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lixiepixiedust · 11 months ago

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friends

pairing — badboy!felix x fem!reader; highschool au; friends w/ benefits

word count — 3.1k words

warnings — she/her reader, they argue way too much in this, jealousy (both ways), felix is kinda aggressive, uses of korean names, suggestive, small make out, almost sex

summary — you and felix have been friends with benefits for far too many months and everyone knows you secretly like each other. when mutual jealousy arises, you too get into an argument that makes your feelings way too obvious its silly.

"Y/n!" A boy in your year approached you with an eager expression. His name was Juwon, and you two have talked a few times in Chemistry class. He was nice, super weird, but nice. You still tried to avoid him when could since being around him was often draining.

You chuckled awkwardly, "Hey, what's up?" you asked.

"Can I ask you something?" he inquired, lowering his voice.

"Sure," you replied with a forced smile.

"You know, Felix?" he blurted out quickly. "Are you dating him?"

Your smile faded as your eyebrows furrowed, "Why do you want to know?"

"I don't know, I've just noticed you two walking home together and chatting in the hallways," he explained defensively.

"Are you stalking us?" you asked skeptically.

"No! I'm not stalking you," he clarified.

"Ok, this is kinda weirding me out," you chuckled, clearly uncomfortable.

"Sorry, I just see you two so often," he said.

You raised an eyebrow, still puzzled by Juwon's sudden interest in your relationship with Felix. "Okay, but why do you care if Felix and I are dating or not?"

Juwon scratched the back of his head nervously. "Well, um, the thing is, I sorta have a crush on you."

You blinked in surprise, not expecting that confession. "Oh," you said, not sure how to respond. You took a moment to process this information. It explained his odd behavior and sudden interest in your personal life. "Look, Juwon, I have to be honest too—I'm not looking to date anyone right now. I've got a lot going on."

Juwon nodded, disappointment evident on his face. "Oh, I see. Well, I guess I just wanted to know for sure. Sorry if I made it weird."

"It's okay, Juwon. I appreciate you being upfront about it," you said, trying to ease the awkward tension.

"Well, you know, cause you're not with anyone, I was wondering if, I could get your number, though?" he asked tentatively.

You thought about it for a moment. Despite his quirks, Juwon seemed like a genuinely nice person. "If you want it, you have to promise me it's just as friends," you said with a small smile. "I hope you understand that's all I'm looking for right now."

"Nevermind, then," he replied, a bit crestfallen. "Bye, Y/n."

After Juwon left, you sighed, feeling a mix of relief and sympathy for him. You gathered your things and decided to take a break in the hallway. As you walked towards your locker, you couldn't help but mull over the recent encounter. The hallway was relatively quiet, and you leaned against your locker, staring absentmindedly at the passing students.

As you were lost in thought, contemplating the conversation with Juwon, you suddenly heard familiar laughter approaching. Turning your head, you saw your boy best friend, Felix, walking down the hallway, engaged in a lively conversation with a girl who's name you completely forgot. They seemed to be getting along well, laughing and sharing jokes as they walked.

A strange sensation gripped your stomach, a mix of surprise and discomfort. You didn't expect Felix to be chatting so animatedly with another girl, and for some reason, it made you feel a twinge of jealousy. You shook your head, trying to dismiss the irrational feeling. After all, you and Felix were not dating yet, and you had no right to be possessive or jealous.

Felix looked up, and his gaze met yours. That familiar smirk played on his lips as his flirty eyes eyed you up and down, assessing you. You couldn't help but clutch your bag. You gave him a small wave, matching his energy, but he then continued his conversation with the girl beside him.

As you turned away from Felix, trying to shake off the strange feeling in your stomach, you unlocked your locker and gathered your homework and textbooks. With a deep breath, you tried to compose yourself before making your way to find, your bestfriend, Chaewon.

Spotting her not too far away, you weaved through the crowd and approached her. Chaewon's eyes lit up when she saw you, and she enveloped you in a tight hug. "Y/n! How's it going?" she exclaimed.

You returned the hug, grateful for the comfort of a friend. "Hey, Chaewon. It's been a bit of a day, to be honest. How are you?"

"I'm great! I'm ahead on all my work. Come to my locker, tell me everything."

You nodded, and you both made your way to her locker away from the bustling students. You stood beside her as you shared a bit about the encounter with Juwon and the unexpected interaction with Felix and the girl.

Chaewon listened attentively, concern evident on her face as she closed her locker. "Sounds like a lot's happening. You know, guys can be so confusing sometimes. Maybe Felix was just being friendly with that girl, you know, like how he is with everyone? You two have been fucking for like months, there's nothing getting in your way."

You chuckled nudging her playfully. "I'm not worried about that." you lied.

As you continued chatting, Chaewon suddenly looked past your shoulder, her eyes widening slightly. "Hey, speaking of the elephant in the room," she said, pointing discreetly behind you.

You turned around, and indeed, Felix was leaning against a nearby wall, observing the two of you with a playful smirk on his face. Your heart skipped a beat as you caught his gaze. "Hey, Y/n." he called, strolling over with a confident stride.

Chaewon shot you a knowing look before excusing herself, purposely leaving you alone with Felix. "What's up, Felix?" you asked, trying to sound casual.

He leaned against the locker beside you. "Just wanted to see you. How was today? We didn't have time to talk at all."

"Yeah, um, nothing else besides Lee Juwon asking if we were dating," you admitted, avoiding eye contact with Felix.

Felix raised an eyebrow, a hint of curiosity in his eyes. "And what did you tell him?"

You sighed, "I don't even think I gave him an answer after all. Then he told me he liked me."

Felix remained silent for a moment, his jaw tensing. "Juwon has a crush on you?" he repeated, his tone more serious than before.

"Yeah," you continued, "he asked for my number, but I made it clear that I'm not looking to date anyone right now. I just wanted to be honest with him, cause I would've told him we weren't dating."

Felix's expression shifted, a subtle disappointment flickering across his face. "Oh," he said, his usual playful demeanor momentarily subdued.

"Yeah, sorry if that's not what you were expecting," you added, feeling a bit uneasy about the whole situation.

Felix leaned back against the lockers, running a hand through his hair. "No, it's cool."

You nodded, appreciating his nonchalant response. "I mean, we're just hanging out, right?"

"Right," he said, though there was a hint of something in his eyes that you couldn't quite place.

After a moment of silence, you mustered the courage to bring up the topic that had been bothering you. "By the way, who was that girl you were talking to earlier?"

Felix's expression brightened a bit as he remembered the interaction. "Oh, her? Just someone from my last period class. We started talking recently. She's cool." Felix nudged you with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Don't worry, though."

You tilted your head, trying to maintain your composure. "Oh, I'm not worried. Why would I have any reason to be worried?"

Felix chuckled, a sly smile playing on his lips. "Right, right. We're just hanging out, after all."

The mocking tone in Felix's words didn't go unnoticed by you. You felt a surge of frustration, but you tried to brush it off. "Exactly, just friends," you replied with a forced smile.

Felix's smirk widened, and he looked down at you, a subtle condescension in his gaze. "Glad we're on the same page, then."

Your irritation grew, but you bit your lip, choosing not to escalate the situation. "Yeah."

The tension between you and Felix lingered as the conversation continued. The casual banter that usually flowed between you two felt strained, and there was an unspoken frustration in the air.

As the final bell rang, signaling the end of the school day, you found yourself heading towards the exit with a mix of apprehension and determination. You reached the school gates and you noticed Felix a few steps ahead of you, also making his way out. The distance between you felt like a vast chasm, filled with unspoken words and unresolved tension. Despite the silence, Felix glanced back and caught your eye, a momentary flicker of uncertainty crossing his face.

When you stepped out into the fresh air, Felix slowed down, allowing you to catch up. He reached over and effortlessly took your bag off your shoulders to carry it for you, a gesture he had made a habit of since the beginning of your friendship. It was a small comfort, a silent acknowledgment of a bond that seemed strained at the moment.

The two of you walked side by side, the silence becoming almost suffocating. However, Felix's act of taking your bag spoke volumes. Even in the midst of frustration and unspoken words, he didn't want you to bear the weight alone.

"So, Felix, anything interesting happen with you today?" you asked, attempting to steer the conversation away from the awkwardness.

Felix shrugged, his eyes still holding a hint of irritation. "Not really, just the usual. Classes, hanging out, you know." He snapped sarcastically.

"Mhm," you replied.

The silence that followed was filled with an uncomfortable energy. You could sense Felix's annoyance, and you were growing increasingly frustrated yourself. It was as if the unspoken tension was bubbling just beneath the surface.

Finally, Felix broke the silence with a sarcastic chuckle. "So, you and Juwon, huh? Quite the love triangle developing here."

You rolled your eyes, irritation rising. "Don't be ridiculous, Felix. It's not like that. I told you I rejected him."

He raised an eyebrow, a smug expression on his face. "Sure, sure. After all, we're just friends, right?"

You clenched your jaw, annoyed by his insinuations. "Yes, Felix, just friends. Is that so hard to believe?"

He leaned in closer, a challenging glint in his eyes. "Well, if we're just friends, then why do we-"

"Felix, stop." You interrupted him before he could finish his sentence.

Felix sighed. "I was about to say: Why did it bother you so much to see me talking to another girl?" That was clearly not what he was about to say.

Your cheeks flushed with a mix of embarrassment and frustration. "It didn't bother me. I was just curious. That's all."

Felix's smirk only widened. "Curious, huh? Seems like someone's a little more invested than they're letting on."

You took a deep breath, trying to keep your composure. "You know what, Felix? This whole thing is ridiculous. If you're going to act like this, maybe we should just stick to being actual friends and nothing more."

"Wait, I thought we were friends to begin with." Felix laughed which pushed your buttons even more.

The irritation between you and Felix continued to escalate as you walked towards the intersection where you two normally split up to go to your own houses after school.

Finally reaching the familiar crossroad, you stopped and turned to face Felix. "Give me my bag."

Felix crossed his arms, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Oh, come on, Y/n. No need to be so uptight about it."

You gritted your teeth, frustration bubbling to the surface. "Felix, I mean it. I just want to go home."

He chuckled, seemingly enjoying your discomfort. "You know, you're being quite stubborn about this. What's the harm in hanging out a bit more? We're just friends, right? "

You sighed, feeling a mix of annoyance and fatigue. "Felix, we're not in the mood for this right now. Can we please just go our separate ways?"

But instead of acquiescing, Felix shook his head with a playful smirk. "Nah, I've got a better idea. How about you come over to my place?'"

The irritation reached its peak as you reluctantly allowed him to guide you in the direction of his house. "Fine, but only for a little while. I've got things to do."

Felix grinned triumphantly, his playful demeanor seemingly unaffected by the tension. "Deal."

As you and Felix approached his house, a familiar sense of comfort washed over you. You had been there countless times before, and despite the current tension between you two, a small part of you couldn't help but feel a fleeting sense of happiness at the prospect of spending time in a familiar environment.

Felix swung open the door with his usual flair, ushering you inside. The air inside his house was filled with a mix of warmth and familiarity.

You had been to Felix's house many times before, and despite the current tension between you two, a small part of you couldn't help but feel a sense of comfort at the prospect of spending time there.

Reaching Felix's front door, he swung it open with a flourish, gesturing for you to enter. "After you, my friend,"

You stepped inside, the familiar surroundings evoking a strange mix of emotions. It was a place filled with memories of laughter, shared secrets, and casual hangouts. The familiarity momentarily lifted your spirits, and you found yourself slipping into a momentary sense of contentment.

Felix closed the door behind you, and you both made your way to the living room. "So, what do you feel like doing? Homework?" Felix asked, attempting to break the awkward silence.

You hesitated for a moment, still grappling with the unresolved tension between you two. "Honestly, Felix, I don't know why you insisted on dragging me here."

Felix plopped down on the couch, looking at you with a casual grin, ignoring your question. "Or..." he took your hand and pulled you onto the couch with him, "My parents aren't home, but that doesn't matter cause we're just friends hanging out, right"

"Why can't you let it go, Felix?" you retorted, your frustration reaching a boiling point. "I don't understand why you're so pressed about this whole thing."

Felix's anger suddenly bursted out of nowhere. "Because we're not just friends, and you damn well know it!"

His words hung in the air, the weight of the unspoken tension finally surfacing. Before you could respond, Felix closed the distance between you two in an instant. The sudden intensity caught you off guard as he slightly pushed your shoulders against the side of the couch, pulling you into a hot, angry kiss.

The kiss was a collision of conflicting emotions—frustration, desire, and a hint of desperation. Felix's lips pressed against yours with a fiery intensity, as if trying to convey everything he couldn't put into words. The anger that had simmered between you two transformed into a raw, passionate exchange.

For a moment, you were suspended in a whirlwind of conflicting feelings. The familiarity of Felix's touch, coupled with the undeniable chemistry, ignited a spark that had been smoldering beneath the surface. It was a heated kiss that spoke volumes, a silent admission of the unspoken connection that neither of you could deny.

The air crackled with the intensity of the moment, and for that brief instant, it felt like the world outside ceased to exist. The kiss lingered for what felt like an eternity, and as Felix finally pulled away, hovering over you.

Felix's eyes bore into yours, looking down on you. "Do friends make out every week, or is that just us?"

You took a moment to collect your thoughts, the conflicting desire within you. "Just us," you admitted, your voice barely above a whisper.

"So, we're not just friends, are we?"

Felix, sensing the subtle shift, leaned in closer, his eyes locking onto yours. There was a quiet intensity in his gaze that spoke volumes. Without saying a word, he traced a gentle path with his fingers along your jawline, sending shivers down your spine.

Your breath caught as Felix's lips latched onto the sensitive skin of your neck. A soft gasp escaped your lips, and your heart raced in response to the unexpected touch. His kiss was rough, mirroring the unspoken desire between you.

Felix sucked on your neck, leaving a mark. It sent a wave of tingles through your body, and you couldn't deny the magnetic pull that drew you closer. The room seemed to fade away, leaving only the sensation of his lips against your skin.

As Felix continued to explore the delicate curve of your neck, a mix of emotions flooded your senses—desire, uncertainty, and the undeniable chemistry that had always simmered beneath the surface. It was a moment suspended in time, where the boundaries between friendship and something more became increasingly blurred.

Finally, Felix pulled back, his eyes locking onto yours with a mixture of playfulness and sincerity. "Friends don't usually do that, do they?"

You took a deep breath, attempting to process the whirlwind of emotions that had just unfolded. Felix's eyes searched yours for a reaction, and a vulnerable tension lingered in the air.

"No," you replied, your voice dripped with lust.

Felix grinned, his playful demeanor returning. "Well, I guess that means we've crossed the line ages ago."

He gently brushed a strand of hair away from your face and leaned in for another kiss, the intensity of the moment still lingering. You reciprocated the kiss, but as Felix's hands began to wander up your skirt, you felt a surge of hesitation. Even though you two have had sex a few times already, you first needed to talk this whole thing out. Pulling back slightly, you met his gaze with a hint of caution. "Felix," you breathed out, "Stop, slow down."

Felix's hands halted immediately as you pulled away, and he looked at you with an understanding expression. The room, once charged with a heated atmosphere, seemed to cool down as Felix maintained a respectful distance.

"Sorry," he said softly, catching his breath. "I got carried away."

"It's okay," you replied, your voice a bit shaky.

As the tension eased, Felix reached out to gently fix your hair, his touch tender and considerate.

Felix, with his usual playful demeanor, leaned back with a smirk, the glint of mischief in his eyes undiminished. "Well, that was unexpected of friends, right?"

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writeyouin · 1 month ago

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Swerve X Reader – Quiz Night

Description: When Swerve is exploring Earth in his holoform, he finds a movie quiz where he meets you and quickly falls in love. Set in a Transformers Prime AU wherein Swerve went to Earth with the Autobots. LIGHT SMUT BELOW THE CUT.

A/N – Okay, so every fortnight, I go to my local cinema’s movie quiz and I’ve had this scenario in my head since I started going to that. I just wanted to write this for me to try and get back into writing on my days off from teaching.

Also, there is a Steve who wins every week. I am determined to beat him just once.

Warnings – MILD SMUT / NSFW.

Rating – M

Swerve looked around the small café, wringing his hands anxiously. He felt all too aware of his holoform, sure that any minute now, every human in the room would see him for what he really was and that his life would turn into a B-Movie wherein the FBI and CIA would chase him down, shooting everything they could at him until he was captured and tortured for information. And why not?

Something similar had happened to Bumblebee before he met Charlie. Why not Swerve too? Then again, the Autobots had a base on Earth now, and Swerve was confident in the use of his holoform… though this was the first time he’d tried it outside his hab-suite in the base.

Then there was the other thing. If Optimus knew that Swerve was wasting precious energon to maintain his holoform all because he just had to get out and see some humans up close- Well, sufficed to say, the big guy would be pissed.

But it was just one night. Surely, Swerve could justify that. Even Cinderella got one night out. Alright. For tonight he would be Cinder-Fella. Or at least he would be if he could find somewhere to sit.

Honestly, when Swerve jumped into the little cinema on the promenade, he hadn’t expected much, he’d just wanted to see it. Then, he headed upstairs and saw that they were setting up a movie quiz, and he just couldn’t resist entering. It was only a dollar to enter and he’d found the occasional bit of cash on the street, so why the hell not?

Yet, as Swerve looked around the café on the second floor, he realised that he was not a part of this community. There were several friend groups, most of who seemed to be regulars and who were riling up the other teams obviously used to the atmosphere, and there were no empty tables, just a few spare seats.

Gathering up his courage, Swerve loped towards your table, seeing that you were the only person on it.

“Excuse me, do you mind if I sit here? I sorta came here on impulse and well- Y’know,” He gestured around at the lack of available tables.

“Oh, sure,” You said agreeably, putting your phone down. “I’m (Y/N).”

“Swerve,” He introduced himself, feeling less shy at your friendly demeanour.

“Huh, unusual name,” You commented, not unfriendly in tone.

“Oh, y-yeah. Unconventional parents.”

“So, no team, Swerve?” You asked, changing the subject to make him more comfortable.

“No, uh, first time. I didn’t even know there was a quiz till I got here. How about you?”

“I had a teammate but she just texted that she can’t make it. So, I guess I’m on my own tonight unless you wanna team up.”

Swerve stared blankly at you. He couldn’t believe that you were being so nice. Then again, you barely knew him. He was certain once you got to know him, you would find him as annoying as the other Autobots did.

Seeing his hesitation, you held up your hand kin a Scout’s promise, “I promise to share any prizes we win.”

Swerve felt his human obsession taking hold and his energon pump thrummed excitedly, “Yeah, that sounds great.”

When the quiz started, you thought you were good at movie trivia, but Swerve shot you out the water. He was even better than the quiz champion Steve, who generally won every week. The only thing Swerve seemed to struggle with was the years movies came out, though that was because Cybertronians measured time differently, and you did well enough at those, getting most right.

“Wow,” You chuckled at the first break between rounds. “You’re insanely good at this. You’re even beating Steve.”

“Steve?” Swerve asked, worried that he was someone you were interested in, even though he had no reasonable claim to be jealous.

“Yeah, he’s the old guy by the counter. He wins a lot, but he’s a good guy. Always shares his prizes. I think he’s just in it for the social aspect, y’know? A lot of people here are. It’s a nice little community. Plus, this is the only thing we have against the big cinema… There’s no heart in that place.”

“No kidding,” Swerve hummed, fascinated by you and your energy. “So, (Y/N), tell me about yourself.”

You smiled, thinking about how comfortable you felt around Swerve. He seemed like a nice guy. You filled him in on a few details of your day-to-day life. In return, he responded with a few facts about himself, though he was sometimes vague, unable to tell you the truth behind his Cybertronian life.

He told you that he was a scientist in a government base; this wasn’t a massive stretch from the truth since he was a metallurgist, using his skills to help the Autobots against the Decepticons, though he stayed far from any battles, generally being a house-mouse.

You were impressed with his work, feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the high-status job. Then, the next round of the quiz began and the two of you were back on the same wavelength as teammates.

The quiz questions were set in a bingo card formation, giving everyone a fair shot at winning, so despite Swerve’s movie prowess the two of you didn’t win anything until the third round, wherein you were awarded two cinema tickets, free to use for any film.

At the end of the night, standing outside the cinema, you held the tickets out to Swerve, “Here, you can take these. You answered all the hard questions.”

“No, no. I can’t take them. I mean, it was your table and you helped a lot, and you come here all the time and I’m just-” Swerve began nervously babbling and you grinned, finding him cute.

You grabbed his hand, handing him one of the tickets, “Alright, fifty-fifty split. But hey, if you’re not doing anything next week, I was gonna come and see the seven O’clock showing of the new fantasy flick. You could join me for that if you wanted.”

Swerve nodded dumbly, thinking how warm your hands felt atop his.

“Great, it’s a date. See you then.”

You walked away with a bounce in your step. Meanwhile, Swerve stayed there, unable to move while he wondered whether you meant a date as in a real, romantic date or whether it was just a turn of phrase. Either way, for the rest of the week, he was quiet and distracted, unable to get you out of his processor.

When Swerve next snuck away from the base, using his holoform once again to meet you he fell in love. This was not the first time he had fallen in love, since he formed attachments quickly, but it was the hardest he had ever fallen, fascinated as he was by your world and species.

The two of you sat down to the film, and Swerve felt his brain freeze when you rested your head on his shoulder halfway through the film, grabbing his hand and entwining your fingers with his. It took him a few seconds before he stiffly let his cheek rest against your hair which was so, so soft.

“I had a really good time with you tonight,” You said quietly as the two of you filed out into the cool night air.

“Me too,” Swerve replied almost giddily as he drank in the sight of you.

You pulled a slip of paper from your pocket, offering it to Swerve, “Here, call me.”

Swerve unfolded the paper, finding your number with a little heart doodled next to it. He flushed red, becoming even more flustered when you pecked his cheek, lingering for a second before you said goodnight and left him there again. From there, you and Swerve went on several more dates, though he always avoided dinner dates, being unable to eat, and then things between the two of you got serious.

Swerve knew this was wrong. When you’d asked him back to your place, he should have said no. He should have never started any kind of relationship with you in the first place, but now things were getting serious and beneath all the excitement, he was ashamed of himself. What would you do if you knew who he really was? What he really was? Yet that didn’t stop him from sloppily kissing you, listening to you gasp when his erection pressed against your thigh. He was addicted to you and he was being selfish. Worse, as the intimacy built and you gave yourself to him completely, Swerve couldn’t stop himself from saying, “I love you,” repeating the phrase as he kissed your neck, and again when your body was pressed against his, and again as the two of you cuddled afterwards. He held your body against him during the night, stroking your exposed skin while you slept. He loved you. He loved the idea of a relationship with you. He loved that you had said the words back to him that very night. But ultimately, love wasn’t enough. Yes, he loved you in a million ways, but he couldn’t trust you. He wanted so badly to, but after he had betrayed your trust so thoughtlessly, he was too scared that if you found out what he was all of your love for him would evaporate. In the twilight hours, nearing early morning, Swerve received a communication from Prime, demanding his presence back at the base. Swerve sighed. First and foremost, all Cybertronians had a duty to their faction, and though Swerve wanted to put you first, he had to go back. If he stayed out any longer, he would have to explain his many long absences. He was a scientist and his duty was to the Autobots. He kissed the back of your shoulder, took a minute to find a paper and a pen, then left a note on his pillow stating that he wished he could stay but an emergency at work had come up. Then, glancing longingly at you before leaving, Swerve felt one last flush of shame and disgust at himself. No matter how much he loved you, he was using you to make himself feel better, and he knew he wouldn’t stop. He couldn’t.

#fanfiction #fanfic #reader insert #reader #transformers #maccadam #mtmte #more than meets the eye #the lost light #transformers prime #TFP #transformers prime au #swerve #mtmte swerve #swerve x reader

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ticklishfiend · 7 months ago

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Figure Us Out (ATLA)

(lee!zuko /ler!aang and sokka)

A/N : i love atla rn. love zuko. if i encounter an awkward grumpy guy with a redemption arc in media, u bet ur ass i’m going to tickle him

Word Count : 3863

Summary : Zuko still feels like an outsider in their group. Aang and the others are gonna make sure he feels included!

hope u enjoy!!

—

“You’re such a liar!” Katara playfully punched Sokka in the arm, drawing a laugh out of him.

“I am not! That’s exactly how it went down, you’re just embarrassed that–”

“I’m not embarrassed–”

“Yeah, and you’re totally not red in the face either.”

“Sokka!”

This was…this was weird.

Before meeting Sokka and Katara, Zuko really thought “being angry at your sibling” was a concept he understood better than anyone. He and Azula fought constantly back at home, it was pretty much just how they communicated with each other. Arguments aplenty, yelling and bickering by the dozen.

But after spending the past few weeks with his new team (the word ‘friends’ still makes him bite his tongue), he’s realized there’s actually two different types of a sibling fight, and one of those types he’s never personally encountered before.

He’s used to spitting insults, deep personal cuts made against your biggest insecurities. Lies and manipulation hidden under sweet smiles so no one around suspects a thing. Most fights were like dances, using careful words and holding back just enough information to make your opponent second-guess themselves. And, of course, an argument was rarely ever had without literal flames thrown around to really drive it home.

But this? This was playful bickering around a campfire just to get under each other’s skin. Lighthearted teasing that showed how well they knew each other. There was love under each jab.

It was sorta weirding Zuko out.

He wasn’t uncomfortable by it, in fact probably the opposite. It made him feel closer to the group that he was included in moments like these. He liked getting to witness how normal siblings are supposed to interact, even if he knows he’ll never truly get to experience something like that himself. Zuko’s accepted his distance with Azula, and honestly it’d probably feel weirder if they did interact like this after everything they’ve gone through.

Honestly, he’s not sure why he feels weird. Maybe it’s because he’s just not as close to them all as they are to each other. Right now, Zuko’s just an awkward outsider that’s sorta-kinda trying to fit in, and fitting in with normal people has never exactly been his strong suit. He’s awkward and stiff and he knows it. And yet, they’ve been so open to him already. Sure, he had to prove he was over his whole ‘capture the avatar to avenge my honor’ phase, but now that he’s over that hump they’ve been super cool to him.

Zuko’s weirdly enjoyed getting to know this group’s dynamics with each other. He’s not entirely sure how he fits in yet, but that’s not even his biggest concern right now. Actually, his biggest concern right now might be that weird look Katara’s got on her face.

“Lying is pretty unbecoming of a warrior, dontcha think Suki?” Katara grinned over at Sokka’s girlfriend, who chuckled into his shoulder,

“Do not get me involved in…whatever this is.”

“Yeah, don’t drag her into this! She wasn’t even there!” Sokka argued very loudly, his usual bickering style. He gripped onto Suki’s arm with a pout, fluttering his eyelashes. “You believe me, right?”

Suki glanced at Katara behind Sokka’s back, and could clearly see her plotting something. Katara grinned like a loon before holding a finger up to her lips. Suki giggled, “Of course I believe you. How couldn’t I believe this face?” She pinched his cheek and Sokka hummed happily. Zuko took another spoonful of soup as he watched quietly, catching on that something was about to happen. He just didn’t know what.

Then, when Katara shoved her hands under Sokka’s arms, Zuko nearly spit his soup into the fire at Sokka’s resounding shriek. Sokka quickly fell into a fit of loud laughter, toppling over his log with Katara following after.

“Admit you’re a liar!” She practically yelled over Sokka’s obnoxiously loud cackling. “Admit it!”

“AH! Ahaha no! You–You’re crahazy!” He sputtered out, shoving at Katara’s hands to no avail.

Zuko felt weird watching this. He’s not unfamiliar with the concept of tickling, but he’s not exactly accustomed to it either. Especially not with family. Sure, Uncle had been known to tweak his sides every once in a while when they were out on their own together, but never anything like this. Zuko took to awkwardly staring into his soup, hoping he’d fade into the background like he usually did at dinner time.

Unfortunately for him, tonight he was sitting next to Aang. Zuko felt an elbow nudge his rib, glancing over to the smiling Avatar.

“Y’know, Sokka’s pretty well-known for exaggerating his stories like, a lot. Katara’s told this story before and he didn’t say a thing then. He definitely deserves this.”

Zuko swallowed some soup. “That seems likely,” he said stiffly. Zuko could feel Aang’s eyes on him at the same time he heard the scuffle quiet down.

“That was…” Sokka panted, “so uncalled for. Did you have to do that in front of Suki? And the fire prince?!” Sokka whined, his hands thrown over his face.

“Hey, if anyone deserves to know how much of a liar you are, it’s gonna be your girlfriend and the new guy,” Katara said proudly, standing up to grab another log for the fire. Sokka grumbled, crossing his arms as Suki wrapped him in a sympathetic hug.

Zuko decided not to acknowledge his mentioning, not sure if he should get involved in this. Apparently Aang felt otherwise.

“Did you and your sister ever play like that?”

Oh. Okay. So that’s what Aang was thinking about.

The crackling of the fire seemed so much louder now that everyone had gone noticeably silent. Zuko found himself staring into it.

Katara shifted uncomfortably. “Aang, maybe we shouldn’t–”

“No no, it’s okay,” Zuko sat his bowl down next to his log. “I understand having questions.”

Aang continued looking at him with those big eyes of his, but Zuko kept staring into the fire. Talking about family wasn’t always the easiest, but felt necessary in gaining more of their trust. They deserved to know this stuff.

“My sister and I have never really been close. We’ve had our…moments. But play was rarely on the table,” Zuko said. “Not when we both had so much on the line.”

Aang pinched his lips together in thought. “So I’m guessing tickle fights were never on the table either, huh?”

Zuko huffed in amusement, finally peeking over at Aang. “No, not really.”

“Wait, so…” Sokka spoke up, curiosity mixed with something else glinting in his eye, clearly excited about changing the subject. “Do you even know if you’re ticklish?”

Toph barked a laugh from her rock stool. “You’re just asking cause you’re tired of being the most ticklish in the group!”

“Hey!” Sokka exclaimed angrily before fixing his face. “Look, first of all, I’m not the most ticklish. We all know that title belongs to Aang,” Sokka nodded towards Aang, who just grinned. “And secondly, being the one that gets ganged up on all the time gets a little unfair when I’m surrounded by frickin' benders, okay?!”

Everyone but Zuko chuckled at that, which brought Sokka’s attention back towards him. “Seriously though, fire prince. Ticklish or no?”

“Um…” Zuko cringed. “I mean, yeah I guess so. Er–Uncle poked me sometimes when we were on the run together, if that counts.”

“Did you not just hear Sokka begging for his life two seconds ago?” said Toph with a chuckle. “That definitely doesn’t count.”

Zuko really wasn’t sure what to say. He’s smart enough to know where this conversation seemed to be heading, and was really unsure how to feel about that. In a poor attempt to evade whatever this was, he pulled his knees to his chest and crossed his arms over them, leaving a spot to rest his head.

While Zuko might’ve been smart enough to sense the direction these questions were heading, Aang was smart enough to sense he didn’t really feel comfortable with it. Not yet at least.

“Sokka, can you tell that story about the saber-tooth moose lion? I don’t think Zuko’s heard that one yet.”

Sokka gasped in excitement, his train of thought successfully derailed. “Foo Foo Cuddlypoops!”

—

The next day, Zuko had forgotten all about the attention he got last night. Sure, he thought about it some when he was trying to go to sleep that night. And sure, maybe he clutched onto his midsection a little tighter than usual as he dozed off, thinking about the loud laughter drawn out of Sokka from playful hands. It didn’t…it wasn’t like he was actually thinking about it. Not in any real way. It was just something interesting to ponder on. A sensation relatively foreign to him that would probably make him laugh like he didn’t often get to do so freely. And thinking about the fact that the rest of the group seemed curious if it would work on him was definitely…it was totally nothing, really.

So like–he’s forgotten all about it now. It’s a new day, and Zuko’s got work to do.

He and Aang had been training their fire all morning, and it was finally time for lunch. Sokka had gone fishing earlier, so they all kept to doing their own thing while he cooked over the fire (a fire Aang had lit himself, by the way. Zuko felt a weird sense of pride that Aang was seriously getting the hang of this, and using it in a way he knew would make Uncle proud).

Zuko decided on meditation while he waited. He sat on the ground shirtless, honoring his Uncle as he let the sun warm his skin and settle the fire inside him. Meditation like this seemed impossible to him just a couple years ago, his impatience once too thin and his temper too fraught. But now, it came so much easier. Zuko could feel the sun working wonders in his body, keeping his fire at a healthy state while also giving him time to clear his full mind. It was truly relaxing.

Well, it was relaxing, until he felt a set of hands scribbling at the base of his spine. “GAAHA–!” Zuko was quickly jolted out of his zone with a yelp, arching his back away with flailing arms.

“What the–?!” Zuko whipped his head around to find Toph giggling behind him on the ground. “Toph, what the heck?! Can’t you see I’m meditating!”

“Well duh, Sparky, that’s why I did it,” She wiggled her fingers in the air teasingly with a grin. “You never even saw it coming!”

Zuko couldn’t will the flush from his face. He felt so embarrassed, getting played by a 12 year old girl like that. Zuko groaned into his palm, “Whatever, just don’t do it again. Let me finish before–”

“Lunch is ready!” Sokka yelled across camp, using Suki’s fan to waft the smell towards his friends. Zuko groaned again, scowling at the girl who couldn’t even see him doing it.

“Time to eat, Jumpy,” Toph snickered, getting up and following the smell. Zuko rolled his eyes before throwing his shirt back on and following behind.

For the next 10 minutes the group sat around the smoky logs no longer lit by fire, eating their food and sharing how their days have gone so far.

“Guys, Zuko showed me this really cool firebending trick earlier! I’ll show you once my stomach’s settled,” Aang said excitedly, taking a bite of the berries Katara had scavenged for him.

“It’s actually a pretty complicated move. I was surprised you picked it up so quick,” Zuko said, feeling a little shy. He was finally warming up enough to talk without being addressed first during these meal times, and silently hoped he wouldn’t get called out on it.

“Well, that’s Aang for you,” Katara smiled towards the Avatar. “Actually, it sorta frustrated me when I first started teaching him waterbending. It took me ages to master those skills, and yet it took him no time at all.” She crossed her arms at him, teasing as if it still bothered her after all this time.

“Yeah, I get that,” said Zuko. “I guess it doesn’t bother me as much since I’ve already seen all the crazy stuff he can do with the other elements. It’s not exactly new for me to see him be so…” Zuko waved his hand in the air trying to find the word, but once he did he got a little embarrassed and decided against it. “Well, you know.”

“Nooo, c’mon, what were you gonna say!” Aang grinned beside him, poking his arm. “You were totally gonna say ‘amazing’ right?”

Zuko sported a little grin of his own, peeking an eye towards Aang. “Actually, I was gonna say annoying,” Zuko lied, almost chuckling at Aang’s gasp.

“Ohoh snap!” Sokka giggled, stuffing his face with more fish. “You just gonna take that, Aang?”

Toph suddenly let her stool drop to the ground, the loud bang catching everyone’s attention. “I know how you can get him back.”

Zuko froze, staring nervously her way. Aang caught the look he was giving, and was immediately intrigued.

“Oh yeah? How so?” Aang asked, before Toph leaned in and whispered something in his ear that made them both snicker.

Aang stood up with crossed arms, unable to stop smiling. “You know, I just remembered a certain conversation we had last night about a certain weakness of yours.” Zuko’s eyes widened, his gaze darting around each person to gauge their reactions. They were all smiling, and Zuko felt a nervous twitch at the corner of his own lips.

“Cmon, seriously? I know what you told him, Toph, and that was not what you think it was. You just…surprised me while I was concentrating,” Zuko defended, trying really hard not to smile right now.

“Yeah, tell that to the giggle you let slip,” Toph snickered.

Sokka caught on quickly with a chuckle. “Oh, buddy, you are so in for it now,” he tossed his last bite of fish into his mouth. “Take it from me, it’s best to just let it happen instead of running. If you run now, everybody’s gonna come after you.”

Zuko froze, darting his eyes back to Aang towering over him. The Avatar wiggled his fingers in the air, and Zuko knew what he had to do.

With a groan, Zuko took a deep breath, puffing his cheeks with air, and tensed his entire body. He pulled his arms close to his chest and clenched his eyes closed. He was gonna take it like a champ. A very awkward champ.

But instead of the tickle attack he had expected, he heard everyone around start laughing. He peeked one eye open and saw Aang doubled over holding his stomach through his giggles.

Katara snickered behind her hand, “For a former prince, you really can be such a dork sometimes!” Zuko blushed, untensing his body.

“Sokka told me not to run so–!” Zuko waved his arms around awkwardly, unsure of what to do. He sighed behind his hands, feeling warm in the face. “I really don’t get you people sometimes.”

Aang giggled, walking behind Zuko and plopping down. “It’s okay, you’ll figure us out eventually,” he said, before digging his fingers into the back of Zuko’s ribs.

“AH! Ahaha–wait! Aang!” Zuko sputtered out a surprised giggle before pinching his lips closed, squirming and kicking his feet into the dirt. He giggled in his throat, trying hard not to let any sounds escape his lips. Somehow, this was even more embarrassing than Zuko thought it would be.

“Oh cmon, he’s trying to hold it in!” Toph complained, pointing at her ears, “I can’t exactly see your reactions, idiot, I’m gonna need to hear it.”

Zuko shook his head, but it was getting really hard to contain himself when Aang was doing that to his sides. He kept letting out little squeaks and growls, but he could feel his chest was filling with giggles and knew it would be no time before a real laugh leaked through.

“Get his armpits! That always kills you and Sokka,” Katara called out, getting an offended, “Hey, what’s this got to do with me?!” from Sokka.

Aang listened, tickling with so much concentration his tongue poked through his lips. He tried sticking his fingers under Zuko’s arms, but the prince kept them glued tight to his sides. Aang stopped with a chuckle, looking toward the siblings. “He won’t let me in there!”

“I can’t hehelp it!” Zuko complained, but didn’t move from his spot on the log. He panted, relieved for a break, but he could tell Aang wasn’t finished just yet.

“At least try to move your arms away. C’mon, I wanna hear you laugh!” Aang said, giving Zuko a poke to his lower back. When Zuko yelped and arched away, Aang snickered and tried again. And again. And again. Aang kept poking at his back like a typewriter, and Zuko let out the quickest set of giggles before standing up and backing away nervously.

“I–I cahan’t. I really–there’s no way–” Zuko shook his head, embarrassed but clearly having some fun himself. Everyone giggled at his reaction, amused by how ticklish and unable to take it he seemed to be.

“Wait, okay, now I want a turn,” Sokka stood up from his log and walked towards Zuko with wiggly fingers. Zuko shrinked away with a nervous chuckle, his arms wrapped around his midsection.

“Noho way, this is ridiculous–”

“Oh cmoooon! I’ll let you get me back after!” Sokka locked his hands together to beg, “Pleeease Zuko?” He pouted and bat his eyelashes at the boy. Zuko just scoffed and rolled his eyes with a grin peeking at the corner of his lips.

“You are so stupid,” he grumbled. “That’s not gonna work on me. I’m not your girlfriend.”

“Maybe not, but I think I make a pretty good argument. I’m super fun to tickle, right guys?” Sokka looked around the room. Katara shrugged.

“Eh. You’re super loud. It’s kind of annoying.”

“Katara! Help me here!”

“Er–buuuut you do snort like a pig sometimes! That’s pretty funny,” she smiled toward Zuko, who just gave an incredulous look back. “I think you should do it. He’s pretty easy to fight back if you hate it.”

Zuko took a second to think it over. No one launched towards him, no one took him by surprise. Everyone just waited to see if he’d actually be okay with it.

Spirits. Sometimes it’s really annoying how nice this group can be.

With a sigh, Zuko spread his arms out to the side, holding his head up high (but kept his eyes closed for good measure. It’s really embarrassing to look everyone in the eyes right now).

“Alright, yes!” Sokka clapped his hands together, making his way behind Zuko. “Okay, see how long you can keep your arms up for. Aang and I play this game all the time.”

Zuko expected the tickle to come right after, but…nothing happened. He waited a few seconds, and still, nothing. Finally he got frustrated, and peeked his eyes open to see Sokka’s hands floating just above his armpits. Seeing that freaked Zuko out way more than he expected, shooting his arms down with a yelp. Unfortunately for him, all that did was trap Sokka’s hands right where they wanted to be, and they immediately dug into his armpits like no tomorrow.

Zuko shrieked, curling up as much as he could while standing before crumbling into a fit of screechy cackles and giggles.

“Oh man, I wasn’t sure that trick would work on you!” Sokka giggled, his fingertips gently but efficiently digging into Zuko’s underarms with no plan on moving.

Zuko was in stitches. He wasn’t expecting this to be so unbearable, but spirits were his armpits ticklish. He could barely get a word out, pretty much babbling nonsense through his endless laughter.

“Ahaha! W-waahaha! It-It–-gggahaha nohoho!” Zuko cackled, squirming from side to side before crumbling to his knees in laughter.

“Finally!” said Toph, punching Aang in the shoulder happily. “Took you softies long enough to get him actually laughing! If it was me tickling Sparky, he’d probably be in tears by now.”

“And that’s exactly why you aren’t allowed to tickle him,” Katara said, watching the scene with a smile. “Not yet at least. Clearly this is new to Zuko, we don’t wanna run him off when we just got him.”

“St-stahahaha! Ahaha guys!” Zuko rolled onto his back, his body overcome with giggles when Sokka started pinching lightly at his sides.

“‘Guys?’ Don’t look at us, it’s Sokka you’ve gotta bargain with,” Toph teased, popping one of Aang’s berries into her mouth.

“Yeah! What do I get in return for stopping, huh?” Sokka said, pinching upward toward his lower ribs. That got a real good shriek out of Zuko, and everyone around couldn’t help but laugh.

“I-! Gahaha, I dohohon’t–fffaahaha knohohow!” Zuko threw his head back as Sokka tickled all over his ribs, finally grabbing onto Sokka’s wrists and pulling him off. Sokka pulled back with no fight, only giving him another poke in the belly to hear Zuko yelp before sitting back and letting the boy collect himself.

Zuko panted, a stray giggle escaping him as he breathed. He clutched his stomach and threw a hand over his warm face, covering his eyes. He wasn’t sure how he was gonna look everyone in the eyes after that display. Oh spirits, what was he thinking? That was such a bad idea letting them take him out so easily like that. They’ll never take him seriously again, he’s supposed to be Aang’s teacher for pete’s sake, shoot this might be really bad, this might—

“Ohoho man that was awesome Zuko! You lasted way longer than I thought you would!” Aang giggled from above Zuko’s head. Zuko peeked his eyes out and saw Aang holding up a hand for him to high five.

Zuko couldn’t help the little giggle that slipped out at that. The Avatar is so…silly. He groaned and swatted Aang’s hand away, making everyone laugh.

“After you get Sokka back, it’s my turn to play!” Aang straightened his back quickly, making the T-stance with his arms that Zuko held just a minute prior. “I bet I can last longer than you!”

“Pfff-” Toph laughed, slapping a hand on Aang’s shoulder. “Twinkle-toes, your record is currently four seconds without begging. You should probably start thinking your bets through before making them.”

“You can go ahead and have your turn. I’ll get Sokka when he least expects it,” Zuko grinned, sitting up and shooting his attacker a mischievous look. Sokka gulped with a nervous giggle, darting towards Aang to tickle him and change the subject away from himself.

“Ahaha wait! I wahasn’t ready!” Aang cried, immediately crumbling to the floor in a fit of childish shrieks and giggles.

Zuko watched on with a smile he couldn’t wipe from his face. These people were good. They worked with him at his pace. They understood things take time for him, and they’re okay with that.

Zuko can tell they already see him as their friend. He’s starting to think he can see them in the same light.

thanks for reading! consider reblogging if u enjoyed hehe <3

#tickle community #tickling #tickle fic #atla tickling #lee!zuko #ticklish!zuko #ler!aang #ler!sokka #ler!katara #ler!toph #lee!sokka #ticklish!sokka #avatar tickling

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myangelhaven · 23 days ago

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These are my recommendations of OT8 fics! It will be updated once in a while for new stories I have read. Hopefully the links work (lemme know if it doesn't)

Credits to the authors!! All information written is taken from the authors' post and has not been modified. Reminder that some fics are NOT for minors, so please read the key and avoid 18+ contents.

HAPPY READING!!

KEY

[❀]: fluff [𖤓]: angst [☄]: sad [☾]:smut [⟡]:smau [𖦹]: humour [✮]: my favs

˖⁺‧₊˚ ˚₊‧⁺˖✮---------------OT8----------------✮˖⁺‧₊˚ ˚₊‧⁺˖

☆ TEXTS

Skz as dads by @sunboki [❀]

Just Best Friend!Stray Kids being flirts by @maeleelee [☾]

Selling my boyfriend w/ skz by @luvyeni [❀][𖦹] NEW

baby daddy!skz vs your baby bump pics by @strayflowersstarsandlove [❀] NEW

sending boyfriend!skz a nude and then saying wrong person by @imagine-a-life-like-this NEW

accidentally flustering bf!skz by @strayflowersstarsandlove NEW

caught simping for them by @shoverse maknae line NEW

Stray Kids Reaction to You Not Saying "I Love You" Back by @jsabimi [❀]

SKZ TEXTING YOU by @luvyeni [❀]

"WHAT POSITION YALL IN?"

best friend!stray kids by @diddybok [❀]

finding out from another member that you have a crush on them

bf!skz random texts by @seungbinbin [❀]

sassy man apocalypse edition

POV: SKZ try to flirt with you by @thevampywolf [❀][𖦹]

Telling boyfriend!Stray Kids to imagine if you were dating by @imagine-a-life-like-this [❀]

best friend! stray kids when you ask them if you can suck them off by @multiland [☾]

SKZ TEXTS — you forgot to like his instagram post. by @hyunverse [❀]

Jealousy, jealousy by @chan4evurrr

Pranking skz by @binchanluvrr [❀]

"your mum hasn't paid me to date you this month" by @jinhyun [❀]

dad!skz random texts by @seungbins [❀]

bff!skz asking you out over texts by @lixie-phoria [❀]

caught simping for them by @shoverse [❀]

Boyfriend!Stray Kids @imagine-a-life-like-this [❀]

text you when they wake up alone after your first time together by

Kiss me through the phone ! By @aakomii [❀][𖦹]

skz reacting to a guy giving you their number

You go to another group's concert by @jinhyun [❀]

🛒 SKZ TEXTS — “what if i told you i was pregnant” by @sunboki [❀]

Best Friend!Reader asking Stray Kids for a divorce by @imagine-a-life-like-this [❀]

you accidentally send a nude to another member by @jinhyun [❀]

ASKING BSF!SKZ TO BUY YOU A SEX TOY by @luvyeni: maknae line

texts w/ supernatural stray kids by @taeiun: part I || part II [❀]

notes: chan & changbin are werewolves, minho & seungmin are witches, hyunjin is a vampire, han is a fairy, felix is an angel, and jeongin is a fox shifter

Skz forgets to pick up Bestfriend!Reader from the airport by @skzfairyy: Hyung line || maknae line [❀]

Friends with benefits by @shhuuga [𖤓][☄]

how fwb!skz deal with the morning (sorta) after

BF!SKZ ACCIDENTALLY REVEALS YOUR RELATIONSHIP DURING A LIVE by @lixie-phoria [❀]

prompt : your boyfriend accidentally flashes thousands of viewers his lockscreen - you - during his live after a concert.

OBSESSED, stray kids finding an old fan tweet abt them ♡by @strlstlvr [❀]: hyung line || maknae line

of course you were always their biggest fan, too bad they took a deep dive and found out how obsessed you actually were

Skz reactions to by @tinystarsthing : hyung line || maknae line [❀]

𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚒𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖!!

Guess who? by @stayndays [❀][⟡][mystery][soulmateau]

“Welcome to Y/N’s Soulmate Group Chat. There are 5 people in this group chat: Y/N, and their 4 potential soulmates. You all have 24 hours to figure out which one of you is Y/N’s soulmate. At the end of the 24 hours, Y/N must make a guess and say goodbye. Y/N only has one guess. If Y/N guesses correctly, them and their soulmate will live happily ever after. If Y/N guesses wrong, them and their soulmate will never meet, and never fall in love. No matter what though, the 3 others will be removed from the group chat, and only fate will bring you all together once again. Your 24 hours begins when everyone reads this message.”

⠄･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄more to come!⠄･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄

☆------------OT8's masterlist || skz masterlist-------------☆

#skz recs #OT8 #skz masterlist #OT8 x reader

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livesworthlivingau · 3 months ago

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Lives Worth Living Chapter 25

Isat/Two Hats spoilers below! CW: Light pining I guess? I'm sorry it's not heavier pining 😔

(You sit awkwardly in the common area with Nille and Vale, having asked for some privacy today to have a conversation alone with them. The other's all left to take care of some errands or personal activities they'd like to get done, Bonnie sticking around in the kitchen to prepare snacks for the next leg of our journey.)

"So... you already know about the loops and all, huh?" (You finally break the awkward silence with your mostly recovered voice, glancing over at Nille. She responds with a comforting yet bittersweet smile.)

"Yeah... Vale told me about their time in them, and in turn yours." (She explains, reaching out to place her hand on their fidgeting ones. Their tension seeming to fade away just a little.)

"So you know we've uhh... kinda already met then?"

"What?... What do the loops have to do with us meeting?"

"I may have forgotten to mention that part, Stardust." (Vale finally chimes in with a nervous chuckle.)

"Oh... Well... I'm kinda, still in the loops sorta?..."

"What's that mean exactly?" (She asks with a cautious tone, recognizing that it's a touchy subject. You let out a sigh, deciding to rip the bandage off.)

"... In 30 years, Odile dies of old age... I was there for it, and when it happened I... I got yanked all the way back here, the day after we beat the king..." (Her expression looks horrified for a moment, just staring in shock as she processes it all. You give her all the time she needs, looking away. You hate how that stare feels, but you can't blame anyone for doing it.)

(You perk up as you notice her moving out of the corner of your eye, before you know it her strong arms are tightly wrapped around you again. You slowly raise yours to place onto her back.)

"Sorry, I just... Wow... How are you holding up?" (She says as she releases the hug slowly, realizing she may have overstepped a bit.)

"N-No! It's fine!... Your hugs were always really nice." (You say with a little chuckle, it's so weird to tell a 'stranger' things like this.)

"It helps a lot having everyone for support... and having Vale back." (You admit giving a little smile before glancing over at them. They don't allow themself to meet your gaze...)

"Back? Wait, I'm lost now." (She asks, glancing between the both of us before Vale starts to explain.)

"After the loops, my job was done... I didn't need to exist anymore... So I simply ceased to be. I guess once the loops began again, I was plopped right back down... 30 years missed and it was merely a blink of an eye for me." (You all sit in an awkward silence yet again, unsure how to continue from there at first. Nille finally decides to break it.)

"Alright, well what's our next step then?"

"Uhh... Next step?"

"Well yeah, we gotta end your wish, right? So what next?"

"Oh... I hadn't really thought about that yet." (You blink, realizing this was so far from the top of your list you kinda just forgot all about it.)

"Maybe we could ask Jinn for help!" (She says, turning back to Vale, who immediately tenses up at the name.)

"Jinn?"

"Yeah! We met-"

"I think it may be best of we don't go spouting that information about freely!" (They interrupt, clearly unsure about the topic.)

"Oh come on, what's the harm in it? Besides don't you kinda wanna brag about it~?" (She asks with a grin and chuckle. They simply sigh and sit back in their seat, arms crossed, nodding begrudgingly for her to continue. She turns back to you, beaming excitedly.)

"We met the universe!"

"... Y-... You what?..."

"Yeah! It was just some traveler basically, but it knew things it couldn't possibly know otherwise! It was kinda spacey and weird, but what can you expect from a god really?" (You take a second to process all of this, chuckling a bit in disbelief finally.)

"I'm surprised Vale didn't try and take a swing at it."

"Oh trust me, the temptation was surely there... until it apologized for everything."

"It... It apologized?"

"Yes, we had a lovely chat actually. It's been just as affected by the island nonsense as any of us have been. That's why the wishes have gone so haywire."

"So it really was just... an accident?"

"More or less..."

"Heh... Well I guess that makes us even now!" (You joke playfully, the other two looking at you in confusion.)

"I met the Change God during the loops, remember?" (You ask, looking to Vale. They then let out an annoyed chuckle as it hits them.)

"Right, I think I tried my best to forget that little detail."

"Change, y'all have really had some wild lives, huh?" (Nille trails off, shaking her head some with her arms crossed. This was all really insane to say out loud now that you think about it. Everything's been so crazy that it almost feels normal at this point.)

(You continue chatting, filling each other in on what's happened. A few topics are avoided, mostly the future as to not mess with it too much, the topic of your nightmare feels oddly tense to Vale, and neither of you can dare bring up the topic of how you last looped...)

(Vale gives a yawn and leans back on the couch, rubbing at their good eye.)

"Didn't sleep well?" (You ask, though you're sure you know why.)

"No, not especially..." (They respond before Nille playfully nudges them.)

"Hey, you're doing great Vay. I'm glad you stuck around." (She remarks with a proud, bright smile. They look away but smile the tiniest bit in response. Before long they've wound up passing out, their head lazily drifting to rest on Nille's shoulder, which she allows happily.)

(You smile, happy to see them looking so relaxed for once... You can't help but pry a little, looking back to Nille and asking.)

"You really care about them, don't you?" (She perks up, realizing she'd been staring at them as well.)

"... Yeah, I really do. Poor thing's been through so much, and they're such a kind soul deep down. I just want them to see that too, y'know?" (She starts to explain, laying her head against theirs after a moment.)

"Heh... I commend your efforts so far, you've made a lot more progress than I ever could."

"Thanks. It helps I've had to beat myself up plenty about getting in my own head, learned the signs to spot I guess?" (She explains, giving a tired sigh herself.)

"It might be weird to hear but... Thank you. You helped me out a lot too... I don't think I'd be handling all this as well as I have been if not for all the times you've helped me..."

"As an expert on time loop shenanigans, I can confirm you're allowed to, yes~." (You both laugh at that, trying to keep it down as to not wake Vale.)

"Hah, man this time loop stuff is so crabbing wild. Am I allowed to accept thanks for something I haven't done yet?" (She asks with a chuckle.)

"Thanks again for taking care of Bon, I'm glad they were in such good hands."

"I can only take so much credit for all that, but I'm glad I could help with it~."

"SNACK TIIIIIIIME!" (Bonbon shouts from the kitchen, marching in with a big tray of various treats prepared, grinning proudly as they display it for you all.)

#lwlau #lives worth living au #isat au #isat spoilers #isat fanfic #isat #in stars and time fanfic #two hat spoilers #in stars and time spoilers #isat two hats

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impishjesters · 1 year ago

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Mafia Boss Jax x Reader

warning(s): gun mentioned, stalking mentioned, domestic/soft Jax, marriage mentioned note(s): Honestly couldn't really see much worth tagging, it's all just stuff you'd expect to see mentioned in a mafia/gang headcanon... A/N: So I saw a fanart thingie (and I've had it on the brain anyway) and it made me thirsty for some mafia boss Jax and I just... I might have to write up a one-shot (or series) at some point but this was enough to quench my thirst...temporarily. I can definitely see myself building a universe around this idea though. I'm excited as you can tell because I just kept fuckin' going in writing this out... Also feast upon domestic Jax in the latter half, I got mushy...

Jax is a tricky boss, it’s hard to get a solid read on him, as an enemy or an ally. He’s almost always sporting a grin, making it difficult to gauge unless you can tell those smiles apart. If he’s frowning? Ha.

He’s that fine middle ground of laid-back yet strict. His word is law, get shit done and do it right and he doesn’t particularly care about the rest.

This person needs to be killed, but before that, they need to be tortured for information. How you torture or kill them doesn’t matter, you get that information or else.

Rabbits are his motif design, not originally by choice but it stuck. Purple rabbit head, his signature grin, it’s childish—which is why it’s perfect, only idiots see that childish design and think “Oh this will be easy” and then it’s fuckin not.

Working for him means nobody is an exception to his little pranks and fuckery. Nothin’ too bad—not intentionally anyways. Bunch of wackos with guns, who thought they’d get trigger-happy when startled?

If you work for him, chances are he finds you a fun target for his mischief.

He might seem buddy buddy with you, but remember he’s your boss. Chances are you are acquaintances at best, not friends. At least for now—who knows?

If you’re dating him, well howdy hey aren’t you a pretty little thing on his arm?

Just kidding, regardless of whether you work under him or not you are given standard gun training as protection for yourself and him, but mainly yourself.

He does like it when you are his date for any events, though he’ll never say it. Jax is the type to bring up an event and do the whole shtick of “guess I’ll need to find a date” sorta guy.

Back on the topic of dating him and gun training—on the off chance you are dating and don’t know about his little crew and lifestyle… What the fuck’s wrong with you? Are you that blind? His position isn’t some well-kept secret, well not to anyone who knows anything.

Jax is pretty straightforward about it, except with his track record of joking there’s like a 97% chance you thought he was kidding when he said he’s a mafia boss. Ha, surprise.

Now if the two of you are dating, and you aren’t part of his little world then he does do his best to keep you out of it. This means that there are periods when you won’t see him, whether it’s because he’s busy or for safety reasons.

You aren’t safe from spam texts, calls, and video chats though. Nah, that’s all fair game to him baby.

Oh, you got work in the morning? Tough, he’ll stay on the phone/video with you until you pass out—he might go a step further and stay on the call for hours even if you are unconscious.

He does it for one of three reasons…

One, it gives him fuel to use whatever shit you say or do in your sleep to tease you with later.

Two, your company, albeit silent and unaware that you’re keeping him company, makes him feel less alone. Moments like this are often when he’s not working and at home, alone. Hearing you breathe, babble, and shuffle around on speaker has him feeling less alone in that big home of his.

Three, it gives him some piece of mind that you are okay, he can see and hear you, and no guns or glass are breaking to be heard. You’re safe. Moments like this are usually after stressful events, whether it’s a job gone wrong, someone injured, etc.

Those calls usually last through the night into the morning and you wake up and see the call still on or see him on the screen. He’s never told you about why some calls continue into the morning, or rather why he’s still awake when he should’ve been sleeping. Though it doesn’t take a genius to figure out it’s not just him being a stalker, but something more serious—if the oddly sweet tone he uses when telling you good morning and asking how you slept is anything to go by.

That said, Jax is not a morning person—even to you. Though if he’s awake before you or has yet to sleep, he’s oddly tender and domestic when it’s just the two of you.

“How’d ya sleep, angel? Dream of me? Nah, don’t answer that, I know ya did.”

“Hey sleepyhead, got ya coffee and breakfast ready. No, I didn’t put anything suspicious in it. I’m wounded doll, ya think I’d put in all that effort to make you breakfast just to ruin it?”

Okay so he’s still a little shit, but he’s got an unspoken soft spot for you.

Speaking of soft spots, if he’s truly down bad for you then that means you are his weakness. He can’t have those—no he’s not gonna kill ya Christ calm down—that means you’re at risk of getting hurt if word gets out.

So if the two of you aren’t at that level yet and are still living apart, he tries hard to keep his distance to keep the attention off you.

But if you are living together? You’re still at risk but he’s got his security measures, and bodyguards galore—even if you don’t live together he always has someone watching you—sure it’s a little creepy but just don’t think about it alright?

I said don’t think about it.

Jax does yet doesn’t understand the line of stalking. To him he’s keeping you safe, to you it’s likely an invasion of your privacy—but if you are anything like me then as long as there’s no malicious intent he can do his own thing. I dunno bout you but I’d rather him have eyes on me than something bad happen to me.

While living together it doesn’t take a genius to tell you that Jax visibly relaxes in your presence, especially when he comes home and gets into bed with you. He’s such a domestic sucker deep down, but you don’t need words to see that.

Overall, I feel like Jax wouldn’t date you if he didn’t have serious feelings for you. His lifestyle isn’t for everyone and he doesn’t open up to just anyone, it could take years before he finally allows himself to even ask you out on a date before considering more. But once the two of you are together he sees the two of you in for the long run, he’ll probably be upfront about it and say if you aren’t in this for the long run and potential marriage then he can’t do it.

Your Jax’s ride or die, please allow him to be yours too.

#tadc #the amazing digital circus #the amazing digital circus x reader #jax #jax x reader #tadc jax

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moonlight-prose · 14 days ago

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BLOOD ALONG THE MOON

➛ 04. ECHOES OF MADNESS

a/n: for some unknown reason, this man has decided to invade my thoughts again. between watching the batman again with @soulores and just fall making me long for this man again, this was bound to happen. i've been working on this chapter for months now, having started it well into april. but i'm actually feeling good about continuing. i've created a graphic for this story which i will add at the end of this chapter. hopefully this inspo sticks around for a bit because i'm excited for what's to come.

summary: funerals were a rarity in gotham, yet there you were at the most notable event of the year. few could truly get in...yet everyone was invited.

word count: 6.2k+

pairing: bruce wayne x f!reader

warnings: not explicit, cussing, violence, blood, angst, rescue mission, canon compliant sorta, danger, tensions running high, bruce doesn't know how to interact socially, our favorite reporter is an idiot when it comes to safety.

PREVIOUS CHAPTER | NEXT CHAPTER | SERIES MASTERLIST

Death seemed to shape the city of Gotham as the currents of a river would a stone. Wherever you looked, in every alleyway and around each street corner there was the stench of it. The way it seeped up from the cracked asphalt, spilled into the gutters, and leaked into the sewer lines. Tainting what good might have remained.

You couldn't remember the last time you attended a funeral. Yet people still kept dying. The call came early in the morning; Henry informing you—with a hoarse whisper of someone suffering a hangover—that you were to attend the biggest event in Gotham. Few could truly get in, yet everyone was invited.

The irony of the situation lingered like shitty burnt coffee on the back of your tongue.

From what Bruce Wayne told you briefly in his short but right to the point interview, this city once aspired to be something great. A beacon of hope for all those who needed it. But the only hint of that you could see echoed in the symbol that hung in the sky. You watched last night, a glass of wine in front of you and a scowl painted across your face, as dawn began to rise and the signal flicked off. Bringing another night of petty crime to a close.

Of course, you believed in what The Bat was doing; what he stood for. A call of vengeance to any piece of shit who tried to go against him. But at the end of the day you still witnessed the disaster that was left behind. The tarnished cold aftermath of all that he could not save.

The madness that stirred beneath the surface.

The click of your boots on the damp pavement was drowned out by the nonsensical chatter of the crowd. Reporters, photographers, anyone to capture this moment were corralled like cattle behind varying gates of different sizes. You almost wished you had a camera to solidify this moment in Gotham's history books. There you were, standing on the steps of a cathedral, a funeral for the mayor about to occur, and all people wanted was to see who attended. Who was on his personal friends list.

The bile slid up the back of your throat, burning your esophagus on the way. There had to be some irony to this situation. Some dark humor yet to be exposed. Maybe if you dug far enough...you'd find it.

"Daywalker!" You jumped at the nickname, your body on edge after the past two nights reporting. Flicking your gaze to the side, you caught sight of Martinez waving at you with a grin plastered across his face.

He took your grin as an invitation to join you on the steps.

"Quite an event huh."

Tugging your coat closer, you did what you could to wash away the chill of the morning air. "Anyone who's anyone is here."

He chuckled, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Who'd have thought they all knew the mayor."

"I guess he had friends in low places," you muttered, the wry smile on your face seemed to be all you could muster at this point.

The idea of the mayor being involved with Gotham's crime bosses didn't surprise you. In fact you probably would have been shocked if they didn't turn up. Dressed to the nines, dripping in jewels, and wearing grief as if it were stripped right off the runway.

Citizens lined the streets, their heads bowed in respect and in your mind's eye, they were the embodiment of a Baroque painting. Except they weren't worshiping the mayor as king. No, their eyes were cast to the cars that just pulled up. Mouths gaping in awe as none other than Carmine Falcone stepped out of his car, suit pressed and glasses hiding the truth.

You almost wanted to laugh.

A sleek black car pulled up to the line of cars, the rumble of the engine familiar to your ears. You turned, the collar of your coat blocking half your face against the cold air. Only to meet the gaze of Gotham's very own Prince. Bruce Wayne was dressed in a perfectly pressed suit with not a single hair out of place. Yet you could see the way he hid beneath the facade of wealth, how his eyes refused to meet anyone else's other than yours. His lips curled into a small hint of a smile, but people were starting to block you from sight, pulling his attention away to something far more important.

"I've got to help Gordon inside," Martinez said, pressing a soft hand to your arm. "Let's get out of the cold, yeah?"

Nodding, you climbed the remainder of the steps and followed him into the cathedral. The high ceilings casted shadows amongst them of people on the balcony level. Gotham's very own ghosts attending the funeral of a man who promised to save them. The architecture reminded you of prisons, of cells built specifically to drive men insane.

Maybe that was the point of Gotham to begin with.

To drive the people within it mad.

"Miss Day," Gordon greeted you with a gruff murmur, the exhaustion painted clear across his face.

As usual the detective who had The Bat in his pocket refused to find time to sleep. Especially on days like today.

"Detective." You glanced up, eyes tracing the silhouettes of Gotham's people as they gathered to the edge. Hungry for what might happen next—for the demise of those in power. "Busy day?"

He scoffed. "You got no idea."

"Trust me. I think I do," you murmured.

"Where's the big guy?"

Your eyes caught his briefly. "Henry Goldfinch doesn't attend the funerals of men he didn't believe in."

For the first time that morning, Gordon cracked a smile. "Harsh review."

You shrugged. "Or honest."

"Henry isn't one to make brash statements unless he knows something." Gordon's eyes narrowed slightly and suddenly you felt like you were the one being interviewed. "Does he know something?"

The familiar figure of a man you couldn't seem to dispel from your mind creeped past slowly, his head bowed and eyes cast to the floor. Yet he seemed to grow in height as he heard your voice. Even completely lost within his own mind, Bruce Wayne still searched for you wherever he went. How he managed to get under your skin alluded you. But the same could surprisingly be said for him as well.

"If he knew something he wouldn't tell me." You shifted the second Bruce's head rose, blue eyes fixing directly on you. "But you can't honestly stand there and tell me The Riddler or whatever the fuck he calls himself didn't target our mayor for a reason."

"You think the mayor was dirty?"

You scoffed. "I'm not saying that, but given the audience that's accrued in this building today...it wouldn't surprise me if he was."

"Day–" Gordon's words were cut off as Martinez loudly greeted someone behind you.

"Detective."

You were nearly ashamed of yourself at how quickly you recognized his raspy voice. The time you spent in the diner together played on a loop in the back of your mind. Admitting it weighed on your heart, but denying the truth felt inconceivable.

For that small amount of time as rain pelted the windows and music played softly in the background, you felt like a person again. Not a reporter sent out into the fray of Gotham, but you. The person buried beneath the trench coat you wore; the person who only seemed to come out on days when the sun shone over this dark city.

"Mr. Wayne." Gordon's eyes widened slightly, disbelief smeared across his face. It seemed the funeral dragged out even the most reclusive of souls. "I didn't expect..."

"Could I steal Miss. Day from you for a moment?" Even you could tell he was fighting against the uncomfortable nature of being out in public.

The thought nearly made you smile.

"Of course."

Gordon's attention was called away as Bruce's hand brushed your arm. You wondered if you were in a private setting, would he act differently? Would he touch you? Lead you himself? Or would he remain detached?

"I saw you arrive," you said, clasping your hands together and glancing at the throng of people that meandered through the doors. "Sorry I didn't say hello."

His mouth curled, eyes lighter than you'd seen them. If you squinted you might have seen the small glint of delight hidden in the blue of his iris. He hid the sight of joy well—a secret you weren't allowed to view yet. But for a split second...his mask slipped. You caught what might have been the Bruce Wayne of the past; the man that could still exist to this day.

"Quite an event to run into each other again."

You bit on the inside of your cheek to stop your grin. Flirting at a funeral reeked of inappropriate behavior. And yet you couldn't find it in your heart to care much, given the audience.

"And here I thought I'd have to pry you out of your tower to see you again," you joked, wishing he might gift you another small glimpse of that smile you knew existed.

His head ducked, lips pulling up, and your heart effectively stopped. "Am I that difficult?"

"Oh no," you said, breathing out a laugh. "Difficult is too generous. Now arduous or laborious or onerous–" He laughed, his eyes crinkling and oh how you longed to kiss him, to taste him on your tongue. "Those are a better fit in your case."

"Noted." He stepped closer as people shifted behind him, squeezing through the crowd for a seat. "Some days I'm more shadow than man. I'll make sure to be more available to you."

There were no rules or regulations about dating someone you'd interviewed. Henry seemed all for it—Alfred even more so—but you felt the nausea begin to eat at your stomach. The wariness of something to come. The truth wasn't out yet about all of this, why the mayor was killed, and until you felt comfortable again in Gotham...you weren't sure you wanted to start something with Bruce Wayne.

A relationship with him would bring you into the spotlight.

For a reporter, that was dangerous enough. For the ones you loved...it was lethal.

"Bruce...I–"

His eyes went blank, body moving away as he caught the conflict that flashed across your face. You didn't want him to get hurt. Refused to be the reason that the Wayne family no longer had someone to carry the name forward. Perhaps that's why you cut off your feelings and stowed them away in your heart. Or maybe you were simply terrified of someone finally knowing you.

After all...it had been awhile.

You longed to say all of this and more out loud, but whether or not he'd listen was a different story entirely.

"Were you at the scene?"

His question caught you off guard. "What? Oh...um...yes. I was."

He nodded. "Are you okay?"

If you had to count on one hand how many times Bruce Wayne left you speechless, floundering for coherent words, you'd run out of fingers. Rather than seek information and dig out every detail from your mind as others already had. He wanted to know if what you saw, the horror that still stuck to your skin, left scars of their own.

He wanted to make sure every part of you remained safe. Not simply your ability to do your job.

"Yes," you breathed, the rip in your chest—that inconsolable ache—suddenly too much to bear. "Thank you."

The conversation came to a natural conclusion when the procession began, the soft tinkle of a piano echoing off the stone walls. His lips parted, words on the tip of his tongue, but the sound of his name caused him to stiffen. Within seconds you watched the man you'd come to know vanish. Until the recluse Gotham recognized resurfaced.

"It was nice to see you," you said softly with a smile, leaving him to speak with others as you sought your standing place beside Martinez.

People diverted their attention as Falcone stepped into the building, his aura enough to fill the cathedral with fear and the distant tang of blood. You wondered if he ever felt it on his skin. The phantom warmth of someone else's life slipping through his fingers. Did the ghosts of his past haunt him as they did others? Or was he immune to their effect?

A villain with the eyes of a friend.

"Gordon would love to put that asshole behind bars," Martinez muttered, leaning on the wall beside you. "Walks in here like he owns the fuckin' place."

You sighed, unable to ignore the way Gordon glared at the man from across the room. The promise of death—or a fate worse—alight in his eyes.

Months ago, when rumors about Falcone began to spill into the Gazette's back doors, you attempted to write a story. To put a face of truth to the man pulling all the strings. Before you could even blink, Henry killed it with ease. Practically burning your files right in front of you and barring you from returning for a whole week.

You never understood what power Carmine Falcone held over people before that day. Only when you saw true fear in Henry's eyes at the thought of reporting your death, did you finally grasp the scope of this man's hold.

The reality of Gotham's darkness.

"Maybe he does," you mused, sipping on the coffee he brought you. "Maybe he owns every person in this room. We just don't know it yet."

"Wouldn't that be something," Martinez scoffed, tucking a hand into his front pocket. "Definitely somethin' to make the front page."

You grinned although no ounce of humor could be found in your otherwise solemn facade. The mayor was dirty. Everyone within a five foot radius could see that with a clarity that rarely befell a gloomy Gotham. But saying it out loud felt as if you were partaking in a misdeed that would get you burnt at the stake; no doubt turning you into the first killed witch in this damn city.

Of course news like that would make the front page. It would be slapped on every newspaper and magazine that was published only to seep through the streets and find the path to other cities beyond the outskirts. The blood of Gotham wouldn't merely affect the people here. It would lead to catastrophic downfalls in places you'd never been to, spots that would take this as a lesson to learn from—to do what this city could not.

You lost yourself in the chatter. The monotonous conversations of people attempting to pry at the personal life of a man no one truly knew. Although if you were the one being asked you wouldn't say that exactly.

There was only one man in this cathedral who truly knew the mayor and he was currently being regarded as the King of Gotham.

Disgust simmered low in your belly, mixing brutally with the tepid coffee you still sipped at. Carmine Falcone always knew when to stick his hand in something that might bring him power. Fucking with the mayor was a one way ticket into an office of some prestige.

Not even you would put it past him.

The choir began to sing while the remainder of the crowd shuffled inside, swarming their way to what chairs still remained. You leaned against the wall, feet crossed at the ankles and eyes tracking every slight movement over the rim of your cup. Martinez chatted with a cop to his right, giving you the space he so obviously thought you needed. Maybe he believed you were actually mourning the man in the coffin. The savior of Gotham.

You didn't have the heart to tell you were stuck in a long line of people waiting to speak their truth about who that man really was.

An alto reached a pitch that grated on your ears. The cold air from outside brushing across your face and stinging your nose. This would be a long procession. You could tell from the way people never quite sat down—ambling between rows of chairs, each of them clamoring to talk to the next. You spotted Bruce stuck in a conversation of his own, head ducked and back stiff. It wouldn't take a genius to figure that he loathed being out in the open—a feral animal who continuously looked to see if someone was attempting to back him into a corner.

One day he might snap, bite the hand of Gotham for the shitty circumstances it gave him.

For now he seemed desperate to slip away and hide in the shadows just as you were doing.

The echo of music came to an abrupt halt, people stopping instantaneously as a roar sounded from outside. You heard the screams before you saw the car. The piercing wail of someone getting hurt, of others running for their lives. Your coffee tumbled out of your hands, splattering to the ground as someone shoved past you in an attempt to get to the front of the cathedral.

The situation at hand isn't what surprised you; it was the horror on their face at the thought they might die.

How strange that you chose to fixate on something so minimal when you should have feared for your own safety too.

"Day!" Martinez shouted, his arms wrapping around your waist and body pinning you to the wall when the other shoe finally dropped.

The car breached the entrance like a bullet being fired from a pistol. With enough speed to kill those close by with a swift and executing blow. People screamed while they ran. Some heading for the entrance, others cowering in fear along the wall. You tried to suck in a breath, but the impact of too many people crowded around became a punch to your lungs with each movement.

You never thought you were claustrophobic, but suddenly you began to consider the prospect as Martinez mumbled into your shoulder asking if you were okay. His hands pressed flat to the wall to keep the others from crushing you.

"We gotta get everyone out of here," he muttered under his breath.

You sucked in a breath despite the weight. "Where's Gordon?"

"By the front."

"Get over there. I'm fine here."

Another shove and your head rammed into the stone wall, splitting pain cresting over your right eye as you clamped down hard on the inside of your cheek to stifle the groan. That would come to bite you in the ass later—destroying any sense of calm you could harbor in your body. But at this very moment worrying about a small injury was the least of your worries.

"Are you sure?" The hesitation practically bled into his voice. Which only served to piss you off despite his courteous manners of sticking close to keep you safe.

"Go," you snapped.

Through the bustle of people clamoring to get out, you made a choice. One that placed your date of death higher up on a list than you might have liked. Sliding along the wall, you crept towards the barred staircase—the balcony cleared of anyone that crammed their way in to watch the funeral procession. Gordon's voice echoed above the disarray, directing the flow of panic as you sunk into the shadows bathed along the far right side.

No one would bother to check for civilians up here. Not after everyone sprinted for the exit; safety the only thing on their minds. Your boots were silent against the stone staircase, body hunched to avoid detection from the mountain of cops spilling in through the front. A man stood by the car door, hands raised and mouth taped over to muffle the sounds of his cries for help.

"Shit," you breathed, chancing a quick moment to lean over the railing. "That's the fucking D.A."

"Everyone out!" Gordon shouted.

He was the last one through the doors. You fished the black notebook out of your pocket and scribbled down two words.

D.A.

Corrupt

The two most notable suspects in a case gone wrong stared you directly in the face. The Riddler. The man who orchestrated this entire affair was finally making his presence known to the people of this disfigured city. Whoever hid behind that mask seemed desperate enough to string along as many corrupt men as possible. Which only made your suspicions grow—the list of people you often figured were too clean, too good, now falling to the forefront of your mind.

He wanted to unearth the truth.

He wanted to bring Gotham to its knees.

You ducked into a corner of the balcony, pen scratching along the page in a stream of consciousness that you'd later dissect for the paper. Henry would demand every finite detail you were able to collect. Which made staying up here your top priority.

A familiar thump resounded in the cathedral, bouncing off stone walls and filling the large vacant space. He walked in with purpose, bleeding a tremor of dominance in the still air that rumbled at the base of your chest. You shrunk against the small pillars, eyes trained on the figure in black as he moved towards the D.A. unafraid of the contraption strapped to the man's chest.

Even you had to hand it to The Bat. He clearly didn't fear what consequences might one day befall his own being.

He wasn't scared of the one thing all humankind shared amongst themselves. Death.

The shrill ring of a phone forced terror to claw up your throat. Whatever breath existed in your lungs vanished within a second. The Bat held himself in his usual tall stature of resilience. A man who looked like he could take the blast from whatever explosion The Riddler set out for him. That didn't stop the fear from nearly crippling whatever bravery you managed to cling to.

He could die today.

You didn't want to be the only one to witness this loss.

Their voices rang in the air, riddles spewing from the phone with a rancid air of madness you tasted at the back of your throat. And you wrote down each one. You put pen to the page and let the ink bleed the truth—your job taking precedence over your life. The people of this city had to know what happened, they deserved this much given the hell they fought through day and night.

"He's asking how much it costs for you to turn your back."

The pen nearly slipped from your hand at the gruff echo of his voice spilling what everyone wanted to know. Your head shot up, attention solely focused on what might very well be the biggest story The Gotham Gazette would ever see slapped across their front page.

"Ten G's a month. Ten grand. That's my answer."

You sucked in a shaky breath, fingers clutching the pen tight enough for pain to flare up your wrist.

"Please...tell us which vermin you're paid to protect."

"Holy shit," you whispered, sweat prickling along the back of your neck.

"The rat. The informant you're all protecting from the Salvatore Maroni case," The Bat urged, his voice thick with urgency. "What's his name?"

"No."

You scrambled to your feet, The Riddler's voice counting the seconds down in glee as The Batman did what he could to save a corrupt man's life. Your chest heaved with each breath, silence flooding the space until you had to lean over the railing just to hear their voices above your own heart beat.

"You're talking to a dead man," he whispered, eyes wide with a terror you'd never seen before.

"What's the name?"

He shook his head, trembling where he stood. "It's so much bigger than you could imagine. It's the whole system."

Your pen barely scratched the surface of the crinkled paper before the time ran out. The blast ricocheted off the walls, slamming into you with a force that crushed everything inside to the very back of your body. You cried out as it flung you into the wall with a loud crack, your skull hitting stone. Pain filled every sense, a faint high pitched ring overwhelmed whatever you could hear and suddenly you were back on that street as your blood stained the sidewalk.

Gasping wetly for a steady breath, you felt warmth trickle down your forehead, spilling onto the cold skin of your cheek. You reached for it in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Only for your vision to blur—the steady beat of your heart now pounding heavily within your chest.

"No," you breathed, rolling onto your back. "Not again."

Everything else cut out—each means of escape vanishing within a moment—and suddenly...the world went dark.

"You could have at least pulled that punch, man." The squeak of the elevator broke through the smoggy air atop the building as Gordon stepped out with a wince.

"I did."

"Bock put out an APB on you." Gordon sighed, his brows furrowed and his patience wore thin. "You really think he's in on this?"

"I don't trust any of 'em. Do you?"

Gordon shook his head subtly. "I only trust you."

The information was strewn about, traded in hoarse whispers as the city lights flickered on, night taking over Gotham once more. Pain lingered in his chest from the explosion but he could ignore it for the time being. This remained the most important thing in his life. The vital piece of a puzzle that slowly unfurled before his very eyes—reasons why The Riddler felt it necessary to target certain corrupt men.

"You got hit by the blast dead on. I don't know how you're still standing," Gordon stated plainly, his eyes flickering to the center of the plated armor on his chest—the symbol of a bat staring back.

"I'll live."

He nodded. "We felt it from outside. Had people dropping to the floor from the echoes."

Something burrowed its way to the front of his mind, trickling down into fear receptors that rarely triggered the longer he remained in his position. The people there were put in danger. They were hurt by what game The Riddler chose to play. But that's not what concerned him the most.

You were there amidst the crowd, lost to a sea of madness the second that car broke through the front gates.

"There's a reporter," he said, voice catching on the back of his throat. "Goes by Daywalker."

Gordon hummed. "Yeah I saw her there. One of the only good ones in the city if I'm honest."

"Did she make it out?"

The pause of silence gripped his heart in a way he didn't like. It filled his stomach with bile, sent it careening up his throat, and suddenly he was a child again in that alleyway. His eyes fixed on the only two people who were placed on this Earth to love him. To give him a life of joy and days overflowing with laughter. Not a bitter heartache that clung to the inside of his chest—digging claws into soft tissue simply to watch him bleed.

Gordon mulled over the question, racking his mind for the answer. "I didn't see her in the crowd." Was all he could come up with.

"You know anyone who can contact her?"

"She an informant?" When he was faced with a wall of hollow air, he dug for the phone in his jacket pocket, slamming down the number of the only man in Gotham who could locate a reporter. "Henry. Need a lead on one of your reporters. Goes by Daywalker."

A mumble of information filtered through the phone's speaker, barely loud enough for him to hear through the mask, but one word caught his attention like lightning cracking across the night sky. Missing. You were gone. Unheard of. His teeth clenched, fingers curling into fists as the patter of his heart quickened the longer he stood there unable to help.

"Thanks." Gordon pocketed his phone, rubbing a hand across his face. "No one's heard from her. Henry called it into the station, but they've pushed it off for now."

"What about Martinez?" He recalled the bitterness that soured his stomach at the sight of your smile given to someone who could offer you a sense of normalcy. "They seem friendly."

"He's been with me since the attack."

Prying the memories from his mind, he tried to place where he'd last seen you. Only to come up with an image of you leaning against the wall—a coffee in your hand and a frown painted across your lips. The wall...closest to the staircase. No other person would have made that choice—put themselves in that kind of danger. But the best reporter in Gotham wouldn't hesitate—they'd barely give themselves time to mull over the consequences.

"She never left," he muttered.

"What?"

He was striding towards the elevator before a response could leave his mouth. Gordon trailed after him, yanking the keys out of his coat with an urgency that nearly dropped them to the floor. You were still trapped within the walls of that cathedral, but that's not what made a cold chill curl at the base of his spine. Wherever you were remained within the blast radius of that explosion.

Which meant you were hurt.

The car roared to life with an anger that blasted in the night air. He slammed on the gas, swerving onto the street as Gordon drove behind—their urgency bleeding into every action. The state you were in is what gnawed at him the most.

The balcony wasn't far enough away, but he would have seen you standing there when he entered the building. He would have known you were there by your presence alone, even if his eyes were unable to pinpoint where exactly that happened to be.

He sucked in a breath, stopping in the alleyway beside the cathedral, before rushing towards the side entrance. The acrid scent of burnt flesh still permeated the air when he swung open the door. It slammed into his chest like before, marring his otherwise cool exterior. Anger seared up his chest, forcing itself to be known as he took the stairs two at a time.

Only to see a limp figure curled in on itself by the wall—a pool of dried crimson beneath them.

"No," he breathed, dropping to his knees. "C'mon. Wake up."

Your face was coated in a thick layer of dried blood, matting down your hair against your forehead. The shallow rise and fall of your chest gave him an indication on how long you'd been up here. Several hours without help. Hours spent alone floating between the states of conscious and unconscious. Your body had gone into shock long before he woke up in the police station, the injuries sustained far too much for your system to handle.

"Day," he muttered, cupping your face with a gloved hand. "Day wake up. Don't do this to me."

A weak gasp slipped past your chapped lips—eyes weakly fluttering against tear stained cheeks. "V-Vengeance?"

"Gordon!" Lifting you to his chest, he rose on his knees. "I'm here. I've got you."

"He's dead," you coughed, fingers scrambling to clutch onto his cape. "T-The D.A. he's–"

"I know."

"Victim," you mumbled, eyes rolling back as he got you to the stairs.

Knocking his forehead on yours softly, he dragged in another harsh breath. "Wake up. You hear me Day? Stay awake."

"F-Falcone–" A cough rattled your chest, body shivering at the harsh physical exertion. He clutched you tighter, hand gripping the back of your neck to raise your head. "Thomas...Wayne."

He froze, boots nearly tripping on the last step. "What did you say?"

The dead weight against his arms was all you offered in response. The fatigue and blood loss finally taking its toll on a body that had endured far too much—the explosion ripping everything from you. He held you close enough to feel the beat of your heart through your back, the soft breaths you managed became a warm wash of air along his chin. If this were a different time, if he was Bruce instead of The Bat he might have chanced an embrace like this.

But that amount of luck would never remain in the cards for a man like himself.

He'd forever be the savior, the man this city needed. Never the man you wanted.

"She's lost a lot of blood," he stated, laying you in the backseat of Gordon's car with a gentleness that startled him to his very core. "Trauma to the head from the blast."

"I'll get her to the hospital."

He chanced one last look at your peaceful face—fingers trailing lightly along your chin before retreating with a sigh. "Ask for Elain."

"And you?"

"The Penguin," he replied calmly. "We need to have a talk."

Chaos erupted in the hallway of the hospital, shouts heard left and right as two men were dragged out by security, their voices loud enough to rouse you from an excruciating sleep. Jolting in the shitty bed, you felt the prick of needles against the juncture of your forearm, a cold wash of liquid spreading up into your veins. The light pierced your eyes, blinding you for a moment as you came to with a searing headache.

A soft monotonous beep echoed beside you monitoring your heart rate—the hills and bumps of your life mapped out for you to see on a screen for the first time. You hated the hospital. Loathed the antiseptic smell that burned your nose, struggled to maintain a grasp on what the fuck happened to land you here.

And only when you fought to sit up—a pained shout wrenching from your chest—did it all come rushing back to you. The explosion. The D.A. The Ridder's whole reason for striking the way he did. He wanted to know about the rat, the man who every higher up in Gotham vowed to protect with their lives. You just never thought you would be included in that list—yet another victim to the grief that plagued this godforsaken city.

"You're awake." The door shut with a soft thud, Elain clicking her pen as she flipped through the keyboard at the end of the bed. "You suffered a blow to the head. Concussion. A detective brought you in, told me a mutual friend found you in the cathedral."

"Elain–" Your voice cracked in the small attempt of words, but her fury clamped your jaw shut instantly.

"Are you fucking insane? Or are you simply trying to die?" She huffed, setting the board back in its rightful spot. "I patch you up in your apartment while your shadow glares at me the whole time. But this? Found at the very scene where the D.A. just got blown to pieces. What the fuck Day?"

"I know–"

She sucked in a breath, pinching the bridge of her nose. "No you don't know. I've got people here who would love to know why you're here. People who don't work for Gotham P.D."

"I'm sorry," you mumbled.

"I'm not about to attend a funeral for you Day. That can't happen."

Shame hung heavy atop your shoulders. "I made a mistake. I shouldn't have stayed."

"Yeah. You did a whole lot more than that." Settling in the chair propped beside your bed, she clasped her hands together tight enough to turn her knuckles white. "There were witnesses when that detective brought you in. People who are now walking the halls outside this room because of it."

"They don't know anything."

"And if they do?"

You sucked in a shaky breath. "He wouldn't let that happen."

Her eyes sunk into the depths of your soul, prying out what you weren't telling her—what you kept close to your chest. "What's going on between you two?"

"Nothing–"

She grinned, lifeless and full of mirth—her eyes echoing with a dull exhaustion that came with working long hours in a ruthless city. "He cares about you Day."

"He doesn't care–"

"Yes. He does." Rising to her feet, she dug out your phone. "He wouldn't have searched for you if he didn't care."

The brightness of your screen burned your still bleary eyes—the notifications rolling in as the power started back up. Elain mumbled about grabbing food in the cafeteria, her body hunched forward when she left—head ducked to avoid the sight of whoever paced the halls. You couldn't stay here long if that was the case. Especially given the notes housed in your small notebook tucked into your hospital gown.

A message from Gordon caught your attention, the words short and simple. Yet filled with enough to send a flutter through your chest.

Hope you're okay. With your guy. Will be in touch soon.

–Gordon

You glanced at the message beneath it. A myriad of questions from Henry asking if you were at the funeral, if you caught any good interviews, if you were alive. You swallowed thickly at the last one—fingers clenching around your phone as the words blurred in front of you.

BRUCE WAYNE: OUT OF THE SHADOWS is a front page story set for publication in two days. Congrats kid.

–Henry Goldfinch

#bruce wayne x f!reader #bruce wayne x you #bruce wayne x reader #bruce wayne x y/n #bruce wayne #battinson x reader #battinson x you #my writing

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bitchslapblastoids · 3 months ago

Note

to the previous anon about wad bottom jokes to be fair he has made plenty of jokes on both ends throughout his career so😭 am i the only one who just accepts all the bottom phil mentions as purely jokes and them being annoying like….. not that they dont hold any truth in them but ppl freaking out and perceiving certain things as confirmation of smth is too much for me. or maybe im just salty cause i prefer strictly reading bottom dan in fic (but recognize that this is completely separate from reality and is just a personal preference in fiction)

I guess I honestly (shockingly) don’t have a ton of thoughts about how much their comments are based in reality or not. I think we can definitely infer that based on the sheer frequency of comments they’ve made in the past year, they probably grew a lil weary of being slotted into inaccurate roles but also definitely enjoy winding us up. It sorta seems like it’s another element of “taking back what the internet took from us.” Ppl speculated for years and talked about their preferred sex positions like it was just everyday chit chat yknow? Now it’s like “oh you wanted to know? You all wanted to talk about it? Well how about we talk about it? How’s this for you, you ill-informed swine? We’ll suck the air out of your speculating and we’ll just tell you about it in every single video. That’s what you wanted, right??” (but lovingly (mostly))

It’s also like…. Not something that they necessarily would’ve talked about otherwise, but it is a door that was forced opened up for them so many times and that they were def aware of the chatter around (“you’re more of a top bunk kinda guy aren’t you Dan” “that’s not what tumblr says”) so why not shoehorn a joke into every video? It feels like part of this new era is a more wry tongue in cheek iteration of actually giving the people what they want, except this time it’s force feeding the people what they were already helping themselves to, and sometimes it’s a joke and sometimes it isn’t and I feel like most of the time it’s both simultaneously.

#every time I answer an ask I’m afraid I make literally no sense so apologies if that is the case #Dan and Phil #me yapping #phan #danisnotabottom

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smileyerim · 1 year ago

Text

episode one: champagne problems

summer of love: an interactive nct series

Welcome to Villa Rosa, the home for this summer’s hottest singles to come together to compete to find their true love. Through a series of compatibility competitions and tempting newcomers joining the mix, our couples will be put to the test to evaluate if they really belong together. Join us in the summer of love, where anything could happen. (reality show concept based off of perfect match)

chapter content:

(bold indicates a major pairing with the reader in this chapter)

the boys: mark lee, jung jaehyun, na jaemin, lee haechan, kim jungwoo, kim doyoung (the host)

the girls: model!reader, huh yunjin, karina, shin ryujin

genre: fluff, sorta angsty

word count: 9.9k

warnings: love triangle, adults drinking, dialogue about sex, dialogue about heartbreak, SHIT MOVES FAAAAST (comes with the territory tbh), visual and personality comparisons between all the boys (this is a major theme, so if it offends you please don’t read further)

net tags: @kflixnet @k-labels

for information on the full series, check out the series masterlist linked below the title!

“On my cue.” The producer dressed in black says next to you. You give him a nod and a smile before quickly readjusting your bikini top for the millionth time today.

Your nerves are starting to build in an exciting way, you swipe your sweaty palms on your sheer wrap that’s covering truly nothing on your body.

My reality television debut, you ponder the event as you stand silently. You can hear the roar of laughter and the telltale squeal of a girl that just got cheekily flirted with from down the hallway. You will join the bunch next.

“Go.” The producer says and you let out a final sigh before strutting with as much confidence and power that you can muster down the hallway. The only noise is your heels clicking the marble, the group outside clearly having been told to anticipate your arrival.

The moment you spot the group, they all erupt in enthusiastic hellos, even earning you a wolf whistle from a tall man in tropical print shorts. You’re the second girl here, with only two more to follow after you. There’s three boys already waiting. The one girl, Karina, runs up to you first, complimenting your outfit and makeup. You’re too smart to fall for it, knowing that she’s only doing so to scope you out quickly. Hell, you’ll be doing the same thing once more girls join in.

This is a competition, after all.

“Wow, it’s lovely to meet you.” A shorter guy with a sexy undercut approaches you with a shy side hug. He’s handsome and youthful, you note.

Your eyes meet once you exchange names. Mark, he had said. His name doesn’t match how sexy he is, but you bite your tongue on telling him that. He’s staring pretty intensely into your eyes and you feel locked in, but you remind yourself of the circumstance you’re in and hesitantly break away to meet the other guys.

They all greet you with hugs, but none of them leave an impression quite like Mark does. You learn that the man who gave you a wolf whistle is a tall man named Jungwoo. He interests you right off the bat, but the moment you’re done saying hello he’s back to talking to Karina.

He seems to be hitching his wagon early, so you do the same and travel back over to Mark’s side.

“Can I get you a drink?” He says, hand already reaching for the champagne bottle in the ice bucket. You laugh at his initiative, finding him quite endearing and nod your head yes.

“Where are you from?” He says as he fills the flute with with the bubbles.

“Take a guess,” you tease him with a smile on your face, leaning your elbows onto the high top table between you two. Your cleavage is certainly on display, an intentional move on your part.

“Aw, dude, don’t do that to me!” He whines cutely with animated eyes. You laugh again and answer him.

“Fine, fine. I’m from New York. Well, not originally but that’s where I live now.” You answer him as he hands you your flute. You want to tease him again for his heavy pour, but you bite your tongue.

“Oh, cool! I’m from Toronto originally but I’ve been living in Seoul for a few years to work on music.” You nod, eye being caught by the producers shushing you all in anticipation of a new person.

It’s a girl dressed in a neon green bikini, and Jungwoo graces her with the same wolf whistle he did for you. You mentally note his affinity for pulling the same moves on different women and join Karina in greeting her with over the top enthusiasm.

She introduces herself as Ryujin. You observe Mark give her the same awkward side hug that he did you, but just as quickly as he’s greeting her he’s back at your side. You smile, noting his apparent loyalty to you already.

“So, what do you do?” Mark asks you. You typically hate small talk, but appreciate that he’s keeping the conversation PG unlike the group adjacent to you two.

(“What’s your body count?” A loud, young guy asks Ryujin, and she gasps, slapping his shoulder in an obvious flirt.)

“I’m a stylist. I do freelance work for magazines and things like that.” You explain, and it’s cute how he pretends to find it interesting.

“Rate my outfit then.” He asks with a smirk. You take the opportunity to scan his body down to the shorts he’s wearing, but letting your eyes linger on his toned skin. He’s not muscular by any means, potentially skinny even, but the muscle definition that he does have suits him well.

You smile, about to answer them when Ryujin approaches the table again, “Care to pour me a drink, Mark?” She says and you smile politely at her as he sends you a quick glance before reaching for the bottle.

Ouch, but you get it. There’s a lot of people to get to know here, and Mark is currently only one of three guys. There’s still two more to arrive, and if Mark is the only one that’s interesting to her from the selection then so be it.

Thankfully, Mark doesn’t allow you to third wheel for long as he includes you in the conversation quickly.

“Y/N is from New York, too!” Mark exclaims and you smile in her direction to nod in confirmation. You have to remind yourself to stay calm as you speak to them. Two more boys are coming, and loyalties are as strong as tissue paper in the wind on shows like these.

You have to remember to stay focused and open minded. Thankfully, Mark and Ryujin are both exciting conversationalists so you’re able to stay engaged in the conversation until the producers quiet you all down again.

Ryujin leans over to whisper in your ear, “Do you think it’s a girl or a guy?” She asks excitedly. You giggle at her and shrug, squinting your eyes to attempt to spot the next figure through the palm tree leaves blocking a clear view of the door.

It’s a girl this time wearing a cut out one piece. It’s in a deep fuchsia to compliment her skin tone and light brown hair and you nearly gasp at her beauty once she smiles excitedly as she approaches.

She’s the last in and for good reason, she’s gorgeous. You’re the first to move in to introduce yourself.

“Hello, beautiful!” You announce and pull her into a hug. It’s a little difficult as she’s significantly taller than you, but you manage. She smiles genuinely as she returns your compliment, nearly forcing a blush on your cheeks. Her name is Yunjin, she shares with the girls.

Just like before, Mark gives her a side hug. It’s much more awkward and surely embarrassing on his part as she’s slightly taller than him with the help of her stilettos.

In fact, the only person tall enough for Yunjin is Jungwoo, so they quickly begin chatting, leaving you to Mark and Ryujin.

“Where’s the rest of the eye candy, huh?” Ryujin jokes and knocks your shoulder softly.

Ah, you think, she’s not into Mark. You smile at the realization and stare him right in the eye when you jokingly respond.

“Shit, I don’t know. It’s getting a little boring.” You challenge him silently and he raises one eyebrow while maintaining eye contact with you. You say nothing, only breaking the eye contact to bring your champagne flute back to your lips.

You had planned to play the field a bit more, but the pickings are slim with 4 girls and 3 boys so far, and Mark is far more interesting than Jungwoo and Haechan.

That is, until the producers quiet you once more to introduce the last 2 attendees. Ryujin perks up, standing on her tippy toes and leaning her body to try and sneak a glance. You’re hopeful for her sake, these are the last two guys who will be joining you for quite some time. For you, though, you feel as if you could hold your own with Mark, but the inkling curiosity still strikes as you wait for the last two boys.

Your jaw drops once you spot them. You have to blink your eyes once to clear your vision to absorb every detail.

Two men with bodies to die for and faces that seem painted by God himself emerge from the entrance.

One of them is a certified pretty boy, you can say that much, with his big eyes and charming smile. His blonde hair is styled perfectly and if he couldn’t get any hotter, he goofily greets the group with a squeal and wide arms. He seems young, but in all fairness most of the guys here are, too. He begins by greeting the table adjacent to yours, naturally so as they reacted just as enthusiastically as he had.

The other boy, though, is making a beeline for your table.

Wait, not just your table. He’s making his way towards you.

His lipped smile grows as he approaches slowly, dimples peeking out in his cheeks. You’re enraptured by his visuals immediately, meeting his eyes as he walks up to wrap both arms around you in a hug.

It takes you by surprise, but just as quickly as it’s begun it’s ended.

“My name is Jaehyun.” He introduces himself after he lets go, sticking his hand out for you to shake. You giggle and tilt your head at his hand, finding it odd that he’s choosing to give you a handshake after he’s already hugged you, but he’s so hot that you barely can think.

You shake his hand back, noting how big his is compared to yours as you give him your name.

“Mm,” he hums in satisfaction, “pretty name for a pretty girl.” he winks down at you and you genuinely giggle at that, turning your head bashfully to look at the ice bucket in the center of your table.

It’s nothing spectacular to look at, unlike Jaehyun, but it’s the ending the moment needed so he could go and make his rounds.

You watch him as he approaches the other table of people. He doesn’t give any other girls the same encapsulating hug that he gave you, it’s intentional and you know it. He makes it all the more obvious as he catches your eye after side hugging the two girls, clearly watching for your reaction.

Unsure of how you feel about the silent message, you turn back to Mark and Ryujin who have now begun talking about the villa.

“I’m really excited to see what the bedroom situation will be like.” You chime in, and Mark enthusiastically agrees and steps closer to you. He isn’t showing any signs that the greeting with Jaehyun irked him, which you find unbelievably sexy of him.

“I bet the bathroom is plush.” A voice from behind you says and you jump, turning to see Jaehyun cheekily smile down at you.

“You did that on purpose!” You hit his shoulder and he just laughs and stands in the empty spot opposite to Mark at the high top.

He shrugs, smirking, “Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t. You’ll just have to get to know me better to see.” He flirts and you smile back.

“I guess so.” You trail off, returning your attention to Mark and Ryujin. Now Mark is showing his true feelings, but only slightly with his attentive eyes already on you when you look at him.

He was watching you and Jaehyun. Interesting.

“Alright, lovers! How’re we feeling?” A voice over a megaphone startles you once more to steal your attention.

Your brain short circuits as you’re slightly star struck by the host in view. Doyoung, a jazz singer known for meeting his wife on the Bachelor, stands proudly on a small stage before you as the group whoops and hollers. You were warned that he’d be here, but seeing him in person makes it all the more real.

“Let me be the first to say welcome to the Summer of Love villa!” He lowers the megaphone this time, much to your gratitude, and you applaud with the rest.

“You’re all here because you have one thing in common— you’re too hot to be single!” The group erupts in laughter at that and Jaehyun sneakily leans in to your side to whisper,

“Especially you.”

You blush and turn your gaze back to Doyoung, doing your best to keep your cool. It’s already hot outside, but you feel yourself warming up a few extra degrees at his forwardness.

“Hey, you’ll have enough time to flirt later.” Doyoung teases Jaehyun and points his finger, and Jaehyun brings his arms up in surrender much to the amusement of the others. You blush even harder, staring straight ahead at Doyoung. Looking at either Jaehyun or Mark could be dangerous for you right now.

“You also all share another attribute, you all want something real.” Doyoung says and the crowd nods in agreement. Admittedly, you had no idea that was a part of the criteria to join the show, but you nod along with them anyways. It’s true, you suppose.

“To create an environment for real connections, at the end of each week you will pair up with another person here to dedicate your attention towards.”

“As you know, though, not all that glitters is gold. To put your relationships to the test, each week a new man or woman will join you here to search for their own perfect pair.” The group oohs and feigns shock. That, at least, you know is an act as you were told about the scope of the show before you even signed on.

“At the end of each coupling, anyone without a match will leave here alone. As you’ve already noticed, there’s four girls and five guys. So gentlemen, be aware that one of you will be the first to go home.” You glance around the group, looking for any obvious pairings forming already. There are none, which excites you. It’s open season, and there’s five cute guys here all needing to find a girl for tonight.

“To really bring up the heat in the summer of love, our first coupling will be tonight.” You gasp at that announcement, looking over to Mark and Jaehyun who are both already looking at you. Your palms begin sweating again.

“Now, are you ready to begin the Summer Of Love?” Doyoung says, speaking into the megaphone again. The group erupts in cheers, although you’re sure the rest of the group is feeling the same anxiety that you are.

After Doyoung released the group to go inside and explore the villa, the producers instruct you to gather by gender to discuss the others. The girls have gathered, much to your gratitude, at the infinity pool at the edge of the property. The heat is oppressive, so you stand near the edge of the pool where Yunjin has her feet dipped.

“He’s pretty cute and was flirting with me really hard,” Yunjin shares, “but Jaemin is really cute too and much more my type.”

You nod adding, “Jungwoo is from the same city as you, though.”

She pouts in consideration before nodding herself.

“Good point. I don’t know who I’m most interested in, then. Karina you go.” Yunjin passes the torch with a fake frustrated sigh. You laugh at her antics, scrunching your nose and directing your attention to the blonde lounging out on the tanning chair.

She looks as if she’s posing with the way her arms and legs are positioned, but you can’t blame her. The producers constantly meddling and the right black band around your waist make it impossible to forget that you’re on camera.

“I don’t know, honestly. Jaemin is cute, but we look too similar.” You and Yunjin share a look of confusion before she giggles in realization.

“Wait, because you’re both tall, hot blondes?” Yunjin giggles and Karina swipes the sunglasses off of her face.

“Well, yeah!” She says like it’s obvious and the three of you erupt in laughter at her statement.

“I’m not too sure that any of that matters.” Ryujin reassures her, to which you vocalize your agreement.

“Whatever. What I’m most interested in is Y/N’s thoughts.” Karina eyes you with a smirk and you look down at your intertwined hands leaning on the pool’s edge as the girls excitedly agree with her and urge you to speak up.

When you take too long to answer, Yunjin kicks your side and Ryujin tacks on to your other, smiling at you in anticipation.

“Okay, fine!” You cave in and the girls lean in, Karina moving to lay on her stomach backwards on the chair to be closer to you all.

“I honestly don’t know what to think.” You say with honesty. You truly do not know who you are more interested in.

“Oh, come on, Jaehyun had you blushing like a little schoolgirl!” Yunjin teases to attempt to get a confession out of you. Before you can say anything else, though, Ryujin pipes up.

“Yes, but did you see her and Mark? She was obviously feeling him, too.” You groan, head falling into your hands in embarrassment.

“Haechan wouldn’t stop checking her out either…” Karina adds.

“Oh, Jaemin too!” Yunjin piles on and you cringe at yourself. You had known about Mark and Jaehyun, but Haechan and Jaemin too?

You’ll admit, you’ve always known that you’re beautiful, but this is a whole new level of attention.

“There’s no way.” You say with your head still hidden.

“Damn, girl, you’re popular.” Ryujin says next to you and you roll your eyes.

“Helpful.” You snark at her and she wraps a sympathetic arm around you to pull you in to a fake hug.

“Champagne problems.” She coos and pets your hair teasingly, to which you playfully wiggle her off of you. The girls laugh and you sigh, settling down a bit to give them a true answer.

“It’s still early days, so I don’t know yet. I like that Mark is boyish, but Jaehyun is really charming.”

“Really charming.” Ryujin adds and you nod at her.

“Yeah, sure, he had me blushing, but cockiness can be disguised by confidence and I don’t know if that’s a risk I want to take.” The girls nod in understanding, and before Ryujin can share her answer, a voice booms out from the house.

“Round up!” An unfamiliar voice calls, most likely another producer, and you roll your eyes at the intrusion. It’s going to be hard to get used to.

The boys are the last to arrive to the patio where you’re sat with the girls. The cameras are blocking a clear view, but you can see Jaehyun and Mark chatting away as they approach. You smile, thankful that the competition over you didn’t place any walls between them.

“This seat taken?” Mark says and you smile, shaking your head no to allow him to sit on the loveseat with you. There’s barely enough room for you both, not that you’re complaining. To make more room, Mark leans his arm on the back of the loveseat and pulls you back to lean into his chest a bit.

Under other circumstances you’d push him off, but time moves quickly in the villa, especially for the boys who risk going home after tonight. Plus, you really really want to be here against him right now, so you’ll take the justifications.

Jaehyun, on the other hand, is sitting next to Jungwoo on the sofa. You know that the only girl that he spoke to earlier was you, but you’re still surprised to see him single.

“Are you ready for your first challenge?” Doyoung says once he’s found his spot standing before you all. You all cheer in response, and once Mark’s done clapping, his free hand finds your knee. You blush even deeper, the butterflies in your belly erupting at the contact.

“In your first challenge, we will put your discernment abilities to the test in a game of first impressions.” The crowd oohs, Mark included, but you wait and listen.

“Each of you will be faced with real secrets about other people in this villa. You will then have to match the secret with the person that you think it belongs to.” You gulp, adjusting nervously. You didn’t know that this would come up so early in the show.

“You ok?” Mark whispers in your ear which startles you, but you quickly nod with a curt smile. He’s going to find out soon anyways.

“The person who guesses the most secrets correctly will be rewarded with a date with any other person of their choosing.” You’d have it in you to be excited along with the rest of the group if you weren’t so nervous.

You seriously weren’t expecting it to come up, not so soon at least. Not without you sharing it first. You feel as if the rug has been ripped out from underneath you, as if your story is no longer your own.

“Ladies first, Yunjin.” Doyoung calls her up dismiss her to the selection room. She gasps and shoots up quickly, blowing you all kisses goodbye as she retreats. The producers have instructed you all to stay silent to avoid cheating, so all you can do is sit with your thoughts as Mark’s thumb slowly rubs circles into your knee. It’s a comforting move, one that you’re needing quite a bit right now.

If you weren’t so preoccupied with your own thoughts, you’d notice Jaehyun staring daggers into Mark’s hand on your leg. You don’t, though, but Mark certainly does.

Mark had picked up on what was going on during the introductions earlier, but his fears were made real when Jaehyun expressed his interest in you to the guys as they all sat in the bedroom earlier that day. Mark felt small in that moment when faced with the reality of his competition, but he did his best to not let it get to him.

The mindset shift worked in his favor, clearly, as you were now here sitting with him, not Jaehyun.

All of the girls had left and returned by the time it was your turn. You sighed once your name was called, using Mark’s leg as a rest to help you up. Unlike the others, you don’t give any dramatic or cute goodbyes and simply walk to the room.

It’s exactly as you expected with the white walls lit up by LED lights displaying a wave of sunset colors. In the center of the room is a large touchscreen table currently displaying five photos and five digital envelopes to open.

You sigh as you approach, expressing your nerves to the camera up above the table. Hesitantly, you tap the first envelope to spark an animation of it opening to reveal the first secret.

Lost his virginity during seven minutes in heaven.

You scoff a laughter, shaking your head and clicking on the next. You want all of your options before you make pairings.

Said “I love you” 4 days in

You cringe at that one, but move on quickly so as to not embarrass the boy this secret belongs to.

Said the wrong name during sex.

You roll your eyes at that one. It’s clear what type of show the producers are trying to make. Too bad your secret doesn’t fit into the mold. You tap the next.

Got left at the altar.

Your heart drops to your stomach when you read that one. You tap on the card a few times to see if it’s real, and it is. You pause for a few seconds, but will yourself to move on. You’re wasting too much time.

Has moved in with 4 out of 5 of his past girlfriends.

With all the secrets revealed, you take a deep breath and laugh to yourself.

“These boys are such a mess.” You say half to yourself, half to the camera.

Your first instinct is to match Haechan with “said the wrong name during sex”, so you do just that.

Your eye is caught on “has moved in with 4 out of 5 past girlfriends” as another easy match. Jaehyun, obviously. Not only does he have the charisma to make 4 girls fall in love with him, he’s also the oldest boy which makes for more time in adulthood than the rest.

“Lost his virginity during seven minutes in heaven” is given to Jungwoo.

Purposefully avoiding the most intense secret, you pair Mark with “Said ‘I love you’ after four days”.

By default, you match Jaemin with “Got left at the altar.” You know your guess is wrong, but you’re not attracted to the idea of winning. If you win you then have to choose, which is the last thing you want to do right now.

Once you return happily to the waiting crew, you swap glances with Yunjin who has to look away quickly before bursting into giggles. Clearly, she found the challenge to be more amusing than you had.

The boys are called up next, and you’d be lying if you said that you didn’t bounce your leg in anxiety when both Mark and Jaehyun left and returned respectively. Neither of them seem affected, so they clearly didn’t match you correctly.

“Results are in.” Doyoung emerges and you all burst in scandalous “ooh”‘s.

“Before we reveal the true answers, we must crown our winner.” Doyoung announces and the group leans in in excited anticipation.

“Jungwoo, you have won our first challenge.” Doyoung can barely finish his sentence over the loud cheers of the group congratulating him. He celebrates himself, but ends his celebration by grabbing Yunjin’s hand and kissing the back. She giggles bashfully and smiles ahead of her.

Well, you think, that’s that. With a proud smile for your new friend.

“Do you all want to know the true matches?” Doyoung eggs you all on, earning exasperated ‘yes’’s from the group.

Uh oh, here we go.

The boys go first, much to the excitement of the girls, you included. First, Doyoung reveals your score as a 1, much to your disappointment. Mark laughs at you and offers you a comforting shoulder pat which you accept happily. Whatever you have to do to get him to keep touching you, you think.

The rest of the girls didn’t do much better, with Karina scoring the highest at a pathetic 2.

Doyoung first reveals that Jungwoo is the one who has moved in with four girlfriends before. The group, although surprised, aren’t too shocked by the news. He even earned a few remarks of how that fits him. All that you care about, though, is that Jaehyun could now be any of the other four secrets.

Next Jaemin is exposed for having said the wrong name during sex, which earns him a chorus of boos that he humbly accepts with his head hung low. It’s all in lighthearted fun, though, as laughter soon follows and excited requests for the story. Jaemin declines to your collective dissatisfaction, and Doyoung moves on.

The only answer you got correct was Mark, expectedly. Oddly enough, though, what you found cringey in the selection room is now endearing when paired with the boy sitting next to you. He buries his head in embarrassment at the teasing coo’s of the group, groaning through his smile.

“I think it’s cute.” You whisper into his hair to attempt to force him out of hiding.

“Really?” His shining eyes meet yours and your heart glows at his hopeful look. You nod with a soft smile on your face before drawing attention back to Doyoung to break the moment. You don’t want to put all your eggs into one basket just yet.

Mark’s secret had distracted you, but now the reality of what’s left has hit you like a ton of bricks.

The only two boys left are Haechan and Jaehyun, two boys who couldn’t be any more different. The only two secrets couldn’t be any more opposite either.

The answer is obvious, right in front of your nose, but you want to make sure before you allow yourself to freak out. You stiffen against Mark’s chest again, and you pray that he doesn’t comment on it.

With sweaty palms, you pretend to be intrigued when Haechan is revealed to have lost his virginity during seven minutes in heaven. You even put on a pretend entertained face when he proudly tells the play by play — entirely unprompted.

The moment Haechan sits down, you allow yourself to stare Jaehyun down. He looks calm, but he can’t possibly be. Not when you know what you know and the entire world is about to, too. He must be feeling exactly as you are.

“That means that our poor Jaehyun here was left at the altar.” Doyoung announces and the crowd falls eerily solemn for a moment to read his response to the announcement.

But he shrugs. He just… shrugs? It lightens the mood enough to let the crowd offer half sincere condolences to him as he pretends as if it’s not a big deal. You’re flabbergasted, choosing to look onward at him blankly until he looks at you. He doesn’t.

The girls are due to be announced next, and you choose acceptance. It’s all coming out anyways.

Firstly, Karina is exposed to have split custody over a dog with her ex. You giggle at her reveal, seeing it as absolutely fitting.

Next, it’s revealed that Ryujin once went on three dates with a guy without knowing his name. That one surprises you, but you can’t say you don’t sympathize.

“Y/N,” Doyoung pauses and the group begins slapping their knees and cushions in a drumroll. All participate except Jaehyun, who just looks on with an odd warmness behind his eyes. You maintain your stare with him for a second or so before Doyoung speaks again.

“was left stranded on her honeymoon.” You sigh, the nerves settling now that your secret has been revealed. You don’t move a muscle until the girls begin to shout out confused exclaims.

“Wait, girl, seriously?” Yunjin asks and you meet her eyes with a sad look that confirms it all.

The girls then shout in unison again, but this time with dumbfounded half-compliments. The only one you catch is Ryujin’s, “He left a girl like you?”

You scoff, laughing a bit and looking at her, “Well, yeah.” with gentle eyes.

You refuse to turn to look at Mark, but you can feel his hand grip your leg tighter from beside you. Still, your head remains forward when Doyoung moves on.

Through the laughter at Yunjin’s secret revealed, you spot another blank face. Jaehyun, and he’s staring right at you.

Once the director calls cut on the cameras brought in specifically for the challenge, Jaehyun is up and making a beeline towards where you’re sitting with Mark.

“Let’s talk.” He says, hand extending out to you to grab.

“Hold on a sec,” Mark says, not letting go of your leg. You meet his eyes for the first time since before your secret was revealed and find nothing but concern on his face.

Great, you think, exactly what I didn’t want.

You look up at Jaehyun and see no panic, confusion, or concern. He looks… neutral.

“I’ll talk to you before the party, okay?” You say to Mark and he sighs, letting go of your leg to allow you to stand. You don’t take Jaehyun’s hand out of respect for Mark.

That is, until you’re out of Mark’s sight.

“Let’s go to the daybed.” Jaehyun says, moving your grasped hands to intertwine your fingers. You smile down at your feet at the gesture.

Once you’re settled, you sitting criss crossed and Jaehyun laying on his side in a relaxed lounge, he breaks the silence.

“Welcome to pathetic losers anonymous, my name is Jaehyun.” He says and urges you with his hand to continue the act. His attempt to lighten the situation makes you smile, a charmed look on your face when you reply, “Hi Jaehyun.” in a drawn out bored voice.

He cracks a genuine smile at that before he continues, “Two years ago my fiancée—ex fiancée— ran away with her ex boyfriend the night before our wedding.”

The gasp you let out at his confession makes you embarrassed, so you quickly apologize for your reaction. He smiles, shaking his head in a graceful dismissal of your apology as he continues, “They got married on April 6th and on April 8th, I accepted the offer to be on this show.” You nod in understanding. He doesn’t break eye contact with you as you look between his two eyes. Is this what you look like? Do you also look this unamused when talking about what happened to you?

“Unfortunately due to shrinking populations during the apocalypse,” you laugh at his joke, lightening the mood just a bit.

“there are only two members of Pathetic Losers Anonymous so participation is mandatory if you want to enjoy the amenities.” You choose to play along to his game once more, but with some snark.

“What amenities?” You ask with sass and he just smirks.

“Well, we have the lounge area,” he says while rubbing his hand on the daybed cushion between you. You nod and let out a false interested tone, urging him on with a smile.

“State of the art soundproofing,” he says while cheekily drawing the sheer curtain closed behind him. You cock your head with a suspicious smile on your face and he continues.

“Last but not least,” he grabs blindly behind the back board of the bed, “the pool!” He throws a chilled water bottle in your direction. You squeal, barely catching the flying object before it hits your face.

He breaks character for a moment to apologize, clearly not indenting to throw the bottle that hard. You can’t stop laughing, even when you meet his half concerned, half amused look.

“You dick.” You tease between giggles and he rolls his eyes playfully, laying back down and grabbing your arm to pull you down with him.

You don’t give in, still feeling the pressure.

“I’m scared for everyone to know.” You admit quietly, drawing meaningless patterns in the condensation that’s collected on the bottle in your hands.

“Duh, that’s why we have the state of the art soundproofing!” He jokes, although he knows exactly what you meant.

You meet his eyes before lying down on your back with your hands folded over your stomach.

“We got into a fight on our wedding night because he—“ you stop, reminding yourself that this is on camera.

“It doesn’t matter what we fought about, but we did.” You finally say and Jaehyun nods from where he’s sitting up on his elbow looking down at you. There’s a considerable ten inches between your bodies, but he feels uncomfortably close still.

“When we landed in Cancun I thought we were fine, but he had booked himself a different hotel.” Jaehyun sits patiently for you to reveal the last part of your story.

“I thought he just wanted some time to cool off, so I let him have it. I thought he would check in on me, or call me, or something but he didn’t for that entire week. I spent my honeymoon alone.” You sigh and close your eyes, refusing to let your emotions bubble.

“When I got to the airport at the end of the trip I found out he had gone home the same day that we got there. He left me all alone in Cancun by myself for a week waiting for him.” You pause once again.

“He put his wedding band and annulment papers into an envelope and slid it under my office door for me to find a week later.” You finish your story, looking over at Jaehyun.

He’s unreadable, which is frustrating, but almost welcomed with how overwhelming your own feelings are.

“When did this happen?” He asks.

“A year ago.”

He sighs, not too sure what to say to you. You can’t blame him, you didn’t know what to say to him either.

After a few more uncomfortable moments, you lift your hand up in a fist leaned slightly towards him.

“We’re even now.” You say, inviting him to fist bump you. He chuckles through his nose and fist bumps you.

You sit there for a few more moments just staring at each other basking in the intimacy.

Then you remember the last time you felt this way and turn your logical brain back on.

“I don’t even know where you live.” You say flatly and he laughs at that.

“I guess you don’t, huh?” He says through a smile and you shake your head with a neutral expression.

“I guess you should since you know everything else.” He says before telling you about how he was born in South Korea but moved to London as a kid. More questions down the line and you discover that he’s a doctor, an optometrist to be exact, and ‘That’s how I know you have pretty eyes, I see them all day long.’

Once you share your own lot of fun facts, you decide it’s finally time to join the group again, much to Jaehyun’s disappointment.

“Can you just promise me that you’ll consider me to couple with tonight?” He asks before you round the corner back to the main living space and back to the group.

You smile and with the assistance of your intertwined hands, elevate to your tippy toes to plant a gentle kiss on his cheek.

It’s all the answers he needed.

Mark finds you while you’re washing your hands in the plush bathroom.

“Hey, can we talk?” He says with the same concerned eyes as before. You look at him through the mirror and sigh, taking your time turning off the faucet and drying your hands. You turn on your heel to rest your ass against the counter and extend your arms out to Mark, he quickly obliges and steps into your space where you wrap your arms around his shoulders. His hands find your hips easily.

“Can I be honest?” You ask and he nods quickly.

“Of course.”

You pout and shake your head, “I don’t really want to talk about it anymore, if that’s alright.”

Mark’s face falls a bit but he nods in understanding, repeating the same sentiment from before.

“It just worried me and—“ He begins to ramble but you cut him off.

“Mark, I’ve only know you for a day. I want to know your favorite color first before you know all the skeletons in my closet.” You attempt to reason, but he replies quickly,

“Blue.”

“Mark,” you drag out his name in a whine and his brain seems to catch up to his mouth as he giggles at himself and apologizes, a faint tint of pink rising on his cheeks.

“Can we go swimming or something?” You ask after a moment of laughter.

He nods with a smile, stepping away from you to allow you to stand.

The pool is even nicer now that the sun has nearly set, falling behind the house to give you some much needed shade. The sky is a beautiful orange, and in the moments that both you and Mark are still enough, you can hear the rolling waves from the beach.

Mark is an even nicer view from where you are with your head half dipped in the water as you float on your back. He’s looking down at you with those boyish eyes with a soft smile.

“What?” You ask after a long moment of his stare.

He chuckles and shakes his head, “nothing,”

You groan, breaking your float to stand and look up from Mark’s seated position on the thin infinity edge of the pool.

“Mark,” you say bluntly.

“Nothing!” He giggles out a whine, the same pink blush from before sitting on his cheeks.

You don’t let up though, and he just sighs and laughs before admitting, “I was just thinking how I’m really enjoying getting to know you.”

You almost aww at him, your heart melting at the comment. He’s special, you think. Gentle spirited, sweet, and genuine.

“I’m having fun getting to know you, too.”

You hadn’t realized what you said before he asked you, “Does that mean we’re coupling up tonight?”

You can feel your heart wrench at the hope in his voice. You hadn’t decided yet, you couldn’t tell him yes.

“Mark, I just meant… I don’t know what I meant.” You admit and he dejects a little.

“I want to get to know you, but I also want to get to know someone else. I need time to figure out what I’ll decide.” You say finally and he nods in understanding.

“Can I enjoy getting to know you right now, then?” He asks with the same boyish smile from before and you giggle at him, grabbing his arms and tugging as hard as you can to hopefully send him barreling towards the water.

“Amateur.” He playfully scoffs before jumping in himself, grabbing your legs from underwater and quickly flipping you around to pull you in by your waist to his back and hoist you up. Before you knew it, you were midair about to splash into the water below you.

Once you emerge from the warm water, the first sound you hear is Mark’s bellowing cackle in your direction. You find it just as hilarious, but choose to take the game further instead.

“You dick!” You squeal when you jump in his direction, barely grabbing onto his shoulders as you push down with all your weight to attempt to force him underwater.

When he doesn’t budge you exclaim, “Oh, come on!” which makes him laugh out again. In a moment of boldness, he turns around to face you from where you stand unbelievably close.

“I’ll go under if, and only if,” he pauses and you roll your eyes, poking his shoulder to push him back to swivel a bit.

“Dumbass,” you mutter under your breath and his eyes widen as well as his smile.

“Hey, be nice!” He giggles out and you playfully roll your eyes once more, waving him to continue his sentence.

“I’ll go under if you kiss me.”

Your eyes widen in surprise at his boldness, searching for anything but sincerity between his two eyes. You see nothing of the sort, in fact, you see only desire.

Glancing down at his lips once, you find his proposition all the more tempting. When you place your hands back on his shoulders, no push to send him down this time, he takes it as all the sign he needs to grab you by the hips and place his lips on yours.

He’s gentle for a moment, but picks up the pace a bit once he feels you respond. You smile into the kiss, pulling him closer by the neck as he kisses you harder, his hands gripping the skin at your waist roughly. You grab the back of his head when you switch positions and he hums gratefully into the softness of your lips together. It’s passionate, that’s for damn sure, and you’re loving every moment.

When you feel his tongue prod at your lips, you detach from him and stare up at him with a bashful smile. He looks down at you wonderstruck, but his face morphs quickly after into a devious smirk.

The moment that connect the dots between his face and his hands current position on your body, he’s jumping into the air as you squeal, flopping you both down into the water to make do on his side of the deal.

Thank God for separate dressing rooms. There’s a lot of pressure on you tonight, and both Jaehyun and Mark are distracting as hell. You had read about the crazy time warp you go into when you’re filming a reality show, but you hadn’t believed it until now. Today has felt like a lifetime and it’s not even over yet. On top of that, you still have to break someone’s heart tonight.

You groan at the thought, head thumping down on the table in front of you in frustration. You’ve been doing that a lot recently.

“What did I tell you? Champagne problems.” Ryujin sing songs from her spot at the vanity next to yours.

“My brain can’t work if all you’re doing is telling it that it can’t work!” You exclaim and she laughs sympathetically.

“Well, tell me about it then.” She urges and you huff while you pump your foundation onto the back of your hand.

“Jaehyun is mature, goofy, and confident as all hell. He is also hot as fuck with those cute ass dimples. He’s tall, and he’s got a fucking six pack dude,” she laughs in disbelief and you continue.

“And he gets me, you know?” Ryujin listens with an attentive nod.

“He knows what to say because he gets it. He just… he gets me.” You finish off.

“What about Mark?” She asks and you scoff.

“What not about Mark, you mean? He’s just this precious little thing. He’s genuinely sweet and super open hearted. He’s being nice without even realizing that he’s being nice.” You say finally.

“Wow, girl.” Ryujin says after you have a moment in silence.

“What do I do?” You ask her, genuinely seeking an answer.

“I dunno, flip a coin, I guess.” She suggests and you roll your eyes and let out an exasperated laugh.

You sigh as you return to doing your makeup, you’ll just have to figure this out on your own.

The party is, as you find out, an open bar with restaurant volume royalty free hip hop music playing from a speaker behind the bar.

“Impressive set up, huh?” Jaehyun says from over your shoulder. He’s cleaned up nicely in an all black outfit, jeans on bottom and a satin dress shirt up top. He’s refreshed his cologne as well, and the warm and woodsy scent is almost as intoxicating as your drink is.

“Get 3 more of these in me and I’ll turn it into Vegas.” You joke and he laughs genuinely, hand coming into contact with the exposed skin of your lower back as he steps closer to you.

“I love this song.” He says as he bounces to the beat. You laugh at his nerdy attempt to mouth the lyrics he most certainly does not know.

“Oh, do you now?” You call him out with a teasing lilt in his voice and he stops dancing.

“No, of course not, does anyone for that matter?” He jokes and you laugh again with a shrug. After a moment he excuses himself to grab his own drink and you promise to hold his spot on your dance card.

You know Mark’s watching you because before Jaehyun came up to you, you were watching him. All you can do is pray that he doesn’t approach you now as you wait for Jaehyun to come back.

You want to see Mark tonight too, but not now. You need to figure your shit out about Jaehyun first.

Thankfully, Mark stays in his place standing with Jungwoo and Yunjin who had just returned from their date with stories to share. Mark’s not mad to see you with Jaehyun. Jealous, maybe, but he understands the process.

“God, you’re seriously the most beautiful girl.” Jaehyun says after he’s by you again, hand coming back to your lower back.

“There’s only four girls here.” You tease and take another sip. He responds by stepping in closer to you with a soft smile on his face. You can feel his palm press into your back to pull you closer. It’s so gentle that you aren’t sure that he even knows that he’s doing it.

“I wasn’t talking about the other girls here.” He says softly and you can feel his whisper breath on your face.

He’s so close he could kiss you right now, but you’re reminded of your audience out near the crowded bar and decide to take a small step back from him. Just enough to kill the moment, but not enough to draw his hands off of you.

He notices your retreat but doesn’t say anything, which you’re grateful for.

The moment is over as soon as it began when the producers usher you all to the same covered patio as earlier in the day. This time, though, you’re sat next to Jaehyun on the sofa. His hands don’t wander like Mark’s do.

“Okay, lovers!” Doyoung shouts out as he walks up to where you’re waiting for him. You applaud entirely out of obligation.

“How was your first day?” He asks and the group whoops and hollers in response. You don’t share the same excitement after your first day. You feel like you need another drink.

“Now, as you all know, at the end of the night, one of you will be leaving the villa.” You want to roll your eyes, he keeps on rubbing it in. You get it.

“You have four hours to couple up and make your way inside.” He says with a nod before walking off. You heave out a sigh when he disappears. You’re annoyed that he brought you all the way over here for such an unnecessary announcement. You have decisions to make, dammit! You’re already completely over this reality TV thing.

“Try not to look so discouraged, Twitter might actually see you as a person.” Jaehyun jokes from beside you, earning him a giggle and a nudge on the shoulder.

“Twitter already knows my deepest darkest secret.” You reply and he hums with a knowing smile.

“Can we get away from here?” He says gesturing to the overwhelming amount of cameras observing you.

They’re everywhere, you’ve discovered, and typically expertly hidden. Regardless of where you go the cameras will follow, but there’s something intimidating about seeing them so explicitly.

“Sure.” You reply and allow him to help you stand, not letting go of your hand once you’re stable.

Jaehyun leads you to the fire pit on the side of the house. It’s not lit, but the edison bulbs strung above your heads make for a cozy environment regardless. You adjacent to one another in the beach chairs set to surround the circle.

Once settled, you lean your head into the palm of your hand as you watch him closely. He’s manspreading in an attractive way, limbs stretched out and loose. His head resting against the back of the chair with his eyes closed tell you that he’s completely relaxed.

One of us should be, you figure.

“I’m really sorry about what happened to you.” He says quietly, eyes open but not looking at you.

You sigh, slouching your shoulders forward a bit, “I’m sorry about what happened to you, too.”

This time he does look over to you with a gentle smile and a look of fondness in his eyes.

“We didn’t deserve that, did we?” He asks, and you hope it’s rhetorical. You answer anyways.

“Not at all.”

He hums, taking a moment to pause and take you all in. After a long quiet moment, he speaks, “I like you.”

A smile spreads across your lips in tandem with the butterflies in your belly rising up your chest to make your heart beat faster.

You pause for a moment, scanning your brain for any reason why this may be wrong, but you find nothing.

“Thank you.” Is all you say and he scoffs out a disbelieving chuckle.

“You’re welcome, I guess… Weirdo.” He teases you with the insult and his over exaggerated side eye. You laugh at his faux offended attitude, a common pattern for you today.

“I want to play fair.” You say, feeling quite swayed.

He shrugs, pout coming onto his face when he protests, “Be a little naughty.”

You gasp and he looks over to you with a flirty smirk on his face, the same that he first approached you with. It makes you blush embarrassingly quickly.

“I will do no such thing!” You exclaim and he laughs at you this time, flirting back easily.

“Yawn, but okay.” He sighs before standing, lifting the chair by the armrests behind his back to sit his chair right next to yours, the arm of his chair nearly overlapping yours.

Once he’s sat again, he grabs your hand and, without breaking eye contact, kisses the back of your hand from where it’s intertwined with his.

You feel far too shy to say anything about the contact, so he speaks again.

“I meant it, though.” He says with a serious look behind his eyes. You’ve had enough of the intensity today, so you detour the conversation.

“Which part? The part where you called me a weirdo, or when you called me boring for not wanting to be, quote, naughty?” By the end of your exaggerated recollection of events, Jaehyun is shaking with laughter from the seat next to you, urging on your own fit of giggles.

It takes a while, but you two finally settle down after your laughter fit. He’s still smiling wide when he shares what he truly meant.

“I like you.”

You gulp, nodding in understanding and looking down at your intertwined hands.

“The only way I’m staying here is if I’m here with you.” He says after a moment of silence. You had figured as much, but it feels even more real once he says it out loud. You aren’t quite sure what to say, you don’t have an answer for him. You’re still deeply invested in Mark, too.

“You don’t need to have an answer for me now, I know you have other stuff going on,” you relax a bit once he sympathetically lifts the pressure off of you.

“There’s no other girl for me here, I’m all in to see where this can go.” He admits and your heart jumps up to your throat. His understanding makes him all the more attractive to you.

“I won’t leave you hanging, that’s all I can promise you.” You say, looking up at him meekly. From how close he’s sitting, you can see the tiniest reflection of the lights above in his dark eyes.

He doesn’t respond verbally, having said all that he could, instead choosing to grab your jaw to pull you closer to him.

You gasp and squint your eyes shut, but nothing happens for a moment. Only once you’re noticed this you begin to feel his lips make gentle contact with your forehead.

Your heart lurches. Fuck.

Mark greets you with a bear hug once you’re back in the lounge having left Jaehyun at the fire pit.

(“You coming?”

“I’ll wait for you here.”)

“Don’t scare me like that again!” He let’s out into your hair, squeezing you to emphasize his words.

“What did I do?” You whine, acting very poorly to hide that you love the moment.

“I thought you were going to couple up with him.” He admits and the pieces finally fall into place.

He lets you go then to pull back and look at you, his hands on your biceps to keep you in place.

“Thank you for not doing that to me.” He says and you giggle, nodding politely.

“Let’s talk?” You say after a moment and he nods with enthusiasm. It seems as if one couple has already gone to bed as well as a few members of the camera crew.

He leads you further down the path than you thought he would, stopping to sit on the wooden stairs leading down to the beach. It’s dark out, but you can make out his features well still.

“Gonna murder me, Mark?” You joke with a fake uncomfortable laughter and he chuckles and grabs your thigh.

“I like the sound of the ocean.” He answers truthfully without being asked. You nod, resting your head on his shoulder. There’s something about physical intimacy with this boy that you just can’t get enough.

“Tell me about the girl.” You prompt him without much hesitation. You’re not known for being nosy, but something about imagining Mark telling a girl he loves her irks you slightly. So you dig.

He groans, leaning his head to rest on top of yours, “Nah,” he shuts you down.

“Did you mean it at least?” You ask, still not relenting.

“Oh, absolutely.” He affirms and you hum.

“How long ago?” You ask, treading very lightly.

“About a year ago.” He answers. He’s being extremely cautious, which you understand.

“Do you still love her?” You boldly ask and he shakes his head against yours.

“Would I be here with you if I did?”

You scoff out a laugh, “I would hope not!”

He just chuckles in response and leaves a kiss to your forehead.

“I’m really glad I met you.” He says after a quiet moment. You smile, a warm feeling spreading across your chest.

“Stop,” you whine in embarrassment and sit up, turning your back to him and he giggles.

“It’s true!” He exclaims and pulls your shoulder back to face front once more.

“You just,” you hang your head low to try and conceal your blush, “you keep on saying all these sweet things to me.”

He smiles at that, grabbing your chin to make you face up and look at him. His soft eyes shining in the moonlight stare deep into yours.

He kisses you, just a simple peck, but it affects you all the same.

“There’s nobody else here for me.” He says and you’re immediately reminded of how Jaehyun just shared the same sentiment with you only a few minutes ago.

You nod in response. When you first signed up for this show you hadn’t anticipated so much pressure lying on your shoulders.

“I need some time to think.” You say and he nods in agreement and understanding, but there’s a disappointed look in his eye.

“I know.” He smiles at you, and this time you make the first move.

The stubble on his jaw is rough beneath your fingertips when you gently grab him to pull him in for a kiss. It’s gentle, slow, and beautifully intimate. He kisses you on the forehead once you’ve pulled away.

“Do you want me to go?” He asks and the true answer is no, but you know that you need some alone time to make up your mind.

“Want isn’t the word I would use.” You say and he chuckles and nods in understanding.

“I’ll be inside. Come find me once you’re ready.” He says with one final squeeze to your thigh before standing and retreating back indoors.

Once you can no longer hear the sound of his feet on the rickety boardwalk, you heave out a breath, head falling into your hands.

You haven’t been this conflicted since, well, ever, and it’s tearing you apart inside.

Your desire for both is shocking to you, especially how you’ve managed to become so connected to both of them in such a short period of time. It’s devastating to imagine losing either of them. Your mind is perfectly split down the middle for both.

The crashing waves in the distance do little to calm your wild heart. In 30 minutes you’ll need to make your decision and send one of them home.

Who will you choose?

Ok, your turn!

vote for which boy to couple with!

voting ENDS 7/5

taglist:

@rum-gone-why @asteriaskingdom @feltednettles

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answersfromzestual · 1 year ago

Text

***Educational Purposes Only***

Normal questions for phallo (my personal experience, and facts)

"Do you feel anything?" - yes, I feel everything from touch, stroking, temperature, pain, pressure, pleasure, gusts of cold air. They do disconnect and reconnect nerves, so it does take time (years) depending on how you heal to have complete sensation. But you always have sensation there even beforr you are fully healed. I found the Urethral Lengthening Procedure and the Implants (erectile device and prothetic testicle). It took probably 3 years after all of the procedures for me to have what is called "complete tactile function".

"How do you get erect?" - it's a pump, after they create the scrotum (they use the labia for this), you get your pump installed into your main hand side (ex. My pump is on the right testie), and the other testie is just an implant. I squeeze my pump (or my partner), and then saline water is pumped from the testicle into two tubes (one on each side on my penis). Creating a natural looking erection besides having to pump. It only takes about six pumps for me. Doesn't take much effort. I have a three part inflatable device.

"How do you "deflate"/ go down after an erection" -on the testie that is the pump, there is a small button above it, it is actually kind of a small box with a button on it. I hold the button for about 15 seconds and just let my erection naturally go down.

"How many surgeries does it take?" - well, I guess four in total. You have your hysterectomy (which included for me a complete oophorectomy as well, recent advancements in this procedure have made it so an oophorectomy is now optional), then your phalloplasty the building and attaching of the phallis and vaginectomy only at this part. The next surgery was to connect my urethral, called urethra lengthening. The last surgery was to install the penile pump and testicular implant.

"What are the chances it will fall off?" - less than 1% in the hands of a skilled surgeon. (My surgeon told me this information as the source) - note post operative care is the most important part of healing properly.

"Where did they take the skin?" - they took the skin for my phallis from my forearm and used a thin layer of the skin on my upper thigh to cover the tissue left exposed on my arm.

"Do you have any issues today?" - No issues, I've been finished for quite a bit now. I enjoy sex, it feels good. It looks good. I've never been clocked even naked in a locker room. I do dribble sometimes if I hurry while urinating, and I have to use a special technique to ensure 100% emptiness, but I can pee just fine. I found the installation of the pump helps me urinate easier than without.

"Can you ejaculate?" - Yup! I can, at least. I also have pre-ejaculate. I ejaculate almost everytime I orgasm. (With this said, the ability to ejaculate, amount of, and frequency of are all variable factors that can depend on person to person)

"Is the orgasm different?" -yes! It feels better to me. It could be comfort, but ejaculating does feel good when you orgasm. Ejaculating can vary from person to person. This ejacuate is not like cis men's, it is a clear fluid from the Skenes Glands.

"Did you have any major issues?" - not really, I did have to see a wound clinic for my implant surgery. I had wounds that needed care. I got a bladder infection with the catheter during the healing stage of urethral lengthening and had it removed after just over two weeks (it was supposed to be in for six weeks), as a reference though one of my urine bags broke and I had a plastic baggie to try to repair it until I could get a replacement (i had to wait hours), I also have a compromised immune system. For my arm, I wore my compression sleeve 100% of the time, and my arm healed extremely well and flat. You just need to listen to the rules and be sure not to break them.

"Do you have to do anything (e.g weekly)?" - sorta, I have to make sure I pump fully once a week.

"Any issues urinating?" - nope, takes some getting used to, though (standing). I find that I dribble, but it's only when I'm rushing when I shake. I still sit most of the time, it's even very common in cis men as an FYI. (I asked a large group of cismen)

"Does it look real?" -Yes, my wife said she never would have known I was trans until I told her. All penises look different. Even getting an erection looks natural.

"Did you have any corrective surgeries?" -No, I got pretty great results the first time. I do plan on going to closer, regular plastic surgeon to put in a larger implant as my left testicle (non-pumping side).

Have any of your own questions? Send me an ask, I'll be happy to answer!

Stay Golden Everyone ✌️💙💜

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anteroom-of-death · 10 months ago

Text

Teacher's Pet part 8

Synopsis: Truths are revealed, jeopardizing what lies between these two lovers. Why? And how?

A/n: Angst! Angst! And in this chapter, I personally will relinquish a grudge, Sophia I forgive you now, sorta. I swear things may improve! Also, Petronella is a girl's girl and alive. Fuck what the Canon says.

You never expected the tables to turn that quickly. You never wanted to have an affair. You just subconsciously wanted him. Maybe more than subconsciously.

How dumb.

You left his office and went off to your tutoring. Your chest still ringing from beating too hard. Your ears were tingling.

You figured one would have to be deaf, dumb and blind to not notice your obvious puppy dog. (Or how did he put it just now? “A fawn separated from it’s mother too early”…?) Crush you were developing on him.

Was it desperation and he was merely scratching an itch? Something to warm his bones after a dry-spell since his wife died? If not, why not just go see an escort? (You shuddered at an accidental outing.)

You doubted it was a crush, like you held. Do men in their upper fifties (Your best guess at his age…) get crushes? You also doubted that.

And why did it seem like he had twice the amount of pulse in his body. If you didn’t know anatomy, you would swear he had two hearts in his chest.

You shook your head and left silly thoughts and trying to define this experience.

Whatever it was, it began to happen fast. You would meet up between classes in his office for a quick fuck. Or if he saw you on campus he’d guide you to somewhere secluded for a kiss on your cheek and a remark about your latest diatribe in class.

You still met up every Monday for some actual tutoring on his class.

Once he took you out to park at the edge of town for a little coffee date.

He respected your work schedule and always never asked questions.

You were dearly grateful.

The term was coming to an end, and you were in the library. It was late and you covered in highlighter ink and were approaching clinical insanity. You felt a now-familiar set of hands on your shoulders.

“Burning the candle at both ends? I see.”

“Hey.” You broke out of your reverie and statistics-essay informed stupor. It might have been a tad bit louder than you intended.

“Play hooky from work this weekend. I’ve got to go to London for my other job.” First time he ever mentioned a second job. Did the university really pay it’s professors that little? You heard a few, more junior ones kvetching once. But him? He was definitely tenured.

“Another job?” You questioned.

“Yeah, I made a bad choice in the 70’s. It’s followed me around since then. Do come. I’ll do us somewhere special.” So your calculations on his age were wrong. He was maybe just a tad bit older than upper fifties…

Probably lower sixties.

“Sounds fine by me. It’s been slowing up.” You remarked.

He leaned down and kissed your cheek.

“Do ditch the energy drink. They’re ever so bad on human’s guts.”

A weird quirk. He’d always say humans or apes. As if he was above or different. Maybe it was the fact he was an old white guy.

Yeah, that was it. Old white guy brain rot.

“Meet me at that park… Friday, around three PM.” He instructed.

“Okay…”

“I’ll let you go back to your studies. I know how much you value them.” A final kiss and he faded out as quickly as he appeared.

You texted your manager and explained that you weren’t able to do the weekend shift, but definitely Thursday night. If you were to go to London, you’d proceed some mad money to spend on your own if his second job left you hostage for too long to your own devices.

And you canceled on a few regulars.

“Family issues.” Always a surefire way to get out of these things. Vague enough to not garner questions and would gain some sympathy. You hoped some other girl wouldn’t nab them, but you knew how people were. That one girl, Sophia, once stole your biggest tipper who saw you on both Friday nights and Sunday evenings because she’d do oral without a condom.

Damn that stomach flu you had that weekend.

You worked that night, slow but a big tip had materialized. Perfect.

By the time you had gotten home and napped for a few hours, you had a dilemma. Obviously you didn’t want your work knickers and robes mixing in with your real life clothes. Taint the divide you had.

You stared at your open suitcase. It was a little carry-on one. Yet the empty inside could swallow you whole. You threw in the most fancy of your basics in. It seemed the best idea. You pressed your hand to your mouth and let out a nervous scream.

Why was picking out what clothes you’d wear to probably just stay in a hotel all weekend stressful?

And were you entering kept whore territory?

Your situationship was dreadfully unlabeled.

You definitely knew he wasn’t your boyfriend. That word was horribly trite and evoked images of teens and young adults running about to dinner dates and cuddling each other on the bus. Or feeling each other up behind the seats in a cinema.

Not that you had particularly a detailed actual history with long-term or healthy relationships.

That’s life.

Did he even drive? How were you two getting to London? You just sat there on the bench after going to the park. It was nearly three.

You scratched at your eyelid, fighting the urge to tear off your lower lip with your fingernails.

Checking your phone, you didn’t see the big black Range Rover pulling up in front of you. The back passenger side door popped open, startling you a bit. “Hey you, get in. Apparently I’m very late.” You saw him in the back, a few soldiers in it with him. (They looked like soldiers. You decided they were.)

You grabbed your little carry-on suitcase and went in. An anxiety attack was bubbling up. What was his other job? You slid in and clenched your suitcase and purse between your legs.

You were going to London, so you chose a classy, sleek, small black number. You made the right choice. It was positively crowded in here.

There was a cute, disgruntled looking girl with an oversized knit scarf and some hipster glasses on in the front passenger seat.

“Hi! I’m Osgood!” She stretched back and offered you her hand. “You’re his...assistant?” She seemed confused by your general existence, but pleased you were another girl in this car of men. You couldn’t blame her! You took it and shook.

“She’s my companion.” The bastard finally labeled your situationship. Companion, very old timey. He let out of beaming smile, and continued on, “Petronella Osgood, (y/n's full name). (Y/n’s full name), Petronella Osgood. The new lead scientific advisor and assistant to the Head of UNIT!” His hand nearly swiped one of the soldier’s faces. “You’re both clever and don’t think like a normal human. You’ll be friends by Sunday night…”

If you could have balled yourself up and rolled away like a pill bug of you could.

“Do you like Costa? I’m trying to convince these people to stop by on our way home! Usually he just shows up, you know how he is with that TARDIS of his. But the Doctor said this would be best for him to do today…” She battered you with information and words.

You’d discuss this all with him further in private. Right now, you had to play a role.

“Yeah, I could go for…a Cortado.” You choked out. Coffee would help this all be absorbed a lot quicker.

She began fiddling with the vehicle’s GPS.

They all began talking about whatever techno-babble and such. It was over your head. You felt yourself getting heart burn and a migraine.

Petronella asked you something. And like a baby with dribble on it’s shirt, you said sluggishly: “What?”

“Do you think that we should do a frontal advance?”

“Maybe not?” You just started making things up on the fly. Filling it in ad-lib style!

You wanted to kill yourself.

“I mean, if… you go… from the front…all in. They’ll be…able to see you?” You heaved. “If you go from the…sides…and like, guerilla style…whatever is happening will…be a surprise …you remember like, the Germans against Rome or Boudicca, also against Rome…yeah.” You ended. You deserved a little chewing on the inside of your cheek, as a treat.

Soon enough, you pulled up to a Costa, Petronella seemed very eager to order in-shop. And to drag you in.

You collected the soldier’s and Professor Smith (Oh! Yeah, they called him Doctor…you’d demand the truth later.) Orders.

You were so eager to leave the car for a breath of fresh air.

“Hey, mind if I smoke real quick?” You had quit, but there was a lose one in the purses pocket, and the situation called for one. If ever there was a time to start smoking, it’d be now.

“I have asthma! But sure! I can wait.” She went into the weird little room that’s neither inside nor outside that commercial spaces tend to have. She got a phone call.

You could use this as an opportunity to get information about the man who you had been fucking. She’d be more helpful here. She clearly knew him better. Sure you had seen him naked. But she knew him on a more intimate level it seemed.

You finished up your cigarette and crushed it under the heel of your shoe. You got a bottle of perfume out and began dusting it on a heavy layer. You took one big inhale and rolled your neck around. It cracked and you relaxed a bit.

Entering the Costa, she hung up her phone and smiled.

You both ordered. You got yourself one of their fruit biscuits and went to get out your cash.

“Oh no! I got it! All of it.” She whipped out a black card and tapped it to the reader. “Perks of the job.”

You nodded your head. You had heard of UNIT, but couldn’t be arsed to care.

“So, the Doctor.” The name sounded foreign coming out of your mouth. “How long have you worked with him?”

“Oh! Five years now!”

You placed a hand on your throat and rested your jaw on it.

“What’s his deal?”

“Wish I knew, but we should all be glad he exists, he’s the best we got.”

Oh!

You let out a little “mmhmm.”

Before you could get your next question, the drinks and your snack came.

She grabbed her milk babyccino and handed you your Cortado as you left the Costa. You didn’t want to get back in the Range Rover. This all seemed like a very bad idea. You should have never agreed to this.

But here you were, so you had to deal with it.

You got back in the back, the solider driving said they’d have to speed along, no stops.

You shrunk in the seat. You felt his one hand stroke your upper arm. He was trying to comfort you. You wish you could recoil, but you had grown too addicted to his touch. Against all instinct, you leaned into him and sipped your coffee. Just sat an observed, chiming in when people would outright ask you for your input. More sipping your coffee and staring glumly out the front windshield. You felt like a caged beast.

Soon enough you were in London and you could get out of the car. Sadly, it pulled into an underground military-style bunker.

You were very proud of yourself for keeping your cool and now having a major breakdown in there.

You entered a lift, still carrying your suitcase.

It went all the way to the top.

Some woman in a very impressive suit and a silk scarf met you all there.

More introductions.

The Doctor – Professor Smith- whatever his real title or honorific was, took your suitcase and told someone to take it to a place. You didn’t retain or hear. You were positively swimming. You hated how good this artificial, florescent lighting made the hollows of his face looked. He was a bit more formal in his dress than he ever was at the university. In this moment you hated how you were reacting to him. Obviously he had to confess things to you.

Obviously, there was a bit of a double standard, but this outweighed your little evasions and white lies.

There was a meeting and grand plans were drawn. Choices were made.

And you had to make choices for yourself.

It was close to midnight when you finally got out of the meeting. Tomorrow apparently they’d denote a device, after it was programmed and set up during the night. Apparently that’d save the Earth.

He was swanning along like he owned the place. Everyone was reverent. His word was law and his advice was the loudest.

Maybe you shouldn’t have smoked that cigarette beforehand. Maybe you needed several shots of vodka. Maybe you just were way out of your depth.

Soon enough you had an escort of two soldiers for him and you to a suite with the bare essentials of comfort. Your stupid suitcase was there. Like a fancy barracks.

The door locked and you were alone with him.

“It’s time I tell you some truths.” He said, sitting in a chair at the desk.

You threw your hands up, “You fucking think so?” It came out as a screech. You clapped your hand to your mouth.

“What the fuck?” You clapped your hands together as you leaned over and down to face him. “What the fuck was all that?” You crouched into a squat.

“Let me tell you.” His tone was silencing. Like you were in the wrong for this reaction.

“Fine!”

“Firstly, this changes nothing about the past months. But I am an alien from a planet far away and long since gone. I am over two-thousand years old. My name, my title, is the Doctor. Well the closest translation to any Earthling's language.”

You leaned back, gesturing with your hands in the “okay” position.

“I may be a little fucking slow, I may have a few learning disabilities, but I’m not fucking stupid. Are you…aware…of how incredibly far-fetched that sounds?” Your body swaying with the position of your hands. The hands quickly moved to press into the center of your forehead.

He undid a few buttons on his shirt.

You groaned.

He grabbed at your hands and you tried to escape. He flattened the palm of one and pressed it against his chest. You felt two hearts pumping. Your little observation after the first time you hooked up on how it seemed like he had two pulses wasn’t so stupid suddenly...

“Two hearts, fawn.” He said, using his pet name for you. “I’m alien.”

Your lower lip quivered.

No wonder he felt different than any other man you’d fucked previously. His body was different. He was.

Hot tears burned at the corners of your eyes, starting to splash out. You pulled yourself free and slunk onto the closest wall.

Figures that your first big infatuation that actually seemed to value your life was a fucking ancient alien. You felt like a total freak, were you really that screwed up that the only way you’d get anything resembling a healthy relationship was with an alien!

Your head found its way between your thighs.

“Nothing changes.” He repeated.

“How many others have you done this to?” You spat out. Pure venom.

“Rarely like you.”

“Oh, so I’m just the latest and greatest girl you’ve lured into submission! How kind! I was chosen! I feel special!” You raged out. Giving a little sarcastic bow from your sat position.

He joined you against the wall. You skittered yourself away from him.

“You’re special. Trust me. I had stopped. You met me in a different way. No danger, no trauma-bonding. No Nothing. If not for duties I neglected here for too long, I would have keep you safe. Continued to be your Professor John Smith. Existed…but I couldn’t bear not seeing you for as long as this will take here. Separate. Not my traveling assistant, not anything. Just my little fawn and our perfect microcosm of the universe.” He slid forward and looked you dead in the eye.

He cocked his head, “Remember when I was talking about what the universe owed us? I figured this was my long-awaited, pleaded for reward. To have you, for as long as this little life of yours could allow this fling to last.”

He was very good with words and you could feel them echoing pure and true in your head. Something made you relax and let your guard down.

You hoped it wasn’t some alien superpower he had.

You began openly weeping. Loud, a total cacophony. You started choking on your tears and having a hard time breathing.

He wiped the tears.

You let our a hiccup. He started rubbing small circles on the middle of your back.

“I planned on seeing a West End play with you, a proper date, like a human man would take a human woman to. If you don’t want to, I can order a car and you can go back to Bristol.” He offered.

You started crying even harder.

“Can I shower first? Before I can make a choice. On anything. Even you...” You admitted, needing to revise on your end if you even wanted to be with him in any capacity anymore.

“Understandable, (y/n).” The Doctor helped you up, and gave you your suitcase. You found your toiletries bag and shuffled in. You swore you heard him mutter, “Well, don’t overthink.” But you left that be. You had enough to think about, just add that to the list.

After getting undressed, you turned the water on the hottest it could go.

You began to wash away the day…

So much to think about…so little time to do so.

#personal #doctor who #i wrote this #12th doctor #12th doctor x reader #12th doctor x you #you x 12th doctor #reader x 12th doctor #unit times #no beta we die like men #self insert #teacher student #yeeet #doctor who fanfiction #dr who sponsered mental health crisis

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aachria · 5 months ago

Note

right so, firstly, sssbmty is absolutely amazing and I binged the whole of it in around five days. I love Ed and their character development as well as the relationships they have with the crew it’s all ugh, so masterful.

secondly, while the entire thing is giving me immense brain rot and i’m foaming at the mouth about the tarot card foreshadowing, I just cannot stop thinking about that mysterious father/weird uncle figure that was apparently on Gol D. Roger’s crew who hasn’t been mentioned since the wedding (sorta).

i’m minorly obsessed with this random, unnamed person who looked at a tiny cabin boy Shanks and went, “this dude needs to know the Macarena yesterday.” and probably also taught Shanks (and i’m guessing most, if not all of Roger’s crew) “Piano Man” and more than likely introduced a slew of other Earth pop culture things that almost certainly have no business being in the One Piece Universe.

also, the fact this guy knew that Ed was also going to be there??? the implications of that is crazy alone. how do you know these things sir? is this guy tied in with the voices Ed hears and dreams Ed experiences whenever they’re incapacitated? did weird unknown uncle have strange dreams as well?

but i also can’t help but wonder, was this guy also isakai’ed with the same suddenness that Ed was? just randomly dying one tuesday morning and waking up in a strange place with zero explanation? Did he get swept up by Roger one day like Luffy swept up Ed, and this mystery guy decided “fuck it, we ball” and went along wholeheartedly with Rayleigh and Roger and never looked back? was he spending the whole time quietly mourning roger cause he knew just how this story would end? did he not change anything because he knew Ed was coming and left everything up to them?

this shit is bouncing around my head like a million pinballs set loose, it’s chaos in here. also, these questions are 80% rhetorical and i just need to inform you that is nameless character of yours has moved into my head and refuses to leave.

and with that little rant out of the way, i wish you good day, good luck, and i can’t wait to devour the next chapter. toodles.

First; oh em gee thank you sm… you got me gigglin n twirlin my hair n shit…

Second; me and you, we’re living on the same wavelength. Pseudo dad/uncle lives in my head rent free and the way I would absolutely LOVE to answer all of these questions—

But I must hold my tongue. Here’s a special little something to tide you over though; I’m writing the last chapter of Sabaody rn and bro this arc… I lied about it being shorter than the party good Jesus it’s like 8ish chapters and the man the myth the legend is at the very least mentioned in like FOUR OF THEM. HAAAAAALF OF THEM. So like. Yaknow. GET FUCKING EXCITED.

#sssbmty #one piece #one piece ocs

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tiredassmage · 14 days ago

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I always find it so FASCINATING how you play through the same story (IA of course) with multiple characters and see how each new dynamic plays out, because I just don’t work that way xD I put one lil guy into one situation and then nobody else gets to be there, it’s been claimed. So it’s very neat to see a more varied approach and watch each new take and how they add to your relationship with the story!

THAMK you!!!! I also find it really fascinating, which I guess is my fuel for doing it. xD It's admittedly one of the several things I have done in playing SWTOR that I never would have guessed I'd do when I started playing - and, to be fair, there are certain stories that I'm sorta that way about! And perhaps if everyone will indulge me, I'm gonna take this as an excuse to ramble about what I enjoy both about this particular class, and SWTOR as a whole, really.

but first I'll take an excuse to post my main 3 (so far) agent boys :3

from left to right then: tyr, alucren, and nikihlus!

Part of the agent storyline being so attractive to me personally is I'm sure, for better or worse, that I'm admittedly a sucker for a spy action flick, and since it's kind of my exact cup of tea, there feels to be a level of variance in how it plays out and how a character can interpret their experiences within it that's delightful for me to dive into and tear apart like a dog with new stuffed toy, lol.

I've played all eight class stories I think at least twice now, and several of them, clearly, far more than that, so I think one of the overall continuously endearing things about the game is that any of those eight can be someone's Thing. Everyone's got their favorites and I really, truly, after several spins through them all, don't think there's really a single bad class story. Finding the right character to pick apart what really makes a story tick for you, personally, I think is where... some of the challenge can occur.

I, for example, enjoy, conceptually, Consular, Inquisitor, and Trooper, but the first two of those I outright don't have a canon character "filling" that role, and Trooper I only have halfsies because my favorite run of that is actually Tyr's AU where I dropped him in the Trooper story for kicks and it changed my entire outlook on what I'd previously considered one of the more lacking class stories to the point where I think I might owe Aric Jorgan a personal apology letter and I'd even consider advocating for the story now. All of these stories I still think are good, fun, and interesting, but I haven't found a character whom I enjoy seeing in the role they play, if that makes sense.

What I at least enjoy about any of the characters I keep bringing back up here that I've played is that their viewpoints and experiences are pretty distinct to me. Even within my agents - and maybe especially with them, they all come at the role of Cipher with very different backgrounds and perspectives. Pretty much all three of them I've learned a lot more about since creating them, as you do when characters change over the course of a story and you point them at things that challenge their thinking, but their... fundamental, pre-Intelligence backgrounds greatly inform how they handle the rest of... everything. And only one of them is my canonical Cipher Nine; that honor remains with Tyr; Alucren's designation is Cipher Eleven, and Nikihlus's is Cipher Seven, respectively, but they've also... both kinda run away from me and since I have such a feel for who they are, it's also incredibly interesting to tackle the story as if they do belong there, in that particular role - because it tells me something about them that's not just applicable there.

And also, it's just... really fun for me to compare them like yardsticks against each other, lol. And it's a fun little exercise in appreciating the why of how different their playthroughs and experiences are. The short of them is that Tyr's the most idealistic of the three, the agent of change - a double agent for the SIS because he believes in something bigger and greater and ideals are enough to motivate him. Alucren's a loyalist - to the Empire, and to the Sith beyond that. Born and raised Imperial just like Tyr, but where Tyr came from some of the cracks in that society as an orphan (according to official records, at least) raised in a not-quite-family resulting from a marital alignment between a Sith and a naval officer, Alucren is relatively silver spoon-born - from a fairly prominent and historically loyal family. Those two have very different ideas of what Imperial Intelligence is, even, to great effect on how they respond to the pressures of the story and what's done to them in the titular role. Nikihlus is an outsider; in much the way that Kaliyo is using Intelligence as the next opportunity, so too, to an extent, is Nikihlus. He's there not exactly of his own will - it was cooperate or die, so his loyalty to Intelligence is only as far as they'll pay him, and that the Empire remains a more sound employer. Sith politics and even the larger conflict of Republic vs. Empire interest him no further than how to stay alive as someone who is painfully aware (sometimes, or perhaps even often, to a degree of paranoia) that neither side is interested in having a place for an "ex-"underworld assassin and enforcer like himself. His main motivator, at the end of the day, is always to stay alive.

Sometimes the three of them have overlap in their choices made along the story. Sometimes they're polar opposites. Sometimes, they do the same things for vastly different reasons. And that is almost more fun than seeing the outcomes themselves. At the very least, it's definitely at least equally as fun as seeing the outcomes!

But there are also those stories that I've done a certain way and I don't think, at the moment, at least, I'll do them as well again. Savosta and Rhyst, for example, are sort of... the definitive version of my Wrath and Jedi Knight. The Sith Warrior is one of my other favorite stories on some of that variance aspect that's so appealing in Imperial Agent for me, but I just... haven't done it like I did it with Savosta before or since because I'm so satisfied with how he came together. And it's a similar thing with Rhyst and Jedi Knight, although Knight is also... one of the ones that took me the longest to figure out the kind of character I wanted in that role - the kind of character that made me feel really engaged with the story.

And Rhyst is probably also the character I've changed the most about, over the course of his existence - from physical appearance to actually getting a grasp on his motivations and what's stuck with him about his experiences.

And especially since I've worked a lot mentally on how those two develop a relationship with each other, I feel like I'd be missing something that's become a huge part of how I enjoy the full picture between the Knight & Warrior without having a pair of them.

Anyway... Part of this response is maybe for a takeaway of this game is so fucking good when it gets you, and I think part of it's 'goodness,' if you will is how individual the different stories can become when you lean into the 'roleplay' part of it for the characters made, at least in my experience, and... yeah, I'll take the platform to be excited about the many different experiences of all of these characters I have, lol! Part of what I've loved so dearly about this game as a community around it and enjoying the characters I've created for it is how passionate people are with their characters; I think I've used... something of the phrase for trying to discuss Tyr's experiences that... something something, all of that is true, for him, in his eyes, how he sees the world [for whichever character you'd like to apply this to]. His views and actions are justifiable, if you will, from his perspective, just as Alucren's are from his, even though those two I created to be nearly complete opposites to see paths of the Agent campaign I never would just replaying Tyr over and over (though I still do that, clearly), lol.

And... I also meant to touch on and didn't earlier, but... I also distinctly recall saying when I was closer to starting to play this game that I wasn't sure I'd ever quite get why to play the same character in different stories, and now I've got a version of Tyr for each of the tech class stories that were all really fun to explore, and some of them are even... pretty distinct 'versions' of him from the others, if you will. Which does always make me think about that post that goes something about... not "he wouldn't fucking say that" but... what would it take for this character to act or feel this certain way? What aspects of environment and circumstance and who they met, etc etc, form who they are, what their opinions are? What would it take for a Jedi Knight to "fall" to the Sith I think is a bit of a fairly obvious one in Star Wars media, and I, admittedly, sort of avoided that one for a while because I wasn't sure I'd get anything out of the pondering that I'd enjoy with Rhyst, but I've played with it a bit here and there since and it's actually revealed some very interesting insights - things like some of his insecurities that better inform me about the kind of presentations he makes as a Jedi, and better inform his later-in-life complicated feelings with the Order and the Republic in general, even better insight into what he'd like to do maybe after he hangs up his lightsaber, or what kind of life he might've led if he hadn't grown up with the Jedi Order.

I dunno. Honestly, maybe at the end of the day, I love getting this and getting to share this because creating fictional little characters is just fucking cool and fascinating by itself and it's an experience or hobby even, if you will, that's been so much fun for me throughout life that I really hope everyone gets to experience something that engages them this much. They're a really cool vehicle for exploration - and that can mean as much or as little as you want it to. And that's so fucking cool that they can do that.

Anyway pt 2, lol, I love, again as I said, comparing my agents like yardsticks, love yapping about how their differences play out in the story, I am almost always down to talk about Imperial Agents. And Rhyst, stars I need to talk about him more. Which I always say and then I don't without prompting, but genuinely they have almost a whole story together in my head and I'm just not a longfic person so it'll probably never come out that way, but I think about it. Trust that I think about it, lol. And honestly, it's really cool what I learn about them when I talk about them and talk with others. Rhyst is a good example for that; a lot of what I've learned and developed with him and Knight in particular is from yapping with friends and mutuals and hearing some of what others have done; the beauty of having a buddy is that they'll ask about or talk about aspects of the story or characters you might never have considered on your own. Some of my favorite little character facts or insights have honestly come from discussion with friends.

OCs are so fucking cool. Thanks for coming to my TED talk about it, I guess? xD

#dot talk #answered #before i ramble on too much i say lol #but also genuinely. i love yapping about them. asks feed me about this i am always glad to have them xD #alright this can go in the blorbo tags too bc i love keeping insights around #ch: tyr #ch: alucren #ch: nikihlus #ch: savosta #ch: rhyst

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theboywithburninghands · 6 months ago

Text

So uh... in my last story I sorta implied Pomni was autistic. This is the story that confirms it. I wanted to explore more of her worldview and how she might find ways to pass the time. So this is what came out of it. It's a bit short, but it's personal and sweet and I think you'll like it. Lists T/W: profanity in some of the linked songs? I guess? I hope anyone who reads my stuff has heard the word fuck or shit before...

Pomni paced about her room. Pacing helped her think. She was here indefinitely, and while her boyfriend and girlfriend kept her from slipping too far into existential despair, boredom was a whole different animal. So, after racking her brain for several hours one evening after dinner, she finally settled on the one idea that would offer instant gratification.

Lists. Lists of what? Well, any kind of list. Chronological lists, best to worst lists and vice-versa, top 100 lists… something about them scratched a hot red itch in her brain. Information could be so overwhelming when it was just flopped in front of you, especially in huge portions. If it was broken up piece by piece based on certain categories, it was far more digestible. You didn’t shove an entire pizza in your mouth, after all, you cut it into slices. Being able to break something down was not only comforting, but satisfying. Maybe that’s why she was so good with numbers…

So, Pomni went to Gangle. She had plenty of paper. Most of her room was covered with drawings of all sorts, done in crayon, colored pencil, watercolors, magic marker, even the odd charcoal.

“Sure, I can lend you some paper…” Gangle had said with a timid but pleasantly surprised smile. “I didn’t know you liked drawing too, Pomni.”

Pomni laughed a little. “Um, actually, I was going to make a journal. To keep up with all of the wild stuff that goes on around here, you know…?”

“Oh, okay! That’s a good idea! I don’t know if I have any regular pencils, but I have some black colored ones. Would that be okay..?”

Pomni had told her it was perfectly fine, and she went back to her room with ten big sheets of sketchbook paper, three black colored pencils and a red twist sharpener. She made a makeshift desk, the flat side of one of the oversized building blocks in her room and another building block for a chair. No real lumbar support, but eh. Her body was a bunch of pixels anyway. She set her things down tidily, placed one of the sheets in the middle of her desk, and began to write.

She tapped her pencil on her desk. Man, it felt good to have something to fiddle with while she thought… She decided to start with a profile of every other performer in the circus. She began by writing out a quick template, something she could use as a reference so every profile followed the same pattern. After some thinking, she came up with this:

Name: Their name (duh)

Potential Real Name: Educated guesses on what their real name was before they came here

Likes: Hobbies, favorite foods and candies, favorite people

Dislikes: Fears, least favorite foods and candies, anything else that bugs them

Musical Taste: Music I’ve heard them listen to on Layla, or if I’ve asked them.

*Hobby Related Stuff: See asterisk

Personality: What they’re like. What they’re like to me, others, etc.

*Variable, only if needed for major hobbies

Things like gender or age didn’t matter since she already knew all of those by heart. Personality would be the biggest category obviously… well, the only way to see if it satisfied her was to try it.

So she started with the first person that popped into her head.

Name: Jax

Potential Real Name(s): Jackson/Jack, John/Jonathan/Johnny, Max/Maxwell, Braxton, First initial J, middle initial A, last initial X, Alexander/Alex, Xavier

Likes: Me, Ragatha, practical jokes, spaghetti and meatballs, lock picking, bowling, Nerds Rope

Dislikes: Corn, bad dreams, condescension, authority, anime, Ayn Rand, black licorice

Musical Taste: Radiohead, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Foster the People, Soundgarden, Garbage (the artist), Linkin Park, Flyleaf, whoever wrote that song “Pepper,” Big Black, Bad Brains

Personality: Formerly a bitter, selfish assho-

Hm…

Pomni stopped to think. She had never tried actually writing down a swear word here before. They were never censored in her head, thankfully, but as soon as they left her mouth they were filtered out.

She picked up her template sheet and wrote “asshole” in the bottom left corner. A few moments later, a black censor bar appeared over it. Pomni smirked ruefully and went back to Jax’s profile, scribbling out the beginnings of her swear word and continuing.

Personality: Formerly a bitter, selfish jerk. In fact, in some ways, he still is. One of the first adventures I ever went on with him, he threw me out a window between two moving trucks. He kept putting things like tacks and whoopee cushions on my chair at dinner, hid bugs in my room, he was awful… A few months later, he let me come into his room and talked to me about the law of entropy… He actually said he was sorry for the way he treated me after that. Then he got me my favorite food (honey-glazed garlic salmon), down to the way I like it cooked. I kissed him. He kissed me back. We kissed a lot. We didn’t really know what we were for a while, but it got made clear pretty quickly that we both loved each other.

Now he’s… better. Not perfect… no one is perfect, but… he’s grown a lot. I don’t know what changed. He told me once he acted like such a bully so people would forget about this whole purgatory situation and be mad at him instead of at the world. I didn’t believe that then and I still don’t. I could ask him, but I don’t know how he’d react. I guess I’ll wait and see.

Anyway. He’s great, really. Underneath that sandpapery outer shell, he’s just as vulnerable and human as the rest of us. He’s funny, he’s charming, he’s handsome… and most importantly, he’s genuine. I love him.

Pomni smiled at this completed profile and set it aside. She paused to sharpen her colored pencil, the lead on the end worn down to a nub. After it was sufficiently sharp, she grabbed a fresh sheet of sketchbook paper, cracking her knuckles and fixing her posture before getting back to work.

Name: Ragatha

Potential Real Name: Agatha, Raquelle, Ann/Anna/Annie, Annabelle, Agnes, Anya, Christie

Likes: All of us here- me included, horses, video games, ballet, hugs, stuffed animals.

Dislikes: Centipedes, circus peanuts, ripping her stitches… she doesn’t have a lot of dislikes.

Musical Taste: Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack, Smokey Robinson, Tom Petty, Pink Floyd, OutKast, Kendrick Lamar, Joan Jett, Carole King

Video Games She Likes (Heavily Abridged): Dark Souls Trilogy, Final Fantasy VII, Legend of Zelda, Goldeneye, Spyro the Dragon, Bloodborne, Uncharted 2, Assassin’s Creed 2, tons more…

Personality: When I first got here, I thought Ragatha was just being nice to me because I was new. But she just… never stopped being nice. She always had my back, always had something encouraging to say… I left her behind like a coward the first day I was here and she didn’t give up on me. I look up to her.

She’s not perfect. She can be a bit arrogant without meaning to, and she used to let Jax walk all over her, but… well, things are a lot different with Jax now. And I think she helped in some way with that…

I love her just as much as I love Jax. I couldn’t imagine life without her sweet smile and her cute laugh and her hugs. Oh my god, her hugs! I HATE hugs, but somehow she makes hers incredible. She’s incredible.

Pomni re-read the profile and grinned. Oh, this felt so GOOD. Being able to put her thoughts down and in the form of a neatly organized set of lists. Scraps of order in this world of never ending chaos… She needed to write more.

She sharpened her colored pencil again and started work on Gangle’s profile, breezing straight through it and moving on to the next person. Zooble’s profile wasn’t as complete as the other three so far, since Pomni didn’t know as much about them. She would just have to add more to it the more she found out about Zooble.

She was a good ways into Kinger’s profile, adding Luna moth to his list of favorite insects, when her eyelids sagged. Pomni grunted and rubbed her eyes. Time must have really gotten away from her. She should ask Caine for a clock. Well… maybe not. Seeing time slowly creep by in this prison would probably do more harm than good. Either way, she must have been writing for an hour or two, it made sense for her to be tired. She went on an adventure that day.

She decided to take a break, give her brain a chance to wander. She crossed her arms on her desk and laid her head atop them. Sketchbook paper always had a pleasant, ethereal smell to it, like a shaft of sunlight illuminating a shelf of old yellowed scrolls in a castle’s study. She loved that smell. Pomni felt even more at ease. She found something to pass the time, and nobody could stop her. She could write as many lists as she wanted, about anything she wanted. She closed her eyes, the warm, private dark behind her lids the perfect place to imagine what she could write next.

Within minutes, she was asleep.

——

The faint yet insistent song of birds woke Pomni up. She blearily opened her eyes, lifting her head up off of her arms, the spots on them where her head rested warm and flushed. Pomni reached a gloved hand to her right eye and rubbed it, something slipping off of her shoulders and drifting politely to the floor. She turned around to find her comforter rumpled about her chair. It must have been draped over her while she slept at her desk. Did she do that..? She turned back to her desk.

It took her eyes a moment to defog, but everything on her desk was right where she left it, Kinger’s profile stopping at Luna moth. She stretched, a yawn bubbling up and escaping her mouth. She picked her blanket up and made her bed, tempted to flop right back down onto it and get some more sleep. But she needed to organize her things first.

She yawned into her palm and picked up the completed profiles, tapping the sheaf of papers on her improvised desk so they fell into order. She blinked and examined the top sheet. It was written in purple colored pencil, not her black one, and it definitely wasn’t her handwriting. She held it a bit closer.

Name: Pomni

Potential Real Name: No idea

Nicknames: Pompom, Poms, New Stuff, Newbie, Shorty, Clownface, Jingles

Likes: Jax and Ragatha, Salmon and rice, number puzzles, swimming, long walks, lemon drops, fudge ripple ice cream, cuddling

Dislikes: Hugs from strangers, snakes, spicy candies, cooking, whoopee cushions

Musical Taste: U2, Coldplay, Snow Patrol, Marina and The Diamonds, Regina Spektor, Keane, Ariana Grande, Corinne Bailey Rae, Duffy

Personality: Pomni shouldn’t have lasted long here. She’s a nervous wreck that’s prone to crying, depression, overstimulation and anxiety attacks. We were all a little worried she would abstract early.

But she never did. She showed everyone that not only is she tougher than she looks, she’s smart as a whip and one of the most courageous people any of us have ever met. She’s a great friend to everyone, and never gave up on even the people here that seemed beyond help.

We all love you, Pomni.

Pomni set the piece of paper down on her desk. She rubbed her eyes again, her glove coming away flecked with water. She got everything organized, sliding her paper and pencils under her bed. She took the sheet with purple handwriting, folded it neatly, and tucked it into her pillowcase. She rubbed her eyes again, sighed shakily, and opened the door to her room, ready to meet the sunrise.

#the amazing digital circus #funnybunny #buttonblossom #bunnyrabbitdoll #tadc #oh no cringe #tadc jax #tadc ragatha #tadc pomni #tadc gangle #jax x pomni #pomni x ragatha #autistic pomni

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