#and 2 beautiful volleys

[karoiga]

oh serve and volley i could kiss you on the mouth

[sweetheartsaku]

—HAIKYU!! various ; how deep is your love?

a/n ; [gn!reader] kinda fem implied in kawa's and kuroo's 😓 do yall like the new layout?? c: suggestive if you squint extremely hard in kuroo's .. i honestly dont know if im writing this timeskip or pre timeskip its 3am 😣

— characters : oikawa, osamu, tsukishima, hinata, sakusa, kuroo

part 2 ! ♡ akaashi, kenma, kita, semi, kageyama, suna

jade vine !

tooru oikawa ; SWEET / I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO DANCE - tyler the creator, brent faiyaz, fana huez

has 'i love you' wars and he MUST win or he will tackle you (affectionate)

takes the BEST candid photos of you and puts so much love into the following insta post. has you as his wallpaper too (please match with him) (he'd also have a highlight just w pics of you😞)

please NEVER do that 'wipe their kiss off' trend because he will actually not talk to you for DAYS and gets all sulky until you apologize. (he will get all cocky all over again)

core memory from his teamates. bae was explaining to his teamates about new volley nerd talk blablabla and they notice his nails painted in a faint pink (for a fun date night, thinking no one will notice)

issei BURSTS out laughing and instantly points it out. now seijoh4 NEVER lets him live it down

always the first person to notice when you use a new shampoo or perfume.

cuddling, (you being the little spoon╰(*´︶`*)╯♡) you can feel his breath hitch when his lips reach your neck

before you could ask why he's stopped inching closer he's already manages to whisper out, "did you start using a new shampoo?" yes. yes you have

do his skincare with him please ! he loves it. he loves when he places you on the bathroom counter and you wrap your legs around his waist, he loves when you're so gentle with the toner, he loves when you graze your delicate fingers over his beautiful long lashes, he loves when you make sure you don't cut him when snipping the face mask so it fits a little more snug, EVERYTHING. (he is sunoo coded)

osamu miya ; good looking - suki waterhouse

loves your tummy SO much. doesn't care about shape or form, he just likes the feeling that you're being fed. squish. or pat. he loves it. have i mentioned he loves your tummy?

when his dad leave the twins at home its always osamu at the stove, please keep atsumu in a 5 mile radius AWAY from the kitchen

SPOON FEEDS YOU. please i need him. on days you're too tired to move a muscle, days where you're too sick to open your eyes, be prepared to feel his hand on the back of your head and one below your chin ready to feed you!! once you've sat yourself up he feeds you so gently... osamu miya i need you

when you're really tired from work, he will send meals to your workplace. if you work at home and sees you barely able to keep an eye open, you will see his hand under a spoon of your favourite meal. he's not the best with it, but he's trying 🥹 he means it with all his heart and hearing you say the food is really warm in your stomach, his heart feels warm too (о´∀`о)

my mans is SNATCHED. slide your hands around his waist, poke it a little do WHATEVER. your hands have probably been on his waist more than his hands on yours.

i think his core is pretty well built. have we seen it in the anime or manga? maybe. but from what i've seen, his physique is very 😳 (a tad bit better than his brother's i fear)

cooking together!!! different recipes each date, basking in each other's presence. its always so fun and the results are always almost flawless!

at one-point y'all were making cupcakes, it was literally osamu baking them and you decorated it.

AND OBVIOUSLY the basic, he would routinely give you handmade onigiri, in different shapes, flavours and whatever you like ✨

kei tsukishima ; the only exception - paramore

kinda scowls at you when you put your hands under his shirt but secretly really loves it so when you slither your hands away he instantly places your hands back and make sure your hands STAY there. bonus points if you have warm body temperature. he likes the feeling of your warm hands on his slightly colder body.

his wardrobe has drastically evolved from muted tones to slightly lighter and vibrant clothing ever since you insisted on getting matching stuff!!

WILL say he is not a jewellery person but collects, keeps and takes care of all the little trinkets you give him DAILY. he has a little sticker on the edge of one of his books and a little moon sticker on the end piece of his sports glasses

he also defineitely has really thick curly blond lashes. you say they are one of his charming points but he gets all flustered. when you insist to put clear mascara on them, he doesn't really look like he has a problem with it 🥹

what could his ahh possibly be listening to with those headphones on so often (real)

sends you playlists at an insane hour that go for insane amounts of time. but i KNOW his taste is immaculate. every song always gives you goosebumps or makes your heart tighten

please do a spotify blend with him (he was gonna ask you, but you beat him to it)(he was shy)

oh AND the shared playlists actually are insane!! so much good music all at once?? crazy yall 😭😭 (wave to earth, cody fry, the smiths, daniel caesar, rex orange county)

shoyo hinata ; intro (end of the world) - ariana grande

honestly, out of all these men HINATA SHOYO is the BEST candidate for taking care of a person except himself. has no limits in his stamina, and will only listen to you when you ask him maybe its time for a break. does he overwork? not necessarily. does he work too hard? yes, in a positive way. please remind him to eat because he will forget sometimes

he will NEVER admit he likes being the little spoon LMAO he finds being vunerable in your arms a tad bit silly, and it bugs him. after a long week of practice games and insisting kageyama and yachi to practice with him the instant he falls on the bed, he finds himself melting into your touch. your voice gets a little more buttery and he loves it, falling asleep instantly

hes probably a hard sleeper too 😭 he wont wake up till he feels your cold hands on his face or the sunbeams from the curtain literally bleed into the sheets and steal its colour

PLEASE STROKE HIS HAIR. he loves it. he absolutely loves it. again, melts into your touch like ice-cream. his heart will feel tight and he has a lil' blush 🥹 whats even more priceless is his lips slightly agape after hes fallen asleep... how can you NOT love this man

one of the only boys on this list who will LET you put little pink bows or style his hair in braids and clips. (if you're imagining timeskip hinata, you have attempted to put a little bow around his bicep but you underestimated its size and it BROKE. gosh what an experience)

DANCES WITH YOU EVERYWHERE!!! omg i love him so much. doesn't care if you have two left feet, he just loves the feeling in his heart when he sees your smile as he spins you around. in the rain, in big empty rooms, in the kitchen, anywhere.

loves the idea of promise rings or little trinkets that ensure he gets to have you forever!!

kiyoomi sakusa ; washing machine - VANISHING GIRL, rosemary fairweather

PLEASE braid this man's hair. 😞 he pretends to despise it and thinks you don't notice when he literally melts under your touch. he feels safe 'nd comfy and hopes it lasts forever, when your hand retracts he has a lil' pout

notices when you've been wearing your favourite hood for a couple days straight, has a little scowl under his mask and throws one of his jackets at you. he only gives you the wind-breakers that are 100% cotton or the ones he just knows you like.

he uses this as an excuse to share his clothes with you. its safe to assume its his love language under-cover!

HE IS SO ASS WITH PDA all you get is him giving you hand sanitizer before eating meals or snacks. its only you though, don't tell him that.

BUT sometimes when he feels like it, he will take your hand and put it HIS pocket so "your hands are always sheltered from germs" now what type of bs is THAT. (you love this bs)

can be snarky. sometimes he gets the slightest eenie meenie miniest bit cocky, and its very noticable. has the ability to be a little bit of a tease but not in a pestering way more like a little smartass way LMAO.

tetsuro kuroo ; never lose me - flo milli

always has his hand in the back pocket of your pants. that was it. thank you for coming to my ted talk. (to feel your butt? no idea.)

tutor sessions always unbearable. either you're too busy staring at his biceps, or you're sighing that he's made a little pop quiz for you!! tell him it sucks please

if he notices it gets a bit too much or overwhelming for you over the week or before study dates, insists to take you out instead (what a gentleman!! kuroo tetsuro come into my life)

extremely consistent with routine. good morning and good night text DAILY no matter how busy he is, he WILL find a way (i like to think its his way or the high way #kingofprovocation /hj). very good at getting the things he wants in a non-manipulative way but with simply logic and brains

yeah as captain hes no. #1 but he is also no. #1 waist CLUTCHER. his hands are always on you somehow even in the slightest way, but never pervy. he just likes having his hands on you! bonus points if you have hip dips, he loves it so much. he finds it as a perfect spot to place his hands on (btw ppl w hipdips yall are BEAUTIFUL!! 🥹)

i feel as he has a possessive side as well. small, but more noticable compared to someone else. will not hesitate to stare someone (or recite chemistry nerd stuff 🙁) down for looking at you a little too long :3

when he sees you post or sees himself in your instagram or tiktok dumps, his heart tightens a bit in the best way possible. when you mention him in the post he only reacts with a heart but he's actually going insane

[kasarasun]

what if I made a thing or it already was that while Airplane wrote the world, Peerless Cucumber illustrated it (only the animals. And Binghe, fighting the animals.) And then then then

He'd totally do it on an alt account, right?? Peerless Cucumber can't be seen making fanart!! (And he's good at it. Like, wiki is using his art in the monsters and beasts pages (that Peerless Cucumber volleyed for. He also separated it from the plant section.) Because 1 its good 2 the artstyle is consistent 3 there isn't a lot of monster official art, other than that one with the black moon rhinoceros python and those other ones and 4 it's really that good)

Haha incomprehensible parenthesis nesting aside, Airplane is watching the forums, right? Not sure about other stuff in canon but he looks at the forums and the fanart and the fiction and most of it is probably corn and binghe and just a little bit of mobei-jun and also the wives tm but!! There's also that guy!!! The monsters guy!! (People would probably suspect 'Drawing the Beast's Ire'- or some other sex euphemism I'm not good at making those- of being Peerless Cucumber because 1 the writing style is the same 2 Peerless Cucumber is the number 1 contributor to the PIDW wiki and a lot of it is the monsters and beasts section and it makes sense, yes??) Anyway, Airplane shooting towards the sky suspects but not too seriously suspects Mr ire of being cucumber's fanart alt but uh uh that ends pre-transmigration section

So, Shen Yuan starts running about, right? Things seem really... familiar, maybe thats the word?- for some reason. This is because every animal and plant he's ever drawn, sketched- maybe even thought about but that's a stretch?- is his design. The firefly parallels hold their forelimbs like butterflies. That is how far down it goes. Maybe it doesn't come up until later, but beasts and monsters from fanfiction get involved, oc species, too... anyway,

Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky transmigrates 30 years (iirc) before Peerless Cucumber. He was an avid enough follower of Drawing the Beast's Ire to recognize that these are their designs! Here's where it gets really crazy. Xiao-Mobei comes along, and while he's still pretty young, Airplane can tell that this is Drawing Ire's design! Some aspect, maybe his ears or teeth, (this isn't a well built theoretical tangent) of Mobei isnt canon. Its Drawing Ire's. From that one Northern Kingdom collection. Whatever stretched his world building into coherence, completion, didn't just pull from fanwork, official art, whatever it could find, it went for Drawing the Beast's Ire's designs specifically. Damn that's crazy Airplane ahahaha moving on,

This is getting really long so I'll be a bit more concise, (want to know more? Talk to me. Please talk to me. I want to interact with the fandom. Ask me questions. Poke your fingers into my cage.) This all comes to head at the Immortal alliance conference. The monsters and beasts really start pouring in! And Shen Qingqiu/Yuan remembers his creations. However, he assumes that this is because like 1 other person maybe was Drawing ghost head spiders.

Hey, Peerless Cucumber really liked the monsters, right? The deadlier, crazier, more intricate, the design the better! So maybe, when he was drawing, he... added some things, really believable, logical additions, really just small creative decisions...

Anyway, the monsters that Drawing the Beast's Ire made were where it came to a head.

Lets have another Canon divergence. Maybe, during or after Binghe gets pushed in, out of the rifts comes a species that Drawing Ire created. It's beautiful, poisonous, beloved, and really quite deadly. Shen Yuan/Qingqiu, Peerless Cucumber, Drawing the Beast's Ire... realizes, quite like airplane before him, that he's illustrated, practically sculpted with his own hands, monsters from the Endless Abyss with claws and teeth and poisons as deadly as Peerless Cucumber thought that the really cool monsters could deserve. It feels like he's the one cutting, biting, poisoning his sweet little sheep. It feels like he's digging out the marrow from his little white lotus disciple's bones.

Ok it is shut up time 👍

[divinit3a]

For the ask game 💕

💕 Time for a shout-out! What are some of your fav AUs from other creators in the fandom? ⭑ dca au ask game

^-^ ....OK! I shall set down all the cakes on the table for a full buffet! Get your forks & knives out! 🍽️🍽️🍽️

please don't hesitate to let me know if you'd prefer not to be @'d in the future, or to be removed from this post u_u <3 I totally respect folk's preferences!

✨ lets go! ⭑⭑⭑ ⭑⭑⭑ ⭑⭑⭑

@muzzlemouths Dead Mall Dare / DfTR AU(s) Dead Mall Dare was one of the first AUs I read (like, literally. 1-2 months ago!) & I went woooaaah they are fun removed from original context. Isn't that so neat ?? This isn't a rabbithole to fall in, tho. u_u No wayyy guys c'mon ... /j Likewise, DfTR is a treat to watch unfold & see people squirm ^-^

@r0b0-wannabe Botanical Garden AU (or just any of your stories, but I'm.. sticking to the law...s... ) Hi, I stayed up to 2-3am drawing ur boys bc Im normal about this AU & how endearing it is... obviously... (💚) I love your writing style & characterizations. Maybe this is silly, but, I also enjoy learning about plantcare, too :3

@sinister-sincerely 2nd Choice AU Oh, you are so evil. The username matches. (A COMPLIMENT!! Hehe.) Oh, you write drama, angst/no comfort, hurting/damaged characters making awful choices so well. It was wild doing a double-take to realize YOU! are the WRITER for 2nd choice!! Some day, I will get u. For now, run 💜🔪

@wyervan Human!Slasher AU :D Yay! Both the OG/Main storyline are wonderful. I find the community version very endearing as an AU-within-an-AU. (love that!) As someone who used to run RP groups (on god!) it fills my heart with joy to see people filling out a world with so much life. Your art style is delightfully grungy ^-^/

@pluck-heartstrings - Pluck My Heartstrings AU Ohhh. I am weak to fairytale/renfaire vibes, as well as the more classic harlequin jester aesthetic u_u<3 Plus, the Vocalist/Princess is just so dang compelling, too. Your design sense is impeccable.

@moon-buggg Haunted House & Mad Scientist AUs They are both so neat & I can't wait to learn more!! The Haunted House AU designs live in my head rent free along with the comics :3

@zenkaiankoku Broken but Better AU Lovely, torn-up designs! Yay, mechanical horror! Yay, angst!! And a delightful remix of their personalities, too <3

@authormeat Alienware AU ^-^ I am instantly delighted by the weird guy freak energy & that the yn IS an alien/monster. Thats all I want & more. I also love ur designs for other AUs

...

...

...... 🧍 I Have More to Say

And...And... Not.. AU specific, but 🏏💥BAM , BAM 💥🏏 LOVELY FOLKS!!!!!!

🍲 <{ @soupdweller THERE IS NO ESCAPE ok but fr.. I appreciate ya, homie :3 you are a joy to chat with!! beautiful art!! evil mind!! delicious soups. i cant wait for whatever u cook up ^-^ 🐤 <{ @luckyyyduckyyy I WILL READ UR AU STORIES!! RUN & HIDE!!! you are the goofiest goober in the wild west, by goodness. i love ur energy and the gorgeous designs u create!! 🐛 <{ @chickenchirps27 ACK I COULD STARE AT UR ART FOREVER! I'll have to start volleying over illustrators I think ya might enjoy... u are so sweet & funny!! 🐐 <{ @lurking-loaf YOU ARE SO KIND! Seriously, I appreciate the fun craft projects you recommended -& your words of support :') 🔮 <{ @anis-sketches :D HI! Happy to throw recs your way. Also, your art is adorable!! 🌿 <{ @craykaycee HI TO U TOO!! the tags u leave always make me smile, and i appreciate u stopping by to say hi... :3 & MANYMANY MORE BUT I NEED TO CUT MYSELF OFF OR ELSE

Per usual, I lost sight of the original goal. But! Consider:

🏏💥WHAM , BAM 💥🏏 GOTCHU >:)

[izudeeilo]

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

You can study me

Sero hanta smau

volley-ball player sero x art student fem!reader, no quirks au, college au.

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌���﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

Senior year is finally here! You thought that this time, the teachers would be more lenient with you and your classmates, but not at all. In fact, they even got stricter... They assigned you a half year-long work, which would be worth 30% of your final grade. What does the work consist of, you ask? Making a complete study of the life of a student you need to pick and paint it.

But... you can't pick a friend

Part .2 • Part .4

Part 3

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

You all walked into the club you’ve been going to since you can remember. It was your favorite because it played primarily 80s and 90s music, the whole club was also 80s themed.

The floor tiles were black and white, disco balls adorned the ceiling and casted beautiful lights all around the place.

You squeezed your eyes shut a few times from the bright colour lights emanating from above you as you made your way through the crowd with your friends.

Squeezed between people you danced to the music that was already ending, Izuku was next to you and Himiko and Ochaco right in front of you.

The next music played, and you jumped onto what you thought was Izuku’s arm and yelled “Oh I love that song!”

You turned your head and were met by Mina with a smile on her face and wide open eyes.

”Y/n! What are you doing here” she screamed, her hands going to your shoulders excitedly.

”The same as you, I would say, I’ve never seen you around here before” you chuckled, happy to see a familiar face.

”I figured I would try something new this time and I absolutely love it here!! Even more now that I know you also go here” she smiled, nudging your shoulder.

You took her hand and led her to your friends after she said she came here alone and you offered to spend the night together.

And as the song played, A forest by The Cure, you locked your eyes with her, and you both began dancing together. Her, in front of you, both shaking your shoulders from left to right in rhythm. Throwing your heads back, hands dancing in the air as you breathe in the alcohol fuelled air.

Come closer and see. See into the trees.

You all chant the lyrics and whirl around on the dance floor, moving your bodies from side to side.

After an hour or two of dancing, Mina led you all to the bar and ordered 5 blue lagoons.

”That’s on me you guys” she grinned at you, twirling around on her chair.

You all looked at her with disbelief, trying to insist on paying for your own drinks, but she declined and said it was nothing. You took your drinks when they were ready and went to sit around a table a bit further away.

She was so easy to get along with, like you all already knew each other. The conversation was going smoothly and you spent god knows how long talking about anything and everything.

Getting up from time to time to dance when a song you liked played.

You didn’t even order more drinks after that, too lost in the conversation to think about anything else.

Down Under by Men at Work was playing in the background as people still danced on the dance floor, the mix of sweat and alcohol slowly filling the air.

”I can’t believe that, how didn’t you tell us, my heart is breaking” Ochaco fake tries, clenching her chest.

Izuku hides his face and laughs “I couldn’t. It was a way too embarrassing moment to share with anyone.”

Mina throws her head back and laughs, and we all follow after her. She wipes a tear from her eye before continuing.

”I think it was the hardest i've ever laughed, I will never forget that scene” Izuku nudged her shoulder playfully and chuckled.

”So I heard from Kacchan you’re looking for a new place?” Izuku suddenly says.

We all turn our heads to them with a questioning look.

“Oh right that! Yeah my roommates are kicking me out for no reason” she leans back in her chair with an annoyed look.

”Seriously— What the hell is wrong with them?” you say revolted. What kind of roommates just kick you out like that you thought.

“The not so nice ones” she laughs “They’ve always been assholes but since it was a big house and they went out a lot, I thought it would be easy to avoid them and mind my own business.”

You sit here bewildered, wondering how she even managed to live more than a few days with these kinds of people. Living in a house where you always checked if there was someone home, not leaving your room when you wanted or needed to. Absolutely insane.

The girls and you quickly look at each other and nod with a small grin.

”You know me and the girls live together, and there's actually one bedroom we don’t use. Well, mostly, we only put random boxes in it or stuff we’re too lazy to put in the cave.” you say with a slight laugh.

Mina looks between you, Ochaco, and Himiko.

“Are you saying what I think you’re saying? “ Mina leans forward, hands gripping the seat she was in.

You nod. “Come live with us!”

She gets up almost immediately and goes in for a big group hug, squeezing the breath out of your lungs. Jumping in circles screaming.

”Oh I can’t thank you guys enough. You genuinely just saved my life” she hugs you again, one by one this time.

It was an impulsive decision but you didn’t regret it one bit. Mina was a sweet and funny person and you knew she would bring even more wonderful energy in your shared apartment. You couldn’t wait until she was living with you all.

Two weeks later, she was ready to move in. All the papers were finally done after long days of waiting. For god knows what reason, the whole thing was a pain to do, and your landlord took an absurd amount of time to get everything done.

You just helped her put the last of her boxes into the room you had emptied and cleaned. Izuku also came and helped lift the heavier things she had brought with her.

”Your apartment looks so lovely, this is going to be amazing” she lifts her arms in the air in excitement.

You open your mouth to say something but are interrupted by the sound of your ringtone.

”Sorry let me take this” you smile leaving the girls to chat and making your way to your room.

You sit on your bed before answering.

”Hi Hanta” you grin.

”Hi hermosa” you can hear the smirk on his face as he speaks.

”Stop calling me that” you chuckle.

”Why would I if it’s true”

You roll your eyes and scoff.

”I can feel you rolling your eyes. Are you rolling your eyes?”

”No…”

”Liar.” he chuckles. “I was calling to ask if you were free today?”

”Today? Sorry Mina just moved in and we want to spend the evening together” you reply a bit sad about not getting to see him.

During these two weeks, you two grew closer, now eating lunch together every day, seeing him and the boys at practice when you were free and just hanging out around the campus or taking walks in the city.

You’ve now had your designed places when you hung out, sketching him out when he wasn’t looking.

It would be a lie to say that his little nicknames didn’t get to you and made you feel warm inside every time he spoke.

“Oh right! How about tomorrow?” He brought you out of your thoughts.

”Eager to see me huh” you tease.

”What can I say, I may like spending time with you” You can hear him slightly move on his bed.

”Tomorrow’s perfect. See you at?”

”Three. I’ll pick you up at three.”

”See you at three then Hanta” you smile while hanging up.

You let out a sight and continue smiling to yourself.

The rest of the evening was filled with laughter and music as all four of you sat on the couch. Watching movies and playing board games for hours before you all pass out from exhaustion.

You were convinced it was a good idea to offer Mina to move in and you were absolutely right.

The next morning you woke up before everyone else at around 11am. You get up slowly, careful as to not wake up the girls who were still sleeping. Ochaco had her head pressed on Himiko’s chest, one leg over her waist and Mina was using Ochaco’s back as a pillow.

You chuckled quietly at their weird position and made your way to the bathroom. Taking off your clothes you take a quick shower and make your way to your room to pick out an outfit for the day.

You scan through your closet and decide on a short white sweater, a black skirt and a large dark brown jacket. You put them on and add tights underneath with long white socks.

You went back to the bathroom and did a simple makeup, putting your hair in a hair clip.

Quietly, you go to the kitchen and make yourself some tea while waiting for Hanta.

After some time, you hear the doorbell and quickly put your boots on before grabbing your bag and opening the front door.

”Hi” you say slightly looking up at him.

”Hi” he smiles at you, looking you up and down, admiring your outfit.

“You look…very pretty.” he says as he tilts his head.

”So do you” I compliment him back.

Closing the door, you both make your way down to his car. You had no idea where he wanted to bring you. You kept asking him during the ride, but his mouth was sealed shut. You settled on turning on the radio and waiting until you arrived at his mysterious destination.

a/n a longer chapter for you guys this time ☝🏻

[short-honey-badger]

This isn't over 3

Pairings! Shanks x Female Reader , Figarland Shamrock x Female Reader

Part 1 -> HERE Part 2 -> HERE

Masterlist for Shamrock and Shanks-> HERE

The days with Shanks pass in peace. You have all the freedom in the world on his ship, and his crew welcomes you with open arms and strong drinks. You get blistering drunk for the first time in your life with them, singing raunchy sea shanties at the top of your lungs and dancing with Bonk Punch and Limejuice. Shanks watched on with a lovestruck look, his burgundy eyes soft and full of affection. It's been weeks since he had stolen you away from his twin, and he still couldn't bring himself to regret it.

Was there a tiny kernel of guilt deep in his chest for stealing you away? There absolutely was, but Shanks knew that you weren't meant to be holed up in the big house, surrounded by people who only meant to use you for your name and your station. He had saved you from that, and now you were as free as the albatross that led them to land.

But he also knew his brother and knew that Shamrock had cared for you in his own, weird, roundabout way. His twin had come to him more than once, confused and annoyed about these feelings he had for you, and Shanks had helped where he could, telling his big brother that the best way to your heart was to be kind and let her know that he was interested. Shanks hadn't meant for his brother to go and speak to their gods-forsaken father about it.

There was only one person that Shamrock listened to, and that was Saint Figarland Garling, and that man had taken his eldest son’s chance with you and ground it into the floor with his boot. So, after seeing the tentative relationship you shared with Shamrock literally blow up after his brother continued to berate and scold you, Shanks had had enough.

At first, he only meant to step in to be someone you could talk to that you could rely on when his twin became too overbearing. But then he realized just how sweet and funny you could be when you weren't ducking your head trying to be the perfect betrothed for Shamrock. Eventually, you had stolen his heart, and Shanks knew that he couldn't leave you in Mariejois to become a shell of who you are.

With a quiet sigh, Shanks shifts on the bed, rolling so that he can face you, his lips pulling into a small smile at the sight of you curled up beside him. You are beautiful even in your sleep, your brow smoothed out, and your face relaxed in rest. He leans over you, lips brushing against your brow, and you shift at the touch, a soft sound of protest leaving you. He grins when you crack your eyes open.

“Mornin’ sweetheart,” He rumbles, voice rough from just waking up. You smile, eyes bleary and reach for him, arms coming up to curl around his neck and pull him down for a sweet kiss. He happily meets your lips, eyes sliding closed as he falls into you, his weight a delightful pressure that pushes you into the mattress.

He shifts, pulling his knees up so that he can balance on them, one leg sliding over your hips to bracket you between his thighs. His hand wonders, nails dragging along your exposed waist and sneaking up and under the baggy shirt you wear. You sigh into the kiss when he cups your breast, his thumb flicking across your nipple before Shanks gently pinches the bud between thumb and forefinger, rolling it between his fingertips and making you whine against his mouth.

Only for the moment to be broken by the sound of cannon fire.

The Red Force jerks as it is struck in the bow, wood exploding and splinters raining down around the crew outside. Shanks jerks up and away from you, eyes going wide as he falls to the side and out of the bed, jerking his pants on as quickly as he can and foregoing any other clothes as he books it out the door of his cabin.

Terror grips your heart when another volley strikes the ship, sending it careening dangerously to the side. You follow your lover's lead, ripping the sheets off of you and dressing as quickly as you can before running after him. Once outside, your heart gets stuck in your throat when you see just who had attacked the ship.

There, a couple of hundred feet away, is a ship that could only have come from Mariejois. A massive galleon, at least three rows of cannons on each side, and forward chain shots mounted on the front. If you squint hard enough, you can see a figure standing at the front of the bow, just behind the figurehead, with long red hair whipping in the harsh winds.

“Brace for impact!” Benn snarls and then you are grabbed around the waist and pulled against the first mate's side when the last volley sings its way toward the Red Force, smashing into the port side and blowing chunks of wood into the ocean.

Your heart pounds in fear and guilt, knowing that Shanks and his crew were being attacked because of you. Shamrock had sworn to find you, and it seems like he had made good on his promise to do so. You rip yourself from Benn and sprint towards where you can see Shanks at the helm, a look of annoyance etched deep in his face.

“You should be down below, sweetheart. It's not safe up here for you,” Shanks snaps the moment he sees you. He had hoped that you would have stayed inside his cabin. Shanks grits his teeth, his haki lashing in rage. He can't believe his brother would fire upon them like this.

“Man, the cannons! Get us turned around, Snake!” He orders, and his crew jumps to action, men climbing the rigging and stuffing cannonballs into cannons. You cling to the railing when half the sails snap shut, the Red Force turning on a dime to present the starboard side towards the ship from Mariejois. Your teeth rattle in your skull when cannons fly from the ship, sailing through the hair and striking the other vessel with dangerous precision.

The ships begin to circle one another, cannons and chain shots flying slamming into each other. However, the longer the battle rages, the more damage the Red Force begins to take. The galleon that Shamrock captains are much larger than the fast frigate that his twin has, and for every volley of cannon fire the Red Force throws their way, Shamrock sends three times as many right back.

“Shanks, Shanks, you know why he is here,” you yell over the sounds of battle. You stumble your way over to him, feet aching from stepping on splinters and broken wood. You grab him by the arm to steady yourself and get his attention.

Shanks pulls away just so that he can curl his arm around your waist and hold you closer. He knows exactly why his twin is here, but like hell would he be giving you up without a fight.

“I know it, baby. Don't you worry though. He isn't taking you anywhere,” Shanks swears, but jerks in shock when you push at his chest, your voice a desperate plea.

“Shanks, your ship is seconds away from sinking! I know that you and your crew are strong, but so is your brother. I don't want any of you to get hurt!”

He rounds on you, his eyes wide and manic, hand grabbing you by the shoulder, “What are you saying then? I should just let him have you?”

You grasp his wrist, chest aching with fear and grief for a love you'd only just gotten to know. Tears well up, and as much as you don't want to do this, it was the best way to keep Shanks and his crew safe.

“Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying,” you cry. You want to throw yourself at him, want Shanks to hold you close, and tell you that you didn't have to do this, but you can't.

“Please, Shanks.”

The redhead stares down at this brave, brave woman who has stolen his heart and swears loudly. He knows that you are right. His ship has taken on more water than it has in decades, making it list to the side and shake ominously with every strike it takes. Shanks steps forward, hand curling into your hair and pulling you in for a passionate kiss, one that you would remember for the rest of your life.

“I promise, love. I promise that I will save you,” Shanks swears against your lips, and you whine and kiss him back, wanting with everything in your being for his promise to be true, “Nothing will ever keep me from you.”

When he pulls away, you take him by the cheeks, meeting his eyes with your own teary ones, “I love you.”

With that, you tear yourself away, fearing that if you hear him say it back, you will end up staying right by his side. You run to one of the rowboats and throw yourself into one, cutting the rope with a jagged piece of metal that slices into your palms when you grasp it. You brace yourself as you fall, the boat hitting the water hard enough that you have to catch yourself anyway.

You can hear Shanks shouting your name, but your ears are ringing too much and stuffed with terror that you can't make out anything he says. With shaky arms, you begin to row toward Shamrock, the air growing still and silent within seconds. Curious, you look up to see that the Red Force is waving the white flag and has turned around, the wind catching the mainsail and hurting the frigate further and further away from you.

You stop rowing, knowing that Shamrock would be here soon enough to scoop you out of the ocean. It is too soon that the galleon reaches you, the massive ship sliding up to your rowboat. You refuse to move from where you sit, and seconds later, a pair of tall, black boots land in front of you.

Shamrock's chest feels thick in heady victory. It had taken a bit, but he had finally caught up with his brother. He crouches down, gloved hands snapping out to cup your cheeks and pull your face up to look at him. He takes in your expression, your eyes full of terror that make arousal burn hot in his stomach. Adrenaline running high, he bends and presses his lips to yours, drinking in the gasp you make and taking his chance to push his tongue past your lips.

The kiss is harsh and sloppy, a far cry from the one that you had shared with Shanks, but you don't fight against it. You have accepted what you've done, and it is time to face the consequences of your actions.

To your surprise, the kiss changes, his lips turning into a gentle caress and his tongue curious instead of demanding. Still, you do not kiss back, but it doesn't seem to matter to Shamrock. He sighs as he pulls away, his brow resting against your own as he opens his eyes to meet your own glassy ones.

“I have been waiting weeks to do that,” Shamrock murmurs, and his hold on you turns possessive, fingers curling around your jaw as he holds you closer, pressing his face against your own, his nose sliding across yours, “And now you are here, and I can have you whenever I desire.”

@mfreedomstuff @sanjisleggy @nocturnalrorobin @mit-suri @forever-a-night-owl @sordidmusings

[hannieween]

bad idea | backstage series | l.sm

It was all an act. A mantra you repeated to yourself since the moment you first kissed. You'd made a pact with Seokmin to remain friends. Yet even when his touch seemed like wildfire, you clung to the fragile threads of that promise, as you felt yourself melting at the touch of his lips.

♡︎ pairings: lee seokmin x afab!reader ♡︎ genre: angst, smut mdni you'll get blocked ♡︎ aus: theatre performer seokmin,fake dating with benefits ♡︎ word count: 10.8k

↣ part 1 – part 2 – navi post

₊🎧: i.m - more ♡︎ | kiss of fire - woodz

₊ nsfw tags under the cut

♡︎ warnings: multiple mentions of food and alcohol, swearing, smut with plot, pet names: baby, noodle (hers), soft dom seokmin, big dick seokmin, multiple unprotected sex scenes, unprotected sex in public spaces (1), doggystyle, creampie, oral sex (f, m), soft-edging, a bit of praise kink (f) drama | i wrote this at 3am so sorry if there's any mistakes weird time jumps in narration again sorry

part 3

The pain in your chest was almost unbearable.

You found support with your hands on your knees, breathing hard under the scorching bright midday sunlight.

"I'm calling it," Seungkwan announced, he was pretending to look for your pulse with two fingers under your jaw. "She's dead. Or will be. Soon. I give her twenty two seconds."

"Shut up, Kwan," you laughed brushing his hand away. "I'm just out of practice, okay?"

"Well, no shit, dummy," he laughed. "You've been spending too much time with your boyfriend now, you barely have time for volley."

His white sneakers came into your view, so bright under the sunlight that almost blinded you. Seungkwan patted you in the back twice, and walked off.

"Yeah, that and the fact that we've been going for hours," you stood upright. "Can we go? I really need to eat something otherwise I'll truly die."

He scoffed and brushed sweat from his brow with a towel. "Fine. But you're buying."

"What? Why me?" you whined, still breathless. "It's your turn!"

He turned to the bleachers to grab his stuff, and you followed. "Consider it as pay up for standing me up last tuesday."

"I've told you already that I'm sorry for that!" you whine again when you grab your duffel bag and follow him away from the volleyball court.

"Buy me coffee and I'll think about it."

Seungkwan wasn't angry at you. You knew that. He just liked playing with your head because he knew you still felt guilty for standing him up.

So you bought him iced coffee and a bowl of yogurt parfait.

"Now, you're trying to get under my good graces again," he said feigning dignity, lifting his chin up and eyeing you up and down.

"Well, I truly am sorry for standing you up," you said as you dug into your bowl. "I know I should've texted. I was... busy."

Your best friend saw your cheeks flush. "Oh, keep the details to yourself, please," he said, threatening to throw his plastic spoon at you. "I don't wanna know what you two were doing."

Last tuesday you woke up to find your friend, Seokmin, lying in bed next to you.

He was lying face down, his muscly arms around his head and hugging the pillow his face was half buried in, your lavender bed sheets covered him up to his lower back, leaving his bare back to your view.

On his back were pink scratch marks that you had made on him the night before. Then you understood the fixation he had for the hickeys he gave you on your neck.

You resisted the urge to touch him. To use your fingertips to connect lines between his moles and freckles of his face. Even asleep, he looked beautiful.

Silently, you grabbed the first piece of clothing from the floor and left your bedroom in search for your phone. The scent of Seokmin's plaid shirt coated you when you put in on closing a few buttons.

As you made your way out the bedroom, you noticed your muscles blissfully sore and tired from the day before. So in your search, you took the opportunity to drink water and take something for the pain.

Your jeans were tossed on one side of your couch, and right there you found your phone just a few minutes before your first alarm went off at 7 am.

An hour later, you had prepared breakfast and coffee when Seokmin emerged from your room, wearing his jeans and putting his white tank top on. His face and hair were slightly wet, which you assumed he had washed himself before joining you in the kitchen.

"Morning," you chirped.

You saw him glance your body up and down, noticing you were wearing his grey plaid shirt.

"G'morning," he pressed his lips in a smile.

"Are you hungry?" you asked with a shaky voice because for some reason you felt nervous under his gaze.

"Famished," he muttered.

You pushed a plate full of scrambled eggs, toast and bacon onto the counter of your tiny kitchen, which had two stools that already came with the lease for your otherwise mostly empty apartment.

Seokmin eyed you, a sweet smile on his lips. "I feel spoiled," he quipped and sat on a stool. "How can I repay you?"

"It's just breakfast. Chill," you laughed and handed him a cup of coffee.

"Still," he said while munching on his toast. "The next one's on me."

"What, you'll cook for me?" you asked, incredulous.

"Of course not," he chuckled. "I'll take you somewhere you won't die from food poisoning."

When you saw his sweet smile, a sharp pain tugged in your stomach. He was so cute that it gave you the same feeling you felt whenever you saw a squishy so cute you wanted to squeeze it.

You realized that you too had a smile on your face while you ate breakfast with him.

When Seokmin helped you clean the kitchen, he sang while doing so. It was usual for him, whenever he had a new role he did that, he would just break into song loudly and perfectly. He was known for doing that and it turned into a bit when you were in uni. The menace walking in the halls before class, singing loudly at 8 in the morning.

But you liked it. You've always liked it even when he only sang the same lyrics over and over again every five minutes. Each time was better than the one before it.

Now as he had to rehearse the songs for his role, he sang them from start to finish while you finished doing the dishes. Like your personal little show.

His voice was warm, it was like sunshine warming your chest after a cold cloudy morning.

He was sitting on a stool, scrolling through his phone while still humming some tune. You had finished doing the dishes already and he noticed, lifting his head to see you.

You had been quiet for a while, and it wasn't just because you were listening to him.

"What's going on in that head of yours?" he asked.

You approached where he was sitting and leaned on the kitchen counter next to him. You chewed the inside of your cheek, deciding where to begin.

"I uh... never thanked you for what you did when my ex was talking to me," you breathed. "I didn't know how to get out of that situation and you helped me. Thank you for that."

He blinked and put his phone down. "You don't have to thank me for that," his brow furrowed a bit. "Even if I wasn't your fake boyfriend, I would have done it."

"Well, I felt like saying thanks because it meant a lot to me," you mumbled, tugging at the sleeves of his shirt that fit you a bit too large.

"You never told me what he said to you," he reminded you.

You rolled your eyes at the memory. "He says he's happy that I moved on. And that he wants to put everything behind us," you chewed on the inside of your lip. "He never once said he was sorry, though."

"Does an apology from him mean anything to you?" Seokmin mused, "I mean, given all the shit he has said and done to you."

"It doesn't," you put in simply. "It doesn't mean anything to me anymore. But I'm still angry that I didn't have the guts to tell him that."

Seokmin's eyes darkened. "It's not worth it," he muttered. "I don't think he deserves your forgiveness."

That made you smile. "That's a bit extreme."

"I mean it. He's an asshole. He broke your heart," if he didn't look serious before, he did now.

Your lips quivered a little bit when you tried to hold your laugh in.

"Don't laugh," he muttered with pouting lips.

"You're cute when you're angry," you laughed.

"I'm not angry," he countered, still pouting his lips but then he broke into a smile.

"Bullshit, Lee Seokmin," you smiled, landing a soft slap on his shoulder.

"Shut up," he muttered and grabbed your hand with his as it landed on his skin.

Then he yanked your hand towards his body, pulling you between his legs as he was still sitting on the stool, now you were face to face, the counter digging at your back.

"You're such a tease, do you know that?" he muttered with a playful smile, before capturing your lips with his.

Hands gripped your hips and after squeezing once he decided that it wasn't enough so he dipped them under his plaid shirt, finding your bare skin with a groan.

"I like how you look with my stuff on," he growled before crushing his mouth on yours again, tongues lapping and sinking his teeth on your lips.

Then he stood up from the stool, pushing it back as his hands on your hips lifted you up and took you to the bedroom. You let out a yelp when your back hit your bed, but as soon as his lips found yours again you immediately wrapped your legs around him.

His left hand made his way to the base of your head, grabbing your hair to pull your head back. A moan left your lips as he dipped his head to kiss your sensitive neck, he had made hickeys there so he was now kissing them softly.

The other hand was placed on your hip, under his shirt. He traced circles on your skin softly, sending shivers down your body.

"Seokmin," you gasped when his tongue slid on the crook of your neck.

"Mmm?" he hummed in your ear. "Want me to stop?"

The question wasn't genuine. It sounded gentle on his voice, but you knew he was taunting you. You muttered some incoherencies under your breath, you didn't even know why you called his name but sure as hell you didn't want him to stop.

"Mm? I didn't catch that," he muttered.

"Do that again, please," you whimpered.

A sigh brushed your collarbones and you could tell he was smiling when he found the sensitive spot on your neck again and planted a wet kiss on it before lapping your already tingling skin with his tongue.

That drew a moan out your mouth. And suddenly you were too conscious of all the noise you've been making.

But Seokmin's fingers pulled the shirt you were wearing up to reveal the lower half of your body. He kissed you sweetly on your sternum, all the way down to the band of your panties.

You noticed that he ignored your chest area, but didn't think too much about it. Two of his fingers came down to your clothed pussy, feeling that the fabric of your underwear was already wet in your arousal.

You jolted at the touch, even if he wasn't really touching you. "Seokmin, please. Stop teasing me."

He deposited one chaste kiss on your mouth. "We're going to have to make this quick," he said quickly. "I don't have much time."

Then he broke away and stood from the bed, your legs falling on the mattress as you watched him take off his tank top and jeans. You followed suit and begun to undo the buttons of his plaid shirt.

He patted one of your hands with his. "Stop that," he muttered. Then he removed your panties and tossed them away.

You watched as he knelt down before your bed. He was just wearing his underwear, his cock so hard that it was pressing against the dark fabric. Seeing him kneeling after you on your bedroom floor did something to you, it made you salivate, widen your eyes, it made your core throb with anticipation.

And before you knew what was coming, he yanked you down on your bedsheets grabbing you by your legs. So now your ass was by the border of the mattress, and he was between your thighs.

"Put your legs on my shoulders," he muttered softly.

When you did so, he ran a finger down your core, and now you held in a breath. "You have the prettiest pussy. Have I told you that?"

You felt your cheeks flush, not knowing what to answer really.

But he was wasting no time. Rolling up the shirt to your belly button, he placed his hands on your lower belly, pressing down gently at the same time he dipped his head down on your core.

Soon you forgot about not being loud. You rolled your eyes and arched your back, moaning loudly.

Starting by lapping on your folds, Seokmin moved his head up and down to lick you fully. The tip of his tongue traced a circle around your clit, before sucking on it. And as if testing what made you scream louder, he also pressed his tongue flatly on your clit and moved his head.

You felt your legs tense up, and grabbed onto the sheets of the bed, trying to wriggle your hips against his face desperately but the hands on your belly pressed down with more strength restrained you completely.

He repeated the same process, licking, sucking and teasing your clit. To whatever he did, you wouldn't stop moaning his name, pleading for him to not stop.

Until you realized that he was edging you. Whenever you felt closer to your release, he'd notice it and change to either just licking your folds, or sucking your clit, or tracing circles around it.

"Seokmin," you breathed. "Let me cum, please."

He just hummed in response, as if he were pondering on it while he continued teasing your cunt. His tongue came up to your clit, and as he did, his eyes landed on your face.

A groan came out through your gritted teeth and you arched your back, closing your eyes tightly. The tension in your core was almost unbearable.

"Seokmin," your fingers tangled in his soft copper hair. "Please. Just let me-ugghh fuck. Fuckfuckfuck."

He continued sucking on your clit, without changing in pace or movement, he sucked while moving his head up and down ever so slightly over and over, sending you over the edge.

Your orgasm hit you, hard. You felt your body tremble as it took you in erratic waves. It left you breathless and you had closed your eyes so tightly that when you opened them again, you had to blink a few times to regain focus.

Small kisses landed on your mound, and then made their way back to your belly. You felt exhausted, but still pulled him into a sloppy wet kiss when he climbed back on the bed. He motioned you to move back to the centre of the bed and as you did, he planted wet kisses on your face.

A chuckle was muffled by your mouth when your fingers tugged clumsily at the band of his underwear. He took them off and climbed back, his body hovering closely on top of you.

"Should I take the shirt off?" you asked, feeling that it was weird that he hadn't taken off of you yet.

"Leave it on," he muttered at the same time he leaned down and placed one elbow next to your head.

"Why?" your brow furrowed.

Your head was within his hand's reach, so he dug his fingers in your hair and placed a kiss on your chin.

"I want to fuck you in it."

You didn't think about it further. You knew it might be a possessive thing. But just as you liked the scratch marks on his back and the hickeys you had on your neck, you liked the idea of him fucking you wearing his shirt.

"Is that okay?" he asked in a soft tone.

"Yeah," your brow furrowed. "I'm okay with everything you give me."

A satisfied smile appeared on his face. It shocked you a little that you even find it arousing to see him smile while having sex.

"You'll let me do anything to you?" he muttered, capturing your lips with his briefly.

"Anything," you nodded eagerly. You grabbed his cock with one hand and guided it to your core. Earning another soft chuckle from him. You thought he'd chastise you again about being impatient but he didn't say anything about it.

He didn't warn you this time, his cock was already aligned with your core so he just started sinking in. You pushed your knees back, lifting your feet from the mattress and thus angling your hips for him. He groaned and dropped his head on the crook of your neck.

Your hands held onto his naked shoulders as his hips dipped in a few shallow thrusts and you stopped biting your lip when he was fully inside you.

"God," you whimpered. "So fucking big."

He had a light smile on his lips when he found your lips to give you a few tentative kisses. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," you breathed and pointed a finger at him. "Just don't edge me this time."

He started thrusting on you without any warning again. "Don't be a tease, then," he placed a chaste kiss on your lower lip. "Can you do that?"

His thrusts landed so deep inside you that you let out a cry. "Yes," you replied without much thinking.

"Yes, what?" he muttered while grazing his teeth across your chin.

"I won't be a tease," you said as you let out a strangled moan when his thrusts became more unrestrained, slamming on you.

"Good girl," he whispered before his lips slid in yours.

The room flooded with the sounds of skin slapping together along with your loud moans that slowly would turn into gasps.

Seokmin watched you intently. There was something in his eyes, you couldn't quite tell what it was. But you thought that he was tense and you concluded that he was probably trying to get this done quickly.

You moved your hands to cup his face. The sleeves of his shirt were so long that covered your arms up to your knuckles. You pulled him into a hot kiss of teeth clashing and groans from both you and him.

"God," you sighed when you pulled your head back to the bed, feeling your body sink into a wave of pleasure.

Seokmin dropped his head next to yours, his face burying in your hair lying in the crook of your neck. You could hear his strangled low moans in your ear.

"You feel so good, baby," he muttered with a tense voice.

You nibbled at the soft skin of his shoulder, caressing his back over the scratch marks you'd left the previous night. Seokmin was breathing harder on your neck, and you were tempted to tell him to just let go. But then he pulled out, his hips retracting from your fully.

A shiver ran down your spine at the loss of warmth and him inside you. But you didn't move, didn't touch him. With a groan, he visibly shuddered and waited for a few seconds.

Before you could say something, he lifted his head from the crook of your neck, and deposited open mouthed kisses on your lips. "Turn around, baby," he muttered in a strangled voice.

Seokmin sat back on his heels and when you did as he asked, he grabbed your hips with his hands, propping you up on your elbows and knees on the bed. You squealed at the roughness with which he grabbed you, but you didn't complain. You liked it.

Feeling his hands move from your hips to your lower back made you angle yourself in anticipation. Moving the fabric of his shirt up, he pressed a hand gently on your back before he eased himself in. You moaned loudly at the feeling of having him deeper in you and you heard him hiss.

His hands moved from your back and he placed them on the bed, soon you felt his back on yours as he pounded his hips against your backside hard enough you knew it would leave bruises. You heard his breath hitched next to your ear and then he groaned.

"Seokmin," you whined and shut your eyes tightly, trying to savour the feeling of him being inside you as much as you could.

Seokmin was panting behind you between the small kisses he left on the back of your neck. "Cum for me, baby," he whispered.

You slid a hand between your thighs, your fingers rubbing your clit to reach your release faster. Suddenly you let your face bury on the pillow, thus angling your hips towards him even more, which earned a groan from him. It only took a couple of thrusts from him to achieve what he asked.

The pillow muffled the loud sounds that were coming out of your mouth, and your hand grabbed at the corners of it while the other rubbed your clit sloppily.

The orgasm shook your body so hard, it had you squirming and grabbing at the sheets until you were reduced to strangled sounds and panting.

"Fuck," he groaned behind you and hearing his voice so taut in pleasure made your body respond with a shiver.

Then his hands were on your hips again, his thrusts became shallow and fast as he rolled the shirt up your back uncovering it completely and before you knew it, he pulled out. A soft groan resounded behind you when warm cum landed on your ass and lower back.

You felt your skin prickle at the sensation of his cum on your back. But you waited, trying not to move but your limbs were shaking, breathing loudly against your pillow.

"Don't move. I'm going to get something to clean you up," Seokmin said climbing off the bed.

Soon he was returning to clean your back. "Done," he muttered and patted you in the ass lightly, making you yelp in surprise.

Slowly, you let your body drop on the bed sheets, limbs shaking badly, panting loud enough to make you feel embarrassed. You rolled over and thought for a moment that Seokmin would lie next to you to catch his breath with you.

But he just leaned towards you to kiss your forehead, your cheek and then your lips. "You're always so good to me, baby," he muttered.

A warm feeling overwhelmed you. Your skin was bumpy from a mix of the frenzy and from Seokmin's warm compliment.

"I thought you were going to be quick," your voice was hoarse when you spoke again as he made his way out of your bedroom.

"Are you complaining?" he called back, and you could imagine he was smiling.

"No," you mumbled, but he was out of earshot.

You heard the shower running and you groaned.

"Come on. Let's get cleaned up," you heard him say and before you could move, he was taking you in his arms.

"Oh my god," you whined. "I can get there on my own."

You opened your eyes to see him smiling. "Let me take care of you," he mumbled as he set you down on the bathroom floor. "Arms up."

His shirt came off your body easily. And then you were standing under the stream of water.

"Was that okay? Was I too hard?" he asked as soon as he joined you in the shower.

"I'm fine. I like it," you hummed.

"Like what?" he cocked his head to the side.

"When you're a bit rough with me," you muttered, feeling a bit embarrassed.

He pressed his lips in a smile, showing his small dimple under the side of his mouth. "I know. I heard. Pretty sure your neighbours heard, too."

A hand landed on his chest, hitting him softly. "Shut up, Seokmin," you laughed.

"I like that you're loud," he shrugged.

"I know," you quipped. "I also noticed."

Grinning, he rolled his eyes and continued washing his body. He was lifting his arms up to wash his hair, and you saw him as the water ran down on his face with his eyes closed, his mouth parted a bit when he tilted his head back towards the stream of water.

The sunlight that came from the small window up in the bathroom clashed with the stream of water, thus painting a rainbow between Seokmin and you.

Your stomach twisted a bit.

When you returned to your bedroom, Seokmin was already half dressed. A travel toothbrush which he kept on his backpack he took for rehearsals, was hanging on his mouth.

He raised a hand at you and you threw his plaid shirt at him, which he caught gracefully and quickly put on. Then he went back to the bathroom to rinse his mouth.

"You should bring some of your clothes," you suggested when he came back to your bedroom.

Seokmin lifted his head to see you, then averted his gaze with a furrowed brow. "Uh..."

"If you want, I mean," you shrugged. "I don't mind. Plus, it could save you the effort for next time, y'know?"

"Sure, I'll keep it in mind," he replied, but there was something in his tone that wasn't really convincing. You decided not to push it.

He took his things from the nightstand and walked up to you.

"Sorry, I have to go. I'm already late."

You were about to reply to him that you were okay with his abrupt leave, but then he planted a kiss goodbye on your mouth. It was so quick that it made you stutter, and you almost assumed that Seokmin didn't initially mean to do that when you saw his alarmed eyes and quickly left your room.

It was fast, but it showed a lot of intimacy to you. Seokmin didn't normally kiss you outside sex. He only did it whenever you acted like a fake couple.

"Bye," you mumbled, but the door of your apartment was already slamming shut.

You sat on the edge of your bed, absentmindedly touching your lips with your fingers when your phone buzzed. In the back of your mind, you thought that you might have earned a noise complaint from your neighbours.

But looking at the screen, you groaned.

It was a text message from Seungkwan, you had stood him up.

A noise complaint would've been better.

"Are you there?" Seungkwan asked, pulling you out of your train of thought.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry. What were you saying?" you mumbled. Seungkwan had already finished eating his food. You were barely halfway through.

"I said," he was looking at something at his phone screen. "Are you going to be at Minghao's dinner party this saturday?"

"Yes, I think I can make it," you replied. "Maybe I can ask Jae to cover me."

He shook his head. "He's already covering me."

"Umm, I'll ask around, but I'll be there."

"Good. Now, can we go?" he set his phone down and looked at you. "We're going to be late for our shift. And you take forever to finish your food."

"Okay, okay, let's go. But we're even, right?"

Seungkwan rolled his eyes, but couldn't help but break into a smile.

The hickeys on your neck had all healed. You had been concealing them, either with makeup or by wearing turtlenecks and scarves. Given the demands of your profession, where you had to protect your vocal cords by keeping your chest covered, nobody really asked about the extra coverage.

But as you looked in the mirror, you didn't find any trace Seokmin's lips on your skin anymore. You decided to wear a black dress to Minghao's dinner party. According to the invitation details, he wanted everyone to wear something fancy.

So that's what you did. You thought the dress was on par with the intent of the night, and you imagined that it was something Minghao would approve.

It was semi long, it didn't show too much but it flattered your body in the best way possible. You paired it jewellery and red details on your makeup.

The style of the dress left her neckline and collar bones exposed, so you felt a little relieved that you didn't have to cover hickeys for tonight. It saved you some time.

It has been over a week since you last saw Seokmin. You two were busy anyway so you didn't think much of it. But you missed him. You found yourself anticipating the next time you saw each other.

In addition to the excitement, you were surprisingly in a good mood. You even noticed some positive changes in your daily routine; you started exercising more regularly and reconnecting with friends you had drifted away from during the toughest days after your breakup.

You even purchased a few pieces of furniture for your apartment to give it a cosier, more lived-in feel that truly reflected that you enjoyed living there alone. Because, truthfully, you did.

A buzz came from your bedroom, and you went to investigate that your phone had a few new messages from Seokmin.

[06:12 PM] seokminnie: noddle [06:12 PM] seokminnie: i'm picking you up at 7 [06:12 PM] seokminnie: for hao's party [06:12 PM] seokminnie: be ready :)

You couldn't help but smile at the nickname he used for you. Noodle. He was the only one who still called you that since university. Over time, you had developed a love-hate relationship with the nickname, but hearing it from him, you couldn't bring yourself to complain anymore.

[06:13 PM] you: okidoki :) [06:13 PM] seokminnie: okidoki? [06:13 PM] seokminnie: god you're such a dork [06:13 PM] you: shut up you like me either way :P

That was the end of your conversation so far.

You were already bubbling with anticipation to meet him once more. You were eager to show him the new additions you'd made to your apartment and to share the news that you were in the final auditions for another play.

While there wasn't any official confirmation about the role yet, you felt optimistic. You were putting your best effort into it, and for the first time, you felt that even if you didn't secure it, you would be okay. After all, you had your sights set on other projects too.

There was a knock on your door and since you were sitting in the kitchen, you ran to get it in two seconds.

Seokmin was standing there. Your eyes absorbed everything about him. His copper hair was parted slightly, his bangs brushing his eyebrows a little. He looked between laid back and still fitting for the night; black jeans, white shirt and a denim jacket.

"Hiii," you chanted.

He blinked, a grin appearing on his lips. "Hi there," he muttered.

Your stomach twisted a bit and before anything else was said you moved aside to let him in.

"Just let me get my bag and we can go," you grabbed your phone and your bag from the kitchen counter.

"Aren't you forgetting your shoes, noodle?" you hear him call.

"Oh, yes!" you laughed.

You had your shoes ready by the entrance of your apartment, and while putting them on, Seokmin held out a hand for you for you to remain on your feet.

"Thanks," you smiled at him.

"Ready?"

"Yeah," you breathed, somehow feeling agitated.

"Let's go," he smiled sweetly again and for a moment you fought the impulse of pulling him to your lips.

"Okidoki," you said promptly and followed him out your apartment and locked the door.

"Dork," he laughed.

You chuckled and when you both stepped into the elevator, you felt your mouth go dry. Suddenly you felt nervous to be in such an enclosed space with him.

But he was looking at his phone distractively.

The ride there was... odd. Not what you had expected entirely. He didn't say much and was too busy looking at his phone so you decided you didn't want to pry.

When you got there you saw some familiar faces outside the fancy restaurant. The guests were gathering outside the door, queueing to get their names and id's checked before entry.

Everyone looked elegant. When you saw some girls dressed in the same manner and style you were wearing you felt relieved, since you were doubting on being too much or not quite so.

You turned to Seokmin, who was just putting his phone on the pocket of his jeans and when he lifted his head to see you, he smiled softly. He caught up with you and as he did so, your hands touched for a moment.

You thought it was natural to just grab his hand, locking your fingers in his.

"Sorry. I was fixing an appointment for the costume fitting," he muttered, looking at the ground.

"For a moment there I thought you might be fake cheating on me," you smiled, but as soon as you blurted out the words, your heart dropped. Too far.

"You think I'd do something so horrible?" he asked dramatically, putting his free hand on his chest.

You smiled in relief. "Well, we haven't really talked about it. I don't know, you might want to start seeing someone for real," you shrugged.

His brow furrowed. "What if I don't?" he mused. "What if I enjoy being your fake boyfriend?"

"Then you're in luck because I enjoy you as my fake boyfriend too. It's fun," you smiled up at him.

You expected to see him smile, but instead he looked deep in thought.

As you joined the queue, the grip on your hand tightened gently. And you knew why. Your ex was in the queue, with a new girl wrapped in his arm. This girl you had never seen before, it wasn't the same girl he cheated on you with.

Your ex's eyes went through the crowd and your eyes met.

Seokmin was behind you, so he let go of your hand but his arms were encircling you from behind. A soft kiss landed on your temple and you shivered at the feeling of him so close to you.

"Are you okay?" he asked on your ear.

You turned your head to see him and your hands rested on top of his. "I'm okay," you reassured him with a smile.

The proximity had startled you for a second, but you enjoyed this. His warmth, the scent of his clothes and skin.

His sweet brown eyes searched your face. "You look beautiful," he mumbled.

Not knowing what to reply, you lifted a hand to cup his cheek and reached for his lips. The kiss was tender, so slow that you felt him sigh on your lips, a shiver went down your spine.

It was all an act. A mantra you repeated to yourself since the moment you first kissed. You'd made a pact with Seokmin to remain friends. Yet even when his touch seemed like wildfire, you clung to the fragile threads of that promise, as you felt yourself melting at the touch of his lips.

"Ugh, come on! Get a move on, you lovebirds," an annoyed voice protested behind you.

It was Soonyoung. When you turned around you saw him beaming at you, he lifted a hand in the air and waved frantically at you. You smiled and waved back in the same manner.

"Come on, we're next," Seokmin stopped hugging you and pulled your hand in his again.

The table you were taken to was located in a secluded room within the fancy restaurant. You knew that Minghao had sold a few paintings to this restaurant the moment you were shown inside.

The place was dimly lit in soft orange hues and the tables were adorned with a trailed of roses and candles. In the room there was a wall fountain in the room, the water running continuously made a soft background noise paired with the live jazz show.

You strolled to the side of the room where Minghao was greeting his guests with a shy smile on his face. When he saw you he pulled you into a hug.

"Birthday boy," you chanted into the hug.

"I'm glad you're here," he said at the same time he patted you in your head.

"I brought you something," you said and unfasten your tiny purse.

You heard him giggle shyly. "You shouldn't have," he muttered but at the same time he was bouncing on his heels in anticipation.

His giggles became more bubbly when you pulled a black box the size of the palm of your hand and handed it to him. His eyes beamed at you and back to the box.

"What's this?" his lithe careful fingers took it from your hand and he looked up to find your eyes. "Can I open it now?"

"Course," you shrugged with an excited smile. "It's your birthday."

"Hehe," he chuckled in a tiny voice and opened the box to find a super tiny tea set.

You watched Minghao's mouth part a little and slowly turn into a child-like smile. His fingertips brushed over the tiny blue and white cups and teapot.

"I love it," he giggled again, "thank you."

Then he tucked you into a hug again and you returned the hug.

"I loved it so much that it makes me want to forgive you for fucking in my dressing room," he mentioned with a laugh.

Your cheeks flushed and he was patting your head and shuffling your hair teasingly.

"Y-you know? How?" your voice was high now.

He look straight in your eyes with a devilish smile. "Nothing gets passed me."

"Oh my god. I'm so sorry," you groaned covering your face with your hands. But your friend was laughing cheekily.

Minghao had carefully assigned seats for everyone to get to know each other. You were assigned a seat next to Soonyoung; which didn't make sense to you until Jeonghan took the seat to your left. You didn't know each other well, besides from casual meetings for work.

Jeonghan was a sweet guy. He was mostly quiet but soft spoken at first, but he was eager to get to know you and he told you just that.

"Ah, it's so good to finally get to know you," he said when he had drank more and started to loosen up a bit. "You know how hard it is to get to talk to you?"

"What do you mean?" you laughed, feeling that Jeonghan was doing a bit.

"You're the stellar this season and I don't even know you," he chuckled as he spoke. "That bothers me. I want to meet everyone in the company."

"Why is that?" you frowned. It was weird that a director wanted to get to know everyone. Everyone you had worked with before Jeonghan could do with a first name basis with the cast and crew. Some not even that.

"I like to think of the company like a big family," he shrugged as he sat back. "I know that it might not be practical but who knows really. So far it's working for me."

"Do you act too or you're just in the management?" you asked, genuinely curious.

"Oh, no. Not at all," he chuckled again. "I'm just interested in management and production. The acting part, props, staff, lighting and such is totally yours. I just revise projects, budget, plan and put the money."

"That sounds... like a lot of work," you looked up at him.

His short black hair covered half of his forehead. He looked a little bit tipsy, his heavy lidded eyes were turning lazier as you spoke, but he raised a soft smile.

"I enjoy it," he nodded with a grin. "And I get to make great friends, so best job ever."

Jeonghan excused himself and left the seat momentarily, thus leaving you without your new partner for the dinner.

You looked at the people sitting at the table. There were at least eighteen people sitting there. Most you knew and a few you didn't at all. Seokmin was sitting just across you, next to two actresses you knew.

He was talking to the girl to his right, while the other was laughing with Seungkwan. While Seokmin listened to the girl, he would casually nod and reply to her politely. Then you remembered that he tended to be shy on social reunions like these and that made you smile.

"Hey, why haven't you replied to my messages?" Soonyoung elbowed you.

You turned to look at him pout. "Sorry, Hoshi. Been busy," you patted his blond head.

"I hate it when you leave me on read," he continued to pout.

"I don't remember what you texted," you said, pursing your lips while you tried to remember.

"I asked you if you were in the final auditions yet," he groaned.

"Ah, yes that's right," you nodded. "And yes. You?"

He scratched his blond head. "Uhh, me too. But I'm not too confident," he shrugged.

Your brow furrowed. "Why?"

He eyed across the table before leaning towards you. "What if we both get the role? I'd have to kiss you," he hissed with a strained look on his face.

"Really?" you asked in disbelief. "That's why you don't want the role? I feel offended," you laughed.

He nodded his head shortly. "I don't wanna kiss my best friend's girl. Nuh-uh. That's fucked up."

Your smile faded a bit. "Right. That might be awkward."

Soonyoung tilted his head to the side, still speaking in a hush tone. "Can you imagine that? What will I say at your wedding feast?"

That made you almost choke on your drink.

"Whoa, hold on tiger," you tried to laugh. "There's no wedding."

"Not yet," his eyes widened a bit and he pushed his lower lip out.

As if planned, you both glanced across the table. Seokmin was resting his head on his hand, elbow on the table listening to the girl next to him with a polite smile.

"I think you've had too much to drink, my friend," you chuckled and patted his reddened cheek softly.

"I'm not drunk," he shook his head and then rolled his eyes. "Well, just a bit tipsy but I'm for real when I tell you that I've always rooted for you guys."

"What do you mean?" you asked carefully.

"You're my best friends," he shrugged again. "And I've always been aware of how Dk looks at you and I'm not dumb. I know how love looks like."

"Love." you stuttered.

When Soonyoung sent a weird look, then you knew you had to compose yourself and remain on your act.

"Well, you both were always in your own little world to notice," he explained and leaned back on his chair. "But I'm happy that you're together now."

Trying to keep your cool as best as you possibly could, you smiled at him. And it was enough for Soonyoung because he was already speaking to the other person next to him.

Bewildered, your eyes fell on Seokmin. As if he knew you were about to look his way, his eyes met yours. His smile was gentle and blinked slowly your way and you managed a small smile.

When the dinner was over, someone had already organized an after party. Minghao wasn't at all prepared for an after party but didn't complained.

As you walked out of the restaurant, the air of the cold night had grown cruller. You hissed at it and your hands covered your face.

"Here," Seokmin mumbled and slipped his warm denim jacket on your shoulders.

"Thanks," you beamed at him, sinking your arms inside the warm sleeves. His scent coming from his jacket flooded your senses.

"No problem," his hand took your chin briefly, a warm smile on his face.

You resumed walking at his side, following your friends towards the after party. Then a hand slipped between yours almost as if it were second nature. You intertwined your fingers with his, enjoying the warm sensation that flooded inside you.

"D'you want to go to the after party?" Seokmin asked. "Apparently everyone is going."

"Uh... sure. Why not," you shrugged. "Do you?"

"Is there something wrong?" he asked suddenly, reading your face.

"No," you blurted a bit too quickly. "Everything's fine. Why?"

He pointed a finger to your face. "Your mouth is doing that thing it does when something is bothering you."

You huffed. "And what is that?"

Seokmin pursed his lips and did an impression of you chewing the inside of your mouth. "You do it every time something's wrong."

"Really?"

"I've noticed," he put in simply. "We've known each other for years, it's hard to not pick up on some stuff."

"Huh."

"Are you guys coming?" Soonyoung asked while passing you and Seokmin on the sidewalk.

"We'll meet you there," Seokmin nodded with a nod of his head.

"Don't bail on me, you two. I need my drinking partner!" he scolded in a slurred tone, his drunken face so flushed it made him look cute.

You were the drinking partner in question. It was a thing you had while in uni. Whenever they dragged you to a party and you played any drinking game, somehow you ended up worse than them. So you earned the said designated title.

"We don't have to go if you don't want to," Seokmin suggested, still thinking that you were upset by something.

"I want to go," you reassured him. "I just don't think I can drink too much tonight."

"Then don't. I'll help you win, or not drink. Whatever comes to it," he pressed his lips in a smile.

Then he gently clasped your hand with his and started walking together to catch up to Soonyoung.

"Okiedokie," you mumbled, knowing it would make him smile.

"Such a dork," he sighed.

The after party was in a gallery art that was owned by one of Minghao's friends. It was down a street in between two restaurants that had already closed.

The gallery was spacious, pale grey concrete floors and walls that made it feel like a liminal space. The walls were covered by large murals and paintings and in the back there was a large space where someone was drawing some foldable chairs from a small closet.

Soon, more and more people started to show up, you even saw some faces that weren't at the dinner. Someone had brought sound equipment, and the art gallery turned into an artful improvised nightclub.

Seungkwan crossed the space, walking among the crowd towards you and pointed a finger to you. "There you are! I want to introduce you to a friend, come."

He promptly took the hand and the last thing you saw before breaking away from your fake boyfriend was his warm smile and him disappearing into the crowd with Jeonghan and Soonyoung.

You let your best friend drag you through the mass of unknown faces. He introduced you to a friend called Jun. The reason Seungkwan wanted you to meet his friend was because Jun was a tv actor and you kind of always been interested in acting for tv projects, so a conversation with the shy actor ensued.

Jun was one of the most beautiful individual's you've ever met. His red wine coloured hair made a shocking contrast with his sweet kind smile. He was sitting on top of a big wooden crate that quite possibly had paintings inside. But he seemed to not pay too much attention to it, he even invited you to sit beside him.

However, no matter how interested you were in the conversation, your eyes darted back were you last saw Seokmin, searching for him in the sea of faces.

You exchanged contacts with Jun, promising to keep in contact with him if you ever want to meet up and even meet his agent. It was an interesting opportunity, too promising to pass up.

The bellowing, drunken voice of Soonyoung made you look into the crowd, and beside your drunk friend you found Seokmin, his hands on his knees, laughing silly at something drunk Soonyoung was saying.

You couldn't help but smile at the sight of Seokmin laughing so hard he had to crouch down, hands on his knees, trying to compose himself.

"That's your boyfriend, isn't it?" Jun asked, since everyone was looking at his direction.

"Yeah," you muttered simply. It made an effect on your body whenever you called him your boyfriend. Even if it wasn't exactly that.

"Go to him," he pointed with his nose towards Seokmin. "I know you don't want to be here."

Your brows furrowed. "I'm sorry," you saw him smile as you left Seungkwan's friends. "I'll stay in touch, though."

Jun raised a hand, waving you goodbye as you made your way to where Seokmin was with Jeonghan and Soonyoung. They were playing some silly game in which they had to fake scream in pain, but Soonyoung was so drunk that couldn't make sense of his own words.

"Alright, big boy," Jeonghan said, pulling a chair in front of Soonyoung. "Enough alcohol for you."

Soonyoung was already red in the face, but if you could give him anything, he was an obedient drunk.

"Hey, that's my drinking partner," Soonyoung mumbled, pointing a weak finger at you as his head landed on the table.

"What did you do to him?" you asked.

"He lost the game three times in a row," Seokmin explained with a shrug.

"I'm taking him home," Jeonghan patted the drunken head resting on the table once and went outside to get his car.

"Thanks," you crouched to level your eyes with your friend. He smiled, making the cheek that was pressed to the table bulge.

"'m fine," he mumbled. And closed his eyes, within seconds he had already fallen asleep.

Seokmin was behind you when you stood up, a hand sneaking on your lower back. "Well if it's any consolation, you won't have to drink tonight."

"Yeah, lucky me," you smiled, turning to him so that your body was facing his.

"Who did Seungkwan want you to meet?" he asked.

"A tv actor. Told me to meet up with his agent to talk auditions," you told him.

"Oh?" he raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like an interesting opportunity. Who is he?"

You subtly gestured toward Jun, who remained perched like a model on a large wooden crate, even the lights on him appeared to be lighting him up like a piece of art in the gallery.

"We exchanged numbers to meet someday," you mentioned casually.

"You did?" he shifted his gaze from the charming actor to study your face.

Your eyes narrowed. "Yeah. What's wrong?"

He shook his head. "Nothing. Just curious."

A smile played on your lips. "Are you…"

His brow furrowed slightly. "What?"

"Jealous?"

He let out a chuckle, attempting to mask his surprise. "Jealous? Why would I be?"

You tilted your head, a mischievous glint in your eyes. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe because you've been showing a possessive streak lately?"

His expression softened, and the hand on your lower back pressed on you a little. "What if I did feel a little jealous?"

A warmth rushed through your body, you felt it pulse in your chest.

You leaned into his touch, savouring the warmth of his hand on your back. "Well, then I might have to make it up to you somehow," you teased, a playful glint in your eyes.

He smiled, a mixture of playfulness and curiosity. "Oh, yeah? And how will that be?"

"Why don't you find out?" you replied coyly, and you stood on your tiptoes, letting the hand on your back go a little lower on the small of your back.

Curious fingers gingerly and discreetly explored the small of your back and ass. Seokmin understood immediately, his alarmed eyes stopping on yours. "You're not wearing underwear." he muttered.

A nervous laugh bubbled up in your chest as you nodded with your head.

His free hand took you by your jaw, pulling you into a rushed kiss. "You'll be the death of me," he groaned.

He dragged you through the dense crowd and led you out the dimly lit art gallery. You walked through a small door and found yourself in a deserted, dark alley. A tall ceramic pot with a dried plant was the only feature in the secluded area.

Seokmin was already pinning you against a wall, leaning his head down to find your lips. You had already decided to ignore all your rational thinking and melted into his lips.

"We're gonna have to be quick," he muttered, his lips brushing yours before sinking down on them again.

"I don't trust your definition of quick," you whispered, your hands slipping behind his neck to drag him into another wet kiss.

"For real this time," he smirked.

"I've never been fucked against a wall," you blurted out when your hand reached for the belt in his pants.

"Just hold onto me. I'll do the work," he mumbled and his breath hitched when he felt your fingers on his skin when you buried your hand beneath his underwear, grabbing his already hardened cock. "Your hands are cold."

"Sorry," you whispered, your hand feeling the soft skin of his length, the tip of his cock was already wet in precum when you rubbed your thumb across it, smearing the wetness around his cockhead.

"Lean against the wall. I'm going to lift you up," he muttered and you did what he said.

Seokmin reached down at your legs under the skirt of your dress and he swiftly lifted your body up, grabbing your ass in his hands. You pulled your skirt to your hips, giving him space to properly slot himself between your thighs.

Your hand snuck between his body and yours, finding his cock again with your fingers and led it to your core. Watching his face intently, you played a little with his cockhead, dragging it across your wet folds. A groan reverberated through his gritted teeth.

"You're soaking wet, baby," he said, dropping his forehead on yours when he felt you. "Does making me jealous turn you on?"

"You turn me on," you mumbled. "I missed you, Seokmin. It's been days since we last fucked."

The squelching sound coming from you playing with his cock against your entrance only made you more aroused. You bit your lip down before aligning his cockhead to your entrance, and looked at Seokmin's eyes.

"Are you sure you can take me like this?" he whispered.

You nodded, feeling so eager that you couldn't breathe. "I'm sure."

But soon you understand what the really meant. He started to ease himself inside you with shallow thrusts, stretching your tight core open so slowly, but so deliciously your eyes screw shut, making you see stars.

Normally when you had sex with him, he would play with your core with his fingers before fucking you. But now he went in without stretching you beforehand, and it had been days since you last had him inside you.

Your breath hitched at the sharp pain, grabbing him by the shoulders of his shirt and your fingers twisted to resist the pain as he was still sinking his length inside you. It was a bit painful, but you found out that your body liked it. The mere thought of him stretching your core, having him raw aroused you even more.

"You told me you could take me," he muttered in a hushed tone. "D'you want to stop?"

"No," you mumbled quickly and reached for his lips. "Keep going, please."

Your hands were clinging at his shoulders, fingers twitching at the exquisite feeling of having him inside you. His hips came to a stop, and you could feel that he had sheathed himself completely inside you.

This could drive you crazy. Him being so closely connected to your body that you could feel the warmth of him, you could feel his cock throbbing inside you as he moved in a slow pace, still adjusting to your body.

"Are you okay, baby?" he mumbled.

You muffled a whimper biting down your lip at the sound of his voice calling you that.

"I'm okay," you replied, feeling out of breath but in plain ecstasy.

His hips started moving, not caring about being slow or patient and you silently thanked him for it. He was thrusting in you so fast that there was barely any chance to capture his lips in yours so you resorted to see his face as he fucked you into the wall.

Your hands moved daintily from the shoulders of his shirt to his neck. It was already covered in a light layer of sweat, but his hips didn't faltered, thrusting inside you so deep that you felt like you were impaling yourself in his cock.

You stiffened a moan when he found a rhythm that hit your core so deliciously you felt like you had to cum soon.

"Quiet, baby," he whispered when he heard you. He leaned down and pressed a quick tender kiss on your lips, still rutting his hips against yours.

Seokmin's eyes were focused on your face, you could tell he was attentive to the faces you made whenever he'd hit the golden spot inside you. Then, one of your hands slid between your bodies, your eyebrows furrowed with tension as you managed to rub your clit, feeling so close to the release your body was building up, he smiled.

"Aw baby, are you going to cum?" he whispered.

The hand that was still clinging to him clenched at the hem of his shirt and felt your body tense up and you could savour your release. You nodded, "'m so close, babe," you whimpered.

Seokmin groaned as your walls clamped erratically around his cock, a warm wet sensation slipped where your bodies connected. You knew you were creaming on his cock and the thought of it sent you over the edge.

You came, hard enough to shake on his arms and whimper quietly his name. It took everything you had to not scream, tears brimming up in the corners of your eyes as your body went limp under the waves of bliss consuming you.

"Fuck, baby," he muttered on your lips, and you knew he was close too.

As his hips were faltering, you wrapped your legs around his hips. "No, don't pull out," you muttered wildly. A groan was muffled by your mouth as he came inside you, pumping warm ropes of cum deep inside you.

His hips came to a stop, his cock still buried deep inside your core. Now that he had stilled, you reached to kiss his lips fervently, still feeling under the craze of your orgasm.

Seokmin pulled his head back, breaking the kiss with a gasp from you.

"Babe?" he repeated, his brow deeply furrowed.

Your heart stilled.

"You don't like it?" you asked innocently. "I won't use it again."

He didn't really give an answer. He just blinked slowly, his gaze drawing away from your face and into the night sky. "You didn't let me pull out."

"I missed you," you replied with a small voice.

He lowered his eyes to find yours. "You missed me that much?" he muttered, his lips rose in a downturned smile. "Did you miss my cock so much that you needed me to fuck you in a dark alley?"

"I did," you breathed, feeling your blood rush to your cheeks. "It's all I could think of; you inside me, cumming in me."

He was breathing softly against your lips, his forehead sweaty as he gently rested it against yours. "Don't," he whispered. "Don't do that."

"Do what?"

He shook his head slightly, his forehead still on yours. "Saying you missed me. Making me feel jealous. Calling me babe. Fucks with my head."

"Sorry," you heard yourself say. "I..."

You wanted to tell him that you did miss him. Not just the sex. But you couldn't quite bring yourself to say it.

You waited for a long second, his breathing was not slowing down and his forearms were starting to shake a little. He put you back on the floor, not quite letting you go until you could stand on your own.

You leaned against the wall as you watched him fix his pants quietly, his belt hanging lose as he looked at you.

"Do you have your panties?" he asked.

You nodded. "Yeah," your fingers dug at your tiny purse and you pulled a clean black thong.

He took it from your hand and knelt down before you, patting on your ankle for you to lift it up the ground and then the next. Then he slid your underwear up your legs, fixing the edges so they wouldn't bump on your dress.

"Thanks," you whispered.

"I'm going to take you home now, okay?" he muttered, he was serious now. Something you rarely saw on him.

"Kay," you whispered.

Taking your hand in his, he led you through the alley and to the street. Soon you realized that you were ten minutes away from your apartment building and Seokmin was leading you back.

He was too quiet, dangerously quiet you'd say. And you didn't know how to make him talk about what kept him this quiet. So you stayed silent too because you didn't know what to say.

"Are you... are you staying tonight?" you asked when you got to your apartment door and opened it for him.

He leaned his head against your doorframe, looking at you as if he didn't know what to do with you.

"I just wanted to get you home," he mumbled. "I'll be going now."

Your brow furrowed, feeling a morose pain sweep in your chest. A pain you knew too well.

"What's wrong?" you asked, in a small voice.

"We'll talk tomorrow, okay?" he said softly, a sad, tired look on his face.

You felt your knees wobble a bit. "We can talk now," you suggested, already feeling what would come next.

Seokmin sighed and stepped inside your apartment, closing the door behind him.

You slowly removed his jacket and handed it to him. "Did I do something wrong?"

"Of course not," he replied with a reassuring tone. He took his jacket and put it on and you noticed the expression on his face was conflicted.

You bit the inside of your cheek, your heart beating so hard against your chest you thought it might tell on you. Seokmin approached in your living room, and now you could see him under the light of the lamps.

"I don't think I can keep up with this," he admitted.

Your heart felt heavy, as if it were being squeezed in a tight fist.

"Why? What changed?" you murmured.

"I broke our promise," he sighed heavily.

A burning sense of fear crippled you. Everything was happening too fast for you to cope or understand. But you knew that you had to face it.

"The more we fuck around the more I realise that it's not just the sex what I want anymore," Seokmin continued. "I know I promised this wouldn't happen, but it did. And I'm not sure how much longer I can take this fake dating, because I want more... I want to be with you."

A heavy silence hung in the air, and you struggled to find the right words to respond. After a moment, you managed to say, "I didn't think this would happen so soon."

He nodded, his eyes darkened with a mix of regret and longing. "I understand if you need space. I just had to be honest with you."

You inhaled deeply, attempting to calm your aching heart. "I'm not ready. Not yet."

You could see the internal struggle in his eyes, the turmoil of emotions he'd been dealing with. And he could probably see the same in your eyes.

"I know," he finally said, his voice tense with defeat.

Of course he knew. He was your best friend. He was there when you were broken after finding out your ex had cheated on you. He understood everything you had gone through to move on. He would know if you're ready to love again.

"But we can work it out," you murmured, your eyes suddenly filling with tears. "I want us to."

His gaze softened, and he reached out to wipe away a tear that had escaped down your cheek. "I don't want to rush you. I'll be patient."

Your voice trembled as you replied, "I just need time."

He pulled you into a tight hug, pressing a gentle kiss on your forehead. "I'll give you all the time you need," he promised, his voice reassuring. "I'm not going anywhere."

As you both stood there, wrapped in the weight of the moment, the air felt heavy with unspoken words and a understanding. You hugged him close to your body, shaking with sobs, allowing yourself to bury your face in the warmth of his chest.

"I need to go now," he muttered with a heavy tone.

Your arms tensed around him. You heard him release a sigh, and knew he was smiling.

"Have a bath and go to bed," he instructed. "You'll feel better."

You didn't want him to leave. But when you finally forced yourself to let him go, he kissed your forehead sweetly before patting your head as he always did.

"I'll stay close, noodle. Don't worry," he muttered with a soft smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. Then he turned away and left quietly.

♡︎ a/n: i love dk sm! u-u i got a bit carried away with the angst i just love it hehe. if you liked reading this feel free to show it some love leaving a like, reblogging, commenting. k, bye! ( · ❛ ֊ ❛)

click here for part 4!!

[purpleepstick]

Y/N

Bring it on 🔥🔥

Charles leclerc

You don't need it but either way good luck for the new season my love 😘❤️ let's fight for the glory together 🔥💪

Pierre gasly

stop hitting me with volley balls you bully 👿

Y/N

Never in a million years gasly 😝😝

User1

I love Pierre's and Y/N's friendship fr 🤣🤣🤣

User2

I hope you get injured whore!

Ferrari

Good luck on the new season our queen 👑

Lando Norris

Is there anything you didn't win 🤔

Y/N

Nope. Won it all on and off the court 😜💁🏻‍♀️

F1GOSSIP

Charles leclerc and brother Arthur leclerc has seen getting in the stadium where the European championship of volleyball final will be played to support girlfriend Y/N and her Team.

User1 Supportive wag Charles 🤣🤣

User2 oh, but the teams Charles root for normally lose...

User3 god not her being a distraction for his career and now this🤦

User4 I'm sure Y/N will nail the game today as always 💪

SupportF1Wags

This was Y/N's reaction when she saw Charles on the big screen 🤭🐥

User5

Okey.... Well she's cute

Hater

She smiles because she knows Charles is going to gather a lot attention for her Pr

Hater

Why do I start to like her?

User

How can you look so beautiful like that after running and jumping around for 2 hours!?!?

WAGSF1

This was Leclerc's reaction to Y/N hurting her ankle for a minute in the game. Gasly seemed anxious also but Y/N got up and told everyone she is okey. Now she's still in the game.

User6 that was a scary fall, glad she is okay

User7 he looks so worried 😫😩

User8 even Pierre was scared. It shows how much they value her, so sweet 🥹🥹🥹

User9 god it's such an intense game both teams are so good and Y/N is doing an excellent job 💯

And the match is finished! Y/N is now an European champion 🏆🥇 congrats 🎉 Charles, Pierre and Kika was jumping from the joy that almost Charles fell down 🤣

User Y/N girlieee jumped for 3 hours and looked absolutely fucking amazing at the end

User just wow.

User she became the MVP of the tournament!!!!

User glad she and her team has achieved this gold medal. They have been working their 🍑 off.

User she has become a champion before Charles 🤣🤣

Y/N and Charles from the celebrations of the championship

User they look sooooo good together 👌

User mamma Mia 😍😍😍

User IL predestinato and the Wall

User sports couple serving like usual

[workingforitallthetime]

drawn arrows unseen

part 22 (the end) / previous installments/tags

Mason finds what he’s looking for in the game room by the hotel pool. The net’s a little crooked, but it’ll do.

“Ping pong?” Connor looks incredulous at the sight of the table. 

“Let’s fucking go.” Mason tests a paddle against the heel of his hand. He drapes his suit jacket over the nearby foosball table.

“Okay.” Connor rolls up the sleeves of his dress shirt. Mason can’t tell if he's willing to cooperate because he wants to play, or because he's happy to be doing something the Coyotes don’t expect. “Your serve.”

“You can have it.” Mason bounces the ball across the table to him.

Connor lets it deflect off his paddle back to Mason. “You won last.”

“In Edmonton?” Mason can’t hide the surprise in his voice. He doesn’t remember that.

“...Yeah.” Connor gets a sour look on his face.

Mason serves. The silence of the empty game room fills with the tick-tock of the ball in play. Connor smashes it to Mason’s off hand, and Mason slides on his dress shoes just in time to catch it on his backhand. Connor groans, and Mason pictures him in his Team Canada shirt in Edmonton, chirping Mason. That’s what he wants to remember from that tournament. Not everything that happened after.

Connor’s up after three games, watching every volley with laser blue eyes. Mason manages to take the fourth game, tying it up 2-2 to prolong the match. It’s a relief. He doesn’t know what happens after it ends.

The fifth game is back and forth the whole way. When it’s tied up 10-10, Connor kicks into a new gear. Mason recognizes it. He’s got that gear too. The tie score passes 11 and creeps up to 20 and beyond, the intensity increasing every time they trade points.

Mason finally claws his way up by one and serves for game point. The volley goes on for what feels like forever, the most ferocious ping pong Mason’s ever played in his life, both of them suspended in a space where the only thing in the world is the little white ball bouncing between them.

Connor lobs it deep into Mason’s territory. As the ball falls to the table in slow motion, Mason considers sending it back easy, letting the game go on, preserving Connor’s chance to win.

But Mason’s done repressing his instincts. He slams the ball back at Connor with everything that’s in him, all of the anger and shame and desperation. The game winner careens off Connor’s end of the table and disappears over a couch on the other side of the room. Mason spikes his paddle to the floor and throws up his arms in a celly. 

“Fuck!” Connor clenches his fists and looks up at the ceiling. Mason knows three calming breaths when he sees them. He waits, picking up his paddle and setting it gently on the table.

Connor exhales one final time and levels his head. His face is relaxed. Mason’s heart ticks back up to ping pong speed as Connor studies him from the other side of the net.

Connor walks around the table slowly. “I thought you were going to let me win.”

Suddenly Mason understands why he didn’t. “I’m not gonna do that anymore,” he says, as Connor passes the net. 

“You never did.” Connor reaches the edge of the table and turns into Mason’s space. 

“I mean in general.” The hard edge has worn off Connor’s scent. Mason’s head goes fuzzy, making it hard to find the words he knows he has to say. “Decide for you. I’m not going to make your choices.” Connor comes closer and closer, and finally he’s close enough that Mason can whisper. “I’m sorry.”

Connor tips up his chin. He wants to be kissed, and Mason wants to kiss him, and the force of their collision sends the ping pong table skidding across the floor. “Upstairs,” Connor gasps, as if his scent isn’t already telling Mason that.

[Friends, the beauty of a campfire story is that I do not have to spend two months sweating out every sentence of a perfectly written sex scene. Imagine I wrote it that way, though. Imagine I wrote you a sex scene that beautifully encapsulated the central theme of Mason’s belief that he needs to protect Connor from the full force of his desire, and Connor’s refusal to let Mason do that. Imagine the beautiful prose with which I would tell you of Mason approaching Connor gently, worshipfully, spreading his thick thighs apart and burying his face in Connor’s concentrated scent, Connor’s slick on his lips, coating his tongue. Imagine that I then subtly changed the pacing of the sentence structure for a sense of urgency around Connor’s insistence that this is not what he wants, he wants Mason, all of Mason, inside him, hard and fast and now. Imagine that I, somehow, came up with a creative and meaningful way to write a knotting scene that fully conveyed the depth of pleasure and relief experienced by both parties after 21 installments of this story. You can imagine sex tears if you want, your call.]

Afterwards, Connor rests his head on Mason’s chest, and in the dark of a hotel room filled with their intertwined scents, Mason finally admits to picking up the scent of ice and cedar back at U18 worlds. Instead of calling him a creep, Connor calls him an idiot for thinking it was their room that smelled like a rink.

He liked Mason, all the way back then, and the only thing that made presenting as an omega bearable was the thought that maybe that’s why he’d been drawn to Mason’s scent in the chaos of the gold medal celebration. He thought maybe Mason was going to be an alpha, maybe they were compatible. That’s what made it so confusing and disappointing and infuriating when Mason didn’t tell him about presenting, when Mason didn’t admit he could scent Connor, when Mason let Trevor Zegras wear his fucking jersey. Connor pinches Mason, hard.

Mason lets Connor get away with it. He apologizes, which is easy with his omega wrapped in his arms and the bond between them humming like steel. When the conversation falls quiet, he finally gives into his curiosity. “What do I smell like?”

Connor shifts against him. “I don’t know. Someplace wild. Like the mountains at night.” He pauses like he’s trying to come up with the right words. “I don’t want to say animal, but like a place where bear and elk have been. The mountains at night,” he repeats, like that’s the phrase he’s been saying to himself. “It made me want to run away.”

Mason’s arms have been tightening around Connor. He forces himself to loosen them. “Run away from me?”

“No.” Connor tightens his arm over Mason, tucks his fingers under Mason’s side. “Run away to whatever that place was. To wherever you were.”

While Connor showers, Mason puts on a hotel robe and turns on ESPN. It feels normal. Their whole history is hotel rooms. Their future will be too. Connor will go to San Jose in the morning. Mason has a beast of an East Coast road trip next week. They’ll see each other at the all-star break. They’ll see each other in April for a long offseason. Maybe the offseason will be shorter, someday. It will have to be, for any team with Connor in his prime. The thought of the seasons stretching out until one of them retires – fifteen years, maybe twenty, maybe more – hurts. But it hurts like a postsurgical healing throb, not like the nauseating wrongness of a broken bone.

Connor emerges from the bathroom wearing the other robe. He sits against the headboard next to Mason. “How are we supposed to do this?”

“Same as we always have, I guess.” Mason puts an arm around him. “With more of this.” He scents Connor’s damp hair and kisses the top of his head.

“Okay.” Connor presses closer and tucks his face in Mason’s neck. “Italy,” he says against Mason’s skin.

“Milan,” Mason says. “2026.”

“Wrong.” Connor lifts up his head, delighted. “It’s Rome.”

“I said 2026.” As if Mason would miss an easy one. “Milan’s where we’ll be for the Olympics.”

[randomvarious]

1990s House Playlist

One of these days I'm gonna add, like, a supervolcano's worth of house bangers to this playlist, but for now, with this brief update, I'm adding one delicious morsel instead, and it's William Orbit's aptly titled "Throbjam Mix" of Fuzzy Logic's "Obsession," which features the vocal stylings of Erire.

For those who might not know, William Orbit is dance music royalty. His greatest commercial achievements may be what he did to help keep Madonna's career surging into the new millennium, with unforgettably advanced, retro-futuristic bops like "Ray of Light" and "Beautiful Stranger;" but before that monumental partnership ever came to fruition, Orbit was pioneering the UK progressive house underground with his very own label called Guerilla Recordings, which he co-founded in 1990.

And in '92, he dropped this beaut' of a remix on Guerilla, which came with all these pulsatingly hazy, digi-chemical bleeps, bloops, tones, and squelches that volleyed with some integrally lovely, zone-flooding organ work too, all of which went along with diva Erire's own vocals. And much like he ended up doing with his pop production work later on, this very song sounds pretty dang ahead of its time in some ways too. I don't really much care for what progressive house became later on down the line, but this early stuff, just when house music itself was still in its own relatively early days at not even a decade old, is tremendous. And for how dope this track is especially, it's unfortunate to only see it at ~8.2K plays, because when Erire goes gravelly and that organ hums, you simply cannot beat something like this. Such warm dance bliss 😌.

Fuzzy Logic - "Obsession (The Throbjam mix)"

Now, normally with the YouTube versions of these playlist posts, I have other songs that aren't on Spotify to add to them too, but I actually don't have any this week. However, I did do some much needed house-cleaning of this thing, because apparently a handful of songs had been removed since my last update, and that included tunes from the unfortunately overshadowed early 90s Warp Records house comp, Tequila Slammers and the Jump Jump Groove Generation, as well as a rare remix of Björk's "Isobel" by the great Dimitri From Paris. An official version of that Dimitri remix was actually put on Spotify and YouTube within the past year (OMG, finally!), but whoever put it on there must've not actually listened to it, because the thing becomes an unlistenable glitch-garbled mess at a certain point ☹️. So I'm not putting it on the Spotify playlist until it's fixed, but I was able to find that someone else uploaded it to YouTube 👍.

And this playlist is also on YouTube Music.

So this update now brings us up to 16 songs that clock in at 108 minutes on Spotify, but over on YouTube we're now at 36 songs that clock in at 255 minutes. So if you want more of that awesome underground house shit that Spotify will probably never get its own paws on, do yourself a favor and check out the YouTube one!

And here's the growing list of comps and mixes that I've used to put this whole playlist together:

The Vertical Iris (1998, ZoëMagik Records) Jackpot Presents Guerrilla by Phil Perry & Danny Howells (1997, Jackpot) Tequila Slammers and the Jump Jump Groove Generation (1993, Warp Records) California Dreaming (1994, Internal / FFRR) La Collection (1994, Fnac Music Dance Division) The Warehouse Remixes (1994, Djax-Up-Beats) Monsieur Dimitri's De-Luxe House of Funk by Dimitri From Paris (1997, DMC Publishing Ltd.) St John's Playhouse: Fierce Club Classics by DJ Dave Matthias (1997, Sony Music Special Products) Live and Rare (1998, F Communications / PIAS France) Ultra.Dance by Boris Dlugosch (1997, Ultra Records) Bakchick EP #3 (1997, Basenotic Records) Soma Quality Recordings - Volume 4 (1997, Soma Quality Recordings) Ultradance 2 by Sash! (1998, Ultra Records) Club H Vol.2 by Harry the Bastard (2000, Statra Recordings) Profound Sounds Vol. 1 by Josh Wink (1999, Ruffhouse Records) E=wMC2000: The Equation for Quantum Groove Theory (2000, EMusic) Architecture Volume 2 by Terry Francis (1998, Pagan Records) Trancespotting II (1998, Hypnotic Records) Plastic City Reconstructed (1999, Plastic City) Essential Selection, Volume One by Fatboy Slim & Paul Oakenfold (2000, London Records 90) Bakchich EP #4 (1999, Basenotic Records)

New 90s London playlist next week!

Enjoy!

More to come, eventually. Stay tuned!

Like what you hear? Follow me on Spotify and YouTube for more cool playlists and uploads!

[imjustheretoseetheprivateblogs]

RxJ Week Day 2: Fire

@senshixshitennouweeks

“Remind me to freeze Nephrite’s nuts off the next time I see him.”

Sailor Mars would rather have told him to shut up, but considering that they were in a battle against a leftover creature from the years when she had only been a rookie and Jadeite their enemy, now was not the time.

The creature looked like a mass of tangled electronic wires and cables, all sparking and sputtering as it shouted gibberish at them in an electronically processed voice.

“Do you think anyone will get here in time to help us?” Mars asked.

Jadeite shrugged.

“Who knows. I’d think the two of us could handle one of Nephrite’s creations.”

“Maybe, but-oh, hell no!”

There, in the middle of the street, sitting on their bottom and bawling their eyes out, was a kindergarten child, complete with a yellow bucket hat.

The creature seemed not to have noticed it yet, but if the child kept on crying that would not be the case for long.

“Alright,” Jadeite said, “I’ll get the child you—”

Jadeite never got to finish. Mars had dashed out from their hiding place and already evaded another strike from the creature.

"Mars..."

A burning bow formed in Sailor Mars's hand.

"...Flame..."

She pulled back, a red hot arrow of pure heat growing from the action as she took aim.

"...sniper!"

A volley of pure flame shot in a straight line into the monster's chest, it's autotuned voice screaming in pain. The creature fell over, practically disintegrating as Mars walked over to the child and picked them up, cradling them.

Dazzling, was the thought that came to Jadeite's mind as he rose from what had been his and Mars's hiding place.

Really, you'd think we as used to Sailor Mars's fiery displays, but he didn't think he'd ever become desensitized to them.

But why would he want to? Fire was beautiful, after all.

[guerramecanica123]

Verkefni Faza

Фаза 1

Zaalstrane podnozje tale - ATTĪSTĪBA

For years, the underground remained undisturbed.

But one fateful, dark night, everything changed.

A comet, unseen and unknown to the world above, hurtled through the sky and crashed violently into the underground. The impact was devastating, but the true horror began as the comet started to glow with a mysterious colour, a hue never before witnessed on Earth. This alien light radiated through the subterranean landscape, turning the entire farmstead into a scorching blast furnace. The heat was unimaginable, and it began to syphon the life force from every living thing within its reach.

Previously, when defeated in battle, their bodies would turn to dust, leaving little trace of their existence. But now something has changed. The fallen monsters no longer disintegrated. Instead, their corpses became the breeding grounds for crystal apparitions. These crystalline growths were both beautiful and deadly, glowing the same mysterious colour as the comet. If not destroyed in time, they would explode, unleashing massive damage and causing immense stress to anyone nearby.

The monsters began to exhibit a terrifying hunger. They became ravenous, their appetites insatiable. It was during this time that Gasser, a figure shrouded in dark ambition, devised a plan. He sought to harness the power of the comet's crystals, intending to experiment on the very souls of the monsters. His aim was to manipulate and enhance these souls using the otherworldly energy of the crystals.

Years passed, and the underground was marked by Gasser's relentless experiments. The monsters began to change. They grew stronger and more resilient, their powers amplified by the comet's influence.

Now, as the monsters return stronger than ever, they come organised, forming an army of formidable units:

Foot soldiers: can only use Sow the Seeds and Ceaseless Labour by default, with a slight bias towards Ceaseless Labour. They will use the skill Pause from Labour.

Defenders: Better equipped with shields and axes, these soldiers protect the front lines.

bhalaadhari: Littering the ranks, they thrust forward with their spears, impaling all in their path.

Arboles: crossbowmen who fire bolts that devastate marked targets, especially dangerous when paired with specialised units.

Har'a lihlopha tse khethehileng li: have three skills, two of which are buffs. Stir The Rabble will be automatically used on a soldiers if any are present

Captains: heavy-hitting frontline attackers clad in armour and wielding maces. Their steps quake the ground, stunning and leaving opponents open to attacks.

Courtiers: prefer to stay in the back rows, wielding goblets whose contents induce stress. They also carry daggers for close combat.

Knights: Vanguard of the army, clad in armour and carrying massive blades. They strike hard, setting themselves up for riposte, and grow stronger at death's door.

Banner Bearers: Supporters who boost the army's strength and can revive the undead unless the corpse is completely destroyed.

Tanbouyè: back-rank supporters who use drums to give orders. They can direct foot soldiers into defensive formations and command Arboles for volley fire. If the tanbouyè is the last unit alive, they will perform "mirin li ber berumetiye," executing himself before giving his enemies the chance.

Фаза 2

Khagiin mutatsi Tale / xagii mutaci

XXXXX

Canê Dvēsele: Corruption and Change

Prologue

A long time ago, many years forgotten by the monsters, a nameless royal scientist created an artificial soul. This artificial soul was unique and powerful. The scientist immediately set to work experimenting with the soul's specs, which were of violet and yellow/blue. Initially, hope and wonder rose within them. However, the purple specs caused bulbous masses with sinuous tendrils to grow in the world. Their wonder turned into horror as they realized that what they created was not a weapon of salvation but a flaw in reality. It was a tarnishing of the world. Not only did it cause cancerous yellow/blue growths to spread across the land, but it also inflicted a sickness of mind and body upon those unfortunate enough to come across it.

Aptraipa: The Aftermath

Many years later, Alphy, a scientist with immense knowledge of ancient herbal medicine, Alphy began self-experimenting, consuming strange fungi and herbs in an attempt to gain insight into the world and the artificial soul. Her concoctions changed her physically and mentally. After a while, she began conducting secret experiments on other monsters.

The other monsters started to notice her strange behavior and experiments. Undyne, a warrior, was asked to convince Alphy to stop. However, Alphy refused. Undyne had two options: kill Alphy or join her and attempt to convince her to stop from within. Not wanting to see her love destroyed, Undyne chose to join her. Alphy noticed that every time she talked to Undyne, she tried to suppress the experiments. So, Alphy decided to experiment on Undyne, manipulating her mind just enough to convince her to fully join her.

The infection spread quickly. The monsters of the underground, affected by Alphy's experiments, began to change. With her new experiments, everything started to transform, especially the army.

The Groups

The Feindlechs:

These monsters now possess the capacity of the fungus on which they function, sustaining and increasing the corruption of the world. They twist and move in the shadows, calling for the necrotic fungus.

The Derbaskirin's:

This group specialises in herbology, combining and burning plants to debuff and contaminate their surroundings.

The Berries:

Fungal monsters form the majority of Alphys faction.

The Rakuraku Harore:

These monsters have claws that secrete a poison that burns the flesh of their victims. Even those who die from this poison do not find peace; their corpses are twisted by the fungus, becoming fungal artillery and spreading poison and disease more freely.

Фаза 3

Krimasen korata tak. / Krimasen korata tale

long time ago, there was a royal scientist. {This was before Gasser and Alphys.} Two human souls have fallen into the underground, one of gluttony and one of violence. At the time, the monsters were very hungry; they had little food left so the royal scientist decided to experiment on the souls After many years, the monsters are back stronger and more blood-hungry

The monsters no longer turn to dust; now they leave corpses behind that are dripping and constantly leaking blood

Lowest Tier: Supplicants and Manservants

Supplicants: These entities, which are large parasites that are affixed to corpses, collect blood for the hive, thereby contributing to the overall sense of foreboding.

Servistoj: They are the personal attendants of the higher members of the court, and they are prepared to carve the finest cuts of flesh with cleavers and platters of meat. (although [sans] aka sway ọbara and his brother  are personal attendants / slave owners, they treated personal attendants / slaves with respect.)

Second Tier: Esquires, Courtesans, and Chevaliers

Esquires: Equipped with pistols and rapiers, these figures attack precisely, breaking ribs and terrifying invaders.

Kurtizānes: defence during fight, and their formidable Whispering dark rumours, these characters dance across the battlefield, sowing stress and confusion among their enemies.

dagiti kabalyero: their thick skeletons provide protection in battle, and their powerful pincers can stun foes.

Highest Tier: the Countess and the king

The Countess: -----

Earl: The Earl is a master strategist and the brains behind the underground's military might. Cold and calculating, he wields both physical and psychological warfare to maintain order and subjugate any threats. The Earl oversees the Esquires, ensuring they execute his plans with precision. He is a tactician without peer, orchestrating battles and skirmishes with ruthless efficiency. His quarters are filled with maps, plans, and various war trophies, reflecting his relentless pursuit of dominance.

queen: She is a superb warrior by nature, and the Crimson Curse has just added to her already outstanding strength. She carries a large black blade passed down as an heirloom from the court, severing her foes with one powerful cleave. Her inner youth. She was a member of the nobility, and her days were filled with expensive festivities and decadent parties. During this period, she practiced the noble skill of fencing. Her tutors were tough and quick to penalise failure, yet she remained one of, if not the greatest, swordsmen in the court. Her 1400s clothing mirrored that of the Iron Maiden. Her royal room is decorated with organic growths and living sculptures that highlight her warped craftsmanship.

king : -----

from groundhogs, moles, mallrats, and some worms. These creatures have been transformed to continuously produce sustenance without the need for slaughter, creating a sustainable, albeit disturbing, food source.

Mājlopi and Sustenance

Groundhogs, Moles, Mallrats, and Worms: these creatures have been altered to serve as livestock, their bodies continuously generating edible matter.

Towering Tree-like Life Forms: These peculiar plants, which bear a resemblance to trees, bear fruit-shaped Slabs of meat from cattle. Each "products," supplies a consistent supply of meat, guaranteeing that a single creature could generate meals. over an extended period.

After the experimentation and sacrifice of two of their fellow monsters, they are free to roam

[unitedbydevils]

Match Review: Manchester United Women 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur Women

In what was dubbed a dress rehearsal for the Women's FA Cup Final on May 12th, United and Spurs managed to share the spoils - for now - but there were positive signs for United if they can sharpen up on goal.

Stats are a lovely tool to have, adding flavour to any match report and game analysis, and the stats - as shown below - point out two things: United were the side in control, and United should have won the game.

United's backline were instantly put under pressure in the first 30 seconds but United woke up and got a good footing in the game. Ella Toone came accidentally close in the 9th minute, trying to find Leah Galton at back post, but it was Melvine Malard who opened the scoring with a beautiful header off a millimetre perfect free kick from deep by Gemma Evans; lofted with the utmost precision for Malard to nod over the approaching Spurs keeper Becky Spencer.

Tottenham countered quickly with Naz and Vinberg - a sign of things to come - but were held off, and as quickly as they hit United, United hit back. Pressure onto Neville saw Naalsund pick up a loose ball outside the box, quick pass to Malard, pivot, shot, and then in the scramble between Spencer, Parris and Nilden, a free kick was given against United.

Poor positioning cost United for the equaliser, with a deep Spurs cross cleared out only as far as Spence. A scuffed volley bobbled the ball through to Beth England for an easy tap home past an aghast Mary Earps, but it was Maya Le Tissier - fresh from her contract signing - that stood out of sync with the rest of the defence and failed to play the offside trap. Frustrating.

United's second goal conceded was in similarly silly circumstances; Mary Earps screaming at Aoife Mannion to chase the loose ball, Mannion presuming Mearps has it, and Tottenham's Vinberg strolling in to play the ball into the box. Le Tissier covered well, with Mannion filling her void in CB momentarily, but wizardry from striker Jess Naz spun captain Katie Zelem and fizzed in a shot straight above Mary Earps' head. Poor from the keeper, poor from Zel, and poor from nearby Tooney who could have easily pressured Naz from that close range with a sprint to jostle. Maybe she was worried about giving away a penalty, but someone should have closed Naz down and forced her to choose the wider path towards a waiting Gemma Evans or to back off outside the box. A communication issue no doubt, given no Jayde Riviere or Hannah Blundell starting.

Blundell on for Mannion at half time made sense, and the second half saw more intensity and aggression from United; with far more crossing to pressure the Spurs defence in the air now that Blundell was on. 55th minute subs introduced both Lucia Garcia for Nikita Parris and Rach Williams for Melvine Malard, but the United couldn't quite find the net. Further subs in the 76th saw Miyazawa on for Toone and Geyse on for Galton, but it took a Gemma Evans corner in the 91st minute to find Rach Williams, the bar, bounce back out, and be crashed into by Maya Le Tissier to even the game up and give United a very much deserved point at Leigh Sports Village.

There will be frustration at United's failure to convert the oh-so-many chances in the second half, but the turnaround in United's style was a good sight to see, and on another day (say, the FA Cup final?) maybe several goals went in and this was a comfortable win rather than a consolation point. --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- The disappointment doesn't end there though. Fans will also be concerned at the potential departure of United's tenacious Spaniard Lucia Garcia, whose contract is close to expiring and - based on Instagram - might not be renewed/extended.

And how we will miss her humour, as well as that unquestionable hard work on the field, if she does leave us. Another huge mistake from Manchester United Football Club if so.

Only three games remain in the WSL; Leicester away, Liverpool away, and Chelsea at Old Trafford - before which comes the FA Cup Final at Wembley. It's going to be a difficult few weeks, but the hottest fires produce the strongest steel...

[music-despite-everything]

A Brief History of Reënactment by Hai-Dang Phan

from Google Books: HAI-DANG PHAN is the author of Reenactments (Sarabande, 2019). His poems and translations have appeared in Asymptote, Best American Poetry 2016, Mekong Review, New England Review, New Yorker, and Poetry, among other places. He lives in Iowa City, Iowa.

---

On Day 1 the photographer walks into camp and immediately starts shooting. She shoots us

at breakfast eating our C-rations, in our hammocks reading Stars & Stripes. She shoots us in her sleep.

When we first cross paths at the creek, she says, “Hello, Tiger! Nice combat boots. Is that thing real?”

pointing to my Special Forces jungle shirt. “I’m afraid so,” I say nonchalantly, trying to mask

my satisfaction. Day 2: no more messing around. The photographer has agreed to join the action.

“So what’s the scenario?” A lone guerrilla left over in a booby-trapped village jumps out of a hidey-hole

and ambushes the platoon on a search-and-destroy. “Good thing I brought my black pajamas and sandals!”

What a trooper. She also plays the captured prisoner, the native informant, and the beautiful turncoat.

The sniper girl is her favorite role because it’s like taking pictures. “The beauty, the beauty!”

her voice volleys spookily from behind some rocks as she picks off one of my men after another.

Sometimes the photographer shoots herself. I know she must have her own personal baggage—

later I find her sobbing in the bamboo grove. I tell her it’s O.K., these wars only last three days.

“What will you do when it’s all over?” she asks. “I don’t know,” I say. “Plan the next one.”

On Day 3, after another routine patrol we sit together on my favorite log, in the shade of oaks,

and devise more scenarios. The topo map unfolds across our laps like a magic carpet.

She’s got killer bangs above camera eyes. I mark all the booby traps and landing zones

as she speaks of controlled light and the hole that opens up when you press the shutter button.

At twenty-four hundred our hands nearly touch. There was a meteor shower. I call in mortar fire.

[spicykaraage]

Tenipuri Complete Character Profile - Gakuto Mukahi

[PROFILE]

Birthday: September 12th (Virgo)

Blood Type: B

Relatives: Father, mother, older sister, younger brother

Father’s Occupation: Appliance store owner

Elementary School: Hyotei Academy Primary School

Middle School: Hyotei Academy Junior High School

Grade & Class: Third Year | Class 3-D | Seat 24

Club: Tennis Club (regular)

Committee: Athletic Committee

Strong Subjects: Chemistry, English, PE

Weak Subjects: Politics, economics

Most Visited Spot at School: Rooftop

Favorite Motto: “A jump a day.” (a motto he made up for himself in elementary school) ➜ “Flying high over low hurdles.” [TP]

Daily Routines: Messaging his friends (roughly 100 messages a day) ➜ Using messaging apps and social media (roughly 120 messages a day) [TP]

Hobbies: Bungee jumping, collecting feathers and accessories

Favorite Color: Red

Favorite Music: Hip-hop

Favorite Movie: Spider-Man

Favorite Book: Shounen manga (sports genre)

Favorite Food: Karaage, natto, Takenoko-no-Sato (chocolate bamboo shoots) [23.5]

Favorite Anniversary: New Year’s Day (since his family’s store is closed)

Preferred Type: An easy-going girl ➜ A girl who will have fun riding roller coasters with him [TP]

Ideal Date Spot: An amusement park (where you can bungee jump) ➜ “The new theme park in Nagoya!” [23.5]

His Gift for a Special Person: Beautiful feathers he’s been saving

Where He Wants to Travel: Macau Tower

What He Wants Most Right Now: “I want wings on my back!” ➜ “To get taller…” [23.5]

Dislikes: Ghost stories, his father, when Hiyoshi leaves his horror books at his house [23.5, removed], horror stories [23.5]

Skills Outside of Tennis: Skateboarding, street dancing, parkour (recently started) [TP]

Spends Allowance On: Hanging out with his friends

[DATA]

Height: 158cm | 5’2”

Weight: 48kg | 105 lbs

Shoe Size: 25cm

Dominant Arm: Left

Vision: 1.5 Left & Right

Play Style: Serve & Volleyer

Signature Moves: Moonsault Volley

Number of Times He Runs Away from Home: 7 times a month

Equipment Brands:

Racket: BRIDGESTONE (Wingbeam M45)

Shoes: K.SWISS (Preventor2000)

Overall Rating: Speed: 4 / Power: 2 / Stamina: 2 / Mental: 2 / Technique: 4 / Total: 14

Kurobe Memo: “His charm lies in his ability to jump high and fast. However, is that really a skill required to win in tennis matches? If he can find the answer, there is no doubt he will rise to great heights as a tennis player. I hope that his form gets stronger while staying beautiful.” <Official Description>

[POSSESSIONS]

What’s in His Bag [40.5]:

Feathers he found: He picks up fallen feathers. He sometimes sterilizes them and turns them into accessories

Coin purse with a bird design: He carries a coin purse with him to school instead of a wallet. He likes the weathervane design on the front

A feather accessory: One of many feather accessories he owns. He had bought it on an impulse the other day from a stall at a park he passed by on his way home from school

Half-size notebook: He prefers using a half-sized one so he carries less weight, and he uses it for all subjects. He leaves his textbooks at school, rather than taking them home with him

Mesh pen case: Purchased with its weight in mind as well. It has very few writing supplies in it and he always borrows from his classmates to get by

What’s in His Locker [C&S]:

Feathers

Handmade natto (he keeps it in there): He wants to make natto that even Yuushi will eat. He doesn’t make it at home since he doesn’t want his father to find out

Coupons from Jirou’s family: They’re for the dry cleaning store Jirou’s family owns. It’s easier to get coupons from Gakuto than it is from Jirou

[talesfromsiteredacted]

Fun and Modded Games with 035, Or... Did You Just Caboose Me? So Wrong, Dude.

My first test with 035 aka Dyo. Just little ol me, the Possesive Mask, and a modded to hell copy of a quasipopular 4 v everyone zombie shooter. What can go wrong? Everything.

Well, it's time to meet the Possesive Mask, for a few "friendly" games. 035 walks in, and sees me setting up my gaming rig. If he could raise an eyebrow, he would have.

"What's going on? I was told I'd be testing. Didn't expect to test with 049's girl."

"Yeah... it's not really an official official test. And I thought since the Doctor is important to me, thought we should actually meet on less formal terms." I smile, extend a hand. "I'm Rabbit, nice to finally meet you, Dyo. Wanna blow up some boomers?"

"Boomers?"

"Big, nasty explody undead bastards. It'll be fun, I promise. And, since we're not being overly monitored, feel free to swear at the lumbering sacks of boom and acid."

I fire up the game, hand him an extra controller. And... break out laughing. My dumb ass forgot to switch off my mods. So, the shamblers are all Bernie Sanders, the spitters are dilophasaurs, the boomers are all the heavy from Team Fortress 2, and the witches... are the most demented version of Princess Peach ever seen. Hell, I still left my character mods on, meaning I'm stuck as a neon green Amongus and Dyo is... Caboose from Red vs Blue. Our weapons are modded, Dyo running with the BFG 1000 from Doom, I picked dual plasma cutters. Our online teammates are modded up too, 'Sarcasm&4Gauges' is ready to wreck shit as Lord Heisenberg from RE Village, and our last teammate is fucking Sailor Moon. Yes, Usagi is in the house. We get to it. After an initial learning curve, Dyo is on it. He took out Peach one shot. Massive legend. But... not without cost. My Amongus died, after Sailor Moon shot me in the back. Twice.

"Ayo, Sailor Moon? You Caboosed my ass. So wrong, my dude. Don't hate on your squaddie for being better as a rook than you, not our fault you suck with aiming."

"Kiss my disco medallion. Not my fault YOU were in my way."

Dyo pipes up. "Dr. Bright? Don't you have more rules to break before they're written? Teamkilling is almost as low as teabagging. Get your worthless ass back to Crystal Tokyo, heard Queen Beryl is on her bullshit again." Sarcasm&4Gauges loses it on the in-game chat.

"Damn, that was both thematic and cold as fuck, dawg. I can see why 049 chills with you. Savage."

"We do work well together, kind of a Beauty and the Beast deal. Of course, I'm the Beauty."

"Not in this chat, Dyo. Rabbit be fiiiiiine."

"And the Killer Rabbit is good with her honey. Back off her, Jack. Go perv on Rights again."

"Damn, Cleffy be dropping bodies without a shot. Thanks, Uncle Alto. Nice spot job on the herd of Bernies. Not into that kind of getting ate out."

We're back on our zombie slaying grind when... a wild tank appears, modded into a mini 682. Clef dies laughing on mic.

"Maybe I need to chill with the mods, the prospect of soloing a mini 682 brought out Clef's Scooby-Doo villain for real. Oh shit... Caboose dropped the BFG, Clef grab that big fucking gun and get nutty with it."

"Naw, Rabbit. I'm gonna Thor this punk ass. Time to drop the hammer." Clef runs up, the wind up is good... but mini 682 tail-yeets his ass into a wall. Dyo nods at me, and I drop a nice little surprise... a Juggernaught from COD. I toggle on theme music, Dyo pumps his BFG, and we see who kills the Unkillable Lizard first. Just as Dyo lobs the first volley, an Enderman pops up behind him, ready to drag him off. I shoot him with my cutters, Ender fall down, go immobile. Bright is back up... throwing his fucking tiara at 682. Who just laughs in 'what part of hard-to-fucking-KILL do you not get, bitch?' He drops like a bad habit after getting stomped. After several rounds of fire, multiple revives, and several death threats against Dr. Bright for friendly fire, the big scaly butt-ugly undead asshole dies.

"I don't even want to play this game anymore."

"Fine by us, Jack. You suck."

"Yeah, well at least I'm not cuddling up to 049."

"You. Did. Not. Just. Besmerch. The. Doctor's. Rabbit. If I get out of Containment, I am going to curbstomp both you and that tacky as hells medallion into the next reality. And not even 343 will save you. Be ready."

"Dyo, chill. Let me handle him. I have a plan."

"Please tell me you're going to freeze his mouth shut."

"Of course not. Why debase high magic for such low intellect?" I give Dyo an evil grin, and mute my mic. "First, I've arranged a nice Tinder date for him, and he won't even have to leave site. I know a young lady who would love having him over for dinner. Then, after dinner... how about a nice 963 under 60 meters of ice, floating in deep space? Far, far away from our galaxy."

"Rabbit, you're cold-blooded, evil, vindictive... and too bad 049 met you first. I'm honestly impressed."

"I learned at the sandaled feet of THE masters of dirty tactics, 076-2 and Clef. Let's just say I'm rolling the Mastermind perks up in here 24/7. After all, you gotta bring your A game to even match Abel. And Clef? Dude literally wrote the book on reality warpers, and I paid attention. After all, it's hard to learn much from the dead, let alone as one of them." I sense my new gaming buddy is a bit nervous. "Tell you what, you play a few rounds of Modern Warfare with me, we'll call it a non-aggession pact. Hey, maybe we can stomp Bright on and offline, heh?"

"Non-aggression pact? Meaning?"

"You don't kill me or 049 attempting to bail, I look the other way as much as I can. Maybe accidentally drop a few helpful items."

"I'll think about it."

"The pact, or the game?"

"The pact. I honestly like playing with you, you're in it to win via chaos. Very entertaining."

"Thanks, Dyo. You're pretty good yourself." I turn my mic back on. "So, gents... who's up for COD?" Clef opts in, but Bright backs out.

"You bailing, Bright? Can't handle playing unmodded?" Clef teases him.

"More like I can't deal with Rabbit. She's brutal, more so than Mongolian death metal, and she scares me."

"Can I train, or can I train? Not my fault you got no game, zero drip, and lo! No maidens."

"Why are you guys so mean to me?"

"Uh... my dude. You. Have. An. Over. 800. Item. List. Of. Things. You. Specifically. Are. Forbidden. To. Do. Do you really need us to tell you that alone got you disinvited from ALL official functions not directly related to your job? Plus, you have all the culture of garden soil 073 danced on."

"Ouch. That wounds me, 035."

"I have not yet begun to wound you, you backshooting idiot. Now, get off our server." Sonic rings, then a message: Admin Clef has booted G04tedwth963 from the server. "Thank you, Doctor Clef. You get dibs on my first care package should I die before getting it."

"The other team better pray to 343 it's not a gunship."