#and irene's words are the perfect definition of it all

[pinpilinpaux]

#SeAcabó: Diario de las Campeonas (2024)

[p0orbaby]

R thinks Alexia is embarrassed to be dating her because R hasn't met her friends when in reality she doesn't want the team to scare R away.

-

The first thing you notice when Alexia walks through the door is her expression. A mix of contentment and exhaustion, like she’s just finished saving the world but could still go another round if she had to. Her hair is tied back in that effortlessly perfect way that you’ve never quite managed to replicate, no matter how many YouTube tutorials you’ve watched.

“Hey,” she says, setting down a bag of groceries on the counter like it didn’t cost her at least fifty euros for whatever organic nonsense she’s insisted on this week.

“Hi,” you reply, the word clipped, your voice low.

She pauses, turning to look at you with that face. The one that says she’s already analysing the situation and will probably win whatever argument is about to unfold. You hate that she’s good at this. You hate even more that you’ve already lost, but you press forward anyway.

“So,” you start, trying for casual but landing somewhere closer to brittle, “I was just thinking. You know how we’ve been dating for, oh, six months now?”

Her eyebrows lift, just a fraction, but she says nothing.

“And how I still haven’t met any of your teammates?”

There’s the flicker of understanding in her eyes, followed by something that looks suspiciously like guilt. You press on, emboldened.

“Not even one,” you add, holding up a finger for emphasis. “Not Irene, not Keira, not even Ingrid, and she seems like she wouldn’t hurt a fly”

Alexia sighs, rubbing a hand over her face, and you know you’ve struck a nerve. “It’s not like that,” she says.

“Oh, isn’t it?” You fold your arms, leaning back against the counter. “Because it kind of feels like you’re embarrassed of me”

That gets her. She blinks, her mouth opening and closing as if she’s trying to form words but failing spectacularly. You’re on a roll now.

“I mean, it’s fine if you are,” you say, with a shrug that’s entirely too casual. “I get it. I’m not, like, a professional athlete or anything. I don’t even know what half those drills you talk about are. I had to Google what a rondo was”

“Cariño,” she interrupts, her voice soft but firm, and it derails you just enough to make you falter.

“What?”

She steps closer, her hands finding your hips in that way that always makes your resolve crumble. “I’m not embarrassed of you. I could never be embarrassed of you”

“Then why—”

“Because,” she cuts you off again, her forehead resting lightly against yours now, “my teammates are… a lot”

You blink at her, thrown. “A lot?”

She nods, her lips twitching like she’s trying not to laugh. “Yes. Imagine a group of very competitive, very opinionated people who spend way too much time together. Now imagine them interrogating you about every single detail of our relationship”

“I think I could handle it,” you say, but your voice wavers just enough to betray you.

Alexia smirks, pulling back just slightly so she can meet your gaze. “Could you handle Mapi trying to figure out your star sign within five seconds of meeting you?”

“I—”

“Or Patri asking you whether you think pineapple belongs on pizza?”

“I mean—”

“And then there’s Aitana, who will definitely ask if you’ve ever made me cry”

Your mouth opens, but no words come out. She raises an eyebrow like she’s already proven her point.

“Okay,” you admit after a beat. “That does sound… intense”

“Exactly.” She presses a quick kiss to your forehead before stepping back, as if that seals the conversation. “I just don’t want them to scare you off”

“Alexia,” you say, grabbing her wrist before she can fully retreat. “I’m not going anywhere”

She looks at you then, her expression softening in that way that makes your chest ache. “I know. But you’re too good to deal with all that. At least not yet”

“Not yet?”

“Maybe next month,” she teases, a rare grin breaking across her face.

[flowerywoso]

the babysitter || irene paredes x reader

Summary: You've had a thing for Irene ever since you started babysitting for her. When she comes home after a night out with the team, you realize that your feelings might not be as one-sided as you thought they were. Pairing: Irene Paredes x Reader Words: 3,992 Warnings: 🔞, smut with plot Notes: I haven't written anything in quite awhile (I honestly wasn't planning on writing ever again but here we are), so this might be a little rough! Please don't hesitate to let me know (politely, please!) if you notice any horrible grammatical errors or notes to myself that I somehow forgot to take out. Do not post my works on Ao3. And I am horrible at titles.

You peek your head into the room once more, carefully easing the door open and, just as quickly, shut, once you determine that the toddler is definitely still asleep. It’s a habit you adopted after your friends began to have their own children, and one you’ve maintained for the kids you babysit. Tiptoeing back down the hallway, making sure to keep your footfalls as quiet as you can, you plop back down on the sofa, settling into the corner and taking a sip of your sparkling water, grabbing your novel and flipping it back open as you wait for the boy’s mother to return home.

It’s not that much later, only long enough for you to finish a single chapter of your book, before you hear the sound of the front door opening and closing, announcing Irene’s return from the Barcelona squad’s night out. You don’t get up from the couch, merely setting your novel aside and uncrossing your legs, letting one dangle off the cushions.

She enters the room quietly, the low heels she’d left the apartment in abandoned on the mat by the front door so they don’t click on the wood floors, and when you look up you can see the flush on her face. You're not sure if it's the result of the chilly evening air or of her night out, but either way it's enough to make you swallow around a lump in your throat. The top and pants she'd left the house in are just as enticing now as they were several hours ago, and you wonder as she walks further into the apartment how you manage to stay sane around her.

“Hola,” she says quietly, setting her purse down in the center of the coffee table and taking a seat beside you on the sofa, sighing in relief as she relaxes into the cushions after a long night out. Your heart, as it so often does in the presence of the older woman, skips a beat as she comes nearer to you.

“How was everything?”

“All good,” you reply, beginning to recount your evening with Mateo. As always, the toddler had been easy, listening to you as well as one could expect a two-year-old to, and had fallen asleep on the sofa halfway through an episode of Bluey, only stirring briefly when you carried him to bed.

“He ate most of his dinner,” you relay with a smile, shaking your head at the memory of how the toddler had wrinkled his nose at the "yucky green" you'd provided for him, far more enthusiastic about the special treat that was the chicken nuggets unearthed from the freezer. “We had a bit of a struggle with the veggies, but other than that he was a perfect angel, like always.”

Your words bring a smile to the older woman’s face, and you can’t help but stop in your tracks for a moment, transfixed by the way her lips perk upwards, faint lines around her eyes becoming visible. You’ve seen her take an extra minute in the bathroom more than once after you arrive in the evenings, trying to conceal the bags beneath her eyes or the smile lines beginning to form at the corners, but you think that each and every part of her face is a work of art. 

You had no idea, when you first started babysitting for her, just how quickly your feelings for the older woman would grow. In the stolen moments at the beginning and end of the nights, before one of you walks out the door, you've learned more and more about Irene Paredes the person, not just the footballer, and something about her kept drawing you further and further in. You couldn't pinpoint it exactly, but you knew that you wanted her.

“Did you have a good night?”

Irene shrugs, shaking her head with a fond smile as she tells you about the Barcelona squad’s night out. She had mostly stayed on the sidelines alongside the other older players, keeping an eye on the girls closer to your own age as they enjoyed themselves, but Pina and Cata had managed to coax her and Alexia into having a drink and dance before she had excused herself.

The thought of Irene on the dance floor makes your heart pound, imagination beginning to run wild.

You’ve never been to Manuela’s, but from the way you’ve heard Irene describe it, there's absolutely no shortage of beautiful women. You know from the bits of information she’s given you that the Barcelona girls normally stick with one another, even while they’re out, but you’ve never been able to help yourself from wondering if any of the beautiful girls who frequent the club have tempted her enough that she’s taken one of them to her bed.

It's that thought, the unpleasant idea of her tangled between the sheets with a nameless, faceless girl from the club that makes your chest hurt. Before you fully notice what you're doing, you open your mouth and begin to speak, some jumbled mixture of thoughts spilling from between your traitorous lips.

"I mean if... If you ever wanted to stay out later... If someone..."

You trail off, clamping your lips shut as you realize just how inappropriate what you're implying is. You cringe, cursing yourself as you watch for her reaction, wait for her to get up off the couch and hand you your bags, let you know that now might be a good time for you to go home.

But she doesn't. Instead, all the older woman does is fix you with a questioning gaze, seemingly losing herself in thought for a moment.

She’s seated closer to you than she normally would be, than she ever has been before, and for a moment you wonder if she can hear your heart as it pounds in your chest, speeding up as she enters your space. You aren’t sure if it’s your imagination, the way her eyes seem to have fixed on you, tracing the details of your flushing face, eyes following your bottom lip as you nervously run your teeth over it.

“No,” she says at last. “None of the girls there have ever been who I wanted.”

Something about the word there catches your attention as it leaves her mouth, and you're certain that you must be losing your mind. Because there's no way, no way in the world that she wants you the way you want her.

The older woman reaches out and brushes a stray strand of hair behind your ear, and you’re fairly certain that you’ve stopped breathing. Her hand pauses by your left cheek, which you're absolutely certain is flushing redder than the cap on her cherry flavored chapstick.

And suddenly, before you can even fully process the fact that her soft but strong hands are cupping your scarlet cheeks, the older woman is leaning forward and pressing her lips to yours.

You must have imagined this moment a thousand times, but never in your wildest dreams had you imagined it would actually come true. The older woman’s mouth is soft but insistent against your own, exploring your lips with hers, and every coherent thought you’ve ever had is a distant memory as you move with her, kissing her back.

Kissing Irene is even better than you imagined it would be - and you could fill a planner with the amount of times you’ve imagined this exact scenario. Her mouth is gentle, but there’s an edge to her kiss that contains a promise, the knowledge that she’s capable of being anything but.

When your lips finally part, after what feels like both an eternity and no time at all, you let out a little gasp, pupils blown wide as Irene stares into your eyes, both of you trying to process what has just happened. Even though she’s the one who kissed you first, Irene seems just as shocked as you are. But, behind her wide eyes is the same feeling you know she can easily spot in your own.

Desire.

“I… Fuck.”

You’re the one who leans forward this time, lips pressing against the older woman’s, the faint flavor of alcohol on her lips mixed with a hint of cherry from the chapstick you’ve seen her spread across her mouth more than once. The taste of her lips is intoxicating, and you can feel it going straight between your legs.

This kiss is deeper than the first, your arms wrapping around her strong shoulders to pull her closer, wanting to feel her body against your own. You part momentarily, gasping for air and only managing a brief breath before she’s kissing you again, every movement raising the stakes. You whine as her lips meet yours once more, hands coming to rest on your hips, pulling you closer. The older woman uses her own lips to pry yours open, her claiming tongue slipping into your mouth and beginning to explore further.

You let her take control of the kiss without protest, the arousal between your thighs intensifying exponentially with every second her body spends this close to your own. 

“Fuck,” she gasps, breaking away from your lips only long enough to grunt in your ear. “Fuck, I want you so badly.”

All you can do is nod, shaking your head up and down in agreement, because you don’t think you’ve ever wanted another person this badly in your entire life. 

“Irene,” you whine, pressing impossibly closer to her. “Please.” 

“Can I touch you?”

You’re nodding again before the question has even fully left her lips, and the older woman’s pupils go dark with how eager she is for you. She kisses you again, her football player’s strength showing as she pushes you backward onto the sofa, hands working their way up under your shirt. She doesn’t bother with the clasp of your bra, instead slipping her hands beneath the fabric to cup your breasts. Separating her lips from yours with a low groan, Irene immediately begins tracing a path over the sensitive skin of your neck, sending a further wave of shivers up and down your spine. You moan quietly, remembering that you two aren’t alone in the apartment, but tilt your head anyway, granting her better access to your throat.

Advantage is rapidly taken, the Barcelona player letting a hint of teeth scrape across the delicate flesh of your throat as she rolls one of your nipples between her fingers, moaning quietly at the way you arch, pressing your chest further into her touch. 

Your nipples aren’t normally this sensitive, but something about the way Irene rolls and tugs at them makes the two buds feel as if they’re direct links to your most sensitive spot. Her touch is magical, and all you want is more.

As if the older woman can read your mind, the hand not busy exploring your chest slides further down, slipping under your black leggings and making you gasp, bringing a hand up to muffle your own sounds as long fingers begin to rub at your pussy over your panties. 

There’s far too much fabric between the two of you, and every thread feels like a cage. You need it off, need the last bits of separation between your heat and her touch gone, now. 

“Off,” Irene commands and, needing the barrier gone just as badly as you do, she doesn’t wait for you to obey before she’s hooking her own fingers in the waistband of your leggings, yanking them down over your legs. Your panties are removed in the same motion, both pieces of fabric coming to rest at your ankles. You try to kick them fully off, but only manage to completely free one leg before the older woman is pushing her way between your thighs, eagerly beginning to explore your bare pussy.

Her experience is clear from the first touch of her slender fingers against your naked heat, and you can’t help but press closer, spreading your legs further to give her better access. The older woman draws in a sharp breath as she circles your clit gently with one finger, exploring, watching for your reactions, the others gathering the rapidly accumulating wetness at your entrance. Irene's touch is electric, and the older woman finds herself becoming rapidly obsessed with the way your clit seems to plead for her touch.

With two of her fingers, Irene traces the outline of your pussy, hyper aware of just how wet you are, how your hole is begging silently for her fingers inside as she continues to rub your clit.

You let your eyes fall shut, eagerly anticipating just how good it will feel when the fingers you can sense lingering just shy of your entrance finally slide home, burying themselves inside your welcoming cunt. You’re practically pulsing with it, with how badly you need her inside, need to know just how she’ll fill you, what previously unknown spots inside the tips of her long fingers will be able to brush.

“Where do you want my fingers, bebita?” 

You whine, shifting your hips in an attempt to get even closer to her, to get her to slide her fingers into your throbbing heat. The digits, wet from your own slick, only withdraw further away from your needy hole, and you nearly sob with how badly you need the older woman, need her touch. 

Obvious as it may be, this nonverbal expression of how desperate you are for her to take you isn’t enough to satisfy the older woman, and she rubs your inner thigh soothingly. 

“Use your words, baby,” she coaxes. “Tell me where you need my fingers.”

The idea of using your words seems borderline impossible at the moment, your brain simply too overwhelmed with the reality of just how close her fingers are to slipping inside, but you can tell that you won’t get what you need until you do.

“My pussy,” you manage to whine, trying to stay as quiet as possible while pulsing with the need for her. “Please, Irene, I need your fingers in my cunt.”

Your words, base and simple as they are, are enough to get you what you need, and when Irene finally slides her fingers home, you can’t conceal the moan that tears its way free from your throat. You’re wet enough that the stretch of going from zero to two fingers inside your cunt brings nothing but pleasure, and you have to bite down on your lip to stop yourself from moaning aloud when you feel the ridges of her fingers settle against your walls, the older woman pausing for a moment to let you adjust to the feeling of her digits inside.

Irene has to swallow a wrecked noise of her own as she finally slides her fingers inside your soaking pussy, the sensation of your silky walls against her skin sending her brain into overdrive. The sound of your voice, desperation tinging your whispers as you plead for her to move, to fuck you, is absolute music to her ears, and she doesn’t hesitate to comply with the enticing request. 

Her pace is slow at first as she starts to move, the older woman eagerly exploring every curve and contour of your cunt, leaking around her fingers. It’s so warm and inviting, and the older woman has no idea how she’s lasted this long without knowing what feel like inside.

Once she’s sure you’ve fully adjusted to the stretch of her digits inside of you, Irene speeds up her thrusts, curling her fingers in search of the most sensitive spots hidden inside your pretty cunt. 

It’s clear when she finds what she’s looking for, because your cunt clenches down around her fingers and you squeeze your pretty eyes shut as pleasure rocks your body. 

“Oh,” she says, voice a whisper that tickles your ear and makes you shudder happily. “Is that where you need me?”

You nod desperately, the entirety of your reality reduced to the sensation of her fingers against the sensitive tissue inside you, stroking it insistently as her thumb comes to brush against your swollen clit. As she fucks you with her fingers, the older woman tests out different motions on your bud with her thumb, searching for the pattern and pace to take what’s left of your breath away. 

You can’t help but let out a cry as she presses a little harder, circling your needy clit at just the right angle. Irene quickly presses her lips to yours again, reminding you that you’re not alone in the apartment.

“Shh,” the older woman says, swallowing your noises with her own tongue, collecting each one. “You’ve still gotta be quiet for me, bebita.”

You nod in understanding, kissing her back desperately, bringing a hand up to tangle in her hair. You can be quiet, no matter how good it feels, you can be quiet, just so long as she doesn’t stop what she’s doing between your legs. Irene chuckles against your lips, redoubling her efforts between your legs. Her talented fingers thrust in and out of your pussy, each time hitting the spot that makes you see stars.

“That’s it, baby,” she whispers, lips right beside your ear. “That’s it, take it for me. Take it, just like that.”

You toss your head back, more than willing to comply. Every cell of your body feels like it’s on fire, and you want nothing more than for the burning to consume you completely. 

Your orgasm arrives without warning, Irene’s thumb on your swollen clit combined with her talented fingers inside your cunt sending you crashing over the edge with a fury you haven’t felt in a long time. You have to bite down on your lip to keep in your sounds as your it overwhelms you, nails digging into Irene’s bare shoulders. You can feel the older woman’s smile as she kisses your neck, fingers still moving gently inside you, working you through your climax, helping you ride it for as long as you can.

You shudder, aftershocks still shaking your body as you begin to come down from your peak. She slides her fingers out and you bite down on your kiss-swollen lip to keep yourself from whining at the loss. It takes another minute before you're able to gather yourself, fully opening your eyes and taking in the sight of the gorgeous older woman above you.

Irene presses another kiss to your lips, this one gentle, and you can feel the smile on her face as you give a final shudder, sitting up and leaning into her.

"How was that, bebita?"

"Fucking perfect," you reply, unable to conceal a grin of your own as you note how flushed her face still is. Knowing that touching you has her seemingly almost as worked up as you are sends a thrill through your body and you reach for the button of her jeans, aiming to return the favor, only for the same pair of hands that had just brought you to such an incredible orgasm to push yours down, Irene’s lips brushing against your forehead.

“Don’t you worry about me, baby,” she says, and you feel your heart sink with sudden disappointment.

“Are you sure?”

Irene wraps an arm around you, pressing a kiss to the side of your head, clearly oblivious to the way your shoulders sink. 

“It’s okay, sweetheart. I promise. Don’t worry about me.”

You blush, wanting to protest that getting to touch her would be just about the furthest thing away from a worry- dream or fantasy come to life would be a more accurate description- but a sudden wave of shyness overcomes you, the whiplash of going from the high of your orgasm to the valley of being denied an opportunity to make Irene feel as good as she’s just made you feel making your throat close up.

“O-Oh,” you say quietly. “Okay. I just…”

You trail off, not sure what to say to that. It feels like, without meaning to or realizing what she’s done, the Barcelona defender has just tossed a bucket of ice water over you.

“I… I guess I should head home then,” you say quietly, trying not to let her hear the hurt in your voice, reaching down and pulling your leggings back up over your calves and thighs until they rest around your middle. Your panties aren’t quite soaked, for the pure fact that they had been around your ankles soon after her lips first met yours, but they’re still wet enough that putting them back on isn’t exactly comfortable. 

And more than that, you don’t want to leave. Your body is still purring with the aftermath of your orgasm, the last thing you want to do right now is leave her apartment and walk the few blocks home to your own. The route between your apartment and Irene’s is one you know well, lit with plenty of streetlamps and well-frequented on a Saturday night, so any anxiety you might feel can be connected purely to leaving her after what’s just happened, without being certain where you stand. 

Irene opens her mouth and you pause with your hand on the knob, waiting, hoping that she’ll say something, offer her bed to share for the night. 

“Let me know when you get home safe,” she says quietly, and you can’t help the way your chest clenches with a strange sort of pain. You hadn’t really expected her to offer for you to stay, not with the amount of eyes that could be watching someone like her at any given moment, but you still can’t help but wish she had.

You nod in response to her question, clutching your bag close to your side as you shut the door behind yourself, beginning the short walk home.

...

“Fuck.”

The second the door shuts behind you, the defender wishes she could throw it open again and call you back in.

She had wanted to, especially after watching you come apart under her touch, seeing how pretty you looked as your orgasm overwhelmed you. The words had been on the tip of her tongue, but you had beaten her to it, reaching for the door handle and exiling yourself before she could even offer, and she hadn’t offered any protests. 

Peeking in the door, ensuring that Mateo is still safe and sound in his bed, the Barcelona player tiptoes quietly down the hall, two doors down, and pushes her own door open and shut behind her.

As she pulls off her top, letting it fall to the floor, quickly followed by her pants and bra, Irene curses herself, pulling back the covers and slipping into the too-big bed on her own. It feels cold compared to the contrast of your warm body against her own, and her chest pangs with the regret of not asking you to stay the night. 

Back in your own apartment, you slide beneath your own covers, mind racing at a million miles an hour.

No matter how your chest might ache at the fact that you’re here, alone in your own bed, the memory of the older woman’s lips on yours, of her talented fingers bringing you to orgasm right there on the sofa, of muffling your moans in her shoulder, still sends a familiar jolt of electricity between your thighs. With a soft whine, you reach for your the bedside drawer where you keep your vibrator, turning it up before pressing it against your still-swollen clit.

Blocks away, Irene is doing the same, quietly gasping out a much-needed orgasm with your name on her lips, the memory of your mouth on hers and your silken flesh beneath her fingertips sending her over the edge.

As the older woman drifts off into an uneasy slumber, the space beside her conspicuously empty, she knows that, now she's had you once, she won't ever be able to get enough.

[xshadowdelta]

Witch

Irene x Male Reader (3.6K Length)

"Hey rookie, it’s time to work."

You stood up and left that small service room, in whose sign was written 'Authorized Service Only'.

It was your first week in this new summer job as a bellboy at the most famous 5-star hotel, right in the middle of the city with a huge amount of guests every day. You got here thanks to a friend’s recommendation, not your dream job, but you really needed the money, and the pay was juicy. You arrived at the reception hall where your manager was standing next to a mountain of suitcases, feeling as if your soul wanted to leave your body seeing all those bags.

"Miss Bae Joohyun’s luggage, room 362, as soon as possible, she is waiting for it."

It took you a while to place every one of the suitcases in the luggage birdcage, using every skill you had in the Tetris game to not drop them. Then you took the elevator to the third floor, and once there, you drove until you reached the indicated room by your senior.

You knocked on the door and fixed the wrinkles in your jacket, since your first day, the manager had been very insistent on looking perfect in front of the clients. You heard the sound of the door opening and forced one of your best smiles,

"Good morning, Miss Bae, here is your luggage."

The woman in front of you didn’t say a single word as she scanned you up and down, just a slight head move to give you permission to get inside the room, meanwhile, she continues with the phone call in which she was involved.

Oh yeah, another rich middle-aged woman with a major superiority complex. You frowned and let out a whisper that only you could hear.

"Witch…"

But you have a job to do, so you entered the suite along with the luggage and began to unstack all the suitcases.

You looked back at the woman who was now standing, looking at the beautiful views offered by the windows of that room. She was speaking in a foreign language, maybe korean.

Yet you managed to understand the word "stylist" and it gave you the feeling that the person on the other side of the line was getting a good scold.

You could only see the profile of her face, enough to detect a serious and cold expression that you didn't like at all, but still you had to admit that she was a very beautiful woman.

The work was finished at the same time she ended the call. Your eyes met for a moment, and you felt a shiver run through your body. You gave her a small bow before saying goodbye.

"Have a good stay with us, Miss Bae, we are at your disposal." You were already close to the door when her voice stopped you.

"Wait a moment, please."

Another smile was forced in your face before turning on your feet to come face to face with her.

"Do you need anything else?"

"Here is your tip."

She got some bills out of her wallet and offered them to you. You hesitated at first, but you ended up taking them, and for the first time, your smile was a genuine one. You save them in the pocket of your uniform, ready to finally leave that room.

"By the way, just from one look, have you been able to deduce that I am a witch?" Suddenly, your breathing stopped, and your skin tone turned pale white. You were sure you had said it quietly enough for her not to hear that.

"Being a woman as important as me. I must be alert to everything that happens around me, don’t you think?”

Cool, now she can read minds, definitely a witch.

"I apologize, Miss Bae, it was never my intention to hurt your feelings." Your voice trembled, knowing you could be fired because of this.

"Feelings? I put them aside many years ago."

The confusion on your face was notorious, your eyes followed her to see how she took a seat, watching you with a scary look. Another shiver ran down your spine. Running away from there was not a good idea, first because it wouldn't solve anything and would make you look like a coward, but the truth is that you wanted to disappear from the world at that moment.

On the other hand, you could just cry like a baby begging for her forgiveness, that would certainly be ridiculous, but it would save your ass from a guaranteed dismissal.

"Miss Bae…"

"Don’t tell me. Do you want us to forget this incident, right?"

Her face was cold, and her words sounded like ice, sinking deeper and deeper into your chest. But you couldn't articulate a single word, just nodded your head.

For a small period of time, you thought that a halo of kindness would take over her, and she would give in to your request to forgive you, but kindness wasn't in the dictionary of Bae Joohyun.

"Get naked"

It took you a few seconds to understand the request she had just made. She didn't take long to repeat. "What are you waiting for? Get naked"

"WHAT?"

That scream only made her angrier, hitting the ground with her foot, impatient. Her look did not change at any time, she continued staring at you, challenging you.

"I see, you don’t care about this job, so…"

"Wait…"

Your hands started to move, and your uniform jacket fell to the floor. You continued unbuttoning your shirt, making your naked torso visible.

Next was taking off your shoes so you could get rid of your pants that would accompany the rest of the clothes on the floor, leaving you in underwear under the watchful eye of Mrs. Joohyun, who now had a slight mischievous smile while looking at you.

"I think we have a different concept about nudity."

You looked down at your nether area, and then your eyes returned to her. She was really trying to humiliate you in every way. "Everything?"

The coldness of her gaze was enough of an answer for you, making you slide your hands over your boxers, leaving you now completely naked. "Now I want you to stay there, don’t move and pay attention."

You felt like you were about to faint right there when you saw that woman spread her legs on the couch, raising her dress to reveal her panties, which she pushed aside.

She was showing you her naked pussy before she started caressing it with her hand. You couldn't believe your eyes, a minute ago you were fired, and now you had an incredibly hot woman masturbating herself right in front of you. Joohyun licked his own hand as she stroked herself fast, starting to moan with no shame. Despite finding yourself in this complicated situation, watching this show made your body react, and your penis was already completely erect. You tried to move one of your hands towards your penis, but Joohyun's voice stopped you. "Told you to, don't move!" "Remember that your job is at risk."

Then she inserted two of her fingers inside her pussy to stimulate herself more. Hear her loud moans, and the watery sound due to the humidity of her vagina was driving you crazy.

Joohyun continued like this for a few minutes that seemed like an eternity, Meanwhile, you were praying that this torture would come to an end, and miraculously she would decide to forgive you and run away out of there, straight to the employee bathroom to masturbate yourself, thinking about what you were experiencing at this moment.

"Come here" She demanded in an authoritarian tone, and you approached until you were right in front of her, which didn't stop her from continuing to pleasure herself.

"On your knees."

Now, your face was practically a few centimeters from her pussy, but you didn't expect Joohyun to let out one last pleasure scream, squirting directly on you.

You closed your eyes at time, however, now your face was covered by Joohyun fluids, who was now breathing tiredly but still looking at you, with a serious expression on her face.

“Wow”

Was the only thing you could say, you were in shock after what had just happened. You ran your hand over your face, trying to clean up the mess, licking a couple of your fingers in the process.

"Delicious"

"What have you said?" She was stunned, and her voice tone sounded even more enraged.

"You are delicious, Mrs. Bae."

That answer made her get up from the couch in a bad mood. She walked to the pile of your clothes on the floor and grabbed the tie that minutes ago had surrounded your neck, but now was being used to tie your hands at your back.

"What are you doing?" You asked, standing up.

She stood next to you and, without warning, grabbed your still erect penis with one of her hands, making you gasp.

"You keep saying vulgarities, you need a real punishment."

She whispered in your ear, starting to masturbate your penis slowly, making you moan a little bit. She was increasing the pace, stroking you with both hands at the same time.

"You were supposed to feel humiliation, and instead you had the courage to taste my fluids and the nerve to say 'delicious.'  I have never met someone like you, you are quite a challenge."

Your brain was unable to say anything as it was busy moaning in pleasure at Jonghyun's touch.

"Mrs. Bae, I'm about to…"

"Don't you even dare, now it's my turn to taste you."

She stopped touching you and crouched on her knees in front of you. She looked up, straight into your eyes, you saw that look again, that no longer seemed so cold, but immediately closed your eyes because of the immense pleasure you felt when her mouth devoured your cock.

Your body staggered, and you cursed for having your hands tied at that moment. You opened your eyes again only to see how she sucked your cock over and over again at an accelerated but constant pace, damn, you were in heaven.

She grabbed your balls, and at the same time she was sucking you, pressing on them, making you feel a mixture of pain and pleasure.

"Fuck, you have a good dick here."

She spit on your cock, going back to masturbate you, making wet your entire length, so that now when she sucked you, she also slurped some saliva.

“Mrs. Bae…”

She stopped for a second and looked into your eyes again.

"Irene…call me Irene."

The beat of your heart increased because of that, a feeling that was quickly replaced by another wave of pleasure when you noticed how she reintroduced your penis into her mouth, now even reaching his throat, causing her to choke on your cock.

You looked at the ceiling, trying to hold on as long as possible, wishing this moment would never end, then you felt a pinch of pain in your thighs, so you looked down again.

Your eyes found the view of Irene grabbing your thighs with her nails and the entirety of your cock inside her mouth, with some tears welling up in her eyes. She closed her eyes and started moving her head back and forth. You could say she was using you to fuck her own throat.

She stopped to take a breath, but immediately lifted your cock with one of his hands and began licking your balls desperately. "Keep looking at me or this will end here."

It was the first instruction that you would gladly follow.

She ran her tongue along the entire length, licking every inch before giving your tip a special treatment and taking it back into her mouth, this time masturbating you with her hands at the same time as she sucked you off. That made you about to explode.

"Irene…" You managed to say between several moans.

Then she let it off from her mouth again and masturbated you fiercely with both hands, looking at you with lust. She opened her mouth as wide as she could, sticking her tongue out. You knew what she wanted.

There was no need to say anything else. A few more seconds, and you let out a huge load of semen that fell directly into his mouth and face, squeezing until the last drop fell.

Irene's face was now a real mess. She had managed to swallow part of your cum, but other threads of semen fell near her eyes and part of her hair. She didn't mind at all, she was busy cleaning your cock now.

She got up a little later, walking until she stood behind you again, untying the knot that was imprisoning your hands. She took one of your hands and dragged you to another room in the suite, the bedroom with a huge bed. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she caught your attention again.

"Do you want to keep this job?"

Once again, you nodded your head.

"If you can make me have an orgasm, I'll pretend none of this ever happened, you understand?”

"Loud and clear."

You tried to hide your nervousness as best you could and mentally preparing yourself to give her the greatest effort of your life, your future depended on what happened in the next few minutes.

You took a few steps towards the direction where she was, she was imposing, she was scary, yes, but at the same time, you had a sensation running through your body that you had never experienced before, and you wanted to go until the end.

You bent your head straight to kiss his neck. She let out a sigh, a good sign, you deduced. You trailed kisses along his neck at the same time that your hands roamed her body.

"Not bad, but this is nothing out of this world."

You shouldn't rush, she was provoking you, you knew it. Make a mistake, and it will be over. However, you also knew how to play that game.

"Excuse my clumsiness, Mrs. Bae, my job consists of transporting suitcases, not to sexually satisfy clients, even so you seemed to have enjoyed my cock."

Your lips now kissed the part of her naked chest that was not covered by her dress.

"Even now you are still behaving like a reckless, shut the fuck up and take me off this damn dress…now."

She raised her arms, so the dress came out more comfortably, her black lace bra was still annoying, but with a deft movement it quickly disappeared as well, leaving you with the view of her naked tits.

Your mouth quickly acted as shelter for her boobs, drawing loud moans from Irene. Her hands traveled to the back of your head, pressing you closer against them.

"Just like that, fuck, work on these fucking little tits."

You sucked her boobs and licked her nipples, which at this point were really hard by the moves of your tongue. With every second that passed, Irene became more moldable under your touch.

At that moment, you took advantage of to move one of your hands to her lower zone, totally wet after the first session, you touched her pussy over her panties using circular movements.

"So fucking wet, Miss Bae." You said it with a superior tone.

"Told you to shut up." She was getting angry again.

"As you wish."

You replied and suddenly kissed her lips. Irene opened her eyes in surprise, but it didn't take long for her to respond to the kiss with even more energy, until both of you got separated to take a breath.

"It's funny, men are usually afraid of me, and I love to create that feeling in them, but it also makes them never dare to kiss me. I almost forgot how kisses felt." She said with a half-smile on her face, touching her swollen lips.

"In that case, let me help you remember."

You said, emboldened, kissing her again with passion, making her respond with the same lust and starting a battle of tongues inside your mouths. You lost your balance due to the fury of the kisses, and you fell on top of her when her back hit the bed.

When you separated from her again, you could see how her messy hair had fallen on her sweaty forehead and her cheeks were completely red, but you were surprised by her smile, this time it was a full formed and sincere smile.

"Show me what else can do that mouth of yours."

You kissed her lips again, a quick kiss this time, which was followed by another path of kisses all over her body until you reached her panties, you managed to take them off to finally see her naked pussy.

You kissed her thighs previously before sinking your face against her area, making her moan louder than ever. Your tongue moved fiercely against her pussy folds as Irene's screams filled the room.

"Don't stop, don't even dare to stop."

You were giving your best to make her feel good. Her moans, screams, and bad words only motivated you to continue doing this with more intensity. Having your tongue a rest, you quickly replaced it with your fingers, masturbating her with all your strength.

"Holy fuuuuuck, I’m cuming!" She screamed, curving her back and, once again, squirting a lot from her pussy, messing part of the edge of the bed and the bedroom floor.

She had now difficulty breathing correctly, and her chest was up and down again, trying to calm herself. Your fingers once again caressed her pussy, this time doing it so slowly. You approached to kiss her once again.

"Irene"

You called, so both of you noticed your penis fully recovered, ready for more rounds. She smiled at you, turning around, remaining face down, then you stared at her trained ass.

"Come on, what are you waiting for? Fuck me".

Your penis got excited hearing those words. You stood up immediately to stand behind her. Grabbing her hips and aligning yourself with her pussy, inserting your entire length at once into Irene's pussy.

"God, you're so tight." You moaned, starting to thrust into her.

"Yes, fuck, stretch my fucking pussy with your big cock."

"Holy shit, Mrs. Bae."

You increased your thrusts, making everything more and more primitive, to the point that your balls were colliding with her hips every time you buried your length inside her.

Irene couldn't stop moaning and screaming, grabbing the bedsheets with her hands while moving her hips to give more depth to your moves.

You didn't hesitate to grab one of her ass cheeks tightly with one of your hands and then give her a slap that echoed through the room and made the woman scream. You repeated it a few more times, having the same result.

"This is what you wanted, right? A witch like you just wanted to be fucked this hard."

One more spank to her already red ass, drove Irene crazy.

"Yes! Fuck yes, fuck me please! Don't stop now! Use my witch pussy however you want."

You kissed her neck from behind and ran your tongue down her back as your hips moved at a constant pace for a longer period of time.

"Wait." she said between moans. "I want to see you."

You took out your cock off her, allowing her to turn around, giving her another passionate kiss, you took her hips and brought her closer to the edge of the bed, sitting there, she opened her legs for you.

You entered inside her again, resuming your task of fucking her hard, Irene wrapped her arms around your head, moving a little on the bed, allowing you to fuck her deeper.

"So fucking deep." She sighs, closing her eyes.

When she opened them again, she met your eyes, making her blush a bit. You didn't ignore it and brought your lips closer to hers, touching them but not kissing her.

"Mrs. Bae, I'm about to cum." She took your face in her hands, smiling.

"Inside me, until the last drop… I need it."

That was the last thing you needed, Irene hugged you and in a last effort you fucked her harder than ever until you shot all your cum inside her pussy, making both of you reach an orgasm. Both of you really had made a mess.

Irene laid on the bed, still shaking, with one of her arms covering her face. You laid to next to her, looking directly at her.

"Don't worry, today is a safe day."

"That’s fine of course but wasn't my real concern."

Irene lowered her arm and stared at you for a few moments, her eyes widening as if she had forgotten the reason of this. He pretended to cough in an attempt to hide her mistake by sitting back on the bed.

"Yes, about that… You did your part, so I'll do mine, and I promise I won't say anything about what happened here."

Feeling a big relief at that moment, you didn't say anything more than "thank you" to get out of bed in search of your work clothes. You had a schedule to complete.

"I will stay here for a few days because of work."

You left your shirt half buttoned to watch as Irene leaned against the door frame, now wearing a bathrobe from the bathroom.

"Maybe you can offer me this special service again." Her mischievous smile made your face get one, too. "I am at your total disposal, Mrs. Bae."

[jjsmaybank20]

Hiiiii, I was wondering if you could write a Barca femini x teen reader fic where she is under an immense amount of pressure from the media and more specifically her father and believes she has to do it all, she has to be perfect, she has to make her father proud. So she balances the weight of school, Barca training and matches, and the extra training she does (she legit runs herself into the ground in an attempt to forgot about all the pressure she is under, however this only causes her to feel even more stressed). The team specifically the captains, More so Alexia start to notice. They ask her if she is doing well and she denies anything is wrong saying she is fine with no further Answer. Reader decides she doesn’t have time for sleep and has to get as much school work done, so she has more time to do extra trainings. So she starts getting like 5 hours of sleep per night or less which is definitely not enough for a pro athlete to function. She keeps this up for a few weeks or days idk. When Alexia and the other decide enough is enough and they intervene. Reader tries to deny it and get up and leave but Alexia isn’t having it and just hugs reader tightly and then they all end up comforting her. They all tell her she needs more sleep and it’s okay to take a day off so she can take care of herself.

You def dont have to write this i jus though i would ask🫶

Feel Good

Barcelona Femení x Fem!Teen!Reader Alexia Putellas x Fem!Teen!Reader

Summary: R is under immense pressure to succeed, but it doesn't take long for it to become too much.

Warnings: R passing out, R doesn't have a good relationship with her father

Word Count: 1.3k

A/N: Sorry this took so long! I changed a few small things, but not too dramatically. Hope you like it!

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---

From a young age, you always strove to be the best you could possibly be. You worked hard, constantly pushing yourself to be better. When watching you study, train, and play in matches, people would describe you as a perfectionist. You didn’t disagree with that description, but you did believe that you needed to be perfect in order to gain the approval of your team, the fans, and especially your father. 

Y/F/N had always been a cold and tough man. Never generous with his praise, and almost overwhelming with his need for perfection, he ruled your life and your career with an iron fist since the day you showed an exceptional talent for football. You made your way through the youth teams with impressive speed, finding yourself on the Barça B team at the age of 15 and finally being promoted to the first team at the young age of 16. 

Being one of the youngest on the team, the senior players took you under their wing. Lucy and Mapi would joke around with you, while Alexia and Irene would take care of you and keep you on the right track to the point that you saw them as your motherly figures. For a long time, it had just been you and your dad, your mother never really in the picture. You grew up thinking that the only way for someone to love you was if you were practically flawless in every aspect of life, so naturally you assumed it would be the same with the team. 

---

For a while, you were able to balance everything. There was a delicate routine that needed to be followed that guaranteed you would complete your schoolwork on time while also performing the best you possibly could in matches and practices. You were strict with yourself, keeping up a rigorous schedule that impressed even the senior players. 

Slowly, though, your rigid daily life starts to slip through your fingers. It begins when your father starts to comment more and more on a slip in your performance that you don’t even notice. You don’t argue back with him, though. Instead, you decide to add extra practice every day to your regimen. Those added hours of practice means you have to push your schoolwork further into the night, telling yourself that it needs to get done, no matter how late it is. 

Your nights get continuously later, and it begins to take a toll on your performance at practice. At first, your teammates think you're having an off day, and then an off week. When your performance doesn’t improve after that first week, the girls start to get worried. Watching you idly kick a ball around from the sidelines, Alexia murmurs, “I’m worried about la pequeña. She’s been so quiet lately.” Mapi hums in agreement. “She won’t joke around with me anymore. Says that she needs to focus.” The Zaragozan looks at you just as you miss the ball you were juggling. You let out a deep sigh before picking it up and starting again. Mapi’s chest fills with concern at the sight. “She looks so tired.”

You continue to practice, not noticing the two senior player’s eyes on you. After completing the exercise you were working on, you pack the balls up and head inside to the gym. Placing your earbuds in, you don’t notice how Patri and Pina watch you with shock in their eyes as you slip past them on their way out of the gym. 

They flag down Alexia and Mapi as they pass the duo, hoping that they would be able to give some insight as to why you were working out after practice was over. Instead of reassuring them, their captain and Mapi share a glance full of concern. They quickly walk towards the gym, hoping to get some sort of explanation out of you as to why you were pushing yourself so hard. 

As you side step with a resistance band around your legs, you begin to feel light headed. Instead of stopping, you decide that you can just push through and that it will pass with time. Just as Alexia and Mapi reach the gym, your body finally gives up out of exhaustion and your eyes roll back into your head as you crumple to the ground. 

Alexia rushes to your side, pulling your head into her lap. “Get the trainers, now!” Mapi rushes out of the room, following the order immediately. As she anxiously waits, Alexia runs her hands through your hair. Up close, she can now see the dark bags under your eyes from a lack of sleep. “Oh, cariño. What is going on with you?” 

---

As you come to, you are met with the semi-harsh fluorescent lights of the recovery room. Everything seems blurry at first, causing you to blink your eyes to clear away the fog. You groan as you try to sit up, realizing with a start that your head is absolutely throbbing. Even through the pain, you still feel more rested than you have in weeks. You press the heels of your palms into your eyes, trying to block out the bright light. Someone lightly touches your back, startling you. 

“Hey, hey! Calm down, cariño. It’s just me.” You settle slightly at the soothing tone of Alexia’s voice. When you finally glance around the room, you are met with quite a few pairs of worried eyes belonging to your teammates. 

Finally, you look at Alexia. Her eyes are filled with such deep concern that you can’t help but turn away again. She softly speaks up from beside you, asking, “What is going on with you? You look like you haven’t slept in weeks, you seem constantly stressed out, and you haven’t taken a day off in months. I mean, you literally passed out from exhaustion, por dios!” 

You stare at your lap, knowing that as soon as you look up, you’re going to break down. “I’m fine. Nothing’s wrong.” Alexia can’t help but get a tiny bit frustrated with you. Your stubbornness has always been there, and she admires your refusal to quit. In this case, though, she just wishes you would let her help. “Cariño, passing out like that isn’t something normal or fine. Please, tell me what’s happening.”

When Alexia leans down to try to look at your face, she can see the tears forming in your eyes. You glance up slightly, and when you are met with one of the kindest and most caring looks you have ever received in your life, the dam breaks. “I can’t take it anymore! It never ends. It’s always something. One day it’s my footwork, the next it's my shooting. There’s always something to pick apart. And when I’ve finally satisfied him with my football, it’s ‘your grades are dropping’ or ‘your not focusing on school enough’. There's no end to it. I can’t ever stop, and it’s. just. too. much!” You punctuate your last couple words by smacking the medical bed underneath you. 

Your teammates sit in stunned silence for a second, watching as hot tears stream down your face. Finally, Alexia springs forward and pulls you into her arms. Everyone else follows suit, and you finally let yourself let out your anger and frustration in the arms of the people you trust. As you cry, Alexia murmurs into your hair, “It’s okay, cariño. Let it all out. It’s okay. You can rest now. It’s always okay to take a break. Needing to take a break just means that you're human.”

Even when you finally tire yourself out and drift asleep, Alexia holds you tightly. Subconsciously, you burrow further into her arms, the stress crease between your eyebrows that has become a permanent fixture on your face finally relaxing. As she watches you, the captain knows what she needs to do. “I’m getting you out of that house. You’re going to come live with me, and we are going to figure this out. Together.”

---

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[velvetsupremacy]

In My Head (Part 1)

Pairing: Irene x FEM Reader

Summary: In which Joohyun is a popular cheerleader majoring in psychology and you’re a hopeless gay who reports on Joohyun’s boyfriend’s, Minho, soccer season and you’re paired together for a class project.

Word Count: 8.9k words

Warning: Alcohol use but very brief, no smut

So sorry for the delay but here's part 1, part 2 (final part) coming soon!!

The start of junior year felt like the beginning of something big for you. You practically skipped across the campus lawn, camera bag bouncing against your hip as you soaked in the buzz of excitement that hung in the air. It wasn’t just about covering the men’s soccer team for the college news station, even though the team was expected to go all the way to the championship this year. No, it was the possibility of seeing her again - Joohyun.

“Look at you, all perked up,” Yerim teased, pulling her sunglasses down. “Excited about watching a bunch of dudes sweat it out on a field?”

“Hey, it’s for the story,” you said, pretending to sound professional but failing miserably as you grinned ear to ear. “We need a good story to start the year, and this team’s perfect for that.”

Yerim arched an eyebrow, clearly not convinced. “Uh-huh. And the fact that Joohyun will be bouncing around in a skirt has nothing to do with your sudden love for sports?”

You nearly tripped over your own feet. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Sure you don’t,” Yerim shot back, her smirk widening. “Just don’t drool on your camera lens.”

Yerim had a point, though. You had met her in a media law class last year, bonding over your shared major and mutual love for Ariana Grande. Since then, you'd become close friends, sharing everything from class notes to hangover remedies. Yerim had a knack for reading you like an open book, which was both a blessing and a curse.

You both reached the field, and your breath caught in your throat as your gaze zeroed in on the cheerleaders warming up on the sidelines.

Your eyes found Joohyun almost immediately, as if drawn to her like a moth to a very, very hot flame. Joohyun, with her long, silky brunette hair that looked like it belonged in a shampoo commercial, was impossible to miss. Her hair cascaded down her back in waves, catching the sunlight with every effortless toss of her head. She was short - barely 5’3”- but every inch of her was perfectly proportioned, from her slightly toned legs that peeked out from under her cheer skirt to the soft, delicate features of her face. Joohyun looked like she’d stepped out of a dream, all elegance and confidence wrapped in a cheer uniform that somehow made her both sweet and dangerously alluring at the same time.

She twirled a pom-pom, laughing at something one of her teammates said, and for a moment, you forgot how to function.

Bae Joohyun wasn’t just a cheerleader. She was practically campus royalty. A psychology major with plans to go to law school, Joohyun had a reputation for being not only drop-dead gorgeous but also frighteningly smart. She had a soothing voice that made her a favorite at the college radio station where she hosted a show once a week and probably had a fan club just for the way she said, “Good morning.”

For you, the crush had started last year in the most cliché way possible. You’d been covering a student rally, trying to capture the perfect shot of the crowd, when Joohyun had stepped up to the microphone. The crowd had quieted instantly, hanging on her every word. You focused on getting the perfect shot, but when you looked up through the lens and saw Joohyun’s face, something had clicked.

There was a passion in Joohyun’s voice, a fire that matched the intensity of her gaze. She had spoken about the importance of mental health with a conviction that was impossible to ignore. It wasn’t just that Joohyun was beautiful—though she definitely was. It was that she seemed to care so deeply, to be so fully herself, that it drew you in like nothing else had.

Since then, you’d found herself “accidentally” ending up anywhere Joohyun might be, even if it was just to catch a glimpse from afar.

“Why don’t you just ask her out?” Yerim said, snapping a picture of the team’s star player, Choi Minho, as he jogged onto the field. “You’ve been swooning over her for, what, months now?”

“Not gonna happen,” you denied vehemently, shaking your head. “Not while she’s with Minho, and not unless I know for sure she even likes girls. Plus, someone like her going for someone like me? Yeah, right.”

Yerim snorted. “You say that like you’re not a catch. Besides, I’ve seen the way she looks at you when she thinks no one’s watching.”

“Yeah, like I’m the weird girl with the camera who’s always lurking in the background,” you chuckled.

“Or maybe like she’s trying not to blush every time you’re within a hundred feet,” Yerim retorted.

You would like to believe Yerim, but the idea of Joohyun returning your feelings felt about as likely as you becoming a professional soccer player overnight. Still, you couldn’t deny the way your heart sped up at the thought.

“Focus,” you whispered to yourself, zooming in on Minho as he made a perfect pass. But your mind wandered back to that rally last year. Joohyun had been captivating then, and she was just as captivating now. The crush that had started in that moment had only grown, fed by every little thing you had learned about her since.

“Hey,” Yerim snapped her fingers in front of your face. “Practice is wrapping up. Let’s go get those interviews before you lose your mind.”

“Right,” you said, lowering the camera. You had a job to do—a story to tell. But as you headed toward the team, your gaze lingered on Joohyun for just a moment longer. What was it about her that made your heart do that little flip every time you saw her? It was ridiculous, really. A crush on a girl you could never be with.

And with that thought, you followed Yerim toward the team, ready to get these interviews over with…

As you wrapped up the interview with Minho, he wiped the sweat from his brow and flashed you a charming grin. The guy was a natural during interviews, confident and effortlessly likable. You thanked him for his time, making sure to capture one last shot of him before lowering your camera.

"Good luck this season," you said, trying to sound more professional and less like you’d been daydreaming about his girlfriend half the time. How unprofessional.

"Thanks," Minho replied, flashing a bright smile. "I’ll do my best not to disappoint."

As he turned to jog back to his teammates, you caught movement from the corner of your eye. Your heart skipped a beat when you saw Joohyun walking toward the field. She moved with that same effortless grace, her hair shining under the late afternoon sun and was making a beeline for Minho, tiptoeing adorably to kiss his cheek.

Of course, you thought to yourself, trying not to make a face. They were dating. You knew this. Everyone knew this. Still, knowing it didn’t make the sight any easier to watch.

You couldn’t help but feel a little ridiculous. This wasn’t some romantic drama where a smile meant destiny was at play. No, this was just real life, and in real life, Joohyun didn’t even know your name.

“Come on, let’s head out,” Yerim called from a few feet away, waving her phone in the air. You nodded, following her lead.

As you both made your way off the field, a nagging thought wormed its way into your mind, the one you’d been trying to avoid all week.

Classes were starting next Monday, and with them came the embarrassing reality that you, a junior, would be sitting in Journalism 1 like a freshman.

It wasn’t exactly how you’d pictured your academic journey. You’d planned to take Journalism 1 ages ago, but thanks to a mix-up in your scheduling during your first year, you’d ended up prioritizing other courses. By the time you realized the mistake, all the Journalism 1 sections were full.

So here you were, entering your junior year and still having to take an introductory class. It wasn’t the worst thing in the world, but the idea of sitting through lectures you probably could have passed two years ago was a little silly.

“Lost in thought again?” Yerim’s voice cut through your thoughts, snapping you back to reality. She gave you a knowing look as you both reached the parking lot. “Let me guess, you’re freaking out about J1 again?”

“Maybe a little,” you admitted with a shrug, trying to downplay it. “It’s just…I don’t know. I should be past all that by now.”

Yerim snorted, adjusting her sunglasses. “You’ll be fine. Besides, who cares? It’s just a class.”

“Yeah, but still,” you sighed. “It’s not exactly ideal.”

Yerim lightly slapped your shoulder, snorting off your concerns. “Don’t worry so much. You already have experience making stories for the school paper and radio. What’s an intro class with Professor Kim anyway? She loves you.”

You cracked a smile, recalling how you earned Professor Kim’s approval in Media Law and Ethics, which were two of the hardest classes within your program. “You’re right. It’s just an intro class.”

“Of course I am,” she said, holding her growling stomach. “Now, let’s go grab some food. I’m starving.”

Monday arrived with an unexpected sense of calm. You strolled across campus, your bag slung over your shoulder and a spring in your step. The weekend had been fun catching up with all your friends, and your first few classes that morning went better than expected.

But now, as you approached the door to Journalism 1, that confidence started to waver. You’d been riding high all day, but the reality of walking into a freshman-heavy class was suddenly weighing on you.

You paused outside the classroom, staring at the door. It was just a class. Just an hour, and then you’d be done for the day.

With a sigh, you pushed the door open and stepped inside. The room was already filling up with fresh faces. You scanned the rows of desks, looking for a spot where you could blend in. After a moment, you settled into a seat toward the back, hoping to go unnoticed.

As you pulled out your notebook and laptop, you caught snippets of conversations from the students around you. They were buzzing with excitement about writing for the school paper or getting their hands on some broadcast work. You smiled, remembering the time you had been as eager and wide-eyed.

The door swung open again, and you glanced up out of habit. When you saw who had walked in, your heart skipped a beat - Joohyun.

Your mind immediately went into overdrive. What was she doing here? This was just some intro class. Joohyun was a psych major. Surely she didn’t need to be here too. Yet, there she was, making her way into the room with that grace you admired from afar. She didn’t seem to notice you as she scanned the room for a seat.

You quickly ducked your head, pretending to be engrossed in your notes. The last thing you needed was for Joohyun to catch you staring. As fate would have it, she ended up sitting just a few rows ahead of you. Close enough that you couldn’t help but notice every time she shifted in her seat. Great.

The lecture began as Professor Kim walked in, her presence instantly commanding the room. You’d taken a few classes with her before, so you knew she was the type to keep things moving quickly. After a brief introduction, she jumped right into the syllabus.

“Welcome to Journalism 1,” Professor Kim began, her tone brisk. “I know some of you are here because you’re excited about journalism, some because it’s a requirement, and some because, well, you need the credits.” A few chuckles rippled through the room, and you allowed yourself a small smile.

She went on to explain the course structure—lectures, assignments, workshops—but it was when she reached the partner project that your attention fully snapped back.

“As part of this course, you’ll be working on a partner project,” Professor Kim announced, scanning the room. “This will be an opportunity to apply what you’re learning in a practical way. You’ll be paired in a few weeks, and I expect each team to produce a piece of journalism that could be print, broadcast, or multimedia. This counts as the final of this class so you will have the second half of the semester to work on it.”

You swallowed hard. Partner projects were always a bit of a gamble. It could mean working with someone who’d pull their weight, or it could mean babysitting.

“Now, before anyone panics,” Professor Kim continued with a faint smile, “I want to reassure you that I’m here to help, and so are your classmates. In fact, I see a familiar face in the crowd.” Her eyes landed on you, and you froze.

“Ah, yes, there you are,” Professor Kim said, her smile growing. “I’m sure many of you don’t know this yet, but we have a bit of an expert with us today. She’s done excellent work for the school newspaper and the college news station, and she excelled in my previous classes.” You felt your cheeks flush as several heads turned in your direction. So much for flying under the radar.

“So, if you have questions about storytelling, pitching ideas, or even how to juggle deadlines, don’t hesitate to ask her,” Professor Kim added, clearly enjoying your discomfort. “She’s a great resource.”

You managed a weak smile and a nod, trying to look like you weren’t about to melt into your chair. Inside, though, your nerves were high. Being called out like that was the last thing you’d expected. You’d wanted to blend in, not stand out, especially with Joohyun just a few rows ahead.

The rest of the lecture passed in a blur, your mind racing with a mix of anxiety and curiosity. What if you ended up paired with Joohyun for the project? Like that would happen.

As Professor Kim wrapped up the class and dismissed everyone, you quickly packed up your things, eager to escape. You slung you bag over your shoulder and made a beeline for the door, hoping to avoid any awkward encounters.

But as you stepped into the hallway, you couldn’t help but glance back. Joohyun was still in the classroom, slowly packing her things. She didn’t seem to notice you at all, and for once, you were grateful. You needed time to figure out how you were going to navigate the rest of the semester…

The media center had always been your safe place, the place where you could bury yourself in work and forget about everything else. The familiar hum of activity filled the space as students shuffled between the school newspaper and the college radio station. The faint sound of music from the radio station’s booth mixed with the low murmur of conversations, and you felt your shoulders relax a little as you made your way to your usual spot near the back.

You practically lived here, spending countless hours on projects, hanging out with the news and radio staff. Today was no different, except for one thing, you couldn’t stop thinking about Joohyun showing up in Journalism 1. You were halfway through editing some soundbites for the soccer team’s story when you heard a familiar voice behind you.

“Look who survived!" Yerim’s voice rang out, dripping with playful sarcasm. She plopped down into the chair next to you, leaning back with a satisfied grin. "How was J1 and how does it feel to be Professor Kim’s golden child?"

You groaned, regretting that you texted Yerim everything that happened and ran a hand through your hair. "Don’t remind me. I was trying to hide. Now everyone’s gonna think I’m some know-it-all."

Yerim snickered. "Please. Half those freshmen probably think you’re a TA or something. They’ll be asking you for help with their shit by the end of the week."

You rolled your eyes but couldn’t help but laugh. "Just what I needed. More work."

"So, tell me," Yerim leaned in, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "What’s this about Bae Joohyun being in your class? You nearly faint when you saw her?"

"Not quite," you muttered, feeling your cheeks heat up. "But yeah, she’s in J1. No idea why, though."

Yerim raised an eyebrow, clearly intrigued. "Seriously? What’s she doing in intro courses? She’s like, Miss Campus Everything."

"That’s what I was wondering," you replied, mindlessly fiddling with a pen. "I didn’t get a chance to ask her, obviously. I figured she’d be in some psych courses, not sitting through the basics of journalism."

Yerim snorted. "Maybe she’s got a secret passion for headline writing. Or she’s just there to watch you squirm."

"Ha ha, very funny," you shot back, though the thought of Joohyun silently judging you made your stomach twist. "I’m just curious, okay? It’s not every day someone like her shows up like that."

Before Yerim could respond, a familiar face appeared in the doorway, Changmin, the station manager. He was juggling a stack of papers and his ever-present coffee mug, looking like he hadn’t slept in days. But despite his appearance, there was a warmth about him that made everyone feel welcome.

"Hey, Changmin!" Yerim called out, waving him over. "You got a minute?"

Changmin ambled over, setting his papers down on the nearest table. "Always got a minute for you two," he said, his voice tinged with that familiar fatherly tone he used whenever he spoke to his "media kids."

He took a sip of his coffee, looking at you both with kind eyes. "What’s on your minds?"

"We were just talking about Joohyun," Yerim said, leaning back in her chair with a grin. "Apparently, she’s in J1 with this one." She pointed at you. "Any idea why she’s slumming it with us peasants?"

Changmin’s eyebrows lifted slightly in surprise, and then he smiled, nodding as if something had clicked into place. "Ah, yes. She mentioned that to me last week when she stopped by the station. She’s minoring in broadcasting, so J1 is a requirement for her."

Your eyes widened in surprise. "Broadcasting? Really?"

"Yup," He confirmed. "She’s got big plans, wants to do more on-air work and maybe even take on some anchoring for the morning news. She’s driven and looking to learn as much as she can."

"Wow, I’m down so bad," you groaned, feeling a mix of awe and admiration. What couldn’t this woman do?

Yerim patted your back, though you could hear the laughter in her voice. "Chill. You’re gonna be just fine. If anything, this is your chance to impress her with your charm and expertise. Who knows? Maybe you’ll end up partners for that J1 project."

"Yeah, right," you muttered, though the idea made your heart race. “Knowing my luck, I’ll get paired with someone who doesn’t even show up to class.”

Changmin shook his head with a smile, gathering up his papers from the table. "Good luck with that. And hey, if you do end up working with her on that project, just be yourself. You’ve got plenty of experience to share, and she’s smart enough to appreciate that."

You felt a bit of the tension in your chest ease. Changmin had a way of making everything seem okay, like you could handle whatever came your way. "Thanks, Changmin. That… actually helps a lot."

“Anytime,” he smiled warmly, “Just remember - you’re here because you love what you do, and that passion is going to carry you through, no matter who’s in the class with you."

With that, he gave you both a reassuring nod and headed out the door, leaving you feeling more grounded than you had all day.

Yerim turned back to you, her eyes gleaming with mischief. "So, what’s the game plan now? You gonna impress her with your skills?"

"Or," you said, raising an eyebrow, "I could just try not to trip over my own feet in front of her."

"Where’s the fun in that?" Yerim teased. "But seriously, this could be your chance to show her what you’re made of."

You couldn’t help but laugh, despite the butterflies in your stomach. "We’ll see. I’m not even sure if she’s into girls like that. For now, I’m just gonna take it one class at a time."

Yerim grinned, giving you a mock salute. "That’s the spirit. And hey, if you need any tips on charming her, I’m always here."

The sun hung low in the sky, casting a warm, golden glow over the soccer field. The air buzzed with anticipation as the men’s soccer team warmed up for their first game of the season against a visiting school. You were stationed near the sidelines, camera in hand, ready to capture the action for the upcoming story you were working on. This game would be a key piece of the puzzle, the team’s first real test of the season.

You adjusted your lens, focusing on Minho as he led the team through drills, his every move sharp and precise, though his gaze drifted to the stands every so often, like his mind was somewhere else. The team was hyped for the season, with high expectations from everyone around them. But your attention wasn’t fully on Minho or the players. No, your thoughts kept drifting back to Joohyun.

Ever since you found out she was in Journalism 1, you couldn’t stop wondering about her. And now, here you were again, on the same field where you’d seen her just last week, except this time, you knew a little more about her goals and ambitions. Broadcasting. It made perfect sense, really.

"Hey," Yerim’s voice broke through your thoughts as she appeared by your side, her usual teasing grin in place. "You’re not drooling over Minho, are you? Because that would make things even weirder."

You smirked, rolling your eyes. "As if. I’m just trying to get the perfect shot."

"Uh-huh," Yerim said, jokingly denying your response. She nudged you playfully with her elbow. "So, what’s the deal? Are you gonna make a move on Joohyun? Or are you still playing the long game?"

"I’m not playing anything," you sighed, adjusting your camera to focus on another player. "She has a boyfriend, and I’m not exactly keen on being a homewrecker."

"Well, you know what they say," Yerim wiggled her brows, leaning against the fence. "Never let your boyfriend get in the way of you finding your wife. Maybe you’ll get partnered up for the big project and bond over broadcasting."

You snorted. "Or I’ll just end up partnered with some random person."

"Optimism isn’t your strong suit, is it?" Yerim clicked her tongue disapprovingly. "You never know. Stranger things have happened."

Just then, the sound of laughter caught your attention. You glanced up from your camera and, unsurprisingly, saw Joohyun walking onto the field with the other cheerleaders. They were here to support the team, of course, and Joohyun looked as perfect as ever. Her hair was pulled back into a sleek ponytail, and she wore the red and white cheer uniform that seemed to hug her body so well.

Your heart did that annoying fluttery thing it always seemed to do whenever she was around, and you cursed yourself for it. This was getting sad.

Yerim followed your gaze, her grin widening. "Speak of the devil," she said, her tone practically singing. "Maybe she’ll come over here. Give you a chance to work that journalistic charm."

"Sure," you muttered, trying to refocus on the task at hand. "She’s here with her team to support the guys, duh."

But as fate would have it, Joohyun’s path did seem to be leading her closer to where you stood. She waved at a few friends as she made her way toward the sidelines, but then her eyes landed on you. For a brief moment, you froze, unsure of what to do. Should you wave? Smile? Pretend you hadn’t seen her at all?

Joohyun didn’t seem to have any hesitation, though. She gave you a small, polite smile and a nod as she passed by, her gaze lingering just a second longer than you expected. It wasn’t much - just a brief moment of acknowledgment - but it was enough to make you almost crazy.

Yerim nudged you again, practically vibrating with excitement. "Did you see that? She smiled at you! Oh my god, this is progress. We’re making moves!"

"Calm down," you said, trying to sound nonchalant, though you could feel the heat rising in your cheeks. "It was just a smile. She smiles at everyone at games."

"Yeah, but she smiled at you and I’m standing here like a snack," Yerim insisted, her grin widening. "That’s gotta mean something."

You shook your head, “You’re being delusional, Yerim.”

Before she could respond, the whistle blew, signaling the start of the scrimmage. The players took their positions on the field, and you quickly turned your attention back to your camera.

Throughout the game, you found yourself glancing over at Joohyun more than you intended to. Every time you tried to focus on the action on the field, your eyes betrayed you, drifting back to where she stood, cheering with that infectious enthusiasm. Her smile seemed to light up the entire stadium, brighter than the field lights themselves.

But then it happened. She caught you staring. Your heart skipped a beat as your gaze collided with hers, and for a split second, you froze, feeling a flush of embarrassment creep up your neck. Joohyun met your eyes and gave you another smile, one that felt warm, but suddenly it made you feel exposed.

You quickly looked away, pretending to adjust your camera settings, but the embarrassment lingered. God, she probably thinks I’m a creep, you thought, mentally kicking yourself.

As the game wore on, you put those thoughts aside to focus on the story. By the time the final whistle blew, you were more relieved than anything. The match had been tense, and you were just glad it was over. The team celebrated their hard-fought win, and you lowered your camera, ready to pack up and call it a day.

But then, Minho had to pull his jersey over his face in celebration, revealing a perfectly toned set of abs and stealing the attention of his fangirls and fanboys. You couldn’t help but roll your eyes. Of course, he has abs, you thought, trying to suppress the mild envy creeping in

"Well, that was fun," Yerim said, stretching as she stood up. "So, what’s the plan now? You gonna stick around for interviews, or are we grabbing food?"

"I need to get a few more shots and talk to the coach about the game," you replied, packing up your gear. "But after that, food sounds good."

"Cool. I’ll wait for you by the bleachers," Yerim said, chucking up a peace sign. "Try not to let Joohyun distract you too much."

You rolled your eyes as she walked off, but you couldn’t help but smile…

You and Yerim walked across campus, the fliers in your hands feeling heavier with every step. The afternoon sun was sitting high in the sky, and you were starting to regret your life choices - mainly, why you agreed to this. Promoting the annual college radio event wasn’t exactly thrilling, especially knowing it had the energy of a retirement home bingo night.

"I still can’t believe you volunteered for this," Yerim said, holding up a flier like it was a tragic masterpiece. "No one ever shows up, except for a few lost freshmen."

You sighed, pinning another flier to the bulletin board outside the student center. "I know, but Changmin looked desperate. And I already feel guilty knowing it’ll probably be a flop, so I figured I’d help out."

Yerim gave you an exaggerated look of pity. "This is like going from your prime time slot to a 2 a.m. infomercial. What’s next, counting ceiling tiles in the library?"

"Maybe," you muttered. "At least it’d be quiet."

Yerim rolled her eyes and smirked. "You’re such an old lady."

You chuckled, knowing it was half-true. As you both made your way to the psychology department, where there were a few more pinboards, your attention suddenly caught on something or rather, someone.

Joohyun.

She was standing near the water fountain, refilling her water bottle, her calm, collected presence making your stomach do that fluttery thing again. The memory of the game popped back into your mind, specifically, the part where she caught you staring at her like a total creep. You’d been trying to shake off the embarrassment ever since.

Yerim noticed her too, and the familiar mischievous glint sparked in her eyes. "Hey, isn’t that your favorite cheerleader?" she whispered, grinning like the Cheshire cat. "Now’s your chance. Go say hi."

You shot her an exasperated look. "Why would I do that? She probably doesn’t even know my name. What am I supposed to say? ‘Hi, I’m the person who stared at you during the game’?"

Yerim smirked, clearly enjoying your inner turmoil. "Oh, come on. She’s probably forgotten all about it. Just go over there, act normal, and don’t bring up your little staring contest."

You sighed, trying to focus on the pinboard in front of you instead of the fact that Joohyun was literally ten feet away. "You’re making this sound easy."

"Well, if you’re not going to do it yourself, I’ll just have to help you along," Yerim said, and before you could protest, she not-so-subtly nudged you in Joohyun’s direction.

You stumbled forward, barely catching yourself as you nearly collided with Joohyun. She turned around just in time to see you regaining your balance, her eyes widening slightly in surprise.

"Oh, sorry!" you blurted out, awkwardly clutching your stack of fliers. "I didn’t see you there."

Joohyun blinked, then offered you a polite smile. "That’s okay. It happens."

Yerim, who had positioned herself conveniently nearby, was failing miserably at pretending not to be entertained by the whole situation. You could feel her eyes boring into you, silently egging you on.

"Uh, how’s it going?" you asked, internally cringing at how generic that sounded.

"Good," Joohyun replied, her tone soft. She glanced at the fliers in your hands. "Hanging up fliers?"

"Yeah," you said, trying to sound casual. "Just helping out with some promotions. You know, the usual."

She nodded, her expression still neutral. There was a moment of silence, just long enough to make you start to sweat, before she offered you a small smile. "You’re always working hard, aren’t you?"

Your brain stalled. For a second, you weren’t sure you heard her right. Joohyun noticed you? You, the girl who had been trying to stay invisible this entire time? Your mouth went dry as your mind raced to come up with a response, something coherent at least, but all that came out was, “Uh, yeah, I guess.”

Great. Really nailed it. You could practically feel Yerim’s second-hand embarrassment radiating from a few feet away, but Joohyun didn’t seem fazed. In fact, her smile lingered, like she was waiting for you to say more.

"I mean, I like staying busy," you added hastily, trying to recover. Your heart hammered in your chest as you searched her face for any sign of amusement or judgment, but all you saw was that same curiosity. It was unnerving, yet kind of thrilling.

“Well, it shows,” Joohyun said, giving a small nod before glancing at the stack of fliers in your hands. "Good luck with the event."

And just like that, she turned to leave, her water bottle in hand, leaving you standing there, gripping the fliers like a lifeline.

It took a second for your brain to catch up to the rest of your body, the interaction replaying in your mind on a loop. She noticed you. She thought you worked hard. You wanted to feel proud, but all you could focus on was the fact that Joohyun noticed you.

Behind you, Yerim’s muffled laughter broke through the haze of disbelief. "Oh my god, you should see yourself. You’re totally blushing!”

You tried to play it cool, but the heat creeping up your neck betrayed you. “I-I’m not, the AC in here sucks," you mumbled, even though it was perfectly cool and ventilated throughout the building.

As you moved on to the next pinboard, you replayed the brief conversation with Joohyun in your mind, chastising yourself for every little mistake you made but also a little proud you didn’t spontaneously combust in front her. Well, a win is a win…

It had been a few weeks since you hung fliers in the psychology department, awkwardly bumping into Joohyun. Since then, your time in the media center had dwindled. Other students on the school paper were eager to get their hands on some sports stories, and you were more than happy to give them the reigns. Besides, the break gave you a chance to slow down and focus on other things like keeping up with your classes, helping your peers, and seeing Joohyun in Journalism 1 twice a week.

You couldn’t exactly say things had changed much between you and Joohyun. You still admired her from afar, barely making eye contact during class, and any passing interactions were short-lived. But today, Professor Kim was ramping things up with the partner project, and your mind buzzed with nerves and anticipation.

"Alright, everyone, listen up," Professor Kim’s voice rang out, snapping you out of your thoughts. "You've all been building your skills over the last few weeks, and now it’s time to put them into practice with a partner project."

Your stomach twisted. The partner project? Already? You glanced around the room as a few students exchanged looks. This was going to be interesting.

“You and your partner will be interviewing each other,” Professor Kim continued, pacing at the front of the classroom. “Twenty minutes each, so forty minutes in total. I want you and your partner to find something newsworthy to report on based on your interviews. Whether it's a unique hobby, an unusual experience, or a surprising interest. You’ll need to research your partner beforehand. Stalk them a bit on social media, Google them, find out whatever you can. Then, write 8 to 10 questions for the interview which will be due by class next Monday, and next Wednesday there will be no class, so you have time to interview your partner.”

Your mind immediately jumped to the worst-case scenario, being paired with someone who didn’t care about the project. Or worse, being paired with Joohyun. You gulped at the thought.

“The final story will be collaborative," Professor Kim continued, "There are different requirements for the project depending on the medium of your choice - print, audio, or video, but the details of that are on the syllabus.”

Professor Kim then held up a small hat, clearly excited about what was coming next. “Half of you will tear out a piece of paper, write your name, and drop it into this hat. The other half will draw a name, announce it, and that will be your partner.”

The class groaned, but you could tell some people were excited. You, however, were trying to calculate the odds of not getting paired with Joohyun.

You watched as the first half of the class, including Joohyun, scribbled their names on pieces of paper and dropped them into the hat. You were in the second half, the group tasked with pulling names. As the hat slowly circled around the room, Professor Kim paused at each student to let them pick.

Your heart pounded harder with every name that was read aloud.

“Kim Minjeong.”

“Jung Jaehyun.”

“Jimin—oh, great…”

One by one, names were called out, and with each one, you felt a strange mixture of relief and rising panic. The hat finally made its way to you. Your hands were clammy as you reached in, fishing around until you grabbed a small slip of paper.

Please don’t be Joohyun, please don’t be Joohyun, you chanted in your head.

You opened the slip of paper.

“Bae… Joohyun.” The words left your mouth before you could stop them.

You felt your stomach drop as the room went quiet. You could feel the eyes on you—mostly Yerim’s, though her smug face was nowhere to be seen—and you froze, struggling to keep your cool. When you finally glanced up, Joohyun was looking directly at you, her expression calm but curious.

You swallowed hard, trying to seem composed. You definitely didn’t feel composed.

Professor Kim smiled and nodded. “Great. Everyone else has their partners. Before you leave, I want you to exchange contact information, introduce yourselves, though I assume most of you already know each other, and plan a time to meet.”

You stayed seated for a moment, dreading the thought of standing up and walking over to Joohyun. But you had to do it. You have to be professional, you reminded yourself.

After taking a deep breath, you stood, your legs feeling a little shaky, and walked over to Joohyun’s desk, where she was quietly packing her things. She looked up as you approached, smiling shyly.

“H-hey,” you stammered, nerves kicking in as you awkwardly slid into the seat beside her. “Looks like we’re partners.”

Joohyun nodded with a cute smile. “Looks like it.”

“So, um… we should figure out when to meet for the interviews,” you said, trying to sound normal but feeling anything but with her watching you with bright eyes.

“Yeah,” Joohyun agreed easily. “How about next Wednesday? Or whenever works for you.”

You nodded a bit too quickly. “Sure, that works! I mean, Wednesday’s good for me.”

An awkward pause followed, and you could feel your heart racing as the silence stretched. Desperate to seem less weird, you pulled out your phone - only to fumble it like a hot potato, sending it flying onto the desk with a loud clatter. Joohyun burst out laughing, the sound completely unfiltered.

“Well,” she said moments later, her body shaking slightly with silent laughter, “at least I’m not the only one a little nervous about the project.”

You blinked, your cheeks burning. If only she knew it wasn’t the project making you nervous. “I—I guess we’re in this together,” you mumbled, feeling both embarrassed and relieved.

Joohyun’s smile softened as she picked up your phone and handed it back. “Yeah, we’ll figure it out.”

You thanked her quietly, your hands brushing for a brief second as you exchanged contact info. The awkward tension between you both started to fade, replaced by a sense of familiarity. Joohyun, despite her reputation, seemed just as shy by the end of class.

“See you next time,” she said gently, her eyes meeting yours.

“Yeah,” you replied, your heart still pounding. “See you.”

As you left the classroom, you pulled out your phone and shot Yerim a quick text.

You (2:33 pm): Guess what? Just got paired with Bae fucking Joohyun for the project.

Her response came back instantly.

Yerim (2:33 pm) ??? are you breathing ???

You nearly choked on a laugh, tucking your phone away. Maybe, just maybe, this project wouldn’t be so bad after all…

The hum of the café provided the perfect background noise as you tried to clear your mind. After a whirlwind week of classes, getting off campus was a much needed escape. The coffee shop you and Yerim had chosen was small, tucked away in a quiet corner of town, just the kind of spot you both liked.

You took a sip of your favorite coffee, the warmth calming your nerves, as you stared at the blank document on your laptop. Interview questions. That’s what you were supposed to be working on. The project with Joohyun was real now, and it was your job to research her and draft some thoughtful questions.

But professionalism wasn’t exactly what was on your mind.

You glanced around the café, making sure Yerim wasn’t paying attention. She was engrossed in her own laptop, typing furiously. Thinking the coast was clear, you pulled up Joohyun’s Instagram on your phone. You’d looked her up before, obviously. Long before this project was even a thing. But back then, her profile had been private. You’d debated sending her a follow request so many times, but always chickened out.

Now, though? You were following each other.

Joohyun had texted you a few days ago, asking for your social media handles. Just seeing her name pop up on your screen had made your heart skip a beat. Bae Joohyun. For a brief moment, you let yourself imagine she was texting you for something more. But the excitement faded as soon as you saw her message—it was just about the project.

You sighed and pushed that memory aside as you scrolled through her feed. Her profile was clean, simple, and exactly what you’d expect. Lots of scenic shots, some sunsets, quiet moments in nature. There were a few selfies, where she looked effortlessly stunning, of course. Then, there were the photos of her with Minho.

They seemed happy. A handful of pictures together, tagged at restaurants and casual days out. That familiar twist of disappointment crept up.

"Looking up your new girlfriend, I see?" Yerim’s voice cut through your thoughts, startling you.

You fumbled, nearly dropping your phone. "What? No!"

Yerim raised an eyebrow, smirking. "Sure, sure. You’re not being very subtle here."

You groaned, putting your phone down. "It’s for the questions I have to come up with. And how many times do I have to remind you about her boyfriend?”

"Ah, yes, perfect Minho," Yerim said, rolling her eyes dramatically. "But you’ve got something too. Maybe not trophies, fame, and abs just yet but you’re a cutie who has a knack for chatting people up.”

You snorted, shaking your head. "Thanks for the pep talk."

Yerim grinned. "Anytime. But seriously, stop creeping on her Instagram and focus on your work, weirdo.”

You walked briskly across campus, your nerves fluttering as you neared the media center. Today was the interview with Joohyun, and while you’d snagged a cozy room filled with snacks and drinks to make things more comfortable, it was hard to shake the anxiety. Joohyun was your partner, and the idea of interviewing her still felt surreal.

Professor Kim’s constant reminder to “dress professionally” echoed in your mind as you tugged at the fitted oxford grey long-sleeve top you wore. The black slacks and boots completed the look, giving you an air of confidence you weren’t entirely sure you felt. Looking the part seemed to be half the battle.

As you approached the media center, you spotted Joohyun waiting by the room door, looking effortlessly composed in a black V-neck sweater tucked into sleek black pants, her low-heeled boots completing the outfit. If Steve Jobs had gone full-on fashion icon, it would be Joohyun. She looked like a young hot CEO of a multibillion-dollar company.

You swallowed hard, trying to calm your racing heart.

Just as you reached for the door, you heard Changmin’s voice behind you.

“Well, don’t you two look serious,” he said with a playful grin, his coffee mug firmly in hand.

Your face flushed instantly, caught off guard by his teasing. He shot you a knowing wink before heading off, leaving you feeling like he knew far more about your situation than you’d ever told him.

You quickly composed yourself and opened the door, motioning for Joohyun to go in first. “After you,” you said, hoping your voice sounded more confident than you felt.

“Thanks,” Joohyun replied, offering you a kind smile as she stepped inside.

You let out a small breath of relief as you followed her into the room, shutting the door behind you. The room was quiet, the snacks laid out neatly on the table, and you both settled in quickly, exchanging small talk on the way. Despite your best efforts to stay calm, Joohyun’s presence had you on edge. It wasn’t that you were inexperienced, you’d done countless interviews before, but interviewing her made it different.

After a minute of organizing your notes, you glanced at Joohyun and noticed something that surprised you. She was fidgeting with the hem of her sweater, her fingers twisting the fabric, and she shifted in her seat. For someone who always seemed so poised, she looked nervous herself.

You hesitated for a moment, then leaned forward, deciding to take a chance. “Hey, are you okay? You seem a little… on edge.”

Joohyun’s eyes widened slightly, and she let out a soft, embarrassed laugh. “Yeah, I guess I am. I’m not used to doing interviews, especially with someone who’s clearly experienced and really good at what they do.”

You blinked, genuinely surprised. “You’re nervous because of me?”

She nodded, a faint blush creeping onto her cheeks. “Yeah, kind of. You’ve done this a lot, and I’m still figuring things out. Plus, Professor Kim seems to think highly of you, so there’s a bit of pressure.”

You couldn’t believe what you were hearing. Joohyun, the campus queen, nervous because of you? The thought was almost unreal, and yet here she was, feeling the same way you had when you first saw her name on the slip of paper.

You chuckled, trying to ease the tension. “Trust me, I’m still figuring things out too. Actually…” You hesitated for a second, nerves bubbling up as you decided whether or not to tell her the story. But seeing her this vulnerable made you want to take the chance. “If you’re up for it, I can tell you about the first time I interviewed someone.”

Joohyun looked intrigued, so you continued, even though the story still made you cringe a little. “It was for the school paper during my first year. I was interviewing one of the professors for a feature piece, and I was so nervous, but he reassured me that I wouldn’t do a bad job. So, I got comfortable eventually. We sat there for probably twenty minutes, and I thought I was being all professional, nodding along and asking good questions. Then I realized the recorder wasn’t even on.”

Joohyun’s eyes widened, and she leaned forward with a wide grin. “Oh god, what did you do?”

“I panicked,” you chuckled, feeling more relaxed now that she was laughing. “I didn’t want to ask him to do the whole thing again, so I tried to rely on my notes, but they were a mess. It was awful. So, I asked for another interview, but he wasn’t exactly enthused about it.”

Joohyun was laughing fully now, her eyes sparkling with amusement. “That’s amazing. I would’ve died.”

“I almost did,” you said, joining in her laughter. “So, if I can survive that, you can survive this. Trust me.”

The tension between you eased as Joohyun relaxed, her shoulders no longer hunched and her fingers no longer fidgeting with her sweater. “Thanks for sharing that,” she said, still smiling. “I guess I was overthinking it.”

You nodded, smiling warmly. “You’re going to do great. And we’re just practicing, right? I’m here to help.”

The interview started smoothly after that. Joohyun’s answers were thoughtful and personal. She talked about psychology and why she was drawn to it, places she’s traveled, and how she balanced her academics with her extracurriculars. She mentioned how photography was a way for her to decompress, especially when she captured photos of the sky and nature, and how there was a small garden on campus that was her favorite spot to think.

By the time it was her turn to interview you, she was much more confident. Her questions were unpresumptuous and relevant. They were about why you chose journalism, what kept you motivated when things got tough, and what got you into photography yourself.

“I saw some of your nature shots,” Joohyun said, her voice thoughtful. “They seem to be mostly pictures taken on hiking trips, is that right?”

You nodded. “Yeah, it’s kind of a side hobby. It helps me clear my head.”

As she listened carefully to you, you could see her growing more comfortable in the journalist role. By the time the interview wrapped up, the room felt lighter, and you were both sighing with relief.

“That wasn’t so bad, right?” you teased, packing up your notes.

Joohyun smiled, her shoulders visibly relaxed. “You’re really good at making people feel comfortable. I wasn’t expecting that,” she said, a hint of admiration in her voice. Then, realizing how it might sound, she quickly added, “Not that I didn’t think you could! I just didn’t expect it to be so… easy.”

You blinked, a bit taken aback by her sudden fluster. “Oh, don’t worry. I didn’t take it that way at all,” you reassured her. “I’m just glad I could help. And honestly, you did really well too.”

At that, Joohyun’s cheeks flushed slightly, and she let out a small, relieved laugh.

As you both stood to leave, you held the door open for her again, and she glanced back at you with a grateful smile. “Thanks again. Really.”

You returned the gesture, feeling a warm sense of connection. “Anytime.”

As Joohyun walked out, you couldn’t help but feel that things had shifted slightly between you. It wasn’t just about the interview anymore…

After a discussion with Professor Kim and Changmin, you’d finally settled on the next direction of your soccer story. It wasn’t what you had originally planned, but both of them had made a compelling case. A feature on Minho. You’d dig into his struggles growing up and his rise through adversity. It would create the kind of emotional connection that any solid piece of journalism needed. The story wasn’t just solely about soccer anymore. It was the kind of personal journey that would resonate with the audience.

You knew it was great for your portfolio too. It was exactly the type of human-interest story that could set you apart when applying for future jobs. You agreed to it, even though the idea of digging deeper into Minho’s life, with your feelings for Joohyun lurking in the background, made you a little uncomfortable. You could handle this professionally though. You had to.

Later that day, after his practice with the soccer team, you spotted Minho chatting with some of his teammates near the field. Taking a deep breath, you approached him.

“Minho,” you called out, waving slightly as you approached.

He turned to you, a welcoming smile already in place. “Hey! What’s up?”

You adjusted your bag, feeling the weight of it on your shoulder as you tried to keep your tone casual. “I wanted to talk to you about a potential story for the school radio.”

Minho raised an eyebrow, curious. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah,” you said, pausing for a moment before continuing. “I was thinking about doing a feature on you. Something about you and not just soccer, how you’ve gotten to where you are now. I think it would be a really strong piece, but only if you’re up for it, of course.”

Minho’s expression softened, and for a moment, he looked genuinely surprised. “Wow. I don’t know what to say… I mean, I’d be honored. But really? A story on me?”

You nodded, smiling. “Yeah. I think people would really connect with it.”

He seemed to consider it for a moment, then nodded slowly. “If you think it’s a good idea, then I’m in.”

You let out a breath you didn’t realize you’d been holding. “Great. I’ll start pulling things together soon, and we can schedule some time for interviews.”

Minho smiled humbly, “Sounds good. Thanks for thinking of me. I really appreciate it.”

“No problem,” you said, giving him a nod. “I’ll be in touch.”

After getting his contact info, you met up with Yerim at a nearby bar, ready to drink away some of the tension that had been building all week. Three shots in, you were starting to feel the warmth of the alcohol loosening up your thoughts. Just then, your phone buzzed in your pocket. You saw Joohyun’s name, and your heart did its usual happy flip. You quickly swiped to read her message.

Joohyun (9:17 pm): Hey, when do you want to meet to go over what we should report on from our interviews? I was thinking we could talk about it next week?

You exhaled slowly, the thrill of seeing her name making you grin. Joohyun texting first? A miracle. Her message was all business, which was its own kind of reality check, but hey, she was the one messaging you, and right now, that felt like something.

You had thought about meeting her at one specific place, but that was sober you and you didn’t have the guts to ask. However, with a little liquid courage coursing through your veins, you typed back, smirking to yourself.

You (9:19 pm) Nxt week sounds good, but I have an idea.. wanna go to that boba place on main st. aftr class on monday?

Satisfied, you hit send and dropped the phone back into your pocket, telling yourself you were such a genius for thinking of a way to spend more time with Joohyun, completely unaware of the grave you were digging for yourself…

To be continued...

[zeezelweazel]

I would love it if you started writing for Chloe kelly

Chloe Kelly| Lost in euphoria|

______________________________________

My girl is having such a great season, hope we can win the league cuz Chelsea needs to be humbled. Anyway I'm still not over that world cup final so have this.

First Chloe fic let's goo

____________________________________________________

You can't sleep. Of course you can't, the world cup final is tomorrow. You bled sweat and tears to get to this point. With your captain and best player in the world barely back in shape and the federation being full of sexist assholes you feel like you've fought a war to reach the final.

Nerves are normal before matches like this one. The winner takes it all and you have to make sure that you are the winner. You've learnt how to live with it and get over it so you can give it your all on the pitch. This time though it's different, because you're playing England in the final.

You dread the moment you have to step on the pitch. They want this as much as you and they need this as much as you. How will you be able to play against your girlfriend in such a game? Sure, you play eachother often enough, in the league and even the cup sometimes and you're definitely used to the rivalry given how she plays for manchester city and you for united but this is different. This is a world cup final. An entire nation depends on you.

Just as you're about to turn around and try to sleep your phone lights up with a notification. You look at the screen to see a message.

Baby blue 💙

Hey

I can't sleep

You smile when you see Chloe's text, immediately forgetting about the match tomorrow. You grab your phone and text her back immediately. You probably should be getting some sleep before such an important game but it's not like you'd do anything but roll around in bed all night. Plus talking to Chloe always helps you relax, right now it also helps you forget the fact that tomorrow she'd be your biggest rival.

|•••••|

No words can describe the feeling of playing in a wolrd cup final. The atmosphere is electric, your whole body pumbed with adrenaline and nerves that only got worse when the whistle blew. You were equal parts relieved and upset that Chloe wasn't on the starting line up. She deserves to be on the starting eleven, you know this but you can't help but feel relieved that you can prolong playing against her.

The first half is obviously in your favour. England's attacks are disjointed and messy, most of them not leading to anything good. You and Ona didn't let anything get through, closing down every English attack. The forwards are doing their job successfully, as expected with Aitana bossing the midfield and pulling the strings. Sure enough after a stady and good performance Olga manages to open the scoreline with a good shot.

Your first instinct is to turn to Irene and hug her tightly before running to meet the rest of the girls up ahead and join in the celebrations.

After the half time whistle blew you were very eager to finally get the chance to catch your breath. You blocked the annoying drill of Vilda's voice and instead focused on keeping your head clear and your mind set on the target. You know England wasn't going to give up easily.

A few moments later Jenni places a hand on your shoulder and shakes you out of your thoughts. The second half was about to start, but when you get up from the bench and move to the pitch you see Chloe doing the same. Of course she'd be subbed in on the second half, England needed to get better on the final third and your girlfriend was the perfect choice alongside Lauren James.

You took a deep breath and tried to ignore the awful feelings that tried to crawl up your chest. You thought you were used to playing against her but this is different. This is the world cup.

Right before the whistle blows you try and catch her eyes but Chloe's gaze is firmly locked on the ball. You gulp down any last remnants of nervousness and focus.

Chloe and Lauren change the game immediately and England's attacks start gaining momentum but with how well you and the rest of the Spanish defence are playing said momentum is quickly crumbling.

The clock is ticking and even though Jenni missed a penalty England is getting desperate for an equaliser. They've come close a couple times but still nothing and now with the final minutes of extra time it looks like it's over. But of course, life is never that easy.

Two minutes of extra time remain when a fatal mistake is made. England steals the ball in your half of the pitch and with Ona out of position there's a huge open space. The ball is thrown ahead by James and within a second Chloe is on it with you chasing behind. The crowd is already starting to go wild for something that looks to be a certain goal. Chloe is closing in on goal but just as she's about to lift her foot to take the shot you slide on the pitch and manage to knock the ball off her feet in a clean tackle that has half the crowd gasping and groaning in defeat and the other half cheering and clapping wildly. Chloe gets up and goes for the ball immediately, the blonde not one to give up until she hears the whistle but you're on her once more and you cut off her desperate attempt at a last minute cross to the Spanish box.

Once the ball goes out of play the ref blows the whistle and it's all over.

The crowd erupts in a loud roar, players and fans alike jumping in happiness or slumping in defeat. Before you can react half of the team is swarming you, patting your back and kissing your cheeks and ruffling your hair. Alexia pulls you in a tight embrace and you can't help but return it with teary eyes.

"You saved us Y/N. You won us the world cup."

You release a watery laugh and shake your head at your captain.

"No Ale, it was all of us. We did this."

It takes a while for all the girls to spread on the field but when they do your eyes instinctively scan the field for a familiar blonde ponytail.

You see Chloe sitting on the side of the pitch, seemingly not having moved since the final whistle. Lauren Hemp is by her side rubbing a hand down Chloe's back. She notices your approach and leaves the two of you alone. You sit down beside her and for a while neither of you talk. The atmosphere is tense and you feel like if you don't say something soon you'll lose your mind.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry."

You both look at eachother before you burst out in a short fit of light giggles. When you stop laughing your smile falls slightly at the sight of Chloe's puffy eyes and you softly wipe some stray tears from her cheeks.

"I ruined it for you, I'm so sorry I-"

Chloe looked at you with surprise evident on her face. She shook her head and took one of your hands holding it tightly.

"You did what any great degender would've done. That was like, the best tackle I've seen."

You laugh and lean closer to her. You knew that your girlfriend wouldn't be upset about what happened but part of you feels guilty that you stripped her of that moment. A moment of silce washes over the both of you as Chloe plays with you hands.

"We failed."

Her words were soft and defeated, so different from her usual loud and confident attitude, that it tugged on your heart strings painfully. You placed your hand on her face and softly urged her to look up to you.

"You didn't fail Chloe. You finished second in the world cup. I understand how painful it is to get so close to a trophy just to lose it on the last minute but failing is not even making it past the group stage or getting eliminated in the round of 16. You did amazing, I'm so proud of you."

Your insides feel warm when a big grin breaks it's way into Chloe's face.

"God, I wish I could kiss you right now."

You laugh and nod in agreement but there's no rush. You'll have all the time in the world to spent on celebrating your win with your girlfriend. Your little bubble pops when you notice Alexia beckoning you to get up. You guess it's time for the ceremony. You turn to Chloe one last time and smile. She pats your cheek and gets up before helping you rise off the pitch as well.

"Come on world champion, you have a trophy to lift."

___________________________________________

[agua-cat]

RELIC HOLDERS - APHMAU

Please note this is a rewritten version of Minecraft Diaries, what is here is not completely canon to the universe and I have taken various creative liberties to create what I think is a satisfactory story. Some of these choices for the relic holders are NOT forever, as some relics get passed onto other people. This list, however, is pretty definitive.

I asked my friends if I should write starting from Aphmau or Laurence. They all chose Aphmau and I probably have the least amount of lore for her so let's see what we can crack out.

Let us Begin

There are many words to describe the lady of Phoenix Drop, though I thing a perfect one is ''Enigma''. From the very beginning, Aphmau was never normal. She was self-aware of the world she resided in to a unique degree, she could make different choices and unravel a story with her at its core.

Who she was had never truly been queried. She knew her name was Aphmau and she knew she had a village to look after. Shortly after the confrontation in the Irene Dimension with Zane, Aphmau found herself back in her old house. Her sons grown and her flame of motivation threatening to flicker out.

It was lucky then that day, Hyria came to visit. Lucinda's mother had gotten worried since some news about Laurence had broken out, and for some reason her daughter always seemed enamoured with him. During her visit, however, guilt burdened her every time she set her eyes on Aphmau's house. She had to tell Aphmau.

So, Aphmau knows that she is Irene. To what extent she believes it, she's not sure. Goddesses are supposed to be all powerful, all knowing. Even when Hyria comforts her that she was supposed to forget- the answer seems too easy. Too convenient. Aphmau wants to strive for answers beyond the blanket layer of information she was given.

Beginning the start of Season 2 for our rewrite is when markings begin to decorate Aphmau's skin. Beautiful glowing marks that define her easily; this woman is not human. She is not even mortal. Despite this, her closest friends are not put off by her change of appearance and keep her close.

Garroth brings her with him when the threat of Zane becomes evermore present once more. Zane, who now has gotten Laurence on his side. Laurence; with Shad's relic.

Every time Aphmau thinks of Shad- or Laurence- her heart pulses. She swears she can feel an echoing voice in her head. Something which tries to guide her, something with a lot more bloodlust than she could ever dream to have. Something Divine.

Travis offers her to recreate the Divine Warriors- to right the wrongs the 6 legends had before them in communication and to make something bigger and better than the burden that had been set upon their shoulders. Since she agreed, her divinity stopped hiding itself so much.

Piercing white pupils glow within her Irises. Perhaps one day they will be a pure white like the Matrons.

Becoming Irene is something that scares Aphmau. She doesn't want to be someone she seemed so keen to run away from the past. Aphmau wants to try again- this time, correctly.

~~~

HEYY SO. I HOPE THIS WAS GOOD. I'll probably post some more stuff about Aphmau as I go- I know right now as it goes this is all very ominous and a lot of information though!

I'm really sorry if the timeline doesn't 100% add up! A lot of my information is from nostalgia, memory and wiki's. I wish I had the time to rewatch MCD ;;

Consider this rewrite as of current from past the Irene Dimension fight. There will be information and rewrites from before that period that I'm working for but you know me! I like to start in the ocean and work my way back to the creek.

Thank you for reading. Your reblogs have made my day and give me so much more confidence in sharing something I've been passionate and yet nervous about. <3 Let me know if you need any clarification.

P.S. Whilst I am happy to take criticism or discuss this in further detail, that may be best for DMs! My DMs are ALWAYS open, and I promise I'm friendly :)

[gregorovitch-adler]

AO3 Wrapped (Writers' Edition).

Thanks for tagging me, @lisbeth-kk and @gaylilsherlock!

1. Biggest surprise while writing this year?

That I developed a genuine hyperfixation over an OT3 (Sherlock x John x Mariana). Enough that I wrote several fics (including a smutty one) about it.

I'm not even that big of a shipper in most fandoms (I tend to be a non-shipper generally), but even when I do start shipping something, it usually just involves 2 characters at a time.

Especially with the case of John Watson and Sherlock Holmes.

A year ago, I never would have imagined shipping either of them with anyone else apart from each other (because I'm generally not a multi-shipper).

It changed this year because the friendship among these three in the canon of the podcast Sherlock & co is just that good.

It was a very pleasant surprise to me. :))

Expanding my usual writing style from writing about strictly monogamous relationships (and that too usually just about Johnlock) to including a third character - and thus a polyam relationship in my fic writing - was a little challenging though.

A very interesting challenge, of course. ;)

2. How many WIP's do you have in your docs for next year?

Just one case fic right now. It's definitely going to increase.

3. Your favorite character to write this year?

Gustavo Fring from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul!

I know I didn't write a lot of fics about him this year, I'm just featuring him during this December fluff (fluffcember) prompts challenge, but still.

He'll always be my favourite antagonist.

If you've watched these two shows, you'll realise he's not even a villain. All significant characters (especially Walter White) have various degrees of villainy under their belts.

Something about him being such a no-nonsense kinda guy on the surface, never saying a word beyond what's necessary in the source material (especially in Breaking Bad), but all of that just being a façade to cover up his human side (i.e., his feelings for Max, his determination to avenge Max's death, his genuine respect for his employees at Los Pollos Hermanos and everything else) is extremely interesting and delightful to me.

In Tumblr-speak, I want to place Gustavo Fring under my microscope. 🤭

And then there's John Watson, of course. He's my all time favourite. But this year, I just felt the need to write about Gustavo Fring too a bit more.

Also, Irene Adler is my wife. ☺ I loved writing Mollrene ficlets in December this year.

Here's to featuring her in my stories even more.

4. The character that gave you the most trouble writing this year?

I can't think of anyone in particular at the moment, but I did find capturing John's voice in The Veiled Lodger (my first ever Sherlock & co fanfic) a bit challenging in the beginning. Because I was only getting started with my Sherlock & co fic writing journey, and I wanted everything to be perfect.

5. What's one pairing you want to explore next year?

Gus/Max.

I'll continue to write about Sherlock x John x Mariana (and even about just Holmes/Watson), too, obviously, but yeah.

I used to be a bit hesitant about this pairing before, even though I've always loved Gus ever since I first watched Breaking Bad (in 2020).

That's because we don't see Max in canon at all, save for that one (1) flashback scene which lasts for just 5 minutes (and Max dies brutally in that one...)

So, featuring Max in a fic at all would just mean writing an OC from scratch at this point. And making an OC feel like a fleshed out character makes me feel a little nervous sometimes.

But I broke all that hesitation this year, and I hope I continue to do that next year too!

6. Did you receive any gifts this year?

Yes! I received 3 beautiful art pieces (including the one in my header image) from my friend as gifts. It was lovely. 🥰 @jamielovesjam

7. Did you do any collaborative works this year?

I did! @nowiamcoveredinyou and I wrote this fic based on ACD canon this year. We had fun.

8. What do you listen to while writing?

Nothing much, to be honest. I prefer a quiet environment.

9. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

Hard to choose, but if I have to, then here you go:

Sherlock stepped forward and took John’s hands in his own.

“Watson, I’ve said this before, and I’ll repeat it now: fear is a sickness. Fear is seemingly ordinary but insidious enough to eventually put one in the shackles of one’s own imagination. Never let it get to you. I can very well face Moriarty alone. He did ask to meet me, anyway. So, this is my battle. I’ll fight it.” Sherlock visibly swallowed. “Please, go now. The lady will never find a doctor as good as you.”

From my Sherlock & co fic Dilemma. It's a modern day re-write of that one scene from The Final Problem (where Watson cannot decide whether to help the old lady or to go with Holmes to meet Moriarty with him).

I wrote it just after the Part- 1 of The Shoscombe Old Place (Sherlock & co) had aired on Spotify and YouTube (and on other platforms).

Moriarty's name had been (not so) casually dropped for the first time in the podcast when John was going through all the shoutouts.

We still don't know where they'll go with that... 👀

Enough with my rambling.

Tags: @helloliriels , @nowiamcoveredinyou , and anyone else who sees this! (No pressure).

[panda-writes-kpop]

Irene ~ Fluff Alphabet (Requested!)

A/N: This is my last request before I release something special before my final lecture and exam weeks. 🫶 Again, thank you for the requests! I'm so thankful for each and every one of you. Feel free to send more requests in, if you want to, that I can work on after I recover from school. ❤️

TW: None!

♡ Masterlist ♡

Affection (How do they show their affection? What love language(s) do they use?)

Irene uses gift giving as her main love language! She loves spoiling you with designer brands of your favorite products. You'll find lots of small gifts and treats from her, especially when she's been too busy to see you.

Beauty (What do they admire about their S/O? What makes their S/O beautiful?)

She'd admire someone with a more laid-back, relaxed personality. Since she works in a high energy industry, she likes having a calming force to spend her free moments with. Irene also thinks it's sweet when you do casual romantic things for her - nothing too over the top, but it still shows that you care.

Comfort (How would they help their S/O if they were having a rough day?)

As previously mentioned, she loves to spoil you and a bad day would only make her want to do this more. She'll take you to your favorite stores to go shopping for whatever you want. Irene will also give you lots of compliments if you try on clothes

Dreams (How do they picture their future with their S/O?)

Irene pictures a more relaxed, calmer future with her partner. She'd want to keep most of your relationship private, especially the intimate parts. Living somewhere out of the city in a nice house with you would be a dream for her.

Equal (Do they tend to be more dominant or passive in the relationship?)

Irene is definitely the dominant one in the relationship. She likes having control over planning dates to perfection so nothing goes wrong, plus she likes to snag her kisses and affection whenever she can from you.

Fight (Would they easily forgive their S/O after a fight? How would a typical fight go?)

Irene would be the person to hold her tongue before she says something hurtful, and she'd suggest that the two of you take a breather for a bit before coming back to this conversation. She isn't super argumentative, but she'll stand her ground if it's something important. After you both get some air and become less tense, you'll talk things out and hopefully come up with a compromise that keeps you both happy. 

Gratitude (How grateful are they for everything that their S/O does for them?)

Irene is grateful for all that you do, but she doesn't explicitly say it. If you do something nice for her, expect to receive a small gift, a home-cooked meal, or a kiss on the cheek if she can.

Honesty (Do they tend to keep secrets from their S/O, or do they share everything?)

Although she's not super up-front with you, Irene will eventually talk with you about everything in her life. If you're like her and want to reveal yourself bit by bit, then she's totally fine with that. If you're not like her and you're honest with her right from the start, she'll be down to listen to every story that you have to share.

Inspiration (Did their S/O change them, or was it the other way around?)

You inspire Irene to continue with her work and work hard so she can see you soon, and Irene inspires you to do your best constantly because she's work so hard for you. You both inspire each other, and you bring the best out of each other.

Jealousy  (Do they get jealous easily? How do they deal with it?)

She's the silent jealous type. Irene won't say a word unless you're visibly uncomfortable or you've said no and the other party doesn't get the hint. You do notice the small pout on her face, and you're quick to kiss her worries away.

Kiss (How often do they kiss you? Where do they like to kiss you?)

She likes small, quick pecks during fleeting moments because that's all you have time for most days. A kiss on the cheek and another kiss on the lips is enough to get Irene moving for the day. If she had the time, she'd love to slowly kiss you over and over again.

Lazy Day (How do they like to spend days off with their S/O?)

Days off are spent shopping online or in-person, depending on how you both feel. She'll get you all the meals as well - a healthy mix of your favorite foods and hers.

Marriage (Do they want to get married? How often do they think about marrying their S/O?)

Irene will want marriage in your shared future, of course, but she sees it much farther down the road. You both are at the peak of your careers, and if settling down includes kids, pets, or other things that will take time away from your work, then she’ll want to do it when your lives have calmed down a bit. She thinks about marriage a lot, but she won’t outright mention it unless you bring it up first.

Nicknames (What do they call their S/O?)

Dear, darling 

A fan of the classic nicknames, Irene may get teased about this by her members or you but it doesn’t change what she calls you.

On Cloud Nine (What are they like when they are in love? Is it extremely obvious to others?)

Irene acts the most like herself when she’s in a relationship. Most likely, she’ll casually mention it to one of her members and they’ll be in complete shock while Irene thought that she already told them. Overall, she’s very relaxed for the most part, but she may brag about you on occasion.

PDA (Are they very upfront with their relationship, or do they prefer to keep things quiet?)

Irene is a more private person, so she prefers for her relationship to be private. She doesn’t mind small bits of affection like cheek kisses or hand holding, and she may even engage it before you.

Quirk (Some random personality trait that makes them an excellent partner.)

Her competitive aspect makes game nights fun, especially if you’re working as a team. Irene may scold you if you make an incorrect move or whatnot, but she’s quick to cheer you on or provide encouragement if you do something well.

Romance (Are they a born romantic ready to woo their S/O at any moment, or do they struggle to spark romantic moments with their S/O?)

Irene is a bit of a natural romantic, but doing romantic acts for you makes her shy so she doesn’t do them often. She’d much prefer if you were the one doing the romantic acts so she can swoon over you.

Support (How do they help support their S/O to reach their goals?)

Irene would be all for spoiling you financially and emotionally. If a financial barrier was in your way, she’d happily take care of it so you can achieve your goals. If you’re feeling down and need someone to cheer you up, Irene is more than happy to do that for you.

Thrill (Do they like trying out new things to spice up their relationship, or do they prefer to stick to a routine?)

She definitely enjoys the routine part of your relationship since it brings her comfort after a long day. She isn’t against switching it up every now and again, so don’t be afraid to suggest new things to her!

Understanding (How well do they know their partner?)

She understands you very well to the point that she can read your body language and understand if you’re uncomfortable, feeling ill, or just aren’t up for being out. Irene just… knows when you’re not well, and although she won’t give herself credit, Irene knows you very, very well.

Value (How important is the relationship to the person versus other relationships and things in their life?)

Irene puts a lot of value on your relationship even though she may not show or say it at times. She will put off work or other events just to spend time with you unless the event is immovable. You’re one of the main priorities in her life, and she wants you to know that.

Wild Card (A random fluffy headcanon that you have about the relationship?)

Although Irene isn’t a cuddly person and won’t initiate cuddles with you, she’ll happily lean into your touch and cuddle you back if you start cuddling her first. She’s not a huge physical touch person, but for you, she’ll make a large exception.

XOXO (Do they like to kiss, hug, and cuddle you? How often do they do so?)

Not huge on hugs and cuddles, but Irene will happily kiss your cheek or lips. She likes to kiss you after you get home or after you finish doing your work. Lots of kisses will be awaiting you after a big promotion or if something exciting happens in your life.

Yearning (How will they cope when they’re missing their partner?)

Like a mother hen, she dotes on you via text to make sure you’re taking care of yourself while she’s gone. Expect to receive money to pay for a meal or two, and you’ll have to send picture proof that you actually bought the food. She worries about you because she loves you.

Zeal (Are they willing to go to great lengths for the relationship? If so, what kind?)

As stated earlier, Irene places great value in your relationship. Therefore, she’s more than willing to go to the end of the Earth for you, especially if it’s really important to you.

[solecize]

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ  𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐑𝐄𝐃 | 𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐱 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘.  as  you  attempt  to  claw  away  at  keeping  your  title  as  the  nation's  sweetheart  following  a  dispatch  scandal  that  put  a  pause  on  your  career  for  a  nearly  year  long  hiatus,  everyone  in  your  circle  and  your  company  seems  to  tip-toe  around  you.  you're  a  monster,  a  diva,  an  explosion  waiting  to  be  set  off.  they  go  on  to  release  the  staff  around  with  NDAs  regarding  your  dating  leak  and  hire  a  new  team  altogether  out  of  necessity.  amongst  them  is  the  straight-faced  irene,  the  quiet  stylist  with  a  mastermind  that  vows  to  help  you  in  your  return  every  step  of  the  way.  she  guides  you  through  the  next  chapter  of  your  career,  becoming  your  bravery  when  you  couldn't  be  your  own.     𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆. irene x idol!reader 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒. swearing 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓. 2.0k 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒.  this is probably the first piece of fiction i’ve written in 2 years so its a lil rough sorry lol anyway this is gonna be a short series, probably around 5 parts or so maybe less idk 

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ  PART 01/05.

she always asked what you were giggling about - seemingly every time she painted lip gloss across your smile, you were holding back a laugh. it was mostly to her own exasperation, as the crease that formed between her brows was supposed to show just how much harder you were making her job for her. irene didn’t actually ever mind, though. it was you, how could she? 

after returning to your group to take part in the preparations for your fourth mini album comeback, it was made evident to you that management was taking each step with caution. not in regards to your wellbeing, no, it wasn’t definitely not that. it was the way it seemed as though the world began walking on eggshells around you after your forced hiatus. it was also the way the world seemed to be constantly giving you a side eye, going over all the variants of the word ‘diva’ in their heads.

not irene, though.

since pre-debut, you were used to certain personalities from idol staff. there were all sorts - from the older, stricter company employees that scrutinized your every move, the staff that were too scared to even speak directly to you, the staff that were big fans and did everything in their power to please you. some of the long term faces that stuck by your group for the past few years had even become your friends. 

when irene came along, you nearly picked a fight with her for no reason. frustrated and on your first day back from “vacation,” you were met with the stunning irene and immediately grew territorial. who was this beautiful stranger and why was she taking up space in the middle of your trailer? she, of course, looked back at you with a blank face and proceeded to tell you to strip without any hi or introduction.

“strip,” irene commanded, as she rifled through the rack of clothes in front of her. 

her hands swiped between flashes of different shades of purple - the theme for the first couple of scenes of the music video .  you were left speechless for a second, tongue tumbling on any form of introduction, which irene had promptly skipped over. she met your eyes, making you snap out of your stutter, and her pointed look towards your left showed that your other members were already getting their video shoot clothes on.

“um, i’m y/n. what happened to cha - “

“i don’t know and i don’t really care. take off your jewelry, too.” in the middle of buttoning your jeans down, you saw that irene had quickly laid out what you would be wearing on camera. an off the shoulder lilac gingham piece that would brush against your ankles with puff sleeves, paired with freshwater pearls. it screamed sweet and loving “girl next door” all over - although, in your eyes, it was the perfect “please forgive me” look to your fanbase following the dating scandal that halted your career for multiple months. irene knew what she was doing.

you were able to get a good look at irene for the first time - or at least, the best you could with the way she moved so quickly. she was definitely around your age and definitely gave the impression of an idol herself. she was naturally beautiful, maybe one of the most beautiful girls you’d ever seen, and even in her work clothes of a simple long sleeve and jeans, irene looked like a model herself. her long black hair was pulled into a low ponytail, with a few strands of hair framing her face. you noticed her identification lanyard was decorated with hello kitty stickers.

your shoes were finally off, but you were still stunned silent. your group mate, sohye, glanced over at you with a puzzled expression. you noticed she was already in her dress and you hurriedly grabbed your own to hop your feet in. she was still staring at you, as her own stylist began doing as well. however, the latter seemed to be fighting a smirk. 

“what?”

sohye met eyes with her stylist and mirrored the same devious look. “nothing! you’re just really quiet, y/n....”

it was true. you were the fire cracker of the group, the one who’s laughter rung throughout the entire venue alone. boisterous and proud, you were made silent at the unique nature of the group’s newest staff member. this caught the attention of a few others in the room, a bit confused, as you were often the loudest voice in the room. you would at least be cracking some good-hearted jokes about your time off or practicing runs with sohye. you still weren’t sure why she was smirking at you and irene, though. 

“...met her match....”

“ladies! can we get a move on? mio, you still have to get your extensions in! bora, are you taking those pics for instagram? fantastic! and...y/n, you’re still getting your outfit on?” it was your manager, also known as the second loudest voice in the room. he seemed to take on a permanently frantic state across your group’s life span, as he dashed in the room out of nowhere, murmuring things at the appearance of his idols and scribbling things on a clipboard. 

he sighed, looking over at irene. “she’s not giving you a hard time, is she?”

“hey!”

“no, she’s been fine,” was irene’s reply, as she plugged in a curling iron on the pastel pink vanity in front of the two of you, not missing a beat. your manager looked at you, then back at irene, and simply shrugged and continued rambling about your group’s schedule for the next two hours. 

you let out a deep sigh that went unnoticed by the others in the room, except irene who raised an eyebrow at you, while simultaneously ushering you to the makeup chair. it really should have been you looking at her like that, as you were taken aback by how on her feet she was - in multiple ways. irene moved like a machine, weaving back and forth in the small space allocated to the both of you at the speed of light. she called over some assistant makeup artists to begin their work on you, as she ignored you in favour for directing the look that they were going for on you. irene was also on her feet against your group’s manager, the head honcho that typically leaves staff members unnerved. she was swift and she was direct. that was the first thing you ever noticed about her.

bora sauntered over and peered at you with a frown. “hey. why does y/n get the nicest set?” between the three other members, it was clear that bora still wasn’t over the fact that you got caught with a dating scandal. it looked bad on all of them as a group and you had apologized profusely to them for being a hinderance, but she was still showing the same level of disdain she had before. you two were never the closest in particular and now, it seemed like your friendship, or even profession relationship at  the least, was beyond repair.

you rolled your eyes at her. “go back to your own space, damn.” 

“well, you’re the one that messed up, i just don’t see why the company gave you irene. she’s the best of the best and my stylist is dressing me up like dora the explorer,” she grumbled the last part under her breath, returning her attention to her phone screen, where she was undoubtedly scrolling through social media to see what the fans were posting about her. 

it was technically your first day back. you and the girls quickly recorded your album in under a month and were thrown into the wolves that were better known as a kpop comeback. it was a record, basically unheard of in your company. however, plans changed following the scrapped debut of what was supposed to be a new boy group and a slot was left wide open for your group. everything had been a whirlwind so far and there was definitely an air of extra pressure following your hiatus, the need to prove yourself almost. it was your first day back and nearly everyone around you was giving you shit and you were exhausted. 

“it’s my first day, too. i’m taking it easy,” irene’s velvety voice chimed in out of nowhere, lowered to a volume that could only heard between the two of you, as she gently wrapped a section of hair around the curling wand, “and you should also, especially after everything.”

you were taken aback by the sudden words of wisdom, but realized fast that she was right. “you have a point, um, irene.” 

at this point, she had yet to introduce herself and you caught her name from bora, who seemed to already be acquainted with irene’s good reputation as a stylist. the name fumbled a bit off your tongue in your vulnerable state, a bit anxious for a variety of reasons. to your surprise, irene frowned a bit, which was her first display of any emotion the entire time.

“i’ll admit, i had to look into the group that i was going to work for,” irene began and you were prepared to wince at her opinion of the whole hiatus mess, “and i’ve seen you. you’re really strong-minded, why are you letting them get to you?”

“you’ve seen me?” that was the only thing you really focused on for a second, ignoring a flutter in your stomach. flattery was what you thought it was, as you wondered what irene thought of you and your talents.

this conversation was happening as you let the other two assistant makeup artists continuously flicked and dabbed with brushes and sponges on your face in silence. you noticed they didn’t even look at you in the eye, something you had seen many times before in the past. however, this time, you felt as though it wasn’t out of shyness or being starstruck. everyone had been continuously giving you a certain look after your return from hiatus and you only assumed the artists were participating in this cold-shoulder fest, between your manager to netizens to even your own group member. their opinion of you, though, wasn’t as important to you as irene’s opinion.

you caught yourself and cleared your throat. “i mean - well...i don’t know what you’re talking about.” it was a lie right through your teeth.

“chin up,” she commanded once again and you immediately did so, as she approached you with a beautiful strawberry-coloured lip pencil. 

you met her eyes as she began carefully carving out the outline of your lips with careful movements. something in you was glad that you got a new stylist and especially more so that she was in charge of you and only you. despite this feeling of welcomeness, you remained confused as to what irene was getting to.

“don’t let them give you shit,” irene replied, as she finished the last touches of your lip liner and had reached over for a matching lipgloss. she leaned over and resume her place right in front of you, still decorating your features with the gentlest of moves. 

that was the second thing you ever noticed about irene. from the moment you walked in and met her, you saw that she took absolutely no shit from anyone. that included you, your manager, and anyone else who dared. she stood her ground and did so gracefully. you were instantly envious of the way she held herself.

however, she saw that you could do the same. you smiled a bit and while irene also cracked a bit of a smile, just nearly tugging on the corner of her lips, it quickly turned into a sterner look.

“okay, but i didn’t say move. stop smiling or laughing or whatever.” 

time was ticking, as the camera crew wanted to get the good shots in before the forecasted rain began later in the afternoon. everyone was engaged in the hustle and bustle of the day ahead, but for the first time that entire day, you were able to breathe freely and smile. well, smile as much as you could until irene tsked you because you were moving and ruining her vision. this would be the first of many iconic looks that irene would craft for you for the comeback ahead. more importantly, it was the first time you became her muse and she became your rock.

[luxora]

Red Velvet -> {CEO AU} -> Co-parenting

Requested: No

Group: Red Velvet

Genre: Angst. Fluff.

Warnings: Mentions of infidelity. Mentions of joint and sole custody. Some swearing.

Irene

RING!

RING!

RING!

RING!

Joohyun couldn’t help but glare at the offending sound of her work phone on her desk, disturbing the peaceful bubble that she had created for herself as she worked through the new designs that had finally been submitted to her by the architects. She silently marked the the design she was currently reviewing before she leaning over and plucked the phone off its body, bringing it to her ear with an annoyed huff.

“Bae speaking.”

“Where the fuck were you?”

The sound of her spouse immediately shot ice through Joohyun’s body, shock quickly filling her as the sound of your voice tingled through all her sense, making her suddenly sit upright in her desk chair despite already having a perfect posture.

“Y-Y/N?”

“Who else?” You hissed from your side of the phone, a the sound of something dropping following your words, causing you to let out a curse before you huffed again. “Where the fuck were you?”

“What do you-”

“Areum waited for you for three hours Joohyun! Why the hell didn’t you pick her up from school!”

Joohyun’s eyes widened at your words, her head snapping to the large clock she had in her office wall, the blood draining from her face as she realized the clock hands were three places ahead of the time she had intended to leave to pick up her daughter from school. She then looked back at her desk, finally realizing the large amount of paperwork that was covering her desk. She couldn’t even see the surface of her clear, glass desk, she couldn’t even see a glimpse of her dark mahogany flood through her desk.

“I...Y/N...” She had started, her mind flurried in multiple thoughts as she tried to think of a reasonable explanation for her to be forgetting your and her daughter at school, but then you interrupted her with a scoff.

“Let me guess, got caught up in work again? Did that work include a blonde with long legs and a tight pencil skirt?”

Joohyun immediately ducked her head, her own body almost shriveling up on its own from the implication of your words. She couldn’t help but bite down hard on her bottom lip, her mind flashing back to the time when she lost control over her life and then eventually did lose it when you had found out about the ‘work’ which was keeping her from coming home to you and Areum.

“...Nothing of the sort happened Y/N. I can promise you that.” She said, her hand tightening into a fist as she stared into her lap. She heard you scoff.

“Yeah right.”

“I fired her Y/N. Nauen is not-”

“I don’t want to hear that bitch’s name Joohyun. I don’t care if you are or not fucking her. I just want you to be fucking there for Areum.”

“I am there for her!” Joohyun suddenly exclaimed, defensiveness immediately filling her as she thought about her beautiful 9-year old daughter, her dark hair as soft and sleek as her own, while her eyes were large and bright like yours. She was the perfect combination of both of you, although Joohyun did like to think she looked a little bit more like her. Areum certainly was Joohyun’s baby twin when she was a newborn.

“And yet today I got a phone call in a middle of a meeting from our crying daughter, begging me to pick her up because Mommy had forgotten her again. Are you telling me that is you being there for her?”

“...”

Joohyun didn’t know what she could say to rectify the situation. She messed up again, and she had promised herself the last time she had forgotten about Lia that she would not do it again. She had promised you, telling you that it would the literal last time she would forget. And yet she just proved once again that her word hardly meant anything anymore. It most definitely did not mean anything to you anymore.

The face of her daughter filled her head, her beautiful eyes filled with tears, along with her puffy cheeks being painted with the salty drops as she called you, heartbreak obvious in her voice because Joohyun was unable to fulfill her maternal responsibility to be there to pick her up during a difficult time. Her actions had already caused so much hard to Lia, and she was only making it worse through small actions like this.

“I’m sorry Y/N.” She heard you scoff on the other side of the phone.

“Yeah, sure.”

“I am! I am sorry Y/N, I will make it up to her. And to you.”

“How? By making yet another empty promise? Forget it Joohyun, I am not going to keep breaking Areum’s heart like this anymore.”

The way that you had said that made Joohyun’s blood freeze in her veins. Joohyun subconsciously tightened her grip on her work phone as she swallowed the building bile in her mouth as a means to try steady herself from the oncoming scenarios that were filling her head in reaction to your phone.

“What do you mean by that?” She asked carefully, trying to not show the building nerves that were climbing up her throat. She heard you huff on the other side.

“I’m changing the agreement. I want sole custody.“

“No.” Joohyun immediately answered, her body unable to remain still at your words as she shot up from her seat and began to pace away from her desk, her nails digging into her palm as she tightened her fist. “You can’t do that. I won’t allow it.”

You scoffed again.

“You are not in the position to suddenly stop things from happening.”

“You can’t take Areum from me. I can make it up to her.”

“Until you do it again to her! Face it Joohyun, you can’t be there for Areum, I can!”

“I can be there for her! And for you!”

Desperation and outrage was clawing at Joohyun’s chest, making itself obvious in her voice as she slammed her hand against her her cabinet which happened to contain the alcoholic beverages she would at times share with business associates when they worked late on designs, or with you when the two of you were still...together.

“Stop living in a delusion Joohyun. You can’t and you won’t.”

“She’s my daughter!”

“Our daughter, but as of late she has just become mine.”

Joohyun gritted her teeth tightly, pressure building up behind her eyes while her bottom lip began to tremble. She could not stand this conversation any longer. Joohyun grabbed her bag without a second of hesitation and darted out her office, uncaring of the work she left on her desk. She just needed to get to you and Areum, she needed to get this sorted out.

“I’m coming over. I need to set this straight with you. And Areum.”

“Joohyun, don’t you even think about-”

“I am doing it Y/N! I won’t lose the two of you any more than I already have!”

Joohyun hung up the phone and hurried into the elevator, slamming her finger against the ground floor level repeatedly until the metal doors closed. She needed to get to you as soon as she could. She could not lose Areum or you any more than she already has. She has to make it up to the two of you, most particularly Areum.

Seulgi

... It was too awkward.

Seulgi and you had yet to share a single glance with one another as the two of you sat in the principle’s office, both of you with your legs and arms crossed as you waited patiently for the principle to return from his brief meeting outside with his secretary. Seulgi couldn’t help but tap her fingers against her arm, trying to keep her mind somewhat occupied in order to avoid starting a conversation with you which could lead to two different directions: tears or screams.

Even though she was given some kind of small warning that you were going to be in attendance of the private meeting too by her secretary, she still found herself vastly unprepared in seeing you face-to-face, especially since you still looked as beautiful as the day you had kicked her out your and her shared apartment. Even when furious, you were delightfully beautiful, but Seulgi could not stand the distance between the two of you. The two of you had been married for over ten years, and a little extra during your dating years, but now it was as if there was an invisible abyss between the two of you, pulling you further and further away from one another.

When the principle eventually returning to his office, Seulgi couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief because the silence in the room would finally be put to an end. Seulgi readjusted her sitting position to appear more straight and controlled, waiting expectantly for the principle to start speaking as he took a seat and looked at the both of you.

“Mrs and Mrs Kang, lovely to see the two of you albeit I wish it had been under different circumstances.”

You immediately stiffened at the principle’s addressing of you, immediately making Seulgi tense defensively at your reaction, especially since the two of you have hardly made your separation known to the public. The two of you were in a fickle position, having being partners in marriage and business and it was not exactly easy for the two of you to separate yourselves entirely from one another, especially since both your and Seulgi’s families business merged when the two of you had married. While it was previously believed that the two of you had married for the sake of the merge, it was quite the opposite as the two of you had genuinely fallen in love before the idea of marriage was brought to the table.

But then things quickly became mucked up between the two of you when the business got in the way of the marriage.

“So do we.” You had answered in return, answering for the both of them as Seulgi made no effort to acknowledge the principle. She instead offered him a nod, prompting him to clear his throat before he laced his fingers together and placed them on top of his desk.

“Right, so as you might have been informed by my secretary, there was a small...incident that involved your son and another student.”

“An incident?’ Seulgi asked, crossing her legs and fixing the principle with a fixed look. He nodded.

“Yes, it appears that your son and his classmate were caught in a verbal argument before its escalated into a physical fight.”

“A fight...with Jinyoung?”

You were shocked at the news, your voice making it very obvious. Seulgi glanced at you and noticed your jaw was slightly ajar, your posture much straighter than before. Seulgi couldn’t help but share in your shock. Jinyoung was such a quiet boy, it was very unlike him to become aggressive and get into a fight.

“Yes ma’am. As you know, our school has a zero-tolerance for violence. I am afraid that this incident risks for Jinyoung to possibly be suspended, or even expelled.”

Seulgi’s eyes widened at the principle’s words, uncrossing her legs adn leaning forward on the edge of her seat.

“Surely that is a bit severe for a small fight between two children.” Seulgi started, but the principle fixed her with a look.

“It was not small Mrs Kang. Your son and his classmate disrupted the class entirely, one of their female classmates were even hurt in the incident because of their physical exchange. I cannot treat this lightly.”

“I understand that, but you cannot treat it so severely that our eight year-old son always has a permanent record all because of something that was said between him and his classmate.” Seulgi retorted, her eyes narrowed as she continued to stare at the principle. “What was the argument about anyway?”

“...”

The principle did not have an answer for her, his face becoming blank and then slightly a bit sheepish, telling Seulgi immediately that he had not bothered to investigate the fight any further aside from the exchanging of blows and injuries caused by it. And it seemed that you noticed it the same time as Seulgi did, because you mirrored Seulgi’s stance, staring at the principle with a more intense look.

“Are you telling me that you did not bother to find the reason behind the fight? We know our son and we know that he would never do something like this unless he was provoked. You are threatening to suspend or expel our son without a probable cause? Should we call our lawyer and have then investigate this matter instead?”

Even though Seulgi believed that perhaps threatening the use of their family lawyer was rather bold, she did not undermine you as she let you do what you did best, play the bad-cop persona that you were born to play. Between the two of you, you were always the one who would never mince words. Your intentions come very clearly to others, and the principle could very much tell what you were insinuating.

“Mrs Kang, surely that would not be necessary-.”

“You are threatening the future of my son, I believe it is very necessary.”

“I...I will have their homeroom teacher followup on the reason behind the argument. Please...let’s not escalate it further than it needs to be.”

“We will give you until tomorrow to give us a solid answer, otherwise you will expect a call from our lawyer.”

You stood up from your seat with a harsh glare on the principle, Seulgi mirroring your actions and not sparing the principle a single glance before she marched towards the door and opened it, stepping aside to let you exit the office first before following after you. She slammed the door shut with enough force to emphasis her aggravated point, a smile crawling along her face as she turned to look at you.

“Nicely done.”

“I won’t let him bully us into letting Jinyoung get expelled. I won’t.” You hissed, turning around to look at her, your body slightly trembling due to your anger. Seulgi nodded at you.

“I know you won’t, you are a fierce lioness, you will go for the kill against anyone who messes with your cub.”

“Damn straight.” You answered, a resolute look in your eyes as you instantly agreed with her.

A few moments of silence passed between the two of you before you suddenly licked your lips and then sighed, tucking behind a loose strand of hair behind your ear before looking at Seulgi with a slightly tired look.

“We will need to talk to Jinyoung.”

“Yeah, we do.” Seulgi agreed, tucking her hands in her pockets and swaying on the spot for a few moments before looking at you from under her lashes. “Can I...should we meet at a cafe or something? I think I should be there when we talk.”

“...yeah, lets do that.” You agreed, giving a small nod at Seulgi’s suggestion, making the businesswoman relax.

Seulgi couldn’t even remember the last time the three of you were in the same room together. Despite the obvious distance between the two of you, you have both tried to shield Jinyoung from the impending disaster between you and her marriage, but deep down, Seulgi feels that Jinyoung knows a lot more than he should. Seulgi not being in the family home is proof enough for the young boy to realize there were issues between his two parents, and Seulgi has been hoping to put off the conversation for a while. 

“Alright, um...do you want to pick up Jinyoung and I find a suitable cafe for the three of us? I can send the location.”

“...Sure.”

“Alright...see you in a few then?” Seulgi asked carefully, which you responded with a nod. “Great.”

Wendy

Seungwan had not expected to receive a phone call from you so late in the night but she answered it nonetheless, having promised you that she will always answer a message or phone call from you no matter what, something which she had fulfilled before, during, and after the marriage. She was groggy with sleep but she was suddenly awake when she heard your sobs on the other side of the phone, her body shoot up from the mattress at you distress.

“Y/N? What’s wrong?”

“S-Seugwan...i-its Areum. S-She is in the hospital.”

Ice immediately filled Seungwan’s veins at those words, her whole body freezing on the spot as her heart literally dropped to her stomach. Seungwan was surprised that she managed to keep her voice steady as she spoke to you.

“Y/N, what happened? Why is Areum in the hospital?”

“I...she was...she woke up screaming and s-sad her stomach was hurting. I-I drove her to the hospital and...and they suspect it is her appendix.”

“Okay, are you still at the hospital?’ Seungwan asked, leaping out of her bed and rushing to her closet to get some decent clothes.

“Y-yes.”

“Alright. Stay there. I am heading over now.” She said, tugging on a pear of jeans and grabbing a hoody before hurrying out of her bedroom. “Just stay calm. I’m on my way.”

“O-Okay.”

Seungwan hung up the phone and quickly grabbed her car keys before rushing into her garage and leaping into her car. She probably broke about a dozen traffic laws driving to the hospital but Seungwan did not car as she parked and then hurried in the hospital, nearly biting the receptionists head off when she uttered your and Areum’s name before being directed to the waiting area for operations. Seungwan immediately caught sight of you as you were pacing along the floor, you being dressed in your pajama pants and a hoody, tears streaming down your cheeks.

“Seungwan...” you rasped when you eventually caught sight of her, a sob leaving your lips as you reached for her, collapsing into her arms when Seungwan eventually reached you.

Seungwan didn’t hesitate wrapping her arms around you as you began to sob in her chest, your body trembling as you tightly gripped at her hoody, grabbing handfuls of the material. Seungwan did not say anything, she simply held you as you let out all your stress and fear, the smell of your apple shampoo filling her sense, almost calming her down as she closed her eyes and reveled in it.

Even though the two of you had divorced two years ago, the two of you made an effort to still be there for Areum even though the two of you were neither married. The two of you had married young, far too young to understand the struggles that came with marriage and the effort it took to make it work. The two of you were best friends who had fallen in love and then decided to runaway from your small-town homes to make a life in the city. The two of you struggled a lot adjusting to the city life, the two of you getting into pretty intense fights, but the two of you tried to make it work, eventually establishing a business together that eventually progressed into something much bigger than the two of you ever anticipated.

The two of you loved each but sometimes love is not enough to maintain a marriage. Areum had been an attempt to bridge the distance between the two of you but it did not work. The fights got worse and eventually the fights were affecting Areum, which led to the two of you that the best course of action for the two of you and for Areum was to get divorced. Seungwan won’t lie and say it was an easy decision, she wanted to make it work, but she knew that it was the best thing that could be done for the family, even if it meant that she could not fall asleep in your arms.

Seungwan still loved you even now; therefore, she found no problem in you soaking her hoody in your tears because you obviously needed someone to be your pillar of support right now, especially since your and her daughter was in the middle of an operation to deal with a burst appendix.

“It will be okay Y/N. It will be okay.” She cooed, rubbing the back of your head while her other arm was wrapped around your waist. You sobbed further in her chest.

“I...It just came out of nowhere. S-Seung,,,she was in so much pain.”

“She’s a fighter Y/N, she will be fine. I know she will be.”

“S-She was screaming so much-”

“Shhh, shhh, don’t think about that now. Think about her getting better.”

Seungwan had no idea how long she stood in that waiting area with you in her arms but she did not care. You were stressed and scared enough as it is, she could sacrifice her comfort to give you the much needed comfort that she was capable of providing. Eventually she managed to convince you to take a seat in the area, holding your hand tightly in hers while the two of you waited for any further notice regarding Areum.

“S-Seung...” You whispered, your fingers gripping Seungwan’s hands tightly as you stared at her with tearful eyes. She turned to you. “I-I’m so scared.”

“Shh, Areum will be fine. She is our daughter, she will be fine.” Seungwan comforted, raising her other hand to stroke your cheek, eyes soft and supportive as she tried to ease your fear.

Your bottom lip trembled but your leaned into her touch, closing your eyes as you soaked in the warmth she provided you before looking away, fixing your eyes on the operation door, waiting for a doctor or a nurse to come out and call out for you and Seungwan. Seungwan squeezed your hand and waited beside you, similarly looking at the door and waiting for someone to call for the two of you, her own bundle of nerves building up within her as she waited for news on Areum.

While she wanted to cry and stress herself, she knew she couldn’t because that would send you into a further panic. She needed to be the strong one right now between the two of you, and she will happily be it because it was both what you and Areum needed.

When a doctor eventually came out of the operation door and called out Areum’s name, both you and Seungwan leapt to your feet and hurried to the doctor, hands interlock as the two of you took comfort from one another.

“Areum, how is she? Is our baby okay?” You demanded, eyes wide with tears still obvious with them. You looked about ready to interrogate the man, almost reaching out to grab him if it wasn’t for Seungwan tugging you back to give a respectable distance between themselves and the doctor. The doctor gave Seungwan a thankful look before looking at you, a small smile on his face.

“Everything will be alright with your daughter ma’am. It was close but we managed to remove the appendix successfully. She sustained no further injuries. She will make a full recovery.”

Relief immediately flooded Seungwan from the news, but it was more ovbious on your body as you literally deflated in front of both Seungwan and the doctor. You turned to Seungwan and all but wrapped her in a tight embrace, a relieved sob leaving your lips as you nuzzled your face in her shoulder.

‘She’s alright.” You rasped, a smile on your face which made Seungwan smile as she hugged you back just as tightly.

“Of course she is, she’s our daughter after all.” Seungwan’s smile widened at the sound of your chuckle before she turned to look at the doctor. “Can we go see her?”

“Of course, if the two of you would like to follow me.”

You pulled away from Sengwan and wiped at your eyes, obviously trying to erase your evidence of crying but without any success. But neither you or Seungwan cared as the two of you walked after the doctor, hands still entwined to go greet Areum.

Joy

The tension between the two of you could be cut with a knife, both of you standing off like two countries about to go off to war but the only thing that could be lost was the relationship between the two of you which was bad enough as it is. Sooyoung’s eyes flickered to your partner on your far side, them having being strategic enough to make sure they would not be within punch distance from Sooyoung.

But then again, Sooyoung had pretty long limbs. She will be able to reach if she really wanted to.

...

Better not.

“Y/N.” She said politely, not pointedly not addressing your partner’s name despite it being ingrained in her mind after she heard you screaming their name from your and her bedroom when she arrived home early from a business trip.

“Sooyoung.” You greeted back, glancing back at your partner before looking back at her. “You look well.”

“Thank you.”

“...”

“...”

Neither of you said anything else, simply locking eyes for a few long moments before Sooyoung took her seat beside you, internally hissing at the close contact she was being forced to endure for at least an hour at her children’s school play. You clearly your throat and shifted, accidentally bumping Sooyoung with your elbow before whipping back to look at her.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“...”

“...”

“So um, Sooyoung, how is your-”

“I am already forced to endure your presence at my children’s concert, do not make it worse by actually speaking to me.” Sooyoung hissed at your partner, flashing them a glare so cold that she would not be surprised if icicles had been shot into your partners chest.

Your partner immediately shrunk back into their seat, looking away with a frightened whimper while you turned to glare at her, your hand entwined with your partner’s tightening protectively.

“There is no need for you to be so rude Sooyoung.”

“Oh, am I being rude? My apologies, I meant to be more restrained, but you know how one usually acts when there is an annoying mosquito around...you just have to squash them before they get arrogant.”

“Listen Sooyoung, I know that this isn’t ideal, but-”

“Yes I agree. This isn’t ideal. This is our son’s and daughter’s school play and you decided to bring your damn side piece, fully knowing that I was going to attend. I know that you struggle in the thinking department, but I would have liked to think you had at least a bit of common sense.”

Your gritted your teeth angrily at Sooyoung, not daring to argue back because you knew that she was hitting the nail right on the head. It was true, it was stupid of you to bring your partner to the school play while knowing Sooyoung was going to attend. Areum and Jinyoung had asked for both of you to attend, the twins wanting to have both parents in attendance and even though things have fallen apart between you and Sooyoung, both of you were making a decent effort to be there for your children. But your partner had started to become rather...needy in the sense that they wanted to be more involved with the twins.

So you had purchased them a ticket...to the consequence that you infuratied Sooyoung with their presence.

“...Can you at least be civil.” You asked, making Sooyoung scoff in response.

“As long as they don’t utter a single word, I will be the politest woman in the world.”

“Don’t ruin this for Areum and Jinyoung.”

“You have already ruined it by bringing them here. You just better not bring them to the play dinner, otherwise I really will make a fuss.”

“You wouldn’t do that to the twins.”

“And yet you just accused me of ruining things now for them. I am a woman who has nothing to lose Y/N, I am the more dangerous one between the two of us. be careful.”

Sooyoung’s warning may appear vague to others but it was obvious to you. Since you were the one who had the affair, you were not the one who had the power to make the major decisions. You were lucky enough that Sooyoung agreed to joint-custody between you and her. Even though she was furious by your infidelity, she was kind enough to grant you the same opportunity as her to spend time with the twins. But she could easily take it away if she wanted to, especially since she was always watching your partner with a critical eye when near the twins.

“...I’m sorry, just...just please let’s not make a scene.”

“I won’t as long as your stupid toy doesn’t utter a single sound.”

Sooyoung always pointedly would discuss things with you involving your partner right in front of them, uncaring if it was making them feel invisible or not. They had purposefully wrecked Soooyung’s marriage with you, encroaching on you despite your marriage status. But you were just as equal to blame as they were, you had allowed yourself to be seduced into another person’s arms when Sooyoung was out working to support the family.

You opened your mouth to say something but you stopped with the stage hall suddenly darkened, an indication that the play was about to start. Sooyoung noticed you glance at her one last time but she purposefully ignored , instead fixing her attention on the stage as she readied herself in slight anticipation to watch her son and daughter perform in the school play.

She noticed you turn to your partner from the corner of her eye but she ignored it. You were not the focus tonight, Areum and Jinyoung were, and so she was going to keep it that way. They had asked for the two of you to attend and be peaceful with one another, and she was going to carry out that wish, even if it meant she had to deal with the presence of the person who stole her wife.

Yeri

The words were so taunting to her as she stared at the document that you had slid to her on the kitchen counter, the glasses of wine that she had poured for the two of you remaining untouched as you watched Yerim read through the first page of the document you had drawn up with your lawyer. Yerim remained unmoving, inaudible, and completely withdrawn.

“...I refuse.”

Yerim looked up from the paper to look at you, her eyes resolute with determination while you simply sighed, shaking your head as you turn your back and took a few steps away from her, walking over to the kitchen sink to try gather your thoughts. Yerim stood up from the kitchen stool, her eyes locked on your back as she walked around the kitchen counter.

“We can make it work Y/N. We can go to a counselor, sort out our issues, we can-”

“Our issues are not something that some stranger can just fix Yerim.” You said, not bothering to look back at her but you words were as sharp as a knife.

Yerim continued to walk towards you but she stopped when you raised your hand to stop her, your fingers tense and straight as you held them in the air for a few moments before returning them back to your crossed arms. You were staring out the kitchen window at the clear night sky, the stars shining brightly in the galaxy above, being the only witnesses to the unfolding scene,

“Just sign the papers.”

“I am not signing away Jinyoung.” Yerim snapped, not taking another step forward but also not retreating.

 She was not just going to sign away her newborn son or wife. She has also been skilled at fixing problems and this should be no different. The two of you have gotten into fights before, but never to the extent that you were offering her divorce papers. The document’s existence had completely knocked her off her feet and she was trying to stand up again.

“You’re not signing him away. We can share custody.” You reasoned, still staring out at the kitchen window. Yerim scoffed.

“I basically am. I am giving away half my rights and time with him. He is my son, I am entitled to have him in my home.”

“He is just as much my son as he is yours and you are not entitled to anything.” You finally turned around to look at her, your eyes blazing with an unsaid anger that made Yerim pause in her retort. She had never seen such a fire in you, not even in your and her past arguments. “We decided together to have a baby, and yet you have forced your entire idea of a legacy of him without even consulting me.”

“Is this about the camp? Because I can-”

“This is not about the damn camp Yerim.” You said, marching towards the businesswoman and pressed a sharp finger into her chest, your teeth bared like an animal as you glared at her. “This is about you forgetting the fact that we had a baby because we wanted to start a family, not for you to build a little soldier to honor that stupid legacy that your family has always been obsessed with.”

Yerim couldn’t help but scowl at the mention of her family, you obviously know how much of a sensitive issue they were to the businesswoman. After all, she was forced into business by her father and then pressured to marry by her mother. She was fortunate enough that they had deemed you an acceptable match for her as a her wife, but lately it seemed that a tension had developed between the two of you, especially after you had discovered to be pregnant. She had assumed it was simply because of pregnancy blues or whatever came with it, but now it has seemed to escalated from moody moments to a full-scale separation.

“Don’t bring my family into this. This is about us.”

“Yes, exactly. This is about us and what is best for us, something which you seem to have deemed yourself to be the only one capable of making such decisions!”

You whipped yourself away from Yerim again and started to walk away, only for Yerim to stop you by gripping you by the arm. She tugged you back and forced you too look at her by grabbing you by the soldiers.

“Stop walking away from me! Where is all of this coming from?!” She demanded, urging you to answer her, only to be met with you pushing her away from you, making Yerim stumble into the kitchen counter behind her. You let out a frustrated huff before threading your fingers in your hair and tugging.

“This is coming from the fact that you believe that everything that you say is law! I am feeling suffocated Yerim! I want out!”

“Out? Out of what?”

“Out of this damn marriage!” Your eyes were blazing as you screamed at her, your eyes resembling hot coals as you removed your hands from your hair and instead tightened them into fists by your side. “I am sick of feeling like I am a prisoner on parole with an ankle bracelet! You and your family are suffocating me! I want want to leave!”

“Where is all of this coming from? Did my mother speaker to you? My father?”

Your silence immediately answered her question, making a blaze of fury appear in her body as she walked back to you and grabbed you hand, her other hand cupping your neck and urging you to look at her.

“Y/N, listen to me, just tell me what my parents aid and I will-”

“No.”

You grabbed Yerim’s hands and forced them off you, taking a few steps backwards to make space between the two of you. You shook your head and turned around, leaning on the kitchen sink for support, ducking your head down to recentre yourself before finally speaking again.

“I am exhausted Yerim. I just want this all to end.”

“Listen Y/N.” Yerim started, taking steps towards you, desperation clawing up her throat and threatening to burst but she tried her best to center herself. She swallowed thickly before reaching out to you again, her hand placing itself on your shoulder. “We can sort through this together. We...we can go away somewhere, we can...we can just...be. Please baby, please don’t force us into this.”

“...I am not the one who forced us into this.’ You finally said, turning around and forcing Yerim’s hand to drop from your shoulder. Your eyes had a deep sadness in them which had previously been masked by the anger from the argument, exhaustion mixed with it. “I am the one who decided to finally address it.”

“Y/N-”

“I know that you feel the same Yerim. You just have been too proud to admit it.”

“I have not been to proud about anything. Y/N, we just need to-”

Yerim was interrupted by the sound of the baby monitor, the cries of Jinyoung echoing in the kitchen, matching the cries that were coming upstairs from the nursery. You sighed in exhaustion before turning away, heading towards the staircase. “I’ll get it.”

“Y/N-”

“Please Yerim, I beg of you...just sign it and let me free.”

You finally exited the kitchen, leaving Yerim behind in a stunned silence with a broken heart in the company of a set of documents which had completely wrecked the perfect life that she had previously believed that she had.

[yourbravestpigeon]

Grandpa AU - January 2022

“This week was even worse”, Lady Gauntes announced as soon as Alberich picked up the call. “It’s supposed to get easier, not harder.”

“Three weeks now, huh?”, he asked, phone wedged between his chin and ear. He was sorting through a laundry basket, looking for something to wear to their monthly visit to the opera. Tonight it was Turandot, Puccini’s last work. It was one of many musical versions of Gozzi’s famous fairytale, centered around a Chinese princess with no intention to marry and an impressive kill count. Alberich had seen it on stage more times than he could count, but he couldn’t seem to grow tired of it.

“Three weeks exactly”, Lady Gauntes confirmed, voice devoid of emotion.

“It won’t be the same without him.”

“It won’t.”

After the funeral, Alberich had read a couple online articles on grief support, and he remembered reading ‘acknowledge their loss’. He wasn’t sure this counted as acknowledging, but it was true that it would be weird going just the two of them. The Gaunteses had been so defined by each other that it seemed odd they hadn’t gotten buried in a joint coffin.

There was a pause, and Lady Gauntes cleared her throat. “I’m not sure I can do this tonight.”

“Oh?” Alberich smoothed out the shirt he’d just procured. Without her he would skip the high-end restaurant, but he might still go see the opera. He’d been looking forward to it since November, and the timing was perfect really: he’d just been invited to co-author a paper on Les Mille et un jours, and although Turandot probably wouldn’t feature heavily in it, it was a nice coincidence.  

“It feels wrong to go without him.”

“Yeah”, Alberich agreed, getting up to look for the matching jacket to the slacks he was wearing.

“Right now I can’t imagine ever setting foot in there again.”

“Totally.” Respect the person’s way of grieving, the articles had said.

“I can’t even… really think about it.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He knew the jacket was somewhere in his wardrobe. Or in his car, maybe? He’d last worn it to Irene and Kai’s engagement party.

“Could we just dine at your place?”

Alberich froze, taken aback by the suggestion. That was certainly not how they did things in their noncommittal friendship, or at least not how they’d done them the past 20 years. It wasn’t like the Gaunteses had never been to his apartment, but those instances hadn’t usually exceeded visits to the bathroom before they’d gotten in a car together. They’d certainly never involved him cooking dinner.

“Eh”, he stalled, mentally reviewing the supplies in his kitchen. All things considered, it was mostly a lot of porridge. Definitely not much to impress a self-proclaimed noblewoman. “Sure”, he agreed nonetheless. As long as she didn’t want to go through photos of her husband together, he supposed she could spend an evening moping on his couch. “I guess I could make… a soup, or something.”

“What kind of soup?”

Now he actually walked over to the kitchen, glancing at countertops and opening some shelves.

“One that involves lots of potatoes and one onion.”

“So we’re having potato soup on a Saturday night…?”

“Yes.”

There was a brief pause, and he could picture her face right now, exploring all possible avenues before reaching a verdict. He started looking for his peeler.

“Could you make the creamy kind?”, she inquired.

“Probably not.”

“Ah. So you’re making a Scottish one?”

“What would that be?”

“The version for poor people.”

“I’m not poor”, he replied. “I just don’t waste my income on luxury foods.”

“Do you have cream? And some parmesan?”

“I have milk.”

Lady Gauntes sighed. “Fine. Let me know what you’ve got at home and we’ll run by the store on our way-…” She caught her mistake, words grinding to a halt. “I mean I will-…”

There was a dreadful silence that felt a lot like repressed tears. Alberich waited a minute to see if she’d catch herself again; she usually did. She hadn’t cried at the funeral, just stared everyone down with a vengefulness as if she found it preposterous none of the guests had offered to die of lung cancer in lieu of her husband.

“Are you okay?”, Alberich asked into the quiet.

“Mhm”, came a noise that sounded like a chipmunk might have made it.

“I’ll go buy cream”, he promised nervously. “Anything else you want in the soup?”

“Make sure it’s heavy cream”, Lady Gauntes squeezed out before she abruptly hung up.

-

Alberich strolled through the isles, looking for things you’d buy for a visitor who was likely to cry during their stay. He’d added tissues to the cream and carrots he’d gotten for the soup, but other than that he was unsure, roaming the store in pursuit of inspiration. He considered getting ice cream, then figured that might just be for breakup tears. Passing the tobacco products sparked a thought, but Lady Gauntes would probably not be too crazy about cigarettes right now. And even if he was mistaken, he should still have his packet of job interview cigarettes somewhere in his apartment.

In the end, he just settled for booze. He’d only ever seen the woman drink red wines more expensive than his salary, but if push came to shove cheap white rum would have to do tonight. And if she didn’t end up drinking it, he could just add it to the stock Nikita had started piling up in their office in anticipation of his thesis defense.

He didn’t know if you could use a self-checkout if you were buying alcohol, so he got in line for the normal one and started googling recipes for creamy potato soup as he waited.

-

For a recipe that had easy in its title it sure required a lot of kitchen gadgets Alberich didn’t have. The most imminent problem was his lack of blender (‘if you don’t have an immersion blender, a normal one works fine’, he’d read with dwindling amusement), but at least ‘stock pot’ just seemed to be a fancy word for a normal pot.

He also hadn’t bought celery or cheese, but it had almost been his turn at the register when he’d seen and so he’d figured they’d have to live without. At least he had ham in his fridge he could add instead of the chopped bacon the recipe demanded.

Google didn’t help answer the question if you could make mashed potatoes and mix that with the broth to achieve the same effect as blending it, so he just cut everything into very small pieces and plunged it into the water. He upped the heat, changed the radio channel because it was driving him crazy, then stirred in the milk-cream-flour mix and the ham. If you didn’t compare it to the picture on the recipe website, the result looked decent enough, even with the non-blended vegetables floating about. Maybe he’d tell Lady Gauntes it was a Bolivian potato soup.

That being done he cleaned enough paper off the kitchen table to have space to eat and then walked over to his CD shelves. If he ended up missing the opera, he’d at least listen to it at home. Margaret had gotten him a Turandot once, and he was pretty sure he hadn’t thrown it away.

[scootatwoni]

Some random BRC headcanons!

Contains spoilers so read at your own risk!

- in-game Red has made a comment about not remembering Solace, despite Solace referring to Felix as his friend. On one hand, this could be chalked up to not getting all his memories back, but I imagine Felix genuinely doesn't remember Solace. He ran into Solace at some point, got him out of a sticky situation and just continued on with his day, not thinking much about his good deed. But Solace remembered! He started looking up to Felix after that, following and watching his hero from afar.

- Post-game they properly got to know one another and became friends tho :^) much to Tryce's dismay Felix isn't phased at all by Solace's...whole thing. Felix is chill!

- feel free to correct me if this actually canon and Im not remembering but i headcanon that Felix, Faux and DJ Cyber were in a crew together (I know that Felix and Faux were but I'm unsure if DJ was included in that lol)

- The Pre-game catalyst that i imagine lead up to the events of the game: One night when Faux and Felix were skating around tagging, they got caught by the police. The misdemeanor wasn't especially harsh, but ofc Faux still has his record scrubbed. He managed to get his dad to scrub Felix's record too, but only after Felix promised to keep everything to himself.

- Felix kept his word, but he was pretty frustrated by Faux's lies and couldn't stomach lying by omission to DJ CYBER. In the end Felix split from the crew and went solo.

- Felix felt as though he could prove to Faux he didn't need to cheat and rely on his dad to go All City. And going solo seemed like the perfect plan to Felix. Once he went All City, Faux would see the error of his ways and fess up, right?

- well...we know how that went! 🪜😔

- Irene was able to save Escher from project Algo while she was still running the anti-corruption department before she left to join the BRC. He unfortunately lost some memories in the process, but he's totally fine and definitely wasn't killed or disappeared after that one cutscenes. He's fine :^) I'm sure of it!!!

[rosetheex-editor]

(OOC WARNING: THE TRANSCRIPT CONTAINS DESCRIPTIONS OF BLOOD, VIOLENCE, DROWNING, AND HEAVY GORE. PLEASE READ BELOW THE CUT AT YOUR OWN RISK.]

[Video transcript start.]

[The transcript begins with someone holding the phone, they are seemingly in the backseat of a vehicle as it drives down a road. The song “Barbie girl” can be heard over the car radio, seemingly everyone is enjoying it.]

?: I didn't even know that song was still played on the radio.

[Voice identified: Ness Kylie Hoffson.]

?: Never gets old, though!

[Voice Identified: William Keane.]

Ne: Fair enough, though I really should ask one more time… Where the fuck are we driving to?

?: Abandoned fuckin’... aquarium or something? Right Cass?

[Voice identified: Becky.]

[The man mentioned, Cassius, is singing along to the song with a few others, he gives Becky a thumbs up, his other hand is out of the car. There are no hands on the steering wheel.]

W: DRIVE.

Ne: THERE IS STILL SOMEONE IN THIS CAR THAT WILL ACTUALLY DIE DIE FROM THAT!

[Cassius places one hand back on the steering wheel, but that doesn’t seem to improve the driving quality. In fact, it may have made it worse.]

Ne: Why do we keep letting him drive, no offense I know he's the boss and all… But if he crashes, Showfall can bring all of y'all back in the event of death… Not me.

Be: We let him drive because all of us have crashed before. He’s got a perfect fuckin’ record somehow.

C: I only crash on purpose! And I won’t be doing that with you in the car.

Ne: Thanks… I think.

W: That's a good thing, don't worry. Plus, I can't drive.

Ne: Yeah uh, me and tones are going to be tough… I definitely didn't only get 5 hours of sleep.

?: ‘s fine. I got… 10 minutes?

[Voice identified: Adelia.]

?: Adelia! That’s unhealthy!

[Voice identified: Ophelia.]

Ad: Girl, I saw you eating a giant bag full of marshmallows the other night, you can’t say shit.

O: That’s fair.

Ne: [Muttering.] I mean I ate a whole thing of ice cream the other night. Marshmallows are better in the grand scheme of things.

O: We all know the details, right?

W: Uh. Do we?

Ne: Uh… Did you guys tell me? I might have forgotten, honestly…

O: Oh, shit. Whoops. Alright. So! This group of conspiracy theorists have been… an issue before. But they’ve never gotten close to the truth like this before. There’s ten in total. We need to make sure nothing they’ve found out gets out. If even one word gets out to the public, we’d be in deep shit.

Ne: So uh, why do y'all need me?

?: Same reason we needed you last time. You’re a pretty valuable asset.

[Voice identified: Irene.]

Ne: I fucked shit up last time… Kinda a bad example don't you think?

O: I’ve fucked up jobs WAYYYY worse than that. You’re fine.

C: Like that one time in the 50s?

O: NO NO NO SHUT UP, DON’T BRING THAT UP. IT’S EMBARRASSING.

Ne: WAIT, HOLD ON… Is this like a… Murder job?

Be: Likely, yeah. Is that going to be a problem?

Ne: I've uh… Besides that one time never murdered anyone or watched someone be murdered in person.

C: Didn’t you watch a man get a crowbar jammed into his head?

Ne: Oh yeah… Forgot about that.

Ir: We need to invest in crowbars, those things look like they work super well!

Ne: Yeah um… Anyway, why exactly do you need me? How do I fit in?

Be: An honorary member is still kinda a member, also, Ophelia likes having you around.

O: That’s true!

Ne: Oh… Um, well I like hanging out with you guys so uh. Fair enough!

[Ness laughs, very obviously tired.]

C: Ness, have you ever been to an aquarium?

Ne: Maybe once when I was little, even then I don't know.

C: Nice, I remember bringing Naomi to one when she was like, 15. I think it might’ve even been this one. It got shut down for animal mistreatment a while back. And I definitely had nothing to do with them getting reported for it.

W: That's brilliant, dude!

C: Thanks. I… hm. I keep forgetting how out of the way that place is.

W: Are they, like, cool places to go to?

C: Depends, if you think abandoned buildings are cool, then yeah.

W: I did mean aquariums, but abandoned places are pretty cool!

C: Ah, shit. Yeah, aquariums are neat. If they treat the animals correctly.

Ne: I enjoy abandoned buildings… Probably helped that I lived in one for a few weeks when I first got here.

W: That definitely would I think.

Ne: Ugh, I really should have gotten more sleep…

[Ness yawns, shaking the camera.]

Ad: Aw, fuck. Now I need to yawn. When we get back, I’m taking a nap.

Ne: Speaking of sleep, I know Rose has been getting some… But Will, has Sparrow been sleeping or?

W: I..think. After the last few nights, not so much.

C: Hm. You should try setting a curfew or something.

Ne: Seeing as Peony is now in Rose's computer last I checked, that would probably fail.

C: They’re a child. They need the rest.

W: We've been trying, but if they don't listen it's kind of hard! We were teaching Peony how to play uno though!

O: Aww! I love uno! We can’t play it anymore, though.

C: Sorry.

Ne: Wha-

W: Ended in murder?

C: Look, it’s not my fault that Alexander decided to stack every +4 he had against me! I don’t even know why or how he had all of those. It was ridiculous.

Ne: Yeah uh… Fucking hell.

Ad: It was funny, though.

Ne: Yeah I bet… Still wild to hear though.

C: We’re close, by the way. Hold on to something, gotta make a few turns, and I’m going 125.

Ne: If I crash into someone again I'm not being held accountable.

O: Eden was the only one upset about that, and she’s not here, you should b–

[Ophelia is cut off by tires screeching, as the car takes a very sharp turn, jostling everyone around, the only thing heard is shouting for a few seconds. Along with laughter, likely from Cassius.]

Ne: JESUS FUCK-

W: SHIT-

Ad: CASS WHAT THE FUCK–

C: I warned you!

Ne: NOT ABOUT THE SHARP-

[Ness cuts herself off with a hiss of pain, her arms seen in frame grabbing at her head.]

C: Ooh, my bad.

W: Shit, you okay?

Ne: I hit my head on the door, owie.

Ir: Ah, that looks like it smarts. Yikes.

Ne: Yes, but fuck it we ball anyway.

[The car stops abruptly, Cassius turns in his seat.]

C: We’re here.

Ne: I'm not gonna need a disguise or anything am I?

W: if all goes well? Nah, you should be fine!

[Cassius opens the door and hops out, the rest of the PR team follows suit.]

[Ness stumbles out of the car, falling on the ground with the camera going dark before being put in one of her jacket pockets refocusing.]

W: Oh fuck! You ok?

Ne: I'll live. ‘Tis but a flesh wound.

[Ness removes a glove in front of the camera revealing she somehow scraped up her right hand through the glove.]

Ne: Literally.

W: Give me your hand for a sec?

Ne: My hand isn't Adam, I can't take it off when I want.

W: I did mean the figure of speech but that is true. May I see your hand then?

[Ness shows her scraped up hand to Will, holding it out.]

[William comes into frame, its face obscured. He pulls out antibacterial wipes from his pockets, and gently cleans the scrape before placing a plaster on it.]

W: There, done!

Ne: Thanks… So uh, what's the plan boss?

C: While you two were doing that, we sent Adelia and Becky in, they’re going to scope it out and report back.

Ne: Oh, fair enough. Am I going to have to kill anyone?

O: Only if you want to.

Ne: Cool. Um… So can I ask a question?

O: Sure! Shoot!

Ne: How uh, how does Showfall view me helping PR?

O: Um.

[Ophelia looks away.]

W: They. Don't know. I don't think.

Ne: Oh, probably a good thing right? I'd imagine I'd kinda be just a little screwed if they found out.

O: Er, yeah. A little.

Ne: Hm… Anyway, how have y'all been?

W: Shit, honestly.

O: I’ve been fine, and I can understand why you’d be not… doing well.

Ne: Hm… Well, I hope you get to feeling better, Will.

O: The rest of PR has been doing… okay? I think? Nicholas has been annoying the fuck out of everyone by being loud, but that’s about it.

Ir: Yeah, I’ve been good, Cass?

[No response.]

W:..Cass?

[Cassius says nothing, staring at his watch with a concerned expression.]

W: What's wrong?

C: Text from Becky. They have weapons. We might need to go in now.

W: fuck, okay.

Ne: Ight… Ok.

[Ness hops up, beginning to quietly hum.]

C: Be ready for anything, guys. I honestly have no idea what this group is capable of. Alexander didn’t know much, so we have nothing to work with.

Ne: That's… Not great.

[Cassius nods, and begins to make his way to the entrance.]

Ne: Will, you ready?

W: Ready as I can be, I guess! You can still back out if you want to, we won't take it personally?

Ne: No it's fine, I'll be fine.

W: ..if you're sure!

[William follows Cassius, smiling at Ness.]

[Ness follows both of them, seemingly more worried then the other two. As seen in her extremely slow footsteps.]

[As soon as everyone is at the door, Cassius opens it, and steps inside. The group is immediately greeted by 10 people in red clothing, only matching in color. Adelia and Becky are both in the center of the main area, which is filled with glass tanks, some of which are still filled with green murky water, such as the main tank, which appears to have water all the way to the top. With a small hatch as an entrance. One of the people appears to recognize Cassius, and turns bright red with pure rage.]

?: YOU!

C: Wh–

Ne: WHO?

W: which of us-

?: YOU MOTHERFUCKER! YOU HAVE A LOT OF NERVE SHOWING YOUR FACE AROUND HERE! FUCK YOU!

C: Oh my fucking god. I know this guy.

W: You're shitting me. That guys gonna go straight for you, mate.

C: Look, it’s not my fault that he thinks I’m the reason his daughter is… well. Hm.

Ne: SHOULD I RUN?

C: Nah, you should be good. If Eden got her fighting skills from her fathers side, then you’ll be fine.

Ne: Oh.

W: Oh! It's him!

C: Yeah… um. I need to make a quick phone call.

[Cassius types something on his watch, and starts talking into it.]

C: Yo, Eden. You said you hated your dad, right?

?: [Over the watch.] Uh, yeah? Why?

[Voice identified: Eden.]

C: Well, he’s here right now. Can I…?

E: Yeah, sure. Go ahead. I don’t give a shit.

[Cassius hangs up.]

C: We’ve been given the go ahead. Let’s get this over with.

Ne: Yep.

W: On it.

Ne: Let me just.

[Ness places a rubber band around her pocket with the camera.]

Ne: Ok! I'm ready.

[Cassius dashes forward, the metal spider-like limbs appearing as he moves, he manages to punch one of the people in red, sending them to the ground with a yelp of pain and surprise.]

[Ness follows suit, running forward and decking one of the people in the jaw, knocking them to the ground with a shout.]

[The Archivist ended up darting to the left, lunging at someone just out of the camera's view.]

Ne: OK WHAT’S THE PLAN!

O: NO IDEA! JUST FUCK SHIT UP, I GUESS?

Ne: OH I'M GOOD AT THAT!

O: GREAT! SAME HERE!

[Ness picks one of the people up on her shoulders, dropping them on her knee. A pop heard as Ness grabs her kneecap for a moment.]

?: HEY! ASSHOLE! LOOK UP HERE!

[Ness looks up the camera in the pocket following suit.]

?: NOT YOU, THE… OTHER BLONDE ONE!

C: What? What do you–

[The camera reveals the speaker on top of the main tank, holding Will by the arm tightly near the entrance hatch to the tank.]

?: Make one more fucking move, and I drop this fucker into the damn water.

W: let fucking go of me- Ignore this prick!

[Cassius mutters something inaudible, but likely in french, before breaking into a sprint, running to get to the top of the tank. He arrives within seconds, barely stopping before tackling the man into the green water of the tank. The two fight violently, almost fully seen through the glass. Blood seeps into the water as they battle, the struggle causing the grime at the bottom of the tank to be stirred up. A quiet metal clang can be heard at the top, but it goes unnoticed.]

W: CASS!

[The thrashing in the water finally subsides after 18 seconds, and Cassius attempts to resurface now that he has won, only to find that the entrance to the tank had been shut during the struggle. He swims back down to the glass, and attempts to break it with his shoulder, but to no avail.]

W: SOMEONE TRY TO BREAK THE GLASS! I'M TRYING TO GET THIS OPEN!

[Ness runs over, limping from the injured kneecap. Starting to punch the glass.]

[Cassius attempts to punch it as well, and when that doesn’t work, he tries to kick it. Still nothing. He bangs on the glass with a flat palm, eyes wide, staring at Ness. His strength rapidly fading.]

W: IT- IT'S JAMMED! I CANT- I CAN'T OPEN IT!

Ne: [Audibly crying.] GET A FUCKING HAMMER! SOMEONE FIND SOMETHING PLEASE!

[Ness switches to hitting the glass with her forearm, blood from her hands smearing on the glass.]

O: A LITTLE PREOCCUPIED, I’M SORRY!

[Cassius opens his mouth, and tries to shout the words ‘Help me, please.’ But all that comes out are bubbles. His hands go to his throat, clawing desperately at it. The burning from the lack of oxygen likely feeling like actual torture. After a few seconds of this, his movements slow, and finally stop. He now floats motionless in the tank.]

W: NO. NONONONONO! FUCK!

[Ness continues trying to break the glass, now using her already injured kneecap. Still nothing.]

Ne: GOD DAMNIT FUCKING HELP!

Be: Holy fucking shit, I– god, that– okay!

[Becky can be heard sprinting over, she stops right beside Ness.]

[Will can be heard sprinting down the metal steps, and jumping from a semi-safe distance to the floor next to them. From what the camera glimpses, it is distraught. One side of his face is covered in tears.]

Ne: PLEASE! NONONONONO.

[A pair of footsteps approach Ness from behind, someone off to the side shrieks, and a second pair joins the mix.]

Ne: Wha-

[Ness turns around to see one of the people in red running directly at her with a large knife in hand, the person almost reaches her, but is knocked out of the way by Ophelia. The previous attacker lunges at Ophelia, sending both of them to the ground; they attempt to stab Ophelia, but she easily catches their arm. Ophelia then turns to Ness, about to say something, but her voice dies as she sees the tank behind Ness. Her grip on the person's arm loosens, and they manage to sink the knife into xer throat. Xe stares at them for a few seconds as blood steadily flows from the stab wound. Zer eyes fill with tears from the pain, and she goes limp.]

Ne: I… O- Ophelia..?

[Ness begins seemingly laughing and sobbing, a pain response. She begins slowly moving over to Ophelia.]

Ne: O- Ophelia… It's n- Not funny…

?: HA! Two down! [Aside.] Guys, we can d–

[Ness cuts the figure off, jamming a knife into their chest right before ripping their throat out. Kicking the figure to the floor to pull the knife out.]

[The Archivist passes the camera, a blur of motion, patting Ness on the back gently before setting off again, lunging at another person in red. He bites down on their shoulder, sending the person down as it attacks them. The Archivist proceeds to simply mutilate anywhere it can reach. He goes for their eyes first, pressing it's claws fingers into the Individual's eyes as a sickening squelching sound is heard. The person barely has time to scream before A attacks them again, this time tearing at their face. Chunks of skin and viscera alike are seen to be flying around the victim person, before The Archivist begins to tear at their chest. The crunch of bone is picked up by the camera as its hand reaches into their chest, and pulls out a still-squirming heart. The figure goes limp, and for good measure it swiftly grabs their head and twists it.]

[Off to the side, Adelia can be seen with her hand on someone's jaw, feet planted on their shoulders, and one hand on their head. She yanks their jaw off of their skull, and blood flies upwards as she does. Becky is nearby stomping someone's ribs in, her legs getting coated in red as well.]

[Ness runs forward, grabbing a crowbar and spinning towards a figure in red. Jamming the crowbar sharp end first into the person's face, the rusted metal of the crowbar can be barely seen in the person's mouth and left eye socket. They fall limp as Ness and the camera begin looking around.]

[Ness stops on Irene for a little, watching as she sits on someone's torso, twirls a knife in the air, and makes several surgically precise cuts, opening the person up and jamming the knife into their insides. Ness looks away.]

Ne: [Between laughing and tears.] W- where… Where…

[A turns, a murderous glint slowly leaving its eye as it settles on Ness.]

A/W: ..hm?

Ne: Person. Where are the people?

[The Archivist jerks its head in the direction behind Ness, the glint returning as its sight settles on the anarchy behind her.]

[Ness continues turning until finally spotting someone, their hands in front of them pleading.]

?: YOU’RE BOTH FUCKING MONSTERS! BOTH OF YOU DESERVE TO BURN IN HE-

[Ness runs up and kicks the man in one of his legs, breaking it with an inhuman snap. Doing the same to the other one, before stabbing the man multiple times in the arms and chest. He screams as Ness jams a knife into his gut, dragging it across his stomach causing multiple sets of intestines to fall out along with blood. She drops the man down and continues stabbing him again and again and again.]

Ne: [Laughing.] DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DI- Di- die…

[Ness drops the knife, staring at the dead body in front of her before moving back, looking around to see other dead bodies, Ness stops at The Archivist.]

[The Archivist's head tilts at her, somewhat confused.]

Ne: [Crying.] What did I just do..?

A/W: Bad human. Helped. [It's voice sounds mechanically distorted.]

Ne: [Crying.] Your voice… Why is your voice like that?

[It makes a confused sound, and touches its throat hesitantly. Shaking his head, it scampers over to Ness.]

Ne: Will… I murdered three people.

A/W: Same number. As me.

Ne: What… Is with your voice?

A/W: The Archivist.

Ne: I thought… You were William?

A/W: Mhm.

Ne: I don't… Fucking care what Showfall calls you. I'm calling you Will.

A/W: Hm.

Ne: Cuz if you're the Archivist, does that make Rose “The Editor” or Edgar “The Mechanic”?

A/W: NO. NEVER. SAY. THAT.

Ne: THEN YOU AIN'T THE ARCHIVIST. FAIRS FAIR.

[The Archivist stares directly at Ness for a minute or so, before its body language completely changes. The glint in its eye has disappeared, its body relaxes, and he's looking down at his hands in mute horror.]

Ne: Hug?

[Will nods, shaking.]

[Ness hugs Will, removing the blood covered glove on her left hand to grab the back of it's head.]

Ne: I got you.

[William breaks down completely. He starts sobbing as he hugs Ness, slightly obscuring the camera.]

Ne: It's going to be ok… Um… Need some water?

W: C-c-cant. The o-others.

Ne: Right… Um… Fuck.

[Ness helps William up, before almost instantly falling back down to a knee.]

[Will moves back, to catch Ness quickly.]

Ne: MOTHERFUCKING SON OF A BITCH!

[Ness grabs at her kneecap, seemingly trying to fix it.]

W: D-don't. Damage it more.

Ir: [Distant.] Are you two okay?

Ne: I FUCKING DISLOCATED MY GODDAMN KNEECAP AGAIN!

Ir: [Still distant.] Oh, shit! Um. Can I carry you two over here? Just so we can all be grouped together?

Ne: UP TO WILL!

W: B-but, Cass and Ophelia..?

Ir: [Approaching.] We… can figure it out in a sec.

Ne: WAIT THE CROWBAR! THE- THE CROWBAR! I JAMMED IT INTO A GUYS FACE SOMEWHERE!

Be: Oh! Good point! Maybe that can break the glass!

[Irene finally gets to Ness and Will, quickly picking them both up under her arms and carrying them like large cats over to the rest of the group.]

Ne: Can someone please relocate my kneecap?

Ad: I can try! Becky, Irene, go get the crowbar. I’ll… do this.

Ne: Yeah uh, turns out using a wrestling finisher with your bad knee on an actual person and then kneeing glass is a bad idea.

Ad: Boy, I’ll say! Jesus! Good job on those three, by the way! Uh, sorry if that was like, mentally scarring. Okay, giving you a countdown… 3… 2…

[Adelia suddenly jolts her arms, relocating the kneecap on 2 instead of 1.]

Ne: FUCCCCCCCCCCCK!

Ad: Haha, sorry. Sometimes people like, stop me before I can do it so I’ve just… started doing that.

[William does go to hold one of Ness's hands, but looks at his own and pauses, before dropping them to it's sides.]

Ad: Aw, jeez, Will. You’re not doing that great, are you? We’re going back soon, dude. Don’t worry. Everything will be okay.

[He looks distantly at Adelia, nodding in a small, nearly missed action.]

Ne: I'm sure… Rose will help… Um… Can someone hold my phone for a moment? I need to throw up.

Ad: Of course, Ness.

[As Adelia takes the phone, a shout can be heard from the area near the tank.]

Ir: Not yet! You’ll flood the whole damn room! At least give everyone a chance to get to higher ground! The water is super gross, too!

Be: Ugh. Fine. [To the others.] HEY! You guys should like, move! We’re about to break the glass! It’s gonna be gross!

[Will makes a noise of indication, not being able to form words.]

Ne: Give me a minu-

[Ness cuts herself off, a retching noise heard out of frame.]

Ad: Oh. Ew. [A pause.] SORRY. SORRY. I’ll help you get to like. A bench or something.

Ne: Ow. Ok that would be appreciated.

Ad: I can’t carry y’all as well as Irene. So… sorry.

[Adelia tries her best to get Ness and Will to a bench, having to stop a couple times to take a break. But she makes it to a bench and helps them both up. She hands Ness the phone.]

Ad: Here’s your phone back, by the way. Um. Yeah. I’m going to go help with breaking the glass.

[Adelia jogs away, joining the other two PR members at the glass tank. She makes it over just as Becky swings, and it nearly whacks her in the head.]

W: I could've prevented that.

Ne: So could I…

Ir: HEY! I can feel the negative energy from over here! This wasn’t your fault, you’re both fine!

Ne: I COULD'VE DUCKED! OR HELPED WILL GET THAT DOOR OPEN!

W: I could've just, not got caught in the first place. Not cause Cass to come up there.

Ne: I mean… I got caught last time. I know how it feels… Kinda.

Ad: We’ve all had those moments, I remember the first time this shit happened to me… fuckin’ hell. I was devastated. I thought I fucked everything up. But! Cass came into my room the next day with a popsicle and just congratulated me on the work I did. He’s just going to be glad you’re okay.

Ne: I uh… Fuck… I can't say I know how you guys in the mall feel… Is that how Rose felt watching her big sister be taken? Having to watch?

[Will nods and mutters something.]

W: ‘is likely. .

Ad: [Cheerfully.] Yeah, probably!

[Irene punches Adelia in the arm.]

Ad: Hey! I– um. I mean… yeah. Probably. Sorry.

Ne: Is Ophelia going to hate me? I just had to move, move a muscle move a fucking inch. I watched the closest thing I have to a big sister die.

Ad: What is it with you guys and thinking that people who sacrifice themselves for you are going to hate you? Like, come on! They made that choice to help you because they care! Ophelia isn’t going to hate you when she’s back. I’ll bet she’s going to be a bit worried. But she won’t fuckin’ hate ya. Same with Cass.

Ne: It's called survivor's guilt! I think…

[Ness mutters something inaudible to the mic.]

Be: Aye! Can I break the glass now? I’ve been waiting for a while!

[Will gently nudges Ness, but replies]

W: I-I think so! Is Ophelia on higher ground?

Ir: Shit–

[Irene jogs over to where Ophelia’s body is. Lifting her off the ground and running to put zem down on a different bench. She holds up her hand and gives Becky a thumbs up.]

Be: Finally!

Ad: Should I mov–

[Adelia is cut off by the crowbar swinging towards the glass, shattering it, and sending a wave of murky green water out across the floor. Adelia is swept off her feet and carried halfway across the room. She sits up as the water settles, gagging.]

Ad: UGH. GROSS.

Ne: Um…

[Ness can be heard slowly beginning to cry once again.]

Be: I’ll grab Cass.

[Becky scans the area, their eyes settle on a shape that is halfway out of the tank. She walks up and grabs the shape, lifting it up and walking forward slightly, allowing it to be illuminated by a small bit of light in the building. The light reveals it to be Cassius, unmoving, soaking wet and covered in cuts that are slowly oozing blood.]

[Will squeaks, and hugs Ness, hiding his head in her shoulder.]

[Ness’ shaking is visible in the recording, she doesn't move. The only noise is her crying.]

Be: Fuck. That… Jesus. That looks like it really hurt…

[Becky stares at Cassius’ neck, which is also bleeding, likely from when he was clawing at his throat earlier.]

Ir: Shit… we need to get back to the mall. Are we all good to leave?

Ad: Yeah, I’m ready.

Be: Same. How about you two?

[Ness still does not respond, seemingly zoning out on Ophelia’s corpse.]

[Will just shakes his head, still quivering.]

Ad: I’ll grab Ophelia, Irene, are you good to carry those two out?

Ir: Mhm.

Ad: Great. Who’s driving?

Ne: I'll drive.

[Ness goes to stand up, but seemingly finally notices Will and sits back down.]

[Irene approaches the two, and picks them up as she did before, following the other two out the door, water sloshing around her ankles.]

Ne: Will… Please talk to Rose or Edgar about any emotional things. I'm not a good therapist but I'm still worried.

[Irene puts them down near the car, and makes eye contact with Will for a few seconds.]

Ir: Or any of us. We might not be very good at emotional… well. Anything. But we’re here anyway.

[William nods at what both of them say, but doesn't make a verbal response. He's numb to what's happening around him.]

Ne: Um… Fucking hell.

[Adelia pokes her head out of the car.]

Ad: Do you need a minute? We’re ready to go, but if you need a second to process stuff before we put you in charge of whether we make it to the mall in one piece or not, please feel free.

Ne: I… I stabbed a man 47 and a half times, I GUTTED THE SAME PERSON!

Be: If it makes you feel any better, I stomped someone out!

Ne: I just… I draw stuff like that… Never done it… What happened to me?

[Ness's hands pop up into frame, one covered with blood the other not as much. They both seem to be shaking though.]

Ir: Same thing that happened to us. But… a little less. You still feel bad about it. That’s good.

Ne: That's the scary thing… I don't feel bad… I'm scared… I… I… What if I do that to someone I care about?

Ir: Ness, lemme tell you something. It’s… hard. To do that. Not impossible, yeah. But it’s hard. If you care about someone, it’ll take a bit of willpower to hurt ‘em. It takes less to stop yourself, I’ve found.

Ne: I… Thanks…

W: Wouldn't. You wouldn't.

Ne: And neither would you… I see the look in your eye.

[Will just smiles, with a melancholy sense about it, and looks at the floor.]

Ne: It's true.

Ad: [Within the car.] We… should get going.

W: What if I left.

Be: Huh? Like. Just walked away? I dunno.

W: Just walked away. Would you guys come after me?

Be: Depends. What would you want us to do?

W: I don't know. I just don't want to go back there. But I have to.

Ne: I could take you to Marina's old house for a few days.

Ir: That could end… very badly. For reasons I’m sure both of you are aware of.

W: Yeah, I just... I don't want to do this. I want to go home.

Ir: Hm… I kinda get that. But… I don’t think I’ll ever fully understand.

Ne: Hey um… Rose is probably going to get you out come hell or high water, they made it pretty clear they ain't going to leave family behind.

[Will softly chuckles a bit.]

W: Of course.

Be: I think we all need a small break of sorts. Once we get back, I’m putting a movie on in the main room and making popcorn. If anyone wants to join.

Ne: I literally can't join.

W: I have to check in on the others. Don't know if they're okay. Could I bring some for them?

Be: Yeah, sure! Of course!

Ne: Tell Rose I'm sorry? Sorry for uh… That.

W: Thank you, Really. I will, Ness, promise.

Ir: Do you need any help getting into the car? Or are you both alright?

W: Ness? You, okay?

[Ness again mumbles something under her breath not heard by the camera.]

Ir: What was that?

Ne: Yeah I'm fine.

Ir: Alright, if you say so…

[Irene steps away, and gets into the passenger seat of the car, leaving Ness and Will alone.]

Ne: Ready Will?

W: ..I'm sorry this is how it went. But, yeah. Gonna have to be, huh?

Ne: Ok then.

W: Ness?

Ne: Yeah?

W: Thank you. For everything today. I'm… really sorry I didn't help more.

Ne: Hey dude, it's no problem… Don't worry about it.

W: You're.. really nice, by the way. Like, really. Thank you.

Ne: Hm… I uh… Thanks.

[Ness slowly opens the car doors for both herself and Will.]

[Will gets in quietly, not saying much else.]

Ad: Please… ignore the sloshing noises in the back. We… um… yeah.

Ne: Seatbelts everyone.

Be: Aye aye, captain!

W: Already ahead of you!

Ne: Ok, should I um play music?

Ad: Depends, are you gonna play good music?

Ne: I um… Depends on what you consider ‘good music.’

Ad: I don’t actually know what I consider good music. Go ahead.

Ne: Did Will already fall asleep?

Be: Yep. Out cold… jeez.

[Ness begins playing some music, identified as ‘Guardian battle’ from legend of zelda breath of the wild.]

Be: Oh, HELL yeah! Make this car ride a little more thrilling! Woo!

[Ness speeds out of the driveway/parking lot they are in.]

[End transcript.]

[batllethinker]

Irene has become such a masochist for her mistress, she still definitely has a limit (even if she sometimes doesn't use her word and gets scolded by mistress) but she loves when Jenni chokes and slaps her, and when her sweet codi kisses the bruises better after

Oh yeah, it's not often pup is actually pushed over her limit and she's really learnt to be mamis perfect toy, and to love all of the pain.