#and the corset itself is a little long too

[bismuthburnsblue]

she still needs some refinements to the pattern but actually. anne corset goes SO hard

[heartyearning]

handsewing button holes through 6 layers of fabric is an unfortunately huge pain in the ass and tragically i have to do 18 of them

[transmutationisms]

can u elaborate on posture being a lie

As Beth Linker explains in her book “Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America” (Princeton), a long history of anxiety about the proximity between human and bestial nature has played out in this area of social science. Linker, a historian of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, argues that at the onset of the twentieth century the United States became gripped by what she characterizes as a poor-posture epidemic: a widespread social contagion of slumping that could, it was feared, have deleterious effects not just upon individual health but also upon the body politic. Sitting up straight would help remedy all kinds of failings, physical and moral [...] she sees the “past and present worries concerning posture as part of an enduring concern about so-called ‘diseases of civilization’ ”—grounded in a mythology of human ancestry that posits the hunter-gatherer as an ideal from which we have fallen.

[...]

In America at the turn of the twentieth century, anxieties about posture inevitably collided with anxieties not just about class but also about race. Stooping was associated with poverty and with manual, industrialized labor—the conditions of working-class immigrants from European countries who, in their physical debasement, were positioned well below the white Anglo-Saxon Protestant establishment. Linker argues that, in this environment, “posture served as a marker of social status similar to skin color.” At the same time, populations that had been colonized and enslaved were held up as posture paradigms for the élite to emulate: the American Posture League rewarded successful students with congratulatory pins that featured an image of an extremely upright Lenape man. The head-carrying customs associated with African women were also adopted as training exercises for white girls of privilege, although Linker notes that Bancroft and her peers recommended that young ladies learn to balance not baskets and basins, which signified functionality, but piles of flat, slippery books, markers of their own access to leisure and education. For Black Americans, posture was even more fraught: despite the admiration granted to the posture of African women bearing loads atop their heads, community leaders like Dr. Algernon Jackson, who helped establish the National Negro Health Movement, criticized those Black youth who “too often slump along, stoop-shouldered and walk with a careless, lazy sort of dragging gait.” If slouching among privileged white Americans could indicate an enviable carelessness, it was seen as proof of indolence when adopted by the disadvantaged.

This being America, posture panic was swiftly commercialized, with a range of products marketed to appeal to the eighty per cent of the population whose carriage had been deemed inadequate by posture surveys. The footwear industry drafted orthopedic surgeons to consult on the design of shoes that would lessen foot and back pain without the stigma of corrective footwear: one brand, Trupedic, advertised itself as “a real anatomical shoe without the freak-show look.” The indefatigable Jessie Bancroft trained her sights on children’s clothing, endorsing a company that created a “Right-Posture” jacket, whose trim cut across the upper shoulders gave its schoolboy wearer little choice but to throw his shoulders back like Jordan Baker. Bancroft’s American Posture League endorsed girdles and corsets for women; similar garments were also adopted by men, who, by the early nineteen-fifties, were purchasing abdominal “bracers” by the millions.

It was in this era that what eventually proved to be the most contentious form of posture policing reached its height, when students entering college were required to submit to mandatory posture examinations, including the taking of nude or semi-nude photographs. For decades, incoming students had been evaluated for conditions such as scoliosis by means of a medical exam, which came to incorporate photography to create a visual record. Linker writes that for many male students, particularly those who had military training, undressing for the camera was no biggie. For female students, it was often a more disquieting undertaking. Sylvia Plath, who endured it in 1950, drew upon the experience in “The Bell Jar,” whose protagonist, Esther Greenwood, discovers that undressing for her boyfriend is as uncomfortably exposing as “knowing . . . that a picture of you stark naked, both full view and side view, is going into the college gym files.” The practice of taking posture photographs was gradually abandoned by colleges, thanks in part to the rise of the women’s movement, which gave coeds a new language with which to express their discomfort. It might have been largely forgotten were it not for a 1995 article in the Times Magazine, which raised the alarming possibility that there still existed stashes of nude photographs of famous former students of the Ivy League and the Seven Sisters, such as George H. W. Bush, Bob Woodward, Meryl Streep, and Hillary Clinton. Many of the photographs in question were taken and held not by the institutions themselves but by the mid-century psychologist William Herbert Sheldon. Sheldon was best known for his later discredited theories of somatotypes, whereby he attributed personality characteristics to individuals based on whether their build was ectomorphic, endomorphic, or mesomorphic.

[...]

Today, the descendants of Jessie Bancroft are figures like Esther Gokhale, a Bay Area acupuncturist and the creator of the Gokhale Method, who teaches “primal posture” courses to tech executives and whose recommendations are consonant with other fitness trends, such as barefoot running and “paleo” eating, that romanticize an ancestral past as a remedy for the ills of the present. The compulsory mass surveillance that ended when universities ceased the practice of posture photography has been replaced by voluntary individual surveillance, with the likes of Rafi the giraffe and the Nekoze cat monitoring a user’s vulnerability to “tech neck,” a newly named complaint brought on by excessive use of the kind of devices profitably developed by those paleo-eating, barefoot-running, yoga-practicing executives. Meanwhile, Linker reports, paleoanthropologists quietly working in places other than TikTok have begun to revise the popular idea that our ancient ancestors did not get aches and pains in their backs. Analysis of fossilized spines has revealed degenerative changes suggesting that “the first upright hominids to roam the earth likely experienced back pain, or would have been predisposed to such a condition if they had lived long enough.” Slouching, far from being a disease of civilization, then, seems to be something we’ve been prone to for as long as we have stood on our own two feet.

[bumblebeesfromvenus]

Renaissance!Leon headcannons 🩷☁️

A/N: I could not stop thinking about this. Enjoy my word vomit! At least it's pink..

~Fi 🐝

Warnings: horrendously historically inaccurate, FLUFF, disgustingly sweet, absolutely filthy too, NFSW content 17+, cunnilingus, PiV, creampie, cum eating, my love for Leon is a warning in itself.

Word count: 1.2k

Please don't copy my work! I put a lot of effort and heart into the things I write.

🎀♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡⚜️♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡🎀

🎀♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡⚜️♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡🎀

Renaissance!Leon who makes sure you only get the best. Silks, velvet, expensive jewelry, the most beautiful gowns you could ever ask for and whatever else your heart yearns for. Luxurious bubble baths with rose petals, lavender oil and goat milk, while your chamber maid gently combs your hair.

Renaissance!Leon who treats you like an absolute goddess, he would do absolutely anything for you, no matter what. He feels like a madman sometimes with all the things he has done for you, and would do for you in the future.

Renaissance!Leon who loves taking off your corset. It's such a sweet and intimate moment, the feeling of the laces gliding over his fingers as he frees you from your prison. He places soft and loving kisses on every new inch of skin he exposes while unraveling the garment.

Renaissance!Leon who takes you to every event he can, solely to show you off. To show all those other noble bastards that you chose him, that you're his and he's yours. Not that they had a chance with you anyway.

Renaissance!Leon who has gotten into many fist fights and duels because a poor noble looked at you even a second too long. He's always victorious, of course, he knows his way around combat and rapiers.

Renaissance!Leon who was always a bit of a rebel, defying the orders of whoever, just because he could. His sense for freedom was one of the many things that made you fall for him.

Renaissance!Leon who loves to have little forbidden midnight rendezvous with you. Before he was officially courting you, you two used to sneak out, just you, the moonlit nights and all the love you held for each other.

Renaissance!Leon who has made love, not fucked, to you under the stars, just to show you much he truly cared for you.

Renaissance!Leon who loves to take you on outings, riding through a nice corner of nature on a sunny day, going on a walk through town and buying you new clothes and accessories, or having a cute picnic on the grounds of his huge estate.

Renaissance!Leon who loves waking up with you. The silky sheets draped around and over your figure while you're being illuminated by the morning sun makes you look ethereal in his eyes, like an Angel. He will watch you adoringly as your chest rises and falls with soft breaths while he litters gentle kisses over your skin.

Renaissance!Leon who loves the feeling of being buried underneath your many petticoats and skirts while he's taking you to heaven with his tongue, nestled between your thighs.

Renaissance!Leon who has fucked you over and on every surface in the house, he just can't help himself when you look so pretty all the time. He's still in the honeymoon phase and he will never leave it. He's addicted to you, his beautiful wife, and will forever shower you in his love and affection.

Renaissance!Leon who is so worked up from how you look, how you act, how you smell, that he just has to fuck you in the carriage on your way to a ball.

Renaissance!Leon who buries his face in your squished up tits, breathing in your intoxicating perfume. You have to stop him from sucking and biting marks on your supple skin, promising him he gets to do all of that later.

Renaissance!Leon who has you seated on his cock while he bucks his hips into you, the movement of the carriage making you bounce in his lap. He almost collapses at the sight, your face contorted in bliss while his entire lower half is covered by your new extravagant dress. One hand is on the back of his neck while your other is steadying yourself against the wall of the carriage as you subconsciously press him closer to your flush tits.

Renaissance!Leon who would love nothing more than to abandon the idea of going to this stupid ball just so he can hear you sing your symphonies of bliss for him until dawn.

Renaissance!Leon who loves the little gasps and whimpers that fall from your lips when he glides his tongue over your tits.

Renaissance!Leon who almost goes dumb when you clench around him, his head falling back and his breathing picking up. He damn near punched a hole in the carriage when you finally came undone around him, making him spill deep inside you not long after.

Renaissance!Leon who is so hot and bothered during the ball, because he just imagines how his cum drips out of you, staining the new silk skirt while you socialize like he just didn't fuck your brains out on the way here.

Renaissance!Leon who cannot concentrate on a single conversation which leads him to take you again in a little dark corner of the library, fucking you against one of the many bookshelves.

Renaissance!Leon who has the noble class wondering how you don't have 10 children yet with the way he's all over you constantly. The answer; Lemon tops.

Renaissance!Leon who basically rips your corset to shreds the second your back in your home. He's on his knees for you immediately, licking the trail of his cum off your thighs before he tastes you and fucks you with his tongue until you're light headed.

Renaissance!Leon who just loves you so fully, it makes your heart feel all fuzzy. Whether it's when you take a joined bath, his fingers gently caressing your skin or when he holds you close and whispers all kinds of sweet things in your ear.

Renaissance!Leon who assures you with absolute certainty that he loves every inch of you. Every stomach roll, every bit of chubbiness and fat that you believe to be in the wrong place (it isn't, and he will fuck those thoughts out of you if he has to), every stretch mark, every scar, every mole, all the body hair that you're unsure about, every little, fickle thing that is deemed imperfect, makes you even more perfect in his eyes.

Renaissance!Leon who cannot believe his luck sometimes. He doesn't know what he did to end up with you, this absolutely gorgeous woman who is so loving and kind and gentle with him. But he's so incredibly grateful each and every day, and he will continue to show you his appreciation.

Renaissance!Leon who loves fucking you, but there's nothing he loves more than to make love to you. Gentle, slow and sensual. Soft and sweet kisses, compliments and praises that make your heart (and pussy) flutter. He will pour his heart out to you while he's so deep inside of you, you can almost feel him in your throat.

Renaissance!Leon who has secretly dabbled in the arts of poetry, just for you. He's never been artistic but you, you made him feel like a lovesick fool, writing down the most cliché lines, purely because you moved him in a way nobody else had.

Renaissance!Leon who would die for you, and will protect you until he can't anymore. He's so grateful for the life you've shown him; that he's worthy of that life. He wants nothing more than to grow old with you and then do it all over again in the next life.

Renaissance!Leon who loves you with no exception. He lives for you, you make him have a purpose. He loves you more than the sun could ever love the moon.

🎀♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡⚜️♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡🎀

I will definitely make this a whole fic at one point, but I'm working on so many things right at the moment, I needed to quench my thirst somehow until I go Jane Austen on this <3 ~

[emeritusemeritus]

Hear me out! Possessive sex + Overstimulation + Brat Taming + Breeding. Both of the Weasley Twins please. 🤭

I just always have this thought of just teasing the shit out of them when they’re work and fleeing afterwards. It’s almost as if we took their job of teasing us, and I could just imagine how pent up and frustrated they can be when they can’t do anything since there’s kids and adults around. The joke shop is suppose to be an appropriate place especially when it’s meant mainly for kids..Perhaps, add a part where we purposefully flirt with one of our old classmates. You can choose who! If you don’t like this idea, I completely understand! Feel free to add some kinks if you like or story elements. 🫶

Hi Anon! I’m so sorry it has taken so long to get this out, writing has had to be on the back-burner for now but I’m slowly getting back! Sorry for the lack of smut, it’s more of the setup as I’m abit smutted out 🖤

Warnings: Sexual tension, brat behaviour, Dom!sub relationships, polyamory, teasing, sexual references, mild swearing. Flirting, mentions of pregnancy, pregnancy kink, breeding kink.

Word count: 2.5k

Wonder Witch

You knew what you were getting into the second you opened up your wardrobe and changed into the outfit you'd carefully prepared for today. Your husbands had already long since departed the flat to set up the shop for the day, leaving you just a little later to sleep in, which you were thankful for.

Today was the big launch of new wonder witch products that the twins had been tirelessly working on, perfecting the range ready for the big launch today. You'd helped with ordering violently pink balloons to decorate every orifice of the shop, had banners printed and had even managed to convince Madame Puddifoot's to make some limited edition iced biscuits for the celebration, all in the same sickening shade of pink.

The icing on the cake was the costume that you'd picked out ready to hand out and display the new items, recreating the wonder witch icon on the packaging.

The dress in itself wasn't too risky, an array of pink and gold overlapping fabric that fell just above your knee, with a pointed witches hat in a smilies style. But it also had exposed shoulders with dropped sleeves and a corseted middle which hoisted in your waist to create a rather dramatic shape, highlighting your hips in a way that you knew would drive your husbands crazy. You carefully curled your hair and applied a healthy dose of mascara to really make your eyes pop before applying an equally vibrant lipsticks that you'd found matched the colour of wonder witch perfectly. You added a little highlighter around your cheeks to give you a little bit more of a playful look and slipped on your shoes to really help bring the look together.

When you looked in the mirror, you were more than pleased with yourself. You looked hot.

Checking the clock, you saw that it was 8:53am, just in time for the store to open. You could hear the twins flapping, mainly George, the moment you opened the door towards the staircase. They were bustling ready for the big opening and the unsurprising lack of Verity meant that she was probably going to be late again.

"Angel can you put these products on the... shit." George says the second you walk down the stairs, noticing the outfit almost immediately.

"What's up with you?" Fred asks, walking over to George under the staircase until he comes into full view, noticing that his twin seems to be frozen on the spot. He turns, looking towards the direction George seems frozen at and you watch as his eyes widen also comically wide. "Holy Godric."

"Morning," you say cheerfully, leaning up to press a kiss to George's cheek before doing the same to Fred as they look at you in complete shock, mouths slightly parted. "Where do you want me?"

"Um," George says, clearing his throat though his eyes hardly move from the curve of your breasts, a prominent feature of your dress. You fight the urge to laugh, wanting to keep up your little innocent play, pretending that you had no idea why they were looking at you like that.

"You want these on the shelf?" You ask, batting your eyelashes at them, watching as Fred's tongue pokes out to wet his lips.

The little clock on the wall chimes, signalling the store opening, just as you bend down to grab the box of products and you look up with pouting lips, watching as the twins hardly react to the chimes.

"You gonna unlock the doors big boy?" You ask Fred with a singular raised eyebrows, noticing how he doesn't even attempt to pull out his wand. A frantic knock on the doors pulls him out of his thoughts and you all turn to see Verity knocking to be let it, surrounded by a large crowd of customers ready to shop the new products. You flash a little wink at George as Fred unlocks the doors with a flick of his wand, the fireworks and the tricks beginning all in perfect synchronisation. When you look back up after picking up the box of products and see your two men still staring at you, completely unaware of the swarm of customers bursting through the doors, you knew today was going to be fun.

The store was packed right from opening, a never-ending swarm of people crossing through the doors until the shop was almost too full of people, all wanting to get their hands on the new merchandise. It was an overwhelming success, the new line of wonder witch products and cosmetics and you were thankful, fortunate and insanely proud of your husbands for pulling off the ideas you'd created together. You should have been tired, drained from the day as it neared closing time but truthfully you were on an adrenaline high, on cloud nine from teasing your husbands all day and seeing their increasing desperation.

All day you'd made sure to be a little bit of a brat, an utter tease whilst trying to portray yourself as an innocent Angel- something you knew for a fact that they didn't believe in the slightest.

George was easier to rile up, always quicker to respond to your more subtle teasing. You'd brushed past him a number of times today, the packed shop only aiding your need to slowly brush your ass against the front of his trousers as you squeezed past him or to pass something up to Verity on the stairs, ensuring that he got a face full of cleavage as you stretched up. You'd caught him staring at you more times today than you could count on all your extremities, especially when you climbed the stairs above him, ensuring that he knew your bare thighs were right above him.

Fred didn't always respond to subtlety, so you knew your efforts had to be boosted when it came to him. You'd purposely licked and sucked at one of the dark mark lollipops in the most outrageous way whenever he was paying attention and you'd even heard him choke on his own spit when he noticed.

You knew you had him when you were explaining to a group of seventh year girls about the patented daydream charms and how how they worked, passing out the colourful boxes items around the group as they accepted them with eager and curious eyes.

"Up to thirty minutes of pure, blissful imagination; let me tell you it will create a very realistic daydream of your choice so you know that boy you're crushing on? You're going to have the best thirty minutes of your life."

You're met with a round of playful giggles as you smile at them, knowing you were in for a good sale.

"Have you used it?" One of the girls asks and you nod eagerly with a smirk, knowing that Fred was just behind you from the way you could feel his presence, hearing him talk only moments before.

"Not since I married him," you say with a smirk as you receive another round of girlish giggles. "Between us, those thirty minutes with Fred were some of my most imaginative creations, believe me these little things are special," you say, twisting the box in your hands. "Just don't tell George." You watch as the girls' eyes light up and they quickly shove them in their baskets. You turn then, catching Fred's eye as he pretends not to have been listening and you act as if you're bashful about what he might have heard, placing a strand of hair nervously behind your ear as you walk away, making sure to sway your hips ever so slightly, knowing he'd be watching.

By lunchtime, you'd effortlessly riled them up to a point that it was so painfully obvious what they were trying to hide that you found yourself biting back a smirk for most of the day. They were so easily and deeply affected that it was rather fun to watch, but none more so than when Dean Thomas came into the shop just after the dinner time rush. You'd taken a quick break and had reapplied your lipstick, carefully checking you appearance before you walked down the stairs back to work. Dean had been talking to both of your lives near the stairs when he spotted you, eyes briefly widening as he took in your appearance. Unfortunately for him, Fred had been mid sentence and had definitely noticed Dean checking you out, making his go silent and cause a thunderous look to cross his face.

"Y/n, hi! It's good to see you!" Dean smiles as you approach them all, careful to avoid looking at the faces of your husbands who had now both caught on to Dean's over-pleasant demeanour.

"Dean, good to see you too!"

"You look good! Who knew that y/n (*maiden name) would become wonder witch!" His hands gesture towards your outfit and then to the display of new products to the side with your likeness on.

"It's Weasley," both twins said a little too quickly, in perfect synchronisation, making you have to bite the inside of your cheek to stop a laugh spilling out at their obvious jealously.

"Of course," Dean says somewhat absently, not picking up on the sudden hostility aimed at him by the shop-owners. "So what have you been up to? Do you see the others much?"

"Didn't ask us this many questions," you hear George mumble under his breath to Fred, who has crossed his arms across his chest and is hardly blinking, watching Dean closely.

"The usual," you smile, shooting a fleeting glance at your two husbands who's red faces seem to match their hair. "Keeping these two in line, keeping the shop afloat," you joke.

"So no little Weasley's running about yet?"

You could almost sense the little eye twitch George did at the words and you were certain that Fred seemed to stand even straighter, making himself even taller to tower over Dean.

"Hopefully soon," you say, biting your lip and George's eyes flicker to you with a fire in them, your words affecting him more easily than you'd anticipated. Fred seemed to incidentally lose his footing and was knocked off balance for a second, breaking the rather playful mood that had settled between you and Dean.

After Dean had left with a few things he'd come for, you finally accepted your fate and let the veil slip enough to drop the innocent act you'd been playing all day. Fred had cornered you beside the till, a stolen moment of peace as you reached high up to re-stock the daydreams, flashing him with a glimpse of your stocking.

"Really Freddie?" You pretended to admonish as you felt his rather prominent evidence of arousal against your hip as he started to get grabby with you, nearing the end of his restraint. "This is a respected establishment Mr Weasley, there are children about!"

You shuffled past him with a little tut, hiding your smirk behind your hair, leaving him stranded with mouth agape at your sudden boldness. George wasn't faring much better, his eyes still fixed on the curve of your breasts whenever he caught a glimpse, silently watching you rile him up further and further as your act slipped away.

With one last attempt at completely flipping the switch inside of them, throwing them over the metaphorical cliff, you doubled down your efforts. It was nearly closing time and you walked slyly over to the cash register whilst George was cashing up for the night and began stretching, pointing out your chest and making some very questionable noises. You adjusted the little cold shoulder straps on your dress and readjusted your breasts in the dress, sensing your attentive audience of George who was close by and Fred who had stopped what he was doing to watch you from across the shop. You suddenly turned and walked behind George, placing your hand on his hip as you squeezed past to reach for a carrier bag, carefully dragging your hand over his lower back as you leaned down. When you began to turn and walk away, you felt a large hand shoot out and grab your wrist.

“Angel.”

His tone was clear and clipped, telling you everything you needed to do.

“I know exactly what you’re doing,” he says, moving to stand behind you in the near empty shop, an obvious erection pressing into your behind. “Keep going little brat, you’re only fuelling the fire.”

When he lets you go and turns back to his task with no other reaction, you knew it was time to slip away. You rushed up the stairs, carefully avoiding both of them, ready for the next step of the plan. You’d prepped dinner on your lunch break, wanting to get ahead for the night and flicked the oven on with a flick of your wand as soon as you made it upstairs. You kicked off your shoes, pulled off your panties and waited, busying yourself to ward off the desperate arousal you were feeling, anticipating a good but long night ahead.

As soon as you heard the familiar, incoming footsteps on the landing, you bent over in your skirt to slip the pie into the oven, giving them quite a show when they walked in.

“Fucking Godric,” you heard Fred exclaim when he stepped through the door, followed by a similar curse only moments later by his twin as they see your pussy on full display for them, peeking out from below the short skirt as you bend over.

“Princess,” he says, beginning to stalk over to you as you pulled yourself up, closing the oven. You looked at them innocently, big doe-eyes and fluttering lashes as you watched them darkly approach you.

“You were naughty today,” George says, his hand reaching out to cup the back of your neck as he pulls you into a devastatingly sinful kiss that immediately makes your nipples harden under the dress. You gasp into his mouth when you suddenly feel a hand creeping up your inner thigh, underneath your dress.

“Remember what you said to Dean, princess?” Fred asks, voice dangerously low, prompting you to nod whilst trying to catch your breath. You knew exactly what you’d said, what you’d hoped for.

“Reckon we should start now?” He asks, his hand ghosting over the curve of your ass, feeling the bare flesh underneath his fingers. “Want you knocked up right fucking now.”

“Agreed,” George adds, somehow looking and sounding ever darker and more determined than Fred. George suddenly reaches out and turns off the oven with a harsh flick of his wrist, smirking when you look up at him in confusion at him turning off the oven.

“We’re not gonna be done with you that soon,” he says with a devilish smirk. “Gonna cum in you over and over, taking turns filling you. There’s gonna be so much cum in you that you won’t know where you start and we end, get you all round from us. Now.”

“Get on the bed.”

[strayed-quokka]

babydoll || ji changmin || act i

↳ Changmin isn’t popular nor is he rich, whereas you run on the other end of the spectrum, spoilt and living on your dads credit card. when you’re tasked with kicking him out of the biggest party of your year, you come to realise he’s not all that bad. unfortunately, falling in love with the ji changmin is your one way ticket to social suicide.

↳ pairing: ji changmin x female reader + ex lee juyeon x female reader

!!! this is not a love triangle !!!

~ rating: NC-17 minors please do not interact with this work

↳ genre: enemies to acquaintances to reluctant friends to lovers, slowburn, drama, angst, happy end but it takes a long ass time, rich girl broke ass uni boy

~ warnings: everyone kinda sucks, reader is a pain to deal with, alcohol, sex while on drugs, sex while intoxicated (consensual), condom where?, use of whore, degradation kinda, the classism is strong in this one, implications of eating disorder, body issues, body modifications (nipple piercings), changmin is basically a chainsmoker but we love him, cocaine is common, so is imported wine, swearing, juyeon is toxic, emotional abuse, manipulation (?), moaning the wrong name, bullying, pet names (little doll, doll, darling, princess), good girl, oral (male recieving), spanking if you squint, taller reader with long hair, is anyone redeemable?

everyone is an adult in their 20s

!!! if I missed anything or I remember something else I will add it !!!

↳ words: 14,838

a/n: this is a month late, i know. changmin broke my computer, it's simply not my fault, thanks.

I have said this previously but I will be stating this every chapter. There are some specific physical attributes to this reader which I usually avoid doing but for the story itself it was necessary.

Also, please note that the warnings are applicable to the chapter in question, not necessarily the whole story. You can find all the warnings on the masterlist to babydoll.

let me know if you wanna be on the taglist 🩵

babydoll playlist || teaser

You huff in frustration in your desperate attempts at wriggling yourself into your custom made corset without accidentally dragging the jewelry adorning your nipples with you, for the pain would be hell and you cannot be dealing with any of that on such an important night. 

“Why do you still squeeze yourself into clothes that don’t fit?”

“It does fit,” your best friend raises his eyebrows, coming over to you and completely unbothered by your bare chest. He’s seen you naked before, and whilst there were many rumours of you and Chanhee being an item, you both laughed at the absurdity and simply played into it when you felt like stirring some trouble, “it has to be tight.”

“You can barely get it on,” but you let him take over, covering your chest with his own fingers as he tugs the moss coloured fabric over, until he’s sure your piercings are out of danger. You thank him and proceed to tug the rest down yourself, adjusting it so that your chest lifts further, creating the illusion of far more cleavage than you actually have, “looks good though.”

“I know,” he rolls his eyes, taking the white string of the corset between his fingers at your back, “how tight?”

“Break my ribs tight,” you’re yanked back with force into his chest, making you yelp though you ignore the pressure created on your body for the sake of beauty. For just a moment, you dare envy Chanhee, who despite being dressed beautifully in a dark red suit and a button down open far too low to be subtle, can at least breathe without feeling suffocated. 

“You worry me,” and it’s genuine. His voice is sincere and it’s incredibly off putting, for you don’t do well with sincerity, nor do you do well with anything that isn’t bragging within your social circle to raise yourself above everyone else. 

Out of all your friends, of which you had many, Chanhee was really the only one that you let yourself be true to, but the truth to who you were rarely came to light even for him. You hide yourself away, in favour of a rather stoic and icy personality, for it was so much easier to display power in arrogance than in empathy. 

“Don’t. It’ll give you wrinkles,” he laughs, finishing up with a neat bow of the satin string down the centre of your back, your leather black shorts high on your waist and heels just above your knees. You looked good, lips stained a perfect red and eyeliner dangerously sharp with glitter over your eyelids. 

Perfect. 

“How do I look?” though you only expected one answer, one he gave you without missing a beat because Chanhee always knew exactly what you wanted to hear. 

“Sexy as hell.”

The party is in full swing by the time you arrive. You never liked to be early, and arriving at the time given was what you considered to be a rather pathetic display of having nothing better to do beforehand. If anything, being late was being perfectly on time. You didn't care who might find it rude.

Your driver had taken a rather long and unnecessary detour upon your request so that you and Chanhee could down shots in the back of the SUV, a mess of small glass bottles littered across the floor that you’d pay someone to clean before your father ever found out. You didn’t care much for the damage you caused, mainly because there was never any repercussion for your actions. 

The dents in your favourite credit card wasn’t even in your name, nor was the chaos you caused enough to cause much money to be lost. Your father allowed you to have anything you wanted, and the idea of having everything just made you want more. Your mother had no complaints either, for as long as you were out of her way, she didn’t care what you did. Well, it was partially true. You didn't like to think of the times she did say something to appeal to the idea that she was a good mother.

You were always greedy, but not only were you greedy, but you wished for your best friend to have whatever he wanted too. You took turns paying for things, weekend shopping trips more than a regular occurance, though where to most they may be simple and inexpensive, to you they were filled with luxury items that easily amounted to costs that most could never even dream to afford. 

“Start of last term… how’d you feel?” 

When stepping out of the car, it surprises you that you don’t stumble, Chanhee linking his arm with yours before thanking your chaffeur, handing him a large sum of bills in an excessive tip that he doesn’t need to give, “fucking finally. Can’t wait!” 

He chuckles, leading you inside the house of none other than Lee Juyeon. 

Juyeon was quite possibly the wealthiest young man on campus and your ex-lover, but neither of those made a difference in whether you were invited or not. It was a given that you were, even high up on the guest list along with your best friend's name as you were let in. 

You’d been in these very walls a lot, could cross off many rooms on the list of where you’d been naked and bent over, sometimes high on drugs you’d barely remembered taking, creating a shift in reality and overwhelming pleasure that could never come sober. 

“There she is, the little princess,” you scoff, glaring at Juyeon though accepting the delicate glass of expensive champagne that the man himself offers to you, handing another to Chanhee as if he’d prepared for this moment, knowing that if you came, the other wasn’t far behind. 

Honestly, sometimes you think that Chanhee became the end to your relationship, but you were tired of it anyway. Whilst Juyeon could be fun company, the two of you were the opposite side of the same coin, far too similar in twisted and cold personality to ever be fully compatible. 

“And the little prince. To what do I owe the honour?” His frown is immediate, frustrated by your constant reminder of being similar height, and he’s chucking his drink down his throat before dangling the glass between his fingers. 

“Still the same bitch then, huh?” 

“I learned from the best,” though Juyeon isn’t one to accept defeat. When he knows a situation can’t be won, he simply fades it out or ignores it, rather than arguing himself into a corner. He’s smart that way; something you’d taken onboard yourself for nothing was worse than realising you’d lost to someone else. 

“And Chanhee, still gorgeous,” Juyeon sends him a wink, one Chanhee rolls his eyes to in a way that makes you laugh. The two of them were like oil and water, never getting along fully yet not hating each other enough either. 

“I sent you the money,” your ex grins, digging into his pocket until a white paper box is between his jewellery-adorned fingers. There’s a cross displayed in the centre, ironic to you as your eyes seem amused. 

“I’m aware,” he holds it out to you, though just as you grab it, he pulls his fingers back just enough for you to miss it, “just be careful. It’s good shit.”

"I would hope so with a price like that."

Juyeon wasn’t lying. When you’d cut down the white powder further with your credit card to create two equally sized lines, one for Chanhee and one for you, you hadn’t thought it would hit you so quickly. Given your quite frequent use of the drug, you’d actually become a bit immune to the first hit. 

Chanhee had quickly decided that that one hit would be enough for you both. Whilst normally you’d argue with him and disagree, you let him place the rest in his suit jacket, storing it away from your glazed eyes that watched him lazily. 

Your brain could’ve easily done a hundred thousand things in this moment, but instead you sat there with your legs bouncing and your hands only somewhat calmer because they were twisting in your lap, “let’s dance!” 

You drag Chanhee to the living room that’s now the dance floor, back and forth in your movement before you’re easily brought to the centre of the room. With Chanhee, it was easy to grab attention, for he was a dancer before he was anything else, sober or not; he simply lived and breathed it, dragging you in by the waist to move with him. 

You’re not sure how quickly the time goes. It could be hours or just a few minutes, but the cheering dies down and you’re wondering what could possibly be grabbing anyone’s attention so desperately that it’s not on you anymore. 

Blurrily, you tear your eyes away from Chanhee, landing on a figure in the corner of the room alone. He’s disinterested, and it takes quite a long time for you to recognise him though when you do, you’re immediately filled with hatred. 

Ji Changmin. 

Beyond beautiful, sure, with his dark locks of hair and jewelry-adorned ears, his usual glasses sat over his face, framing it in a way that made him look innocent yet cute, but also completely worthless of anyone’s time. 

And here he was taking yours away. 

You’re not even sure how he got in. There was no way Juyeon would put someone who got into your university with pure luck and a scholarship, onto tonight's guest list of prestigious classmates who had it all. He didn’t even seem comfortable in being here, so why the hell was he here?

“Y/N,” Chanhee calls your name, though it’s a blur that fades somewhere deep within your drugged mind until you’re physically yanked back to pay attention to him. You notice Juyeon suddenly standing next to him, a lazy smirk on his lips while you have no idea where he suddenly came from. 

“Explain, now.”

“Ah well, I wish I could. Don’t actually know how he got here. Impressive, though. Shall we keep him?” 

He asks as if Changmin is a pet, though you suppose that’s not quite far off. To everyone in the room, the man in the corner meant very little. He didn’t have money, and whilst some of his clothes were nicely put together, they were mostly cheap. All in all, his appearance was a contrast to yours, and you never appreciated anyone who put in even a percentage less of effort into looks than you did. 

You considered it lazy. Even if your rational mind told you he couldn’t afford better, it simply wasn’t good enough if he was going to be part of the world you were in. 

“Mind telling him to leave?”

You hadn’t seen him all night, though here he was, Hyunjae, standing tall and proud before the three of you, dressed dark yet regal with a bottle of half-empty red wine between his fingers. It wasn’t unusual to see him avoid an actual glass at a party, for he saw no real use if he was going to drink the contents of a whole bottle anyway. Why pour it somewhere else first if the end result was the same?

“Juyeon, you’re the host,” Chanhee interjects, bitterly reminding Juyeon that he had to do most of the work unless he involved security. And when it came to using security, Juyeon liked to avoid it until it became the very last resort. He rather loved to manipulate people in conversation until they were uncomfortable enough to leave.

Whilst Changmin was a frustrating inconvenience, he was not worth causing a scene for.

“Y/N you tell him,” Juyeon yanks the bottle of wine from Hyunjae, chugging it down as you stare at him in disbelief. 

“What? Why me?”

“You’re the only girl,” Hyunjae mumbles, not quite with the conversation as he attempts to get his drink back, mildly successful though there’s a fresh stain of liquid red on the carpet, earning him a rather rough punch to the shoulder from the host. 

“Careful, that’s imported,” Juyeon scoffs. 

“As if you paid for it,” and he couldn’t argue. His parents were often away, so he was often free to do as he liked and act like it was all his. In reality, only a small share of the luxury was, though the small share was more than enough for him to be incredibly well off and indifferent to anything.

“There’s other girls here,” you yell, spinning around as if to point them all out in an over-dramatic gesture in case all your friends were blind, but that doesn’t seem to matter, and now your head is starting to hurt as fatigue hits you from the alcohol, but your brain can’t rest to save your life because of the self-induced high you’re on from the drug you took.

“Very true,” Hyunjae confirms, though he seems to hold all the answers, so confident in the way he leans down to your level, a little condescending and dangerous in his tone, smelling of cologne and alcohol, “but none of those girls are you.”

Damn it, if Lee Jaehyun didn’t have a way with words. 

“Fine,” you exasperatedly snarl, hands on your hips as you huff, annoyed, “what do I get?”

“What would you like?” Juyeon asks you, and it’s in the same tone he used to speak to you with when you were together. An attitude screaming you could have anything if you kept his bed warm at night. 

“Shopping trip. Funded by you. No limit,” he’s considering it, rolling his eyes as he reaches for his pocket where his wallet lies, “and I get a plus one. Chanhee’s going.”

The smile on Juyeon’s lips immediately fades, but he nevertheless takes out the platinum card and practically shoves it against Chanhee’s chest, not trusting you to take it when you’re a little more than out of it, not to mention he’s fairly certain that you’re not even quite sure where you are in his house anymore. 

“Fine,” he snarls, eyes angry but equally impressed. As if telling you you’ve played your cards well, exactly as he would’ve, but that he’s anything but happy about it. 

You’re just as good as him, always unmatched and it’s his biggest frustration with you in his life. To him, you were a competitor, worthy of his time only because you pushed the limits. 

Approaching Changmin should’ve been easy. He’d been standing in that corner for the past few minutes, simply unmoving, a drink in hand, alone and isolated, though as soon as you make your way towards him, he moves.

You’re not sure if he’d noticed you, or if maybe he’d grown restless and simply had terrible timing, but there was a growing anger in you at watching him walk away and go outside into the large backyard. 

If there’s one thing you definitely didn’t handle well, it would be people walking away from you. And whilst sober, you may have been able to rationalise it more and thought that maybe, just maybe he hadn’t seen you, intoxicated you wasn’t as forgiving, not to mention insulted regardless if he’d known you were there or not. 

It’s enough for you to angrily tear a drink away from the grand piano, a row of champagne glasses neatly lined up and filled to take, rushing after him blindly. 

“Hey!” 

Your voice is loud, enough so that people immediately stop their conversation to turn to you, only to realise that you weren’t paying them any mind, but the one person it’s meant for keeps walking as if he hadn’t bothered to hear you. 

“I’m talking to you!” 

You’re more secluded now, Changmin having chosen to rest his body against the fence furthest from the pool and crowds of people, though a few are still scattered about. He finally turns towards you, as if choosing to acknowledge your presence, though he doesn’t say a single word as he lights a cigarette. 

“Do you not speak? Are you mute?” 

“It’s Changmin,” he snarls back, and the way he says it makes you straighten your posture. You don’t actually think you’ve really heard his voice before, but there’s a certain dominance in the way he says his name to you that makes you still, “maybe try that, if you want my attention.”

Unbelievable.

You scoff, downing your glass in one go before you let it hit the railing to your side, hard enough to shatter and break at your feet. 

“I don’t want your attention.”

“Then why did you run out here?” 

There were many ways this conversation could go. Even more ways the conversation could’ve started, though you never thought the end result would be this, with Changmin getting on your last nerve before he offers a cigarette out to you, as if he’s completely unaware of how agitated you are. Or maybe he’s perfectly aware and is offering it as a means for you to calm down. 

Either way, you surprise yourself by accepting it, practically ripping the lighter out of his hand. He watches you the whole time, and you’re not sure if you’re flattered or annoyed that he’s terribly good at maintaining eye contact with you when your chest is right there and everyone else has been looking down rather than up. 

“You weren’t invited,” he smiles, jumping up to sit on the railing, and he doesn’t for one moment seem to disagree with you. You’d expect him to put up a fight, maybe tell you that you must be mistaken before you’d whip out the well I know Lee Juyeon personally card, but you never need to. 

“You’re right, I wasn’t,” you’d say the thing that separates you both the most is how relaxed he seems to be carrying himself whilst seeming to be near or completely sober, whereas you at best only manage it either drunk or after sex for a few moments before you go entirely rigid again. You wouldn’t say you envy it, but it is something you wonder about. 

“Why are you here?”

“My friend was invited. I’m just making sure he doesn’t drink too much-”

“What friend?” you interrupt, and it sounds harsher than intended but Changmin doesn’t seem very bothered. Either your words don’t affect him at all, or you’re unaware of how you’re actually speaking right now, maybe sounding far more out of character and far more gentle than you think in your head. 

“That’s none of your business,” he answers and you scoff again. Any kindness you might’ve shown him is replaced with an anger that seems almost disproportionate to the situation. 

“I’m making it my business.”

He doesn’t say anything first, watching as you take a drag from the cigarette he’d offered you. It bothers you, that he’s not really staring at your lips but rather what you’re doing, and you wonder why he doesn’t care. You’re giving him attention, why doesn’t he want it?

And then he walks away and you’re left standing there like an idiot. Something you absolutely refuse and detest and suddenly you’re the one chasing him again. You didn’t know a lot about Changmin, aside from the fact that he was likely smarter than you and had way less money, but what you were starting to learn, you hated.

You’d been told to kick him out and damn it, if that’s not exactly what you were going to do. You were as stubborn as anything and near yelling his name again before you simply huffed and attempted to run after him in your heels, something you weren’t really good at but you didn’t want to give the young man any more attention than he’d already gotten. From you nonetheless. 

“You have to leave,” it came out weak, like you weren’t quite sure if you were gently asking or telling him, but it made him stop walking and look at you again. You ignore the way your heart lurches in your throat, clearing it and standing straighter, an attempt to make yourself seem bigger and more intimidating than you maybe were. You had to remind yourself that you were the one in charge, not him. 

“Believe me, darling, I’m not here by choice,” yeah right. 

“Then leave,” Changmin takes a step forward, exhaling the smoke from his cigarette near your lips, close enough to make you cough and you realise you need another fucking drink after this. Hell, maybe you’ll be dumb enough to find Juyeon to fuck the frustration away.

“I can't. I’m someone’s designated driver,” he answers back, and you see the way his knuckles clench just enough to indicate frustration. You’re getting to him, finally, though he still seems far too composed. 

“You can’t afford tuition. How would you afford a car?” 

“Well, you see, most people work for the things they get. I can send you a few job openings if you’d like?” God, any attraction caused by his appearance dissipated with the tone of voice he spoke in. He got under your skin and fast, nestling there with a comfort you didn’t appreciate.

“Bite me.”

“Where?” 

“Fuck off.”

“Gladly. You’re dumbing me down,” your arms cross, yet even so he still doesn’t glance down when your cleavage threatens to spill over the corset you’re wearing and you huff. There were two options. Admit defeat and walk away, or hurt him. But any insult you thought of was lost on your tongue as you stared at him in near disbelief. He was waiting for you to answer, to say anything, but after a while he seemed almost bored and simply turned around again. 

Unbelievable. 

“Is your answer to just always walk aw-”

“You bore me,” he says, one hand in his pocket as he heads back towards the house that you’re meant to get him out of. 

“You’re interrupting m- HEY!” 

Never, ever would you admit defeat. It wasn’t like you to lose and you never knew anything other than getting your way, and yet here you stood frozen because someone had ignored what you wanted and it had left you speechless. He was embarrassing you and your character, both of which you knew to be strong and self-sufficient, and you were letting him. 

“Did the little princess get ignored?” Juyeon looked thrilled, like he’d wanted this to happen, and yet you barely paid any mind to him suddenly appearing beside you. You hadn’t even noticed him approach, staring into a blank void of where Changmin had been walking back inside. Maybe if you imagined him still standing there, he’d appear and you could give him a piece of your mind, “Looks like I’ll have to take back that platinum card, little one.”

“What if I fuck you, can I keep it then?” 

“Isn’t that a step away from prostitution?” 

“Are you complaining about getting your dick wet?”

Juyeon shuts up in an instance, like even in his hazed slightly drunk high mind, he knew better than to complain. Chanhee would never let you live this future mistake down, but right now, you don't care. In this instance, you let Juyeon take your hand and tug you through a sea of people until you’re in his bedroom, shutting it quickly with your own body as he presses you against the dark wood. You grab his shirt and pull him close, tilting your head so he can kiss down your neck and you simply let him.

You were just so fucking frustrated and had already come here with the intention of fucking someone, and at least Juyeon knew you. He was insufferable, sure, but he was a source of comfort in familiarity that grounded you when you were too angry to fully think. Maybe you should learn to be more grateful for him. 

Being grateful wasn’t exactly something you were good at showing, though, so instead you show your appreciation by sinking down to your knees, your shorts tightening around your thighs with your legs partially spread while you work on unbuttoning his pants. Juyeon chuckles, grabbing your hair between his large fingers, tugging in a way that shows arrogance and expectancy in your lewd behaviour. 

You were both bad for each other, you think, but it’s something you don’t care about. 

Juyeon’s arrogance and place in your life almost never played on your mind. 

“Do you like whoring yourself out to me?” 

“I can still bite your dick off,” he chuckles, low like he’s mocking you and it makes you shiver. You hate almost everything about him at this point, but he spoiled you and his cock was big and both were enough reason to keep him around. 

“Maybe, but then your tight little pussy won’t get to clench around my cock when you cum,” and he had you cornered just like that, taking his cock in your mouth as you began to suck and wet the head with your lips. His free hand leans against the door, eyes cast down onto your own as you look up. You liked looking at him. He was beautiful, with sharp features and a cocky smile and your judgement didn’t matter when he stared back. 

Your tongue dips into the slit of his cock before letting your teeth barely graze the shaft while you take him in your mouth, hearing him curse under his breath and his eyes finally disappear from your own in favour of squeezing them shut. You hollow your cheeks and angle your head in a way that lets you take more of him in, moaning around his cock when you do. 

It’s become a little repetitive for you to give head, but you also don’t mind it because it was easy to do. You build up a pace and grab Juyeon’s thighs for support, digging your manicured nails into the flesh as he moves his hips in time with you, leaving you gasping for air each time he lets go. Your mouth releases his cock and a string of saliva falls between you both, your lips swollen red as you stare up at him with a blank stare. 

You know you don’t have feelings for him, and he doesn’t have feelings for you. 

“Get up,” you let him tug you, his hands moving to your back to tug the strings of the corset Chanhee had tied just hours ago, and it feels like a struggle to get it pulled over your head. 

"Wait! My piercings,” you nearly yell, not ready to tear either of them because Juyeon decides to pull a little too hard. He huffs, frustrated, but he’s nice enough to listen and tries to be a little gentler while you finally allow your lungs their usual breathing capacity. 

Your corset is haphazardly thrown to the floor and your shorts follow, but the minute you step out of them, Juyeon has lifted you up onto his waist. His cock presses against your lace panties, the wetness of your pussy felt through the fabric and he can only smirk against the kiss he gives you. You could verbally tell him anything you wanted, but your body always wanted him. 

He sits on the edge of his bed, your legs wrapped around him while your body starts to grind down against him, making you mewl and whimper at how close he is while it still doesn’t feel like enough. 

“Fuck me, Juyeon- ah!” Juyeon’s hand stings against your ass when he harshly slaps the skin, your nails digging into his shoulders before you add, “p-please.”

“Good girl,” his fingers tug the lace fabric to the side, his index teasing your clit and feeling your wetness gather on his skin and it feels agonizing and empty without him fucking you. 

“Please, Ju- want your cock,” he chuckles, all too willing to oblige to your request, and you feel the tip of his dick by your tight hole, begging to be filled and dripping in your juices. 

“Say please,” you whine again, but you both know he’s going to get his way in the end and you relent.

“P-please.”

His cock slips inside you with practised familiarity, but he hisses at the tight walls trying to push him out. Juyeon knows he should’ve taken more time in opening you up, but he also knows you wouldn’t have let him. He knows you like the sting of his cock pressing into you and opening you up just for him and you know not to ask for it because Juyeon knows you better.

It’s agonizing for you both, him waiting to fuck you while you lift your hips up and off his cock each time he goes a little deeper. Each inch stimulates you and makes you shake, and if he was a little less nice, he’d let his frustration get to him and have you sit down on his cock without warning. 

“Princess, sit on my lap,” I’m trying. That’s what you think, but no words come out. You feel like you’ve gone dumb, which is an insult to your character but you don’t think it matters now, “let me fuck you.”

“Y-yeah-” you don’t know how much time passes, but you feel his thighs press to your ass and you nearly sigh in relief at the fullness you feel with him inside you and knowing every inch of him is in your cunt. 

Juyeon slaps your ass again, hard enough that you jerk forward and a moan emits from your throat, and it’s like the sudden electricifying jolt wakes you up and has you moving against him, sinking down on his cock each time you move. It’s sloppy, maybe low effort, but given the routine you’ve both worked up, it’s almost too natural and easy to gravitate towards it. 

Thankfully, the repetition is short-lived when your body strains and muscles tense, lifting your body up, though Juyeon presses you back down, hands digging into the flesh of your ass as you cum against him. Maybe it’s the drugs and alcohol in your system making this easy, tipping you over the edge way before you’re ready, but your exhausted mind doesn’t care and barely registers you being pushed off him so he can cum, a mess of white adorning your inner thigh like a decorative piece of lace. 

Both your breathing is heavy and exhausted, the air thick and sweaty as you look up at the ceiling. You’re thinking, but you don’t quite know what about. You’re clouded, and you decide then that it’s time to find Chanhee and go home.

“I can drive you home.”

“Not like that,” you snarl, unwilling to get into the car with him intoxicated, but more so because you really don’t want to be near him right now. You’re not sure what it is, regret, frustration, maybe both, but you’re just ready to go home and forget this night ever existed.

“Take care,” you mumble something back, just loud enough so he knows you heard him, but you don’t find him to be very genuine. Juyeon was complicated, especially with you, and you wondered often if that circled back to the fact that you were both so painfully similar in your being. 

“You fucked, didn’t you?” Chanhee is standing there, leaning against the wall by the corner you turned to go downstairs and it’s like he already knows. He looks disappointed, not because he cares about what you do or who with, but because he’s fairly certain he knows who you were with, “isn’t it a little pathetic to fuck your ex at his party just to get laid?”

“I wasn’t trying to get laid,” well, that could’ve been debated, but you could say with confidence that Juyeon hadn’t been on your list of plans for the night. 

“But you fucked Juyeon, right?”

“I’m allowed to make poor decisions,” Chanhee follows after you, naturally stepping into pace with you as he pushes you both past crowds of people that cause him an abundance of frustration. 

“Certainly true, you make plenty-”

“I don’t need a lecture,” you snarl, pushing your hair behind your ear after it falls from its place.

“Then don’t be fucking stupid.”

You want to turn your body around and argue. You’re good at arguing, but so is Chanhee and you’re fairly certain he wouldn’t back down from this, even if you’re both in a public setting, and it’s ultimately that and your desire to go home that has you say nothing at all. Honestly, you also know he’s right, that Juyeon is always a bad decision and will never fail to be, and that’s something you have yet to make your peace with. 

A part of you still ached for someone you knew wasn’t good for you, but you refused to let any of it resurface. You weren’t going to be dumb. 

Not again.

You were a little dumb. Your decisions were poor but your facade implied otherwise. You’d will away any thoughts of Juyeon and if they persisted, you’d be taking them to your grave. It was a Monday now, a terrible start to the week and you were very much ready to throw in the towel. 

But you were smart and you enjoyed learning, at least to an extent, and really only your own ambitions and determination had landed you in a major that was far more mathematical than just theory, like you’d so naively believed, and it was really your own fault that you were burnt out from the amount of work you got. 

It’s another reason why you feature so heavily in the university library, almost like a decorative piece, one of the statues that was carved out of stone around the massive two-story space, old oak woods and beautiful carpeted stairs spiraling up to a study area. One that you frequented more than any other place. Usually, Mondays were quiet. Especially Mondays that featured heavy rain and left most students at home. Honestly, you couldn’t blame them, which is why you were so agitated to see that almost every seat around you with a desk was taken. 

Even the more comfortable chairs that spun and had a pillow as a rest but no table, were occupied and overflowing with students. You weighed your options, but given your time limit and unwillingness to stand around like an idiot and risk someone noticing it, you took a seat at a six-person table across a dark head of hair that you failed to recognise until you’d already sat down and it was too late. 

Changmin. 

You fucking hated Mondays.

The deflected way your shoulders dropped didn’t go unnoticed by him, you could tell, because he’d briefly looked up only to roll his eyes at the way you’d looked visibly annoyed, maybe even disappointed. There was the option to move, there was other space, but it would be far too obvious and you didn’t want to make a scene, not one that involved him. The last thing you needed was people talking, especially after you’d tried to kick him out of Juyeon’s party. 

Did it bother him? 

“You can quit staring at me.”

“I wasn’t staring,” but your answer came out too quick, too defensively and you knew he didn’t believe you. Honestly, you hadn’t noticed yourself staring until he’d said it, and at that point you knew saying the opposite was a lie. You just weren’t aware of it. 

“About the party…” you’re not sure what you’re attempting, pushing your hair back and up into a bun to get it out of your way, using the distraction to think of what you might say. 

“A pleasant conversation, certainly. Can I finish this?”

Changmin was strange. You couldn’t begin to pretend like you knew him nor could you understand him, aside from the fact that he was frustrating, a little bit too pretty and apparently smart. Two of those, you didn’t really care for. 

“You weren’t invited. I was only doi-”

“Running Juyeon’s biddings because he doesn’t have the balls to do it himself?” 

The temptation to say yes is on the tip of your tongue until you remember the weight of his credit card in your pocket, waiting to be spent with your best friend. You were not risking bad karma by allowing Juyeon to somehow find out and have it circle back that you agreed with Changmin on something. God forbid, you’d bury yourself alive if that happened. 

“That’s not what I’m doing…”

“I already told you I don’t care,” Changmin looks back at his book, his glasses moving slightly as they do and you watch as he adjusts it with his slender fingers. You hate how nothing he says hides his intentions or feelings, it’s all right there on the surface and it drives you crazy because you know that he really doesn’t care, and it baffles you. It frustrates you.

Why the fuck was he so indifferent?  

“Yeah but… that’s ridiculous…” 

“Has anyone ever told you the world doesn’t revolve around you, or am I going to be the first?” 

“This isn’t even about me. It’s about you being at a party uninvited,” you snarl, getting exhausted which is only exasperated when you hear someone shush you from further away. If you were speaking loudly, you didn’t care. Not enough, anyway. 

“Yes, it keeps me up at night knowing I caused you such discomfort,” you scoff, feeling offended just by the tone of his voice, and yet you wish it wasn’t so obvious, just how much that bothered you.

“It doesn’t bother you?”

“What doesn’t?”

“Being at a party you aren’t allowed to be at?” 

“And whose permission do I need? Yours?” 

“If it were my party, sure. But in this case, Juyeon.”

“In which case, Juyeon can go tell me himself.”

“That’s bullshit!” 

Except it isn’t. It bothers you so much because you know he’s right. It was Juyeon’s party. If he didn’t want someone there, he should’ve said it himself. Instead, you were left to do it, you accepted it because of the promised date with your friend on someone else's dime and it felt so incredibly shallow, not to mention you felt used.

But you weren’t ready to admit how shallow Juyeon made you feel. How lesser than you became for him. And you certainly weren’t ready to tell the person before you that he was right.

Unfortunately for him, you wouldn’t have gotten to say it either even if you really wanted to. There’s a weight of someone’s hand on your shoulder, making you look up to see the displeased face from the only male librarian, a name you never remember but a face you could go without seeing. 

“I’m going to ask you to leave if you can’t keep your voice down at an acceptable level, young lady.”

“I was already leaving,” Changmin interrupts, packing his things into his arms before vacating the seat across from you, “she gives me a headache anyway.”

“I do not!”

Again, Changmin doesn’t care; it’s the way his lack of response that has a way of twisting your gut and boiling your emotions over, making you react and push against it whether you can justifiably reason with it or not. You just don’t like him. 

Yet you feel like always getting the last word, he just barely seems to listen. He’s already left the library before you can think quick enough on your feet and now you’re on your own, alone and feeling humiliated because you know people are looking at you, heard you and him speak and they all know that he’s embarrassed you.  

Your hatred for him had only grown tenfold in your humiliation.

Chanhee sits across from you looking almost doll-like with his black coffee in hand, your own drink before you on the table, untouched. You’d spent enough money that Juyeon might even notice it in his balance, bags surrounding you both and some already in the car because the weight on both your arms was overbearing, yet you still felt a void. You weren’t satisfied, nor were you happy. 

It wasn’t good enough.

“You’re not listening. Do you want to keep insulting me?”

“Huh? Sorry… tell me again?”

“Forget it,” you sigh, feeling the guilt run through your bloodstream and settle in your heart with a heavy weight that you can’t shake.

“I’m sorry. I’m distracted…”

“Yeah, you’ve been distracted since we got here. Hours ago,” he was right, truly, but there wasn’t much you could do about it. Your mind was wandering and each time you told it not to, it persisted.

“Do you think… Juyeon should’ve kicked Changmin out himself?”

“Probably. But why do you care? You don’t like Changmin either.”

“Well… no… but he just… he’s getting under my skin.”

Chanhee laughs, but it’s caught in his throat and sinks when he realises you’re completely serious. 

“Wait, this is actually bothering you?”

“Changmin is. He’s so… frustrating. I can’t stand him.”

“So, don’t? I’m not sure I see the problem?” 

Because there wasn’t one. At least there shouldn’t be one. It didn’t matter. How Changmin viewed you, how he thought of you should mean absolutely nothing, and if it meant anything, it shouldn’t have been enough to get under your skin, and yet here you were, letting him get to you. 

Like he meant way more than he does. Way more than you should ever let him.

“You’re right.”

It’s another Monday morning when Changmin makes you snap and you realise very quickly that Chanhee was very wrong. You absolutely should let everything about Changmin’s existence bother you. Even more now that he’s spilled excruciatingly warm fresh coffee on your white hoodie that cost way more than his entire outfit. 

“I’m sorry,” it’s the most genuine he’s ever sounded when speaking to you. A part of you knows it wasn’t intentional either. You’d turned the corner too fast and he’d done the same, crashing into you before he even realised you were there and it was already too late, but your anger got the better of you. His apology meant nothing to you. He could say it twice, even a third time and it would only make you angrier. 

“Are you fucking blind?”

“Actually, yeah. I don’t wear glasses as an accessory…”

“You- are you… do you think this is funny!?”

“Not particularly.”

“I’m not getting this out, Changmin,” you huff, looking down at your ruined clothes and remembering that it isn’t even nine yet, and your entire outfit is ruined. You’re sure if it wasn’t so thick of a fabric, it would’ve burned your skin too, “replace it.”

“I don’t hear a please.”

“You ruined it!” 

“You bumped into me,” you’re about to protest but he comes closer to you, looking at your stained piece of clothing and then back up at you, “darling, you love to run your mouth on your riches, so put them to use.”

You don’t know what makes your head spin more. The fact that he’s directly insulting you, or the fact that he called you darling again. Your heart lurches up to your throat and threatens to beat louder, and that’s the biggest insult to you. Changmin shouldn’t call you that. You don’t want him to, and yet nothing leaves your lips to protest or tell him to stop. 

He waits a moment, staring at you awaiting a response, any response, and yet he doesn’t get anything. Changmin wonders why, what silences your attitude now to simply stare at him, but he’s not going to ask and he’s not going to pick a fight with you unless he feels the need for it. He’ll defend himself, but not more than he has to. 

Which is why he decides to be the more rational peace bringer in this mess of a conversation, pulling his own hoodie over his body to hand to you.

“Here, put it on and shut it,” you don’t move at first. Changmin wonders if you even heard him at all yet you stare at the fabric with such offence that he’s fairly certain you did, “what? Not good enough for the little doll?” 

Doll. That was a first. You’d heard Chanhee be referred to as a doll plenty of times. Even you thought of him as one sometimes, with his delicate build and beautiful features and attitude, but never yourself. It was never you that was referred to as something that pretty.

You wondered, were you delicate to him, like porcelain, or maybe you were cheaper, not really dollike in the way that you wanted to be. Only when you realised again that it was Changmin that had referred to you as such, did you snap out of it and get annoyed, “absolutely not. I’d rather die than wear that.”

He shoves it into your hands anyway and the fabric is so soft to the touch, you nearly regret declining him at all. It’s way more comfortable than yours, at least in the way it feels against your fingers, and it’s warm too. Not in a way that feels dirty but rather like a heated blanket, like someone's body heat had been radiating off it to create a warm little shell you could nestle yourself into with hints of perfume. 

“Wear it or not, I don’t care. Just… shut your mouth. Your voice is grating me, and now I have to get more coffee,” Changmin doesn’t wait for you to speak. He’s turned the way he came from presumably to go back to the coffee shop, and you’re standing there for the longest time wondering what to even do. You’re annoyed and angry, though it’s simmered down to just being incredibly confused. You stare at the dark blue fabric in your grasp, probably far too large for you and for just a moment, you consider it. You consider it until voices in the hall snap you out of your own stupidity.

“Yikes, what the hell happened there?” Hyunjae seems far from impressed, his clothing perfectly neat and ironed against his toned body, and you can feel the judgement from his eyes that makes you frown. You were being judged for your appearance and that cut deeper than anything else could. 

“Changmin bumped into me,” you cross your arms over your chest, letting the darker borrowed fabric dangle over your forearm while he shares a look with Younghoon. 

Younghoon was unbelievably beautiful yet so high-strung and pretentious that you couldn’t bare being near him most of the time. It was fitting, of course, that he’d be friends with Juyeon and Hyunjae in particular. You’d thought that out of the two of them, he’d be judging you far more for your ruined top but instead it seemed to be the man you’d consider yourself more close to, “look, I know it’s bad. I’ll probably call it a day.”

“Callin’ it a day this early?”

“Younghoon, do you not see what I look like?”

“Oh, I definitely see it,” that one stings. It really cuts, because it feels like a direct insult towards your appearance. Like he’s confirming what you’re already thinking. You’re unattractive and sloppy, with no effort invested in yourself. You look cheap. 

Biting back with an insult is usually what you did best. It’s what you wanted to do now, to tell him to go to hell and leave you alone because you knew you were better than him. Yet you couldn’t, because something in you was threatening to break, like a vial with the sadness you were suppressing and all that was left to do was cry. 

And you would not be caught crying in front of Lee Jaehyun and Kim Younghoon. Never. 

“Fuck you,” you push past him with your usual aggressive tone, the one he was probably used to hearing and used to ignoring much the same, letting you leave without much of a fight. 

You were a good student. You could miss a day, it wouldn’t kill you and you doubt your parents would even notice your absence here at all. If they did, you could blame it on feeling sick, but you weren’t staying here any longer today. You’d study at home, but at least you’d be at home.

Your cat greets you with an unimpressed gaze as you enter the front door, staring at you from the overhead railing above on the second floor. It’s like seeing a reflection of yourself, and maybe it’s intentional. Maybe she mirrors you, or maybe she’s just an asshole. 

Chanhee loved her. She liked him, though. A lot more than you. She tolerated you, you supposed.

“Quit staring at me,” it’s not that you didn’t like her. She was a pretty ragdoll, elegant with bright blue eyes and you took care of her. But she was also a bit of a diva. Your best friend would simply say she took after you, and maybe he was right. 

You’re standing fully naked in your bathroom after a long shower, wondering if you should put on this damn hoodie that’s practically mocking you at the end of your bed where you’d lazily thrown it. It was tempting you, not because it was Changmin’s but because it looked cosy and honestly, you didn’t really care if this one got messy. You could lounge with relaxed shoulders because you didn’t have to think about getting something on your clothes, because they weren’t yours to begin with.

Your body was completely dry by the time you decide to wear it and you’d been right in assuming it would be comfortable. It was long, which made sense, given that it had been big on Changmin too. It was cosy but no longer with the warmth from earlier. The only traces of Changmin came from his cologne. 

And it was nice. It smelled like a mixture of rain and the burning of wood in a fireplace in the winter. Maybe pinecone. You weren’t sure, but it wasn’t overbearing to your senses. You could smell it, it was noticeable, but it didn’t make you shrink away in disgust. It wasn’t too much, just enough, and you liked it. 

You wondered what it was he wore. 

Chanhee would probably know. He practically swam in perfumes and colognes (mostly perfumes) and he could probably pinpoint it. But you were not about to ask him to smell Changmin’s hoodie for you. That would be humiliating to you, and you’d had enough humiliation lately to last you for at least a decade. 

Assuming you made it that far. 

You’d developed what you considered a bad habit. It wasn’t the parties or the drugs or Juyeon that you were worried about, but your growing comfort of wearing that godforsaken oversized hoodie at home.

Maybe if it had belonged to Chanhee or Juyeon, or even Younghoon at this point, it would not have felt so shameful. But it belonged to someone you barely considered acquainted, and it was definitely someone you didn’t and would never grow to like. 

Chanhee had found out about it a week after you’d first taken the item of clothing hostage in your home. He’d come by when it was pouring rain with five bottles of wine and the remainder of your cocaine from your ex and in your drunken drugged-out state you’d confessed that what you were wearing wasn’t even yours. Property of Ji Changmin, you’d called it, before downing another huge amount of the bottle you were holding. 

Your best friend’s first question was to ask if you fucked him. You hadn’t, of course, and you were honest in your protest. It hadn’t ever crossed your mind, at least not at that point. As attractive as Changmin was even in your judgemental eyes, you hadn’t thought about it. 

Well, up until that point, anyway. 

“I wonder what his cock is like…” Chanhee nearly spits his wine back out. He’d heard worse from you. In his opinion, he knew far too much about your sex life from back when you were with Juyeon, but it’s not like he was a prude. He could talk about sex, even in detail, but about Changmin?

“I think you’ve had en- hey!”

You down the rest of the third bottle, the one Chanhee had just been holding and he sighs and reaches to open the next one, away from your thieving fingers. 

“It’s just a curious little question,” because you know that Chanhee is the only person in the world you can really ask this to. Chanhee is probably the only person in the world that you think shows genuine concern for you. 

“I’ve never thought about it,” neither have I. 

The conversation died quite quickly, maybe because Chanhee had no interest in discussing what Changmin might look like naked. You didn’t entirely blame him. Maybe you were just horny. Maybe you should call Juyeon. 

It was a back-and-forth cycle, one that never ended, and maybe that’s what Juyeon expected. He always expected you to come crawling back either way because somehow, you always did. Tonight though, while Chanhee seemed to be sound asleep next to you, you refused to run to Juyeon. You wanted sex, but you did not want to have your tail between your legs knocking at his door and begging for it. 

Staring at the ceiling was your attempt at tiring your body out to go to sleep but it wasn’t happening. Maybe it was the coke (probably), but you were so frustrated and you wanted to have an orgasm. Honestly, any drunker and you might’ve just asked Chanhee. 

You did not just think about fucking your best friend.

So maybe there was some truth to the assumption that you and Chanhee had sex. 

What was sex with Chanhee like?

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” you mumble out loud, ready to just give up, admit defeat and go to Juyeon after all, but Chanhee’s voice interrupts you.

“What now?”

“You’re awake?”

“I had more coke than you, of course I’m awake,” your best friend snarls, though the intentions aren’t cruel. He’s probably just as frustrated as you, maybe more, because Chanhee loves his sleep and if he didn’t get it, he always found himself incredibly grumpy.

“I need to fuck,” you relent, throwing your pillow over your head. 

“Call your precious Juju,” Chanhee answers, shuffling around before you feel his eyes staring at you. 

“It’s Juyeon. And I’m not going to call him. His dick is mediocre at best,” you remove the pillow to look at your best friend and for a moment you feel unfairly sad for how pretty he is. Why couldn’t you so effortlessly, even in a drug-induced tipsy state, look so beautiful?

“Which is why you keep going back to it, got it.” 

“Shut up…” Chanhee shuffles again and it takes you a whole five seconds to register that he’s on top of you, looking down at you with a frown on his face. You know that look. It’s pity and hurt for his best friend and it makes you feel even smaller. 

“Quit being sad. Let’s order some food and we can forget about it.”

“Easy for you to say. You don’t gain weight from eating at ungodly hours,” you catch him wanting to roll his eyes but you can tell he stops himself, maybe because he knows your weight is something you’re genuinely not secure about. 

“Incorrect. I actually gained weight recently,” the scoff that leaves your lips is out of your control and you shake your head in amusement instead, but it’s more mocking. 

“Yeah? Well, let me know when it’s actually visible. You’re perfect Chanhee.”

“So are you,” he lays a hand over your lips before the protest he clearly knew was coming, and you simply give up. You give up because you know you’ll both go in circles and given your current state, you’re very likely going to end up in tears. The alcohol had worn off, but it was still in your system and you were definitely upset enough to have a meltdown. 

“Do you think Juyeon thought so too?”

“I think he’s an idiot if he didn’t. And I think you’ve had way too much tonight, because if you were sober you’d never even consider that question. Y/N doesn’t care,” but do you want to care?

There was no justifiable reason to care about Juyeon’s opinion, but you did. He ran in a well-respected social circle that you found yourself a part of, and you really didn’t want your reputation to dwindle. It was already dwindling just for the hoodie you wore and shame washed over you again for even wearing it. 

“Go to sleep, seriously,” Chanhee mumbles, a little slurred but sweet as his leg drapes over your thigh. He wasn’t very affectionate usually, but the moments in which your best friend would reach to hold you like this, were moments you cherished. For you knew them to be rare, and whilst you weren’t very big on affection yourself, from him it was different. Because you knew that when he gave it to you, when Chanhee loved you with such tenderness, it was because he truly felt like it was needed. 

You wished more than anything in the world in that moment that you could tell him you appreciated it, but you weren’t very good at expressing yourself with emotions that were deep and sweet. Things that made you vulnerable were impossible to face, you’d hit a wall until you avoided it all together. You were avoiding it now, the love you had for your best friend, because you simply couldn’t face the vulnerability that came with doing something so genuine in its feelings. 

Understanding how to love was hard, learning to confess it was impossible, even platonically. 

“Goodnight.”

It was raining heavily when you got into the main building, pushing the hood of your jacket down as you approached the left hallway. You were somewhat late, leaving everything deserted and empty aside from a few scattered students. In truth, you’d been up far too late the night before, overthinking. Hovering over Juyeon’s contact was once more a beautifully stupid temptation. 

You felt obsessed and lacking control, and you hated it.

“Little doll,” your heels stop, turning sharply to the sound of a voice you wish wasn’t so familiar. The fact that you could pinpoint who it belonged to was incredibly frustrating, for in your mind it meant you knew Changmin too well, “where’s my hoodie?”

“Keep your voice down,” you hiss, grabbing his sleeve and sharply turning a corner into a deserted hall with one dark mahogany door leading into the auditorium. No one ever came here, “what the fuck are you trying to do?”

“Get your talon claws off me- ouch!” You dug into his skin before pulling away, making him glare at you sharply with discontent similar to your own. Changmin didn’t hide his displeasure of your presence and yet he’d sought it out. 

“I want my hoodie. Or are you going to deny me of something that is mine?”

“You ruined mine,” you bite back, but he doesn’t care. He rolls his eyes and you have to suppress a sharp scoff as you move to sit on the windowsill, enough room to do so in marbled gorgeous stone that you’re far too tempted to bash Changmin’s head against. 

“I apologised. Have you ever apologized for anything, by the way? You don’t seem to know how to do that,” crossing your arms, you lean up to see his eyes. They’re harsh, a dark brown that holds no real mirth. He looks at you like you mean nothing of value, like you’re beneath him and the realization makes you sharply stand back up to match his height with your heels. Actually, you might even be taller.

“I’m waiting for my replacement.”

You lied. In truth, there was a certain comfort in wearing it that you didn’t find with any of your own clothes. Maybe it was the length or how it sat over your skin. Maybe it was the softness of fabric or the initial smell of cologne that had since faded. Whatever it was, it made you want to curl up, but not in sadness, rather in contentment. 

“It’s been two weeks. Possibly more, actually,” but as annoyed as Changmin was, a part of him looked like he wasn’t going to push any harder. It was his final attempt at getting it back, but he didn’t seem to be too displeased if he wouldn’t get it at all. That thought in itself confused you. 

“I’m aware, thank you.”

“She knows her thanks. How endearing of you, doll,” doll. Again, there it was, flowing past his lips unbothered and gently, almost meaningless. The words didn’t hold weight to them, not for him, but for you, they felt constrictive. They felt like something you desired to hear, what you wanted to strive for in appearance, becoming the impossible similarly to how you viewed your best friend, and Changmin was handing it to you on a silver platter. 

You just wouldn’t take it from him. 

“Just keep it then, I really can’t be asked to chase after you.”

“What?”

Fuck. You hadn’t managed to hide your surprise and now he’d caught it, seeming almost amused as he leaned against the wall and watched you. He was dressed casually, as you’d always seen him to be, lazy even, but you couldn’t deny the comfort he probably felt in comparison to you. You, dressed in a short skirt and a top sat so tight on your skin, it was about to cut into flesh, heels high and digging into your ankle with your weight. 

“Keep it. It’ll be a nice change of pace from… well… this,” he gestured, and your jaw nearly hit the floor.

“What the fuck is- Changmin!” 

He was walking away from you, and you damn near couldn’t believe it. Changmin was walking away from you, ignoring you, insulting you, and you had no words for it. 

“Changmin!” 

“Careful, you wouldn’t want people to hear that we know each other, right?” 

He’d caught you there. Stopped you right in his tracks because he was right. You were chasing after him, and the question was why? When had chasing after him ever become worth it to you? Since when did you want to prove a point to him. Since when did anything he thought matter?

You stood there, left in the hall like an abandoned, wounded frail animal, and he didn’t care. The question was, why suddenly did you? The temptation to chase him, to justify yourself and have him take back those sharp insults was near overwhelming, enough so that you debated skipping your first class altogether in favour for a cigarette and maybe a beer from the convenience store to calm your nerves. 

Maybe you’d just go home. 

“You still haven’t given it back?” 

Chanhee interrupts your peaceful start to lunch on a bench outside beneath the overhang to shield from the light rain and you glare the minute he appears. You chip at your nails that need refilling urgently and he stops you with a hold of the wrist, making you stare back at him with a sigh, “how’d you find that out?”

“I saw it at your place this morning when I went looking for you.”

“You were looking for me?” 

Had you made plans that you’d forgotten about? Maybe you’d agreed to drive to campus together, but if that had been the case, you couldn’t remember it. 

“Thought if you were late we could have some breakfast on the way,” silence follows first, the wind blowing strands of hair in your face that you push away behind your ear, “I’m not judging.”

“Aren’t you? Why then bring it up?”

“I guess I’m curious. If you’re fucking-”

“I’m not. I already told you.”

“Yeah, I know, but I also know if you were, you’d probably feel like you can’t tell me. I don’t want you to think that.” 

He was right. That was the worst of it, how well he knew you, truly, even with limited words spoken or a stoic expression, he could still tell. It did bother you, that you had tells. You wished nothing more to be the heartless bitch those who were strangers to you, assumed you were. Truth be told, you were heartless as an illusion to shield yourself from the reality of loneliness and isolation that came with maintaining the life you desired and wanted. 

“We’re not. I’ll give it back to him. Just… haven’t had time,” or you keep intentionally forgetting it. Both are simultaneously true. It’s either not having the time to do so or conveniently going without it. 

“You know… I don’t think he has really many friends.”

“Is that my problem?” Chanhee shakes his head, his lips frowning and he seems annoyed with you, like you’re too stupid to get the point and you nearly feel insulted. He was trying to tell you something without any words, and you failed to understand it.

And as if all the gods worked against you on this day, the man in question stood before you both, appearing almost as if out of thin air, his steps so light he felt weightless.

“Give me your hoodie. The one I so graciously ruined,” his tone, it was mocking you. He was speaking the way you would, but with a certain vanity and uptightness that made you grimace. 

“Changmin,” your best friend acknowledged with a little nod of the head, biting his lip as he went to grab his purse and leave the awkward tension he’d stumbled into entirely without meaning to, but you grabbed his arm and pulled him right back down to sit. 

“I’ll fix it.”

“Yeah, fucking right you will,” he crosses his arms first before moving his fingers up to adjust his glasses, and you note now how slender they are while adorned by silver metals. They’re almost graceful and delicate, shockingly so and you have to blink away and adjust your vision to snap out of it.

“It’s ruined, no? So either you keep it that way, or you risk me ruining it more trying to fix it. Both scenarios, you’re fucked.”

“His logic isn’t wrong.”

“Shut up, Chanhee.”

“So it’s not just me that you’re a tyrannical bitch to?” Chanhee coughed back a laugh, hiding the smile behind his hand and you felt ganged up on. You felt like your best friend was on the wrong side and it stung at your chest, making your heart clench as if it was constricting every part of you. Changmin seemed so effortlessly good at making you feel crazy, but it was worse when you felt like the person meant to be on your team was laughing because of the opposing side. He was humoured, at your expense. 

And it hurt. It stung, far more than it maybe should. 

“You don’t get to call her that. You want to fix her hoodie? Then do so. But don’t call her names you wouldn’t even use to refer to your own dog.” 

Changmin narrows his eyes, intense in his gaze enough so that you cast yours away, his humour gone. You’ve never really been one to cower under eye contact, but it was the way in which he stared back at Chanhee that brought you unease and wariness. 

For someone who looked quite gentle, maybe even kind, he seemed to hide a more dark intimidating side that you weren’t so sure you’d ever really come in contact with, despite the many times you’d thrown and insult or two his way. 

“You’re right. I’m sorry little doll. Bring me that hoodie tomorrow, and I’ll see what the fairy godmother can whip up for me,” he was mocking you again. Blatantly. Without any regard for your feelings and it chipped at you. Things like this shouldn’t bother you. They didn’t bother you, so why did this? Changmin had a way of crawling under your skin, of settling deep into your veins and creating a constant sense of emotional turbulence to your feelings. 

“Hey, do you wanna-”

You get up before Chanhee can finish, unbeknownst to you, hurting his feelings in the process because as rude as he knew you to sometimes be, you never acted this way towards him. You loved Chanhee, you were mostly kind to him, but suddenly something cracked in a mirror and he started to see that maybe you weren’t exactly all that he’d made you to be in his mind. Maybe you weren’t perfect. 

You surely weren’t the little doll that Changmin referred to you as. A nickname that still tormented you because the question simply became why? 

When you dig out the white hoodie from deep within your overflowing laundry basket, you briefly debate if it’s worth it. You could afford to go to the dry cleaner yourself, he couldn’t, and yet it was more about proving a point of exactly that. A spiteful, vindictive, evil little point, but one nevertheless. He ruined it, so he could fix it. You reap what you sow. 

But the longer you stared at the offensive fabric, the more it felt pointless. You weren’t really sure what you were trying to prove, if anything at all. Aside from maybe the fact that he was worlds beneath you, that he’d never be like you, and that something as simple as going to the dry cleaners was somehow proof that you were better than him. 

When you near shove the fabric against his chest the following day without even a hello, he seems used to it. Changmin doesn’t blink, barely budges or loses his footing, doesn’t really question it either. In a way, he was used to you. 

In a way, you became used to his indifference, too. 

It took a while. Days turned into a few good weeks and you were almost convinced that Changmin had ruined your hoodie entirely. That you’d never see it because he’d turned to some at home DIY of cleaning a stained white fabric and now it was done for. 

And in those weeks, you’d felt like nothing was in your control. Younghoon had found a way to insult you twice, once with Juyeon standing right there. Though he’d stepped in and defended you, it seemed half-assed. As if he was trying to be diplomatic but his words weren’t with real meaning. It was yet another reminder that you and Juyeon lacked much real care for each other. You wondered if he ever really did, or if the doomed relationship you’d had with almost pure sex and unsober thoughts had always just been one-sided. 

You were very certain, especially now, that Juyeon never loved you. But you could still care for someone without loving them, and yet you were starting to wonder if you’d meant so little that he hadn’t even cared. It made you question why you’d been in a relationship at all, if not just for the similar bank balances and the sex you’d once deemed good enough to satisfy you. 

At one point, it had been good. You and Juyeon had been far from perfect, but it had worked. It had worked until it didn’t, and when it didn’t, it really didn’t. Deciding to be friends had been easy at the time, the consequences were barely existing because you still got to fuck him when either of you pleased, and yet now it all seemed to sink in in a far aftermath. It worked on delay, and your tumultuous feelings threatened to tumble over the moment Juyeon simply tried to keep the peace between you and Younghoon.

It had nearly made you cry, but you straightened your posture and adjusted your hair with a smile on your face as you thanked him instead and sent Younghoon a look that told him you hated him just as much, you just wouldn’t say it. Why you hated each other, you couldn’t quite say. Aside from his arrogance and way of looking at you like you were a whore on the streets and sending daggers at you in the form of words that were sometimes so smartly phrased, you were almost envious that you hadn’t come up with them yourself. 

On top of Younghoon’s insults, Juyeon making you feel less loved and Chanhee and you being in a strange little place of not really talking but sharing glances almost to ask if the other was okay, Hyunjae had also run your way with the offer of an invitation to a party. 

A perfect distraction. A much-needed one, definitely. You needed to unwind, desperately, to get really drunk and find a one-night stand that you’d wake up without and barely remember the next day. You would’ve loved to get it all out of your system while not thinking of any of them. 

You should’ve known better than to assume things would go as planned. 

It was one thing for Changmin to show up at Hyunjae’s house without an invite, though Hyunjae tended to be kind and hospitable in that regard unless he absolutely hated someone or if they’d wronged him in some way. Changmin had done neither. 

It was a whole other thing for Juyeon to grab your wrist so harshly it bruised your skin, his fingers wrapped around as he stung the surface. You were shocked at first, mostly because Juyeon was a lot of things but aggressive in that regard was rare, but when you looked up into his eyes and saw a genuinely angry gaze, you didn’t really understand. 

“Why is Changmin outside asking for you?”

“Don’t touch her like that!” Chanhee was smaller than Juyeon, both fairly slim in build but a difference in height and muscle mass that just made your best friend that much smaller in appearance, and yet he stepped between you two anyway. Chanhee was never really afraid of anything, even if he could get his ass kicked, and it was as admirable as it was stupid. 

“I asked you a question.”

“I don’t know,” it was weak, but it was honest, and Juyeon let your wrist go but you were more thinking it had something to do with Hyunjae standing on the opposite side of Chanhee, ready to defend you too. It almost shocked you more, for Juyeon and Hyunjae were incredibly close, had been for years and even before you were in the picture, and yet here it didn’t seem to matter when you felt unsafe. 

“Tell me why!” 

“I said I don’t know, Juyeon!” 

Silence. At least around you both, everything fell quiet. The music was still loud but those within ear shot had caught you both raising your voices, and now you were left having to keep appearances. Acting like nothing was wrong was something you were usually good at. Not caring is something you could do, but when everything threatened to topple over and one thing finally pushed your feelings over the edge to do so, it was hard to simply ignore it. 

“I can go to him,” Hyunjae offers, but you stop him the second he takes a step with your hand to his chest. 

“It’s fine. I’ll just go,” honestly, it was already a nightmare that he was asking for you so publicly at a party with so many people, but maybe if you played your cards right, it wouldn’t look so bad on your part. You weren’t friends, after all, so you supposed it wouldn’t appear to be that way. Sure, people could be fooled, but only if you played a viable part in it, and you wouldn’t.

Walking outside was a mistake. But when you realised it to be one, it was too late. Turning back might be worse, but walking towards Changmin wasn’t better. He was standing there, completely wet from the rain in a jacket that had no hood. You bit back from calling him stupid, moreso because you’d left your jacket inside entirely and it was cold. Despite the goosebumps on your skin, you refused to show discomfort, collecting yourself with a straightened posture in your short dress. 

You stood tall, heels high enough that he was actually a little shorter than you, though it was only really noticeable because you were right in front of each other. 

“I brought it for you,” the white garment is neatly folded between his fingers, and you note their softness, that they seem gentle to touch but you snap yourself away from the thought once you notice yourself having it. 

“You brought it for me… here?” 

You sound more ungrateful than you are. It’s the first time you actually reprimand yourself for the rude tone towards him because it’s not deserved this time, but you don’t quite take it back, reaching for the fabric slowly before you let it fall open to reveal a hoodie that looks good as new. 

There’s no way in hell he did that himself.

“You can stop bothering me now,” he lights a cigarette, indifferent and suddenly the insulting tone you’d spoken in doesn’t feel as mean, for he doesn’t seem to care much. If he does, he’s very good at hiding it, to the point of being so good at it that you don’t believe it possible. 

“Thanks,” all you can think about is how cold you are now, especially when the fabric is partially warm from where he’d held it and the fact that you know how comfortable this hoodie is. But you were at a party and it would fall awkwardly over your dress. You didn’t want to look awkward, so you choose to be cold instead.

“You should wear it. You’ll get sick,” you send a look his way, confused as a pout falls over your stained lips but again, he seems indifferent. He really, genuinely, doesn’t seem to care. 

It drives you insane. 

You want to say something, take the chance for once to not be rude and maybe try again to thank him because as frustrating as he is, he was kind enough to get it sorted for you, after weeks of back and forth and refusal of giving him his own hoodie back. Overall, maybe Changmin did show you kindness, albeit very terribly.

“I’d like mine back now,” you supposed that was fair, but the little candle of lit warmth faded to ashes because Changmin simply didn’t stop there. He bit back, and he did so hard in a way you knew to do, but weren’t prepared for now “but if you’d like I can wait. I’m sure you have Juyeon’s dick to ride first.”

The crushing blow to your chest feels foreign. It was something expected to hear yet not from him. Maybe as a joke from Chanhee or an insult from Younghoon, but not him. You weren’t sure why. Neither of you showed much kindness to each other and you couldn’t exactly say you’d expected him to be graceful in speaking to you, but you’d wished it. 

“Fuck you.”

It’s an absolutely terrible idea to do as Changmin said. You know it, yet you storm off now wet from the rain to go inside and find the very person that would be a mistake. You know he’s a mistake. He’d left insulting bruises on your wrist just minutes ago and yet you find him in the kitchen pouring another mix of alcohol that has you convinced he’s at least reached a point where the alcohol no longer has to taste good to be drunk. 

“Fuck me,” he turns, eyes sharp and dark but also just a hint of confusion. 

“What?”

“Do I have to say it again?”

Juyeon shakes his head, a smirk appearing on his lips instead as he downs the little he’d managed to mix so far in his cup. You followed his gaze to a bottle of whiskey that was nearly empty and you reached for the puddle of golden brown liquid to down it, his eyes on you the entire time as you did so. 

He waits for you to put the glass down and when you’ve done so, he lifts you up with his hands digging into the back of your upper thigh, the skirt of your dress rising so high you use your hoodie to cover up where your skin is revealed. This was already a mistake, you knew it to be so deep down, but you didn’t care. 

Maybe you wanted to somehow prove that Juyeon did care about you. Or maybe you just wanted to spite Changmin. Maybe you just needed sex because your libido was high and you weren’t having enough of it. 

Maybe it was all three. 

You don’t know which bedroom you’re in but Juyeon is lazy in shutting the door, nearly forgetting to do so before he kicks it shut with the back of his foot. He’s quick to kiss you, sloppy and wet as you drop the clean white hoodie to the floor, discarding it just as Juyeon works on lifting the frustratingly tight fabric up to your hips. 

“You’re not wearing underwear?”

You shake your head, wriggling out of the straps of your dress to push it down over your now bare chest, the little fabric on your body all bunched up above your ass and below your chest. You were essentially naked, and yet not quite, wrapping your legs around Juyeon’s waist as he fell on top of you and kissed you back.

You loved kissing. Especially when it was rough and desperate. Necessary like oxygen that you breathed. You loved Juyeon’s kisses, the way he bit your lower lip and roughly rocked against you, though the fabric of his pants against your bare thighs was rough and made you whine in frustration and discomfort. 

At least Juyeon wasn’t entirely stupid in realising what the problem was, maybe usually willing and eager to tease and take his time a little more but now he was stripping himself bare so that the friction against both your warm skins wouldn’t hurt for you. 

“What the hell did he want?”

You cursed. You cursed because you did not need to think about Changmin when Juyeon’s dick was right there, and yet he’d asked the question. He sounded bitter, angry, but not quite jealous. Maybe if it had been jealousy, you would’ve been okay with it. 

“Was just giving me back the hoodie he ruined,” your hand wraps around his cock, stroking him lazily as he inhales sharply, a rough moan right by your ear before he bites down on your neck. Harder than you’re used to, but not enough to fully hurt. 

Your body was used to his cock. You realise it more because when he pushes into you, the sting is sharp but easy to adjust to. The first time you’d had sex with Juyeon, you’d needed way more time and he’d given it to you. But now it was second nature and your body knew him. Your body clung to him, desperate to hold. 

“You’re such a whiny little whore, d’you know that?” 

If the dick wasn’t good, you’d slap him. Though you supposed he wasn’t saying it entirely without reasoning. You were whiny. That, and you were loud, unintentionally so as he picked up the pace, gripping your hip with his free hand to slam into you, your breasts pushing up from the force as your head tilted back in pleasure. 

Sex with Juyeon was lazy, definitely without much care but it was good for what it was. He was rough and careless but you trusted him to never hurt you, and if he ever unintentionally did you knew he’d stopped if you asked. You trusted him, despite all his flaws, to see you like this, with your body near bare and vulnerable to him and anything he wished as he spread your legs and pushed you into the mattress. 

It was natural and comforting, to find repetition in your behaviour with Juyeon. It was nice when things didn’t change, because change was something that didn’t find you very content.

“H-harder- ah-” your back arches just slightly, and Juyeon takes that moment to wrap both his hands on the side of your hips, digging his nails into the skin as he obeys your demand, your legs clinging to him. The sound of skin roughly meeting repeatedly is loud and penetrating, only covered by the vulgarity of the noises you make. If it weren’t for the loud music yet again, you’re sure everyone could hear you. 

Changmin. Could he hear you? 

The very thought of him pushes the orgasm you’d initially been building away, because you’re shocked. Why is he in your thoughts so suddenly, with his warm comforting hoodie over his skin that seemed so soft, with a far gentler touch than Juyeon’s?

Not that you minded Juyeon’s touch, but you imagined Changmin’s to be different, even if it might be rough. 

You imagined his glasses slipping from behind his ears as he hovered over you, and you wondered if he’d try to adjust them first or if you’d eventually just take them off for him, lay them somewhere to the side while spreading your legs for him. 

You wondered what it was like, very briefly, to run your hands through his dark hair and tug on it harshly as he fucked into you, his heavy breaths against your ear as you both shook in a joint orgasm as he came inside you. 

You wondered what it was like, how different he was from Juyeon and if so, if it was better. 

You can’t quite catch your tongue fast enough when your orgasm grows, not with your thoughts overlapping and twisting in your head and making you wonder about someone you’d never want near you this intimately. Or did you?

“C-Changmin- fuck!���

Your nails dig so hard into Juyeon’s back that you know there will be moonlike crevices on his skin, scratching down into a jagged line as your body shakes, your legs unstable and locked against the man who’s completely still. He’s unmoving, completely, and it takes you another moment of recollection to realise Juyeon didn’t finish. 

You can’t say you blame him, when realisation and embarrassment and utter humiliation covers your crimson cheeks. Of all the names, you chose the worst offender. And despite alcohol being in your system, you knew you couldn’t blame it on that. 

You’d just committed social suicide to a man you knew wouldn’t keep his mouth shut when he was hurt. And you could tell on his face that there was a pain in his eyes that even you couldn’t say you recognised. He felt insulted, and when you went to move up on the bed to reach him, he pushed off you so fast you thought he detested you. 

“Don’t touch me,” it was stern, his tone so cold that you thought he hated you. Juyeon very well could and you weren’t so sure you could blame him. You knew if he’d done this to you, said someone else’s name, that it would cut a wound into you that would never go away and every thought of am I enough would threaten to break you. 

You watched in an almost entranced state, the way he picked up all his clothes, and your few attempts at adjusting yourself and walking towards him failed because he slapped your hand away every time. 

“Ju- I’m sorry. It’s not what… I- Juyeon.”

He stops, picking up your white hoodie off the floor and shoving it against your chest similarly to how you’d done the same with Changmin when you gave it to him, and it cut you all over again. 

“Let me guess, you left this at his house when you let him fuck you?” 

You were shocked. Of course you knew it wasn’t true but how could you prove it? Yet your silence was Juyeon’s answer. His assumption that he was right as he bitterly scoffed and rolled his eyes at you like he loathed you. 

“I hope you truly end up miserable, Y/N. You deserve it, at this point,” the door slams loud and Juyeon’s gone, leaving you bare and vulnerable and so very lost as the very idea of your social circle and status dwindling into pieces, shattering beneath your feet, becomes a frightening reality to you. Everything you worked on attaining, on creating a you that everyone would envy and want, was potentially threatened with a secret that only you and him knew. 

A secret that would ruin you, and you knew well that he loved to run his mouth where it gained him sympathy. 

All you could do, was stand still naked with your hoodie covering you just enough in case someone came in, and yet no one did, not for a while. 

You were well and truly alone. 

act ii

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[danibee33]

The Queen’s Guard - Chapter 2: Seen

cw: dark themes, dubcon/noncon, *read at your own discretion*

word count: 2.7k

[<<< chapter 1]

The weeks had been exhausting, to say the least.

You were used to being pulled in a hundred directions everyday, used to being the face for the kingdom, put on show like a prize horse in your fanciest dresses and most dazzling jewels.

But, all you could think when you see your reflection is how heavy they feel; the faceted rubies and diamonds are just pretty chains to you, the uncomfortable whale-bone corset around your waist is a cage, the pounds and pounds of bright velvet and silks weigh you down, making your urge to flee a vain one.

I would never get far.. Though, if I jumped into the pond, I doubt they would ever be able to lift me out in time- would they say it was a tragic accident?

“My Queen.”

The brassy voice startles you from your own thoughts, your eyes meeting warm copper in the mirror image. They aren’t concerned, not really; if anything, you think you see the faintest hint of frustration in his shadowed expression,

“The King waits..”

Oh, right. You were still sat at your vanity, the boar-bristle brush still clutched between your fingers, your long waves hanging freely over your shoulder and back, body only covered in a flowing, white nightgown. And very suddenly, you’re too aware of just how exposed you are in your guard’s presence, too aware of how warm his gaze feels lingering on your skin before he looks away just as quickly.

“Thank you, Ser Simon..” You let your head fall forward, your hair covering the bloom of red that’s settled over your cheeks.

He’s been an attentive guard in his short tenure with you, and at times, you’ve found it quite eerie, the silent way he moves, the way his eyes track everything around you, how his mind and his senses could possibly be so intensely focused on everything all at once.

But, what unsettles you the most is how seen you feel.

The knight has this uncanny ability to read you, as if he were fluent in your body language, in every tiny expression that might possibly flash across your features at any given time. Such as when he sees the way your eyelids settle low over your eyes when you’ve grown weary of a particular conversation, or the way you clench and unclench your fingers when you become restless, the way your jaw flexes when you’re angry-

He’s quickly picked up on every little thing, and you’re still not sure if your find it annoying or are grateful for it,

“Elia?” You call for the young handmaid, her slight figure approaching quickly as Simon’s retreats, “If you’ll just set out my things, you’re free to enjoy the rest of your night.”

After your nights with the King, you preferred the comfort of solitude, preferred to take care of yourself afterward. And by now, it is just as much a part of this primal ritual as the act itself, and the more distant part of you almost looked forward to it- to the after- when you get to be alone.

Because you so rarely ever get to be thoroughly alone..

“Of course, Your Majesty.”

She goes about setting out the small basket of certain items you usually need to get through these nights, a vile of purified olive oil, fresh aloe vera and witch hazel for the times your King might have had a rough day beforehand- clean cloths, et cetera-

“Thank you.” You nod at Elia, giving her a soft smile before looking toward your guard to give him the same gesture; you were as ready as you could be, no sense in putting it off any longer.

As soon as your chambers door is pulled open, His Majesty himself sweeps in- and you just know he’s in a mood-

“Husband.. You look well.”

You notice the door hasn’t closed yet, looking beyond your husband’s slightly smaller frame to see Simon looking back at you- and you realize this is the first time he has been present for these nights, and the look in his eye is full of something..

He can’t possibly look angry, can he? No.. that’s absurd-

You give a small nod, watching how he regards you for a moment longer before returning the movement and closing the doors behind him.

Looking back at your King, it’s all too easy to forget that he’s a handsome man, with his sweeping dark hair and lean muscular build; but there’s something about the ice in his blue eyes that has always made you feel cold in his presence. Even when he steps closer, wide palms resting on your cheek and hip, you don’t really feel the heat of his touch, your body knows what’s coming, but, even so, it fails to find arousal.

“Ah, my pet.. beautiful as ever.”

You’re not sure ‘hate’ is the right word to describe his little name for you, because it doesn’t feel endearing or sweet in the slightest, the way he says it is demeaning and possessive. Like he wants to reiterate and reaffirm that you really are nothing more than bitch in heat for him- but that’s fine, you don’t really think you could handle it if he actually wanted to spend more time with you.

These few times themselves were hard enough to get through; and in the years since the first time he bedded you, you’ve been studious in learning how to work him up to get it over with sooner, rather than later-

“My King..” You drawl, reaching for the leather ties on his trousers, “How I’ve missed you.”

He pushes you down to your knees slowly, eyes never leaving your face, “Hmm.. What have you missed, sweet pet?”

His length falls into your hand easily, already fattening with need, and you’ve never seen anyone other than him like this, so you suppose he’s large- he fits in your palm nicely, your fingers wrapping around his shaft,

“This, my love..”

You look up at him with wide eyes, and watch his head roll back the moment the soft flesh of his tip slides through your lips-

This is how it always starts, and for all you know, this is really all there is to it. Because once you feel his cock twitch in your mouth, and his grip on your hair tightens painfully, you know it will be over soon.

Thank the fucking gods above.

Tugging you up and over toward the sprawling bed, he turns you, watching as you settle on your knees before him, the nightgown falling up your torso, ass in the air, just as he prefers.

Your back arches for his touch, and you bite into your bottom lip as he pushes into your heat- it’s tight and uncomfortable, but that never stops him, he simply leans down to grab the glass of oil before continuing at a brutal pace.

There are no noises made other than the lewd, rhythmic smack of skin against skin, and you’re not sure if it’s seconds or minutes before his breaths grow heavy, his grip becoming a bruising hold on your hips until he slams into you one final time- the familiar, slightly nauseating, warmth pulsing deep in your core as he fills you yet again.

And is it horrible that you now truly hope it takes?

Not because you want to give the wretched man a child, an heir, or that you want to see your belly grow distended and your tits swell into nothing more than a cow’s udder for his helpless babe; but because if it takes, that means you’ll be free of your wifely duties to him for a blissful nine months-

His hand comes down harshly on your bare buttcheek, the sharp pain causing you to gasp out a pitiful sound, followed by a nasally chuckle as he pulls out of your channel without ceremony- surely enjoying the way his spend dribbles down between your thighs as he does,

“How do you like your new guard? Quite the interesting choice you made.”

Yanking at your garments, you stand along with him, not bothering to meet his eyes as you speak,

“He’s fit in well. A proper shadow, as he should be, no?”

There’s a noncommittal sort of grunt made, the sound of leather straining as he ties the straps at his waist before stepping closer.

And what he does next, you really don’t know if he does it because he feels something, no, certainly not- or if he does it because he thinks it’s what you want, which you do not- but he leans down to take your lips. It’s always a harsh and clashing kiss, over just as quickly as the rest of it,

“He’s a protective shadow, isn’t he?”

A flare of anger courses through you at the sly and prodding comment, and it takes more than a deep breath to settle the surge of violence that burns through your gut.

But, your mouth has always seemed to move faster than your brain, unfortunately,

“Well that’s his job, isn’t it?” You shoot back, fingers tangled in your own hair as you twist it into a loose braid, “Pray tell, are you planning to kill this one, too, husband? A warning would be-”

Before you can properly react, a hot, searing pain explodes across your cheek- the force of his back handed slap rattles through your head, and a small whimper is all you give him before biting your tongue and casting your eyes down to the floor.

“You’d do well to mind that smart mouth of yours, wife. Maybe you should be focused on providing my kingdom an heir instead of your witty remarks..” His voice drops into a mocking tone as you flinch away from his touch, “You’ll do that for me, won’t you, pet?”

There’s a crack in the floor that consumes all your attention, but you still nod sweetly, “Of course, Sire.”

Too-wet lips push against your hairline, his palm settled at the nape of your neck, “Good girl..”

Praise has never felt so degrading than when it comes from him. It makes you want to crawl into yourself, hide away from the world-

Fuck, how did you ever get here. How could this possibly be your life? You remember the stories told to you as a little girl, practically memorized them- and this, these horrors were never written into your tales.

Or, perhaps, they were just conveniently left out..

Because you were so sure then, so sure if there was true love in this world, that if anyone would find it, it must be you, right? You had been betrothed to the King since you were just a babe, a perfect little girl born to unite your kingdoms in peace and prosperity-

Ha.. and look at you, now. Poor little Queen.. how foolish I was-

“Your Grace.”

Damn it…

You look towards the door, seeing the black clad figure blocking out nearly the entire width; and it’s only when he sees your face head on, that his body flinches forward- eyes widening behind the sharp angles of his helm.

Clearing your throat, you turn away from him, waving your hand, “I’m tired. And I’m sure your relief will be here soon, just go, Ser. I relieve you in his stead.”

“You’re bleedin’..”

His voice holds none of the usual harshness this time, and it’s like his words turn on the part of your brain that registers pain- hissing when your fingers graze over the deep split at the corner of your mouth.

There’s crimson on the very tip of your finger when you pull away, and the color seems too bright, too foreign in your eyes; the King had never struck you before, yet he managed to draw blood the very first time.

Was I really so weak, and simply never knew it?

A piece of cloth replaces where your fingers had been, and your next breath catches in the back of your throat from the unexpected contact, the surprising gentility in his touch. He’s close now, closer than he’s ever dared come- and you know you should be disgusted at his blatant lack of decorum, you should reprimand him and command him to leave; but, you don’t.

Instead, your eyes travel slowly, up and up the breadth of his armored chest and neck, until finally, you meet his eyes. They’re steady on your lips at first, but like every time before, they find yours quickly- his gaze just as intense as ever.

Gods, has he moved closer?

He’s close enough you can smell him now, his rich scent overwhelming you with each warm breath he exhales and you inhale. He smells like vetiver and steel, warm and cold, like the first frost of winter, and the first cup of spiced wine in the fall-

“Shall I call for your handmaid, My Queen?”

My Queen.. My Queen- it plays over and over in my head, always and only ever in his honeyed voice.. I hate it- no, I don’t.. but shouldn’t I?

It’s just.. He does not say it like the others- he doesn’t say it just out of respect and title, no- gods, it’s like he’s praying when he speaks those two measly words. There is devoutness in his tone and reverie in his gaze- But, that can’t be right. You are just upset right now, reeling from the night, from the week prior, and the weeks before that.

You’re simply imagining these things, giving importance where none is due. You just need to rest-

Tired, yes. That’s all.

“No..” You don’t mean to whisper, but his proximity steals your voice, “I’m fine.. Please- Go.”

Your neck is still craned looking up at him, your lips parted as you struggle to control your breaths, and maybe it’s the stupidest thing you could do, but you find yourself unable to stop. You let your fingers wrap over his gauntlet, not really pulling him away, but hoping he does it on his own- because you don’t think you could, you don’t think you really want to.

“Please..” You beg again, even quieter than before.

Simon gives a small sigh, his head tilting, eyes searching your face again- though, for what, you can’t be sure. But, after a slow blink, he takes one step back, then another, until he’s at your chamber’s door- and you’re forced to realize how painfully cold you feel in his absence.

“Sleep well, My Queen.”

Your knees buckle before the latch is even properly closed, the stone floor unforgiving as you all but collapse into yourself- trying so hard to be quiet, because you’re the Queen, and Queens do not sob, Queens do not let priceless rugs soak up their tears, or wish to drown in them, all the same.

The Queen should be grateful, should be proud of her station, of the gift bestowed upon her by her fortunate bloodlines.

Queens are strong, or they’re supposed to be. And you think you were strong once.. when the world still appeared beautiful and rosy in tint, when the promise of all the things that could be were still so bright and full of wonder.

You don’t consider yourself strong anymore. You feel like a ship without sails, listing dangerously in the stormy waters, entirely at the mercy of the sea. Waiting, just waiting for that one perfect rogue wave to capsize you, to wash you away into the nothingness-

But, truthfully, and it’s a truth you’ll never speak aloud, a truth that sits with you, hangs over you- you really don’t know how much longer you can stand to keep playing this charade of a life.

Not when the dark waters look so appetizing, so peaceful.

She doesn't know that her guard stays just beyond the thick wood, that he listens to her quiet sobs until he’s sure that she’s managed to cry herself to sleep.

It’s a haunting sound to him, for reasons he can’t explain or understand.

Because Simon Riley is not a good man, he is merciless and unkind, a woman weeping has surely never stopped him before- yet, with The Queen, the anguish and desperation in her cries claw at him, they dig themselves into his muscle and marrow.

He only ever wanted this position because he was truly tired, utterly weary and exhausted to his core-

But, His Queen.. she changed everything.

a/n: thank you for being here!

[Chapter 3 >>>]

[autisticlancemcclain]

Keith knows, truthfully and entirely objectively, that his life has improved since he started dating Lance. Obviously. There is no disputing this fact if nature. His attitude has mellowed, his days are brighter, his nights are even better, his crops are watered his skin is clear et cetera et cetera. (Literally, on that last one, since Lance is sneaky with his product).

…However.

There are setbacks.

Like right now, where he’s been pushed so far to the edge of the bed that he’s actually holding his breath to avoid being squished against that wall like a new coat of paint. So.

He loves his boyfriend. Seriously. He’s slept more in the months they’ve been seeing each other than he has in his entire life combined, actually. It’s insane. There’s something about Lance pressed up against his chest, arms wrapped tightly around his ribs, nose barely peeking above his shoulder to let in some air (seriously how does he do that; Keith has watched him and he has, like, maybe one nostril available for oxygen intake. The rest of his face is smooshed against Keith’s upper arm and pec. And he’s got the blanket up to his ears, too. Does Lance not need to breathe for long periods of time? Like a dolphin? Keith will have to ask) that just makes sleeping actually relaxing, for once. Like maybe he doesn’t have to stay half awake, like maybe he can actually trust himself to be safe in his own bed. It’s an incredible feeling, to finally feel well-rested in the mornings.

He does. However. Feel the ittiest, tiniest bit like he’s sleeping with a corset on. And being hydraulic pressed into the corner of the room. If he has to pick something to be nitpicky about, he means.

“Lance, c’mon,” he mutters, exhaling finally. Lance, who is mostly asleep based on the growing puddle of drool Keith feels wetting his sleep shirt, takes the opportunity to squeeze tighter like a goddamn python. “Can you move over a little bit? I’m up against the wall, I got no room to breathe —”

The human corset suddenly lets up, and Keith can breathe again.

So he does.

Perhaps a touch dramatically, with the bug gasping inhale or whatever.

(Look, he’s not perfect. He’s quite comfortable blaming Shiro’s influence, actually.)

“Thank you,” he huffs. He takes a few deep breaths, feeling the twinge in one of his ribs; tender from an injury he has yet to admit he has. (It’s fine. He checked. It’s barely even bruised mostly, he’s good. It’ll handle itself or become a Future Keith problem, so.) He curses under his breath as he stretches a bit, taking advantage of the space.

He frowns. “Wait, what?”

He sits up, confused as to why his spider monkey boyfriend is not in his immediate presence. It takes a second for his bleary eyes to adjust to the half-light of their bedroom, but eventually he manages and looks over and Lance is — Lance is on the goddamn floor. The blanket is with him. And four pillows.

“Lance.”

Keith bites his lip. This is either a bit or a very delicate situation, and if it’s the latter and he laughs then he’s very much in the doghouse, and for all his complaining he would much rather spend the night suffocating than alone. Much rather.

“Aw, Lance, come on.”

Unfortunately, his voice shakes, and he can’t quite tamp down his snorts and giggles, as much as he tries to muffle them.

Lance doesn’t speak, but Keith can almost physically taste his frown. His pout practically has its own atmosphere, it’s so potent.

“Hey.”

Keith gets to his knees, half-shuffling across the mattress. He leans over the edge, closer to Lance’s curled up form, and raises an eyebrow, amused. “Leandro. You are not being serious right now.”

The silence continues to grow. Keith can almost feel an actual chill, there’s so much iciness leaking from Lance right now.

(He also has the only blanket, but whatever. Tomato tomato.)

“Baby.”

“If you never want to sleep with me again that’s fine,” Lance says tersely. Keith rolls his eyes, head in his hands. “The floor is lovely. I’d rather be here than anywhere near your stinky mullet anyway.”

Keith sighs, long and heavy, steeling himself for the inevitable back pain he is going to have tomorrow morning. The things he does for love.

“You are the most dramatic man alive. Scoot over.”

Caught off guard, Lance uncurls, looking over at Keith in confusion.

Keith grins. “There are those pretty brown eyes.”

The pretty brown eyes in question are still squinted in suspicion, but Keith was expecting that. He moves as casually as he can manage, even trying his luck by humming something Lance was listening to earlier, picking up the edge of the blanket and sliding in behind his boyfriend, flat on the floor, arms winding around his waist and head bent at the junction of his shoulder. Lance is still tense, but allows Keith in his space, thankfully. Keith was half worried he’d stomp away to go sleep with Hunk.

“‘M sorry,” he mumbles, pressing a kiss to Lance’s neck and lingering there, making his boyfriend shiver as his lips tickle his skin. “Didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. Just feeling a little claustrophobic.”

Lance softens, but only barely. “You can tell me to back off, you know. I will.”

There’s still an undertone of hurt to his voice, a backing of insecurity. Keith tightens his grip, shaking his head.

“No. Don’t want that.”

Lance makes a frustrated noise. “Well, then what do you want, Mr. Mixed Signals?”

“You.” He traces an invisible line down the side of Lance’s neck with his mouth, kissing and biting slightly, relishing in every little twitch of Lance’s shoulders. “Duh.”

“No, not ‘duh’,” Lance argues, but his voice has gone weak. “You’re a pain in my ass. Do you want to be cuddled or not, Red?”

Bingo. Keith fights a smirk at the nickname, knowing he fails when Lance sighs, but the slide of his hands to rest on top of Keith’s bely his amusement, his fading irritation.

“Course I do,” Keith promises. His kisses the back of Lance’s neck again, but it’s softer this time; no underlying motives. An assurance, a promise. “I just. You know. Would also like twelve percent more space to inflate my lungs, if that’s okay.”

Lance snorts. Keith grins.

“You’re such a goober.”

“You’re the goober, actually. The pile of drool on my shoulder proves it.”

He feels more than sees Lance’s neck go red. Keith snickers. Lance hates when Keith brings up the drooling and for that he will literally never ever stop.

“I hope you wake up in agony.”

“Oh, I will, thanks to your hissy fit.”

Lance kicks his heel into Keith’s shin because he’s a shithead. Keith takes it without complaint because he’s the biggest whipped loser of all time and he’s well aware of it.

“We can go back to the bed, you know,” Lance offers eventually, although he makes no effort to move.

Keith yawns. “Nah.” He rests his head on the top of Lance’s spine, tangling their legs together. “I’m good where you are.”

———

based off this post

[the-fiction-witch]

Heart In My Hands

Media - The Artful Dodger Character - Jack Dawkins Couple - Jack X Reader Reader - Y/n (Hospital Secretary) Rating - Sweet Word Count - 2485

Warnings - Graphic Medical scenes / Victorian doctoring / mentions of Suicide and self-harm/

Y/n nodded as she sat on the spare empty table in the morgue, her lilac dress around her with a tight corset and large crinoline below, her boots swaying a little where her feet didn't touch the floor, she fixed her curls from her face a little adjusting the matching bow that sits in her hair, her eyes on the floor.

Jack looks down at Y/n with his hand on his forehead. "get off my table, I don't want your fancy dress ruining the furniture."

she nodded and sheepishly hopped off standing fiddling with her white cotton gloves,

Jack sighed, "I can tell you want something so out with it, you daft girl." As he spoke he began washing his hands and utensils in a small basin of water.

"Can I stay and watch?" She asked sheepishly,

"Only if you keep quiet so you don't distract me. And you're not allowed to touch the body or anything that can possibly be infected." Jack said in between washing his tools in a small basin of water

She nodded and stood close to the table, close enough to see by far enough not to be a risk of contamination. She watched as he brought his tools to the body and began his work, blood coating his hands as he cut through the body, Y/n stood and watched egarly with a smile

Jack looked up at Y/n as he started cutting. He smiled seeing her eagerness. "Don't forget. I said no talking unless you have an intelligent question that will further the science."

she nodded silently

Jack smiled as he began working. He made his way down the abdomen, cutting the skin open he reached into the body itself and began pulling out the internal organs, dropping them into a basin of water on the floor.

she looked at his work curiously and she spoke "Do you think bodies know what happens to them once they die I suppose of course they can't feel it but I wonder how long the nerves keep working to know what's happening,"

Jack let out a chuckle and smiled slightly. He liked that question.

"Honestly, I think it depends on several variables; the way they died, if they knew they were going to die or not and the cause of death. I don't believe the nerves are active long after someone expires."

"Hum... I'm sure of them do else why do bodies spasm or react? Bodies still bruise after death so one can assume at least something is still working internally"

"If you're speaking on a cellular level perhaps. But on a whole organism level, probably not. I've seen too many a body not do anything after death to believe that there is something truly still working once someone dies."

"I suppose so... People say if you are decapitated your mind is aware for a few seconds, at least while your brain is starved of blood and oxygen"

"Most certainly, but I wonder how long that lasts. Is it really that long or does it feel like it's longer because your brain is panicking and going through millions of possibilities as your organs begin to shut down?" he chuckled,

"When was the first time you saw a body?"

"When I was about your age. Maybe a bit younger. But I remember I was just starting out," he smiled, "What about you? When was your first time?"

"were they already dead? Or did you watch them die?"

"They were already dead. I was given the task of disposing of the body after performing an autopsy. But I think you're avoiding the question; my first time, and your first time.. come on now, let's not play games."

"... I was six" she answered

Jack raised his eyebrow slightly, waiting for a further explanation. For now, he decided to continue working,

"my father was looking after me one afternoon in his study, I was playing with my toys and he uhhh... He hung himself." She nodded sadly "I watched him die ... Saw the end in his eyes, watched his body hang until the maid came in"

"Oh-..oh... I-..." Jack froze for a minute, before he sighed, continuing with his work. He kept his eyes down as he worked, trying not to work through how such a thing would affect a child. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. Especially at such a young age.."

"It's alright, he wasn't a happy man. I suppose I... Found sollis in the morbid" she said still watching his work with fascination,

Jack gave a small nod, knowing what she was saying all too well. "As do I. I often wonder if my obsession for the morbid would exist as strong if I grew up in a more... Normal household."

"Perhaps, but those aren't the people we are" she smiled "... Do you have nurses do this for the female bodies?" She asked, "Or do you do that?"

Jack smiled as she changed the subject. "I'm the only one who touches them. I don't trust the Nurses with something as important as an autopsy."

she nodded "Are women and men really that different on the inside? Other than the reproductive?"

Jack thought for a moment, "Hm... I would say there are subtle differences in the internal structure. Women tend to have a wider pelvis to allow for childbirth, while men have a smaller pelvic area. Both internal female and male sexual organs tend to be shaped differently, however, the rest of the organs tend to be the same."

"hummm... I'd have imagined the ribs and chest to be slightly deformed... Given women have the additional weight of breasts"

Jack chuckled slightly as he nodded "You would think that, but the human body can easily adapt to handle the additional weight and size of the chest. Men, on the other hand, usually have larger lungs than women. Not by a tremendous amount, but enough to notice the difference."

"Oh, I thought men an women were far different" she giggled

"Oh really? You think so?" Jack chuckled and smiled at Y/n. "What gives you that idea?"

"I don’t know doctor’s always seem to have a harder time given women a diagnosis other then, loose weight, close your legs and pray."

Jack nodded. “That’s because most doctors are old pigs who have no idea how women work,”

"that's being a woman, unfortunately, medical men aren't always the most helpful"

"I can very well believe it. I've encountered quite a few of my fellow male doctors in the medical field who would be much better suited working on animals rather than humans. Thankfully, you landed yourself with me. And I'll be certain to never let you see another doctor so long as I can help it."

"thank you jack" she smiled "I wonder sometimes if sneed would be better on dogs then people"

Jack let out a hearty chuckle, he knew that feeling all too well, "Now that's certainly something I'd be more than willing to agree with. In fact, I'd go as far to say that Sneed would be better off as a dog himself."

"I think he'd like being a dog, he already humps everything that moves close enough to him and I wouldn't be surprised if I heard he was licking himself" she chuckled

Jack burst into a fit of laughter. "Oh christ no- you just had to go and make me imagine that! I really didn't need that mental image first thing in the morning!" he complained, "Sneed can't even properly diagnose a basic infection! How the hell he's still qualified to work in this hospital is beyond me.."

"Because he is friendly with Professor McGregor"

Jack rolled his eyes and groaned at the name. "McGregor... Damn that idiot. How he's still a professor, I'll never know. I'd be more than happy to do away with his liver."

"I think the poor liver could use a rest" she smiled "but that is the reason Prof is old and worn out, sneed is a suck-up. Those are the only reasons they are more in charge then you are"

Jack let out an irritated sigh, "Sneed is the type of suck-up that will do anything to get by in life. And McGregor is little more than a tired old fool who cares more about his reputation than his patients. I'm honestly shocked the place hasn't fallen down around them yet..."

"of course, it hasn't, your here"

Jack smiled at Y/n's compliment. "And that's the problem. I do all the actual saving of people, while they just sit up their arses collecting payment." he sighed, "But it's not always bad, I've got my job, and I'm fortunate enough to spend it with such pleasant company like yourself."

"awww" she giggled "if I had it my way I'd make you head surgeon"

Jack shrugged slightly as he laughed. "Ah.. if I had it my way, McGregors position would be mine. He's nothing more than a waste of space in the medical field. Though, I suppose it's only a matter of time before people realise he's not all that he's made out to be. Unfortunately, I don't think the day will come before his time does." he chuckled, "How about you? You got any ideas? Any particular dream job you'd like to have? Or are you alright just doing the secretary work here?"

"I'd like to be a doctor... Such is a dream unrealistic I know"

Jack let out a slight laugh. "Women can’t be doctors, or surgeons. Not my rules, society's rules. All thought I admit in another world… You seem to understand the human body quite well! And you have a kind, pleasant attitude that helps people feel calm. Not to mention a strong enough stomach to stand the sight of blood. You'd make a damn good doctor." he smiled, "But- Sometimes, I forget what century this is..."

"its alright, I don't mind I like helping with the paperwork" she smiled "speaking of which" she grabbed the folder and began doing all the paperwork for him noticing inquiries, weights and other such information happily,

Jack smiled as she went to work on the paperwork. He had a genuine smile on his face when he saw her enjoying something as simple as doing his paperwork. It gave him a warm feeling inside that someone else, even if they weren't a doctor, found the work fascinating. "You know, you're the best secretary anyone could ever ask for. The hospitals never had someone quite as good-looking as you either."

she giggled at his compliments

Jack smiled happily. Having her around made the work so much more enjoyable. Even doing something as mundane as paperwork was more fun, simply because he got to spend time with her. "You keep laughing at my compliments, one of these days you're gonna have me saying something quite embarrassing."

"like what?"

"Hm... Something along the lines of how absolutely angelic you look every time I see you..." Jack stopped working to look up and smile at Y/n. "How everytime I hear your laugh, it's impossible to keep myself from smiling..." He then thought for a second before he continued. "How I wish I saw you everyday, and I feel my heartbeat skip a beat upon sight of you."

she giggled again "If you're going to be giving me such juicy compliments doctor Dawkins you could at very least buy me dinner first" she teased as she finished with the paperwork and came to egarly watch him,

Jack laughed as Y/n came over to watch him finish his work. "My apologies my Lady, I should have realised how forward my statements were. Perhaps I should be a bit more discrete in the future, unless a certain fair lady is interested, of course."

"why? Is a certain doctor asking?" She raised her eyebrow

Jack laughed. "Perhaps he is... Would you consider accepting if he was?"

"she might consider accepting, if he was asking, I think he was asking she'd certainly be interested just depending on what exactly he was offering"

"Well, the Doctor would offer a wonderful night of courtship. Perhaps a dinner, and then maybe a stroll amongst the stars with a beautiful, wonderful and intelligent woman." Jack said with a smile as he finished detaching the heart. As he did, he gave the heart a firm squeeze to remove excess blood. The heart in his hands, he turned to Y/n and offered it out to her. "For you, my lady~"

“I can?”

“Go on,” he nodded,

She giggled so happily pulling off her gloves and taking the heart in her hands, looking it over and describing all the intricate anatomy names she looked as if he’d just handed her a bouquet of roses, Jack found it hard not to smile at her. But she handed it back knowing she’d be in trouble if someone found out,

"Ah, that's rather cruel of you, won't you even accept a heart from a handsome doctor such as myself?" Jack said with a chuckle, In his mind, this was perhaps the closest to giving his heart to Y/n that he could ever get. A somewhat morbid thought, yet not too unexpected for him.

"I would adore to accept... In concept doctor Dawkins however the physical heart may make a mess of my handbag" she giggled cleaning her hands off and slipping her gloves back on, "but if it's all the same to you I would like to accept your offer of a nice dinner and stroll in the stars if that is still available?"

"Well, I suppose that's a fair reason to reject my fine heart. I'd hate to make such a mess of your fine handbag." Jack smiled and laughed slightly as he gently put the heart back down. "In that case, my offer of a night of courtship is still very available. Might I ask, would you be free this coming evening?"

"I would be…"

"Perfect. I'll collect you at 7 this evening. We can skip straight to the main event with dinner, and enjoy the stars afterwards. Sounds lovely, doesn't it?" Jack asked, the happiness and excitement written all over his face,

"it sounds perfect" she smiled

"Fantastic! And if I'm not being too forward in my asking, would I be given access to an official kiss from you if the evening is to your liking?" Jack asked with a smile, slightly embarrassed to be asking such a thing. Yet, at the same time, slightly excited about the prospect of receiving a kiss from Y/n.

"I think it's possible you could get one this evening"

Jack grinned as he finished cleaning himself up. "Well, in that case, I shall eagerly await my evening of courtship and the fine kiss that shall come with it."

"I will too, well I'll see you later Doctor" she smiled taking the paperwork with her and giving him a little wave as she headed out of the morgue and up Into the hospital

Jack gave her a little bow as she waved goodbye, leaving a spring in his step and a smile on his face as he put his things away. He cleaned his working space for the next doctor that would be working there, before leaving to his office, excited for the upcoming evening.

[skribbyposts]

Corset-Trained

HEY YALL!!! comes back after like 2 weeks and drops this. hgnhg small waist Sanji gives me brain worms (they do the same to Zoro trust) so have this fic about it!!1111!!!!! It's also up on my Ao3 if you wanna view it there!! okay buckle in children ~~~~~~~~~~~

Sanji loves dressing nice. 

Ever since he was old enough to fit in them, he’d never step foot outside without at least a dress shirt on. The constant dressing up was more of an insecurity problem than anything, when he was younger. 

Coming back from Momoiro, Sanji’s learned a lot more about himself than he anticipated - now he just wears suits ‘cause they look really good on him. Sanji has a nice figure. He knows he does. He keeps lean because of the way he fights, and the three-pieces he wears do wonders for showing off his legs. 

When he feels like it, he’ll even put on a corset underneath his button-down sometimes. he’s noticed that it’s gotten easier to put them on in the mornings the longer he wears them, and he doesn’t necessarily mind his waist getting smaller with time.

Looks like someone else noticed too.

~o0o~

For some context, It starts when his crew finally reunites.

Reuniting in Sabaody surrounded by the crewmates he’s missed for so long feels so rejuvenating. Everybody’s laughing, gossiping, and he feels home again, for the first time in two years. 

Everyone’s almost here, besides the marimo - lost in transit, Sanji guesses. Luffy’s already complaining about his empty stomach, whining for Sanji to make him something

Sanji prepares to kick the idiot in the head, when suddenly the ground shakes.

He looks over to the commotion, and finds two halves of a ship crashing into the shoreline. Unfortunately he has a lucky guess as to what - or rather, who - caused this.

“Shit,” Sanji mutters. Why is it always something with that algae-headed fool?

As it turns out, Sanji was right. upon returning to Sabaody (without his eye, might he add), Zoro had somehow arrived first and proceeded to get himself lost on a completely different ship. Instead of getting off and looking for his crew like a normal person, he cleaved the entire thing in two to ‘get to shore faster’. 

“It’s been two years, and you’re still as much of an idiot as the last time i saw you, marimo.” Sanji huffs, pulling said marimo by his ear towards the Sunny. 

On the contrary, Zoro has not said a word since Sanji picked him up from the ruins of the ship he destroyed. It’s a little concerning, considering all the pair really do is bicker when they’re together.

Sanji turns around briefly to examine the man he’s dragging behind him. “are you even paying attention to me, or has all the algae on your head clogged up your ears?”

Zoro stumbles over his words before he splutters something something about Sanji’s collar being wrinkly, which the other man knows is a lie (because he steamed his button down this morning…)

Even so, Sanji narrows his eyes at the green-haired idiot before feeling around the collar of his shirt just in case. “No it’s not, you idiot!” He hisses, and flicks Zoro on the side of the head, and they fall into their usual banter as they head back to the rest of the crew. 

Every time he looks back at Zoro to deliver a scathing remark, though, he swears something’s…off about the other. He leaves it be for the time being, hoping it’ll resolve itself.

~o0o~

It does not resolve itself, unfortunately for Sanji.

Everyone boards the Sunny joyfully, the ship exploding in laughter as they make their hasty escape from Sabaody. They settle back onto the ship in a matter of hours, and it’s like they never left.

A few days later, Sanji finishes up stocking up the galley’s storage room earlier than he expected, so he makes smoothies for the crew as a sort of welcome-back gift. He leaves his jacket in the galley because it’s pretty sunny where they are right now.

As he bustles around the ship and hands the drinks out to the crew, he feels a set of eyes boring into his back from the edge of the ship. It seems the marimo’s developed a staring problem - ironic, seeing(HA!) that the man is missing an eye.

When he comes around to deliver Zoro’s plain matcha, Zoro’s eyes are closed and he acts like he wasn’t staring a hole directly between Sanji’s shoulder blades the whole time the blond was on deck. Sanji pauses to study the other man for a moment, wondering if Zoro knows his fluttering eyelashes betray the fact that he’s awake.

“Hey. Hey, you lazy fuck!” Sanji kicks at Zoro’s shoulder, careful not to jostle the drink he has in his hand.

“ What? ” Zoro snaps, his eye snapping open.

Sanji crouches down to place the drink next to him, and levels Zoro with a suspicious glare; like trying to say ‘ you’re not slick ’, but telepathically. 

Zoro seems to realize what’s gong on, and instead of answering he takes an obnoxiously long (and fucking loud) sip as he stares the blonde down with a blank face. 

Blue stares into gray (were Zoro’s lashes always that long?) as Sanji tries to puzzle out what exactly is going on with the marimo. The longer he stares, the more he notices Zoro’s eyes creeping downwards, and the blush materializing on Zoro’s (and subsequently, his own) face, and Sanji looks away because what the fuck ? Is he? Doing that for?!

Sanji straightens up with a huff, trying to cover his embarrassment as he scuttles back to the galley.

When he looks outside the window after a few minutes of calming himself down, he sees the swordsman looking down at his hands, doing…something. He’s cupping both hands into a C-shape and putting them closer and farther apart like he’s gauging something.

What a fucking weirdo , Sanji thinks, and tries to preoccupy himself with something else in the galley.

~o0o~

It all comes to a head one night a week after.

Sanji’s washing dishes after dinner, the rest of the crew presumably settled down and tucked into bed. He’s frantically scrubbing ketchup crust off one of his favorite plates when he hears the door crack open.

“Luffy, you’re not-” Sanji turns around, expecting to defend the fridge with his life - and it’s not Luffy.

Instead, It’s Zoro, who hasn’t come into the galley to steal booze in like… a while. There goes Sanji’s hopes that he might’ve broken that habit.

“Oh,” Sanji says, while the other man stands awkwardly in the doorway. “You’re more welcome in here than he is, I guess.” He nods to the chair, gesturing for Zoro to sit as he turns back around to continue washing dishes.

Zoro sits, evident by the scraping of the chair. “Don’t go looking through my cabinets, marimo,” Sanji quips, “I’ll get you a bottle as soon as I’m done.”

Zoro grunts an affirmative from behind him, and Sanji finishes washing up the last few cups and shit before wiping his hands off and heading towards the wine cabinet.

Sanji feels Zoro’s eyes on him as he bends down to reach for a bottle of rum, and here’s where things start to spiral.

Sanji decides this is the perfect time to have a talk . So, he sets down two glasses on the table where Zoro is sitting, and fills each to the brim before slamming the bottle down derisively.

“Okay,” Sanji starts. “I know you’re a man of few words, or whatever, but you really gotta start talking. Now.”

Zoro snorts into his drink, setting it down before speaking. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says, like the smug shit he is.

“Yes you do.”

“Nope. I don’t.”

“You’re fucking insufferable, you know that?” Sanji gripes, taking a long sip from his glass. “Let me lay it out for you. You either tell me what’s going on, or, stop staring at me before i take out your other eye, asshole.”

Zoro stares resolutely at the table, picking up his glass of rum and mumbling something into the rim without making eye contact with the man across from him.

“What’s that, marimo?”

“I just wanted to see something,” the green-haired man says, a little louder this time.

“Well, if it was that simple, you could’ve just asked.” Sanji shrugs. “Stop being weird about it.”

Sanji hears something faintly like 'no, I couldn’t have' from the marimo before he sighs in resignation and gets up. “Cook, stand up.”

Sanji is confused. “What? Why?”

One of Zoro’s hands move to pinch the bridge of his nose. “This is me asking! Just…do it.”

Oh, so that’s where this is going. “Marimo, even without my shoes on, I’m still taller than you.”

“Okay, whatever, come closer.” Zoro says, still managing to look anywhere but Sanji’s eyes.

Sanji expects a hand at his forehead to, you know, measure height. Instead, Zoro does that weird C- shape he’s been doing with his hands all week, and Sanji feels a warmth around his midsection through the light blue dress shirt he has on.

Zoro’s staring with half-lidded eyes at something and Sanji follows his gaze lower, as they both look at the tan hands resting around his waist. 

Zoro’s thumbs touch - no, they overlap - where they rest above Sanji’s navel, and oh, oh .

The two stand there, stock still, in complete silence, and Sanji can't help the fast beating of his heart as his mind conjures up the image of those firm, calloused hands touching there without the stiff cotton in between -

The silence in the galley is broken by the drip of liquid, and Sanji belatedly realizes it’s coming from him as a splat of red falls onto Zoro’s hands.

“ Hoooo-ly shit, ” Zoro whispers, and, yeah, holy shit is right, because this has unlocked something in Sanji that he was very unprepared for.

Sanji snaps out of whatever fucking trance he was in and frantically tries to save his shirt, moving to get a paper towel from the counter (and mourning the loss of Zoro’s palms touching his waist). “Fuck, fuck! ” Sanji dabs at the stain on the front of his shirt, but to no avail. He settles for wiping his face clean instead.

When Sanji turns around to face him, The marimo is staring at him with wide eyes and the deepest flush Sanji thinks he’s ever had. “Okay, okay.” This is fine , Sanji thinks, and takes the opportunity to stride up to the table they were sitting at and down not only his rum, but Zoro’s as well. 

He coughs as the liquid goes down his throat, and he kind of regrets doing that, but he needs the courage (and the chance he won’t remember this tomorrow). 

“Cook-”

Sanji holds up a hand. “Don’t - don’t say anything.” Zoro falls silent.

He takes a deep breath in, collecting himself before he speaks.“Is that a thing? For you?.”

“Well, I mean-”

“Answer the goddamn question.” 

“Yeah, I guess,” Zoro admits, his tone more confused than anything now.

“So,” Sanji calmly says, “Would you be open-”

“Are you propositioning me-” 

Yes. “I swear to god , Zoro.”

He seems to get the message, swallowing thickly before nodding once. Great.

“Good,” Sanji sighs, unbuttoning the two topmost buttons on his dress shirt. “Then, you mind doing that again?” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

errmmmmm i hate beta reading so there might be a buncha mistakes in here please lmk if you spot one!! anyway these two are my little meow meows i cant stop writing about them.

[sungbeam]

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧

prince!ji changmin x f!reader (slight juyeon x reader)

1.0k words, my emotional support royalty au, high-key historical au, lots of not-dialogue, literally i don't think swan song will ever fully see the light of day but i love it a little too much to keep her buried

a/n: this is serpent & dove's partner,, except i set the stage for a villain arc bc who doesn't love a villain arc

The moment Ji Changmin stopped wishing to be a part of the family was the one wherein you made your debut into society. There were rules to the royal court, rules that Changmin had long since been schooled in. There were boxes he was placed within, boundaries he was not meant to cross, but there were few invisible, unspoken hierarchies that were always enforced that he had to pick out on his own.

He was only eighteen when he found your familiar eyes, shining in glazed-over discomfort, as you curtsied low at the top of the stairs and made your descent. An official had announced your arrival at the door, and he already spied the dance card dangling from your wrist.

Unspoken Rule One: Bastard children never got first pick.

The main ballroom of the palace was decorated immaculately for this year's debutante ball. Heavy silks embroidered in fine, gold thread were draped from the crystalline window panes; the chandeliers glistened with beads of light like fiery embers; the dance floor was polished and his suit was tight. He couldn't remember tying his tie on so tightly, but the way you looked tonight made him want to break form and loosen the grip of his collar around his neck.

He had never seen you in such tightly laced garb, and he had never seen you so nervous. You, Yn Ln, beloved middle child of the phoenix-represented Ln family—the phoenix a symbol of how generations of your family long ago had risen from the ashes of destitution to the mighty lordship of its current day and age. Your good name automatically thrust you into the limelight, whether you liked it or not.

You were eighteen years old, same as Changmin. You had asked your handmaiden to lace your corset up a little tighter, opting for the one that was made specifically for occasions such as these. It had not been your choice to don the dark, blood red brocade for tonight's festivities—it had been your mother's. You hadn't realized your family even cared to show off their middle child, but you supposed if they could ship you off as quickly as possible, it would be one less daughter to pay attention to.

Unspoken Rule Two: Daughters never got to choose.

It was difficult to not meet his eyes—the pair that you recognized so easily from the academy. The pair you often found yourself staring into as they laughed, as they pondered, as they brooded. He was beautiful, the kind of strength that wasn't brutish, but softer. He was a snake amongst wolves, perhaps the predator that no one ever saw coming.

Your dance card was empty, but his name seared itself into each slot, stealing away each dance like he had stolen a bit of you after all this time. (Or maybe all of you. You wouldn't have minded if that were the case.)

It wouldn't have been appropriate if he left his place from the dais first. It definitely would not have been appropriate if he had left the dais before every other girl was introduced. The room was full of chaperones and young men eyeing their prospects as they filed in, one by one.

(A room of hungry wolves encasing the pack of sheep who had waltzed in, bedazzled and smiling.)

You knew the game though, and you figured two negatives would have to make a positive. Right? That was how it could work. That was the loophole you and Changmin had concocted all those late nights spent in the academy library, tucked away in the corner of the myths and legends aisle, huddled together, conspiring a way to come out of this alive.

Not just alive, but together.

Unspoken Rule Three: Watch out for the wolves.

You were already on your way toward his side of the dais. The half prince was beautiful, but he was only second in line. He had half the blood of royalty; how many would seek him out first?

And there was a spike of hope in your heart. It singed through your glazed expression and made the corners of your cherry-stained lips turn upward in that sickening feeling of hope.

Eyes pinned to the other, you could see the glee in his own expression. It was going to work. This would work how you'd planned, how you'd hoped, how you'd schemed and mapped. You two knew the food chain better than anyone else—it simply had to.

But the room fell quiet as a form stepped before you, blocking your view of the second prince. He was just as beautiful as his half brother, the gold crown seated upon his raven locks a beacon of pride and power. He had kind eyes, a pair you weren't as familiar with, but knew well enough. His suit was tailored perfectly to his body, his smile gracious and almost shy.

"Lady Yn," Crown Prince Juyeon said to you as you dropped into a curtsey and he, a bow, "may I have the honor of stealing your first dance?"

The room was silent. You swore your heart beat thundered against the golden walls of the ballroom.

You couldn't say no. Not to the crown prince. Not in front of everyone.

Perhaps there were things you and Changmin hadn't taken into account.

Unspoken Rule Four: The Crown Prince always gets what he wants.

By some miracle, you found your voice and fitted your quivering, gloved hand into his. "Of course, Your Royal Highness. It would be my honor."

And as Prince Juyeon led you to the polished marble dance floor, you stole a glance behind you at the dais. The second prince stood frozen on his platform, his form never having broken. But in the split second you looked back at him, you couldn't mistake the flash of a promise in those dark eyes you'd fallen so deeply into all these years.

It was a promise… at least, that was what you had thought, as you plastered a smile on your face and let Juyeon lead you through dance after dance. But you should have known better than to think so little of Ji Changmin.

a/n: me taking back my blog bc i can post what i want right :')

tbz m.list

permanent taglist: @flwoie @vatterie @seomisaho @hqrana @ja4hyvn @tinkerbell460 @kaaimins @hyunjaespresent-deobi @otterly-fey @zzoguri @floatingpluto @winterchimez @ethereal-engene @gyulfriend @polarisjisung @jaehunnyy @shakalakaboomboo @loveliestfelix @sodafy @zhaixiaowen @leaz-kpop-life @amourdsr @pxppxrminty @kqyutie @sseastar-main @kxthleen14 @fluorescentloves @mosviqu @justalildumpling @jaerisdiction @super-btstrash-posts @jundundun @http-gyu @mvvnsseul @outrologist @vernonburger @maessseongs

[latibvles]

literally no one asked for this. i, however, saw these pictures on Ben Radcliffe’s instagram and decided “you know what this fandom needs? Frat Boy John Brady.” So that’s what this is. And also another excuse to write Willie & Brady coupled with shenanigans that aren’t the horrors of war. i now know way too much about fraternities and sororities. special tag for @wexhappyxfew for seeing the vision. brady has now fallen victim to my “putting characters in places they got no business being in” just like Ron

—

John should’ve majored in the art of escape.

It was seamless — slipping away from the beer pong table, head half-swimming and just a little bit stumbly. Pretty much every room on the first floor was swathed in a smoke-laden haze; John figures that Dougie’s countless social media posts must have done the trick. Most people he’s run into are strangers to him. That, and with this being the first party of the year, the turnout was bound to be big. His head was just pounding, and he needed a place to sit that wouldn’t open up the invitation for a random stranger to inadvertently sit on him.

Omega Pi’s brothers and others only policy on the second floor is a blessing in that way. He just needed a solid fifteen minutes before Bucky could sniff him out like a bloodhound and drag him into something stupid. Last semester he’d somehow managed to persuade John into drinking way too much tequila directly from the bottle, and he still gets nauseous whenever someone mentions margaritas.

He’s pretty sure he heard Benny say something about a bottle of Patrón behind the bar and he isn’t sticking around to find out.

John climbs the stairs, a little wobbly-legged, still foggy-brained as he tries to guesstimate how long he’ll have until he’s hunted down by any variety of friends wondering “Where the hell Brady’s at?” He figures maybe fifteen, twenty minutes, and that fact imbues him to move a little bit quicker to his own door, admittedly fumbling with the knob as he makes his way inside — Dougie’s playlist immediately muffled once he shuts the door, and for that he’s thankful.

He reaches for one of his vinyls on the shelf and sets it on the record player, flicking the switch and setting the needle before throwing himself haphazardly onto the bed itself and shutting his eyes a moment. The sharp beginnings of a headache are beginning to take root behind his eyes as he lets them flutter shut a moment. Deep inhale, slow exhale, ears latching onto the smooth jazz of the vinyl as opposed to the muffled Future track that was shaking the walls of their esteemed house.

He just needed t—

Click.

John’s head snaps up upon hearing his door open and shut quickly. His brows furrow, taking in the mostly shapeless form with their back to him. A varsity jacket maybe two sizes too big swathed their frame, they had curly black hair that’d gone frizzy — presumably from the amount of people downstairs. John clenches his jaw, staving off the irritation forming. This was either Bucky sending someone up here to draw him out already, or the nighttime company of someone else who’d found the wrong room. Their shoulders seem to relax and they let out a small sigh, not yet noticing him.

John gives this person the benefit of the doubt and goes with the second option.

“Think you’ve got the wrong room,” he opens with a clearing of his throat. The person gasps, small and surprised, head whipping around to meet him and— oh.

Her eyes are big and brown, brows raised and lips parted for a moment. They stare at each other, wordless, and he’ll blame the fact that he’s kind of taken aback for the moment on the alcohol — taking her in. She has on one of those black corset tops and a pair of beat up white sneakers. He recognizes her, vaguely, having seen her come in with a group of girls from the sorority house down the street. Bucky knew them better than he did, but to be fair, Bucky knew everybody.

“Sorry I didn’t—” she presses herself back up against the door again, lips pressing into a line. “Was just looking for a quiet spot. You guys have uh… persistent party guests. I can— I can leave if—” she’s reaching for the doorknob and John’s sitting up, reaching like he’s going to cross the threshold to stop her from turning the knob.

“No. No, you can stay. I just thought you were—”

“Here to hook up?” His face heats up at her blunt delivery of it, and John coughs unceremoniously into his fist.

“...yeah, something like that.” She nods, her expression unreadable, the silence between them admittedly stiff. He’s sitting up more, as opposed to his prior position laid out sidelong on his bed, extending his hand and feeling almost dumb for doing so. “I’m… I’m John er— Brady. John Brady.” Jesus Christ, when did he ever trip over his words like this.

She takes it, shaking his hand and he can’t help but notice the callouses, the chipped manicure and blue stains on her fingers.

“I’ve heard.” His eyes widen at that.

“You’ve heard?” There seems to be a twitch at the corner of her lip, she looks from their hands back up to him.

“One of your friends… Ev? I think his name was? Was looking for a uh… Johnny with the Donny and I’m pretty sure you’re the only one hiding up here.” John doesn’t know whether to laugh or to hide his burning face in the pillows and try to stave off the tequila-induced PTSD he feels coming back in full force. He decides to snort quietly instead of further embarassing himself.

“Except for you.” She nods, squeezing his hand and then letting it go.

“Except for me.” John really wishes he were more sober for this, just so he’d stop getting caught up in long dark lashes and the pink dusting on her cheeks that he doesn’t know if it’s from makeup or from him. His half-inebriated brain hopes that it’s because of him. He almost misses her introduction. “I’m Willie.”

John smiles.

“That short for something?”

“Nothing worth repeating. Too many syllables.” She waves her hand dismissively, and he scoffs in amusement at how quick Willie is to dismiss it. He figures not to press this time.

“Alright. Hope you don’t mind jazz then. You can uh… sit wherever,” John welcomes, gesturing to his space. At least he could pride himself on keeping things neat in here — even if their kitchen would be sticky with spilled beer tomorrow and it’d take a good chunk of their Sunday to clean everything up. Willie makes her way over to his desk chair and plops down — it rolls with the force of her as she looks around his room with an innocent type of curiosity.

“You have… a lot of music,” she murmurs in a quiet sense of wonder — the kind that makes John feel warm down to the tips of his toes.

“It’s kinda my whole thing…” her eyes are drawn back to him and he feels suddenly shy. “Music Ed.”

“History,” Willie looks at the vinyls he has neatly stored on his shelf by the record player. “If I tell you I’ve never heard this song, are you going to kick me out?”

“You’ve never listened to Sade?” She smiles a little bit — this time he’s sure of it — still eyeing his vinyls, and shakes her head. “Well I won’t kick you out but I might not let you leave ‘till you can name three songs off the top of your head.”

“God, you’re one of those.”

“Oh absolutely. The worst kind,” he’s teasing now, and it’s landing because she’s laughing in a breathless kind of way, a way that sobers him up as if to ensure he could commit her to memory as she is now. And she’s, well… she’s beautiful, sitting at his desk chair, looking at the CD cases he’d put up on his walls at the start of the term. Effortlessly so. He’d make her laugh for the rest of the night in this space if it weren’t for the fickleness of his hiding spot. Her eyes fall onto him again and they look over him from his spot on the edge of the bed. Her gaze is piercing as they dart over the length of him with all the swiftness of a hummingbird, her fingers reaching up to mess with her bottom lip a moment. “I’m sure there’s probably worse.”

John raises his brows.

“Yeah?”

“Mhm, considering…” she gestures to the space around him. “I mean— there’re frats with worse reputations too. I just heard that Omega Pi’s—”

“Reckless?” She nods succinctly, with a half-hearted shrug.

“And that some of you go through girls like a mom in a Target clearance aisle,” John makes a noise that’s half between being strangled and laughing. “Guys too.” It takes him a minute to come back down to Earth after that one, rubbing at his face, halfway between embarrassment and amusement. Okay, she wasn’t wrong: his friends had a tendency to do some stupid shit, himself included, and while he in specific wasn’t hooking up with anyone with a pulse — he’s pretty sure that Dougie bought three boxes of condoms after move-in day. But they hadn’t done anything to get arrested and he’s pretty sure all the guys were, well, clean where it mattered.

“That’s just Dougie,” John offers, and she raises an inquisitive brow.

“And Bucky.”

“Christ, what’d he do?”

“Nothing, he just has the look to him.” Okay, that’s fair. “And he definitely stole my friend from me to play beer pong because he couldn’t find his partner.” John clicks his tongue at that.

“That might’ve been my fault.” Willie rises from her seat and he watches as she seems to mull it over for a moment, before crossing to actually sit next to him now. She’s so much closer than before — his lamp lights up some of her dark hair to make it look more brown, there’s a shimmer of faded highlighter on her cheeks and something inexplicably pretty about the mascara flakes dotting just below her eyes. He’d wipe them with his thumbs if she’d let him. He gives her a half-shrug. “Like I said, we’re both hiders.”

With the small laugh and bob of her head, he catches a whiff of her perfume. Something clean and a little citrusy, reminding him vaguely of springtime in spite of the autumn leaves changing outside.

“Well then it’s not all bad.” She decides on, sincerely. His knee bumps into hers and they exchange quiet smiles — the air significantly less stiff between them. Something warm sprouting between them and charged by the points where they connect. His pinky finds hers on the mattress, and in a brief move of boldness, he lets his hand overlap hers. Willie looks down, cheeks flushing as she looks back up at him.

She really is a vision, flustered like this.

She opens her mouth to speak but is immediately cut-off by Mambo No. 5 blaring — John knows that’s not his ringtone, and so he laughs in disbelief as Willie’s eyes widen.

“That’s— my friend Harrie set that I think. I—”

“It’s fine. Maybe you’re just a Lou Bega fan.”

“John—” she narrows her eyes and he thinks he might swat at her so he’s leaning back.

“Well don’t keep them waiting.”

She huffs, picking up the phone with a very flat “Hello?” but the voice on the other end is so loud that he can hear it clear as day.

“Where are you? Fern’s up on the table and I can’t get her down!” Willie looks at John, who’s hand is covering his own mouth to muffle his laughter, evident by his shaking shoulders. The exchange is quick: Willie’s words are flat, almost bewildered, and she’s batting at him as they talk before she hangs up the phone and looks at him with what he’s pretty sure is disappointment. He can’t say he’s not disappointed either.

“Guess I’ve been found. I can leave you here, tell them you passed out.” He shakes his head, standing up as she does, rubbing the nape of her neck.

“That’s never stopped them before and it won’t start now,” he admits, turning to switch off his record player, walking towards his door to get it for her. She walks past with quiet thanks and John watches for a few moments, admiring her departing figure before walking after her and descending back down the stairs into the chaos — the sound of his name on her scolding tongue looping over and over again in the back of his mind.

[snarky-art]

bbyyyy SOTLK dresses redesign?

These were actually really interesting to work with, both in trying to keep colors and shapes from the original dresses combined with adding my own lore to it! Except for Aisha’s which wounded my so. I really wanted to keep her flowers but I just,, couldn’t get it to look right🥲 I added purple instead tho which is the color of the flower of andros, which is similar in appearance to a Camas Lily. They bloom in lush expansions all along the coast of the land of Androsia, where the mainland and sands meet.

More info on outfits below!

Musa: Tang dynasty influence. Did my best to keep some of the shapes from the og gown. The 2 red dots that I’ve featured a few times in either side of Musa’s mouth in different designs represent loudness and boldness and are commonly used symbols in a lot of melody, which are traits one would want to represent when holding as representation for the different cultures of Melody, proud of their heritage and great unbending will.

Aisha: mentioned some above about the purple additions to be the substitutes for actual flowers. Kept the split down the middle at the dress itself, just changed its length and shape, trying to keep the shape of the original one some with the purple bits below the corset tho

Tried to keep more true greens than teals too. She deserves more sleek satin fits also. Most of the stuff I draw her in I imagine there’s satin I just decided to do shading this time lol

Tecna: I decided before even designing this I wanted to keep that jacket on them at all costs. Happy with the shapes overall here and really love the colors. Probably my favorite of these looks. Shiny pants and silk featured because they look good on them. To me, they aren’t Tecna if they don’t have some weird heels too.

Flora: probably my least favorite design just because I feel like I need to get better at giving them more variety in their outfits, but I did what I could to keep a lot of the shapes present. Instead of those 2 long flower strands, I just had them replaced with the split full of flowers down the side.

Bloom: empire waistlines are very much the norm in Dominion fashion with not as many ruffles or as expanded a gown shape as featured here, but Bloom is new to this and her parents wanted her to be as comfortable as possible for the celebration. Bloom got to have direct input on the adjustments to the dress and is living the princess dream she’s always wanted currently. She intentionally looks a little awakward as a result, the stylists doing what they could to accommodate what she wanted and mesh it with traditional Dominion fashion styles to reiterate that Domino is what she represents. The slightly more formal front hairpiece with the additional 2 gold curls is present to make the statement that Domino is so back and Bloom is even wearing the golden headpiece that the heir wears to show this. It’s not until after the party she learns it was Daphne’s, and that leads to some Insecurities and the reality of what reviving Domino actually means for Bloom. More spirals coming in waves after this point. As always with Dominion garb the cyan gems are for those of the royal family and purples are for those that work with The Dragon Flame.

Stella: by this point in the story, Stella really starts to get more involved with Lunarian stuff and connect with her moon culture. It starts small in her presentation, with certain cuts of cloth (the slope of the fabric on the top part of the skirt) and the style of some of her jewelry, specifically the one with gems that is tilted to match the fabric shape and the incorporation of more blue gems. She also stops straightening her hair all the time (her hair is blonde from her mother, whom is Lunarian, but the saturation comes from her Solarian genetics, making the color look like it’s from Solarian genetics. Straightening it to match the majority of Solarian hair was a sure way to make sure she passed as Solarian until someone notices her pupils, which are Lunarian. She no longer fears if she’s passing or not. She is learning to take pride in her moon side).

Stella choosing to have the little blue gems on the bottom of her gold gem dress bit instead of gold or more orange is a bold move also she is starting her proper journey to doing joint work and advocating properly for systemic change for Lunaria.

[kuroosdarling]

corset

♡‧₊˚ knight!kuroo x princess!reader

♡‧₊˚ wc: 1k

♡‧₊˚ cw: royal AU, rlly suggestive, lots of pining lol

♡‧₊˚ synopsis: tonight was the grand ball where different suitors would try their best to woo you. but you only had eyes for the one you were forbidden to ever be with. maybe a little rebellion never hurt…

a/n: pls this one was so much fun to write lol i always wanted to do a royal au with kuroo!!! it’s a whole universe id like to explore .. >:) pls i hope y’all enjoy this !! i’m hoping to get all the fics out by his bday :) so sry for the spam lol

dear tetsu ♡

“kuroo?” you duck your head out from the door, trying to hide your barely covered torso from view. he quickly turns from his post, shock covering his features before he put on a stone cold mask — one that you were all too familiar seeing. he did this anytime he showed you a fraction of emotion and it was slowly driving you insane. you had to hold back your pout as you continue on. “my handmaidens are unavailable right now, could you—?”

you trail off as you motion towards the room, suddenly a little nervous at your request. it had been your idea all along to have your girls run off for a few hours so you could make your move. even though it was juvenile and completely inappropriate, you wanted to feel the rush of having an intimate moment with the one who truly holds your hearts affection.

“of course, princess.” he offers a small smile but that’s it as he walks into the room. you press the corset against your body, holding it in place so it doesn’t slip off — to both of your disappointment. he shuts the door and takes three long steps to the other side of the room. you follow suit and turn around, letting him have a go at it. “i’ve never done this before.” he admits.

“it’s okay,” you whisper, your voice just above a breath. the corset was hardly on you and yet you feel like it was starting to suffocate you. “just do what feels right.”

he nods to himself, steeling himself for what he’s about to do. if anyone had found out about this, he’d be thrown into the dungeon for who knows how long. but it was worth it. your tantalizing smell drew him in, the perfume he loved so much filled his senses, causing all his thoughts to spiral. he swallows thickly as he comes to the realization that he’s never been so close to you.

his fingers lightly trail down the back of you corset, a feathery, ghostlike touch that you weren’t even sure was real — or if your mind was just playing tricks on you.

his strong hands grab the ties at the bottom, pausing briefly as he gazed at the back of your head, trying to decipher what thoughts were running through it. his voice escapes him so all he can do is tug at the strings, tightening your corset.

his hand steadies you when you wobble at the force of him tightening it. he had never done this before and might’ve been a little too rough with it, but you didn’t seem to mind, only letting out a small squeak of surprise that will sweetly haunt his mind until the end of his days.

part of him wants to do it again to see what other noises he could pull from you, but logic quickly takes over, shoving that thought far down with the other forbidden ones he holds dearly — only for you.

he pushes the top half of you down just a little, to get a better angle, he tells himself. not because he wants to see like what you would look like sprawled out under him, bent over the bed that he’d never be able to lie in. the one meant for you and your future husband.

he roughly tightens the string at the thought, getting softer with his touch each section before he slowly makes his way back down to the ties hanging off of you, tying them in a small bow. it takes everything in him not to spin you by your waist and pull you in for a kiss that would leave the both of you breathless — one that would change the course of fate itself.

all the air was sucked out of the room, and it wasn’t because of the corset pressing down against your ribcage. he was intoxicating and it took every morsel of self-control to not turn around and start something you’d never wish to finish.

“it’s done.” he whispers, not even daring to trust his own voice. you straighten up and slowly turn.

“how do i look?” you ask, the words barely coming out of your mouth. he looks down at you, something filling his eyes that you can’t allow yourself to decipher. he slowly leans down into your space so his breath fans against your face as he speaks.

“you look absolutely divine, my princess.” he says, the smallest smirk dancing along his lips as his cheeks liven up in a pink hue. “i wouldn’t be surprised if your beauty stole every heart at the ball tonight.”

“even yours?” you ask before you had a chance to think it through. the question catches you both off guard, and you’re scared he’ll take off and leave you standing like a fool. or worse — laugh right in your face.

“you’ve had mine long before you put on this corset.” he smiles, something more sincere that fills your heart with hope. his hand reaches up as if he wants to touch the corset, run his hands along it and follow the curvature of your waist. but he snaps it back down at his side like he had just got badly singed.

your eyes follow his movements and before you can really think it through, you play your next move. your lips have a mind of their own as you lean up closer to him, ready to plant themselves on his in a union that had waited far too long to commence.

his eyes flutter shut right after yours as the space between you grows smaller and smaller. you could almost taste the sweet, smokey scent that radiates off him. the ghost of his lips almost meeting yours before cruel fate gets it’s last laugh.

three knocks on the door pull you further away from each other, your widened eyes mirroring his own as your thoughts catch up to your actions. were you really about to risk it all for him? and why did you feel so okay with that fact? he takes a step back and clears his throat.

he knows what he had to do. he knows he needs to march over to the door and walk away from this. but he can’t move, his feet betray him as his eyes give away his true feelings. lust and something softer pools in the hues of his hazel eyes, darkening the longer he looks at you.

you’re too scared to breathe, too scared to move — to do anything that would burst this bubble. all you could do was stare back at him as the person at the door starts to pound against it.

[sl-newsie]

Spelled (Carlos de Vil x Sanderson Daughter) Descendants: A Royal Wedding

Fire burn and cauldron bubble, show me what’s the latest trouble.”

Poof!

The brewing potion sparks to life and a smoky image of Auradon Castle appears. It’s almost the same as when I left a year ago, only this time it’s decorated for a celebration. Outside Dude is chasing some frisky squirrels off the stone steps.

“Come on! This is a very special day! It needs to be perfect!” The canine whines.

You’re not wrong, Dude.

A month ago I had a visit from an owl. The creature flew inside the cottage and perched right on my shoulder. At first I was confused by my new guest but that was put to rest when I read the scroll tied to its leg.

Magica,

The Royal Highnesses Ben and Mal invite you to a royal wedding at Auradon Castle. 

So much for keeping me up to date. While Ben, Remus, and the Sea Three have kept their promise of staying in touch, I’m afraid the rest of the VKs have failed. 

“Today’s the day, huh?” Binx asks from the shelf he’s perched on.

“Yes. Yes it is,” I reply, still looking at the swirling potion.

“Do you have a wedding gift?”

A gift. A wedding gift… Good question.

“What gift do I give to my best friend and his bride? Something fun? Something sensible?”

The black cat does a big stretch. “You’ll think of something. Don’t worry too much.”

Broomsticks! I can’t think of something good this last-minute. Maybe I could copy off the three fairies? Grant them a wish? Possibly. On the other hand, doing a magic gift might look lazy and unthoughtful.

“It’ll come to me,” I mutter as I look in the mirror one last time to check my dress: a lavender sundress. Time to fix it. “By the powers of this bewitching book, change the clothes to a wicked look.”

The dress goes stiff and the fabric ripples down to turn into a deep purple gown with a black-laced corset, complete with a matching cloak and Victorian heels. Mother’s spellbook still has its perks.

“Too much?” I ask.

“Nothing is ever too much for you,” Binx chuckles. “You look very pretty. I’m sure people will love it.”

“My name is cleared, but this is the first public appearance I’ve made in a year. I hope this works.”

“And what about your aunt’s spellbook?”

Oh. Right. 

“Not a word of it,” I warn Binx with a narrowed look. “No more evil spells.”

I found it. Mother’s tipoff sent me traveling deep into the Deadwood Grove in search of Winifred’s spellbook. Lo and behold it led me to a twisted tree. Buried beneath it was a wooden chest, and within was the malevolent book itself. Eye and all. And now it remains covered and hidden within the stones of my fireplace.

“How long will you be staying-? Oh my,” father walks in from the kitchen. “You look beautiful, my little witch.”

“Thank you, father. Are you sure you won’t come?”

He shakes his head. “These are your people, Magica. It’s time you enjoyed yourself after a year of solitude. Besides, I’ve got chores to do.”

He’s right. 

“I shall return with haste,” I call before heading out the door. The sight of my broom leaning against the porch sends my heart skipping for adventure. “Fly!”

It all goes too fast. The familiar castle below awakens unwanted happy memories. Deep breath. Nothing will be the same. I prepared for this. What is new is the absence of wanted posters with my face plastered everywhere. All I can hope is that the scene of a witch flying a broom over the village won’t send the residents into a frenzy.

“Look!”

Here we go.

“It’s Magica!”

Magica? Not ‘Sanderson witch?’ 

“Hi Magica!” A little girl waves up at me.

“Um- Hello?” I wave back. What’s happened since I’ve been gone?

“Trixie! Down here!” A familiar voice yells from the castle steps.

My broom sends me down and I land with grace. After I lean it against a nearby pillar I spin around to face Jay with a wide grin.

“Jay, Jay! Thou hast grown!” I greet with a dramatic curtsey.

“Come on, none of that. Get over here!” Jay laughs and wraps me up into a tight hug. “So glad you could make it!”

“Ah! G-Good to see you too!” I wheeze. “How is the lucky couple?”

The VK’s eyes dim and he nods towards the palace. “Oh, you know. Last minute wedding preparations. I’m trying to stay out of it. My job is to be the usher. But I’m sure Mal and Evie will want to see you before the wedding starts!”

Something tugs at my heart. Is that all? Nothing else to catch up on? 

“Oh. I see.” 

I pivot crossly and strut up the stairs, leaving Jay in the dust. My mood is beginning to sour and if this is how today is going to plan out then I’m not sure  I’ll be able to upkeep this happy smile.

I sneak over to peer down the hall to Mal’s dressing room and spot Audrey giving Ben a murderous look with her hands on her hips.

“Get back to the palace, Ben!” She pushes him out and slams the door, then opens it again. “And catch your mother-in-law!”

Ben turns and sees me. “Sparks? You’re here!” He too squeezes me into a hug and I’m surprised my lungs haven’t gotten bruised yet.

“Hello, Brother Ben. It is really a pleasure to see you after all this time.” At least he tried to stay in touch. 

“Are you here to help Audrey with the decor?”

Another tug. Skip to addressing the wedding and nothing else? Granted it’s his special day but surely he understands why I would be upset?

I hold my hands up and walk away slowly. “I don’t want any part of… whatever this is. I’m just here to give you both my best wishes, as well as a wedding gift. One wish.”

The door opens again and Mal notices me. “A wish? What wish?”

My eyes flash but my temper remains tamed… for now. “Any wish you want, provided it’s reasonable of course.”

“Meaning…?”

I huff. “You know, no wishing for more wishes, no resurrecting the dead, the usual stuff. Just make a wish!”

Ben can see I’m getting uneasy. Thankfully he quickly comes up with a solution.

“Um, would long-lasting happiness work? Or is that too sappy?”

I hold back a gag. “Ben, that’s the sappiest wish you could ever think of. Pick something that actually exists.”

“How about having you as our child’s godmother?” Mal thinks out loud.

“What?!” Evie and Audrey shout from inside

“You’re… expecting?” Evie asks with a wide smile and rushes over to put a hand on Mal’s chest.

Mal backs away and both her and Ben shake their heads. “No, no! Not yet. We’re just thinking ahead. Who better would be qualified than Magica?”

Ben comes up behind me. “So whaddya say, Sparks?”

Tug! How many synonyms for pain can I discover? First all this talk of weddings and love, and then they expect me to be a godmother?

“A godmother?” My breath hitches slightly. “Witches aren’t fairy godmothers, Mal. And I- I… I need a moment.”

The gathered crowd watches with confused stares as I push through and sprint back down the stairs. Thump thump thump! Is it possible to die of a broken heart?

For if to grieve is to mourn,

And to mourn is to grieve,

What can a life be if a life is no sanctuary?

Find me a word to describe my pain,

May I never feel its sting again.

Past the doors and into the gardens. Purple flames are beginning to taunt my fingertips. How can they do this? Just- Push it off? 

The hollowness that haunts my soul,

My smile shows one who takes a heavy toll.

For if being alive and ripe alienates me from my peers,

Let me be cursed forever alone to persevere.

Lord’s purpose is ill-defined,

Between life and death can be a fine line.

“Hey, Magica!”

“Hello, sugar!”

My eyes fly up. “Hello Lonnie. Tiffany.” I can’t talk now. Not without breaking apart again. “I apologize but I must be going.”

The two girls wave goodbye and I pull my hood down to cover my glowing eyes.

Some say I look to kill,

But inside I long to love.

If to hate is to love, then in order to love one must hate.

Patience is at death’s door,

And time is weakening the score.

“Magica! Wait!”

My thoughts halt and I’m pulled back to the present. “Wha-? Oh. Hello Remus.”

The redhead jogs up and I see he’s wearing a spiffy suit just like the other men. It’s unclear what he does that calms my triggered pulse. He doesn’t hug me or smile like we’re old friends pretending nothing’s changed.

“Magica… I’m sorry. It- I know there’s nothing I can do to help-”

“That’s not true,” I interrupt. “You’re talking to me. That’s more than anyone’s given me all day. Thank you.”

Remus nods and offers a hand, which I look at with distrust. “It’s ok. I know you won’t burn me on purpose.”

I arch a brow. “Clearly you’ve never seen a Sanderson’s temper firsthand.”

He smirks and takes my hand anyway. “It takes a lot to scare my dad and me. How have you been?”

My heartrate has steadied. This is what I’ve been wanting all year. Closure. Friendship.

“It’s… Been hard. All I want is to grieve properly. Between solving my own family issues and worrying about self image… It- It came out of nowhere.” A building sob escapes me. “And now they want me to be a godmother.”

I anticipate more flames to jump from my hand again but none do. Remus’ eyes stay soft and comforting.

“I can’t speak for the other VKs but I���m sorry they’ve been distant. You deserved to be told.”

His gentle tone soothes my thoughts. “There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he the power in the day of death: and there is no mere discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it. Ecclesiastes 8:8. Death always follows, Remus. We’re just not always expecting it.”

Silence inches by. We both know no words can repair. I just need someone to stand by me.

Flash!

A bright blaze of blue light shines across the grounds. What in the name of Auradon is going on now?

“What was that?” I wonder out loud.

“I’m not sure. Magica, if you need to talk-” Remus says softly.

“The time for talking has passed,” I answer in a determined manner. “Right now I need to help. They may not have earned it but they still need it.”

The chauffeur starts jogging next to me and we head back towards the palace. “Count me in.”

Ahead of us I already see the other three VKs sprinting in the direction of the ocean. What could-? Oh my goodness. The bridge to the Isle is engulfed in blue flames.

“Any ideas?” Remus asks, sounding as befuddled as I am.

“Not exactly. How about you go help out with whatever damage there is to the castle. I’ll go handle this.”

“Are you sure?”

I give a steady nod to try to convince him and myself. “What’s the point of spending a year studying sorcery if you never use it?”

I hurry down the road and notice the captain of the Sea Three herself standing near the edge of the bridge. Mal, Evie, Jay, and Audrey have caught up with her. 

“Uma! What happened?” Mal calls out.

“Hades happened.”

“Wow. When your dad burns bridges, he literally burns bridges!” Jay jokes.

This shouldn’t surprise me. Inviting Hades to an event in Auradon is like inviting the Mad Hatter to a trial. Chaos is sure to spark. In Hades’ situation, quite literally.

“Sparky? That you?” Uma notices me standing in the back.

The other VKs turn around. Jay is the only one to smile while Mal and Evie avoid my gaze with sheepish frowns.

“Hello, Uma! It’s been too long! Thank you again for those powdered cockleshells. They were just what I needed for my draught.”

Uma sees the others’ strange looks. “What’s all this about? Y’all look guiltier than Gil caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Did I miss something?”

Jay is completely oblivious. Mal and Evie exchange glances, trying to decide how to move forward. I’m waiting.

“Um, we… Mal and Ben asked Magica if she would be the godmother to their first born,” Evie answers slowly.

Uma isn’t satisfied. “That don’t explain why you both are so awkward. Spill it.”

Mal clears her throat and lifts her head to look at me directly. “Have you thought about it? Please, Magica? It would mean so much to us.”

I hiss at her words. “Why would you ask me to be someone so important when you didn't even bother to tell me when Carlos died?” 

Everyone goes silent. One could cut the atmosphere with a sword. Here it is. No more beating around the rosebush.

“‘Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.’ Song of Solomon 8:7. I loved him, Mal. I loved him so much. And now he’s gone.” My glaring eyes catch something gleaming on Mal’s wrist. “New bracelet?”

She sees where I’m looking and stutters. “Yeah, it’s um… All the original VK crests. I…” She can’t ignore my melancholy face and gives a sad sigh. “I- We know how much Carlos meant to you, and I’m sorry we didn’t tell you.”

“I knew.”

She blinks. “What?”

“I knew he died. When you’re a witch and you find true love, you form a love bond with them. An empathy link. You know what they’re feeling, and can tell when they’re -” I sniff. “In distress. When Carlos died I knew something was wrong. I waited to hear any news. Do you know what I was told?”

The three VKs shuffle their feet and look at the ground. “Nothing?”

“Exactly! Not one person bothered to tell me! After the first week I decided to investigate myself, and when I found out what happened-” I can’t fight the tears anymore and my eyes start leaking. Fire is crawling across my hands, which makes the VKs even more anxious.

“Magica, I- we’re so sorry!” Evie tries to comfort me.

“You never told her?” Uma asks, appalled. “Magica, if I-”

“No no, Uma. There’s nothing you could have done,” I quickly assure her. “Processing death is different for all of us. But I cannot dwell on that.” Deep breath. A gentle smile makes its way onto my face. “This is a happy day. Carlos wouldn’t want anything to spoil it. Is there anything I can help with?”

Everyone keeps staring at me. After all these years people’s stares pass right through me.

“So… Hades?”

Uma catches on and fills us in. “I tried to catch him and get him to chill but his fire hair was blowing in the wind and set the bridge on fire.”

Mal steps forward. “I need to get to the Isle and find him. Help me, please?”

“For the queen on her wedding day? I got you!” The aqua-haired pirate runs over and plummets off the bridge into the churning blue sea. Within moments he resurfaces in her octopus form. “Y’all might wanna stand back!”

She does a twirl and her tentacles send a giant wave of water rushing up to the bridge. The only one who doesn’t take cover is Audrey, who’s just walked over.

“Audrey! Look out-”

But Audrey’s too distracted by her phone to notice the giant wave coming towards her. When she gets splashed she lets out a muffled scream, then just stands there dripping wet with a shocked look.

“Thank you Uma!”

“Yeah, Uma. You’re so great,” Audrey says blandly.

“Consider it my wedding present!” Uma cackles. “Now go find your dad and I’ll get all your guests back to the reception.”

“Thank you, Uma!” Mal waves.

Uma gives a sly wink just as the VKs go sprinting across the bridge. When they’re gone she looks up at me with a sad smile.

“Mal is a good person. She’s just not the best at expressing it at times.”

“I know. In their own process of grief my name was at the bottom of the list. It was selfish to hold them to it.”

Uma stifles a laugh. “I would not think you were a Sanderson Sister. That’s got to be some of the fluffiest forgiveness talk I’ve ever heard.”

Still a pirate. I roll my eyes. “Enough chatter. Let’s get this wedding back on the road!”

Audrey really went all out with the decor. Unfortunately I’m not sure if my spells can undo the work of Hades’ power. The blue and gold banners are singed too deep. So… What now?

“Magica?”

My head perks up at the familiar face. “Jane!”

She squeals and hurries over with a gleeful smile. “You made it! I haven’t seen you since…” Her voice falters and she gets a saddened look. 

I give her a soft hug. “He’s with us today. Let’s make this wedding the biggest bash of the century.”

Her smile returns. “Right! Where should we start?”

“I’m off to fetch the bride and groom!” FG announces from down the aisle.

“We’ll come too!” 

Ben’s parents join her and in one big poof they vanish. Jane and I exchanged animated looks.

“Guess that leaves us to tend to the guests.”

“What do we say? ‘Sorry but the couple of the day is missing?’”

I shrug. “I could spell them to fall asleep until they get back.”

Uma gives me a pointed look. “As tempting as that is, you need to steer clear of too much magic. Girl you just got your name cleared! The last thing we need is another witch hunt.”

“Alright! Then I shall need assistance.” I throw my arms up and look around. “I need a phone-”

“Right here.” Uma hands me a small plastic tile. Is this what people are using? “Do you not know how to use a phone?”

“And you do? I thought there was no internet on the Isle.”

“That doesn't mean we never knew what a phone is. Here, turn it on.”

Uma presses a small button and the screen lights up with a picture of the ocean. “Behold! What kind of sorcery is this? Explain yourself, magic box!”

The pirate laughs at my flabbergasted surprise and touches the screen. An icon of names pops up and I very carefully click on the name I need. It’s ringing…

“Hello?”

“Tiffany, is that you?” I ask.

“Magica? Hi, sugar! What’s going on? I’m here for Mal’s wedding but everyone’s gone.”

I give a nervous laugh. “Yes, um- There’s been a slight delay. Did Audrey already call you?”

“Yeah I’ve got the taco bar set out but people are getting antsy.”

“I was afraid of that. Think you could whip up something if I get you the materials?”

I hear an excited holler. “Absolutely!”

Perfect! “Ingredients coming at ya! Pots and pans, sugar and spice, disappear from here to there when I snap twice.”

Two snaps and a flash of pink sparks and I hear Tiffany gasp. I’ve still got my touch!

“We’ll meet you in the banquet hall.” I close the phone and give Uma and Jane a mock salute. “Let’s go!”

We sprint across the lawn and immediately I spot Audrey’s eye-catching tent that’s set up down the hill. Hundreds of guests dressed in many different colors chatter and mingle. Now we just need to hope that Tiffany’s miracle baking can distract them a little longer.

“Almost there! We need to-”

Poof!

I run past Mal and- Hold up.

“Mal, guys- you’re back! And all dressed up I see!”

I’m no longer near the palace. Instead I’ve been spirited away to a forest, joining the VKs, Ben, Audrey, FG, Ben's parents, and- Hades?

“Hey, Sparks!” Ben waves. “We had Fairy Godmother bring you here for the wedding!”

“Wedding? Oh! A more private party, hm?” The other thing that’s different is- My dress? “Evie!”

The blue-haired VK grins. “Now you look like you!”

“You’re a Sanderson witch, Magica,” Mal explains. “We want you to be you for our wedding.” 

I finger the purple locks that have replaced by blonde ones. "The hair too?"

"Dizzy would go nuts if you didn't!" Evie giggles.

I can be me. They even outfitted me with the hat and everything.

Mal looks around the forest and smiles. “Ok, I can work with this! All it needs is…”

“A little VK flair?” Evie inputs.

“That is exactly what it needs!” Mal agrees.

“Let’s do this!”

And here we go!

“Gather ‘round in the forthcoming night, the roaring embers blinking bright.”

I snap my fingers and golden sparks pop to life and sprinkle throughout the waning sunlight. A cozy atmosphere never hurts. Ben returns with Hades and they’re both carrying a red carpet.

“I thought he was all mad and stuff?” I whisper to Mal.

“It really wasn’t his fault. He didn’t do it on purpose.”

Aw! This is going to be a proper family wedding after all! FG waves her wand and pillars form in two rows down the aisle while Jay sets flowers on them. An altar of vines and roses grows at the end. When we all get in position, with FG as the officiant and Evie as Mal’s maid of honor, Hades starts to walk Mal down the aisle to Ben. I feel myself getting worked up and excited, and I can see they’re both really happy. Jay, the ring bearer for Ben, fetches the gorgeous ring.

“Mal Bertha, with this ring, I pledge everything that I have to you. My life, my kingdom, my heart. I promise to always be there for you, to accept everything that you are, and to always put you first.”

Now Evie takes Mal’s ring from Hades and hands it to Mal.

“With this ring, I pledge to you all the days of my life. All of my burdens and all of my joys. I promise to be my best for you, to share all my secrets and to keep yours, and to choose good always.”

No more tugs. My heart is soaring at the beautiful scene of true love. Hours earlier I was terrified to confront true love again but now I’m overjoyed at their happy moment.

“Do you, Ben, take Mal to be your wife, to love and cherish forever?” Fairy Godmother asks.

Ben’s eyes shine and never stray from Mal. “I do.”

“Do you, Mal, take Ben to be your husband, to love and cherish forever?”

Mal looks confidently joyful. “I do.”

“By the power vested in me I now pronounce you husband and wife! Bibbity-bobbity whoo!”

She waves her wand, and in another split-second poof! we’ve been transported back to the banquet hall. 

“There you are!” Uma waves at me. “You just- Poof! Are you were gone!”

I smile sheepishly. “Um, sorry. It’s kinda my thing. But this time it wasn't me.”

“It was my idea!” Ben declares and squeezes my shoulder.

By now the whole crowd sees we’ve returned and cheers loudly. We appeared at the top of the stairs- Much too out in the open for my taste. I start to inch away but Jay pulls me back.

“You’re a part of this too, Magica.”

Something catches my eye. Mal’s bracelet starts to glow, and we see Carlos’ charm shimmers the brightest. Oh, Carlos. Dude comes running up next to me wearing a spiffy bow tie, and I know we’re all thinking the same thing. He’s here, in spirit.

"Mal," I speak evenly. "It would be an honor to be a godmother."

The newlywed smiles and both her and Ben press me into a hug. "Thank you, Magica. Thank you so much."

“Let’s dance!” Evie pulls Doug into the crowd and everyone starts jigging.

“You too, Magica!” Jane waves me over to where her, Tiffany, and Lonnie are.

“It’s the Sanderson witch!” Chad shrieks and all but runs straight into a column.

Audrey rolls her eyes. “Shut up, Chad. C’mon, Magica!”

After all this time I still can have friends. A Sanderson witch having friends. Maybe one day I can set mother free and I can have her back too. But one day at a time.

“Trixie! Wanna join us for sky dancing?” Jay points to the platforms lifting people into the air.

I shake my head. “No, thanks. I think I’ve overspent my welcome. Besides, that looks really dangerous.”

“Says the witch who rides a broom!” Jay taunts.

“At least I have a broom! What’s to stop you from falling off of those things?”

“Get up here, Sparky!” Uma calls, both asking and ordering.

I roll my eyes. “Very well. Broom!” In a split second it appears in my hand. “Fly!”

All of my troubles stay behind. The cool night air refreshes my thoughts and for the first time in two years I’m actually having fun. No more screaming or villagers running away. Even though Willow’s probably still mad at me. 

Someone grabs my hand and suddenly I’m spun into the crowd. Goodness-!

“You stayed!” Remus grins from his own platform. “I’m so glad you’re here! May I have this dance?”

A carefree laugh escapes me and I begin to swing to the music. “You really don’t want to know about my family’s history of social events, Remus. But… Yes. I would love to dance with you.”

Oh. Oh. I wonder if…?

“Looking good, guys!” Jay cheers us on.

Is it possible…? No, life is too short to worry about Fate and true love. I’m finally happy.

We all make mistakes. Some are kind of messy, others… Almost successful in cursing an entire kingdom. But that’s past me now. And not only so, but we also glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulations worketh patience; And patience, experience; and character, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. Romans 5:3-5. 

You helped me through this, Carlos. We all will remember you. Wherever you are, we wish you all the best.

(Thank you to Cameron Boyce for his wonderful talent, may he rest in peace.)

[symbioticsimplicity]

Steve Harington hates the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Not because of the movie itself, actually he’d thought it was pretty cool. No, he hates it because hes being forced into a live showing, which means costumes.

Originally he'd been drafted into being Brad because duh, of course Steve "The Hair" Harington should be Brad. But Robin had complained that she wanted to match Nancy who was going as Janet so Steve had been recast as Rocky.

The golden undies would have been bad enough, but then of course because the universe hates him, Eddie was of course Frank N Furter.

As if it wasnt enough to see Eddie in a corset and fishnets with his hair done up, he was essentially going to be a human prop. Which meant touching. Lots of touching.

Steve is pretty sure hes not going to last the night, and thats before he even sees Eddie.

Robin is winking at him like she'd done something helpful rather than dooming him to leaving halfway through due to an ill timed but inevitable boner.

However bad Steve thinks its going to be, the reality of seeing Eddie is much worse.

He looks gorgeous. The makeup is supposed to be a caricature but hes so damn pretty it doesn't come off that way at all. Plus that corset draws attention to the little dip in his waist and the fishnets emphasize of toned and long his legs are and Steve knows hes irreparably fucked.

Eddie, though too looks like hes swallowed a rock as soon as their eyes meet.

Steve waves, like an idiot and Eddie waves back and they just stand there like that until the girls pull them to the car.