#another AU idea that I would happily develop out a lot more if I had the time and energy | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

pandorafallz · 1 month ago

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Vampire AU | Celebrations at the camp

“How long did Mo’at scold you?”

“Three hours, twenty minutes,” Kim stated, but still not sorry at all as she stroked her Ikran’s snout softly as they relaxed in the grass of their camp.

“And had Jerome gotten over that aneurysm you gave him?”

“I’ll give him another hour before I prod that gate.” Kim did look more apologetic there before she closed her eyes and rubbed her cheek against her ikran’s face.

“Named her yet?” Morgan asked, his eyes a little wide behind his mask as he craned his head to look up at the two.

“I bet it's Drogon or something.” Jake butted in.

“Says the guy who named his Bob.” Kim snorted, “And no, but it did cross my mind to call her Arya or Meleys after Rhaenys Targaryen's dragon, my favourite Queens but… figured to keep her name more Na’vi. So her name is Se'ayl. Waterfall.” Kim scratched under Se’ayl’s jaw and was clearly in a good spot by how her eyes fluttered with a content chirp.

“You, N’deh?” Jake asked, turning his gaze down to the floor.

N’deh was seated cross-legged on the grass, his Ikran lying down with his wings spread, his large head in his lap and happily accepting the soft soothing strokes along his cranium, still bound by tsaheylu. “I’ll call him Tìrol, It means Song.” He didn’t look up or away and was happily captivated by his new companion “<My new song.>”

Kim smiled softly. “I do feel bad that I didn’t make the trip up with you guys.”

“Don’t be.” Jake excused, mostly eying the moving swell of her belly; that alone would have made it near impossible safely (as possible as it was for those not carrying) to climb in some cases, like that a single vine up, plus the risks to the babies were far too great. Sure, taming an Ikran when almost six months pregnant was not a wise idea but it was too late on that since it was done. But he was happy for Kim, when the surprise had worn off and when Mo’at had released her from a very merited lecture.

“I didn’t do it the proper way.” Kim pointed out, “Tsu’tey’s still annoyed. I might just make the trip up post-partum and first breath for the passageway and jump off the top with Se’ayl. Part of the rite is the journey.”

“Well, shortcut or not, taming an Ikran while pregnant is definitely a new record. Also, your twins are the youngest to ever be part of the taming process.” Jake pointed out. “That’s gotta be a record.”

Kim laughed at that, her hands dropping to her belly. “That’s true. A few more months. Mo’at thinks I’ll be due late September or early October.”

“That soon?” Morgan grinned. “Oh, I’m looking forward to that.”

“Na’vi pregnancies are shorter than humans.” Kim answered, “36 weeks. They have to be birthed out early to pass with an intact pod and so the baby’s kuru doesn’t get crushed in the birth canal. That’s they they’re not born like humans. Trauma to the tswin can kill infants. The baby pod allows them to continue gestation in a safe environment but since they’re not restricted to a womb, they develop faster so they need only a week or so in the pod before they take their first breaths.”

“Was the process taming her more gentle than the others?”

“Honestly, gentle,” Kim admitted, returning to patting her Ikran’s jaw at the beast’s insistence. “I didn’t have it nearly as hard as you or N’deh. Se’ayl’s recently weaned her own Ikran babies off her entirely but she has a lot of maternal instincts still; she sensed my raised hormones to know I was carrying as well and could damn well see it. She was…less prone to violence but still enough to have some self-respect in the rite. I hunt regularly still so it felt as hard as that, to be honest.”

“Best assure your husband that. Think he’ll ride with you?” Jake asked.

“Nope, he has a fear of heights courtesy of our human deaths. He prefers Pa’li.”

Made sense; Jake had never seen or heard Jerome make any sort of comment about wanting an Ikran like Kim but he had only seen the guy supportive of her wants. Still, Jake had to still balance his time between his body and his Dreamwalker; he couldn’t fly Bob in his human body so he had to account for that in his human days at Hometree.

Which did remind him he needed to introduce Bob to his human form as well. It should go well, Jake was sure. Since the bond, he felt… a connection with Bob that was… unfamiliar. It gave him a distinct feeling of where his Ikran was and a thread to pull if he needed him but that felt more triggered by a vocal call. But Bob should feel that connection in his human body as well, so it wasn’t likely to go wrong but he’d test it with the present company later.

“I have a small, possibly minor question….” Morgan trailed off now, “Where are they gonna live?” He gestured to their camp; Jake’s shack on the floor, Morgan’s shack in the trees, the Mauri’s that also were off the ground and even their hanging storage supplies.

“Ikran are adaptable. We can get them ground nests or build a platform for them in the trees. They may make a nest of their own. At Hometree, they will often nest within the branches of Hometree.” N’deh called. “They won’t share much but they’ll be fine for now to find their own nesting space to call their territories. When Se’ayl goes into her mating cycle, the boys will get territorial with each other to woo and impregnate her.”

“How often does Ikran get the…urges?” Seemed like very prudent information to know.

“Once every three months for 36 hours if not already carrying. If she has fertilised eggs, she’ll return to the rookery to lay and cater for her offspring for another six months after hatching. Tamed female Ikran will often leave their offspring when they’re old enough to fly and hunt for themselves to return to their rider or if another female Ikran has stolen her eggs or young. It does happen.”

“Anything we can do to help?”

“What has your bond told you, Kim?” N’deh inquired.

“Se’ayl has gone through a recent mating cycle without a partner given she was too busy caring for her newly hatched at the time but she’s recently departed from her offspring so I’d say she’d be good for another few months.” Kim looked pleased, “but is there incense we can use to mask her scent when the time comes?”

“Yes, the Omatikaya often use herbal remedies in their treat wraps that will suppress the scents when they sense the time is near, which I can gather. Very simple and often a relief for the affected Ikran and those around her. While they’ll lose the initial urges they’ll be very affectionate.” N’deh said.

Tìrol raised his head from N’deh’s lap before the rest of him followed and pulled his wings in to straighten up. N’deh smiled still and pulled his tswin free and allowed the Ikran to potter off over the grass towards the river.

Se’ayl’s head moved down from Kim’s hand, nudging at her belly with a croak before Kim chuckled. “Yep, there’s babies in there.” Kim patted her jaw before she sighed deeply and moved away from her new companion to sit herself down. “Tomorrow, I want to go to Hometree and get a tswin harness and talk to the Leatherworkers on a saddle so it’s more comfortable. With the extra weight on my front, it’s harder to maintain a good balance. I’ve got at least two months left of this,” she gestured to her belly, “and it’s not gonna get smaller.”

“Oh, maybe talk to Bree first.” Jake suggested, an idea striking him “She designed our clan concept for our…aesthetic. Our saddles should also get that reflection as well. I plan to expand and get my shin guards to match my hand and foot covers.”

“More bone decoration. I can help with making some of that.” Morgan said, lighting up at the prospect. “I could do with more small projects.”

“You could pop over there now and get her opinion. She’s got parchment to use so I bet she’d love to use some of that.”

Jake lit up. “Oh, now I can visit everyone I want now!” He knew that, logically but it was a nice reminder. He could go and bother anyone of his defector buddies whenever he wanted. Hell, maybe go and visit Hometree as well if he wanted since he didn’t need to rely on a ride that wasn’t already arranged. “Well, I think they’re back at camp now. I’m glad Eytukan let us go home early.”

It was a small thing that the clan did that was both welcoming but also a reminder of their place. While it was an event and a great achievement to earn an Ikran and the clan would celebrate the new hunter’s achievements… but for them, the Dreamwalkers, they were not of the clan to have the same honours. Sure, Neytiri suggested the celebration to still uphold the tradition despite being not one of them which was considered by the clan leaders but Tsu’tey had disagreed lightly on it but Tsu’tey’s parents had been very vocal about it as well and jumped on the bandwagon. Still, Jake wasn’t displeased; he had an idea to get them to celebrate and enjoy it regardless and still have time to celebrate it.

“I was definitely planning on talking to the Miners for tonight. I want a movie night in the caves. We can see if they’re making booze yet, smoke some weeds and have a little party” Jake stated, “Now, that does put you, Nad, in a difficult position…”

Nadine up until this point had been sitting on the grass, weaving together a basket out of sticks “I know… Maybe Me and Morgan could watch a movie?” She eyed their campmate hopefully.

Morgan blinked, clearly pulled from the depth of his mind at the mention of his name. “What?”

“You, me and a movie while the others go down to the caves?” Nadine summarised. “Yay or nay?”

“What film were you thinking?”

“Princess Bride. It’s one of my favourite films.”

Morgan pursed his lips in gentle consideration. “As you wish.”

Nadine beamed and then turned to Jake. “My evening is booked. Have fun in a cave.”

Jake did opt to take his Ikran out for another spin and land outside the large, Kung tree.

It was the same on the outside; so nothing would guess a shack was underneath but as he leapt off, and the roots came into full view, it looked very different to what he remembered.

The shack was as it was, a few bladder lanterns now affixed to the underside of the tree to shine light down and the afternoon sun still reached under but it was clear to see Bree’s passion and projects all around the outside space under the tree.

A few medium Na’vi ceramic-sized bowls were tucked between some entangled roots, out of the way but clearly filled with something. Frames of both bone and bamboo were propped up and stacked into separate piles with hide being flayed in each one, separated by what stage of processing they were in. A stone slab and a basket filled with so many tools that it was mindboggling for their purpose. A few tools, like some massive hammer sat innocently alone. There were another few frame types with some type of fabric covering one side, but looked different to what held the hide; he couldn’t know their purpose. A large and freshly crafted box sat inside but also filled with water.

Oddly, there was also a bowl filled with some black mushy stuff, possibly something made of soot. Jake couldn’t guess.

There was evidence of Kung’s interest outside as well, baskets more settled by the shack and covered but he recognised them to be filled with fibres and threads, a spinning wheel, made from old parts sat innocently as well, a small selection of looms rested against the baskets. Surprisingly, there was a pile of handmade fabric sitting innocently.

Kung really had taken up weaving and very well, it seemed. It lightened his heart to see that. She didn’t have to be a warrior any more.

Jake ducked under the tree and headed into the busy space and knocked on the window. A few seconds later, Kung’s face appeared peeking out with a confused frown. ‘Sully?’ she mouthed, sound not penetrating the wall between them.

Jake waved her out.

She sighed heavily but ducked out of sight.

Jake moved back and crouched as the airlock hissed and opened and they both exited the shack.

Bree looked far more chipper about his visits than her mother but she excitedly hopped off the ramp.

“Jake! You came.”

“You’ve barely visited before,” Kung remarked. “Kim usually visits.”

“I didn’t have an Ikran before,” Jake reasoned, “Now I can bother anyone anytime. You two included.”

Bree giggled, ducking off to peer through the roots of their tree. “Wow, big dragon.” The sixteen-year-old then outright began to speak High Valerian but Jake caught her arm carefully as she went towards him

“Don’t look him in the eye. He’ll think you’re challenging him and you’re tiny.”

“Be careful.” Kung worried as well, tensing up.

“I’ve been close to Neytiri’s Ikran, I know all the good spots to rub.” Bree pulled her arm free and made her way over. Jake moved as well just in case and so did Kung until they were outside the roots and Bree allowed Bob to sniff at her first before she made physical contact and rubbed his head, still crooning in the fictional language.

Jake relaxed after a moment as Bob did and lowered his head to allow more contact. “She’s good.” He said to Kung.

Kung didn’t relax, not that he expected her to. “What do you want, Sully?”

“It’s been a while since I checked out how you’ve settled. I came to see and also, needed to talk to Bree about some saddle and harness designs for the Dreamwalkers. Bree helped build our concept but I’d love her input again to have some consistency.”

Kung nodded slowly. “She’s been talking to Mo’at the last few days about that while you were training for the Ikran, actually. Balancing what’s acceptable to take claim of and what needs to be adjusted to respect the Na’vi way, like the purpose behind the gloves and such.”

“Really?” He couldn’t help the intrigue.

“I don’t know much myself.”

“Mo’at will talk to you properly on some of the stuff once things have died down.” Bree called back, “She wanted time to think about stuff and talk to Eytukan about it. But she accepted the glove idea.”

“What’s the idea?”

Bree gave Bob’s jaw a last scratch before she darted past them and into the shack but returned after a minute with a large and long segment of a bamboo shoot. The shoot itself was dried and beautifully decorated with some Na’vi designs, wrapped at one end with writing and a hook that looked to fix onto the waistband of some clothing.

She twisted the top of the shoot case off, the end tilted it into her palm. From inside the shoot, a long scroll of parchment fell out into her hand before she held it out excitedly.

Jake took it, carefully unrolling it and lent it into the light to see she had sketched out glove designs onto hand-shaped templates, even on a Na’vi template too to clearly showcase the indifference while keeping them connected for the same purpose.

Bree has also written text in certain areas.

Above one she wrote:

Suggested the gloves aren’t to be made by the wearer but to be gifted from another to the wearer for emotional significance and care. This will naturally be valued but also should be open for the wearer to make any adaptations for comfort, repairs or ‘rank’ or skill changes.

On the design aspects of the glove, she wrote:

Designs to be basic and to show the wearer’s job or hobby skill. Designs should become more intricate depending on mastery and colour and decoration usage should indicate one’s place within the clan, like bone beads and feathers along the straps (as an example).

Jake eyed turned to a corner for Cultural context:

Gloves made for primarily social status. Loincloths for the Omatikaya often show clan status and family units; decoration, weave and colours. Gloves may retain a similar structure.

Origin Suggestion: Artistry to protect the side of the hand when painting upon flat surfaces. Hand guards for Slings based on how the strings are held.

The suggestion went on, clearly meant for a whole group to decide but these were clearly made with Mo’at’s oversight, which was warming to see. Now that he thought about it, the string was easier to hold with his glove, while he had control over it and didn’t risk slipping, it didn’t dig into his flesh as much and released far smoother.

“I’d go for sling guards,” Jake said, tapping that section. “Feels good to work a sling with them.”

Bree lit up. “That’s wonderful, they have an actual purpose other than hiding your hands then.”

“The foot covers are simply to help match and aid in the symbolism.” Jake added, “Maybe dictate materials as part of it for job variances. Hunters and warriors had Talioang hide, Nantang hides for bone or wood shapers, and Flax and other plant weaves for other jobs.”

From her pocket, she pulled out her tablet and took notes.

“Kim has a woven set for now, she put that together once she saw how awesome these ones were.” He waved his hands with a grin. “These were a gift.”

“Oh, even better.”

“I do like the gloves being a gift. I do plan on talking to the other groups today but I want to see about us all going down to Homebase for a celebratory movie night.” Jake added.

“I do want to talk to the miners. I wanna help with the Waycords and get together a plan of action with those. We can tie those into the new clan idea as well since they’re unique and can expanded and valued.” Bree rolled up the parchment and slipped it back into the protective case. “I even have a roll dedicated to it but I’ll write on those once I have the drafts on my tablet figured out. I want to document everything until you all remember it. Plus, who knows when new avatars join so… might be helpful to have a document for catching them up.”

“Sounds good.”

“I’ll get started on some Ikran designs.” She grinned excitedly and skipped her way back to the shack past her mother.

“Does she really need another project?” Kung said dryly.

“Don’t you want her busy?”

“She obsesses, Sully. She stays up late, having one language podcast in one ear and doing other crap in the process. It’s hard to keep everything in order when everything she wants to do covers almost all the surfaces. I barely have enough space for my own stuff.”

“What if we get you another shack?” Jake suggested, “One strictly for you?”

Kung shook her head. “No, that’ll just enable her more. I don’t mind her having passions but I do mind when it takes over her life and it stops her from listening to me. She needs fewer projects and more social interactions.”

Jake considers the major’s words for a moment. “Okay, I’ll try and help but… I do think that you should consider perhaps moving closer to another camp. Hell, maybe ask if you could live close to Hometree; there are a ton of teenagers her age that she might make life-long friends with. Perhaps you’re okay with being a hermit but Bree is clearly someone who needs to be mentally stimulated and it’s just you two out here.”

Kung’s brow pulled in. “I’ll think about it.”

“Miners are an option, but there’s also Ruby’s camp or even Ashley’s camp and my own.”

“I said I’ll think about it, Sully,” Kung repeated. “We’ll keep our radios on if the movie night is a go.”

“Alright.” He agreed.

Jake made sure to pop in with Ruby’s camp first and checked in with Zane and discovered two new Pa’li roaming their home space to allow for the two Dreamwalkers to roam the lands quicker. Zane had named one The Plague, and Zeke named Ruby’s one Shingles to veto Ruby’s idea of calling hers Glue Stick. Plague and Shingles. Weird ass theme but it was funny to hear Zeke ask where The Plague was which certainly amused Ruby to no end.

He ran down Bree’s ideas of the gloves and left the two to discuss those options and moved on to Ashely’s camp.

The sounds of Ashley’s Ikran weren’t hard to miss so he descended down through the trees and landed a few meters away where Ashely was in her human body, sitting beside her Ikran with most of the women lying across the grass but he paused at the specific smell in the air.

“Who’s smoking the weed?” He asked. “And how?”

Eliza, Harper and Kendra all had released grins and shared bowls of seeds between them and clearly spaced out. Ming and Ashely looked to be the sober two. Ashely looked to be getting her Ikran accustomed to her human form and the Dreamwalker was lying in its hammock close by and Ming looked to be crafting some human-sized arrows for her bow.

“They hot boxed in the airlock,” Ming called, gently applying resin to bring the arrowhead to the shaft.

“This stuff is heavenly…” Eliza stated, chuckling. “I feel so calm.”

Harper just chuckled, lifting her mask for a handful of seeds to eat, after, she picked up a leaf and gently ran her fingers up and down its middle, captivated.

Clearly, his visits weren’t going to be overly fruitful when more than half was high as a kite.

“What’s your Ikran’s name, Ashley?” Jake decided to ask.

“Sushi,” Ashely responded with her permanently hoarse voice.

“…really?”

“Yours is called Bob.”

“Fair… but why Sushi?”

“My mother had a beloved cat she called Sushi. Apparently, she bought her when she was drunk and thought the name fit because of her colouring. Mostly black body but had a white front and back with green eyes.” Ashley explained. “Had to put her down when she was too old but I loved that cat to bits.” She smiled fondly with a touch of sadness. “Told Ma if I ever got a pet, I’d name them Sushi. I think she’d be either thrilled or exanimated I called my flying lizard after a Japanese dish.”

Jake sniggered at ‘flying lizard. “Well, I think it’s touching.” He patted Bob’s jaw. He filled her in on the plan with the Dreamwalker’s gloves first but swiftly changed the topic to movie night.

“I’ll see,” Ashely mused, “if the others have sobered up, we’ll come but if not, I may pop down in my avatar to be with you two.”

“I’ll come with. The three might be high but they won’t do anything too stupid.”

“You willing to test that?” Ashely asked her campmate.

“I’m not babysitting them. I wanna party… plus there are a few hot guys there. I feel ready to start… dating or you know, fuck around. A girl has needs.” Ming pointed out. “Unfortunately, I’m straight so boobs don’t turn me on.”

Ashely frowned in concern but nodded. “Want me to get you some tea in advance so no accident-babies?”

“Yes please.”

Jake swallowed thickly but decided not to get involved. He still didn’t know everyone’s personal history in detail and he wasn’t going to ask but he hoped Ming would be safe in handling opening herself up very personally to a guy after her own ordeal. Still, he had confidence in the defectors that they knew communication was a must in this to survive as a community.

“I’ll leave you two to… that. I’m gonna bother The Vent Crew now and actually get permission to crash their camp with other guests and make them watch a movie with us.” Jake decided.

“Have fun.”

Jake was just leaving but just about heard Kendra ask “Was that god?” before they were out of range.

The wind whipped and his eyes stung a little but he felt the familiar rush of joy over the jungle’s treetops, gliding over towards the three massive Hometree that lay across the land, but only one was in use. He didn’t stop when he got close but he waved to a few airborne hunters who chirped back but didn’t follow… except one.

He lt Bob continue on towards the far mountains to where the caves were but he recognised Seze first before Neytiri yipped at him. He chirped back with a grin but gave her a welcoming nod to follow. No use talking, the wind would silence anything but she looked very eager anyway.

She overtook quickly when she realised where they were going so he egged Bob on and overtook, just about hearing her offending gasp before the game was on. Bob seemed also competitive and didn’t complain and Jake could feel his senses when Seze was trying to overtake him, flying sharply in front of her to avoid her over-take.

Seze screeched indignity.

Jake laughed again and cut in again before Neytiri flew Seze under the canopy and was lost to the green ocean. Fuck. He wasn’t experienced enough for those quick manoeuvres. She was probably hindered by the obstacle of trees but she was a good flyer. He knew that all too well.

Within ten minutes, He got to the familiar Na’vi entryway to the Vents but unsurprisingly, Neytiri was there, seated in front with a smug-ass smile which only grew when he jumped off Bob’s back and made his way.

“In my defence…” Jake stated then gestured to his Ikran, “I’ve only had Bob for five hours and you’ve had Seze for at least four years.”

“Three, but you started it.” Neytiri pointed out gleefully still. “This is where you were going, yes?” She eyed the cave entryway.

“Yep. Since we’re not celebrating at Hometree of our success, I want to see if the folks at Homebase will host a movie night celebration.”

“Movie night?”

“Do you know what movies are?”

“Grace showed us a few short videos and described them to be visual stories.” Neytiri said, “She mentioned she planned to get a ‘movie’ to watch entirely for us to enjoy the experience of human storytelling. We never got around to it.” Her face fell a little.

Jake nodded along. “Well, if you want to join us you can. Most of the humans have agreed to join us, some might not if they’re still on cloud nine.”

Neytiri gave him a confused look.

“They’re riding high off that special herb we were growing, Weed.”

“Ah.” She didn’t ask for more since she knew that that was now.

“Homebase is a good option for movie night; they have a big wall we can project the movie onto so we’re all able to see it and an environment safe for humans to properly relax. Sure, we’ll need masks but that’s a small price to pay for fun.” He didn’t mind the notion.

Neytiri considers his words. “You know we can celebrate at Hometree, Tsu’tey was unfair to you all to discount your efforts. My parents know the effort you put into your achievements and will honour it.”

Jake hummed, “I don’t mind Tsu’tey’s opinion since he’s still training under Eytukan but his parents should have no say in the matter.” Jake could see Tsu’tey was less likely to shut them all out but Artsut and Ateyo were a growing thorn in their side of growth in the clan. He remembered when the two jumped on Tsu’tey’s disagreements the frustration flicked across the warrior’s face before he was more politer but couldn’t quite backtrack.

“My father will speak to him.”

“Then can you also raise concerns on Ateyo’s treatment of humans and Dreamwalkers? He’s been intimating people out of learning wood shaping and there’s still a few people who wish to learn those skills.” Jake asked, knowing he had been meaning to bring it up to Eytukan himself but… he just kept forgetting. “It’s not fair to us.”

Neytiri considered his words for a moment then nodded once. “I will see to it.”

“Thank you.” He led the way into the cave, taking the waycord from his pouch and slipping it onto his wrist. He accepted the mask Neytiri pulled from the cubby and they both put one on and dove into the waters.

It was fairly easy to follow the line and it was a relief to be out, he happily led the way through the moss-lit tunnels and followed the pattern of colours set out at each new tunnel that co-insided with his waycord until the LEDs came into play and he followed them until they got to the familiar airlock.

He offered the door first to Neytiri and shut it after him before the air cycled through and he led the way into Homebase.

“Sully?” He was greeted by Marcus who was the closest to the airlock.

“Mind if we stop in?”

“If you want but we’re a little busy so we might not be good company at the moment.”

Jake spared a look around to see the miners were milling about. Wei was about, frowning as he eyed some small beads in a ceramic pot. Sean was by the fire with a collection of rocks of different sizes and an RDA electronic weighing scale. He had some tools and some supplies beside him which looked like could aid in turning those stones into something.

Alejandra was standing very close to Maria, almost a little flirty as they spoke about something holding a large cup, Maria had some sort of bowl of cut-up fruit in her hands and clearly enjoying the attention.

“Are you busy in about an hour or so? Since today is a celebratory time for us and our Ikran-based achievements, we want to party… and watch a movie together and Homebase is perfect. Think we can swing everyone to your camp in or nay?”

“Oi, Castro,” Marcus called, his voice echoing in the cave and pulling almost everyone’s attention. “Sully wants a party and movie here with the others. Yes or no?”

Alejandra pursed her lips then stuck a thumb up. “As long as you lot supply some food and the movie selection. We’ve got some mead now so we’re able to get smashed.”

“Awesome.” Jake grinned.

So, with a call through the radios and getting a headcount from the defectors, Jake and Neytiri started to help get Homebase ready for a celebration. An area with the flattest wall was selected but Jake was given some white paint to add to the wall so with a rough idea of his ‘screen size’, he painted.

“What’s that purpose?” Neytiri asked when he was done washing his hands.

“To enhance video quality; having it on a consistence white background. Other colours can affect how much of the movie we can see if they’re too similar in shade and depth. We can probably get a canvas screen together for a more planned event.” Jake said, drying his hands with a rag and watched as Austin set down a large ceramic bowl of liquid and smaller ceramic cups, all fired, glazed and had beautiful designs across each one. Some were floral, some had geological shapes and one had a plain bite out of its rim for some reason but Jake doubted it was a pleasant sensory experience.

Some regular cups were added and some fruit juice since Bree was going to join and no one wanted a drunk teenager about.

“We’re gonna need some ice,” Alejandra remarked, eying the juice. “Who wants to go to the Icebox?”

“I can, but I’ll need an extra set of hands.” Sean sighed, clearly not looking forward to it. “It’s a bit of a journey to that cave.”

“I can help.” Neytiri offered, “I haven’t seen much of your home.”

Oh yeah. Jake had forgotten Neytiri knew very little of the caves; her parents were the ones to have actually made the trip and explored about a bit. Maybe he’d get to see more caves as well, he knew he missed out on a few and the Ice Box Cave, he had a feeling he could guess what it was.

“You’ll need to take a jacket and some shoes.” Alejandra said, “Don’t worry, Sean knows the way like the back of his hand.”

Sean paused sparing a look to his hand, “Oh, that’s a new scratch.”

Jake snorted.

Over twenty minutes, the defectors began to trickle in. Kim and Jerome first with Jake’s hard drives of movies and his projector (Jerome looking more tense and holding onto Kim’s hand intently) , N’deh declined to come to spend time with his new bond. Bree and Kung second, Ashely (in her Dreamwalker) and Ming came with Ruby, Zeke and Zane (in his Dreamwalker) Food was brought between them and spread out into bowls and Neytiri arrived back from the other caves, still in some Avatar driver jacket and boots but holding a bucket of ice. Sean had something frozen wrapped up but he set that down to thaw; a part of a leg, if Jake wasn’t mistaken by the bone.

“<They have an Ice cave.>” Neytiri stated setting the bucket down and shed the clothing and boots. “<It’s so cold.>”

Jake reached forward, grasping her cold little fingers in his large hands to let them warm up. She wasn’t wrong, her fingers felt like icicles but Neytiri sighed in soft relief after a few moments before she pulled her hands free.

“<Thank you.>”

“<What was it like, aside from the cold?>” Jake asked curiously.

“Beautiful. Cold, but not safe either. Someone can easily break their tail.”

“Or coccyx” Sean grumbled, his hand coming to his behind briefly.

Neytiri hummed, “You’re okay, SeanWallen.”

“Yeah. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I gotta find my boyfriend.”

Jake saluted the miner off with a firm nod. “Have fun.” Sean didn’t go far but slung an arm on Matthew, one of the miners who barely left the Vents for Hometree time.

“<The miners have been using the cold cave as storage. Fruit and meat are in there. They’re adding to it to save for the week of darkness when they cannot forage or hunt. They even have Frozen Utumauti there.>” Neytiri said, her eyes wide. “<Three of them. Such good fortunes and yet they freeze the fruits instead of consuming them>”

Jake blinked a little. Three. That was a lot for that fruit and a rarer find intact.

“Guys, what you plan to do with that… Push fruit you got, Canopy fruit?” Jake asked.

“We’re waiting for a fourth, but we’re gonna turn them into fruit Popsicle sticks,” Maria said, pulling some blankets around. “There’s a tree nearby and we’ve got a prox-alarm on it set to go when fruit drops around that tree.”

“You… plan to share them?” Neytiri asked, baffled.

“Well, the fruit is massive for us.” Maria said, “I know it’s a cultural thing for the finder to keep all but for us we can turn it into something that can be shared without social transgression. Ice pops can be enjoyed in portions. Everyone can have one.”

Neytiri still looked baffled but he clicked his tongue to pull her attention away and let her choose a spot as people began to settle about the space. Miners too and cups were shared out, food passed about and Jake took the time to set up the projector and stood at the lead, pausing to take a sip of Co2 before continuing.

“So, this is our first movie night in celebration of some of our successes, I have a ton of movies but we’ve also got a Na’vi who won’t share the same cultural context behind some of the stories so we need to be considerate and also a minor so nothing over the age of 18.”

Bree tisked loudly.

“The Human Centipede!” A voice called out.

“Whoever that was, you’re barred from making any future suggestions,” Jake called dryly, barely looking up from his tablet as he plugged the drive in and the projector and booted it into life.

“Aw.”

“Alien?” Another called.

“Not yet but a good suggestion.” Not a movie for Neytiri.

“Legally blonde?”

“Na,” Bree called out this time, “not without explaining too much to Neytiri. Something more basic that doesn’t involve complex human justice system.”

“Mamma Mia?”

There were little complaints though a few wrinkled noses but not refuted. Jake opted to go to Disney and start going down the list of the animated movies; discarding any live-action stuff before they ultimately settled on the Lion King. You can never go wrong with Lion King.

“You’ll enjoy this.” Jake whispered to Neytiri as it started, “A story of a leader and personal growth. Cartoons are a drawn medium of storytelling instead of recording images of humans in fancy outfits. It’ll have music and song to portray their feelings, hopes, dreams and intent.” He added, knowing the Na’vi’s music was used differently in story telling. “It can push the narrative on rather than explaining stuff.”

Neytiri accepted the cup of mead with a sniff and a careful taste before humming. “<I’m eager to see how this plays out. I have not seen much of Earth Animals before.” She whispered.

The first beats of the music started as the drawn sunrise started…

Masterlist

#avatar #avatar au #avatar james cameron #grace augustine #jake sully #avatar rda #mo'at #neytiri #norm spellman #avatar frontiers of pandora #miles quartich #frontiers of pandora #vampire au #vampire grace #vampire #neytiri te tskaha mo'at'ite #tsu'tey #eytukan

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goldenhypen · 2 years ago

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❣︎ ⎯⎯ growing up…

PAIRING ! lee heeseung x reader // GENRE ! fluff, best friends to lovers!au // WC. ! 0.7k

PROMPT(S) ! 8. embracing them from behind ;; 10. placing their chin on the other’s shoulder ;; 15. washing the other’s hair ;; 22. placing a hand on the back of the other’s neck ;; 23. brushing strands of hair away // requested by @uhkoshee @aizzon @shoyotime and 🍩 anon <3 // 2k followers event

A/N. ! ended up combining a lot of requests for this one bc they just fit with the idea i had in mind 😭 i also put a little bit of a twist on most of these prompts, so i hope you guys still like it ahaha <3 likes, reblogs and feedback are always appreciated <3

growing up, you and heeseung were always inseparable.

you can recall back to the time when you were just tiny children, always attached by the hip. you were proud to call him your best friend. one of your favourite things to do back then was to turn on the sprinklers in heeseung’s backyard on a hot, sunny day and run through them together, screaming and laughing your heads off, having the time of your little lives, so carefree.

the coolness of the water felt refreshing on your skin, and you both leaped through the water with joy…

growing up, you and heeseung eventually developed feelings for each other.

reaching your teenage years, after still being together so often, you both individually grew and realized your feelings for one another but never said or did anything about it, choosing to play them off like they never existed.

you two continued like best friends, not wanting to speak up in the worry of jeopardizing your treasured friendship. however, neither of you missed the way your hearts would skip a beat whenever the other would do something simple yet so attractive, such as the way you would laugh hard at his jokes or the way heeseung would run his fingers through his hair…

growing up, your and heeseung’s hearts longed for one another.

so one of you decided to make the move—the move to make them theirs.

it was another hot, summer day, and you two decided to relive the past a little. turning on the sprinklers again for the first time in years, you both ran through the continuous flowing drops of water, squeals and giggles leaving your lips the same way they used to all those years ago, and heeseung felt his heart skip a beat at the sight.

with a joyful smile, you ran to your best friend before hopping onto his back. immediately knowing what to do, he wrapped his hands around your legs and ran through the water as he carried you on his back.

you screamed with happiness, all of your worries leaving your mind as all you had to do was focus on living in the moment.

with his hair all wet, your heartbeat began quickening in pace, but being his best friend and with your playful antics, still, on his back, you ruffled his hair with your hands.

a laugh escaped his lips and he commented, “what are you doing? washing my hair or something?”

you smiled, continuing to do so before humming and nodding happily, “mhm. you were all sweaty today.”

you two laughed, and a few seconds later, you stopped what you were doing and just smiled. with your arms wrapped loosely around his neck, you rested your head on your arms, placing your chin in the crook of his neck.

however, without much thought, heeseung turned his head to the side to face you, not realizing your faces would come in contact. his lips only just missed yours, and both of you instinctively pulled back, eyes wide.

heeseung gently put you down, and you faced each other, hearts pounding so hard you could feel it in your throats.

“i’m so sorry!” he apologized.

“heeseung,” you said, tense, still slightly wide-eyed before blurting out, “i like you.”

the boy’s eyes grew impossibly bigger, and he froze.

that was until his eyes met you again—or more specifically, your lips.

without a word, heeseung took a step forward and cupped your face with his hands before placing his lips on yours.

your hands made their way subconsciously to his arms, and both of your eyes fell shut. you kissed him back, heart fluttering and butterflies filling your stomach.

heeseung eventually pulled back, faces still close as he took one of his hands from your face to your forehead, brushing a strand of hair away from in front of your eyes, wet from playing in the sprinklers.

he smiled, looking into your eyes before confessing, “i like you too.”

he watched as your eyes travelled to his lips again, and so he decided to close the gap between you two once more, this time, placing a hand at the back of your neck and leaning in for another kiss under the falling drops of water.

growing up together, you never left each other’s side, eventually falling in love as you became older. and from here, you two would only continue to grow, this time together in the way you two yearned to be.

A/N. hope y’all are having a fabulous day ^_^ thanks for reading <3

2K EVENT MASTERLIST.

TAGLIST FORM.

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viastro · 4 years ago

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pacman | yoon jeonghan

ミ★ synopsis: being best friends, you and jeonghan know all there is to the disastrous effects of developing feelings for each other. that’s why you both make a sleep-deprived promise at 5 am to never fall in love with the other. however, jeonghan begins to question everything when he tasks himself with making you and the new transfer become a couple.

ミ★ genre: best friends / to strangers / to lovers!au, angst, fluff, some humor

ミ★ warnings: none !

ミ★ word count: 7,559

ミ★ pairings: jeonghan x gender neutral reader / jun x gender neutral reader

ミ★ notes: hi guys ! here’s my jeonghan oneshot that was inspired by jaehyun’s upcoming kdrama ! it took me a few days to finish this, so it’s pretty long and i would like to apologize in advance AJSKBGKB i also recommend listening to stay here by gaho on repeat for like top tier reading experience HAHAHA i hope you guys enjoy this oneshot, and remember to give jeonghan lots of love <3

Your eyes are closed as your head rests on the table, waiting for the lecture to begin. Your airpods are in your ears, playing a soft instrumental that has you on the verge of drifting off to sleep.

Until Jeonghan sits beside you.

“I thought you slept early last night?” Instead of hearing the piano, you hear your best friend’s voice fill your ears as you open up one eye. The newly dyed redhead is staring at you with an amused expression on his face, causing you to squint at him.

“Yeah, 2 am this time. Personal best for the year so far.” You tell Jeonghan, sitting up from the desk and stretching your arms over your head. Jeonghan rolls his eyes, knowing that is a lot earlier than the usual 6 am bedtime routine you’ve got going on. He sits down in the seat beside you, pulling out his things from his bag.

Yoon Jeonghan, your best friend of almost eight years now. The two of you met in middle school, having been paired up in science class to dissect a frog. Jeonghan was close to tears the whole time while you were practically gagging over the smell through your mask.

Someway, somehow, the two of you ended up sticking together after that unfortunate occurrence. No words were exchanged either, you both kind of just started sitting beside each other during lunch and waiting for each other at your assigned lockers.

In high school it got annoying, as Jeonghan suddenly started to become... pretty. He grew taller, cut his hair short, and had a smirk that made anyone and anything swoon. Well, everyone except you. It got worse when you both entered university, as Jeonghan is continuing to become prettier by the minute.

You can’t count on your hand how many times someone was jealous of how close the two of you were.

However, the two of you made a vow after watching one too many kdramas with the trope of best friends to strangers due to one of them falling in love. It might be a bit drastic, and it was in the wee hours of the morning when the two of you made this oath so who knows if Jeonghan remembers. You don’t even remember most of what you both agreed upon other than the fact that the two of you can’t fall in love.

“Hannie, our friendship is too precious to end like theirs did!” You say through your tears, with Jeonghan pulling out a bunch of tissues to throw at your face. He nods his head in agreement, running a hand through his black hair as he fights back his own tears, only to pause and turn towards you.

“You think I’d like you?” Jeonghan asks with a look of disgust on his face, making you halt your movements, looking at him with a glare. “Hey!”

“I’m teasing you.” Jeonghan says with a laugh, taking one of the tissues he threw at your face and wiping the snot that’s slipped past your nose from crying. You quietly let him, too tired and sad to tell him how gross that is.

“We gotta stop binging kdramas until 5 in the morning.” Your best friend tells you, and you nod your head silently as you stare into his pretty eyes. He lets out a yawn once he’s done wiping away your tears, turning off your TV and placing the remote on the table.

“Come on, lay down, yn.” You don’t move from your position on the couch, still huddled into the corner as you think of what could happen if one of you ever developed feelings for each other.

A small smile forms on Jeonghan’s face at how deep in thought you are, reaching out and patting the top of your head. You look up at Jeonghan, and he tilts his head at you.

“What’s up? I’m trying to tuck you in and you’re staring off as if you’re going through an existential crisis.” You purse your lips at his observation, wondering if you are having an existential crisis. Jeonghan sits back down beside you, and he rests his head on his hand as he turns his body towards you.

“Let’s make a vow.” You say after a moment of silence passes between the two of you. Jeonghan raises an eyebrow, “What kind of vow?”

You turn your body towards his, fixing the blankets on your lap before finally looking into his eyes again. You find Jeonghan’s eyes to be his prettiest feature, as you can always see what he’s feeling through his gaze. It’s how you’re able to tell when he’s lying.

“A vow for us to never fall in love with each other.” You state, and you watch as mirth pools Jeonghan’s eyes while his lips curve up into an amused smile. “I don’t think we can make a vow on something that’s out of our control.”

You bite the inside of your cheek, and Jeonghan watches as your eyes brighten when another idea comes to mind. He’s a bit taken aback when you suddenly reach out and grasp his hand, holding it tightly between your warm ones.

“Then we make a promise.”

“That’s the same thing as a vow-”

“No, shut up. Let me explain.” You say, and Jeonghan chuckles. He motions with his hand for you to go on, and you let out a breath.

“If one of us catches feelings, then we end our friendship.” Jeonghan stares at you with a serious expression on his face, and you find that you’re afraid at how fast the amusement left his eyes. Jeonghan leans in closer towards you, “You’d want to end our friendship just like that?”

“Nono! I mean like, for a certain amount of time. Essentially we’d just ghost each other until our feelings go away, and the other can’t intervene.” You explain, slightly shoving Jeonghan away, but you see that he still looks a bit put off by your idea.

“I’d feel like ass if you just left without a word, though.” Jeonghan tells you, and you slowly nod your head, understanding where he’s coming from. You let out another sigh, looking up at the ceiling.

“Pacman.” You peek at Jeonghan, wondering why he mentioned your guys’ favorite game when you were children. He gives you a tired smile, “It’ll be our code word. Instead of leaving without a trace for a couple months, or confessing our feelings and then leaving, we can just say Pacman. It’s not directly saying I love you, and who knows if either of us will remember the word. It’s the perfect thing to say before disappearing for a bit.”

You slowly nod your head, finding that it seems like the best option thus far. And so, out of your 5 am fatigue, you hold out your pinky towards your best friend.

“Pinky promise that you won’t fall in love with me.” You mutter sleepily, and Jeonghan chuckles, reaching out and intertwining his pinky with yours.

“I pinky promise that I won’t fall in love with you.” Jeonghan responds softly, pressing his thumb against yours, sealing the promise.

And now here you both are, still going strong after that sleep-deprived promise you made when you two were barely 16 years old.

You let out a yawn, covering your mouth with your hand while Jeonghan scrolls through his phone to try and show you the meme he saw earlier. Only for you to pause your movements when someone enters the auditorium.

“Look, I found it.” Jeonghan says happily, about to hold out his phone towards you, only to pause, seeing that you’re distracted. He turns his head in the direction of your awed state, only to find a handsome guy standing at the doorway, looking for a seat.

Jeonghan slowly turns back towards you, finding you still staring at the man. He’s never seen this expression on your face before when you looked at someone else, but he knows this look. And so, he lets out a grin, before standing up from his seat and walking down the steps.

Your eyes widen when you suddenly see Jeonghan’s red hair flash before your eyes, and you internally scream when you watch him walk up and bow to the incredibly pretty man.

“Hi! I’m Yoon Jeonghan.” This seems to startle the guy, but his eyes almost immediately turn up into an eye smile as he bows back in Jeonghan’s direction.

“Hi, I’m Wen Junhui.” Jeonghan grins back, before motioning over towards where you and him are seated.

“Oh God.” You mutter to yourself when the pretty man looks up at you, causing you to look down at your phone and check to see if you look at least half decent. You internally scream when you look back up to see him and Jeonghan walking up the steps, and you would’ve flipped Jeonghan off if it weren’t for the pretty guy looking at you.

“Yn! This is Wen Junhui, he’s a transfer.” Jun smiles at you, and you find yourself smiling back at him, warmth flooding your chest at the precious sight. “Hi yn, you can call me Jun.”

You nod your head, “Hi Jun, let Jeonghan and I know if you ever need any help!”

He sits down in the seat besides Jeonghan and bends down to take out the things from his bag, giving you enough time to quickly smack the back of Jeonghan’s neck. He squeaks, turning and shooting you a glare, only to stop and give Jun a reassuring smile when the pretty transfer looks at him in concern.

“Are you okay?”

Jeonghan nods his head, giving Jun a thumbs up. He glances towards you once more when Jun goes back to preparing his seat, only to find the slight sparkle to your eye as you stare at the transfer student. Jeonghan slowly looks away, knowing exactly what that sparkle will signify in the future.

Jeonghan walks towards the square with both airpods in, hands holding heat packs in the pockets of his coat to keep warm. He notices you sitting on the bench, bundled up in your large jacket as you wait for him, causing a small smile to form on Jeonghan’s face.

He’s about to call out your name, only to halt his movements when he sees Junhui heading the opposite way. Jeonghan looks between the two of you, knowing that you have a raging crush on the pretty man but won’t initiate anything, and that Junhui might possibly be interested in you as well.

It’s been a month since Jun transferred to Seoul National University, and Jeonghan’s slowly been trying to push the two of you together. However, he does it so that it’s not too obvious for the sake of him not getting yelled at by you.

When you yell, you yell for a long time.

And so, being the kind friend that Jeonghan is, he quickly walks unnoticed past you, and places both hands on Jun’s shoulders without a noise of greeting. This promptly startles the transfer student, considering the brief look of fear on Jun’s face, only for it to morph into a smile when he looks into Jeonghan’s eyes.

“Jeonghan!”

“Jun! Are you done with your lectures today?” Jun nods his head in response, and Jeonghan grins at his answer. He turns and points towards you, making Jun peek over his shoulder to see you practically shaped like an onigiri, with your shoulders to your chest and your large winter jacket wrapped around you. “Yn and I were just about to go and get lunch, wanna join?”

Jeonghan notices Jun’s eyes become a bit brighter when he looks at you, before he turns back to look at him and runs a hand through his hair. “That sounds great! I’m starving.”

Jeonghan nods his head, before turning towards you and calling out your name. You glance up at the sound of Jeonghan’s voice, looking over to find him and Jun standing a few feet away from you with small smiles on their faces. You shoot your best friend a look, and his smile simply grows wider as you stand up from the bench and walk over to the two.

“Jun! Are you joining us for lunch today?” You ask when you make it over to them, secretly slapping Jeonghan’s side for being a goddamn whore. Jun smiles and nods his head while Jeonghan inconspicuously rubs his waist to ease the sting from your smack.

“Where do you guys wanna eat?” Jun asks as the three of you begin walking out of the square. You think to yourself for a moment while Jeonghan stays quiet, letting you decide on where the gang will have lunch. You let out a grin when you finally think of where to eat, glancing at the two before saying, “Thai food!”

Jeonghan and Jun nod their heads in agreement, and you celebrate quietly between the two. You squeeze the heat packs in your pockets when Jun turns and looks at you, causing you to look back at him.

“What do you usually order at Thai restaurants?” You purse your lips at Jun’s question, fighting back the warmth from rushing to your face at the way he’s staring at you with so much interest. “It depends on my mood, to be honest.”

“Wanna order for me when we get there then? I’m not sure what to eat.”

“Horrible idea. What if I choose something you don’t like?”

“Then I’ll keep eating it, yn.”

“Jun!”

Jeonghan watches as you and Jun unconsciously walk faster until the two of you are now ahead of him. You are in your own little world as you bicker, but Jeonghan knows there’s no malice in your guys’ argument with the way you’re both smiling brightly at each other.

You pause when you don’t feel that familiar presence beside you, and you turn your head to find Jeonghan standing a bit far behind you and Jun. You squint at your best friend, before pulling your hand out of your pocket and waving him over.

“Hannie! What are you waiting for? Come here!”

Jeonghan tightly squeezes the heat pack in his pockets, before nodding his head and walking a bit faster to catch up to you guys. It’s only when he’s standing right beside you that the three of you begin heading towards the Thai restaurant again.

As the frigid temperatures hit him, Jeonghan’s left wondering why the heat packs no longer offer him any warmth as he watches you laugh with Jun.

Jeonghan sits beside you on your couch, invested in the new episode of the kdrama the two of you have been keeping up with. He turns his head when your phone lights up, and his eyes land on the contact name.

jun <3

“You got a text from Junnie.” Jeonghan says, taking a piece of popcorn and placing it into his mouth. You look away from the TV, picking up your phone and reading the message. Out of the corner of his eye, Jeonghan watches the dopey smile form on your face as your thumbs type out a text to your crush.

Suddenly the popcorn feels a bit too dry to swallow as Jeonghan reaches over to take a sip of water. It only goes down smoothly when you place your phone back down on the couch and adjust the blankets over you and Jeonghan.

“I love when the main actress stands up for herself.” You mutter, taking a few pieces of popcorn and tossing them into your mouth. Jeonghan nods his head in agreement, watching as the female lead starts cursing back at the man.

“There’s just something so satisfying about women proving that they don’t need a man to protect them. They need to show this more in kdramas, break the stereotype, ya know?” Jeonghan adds, and you smile softly, pride swelling in your heart at the simple sentence. He turns his head and catches sight of your soft smile, and he feels the undeniable feeling of warmth from the beauty of it.

A sudden bright light makes him glance down at the blankets, finding that your phone has lit up again. You notice as well, picking up the cool metal and reading the new text from Jun. Jeonghan watches as your mouth drops open and how you immediately stand up from the couch.

“Did something happen?” Jeonghan asks, only for your phone to be shoved directly into his face. The redhead curses quietly, muttering about how you need to update your phone to be able to turn on dark mode, before reading the message on the screen.

“He asked me on a date! Me! Wait, is it a date? What should I say?! What if he didn’t mean to send me that text?? Oh my God, I’m so nervous I could actually pee my pants.” You ramble, and Jeonghan’s eyes slowly trail up to your face, watching as you mumble to yourself and begin to pace around the small living room. He bites the inside of his cheek, before grabbing your phone out of your hands and typing out a message. Your eyes widen when you watch your best friend’s thumbs move swiftly across your screen.

“Wait, Yoon Jeonghan!”

“There.” Jeonghan states, handing you back your phone. You stare at the screen in silence.

jun <3: i was wondering if you wanted to go to the aquarium together on saturday? I remembered when you told me how you’ve never been, and the aquarium is having a christmas special even tho it’s november :3

It’s totally fine if you don’t wanna go by the way

you: that sounds great ! i can’t wait <3

jun <3: yay! I’ll pick you up at around 4 on saturday ~

Jeonghan watches as your eyes slowly trail up towards his face, and he wonders whether you’re gonna choke him or scream at him. Or both.

Jeonghan thinks it’s both.

It comes to his surprise when you instead wrap your arms around his frame, squeezing him tightly. Jeonghan slowly reciprocates the hug, cradling your head in his hand like he always does.

“Thank you, Hannie.” You mumble, and Jeonghan bites the inside of his cheek at the softness to your voice. He lets out a smile, nodding his head, “Of course, yn. Anything for you.”

“Did you know that you smell good?” Jeonghan raises an eyebrow at the random question, and the rumble of his chest from laughter makes you giggle in response, squeezing him tighter.

“Really? What do I smell like?”

You purse your lips in thought, before letting out a deep sigh. You close your eyes as you quietly say, “You smell delicate, it reminds me of Spring.”

Jeonghan’s heart thumps against his chest as he pats your head, “How can I smell like a season?”

“I don’t know. You just do.”

You pull away from the hug to flash Jeonghan a bright smile, and you watch as his features brighten at the sight. You rub the back of your neck, about to sit back down to finish the drama, only to pause when you realize something.

“Jeonghan!”

“Yn!”

“I have to choose an outfit for Saturday! Oh my GOD!” You sprint out of the living room and to your bedroom, while Jeonghan remains in the living room. He listens to the sound of your screeches, and the chaotic noises of clothes being pulled out of your closet.

“Hannie, come help! I’m not that stylish!”

Jeonghan bites his bottom lip, turning to look at the long forgotten drama. He lets out a sigh, bending down and picking up the remote, turning off the TV. The screen turns black, leaving him to stare at his reflection in the monitor.

It’s as if Jeonghan is having a staring contest with himself as he stares at the TV monitor, thinking of the answer to a question that he’s not willing to ever admit. He only looks away when he hears the call of his name, pursing his lips at the thoughts he was thinking.

Jeonghan pushes everything in his brain away, letting out a small smile when you walk out of your room with your head stuck in a hanger. You scratch the top of your head, confused as to how you even managed to fit your head through the small space.

“Please help.” You say, and Jeonghan chuckles, nodding his head and walking over towards your room.

“Should I ask how you even managed to get your head through the hanger?”

“No.”

“Good, because I didn’t plan out how I’d react if you told me about it.”

Jeonghan runs a hand through his hair as he looks out the window of his apartment, seeing the grand view of the city of Seoul at night. He tilts his head at the sight of a few fireworks shooting up into the sky, even though there’s about ten minutes left until it’s the new year.

“Hannie! My parents want to see your red hair.” He turns his head at the call of his name, finding you sitting at his kitchen table on FaceTime with your family. He grins and walks over to you, resting his hand on the back of your chair as he puts himself in the frame.

“Hi auntie and uncle! Happy New Year!” Jeonghan greets with a smile, and the two of you let out a laugh at your mom’s reaction to his bright hair color. He runs a hand through his hair, sending your mom a thumbs up in the camera. “Do you like my hair?

“I’m honestly just surprised that you pull it off so well.” Your mom responds, and you chuckle. Your dad nods in agreement, giving Jeonghan a thumbs up with a proud smile on his face. Grinning, you reach out and ruffle Jeonghan’s hair.

“Of course Hannie can pull it off! He’s one of the prettiest guys ever, I wouldn’t be surprised if he were able to rock green hair.” Your mom and dad laugh, while Jeonghan just stares at you for a moment, feeling slightly empty when you pull your hand away. Your mom lets out a mischievous smile, and you raise an eyebrow at it. “What are you planning, mom?”

“Since you think Jeonghan is so pretty, why aren’t you dating him yet?” Warmth immediately floods your face, and you let out a whine, causing your mom and dad to holler over in laughter. You turn to Jeonghan to apologize, and he just gives you a small smile, nodding his head in understanding. When you glance back at your phone to scold your parents, Jeonghan’s smile turns bitter, and he looks away from your screen to hide it.

You and Jun have been dating for a month now.

“I’ll talk to you guys later! Jeonghan and I have to take our annual New Year’s photo.” You say, waving at your parents with a bright smile on your face.

“Bye Jeonghan!” Jeonghan glances back over at your phone, finding your parents waving at him with happy expressions on their faces. He forces out a smile, waving back at them with the same energy they’re giving him. “Yn and I will try to visit soon!”

“Yeah you better!” You let out a laugh at your dad’s comment, waving at them one last time before ending the call. You lean back into the chair, closing your eyes to try and muster up some energy.

“Your parents’ love suck all the life out of you?” Jeonghan asks with an amused expression on his face, and you wave him away with your hand, eyes still closed as you do so. He chuckles, reaching out and pinching your cheek before walking back over to the couch.

“Are we gonna take a picture or what?” You open your eyes to see Jeonghan already preparing the polaroid camera, and you stand up and walk over to him. You rest your chin on his shoulder, making Jeonghan stiffen slightly, and he hopes you didn’t notice. However, you’re observant.

“Why’d you freeze? Oh! Is your shoulder bothering you again?” You ask in concern, immediately stepping back and assessing Jeonghan’s shoulder. He watches as you begin to ramble about how he should go to the doctor about his shoulder pain as you poke and prod at him. Biting the inside of his cheek, he moves his shoulder out of your reach, “It’s fine, I just slept wrong last night.” He lies through his teeth, and you stare into Jeonghan’s eyes as your hands slowly fall to your sides.

His deep brown eyes bore into yours, seeing a reflection of his own as he does so. After a moment of searching, you look away with a sigh.

Jeonghan’s eyes are your favorite feature of his, as his true emotions always show through them. They’re his most honest feature, you’d say.

so why can’t I tell if he’s lying right now?

You shake your head, before looking back at Jeonghan with a smile. You nod your head, reaching out and softly patting his shoulder as a means to not accidentally hurt him. “Let’s take the photo, I need a post for Instagram.”

Jeonghan scoffs, holding up the polaroid camera, “You only want to take photos with me so that you get more likes on Instagram.”

You smile, peace sign up towards your eye as you nod your head, “Of course. If I have a pretty boy beside me in my photos, then everyone will like them!”

Jeonghan smiles, winking into the polaroid camera as the flash goes off. The film photo immediately pops out, and you take the small photo and wave it around. Jeonghan purses his lips, before holding up the camera again.

“Let’s take one more.” He says, and you raise an eyebrow, surprised that he wants to take another photo with you. You place the polaroid down onto the coffee table before posing without question, as you’re afraid he will immediately take back the request.

“1, 2, 3-” Your hand makes your way to Jeonghan’s face, squishing his cheeks when the flash goes off. Jeonghan turns to face you, finding you giggling happily as you take the developing polaroid, flapping it around a bit before placing it onto the coffee table.

“I wanted to look handsome in that one.” Jeonghan whines, and you roll your eyes.

“You’re always handsome, be quiet.” You respond, and Jeonghan opens his mouth to argue, only to stop when you glance at the time.

“15 SECONDS!” You screech, grabbing the noise maker and confetti, handing one to Jeonghan in the process. You jump up and down as the two of you begin to count down.

“10!”

“9!”

“8!”

“7!” Jeonghan glances at you, feeling as if time is starting to slow down as you excitedly dance while counting down.

“6!”

“5!”

“4!” You laugh happily, doing a small dance as you prepare the confetti in your hand.

“3!”

“2!” Jeonghan feels his heart sink in his chest when you turn to face him with a bright smile, seeing all the stars in your eyes as you stare at him.

“1!”

“Happy New Year, Hannie!” You squeal, throwing the confetti up as high as you can into the air. Jeonghan swallows, noticing how dry his throat has become as he takes in the sight before him. Time comes to a slow as the fireworks explode in the air behind you through the window, while the confetti sparkles fall around the two of you. All the background noise drowns out, all of his senses honing in on you and you only. You look nothing short of ethereal in this moment.

The realization of what he’s been denying for the last three months comes to the surface as he stares at you, and he wishes for nothing more than for it to not be true. That it’s just a fluke.

However, when you turn back towards him and wrap your arms around his frame, greeting him Happy New Year once more, Jeonghan knows it’s the truth.

“Happy New Year, Yoon Jeonghan.” You say softly with a grin, and Jeonghan slowly wraps his arms around you, biting the inside of his cheek as he closes his eyes.

“Happy New Year, yn yln.” Jeonghan mutters, and you pull away to pull out your phone from your pocket. You wave it around Jeonghan’s face with a mischievous smile, “I’m gonna go greet Jun a happy new year, I’ll be back in a sec.”

Jeonghan squeezes his fist at his side, nodding his head as he gives you a smile. “Tell the handsome man I said Happy New Year.”

You give the redhead a thumbs up, before dialing Jun’s number and heading towards the bathroom. Once the door closes behind you, Jeonghan reaches up and clutches his chest, biting his bottom lip harshly as he looks down at the floor. He notices the now developed polaroids, and lifts up the one where you're squishing his face.

You’re staring at Jeonghan with stars in your eyes as you smile widely, hand squishing his cheeks. Jeonghan purses his lips, before pulling out his wallet from the back of his jeans, placing the polaroid into the slot before his driver’s license.

The photo reflects back at him underneath the light from the fireworks behind him, and Jeonghan lets out a breath. Running a hand through his hair, he closes his wallet and places it back into his pocket. Just in time too, as he looks up when he hears your bathroom door open, noticing the happy smile on your face.

“Ready to make midnight snacks to celebrate the new year?” You ask with a wink, and Jeonghan throws on his best fake smile, nodding his head.

“Of course I do, don’t ask me no stupid fucking questions.” Jeonghan teases, and you let out a laugh at the sentence, sending the redhead’s heart into a frenzy.

“Let’s go make food then.” You say, turning and heading towards the kitchen. Jeonghan slowly walks after you, a sad smile on his face as he watches you dance as you walk.

Just one more day. Jeonghan thinks to himself, before speeding up his pace and wrapping his arm around you. You turn to look at your best friend, and he smiles at you.

“Let’s make rice krispy treats.” Jeonghan suggests, only to let out a laugh at how your face brightens just at the mention of the delicious dessert, and you nod your head excitedly. You lead him to his own pantry, and begin explaining who’s gonna do what as you take out all the ingredients. All while Jeonghan watches fondly, knowing that he needs to ingrain this moment in his brain.

Just one more day with yn.

Jeonghan shuffles in front of your door, dreading what’s going to happen as soon as he knocks on the surface. He lets out a sigh, resting his head on the wall for a moment, questioning everything.

What if I just pretended?

I could just walk in and we could hangout like we usually do, like nothing has changed at all.

No.

Jeonghan lifts up his head, raising his fist and knocking on your door without a second thought. He bites the inside of his cheek when he hears you say, “Coming!”

Your front door opens after a moment, and his eyes trail over your outfit. An oversized vest over a white dress shirt paired with straight leg pants and sneakers to match. Jeonghan’s eyes slowly go back towards your face, just to find you staring at him with surprise painted over your features.

“Hannie! I wasn’t expecting you, what’s up?” You ask, and Jeonghan stays quiet for a moment. He gestures to you, and you raise an eyebrow.

“Are you going somewhere?” Jeonghan asks, and you nod your head. Letting out a smile, you show off your outfit and do a timid spin for emphasis on the oversized vest. “I have a date with Jun today, you like the fit?”

Jeonghan doesn’t respond, instead squeezing his fist in his pocket. He looks down the hallway, making you look in the same direction as well. You find Jun walking towards your apartment, and you let out a smile.

“Speak of the Devil. Did you need something from my apartment? You can just lock up when you’re done.” You tell Jeonghan as you turn back towards him, and you find the rest of the words die in your throat at the sadness in his eyes. You reach out to grasp his arm, and he takes a step back.

“Hannie, what’s wrong-”

“Jun is lucky to have you.” Jeonghan cuts you off, and you stare at him as he struggles to utter the next word. He turns back to look at Jun, seeing that he’s almost to your door, having not noticed Jeonghan yet.

“Jeonghan?” You ask, and you watch as the pretty man turns back to look at you.

“Pacman.” Jeonghan breathes out, and you feel your heart stop, unsure of why.

He turns around and walks away without another word, and your eyebrows furrow in confusion. You step out to ask him what he means, only for Jeonghan to stop and turn around himself. He gives you a bittersweet smile, waving his hand at you.

“You look beautiful, yn. Have fun on your date.” And with that, Jeonghan turns around and walks away, sucking in a deep breath to try and hold back the tears that threaten to escape. Leaving you alone by your doorway, confused.

“Was that Jeonghan?” You turn your head at the sound of Jun’s voice, and he gives you a soft smile. You nod your head slowly, turning to look back in the direction that he left in. “Yeah, he seems sad though.”

“Wanna go and check on him?” Jun asks, and you bite the inside of your cheek, remembering the tickets Jun bought in advance for the two of you to go to this garden. Regretfully, you shake your head and give Jun a warm smile. “It’s okay, I’ll check on him after our date.”

You quickly grab your phone and bag, locking the door to your apartment and turning to Jun with a grin. He extends his hand towards you, and you intertwine your fingers with his. The two of you walk towards the elevators, but you’re left in confusion as to what Jeonghan meant, and why he was so sad.

Hours turned into days, days turned into weeks, and months eventually turned into a year.

You and Jeonghan haven’t spoken since the day he stopped by your apartment and said that cursed word.

You tried to reach out once you realized what he meant, even stopping by his apartment multiple times to just get him to say something, anything. You were quite literally talking to a door, as there was never a response. There were times that you fell asleep in front of his apartment on the floor, and would wake up in Jun’s arms as he carried you back to your own place.

Many tears were shed, hearts were broken on both sides as you lost not only Jeonghan, but Jun as the two of you broke up four months after Jeonghan left.

“I’ll always love you, but I know that your heart belongs to someone else.” Jun tells you softly, and you bite the inside of your cheek. He gives you a small smile, grasping your face, making you look down at the floor as he presses one last kiss to your forehead.

Jun pulls away, and pats the top of your head. “Don’t be a stranger, yn. I love you.”

You wanted nothing more than for Jeonghan to be there with you at that moment, to help you take the baby steps in healing, but you couldn’t get through to him no matter how much you tried.

It was what you two promised to do, anyways.

He even managed to avoid you on campus successfully, you couldn’t be surprised though. The university is huge, you wouldn’t have been able to find him if you tried, which you did. He stopped frequenting all the places the two of you used to go to, it was as if he disappeared.

And the hole in your heart grew and grew the longer Jeonghan was gone.

Now here you are, a year later, sitting on a park bench as you let the music flow through your airpods. The weather is nice, a contrast to the rain that’s been pelting the city of Seoul for the last few days. The sky is blue, and there’s a slight wind to cool you down from the warmth of the sun. You tilt your head back, letting out a sigh as you remember the pile of assignments sitting on your desk back at home.

And so, placing your hands into the pockets of your hoodie, you get up off the bench and begin to walk down the path in the direction of your apartment. Your eyes stay on the ground the whole time, just trying to focus on the soothing piano as you ignore the other people walking by you.

You only look up when you get to the crosswalk, seeing a crowd of people across the street from you. Your eyes trail along the numerous faces you see, and you’re about to look back down when you lock eyes with a familiar pair.

“Jeonghan.” You breathe out as he stares at you with the same amount of shock written across his face. His red hair is now dyed black, emphasizing his sharp features. His eyes still hold all the warmth that you remember as he stares directly back at you, making the pain in your chest more evident at how much you miss him. You bite the inside of your cheek harshly at how much prettier he’s become, wondering how he’s capable of doing so as time passes.

The crosswalk signal turns green, but you remain where you are for a moment, as does Jeonghan. The reminder of the promise the two of you made flooding through your mind.

“Pacman.” You peek at Jeonghan, wondering why he mentioned your guys’ favorite game. He gives you a tired smile, “It’ll be our code word. Instead of leaving without a trace for a couple months, or confessing our feelings and then leaving, we can just say Pacman. It’s not directly saying I love you, and who knows if either of us will remember the word. It’s the perfect thing to say before disappearing for a bit.”

Jeonghan begins to cross the street first, and you look down at the road as you step off the sidewalk, melting in with the crowd as you walk in Jeonghan’s direction. Your heart is breaking within your chest as you do so, knowing that you have to keep the promise you made with Jeonghan.

The two of you pinky swore, after all.

Tightly, you squeeze your fists at your side as the piano instrumental reaches its climax in your ears. Numerous questions flood your brain as you reach the middle of the street.

Is this it?

Are we never going to be best friends again?

Has he already passed me?

Does…

Does he still love me?

All thoughts rush out your brain when a hand grabs your wrist unexpectedly, the sudden jerk of your arm making your earbud fall out of your ear and onto the road, the soft key sounds of the piano disappearing with the wind. You open your mouth to protest, but the words die in your throat when you’re pulled into a tight embrace. It’s only when the familiar scent of Spring fills your senses, that you immediately wrap your arms around Jeonghan’s frame, tears filling your eyes from the overwhelming feeling of relief.

“Hi, yn.” Jeonghan mutters into your ear, tears falling from his own eyes as he holds you tightly, never wanting to let you go. You let out a sob at the sound of his voice, closing your eyes as you clutch onto him just as tight, scared that he’ll disappear without a trace again if you let go.

And so, through your tears, you whisper, “Hi, Jeonghan.”

“Yn! It’s only a few more minutes until midnight!”

“Coming!” You shout back, checking over your reflection once more. You step out of the restroom once you’re sure that you look decent, and walk over to your living room. You let out a smile once you lay eyes on Jeonghan laying upside down on your couch, scrolling through his phone.

“What are you doing, Hannie?” You ask, and the black haired beauty peeks at you past his phone, flashing you a smile.

“It’s more comfortable this way, wanna try?” You roll your eyes, flicking his forehead as you grab the polaroid camera. He lets out a whine, fixing his position so that he’s now sitting properly and not upside down.

“Why’d you flick me?”

“Cause you’re cheeky.” You answer, preparing the polaroid film to take the annual New Year’s Eve photo. Jeonghan grins, quickly fixing his hair to make sure it looks presentable. “Do I look okay?”

You quickly turn towards him, taking in his features. His soft eyes gaze into yours as you stare at his pretty nose and high cheekbones. You reach out and pinch his cheek with a smile, “You look pretty, Hannie. You always do. Now let’s take this photo.”

Jeonghan smiles happily at your compliment, before taking the polaroid camera from you and holding it out as you have trouble doing so. You let out a bright smile at the camera, Jeonghan doing the same as he takes the photo. The flash goes off, and you’re quick to take the film out and wave it around.

“Another one.” You command as you take the polaroid camera out of Jeonghan’s hands, and he chuckles, nodding his head. You hold the camera out and send a wink towards the camera, Jeonghan doing the same pose.

“Okay. 1, 2, 3-” Jeonghan quickly changes his pose last minute, reaching out with his hand and squeezing your cheeks with a laugh. The flash goes off, and you let out a whine, turning back towards the pretty man to see him still giggling as he takes the polaroid out and waves it around.

“Are you happy now that you’ve gotten your revenge?” You ask, and he nods his head with a grin. “Very happy, actually.”

You’re about to respond, only to pause when you see that there’s only 30 seconds left until the clock strikes midnight. You practically screech, standing up from the couch to grab the noise makers. Jeonghan watches you with a fond smile on his face, getting up from the couch to snatch the confetti.

“You’re doing confetti this year?” You ask when you scramble back over, noise maker now in your grasp. Jeonghan chuckles, “Why do we always get confetti when it’s a pain to clean up afterwards?”

You purse your lips, refusing to answer the question as you begin to count down the seconds instead. Jeonghan rolls his eyes at your antics, starting to count down along with you.

“10!”

“9!”

“8!”

“7!” Jeonghan nudges you a bit, and you stumble over, making the latter laugh loudly as you squint at him.

“6!”

“5!”

“4!” You and Jeonghan turn towards each other, bright smiles on your faces as you continue to count down.

“3!”

“2!”

“1!”

“Happy New Year!” You both cheer, and Jeonghan throws the confetti up high into the air. You laugh excitedly as it falls around the two of you, feeling your heart warm when he turns to you and grasps your face with his hands.

Your eyes softly fall shut as Jeonghan leans in and captures your lips in a kiss to celebrate the new year. Your hands trail up and rest on his sides, gripping his shirt as a smile breaks out onto both of your faces. He pulls away and rests his forehead on yours, staring into your eyes.

“I love you, yn.” He whispers, and you feel your heart swell from joy.

“I love you too, Jeonghan.” Warmth fills Jeonghan from those three simple words that hold so much depth as the two of you begin to sway side to side to the soft music filling the background.

The polaroid that Jeonghan kept in his wallet for the last two years sits up on the frame behind the both of you as you slow dance, the bright colors of the fireworks exploding outside casting an iridescent glow over the two of you.

As you scoot closer and rest your head onto Jeonghan’s chest, and his hand softly cradles the back of your head, you realize that sometimes,

Promises are meant to be broken.

1K notes · View notes

wutheringmights · 3 years ago

Photo

Inverse AU Master Post

Based on this random dream I had.

This post will be updated as more of this AU is developed.

AU Summary

While on their time-hopping journey, the Chain find themselves in a time before Hyrule when the goddess Hylia still lived among mortal men, and the kingdom was entrenched in a war to decide the fate between Good and Evil. But something isn’t right. The First Hero had long passed, yet the war against Demise still waged. What changed?

Enter a man once known as the Hero of Skies.

This Hero of Skies had slayed Demise as he was meant to, only to be cursed to never rest, doomed to fight in an endless cycle of bloodshed. Unwilling to accept his fate, he used the Triforce to not only bring himself back the Ancient Battle waged between Hylia and Demise, but also summon his future incarnations to help him.

Much like the Hero of Skies, these future incarnations made a decision during their journeys that changed them entirely. They hardly resemble their Chain counterparts. If anything, they are their inverses. They are an exhausted, broken lot pushed to the brink by the Hero of Skies’ determination to end the cycle before it could even begin.

The Inverses want nothing more than to go home. The Hero of Skies has to keep them working together by any means necessary, especially as his wish on the Triforce has messed with the timeline, summoning the attention of a displeased Guardian of Time who wants nothing more than to set everything right where they should be.

Caught in the middle of it all is the Chain.

Even if the mirror image is skewed, the Chain can still see themselves reflected in their Inverse counterparts—the good and the bad. There has to be something they can do to help them… right?

Characters Below the Cut

Origin – The Hero of Skies

Nickname derived from him being the origin of Demise’s curse

Unlike Sky, Origin realized right away that Demise’s Curse was serious and that it would lead to his spirit never being able to rest. This leads to him becoming the mastermind of this AU as he uses the Triforce to go back in time to defeat Demise with the help of the other Inverses

He is kind at heart, but his quiet anger takes center stage of his personality as his frustration with his situation mounts

He feels cheated by the gods for making him the sacrificial lamb for their machinations; his strong sense of justice is less for helping other people and wanting help for himself, though he often claims he is trying to defeat Demise for the sake of Hyrule. He feels as though he is allowed to be selfish, just this once.

He is the head of the Inverses; he is a good leader, but he’s blinded by his drive to end the curse, which can lead him his disregarding others well-beings in favor of the larger picture

Additionally, he lies to the rest of the Inverse Links about how they all arrived in the past, claiming that it was the work of the gods and he too was pulled there against his will. He has the power to send everyone back whenever he wants, but chooses not to.

Trio – The Hero of the Four Sword

Nickname is a reference to him having only three Colors left

Unlike Four, Trio’s last adventure with the Four Sword did not end happily; while separated into the Colors, Blue died and with it, a significant portion of his Link’s personality.

Losing Blue meant that Trio can no longer feel strong emotions or any passion. He is very nice and quiet, but often seems to drift from one task to another. While he has his own beliefs and ideas, they don’t translate into strong convictions.

To others, he comes off as being lazy, careless, and a bit of a pushover.

Since his last adventure, he has floated from one job to another. He’s not a knight or a smithy. Even calling him a traveler is being generous.

Helping to defeat Demise isn’t that important to him, but it is something to do and he will keep helping out until he’s dragged into doing something else.

Tick – The Hero of Time

Nickname derived from the sound a clock makes (tick-tock) and his notably tiny stature

Unlike Time, when Tick pulled the Master Sword for the first time, he was not put into a seven year slumber. He stayed a child, and he set off right away to fight Ganondorf. The battle almost killed him, but he managed to succeed in the end. In the aftermath, he has once again been abandoned by Navi, leaving him feeling more lost as he no longer has a purpose in life. He has spent his time since traveling around Hyrule looking for problems to solve and a place where he belongs.

Unlike Mask, Tick is still relatively new to adventuring and has yet to develop any resentment towards the gods for making him become a hero; instead, he is hopelessly trying to maintain his identity of hero.

He’s happy, go-lucky, and always ready to help. However, this all may be a front to hide how terrified he is of the future. His need to help is also to the point of self-destruction.

He has trouble genuinely connecting with other people as he cannot stop viewing them as a problem that needs to be solved as opposed to someone he can connect to.

Ironically, he does want someone to connect to, so when he is pulled into the past, he clings to Origin as someone who can be his family and give him newfound purpose. All the while, he is terrified of what will happen to him if they truly do defeat Demise and stop the cycle of heroes before it can ever begin.

Ballad – The Hero of Legend

Nickname derived from the Ballad of the Windfish

Unlike Legend, Ballad chose to not wake up the Windfish and to live the rest of his days on Koholint Island with Marin. As time went on, Koholint Island became so overrun by monsters that it was no longer habitable. When a mysterious sailor named Linebeck came to Koholint, Ballad and Marin hitched a ride with him to leave the monster infested island behind in favor of traveling the dream world’s oceans. The great sea they sail on are as equally infested with monsters, and Linebeck seemingly keeps pushing Ballad into trying to solve the problem in one last epic adventure.

(Note: this story is based on the theory that the Windfish and the Ocean King are the same character, but on different timelines).

Before arriving to Koholint, Ballad was positive he wanted to be a hero, but upon experiencing the quiet life, he realized that he’s ready to settle down. But even as he craves the mundane, he deep down wants adventure in excitement in his life. However, he believes he cannot ever return to his true adventuring life without leaving Marin behind.

He loves Marin dearly, but he has lost hope that he can ever get her out of the dream world, so he has decided that he has to make the dream world permanent and safe.

He considers himself friends with Linebeck, even if he can tell that he’s a manifestation of the Windfish’s subconscious trying to push him into ending the dream. But there is an underlining element of tension as Ballad copes with trying to figure out if his friend is really his friend or just a trick of the Windfish.

Being dragged into the past is the worst thing that could have happened to Ballad; he wants to get out of there as soon as possible to get back to Marin, but he’s worried that if he is sent back, he wouldn’t be allowed back into the Windfish’s dream.

Savior – The Hero of Hyrule

Nickname derived from him being hailed as Hyrule’s savior

Unlike Hyrule, Savior initially refused Impa’s plead for him to save Zelda (Dawn) and defeat Ganon. His hesitance led to Ganon killing Dawn and taking the Triforce of Wisdom for himself. When the kingdom fell to ruin, a guilt-ridden Savior finally took up the quest to defeat Ganon. He claimed the Triforce of Courage as his own to give him strength, woke-up Aurora, and defeated Ganon. But now Aurora is left to rule a kingdom she knows nothing about while Hyrulean nobles begin to make bids to take the crown for themselves. Out of a feeling of obligation, Savior married Aurora to become the new King of Hyrule and help bring peace to the kingdom he had let down.

Savior is still a charming street-kid who loves adventure at heart, but he can no longer live the life he wants to. Actually, he hates being king and all the responsibility that comes with it. He doesn’t know how to rule, and he’s scrambling to learn how to as the kingdom continues to fall into political turmoil.

His unhappiness with his life leads to him becoming a little mean, as he has nowhere to vent his frustrations.

His marriage to Aurora is not romantic. It was political through and through, though they are both good friends. He does find it a little exhausting having to help catch her up with the world, and he feels like he can’t rely on her emotionally when she already has so much on her plate.

He feels a little guilty for not being more thankful, as any normal person would be excited to go from nothing to living in the lap of luxury. But he has never aspired for greatness.

He’s initially thrilled to get a break from having to be king in order to just be a plain old adventurer again, but the longer he stays in the past, the more he starts to realize that something is wrong with Origin and their situation.

Beast – The Hero of Twilight

Nickname derived from his Twilit title: the Blue-Eyed Beast

Unlike Twilight, Beast managed to convince Midna to let him come back to the Twilight Realm with her, even when she told him that she planned on breaking the mirror that connected their worlds together. Overtime, Beast started to feel discontented with his life in the Twilight Realm. He lived at the Twilight Palace and was free to do whatever he wanted, but he couldn’t find happiness there. He even started to regret leaving his home for good. Eventually, he left the palace in to wander the Twilight Realm in the form of a wolf.

Beast’s initial desire to stay in the Twilight Realm was fueled by an unwillingness to cope with what had happened to him on his adventure; instead of looking for a way to heal and carve a new place for himself in Hyrule, he cut himself off from Hyrule entirely.

He tried to rely too heavily on Midna to somehow fix his emotional issues until she pushed one time too many for him to get real help; this is what motivated him to leave the Twilight Palace

He feel disconnected from his identity as a human, as human Link is someone who lives in the light and cannot deal with his own problems; so he spends most of his time as a wolf.

Beast loves Midna with all his heart and she loves in return, but they are both starting to realize that they might not be good for each other.

While in the past, Beast stays in his wolf form. Only Origin knows that he is capable of turning into a human, and he uses this as leverage to get Beast to go along with fighting Demise.

Ako – The Hero of Winds

Nickname derived from a Gerudo nickname Ganondorf gave him that translates to “wind”

(Note: Gerudo conlang, Va Ehenihv , is created and used with permission by @gerudoshikyapril)

Unlike Wind, Ako chose to rescue Aryll by not fighting Ganondorf. Instead, he struck a deal where he found and handed over the pieces of the broken Triforce of Courage in exchange for Aryll. Ganondorf held-up his end of the deal, and the two were able to go home in peace. Ganondorf managed to get the rest of the Triforce and wished to bring Hyrule back with himself as the ruler. The Great Sea disappeared with its inhabitants forgetting the sea had ever happened. It was like they had always lived in Hyrule. That is, everyone except Ako. In fact, after the change, Ako’s grandma and Aryll did not remember him as well.

Ganondorf claims that he wants to mentor Ako, and takes him in as a supposed adoptive son. Ako knows that he is essentially a prisoner and is only being kept alive to prevent the cycle of heroes from starting again and kept happy to prevent him from realizing his role as a hero.

As a ruler, Ganondorf taxes the crap out of people and is not afraid to use intimidation to get his way, but he’s not necessarily a bad king. He knows what he’s doing and is intent on doing the most he can with his power to leave a decent legacy behind.

Ako has a strange, tentative friendship with Ganondorf—if friendship is even the right word for it. While Ako is kept on a short leash, Ganondorf does mentor him and tells him about the circumstances that led to him becoming corrupted by Demise’s Curse. As much as Ako wants to hate him for taking him away from his family, he oddly respects him.

Ganondorf even talks about him like he’s a blessing; his nickname a reference to him being a good wind that blew into his life to help him. However, Ako suspects that there is a layer of sarcasm to it.

Needless to say, it’s complicate.

Ako is a quiet kid who is trying to keep his head down in order to survive. However, there is still a spark of rebellion in him. He doesn’t know how to fight back against Ganondorf or if he even wants to, but he’ll figure it out.

He’s ashamed for knowingly not being the hero at first and letting the villain win.

Ako also sees through Origin’s lies fairly quickly, but he goes along with it as a survival instinct as well as a way to prevent Ganondorf’s rise to king; however, he sometimes becomes scared of letting Ganondorf down and will then sabotage their efforts until he gets a grip on himself again.

Usurper – The Hero of Warriors

Nickname derived from his attempt to head a coup d’état against the crown

Unlike Warriors, Usurper quickly became disillusioned with the Hylian war effort in his time. At first, he tried to follow along with his role as the hero and fight in the war, but the more he looked the more he saw the war as unethical. The brass were making bad decisions that left the people behind. Not only that, but some of the orders that the soldiers were given were inhumane. Knowing he could not let this go on, he organized a coup d’état against the crown. The rebellion was squashed quickly, and Usurper was quickly pushed through a very public trial for treason against the crown. He was found guilty and was about to be executed when Origin dragged him into the past.

Usurper is both very exhausted and extremely cynical. He is done with having to be the hero, and he wants nothing more than to get out of here. However, he has a bleeding heart that makes it hard for him not to get involved.

Surprisingly, he doesn’t have an authority problem; he is more than happy to follow orders as long as they follow his strict moral code, and even prefers following orders over positions of leadership. This is helpful as he is the most strategically minded of the Inverses and is very much needed in the fight against Demise.

He does not have a good relationship with Origin; upon being dragged into the past, Origin immediately refers to him as “the usurper,” which made Usurper realize right away that Origin was pulling the strings. However, Origin leverages the fact that Usurper can’t go home without being executed to get him to comply.

Except, Usurper can’t stand to see injustice, even here where it would benefit him to just follow along. He plans on fighting back, but he’s ill-prepared to do so now. He needs more of the Inverses on his side, and he knows that his sudden disappearance must have alerted Lana that there was trouble with the timeline. He knows she will come for him soon. Until then, he bides his time.

Champion – The Hero of the Wild

Nickname derived from his role as Hylia’s Champion leading up to the Calamity

Unlike Wild, Champion did not die protecting Zelda during the Calamity. Instead, she died protecting him. Following the advice of the Master Sword, Champion sent Zelda to the Shrine of Resurrection to heal, but someone needed to hold back Calamity Ganon until she could return to seal him away. So Champion entered the castle where he intended to hold back Calamity Ganon for as long as necessary, until Zelda woke up to rescue him.

His life is in a cycle where he fights Calamity Ganon every day, defeats him, and then prepares to fight him again the next day. Because the window of time to defeat Calamity Ganon is so short, he cannot leave the castle.

Divine power prevents him from dying, and like Ganon, whatever injuries he sustains while fighting is healed by the next day in an endless cycle.

His one contact with the outside world is Impa, who is the only person brave enough to go into the castle to visit him; he can only tell that time is passing based on how much she ages.

His anxiety from his role as the hero has only gotten worse, as one bad day from him can lead to the end of the world; he’s fallen back heavily into his stoic hero persona and has no remaining interests outside of it.

Deep down, he’s starting to resent Zelda for leaving him behind to handle things as she rests in the shrine.

At first, Champion does not want to be any from home in fear that it has already fallen into ruin. But once he learns that Origin’s plan is to defeat evil at its source, he is all for it. He often has to be restrained from rushing off into battle, and he does not appreciate being forced to take his time here.

Lana – The Guardian of Time

A secondary “antagonist” to the story as she is known to everyone except Usurper as being a part of the enemy.

Lana was found out at the last minute that Usurper had staged a coup d'etat against the crown. She tried to rush to his aid, but was unable to prevent his capture or trial for treason. She was trying to stop his execution when he is dragged to the past.

Being the Guardian of Time, she recognized what had happened and immediately started to investigate, only to find that the entire history of Hyrule had been corrupted.

She brought herself into the past as well to fix things, but she’s having some difficulties. The Goddess Hylia will not listen to her concerns, and Origin has painted her as a villain to the rest of the heroes.

She and Usurper are in secret communication with each other, trying to figure out how to fix things without making it worse.

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house-of-laminations · 3 years ago

Note

Hiiii ! I love your blog sm :) I was just wondering if you had advice to give to fellow tumblr writers? Even though I'm tagging and stuff I'm still really struggling to be seen on my new blog and its a little disheartening. If you don't have advice for that specifically, do u have any advice for finding and developing ideas? I hope you're having a good day either way because you really seem so lovely 🧚

oh my goodness thank you 🧚anon 💛 I hope you're having a wonderful day too!

Full disclosure: I'm making up this writing blog thing as I go along. I didn't expect any of my stuff to draw the attention that it has so the whole 'visibility' thing feels a lot like luck. That being said, there's a few things I've picked up on my decade+ on this site, as well as some things from being a little internet and design savvy.

Tumblr tag functionality is and always will be a mystery. However in times of yore, the tags that took search priority are the first five tags. Work out which are the five most common tags relevant to your topic/fandom - the ones that get the most traffic, and prioritize those.

Don't be afraid to shamelessly promo and reblog your own stuff. Lord knows the like-to-reblog ratio is atrocious - the only way things show up on a dash without an algorithm is through reblogs.

Link back to your stuff within your post as much as you can! You may notice I include a little back to masterlist at the bottom of my writing posts. It's at the bottom, not the top, because readers that enjoy your work will have made it to the end of the post, and it saves them the effort of scrolling back to the top once they're done. It's also a not-so-subtle hint that you have even more work!

Make friends! Follow other writing blogs starting out - and even the bigger ones - and don't be afraid to reblog their own work. Scream at them in the tags. Talk about what you like! I think people would be surprised at how many people I follow back because of the tags they leave on my fics.

Never let it dishearten you to the point where you stop writing. To be frank, tumblr is one of the hardest platforms to build an audience on. Please don't take it as an indictment on your passion - it's literally a hellsite. To counteract this share your writing with friends that you trust. All my stuff I really only write for one, or maybe two people. And they know who they are. It's their support that keeps me writing - not my follow count or my notes. One of the favourite things I have written has the least amount of notes, go figure.

In terms of developing ideas, I have a few pointers here too:

Write what you love. I know that sounds like a cop-out, but you'll find that ideas come more naturally when you enjoy what you do. It doesn't matter if what you love is trope-filled and cliche. Those tropes and cliches exist for a reason, and that reason is everyone loves them.

On that note: visit TVTropes if you feel like you're struggling with ideas. Follow a few rabbit holes. You may lose an afternoon or five to it. Sorry not sorry.

Don't be afraid to do what's been done before. So what if there are twelve other fics about kissing pretty boys/girls/enbies under the mistletoe? This is your own take, and you can bet your ass people will appreciate it because you're the only you to exist.

Along both of these points - work out what it is exactly that drew you to this fandom/media/genre in the first place. What expectations did you have going in, and how were those subverted by reality? Can you play in your original expectations?

Don't be afraid of a good mash-up. "omg imagine [x] au" has become somewhat of a meme with a few of my friends. Sometimes an 'au' is just an excuse to play with the tropes of another genre and that's ok!

Prompt generators are your friend.

Don't write alone. Find a friend who will happily just listen to your ideas. They don't even have to be part of the fandom. If you're feeling particularly extroverted, you could even join one of the discords that are floating around. The point is to find someone to share your ideas with so they can be excited with and for you. If you're anything like me it may also help to keep you accountable.

Consume other media. Don't let one fandom dominate. Go outside for a walk and experience life. This sounds cliche again, but sometimes all it takes to come up with new ideas is to just. Give yourself a break. Walk away and come back. And its hard to come up with ideas if you dig yourself into a single-media-hole.

I could honestly write a massive post on creating ideas and brainstorming because it's my favorite part of the creative process. It can be fun - There's so much potential at that point. But yeah this is getting long. I hope this helps! 💛

#🧚anon #writing reference #<- I guess?#I went teacher mode on this again oops #i talk to a real human #also it helps if you have a best friend who joins the same fan community at the same time and gets even MORE popular #its free publicity baybeee #no not really i pay in love and affection

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floralseokjin · 4 years ago

Text

⤑ made-up love song ii.

Your first encounter with Kim Seokjin doesn’t go so well, nor your second, or your third… and maybe that’s because it shouldn’t work on paper. You’re an elementary school teacher living with your best friend, and have never left the country despite hitting the third decade of your life not so long ago. He’s the dad of one of your students, nearly a decade older than you and divorced. Oh yes, and just another minor detail – he’s a multimillionaire.

Your lives are lightyears apart, yet somehow, your paths having now crossed, things just seem to fall into place…

pairing; kim seokjin x reader au/genre/warnings; strangers to lovers, romance, eventual smut, eventual angst, single dad! seokjin, ceo! seokjin, elementary school teacher! oc, age gap (oc is 30, seokjin is 37), seokjin is a dilf, things are heating up! the phrase ‘dilf dick’ gets thrown around way too much, RJ and taehyung cameo, hoseok, yoongi and namjoon are mentioned, as well as jungkook if you squint words; 12,169

↪︎ chapter index

chapters; i • ii • iii • iv • v • vi • vii • viii • ix • x • epilogue (+ drabbles)

After Seokjin dropped you off at the station, he and Arin waving you goodbye, it would be two weeks later when you saw him again. Not that you were holding out on it or anything… No way… That would be ludicrous.

The last week of school was always hectic, activities and games top priority now that teaching had come to a standstill. The children were hyper, the teacher’s worn out, but without fail you always looked forward to the summer fate. Head of the committee every year, you and a handful of your fellow teachers organised each game, each stall and each prize. As well as wanting the children to have fun, it was also an opportunity to celebrate their achievements throughout the year with their families. There were an arrange of awards for most subjects, third through to first place for each grade, and this year you’d convinced the principal, Mr. Jung, to include a new creative writing award. It wasn’t technically a subject – you already had the spelling bee for English class, but he’d thought it was a great idea to celebrate the students’ talents in a brand new way.

Of course, there was one child you had in mind when you’d gone to him with the idea – Arin. It was only fair in your eyes, she’d been with you not even three months and hadn’t had a chance like the other kids. The other awards were spoken for but you wanted her to at least get something, just so first grade could end on a good note for her and help her look forward to September.

You were at the entrance of the fate, in casual conversation with Mrs. Jeon as well as greeting the students’ families, when you caught a glimpse of Seokjin. He was hand in hand with Arin who skipped happily beside him. He was wearing a sea green thin sweater, that blew in the light breeze, and black jeans. He was even in sneakers. Way more unbelievable than the slippers. He looked effortlessly good, and you thought you preferred him like this, casually dressed. The suits were great yes, but he looked far more attainable like this. Not that you wanted to attain him.

Damn it.

You tried your best to ignore the strange heat that had seemed to settle in your chest at the sight of him, the faintest flurry of what could only be described as butterflies aggravating your stomach. What the hell? What was wrong with you?

“Hello, Miss.” Arin grinned, giving you a small wave, and you shook yourself out of it.

“Hi, Arin,” you waved back, of course catching Seokjin’s eyes in the process.

“Miss. Y/L/N,” he greeted, the hint of a smirk across his mouth. Teasing, again. Two could play at that game.

“Mr. Kim,” you replied, unable to keep a straight face – especially when you heard him laugh as he passed by you.

You watched him walk off, secretly pleased now that you knew he was here. You wouldn’t admit it out loud, wouldn’t dare tell anyone, but you’d been hoping he’d be free to attend the fate. To see Arin receive her reward, of course – nothing else. But, okay, maybe you had spent an embarrassingly long time choosing which dress to wear last night. Not that you wanted to impress him, more like… stand out.

“Who is he?” Mrs. Jeon whispered animatedly – hopefully out of earshot and once again knocking some sense back into you.

You tried to sound casual, like you weren’t aware of Seokjin’s jaw-dropping good looks – or more so, that they didn’t affect you whatsoever. “A student’s father.”

She made a noise of disbelief. “He is just pure… sex on legs.”

“Eunbi!” You exclaimed, taken by such surprise you used her first name. She burst out laughing, something you couldn’t ignore and ended up in a fit of giggles yourself.

“Behave.” You warned, trying to compose yourself. “You’re a married woman.” You’d attended her wedding last summer, bringing along Soojung as your plus one.

“Looking is still allowed,” she replied, making you both explode into laughter once again.

You were giddy. Really, what was up with you?

The afternoon was a success, the children and their families enjoying immensely, as well as the teachers. It was your job to announce the creative writing reward and it was so heart-warming to see how happy it made Arin to come first place. She held her little trophy and movie theatre vouchers proudly for the camera, Seokjin looking just as over the moon as her. Mr. Jung convinced him to join for a few snaps and you looked on with a polite smile. Other than earlier and a thank you as you passed the prize to Arin, those had been your only interactions with Seokjin for the day and now the fate was drawing to a close. You wouldn’t say you were disappointed, because that would be preposterous, but if those were going to be your only exchanges then it made the times he’d fleeted into your mind these past couple of weeks highly embarrassing…

It wasn’t as if you wanted to think about him, he just kept popping up. First you blamed Soojung, who wouldn’t shut up about Mr. Dilf for a few days after the exchange at his house (mansion), but soon the topic bored her, no new developments to keep her hooked. You on the other hand found yourself imagining instances where you’d bump into one another again. You know, happenstances… Like if he had the time to drop Arin off at school, although you doubted he’d end up in the staff parking lot again�� You’d had a good giggle to yourself remembering his face when he’d realised.

Other incidents were less realistic, like maybe he’d drop off a thank you present the students liked to gift to say goodbye, or maybe you’d bump into him at the grocery store, the park – highly improbable, but you found yourself thinking all these things when you were procrastinating or trying to get to sleep.

Even now as you tried to win a prize at the Ring Toss stall – don’t ask how much money you’d already spent – (obviously using your free time wisely before you were needed again), you found yourself disappointed that things hadn’t worked out quite like you’d imagined today. You were being stupid. The guy was supposed to annoy the heck out of you, yet here you were unable to stop thinking about him. It had been a long time since a man had gotten you this distracted. A really long time…

“Can I help?”

You jumped at the sound of Seokjin’s voice, granted you were in deep concentration, about to launch the hoop, but you felt like you’d been caught doing something wrong. As if he knew you’d been thinking about him, caught you in the act. You whipped your head up, forcing yourself to relax and smile.

“I’ve been watching you try to win for the past ten minutes.” He chuckled. Great. How embarrassing. He stepped closer. “What do you have your eyes so set on?”

Oh, god. Even more embarrassing. You had a split second to make a decision. Be truthful or lie and choose something else. You know what, who cared? You were thirty and still loved stuffed animals. It wasn’t out of the ordinary.

“The alpaca.” You pointed to the white fluffy animal sat on the top shelf. With his cute round face and a red scarf wrapped around his neck, he was adorable and you really wanted him.

Seokjin wasn’t fazed at all. “He’s cute. I’ll try but don’t get your hopes up, okay?”

You nodded and handed him the hoops. He needed to loop all three around the skittles. You watched him with anticipation, thinking to yourself this definitely wasn’t one of your fantasies, but you liked it regardless. Liked it even better when Seokjin managed to win.

“Thank you, Seokjin,” you smiled, his name still feeling strange to say aloud. The man in charge of the game passed you your new ‘pet’ and you held it fondly, unable to stop yourself. Your landlord didn’t allow animals so you’d had to improvise over the years. You’d never had an alpaca before, but you were sure he’d fit right in.

“No problem, I’m glad I could be of service.” He chuckled.

There was a silence. It wasn’t uncomfortable but it was new. You were so used to Seokjin joking about you were expecting him to take the lead. Today he was quiet, actually right now he looked pretty awkward.

You opened your mouth to ask him how he was when you suddenly realised something. How stupid of you. You’d been so distracted by the stuffed animal you hadn’t realised a little certain someone was missing. “Where’s Arin?”

“She’s playing with a friend and their family.” You watched him scratch the back of his neck, looking at you, but not really making eye contact. “Y/N, do you maybe want to take a walk? We could find some where to sit and talk?”

“About what?” You could’ve kicked yourself. Why did you have to ask that? You were just a little dazed from hearing him say your name again.

“Uh, just about Arin really.”

You didn’t really know what you’d been expecting so any answer would’ve surprised you, but you nodded, taking him up on the offer. “Okay.”

You knew a bench away from the fate but still on school grounds, and you walked side by side, noticing just how tall and broad he was. His shoulders looked unbelievable in that sweater, and it hugged his chest perfectly when the light breeze of the afternoon hit him, his well-built chest visible. Not that you were staring or anything, you just happened to notice…

You small talked along the way. Not much, mostly about the fate, but it was enough for you to hit your destination without any awkward silence. You wracked your brains as you sat, wondering what he had to say about Arin. Maybe he wanted to discuss her stories more, thank you for the prize she’d won. What you did know though, was that his cologne really did smell amazing. It was woody, maybe spicy, and just plain addicting. This close proximity was wreaking havoc with you again. You sat the alpaca between you both on bench, acting as a barrier for your sanity.

Seokjin patted its head absentmindedly before he side-eyed you, that amused smile you’d become familiar with upturning the corners of his mouth. “You seem a lot less scrappy today.”

You raised both eyebrows, thrown for a moment. “Scrappy?”

“Yes,” he chuckled, “a lot less intimidating.”

You? Intimidating? Shouldn’t it be the other way around? The sheer power of Seokjin’s brow line alone could bring a person to quivering knees, and that wasn’t mentioning the obvious, like you know, his face. However, he seemed genuine enough. You didn’t really consider yourself feisty, but then again, when pushed to your limits maybe something just snapped inside of you. You had powers you weren’t aware of, obviously. Better own them then…

You gave a small shrug, smirking slightly. “Maybe I’ve chosen to forgive and forget.”

He chuckled again, genuinely amused, but you sensed some reluctance his end, a slight awkwardness. Was he stalling? You suddenly grew a little nervous. The dynamics you’d grown somewhat used to during your last few encounters had shifted without you knowing. Seokjin was a lot less teasing today. How come?

“So,” you pressed carefully, unable to handle the anticipation. “What was it you wanted to say?”

He lifted his head up, warm eyes meeting yours and your insides did that flurrying thing again. Your imagination hadn’t concocted this. When he smiled you realised how kind it was – how kind it could be when he wasn’t being infuriating. “I just want to thank you.”

Your eyes widened before you could control the surprise. “Thank me?”

He nodded, relaxing a little now, pressing his back into the bench. “For being such an amazing teacher to Arin these past couple of months.”

Of course, Arin. That’s what he’d said in the beginning, right? He wanted to sit and talk about Arin.

“That’s really no problem,” you smiled. It was your job after all. Yes, teachers liked being appreciated for their hard work, but personally, praise sent you a little red in the face.

You didn’t know if he heard you, already continuing, as if he’d rehearsed what he wanted to say. “It’s been really hard on her, the change – you know, uprooting the life she knew to come and live with me. New school, making new friends. She was incredibly worried, but you made it so much easier for her.”

Looking at you again, sounding so genuine, you found yourself freezing. You stumbled a little over your words before managing to come up with something functional. “Of course, it’s my job to make every student comfortable in my class.” You were sure any teacher would’ve treated her with the same kindness and care. But, yes, truthfully you had become very fond of her in such a short time. You wanted him to know that in a roundabout way. “I’ll miss her come September.”

He gave you an appreciative smile. “She’ll miss you too.”

Serious Seokjin always threw you. Maybe it was because you had to accept that you’d misjudged him completely. He wasn’t the rich pompous jerk you’d first thought the morning he’d hit your car. You had to admit that like this he impressed and intrigued you. It was why you hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him these past two weeks. Which was stupid because you doubted he was doing the same.

“Thanks for choosing her to win that writing competition, by the way.” His voice brought you back to Earth, concentrating on him again to find that mischievous grin all over his face. “Even if you didn’t like the way it ended.”

You scoffed. Was he ever going to drop that? He knew that wasn’t the case. He’d asked for the damn pointer himself. “Well, if Lewis Carroll did it.”

“Kim Arin can too?” He finished, both of you instantly laughing. Once it petered off, he tilted his head to the side, gazing at you almost. It made you fidget a little, getting flustered. “She’s really fond of you. I meant what I said at the parent-teacher meeting.”

God, you really were horrendous at taking compliments. Especially from a man that already made you feel funny.

“She’s always speaking about how kind and lovely you are.” A pause. "...How pretty you are.” You froze. He hesitated, contemplating something in his head it seemed. He looked you straight in the eyes and said casually, “I have to admit, I agree."

Oh. What?! You felt heat begin to travel up your face, your cheeks burning and you prayed it wasn't visible. You didn't know what to reply, but thankfully (perhaps) Seokjin simply carried on, hopefully oblivious to your awkward reaction. You should bypass it too. It probably didn't mean anything. He was just being polite, right?

“Realising it was your car I hit made me feel even guiltier." He shook his head regretfully. "I really am sorry for all that. The damage, stealing your car."

"It's fine, Seokjin." He hadn’t really stolen your car, you’d been extremely overdramatic there. He'd apologised enough already. You were over it. You had two days left of school, the summer all yours, your mood was much better. Let bygones be bygones.

“Yeah but, I should’ve never gotten your car towed. I realise I was out of line. You said you didn’t want my help but I didn’t listen."

You nodded, listening to him, aware he needed to say this. Again, it seemed as if he'd rehearsed it almost, or maybe it was the professional in him. You were too damn stubborn so he wasn't all to blame. You smiled appreciatively, fighting your hand's strange urge to pat his shoulder. It was maybe best that you didn't touch him. Instead you gave a teasing grin. “But you still won’t let me pay you back?”

He whined – or at least that's the only way you could describe it. It tugged at something inside your chest. Maybe it was more like a wail. Less cute. He couldn't believe you were back on that.

"I'm just messing around," you laughed, trying to compose yourself to let him know something too. “While we're on apologies... I'm sorry for being so short with you annnd for calling you a car thief."

He chuckled, brushing a hand through his hair. Oh, it was pushed back above his forehead again today. You hadn't noticed, too distracted by what? His sneakers? The outfit as a whole? His face? “I deserved it, let’s be honest."

"Maybe in the beginning," you admitted carefully, causing him to laugh harder.

“I was way too preoccupied when I hit you. With work and promising Arin I’d drop her off at school – because shamefully I’d never done it before." He turned a little pensive at that, lost in his own thoughts.

“You must be really busy," you said, voice soft. There was no way he could do it all. Work seemingly six days a week and still try to be there for Arin 24/7.

He looked across at you, an eyebrow quirking slightly. What was he surprised by? That you were sympathising with him? He nodded slowly. “It’s just hard learning to juggle everything. Don’t get me wrong, I love having her with me every day, but...”

“I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it soon.” You wanted to say it would be summer break soon enough, but then on second thoughts, maybe that would make things even harder.

“Yeah, maybe,” he shrugged, changing the subject back to you. “Besides, me being busy doesn’t really excuse the fact I hit you. I mean, what if god forbid you’d been walking past my car instead, it doesn’t bear thinking about.” He looked beside himself at just the idea.

“But I wasn’t,” you reminded him, “so it’s perfectly okay.”

“You’re right,” he murmured, giving you a small smile that rounded his cheeks.

There was silence then, where you waited for him to say something else, but he didn’t. Was that all he’d wanted to talk about? To thank you for being a kind teacher to Arin and to say sorry once again for the car debacle? For some reason you felt eager to keep the conversation going. It was an urge deep inside you that acted on its own accord.

“So, what do you do?” You asked, trying your best to sound casual. Not that you weren’t casual. You just didn’t want to make it seem like you were desperate for small talk. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

Again, he looked vaguely surprised. What, that you were interested in him? No, that was phrased wrong. That you were interested. He didn’t meet your eyes as he replied. “I, uh, I’m the CEO of LG. I took over from my father about three years ago.”

You swore your eyes bugged out of their sockets you were so overcome with shock. You were glad he wasn’t looking at you as you tried to pull it together. “The LG?”

Like one of the biggest companies in the country LG? He was way too young surely? Weren’t those type of CEOs old and round looking?

Seokjin chuckled, finally looking you in the eyes. “Unless you know another one.”

You were speechless, well aware you needed to actually say something in reply instead of gawping but what? What could you say to that? “I guess that explains why you’re always so busy then.”

God, why? Of all the things, why that? Well done for stating the obvious, Y/N.

Seokjin gave you a modest smile. “It’s difficult, yes. Trying to manage work and being effectively a single dad, but I really am trying.” He shook his head slightly, as if he was telling himself off. “I missed her so much these past couple of years, so to finally have her living with me is a dream come true. I’m trying to be the best father I can but I guess it’s a work in progress.”

You weren’t expecting him to be this open with you at all. But maybe Soojung wouldn’t be so surprised. She and a bunch of your other friends, even acquittances said that you were easy to confide in. That you listened well and didn’t try to solve everything. You didn’t know how true that was but you didn’t mind listening to him right now. Sometimes confiding in a stranger just worked.

“Arin obviously adores you.” You smiled. “I could see that the day I dropped your car back.”

He gave you a tiny smile of thanks but sighed softly. “I just want her to always be happy. I know coming from a broken home may make that statement hypocritical but…”

“Not at all,” you insisted. “If a relationship isn’t working out then you need to do what’s best for your child, and you.” That was important too. “I mean, my parents divorced when I was quite young and I have a million and one happy memories growing up.”

You grew a little self-conscious, thinking that you were oversharing, but he seemed happy to hear it, perking up a little. “Really?”

“Yep. They beat the ones I have of them yelling at one another.”

He gave a bitter chuckle then, nodding in agreement. “That’s right. It’s just…” He paused and you wondered if he was going to carry on. Was it bad that you felt curious? You liked seeing this side of Seokjin, it wasn’t how your fantasies had gone at all, it was better. Things had taken an unexpected turn but it just seemed to fit. It seemed natural. It felt nice to talk to him like this. Suddenly you didn’t seem so different. Despite the contrasts in your job and lifestyle, they weren’t very apparent here on this bench…

“My ex-wife is… she lives a busy life – even busier than mine. But she loves it. She goes looking for it.” Seokjin explained. You listened politely. “That’s why Arin had to start living with me, and even though I’m pulled thin, I still try to make enough time for my daughter, no matter the day, no matter the time, no matter anything. Nana doesn’t…”

Nana? That was her name. You imagined someone slim and beautiful, it was only fitting seeing as Seokjin was the man she was married to once upon a time. Beauty attracted beauty.

“Is that why you divorced?” Okay, maybe you were prying now. You hoped he didn’t find it rude.

He didn’t. “There were a lot of reasons,” he answered honestly. “It was as much my fault as it was hers. We were going in different directions and had fallen out of love. It’s been a while now, nearly two years, I’m fine.” He met your eyes at the last part, as if he wanted you to understand that. Or maybe you were reading it wrong. Why would he want you to know that?

“Does she live far?” You remembered Arin’s disappointment that weekend when her mom had cancelled their plans. Maybe she lived a while away and it was hard to commute with Arin back and forth.

“No, just in the next city. It’s not far at all. She’s really high up in an accounting firm there. That’s why when we divorced I moved closer to my building here. See, that’s what annoys me the most,” Seokjin scoffed, an edge to his voice now. Oh shoot, you’d made a mistake with that question. “It’s really no distance at all, so why can’t she spare one single day for Arin?”

You made a sympathetic face, unsure what to say. You decided on honesty. “I’m sorry, I can’t even begin to imagine how all that feels.”

Break-ups and divorces were hard yes, but when a child was stuck in the middle a tonne of other complications arose. As a teacher you understood that very well, but as a long-time single woman, maybe not. It had been a while since you’d opened your heart to someone, your life taking a very different turn to what you’d expected three years ago. Not that you minded, you liked where you were heading right now, comfortable and at ease. There was nothing missing. You had your friends and family and that was enough. You hoped Seokjin had people around him too.

“No, I’m the one that should apologise,” he said suddenly, face tinged with colour, as if he was embarrassed. “I’m offloading onto you, that isn’t fair.”

“I don’t mind.” Honestly, you didn’t at all. It wasn’t even offloading, more so a conversation. You were getting to know him.

“You’re just so easy to talk to and I got a bit caught off guard when you started asking about me.” He admitted, his warm eyes finding yours.

Oh. So now you knew for definite he was indeed surprised by all your questions. When was the last time he’d spoken about all that stuff relating his ex-wife? Had he ever spoken about it at all?

“I haven’t been entirely honest with you today.”

His words caught your attention, interrupting your thoughts and in the process confusing you greatly. You raised a questioning eyebrow. What did he mean?

“When I asked you to take a walk I did want to thank you for being so kind to Arin and to apologise for the car trouble, but there was also something else…” You waited patiently, heart thudding quite roughly against your chest for some reason. He looked nervous again. Nervous and awkward just like earlier, before you’d distracted him.

He chose a new direction. One that left you a little dazed. “Y/N, would I be crossing the line if I said I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you lately?” His dark brown eyes searched for any reaction across your face.

“Me?” You asked quietly.

He chuckled bashfully. “Yeah.”

Somehow you found your voice. Well, some of it anyway. “No, it’s not crossing the line.” You wanted to tell him just the same. How he’d slipped into your mind at random times of the day and how you’d secretly been holding out on another meeting. How you’d been anticipating today. But none of that came in your stunned state. Seokjin had been thinking about you? The annoying, exasperating so-and-so hadn’t been able to stop thinking about you?

He instantly looked relieved – and pleased – at your answer. “I’m glad.” A pause as he hesitated. “Do you maybe want to… go out for dinner this Saturday?” He sounded hopeful, adding quickly, “with me, obviously.”

You would’ve giggled at that but nothing was working. You needed to process his question. He was asking you for dinner?

“My way of apologising for everything, my treat…” You guessed he felt the need to explain now, a little panicked by your reaction (or no reaction.) “For hitting your car and towing it away without your permission.”

You laughed then. Just like that your shock dispersing. He was so oblivious it hurt, and now you knew he wasn’t doing it on purpose. He really was that unaware. “So you want to spend more of your money on me?”

You weren’t mad, of course. He knew that, laughing too as he weighed up your reply. “I see the problem.” You snickered, your gaze intimately locking with his in the process. “So, what do you say?” He murmured. “I mean, it’s for a plethora of things really. The car business, all you’ve done for Arin. One massive thank you.”

Oh. You were getting mixed messages here. Was this an apology dinner, a thank you dinner? Or something more? Maybe he read the questioning in your eyes because he was rushing to say more. “As well as just wanting to enjoy your company. I feel like I talked too much about myself today, I’d like to get to know you too…”

Okay, now this sounded awfully like a date… And that word freaked you out. Had you not just been thinking about how happily single you’d been for three years and how all you needed were your friends and family? But honestly, you were getting ahead of yourself. It was one dinner. There was no way to predict the outcome and you shouldn’t even be thinking that far ahead. Sometimes you didn’t need to think. You needed to remember that. Sometimes it was just good to act in the moment. Take cautious to the wind and accept this incredibly handsome man’s dinner invitation, whatever his intention was.

You smiled. “Dinner sounds lovely.”

Seokjin’s eyes widened a tad, surprise visible and he didn’t try to hide it. “Really?” You laughed and nodded. Really you should be the one still shocked, because despite everything – the misjudgements, the attitude, the way you’d been itching for numerous fights with him, it was a wonder why he still wanted to be anywhere near you. …Maybe he liked that… Maybe he liked you? Or were you absolutely barking mad?

“Can I have your number to arrange everything?”

You went to relay it to him, watching him pull his phone from out his front jean pocket but then remembered something. “Oh, I already have yours, should I just text you?”

“That’s my work phone. Maybe we should swap personal phone numbers?”

You mean, you only had one phone, but it made sense why he had two. You were still stuck on the personal part though. A little dazed (and excited) as he saved your number into his phonebook. Your phone was locked up in your classroom, so you couldn’t take his but no matter, you’d just save it once he messaged you.

Seokjin glanced at his watch – an expensive looking thing, but that was really no surprise now – and hummed. “We should head back, the fate will be finishing soon.”

You made more small talk as you walked back, Seokjin wondering if you had any allergies or a special diet so he could bear it in mind when he chose a restaurant. Luckily for you no, but you found out that he was allergic to garlic and potatoes, which seemed ridiculous and highly unfair. But he did admit that he ignored it sometimes, which resulted in disaster often because garlic made him itch like crazy. You had a good laugh over that.

“So, what are you going to name him?” Seokjin asked, stroking the top of your alpaca’s head who was hooked against your hip as you walked.

“Hm. I don’t know.” You shrugged, turning to him. “You decide? You did win him after all.”

“Hmmm,” he thought aloud. A few seconds later he came up with something. “How about RJ?”

“RJ?”

Seokjin chuckled. “Yeah, it’s cute.”

Smiling, you had to agree. “Yeah, it is.” You held the stuffed animal up in front of you, tilting your head to the side. “RJ the alpaca. Perfect.”

Still walking as you spoke, you felt Seokjin move in, hovering his hand behind the small of your back in case you stumbled, your attention elsewhere. You felt the same warmth you had the day he’d called you by your name for the first time…

Of course you had to tell Soojung about the events of the day. It wasn't as if you could keep it a secret – and it wasn't as if you wanted to, you just knew what would happen... She was like a dog with a bone, unable to give it up, making you recall every minute detail down to the socks he was wearing (black, by the way, to match his jeans. You had indeed noticed).

“He’s so smart. He waits until you’re not this kid’s teacher anymore and then BAM, do you want to go on a date?”

“Soojung, it’s not a date," you sighed. “He’s just…being nice."

You were still reluctant to call it a date, because well, he hadn't used the word himself. You didn't want to get your hopes up. Although you would never admit that to her, you knew she understood, in her own roundabout way.

“Being nice?!” She exclaimed, scoffing absurdly loud.

You shrugged. “Yeah, thanking me."

She spluttered, as if she found you terribly naive. “What, thanks for being kind to my daughter? SHUT UP, it’s your job! No, he wants to give you that Dilf dick!"

“Oh, my god. Soojung!” You hushed, immediately feeling your face burn. The thought hadn't even crossed your mind because it was so unbelievable.

Saturday was not that long away, the last two days of school flew by, and whilst you were emotional, your mind was also a little too preoccupied with the weekend and what it all meant. Gradually, you’d finally had to admit to yourself that this was probably, most definitely a date. The word sent a fear through your body like no other. Despite being single for three years, you had been on a few first dates in that time, and obviously they had never led to anything. In fact, it had been over a year since your last and that's when you had sworn off dating altogether.

Min Yoongi. That was the last guy you'd said yes too. A fifth grade teacher at Primrose Hill up until last September. (That had nothing to do with you, by the way, he'd just moved cities last summer to pursue a different career. The date hadn't been that bad...) He was easy on the eye and funny, although maybe a little too sarcastic at times, so much so, you hadn't been able to pick up on the signals until he was cornering you in the staff room and asking you to watch a movie with him that coming weekend. Being both teachers, you'd assumed you'd hit it off straight away, but that wasn't the case. It turned out that Yoongi pretty much hated his job, only there for the extended vacations. That was perfectly fine, you guessed, but you realised that a man like that wasn't for you. How could you both love and hate the same job? It just wasn't feasible.

You didn't miss dating, mostly because you hadn't been that into the idea anyway. But now? Now that the idea had presented itself again? After the most peculiar string of events, you had suddenly found yourself being asked out for dinner by the man who had hit your car, and you were… excited. For the first time in forever, you were excited for a date.

You hadn’t felt like this since –

Since Donghae.

Even thinking his name turned your heart heavy. Not as bad as the original heartbreak three years ago, but the memory was still enough to dampen your mood, if even for a moment. You'd met one another during your last year of college and had stayed together for the next five years. He'd been your forever man, the one you were supposed to spend the rest of your life with – he had proposed to you on your 26th birthday after all... Only, being his fiancé hadn't lasted. Since months later he confessed to cheating on you – repeatedly with a girl that worked in the Starbucks near his work building. It had been the pressure of settling down, that's what he'd told you. He was still young, had been very young when you'd gotten together in college and he wanted to experience life properly. His friends were out clubbing every weekend while he stayed inside playing boardgames with you and your friends. Your friends, as if they weren't his too, as if you all hadn't been joined at the hip in college...

Your life had pretty much crumbled after that. Everything you'd known had been ripped from under your feet and you had no idea what to do or where to go. One day you had been someone's wife-to-be and the next you were a lonely, broken human. You moved in with Soojung, had to take a month off work because you couldn't function properly, and slowly had to learn how to live your life without the love of your life.

It took a while, but gradually you got there. You and Soojung found a new, bigger place to live – where you still lived now – and you found ways to stop thinking about him, went on weekend vacations and started new hobbies. It took just over a year to feel yourself again but dating never seemed right.

Soojung slowly encouraged you to try it out, but the handful that happened in that twelve month period just felt forced – even the one with Yoongi, which had pretty much happened organically (as in, Soojung hadn't set it up…), felt like it was missing something. In a way you knew you were comparing everyone to Donghae, you couldn't help it. You couldn't imagine potentially falling in love with someone else again. He was all you'd known for so long, and once upon a time your relationship had been amazing. He'd been amazing. Getting out of that mindset had been difficult, but there had been an even more difficult one... One you were still struggling with now. The issue of opening up your heart again.

Truthfully, that's why you’d stayed single for so long. Why you'd given up on dating and didn't want to know. The thought of you meeting and falling for someone only to inevitably get hurt again terrified you. You wouldn't say you had trust issues, you knew not every man was like Donghae, but just imagining your world crumbling like it had three years ago was enough to just give up.

It wasn't like you were unhappy though. You’d meant all that stuff about liking where your life was heading. You had your friends and family and a job you loved. Your life was fulfilling, there was nothing missing. But maybe that’s what you’d needed to realise… Life worked in mysterious ways. Once you were happy and content maybe it was finally time to open up your heart again.

The truth was, you were very, very attracted to Seokjin. You felt something, even when you wanted to poke his eyeballs out for being so annoying. Actually, thinking about it, maybe that’s why you’d been so scrappy, your mind was fighting with your heart… Despite the obvious differences between you both, you oddly weren’t fazed by that right now. Seokjin didn’t seem unrelatable in that sense. Yes, your lives were crazy different, but there was something between you. You were sure of it. The way he’d opened up to you on that bench, the way he’d smiled at you, and even the way he’d teased you. It had to mean something.

Sometimes it was okay to trust your heart. That warm feeling weaving its way through your chest… Sometimes it was okay to be a little exposed. Not everyone was out to get you.

What was the worst that could happen? The dinner never led to anything else? That would be okay, you’d get over it. But what if it did lead to something more…?

You deserved to find out, right?

Saturday morning you received a text from Seokjin. You were eating breakfast at the small table you had set up in the kitchen alongside Soojung. She had only just woken up and was still a little bleary eyed but still managed to instantly perk up at the mention of Seokjin. She demanded to see his message straight away.

Unknown (9:32am) Hi Y/N, It’s Kim Seokjin, Arin’s father. Just wondering if you still want to have dinner tonight? If so, please let me know and I will send through the restaurant details. We can decide on a time for me to pick you up. Regards, Seokjin

She squealed. “This guy writes his texts like they’re emails. You just know he’s going to be a good lay.”

“Soojung,” you groaned. She would not shut up about Dilf dick this and Dilf dick that. “What does that even mean?”

“He’s a CEO,” she said simply, eyes wide as if that explained everything. “Of one of this country’s biggest companies. That’s like some type of erotic novel shit.”

You groaned loudly, dropping your head into your hands, but she still continued – sadly.

“But none of that creepy Fifty Shades of Grey stuff. This guy is a real gentleman. Like he puts your pleasure above all else. I think he’d be really good at going down on a woman.”

By this point, you’d stopped feeling flustered by her insane claims. They were just normal now. She was unbelievable. Why was she even thinking of these things and where did she come up with them? You didn’t want to think of Seokjin like that because you really wanted to keep your sanity for tonight. Plus, no way were you ready for something like that yet. You hoped Seokjin wasn’t anticipating something more. You were sure he wasn’t, you hadn’t gotten those vibes. Soojung was just being dumb.

You rolled your eyes. “You don’t half talk some shit.”

You wanted her to point out how cute his text was instead. Like how he’d said he was Arin’s father, you know, just in case you’d forgotten who he was in two days, but no, she was too caught up on potential erotic novel titles.

You slipped to the side with a start when Soojung nudged your shoulder, getting all up into your personal space as she teased you. “I’m right though, huh?”

You pushed her back. “This is just a dinner. Not the start of an erotic novel.”

She shrugged. “I’d read it.”

“What would you read?”

Taehyung’s voice appeared from the doorway and you both looked up to see him leaning against it, eyes still pretty much glued shut, his thick hair pulled all ways.

“Good morning, sleepy head,” Soojung greeted, standing up to make her way towards him. You watched her wrap her arms around his middle, nuzzling into him. She’d only left him in bed not half an hour ago. Seeing your best friend in love was odd but nice. You weren’t used to sappy Soojung, but you had to admit it suited her well. They were cute together.

Taehyung wrapped one arm around his girlfriend and lifted the other to his face, rubbing his eyes with his fingers. “What are you guys yelling about down here? You woke me up.”

“Y/N’s date tonight,”

“Oh, Mr. Dilf?” He sniggered, perking up.

Soojung screeched and joined in. “CEO Dilf dick.”

“You told him?!” You whined, standing to dump your bowl in the sink.

“Of course.” Taehyung smiled smugly. “She tells me everything. Don’t you, babe?”

“Yep.” She grinned. You watched in minor amusement as Taehyung leant down to peck her mouth, Soojung gagging loudly. “Your breath stinks.”

You replied to Seokjin promptly – well as soon as Soojung and Taehyung had vacated the kitchen – and not long after that he messaged back with the restaurant details, asking if it was okay to pick you up at 7pm. You sent him your address, almost immediately freaking out. You knew his wealth hadn't fazed you that bad, seeing as he was so easy to talk to, but your place and his place were on different planes of existence. You knew it wouldn't bother him, he wasn't like that, you knew that now, but you were still a little self-conscious. It was probably the nerves regarding today. The reality was setting it. The slight doubt…

Soojung wasn't helping.

“There’s steaks on the menu that are more than our rent a week," she awed, looking down at her phone.

Why had you given her the name of the restaurant again? You would never learn your lesson. She had already googled his name when you’d told her he was the CEO of LG and she had been this close to searching his net worth before you’d stopped her. You didn’t want to know, not only was it incredibly invasive, it made you feel slightly faint. Seeing his image pop up online was enough for you . A professional headshot, he smiled kindly into the camera lens. It was crazy to think that it was the man you’d be going to dinner with.

Soojung would be good for one thing though – helping you decide on an outfit for tonight. Taehyung had gone home a couple of hours ago, needed at the bar he owned so she had nothing else better to do. Not that she was listening to you though…

She shrugged. “What did I expect? This dude is a billionaire."

“He’s not."

Billionaire seemed a lot more intimidating than a millionaire, but in reality what was the difference? He was unbelievably rich and you were just... you. You shook your head, attempting to claw yourself out of the anxiety hole you'd found yourself in. His job didn't matter. The restaurant he'd chosen didn't matter. You were going for dinner with him to enjoy his company and get to know him better. The finer details were irrelevant.

“Come on! If not he must be a multi-multimillionaire." She rationalised. "His dad is the billionaire."

You groaned. "Will you stop making me nervous and help me pick something to wear?"

You decided on the midi dress you'd actually worn to Eunbi's wedding last summer. It was the only fancy thing you had – or at least fancy enough to dine at a restaurant that sold insane dollar steaks. But wait, the restaurant wasn't supposed to matter, remember?

You still wanted to look nice though. The dress was modest in itself but maybe the colour was a bit eye-catching – a deep red. Soojung said it was perfect and you'd knock his Dilf socks off. By now you were getting sick of the word. You told her as much.

"What if I don't want to sleep with him?"

"As if." She scoffed. "Your dry spell has gone on far too long. You deserve this." She caught the look of apprehension on your face. "When you're ready of course."

"Don't make me –”

"Nervous, I know" she finished for you, sighing loudly. "There's no need to be. Mr. Dilf is whipped for you, I just know it."

How did she know? She hadn't even met him, but you appreciated the sentiment. You did not appreciate it when she was being a clever bitch though.

"I'm just trying to work this out." She said, watching you apply your mascara in the bathroom mirror. It was much later in the day now, about forty minutes before Seokjin was due to pick you up. You were dressed, hair up, makeup nearly done, and sick to your stomach with anticipation. You hummed, letting her know you'd heard her and to continue.

"You were mad when Dilf spent money on your car but you're okay with him spending mad money on you at this restaurant?"

"Soojung," you warned, staring at her reflection in the glass.

She held her hands up in apology. "Sorry, sorry. I'm just curious. Is it okay when it's food?"

You sighed. You knew it didn't really make sense, you guessed, but well, you'd said yes to the dinner. You hadn't said yes to the car being repaired. That was the difference.

"I'm not going to order the most expensive thing on the menu."

"Well, don't just order a side salad, he'll think you're weird..."

You simply stared at her. Her input was so appreciated.

“He’s here, oh my god, he’s here!” Soojung screamed, spying through the voile curtains in the living room. "Ten minutes early. I love that."

“Soojung, move away, now." You told her sternly.

“The fucking car–” She cut herself with a muffled sound. As if she was trying to stifle her own screams. You guessed he'd gotten out of said car. “What the fuck, what the fuck, he’s SO hot. I’m going to pass out."

“Soojung!" Dropping your phone into your purse you slipped on your heels, nearly tripping over in the process. You gripped onto the back of the couch just in time. "I swear to god if he sees you."

She spun around, pointing an accusing finger at you. “You never said he was that hot."

You shrugged. "You never asked."

"I asked every goddamn second of the day. You lucky bitch." She walked towards you, fixing a piece of your hair that had fallen into your eyes. “How come you get hot billionaire Dilf and I get the man-child whose special talent is making cocktails."

"Shut up," you scoffed. She loved Taehyung and his cocktail making skills. That's how they'd met after all. She drunk at the bar three days a week for a month straight until he asked her out.

The doorbell rung and you froze, remembering how nervous you were. Soojung's antics had distracted you for a while but now reality was setting in. As you turned to leave she tapped your ass. “Get that Dilf dick, girl!”

"Soojung, I swear to god –”

"I won't wait up."

Ha. As if. She'd be glued to that window until Seokjin dropped you off back home. You knew her all too well, you'd been best friends for over ten years.

In the entryway now, you didn't have time for breathing exercises. Although, you wished you'd had once you opened the door to see Seokjin stood there looking devastating handsome.

“Hi," he smiled, eyes lighting up when he saw you.

“Hey," you managed to squeeze out, cemented to the ground.

He was dressed in a double breasted navy two piece that must have been tailored to fit his body down to the millimetre, a crisp white dress shirt on underneath. His hair looked shorter, falling just above is eyebrows and parted slightly in the middle. He looked good enough to eat. Or good enough to make you pass out. Either one.

“You look beautiful," he awed, rendering you pretty speechless.

This was a date. It really was a date.

"Thank you," you managed to reply, needing to return the compliment. But what could you possibly say?! “You look…really good."

Oh god. How embarrassing.

Especially when Seokjin burst out laughing, that familiar squeak to it that you'd heard at the parent-teacher meeting. "I'll take it. Thanks." He tilted his head. "Are you ready to go? I'm a bit early, I know. Sorry about that."

You nodded, clutching your purse tight to your side. "I, uh... I would invite you in to kill time but my best friend’s embarrassing." You raised your voice a little so she'd hear you, but on her best behaviour she stayed deathly silent. Well done, Soojung.

Seokjin raised an eyebrow, a little confused, but you figured you'd fill him in inside the car. "It's fine," he shook his head.

Seeing you stepping forward he moved to the side, outstretching his arm to invite you to lead the way. You did, making sure not to look back towards the living room window, because you knew for a fact you'd see Soojung pressed up against it.

“This is all new for me.” Seokjin admitted, sat opposite you as you waited for your dessert. “I haven’t been on a date for years.”

To say the night had gone well would be an understatement. At first you’d been too nervous to even breathe, especially with Seokjin looking like that just a few centimetres away from you as he drove. It didn’t help that he seemed to be some type of regular at the restaurant, getting greeted as if he was an old friend of the manager and led to his ‘usual’ table; a quiet spot away from the hustle and bustle. It turned out he co-owned the place with his brother, looking mildly embarrassed as he told you. It was cute, but he had nothing to be self-conscious over, this was his life, normal to him. I hope you don’t see it as a cop-out, he confessed, causing some confusion your end. Why would you see it that way? This restaurant was beautiful, certainly popular, and you couldn’t wait to try the food. You told him as much and he laughed about feeling nervous now.

You tried lobster for the first time ever – his recommendation. It was kind of messy, but he ordered the same so you were both in it together. You laughed, you joked, you got to know one another more. Conversation came easy, both relaxed in one another’s company, and after the main you both decided to share a dessert, too stuffed for anything more.

“Snap,” you grinned, silently happy that was the case, although rather amazed. Seokjin was, well… him, who wouldn’t want to snap him up? However then again, he was a busy, divorced father. Dating probably wasn’t high up on his list. You were so distracted by his confession, you didn’t even comprehend he’d used the word ‘date.’

“Really?” Seokjin’s eyes bulged slightly. Why was he so surprised?

You shrugged casually. “It’s been well over a year since my last date.”

Seokjin’s mouth curved, amused. “Try over ten.”

“I wasn’t aware this was a competition,” you laughed, but yes, he indeed had you beat.

He laughed along, the arrival of your lemon cheesecake interrupting you both for a moment. It was a few bites later when the conversation got back on track again, Seokjin’s tone careful as he looked across at you, both of you reaching for another bit of the cheesecake with your dessert forks. “You don’t mind me calling this a date, do you? This isn’t the part where you tell me you’ve been in a relationship for five years and you just thought this was an innocent thank you dinner?”

You giggled softy, shaking your head. “No. I don’t mind you calling it a date.” You brought the fork up to your mouth, taking your time to chew before you continued. “Soojung was adamant it was but I… didn’t want get my hopes up?” You wanted to be honest. This night was about opening yourself up to the uncertain.

“Soojung, your best friend? The one you live with?” He asked.

You nodded. You’d already told him all about your best friend, about how you lived with each other. Seokjin hadn’t bat an eyelid, which was nice. You weren’t embarrassed or anything, but the differences in your living arrangements were stark. He thought it sounded fun. He still remembered living with his best friend Namjoon back in college and how entertaining that had been. He’d definitely be up for it again if they weren’t both dads now – divorced at that, but hey ho, that was life.

“Well, she was correct.” Seokjin continued. “I thought I made it clear but I guess I was too cryptic.”

“So, which one is it?” You asked, lifting an eyebrow in interest. “Not an innocent thank you dinner or not an innocent dinner?”

You were feeling brave, however your heart still thudded inside your chest, adrenaline whooshing through your veins. There was something about Seokjin that made you act so out of character…

Seokjin failed to conceal the visible surprise across his features and you watched him swallow before he composed himself, a smirk appearing on his lips immediately. “If I didn’t know any better I would say you were flirting with me right now.”

You shrugged. “I’m just checking if your intentions are innocent or not?” You took another bite of the cheesecake.

His smirk grew, and you watched him drop his fork onto the plate to lean back in his chair. “I would say they are, however, I did have plans to kiss you on the cheek tonight, so maybe, busted?” He chuckled then, at himself – he liked doing that you’d noticed. It was kind of cute.

The butterflies were back. Now there was no need to ignore or try to explain them. You took them as what they were – a good sign. Humming aloud, you tilted your head to the side and pretended to contemplate. “I think I can let you do that.”

Seokjin laughed. “You can? Okay, that sounds good.”

You reached for your glass of wine, needing a sip just to calm the flurry inside of you. Seokjin tucked his chair closer, still laughing but quietly now, more like a chuckle. “Honestly, I was pretty much shitting my pants today.”

You snorted into your glass, taken by surprise at his choice of words. “Sorry,” you apologised, feeling a little bit embarrassed by the sound that had just left your nose. He didn’t same fazed. “I was nervous too.”

That seemed to settle him. He smiled fondly, fingers tracing the brim of his glass. “I guess we were being silly.” His lips parted to say something else but he hesitated. You watched him take a quiet exhale, then he continued. “My therapist has been begging me to try dating again for months but the thought has always been pretty terrifying.” He gave a small shrug, his warm eyes locking with yours. “Until I met you.”

You could feel your heart rate speeding up, unable to stop the smile that spread across your face. He was pleased, grinning back, posture visibly relaxing. “She said I should face up to my fears and just ask you out.”

There were a lot of thoughts whirring through your mind right now. The fact he felt comfortable enough to disclose with you that he had a therapist, and the fact that he’d even mentioned you to her, that she had encouraged him to ask you out. The fact he’d liked you enough to want to take the plunge at all. After two years of being alone, you were the woman who had made him want to try again… It felt comparable to your own thoughts, to your feelings… and that’s why you felt so relaxed tonight. It just felt right.

“I like you, Y/N.” He confessed. “I know we don’t know one another very well, but I hope that this is just the beginning.”

Despite his words sending your butterflies crazy, you kept your cool, trying to stunt your smile. “You’re not so bad yourself, I guess.”

He chuckled. You let yourself smile at the sound. “Not so bad. I’ll take it.” He picked up his fork again, taking a bite of the cheesecake you’d both forgotten about. His voice was careful, genuine to match his expression, when he carried on. “Despite the circumstances of how we met and what followed, I don’t know, I haven’t felt a spark like that in forever.” He reached for a sip of his wine, laughing. “What do you think? You can call me crazy if you want.”

“I think you’re right.” There was no doubt about it now. You’d been adamant in the beginning that was nothing there – no spark, no flirting, insisting Soojung was wrong, but now you couldn’t deny the obvious attraction. You’d immediately bounced off one another that evening during the parent-teacher meeting, despite your annoyance the day before.

You grinned. “You frustrated me to no end but I felt something too.”

He tilted his head to the left, a teasing lilt to his voice. “Frustrated you? How so?”

“You know how,” you laughed. “I may or may not have called you an exasperating bastard in my head.”

He couldn’t contain himself then, taken back and genuinely amused. “Oh god,” he practically wheezed. “I like that one.”

You laughed along, unable not to when the sound he made brought you such joy. You reached for another forkful of cheesecake, the dessert nearly coming to an end. Just like the date, you thought. You didn’t want it to end, you were enjoying yourself too much.

“What about now?”

You looked up at Seokjin, eyes widening in question. What did he mean? He was staggeringly composed now, although his eyes shone with mischief as he grinned and explained. “Do I frustrate you now?”

You tried to stunt your own smile, shrugging your shoulders. “Not tonight.”

“At the fate?”

“Nope.”

He nodded his head, seemingly happy with your answers. “I guess things are looking up then.” He picked up his glass again, about to take a sip before he paused and added, “Although, I must admit, I liked frustrating you. You look so cute when your mad.”

You felt heat immediately burn its way to your cheeks, hoping the lighting in this restaurant was dim enough not to make it obvious. He took a swig of his wine. “Watch it, Mr. Kim.” As he chuckled it muffled inside the glass.

You went for the last piece of cheesecake, figuring you were owed that now. You looked across at him as you chewed, knowing that if you really wanted this to happen again you needed to let him know. Face up to your fears of opening up, telling people how you really felt. “I’d like to get to know you better, Seokjin.”

“Really?” He sounded hopeful, fingers playing with the rim of his wine glass again.

“Mmhm.” You nodded. “You seem like a lovely man if we ignore the car stealing...”

“Hey,” he whined, “you apologised for that already, you can’t bring it up again.” You held your hands up in silent defence, chuckling silently, watching him lean closer. “But please, go back to what you were saying about me being a lovely man. Stroke my ego, it’s been a long week.”

Had it? You were curious, concerned really. You thought to ask him if he wanted to talk about it, but you guessed the last thing he’d like to do was discuss work on a date. Instead, you decided to tell him about what attracted you most to him. The thing that had inevitably made you change your mind and realise that maybe, quite possibly, you’d misjudged him.

“Arin really adores you and I can see how much you dote on her. Any man cherished by his child is a good one in my eyes.”

“Oh.” He simply replied, possibly at a loss of words. He looked touched – happy, but ultimately unsure of what to reply, so he bypassed it in a way, raising an eyebrow. “So is there some kind of checklist?”

“What do you mean?”

He gave a slight shrug. “Like, ‘kids like him – check.’ ‘He knows how to clean dishes – check.’ – I can by the way. I’m really good with a pair of washing up gloves and some dish soap.”

You burst out laughing, not quite believing your ears. “Yeah, okay.” You admitted. “There’s a list.” Didn’t every woman have one?

“Let’s see how I fare then.” Seokjin said, sounding sure of himself as he leant back in his seat, hands behind his head – the image of casual. Maybe you were into this cocky Seokjin… It was sort of hot.

“Okay so…” You began, leaning forward. “Family man – check.” You’d already approved that one. “Loves animals?”

He scoffed. “Easy. Animals are so much better than humans.”

Okay, more points his way… “Uhh.” You thought aloud, racking your brains. “Does he make me laugh?”

Seokjin mulled it over. “That sounds like a decision you have to make, but I think it’s a yes? I mean, you’ve been laughing all night. Unless you were just being nice.”

“No, you are funny,” you confirmed, although you were unable to miss an opportunity to mess around with him. “You have that, what should I call it,” you pretended to think, “that old man type sense of humour.”

“Hey. I’m not that old,” he huffed.

You chuckled quietly. True, he wasn’t old, but you were still surprised when you’d found out he was turning 38 this coming December. Some people were blessed with ageing gracefully. Of course he was one of them. The man looked amazing for someone two years away from forty.

“What about you?” You wondered. “Do you have a checklist?”

He sat upright again, setting his elbow on the table to drop his chin in his palm, giving you his full attention. “Yes, and you check them all.”

“I do?” You laughed in disbelief. Either he was easy to please or he wanted brownie points.

He shrugged, as if to say of course. “You’re funny, caring, can be kind of scary at times – which I’m sort of into, to be honest.”

“I’m not scary,” you protested, pouting slightly. However, what? He was into it? That made you feel funny…

He smirked. “I beg to differ.”

You rolled your eyes. “What else do I check off?”

He didn’t need time to think. “You’re insanely beautiful.” Your dumbfounded expression made him second guess himself. He pulled a face. “Yikes. Too cheesy?”

You grinned, getting a hold of yourself. “Maybe, but then again, maybe I like that.” How could you not like being called beautiful? How could you not like receiving a compliment? Especially from him.

He smiled, gazing into your eyes as he leant forward. You felt immediate warmth when his hand cupped yours across the table. This was the first time he’d touched you, right? Your mind was a blur right now, unable to recall two hours ago, let alone two weeks ago. When he spoke, you only felt warmer, the soft timbre of his voice fluttering through your whole body. “I’m really attracted to you, Y/N.”

And what could you say to that? You swallowed, wetting your throat, realising it had become dry. He was waiting for a reply, amused by something – your blank looking face most probably. He had the ability to render you speechless, and he knew it. He liked it.

Well, no, not on your watch. You’d get the last word. You’d win.

Composing yourself, you slipped your hand from under his, tapping it lightly, as if you were consoling him. “I’ve said it once already, but you’re not so bad yourself, Mr. Kim.”

Taken aback, he chuckled quietly in bemusement, shaking his head. “You’re going to give me wrinkles.”

A man of his word, he did kiss you on the cheek after the date was over. He waited until he had driven you home and opened the door for you to step out of the car – ever the gentleman, you’d teased. You stood by the little gate that lead a pathway to your front door, and that’s where he’d leant down to place his lips ever so lightly against the top of your left cheek. You smiled shyly up at him, unable to play it cool this time.

He looked a little rosy in the face too, unsure as he smiled. “I had a lovely time tonight.”

“Me too,” you agreed. “Can I take you out next time?” You surprised yourself by the offer, that kiss must have shot some confidence into you.

He looked surprised too, but into it, tilting his head in curiosity as he looked down at you. “Where do you suggest?”

“My place?” Okay, so it wasn’t ‘taking him out’ but you liked the idea best. Soojung could stay over Tae’s. She owed you one. “I can cook for you,” you offered, a hand unconsciously reaching for the collar of his jacket, straightening it for him. “To you know, return the favour of you paying for dinner to say sorry for paying for my car to get fixed.”

His hand clasped around yours, dropping it between your bodies to hold it as he chuckled.

“This is getting a little confusing now.” He swung your hand gently and you curled your little finger around his loosely. You could get used to this physical contact. It felt ordinary, like you’d been doing it forever. “Can’t we just call it dating and have done?”

You rolled your shoulders with a sigh, sounding casual and unbothered. “I guess, if it’s easier.”

Seokjin’s laugh got lower, his face closer. His eyes kept looking between your eyes and lips, and you realised your heart was beginning to beat slower, or was it faster? You couldn’t tell anymore, but you could hear it pounding lightly inside your ears. You were in the middle of playing the same game – eyes then lips, eyes then lips – the seconds feeling more like minutes as he leant in closer and closer, but then –

You spotted Soojung in the window as you happened to glance behind Seokjin’s shoulder. She had now totally bypassed the voile curtain, thinking she was Miss. Inconspicuous with the lights off. The street lighting was as bright as anything though, and all you could see was her face glowing like a ghost as she ruined the moment entirely. You were not having your first kiss with Seokjin in front of her prying eyes.

Seokjin realised your attention was elsewhere now, awkwardly pulling back to scratch his neck with his free hand. You clutched at the hand that was holding yours, not wanting him to think you’d blown him off. He didn’t say anything though, just continued your conversation with a bemused smile. “Um, so what are you going to cook?”

“What do you like?” You asked, only half your attention on him. Maybe you could silently signal to Soojung, tell her to get the hell out of the window before Seokjin noticed.

“I’m easy,” you heard him reply. “What’s your speciality?”

“Uh…” Think Y/N, think. Distracted you said the first thing that popped into your head, still trying to force Soojung away with just your eyeballs. “Lasagne.”

“Lasagne?” He sounded interested.

You finally met his eyes for more than five seconds, feeling a little panicky. “Yeah, my World Famous Italian lasagne.”

Oh no.

Seokjin laughed, dropping your hand to cup your cheek instead. Earlier, if this had happened you would have spontaneously combusted but now you had a case of the Nosey Friend and you couldn’t concentrate to save your life. “Okay, now you’re just talking big.”

You couldn’t help it, your eyes attempting to dart past his shoulder again. He noticed – he’d probably noticed this entire time, an eyebrow of his raising. “What is going on over my shoulder?”

You tried to stop him, clinging to his elbow, but he turned around anyway, eyes falling on Soojung immediately. You saw her instantly panic and jump back, dropping the curtain in front of the window again. “That’s just Soojung,” you sighed. “Ignore her, she’s an idiot.”

Seokjin was deeply amused, laughing as he turned back to you. “So, is next Saturday okay?” You pressed.

He grinned. “Saturday sounds perfect to me.”

As you said your goodbyes, Seokjin turned to the window and gave a small wave, chortling to himself. You couldn’t see Soojung anymore but you just knew she was still spying. But relieved Seokjin didn’t seem fazed, you made your way inside, giving Seokjin a wave by the door as he pulled off, feeling happy, yet a little sad the night was over already. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d enjoyed yourself like that.

It was only when you were inside did you remember what you’d just done, too preoccupied to think properly beforehand. Oh God, the lasagne. Saturday night was going to be a disaster.

Soojung came running into the entry way, interrupting your freak out. “He saw me! He saw me!” Her voice was shrill, and you couldn’t tell if it was because she was embarrassed or excited.

“That’s what happens when you spy, idiot,” you swiped, kicking off your heels. The instant relief brought you no comfort. “Soo, I’ve done something stupid.” You admitted.

She instantly looked worried. “What? What have you done?”

You sighed, already feeling like a fool. “Okay so, I invited him over next weekend and said I’d cook for him.”

“Girl is horny for that D–”

“Shut up, that’s not the problem,” you stopped her. She looked puzzled. “You were distracting me!” It was all her fault. You weren’t taking the blame. “He asked me what I was gonna cook and I told him I make a World Famous Italian lasagne!”

Your best friend was silent for an extended second, making sense of your words before she burst out laughing. Highly dramatic, practically doubled over, splitting her sides. Even more dramatic than you for freaking out over a damn lasagne.

“You have never made lasagne in your entire life!” She exclaimed. “What were you thinking?”

“It was your fault!” It was also her fault you didn’t get to kiss Seokjin properly too. But you weren’t going to bring that up now, unable to bear the constant teasing that would ensue.

“My fault?!” She laughed. You just rolled your eyes. She did not appreciate that at all. “Whatever. I can’t wait to see your “World Famous Italian lasagne.” Make sure to save me some, won’t you?”

“Right,” you huffed. “For that, I’m not telling you how the date went.”

She soon changed her tune, needing all the details just to be able to sleep tonight…

Written 2020 - 2021. Please refrain from posting my work elsewhere. No translations allowed. © floralseokjin 2021

#jin fanfic #bts fanfic #seokjin fanfic #floralseokjin:writings #fic:mls

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mdverse · 3 years ago

Note

What are some of your favourite Glee ships and why? I'm thinking like... top five? Or more if you feel like it :)

ooh this is a fun one because anything after my top ship can and will change at the drop of a hat lmao

1: brittana

hopefully this will come as a shock to no one aksdjhfsk,,, brittana is actually a ship i found out about before i watched glee. like i would see all of these compilations on youtube of glee moments out of context, and idk how exactly but it led to seeing clips of brittana. i remember being salty bc some of my friends at the time had seen glee and not a single one of them told me that there was a wlw relationship i would've liked lol.

but yeah there's just something really compelling about getting to see these two girls who start out as background characters with funny one-liners grow into an actual couple that gets happily married in the end. especially because i don't remember really seeing any wlw relationships get any kind of focus or open acknowledgement before brittana? at least not any relationships that lasted more than a couple of episodes? and maybe i just wasn't watching the right shows bc i only started watching glee less than 2 years ago lol but their development on the show, while very flawed thanks to the writers, was just super special for me. and it still is. i have a lot of love for them and even though i haven't drawn much brittana lately, i'd like to think that my love for them shows in some of my older art :)

also? wanting to draw brittana is what got me out of months-long art block and depressive episode where i just did not have any inspiration or motivation to draw anything, and it quickly became the catalyst for so much of the artistic growth i've made over the past almost 2 years. idk if that means much to u guys but to me it really means the world and i don't think i even have the words to explain it asksdhfk i just. i love them a lot.

2: hevans

ok listen to be completely honest, i don't think about hevans that much but once in a while i think about s2 hevans and how that would've been so nice? like,,, s2 sam was so refreshing because he arrived at a time where i was used to seeing the glee boys (finn and puck in particular) being like "oh we get called gay for being in glee club and associating with kurt, a gay kid :( and that's bad :( we don't like the idea of being seen as gay :(" and sam just did not care. he didn't care that singing a duet with another guy might be seen as weird, he didn't care that he might get bullied for it, he just cared that kurt had a lovely voice and he wasn't gonna go back on his promise to sing with kurt. and then we got rumours and kurt not even hesitating to keep sam's secret, even though his friends immediately accused him of cheating on blaine. idk hevans just had this bond in s2 that wasn't explored enough after that, and then sam was dumbed down in s4 and onwards and ugh i miss s2 sam goddammit fuck the writers for turning him into whatever the fuck we got in s4-6

also hevans makes me consider an artist!sam x model!kurt au? like when i drew kurt as the boy with a basket of fruits i could picture sam being a painter and having kurt as his model/inspiration, and i have a second very unfinished wip based on another painting in the same vein. lowkey veering into a picture of dorian grey moment now lol but is that not compelling??? i can't believe i only thought of that just now aksdjhf i love that book,,, also there's yet another painting i'd like to redraw as hevans but who knows when i'll get around to it

3: quinntina

i don't think the writers were ever gonna give us quinntina and idk if there are even many quinntina moments in the show aside from like,,, teeny tiny background moments here and there. also the show butchered them both so i'm not basing this ship in canon at all. i just think they would have an interesting dynamic i guess? popular girl quinn fabray and shy tina cohen-chang possibly wishing they could switch positions for a while because quinn is exhausted from all the pressure she puts on herself and tina wonders what it would be like to be in the spotlight? slowly bonding in glee club because tina realises quinn isn't the bitch tina assumed she'd be, and quinn finds it refreshing to be around a sweetheart like tina? indulging each other's dramatic moments but also keeping each other grounded? the mental image of tina helping quinn dye her hair pink? that time in s6 where we got half a quinntina duet in jagged little tapestry, which for the record, i think would've been a mashup of so far away and ironic? (also, vb au quinntina sharing the brain cells of the friend group?) idk i think it would've been nice and i am once again cursing the writers

4: wildebrams

i don't have much of an actual explanation as to why i like wildebrams because it feels like i haven't seen s4-5 in forever, but iirc their relationship allowed us to see a much softer side to kitty and i really loved that. like,,, kitty being nervous about committing to a relationship but then opening up to the glee club about her feelings for artie? wholesome shit i love it

i can't think of anymore ships rn because i'm not deeply invested in any ships besides brittana but this feels like a solid mini list. i feel like im forgetting a lot of the big ones so feel free to specify any other ships you'd like me to talk about :)

#ask md #backslashdelta #glee thoughts n opinions #brittana #hevans #quinntina #wildebrams #also honourable mentions to the following ships for piquing my interest a bit:#puckurt; partie; quinncedes; marlique; quinntana; potentially others i can't remember rn #oh and kelliott #thank u for the ask bella! twas fun to think about :)

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mha-princess · 4 years ago

Text

Crossing Lines - Part 2/3 [Bakugou x Fem!Reader]

part one is here | part three is here

Genre: Angst | 18+ | College AU | Ongoing |

A/N: The next part will most likely be the last part, as I don’t want to draw this out to the point where it’s annoying (⁍̴̆◡⁍̴̆ )⊃♡- Anako

Word Count: 2.5k+

Warnings: bakugous an asshole/very minor violence/explicit language / mentions of sex

Summary: falling for Katsuki and keeping it a secret was easy, but still being secretly in love with him after developing a friends with benefits relationship is hard.

Masterlist | Request Rules | Request Box

“Wait how long has this been going on ?” Mina questioned shoving bits of bagel into her mouth.

“ A month....... maybe five.” You shrug standing up to throw your plate away. You had invited Mina over for breakfast to talk about what had happened last night between you and Bakugou.

“So you’ve been hooking up with Bakugou for that long? I didn’t even notice, well no one noticed, not me, not Kami, not Kiri. Speaking of Kami and Kiri, where are they? I thought you invited them?”

“I did. They can’t just walk down a flight of stairs to get here, not everyone lives off campus.” You giggle at her unawareness and sit back down at the kitchen table. Mina nods.

“So what did you say her name was.” Mina questions, It takes you a minute to recall.

“Hayami?” You say slightly uncertain.

“Hayami? Yeah that definitely doesn’t ring a bell.” A few minutes late you and Mina are startled by the slam of your door.

“Hey, Hey, Hey.” Kirishima announces happily strolling over to the kitchen table and taking a seat, Kaminari following behind him.

“Ejiro how the hell did you just get in here?” Kirishima laughs and holds up a key.

“Bakubro said he stopped by and he accidentally grabbed this when he left.” He said tossing you the key. “So how are my favorite beauticools doing today?”

“Not good we need help with something.” Mina says taking her phone from her pocket.

“If it’s anything about classes we can’t help.” Kaminari says taking Minas bagel and finishing it.

“It has nothing to do with classes, as if we’d ask you two himbos for help.” Mina rolls her eyes. “Do you guys know a girl named, Hayami?”

Kirishima furrows his brow. “Hayami? I don’t think I ever even heard of the name.”

You turn to Kaminari who also has his phone out.

“What about you, Nari?”

“One moment.” He walks over to Kirishima and hands him his phone, leaving you and Mina to stare at eachother.

“Ohhhhhh Hayami! I do remember her! We met her the night me, Kami, and Bakugou crashed the arcade.” Kirishima facepalms. “She gave us her number but I don’t think any of us ever reached out.”

Mina scoffs. “Someone did.”

Kaminari and Kirishima looks at you both confused.

“Come again?” Kaminari says setting his phone on the table.

“Yeah? Is there something we’re not in on? Why are you worried about her out of all people?” Kirishima questions leaning forward in his chair.

Mina then explains to them your situation. Kaminari and Kirishima look at eachother in shock.

“Y/N! That’s like rule number one of friends with benefits! You don’t question outside affairs!” Kaminari groans.

“I know! But I love him Kaminari and I need to know if there’s someone else. I still have hope. Hope that he might like me. ” You say pain evident in your voice.

“Well if it’s any help I think I have her Instagram.” He says taking pity on you and opening Instagram. After finding it he quickly flips his phone face down.

“On second thought maybe that’s not a good idea.” He laughs nervously causing everyone at the table to look at him confused.

“Kaminari let me see your phone.” Kirishima says, standing up from the table. Kaminari quickly grabs his phone.

“I don’t think that a good idea, really.” He says slowly backing away as Kirishima grew closer.

Kirishima lunges at him and in an instant Kaminari is pinned to the ground.

“Y/N, catch.” He chunks the phone to you. Your hands easily grasping it from the air. Mina comes over, peeking over your shoulder and immediately she sighs, yeah this was a bad idea.

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

“Maybe it’s not what it looks like?” She says, blatantly ignoring the facts. Your eyes begin to burn.

Kirishima releases Kaminari from his hold and they walk over to you.

“He doesn’t even go to the cafe with us. He says it makes him look stupid to be in such a soft setting. But there he is with a girl. I mean she looks like his type. Cute button nose, black hair, brown eyes.” You clench your jaw, forcing back tears.

“Y/N don’t be like that! Your Bakugou’s type or else he-.” You cut Kaminari off mid sentence.

“If I was his type he wouldn’t be with her.” Tears streak down your cheeks and leave wet stains on the table. After a minute you get up from the table and grab a napkin to wipe your eyes.

“I’m sorry guys. I’m not his girlfriend I shouldn’t be upset.” Your friend come to your aid and crowd around you, engulfing you in a big hug.

“Don’t apologize for the way you feel babe.” Mina says.

“Yeah Y/N you have feelings. That’s only human.” Kirishima’s hold on you tightens a bit.

“And we’re always here.” Kaminari adds. After a few minutes of letting you bask in your sadness, they release you form their hold.

“Sorry for the hold up guys, but we need to get to class.” You chuckle and wipe the remaining tears from under your eyes.

“Yeah Mrs.Chu is always on me and Mina’s case about attendance.” Kaminari rolls his eyes at the thought of that lady.

“Soooo am I drivi-.”

“NO!” You all cut off Mina before she can finish. Today had all ready started off bad, and endangering your life with Mina reckless driving was the last thing you needed.

“I’ll drive.” Kirishima says grabbing his keys and opening the door. “Now come children, before we’re late.”

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

The day couldn’t possible go by more slowly. You couldn’t remain focused due to your situation, the situation that you started I must stress. You know it shouldn’t be pestering you, but you just couldn’t handle losing Katsuki to some random girl.

From the beginning you found yourself drawn to Katsuki. Yeah that might sound cliche, but it was the truth. The ash blonde hair that was slightly unkempt, the red eyes that could cut deep even if you were just glancing, and a smirk that held so many inaudible warnings. He was unruly, but at the same time beautiful.His personality was arrogant and short tempered, but that just made him all the more alluring.

The unapproachable heart throb is what he was. Pretty in the face, but dementing and vulgar in many different ways. Ways that should've been a warning, but weren't.

When you first started hanging around Katsuki it was mostly kirishima's doing. He felt that all his friends should at least be formally aquantainted with one another, so some days you would have study sessions at your apartmet other days you would all would crash at the dorms. And every moment you were around Katsuki the more you were drawn to him.

One day Kirishima had left you two alone at the dorms to go re-up on snacks with Mina and Kaminari. Now this was most likely the only time you would be alone with Katsuki, so you took it upon yourself to ask him a couple of ‘questions’.

“Katsuki?”

“What?” he answers his eyes never leaving his phone.

The top half of his body hangs off the edge of his bed, his shirt barely covering his stomach.You go over and sit on the floor in front of him. Slowly, you reach up and run your hands through his coarse head of hair.

“The hell are you doing?” He questions, but doesn’t stop you from playing in his head.

“Can I ask you something.” The tone of your voice was soft but serious.

Bakugou then rolls over onto his stomach and throws his phone into the abyss of sheets beside him. He stares at you and the nervous you should’ve felt earlier makes it’s way into your body.

“You gonna speak or what?” He says annoyance leaking from his voice. You roll your eyes.

“Do you have a girlfriend?”

“Nope.” He responded rolling back over and grabbing his phone.

“Like you’ve never had one? No boyfriends, no girlfriends, no significant others?”

“I answered the damn question, no boyfriends, no girlfriends, nothing, relationships aren’t my kinda thing. The hell are you asking me this for anyway? ” He rolls back over, his eyes cutting deep into your thoughts.

“W-What about hookups?” Bakugou’s face goes blank for a minute before that cocky smirk makes its way to his face.

“Tcht is this what you were going on about? If you wanted some dick you couldve just said that.” His smirk grows as he watches you panic.

“We can hookup if that’s what you wanted to ask. But I have lines that shouldn’t be crossed.” He says rolling back over and chucking you his phone.

“Put your number in.” That cocky son of a bitch, not even letting you answer or explain yourself. I mean it’s not like you would’ve said no anyway. You hand him his phone back.

“Y/N wants to be fuck buddies with me? I didn’t peg you as the type.” He grins, his eyes burning right through you.

“Well you said you aren’t looking for a relationship, so I don’t see the harm in it.” You shrug. Bakugou nods in agreement, but raises a brow.

“I know I said I’m down but we can’t do any lovey dovey shit. This has to be strictly no feelings attached.”

Now, after he finished that statement a bell should’ve went off in your head. From that point you should’ve know that liking Katsuki wasn’t a good idea and hooking up with him would only lead to you hurting yourself, but clearly you were blinded. Blinded by the thought of him and blinded by the want of him because if you would’ve noticed you wouldn’t of still been sitting at your desk half dazed ten minutes after class had let out reminiscing about how you got yourself into this mess.

“Y/N, aren’t you going to leave, clearly your not staying behind for extra help, as you didn’t even write down the notes that were on the board.” You look down at your notebook, yeah it’s blank.

“I’m so sorry Mrs, I’ve had a lot on my Min-.”

“I don’t need your excuses, just get going so I can lock up.” You nod and grab your things. Upon picking up your phone you notice a message from Kirishima.

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

Message

Kirishima :)

Ummmm please don’t bite my head off for this but something came up and I had to leave early, Mina and Kaminari have dance practice and I didn’t want you to be stranded.............. So Bakugou is going to take you home, be at the front of the school. Ok? Ok. Love you ttyl 😘

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

Your mouth hung ajar at the message. Why? Kirishima why? Why would he set you up for failure like that? You sigh as you walk out of the school doors.

It took a few minutes before Bakugou arrived and when he did your day only worsened. As you drew closer tot he car it was clear that someone else was in he front seat. A black haired, brown eyed someone. With gritted teeth you open the back door of the car and chunk your stuff in not saying a thing.

“Hello!” The girl exclaims as she turns around in her seat, sounding way to preppy and happy about this situation.

“You are?” You say not the least optimistic, Bakugou glaring at you from the rear view mirror.

“I’m Hayami.” She smiles and holds out your hand for you to shake. You turn and look out the backseat window.

“What are you his girlfriend?” Your jaw clenches as her face goes red. You stop her before she can answer that question.

“Katsuki can you drive? I have somewhere I need to be.” Hayami turns around in her seat as Bakugou mashes the gas.

The drive is silent until Bakugou starts taking a bunch of unfamiliar turns.

“What are you doing my house isn’t this way?” You say sitting up in your seat.

“I’m dropping Hayami off first.” He says pulling into an unfamiliar driveway.

“Thank you Katsuki. We should do this the same time next week.” She smiles and he nods in approval. She then steps out of the car and shuts the door. He sits there for a minute.

“Are you going to get in the front seat or stay back there like a dumbass.” You roll your eyes.

“Fuck you.”

Bakugou quickly puts the car in reverse and once again begins taking a bunch of unknown turns.

“Where the hell are you taking me?” He doesn’t say anything, but a few minutes later you find yourself in a vacant parking lot. He then gets out and climbs into the backseat.

“What the fuck is your problem?” He says shutting the door.

“I’m not the one with the damn problem.” You cross your arms and look away from him.

Annoyed with the way you were acting his hand grabs a hold of your cheeks, pressing your mouth inward as his lips ghost over your ear.

“Your a fucking brat.” You pry his hands from your face.

“I’m not a brat your a fucking asshole. Breaking your own damn rules. Did you tell your little girlfriend how the night before you took her on a date you were just at my house fucking me? Or did you tell her how many times you ate my pussy in that front passenger seat? I bet she doesn’t know anything about that now does she?” Your voice bitter and slightly heavy.

“I’m not fucking her, unlike you she has the potential to be more than a fuck toy.” Yeah he shouldn’t of said that. Upon finishing his sentence the palm of your hand quickly made impact with the side of his face, causing a sound that couldve been heard if anyone was near by.

“Take me home.” Your choke as your eyes began to burn. But he doesn’t move he stares at you still in shock from the hit. This time you push him to make him gain contact with reality again.

“I said take me home!” You shout tears now fully rolling down your face. He doesn’t say anything, but you can tell he’s angry.

“Your fucking crazy Y/N. This, whatever the fuck we have going on is over. I don’t need your bullshit ruining what I have going on.” He says getting out of the backseat and back into the front.

The rest of the ride was silent. Bakugou was speeding clearly not wanting to be around you after slapping him senseless. Although you wanted to, you didn’t cry, you’d rather wait to release your tears when you got to the comfort of your home.

He slammed on the breaks as he pulled into tge front of your apartment complex. No words were exchanged. You simply grabbed your things and shut the door behind you. He didn’t apologize, hell he didn’t even look back to make sure you got into your apartment, he just drove off.

When you finally made it to the comfort of your room. A weird sense of pain hit you. It wasn’t the same kind of pain you felt yesterday, it was a unfamiliar pain. A pain so severe it caused your heart to physically hurt from your emotions that were running rampant.

A toy. That’s all you were to him and all you were ever going to be. Frustrated and a sobbing mess you take a piece of paper and a pen and begin to writing.

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

People always say it’s better to have loved and to have lost, than to never of loved at all, but what if you’ve lost everything including yourself? What if you loved someone so much that you were willing to give them everything including your body, in exchange for nothing but a few minutes of being close them? Am I pathetic for wanting him to love me? Am I even more pathetic for having ignored the signs? The signs that he was no good for me. Bakugou Katsuki. The epitome of my pain, the epitome of my hurt, but the one I love most. It’s better to have loved and to have lost, than to never of loved at all, but I’ve lost all worth, all self love, and all reason to even try. ─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

You fold the tear stained paper and slide it into your desk drawer. You then grab your phone and make a much needed call.

“Yes?”

“Is this Izuku?”

#bakugou x reader #bnha #shoujo #bakugou drabble #bakugou oneshot #ongoing #anime #katsuki bakugou #kirishima eijrou #mina ashido #denki kaminari #bakugou headcanons #mha princess #bakugou smut #bakugou angst #angst

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bbangsoonie · 4 years ago

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teach me about love

member: kevin genre: fluff (preschool teacher!kevin au) word count: 2,120 synopsis: when your brother asks you to pick up your nieces from school, you find a teacher that you find to be cuter than the toddlers there.

a/n: happy birthday to our moonlight boy, kevin 🌙

You didn’t really like kids. They were adorable, of course, but they were snotty walking embodiments of germs and you had no idea how to entertain them. They were absolutely precious when sleeping but their tantrums terrified you.

Whenever they came up to you with those bright expectant eyes, you didn’t know what to do except pet their head. Everyone around you would scold you saying that they were children, not dogs. But in your defense, they didn’t seem to mind.

To be honest, you preferred dogs over kids. They were cute all the time.

Nonetheless, you still adored your nieces. The older one, Ahyoung, reminded you of your own past self. She was shy and reserved but sought out love and attention. She constantly needed assurance to fight early signs of anxiety. The younger one, Soyoung, was the complete opposite; she was loud and outgoing. She easily made friends with everyone and adjusted well to new environments.

So when your brother asked you for a last minute favor, you were more than happy to pick them up at their preschool. Unfortunately, however, you were terrible with directions and ended up 20 minutes late.

Apologizing profusely to the staff and teachers, you made your way throughout the building to find their classroom. That was another struggle of its own.

“Auntie Y/n!” you heard two familiar voices screech. You laughed as they ran up to you and hugged your legs.

“Sorry I’m late girls,” you pouted as you squished their cheeks.

“It’s okay, Auntie! Teacher Kevin was playing house with us,” Ahyoung beamed.

“Teacher Kevin was our dog!” Soyoung giggled.

You looked up to see a male teacher sheepishly escape from the tiny playhouse. You held back a laugh, pitying him for what the girls put him through.

“I’m sorry about that,” you chuckled.

“No worries,” he smiled. “It’s my job and I love kids. I had fun playing with them too.”

“I’m Y/n,” you introduced as you held out a hand. “I’m Ahyoung and Soyoung’s aunt. I came to pick them up since my brother got caught up in a work emergency.”

“It’s nice to meet you. My name is Kevin,” he said as he shook your hand. You knew it was unprofessional to think this but he was cute. Like, really cute.

Trying to leave before your smiling cheeks could reveal your thoughts, you quickly collected the girls’ bags and helped them put their jackets on. You bid their cute teacher goodbye and happily suggested an aunt-niece ice cream date. They cheered at the idea of sweets and raced to your car.

The next week, your brother asked if you could pick the girls up from school again. Apparently they had been bugging him to have their favorite aunt come every day.

You weren’t sure if it was his flattery or if it was their sneaky plan for ice cream but you didn’t mind. As a freelancer, you had a flexible schedule. You were glad to spend time with your nieces and catch another glimpse of their teacher.

This time, you made sure to leave your house early. You ended up arriving before dismissal and watched as the kids ran around in the playground. Something about seeing Kevin’s eyes sparkle in front of them made you soft. He seemed so genuinely happy and looked at each student with honey dripping from his eyes.

Soyoung squealed as she chased after a boy who tapped her free in a game of freeze tag. She was a little confused about the rules but the effort was there.

While still keeping an eye on the children, Kevin approached you and asked if you wanted a juice box. You kindly declined, thanking him for the offer.

“You’re really good with the little ones,” you complimented.

“Ah, no, they’re the ones who are good with me,” he shyly shook his head. “I’m thankful that they see me as a fun and respectable teacher.”

“I find young kids to be difficult,” you confessed. “I don’t know how to match their level.”

“I get you. It’s definitely not easy to figure out what they want and try to communicate with them with their still-developing language skills. I’m still not great at it. I just try to improve a little more every day,” he said humbly.

He was a lot better than you who was quick to give up and run away. His words made you reflect and feel slightly guilty.

The bell chimed, making the students rush to line up in front of the door. Kevin left your side to gather everyone together and take them back inside to gather their belongings.

By now, a handful of parents had arrived and were waiting for their children. One by one, the students walked out with their matching yellow chick backpacks, excitedly running up to their guardian.

Your nieces greeted you in that high pitched shriek you loved, body slamming into your open arms. With them in your embrace, you gave them a tight squeeze before getting up and holding their hands to take them to the car.

“Wait!” you heard Kevin call out. Turning around, you were surprised to see him running towards you. When he caught up to you, he held out a book. Taking it, you read the title.

“The Body Language of Toddlers”

“I thought you might find this book useful,” his hands fumbled awkwardly, not knowing where to go. His gesture brought you a warm feeling.

“Thank you, Kevin. I’ll be sure to give it a read,” you smiled.

“Ooooh,” Ahyoung wiggled her eyebrows, making both you and Kevin blush. You ruffled her hair and ushered her towards your vehicle.

Picking the girls up from school became a biweekly thing for you. Every Monday and Friday, you would arrive ten minutes early to chat with Kevin as he told you funny stories that happened throughout the day. And when you worked with a bunch of preschoolers, there were a lot of those types of stories.

You listened as he went on about how a little boy woke up from a nap thinking he had an argument with his friend because of a nightmare he had. Kevin had to convince him that it was all a dream and that his friend did not actually steal his gummy worms and lie about it.

The way he spoke about his students was endearing. He made them sound like lovely angels even when they were cranky and misbehaving.

“We’re looking for chaperones for the upcoming field trip if you’re interested,” he cautiously brought up. “We only had a few parents sign up so we’d really appreciate any extra helping hands.”

Panicking, you stuttered about how you didn’t have the confidence to keep rowdy kids in check at a public space. He assured you that your only responsibility would be to make sure no one ran off and to accompany kids to the bathroom if they had to separate from the group.

He was a smooth talker. He somehow persuaded you into agreeing and you couldn’t believe you left the school that day after signing the form.

“Auntie, do you like Teacher Kevin?” Ahyoung asked you in the car ride back home.

“Sure, Teacher Kevin is nice,” you hummed.

“No, she means do you like like him?” Soyoung pressed.

You feigned innocence and pretended not to understand what they were talking about. They grilled you about how often you talked with him and even pointed out that he didn’t talk to other parents like that. They sure were smart-witted for their age.

On the day of the field trip, you spent a long time deciding on what to wear. You had no idea how casual you were supposed to dress as a chaperone.

You ended up choosing a simple outfit and rushed out the door to avoid being late. You had to say you were excited. It had been ages since you last visited an aquarium. And maybe the extra butterflies in your stomach were because of a certain someone you were looking forward to seeing.

Meeting Kevin outside of the school felt different. He stood out in the crowd of tiny humans. Even more so once you entered the place and you noticed that most of the visitors were families, students, or couples.

You softly smiled as you watched the kids fawn over colorful fish and gawk at sharks. It felt like you were returning to your own childhood innocence. You followed Ahyoung, who was pulling at your sleeve, to the jellyfish section where she asked you to take a picture of her with the transparent creature.

The photos came out so incredibly that you had to immediately send them to your brother. He texted back almost instantly and you scoffed when you read his message.

“Heck yeah I made that. Those are my genes right there.”

Rolling your eyes, the corners of your lips twitched up as you put the device away. You guided Ahyoung back to the rest of the group and ran into Kevin who was coming back from the bathroom with another student.

“How are you enjoying the trip so far?” he asked.

“It’s nice. Honestly not as chaotic as I thought it’d be,” you admitted.

“Oh don’t jinx it. Lunch time will be hectic,” he warned.

He was right. Between picky kids and the kimbap packed by their parents, the unwanted vegetables were flown around the picnic table. You barely managed to avoid the carrot that was flung in your direction. Unluckily, you were unable to dodge the spinach that was now tangled in your hair.

Kevin laughed as he tried to help you take it out, cracking a joke about it looking like seaweed and you looking like a mermaid dragged out of the ocean.

“He means you’re pretty, Auntie!!” Soyoung eagerly translated on his behalf. “Mermaids are super super pretty. Like Ariel, the princess!”

This raised a teasing crowd of “ooh”s from the group of preschoolers.

“Teacher Kevin and Auntie Y/n sitting in a tree,” a boy began chanting, “K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”

His friend made a face and screamed “ew,” making him laugh uncontrollably. Meanwhile, Kevin was trying his best to cover his burning ears. He pulled the beanie over his ears, not wanting to expose his embarrassment.

“My daddy said no boy is good enough for Auntie but I’ll tell him nice things about you, Teacher Kevin. Just specially for you,” Ahyoung proudly announced.

Awkwardly coughing, you stuffed her cheeks with another roll of kimbap. Her muffled cries of resistance were appeased with a juice box shoved into her mouth. The sweet drink diverted her attention away from you and back to her lunch.

You two were now officially shipped by all of Kevin’s students. Even the other teachers giggled as they passed by you.

By the end of the field trip, you were one of the last ones to leave. After all the other students and teachers departed from the aquarium, Kevin escorted you to the car with a sleeping Ahyoung in his arms and a sleeping Soyoung in yours.

You both carefully placed them in their car seats and closed the door after buckling their seat belts. Now that you were alone with him, you didn’t know what to say. Despite the silence, it wasn’t necessarily uncomfortable.

“So have you warmed up to the idea of kids yet?” he finally asked after clearing his throat.

“The book you gave me definitely taught me a lot of things,” you nodded. “Now I’m not completely terrified of them. And seeing you handle kids comforts me.”

“Really? How so?”

“I don’t know. It’s just… you so effortlessly take care of them and I can see how much you cherish each and every one of your students. I envy that.”

“Trust me, it’s not as easy as you think it is,” he chuckled.

Silence fell between you again but you simply enjoyed his presence. You turned your head to see him already staring at you. With your eyes, you wordlessly asked if there was something he wanted to say.

“So uh tomorrow’s Saturday,” he suddenly mentioned. He was fiddling with a loose thread on his sweater and hesitated to speak up again.

“Do you have any plans for the weekend?” he blurted. You couldn’t stop the smile that crept up on your face.

“Nope.”

“Would you like to um grab dinner with me tomorrow then?”

He anxiously held his breath as he waited for your response. Biting his lips, he wondered if he had ruined things by going too fast.

“Sure. How’s 6?” you finally answered.

“6 is great. 6 is lovely. Wonderful. Perfect,” he replied with a huge grin.

a/n: calling all kevin enthusiasts aka @reverienostalgia

i also may or may not have kinda wrote my little cousins into this fic.. 👉🏻👈🏻

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junko-and-riri-domain · 4 years ago

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❦ welcome to ras bakery | pjs

↬ ꜱᴇʀɪᴇꜱ: tatts & cupcakes | chapter 1

↬ ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ: park jongseong / jay x reader ft. all members + eventual appearance of i-land k

↬ ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢs: none

↬ ᴡᴏʀᴅ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ: a little over 2k

↬ sʏɴᴏᴘsɪs: ↱ 25-year-old CEO Park Jongseong, better known as Jay, hasn’t lived an easy life despite being born into a chaebol family. His entire life changed when his ex-girlfriend left their sons, Sunoo and Jungwon at his front door 5 years ago and he was forced to take on the role of a single father. Ever since he took on sole responsibility for two fairly chaotic kids, they and the company have been his sole purpose for living. Due to his responsibilities to his sons and the company, Jay doesn’t have any time to date around nor does he want to date a woman who would just use him for his money and not care about his sons.

L/N Y/N has been trying to make ends meet ever since her parents kicked her out at 17 for getting pregnant. The only thing she’s ever been good at is baking and after a few years, she managed to make a name for herself in the baking field. Now at 23-years-old, she just bought a bakery and moved to the busy streets of Seoul in an effort to better provide for her son and his education. After giving birth to Ni-ki, y/n vowed that she would do everything she could for him and since then has focused on baking. After Ni-ki’s father who wanted nothing to do with his son, y/n swore off men and has stayed independent every since.

When Ni-ki meets Jungwon and Sunoo at school, the three end up becoming best friends and constantly wanting to have playdates. And well… the two single parents find themselves developing a relationship of their own. ↲

As you walked with Ni-ki, your nerves just couldn’t be settled and you were holding his hand tighter than usual.

“It’s gonna be ok, babe,” you started to say to your son. “First days are always tough, y’know? But you’re strong and likable. If other kids don’t like you then just don’t pay attention to them. You’ll make friends easily and when you do, share your lunch because I packed you a lot today. I love you Ni-ki, you know that right? Mama loves you and you’ll be ok-” you were cut off when you felt a pair of arms wrap around your leg, stopping you from walking. Ni-ki looked up at you with a bright smile as you patted his hair and took a deep breath. Honestly, you were more nervous than he was, maybe nervous was an understatement. The one thing that you were glad for was that Ni-ki had his father’s confidence and not yours which was practically nonexistent.

“We’re here,” he said. You looked at the entrance of the school,

“Yeah, I guess we are. Let’s head to class, yeah?” Ni-ki nodded in response going back to holding your hand. You headed to Class B, talking to the teacher, whose name you learned was Choi Yeonjun slightly eased your nerves as you realized he was good with kids and promised to take care of Ni-ki. After seeing Ni-ki settle into the classroom, you left and headed to your bakery to start the day. Things were pretty smooth and despite being the 3rd day of opening, you had a decent amount of customers. After the lunch rush was coming to a close,

“Damn, welcome to Ras Bakery, huh? The line was so long I’ve been waiting for a whole damn hour,” a familiar voice said, causing you to look up at the register.

“Heeseung!” you said with a smile as he set his items on the counter. He smiled at you,

“Hey, you got time right now?”

“Of course I have time for you,” you said as you started making your way to the other side of the counter and heading towards an empty table to chat with Heeseung, your best friend.

“Ni-ki’s at school?” Heeseung asked. You nodded,

“I’m glad you were able to make it here today.”

“I should’ve been there with you to drop him off,” Heeseung said with a slight frown.

“I took pictures, wanna see?” you offered.

“Of course.” Throughout the years, Heeseung was your rock and a large part of Ni-ki’s life. When you had no one to turn to, Heeseung was there and was the person who encouraged you to open up Ras Bakery when you finally had enough money to move out of the market stall. Heeseung was the closest thing Ni-ki had to a father figure and you were thankful that he stayed. You didn’t know how long the two of you chatted despite having seen each other on opening day but it eventually came to the time where Heeseung had to leave and you had to go back to work. Since you didn’t hire an employee yet, you had to close the bakery to pick up Ni-ki from school. You also brought some pastries for him to eat just in case he was hungry. Once Ni-ki saw you waiting for him at the front of the school, he practically ran and you were met with another one of Ni-ki’s hugs. Your son’s hugs could never be replicated and were one way the boy expressed himself. You noticed two boys behind him, one slightly shy while the other gave you a bright smile, practically blinding you like the sun. They came to you with a wave,

“Hi?” you said as more of a question than a statement.

“Mama, can Jungwon-hyung and Sunoo-hyung come to the park with us? They said they were going anyways because that’s where their Jake-hyung was going to pick them up,” Ni-ki asked. Though you did tell your son that he was going to make friends, you were somewhat surprised to actually see it right now in the flesh. Still, you were glad and ruffled Ni-ki’s hair.

“I’ve got pastries do either of you want some?” you offered to the two boys. They nodded, eyes widening as they saw what you had brought and nibbled on their chosen treats while the 4 of you headed to the nearby park. The three of them chatted with each other mostly Sunoo while you listened in.

“Noona, what’s your name?” the boy named Sunoo asked as you sat down on one of the benches.

“Y/n.”

“Y/n-noona?” he asked. You were glad that you were still seen as a noona and not an ajumma despite being a mom.

“What’s up, hon?” you asked, your eyes glancing over to see Ni-ki and Jungwon by the slides then back to Sunoo.

“Ni-ki shared his lunch with us and I was just wondering… can you make me one too?” The little boy in front of you looked so much like the uwu emoji that you had to stop yourself from awing at his cuteness. You were somewhat surprised at the sudden request,

“Do your parents not pack you lunch?” you found yourself asking.

“Daddy does pack us lunch! But he never gives us dessert,” the boy said with a slight pout.

“I don’t mind having Ni-ki bring some extra pastries but I do need to make sure your dad is ok with eating them. I’ll give you a card and you can give it to him when you get home ok?” you offered. Sunoo nodded with wide eyes and you handed him a Ras Bakery business card with a “i sorta maybe gave your sons some pastries and Sunoo’s asking me to pack him some for lunch. give me a call or shoot me a text? ~ ni-ki’s mom” written on the back.

“Thank you, y/n noona!” the boy exclaimed happily as he went to play with Jungwon and Ni-ki. After what was probably around maybe 10 minutes of you scrolling through your phone but making sure to check on the boys as well, an elderly woman came and sat next to you. You bowed to her slightly out of respect to which she responded with a smile.

“Ahh, are you the mom of the boy over there?” As you saw that she was referring to Ni-ki,

“Yes, I am.”

“I’m the grandmother of Minjoo over there,” she said as she pointed to a boy on the swings.

“Aww, he’s cute.”

“Aish, you shouldn’t let your son play with the two boys!” she exclaimed with clear distaste at the sight of them.

“I’m sorry, what do you mean?” you asked, wanting some clarification as to why she said that. You just met Sunoo and Jungwon but they seemed like good kids.

“The two don’t have a mother and their father is always too busy working so he rarely picks them up. It’s usually a browned-hair boy or a black-haired one picking up the two. They’re dressed in luxury labels but what good is that when they’ll just outgrow it tomorrow? They’re probably spoiled to death with money since their father has nothing else to compensate them with.”

“What’s wrong with only having one parent?” It was clear that her words weren’t about the boy’s behavior but rather her own assumptions. She scoffed,

“It’s incomplete and lacking.” You couldn’t believe the ignorance you were currently witnessing and if you were being honest, it hurt your feelings. Sunoo and Jungwon were just kids and no one was here to defend them.

“Who are you to judge whether someone’s kids are spoiled regardless of what they wear? If anything, it’s good that they have a father who can afford them nice-looking clothes and they’re not flaunting it. Having a working father is better than a deadbeat one who doesn’t take responsibility for his child. I’m a single mom, does that mean I’m lacking in providing for my son? There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a single parent because someone needs to take responsibility for the life they’ve created. So if you’ll excuse me ma’am, my son and I will be leaving. Have a good day.” From your left, you heard someone calling Jungwon and Sunoo’s name and you heard excited,

“Jake-hyung!” from the two. You had no idea how long he had been there or what he heard from your conversation with the grandmother but if he did hear anything he didn’t show it.

“Ni-ki!” you called out. The grandmother left and sat somewhere else and you were left standing next to the guy named Jake. As he turned towards you, he gave a bow,

“Thanks for that, earlier I mean. Their dad does work a lot but he does everything he can for them.” You shook your head,

“I don’t know how much you heard earlier but I’m a single parent too so I get it. Sunoo and Jungwon are nice, I’m glad they became friends with Ni-ki.” It wasn’t until that you got a good look at Jake that a realization settled in you. As he extended his hand,

“I’m Jake.” You brought your hand up to your mouth in shock,

“Jake of 02z, that Jake?” He nodded sheepishly hand brought up and ran through his hair,

“That was a while ago, but yeah, I am that Jake.”

“I stanned you guys so much, I never thought I’d actually meet one of you in person, it’s an honor.” 02z was a trio under JinHit Entertainment that debuted years ago and consisted of Jay, Jake, and Sunghoon.

“Ahh, it’s nice always nice to meet a fan. What’s your name?”

“Y/n, this is Ni-ki, my son,” you said, motioning to Ni-ki. Jake smiled and your heart possibly stopped,

“Hopefully I’ll see you around?” you nodded,

“Yeah, hopefully.”

jay’s pov:

As the door to his office opened, Jay instantly knew who it was at the sounds of excitement that filled his otherwise boring day. His boys climbed onto his lap and he smiled at Jake.

“Thanks, man,” Jay said.

“Daddy, we made a friend today!” Jungwon said wide-eyed and happy. Jay knew that it was hard for his sons to make friends when their parents were telling their kids to stay away due to him being a single father.

“Yeah? What’s their name?” Jay asked as he leaned back into his chair, Jake sat in the seat across the desk and Sunoo decided to climb to him.

“Ni-ki or Riki? He said he doesn’t care which one. Y/n-noona packed him sandwiches and she walked with us to the park and gave us a pastry to snack on!”

“How was it?”

“Daddy, it tasted so good!” It was now Sunoo who spoke up. It didn’t come as a surprise to Jay that Sunoo said the pastries tasted good since he liked eating everything.

“Oh yeah! Y/n-noona gave this!” Sunoo dug through his bag and handed Jay the now crumpled-up business card. Jay looked at the note written behind it, then to Sunoo,

“Y/n-noona is who…?”

“Ni-ki’s mom,” Jake answered. “Speaking of, she’s really nice. Stood up for the boys when Minjoo’s grandma was saying some stuff that wasn’t exactly nice.”

“Really?” Jay asked somewhat shocked that someone was actually on his boys’ side for once.

“She was a fan of ours, even recognized me. She’s a single parent too. I’m gonna head out now, you gonna be ok?” Jake asked. Jay cleared his throat, carefully putting the business card in his wallet.

“Thanks for picking them up.”

“Yeah, just dogsit Layla for me some time,” Jake replied with a smile. As Jake left, a wave of impulsivity washed over Jay.

“Do you guys wanna go to the bakery?” he offered to his sons.

❦ written by riri | next | series masterlist

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captain-ozone · 3 years ago

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Fic Writer Review

Thank you for the tag, @flutteringdreams-matw!! I loved reading your review, and I’m stoked to have the opportunity to fill this out myself, too!

1) How many works do you have on AO3? 46. And not all of them have been transferred over from FFN. There’s at least another dozen between multiple fandoms over there, lol.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 656,571. My word.

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they? When one of your fandoms is DC Comics...Does that count as one or several? LOL. xD

There’s been Merlin, Danny Phantom, Batman (Comics), Young Justice (cartoon), Teen Titans (cartoon), Titans (TV Show), Smallville (TV show), The Justice League (movie), The Flash (Arrowverse TV Show), Miraculous Ladybug, Harry Potter, Rise of the Guardians, How to Train Your Dragon, Sword Art Online (anime), Blue Exorcist (anime), The Bright Sessions (podcast). Might be missing some.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 1. Come Alive (Young Justice) 2. life, if well lived (Batman) 3. On Three (Miraculous Ladybug) 4. a million dreams (Batman) 5. Genesis (Danny Phantom)

@redriotted should be informed that my top two are fics she requested from me via prompts I’m sure neither of us expected I would ever fill. Love you, dear! I credit you for these fics!

5. Which of your fic do you want more attention for? Difficult question for me to answer. I’ve been gifted with lovely feedback on most of my work. I guess if I were to choose one it would be Locking Up the Sun (Batman)? It’s a Fantasy AU. A fantastic exercise in world-building. I had so much fun with it that I’ve been playing with the idea of spinning bits of it into an original work.

6. Do you respond to comments, why or why not? YES. I try to respond to every review and comment I receive. I understand it takes a lot of time and energy for some people, but from the moment I posted my first Merlin fic in 2011, I needed to respond, even if with nothing more than a little thank you. And I’m not about to stop the habit. I met some of my dearest friends responding to reviews. I still meet wonderful people doing so. :) 7. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? Uhhhh, I’m not sure? I guess it depends on perspective. Most of my fics end happily, or rather, I am quite heavy-handed on the comfort part of the Hurt/Comfort trope. I do bittersweet more often than I do angst. I wrote a Merlin AU inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray about Uther Pendragon that was pretty angsty? Grief was another one, also in the Merlin fandom. I’m sure there were some in my FFN Merlin oneshot collection Rabbits and Bathroom Breaks that apply, but lord knows I hardly remember half of what I’ve posted in that monster.

8. Do you write crossovers? Once. I wrote a Rise of the Guardians/Frozen crossover with an Elsa/Jack Frost pairing as a gift for a friend. 9. Have you ever received hate on a fic? Oh, of course. Who hasn’t? I’ve been cursed out more than once, too. It always stings, but it’s a matter of stepping back and asking myself: is this constructive? will this make me a better writer? Once you frame the comment/review that way, it’s a bit easier to see that it’s unproductive to linger on it for long. It’s someone’s personal preferences and/or beliefs not aligning with your own. Or someone who can’t quite distance themselves from fiction enough to realize you are not always what you write, nor are you a reflection of the characters/plot you’re writing about.

10. Do you write smut? if so what kind? Rarely, and only as crack or as a joke. Nothing I would ever share in public. RIP Uther Pendragon/Troll fic of circa 2013-2014. I do so wish I’d saved you somewhere safe. 11. Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes, but I have no idea where they are posted or in what language. Most of the requests came over FFN, so I’m sure they’re available somewhere. In some capacity.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Not quite. My friend and I wrote every other line of the aforementioned Uther/Troll fic in a chatroom, if that counts. 13. What’s your all time favorite ship? I’m far more interested in platonic/family relationships in pretty much every fandom I’m in. If I were to choose one? Adam Hayes/Caleb Michaels from The Bright Sessions. Or Barry Allen/Iris West in The Flash.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? *eyes Shift warily*

I KID. I made a promise over half a decade ago, and I intend on keeping it. In all seriousness: A Merlin time-travel fic I started ages upon ages ago. I hardly remember what the point of it was. There is a fun scene I’ve considered posting as a oneshot more than once over the years, though, just because it makes me laugh.

15. What are your writing strengths? Dialogue, I think? I love it.

16. What are your writing weaknesses? Imagery/action. Give me a single scene focused on a conversation between two hopeless individuals that need some TLC and let me forget about where they are sitting or if they are sitting at all or if there are things that need describing around them, please and thank you. 17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? I’ve done it, in some capacity. I used my knowledge of Latin grammar from old high school classes to try to write spells for Merlin fics. I probably butchered quite a few, lol. I think it’s important to use language as accurately as possible, though, if it were to be used at all. Most of the time I take the lazy man’s route and use dialogue tags and italics, just so I can avoid making ignorant mistakes. As a reader, as long as I have translations in front of me, I’m golden. 18. What was the first fandom you wrote for? Merlin. I owe that fandom everything. 19. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? Come Alive. I don’t know that I have ever had so much fun writing anything in my life. a million dreams (my Flying Grayson time travel tear-jerker) and Not a Bit (my MLB Brothers AU, inspired by the original PV) come in close second. I dig my family feels, obviously. 20. What fic are you most proud of? Shift, my Danny Phantom AU, if only because it’s been seven years since I posted its first chapter. Writing it has felt like pulling teeth at certain points, but it has been with me for a long, long time. Rereading it is like looking at a time lapse of how I’ve developed as a writer, lol. Heart of Gold (Merlin) is another. Before Shift, it was the longest fic I’d ever written, one, and it was my first time really developing an OC/attempting a redemption arc as well. It was far from a perfect fic, but boy did I feel like a queen when I finished it. I’m sure you might’ve done something like this at some point, @cdelphiki, but here you go! @breynekai-tfc, too! And anyone else who sees and wants to share, please do so!

#captainozone #ask game #my writing #fanfic #fic

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doggernaut · 4 years ago

Note

I feel like the Divorce AU is going to kill me, but if you haven't discussed that one yet . . .

Don’t worry! It’s not as painful as you think. Or, well, it might be what you think because divorce can be painful in general, but this fic isn’t about a Zimbits divorce so you don’t have to be concerned on that front. I would never do that.

What this fic is actually about is Bitty and Jack, both recently divorced, finding one another and developing a friendship that eventually turns to love.

The basic plot: Bitty’s a recently-divorced single dad who is not coping well with his ex moving on, and Jack is going through a very high profile celebrity divorce after his wife cheats on him with a teammate. As a result, he gets traded to the Falconers. The point of connection here is Chowder, who also plays for the Falconers and whose kids play hockey with Bitty’s kids. So Jack and Bitty start running into each other at events and get to know each other very casually. They don’t spend time alone together until one day when there’s a mix up with schedules and Bitty’s ex forgets to pick up the kids from the rink. Jack happens to be there, notices them, calls Bitty, and keeps them calm and works on skills with them until Bitty can get there. Of course Bitty has to thank him by making him dinner. Things progress from there.

The seed for this idea came from the idea that this new man in Bitty’s ex-husband’s life is much much better at the social media game than Bitty ever has been, and he’s been using Bitty’s kids as “props” in his posts to make himself seem sympathetic even though he was “the other man.” I started thinking about how much that would annoy Bitty (would annoy anybody, really) and it spiraled from there.

I started writing this in mid-2019 and took a break from it when some close family members abruptly divorced. It was just too hard to think about. I still really like the general concept. I don’t know if I’ll ever get back to it, but I think it has some strong bits.

It had only been three months. Eric was still a work in progress. He didn’t really mean to open Christian the Homewrecker’s Instagram and click on the newest post, a picture of Sam and Lizzie posed next to a flower display at the famers market.

“Loving these kids is easy, but asking them to accept me as another parental figure in their lives was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do,” the caption read. “I still remember meeting them for the first time, all four of us nervous, wondering if we could find a way to make it work. There have been growing pains, but I wouldn’t trade this life for anything. Lizzie and Sam, I love you to the moon and back and wouldn’t trade being your father for anything.”

Eric resisted the urge to throw his phone across the room. Their father? That was bold, seeing as how the ink was barely dry on the divorce papers and Jesse had not, as far as Eric knew, proposed to Christian. Besides, being a parent was a lot more than Disney cruises and miniature golf outings on the weekends, that was for damn sure. Where had Christian been when Lizzie had colic, when Sam went through his biting phase in preschool, when Jesse had been out of town and all three of them had gotten sick with the flu, one after another?

Right. He hadn’t been. He’d been in the apartment Jesse paid for.

Eric told himself not to look at the comments, which were most likely a variation on the usual: “So glad you finally got your happily ever after,” and “Those kids are so lucky to have you.”

Yes. So lucky. So lucky their father left their other father for a part-time Applebee’s bartender/Zumba instructor. Eric had not built a career on his “Kids in the Kitchen” brand, all about creating opportunities for kids to be creative and confident in the kitchen, only for the inspirations for that video and cookbook series to declare Applebee’s grilled cheese “way better than yours, Dad.” Christian was incapable of serving a meal without a side of ranch.

He sighed and closed Instagram, opening the People app instead. Maybe reading about celebrities’ problems would take his mind off his own.

“Zimmermann-Cassidy divorce. Tensions heat up on ice.”

Eric snorted in disgust but clicked on the headline anyway. He couldn’t help but feel a kinship with Jack Zimmermann, the NHL star whose model wife had been caught cheating on him with his own teammate. Ava Cassidy had played an inane game of Password and gushed about her new romance on Jimmy Fallon earlier in the week. Meanwhile, Jack Zimmermann was rumored to be devastated and supposedly seeking a way out of his contract at the end of the season.

Celebrities, he thought as he downed the last of the wine straight from the bottle. They’re just like us.

Jack isn’t doing well, either

“Oh, honey.” Maman said. “You didn’t fail. Marriage isn’t a game you can win or lose.”

That was easy for her to say. Jack’s parents had a dream marriage, and were still disgustingly in love after more than 40 years. They’d weathered everything—a bicoastal romance in the beginning, the years of trying to have a baby before Jack, the pressures of having careers and raising a child in the public eye, Jack’s ... troubles. Somehow, they’d managed to survive all that with their relationship not only intact, but stronger than ever.

Jack wished he was still small enough to climb into his parents’ bed and lie between them, secure in the knowledge nothing bad would ever happen to him.

“You’ve lost weight,” Maman said. Her eyes were sad but her tone was … not quite sympathetic. Jack knew it was because she worried about him, had always worried about him. It was the fact of being a parent, but because of his history her concern loomed over him, bigger and prone to alarm at even the hint of instability.

“A little,” Jack allowed, not wanting to tell her exactly how much weight he’d lost in the past three months. His trainer was already riding him about it, and the locker room chirps, which he usually ignored, were beginning to get to him. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to care very much.

“Jack, are you eating?” Papa asked, unwilling to tiptoe around the issue.

Jack didn’t know how to tell his parents that if he wasn’t at work, or fulfilling obligations for work, he was sleeping. Usually on the couch with the TV on, because he couldn’t bear being in a silent house or sleeping in his bed alone. Papa would definitely not want to hear that part.

“I still use that meal delivery service,” Jack said truthfully. He did not tell them the meals sat in the refrigerator until he gave up and moved them to the freezer, unwilling to waste them. The chest freezer in the basement that usually held the spoils from their annual Alaskan fishing trip was now full of pre-portioned, nutritionally balanced meals Jack would likely never eat.

“Have you talked to your therapist about adjusting your meds?”

Jack pretended he didn’t hear the question.

Papa sighed. “Look, Jack, I didn’t want to be the one to tell you this, but it’s better you hear it from me instead of somebody else. There are rumors out there …”

Jack knew rumors. This wasn’t the first time he’d been the topic of hot league gossip.

“You’re becoming a problem.”

Yeah, also not a first for that.

“Everybody agrees Rudy was in the wrong, but the way you’re handling this is not helping your case. You still need to do your job. Get through the season, see what happens with the trades. Hell, take a break. You’re almost forty. You have two Cups. Nobody would blink if you wanted to finish out the season and retire quietly.”

“Would you?” Jack asked.

Papa looked at him, gaze steely. “I would do whatever I had to do to stay healthy.”

In June, Jack found himself on a plane to Providence. The trade everyone predicted had happened and while Jack could have just ended it all by announcing his retirement, he didn’t want to end his career on the sour note that was his last year with the Kings. With an entire country between himself and Ava, maybe he would finally find some clarity. If he didn’t have to work with Rudy, maybe he could finally move on.

The Falconers seemed happy to have him, at least, and if anybody had reservations about the sad sack of the NHL joining their roster, nobody voiced them. Not to Jack’s face, anyway.

#WIP asks #the-lincyclopedia

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wangxiangiftexchange · 4 years ago

Text

Winter Solstice Gift for moonanstars124

The request was for fluff, found family, annoying the extended family, and AU coffee shop vibes (which I took extremely literally). I had a lot of fun writing this (my first actual coffee shop AU!) and I hope you enjoy it @moonanstars124!

Read on AO3

*****

The Burial Grounds

“Is there even a point in telling you what I want?” Jin Zixuan asks. “As you’ve never once made what I ordered.”

Wei Wuxian beams at him. “Of course! It gives me direction. A genre, if you will.”

“You do have a specific listing for a surprise drink.” Jin Zixuan resettles a-Ling on his hip. “If I wanted that, don’t you think I’d have ordered it?”

“Well, no,” Wei Wuxian explains reasonably. He reaches across the counter and pats the baby’s cheek. “If you wanted to get what you ordered, you’d have asked Wen Ning to make it.” Wen Ning turns from where he is setting up the soup tureen to shrug in apologetic agreement.

Jin Zixuan sighs deeply. “Someday I’m going to stop tipping you.”

“You can do that on the day that you don’t like what I make you,” Wei Wuxian informs him. “I mean, you won’t, because ajie would never stay married to someone who didn’t tip. But I would understand if you considered it.”

Lan Wangji half-listens to the exchange from his corner table. It is a familiar one, enough so to be pleasant background noise without distracting too much from his book. When the proper disruption comes, it is neither unexpected nor unwelcome, as it happens every morning around this time. He has already closed his book and moved his empty cup to make room for the small chalkboard that appears in front of him.

“Spicy vegetable for the soup,” Wei Wuxian announces, flinging himself down in the other chair. It is not yet nine in the morning, and he already looks happily tired. Lan Wangji nods and wipes the board clean—perhaps not strictly necessary, but if he redoes the borders, Wei Wuxian will sit with him for longer and take a proper break. “White chocolate and cranberry scones, because ajie loves us very much. And...hm. I’ll do a blueberry mint lemonade today, I think. Do we have blueberries?”

This last is for Wen Ning, who sets down Wei Wuxian’s coffee, Lan Wangji’s refill, and a plate with two of the aforementioned scones. “We do,” Wen Ning confirms. “But they’ll go moldy soon, so you should use them up.”

“Perfect.” Wen Ning smiles at both of them and returns to the counter. Wei Wuxian leans back in his chair, stretches his legs full-length, and looks around the coffee shop with satisfaction. One of his ankles comes to rest against Lan Wangji’s. Without looking up from the chalkboard, Lan Wangji puts his free hand on the table. Wei Wuxian laces their fingers together and dips a scone in his drink.

This is how mornings have gone nearly every day for a few years now. Wen Ning arrives early to open; Wei Wuxian staggers down from the apartment upstairs after being prodded awake by Lan Wangji, who claims his table and reads as the coffee shop comes to life around him. Jin Zixuan arrives at some point, bearing the day’s soup and pastries from Lotus Pier Cafe and often as not a dinner invitation for all of them from Jiang Yanli. Lan Wangji earns his coffee by writing out the day’s specials; Wei Wuxian seizes the opportunity to sit down for as long as it takes him to complete the task. Then Lan Wangji gives his table over to the morning rush and goes to work himself. Cloud Recesses Books is close enough to walk to in good weather, and he gets there in time to open. When the coffeeshop closes at three, Wei Wuxian wanders over and spends the rest of the afternoon doing his own reading or debating with Lan Qiren. It is a pleasant routine, and Lan Wangji sometimes has to stop and wonder at how happy he is.

There has been a coffee shop here for decades, under one owner or another, but the Jiangs bought it only three years ago. Lan Wangji remembers perfectly the first time he visited it after that. It was Lan Xichen’s idea to see what the new management had done with the place, and they went for lunch the first month after it reopened. “‘The Burial Grounds?’” Lan Xichen reads, pausing outside the door. “Interesting name choice.”

“After the Burial Mounds, presumably,” Lan Wangji points out. “The nature preserve outside the city.”

“Ah,” his brother says. “Naturally.”

Despite the name, the inside is entirely pleasant: walls repainted to brighten the space, spider plants hanging in the windows, a detailed menu in plain neat lettering on the chalkboard above the counter, specials in the same writing on a smaller one by the pastry case. “They must outsource their food,” Lan Xichen observes, nodding at the familiar lotus image. “The Jiangs own Lotus Pier too, so it makes sense.”

“Mm,” Lan Wangji says. He is listening. He is.

Lan Xichen follows his gaze to the mug on the counter, which holds pens for signing receipts and also a small rainbow flag. “Ah,” he agrees. “That is a pleasing development.”

The line is long enough that they can take their time reading the menu. This is good, because it contains none of the conventional titles. The Med Student, Lan Wangji reads. Four espresso shots in a cup. Below that is The Jiejie: soooooup! (See Specials board for today’s variety). And on and on: The Peacock (a white chocolate mocha with nutmeg), The Angry Brother (chamomile and hibiscus tea), The Adorable Nephew (warm milk with honey), The Headshaker (“Decisions are hard, so let us surprise you!”). Some have less of a story, Lan Wangji thinks: The First Timer is just a latte, and The Adventurer promises undisclosed amounts of cayenne. The result is a place that feels well-loved without being unwelcoming.

“It certainly has character,” Lan Xichen observes as they near the counter. The young man who takes their orders has a quiet earnest smile; he carefully lists the non-dairy milk options for Lan Wangji.

Despite the line, they find a window table easily enough—it is towards the end of the lunch hour—and they watch the street while they wait. It is only a few minutes before a different employee appears with their orders, mugs and bowls balanced precariously enough that Lan Wangji watches the soup in some alarm. But the dishes and their contents reach the table safely, which means that he can look up when the server says brightly, “Can I get you anything else?”

Lan Wangji thinks, Oh. He only barely prevents himself from saying it aloud, and the effort keeps him from speaking at all.

“Oh, wow,” the beautiful man says, staring back at him. Then he shakes himself. “Uh. Sorry. Is this your first time here?”

“We thought we’d see what the new ownership had done with it,” Lan Xichen explains. There is laughter in his voice, subtle enough that Lan Wangji hopes nobody else can hear it. “Our family owns Cloud Recesses, the—”

“The bookshop down the street!” The server’s face lights up—lights up more—and Lan Wangji gives up any hope of forming words himself. “I’ve been in there a few times. I thought you looked familiar.” This is to Lan Xichen; to Lan Wangji, he says, “I haven’t seen you before, though.” He does not say, I would remember, but the sentiment comes through clearly enough that Lan Wangji feels his ears go pink.

“My brother just finished university,” Lan Xichen explains. The amusement has become noticeably less subtle. “He will be working with us.”

“Oh wonderful!” the beautiful man says. “We’ll hope to see you again, then. Both of you, of course.” He sticks his hands into his apron pockets. “I’m Wei Wuxian, the manager. Which is, you know, terrifying. I’m probably not supposed to tell customers that part, though.”

Lan Xichen laughs aloud now, kindly, and Lan Wangji loves his brother for the way the beautiful man—Wei Wuxian—relaxes. “We understand,” Lan Xichen says. “Starting a business is a rather stressful experience at the best of times. I am Lan Xichen; this is Lan Wangji.”

“Welcome to the Burial Grounds, Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji,” Wei Wuxian says gravely, eyes dancing. “Please do let me know if you need anything. Or Wen Ning, he’s honestly much more capable than I am.” He jerks his head towards the counter, where the young man who took their orders is wiping down the espresso machine. “Anyway, I have to get back to work, but I hope you’ll come back.”

“I am certain we will,” Lan Xichen assures him. Wei Wuxian’s eyes linger on Lan Wangji’s face for a moment. When he manages to nod agreement, the smile widens. Wei Wuxian ducks his head at both of them and disappears into what is presumably the back room.

“Well,” Lan Xichen says, after a moment. “This is a delightful discovery.”

“Brother,” Lan Wangji says, deeply pained. He suspects that his ears have gone full scarlet by now.

“I mean the coffee shop, of course.” Lan Xichen takes a sip of his latte and hums with pleasure. “And as a small business ourselves, it’s only right to support others in the neighborhood. We shall have to become regulars.”

Lan Wangji sighs.

He returns alone the next day, just for a coffee in the morning. The one after that, Wei Wuxian sets his drink on the table with a hesitation that already seems out of character. When Lan Wangji tilts his head in question, he says, “I, uh, made you something special. If you want the one you actually ordered, I’ll do that instead, I just...sometimes I get the idea for new things, and I thought you’d like this one.”

Lan Wangji looks at the mug in front of him. It looks like the perfectly dull mocha that he had ordered, unsure what else to get, except that there are flower buds of some kind on top of the foam. He doesn’t know what to say, so he just nods and takes a cautious sip. “Lavender,” he says. He closes his eyes, which helps keep his brain from panicking when Wei Wuxian sits down in the empty chair. “Salt. Something sweet, apart from the chocolate?”

When he opens his eyes, Wei Wuxian’s smile is brilliant. “Birch syrup,” he confirms. “Good, I wasn’t sure how much that would come through; I haven’t used it before. But do you like it? You’re the first person to try that one.”

“Mm.” Lan Wangji looks down at the cup again: something made just for him, not for anyone else. “I like it.” He lifts his head again.

“Oh, wow,” Wei Wuxian murmurs, as he had the first day. “Sorry, I know I’m being weird. I just hadn’t seen you smile before.”

“Not weird,” Lan Wangji says, when he finds his voice. “At least, I don’t mind.” He clears his throat. “Thank you. For the drink. You should put it on the menu.”

“Yeah?” Wei Wuxian grins. “I can do that.”

There is indeed a new listing on the large chalkboard the following day: Dark chocolate mocha with lavender, sea salt, and birch syrup. Lan Wangji looks at the name of it and swallows. The Beautiful Stranger, it says, printed neatly in white chalk below The Headshaker.

When he has been coming to the Burial Grounds several times a week for a month, Lan Wangji arrives one morning to find Wei Wuxian darting frantically back and forth behind the counter. “Wen Ning called out sick,” he explains, when Lan Wangji gets to the front of the line. “This is definitely my reminder to hire more staff. I meant to, since we’ve been doing pretty well, but I just hadn’t gotten around to it. Anyway, sorry, what can I get you?”

Lan Wangji looks at the smear of cocoa powder on his cheek and says, “Is there anything I can do? I do not know how to use the machines, but I could help with other things.”

“You know,” Wei Wuxian says, “that would actually be amazing. Uh, let’s see. I need to get the Specials board up but my handwriting is atrocious. Would you mind? We’ve got chicken dumpling soup and vegan ginger snaps. No drink specials because I have too much else to worry about today.”

When that task is done (“Oh my god,” Wei Wuxian says, staring. “Well, I know I’m never ever showing you my writing”), Lan Wangji clears tables and wipes down the counter and takes orders. All the while, Wei Wuxian darts around the shop like a cheerful whirlwind. “Don’t you have to go to work?” he asks at one point, managing to pour a perfect latte and read the next ticket at once. “I’ll manage. I mean, I don’t know how, but—”

“I have texted my brother,” Lan Wangji says calmly. “He and uncle will cover the bookshop today.”

“...Right,” Wei Wuxian says. “I feel like I should fight you on that, but also I don’t have time. Thank you.”

At three o’clock, Wei Wuxian sets the Closed sign, draws the curtains, and collapses facedown onto the couch where the college students like to study. Lan Wangji regards him for a moment, then puts down the rag he was using to wipe down the last table. He still cannot use the espresso machine, but the kettle is a more familiar creature.

Wei Wuxian lifts his head blearily at the clink of saucer on table. He sits up enough to drink his tea without spilling it, and he devours two of the ginger snaps that Lan Wangji brought over in rapid succession. Lan Wangji sits down in the armchair across from the couch and sips his own tea.

The cookies seem to revive Wei Wuxian a little. “Thank you,” he says. “Again. For the tea and for, you know, everything. How can I repay you? Not a rhetorical question.”

Lan Wangji cradles his tea, glad to have something to do with his hands. “Well,” he says, “when I came in this morning, I meant to ask if you would have dinner with me.”

“Oh!” Wei Wuxian looks at him, wide-eyed. “I—hang on, past tense? Did you change your mind? I guess you did just get the total immersion experience, which I’m told is a lot—”

“I enjoyed the experience,” Lan Wangji says. “But I do not wish you to feel obligated. I will not ask you in a conversation about compensation for my labor.”

“...Right,” Wei Wuxian says. “Because you think about things like that, because you’re a ridiculously good person as well as gorgeous and in possession of unbelievably nice handwriting. Hold on.” He sets down his mug and goes to the counter, does something out of sight involving paper and a pen, and returns. “Here.” Lan Wangji puts down his own tea and inspects the offering: a gift certificate (filled out in a scrawl that is admittedly dreadful) for enough to keep him supplied with coffee for a month, more if he cuts down on his visits. “And I’ll get you all the tips from today, once they’re counted.”

Lan Wangji does not imagine that he will be cutting down on his visits.

“This will do,” he decides, and tucks the paper away in his wallet. “And half the tips. You worked very hard.”

When he looks up again, Wei Wuxian is fidgeting beside his chair. “Sure,” he says. “Great. So is the compensation conversation finished? Can we have the other one now?”

Lan Wangji smiles; he cannot do anything else. Deliberately, he stands up so they are facing each other. Wei Wuxian swallows, but his eyes are bright and he is smiling helplessly as well. Lan Wangji says, “Would you like to have dinner with me?”

“Yes,” Wei Wuxian replies immediately. Then, “You mean like a real date, right? I mean, I’d still say yes either way, but just so we’re clear.”

“A real date,” Lan Wangji confirms.

“Oh wonderful,” Wei Wuxian says. “I really hoped that was what you meant. Yes. Did I already say that?”

He is still in his apron, which has great smears on it from when a cup of coffee spilled on the counter earlier. His hair is coming loose from its tie for at least the fourth time that day; there is raspberry syrup on his forehead and powdered sugar on his nose. He is very, very beautiful.

Lan Wangji reaches up and tucks one loose strand of hair behind his ear. It does very little to help anything, but it means that he gets to feel the slight intake of breath as Wei Wuxian goes still. Lan Wangji does not drop his hand back to his side. Instead, he cups Wei Wuxian’s cheek very gently. He whispers, “May I—”

“Yeah,” Wei Wuxian says, a little hoarsely. “Yeah, yes, please—”

Lan Wangji kisses him. Wei Wuxian makes a soft sweet sound and puts both arms around his neck; Lan Wangji cradles his face a little more firmly and drops his other hand to the small of Wei Wuxian’s back, drawing him in.

And so now it has been three years, or near enough. Lan Wangji dutifully writes out the Specials board every morning; the main menu also bears his script. He has met Wen Qing, who is now a surgeon and no longer the Med Student of the four expresso shots but who remains alarmingly intense. He has also met the Adorable Nephew and the Headshaker as well as the Peacock, Jiejie, and the Angry Brother, all three of whom received him with some combination of suspicion and amusement. “So you’re the Beautiful Stranger,” Jiang Cheng says, having shown up at the Burial Grounds to demand an introduction all of two days after that first date. “Hmph. He’s been yammering about you for a month; you better have been worth it.”

Lan Wangji is trying to be worth it. He plans to ask Wei Wuxian to marry him soon, and he thinks that Wei Wuxian will probably accept. This doesn’t really make the prospect of proposing any less daunting; what does is the way Wei Wuxian pulls him back to bed for sleepy kisses in the mornings, trusting and sure of affection reciprocated. Lan Wangji rather expects that he will slip and ask the question at one of these times, rather than at the dinner date he has scheduled for their anniversary. He doesn’t really mind the idea.

#moonanstars124 #wangxiansolstice20 #*fic20 #*gifts20

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