholic orders and their in-fighting. and probably i shouldn't either because i am not informed enough about it to go on at length. pls take all of this w a grain of salt.
but i know in my heart of hearts that aldo bellini is a progressive liberal jesuit, the holy father's specialest most progressive liberal italian-american jesuit.
look at him. look at his glasses. those are the glasses of a man who did his dissertation on reinterpreting loyola through a contemporary reformist lens. academic wunderkid. has sooo much beef w the editors of american jesuit weekly. possibly the events of conclave are occurring in a better more beautiful world where aldo bellini is the editor of american jesuit weekly.
the late holy father for sure was a progressive jesuit also. vr pope francis coded. and low-key set him up as a successor. for a while, that seemed nearly a sure thing in some circles.
but there is the fact. well. the fact that everyone is tired, done and tired of jesuits, progressive or otherwise.
this among other factors meant he couldn't consider him the best option, besides whatever character judgement and uncanny machievallien prediction he came up with.
adeyemi has that benedictine swag which makes his potential election particularly seem like a breath of fresh air + reliable + lots of influence. tremblay is giving dominican drip and dominican corruption. and dominican flop. his nespresso machine? it's giving dominican also.
tedesco has to be an italian-founded order member. most hypocrital salesian of all times maybe?? this is unrelated to the fact that i was nearly enrolled in a salesian primary school and the weirdly panopticon-ish playground didn't pass the vibe check. and also because: consider tedesco rising in the ranks of an order created to help migrant workers...someone kick him in the head for me pls.
who even knows about benítez. i want to say franciscan but that might be just too on the nose. cistercian?? honestly it would work well if he is also without affiliation.
this lens does make lawrence's homily being interpreted as a campaign speech more understandable (and particularly funny).
because, as far as anyone can tell, he's fully running as an independent candidate. zero platform besides - if i fuck up i'll apologize and do better and be held accountable, which is more than any of you probably would.
and because he stands alone, he can be held accountable. he can belong to all, and not one faction only. as far as anyone can tell, he's burning bridges with bellini and rocking the status quo.
he is speaking to/from a place of frustration with institutional inertia and factionalism, he is using his position as dean to bravely promote a platform for internal change in the curia, he is offering doubt as an alternative to certainty, he is pulling an absolute wildcard move.
pity he didn't mean it.
pity the the only order lawrence is interested in joining is the most hardcore discalced carmelite experience possible.
you know how some people look into luxurious real estate listings like it's porn? that's lawrence w tiny monasteries. the sort of minuscule organization with not enough people for management to be necessary. too small for politics. as close to erasure as you can get in this world: no need to be useful.
serving god by existing only to meditate on him. a narrow slant of a life, at that. barely taking up space, barely casting a shadow.
his favorite is a decrepit wreck of a place in the middle of southern spain, nowhere. no wifi no speaking aloud no possessions. no shoes no food. no nothing, only prayer. and a big big sky overhead.
maybe that will fix his issues with reaching god. if that doesn't work he'll probably just wander into the tabernas desert and become an hermit. works for some people, supposedly; plenty of order founders seem to believe so, anyway.
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valalice · 2 months ago
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જ⁀➴ FOR THE FAME. a violet modern musician au
punk rockstar!vi 𝑥 popstar!reader
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summary. the music industry—known for its raw creativity, dazzling performances, and turning anyone into an overnight sensation. but what comes with newfound success is being able to maintain a steady stream of traction around your name (whether it's good or bad, because all press is good press. right?), for some artists it comes naturally, becoming chart climbers release after release, while for others they struggle falling down the charts and becoming known as just a one hit wonder. now, when two artists under the same label are both getting sly criticism from blogs commenting on their declines, their managers have no other choice but to curate a classic pr stunt to regain their public appeal again, while creating buzz around their respective upcoming projects. what could happen when the industry's rebel and sweetheart become the unexpected pair of the year?
warnings. fluff, angst, and eventual smut. modern au. fake dating. enemies to friends to lovers. slow burn. reader's stage name is angel, you guys can honestly change it if you'd so like since it's rarely used. no use of "y/n". musicians: powder, ekko, claggor, and caitlyn. choreographer!mel. producer!jayce. homophobia and talk of internalized homophobia & comphet. addiction: alcohol & substance abuse, as well as talk of rehab. inaccurate knowledge of the music industry. social media extras & extended scene cuts. please check each individual chapter for appropriate warnings!
a/n. i'm am beyond excited to finally share this series with you all! this series started as a one off idea, and, well it turned into this. i know some have expected this, i've been throwing out teasers (more will still come) for some time. and to be honest i should not even be posting this series right now, but i cannot contain it for much longer, i'm just eager to get it out for people to enjoy! and is it hypocritical for me to be posting a series with the amount of drafts and request in my inbox? perhaps! but i promise that i will try my best to dually post between the series and other works! i'm still working on a posting schedule, so be on the look out for polls!
biggest thank you to @topimpabunny for dealing with my rants constantly, and bouncing ideas back and forth off of each other. truly, everyone thank her, because without her this series wouldn't even exist! another big big thank you to @veramores my wife, my best friend, for putting up with me yapping her ear away for like over an over. but nonetheless she is also apart of this series for giving me different perspectives on things. lots of love to the both of you <3
main masterlist ⋆ vi masterlist ⋆ read it on ao3
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table of contents ◞ TRACKLIST
' 🅴 ' indicates smut
prelude ♪ popularity contest.
label mandated events. everyone dreads them, but social networking is a must; an art form managers have mastered and a sport to artists in order to thrive in the competitiveness that is the music industry. and it’s here where the two of you were closer than you had even thought.
track one ♪ sold your soul for . . . this? ( releasing february 14th on all music platforms )
with albums set to release during the summertime, meetings ensue to keep the artists on track. however, unpleasant news is shared that gives wake up calls when careers are on the line. oh, and a not-so-meet-cute happens between the bubbling popstar and spunky rocker.
track two ♪ the master plan.
uh, oh! looks like the track is still being produced!
extras ◞ DELUX EDITION
social media post
coming soon!
exposed ◞ BEHIND THE SCENES
discography ⋮ series playlist. reader's. vi's.
meet the artist ⋮ reader ꒱ vi
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WANT A FEATURE?
comment on this post (and this post only) to be added to the 'for the fame' taglist! (i'm no longer responding to individually to each person who asks to be on the taglist, but i do see the comments and you are added!)
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candykissd · 2 months ago
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drunk bingo
pairings : harry lewis x female reader
summary : drunk bingo is a crazy time, especially when you're a lightweight. although, harry's there to take care of you.
warnings : alcohol consumption, nausea, mature language, fluff
beths notes : love drunk bingo vids sm!! 💘
the flashing lights were enough to make you feel sick, sicker than you already did. drunk bingo was one of your most favourite events, though, it's safe to say alcohol isn't your best friend.
you were already pretty much pissed by the third drink, and yet somehow were managing to pass out coherent sentences.. up until the eight drink, at least.
you were wedged between george and harry, with bach and arthur tv on the ends of the table. at the start of the night you were sure you were going to be the best team, winning all the challenges, calling bingo here and there. but then they decided to give you a few drinks. not a smart move.
"number 63!" simon called out from the platform on which he stood, the various flashing lights surrounding him sending your head spinning into a vortex of feeling sorry for yourself.
"'m gonna get some air.." you slurred out as you stood up, making your way around the tables, not without stumbling into a few, and finding the back door. pushing it open with all your might and leaning against the railing outside.
"she okay?" arthur asked the other boys as he saw her leave. "yeah, probably just so unbelievably shitfaced." harry shrugged as he stood up, following along the trail that you had walked just a minute ago.
deep breathe in, deep breathe out, is what you told yourself, the nauseous feeling creeping up on you again, despite the fact that it felt as though it had only just washed away. you couldn't help but jump in your skin as you felt a hand on your lower back.
"you okay?" sounded harry's familiar voice as he smiled down at you.
"yeah... 'm good." you mumbled out, raising your hand to your forehead as you turned slightly to face him, whilst you still felt ill, you couldn't help but smile up at him.
you'd liked harry for the longest time, and the two of you had somewhat of a flirtation-ship, always taking the piss out of each other, and flirting with one another. but, it was all harmless. you both denied having feelings for each other; even though all of your friends could see through it.
harry's hand slid up your back, his touch light, but enough to make you shiver as his hand made its way to play with your hair, tucking a piece behind your ear. "you wanna go home?" he asked, tilting his head, as if he was secretly admiring you, which he wasnt doing a good job at hiding.
you didn't say anything, not feeling the need, nor the ability to speak properly, just nodding and smiling softly at him as he stood up straight.
he turned around and signalled to the others through the door that he was taking you home, and just to carry on with the game, before placing his hands on your shoulders from behind, spinning you around and practically pushing you towards the main road where he called for a taxi.
when the two of you got to your apartment, you fumbled around in your bag for your keys. harry laughing as he saw you struggle, grabbing your bag and pulling out your keys for you, unlocking the door and letting you stumble inside first, shutting the door behind him as he followed you in.
it was a good thing harry good handle is alcohol, as he was damn near sober, sober enough to take care of you properly.
you stumbled into the kitchen, steadying yourself with your hands on the countertop as you looked over at him.
"come on.. let's get you ready for bed." he said with a fond smile as he picked you up bridal style, a childish giggle escaping your lips as your arms wrapped around his neck, just as an extra precaution to make sure he doesn't drop you.
"harry wroetoshaw lewis if you drop me..." you laughed out, throwing your head back as he walked you down the hallway and into your bedroom.
"i won't drop you, love, don't you fret." he shook his head playfully as he plopped you down on the edge of your bed.
you sighed contently as you watched him disappear into your en suite bathroom, coming out with the bottle of micellar water and a cotton wool pad, crouching down infront of you.
without saying anything, he wet the wool pad with the micellar water and helped you wipe the makeup of your face, eliciting a small laugh from you and a smile.
once all your makeup was off he threw the cotton wool pad in the bin and looked at you, "you're so good to me..." you mumbled, titling your head as you smiled at him childishly.
"well, im not prepared to get a bollocking off of you in the morning when you wake up with your makeup on." he laughed out as he stood up.
you flopped back onto the bed with a sigh. "these jeans are so uncomfy.." you grumbled out as you swayed from side to side on the bed, as if the action would somehow wriggle them off of your body.
"you wanna get changed?" he asked, looking down at you as you nodded.
"gimme your hoodie." you practically demanded, crossing your arms as he laughed and shook his head.
"so demanding..." he mumbled, pulling his hoodie off over his head, the shirt that he had on underneath riding up slightly, a sight that caused a slight blush to creep up on your face, despite the flush you originally had from the alcohol in your system.
he walked over and stood infront of you, "arms up." he motioned with his hands as well as his words, with you happily obliging as he pulled the top you were wearing off your torso and over your head, placing it on the bed beside you.
you fumbled with the button of your jeans and unzipped them, laying back and lifting up your hips slightly as he pulled the denim off of your legs in one swift movement, before helping you into his hoodie, which you quickly settled into, the warmth of his body still stuck in the fabric, as well as the subtle scent of his cologne.
you let out a soft hum as you crawled over into your bed, snuggling in under the duvet, your head resting perfectly on the pillows.
"you comfy?" he asked, smiling at your drunken state.
"mhm.." you hummed with a small nod, just as extra reassurance. he nodded slightly as your eyes closed, and he knew you'd quickly drifted off to sleep as he made his way to your bedroom door, flicking the light off on his way out, making sure not to make too much noise when leaving your apartment.
the fresh sunlight woke you up as it filtered through the curtains of your room, the sun just directly shining on you as you rolled over with a groan, trying your hardest to shield yourself from the blinding light.
your eyes fluttered open, settling on the glass of water and paracetamol on the bedside table, a small smile forming on your face, your mind flooding with the memories of the previous night, and just how well harry had taken care of you. looking down at yourself and seeing the hoodie your were wrapped up warm in, quickly identifying it is harry's, causing your smile to grow.
although the smile was quickly overtaken by a frown as the pounding in your head grew. pushing yourself up on your arms slowly, and leaning back against the headboard; you reached over for the glass of water and tablet, desperate for some sort of pain relief.
and all you could thing to yourself was:
harry lewis, the man you are.
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spiderfunkz · 2 months ago
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I'M SORRY, SWEETIE, PLEASE, DON'T GO
pairings. cho hyun-ju x f!reader
cw. heavy angst, death, canon violence, sad themes, the use of y/n once.
author's note: my requests for hyun-ju are still open! also this doesn't really match up to the canon events during the mingle game, but i tried my best to make it make sense. reader is sort of young-mi in this position, lowkey..
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everything felt so suffocating recently. aside from the bills that are continuously pilling up, you are thinking about every possible outcome that could happen.
see, you thought you would be dead meat by the first game. but growing up in tough environments helped you to be still, quiet, frozen. you still hid behind someone the entire time though. a very tall, at least from your angle, woman. she seemed very brave, and that was fact checked when she went out to help somebody. she didn't seem much older than you, that was noted in your head.
later on, you would introduce yourself to her. keeping your calm, you kept your posture straight whilst talking to her. she was looking around for a team, everybody was bickering about what this game could be. so far, from your observation, men were keeping to themselves, rejecting the women offering help. even when they are sometimes bigger than them.
"excuse me, um, would you like to team up with me?" you looked at her, she looked really pretty, you noticed how her hair was very well kept, even in situations like this. her name is cho hyun-ju, you will forever remember her name.
after a while, you made it through the game. you two managed to find three more people. a mother with her son, and a very shy girl named young-mi. you all formed a bond since then.
you got to know hyun-ju better. why she was here, why she wanted to continue the games, she opened up, and you reassured her that she was beautiful, twice.
hyun-ju brought a sense of comfort, it made you feel at ease. she was equally as curious with you. you opened up as well. by the end of it, smiles were exchanged, jokes were tossed around, she was nice.
she wanted to go to thailand. it made sense, people were more accepting there than in korea. you knew some places in thailand, well you heard from close neighbors that went there once.
"i know a spot. in thailand. it's a hidden gem, that's what they told me. they say they have the best food. the place is surrounded by cats and they say the atmosphere is great!"
she smiles, "we should go. when this is all over."
"like a date?" you joked, she seemed serious, "yes. like a date."
you knew your chances of surviving was low. but you made the pinky promise anyway.
"hyun-ju!" you yelled, the lights were burning your sight. the platform you were standing on wasn't stable, you already tripped a few times.
you tried looking around, trying to spot anyone you knew. but it felt hopeless for you. the time was ticking, the screen glowed the number 4. unlucky bastard, you whisper.
that's when your hand was grabbed, it was hyun-ju. you felt safe with her touch. she ran towards a door, the mother and son you teamed up with earlier was ahead of her, where was young-mi?
stepping into the door made you feel secure. but it wasn't right, that's when you heard young-mi's voice pleading for help.
"unnie!" the door was closing, you have to think quick.
without much hesitation, you let go of hyun-ju's hand. pushing young-mi into the room just in time. you were out.
your forehead was pressed against the door, the small opening letting you see hyun-ju just one last time. she banged loudly, it was too late however. the timer went out.
you didn't regret what you just did. you knew young-mi wanted to go home more than you, she was younger. you would feel worse if you let her be the one in your position.
"hyun-ju," your voice croaked, the shots were loud.
"y/n!" she was inches away from you. the door blocking what could've been. her eyes seemed glossy, she was on the verge of tears.
"i guess that date to thailand has to wait, yeah?" you give her a sad smile—
thud.
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choochooboss · 5 months ago
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Submas Sketchdump Vol. 4 July 2022 Part 2!!
I knew that particular month beat my all time record for productivity multifold but I had forgotten SO MANY PIECES from the original collection!! I think I finally got them all?? More stuff under the cut!!
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BREAKMAS!! WIP of the first piece I posted of them, here's the link to the final version! I tried coloring this first but the black & white had ultimately more impact so I went with that!
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TRAINS!! I like this base color version too! Link to the final version!
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The top sketch is a direct reference to Cluedo! A spinoff game, "Missingo", starring certain familiar characters trying to figure out what happened to Ingo/trying to prove their innocence in the case! Also WIP sketches for these two Breakmas comic pages!
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As you may know I adore butlermas! For the classy and stylish look which appeals to me in general, and coincidentally I had played PLA & got hit by submas train only one week before butler Ingo's banner rolled out! The pure bliss of finally meeting both twins in a game I felt was incomparable!! This moment in the Curious Tea Party event was really entertaining to me! We got to see submas get serious and stand up against this selfish collector thief! Two towering train twinks with commanding voices looming over the unfortunate guy was enough to make him change his mind ahah! They truly are the protectors
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1-hour submas challenge prompt "Descend"! This is the actual one hour result before I continued rendering this!
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Mmmmm not my first attempt at drawing them hug and definitely not my best OR last. I want to make that moment something very special when I finally go all out on it!!
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Comic cover vibing~
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The scrapped last page for this silly comic! Sorry the dialogue is all over the place on the first piece, might be hard to read! I wasn't happy with how I presented Elesa, I wasn't familiar enough with her character back then so I thought of her carrying a toy taser to threat her friend even as a joke was too much and I couldn't come up with anything else for it. This held me back from posting the other three pages for another 5 months! In the last panel
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I prefer to not mess up the twins too much but my brain is still very curious and conjures some peculiar stuff like this sometimes.. I think I may have broken his arms there looking at the anatomy, ooops! I hope you don't mind the photo quality or the two weird guys in the corner, they escaped containment!
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Idea of warden Ingo, being projected to modern era by his Alakazam, walking through crowd on a train platform & Emmet standing inside a passing train. Their eyes meet for just a few seconds...
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Pokemas Ingo practise!
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Another WIP of a piece I posted! I started this piece like this but then later I decided to flip the whole thing.
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YET another WIP of something I already posted! No idea why I went and mixed up his suits but I like this sketch! They rarely end up looking this clean haha
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Sketch version of the self-defense practise piece! I love getting creative with action stuff! I barely ever think of how difficult they are to draw, I just get so excited and fixated on visualising the scenes in my mind I just keep at it, pull out refs and pose in front of mirrors until it looks good to me! I want to draw more action scenes but besides being challenging to draw my brain comes up with more silly and cute ideas than cool ones unfortunately ahah
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One more WIP, here's the link to the final results!! I really like how genuine their expressions look here even if the faces are a little off. I recall spending a long time figuring out this perspective. I thought it would be fun to you to see how all these pieces started and... looking at the sketch above and the stuff before that, you can compare some range of my style!
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RANDOM SUBMAS MISSILES GO
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OHHH looks like some nasty passengers got the best of them!! If I recall correctly there was no fight because they managed to paralyse the two before they could act. Fully awake yet completely helpless... how convenient unfortunate. Thank you so much for checking these out!! Not every sketch is that exciting but I'm always happy to hear your thoughts on these!
Previous posts: Sketch dump Vol. 1: April-June 2022 Sketch dump Vol. 2: July 2022 Sketch dump Vol. 3: August 2022
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john-get-the-salt · 4 months ago
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Tight Leash w/ Roy Kent
Imagine: Roy has managed to keep his feelings for you to himself….until one night he’s unable to hold onto them any longer.
Contains: fem/reader, cursing, Roy losing his absolute shit in the best way, sexual innuendos
Warnings: none
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“I can’t believe I ever let you convince me to wear this.”
“Babes you look phenomenal,” Keeley preened.
You might not have had the option to skip the fundraiser event you were about to enter, but you did have the option to wear something more….lowkey. You did tend to keep it lowkey, as one of the clubs media specialists. Keeley handed all of the flashy bits, the paparazzi and signings and public appearances. You tended to a lot of the background stuff; the sports articles and communications within the league, and the clubs various websites and platforms. Ever since you joined the team nearly a year go now you liked to work in the background, liked being unnoticeable.
Unfortunately you’d become best friends with Keeley Jones-the most noticeable person on the planet. And when you learned you had to attend some annual fundraising gala Rebecca was putting on, Keeley made it her life mission to convince you to wear something daring. And in a moment of weakness you’d agreed.
But now that you were present at the gala and it was almost your turn to walk to press carpet, you were having some serious regrets.
“Seriously Keeley, I feel ridiculous. One of the guys is going to see me and bust out laughing. This is something Rebecca would wear and pull off, not me.” Not to mention the carpet ahead was daunting. Cameras flashing constantly, held by shouting, viperous paparazzi.
“Hey,” Keeley pulled you to the side, forcing you to look at her instead of ahead at the walk into the hall. “No matter what mean things your brain are telling you right now, you look phenomenal. And when the guys see you, when Kent sees you-they’re gonna be lost for words.”
You flushed, because of course your best friend couldn’t resist mentioning the man you had a huge thing for. She never let it go after you let it slip one night. The two of you were just friends, no matter how much Keeley insisted that Roy was in love with you. You two had hit it off shortly after you started, appreciating each other’s dry sense of humor and love of cursing. Besides Keeley he was your best friend. But that was it-no matter how much you daydreamed of more.
"You've got this babe, i promise. Don’t forget-you are a badass bitch." Keeley gave you a final smile and quick kiss on the cheek before she was being called up. She left your side and stepped out onto the carpet. The photographers went wide, bursts of light exploding. You were officially next.
You took a deep breath, in and out. You just wanted to be inside the gala with your people, having fun with the club and Rebecca and Keeley. Unfortunately, this carpet stood in between you and them.
Just when you thought you had taken enough deep breaths and were finally ready, you heard a sharp inhale behind you. You risked a glance over your shoulder, finding Roy standing a few feet behind you. And you had to admit, he looked good. The all black attire did not surprise you but it did suit him. He was taking you in, slowly, from head to toe. Your outfit was all white, comprised of crisp high waisted pants and a corseted long sleeve top. (see visual below, I love a good visual, tho feel free to alter it in your brain to best suit you)
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When his eyes finally rose to your chest he swore.
"Fucking hell."
"What was that, Roy?"
His eyes rose again, this time to meet yours.
Maybe it was Keely's words ringing around your head, or the way Roy couldn't keep his eyes off you, or the shot of whiskey you'd taken on the drive in. But regardless, you suddenly felt a smudge more confident. So with a final mental fuck it, you decided to embrace it. You relaxed your shoulders, straightened your spine, and as they called your name you smiled at Roy and gave a quick wink before you spun on your heel and took your first step out onto the carpet.
The cameras lit up, photographers crying for a spin, a turn, an angle, any bit of attention. You stopped a few times, allowing them pictures of you in different poses. The lights and the noises soon became too much however, so you kept it short before you strutted down the rest of the carpet and made it inside the gala building where Keely was stood waiting.
"Oh my god, you looked like a right model walking into a show," she gushed. "Those pictures of you are going to be jaw-dropping babe. And poor Roy's dragging his jaw against the floor."
You flushed as you let the excitable girl link arms with you and drag you towards the teams designated table. "I don't know what came over me, Ke. I just decided to go with it and channel my inner Rebecca. And I fucking winked at Roy. Who am I?“
"If he doesn't pull you away to ravish you by the end of the night I will."
You giggled with your friend, happily accepting the drink she got you.
"Ladies."
To your delight Coach Lasso approached, eyes crinkled as he smiled. "You both look down-right beautiful."
"Oh thank you Ted, you're looking quite handsome this evening."
"Well that's mighty kind of you. Now between the three of us, I was really just coming to let you know that Roy just stormed into the building like a starved man on a mission, demanding to know if I'd seen which way you went. The poor man looked so red in the face I was worried he was going to keel over."
You flushed, eyes suddenly finding the floor quite interesting.
"Now you two wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?"
"He's realizing that he's in love with her," Keely couldn't help but gush.
Eyes widening, you smacked her arm.
"Ow!"
"Keely! He is not!"
"Ah," Lasso hummed, chuckling a bit. "It's about damn time. The boys and I are getting tired of the silent pining."
"We are not- there is no silent pining." You argued, looking between your two friends.
“You two have been inseparable since you met. You spend more time with him then anyone else in the club, babes.”
“Kee, we’re just friends.”
"I don’t think he thinks that," Lasso gestured with his head and you followed his gaze, finding Roy stood across the room, staring straight at you.
Your heart skipped a beat as his intense eyes met yours.
"I need some water," you stated, the air suddenly too heavy to breath.
"I can-"
"It's ok, Kee," you interrupted, kissing her cheek. "I'll be back."
She nor Lasso argued, watching as you hurried away from the table and towards the bar. Roy was after you the next minute, speeding across the floor and past the table towards you.
"Those two...." Lasso trailed off as he shook his head.
"Idiots."
"Lovesick idiots."
-
You weren't really thinking straight when you rushed away from your friends. All you could think was that the weight of Roy's gaze was heavy, stifling, and you felt your chest constrict.
You stepped up to the bar and asked for an ice water, receiving it moments later. You thanked the bartender and glided over to a neglected corner of the room, where only a few stragglers buzzed around. It was quieter over here, and you could feel the ache in your chest ease slightly.
"Hey," a soft voice invaded your space.
You froze, turning.
Roy was stood there, looking down at you again with that intense dark gaze.
"Hi," you said softly, unable to stop your eyes from flickering down to his lips before quickly back up.
"You look....fucking beautiful."
A heat began in your cheeks, reaching down your neck and no doubt flushing your collar and chest as well.
"That word doesn't seem quite enough. Fucking....breathtaking." And the way he said it sounded like he was, in fact, breathless. His chest heaved, as he stood perfectly still in front of you.
The heat was beginning to prick at your stomach, and if Roy wasn't very careful it was going to continue to travel downward.
"Thank you. Everyone here looks pretty amazing."
"Sweetheart, I haven't so much as glanced at anyone else in here. How can I, when you look so...." he trailed off, lips parting silently.
"What?"
“I’ve been doing my best to keep what I was feeling on a tight leash. I never wanted to ruin…this. Our friendship. I don’t know what I’d do with it, but…”
You furrowed your eyebrows. He wasn’t making any sense. “What are you saying Roy?”
"Can I kiss you?"
Ok, the heat had officially traveled to your entire body. You felt like you were on fire, and all Roy was doing was looking at you. Never had you considered how much a simple question like that could affect you, but as you watched him wait in heavy anticipation, wanting to touch you but unwilling until you gave him permission, you became weak in the knees.
"Yes-" the word was barely out of your mouth before he was kissing you, trapping the word in between you. His hands cradled your face so delicately, like you were made of glass. You rested your hands on his chest, appreciating the muscle you felt under the suit.
His lips were so soft, and tasted faintly of the cherry chapstick you'd given him just the other day. He smelled of spicy cologne and his scruff tickled your face.
He pulled away, just enough to meet your eyes.
"I may be the most stubborn, selfish, miserable prick on this planet, but you make me feel like I'm so much more. And this may be the most selfish thing I ever do, but I don't fucking care anymore. I'm in love with you."
Your lips parted, eye searching his for any signs of deception. You couldn't find any.
"Im in love with you too, my miserable prick."
He choked on a laugh, his eyes glassy as he rested his forehead against yours. "God, I love you so fucking much."
"I love you even fucking more."
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himbo-kuto · 8 days ago
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idol!reader x doctor!zayne
(visuals: one | two | three)
reader is performing a song with some suggestive lyrics to hundreds and thousands of people. 
caleb | rafayel | zayne | sylus | xavier 
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“are you sure there’s no way for us to thank you? this is incredible!” yvonne, held your hand as she looked around the room of lavish assorted food and beverage. you shook your head as you gave hers a reassuring squeeze. 
“not at all. you guys have done so much for me and everyone at akso. this is the least i can do to show my appreciation. please eat, drink and enjoy.” you had been nominated at linkon’s annual artist awards and you wanted to invite the people who had made it all possible. earlier in the year you had some complications with your protocore syndrome and of course, with zayne being your partner and doctor, him and his team were extensive in their care. you were able to release your album on time and even though promotion was limited, it was still widely received– hence why you were in your current position. 
“i’m sure you don’t need it, but best of luck in your category.” greyson gave you a sweet smile as he held up his fists in encouragement. you laughed as you mimicked his actions. 
“thank you. cheer for me extra loud if i win, okay?” you felt zayne’s hand that was resting on your waist give you a reassuring squeeze. even though he had attended a few carpets and events with you in the past, it was still very foreign to him. he rarely left your side, always within close proximity to you (if you didn’t have to go do an interview or perform). he was your biggest fan and supporter even if the job demanded so much of you. he had known first hand the trials and tribulations you went through to get here. he was always so immensely proud of you and in his mind, you already won. 
the door opened and your manager poked her head through. 
“we have about an hour until your performance. we should go and get into costume and warm up.” you nodded your head understandingly before leaning up to give zayne a kiss on the cheek. 
“make sure to watch me out there dr.zayne.” you quickly whispered in his ear, flashing him a wink before heading over to your manager.
“enjoy everyone!” the blush crept up on zayne's cheeks, as he lightly cleared his throat. 
“are you hot dr.zayne? you look a bit red!”
as your team adjusted your makeup and dolled up your hair, you felt your heart pounding (and not because of your condition) you had been practicing this stage for weeks making sure all the moving parts were perfect. not only did you want to put on a good performance for your fans, but in a major way you were dedicating this stage to zayne. you wore a sheer, icy blue coverup and a breathtaking bedazzled corset one piece that hugged your curves oh so perfectly all inspired by him.
“5 minutes to stage.” 
you let out the breath you didn’t know you were holding as your makeup team did their final touches. you thanked them all before heading to the backstage area. even in the fluorescent lights, the gems on your bodice caught the light and sparkled– many of your friends stopped to shower you with compliments before being rushed by the crew. 
you ducked as you got into position on the platform that was going to rise up onto the stage. you all gave your team a look of appreciation as the mc began announcing your name. you felt the butterflies in your stomach as the crowd roared to life. the first few notes from sabrina carpenter’s bed chem starting playing in your in-ears as the platform brought you up to center stage. 
zayne felt the air get knocked out of him as he saw you rise up out of the haze. you were mesmerizing. your hair was perfectly curled and your makeup was smoked out to the gods giving you the perfect sultry look. the gems glistened under the stage lights like snow does in the moonlight and he felt the world stop. the cheers from yvonne and greyson fell upon deaf ears as all he could focus on was your performance. 
“dr.zayne, she looks absolutely amazing doesn’t she?” yvonne looked over to the man, her sentence quickly fading out into the air. he had such a focused look on his face– the kind she only saw when he was fully immersed in a task– nothing but you could get him out of a trance like that.
Who's the cute boy with the white jacket And the all black fit? Like Maybe it's all in my head But I bet we'd have really good bed chem
zayne knew that one of your favorite outfits of his, albeit simple, was his all black outfit– the way that you would admire him especially if he was wearing his white doctor’s coat made him blush under your gaze. the fact that you changed the lyrics to mention it, well– he was on the verge of a feral crash out.
Come right on me, I mean, camaraderie Said you're not in my time zone but you wanna be Where art thou? Why not upon-eth me? See it in my mind, let's fulfill the prophecy
zayne li was the epitome of composure, no matter the circumstance. he was always the most level headed person in any room– the chaos in the ER was child’s play, performing the most complicated heart surgeries without breaking a sweat, aiding hunter’s on the battlefield– nothing. however, upon hearing the first line of the second verse, he fully choked on air. greyson and yvonne quickly came to aid by patting his back and offering him some water, but not before laughing at him first.
“you alright there, doctor?” greyson wiggled his eyebrows over at the dark haired man, continuing to laugh at the loss of his poise. zayne shot him a quick glare, not wanting to take his eyes off you. 
Who's the cute guy with the wide, green eyes And the big bad mm? Like I know it sound a bit redundant But I bet we'd have really good bed chem
you were going to be the death of him. 
he watched as you continued down the stage, interacting with different members of the audience as you riffed your little heart out to these lewd lyrics. one thing about zayne? he was taking notes. from the lyrics, to the choreography, he stored it all up in his brain to surely use to his advantage when you both got home later. 
“thank you, linkon. i love you!”
the stage ended with the audience screaming nothing but cheers and praise. you blew a kiss up to the booth where you knew zayne was watching before the lights turned out. 
after your performance, you all sat in assigned seats out in the audience for the awards portion. you were nervous and you didn’t want to get your hopes up too high, but you really wanted to win. as the categories went on, they finally got to yours. the cameras set up in front of you ready to catch your reaction. the nerves finally caught up with you as they began to bubble up in your stomach. all you could do in this moment was smile for the camera. zayne gave your upper thigh a squeeze in attempts to calm your nerves. you let out a deep breath before putting your hands on top of his. 
“and the award goes to…” there was a silence that felt like an eternity as they opened the envelope. the name came out muffled, but you could've sworn it was yours. the outbreak of cheers from around you was so loud it rang in your ears but before you could fully register what was happening, zayne pulled you onto your feet and into a crushing embrace. 
“you won, my love.” 
it was the only thing you could hear in that moment– not the applause from the audience, greyson screaming at the top of his lungs or even yvonne crying her eyes out for you. you pulled away to look at him, as the tears pooled into the corners of your eyes. he gave you a brief kiss before pulling back to let you have your moment. he gestured for you to make your way out to the stage where you now saw your peers cheering you on. you absentmindedly made your way up, graciously accepting the award.
“wow– um– i didn’t think i would be up here accepting this award. thank you to all my fans who have been so patient with me as i’ve been dealing with some health problems in the beginning of the year. even though this is me accepting this award, everyone who was nominated in this category is so insanely talented and i want to share this with them as well. to my team, my staff, my company, my management– thank you so much for supporting me. to the amazing team and friends at akso hospital who have helped me get back on my feet–” 
you finally locked eyes with the man who had your whole heart. you saw his eyes glistening– a look that told you everything you needed to know– i’m so proud of you. 
you felt your emotions swell, as the words got caught in your throat. you attempted to smile as your lips quivered. 
“to my love, my heart– thank you for always believing in me and pushing me to my fullest potential. i love you.” 
bonus:
“i’m sorry, she can’t come into rehearsal today. it seems that she’s come down with a bit of a cold from all the festivities yesterday.” you listened to the sound of zayne’s heartbeat as you laid on his bare chest. you covered your mouth to muffle your giggles as he blatantly lied to your manager. 
“she should be okay within the next couple of days… yes, i’ll be sure to keep my eye on her and makes sure she gets lots of rest… yes, thank you. bye.” he hung up the phone and placed it on the nightstand. he wrapped his arms back around you as you pulled you in close. 
“you know i could lose my medical license for giving a false diagnosis.” you sat up, giving his cheek a kiss. 
“thank you, oh brave dr.zayne for putting your license on the line to tell my manager a little white lie.” he let out a chuckle as he tucked some stray hairs behind your ear. he ran his eyes down your neck and chest, all riddled with traces of him. 
“well, love. do you think we have really good bed chem?” you ducked back into his chest as you laughed out loud. it was true. you and zayne really did have good bed chem. a theory that he made sure to test over and over and over again– just to make sure he had an accurate result. 
“hmm.. let me see. i had to call out of work because i can barely walk, i have an array of different marks and bruises all over my body, and to top it off– my fake eyelash is stuck to the head board.” you reached upward, picking off the strip lash to show the doctor. 
“so i think that warrants for extremely good bed chem dr.zayne.” 
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itsrensfairygardenn · 1 month ago
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dilf!art x popstar!reader
mdni
— during the last months of his career and the whole process of the divorce, art only dreamed about a quiet life, peace and letting go of everything that had been enchaining him through his years of pro tennis. but once he finally retired? he felt miserable and bored out of his mind; to be honest, he only felt happy when he was with lily. good thing he had patrick and plenty of opportunities to solve all these problems.
— after couple months of hibernating in his house like a bear, he found himself taking care of all business matters — he and tashi had split up all the property and the family foundation; since this brought him passive income and did not require constant monitoring, he still had plenty of free time and god knows how much money. to deal with this and his craving for someone’s company, he decided to accept one of many invitations from his acquaintances — just a fancy event, patrick said it wouldn’t hurt at all.
— when he met you there, he had no idea who you were. after all, lily was too young for being interested in celebrities, and art wasn’t even on social media. he first saw you by the buffet table — you spoke to him while he was looking for a snack that didn’t look like a calorie bomb, and you just interrupted him, offering the most unhealthy-looking thing of the entire range. you looked so pretty, and you sincerely recommended him to try it, and you was eating it too; how could he possibly refuse you, seeing your fingers stained with buttercream? and that sheer dress you were wearing… it’s safe to say that he was very interested in your company.
— seemed like everyone wanted to have a sweet piece of your attention, but you’d spent more than enough time with him before you left — you were discussing everything and nothing at the same time; when he tried to flirt with you, it didn’t turn out to be as smoothly as he’d expected, but you flirted back, and you didn’t find him awkward at all… you both were in a rush, but he managed to ask you for your number.
— of course patrick was the one who told him who you were — he was like, chronically online, having accounts on every single social media platform to keep up with the times. it’s not like art wanted to know everything about you, but patrick didn’t care — he even told him about some of your ex-partners; god, art got so unsure of himself, that he zoned out for a second, contemplating the possibility of embarrassing himself by pushing his luck with you.
— but i mean, you are too gorgeous to not try to have a tiny bit of your attention, so he texted you after days of hesitation, and it turned out that you were as eager to get to know him better as you’d seemed that night — after you’d first called him ‘cute’, he needed time to cool off.
— things escalated quickly; you were out of town, busy with the festival season, so during the day you were exchanging occasional messages, waiting for the night to come to talk on the phone when you got back to your hotel room. if landline phones still were a thing, you’d probably find yourself twisting the wire around your finger like in those old movies.
— at the moment, he still hadn’t listened to any of your songs, but you have such a beautiful voice, that he was tempted to. but why would he need spotify when there was a better option?
— he flew to your concert in another country after a week of phone calls without hesitation — and once he did that, he knew that you had him wrapped around your finger. he watched you through the entire show, waiting for you to glance at him, even if it was for the briefest of moments; he met you behind the stage as soon as you finished the show, and it didn’t bother him that you were sweaty, that your hair and makeup didn’t look perfect anymore — when you let him know that you were okay with leaving with him, he put his hand on the small of your back, leading you to his car. yes, maybe he wasn’t a big fan of pop music, but pop stars? he definitely had a thing for one.
— you weren’t exactly secret, but you were private for your own comfort — sure, people saw him at your concerts again and again, always sneaking backstage, always giving you the biggest bouquets of flowers. it was enough for everyone to make certain conclusions, and couple of blurry pictures through the windows of luxurious restaurants didn’t hurt — maybe a part of him was satisfied with people knowing that you two were a thing. he always took care of everything for you, making sure that everything was special, that the magic was there, even though everyone wanted to peek — he arranged bodyguards, cars with tinted windows, restaurants reserved just for you.
— you moved in with him in the fall, as soon as the concert season ended, and it’s safe to say that it was even more romantic than luxury hotel rooms and penthouses with sound insulation and king-size beds — you two hadn’t left the house for at least a week, and no, it wasn’t just about sex; your days were full of cuddles on the couch in front of the tv, with your legs intertwined under the duvet (you always kept the air conditioning on, so art would cling onto you a little bit more. your feet were always cold, and he always subconsciously tried to warm them up with his big, warm hands). you gave him all the comfort he needed, always making him feel loved and cared for.
— of course, his diet was still there, and he was still stuck on counting calories; he was afraid of losing his shape, especially now, when he had you, his young thing with countless other people around; all those guys who were better than him — skinnier, younger, maybe even better in bed?
— you were always there to show him how wrong he was; it’s not like you were trying to turn his daily ration into bunch of junky food, you only aimed to make him stop dividing food into good and bad; to show him that it was okay to have a dessert after dinner, or to eat a pizza or french fries when he felt like it — after he’d met you, food became much easier and tastier, just like his sports routine — when you two had days off, he always skipped his morning jog, because he didn’t want you to wake up alone in the bed, and he also didn’t have a heart to let go of you and remove your cold little nose from the crook of his neck (thanks to the air conditioner)
— you wrote songs about him — a lot of them, actually, and you rarely showed them to him before the actual release date, because you knew that he wasn’t a fan of pop music; he didn’t actually understand how those things worked, and you didn’t want to put him in awkward situations.
— “you can do a lot with fifteen minutes? that’s… that’s a lot to process, babe”
— like his ears are bright red every time he’s visiting you in the recording studio, but he always supports you as much as he can — he definitely has many of your songs in his playlist, mostly because he likes to listen to them when you’re away and he’s missing your voice; but he also enjoys thinking about the fact that you write songs about him — man untangles his old ass headphones every time he wants to hear you calling him cute boy (and also saying that he has a big dick, but he doesn’t admit it aloud)
— you’re for sure besties with patrick — he enjoys your songs too much for his own good, so when he attends your concerts along with art, he makes sure that everyone around them knows that he knows all the songs by heart; and he’ll never lose opportunity to tease art about the lyrics, too — his elbow nudge art’s ribs every time you look at him from the stage (“dude, do you have a golden dick or something?”)
— you literally made him look at his sexuality in a different way; of course, maybe it was because you’re so young and full of life and passion, or because he was so damn obsessed with you, but he definitely thought that sex with you was the closest to paradise he’d ever experienced.
— when he comes to pick you up from the recording studio, you always linger there for quite awhile after everyone leaves; sometimes you close the door, sometimes art insists on leaving it unlocked, even though he’s still a bit shy about his desires — anyway, he doesn’t think about it when you ride him on that huge leather couch that always creaks like crazy every time you start moving faster; he grabs your hips, pushing himself inside of you to the point of feeling like he’s about to pass out, and the couch is about to fall apart.
— phone sex, obviously; the best part of his day when you’re on tour. sometimes he’s so horny that your very voice is enough for him to cum in his pajama pants, but when you’re telling him that you think about him when you’re showering after a concert, or simply saying how much you miss him? yes, it indeed takes two to make him finish.
hehe thank you for reading! i got sick right before valentine’s day, so i spent the day bitchless in my bed preparing for the philosophy class, but i felt like dilf!art healed me 🐈
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jisungchan · 3 months ago
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i'll like you!
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pairing/au: yunho and afab/fem reader, nonidol! au general content/summary: unspoken romantic feelings, tension, years of no contact, strained childhood best friends, friendship rekindling, childhood home town, NO race specific descriptors (skin colour, hair texture, etc.), NO body type specific descriptors (size of reader body parts, weight, etc, BUT reader is alluded to being smaller than yunho in terms of general height.) genre: childhood friends to lover's trope, some angst (a stretch tbh), some fluff, smut
⚔︎ sexual content warnings (explicit): bigdick!yunho agenda, raw sex (do NAWT do this), he does pull out (AND THE PEOPLE CHEERED), riding, f!receiving and m!receiving oral, marking and biting, soft dom!yunho, kinda sub!reader, pet names, lmk if i forgot anything :D 
~5k word count nets: @mirohs-aurora-society and @illusionnet
a/n: secret santa event for @mirohs-aurora-society. this piece is dedicated to @kpop---scenarios , i hope you enjoy being wrecked (no pun intended) by yunho! <3
a/n2: i most def forgot to put a page break when i first posted this SORRYYY
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the train ride going from the city to your hometown was always a peaceful one. hours sitting in the cushioned seat, stares between the landscape out the window and the book in your hands. sure, in reality the chairs weren’t that comfortable, and the scenery was sometimes dreary and grey, but lucky days like this… it’s perfect. 
even though it’s just a short, few hour trip to your countryside hometown, it’s still a journey you rarely take. with your life finally settling in the city, you hardly find the time to carve out of your busy schedule to visit your family. for the holidays this year though, you managed to take a week off for christmas and new years. this was time for you to fully relax away from all your responsibilities and spend some much needed time with your family back home.
when you finally arrive at the train station, you stand up to stretch your stiff limbs, idly standing to wait for the rush of the passengers to get off the train first. once the train cleared out, you stepped into the aisle, reaching up high to get your luggage store in the overhead. 
before you could even stand on your tip-toes to reach a bit higher, you felt a large presence behind you, grabbing your luggage before you could even react. and just as quickly as they came into your space, they left. 
shaking off the interaction, you wheel your suitcase off the train, stepping down onto the platform to be met with a warm, strong hug from your mother.
“y/n! i’ve missed you so much sweetie.” she says, grabbing your face in both of her hands and giving you a kiss on your head. you cover her hands with your own as you smile at her, 
“i’ve missed you too mom.” 
your mother drives you back home, to your real home. the house you grew up in from when you were born, to when you moved away. the oh-so familiar drive of snowy streets and dim light poles shines in your eyes as you approach your childhood home. you get in, put on some warmer attire, and decide to go for a walk. riding on a train in the same small seat for hours makes you want to reconnect with your limbs. 
you take the same route you used to when you were a child. weaving through the small, quaint neighbourhood you run into some familiar faces, all of which are more than happy to see you. it wasn’t until you reached one house in particular that your body froze up, despite all of your bundled layers. 
outside of the perfect, white picket fence house was none other than the very woman who has ran it, the very woman who raised the kid you used to be inseparable with, the very reason why this was your go-to favourite route. 
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“y/n, i didn’t know you were back home too!” she waves for you to come closer as she hurries down her driveway to envelop you in a hug, similar to your own mother’s gestures earlier. 
“hi ma, it’s nice to see you.” you giggle, and then you remember her choice of wording, “wait, what do you meant, ‘too’?” 
“oh, you didn’t know? yunho just got back home today too! he went out somewhere with his father, he should be back soon.” she smiles, and right on time, the old 1950s cadillac pulls into the driveway as ma pulls you closer toward the house. 
“why don’t you come in and have some tea? we can all catch up!” she says excitedly, then rushing to go greet her soon, leaving you with no time to deny her offer. 
and there steps out yunho, your childhood best friend. the kid who taught you how to ride a bike, then a skateboard, then drive a car, likewise the kid who would make fun of you for being terrified of all three of those activities. also the same kid who dragged you out of the house at 2am to satiate his foodie cravings. while there are many fond memories of your friendship, there are also some more unpleasant ones. 
before you could think further about your history with yunho, the very man was standing right in front of you. you quickly greeted his father as he and ma went into their house, leaving you and yunho to bask in the awkwardness in the air.
“y/n…”
“yunho…” 
all it took was a strained muttering of each other’s names for the fog of tension to strangle around your throat, feeling the pressure of what to say next heavy on your chest. your mouth opened again to speak, but nothing came out. it seemed even yunho was speechless, which itself was a rare occurrence. 
“ma invited me in for tea.”
“is that so?” he questioned, looking you in the eye with a million and one thoughts in his mind, many of them questions unanswered. 
“yeah, can you just– can you just tell her i’m tired? that i’m heading home?” you pleaded, exhaustion becoming apparent on your face as your features sunk. the exhaustion was a mental one though, just a few minutes back in yunho’s presence and feelings you buried years ago are being unwillingly dug up from the depths of your heart. 
“no.”
“no…?” you confusingly utter back, a bit startled at his brash response. for all the years you’ve known yunho, you have never known him to be unmoving, even toward those who may have deserved it. you stutter over your next words, letters strung together to bind an incomprehensible sentence of mashed up words. this dazed thinking around him started once your friendship dwindled down into missed calls and hurried ‘heys,’ no longer sharing that same excitement around each other as once was. 
“just come in, y/n. don’t make things weird, okay? it’ll be fine.” and so you went, yunho ushered you to go in first as you made the stroll to his porch. the same decorations hung up from all those years ago, back when the world seemed so big. 
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walking into the home also felt the same, the jeong’s signature house scent of warm sandalwood and vanilla hit your nostrils, as well as the aroma of freshly brewed tea sitting at the kitchen table. shimmying out of your shoes and bundles of warmth, yunho graciously took your coat and scarf to hang them on the rack. when you turned to start walking toward the table, you felt his arm wrap around your shoulders, forearm firmly resting on your collarbones, holding you in pace. honestly, he could have just brushed his fingertips along your arm, and you would have stopped dead in your tracks. 
frozen in place, you feel the blush rise up your body, spreading across your cheeks in a pinkish hue. the way he stills behind you feels eerily familiar, but when he places his hand atop of your head to pull your hair off, all tangible thoughts leave your mind. and when he smooths out your hair from your hat, it takes everything in you to keep a straight face as his parents are in front of you, mindlessly chatting away. finally, he releases you, and only when he comes from around you to loop his hand around your wrist do you move, pulling you to take a seat at the table. 
“i made your favourite tea, y/n! i remember how much you loved it, and i would make a fresh pot every time you came over.” ma giggles as she kindly pours the steeped hot water into your teacup, the same one which has been delegated as yours. 
“thank you, ma. it’s even better than i remember.” you smile as you sip the warm-hot tea, letting the mixture coat your throat in a soothing stream. his parents engaged you in a simple conversation, asking what you’ve been up to, your job, where you’re staying, and all of the other catch up questions. 
some time passes by, tea is long gone, and yunho has barely spoken a word. it’s mostly you and his parents conversing back and forth, with him sitting back and observing. as you’re busy in the mixed feeling of the nostalgia of your childhood and the excitement of your new life, yunho is stuck in the past. his own mind is filled with thoughts of you when you both were young, carefree, and only focused on the feeling of sneaking out late to go on a drive. yunho still remembers the way your hair would flow in the wind when you would stick your head out the window. you let the breeze flutter your eyelashes like butterflies and hair cascade back even more beautifully than a waterfall, even all the way back then yunho saw you as his world. in his eyes, you were so perfect that even god up above took inspiration from your beauty, creating the world from your very image. nothing or no one can compare to you, especially now as you sit, catching up with his parents as if they were your own, which they practically were. he adored the way his mother doted on you, and how his father saw you as the daughter he never had. his whole life was in front of him, and he wanted to take it all in to never forget it. he hasn’t seen you in years, who’s to say the next time you’ll sit down in his home, let alone see you again?
losing track of even more time, you glance down at your watch to see the time has quickly passed. look out the front room window, you see the night has turned pitch black. you get up, mentioning how you better get home before it gets too late and your mother worries too much. his parents stand with you, walking you toward the food as you put your belongings back on, preparing yourself for the still and chill of the late, snowy night. 
“yunho, walk her home! it’s too late for a lady to walk by herself!” ma says, pushing yunho by his shoes, ushering them to quickly put them on to get you home. all that comes from him is a small chuckle and an “okay, mom,” completed with a playful eye roll. after your final goodbyes to his parents, along with a (forced) promise to see them again before you go back to the city, you and yunho embark on your 30 minute walk back to your home. 
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for the first 15 minutes, there was silence. not a word had been spoken directly to each other since you first saw him in his driveway. at this point in the walk, you pass by a convenience store, you tug on yunho’s sleeve and motion toward the store. you both turn to walk into the shop, still silent, enveloped in a stiff warmth and fluorescent lighting. 
you head in and grab some of your favourite snacks, making sure at least one is hot to munch on for the rest of the way back home. you meet back up with yunho at the register, where he wordlessly pays for your snacks. you thank him as you both take a seat at the bench in the front of the store, opening the bag to eat. 
all that could be heard was the crunches and swallows from the break, you and yunho are separated by the ‘thank you’ bag between you two on the bench. eventually, you decide to break the silence. 
“yunho, what have you been up to?” albeit, you were a bit nervous asking, he has barely spoken to you, but it’s also been years since your last encounter, and you can’t really blame him for acting a bit distant, especially since you are too. 
back before you left, your friendship with yunho was already near its end. the future you both always dreamed of for yourselves was coming near, and so it lessened the time you spent together. when you were kids, the world was nothing but your toy to play with, you both would do whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted, with no thoughts of what the next day would bring. with age though, comes time to think a bit more about your future. as things in each of your personal lives got more serious, your bonding time took a huge hit as there was just not enough time in a day. what yunho didn’t know was your underdeveloped feelings for him. it wasn’t until you moved away when you realised that everything you did together in your mind was romantic masked as platonic. the way you would go out of your way to include him in everything, even your own celebrations did not feel complete without him by your side. the way you immediately felt at ease near him, whenever you had a tough day, you could count on going over to yunho’s to lay on the couch in his basement, feeling the tension leave your body the moment you felt his arms around you. the way when he got his first girlfriend you had an overwhelming sense of dread and jealousy, feelings you thought were just because you didn’t want to be seen as the stereotypical girl best friend in love with her best friend. 
well, his relationship with her didn’t last long. you weren’t sure why, but you didn’t question it when yunho called you over to hang out as soon as they broke up. 
so to go from unplanned hangouts to barely being able to spend 15 minutes alone together is a big difference, and both of you were feeling the weight of it. 
“i moved to the city, got into the career field i always dreamed of, got my own place, my own car. living the dream i guess you could say.” he gives a half-assed smile as he looks down at his hands. to anyone else, he’s right that he’s ‘living the dream,’ but you know it’s far from what he wanted when he was younger. 
“you don’t sound too sure, it’s okay to still want more, or even something different.” you offer as a small piece of condolence. 
“hah, it’s okay… i’ll be complete soon now.” he finishes his sentence as he looks up from his hands. his eyes want to meet yours, but he can’t bring himself to do it. you both get up, stuffing the plastic bag with the wrappers and leftovers from your small snack. the rest of the way back to your place is still quiet, but the comfortable silence you once shared before the reality of the world settled in. it was nice to be back in yunho’s presence, and you could have sworn he’s walking a bit closer next to you.
finally arriving at your own driveway, yunho stands at the edge, seemingly waiting for you to get in the house before he walks off back to his own. 
“come in, i’m sure you’re hungry.” you smile as you tug his arm in a similar way to how he looped his hand around your wrist, dragging him to your front door.
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after getting in and removing your outerwear, you find a note at the kitchen counter. 
“i had to run out for a bit to pick up some stuff for your stay. i’ll be gone for a few hours, there’s plenty in the fridge to make yourself something to eat! love, mom.” 
you chuckle as you show yunho the paper, he sits down on a stool opposite of you. 
you start rummaging through the fridge and pantry, eventually finding all the right ingredients to make yunho’s favourite dish. 
“how about that, remember how you used to eat an entire pot of this?” you laugh, reminiscing about him forcing you to make this meal on cold nights like this. 
“yes, and now i can’t wait to do it again.” he laughs back, getting up to help you in the kitchen. he goes to the sink, rolling up his sleeves to wash his hands. you can’t help but watch as the water flows down his palms, dripping off the tips of his fingers. he turns to dry his hands as soon as you snap your head the other direction, suddenly very interested in the produce in front of you.
the faint sound of music playing from a record player fills the gaps between your banter and the chops and plops of cooking. it doesn’t take long before everything is done, and all that is left is to let the meal simmer for a bit in the oversized pot. you tell yunho you’ll be back, deciding to run into your room to change as you’re still in your travel clothes. 
yunho makes himself busy in the kitchen, he hears the shower start and finally settles on sitting at the couch. on the coffee table in front of him lies a few photo albums, and he flips through them. among the family photos are countless with him in them. every birthday party, he was right next to you as you blew the candles out your cake. when you got the decision email from your dream school, which you got a scholarship to, he was right next to you, his hand over yours on the mouse. when your favourite aunt got married and he went as your date, your attire matching as you danced together on the dance floor. every moment of your life where he didn’t belong, you made him belong. 
back in your room, you’re still draped in a towel as you search through your drawers to find some comfy clothes to wear. you’re dressed in your underwear, preparing to put on some lotion, when you hear a knock at the door that startles you, causing you to drop the jar in your hands onto the floor. then, yunho bursts through the door. 
“are you okay?” he asks worriedly, scanning around the room until his vision lands upon you, in just your underwear sitting on the foot of your bed. he darts his eyes downward, now landing on the jar of lotion, laughing as he puts it together that he was worried over just a jar of lotion.
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he gets down on one knee before you, gently placing your leg atop his thigh. he picks up the jar to take a scoop out and spread it over your shin, massaging the shea butter into your freshly showered skin. 
you stammer, again trying to conform sounds into an understandable sentence, but nothing comes out. this time, yunho takes note of your speechlessness. 
“it’s okay, this is the least i can do for you.” 
he finishes moisturising your right leg, and switches its place with your left leg, similarly working the moisture in. as he reaches up toward your upper thigh, it’s ever so prevalent on your body the toll it's taking from him being so close to you, especially in your current state. 
“you know, i’ve been meaning to apologise to you for so long now…” he sighs, now. he’s massaging both of your thighs as he speaks to you. 
“for what?” you ask, voice barely above a whisper.
“shhh, it’s okay. just let me talk to you.” and you don’t need to be told again, so you let him speak his mind.
“i’m sorry for not reaching out to you all these years. i’m sorry for letting our friendship go when i could have saved it. and i’m most sorry for not making you my first girlfriend.” his words are filled with genuine angst, but his eyes can’t help but swirl with something you can’t quite decipher. 
“it’s okay, yunho, but i’m not quite sure what you mean.” this time when you speak to him, he looks up to meet you in the eyes. and now, you can clearly see how he is feeling:
he’s yearning.
you know yunho inside and out, you have been able to read him like a book for your entire life. you know what he looks like when he’s feeling upset, angry, even blissful. however, you have never seen him with such a deep feeling of want and desire, let alone for someone, especially that someone being you. 
“all these years, all those years, i dreamed about you being by my side.” he gets up from his knees, hovering over you before leaning back down to trap you between his arms. 
he crawls the both of you further back onto the bed as he continues to express his feelings.
“earlier, when you asked me about my life?” you nod, watching as his breath grows heavier, his silver cross dangling above your face. “with you by my side, i’ll be complete, my ultimate dream will come true.” 
you shudder as his sudden and heavy confession settles into your mind. all these years, he’s felt the same as you, if not even stronger. all the past few years of yunho’s absence is starting to dissolve, and you’re brought back to your younger self who was in love with him, she still lives inside you as the feelings are lit aflame. 
“please, y/n, tell me you love me too.” he pleads, his face now mere inches above yours, you see his eyebrows lightly furrowed and the look of pure desperation on his face. 
“i’ve loved you since then, and i’ll love you forever.”
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that was all yunho needed to hear before finally closing the gap between your lips and his. all the daydreaming about how his lips would feel are put to shame as you now have the real thing. he takes one of his hands to hold your cheek, his large hand covering the entire length of your face. his kiss is littered with little nips and tongues rushing to explore each other. you feel his weight shift as he places a knee between your legs, pressing against the seat of your underwear. you gasp slightly as he applies even more pressure, grinding small movements making you squirm. he leans back from the kiss to swipe your bruised lips with his thumb, pushing it past your slightly parted lips. you circle around his thumb as he keeps pushing it in further as you suck and lick at it playfully. he watches your movements with a soft groan, holding himself back for the moment being. 
but, feeling as inpatient as you were, you push his face back into yours as you swat his hand away, going back to an even more heated makeout session. you arch your back further into his touch, allowing him to reach behind you to unclip your bra. the once very calculated yunho turns inpatient himself, moving his knee back and flipping your positions. you find yourself sat on top of his lap, quickly feeling his hardon pressed perfectly between your folds. you lean forward to kiss him again, this time reaching your hands down his shirt to lift it off him, only taking a brief second to go back to tasting his lips. your nails run up and down his torso, lightly scratching his chest and abs as you wander further down to the button of his jeans. as you unzip his pants, his hands go under your panties to feel your hips, showing his strength as it only takes him a light tug to rip your underwear in half, he throws them off to the side to leave you completely bare on top of him. 
he finally gets hold of his own waistband, he helps you pull his jeans and boxers down in one go as he dick springs up to slap against his stomach. he’s sat up against the headboard, hands lazily rubbing your hips and pulling them forward. his lips are swollen and his breath pushed through his parted lips. his eyes are heavy with desire, hair messily tousled across his forehead. you take in this sight before you, one you could have only imagined in your wildest dreams. but now, those dreams are becoming a reality. 
you sit up higher on your knees, grabbing yunho’s throbbing red-hot erection and hovering over it. you slowly start to sink down, body filled with excitement and a bit of nervousness. yunho lets you go at your own pace, allowing you to go at your own pace and not rush you. eventually, you bottom out, leaning forward to the crook of his neck to breathe properly. he rubs your back and soothes your breathing.
“you’re doing so–hah–so good.” he tells you, but you can feel him starting to get antsy, and so are you. 
you sit back up, placing your hands on his shoulders as you start to slowly bounce up and down on his cock, feeling his long shaft and veins drag up and down your walls. you feel the tip gently graze and poke every time you sink down further and further. getting used to the initial stretch, you start to move a little quicker, and are motivated by the grunts coming from yunho underneath you. 
“fuck, y/n, just like that.” he groans out, his hands on your hips now bouncing you faster and faster and faster. 
“yu, you’re so big.” you cry out, head falling in his chest. he takes control again and starts thrusting up into you. all you can hear is the slapping of your skin together and the squelch coming from your arousal mixing. you start to clench as you feel his movements picking up speed and force. 
“you feel so good, baby, better than i ever imagined.” you moan as he punctuates the remark with an especially hard thrust up, making you choke out on your words. 
you sit back up again and start to match his motions, adding in small grinds in desperation to feel some friction on your clit. seeing your efforts, yunho moves one of his hands to it, circling in firm shapes to expedite your pleasure. he leans up to kiss love bites all over your neck, shoulders, and chest. marking you blue and purple for people to see for days. 
“you’re mine, y/n. you-you know that right? i can’t let you go again.” yunho almost whimpers out. you can hear the yearning in his voice, and it makes you even wetter to see the man himself so desperate for you.
all you can manage to do is nod your head rapidly as you feel your own release nearing. the way he’s moving so constantly with both his hands and his dick, along with his newly confessed feelings still weighing on your mind, makes your head spin and clit throb. 
“need to feel you cum around me, can you do that for me? i’ve waited so long, wanna feel that pretty pussy when she cums baby.” your eyes hit the back of your skull when the right combination of his motion, friction, and words hit you. you clench around him and feel a gush of your arousal come out. you moan out as your release hits you, riding out your orgasm as yunho uses all his strength to hold back.
though it hasn’t been long for either of you, all the years of longing and hidden feelings make the experience ten times more intense. 
when you’ve come down, and just as he’s close, yunho pulls you off of him, even though your mind is clouded with lust, he still has some sense of reality as he tries to finish himself off. you replace his hands with your own, swatting them away as you stroke his length. you spit on the head, watching it mix with his precum and ooze out down his shaft. you bury your head down to give kitten licks at the slit, making him hiss as he tangles his hands in your hair. you let him control your head movements as you feel him push down down down. 
his tip pokes at the back of your throat as you’re determined to take all of him. he doesn’t really give you much choice in the matter as he’s so caught up in the warmth of your mouth to think about anything else. you run your hands back up his abs and caress his stomach as you feel his ragged breathing.
“fuckfuckfuck,” was all the warning yunho gave you before finally releasing in your mouth. you feel his seed sticky down your throat, and as you start to pull him out he sputters more in your mouth. you stick your tongue out and slap the tip against it, he has a few more pumps spread across your lips as he finally calms down. you lick your lips clean and swallow the rest in your mouth, albeit a little sore. 
yunho is quick to recover, laying you back down on the bed, and crawling down between your legs. 
“let me return the favour, pretty.” he dives between your legs with full force. he wastes no time on teasing as he indulges in the taste of you. he tongue moves from licking your clit to prodding at your clenching hole. his lips wrap around your throbbing bud in haste as he sucks and nibbles lightly. 
you look down just as he takes his hand to join his mouth. he expertly pushes two fingers in, immediately causing you to moan out as you feel him all over. he takes his free hand to push your hips down, locking you down on the bed. 
his lips continue to lick up everything you have to offer, and again it does not take you long to have your second orgasm of the night.
yunho climbs in bed and pulls you onto his chest, and again, no words are spoken, none need to be. everything which has been bubbling up for your entire lives has been dealt with now. you both were once kids with no thoughts for the future, but for the first time since you have met, you anticipate tomorrow.
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bluelockmaniac · 10 months ago
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⊹ ࣪ ˖𝐌𝐄𝐄𝐓-𝐂𝐔𝐓𝐄
↳ "a cute first encounter which leads to a romantic relationship later on."
ITOSHI SAE'S ONE-SHOT VERSION !
↳ not recognizing the renowned player piques his interest in you <3
click here for the bllk various version .
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each early morning, before practice, sae made it a habit to stop by the local cafe for a cup of freshly brewed coffee. it was a routine he followed to keep himself awake from either the tedious interviews his manager always nags him about, or the unexciting plays his teammates offered. but today, this conventional drill would deviate from its norm. 
as usual, he ordered the pungent drink and stepped out of the establishment to continue on with the events his day promised, only to abruptly collide with you, splattering warm coffee all across his jersey. you were running at a fast pace, late to work for the second time this week, and you definitely did not want to face your manager’s scolding again.
for a moment, he stood there, stunned, blinking at the spreading stain. slowly, his gaze lifted to lock on your frantic, worried eyes.
“i’m so sorry, sir!” you stammered, quickly pulling out a handkerchief to absorb what you could of the bitter liquid, completely oblivious to the name on his jersey. perhaps he was a really big fan of some bigshot football player, you assumed. “i wasn’t paying attention– you see, i’m late for work and—”
“it’s alright.” he retorted calmly, though a very subtle hint of annoyance laced his words. he gently pushed your hand away from his chest and sent the now empty cup flying into the distant trash can with his foot.
your wide eyes sparkled in amazement as he made the shot. “woah, sir, do you play football? you have a really good aim! is the player named…” you made a quick loop around him to check the back of his jersey, “...‘sae’, your inspiration?”
sae lifts a brow, surprised by your lack of recognition. it was not often that he met someone unaware of japan’s prodigy player, who had made a significant name for himself in spain. nonetheless, you had certainly made quite an impression on the professional player— and he was rather fond of it. however, he wasn’t about to conceal the fact that he was the owner of the name on his jersey.
“i am sae, dumbass,” he points out.
“who?” you inquired innocently, your attention focused more on his striking features than the insult he had just thrown your way. if there was such an attractive, famous young man (despite his foul tongue), you would have known him by now. but, you decide to shoot your shot anyway; it would be a waste to let go of such a handsome guy.
“also, is it possible if i could get your number?” you asked almost flirtatiously, before realizing the awkwardness of the situation. “i mean, i’d love to, uh, pay you back for the coffee you spilled.”
“hmm?” he glanced at your uniform, then pulled out a small piece of paper from his pocket with a sigh. “you’ve done nothing to make yourself worthy of having my number.”
“–wait, i really do apologize for spilling your coffee, sae—”
“but,” he pauses, handing you the paper with a shrug. “you ought to keep me entertained.”
with a final glance at your love-stricken expression, he turned on his heel and disappeared around the corner. with your heart racing, you eagerly smooth out the crumpled paper and scan its contents; itoshi sae’s neatly written phone number. you actually received the aloof man’s contact! but… 
you were fired. well, this should be enough to keep him entertained, right?
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© 2024 bluelockmaniac — do not repost, copy, translate, modify, etc my work on any platform !
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monzabee · 2 years ago
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how you get the girl – cl16
masterlist
Summary: The one where you and your boyfriend Charles attend a gala for a friend and run into Harry Styles – who happens to be your ex. 
Pairing: charles leclerc x reader
Word Count: 3.5k
Warnings: mentions of a past break-up, jealousy, possessive charles, angst? (only if you squint, or maybe not I don’t know), charles being charles, google translate French, anger?
Request: “Can I request a Charles fanfic with angst? Maybe famous singer reader used to date someone really famous like Harry styles and they run into Harry and Charles is really jealous and acting up/mad?”
Author’s Note: hi, hey, hello!! this is my first time writing a fic, so all feedback is welcome and appreciated. i liked the idea that the anon named harry so i used him, but also i had to include taylor swift some way because she is the literal best. thank you anon for the request, i hope you guys enjoy! good morning, noon or night wherever you are, xoxobee
Please also note that all of my works are protected under copyright, and not available for reposting on other platforms. 
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“You don’t have to do this, you know.” You sigh, fixing the way the neckline of your dress looks and meeting the eyes of your boyfriend through the mirror. “I know you’d rather be relaxing tonight than entertaining people.” 
Charles smiles softly as he keeps his eyes focused on yours, the green in his eyes shining just a little bit brighter due to the afternoon sun shining through the hotel room window. He abandons his place on the edge of the bed and comes closer to stand behind you and wrapping his arms around your waist. “Are you trying to convince me to stay back, or convince yourself, chérie?”
His question brings a mischievous smile on your lips and you shrug your shoulders with faux innocence as you lean your head back on the Monegasque’s shoulder. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, chéri.” Your use of the pet name he taught you when the two of you first went on a date makes him let out a laugh – well, you don’t know if it is because of your use or your pronunciation or your use of the word in general, but you’re hoping for the latter. 
“Well, I think you are.” He takes your hand in his and slowly moves you from your place in front of the mirror. “And it’s not going to work, because you—”
“Promised Helen we’d be there. I know, I know.” You huff, shaking out of his grasp and fixing his bowtie with a small frown on your face as you mumble, “I thought you F1 drivers would be into breaking the rules, but no, I had to find the only decent one.” 
Charles chuckles as he places his hands back onto your waist as you continue your mission with a relentless sense of seriousness. “Aw, you think I’m decent?” 
An urgency to smile snakes up onto your lips because of his question but you try to refrain yourself from doing so by twisting your lip, “Shut up, Charles.” 
“I think you’re decent as well,” he takes a moment to think with an exaggerated expression, “pretty, too.” 
You smile at your handiwork as you pat his bowtie twice and place your hands on the sides of your hips. “Is this your way of saying I look nice?”
He shakes his head and starts walking you towards the door, picking up your coat and bag, and ignoring your protests along the way. “But, yes of course. However, we need to go right now if you don’t want to make Helen angry at you for being late.” 
“At me?” You ask, confused. 
Charles laughs. “Well, yes, chérie. She loves me too much to get mad at me. You’ll have fun once we go inside.” 
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By the time the two of you arrive at the gala, Charles has managed to uplift your mood (mostly by promising you pizza and sweets after the two of your leave the event). When you get to Royal Albert Hall, Helen welcomes you with a big smile and open arms. The three of you decide to grab drinks together at the bar and talk about the event, your latest recording deal, Charles’ upcoming season, and Helen’s new client who is a “twat-waffle in skinny jeans, but don’t worry about me, honey, I’ve seen worse.” She leaves the two of you to welcome newcomers, who are probably looking at her to congratulate her on the event. You place your glass on the bar and turn to face Charles, who is looking at you with a small smirk on his face. 
You sigh exaggeratedly and tilt your head to the side. “Fine, you were right, this is fun.” 
He matches your sigh, although with a lighter tone to it. “I know, I love being right.” He quickly finishes the rest of his drink and gets up from his place to offer you his hand. “Now, chérie, allons-nous danser?” Shall we dance? You nod your head, giggling as you take his hand and allow him to pull you onto the dance floor. With the alcohol coursing through your veins, you think this might be the perfect night. 
You and Charles dance through what feels like a hundred songs, but in reality, you lose the count after the third slow-paced song because the DJ decides he’s had enough of the slow songs for the evening and moves onto the fast-paced ones. Both of you jump up and down to the rhythm of the music as best as you can in your choice of heels for the evening, and Charles is there with you to do the same. He nudges your shoulder and wiggles his eyebrows when the DJ decides to play one of your recent songs, not shy to let the people around you know that it is your song. “That’s my girlfriend’s song!” he says, “Yes! It’s the new one!” 
After the previous song finishes, the two of you decide to retire for a bit, walking out onto the balcony to get some fresh air. You turn to Charles when you hear him chuckling and find him shaking his head. “Hey, what are you laughing at?” 
“You look like a tomato, mon amour.” He’s quick to add, “A very cute one at that.” 
You let out a shocked gasp, swatting lightly at his chest to cease his laughs. “It’s not funny! I never make fun of you after your races, even if you do look like a tomato.” 
“That is not true, and you know it.” His laughter continues, making you join him and soon after both of you are laughing uncontrollably; with you leaning against the railing of the balcony and him with his arms placed on either side of you to cage you in. After your laughter dies down, leaving you both in heaving breaths in to calm yourselves, he shrugs off his jacket and gently places it onto your shoulders. 
You gaze up at him, softly smiling through your lashes. “Thank you, my love.”  
You press your lips against the corner of his mouth, but he is quick to capture your lips in his, and his eyes are the last thing before you close yours as he starts kissing you. His hands quickly start moving and he drags them up your body to cradle your face between his hands as he deepens the kiss. You let out an involuntary whimper, in which he responds by gently tugging at your lower lip. In an attempt to bring him closer, you slip your fingers through the belt loops of his dress pants, which thankfully is not occupied by a belt. Charles’ response is to bring your face even closer as he keeps kissing you. The two of you don’t realise the sound of footsteps coming from behind you. 
“Oh, God, sorry.” A voice interrupts, and you quickly separate from each other, albeit a little bit unwillingly. You inhale deeply to regulate your irregular breathing, and let out a gasp as your eyes fall onto the intruder. Just as you are about to open your mouth, he beats you to it. “I can’t believe it, hi Y/N, it’s been ages!” 
Although Charles’ eyebrows furrow, he keeps his gaze focused on you only to turn around to face the intruder once you say, “Hi, Harry, it’s been a while!” He gives him a once over, keeping his hands on your waist as the two of you talk about the lost time. And yes, while Charles can be a jealous man – just like any other guy in a relationship who is as besotted with their partner as he is with you – he never considers himself to be possessive. He even likes Harry’s music, he mostly encounters the songs at the paddock before a race or after while doing media stuff, but he doesn’t have any issues regarding his music or him in general just because he is dating you because he is secure in your relationship to know just how much you love and respect him and the same goes for you. But standing there with you leaning against him while talking to your ex-boyfriend, yes he know he is your ex-boyfriend like the rest of the world thanks to your very public break-up, he just wants to take you away from there any to anywhere where the two of you can be alone. 
You leap off the railing you were leaning against when you feel Charles’ hands tightening on your waist and move one of your hands to cover his as you give him a slight squeeze. “This is Charles, my boyfriend.” 
He watches as you give him a polite smile and attempts to do the same, but it reality his probably comes-off as a strained one. Harry offers him a handshake as he smiles at him, “Hello, nice to meet you.” And then, he watches as the Brit turns his attention once against to you. 
“We missed you at the awards this season, you didn’t attend any of them!” Harry chuckles, shaking his head a little. 
You shrug and answer him with the same polite smile on your face. “Well, you know me, never been fan of the award shows in the first place.” 
Charles knows this, of course he does, because whenever someone starts to ask you about award season in the first place, you let them know that the awards are not the reason you write songs in the first place – the fans are. He tunes most of your conversation out as his insecurities take over his thoughts, he thinks it is funny in a way because your relationship might be the only one where he has felt like he could be himself without worrying about what you might think. Just as he is about the calm his fears by the logical side of his brain reasoning and telling him that he should probably stop acting like a fool, he hears Harry asking you about a song on your album which makes him throw all the rationality he has out the metaphorical window. 
“I-uh, I listened to your new album, it was very good.” Harry says. 
A wide smile finds a place on your face. “Oh, thank you, Harry! It’s nice to hear that.” 
“Yeah, yeah. I liked that one song the most, what’s it called, How You Get the Girl?” He thinks quietly for a split second. “Oh whatever – it was very good. But tell me the truth, was it or was it not about me?” 
“Sorry, can’t tell you that, it’s a secret.” You laugh. And he laughs. And Charles only watches the scene before him without being able to say anything because he is swarmed by all the thoughts he tried so hard pushing out of his head coming back. You must’ve notice his drastic change in mood because you excuse the two of you saying that you’re feeling a little bit cold.
“Oh sure, it was nice seeing you again.” Harry smiles at you, and then addresses Charles, “It was also nice meeting you, Charles. Take care of my girl, eh?” 
“You too, Henry.” Charles replies, without filtering his response in his head and hangs his head low to avoid any awkwardness. 
You wait until the Brit leaves the balcony and then focus on the man in front of you, “Charles–” you start, but he cuts you off with a low voice. 
“Can we just go home?” He inhales deeply. “Please.”  
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Needless to say, the car ride home is quiet and tense. Charles acts like he doesn’t care, but you know deep inside that he is bothered by what happened and is probably overthinking the entire situation. The one thing you are grateful for is the fact that you didn’t drive to the venue but instead opted for a car service, thinking that you’d both be drunk by the time event ended. However in reality, neither of you are drunk and you are fairly sure Helen is going to send you a very angry text the next morning because you left early. When the driver announces that you’ve arrived at the hotel, Charles thanks him before exiting the car and you do the same before you lean over to open your door, but Charles is quicker than you and he does it for you. 
He is quiet the entire way up to your hotel room, but he has an arm around you and you place your hand right on top of his in an attempt to sooth whatever negative emotions he is feeling at the moment. He is also quiet when you get to your room, and he helps you pull off your coat and his jacket underneath the coat. He smiles for a split second, seeing his oversized jacket on your frame, but the seriousness returns as he helps you out of it. 
“Charles,” you say his name, “please talk to me.” 
“I’m okay, chérie.” He sighs and places a small kiss to you forehead. “I’m going to take a shower before bed, okay?” He leaves before giving you an opportunity to speak, and you are left behind, thinking about the last time he called you that pet name a few hours ago, and how he was smiling.
Instead of pushing him to talk about his feelings you decide to let him cool down, hoping that he would be more open to having a conversation about what happened after his shower. So, you take of your shoes and your dress – although you struggle to find the zipper for a while – and you take of your make up on the small vanity the hotel provided for you after you put on your pyjamas for the night. By the time Charles is out of his shower, you are waiting for him sat on the edge of the bed, playing with your fingers. 
“I thought you’d be sleeping by now.” He mumbles, weaving his hands through his wet hair. 
You can’t help the small frown etching on your face. “We never go to bed angry at each other.” 
You can see the change in his eyes, but even though his eyes soften at the sight of you, his tone is firm when he tells you, “I’m not angry at you, Y/N.” 
“See, I find it hard to believe that right about now.” You mumble, your eyes falling on your lap for a second. 
He lets out a frustrated sigh. “Just go to sleep, okay? We’ll talk in the morning.” 
“What? Why?” You ask, your voice wavering at the last syllable. “Where are you going?” 
“I’m just going to go over some statistics in the living room.” He doesn’t look at you, or let you protest. He picks up his computer from the abandoned backpack in the corner of the room and presses another light kiss to your forehead before going into the living room to try to get rid of the anger by working it off. 
And thus, you try to go to sleep – mainly because you know just how stubborn Charles is. His mother always tells you stories about when he was a kid and refused to go to bed in his pyjamas because he didn’t want to take off his karting suit. But you see how much he’s stubborn every single day, when he makes you get out of bed in crack-dawn of the day because you told him you wanted to start exercising with a “no, mon amour, you said you wanted to start running!”, or when he makes you eat your vegetables because “you can’t live off of chicken nuggets for the rest of your life, you’re in your twenties!”. But most importantly, you see how stubborn he is every time he pushes himself to be better; a better man, a better son, a better driver and even a better boyfriend. So, it breaks your heart to think that he is outside the doors of the bedroom, alone and contemplating things he shouldn’t have to because he knows just how much you love him. So, you get out of the bed, which isn’t very hard in the first place because it feels too empty and cold without Charles in it, and you march your way through the bedroom doors and into the living room where a certain green-eyed Monegasque driver is hunched over his computer in the low light. 
He looks up and his eyes go wide when he spots you, sleep evident in your eyes and there is a permanent pout on your lips. There is a silent communication between the two of you as he pushes his chair slight off the table for you to place yourself on his lap and consequently wrapping yourself around his sitting figure. 
“Chérie, you should be sleeping, it’s late.” He speaks in a low voice, encouraging you to go to sleep, but you know him well enough to read between the lines. 
Your voice comes of muffled because you cuddle against the side of his neck. “I couldn’t sleep because someone refuses to talk about his feelings and made me become accustomed to his cuddles over the past year and a half.” 
“Mon amour,” he sighs, “I am fine, you don’t have to worry about me. Okay?” 
There isn’t any emotional strain in his voice, unlike before, but you still don’t like the fact that he refuses to acknowledge his feelings. So instead of pushing, you pick your head up again and focus on his green eyes, “You called me by my name, and you never call me by my name unless I’ve done something wrong.” 
“That’s not true.” His voice comes off as a whisper this time. 
“It is and you know it.” You untangle one of your arms from around his neck to cradle his jaw and let your finger wander around. “Please tell me what I’ve done wrong so that I can fix it.” You think for a moment. “S'il vous plait.” Please. 
Charles lets out a frustrated breath and tightens his arms around your frame – involuntarily, or maybe not, but who cares, really? “It’s mine,” He grumbles. 
“What is?” You ask, tilting your head with genuine curiosity. 
“The song.” Now it is Charles’ turn to pout. “It’s my song, you wrote it for me. I was there when you recorded it and you told me so.” 
“Oh, Charles.” You coo, bringing your other hand up to his face and gently caressing his face as you straighten yourself up on his lap. “It is about you, my love, he was just joking.” 
You let out a chuckle as you hear him mumble, “Well, it wasn’t funny to me.” 
“Is this about more than the song?” You ask, continuing the movement of your hands. You smile as he lets out a dissenting mumble, “Good, because I would hate it if you thought I have eyes for anyone other than you.” 
“You would?” He mumbles, leaning into your touch. 
“Oh yes, I would be very upset.” You nod, leaning in to press a soft kiss against his lips. “And Charles?” You ask. 
“Yes, chérie?” He asks right back, his eyes not leaving yours even for a moment. 
“I’m sorry for making you feel that way.” 
“It’s not your fault,” His eyes become serious for a second again, but they soften at the sight of you quickly. “Don’t blame yourself, chérie.” He mumbles as he kisses you softly on your lips. “Okay?”
“But still,” You mumble, “I’m sorry for making you feel that way.” 
He sighs, but it is not a sad sigh like before. Which makes you think it is an improvement. “I’m sorry I can’t write songs about you.”
“What?” You ask, voice shaky. “What do you mean?” 
“I’m not– I can’t put my feelings into words that way.” His hands occupy themselves with the string of your pyjama pants. 
“I don’t need you to write me songs, Charles, and I don’t want you to change.” You press soft kisses around his face, making him smile involuntarily. “I love you just the way you are, you stubborn stubborn man.” You thing he’s about to say something, but can’t finish your train of thought because suddenly you’re being lifted off the chair and you’re in the air. You let out a shriek, “What are you doing?” 
“Taking you to bed,” Charles replies, and rolls his eyes as your expression changes. “To sleep,” he emphasises the second word, “méchante fille” naughty girl. You laugh as he puts you back on your side of the and tucks you in before turning off the lights and getting into the bed himself. He is quick to pull you towards his arms and cuddle you under his weight, which you’ve become accustomed to and helps you sleep better. “Go to sleep, mon amour.” He kisses you on your forehead again. 
“Charles?” You ask into the night, and continue once he lets out an affirmative hum. “Je t'aime.” I love you.
“Je t'aime aussi, mon amour.” I love you too, my love. You hear him say as you’re falling to sleep. “Tu es l'amour de ma vie.” You’re the love of my life.
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aroaceleovaldez · 6 months ago
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What is the PR disaster in question that made Rick announce TSATS? I wasn’t active in the online fandom at that point
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Of course! This was awhile ago so it figures people don't remember it/aren't familiar:
Basically a couple years back (2020) the fandom had some posts circulate discussing the ways different characters in the Riordanverse were written poorly or offensively. There was a masterpost that went around tumblr but the two major points people were particularly focusing on were Piper and Samirah (particularly because Piper had featured prominently again in Trials of Apollo recently and the third MCGA book had further emphasized and discussed Samirah being Muslim, since it was supposed to take place during Ramadan). Basically each had multiple posts breaking down the ways they were depicted incorrectly or offensively. The entire fandom for a little bit was VERY intensely discussing this (and it's around this time the "RR crit" tag got very popularized on tumblr - it did exist before, but suddenly was being used VERY frequently - cause it was that wide-spread - though the discussion took over basically every side of Riordaverse social media on different platforms). People really wanted Rick to respond to these criticisms, so he did!
He made two blog posts, one about Piper and one about Samirah. He has since deleted both so the links are to archived versions. The short version: he essentially tried to justify his poor research and double-down that he hadn't written them offensively, actually, people were just being mean to him. The fandom, of course, reacted poorly to this.
[Further elaborated events under the cut since this got a bit lengthy]
(Fun fact, this all happened within a month or so of the time i posted an open letter on aphobic tropes in the Riordanverse that Rick replied to, and then he immediately followed with announcing that Reyna was intended to be ace-coded [which cause a LOT of fandom debate] before Rick dipped for a couple of weeks, and then came back to post the blog posts in response to Piper and Sam stuff. So I like to jokingly refer to this as "The time I imploded the fandom/drove Rick off of twitter." Twas I that set the house ablaze.)
Rick fully left social media after this and the LT Musical social media manager became Rick's social media manager for the time being.
So this all happened June/July of 2020. Tower of Nero would end up being published in October of 2020 and a few months after that Rick would state that he was done with the series and wouldn't be writing any more series installments involving Percy, and also that he wouldn't be writing a Nico quest following Tower of Nero as it "wasn't his place to" and encouraged the community to write their own versions of Nico's story.
The community continued to circulate the tumblr posts and discuss the topics of Rick's offensive character depictions, and this is also where we see the dramatic shift in how the fandom depicts Piper in fanwork (though in most cases it is admittedly not an improvement 😬) because of all this discussion. This is also around the time when the fandom brought Viria under scrutiny claiming that she was whitewashing Piper as part of the same discussions, through the justification that she was drawing Annabeth as having tan skin (which she does canonically), and if Annabeth has tanner skin then Piper then that's whitewashing Piper? Except they were using completely separate images of not fully rendered Piper art versus Annabeth in dramatic lighting, so it's all very awkward and poor logic, and did actually get kind of racist. A lot of people were calling it "Tannabeth Blackchase" (yeah, i know) or similar and a common sentiment you'd see repeated is "Don't draw Annabeth as having darker skin than Piper, because that's offensive/racist/whitewashing." (Note: it was not phrased "don't draw Piper as having lighter skin than Annabeth" - we also won't get into certain offensive depictions of Native Americans, but I digress). But yeah, the Annabeth stuff in all that did not age well at all.
Anyways, in October of 2021 however Rick would announce that he was co-writing The Sun And The Star - with a lot of heavy emphasis on how Mark Oshiro works as a sensitivity reader, and some false advertising from the official social media that Mark Oshiro was the first time a non-Riordan author would be collaborating on the series (disregarding the ghostwriters completely). One of the big criticisms in the breaking down of issues in Rick's writing was his lack of ever seeking a sensitivity reader, and fans claiming that a sensitivity reader could solve a lot of the problems. This was basically Rick's "look! I totally listened!!!!" (though it did little to actually improve things, based on the book) and in TSATS as well Piper gets a large cameo at the end where the text very directly addresses a lot of points made in criticism of Rick's writing of her.
We also then of course got the CoTG trilogy later, explicitly stated to be for advertising purposes for the show.
So basically, short version: Rick came under scrutiny for a lot of offensive writing within the span of two months, made some bad blog posts doubling down about it, left social media. TOA ends. Rick says he wasn't going to continue the series/write what would become TSATS. Community celebrates the end of of the franchise but also continues to discuss Rick's poor writing and the blog posts at length. Rick suddenly announces TSATS and Mark Oshiro's involvement. Everybody gets distracted from being mad. Show announcement stuff also happens and the discussions peter out.
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