#also. my planned outfit was before this tour was announced. I just have been collecting ivy park and have beyonce outfits on deck lol

[cowboyishbabe]

In tears rn 🥹

[annenhypen]

Falling

jay x reader

high school au! strangers to friends to lovers au!

word count: 2.8k

writer’s note: this is the longest work i have written so far and I ENJOYED WRITING IT SO MUCH! I really want to write drabbles for this pairing if this does well!!! let me know what you guys think.

tags: @gratefulmaria @azeugirdor @eggbutnotyolk @jungwon-luv-bot-pt3

Before Meeting Him

You and your boyfriend, Daniel, had a steady relationship. Growing up together and ending up going to the same schools, it was like you guys were destined to be together. You were best friends until one day he asked you out and decided to change your title to his “girlfriend”.

You were seated next to him in the first period as he turned his head to face you.

“I heard there’s a new transfer student in our class” he informed you, causing your eyebrows to shoot up. Students rarely changed schools in the beginning of the senior year, so you got curious about the new presence in your class.

He entered the classroom on his first day, dressed in a black hoodie in contrast to his bleached hair but matching his black jeans. Every clothing he put on that day was black except for the four silver rings he put on his hands. He stood next to your teacher and introduced himself to the class. Despite his dark style, he introduced himself with a bright smile that caught your attention for a little too long. Jay. His name fits his appearance you thought. You watched him walk to the only empty seat in the classroom which was the seat in front of your boyfriend who was sitting next to you. You looked away when he made eye contact with you, catching you staring at him.

Meeting Him

Turns out that Jay was not just your classmate. He was also the son of the family who moved in next door. You were surprised to see him open the door when your mother sent you to give your new neighbors a welcome gift, freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies. You collected yourself and smiled brightly, holding out the plate filled with cookies in front of you.

“Hello, I am Y/N. I live next door and my mother sent these for you to say welcome to our neighborhood.” you explained, finally looking at his eyes. He smiled back at you, taking the plate out of your hands.

“Thank you so much, it’s very nice of her and you. I am Jay. I am pretty sure we are classmates as well.” he answered. You nodded at him.

“I’ll see you in class then” you said and took one step back to go back to your house. You saw him wave a goodbye at you before turning around.

An Offer

Many things were unpredictable in your life. For example, you never expected your relationship with Daniel to come to an end so quickly but it did. You also did not expect your long term friendship with your -now- ex boyfriend to get ruined, following your break-up. You were still seated next to each other in class but you rarely talked. He never texted you about anything other than your classes. It was a hard time for both of you. You were sad because losing a friend who has been there all along was not easy to take it in.

“I am going to assign all of you into study groups today. I am expecting you guys to meet outside of class to encourage each other to study for the upcoming exams” announced your homeroom teacher on the third Friday of your senior year, causing your classmates to whine to voice their complaints out. You opened your notebook as you waited for your name to be called.

“Ruby, Luke, Y/N, Jay and Daniel, you guys are Team B” you heard your teacher added after checking his journal.

Here’s how these “study groups” worked: every group member had to do their best and get a good grade on the exams. After the exams week, the average grade for each team was calculated by your teacher and the team with the highest average score received a prize in return. This way, your teacher made sure everyone helped each other to increase the average grade for their teams.

“Make sure to exchange phone numbers and make a group chat to discuss your study plans and meetings” your teacher suggested.

You pulled out a loose-leaf and tapped on Jay’s shoulder who was seating in front of Daniel. He looked back with a questioning expression.

“Write your phone number down and pass the paper to Ruby” you confided and he nodded back at you before taking the paper from your hands. You took the paper back after Ruby and Luke wrote their numbers down. Of course you did not have to ask for Daniel’s number.

“I’ll create a group chat after school, we can discuss the details there” you reported, gaining a nod from every member of your study group.

You were a competitive student. Your grades were always above average and these study group contests made you even more ambitious. As nerdy as it sounded, you wanted to make sure everyone in your team performed well on the upcoming exams.

You knew Ruby was a bright student. Daniel studied regularly as well. Luke was okay as far as you knew. However, you did not know about Jay’s academics. You were determined to learn about it and help him if he needed your help.

“Hey Jay, do you want to walk home together after school?” you asked, smiling politely. He turned to you in surprise and took a look at Daniel’s face. He smirked at Daniel’s clenched jaw and accepted your offer.

Plans

You saw Jay playing with his phone in front of the school gates when you exited the school building. He was wearing his leather jacket, making you look like a child next to him with your fluffy pastel pink cardigan and white outfit. He put his phone into his back pocket when you reached his side.

“You ready?” he questioned looking down at your face. You looked so short compared to his tall figure. You felt intimidated by his eyes and chose to look down at your shoes before nodding your head.

“So… How are you?” he asked, breaking the dead silence as you walked side by side.

“I’m good. I should ask you how you are. Were you able to get used to living here?” you asked, feeling, less nervous as you walked.

“Yes… Actually, I couldn't explore much since I don’t have many friends around here and I usually just go to school and return home during the week” he explained and scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment. I probably sound like a loser, he thought. You thought for a little before speaking again.

“Hey, I can show you around this weekend if you want? I didn’t have anything planned anyway. Also, this is like the last weekend we can enjoy before studying for the exams. That is… if you want to, of course… I get it if you don’t-“ your rambling got interrupted by Jay’s little chuckle. Cute, he thought.

“I would like that,” he answered. You couldn’t help but smile at his acceptance of your invitation.

“This is kind of random but do you like pancakes?” you asked out of nowhere.

“Who doesn’t like pancakes?” he answered your question with another question causing you to chuckle. I already like this guy, you thought.

“Alright, then we can go to this local diner I know for breakfast tomorrow and start our little tour afterwards” you suggested while looking at him to wait for his answer.

“Alright, sounds like a plan” he concluded. Jay couldn’t help but think how much he wanted this “little tour” of yours to be an actual date.

Getting to Know Him

“Oh you should meet Mr. Bubbles” you insisted as you watched Jay take another bite of his blueberry pancakes. You wanted to introduce your fat Scottish fold to your new friend who apparently loves cats.

“I would love to…But unfortunately, I am allergic to cats” he replied, looking a little sad. You felt the need to comfort him inside you.

“Don’t be so sad! I can just show him to you through the window of my room” you suggested. You heard his small chuckle before nodding at your direction.

From this morning, you learned that Jay is not as intimidating as he looked from outside. He moved to your town from Seattle because of his father’s job. He was good at subjects like English and History but he said he could use some help with Math. His favorite genre of music was Rock and he took dance classes back in Seattle. He was interested in fashion and he liked cats. He had an easygoing personality and a pretty smile- wait, a big smile you meant.

In addition, Jay learned that you liked many more things other than studying: you enjoyed watching romantic comedies the most but one of your common interests was that both of you liked watching anime. You also liked cooking even though you were not as experimental as Jay when you entered the kitchen. Jay was stunned when he learned your favorite rock band: ONE OK ROCK because that was his favorite band too. He was surprised to find similarities between you two when you looked so different from outside. He also learned how much he liked your laugh and how hard he wanted to try to make you laugh more often to just listen to your laugh.

Not so long after, you paid the check and headed to your next destination.

“We’re going to the beach, I hope you know how to ride a bike” you chimed while walking backwards in front of Jay.

“Of course I know how to ride a bike! Who do you think I am?” he fought back right before you tripped on something and almost fell on your butt. He reached forward to catch you by your waist, saving you from both: the pain and the embarrassment of falling in front of Jay.

You both went silent when you were chest to chest. You looked up to Jay’s face while holding your breath. You looked at his eyes and he stared back at yours. You saw his eyes flicker to your lips and that was the signal you got before pulling away from his hold.

“Oh my god, I’m sorry, I’m so clumsy” you mumbled looking down at your feet, continuing to walk next to Jay. He strolled next to you but he did not miss the pink shade on your cheeks before looking ahead.

***

Oh my god Y/N! Get your shit together! What is wrong with you, you just spent a single day with the guy! You told yourself that night, laying down on your bed when you came back from your day with Jay.

Okay, he was attractive, funny and nice to you. He also was a good listener and he was talkative as well. You felt comfortable spending time with him and you felt bad when you said goodbye to him in front of your house before you got in. You sighed before rubbing your eyes and tried to fall asleep without thinking about your cute, hot, funny and sweet classmate.

Study Group

You opened the gates of the coffee shop you were supposed to meet with your study mates 10 minutes later than your agreed meeting time. You hurried your way upstairs where it was more quiet than downstairs and you saw your group members sitting on a table in the left corner of the room. You apologized for being late when you reach their table and took the only empty seat next to Daniel, across from Jay.

You opened your backpack to take your materials out when you realized a cup of coffee was pushed in front of you. You looked up to see Jay grinning at you. He went back to taking notes on his notebook when you reached for the cup to take a sip from it. You realized it was a latte with unsweetened vanilla. Your usual order. He remembered your order from the coffee shop you went on your little tour right before you went to see the local art gallery. You looked at his face to see him watching your reaction. You gave him a small smile while mouthing "thank you" and he returned your smile with a little nod.

Confession

It was right before the Christmas break started when Jay came to terms with his feelings for you. Between the walks you took home together, the shared snacks between classes, the laughs shared during the lunch periods, and the times he snuck into your room to watch your favorite anime together at night when you were both supposed to be sleeping, he fell for you.

Jay was a straightforward guy. If he feels something, he might as well tell you about it. Worst case scenario: you would kindly reject him and he would move on. So he grabbed his phone from his nightstand and texted you.

You grabbed your cardigan from your closet and opened the gates of the kitchen which looked at the backyard as quiet as possible to not wake your parents up. You saw Jay putting his hands in his pockets while waiting for you in the middle of your backyard. His back was facing you so you thought you could have a little fun.

You reached him while tiptoeing silently and grabbed his waist from behind.

“BOO!” you whisper screamed. He jumped and pushed you away while you tried to hold your laugh, but failed miserably. He watched you laugh while he shook his head in disbelief.

“I knew it! You’re still scared of the ghosts” you accused him, stepping forward and putting your pointing finger on his chest. He watched you having fun with an amusing smile plastered on his face. He reached for your waist with his both hands while still looking at you with the same amused smile.

“Why do I even like you?” he muttered in disbelief. You froze. He watched your surprised expression and realized what he just blurted out.

“What?” you asked looking down at his chest because looking into his eyes was very hard at that moment. Jay took a deep breath before continuing.

“I thought I was pretty obvious” he said casually. Your heart was beating so fast that you got scared that Jay might have heard its banging on your chest. You bowed your head down and your forehead touched Jay’s chest. You were shy.

“Ilikeyoutoo” you mumbled so fast, Jay almost couldn’t catch it. Cute, he thought and you felt his lips press on your forehead. You hugged his waist while he nuzzled his nose in the crook of your neck under the light of the stars.

Secrecy

Ever since you started going on dates with Jay, it was during the Christmas break. You went to cute cafes to drink hot chocolate, went ice skating, and did all the holiday activities together. One thing you didn’t talk about was how you were going to act when you got back to school. So you started sneaking around instinctively.

It was another study group meeting before the upcoming exams. You were seated between Ruby and Jay at one of the tables in your local library’s study hall when you felt Jay’s hand grabbing yours under the table. You turned to look at his face but he shrugged his shoulders like he didn’t care. You intertwined your hand with his and put them on top of your thigh. He rubbed his thumb on the back of your hand as both of you continued reading your textbooks.

When you were done with studying for History, you had to grab another book from the aisle where English textbooks were put. You got up, letting go of Jay’s hand in the process and went to the English books section. You searched through the bookshelves to find the book you needed. As you were focused on reading the names of various textbooks, you felt a small kiss pressed on the exposed skin of the back of your neck. Your breath caught in the back of your throat when you turned around to see Jay smirking at you.

“They could have seen us” you whispered to him, slapping his arm.

Not So Secretive

Jay entered the class, playing with the straps of his backpack when he saw you sitting on your seat while playing with your phone. He reached his seat to find Daniel sitting on it.

“Why are you sitting here?” questioned Jay, tilting his head to the empty seat next to you where Daniel seated every day except for that day. Daniel let a sigh before looking up at Jay.

“Don’t you want to sit next to your girlfriend?” he asked, already knowing the answer to the question.

Jay did not respond before sitting next to you. You turned your head to see who was seating next to you in surprise before he leaned forward to plant a sloppy kiss on your cheek in front of your classmates.

[twerkinwithhazza]

Pumpkin Seeds

Author’s Note: UH OHHH BACK AGAIN. I’m back yall finally off hiatus all because my phone is broken LOL. Anywho tumblr is a totally different place and most of my mutuals are adulting now. I would love new tumblr friends and I’m gonna try to continue this writing stuff but I’m busy with adult things now lol and it really depends on if you guys like what you see. Please excuse my rustiness this my first imagine in years... literally. I’ll get better with time. This was also slightly edited but I know there bound to be some mistakes. Anyways watch the Golden music video for clear skin and I hope you guys enjoy!  I think it's so adorable that whoever requested this thought this request wouldn't speak to me lol ! It definitely did because this went from a blurb to a full blown imagine.

psst you can read my other work here!

Warnings: smut smut smut and more smut and possible shitty writing, dirty talk, light choking, and some cursing.

Glossary: (y/c/n)= your cousins name + (y/m/n)= your mothers name

Request: hi!!!! if you are wrtiting for Harry please can you do one where missus and Harry are at a family party and have a quickie in the bathroom? don’t worry if it’s not speaking to you lol xxx

Normally you and your husband loved spending time with your families. Harry was always playing a balancing act between filming music videos, doing interviews, writing sessions, and an occasional date night in the house that always involved a Postmates order from your favorite restaurants and the two of you binge-watching Netflix on shuffle. As much as the both of you enjoyed stuffing your face with poke bowls from Poke Papa and watching True Crime stories, it wasn’t exactly romantic or fulfilling for the both of you, just enough to hold you over until his schedule clears up. So when Harry finally got a weekend off, you guys were ecstatic! You spent the week cleaning the house and meal prepping so no Postmates would be needed and Harry used his free time in between interviews for shopping for special toys and pretty lingerie he wanted to see you model for him. Flirty text messages were sent back and forth during small work breaks about your plans for the weekend and now all the two of you had to do was make it Saturday.

You’re not gonna like this...

The 5 words that destroyed you and Harry’s weekend plans. Anne called while you were organizing your closet and announced that her and Gemma, along with your parents and favorite cousins were coming to town to spend time with the two of you. You tried to convince her that maybe a small dinner party at that new fancy restaurant downtown would be a perfect spot for a get together but she was adamant about coming over to cook the two of you a homecooked meal. Breaking the news to Harry was the worst part, he was clearly devastated (you swore you saw the man shed a few tears). Now here you were stuffing your mouth with Anne’s famous juicy cooked duck instead of your husband's juicy di...

“(Y/N) can you pass me the mashed potatoes”

Your dad’s strong yet muffled voice interrupted your train of thought and broke you out of your horny trance as he chowed down on his meal. Pushing the dish over in your dad's direction allowed you the chance to look around and take a glance at Harry who was making small talk with one of your favorite cousins. He was wearing a black button-down shirt, of course with a few buttons loose, and his cross necklace bounced on his chest as he laughed at your cousin's crazy work stories. You focused on his fingers, his infamous rings adorned his hands, you noted that they were slightly damp from eating and the condensation on his glass cup. As you were drinking in his appearance a small damp spot was forming in your panties but given that there were too many eyewitnesses including, yours and his parents so you chose to just clamp your thighs shut and stuff your mouth with more mashed potatoes. 

Harry deserved his credit as a husband. Despite his calm demeanor, he was very well aware of your little ordeal yet still managed to give interview advice to (y/c/n) and compliment your mom’s cocktail mix. He was quite amused by how increasingly frustrated you were becoming. He noted your concentrated face as you munched harshly on a string bean, hands clenching onto the fork for dear life. He decided to do a little temperature check to truly see how far gone you were.

“So what are we thinking for dessert pecan pie or crumble cake ?”, Harry questioned as he stuck his fork in his mouth, pulling it out again once all the gravy was licked clean. Your eyes finally met and you can tell that he was tossing the ball in your court, it was your job to show him how you wanted the game to be played.

“Mmm I don’t know I guess I’ll have some pecan pie but I really wish I had some pumpkin seeds”, you flatly said as you finished sipping your wine, maintaining full eye contact with him.

Pumpkin seeds. You and Harry were “outside of the box” thinkers, you had to be with his life as a celebrity not exactly pairing well with your shared sexual fantasies. You had code words to indicate to each other when you were craving the other one's touch, but you knew that using the same words around friends, family, and other public figures for too long would possibly cause some suspicion. So your code words changed with the seasons, literally. When the leaves started turning that classic golden yellow and auburn, your code words changed thus came the use of the word Pumpkin Seeds.

Gemma and your mom shared a glance, raising their eyebrows in collective confusion.

“Pumpkin seeds.. For dessert ?” Gemma finally burst out., both of your mothers soft laughter followed in the background.

“Heyyy” ,Harry pouted as he bopped Gemma on the nose with some gravy ,“ I have you know Pumpkin Seeds are one of our favorite midnight snacks”. 

“Gross“, Gemma stuck out her tongue and wiped her nose. You couldn't tell whether she was referring to the gravy on her nose, your choice of midnight snacks, Harry’s smug statement followed by a wink at you, or a combination of all three.

“Well we can be concerned with dessert once we break out the baby pictures, I’ve been dying to see the infamous skinny dipping picture (y/m/n) has been telling me about”. Anne clapped her hands together and hopped out of her seat heading to the kitchen. Your mother followed behind but not before instructing you to head up to the attic to retrieve the pictures. You glanced at Harry but he seemed occupied cleaning up the dinner plates with your dad. You let out a frustrated huff and made your way up to the attic to grab the photo albums. 

As you shuffled through old boxes holding Harry’s old tour outfits and your little knickknacks from your travels, you heard the attic door open.

“Pumpkin seeds huh?”, Harry lightly chuckled letting the attic door close and leaning against the door frame. 

You refused to make eye contact with him, continuing to shuffle through the bins locating a few photo albums as you went , “It was only a matter of time Harry and you know it. Our weekend got stolen and we haven’t... ya know in like two weeks. So, yes Harry I want some damn pumpkin seeds.”

You let out a huff. You didn’t mean to come off so sassy and aggressive but you were frustrated… sexually. Your cousin was getting more Harry time in the 3 hour family dinner than you had gotten in the past two weeks. You stacked the photo albums gently on top of each other and cradled them in your arms, finally turning to face your husband but you didn't have to look very far. Harry had closed that gap between the two of you, gripping your face and making you look up at him causing you to drop the albums in shock. 

“Well let’s get you your pumpkin seeds then”

That’s all it took and sparks turned into a flame, you and Harry’s bodies connected and a feverish makeout session broke out. You both were so hungry for each other after weeks of neglects and it just felt so damn good to finally connect. Harry’s wet kisses were making their way down your neck, nipping and sucking as he goes. You knew he was getting into it and normally you would be completely here for it if your kitchen wasn’t flooded with family members waiting to laugh at your baby pictures.

“Baby.. we… fuckkkkk”, You moaned out as Harry popped one of your nipples out of his mouth before moving to nip on the next one. “Baby we can’t your mom is downstairs… we have to go”, you finally let out and glanced down at your husband as pinched your nipples between his finger tips. “When has that ever stopped us”, he slyly laughs. In one swift motion, he turned you around pulling your back into his chest pulling down your skirt. You couldn’t even get words of protest out, Harry had his hands wrapped around your neck and was already freeing himself from his pants and boxers. He pulled your panties to the side and let out a hiss as he watched a string of your arousal stretch from your dripping flower to his fingers.

“Baby please just do something”, you huffed out a soft moan as you waited in anticipation. The grip around your throat tightened as he entered you, both of you letting out a sigh of relief. Harry completely bottomed out inside of you, touching that special spot that only he could. Your walls clenched around him, holding him in snug almost as if your pussy was begging him not to leave. Normally the two you were very vocal during sex from dirty talk to his loud moans and your even louder cries of pleasure. However you both knew that wasn’t possible right now and kept your moans down as much as you could. Harry was not making it easy though and the noise coming from the two of your bodies colliding were basty in the best ways possible. With every thrust of Harry’s hip you could hear your wetness coating Harry dick and as Harry picked up the speed his balls roughly tapped on your clit, only adding to your pleasure. You could barely form thoughts let alone sentence, Harry was literally fucking you silly and using your G-Spot as punching bag for his dick, The sounds and the pleasure were clearly getting to Harry as well, the grip he had on your hips grew tighter and his eyes were squeezed shut. 

“Bloody fucking hell you’re so tight around me, can’t even take it”, he groans and throws his head back as he roughly draws your hips into his. It didn’t even feel like it was possible but Harry picked up the speed of his thrust continuing the assault on your poor needy pussy even further. The pleasure was all too much and that oh so familiar feeling hit the pit of your stomach and you were starting to lose your composure. Your moans were getting increasingly louder and your grip on Harry was growing tighter. Harry knew his wife and he knew your dam was getting closer and closer to breaking and he was determined to get you there. He placed a hand over your mouth and moved his other hands down to your clit rubbing it in slow circles. “ Look at you” he cooed cockily, “Taking me so fucking well like a good girl should. Barely let out a scream ‘cus you don’t want your parents to hear how much of a cock whore you are”. He knew you wouldn’t last long with the way he was talking to you and he was absolutely correct because his words were driving you insane. As the pressure was continued building up in your stomach, you felt the telling twitch in Harry’s dick that let you know he was approaching his end too.

“Gonna give me what I want uh? Gonna cum all over my cock and let me cum in that tight little pussy of yours. You gotta hold it in.. don’t want to leave any drops for our guest to find huh? Gonna be a good girl and hold all my cum in you?”, Harry grunted into your ear as you whimpered against his hands. You were seeing stars and feeling butterflies in the pit of your stomach and you knew it was only a matter of time before you both came undone.” Oh baby”, you whined and your head fell down as the pressure from your stomach finally was released as your orgasm spilled out all over Harry’s dick and thighs. The gushing feeling from your orgasm and your weak whimpers and cries drove Harry overboard, burying his face in your neck and his roughly groaning as he released inside of you. The two of you stayed connected for a bit, thighs stuck together thanks to your shared orgasm with Harry’s arm wrapped around your waist supporting both of your weights up as you composed yourselves. When he finally pulled out of you, you kept every drop he gave you tucked inside your tight walls just as promised. 

“So those Pumpkin Seeds huh”

[poodlejoonas]

Dad!BC AU - the moms

So wow-ihateithere and I (because for some reason Tumblr won’t let me directly @ you) have been tossing out so many amazing ideas for the BC dad AU lately that we’ve thought of pretty much every scenario under the sun. One idea I’d like to throw in here is the group that is the moms who make up their own personal wolfpack. Since they’ll be brought in as stand-alone characters soon, it would be better to have a basic introduction for each and how they know/interact with each other.

(Under the read-more for length)

Joel - Emilia (”Millie”) Hokka - The absolute baddest bitch you will meet on this planet. She's a 5′1″ sweetheart, but if you lay a single finger on her kid, her husband, her BC brothers and sisters, or any of her nieces and nephews, she will become the human embodiment of that one line from “Wolfpack.” You know the one. She’s gone viral before for Joel needing to hold her back from fighting the mom of a kid who’s bullying Enkka at school, and literally watching this tiny woman become a human hurricane at the drop of a hat was enough for this kid to immediately leave him alone. From then on, kids at school know not to come after Viktor Hokka because his mom doesn’t play around. Why would she? After all, she dedicated 18 months of her life to trying to become a mom, and anyone who dares to come after her baby needs a running start to get away from her.

Sometimes even Joel has to hold her back from doing something she probably should regret but wouldn’t if it involved her family. He knows better than to cross a line with her. Then there are other times when they work together to be the shadiest power couple on earth, like when Aleksi’s ex-girlfriend Laila slanders him in the media for talking about taking custody of their son from her. If Joel comes home pissed about something, she’s the first one to jump on board with whatever plan he has to get his point across. She would totally have a stan account on Instagram dedicated to her called “milliehokkasupremacy”. And Joel loves his wife so much that he would eat every bit of this shit up. When she tells someone off, he writes down what she says and turns it into the lyrics of Blind Channel’s next single.

In short, Millie Hokka is 100 percent That Bitch™.

Bonus bit because this idea made me laugh: (in the comments section of a post slandering BC) @milliehokka: Bitch you better take this shit down before I puncture your fucking tires @joelhokka: She's my better half ❤️

Joonas - Kirsten Porko - Kirsten’s one of the quiet BC moms, and a hell of a lot more tame than Millie. But she has her shining moments every now and then, like when she was wondering why Millie took Joel with her knowing that she could’ve easily beaten that bully’s mom’s ass without him. She has the patience of a saint, being married to Joonas and raising two (soon to be three) kids with him. But she adores every minute of their chaotic little family. Since Sohvi was the first of the BC kids, the guys were quick to show up in support of her and Joonas. She was also pretty lonely until the others started dating their wives, and she was more than happy to have more friends to bond with.

She does the most to mother the rest of the kids when they need it. They love to come to their house because Kirsten will have a fresh pan of cookies ready for them. They also like hanging out with Joonas, but Kirsten is a fun aunt on her own. She’s typically the first to show up when one of the other moms tosses out a cry for help in taking care of their kids, especially when they’re newborns and the guys are away on tour. Kirsten’s total aesthetic is the absolute opposite of Joonas’s: she’s bubbly and wears nothing but pastel dresses and soft fabrics. A lot of people wonder what a “nice girl” like her is doing with a punk rocker like Joonas, until you see them interact and know that they’re crazy in love with each other and their kids. She’s the unassuming type, but she loves pranks as much as her husband and kids; she’ll play along whenever there’s a really good one and sometimes she can totally outdo them.

Niko - Jenna Moilanen - Jenna is Millie’s co-conspirator and partner-in-crime. If Millie needs someone to back her up and Joel’s trying to talk her out of whatever she’s thinking about doing, Jenna is the first to show up on the scene. She’s very much Niko’s type - she has just as many tattoos as him, several piercings, and hair that changes color depending on her mood. She’s naturally a blonde but you almost never see her as one. A lot of people tend to pass judgement on her abilities as a mom based on her appearance, but both of her and Niko’s kids adore her (especially their daughter Lahja) and they grow up happy with their loving parents. She’s a fantastic cook and works as a head chef at a five-star steakhouse, and she’s always willing to come home and cook for her family as well. She and Millie are the two shortest of the group, and it’s hilarious because they are both absolute spitfires.

Jenna has the best intuition when it comes to deciding who is trustworthy and who isn’t. There’s no “leader” in the group, but most of the others trust Jenna when someone gives her a bad feeling. She would be the one to raise the alarm on Laila years before she and Aleksi ever break up, and Laila would find the absolute worst way to end up on Jenna’s shit list. In her time with the group, Laila does nothing to help take care of the rest of the kids or try to fit in with the group. One day, when Leevi cries because he needs something, Jenna spots an annoyed expression out of the corner of her eye coming from Laila. It takes an intervention from God to stop Jenna from ripping her apart on the scene. The most important thing to note about Jenna: she calls her closest friends “bitch” affectionately. The moment it stops being affectionate, there’s no turning back.

Olli - Kaarina Matela - The quietest and calmest of the BC moms. She perfectly matches her husband’s energies, which is why they parent their daughters so well. She was definitely more calm than him on the day they learned they were having twins, and still is to this day. When he was panicking about their pregnancy scare, she was still managing to stay collected somehow (but just as relieved as he was). She’s very much like a suburban soccer mom type, but far from being a Karen because she’s aggressively kind to everyone around her, including hardworking people. And Olli just adores her so much, sometimes he doubts if he even deserves her. She’s always the first to remind him that there’s no one else she would rather be with.

Kaarina is the arts and crafts kind of aunt. During the summer, she likes to have the kids come over for day camp style hangout sessions where they mix in time outside with craft activities. She’s the reason why Olli’s stage outfits have been so cool lately, because she’s got a perfect eye for colors and is super skilled at hand-stitching patches. If the kids need anything repaired, they’ll know to go to Aunt Rina first because she’ll either make it as good as new, or turn it into some sick artwork. All the moms get along but she and Kirsten vibe together the best. They get together and plan the summer activities for the kids, which involve Rina planning the crafts and Kirsten baking for, and with, them.

Tommi - Marja Lalli - Marja is unique in her position as a BC mom because she joined the group when her son Miikka from a previous relationship was already almost 4. For a brief time, she was worried about herself and Miikka feeling left out of the group dynamic that was already there, but they were so quick to invite her in as one of them. A lot of it had to do with her being friends with Jenna since elementary school, and Jenna knew that the sisterhood would be more than happy to accept her. She and Niko help set her up with Tommi because they both know he would love her and accept Miikka as his own. She’s chill and reserved, but she’s still a ton of fun to be around. Along with Kaarina and Kirsten, she’s one of the level-headed moms and is typically the voice of reason for a lot of things (especially when it comes to trying to contain Millie and Jenna’s tempers).

The rest of the moms were thrilled when she told them she was pregnant with Anna, but constantly concerned and fretting over her when she was on occasional bed rest. If Tommi couldn’t be with her, it was one of them coming over to help take care of her and Miikka. Marja’s health showed the caring side of the sisterhood of the BC moms, how they are willing to take care of each other in sickness as well as celebrating the good times and defending each other from drama. Even months after Anna is born, they still come over from time to time to see if there’s any way they can help.

Aleksi - Laila Pekkanen (later on, marries Hanna Kaunisvesi) - So this one is a bit complicated. For about three years, Aleksi was in a high-profile relationship with Laila Pekkanen, a producer who worked with him on a solo single before joining BC. They meet again a couple years later and begin a relationship that last for about three years. But it was far from loving, as they were just in general not good for each other. A few weeks after their break-up, Laila calls Aleksi while he’s in the studio to break the news to him that she’s pregnant, which sends Aleksi into total emotional turmoil because he thought they were being careful. Of all the guys, he’s the most careful with avoiding this kind of thing, but it was her who missed one too many days of her birth control. They’re barely on speaking terms, but they agree to try to stay cordial until Aleksi can take full custody of the child himself. She admits to having no maternal instinct and wants nothing to do with the baby.

Here’s where it gets messy. Aleksi finally decides to break his silence on the matter and announces via Instagram that he will be a father and raise his son on his own. He does his best to tell his side of the story without dragging Laila down. But she takes it personally and goes on the radio to try to attack Aleksi, feeling like she’s being treated like a villain and a bad person for giving up her child. She feels like she’s being “exposed” in thinking that Aleksi publicly acknowledging their son’s existence would ruin her career, because she’d been trying everything possible to cover it up. It becomes a major feud between her and her team, and Aleksi and the BC team, but more industry people can back him up as a stand-up guy than they can come to her defense. She nearly ends up having Noah prematurely, and yet Aleksi still shows up in support, more so for their son than for her. When Noah is born months later, she refuses to hold him and immediately cuts off all contact with Aleksi. 

Aleksi raises Noah alone and learns to support his son when he’s later diagnosed on the autism spectrum. Noah is semi-verbal and partially communicates with sign language. He uses sign in situations when he meets a stranger, and Aleksi respects his intuition when someone makes him uncomfortable. Noah has separation anxiety from losing his mom at a young age, so Aleksi refuses to date for years because he doesn’t want to bring a revolving door of strangers around him. But then he meets Hanna, who makes an almost instant connection with him. He’s hesitant to make a decision about a long-term relationship with her until he sees how well she works with Noah. She’s one of the first people he opens up to - mostly because of her experience as a child psychologist - but the moment that seals the deal is when Noah calls her “mom” for the first time (in sign to his cousins). Fans and people he works with can’t help but notice that Aleksi is so much happier with Hanna than Laila. And as much as he would like to have a baby with her, he’s happy having Noah and wants to invest his energy into ensuring his happiness. But Hanna understands, because she’s an angel and only wants the best for her family.

[lunarliza]

Fake Boyfriend | Chapter 4: Kook Conventions

JJ x Kook!reader

series masterlist | prev. chapter| chapter one

my masterlist

You’re a Kook Princess who has everything you ever wanted... until your handsome Kook Prince dumps you for a hot new fling. To save your reputation, you bribe the one person he hates the most, JJ Maybank, to pretend to be your boyfriend for the summer. All’s fair in love and war. But where do you draw that line when you’re suddenly wishing your fake boyfriend is your real one?

note: slight mention of panic attack

If there was anything you learned about JJ that Friday, it was that he was the absolute worse at sticking to the plan.

For one, he spent so much time looking for the tennis courts, instead of following your clearly written out instructions, that he ended up being late altogether to pick you up. What was supposed to be a grand gesture turned into you sitting on the front steps, while the sun was near done setting, waiting for stupid JJ while everyone else had already left.

“What the hell took you so long?!” you scolded, slamming the truck door shut in annoyance once he finally showed up.

“This place is confusing as hell! I kept having to make loops. It is called Figure Eight for a reason,” he tried to justify, pulling out of the lot.

“JJ I texted you specific instructions on how to get here!” you groused, rubbing your temple, “Anyways, it’s fine, whatever. Let’s just hurry home so I can get ready. My house is just a little bit up that way.”

“Yeah, uh, about that,” JJ mentioned sheepishly, keeping his eyes on the road, “I kinda have to help Pope and Poppa Heyward with something right now. It will only take an hour tops! I’ll just meet you at the party after I’m done.”

You groaned loudly, face-palming yourself. “JJ what the hell! I told you specifically to cancel your plans tonight. It was supposed to be our debut!”

“I did! I just,” he scratched the back of his neck, “kinda broke one of their carts this afternoon, so I have to help them fix it for tomorrow. I think they’re catering your little brunch thingy.”

“How did you even break the cart to begin with?!”

He hid his face from your dagger-eyes and admitted in a low voice, “I, uh, tried to surf on it down a hill when they weren’t looking.”

You had to fight the urge to smack him upside the head, but you didn’t want to risk him veering off the road. Lucky bastard.

“Fine,” you grumbled, “Just make sure you’re on time to the party.” You then eyed his outfit up and down. Even in the little sunlight that emitted from outside, you could tell it was all dirty from his day activities. “And please change into something a little nicer,” you added, “These Kooks would run you to the ground with that on.”

JJ dropped you off at your house and sped away as you unlocked the door into a near empty house. Looks like it would just be you and Alfred for dinner.

Your parents were headed off to the mainland for some business convention. Thankfully, your presence was not needed which saved you an entire day of pretending to be a perfect obedient daughter. It was an exhausting act.

Most teens your age would kill for a night alone, but after countless nights sleeping isolated in a big empty house, it got old and depressing. Most of the time, you’d sleep over at Sarah’s for some kind of company. You were always welcomed at the Camerons’.

Greeting Alfred your usual hello at the foyer, you darted upstairs to wash off and get ready with the little time you had left. The aroma of filet mignon and freshly seasoned veggies filled the house air.

“Oh and Alfred,” you called out over the intricate metal banister, “It’ll just be me eating tonight, so just set the table for one please.”

“Miss Y/n, your friend is not coming?” he asked with hints of concern. You just shook your head with a sad smile. “No, he had to run last minute.”

Alfred gave you a curt nod, making way back into the kitchen while you dashed into the bathroom.

—————————————————

Instead of throwing JJ straight into the shark’s tank (even though, given his already poor track record, you strongly contemplated throwing him to literal sharks), you decided it was best to ease him into the whole boyfriend role.

You figured he’d be more in touch with his aura if you invited him to a Kook party first— which was exactly where you were, furiously texting him where on earth he was.

It was already ten o’clock. The party started hours ago, and he was nowhere to be found. An hour with Pope your ass!

Flopping onto the giant living room couch in Billy Irvine’s mansion, you frowned amongst the throng of drunk privileged kids. Around you, the Glossy Posse was gossiping with other Kooks about some of the summer newcomers while sleazy guys from out of town tried to grab their attention. It never worked.

“So y/n,” Chloe asked next to you on the couch, “I have some great news! It’s no secret that you need a date to the all the fundraiser events, and I might just have one for you! My cousin, Gerald, is coming into town next week, so I can totally set you guys up!”

She proceeded to show you pictures on her phone of a lanky tall guy with discolored hair and a creepy smile. You resorted to taking a gulp of your drink to hide your horrified expression. “Thanks, but, uh, no thanks. I actually have a date already,” you informed, typing away heatedly at your phone for JJ to arrive that instant or so help you.

“Ooh, who is it?” Ivy nosily chimed in at the mention of you finally having a date. From the couch over, you also saw Anne-Marie and Warren lean their heads closer to get the scoop.

Jeez, were people really that interested in your love life?

“It’s-”

Before you could reveal the name, a loud ‘ding’ went off from your phone followed by a text from JJ to alert you that he was out front. “Oh! He’s actually here right now,” you announced, hopping up from your seat to collect your very problematic date.

“You’re late, again!” you scolded to the blond standing all gloomy at the front of the stone curved driveway. He changed into a nicer grey long-sleeve with khaki shorts and his signature red snapback, much to your relief. It didn’t quite match with your intricate white romper, but it would do for the time being.

“The guard wouldn’t let me in the gate! I ended up having to sneak through one of the fences,” JJ explained. You rolled your eyes at his ridiculous excuse. “Then why didn’t you just call me to let you in?” you pointed out.

“It was more fun this way,” he peskily grinned, earning himself a smack on the arm. The guy was impossible. “Ow!” he whined, rubbing the spot. Ignoring his complaints, you seized his hand and led him inside. It was about time!

The foyer flashed with various-colored LED lights while thundering rap music echoed from basically every corner of the house. All around, eyes gawked at you stepping through the Victorian-style entryway with a Pogue of all people. It was like walking into a cave of bats.

“Anyways,” you began, disregarding all the probing eyes, “This is Billy Irvine’s place. It’s the nicest house on the Eight. His parents are out of town right now, so we’re celebrating the Glossy Posse’s birthdays.”

It alway was a coincidence to you how all three of them had birthdays on back-to-back days. Witchcraft, honestly.

“Those bitches?” JJ grimaced at the mention of his sworn female enemies, “Ew why? They hate the Pogues.”

“Just shut up and suck it up. Here,” you grabbed a glass from the champagne tower in the middle of the spacious room, “Have a drink to get your mind off it.”

“Champagne? What the hell is this, England?” he yelped, taking a swig. Rolling your eyes, you hoped the alcohol would alleviate his irritability for the night. Fortunately, the blaring music was enough to drown out his constant bickering.

“Now put your arm around me! It’s time to make our rounds,” you demanded. He obliged and you turned on your best lovestruck game-face, giving him the grand tour of the mansion.

Billy’s mom was also one of the important people of the Island Club, so you had been going over there ever since you were nine being that your moms were friends. Still, you were always amazed by the extravagance of their house. You could tell JJ was also in shock of it all too.

It looked like a castle with two grand marble staircases circling the front with a tall vintage Tiffany chandelier hanging over everything. The floors were the shiniest white marble even with hundreds of teenagers recklessly dancing and slipping all over it.

“Damn, so this is how the other side lives,” JJ commented, marveling at how the LED lights reflected off the diamonds on the chandelier.

He slid his hand down to your waist as you stood closer to his side, taking a whiff of his teakwood cologne. Deep down, it was nice to have someone to attend parties with you, even if it was fake and with JJ.

You took him up the right staircase where plastered kids— some you recognized from school, some just in town for the summer— stumbled up and down the stairs or sloppily made out while pinned to the side walls. Realistically, it didn’t seem that off-brand to JJ’s party scene.

“We’re only staying an hour right?” JJ reminded in your ear as you approached the open bar upstairs. Yes, the Irvine’s had a literal bar in their second level.

“Yes, grumpy!”  

“Do you know if Sarah and John B are coming?” JJ continued to question. You settled on top of a retro bar stool as he leaned against the Irvine’s prized rustic bar.

“No,” you answered, “Sarah doesn’t come to these because Topper’s here. And she hates Kooks.”

“She’s the smarter one of you two!” JJ shouted among the loud music. You shook your head and whacked him again, but lightly this time. Seemed that would be you guy’s thing— hitting.

Even in their inebriated states, Kooks were still staring at you like you had grown a third arm. Which, honestly, was what being with JJ felt like half the time. From the corner of your eye, you caught a glimpse of the Glossy Posse and Warren making their way to you with either wide or curious eyes.

Oh boy.

“Y/n!” they exclaimed, shoving through the crowd. You matched their seemingly gleeful expressions, though you knew deep down they were judging you hard.

“You must be y/n’s date,” Ivy stated without much of a formal introduction.

“Aren’t you that Pogue from the Boneyard that always tries to hit on us?” Chloe brought up once she got a better look at JJ’s face. You snorted, but no one heard you.

You were slightly worried JJ would take their snarky comments the wrong way and lash back, but his cocky grin still laid proudly on his face as he held his hand out to your girl friends. “Name’s JJ. And yeah, I’m y/n’s new man.”

New man. Well, that was certainly a title. All of the Glossy Posse’s threaded eyebrows shot up at the word.

“Y/n,” Anne-Marie said in amazement, “You didn’t tell us you were dating again.”

“Yeah, well, I wanted to keep it kinda lowkey,” you lied, signaling JJ to put his arm around you again.

Expecting your friends to stick up their nose at him or give you guys condemnatory looks, you were surprised to find they were more stunned than snobby. Intrigued, you caught them eyeing JJ up and down as if he possessed some kind of magical charm.

From behind the group, you saw Warren trying to stick his hand out at JJ to introduce himself as the girls did kinda take center stage earlier, shielding him out. “Don’t believe we’ve met yet. I’m Warren, Warren Van Doren.”

JJ had to hold back a laugh at the sound of his rhyming name. So immature.

“Hey man, I’m JJ. Nice to meet you,” he greeted, shaking his hand, “Wait a sec, aren’t you that quarterback that got in that fight at regionals last year?”

Warren smiled sheepishly and looked away. “Yeah, that was me.”

You remembered that fight. The video of it actually went viral for like a week. Warren was a very nice guy, but pissed of, he was an animal. He pummeled the shit out of some of other players during that game. The topic of fighting seemed to bond the two boys as they unknowingly drifted away in their own conversation. Thank God, you were glad that at least one of the boys there would be friendly towards JJ.

“Wow, look what the cat dragged in,” Chloe announced, gesturing towards the stairway. All four of your heads turned to see Max and Anya parade up to the top step linked to one another.

That was the cue.

Furtively, you nudged at JJ’s side, interrupting his football conversation. You gave him an alerting look that said ‘look like you’re in love with me ASAP’ and he quickly enveloped his arm around you to pull you close.

Given the fact that you and JJ hardly knew each other, much less touched, it was a very ungraceful and awkward gesture. Even Warren shot you both a weird look. Either way, you figured it would be perfected after going at it a few times.

Just as the Hollywood couple sauntered in to the packed bar area, JJ dipped his face closer to yours. It was a nice touch to the act. He started whispering some stupid joke in your ear that you could hardly make out among the music and chatter, but you went along with it anyway, playfully slapping at his chest. He even placed his snapback on your head backwards. You almost yelled at him for ruining your hair, but for the sake of the show you were putting on, you pretended it was the cutest thing.

You tried not to look at Max as he passed, as you didn’t want to make things so obvious. But in the split second you did glance his way, his mouth flew agape. In that moment, you knew you had him right in the palm of your hand from twenty feet away. The evil laugh cackled inside your head while you raked your hands through JJ’s hair. It was surprisingly soft.

For the next few minutes, you could feel Max’s stare bore into you back as you leaned closer to JJ, kissing up his jawline and cheek. 

“Damn, y/n, didn’t know you felt like this about me,” JJ teased.

“Shut up. I’m giving them a show,” you hissed with an infatuated smile to mask your threats.

“They’re gone now,” JJ noted lowly in your ear. You both detached like repelling magnets.

Fortunately, the posse and Warren dispersed among the crowd while you and JJ acted out your little PDA scene— it was probably from discomfort, if you were being honest. You did make sure not to hold anything back while you were draped all over JJ.

“Is that it?” JJ droned, back to his normal whiny self, “Am I done? Can we leave?”

Clicking your tongue, you shook your head, but with a grin this time. “Yes, you idiot, we can leave now.”

“Finally!”

JJ’s hand crept to your lower back as you both weaved through the mass of people to the exit. Before you could make it halfway down the staircase, however, you heard a rumbling behind you that stopped both your tracks. Warren’s six-four gigantic self was rummaging down the stairs, leaving booms in his wake.

“JJ! JJ!” he called out, grabbing hold of your fake boyfriend’s arm, “JJ dude, you gotta check out this new game system Billy has upstairs in the game room. You can play live Madden!”

“What?!” JJ’s eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas as Warren tugged you both back up the stairs with his giant football-player muscles.

“Dude it’s fucking sick! You gotta try it out,” Warren kept insisting. You knew JJ wouldn’t be able to resist. His eyes were practically glowing with excitement when he turned back to you as if to ask for some kind of approval.

“Okay, I’m just going to stay for one game,” he swore but you were a hundred-and-ten percent sure he’d be hooked and you could stay for much longer.

“Knock yourself out, Maybank,” you responded with a knowing smile, shooing him off to some depth of the Irvine’s enormous home. When he disappeared, you took the liberty to go search for your friends and finally enjoy the party for yourself.

As you predicted, one game turned into thirty real quick. It was well past midnight and JJ was still buried away somewhere doing who knows what. You didn’t mind. Warren was very responsible and you trusted him to take care of your date.

Plus, it gave you enough time to take rounds of various colored jello shots with Billy, dance on Mrs. Irvine’s countertops with the birthday girls, and devour the four-tiered tiramisu cake with fake-puking Barbie doll toppers that you helped pick out at the bakery.

When it got around one thirty, you grew a little concerned about JJ’s whereabouts so you sent him a quick text just to make sure he was okay and not shoving his head down a toilet. Your phone chimed back instantly—

Im jus fine y/n!!! One mor game! I almos beat War Ins Ass! Fuckin kwarter back!

Oh yeah, he was definitely gone. You texted your family’s driver to come by in about thirty minutes to make sure he’d get home safely. Then, you proceeded to dig in to your third slice of cake. Unlike the rest of your friends, you embraced the joy that was carbs— especially when you were drunk and there was chocolate involved.

JJ came downstairs a few minutes later and found where you were sitting on the couch surrounded by your circle of friends. Even amid the dark yet colorful beaming lights, his hair was still its usual sweaty mess with eyes a tad droopy, indicating just how drunk he was.

“Y/n! There’s my baby!”

He walked up and collapsed right onto your lap, tossing a dangly arm around you. You kept his snapback on for the entire night, assuming your hair was probably a bird’s nest underneath it. Everyone around seemed amused at the sight, and a few girls from school even began asking how you two started dating.

Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.

Well, that was until your thigh circulation began ceasing due to JJ’s bony ass on it. You immediately demanded that you switch places with him, and he sloppily obliged. The throng around you giggled, intrigued by the new lovey-dovey couple. Secretly, you ate up the attention and knew JJ did too.

He was in the middle of telling everyone a dumb Boneyard party story when Max and Anya entered the living room premises. They looked like they were fixing to leave. Your date felt you tense a little in his lap and caught on to your sudden judder.

Boldly, JJ made direct eye contact with Max and threw him one of those ‘what’s up’ nods. Then, out of nowhere, in his completely trashed state, JJ cupped both of your cheeks and planted a very brazen kiss on your lips for everyone to see. Shutting your eyes, you heard a few whistles from the crowd around you, especially when he, very obviously, added his tongue to the mix.

JJ was a good kisser, you had to admit. It quite literally, took your breath away when he pulled back. Biting your lip, you mimicked his shit-eating grin while he pressed his perspiration-filled forehead on yours. It was a huge acne-hazard just waiting to happen. But, like the snapback, you didn’t care. It was the most thrilling thing you had done in months.

“Don’t look now, but Vega and his girl have their jaws dropped to the floor behind you,” he muttered in your ear. You giggled and held onto him closer, leaning your head on his chest.

It was probably be best fifteen hundred bucks you had ever spent.

—————————————————

The next morning was your mom’s weekly Saturday brunch. By default, you showed up an hour early to help greet the guests, frequently checking your watch and phone to see when JJ would arrive.

You had a tennis tournament earlier that morning, however, you didn’t even bother making your fake boyfriend go. After the events of last night, you knew he’d be too hungover in the morning and wouldn’t wake up in time for it. He was getting to be very predictable.

At t-minus five minutes until the brunch started, everyone had already made their way into the ballroom. That left just you waiting in the lobby area for your date. The look on your face was just about ready to kill JJ whenever he walked through the door. You also didn’t see Sarah and John B arrive either, so you assumed they would be a no-show yet again.

About a minute past noon, the blond sauntered past the doors wearing a black suit that looked two sizes to big for him with hideous shoulder pads. You presumed it was his dad’s old one. He also had on jet black sunglasses to mask the grogginess from the party, but it was pretty evident he looked and felt like shit.

“You’re late again!” you hissed through gritted teeth, snatching his hand like he was an uncontrollable child. Maybe you should invest in a leash and collar for him since he could never get his attendance right.

“What do you mean? You said noon,” he yawned, unfazed at your irritation.

“The brunch starts at noon!” you jeered, “That means you have to show up early!”

“Well you failed to mention those rules,” he tried to bicker back, but you flashed him one of your bitch-looks before he could go any further. That had him shriveling at the sight.

“Whatever, just hurry up and let’s get seated,” you ordered, leading him through the majestic looking double doors, “And take off those sunglasses!”

Much to your dismay, the doors made a very loud creaking noise when they opened. Just about everyone did a double-take to see you arrive late and with a woozy-looking boy shoving sunglasses in his suit pocket.

Eyes were glued on you while judgmental whispers filled the already tense air. There was a small churn in your stomach as you weaved through the round tables. Something was also gnawing at your brain, telling you that it was a terrible, terrible idea. You attempted to brush it aside, though, as you and JJ took your seats.

For some odd reason, the Glossy Posse didn’t show the same enthusiasm towards JJ like the did at the party. They were back to their pretentious ways— you figured it was probably just their hangover attitude.

On the other hand, Warren happily greeted JJ when he sat down, exchanging one of those typical ‘bro’ handshakes. They started chatting on about the previous night while you tried to make small talk with the girls. Unfortunately, they were still being short with you and were, very obviously, throwing looks at JJ, along with their dates.

Glancing to your parents’ table, they didn’t look like they cared too much about your situation, having just flown in from their trip. They were too engrossed in entertaining their friends to really pay you any mind. Sometimes you were grateful that they were oblivious to some things. When you look over at the Vegas, however, Mr. and Mrs. Vega both sent you a disapproving look. The other families followed.

You couldn’t help but feel like you were in over your head at that point. Was it a mistake bringing JJ to this event?

The servers came out and made their rounds at the tables, setting bowls of water in front of everyone.

“Thank God, I’m starving,” JJ piped, taking his dessert spoon to sip water from the finger bowl.

“JJ,” you yelled-whispered as guests continued to stare.

“What?” he chided back with an attitude, completely unaware of his surroundings.

“The water is for your fingers.”

His face shot up from the bowl and scanned the room at people dipping their fingers into their respective bowls. “Oh shit,” he sputtered as your entire table tried to hide their snorts.

When the food finally came out, it didn’t really get any better. Baked chicken was on the menu and, well, JJ was the only one in the room who didn’t use a fork and knife. Everyone stared at him incredulously as he used his hands to gobble up his plate. Though, the boy didn’t seem to notice any of the baffled eyes.

Attempting to shield your red face, you continued to take tiny bites from your food, hoping the next hour would go by fast.

You hoped too soon.

As soon as JJ was done eating, he let out a loud belt to where the tables around you could hear. Warren high-fived him. At least someone got a kick out of it. You, along with the rest of the guests, had nothing but revolt on your faces.

Once the plates were cleared, the servers brought out creme brûlée for dessert. You were grateful it was something semi-clean to eat. JJ seemed to get a knack out of all the food. He even leaned over to you with his mouth full and muttered, “This food is fantastic! My compliments to the chef.”

You half-smiled back in embarrassment and took a spoon-full of your dessert. Thankfully, your mom waltzed over when you were half-way through to ask for your help carrying in the posters and stands from the lobby that displayed all the charity and donation information.

Immediately, you rose and scattered out, away from all the the dense room.

At the front, you began picking up the easel stands to bring inside until you spotted the jet-black locks of the last person you wanted to run into that afternoon. You almost dropped the large items in your hands when he came up to you.

“So, I see you brought Maybank here. Looks like he’s really enjoying himself in there,” Max commented dryly beside you. Mrs. Vega must have asked him for a hand as well.

You winced at the oozing criticism in his voice. It was the first time you had spoken to him one-on-one since the breakup.

”Yeah, we’re, uh, kind of together now,” you mentioned, lugging a display. He grabbed the two remaining and rushed to keep up with you, following you back in.

Out of nowhere, he let out disbelieving laugh, “You can’t be serious, y/n, you and Maybank?”

Taken aback by his brashness, you stopped right before the ballroom doors, frowning. “Yeah,” you shot back sternly, “Why not? I get along with him fine.”

“Doesn’t look like it to me. The guy’s a total tool. I’ve told you that from the beginning. Trust me, I know.”

“Know what? What’s good for me?” you pressed, growing more and more exasperated at the sound of his deep and raspy voice.

It was sexy, no doubt, but just the things that were coming out of his mouth made you want to slap him silly. How dare he prance up to you in his gorgeous light blue Armani suit and tell you what’s good for you!

“I just know who you are, y/n,” he went on calmly, with not an ounce of anger present in his tone, “And JJ’s just not a good guy for you.”

You were seeping with outrage at that point. Hiking in a breath, you spoke with the speckles of tranquility you had left in you. “Well I appreciate your concern, though I hardly understand why you have any for me. But we broke up, Max. You completely lost the right to tell me any of that.”

With that, you furiously stomped into the brunch and set the displays at the front for your mom. Max looked dumbstruck as he trailed behind. But you didn’t care.

“Everything okay? Did something happen with Vega?” JJ asked when you got back to your seat. You remained silent. It was the only way to keep yourself from screaming.

It was all too much— the piercing stares, the messy eating, Max.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” you informed to JJ as he listened to another one of Warren’s football stories, “And then we’re leaving.”

Before he could respond, you were already racing to the bathroom as fast as your Jimmy Choo wedges could take you.

You needed air. And fast.

Bursting through the bathroom door, you heaved yourself into the biggest stall and flopped down on the toilet seat, taking in deep breaths to calm yourself. It didn’t help much. The room was still twirling like you were on the Graviton at a carnival. Too nauseous from it all, you didn’t even care that you were ruining your new white Valentino dress.

You just wanted to hurl inside the antique-decorated bathroom but couldn’t. It was miserable. But at least the bathroom was empty.

All the seeming success of last night crumbled away with every disapproving look or whisper of the guests. And then Max— that fucking asshole. Your head was thumping endlessly as you felt the stress knots crawl up your spine.

What were you thinking? Maybe you were in over your head. No one was believing it. Not for a second.

Even JJ was terrible at playing along. You should’ve known it was just wishful thinking. You knew you had to throw in the towel and told yourself you would call it off once you found some way to stop the hot tears that were streaming down your made-up cheeks.

As you felt your breathing start to normalize, you slowly lifted from the toilet seat and smoothened out your dress. When the bathroom door slammed open against the wall, you immediately fell back down, wanting to avoid any form of human interaction for the rest of your life.

Titters and snickers echoed the air as two girls stumbled in, mid-conversation. They didn’t seem to notice you in the stall at all. Thank God.

“Would you believe y/n? Bringing that dirty Pogue here? She’s gone insane!” A nasally voice spoke by the sinks.

You scrunched your nose, trying to catch a glimpse of their shoes from the opening underneath the stall. You nearly puked. Nameless brand heels? Unacceptable.

“I know! He’s so disgusting and that suit is just repulsive! Does she not have an ounce of embarrassment?” the other one added.

You didn’t recognize their voices, but assumed they probably went to your school by the way they knew you and JJ. A part of you wanted to charge out of the stall and drag their pitiful selves to the ground. But seeing as you were just recovering from a near panic attack, you didn’t have the energy. And they didn’t deserve your breath.

Nevertheless, they still went on. 

“Ever since Vega dumped her for California girl, she’s completely gone off the rails. First the hair change and now she’s dating a Pogue like Sarah Cameron is. It’s so pathetic!”

“Seriously, train wreck of the year if you ask me.”

Train wreck? Pathetic? You’ll show them what pathetic is! Especially with those god-awful shoes. Do they have an ounce of embarrassment showing up here with that kind of atrocity?

You were seconds away from emerging from your ashes to put them in their place. But, lucky for them, they escaped before you could come out of confinement.

Huffing, you stormed out of the stall and towards the mirrors to fix yourself. God forbid you’d ever let anyone see you with smeared mascara!

Dabbing a wet cloth on your cheeks to soothe out the redness, you heard the creak of the door opening behind you and immediately tossed it into a bin. You pretended to fix your hair. Fortunately, the redness faded to a soft pink to look like blush.

Anya strolled in the bathroom behind you. Ugh, the cherry on top of the cake.

You faked a tight smile at her. She threw a cheery one at you, walking up the sink next to yours to toss up her bouncy, voluminous hair. “So, I thought you said that guy out there wasn’t you boyfriend,” she pointed out, not taking her eyes off her own reflection.

“Oh, psh, well you know,” you sputtered, not expecting the sudden inquisition, “One thing led to another that night at the Boneyard and it just kinda… happened.”

It was the first real conversation you had with her, and you wanted to hold your breath at the awkwardness. Anya nodded at your answer, puckering her lips slyly. “I just think it’s cute that you’re trying to make Max jealous.”

You almost did a double take. It was so subtle and smooth, her comment almost flew right over your head. “Excuse me?” you shot back, turning to the blonde-haired home-wrecker.

She didn’t even flinch a muscle at your snub expression, just continued to ogle at herself. It was menacing. Evil really did take form in Anya Carmichael.

“Oh, did I need to spell it out for you?” she blinked, “Y/n, you’ve been out of the picture. If you think showing up with that god-awful guy in his dad’s raggedy suit is gonna change Max’s mind about you, I assure you it won’t work.”

She crinkled her eyes in a hateful smile.

What was with people and their audacity that afternoon? Whatever was in their water, you were not about to have any of it. No one spoke to you like that.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” you said blandly, wanting to get under her skin.  

“Yes you do,” she snarled back, placing both hands on the sink in a threatening manner, “Look. Max and I are together now. You need to get that in your tiny pea-brain head. Do not play dumb with me. I see you looking over at him every five minutes. Get. Over. It.”

“Like I said,” you responded back in a fake-innocent tone just to push her buttons some more, “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Anya. I think all the hairspray is really getting to your head.”

Two can play that game.

She narrowed her almond eyes at you and straightened up proudly. Even though she was way taller than you in her six-inch heels, you still stood your ground, blinking up at her tauntingly. At least your swanky parents taught you that much.

She scoffed. “Give it up, seriously. Using that guy to try to get back at your ex is just pathetic. Max was right about you. You’re just a shallow virgin with a handbag.”

With that, she tossed her hair behind her shoulder and strutted out the door. Your blood was boiling, having half a mind to go out there and rip the bottled-blonde right off her head. You should’ve known it was all an act!

Fuming, you treaded back to the brunch table, your face doing a complete one-eighty once you stepped through the doors. A lady never showed her seething anger underneath.

JJ spotted you and promptly stood up, snatching your purse, and getting ready to leave.

“Sit,” you demanded, pushing him down by the shoulder so his ass plopped back firmly on the chair. The look of utter shock flashed on his face, but he just took it.

“I’m feeling better now. We’re staying,” you informed as if you were a commander at war. You glanced over at the Vegas’ table where Anya hung her arm proudly on Max’s bicep as he made some joke to his table. She threw over a glare at you. No one but you noticed.

You draped an arm on one of JJ’s ridiculously large shoulder pads, nuzzling your nose to his neck. He was still as confused as ever though, but still went along with it, digging his fork into your half-eaten dessert which he later finished.

If Anya wanted a war, you’ll give her one. May the best bitch win.

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

note: YES SHE WENT THERE! you kno i had to stir in anya- y/n drama!!! 

pls message me to be tagged! 

next chapter

tags: @2kayla64​​ @jewel25​​ @rudyypankow​​ @rafecameron​​ @ultranikilove​​ @wicked-laugh​​​ @outerbankslut​​ @agirlwholovescoffee​​ @tovvaf @obxlife​​ @ilovejjmaybank​​ @celestialmaybank @erraaxh​​ @poguecollins​​ @jolomez​​ @x-lulu​​ @danicarosaline​​ @teamnick​​ @outerbankslut​​​ @sweetlysilent​​​ @5am-cigarette @n1ghtsh4d3-67 ​​@duskangxl @hollandary​​ @rudths​​ @meaganjm​​ @bluesiderudy​​ @http-cherries​​ @allycat449-blog​​ @pink-meringues @mendesmaybank @lunaposey @natsiboo​ @primroswx​ @wtfkie​ @heyitsmeimdead @ilymarkchan​ @drewwbabyy-blog @kookkyra​ @mayybankz​ @ifilwtmfc​ @annedub

[zackcollins]

watching airplanes || nolan patrick

masterlist

Author's Note: I really should be writing that Pierre-Luc Dubois thing. I just don’t have any idea what I want to do with chapter 5 at the moment, so... have this instead. I wanted to write something so I went looking for writing prompts on here. I found this idea and kinda rolled with it. This is my first time writing for Patty, so please be gentle. Sorry for being so slow with the Pierre-Luc Dubois thing. I’m doing my best but inspiration for the fic has kinda hit a wall right now. I’ll try to find inspiration again soon. Promise!! GIF credit to fly-guys!!

Warnings: There’s a few mentions of anxiety, so I’ll include that here. I don’t think anything is too graphic, but I just want to be safe rather than sorry. If you see anything else, feel free to tell me and I’ll include it for you.

Word Count: 2k+

Title: Watching Airplanes by Gary Allan

Additional: The reader is gender-neutral! I’m kinda on a gender-neutral reader kick right now. If you guys would like a gender specific reader, feel free to request one. I’m more than happy to oblige. Also. This is my longest one-shot fic in a long time. I hope I did a good job with it. Let me know if there’s any mistakes or anything that needs fixing. I’ll do my best to fix it!

Additional 2: The locations I used, save for maybe the skate park, are actual locations in Winnipeg. I was so invested in this that I Googled places in Winnipeg that the reader could visit. I also used the petname “small fry” for the reader because I set their hometown as Charlottetown, PEI and PEI is known for potato farming. Hope all of that makes sense! Hope you enjoy this as well!

Looking out the window of the plane, you saw the skyline of Winnipeg coming into view. You grinned because you knew what that meant. It meant that you were close to pulling off the surprise meeting you had planned with your boyfriend, Nolan.

As the plane flew closer and closer to Winnipeg, you felt anxiety well deep in your gut. To compensate for it, you started bouncing your legs in what little room you had in between your seat and the one in front of you. You ran your hands across your things a couple of times to try to quell some of the nervous energy but all that succeeded in doing was creasing some of the wrinkles in your shorts. The person in the seat in front of you glared at you as he took out one of his earbuds.

“Do you mind not jostling the back of the seat,” he asked, pointing to your legs. “I have a bad back and sitting in these seats is bad enough already.”

You held you hands up in surrender as you quickly stopped moving your legs. “Yeah, sorry.”

The man smiled faintly as he stuck his earbud back in and turned his attention forward.

You sighed and ran your hands across your thighs in an attempt to keep your legs from moving. It worked but they ended up twitching a couple of times with anxious energy.

A few minutes later when the plane was announced to be in descent, you felt a little bit of your anxiety ease. You were one step closer to your end goal and that made you feel excited because you were closer to seeing Nolan.

When the plane landed, you felt some more anxiety wash away. You were now safely on the ground and wouldn’t have to worry about a crash getting in the way of you seeing Nolan. You had watched one too many episodes of Mayday the night before you flew. Seeing all of those crashes and catastrophic failures had psyched you out to the point you were convinced something was going to happen to your plane. You weren’t proud of the fact that you had done that but you had told yourself that you were preparing for the worst case scenario, however unlikely it may be.

You let the thoughts of plane crashes and catastrophic failures push themselves to the back of your mind as you collected your carry-on bag. You didn’t want to keep thinking about that while you were in an airport. You would likely drive yourself to some form of panic response if you continued to think about the worst case scenario while surrounded by a bunch of planes.

As you made your way off the plane, you walked calmly to the baggage claim. Watching the carousel spin was soothing what little anxiety you had left. There was something about the repetitive, circular motion that evened out your breathing and heartbeat.

It was a few minutes later when the baggage started to appear on the carousel. You approached it in hopes of finding your baggage among the first few options. You were surprised when you found it, seeing as the flight had been sold out and would’ve had a plethora of baggage. You quickly grabbed your baggage and made your way out of the airport.

When you were standing in the parking lot, you pulled out your phone and ordered an Uber to your hotel. As you waited for it to arrive, you decided it would be a good idea to text Nolan. He had no idea you had come to visit him. You were hoping by receiving this text he would be as excited to see you as you were to see him. As soon as you sent the text, you slipped your phone back into you pocket because your Uber pulled up to greet you. After stuffing your bags in the trunk of the car, you confirmed the address and were on your way to the hotel.

Once you were in your hotel room, you checked your phone again. You noticed that Nolan had texted you back. Excited to see what his response was, you quickly opened the text. You nearly dropped the phone when you read what it had to say.

To: Small Fry

From: Patty Cakes

You’re in Winnipeg??? I’m in Charlottetown! I came to surprise you!

You sat on the bed and ran a hand through your hair. Sighing, you placed your phone face up on the nightstand. You needed to let it sit for a minute while you processed what was happening. You had flown all this way to surprise Nolan and he had had the same idea because he had flown all the way to your hometown to surprise you. It was beyond you how the two of you could’ve possibly had the exact same idea on the exact same day... yet, here you were. You thought that if you both could concoct the same scheme and execute it on the same day, maybe you really were meant for each other.

As you sat there, contemplating what to do next, your phone vibrated against the nightstand. When you looked at it, there was another text from Nolan. You ran a hand through your hair as you picked your phone up to open the text thread.

To: Small Fry

From: Patty Cakes

How about you tell me some places I can visit while I’m here?

A soft smile spread across your face at the prospect of that. The fact that Nolan wanted to make the best of this weird situation by exploring your hometown made you feel really great.

To: Patty Cakes

From: Small Fry

Yeah! I can do that! Will you tell me some places to visit here in return?

Nolan’s reply came almost immediately.

To: Small Fry

From: Patty Cakes

Of course, small fry.

The first place Nolan sent you was his favourite skate park. When you got there, there were a few kids skating around and a few other people swinging on some swings in a little playground to the left of the skate park. You smiled as you watched the kids playing and having fun. When one of the swings became available, you quickly bolted for it to swing for yourself. You had always enjoyed swinging when you were younger. It was calming to you and helped relieve stress. There was something about the constant back and forth motion that you found soothing and relaxing. Swinging today was helping relieve the anxiousness of being in a strange city without Nolan. When you were satisfied that you felt better, you stepped off the swing and made your way to the next location Nolan had suggested.

This location was the botanical garden. Nolan had said walking through the flowers was soothing and seeing them in full bloom was always a wonderful sight. As you walked through the garden, you decided that you agreed with him. The wide array of colours was breathtaking and the aromas and peacefulness of everything was incredibly calming on your psyche. You could drift into many a dream land here if you had the time. After taking a plethora of pictures of the flowers, you moved onto the next location on Nolan’s suggested list.

The next location was the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. You found the tour guide to be incredibly knowledgeable and helpful with every question that was asked of her. You left with none of your questions unanswered and much more knowledgeable than you were when you entered. If you had the chance, you would go back and you could guarantee you would learn new things the next time you went than you did this time.

The final location Nolan suggested was something called The Forks. He explained it as something similar to a mall but not quite a mall at the same time. You found the description incredibly confusing but it made a little more sense when you actually got to there. It was complex of shopping outlets and dining establishments that looked like they were housed in historical buildings. Nolan told you to go wild and go to whichever shopping outlets and dining establishments that looked interesting to you. You took that to heart and by the time you were done shopping and eating you had accumulated a brand new outfit and three pairs of shoes. You had also eaten a hamburger and ice cream from a diner-type establishment in the back corner of the complex. All in all, you had a blast and would totally come here again—hopefully with Nolan next time.

When you got back to the hotel, you text Nolan to let him know that you had a blast going to all of the locations he had suggested. It took a few minutes but Nolan did text you back.

To: Small Fry

From: Patty Cakes

I’m glad, small fry! I had fun at the locations you suggested too.

You went to reply but Nolan texted you again.

To: Small Fry

From: Patty Cakes

Can I suggest one more location though? It’ll be quick because I know you’re probably exhausted and just want to relax.

To: Patty Cakes

From: Small Fry

Sure. One more is fine, Patty. Where am I headed?

To: Small Fry

From: Patty Cakes

FortWhyte Alive. It’s a wildlife area. My sister, Aimee, is gonna meet you there.

You sent a quick confirmation text before trudging out of your hotel room and down to wait for an Uber.

When you arrived at FortWhyte, you noticed a young woman standing by the park entrance. She was holding a sign and what appeared to be an iPad. When she saw you get out of the Uber, she waved you over. You walked hesitantly over to her. You eased a little bit when you noticed that she looked strikingly like Nolan.

“You must be Aimee,” you said, smiling.

“Yes,” she smiled back, placing the iPad on a nearby picnic table and propping it up with a kickstand. “You must be (Y/N), Nolan’s partner.”

“That would be me.”

“Perfect,” Aimee said, pressing a few times on the iPad.

You blinked when Nolan’s face popped up on the screen.

“Hi, small fry,” Nolan said, waving at you. “How’re you?”

“Fine,” you replied, waving back. “It just sucks that we aren’t here together.”

Nolan hummed, pointing to the sign Aimee was holding. You had failed to notice if anything was written on it, having been too focused on the iPad. When you did read it, you felt your mouth go dry as your eyes flicked between the sign and Nolan on the iPad screen.

“Nolan...” you trailed off, running a hand through your hair.

“What does it say, small fry?” Nolan coaxed, biting his lip.

You bit your own lip, heaving a shaky sigh. Aimee looked at you encouragingly, a small smile on her face.

“’Will you marry me, (Y/N)?’” You said, feeling tears prickling the corners of your eyes.

“Well? What do you say?”

You nodded, looking at Nolan as the tears fell down your cheeks. “Yes. God, yes.”

Aimee put the sign on the picnic table and reached into her pocket. When her hand came out, she was holding a ring box. She handed it to you and squeezed your shoulder. You smiled at her as you opened the box. You gasped as you looked between the ring and Nolan. It was nothing special but it was exactly the ring you had been looking at the last time you had been in a jewellery store. You felt the tears fall harder as you slipped the ring on your finger. You handed Aimee the ring box as you showed Nolan the ring on your finger.

“It’s gorgeous, Nolan,” you said, wiping the tears away with your other hand.

“I’m glad you like it,” Nolan said, smiling widely.

Aimee squeezed your shoulder. “Congratulations, you two.”

You smiled at her before looking back at Nolan and seeing the giant grin on his face. You felt butterflies swooping in your stomach and your heartbeat quickening. You had never felt so loved in your entire life.

“I love you, Nolan,” you blurted.

“I love you, too,” Nolan replied without missing a beat.

Today had been the weirdest day of your life but Nolan had proved that weird didn’t always mean bad. What you had thought to yourself earlier in the day definitely rang true now.

You two were meant for each other.

[quicksilversquared]

A Very Jagged Take-Down Ch 1: Dissonant Chord

Marinette knows Jagged Stone, everyone knows that. She's his favorite niece, never mind the fact that they aren't actually related. And Jagged Stone is really famous, the exact kind of person that Lila loves claiming connections to.

That was never going to end the way Lila wanted it to.

(a collection of one-shots)

links in the reblog

Jagged Stone could admit that sometimes, he was a little bit oblivious to how other people were feeling. He was a little too boisterous, too distractible, too caught up in his own thoughts and ideas and plans. It caused problems, sometimes- Jagged had butted heads with more record managers than he cared to think about because his artistic vision differed from theirs, and sometimes he didn't come off particularly well in interviews because he was too busy thinking about other things to notice an interviewer trying to ask a different question- but he was working on it, and if he was oblivious to something, well, he did have Penny to clue him in.

Still, Jagged Stone had been trying to improve. Penny had been pretty stressed out on several occasions recently, and he had wanted to ease some of her load by being at least a little more observant. He had thought that he was doing really well.

Considering that he had apparently missed his niece's upset mood during his last visit to commission a stage outfit from her, he apparently wasn't doing as well as he wanted to.

"What do you mean, she was off?" Jagged Stone implored Penny again. "Penny, if I'm going to learn..."

"She was hiding it pretty well, to be fair," Penny assured him. "Especially when you were looking. But when your back was turned, she looked kind of stressed."

Jagged Stone frowned. That wasn't a good thing! Maybe he could help, though. "Do you know what she was upset about?"

"Do I- no, Jagged, I cannot figure out what people are upset about by looking at their body language!" Penny exclaimed, clearly exasperated. "And I didn't want to pry, not when she was trying to be professional with coming up with ideas for your commission."

Jagged Stone considered that. Then he perked up. "Do you think that you, just maybe, could sneakily bring it up with Marinette when you go over with my measurements tomorrow? If I can help my niece with anything, I want to!"

"Yes, yes, I can try," Penny promised, and then she sighed, rolling her eyes. "And we've talked about this, Jagged Stone. Marinette is not your niece."

"Who says that she isn't?" Jagged Stone demanded, planting his fists on his hips. "My niece in rock-n-roll! Her CD cover and glasses and the songs they inspired put me back at the top of the charts. I am an artist, she's an artist- family in actually kickass artistry!"

He didn't understand why Penny was rolling her eyes. Really.

  Penny returned the next day with several design sketches and barely hidden anger bubbling away under her professional demeanor. Jagged Stone picked up on it right away, ushering Penny into their room at the Grand Paris and getting her settled with a platter of her favorite chocolates.

He was rather proud of himself for that, really. He was learning! He hadn't missed Penny's stress!

"I found out what happened," Penny told him, inhaling a chocolate in one bite. She chewed angrily, then swallowed. "A week before we went over for brainstorming, Marinette got expelled from her school after getting framed for cheating, thief, and hurting another student. The other student walked back on her claims the next day," Penny added hastily before Jagged Stone could grab his guitar and storm over to Dupont to bash their blundering principal over the head. He hadn't been impressed by the man the one time- or was it two times, he really couldn't remember- that they had met, and clearly there was a reason for that. "And her expulsion was retracted. But she's still facing some skepticism from her teachers and classmates over the whole thing."

"Who would want to frame Marinette?" Jagged Stone demanded, thoroughly baffled. "Marinette is fantastic! They'd have to be a cruel, heartless soul to do such a thing."

"Yeah, well, that's kind of what this girl sounds like, honestly." Penny took another angry bite. "Marinette was telling me all about her. It's the daughter of a diplomat- or that's what she claims, at least- who keeps making up all of these stories about things she's done and people she's met. Marinette is one of the only people who doesn't believe a word she says, and the only one willing to call Lila out."

Jagged Stone nodded in approval. "Calling out bullies and liars is very rock and roll!"

"Less so when it gets her framed and expelled, but yes." Penny flopped back in her chair, then perked back up. "Something Marinette said- well, it sounded almost as though the liar girl was claiming connections to you. She stopped herself before I could get much more out of her, though."

He nearly exploded with indignation at that. "The liar girl is trying to use me to boost her status? How dare she! And going after my niece while she does-"

Penny sighed in exasperation. "No matter how often you say it, Marinette isn't actually your niece-"

"I'm going to put a stop to this nonsense," Jagged Stone announced, surging to his feet as a surge of energy hit him. Maybe he wasn't going to be in Paris for the next couple of weeks because he was on tour, but, well, that just gave him time to plan. "No liar will use my name to hurt Marinette! Now, if I can grab my computer-"

"We're meant to be heading to the train station to go to London in twenty minutes," Penny reminded him. "For a meeting in London with the new record company you were considering switching to."

"Of course! Penny, I would be lost without you." Jagged beamed at her, then dashed across the room. "I can bring my computer on the train! Plenty of time to think there, no problem. We have a private compartment, so I won't even be interrupted!"

Behind him, Penny could only sigh.

  It wasn't hard to find more information on the liar in Marinette's class. All it had taken was going to Marinette's social media, going to her Ladyblogger friend's page, and from there finding Alya's personal blog.

He felt a bit strange flipping through a teen girl's personal blog and it certainly wasn't something he would ever do normally, but Jagged Stone was on a mission and Alya's blog was a veritable treasure mine. Not even three minutes after he first found the blog, Jagged Stone had learned who the liar girl in question was and had found several of the claims that she had made, all so absolutely outrageous that Jagged Stone had to wonder how anyone believed them in the first place.

But outrageous or not, they had also given him an idea.

Lila had claimed that she had saved his cat, and that he had written a song for her in thanks. Now, he definitely wasn't going to be thanking her for anything, but he could certainly write a song about her.

It wasn't going to be flattering, and it wasn't going to call Lila out by name- Penny had helpfully informed him that doing so would probably land him in legal trouble, even before he had been able to voice the idea (which was super rock-n-roll, actually, that they were so much on the same wavelength!)- but the details that he was going to refer to, courtesy of the blog, would mean that anyone familiar with Lila would know exactly who he was referring to.

Jagged Stone already had some lyrics scribbled out on a sheet of paper and a couple bars of music to go with it, and it was going to be a banging song. Like, top-of-the-charts, definitely-on-the-radio, impossible-to-miss banging.

"The main problem I'm foreseeing here is that it takes time to release a song," Penny reminded Jagged as she bundled him and Fang into a town car and then got in herself. "You need at least seven songs usually in an album, and then there's the studio time, you know that, and-"

"So it'll get released as a single for now," Jagged Stone told her, because obviously he wasn't going to leave Marinette hanging for longer than he had to. What kind of uncle would he be if he did that? "Singles take less time! I can probably have a demo by the end of the week, and then if we can get a recording studio in any of the cities that we actually spend some time in, then I can get the tracks recorded and all ready for mixing and- oh!" Jagged froze, struck by the most perfect idea. "If we can get Marinette to do the cover art for the single, that would be perfect! Then she gets her bully taken down and some money besides- yes, I'll tell her about it right away and work around her schedule, Penny, I already know that- and I get some more awesome art!"

Penny rubbed her forehead, right between her eyebrows, but didn't protest further. "All right. But you know that if you want a cover that'll go along with the single, Marinette needs some direction. I just don't know how you'll keep it all a surprise."

"She can get the background demo tracks and a prompt list of words," Jagged Stone told her at once, because he had already considered that. He had been working on getting better at not leaving all of the thinking and planning up to Penny, too, even if she hadn't quite gotten used to that yet. "That will help her come up with a cover. And look, I've already started!"

"I...see that."

By the time they had boarded the train and were halfway to London, Jagged had gotten the main part of the song written down. The lyrics just needed tweaking, the drums could probably be shaken up, and he wanted to add a few more backing tracks and play with some effects, but he had been inspired and it showed.

"I'll check it against your other songs after the meeting and make sure that you're not accidentally borrowing from an old song," Penny told him as he enthusiastically tapped his pen against the seat of his chair, trying out different drum beats with the tune. "And then I suppose we can start work on demo tracks, if you're so determined to get this out fast."

Jagged Stone grinned. "That sounds perfect."

  In what was surely Jagged Stone's fastest turnaround time ever, he was ready. The song was written, the demo tracks had been polished up into the final tracks and had been professionally recorded and mixed, Marinette had gotten the single's art done (and it was amazing, of course, somehow absolutely perfectly fitting the song even though Marinette hadn't heard the lyrics yet), and everything was ready, all within a month's time.

(His new record company was none too thrilled that he hadn't given them time to promote it, but, well, he was big enough to drop a new single out of nowhere and have it succeed, so did it really matter?)

And then it dropped Monday morning. By mid-morning Paris time, it had exploded all over the radio and thousands of people had bought it already. His new record label was applauding it as a huge success, all of their complaints about the lack of promotion forgotten, critics were already praising both the song and the cover art-

-and Jagged Stone didn't care. He was more focused on if the song had done its work and had gotten rid of Marinette's liar problem.

"You are not allowed to call her up and beg to know what's going on," Penny instructed him sternly. "Marinette is in class right now, and you know that she'll reach out and keep you updated when she can. Now either sit down and stop pacing, or go give Fang a bath. Heaven knows that that will keep you busy."

"Oh, I suppose." Fang deserved a bath after putting up with their most recent bout of traveling, after all. Travel grime was ugh, even on a crocodile. "But let me know as soon as Marinette texts! I won't be able to check my phone, since my hands will be all wet, but I wanna know!"

"I promise. Now go, shoo- you're distracting me!"

Jagged shooed.

  Marinette had been a bit distracted all morning, and for once, it wasn't because of Adrien or her Guardian duties.

Ever since Jagged Stone had told her that he was going to be dropping a new single soon and asked her to do the art, Marinette had been looking forward to the song coming out. She didn't know what the song was about, exactly- Jagged Stone was being strangely cagey about getting any more specific about the lyrics- but he had sent along a basic demo track along with a few prompt words for her illustration and it sounded amazing. She could only imagine how awesome the final version- properly mixed, with all of the instruments ironed out and vocals and everything- would sound.

(And now it had some pretty awesome art to go along with it, if Marinette said so herself- dark, seething greens in the background stood in stark contrast to the trails of shimmery gold dust in the forefront. It was more abstract than some of her other covers, but Jagged Stone had proclaimed it the coolest thing ever and tossed her a bonus on top of the already-generous commission price, which was amazing.)

And then, right before lunch, Nino gave a shout of surprise.

"Jagged Stone just dropped a single!" Nino announced, waving his phone at everyone. "I didn't even know that he was thinking about releasing anything! Lila, did he tell you?"

"Well, yes, but he asked that I keep it secret," Lila said at once, pressing a hand to her chest. It was a common look on her, faux-humble in a sickly sweet way that made Marinette want to gag. "I even got to listen to it before it got released, and it's fantastic."

"This art is sick!" Nino exclaimed. Marinette peered over his shoulder, and- yup, Nino was already in the process of buying it. "'Not All That Glitters is Gold- man, I gotta get a poster of this art, I bet that the non-digital version actually does glitter!"

Marinette hid her smile. It did, actually.

"Yes, they're a fantastic artist, aren't they?" Lila bragged. "They're a very private person, but I introduced them to Jagged Stone- I thought that he might want a professional artist for this song."

All eyes shot to Marinette, waiting with bated breath to see her reaction. After a second, Lila gasped dramatically, hands flying to her mouth. "Oh! Not- not that there was anything wrong with the album cover you did, Marinette, just that-"

"It's funny that you say all of that," Marinette said, her voice icy-cold. "Because I did the cover art for Jagged's new song, and I have the art- with all of the layers, in case you want to claim that I just downloaded it- plus the in-progress demos that I sent to Jagged Stone, plus the invoice for that commission to prove it."

The class went silent.

"And you didn't introduce me to Jagged Stone, he reached out to me," Marinette added on. "And I have the emails for that, too. So you can cut it out with the lies now."

"Oh, silly me, I must have gotten the single mixed up with Jagged's next full album," Lila tittered hastily. "The professional that I recommended to him must be doing the full album, and I just misunderstood."

Marinette was pleased to see that this time, not everyone looked entirely convinced.

"Ms. Bustier, can we please listen to Jagged Stone's new song?" Nino asked as their teacher entered the classroom, shoving his hair up into the air. "Please? Marinette did the art, and Lila's already heard it because she's friends with Jagged!"

"Well, I suppose you can put it on while I get the lesson set up and collect the homework," Ms. Bustier said with a laugh. "That's so exciting, you two! Nino, you know how to connect to the room's speakers so that we can all hear it? At a reasonable volume," she added hastily as Nino got up. "If we get any more noise complaints, then we won't be allowed to have any music on for events for the rest of the school year."

"Got it, Ms. Bustier!"

"I can't believe that you got to do another cover for Jagged Stone!" Alya said excitedly as Nino hooked up his phone. "And you didn't say anything!"

"Of course not. Some of my commissions are secret-"

Marinette was cut off by the oh-so-familiar opening chords of Jagged's newest song, and she trailed off. The accompanying horns were new, and definitely attention-catching and fantastic. Marinette's breath caught in her throat, already blown away.

And then the lyrics started.

At first, Marinette didn't really hear anything out of place. Then she caught a mention of kittens on a runway and sat up straight. All around her, murmurs gave away that other people had heard the same thing and everybody sat up and listened as the song swung around into the chorus.

'Not all that glitters is gold! Hiding behind lies that were told

A dollar-store gem trying to pass herself off as a diamond!

Claims of connections abound, but none of her stories are sound

A liar, through and through!

Adrien spun around in his seat to look back at Marinette, just as Marinette realized what Jagged Stone had done and clapped her hands over her mouth in silent glee. He quirked an eyebrow at her, mouthing a silent did you ask him to do this? and Marinette shook her head.

No, she hadn't asked. She had mentioned Lila to Penny, though, after Penny had asked about why Marinette had been so down. Her parents had probably said more, if she was really being honest, and Penny had no doubt told Jagged Stone, who then came to the very logical and oh-so-Jagged conclusion that the best way to deal with the problem was by writing a call-out song. A call-out song that, by the sounds of it, included references to more than a few of Lila's lies, not just her ones concerning Jagged Stone, so there was no way to mistake who the song was referring to.

She definitely hadn't mentioned all of those to Penny.

In the back, Lila had gone white. More than a few classmates had turned around, sending her disgusted looks. Alya had frozen in her seat before whipping around, murder in her gaze. Even Ms. Bustier was looking incredibly suspicious as she made the connection between the lyrics and all of the stories that Lila had told over the months.

Lila's reign of lies had come to a very abrupt end, heralded by the sound of horns.

"You didn't even know that he was going to do that, did you?" Adrien asked her as soon as the song came to an end. "You looked so surprised!"

"He didn't let me hear the lyrics at all!" Marinette exclaimed, and wow, now she knew why. She was honestly starting to feel teary, because Jagged Stone had written this song for her, because she had been upset after Lila's expulsion attempt, and she knew just how much work went into making a song, and it- this was incredible. "Or really anything beyond vague prompt words. I knew that he knew about Lila, because Penny asked why I was feeling down and I told her, but this..."

Marinette would have assumed that just bursting into class would be more Jagged's style, over-the-top and impulsive and immediate, but maybe he had just been too inspired by the topic and the idea of a song to think of that. And whether or not that was the intention, the song was so catchy, so bound to be popular, there was no way that Lila would be able to escape it. She would be hearing it on the car radio, playing in the train station and on the bus and in the mall. If Lila was on her own, she could leave, or turn it off. But if she was with classmates, or her mom- assuming that her mom didn't actually know what Lila had been up to all this time- then Lila would have to sit and stew.

...maaaybe that wasn't a great thing if she was going to be staying in Paris, but with any luck, it would drive Lila so mad that she would leave.

"That's one heck of a call-out by Jagged!" Kim cackled loudly, breaking through the muted muttering. "Wow, how ticked off did you have to make him for him to go out of his way to write and produce a song calling you out?"

"No, it's not what it looks like- I swear, he's just, uh..." Lila was floundering. There really was no easy way to get out of this, but clearly she was going to try anyway. "You know not all song lyrics are literal! I did save his cat, and he did write a song for me, it's just that-"

"What's the name of the so-called song Jagged Stone wrote for you called, then?" Nino asked sarcastically. "'Clinging to the coattails of fame without any dignity'?"

Marinette choked on a laugh before hastily trying to hide it. Across the aisle, Chloe was far less subtle as she cackled in delight, clearly thrilled by Lila's messy downfall.

Marinette wasn't surprised. Chloe was far less impressed by connections and tall tales than a lot of their peers, but she was absolutely the sort of person to be bitter about how much attention Lila had been getting. It meant less attention on Chloe, and that just couldn't stand.

"Okay, class, please settle down!" Ms. Bustier implored. She was glancing around the classroom, clearly trying to figure out a path forward. "Ah, Lila, let's step out to talk to the principal and call your mom."

"No, but a song from a rock star is hardly considered any sort of reliable source, surely!" Lila cried, still not willing to give up and come quietly. "He's met thousands of people, why would everybody assume that he's talking about a real person? That he's talking about me?"

"Lila. Now."

Finally looking properly wilted, Lila gathered up all of her things in a rush, stuffing them roughly in her bag before heading out the door in front of Ms. Bustier. All around Marinette, whispers started up, some people comparing notes on stories Lila had told and finally (FINALLY) looking them up, others looking up the lyrics to the song. Marinette ignored them all, fumbling for her phone and pulling up Jagged Stone's contact number.

Seriously, how was she supposed to thank him? He had gone to so much work, gone so far out of his way, just for her. Because it was for her, Marinette knew that. Jagged Stone had plenty of over-eager fans that sometimes went overboard with things, and of course there were tabloids that loved to make up stories about him. Jagged Stone ignored all of them the best he could- well, until they got too intrusive, at least, like that one photographer- instead of slapping back. There was no reason for him to go out of his way just for Lila, when she looked at it that way. Lila and her lies wouldn't even appear on Jagged Stone's radar, if it weren't for Marinette. But that hadn't made a difference to Jagged.

Seriously. Best. Uncle. Ever.

(Well. Best not-technically-an-uncle ever. After all, Penny always insisted that Jagged Stone couldn't just adopt Marinette as his niece, no matter how much he wanted to.)

With shaky fingers and happy tears blurring her vision, Marinette texted a quick thank-you to Jagged, hoping that he could feel all of her gratitude through the few simple words that she managed to pull together. Without the constant threats from Lila hanging over her head- either because Lila would be gone or because she would be so thoroughly discredited by everyone that she would be powerless- and without having to constantly be at odds with most of her friends about Lila and her lies, Marinette's days at school would be much more enjoyable and relaxed.

  Penny glanced at Jagged Stone's phone for the fifty-seventh time in an hour and a half. His phone kept lighting up with all sorts of messages- from his new producers, from celebrity and non-celebrity friends alike, from his family members- and she had kept checking it, noting messages that needed to be responded to as she did.

It was exhausting, especially since Penny had her own correspondence to attend to- questions about integrating the new song into set lists, requests for interviews about the new song, and an ongoing back-and-forth with Jagged Stone's lawyer to make sure that he wasn't going to get in legal trouble for the song (since no names were mentioned, he was in the clear as long as he didn't call out Lila during any interviews, but she just wanted to be prepared). Frankly, Penny was tempted to put Jagged's phone on mute and just ignore it for a bit before checking to see if Marinette had reached out. After all, she would be in school right now, so the likelihood of Marinette and her classmates being able to listen to the song before lunch was, well, rather low-

Message from: Marinette Dupain-Cheng

-but Penny supposed that it wasn't entirely impossible.

"Message from Marinette!" Penny called out, and there was a yelp and a clatter as Jagged Stone dropped the broom he was using to scrub Fang to dash out to the main room and snatch up his phone. He grinned at the message, whooping in triumph.

"They listened to it in class and all of her classmates figured it out right away!" Jagged announced. "And the liar girl got carted off to the principal's office and her mother is being called, so she's dealt with. Score!"

"Yes, good job," Penny told him, resigned to hearing about it for the next month, at least. Jagged Stone was going to be too caught up in the euphoria of his success to be much use, so she would have to deal with all of the setting up appointments. "Your idea worked, Marinette's bully has been dealt with. Can you relax now?"

Jagged didn't seem to hear her. "You know what, I'm going to call up room service and we can all have a feast to celebrate! And- oh, I should text Marinette back, 'cause I wanna get any more updates! I just want to make sure that the little eel doesn't manage to slither out of punishment again. I doubt even she can get out of it now, but I gotta follow through!"

Penny could only sigh as Jagged Stone bounced away across the room. As he went, Penny could hear him singing under his breath.

Tea with a prince, talking about charity

She's too kind, too good to be

Working to save the world, she always tries

Except everything she says are self-serving lies!

Not all that glitters is gold! Hiding behind lies that were told

A dollar-store gem trying to pass herself off as a diamond-!

[oftenderweapons]

Girls’ Night — a girlfriends’ tale

Characters: OCs (Vixen, Princess, Lace), small Namjoon intromission

Wordcount: 12.2k

Genre: slice of life with discussion of BDSM themes, conversation

Rating: suggested 18+

Hello doves! As I announced the other day, I have been working on extra pieces that I really loved as a concept. This one — I must admit — is especially dear to me since it covers topics that I consider extremely important. This fic discusses mature themes. Please minors, do not read or interact.

Quick recap: (read Jimin’s Love Talk if you want to know the whole background for this story) Princess — Jimin’s girlfriend — has ventured into the world of BDSM after Jimin expressed his interest in being dominated and spanked. A few days after her first brief session with Jimin, two old acquaintances come to her help: Vixen — Namjoon’s girlfriend and Princess’ high school classmate — and Lace, Vixen’s best friend, Princess’ university flatmate but also Taehyung’s latest crush. (Tae and Lace met through Vixen at Taehyung’s housewarming party). The girls meet for dinner at Princess’ apartment and after some confessions and girl talk, they explore the most important rules and procedures a person should know before dominating their partner in a basic impact play scenario, with special contributions of a trained domme and an experienced brat. 

The piece is written with the girls as characters described through the POV of an external narrator. If you want to get to know the characters a bit better, you can find their headcanons here (Vixen — Princess — Lace).

On a lexical note: throughout the text I’ve used the word “dom” both as in short of the verb and of the noun. Even though the feminine form is usually “domme”, I’ve considered it gender neutral, as a short term for both “dominator” and “dominatrix”. 

On an ethical note: I wanted to raise awareness on how a safe, sane and consensual domination works. These days there’s an increasing number of BDSM pieces coming out, and very few of them mention the level of emotional connection that is necessary in these circumstances. Most of them focus on the scene, without showing how pre-session negotiations, aftercare and post-session feedback work. I wanted this piece to be educational and I wanted to show the “background work” on how I plan each BDSM-themed piece before I write it. Though I’ve done a lot of research on handbooks, websites and forums, I am NOT a BDSM educator, so I would recommend reading more in-depth manuals in case you ever decided to venture in this world, and possibly speak with an expert first.

On to trigger warnings: swearing, consumption of alcohol, obviously there is in-depth discussion of NSFW and BDSM themes with focus on impact play. Discussion of hard limits, negotiations, SSC (safe, sane, consensual), safewords, aftercare, bruising, cutting/puncturing (connected with cane and cat-o-nine-tales whipping), marking, pain kink, punishment, drop (both for subs and doms), anatomy of impact play (where to hit, how to hit), sex toys (spanking, face slapping, paddle, riding crop, slapper, strap, whip, flogger, cane). That should be all. In terms of angst, there is some insecurity, jealousy, and slightly traumatic past experiences. Lace recalls one time she “dropped”, Vixen recalls a series of quite intense scenes. There are mentions of Vixen’s second relationship (toxic relationship with a man who called her out for her sex drive, kinkshamed her and forced her into becoming exclusively vanilla). Both Princess and Vixen mention abandoning some friends since they couldn’t trust them close to their boyfriends, or not respecting their privacy. Lace mentions traumas that lead her to learn domination. She also explains her insecurities about possibly dating Taehyung.

Word count: lengthy. 12.2k words. Reading is not necessary but recommended since a lot of pieces stem directly from this one. 

Here is my masterlist!

Enjoy 💖

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EDIT: You can find part two here

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Lace came through with the loud stomps of the heels of her boots, the bag on her shoulder swaying heavily. It looked like she was ready to enter Cat Woman mode, wearing a cropped leather jacket rimmed with a thick black-fur neck. Her wondrous thighs were clad in tight, high-waisted jeans, her black leather knee boots completing the look. She impeccably wore her part.

As she neared the door, she checked her watch, noticing that she was a couple minutes early.

Five minutes later, always fashionably late, arrived Vixen, her hair falling perfectly around her pretty face, her lips tinged with a deep wine red, her doe eyes as inquisitive and wide as usual. It was exactly the girl she had met two years before on the other side of the counter of her shop, it looked like she hadn't aged a week.

"Hello!" She greeted her friend.

"Hi there! Look at you, you look like the best girlie in the world." Lace hollered back.

"Because I am." Vixen replied, basking in the attention and the praises.

"That self esteem is thriving! Freshly fucked and ready to misbehave?"

"Unfortunately not freshly enough, but you know me, I'm always ready to misbehave." Vixen winked before making her way to the entrance of the building, pressing the buzz for Princess' apartment.

"Isn't your big boy attending to his duties?" Lace asked, curious about the whole situation. She had personally met Namjoon and had seen the two of them together. They looked like the it-couple and she would gladly bet big money on the pair. Plus she knew about Vixen's collection and Namjoon's taste in terms of lingerie and negligees: in her honest opinion that's a solid base for a lasting union.

"He's attending, yes, but I don't want to vex him with my continuous cravings."

"Baby, not all of us are like that slut-shaming bastard of your ex. Stop thinking that needing to get laid more than once a week is a shame."

Princess voice sounded from the intercom. "Hi! It's floor 16 number 41!"

"Thank you!" Vixen replied before pushing the door open.

Lace slapped her hand and held the door as Vixen walked through. The other followed. "It's just that… He's been busy, plus he keeps saying he likes to come back early so we can have dinner together, he's always rushing from the studio to the dorms to his apartment. He looks like he'll get drunk on motion sickness before the tour even starts."

Lace stared at her feet as you both stood in the lift. How could she start something serious with Taehyung if they were going on tour? By the time she would get used to him he would be travelling on the other side of the world.

"So he stays at the dorms?" Lace fixed her bag on her shoulder.

"Often, yes. He stays at the apartment when I'm around, but he prefers the dorms when he's by himself or working."

The lift dinged and you exited, heading down the hallway "Thirty-eight, forty, there!" Lace chirped, noticing the open door.

There stood Princess, hair in a ponytail, wearing a fashionable white turtleneck and a thigh knee-length skirt. She looked classy and smart, just like she had appeared during previous meetings.

"Hello girls!" She waved at the pair, gesturing at them to come in.

"Hi there!" said Lace, "long time no see."

"We don’t see each other in ages and then two times in less than a month." Princess replied while hugging her. “Wouldn’t it be lovely if we reacquainted?”

Vixen nodded with a cute smile. "It would. I must say it was a surprise to meet you at the party with Jimin." Vixen took off her shoes as Princess offered her a pair of slippers.

"It seems like fate brought us back together." Princess replied.

“Indeed.” She commented, thinking about how they would get even closer if she gave in to the preternatural connection with Taehyung. Lace tugged at her boots, fighting with them a little before finally removing them, lost in her thoughts. She clumsily tried to avoid Vixen’s stare. She knew the girl would spot her secret in a second. Not now, she told herself. With the slippers on, Lace still looked like Catwoman from the ankles up, but her feet were clad with a pair of pink panther slippers that gave the outfit a hilarious twist.

"Let's move to the kitchen," Princess said, leading the way. "The apartment is small, sorry."

"Don't worry sweetie, with a view like this I would gladly live in a shoebox." Vixen commented, looking out of the window. "Plus you live pretty high up."

"It was accidental. I just needed something close to my office."

"What did you end up doing?" Lace asked as she looked at the prints on the wall.

"I work for a fashion magazine. Usually I do model casting and a little bit of everything about organising photoshoots." Princess replied.

"That sounds great!" Lace exclaimed, grinning.

Princess clumsily opened a bottle of wine, but fortunately no damage resulted. "What about you?"

"I'm a shop assistant in a lingerie shop." Lace replied.

"Don't diminish yourself like that." Vixen said, looking away from the window. "She works at the La Perla boutique in Gangnam, plus she has her own studio where she creates customised orders." The woman patted her friend on the shoulder. "She's amazing."

Princess lit up. "So you managed to make part of your dream come true!"

"A small part. I'm still far from having my own shop." Lace exhaled.

"But she's getting there." Vixen added with a positive note.

"I ordered in a little bit of everything." Princess said, taking the food out of the oven. "I didn't trust my cooking skills knowing this one." She pointed at Vixen. "I've heard you're almost a chef."

"I just took lessons." She shrugged. "I just really like everything that feels like home."

Sniffing at the air, Vixen sparked up, getting cozy at the smell of bulgogi. "This smells very nice."

"A little bird told me it's your favourite." Princess winked.

"Do I know that little bird?"

"He knows you very well." Princess said, admiring how the polished, elegant woman-girl turned completely smitten.

"I'll make sure to thank him."

Lace snickered. "Do you need help?" She offered, while Princess laid out a bunch of smaller plates and bowls with side dishes. "I got some dumplings, pancakes and our baby's favourite: braised potatoes."

Vixen clapped enthusiastically.

Dinner proceeded calmly, all the partakers digging in quietly, chitchatting between one serving and another, catching up on the various mishaps that had happened during those years apart.

"So you studied in Europe, right?" Princess asked Vixen.

"I spent almost two years between France and England, yes." She replied politely, sipping her wine composedly as if she hadn't devoured her serving of potatoes like a very smug wolf.

"Cool. But you came back here." Princess continued.

"Yes, I missed home. And I missed jajangmyeon." Vixen grinned. "Food in general. I like my life here. Living in Europe to me felt like being continuously on the sidetrack of something. Catching up with the culture is seriously a challenge, especially when you're in the art world."

"Right, you're an interior designer." Princess reminded herself.

"Exactly."

"I've heard you met Namjoon because of that."

Vixen smiled. "Yeah, well… The usual. We met at a gallery, I had a meeting with the artist and he accidentally participated. The artist and the director of the gallery accompanied us through the exhibition and at the end he asked if I wanted to grab a coffee. At the beginning I thought it strange that he hadn't booked a private visit, but he said that because of a last minute plan he had begged the director to book him in anytime. Since I'm friends with the director and I have strict privacy agreements at the firm, the curator thought it was a good idea."

"Who would have thought, uh?" Lace chirped in, laying her chopsticks on her empty bowl.

"Y'all, soju?" Princess asked, now that they were all done with the food.

While Vixen nodded, Lace held back. "I think I'll take just a sip. It gets me bloated."

The table was clean, the small cups for soju laying on the table as Princess shook the bottle and poured it according to tradition.

"Cheers to your taken asses and my single one." Offered Lace, the three of them laughing and downing the liquid. Princess drank it without even blinking, Lace taking it in a small measured way while Vixen downed it and scrunched her nose, shutting her eyes tight and shaking her head as she processed the burn.

"You're still a doll." Princess commented.

"And you're still otherworldly cool." Vixen replied, smirking. "You were the most bad ass girl of the class. I had lots of respect for you, but I was so scared of approaching you."

"You were so tiny and shy." Princess gushed. "You were everyone's crush but you were so smart. And a bit strange. It felt wrong to even think of you like that."

Vixen shook her head, "It feels strange to bring up those memories. After university and being abroad it feels like another life."

"Because many things changed in the meantime." Lace argued. "I've known you since you started working, two years ago."

"I spent half of my first paycheck at your shop."

"You did. And I asked you for coffee because I liked your sense of fashion."

"I thought you wanted to date me." Vixen laughed.

"Well, when you're done snuggling your big bear, you know you can come to me." Lace winked.

"My bear is pretty big so it might take me a while to be done with that." Vixen joked. "Plus I'm pretty happy. I haven't been this happy since I was nineteen. I'm content. Satisfied. Taken care of. Loved. I'm thriving." She closed her eyes and shrugged, smiling.

"My bad." Lace patted her own shoulder in support. "What about you and Jimin?"

"Oh, we met during a photoshoot. I assisted in his shoot and when he was done he asked to see the pictures that would feature on the magazine. That's when he asked me out for dinner." Princess said, her eyes shining as she remembered the event.

Lace noticed the two women staring at her. "Well time for my story… Me and my dildo met at the store, he was cute, I was needy and I invited him to my bed. That's how we first met and we've been happy ever since." Lace told emotionally. The other two burst out laughing, Vixen holding her belly while Princess leaned on the table.

"Oh goodness." The smaller one said.

"I think it's time we face our main topic. Would you like to start?." Lace asked Princess.

"Okay. I'll be very direct." Princess warned.

"Don't worry, we're all grown ups here. You're safe, darling." Vixen stretched her arm out to caress her forearm. "And we're pretty open minded, trust me."

"Okay. Basically, Jimin would like me to get a bit more rough in the bedroom. Namely, we tried spankings the other week. He sort of power-bottomed? Like he gave me instructions on how to do it."

Lace nodded.

"I am worried about how to handle this. I want to do it, but I don't know how to do it right. I don't want to hurt him." Princess said with a frown. “And I’m a little worried I liked it so much.”

Lace’s lips formed a small conspiratorial smile. “At the beginning there’s always a little bit of fear. And a bit of… Shame.”

“Yes.” Princess confirmed. “But it’s not something that bothers me. Like, it’s there but it doesn’t bother me. I don’t think it will persist. When I think about what we did… Well, I’m almost proud.”

Lace smirked and nodded. “That’s good. What would you like to work on? Is it just impact play — you called it "spanking" — or is it also domination on a broader sense?"

"Well… Wait, I took notes." Princess looked around, walking towards her bedroom and coming back with a small notebook and the guide.

"It's the book!" Lace exclaimed.

"The book." Vixen wiggled her eyebrows knowingly.

"You, vixen." Lace smirked. "Namjoon is right calling you that."

"You have no idea." The other replied. "Now, let's see."

"I'll return you the book." Princess reassured her.

"You can keep it for another bit. You'll need it again with Jimin."

"We have our own copy, don't worry." Princess replied, with a quick smirk. "Well, I think I can dom pretty fine — as I read the book I realised I already have some of those behaviours. However there are some practices I might have to learn in person."

"Normally we teach how to dom through subbing: what you experienced the first time with Jimin was subliminally subbing." Lace took the reins and explained. "It is one of the most sophisticated forms of domming — being a power bottom — and the fact that he did that should suggest you that A — he's a very skilled sub, or B — he's generically a very smart person with good manipulative skills."

Princess listened to the explanation quite raptured. "Personally, I don't know how far he's gone with his exes but I would say he has taken the lead before and he's quite used to speak up and order me around a little, so his behaviour might come from that."

Lace nodded. "I would recommend that you talk to him and try to design a specific plan for the two of you. As I hinted before I have taken lessons on BDSM practices in a club here in the city. I have received almost two years of training and I have taken part as an assistant to a teacher for another two years, that's why I might sound academic and serious. You can stop me whenever you feel uncomfortable or when you need to ask a question." That's when Lace shifted. Her whole position changed: her back got straighter and her hands splayed on the table, somehow squaring her position.

"Okay." Princess confirmed.

"You know that during university I took that course on acrobatic yoga?" Lace asked.

Princess frowned. "Yeah, I remember."

"Well, it wasn't exactly acrobatic yoga." Lace shrugged and raised her eyebrows. "At the beginning I did do some acrobatic yoga lessons but then one of the students introduced me to this BDSM course and I left yoga for… yeah, you know." Lace laughed.

Vixen listened quietly, observing Princess' reaction.

"Would you consider taking lessons from an expert?" Lace asked.

Princess shrugged. "I think that the book was very good on general analysis. Personally, I've never considered meeting an expert mostly because I wouldn't know where to look for one. Plus, I've only had a week to think about this."

Vixen looked at Lace. "I'll be very blunt here, darling. I think that the best thing to do would be discussing the whole book thing with Jimin. Have pre-session negotiations. Discuss stuff. Find out what you want to explore and go there together."

Lace raised an eyebrow. "However, it is perfectly okay if you want to practice by yourself. Being a good dominant means that you can convey control and safety through your stance and behaviour. That requires practice."

Vixen nodded before adding, "It's okay if you want to take some steps by yourself before bringing him into the equation."

"Okay, so I reckon you have quite some knowledge on the theme. Maybe you could teach me something?" Princess asked Lace, a bit shy but fully determined.

Lace smirked. "That's why I came prepared. However, I must remind you I have been a co-trainer, and that doesn't mean I am a teacher, therefore I can only cover the basic stuff, which for now will suffice."

Vixen's eyes burned expectantly.

"Our girl here might help you see stuff through a submissive's eyes, right?" Lace questioned.

Vixen nodded and smiled, reassuring Princess by placing a hand on top of hers.

"Okay. Let's talk about general principles. BDSM is an acronym for Bondage, Domination, Sadism and Masochism. But I guess you read this in the book." Lace presented.

Princess nodded.

"The golden rule is SSC: Safe, Sane, Consensual. Use protection and make sure that you're both tested and clean if you go without a condom or dental dams. Also, keep your toys clean. Do not start anything if your judgement is clouded — by alcohol, drugs or violent, instinctual emotions. Make sure that both you and your partner want the same things. Explain what is going to happen and negotiate before each session — at least for the first few times. This is also the right moment to talk about safe words."

"Me and Jimin covered these already." Princess noted.  

“Then you’re already halfway there. The biggest part of training is making people always aware of all the steps that could possibly go wrong and make sure that you’re prepared for the worst case scenario.”

Vixen nodded. “As a sub, it is important to feel safe. An anxious sub is a sub who can hardly feel pleasure, and that invalidates the experience as a whole. We only do it for pleasure.”

Princess listened carefully and thought about it a little. “How… How does it feel…To be a sub? I mean, I’ve sort of subbed with Jimin but… Yeah.”

“Well, I’m leaning-sub. That means I rarely dom, and when I do I’m a power bottom — that thing that Jimin did when he gave you instructions on how to dominate him. Being a sub has a lot to do with feeling cherished and taken care of. Some of us are not comfortable with power and responsibilities. Some of us simply like to be told what to do and please. I like doing what Joon tells me to do and do it perfectly the way he wants it to be done, because I know he will praise me and reward me. I know that he loves me regardless of me doing what he wants, but it pleases me immensely to use my submission to show him how far my trust and love for him go. I feel safe when I'm in his hands. And I like punishment, it helps me deal with guilt. When I make a mistake, I always torture myself with guilt and self-hate, but punishment makes me feel like I've made a mistake and I've paid for it. The point is not the punishment, but rather the forgiveness and the sense of atonement afterwards." Vixen spoke with a composed attitude, however her eyes wandered around nervously, as if trying to avoid meeting the others’ gazes.

"In that case the dominant is supposed to be attentive in terms of how far the submissive pushes themself. A sub looking for forgiveness is a sub willing to go further than normal, which means that they might inadvertently reach their breaking point — which shall never happen." Lace highlighted.

"The golden rule is to always leave hungry. There is a fine line between satiety and nausea. The moment you overstep and reach nausea is the moment your sub might hurt themself." Vixen said, tight lipped.

Princess nodded. "I'm glad we can have this conversation. It's not something I can quite talk about with my friends since the whole situation with the boys is pretty delicate. I had to close some of those friendships to keep Jimin safe. I realised I couldn't trust some of those people and I'm glad I realised before it was too late."

Vixen’s leg started bouncing. “Same with Joon. I don’t have that many friends in the city, mostly because of the time abroad and the fact that all of the friends I had by now are married and/or with kids. I couldn’t trust many of them, but you —” she said, gesturing towards Lace, “and when I introduced you to Namjoon I told him you were one of the most discreet people in the world, because you value your privacy and other people’s privacy because of your, uhm, lessons.”

“It feels good to have someone to share this burden with. I’m pretty scared of the tour.” Vixen looked down. The poised young woman seemed to crumble, giving space to an insecure little creature. “We’ve been dating since last November, but our relationship hasn’t really begun until late February. To be honest I’m terrified.”

Both Lace and Princess reached out for her.

“I’m scared.”

“Have you told him?”

“Yes, he knows.” Vixen sparked up for a minute. “We talk a lot. He always asks me how I feel about things. Lately I’ve been spending all my time away from work with him. It’s been… maybe three days since I last went back to my apartment. And in the last month or so I’ve slept alone maybe three or four nights. I don’t know what I’ll do when he’s away.” Vixen’s eyes welled up with tears before she smiled classily and recomposed herself. “But that’s not relevant.”

“It is, baby.” Princess rubbed her shoulder. “You have my number. You can reach out to me anytime.”

“I’ll be there too, you know. I know I’m not your Big Bear, but I can cook and I’m an excellent vintage movie marathon partner.” Lace rubbed the other shoulder, catching the few tears that had fallen. This was a further confirmation that Namjoon was the right man for Vixen: he had reached out to Lace a few weeks after they had been introduced, asking her if it was cool if he asked her updates on Vixen during the tour, mostly because he knew she would put up her strong, charming face in front of him, but secretly she would be worrying over his absence. That brought them close; it felt good to create this safety net for Vixen and it felt even better to know her in the hands of a man worthy of her, attentive despite his busy schedule and strong work ethic.

“Thank you, girls. That’s really sweet of you.”

“You’re the one who made this possible,” said Princess, gesturing to the three of them sitting at the table together. “I owe you. And I reckon this is a good time to make amends for not making friends with you in high school.” Princess laughed. “We’ll all need each other. We could have a group chat with Jin’s girlfriend too. Plus Jimin mentioned Yoongi is seeing someone.”

“Yes, Namjoon mentioned too. I’ve heard she’s a lawyer. He’s got this insanely huge crush on her.” Vixen giggled. “I haven’t met her yet but I’ve heard they were supposed to go out tonight.”

“Maybe we’ll see her at the next gathering.” Princess wondered. “I must admit I’m curious.”

“I am too.”

Lace felt a bit out of the conversation. “Me and Taehyung have been texting.”

Vixen blinked and turned to her. “What?” She had this face that read perfect confusion. “How long? And you’ve never told me? I mean, I gave him your number but I didn’t—”

“It’s because I haven’t been really taking him into consideration until recently.” Lace replied. “Normally I would reply to him with small texts, just to avoid sounding rude.”

“You mean to tell me you have Taehyung wrapped around your little finger — Kim Heartthrob Taehyung — and you weren’t even interested? Have you been doing drugs too?” Vixen looked outraged. “Fucking insane.” She shook her head.

“You know me. I value my privacy. Do you know how fucking un-private it is to potentially date that man? What if they find out about my extracurriculars?” Lace pointed out.

Vixen exhaled and formed a tight-lipped smile.

“Don’t give me the disappointed mom look.” Lace replied. “Plus I’m the same age as you, you have no right to turn judgemental.”

“Of course.” Vixen nodded. “Your safety first, love.”

“It’s just that I want to, but I can barely imagine how fucked up that could be.”

Princess breathed out. “Jimin and I have been extremely private about us and me being so close to the press means I am risking so much.” Princess opened her arms wide. “But it would take a catastrophe to take him away from me.”

“Give him a chance. Tell him about everything outright and let him choose. He’ll take his chance. Don’t choose for him.” Vixen pointed out. “That’s how I did with Joon. We talked and clearly said ‘this is what I need and what I can give, can you comply? Are you okay with it?’ It’s a bit of a bet, but I think the prospect of gain outweighs the actual risk of it.”

Lace nodded. “And then there’s the tour.”

Vixen and Princess nodded. Vixen tried to keep her insecurity and jealousy at bait. All those girls drooling over him, all those female staff members travelling with him. She propped her elbows on the table and pressed her forehead against her palms, her lovely hair falling forward.

Princess, sitting beside her, rubbed her back. “What if you just give him one date. Tell him your situation both about your, uhm— hobby and your emotional state. I’m sure he will understand. His emotional intelligence is impressive.” Princess stated, nodding, her hand still rubbing Vixen’s spine.

“He’s the kind of man I would gladly be a sucker for.” Lace explained. “I knew I was a dom since I was eighteen, but Jesus, I know I would sub for him.” Vixen seemed to awaken at that comment. “I’ve seen his stages. He is insane.” Lace bit her lip. “But I need time to trust him. And it would feel useless to get cosy with him only to have him leave for the tour.”

“Just tell him.” Vixen encouraged her. “He will surely work with you on a compromise.”

“I’ll talk to him tomorrow. Are you okay?” Lace checked in on Vixen.

“Yup. Just a sudden jealousy rush.”

Lace frowned. “He would never. Don’t worry about that.” Lace cocked her head to the side. “He worships the ground you step on.”

“Girls throw thems—”

“He throws himself at you.” Lace remarked. “Plus he loves you. You love him. That’s all that matters. He gave you the passcode to his house, basically made you move in, what else do you need? I bet he’d gladly handcuff himself to you if you asked kindly enough.” Lace joked.

“Scratch that ‘kindly enough’. He’d cuff himself to you without you even asking.” Princess remarked.

“Can we move back to the BDSM introductory lessons?” Vixen asked, shaking her head, but with a tiny smile on her face.

Lace saw that was a good sign. Princess smiled beside her. “Okay, I’ll go with my request. I know I told you I wanted to get to know more of impact play and if we could focus on that...”

“Yes, I get where you’re headed. Let’s get it. But we’ll need a clean table for this.” Lace explained.

“Let’s do this.” Princess stood up from the table, beginning to clean up everything. It took the girls only a couple minutes to get rid of dirty dishes, empty boxes, the glasses and the soju. Even the fruit basket the guests had bought was moved on the kitchen counter.

“Do you have any sanitizer, perhaps?” Lace asked.

“Isn’t it better if we move to the sofa?” Suggested Vixen. “Use the coffee table?”

Princess shrugged. “Same to me.”

Lace nodded convincedly. “Let’s prep the coffee table. Sorry for the main table.”

Princess shrugged. “Needed to clean it anyways.”

A few minutes later the girls were all sitting around the coffee table, Lace’s bag placed at her side while Vixen occupied her other side, Princess sitting in front of them.

“Let’s do an impact play in depth analysis. What you need is one — a dom, two — a sub, three — optional, — supplies.” Lace listed. “Let’s go a bit at a time. First, the dom. A dom must be sober, lucid. No alcohol, drugs, and most importantly, no impulsive, instinctual emotions. If you’re furious, don’t go there. Violent emotions can cloud your judgement. Don’t let those lead you. Of course you might be angry or aroused, but that must not take the lead. If your anger makes you want to give them fifty spanks, but normally your sub can take twenty, you can negotiate maybe twenty-five. Be judicious, never hungry.”

“Good.” Said Princess, focusing on every single one of Lace’s words.

“Once you’re sure you’re in a coherent, calm mindset, you should negotiate with your sub. Remember: safe, sane, consensual. Safe, in this case, involves that your supplies are clean and cannot hurt your sub, both in terms of cleanliness and state of use. Check for loose threads, scratches on leather that could possibly host bacteria or dirt, splinters in case of wooden devices, porous surfaces. We’ll talk about this more accurately in the supplies section. Sane means to check your mindset and your sub’s mindset. Same rules as before: no alcohol, drugs, violent emotions.”

Vixen made eye contact with Lace, silently requesting permission to speak. “Small note on that, may I?”

Lace nodded.

“Your sub might come to you while being emotionally unstable. They might need you for comfort or atonement. Make sure to heal that emotionally before dealing with it sexually. It means to discuss what caused the upset state of mind in order to identify the real entity of the problem, correct the perception of it and negotiate the atonement.”

“Excellent point.” Replied Lace.

Vixen smiled cutely.

“Can I have an example?” Asked Princess with a frown.

“Of course. Let’s say I fucked up at work, I booked the wrong artwork and the artwork they wanted is no longer available. I manage to find an alternative but I somehow feel like I let down my client. I go home and I am scolding myself because I didn’t deliver what was asked of me. My dom may spot my disappointment or may recognise self-punishment. Also, I might explicitly tell my dom I am not feeling well due to a sense of guilt. This leads to my dom asking me why I am upset or why I am punishing myself. I — along other perfectionists like Jimin — tend to overestimate my mistakes, making them a bigger deal than what they actually are. My dom corrects my perspective through objective analysis, underlines my successful abilities in dealing with the issue and suggests potential improvements on those things I didn’t manage to solve. Perfectionists have a strict inner judge that scolds them and punishes them. Therefore their psych is divided into victim and punisher. This fracture obviously causes discomfort. The dom’s goal is to heal this fracture, especially since the perfectionist’s “punisher” side — so to say — is very strict and usually overestimates the damage and subsequently overestimates the punishment. After correcting the perception of the mistake, the dom gives an appropriate price for atonement.”

“So the goal is to stop the guilt trip mechanism?” Princess asked.

“Yes.” Vixen confirmed. “But this is just one kind of spanking. There are other cases. It can be educational or simply sexual. Educational is when the dom corrects the sub’s behaviour because they violated a rule or an order. In that case it’s mostly dom-initiated—”

“Unless the sub willingly misbehaved to earn a punishment.” Lace added.

“That sounds Jimin.” Princess commented, rubbing her forehead.

Vixen smiled widely.

“That’s not funny, you brat!” Lace scolded her.

“When you find your sub willingly misbehaving, you should talk to them very clearly. Usually they do it to attract attention. Ignoring them might hurt them or bring them to further misbehaviour, which can turn dangerous. I normally recommend conversation.” Lace explained. “Pay attention to them and ask why they broke the rule, what they were trying to get out of it. You can give them the punishment they were asking for — for example if your sub disobeyed because it earns them spanks and they like spanks, you can either give them spanks or punish them with something that they really don’t like, for example edging.”

Princess nodded. “That’s interesting, thank you.”

“Any remark, Vixen?”

She shrugged. “No, I don’t think so.”

“What about sexual spanks?” Princess questioned.

“Those can be incorporated into foreplay. Some people are simply aroused by pain.” Vixen shrugged. “It puts the sub into a vulnerable position, and it underlines a power imbalance. It makes the sub feel smaller, powerless — or almost so — and sometimes humiliated.” Vixen explained.

“Exactly. I would add that it stimulates the circulation of blood to the pelvis region, which means that skin is more sensitive, arousal increases and the whole perception intensifies. It builds trust and sometimes, according to personal history of each sub, it can send them back to childhood memories, mimicking the power imbalance between child and adult who disciplined them. It has strong disciplinary and educational value, back to the punishment scene.”

“Oh, about punishment!” Vixen exclaimed. “We forgot the most important part of it all. But it refers to all sorts of spanking, to be true. Negotiation. Once you have identified the fault, tell your sub how many hits there will be, how you will deliver them and with which instrument, which position they will have to assume. Repeat safewords. Make sure that they agree fully to every detail of the spanking. If they do not agree to some parts, ask to find a compromise, a middle ground between your and their needs. Once you have the green light, you can talk your sub through the whole experience as the scene actually develops. Once you are done with the scene, say a code phrase that means that the scene has finished.”

“Okay, me and Jimin did this stuff our first time trying this.” Princess confirmed.

“Wonderful. Was it a positive experience? Did you have any uncertainties, questions?”

“It was a very positive experience, both in mine and his opinion. We talked it out the morning after, since I preferred to have some time to elaborate my personal feelings about the scene”

“That’s okay. As a dom you can experience mixed feelings, especially after a first scene, with activities that are usually misjudged by society”. Lace explained, gently patting Princess’ hand on top of the table.

“I think that Jimin’s positive reaction and guidance helped me feeling positive about the whole scene. He was truly supportive through all of it.” Princess smiled softly.

“That’s a good partner. Both for life and for play”. Lace smiled herself, glad that Princess’ first experience went well.

“There were very deep emotions of care and support and love during the whole scene. A kind of affection and vulnerability I had never experienced with anyone else. I hope I can go there again with him, but next time I want to be more reliable and secure and experienced. I thought that a general introduction, especially about supplies, could help me, since Jimin was interested in that.”

“Okay, let’s just finish the general intro. We were saying safe, sane and consensual. Safe means toys, safewords and aftercare supplies. Sane means both parties know what they’re doing, the dom is aware of the sub’s mental space. Consensual means negotiation about number of blows, technique, position and eventually toys. Make sure that your sub always knows about the motive of the spanking. The natural response, especially to pain, is ‘why’. Make sure they know. Eventually, remind them. Once more remind them of safewords and the final sentence.”

“Do not ever stop unless they safeword.” Vixen said. “If they repeatedly tell you to stop, remind them they have their safewords if they want to. As a sub I’ve said both ‘stop’ and ‘why’ at least a hundred time during a spanking. ‘Stop’ and similar are pretty recurrent. Just say ‘You know your safeword, love’. If they really need them, they will use them, trust me. Just remind them all the time. You could maybe need to slow down, make sure that they aren’t panicking and they do actually remember their words.”

“Yes, that’s right.” Lace confirmed before turning to Vixen. “Have you been studying?” She joked.

“I’ve been reading lately.” Vixen confirmed, with a very happy smile on her face.

Lace mirrored her expression. She knew Vixen had been pushed into quitting BDSM activities by her ex boyfriend. Knowing that she was finally back to something she liked, something she was comfortable with made her happy. “I’m glad you’re back on track, sweetie.”

“Thank you.” Vixen closed the small exchange with Lace.

“Once a scene is closed, your sub might have different responses. They might ask to be left alone. In that case, make sure that healing supplies are ready for their self care. Remind them to check for abrasions. If the skin is damaged on a surface level — that means it is not only bruised, but also broken — you will need disinfectant and probably band aids.” Lace explained.

“But that happens rarely, right?” Vixen asked.

“With average spanking, that is quite rare. Normally you need specific instruments specifically meant to cause abrasions.”

“Like canes and spiked toys?”

“Yes, but not only those. I’ve seen pretty heavy damage caused by an apparently regular flogger.” Lace commented, shuddering at the memory.

Vixen blinked, a bit shocked. “Okay, back to aftercare.”

“Yeah,” said Princess, exhaling and looking away.

“So, unless your sub wants you to leave, you stay around. Provide for them. Rub lotion first. Some subs store specific lotion for this kind of stuff. To ease the burn, the sting, or lessen the bruises.”

Vixen interrupted. “I must say, most of us like the bruises and the reminder-sting, so they don’t really do much about it. Still, it depends on how far you’ve gone and how the sub feels. Usually, my favourites are a cold cloth, lotion and if I went particularly far maybe a painkiller. Normally herbal lotion and muscle relaxant are an excellent solution. They’re softer and safer, especially since you never know how a sub might react to medicines. As usual, make sure that whatever you use on them is safe. Let them prepare their usual medication. Make sure you have plenty of time to ascertain that they are emotionally stable. Do not leave them alone unless they request so, and tendentially it is good etiquette to stay in proximity, in case they change their mind.”

“Thank you so much for all the head ups.” Princess said, true gratitude shining all over her face. “I feel more comfortable knowing that we followed those lines during the first time too. It’s not something absurd. Youjust really need to use your common sense.”

Vixen nodded. “Being smart sure helps, but it’s not everything. You can only truly learn it by making it a routine.”

“You mean practice?” Princess questioned.

Lace nodded. “Yes. Once you actually start practicing, you’ll immediately find out your forte and potential weaknesses. Be comfortable with those: you can ask us or look it up on the guide, or on BDSM blogs. I can send you reliable sources, if need be. I would say you can reach out to my dungeon, it is a safe and discreet environment, but I fully understand your position, and I get that you might prefer to have a private approach to this. You can eventually book personal appointments with an expert. Those normally include non-disclosure agreements and Jimin could be protected from the public eye, as far as it can go.” Lace explained. “We have had many, many clients who have requested so. It would be perfectly normal.”

Princess thought about it and nodded. “I’ll discuss it with Jimin.”

“Perfect. As you can see the key to this is communication.”

“Indeed.” Confirmed Princess.

“Now, let’s get down to the actual business.” Lace opened the bag but left all the contents inside. “Impact play can happen on different parts of the body. Vixen?” Lace called.

Vixen stood up gingerly.

“Tie your hair, doll.” Lace reminded her.

The woman fished a ribbon from her pocket and did a soft ponytail.

“Good. I’ll show you.” Lace fished out a long, silky bag from her weekender; untying the ribbon, she pushed her hand in and extracted a long stick. A cane, Princess corrected herself.

Lace didn’t pay much attention. Its purpose was that of a pointing stick at that moment. “Number one, the derrière.” Vixen turned and Lace let the wooden instrument hover over the girl’s ass. “You know what to do to hit here?”

“Find the tailbone and place your non-dominant hand over it to protect it. Alternate sides, rub between a spank and another. Hit the lower region, far from the nerves up high. Where the flesh swells, that’s where I can hit. Also the back of the thighs.”

“Excellent. That’s all.” Lace congratulated. “Other spots are the back of the legs, more precisely the back of the knees and the calves. However, knees are delicate, so you can only deliver delicate blows with a restricted selection of toys. I would not recommend it. The back of the calves also offer a limited selection of toys, but it is slightly safer to go there. Still, the surface is limited and the knees and ankles are close. The risk of missing your target is high. Since you’re a beginner I would not go there.”

Princess nodded. “What kind of toys can I use?”

“We’ll cover that later. For now let’s just run through anatomy.” Lace answered calmly. “Are you good, Vixen?”

“Yup.” The other replied.

“Perfect. Turn to your side profile.” Lace asked and Vixen quickly provided.

Lace pressed the cane in a line connecting the peaks of each of Vixen’s glutes. “From here—” she moved all the way down to her mid thighs “— to here it’s good. The peak to the midthigh.”

“Great. Got it.” Princess replied. “There are other places? Like…?”

“Would you like to talk?” Lace asked Vixen. “You're the expert.”

“May I?” She asked.

“Of course, sweetie. You’re the expert in this.”

Princess raised an eyebrow at the comment, but still she stayed focused. To say she was intrigued was a big understatement.

Vixen’s sweet voice began speaking. “Other than the backside, as we’ve just mentioned, there are other spots that can be involved in impact play. While the back of the thighs and the butt can stand harsher beatings with almost all toys intended for impact play, other areas are more sensitive, more delicate or consist in a smaller expanse of skin, therefore they shall be treated differently. Both the palms and the back of the hands, just like the soles of the feet can be involved, especially when matched with instruments with a smaller surface of beating, like a slapper, a riding crop and a cane — for example. They shall be treated lightly, since they have lots of nerve endings, bones and tendons exposed.”

“What’s a leather strap?” Princess asked.

Lace lifted a finger as a sign to wait, before digging her other hand in her bag and extracting a small device, of maybe twentyish centimetres of length and five or six of width; she placed it on the table to let Princess observe it. “Handle and slappers.” She pointed. “Very noisy, actually pretty innocuous. The leather bits slap against each other and create a single impact that sounds like a double.”

“It sounds scary, though.” Vixen noted. It always made her blood curl in her veins, the heavy smack turning into a torturous feel as the hit didn’t match the noise. Fear worked, but the sensation didn’t. It was not something she liked, usually.

Lace nodded. “I haven’t used it much. Usually people like the cane on the back of the hands. Because of old school punishments.” Lace explained.

“Right. Thanks.” Princess nodded.

Vixen waited for a sign before moving on. Once she had both women’s attention, she proceeded. ”Thighs are generally all good, if they’re fleshy and plump enough. Make sure that you don’t go too hard when hitting close to private parts. While a vulva can handle a fair bit, the penis is generally more delicate in the structure. Thighs can handle all toys, just like the ass. Paddles, slappers, straps, riding crops, whips and canes. For private parts I recommend the riding crop.” Vixen smiled politely.

Princess interrupted. “The strap is that kind of… like?” She gestured a long and thin rectangle with her hands, looking for words.

“It looks like a belt bent in two, with a handle. Maybe I have it…” She rummaged in her bag. “No. Sorry. I think I left it at home.”

Princess waved her hands. “Don’t worry, that’s okay, I think I visualised it pretty well.” She smiled. “There’s more?” Princess said, marvelled as Vixen began talking again.

“Well, yes. Oh, first a small warning — before I forget. You must absolutely stay away from the belly and the stomach. Same for the lower back.” Vixen showed the various spots on her body with precise gestures of her hands. “Too many vulnerable organs left unprotected there.” She took a small pause and then moved on.

“Some people can handle hits on their shoulders and upper back, where the internal organs are protected by the ribcage and other bone structures; however I would talk with a professional about that kind of scene since you need to flawlessly master advanced equipment — people tendentially use whips and similar, or the strap.” Vixen stopped for a second, looking at Lace as if asking whether she had anything more to ask. Lace shook her head, inviting the other woman to proceed.

“Now, about delicate parts: some people like being slapped in the face, but then again, that must be clearly stated in the negotiations. I’d say you should only use hands, but maybe I’m projecting.”

“In four years, I’ve only used and seen other use hands. Also, riding crops, but usually that’s just to direct head movements or to pat the face, rather than slapping it.”

Vixen nodded. “Great. About interesting stuff, nipples can be gently stimulated with small, very delicate pats. Riding crops are excellent for this use. Also slappers. Maybe canes in some cases.” — Lace did a so-and-so motion with her head. Vixen continued, — “Some people can go very hard on nipples and technically — just like with the butt — women who have bigger breasts can stand more intense stimulation”.

“Oh, that yes. You can use, as usual, riding crops, but also paddles, straps and whips — if you’re experienced.” Lace added.

Princess nodded with an interested expression. She could mention that to Jimin. Imagining him with a riding crop, standing at the side of the bed, rubbing the leather bit against her nipples before whipping them harshly had her losing focus for a second, taking in a big breath and biting her lip.

Vixen grinned. She could practically read the other woman’s thoughts. “For women with smaller breasts and men, I would say to stay on the more gentle side for the first few sessions and eventually — once you know each other and once you know your sub’s pain threshold — you can get more heavy-handed, so to say. As I said before female private parts can handle pretty harsh whippings, especially since arousal tends to make the labia plumper and therefore protect the skin better. Still, you should start slow and work your way up. Male crotch area is a lot more delicate, however the shaft can take a medium-intense whipping. I recommend riding crops and small leather straps.”

Lace raised her eyebrows at Vixen with a proud grin. “Nothing to add. This should be all.”

“Wow.” Princess was a bit excited. If Jimin had looked that good with a few spanks, she could only imagine what he would do once she got more experienced and learned what actually drove him crazy.

“That’s a lot of stuff, I know.” Lace reassured her.

“I’m actually excited. Like, it sounds very interesting. There’s a lot of trust and knowing each other. I really like that. I think it brings the partners very close.”

Vixen nodded. “It does.”

Princess bit her lip. “I don’t want to pry but… Do you do all of that?” She looked at Vixen with a slight blush.

The woman giggled. “Not anymore, no.” She took a meditative pause, like she was reminiscing something. It felt strange that a girl so young could feel so old every now and then. That dark cloud that obscured Vixen’s doll-like traits disappeared, leaving only a fond grin in tow. “Now I do the bits I like best.” She grinned.

Lace looked at her with a bit of worry before smiling again.

“Before we actually start with tools I need to make sure that you know all you need about aftercare and drops.” Lace said seriously.

“Yes, please.” Princess said. “May I recap what we said about aftercare?”

“Yes, sure.” Lace invited her.

“Prepare the stuff before. Check for abrasions: if there are, then disinfectant and band aids. Next cold cloth, lotion and eventually painskiller. Use medicines that my sub takes regularly. Make sure that they’re okay emotionally. If they want me to leave, I do, but I stay close.”

“Amazing. Quick learner.” Lace cheered.

“Those were also in the book.” Princess commented, diminishing her feat. “Plus I did it already. Sort of.”

“I’ve seen people take weeks to put all of that together. You did a good job, stop doubting yourself.” Lace corrected her. God, these two insecure creatures would be the death of her.

“Aftercare is not only physical, but mostly emotional. If your sub wants you close, cuddle them. Jimin looks like the type to want cuddles and reassurance afterwards. Make sure you give plenty. Would you like to explain the drop Vixen?”

“Yes, of course.” Vixen intervened before addressing Princess. “I always like to talk about this subject because it can affect anyone, without any need to get involved in BDSM. ًWhen experiencing an orgasm, our bodies produce an incredible quantity of hormones that make us literally ecstatic. What happens sometimes, especially after long or intense scenes is that our bodies get high on these hormones, experiencing a sense of withdrawal once the rush is over. Such withdrawal, so to say, can cause pretty intense sadness that can lead to numbness, indifference, or even hate and depressive or aggressive behaviours. A good way to slow down this sadness is providing the body with other hormones that usually calm us and relax us. Cuddles and sugars usually are a good way to help the body produce oxytocin — commonly named ‘the hormone of happiness’. It’s the same hormone that spikes when mothers are breastfeeding their babies.” Vixen smiled fondly.

“This is incredible.” Princess said, completely amused. “So cuddles heal both the sub and the dom, I assume.”

“I think so, yes. Usually I’m the cuddler while Joon is the cuddlee during aftercare. Both subs and doms can experience the drop since both suffer the shift in hormones. It’s really about mutual care. Usually though, there are people who suffer more.” Vixen commented.

Lace spoke shyly. “Once I went so hard on a sub that I felt awful with myself after the scene was done.” Lace said. The silence felt heavy, like in some part of her mind Lace was still seeing that scene. “Usually the dom is expected to give the sub water, sweets and a cozy blanket — water for the body fluids, sweets for rebalancing the sugars after an intense effort and the blanket for emotional safety. I remember that one time the sub used the aftercare kit on me. It took me almost an hour to get back on a neutral state of mind.” It was Lace’s turn to be comforted. As Vixen rubbed her friend’s back, Princess spoke.

“So I might experience guilt and sadness afterwards and that’s normal?”

As Lace was still thinking, Vixen spoke up. “It happens, though usually, if your partner reassures you and supports you properly, you should be able to deal with it together with quite some ease. I myself have shouted slurs at my dom in the past during punishment, but that is because pain or anger make you do that. I may have sent him into a drop once, and since that time I always make sure that I praise and cuddle my dom once the scene is over. It’s important that you remind yourself that what is said during an intense scene is due to the sub’s sensations in that moment, therefore you shouldn’t give it much importance. Still, once you have your post-session chat you have every right to say ‘that hurt me, please don’t do that again’. It’s etiquette.” Vixen said with a serious note.

Princess nodded. “So cuddles, water, sweets and a good comfort blanket.”

“Normally, yes.” Vixen replied. “Sometimes shower or bath together, wash your partner clean or have them wash you. For some people physical cleanliness is also spiritual cleanliness. It eases the mind from whatever ‘dirty thing’ you’ve done during the scene. The rest is really what you would normally do during self-care, but with your sub. Facemask? Junk food? Lotion? Massage? Tea? Whatever you like as long as you do it with affection.”

Princess nodded. “This is really helpful. I just need to do anything that Jimin likes, and do it with him.”

“Yes, if he wants you close — which I assume he does, knowing the two of you.” Vixen smiled.

Lace added her own contribution. “If possible, remember to schedule a post-session chat. Whenever it feels comfortable. Normally you wait until all parties have fully recovered before saying ‘let’s talk about it together’, but some subs are already okay talking about it during aftercare. Just make sure that you know how your sub felt about the stuff that you did together, and that you tell them how you felt yourself. This is not one-sided. Power imbalance is limited to the scene: once you’re done, You’re equal again — that’s why a final sentence is necessary. It breaks the power imbalance and repristinates equality. All parties are equally entitled to support and communication.” Lace said, making sure that Princess grasped the concept. That’s where most couples went wrong: communicating.

“Thank you girls.” Princess said gently. “Thank you for the insights, and for your personal experiences.”

“You’re welcome.” Lace said heartily before grinning. “Now, let’s discuss supplies.”

Vixen cheered with a small ‘yes’ at which Lace replied murmuring ‘painslut’, chuckling playfully.

“Let’s start with these.” Lace showed her hands, letting the sleeves of her shirt fall a little, exposing her wrists. “These are your main instruments.” She showed the palms, then the backs. “You can use them everywhere. You can use your whole palm, flat, for a sting and cupped for a thud.”

“What’s that?” Princess asked.

“Vixen.” Lace called.

“A sting is when it prickles and bites, a thud is when it reverberates and goes deeper. You go with a quick, fleeting swat when you go for a sting—the palm must be flat and there must be a bit of wrist game. To deliver a thud, you should let your hand cup slightly and hit hard, keeping your hand pressed where you hit. It’s a matter of angle and speed.” Vixen replied readily, as if she were being asked what is two and two.

Princess grinned and nodded. “I see. Jimin mentioned something about it, but I don’t remember clearly. Which one hurts the most?” Princess asked Vixen.

“Well, it depends. It’s a different kind of pain and it depends on one’s sensitivity. Personally I prefer thuds, because usually it’s the muscle taking most of the impact, in case of traditional, over-the-knee butt spankings. Stings make my eyes water a little, because it hits a smaller area of skin with more pressure. But it really depends on what your sub feels.”

“It is all in the way it is delivered.” Lace stated.

Vixen bit her lip, nodding, and moved on.

“Hands can be also used to slap the face, as we said,— that should be especially clarified during negotiation — but also nipples and genitalia. Also, thighs, calves, hands and feet — though in some cases they might be too mild. Always remember that it is good manners to try the toys on yourself first, especially if it’s a toy you’ve never used before. Get familiar with its weight and density and grip, so you know how it affects you before affecting your sub. Make sure to start slow and eventually intensify, always asking your sub if they’re okay in the first place. Be careful with your sub’s pain threshold: since you don’t have direct perception of how much you’re hurting them, try to increase force and pattern a bit at a time.” Lace explained.

Princess felt sure about the directions. Common sense and the guide told her the same things, which reassured her about the fact that she would remember all the complicated passages. Sure, it would be easier to have an actual practical exercise.

But for now she would make do.

“You ready for the next?”

“Yes.” Vixen replied.

Lace tutted. “The question was not meant for you, menace.” She said, reprimanding a grinning Vixen.

Princess cackled. “Sure.”

Lace picked up another object from her bag. “Here we have a paddle. It can have different shapes and textures. Some contain small indentations, or even spikes. The main features are the handle.” She showed the part. “And a flat surface, used to hit the sub. In terms of tenacity and resistance, mine has a hardwood interior covered in a leather exterior. Oh, and it’s branded.” She showed a red leather heart sewn onto the black leather cover. “It leaves a mark.” Lace smiled cutely. “Best used on wide, fleshy surfaces. Questions?”

Princess shook her head. “Oh, yeah. How much is it?”

Lace twisted the object in her hands. “A good one is around thirty five thousand won or so. If you want something that lasts and that is actually covered in true leather, the price might be higher. I could recommend a shop that sells excellent gear.”

“Thank you. Also, you said it comes in different shapes.”

“Yes. A dom in my dungeon has a pretty extravagant one in a cherry shape.”

“With a double sting?” Vixen asks, eyes almost glittering.

“Yup.”

“Amazing. I had spotted it once but I never bought it. Maybe I’ll have it commissioned.” She mused.

“Joon would?” Lace asked, eyebrows raised.

Vixen shrugged. “I just need to be good — or bad — enough.”

“See, darling, this is a brat.” Lace addressed Princess, pointing at the other girl in the room. “Their anatomy is five percent manners, five percent playfulness and ninety percent utterly smart evil.”

Vixen smiled before cocking her head to the side prettily. “Yes, that’s me.”

Princess bit her lip and smiled. Vixen was a lot more interesting than she thought. All those cute manners and polished looks could not entirely shade the dark magnetism of her eyes. She would pay good money to see what ruckus she could cause with Namjoon in the bedroom. And it would be even more interesting to see what poised, calm Lace could do to teach her how to behave.

Lace put her paddle down before fishing something else from inside her bag. “For tonight let’s cover only the basics. I’ll keep more lowkey devices for another time. Or maybe I could show you what I have and you ask me about what looks interesting to you.”

Princess nodded. “That would be lovely. Plus I’m sure you’ll have to get back to Joon since he’ll want to see you before they leave tomorrow.” Princess asked Vixen.

“I don’t know if I’ll see him— oh, that one looks lovely!” She said, looking at a riding crop from Lace’s collection and distracting herself with it. “Yeah, I told him he should stay at the dorms and rest. His week has been hectic with all the briefings for the press conferences and tv shows.” Vixen explained as she picked up the crop, studying the red, heart-shaped bit.

“Yeah, I figure. Jimin and I are meeting for an early breakfast tomorrow, before they leave.” Princess explained.

Vixen’s fleeting gaze moved away. She seemed visibly unsettled. Still, her mood changed once more as she collected Lace’s paddle from the coffee table, the other woman not even noticing one of her devices had attracted Vixen’s attention.

Vixen rolled it in her palm a couple times, shifting it to feel the weight distribution and the texture.

Princess looked at how she studied the object, carefully taking in every detail. Vixen’s perfectionism showed in that exact moment, in the undisturbed, slow way she felt every ridge and stitch with her fingers. If she could think of an adjective it was ‘thorough’, in the first place. ‘Sensual’ in the second.

Raising an eyebrow and biting her lip, Vixen opened her free hand, lifted the paddle and delivered a heavy thwack.

A shiver ran down Princess’s spine. She could almost feel how Jimin would moan after a smack like that.

Lace turned around, looking at Vixen. “Like it?”

Vixen simply nodded with a wicked smile. “Do you know what wood it is?”

“Not sure, possibly birch or cherry tree. Soft wood but very elastic.” Lace sat upright as she was done taking out all of her collection.

“And the leather is splinter-proof.” Vixen commented.

Lace hummed in confirmation. “See anything interesting, Princess?”

Princess creased her brow. “What about the riding crop?”

Vixen smiled mischievously as Lace wrapped her palm around the handle, lifting the object. “Here. This is a personal riding crop. It has been commissioned specifically for me. It’s my favourite and somehow my brand.” She smiled fondly as she studied it. “However, I would say one should never grow fond of a vulnerable thing such as a riding crop. They break fairly easily. Anyway — the general traits of a riding crop are the shaft, the handle and the tip. In terms of length, I normally recommend minimum sixty centimeters, to increase flexibility and impact strength. The shaft should be elastic, but not too much or it loses impact strength and a submissive usually doesn’t want the whoosh without the smash.”

Vixen giggled at her side.

“What is that?” Princess asked, frowning.

Opening her palm, Lace calculated the distance and whipped the leather bit hard against the soft flesh at the base of the thumb. Princess clearly recognised the sound of air whistling before she hit her skin with a thin clap. “That’s what I meant.”

Princess nodded with eager eyes, keeping an amused silence.

“Fiberglass is a good material for beginners. If you’re buying one in person — which I recommend for the first time — make sure that it can make a forty-five degree angle when you bend the tip towards the handle. A forty to fifty degrees with a fair amount of resistance means it’s flexible enough, just make sure that it’s not too close to the breaking point. The handle is normally made of leather or very good rubber to improve the grip. Some cheap riding crops — also, the ones not intended for BDSM purposes — come with a strap to slip your wrist into. I recommend you don’t use the strap or that you remove it completely because first, you shouldn’t need it and second, you should avoid everything that keeps you from interrupting the scene and comforting your sub as quickly as possible. Sometimes even a couple seconds can be very important when it comes to subdrop. Remember this at all time, in all scenes. Remove everything that could keep you from helping your sub.”

“Okay. But if my riding crop falls?”

Lace smiled darkly. “Trust me dear, you’ll hold on to that as if it were the sceptre of England.” Princess laughed. “And if it falls, it’s usually a sign of poor mastering of your tools. Train yourself. You can use a dense pillow to learn the variety of strokes that a crop can deliver. It can be used for sensation play, simply rubbing your sub’s skin, caressing it, spending some time to arouse them before the whipping starts—”

Vixen purred at that.

Princess thought of Jimin biting his plump lips, eyelids fluttering at the gentle touch of the leather tickling his body.

“Are you with me?” Lace called for Princess’ attention, an amused grin on her face. Lace almost wanted to congratulate her for staying focused for so long.

“Yeah, just — thinking.”

Lace exhaled and wore a grin on her face. “I get that. Let me just finish this and we can take a pause. The tip is the important part of the crop. Mine has a fancy, heart-shaped tip, however, the best standard ones have triangular or rectangular tips that are a couple fingers wide on the very tip and restrict around the head of the stick.”

“Sounds nice.” Princess said.

“It is.” Vixen mused. “As Lace said, riding crops aren’t excessively difficult to use, if one has the patience to learn the basics and take some time to experiment. They can offer plenty of freedom to the dom in terms of use since they can be incredibly harsh, but also extremely light and gentle. You can use them on most spanking areas: breasts and nipples, feet, thighs, ass, shoulders and genitals, both male and female. Also the face, if you’re being light-handed enough.”

“Jesus, you’re wicked.” Lace snickered.

Vixen shrugged. “Says you.”

Princess looked at the exchange quite amused. “Okay. I think I got it. Oh, isn’t that a flogger?”

“Yes, it is. But that is for your sophomore lessons. For now, let’s stick to the beginner deals.” Lace said, slowing down Princess’ enthusiasm.

“Oh.” The other answered, taken aback.

“The bigger the toy, the more difficult it is to use it. Floggers, also called multi-tailed whips, are unpredictable because the whips are really flexible, usually made of leather, and very light. You must have excellent wrist flexibility and great spatial awareness. Once you can use your crop with your eyes closed, then you can consider learning the basics of flogging.”

“Okay. I assume canes and that fancy thing over there are off-limit too.” Princess noticed.

“Isn’t that a cat-o-nine-tales?” Vixen said, wide eyed. “It’s been years since I last saw one. Since my training.” Vixen shivered. “He had silver studs on the tips.”

“Did he ever use it on you?” Lace asked, very serious.

“Once. I didn’t speak to him for a week afterwards.” Vixen said, gaze empty. “I’ve never seen one like that in my life, though. Are those flowers?”

“Yes.They have a silver bead in the middle with some petals around it. The effect is very unusual, or so I’ve been told.” Lace answered with a chuckle. “It was a gift from one of my students. Lovely girl. Kinkier than hell.” Lace smiled and took the toy. “See. Those are meant to hurt. Mark or scar even, in some cases.” She showed the appendage to Princess.

“I don’t like that.” She replied with tiny hesitance.

“The cane is also a vicious one.” Lace suggested.

“The first time I safeworded was with a cane.” Vixen said with a meditative smile. “It hurts like hell. Normally I can take around forty to fifty spanks. I couldn’t handle ten with a cane.”

“I don’t think I like that either. My favourite so far are the paddle and the riding crop. I think Jimin likes the paddle, or at least the idea of it. The riding crop is… for personal reasons.”

“Excellent choice.” Lace grabbed a glass of water and drank, easing her mouth and throat after all the talking. “A riding crop can really gratify a dom at their first experience. You can study it, if you want to.” Lace encouraged Princess to hold the toy and look at it from up close.

Princess thanked her before lifting the crop from the table. “It’s very light.”

“Indeed. It’s a lot lighter than a paddle, that’s why it’s a personal favourite to most female doms. Plus it can be used to praise and to punish, making it a tool of great versatility.”

Princess studied the handle, with a thick leather band wrapped around the stick to grant a good grip. Lace, previously standing, bent down behind Princess. “The leather has been treated so to reduce any slipping.” She corrected Princess’ grip around the handle, placing her hand wrapped tight around it and fixing her thumb. “Like this.” Next, she placed the tip on the flat of the opposite hand. “Always make sure that there are no loose stitches here. Make sure that the spot where the tip meets the stick isn’t rough or hard or juts out in a way that could cut the skin.” She fingered the spot, tracing it. “Also remember to check the flexibility, see?” Lace made Princess’ fingers wrap around that spot, making her push it towards the butt of the handle. The sensation was extremely elastic, with a bit of give still, but far more resistance. “That is good elasticity for a versatile crop. Try it on your forearm.” She suggested, pushing Princess’ shirt upwards.

A bit hesitant, Princess lifted her dominant arm up. Lace corrected her stance, repositioning her elbow. “You only need to do a slight rotation of your forearm for now. Keep your elbow still and smack your forearm down, like you were arm wrestling but with more snap.”

Princess nodded, her eyes closing before she let her arm snap. First she heard the ‘whoosh’ of the stick cut through the air, and then the snapping sound, like a dry cracking.

“Good one. Did it hurt?”

Princess tutted. “Not too bad. The bite was pleasing.”

The sound awakened Vixen from her trance. She had been staring at the paddle for a few minutes, thinking.

“Try using it feather-light now. Like it was a make-up brush on your skin.” Lace placed the tip of the crop on Princess skin with the lightest pressure, the touch so soft that the tip didn’t even bend a little to accommodate the skin. It was simply lingering, grazing.

“I really like it. I think I’d love to own one.” Princess said enthusiastically. “Would you come with me if I go buy one?” She looked up to her friend.

“Yes, sure. You have my number, we can arrange someday this week, or whenever you like it.” Lace smiled genuinely. Her cheeks puffed up in round apples.

“I think you should check on Vixen.” She whispered.

The girl was being too quiet. It meant she was thinking. Overthinking, if Lace knew her friend well.

“Are you okay?” Lace moved towards Vixen, looking at her vacant stare, her skittish mood and the insecure nibbling on her lower lip.

“Yeah, I was just thinking...” Vixen replied, still unfocused from her surroundings. “I don’t know if Princess is okay with this. It’s her home, after all.”

“What is it?” Asked the other one, immediately alarmed.

“Would it be awkward if we tried a small simulation? Not a scene, just an exercise. For practice.” Vixen proposed. “If you’re all okay with it.”

Lace studied Vixen’s expression. “What about Namjoon?”

“I could ask him. I think he’s awake, I’ll text him. Ask him if it’s okay with him. This is nothing sexual. It’s just for learning purposes.” Vixen shrugged.

A part of Princess’ brain was already seeing it happen, her throat bobbing as she swallowed. “If it’s not too much of a bother, I think it would be really helpful to me if you and Lace tried. I don’t think I want to do it myself, but I’d like to watch.” She admitted.

“Are you in the right mindset to do this, sweetie?” Lace asked. “You’ve been on mood swings the whole night. Are you sure?” Lace asked, seriously concerned.

“Yes, I’m sure. Trust me,” Vixen said, reassuring her friend with a kind smile. “I just need to ask Joon.”

Lace thought about it. Doing such a thing with Vixen of course could be extremely helpful to Princess, showing her how a scene worked, however Vixen’s mood swings suggested that she was looking for reassurance, that she was hoping someone would literally spank her negative thoughts out of her. She probably wanted Namjoon instead of Lace, but maybe this mechanism of simulation and education was what she needed to rein in her insecurities. Vixen was a smart woman, extremely aware of her emotions and the mechanisms to handle them. Lace decided. “Okay. Call him.”

“Let me grab my purse, then.” Vixen stood up and reached for her phone at the dining table. “Thank you”, she said to Lace before unlocking her phone and finding Namjoon’s number on her shortcuts.

“Put it on speaker.” Lace told her.

The three women waited expectantly as the ringing echoed through the small room — Lace with cold ice settling in her veins, Princess with ebullient anticipation and curiosity, Vixen with a certain emptiness in her gaze, her free hand toying with the small pendant laying between her collarbones while she rubbed the flat of her upper chest.

The ringing stopped, followed by a couple seconds of silence.

“Hello?”

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

Part two here

[synnefo-nefeli]

The Fun Author Ask Thing, could you share a WIP of Heard Your Heart Beating with us?

Alrighty kiddos, buckle up for the setup for the most self indulgent plot-point I am ever going to write. Please keep in mind, this is still very, very, very rough

___

//Come fix your prosecutor// read Athena’s text. Apollo groaned wondering what Klavier could have done in the hour Klavier had spent at the WAA.

He adjusted his tie in the mirror of his locker, checked to make sure that he no longer looked sweaty from his ride over from court, and shoved his cycling outfit into his locker along with his helmet.

He could hear laughing on the other side of the office’s front door so that was a good sign, he hoped, as he swiped his keycard into the lock.

“Herr Forehead has finally arrived from his battle with the courts!” Klavier beamed at him with his the typical smile that Apollo was now coming to call “on-stage-mode”. Klavier was sitting on the sofa next to Athena, coffee cups and tea biscuits between them on the table. He could hear Mr. Wright bustling in the office kitchenette.

“I am back. I survived Blackquill-“

“Oh is that why you biked over here? Simon didn’t offer to drive you?” Athena laughed, “how mean. He needs to learn to leave it in the courtroom.”

Apollo rolled his eyes, “Probably, but I am sure it has more to do with him needing to go down to the precinct and yell at the poor detective who sent him into court with an outdated autopsy report.”

Mr. Wright arrived from the kitchen, fresh pot of coffee in hand, “Wow. A defense attorney having an updated report instead of the prosecution? Never thought I’d see the day...”

Apollo flopped on the couch opposite Athena and Klavier, “Hey. Miracles do happen...and considering all out our court wins, we shouldn’t be too surprised that they exist.”

“Here. Here.” Klavier said amiably into his coffee.

“So... what’s this about me needing to fix ‘my prosecutor’?”

Klavier made an amused expression, “Ah, is that what I am called? Well I am honored to be Herr Justice’s”

Athena rolled her eyes, “Oh stop with the charm-“ she looked at Apollo, “he doesn’t want you to know that he’s never been to the Tragic Kingdom”

Apollo stared at Klavier, “Seriously?” Athena elbowed Klavier playfully, “Told you he would react like that”

Klavier sighed, “Is it really that big of a deal? Not going to a children’s amuse-“

“HOLD IT!” Apollo didn’t care that everyone about him flinched (“Indoor voice, Polly, jeeze”, Mr. Wright muttered”), “Disneyland is for everyone,” Apollo breathed, “you seriously haven’t gone? Ever? I mean...it’s only in Anaheim. That’s less than an hour without traffic from here-“

Mr. Wright handed Apollo a cup of coffee, “It’s been a while since ‘Mr. Disney Adult’’s shown his face at the office.”

“You say that as if you don’t have an annual pass too, Mr. Wright.”

Klavier appeared lost in the conversation; it was refreshing to see Mr. Tall, Blonde and Unflappable looking out of his depth, “Is it really a big deal that I haven’t?”

“Mm...not so much,” Mr. Wright said before Apollo could object, “well it wouldn’t be a big deal if you were hanging out with someone else, but I mean considering that you two have been spending a lot of time outside of court together, I think it’s more shocking that Apollo *hasn’t* dragged you down there already.

“You act like I go there all the time-“

“Says the person who has scheduled himself to come in late on days where there are morning annual passholder events,” Athena mused, “or how about the time you, Clay and Tracy, just decided to go to Disneyland after work because you wanted corndogs for dinner”

Across from him Klavier made a face, as if silently saying “Corndogs for dinner? Really? What are you five?”.

Apollo met ‘his prosecutor’s’ eyes, “Those corndogs are legendary, and the only ones I’ll eat.”

“He has a point there,” agreed Mr. Wright, “so I guess the big question is- how long before Klavier gets pulled into driving Apollo down to Anaheim?”

Klavier looked around the room at all of the other attorneys as if expecting for someone to tell him suddenly that this was all an act. Apollo meanwhile was mentally running through his calendar to figure out when he would have time to properly take Klavier to the park. There was so much to do at work-not to mention, he would have to prep Klavier for his first park visit.

“Do you like amusement parks?” Apollo asked Klavier. The blonde man simply shrugged, “I’ve only been to a few in my life. My family wasn’t really into things like theme parks; didn’t see the value in them as entertainment. And when I moved here, I just didn’t go-“

“Not even grad-night?” Athena asked, “Junie told me that’s what the student council is setting up for the seniors. It’s tradition. Heck, every high school in Southern California does a school trip there at least once.”

Klavier shrugged, “I graduated early, remember? I guess I could have gone to the ceremony with the class that was graduating that year, but I wanted to get meine badge so I went home as soon as I could to pass the bar in Germany.”

“There’s one in France!”

Klavier sighed, “If I asked meine family to do anything outside of museums and cultural experiences while we were in France, they would have left me at home.”

“Anyway,” Athena said, “If you’re going to hang with Polly, you’re going to have to go to the parks-“

Apollo felt his cheeks heat, “I mean if that’s not what you like to do for fun, you don’t have to-“

“Oh please,” Mr. Wright interrupted, “I can bet that you’ve been sitting here this entire time planning a trip for him.”

Apollo crossed his arms and sat back in defeat. Athena continued to regale Klavier with anecdotes of the WAA’s trips to the parks as well as Apollo’s impromptu visits, “Has he shown you his pin collection yet?” Athena said in a tone that was too close to the tone she liked to accuse him about his and Klavier’s relationship not being as platonic as Apollo let on.

//As if she doesn’t know the actual truth// Apollo grumbled, “Okay enough. Klavier already knows I am a nerd- he doesn’t need any more evidence about it”

“Ach you’re always cool, Herr Forehead,” Klavier smiled again in “on-stage mode”, which made Apollo decide to put Klavier in his place and show him what he was missing.

“When’s your birthday?” Apollo blurted.

Athena groaned, “Oh my god Apollo, haven’t you heard of Wikipedia?”

“I like that Herr Forehead doesn’t feel the need to research me, it makes a rock god like me feel practically human,” Klavier teased and then with an amiable grin, “May 23rd. However-I told you that on Valentines, don’t you remember?” He said at little too suggestively for Apollo’s comfort, “I’m hurt you don’t remember. Here I thought things that were shared during sleepovers were sacred,” he added a pout for good measure.

Out of the corner of his eye, Apollo saw Athena not-so-subtly pull out of her phone to text something, most certainly to Trucy. Great, he was not going to know peace from either of them for the foreseeable future. Although, Apollo appreciated that Athena had the grace to attempt to hide her grin. Whether or not Klavier was aware of what was happening next to him, Klavier only sipped at his coffee.

“So in three weeks. Great, guess what we’re doing to celebrate your 26th birthday,” Apollo announced.

“It’s on a workday.”

“Take off.”

“Don’t you have to work?” Klavier asked

Apollo turned to Mr. Wright, “Mr. Wright, may I have the 23rd off?”

“Of course. Just put it on the calendar.”

Apollo, having won the debate, smiled smugly at Klavier, “Get ready, we have a lot to do before then.”

Klavier looked genuinely confused, “Like what?!”

He was about to ask what Klavier’s favorite Disney movie was, but then Athena’s phone buzzed, “Simon’s here- he needs help bringing up the food...and Trucy says she wants to also go to Disneyland for Klavier’s birthday, I think that’s a good idea; what do you think, boss?,” she asked as she practically skipped out of the office.

Before Apollo could say anything about Athena or Trucy inviting themselves, Mr. Wright smiled and said, “You know what- unless something pressing comes up and Trucy doesn’t have any projects or tests at school, I think the agency needs a mental health day. Maybe Miles and Simon need one too,” he remarked walking towards his office to, Apollo imagined, call his fiancé.

Apollo would have enjoyed Klavier’s genuinely flummoxed expression, except that he remembered how Klavier, despite his celebrity status, didn’t like to draw attention too himself unless it was in court or on stage- and especially not in public. It was the reason Klavier hadn’t shown up to Clay’s funeral after all. He looked at Klavier feeling guilty for putting his friend on the spot,

“Sorry, if you don’t want to- we don’t have to-“

“Nein, nein,” Klavier said with his genuine smile, “you all are so passionate about it, now I have to experience it”

“Are you sure? I didn’t even ask if that’s how you wanted to spend your birthday-I just kinda got caught up in it.”

Klavier shrugged, “Honestly, considering that I usually spent the last few dragged to stuffy VIP lounges of clubs I didn’t care about with people who as it turned out, cared less about me- I think this may be a gut change of pace.”

Well that made him feel better...and a bit sad for Klavier, “I’ll make sure you have a good time and we won’t be overwhelmed. A lot of celebrities go to Disneyland, and they don’t get mobbed- people are pretty respectful of celebrities having their time in the parks.”

“You sound as if you are familiar.”

“Clay...worked there for a summer, celebrities would come all the time as park guests. And aside from maybe helping a celebrity escape a crowd, they don’t give anyone special treatment unless they’ve paid for a guided tour-“

“Oh- are we not doing that, Herr Forehead?”

Apollo snorted,“Hell no, you’re going to stand in line for Space Mountain like the rest of us plebes.” Also I’m not about to suggest we spend $800 an hour for a theme park tour...

Klavier’s laugh was enough to make Apollo feel better and better about commandeering Klavier’s birthday. He was going to look forward these next few weeks in getting Klavier ready for his first time at the park. The thought of movie nights made Apollo feel a bit warm inside. Warm in a way that he hadn’t felt since Klavier had comforted him during his own birthday.

The office door opened, Athena holding it open so that Simon could come through with the large box that contained their dinner. Apollo braced himself for any barbed words from Athena’s prosecutor, considering how the day’s court proceedings had gone. Instead Simon just incredulously regarded his co-worker with,

“You’ve seriously never been to Disneyland, Gavin-dono?”

[storiesforallfandoms]

do you love me? ~ machine gun kelly

word count: 1837

request?: yes!

@kellysimagines “Can you make one where the reader and colson have been togethet for  7 years and she is pregnant and they had a girl again and he already had casie ��and he is kinda distant first she thinks its because she doesnt feel beautigul or that they had another girl but later she confronts him and they have a small fight and he leaves and later  he comes back and i am feeding the baby and he explains that he is scared to not be around as much as when casie was little because he is busy with new music again and i comfort him and he promises to take a couple of weeks off and its all cute?“

description: after the birth of your daughter, you start to notice that colson is growing distant from you and the baby

pairing: machine gun kelly x female!reader

warnings: swearing

masterlist

The closing of your front door woke you, alerting you that Colson had left for the day to go to the studio. You sighed heavily as you sat up in your bed, peaking out the window to watch him get into his car and drive away.

Yet another morning where he left without waking you, like he once did.

Ever since the birth of your daughter, Kennedy, Colson had been distant. You were puzzled as to what made him like this. While you were pregnant, he was so loving and doted on you the whole time, even when you told him you didn’t need to. When he found out you were having another daughter he nearly started crying with joy.

Colson took as much time off as possible to spend time with you and Kennedy in the hospital. Casie came to visit to see her baby sister, very obviously excited that she had a little sister to help raise and to one day do sisterly things with. Everything was perfect until you and Kennedy were discharged to go home.

Suddenly, Colson was throwing himself into his work again. He’d leave early in the morning to meet up with his band to record new songs and wouldn’t come home till late at night. When he did come home, he rarely spent time with you and could barely even look Kennedy’s way. The only time the three of you really did anything as a family was when Casie would come over and insisted on doing something as a family.

As if noticing your despair, Kennedy started cooing in her crib next to your bed, announcing that she was awake. You smiled and picked up your baby girl, sitting her up on your lap and letting her take in her surroundings. She was finally reaching an age where she loved to look at everything and everything always amazes her, no matter how often she had seen them.

Looking down at your beautiful baby girl, who had Colson’s bright blue eyes, you started to feel angry. Why the fuck is he ignoring us? Why is he acting this way? He was so excited to have another baby, and now he’s acting like this?

You pick up your phone and send Colson a quick text: “thanks for waking me up and letting me know you were going to work. i guess i’ll see you tonight maybe”

After sending the text, you decide to set your phone to silent and throw it aside. You pick up your baby girl and hold her in your arms. “We’re gonna go pick up your big sister, we’re gonna get out of this house and we’re gonna forget about your daddy and his mood swing.”

You called Casie’s mom to make sure it was okay to pick her up before dressing Kennedy in her cutest outfit and loading her into the car. Casie excitedly ran to the car and jumped into the backseat.

“Dad’s not with you?” she asked, although she didn’t seem all that upset by it.

“He’s gone to work. I figured we could have a girls day. Take your baby sis for a walk around the park. What do you think?”

“I’d love that!”

The three of you walked around the park. Casie took off for the playground the minute she saw it. You reminded her to stay close enough that you could see her as you placed Kennedy into a baby swing.

The sound of your precious little girl giggling as you pushed her on the swing and the sight of your step daughter playing with the friend she made on the playground brightened your day. You had almost forgotten all about why you had been so miserable, until your phone started playing Colson’s ringtone in your pocket. You rolled your eyes, debating on if you should let it go to voicemail, but figured you should answer.

“Hello?”

“Where are you?” Colson asked.

You rolled your eyes again. “Wow, it’s really nice to hear from you too, honey.”

“I’m serious, (Y/N). I came home and you’re not here. You didn’t tell me you were planning on leaving, and you took Kennedy with you? Is she okay?”

“Don’t pretend you care now, Colson,” you hissed. “You haven’t given two shits about our daughter ever since we came home from the hospital. Also, don’t act as if I can’t take care of Kennedy. We’re at the park with Casie. Kennedy is having the time of her life. We’ll see you when we get home.”

You hung up before Colson could say anything else. All your anger was starting to bubble back up, but you were quickly distracted again by Kennedy’s cooing. Her swing had stopped moving, and she was not happy about it.

Another hour or so passed before you collected Casie and headed home. As you neared her mom’s house, Casie asked, “I’m not coming over for the night?”

“Not tonight, kiddo,” you told her. “But we can ask your dad and see if he’ll take a day off tomorrow and you can come over.”

“Is everything okay with you and dad?” she asked.

You looked into the rearview mirror at Casie’s concerned face. You couldn’t help but shoot her a small smile. She really was too smart for her own good.

“We just have to talk about some stuff is all,” you explained to her. “I think your dad is just feeling some pressure or something with the new baby. It’s been a long time since he’s had someone as small as Kennedy to take care of.”

Casie looked at her sleeping sister and smiled. “He’ll get used to it again soon. He just needs to actually take time off work.”

You’re telling me.

You said goodbye as Casie left and started in the direction of your and Colson’s house. You were shocked to see that Colson’s car was still in the driveway, meaning he was actually home for once.

You walked into the house, balancing Kennedy’s carrier on one arm as you took off your coat and shoes. The minute the door closed, a flustered looking Colson appeared. He immediately approached you, looking down at his sleeping daughter.

“God, I was going out of mind waiting for you,” he said. “I was so worried.”

“I told you, I had it handled,” you tell him, turning slightly so he couldn’t take Kennedy from you. “What are you doing home? I figured you’d be at the studio all day.”

“I didn’t go to the studio. I just went out for the morning,” Colson responded. “Look, will you just let me see my daughter? I haven’t gotten a moment with her in so long.”

“Oh, so now you want to spend time with Kennedy?!” you snap, finally done with his shit. “You’ve been acting like we don’t exist for weeks! You only spend time with us when Casie wants it. You leave in the mornings before I wake up, you come home late enough that I’m already in bed or even asleep. We’re not husband and wife anymore, Colson. We’re barely even existing together at this point.”

Colson turned away, running his hand through his hair. Tears started to well up in your eyes. You moved into the house so you could put Kennedy’s carrier down.

“Do you even love me anymore?” you ask, your voice cracking.

“Of course I do,” Colson responded, but he still wasn’t looking at you.

“Is it because we had another girl?”

“No!” When he turned his face was a light shade of pink, signalling that he was mad. Usually, you backed off in moments like this to let Colson cool down, but you were too pissed off to drop the subject.

“Then what is it?! Why have you been avoiding us?!”

He didn’t respond. He was looking away again, his hands balled into fists beside him. After a long, tense moment, he grabbed his car keys and walked out the door, slamming it behind him. You were so angry that you didn’t even care where he was going.

You snapped out of your anger when you heard Kennedy starting to cry. You quickly took her out of her carrier and rocked her in your arms, shushing her until she finally lulled herself back to sleep.

You sat down with the baby girl still in your arms and everything started to hit you. Finally, you let your tears flow freely down your face.

~~~~~~

Hours later, Colson still hadn’t returned. You weren’t sure what to do. Should you call him? Text him? Apologize for the fight?

No, you were not in the wrong for this. You had every right to be angry with what Colson was doing.

You were giving Kennedy her bottle, still sat on the couch, when you heard the door open and close. Colson appeared in the doorway of the living room. His eyes were bloodshot and his cheeks pink and obviously tear stained.

His eyes drifted to Kennedy. “Can I take her?”

Without saying a word, you held Kennedy’s bottle and Kennedy out to Colson. He took her in his arms and gave the protesting baby her bottle back. He sat down next to you, looking down at Kennedy with a look in his eyes you had seen many times before: unconditional love.

“She looks so much like you,” he noted.

“She has your eyes,” you told him. “What’s wrong, baby?”

There was tears welling in his eyes again. You wiped them away as they began to fall.

“I was absent throughout so much of Casie’s childhood,” he explained. “My career took off and I was always touring or recording. I missed so many milestones and I constantly kick myself for it still. I was so excited when you found out you were pregnant, and even more so to have another beautiful baby girl to spoil. But the fact that my new album is set to come out in a few months and I’ll be expected to tour again after it’s released...I’m so scared I’ll miss Kennedy’s milestones, too. And you’ll resent me for it, then I’ll lose the both of you.”

You put your head on Colson’s shoulder and wrapped an arm around him. “I’d never resent you for doing your job, Colson. You’ll never lose me or Kennedy. I know how much you love making music, and I know you love the two of us, and Casie.”

Colson rested his head against yours. You both looked down at your beautiful baby girl, who was finished feeding and asleep yet again.

“I’m going to take time off when this album is finished,” Colson said. “I won’t tour right away, I’ll come home and spend so much time with you and Kennedy you’ll both get sick of me.”

You giggled. “We could never be sick of you.”

Colson cupped your chin so you’d face him and placed a tender kiss to your lips. “I love you so much.”

You smile. “I love you, too, Colson.”

[n-ctarinenga]

Heartlines [ calum hood ]

w.a.h series | pt.2 | word count: 3,802 | masterlist

You wish you could say the separation got easier with time, but sadly, that was a lie. 

Months had passed since the last time you saw the man you love in person, and the heartache of being apart without knowing when it would end didn't ease until the day you woke up and saw the words that made you burst into tears before they'd even fully registered. 

The world was healing. Be it at a slow pace, it was still getting better by the day in it's own little ways. 

You favoured the day fast food opened again the most, sitting with your siblings in a McDonald's drive through for two hours listening to New Order and Brockhampton before finally getting a big mac you'd been craving ever since lock down began. 

But once things started opening up again, Calum found his ways to surprise you nearly instantly. First it was a bunch of flowers, then a new fluffy blanket, then something that didn't come from a store. 

Calum had always known you were a hopeless romantic, and decided to play on it in a way he knew would make you melt.

Nearly a week after your text to him and his video to you, you received a piece of snail mail covered in Australian stamps, your heart racing as the scrawl on the front of the envelope was instantly recognisable to you. 

Upon reading the letter inside, your entire body glowed with happiness and your face was soaked with tears, after all, you'd never received a love letter before. 

Once the first letter was sent, you wasted no time making your own and sending it back to him, including polaroids you knew he didn't have, and spraying the paper with your signature perfume for added effect. 

Calum was shy to admit it, but he did cry when he opened his letter and it smelt just like you. 

This continued on back and forth for weeks, until the day more than just a letter could travel between you. 

As normal, you sat with your family watching the press conference with the prime minister and director general of health in the late afternoon, as you'd become familiar with anytime there was an announcement due. 

There were rumours of a travel bubble opening up between New Zealand and Australia, but not wanting to get your hopes up, you didn't feed these rumors too much thought.

But still, you sat beside your sister with a hopeful and anxious feeling stirring in your stomach as you watched today's announcement. 

The moment the rumours were confirmed, you let out a whimper as tears clouded your vision. 

"One week from today, starting at midnight, domestic flights will resume between Australia and New Zealand." 

You waited until the end of the broadcast, excusing yourself to your room to call Calum, knowing he'd been watching the same thing being said by his own prime minister. 

What you didn't see was the look of relief on your families faces. Not only for the fact life was now closer to being normal than ever, but it was the first time they had seen you cry happy tears in the midst of what you confined in your brother, one of the hardest mental states you've ever been in. Their lives were all on hold, sure, but their lives are here, and you had made a life for yourself in a completely different country, and while you would always love your home, you had another one now that you wanted to be wrapped up in again. 

The joy they saw in you wasn't just because you were closer to seeing Calum again, it was because you were closer to your life again. Your job, your home, the friends you considered just as important as your blood family, they were all finally at your fingertips again. 

You didn't care about the fact your messy top knot was falling apart, or that the tears were still pouring down your face, all you wanted was to see him.

Shutting your door behind you, you pull up a facetime request for Calum, him answering seconds later like he was about to call you himself. 

"Baby." The pet name falls out of your mouth as you see tears clouding his eyes, his once short bleached out hair now echoing the blonde tips of his past as his natural curls come back with a vengeance. 

"Hey darlin." He says, his voice thick with emotion. 

He covered his face with one hand as he could feel his tears start to fall, an overwhelming sense of relief flooding him as he saw your bright smile and tears of joy. 

Calum had sat in shocked silence as he watched the news, not snapping back to reality until he felt his mother pulling him into a hug once the announcement sunk in, the words he heard making his knees feel weak. 

"Don't cry, my love. I'm coming home as soon as possible, okay?" You reassure him, wiping your own tears away with the sleeve of the hoodie Calum could swear used to be his. 

"I hope you know once I get you again I'm never letting go." He says quietly, your heart swelling with his words. 

Little did you know, the engagement ring he had finally asked his mother for sat just out of frame, more meaning in his words than you realised. 

"Who said I'd ever want to leave?" 

Calum just shook his head with a laugh, and from there, you both got to planning. 

As much as you loved your family, you had also been around each other every day for months, and while Calum was more keen on the time he finally got to spend with his family again after touring the world since he was a teenager, you'd had a solid twenty years with your family before you left home. With that in mind, it was decided that you would be flying to Australia, your visa allowing you to stay for a month before you would have to come back to New Zealand. 

Planning out your next steps together, you made a full two month plan, and hoped that after those two months, you'd both be flying home to LA, together. 

With one more week spent giving as much of your time as possible to your family, you finally packed your things up again, hopped in the car with your siblings, and headed to Auckland airport. 

Instead of coming to the airport, you and your parents decided to share your tearful goodbye with each other at home. 

After checking in, handing over your bags, and hugging both of your siblings til they told you that you were the most embarrassing one in the family, you finally boarded the flight to Sydney. 

Little did you know, your boyfriend was already watching the clock to see when he could acceptably start waiting at the airport. 

While you watched Avengers Endgame on your laptop to pass the time, Calum was pacing around the living room of his family home, Mali laying on the couch behind him with a pillow over her head so she didn't have to watch her brother burn a hole in the floor. 

"You already know she's gonna say yes." She says, lifting the pillow for a moment before putting it down again.

"You don't know that for sure." He mutters lowly, checking his watch again and seeing your estimated arrival time was still two hours away. 

Calum walked upstairs to his room, looking into his mirror for what felt like the millionth time today as he checked his hair and outfit for the day. 

With hairdressers opening up again a couple weeks ago, Calum had strongly thought about clipping off all his hair before you saw him again, but knowing how much you loved his grown out curls, he instead decided to get it trimmed and styled yesterday, hiding it under a beanie while facetiming you the night before. 

He once again readjusted his leather jacket, a Elvis shirt underneath with simple black pants and some converse to complete the look. While he had thought about pulling a suit out from the few he'd brought with him, he knew there was a high chance you'd tackle him, deciding comfort was a better idea instead. 

Between leaving for the airport with his family and actually arriving, Calum had tapped the inside pocket of his leather jacket more than thirty times. 

The small velvet ring box in his pocket was at the front of his mind as he sat beside Mali in the back of the car, his mum in the front passengers seat, and his dad driving them closer and closer to the most important question Calum has ever asked in his life. 

His whole family was excited to see you, and it wasn't only because they were about to welcome you into their family, but because in their eyes, you were already part of it.

Whenever Calum would be able to come home throughout the last three years, he would always hear the question "is y/n coming with you?" whenever he let his family know about his plans. It wasn't a secret that they had a soft spot for you, which meant that not only were they excited for you to be here for Calum, they were excited to see you themselves. 

After parking and walking through the airport Calum was more than familiar with, he couldn't help but notice how clammy his hands were, or the way his leg would bounce anxiously when he finally sat down in the waiting lounge outside your arrival gate. 

He was nervous. Excited, but nervous. 

You were feeling a lot of the same as you sat in the window seat seeing Sydney slowly coming into view. 

You'd spent the last twenty minutes of the flight doing some incredibly simple makeup, certain it would probably get kissed off, or cried off your face if you added too much. You only added a slight bit of green eyeshadow to match the green t-shirt you wore over a striped long-sleeved shirt, your black jeans and sneakers finishing off the look you stressed over for a solid two hours before you left for the airport. 

Feeling your heart race as you approached the airport, you tried to take a deep breath as your emotions threatened to get the better of you, but you refused to cry before you'd even seen him. 

Stepping onto Australian land, you felt an entirely different wave of excitement hit you. You weren't the kind of person who liked to stay in one place for too long a time, and spending so long back at home with your family made you feel that urge to travel again more than usual. 

You could barely contain yourself as you walked through the airport, collecting your bags quicker than expected and making your way through the area before your gate exit. 

Stopping for a moment in the hall, you take one last deep breath, nothing able to prepare you for the wave of emotions you were sure to feel. 

Calum checked his pocket one last time as he saw people starting to come from your gate, standing with his family in toe as he tried his best to see you through the crowds of people. 

The second you walk around the corner, you see him, standing there with a mix of emotions obvious on his gorgeous face you had missed so, so much. 

You cover your mouth with your hand as a sob erupts from your throat, and you walk faster towards him, a death grip on your trolley that you let go of as he finally spots you, and you see him let out a breath it looks like he's been holding for months the second his eyes land on you. 

Your trolley is lost behind you as you break out into a run, him doing the same and meeting you halfway where you crash into his arms with so much force it nearly sends both of you crashing to the floor. 

Nothing in your life had ever come close to feeling as good as having Calum's arms wrapped around you so tightly that he had lifted your feet off the ground, your legs automatically wrapping around him as you try to hold him as close as physically possible. 

Both your bodies shook as you cried, tears of joy, relief, and pure happiness all coming at once as Calum finally sets you on your feet. 

Barely pulling away, he pushes your hair away from your face, inspecting you like he was seeing you for the first time all over again. You did the same, taking in his features that no pictures or screens could ever do justice. 

With shaky hands, you grin as you carefully and gently dry his tears, taking your opportunity to rake your hands through his curls, feeling like it had been a lifetime since you'd gotten a chance to and savouring the sensation of finally having him in front of you.

Taking your face in both of his hands, he pulls your face to his, kissing you with more passion and emotion than you had ever experienced before. It felt like the usual fireworks you felt when Calum kissed you had been replaced with straight TNT, your heart beating out of your chest so hard you were convinced he could hear it. 

When you both finally pull away because of your need for breath, Calum holds you close still, peppering kisses all over your face and making you laugh so hard you feel a fresh wave of tears pour down your cheeks. 

Making you yelp in surprise, Calum picks you up again, turning and walking towards the exit a few steps. 

"Okay we can go now." He jokes, and with him turning around, you can finally see Mali and Mr. and Mrs. Hood standing a couple feet away. 

Gasping in surprise, you signal to Calum to let you down, which he hesitantly does, only to see you crash into Mali with open arms tightly wrapping around her. 

"I've missed you guys so much!!" You say, your voice thick with another wave of emotion as you bear hug Mali. 

"We've missed you too, chickie." Joy smiles, opening her arms for her own hug which you happily deliver with a kiss hello to her cheek. 

You give Malcom a hug before Mali pulls you back to her for another, making you laugh as the smiles on the family you loved so much made you feel so much better than you had been the last few weeks. 

"I'm so happy we finally have our third to outnumber the boys." Mali says, wiping a fake tear from her eye as you notice she's pulled your luggage trolly to sit beside your small group, a camera you recognised as hers sitting on top facing you all. 

"Don't worry, we haven't gotten as bad as she makes us out to be." Malcom says with a laugh as he wraps his arm around Joy's shoulders. 

"I have a feeling she's gonna be on her own team." She says, a knowing smile on her face as she looks past you to where you could sense Calum behind you. 

Turning around to follow her gaze, you feel all the air in your lungs leave your body. 

Standing in front of you, Calum's breath came in anxious bursts as he looked at you with pure adoration, a small red velvet box in one hand as he reached out to take yours, doing everything he could to remember the words he rehearsed in his head more times than he could remember. 

"Y/n," he starts shakily, "since the first day I met you by total accident, you have intrigued, confused, and amazed me over and over again. From the second we first threw around the idea of being together, you didn't ever question the miles between us we knew we would have to face, the press that would take hours, or the days I would spend locked away in my studio. Instead, you decided to love me for who I am, a lovesick idiot who eats your secret oreos and adores you more than I could ever express with words. These last few months without you have been the most challenging and unwanted thing I've ever gone through, and it's driven home the fact that if I could, I would never leave your side again."

Calum takes a deep breath, forcing down the tears that so desperately wanted to escape as he watched your tears pouring down your face, a look of shock staying with you as he spoke. 

"You're the funniest, smartest, most creative, and most beautiful woman I've ever met, and I don't know who I'd be today without you. Nothing could prepare me for the happiness you'd bring into my life by just waking me up by shifting closer to me in the middle of the night, holding my hand when the world gets too loud, or ignoring me to defeat Alduin for the millionth time." You can't help but to laugh at his words, using your sleeve to wipe away your tears as you try to stay as silent as possible. 

But your hand flies to your mouth to smother a sob as Calum gets down on one knee in front of you, looking up at you with glassy eyes as he finishes his speech.

"I adore you, I admire you, and y/n, I love you with my whole heart. I'm the luckiest man in the universe to have you, and I would take an arrow to the knee for you any day of my life. I've loved you since our first date, and if I can only be sure about one thing in this world, it's that I'm going to love you for the rest of my life, a life that I want to spend the rest of with you." 

Opening the ring box in front of him, your eyes land on the most perfect ring you've ever seen in your life. A thin band engraved with flowers held a small diamond in its circle shaped setting, the white and silver complimenting the simple style and elegance of the ring that you knew had seen a love before yours. 

"Y/n, will you marry me?" 

You finally let out the sobs you had been trying to hold in, nodding your head furiously as you pulled Calum up from the floor. 

"Yes. In every lifetime, yes." You cry, pulling his face to yours and kissing him as hard as you could, the saltiness of your tears mixing with his as you heard the people around you burst into applause. 

You hadn't even taken notice of the crowd that had formed around you once they had seen Calum get down on one knee, but they were all captured in the background of the footage Mali had been recording the whole time for you to see later. 

Calum pulled back just long enough to slide the ring he was still holding onto your shaking hand, his own not much steadier as the adrenaline and relief hit him at full force. 

"I told you so!" Mali laughs happily, coming over and wrapping her arms around the two of your, excitement and love buzzing through your small group. 

Joy and Malcom join Mali in wrapping the two of you up in hugs, and when you finally do pull away from each other, the wet patch on his chest from your tears matches the one on your shoulder from his. 

Your tears lighten, but don't disappear as your hand sits perfectly in Calum's while you all walk out to the car, you and Malcom loading your baggage into the back before you climb into the car, sandwiched between Calum and Mali, both of them holding your hands as you drive home.

Your new fiancé wastes no time wrapping you up in hugs and kisses the second the door of his bedroom closes, your bags sitting beside it after you dropped them there once you and Calum had excused yourselves. 

Before you made your way upstairs, Joy had let you know that her and Malcom would be taking you all out to dinner that night to celebrate, but that was pushed to the back of your mind as you peppered kisses along Calum's jaw. 

You weren't sure if everyone had made a consciousness effort to give you two some time alone, but with Malcom heading back into work to collect some things, Joy going to visit a friend for coffee, and Mali meeting up with some friends at a recording studio for a couple hours, you and Calum were left alone. 

Knowing this, Calum pulls your face back up to his, pressing a heated kiss to your lips as he lifts you up to lay you down on the bed, climbing on top of you and letting his hands drift under your shirt. 

Pulling back for a moment, Calum hovers above you, looking down at you like you're the most precious thing he's ever had the honour to witness. And as you looked up to him, hands each side of his face, you could swear he was the most beautiful person the universe had created. 

"I've missed you-" you kiss him "-so much." 

You're met with a gorgeous smile as he tightly wraps his arms around you where your shirt was now riding up, flipping you over so you now rested on top of him, legs tangled together and pure bliss coursing through you. 

"I've missed you too, way too fucking much." He breaths, perfectly content for the first time in months. 

"Your family already know by the way." He adds with a sly smile, and you push yourself up so you can look at him. 

"That I'm engaged to the most amazing man on earth?" You question with a raised eyebrow. 

He just grins, nodding as you rest your head against his neck. 

"I video called your parents yesterday, told them my plan. I asked if I could marry you months ago though." 

Your eyes go wide at his casual tone, like he hasn't just told you one of the sweetest things on earth. 

"Everyone knew but me." You deadpan. 

"Mhm. Sorry love." He apologises, kissing the top of your head. 

"Don't be sorry, I wouldn't have changed anything about it." 

You reach up to kiss his jaw once more, snuggling even closer to him and letting out a soft sigh, peace finally settling in you as you laid in his arms again, him squeezing you as close as he possibly could. 

"Told you I'm not letting you go again." 

Taglist: @spicycal @calmlftv @irwinkitten  @mrandleer @candidcal  @lukeskisses  @wallflowercal  @brooklynsninenine ​ @whereveryouares @everyscarisahealingplace​

[pixieungerstories]

Housemates - 2

(Pictures are on Patreon since Tumblr won’t let me) In which we learn many things about the guys.  Including Bazur’s absentmindedness about pants.

“This is ridiculous,” Kevin declared.  He was currently a shadow humanoid wearing a wooden box as shorts.  “No one wants to work for us, guys.  The only reason we are getting applications is that Bazur said ‘diverse’ instead of ‘monstrous’ and it only takes one of us answering the doorbell to figure that out.”

Thea shrugged, “It got better once Bazur stopped answering the door in a leather jock strap.”

Kogan laughed.  “But then he has to wear pants all the time.”

Derick rolled his eyes, “Dude!  Pants!  It’s a thing!  It should be the minimum level of clothing here anyway!  I don’t want to head into the kitchen for a snack and find someone running around with their ass hanging out.”  He turned to Bazur, “You just aren’t that cute.”

Bazur frowned, “This is my house!  And anyway, Thea and Dren don’t have to wear pants.”

Dren looked up from the bowl of soup he was slowly absorbing.  “I can wear pants.  I do at work.”

Tristan considered all of this.  “She can’t be any worse than the last one.”

Kevin grinned, showing off a mouthful of needle-like teeth, “The last one was really into you.”

“The last one was objectifying me.”

Kogan cleared his throat.  “You know we aren’t paying enough for this to be a full time job, right?  We can’t all just keep being slobs.  Whoever we get will be here to help, not do all the work for us.  No leaving soup out when you are done with it Dren.  We just got rid of the ants.”

Dren shrugged, “I never leave my dirty dishes out.”

Bazur nodded, Dren never did.  Derick never did, he couldn’t stand the smell.  Kogan kept his space military level clean.  No, that was a not so subtle dig at him, Thea and Kevin.

But mostly Kevin.

The tenants  weren’t exactly clear what Kevin did for a living.  He kept odd hours.  He never talked about it, and he always paid  in cash with small bills.  At one point Dren and Tristan had gotten drunk and speculated on Kevin being some sort of stripper.  Kogan had laughed his great booming laugh and put five dollars on Kevin being a smuggler.

It didn’t matter.  No one had been able to find out.

Bazur knew, but he wasn’t talking.

In the end, they cleaned before the interview.  No point in scaring her off too soon.  Bazur made sure to book the interview when the boys would be out.  He was dressed and ready to go an hour before she was due to show up.  He spent his time pacing.

The problem was the house was huge.  The maid services he had contacted had all quoted hundreds of dollars a week and that didn’t include cooking or menu planning, a task that was universally despised in the house.  It hadn’t been easy to clear the junk out of the attic, but including room and board was their best chance at getting someone.  Humans didn’t eat much, and the campus was mostly human.

Hell, the whole town was mostly human.  Dren was the only gelatinous Bazur had ever seen in town, and he had been hired specifically to work with autistic kids.  The man was practically a living stim toy.

Bazur jumped when the doorbell rang.  He was shocked when he opened the door.  So was she, but she recovered first.  He knew that Vincensia was a fourth year biochem major at the U.  He knew she had won a scholarship to pay for her tuition.  He wasn’t expecting her to be beautiful. And outgoing and friendly in a way that went beyond what most people brought to the table when talking to not humans.  Bazur managed to fumble through most of the house tour on auto pilot after having done it so many times before.

He was doing fine until she asked about porn.

At that point he was sure it was over.

He was shocked that she agreed to come to dinner.

Oh hell!  She was coming to dinner!  What were they going to feed her?

-----

That night it was pizza take out.  Three pepperoni, one ham and pineapple, one vegetarian, and (because KEVIN) one pineapple and sardines.

Bazur was surprised.  No one asked.  Finally after this third beer, Kogan belched and asked, “Did this one even make it through the door?”

“Yeah, she did,” Derick said. “I could smell her in my room when I got home.

“She’s coming for dinner on Friday.”

There was a moment of stunned silence.

The room erupted in sound.  Everyone started yelling.  Tristan wanted to know what she thought of the tour.  Krogran wanted to know what species she was.  Dren wanted to know what she looked like.  Thea wanted to know if she was freaked out by his room.

Bazur waited for them to run down.  “Human, gorgeous, Italian - so you know her cooking will be amazing, lives with her parents, didn’t freak out about there being a drider or a mimic, but she wants her mom’s approval before she takes the job.  And I’m pretty she if we let either her or her mom sit on Kevin, all bets are off.”

They all went quiet at that.

“Um… “ Tristan started, “When you say gorgeous...”

“Long dark hair, huge dark eyes, creamy skin, Sophia Loren’s curves,” Kevin answered.  “I can’t believe she’s coming back to meet us losers.  She could make five bills in five minutes at a strip club.”

“She has concerns about the workload.  She made a fair point, we advertised as a good job for a student, but if she needs to spend all of her out of class time cleaning up after us, she won’t have time to study.  She estimated that cooking supper and washing up was a ninety minute job all on her own. I said we would organize taking care of the washing up if she needed.  She was worried that-”

“Holy shit!” Kogan interrupted, “If she is planning on taking an hour to make dinner, she is cooking from scratch!”

They all stopped to consider this,

Dren nodded slowly, “It only takes 15 minutes to throw a frozen pizza in the oven.”

Thea blinked, it was impressive.  “We can’t fuck this one up guys.”

They all looked at Kevin.  He was currently human shaped, if humans came in wood grain and had a lock set over his groin.

“What?”

----

They cleaned the kitchen.  They had twelve place settings.  Each of the guys had two and using someone else’s was a hanging offense.  Each of them had his own pattern on his dishes.  Dren had plain white from Ikea.  Thea’s were black and square. Kogan’s were beige stoneware.  Derick’s were stainless steel.  Tristan’s were blue enamelled and came from a camping store.  Bazur’s were Belleek.  The Claddagh pattern.

Kevin…. Well Kevin’s were vintage novelty plates from Las Vegas featuring pin up girls.

Everyone knew that.  They had just never really considered how that would look to an outsider.

“What?” Kevin demanded.  “Hey, they aren’t the ones where the girls clothes fall off when the plates get warm.”

Dren looked horrified, “Is that a thing?”

“Yes,” chorused Kevin, Tristan and Kogan.

Bazur shook his head.  “She can use my other set.  I guess if she moves in, I’ll buy more dishes.”

They had decided to order in take away.  Derick was out collecting a car full of Chinese food.  Kogan wandered over to the fridge.  It was full of beer.  There were also pickles, ketchup and mustard and an elderly jar of mayo.  “We are going to need to get her a separate fridge for cooking.”

Dren yelled from the dining room, “Does anyone even know if the stove works?”

“It works just fine!” Bazur yelled back.

Kogan raised an eyebrow.  Bazur came over and tried turning on the burners.  They all lit.  Both men breathed a sigh of relief.  Kogan opened the drawer under the oven.  It was full of dust, mouse shit and cheap tin pots from the fifties.  He looked at Bazur, “You buy her a fridge and I’ll buy her new pots, mixing bowls and plates.  Deal?”

Bazur nodded slowly.

“I’ll pitch in for a stand mixer,” Thea said from the ceiling, making the other two jump.  Once they were looking up at him, he added, “And Kogan is getting the short end of the stick.  Outfitting a kitchen costs way more than a fridge.”

“She’s here!” Dren called.

Thea ran across the ceiling and down a wall, beating them all to the door.  He wrenched it open and froze.  

The girl’s eyes went wide then she blinked and blushed and said, “Wow!  Um, sorry!  I’ve just never met a drider before.  Or, you know, um seen one.  Argh!  I’m being rude!”  She held out a hand, took a deep breath and said, “Hi! I’m Vinny!”

Thea ran up a wall, across the ceiling and up the side of the the staircase.

Vinny looked a Bazur.  “Sorry.  Um.  I’m not exactly off to a good start.  But I brought cannoli for dessert.”

Derick was walking up the walk with a huge box of dinner, “Wow!  Homemade cannoli?”

“Uh, yeah, like an audition.”

“You’re hired!” he announced.  “Hell, forget the job, will you marry me?”

Vinny blinked, “No.  But I will have an eggroll if you brought any.”

“OK.” he said easily as he walked past her.  “Clear a path, food coming through!”

Kogan and Dren headed to the dining room.  Derick followed with the box of food.  Vinny was still standing on the step.  Bazur smiled, “Come on in. They are all really excited to meet you.”

Vinny gave him a funny look.

“What?”

“I scared off your drider and you aren’t wearing pants.”

“Oh! Shit!  Um.  I’ll go get pants.  I’m sure Thea just went to get Tristan.”

Vinny still didn’t come in.  “Is the no pants thing going to be a thing?”

“NO! Um… maybe?  I’ll get better at it, I promise.”

“Uh-huh.” Now she came in.  She hung her coat on the hall tree and headed into the dining room.

(Sticker promotion runs until Feb 2, 2019, see Patreon for details)

[artificialqueens]

Coward ( Sashea ) - wordsmithmaybe

A/N: wordsmithmaybe is back with another sashea fic :) Thank you all for liking my last submission <3 I hope you enjoy this one just as much!!!

(Kind of an AU, but not really? Set after the reunion)

Sasha is furious.

No.

Scratch that.

She isn’t mad.

She is simply heartbroken, and it hurts like a motherfucker.

Shea is coming for her in this damn reunion, throwing one shade after the other.

Knowing her long enough, Sasha can tell it isn’t the fun type of shade.

This one is mean.

This one is meant to burn.

It doesn’t take a genius to feel the tension between the two of them.

Sasha tries to stay professional, and not mirror whatever Shea is doing, but every time she looks at her, the insides of her body twist and she feels nauseous. She can see a very specific type of disdain in Shea’s eyes, and it renders her speechless.

Yes, things aren’t perfect.

Things haven’t been perfect since they came back from their isolation last summer after filming the show.

In fact, they only had one month of pure happiness before it all went to shit.

And it was the best month in Sasha’s life.

To Shea’s defense, it wasn’t her that drifted away.

It wasn’t her that stopped answering texts and calls.

It wasn’t her that suggested an end to everything, to whatever they had.

And Sasha couldn’t blame her for the way she had been acting.

But Sasha only ran away because she was scared.

She was scared because for the first time she found herself focused on nothing but Shea’s smile, the way she smelled every morning when she cuddled her, her giggles and loud laughter.

She couldn’t carry on like that.

She needed to concentrate on her goal.

She needed to get ready for when the show began airing.

She had talked to Shea weeks before the first episode came out though.

And they had both agreed to forget their short lived affair, and be friendly again for the sake of the viewers.

They knew, due the challenges on the show, people were going to love them together, and they didn’t want to ruin the illusion.

And it worked.

It worked so well that Sasha truly felt close to Shea again.

They began talking regularly, and they got to know each other way better than they did on the show.

What was just for the fans ended up empowering their own friendship.

Sasha started to feel like she was back in that workroom, eyes landing on Shea for the first time, falling in love and lust with a stranger.

But the difference?

There was no more sneaking around to fuck the living hell out of each other.

There were no “smoke” breaks that turned into full on make out sessions in closed storage rooms.

There was no subtle hand holding, no winking.

It almost happened.

Just a month before the reunion, they had already started touring with queens from previous seasons.

London specifically seemed to bring out the tipsy happy go lucky side in both of them.

It was an innocent night out.

They had both wanted to explore the magic of Camden Town, and Shorditch before somehow ending up in Tower Bridge, drinking beer and looking at the sleepy city.

It was past 1AM, and the bridge was so extremely calm, too calm.

Sasha couldn’t believe a city as large as London could fall into this silence at night, but at the same time she loved the comfort it brought.

She loved the feeling of being there alone with Shea.

Nothing was meant to happen.

Just two friends enjoying life.

But then a small hand touch, turned into a peck, turned into a deep kiss, and before they knew it, they had returned to the hotel.

They had gone up to Sasha’s room.

Maybe it was the alcohol. 

Maybe it was just the fact that they had missed each other like crazy.

Things got out of control, but then Sasha somehow returned to her senses.

She pushed Shea away, and apologised.

She couldn’t do it.

She couldn’t risk everything.

But when Shea had left, embarrassed, Sasha cried.

She knew it was dumb.

She knew she didn’t care what anyone thought.

She knew she just wanted to be with Shea, but the feelings were too strong to handle.

She couldn’t deal with them.

It all led to this reunion.

To Shea acting like Sasha was her enemy.

To her reading Sasha to filth.

Sasha doesn’t say anything.

She remains quiet.

But when filming is over, she realises that she can’t let it go.

Something inside pushes her to run after Shea and drag her by the arm into an empty coat room, and shuts the door behind them. 

“What the fuck is up with you?!” Shea yells as she claims her arm back from Sasha’s grasp.

If Sasha wasn’t mad earlier, she is definitely mad now.

“What the fuck is up with me?!” Sasha exclaims, “What about you, miss Coulee?! How dare you come for me like that?!”

At this point Shea just glares, running her tongue all over her front teeth.

“Why so quiet now?” Sasha insists. Her blood feels like it’s boiling.

“You could have read me back, but you didn’t, you know why?” Shea is oddly calm now, “Because you’re a fucking coward.”

Sasha can’t believe her ears.

“I’m not a fucking coward!” She shouts, knowing too well that she’s only getting angrier because she’s aware Shea has hit a sensitive chord.

She agrees.

Shea is right.

She is a coward.

She’s a coward who’s too afraid of happiness, too afraid of having it all.

She’s a coward who has always run away from love, because love can fuck you up in the most unimaginable way.

But love can also build you up and lift you to the clouds, it can give you a reason to open your eyes in morning and face every asshole with a grin.

Loving Shea.

She has loved her for too long to ignore it now.

She just looks at her, mind racing with all the possibilities.

So what if it ends badly?

So what if it affects her career?

So what if they don’t last forever?

Sasha wants the present and she wants Shea in it.

As she drowns deep in her thoughts, Shea says something.

“Prove it,” her voice sounds like a faded dream, “Prove that you’re not a coward, Sasha.”

Even though it’s dark in the room, Sasha still sees Shea’s eyes sparkle.

They sparkle with hope, maybe longing.

Whatever it is, it breaks the last straw.

Sasha passionately pushes Shea against one of the walls.

The sparkle in her eyes grows brighter, and Sasha takes that as approval.

She leans in and locks their mouths together, too quickly for any of them to rethink or run away.

No more running away.

As their lipsticks mix together, all Sasha tastes is the desire inside both of them.

Sasha moves from Shea’s mouth to her jaw, to her neck, sucking, kissing, licking.

Shea’s moans only drive her wilder.

All she wants is to be inside her.

Good thing she hasn’t tucked; no one would have noticed the difference anyway because of her reunion look.

She accidentally stabs Shea in the chin with her wig; she is too frustrated with it so she rapidly takes it off.

She kneels down and reaches under Shea’s dress, pulling down her tights.

To her surprise, Shea hasn’t tucked either. She’s only wearing a brief.

She looks up at Shea, and smiles.

Shea smirks, “What? I wanted to make it easy for you to suck my dick.”

Of course that’s not the reason Shea hasn’t tucked, but Sasha is grateful anyway.

She pulls down her brief, freeing her already erect penis.

She doesn’t waste time before she puts the whole thing in her mouth.

She goes all the way in, deep throating, her other hand tickling Shea’s balls.

Not long after, Shea begins thrusting herself even deeper into Sasha’s mouth.

Then she pulls away fast, painting.

“I don’t want to cum now, I need you inside me please,” She begs.

Hearing those words, Sasha realises just how hard she is.

But then she’s reminded by the logistics of things, “We don’t have a condom or lube,”

The last thing she wants is for Shea to get hurt in any shape or form.

Sasha knows she’s clean, but better safe than sorry.

Shea swiftly grabs the small hand bag she’s had on her. It fell to the ground when they started kissing.

“I have both these things,” She announces, fetching them from her bag.

Sasha is confused and surprised by how lucky they both are, but at the same time she just wants to snatch that condom and be inside Shea already.

“I planned to go out with a few friends right after filming the reunion, and I wanted to make sure I was safe in case I went home with someone,” She explains.

“That’s fine,” Sasha pulls her in for a deep kiss before taking the condom from her hand.

She gets rid of the bottom part of her outfit, and removes her underwear. She, then, quickly rolls the condom down over her length.

In the meantime, Shea has already prepped herself with lube.

She stands against the wall, her back to Sasha, legs spread, ready for her.

Despite the faint lighting in the small room, Sasha can’t help but admire her beauty. She just looks at her in awe.

Shea turns around, seeming impatient.

Sasha just smiles, “You’re so fucking beautiful.”

Shea smirks, “can you fuck me though?”

Sasha doesn’t need any more encouragement to move closer to Shea and wrap her arms around her from behind.

She slowly enters her, causing both of them to groan at the contact.

When she’s fully in, she places a soft kiss on Shea’s ear, whispering, “All good?”

“Fuck yeah,” Shea whispers back, turning around just a tiny bit for their mouth to meet.

They share an open mouth kiss as Sasha begins her rhythmic movement, reaching over and pumping Shea’s penis at the same time.

They don’t say much when they’re riding their orgasms, but when they both cum and collectively decide to lie on the floor to enjoy the aftermath, Shea looks at Sasha, and says, “I don’t want this to stop,”

Sasha warmly smiles, pulling her in for a side embrace.

“It won’t.”

[anwo-prinz]

Anime Expo Anisong World Matsuri ~kawaii live~ 2017 Post-concert essay

Okay so here’s my really long write up about the concert. Includes pictures and background info on call books I helped with. tl;dr I cried a lot.

pre-concert: I had already been planning to attend Anime Expo 2017 since I’m fairly local to the area (I live in Southern California) so it was easy for me. However, the moment AX announced WUG and Cinderella Girls for a Day 0 concert, I was so shocked! I never thought that WUG would return nor that imas would ever come to the US. I’ve been a fan of both since the WUG anime came out, and for CG through the original mobage (mostly rolled over from 765 animas though). Of course, most people know me as an ArisuP. 

Once the announcement was official, I caught wind of people who wanted to organize creating fan call books for the live. I signed up to help as an artist for the imas CG call book and the WUG call book. I was happy to be able to contribute to those teams and was really excited about our books! 

Here are the pages that I helped with. WUG chara chibis, Nanamin, Miria, and Arisu doing calls.

Bonus - I did the back cover for both of them! 

https://twitter.com/suna_chika/status/876980186490601473

While signal boosting for WUG call books before the show, the WUG character designer, Sunao Chikaoka, noticed our book! He said the outfits were cute.

I was able to get a copy of all 4 of the call books that were passed out! 

actual concert time:

CG Setlist: 

Star! 

Goin' 

Yumeiro Harmony 

Yes! Party Time! 

Onegai! Cinderella!

Performers: Mika, Anzu, Kirari, Miria, Frederica, Kanade I couldn’t believe that CG was the opening act because they were the group I was most hype for. They opened with the first 2 songs, then did introductions, they did a short MC section where they showed the Cinderella Girls Theater clips and Cinderella Girls anime clips and had the girls voicing their lines. Mika/Miria was the first one, followed by Anzu/Kirari. Frederica and Kanade did theirs solo. I was really happy that the audience seemed to like it and new fans could put faces to the characters. By the way, I was pretty much crying through the entire thing and cheering as hard as I could being choked up. My favorite was Yes! Party Time! and that was SO HYPE! Seeing their outfits glitter up close, every girl was so cute. I especially loved Iidashi since I have a Cool idol bias haha. 

Mika was also the designated leader & center, which I loved - felt very old-school CG (back before Mio became the poster passion idol). The only thing is that I wished they had done some solo songs (Hotel Moonside, Ankira, Tokimeki...) or some group songs like Orange Sapphire or Tulip. Ah, well. It felt really like it was a very safe approach. 

Also, none of the girls tried to speak English to the audience if I’m remembering correctly. My Japanese isn’t fluent, but I can understand a bit. So the impression their act came off was kind of like “Well, to like iM@S, you should already know Japanese! Also, come to a proper live in Japan to experience us fully” haha. They didn’t bring a fully cohesive unit so I think that’s why they mostly stuck to the group songs, which did feel a bit generic. But that’s not to say I didn’t cry like a little baby because IMAS FIRST WESTERN APPEARANCE AHHH I LOVE ;_; 

WUG Setlist: 

Tachiagare!

Shoujo Koukyoukyoku

Koi? de Ai? de Boukun desu!

Beyond the Bottom

7 Girls War 

Gokujou Smile

Performers: Full Group (7)

MY GOD WUG WAS SO STRONG. They were such a cohesive group. Mayushi and Yoppi’s vocals were AMAZING, I really loved them. The last time I’d seen one of their lives (BD, not in-person), it was one of the first ones they did so they were very unpolished. But seeing the difference in the 3 years that’ve passed... It felt very emotional, realizing that they had really worked so hard to become as amazing as they are now, and that there’s a 4th Live Tour (which I’m planning to see, hopefully!). 

Having them open with the 2 very strongly anime-based story songs, and having come right after CG, I had NO TIME to recover at all, so I was really a huge screaming sobbing mess during WUG’s performance. During the intro segments, I was again crying as I cheered on each girl. It was really cute, they told us their nicknames as well “Please call me Ai-chan!” or “Please call me Yoppi!” (though, in Japanese mostly)

I felt that most of the audience wasn’t very familiar with WUG when they first started, but by the end of it I could feel that so many people had become fans of theirs. Their choreography was absolutely stunning to see, and hearing them perform live was a whole different experience to seeing their lives on a computer screen. Not to mention the emotional bond of following them as the underdog idol series, it was truly an amazing experience I’ll never forget. 

Walkure Setlist:

Koi! HALATION THE WAR

Ikenai Borderline

Bokura no Senjou

Ichido Dake no Koi Nara

Rune ga Pikatto Hikattara

Performers: Minori Suzuki, JUNNA

Thank god we had an intermission before Walkure or else I may have gone through cardiac arrest right on the spot. I was able to collect myself a bit though I spent the entire intermission still sobbing and reeling from the two groups I regarded the most highly. Anyway, I’m not familiar with Macross but I did listen to a lot of Walkure songs since they’re very catchy. It was really something to be able to see it performed live.. with just 2 out of 5 members present, Minorin and Junna really captivated the theater and you could feel their amazing presence. The songs were incredibly hype, really pumped up the audience and not to mention Junna’s talent is just... I’m really speechless! 

Walkure was really cute because Minorin interacted a lot with the audience (”Do you like ANIME? Do you like WALKURE?”). They asked what countries people had come from to see this concert, so of course USA, but also Canada (”Ah, that’s right! It’s near America!”), China, and they even heard Dis shout out “SCOTLAND!” at which they were very surprised. They also asked where was the best place to eat burgers, so everyone shouted in unison IN-N-OUT! and it was very cute. 

The last song being Rune ga Pikatto Hikattara made me extremely happy! It’s my favorite song by them. Minorin taught the audience how to do the Woa-woa, whoa-whoa-whoaaa call before they performed it. She wasn’t satisfied with us at all! She kept making us repeat it at least 3 times! She is so cute, and her acapella singing for the chorus part was great. I definitely cried and now I feel very emotional whenever Walkure songs come up on shuffle. 

Also it was adorable how Junna wasn’t allowed to say the good-bye because she’s 16 and can’t work after 10pm hahaha.

Aqours Setlist: 

Aozora Jumping Heart 

Kimi no Kokoro wa Kagayaiteru kai?

Koi ni Naritai AQUARIUM

MIRAI TICKET

Yume Kataru yori Yume Utaou

Performers: Full Group (9)

I have to admit here: I am a fan of Love Live’s μ's but I have very, very little emotional bond with Aqours and Love Live Sunshine, nor am I familiar with their songs. However, that’s not to say they weren’t great! I thought they really were stunning live. It was amazing how in sync they were with each other, not to mention the seiyuus are sooo pretty. During their songs, in the background screens it showed the animated scenes of the songs and their dancing matched up perfectly. It was really cool to experience! Plus, the audience was really hyped up (of course, I’m sure that’s what most of the people were there for). However, by the end of the concert I was already tapped out of energy so it was a bit hard to enjoy, and I felt that the Aqours songs were about the same generic, safe sort of songs like the CG full group songs, and that their vocals were weak and not very distinctive in comparison to Walkure and WUG. But I’m also glad they were the last to perform since all the Love Live people were forced to stay until the very end and experience every other idol group. lol. They also had the most English of each group, I think? Iirc, Riko was pretty fluent almost. 

Overall, it was a seriously amazing live and I can’t believe I still survived the remaining 4 full days of Anime Expo after that. I really truly hope that this concert showed the Japanese industry how much of a western audience there is for idols, and that there were lots of new fans for WUG and CG after that concert! 

Also: I was able to sit quite close up and in the center since my friend snagged an orchestra seat for us! I was happy to get seat 315 because I love SideM. 

Lastly, there are no pictures or recordings allowed DURING the live. However you can usually find stuff from staff twitters of the performers and behind-the-scenes pictures from them. That’s pretty standard and mostly why you’ll only see drawings or tweets from people after JP lives.

[unbroken-plum-san]

FISH TANK #83, April 2017

Interview: Yuka Okubo Thank Anarendil for the scans! Japanese-Russian translation: Pikopiko Russian-English translation: unbroken-plum-san

FT: So the tour for FishTanker club is finished. Did you have time to rest a little?

AS: I am not very good into switching from working to not working. I stop understanding when it is not a work anymore.

FT: That’s what it is. Did you do something during the tour to entertain yourself?

AS: I went to David Bowie dedicated exhibition. I liked him since I was a teenager so I got really upset there. There were images I had already seen before but there also were some of his stage outfits and other stuff really worthy to be seen once.

FT: As Uta-san said you also visited Salvador Dali exhibition.

AS: Yes, it was during the main tour. It was the last day I could visit it. When I was taking a road to there I met Imai-san going right in an opposite direction. But I didn’t met Uta *smiles*. There were a lot of people so I had to stay alone in a queue for half an hour.

FT: It would be great if now you look back at the last year tour. Is there something you have the brightest memories about? You got ill in Kanagawa.

AS: Yes, I caught a cold. When we were in Kanagawa I started to complain: “What if today I can’t do it? What we will be supposed to do then?”.

FT: I didn’t know you felt that bad…

AS: It is a bit rude to say like this but I was thinking what if we skip a concert. Staff said to me: “Let’s do a rehearsal and then we will decide”. But after we did a rehearsal I couldn’t say: “I am going home” *smiles*. That concert I had to make a real effort to perform but it is weird for me to say I made an effort.

FT: Certainly you had to force all your will when you were on stage.

AS: I always have to force my will to perform. But at that exact concert I understood I had to do this from the ethical point if view. I don’t know how long my body could stand it but I didn’t have a choice.

FT: I think if I didn’t know you were sick I would never say you were really sick or something.

AS: It is great if so but there were moments I was almost losing my voice. I felt really upset due to it but it is what a live concert is made for.

FT: In Kanagawa THE SEASIDE STORY made the hugest impression on me. When I was watching it I had a thought: “His voice is strangely fearsome, horrendous today. Very powerful.”

AS: I understood I had to do my best. And if you say so it means my illness worked out good for me. It is the only comfort here. FT: But in general you didn’t have any troubles anymore, right? AS: Yes, if I am saying which live concert I was exhausted the worst so it is the one. FT: In Kumamoto you had a club performance, the only during that tour. AS: Firstly, I want to say I am very glad we had an opportunity to go there. There is really not much we can help with but anyway thank God we were able to get there in such a hard time and make a live performance [a forceful earthquake happened in Kumamoto prefecture in April 2016]. All spectators got cheered up nicely and it was really precious. FT: You have been telling us you had more and more of new wishes and ideas during the tour. As long as I understand, you had a point to make modifications until the final Budokan performance.

AS: A live tour is such a thing if you are not trying new things all the time, you never know what is the best. It is a perishable product so I am always very attentive for an each tour day. Since far ago I have a habit to discuss my thoughts with our staff. We are free to talk about any remark with each other. In Budokan we have done a thing we could do in Budokan only. I guess it was sort of a conclusion to everything happened during the tour. FT: If you look back at that concert once again, how do you think it turned out?

AS: It is very pleasing to sing in Budokan so foremost I got concentrated to singing. And also I was thinking about all fortunate and unfortunate moments during the tour. FT: When you finished the tour did you feel Atom Miraiha No. 9 the album has finally succeeded? AS: There is nothing similar between recording an album and performing an album. When touring I am getting used to a song, collecting a personal experience. Owing to that in the end of the tour there is always a special depth being opened in each song. The way I express a song is changing too. That is why all songs changed a bit in the end.

FT: I have a question about your outfit, Sakurai-san. A garter belt, was it your idea?

AS: Yes. In the beginning Yagi-san [a clothing stylist] prepared some stockings for me. When I performed in them for the first time, showing the audience what I am wearing my internal pervert started to play a real game *smiles*. What is more, I asked Yagi-san to put a pad away from one of my trousers to make my pelvic bone observable. So he made one part of my pants transparent and you could see my leg. But then I thought: “What if I do even more?”. There was some spare time left until Sapporo performance begins and I asked Yagi-san: “Yagi-san, my friend, go buy me a garter belt, please”. So that hentai… I mean that style, it is from Sapporo *smiles*. FT: What hentai?! What are you talking about?! *smiles*. During Romance encore I had a feeling I was watching a theatrical play. I couldn’t take my eyes off that beauty. AS: The look I had in my mind was slowly soaked with freak-show atmosphere. That circus atmosphere from Juusankai wa Gekkou the album cover which Akita-san and I created together. There, on the background, a man is sitting with his crossed legs in stockings. I took that very look from here. I wanted to point out it is not a woman, it is a man acting like this. For the sake of that look I even removed all the unwelcome hair *smiles*. But for my personal dread I realized I am scared after doing all this. There is nothing worse and useless than confusion. It is equal for any other business. When I fully create my kind of a world, kind of a story, I have to show that I exist inside of it. I want spectators to take visual enjoyment from my weird stories. I am always aiming for it mentally. FT: In Budokan a lot of plans were announced for the band’s 30 years anniversary. AS: Independently it is 30 years anniversary or not there is only one thing we can do — creating music and performing concerts. Even though it is an important part of our history, we will do the same thing we always do. If it turns out as sort of a holiday for our fans and if everyone has fun, I will be very glad. FT: But, nevertheless, content of those performances should put all your 30 years history moments altogether? AS: We have to open up old boxes and put out old things. Because everyone is waiting for this, you know. It has to turn out interesting with our ‘Best songs’ coming album. Everyone could take part into its compilation. FT: Yes, the songs will be defined through fans’ votes. AS: I am happy and terrified at the same time *smiles*. FT: After the ‘Best songs’ album comes out, there is an open air live performance in September. AS: Yes, an open air one. A typhoon will come. For sure. FT: In the second day of BUCK-TICK FEST 25 years anniversary it was a heavy rain.

AS: So sorry for the performers and spectators that day. But an open air live concert may be fun. The most important is to be lucky with the weather *smiles*. I think such live concert type has its special atmosphere of openness and freedom. FT: Yes, exactly. Besides, the statewide tour with two performances in Budokan was announced. AS: Takasaki Arena is included in the list. We will perform here for the first time. I am curious how it comes out. It won’t be a 'Fresh songs’ album tour so I would like not to work very hard. It would be nice just to have fun with our fans. FT: To conclude, I am asking you for some words for everyone in anticipation of all the coming events.

AS: We are facing our 30 years anniversary this year. I would like you to follow our festive bustle. So, let’s meet up somewhere.

QUESTION & ANSWER

Q1: I am starting a new job this spring! Your point of view, what is the most important in a new place?

AS: Be attentive not to work too hard. Q2: What do you usually do during a tour when feeling tired?

AS: Do a cat pose [a yoga pose]. Q3: The last thing you were laughing about?

AS: Nothing. Sorry. Q4: Express yourself with a hieroglyph.

AS: Cat *cat’s paw print is drawn*.

Hudehiko Hoshino interview part:

FT: At the end of the tour Sakurai-san even wore a garter belt.

HH: Yes, he went all this way until the finish line *smiles*.

FT: Evolved very fast *smiles*.

HH: I wasn’t up to date about his outfits so when his leg caught my eye I made a more attentive look to check if he is really wearing it.

FT: So, you was looking at him right during a concert?

HH: Yes, right during a concert *smiles*.

FT: Seems that you don’t discuss such things with each other before performing *smiles*.

(Original post in Russian is here: https://vk.com/topic-49424427_37553592)

[alajengz-blog]

I have always been inspired to visit historical places. By the age of 15, I had already travelled most part of the Gambia. The smallest country in mainland Africa with a total boundary length of 510 miles, 31 miles at its widest point of which of which 50 miles is coastline and a population of 2.1 million. The capital city Banjul is located on the Atlantic coast. The country’s present boundaries were defined in 1889 after an agreement between the United Kingdom and France. It was colonized by the British and gained its independence on 18th of February 1965. The river Gambia which is 700 miles rising in the republic of Guinea flowing west ward across Senegal through the Gambia is joined by numerous creeks called Bolongs which flows in it from the south. The width of the river valley varies considerably along its course. Dense mangrove swamps fringe the lower river for 60 miles inland after which fresh water swamps and salt flats on low-lying stretches alternate with dense clumps of small trees shrubs that line the cliffs. On the higher slopes of the riverbank, swamps and shrubs give place to parkland and tall grass. The wild oil palms grow along the valley bottom. The river abounds in fish and river creatures including crocodiles and hippopotamus. Over 400 different species of birds could be sighted along the river, which runs through the whole length of the Gambia. A field excursion trip was the most exciting event to look forward to going to high school. After years of looking forward to it, my main concern was if my parents would allow me to participate. A deal was made. I had to pass my grade 10th exam with flying colors to earn the trip of my lifetime. The trip fee was paid a week before because my mother wasn’t still convinced regarding safety issues. Her main worry was the ferry crossing we had to encounter, overcrowding and other safety issues. I had done all my chores the night before without been reminded, worried that my mother could change her mind with the slightest error. I refused to pack my regular lunch box, as I preferred to buy food along the way because that what my classmates and me planned on doing. I took a quick shower in the morning, brushed my teeth and put on one of my favorite outfit. I was super excited. It was a bright sunny morning. I was so anxious that I hardly slept. I walked to the street to catch a van heading to Banjul, the capital city, where my high school was located. I was one of the first students to arrive. I remember a white mini bus was waiting for us by the football (soccer field). I couldn’t afford to be late. My history teacher at the time, who was the trip leader, gave us a strict warning that the bus wasn’t going to wait for anybody. I wasn’t taking any chances. I arrived an hour early and had to wait for three hours because we didn’t depart until two hours after our scheduled time of departure. My history teacher was an hour late, which he blamed on transportation issues. There was shortage of gas during that period, the cost of transportation doubled and it had to be a foot race to be able to secure a spot on the few available ones. I was lucky that the trip didn’t get cancelled. We left the school grounds on a Monday morning of February 4th 2002. It took us about 30 minutes to get to the Banjul-Barra ferry terminal. We had to cross the ferry from Banjul to Barra. Barra is a small riverside settlement located on the north bank of the river Gambia. The journey time from the terminal and across the mouth of the river Gambia estuary was supposed to be about 35 minutes and services started from Banjul at 7am and operate until 9 in the evening. The 4.5 miles distance took the hoary ferry about two hours to cross. The ferry was overcrowded about double its normal capacity. Some people chose to use wooden dug out boats to cross the river as an alternative to the ferry because it was faster but the boats were always overcrowded and often sink. The authorities didn’t care because they were only concerned about selling more tickets to generate income, which was never put into good use. At least they could have done proper maintenance on the only surviving ferry they had during the time. There were no standard policies and the people running the ferry ignored safety regulations. I watched as lorries, cars and vans squeezed aboard. Once we entered the departure terminal, there was nothing in the way of refreshments and the toilet facilities had a lot to be desired. I was warned by my mother to keep any personal belongings close as there were pick-pockets who specifically targeted ferry passengers. I was praying the whole time that we made it Barra without sinking. A disaster could have occurred anytime and there was no chance of survival. We were not provided with any life jackets and most of us didn’t know how to swim. There was no information or announcements, so we just had to go with the flow. I decided to go upstairs to the top deck, which had lots of seating. I enjoyed the amazing view of mangroves and a local fishing boat along the river bank. There was always within site of either shore. In November, December and January, it was possible to do a little dolphin spotting as schools of them swim on the bow waves of boats. We made it to Barra and took a 15 minutes break and ended up spending half of my lunch money without considering if we didn’t make it back on time. Upon arrival in Barra, there was a market nearby and I took opportunity to buy some fruits and stock up on bottle water. Our first stop was at the old fort of James Island (renamed Kunta Kinteh island), which is located about 18 miles upstream on the river Gambia. It is home to the ruins which once belonged to colonial Britain. This was the last bit of African soil that many slaves saw before being transported in the bowels of the transatlantic slave ships to the Americas. The island is sadly shrinking due to coastal erosion and has reduced in size to a great extent compared to its hey day as a slave collection point and trading post. The ruins of colonialism and slavery could still be seen. There are caves and prisons on the island where slaves were imprisoned before being shipped off to the American colonies. There are also some cannons standing in their military attack positions. Our tour guide was a descendent of Kunta Kinteh, who the island was renamed after. Kunta Kinteh was a stubborn slave captured in Gambia who inspired the documentary “Roots” by Alex Hailey in the 1980’s who was able to trace his ancestral back to Gambia where he visited before publishing his book. Our tour guide taught us some history about the island. He told us that it was first discovered in 1946 by the German and was later seized by the British in 1661. The British renamed it after king James III. He told us that the island was abandoned for good in the 1830’s after the abolition of the slave trade. There were 3 other historical places on our list but we had to quickly head back to Barra to catch the last ferry to Banjul. Neither were we prepared, nor did we get permission to stay overnight. My history teacher promised to schedule another trip to complete, which never happened TILL THIS DAY.