#and the whole event stressed me out so bad that i'm

[clutching-our-plurals]

Short answer: I first felt like something was off when I experienced what I now recognize was a very long, blurry switch, that lasted about an hour. I had a friend on the phone to try and ground me. It didn't quite work, but it gave me a lot of useful information in the morning.

The last straw was later that year, when I was having a Menty B (shaking, ugly crying, the works) and one of my parts started talking to me, coached me out of the breakdown and got me to take care of myself, and then we just... talked for a few hours. You don't exactly ignore that. I got help.

Also, I didn't remember this at the time, but I know now that previous hosts had suspicions or even full realizations that we were a system and kind of... got swapped out for a new host, or had those memories taken? For knowing more than they were supposed to. I'm apparently not allowed to say any more about that (i appreciate the passion for internet safety but this is hell on my interest in research.) Has anyone else had that happen?

Long version of the finding out story ⬇️

For us, or... for me? I guess– The first time I recall being aware that something was up was a summer. I was up late after a really stressful day (stressful stressful shit had been happening for like a week at that point) and I didn't feel like myself.

I just couldn't stay present, I wasn't tired, but I felt deeply distressed, and I kept having minutes at a time where I felt like was like... my body was moving without me. I wrestled for control against whatever was happening and called a friend. All I was sure about in that moment was that something PTSD related was happening and it wouldn't be a good idea to let it hqppen when I was all alone.

My mouth said things I wasn't saying, I recounted details of a traumatic event I didn't KNOW. Stuff I didn't REMEMBER. before then.

It's all kind of fuzzy, but I looked back on texts from that night once I woke up in the morning to check whether it was some weird dream or not, and asked my friend what I said, and half of it was shit I didn't recall at all. I was thoroughly freaked out.

I shoved it under the rug. I didn't investigate. But that strange feeling like I SHOULD. I SHOULD investigate really stuck with me.

Later that year, early in the fall, I was in a serious mental health low and had a big mental breakdown. Ugly crying was involved. I was remembering things that I didn't know happened to me and it was extremely distressing. I was spiraling pretty bad, until I... heard a voice? It wasn't quite like hearing someone talk to me out loud, it was more like feeling someone thinking words at you. Very clearly. Like the way you replay a sound you heard once in your mind, except it was a voice. A voice that wasn't mine.

They talked me down, got me to take care of myself. I was freaking out, but at the same time something felt right. I felt... whole? And that sounds silly but i really did feel like some part of me I lost came home, you know? They told me their name, and that they were happy to meet me, and that it was hard to get people (other headmates) to agree to let this happen, but they managed it. I didn't completely understand it, but hey, i felt kind of crazy while that was happening so, not my highest priority.

They were there in front more often, after that. Helping me through the world, introducing me to new headmates, teaching me how to access headspace, how to understand who was fronting and who was near front. Now, in hindsight, I recognize that it was fusion. Slow, over months and months. First they were cofronting more often, then a lot, then all the time.

I just kind of woke up one day... different? Alone. With almost this... what can best be described as an "understanding" that they were a part of me now and I was a part of them... that they were gone and here and that I was (am? This is an abuse of verbage) us and I all at once.

I cried about it. It was scary not knowing who I was, and feeling alone after being with someone for so long. At the same time, though, I felt safe, and prepared to take care of us. I understood more about the system in some ways, and less in others, after that. Something to do with the sort of "role shift" that our fusion caused. A little bit of system reorganization, persay.

I'm definitely curious about other's experiences with fusion, though, if anyone is down to share experiences about that.

Hey fellow plurals, are you up to sharing some experiences?

We're curious! How did you first become aware of your system?

If that's too vague, what first caused you to suspect something was up? And what was the last straw where you were like "oh we can't just ignore this"? If you had a moment like that.

[quitedisastrous]

my mom told me i almost got diagnosed with autism as a kid (she says i wasn't officially diagnosed because the diagnosis wouldn't have been useful so i guess my symptoms were so on the fence that they didn't push for it) which. like i'm 100% sure i have autism but holy mackerel. she couldn't have told me this as a kid???? it's a good thing i'm both logical and oblivious so i didn't spend too much time thinking "something is wrong with me. what the fuck is wrong with me" but like. what the fuck?

[spaceycat]

MOREEEE CONGRESSMAN!BUCKY HEADCANONS !!!

════ ⋆★⋆ ════ 

⩇⩇:⩇⩇ ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ ...  ╰┈➤ 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚖𝚊𝚗!𝚋𝚞𝚌𝚔𝚢 𝚋𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚎𝚜 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚗𝚜 ༄.°

♫ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: sports car by tate mcrae (2:45)

guys why the fuck do i keep finding the filthy gifs anyways anways MOVING FOWARD!!

✰ whenever you two are fucking in his office, he lets you bite his tie or his dogtags to keep you quiet - it never works though.

✰ the kinda guy to use a remote-controlled vibrator on you during a congress meeting and using A LOT of innuendos in his speech and loves to watch you squirm, he knows you're going to yell at him later for it.

✰ He likes to spoil you, since he has problems showing his feelings though the whole hydra situation - so buying you clothes, jewlerry or anything that you even remotely look at makes him so happy.

✰ But one time you felt bad and didnt want to spend his money, telling him you didnt really like anything - he'd pass you his credit card, "okay listen, with how much you spend, the softer i'm gonna fuck you when we get home - okay? I might even eat you out if you're good." AND YOU RANNNNNNN YOU RANN TO PRADA !! he fulfilled his promise and you got a shit ton of clothes and food and hey - bucky got a meal too ig....

✰ You love to whisper filthy shit in his year at fundraiser and award events when you know he's about to go on stage to get an award or a speech LOL

✰ Whenever he's driving he has a hand on the inside of your thigh, lord and his car is EXPENSIVE... like doctor strange in his movie, lord minus the crashing part..

✰ He loves to fuck you in the backseat of his car, finger you while he's driving telling you to keep your eyes in front. One time you came back from a fundraiser, and you were stressed out with the whole planning thing and how it all went to shit - Bucky sighed, pulling off his tie and moving over to your side of the car, sinking down to his knees infront of you and ate you out while looking up at you LORD. HAVE. MERCY.

✰ You used to be shy, sweet and innocent before Bucky. Wearing lacy lingerie and underwear underneath your dresses for the sole purpose of knowing you're wearing them and that Bucky will find out, sending him pictures or videos when he's on meetings or away of you fingering yourself or riding a dildo and just saying that you wish it was his, and ALWAYS sneaking into his office to just get off and he fucking loves it.

✰ He takes you on every campaign, buys the best hotel rooms, with large baths, pools, spas, hot-tubs, with endless amounts of food and champagne at your beck and call. And buying you dresses for every campaign session and event.

✰ He loves to see how many times he can fuck you before you have to leave for your next flight or event, "C'mon baby, cum one more time and then you can go shake hands with the Government" (oh lord now i want to write a fic about this.

✰ Whenever you help him write his speeches, you sit in his lap on his desk chair - you're fine until he sits his head on your shoulder placing soft kisses to your neck as his fingers slip down your pants, toying with your clit "Keep working baby.." "I need more stimulating ideas."

✰ You two are filthy, and yet no one will know - soon being Mr President and his First Lady.. (reminds me of those pictures of prince harry and meghan markle when they partied hardy LOLLLL)

[thebibliosphere]

Hello! I hope you don't mind me asking, but do you have any thoughts on Howard Schubiner's Unlearn Your Pain, Mind Body Syndrome, treating neuroplastic symptoms, etc.? I was just referred to a pain management group that centers around these concepts, and I'm having some Feelings about the whole thing.

Just wondering if you've had any experiences with this type of treatment, or thoughts about its effectiveness. Thanks!

Okay, so this is going to be long, and I'm going to need you to stick with me through the tangent. I promise it's relevant.

I haven't read Howard Schubiner's work directly, but his colleague Alan Gordon was a key speaker at the Migraine World Summit this year. I found his talk interesting enough to buy his book and do some more research on my own, and I found it worthwhile pursuing on my own.

I know enough from my mast cell disorder to know that the body develops 'bad habits' around pain.

In the case of anxiety, stress, or panic, mast cells become more reactive, and this can make pain worse. This is true for everyone*; it's just those of us with MCAS or some other type of mast cell disorder who have more alarming symptoms like idiopathic anaphylaxis.

So, unfortunately, if I, as someone with MCAS, experience an acute pain from an injury or illness, the inherent stress response of the pain and the out-of-balance response from my nervous system can make my mast cells degranulate. They're little fuckers like that.

Mast cells can also put your body on an inflammatory cycle that is counterproductive to healing. They can literally get trained to anticipate reactions and pre-emptively react, because again, they are little fuckers.

To give you an example of this for me: my major migraines, the ones that land me in the hospital, occur on the dot every ten days. There are no hormonal factors to this that can be found or other consistent triggers or stressors, but I was unknowingly being exposed to an MCAS trigger roughly every ten days for a while. When I realized, I removed the trigger, obviously. Problem solved, right? Unfortunatley no. By then, my mast cells had trained themselves into a new pattern, and the migraine now is both the response and the trigger. It's some bastard thing called Innate Immune Memory. But it's also, partly, my subconscious anticipating the event and priming my body for a reaction, which I am susceptible to because of my MCAS and dysautonomia, which is a type of nervous system disorder.

And this is where the neuroplasticity comes in.

I'm currently in the process of trying to unlearn this response and better regulate my nervous system, which unfortunately makes me sound like a TikTok girly with a link in bio to sell you cortisol healing tea, but I promise you the only thing I'm interesting in shilling is my smutty vampire books. (And this post will be how some people learn I write books)

Anyway, why am I bothering to explain mast cell dysfunction like this in relation to neuroplasticity?

Because, yeah, if a pain doctor handed me a leaflet about 'unlearning pain' and I didn't understand how my body is routinely sabotaging itself on a cellular level in response to acute and neuroplastic pain, I'd also be rolling my eyes and feeling like I've just been handed a bottle of snake oil in the market.

God knows I've been handed 'mindfullness' leaflets by enough shitty doctors who don't actually understand what it means when we say "stress affects the nervous system" and just assume the patient is inventing symptoms to be annoying.

Thankfully, that is not what this is. At least I am hoping the doctor sending you there doesn't think you are causing your own pain. What they are hopefully trying to do is introduce you to something that a lot of chronic pain patients are reporting helps them feel more in control of their lives after many years of feeling at the mercy of their pain.

I don't attend the sessions at my brain injury clinic (yet), but I do know they use neuroplasticity therapy to help amputees with the phantom pain they experience from missing limbs. My physical therapist spent an entire session singing its virtues to me while I was fighting for my life on a balance board. Which is also why I decided to look into it after I heard Gordon talking at the Migraine World Summit.

So, do I think Schubiner's methods are hokum?

No, I think there's a lot of merit to the things he talks about and explains, but I also know the only reason I think that is because of the insight I have into the brain-body bundle through the experiences of my mast cell disease that has taught me there is nothing the brain is incapable of fucking up.

Do I think targeting neuroplastic pain will work well for everyone?

No. I think you need to try it and see if it's a good fit for you.

Some people who attended the World Migraine Summit think it's snake oil/just another way for pain doctors to foist us off into the realm of mental health care. Conversely, other people won't shut up about how learning to break the cycle of fear and panic around their pain has been life-altering for them.

For me, it's been more subtle and is part of a broader spectrum of therapies and medical treatment I use to keep my nervous system in check. It certainly hasn't done me any harm. If anything, I found it quite validating to hear someone say, "Oh, the pain is in your head? Of course it is. Let's try to fix that," and then gave me actionable coping methods. They might not work profoundly in the long term. I'm still a sick bitch with multiple acute causes of my pain. But it's also not harming me the way mindfulness was (many chronic pain patients can find it traumatizing).

I will say, I am concerned that some doctors will use the treatment of neuroplastic pain to dismiss treating acute pain with physical causes.

Just like how mindfulness has been abused by an overworked, underfunded medical system not equipped to handle chronic patients, there's also the risk of neuroplastic therapy being tossed over the fence in a similar fashion as a last ditch Hail Mary to treat patients they don't have time for. But I don't think it's widespread enough yet for that to be the case.

I dunno. Give it a try. If it's not for you, it's not for you.

Personally, I hate anything that revolves around group therapy, but I did find the book "The Way Out" by Alan Gordon insightful in helping me figure some things out. Maybe see if your local library has it before you drop money on any sessions?

_ _ _

*There has also been more compelling evidence recently that suggests that chronic pain conditions like fibromyalgia are also affected by wonky mast cells. Also arthritis.

[bewitched-hours]

Forsaken | 007n7 x MamaBear!Reader

Okay, this honestly makes me a little nervous to write because this is definitely gonna be ooc and probably at least half-inaccurate but of well, I'm for fun. This is based on an earlier post I made and I hope you all enjoy.

The Reader will be given She/They pronouns for this and you get two different scenarios for it! One pre-Forsaken and one during the events of Forsaken (´꒳`)♡

Now enjoy your dilf- /j

Pre-Forsaken:

You would've never thought you'd end up in this position...

At first it was just a happy coincidence that one of the parents at the daycare you work at was put onto you to deal with. Not because he was difficult to handle or anything but because his kid was a bit of a problem.

You honestly felt bad. C00lkidd seemed like he genuinely meant well and you always tried to be patient with him and dissuade him from causing trouble and for the most part, it seemed to work.

Sure, he was still being a child and causing a ruckus but at least with you around he started to tone it down a bit, which seemed to surprise 7n7.

He'd ask you how you got c00lkidd to settle at all and you could only answer with the fact you'd make deals with the kid.

Some candy of his choice the next day if he behaves, sometimes even bringing in a whole pizza for him if it meant he'd stop going too rough on the other children.

Not like you couldn't afford it. You were new to being a daycare worker after leaving a stressful office job but had enough money saved up so you wouldn't have to worry for at least the first few months. You originally wanted to use those savings to move but then the prices of apartments and houses rose and you decided to just stick to your plan of at least switching jobs for your own sanity.

You and 07 actually got along pretty well, you even exchanged numbers at one point to talk more privately.

But before you knew it, you two were out on dates and enjoying how awkward you both were. And in that same pace, you were suddenly a mom to C00lkidd and moved in with them both.

Now you take C00lkidd with you to daycare and still keeping up your deals but instead of buying him things, you moved on to promising him special dinners. You almost can't believe your sudden luck in life and are absolutely smitten with your husband and child.

But it seemed you became a bit of an outsider among your co-workers from it.

"Do you think she actually loves him?" You'd hear them mutter.

"Maybe his dad is secretly rich or something..." You tried to remain calm.

"Who could love such a thing anyhow?"

You snapped. You could tolerate it if they were only talking about you but talking about your husband or son like that was the straw that broke the camel's back.

"Sweetie, I'll be right back but remember your promise, okay?" You told C00lkidd and he happily nodded before going back to his drawings as you forcefully grabbed the co-workers of yours that thought they could talk shit about your family.

"Listen hear you stupid bitches..." You hissed at them. But you wanted to keep quiet so none of the children hear what you were about to say.

"I can take your bullshit about me because I already don't like you and could easily switch jobs with my own savings but talk about my husband or kid like that again and I'll make sure you'll never be hired at another daycare or school ever again. Got it?" You were honestly surprised by your own fury at this point but too focused on getting your point across as the co-workers silently nodded at you with pale faces.

Hopefully you could hide your anger from C00lkidd and 7n7 until it's properly gone. Until the flame inside you was put out.

It seemed to work for most of the day but C00lkidd didn't pay you too much attention anyways as he was trying to befriend the other children and make awesome drawings for you and 7 to put on the fridge when you get home.

But your husband was more perceptive...

Almost the moment he saw you that evening, he could tell something was bothering you but he waited until you were home to ask you in the privacy of your shared bedroom.

Of course, you told him all about your co-workers but left out how you felt like an outsider. Because you knew he'd feel guilty.

Surprisingly, he's glad to know that you love this life so much that you protect it even from the people you work with.

But your son obviously has to ruin the moment because he forgot to show 7n7 his drawings and when the day was over, you found yourself thanking whatever higher power there could be that you decided to switch your job when you did.

Because now you have the most perfect family you could've asked for...

Forsaken:

Let's say you and 07 had been dating before Forsaken happened.

You've been feeling pretty low lately. C00lkidd was gone and so was his dad... The same one you had a date with just last week.

Even worse, he isn't answering your texts or even receiving them. At first you feared he might've lost interest but when C00lkidd stopped showing up at your daycare you knew something was wrong.

It didn't take long for you to go insane with worry, trying to ignore your co-workers making up rumours about you again and trying to stop you from wanting to find them.

"Let the police just do it, why do you care so much about a kid and a guy you met less than a couple months ago?" Was what finally made you snap.

But instead of words, your sleep-deprived mind thought they deserved a little more. Something truly painful.

You didn't kill them- luckily...

In fact, you blacked out before you could even charge at them with one of those small arts and crafts scissors from one of the classrooms. You still don't remember why you initially took them...

When you woke up, you were not only surrounded by strangers, but everything was so eery.

You were quick to understand their explanations and what you had to do when a 'round' starts. You were quickly proven to be a 'Support' class as one of your abilities allowed you to "Channel your anger for improved speed" and another allowed you to heal others by pulling out candy out of thin air...

At that point you were sure you were dreaming but one of the survivors made sure to pinch you hard enough that you knew it was real.

But then you were suddenly pulled aside by Elliot, who you at least somewhat recognized from the pizza place you went to to get C00lkidd pizza in your early days of taking care of him.

"Listen, you should be aware of the guy in a blue shirt and burger hat." He muttered to you and something piqued your interest. A Burger Hat? Didn't 7n7 wear one of those? Maybe a coincidence?

"His name's 007n7-" Definitely not a coincidence and you felt your heart flutter upon learning he was here. You stopped Elliot mid-sentence as you had already tuned out his negativity and asked where you'd find him.

Elliot was shocked but didn't pry and simply brought you to his cabin.

"If he isn't in there then I have no clue." You could hear disappointment in his voice. You honestly wanted to punch him a little for it but oh well.

"And when you're looking for your own cabin, just pay attention to the doors, yours should already have your name on it but don't ask me how!" He yelled at you from a distance, still going back to the other survivors as you quickly but silently made your way up the porch and knocked on the door.

You could hear him groaning inside but you couldn't care less. You were just happy to see him again despite your ever-so-calm face.

And when he opened the door, you nearly jumped him with joy over the fact he was alive and well... At least until you notice he had some injuries. From those 'Rounds' no doubt...

But he was both surprised and happy to see you too! He was even more surprised when you told him how much effort you put into finding him and C00lkidd, although he began to sound off when you mentioned CK. You could immediately tell something was wrong and feared for the worst... That the poor kid wasn't here and maybe even...

No, he assured you CK was alive and you sighed in relief at those news. However, you'd soon grow horrified again when 7 began to explain that the kid was turned into a monster and placed with the killers.

You spent the rest of the time that you had talking and crying together, finding out more about each other than you'd have ever known. It was nice in a way. You obviously both had been locking up some emotions and ended up spooning on his bed with him listening intently to your heartbeat as you thought about what you'll do now.

One thing was for sure... You're not leaving without your future husband or child... If there even is a way out...

Thanks to @brain4stew for the idea of doing both ideas in one post ٩(ˊᗜˋ )و

And sorry for any wild inaccuracies I might've put in, I was honestly just looking to write fluff with possible hurt/comfort elements and wasn't sure how to add them in so I just wrote with the Forsaken OST playing in my ears lol (^▽^)👍

Anything you'd like to request/ask? Check out my pinned post first and I'll be happy to write up whatever you want!

[hwaslayer]

wildfire (cs) | eleven.

—spotify playlist | series masterlist

—summary: assistant professor in bioengineering, incredibly attractive, lonely and divorced; that’s how most people describe san. but despite the events that have happened in his life, san has a lot going for himself. he’s a successful, sought out professor due to his brilliant contributions to science at just an early age of 32. he worked hard to get where he was now; head deep into his research, his publications, building his lab and creating a name for himself. everything was good and smooth sailing— until it wasn’t. because when he meets you, a bioengineering grad student interested in rotating in his lab, he finds himself ready to risk all the blood, sweat and tears he put in throughout the years just to keep you close— his need for you spiraling out of control like a wildfire.

—pairing: asst. professor!choi san x grad student!f. reader

—genre: (18+ - minors dni) strangers to lovers, grad school au | fluff, angst, smut

—word count: 6.1k

—chapter content/warnings: cussing, mature language/sexually implied content, san x oc talk a bit, talking also leads to other things 🤭, a quickie in san’s office, riding him on the chair hehehe, covering his mouth cause he gets a lil loud, flashback scene is just ppl talkin about this whole thing and switching up 😭, san x iseul x yunho moment, the start of namjoon’s stress chronicles pt. 2, some overthinking and pondering decisions

san: goodmorning my love. i hope you slept well. i'm sorry to upset you last night, and i'm sorry i put you in that position. i wasn't thinking and acted impulsively. let me know if i can get a few mins with you at some point - i still wanna talk to you. i miss you, baby. have a good day today, okay?

You wake up a little later than expected, and it has you rushing out the door before you can even respond to San's text. You do feel bad for not responding right away but truthfully, you just needed to get your mind together and be in your own space to try and figure out what the hell was going on.

You were starting to get scared and you weren't sure where this would lead you and San. You knew what you were getting into, but the last thing you wanted was for San to get in trouble— especially him, not you.

"Hey ma." You answer the call on your way to class, tugging your bag strap up on your shoulder.

"Hi lovey." She says cheerfully even though she's coming off of a shift.

"Did you just get off of work?" She sighs as she slams her car door and hops in, the call being picked up on the bluetooth.

"Yeah, we're a bit short-staffed so I picked up another shift. I came in around 7pm last night." You nod.

"Well, try to take it easy."

"I will. Are you on your way to class? How's it all going?"

"Um." You pause. "It's alright. But, yeah. I'm on my way over."

"Uh oh." She teases. "Wanna come home this weekend so you can tell me all about it while we get our nails done?"

"Actually, yeah. That sounds nice."

"Okay, babe." She chuckles. "You sure you're okay?" You nod even though you feel your heart drop, tears threatening to spill this early in the morning.

"Yeah, I am. I just have lots of stuff to update you on."

"Okay. Can't wait. Have a good day, hun. Make sure you take your breaks properly, eat and hydrate well."

"I will, mom. I love you."

"Love you too!" The call ends and you suddenly feel alone although the campus has moving parts, bodies floating around to move from point A to point B. You tuck your phone into your bag, fully deciding you'll get to San in between classes today. You do plan to stop by the lab to wean your mice really quickly at some point; maybe you'll deal with San then.

Which is crazy to think about cause that's exactly how things unfold.

Your first class of the day drags on, the lecture today being packed with a ton of overwhelming information. You've already got a few assignments for this class alone, causing you to huff out a heavy sigh when you write it all down in your planner and try to organize your to-do list. When class finally wraps up, you take your time packing up before heading to lab to work on the mice. You grab a parfait to go, quietly eating away as you make your way to the basement. The very back door to the west wing basement is the closest to the café you grabbed the parfait from, so you easily make your way over and toss your empty cup into the trash just as you tackle the steps and head downstairs to the door. When you pull out your badge and get ready to tap it against the reader, the door swings open and causes you to jump aside to prevent yourself from getting hit.

"Oh, I'm sorry—" San stops in his steps. "Y/N?"

"San." You breathe out, clutching your bag tighter. You weren't expecting to run into him now, but you suppose the universe had other plans for you.

"Hey." He fully steps outside and lets the door shut close. You can't help but automatically glance at him from head to toe; he's wearing denim on denim, and you realize he's the only person who could truly pull off the look. He's got on a denim button-up and jeans, chucks. Sleeves are rolled up halfway. He digs his hands into his pockets, soft black hair framing his face. You can smell his cologne from where you stand.

You're not standing very far from him when you should be creating more distance.

"Hi."

"Going into lab?"

"For a second, yeah. I gotta wean my mice before my PI gets mad at me." You look up at him and he chuckles a bit, biting onto his lip.

"For the record, I could never be mad at you." You slightly scoff and playfully roll your eyes. 

"Sure, Professor Choi." You pause. "I'm sorry I haven't responded to your text. I was meaning to come see you later, but I guess now is a good time, too?" 

"Uh, yeah. I gotta meet Jongho and Namjoon to plan out this proposal for the space in the new building." You nod. "But, it's not for a bit. Was just gonna grab some food before heading over."

"Goodluck."

"Thanks, love." He clears his throat. "Wanna give me a quick run down of what happened yesterday? With Yunho and Iseul?"

"Don't let me get in the way of you getting food."

"You're not. I can always grab some after."

"Are you sure?" He nods.

"You're more important." He lets out a breath. "So, what happened?"

"Yunho said he thought he saw me at the conference, that's all. I know he was gonna try to get it out of me, but students started walking into class."

"I didn't even know he was there."

"Well, I clearly didn't either. He said he stopped by last minute cause he was in the area." San sighs. "Iseul knew about it, too. I saw the way she looked at me when I walked out." You look up at him with innocent eyes, and it makes him weak. "San, we need to be more careful and this isn't helping."

"Well, that's why I wanted you to come over so we could talk about this in private. Why haven't you texted me back, angel? I know there's a reason. Are you still angry with me?" He asks so gently and so sweetly it makes your knees buckle. But at this very moment, Iseul is passing by the stairway, on her way back to the office after a meeting in the west wing of the Harvey Center. She doesn't typically pass this way but today, the conference room was closer to the back end, and she wanted to stop by the nearby café to grab another cup of coffee— excited to try the seasonal flavors on the menu that just arrived.

As she passes the stairway that leads towards the very back west wing basement door, she hears muffled talking echoing from below and can't necessarily help herself.

"I just.. don't know right now, San. It feels like everything is crumbling and I don't know how to feel. Jiung knows, and he thinks you forced me into this for the lab—"

"What? You told him that wasn't true, right?" His tone rises slightly, but it's enough for you to remind him to keep it down. It's also enough for Iseul to just slightly peek over the edge to confirm who is speaking near the back end basement doors;

And of course it's you and San.

No one ever passes through this way, and of course San would be taking that opportunity.

"Obviously." You sigh. "I'm just saying, people are onto us. The happy hour thing was probably the cherry on top."

"I got angry and I acted on impulse, I'm sorry." He reaches for your hand and as much as you wanna hold onto it tightly, you can't. You just let him take it in his, his lips lightly grazing the surface of your hand. "Can we take this to my office?"

"I thought you were on your way out."

"And I told you I've got a few minutes to spare. Please?" He pleads and you simply nod, removing your hand from his hold just as he badges in and leads the way to his office. Iseul lets out a breath as she continues on her way, texting her husband the exact scene that just unfolded in front of her.

iseul: i just saw san and y/n talking by the basement doors. he was holding her hand and kissing it.

yunho: so what now?

iseul: i told you i'm gonna try to catch san later. if he doesn't wanna admit to it then i'm going to namjoon.

yunho: iseul.

iseul: yunho, no. i can see the look you're giving me already. they're being way too obvious on campus now, and he better be grateful that i'm just trying to look out for him.

yunho: okay.

That's all Yunho replies with because what else can he say? He knows Iseul is stubborn, and he knows she won't change her mind. He agrees that it's wrong but he's not sure if they're overstepping.

Maybe Iseul really was looking out for him. He'd like to give her the benefit of the doubt because she's right.

This is wrong.

He's convinced this is all wrong because of her.

When you get to the basement, it's as empty as can be and you couldn't even be more relieved while trailing behind San. He looks down at his watch again, fiddling with the door lock and handle before he swings it open.

"Are you sure you even have enough time to spare?" You ask as he locks the door and makes his way over to you.

"Swear."

"We should make this quick before people come back to the basement."

"You know people are always in and out of here."

"Still."

"Why are you upset, love? Talk to me."

"I just don't know what to do. Your ex seems to be onto us the most, and they probably saw the whole thing go down yesterday. You were like.. angry-angry, San, and it was obvious—" You don't even realize you're going on and on about the same thing until San cups your cheeks, softly shushing you; trying to keep the peace by easing you.

"Baby." He says softly, his eyes looking into yours. "Baby, don't worry about this right now. I'm sure it will all blow over—"

"And if it doesn't?"

"Then, I'll face it when the time comes but—"

"San."

"We'll figure it out." He reassures again, even though truthfully and honestly, he's not sure what that means. He's not sure what he'll do if it actually unfolds out of hand, he's not sure what he'll tell you if things do go wrong. He's not sure how he'll be able to salvage everything even if he wants to more than anything in this world 

He just doesn't work on empty promises like that.

"I'll never let anything happen to you. I'll take care of this." He adds.

"I don't want anything to happen to you, though." He sighs and shakes his head.

"Nothing will. Just— just trust me like you've already been doing, okay?"

"Okay." You respond softly, hands resting on his wrists as he continues to cup your cheeks— thumb caressing the surface while his eyes roam over your features.

"I'm sorry for yesterday and I'm sorry you've been upset."

"It's alright."

"I missed you."

"I'm sorry, Sannie. I just needed a moment."

"You don't have to apologize, sweetheart." He kisses the tip of your nose before chuckling. "Although, I'll still beat his ass for trying to put his hands on you the way he did."

"He was such a dumbass." You roll your eyes. "I am grateful for you being there in time, though."

"Yeah, well. Couldn't really do much, but I'm glad you ended up okay." He's still looking at you, his thumb now lightly tracing your bottom lip. He looks deep into your eyes and he can't help but feel like mush; knees getting weak, heart melting at the way he looks at you. He prays to God nothing happens with all this going on because he's afraid to lose you.

He's afraid he can't lose you.

When he looks at you, he feels a sense of calmness. He sees the affection and adoration swirling in those orbs of yours. Your entire being radiating warmth and love. He'd hate for Iseul and Yunho to take away the one thing that has finally kept him grounded. But, he wouldn't put it past them and that's what scares him the most.

They hadn't stopped to think about their actions before. And for someone like San, who loves so hard and trusts wholeheartedly, he just didn't think the love of his life and his bestfriend would ever do that to him.

This is how everything has unfolded and he'd hate for them to be the reason behind all of this, too.

"Baby." He calls for you, and you don't respond verbally. The way he's looking at you, the way he's holding you, caressing you and keeping you close, is enough for you to dip forward and meet him in a sweet kiss. You hear him exhale as he cups your cheeks and takes the kiss, deepening it as you stand in the middle of his office. Your hands grip at his sides as your tongue fights for dominance with his, the kiss easily turning into a sloppy, wet mess. "Fuck, baby." He sighs. "Need you."

"Here?" He nods. He rushes over to his chair, bringing you onto his lap. His eyes are full of desire, lust— pleading for you to give him all of you. "Sannie."

"We'll make it quick." He smirks, hands coming up your thighs to hike up your maxi skirt just enough; thumb immediately finding your clothed core. "No one's around. Just us." You shut your eyes in pleasure, already aching, craving, for him bad. "You do know how to keep quiet, right?" He teases, watching as you continue to react to the way he's touching you.

"Mm— shouldn't I be asking you?" You tease back, fiddling with his belt and undoing his jeans to release his heavy, hard cock. 

"Brat." He chuckles. "Ride me." 

"So demanding." You playfully roll your eyes the moment you position his cock at your entrance, shutting them close when you ease down his length. He lets out a soft, breathless groan, head cocked back against the chair as he tries to adjust to the feeling. "Fuck, San."

"Yeah, baby. It's all yours." He whispers, looking at you through hooded lids. You pick up your pace, working your hips back and forth; dragging your walls against his member. You let out a quiet moan against his lips, San whispering a string of cuss words as you roll your hips—

Driving him to insanity.

"Missed you so much. My perfect girl." He mutters. He can't even help himself when he feels you tighten around him, letting out a moan that might be a little too loud for your liking. 

"Sannie." You whine a bit, covering his mouth with your hand as you continue to push and push towards the edge, clit rubbing against him so deliciously you feel like you'll come undone sooner than later. You watch as San's face contorts in pleasure— pretty brows knitting together, tightly as his eyes shut close. He's murmuring small moans against the palm of your hand, whining and begging for you to cum first because you always come first.

And it doesn't take long before you do.

Your movements become sloppy while San continues to grip your ass in an attempt to help guide you; his cock filling you up perfectly as you bounce up and down before resorting back to rolling your hips against him. It takes two, three, four turns before you press your forehead against San's and unravel in his hold. 

"Ohhhh—fuck—gonna cum—" You gasp just as San fucks upward into you once, twice— releasing his load into you and filling you up with every last bit. He lets out choked moans against your hand, panting and heavily breathing when you feel like it's safe to finally remove it.

"Good god, sweetheart." He breathes. "I'll never get tired of this." You giggle, kissing him sweetly on the lips before slowly removing yourself from his length. You both let out small breaths, San keeping you near so he can wipe you down with a napkin before tending to himself. 

"Hopefully no one's in the basement still." You fix your skirt and get yourself together.

"Uh, not like you had anything to worry about. You seemed to have that under control the entire time." You laugh.

"Taking precautionary measures since we need to."

"That was kinda fun, though." San smirks. "Maybe we should do that more often." He stands to adjust his jeans and fixes his belt.

"Did our little fight just go over your head?" You joke and he sighs.

"Fine." He playfully rolls his eyes. "We'll just keep it to the bedroom."

"You're so annoying." You smile. "You should get to your meeting before you end up being late."

"I will, boss lady." He puckers his lips. "Just one more." You shake your head and meet him for another kiss.

"Bye Professor Choi." 

"Bye baby." He smiles, subtly biting onto his bottom lip as he watches you sway your hips and walk out. As soon as the door shuts, he feels empty. He misses you already and he can't wait to spend time with you again.

"Oh shit—Sunwoo!" You almost shriek just as you come out of San's office. You're afraid he might've heard something, or that he might even sense it, see it on you, with the way he cocks a brow up and tilts his head to the side. "You scared me." He laughs, though it's obvious he's kinda confused as to why you're so startled by his presence.

"You okay?" 

"Mhm." You hum.

"Meeting with Professor Choi?" He gives you a look again and you feel like your ass is on fire. Sunwoo has probably gotten wind of the whole thing and now he's trying to read you.

"Just a quick last minute check-in."

"Oh, that's nice he let you pop in. Everything all good with your progress and stuff? Think you'll stay so you can continue being my right hand?" You laugh and shrug. 

"Maybe. We'll see. But yeah, all is well!" You look at your phone. "Anyway, gonna run off to wean the mice before class." He nods, watching as you hurriedly drop your things off at your desk and scurry along without looking back.

—FLASHBACK

"So, did you hear about Professor Choi getting hella angry over some postdoc at the happy hour event? I guess he was getting handsy with Y/N and was being a total dick."

"Okay? So, he deserved it."

"Yeah, but people there said it was weird."

"How is sticking up for someone weird?"

"No like, guys. He was angry. Like the type to get angry over your girlfriend, angry."

"What are you insinuating?" Belle cocks a brow up.

"I'm so surprised you guys haven't heard about it. It's like the talk on campus right now. People think Professor Choi and Y/N are a thing. Professor Lee and Professor Jeong are also apparently fueling hella shit behind it."

"That's ridiculous, Y/N would never. That'd never happen." Belle tries to laugh it off until she sees Sunwoo sitting quietly in his chair. "Right?" Sunwoo looks at her and shrugs. "Sunwoo."

"Dude, I don't know. I've just seen Y/N go into his office a few times and I thought they were meeting about projects. But, now that I think about it.."

"Are you serious?" Belle furrows her brows. She's slightly annoyed that you'd actually take it this far, and she's not sure how she feels about it if it were true. "Is she trying to secure her spot in lab that bad? She wanted him to like her so bad she had to sleep with him?" Sunwoo knits his forehead at her.

"Yo, hold on. You don't even know if it's true. Even if it is, I'm sure there's a story behind it and not just that. Y/N wouldn't do that."

"We didn't expect her to be wrapped up in rumors like this, too." Belle scoffs. "Wow. If their so-called relationship ends up being true, bet it was because Y/N threw herself on him."

"That's fucked up. She's your friend, Belle."

"Not really, we just knew each other because of school and now we work together."

"Belle."

"What? You really can't tell me you don't think that? You're lying."

"No?! Belle, what?" Sunwoo's tone grows. "I'm saying they're two grown ass adults who are capable of making their own decisions. I'm not dismissing it or saying it's right, but I'm saying there could be more to it than that. Why are you assuming that so quickly?"

"Whatever, Sunwoo. It's gross, regardless. Especially for her as his rotation student." She rolls her eyes. "God, can't wait for it to be over so I don't have to deal with her." Sunwoo starts packing his things and shaking his head.

"That's crazy." Sunwoo chuckles a bit. "She was your friend before anything, bro. I'd expect you to at least have her back." He scoffs a bit. "I gotta go, I got shit to tend to with Y/N. Cause you know, I don't just switch up on people without having my facts straight." He almost mocks Belle's attitude as he throws the peace sign up to his other friend and starts walking off.

—END

After you tend to the mice, San gathers himself and heads out of the basement to head to the bathroom and freshen up before grabbing a quick snack on his way to Namjoon's office. On his way out, he didn't see anyone in the basement; Sunwoo must have gone to hide in one of the rooms to do some work. He's able to whisk himself away without any issues, prancing into Namjoon's office in a better mood.

Jongho definitely picks up on it, but doesn't comment on it. So doesn't Namjoon, but he needed to make use of his time wisely since he's got a busy ass schedule today.

They have a good conversation and are able to draft out some very good points about letting Jongho and San take some real estate in the new building. Namjoon is always good with words and although he's taking quick notes on his laptop, he's making a mental note on how they should present this to the dean. He has a good feeling about it, and he thinks it's perfect timing because the dean has been wondering about other ways to foster good collaboration between schools and departments and how to make their programs a little more unique and prestigious compared to others.

San is coming out of his day way better than yesterday, way better than he expected this morning.

Too bad it's all about to go out the window again.

When San heads back to his office, he powers through his check-in meetings with a select few postdocs and grad students— discussing different avenues they could take with their projects and what their goals should be by the end of the quarter. Afterwards, he finishes the remaining items on his to-do list before sending out his last emails of the day and packing up.

you: can i come over tonight?

san: course you can, baby. you don't have to ask. lol

you: yes, i do. lol. okay, see you later? i have office hours then i'll wrap it up for the day.

san: sounds good, beautiful. i'll have dinner ready for us, k? just come over as soon as you can.

you: ☺️

He smiles to himself as he slings the bag strap over his shoulder, excited to tell you about how the meeting went today and how optimistic he's feeling about everything despite the chaos that has ensued.

Maybe things will be okay after all.

Right?

"San. Can we talk?" Iseul catches him as he steps out onto the first floor of the Harvey Center from the elevator. He furrows his brows at her, unsure what in the hell she could possibly wanna talk to him about right now.

Well, scratch that— he knows, but he's also not sure why she's the one doing the talking on this. It's kinda ironic coming from her. But, San isn't gonna be rude nor is he gonna be a dick to her, especially on campus grounds. 

So, he lets out a sigh and shrugs.

"Sure." He plainly says, leading the way to one of the empty conference rooms down the hall. He sets his bag down on a chair before crossing his arms to his chest, distancing himself from Iseul on the other end of the room. "What's up?"

"You're seeing her, aren't you?"

"What are you talking about?" Is all he can defend himself with because he's truly appalled she's doing the talking on this when it shouldn't be any of her business—

"That's crazy. All this time and effort to keep her around and you couldn't even do that for me." San's brows knit together so tightly— he's not sure what the fuck he's hearing right now.

"We're bringing this up because why exactly? Even if we hadn't worked out, you still found your way with Yunho." She rolls her eyes.

"You're being so stupid, San. How are you so comfortable dating your student? You could lose everything if anyone found out."

"I don't see why this is any of your business."

"Because if you aren't gonna get your shit together, I have no choice but to go to Namjoon—"

"You can't actually be serious—"

"Ask yourself that! You're so hung up over her that you're willing to give up everything for your little relationship." She pauses. "She's young, she's got the doe-eyed look going on. Seems sweet, but she probably doesn't even actually care about you. Get real, San. Wake the hell up!"

"Iseul, you're treading on very thin ice." He warns. "You still haven't told me what any of this has to do with you." He steps forward.

"It has nothing to do with me. It has to do with the fact that I'm trying to do the right thing. You know this is wrong." San scoffs and pathetically chuckles, hands dug deep into his pants.

"Does it make you happy, Iseul?" San almost corners her. "Does it make you that fucking happy to keep destroying everything for me?"

"No one destroyed anything for you, you continuously do that for yourself!"

"You're the only person who has ever painted me as a failure and disappointment. You don't get to do that now, you don't get to have a say in any of this!"

"She's a fucking student, San. What's wrong with—"

"And he was my bestfriend!" San finds himself seeing red as his tone grows. All of the happy, good luck shit he was feeling today went out the window in one swift motion. He should've known Iseul would've taken this road. He should've known she would've done this.

For some reason, Iseul continues to be the reason why he can't be happy.

"Hey." Yunho walks into the conference room. "You two are gonna need to keep it down." San can't help but roll his eyes because of course.

Of fucking course.

"Great to see you've been invited to this unnecessary discussion." San looks at the both of them.

"Unnecessary?!—" Iseul fires back.

"Iseul." Yunho calls for her sternly.

"Whatever, you know what? I tried. You do whatever you want, San. Risk all your shit for some student who won't give a damn once it's all been taken away. All she wants from you is your resources and to move up, but I guess that's what you wanted—"

"You know nothing about her!" San growls back. "You know absolutely nothing about her." He repeats.

"Iseul." Yunho calls for her again. This time, there's a lace of anger because this was not what he wanted out of this. He warned Iseul about getting into San's business and she wouldn't listen— now they were all here, arguing over shit when there's already so much bad blood and tension between the three of them. "Can you please just wait outside?" She huffs and clicks her teeth, grabbing her things before storming out.

"Yunho, honestly. Save it. We don't have to do this."

"San, she's right. You could get into a lot of trouble if people start putting the pieces of the puzzle together. People are already onto you after the happy hour event, and I can't exactly say you two have been the most discreet."

"What are you even talking about?" San asks, exasperated and completely over the conversation.

"You two by the basement doors?"

"Oh, so you guys are just spying on us?" San cocks a brow up. "Really makes it better."

"It could have been anyone."

"Could it have been? Exactly how long were you guys watching us?" Yunho sighs.

"I'm only looking out for you—"

"And what makes you think I want you looking out for me, Yunho?" San's tone grows. "Hm? Cause last time you ended up looking out for me, I found you tangled up with my wife." Yunho's jaw ticks, but he doesn't say anything else. Because what can he say?

"You know this will fuck up everything for you." Is all Yunho responds with. "Everything."

"So be it. Sorry, but I literally have no reason to listen to you. Or her." San pauses, his jaw clenching as he swallows thickly. Borderline aching from how hard he's been clenching. "I hope that one day the both of you will finally learn how to mind your own business. Stop coming into mine. We're not friends, we're not acquaintances, we're nothing. We haven't been anything for a very long time and I'd appreciate it if we kept it that way." San grabs his things and rushes out the door, the force almost causing the door to hit the wall on his way out.

"San?" Namjoon comes from around the corner as he watches San walk out of the conference room, loosening his tie as he tries to gather himself. To be honest, he had been standing there for a good minute trying to make sense of the arguing and loud talking going on within the conference room. It didn't take him long to realize who was inside and what exactly was being discussed— especially when Iseul storms out, mumbling a few cuss words and San slander to herself. Luckily, not too many people were around, and if they were, they didn't try to focus much of their attention on their whereabouts. Namjoon is lost because he doesn't have any actual concrete facts to have a say in this. Maybe the happy hour event. San’s little antics.

He does need to get to the bottom of it, though.

Before it all goes south and it comes raining down on San, on him.

"Not right now, Joon. I'm sorry. I gotta get home." Namjoon doesn't say anything else as he watches San hurry off, needing to take a break from this place and get some fresh air ASAP.

"The hell is going on?" Namjoon mumbles to himself before nodding to a few oncoming students when he slowly walks back to his office and pulls out his phone to send a few texts.

If not today, he sure as hell is getting to the bottom of all of this tomorrow.

San hasn't felt this angry in so, so long, and quite frankly, it scares him. He's afraid of reverting back to his old self, his old way of coping. He's afraid of taking the wrong step forward that'll undo all the progress and work he's done on himself.

But truthfully, he fucking hates this.

He fucking hates this because at this point, he feels like it'll only bring more anger. Sadness. Hurt,

He hates that Yunho and Iseul are getting under his skin this way, he hates the predicament you're both in, he hates that Namjoon was there. He hates that he knows this is wrong but he absolutely refuses to let you go—

Even though, he's starting to feel like he needs to rethink those choices.

Mainly because he doesn't want anything to happen to you, mainly because he wants you to succeed and be happy. Mainly because he wants to protect you and keep pushing you forward; even if that means he has to support from afar.

He fucking hates this.

San drives with one hand on the wheel, finger brushing against his bottom lip as all the thoughts run at a thousand miles per hour in his head. He knows it's wishful thinking to assume it'll all blow over and be yesterday's news that didn't really mean much. He feels like it's far from that, and he knows Namjoon is eventually going to talk to him about everything.

He wishes he can hold on for a little longer, push it out a bit more.

Despite his feelings and how shot his mood is, San still manages to stop by for some aburasoba— remembering how you've mentioned time and time again that you had been craving it. He makes a pitstop at a random flower shop nearby, grabbing a small bouquet of baby pink roses. He gives the florist a small smile when she asks him if it's for a special someone, his dimples poking out; heart fluttering, butterflies swarming his tummy when he thinks about you.

And only you.

He wishes he could give you the world without having to hide it. There are so, so many things he wishes he could do or say that don't involve him acting behind doors or away from people.

This shit truly is hard.

When he finally pulls into his garage and parks, he sits in the seat for a little and huffs out a heavy sigh. He grabs his things and sets the food and bouquet down on the island counter before heading upstairs to shower. He gets comfortable in sweats and a matching crewneck, heading back down to the kitchen to get everything set up and ready for your arrival. You let him know you'll be over in the next few minutes, so he lights up a candle and gets the TV going— leaving it on the home page so that you can freely choose what you're in the mood for.

"Hi!" You greet in a sing-song tone as you let yourself in and walk into the kitchen. San is washing some dishes, which gives you the opportunity to hug him from behind and place a chaste kiss to the back of his neck. He chuckles, sinking into your hold before you pull away. "Aburasoba?" You gasp. "And pink roses?" You turn again just as he wipes his hands down and faces you. "Thank you, Sannie." Your bottom lip pokes out in a small pout.

"Of course, baby." He playfully runs a finger down your bottom lip and smiles. "How was the rest of your day? Sounded like you ran into Sunwoo after you left?" 

"Oh my god, yeah. But, I don't think he really caught onto anything. I just told him we met real quick then left, and he didn't question it." You sigh. "But otherwise, the rest of the day was good. Exhausting. I had tons of students coming into office hours so I ended up being done a little later than expected."

"Planning their proposals for finals?" You nod.

"Yup!"

"I know the feeling." You laugh, helping him grab the bowls and taking it over to the living room. You plop next to him on the couch, already flipping through options for tonight. You settle for rewatching The Walking Dead, San chuckling at your pick to sit through while eating dinner. You manage to yap away in between bites of your aburasoba, San only humming or giving you short answers in response.

At first, you don't think much about it. You assume he's exhausted and he's trying his best to keep you company like the good man he is. But then, you turn and he's not really watching. He's kinda scrolling through his phone, setting it aside then blankly looking at the TV. It's obvious San isn't entirely present. It's obvious he's got things in his mind, and you're not sure if you did anything wrong or if something happened in between the time you two were apart—

But, he seems unhappy and you wish you could fix whatever it is.

"Babe." 

"Hm?" He hums.

"What's wrong?" You turn over to look at him, cupping his cheek while you crawl onto his lap.

"Nothing." He chuckles and rubs your back, eyes looking deep into yours. All he sees is a personification of love, comfort. And nothing is harder than fighting the 'what if's' in his head when you look at him the way you do, when you touch him the way you do. "Nothing baby, sorry. I'm just really exhausted." He doesn't like to lie, but he sees the soft smile that grows on your face when you receive his reassurance and he can't help but brush it under the rug.

"You sure?"

"Yeah." He nods. "Yeah, baby." Though, he isn't. 

"Okay." You kiss him on the lips and caress his cheek, smiling at him. His heart aches because he thinks about all the moments you've had to share secretly or behind doors, not being able to put your relationship out there like you both wish to. He finally lets the 'what if's' free, thinking about how this could affect your future, you;

He can't help but feel like, maybe, you deserved better than this.

—read 11.5 here

—taglist: @asjkdk @interweab @woojirang @svintsandghosts @cheolliehugs @persphonesorchid @mxnsxngie @jycas @cowboydk @vcutparis @chngbnwf @struggling101 @sanhwalvr @angelqueendom @barbielibra @brown88 @choisansplushie @yunhoswrldddd @hyukssunflower @vickykazuya @lucid-galaxys-world @jaytheatiny @pommelex @thechaotictheoryy @vixensss @santineez @nopension @domfikeluva @in-somnias-world @my-atiny-kookie-rkive @mountiiny @naoristerling @onmymymyway @thecutiepieme @wyrated

[m00nkissedlover]

・｡Stress Relief 🌼

You've ordered: honey ice cream! enjoy!

"You always had me, you're always shining~"

Regulus Black x reader | word count: 784 words

Summary: you're stressed from class, so your boyfriend helps you relax 🌼

Warnings: none!

Note: first time writing for reggie (i love him <3) random little drabble that i just had to write! fyi, i'm not completely familiar with all things mauraders and i only really ever dabbled in harry potter. so, if anything seems off or wrong, please let me know! (changed some things w/ my format! got some help with this fic from: @crescenthistory ! (amazing writer btw💕))

You walked into your dorm room and immediately flopped onto your bed, face first. A groan left you as you internally cried about what had just occurred in class. You, yes you, had made a more than embarrassing mistake during potions class today, accidentally mixing up two vials of similar colored liquids and almost turning your seat mate into a newt. Professor Slughorn was obviously concerned about the mistake, but waved it off as the class snickered under their breaths. No, you'd never recover from this.

A knock on your door pulled you back to reality. You didn't even bother to get up, turning your head to the side so you could yell "It's open!" The sound of the turning doorknob, the creak of the door opening and closing, and the sound of deliberate footsteps filled your ears before a familiar dark haired slytherin came into your field of view as he crouched down next to your bed.

"Who snapped your wand in two?" he asked in a sarcastic manner, moving to sit next to your laid out form.

"I don't wanna talk about it..." you grumbled, turning your head to face him.

"Oh come on, I bet it's not that bad," he urged, poking your cheek with a silver ringed finger.

"I ruined a potion and almost turned half my class into red newts." Regulus had to bite back a laugh, a soft smile forming on his lips as he glanced back at you. 

You heard the sheets rustling and felt Regulus's body scoot closer to you. He laid next to you and after a few seconds, you felt his arms encircle you, pulling your head into his chest. This surprised you since Regulus wasn't particularly keen on initiating intimate physical touch like this. The fact that he was doing this to make you feel better made your heart warm up.

You wrapped your arms around his torso, gently resting your head on his chest. "So, tell me more about how you almost turned half your class into newts."

"Regulus!" you yelped as you felt him pinch your side teasingly.

"Alright, alright. I'll stop." he murmured, resting his chin on your head.

"Enough about me. How was your day?"

"Not as eventful as yours, that's for sure." he made that comment knowing you'd playfully smack him in the chest.

"My day was alright. Rather boring, but alright. Spent most of it at the library. Then I spent about an hour helping Dorcas settle an argument with Barty." Regulus said, letting out an annoyed huff, as if remembering the event gave him a headache.

"What was it about?" you asked, knowing that the two always got into play arguments.

"They were playing old maid in the Slytherin common room and Dorcas accused Barty of cheating. It did start off as playful and somehow ended the same way?" regulus mumbled, a look of slight confusion on his features.

"Why do you say that? I'm sure the whole thing was pretty much just playful banter." "Halfway through the game, Barty almost flipped the table...."

"Yeesh, sounds like you had a rough day too." you laughed, Regulus frowning a little as you reached up to pinch his nose. He let out some weird noise that made you burst into a fit of laughter.

"Y/n-" You cut him off by burying your face into his neck, your body vibrating as you continued to laugh.

"It wasn't that funny, okay?" You couldn't even bring yourself to protest, more laughter leaving you as you stopped to imitate the sound he made, only to laugh harder.

Though he looked as if he were embarrassed by you laughing at him, it really brought a smile to his lips. Seeing you, tears in the corners of your eyes and your stomach hurting a bit from laughing so hard, was probably one of the times he thought you were the most precious, the most beautiful. but he'd never say that out loud. Regulus rolled his eyes playfully, scooting over as if to get up.

"If you don't stop laughing at me, I'll leave."

"Whaaaat? Nooo, I'm sorry. It was just," You paused to laugh once more, catching your breath. "It was really cute!"

"It was not. That was embarrassing."

"Whatever you say" you teased, leaning up to give him a little peck on the lips as he pouted. A grin spread over his lips and you could see his ears were still a bit red from embarrassment. "There he is!" you exclaimed, cupping his face into your hands.

Even though you both had pretty shit days, you always managed to make one another feel better in the end. 🌼

© m00nkissedlover, 2024

[you-call-it-a-dude]

Call It What You Want Pt. 6

Pt.1 Pt.2 Pt.3 Pt.4 Pt.5

Summary: Regina is in a bad mood because of the events from the previous night. To get her mind off the awkward conversation with her mom, you and Regina do some Black Friday shopping. Unfortunately for Regina, her mom had similar plans

Pairings: Regina George x Fem/Gender Neutral Reader

Warnings: internalized homophobia, unresolved trauma, emotions, toxicity

Notes: Jesus isn't the only one back from the dead this weekend lol. It's been a minute. Like a good minute. Probably over a year now. Time flies when you're stressed lol. I appreciate you for sticking with me, for checking in on me. I love you all so much.

Also, just has a heads up I'm sorry LMAO. This chapter was absolutely necessary and one of its purposes is to serve as a reminder that Regina isn't going to no longer be toxic over night, she has a lot to work through, and that she also has some deep issues that you don't exactly know about yet. It's also a reminder that they're college aged and they're not gonna navigate emotions perfectly all the time. But who doesn't love a little drama, right?

This chapter just about has it all: attitude, cute moments, internalized homophobia, unresolved trauma, and toxicity. Next chapter is gonna be messy. I will do my best to take not a whole year to get it out lol

I love you all. Thank you again for your support and patience. I've been out of the writing game for a minute so I'm a little rusty, but I really hope you enjoy this next chapter

--------

The two of you went to bed on a good note, but you could feel her being restless all night. At one point she even climbed over you to pace the room for a bit. You reached for her, holding her by the back of her thigh and stroked her skin tiredly as you knowingly asked what was wrong.

She pressed one of her knees on the mattress next to you and played with your hair while she lied to you and told she told you she was okay.

You knew she wasn't, but the way she was playing with your hair, her soft skin under your fingertips and the edible you popped before bed made staying awake feel just about impossible.

You woke up first in the morning, rubbing her back and asking her what she wanted for breakfast. She shrugged so you listed off a few options. She responded by sighing loudly and rubbing her eyes, telling you to lay off all the questions.

You managed to annoy her further when you tried to lighten the mood by asking her if she was going to be grumpy like this all day. You weren't trying to intentionally piss her off, but the teasing was a miscalculation on your end.

You knew things were a bit more serious when you rested a hand on her hip, attempting to pull her closer so you could press kisses to her face and apologize.

Instead she pushed your hands away, kicking the blankets off her legs and climbing over you and out of bed with a huff. Her bare feet slapping against the wooden floor as she went to the bathroom and closed the door behind her.

You kept your distance for a bit after that. You ordered her some coffee on uber eats and cooked her breakfast. She eventually sat at the table, scrolling on her phone in silence for a bit. When you tried to have a normal conversation with her, she gave you the cold shoulder. Basic responses without even looking away from her screen.

You rolled your neck while you cooked French toast. At this point you figured since she was already in a bad mood, there was no better time to bring up her mom.

"Did you talk to your mom?" You asked casually while flipping a French toast, hissing when it fell off your spatula too soon and you had to use your fingertips to fix it.

"Why are you on my fucking ass about this?" She snapped, slamming her phone onto the table, making you jump. "I thought you weren't pressuring me? This certainly fucking feels like pressure. It's obnoxious. You're being so fucking-" she let out a frustrated noise and cut herself off, shaking her head and taking a deep breath through her nose.

"Sorry, I'm sorry." You said quickly. You had gotten used to her outbursts, but this was the first time it ever truly felt directed at you. She didn't scare you, it wasn't anything like that. Her reaction just made you feel...small?

She didn't acknowledge your apology, but her face softened briefly. It almost looked like she wanted to say something to you, maybe even forgive you- possibly even apologize. Instead her face hardened again and her walls went back up. She shifted her body away from you and turned her attention back to her phone.

You took a step back from the conversation after that. You were just trying to prevent her from losing a relationship with her mother, but maybe those were your own issues with your mother creeping in and you were projecting your shit onto Regina.

Whoops.

There was about ten minutes of silence between you to while you finished cooking and plating breakfast. When you finally joined her at the table, you almost desperately offered up the only thing you could think of that would fix her sour mood.

She perked up immediately when you offered to go to the mall and do some Black Friday shopping. You did shut her down when she asked if you guys could shop downtown again. That just wasn't a crowd you felt like dealing again. Especially today.

She pouted for a moment, but when you told her she could choose go to literally any other mall, she was able to get over it quickly.

She decided to drag you to Old Orchard Mall. Which didn't surprise you since it was typically where most rich people shopped anyway.

She insisted on driving and for the sake of avoiding another unnecessary argument, you reluctantly agreed. Between her grouchy mood and all the people on the highway, Regina was cussing people the fuck out. She was riding on people's ass, almost causing a cluster accidents - all while Christmas songs played in the background.

The fucked up part was you found her erratic driving kind of hot.

The way she would swear when someone was driving too slow, how she'd put her hand on your chest so you would sit back when she merged, or slammed the horn when someone cut her off. She was grumpy, assertive, and just the right amount of mean.

And when it's directed at anyone but you, it's attractive as fuck.

On the otherhand, you also felt like you could've kissed the parking lot pavement when you finally arrived.

---

You'd been here for two hours already and you've only been in three stores. You were hot and sweaty, your stomach was growling, and you were getting a headache from all of the perfume smells happening in this Sephora (and you weren't even talking about the products on the shelves in this case).

But Regina looked so happy and so in her element that you didn't even have it in you to be outwardly bitchy. At least not yet.

"Do you like this one, baby?" She asked, dabbing her finger into another eye shadow and adding it to the collection of swatches that were accumulating on your arm.

You learned quickly that one of Regina's love languages was acts of service. That's why, despite how absolutely overstimulated you were, you had her overcoat draped over your arm, her bags from Bath and Body works turning the fingers of your left hand red, and the sleeve of your sweater rolled up with your arm covered in eye shadow swatches.

Her eyes lit up when you took her coat and bags from her so she could look around easily. She even gave you an impressed look when you held out your arm for her to test swatches. She said immediately that she would get it all off as soon as you got back to your place. You nodded in agreement, but truthfully you didn't care if it stayed on or not.

Regina responded more intimately to your actions than you had anticipated her to. You had expected her to be fairly distant with you since you were out in public (and she was grumpy with you majority of the morning). So it took you by surprise when she would publicly be affectionate with you in her own little ways.

She would grab your wrist, rubbing softly at the sensitive with her thumb before dragging one of her fingers down your forearm to reveal the next shimmering shade of eyeshadow. She would grip the back of your sweater while she read the colors on a palette, using you for support because she had to lean in and squint since she refused to wear her glasses in public. She would press against you just barely while she decided between two products, knowing good and well she could afford them both but just didn't have the space for them in her dorm room.

You would trail behind her in each aisle she browsed through. You picked things up to ask questions or make a silly joke, just trying to be playfully annoying to ease your own boredom. She would mostly answer you without looking away from the items in her hand, really only looking up to shoot you a stern look when you would get a little noisy trying to put the items back with shaky hands(hunger clearly starting to get to you).

You were losing steam by the time she got to the perfume aisles. During the rare moments that the aisle was empty, you would stand behind her and smush your cheek on her shoulder to rest comfortably against her while she tested different perfumes. She would hold little slivers of paper sprayed with all the expensive perfumes up to your nose to get your opinion. After any poor reaction, the little shaker of coffee beans always appeared under your nose next.

Occasionally her hand would come up and pat your other cheek or she would rest her head against yours while she read the notes on the perfume bottles. As soon as someone entered the aisle with you, she'd shake you off her shoulder and take a step forward.

It is what it is. Or well, at least that's what you kept telling yourself.

Regina left the store with three make up palettes, hair products she needed to replenish, new skincare stuff for her face, and two new perfumes to add to her already vast collection.

You left with a dry mouth, a grumbling stomach, and a headache that no amount of sniffing dry coffee beans could get ever rid of.

Regina did promise you lunch before making you continue. She said you could pick anywhere and you shyly suggested Cheesecake Factory, asking if that was okay or if it was too expensive. She laughed in your face quite loudly at the thought of the Cheesecake Factory being labeled as expensive.

Once you were shown your table, you quickly pulled off your sweater, feeling like it was practically sticking to you at this point. You tossed it into the booth, set your phone and wallet down on the table and excused yourself to use the restroom.

You returned after a few minutes, confused to see Regina looking stressed out and mildly annoyed while she spoke to animatedly to someone. Her phone was set in front of her so you assumed maybe she had taken a phone call, though that really didn't make much sense to you either.

When she noticed you returning, she made eye contact with you. Her eyes flashed up at you angrily, confusing you even more.

You approached the table and finally realized what the issue was; her mother was sitting across from her. All of her own shopping bags crammed into your booth. Your sweater, phone, and wallet all shoved over to Regina's side now.

"Hello." You say, approaching the table cautiously. Regina grumbled and scooted over for you, while Mrs. George adjusted in her seat to give you a friendly smile and a handshake.

"Hi there! You must be Regina's friend." She put her hand out palm side down and you gripped her fingertips delicately and shook her hand. "June."

"Yes, hi, Y/N." You smiled softly as you introduced yourself. You slid into the booth, getting comfortable next to Regina. "It's so nice to meet you." You said, doing your best to prevent the situation from getting more awkward than it already was.

But let's be real, you could feel the tension and annoyance radiating off of Regina right now.

"I didn't mean to interrupt your little lunch date here." She said, picking up the menu to glance it over. Regina tensed up again at her calling this a lunch date (which it kinda was) and took this as an opportunity to give you your phone, setting it on the table in front of you face up with a slight slam. "I saw my Gina sitting here and I just had to sit down." She laughed, but when her laugh died down she cleared her throat and shifted nervously in her seat.

"I totally understand." You smiled at her again even though her menu is up. You just felt so awkward and didn't know what else to do.

Regina tapped your phone screen, revealing that she had texted you multiple times. You picked your phone up with shaky hands, almost too scared to see what she had even said.

Regina(1:13pm): can you PLEASE stay in the bathroom for now? Please

Regina(1:13pm): my mom was here shopping too ig and stopped to eat and spotted me. I just need enough time to get rid of her. Please

Regina(1:14pm): helloooo?

Regina(1:15pm): of course you left your phone at the fucking table. Nice.

You read the messages and felt the panic begin to set in, typing a response out with nervous fingers.

Me(1:27pm): Baby I'm so sorry. I'm so fucking sorry. Do you want me to leave?

Her replies came in quickly, literally within seconds of each other.

Regina(1:28pm): yep

Regina(1:28pm): idk

Regina(1:28pm): fuck

Regina(1:28pm): no please don't.

You read her messages with a small frown. Before you can reply back, June set her menu down dramatically.

"I think I'm going to get their vegan cobb salad." She stated, pulling a glass of water closer to her. "What about you two?"

Regina's leg bounced anxiously under the table. You press your knee against her thigh as an attempt to calm her down, but instead she shifted and moved her legs away from you.

You tried not to let it bother you too much.

"Just the house salad." Regina said, obviously very annoyed.

You frowned again because you know Regina wanted to order four cheese pasta. She had talked about it on your walk over to the restaurant.

You also knew Regina had a history with eating disorders. Your knowledge on it isn't super extensive. What you know is pretty much what you've heard about in high school and what you've observed in your time together.

The way she didn't like you to look at her while she ate, how she preferred you be the first one to start digging in. The way she will rarely ever finished a plate and would typically send you back to your dorm with her leftovers. On the rare occasions she finished her meal, she was immediately in a bad mood afterwards until she could find the time to go to the university rec center. You always offered to go with her, she always declined.

It was very apparent that while Regina does her best to work through her eating disorder and the behaviors associated with it, it's also very clear that eating around her mom, even just being around her mom in general, brought up some issues for her.

Many issues, it seemed.

"Oh gosh. Don't everyone get a salad on my account." June teased. "I have dinner with a friend later so I'm keeping it light. I really only stopped in here because of your father. He loves the peanut butter cheesecake." She looked at you when she reveals this tidbit and you just smile.

"I don't know why you're sitting with us then." Regina grumbled under her breath.

The whole table heard it though. Her mom very clearly heard it.

"I think I'm gonna go with the four cheese pasta today. I'll get back into salads after Christmas." You joked as an attempt to keep the mood light. June thankfully let out one of those rich people laughs, so you assumed a potential crisis was averted.

"Good choice! That's Gina's favorite. I'm surprised you're not ordering it, hun." Her mom asked confused.

"Because I don't fucking want it. Can you drop it?" She said lowly through gritted teeth, her best attempt to keep her attitude at bay.

Her mom essentially just brushed it off and ignored it though.

"So, Y/N, tell me a bit about yourself?"

You looked between the two of them, your way to subtly ask for permission to speak. Regina rolled her eyes and nodded. You took that as a sign to continue. It wasn't a great sign, but a sign nonetheless.

You hated talking about yourself. You were so nervous right now, you were lucky if you remembered your last name. For the briefest moment you even thought about just making shit up. You sat up straight, deciding to keep it simple and not too personal.

"Um, yeah, of course." You cleared your throat. "I'm from the city, I went to North Shore as well. I have an older brother and also a younger brother and sister. So I'm smack dab in the middle." You laughed awkwardly, unsure of what other information would be appropriate to share about yourself.

"Okay, that's enough." Regina interrupted, effectively stop

"Are we all ready to order here?" A bubbly waitress said as she approached your table, not allowing you or Regina's mom to say anything to her about her rude interruption.

Everyone ordered their food. You were the only one to order soda with your meal. Regina and her mom both deciding to stick with water and asking for a lemon to put inside of it.

"So, who are we shopping for today?" June asked, leaning in like it was a secret.

"Me." Regina said with some bite to it and you can't help but sputter out a laugh. It was crass and rude, meant to be taken seriously. There was just something about it that you just found funny.

June made eye contact with you briefly and cracked a smile, seemingly thankful for turning what would've probably been an argument into something less serious.

"Like mother like daughter." June teased and you swear Regina smiled the tiniest bit before shaking her head.

"While I'm being honest, I wouldn't mind getting Y/N some new clothes while we're here." Regina slipped in casually and you look at her with furrowed eyebrows and purses lips because that was news to you.

"Perhaps something with a little more color." Mrs. George whispered to Regina and you looked down at your mostly black ensemble.

Grey t-shirt, black sweatpants, black boots. The sweater you wore that is currently shoved in the corner next to Regina was also black. Oops.

"Exactlyyyy." Regina agreed, the tension slowly melting away from her body.

"I have your father's Amex with me." June sang in a suggestive tone and Regina perked up a bit, both of them both looking at you.

You shifted uncomfortably in your seat, fiddling with your rolled up silverware napkin.

"Well?" Regina asked, and you weren't really sure what to say.

"I don't have money like that. I can't pay you back." You said quietly, cheeks flushed slightly from embarrassment.

"We don't care about the money." They both said in unison.

"Maybe. I'll think about it." You swiped at the condensation on your glass of coke with your thumb.

"We can shop around and see what we find." June said in an attempt to be reassuring.

"It'll be great!" Regina added on, turning slightly to face you and letting her hands drop to her thighs. She rubbed her palms nervously against her jeans while her mom chatted on about what stores to go to.

Eventually June picked up her phone to look for 'inspiration' and once Regina was sure her mom wasn't looking, one of her hands slid over to your thigh. She squeezed reassuringly while she typed and sent out a cluster of texts to you with her free hand.

Regina(1:52pm): please, baby?

Regina(1:52pm): it'll be so fun I promise

Regina(1:52pm): money isn't an issue

Regina(1:53pm): it'll be so hot if you do this for me

You watched your screen as the messages came in, turning your head to look over at her in disbelief at the last text. She didn't look up at you, but she smirked at her phone.

Regina(1:55pm): do this for me and I'll do something for you laterrrrrr

Okay, well that part caught your attention and she knew it. She set her phone down, not even caring about the response you were going to give her because she knew she already had you convinced. The possessive squeeze to your thigh before she returned her hand to the table let you know that as well.

Regina and her mom talked a game plan and you silently observed.

Regina seemed to have such a hot and cold relationship with her mom, but clearly shopping was neutral ground for them.

You could still catch glimpses of nervousness in Regina. The way her leg would bounce when her mom would say literally anything. The way she would pick at her cuticles when there was a silence for too long, trying to figure out a way to keep some sort of conversation going.

Eventually lunch arrived. Regina and her mom barely touched their salads. You were absolutely hungry and wanted to demolish your plate of pasta, but you ordered intentionally to share with Regina later. So you showed some restraint.

The three of you each left with your own take out containers(and cheesecake). Somehow you ended up carrying everyone's food, but you didn't mind.

The first store they dragged you into was Zara. You already knew this experience was going to be uncomfortable, but when June made a beeline for clothes that weren't even close to being your style, you definitely felt your anxiety go up.

You didn't have a chance to sit with that anxiousness long. Regina grabbed her mom by the arm and silently direct her to a different section of the store.

Before going off in her own direction, Regina stepped behind you and flipped your shirt back just enough to silently check your size. You could only assume that the text she sent was to let her mom know of that information as well.

You sat on the first chair you could find, sighing in relief. You were holding everyone's food, Regina's shopping bags, and a few of her mom's bags as well. You rested your head against the wall, watching Regina pick clothes for you off the rack and hook the hangers on her fingers.

Occasionally you would search for her mom, curious to see what she was picking out for you. You would catch her looking at Regina to what she was picking out, then looking back at you to determine if the shirt she was holding was a good color or style for you.

You expected to see more bright and vibrant colors, pinks and purples that just screamed Regina (and June). You were surprised to see that they kept the colors dark and earthy for you, mostly experimenting with different patterns as opposed to colors.

Don't get it twisted, there were definitely some ugly things in both of their hands.

"Y/N," June called to you, beckoning you over with her head. "Come here, hun."

You nodded, adjusting all the bags in your hands and arms, making your way over to her.

One of the bags you were carrying caught a shirt and knocked it to the floor, forcing you to go through the embarrassing process of picking the shirt up while doing your best to not knock over another one.

By the time you made it to her mom, you were flustered from being embarrassed; the heat from the store, your sweater, and all the shit you were carrying were not making things any better.

"I just wanna see..." she held up a shirt with a rather eccentric pattern to your torso, chewing her lower lip as she took time to think about if she liked it or not. "Maybe this one." She put that shirt aside and pulled another from the pile folded over her arm, holding it against your torso next. "Mhmm." She nodded her head, pulling that shirt away from you and adding it back to the pile. "So tell me, Y/N," she began casually, grabbing another shirt from the pile.

"Yeah?" You asked confused, looking down at the next shirt she was holding up against you. You took in its appearance, assuming she was going to ask your opinion.

"Are you the 'not a boy' that Regina is seeing?" She asked you quietly and casually, letting this almost earth shattering question flow out of her mouth as if she was talking about the weather.

You searched around to gauge Regina's proximity. She was a good bit away from you two, looking at some pants.

"No-I mean, I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know." You babbled frantically, too afraid to say the wrong thing.

Or in this case, maybe too afraid to say the right thing?

"It's okay." She said softly, her smile reassuring. She pulled the shirt away and folded it over her arm with the others. "Let's find Regina and head to check out."

"Shouldn't I try everything on first?" You asked, feeling a bit overwhelmed about everything that has happened in the past three minutes.

Still, you followed her toward Regina, too scared to be left behind or abandoned.

You smiled when you saw the back of Regina's head, already eager to be in her presence. June called out to her, waving her over when Regina turned to face you. You could tell immediately when you saw her face that Regina looked like she was gonna be absolutely bitchy toward her mom.

"Mom, I already grabbed that shirt. This one too." She said immediately when she approached the two of you . They spent a moment looking between their hauls, Regina forcing her mom to put back any duplicates. "Let's go pay."

"All of those?" You asked again, your eyebrows raised in sheer shock of the size of their combined haul for you.

"Whatever you don't want or don't like, we'll just return it." She said simply with a shrug. "What size pants are you?" She added quickly, changing the subject and holding up the small stack of pants. It looked to only be two pairs of pants, just in multiple sizes.

"Uh, these." You said after looking through the options, managing to lift your weakened and exhausted arm to point to the correct size with your knuckle.

She hummed and pulled your size from pile, balancing them on your occupied arms briefly so she could return the other sizes to their areas.

You both met up with her mom in line at the register. The wait not too unbearable for Black Friday.

When they began scanning items and the total began racking up, Regina shooed you away because she could see you stressing out over the price.

You waited outside of the store, mostly as an attempt to cool down. They joined you outside a few minutes later with five more bags and you struggled to figure out how you were going to carry all of them.

Though you were honestly hoping Regina was ready to go home.

Instead her mom announced she had canceled her dinner plans, wanting to know if you guys wanted to do a bit more shopping. Regina of course agreed on your behalf. The three of you made the short walk back to parking lot to drop off the bags, then returned back to shop.

You really didn't want to complain because Regina seemed to be having an okay time with her mom. You also didn't want to be annoying after they had just spent so much money on you. But god, your feet hurt, your head hurt, your back hurt.

You could handle shopping at the mall at like a normal level. This was absolutely shopaholic level shopping, it had to be.

----

Regina excused herself to use the restroom while you all shopped the Louis Vuitton store.

Well, they shopped.

You browsed for the briefest moment and swore your eyebrows were going to fly off your face every time you checked the price of something.

June stood next to you as soon as Regina stepped away. She picked up an $1,800 bag, calling it inexpensive before setting it down to look at another one.

"So, Y/N, any plans for winter break and Christmas?" She asked, pointing out two purses that were similar in style just different colors. "Which is cuter?"

"No plans. Both my parents will be out of town, so it'll just be me." You replied, taking in the details of the two bags before deciding which one you thought she would prefer most. "The pink and white one." You nodded when you said it out loud and she agreed immediately.

"Oooh, are you getting a purse, mom?" Regina asked when she returned, her hand grazing your lower back briefly before turning her attention to the purse her mom was looking at.

It felt like torture having Regina so close to you and you couldn't kiss her or touch her. You longed to be in the bubble that the two you created for yourselves.

They hit up one more store before they finally had pity on you. Her mom offered to treat you both to dinner at some steakhouse in Evanston and Regina, once again, agreed on your behalf.

Both of you walked with her mom to her car, helping her reorganize her trunk so everything she bought fit nicely into the space.

Once her mom was out of sight, Regina handed you her car keys and linked her arm around yours, pulling you close to her. She hugged your arm while you walked back to the car in silence.

You unlocked the car, helping Regina put all her bags in the trunk. As soon as you were both in the car, she stopped you from turning on the engine.

You looked at her confused, but instead of saying anything she leaned over the center console and cupped your face while she kissed you deeply and hungrily. Her tongue slipped into your mouth briefly, catching you off guard and making you moan against her lips.

She broke the kiss after a minute or so, leaving you stunned and breathless. Her thumb swiped across your lower lip, wiping away her shimmery lipgloss

"Thanks for today." She said, pulling down her visor to reapply her gloss in the mirror. "I haven't had a nice shopping day with my mom for a while."

"It was nice hanging out with her. She's fun. I'm so glad you thought it was a good day." You smiled, scrunching your nose up at her and she returned the gesture. "Thank you so much for everything today, but you really didn't have to get me all those clo-"

"I don't want to hear it!" She interrupts you by putting her hand up in your face. She grabbed your face, squeezing your cheeks between her fingertips. "Just say thank you and maybe eat me out later to show your appreciation."

Your breath hitched, caught completely off guard by her chosen token of appreciation. She knew it, too. You nodded your head and she smirked, adjusting the way she was holding your face so her thumb could trace your bottom lip.

She tugged on your lower lip and you unclenched your jaw for her, parting your lips slightly. You bit the tip of her thumb playfully, taking the chance to catch her off guard and startle her.

You chuckled and pressed a soft kiss to her thumb before releasing it. She pushed some hair from your face, keeping her fingers threaded in the hair near the back of your head while she stared at you.

"What?" You asked, furrowing your eyebrows and wiping your face.

"What do you mean 'what'? I can't just stare at you?" She gave your hair a firm tug before releasing it and fixing the mess she made. "I just love you, that's all."

You caught her forearm, pressing soft kisses over her palm, wrist, and the back of her hand.

"I love you, too." You planted one more kiss to the center of her palm before blowing a raspberry, the feeling of it making her yank her hand back.

"Ew, I didn't like that how that felt." She said with a shiver, wiping her hand on her thigh. The action making you throw your head back and laugh.

"Noted." You told her with a smile. "Put the directions in and put some music on, baby." You finally turned on the car, waiting for her to get everything situated before pulling off.

June was already seated by the time the two of you arrived. She had already ordered appetizers and a bottle of wine for the table.

The server came and poured the three glasses of wine, but you kindly asked for a glass of water since you planned on driving.

Dinner was going smooth. Almost too smooth. Conversation was flowing. Regina had a slight buzz since she drank your wine instead. The food was great. Everything seemed to be going perfectly.

Until dessert, of course.

You and Regina were sharing a piece of cake, both too full for your own slices. June topped off her wine and leaned forward excitedly.

"So, Gina, I talked to your dad on the ride over here." She said with a big grin and Regina shrugged.

"Okay?" She raised one of her eyebrows, her lips pressed into a slight scowl at the mention of her dad.

"Well, Y/N had mentioned being alone for the winter break," she began and you could feel your cheeks heating up. "So I talked to your father and asked about bringing Y/N with us to our family trip to Aspen." She reached forward to pat your hand. "All expenses paid of course." She attempted to reassure you. "He said that it was a great idea since your sister was bringing a friend, too."

You could feel Regina stiffen up next to you. All of a sudden your half eaten piece of cake became VERY interesting.

"Why would you do that?" She asked harshly, but her voice was extremely calm at the same time. Like the air before a tornado type of calm. She let her fork drop and pushed the plate of cake away from both of you.

You weren't sure who the question was directed at or who she was more upset with right now. Was it her mom for asking her dad if you could go on the trip? At you for letting it slip in a casual conversation that you'd be spending the winter break alone?

In your defense, you didn't know her mom was going to invite you on their trip. You didn't even know Regina was going on a trip. Hell, you didn't even know she had a sister, but that's a conversation for a different time.

"I just thought you'd want Y/N there. I'm sure your cousins are going to be bringing partners and friends to this trip as well. So, Y/N, honey-" she called to you to get your attention and you looked up at her. "Just think about it, okay?"

You smiled and nodded politely, letting your hands drop to your lap.

"I wanna leave. Let's go." Regina said, already standing up and putting on her jacket.

"Regina, don't. We don't have to leave." You said, looking between her and her mother.

"It's okay, Y/N." She winked at you and wrinkled her nose. It was the first time you really realized how much Regina looked like her mom. You could June's feelings were hurt, but she placated Regina and her outburst. Most likely already familiar with Regina and how she operated. "Really, it's okay." She told you, Regina already halfway to the exit by now.

If you didn't have the keys in your pocket, you'd honestly be concerned about her leaving without you.

"I'm really sorry." You said sincerely, standing up to pull out your wallet and give her money for your dinner. Unsure of what else to do. You just felt like you needed to do something to make you feel better for the way Regina was acting.

"Put that away." She said, her tone teasing but serious as she took another long sip of her wine. "Consider the trip. She'll get over it." She waved her hand, accompanied by an unserious eye roll to show some annoyance with her daughter.

You thanked her again before rushing out to the car. You found Regina impatiently propped up against her passenger side door, tapping her foot anxiously.

When she finally caught sight of you, she began to obnoxiously tug at the handle of the door. You unlocked it with an eye roll and she climbed into the passenger seat, slamming the door.

You entered a few moments after her, already knowing by her vibe that talking wasn't an option right now.

You connected your phone so you could play music and the two of you didn't talk for the entire car ride.

Regina still managed to show she was annoyed with you, even while she was ignoring you. Any time you began to hum along to a song that was playing, she would quickly reach forward and change it to the next song. After her third time doing it, you realized that the issue was definitely you and not the songs.

You kept yourself completely silent the rest of the ride home after that.

You silently hoped things would blow over when you got back to your place. That she would get over it or you guys would talk it out and end the night snuggled in bed together.

Instead, when you killed the engine she let out a shaky sigh next to you as she undid her seatbelt.

"Um," she started, her voice thick with unshed tears as she got out of the car. She spoke to you through the open door and you could hear her feet shuffling against the pavement beneath her. "I think I'm gonna go back to the dorms early." She sniffled, wiping her cheek with the sleeve of her jacket before slamming the door shut.

"What?" You ask confused, unsure if you even heard her correctly. "What do you mean early? You're just gonna go back?" You asked in succession. You were trying to remain patient and sympathetic with her, but you were also trying to keep yourself from puking with anxiety.

You scrambled to get out of the car, forgetting to undo your seatbelt at first. You cursed loudly at yourself when the belt kept you locked in place. You rushed quickly to undo it, exiting the car to talk to her face to face.

"I just think this is all too much too fast, you know?" She blinked rapidly to keep her tears from falling, but it only did the opposite. More tears fell down her cheeks and dripped onto her jacket, leaving little droplet stains.

"What are you talking about? Is it because of the Aspen thing?" You push hair from your face. It wasn't even really in your face, you just didn't know what the fuck to do with yourself right now. "Baby, I won't go! I didn't even know that was her intention when she was asking me about my winter break plans. I didn't know!" You were practically pleading with her at this point, but she continued to shake her head.

"That's not it." She crossed her arms and leans against her trunk, wiping her face again with her sleeve. Her cheeks beginning to turn pink from how roughly she was wiping her tears away.

"So what is it then? Because I'm really confused right now." You were standing in front of her now. You wanted to take her hand, but she was purposefully keeping herself closed off to you.

You settled on gripping her open jacket, pressing your thumb hard into one of the button.

"It's everything! You met my mom, she offered to bring you on a vacation with my whole family, she told my dad about you!"

Ah, there it was.

"What? You don't want people knowing we're friends? Are we not friends, too?" You gave her jacket a tug when you asked it, annoyed with her because she wouldn't look at you.

"No, I don't!" She tried brushing your hand off of her, but you tightened your grip. A small scowl was painted on her lips, but her tears continued to betray her by falling. "I don't know what we are anymore!"

You weren't even sure if she said it because she meant it or if she said it just for the sake of being mean. Either way, it sucked.

"Are you being serious?" You asked in disbelief.

"I don't know. Maybe I am." She said calmly now. She almost looked stunned that she even said it herself. She shrugged her shoulders before doubling down on her words, as if she just snapped into character. "I came to college to fuck around and party. Not fucking settle down with someone in first few months." The words came out sharp, you swore you could feel each one of them cutting into you.

She didn't stutter when she said it. Her voice didn't break or quiver, but her tears continued to drip down her cheeks almost poetically.

"Fine." You huffed. You let your hand drop from her jacket, your palm smacking against your thigh. "You wanna go fuck around and be done? Fucking go."

Her expression hardened and she raised her eyebrows at you, pushing herself off her car and taking her keys from you.

"Get your clothes from my trunk and I'll go." She said, opening up the trunk.

"I don't want that shit." Your voice was laced with hurt and anger. You stepped away from her and held your arm out towards the trunk full of bags, challenging her to say something back to you right now.

"What do you mean?" She looked at you absolutely fucking devastated. You could feel your heart shattering as you continued to go off on her.

"Take it all back. Fuck that. I don't fucking want them. You want to tell me you're in love with me and now all of a sudden you want to fuck around with people and not be settled down. I said I wouldn't go on the trip!" You pleaded again, your own tears falling.

"Just take the fucking clothes!" She began pulling the bags from her trunk and throwing them carelessly onto the sidewalk, breaking out into a full blown sob as she did it. "You don't fucking understand!" She yelled between sobs as she threw your things from her trunk. "You don't fucking understand how much being with my family makes me hate myself!" She balled her hands into fists, pressing them against her eyes as she continued to sob.

Her cheeks were raw from wiping her face, her neck was red from being so upset and worked up. You wanted this argument to be over. You didn't even think it would escalate to this in the first place.

"Just come inside-"

"Fuck going inside!" She shouted, her voice cracking slightly.

"Yo! Do I need to fucking call the cops on you two?! Are you good?!" One of your mom's disgruntled neighbors shouts from his window.

"We're fine!" You both shout back in unison, not breaking eye contact with each other.

You hear him mumbling to himself about taking this shit elsewhere before slamming his window shut.

"Regina." You call to her softly, trying to resume this fight in a less confrontational way.

"I'm sorry." She whispered tearfully, tangling her hands in your hair to pull you in for a wet kiss.

You cupped her face and kissed her back deeply, her other hand gripping the back of your sweater tightly while you kissed.

Afterwards, you picked up the bags strewn across the sidewalk and front lawn, a sense of relief washing over you when she took a few from you and helped you bring them inside. You assumed she was raising a white flag. That the argument was over.

So you understandably felt incredibly fucking stupid when still packed up her things and left.

[inesbaby21]

omggg hii loved ur inês head cannons!! was wondering if you would do like singer!reader x inês !!

10000x yessa guys look at my username .. i LOVEEEE ME SOME INÊS DOWN DO NOT PLAY WITH IT 😜

INÊS BETTENCOURT X SINGER!READER HEADCANONS

Definitely has a playlist dedicated to your songs/ Songs that remind you of her

I'm also getting nepo baby vibes from singer!reader, but not like you guys are probably thinking..I seeing like former WNBA player mom, or NBA player dad that follows singer!reader like a HAWK honey ..

Anyways, this girl cannot shut up about you in post game interviews- like she's getting side eyed by kk and ice for mentioning your new EP/new album

"Yeah no, my pregame playlist is full of Y/N-" Inês says, full blown smile- eyes gleaming full of adoration.

"The fact that she's not even lying is the best part, she's so whipped that we can't even MENTION Y/N being in the stands- or even like coming to a game without her squealing like a little girl .." FT A NASTY the side eye BAD.

I definitely see Inês getting in trouble for missing practice to see you perform- or like begging you to come to a home game for weeks and like freaking when you finally do.

"Paige help me- I didn't think she was actually gonna fly in to watch me play. SHE JUST HAD A CONCERT IN ARIZONA."

"nesh don't task me- I've never had to stop someone from getting on a plane to see me the next day" Paige says muting the live as Inês marches in the room terrified

FASHION. KILLERS. cmon now, like seriously do think Singer!Reader would let nesh walk around looking like a hobo?

Jokes, Jokes, the two definitely match- but like Mary Kate and Ashley match (I'm a twin fun fact! and my mom would match me and my brother this way!)

Definitely always Inês plus one to events- and vise versa.

"But Y/N/NNNNN I really want you to go to our pregame dinner- meet my teammates and friends! I literally live with most of them" The tan girl says pouting as she raises her head from the dip of your chest.

Poor baby definitely (accidentally) exposed your relationship on live with Kk, Paige, and Azzi somewhere in the background. Definitely got laughed at while she freaked out.

"Paige- You know that Y/N/N is coming from california after todays performance and she's coming to see meee" The girl says, completely disregarding the fact that they were on live. UNMUTED with over 5k active and listening fans, fans who commonly screen recorded the lives.

Poor baby ended the live so fast, and rushed to call you and let you know that she had exposed your almost 7 month relationship on accident (while sobbing)

"And- and like I said something about you coming to see me after your performance in Cali, a-and like We were on live. With you being in Cali right now- about to perform in a few hours- plus Y/N being your name they know i'm talking about you" The girl says In-between sobs.

"Oh Nes- I'm not mad baby, I had no problem with going public I just wanted to make sure you were ready" You said doing your best to comfort the obviously distraught girl- who was convinced that you would be upset with her.

Cutest paparazzi pictures of you two on the beach, or on stage before a concert- and don't get me started on the date/late night pictures of the two of you out.

Definitely having to get Inês used to people following her around, getting picture of her, and the Gala's (Not that ANY of the things paparazzi do should be legal, but just so it's less stress on the poor girl 😞)

Definitely writing a few (a whole notebooks worth) of songs about inês

Also definitely comes to see Singer!Reader live/ on stage after hard launching each other and Is invited (dragged) on stage as she sings an acoustic version of a song she wrote about Nesh

Definitely spends all of her free time on the phone with you, or if your schedules line up little vacations/get aways because with both of your demanding schedules sometimes you two need a little no phone, no wi-fi, no service break you know ?

A/N I love my sugar plum blum Inês! I can't waittt to see her do great things this season, even if she's not with Uconn! also remember that these are HUMAN BEINGS with emotions, feelings, and personal behind the scenes things that we don't know about. Meaning that her transfer really is none of our business, as for other players transferring schools/being traded off in the WNBA. Our "Job" is to support these women, watch them do what they love, and to honestly mind our business 🤷🏽‍♀️.

[comicaurora]

I've started making my way through the playlist hbomberguy made of actually good video essays by queer creators and spotted a comment of yours on the one about the relationship between Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, which was fun xD red in the wild!

Anyways, just wanted to appreciate how both you and Blue and you are very good at showing your sources! It's always nice to know that the people you've watched for years have good habits after an event like this, and I hope you guys are among the people that get some new fans after this whole debacle, because your channel definitely qualifies for "good educational videos made by queer people"

I'm glad! Blue's much better about listing his sources and follow-up reading than I am.

To be honest, I loved the video, but my imposter syndrome always flares like crazy when I watch an essay like that. It might be the ADHD or it might just be who I am as a person, but I feel like I've lived my whole life striving to make everything I do the best it can be, and still managing to fuck up and get criticised for things I could've done better if only I never missed anything. It's an actual gut-drop when it turns out a source I used wasn't trustworthy, or when in older videos I only went wiki-deep for some claims and didn't check every source to be 100% sure I wasn't being goat-fish'd. And this being the internet, I can get criticized at any time for things I've gotten wrong years ago, since it's evergreen online and to the new-viewing critic it's as fresh as yesterday. It makes it hard for me to stay proud of my work past the first moment of "oh I would've done that different now". There's a cocktail of complicated, scary feelings around this space, no matter how little I actually have in common with the bad guys of this scenario - it's less about the reality and more about who my imposter syndrome tells me I am. I saw several people saying that the video actually made them feel much better about their own work because it made it clear that accidental plagiarism on that scale is impossible, but if my anxieties listened to reason I would've successfully machete'd them out of my skull years ago. I just hope I never fuck up badly enough to deserve an hbombing of my own.

But my own stress aside, the hbomb essay exposed a level of laxness, laziness and entitlement on the part of these plagiarists that I think is almost incomprehensible to people who actually create for a living or even just the joy of it. How hollow do you have to be to take in someone else's writing and not consider it, digest it, let it reshape your views and then formulate your own interpretation on it, but instead to file off the serial numbers and pretend it's yours, trusting that the person whose thoughts and words you valued enough to steal will never be powerful enough to call you out on it? I go down research rabbit holes because I love the frustration and thrill of putting something together! How joyless it must be to skim the surface and borrow someone else's conclusions!

I've sometimes had people email asking for sources on parts of my interpretation of various myths, possibly in the interest of source-citing for school papers (a nightmare concept in and of itself) and with very few exceptions I usually have to tell them "the only sources were the english translations I used of the primary source where the myth was originally written, like I said in the video, and the part where I said I was conspiracy-boarding has no source other than my own analysis of the given source, which is why I called it conspiracy-boarding" and I was always a little baffled by those emails - half the videos are introduced like "this is The Prose Edda" or "this is in Ovid's Metamorphoses" or "this bit is Hesiod" so what else could they want - but seeing the hbomb of the week made me realize that truly original analysis might not be what most people are expecting from a "thing summarized." They might be expecting a compilation of other people's summaries instead.

[kitashinsukehoney]

Angry Sex - Satan Obey Me

(requested by anon)

TW: MDNI!! Angry sex, rough sex, creampie, choking, spitting, hair pulling, missionary, HOT SATAN, downgrading kink, fingering, overstimulation.

Satan the Wrath Demon. You and him are compatible, and would spend most of your time together reading books, doing research and even doing homework together. He enjoys his time with you as staying home with his brothers has been stressing him out and causing him unable to focus on his studies.

"I can't believe it. He chose Mammon to handle the class event instead of me! Mammon is incapable to do anything but troubles! Lucifer even doubted my whole ability just because I got B in Potion subject!", Satan complained to me. He has been mad about this topic for hours.

"Satan, calm down okay? Your brother wouldn't want to put more burden on your shoulder. Let's think positively", I said to him as I'm arranging new books on the shelf.

"Y/N, you don't understand! You think it's that simple but having someone to doubt your whole ability is suck!", he yelled. At this point, his wrath is creeping up on me, making me mad too.

I slammed the books down on my study table and turned around to look at him.

"I know it's sucks! But getting mad over a small thing is childish, Satan. Plus Mammon is not that bad, he has the ability to handle this event too. You shouldn't be looking down on him when you hate someone does that to you too!", I snapped.

I was hoping he would calm down a bit but he frowned more.

"What did you say, woman?", he uttered as he's changing into his demon form. He took few steps closer to me, and his energy is so intimidating. I didn't ask for this, did I?

"I'm just saying that Mammon wasn't that bad... Plus Asmo is assisting him too. Just hope that the event would be successful", I said while froze. I was so scared, too scared to move because he would've strangle me.

"You're asking for a death wish, woman. You know how many merits i can get from this event? I've been practicing for months only for it to be snatch away from me", he snarled.

He grabbed my hand tightly.

"I thought you're so bold? What happened now? Unable to speak anymore?" he said to me. He grabbed a fistful of my hair and tilted my head so my eyes would meet his gaze.

"Ow! Let me go. You're hurting me", I said.

"This is nothing compared to be replaced by stupid Mammon, woman", he said.

His low and dangerous voice sent shivers to my body.

"I'm sorry... Please", i pleaded. His eyebrows furrowed and he won't budged. Instead of letting me go, he pulled my closer to his body and wrapped his arm around my waist. He smashed his lips onto mine, sucking my lower lips and his hand groped my breast harshly. He was BEING so rough right now. My make up that was done so nicely, smudged as the two of us kissed sloppily.

"Mmmh!", my muffled sound as I'm trying to fight him but failed. He wrapped his other hand around my neck and causing me unable to breath. He wanted to see me break but his wrath is too unbearable. He pulled me harshly towards my bed and pushed me down.

"Fuck this family, fuck those brothers! I'm better than those idiots", he nagged as he stripped off his clothes. He hovered himself over me and leaned in to bite my shoulder, leaving trails of love bites and marks. His hands ripped off my nightgown.

"Satan, don't be so rough", i pleaded. I looked away as I was scared of him when he is in his demon form.

"Oi, eyes on me. Open your mouth", he said. I focused back my gaze on him and obeyed him by opening my mouth. He spat into my mouth and pulled me for a deep sloppy kiss.

He hummed, feeling a bit satisfied.

His hands touched and caressed my naked body underneath him, until his hand arrived at my private part. His fingers rubbed against my heated folds and clit dangerously. As I was whining and squirmed in pleasures, he slapped my pussy.

"Stay still, woman", he snarled. He continues fingering my pussy skillfully. At first he used one finger, then two fingers and now he's using three fingers to prep me.

"Satan! I'm closer", I moaned as I gripped his hair. He groaned slightly but he didn't stop at all. He can feel my pussy clenched around his fingers so securely and smirked.

Instead of letting me cum, he stopped fingering me.

I whined, feeling overstimulated. "No, that's unfair! You're supposed to-", I whined but he shoved the fingers he used earlier into my mouth.

"Taste yourself", he said, taunting me with his wrath. I taste myself, sucking his fingers nicely.

As I was sucking his fingers, he slapped my cheek lightly while uttering, "Good slut listens to her demon. You're a good slut, serving me with this holy pussy that asking to be breed nonstop today".

Without a warning, he shoved himself inside my pussy, and moved in a rough pace. He drove himself angrily while gripping the headboard of my bed hard. My bed creaking crazily and the headboard broke. I gasped but he didn't stopped for a second. He kept on thrusting inside me, using my pussy for himself. He's upset and I'd let him vent his wrath on me through sex.

His hand wrapped around my neck and he pinned my legs to my chest to have a better angle to thrust deeper. I was crying in pleasures, choking and dumbfucked by him.

"Sa...satan, fuck! S-slow it, Ah~", i moaned, choking each words. He was still upset and thrusted harder.

"Love it when I can fuck your pussy angrily like this. You're so pathetic right now", he downgraded me. I kept on moaning and whimpering. His lips latched onto my breast, biting my nipple playfully which completely made me aroused.

My free hands scratched his back, and even dug my nails into his skin. At this point, we're fucking like wolves. His pace getting harsher before he released his thick cum inside me.

He let go his grip from my neck and pulled me in for a kiss.

"Fuck, that sex was good. One more", he said before he started to thrust angrily again, fucking his cum deep into my womb. Maybe I should ask Mammon or Asmo to make him angry again.

Credit to headers: @/dollywons (tumblr)

[localcanadiancreature62]

Dipper and Mabel vs the Past au (title is a reference to an actual episode in the show) - Timestuck style au where instead of ending up in the time period where the Oregon Trail was being used in The Time Traveler's Pig,Dipper and Mabel end up 30 years into the past and end up uncovering secrets about their Grunkle Stan like WAYYYY earlier than they're supposed to (time travelers pig is s1,not what he seems is s2. they discover things Very Early in the timeline here). Mabel ends up with Ford,Dipper ends up with Stan. Now i know the usual portrayal of this au is "the kids being with their favorite grunkles" but i wanted to do something different cuz i LOVE exploring the dynamics of Dipper with Stan and Mabel with Ford sooo bad. I'm thinking this is set like... Paranoia Ford era aka the events culminating to Stan receiving the postcard,so basically Ford has literally just lost his best friend and also almost had his fucking tendons snapped and now he has to deal with a child who is apparently his great niece in the future while simultaneously protecting the child from Bill,Ford has a lot on his plate lmaooo.

Meanwhile Mullet Stan is down on his luck as he lives in his shitty rundown apartment while trying to avoid Rico due to owing him money that he currently doesn't have,he's miserable as ever and then a child with a hat as well as a striking resemblance to his brother suddenly appears in his car when he was out shoplifting groceries,having to take care of it when he can barely take care of himself. Angst and hurt/comfort + a few wholesome moments ensue. Ford finds himself getting attached to his young niece even when he's incredibly highstrung and feels that he can't trust anyone right now,seeing that such a bright and caring soul is worth trusting. Mabel eventually finds out about Bill after the bastard possesses Ford while she was trying to give him a better sleep schedule,and the girl makes it her mission to protect her other grunkle (like i said. they figure things out way early here) from that bastard after realizing that this pointy jerk wants to hurt him as evident from the fork stabbing and Ford's journal pages regarding him being tormented by Bill (bro the funniest thing is that Bill doesn't even appear yet in this current part of the timeline lmaoo. like dreamscapers happens WAYYY AFTER the time traveler's pig. so Mabel basically just saw a triangle dude that she knows nothing about and has never met and decided that she needs to fight for her life to protect Ford from him despite ALSO not knowing anything about her other grunkle either). Mabel helps Ford slowly get himself back together as Bill is biding his time to eventually get the portal started again one way or another,meaning that Bill is too busy planning things out to torment Ford,thus Mabel chooses self care for her Grunkle Ford and makes it his problem, trying to force Ford to get out of the house for groceries or at least give him a few minutes to touch grass rather than being cooped up in his dumb dork lab all day making him shower giving him a better sleep schedule and even making cupcakes for him so he can eat things besides moldy cheese or strange tasting alien cow milk (reference to that one real life journal 3 page with the weird cow). Ford is actually very shocked and touched by this gesture,because he has been spending weeks all by himself while being actively tortured without anyone by his side but now this girl suddenly makes his life a little brighter and he thanks her for that,despite him being strict snappy and moody most of the time due to being stressed from Bill and the portal (i can't really blame him for feeling that way. i too would feel my sanity slipping as the looming threat of the apocalypse going to be eventually caused by my former muse is getting nearer and nearer while said muse is also torturing me 24/7 all while juggling self care and research and taking care of a whole child to top it all off),bro is close to tears when he realizes that he's not alone after all and that he doesn't HAVE to be alone,and that he actually needs someone rather than not needing people like what he said,i.e "I don't need you. I don't need anyone!" and Mabel is right there to help him. Mabel ends up wearing 80s clothes as well as stops using her phone in public in order to not draw suspicion after Ford pointed out that people would get pretty confused by her glowing shoes and "advanced flip phone",meanwhile Ford tries to figure out how to find the time tape that the girl speaks of as he starts to study time travel and relearn the laws of time in order to help Mabel as he plans on possibly building a makeshift time machine to replace the tape in the case that they never find it.

So far Mabel is doing pretty well despite having to deal with her snappy Grunkle Ford and the fact that her Grunkle Stan was lying about her and Dipper being the only family he has left as well as the fact that she actively has to ignore every trick that Bill pulls on her including possession by using unicorn hair that is now a hair extension on her own hair (early discovery) while also trying to not die/get grievously injured at the hands of Bill or Bill possessed Ford and ALSO greatly missing her brother who is nowhere to be found as she can't find a way home to her time as she begins to experience literally disappearing very slowly as a result of a time paradox of her being in a time before she was even born,what fun! :D.

Dipper however,has worse problems to deal with than a demon triangle and a snappy Grunkle. He has to deal with being homeless and being even MORE anxious/guarded than he already was due to the fact that his Grunkle Stan's enemies could jump him any moment. He has to be Stan's accomplice in committing crimes like shoplifting or pickpocketing people for food and money. The fact that Stan is a criminal and that he has to commit crimes with the risk of getting caught or worse,killed by his Grunkle's old "friends" puts a lot of weight on the poor boy,and he was anxious as is with him generally being highstrung and now he has EVERY reason to be afraid due to him being a runaway criminal with Stan. Although having to live a hard life and commit difficult crimes even when it's wrong ended up toughening Dipper up,showing that dealing with the hard and fast life boosted his confidence tenfold. Dipper actually feels bad for his Grunkle Stan,even when the guy kept making fun of him back then (i.e Dipper vs manliness and the bottomless pit stories),as he had NO IDEA that his Grunkle lived like this before. So he makes sure to be as helpful and as less of a burden as possible,just to make his Grunkle Stan happy. Heck,he even becomes protective of his Grunkle despite his weak nerd arms and he has gotten injured for the grifter's sake multiple times such as the time he got a lot of scrapes and bruises from trying to rescue Stan from falling in a ditch as he ended up falling himself instead. Stan is glad to have a little buddy around him,especially when the kid is his future nephew and thus family,since he's been suffering all by himself for so long and he really appreciates the company. He really wishes that he could help Dipper regarding the whole time tape situation,but only Ford could know what to do as he's too dumb to understand time travel (Stan ur inferiority complex is showing). So he figures that the only way he could help is to just watch out for a weird looking tape measure with an hour glass symbol on it and steal it immediately from whoever has it (the time tape has actually ended up with Blendin after he used a spare time tape to look for the other one that the kids have [he needs to return those. he'll get in trouble for losing a single one],and he's been looking for the children for a while so that he could bring them back to their own time as their very presence in the 80s is a time anomaly and thus he wants to fix it before he gets in trouble with the time police).

Dipper ALSO forces Stan to take care of himself,although to a lesser extent than Mabel with Ford. He doesn't do any heavy duty self care work,but he more so reminds Stan to consider himself too whenever they have food or beds to share instead of just letting him have everything and sacrificing the little stability he already has for the kid. Dipper also tries to give them a better lifestyle at some point by convincing Stan to rent a house and also steal wads of cash from an ATM just to give him a taste of a normal life again since he feels bad for his Grunkle having to sleep in his car or a shitty apartment all the time,Stan literally cries from this gesture as he's so happy to have someone besides Ford finally care about him after 10 years of being alone. He discovers that he doesn't have to be alone and push people away despite wanting someone to care so bad,as Dipper is there to help him.

The two happily live in the rented house for a few weeks until they the landlord kicked them out for not paying rent and then they had to make a run for it. Sometimes,being with Dipper physically pains Stan because of how much he reminds him of Ford. He has the same bright curiosity and thirst for knowledge that his brother had,the same innocence and happiness that Ford had before everything happened. Stan missing Ford is so evident to the point of him occasionally calling the kid "Poindexter" because of how much the boy reminds him of his twin. Dipper finds out about Ford sooner or later because of this,plus he ends up discovering the old picture of Stan and Ford in front of the Stan o' War in his Grunkle's jacket.

He gets angry at the future old Stan for never telling him about his brother and that he had another Grunkle,but he soon realizes why after young Stan explains the whole ordeal he has with Ford regarding the science fair incident. Stan himself points that out too. "What the- You- You had a brother this whole time?!. How come your future self never told me about this?!. What other things is he hiding?. Ugh." "Well,kid. If i know myself,i wouldn't go around telling everyone about the drama i have with my brother y'know?. Especially when it still hurts *sniff*." "What?. What do you mean 'drama'?. Actually,is that the reason why you're living like this and you don't ask him for help?." "Uhh.. You see,my brother is a stubborn jerk. So stubborn that he decided to go to college instead of staying with me. And he let Dad kick me out because of what?. Breaking his dumb perpetual motion machine project?." Stan says in frustration as the resentment is oozing with his every word,as he still doesn't forgive Ford for what he did even with how much he misses him. "Oh.. That's awful. I don't really know the full scope of what happened between you two,but i can say that it's that bad considering that you ended up living on the streets soon after." "Ya think?. As far as i'm concerned,that nerd is living it up in a normal house with his dumb college money instead of sleeping out in a car all the damn time." "And kid,there's a reason why the older me didn't tell you anything. Whatever happens to us in the future,that bastard STILL didn't talk to me about our problems. As him- er me not talking about it means that the resentment is still simmering inside." "Ah,figures. I guess you really are Grunkle Stan instead of some random dumb hobo with how wise you are." "Can it Dippy. I wasn't the one crying over losing a hat yesterday." "Hey!. I- It's my signature accessory,i can't go without it" "Yeah yeah whatever". Also,Dipper and Mabel greatly miss the other. The kids' determination to get back to their twin no matter what cost reminds their respective Stans that they used to be like that too back then,always prioritizing their twin over everything else.

Mabel always makes little doodles of her and Dipper's adventures together in her new 80s scrapbook which Ford catches her doing,meanwhile Dipper rambles about how fun and supportive Mabel is to Stan whenever they have a break from being on the run. Stan feels conflicted over letting the boy constantly talk about how great his sister is when his own sibling is a good for nothing bastard but it also makes him think that maybe he and Ford can be like that again sometime whenever he finally gets the courage to call him or send a postcard to him,Ford on the other hand ignores Mabel's Dipper doodles and occasional rambles about her brother while making an excuse about him being "too busy" to hear about it despite the real reason being that he's too angry at Stan to keep being reminded of the fact that they used to be as close as his future niece and nephew. Both younger twins realize that they NEED to get their Grunkles to talk to each other since it's painful to see a set of siblings like them hate each other so much,especially when they're family, although Mabel is more insistent about it than Dipper due to the fact that Stan has bigger fish to fry than making up with his brother plus the girl is more optimistic than her brother who thinks that Stan and Ford's relationship is broken beyond repair and that there's no hope for them. But getting their Grunkles talk to each other is a job for another time,as they still have to find each other and also find the time tape as well as blend into the 80s until they get back.

(i made this au forever ago. but i forgot to finish it until like November or show it to anyone until now 💀)

[everestgale]

The human voices AU is so interesting! The stranger pairs being siblings is sooo cute! If I can ask about specific characters, can I ask for heaecannons and stuff about Paranoid, please? He's my favourite of your human designs (I love his pretty hair) Thank you, and I hope you have a nice day!

I am so sorry, anon, for leaving your ask in my inbox for days and days, I am very forgetful, and every time I sit down to write my Paranoid HCs, I get distracted by 5 different things! Gr!

But! I'm finally replying now! First, thank you for your kind words, and thank you for liking my Paranoid! I don't draw him as much because he's kind of difficult for me to draw, but I do love his human design a lot <3

You know what, for the occasion, have a doodle of my human Paranoid with his slightly updated design! He's got glasses now (which he should've had this whole time), and his gloves are shorter :]

And second, just as a heads up, because human AU is so underdeveloped, everything is a subject to change! Also, if you would like to have more context on the human AU in general, it's in this post! Though, the main context you need is that all voices are humans, and they never directly experienced the events of the game (they exist as subconscious memories). Now, let's see what I have for Paranoid:

His name in the human AU is Pierre! Cold (Casper) and Hero (Hugo) also call him "Perry" as a nickname; he absolutely hates it coming from Cold (because Cold does it exclusively to annoy Paranoid), but find it kind of endearing from Hero (because shameless ParaHero).

As mentioned in the previous ask, Paranoid and Cold are adoptive siblings, with Cold as the (slightly) older sibling. Generally, their relationship is not bad, but they aren't super close either; Pierre finds his sibling too obnoxious and nonchalant, and Casper isn't helping as he's constantly looking for ways to be a nuisance and bother their brother, their deadpan expressions and general indifference to Pierre's anxious reactions only exaggerating the issue. It sounds like they hate each other, but they don't really. Stuff like that happens only when Cold is bored and wants to annoy their brother, outside of those moments, they both do still care about each other and help each other out, sometimes.

[Rest of the HCs are under the cut because it got very long!]

Also mentioned in the previous ask, Paranoid is a university student. Specifically, he is a last year, pre-med student, and so he is perpetually stressed, overworked, and anxious. Hunted (Harley) and Hero have to forcibly drag him out of his room to take breaks and eat.

Speaking of Hunted and Hero, he has the closest relationships with these two. Harley is his best friend since high school, and Hugo (eventually, long, long eventually) is his partner (and maybe, just maybe, a childhood best friend who he sort of lost touch with, before meeting again in university, ParaHero my beloved, and I'm a huge sucker for childhood friends to lovers stories-).

Since vessels are a part of the AU, he definitely has a beef with Nightmare, who probably was/is his high school/university bully. I can't say anything more specific though because vessel side of this AU exists even less than the voice side (damn you voice brainrot /lh /j). But since we're talking about Paranoid and Nightmare, I will mention that MoC does not apply to this HC. Clarity is likely going to be a special character in the AU, though I can't say anything specific since it's still very, very early ideas. But I have something just for her :]

This is something that requires more research on my part, but to go along with my bird Paranoid's static-y terrible vision, I imagine that Pierre also has a medical condition that makes his eyes appear cloudy and makes his vision very, well, cloudy and blurry. What kind of condition? Well, that's what I need to research-

Just like his bird counterpart again, Paranoid almost always wears gloves, although I'm changing it from long, elbow-length gloves to just regular wrist-length ones. They would probably be cotton gloves, and he wears them primarily because of his sensory issues. He feels very uncomfortable without them, though it's not as dire as it is with bird Paranoid (bird Paranoid will go into pure panic if he doesn't have his gloves on for 5 minutes).

On topic of clothes, he also has 0 fashion sense and wears clothes exclusively based on how comfortable they are. That's why his normal outfit is loose flowy shirt and shorts along with velcro shoes. My guy is all about comfort, and you will have to force him to dress up for an occasion /silly

Paranoid is probably one of the voices who subconsciously remembers the most about the Construct (along with Hero and maybe Contrarian), though in Paranoid's case, these subconscious memories take forms of repeating nightmares. He just has these vivid dreams, something about a Princess, something about locking her somewhere, something about endless terror and terror and terror and fear and fear and fea- Needless to say that Paranoid does not have a great sleep schedule, he likely already had insomnia, and the nightmares only exacerbate it. My poor boy is surviving off of caffeine (and Hero/Hunted duo also bugging him to sleep/rest anyway).

Kind of hard for me to tell which one between human Paranoid and bird Paranoid is coping and dealing better with their, well, paranoia and general anxiety. On one hand, Pierre didn't experience events of the game directly and wasn't subjected to Construct horrors. On the other, he is just a regular human, and his mind isn't as resilient to torments as bird Paranoid's. I think I want to say that, generally, Pierre is a less neurotic person by comparison, but he deals with crises and high stress situations far, far worse than his bird counterpart.

He uses his "Heart, lungs, liver, nerves," chant as a grounding/breathing technique. I actually do this IRL myself, so it's only fitting that human Paranoid would do so, too.

He has a very strong love/hate relationship with horror genre. I just can't decide if he loves horror movies and hates horror games, or if it's vice versa. For now, I wanna say it's the first one, I feel like Paranoid finds the certainty of horror movies weirdly comforting (like the fact that the events of the movie will always happen in the same order), as opposed to more "random"/unpredictable nature of horror games freaking him out.

Uh, there's probably more random HCs, but those are all I could think of right now. Yapper Everest strikes again, yippee! I genuinely didn't think I have that much on my human Paranoid, but here we are. Thanks for asking again!!! It was very fun to write about him <3

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for intentionally giving someone bedbugs?

So, a few years ago, I (17 at the time) got bedbugs. I'm still not sure where from because it was only me who had them. Maybe from visiting a friend's house, maybe from the hotel I went to for a convention, or maybe I was just unlucky and picked them up off someone in public. Regardless, I had bedbugs and was the only one in my house that did. Because of my relationship with my parents and a very intense fear of getting in trouble, I was convinced I'd be scolded for having them/seen as gross, so I didn't tell anyone I had them. I just killed them on sight and every other day used the vacuum on every side of my mattress.

Now, while this was happening, my parents were arranging for a family friend's daughter "K" (15 at the time) to move in with us. Her and I really didn't get along. She was generally rude to me, shittalked my little sister constantly. My friend had told her about something that happened between me and a family member where I was abused, something that I didn't tell the rest of our family, and K was threatening to tell them about it. The issue is this would cause a LOT of unrest and stress on my family that I thought would be worse than keeping the event a secret, so I told her not to. She said she wouldn't, and then went back on that and told my parents anyways. I barely managed to convince them she got it mixed up with something else that happened, and everything was mostly fine.

Anyways, point is, I REALLY did not like K. She was moving in with us because her parents are, frankly, terrible people and don't really take proper care of her. So, my parents wanted to give her a better environment for a little while. I wanted to give her a chance because I knew she didn't have the best background or anything, even if I didn't like her.

She got here and didn't have a bed get (we set up an air mattress and the plan was to get a new bed for me and give my old one to her since it was still a really good bed, but I was due for a new one because of growing). I was trying to figure out how to come clean about the bedbugs before the switch.

That is, until she started being a jerk while at our house. She was stealing from the fridge and then blaming it on me. She was lying to my parents and sneaking out. She was lying ABOUT me and my parents to hers, telling them and her friends that we were abusing and neglecting her. She cut the screen of the guest room window to sneak a boy into our house in the middle of the night. She refused to help me and my sister with chores, which got ALL of us into trouble when they didn't get done.

I don't know if it was just the cumulative stress of the situation, school, and the bedbugs or if I just really felt like being terrible, but I didn't tell anyone about the bedbugs.

Then, we put my old bed in the guest room, and I got a new bed after a while. She started getting bug bites and after maybe two weeks my parents found out about the bed bugs. We deep-cleaned the house and had to get rid of the whole bed set.

To this day, my family believes K brought the bedbugs because of her home situation. I have only told a few of my friends about this. In hindsight, I feel bad because bedbugs are terrible and I made it seem like she'd brought them herself. I'm conflicted because I generally feel guilty over lying about it, but I also feel a little justified for my little bit of revenge. AITA??

[jtl07]

Hahaha, loved the start of this shenanigans-round! What a fun prompt and your answer to it 🤣 Okay, here is one for you: meet cute and lots of bad (funny?) pick up lines

lolol oh anon, this prompt made me giggle a bunch but also stressed me out bc being funny is *so* hard D: hopefully this works??? 

"Why don't I trust stairs? Because they're always up to something."

Beatrice shakes her head, half of her attention on the latte she's in the middle of preparing while the other half is on the bright voice at the table nearest the register, as it has been for the past hour now. 

A section of the cafe has been cordoned off for a "Donuts and Dates" event hosted by a queer speed dating group. Camila had befriended the owners a few months ago, had insisted that the business would be worth the work. Now several events in, Beatrice grudgingly agrees. Certainly isn't complaining today. 

Beatrice finishes her latest order and lets her eyes follow her attention. Ava's nametag is slightly askew on the shirt pocket, her energetic wiggling having dislodged it early on. The unbuttoned overshirt is overshadowed by the neon splotched crop top with an orange circled by the words "orange you glad to see me?" - it's as loud as Ava herself is and Beatrice can't help but find herself endeared. 

"Oh, you're a photographer? Can you picture us together?" 

Beatrice barely holds back a laugh, biting back her reaction as a customer steps up to the register. She has to give it to her: Ava has been the most enthusiastic and creative participants she's seen at these events by far. Part of her hopes Ava will be back but at the same time, she wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't - is surprised that Ava's here at all, that she doesn't already have a line of suitors at her beck and call. It helps that she's pretty, that she listens so intently, that her laugh seems to light up the whole room. 

For a moment, Beatrice wonders what would happen if she were to ask Camila to cover for her behind the counter, to take a turn at Ava's table. Almost considers it for real but by the time she actually thinks to call out to Camila, the organizers are announcing the end of the event. 

Beatrice sighs, pulls her customer service smile over her face as she tends to the last minute orders from the attendees. The cafe is finally quieting down when she looks up to greet the last person in line: Ava. 

"So which one did you like best?" 

Beatrice blinks at the mischievous grin, can only answer with a half-intelligent, "Pardon?" 

Ava's expression doesn't change as she leans forward on the counter. "Which joke? I know you were listening." 

Beatrice can feel a blush rising up her neck. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop -"

Ava shrugs and waves Beatrice's words away. "I'm loud - I get enough noise complaints from my neighbors to know."

Beatrice swallows down a sudden urge to choke. 

"It was the Fanta sea one, wasn't it?" Ava's shoulders wiggle, her grin as wide as it's ever been. "I saw you almost drop that drink." 

Beatrice straightens, ignoring the blush now creeping up her cheeks. "I was merely adjusting my hold," her tone bordering more on flustered than indignant. She hadn't realized that having a view of Ava had meant that she'd also have a view of her; that Ava had been looking at all. 

Ava hums, a teasing sound that Beatrice pretends not to file away along with the other sounds Ava's made that evening. When Beatrice hands Ava her drink, there's an intent look on Ava's face. She braces herself for whatever Ava's about to say next, tries not to get lost in the way Ava's mouth is already curling into a smirk. 

"Have you ever thought about working at a museum?" 

Beatrice groans softly. "Oh dear." 

Ava's grin is blinding as she continues. "Because you're a work of art." 

Beatrice shakes her head, about to dismiss the line for the joke that it is but makes the mistake of meeting Ava's gaze; finds herself caught in a softness she didn't expect. "Really, Bea. What you are is beautiful." 

Beatrice finds herself unable to laugh it off, feels herself wanting to respond in kind; wants to try. "You're one to talk," she says shyly. 

It's not much but it's enough to make Ava literally bounce on her toes. "Then it's a date then?" Beatrice is sure her confusion is on her face when Ava explains, "We'll go visit where we belong!"

Beatrice does laugh then, helpless in the face of Ava's enthusiasm. "Well, there is a new exhibit at the museum near here." She'd been planning to go by herself - none of her friends are much interested, but she's pleasantly surprised when Ava's eyes light up in recognition. 

"I know exactly what you're talking about! I saw a flyer last week, there's supposed to be -"

Someone loudly clears their throat next to them. 

Beatrice turns, sheepish, and finds Camila looking amusedly between the two of them. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but we really need to start closing up." 

Ava sputters an apology and starts grabbing her things - drink in one hand, phone and cane in the other - and Beatrice knows she has to think fast. In her panic, she grabs a stray napkin and writes down her phone number. Then, seeing that Ava's hands are full, takes a breath and musters up all the courage she can: reaches out and tucks the napkin into Ava's shirt pocket. 

Pink flushes over Ava's cheeks, frozen for a moment before she laughs, delighted.  "I guess I'll see you later," she says as she backs up to the cafe's front door, Camila helpfully holding it open for her. 

Beatrice bites at her lip, decides to give her one last parting gift. "Hopefully not too much later - the tide can only wait for so long." 

Ava gapes at her, the door nearly crashing into her face as it closes. Camila gives her an impressed look, to which Beatrice can only shrug, though she can't fight the grin overtaking her face, her mind already looking forward to the next time they'll meet.

[fairyhaos]

❍ the 2k event: vernon + recording

alternative title: i'm always falling for you

pairing: vernon x gn!reader

genre: non-idols, fluff, established relationship, yoon jeonghan is a little rascal, pickup lines (kinda)

word count: 1413

warnings: none

event taglist: @slytherinshua @rubywonu @pepperonijem @amxlia-stars @weird-bookworm @hannyoontify @my-moarmy-heart @suminsfav @minhui896 @haocovr @lockburn-castle @sweet-like-caramel @horanghae8 @graybaeismytae @karionice @hopetiger10 @shuabby1994 @yonabutnotyuna @lvlystars @k-drama-adict @onedumbho3 @sluttyhansol

“I can’t believe you have a recording of when I first met my boyfriend.”

Jeonghan grins at you, impish, pausing the video and taking back his phone. “Of course I have a recording of it. It’s hilarious.” He looks down at his phone, replaying the video and then laughing. “Yup. Totally hilarious.”

You shake your head, shoving Jeonghan’s shoulder and making him fall back on your bed. “Han, you’re meant to be helping me get ready for my date. Not showing me that video.”

“You mean you don’t wanna see you faint into Hansol’s arms three seconds after seeing him for the first time?”

“Jeonghan!”

The man cackles, and you roll your eyes exasperatedly, before digging through your wardrobe again.

Tonight is your third year anniversary of dating your boyfriend, Hansol. He’d insisted that he’d take you out on the best night ever, and, anxious of his plans, you’d enlisted the help of your wonderful friend to help you choose something nice to wear.

Said wonderful friend, however, is intent on not being helpful and instead tormenting you with embarrassing memories.

“That was literally years and years ago,” you say, voice muffled as you struggle through your clothes, “so why do you still have a video of it?”

“Because it’s a precious memory, duh,” Jeonghan grins. “I’ve never seen you so flustered over a stranger, Y/N. And you literally fainted in his arms! In public!”

“I had had a bad day,” you protest, emerging out of your wardrobe to put your hands on your hips. “And—and Hansol was cute! I thought he was an idol or something.”

Jeonghan hummed amusedly. “So your first instinct upon seeing a celebrity is to faint into their arms?”

You pause for a moment, thinking. Then frown. “See, now you’re twisting my words.”

He watches as you promptly dive back into your wardrobe again, complaining about how you don’t have anything to wear and Hansol won’t tell you what to wear because he wanted the date to be a surprise and doesn’t he know that you can’t plan an outfit for surprises?

“I think you’re too hung up over this,” Jeonghan says, just as the doorbell rings. His eyes light up. “Oh! That’s probably Hansol right now.”

You pop your head out, wide-eyed. “Oh no. I’m still in just normal clothes! Han, what do I do?”

Jeonghan just grins, before hopping out of your room and you hear the pattering of his feet as he walks to your front door and lets Hansol in. You groan, listening to their voices gradually make their way closer to your room. Jeonghan was the worst best friend ever.

You dive back into your wardrobe again, sifting through clothes you’ve gone over hundreds of times in the past hour alone. Hansol would probably shrug and shake his head at how stressed you’re getting over a mere outfit, but this was a big milestone! It’s three years! You’ve been dating Hansol’s handsome and goofy ass for almost 1100 days! It’s a significant step in your relationship, and you firmly believe that it should be celebrated while you look your absolute best.

“Y/N?” Hansol asks, and his voice sounds like it’s right behind you, partly amused and partly concerned. “Why are you trying to suffocate yourself in your hoodies?”

“Because, Hansol, I have nothing to wear!” you say, exasperatedly. 

There’s a slight pause, and you can almost see the mystified look that Hansol gives Jeonghan, to which the elder just shrugs with a grin. And then Hansol speaks again.

“Uh, you have a whole wardrobe full of clothes.”

You retreat out of your clothes for a moment to adjust a few hangers before submerging yourself in them again. “Gee, really?”

“Y/N can’t find anything suitable to wear,” Jeonghan says helpfully. “Apparently nothing will fit with the ‘vibes’ of the night that you’ve planned.”

“Okay,” Hansol says, and he sounds like he’s laughing a little. A hand wraps around your waist and the other grabs your shoulder, hauling you out of your wardrobe and pulling you against a warm back. 

You yelp in surprise, trying to squirm out of Hansol’s hold, but his hand just tightens more securely around your waist, pressing his cheek against the side of your head, keeping you in his arms. He’s warm, and steady, so after a few moments you cease your struggling, cheeks heating up as you slump in his arms.

“I think you’re stressing over this too much,” he says, and his voice is a calm rumble in your ear, all soft and affectionate and you can see Jeonghan pointedly avoiding his gaze and staring intensely at the intricate dust formations behind your door. “It’s nothing special, I promise.”

“Nothing special?” you repeat. You have half a mind to get all worked up over this, but Hansol is draped all over you like a comforting, weighted blanket, so you don’t. “Hansol, it’s our three-year anniversary. You even told me that it was gonna be something special.”

He chuckles, then, releasing you and turning you around so you’re face to face, his hands finding yours and grasping your fingers.

“Okay. It’s not actually all that special. Remember the park? Where we first met?”

You slowly nod your head. Of course you remember that park.

Five years ago, on a late Wednesday afternoon, you and Jeonghan had been wandering through the streets, with him essentially dragging you outside after you’d called him after a small fit of hyperventilation over your dreaded finals. It was chilly, and you hadn’t brought a coat, complaining to Jeonghan the entire time (the man didn’t even like walks himself, how dare he make you go on one too) before you’d come at a park, hands waving animatedly as you talked.

And then, you’d tripped over a tree root, bumping against a stranger also walking through the park, who managed to catch you with lightning-fast reflexes, and you had stared, dumbfounded up at him for all of five seconds before fainting in his arms.

And of course, Jeonghan had found a way to capture the whole fiasco on his phone.

“You mean the park where I bumped into you and promptly fell into you?” you say, and Jeonghan, still studying the dust, gives a snort.

“You fell for him, Y/N.”

“I fell into him, actually,” you say in Jeonghan’s direction, never able to resist his teasing. “I didn’t fall for him.”

Jeonghan grins at you, mischievous, at where you’re still holding Hansol’s hands. “I dunno. Evidence suggests otherwise.”

Hansol laughs at that, kissing the top of your head before you can get any more riled up. “Yeah, the park where you fell for me,” he says, and somehow, when he’s the one to say it like that, it doesn’t sound so bad. “I was hoping to take you there for a late-night picnic. Electric candles, cakes, sparklers, that sort of stuff.”

You blink rapidly, before your heart melts and you smile, touched. “Oh my god, you’re literally the best boyfriend ever.”

Hansol laughs as you launch yourself into his arms, fingers curling securely into the back of your shirt. “I should hope so,” he says. “I’m kinda hoping to be your boyfriend for many years to come.”

His smile is warm, shy, as he looks at you all soft and adoring like you’re something precious to him, and it makes you smile in return, a little light-headed and dizzy at how much adoration there is in your boyfriend’s gaze.

“Well, you will, especially if you keep this up,” you say, with a bright smile and a kiss to his cheek before turning back to your wardrobe. “But still. What should I wear? Wait, what about this?”

You dig inside your wardrobe and then pull out a piece of clothing with a particularly hard tug, before promptly losing your balance, tilting backwards and falling, falling—

Right into Hansol’s arms.

“Hello,” he says after a moment. “Looks like you’ve fallen for me. Again.”

Jeonghan laughs and claps his hands, his pride in Hansol’s quip evident, and it’s the cheesiest and most randomly-placed pickup line that your boyfriend could have ever said, but you’re rolling your eyes and turning around in his arms, giving in to this ridiculous, adorable scenario, dropping the clothes so you can cradle his face in your hands.

“I’m gonna fall for you again and again, as long as we live,” you say, and then pull him in for a kiss.