#and then i was stupid and went to back to back concerts in the winter…

[excelsior9173]

…

i need this cold to go away NOW PLEASE

it has been four days and i think i have gone through every conceivable symptom. i’ve had the aches and pains (gone now), i’ve had a sore throat (also cleared up), i’ve had constant, yet mild, nasal and chest congestion, i have laryngitis (lost my voice), and i have had several asthma attacks over the last two days

i thought i was on the mend yesterday- felt really good all day, barely coughed, was a little fatigued at most.

today? i have been up since 5am because my lungs are trying to escape my chest via my throat. i cannot stop coughing and have taken every possible medicine- daily inhaler, emergency inhaler, cough/cold meds. i cannot take any more meds without adverse side effects at this point. and idk what to do. i can’t stop coughing. it hurts. i’m so tired. and i’m supposed to be leaving for a vacation today 😭

i should’ve been more vigilant about protecting myself so i didn’t get sick- i cannot catch respiratory illnesses without feeling like i’m dying because i have a chronic lung condition (woohoo asthma- fuck every doctor that told me i would outgrow it. i didn’t! thanks!)

[wooahaeruby]

Chapter 34: 143

Chapter Word Count: 5,593

TW

Suggestive material because Jeonghan is a simp, Stalking, uhhhh, yeah.

I KNOW IT'S BEEN A WHILE BUT HI, I WAS SUPER BUSY BETWEEN A WEDDING I ATTENDED, A CONCERT, THE ELECTIONS, AND NOW I CAUGHT COVID!!! I WANNA CRY.

Anyways, enjoy fluff. -Tristen

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“Mouse, let’s go out.” Jeonghan had been pestering you all morning. 

He woke up early, earlier than you expected on his day off. Jeonghan got help making you breakfast, a simple pancake and egg combo (Mingyu definitely made the pancakes…), shuffling back into the room so the two of you could eat in bed. He babbled about a stupid dream he had where you were there and you two of you were on some island laying in the ocean’s water. 

The night prior he had bugged you as well. From the time you got back to the house to the time you went to bed, you continued to tell him maybe. When Jeonghan pulled you to bed, kicking Joshua out for the night, he did all he could to kiss up to you with compliments, all gooey affection, and cuddling you close despite not always sleeping well when beside you from his sound sensitivity. 

You were sitting on the couch with Jeonghan nestled against your side, his head half on your chest but his arms were tightly wrapped around your waist. He was being cute, maybe a little clingy, but it was a cold day and he felt freezing earlier. 

“Can we please go out?” He asked after nearly half an hour of staying quiet, scrolling on his phone. 

You could hear Junhui snorting, holding in a laugh as he raised his phone higher to cover his face. He sunk down in his recliner to hide himself. 

“If I say yes, Jeonghan…” 

“Which I will annoy you until you say yes…”

“Please don’t make me do anything outrageous.” 

“No worries! I’ve already bought you an outfit and shoes and-” Jeonghan jumped up, already going off towards his room. 

“Wait a fucking second.” You called after him, and Junhui’s laughter filled the air in your wake. “Jeonghan!”

He was already in his closet, pulling out a garment bag and a box for shoes, placing them on the bed before he practically skipped back into the closet. “Those on the bed are for you!” 

Closing the door as you entered, you watched as Jeonghan dug through his closet, not taking too long to pull out a nice suit and some dress shoes, coming back to place them on the bed as well. 

“Jeonghan…”

“What? What~?” He took your hands, grinning from ear to ear. “Let’s go out, I got almost everything for you, you always leave makeup and stuff here. There are tights in there so you stay warm-” 

“Why do you always plan stuff like this? What if I said no?” 

“Then it would have been pushed to another day, simple as that.” 

“You know you sound crazy, right?” 

“I do not~” He hummed, placing a gentle kiss to your lips before peppering the rest of your face with kisses. “Now either jump in the shower with me or get ready without one.” 

After an… eventful shower…You managed to get ready relatively quickly, drying your hair and applying some makeup before unzipping the garment bag.

If Jeonghan was crazy, then you had to admit that he had a crazy eye for clothes. It was astonishing how he could find something that you loved and he loved to see you in. 

His choice for the evening was an exceptionally made black, cable-knit dress. It was short, however he wasn’t lying when he said there were tights in the bag, your favorite brand that don’t rip easily and did keep you relatively warm in the fall and winter. The material was soft, hugging your waist comfortably while not being overly tight. 

Jeonghan’s arms wrapped around you from behind, peering in the mirror in his closet to see the wide smile and his hair all fluffy from half air drying and hair blow drying. He rested his head on your shoulder, one hand resting on your stomach while the other sat comfortably on your hip. The suit he wore was black from head to toe, nothing flashy but matching to you nonetheless. 

“Siyeon help?” 

“Not this time.” He hummed, letting his eyes run over your body from top to bottom. “If I’m being honest I’ve been sitting on this dress since I came back from my trip. Didn’t have a good time to give it to you or have you in it.” 

“You picked out a very pretty dress.” You could hear him hum once more, watching as he placed a kiss to the skin between your shoulder and neck. 

“It would look even prettier on the floor.” 

“And we’re done-” Taking his hands off, you hurried out of the closet, hearing him laugh as he chased after. 

“Come on~” 

“Either take me out or I’m going to be kicking your ass.” 

“Fine, fine, grab your purse. We are heading into the city.”

“So an upscale, fancy, candlelit dinner at one of the most exclusive restaurants in the city, with an enclosed rooftop mind you, that books up months in advance, is easy to push to another day if needed?” Taking a sip from your glass of wine, you tilted your head, smiling across the table to him. 

Admittedly, he looked amazing, but that was typical of your boyfriend. He was glancing down at the menu in hand, the other occupied by the glass he brought to his lips. You could see the smile around the rim of his class, but he simply looked out to the night view of the city, clouds in the sky but still beautiful with the lights from each building. The lighting within the building outside of the small candles before you were dimmed, setting the mood even more. 

“What can I say, babe, I know a guy. I know a few guys actually, girls too.” The way he said it was so smooth, but you rolled your eyes. “And I’d only do the best for you.” 

“I dunno, babe , I’m starting to believe you might actually like me.” 

“Like you, hm?” He sipped more from his glass. “I’d like to believe I could be obsessed with you.” 

“Obsessed?” Raising a brow, you smirked to yourself, glancing down to your menu. “I can see that.” 

“I’m glad you can, I’m not too good at hiding my intentions.” 

“And I appreciate all the effort you put into things.” You spoke honestly, raising your eyes but not your head to glance at him. 

Jeonghan had turned his head back to you, something soft behind his eyes, but he hummed, placing his glass down. “Everything is worth it if you are beside me, Mouse.” 

Reaching across the table, you took his hand into yours, shaking your head as a smile managed to spread wide across your features, feeling that knowing flutter in your stomach. “Is there a specific reason you are going all out tonight?” 

Shaking his head, Jeonghan ran his thumb over your knuckles, giving the slightest shake to his side. “Nothing in particular. With everything that has happened I missed taking you out like this and spending time with you away from everyone. While I love having Joshua around, I want time to just be us, you and me.” 

He wasn’t wrong, the last few weeks have been chaos between your apartment, your fight with Cheol, making up with Cheol, and settling back into life after everything. More often than not, both Joshua and Jeonghan were at your side, the three of you going for food or sitting in bed watching movies. Almost every night they’d be curled up on either side of you, grounding you from the sleepless nights and soothing you when you’d wake up in a cold sweat. They had become your rocks, your people , but it was nice to spend time with them one on one. 

“I’m sorry there hasn’t been a real moment recently for the two of us to go out without anyone else.” You didn’t know why you were apologizing, but something clawing at your brain held guilt for not making quality time with your boyfriend. 

“Mouse,” He squeezed your hand, sighing out of his nose, “There is nothing for you to apologize for. You’ve done nothing wrong. Life…happens. Shit happens. We’ve made you a priority to help get you through everything. Now everything is at least a little back to normal and I can take you out on all the luxury dates, get you all the expensive gifts, and wake up next to you every morning if you let me.” 

Tipping your head back, you whined quietly, shaking your head. “Hey, shut up. I have make up on and it isn’t cry proof.”

Jeonghan laughed, the sound alone making you grin and raise your free hand to cover your face. 

“I’m serious! At least make me cry later when we are back so I can have no makeup on.” 

“Alright alright~” He hummed, raising the hand he held and kissed your knuckles. “Whatever you want, my dear.”

Dinner was good. Jeonghan, having been to the restaurant previously, was able to order something for you that was new but something he figured you would end up liking. He wasn’t wrong, the dish he got you, a steak with red wine sauce, was amazing, and there were a few moments where you swapped some food to try different things. 

Conversation was ever flowing, never once having a dull moment even when you were both simply staring out the window. Jeonghan only let your hand go for a few moments; to eat, to pour you both more wine, and to leave the table. If he wasn’t staring across the table to you, his eyes didn’t wander too far away. 

By the time the bill was paid and you made your way down to the bottom of the building, waiting for the valet, there was a frigid nip to the air. You were glad you took one of Jeonghan’s jackets from his closet and that he got you some night tights to keep your lower half warm. A shiver ran down your spine, letting your boyfriend wrap his arm around your shoulder, letting him pull you close to keep you both warm. 

“Are you okay?” he questioned, placing a gentle kiss to the side of your head. 

Humming quietly, you leaned on him, a timid smile on your lips. “Yeah-” 

You stopped short, raising your head for something that caught your eye in the sky, seeing the beginning of a slow, fluttering cascade of snowflakes. Slipping your arms around Jeonghan’s waist, you stopped yourself from bouncing in place, excitement rushing through your veins. 

“Hannie! Look!” Pointing to the sky, Jeonghan followed with his eyes, chuckling at the calm sight. You continued, shimmying side to side happily. “The first snow of the season.”

“This is a great addition to the evening.” He snickered, lifting his free arm and held out his hand to catch a few flakes in his hand. “I didn’t know you liked the snow.” 

“Like it? I love it. Before my parents died, we used to go sledding and build these huge snowmen in our front yard.” You sighed happily, refocusing as you saw Joenghan’s car being brought over.

He took a step, letting the Valet get out and get your door before Jeonghan helped you in and closed the door behind you. You could see him reach into his jacket and slip a bill into the valet’s hand, hurrying around the front of the car and sliding into the driver’s seat not long after. 

“Hannie…I know it’s cold out, but…” You stated and you could hear the sigh before you noticed the side-eye glance he was sending you. He probably could already figure out what you were trying to get at. “Can we stop by a park?” 

Once more, he sighed but he nodded, laughter fluttering out through his nose. “While it is cold, we definitely can, Mouse.” 

Without any further hesitation, Jeonghan pulled away from the front of the building and onto the still busy streets of the city. He left the crowded inner city to the area around your apartment building. He parked beside the curb that led to a decently sized walking trail park with large patches of grass to sit on in the warm season. The snow continued to fall about the night sky, making your eyes brighten.

You had to stop yourself from bolting out of the car into the freezing air, wanting nothing more than to rush around through the snow flurries. Beside you, Jeonghan shivered as he glanced out the car window. 

“Only for a little bit.” Placing your hand over his, you gave it a firm squeeze. “When we get back, I can make us my hot chocolate, promise.” 

“You better keep that promise.” 

Walking together through the park, he placed his arm over your shoulder while yours went around his waist, the two of you taking in the fluttering snowfall. Similar to yourselves, there were a few couples enjoying the first snow, albeit dressed much more bundled up than you both. The cold stung your cheeks and nose, dusting them a chilling shade of red, but you cherished the time you could outside. 

You reached into your purse and pulled out your phone, giving Jeonghan a nudge to his side. Though he scoffed, he also managed to grin, taking the phone from your hand and opening the camera to take a few photos. 

You both smiled wide, capturing beautiful photos with the snow falling around you. When he thought there was enough of the two of you pressed into each other’s sides smiling, he began peppering your face with kisses, trying to take a video the best he could while making you laugh. In return, you did the same, making sure a video was done to save for future memories. Placing your hands on either side of his face, you rested your forehead against his, letting both your red, cold noses touch. 

“Enjoying yourself, my dear?” Jeonghan pocketed your phone, letting his eyes fall shut for a moment and taking a deep breath in. He pulled you in closer by the waist, sucking up as much warmth as he could. 

“I am, especially with you by my side.” You kept your voice low, not wanting to break the bubble encompassing you. 

He placed a tender kiss to your lips, the hands placed on your waist giving a squeeze, heating the skin beneath the knit fabric you wore. Standing in the frosty air, Jeonghan pulled away enough to stare into your eyes, searching for something hesitantly. Rubbing your thumbs over his cheeks, you tilted your head curiously. 

“Something on your mind?” You whispered, yet he kissed you once more, chaste and light. You smiled against his lips. 

“Can I tell you something?” He asked, stuttering over a few of the words. His face flushing beyond from the freezing temperatures. 

Nodding, you continued to smile. “Baby, you know you can tell me anything.” 

Swallowing thickly, he took in a deep breath and held it in his chest, nerves clear on his face from the way his eyebrows knitted together. Jeonghan huffed out the air a moment later, shaking his head, his shoulders, then his arms to hands. 

“I love you, Mouse.” His words were soft, nearly lost in the air around you. Your breath caught in your throat. “I’ve been wanting to tell you for a little while now, however there wasn’t really a good time…”

“It’s okay.” Your voice was just as soft, pressing your forehead together once again. “I love you too, Jeonghan.

He wrapped both arms around your waist, lifting you enough for your feet to leave the ground. You squealed while he laughed, both of you beaming from ear to ear. When you were placed back, Jeonghan let out an excited squeak of his own, taking your hands tightly into his. 

“I love you.” He repeated, shivering from the cold but he looked over the moon, on cloud nine. “And I’m going to tell you every moment, every chance I get.” 

Though you know he probably wasn’t kidding, you didn’t know he would be a cheesy dork about it. 

Settling into your apartment, changed and curled up on the couch watching a rerun neither of you were actually paying attention to. You were laying back with Jeonghan resting against your front, his head laying on your chest and a blanket bundled around you. His hands were ghosting up and down your sides with the occasional ghosting of his lips against the base of your neck. Each time a kiss was placed, he’d murmur out his declaration before he’d settle back down, refocusing on the show. 

“You are a massive dork.” Leaning your head down, you managed to kiss the top of his head, starting to card your fingers through his locks. 

He hummed, the rumble vibrating into your body from where he rested on you. You could even joke that he was purring. “I might be a dork, Mouse, but remember, I’m your dork.” 

Puffing out a laugh, you felt his arms get around you, squeezing happily. “Yeah. I know.” 

“Can we go to bed now?” He yawned, breathing beginning to slow as he got comfortable. 

“Get up and we can, dork.”

You had a feeling something was off. With the recent events of those fucked up letters and the break in, the gnawing feeling you had wasn’t unwarranted, but part of you said you were being irrational. You wanted to have Seokmin look at the security cameras in your building but you didn’t want to cause any unnecessary worry. You had gone through your apartment the previous three nights, making sure every window was sealed and each panic button Wonwoo installed was on and in their proper place. 

Jeonghan and Joshua were sent out on Cheol’s orders for business with Mingyu, Seungkwan, and Chan, leaving you to either stay at your apartment for the weekend or head up to the house if you wished. Tuesday evening, Ms. Nina had stopped by to give you the code to her apartment and another phone number, one you come to learn as Psy’s personal number, that if you were to need anything to call her or him, telling Psy that Rheia gave you the number. She left you with a hug, an auntie kiss to the cheek, and a container of cookies before she went off. 

“Just come up to the house after work today.” Minghao hummed through the phone. He sounded tired but a text from you to him led the latter to calling you at work. “If you feel uncomfortable, we wouldn’t turn you away if you showed.” 

“That isn’t what I’m worried about.” Sighing, you closed the application you had open on your computer screen, not even wanting to bother much today. “I’m more thinking that I might be getting a little too dependent on having you guys around.” 

His laughter tiredly fluttered through the phone. “Mouse, welcome to how we are all the time. We are all dependent on having each other around, it’s what happens when you spend a significant amount of time around people who have your back and see you at your best and your worst. You should see how Cheol gets when someone takes too long to reply to a text or a call. He reacted the same way when you called him with the letters or when you called Wonwoo the night your apartment got broken into.” 

Sitting back in your chair, you huffed, not finding any excuse to get out of it. “I’ll come… If I send you a list of ingredients, can you make sure everything is at the house?” 

“ ...Can I nap first?” 

“Yes, as long as everything is there before I need to cook tonight, please.” 

“Will do, Mouse, promise.” 

Hanging up, you send him a short list of ingredients for homemade mac and cheese, wanting comfort food after how you’ve been feeling. You rubbed at your temples, hoping to relieve some of the pressure that had been building up due to the headache you’ve been nursing all morning and afternoon. 

The reason for the headache? Your own internal panic attack. 

On your way to work in the morning, you thought you were being followed once you left your apartment garage. You shook off the feeling, seeing as you had woken up late and were in a rush to make it through the city rush hour in time for work. Seokmin had asked if you were alright when you arrived, seeing you frazzled but you told him you were feeling off and planned to take it easy. He brought you lunch without asking and left you alone since he could probably tell something was on your mind that you didn’t want to talk about at that moment. 

A knock at your office door had you head snapping up, eyes opening to meet Seokmin’s concerned gaze. 

“Please go home. Every time I walk past your door you are either zoning out or barely doing anything.” 

“Min, I’m okay.” You tried to sooth his concern but he shook his head. 

“Go home.” There was more force behind his tone, sending a half-hearted glare your way. “Don’t make me call-” 

“No, don’t. I’ll go.” Giving a defeated sigh, you sunk down in your chair, brushing a hand over your face, moving some hair away. “I’ll head home .” 

“A few are-” 

“I talked to Hao right before you came in.” 

Standing up, you grabbed your bag off the ground behind you, beginning to pack away things under Seokmin’s watchful eye. He looked over his shoulder before closing your office door. 

“What’s going on with you today?” His voice was laced with worry. “You’ve been off since you stepped off the elevator this morning.” 

“I’m only having some anxiety and some paranoia, Min.” Taking a deep breath, you continued on. “Nothing to be worried about. I was telling Hao that I’m getting dependent on having you guys around.” 

“You know, during the week I stay at the penthouse. If you need a place to stay while Han and Shua are gone for a few days, you are always welcome.” 

“I know, but everything you guys- everyone has done for my place would go to waste.”

Seokmin shifted from foot to foot, tilting his head side to side. “We could…move you into the building the penthouse is in. I don’t think Cheol would have a problem with it.” 

“I can’t afford-” 

“Who said you’d need to pay?” 

“Seokmin.” 

“Honey.” 

“I’m not going to freeload.” 

“You wouldn’t be freeloading. Everyone that lives there are our people. They work for us.” 

“I don’t work for you.” Tossing the last item into your bag, you turned your computer off. 

“But you are one of us.” 

You…couldn’t argue that in all honesty. 

“I’ll see you later.” 

Seokmin snorted, barely able to hold in the chuckle that bubbled within his chest. “Get some rest.”

“...Can you pick up the ice cream I like on the way back?”

This time he laughed, shuffling over to pull you into a tight hug, rocking side to side. “There should already be some in the freezer but I’ll get some more on the way back just in case someone ate it all.” 

Murmuring out a thank you, Seokmin let you go, patting you on the shoulders. He kindly walked you all the way to the elevator, telling you to text him once you arrived so he knows you made it safe. You fake gagged but nodded, murmuring once more that you would before making your way down to the parking garage. Tired steps led you to your parking spot, eyes lifting to meet the vehicle and you stopped just a few steps from your driver’s side door when you noticed something. 

Placed under one of your windshield wipers was an envelope. Unlike the ones you’ve received previously, this one was larger, thicker, the size similar to a sheet of paper. 

Your heart sank, quickly whipping your head around but there wasn’t another soul in sight. 

Don't panic. You told yourself, reaching out with a shaky hand to grab the aforementioned envelope. 

Bile burned the back of your throat with an uncomfortable wave of dizziness washing through you. Unlocking your car, you cautiously slid into your seat, placing your bag beside you in the passenger seat but kept the envelope in hand. Staring down at it, you debated whether to open it or not, both terrified and curious of the contents sealed within. 

Locking your car doors, you reached over to sift through your bag for your phone, opening it quickly to call the person nearest to you. 

“ Did you forget something upsta-” 

“There is a third envelope.” you managed to keep your voice level, eyes locked on the item in your lap. “It was left on my windshield.” 

“ Call Wonu and head to the house, I’ll be out of here as fast as I can.” The line went dead, leaving you in a deafening moment of silence. 

Revving the engine to life, you placed the envelope aside and began the drive, connecting your phone to the car’s bluetooth. You pulled out of the garage and onto the streets, stopping at a redlight, ready to dial Wonwoo’s number when a chill shot down your spine and the hair on the back of your neck stood up. It was the same feeling as earlier in the day when you believed you were being followed from your apartment. 

Glancing in the rearview mirror, you recognized the same black SUV you had sworn was tailing you in the morning. The windows were tinted, including the front windshield. You could barely see whoever was behind the wheel, unable to make out any remarkable or identifiable features.

You carefully moved into the turn lane, remembering the one thing any movie taught you when you believed you were being followed; make four same direction turns and see if the car is still behind you. 

The first turn was easily made with the SUV following, though keeping a reasonable distance from you. The second turn was similar along with the third, both going in the same turn direction as the first. Your head was pounding from the headache still, nauseating waves of pain made you really want to pull over and throw up. The final turn seemed to do the trick as you waited for the light to turn green. Said SUV pulled into the lane beside you before proceeding straight, going right passed you. 

As it went by, you peered anxiously out your window, eyes widening when their passenger window was rolled down. They went by too fast to properly see the man in the car, but he looked familiar, a face you’ve definitely seen previously yet couldn’t remember at the moment. Your eyes made contact for a split second before he was gone in the wind. 

Your heart was ready to beat out of your chest, but you didn’t hesitate to properly get on your drive to the house. Using your car’s voice control, you called Wonwoo, praying he’d answer. 

“Hey, what’s going on? Aren’t you at work?” The deep rumble of his voice had you letting out a shaky sigh. 

“Hey-” You cleared your throat, sighing once more at how strained your voice sounded. “I’m heading to the house but something happened.”

“Did you get into an accident?” Concerned, Wonwoo’s chair squeak was heard, signaling he probably moved in his chair. 

“No,” Shaking your head, you refocused on the road, trying to get yourself safely around slower cars. “Another envelope was left on my car-” 

“On?” 

“ On my car, in the parking garage of my job .” Shooting the solid envelope a glare, you groaned. “And I was followed once I left but they figured out my plan and-” 

“Mouse, what plan?” 

“I- Okay, you know how in movies you make four right turns or something to see if someone is following you?” You rushed the words out, moving some hair from your face haphazardly. “I did that and when I went to make the last turn, they drove past me. When they went by, I swear I recognized the guy but I was too caught up in the situation. Hopefully I can remember later-” 

“Get back here quickly, safely . I’ll wake up Cheol.”

“Thank you.” 

Your racing heart barely slowed during the near hour long drive to the house. Every other second, you were glancing out of the rearview mirror, making sure no one was following you as you got off the highway and onto the backroads. The moment you were in range, you hit the gate button Jeonghan had given you weeks ago, watching it open with a relieved sigh leaving your nose. 

Pulling in front of the house, Wonwoo, Seungcheol, and Sona were standing on the porch, waiting for your arrival. Once you were in park, Cheol was jumping down the three steps and rounding the car to get to you. He pulled open the door and helped you out, eyes full of worry with a rage building up behind them. 

“Wonwoo told me what happened.” Was all he said before pulling you into a tight hug, bringing your head to his chest and letting you sink into his hold. 

The former man was walking around your car, waving a device bigger than a phone about, checking the screen every so often. When he made it back to the passenger side, he and Sona grabbed your things from the car.

“Did you open it?” Wonwoo asked. 

“No, I waited until I got here. Min said he was going to-” 

The crunch of tires on the unpaved ground behind you had everyone’s eyes finding Seokmin’s car stopping just short of your car. He sprung out of his vehicle, anger written all over his face. 

“Security claimed that they were doing maintenance for thirty minutes between eleven and eleven-thirty so the cameras were shut off to fix them . Smells like complete bullshit.” 

“Everyone, let’s get inside.” Sona chimed in, already walking up the steps. “Let’s see what this,” She held up the envelope, “Holds.” 

“Come on, she’s right.” With a defeated drop to your shoulders, you fully parted from Seungcheol, however his arm stayed firm around your waist. “I’m going to get out of these clothes before I sit down to open it.” 

Being allowed (not that they stopped you but Cheol was ready to follow-) a chance to change in peace, you returned to find the three of them sitting at the table with Minghao joining, the latter looking rather angry. The envelope was placed in front of them, taunting with ideas of what could be inside. Sona had taken Jeonghan’s usual seat at the table, leaving your chair open with Seokmin on your other side. Sitting yourself down, you stared unsure at the offending package but grabbed it. Without hesitation, you tore the flap open, the tearing slicing through the uncomfortable silence. Peeking inside, the air in your lungs froze and you almost choked on the spit you tried to swallow. 

“What is it?” The fog in your head didn’t let you figure out who was talking. 

Lifting the envelope, you turned it upside down, scattering the contents across the area in front of you on the table. In a heap, pictures fell out, some facing up while others were face down.  From the ones you could see, it was focused mainly on you at the store buying food for the week or you walking into work. There were a few photos of you walking into restaurants, probably to meet your significant others for date nights… The dark interior of Ruby was seen, with you dancing alongside Siyeon, even Wooyoung, and Soonyoung. 

Reaching out, you moved the pile around, sucking a sharp breath when your eyes caught on a certain day. Joshua’s face caught your eye, shots from the day he took you to the arcade where he was holding your hands on the skate rink. There was a shot from outside the pizza place where you and him were sitting in a booth together, talking and eating. Further into the pile were your lunch dates with Seungcheol, even including you and Cheol walking to the ice cream place after your first official date together. 

However, the most recent photos of your date out with Jeonghan had fury boiling in your veins. You didn’t want whatever this shit was to ruin such an important and intimate moment that you and your boyfriend shared in the snowfall. If it wasn’t present to you in such a way, you might, might , have liked how the picture looked. 

“This…” You were at a loss for words. Anxiously, you started to sort the pictures, piling them by what day they were taken. “This is fucking sick- What kind of stalker asshole pulls shit like this? Taking pictures of me, my friends, my boyfriends-” 

Your hands were trembling but you continued to ramble on an uncoordinated tangent. 

“Mouse,” Sona reached over and gently placed a hand over your arm, maybe hoping to provide some calm in the raging storm within you. “Mouse, stop.” 

Brushing her off, you stood up, taking one of the recent pictures of you and Jeonghan into your hands, crumpling the edges with how tight you held it. You couldn’t even cry, only rage coursing through your body. 

“If we ever figure out who this asshole is…I’ll kill them myself.”

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[heekiesfins]

Strumming My Patience and Revving My Nerves

pairing - kim lip/kim jungeun x rockstar!biker!reader

synopsis - Jungeun, impressed by the guitarist on stage, went to talk to them after the concert, but they turned out to be an asshole. Annoyed by them, she left the show quickly after. A couple hours later while waiting for a friend, she sees someone on a gorgeous motorcycle, which turned out to be the same asshole rockstar, desperate to talk again.

word count - 2004

Jungeun was amazed by the performance on stage, the singer was obviously doing such a wondeful job, but her focus was on someone else. The lead guitarist. They were beautiful, and amazing at the guitar. Every so often she’d glance over at the bassist, the drummer, or even the pianist, but her focus would always lead back to the guitarist. Something about them just drew her in no matter how much she wanted to fully appreciate the entire band. Maybe it was the small smirk on their face the entire time, or maybe it was the pure skill, but one thing was for sure. She needed their number. 

This Lead guitarist she was swooning over just happened to be you! You had joined a band with a couple of friends, you had always enjoyed playing the guitar so you didn’t think anything too awful could come out of agreeing to play for them. However, you already had quite the ego and the attention you got from girls definitely didn’t help it at all. At your current stage, there was a pretty girl staring at you, you were definitely going to talk to her after this. You’d be an idiot not to!

Sooner than you realized, your performance was done. Your drummer, Karina, spoke to the crowd, she always did the talking “Thank you everyone! We were Aespa! Please come see us again sometime!” The crowd cheered as the five of you headed back stage. “They totallyyyy loved us!!! This is definitely our big break guys!” Ningning spoke first once you all were back there. You smiled at her “I don’t know, you could’ve played the piano a bit better~!” You teased as she gasped offended at your comment starting to argue.

“Guys guys, calm down. You both did well.” A voice came from behind you, it was Giselle! Your lovely bassist. Quickly Giselle and Ningning began to chat, Karina joining them not long after. The perfect time for you to slip away and talk to the girl who was eyeing you the entire show.

While you headed out towards the floor, Winter looked at you, lifting her eyebrow to question what you were doing. You just smiled back at her, both of you knowing what you were doing, she let out a small scoff with a laugh as she rolled her eyes. Since she didn’t tell you to know it off you quickly slipped out to search for the pretty red head you saw.

It didn’t take you long to find her, she was standing in front of the poster you had put up last week of your bands information, where to find you guys and your next couple of shows. You had a stupid grin on your face already. You were right behind her as you spoke up “Hey.” She jumped when you spoke, turning around to see you and smiling back. “Hey, you’re the guitarist for this band right?” She asked, but she already knew you were.

“The one and only, I’m Y/n!” You put your hand out for her to shake and she quickly shook it, “Ha, I’m Jungeun. You were amazing up there, I really couldn’t take my eyes off you.”  The smirk on your face only grew as you responded “I get that a lot,” your cocky tone made her brow arch but you spoke again before she could “I know, I saw you staring the entire time, thought I’d say hi.”   

The I get that a lot instead of saying thank you for the compliment through Jungeun off for sure but hey, it isn’t a crime to be confident, whatever. She brushed it off for now, you were pretty enough to ignore being a bit egotistical and arrogant. However the more the two of you spoke, the more Jungeun couldn’t stand your attitude. The final moment was when you leaned back against the poster, a smug grin on your face as you continued to bask in your own glory.

“So, you’re telling me you just knew you’d catch my eye?” Jungeun asked, her tone laced with disbelief. “You really think that highly of yourself?” You laughed, leaning in a bit closer. “Confidence is important for stars, right? And hey, it worked, didn’t it?” Calling yourself a star sure was bold.

Jungeun’s eyes narrowed slightly as she considered your words. She had tried to overlook your arrogance, but now it was getting harder to ignore. Her face tightened, and she took a step back, crossing her arms. “Confidence is one thing, but being full of yourself is another. You know, it’s kind of a turn-off when you think you’re the best ever.”

You raised an eyebrow, momentarily taken aback. “Hey, I was just having a bit of fun. It’s all in good humor.” You let out a small laugh with a tilt of your head, defensiveness flaring up obviously. Jungeun shook her head, clearly unimpressed now. “Well, it’s not funny to me. I came over here because I thought you were interesting and an amazing player, but I guess you’re just another asshole.”

Before you could react, Jungeun turned on her heel and started walking away. You watched, stunned, as she made her way back through the crowd. The vibrant red of her hair was the last thing you saw before she disappeared around a corner. You stood there, still frozen in place, a mix of shock and confusion washing over you. You had been so sure that your charm and confidence would win her over. It was a rare thing for anyone to walk away from you, let alone someone you’d actually been interested in.

You shook your head, trying to regain your composure. Maybe you had miscalculated this time. Or maybe, just maybe, you needed to rethink your approach? 

As you made your way back to the backstage area, you couldn’t help but replay the encounter in your head. Her words made you actually think about yourself, Winter noticed your expression and the slight offness in your behavior. She walked up next to you, her words finally making you stop spacing out “You good?”

You shook your head slightly and nodded “Uh, yeah fine don’t worry about it…” She obviously didn’t believe you but simply gave a small nod back, not wanting to push you any further. As you helped get stuff into the van, you couldn’t stop thinking about Jungeun. You needed to talk to her again, somehow.

-

It was about two hours later at this point, Jungeun was now waiting outside her friend and roommate Jinsol’s work, she got off work soon and she drove the both of them home. Usually she’d be waiting inside the store, but she was stepping outside to smoke really quick, she was glad she did too. Jungeun soon saw an absolutely gorgeous motorcycle stopped at the red light in front of the store. She was shocked it even stopped for the red light, everyone blew through this light especially motorcycles, but she wasn’t complaining about being able to look at it.

It was stunning, a nice orange and red-orange mix for the paint, a good fast model, the rider had a matching biking suit. As the light turned green she let out a small sigh knowing it’d drive off now. Then it did something Jungeun did not expect at all, it turned around and parked in front of the store, huh? Her face had clear confusion on it as the rider got off the bike and parked it properly. 

“Hey, uh do you need something-?” Jungeun cut herself off as she saw them take off their helmet, Y/n. The stupid arrogant rockstar from earlier, fuck her. “Hey!” Your voice sounded cheery, obviously excited and slightly shocked. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again!” 

She scoffed slightly looking away thinking I wish we didn’t ever see eachother again, “Yeah, me either.” You caught her upsetness immediately, you need to fix this around quick. “Hey so… uhm I’m sorry for acting the way I did earlier… I uh- Well usually it works for girls…” It was awkward, you clearly didn’t know to exactly apologize, but you really wanted to talk to her more.

Jungeun raised an eyebrow, her expression still guarded. "Usually? That’s your excuse?" She flicked the cigarette to the ground and stomped it out, folding her arms as she leaned against the storefront. You rubbed the back of your neck, feeling your bravado deflate a little more. "Look, I know I came off like an idiot. I just-" You paused, searching for the right words, and for the first time that night, you were at a loss. Jungeun watched you with narrowed eyes, not making this any easier.

"I don’t usually apologize like this," you admitted with a small shrug. "But I don’t want you to think I’m some jerk who only cares about myself. I... actually thought you were really cool. I just... have a tendency to overdo the confidence thing." Jungeun stared at you for a moment longer, as if trying to figure out whether or not to take you seriously. "You really are bad at this, aren’t you?" she finally said, her lips twitching in what could have been a smirk.

You laughed softly, relieved at the shift in her tone. "Yeah, maybe a little. But I’m trying." She let out a small sigh, pushing herself off the wall. "You’re lucky you’re pretty, or I wouldn’t even be standing here right now." You smiled, the tension easing a bit between the two of you. "I’ll take that as a win." Jungeun shook her head, rolling her eyes but without the harshness from earlier. "Okay, fine. Apology accepted. But you better work on that attitude of yours. Arrogance can only get you so far." You nodded earnestly. "I promise. I'll tone it down."

A beat of silence passed before Jungeun broke it, her curiosity finally getting the better of her. "So... what’s with the bike? You didn’t strike me as a motorcycle kind of person earlier." You grinned, glancing back at your bike. "Oh, yeah! I’ve always had a bit of an interest in motorcycles and stuff, I could give you a ride one day?” You were clearly flirting a bit.

Jungeun smirked, her arms still crossed but her stance more relaxed. "Maybe one day. But don’t push your luck." You chuckled, feeling the vibe between you both improve. “Noted.” Just as the conversation seemed to be turning a corner, the door to the shop swung open, and Jinsol walked out, glancing between you and Jungeun with an amused look. "Am I interrupting something?"

Jungeun turned to Jinsol, her expression softening. "No, just... catching up with someone." She glanced back at you, still not fully sure what to make of you, but at least not storming off this time. Jinsol arched an eyebrow, her eyes flicking from the bike to you. "Right... and who might this someone be?"

You extended a hand toward Jinsol, offering a friendly smile. "Y/n. I’m in a band. You might’ve seen me earlier?" Your words ended with a hint of awkwardness. Jinsol shook your hand, smirking knowingly at Jungeun. "Oh, the guitarist, huh? Now this makes sense." Jungeun shot her a look, clearly not wanting Jinsol to stir the pot any more than necessary. "Don’t get any ideas." Jinsol raised her hands in mock surrender. "Hey, just saying."

You giggled slightly before checking your phone and seeing the time, “I have to get going now… could I see you again sometime?” You said with a small smile. She rolled her eyes a bit before writing something down and handing it to you “Sure.” You checked the slip, her number, you had a massive smile now as you waved goodbye to her.

Once on your bike driving away Jinsol looked over at Jungeun “So… finally trying to get some huh? I didn’t think you’d still go after her after your angry messages.” She received a quick glare. “Shut up.”

[kaylinalexanderbooks]

Find the word tag

Thanks @verba-writing for the tag!

My words: breath, wild, fall

Your words: arm, subject, learn, incapable

Tagging @dyrewrites @little-peril-stories @andyswritings @blind-the-winds @mrbexwrites @eccaiia @mk-writes-stuff @poethill @theeccentricraven @jessicagailwrites @gottestod-writes @cowboybrunch @sleepywriter00 @buffythevampirelover @little-mouse-gardens @theknightswhosay @pk-writes @herrmannhalsteadproduction @infinnative or anyone who wants to hop on!

TSP intro

TSP tag list (ask to be +/-): @thepeculiarbird @illarian-rambling @televisionjester @fairy-tales-of-yesterday who can also join in if you want :)

Keep reading for:

Lexi looks for Ash and has a near-panic attack (CW: near panic attack)

Lexi knows everything about everyone apparently

Tierney gets his letter!

Breath - from The Secret Portal Part One (Lexi POV)

The forest was dense and vast—she could theoretically be anywhere. Clues. Maybe there would be a sign of the direction she went. I looked down to see if there were any imprints where she may have stepped. Most of the ground appeared untouched, but my eyes rested on a patch of flattened red ferns a few yards away. I ran toward them, then kept looking at the forest floor. The colorful leaves covering the ground appeared crunched, like someone had staggered through them shortly before I arrived. I followed the path they appeared to make. “Ash!” I called, hoping I was closer. Still, there was nothing. I stopped at a patch of purple flowers. There were clumps of them similar scattered here and there, but these were as flattened as the ferns. I knelt down beside them. A black object settled beneath the flowers caught my eye, and I picked it up. I gasped—one of Ash’s rings. “Ash!” I called again as I stood. “ASH!” She had to be close. I looked back down at the crushed blossoms. It was like she’d collapsed in them. My breath caught in my chest. “ASH!” My breathing picked up. “ASH!” What if she didn’t hear me? If she was unconscious somewhere…. I tried calling her name again, but it was caught in my throat by a sudden sob. My hand enclosed the ring until it dug into my fingers. My legs felt weak and I found myself kneeling on the forest floor as tears streamed down my cheeks. I hit my thigh with my fist that enclosed the ring, scolding myself and my stupid anxiety for making me lose my focus after one setback. “She wasn’t here,” I told myself, pulling on my braids. “That means she had to stand up and walk away to somewhere else.” I closed my eyes, taking a shaky breath, and almost willed Ash to speak up—let me know where she was. “Lexi!”

Wild - from The Secret Portal Part Two (Lexi POV)

Ash and Gwen came from band and arrived together every day, and it didn’t seem too different. Ash sat beside me as usual, and Gwen in front of me. We usually talked for the whole thirty minutes about various things: class, Gwen’s relationship with Akash, or whatever had happened during the weekend in Alium. But today, several minutes in, we hadn’t really said a word to each other. I didn’t have to be a telepath to figure out why. Beside me, Ash had her eyes glued to her food. The silence was driving me insane. My knee bounced in anticipation. “So how’s band going?” I blurted out. “It’s fine,” Ash said. “We’re almost ready for our winter concert,” Gwen said, pulling me out of my misery. “Oh! That’s Thursday, right?” “Next Thursday,” Gwen clarified. “Our orchestra concert is next Friday,” I added on. “Maddie’s choir concert is next Saturday, the twenty-first. So we’ll show up in Alium that Sunday morning. That weekend is going to be wild. Jazlyn and Wade both have a football game on Friday, and Ewan and Hye-Jin have concerts Saturday. I think Parker may be going to Wade’s game and Ewan and Jazlyn to each other’s activities. And Robbie has a winter play next week Thursday through Saturday. So next weekend will be vacant until Sunday.” “How do you know what everyone’s doing?” Ash asked, finally saying something and looking up from her largely untouched food. I blinked. “I dunno. I just remembered everyone talking about it.” “What else do you know, their birthdays?” “Yeah,” I said.

I can tell I haven't revised this yet. Lexi would be tugging her hair, not bouncing her knee. And she wouldn't say Ash's eyes are glued to her food - just focused on them. Her voice is just slightly off.

Fall - from School of the Legends Year One

Tierney unfolded it and began to read aloud, “Prince Tierney Wayne, We are pleased to congratulate you on your qualification for Madame Goossens’ School for the Gifted, Majicked, and Cursed in the United States of America.” “What?” his father asked. A pattering of feet from above indicated all of Tierney’s siblings racing down the stairs. “Keep reading!” “This international school is for teens with unusual abilities, and we wish to provide an environment that is better suited for you, as well as teaching you control and opening greater opportunities for your future.” “What does that mean?” Damari asked as everyone was now in the Hall. Tierney shrugged and just continued. “All of your credits will be transferred, and we hope to hear back from you soon with an acceptance letter. There is more information on the back of the letter. We hope to see you around our campus.” “Well, what’s the information on the back of the letter?” his father demanded. Tierney, confused as ever, flipped the paper over. “Um, so this school is for the, uh, gifted, majicked, and cursed.” “That was established in the school’s name,” said the king. “I apparently fall into the ‘gifted’ category.” “Gifted!” the king boomed, his voice echoing off the majestic walls. “That letter claims you--my son!--to be one of those mutants?” “You’re a gifted!” Ritchie said, almost too excited. With a glare from their father, he put on a more neutral demeanor. “So, does it say what your gift is?” Tierney scanned the paper. “Uh, ‘qualification: electric-based powers.’” “Electric?” Damari repeated. “Well that explains the constant shock,” said Ritchie. “And the thunderstorm fetish.” “Jarred!” their mother scolded. “What?”

[dollycas]

Special Guest - Dave Dobson- Author of What Grows From the Dead #AuthorInterview / #Giveaway - Great Escapes Book Tour @GCDaveDobs @davedobsonfromiowaon @frosthelmbooks

What Grows From the Dead by Dave Dobson I am delighted to welcome Dave Dobson to Escape With Dollycas today! Hi Dave, Please tell us a little bit about yourself. What are three things most people don’t know about you? I lived in Dublin for a year in 5th grade and attended public school in a two-room six-grade neighborhood elementary school. I learned a good bit of Gaelic, although I retain little of it now. In March of that year, we went to then-Soviet Russia for a week, because Russia in the winter was the only tour we could afford. I have played the largest tuba in the world in concert back when I graduated college in 1991. I played Asleep in the Deep with backing from the Harvard Band. One of my favorite experiences. If you’re curious how it sounded, I have a recording here. I have drunk a two-liter of Mountain Dew in under two minutes (1:54.84). That was a very stupid thing to do.  LOL - Mountain Dew is my drink of choice.  What books/authors have most inspired you? In mysteries and thrillers, I loved Dick Francis’ horseracing books. My wife shared them with me shortly after we met, and I just loved his dogged characters pursuing what’s right while often being beat up or pushed around. Learning more about horseracing was fascinating too. I also really like Harlan Coben’s early work and have tried to emulate that in what I do. I am also a big fan of lots of fantasy and science fiction. As a younger reader, I loved Tolkien, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Heinlein, Andre Norton, Ursula K. Leguin, Harry Harrison, and many others. More recently I’ve gotten into John Scalzi and Nnedi Okrafor. I really love Barry Hughart’s Bridge of Birds and his other books, and William Goldman’s The Princess Bride (book and movie). Both of them are exciting adventures in their own right, mixed with humor and gentle observations about people.    What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book? I write in a very seat-of-the-pants style without a lot of outlining or plotting ahead of time, so most of my research comes up as I go, as I discover a need for it. When I’m working on a project, I actually post a thing I call “This week in author Googling” on Facebook with all the weird facts I’ve had to look up. For What Grows From the Dead, I spent a good bit of time researching complex bits like what happens when you’re arrested and taken to jail, how search warrants work and are executed, and how cell phone towers are identified. I’ve also enjoyed consulting with friends about specific more detailed elements of books, like sailing and guns, neither of which I was very familiar with but wrote myself into. I’m lucky to have friends with a wide range of expertise, many of whom I’m in contact with through my college class of alums. Do you ever suffer from Writer’s Block? Not usually when I’m in a groove, but sometimes after I pause a project (for a vacation, or because a big event comes up) I have trouble restarting. This has gotten better for me as I’ve written more books. I think I’m no longer daunted by the prospect of trying to finish something. When you are not writing what do you like to do? I play a lot of video games and watch a ton of movies. I have been performing improv comedy at my local comedy club for the past 18 years, which lets me enjoy wonderful and fun group of people doing something really silly. I love boardgames and play any chance I get, sometimes including D&D or other RPGs. I’ve designed a few boardgames also, and I’ve self-published a series of puzzle card games. I enjoy walking and going places with my wife and visiting my kids, who are grown and launched into interesting lives. I have been in a couple of community theater productions recently, too, and I’d love to do more of that. I also enjoy trying to conquer the universe on my Attack From Mars pinball machine (from 1996). I still play tuba sometimes with the oompah band at the college where I worked for 25 years. If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go and why? I have always wanted to see the pyramids and other sites from ancient Egypt. I love ancient places. My favorites in Europe were always the crumbling castles, and the ancestral Puebloan sites in the US like Chaco and Mesa Verde have a special magic for me. Figuring out how to get to Egypt, set up a tour, and avoid risks from regional conflicts is a little daunting, but I’ll get it done before long. What is next on the horizon for you? I just released a new fantasy novel, so I’ve been working a bit on promoting that and also reaching readers for What Grows From the Dead. I haven’t decided whether my next book will be another mystery or whether I’ll do sci-fi next. I do enjoy writing in multiple genres, although that can make it a bit tricky trying to establish myself in any of them. Thank you, Dave, for visiting today! _____ Keep reading for more information about  David and What Grows From The Dead. About What Grows From the Dead What Grows From the Dead Mystery Stand-Alone Setting - North Carolina Independently Published (March 9, 2024) Paperback ‏ : ‎ 367 pages ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8884545977 Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CXN1KQ1B Morris Drummond is not at his best. Well, he hasn't been at his best for a while now. But having just suffered two crushing losses, he's almost at rock bottom, which for him means driving ride-share in his mom's beat up Chevy, drowning his sorrows in tacos and spray cheese, and avoiding anything related to ambition, self-care, or laundry. Morris is about to learn that he didn't even know what rock bottom looked like, and it's all thanks to his mom. A secret she left behind comes to light, and that brings down a lot of unwanted attention on Morris, the kind that looks likely to send him either to prison or to the hereafter. Blood and treachery from long ago rise to the surface, and Morris has only his lawyer Annie, who's an old high school friend, and a few unexpected allies to call on as he tries to figure out what his mom was up to and why so many people want him out of the picture. A humorous mystery with elements of suspense and thrillers, What Grows From the Deadis set in present-day small-town North Carolina, not far from the mysterious Uwharrie Forest. Content warnings: Coarse language throughout; some gun violence (not graphic). Great Escapes Praise for What Grows From the Dead by Dave Dobson Warning: Choose carefully your location before beginning What Grows From the Dead. It is known to cause audible chuckling, chortling, guffawing, and even hooting on occasion. Highly recommended. Five Kitties! ~Jane Reads About Dave Dobson  A native of Ames, Iowa, Dave loves writing, reading, board games, computer games, improv comedy, pizza, barbarian movies, and the cheaper end of the Taco Bell menu. Also, his wife and kids. Dave is the author of Snood, Snoodoku, Snood Towers, and other computer games. Dave first published Snood in 1996, and it became one of the most popular shareware games of the early Internet. He's recently published some puzzle card games in the Doctor Esker's Notebook series. Dave taught geology, environmental studies, and computer programming at Guilford College for 24 years. He does improv comedy at the Idiot Box in Greensboro, North Carolina. He's also played the world's largest tuba in concert. Not that that is relevant, but it's still kinda cool. Flames Over Frosthelm was Dave's first novel, released in 2019. He followed it a year later with Traitors Unseen and The Outcast Crown, then Daros in 2021, The Woeling Lass in 2022, and Got Trouble and Kenai in 2023. He released his first mystery novel, What Grows From the Dead, in 2024, and he's currently at work on a humorous epic fantasy novel. Author Links Website   Facebook    Facebook Author Page    Instagram   Twitter/X    BlueSky    Mastodon     GoodReads Link     Purchase Link Amazon  Also Written by Dave Dobson TOUR PARTICIPANTS - Please visit all the stops. June 18 – Jane Reads - REVIEW, AUTHOR GUEST POST June 19 – Mystery, Thrillers, and Suspense – SPOTLIGHT June 20 – Sapphyria's Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT June 21 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT, INDIVIDUAL GIVEAWAY  June 22 – Elizabeth McKenna - Author – SPOTLIGHT June 23 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT June 24 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT June 24 – Celticlady's Reviews – SPOTLIGHT June 25 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT June 26 – StoreyBook Reviews – CHARACTER GUEST POST June 27 – Christy's Cozy Corners – CHARACTER GUEST POST June 27 – Baroness Book Trove – SPOTLIGHT June 28 – Maureen's Musings – SPOTLIGHT June 28 – Ruff Drafts – AUTHOR GUEST POST June 29 – Guatemala Paula Loves to Read – REVIEW June 29 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – AUTHOR INTERVIEW a Rafflecopter giveaway Have you signed up to be a Tour Host? Click Here to Find Details and Sign Up Today! Want to Book a Tour? Click Here Your Escape Into A Good Book Travel Agent This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using my links, I will receive a small commission from the sale at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting Escape With Dollycas. Read the full article

[beewritesposts]

i remember when we were in middle school and i watched you sing. i had never been to a concert yet, but i thought you were the most talented performer i had ever seen.

i remember when i was old enough to join band. you played the drums and i played piano. you would make stupid jokes while we practiced our songs. i hated being distracted but i always stopped to laugh at you.

i remember when i got to high school and suddenly everyone seemed so much meaner to me. you were already friends with them, but you were never mean to me.

i remember watching the mean girls fawn over you. it made my stomach hurt, but i didn’t know why. you paid more attention to them than you did to me. i was nothing and you were unobtainable.

i remember when we went on a summer trip together with band. everyone felt closer together than i did with any of them. i felt so alone until we sat in that room together talking about our lives. for the first time, you made me feel seen like i so badly wanted.

i remember when we both got casted in the school play that winter. we spent almost every day after school together on the same stage. i snuck glances at you while you said your lines in rehearsal. i wonder if you glanced at me too.

i remember when we did soundcheck at the festival theatre. we were backstage waiting for our queue. i was perched on a stool like a bird, frail and nervous. you leaned in and kissed me and suddenly it felt like it wasn’t all in my head. when our queue came i could barely get my lines out.

i remember when we sat together on the couch while we watched that movie with the troupe. you placed your hand on my knee under the blanket, more gently than i had ever been touched before.

i remember when we went on our first drive together. those were the only dates we ever had. we would park at the beach and kiss with the headlights off. now that i look back, i fear it’s because you didn’t want to be seen with me by your friends.

i remember when you asked me to be your girlfriend. you introduced me to your real friends — not the guys on the sports team who you wanted to hide me from. i convinced myself that was enough because it was more than i had been loved before.

i remember when i realized you were losing interest in me. we had barely been together officially at all, but i had wanted you for years. it destroyed me inside, but i knew i had to let you go.

i remember when i became interesting to you again. we agreed to continue our drives without a label this time. hidden kisses in the dark were enough for me if it meant i got to have some part of you.

i remember when you graduated. you asked my best friend’s sister to be your date to the prom and i bought a new dress and heels to wear as i watched you from the sidelines. i hope you liked the dress.

i remember when i moved out of that town. it had been two years since we last saw each other. i downloaded the dating apps, but i told myself i didn’t want to be in a relationship. maybe it’s because i knew you would always have too much of my heart.

i remember when we matched on a dating app. i was too nervous, so my roommate took my phone and swiped right on you. we started talking again and it felt like climbing into my bed in my childhood home.

i remember when we went for our first drive in two years. i was too scared to look at you. after all those years you still made me nervous. you kissed me at a red light and it felt like we had never been apart at all.

i remember when you told me you wanted a relationship. i thought back to how i told myself i didn’t want to date anyone. at the time, i thought it was because i wasn’t over you, but the thought of being with you made me even more afraid. they say if you love it, let it go, and if it’s meant to be yours it will come back. you came back like i had hoped, but i still wasn’t convinced that you were meant to be mine, so we stopped talking.

i remember when i saw you with your new girlfriend for the first time. you said hi to me in the mall. you sounded angry, like you resented me for being too afraid to take a second chance with you. i said hi back and walked away. i’ve barely went to the mall since then.

i wonder if you still remember these things. i wonder if you still remember me. i wonder if you see me when you look at her, or if you think of me when you can’t sleep at night. i wonder if i haunt your dreams like you haunt mine. worst of all, i wonder if you’ve forgotten me completely.

[boththemanandthecold]

I miss you. I never imagined myself getting married, but whatever I did, it was always you walking me down the aisle. I wish I had never gone on this stupid fucking trip. I understand that everyone was worried that I would rot in that little town. However, I should have waited until winter passed. Until you came back. I should have called you, but we don't really talk on the phone much. Everyone's so proud of me right now for being so independent, but I just want to see you again. Wish I could talk to you again; I had so much to tell you. I went to some metal concerts, and you would have thought they were super cool, and I was so excited to tell you. I've been trying to play saxophone again, but I can't touch it without thinking of you and crying. I wish I had told you I loved you. I thought I had more time you're only like forty, that's way too young to die. I thought I would at least have another few months. Last time we talked, you told me you were scared of dying, and I didn't want to say I love you because I thought it would freak you out. You texted me later, and you said everything was alright at the hospital, so I thought I thought I had more time. I've been having trouble sleeping through the night. I keep dreaming of you dying. I'm so scared of everyone dying. Everyone around me keeps dying. I don't think I can handle it anymore. I'm miss you. I wish you were here. I miss you so much. I miss you so much. I wish I had died instead of you. I love you.

[samjimcnez]

OGDEN TASK 001: INITIAL SIT DOWNS

In all honesty, despite having absolutely nothing to hide the idea of being questioned by law enforcement was so scary. Sam sat in her seat, hands twiddling her lap as she tried to look like this was all okay and she did not have anything to hide. She absolutely did not have anything to hide, but she knew the more nervous you seemed the more it would seem like it! And she was the sort who was bound to say something really stupid just to seem like she wasn’t doing anything wrong, when it was completely true and she really was not doing anything wrong. a little like that scene of Ben in Parks and Rec. So, she tried to keep her cool, and would do what she had been told. Just answer the questions that were asked, and not talk about anything else. 

So, she sat there, and gave a polite (slightly forced) greeting and waited for the questions. She really just … hated cops, they made her so uncomfortable.

“When did you last speak to Greer?”

“Uhm,” Sam puffed her cheeks out, and slowly blew out the air considering the question carefully. She didn’t want to get in trouble because she had forgotten some obscure detail. “It was probably the summer before last. I think she had come over to my apartment building because she was picking Ollie- Ollie Inoue, he’s my next door neighbor- up for some concert, or a party or something, and we said hello to each other.”  

“When did you last actually see Greer?”

“Sometime last year. Probably in winter or something like that. I think Ollie got a ride back with her from Ogden and she dropped him off.”

“How well did you know Greer?”

“Not well at all, really,” Sam said, shaking her head. “I knew of her more than I really knew her. We went to the same High School, but we didn’t have many interactions or anything. I know people who knew her better, like I’m friends with her younger brother Mitch, and she was friends with my neighbor like I said. So I heard about her more than I ever really spoke to her. We spoke about like… one whole time, besides greeting each other in hallways, or acknowledging when we were around each other.”

“What was your relationship with Greer like?”

“It was okay I guess,” she said, with a small shrug. “I didn’t have any bad interactions with her, or anything like that. She always seemed nice to me. So, if you can count yourself having an okay relationship with someone you didn’t really have an actual relationship with then I guess that’s what it was like for Greer and I.”

“Have you heard or seen anything about where she was this summer?”

“I don’t really think I’m the person who you should be asking something like that,” Sam said, with a small laugh. “You guys probably know much more than I do at this point. But all I know is people didn’t really see her after they left school. That’s as much as I really know.”

“You wouldn’t have wanted Greer to disappear, would you?”

“No, of course not! Everything going on is so terrible, there are so many people that have been affected by this the stress around campus is practically palpable. It’s always very sad to hear about someone losing a loved one, and when there is no way to get closure for the tragic event that has happened because the person in question has gone missing. Whether she’s run away, or something has happened to her – I hope not – it’s not something I would have ever wanted. I really don’t even know Greer well enough to want something like that either way, if we’re being honest. My heart goes out to everyone who did know and care about her, though. I hope someone is able to get to the bottom of this soon.”

[sanstropfremir]

i’m sure u received asks about the mma 2022 performances - hoping i’m not adding too much noise ur inbox 🫡

but i feel a bit underwhelmed with these performances? i was sad to see the lineups for all of the upcoming award shows and how there aren’t a lot (or any) 2nd gen/3rd gen performers. granted there aren’t as many 2nd gen active kpop artists that are doing music (most ventured into acting but also hello! i want a key gasoline end of year stage!). and 3rd gen bgs are enlisting + ggs disbanded or not as mainstream.

i’ve seen a lot of praise for le sseafim’s stage but idk it wasn’t anything wow. it felt awkward to me?

i haven't actually, it seems like everyone (including me) forgot about it. i don't know what the full list of performers is so i probably haven't watched all of them, but yea almost no strong performances. what the hell is wrong with the creative directors for these groups, like did y'all forget how stage a good awards show performance in two years? the mmas gave like 11-12 minutes to all these trendy fourth gen groups and NONE of them could keep any semblence of my attention for more than maybe three minutes. the only two groups that actually understood the scale of what they were supposed to be doing were monsta x and ive, bc starship has been sending groups to awards shows for ages. and of that mx's was the only one that was actually interesting and in proper scale for the event, and they did it in less time than everyone else. and also gidle but like. was that a good performance? no, but at least they got the scale right.

tbh the main problem seems to me that all these groups are doing songs/vcrs etc that are just too sedate/slow for that large a stage and they aren't planned well. some groups are kinda sol in that regard (sorry newjeans, your music isnt gonna work on an awards show stage without revamping the production), but literally why were there vcrs in the middle of some of these performances. the one in the ive performance literally just covered up them WALKING TO A DIFFERENT PART OF THE STAGE. why. are you too good to sing a song and hype up the audience while you walk? i dont even want to talk about the txt performance it has some of the worst everything i've seen in a hot minute. the le sserafim stage had extremely poor understanding of how to actually use the stage properly and pathetic styling. like sorry diesel outfits do NOT cut it for an awards show performance. enhypen had legitimately horrible styling like what the actual fuck was that. a lot of these groups are treating these stages as extentions of their 'lore' or whatever and having these ponderous ~mysterious~ vcrs without actually realizing that that is not what these shows are for. these shows need BIG performances bc they are long and they have huge lulls in them thanks to the actual awards presenting. it's one of the only types of performance that it's not necessary to build a dynamic arc into because you do not need one.

[wernerherzogs]

FoR oBviOuS ReAsonS.... i am so mad? Like the pandemic is literally not over in the US? And we all know that safety precautions will not take place bc it's a Harry styles concert we are talking about. I want my money back Harry also for obvious reasons 🙄 just cancel the tour omg

it's SO FUNNY i'm sure that some of the us states' vaccination rates are NOT higher than those in some EU countries, and YET. 🤐 also i hear that he probably won't be able to force only fully vaccinated people to attend because he never cancelled the dates, only rescheduled, so it'd be a mess legally? so yeah have fun spreading the virus

[sukablatnahui]

My love is on the fifth floor

In short, the character Alice is a character — @eriiisc

And in this fan fiction, everything happens in the 70th years of the USSR, so the names will be changed to more Russian, because no one called such names as "Colin".

With the exception of Alice, since she has a more normal name for this time and this name was treated normally.

We will have Colin — Kostya.

Srignolid — Shurik ( Yes it's a strange name )

Special one — Svetlana or Sveta

And Alice remains Alice.

The sun was gradually sinking, leaving behind a sunset, it was already winter, December 31. Everyone has bought live Christmas trees for a long time, parents call their children home, prepare salads, prepare for performances in concerts and in other theaters for adults.

The apartment is like all the tenants of the Soviet Union. One room where an old carpet hung on the wall, a bed, a huge wardrobe where there were books in each shelf, a tea set for some kind of tea, cassettes with movies and cartoons and so on, as well as one table and a small TV.The other parts are the kitchen and bathroom with toilet.

Kostya was sitting at a table by the window and looking out at the street, simultaneously tapping his pen on the table. The TV showed the latest news this year, and the Christmas tree that stood in the corner was decorated with candy wrappers, small balls and serpentine.

But the guy didn't have a special festive mood, he was sad, as if something was missing here, or even someone ......

Suddenly the blond guy heard the doorbell ring.

Getting up from his chair, Kostya went to the door and looked through the peephole.

A guy with a slightly swarthy skin color, brown eyes and black hair, and next to him a little girl with blonde hair and black eyes.

It was Shurik and Svetlana!

The guy with glasses opened the door and greeted a friend with his ward.

— Hi Shurik, hi Svetlana, why did you come?

Kostya asked calmly.

— Happy New Year Kostya, just like that, to visit. It's been a long time anyway, even though we live against each other.

Kostya nodded and let the guests enter.

— Will you have tea, coffee, cocoa?

Our blond guy asked.

— I won't mind tea.

Shurik said while Sveta remained silent.

The three came to the kitchen and the guy and the girl sat at the table while Kostya started making tea.

Turning to the Light, the guy noticed that she had nothing to eat from sweets and asked:

— Svetlana, is something wrong? Why don't you eat candy?

— Well....I just want to be slim, and candy spoils the figure, so the girls said... And if I eat less, I'll be beautiful.

— Svetlana, you are so beautiful with me, you don't have to refuse yourself food, otherwise you will feel bad.

Said a 20-year-old guy and stroked Svetlana on the head.

— Well, if that's the case, then I have buckwheat left, will you?

Kostya asked, to which the girl nodded.

***

— Hey Kostya.

— Hmm?

- Why are you so sad? Isn't it New Year's Eve today?

Shurik asked while drinking tea by the window.

— Well, you see..... I somehow have no time for this holiday.

Kostya answered, looking at the window.

It was already evening, it was dark outside, only the light of lanterns and windows shone on the street. White snow glowed in the light, and small birds sat on trees and flew.

- why? Do you remember Alice?

Kostya immediately blushed when they mentioned her.

His favorite girl, who met back in the summer.

This case was pretty stupid, on a dark street a guy was going to university until he saw a girl who stumbled and dropped bags of groceries. Kostya then approached her from behind and tried to help, but immediately got the bag in the face.

Then Alice thought it was a maniac, but it turned out that it was an ordinary guy. And yet Kostya helped Alice carry the packages to her house and that's how they met.

— Y-yes.... I don't know what to give her .....

— Hmm, well, probably flowers, because they are beautiful like the girls themselves.

Shurik suggested.

— Yeah, where can I get you flowers? Winter after all....

— And you..... Make it out of plastic! Girls love it when guys give them something with their own hands!

The brunette said and took out a plastic bottle from under the table.

— This is an idea!

Kostya said and took the bottle and went to look for the rest of the plastic bottles.

***

There was a large table in the middle of the room, where all the salads and other food for the new year were on it. There was the first channel on TV, and the girl was sadly drawing a sketch of winter where everything around the picture was not alive, but somehow empty. Alice took a deep breath, put on her coat and went out onto the balcony. Her flowers, which bloomed in summer, had not been there for a long time and only instead of them there was only snow on the pots. The blue-eyed woman started looking at the street, seeing how empty everything was, when suddenly she saw someone standing in the middle and waving his hand.

Alice looked closer and saw. Kostya!

He was wearing a hat with earflaps and a winter jacket, waving to her with his hand holding plastic flowers and some kind of postcard.

The girl immediately went to get dressed and a minute later ran out into the street.

— Kostya! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you stay at home and celebrate the New Year?

— Do you see.... I have to, but.... Only I have no one to celebrate it with...— After that, the guy gave the girl flowers and a postcard. — This is Alice for you...

the young guy said confusedly.

Alice opened the card and read it:

— Dear Alice, this new year I want to confess something. I love you and I want to spend my whole life only with you. Signed: Kostya...

Alice read it and looked at him.

— I-I will understand if you refuse the offer-

But the guy could not finish when suddenly the girl kissed him on the lips.

— I love you too, Kostya, I agree to spend my life with you until the very end!

Said the girl and hugged the guy.

Feeling warm inside, the guy hugged back and soon they went to Alice's apartment on the fifth floor and only celebrated the new year together.

[acatnamedpusheen]

Le Parole Lontane Pt.1

Damiano David x reader

-

Pt.2

Genre: Angst/smut (in next part)

Warnings: Slight cursing and sexual content

Snippet: He made you feel like home, truly loved, truly special, but then came the fights.

"Give me one night to prove you I love you more than anything in the world and then you decide whether we get back together or not."

A/N: I don't even know if this is remotely good (or just straight up cringe) or if I'll stay consistent and actually write what I have planned for the next part but hey here have this!

------

You saw him again, after 2 months. You saw him again and you could feel a warmth deep within you, as if it was the first day of spring. At the same time, you could feel a sharp coldness piercing through your heart, like the freezing cold air of a snowy winter.

That's what Damiano always did. He shook things up in your life since the day he entered it. He confused you as he made you feel emotions you never thought you could experience. He made you feel like home, truly loved, truly special, but then came the fights. Those were the times you couldn't understand him and it hurt. It hurt because you felt inadequate, at fault. It hurt because small cracks would be created on the beautiful image of your relationship. And those cracks would be filled with feelings of guilt, regret.

"Just how much more insensitive could you be, Y/N?"

The concert was starting in half an hour and you two had picked up a fight backstage. Usually this happened when you were alone at home, but this time it was different and you could feel it all along.

"So now somehow I'm the insensitive one?!"

"I'm insensitive for trying to be there for you and not leave you drowning in your own problems?!"

You raised your voice not caring if anyone in the next rooms heard you. You've had enough of Damiano constantly snapping at you or even ignoring you the past few days while you were trying to be supportive.

"It was obviously of no use, so why where you so convinced that you were actually helping?"

There came the hurtful words and little did you know that this was not the worst. It pained you to see him like this because you knew he wasn't his usual self. Yet he made you feel like you weren't enough, that you didn't deserve him.

"I can't believe we're doing this..." you sighed trying to keep it together.

"I shouldn't have bothered, is that what you want to hear? Is that what you want to hear so we can stop this stupid fight?"

You could sense the tears forming in your eyes, but you held them back. You were willing to face him without breaking down, you were willing to prove that you were strong.

But what's the point of pretending to be strong, when you're gradually falling apart on the inside?

"I'd like to see you stop being a stupid bitch."

No, you must have heard wrong, he couldn't have said such thing to the person he so dearly loved and cherished. To the person he could hold in his arms forever, who's kisses gave him life, who's smile would bring the light.

But indeed those words fell from the lips of a man that had once shown you a new world.

You had no control over your trembling body as you gave Damiano a hard slap. Never would you have imagined yourself doing such thing especially to him, but that night proved to have been unprecedented in many ways.

"Alright then, you're not seeing me ever again."

were your last words probably 10 minutes before the show started. The show that you wouldn't be watching. The show after which you wouldn't hang out with the whole band and later make love to Damiano.

There was no way you could have stayed after he disrespected you like that. You needed time, both of you, to calm down and think it through, to decide whether you really wanted to be together or not.

And so days went by which turned to weeks then months. You decided to basically dissapear from Damiano's life, refusing to answer any of his calls or texts.

The first few days he seemed desperate, calling several times a day only to be greeted by the colorless beeping sound of the phone, in vain waiting that he'd finally get to hear your voice.

You'd be staring at the bright screen, phone in silent, reading his name over and over again that seemed somehow more and more alien to you.

And once he'd get tired of waiting for you to pick up he'd text you. Things like "I'm sorry", "Can we please talk?", "I never meant those words" "Y/N please answer me" had stayed in front of your glistening eyes, but not once did you respond.

You'd also cut off ties with the rest of the members at least for the first few weeks until you were feeling like keeping in touch with Victoria. But nothing more than texts since anything that reminded you of Damiano made your heart sink.

And that sinking feeling was indeed there when you saw him again after about 2 months. Oddly enough though, a part of you just wanted to run straight to his arms and never let go.

It happened at a random coffee shop in the city center. You saw him first when you had just gotten your order and tried to leave before he noticed you, but failed.

Once you locked eyes with each other, you found it impossible to move, giving him the chance to approach you.

"Can we talk now?"

Without uttering a single thing, you moved past him towards some table at the far end of the shop with him following close behind.

There was no room for further postponement of the issue. Whether you ended things or not you ought to have a discussion to clear everything out. After all you did still love him and wanted back that special spark he created in your life, but you couldn't go on if there was a price to pay.

"I missed you" he said with a pained smile once you were both sat across each other.

"Last time I checked, I was an annoying stupid bitch, what changed?"

He sighed, looking away. These words now coming from you, sounded heavier than he'd thought.

"Y/N, you have to understand I don't mean it, I never meant it! Sometimes stress just messes things up."

"Just?! This wasn't a 'just' Damiano. Do you realise what it's like when the person you love the most in this world is giving you the cold shoulder and then talks to you like that?"

"Am I still the person you love the most in this world?"

You saw the pain and longing in his eyes as you realised you'd used the present tense. Your heart was speaking louder than your mind and you couldn't hide it anymore.

"I-I don't know, I need time." you abruptly got up, feeling everything suddenly becoming too overwhelming for you to handle.

As soon as you exited the coffee shop a hand got a strong grip on your wrist forcing you to turn around.

"Give me one night." seeing confusion painted across your features, he continued "One night to prove you that I love you more than anything in this world. And then you decide whether we get back together or not."

"Okay..." you agreed hesitantly but were still quite eager to see what he had in mind.

"Alright then, dinner at my place tomorrow at 8."

[1c3d-choco]

𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖛𝖎𝖘𝖎𝖙 𝖙𝖔 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖇𝖆𝖗 💖

SUMMARY: Herb goes to Sparkling cookie's bar with Mint Choco cookie, Cocoa cookie and Vampire cookie. While the others are busy talking, Sparkling and Herb went to the bathroom for "more space" before Mint Choco cookie's concert.

AU: Winter AU

Type of fanfic: Fluff 🌸

Pairing(s): Sparkling x Herb, Mint Choco x Cocoa

CW: Mentions of getting drunk(Don't worry, they are just grape juices)

🌱Herb's POV🌱

"I can't wait to go to Sparkling cookie's bar! It's my first time seeing him!" Cocoa cookie squealed as she is excited to see Sparkling cookie and began to comfort her boyfriend, Mint Choco cookie, "Don't worry, darling. I won't drink alot of wine, because cocoa is on me!"

"Okay, sweetie. I hope so..." Mint Choco cookie trusted her.

"Hmph, love birds, I just wanted to drink some juice..." Vampire cookie mumbled to himself while driving the car.

Today is winter and Sparkling is planning a party for Christmas before the new year. Also, Mint Choco decided to have a concert at the bar. Vampire cookie is the one driving the car while I'm next to him and Mint choco cookie and Cocoa cookie are behind. After a few minutes, we all finally went to the right place. Vampire cookie stopped the car and we all opened got off the car. Our feet is on the snow as it's snowing outside. Mint Choco cookie started to pack his violin in his bag.

"Ahh yesss, I'm going to get drunk of his juice...." Vampire cookie moaned in happiness.

I sweated and reminded Cocoa cookie, "Don't mind Vampire cookie, he's just drunk for juices."

When we all get here at the bar, Sparkling looked and greeted at us, "Welcome back, cookies.... oh, and Cocoa cookie!"

"Hello, Sparkling cookie!" Cocoa cookie greeted him.

"Wassup, man. Finally, I can have some grape juice!" Vampire greeted him too.

"So, are you ready for your concert" Sparkling cookie asked Mint Choco cookie.

"Yes, I am ready!" Mint Choco cookie responded.

"Eee! You guys, I can't wait to see my boyfriend's concert and listen to his beautiful melodies with his violin!" Cocoa cookie squealed in excitement again, blushing furiously.

"Um, wait, can I... go to the bathroom?" I asked.

"Oh, sure!" Sparkling cookie replied with a smile.

I smiled back at him and rushed to the bathroom. As I closed the door, I began to blush furiously and uncontrollabl because of his smile... but it suddenly hit me right in the heart when Sparkling looked at me. Oh no, don't tell me that I'm gay...

"I'm not gay, right? I'm just bisexual..." I asked myself.

"Herb, are you there-" Sparkling cookie asked me but he saw me turning red like a beetroot, blushing. "...I thought your using the bathroom."

"S-Sparkling... I wasn't expecting you to come here..." I stuttered in a soft voice, sweating.

"Sorry, I just going to ask if your okay," Sparkling cookie apologised.

"I'm okay but I have to tell you something," I reminded Sparkling, walking to him.

I began to cuddle him and kissed him in the lips. Sparkling began to turn crimson like a cherry.

"You know, it's stupid but I love you!" I confessed, "I love you so much although I'm bisexual!"

"H-Herb... I know but I love you too!" Sparkling confessed back. "Don't worry, I'm a transgender gay-ace but I support you!"

"I support you too, Sparkling cookie!" I replied, smiling at him.

Sparkling begin to pin me against the wall and kissed me. I started to kiss him back, wrapping my hands around his chest. But when we broke off the kiss, Vampire walked in with a glass of grape juice and dollar bills on the other hand.

"Sparkling, you forgot my money-" Vampire cookie reminded Sparkling but he looked at us with his eyes wide. "...Shit... Now I'm the one witnessing the two love couples. I wish I get a girlfriend or a boyfriend..."

"Don't worry, Vampire cookie, I'm sure you'll get a crush soon!" I comforted him.

"Yea, but sorry for not realizing that you paid me money," Sparkling cookie apologised to Vampire cookie, taking his money.

"It's okay, man," Vampire cookie forgave him, drinking his grape juice, "now, we have to go to Mint Choco's concert. We don't want to be late."

"Oh, yea! Let's go," Sparkling agreed, grabbing my hand and the three of us walked out the bathroom and to the concert.

Well, that escalated quickly... but I'm glad my crush became my boyfriend...

---

EPILOGUE AFTER THE CONCERT:

Cocoa cookie: So you guys became boyfriends before Mint Choco cookie's concert?

Sparkling cookie: Yeah, we thought that may be stupid, right, Herb cookie?

Herb cookie: Yeah....

Vampire cookie: So that means I'm the only single here?

Mint Choco cookie: ...I think so but wish you a good luck when you get a crush!

Vampire cookie: Okay, dude! So I'm glad that we are re-united with Cocoa cookie.

Cocoa cookie: Yeah, it's the first time I joined a boys' group!

Herb cookie: I hope you enjoy being part of us!

Sparkling cookie: I agree, Herb. Cheers!

All of them: CHEERS!

/THE END/

[creativeashproductions]

Songbird Shenanigans // Charlie Gillespie

IN WHICH: The reader will routinely sneak away from her band/hotel to continue her tour shenanigans in parking garages. A way for the young star to return to the stupid years where the concert venue was a car and the mic was the steering wheel. As each city comes and goes with the tour, one thing never changes, driving to parking garages to scream songs at the top of your lungs.

Warnings: Swearing, Mamma Mia songs (oops), and fluff

Words: 4.0k (with lyrics included)

A/N: There’s something endearing about Charlie randomly going a stranger in a duet and dance without a care. This was loosely inspired by the chaotic live they did when Jeremy and Charlie stayed at Owen’s place. I loved Charlie’s tropical shirt giving Animal Crossing vibes.

TO BE TAGGED SEND AN INBOX/ASK PLEASE!

Masterlist

A moment you had desired for a while finally came around in Oklahoma City during the free day between the two concerts. The pure quiet away from the interviews, photoshoots and demanding life of a musician. Yet despite wanting this time, you definitely felt bored, which only meant one thing.

A new video for your followers as you had done since the beginning of your successful career. Back before, you had the prominent following you had; now you would travel singing in your car, and then one video got viral. That elevated your following until you had signed a record deal with your brand new agent.

A series was then born of driving at night to the parking lots and garages in the city you temporarily visited. You'd park and sing any suggested songs from a previous video for an hour to see if a fan could find you. It was a fun game you had developed.

Y/N Y/L/N: Another installment of Songbird Shenanigans. From 9pm to 10:30pm, I'll be somewhere in Oklahoma City. Come find me for the prize!

Your agent both hated and loved the series as it brought attention to your career and songs but also was a hazard during the tour. The risk of losing your voice made your agent nervous, but the positives outweigh the negatives.

"What song are you doing?" Maddie asked from her chair in your hotel suite with a ratty book in her hand. Her rich dark hair pulled up in a high bun with a few pieces of bangs pulled down to hang free.

You didn't know if you could do what you do if you didn't have Maddie by your side as your singing partner and chief stylist. Maddie also always knew without looking on social media when you had a new installment coming.

"My most requested video is Train Wreck by-"

"James Arthur." Maddie snickered with her grey eyes pinned to the page she was reading faithfully. The book had seen better days, but it was her absolute favourite one by far and one of the only physical books she had.

"Somehow forgot you had it on repeat for a week straight." You snorted, shoving a hat on your head for warmth. A plain black coat pulled over your arms that matched the warm boots you had chosen, "I'll send you my location."

Maddie waved on hand in response, having known the routine since you first started this fun series. It allowed you a bit of your old life when the concerts you performed was solely in your car with the steering wheel as the microphone.

Judy, your agent, was sitting in the lobby with her binder surrounding her when she looked with a sigh. Without a word, she tossed the keys to the rented car she knew you'd need, so in each city, she rented one. A smile of gratitude shared before you were out the door with your hood up.

"Be careful!" Judy exclaimed just as the sliding doors closed behind you, sending you out in the cold night.

Almost instantly, your cheeks turned a light pink in the cold winter air, even if the walk to the war was short. As requested, the car was a newer model but one that would blend in with other city cars. It made finding you harder, but the windows couldn't be tinted.

"Here's to hoping I get a place with good acoustics." You muttered, starting the hatchback vehicle. Despite the cold winter weather, the road conditions were surprisingly okay, but then again, you were from a small town. Roads were shit in general.

You didn't bother playing music as you used the drive to find a parking garage and warm up your throat. Your vocal coach would have your head if you didn't warm-up, and then Judy would kill you even more.

You lucked out in a parking garage to a building that seemed to be a renovated warehouse with insanely cool windows. The metal was a dark shamrock green with a multitude of small rectangular glass between the metal. The panes swung open upwards in a fascinating design.

"Perfect." You muttered, signalling to turn into the parking garage that was easily accessed and without any trespassing signs. It was desolate, with cars parked here and there in the stalls.

A bright orange Subaru definitely took the cake as the most 'flashy' vehicle among the more nondescript ones. Not that it caught your attention when you lowered your windows marginally while simultaneously clipping the phone onto the dash. Immediately you double-checked for any apparent signs to your location before declaring it safe; with a tap of your finger, your Instagram live began.

"Welcome to another part of our Songbird Shenanigans. This time I'm in Oklahoma City for a two-day concert. The most requested song is Train Wreck by James Arthur."

Laying in the silence

Waiting for the sirens

Signs, any signs I'm alive still

I don't wanna lose it

I'm not getting through this

Hey, should I pray? should I pray

A natural instinct of closing your eyes as you got more into the music occurred. Your voice belted into the garage beautifully. Tons of comments appeared in the insta live chat of both supportive and haters.

username3: I suggested this song!!!

username88: Your voice goes perfectly with the song.

The song came to an end quicker than you would have liked since it was definitely one of your favourites to sing.

Unchain the reactions, I'm not ready to die, not yet

Pull me out of the train wreck

Pull me out, pull me out, pull me out

Pull me out, pull me out, pull me out

No action was helped back from taking a swig of water from the reusable bottle you had brought along. Your eyes scoured the comments for more suggestions or things that stuck out.

"Why don't you include hints in the Songbirds?” You read out from the comment section with a smile barely held back, "Why would I? You all know that my windows are often down, and even the most unoriginal locations have tells. There's been a few people that have found me."

Username13: I think I know where you are (insert heart emoji)

          ↳Username63: username13 where?! How do you know?

          ↳Username13: jatp is streaming all day and the guys are in a car. Same background

Your eyes read the short but interesting conversation between the two different accounts on something called jatp? Whatever that was.

"Any other requests?" You asked, scrolling through the suggestions, "Sing something from jatp? I'm sorry, guys, but I have no clue what that is? Is it a movie? OH! It's a show. My bad."

The comment section was flooded, "Okay! Let me look up the lyrics and the melody!"

Three males: a blonde and two brunettes, walked between the rows of both occupied and unoccupied parking spots. The blonde wearing a black t-shirt with BEANS written across the chest and the brunette with short slicked-back hair crowded the middle guy. All three pairs of eyes watched the iPhone stream the television series.

"I call shotgun!" Owen spoke as the car in question came into view, "We gotta Livestream in the car again!"

"Your neighbour sucks, man." Charlie groaned, nudging Jeremy to unlock the car when the older man hesitated.

"If we're going live in the car, we should cover your license plate," Jeremy suggested to a resounding agreement. 

Charlie drove an obscenely vibrant coloured car that could be picked out quickly, so he didn't need any help in broadcasting his location. Owen grabbed the book from the passenger seat to angle it to lean against the plate.

"Done!" Owen called, racing back to climb into the car with his friends. The blonde-haired man bounced in his seat as the owner of the vehicle set up the screen.

In seconds, the streaming went from the app on the phone to the car's built-in screen to the boys' delight. In a moment of what some may call brilliance and others stupidity Owen went live on Instagram with Charlie joining him swiftly.

"Do you rem-"

Username76: Songbird chose a shitty location.

           ↳Username 39: Or we just got a Hail Mary hint

"Who is Songbird?" Charlie questioned, leaning closer to his friends in the front, catching a few comments.

The comments were mixed among other unrelated ones, but all had Songbird, Shenanigans or both words. The mystery was so intriguing the boys turned down the show to scour the comments for tidbits.

"Wait? Do you hear that?" Jeremy questioned, scanning the parking garage with his blue, green eyes. Soon his head was sticking out the window, "Someone is singing here."

Jeremy's hand turned the key of the car, "Is that-"

"Oh, no." Owen groaned, seeing that specific light appear in Charlie's eyes just as it did each time one of the songs came on. His pink beanie slid around his long blonde locks.

The two guys watched as the second oldest in their group did some kind of shimmy after pushing his phone to Jeremy. Jeremy's hand scrambled to get a grip on the phone as Charlie delved into his love for these songs. Sharing a look, Jeremy and Owen followed the Canadian to a car with a girl singing in the open hatchback car.

(Italics is you! Italics and bold is Charlie and you! Just bold is Charlie!)

When you were lonely, you needed a man.

Someone to lean on, well I understand

It's only natural

But why did it have to be me?

Your eyes remained shut as you neared the middle of the first verse. You completely stopped when a voice joined. Your e/c eyes met the twinkling brown of a handsome guy with the best voice you'd heard in a long time.

Nights can be empty, and nights can be cold

So you were looking for someone to hold

That's only natural

But why did it have to be me?

Your lips parted in a grin as you grabbed the hand being offered to be pulled out of the car; on your way, your hand nudged your phone. Your phone was in a mount attached to the roof of the hatch. When you followed the stranger, the phone turned in perfect view. Your free hand turned to hover over your forehead, legs bending to feign a swoon.

I was so lonesome, I was blue

I couldn't help it, it had to be you and I

Always thought you knew the reason why

Charlie beamed playing being shot by the arrow you pretended to shoot with a grin planted on your own lips. Charlie's hand flirted with your hip as you sashayed around his body from his left to his right. Hand grabbing a first full of his white with light teal with light pink design to tug him chest to chest.

I only wanted a little love affair

Now I can see you are beginning to care

But baby, believe me

It's better to forget me

In turn, Charlie grabbed your wrist to twirl you into his arms straight into an impressive dip with the toe of your shoe pointed to the far wall. Your fingers just barely caressing the rough paved lot.

"I'm Charlie," Charlie murmured during the instrumental between the chorus and the second verse. Your eyes scanned his features with an expression you would later be glad was hidden from the lighting in the garage.

"Y/N." You breathed, clutching his shoulders still low in the dip, hoping subconsciously that your breath was still fresh.

"Wanna finish this?" Charlie spoke, searching your eyes with his own; up close, you could see his eyes were a mixture of colours. You only nodded before he continued singing to the music.

Men are the toys in the game that you play

When you get tired, you throw them away

That's only natural

But why did it have to be me?

"Are you seeing this?" Jeremy whispered to Owen as they watched Charlie literally sweep a stranger off her feet. Owen could only nod as Charlie went into the next verse, still dancing as if he was in Mamma Mia 2.

Falling in love with a woman like you

Happens so quickly, there's nothing to do

It's only natural

But why did it have to be me?

Charlie spun you back away from his body in a graceful twirl your choreographer would be incredibly proud of. The moves you made somehow made sense, with the movements matching the spontaneous duet-er.

I was so lonesome, I was blue

I couldn't help it, it had to be you and I

Always thought you knew the reason why

Once more in his arms dancing, he dipped you once more as you finished the end of the last chorus breathing heavily. The two strangers staring intensely into each other's eyes with an intense look that had tensions in the parking garage.

I only wanted a little love affair

Now I can see you are beginning to care

But baby, believe me

It's better to forget me

"Intense." Owen chuckled as Charlie raised you back onto your feet with a matching grin to yours, "Oh! Look at the comments!"

Username24: Holy shit! They ooze chemistry!!

           ↳Username9: lol, okay Alex. 

"You aren't a viewer, are you?" You breathlessly laughed, taking a step away from Charlie as the music faded away.

The equally breathless spontaneous performing partner laughed as well, "I heard the song and hoped for the best."

"Are you Songbird?" Came a voice from a few feet away. Behind the once upon a time stranger stood two males approaching slowly.

"Oh!" You gasped, turning on your heel to see where your phone was pointing, "Well, that's convenient! One moment."

Jeremy and Owen flanked Charlie as you repositioned the phone at the moment with practised precision. You kept the three people out of the shot for privacy reasons.

"There is about ten minutes away from the end of this installment being over. For the first time since we started this series, I had a duet." You playfully laughed, looking over at the trio, "It's completely up to my sudden partner, but would you like to meet your audience?"

Charlie simply shrugged, "Sure. They've seen you be serenaded by a stranger."

A short laugh came from the three individuals around Charlie as he moved into the camera frame with a large smile. As soon as he was in sight, the comment section went nuts, furthering when Owen and Jeremy came into view.

Username1: DREAM COME TRUE

           ↳Username4: omg jatp in Songbird Shenanigans?? Life accomplished.

You couldn't hold back the snort at the comments you could read quickly as they disappeared after new ones. The three guys couldn't help but chuckle as well.

"I've never seen these guys before. If you could introduce yourselves." You asked the three guests, to which each sent a reassuring smile to your hesitance.

"I'm Charlie Gillespie, and these are my friends Owen Joyner and Jeremy Shada." Charlie took the liberty of introducing both his friends and himself. His heart fluttered at the adorable smile that had appeared on your pretty face.

"I'm afraid this concludes this edition of Songbird." You apologized to the camera as the time passed the allotted hour and a half. The comments turned sad before most of them started sending questions, "I'll let you know when I do another edition! Bye for now!"

Your finger clicked the end button firstly before clicking the save button for when you would upload it to your account later.

"Thank you for doing that. I'm Y/N." You chuckled, shaking hands with Jeremy and Owen, who each grinned back, "So what brought you guys to the parking garage with three phones and a live-action Animal Crossing shirt?"

Amusement was found on all four young adults in the parking garage, pinning a gaze at the material. You had to admit you kinda adored the shirt, or maybe the person wearing it was the reason.

"We're trying to get Julie and the Phantoms to number one again." Owen offered as he displayed the live still going on his phone. 

"That's a tv series. That was the second song I did on the live before Charlie joined the little concert." You told the boys all the while aware that thousands of people watched from the phone still streaming.

"The phone's about to die." Owen piped up, catching the single decimal number broadcasting the percentage. Without any prompting, he ended the live to save it solely for the little performance Charlie did.

"Did you save it?" Jeremy asked, lifting on his tiptoes to check the phone Owen had commanded for the last half hour. Like Owen, Jeremy wanted to save it solely for the stellar performance.

"So, how'd this series start?" Charlie questioned, pushing his hands into his pockets, ignoring the subtle glances of his best friend.

"I needed an escape from touring so many cities. It's reminiscent of the days before I was discovered. When my audience was the dials in my car and my family." You half-smiled, recalling all the times you had simply driven around to sing.

"You're a musician?"

"I am. I'm currently on tour for my second album. Every second or third city I'm performing in, I take the rented car to parking lots or garages to sing. I always have a prize for the fans that find me."

"Could I get your number?" Charlie hesitantly questioned. His features twisting with the manipulation of nerves.

His palms had gone clammy enough to inconspicuously wipe them on his legs; this version of Charlie was unfamiliar. Owen and Jeremy had only ever seen him as this bundle of joy and energy, not to say he didn't have his low days, instead of nervous. Owen slipped his fingers behind his back to cross them. He hoped his Canadian friend would get it.

"You don't leak mine, and I won't leak yours." Your e/c eyes twinkled with the brush of Charlie's warm fingers on your own. The new contact waiting for his information, "Maybe we can meet up with each other?"

"I'd love that."

Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, Unspecified Date

The sounds of screams and heavy instruments blocked by the unique in-ears explicitly made for your ears alone. You'd heaved, catching a breath after such an energetic song you'd just performed for the sold-out venue. You just jogged to the side for a chug of water as your band switched instruments.

"Are you having fun tonight!" You asked the crowd who had fought tooth and nail for tickets. The crowd screamed back louder than before.

Selling out MSG for completely insane even after touring the country with your band three times. It was still a little jarring, going from a nobody with untapped potential to selling out concerts and very successful albums, in all honesty.

"That's what I like to hear!" You beamed, pushing a strand of your unruly hair away from your face. Your eyes momentarily cast to the side stage with the equipment hiding the crew, "I have a surprise for you. A couple years ago, I had a spontaneous duet partner during one of Songbird Shenanigans. I'd like to invite my fiance Charlie out here."

The crowd went nuts as Charlie wandered towards you from the side of the stage away from Owen, Jeremy and Madison. Charlie's hazel eyes scoured the oceans of your e/c eyes he got to wake up to each morning. Mostly when Julie and the Phantoms had been offered to open for you; to be frank, it was more of an unspoken co-headlining.

"Can we tell?" You asked, keeping the mic covered and away from your body. Your body bounced, waiting for the smile from him.

Charlie nodded, accepting the guitar from one of the crew members. It was a song you had written a few months back. Charlie had memorized the entire piece with the deep adoration he felt for it.

The couple perched on the bar stools brought to the middle of the stage with a secret smile. One that only they and their immediate family understood.

Three months ago, you had sat Charlie down in your home to play him a little song that changed everything.

Charlie placed the last bag of groceries on the counter when he felt arms wrap around his midsection. He immediately knew that it was you welcoming him home from a very short trip to the store. In a swift move, he had manoeuvred you to sit on the counter while he scooched himself between your legs.

"Hi." Charlie breathed, rising to press a kiss against the smooth skin of your cheek, leaving heat in its wake.

"I want your opinion on a song." You burst out, unable to refrain from showing him a song you had been secretly working on. The French Canadian was beyond intrigued by the sudden announcement from his fiance.

"Oh?"

"Come." You coaxed the man from the kitchen to the designated music room filled with instruments of all kinds—even a recent addition of a recording booth in the corner with high-end equipment.

You bypassed everything for the grand piano you didn't play as often as you wished to be able to. Your fingers brushed the ivory keys for a mere second before you began playing the melody.

I, I have known love before

I thought it would no more

Take on a new direction

Still, strange as it seems to be

It's truly new to me

That affection

The smile that grew across Charlie's expressive face was uncapturable from the best of the best; he adored your voice. He had a personal ringtone you had explicitly done for him a few months into the relationship.

I, I don't know what you do

You make me think that you

Will change my life forever

I, I'll always want you near

Give up on you, my dear

I will never

You thrill me, you delight me

You please me, you excite me

You're all that

I've been yearning for

I love you, I adore you

I lay my life before you

I only want you more and more

And finally it seems

My lonely days are through

I've been waiting for you

Charlie's frown, however, faltered as your face ever so slightly paled with trepidation coating your pretty irises. Your voice even quivered with nerves he'd never heard before, but it made sense from the third verse started.

I'll carry you all the way

And you will choose the day

When you're prepared to greet me

I'll be a good mum, I swear

You'll see how much I care

When you meet me

You finished the song with the last note drawn out ever so softly, freezing as the room went quiet once more. This song was definitely vulnerable and personal; you felt naked under Charlie's silent stare.

"You're really?" Charlie breathlessly chuckled, his wide eyes screaming disbelief.

After a few years together with an engagement ring on both of your fingers after you had both proposed to each other, with the relationship very serious, you two had decided to stop contraceptives and let everyone happen if it was too happen.

"Yeah." You laughed as he swept you off the bench into his arms, "We have little Birdie to prepare for."

"I love you so damn much." Charlie choked out, spinning the two of you around in his arms. The smile never fading as he drank in the special moment of learning you had created a life together.

PRESENT

"With the impending arrival of our child, I will be taking a break to prepare. Even though I wouldn't be performing, I will still do Songbird Shenanigans. I'll just have to up my game on staying as hidden as possible." You informed the audience as the song came to an end. 

Next thing you knew, you couldn't discern between the crowd and your friends now on stage screaming. You were able to feel Charlie's hand on your barely-there baby bump and his lips pressed against your temple.

Tag List (PLEASE SEND AN INBOX TO BE ADDED! I CANNOT GUARANTEE YOU WILL BE ON THE LIST VIA POST COMMENTS!)

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[thoughts-on-bangtan]

JK Day 2021

...and what a day it was. I know we’re a bit late with this when looking at KST but in our time zone it’s still September 1st so it counts, right? Besides I wanted to wait until the day was over for them so I could have everything the members would post for JK so I could put it in this post as memory for us to look back on in the future.

Furthermore, as extension for the celebrations, I want to finally sit down, write and post our post about JK and his bonds with the hyung line since it’s been so long since two anons asked us about that so what better time than the weekend after JK day, right?

Anyway, let’s get into it, shall we?

The day before JKs birthday he came onto Weverse and posted three different things, including a cute selca:

Everyone of course turned up their creativity to post something for JK and also wondered among themselves what he planned on using those lyric comments for, and if he would use them for anything at all.

Sometime later before the new RUN episode aired, Seokjin appeared on Weverse and, for whatever reason, commented birthday wishes for JK under the Weverse post about the upcoming RUN episode. Because of course he did.

More than an hour before midnight KST everyone got a notification from vlive that JK had gone live:

And truly, considering it was about to be his birthday, I love how it felt more like it was ours with the gift that kept on giving that this vlive turned out to be. 

Lots more below the cut:

Remember those posts that JK made in the morning on Weverse? As many, including myself, had guessed, JK gathered some of the lyric comments he liked most, or thought would work best, and proceeded to turn them into an actual song right before our eyes. The instrumental was gorgeous with a acoustic guitar and ballad like melody and it was truly fascinating watching him figuring out how to sing the lines, record them, redo them whenever he felt he could do it better, add adlibs in some places, and slowly but surely a song was created with lyrics in both English and Korean.

This really was the content I’ve always craved and I’m so, so happy we got to watch JK do this instead of him just showing us the final thing. You could see him having fun, even when he got a little frustrated at times or he wasn’t quite sure how he wanted to continue or how he wanted the words to sound like, and that he really knows what he’s doing. So many claim that Bangtan have no idea about producing and recording songs, which truly is such a stupid argument to make considering Yoongi is literally Producer SUGA and we know that, if the members want to make mixtapes they have to do them themselves, which we know Namjoon, Yoongi and Hobi have done. So JK doing all of that in the vlive? Checkmate against those idiots. Especially since it also isn’t the first time we’ve seen members work on tracks, like the behind the scenes of rap line working on DDAENG or Hobi working on songs, or even JK with Stay, even if we didn’t know it’s Stay at the time.

Once the song was finished JK went on to show us several more instrumentals he could’ve worked with, each one with a different vibe, before switching to singing a song by Justin Bieber saying he really loves his songs a lot. And then it was nearing midnight so he unpacked the cake he got, white icing/fondant with purple lettering spelling out STILL WITH YOU JK, very cute.

Right as midnight hit someone started to bang on the door so JK got up to see who’d come and, surprise, it was a very excited Hobi wishing him a happy birthday including singing the birthday song for him upon JKs request while JK lit up his golden heart shaped candle.

Hobi again returned two minutes after he’d left (between when at 1:18h JK mentioned that, for the first time that night, he’d do one more song to finish off the vlive, ha) to give him an ice cream cake he’d prepared, but also to get his phone which he’d accidentally forgotten in the room JK was in.

Once Hobi really left and JK got a taste of his ice cream cake, as well as the white cake which turned out to be chocolate flavored, the vlive concert began and, at the time, none of us knew what we were in for since we all thought he’d really do one or two more songs and that would be it. And yet that very much is not what happened, at all, and I’m so grateful for it.

This might just be the funniest screenshot in existence (please take note of the time stamps):

No wonder that, eventually, Seokjin decided to come onto Weverse to post wishes for JK a second time while also saying this (the picture is from their unit photoshoot for Winter Package):

The imagine of Seokjin just sitting in bed or whatever watching JKs vlive and hearing him say last song every like ten minutes and every time he just kept going...and going...and going while Seokjin is just waiting...and waiting...and waiting? Hilarious. But it’s also really cute how he’d wanted to wait until JK was done to not interrupt him or pull ARMYs attention away from the vlive. Truly I adore their bond, it’s adorable and chaotic and so wonderfully them.

Yoongi also posted his wishes for JK while the vlive was still going.

The one who waited until it was over was actually Namjoon who, with what he said in his tweet, actually revealed that he’d watched JKs vlive as well. In his vlive JK said that at the end of their concerts Namjoon used to always give his speech like a (school) principal, as in his long ending ment speeches, and that’s why Namjoon ‘signed’ his tweet with principal as well.

Truly I love how JK was just having fun singing their songs, taking requests from ARMY, rediscovering songs, like him wondering if they really have a song called Paradise (since the Korean title is different) and finally fulfilling ARMYs wish of hearing BTS sing it live, as well as being surprised and confused by requests for Heartbeat asking himself if them really have a song like that. But since ARMY kept asking for it, he finally looked it up and his reaction to realizing that, yes, it is a real song of theirs and also that that’s the song we were talking about which he’d completely forgotten about? Hilarious but also kind of heartbreaking for all the Heartbeat enthusiasts.

Here is the full list of all the songs he sang, some for longer, some shorter:

One thing that this vlive showed really well was just how amazing of a singer JK really is. It’s easy for people to dismiss his talent during concerts or performances, since they could always argue that him and the others get help due to the backing track etc., but here we had his raw voice singing along to their songs much the way any of us do. And he sounded stunning beginning to end. He’s such a talented singer and he’s worked so hard on his technique and voice and it’s really showing. Thinking back to what he said in his BE comeback Weverse interview about how he’d like to one day he brave enough to do a three hour concert on his own, I’d say this vlive shows that really shouldn’t be any kind of problem at all. If ARMY can listen to him essentially do karaoke for one and a half hours, then attending and enjoying a full on JK concert would be no issue whatsoever. It’d actually be amazing, I’m certain, and I’d totally be down to seeing that potentially become a reality one day in the future.

After two and a half hours, the vlive ultimately came to a close and JK said his goodbyes.

Hours later Hobi appeared on Weverse wondering what pictures of JK he could/should post for his traditional picture “spam” and everyone was immediately super excited. Hobi’s gallery holds some wonderful treasures so we all looked forward to what he would end up posting, though it would take a few hours until it would happen.

The funny thing is that he posted the first twt twice since the picture with Namjoon in it had Hobi’s iPhone in it which, as good Samsung representative, was a no, no, so he deleted the twt and posted it again with some stickers covering the phone. So cute. And his picture choices are wonderful. I particularly love that picture of JK in the white room dressed in black from back in 2019 when they performed Boy with Luv. And also their picture from a dinner the two of them went on together back in 2018.

In the meantime before Hobi posted his pictures, as requested in the picture that BH had posted for JKs birthday on the staff BTS account at midnight, one of the members posted his meal though it’s unclear which one of them it might’ve been. Looks super yummy though, wow.

And eventually the final member to come and wish JK a happy birthday was Jimin (and yes, I know Jimin’s twt came before Hobi’s but considering Hobi already wished him a happy birthday at midnight, that makes Jimin the last one):

Trans (cr. haruharu_w_bts):

our maknae happy birthday  i wish <you a happy birthday> a lot and a lot #KkookieHappyBirthday #JIMIN #HAPPYJKDAY

Taehyung didn’t post anything but considering his track record of doing something for the members off social media for their birthday, like giving Namjoon a forehead kiss, sending birthday wish videos to Seokjin (including roping others into doing it as well), or wishing Jimin a happy birthday as part of the MOTS ON:E exhibition, I wasn’t all that surprised by this.

And with that JK day 2021 came to a close. It started with a surprise (as in both the song based on ARMY comments and also the concert afterward) and ended with one as well, as in the In The SOOP Season Two announcement.

I hope JK had a wonderful day, celebrated happily with his members, friends and family however much that’s possible in these times, as well as with their busy schedule, and that this new year will be a happy one for him full of success, personal but also career wise. I’m curious and excited to see what will happen.

[natromanxoff]

25 - Just Chatting...

Hello one and all.

It's been a long time since I graced these pages and, believe it or not, nothing much has been happening in my life, apart from the odd soiree or two. Winter has finally left us and spring has sprung, and it's nice to see the sun again. Let's start by wishing my old mate a happy birthday and I hope you all had a little drinkie for him, I know I did. In fact I got legless, he would have been proud of me. Whenever we were in London there was always a party at Fred's on his birthday, be it a handful of friends, or one where he invited half of Britain, but which ever one it was there was always a good time to be had and a lot of chaos. One year he actually took over Pikes Hotel in Ibiza and chartered a private plane to fly his friends in. Roger and myself were already on the island recording some of his solo stuff so we didn't have far to travel to the bash. When I say we were working, it's kind of true as we spent a lot of time on his boat "Ga Ga" whizzing around having lunch and fun. The party was held outside around the swimming pool, now is that an invite for trouble or what? There were hundreds of balloons hanging from every available fixture, and of course there is always an idiot that thinks he's a clown. This particular clown, who will remain nameless, decided it would be funny to light one of the balloons, and needless to say the whole lot went up in flames. Phoebe and Crystal to the rescue. We had to get this "fire" off the wooden rafters before the whole hotel went up in smoke, so we were pulling bits of string while burning rubber was dripping down on us. I was so traumatised by the whole event I had to have another drink ....... a lame excuse I know, but hey, it's my story. Back to the pool. Edwin Shirley, of trucking fame and also an all round good guy after a few too many, decided to have a swim, so he removed his clothing and was flapping around the pool when some daft countess told him to get dressed and behave himself. Wrong move lady. Edwin was not impressed by his telling off and threw her in, and she was even less impressed with that and started ranting and raving, much to the amusement to the rest of the party hounds. She left with her tail between her legs and didn't look at all glamorous in her soaking wet dress, running makeup and failed hairdo. We continued till mid morning and went straight to the airport and caught a flight home. Thanks F for the great parties and good times, you will never be forgotten.

I still get asked a lot if I'm gonna write the "Real" story about Queen. Well the answer is no, and the reason is that the guys gave me a great job and a great life and I have far to much respect for them, their wives/girlfriends, children and families to tell the world what we got up to in private. I feel that is our business and ours alone. Most of us are all in relationships and telling tales could make life awkward for a few people, band and crew alike. I'm sure at some point in time someone from the organisation will write a book, have 5 minutes of fame and make a quick buck, but it sure as hell won't be me, and I'll still be able to sleep at night and when I see the guys I will still be free to say, "Wanna beer MATE."

I've had a few questions asked me that I'm gonna answer quickly.

First off is "Do you have any stories about Freddies cats? (ripping furniture etc.)" Here's a good reply, No. So moving right along, "Of all the famous people you've met, who impressed you the most?" Tricky one this. After years in this "Biz" they all become "Just normal people," and some become good pals, but on one occasion I was in Paul McCartneys studio and I was handed his violin bass and I was sitting there holding it when someone said, "Paul is left handed, hold it like he would." When I turned it around, still taped in the cutout was the Beatles set list from their days in Hamburg, now that impressed me.

Deaky and myself were the only two reggae lovers in the outfit, and Bob Marley turned up to see the show at Madison Square Gardens. Strange choice of show for Bob, but he loved Another one bites the dust, and he happened to be in New York on a stopover on his way to Germany for laser treatment. Show time and our intro tape was playing, and someone told JD that Bob was in the audience, so he cranked his bass up and played "Lively up yourself" over the tape. This was very possibly the last time Marley ever heard this played as he died shortly after. I didn't get to meet him, but I did get to meet Tyrone Downie, Bobs keyboard player in the Wailers, and Tyrone and myself got up to all sorts of mischief that night. RT on the other hand hates reggae music, but I did manage to drag him to the Circus Krone in Munich to see Peter Tosh. I loved it, he hated it. I look at this as payback because years before he insisted that I went to Hammersmith Odeon to see Laurie Anderson, of O Superman fame. This show he loved, but I put it alongside Cher as one of the worst concerts I have ever seen. Needless to say I have also met a couple of stars that I didn't see eye to eye with. Like the American rock star we encountered in a club one night, and he was such a pain I had to take him into the toilets to have a quiet word with him. He finally got the message so I released my hand from around his neck and let him drop back down to the ground. To finish this segment I wanna tell you something that Bev Bevan said. Bev was the drummer with ELO, and them and us were touring the US at the same time, and as it turned out, staying in the same hotel in one city. Roger and myself were leaving the hotel and waiting for the elevator. When the doors opened Bev was in there and him and RT said their hellos. Rog then said, "Bev, this is Crystal, he looks after me." Bev turned to me, shook my hand and said, "Pleased to meet you. If it wasn't for guys like you, guys like us wouldn't be where we are today." He didn't need to say that, and was genuine when he did. I wasn't impressed with meeting him, but he is certainly in my top ten of nicest people I have ever meet.

Over the last few months I've spent a lot of time in the Chatroom, and I highly recommend it to you all as it can be a bit of a laugh. For anyone who has never visited the room please remember a couple of things, if you come in and start swearing you will be kicked out. I know, it happens to me all the time. Also don't come in and start going on about knowing axemen and murderers and other such garbage, cause that also warrants a kicking. Some buffoon from Ireland, who went by the name of "Death" turned up with an attitude and was going on about how f***ing awesome Queen were at Slane Castle. He was not known by anyone in there so I asked him to watch his language. He said he was the Grim Reaper and could do and say what he liked, so I told him otherwise and he was most put out when I kicked him. What a fool. A while ago there was some prat who called himself F***queen, good name eh! Anyway, he/she/it was picking on a lovely young lady called Raisa, and was saying some awful things to her and completely freaked her out, so I went to her defence and FQ turned the attention my way. As far as I'm concerned it's only letters on a screen and it didn't phase me at all, but at least he/she/it gave up on Raisa. In all fairness to FQ, whoever you may be, he/she left a message on the Bulletin Board saying sorry to Raisa and myself and would never do it again. So FQ, from the both of us, thanks for the apology, we accept it. What other weirdos have we had? Well, there was a brightspark who decided it would be funny to use the nickname QueenRshite, another bad move from this person who was honoured with a ban.

While in there I've seen a lot of friendships made, and a couple that have fallen apart. I got a private message one evening from a very drunk girl who, how shall we phrase this, offered me her body and wanted to do all sorts of naughty things to me, I thanked her and declined...must be getting old or something. I have also witnessed relationships being made and, usually there is a lot of humour involved, but needless to say some arguments do occur. I have also seen some of the daftest things said. One guy was so convinced that one of the regulars was either Deaky or she was chatting with him in private that he actually started tracking her every move on the net. He also told me about some highly illegal activities he was up to concerning the band. I wouldn't have thought I was the best person to tell such stuff to, and needless to say I had a go at him. Just to add to his stupidity he's been recently boasting about his affair with an underage girl, and I reckon if he had any more sense he would be half witted. Having mentioned all the twits I'd like to say a quick hello to all the regulars, White Queen and Killer Queen, the lovely girls Blue Rock and Rannnnnnni, SQJan, Mayflower and her boys, Farookh (aka Leroy Brown) MarshMallow, the three Tigers - Babe, Lily and Stripes and the mighty Falc, also to all the rest who I haven't mentioned by name, you know who you are. I'd also like to say hi to Daddy Cool who is the singer in the Dutch cover band Miracle, and Dad, if you never make it as a singer you could make a great career from being a stand up comedian. Finally an extra special hello to the gorgeous MTB, who is about to make an honest man of me ;)

Before I go I'm sure I don't need to remind anyone of a certain date in November that is engraved in all of our minds. And I know that a lot of you will be heading to Garden Lodge to leave flowers. I don't wanna preach and tell you what to do, and I know flowers are a nice gesture, but they do die and the only people to really benefit from this is the florist. This year lets all give a donation, no matter how small, to Aids research, this way the cash will be used to try and stamp out this awful disease. If you really wanna leave flowers, buy a smaller, cheaper bunch and donate the balance of what you would have spent to these charities. It's been said a million times before but it is true, Every penny counts.

As always, Loadsa Love.

Crystal