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potato-jem · 2 years ago

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it really brightens my day that you were so excited to hear about my trip, i’m always scared that i’m annoying 😭 but BISCOFF CREAM?! sounds amazing 🤩

i mean... i haven’t fully caught up, but i’m very close! i’m just trying to get my brain used to doing things again, it’s a bit tired at the moment 😭😭😭 i’m lucky i only missed the first week of lectures, which is mostly introduction stuff, but uni knows no bounds

it was so much better this time!! and also everything was being set up for worldpride so that helped me feel welcome too 🥺 there were rainbow stairs where my friend and i went to dinner :( there was also a rainbow shark somewhere but i didn’t see it

YEAH I WAS SO EXCITED ABOUT THE TRAINS! i saw someone move the seat and i was like :o and i tried both levels, and i have to say top deck is my fav 😌 i think the locals were staring at me and my friend weird because we were both fanboying about the trains...

actually... don’t get mad, but i just never went to bed. i mean i got home at like 12:15 and had a shower and stuff, and it was already 1am, and plus i got some packing and cleaning done as well as painted my nails. it wasn’t a useless three hours at least (i did doze on the plane though!) and the HEAT! it SUCKED! but yeah, worth it for merch/early birthday present! (my birthday is the 4th of march :))

i loveee merch, but yeah, it’s so expensive for no good reason? i mean i’m all about supporting the artist, but $110 for a jumper? (didn’t have to pay for it though ✌️😗) i wore my t-shirt today to uni and the employee at the snack bar i went to asked what night i went. merch is like a magnet 🤩

i was so upset 😭😭😭 i was so excited to eat that amazing ramen again 😭😭😭 oh well. i’m glad you got to have some good japanese food, and i’m also happy you drove responsibly, because that is more important to me than trying something i recommended (but when you get the opportunity, do try!)

it was so cool! we also managed to run into one of our old teachers at the cupsleeve event? (she didn’t recognise me at first, because i’ve physically changed a lot, but it was funny once she did) and we went both days too, so i got some freebies to give to my friend who couldn’t come :) i had this blue lemonade the first day and a lychee-ade which was purple the next?? they were both so nice! and i knew you would encourage me spending my money, my head was filled with “you’re spending too much money” “but you can’t find this at home and cece would be proud”

it was just chilling on the shelve as if waiting for me, and it was in perfect condition?! i put back like three books just to get it! and i managed to get it home safely too (thank you merch) and cece, it’s beautiful, i can’t wait to read it! and the bookstore is well and truly big enough to live in (i will always find the best bookstores, i’m a bookstore magnet :D) and i will let you know if i do, i will need a new bookshelf to accommodate them first 😭😭😭

it was amazing and just so healing. i feel like no one else i could ever see now matters, i’ve seen rina sawayama and stray kids = my life is complete (everyone else i go to is a side quest :D) i am so incredibly lucky to have seen them, especially in two of the members’ hometown. it was an insane experience and one i will hold dear to my heart forever :’)

if me and my friend are only good at one thing, it’s making an outfit. we looked very cool! (and some of our photos are album cover worthy)

cece that’s so lovely of you, i adore you so much 😭😭😭 and exactly! i love being reminded of how much fun i was having! i can’t imagine the people who just shut up, stop dancing and film videos have much fun at concerts :/ my camera was all over the place, i screamed, i nearly cried, i sang off key on the top of my lungs, and it was so fun!

i think i really needed this trip :’)

hooray for three days off!! you deserve all the days off! and what a perfect way to spend it 🤩🤩🤩

and yay! that’s so exciting! i totally understand wanting to plan that instead of going to work, it’s so much better to organise fun things to do with friends than deal with stupid people all day long! 😂 and you didn’t tell me that, but i feel like that is a worthwhile and very wise investment 😌😌

i’m glad to know simba is doing well! i got to pat a cat at work the other day and it made my entire week!

OH CECE THAT MAKES ME SO HAPPY! you don’t understand that makes me so incredibly happy, you have no idea! 🥺🥺🥺 what are your fav songs? i would love to know your thoughts! (also i’m halfway through a perfectly created taylor swift playlist “taylored” to me from one of my best friends, and i am quite enjoying it so far)

thank you for the flowers! i’m hugging you real tight and i’m giving you more biscoff creams <33333333

hello cece my beautiful wonderful beloved soulmate <3

i hope you have been well and looking after yourself! i don’t want you overworking yourself 😭 but it has been two days since i have come back from my trip (i have been exhausted plus i had work and uni to catch up on) so now i am going to sit down and tell you about my trip!! please grab a cup of tea and a snack while you read :)

so i went to sydney again, and i had a much more enjoyable experience this time around. i think it was because i knew what i was getting into, and i stayed in the exact same place, so it was all familiar to me.

although i did try to use the public transport this time, instead of ubering everywhere, and the buses were so bad, but the trains were INCREDIBLE! they were double decker and the back support moved so you could have a single row or two rows of seats face each other??? SO COOL

anyways, me and my friend caught the train to the airport at 4am in the morning 😭😭😭 (and i finished work at 12am!!!!) to get our flight. once we landed in sydney, my friend wanted to get merch from the early presale stand outside the arena and we were outside in 30 degree heat FOR TWO HOURS, with our luggage. good news, my birthday is coming up and my friend didn’t know what to get me, so he bought half my merch 🤭 bad news, i’m ginger and i get sunburnt in two minutes, so think about two hours… the worst thing is we had an umbrella for sun protection, but my right arm and the back of my neck was out so they were FRIED. i’m currently peeling like a reptile but worth it

we got some food from maccas because we were dehydrated and getting heat stroke, and then checked into our room after we managed to get our stuff. we both ended up napping in the afternoon, which we were both surprised about, because i had my phone in my hand still attached to the charger next to my bed and he still had his genshin impact loaded up onto his ipad 😭😭😭

unfortunately the place i wanted to take him to for dinner, the really good japanese place from last time, was under renovation, so we had dinner elsewhere but we had such a good time the rest of our trip

because we went to see stray kids, a kpop group, we had a lot of activities we could indulge in. they had this thing called a cupsleeve event, where someone in the fandom designs a cupsleeve to represent a kpop idol’s birthday, group anniversary or in our case, coming to the city. and i got so many freebies! we went to this kpop store that doubled as a cafe and the drinks were so good! i bought way too much but i have to remind myself that i can’t get it at home 😔

we also went to the biggest bookstore i have ever seen in my life! it took up a whole floor of the shopping centre and it was brilliant. it had books upon books, categories after categories. they even had an entire chinese and japanese section! i also spent a lot of money there BUT my best find was the entire completed infernal devices manga trilogy!! it’s so beautiful and such a rare find, i grabbed it immediately. i couldn’t find the tmi graphic novels though, but they have them on their website, so i might order them in :)

alright, the main event! the concerts! so i went and saw the kpop group, stray kids, two nights in a row! it was amazing. i was and still am a huge fan of their work, but especially because they got me through a really hard time in my life and really were my serotonin while i was at school 😔 i wasn’t allowed to see them when they first came here four years ago (parents: maybe next year, they’ll come! *next year being 2020.*) so i feel like i finally made up for it.

me and my friend also matches outfits! we did black and green (the concert colours) on the first night, and red and white on the second (to match the stray kids colours). i wish i could send you photos, we looked so slay 🤩

i do not have one concert video without me screaming the lyrics (yeah the korean ones too!) in the back. but i don’t care, it was so fun, i had a blast. and it was even better because two of the members of stray kids were from sydney and they just made it feel more homely :) do not regret how much money i spent on them or the sleep i lost at all! i’m so glad i can slowly start to give myself the experiences i missed out on as a kid/teenager :’)

anyways, enough about me! how have you been? what have you been up to? how is simba? 🥺 i adore you so much and i am enclosing this letter with a warm hug <3333

hello nero my amazing perfect beloved soulmate <3

yay i’m so happy to finally hear about this trip!!! i just made myself a cup of tea and brought out some biscoff cream!!

how was the catching up part?? did you manage to catch up without exhausting yourself too much??

nero that’s so great!! i think that having a familiar surrounding is always helpful, and staying in the same place makes it all less scary somehow. i’m really happy it went much better!!

NO WAY THEY HAVE THOSE TRAINS THERE??? they look so cool!!! i’ve seen them on instagram once and i was so jealous of every city who had those trains!! you can literally choose if you want to sit alone or have company and that’s so cool!!! it’s basically a buildable environment!!! i’m getting way too excited about this lol

so you only had like three hours of sleep?? 😭😭😭😭 and you even had to stand in the heat for hours 😭😭😭 but yay!!! merch!!! that’s a really great birthday gift!!! (also when is your birthday??? only if you want to share of course <3)

anyway merch is so amazing and so expensive. this has got to be one of the best presents ever!!! even if it means you’re skinning like a reptile now lol at least it’s just two small spots instead of your whole self 😂 but i get the struggle. i’m not ginger but my skin is so light i always get sunburnt in 0.5 seconds too. definitely not fun, but worth it for some merch :D

that was probably a really fun situation to wake up to, but you both deserved a nap for catching a bus at 4am!!! especially since you had only a few hours of sleep after work!! at least you were rested enough to really enjoy the trip!!

oh no 😭😭 i’m still dreaming about that place!! i went to a my favorite japanese restaurant in my city a few days ago and i really wanted to try that beverage you told me about but i was driving so i couldn’t 😭 i hope this other restaurant was really good too though!!

no way!!! nero this is all way too cool!!! i’m so happy it was so fun and there were so many things to do!!! also this cupsleeves event sounds so cool!! i’m so happy nero, you’re making my day just by telling me about all these freebies and amazing drinks!! and you know i’m always gonna be the little devil on your shoulder telling you that spending money is good and you deserve all that amazing stuff :))

the tid manga trilogy??? how is that even possible omg you can’t find that anywhere!!!! i’m so jealous, i wanna live in this bookstore now 🥺 it’s got to be so amazing!! (you always find the best bookstores, i had no doubt there would be one in this letter too and i was so excited to read about it!!) and let me know if you do order the tmi graphic novels!! i’ve been trying to collect those too hehe

the fact that *next year* was 2020 is so painful. but you saw them two nights in a row!!! that’s amazing!! and it must have been so good to see them after so long, after they’d been by your side in a really tough time 🥹 i’m so happy you got to finally see them live!!

also, the matching outfits?? I LOVE THAT!!! i bet you looked so slay!!! that’s literally the best idea for what to wear to a concert!!!

nero i’m so so happy for you!!! you’ve made my whole day, i’m not even joking!! i’m so happy you’re finally getting to enjoy trips and concerts you couldn’t before!! and this one really sounded so perfect!!! also the videos with you screaming at the top of your lungs to every song are literally the best. i love it when i rewatch a video from a concert and i can hear myself screaming and crying and dying more than i can hear the band or the singer. it just makes me live all those memories and those amazing feelings again!!!

the money spent on this is totally worth it!!! and you can sleep now, uni can wait lol really nero i’m so happy this trip was so good!!! i’m so happy for you!!!

i’m good!! i got three days off from work this week so that was great, and i started to reread chain of iron so that i can reread chain of thorns right after :) i miss them so much already 🥲

anyway i just booked a trip for may, because a friend is coming to visit me and i’m gonna be off work for two weeks so i’m really looking forward to it and now i just wanna skip work and plan the itinerary 😂 and i want to book more trips too. which isn’t great because my bank account is already crying and begging me to stop buying stuff. did i tell you i got the illumicrate edition of chain of thorns with the alternative dust jackets? yeah so my bank account still hasn’t forgiven me for it :,)

simba is also doing really good, he’s eating a lot and sleeping a lot as usual 😌

also, ever since you told me about the rina sawayama concert, and because you always talked so much about her, i kinda started listening to her music a lot more and i’m obsessed with some songs now!!! i adore her style so thank you for this new obsession :>

i’m enclosing a warm hug for you too and a little bouquet of flowers <3

#cece my beloved!!!

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jaskwritesthings · 2 years ago

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I have a Dream x Hob prompt. I would love a fic where Hob talks about being in or having had a relationship with a man, dude's hundreds of years old and I refuse to believe he never tried this, and Dream is just lowkey being jealous. Maybe he knows why, maybe he doesn't either way he's just mad someone else got to know Hob in ways he hasn't. Would love it even more if Hob just gushes on without realizing that Dream isn't just being all regular dark and broody, he's in Advanced Darkness and wants a name and that name's worst nightmares. Thank you. I would just love to see our emo boy being all jealous.

tags: none

(ao3)

“You appear to have a fondness for this magazine?” Dream said as he admired the framed covers hung up on Hob’s walls. The style was new to him, more sketch-like than the art he’d seen before his imprisonment. The mixture of men, women and children looked like dolls in some ways, almost all of the individuals had ruby red cheeks and the faces were familiar enough to suggest a single artist behind all of the pieces. A faded handwritten tag named the artist as ‘J. C. Leyendecker’ below each print.

“Hm? Oh, that. No, no interest in it, but the man who made the covers, old flame of mine. Damn good artist, couldn’t help but collect his pieces. Got a few originals tucked away,” Hob offered up just as easily as he did every aspect of his life for Dream.

Dream felt a flicker of something dark in his chest, it lashed out like the thump of a cat’s tail, a warning of its ire, “He drew for you?”

“Anything and everything, not just me. But he did paint me once or twice, can’t really loan those ones out to a museum though. People might catch on a bit, you should see what they say about Keanu Reeves,” Hob chuckled as he handed Dream a cup of steaming tea he’d been preparing as Dream snoped around his flat.

“You remember this artist fondly?” Dream questioned softly, no longer admiring the work.

“Joseph? Very, I always try to remember the ones I love. Gets difficult over time, wish I’d never pawned Eleanor’s portrait, can’t really remember what she looked like anymore,” he sighed sadly, an old grief that Dream recognised in himself.

“I’m sorry,” Dream offered though he knew from experience the words were never quite enough.

Hob smiled, it wasn’t as bright as some of his previous ones, tinged as it was by an old ache that had never fully healed, “Not your fault, learned from my mistakes anyway. I try to keep some things from old loves.”

Dream turned his attention from his friend to the artwork proudly displayed in his living room. There was little else of note in the room that Dream could guess at having belonged to someone other than Hob. To hold such value in Hob’s heart, the relationship must have meant a great deal to the immortal. The dark thing in Dream’s chest thrashed its tail more, a growl growing deep within it. It unsettled him how the fact of this relationship could upset him so.

“You loved him dearly, to keep his works in your home,” Dream pointed out.

“I did. We parted well, not always the case. Plus his work is beautiful, not really a hardship to hang it up,” Hob admitted with ease, why wouldn’t he. Why was Dream expecting him to hide his love affairs as though they were something to be ashamed of? He never had. Nor should he have to hide them. But it still set him on edge, a strange anger bubbling under the surface.

“You do not keep the trinkets of others here, just his,” Dream said and even he could hear the coldness of his tone, the accusation he had no right to lay out.

Hob appeared oblivious to this new mood as he sipped his own tea, “I try to keep with the fashion of the times. Minimalism is a hard one to shake, glad we’ve moved on from the white interiors, right pain to keep those clean. Clutter’s coming back in so I’ll probably bring some more stuff out of storage, not everything mind you, some of it’s too fragile. These are prints, good way to have him here without wrecking his originals.”

“How long were you together?”

“Only a few years, I didn’t stay in America long, England’s home for me,” Hob smiled fondly, though for the memories of his former lover or of his homeland Dream couldn’t guess. A voice within him that sounded too close to his siblings whispered spiteful things he didn’t want to examine too closely.

“Such a short time, yet a lasting impact,” Dream said, aiming for an aloof air and knowing he fell short by quite a distance.

“I seem to have a fondness for the quiet brooding ones,” Hob teased a touch tentatively as though worried he had a right to tease Dream anymore.

“You found him not long after our parting,” Dream surmised and he wished he could take back the words as Hob’s face dropped into something colder at the reminder.

“You mean after you threw a tantrum and ran out on me making me think I’d never see you again?” Hob reiterated as he left Dream’s side to flop down on the overstuffed sofa. His absence left a cold bitter wind in its wake and Dream shrunk just a little into the folds of his coat.

“I have apologised -“

“And I have accepted that, as I hope you will accept the fact that I needed more than one friend that I only saw every hundred years,” Hob pointed out and the truth of his words irked Dream. He was right as he had been in the White Horse Inn all those decades ago. It didn’t appear it was getting easier to accept that he wasn’t always right.

“I do not begrudge you your friendships,” Dream said, settling down into one of the armchairs, it hugged him and pulled him in. He shouldn’t be surprised by such comforts. Hob was a hedonistic creature, greedy for life and all it offered. His home reflected that in a way, comfort and warmth in equal measure. A sanctuary against the ever changing world that he could retreat too.

“But my lovers?”

Dream paused too long before offering a begrudging, “…nor them.”

Hob appeared unconvinced, rightly so, “Joseph was a good man, we loved each other.”

“I am glad,” Dream said, a pale offering that landed as heavy and as welcome as a brick.

“You hate him,” Hob said, lips twitching in amusement.

“I do not -“

“Calliope isn’t my favourite muse,” Hob interrupted and it was such a sudden change of subject that it took Dream a moment to process the absurdity of the statement.

“You dislike Calliope?” Dream asked slowly as though ensuring he had heard Hob correctly. Hob nodded.

“For the same reason you want to burn my art prints,” he explained and clarity snapped into place like a missing jigsaw piece.

“I do not wish to burn them,” Dream attempted to defend but it was a weak attempt.

“No?” Hob asked, almost laughing.

“…Perhaps replace them,” Dream admitted in a whisper he wouldn’t repeat if asked.

Hob heard him though, he seemed keenly aware of Dream in a way few were. He leant forward, elbows on his knees, as he fixed Dream with a warm, hopeful look. Dream suspected they had moved on from discussing art prints, “You can’t replace them. Any of them really. But you can join them if you’d like.”

#jask answers #the sandman #dreamling #dreamhob #i-will-find-an-untaken-url

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blu-joons · 4 years ago

Text

Watching Him Workout ~ Kim Namjoon

Your smile grew as you peered around the door to see Namjoon sprinting on the treadmill. You crept quietly into the gym, standing on the treadmill beside him as you watched several beads of sweat drip down the side of his face.

“What can I do for you?” He smiled, glancing across at you whilst wiping his brows with the back of his hand.

Your shoulders shrugged as he carried on running, leaning against the barrier of the treadmill so you could get a better view. Namjoon knew your eyes were staring, located to the middle of his abs as he continued to run until the vibrations of his phone let him know he was done.

“I thought you were supposed to be busy with work,” he pointed out, grabbing his towel.

Your smile widened, taking the towel from him. “I got things done quicker so I thought I’d come and see what you were up to, I’m pretty pleased that I did now too.”

You took the towel from Namjoon and began to wipe around his body, carefully dabbing against his face. He could feel your eyes exploring his body as you walked around him, admiring each muscle that he worked so hard to perfect.

Once you were done, he took the towel and his phone, walking over to the weight machines. Naturally, you followed behind him, sitting down on the bench that he sat down on as he loaded up his playlist, flicking through a few of his favourite songs.

“Are you following me?” He teased.

You rested your head down on his shoulder, ignoring the dampness of it. Namjoon could only smile at how keen you were to be around him and take note of every little thing he did.

He left you on his shoulder for a few moments before pulling away, walking over to the bench of dumbbells, picking up a pair that he knew he’d be able to impress you with.

“Are you sticking around for the rest of my work out?” He quizzed, placing the weights down as he pressed play on his music. “You can stay if you like what you see.”

Your eyes widened, quickly pressing your hands to your cheeks as you felt them heat up to match the colour of his. Namjoon walked across to you, pressing a kiss against the top of your head before returning to where he worked out.

“I can’t help it.”

“I’m glad you’re enjoying the view.”

It was hard for you not to enjoy what you saw as Namjoon began to lift the weights, watching as his muscles flexed, each time he lifted a weight into the air. It was impossible for you not to smile, which Namjoon quickly caught onto.

“I can’t work out knowing you’re smiling beside me,” he laughed once he’d finished his reps. “It’s off putting knowing that you’re watching.”

Your shoulders shrugged back at him, encouraging him to continue. As he swapped arms, you sat back again with a smile until his reps were done and his eyes were back on you.

“I don’t think you realise how off putting it is for me too, I can’t look anywhere else but at you right now,” you pointed out to him, “you’re in my view.”

His eyes scanned around the gym, “I can find plenty of other places you could look at right now, not necessarily me.”

“But none of those views are as good as the one you provide.”

Namjoon could only tut as he went back to his workout, continuing to work around you sat on the bench. With every little thing he did, he could feel your eyes watching him closely, soaking up the view of Namjoon.

His body had always been tall and strong, but after his recent transformation, he was looking better than ever. He often came to you for songs to listen to whilst he worked out, handing you his phone so you could fill it up with all your favourites.

To begin with, Namjoon wasn’t convinced on any of the songs you added to his playlist, but as he began to listen to them more, the artist in him soon found a great interest. One particular song was always one you noticed on his playlist, as you glanced down at the switch in his phone, you noticed 34+35 playing once again.

Your head shook just as Namjoon turned around, noticing the smirk on your face. He looked questionably down at you until he realised what was playing on the speakers, recognising exactly what that look was for.

He nudged your shoulder gently, “this is your fault for being such a bad influence on me, this song is always at the top of all of my playlists.”

Your shoulders shrugged back at him, “you must be the one that chooses to listen to it.”

“It’s a good workout song, I’ve even told the fans that this is one of the songs I work out too.”

Your eyes widened at his sudden confession, watching closely as he spun back around to put the weights back. As your eyes trailed down his body you noticed the waistband of his trousers hung a lot lower than before, showing off perfectly the definition along his hip bones. You were too far gone to even notice Namjoon appearing back in front of you, pressing his hand underneath your chin.

“My eyes are up here,” he reminded you, pushing your face up so you were looking at him. “You’ll end up drooling if you leave that mouth open for much longer.”

“I’m allowed to enjoy what I see, there’s nothing wrong with that.”

His hands covered your eyes for a few moments, but you quickly grabbed onto his wrists to pull him away, watching as he took a few paces back once he let go of your eyes.

“You know, I think I should come and watch you work out more often.”

As much as he wanted to shake his head, having you around certainly pushed him to work a bit harder. He loved more than anything that he knew he was impressing you and had your full attention. He’d worked hard on his body, for himself more than anything, but knowing you appreciated it too was certainly a bonus for him.

“Maybe next time you could work out with me,” he suggested, pressing his sweaty hands to the sides of your face. “We could do one of those couple workouts.”

“I’m happy as a spectator,” you chuckled, “I’d much refer to just sit back and watch and the view rather than do all the exercises that come with it.”

Namjoon’s eyes rolled, taking a step back closer towards you. “How about this then, rather than workout, you can be on hand with a towel and a bottle of water when I need it? I’ll even let you wipe me down once I’m done.”

“Now that sounds a little more like something I can do,” you grinned, “and I promise I would do a very thorough job of it too.”

“I’m sure you would,” he smiled, pressing a kiss to your lips.

---

Masterlist

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hepalienstuckyrecs · 4 years ago

Text

Hidden Gems Stucky Fic Rec

Amazing fics with <10k hits

raise the flag by mcwho [M, 1k]

Slice of Life, PWP

Steve had made the mistake of laying on the sofa lengthways, on his stomach, so of course as soon as Bucky walked into the room he was all over that

Heart by @concavepatterns, everandthe [T, 1k]

Fluff, Love Confession, Post CATWS

"You're not my friend, Steve."

softer than whispers by @spacebuck [E, 1.4k]

Fluff, PWP, Table Sex, Rimming

"concept: steve fucking bucky in knee socks bc thighs and long sweaters"

Concept: The sweater hangs down nearly to Bucky’s knees as he walks past the couch Steve’s sprawled on, the hem swaying a little with each step. Steve doesn’t recognise it, realises Bucky must have gone out of his way to get something too big for him, and smiles just a little to himself. Bucky’s oblivious to his presence in the way a content cat is. Steve’s his, so he belongs.

i want it, i got it by bornes [T, 1.5k]

Fluff, Humor

Ten minutes into their impromptu mall adventure, Steve has offered to buy Bucky a designer sofa he had sat on briefly to rest his legs, a $600 headband, and a diamond-encrusted butterfly clip

more under the cut

no grave can hold my body down by @biblionerd07 [G, 1.9k]

Bucky Feels

Bucky has died more than once, but he never stays that way. Companion to let me give you my life.

Not the Needle, Nor the Thread by @steebadore [E, 2k]

Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Sex

Bucky wakes to a noise.

No, Bucky wakes to the noise. It's not the hoarse shout of nightmares born of battlefields and blood that so often tear them both from sleep. No, this is smaller. Bitten off. Choked back. A furtive, strangled keen, nearly silent but pitched at a frequency that would raise Bucky from the dead.

in the morning i’ll be sober and you’ll still be mine by mcwho [T, 2.2k]

Drunken Confessions, Kissing, Light Angst, Team fic

Steve always marveled at how people lost all their inhibitions after they got a little alcohol in them.

And then Thor gets him drunk on Asgardian liquor. Events unfold.

tutorial by @belovedmuerto [T, 2.4k]

Modern AU, High School AU, Practice Kissing, Fluff

“I’m pretty sure I’m a terrible kisser,” Steve mutters, mostly to his pencil and paper.

black eyes, bandages and bloody knuckles by @concavepatterns [M, 2.7k]

5+1 Things, Post CATWS, Prewar Flashbacks, Hurt/Comfort

Five times Bucky says “Jesus, Rogers” out of pure exasperation, and one time he means it in a completely different context.

Gorecki by @ataraxetta [M, 3k]

Hurt/Comfort, Soft, Post CATWS

Steve has a crummy mission. Bucky has a crummy dream. They cuddle it out.

hold some dirt with those hands by magdaliny [T, 3k]

Post-IW, Fix-it

It had sent him to his knees.

I Had a Marvelous Time Ruining Everything by fallendarlings (@pressrestartwrites) [T, 3.2k]

War Era, CATFA, POV Steve, Hurt/Comfort, Mutual Pining, Love Confessions, Light Angst

“I’m not worth all that. Not worth your life.”

“You’re worth everything to me.” And there it is, the secret truth. There’s no way to interpret it as anything but what it is. Steve’s heart, held out in his hands. The one that didn’t work right, ugly all over from damage. The one that was Bucky’s first, has always been Bucky’s. They say his new one is perfect, but he knows the truth. Even if they fixed everything else, they can’t fix this. Every inch of his heart, scarred with Bucky’s name. Over and over and over.

(Not Quite) All The Small Things by @leveragehunters [T, 4.1k]

Prewar, Post CATWS, Magical Realism AU, Fluff, Bucky POV

Bucky was used to finding Steve in alleys. Not every day, thank baby Jesus and all the saints or he’d be as grey as Mrs Milligicutty, but often enough.

The thing about Steve in alleys was, it meant finding Steve in fights. Or finding Steve after fights, bloody and bruised, picking gravel and dirt out of his skin, having come off third best in a two-person punch-up. Sometimes, not often, but sometimes, it meant finding Steve standing, bruised but unbowed, glaring down some hapless meathead who’d underestimated just how much sheer goddamned never-say-die was packed onto those skinny bones.

That was Steve in alleys. Not this hunched over sack of glare, facing down a mangy orange tom cat that was glaring right back and trying to dart past his legs.

My Kind’s Your Kind by @callmejude [M, 4.1k]

Prewar, Practice Kissing, Smut with Feelings

Steve's beginning to get self-conscious of the fact that he's never been kissed.

let me give you my life by @biblionerd07 [T, 4.3k]

5+1 Things

Five times Steve chose to live when he could have died. Companion to no grave can hold my body down.

To Seek a Nood-er World by jehans (@lafbaguette) [E, 8.2k]

Misunderstandings, Humor, Sexting, Canon Verse, First Time, Idiots in Love

Send noodz

Steve has been staring at his phone for the last six minutes, eyes narrowed so much they’re almost closed at this point, trying to figure out what the hell Bucky means. Noodz? What the fuck are noodz?

Listen, Steve is at least marginally aware of modern pop culture. He’s heard of nudes — not that nudes are exactly a modern invention; artists have been creating them for millennia — and he does know that people tend to misspell words to be cute or funny. They did that when he was young, too. Because time is a flat circle, apparently.

But, wait—does that mean…?

No. Not possible. Bucky isn’t asking Steve to send him…nudes.

Right?

TBC (taking care of bucky) series by @steebadore [T, 8.6k]

Domestic, Fluff

It starts, as most things do, with spite. The problem is, it doesn't end there.

Glad to love you, Steve Rogers series by @maddiewritesstucky [E, 9.2k]

Modern AU, Stripper Bucky

Steve’s first thought is that he knows this song.

His second thought is little more than a stream of expletives, as the male embodiment of Fuck Me walks out onto the stage. Although, ‘walk’ seems an entirely inappropriate word…the man struts, stalks, and all at once the frenzied reaction of the crowd makes perfect sense.

If Steve had known this was about to make an entrance, he’d have been screaming for it too.

_____

In which Steve Rogers is promised a night of highly-skilled dance performance, and gets exactly that...just not in the way he expected.

Strange Human Mating Rituals by @liionne, art by velvetjinx [E, 13.7k]

Post CACW, Canon Divergent, Bucky Recovery, Sexting, Fluff

Bucky doesn't have a job. Steve assures Bucky that there's no pressure for him to do anything; Steve's army back pay and his avenging days mean they're taken care of. Bucky's a kept man, and whilst he loves that, he isn't much of a house husband. So he goes out, and that's how it happens. He's sitting on the subway when he sees the magazine, garishly pink with a woman flashing big pearly white teeth on the front cover. He can't help himself. Letting himself do things he wants to do is one of the things the Wakandan healers had taught him, so maybe it's a step in the right direction.

The magazine turns out to be a little less factual than Bucky’s usual reading material, but he loves it. He reads an interview with some actress he's never seen before, then an article on how to get the perfect brows (and he looks up at his reflection in the subway window then to find that his brows are-- what does the magazine say? on fleek already), and then he gets to something interesting.

Sexting 101: What your man really wants to hear

Now that is something Bucky wants to know more about.

#stucky #stucky fic #stucky fic rec #stevebucky #stevebucky fic rec #reclist #hidden gems #changed the title because this seems more fitting

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battlemaiden13 · 4 years ago

Note

Hope you are taking care of yourself, your writing always brings me joy. Stay happy and healthy, and dont feel guilty for taking your time. I do have a question/scenario for you, though. How would the boys (your choice) react if they noticed their s/o started coming home covered in thick layers of dust and maybe some small scratches and bruises? After hearing her scream from her workshop, it turns out she's a woodworker and chainsaw artist, and she was making a surprise gift for them.

13: I’m glad you enjoy my answers. I appreciate the kind words and reminder to look after myself and I hope you are also taking care of yourself and enjoy the answer to your question.

I took the scream to mean either MC hurt herself or made a mistake with the gift.

Sans -the dust had him a little on edge. He knew that you would never do anything bad but his mind had a tendency to come up with the worst case scenario. When you scream he shortcuts to your workshop and panicked but after you assure him you're ok and sheepishly tell him what you are up to he can’t help but laugh from relief.

Papyrus -he never thought too much about the dust, more worried about the small injuries. You’d often get lectures about taking better care of yourself. After the scream he rushes to your workshop to see you clutching your hand. You are treated to another lecture about taking care of yourself as Papyrus patches you up, he does thank you for the gift though.

Red -His mind has a bad habit of going to the worst case scenario and here is no different. He does try to push all this aside causing him to avoid you a bit and to not notice the small marks appearing on yourself. When you scream he forces himself to go see what is wrong, his mind once again going to the worst case scenario. Having you explain everything fills him with relief and he feels like an idiot for jumping to the worst.

Edge -He tells you that he’s worried about you listing the reasons including you spending a lot of time in your workshop and coming home with injuries but he trusts you so he doesn’t push you to tell him anything. When he hears you scream and finds you injured he quickly gets to work patching you up and giving you a lecture. He was clearly very worried and is really mad at you for hiding what you were doing from him. Giving him the gift calms him down but he does want to talk about this.

Blue -He is super curious as to why you keep showing up the way you do and asks like a million questions that you avoid expertly. He tries, and fails, to follow you to find out what you are up to but it is super obvious and is found out really early. When you scream and he finally gets to learn what you were up to he was just really excited and asks if you can teach him a few things.

Orange -He actually just figures out what you are doing. He’s dabbled in woodworking before, he recognises the marks it leaves and the sawdust but if you don’t want to talk about it then he isn’t going to bring it up. He finds you in your workshop swearing about a mistake you made and that’s when he learns everything. he honestly finds it very entertaining and is touched that you’d think to make him anything. He offers to help but understands if you want to do this by yourself

Berry -he gets super annoyed at you for making the house as dusty as you are. Really that is the extent of his lectures. When you scream and he rushes in to see what's wrong you might be surprised when Berry seems to know what you were up to the whole time. He had figured it out a while ago just never thought it was worth mentioning. He still gets annoyed at you for the dust you trail into the house

Syrup -He knew what you were up to, he knows everything about you but the screaming sends him into instant panic mode as 100 bad scenarios rush through his skull. He burst through your workshop door obviously in the middle of an anxiety attack. When it registers that you're ok he calms down and the gift that you made him he absolutely adores. Every time he sees it he instantly lights up.

#undertale #undertale imagines #undertale sans #undertale papyrus #underfell #underfell sans #Underfell Papyrus #underSwap #underswap sans #underswap papyrus #swapfell #swapfell sans #swapfell papyrus

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katyamorrigan · 3 years ago

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‘A Hotel on the Board is Worth Two on the Geldstraat’ - Chp. 1!

Gang banner by @verdiris

A Hotel on the Board is Worth Two on the Geldstraat

A trunk of contraband items ends up in the hands of the Crows, but the item that piques their curiosity most is the large box labelled “MONOPOLY”. Kaz is out of the Slat for the time being, so of course they decide to play it. Was there ever a mission more likely to fail than six criminals with lethal skills and undeniable emotional ties all trying to build a make-believe empire without killing each other in the process? Answer: yes - all of the above while attempting to pull off a heist at the same time.

Turns out board games weren’t the only interesting items shipped into Fifth Harbour that afternoon, and now the Razorgulls are interested. It will take all of the gang’s effort to break into two buildings full of rival gang members, regain possession of the contraband, and make it back to the Slat in one piece. And that’s without the inherent strains of playing at business negotiations with a group of decidedly underhand friends.

Join the Crows as they cheat, steal, lie, and bribe each other, all before the heist has even begun.

I am so excited to finally get to share the fic that I have been working on for the @grishaversebigbang over the last few months - A Hotel on the Board is Worth Two on the Geldstraat! Getting to take part in the Grishaverse Big Bang 2021 has been so much fun, and I have had the honour of working with an absolutely incredible gang of artists and the loveliest beta reader. It’s been an absolute blast, and this is one of my favourite things that I’ve written. Thank you so much to everyone that I’ve worked with, and I hope that you enjoy reading and admiring the story and art that we’ve created!

Here is everyone in my gang, with links to the work that they’ve created (some art may relate to chapters of the fic that haven’t been posted yet - the fic will be posted in its entirety within the next 3 weeks and the art will be linked within the fic on the relevant lines, but also there’s nothing that will spoil the story for you, so don’t worry!):

Corporalki: @davonysus (who is the most wonderful beta reader, thank you for everything that you contributed to this story!)

Materialki:

@ciph3rrr with hilarious Crows-minus-Kaz Monopoly shenanigans from Chapter 1

@j-wirth with this brilliant Inej and Wesper moment inspired by Chapters 2 and 7

@bloodysusher with a gorgeous group moment in Chapter 7

@verdiris with some amusing Kaz geniusness from Chapter 7

@maximumbluebirdpatrol (link still to come)

@emmaxtw (link still to come)

There are 7 chapters in total, so I shall be uploading a new one every Tuesday and Saturday until 25th September. Look below the cut for an excerpt from Chapter 1, and if you want to read the full thing (and check out the collection of all the other incredible pieces created for the GVBB) then click either of the links. I hope that you enjoy!

AHOTBIWTOTG Chapter 1 Excerpt:

The front door of the Slat opened with a loud clatter, and slammed shut on itself seconds later. It made Inej jump in her seat as she sat going over ship documentation - which, as it turned out, there was a lot of - in the front room. Nina gave her a look, and Inej wrinkled her nose back at her; the Wraith didn’t startle easily, but equally, there was usually less banging of doors while she tried to organise her finances.

“Honeys, I’m home!” Came Jesper’s voice. “And I brought treats!”

“It had better be more exciting than that time you came back from Cilla’s Fry with meat pies,” Inej called back. “That was underwhelming.”

“Speak for yourself,” Nina chimed in. “I was more than happy to finish up those.”

“We know.” Matthias gave her a knowing look, and Wylan sniggered as she raised a single finger at him in response.

The bickering that came from everyone trying to work on separate projects at the same time was one of the many reasons that Inej hadn’t made it past the first page of her sailing license. That being said, she joined in the chuckling at Nina’s expense.

“Oh, it’s definitely better than Cilla’s pies, but you’ll have to take a look for yourself.”

Jesper rounded the corner, a large trunk tucked under one slim arm. His face was bright from the brisk, cold air of the streets, and a bead of sweat dropped from his chin as he deposited the luggage on the table beside Inej. She sighed heavily as the wad of pages in front of her jumped with the sudden extra weight.

“Sorry,” Jesper grinned. She just rolled her eyes fondly in response.“Come on, who wants to see what I’ve got?”

Nina, Matthias and Wylan all got up from the neighbouring table and crowded around Inej and Jesper. It was uncomfortable having so many significantly taller people stood behind her while she was sitting, so Inej scooped up her papers and deposited them on the floor, taking their place on the table so that she could get a good look at the trunk.

“Where did you get that?” Matthias asked.

“Well, our dearest Kaz decided to put me on shipment duty and I had to wait around at the Exchange for a boat full of contraband to come in. It took hours, so as soon as I saw something that looked interesting, I used my innumerable skills to swipe it so that we could take a look inside.”

““Innumerable” is a long word for you,” Nina quipped.

A bubble of laughter rose up amongst the group, and Jesper stuck his tongue out childishly. “Fine, no contraband for you.”

“No, I want to look!”

“Be nice, then. I get first dibs on anything cool because I found it.”

Matthias snorted. “What happened to the ancient rule of “finder’s keepers”?”

“I found the trunk, therefore I found anything that’s inside it by proxy.”

“Can we just open it up?” Wylan said impatiently. “I feel like we’re building expectations by arguing like this – it’s probably smuggled whiskey or something.”

“Shouldn’t we wait for Kaz?” Inej asked. The others gave her a look of incredulity. “Where is he, anyway?”

There was a brief moment of looking at each other for answers, before Jesper answered decisively. “If he was so worried about what came in on the boat, he would’ve gone himself. And if he isn’t here now, then he’ll just have to accept whatever is left over from the spoils.”

“We aren’t actually pirates, you know,” Inej said.

“Not yet,” Jesper stage-whispered in reply, and Inej found herself grinning, pleased. “Gather around, then.” He beckoned everyone closer like a ringmaster at the centre of a performance.

Inej was surprised to find that her heart was actually beating faster with the thought of what might be inside. Wylan was probably right that they were getting themselves worked up over nothing, but all the same, she couldn’t help hoping that they found something rare or exciting. Perhaps it was gold? Guns? Something dangerous? You could never know when it came to the imports of Ketterdam, and for once Inej was glad for the intensity of life in the city. It could very well be something extraordinary.

The catches on the front of the trunk lifted easily, but there was a thick knot of string around the middle as well. Jesper struggled to untie it, so Inej slipped a knife from her sleeve and cut it off with one flick of her wrist. Giving her a mischievous look, Jesper dug his fingernails under the lid and with a crackle of flaking rust, the trunk opened.

On top there was a loose gauzy scarf clearly intended to keep moisture out of the trunk on the long sea voyage, which had definitely served its purpose; the red print had blotted itself onto the inside of the lid, and there were water stains on it where it had protected the rest of the cargo. Matthias and Nina went to grab it at the same time, but it ended up in Nina’s hands regardless as he passed it to her with a shy smile.

“I thought you would want it, so I was making sure no-one else got there first.”

Wylan made an exaggerated gagging noise, and Matthias’ expression quickly reverted to his familiar scowl.

“Aha!”

Jesper reached forward and pulled out two pistols, both only a little rusty and with a single blue gem stamped into the body of each. With impressive speed he turned around and mimed firing two shots at the wall before holstering them beside his favoured revolvers.

As Matthias pulled out a slim soft-covered book, Inej realised that she was far too focused on the discoveries of her friends and was going to miss out on finding her own treasures otherwise. Lifting up two more scarves – this time green and blue – she found another couple of books which she handed to Nina. Her friend’s focus was pulled away from adjusting her hair under her newly matching scarf to flicking through the pages and wrinkling her nose hard.

“I don’t recognise the language, but I can understand it well enough,” Nina mused.

“Where did the boat come in from, Jesper?” Wylan asked as he opened a small wooden keepsake box full of golden rings in varying levels of ornate decoration.

“Kaz didn’t say, and I’ll be honest, I didn’t pay much attention.”

Nina tutted and continued her reading with Matthias peering over her shoulder. With fingers now covered in rings, Wylan pulled out a long fur coat that smelt of mould. Removing its furry cuffs from the case, Inej reached into the trunk for what seemed to be the last item: a big box made of thick card, with a green cover and the word MONOPOLY emblazoned on the top. The lettering was incredibly clear, but it didn’t look as though it had been done by hand or with a printing press. It had an odd shiny feel to the outside as well, like it had been coated in order to keep out the damp.

Inej sat it on the table and lifted the lid. It came off easily, and revealed a large square of that same thick card in bright red that unfolded into a larger board with regular markings on it.

“What in the Saints’ names is that?” Nina remarked, putting down her reading material.

“I have no idea. It was at the bottom of the trunk.”

“Is it a map?” Wylan suggested.

“Doesn’t look like it,” Inej murmured as she put the board down and looked at what was left in the box.

Underneath that map-like object was a tray divided into several compartments, with little silver tokens collected in one, some colourful playing cards of an unknown variety in another, and some appealing little houses done in an unusual material in both green and red. Beside those lay a rack of what looked like currency, in the same shape and thickness as notes of kruge. Jesper immediately started rifling through it all, mixing up the various collections and inspecting them all with irregular attention. Although Wylan slapped his hand away with a tut, it clearly wasn’t out of lack of interest.

“What is it?” Nina asked again. Taking the board in her hands, she began to stumble through the words written on it.

“Collect 200… something, looks like it could be a currency symbol because it says “salary” after that, as you pass GO... Old Kent Road, another amount of money… sixty? Community chest, Whitechapel Road, same amount of money as the other square…”

As she turned it over in her hands, a slim white booklet fell out onto the table. Inej started forward and managed to snatch it up before anyone else did, although the gesture was useless as she immediately handed it to Nina, who skimmed over the first few lines and let out a delighted noise.

“It’s a game! A board game! Seems like you play by going around the board which has place names marked out on it, and you buy up the land so that you can build houses on it. And you compete to earn the most money.”

“Who’s sending weird foreign board games to Ketterdam?” Wylan said incredulously. “Are you sure it’s not got something contraband hidden in there somehow?”

Inej laughed. “Does a game based on financial gain not strike you as the most Kerch thing in the world? I can well believe a mercher bought this to educate their children on the fun of working under Ghezen.”

Wylan cracked a grin at that, and Nina snorted. She pushed the box towards him.

“Take a look if you want.”

He lifted up the tray of items and ran his fingers along the underside, then looked inside each of the little model houses as if there might be gemstones wedged in the base like on Jesper’s guns. Wylan tapped along the top of the board, but there were no hidden compartments or secret openings. It seemed as though they had genuinely come across some kind of entertainment from another country.

“Shall we play it?” Jesper said with a broad grin at everyone. “We’ve got nothing else on, have we?”

“I’m meant to have applied for my sailing license by the end of next week,” Inej said weakly, but she wasn’t much interested in her own excuse. This bizarre-looking game they had stolen by chance had already caught her attention far more than boat permits and crew-hiring documents.

“I’m happy to,” Matthias said, and Nina and Wylan nodded fervently as well.

“Perfect! Let’s not disturb everyone’s things down here, we can take it into another room.”

“Nobody’s bedrooms are big enough,” Nina complained. “Kaz is too cheap to give us enough space to actually enjoy our stay at The House of Brekker.”

“His bedroom is, though.”

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iamacolor · 3 years ago

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i was tagged by @younqjo to list my five favorite creations that I have posted (i’m just going to be going through the ones i’ve done this year!), thank you for thinking of me 💜 this isn’t ranked in a specifific order and i kind of cheated

- my fashion in mvs series: i’ve started this a couple of months ago and i’m proud of every set i’ve done so far, i started with one for dreamcather’s BEcause and my latest is for nct 127′s Favorite (i’d love to gif more mvs that have already come out and so far i’ve only done a few previous dreamcatcher’s mvs but i’ll probably do some for other groups)

- my hometown cha cha cha episodes serie: this show is the first i’ve giffed as it was airing, making a set for each episode and i loved doing it (i started picking out my favourite shots but as the story progressed and i got attached to the characters it turned more into trying to show what had happened each episode in a pretty way lol) i’ve done a set for each episode and i really can’t pick a favourite, i’m just glad that some people have complimented my selection of shots regularly and even said they could recognise the sets as being from me before looking at who had posted it!

- this set of siyeon’s cover : i’ve mostly done big gifs this year but looking back on this set i actually love this size and it can makes really nice aesthetic layout and i should try more of this, i really like the shots i’ve picked and how it alternates between her in the forest, her with flower, but never too close

- this set of taemin’s advice mv about his use of binary concepts to express his self-designed identity : when it comes to mvs, i find i like giffing them more if i have a theme in mind and this mv gave me so much to think about and i was just in awe of all the themes he explored, all the diferent types of contrasts he used to show who he was as an artist, perfectly showing that he’ll go his way whenever people will try to reduce him to a binary view of things and so i loved looking for details to represent that

- this kun set : i have tried making more aesthetically pleasing sets this year rather than just sets with a theme from one thing and although there’s still a lot i want to try i found it really fun to sort of contain myself to a limited set of colours and pick shots that would be nice together despite coming from very different contents

- special mention - this set of my favorite motif for #runonweek: i loved watching this show live but the great thing about getting to create for an event a few weeks later was that it made me go back and look at things a bit more in details and i loved focusing on the symbolysm of running tracks in the show both as a visual element and a narrative element and i like how i laid things out with the gif with text in the middle

i tag @kdongyoung @taeminnomuyeppeo @bearplush @7nsomnia @jisoossmirk @awek-s @ohcessilia @dohyunsoo @melonatures @belsmultifandommess @liveasbutterflies @nfly5 and anyone who would like to share their content!!

#me: is told to pick 5 creations - me: how about 4 + 2 series of 10+ sets #:))))#tagged #vinformation #my edits

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anxiouslyfred · 3 years ago

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Meeting the Regulars

Summary: Since dating Remus, Virgil has been convinced to become co-owner of his Chaos Bakery. Now he just needs to meet the other regular customers Remus has.

Part of my Chaos Bakery series on ao3, tumblr stories: Lunch Breaks, Upside Down on a Countertop, Pre-salted Coffee

/\/\

Virgil had known when he agreed to co-own the chaos bakery that Remus had other regular customers. He'd understood that seeing someone less likely to get into ridiculous balances was likely to be a change for them as well as him once he began running the counter.

He was not expecting Remus to list out who the regulars they knew best were and dare him to guess which was which. Probably should have really, given they had always insisted Virgil was an outlier among them purely from the time he usually visited. Still he didn't care to actually go along with the guessing game today, despite it being the first shift he was on while the other regulars were likely to visit. Remus would definitely be listening in to conversation from the kitchen as well which was as unnerving as it was comforting.

The first customer to come in paused at the sight of Virgil, glancing around the cafe for a moment before back to him. “Not sure if I need to be more or less worried that you aren't Remus.” They greeted, finally coming over to the counter.

“Less. I'm not going to do anything like him beyond the weird flavour combinations this place is known for.” Virgil replied, shrugging as he carried on straightening the cups on the side. “They're in the kitchen today.”

“Alright. Glad he's finally hired someone to help cover shifts I guess. What would you suggest from today's menu?” The guy nodded, looking over the specials board curiously.

Virgil scrutinised the customer for a moment. “Pear and chives hot chocolate. It's odd but good. Really Re just conned their boyfriend into becoming co-owner of this place. Which regular are you, then?”

“Thomas. I'm trusting you on that drink, but can I also have the cucumber and curried tuna sandwich?” Thomas introduced himself, picking one of the sandwiches from the board after a moment deciding.

With a nod and a wave to one of the tables the interaction was done despite them both clearly hearing complaints from Remus that Virgil didn't try to guess who before asking.

It wasn't long after that that the next regular came in, easily recognisable from the pause identical to Thomas's as he registered Virgil behind the counter. “You are entirely expected, almost as much as Remus's contortionist act.” They greeted coming over.

Hearing a clatter from the kitchen, Virgil sighed and turned away. “Thanks, now I have to go get him upright again before a fire starts.”

When he managed to get Remus back to working safely rather than twisting into the most unlikely shapes for a human body the customer was still stood waiting at the counter, leaning over it to try and see through into the kitchen.

“So were you hired to teach Remus kitchen safety or is there another reason to become an employee?” They asked, but pointed at a couple of options on the menu as if their words were an order. Virgil ignored their hands though.

“Steadier wage than being an artist. Are you one of the regulars or just a nosey occasional visitor?” He countered, smirking at the raised eyebrow that got.

The man leant away a hand on his chest in an exaggerated reaction. “I'm sure I couldn't say. Will you take my order now?”

“Sounds like Jan! Or Adrian, whichever name they're using today.” Remus called through, getting both of them to glance back at the kitchen door.

“Great and yeah, anytime you want to say it, I'll take it.” Virgil nodded, not using either name if this person moved between two.

He'd just finished serving Jan or Adrian when the door chimed for another customer coming in, once again pausing although for a lot less than either of the regulars that had come in so far. “Babes, I don't know who you are but you better make coffee with as much espresso as Remus does.”

“I max out at adding four. You the guy that needs cakes choosing for it?” Virgil knew that there were only 3 main regulars and with Thomas and Jan already there, Remy was the last to come in.

“Name's Remy, sunshine and yeah that's me. Who are you?”

“New Co-owner, Virgil.” He introduced, going over to the cakes display to pick a random one. He'd got the notes on allergies for these regulars already so now he knew who was who he could pick their snacks out quickly.

Remy lowered its sunglasses to look him over. “Are you Mr Hot Regular? I gotta say when I heard that title didn't go to me, I was offended. Can't fault Remus's taste though. You are hot.”

“You have two minutes to chose your drink while I murder Remus.” Virgil smiled pleasantly disappearing into the kitchen where his boyfriend had begun cackling.

The Chaos Bakery might live up to its name, but at least it's regulars were welcoming to Virgil becoming co-owner.

#dukexiety #virgil sanders #character thomas #remy sanders #Janus Sanders #remus sanders #chaos cafe

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hkbfinn · 3 years ago

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Lessons in calmness

In 1999 I wanted more from my music. It was hard to break away from the sampling culture I had known since 1988. Making music by sampling other people’s music got boring for me. So in 1999, even though it was expensive to try to develop my own musical language (by using musicians) I was so inspired by so many greats who came before me, I had to try. So I paid for recording studios, rehearsal studios, musician fees & engineering sessions with my own money.

I was also more afraid of making another recording that did not include my musical compositions or used my musical language. The temptations to copy others production styles was strong but I resisted. I learned too much not to implement original styles in my art.

Hip Hop taught me the importance of rhythm. Live gigs taught me the value of arrangements. Writing my own lyrics as the lead vocalist of Katch22 taught me the importance of making sense in my writing.

So I pushed myself to become a better artist & create a new way of expressing myself. I worked with a number of producers trying to graft a sound of my own but in the end, I found my stride.

But with anything new, there were doubters. This came in the form of people who would sabotage what ever I was doing in subtle ways. They would agree to do a recording session, only to pull out at the last minute because they had something more important to do or they had a double booking every single time we had agreed on previously or they would waste time in the studio doing everything but what they were there for.

Some of them stopped working with me completely because they wanted to focus on their interests. They went on to work with artists who were on bigger labels or who were not independent like I was. I wished them well & kept building my vibe. I think that was cool because their rejection taught me a lot.

Rejection is never acceptable in any form but my ambition to make a form of music that speaks to my heritage, my lived truth & my culture was too important to allow short sighted people stop my progress.

I also learned to recognise the signs of sabotage, self sabotage & envy. People are so dedicated to protecting their comforts they have these amazing systems of self oppression that they think they are slick. They think they’re not obvious. I used to smile, help them with their excuses & carried on regardless. I see the energy of people who agree to do a project & then decide they cannot be bothered.

But, I got to make 8 original albums in the process with zero cover versions & each song I have made on these many albums is a complete original.

I’m proud of the process of learning, the collaborations & the many recording sessions with different instruments, different musicians & in different studios that expanded my knowledge & experience as a writer, composer, performer & producer. These are all lessons in calmness. They taught me to stay calm in the midst of chaos & not get dragged down by peoples sabotage or lack of faith or insecurities. Just keep calm & keep building.

Today I am happy, proud & glad to look back at my work so far.

Today is a beautiful day...❁

Created by HKB FiNN

www.justjazzvisuals.com

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cheri-translates · 4 years ago

Text

[CN] Victor’s Phantom Date (Eng Translation)

🍒 Warning: This post contains detailed spoilers for a date which has not been released in English servers! 🍒

Dedicated to Victor’s lovely @litteidiot 🌹🥰

The date begins with MC in Victor’s office to present her weekly report. While waiting for him to return from a meeting, she thinks about how she plans to invite Victor to a dinner event.

This event includes a fashion show, and has been organized as a collaboration between MC’s company and a magazine company.

While she’s thinking, she falls asleep on the sofa.

Victor: MC? Wake up…

I wave my hands impatiently, wanting to chase away the pesky voice at my ear.

Victor: Looks like you don’t need to give a report for your proposal.

MC: !! I’m awake! I wasn’t sleeping!

MC takes out her documents.

Victor: Hair.

MC: Hm?

Seeing my puzzled expression, Victor reaches over to the top of my head, and presses down the hair that’s standing up.

Victor: You can begin now.

After she presents her report, Victor nods.

Victor: Not bad this time.

MC: That’s great!

I release a huge sigh of relief at the rare praise. Only now do I have the mood to think of a new goal.

MC: Victor, are you free this Saturday?

I secretly hold the invitation card that was sandwiched in between the documents in my hand, prepared to hand it to him once he responds.

Without giving it much thought, Victor answers.

Victor: I have to attend a Finance Talk on Saturday. What’s happening on that day?

MC: Oh… nothing! I was just asking.

I shake my head, quelling the disappointment in my heart, and stuff the invitation card back amongst the documents.

Victor seems to have noticed that I’m hiding something, but he doesn’t press further.

On the day of the event, stress levels are high. After checking the flow of the event yet again, MC finally relaxes a little and decides to send Victor a message.

MC: You can come over to the dinner event if you still have time after the talk!

Even though I didn’t invite Victor in person, I still sent an invitation card to LFG on behalf of the company. However, I’m unsure if Victor saw it.

After pressing the “send” button, I hold onto my phone and wait for a response. As the minutes and seconds trickle by, the disappointment in my heart swells.

MC: Maybe phones aren’t allowed in that venue.

I find random excuses for Victor. At this moment, Anna walks over frantically.

Anna explains that the mystery guest they planned to have as the finale model just met with an accident. Anna insists that MC replaces her.

After a full makeover, MC gets stunned by her own reflection in the mirror.

The person in the mirror is wearing a glittering silver dress which outlines her good figure. A white mask covers half of her face, revealing seductive red lips. She looks extremely foreign.

I suddenly feel a little glad that Victor didn’t come.

In the resting area of the venue, Victor looks at the message on his phone and freezes in place.

Victor: Did MC’s company recently organize any dinner events?

He turns to Goldman and receives an answer.

Soon, an elegant champagne-coloured invitation card is placed in his hands.

Seeing the neat handwriting on the card, a smile flashes in his eyes.

Back at the dinner event, MC feels incredibly nervous. She notices that everyone looks similar because they’re all wearing masks.

However, I see an extremely familiar profile with just a sweep of my eyes.

--What is he doing here?!

My eyes widen, and I mess up the actions I had rehearsed earlier.

That tall man standing near the window and wearing a black mask – who else could he be if not Victor?

I try to maintain my cold posture, but my line of sight involuntarily falls to him. My earlier nervousness is completely forgotten.

Victor looks as though he just arrived at the venue, standing against the window and facing the stage.

As though sensing my gaze, he lifts his head towards the stage.

He halts his movements, then raises his hand to peel the mask off his face. He meets my eyes amongst the crowd.

He is illuminated by the white light from outside the window, casting him in an extraordinarily cold glow.

I hear my heart beating out of control, and even my breathing becomes messy.

While I’m panicking on stage, the audience is calm.

It is unclear if he has recognised me or not.

A mixture of shyness and embarrassment flood my head. I use my remaining willpower to grasp my reason, turning around to finish the final half of the catwalk.

The gaze that follows my back carries a certain warmth, making my ears turn red.

After the fashion shows ends, I can hardly wait to head backstage to change out of my outfit, but I’m stopped.

Artistic Director: This outfit suits you! The celebratory dinner is about to begin, so there’s no time to change.

I look at the time and resignedly admit that he’s right.

After taking a quick break backstage, MC returns to the venue. She’s unable to recognize who anybody is because of the masks

Just as she wonders if Victor has left, she spots him in the crowd…

His head is lowered while he talks to a model. She is wearing a skirt similar to mine and is wearing the exact same mask. As though they are talking about a common interest, he smiles.

An inexplicable emotion overflows from my heart.

Victor seems to have sensed something, and he turns his head in my direction.

I hurriedly lower my head and hide behind someone’s back. I inch away slowly.

MC: Why do I even need to avoid him?

She decides to go back, but the Artistic Director stuffs a glass of red wine into her hand and asks her to celebrate together with the group

Because people keep offering her toasts, she eventually finishes the entire glass

MC: I will… leave for a while. Please continue.

I find a random excuse and stagger to an empty corner. My head feels dizzy, as though someone had twirled me around in circles.

Several thoughts run through my mind: Why did Victor appear? Did he see the message I sent? Is he waiting for me? Why was he talking to someone else – did he mistake her for me?

The more my mind wanders, the more I’m unable to control my heart, and it bubbles like champagne from an open bottle.

MC: I should change out of this outfit, then look for him…

I shut my eyes, my mind working especially slowly in my drunken state.

The music from the hall becomes modified, and the weird series of notes makes me forget what the original song was.

In my dazed and hazy state, I sense someone coming towards me. A nearing warmth suddenly appears in the ice-cold air.

Victor: What are you hiding here for?

A deep voice enters my ear. I am compelled to call out his name, but I’m unable to tear myself away from this dream-like drunkenness.

Victor: You’ve been drinking?

A familiar scent is within reach, unhappy with the mildest resistance.

Searing fingers lift my chin. Slightly rough fingertips brush my skin. In my dazed state, I tremble involuntarily.

Victor: Are you okay?

A low voice accompanied by warm breaths descend on my ears and bare shoulders, making my back go weak.

With no time to think, I reach out to push away this warmth that messes with my senses and heartbeat.

I open my eyes unhappily, and the person in front of me looks like an illusion, swaying in my vision. He is basked in a heavy shadow, and I can’t see him properly.

MC: Victor?

Am I dreaming? Or is this an illusion caused by drinking?

Victor: You can still recognize me?

One hand is pressed against the wall, trapping me between the space between him and the wall.

The light muslin of the curtain swishes in the wind. I follow the movement of his fingers and lift my head, as though I’m a prey that has fallen into a web.

Why is the Victor I hallucinated not gentle at all?

I look at him, my mind still imagining things. The playfulness that I usually suppress suddenly bubbles to the surface.

My tone is laced with boldness when I think about how he might have confused someone else for me earlier.

MC: Have you gotten the wrong person?

Victor: Hm? What are you trying to do?

Victor arches an eyebrow, the slight huskiness in his voice stirring the heart.

I suppress my accelerating heartbeat and continue this performance to the end.

MC: I never thought CEO Victor would make time to attend these types of fashion dinner events. Are you on a date with a beautiful woman?

Even I myself fail to realise how sour my tone sounds.

Victor purses his lips and does not respond. The warm light sharpens his features, making him appear slightly cold.

If it were a typical day, I would have backed down. But under the influence of alcohol, my boldness has grown, and I even feel wronged.

MC: Why aren’t you saying anything?

Victor: What do you want me to say?

He lets go, the corner of his lips raised. The sense of resignation he exudes carries with it a tinge of tenderness.

I stare at him in a daze, telling him what is in my heart.

MC: You look good when you smile.

This time, Victor is the one who looks at me in surprise. He doesn’t speak, waiting for me to continue.

As though enchanted by his charm, I smile and reach out for his palm, happily asking him a question.

MC: Victor, let’s dance!

Victor: You still want to dance in such a drunken state?

MC: Yes! I… I’m amazing at it!

While saying this, I raise his hand up high and twirl gracefully in front of him. After that, I toss him a provocative look.

Victor: You win.

Just when I thought he would reject me, he places his hand on the small of my back and applies pressure to it, gently closing the distance between us.

Music from the hall travels to this corner where nobody would disturb us - mellifluous, romantic, and gentle. Even the aura surrounding Victor turns tender.

My steps are light and messy, but in the space within his arms, our Waltz carries on steadily.

I lift my head to look at his expression and meet his especially deep and serious eyes.

It’s as though they own the entire cosmos.

They continue dancing, and MC tries but fails to hide her smile.

Victor: You no longer step on people’s feet when you dance now.

Taking two seconds longer than usual to respond, I raise my head and respond arrogantly.

MC: That’s a given! It’s because I have a good teacher, and I am a good student!

Victor: A good student… you’re not wrong.

Victor lets out a low laugh. The magnetic sound has a crispness to it.

I’m not sure if it’s the alcohol or his breath, but whenever I turn or when we draw near to each other, my breathing becomes increasingly hurried.

Even before the song ends, I have already stopped my movements.

MC: I don’t want to dance any more, I’m feeling very dizzy!

Victor furrows his eyebrows and releases a sigh.

Victor: If you’re feeling dizzy, stop moving about. I’ll bring something over for you to sober up.

MC: Don’t go-

Seeing that he is about to leave, I quickly grab hold of his sleeve, then stand on my toes and lean in, stopping just a few centimeters from his face.

A faint smell of alcohol mingles in our breaths, but it isn’t a bad smell.

A darkness flits across Victor’s eyes. His breathing is deep and steady, but it quickens slightly.

I hold onto and observe him for a while, then open my mouth with hesitance.

MC: Are you really Victor?

Victor’s face blackens.

Victor: Then who do you think I am?

MC: Oh, this tone is really like Victor’s!

I duck my neck, letting go of his sleeve reluctantly. I sit next to the window obediently and watch him as he leaves.

MC slowly starts to sober up:

Victor: What’s wrong now?

The sudden voice pulls me back to reality. I turn my head to see that Victor has returned. I suddenly realise — it truly is Victor.

It’s neither a dream nor a hallucination. I really asked Victor to dance with me for no reason at all!

Victor: There’s only honey water. Drink this first.

MC: …I think you’ve got the wrong person. So sorry about that, my alcohol tolerance isn’t that good!!

Victor lapses into a short silence. The gaze he is shooting me with very clearly spells the word “idiot”.

I slowly recall that I had already used this “wrong person” phrase before, so I cover my face with my hands.

MC: …I was just kidding.

I laugh in embarrassment, looking at Victor’s expression through the spaces between my fingers. He seems to be a little angry, but I’m not sure if it’s because I’m drunk or because of the words I just said.

Victor: You think I wouldn’t be able to recognize you?

There is a bright flash of danger in his eyes. Borrowing the leftover courage from my drunken stupor, I mutter incredibly softly.

[Note: The word “danger” might seem odd, but it’s the literal translation of the term used (”危险”)]

MC: Weren’t you talking to a girl who was dressed like me just now?

Victor: What girl?

Victor pauses for a few seconds, then seems to recall who I was talking about.

Victor: You’ve been vexed about this issue all this time?

MC: Not really vexed. Just a little…

Victor: Is there an issue if I asked the staff where you were? It’s all because someone went missing after sending me a message.

My eyes widen. The tone of Victor’s voice changes.

Victor: Is that why you went into hiding after seeing me?

MC: This, um, there’s a reason for that.

Victor’s eyebrows arch in interest as he waits for me to continue.

At this moment, my stomach suddenly lets out a weird noise.

MC: Ha, haha…

I cover my empty stomach and let out two embarrassed chokes of laughter.

Victor: You haven’t eaten anything tonight?

MC: I ate a small bun. If I ate too much, I wouldn’t look nice in this skirt.

Victor sizes me up with his gaze. I’ve long since forgotten that I initially didn’t want him to see this outfit. I even continue complaining.

MC: These high heels are very high and my toes hurt. The necklace is very heavy and my neck is about to snap off. Ah, this is the price of beauty!

Victor: Do you like this style?

For some reason, I suddenly sense a dangerous aura, so I quickly respond.

[Note: Again, I personally feel “danger” is too strong a term, but it’s the literal translation of the term used (”危险”)]

MC: I don’t. If it weren’t for the sudden accident, I wouldn’t have been roped into the fashion show!

Victor: In future, don’t agree to these sorts of things.

MC: Mm, I wouldn’t do such things again next time!

I nod my head immediately. Seeing his expression become warmer, I release a sigh of relief.

Victor: Next time, don’t drink. Learn how to reject when too many people offer you a toast.

Victor hands me the glass. I gulp it down obediently, and the sweetness on my tongue dispels the bitterness of the wine.

Victor steps closer to me, his hand moving to the back of my neck. It is only when his fingers brush against the skin on my neck that I think of dodging.

Victor: Don’t move.

With a sweep of his gaze, I dare not move.

MC: What are you doing?

I ask softly. He doesn’t respond, lowering his head and patiently unhooking the necklace.

His breath descends on my eyelashes, and I can’t help but blink a few times. Yet, I don’t want to tear my gaze from his face.

The pressure on my neck becomes lighter. I lower my head and see that Victor has removed the heavy necklace in front of my chest, putting it at the side.

Victor: Let’s go and eat.

With this, Victor pulls me in preparation to leave.

MC: Can I have your cooking?!

Just when I think he is about to reject me, he turns to me and nods.

Victor: Sure.

My eyes light up. The moment I think of listing down a series of delicacies I wish to eat, I immediately recall an issue.

Victor: What’s wrong? You haven’t thought about what to eat?

My face crumples as I struggle between the choices of having delicacies or work. Logic triumphs in the end.

MC: I’m one of the persons-in-charge, so I have to wait for the whole event to end before I can leave.

I feel like crying while saying this. While I look at Victor, I can only feel my delicacy sprouting wings and flying away.

Victor: Since I already made a promise, I won’t go back on my word.

MC: Really? Then let’s make a pinky promise!

I stretch my finger out in front of Victor and stare at him in anticipation.

He lifts his hand, not to hook my pinky, but to give my forehead a gentle flick.

Victor: Childish.

I pout while covering my forehead. It is only now that I see a mask. Recalling how Victor looked when he had his mask on, I hurriedly go over to take it.

MC: I’ll help you put it on!

I stand on my tiptoes, raising both arms as I help Victor wear the black mask.

Victor doesn’t move and lets me put the mask on for him. I didn’t realise that my entire body was basically pressed against his.

The black mask gives Victor a different kind of colour, mystery and unpredictability.

The deep eyes beneath the mask are comparable to the darkest hour of night, and like a vortex that can swallow me up whole.

I’m left dazzled, and yet also instinctively feel like avoiding them due to the danger within.

MC: This way, you wouldn’t be recognized by other people! I’ll be the only one who can recognize you.

I accidentally let the words in my heart spill out. My voice is very soft and contented.

Victor: And you still say you aren’t a dummy.

MC: How am I stupid! I…

I retort, but my words are forgotten once I notice Victor’s tender gaze.

This moment feels like an imagination. His voice clearly and steadily enters my world.

Victor: If you can recognize me, why do you think I wouldn’t be able to recognize you? All you have to know is that in my eyes, you are different from other people.

I let Victor take my hand as we walk into the crowd. The light outlines his profile.

In this strange world created by my remaining stupor, only Victor is real.

In this gorgeous masquerade, nobody knows who lies under the mask.

At this moment, everyone is immersed in opulence.

Under the masks, no one looks like their original selves.

But he is still himself, and she is still herself.

Two genuine hearts are mutually drawn to each other, and draw nearer to each other.

🍷

Calls: First // Second

#mlqc #mlqc cn #mlqc spoilers #mlqc victor #gorgeous MC #gorgeous Victor #let’s all enjoy a calming cup of Victor before we collectively COMBUST from the anime release

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a-blue-secret · 3 years ago

Text

CHAPTER XX

BACK TO MASTERLIST

Chapter XIX | Chapter XX | Chapter XXI

GENRES: royal au; fantasy au; magic au; friends-to-enemies-to-lovers; king!beomgyu, vizier!taehyun

PAIRING: taegyu

WARNINGS: none! (apart from a horseriding stunt that you should definitely not try at home)

WORD COUNT: 5.8k+

AN: Here's some more fluff!! Lots and lots of it! But unfortunately, unlike last time, this isn't all fluff....

SUMMARY: Best friends turned enemies, Kang Taehyun has managed to trick Choi Beomgyu into his service, and to rule for a year and a day, until his youngest brother would be old enough to take the throne. Choi Beomgyu has no intention of being obedient however, and tries to thwart Taehyun’s orders at every turn. With a growing amount of distrust and lies within the court, will Taehyun manage to keep the kingdom of Gojongja from falling apart?

Perhaps you’d expect Taehyun and Beomgyu to be a little awkward around each other, but that was certainly not the case. Sure, they were shy, and flustered, but not awkward. Remember: they’d known each other their whole lives. With how well Taehyun knew Beomgyu and with how in love Beomgyu had always been with Taehyun, they had nothing to be awkward about.

The overexaggerated flirtings had died down after Taehyun had gained his confidence in the whole ‘love’ thing and had begun to flirt back, leaving Beomgyu an incredibly flustered mess. One particular day, the two of them were in Beomgyu’s study, tidying up several months’ worth of papers that Beomgyu hadn’t bothered tidying away until that day while Taehyun kept on teasing him by speaking in an extravagant way.

“Oh, let me get that for you, my love,” Taehyun said in an exaggeratedly formal tone. Beomgyu groaned, covering his face and repeatedly hitting his forehead against the table.

“Stop bringing that up, will you?”

Taehyun laughed. “What, are you flustered? Wow, after all your teasing, you can’t even take it yourself!” His words were teasing, and Beomgyu gave a laugh.

“I don’t even know what came over me,” Beomgyu said, cheeks flushed. “It was just… I don’t even know what I was thinking. You just looked so small and cute and, well, court-able.”

The tips of Taehyun’s ears pinkened, but he still laughed. “Well you look very small and cute and court-able right now.” Beomgyu groaned again, face over his hands. Taehyun chuckled, and continued to pick up and sort the parchments strewn all over Beomgyu’s desk. He continued to shuffle through the papers mindlessly, when he came across a pencilled parchment, much different to the messy, ink-scribbled documents he’d picked up.

It was a pencil sketch of… him. Taehyun stared at it, eyes wide. The Taehyun in the drawing wasn’t doing much. He was just sitting down, hands folded in his lap as his gaze was tilted upwards, presumably up at the sky. Everything about this Taehyun was beautiful. His eyes shone like stars, lips slightly parted in wonder. It was obvious that a lot of care had gone into this sketch, the pencil lines precise and delicate. The parchment on which it was drawn on was different, too: it was thicker and sturdier, like the artist had deemed the drawing important enough to want to make it last a long time. Taehyun took in the careful details, and unexpectedly felt his heart warm with affection. He looked up at Beomgyu, a small smile on his face.

“Beomgyu?” Taehyun said, holding the paper up. “Is this…?”

Beomgyu looked up, and his eyes widened when he recognised the paper. He bounded across the study to whip the paper out of Taehyun’s hand, clutching the sketch close to his chest.

“It’s not mine,” he said. “I’m… holding it for someone?”

Taehyun laughed at Beomgyu’s comical expression. “Beomgyu, I can literally see your initials at the bottom of the paper.”

Still, Beomgyu shook his head fervently. “A mistake, I assure you. It’s not BG. It’s… EO?”

“I don’t believe you,” Taehyun laughed. “Come here, let me check.”

Beomgyu bounded out of Taehyun’s hold, lifting the paper high into the air. “Nope, you’re not getting it!”

Taehyun rolled his eyes affectionately, and leaned upwards to press a kiss onto Beomgyu’s cheek. Beomgyu gasped, taken aback, unintentionally lowering his arms. Taehyun used that opportunity to whisk the sketch out of Beomgyu’s hands, dancing away happily.

“I suppose beauty really is in the eye of the beholder,” Taehyun mused, staring at the drawing. “I look beautiful.”

Beomgyu, having given up trying to hide the drawing, came and sat down in the chair next to Taehyun. “You are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever laid my eyes on.”

Taehyun’s ears pinkened, and he grinned up at Beomgyu. “Wow, I never knew you could be so romantic, my love. You have a way with your hands. I never knew I could look like this.”

Beomgyu recognised the exaggeratedly formal tone to Taehyun’s words, and rubbed his nose, embarrassed. “That’s going to become a joke between us, isn’t it?”

Taehyun laughed, resting his head on Beomgyu’s shoulder. “I’m afraid so, love. But I liked it, you know. It was a nice way for me to get used to this whole ‘love’ business.”

Beomgyu smiled. “I like that nickname too. ‘Love’.”

“So do I,” Taehyun agreed. He held up the drawing again, admiring it. “This is amazing though, Gyu. It’s so realistic. Did you use any references? Any of my prince portraits?”

“Nope,” Beomgyu said. “This is purely the Taehyun I see in my mind all day.”

“Wow. That Taehyun is beautiful.”

“He is, isn’t he? He’s almost as beautiful as the Taehyun right by my side,” Beomgyu said, hugging Taehyun to his side.

Taehyun squirmed with embarrassment, but didn’t take his eyes off the sketch. “Can I keep it?”

“The drawing? Sure. I have loads more, anyway.”

Taehyun gave a gasp, lifting his head off Beomgyu’s shoulder. “No way! Show me!” Beomgyu shook his head, leaping away.

“Never!” he laughed.

“Show me!” Taehyun said, grinning as he chased Beomgyu around the study, tidying up forgotten.

In the end, Beomgyu showed Taehyun all the sketches he’d done of the vizier. And Taehyun loved every single one of them.

.・゜-: ✧ :-

Their relationship grew like that. They bickered and laughed and made each other flustered, and they loved each other in a way that they’d never been able to before. They’d become close again: but not just as friends, but as something more. And they could not have been happier.

“Hey Taehyun, wanna go on a horse riding date?”

Taehyun looked up from his book at Beomgyu who was mindlessly swinging on the swings, and gave a confused laugh.

“Uh, that’s kind of random?”

“I was just thinking of the time that you became jealous because you thought I’d gone on a date with Yeonjun,” Beomgyu said, grinning mischievously.

The two of them were in their secret garden. Since their joint confession a few weeks ago, they’d begun to spend an increasing amount of time together, in their garden. The crystal rose that they’d made together had its own small stone stand in the corner of the garden, covered with a glass dome: a symbol of their delicate but oh-so strong relationship. Slowly, gradually, they’d become practically inseparable again, just like they had been when they were kids.

“I didn’t get jealous!” Taehyun defended. “I was just… annoyed.”

“Yeah, because you were jealous,” Beomgyu said, laughing at Taehyun’s offended face. “Hey, don’t worry, love. If I were you, I would have been jealous too.” He gave a faux sigh. “Yeonjun is just so amazing…”

Taehyun rolled his eyes, smiling. “Haha, very funny. Anyway, what were you saying?”

“Ah, right. A horse riding date!” Beomgyu beamed, swinging his feet. “We used to go horse riding together all the time, so I thought, let’s go on a date doing the thing we used to do all the time!”

Taehyun couldn’t help but laugh at how eager Beomgyu looked. “Alright. Let’s go, then.” He put his book down and stood up, offering a hand to Beomgyu.

The other looked at him, confused, accepting Taehyun’s hand and standing up from the swing. “Wait… now?”

“Sure,” Taehyun shrugged. “Our schedule’s pretty clear today. All we have is a meeting with the Royal Antiquarian to talk about replacing the crystals in our chandeliers, but that’s in the evening. So yeah, we don’t have much to do today. Let’s go on a date.”

Beomgyu stared at him, eyes sparkling. “You’re so beautiful when you talk all business-like…”

Taehyun’s ears flushed, but he quirked a grin. “Do you want to go on a date or not?”

.・゜-: ✧ :-

“I’m still surprised that you remember that incident, though,” Taehyun said, as they walked to the stables. “I completely forgot about that time you and Yeonjun went horse riding. Wow, that seems so long ago.”

“I treasure every moment I spend with you,” Beomgyu replied easily, practically skipping in his eagerness. “I really did love you, Taehyun.”

Taehyun smiled. “I’m glad that someone like you loves someone like me.”

Beomgyu looked at Taehyun, smiling a smile so bright that it rivalled the sun shining in the sky. “Well I’m just glad that someone like you loves someone like me.” He walked into the stables, leaving a flushed Taehyun standing just outside.

“I… hey, that’s not fair! You can’t steal my line, and say it in an even more charismatic manner; that’s just not fair! Come back here, line-stealer!” Taehyun was about to chase after Beomgyu, before he stopped in front of a stable, in which the new, red serpentine horse was staying. “Wait… Beomgyu? When did this horse come in?”

Beomgyu poked his head up from Toto’s stall. “Hm? Oh, Yeonjun found him. It’s been ages since we’ve had a serpentine horse, isn’t it?”

“Indeed it has been,” Taehyun said, smiling at the horse. “I like it.” He stroked the scales of the horse’s nose fondly, laughing when it nuzzled further into his hand. “I’ll call you… Aengdu.”

A laugh came from Toto’s stall. Beomgyu was looking at Taehyun, smiling. “You’re calling the cherry-red horse ‘Cherry’?”

Taehyun shrugged, still smiling at Aengdu. “It’s cute, isn’t it? Come on Aengdu, let’s get you saddled up.”

.・゜-: ✧ :-

“Whoo!” Beomgyu yelled happily into the wind. Taehyun galloped by his side, grinning from ear to ear.

“It’s been ages, hasn’t it?” Taehyun called, and Beomgyu gave a loud whoop in reply.

“Do you think you can still do the trick?”

“What?”

“On the horse! The one we did together!” Beomgyu yelled back. Taehyun’s eyes lit up with understanding.

“Oh yeah! I think so! Wanna try?”

Beomgyu nodded, smiling against the wind. “On three!”

Taehyun nodded, bringing his legs up onto Aengdu’s back. Beomgyu did the same on Toto, until he was crouching on the saddle.

“One!”

“Two!”

“Three!” the both of them shouted together, standing up on their horses’ backs. Taehyun gasped happily, and Beomgyu laughed. The younger called out up towards the sky, the wind messing his hair. Beomgyu couldn’t help but laugh at how young and beautiful Taehyun looked at that moment, also turning his face up to the sun, giving a loud whoop. The two of them had their eyes closed, heads tilted back against the wind, arms outstretched. The wind whipped all around them, howling and whistling as loud as anything, but Beomgyu didn’t try to quiet it. It was almost therapeutic, how deafening the cold air was, and he loved it.

To his side, Taehyun gave another overjoyed yell, and he opened his eyes to look over at him. Taehyun was grinning– grinning so wide that his cute little teeth were on full display. His eyes were still closed, but his mouth was open in a radiant beam. Beomgyu’s lips curved into a fond smile, and he reached over to grasp Taehyun’s hand in his own. Taehyun opened his eyes, smiling down at where their hands connected. He leaned his body down ever so slightly, and kissed the knuckles of Beomgyu’s hand.

Beomgyu laughed at how sweet and gentle Taehyun was being, and Taehyun grinned. The two of them clambered down their respective horses’ backs until they were sitting comfortable in the saddles again.

But they still continued to hold onto each other’s hands for the entire ride.

.・゜-: ✧ :-

Taehyun gasped as they trotted up to their destination, still holding onto Beomgyu’s hand.

“This is our lake!”

Beomgyu smiled. “Yep,” he said. “The very same lake. I thought this would be a good ‘date’ spot.”

“Why do you say that like it’s not a date?” Taehyun asked, slowing Aengdu down to a stop.

“So you know how I’ve been in love with you for a long time, right?” Beomgyu said, releasing Taehyun’s hand to dismount Toto. “I always imagined that my ideal date with you would be to take you out of the palace, maybe even into a different Kingdom, where we could just be you and me, without having to worry about formalities or restrictions. We could go around in public, like we were normal people, doing normal things. I wanted to take you on a date away from the stifling royal court. That was my ideal date.” He offered his hand up to Taehyun, who was still sitting atop his horse. Taehyun pursed his lips at the hand. “Oh, just take it, Taehyun. I know you can get down yourself, but let me do this romantic thing for you.”

Taehyu’s ears pinkened, and a soft smile tugged at his lips. He accepted Beomgyu’s hand and dismounted from Aengdu. But, not being accustomed to someone helping him off a horse, he stumbled into Beomgyu’s chest, and Beomgyu’s hands immediately wrapped themselves around Taehyun’s waist to steady him.

Beomgyu quirked an eyebrow teasingly. “Wow, did the great and amazing Taehyun just fall for me?”

Taehyun coughed, embarrassed, but managed to keep his composure, pressing a quick peck onto Beomgyu’s cheek. “I fell for you harder than you know,” he grinned, lacing Beomgyu’s hand with his as he began to walk towards the lake. He could hear Beomgyu’s flustered stutterings as he let himself be dragged along by Taehyun, and the smile grew on his face.

As he neared the lake however, the satisfied smirk quickly melted a look of awe. He slowed his steps, and Beomgyu stopped next to him. This time, Beomgyu was the one with the look of supreme delight on his face.

“Do you like it?” he asked, smiling at Taehyun’s wide-eyed wonder.

While they had been riding up to it, the lake hadn’t looked any different. The willow tree to the left of the lake had its long, green branches hiding the surprise from sight, but once they had drawn nearer, it became clear what the surprise was.

It was nothing special: just a simple picnic set up under the shade of the willow tree, with small golden lanterns threaded into the willow’s branches. There were several wicker baskets, presumably packed with food, and one of the willow boughs even held a new small wooden swing. It was a little cliche, perhaps a little generic, but for Taehyun it was incredibly special.

“I…” Taehyun was speechless. He continued to stare at the scene in front of him, before suddenly turning to Beomgyu at his side to pull him in for a hug. Beomgyu staggered a little, taken aback by the hug. He’d always thought that hugs were his thing, but it seemed that Taehyun liked them just as well too. His stance softened, and he hugged Taehyun back, stroking his hair.

“I really like it,” Taehyun said softly, arms still around Beomgyu. “God, I love you Beomgyu. I really think I do.” He blinked quickly, surprised to find tears in his eyes. He had no idea that someone would love him enough to be able to do all of this, and it made him feel just a tiny bit overwhelmed.

“Did you have this all planned?” he asked, once he’d pulled away.

“Yep,” Beomgyu grinned. “I might not have been able to go on my ideal date with you, but I’d give you a horribly cliche but incredibly romantic one instead.” He offered his hand to Taehyun, a playful gleam in his eye. “May I?”

Taehyun gave a small laugh, and placed his hand in Beomgyu’s. “You may.”

Beomgyu took Taehyun’s hand and placed it in the crook of his elbow. He fondly patted Taehyun’s hand, before leading Taehyun down towards the willow tree.

.・゜-: ✧ :-

Taehyun sat cross-legged on the picnic blanket, boots placed on the grass.

“Aren’t you worried about if someone comes and sees us?”

“No one comes down here, so we’re safe. Trust me, it’s too far out for anyone to be bothered to ride all the way out here, so we’ll be fine,” Beomgyu replied, opening one of the many wicker baskets. “Ooh! We have some lemon cookies here!” He looked up at Taehyun. “Plus, I knew that you might still not like to be seen in a… situation like this, so I specifically prepared something more secluded and private, with less chance of us being found out.”

He gave Taehyun a quick grin before diving back into the baskets again.

“Wow! Chef even gave us a chocolate cake!”

Taehyun brought his legs up, hugging his knees. He pressed his cheek against his knee, watching Beomgyu with adoring eyes. God, he loved Beomgyu so much. The fact that he’d thought about how Taehyun would feel, respecting his opinion, and even planning around it so that Taehyun could still have an enjoyable time… he had no idea why he hadn’t realised how lovable the selfless side of Beomgyu was. Everything about Beomgyu was just so lovable, really. His bright, passionate eyes, his beautiful, silvery words, his selflessness, his hard-working nature, his innate love of everyone who ever loved him… It was impossible not to love Beomgyu.

And the more Taehyun thought about it, the more he realised that he really had been in love with Beomgyu for years. It had felt so normal, so natural, that he hadn’t even realised it. While he may have only found it out a few weeks ago, that wasn’t going to stop him from being endeared by everything he did. In fact, he felt even more inclined to adore Beomgyu, to make up for lost time. Several years of it.

It helped that Beomgyu had always been someone that Taehyun had found adorable, even when he was supposed to ‘hate’ him. (Barring that one time when Beomgyu had been super mad, after the disaster revel. He was anything but adorable then. Taehyun couldn’t lie: that particular Beomgyu wasn’t adorable; he was hot.) The way he tilted his head when he was confused; the way he pouted softly when he was sad; the way his eyes sparkled when he was happy and the way he gazed at the natural world with a look of pure awe on his face: his whole demeanor radiated adorable energy. Even now, as he rambled excitedly, Taehyun could see Beomgyu’s eyes alight with happiness.

He hadn’t noticed that he had zoned out, too intent on staring at Beomgyu. Beomgyu looked up, grinning. He reached forward and gently bopped Taehyun’s nose.

“Hello, earth to Taehyun,” he said teasingly. “Love, I know I’m gorgeous, but you’ve got to pay attention to what I’m saying.”

“Huh?” Taehyun gradually came back to what Beomgyu was saying, and his ears flushed. “Oh, shut up.”

Beomgyu laughed. “It’s so weird. I’m used to you being all stoic and stone-faced. I forgot how much of an adorable little bean you are.”

Taehyun frowned, but he couldn’t help his cheeks pinkening. Beomgyu laughed again, pinching Taehyun’s flushed cheeks.

“You’re lucky I love you,” Taehyun glared, voice distorted by Beomgyu repeatedly pinching his cheek.

Beomgyu’s eyes softened, hand relaxing against Taehyun’s cheek so it was softly cupping his face.“I still can’t believe you actually love me,” he said, gentler now, gazing at Taehyun with warm eyes. “I still think I’m dreaming.”

Taehyun’s heart warmed from Beomgyu’s soft words. He smiled, leaning forward to place his lips against Beomgyu’s for a sweet, chaste kiss. “If you’re dreaming, then I must be dreaming with you,” he said. “I can’t believe this is happening either.”

Slowly, Beomgyu brought up his other hand to Taehyun’s cheeks, so he was cupping his face with both hands. “As long as you’re with me, then I suppose I don’t mind this dream.” And gently, in a tender, unhurried manner, he brought Taehyun’s face closer towards him. Their eyelids fluttered shut, their lips meeting in the middle in a soft collision of sugary sweet love and tinkling laughs and delicate sunshine.

They slowly parted, lips pink and stretched into beautiful smiles. Taehyun rested his forehead against Beomgyu’s, bringing his own hands up to cup Beomgyu’s face.

“My sunshine,” he said softly.

Beomgyu smiled wider. “My moonshine.”

“My bright ray of happiness.”

“My gentle beam of serenity.”

“My source of joy.”

“My place of peace.”

“My Beomgyu.”

“My Taehyun.”

Their smiles had grown impossibly bigger, the both of them beaming so much that they both seemed to glow with happiness.

“I love you,” Beomgyu prompted, kissing Taehyun’s nose.

“I love you too,” Taehyun smiled, burying himself into Beomgyu’s warm embrace.

Needless to say, they had a beautiful picnic date by the lake, content with their new young love.

.・゜-: ✧ :-

“Beomgyu, you haven’t been getting enough sleep, have you?” Taehyun asked concernedly, as they rounded another corner. “You keep rubbing your eyes.”

Currently, the two of them were on their way to visit Yoongi, and Taehyun was interrogating Beomgyu about his lack of sleep. Again.

“That’s the fifth time you’ve said that, you know,” Beomgyu said, chuckling as he continued to rub at his eye. “I’m fine. My eyes are a little dry, that’s all.”

Taehyun hummed, unconvinced. He brought his hand to Beomgyu’s forehead, and frowned. “You don’t have a temperature,” he said, hesitantly, bringing his hand away.

“You worry too much. I told you, I’m fine. I feel fine. Don’t you worry,” Beomgyu said, waving away Taehyun’s concern with a bright smile. “Ah, this is the Royal Antiquarian’s study, right?”

“Yep,” Taehyun said, the two of them stopping in front of a door. He turned and nodded to Heeseung, who automatically stationed himself outside the door. “We’ll be back in a few hours, okay?”

And then, Beomgyu softly knocked on the door, and they entered.

“Hello, Kang Tae– oh, you brought Beomgyu with you?” Yoongi looked up from his armchair, smiling at them. He raised his eyebrow. “Oh, I supposed it would happen sooner or later.”

Taehyun gaped, and Yoongi smiled, tapping the side of his nose. “Did you think I wouldn’t know? I’ve known you both since you were little babies. But of course,” he rose from his seat, sitting them down on the sofa opposite, both of their mouths still wide open, “I wasn’t here for the whole of my life, so I missed both of your births, and even most of your childhood. But I still knew how inseparable you two were back then. To me, it was perfectly clear that this –” he waved his hand between the two of them– “was going to happen someday.”

They gaped at him, eyes wide.

Taehyun’s mouth opened and closed, speechless. “We– we just walked in… How did– how did you know–”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell!” Yoongi said, chuckling. “Goodness, you both looked so terrified.”

“I– Sir Yoongi– you said it so fast…” Beomgyu blinked in shock. He blinked quickly, thinking, before leaning forward curiously. “Are you also homosexual, by any chance?”

Yoongi chuckled again. “Good observation. Indeed, I may be.” He chuckled to himself for a few more moments, clearly delighted with the whole situation. Taehyun and Beomgyu looked at each other. Beomgyu shrugged, and Taehyun just shrugged back.

“Oh, I had such a laugh,” Yoongi said, smiling. “It’s nice to see that something I had merely assumed would happen has actually come true!” Taehyun and Beomgyu sat there, not quite knowing what to do, grinning awkwardly as Yoongi smiled at them.

“Wow, I always knew this would happen. But anyway, back to business,” Yoongi said, clapping his hands together, and immediately the two of them relaxed. “You came because of the chandelier crystals, am I correct?”

Taehyun shook himself back into his business state, and nodded his head. “That’s right.”

“You’ve ordered the crystals, haven’t you?”

“Yep, five thousand kilos of it, all being stored in our ballroom,” Beomgyu said.

“I have the order details here,” said Taehyun, handing Yoongi some documents. The Antiquarian adjusted his glasses, staring at the paper.

“Hmm yes, that all looks fine to me,” Yoongi commented. As he scanned the document, he nodded thoughtfully. “Oh, you’re harvesting your crystals from the Barumin Kingdom?”

“We are,” Taehyun responded. “I asked Yeonjun to pull a few strings.”

Yoongi frowned, before his face cleared. “Ah, Lord Hyunjin’s cousin is a Duchess there, right?”

“Her Grace, the Duchess of Wansan-gu, yes,” Taehyun said, nodding. He paused, staring at Yoongi curiously. “But how do you know Hyunjin, and also Yeji…?”

“You forget that I am originally from Aruyeo,” Yoongi said. “I know these things.”

Beomgyu blinked. “Hold up. Hold up. I think you skipped the part where you explained to me about your Aruyeonan roots.”

“Ah, apologies, Your Greatness. I am descended from one of the oldest Aruyeonan clans, the Yeoheung Min clan,” Yoongi said. “Aruyeo was my first home, until I moved here.”

“You’re here to stay forever though, right?” Beomgyu checked. “It wouldn’t look good for us if our Antiquarian suddenly disappeared back to his home Kingdom.”

“I assure you, I am here to stay,” Yoongi smiled. “Gojongja is now my home.”

Beomgyu nodded, satisfied. “Good.”

“So then, nothing seems to be the problem here,” Yoongi said, returning his focus to the order of crystals. He handed the papers back to Taehyun. “It all looks good. Was there anything you were unsure of?”

“About our chandeliers,” Taehyun explained. “The gold was like, thousands of years old, and because it was shattered, we don’t have any of the original moulds that were used to make them. And because of that, the huge chunks of crystals that we freshly ordered are rendered useless until we figure out what the chandelier will look like, and thus the size the crystals need to be cut into.”

Yoongi nodded thoughtfully, understanding their predicament. “I would suggest that you design your own chandeliers, but–”

“–we might not have enough gold or crystal for that,” Beomgyu finished.

“Exactly,” Yoongi nodded, tapping his chin.

“That’s why we came to you, to see if you might have the casts used to forge the chandeliers,” Beomgyu said. “I know it may have been before your time, but maybe someone passed on a document to you?”

Chuckling wryly, Yoongi stood up. “You test an old man’s memory, you two,” he said jokingly. “Though you are right in the fact that the chandeliers were made before I became Antiquarian – I was still in Aruyeo at the time – I think that I may have some sort of records as to what the dimensions of the original moulds were. Just hang on a second.” He disappeared through the door beside the bookshelf: the door that Taehyun had assumed led to the Antiquarian’s chambers, which actually led to another, smaller office connected to the official study.

Taehyun and Beomgyu twiddled their thumbs and sipped their tea, waiting for Yoongi to come back. Suddenly, there was a loud rustling of paper, and the Antiquarian’s voice emerged from the room.

“Ah! I think I’ve found something which may be of use to you.”

The two of them stood up, Beomgyu staggering a little on his feet. Taehyun held his arm, steadying him.

“I’m fine, I'm fine,” Beomgyu said, before Taehyun could ask. “I just stood up too quickly. I’m fine.”

Taehyun stared at Beomgyu concernedly, unconvinced, but Beomgyu waved his hand carelessly.

“Come on. Yoongi said he’s found something.”

Taehyun followed Beomgyu into the adjacent room, ducking under the slightly small door frame. The room, compared to the study they’d just come from, was rather void of any personal items and felt almost draughty. The walls were white and bare, large oak drawers took up most of the space in the room. The drawers were roughly shoulder height, and were around one and a half meters wide. Yoongi was standing by such a drawer, the top drawer open.

“Come, come. Here. I have the blueprints for the chandeliers themselves. These would be sufficient enough, I believe.” Yoongi looked up at them, and squinted at Beomgyu. “Your Greatness, are you alright? Your eyes look a little… dark and, well, tired.”

It was true that Beomgyu had been looking increasingly tired throughout the day. While in the morning, he looked fine, as the day had gone on his eyes had begun to look rather panda-ish, with dark rings around them, and his face looking quite pale. However, he still sounded fine, and he waved away Yoongi’s words.

“Just tired,” Beomgyu said. “I just didn’t sleep that well last night. Don’t worry about it.”

Yoongi pursed his lips. “You didn’t touch the chamomile tea I gave you, did you?” he said. When Beomgyu tugged on his ear awkwardly, the Antiquarian tutted. “Chamomile tea is best for fatigue, along with headaches and dizziness. Before you leave my office, I want you to finish that tea, okay? The same goes for you too,” Yoongi said, turning to Taehyun. “Neither of you get enough sleep. Don’t you deny it – you both probably function on an hour’s worth of rest between the two of you.”

Taehyun bit his lip, unable to refute. “We’ll finish the tea and then leave,” he promised. He held up the old blueprints which Yoongi had given him. “This will be very helpful for us,” he said, unrolling the paper. “Yep. Oh look, these are the little engravings Lord Soobin told me about!” Taehyun said, pointing at a close-up drawing of one of the parts of the chandelier arms. There were tiny little Latin words which would presumably have been engraved into the gold. “The King who had been around when these were made had commissioned for his chandeliers to be engraved with Latin phrases. The phrases apparently meant something to him, and were almost like an inside joke between him and his closest friends. Only, instead of a joke, they were meaningful, heartfelt phrases.” Taehyun looked up at Beomgyu, smiling. “We could write our own words into these new chandeliers,” he grinned. “Soobin knows Latin. I can ask him!”

“Hold,” Yoongi said. “What did you say was that Lord’s name?”

Taehyun blinked unsurely. “...Soobin?”

Yoongi frowned. “If I may ask, do you know what surname clan he belongs to?”

“I’m afraid not,” Taehyun replied. “Beomgyu and I have no idea.”

“Why? Is there something wrong about Soobin?” Beomgyu asked curiously.

“No, no,” Yoongi assured them. “I just thought I’d heard that name in Aruyeonan court before. I didn’t even know we had a Soobin in this court.”

“Well, don’t worry,” Beomgyu said, a smile on his face. “He’s good.”

Yoongi returned the smile. “That’s good to hear, Your Greatness. Now, let’s get out of this chilly room and back to my office, shall we?”

.・゜-: ✧ :-

The two of them spent about an hour more with the Antiquarian. It was interesting to talk to him, because he knew so much about practically everything.

“What’s it like being able to tell the near future?” Beomgyu asked curiously.

Beomgyu and Taehyun had been allowed to stay in Yoongi’s office while they finished their tea, and were taking an extremely long time to finish their tiny teacups in order to talk to Yoongi for a little longer.

Yoongi smiled amusedly. “I suppose it’s what everyone would like to be able to do, isn’t it? Well, it is rather bothersome at times,” he said. “I can’t see the future when I want to: it is when my ability decides it will allow me to see in the future, which is actually surprisingly often, compared to some recounts of what my ancestors have said. Most of the time, it’s random, though. Nothing happens to me when I have these visions; I just become a little dizzy, but that is all. I suppose it’s alright, but our ability to see the near future has led many of my clan to be prematurely killed or tortured because of our advantageous ability.”

Beomgyu nodded thoughtfully. “Ah… I suppose the disadvantages to having an ability like that mean that you’re heavily targeted. Is that why the Yeoheung Min clan is so small?”

“Indeed,” Yoongi said. “Though we are not endangered. We are simply rare, which I think is much nicer than being on the verge of becoming extinct, like some clans are. For example– oh Taehyun, don’t touch that!”

Taehyun widened his eyes, still clutching onto the marble. While Yoongi had been talking to Beomgyu, he’d been trailing his gaze idly around the office, and his eyes landed on a small, hollow marble on one of the many round tables dotted around the room. This marble was familiar: it was small and hollow, and inside there lay a pile of dark powder which crashed against the walls of the marble when it moved, like mini waves. It was Hueningkai’s hybrid marble. The eavesdropper/ data collector marble, which Hueningkai needed back before someone discovered what it could do.

As recognition struck him, Taehyun had leaned over and grabbed the marble, a movement which Yoongi saw and scolded him for.

“You shouldn’t touch it,” Yoongi said. “Taehyun, put it down.”

Taehyun only closed his hands more firmly over the marble. Yoongi frowned.

“Taehyun. That’s Hueningkai’s. It’s–”

“Hueningkai?” Beomgyu interrupted. “The Hueningkai from Aruyeo?”

Yoongi blinked. “I– yes, the Hueningkai who, like Yeonjun, is a–”

Taehyun’s eyes were wide and urgent, almost glowing in the firelight, ultimately cutting off Yoongi’s sentence. His eyes flashed urgently again, their message loud and clear.

Beomgyu doesn’t know they’re spies.

Yoongi paused. “Yes, Hueningkai, who like Yeonjun is also an Aruyeonan.”

Taehyun relaxed. “I need the marble, sir,” he said. “This is Yeonjun’s, and it was made for him by Hueningkai. He thought that he’d lost it, and I need to return it to him. He’ll know what to do with it.”

Beomgyu tilted his head, lifting Taehyun’s hand to stare at the marble curiously. “That’s a cool marble,” he said. “I didn’t know Yeonjun owned marbles.”

“This is the only one he owns,” Taehyun replied. “So I really need to return it to him.” He gulped down the rest of his tea, before getting up and bowing. “Thank you for the blueprints, and the tea, and the chat,” he said. “Beomgyu and I need to get going now, though. Thank you!”

With that, Taehyun dragged Beomgyu out of the door, the King barely having time to bow his head towards the scholar.

Yoongi watched as the door swung shut, a small smile on his face.

“Oh, Kang Taehyun,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “You forget I can see the near future. I know that marble, and what it can do. You don’t need to hide from me.” He closed his eyes, and chuckled again. “Look at me, talking to myself. Am I really reaching that sort of age?”

Suddenly, his body stilled. His ability was showing him what would happen in the future. He gave a gasp, eyes shooting open.

“Oh my… Choi Beomgyu?”

He was shaking. His hands came up to cover his mouth, shocked at what he’d just seen.

“The dear Choi Beomgyu… will he be okay?”

taglist: @my-moarmy-heart, @arohabangtan @a-fragmented-world

#court of lies #taegyu #txt taegyu #txt taehyun #taehyun #txt beomgyu #beomgyu #txt fanfic #txt imagine #txt imagines #txt fluff #txt angst #tomorrow x together #tomorrow by together

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sprnklersplashes · 3 years ago

Text

power of three

canon divergence where cady is not a plastic, and goes to janis’ art show instead (ao3)

It’s a strange feeling, all these eyes on her.

The room is packed, people swirling around in all directions, conversations fading in and out of earshot. There’s a glass in her hand (lemonade, of course) and people she vaguely recognises coming up to shake her free one, congratulating her on getting this far. She blushes slightly, thanks them and takes a sip of her drink to keep herself from passing out. Rinse and repeat, over and over, for what feels like an hour, but when Damian grabs her by the elbow and pulls her out, it turns out it had been five minutes.

It’s not bad, all this attention, not when it’s praise rather than damnation. When people come up to her with admiration in their eyes, rather than scorn. She’s just not very used to it.

“Thank you,” she breathes into Damian’s ear. He chuckles and loops his arm so that her hand rests on it, like they’re a married couple at some gala far more pretentious than this. She chuckles, and what’s more she can lean on him now. Keeping herself upright is suddenly far less of a challenge.

“Well, it looked like you were either going to explode if one more person came up to you,” he explains as they weave in and out of the crowd. “And funny as that would be, I think you’d need to be in tact when they give you your prize.”

“Oh shush you,” she replies, hoping her feigned nonchalance covers the prickling insecurity in her gut. Maybe it would, if it was someone other than Damian. “Besides, I don’t need to win. Getting to the finals is more than enough for me.” The words feel false on her tongue, and even more so when Damian raises his eyebrow, a silent signal meaning you’re talking bullshit and you know it. She stands her ground for a total of three seconds before she sighs and looks into her half-finished glass. “I don’t want to get my hopes up, is all.”

“Well too bad,” Damian replies. “Because my hopes are all riled up.” He nudges her with his shoulder, and she manages a smile then. “I mean it. They’d be crazy not to pick you. If they do, I’m filing a lawsuit.”

“You do that.” She turns and takes in her surroundings, mainly the other paintings on the walls, and the confidence Damian instilled in her dips a little. When her art teacher told her to fill out the application, she did so mainly to please her. She’s never really been interested in putting her art up to be judged. For her, that would be like ripping a page out of her diary and publishing it in the school newsletter. But she did it anyway, not expecting to get past the application stage. But she did, evidently, and then she got past the second round and the third, each time feeling like there must have been some mistake. Because now she’s looking at the other works on the walls, mostly made by real artists who go to real art schools, and she’s not sure how she’s meant to compare here.

“You seen Cady yet?” she asks, ripping her gaze away from the other paintings. Damian shakes his head and checks his watch before the two of them scan the room, searching for caramel coloured curls or a funky-coloured flannel. “She has the right address, right?”

“Yeah,” he replies. Janis nods and takes a deep breath, forcing herself to remain calm. There could be a hundred reasons as to why Cady hasn’t showed up yet, right? After all, it’s a new city and she still doesn’t know it very well, or maybe she’s running late, maybe her tutoring Aaron went on longer than expected. Maybe she couldn’t get out of the thing with her parents after all. She did text ‘sorry, running late, be there as soon as I can’ about ten minutes ago, so that means she’s coming, right?

“Hey,” Damian’s voice whispers in her ear, his hand on her back as if she’s about to fall. “Don’t worry about it. She’ll be here. And if she isn’t, I’ll shove her into a locker myself, K?”

She nods, even though it’s shakier than it ought to be, and turns, her mouth open to reassure both him and herself, but something catches her eye. Something, or rather someone, coming through the door, with all the grace and care of a small hurricane. Someone smaller than her with wide eyes and caramel coloured curls and… a blue flannel.

She can breathe again.

“Caddy!” She waves her over, mindful of the drink in her hand and Damian beside her, and her friend hurries over to her, forgoing a handshake in favour of wrapping her in a brief but tight hug. “You made it.”

“I did,” they sigh. “Sorry, I’m late, I grossly misjudged how far away this place was and it was my first time taking the bus on my own.”

“It’s okay,” she replies. “I mean really, it’s fine.”

“Public transportation is a nightmare in this city,” Damian chimes in. “Glad you made it, little slice.” Cady squeals and hugs him too, stretching up on their toes and wrapping their arms around his shoulders. Damian grins, his joy so bright it’s hard to believe he was plotting their hypothetical revenge on Cady not seconds earlier.

She knows he’d have never gone through with it.

“Let’s go get you a drink,” Damian says. “Unfortunately, we can’t go up to the bar unless you managed to sneak in a fake ID.”

“I didn’t, sorry,” Cady laughs.

“Don’t worry about it,” Janis says as she hands her a lemonade. “Alcohol is far overrated anyway. We wanted to wait for you before we got food too.”

“Oh, you didn’t have to do that.”

“We know, we’re just awesome people,” Janis says as she and Damian lead Cady to the food table. It’s all little snacks mainly-tiny hot dogs, mini quiches, little finger sandwiches, and Cady is amazed by them.

“They’re so cute!” they exclaim as they load another sandwich onto their already-sagging paper plate. “It’s like little doll food!” Janis and Damian’s eyes simultaneously grow wider as they watch; this tiny girl who can apparently wolf down more than they can combined. Cady just smiles, brighter than any lamp in the room, and Janis feels compelled to smile back.

Cady’s funny like that.

“Okay, come on, kiddos,” Damian says, grabbing Cady by the hand and nodding for Janis to follow. The twinkle in his eye tells her everything she needs to know about what he plans and her cheeks grow warmer as she follows them. “We want to get a good seat for this.”

She ducks her head, her hair falling infront of her face like a curtain, but behind is one of the warmest smiles she’s ever known.

“I feel kind of underdressed,” Cady remarks, their eyes scanning the crowds. They pull on their shirt, the gesture seemingly subconscious. “I didn’t know how fancy this was going to be. Maybe I should have dressed up a little.”

“Oh you’re fine.” Janis waves her hand dismissively. “It’s not that fancy.” She feels a little hypocritical here, after all, she was the one who went out and bought herself a new jacket especially for this event, but she stands by what she said. Cady looks fine. “You clearly have your formal flannel on anyway.”

Cady bursts out laughing at that, earning a confused look from some passers-by. That only makes the two of them laugh harder, their snickers hidden behind their hands. It stings for a moment, because that gesture is so closely associated with Regina in Janis’ mind, but it’s brushed aside as Cady links their arms together. Janis breathes out. Regina isn’t even here, and she has no place in her friendships. Not anymore.

“Thanks so much for inviting me, Janis,” Cady says.

“Hey, no problem, Caddy,” she says. “You’re one of us now. Which means you get dragged to my art shows and Damian’s drama club performances.” Cady giggles at that. “And then to make it fair, you get to drag us to your Mathlete contests and everyone wins.”

“Sounds like a plan,�� Cady says.

Something blossoms in Janis’ chest, something new and exciting. For so long it had just been her and Damian and she was fine with it. More than fine. But when she said what she said to Cady, you’re one of us now… she was saying that there was an us to be a part of. That they aren’t loners anymore. That… that she isn’t. That she can let people in now.

She wonders how that little 12 year old girl would react if she told her.

“Are you okay?” Cady asks. Janis blinks, her breath coming out in a quick gasp, and she takes a drink to cool her warm cheeks. Cady stands beside her, not overly concerned, but not oblivious either. They squeeze Janis’ hand, their eyes gentle and kind, and Janis tries not to get emotional. Again.

“Fine,” she tells them. “Just nervous.” It’s not entirely a lie. Her eyes meet Damian’s over Cady’s head and he sees right through her, because of course he does. She doesn’t mind though, not one little bit. Because she knows he’s thinking the same thing.

Strange, she thinks, how quickly this little jungle freak infiltrated their tight-knit friendship. She smiles and lets Cady rest their head on her shoulder. Strange, and she loves it.

******

It’s way past dark when Damian’s scooter pulls up outside Janis’ house. Her hair is tangled from the ride home, her back aching a little after having spent the better part of 30 minutes leaning over Damian, but she’s far too happy to care. In fact, it’s one of those rare instances where she can’t find it in herself to care about anything; school, her friends, her future, or the weather. All that matters is her and Damian, and the jokes they’re sharing, and the painting sitting in the jazzy’s front basket. That’s her world right now, and it’s all she needs.

She’s still laughing as she jumps off the jazzy, the cheeks-hurt-can’t-breathe kind of laughter, and Damian follows, making sure to double check all the breaks before he hops off. She goes to lift her painting but he holds one hand in front of her face and grabs it with the other, tucking it beneath his arm instead. She rolls her eyes, but it’s for show. There’s a proud smile on his face, the twinkle in his eyes evident even in the dark, and he stops to grab her hand before they head inside.

“Have I told you how proud I am yet?” he asks her.

“Only a hundred times,” is her reply, and she gives his hand a grateful squeeze.

“Can I say I told you so yet?”

“Only if I can kick you in the shins afterwards,” she says firmly, only for the two to burst out laughing as she turns the key in the lock.

The hallway is far warmer than outside and Janis can’t not sigh in relief when she enters. She takes off her jacket and hangs it up and Damian does the same. Her mom told him back when they were twelve to “make himself at home” and he’s never stopped doing so. They head into the kitchen, following the sound of low chatter and the muted lights. It doesn’t surprise her that her parents beat them home; even if she hadn’t already seen the car parked in the drive, she knows that car beats jazzy every single time.

What does surprise her, however, is the sight of Cady sitting at the kitchen table, sipping tea from her Eyeore mug, and making polite chithcat with her parents.

They had offered Cady a ride on the jazzy, Janis even demonstrating how they would both fit on safely, but Cady had politely declined, insisting on riding their bike instead. Janis had relented, seeing there was no convincing them re: the scooter, and wrote down detailed instructions on how to get to her place and also telling them to call if they got lost. Even with those precautions, Janis wasn’t convinced Cady would make it, and was expecting her phone to vibrate on the way home.

But no. Here’s Cady. Sitting at her table like they’ve done it before. Like it isn’t the first time.

Their eyes find Janis’ as she walks in, and their face breaks out into a relieved smile. Janis hides a smile of her own, a small tug of sympathy in her chest. Cady is sweet, and she loves her parents, but she’s also sure there’s only so many conversation topics one can have.

“You’re back!” her dad announces, half-turning in his seat. “How was the scooter?”

“It was fun,” she says. “We got yelled at by these college kids.”

“Oh don’t tell me that,” her mom sighs. “Really, Damian, I’m surprised your mom let you ride that thing at night.”

“She said as long as I wear a helmet, everything’s fine.”

“I see. And did you?” her mom asks. Damian stops then, his mouth pressed into a thin line, and that’s enough of an answer. Her mom rolls her eyes, but it’s a fond gesture, and she chuckles warmly under her breath.

“At least Cady wore a helmet,” she says, gesturing across the table. “Maybe they’ll be a good influence on you.”

“Or we’ll corrupt them and turn them dark,” Janis jokes, winking over at them. Cady smiles softly, their cheeks turning pink. “One way to find out.” She heads over and pulls up a chair beside Cady, their elbows bumping on the table. “Sorry we left you hanging here on your own.”

“It’s fine,” they reply. “Got talking with your parents.”

“And I think that’s our cue to leave now,” her mom says. Her dad nods and finishes up his coffee before rising from the table, stretching his arms over his head. “You kids have fun, okay?”

“But not too much fun, I still want this kitchen intact when I get back.”

“No promises, Dad,” Janis grins. Her dad raises a playful eyebrow at her, meanwhile her mom counts on her fingers, ticking off her mental checklist.

“Okay, so the pizza menu’s in the drawer, money’s on the counter, we’ve got the living room set up and we’re just upstairs if you need anything,” her mom says.

“Thanks Mom.”

“Thanks Laura,” Damian adds, at the same time Cady says “Thanks Mrs Heron.” They shift slightly, only noticeable to those sitting next to them, and Janis threads her fingers through Cady’s, hopefully letting her know she’s just as welcome here as Damian is. Cady smiles softly in return and runs her thumb over Janis’ knuckles.

“Alright, have a good night kids,” her dad says. “We’re off to watch boring nature documentaries on Netflix like adults.”

“Maybe you are,” her mom adds, tapping his chest. “I’m finishing my mystery novel.” Janis chuckles, warmth fluttering in her chest. Her parents might be, well, parents, but damn she loves them.

Even more so when her dad pokes his head around the door and says “Janis… I’m so proud of you.” Sure, her cheeks burn in front of her friends, but a grin spreads across her face at the same time. Her parents are the best, and she’ll fight anyone on that.

Not twenty minutes later they’re sitting in the living room, all clad in their pyjamas, the room lit solely by lamps. Janis made sure to bring down as many extra blankets and pillows as she could, ensuring there could be no spot that wasn’t cosy. Three pizza boxes sit in the middle of the floor, each one a different level of demolished. Damian ordered Hawaiian, partially because he knew it would drive Janis crazy, and poor Cady got pulled into the ongoing ‘pineapple on pizza’ debate, something they had apparently missed out on while chasing lions in Kenya. Lucky they have them, then.

“It’s a fruit, and fruits do not belong on a pizza,” Janis says, standing on her couch for the full effect. “I will have pineapple on a lot of things. In a salad. In a cake. In my conditioner so that I always smell like a tropical paradise. But pizza is not one of those things.Thank you for coming to my TED talk.”

“Counter point,” Damian replies. “Tomato is a fruit, and there is tomato sauce on every pizza in existence.”

“Counter-counter point, tomato is an acceptable fruit for pizza, pineapple isn’t.”

“Coutner-counter-counter point, who are you to decide which fruits are acceptable?”

“Counter-counter-counter-counter point, I’m cute,” she says.

“Cannot argue with that,” Damian replies, leaning back on the couch. “Caddy, be our tiebreaker please?” Janis pouts, suspecting he’s only relenting so he can eat more pizza instead, but it’s a victory and so she takes it.

“I’m amazed neither one of you have gone out for debate team,” Cady says, who had been watching the argument with their head bopping back and forth. They sit with one of the blankets wrapped around them, their chin resting on their knees. They scrunch their face up slightly, their gaze shifting from Janis to Damian and back again, and a mischievous grin forms on their lips. “But… I am ultimately sold on Janis’ point of view, sorry Damian.”

“I am flabbergasted,” Damian sighs, throwing himself back on the couch. He throws his hand against his forehead, the perfect picture of the fainting Victorian maiden. Suitably dramatic, of course. “Horrified. Betrayed. Ultimately humiliated. My honour has been squandered.”

“You never had honour to begin with,” Janis quips as she jumps off the couch. She settles herself beside Cady, pleasantly surprised when they open up the blanket and drape it around her shoulders. She scoots a little closer until their knees touch, and her smile widens.

“Okay losers, what movie are we making Caddy watch?” Damian asks. “I’ve got Sound of Music, Chicago, Cabaret and if we’re not feeling like a musical tonight, we have Heathers, The Bee Movie, Night at the Museum and Legally Blonde.” He takes out each movie and displays it on the floor, sitting in front of Cady like jewellery in a cabinet, and their eyes grow slowly wider.

“Is the Bee Movie just a movie about bees?” they ask, their nose scrunched up.

“Yes and it’s a masterpiece,” Janis replies. “It explores the depths and complexities of human sexuality, the insidious reality of our capitalist society and what it means to truly love someone.”

Cady nods slowly but skeptically, and their hand passes over the DVD. Janis makes a mental note to work on her Bee Movie pitch. Damian shrugs sympathetically, a silent well, you tried in his eyes.

“What about this one?” Cady asks, holding up Heathers.

“Hell yeah,” is her answer. It’s a personal favourite of Janis’, and yes a little bit of a fantasy, not that she’d ever go as far as Veronica did. She taps Cady’s shoulder and pulls herself up. “I’ll go get the popcorn ready.”

“Why don’t I give you a hand?” Cady asks, already jumping to their feet. Janis jumps a little, taken aback by her new friend’s enthusiasm.

“Um… okay, sure,” she says. “Damian, can you set up the movie?”

“On it, kids,” he replies. “Go make me a shitton of popcorn.” Janis leads Cady out of the living room, half holding their hand, and into the kitchen. If Cady feels the same awkwardness she does they do a good job of hiding it, caramel curls bouncing around their shoulders as they almost skip after Janis.

“Hey can you grab some bowls for me?” she asks as she grabs popcorn out of the cupboards. “There’s some really big ones in the back of this cupboard here.” Cady nods and whisks around her kitchen, quick as the little lions they love so dearly, and emerges with three brightly coloured plastic bowls. Janis grins, especially at the size of them. “Amazing.”

“You know, back in Kenya, my mom would make popcorn for us sometimes, too,” Cady tells her.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. But instead of watching movies at night we’d sit outside and watch the animals roaming around.” Janis turns and catches the wistful look in her new friend’s eye. She almost sees it in her own mind, the kitchen floor transforming into a quiet, moonlit jungle. “But we’d be wrapped up in our blankets and sitting in our chairs and we knew we’d be safe. They weren’t pets but were our animals. And it was different every time.”

They duck their head then, hair falling in front of their face as a quiet, shaky breath escapes them. Janis rests her hand on their shoulder, drawn closer to the little jungle kid.

“You must miss it there,” she whispers. “Africa, I mean.”

“A bit,” Cady confesses. “Sometimes.” They don’t cry, but their voice is thin and strained, and it’s not unfamiliar to Janis. “But I wanted to come here for years. And I’m glad I did. So...” Their voice trails off and Janis can only wince in sympathy as she runs her hand in circles around Cady’s shoulder. They pause, taking the moment together, and Cady leans closer to her until their head rests on her shoulder. A smile graces their face, small but so bright. “Thanks.”

“No problemo,” she replies. Just in time, the microwave goes off and the two open the door to steaming warm popcorn. They shake it out amongst the three bowls, both secretly adding stragglers to their own even if they’ll share with Damian later. Cady balances two in their hands while Janis tidies up after them and switches off the light. They step into the dimly lit hall and are just about to head to the living room when Janis stops suddenly, a new sense of strength creeping in. The last time she felt like this was when she was twelve, and was looking over at Damian on a similar night. Like something is locking in her heart, and she’s deciding, yep, we’re definitely keeping her.

“Hey, Caddy?” she asks in a low voice. Cady turns, her eyes wide, and Janis feels herself soften. “I’m really glad you came tonight too.”

Cady grins, a kind of breathless gratitude on their face and goes to hug Janis, only to laugh and remember the popcorn at the last minute.

Janis hugs them on the couch to make up for it.

Damian doesn’t mind, especially not when Maxie decides he wants to join the party too and cuddles up with Damian on the chair. Janis mumbles something about a “traitor dog” before slipping right back into the movie, quoting it word for word like it’s a second language. Cady raises their eyebrows, seemingly impressed by her ability, and Janis simply shrugs.

“It’s a gift,” she tells them. “Wait and see kiddo, soon we’ll have you quoting this movie off by heart.”

“How very,” Cady replies, and the three of them burst into late night giggles.

They put on Legally Blonde next, another classic Cady hasn’t seen. Cady even talks about how excited they are for it, but before Warner has even broken up with Elle, Janis looks down to find Cady curled up in a ball next to her, fast asleep. Janis pulls the blanket over her, a rush of protectiveness flowing through her as she does so. It makes sense, she supposes. Cady is one of them now after all. They protect their own.

“Hey,” Damian’s voice comes as a loud whisper from across the room. He’s almost asleep himself, his hand slowly running through Maxie’s fur. He lazily points over at Cady, a crooked smile on his face. “You were right.”

Janis blinks in tired confusion until she realises what he’s referring to; that first day in French class, where Cady had so desperately tried to think of their ‘French name’. When Janis had leaned back in her chair and dropped a note on Damian’s desk.

“We’re adopting them. That’s our new child” it had read and they went into that bathroom that day and never looked back.

“Yeah.” She turns to say something else, but finds Damian asleep too, Maxie curled up in his lap. Unlike Cady, he had no problem pulling the blanket over himself. She chuckles softly, the only sound in the otherwise quiet room. It’s his house too after all.

She gets up slowly, careful not to disturb Cady, and turns the movie off. They can watch it tomorrow morning after all. She settles down on the couch, right beside Cady again, and pretends that her eyes aren’t blurry.

As she looks around the room, she finds her prize winning painting propped against the wall, and her cheeks flush at the sight. It had been a vague idea in her mind for a while, but when her teacher had told her to “draw from the heart”, it was the first contender. It’s silly and it’s cliche and it’s sappy; all the things she pretends she isn’t. But it’s also the most authentic piece she’s ever created, and that’s why she loves it so much. It’s all the bits of herself she used to be scared of, sitting on a canvas for all to see. The parts that are open and loving and unafraid. Creating it may have been scary, but the rewards go beyond the prize she won.

It occurs to her, in her fuzzy, half-asleep mind, that maybe that’s the reason it won. Maybe she should try it again sometime.

#mean girls musical #mean girls broadway #mean girls fanfic #janis sarkisian #cady heron #damian hubbard #art freaks #áine writes fic

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halequeenjas · 4 years ago

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Glitz & Glam || Camille, Cutler, Dave, Erin, Evelyn, Jasmine, Leah, Nate, Nell, & Oz

TIMING: Tonight PARTIES: @carrionxcamille @clarkesconvenience @seizethecarpe @corpse--diem @thronesofshadows @halequeenjas @nate-santos @nelllraiser @curatedfaetes SUMMARY: Just some mostly harmless fun celebrating Jasmine’s birthday.

Birthdays had always been something Jasmine enjoyed, especially her own. As a self-proclaimed lover of being the center of attention, she couldn’t help but love Nell’s idea of being carried into her own party on a palanquin. The notorious Jack the stripper was one of the men carrying her into the jazz bar that was holding her New Orleans themed birthday party. Just by the looks of it, she could tell Nell, Leah, and Bea had really outdone themselves. There was a jazz band currently playing Run the World aka one of her favorite Beyonce songs. The mask decorating station was ago along with some beads. A whole table full of beignets was calling her, but it was the tiramisu cake that Nate made at the center of it all that really caught her attention. Jasmine soaked in some of the cheers as she was carried into the center of the room.

Nate had made sure to get to the venue early enough to set up the delicate tiramisu cake in all it’s glory. Originally, he’d wanted to do much more gold leafing, but other than on the decorative macarons, it just ended up covering the beautiful layers and that wouldn’t do. He stood back and admired his creation until Jasmine herself entered in true Jasmine fashion: carried in an ornate palanquin carried by muscled men to the sounds of Beyonce. He grinned, expecting nothing less of Jasmine Hale. He applauded along with a few others and hoped beyond hope that this would be just another ordinary party with ordinary people.

Nell was one of the many cheers to accolade Jasmine as the woman was carried in by assorted and muscular men, and she gave Jack a friendly wave as he too made his course across the floor. It was hard to forget the time he’d been dressed as a sailor at Bea’s party, and then the time he was Bea’s plus one to Nell’s party. It seemed that their little gaggle of girls had decided to adopt Jack to some extent, and he was quickly becoming a permanent fixture at parties. “Yes, Jasmine!” she yelled along with the rest of the crowd, accidentally jostling the Mardi Gras mask she was wearing while cupping her hands around her mouth. Though...now that she thought of it...now was the perfect time to grab a handful of beignets while all eyes were focused on Jasmine, and she quickly made her way towards the pastry table. “Scuse me,” she offered to whoever got in her path as she worked her way toward the sweetness.

The last party Dave had been at, he hadn't been, strictly speaking, invited. He had, strictly speaking, almost drowned because he'd been trapped in a magically frozen lake. So. This could only be better. Although it felt mighty weird being invited to a party when the only time he'd really gotten to know Jasmine was by being attacked by Bloody Mary. Wasn't the neatest way of getting to know people. There were some faces he recognised, but as he waited for Jas to come in... Dave felt more than a little out of place in all this glamour. Doubly so when Jasmine (who he really only knew as an exorcist) came in on a goddamn palanquin. It was at this point that Dave concluded he would need a whole lot more beer.

Attending functions that were important to one’s friends was the right thing to do, and Evelyn also knew that she truly enjoyed Jasmine’s company, and the two of them hadn’t had too much time to spend together recently. What better way to remedy that than by attending her birthday party? Miriam had given her full approval of her outfit (which wasn’t truly something she needed, but she enjoyed having the approval of others, so it certainly didn’t hurt). Evelyn couldn’t help but grin at Jasmine’s entrance. A bit over-the-top, certainly, but charming and perfectly executed. Though she shouldn’t have expected anything less. She’d grabbed one of the beignets and was absent-mindedly picking at it, giving a small wave to Jasmine as she was carried in.

Once in the center of the room. Jasmine gracefully exited the palanquin as Jack offered her a hand. She smiled widely at the room filled with her various friends and acquaintances. As the song and cheers quieted, she called out, “Thank you so much to everyone for being here. I hope you have as much fun as I do. Please, help yourself to the open bar and assorted snacks available.” She made her way over to the bar to get herself a glass of champagne. It was, after all, a celebration. She dawned her lovely Mardi Gras green dress with gold accents with a lovely mask that included the use of crystals and gold flakes around the edges to give her an extra glamorous flair. She greeted her friends who were already at the bar and was ready for good old fashioned cheers.

From the moment she walked in, Erin had been pretty damn sure that she’d never been to a party quite as festive or extravagant as the one she’d stepped into. But the more she thought about it, the more it made sense for someone like Jasmine, and hollered and cheered as loud as she could along with the group when she was literally carried into her party. Good for her, she thought, as she beelined for the mouth-watering treats that lined one of the tables. After making sure she had a glass of champagne, of course. “Excuse you,” she joked, gently nudging Nell away and snatched one of the desserts she was reaching for first.

So, Camille wasn’t going to say no to an excuse to let her hair down, especially now that she lived alone, even if she didn’t know all these people it was nice just to be out for a fun evening. The decor alone would’ve been enough to indicate that Jasmine intended to throw one hell of a party, and her over the top entrance confirmed it. She laughed and cheered along with others as she was carried in, and then realized that if she was going to be any sort of entertaining at this party a drink was probably a good idea. Thank god for an open bar. With a glass of wine in her hand Camille felt much better, and it wasn’t long before Jasmine appeared at the bar too. “Hey you!” She grinned, already feeling a bit excitable as she clinked their glasses together, “happy birthday! That was an interesting way to kick things off.”

Not one for giving speeches and drawing attention to herself, especially in the state she was currently in, Leah was happy to let Nell and the others pour accolades and love on Jasmine as she was carried into the party, grinning genuinely for the first time in a few days at the ridiculousness of it all. She looked down at her outfit, wondering if she’d managed to stop it from clashing with her new sling and cast and feeling unusually self conscious. She waved as Evelyn approached her, grabbing a beignet for herself and taking a bite. “I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for a drink”, she said to Evelyn. “Can you drink…? With your… you know, allergies?”

Nell had already told Jasmine ‘Happy Birthday’ on multiple occasions, including when she’d shown up to help get the decorations in order— so she wasn’t all the intent on pushing through the mob to get to Jasmine at the moment. No doubt she’d make her way over there later, though. No. This was the time for powdered sugared pastries and...apparently Erin. Nell grinned up at the woman with little to no apologies, already stuffing one of the beignets into her mouth and swallowing before answering. But Erin was quick to snatch up the next one she’d had her eye on, “Hey! No, excuse you! That one’s mine- go get your own.” Nell wasn’t so proud so as not to swipe at the pastry Erin had stolen, doing her best to keep the mortician from actually eating it.

She gave another wave to Leah, grateful to recognize someone in this party besides Jasmine. Evelyn grinned. “Luckily, one can trust Jasmine to have excellent taste in alcohol, so I say absolutely.” She nodded at her friend’s next question. “I can. Well, most drinks. Can… you?” She remembered Leah mentioning issues with water, but wasn’t sure how that extended itself to other liquids. “Just perhaps not a margarita for me, but most other things work well.” She nodded. “Shall we?”

Nate shuffled himself a bit out of the way of the table to make room for anyone who wanted to grab a beignet or praline, mumbled out an ‘excuse me’ here and there. Nowadays he was far from the party animal he used to be, a man who once took up so much space at a gathering and dragged people out to the dance floor in droves. Now, he was hanging out by the food and trying to make himself as small as humanly possible, his fingers wrapped tightly around the glass of champagne he’d gotten when he came in.

Jasmine was more than happy to see Camille at the bar and was even happier that the woman had lived with Cece. New gal pals were always a win in her book and she was smiling ear to ear as she greeted her friend. “I’m so glad you made it,” she exclaimed, “And that dress looks amazing on you.” She laughed a bit at the comment on her entrance. What was a birthday without a grand entrance? Grand people deserved grand entrances. It was like the law… or something. “Thank you. I’ve always been of the go big or go home mentality. I’ll give credit where it’s due and note it was Nell’s idea. If you don’t know her, I’m sure you’ll meet her today. If anything she says sounds too crazy, she’s probably trolling you.”

Oz was not immune to a good party. More often than not, they invited chaos. Less often, they were decent opportunities to get information on targets, slip away into unguarded chambers for reconnaissance. He’d spent most of his week arguing with minor artists in the northeast, weighing their work against each other for a spot in the opening exhibition. It made him prickly and, worse, gave him little time to explore the town. Finally, he had time. Wandering through the cold streets, he drifted naturally towards the raucous music coming from Speakeasy, just in time to see a woman being carried in on a palanquin. Huh. Oz slipped in, searching for someone who’d actually been invited. There was a nervous-looking man standing by the food. Perfect. He plucked his own glass of champagne from another guest on the way over, and raised it to the man. “A toast to new friends.” Oz figured, if nothing else, he could have a bit of fun messing with this guy.

Leah nodded as well, happy to have a chance to explain a bit more to Evelyn. “I can, mostly everything. Just water is a no-go.” She thought about what Evenlyn said, nodding. No Margaritas, no salt. Evelyn had mentioned briefly that her skin reacted to salt, but this all but confirmed that the reactions were due to her supernatural status. That narrowed it down significantly. “We shall”, she grinned, popping the last bit of beignet into her mouth before they made their way over. She was determined to enjoy this night, injuries be damned. With the wall as her guide, she made her way over to the bar with Evelyn. “I do really need to treat you to lunch”, she said over her shoulder to the other woman. “It’s the least I can do after that… sizeable donation I received on Christmas. It’s too bad this is open bar, Evelyn, otherwise I’d insist on buying for you all night.”

Nate nearly jumped out of his skin when someone addressed him directly. He’d been perfectly fine standing like a wallflower, careful not to look at anyone too closely lest he see that they had horns or hooves or something equally as monstrous. He smiled at the man and raised his glass a bit, nodding in response to his cheers. “To new friends,” he managed before taking a long sip. Out of the corner of his eye, the newcomer seemed to ebb and flow out of his vision, but when he looked straight on, he was totally normal. Nate took a deep breath. Must be the champagne. “So uh...how do you know Jas?” Cutler was determined to show Jasmine that he had more than one formal outfit in his closet. He had two, to be precise - but she didn’t have to know that. He felt strangled and hot and was beginning to regret the skinny black tie, which hung short over a leafy tropical button up. His eyes were drawn away from the engrossing task of tugging and smoothing his tie by the eruption of cheers around him, followed by the entrance of Jasmine on the palanquin. The bottle of D'Autrefois Pinot Noir suddenly felt heavy at his side as it dawned on him that he was, once again, far out of his depth. She looked extravagant and expensive, as did the cake, the decorations, and everyone here. Probably-no,definitely-too busy to chat. His free hand was already gesturing abstractly in the air at the end of the bar as he thought, I’m not getting through this without a drink. A couple rubbing elbows away, he recognized Erin tussling over a beignet and made a mental note to find her if he needed a reason not to talk to the person he came here to see. Near him, someone mumbled a quiet excuse me and he straightened against the bar to make room for the passerby. “You’re good, man.” He nodded, giving a small smile of acknowledgement. Someone behind him was toasting, and he raised his glass in a pavlovian, robotic response. “New friends.” He echoed, swallowing his drink with professional flourish.

“That is good to know.” Evelyn nodded. “Yes, I just find that avoiding things like that is better.” Even if she still wasn’t entirely sure how she would react to salted items, it was easier to explain things that was versus explaining that she just couldn’t walk over salt lines. But that was something to discuss when it was just the two of them, and when they weren’t celebrating a dear friend’s birthday. “We will make a plan of it,” she offered Leah a gentle smile. “Besides, that donation was more than earned and was far less than you deserve. If it makes you feel better, you can order for me, how does that sound? Red wine is always a plus in my book.”

“You snooze you lose, kid--hey!” Erin laughed as Nell pawed at the macaron on it’s way to her mouth. She put her arm up, blocking off the shorter woman with just enough time to pop the treat into her mouth. “Get away, there’s like a hundred more!” She said, pointing to the table with a full mouth. She washed it down with the last sip of the champagne in her glass and grabbed a few more treats. There were more than a few familiar faces but she could see the woman of the hour from here. Grabbing a few treats in a napkin for the short walk, she headed towards the bar. “Happy Birthday, lady!” She greeted. “I’m pretty sure that was the most fabulous entrance I’ve ever seen in my life. Which, you know. Makes absolute sense considering…” she didn’t need to finish her sentence, just gestured towards Jasmine with a big grin.

“I can’t remember the last time I went to a party, which meant I had to come.” Camille smiled and sipped her wine, brushing a hand down the front of her dress. It was vaguely on theme- apparently purple was a mardi gras colour- which was good enough considering the small wardrobe she had to work with. “Thanks. Though I don’t look as good as you, obviously.” Her eyes strayed over to the food table, and the woman mentioned. “Oh, I think we’ve met.” Camille looked in thought for a moment, as if trying to remember her. Like she could forget. “Yeah… At a coffee shop. Just briefly, we nearly mixed up our orders.” She laughed, “she seemed nice. I’m sure she won’t say anything crazy- is that a habit of hers?”

Someone else had echoed Oz’s toast behind him, and Oz shifted his body just so, inviting the person into the conversation without explicitly acknowledging them. The wider a circle could get, the more it’d look like Oz belonged here. Oz grinned, all teeth. “I don’t, actually.” The man seemed to be avoiding his gaze. Oz was hot, but he’d never pushed a man (or otherwise, for that matter) from averting his eyes from his good looks. Did he know this man, somehow? Faces swam in his memory, but none matched with the person in front of him. He filed that information away, searching for a quick half-truth. “I’ve been looking for someone who does know her, but I’ve only found you.” Oz winked, taking a quick swig of his champagne. He shrugged, amicably. “It’s not a party if you’re not meeting new people, I say.” He tossed a quick grin to the man who’d joined in on the faux-toast. “Speaking of…” He held out his hand to the newcomer, another shark-wide grin. “Osric.” A wink over his shoulder to the shy man. “But you can both call me Oz, if you like.”

“You said it, not me,” Jasmine said with a small laugh to indicate she was in fact joking. It was one thing to call herself beautiful and another entirely to claim she was the most gorgeous person in the room… no matter how true it was. When Camille said she had already met Nell, Jasmine would have bet actual money that it was because Nell had trolled her on the internet. As it turned out, that wasn’t the case. “Oh, good! I’m glad to hear that. And let’s just say she has a penchant for messing with people. It can be highly amusing depending on who you are.” When Erin walked up to join them for a drink, she gave a welcoming wave and smile. “Erin, hey! Have you met my friend Camille?” She gestured to the lovely woman in purple standing beside her. “Thanks, it was Nell’s idea, but I think I pulled it off fabulously. Well, me and the attractive muscled men.”

Nell didn’t leave her crusade of taking back the pastry unfinished until Erin had finally and wholly eaten it, determined to make Erin regret taking the macaron that Nell had been eyeing at least a little bit. But as the other woman drifted towards Jasmine, Nell followed suit- but not before stacking an impressively sized tower of pastries into her tiny gremlin hands. “Happy Birthday!” Nell yelled at Jasmine for what was probably the third or fourth time that day. She’d only just caught the tail end of Jasmine’s conversation while walking up, and cocked her head to the side while catching her name. “Of course you pulled it off fabulously. The muscled men were just accessories, and we know it. You were the crown jewel.” With that she ate another of the many pastries in her hands whole.

Leaning against the bar for support, Leah’s eyes widened at Evelyn. “Please”, she chided, “That was more than enough. I don’t think we’ve ever had this much surplus in our budget before… it’s... incredible.” She thought on it, nodding. Evelyn’s idea would have to do, at least for now. The bartenders, for their part, worked quickly, and she handed Evelyn a glass of Pinot Noir, grining. “In honor of the birthday girl, …her favorite”, she said sipping on her own glass. “How do you know Jas?”, she wondered, watching Jasmine in her element. It was a relief that this party was going over so well. Jasmine, above almost everyone, deserved such an extravagant celebration.

She eyed Leah, a bit of a concerned look crossing her face. But whatever had happened to her, Evelyn wasn’t going to force her to say anything. She didn’t think that Leah was quite as private as she was, but she also didn’t want to pry too much. “Well, you and the library deserve it. So it was my pleasure. She took the glass from Leah, “and an excellent favorite it is, if I do say so myself.” She took a small sip before answering - first glancing over to where Jasmine was standing, before focusing back on Leah. “When I first moved here - well, it will be five years come April - she sold me my house. We got along quite well and I suppose just sort of naturally clicked. How about yourself?” She asked, tapping her fingers against the wine glass. Cutler hummed reciprocally, only half listening to the toaster in front of him. Behind his flowery words, he had a magnetic quality about him. He was attractive, sure, but this wasn’t something so tangible. Whatever was causing the third in their circle to avert his gaze was the same thing that held Cutler’s attention even as champagne bottles popped behind the bar and little pieces of gold confetti itched at his beard. “Oz.” He repeated, pumping their hand shake with a relaxed grip. “Cutler.” He took another sip of his drink and looked between the two men before deciding to weigh in on their conversation. “So, Oz. You don’t know Jasmine? Are you party crashing?” The last drops of his whisky crashed against the side of his glass as he set it on the bar and gestured for one more. “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna rat you out. Friend.” He winked, imitating Oz’s earlier action.

Erin turned to the other woman with a bright smile. “I haven’t! Nice to meet you. I’m Erin,” she said before putting down her empty glass and plucking up a fresh flute. She felt only a little out of her element at the moment, surrounded by the glitz and glamour of the theme of the party, but it wasn’t a bad feeling at all. Jasmine’s excitement was downright infectious. “Oh, beautiful accessories. Good call,” she agreed. Glancing between Nell and Jasmine, she subtly pointed to one of those muscled men who’d carried her in. “Wait, isn’t that the same guy from your party, Nell?”

Nate stepped to the side again, widening his circle out of muscle memory. Luckily the new guy seemed totally normal too. He breathed a sigh of relief and continued to try and ignore the watery edges of the man who didn’t seem to know Jas at all. Not that he could blame the guy if he was crashing, this was probably going to be the event of the season. Not to mention Nate hadn’t always been invited to every party he’d been to. He smiled a bit more easily, though the guy - Oz - had something about his smile that made him feel like prey. “Nate,” he introduced himself to the two men before taking another long sip. “Definitely not a Hale party without new friends, that’s for sure.”

Camille returned the smile and sipped her drink, “It’s nice to meet you too, Erin.” She nudged Jasmine gently in the side, “we shouldn’t inflate her ego too much.” She teased, “I dread to think what mode of transportation she’ll manage to find next year when her birthday rolls around again.” Camille gave Nell what she hoped was a warm enough smile, despite the nerves that disturbed her at seeing the other woman again. This was a party, surely she wouldn’t say anything out of turn. Though Erin’s question served to distract her from that fear, “How have I never seen this guy before? He is like… The intimidating kind of hot.” She spoke in a hushed tone, so to not be overheard by said man.

“You’re too sweet”, Leah said with a shy grin, sipping more wine. It was going down easier than she expected, and that was saying something. She was determined to find a way to pay the woman back- along with Mercy and Arthur, too, one way or another. Her eyebrows raised in realization at Evelyn’s anecdote, and she nodded. “She meets so many people that way, it’s incredible. She sold me my house as well, but well… we met years before that. We’ve been best friends since we were kids”, she explained, smiling nostalgically. “Despite White Crest’s antics we’ve managed to stick together with another friend of ours for forever. It’d feel strange not to be in her life now, honestly.”

Another wide grin was on her face as Nell approached. Jasmine was grateful for how she pulled this whole shindig off. “Thank you, Nellie. And thank you for planning this perfect party. I don’t know how any of my future birthdays could ever top this.” She gestured around at the decor and crowd. They’d cross that bridge when they got to it. She laughed as Erin and Nell spoke and agreed, “My favorite kind of accessory. Think one of them knows how to cook and is down for being a trophy husband?” Jasmine looked over at who Erin was gesturing to. “Oh, Jack? He was at both Bea’s and Nell’s birthday parties. He’s pretty much a birthday staple at this point. A very, very hot birthday staple.” At the mention of her next mode of transportation, Jasmine giggled and took another sip of champagne. “I’m sure we’ll think of something to top this entrance for next year.” She gave Nell a playful nudge as she spoke. Maybe a magic carpet or like a Britney Spears “Baby One More Time” tour style of flying over the crowd. There was an amused grin on her face as Camille spoke of Jack. “Oh, he’s definitely super hot, but don’t let it be intimidating. He’s a nice guy. Plus, you’re also really hot. And a delight!”

“Oh yeah, that’s Jack!” Nell said brightly, giving another wave in the stripper’s direction. She was pretty sure Bea had brought him over for dinner sometimes at this point. “I think he’s Bea’s friend now.” Or maybe she was wrong. It was hard to keep track of things when she was under constant demon cult barrage. Nell’s gaze lingered a little too long on Camille, still having far too many questions when it came to the woman’s necromancy origins. Unfortunately, now wasn’t the place to ask them. “Oh, Jack’s not intimidating, really. He’s actually very sweet.” Sending Jasmine another grin, she rearranged her pile of pastries to make sure none of them fell. “I’m just glad I could help. You know I love makin’ parties. And I’m sure we’ll think of something for next year.”

Oz feigned a grimace at Cutler’s words, the back of his mind sparking with intent. It was always useful to start lacing webs of promises early, especially ones that had been lined up so neatly for him. “Ah, thanks friends.” Little too thick? Eh. “Promise you two will cover for me if things ever go south?” He shrugged amicably. “I’m new in town, and I’d like to avoid making enemies. For now.” Oz huffed out an awkward, fake laugh.

“Hardly - or, perhaps, selectively,” Evelyn sighed for a moment, though she kept a small smile on her face. Perhaps she was, if so many people kept insisting upon it. “I do suppose that a job like hers lends itself to that. She does manage it expertly, from what I can tell.” She was grateful to have met someone like Jasmine back then - in part because she didn’t judge Evelyn for being relatively young and able to pay for the house in full right to start, but also for the genuine feeling that their conversations had held, even from the beginning. Even though, as far as she knew, Jasmine was human. “She did? Well, she certainly has a way about the town, so that makes sense.” Her expression softened, and for a moment she glanced down at the floor. What was it like to have a friend since childhood? “That’s great! I’ve heard that can happen, if you have a friend for long enough. Becomes weird to imagine your life without them. I’m glad you two have one another,” she replied genuinely. Grabbing her phone for one moment, she took a photograph of her wine glass, sending a text to Miriam quickly before focusing back on her friend. “A friend could not make it, and so I told her I’d keep her updated on what is going on.” She provided as an explanation. “Does Jasmine try to throw parties like this for you, too? Or did she ever, in all your years of knowing one another?”

Nate nodded, absently picking up a few beignets to occupy his hands and mouth. It had been so long since he’d been to a party or around a bunch of guys that he’d nearly forgotten how to hold a conversation. His heart was hammering but he tried not to show it, instead focusing on what he could control. “Oh yeah, of course.” He glanced around the room full of laughter and drinking and dancing, wondering how anything could go south. “I’ll help you out in any way I can, enemies here are...well they’re not great to have.”

Cutler wasn’t sure if it was the drink or the infectious nature of the other man’s grin, but he felt compelled to agree. “Sure, I’ll cover for you. I don’t think you have much to worry about, though. Seems like an open-invite deal. Don’t see them cracking down on party crashers. Talk about a mood ruiner.” His eyes went from the beignets back up to the third man’s mouth, now stuffed. “Enemies?” Something at the back of his mind began to pulse nervously. All this talk of enemies and trouble, perhaps. “You guys make a lot of enemies? You’d level with me if you were planning something, right?”

Leah smiled softly at Evelyn’s explanation, reminding her of their previous conversation about emojis. “Some people like taking pictures of their food and drinks just for fun. As some sort of documentation, I suppose.” She shook her head at Evelyn’s question, taking another gulp of wine. “I think Jasmine and Bea- that’s our other friend-, I think they know I’d just about die if they subjected me to something like this. Too much attention, I think...I wouldn’t enjoy it at all. I prefer a quiet dinner with close friends, usually. Did you ever have big extravagant birthday parties?” She imagined she must have, coming from the childhood she did. Though she did remember her mentioning that she didn’t have any siblings, or many friends growing up since she never went to school. Leah hoped her question wasn’t insensitive.

Dave breathed in deeply as he took in the scenery, feeling distinctly out of place in his only mildly frayed shirt and cargo shorts, but that was what Jasmine had signed up for. As he inhaled, he caught the scent of a brackish pond, like someone had just been fishing and had fallen in or something. It was deeply familiar. He turned his attention over to a trio of men, where the smell was coming from, walking over. "Evenin' folks. Mind if I join? Don't know too many folks at this party." And most of them were young.

“A hot air balloon?” Camille chimed in with her idea, giggling as she took another sip from her glass. She turned her gaze back to Nell, “this is a really impressive party, by the way. Like, wow.” A compliment couldn’t hurt in making sure her secrets were kept for now, right? Plus it was true. Cam had organized a few parties for co-workers before but this was beyond anything she’d ever done. “Oh.” She waved a hand dismissively, “a delight I may be, but I can’t compete with abs like that. Not that- it’s still too soon for me to be thinking about guys and what have you, probably.” She thought of Carrington for a moment and tried not to blush, hiding her face with another gulp from her wine glass. “How do you two know Jasmine, then?” She asked, trying to steer the topic another way.

Nate’s eyes went wide. “Planning something? Here? Ohhh absolutely not,” he laughed, eyeing Jasmine. The idea of ruining her lavish party with some sort of prank or scheme was far beyond Nate, even in his prankster years. “Talk about making an enemy.” He tossed another beignet into his mouth. “No, more like...you peeve someone off and they leave strang packages on your doorstep for a month. Or blast music at all hours of the night. Or suddenly your car goes missing. Nothing super doom and gloom.” At least that’s what Nate had experienced, not that he ever made many enemies. He turned to the new addition and smiled, the expression freezing on his face when the man spoke. Needle sharp teeth extended from his gums where normal human teeth should have been. His words were friendly enough, but altogether ruined by the fact that he looked like Jaws had a baby with a person. “Y-yeah! The more the merrier!”

Oz masked a smile at the newcomer’s appearance, happy to be able to avoid any probing questions from Cutler’s direction. A tingle of power echoed the men’s words in the back of his head. “Absolutely! We were just having a conversation about how I didn’t know anybody at this party. My invite…” He let the sentence trail off. Whatever they’d construct was fine, especially given the promises. Nate, however, looked less than pleased at their new arrival. “The more the merrier,” he echoed. What was going on here…?

“I am trying to attempt to be some variation of with the times, I suppose.” Not that Evelyn figured Leah would mind too much - or at all - if she were not, but some part of her still found herself feeling a bit too out of touch at times. “I sort of had gathered as much. Quiet dinner, or a time spent with films or books, seems far more up your alley.” The name Bea sounded vaguely familiar to her, but she’d have to focus on that more later. “Oh, I have been part of many extravagant parties, birthdays absolutely included in that. My father threw me a party with about two thousand people… somehow… for my fourteenth birthday. I think he just wanted to show me off. I do not know where he found that many people and I spent most of my time to the side. I had other large parties, but that was the biggest. Since coming here, I have found that I sometimes prefer things more lowkey, I’d rather spend time with a few people I care about than many people I,” find boring, too human, and do not care for, “do not know. So I suppose things can change. I have nothing against attention, but I think finally having friends,” she shrugged, “gives a new perspective. I am glad Jasmine gets all this attention though, she deserves it.”

“Maybe getting carried out could just be your thing each year, you know? Just add a new spin to it. But always, always include the muscle men. I think that part goes without saying but I needed to emphasize it.” Erin glanced over at Nell’s pile of treats and snagged another one from her. Her grin brightened when she noticed Cutler across the way, and after wishing Jasmine another happy birthday, she excused herself and made her way over to the circle of guys loitering by the desserts. “Hey! I didn’t know you knew Jasmine,” she said upon approaching. “Looking snazzy, though. It’s good to see you!” Cutler glanced toward the newcomer, not expecting to have to cover for his new acquaintance quite so soon. He made another noncommittal grunt of agreement and nodded a chin toward him. “Not true, Oz. You know me.” He smiled, the half-truth only a little sour on his tongue. The predatory look on his accomplice’s face didn’t alleviate any of the discomfort that was beginning to turn his stomach. “Of course we don’t mind-” He was cut off by the appearance of Erin at his side, a welcome distraction. “Hey! You clean up nice yourself.” He lifted the wine bottle in his hand woefully and leaned in a little closer to be heard. “Only a little. I was going to give her this, but I..” He turned his head to see her, doting upon her loyal attendees. “...I think she’s busy.”

“I think you’re doing great, Evelyn. Blending right in!”. Leah smiled at Evelyn’s correct assumptions about her, finishing up her last few sips of wine. “You’ve already read me like a book, it seems”, she mused. She listened carefully as her friend told her another extravagant story about her childhood, this one just as interesting as the last she’d heard. “That sounds… incredible,... but perhaps a bit uncomfortable?” It seemed by the way she was describing it that Evelyn felt more like a trophy piece to her father than his daughter. “I’m glad, at least, that you’ve been able to establish more of your own rhythm in life. That’s perhaps the hardest part of coming into adulthood and separating from the people who raised you.” She thought for a moment, waiting a beat before speaking again. “But hey- m

“Hot air balloon sounds fun, but Erin may be right. Having the muscled men is really part of the appeal,” Jasmine joked. Well, maybe it wasn’t so much a joke as it was said jokingly. Almost instantly she was shaking her head, “You can compete with his abs. Don’t undersell yourself, you’re a catch.” She would take none of her friends not believing they shouldn’t shoot their shot. “And hey, if he’s not into it, he’s not into it. That’s a different story entirely though. Ask guys out on dates whenever it feels right for you.” While she was single herself, Jasmine liked to think she had a wealth of wisdom to provide on the subject of dating. Rule number one was always no mimes. Don’t trust anyone on Tinder in this town was a close second. That was how you became someone’s dinner. Decidedly not the type of snack anyone wanted to be. “Anyway, I think it’s time for a toast.” She took that moment to welcome herself onto the stage where the band was playing and clink her glass. “Everyone, I purpose a toast. To another year of thriving and happiness with some of the greatest people in town.” She raised her glass to the crowd before finishing off the flute of champagne. It was now time for dancing and she had the feeling one of the muscled men who carried her in would make for a perfect dancing partner.

#wickedswriting #birthday love #glitz & glam #camille #cutler #dave #erin #evelyn #jasmine #leah #nate #nell #oz

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cowboisadness · 4 years ago

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Hang ‘Em High {Arthur Morgan x OC} Chapter 13

Pairing: Arthur Morgan x FemOC

Summery: Belle Hawthorne is high society looking to escape her mean husband. A robbery by the Van Der Linde gang could be her chance. Can she escape his cluches and possibly discover what love should feel like?

Warnings: Micah being Micah

.....

Chapter 13

I couldn’t stop thinking about Arthur's reaction after telling him I wanted to kill that no-good bastard. Currently stood in the cover of Arthurs tent as Miss Grimshaw checked my wound for any infection and helped me apply fresh dressings. She had seen so much of me at this point it didn't bother me anymore. She really was the mother hen of this gang. His reaction was one of confusion at first. His brows furrowed and his mouth hanging open like he had a million questions but didn’t know which one to start with. The moment I began to laugh his expression relaxed, snorting out a laugh along and shaking his head. Like it was a lighthearted joke shared amongst friends. To be honest, I am undecided on if it was a joke or not, I couldn’t see myself going through with something like that but I imagined it none-the-less The rage was true, I felt it from the depths of that pit in my stomach and as it spread throughout me. I wanted him to die, to be rid of him for once and for all, it would be the only thing to quell this feeling.

My wound travelled from my breastbone and down just shy a couple of inches from my navel. A clean-cut that wasn’t deep enough to require stitches but enough to scar. Another to add to the collection.

Once done I made my way to the scout fire just on the edge of camp. It was hardly used by other members of the camp so the fire was out, everyone preferring to sit amongst each other at the main fire. Kicking the burnt logs on top I collected what I was after, the charcoals that sat at the bottom. Old wood that was burnt for so long and almost starved of oxygen. It was perfect for what I needed. I took my blackened treasure to the lakeside, collecting a pestle and mortar as well as a spare metal cup on the way. Sitting on the small jetty I began to make my concoction, breaking down the charcoal till it was nothing but dust and adding small amounts of water. Mixing it all together till a black paste was formed. I kept at it crushing as much of the charcoal until it was thoroughly mixed. The sun was high in the sky at this point, its rays reflecting off the ripples as it licked the stony shore. I continued what I was doing even as I heard footsteps on the jetty coming towards me. The person stopping just a couple of feet away from me, my back still turned away from whoever it may be. “What you up to girly?”

It was Micah. I had only interacted with him a few times since being here. His comments always seem condescending and slimy. The girls had warned me about him, none of them liked him and actively tried to keep away from him after comments he had made towards each of them. I wouldn’t have guessed he had been here only a handful of months given how he hangs around Dutch like a bad smell. “Charcoal mixed with water. Going to use it as eye makeup to hopefully make me less recognisable while out of camp.” “I thought only whores painted their faces. Whores and clowns.” He sneered

“They possibly do.”

“Bit of a shame to ruin that young pretty face with makeup don’t you think? If you ever want to leave camp for a drink just come along with me. I’ll make sure to take care of you.” His voice turned lower with seductive tones. Worthy to make the bile from your stomach make its way up and stick to the back of your throat.

“Um, thank you for the offer, Micah, but I think I’ll feel much safer disguising myself somehow no matter who is with me.” I still didn't turn to him, hoping that he would take the hint that I didn't want his company.

“Suit yourself. But the offer still stands, I’m willing to take you out on the town. Show you how us folks really party. None of that pricey wine and fancy petticoats you’re probably used to.”

I finally turned to him, looking at him deadpan in the hopes he would get the hint. He seemed too as he raised his hands in defeat and began walking backwards back into camp. That man desperately needs to go into town himself and pay for a woman. Hopefully, then he might just be a bit more bearable to converse with. But no woman would be paid enough to lay with that man.

Once done I poured the contents into the metal cup then cleaned out the pestle and mortar before returning it. The camp was much quieter than this morning when Sadie threatened to slice up Pearson. Arthur decided to take her out of camp and help with collecting any provisions Pearson needed. Knowing what Sadie had been through, losing her home and husband brutally and thus having her life flipped completely on its head, I wasn’t surprised by her overall behaviour. A once hardworking and happy woman with nothing to lose. I understood that in a way. They both arrived back, Sadie now sporting pants instead of a dress. They both unloaded the wagon and then Arthur was off again to meet Dutch back in Rhodes. I made my way over to the wagon to help organise the provisions and to offer my help in preparing the stew. Give Sadie and Pearson a break from each other. “Nice look you got going on, Sadie.” I smiled at the woman as I approached. She turned towards me, a box of vegetables in her hands.

“Why, thank you. Thought I would take a leaf outta your book. They are sure more practical than a damn dress.”

“More comfortable too.” She hummed her agreement, placing the box down and then leaning against the wagon and lighting a cigarette. She offered me one to take from the box and I gladly accepted. She lit another match and presented it to me for me to light it with. Smoke quickly fills the air between us.

“So how are you doing?” She asked, waving the match in the air and then flinging it into the dirt.

“I’ve had worse. What about you?”

“This place is driving me nuts. Glad I could get out for a while. Shooting those no good Raiders that ambushed us helped me relieve some of the rage.”

“You got ambushed?” I looked at her with wide eyes, smoke being exhaled as I spoke.

“Relax, I ain’t afraid to hold my own...Ain’t afraid of dyin’ neither.”

“Hmm, I knew that feeling once,” I replied, thinking back to that night looking over the balcony railings in Saint Denis. Dying by his hand was a petrifying thought but dying by my own was something I thought about often back then.

“Oh, I got what you asked for. Sumac flowers and beet juice?”

“Thank you so much, Sadie. This is perfect.” I boasted, taking the items from her.

“What you need it for anyway?”

“Sumac and beets are natural dyes. Hoping together they will change my hair colour to a dark red.”

“Well, that sounds mighty smart.” She smiled, blowing out smoke into the air above and then flinging the cigarette into the dirt along with the matches. We parted ways after that and I began to help Pearson prepare the stew. He seemed considerably more at ease with me as his assistant chef this time around. We exchanged mindless chatter about the weather and what variations of stew he could create. That was until he mentioned his time in the Navy. Once he started he couldn’t stop. But I listened along with a smile on my face and the occasional ‘uh huh’. After the threats he received this morning and gave out no less, I wasn’t in the position to stop him from having this moment of happiness. Once everything was in the pot and beginning its slow boil, I made my way over to Karen for a towel I could borrow. Collected a fresh pair of clothing and a bar of soap and made my way to the lake. Beet juice and Sumac in hand. I'd crushed the Sumac into a powder after preparing dinner then mixed it in the jar that held the beet juice. It was very dark red, like old blood or wet artists paint. With my dark blonde hair, it should have no problem changing the overall colour while still looking somewhat natural. I’ll look like a new woman no doubt. I followed along the waters edge until I was out of sight from the camp but still close enough I would be heard if anything was to happen. Placing the towel and soap on an old fallen log I made work on stripping my clothes and dressings, dropping them on the dirt around me. They were sweat-soaked anyway with how hot it can get here during the day. Opening the jar I was met with the powerful smell of beets, that earthy smell along with the scent the sumac was giving off was overwhelming but thankfully not too unpleasant. Making my way into the lake I began pouring the mixture onto the top of my head, making sure to get every strand completely saturated and not paying any mind to how it will stain my skin on the back of my neck and down my back where it lays. Leaving a trail in my path I flung the jar back onto the shore once I was waist-deep. Thankfully the lake remained shallow quite far out, given that I couldn’t get my wound wet. I began to wash, humming to myself at the delightful coolness the water granted. I’m starting to get used to this. Bathing in lakes instead of warm and deep porcelain tubs. Fish surrounding me instead of bubbles and the smell of the earth instead of Lavender hair oils. Although I'd probably be saying the exact opposite if I was in colder climates. I spent more time than I usually would bathing. Cupping the water and letting it pour over my shoulders and arms to wash away the soap and dirt, being careful to avoid the cut as I went. The scabs formed a ridge along my flesh, the skin tight and red around the edges. A constant reminder.

Leaning back I dipped my head into the water to remove the dye and just hoping it had done its job. The water surrounding me turned the same deep red as I ran my fingers through my hair, pulling out any knots as each digit travelled from the top to the ends. An overwhelming sense of tranquillity washed over me as I looked out beyond the lake to the land ahead and around me. A small flock of ducks milling about further up, diving under the water to catch any small fish swimming below them. I slowly started making my way along, hoping I didn't disturb them. The cool water lapped around my waist and rippled behind me. Perching myself next to a large boulder standing out of the water to watch them as they quacked and ruffled their feathers. I was lost in my thoughts once again for a short while, the sounds of my name being called from the shore behind me bringing me back to where I was. I made my way around the boulder to see Arthur standing at the shore beside my scattered clothing. We saw each other at the same time, my arms coming up to cover myself, him turning around to face away from me. No doubt he saw. I could feel the heat flushing to my face, my cheeks probably as red as my hair should be. “Jesus...are you okay? Your cut opened up?” He asked, fidgeting on his feet as he looked in the direction of camp

“What? Erm, no, I’m fine.” I shook my head. He turned back slowly then, his eyes going everywhere else until they landed on me, then looked down to where my clothes lay.

“W-well what's with the blood all over here?”

“Oh...that’s beet juice. I’m fine, Arthur. I’m coming out in a moment.”

“Okay...Well, Hosea is looking for you.”

“Okay...Thank you, Arthur.” I said more quietly, my cheeks still burning and my arms wrapped tightly around my chest. His eyes met mine for a moment and I expected him to turn away again like the gentleman he usually is, but he didn't. And neither did i. He inhaled deeply, nodding his head then turned to make his way back to camp with some haste.

I leaned against the boulder, exhaling a breath I didn't know I was holding in. The chill of the water returning as my body began to cool down.

Despite the embarrassment of what just happened I thought to myself, out of all the men in the camp he was the only one I was glad came looking for me. Anyone else I would be mortified.

I didn't mind Arthur seeing me like this. I trusted him...I liked him.

My whole body shivered, goosebumps forming all across my arms and chest. It wasn’t caused by the water or the air was beginning to lower in temperature.

With my lips curving up into a smidgen of a smile and a quiet sigh I admitted to myself that I liked that he saw me. I wanted him to.

@kashasenpai

#hang em high #hang em high fic #arthur morgan #arthur morgan fanfiction #arthur morgan x oc #arthur morgan x fem oc #rdr2 fic #fanfiction

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