#anyway i requested her main instagram like the same day and she followed me back

[mayclair]

girls when the girl they have a big fat friend crush on just requested to follow their instagram from her spam despite barely interacting before

[nymphbnny]

blatant

MINORS DNI // +18

genre: nsfw

pairing: eren jaeger x female reader

word count: 3 k

tags/warnings: spitting, choking, slapping, praising kink, hair pulling, dirty talking, dom eren, sub reader, mirror sex, fingering, (fluff??)

synopsis: your irrepressible desire of getting a tattoo makes you run into one of your ex flings who happened to be the only tattoo artist in your area. regarding the lockdown the country was facing, he was currently working from his apartment. despite your friend's multiple warnings, you decide to shrug off the past and get inked.

➥ a.n: hey babies! i'd like to apologize if i haven't posted much lately, i've been really preoccupied with college and responsibilities. i will deliver your requests as soon as i can. enjoy <3

"It ain't worth it babe, trust me." I heard Hitch say through the phone, shuffling in the background indicating that she was cleaning her space. "Once we're done being confined you can try the tattoo artist who lives next to my door. He's very good." I rolled my eyes, my lashes already thick from the amount of mascara I applied.

"Hitch I understand your concern but you really got nothing to worry about." I chuckled and pushed my chair away from my vanity. "He seemed very cool and over it when I texted him to book my appointment. Almost as if it wasn't him." I slid my jacket on and eyed myself one last time in the mirror. Her sigh was loud enough to resonate in my ear. "You do you I guess if you need anything call me. Don't forget to show me the results." she cheered and hung up.

***

I knocked three times on his door, a weird feeling rushing through my veins. Was it anticipation? Was I that eager to see if he had changed? I shook my head adjusting the mask on my face and glimpsed at the empty road. Those streets used to be full at a time like that. The sound of his door opening reset me back to my main focus. His eyes slightly widened once he saw me, his hand still holding onto the side of his door. I furrowed my eyebrows at his peculiar expression. His eyes looked me up and down before he stepped aside, allowing me to step into the familiar apartment. His place looked pretty much the same, except for the new ps5 that was replacing his old one. The atmosphere was reeking of the smell of weed and his cologne. "I wasn't expecting you to be here, I mean what were the odds?" he chuckled closing his door and followed me to his living room.

I turned around once I felt his presence behind me, only to slightly jump from how close he was standing, his tall figure towering over me. I took a step back, my eyes never leaving his. "You're acting as if I didn't text you two days ago." I sassed crossing my arms. He huffed and reached his hand over, dipping his fingers in my mask pulling it down. "Take it off, I can't hear shit." I rolled my eyes and pulled it off. His lips upturned in a small smile before uttering in a low voice: "As pretty as ever." I could feel the butterflies in my stomach go crazy. He always found his way around words. He stepped closer again, this time lifting my chin up with his index finger. "Now say it again."

"What I was saying is that I texted you two days ago to book my appointment." the whole time I was talking he was staring at my lips, his brushing against their corner. "Armin takes care of my Instagram. He must have been the one who replied to your message. You really I wouldn't have teased you if I was the one who replied to you?" he teased and pulled away from me. "I was too busy doing someone anyway, now, where do you want to get inked?" Eren asked taking his shirt off to reveal his old tattoos and some new ones that were resting on his chest and ribs. He also got more muscular. Eren pulled his hair up in a bun, a few locks falling down his forehead and shoulders. He slid his gloves on and tapped on the mattress next to him before he sat on his chair and prepared the ink.

It always surprised me how he was able to shift personalities so quickly. One of the main reasons we never got together. I took off my jacket and threw it on the couch beside me. "My ass," I nonchalantly said unbuttoning my pants. I heard him scoff which made me cock my eyebrow at him. "You think I'm joking?" he shook his head.

"Not at all, I just find it cute how comfortable you are around me knowing we had a history together." My pants were fully off as I stood with only my panties in front of him, his gaze never leaving his gun. "Oh please, it was just a fling, too short to even call it history." I mocked before throwing my leg over the black leather then the other knowing my ass was probably in his face as I was sitting on my fourth before I lied flat on my stomach and rested my head against the soft small pillow. "I already sent you the picture," I stated. He lowly hummed, applying some cold liquid on me before speaking up again: “How’s your boyfriend doing?”

His words struck me like lightning. What was he talking about? “Eren what are you babbling about?” I inquired tilting my head to look at him. He sighed bringing his chair closer to me, my face facing his chest as he looked down at me. “The guy you were making out within Hitch’s story two days ago.” I chuckled at how dumb and oblivious he sounded which he quite didn’t like judging by the look on his face. “Do you still follow Hitch?”

“You’re changing the subject,” he pulled himself closer, his face inches from mine. “I don’t think it’s any of your business to know. I never ask you who you fuck.” I shrugged. This was getting irritating. I came here to get a tattoo and instead I’m getting interrogated about my love life. “You’re my business y/n, you know that,” he mumbled his fingers tucking the hair that fell on my face behind my ear. I scoffed, tired of hearing his gibberish, and turned my face to face the wall. “Y/n,” he scowled his fingers lacing in my hair, slightly tugging at it. “Look at me when I’m talking to you.” I winced swatting his hand away, as I kicked my legs off the mattress and sat up, bending over to reach for my jeans.

“I’m so sick of you being a prick- hey!” I squealed once I felt his hands on my hips, pulling me back to sit me on his lap, his big hand flat on my stomach as the other wrapped around my throat. “Eren-“ “Shh, don’t make me make you listen to me.” he taunted, his breath heavy against my neck. I shifted in his lap, my ass going over his growing erection, a familiar feeling forming between my thighs. I wanted to yell at myself for letting him toss me around like that. I should’ve listened to Hitch. Shit… “Let go, I don’t want to get that fucking tattoo anymore, I’ll book another appointment somewhere else.” I squirmed, attempting to move away but he tightened his grip around my neck, almost making me gag for air.

“Who was the man in the story baby? He looked very fond of your lips, so did you. Was he that good of a kisser?” He trailed his lips from my neck to my ear, brushing them against my lobe. I gulped, cursing at myself for being vulnerable around him. I knew he was no good, from the moment I led my eyes on him and allowed him to my bed I knew, and yet, here I am today. “I don’t know, it was just a party,” I mumbled his index finger moving to rub my bottom lip. He hummed, clearly not satisfied with my vague answer. He let go of my throat, his hips bucking upward, my body almost falling off. I took this as my queue to get up and leave but Eren had other plans. He stood right behind me, his hands resting on the bare flesh of my ass, squeezing gently and slowly as if he was trying to feel me for the first time. “You know, you’re the only one I think about when I need to get off.” My eyes widened at his vulgar words. How could he be so disgusting and bold? Mostly, how could I be so stripped of my self-dignity to like it, how could something like that make me feel special?

“That’s why you called eh?” I challenged him raising my chin up to look at him. “You can’t just pull shit like that and expect me to be okay with it. I want to leave.” I sighed and moved past him, his hand gripping my arms and pulling me back to his chest. His hands were now cupping my cheeks, memories rushing through my brains as he silently smiled at me. “I know you want to fuck me.” and unfortunately he was indeed right. I wanted to feel him stretch my walls as he pounds himself deep within me, my name falling from his ajar lips as he fills me up with his hot cum- “And now you’re thinking about it. C’mon baby, kiss me.”

My heart was pounding in my chest and for a second I got lost in his emerald eyes. Fuck it and fuck this dumb tattoo idea. He was reading my mind, I could tell by how close he was bringing his lips to mine waiting for my next move. He knows how obedient my body and mind are when it comes to him. If I were to fuck him, I’d also have to relocate knowing that I won’t be able to control myself. “You’re taking too much time.” he seethed before forcing his lips on mine, hungrily parting mine to allow access for his tongue. It didn’t take me long to kiss him back, acknowledging the fact that I’ve been deeply craving this for a while. My fingers worked through his hair, freeing it from his tie, his black locks falling above his shoulders. He was so damn handsome fucking hell.

I could feel his smirk against my lips when I trailed my hands across his toned chest, slowly dragging them down to feel his abs. I traveled them back up to squeeze his broad shoulders. Every atom of me missed feeling him like that. “You sure as hell switched sides real fast.” he teased, his hands wrapping underneath my thighs to lift me up and walked to his bedroom. LED lights were added to his wall along with a new bed that was much bigger than the one I got used to. He dropped me onto his mattress, my body slightly bouncing as I brought myself back, watching crawl over me, his lips taking mine between his again then biting on my bottom lip. His hair was caressing my cheeks as he hovered over me, one of his hands rubbing my thigh and gently smacking it as the other held onto the headboard, his bicep flexing at the stretch.

His hand ran up my abdomen to my chest, slipping under my Metallica shirt, his face turned in a cocky expression when the pads of his fingers directly felt my breasts, my nipples hardening at his touch. “No bra?” he raised his eyebrow, his hand now lifting my t-shirt up exposing my boobs to him. He lowered his head and began his assault on my chest, sucking biting, and licking my nipples like a newborn baby, unable to remove his head from my chest. I bucked my hips up, needing more friction. Eren must’ve gotten the message, his lips kissing their way down my panties, his teeth sinking into the fabric before pulling it down, the dark stain making him chuckle slyly. “Thought you found me repulsing,” he mumbled before slapping my clit with his middle and ring finger, making me squirm. He shook his head with a smirk, his hands wrapping underneath my thighs to pull them up, positioning my legs on his shoulders. My hips were inches up from the mattress, my throbbing cunt in full display. He smiled down at my sex, gathering some spit before coating it with it.

Eren always liked to make a scene out of everything, and that was exactly what he was doing; spitting, sucking, and even slurping at my pussy, the obscene sounds he was producing making me blush from how vulgar it was. He kept licking my slit, occasionally slipping his tongue in and out, casually adding his fingers to bring me closer to my climax. I was a squirming and panting mess but he didn’t care, he never did. He loved the way he pleasured me, it always inflated his ego in some way. “Eren… ah shit…” I gripped onto his black hair and pushed him closer to my heat, almost making him lack air. I climaxed around his fingers, his tongue licking off all the arousal that was dripping down my thighs. He gave my pussy another smack, the sensitivity of my orgasm making me yelp.

“I’m not done with you yet, all fourth baby come on,” he pulled away before taking off his bottoms along with his brief, his cock standing hard and veiny. Fucking hell I missed it. He gave it a few pumps, enjoying the way I was drooling over his dick, my eyes unable to look elsewhere. Was I tripping or did he get bigger? “Come on doll, face the mirror-like the good girl you are, my good girl,” I moved my body until I was facing his mirror, my back arching until I was prepped on my hands and knees, aching to feel him. I wiggled my ass back once I saw his reflection behind me, his hand sending a harsh smack to my ass, rubbing the flesh then repeating the action. “I was going to go easy on you-“ he started, pushing his tip in, “but I can’t hold back anymore.” And with that, he rammed himself into me in one harsh thrust, my hips moving forward as I whimpered loudly.

He definitely got bigger.

I could feel my tears burning up behind my eyes as he stretched me completely, his tip already rubbing my cervix. Eren never once slowed his pace, instead, he pulled my hair to adjust my arch, forcing me to maintain eye contact with him as he smirked at me from the mirror. He threw his head back, his mouth agape as he groaned, my cunt clenching tightly around him. “Shit still got the best cunt.” He chuckled darkly, his words degrading me to the fullest, my self-esteem currently nonexistent. “Oh fuck, Eren…” I moaned out, my tears running down my cheeks from how good it felt. “It’s so good it hurts…” I whined throwing my ass back, meeting his thrusts. His hand snacked around my neck, bringing my body back to collide with his chest, the position making my swollen pussy squeeze his cock even more. He kissed down my neck, casually biting and sucking. “I fucking missed you, fuck-“ he groaned turning my face with his hand, his lips capturing mine in a lustful kiss, his tongue wasting no time to penetrate my mouth.

I could feel my second orgasm approaching, my knees getting weaker, and my ability to focus fading away. Eren must have noticed, his hand letting go of me before flipping me around to hover over me, his dick never once leaving my heat as he relentlessly kept fucking me. I wrapped my legs around him, his face buried in my neck as I came around him, chanting his name in his ear. “Gonna make you swallow every single drop.” he breathed, his cock pulling out of me before he straddled my face, tapping his tip on my mouth. I instantly stuck my tongue out, his hand jerking himself off, ropes of cum shooting in my mouth. Doing as told, he smirked down at me before bending down, kissing my lips one more time then got out of bed. I sat up, reaching over to the box of tissues that was on his nightstand, and cleaned myself, Eren doing the same. I toyed with my fingers before finally getting out of bed and gathered my stuff, wanting to leave as fast as I could.

“Yo, what do you think you’re doing?” He questioned cocking his eyebrow, not fond of my decision to leave his apartment. His sweats were back on along with a new hoodie he picked up from his closet. “Home?” I sassed pulling down my shirt. “It’s dark outside and no one is out there, you’re not going out alone.” he scowled furrowing his eyebrows. I chuckled, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Do me a favor and skip the caring act. Been there done that, don’t recommend.” I mocked turning on my heels, only to be beckoned closer to him, his hand yanking me with his to his bed.

I collapsed on his chest, Eren was quick to pull his blanket over us, making it impossible for me to move. He wrapped his arms tightly around me and rested his chin on my head. “Eren what is going on with you-“ “I don’t want to leave you ever again. I’m not letting you go.” He gripped me tighter, my face sinking into the soft fabric of his hoodie. “Stay, please.” I should have left, I should have refused and denied him, but I couldn’t, however, a chime coming from his phone made me tilt my head to scan his lock-screen.

agatha

r u still comin’ over tomorrow?

“You fucker,” I smacked his chest and pulled myself away from him. “You are still the same asshole. It was just the weed doing the talking for you.” I finally got off his bed and gathered my stuff again, making my way to his door. “Yo, yo,” his footsteps were fast behind me as he wrapped his arm around my waist, stopping me from turning the knob. “I said leave me alone-“

“Agatha is my cousin Jesus Christ stop moving around.” He steadied me, both hands on my hips. “Why did you act like that calm down.” I looked up at him, only to find a sincere expression on his face. Something in me told me to leave, to turn my back, and to never come back, however, I did quite the opposite and allowed myself to get tangled up in his arms, again and again, and again.

[migilini]

Not So Secret Anymore - Charlie Gillespie

summary: It’s hard to hide a relationship from the public, particually when both work on the same show.

words: 2.5k

warnings: fluff

a/n: not my fave but i still somehow like it.

Requests are open :)

MASTERLIST

------------------------------------------------------

September

"When do we have our first interview?" you asked the boy whose head was in your lap. He looked up from his phone and your eyes locked with his green ones "Hmm, my calendar says in about 30 minutes."

You groaned at that and stopped playing with Charlie's hair which earned you a grunt and whine from him. "Sorry babe but I think I have to go, so I still have time to get ready and set up." You muttered and gave him a small kiss on his brown hair.

"Uhh fine." The weight lifted from your legs, you stood up and before you knew it you were thrown over his shoulder. Laughing, you slapped his butt and back repeatedly. "Babe! I mean it" you tried to press out between giggles, "we both decided to keep us a secret." He sat you down on the kitchen isle and cornered your body in between his arms, standing right in front of you, you're back hitting the kitchen cabinet.

"I know... come back later?" he asked and tilted his head, looking at you with big puppy eyes. "You know it." After a swift kiss, or rather a little make out session, you were on your way back to your own appartement. Just in time to change your top and put on a lip-gloss before opening your laptop and joining the interview.

"Hello everybody! I'm here with the cast of Netflix' Julie and the Phantoms that came out on Thursday. How are you guys?" the interviewer asked and smiled into the camera of his laptop. The whole cast chirped in with a good, great, or amazing.

"That's fantastic!" he clapped his hands "Now, Jeremy, how would you describe your Character and the show in general?"

"It's a show about ghosts from 1995 who come back 25 years later and join a band with Julie who didn't sing a note after her mother died. Reggie, the character that I play, is one of those ghosts and he is a loveable himbo. Did I use that word correctly Maddie?"

Maddie smiled and the interviewer changed the topic "Madison and y/n, birds have told me that this was your first ever acting job is that right?"

You nodded and signaled Maddie to speak first "Yes, and it was both amazing and traumatizing! I was so nervous, but the crew really helped to calm me down, especially y/n who just was in the same position as me, so we freaked out together most of the time." She smiled and the interviewer waited for you to answer. "Except, Maddie had a least some acting training at school, that's why she is the best. I more or less walked into the whole situation." You said laughing.

"I love this story." Jeremy exclaimed, making you slightly blush at his words.

"Would you be so kind and tell us?" the interviewer questioned and smiled at your little nod.

"Yes, yes of course. Well, I was on vacation with one of my good friends from back home..."

"She means Germany." Owen interrupted with a smile on his lips. "Yes, Owen. Thank you for adding important details. Anyways, we saw that there was an Open Audition nearby and though why not? We don't have anything to lose or to do on that particular day. And here I am, my friend sadly didn't get in."

"That really is an amazing story, I can see why Jeremy likes it so much. So, Charlie how would you describe y/n's and Luke's characters, she wasn't supposed to be in the script and was later added in right?" Charlie quirked up at the mention of your name and stated proudly. "Indeed, she impressed Kenny so much that he wrote a character just for her. He thought that Sunset Curve, the band name before we died, needed a female to handle their chaos or well... at least tries to. Y/N plays Allie, who against common speculation isn't any of the boys' love interest which is a very nice turn of events. She and Luke bud head a lot because Luke only thinks about music and the band and she tries hard to make him take breaks every now and then." 

A lovesick smile sat on your face while you listened to your boyfriend of nearly a year, once you realized your expression you quickly shook it off. Hiding this relationship was definitely going to be harder than expected.

The Interviewer asked some more questions before the last and dreaded question was thrown your way. "So, most of your fans are wondering if any of you guys are in a relationship." You and Charlie had discussed a million times before what you guys would say in such a moment, the two of you shared a look.

Jeremy's eyes switched from Charlie's box on his screen to y/n's before answering "I have a lovely wife! The rest of us are happily single, right guys?"

"100%" Maddie added, while Owen only shrugged, his dog conveniently jumping into his lap.

"How about the other two?" he eyed up the last remaining.

"Very single" Charlie laughed, and you agreed "Totally."

As time went on it was harder and harder for the two of you to hide the relationship, as you two spent nearly every day together and therefore did the same activities. Particularly after your social media accounts have gained over a million followers and people started to ship actors and tv show characters. But you two loved the little secret bubble you've created, there was no pressure to take good pictures together, or to post stories, to be asked a thousand questions about your relationship and no hate towards any of you.

December

It has been 4 months since the show released and the hype it got definitely was way more than you ever expected. It blew your mind. Currently, you are on Charlie and yours one-year anniversary / Christmas / good deeds vacation. Charlie and you found a good mix, that made you both happy, between chilling and doing adventurous things.

It was Christmas eve and Maddie wanted to do a 'guess the song Christmas Edition' with the main cast. Eagerly you agreed and hurried from the beach, where Charlie currently took the quiz at the bar you both sat on just minutes before, to your shared bedroom. You shot Maddie a quick text that you were 'out of the relationship zone' and ready when she was ready.

"Helloooo. How did the others do?"

"Not the worst but I still have faith in you to win this. ARE YOU READY?" she screamed the last part.

“I’m going to read you the lyrics of a christmas song and you have to guess the next line. There are certain cards that give one point and others give two. Whoever has the most points at the end…”

“Hopefully get your earrings” you asked with a sly smile and your shoulders raised.

Maddie laughed but shook her head “Sadly, no. I haven't figured out the price yet, but I for sure will! I like your backdrop by the way.” she added and you quickly looked behind you. You sat crisscrossed on the hotel room floor, you used the coffee table and a water bottle as a phonestand and used a white checkered wall as a background to try and hide the fact that you didn't sit in your living room.

January

“This should be the last box.” you cheered into the empty hall and shut the front door with a light push from your hip. Charlie popped his head out of the bedroom and walked over to, dropping his head on your shoulder in exhaustion. Nothing was set up, boxes stood randomly all over the apartment, the fridge stood there still empty and a lonely mattress covered the bedroom floor.

“The walls look a bit bare don't you think?” you said about a week later, standing in the middle of the now a bit furnished living room. Strong arms sneaked their way around your waist and a head dropped on your shoulder.

“Hmm… you're right. What do you have in mind?” Charlie said and turned you around so you were facing him. He smiled at the spark in your eyes “I was thinking, a yellow akzent wall with random secondhand pictures and some pictures of us, all in frames of course. So it's gonna have this homey and creative atmosphere.” You rambled on for a while longer, telling him where you think his instruments could go, the pillows you saw online and thought they worked perfect with the colour of the couch. Charlie just stared at you, a dumb smile on his lips with his arms around you.

“Do you not like it?” you noticed that he hasn't talked for a while and got worried. “I love it. We could live in a dumpster for all I care, as long as I have you by my side.” You fake gaged at his romantic words and gave him a kiss.

The first time people got really suspicious was the time you accidentally walked in on a live he had on Instagram. He sat in front of his instruments, phone propped up before him. You thought that he was already finished but you were wrong.

“Do you think this…” you walked into the room, a shirt in your hand that you just took out of the dryer and lost your words the moment you saw him sitting in front of his phone. He looked at you with wide eyes, his brain clearly searching for a good excuse. 

“Is that y/n?” he read outloud from the chat, gesturing you do sit next to him. “Yes it's her! We’re hanging out and she helped me with my washing because I somehow still don't know how to do it.” he laughed nervously, his hand grabbing yours out of the frame.

“He promised me food and I live really close by, so I thought I'll help this poor man out.”

May

Looking back at this moment now, you and Charlie weren't sure why you just didn't come clean. You didn't mean to hide the relationship this long, it just kinda happened and at one point it just got too awkward to tell. It was fairly easy to hide most of the time, you didn't most that much on instagram and Charlie only showed parts of his daily life.

The easiest was the time you filmed JATP Season 2. You were expected to hang out and live together. Back in 2019 you already lived with Owen and Charlie. This time poor Owen had to live with a couple instead of just two friends. (You were already dating for a while back then but didn't tell the cast, to not make a fuss.)

It wasn't like the fans didn't suspect a thing, especially after Owen posted a video of you two fooling around. 

Everybody sat outside, enjoying the everwarming sun on their skin. Half of the cast was already in costume just waiting for the break to end. In typical Allie (your character) fashion you wore an overall with a tight tank top underneath, your makeup stood out from the others with the heavy blush, freckles and black eyeliner. 

Charlie, in his Luke wardrobe, thought that it was funny to stand in front of you to shield you from the sun.

"Stop that" you whined and tried to shove him away, which was harder than you thought considering he stood before you and you sat on a bench.

"Make me." He flirted and stood even wider before you, puffing out his chest. Raising an unimpressed eyebrow, you stole his beany with a swift motion. His expresion quickly changed from cocky to shocked, snickering was heard from Maddie who was used to this type of behaviour.

"Ups… heavy wind blows in the shadows." You explained nonchalantly and pulled the beany on your head, sticking your tongue out at your boyfriend.

"Oh it's on my lady" he growled "I'm giving you a three second advantage. One…" your eyes widened and your heart rate picked up. "Two…" you got up and scanned the place internally making a good running line. "Th-.." you began sprinting across the lot. You heard the laughing from your castmates behind you as you and Charlie ran in circles. 

Unfortunately, he was still fitter and faster than you and about a minute into the running he had you thrown over his shoulder.

"Surrender!" he screamed as you tried to wiggle out of his grip.

"Never!" You screamed back and wiggled even harder.

"Surrender or i'll have to tickle you" he warned and those were the last words Owen was able to film before a producer yelled that the break was finished.

February

“Baby, if I would believe this News Article, you have a secret girlfriend, but it's not me.” you showed him your phone screen.

“I’m not cheating on you. I would never, i'd die rather than…” his frantic expression made you snort. “I know. Oh my god! People saw you with Lia.” you held his hands comfortably.

“Lia as in your best friend Lia?”

“The one and only. People noticed the hickeys... At least they’re getting closer now. So are we still on for the masterplan? You by instruments and I'm gonna sit in the bedroom?" He nodded and smiled at the sight of your equally plastered neck. 

Eventually, before you even were able to execute the as you'd like to say 'masterplan' your relationship got outed. I mean it was time, the two of you getting lazier with the hiding as time went by. 

Fans noticed that you wore a lot of Charlie's things and that you and him always seemed to be at the same place at the same time. It was actually one of your lives that spilled the secret. 

"That's a really nice akzent wall" you read outloud from the chat "oh thank you! It was a long process to get all the pictures but it was actually Charlie's idea to not only have pictures but also plane tickets, date memories and so on hung up on that wall. It really makes it homey. I think to get that wall this crowded it took us...what? About well since we moved in…" you didn't even realise what you said you just babbled and then it was out.

"Charlie actually is home! I could call him. Babe! Come here for a sec- oh my god!" Your hands flew up to your mouth in realizion. 

From that moment on you were public and your social media exploded once again. However the two of you were happy to finally show each other off.

[horansqueen]

Stuck With You - Epilogue 2

Epilogue 2 : Anyone But You

🡪chapter 1  🡪chapter 2  🡪chapter 3  🡪chapter 4  🡪chapter 5  🡪chapter 6  🡪chapter 7  🡪chapter 8  🡪chapter 9  🡪chapter 10  🡪chapter 11 🡪chapter 12 🡪chapter 13 🡪chapter 14 🡪chapter 15 🡪chapter 16 🡪chapter 17 🡪chapter 18 🡪chapter 19 🡪chapter 20 🡪chapter 21 🡪chapter 22 🡪chapter 23 🡪chapter 24 🡪chapter 25 🡪chapter 26 🡪chapter 27 🡪chapter 28 🡪chapter 29 🡪chapter 30 🡪chapter 31 🡪chapter 32  🡪chapter 33 🡪chapter 34 🡪chapter 35 🡪chapter 36 🡪chapter 37 🡪chapter 38 🡪epilogue 1

College Enemies To Lovers AU

characters // masterlist // instagrams // mood board

I don't change my mind for anybody I won't waste my time on just anybody I won't share my life (with anyone but you)

It's such a long road (with anyone but you) That I couldn't follow (with anyone but you) Never anyone but Never anyone but (anyone but you)

THANK YOU! thank you for reading this story, for commenting this story, for reblogging and liking this story. Thank you to everyone on the update list, everyone who sent me requests and ideas, everyone who followed this story and everyone who was excited for every chapter. Thank you to everyone who messaged me, complimented me, thank you for all the emotions you shared with me through the characters. THANK YOU SO MUCH! i love you all. i can’t explain how much!

This is the final chapter. i hope you enjoy it and that this story reached your expectations. and i hope it makes you want to read my next story!

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH THANK YOU TIMES INFINITY!

NIALL

I stared at the painting on the wall as people walked slowly around me. I was proud of my girlfriend for her first exhibition but it was the very first time I was seeing this specific painting and although I knew no one had seen the picture it was based on, I recognized it immediately. She had asked me if she could expose the pictures but I couldn't see them anywhere. Instead, she had painted one of them and I was staring at it. The feelings invading me were the same than when I looked at the actual picture and I realized it was probably the moment that made me feel like that.

I felt her soft touch on my upper arm and detached my eyes from her art, blinking a few times to look at her. She raised her eyebrows slightly and bit her bottom lip nervously.

"You hate it."

"No!" I quickly replied, shaking my head and frowning a bit. "No it's just, so different than what you normally paint."

"I know, I think painting the human body is so complex and it really depends on how you see the person. It gets so much more emotional when you paint someone you love."

Her eyes found the painting and she breathed in before sighing. "Maybe I shouldn't have painted it, maybe I shouldn't have exposed it... I just thought it was a way to expose the pictures without really showing them to anyone."

"It's amazing, Devie." I whispered, making her turn around to look at me again.

Our eyes met and she sent me a shy smile. I turned to her and cupped her face, running my thumbs on her cheeks gently before bending down to kiss her lips.

"Dev!"

My girlfriend broke our kiss when she heard her name and I looked up to see Lewis, Daxia, Louis and Eleanor getting closer. We had been hanging out a lot recently and it was nice to be around people like them. Louis and I were also getting closer, probably because of Devon, and I liked that. I had missed him.

"This painting is beautiful." Daxia let out, making her glass turn in her hands as she stared at it. "I mean they all are, this one is just different."

"I was just telling her that." I smiled, glancing at my girlfriend.

"A lot of emotions thrown on that canvas." Louis pointed out, raising his eyebrows, and I immediately knew that he had guessed.

I thought about the real pictures that we had left at my apartment. Devon had created a mobile with them and we had placed it in a corner of my bedroom. Sometimes, I stared at it, just watching it move to see the lyrics written behind one of the pictures,. It brought so many memories to my mind and I knew It always would, no matter how many years passed.

"Hey, where are we celebrating tonight?" Lewis asked as Louis sent a smirk to Devon.

"Nope, not tonight guys, but we'll plan something soon." I quickly replied, shaking my head. "Tonight I'm just spending the night alone with my main girl."

"Seriously, why do you guys call each other like that?" Louis asked with a grimace. "Does that imply you have side girls and guys?"

Devon chuckled but I shook my head. "It's a secret between us, Tommo." I just replied, hitting his arm gently and making my girlfriend laugh.

I didn't answer his question because I knew he was joking, but it made me wonder if Devon really knew why I called her like that. It took an hour and a half before we finally arrived at my apartment and as soon as we walked in, I pressed her against the wall, pushing the door with one of my feet.

"It's my turn to be proud of you." I whispered, feeling her hands slip under my hoodie. "Your art moves me, Devie. You move me."

She grabbed my bottom lip between hers and sucked on it, making me groan.

"You know why I call you my main girl, right?" I wondered in a whisper, my lips brushing against hers.

"Mmhm, because of that conversation we had, when I said I wanted to be the protagonist." she moved closer to kiss me again and I let her before licking my lips.

"Not only that." I admitted just as low. "Devie, my real story didn't start before I met you. It was just a long prologue before the main thing."

Her lips parted and her eyes watered as I kept staring at her in the darkness of the room. I didn't know how to explain to her what she meant to me but seeing the way she was looking at me at that exact moment made me think she may know anyway.

She brought one of her hands in my hair as she stared at me. I loved feeling her fingers in my hair and I kissed her lips gently again. I thought I knew what love felt before but I really didn't. I knew it sounded cliché but it was true. I was ready to bet on anything that Devon was the love of my life and that what we had would last forever.

"I love you," she whispered, shaking her head slightly. "And we're going to your room right now."

I chuckled at her words and shook my head too. "No, we can't. I have a surprise for you." I admitted, making her frown. "Close your eyes." She stared at me and i smiled. "Do you trust me?"

Instead to answer, she closed her eyes and breathed in before I turned the light on. I put myself behind her, placing my hands on her eyes and leading her slowly to the living room, making her stop next to the couch.

"Okay, keep your eyes closed alright?"

She nodded and slowly, I took my hands off her eyes, making sure she was not cheating, and I took a few steps back. I stared at her for a while, feeling my heart thump against my chest, a bit scared of what she'd say, and when I softly told her to open her eyes. I watched confusion appear on her traits until she saw the little puppy, laying on the floor, asleep. I had tried to put a bow on his head but it was falling down and Devon chuckled, her lips parted.

"Niall!" she let out without sending me a glance before getting on her knees and moving closer to the small dog.

Slowly, she took him in her arms and he woke up, making my lips curl. "It's a miracle he didn't bark before, would have ruined the surprise."

"Niall I... I can't." she shook her head, looking at the puppy with loving but sad eyes. "My parents will never let me bring a dog home, you know it."

"He can stay here." I just shrugged, pushing my hands in my pockets.

She chuckled and rolled her eyes, turning to me with an amused smile. "Ah, you bought yourself a puppy, then."

"No, it's your puppy." I explained after swallowing the lump in my throat. "And he's gonna need you 24/7. And... and I need you 24/7, too."

She frowned and slowly got up, walking to her, the dog still in her arms. "Niall, what are you saying?"

I breathed in and swallowed again, taking a few steps closer to her very slowly. I had no idea why it stressed me so much. Perhaps I was scared that she'd think it's too soon, or that it was a stupid idea, but deep down, I really wanted her to accept.

"Devie, I'm ready to spend forever with you." I confessed in a gentle tone, taking my hands out of my pocket to grab one of hers. I opened her palm and placed a key inside before sighing. "It would be an honor for me if you moved in here, with me. What's mine is yours, and all that."

"That... That would mean we'd go to bed together all the time, and wake up together all the time. And I could watch you get ready for work in the morning, and we'd take showers together, and cuddle in front of the tv, and make food together... Every single day?"

"No." I shook my head with a chuckle. "Sometimes I'd bring take out or we'd order."

She chuckled and rolled her eyes, putting the dog down before he just ran away, making her laugh. She brought her attention back to me and I raised my eyebrows. "So? Is that a yes?"

She got on her tiptoes as her lips curled and slid her arms around my neck, pulling me gently closer. "Yes. It's a yes." she whispered, making me sigh of relief. "Did you doubt it?"

I chuckled nervously and kissed her lips. "Was just nervous." I admitted, raising my nose up. "How are you gonna name your puppy? Something original!"

"No idea yet, but you're right, we need an original name for our main dog."

I laughed and wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her closer. "Thank you, Niall." she whispered, licking her lips. The way she looked at me all lovingly made my heart jump in my chest. There was something about the way her body fitted perfectly with mine that I couldn't stop thinking about.

"What for?"

"For being you. For seeing me. For loving me."

"Easiest thing I ever did, petal." I admitted in a murmur. "I love you."

"I love you more."

[retrievablememories]

dress it up | taeyong

title: dress it up pairing: taeyong x black!reader genre: fluff? request: “Hello I sent this request a couple weeks ago right when request followed I just wanted to resend since it’s open again ❤️: I was wondering if you could write with something with taeyong and a black oc. I really like taeyong’s sense of style and I feel like he’d be a great brand ambassador. I was thinking something about him and reader meeting at like a fashion show.” word count: 3.6k warnings: some cursing, a lil vulgar language, some alcohol use a/n: i don’t have a clue how the fashion industry works and got most of my research from a cosmopolitan article, but here’s my take on it 🤡 i struggled with how to approach the plot and feel like it might be a little dry? so i apologize if it’s lacking :/

“This year’s fashion show is going to be interesting, I think. I heard a few of those guys from NCT are coming.” Your friend Diana comes over to the couch where you’re sitting and tumbles over the back of it, landing halfway in your lap. You shout as she does, narrowly avoiding spilling your bowl of cereal.

“NCT? Which ones?” You try to crowd closer to her phone to see if it has the answers; she’s been unable to come away from it for the last half-hour. She twists away from you so you won’t be able to see the screen, but it’s a little too late for that. “Ugh, don’t tell me you’re texting that idiot again. I thought you said you were done with him.”

“Don’t worry about that.” She chuckles nervously. “Anyway, it’s not 100% confirmed yet, but some of the reports have mentioned there’s gonna be Taeyong...ain’t he the leader or something like that?” 

“I’m sure. Didn’t you know? I think he might be the same one who’s been on Melanie’s radar for a bit...”

“Melanie?” Diana’s head springs up from the couch cushion.

You nudge her and laugh. “Don’t look so shocked, she makes good choices sometimes.”

The other girl shakes her head. “Huh. I highly doubt it. The last few models she scouted were major divas and you know this. Who is going to sit all day and pick all the M&Ms out of trail mix? I don’t get paid enough for this bullshit.”

“Either way, keep looking. Whether you hate her choices or not, we’re still gonna need some fresh faces for this new ad campaign.”

Diana sighs and waves her hand. “I got it.”

“You should probably make sure you find more prospects this time, too. Jasmine was tryna throw shade last time because she had, like, 2 more than you.”

“Oh girl, fuck that. No one cares if you have more prospects if they’re all a bunch of Insta influencers and bored rich kids who bought their way onto the runway.”

You both laugh out loud at that, though Diana’s quickly distracted again when she gets a message. 

“Don’t think I’m gonna forget about you and your man troubles, either. You need to leave that clown alone,” you say, pushing her off as you get up to go to the kitchen.

“Whatever! Just let me have my fun, it ain’t nothing serious.”

The day of the show is hectic, though that’s expected. There’s always someone—or a group of someones—running around like a chicken with their head cut off with how much work there is to do, getting people in their right seats and making sure the models are dressed properly.

You, Melanie, and Diana try to stick together for the most part, though Melanie quickly makes Diana weary with her nonstop talking. Jasmine is nowhere to be found, but you know she’s there somewhere. She got the same invite the rest of you did.

“Liza is gonna be pissed if Jasmine doesn’t show up,” Melanie comments. “Can’t get a good story with no editors on the job.”

“Are you not an editor anymore, then?” Diana says, unamused. “We’re here, too. We don’t need that girl to do our own jobs.”

Melanie sighs. “Well, I’m just saying...”

“Calm down,” you tell Diana. “We’ll do fine either way. See, this is what happens when you don’t listen to me; you’ve let this bum dude get you all wound up.”

She rolls her eyes. “Don’t start that here, let’s just find our seats.”

The three of you sit a little further back in the crowd with the rest of the editors, bloggers, and whoever else has come to get the scoop. The more famous people—aka, the celebrities and fashion designers—sit near the front for all to see. It’s like watching a bunch of pretty, puffed-up peacocks strut around and mingle together. Some of them clearly want to be noticed even more than the models, though all the attention they get isn’t the favorable kind.

Melanie makes an excited noise next to you, and  Diana looks to see what’s reacting to, then perks up herself. “Look, there they are.” Diana nearly has to shout in your ear over the noise, nodding her head in a direction several feet away from your group. Just as she’s said, there is Taeyong, Jaehyun, Mark, and Yuta walking to their seats.

“Yep, that’s them,” you reply. “Are you gonna go talk to them after the show?”

“Me!? That might be better suited for you guys,” Diana says, looking at you and Melanie nervously. You laugh at her sudden change in demeanor.

“Come on. What’s wrong? They’re just men, and we’ve worked with plenty of attractive clients before.”

“I know, but…” Diana trails off, a skeptical expression written all over her face. “They’re just, uh, way prettier than I expected them to be. It’s a bit shocking.” You snort at that.

“You can’t be serious.”

Melanie rolls her eyes at the indecisiveness. “I will gladly do it if neither of you will.”

“I never said I wouldn’t,” you interject. “Just let me and Melanie handle the kpop idols and you can talk to the Instagram influencers who work your nerves so much.” You laugh, and Diana sighs, crossing her legs.

“Sure, sure.” As you all wait for the show to start, Diana sits up again. “Oh, there’s the bitch.”

You and Melanie both look. She must obviously be referring to Jasmine, who’s sitting with another group of fashion editors nearby and apparently having the time of her life. “As long as she don’t come back around here, I don’t care…” you say, sitting back in your seat.

“Nah, but let me find out she’s kissing a rival company’s ass. That sounds like information the boss could use, if you know what I mean.”

You laugh at that. “Girl. Not this snitching shit.”

“More mess.” Melanie shakes her head.

The show starts soon after, with the surrounding lights dimming a bit and the main spotlights illuminating the runway. There are a few speakers who introduce the show’s concept before the models come out, and then the music begins, loud enough to make your eardrums rattle.

The fashion show itself seems to go on forever, all the models and their outfits blending into one colorful mass of fabric and glitter. You still take notes the whole time, though, as you’ve been taught to do since you took the job. Even if you’re bored with the celebrities, the music, or the show itself, you still have to bring something good back home.

Possibly the most important of the show, there’s always time after it ends—and before the after party begins—for everyone to mingle and network. This is primetime for the editors and bloggers, who do their best to make as many connections and unforgettable first impressions as possible. Even if you don’t get an interview or deal that day, it’s always possible to make yourself memorable enough that they’ll reach out to you later.

You don’t plan on going home empty-handed today, though.

Making your way to the NCT members is not particularly easy, though you didn’t quite expect it to be. Many others are also determined on getting next to them, whether it’s to admire their looks, try their luck, or make an actual business proposition.

Finally, you and Melanie worm your way to the front of the crowd after some other editors have left. You quickly discover that, despite your earlier teasing, your friend was right; they really are much prettier up-close and in-person. 

Taeyong, especially, is hard to look away from. Making eye contact with him makes you feel a bit flustered, which you aren’t quite expecting. You quickly get used to seeing celebrities in this line of work, which diminishes the starstruck factor after a while.

He’s the only member not currently talking to someone else, and you snatch that chance before someone else can jump in; you can already see another editor from one of your rival companies making a beeline for him.

“Um, hi! I’m Y/N and this is my coworker Melanie...we’re with InStyle Magazine. It’s great to see you here.”

Taeyong smiles at you warmly and shakes both of your hands. His hand is soft in yours, and his rings are cool against your skin. “It’s nice to meet you, I’m Taeyong.”

“Did you enjoy the show today?” you ask. Another thing you’ve learned is that it’s better to make some kind of human connection with someone before asking them for any kind of favor. Unfortunately, not every editor follows that advice.

“Yes, it was amazing. Really exciting.” He raises his eyebrows. “Did you enjoy it, too?”

“Oh of course, it was great! So much fun, thank you for asking.” Melanie nods along to your words. “You’re pretty fashionable yourself,” you say to him, gesturing to his outfit. “But I’m sure you already know that; we’ve seen quite a few of your best looks.”

Taeyong shrugs as if he’s bashful about it, though his bright smile tells another story. “It’s a way to express myself...I mean, besides music, so it’s nice to go all-out.”

You smile. “It’s a great gift to be able to express yourself however you like. What would you think about exploring that with us at Instyle? I think it’d be a great opportunity to get to know you and your groupmates better, especially with how fashion-forward you all are. Is that something that would interest you?”

“I’m interested, and I’m sure the others would be into it, too. Maybe our managers can work something out?” Taeyong turns to the manager standing beside him and says something in Korean, and the manager appears to think something over for a moment before nodding.

Melanie jumps into the conversation next. “We also have connects with pretty popular brands right now, like Vetements. We can’t guarantee any deals outright, but it never hurts to get in touch. They’ve been looking for some new faces lately, and honestly, you’re a perfect fit in my eyes.” Melanie places her hands over her heart at the last sentence, and you giggle a little. She always knows how to pour the compliments on thick.

Taeyong’s smile is modest as he says, “Thank you.”

You end up swapping contact info—your boss’s number for their manager’s digits—so something can be arranged, and you text Liza immediately to let her know what’s up. 

“Again, thank you so much for sparing your time today, you’re so kind,” Melanie gushes. You can practically see the stars sparkling in her eyes through her round glasses as she shakes Taeyong’s hand again, holding his with both of hers. You try not to laugh at this. Despite her history of less-than-stellar picks, she’s not usually one to let the inner fangirl slip, but now even her composure is being tested.

Still, your own insides get a bit mushy when he turns to you again and takes your hand. “Yes, thank you. We really appreciate it.”

“It’s a pleasure.” Taeyong’s eyes seem to linger on yours a little longer than necessary. Or maybe the pounding music has finally rattled your brain loose. Either way, you enjoy the moment for what it is before bidding your goodbyes and walking back through the crowd with Melanie. 

You throw your arm around her shoulders, and she leans into you like she’s going to faint. “God. Was that real?!”

“If it wasn’t, please don’t pinch me yet.”

“We’ve already gotten the best of the best, so if you ask me, we deserve a damn drink right now.” Melanie pretends to throw a shot back and you laugh.

“Girl, not so fast. We still have to try to recruit a few more if that deal doesn’t work out. Liza won’t let us hear the end of it otherwise.” You sigh, not feeling very enthusiastic about it either, but decide to steel yourself for a long evening ahead.

The after party that night is packed with people; many are the same ones from the fashion show earlier, though there are also new faces. Diana rejoined you while you were both getting ready at the hotel and managed to wring all the details out of Melanie about your meetup with the group. Even now while sitting in the lounge, she still goes on about it.

“I still can’t believe this shit is really happening.”

“If the boss wants it to happen, then it’s likely gonna happen,” Melanie says.

Diana leans back against her lounge seat, nursing her drink and smiling to herself. “Jasmine is gonna drop dead when she hears about it...hopefully for real.”

You roll your eyes. “Stop worrying about what that girl is doing and just enjoy the party. We didn’t get all dressed up like this to let it go to waste.”

Diana throws her arm across the back of the lounge chair as she scans you up and down. “Yes, let’s talk about you and this little black dress, actually. Whose attention are you looking for tonight, miss girl?”

“Here you go. I just wanted to look nice, I’m not searching for any—”

“Hey, isn’t that Taeyong and Mark?” Melanie points to one of the room’s many entryways, and you and Diana sit up straighter to look. “Diana, don’t be so obvious, you’re practically breaking your neck!”

It definitely is them. You don’t know where the others are, but maybe they decided to split up and go to another one of the after parties in town. You suddenly feel nervous again, though you try to ignore it.

“Oh, they didn’t bring Jaehyun.” Melanie slumps in her seat, and you give her a skeptical look.

“I thought you liked Taeyong!? You were the one giving him goo-goo baby eyes back there.”

“Yeah, but Jaehyun is my favorite. It doesn’t hurt to make a good first impression. Maybe Taeyong will let my future husband know about me and we can finally get married.” You can only shake your head.

Diana looks back at you slyly. “Ah, I see. Is this who you’re looking to impress?”

You scoff. “You say that like I knew they’d be coming here.”

“Hmm, maybe? You never know.”

At one point, Taeyong catches sight of your little group and waves, and you all wave back. You don’t expect him to come over with Mark in tow, though, which makes you sweat a little.

“It’s you again,” Taeyong says, his smile wide, and his eyes flit across your body before coming back to your eyes. “You look nice.”

You’re a little embarrassed at the compliment, and you have to ignore the other two girls giggling like schoolgirls to avoid getting even more nervous. “Ah, thanks, you look nice too…”

Mark introduces himself next, and the other two fawn over how cute and handsome he is. It isn’t long before there’s someone else vying for their attention again, and they leave with an apology; but that is far from being the last time you see them that night.

Though both men weave in and out of the crowd, interacting with numerous people throughout the night, Taeyong seems to continually find his way back to you and your friends—or just you, if the other two are gone somewhere else. He even gets you to dance with him a bit. You enjoy his company, even if he does make you a little nervous. If there’s anything you could compare him to, you might think he’s like the sun itself, with everyone else in the room pulled into his orbit—but willingly.

“Don’t let this one slip,” Diana says in your ear after Taeyong’s pulled away yet again to talk to someone else. You jump from hearing her next to you, still expecting her to be across the room talking with some lifestyle blogger.

“Let...slip? We already told you we talked to him about the magazine—”

“Not that shit. It looks like he’s taken a liking to you. I wouldn’t let that pass me by, if I were you.”

“Put the wine down,” you say, reaching for her glass, but she only sidesteps you.

“Accept a damn compliment! You talk about me and my men issues, but you need to allow yourself to be complimented and cared for, for once.”

“Stop. Somebody can probably hear us, and I don’t even know the man like that.”

“You stop. He’s been buzzing around you all night. Honestly, I don’t know if he just wants pussy or an American romance but girl, I’d say yes.”

“Okay yeah, you’ve had enough.” You try to pluck the glass away again, but she twirls away from you and almost spills her drink in the process. You laugh as some people nearby give you both odd looks. “You were too afraid to even go and talk to them. Me and Melanie did all the work, and now you’re claiming you’d say yes...give me a break!”

“Alright, hold it against me forever if you please. Just don’t mess this up, okay?”

You shake your head. “Fine, if it’ll make you leave me alone.”

The party isn’t even close to winding down yet, but you figure it’s time to get Diana back to the hotel before she has one too many. And Melanie’s started complaining about her feet hurting, which always means she’s officially ready to leave.

There’s a veranda attached to the building where the party is being held, and you go out onto it to get some air after being crammed in with the others for so long. You only intend to stay a few minutes, waiting for Melanie to find Diana so you can leave.

You hear someone else walk onto the veranda, and you don’t initially think much of it. There are already a few people out here lounging on the steps and smoking, so you figure someone else must’ve come for a break too. You’re a little startled, though, when the person leans against the railing near you, and you turn to see its Taeyong.

“Tonight’s been fun,” he says, looking towards you casually. The night breeze rustles his hair a bit, and you know for certain your boss is going to be really pleased with this pick. He’s natural-born model material.

You hum in agreement. “It’s definitely been a long night,” you say, concealing a yawn. “I don’t think I’ve ever had such an exciting time at an after party, though. ”

He grins. “Really? Never?”

You shrug a little. “As much as they dress it up on the outside, not every party is very entertaining. Some of them can be...something else entirely.” You chuckle at some of the ridiculous memories you have.

“Well, I’m glad you had a good time tonight...and that we got to talk some more.” Taeyong’s eyes look remarkably genuine as he says this, and it turns your stomach all weird and fluttery. Maybe you should listen to Diana for once.

Then again, maybe you shouldn’t be fraternizing with someone who’ll likely be working with your company soon?

“I wouldn’t mind seeing you again, either. Outside of business.” He tugs at his lip very slightly with his teeth after he says this. Which might seem like a nonchalant move in any other setting, but here and now, with this mischievousness glittering in his eyes, it’s anything but.

Oh, fuck it.

“Hm. I’ll take you up on that, then.” You find a slip of paper in your purse and write your number down on it, giving it to him afterwards. When you momentarily glance back at the entrance to the building, you catch your friends watching sneakily from afar, flashing you thumbs-ups and grinning wildly. “Enjoy the rest of your night, Taeyong.” You smile.

“I will.” There’s a promise in his voice.

Your friends are all over you as soon as you get back to them, linking their arms with yours and crowding in to hear whatever tea you have.

“You guys, really? We were only out there for a few minutes.”

“It only takes 7 seconds to fall in love,” Melanie chimes in, and Diana laughs out loud.

“If you wanna hear it that bad, Diana’s gonna have to get sober first. I don’t need you posting my business all over Twitter tonight.” The other girl sighs and only tugs you and Melanie along faster so you can all meet up with your Uber driver.

“Fine, girl, but you’re gonna let me pick all your future baby names, okay?”

“Sure, sure.”

[writers-hes]

christmas record.

hello! thank you so much for reading cherry, falling, and late christmas. if you haven’t read them yet, you could do so by clicking the link here. 

if you want to be a part of my taglist, you can do so by clicking this link. 

this is a fluffy christmas fic and even though christmas is done, i hope you enjoy it! this is my longest fic yet, with 6785 words! how cool is that? anyways, read and enjoy! send me feed back and requests, i really appreciate them :) 

HAPPY 100+ FOLLOWERS I LOVE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU!

warning: unedited ! i was rushing to post this before christmas but i’ll be going over my fics soon to edit everything. thank you! 

------------

you were a photographer. you liked going to free shows around town, taking pictures of everyone in it. you liked how music swayed them and made them live in the moment. photography was your way of immortalising that fleeting moment. still, you weren’t as successful as other photographers to make it as your main source of income and that was okay. as long as you get to share your art with an audience, you knew you were doing something. you were on a break from your shift at baskin robbins when your phone notified that you just received a message.

helenepamburn.photography: Hello i just want to say i absolutely love your work!!

your phone read. helene pemburn was a photographer you’ve never heard of before. you decided to look at her instagram and check out her work and damn, it is amazing. it seems as though her muse was harry styles, your best friend’s favourite male artist. you have listened to his songs before, even downloaded his first album and he was good.

35mmdiary: oh my god!! thank you so much. i love yours too!! portrait is something that i’m not entirely good at :-)

helenepamburn.photography: Im helene, by the way ! What camera set-up do you usually use? 35mmdiary: hi, helene!! i’m y/n. i usually just use a minolta xg-1 camera and i switch up on the lenses…i’m more of a film photographer than a digital one…
helenepamburn.photography: Ah! so you don’t use dlsr cameras?? 😮

35mmdiary: i do but i just take whatever photo and then edit it on lightroom…with my old presets hehehe

35mmdiary: oh im sorry i have to go i have to finish my shift!! 


the conversation ended at that at first but weeks into it and you found yourself really enjoying talking to helene. she became an instant friend, exchanging tips and tricks on photography. she would even talk about how it was touring with harry and etcetera. you wanted to meet each other soon but it was hard, seeing as your finals was right around the corner and harry releasing his new album.

———

“helene, who are you talking to? you’ve been on that phone for so long!” jeff azzof asked. it wasn’t unlike helene to type away at her phone 24/7. she was usually in her corner, editing harry’s photos for the world to see. “y/n,” she muttered. “who?” 
“i found her on instagram and she really has amazing shots! look,” helene said, showing your instagram to jeff. “and this is all film! no editing,” she praised. “oh wow, she is good,” jeff commended. “yeah, well…about that. i think i’m gonna take a break from work first,” helene started. jeff looked at her quizzically. “i know harry’s about to release his album and there’s the thing at the forum and etcetera but i think y/n is gonna be a good replacement, no?” 
“does harry know?” he asked. he was a little concerned that helene’s leave was a little sudden. sure, she’s been working hard, always going where harry was and taking photographs of him but still, it was abdrupt and it wasn’t quite what he was expecting. “ah, no not yet. i was hoping you could talk to him about it?” she shyly asked. harry’s been a ball of stress lately and helene knew that if something out of the schedule were to happen, harry would freak. “helene…” jeff warned. helene looked at him, practically begging him to go tell harry. jeff only sighed and nodded. “thank you!” she gushed. “i owe you one, big time,”

———

it was almost the holiday break, and you can already feel the christmas in l.a.—it’s not snowing, particularly and it’s not as iconic as new york christmas but you can already see christmas lights hanging downtown and at the grove. starbucks already released their holiday drinks and their holiday cups. you were finishing your last paper for the term, ready to finally get back to photography. you finished ahead of everyone else in class and begged some of your professors to let you take some quizzes and tests in advance. perhaps you were lucky this christmas because they allowed you to and you passed your term with good grades.

helenepemburn.photography: y/n I have a question to ask…
35mmdiary: sure what is it??

helenepemburn.photography: Are you done with classes? The semester?? 35mmdiary: yeah why?? helenepemburn.photography: How would you feel about replacing me as a photographer??? Im about to go on a break and I want you to be my fill-in??? You will be paid the same fee as I do during those days too

35mmdiary: What??? are you sure?? helenepemburn.photography: Yes!! The team will be in l.a. next week for a couple of interviews and etc so would be able to meet you and show you the ropes and hang out!!

35mmdiary: sure!! send me the details…i’m free until christmas anyway :)

helenepemburn.photography: See you then !! Im so excited to finally meet you !!

———

it’s been a few days and your best friend was absolutely ecstatic to know that you were harry styles’ photographer for a few weeks. you’ve been thinking about backing out but from your conversations with helene, it seems like she was really craving for a short break. she told you about going to japan and malibu with harry to take behind the scenes photographs. she loved it, of course but she was getting drained. besides, you will be paid a good amount of money for your services, unlike some of the previous bands who told you that you will have a shoutout for the ‘free’ photos you would give them. artists who don’t support artists suck, don’t they?

“i can’t believe! harry fucking styles!” your best friend, gina, exclaims. she was a harrie, the biggest one you’ve seen. she went to the forum, the closing venue for his first solo world tour, bought merch, and runs a fan account on twitter. “shh! keep it down, gina! it’s just a temporary job. i just took it as a favour to helene and also because it pays well. i can pay a little more to my college debt,” you muttered. “still! once you’re on tour with him, don’t you ever forget me,” she fake cries. “i just want a video greeting for harry, okay? like the one that i got you when i met adore delano,” she told you. you nodded and she squealed, jumpy in her seat because she was about to receive a personalised video from harry styles.

———

helenepamburn.photography: Im free right now if you want to meet up!! Im in la and i forgot how much i hated la traffic ://

35mmdiary: sure! where do you wanna meet? helenepamburn.photography: Harry rented an airbnb for all of us in beverly hills…would you like to meet in a coffee shop near it?? Im really craving for american starbucks right now 35mmdiary: sure! i’ll meet you there at 2:30? helenpamburn.photography: Ok and then we can go to the airbnb to meet up with jeff so he could walk you through the details sound good? 35mmdiary: okay…i’ll see you in a bit! be safe ! 


you immediately went inside your shower to take a bath. you were finally meeting helene! you didn’t know who jeff was but you decided to dress a little nicer today just in case this jeff guy was a little strict. opting for minimal make up, your favourite floral pants, white shirt, and your boots, you decided to head out with your iPad and film camera to show helene some of your photos.

it’s almost 2:30 when you arrived at the coffee shop. helene was already there, waving at you excitedly. you smiled and jogged up to her. “helene!” you called as she greeted you with a hug. “y/n! i’m so happy i get to finally meet you!” she laughs. “i hope it’s alright, i already ordered for you,” she says. “oh! thank you. how much was it? i’ll pa—“
“don’t be silly now! it’s okay, you don’t have to worry about it. now, tell me, how have you been?” she asked. you chuckled. “i’m good! i finished all my papers early to focus a little bit on my photography,” you tell her. “college is really sucking the life out of me! i worked part time in baskin robbins too so the stress is just too much,” you grumbled. “ah, well, i promise photographing harry isn’t that stressful. he’s quite chill with whatever you present him as long as it’s in black and white,” she joked. “kidding aside, harry’s whole crew is kind. very approachable and very good people,” she informed you. her words brought comfort over you as you were worrying about how they would treat a newbie. “i’m just really taking a break because i’m so tired! besides, my best friend will get married on christmas and i wanted to be there and take some pictures,” she says.

“you did mention that you like wedding photographs too,” you told her. “i love them! they’re so fun and the vibe is so different. i’m a bridesmaid so i just have to be there, you know? i’m wearing a really cute dress too! here, i’ll show you,” she gushed. she took out her phone and opened the picture. it was a great dress. it was a long peach dress and helene said that all the bridesmaids had dresses inspired by the colours of the sunset. “that’s so cool! i wanna get married someday but then again, not really,” you shared. helene nodded at that. you both spent the afternoon together, walking around beverly hills and just talking.

“hey, let’s go back to the airbnb so i can introduce you to everyone!” she gushed. she booked an uber and then immediately dragged you to the car. you loved how chatty and enthusiastic she was, basically telling you her life story and her friend’s life story in just a few hours. you rode the car once it arrived and it zoomed past the fancy beverly hills neighbourhood. it was a few minutes after when you arrived at a big house. “we’re here! i’m so excited for you to meet jeff, mitch, sara, claire, and everyone else!” she squealed. she beat you into paying for the fare and then dragged you again to the main, where she knocked and cursed at jeff for not opening the door immediately in french.

“fuck’s sake, helene! hold on!” a man called from the inside. “that’s jeff, he’s the oldest in this house but doesn’t seem like it,” she snickered. you were about to reply to helene when a friendly-looking man opened the door. he was scowling at helene, a facial expression she only chuckled at. “hello, jeff! this is y/n, y/n, this is jeff,” she introduced. “hi, it’s nice to meet you,” you told jeff. “same here,” he brushed off. “come in, enter,” he said cooly. you frowned, helene said that they were nice people but jeff seems so intimidating. “give the poor girl a break, jeffrey!” helene said. she guided you to the living room and made you sit on the the couch. “so, i take you’re helene’s replacement while she’s away?” he asked.

“uh—yeah,” you replied, picking on the loose thread of your white shirt. he chuckled at your nervousness. “you dress like harry,”
“sorry?” you asked. helene laughed, noticing how similar you dressed with the star. “she does! i just noticed that!” your friend exclaimed.

“anyways, i’ll be fetching some papers and documents you have to sign. harry’s a big star after all, we can’t trust everyone,” he said before going to god-knows-where. “i’m sorry! he’s not really like that. it’s just that many people before you came here with me as an intern or something but they always end up leaking photos, putting harry in trouble and all that,” helene apologised. “oh, i totally understand. it’s no problem,” you reassured. you were fumbling on your shirt, once more, when jeff arrived. “here,” he put the folder on the coffee table. “read the document over and sign it if you agree, of course…it’s just about harry’s privacy and all that,” he said. “call me when you’re don, i’ll just make us a drink,” he left the room again and probably into the kitchen. you read over the document a few times before signing on the required pages. it was basically concerned with harry’s privacy and how you couldn’t sell harry’s photographs to the tabloids. helene was there with you to explain the whole contract and how the ropes would work.

“she’s done, jeff!” she called. jeff emerged from the kitchen with a tray of iced coffee and some fruits. he laid the tray down on the table gently and took the folder from your grasp. you watched as he made sure that you signed all of the pages on the papers and smiled. “welcome to the team!” he suddenly beamed.

“thanks,” you smiled at him.

“i’m sorry for being rude earlier. it’s just that some photographers and ‘newbies’ take this job for granted. so, anyway,” he coughed. “help yourself to some coffee and tell me about yourself,”

“well, uh—i’m y/n y/l/n. 21 years old and i’m currently taking up business ad. i really love photography but my parents aren’t really set on supporting me have it as my profession in the future. i, uh, also take photographs of artists in free shows but i mostly do film, if that’s okay? harry’s photos will be developed after four hours if we’re here in l.a. but probably more than that if we’re not here, which i’m assuming won’t happen? i have a friend from one of my electives who knows how to develop film,” you told him.

“it’s worth the wait, jeff! do you have some photos, y/n?” helene interjected. you nodded and took out your iPad.

“uh, you can just swipe through the images of the scenes and people i took,” you told him, opening the photos app and into your digital portfolio. you handed jeff the ipad and waited anxiously. “wow, these are good. helene actually showed me your instagram already and i’m impressed. now, we will give you some money for the films and the development process when you start working, which is tomorrow—“

“ah, it’s okay.  the salary is enough to cover for everything,” you reassured. “no, no. i insist. helene also had the same budget. besides, you’re doing us a favour for agreeing to this job instantly,” he said. you nodded shyly. “anyways, you could stay here in the house or something since helene will leave the day after but that’s your choice, completely.” he said. “i’ll just stay in my apartment,” you told him. he nodded and looked at the time. “well, dinner’s about to start. i suggest you attend so you could meet everyone,” he smiled. you nodded, not really wanting to piss your new boss. “i’m sure everyone’s excited to meet the baby of the team,” he chuckled.

“ah! i’m so excited for you to meet claire and sara. you’re gonna love them!” helene squealed. “wait here, okay? i’ll just change into my pyjamas,” she said. you nodded and watched her leave the living room, leaving you alone with jeff.

“so, where did you grow up?” he asked. “i actually grew up here in california and then moved here in l.a. for my studies,” you informed him.

“that’s great,” he nodded. “let’s just wait for everyone else to come,” he said. you nodded and spent the following minutes chatting with helene and jeff. he may have been intimidating at first but he was a pretty chill guy. you liked his humour and immediately clicked once helene told him about the time some bands were lowballing you with a shoutout, to which jeff told you you should be charging more for your shots. it was nearing eight when two girls barged in the door, bringing some takeout.

“sara, claire!” jeff greeted. “this is y/n, the newest baby of our team,” he said. you waved at them shyly.

“she dresses like harry,” sara observed. “that’s what i thought so too!” jeff chuckled. he took the paper bags from the girls. “i’ll just fix this up in the kitchen while your girls chat,” he said while going back to the kitchen. “jeff is such a dad to all of us,” sara said once she sat in front of you with claire. “yeah, it’s nice knowing that there’s parental love going around here or it would be such a mess! mitch is the slobbiest person ever while sara here, hates his mess!” claire said. “so, how did you know helene was about to leave?” she asked. she wasn’t asking in an intruding way, she was just curious.

“well, helene and i are ‘internet friends’,” you told them. “i’m a photographer and i mostly use film. it was her who told me to come fill-in for her while she was away,”

“wait, youre 35mmdiary?” sara asked. you nodded. “she’s been raving about your work and harry seemed to like it too! i follow you on social media!”

“me too! i love your work! so, so good,” claire added.

“thanks, guys! that really means a lot to me,” you said. you took a mental note to follow them back once you go back home.

“where are the guys, anyway?” helene asked. “we couldn’t start dinner without them,”

“mitch told me he was with harry, buying some chinese food. they’re on their way back, though.” sara said.

“oh well, let’s just wait for them to come back,” helene said. you girls nodded and chatted for a bit until eighteen minutes later, the door opened, revealing the harry styles himself and mitch.

“i told you, haz! you should’ve bought soup dumplings instead of the fried ones,” a guy with long hair complained.

“but there might be holes in the dumplings and all the soup would fall out. fried dumplings are the safe option, honestly,”

“guys—“

“sarah, tell harry that soup dumplings are better that fried o—“ he stopped, just realising that there was another person in the house. “hello, who are you?” he asked, utterly confused.

“i’m the photographer filling in for helene while she’s away,” you spoke. “ah, well in that case, hello! my name is mitch,” he said. when he noticed that harry wasn’t speaking soon, he spoke again. “this is harry and that over there is adam,”
“oh yeah, i know. hi, harry,” you shyly waved at him. you also waved a greeting to adam to which he returned. harry gave you a tight-lipped smile. you always imagined this moment to be somewhat chill but right now, your cheeks were absolutely burning because of how beautiful he was. pictures didn’t do him justice, no offense to helene but it was the reality. “i’m y/n,” you added.

“hi, y/n. i’m harry but mitch already beat me to it,” he muttered. mitch only laughed and told him to go to jeff so he could set up the table.

“she kinda dresses like you, no?” mitch commented once he thought they were out of earshot.

it was less than ten minutes when jeff called you girls to go to the dining room. you were sat beside helene and in front of harry, who seemed to look everywhere but you.

“well, this was supposed to be a simple dinner but it isn’t. let’s welcome y/n into the family and bid farewell to helene,” jeff started. “everyone say ‘welcome to the family, y/n’!” there was a chorus of welcomes around the table and you only managed to mutter a shy ‘thank you’ to everyone.

“so, how did you know helene?” mitch asked. “oh we met through the internet,” you replied. “she messaged me about my work and then i looked at her profile a bit and decided that i loved he work too,”

“we’ve known each other for months but only met today, actually.” helene said. “huh, i would’ve thought that you knew each other for years but then again, helene has always been the noisy one,” adam commented.

“you’re just as noisy as i am! i cant believe this is how you treat me on my last day until i come back,” helene faked sobbed.

“let’s jusy eat dinner, yeah? poor y/n must’ve been so tired and hungry from all the talk you’ve been drilling into her,” adam said. everyone nodded and took their food. you shyly opened your chinese take-out box.

“y/n, i’m sorry if this is rude but i haven’t seen any of your work before,” mitch suddenly said.

“i’m not really a big photographer,” you started. “honestly, i just go to free shows and then offer my services for a cheaper price,”

“you should definitely see her work, babe. so, so, good! she does film and that’s like, super hard,” sarah added. babe? “y/n, show him your ipad so they’ll believe me!”

“alright...” you nodded and fished for your ipad, opening the album that contained your beat shots so far. you handed it to mitch. you stared at him for any reactions and was glad to see him focus on your pictures, zooming in on some of them.

“these aren’t filters? damn, you’re good. yo, look at this, adam! isn’t this the band you’ve been listening to on soundcloud?” mitch asked, showing adam your photograph of the vocalist of peach pit. adam looks over and gapes.

“y/n, this is so good! what’s your username on insta? i’ll give you a follow!”

“it’s 35mmdiary! i’ve been showing you gus her work for months now,” helene grumbled.

the dinner started and ended like that, with friendly banter from what seems to be a loving environment. jeff was definitely the father of the group. you liked everyone but harry. he hasn’t talked to you all night, just stealing some glances at your direction. helene booked you an uber and told you to text her once you’re home. you nodded and bid her good bye before riding into the car.

———

“harry, what do you think of y/n?” jeff asked once you left.

“pretty cool girl, yeah?” he commented.

“you barely looked at her! she’s quite lovely,” claire added.

“probably because he finds her cute or something,” mitch teased. “always does that! playing hard to get but really, what is there to get?”

“shut up, mitch,” he blushed. it was true. harry did sort of find tou attractive. you were so kind to everyone, taking their compliments gracefully. you got along so well with the other members and he wanted to talk to you but adam and helene hogged the conversation. perhaps he should talk to you alone, sometime?

“okay so, christmas is coming soon and once again, we will be needing to have our secret santa!” sarah said, changing the subject as harry looked like a poor fish gaping.

“should we include y/n?” adam asked.

“of course! she’s a part of our family now, even if it’s temporarily,” helene said.

“yeah and we should take you out instead...” harry teased.

“hey! that’s not nice,”

“well, she’ll be coming in tomorrow and basically everyday to accompany harry on photoshoots and to get some shots as well. we could talk to her about it tomorrow,” jeff informed. everybody nodded at that.

“gotta go back to my room, m’tired from today,” harry yawned. everybody said good night as he left tahe living room.

———

unknown to them, harry was actually looking theough your instagram. he decided to follow you once he reached his assigned room. everybody was right, you are good. he was so excited to have you as a part of the team.

harrystyles: Nice meeting you today, y/n. x

35mmdiary: hi hi!! it was nice meeting you today too :-)

harrystyles: Your works are lovely. I’m so excited to see more of your work.

35mmdiary: thanks ! i hope you like what you see so far. thanks for hiring me by the way

harrystyles: It’s quite alright! I loved what Helene showed me. I tried to get into film photography but it never worked out. So hard to figure out the settings. :(

35mmdiary: i actually started with dispposable cameras! they really helped me know what i like! i could teach you some of the stuff i know if you like. im not a pro or anything but i think there’s a few things i could teach you?

harrystyles: That sounds great! When are we doing it?

harrystyles: Can we do it tomorrow? I’m free tomorrow.

harrystyles: Only if it’s okay with you. :)

35mmdiary: yes of course ! i could meet you in the house tomorrow morning ?

harrystyles: No, it’s okay. I’ll just have someone pick you up just send me your address. I’m not a serial killer, I promise.

you gave harry your address and your number, just in case he needed it. that night, you looked for your spare disposable films while harry told jeff that you would be accompanying him tomorrow. jeff only teased harry but allowed it anyway.

———

“good morning!” you chirped as you entered the black range rover. harry smiled at you. the driver at the driver’s seat nodded at you.

“good morning, love. i got you breakfast, if it’s okay. if you don’t like it i could eat it and we could go somewhere else for breakfast,” harry rambled, offering you a brown bag. you looked into it and saw a ham and cheese croissant—your favourite sandwich.

“this will do just fine. this is my favourite sandwich,” you said as you dug into the bag to get your sandwich. “would you like some? we could share if you like,” you offered. harry shook his head no, telling you that he already ate the same sadnwich as you did.

“by the way,” you started as you swallowed the pastry. “i got some disposable cameras that you could use in my bag,”

“you shouldn’t have...” harry pouted. “i basically hogged your whole day and now you’re giving me stuff too?”

“it’s okay. i wanted to. as long as we end just in time for me and helene to say goodbye to each other,” you smiled.

“lunch is on me then! i know this place near santa monica that served the best chicken wings!” he declared. you chuckled at his etermination to get even with you. “what are we doing today, by the way?”

“well, i was thinking we could go on a classic photowalk. it’s basically just us walking and taking photos of the things we like,” you told him. “i was thinking we could take photos downtown...” you trailed off, not realizing that the paparazzi might see harry. “or somewhere else you like so we could avoid the paparazzi,”

“we’ll go downtown then!” he said, not really caring about tomorrow’s tabloids. harry liked your presence. for some reason, it made him feel at ease. he didn’t care if you’d be labelled as harry’s girlfriend tomorrow. he just wanted to have a nice afternoon walking around and taking photos that he like.

“well, for me, it’s the perfect place. if you’re into portraits, you could photograph people! if you’re into sceneries, you could do that too,” you gushed as you finished the last of your croissant. “i like sceneries and candids a lot. taking portraits is something that i’m not really good at,”

“at least you know something! i’m such a beginner,” he admitted. “drop us off here, please, thank you.” harry told the driver. the driver nodded and stopped the car. harry immediately went out, dragging tou by the hand to hide from onlookers. it’s not like he didn’t want to meet fans, he did. it was just that he’d rather be unnoticed when dealing with private matters, such as spending time with a girl whom he finds cute to gain some brownie points. he led you to an empty alley.

“you alright?” he asked. you nodded and fished out for the cameras in your bag.

“harry? here are the cameras. there are 36 shots per camera and because i brought you theee, you could do more than a hunderd. just give them back to me after you use it so i could have my friend develop them,” you breathed.

“thank you so much, y/n! you didn’t have to because i also have my own camera. just don’t know how to adjust it,” he frowned, looking down at the expensive camera hanging on his chest.

“i could take a look at it, if you like,” you offered. harry beamed at you and nodded rapidly. that day, you spent the afternoon taking photos of people living their daily lives. it was such a great day, walking downtown with cameras at hand. the day consisted of you and him talking about the most embarrassing stories you could think of when you were younger. he told you about the many times he fell onstage during his concerts, to which you laughed at, saying that you tripped on a wire once when you were photographing a gig for a local band. onlookers wouldn’t think that you were strangers at all but you didn’t mind.

that night, at the beverly hills mansion, you and the team huddled together to pick names for the small exchange gift. you left the house with a smile on your face a few hours after, really loving the group.

“alright, who picked y/n?” harry asked as soon as he walked back in from waiting outside until you left.

“why?” mitch asked. “well--” “he obviously likes her, dumbass,” adam said.

“you just met twice why would you like her immediately?” mitch asked again, clearly missing out on something. “she’s really a nice girl. besides, what’s wrong with finding her cute?” harry asked, clearly giddy about the day he spent with you. “she’s so cute especially when i told her earlier that she looked good in what she was wearing! then, she gave me these disposable cameras,” he added, showing off the cameras hanging on his wrist. “i really wanna get her something for christmas but i think it’s a little straightforward to just give her one, no?”

“what would you do for you to get her name?” sarah asked. “i’ll pay you a hundred dollars and treat you and a friend to a nice dinner,”

“i got her,” jeff said, giving the paper to harry and harry giving another piece with a different name on it. he gave jeff 300 dollars for the dinner and the monetary gift and said thank you. he smiled with his dimples showing and retired to bed.

“he’s whipped,” mitch mouthed to sarah. sarah only nodded, really finding it cute how harry found y/n cute.

-------

you’ve been photographing harry and his band for so many days now, rarely even having the time to clean your apartment, which was fine. it was always clean, only feeling like it wasn’t because harry was at your place, going over the photographs that he would be posting on his social media. you told him that you could come by the house in beverly hills but he told you to just stay at home so it would be safer. you didn’t protest but you did stress clean for a little bit.

“i really like this photo,” he pointed at your laptop. “i think mum would really like this, yeah?”

you nodded. it wasn’t your best shot but so far, it looked like it was harry’s favourite image of himself. you were done for the night and you were tired but you didn’t want harry to leave yet. you were enjoying his company and it seems as though he was feeling the same when he decided to open a new conversation.

“so, who did you pick for secret santa?” he asked as you opened your spotify christmas playlist and played it softly on the bluetooth speaker on the coffee table. “i can’t tell you that! it would ruin the whole thing,” you replied. you were perched on your couch, facing harry.

“why not? it’s not like you got me, unless you did…” he teased.

“maybe, maybe not,” you shrugged. harry pouted but started to hum to the christmas music anyway before sipping on his hot cocoa. “you know what i would love from you?”

“what?” he asked. he’s been tearing his hair for a perfect gift for you but nothing really came up. he wanted to get you a film camera but that would be too basic. “a christmas record from you! your voice is so good,” you gushed. “it would sound so great and i’m sure you’d sing christmas classics like the one paul mccartney sang,” you mused, clearly unaware of what was going through harry’s head. he finally found a perfect gift for you. “if you ever release a christmas album, hit me up immediately! i’d stream and buy the hell out of it. i’ll even wear your christmas merch,”

--------

“everyone shut up! i’m gonna record something in my room, don’t bother me,” harry breathed as soon as he arrived in the rented home. everyone’s eyebrows shot forward. they were huddled in the living room, playing uno. “okay, i’m sorry just don’t make too much noise!” he apologised. he ran to his assigned room after that, locking his door and taking out his guitar. clueless as to where he would start off, he decided to text helene.

harry styles: Helene! 

Helene.: Harry !

harry styles: Do you know y/n’s favourite Christmas songs?

Helene: Not really but she’d be into classics dont you think?? Why ??

harry styles: I kinda got her for secret Santa and I don’t know what to give.

harry styles: Do you really think she’d be into the classics? Helene: Yes now stop talking to me i have to attend the dinner rehearsals why do you have to rehearse for dinner?

that night, harry set up his personal microphone, a device that he could just slip into his laptop’s usb, and sang at least three songs that he would sing with gemma whenever he was home for the holidays.

-------

it was after harry’s successful live show at the forum. you were busy capturing every moment of the tour with your camera. gina, your best friend was in the crowd too. it was your early christmas gift for her, along with a personalised video from harry like you promised. she squealed and hug you for being the ‘best best friend ever’. you laughed and received her hugs with joy. you were supposed to have a small staff-only after show party but decided not to come. you were tired and all you wanted was sleep. you told jeff about it and he nodded, hugging you and asking you if it was okay if you left alone. you nodded and wished him a good party. that night, you went home to your apartment, looking over the new photos that your friend e-mailed you so you could show them to harry the next time you see him. you took note of the pictures you liked alot.

“where’s y/n?” harry asked as soon as he greeted everyone. “oh, she left! said she felt tired and just wanted to sleep,” jeff shouted over the loud music and the loud people. the party became bigger as staff invited friends and family to come over. harry didn’t mind, he liked crowds. harry nodded at jeff, a little disappointed because he was hoping to get to you. he would be leaving for london next week for another live show and he was sure that you wouldn’t be able to come. the live show at the forum was supposed to be the big ending for the celebration of harry’s album in america. if he wouldn’t be able to see you now, he wouldn’t see you at all, probably.

--------

it was nearing 1 am when your doorbell rang. being a light sleeper, you woke up from your slumber in the couch. you must’ve fallen to sleep while finalising images you wanted to show harry next day. you fixed the coffee table a little bit then begrudgingly walking to the door, only to reveal the man who’s been keeping you busy.

“hi, y/n. may i come in?” harry asked. you nodded and opened the door wider, the cold from your air conditioning unit greeting harry.

“what are you doing here?” you asked as you and your guest settled on your couch. “well, i was at the party and i noticed you were gone so, i decided to come by. i’m sorry if it was so sudden it’s just that, i picked you for secret santa and i wanted to give you my gift before i leave for london next week,” he rambled. he the handed you a pretty christmas box.

“thank you, harry. what about your party?” you asked. “it’s fine, they’re fine. i just wanted to be here with you more.” he smiled. “go on, open it!”

you opened the box that revealed a red sweater.

“you said you wanted christmas merch, right? that you would wear it?” he asked. you nodded and unfolded the sweater to reveal a ‘harry’ sweatshirt in red. it was the one that gina wanted for so long but in the colour pink. harry’s name was embroidered on the soft red sweater in white, and his motto ‘treat people with kindness’ was embroidered on one of the sleeves in red.

“i picked out the colours and i hope you like it! it’s not from the same manufacturer but i figured you would like it,” he said. you looked deeper into the box to find a cd and a flashdrive. the cd cover was you and harry, a selfie he took using his phone when you were out having a photowalk. “you said you wanted a christmas record and here it is,” he said. you were smiling widely and thanking harry for the thoughtful gifts he got you. “i, uh, you have to listen to the songs and text me if you liked them, alright? text me as soon as you finish it.i have to go back to the party and entertain but i’d really love to hear your thoughts on the record, okay?” he asked, standing up from his seat and kissing your forehead. you nodded and watched him go outside your door, too overwhelmed with his thoughtful gift. you inserted the flashdrive in your laptop’s usb and clicked on track 1.

track 1 was harry’s rendition for paul mccartney’s wonderful christmas time--your favourite christmas song. you casually mentioned it to him once but didn’t think that he would remember. there were 8 tracks in the flashdrive, harry’s voice and guitar playing filling your apartment. you were wearing the sweater he gave you, feeling giddy at the gifts he gave you. you just finished track 7 and waited for track 8 to play when harry’s talking voice was heard from the speakers.

“hi, y/n,” he started. “well, i hope you like my gifts for you. the truth is, jeff was actually the one who picked you and i picked claire but i bribed him so i could give you this gift. truth be told, i like you. like, i’m crushing on you and if you feel the same way, i’m waiting in the parking lot. i just wanted to say this and was wondering if you wanted to go out on a date before i go back to london for the show and the holidays. wow this feels like a goddamn movie and i sort of like it. i hope you really love my gifts. i’m waiting outs--” you stopped the audio and immediately ran to the door, opening it. it revealed harry who was sitting beside the door, waiting anxiously. once he heard you go out, he stood up and smiled at you.

“silly boy! of course i’d go out on a date with you,” you said as you hugged him. he was chuckling, thanking the heavens for giving hime a wonderful christmas.

“what about when i’m in london? how would we talk then?” he asked. “we’ll make it work, yeah? see how it plays out,” you said. you felt him put his chin on the top of your head after kissing it.

it was the perfect ending to a perfect night and as the christmas lights surround you with your wreath hung on your door, you both wished for this christmas miracle to last.

-----

im soff

taglist:

@giitterysuits / @floral-suits @bree082 @dezzym17 @bouncebackbyers @lolapuffs@belleamoree @demolition-lovers-blog

[baepop]

PRIVATE // 1

You meet a captivating stranger whose sudden appearance stirs the unrequited feelings of your best friend.

Word Count: 7.5k

Pairing: Jungkook x You x Jennie

Genre: Slight angst/fluff, slight smut (aka: the buildup)

A/N: Happy pride month bitches! Bisexual fic coming your way!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12

Everything about Jennie was as proper as could be. Her shoes never seemed to scuff, not even the pair with the studs that she loved so much; her pleated skirts never dared utter a single wrinkle and if you ever thought to see a hair out of place, even after a session of hot yoga, well…you’d thought wrong. When Jennie first started coming around, you swore she was some park avenue princess with the way she insisted on paying for meals and buying you things without having known each other long. You two had met through a friend of a friend at a mellow house party but never exchanged social media or anything. You just couldn’t see yourself befriending her, preferring instead to focus on your studies for your senior year of college. Making it to these parties occasionally and chatting up strangers for a while was all you really had time for. So it was much to your surprise running into Jennie at a café on campus that you frequented weekday afternoons whenever you didn’t have class or work. She had tapped you on your shoulder then embraced your figure once you turned around to see who was invading your personal space. That day she had on a canary yellow peacoat and her hair smelled of coconut, two things you’d noticed as her arms lingered around your frame for a beat too long. The next day she wore a mauve peacoat that perfectly complimented the blush on her cheeks. Next was periwinkle and then taupe before you finally asked her why she was suddenly such a fan of the coffee on your campus seeing as how she wasn’t a student at the university.

“Well, I…I’m not actually. The coffee here is subpar and don’t even get me started on the tea selection.” You stared at her with a blank expression until she defeatedly sighed and placed her mug on the table. “You didn’t give me your number before you left Yoongi’s party. And when I asked him for it, he refused to give it to me and instead told me I could probably find you here.” You both sat there staring at each other for what seemed like minutes before you gave up, breaking eye contact to sip on your coffee and turn to the next page in your psychology book. At that point you didn’t care why she wanted to befriend you so bad, but you also didn’t care enough to push her away, so you two sat there in comfortable silence as you went over this week’s cognitive dissonance chapter. You figured you had made a good impression at the party and she probably didn’t have much going on to keep herself busy.

It didn’t take long for Jennie to weasel her way into being your best friend despite your callous indifference of her incessant presence in the coffee house. It also wasn’t a coveted title to obtain as you hadn’t been a social butterfly lately. It took a good amount of begging before she convinced you to sign up for yoga classes with her, held on the evenings 4 floors below her penthouse, only a month after she began visiting you on campus. At that point, you hadn’t minded her company so much anymore as you got to know the goofy yet intelligent aspects of her personality that vibed well with your own. If you were being truthful with yourself, you were happy Jennie had managed to become a good friend of yours because things had gotten stale and lonely having only your schoolwork and job to focus on. Still, however, Jennie remained an enigma to you as generally people of her stature didn’t go out of their way to befriend someone like you, especially when you’ve made them work for it. One night, you agreed to go up to her place for a glass of wine after yoga and that’s when all the walls finally came down. The façade of her perfect image came tumbling down as she admitted to feeling immense pressure to be who everyone else thought she was. She also admitted to finally feeling seen that night you two met at Yoongi’s party when you complimented the song she played on the stereo. Everyone was complaining about her music choices being too mellow to dance to but once you had arrived at the party you loved the strum of the guitar you heard as you sipped on your drink and decided to compliment whoever it was that was playing the song. The memory of her babbling into her glass for 45 minutes as her top knot loosened and drooped over her forehead was a warm one that never quite left you. And it was also the same night where you started to finally let her in.

***

“Let’s get pizza.” Jennie looked up from scrolling on her endless Instagram feed at the sound of her stomach rumbling.

Without looking up from your phone, you shook your head no and replied, “Nah, sorry I have to tutor that kid in a bit, remember?” Jennie sucked her teeth and solemnly went back to her phone screen.

“Why did you agree to do that anyway?” she whined childishly.

“You know I could really use the money Jen. A girls got bills.” You sighed as you scrolled past a beautiful pair of boots advertised on your timeline.

“I will literally buy you whatever you want, you know that.” Jennie rolled her eyes as her face settled into a pout while leaning her head into her palm.

“I know, and that’s the problem.” You chuckled bitterly. “I’ve got way too many family members born next month so I need to save up some money for presents. You can come shopping with me if you want.”

“Ugh okay, but I’m not letting you drag me into another thrift shop! Those places give me the heebie-jeebies! Who knows what ---”

The alarm on your phone signaling the tutoring session approaching interrupted Jennie mid-sentence. You shot her an apologetic look as her pout became even more pronounced. “We can get pizza when I’m done. Gotta go for now though! Text ya later.” You swung your bookbag across your shoulder and swiftly entered the elevator that would take you to the main floor. As you descended through all 21 floors, you recalled how uncomfortable it was to hang out at her place in the beginning stages of your budding friendship. Now you’ve gotten so used to the obscure paintings on the walls and expensive decorations that you wondered if it was you who was making space for her eccentricity in your life or if it was her lavish lifestyle that was making way for boring old you. Just then the doors swung open into the hustle and bustle of the lobby, effectively interrupting your train of thought as you blended into the chaos of busy people.

 ***

“Jeon Jungkook?” You bent over to peer at the brown-haired boy who was huddled over his laptop’s screen. This café on campus was one of the less popular ones, which made it easier to assume this boy was your tutee as he was the only one at the café apart from a girl hunched over a table lightly snoring. He peered up at you in a double-take then settled on the screen of his laptop as he ferociously jabbed on the directional keys of the keyboard.

“Yeah, that’s me…are you the…tutor?” His distractedness during your introduction confused you before you glanced at his computer and realized he was in the middle of an online SMITE match. Normally you would be content in waiting for him to finish before you could start the session but the idea of missing out on pizza annoyed you. You decided to close his laptop shut and keep your finger on top of it until he was forced to give you his undivided attention.

“Hi! I’m (Y/N), your English tutor. If you don’t mind, I have plans later so I’d like to get started as soon as possible.” You plastered a wide smile on your face. The boy, too stunned to respond, sat there frozen as you dropped your book bag onto the chair and began taking out a notebook and a pencil.

“Sorry.” You heard him mumble under his breath but pretended not to hear it to avoid an awkward moment. Instead, you smiled at him again and asked exactly what he needed help with. “We’re reading this book in class right now and there’s a book report due next week. The language is really obscure, and I don’t even know how to begin analyzing the context.” You picked up his copy of the book and fanned the worn out pages.

“Well, lucky for you this is one of my favorite books! So I can actually help you a lot with your report.” You handed the book back to him with a smile and wink. Jungkook instantly blushed and chuckled while rubbing the back of his neck.

“Thanks in advance, I have a feeling I’ll be needing a lot of your help.” Jungkook’s quick sweep of your body didn’t go unnoticed but nonetheless, you decided to dive into the tutoring session. It was hard to ignore the butterflies in your stomach throughout as you noticed more and more how boyishly handsome he was and what a nice smile he had. The possibility of him being into you made it harder to concentrate and made you blush when you accidentally had skin to skin contact while taking a paper from his hands. Being flustered was extremely unlike you, but you credited your sudden lameness to your year-long lack of sex. Taking a deep breath gave you a moment of clarity and the resolve to finish the session as professionally as possible.

“So…when can I see you again? For tutoring I mean?” Jungkook tried hard to stay as nonchalant as possible but his crooked smile directed downwards as he packed up his belongings gave it away. During the session you realized he didn’t need much help at all and would most likely only need the one day of tutoring. Nonetheless, you decided to take the bait, but not without making him work for it.

“If you feel the need for more tutoring sessions you can schedule an appointment on the school’s website.” With that, you swiftly zipped up your book bag and headed out of the coffee shop.

***

It only took a couple days to receive Jungkook’s request for a follow-up tutoring session set for Thursday of next week. You chuckled in the bright glow of your computer’s screen that shown brightly in your dark room. When you clicked on the notification to expand the details of his request, you noticed the location preference was set to his dorm room. Your light chuckle turned into a breathy laugh. This kid had balls, you had to admit. You kept waiting for his cheekiness to rub you the wrong way sober you up but the more signs he showed of interest the more you were inclined to entertain them. It wasn’t like you to let the other person take charge in your relationship, preferring instead to be completely transparent from the beginning and taking joy in asking the other out. You didn’t care much for games and titles but the one of “dominant” given to you by your freshman year friends was not lost on you. You, instead, chose to embrace it and accept that your ‘take charge’ attitude would turn off undesirable suitors and attract the kind of people you could actually be with. You leaned back in your chair and sipped on your tea before hitting the “accept” button and shutting off your computer.

That night you tried to fall asleep but too many thoughts of your upcoming graduation, approaching due dates for schoolwork and a very cute brunette junior kept you up until dusk. Just when you finally started to drift off to sleep, you felt a soft dip in the bed that instantly woke you.

“Sorry, sorry...” Jennie whispered as she got under the covers. You looked at her incredulously before she responded again, “I couldn’t sleep and your bed is comfy. Also, you left your keys attached to the door again. You should really be more careful (Y/N).” You hummed in agreement, too tired to address her forced entry into your apartment and settling to be big spoon for the night.

The obnoxious sounds of your phone’s alarm awoke both of you with a start. Jennie grumbled and pressed a pillow to her ears. “It is an ungodly hour to be awake! Turn it off!” You immediately grabbed your phone and hopped out of bed to start getting ready for work. “What are you doing?” Jennie rubbed her eyes and squinted at you through the golden morning rays shining through the discombobulated shutters on your bedroom window.

“I have work in an hour. We can’t all be sleeping princesses until noon.” You stuck your tongue out at her before beginning to brush your teeth. Jennie rolled her eyes and went back to bed. She was already long used to your poking fun at her lazy and rich lifestyle, choosing to simply ignore your quips.

You managed to get ready at a record-breaking speed of 20 minutes. As you slipped the last shoe on, you peered at Jennie whose body lay impossibly still under the covers with her shiny black hair spilling out onto your pillow like plant roots. You decided to tip toe over to check if she was already sleeping. You didn’t want to wake her, so you settled for moving her bangs out of her eyes and whispering “I’ll see you after work” before heading out for the day. You could’ve sworn you noticed her blushing but figured it was all in your imagination.

 ***

Working at the boutique wasn’t your favorite thing in the world but the pay was decent. You had started working there your sophomore year after seeing a “help wanted” ad in the window of a small men’s formal suiting shop. You were at the downtown fashion district with your usual group of freshman year friends killing time and decided there wasn’t any harm in filling out an application at the counter. The job had looked easy enough, but after getting hired you soon learned differently. You realized just how difficult it was to take charge of older men in conversations about men’s suiting, and even more so dressing them. It took a lot of guts and studying men’s fashion before you grew into your own at the shop. The effort you started putting into your job along with increasingly difficult classes had you falling out of contact with those same friends. You had to admit that the thought of growing apart from your friends was much less painful than you thought it might be freshman year. Your likes and goals were entirely different by now, but most importantly, you were becoming someone you liked and respected.

That afternoon after leaving Jennie in your bed, you found yourself focusing on steaming the leg on a pair of gray linen pants when suddenly you heard the bell at the top of the entrance ring signaling a customer entering the store. You immediately turned off the steamer and rushed to the counter to greet them only to be dumbstruck at the sight in front of you. Jungkook and an older man entered the store amidst conversation. Your utter confusion rendered you speechless as they looked around the store for help.

“Ah, young lady, do you work here?” The older man addressed you kindly across the store.

You looked between him and Jungkook for a moment before your professionalism kicked in. “Yes! Hi, sorry! I was busy steaming and didn’t see you guys. Welcome to Suits 4 U, how can I assist you guys today?” You kept your eyes trained on the older gentleman but didn’t miss how Jungkook’s mouth hung open the entire time. Did he know you worked there before showing up or was it just a mere coincidence? Either way, the excitement of seeing him unexpectedly before your tutoring session gave you a tiny thrill masked under your polite smile.

“Well, I’m here with my son to get him fitted for his first suit. He has an internship coming up this summer at a finance company and we need him to look his best.” The man chuckled while patting Jungkook’s shoulder. His eyes formed crescent moons while smiling which instantly disarmed you. “Is Raphael here? I’ve been coming to him for years; this shop is just great.”

You laughed and tucked some hair behind your ear. “Thank you so much! He’s not in right now but, I can help you out myself if that’s okay. Your son looks to be about a 32 waist and 34 inseams?” The older man nodded in astonishment and looked towards Jungkook to confirm.

“Uh…yeah that’s exactly right.” Jungkook rubbed his neck in embarrassment.

“Don’t be shy, kook! You let the nice lady fit you for a good suit and I’ll be right here if you need me.” You and the man exchanged smiles before walking around the counter to show Jungkook to the fitting area behind the curtains. You helped him up onto the platform in front of 3 adjacent mirrors before busying yourself looking for a style of suit in his sizes that would flatter him.

Jungkook cleared his throat before speaking, “So…I didn’t know you had two jobs. Must be rough during your senior year.”

Without missing a beat, you responded, “How did you know I was a senior?”

“You mentioned it in your Facebook status.” Jungkook quickly replied with a straight face.

“So, you stalked me?” You laughed incredulously.

“More like researched. You’re a pretty private person so I didn’t find much if that makes you feel better.” Jungkook smiled widely which made you instinctively blush. Too flustered to respond you simply handed him a white button-down shirt. He immediately removed his plain black t-shirt and began buttoning the white one at an incredibly slow pace. You caught his eyes in the center mirror and realized he saw you ogling at his pecks. You immediately turned around as he continued watching you through the mirror with a shit-eating grin.

“Here, put these on.” You handed him a matching black chino suit with a European tailoring finish. Jungkook hadn’t stopped staring at you as he removed his pants and dressed himself. You were determined not to swoon at his gorgeous physique in front of him, choosing instead to jut your hip out and cross your arms while tapping your foot. “You take forever to get dressed.”

“I could use your help.”

“With?”

“Tucking my shirt in, I don’t want to wrinkle it.”

You scoffed and proceeded to gingerly tuck his shirt around his waist. You didn’t miss the way his abs reflexively twitched as your hands got to the front of his pants. He put the blazer on at once then adjusted his cuffs in the mirror. You had to admit that the way the pants tapered in on his ankles and how the blazer did the same around his waist was very flattering. You absent-mindedly brushed lint off his shoulder and brushed out the wrinkles on the arms while admiring your work in the mirror. As your eyes made their way up his frame you caught his cocky ass grin again which only made you roll your eyes. “What now, Jeon? What is so funny to you?”

“Just admit you’re into me.” You froze for a second before responding.

“Excuse me?”

“Oh, you heard me pretty well. I think that you’re into me and the way you act all tough in front of me really turns me on, so I’d like to take you out on a date sometime.”

Before you could reply, Jungkook’s dad appeared from behind the curtains and whistled at the sight of his son in a tailored suit. “Wow, that looks really good. If you’re okay with it Kook I think we’ll take it!”

“I don’t know dad, what do you think (Y/N)? Does this look good on me?” Jungkook bit his bottom lip, looking you in the eyes and daring you to confirm his beliefs. The audacity this guy had to call you out had you at a loss for words for the second time tonight. You settled for nodding and smiling.

You decided to wait behind the counter for Jungkook to undress, making small talk with his dad to pass the time. His love for his son was evident in the way he spoke so highly of him to a mere stranger. The thought warmed your heart. In a matter of 5 minutes, you were waving them both out of the door with Jungkook’s new suit in a garment bag. The remainder of your shift went by painfully slow without the silky haired boy entertaining you. You briefly considered canceling your upcoming tutoring session since it was evident the professionalism between you two was shot after this afternoon. But who were you kidding? There was no way you were going to let him get the better of you, it just wasn’t in you to submit.

 ***

You snapped out of your reverie at the feeling of a piece of popcorn bouncing off your cheek. As you turned your head to look at Jennie, several popcorn pieces fell out of your hair and onto the shaggy white rug you were sitting Indian style on. It was movie night at Jennie’s apartment, but the foreign film wasn’t captivating your interest, not when you had Jeon’s abs on your mind.

“Hey what gives?!” You started to flick pieces of popcorn back at Jennie as you found them in the carpet. She giggled while swatting them away from her face.

“Watching this movie was YOUR idea and you’re not even paying attention! You’ve been all daydreamy lately. Are you going to tell me what’s up or not?” Jennie set her bowl of popcorn aside and crossed her arms, giving you a pointed look. When it comes to Jennie, there is no escape once the interrogation starts. This wouldn’t be the first time you were under fire for withholding information from her. Despite preferring to be a private person, you never minded being completely transparent with Jennie. With time, you came to understand how loyal and trustworthy she was. Being left in the dark was just something that always bothered her, which you could understand. You sighed as you turned away from the television to face her.

“You know that guy I tutored the other day?”

“Yea?”

“I kinda want to fuck him.” Jennie froze for a second as she searched for something in your eyes.

“Okay…um…well, does he reciprocate your feelings?’

“I think he’s made it pretty obvious yeah. I just don’t know though, I’ve never been into younger guys but he’s…really hot.” You laughed as a blush overtook your cheeks. Your admission embarrassed you, even in front of your best friend. Jennie bit her lip as she laid horizontally on the couch staring at the ceiling.

“Do you have a picture of him?”

“Hmm…I can show you his Instagram.” Admitting you already perused his social media made you further embarrassed. “Before you judge me, it’s been a really long time, okay?” You scrolled on his page for a bit before finding a good enough picture of him to show her then reluctantly handed your phone over. After analyzing the selfie of him on his bed, Jennie went back to his page and started looking at other pictures of him: ones of him in his baseball uniform, laughing on a couch with a few of his friends, dancing in a goofy manner to some pop song and the list goes on. After a minute, she rolled her eyes and handed the phone back to you. Her reaction had you quirking an eyebrow as you grabbed it from her hands. “…What?”

“Oh, nothing.” Jennie closed her eyes and intertwined her hands over here stomach, intent on not giving anything away. You lunged at her sides to unleash a flurry of tickles.

“Tell me, wench!” Your consistent tickling had her hollering at the top of her lungs and squirming to escape your grip.

“I’ll never say, peasant!” You decided to straddle her midsection and pin her flailing legs down,  holding her wrists to do the same.

“Jennie Ruby Jane. Tell me, NOW!” Your long brown hair fell over your shoulder and tickled her cheek. She turned her head to the side as a final act of rebellion which only spurred your torturing on further. You began to hock a loogie dramatically which earned a valley of squeals from the pale girl.

“Okay! Okay!” You chuckled at the sign of her defeat and sat back on her hips, letting her wrists go. She sat up on her forearms pouting up at you. “You’re so extra!” the girl shouted with amusement in her eyes. After a moment of silence, she spoke, “I just think he looks like a fuck boy. It’s not going to go anywhere between you guys.” You let out a breathy laugh at her admission.

“No shit, I just want some dick!”

“Then why are you getting blushy and daydreamy if he’s only a dick to you?” She challenged you.

“Ummmm, maybe because it’s been a while and it’s nice to get some male attention during these barren times?” You rolled your eyes and climbed off of her.

“Yeah, whatever (Y/N). Keep telling yourself that.” Jennie returned your eye roll with her own and fully sat up on the couch.

“Are we going to watch this movie or not!? You’re making it hard to focus!” You continued on with your dramatic act but failed as a smiled tugged at your lips.

“OMG, you are unbelievable!” Both of you laughed and resumed your movie, only one of you being content to put that conversation behind.

***

Your Thursday afternoon shift at work dragged on because of how much you were looking forward to the tutoring session with Jungkook set for right after. Your finger drumming on the front counter and persistent glances at the clock earned some questions from the shop owner which you easily shrugged off as some trip you were looking forward to after work. As soon as the clock struck six you grabbed your jean jacket off of the coat rack and caught the shuttle back to campus. The junior dorms were just a stop before the coffee shop stop, so you already knew where you were going. You decided to just wear your work clothes paired with a denim jacket since the tight-fitting black dresses you wore as a work uniform were nice anyway. Just before you arrived at the lobby of the dorms, you caught your reflection in a car window and decided to check how you looked. Nothing unusual stood out. Your long curly hair swung just above your behind and your mascara and eyebrow gel still held on strong, the only two things you allowed on your face since the number of times you rubbed your face during class made it virtually unrealistic to wear a full face of makeup. Because of that, you settled for wearing shorter clothing that would show off your long legs. Feeling sexy in your own skin without putting way too much effort into your image was something you learned was the perfect combination to feeling happy with yourself, which was hard to do as you were generally always the tallest woman in the room. It took a long time to build self-confidence, but you were happy with where you currently were in your life. With a deep breath to calm your excitement, you headed into the lobby where Jungkook was already waiting for you. He looked up from his phone and immediately spotted you entering the building. His eyes lingered on your legs covered in sheer black tights before meeting your eyes with his own dark orbs. You felt butterflies at the instant your gazes locked and held for a few seconds. You decided to breakaway first, looking down with a small smile and waving.

“Hey, Jungkook. You ready to study?” Jungkook simpered as he looked down towards his feet with his hands in his pockets.

“Yeah I am, but it looks like you aren’t. Where’s your book bag and why are you dressed like that?” He gestured towards your subtle cleavage. You crossed your arms and gaped at him, confused as to why he was questioning you instead of complimenting you. Jungkook watched your mouth open and close before he chuckled and began heading towards his room. Luckily his room was on the first floor so there wouldn’t be an awkward elevator ride. As you walked behind him you pressed your cold hands onto your hot blushing cheeks wondering if you misread this whole situation. “Thanks for agreeing to come to the dorms this time. This was the only time I was free to get tutored, but I couldn’t leave the dorms tonight. I hope it didn’t make you uncomfortable.” His words made you all the more confused. Surely he didn’t feel the need to pretend this was anything other than a hookup, especially since he had already gotten you to come without much of a chase? You didn’t understand what he meant until he unlocked the door to his suite and a small child bombarded his legs, clinging on for dear life.

“Kookie! Kookie! You took forever!” Jungkook smiled and patted the child’s head before picking him up so you could enter into the suite.

“I was only gone a few minutes! Anyways, what do you say to a pretty lady?” Jungkook laughed as the small boy buried his head into the crook of his neck with shyness.

“…Hewwo…” You smiled at the child and greeted him back before looking up at Jungkook in utter confusion.

“I’m babysitting for my parents tonight while they celebrate their 20th anniversary. This is my little brother, Sammy. He’s a real good kid and agreed to quietly color in his coloring book while I study, right bud?” The young boy nodded without looking up at him, clearly displeased to have a stranger take his big brother’s attention away. You smiled sweetly at Jungkook to show him everything was okay with you. It was only after he placed his brother on the floor in front of his crayons that crippling embarrassment settled red and hot behind your face and prickled at your scalp. You had misread the situation after all, and even worse, assumed Jungkook was just some fuck boy looking to fake being serious about his studies in order to fuck tutor girls. He wouldn’t have been the first one you ran into, but it was now clear that you shouldn’t have lumped him into the same category. Swallowing your pride and shame, you placed your jacket on the back of his chair and pulled another one up to the desk to start the session. For about an hour, you helped Jungkook finalize his book report and put the finishing touches on his powerpoint presentation about his report. Once you both looked out of the window and saw how late it was getting, you decided to wrap things up. Turning to Sammy who was busy passionately coloring an orange elephant, you smiled and squatted near the page.

“Ready to spend some time with Kookie, Sammy? You looked up at Jungkook and winked, appreciating the way that the nickname coming from you flustered Jungkook. The young boy looked up from his art and nodded.

“Bye-bye! Um…”

“(Y/N), how do you do.” You talked in a funny voice that made Sammy giggle. Standing up and stretching your arms once more, you looked towards Jungkook who held your jacket for you to take. “Thanks. So…good luck with your presentation.” You kicked yourself at the lame way you chose to say goodbye but decided it was best to cut your losses and avoid further embarrassment.

“Thanks, I’ll walk you out.” Both of you headed out into the hallway and walked slowly towards the lobby in silence. After a few long moments, Jungkook finally broke the quiet, “So about that date…. What do you say?” You turned to him in disbelief before looking back down at your shoes. You had thought when he asked you on a date back at the shop that it was his way of getting you into bed. Once again you felt shame for being such a pessimistic pervert.

“I didn’t know you were serious about that.” You admitted.

“Yeah, I figured with the way you showed up to our study session.” Jungkook laughed as he playfully pulled on the hem of your dress so that it slapped your thigh when he let go. You pouted and stared straight ahead, unable to defend yourself. “Don’t get me wrong, I’d have loved to show you a good time tonight, but that’s not really my style. Especially with intellectual women. I want to show you a different kind of good time, at least at first. You turned toward his face in time to catch him biting his bottom lip. It was as if his mouth had a direct connection to your lower abdomen, feeling that magnetic pull between you two that you couldn’t shake. Part of you felt relieved to know it wasn’t all in your head, and the other part of you was determined to redeem yourself.

As you opened the door to the outside, you paused and swung your hair over your shoulder to look at him briefly. “Pick me up this weekend. I want to go see that new DC movie, you can take me to the movies and then we’ll get ice cream. DM me on Instagram so we can agree on a time.” With that, you closed the door behind you and headed towards the shuttle stop, content with yourself for not sneaking a peak behind you. When did you become so lame in front of guys? You idly wondered about the effects that lack of sex could have on the psyche of woman the entire shuttle ride towards your apartment.

***

You woke up to the thin rays of sunlight peering through the drawn blinds of your bedroom window. They illuminated Jennie’s face with a healthy golden glow, showcasing the subtle rhythmic movement of her chest as she slept. You felt a wave of affection at the thought of her being extra careful last night getting into your bed so as not to wake you. You idly wondered why she preferred to share this bed with you when she had a big beautiful canopy bed at her even more beautiful apartment. Then again, you remembered how lonely she must have felt when moving here without friends or family. You cuddled closer to her as the big spoon, wrapping your right arm around her torso and pulling her into your chest. The slight movement woke Jennie for a few seconds before she hugged your arm tightly and went back to sleep, taking you into unconsciousness with her.

You awoke a few hours later, well into the afternoon in the same position you had fallen asleep in only this time, Jennie’s snoring was loud enough to quake the glass of water on your nightstand. Your raspy chuckle was barely audible as you stared at her mouth that hung open while she violently slept. Careful so as not to wake her, you gingerly slid your arm out of her grasp and pulled the covers off of your bodies since the heat was making you a little sweaty. Your eyes bulged while taking in the view south of the bed. Jennie had taken her pants off before climbing into bed and was only sporting a bright red G-string. You forced yourself to look anywhere other than her perfect bottom until your heart stopped beating as fast as it was. What the hell, Jennie? You cursed yourself for giving her a key to your apartment after her initial forced entry. The lack of sex is really getting to you, you thought as you carefully covered her back up and climbed out of bed. Suddenly, you heard the snoring stop and a few light moans coming from the bed.

“Where’d you go?”, Jennie softly called out as she rubbed her eyes.

“In the bathroom!” You reply as best you can while brushing your teeth. Jennie groans then rolls over, pulling the covers on her further.

“Come back…”

“Sorry, I overslept enough as it is. I have some stuff I need to get done before my date tonight!” You replied in a sing-song voice before spitting the foam out of your mouth and rinsing your toothbrush in the sink.

“Your WHAT!?”, Jennie immediately sat up and ripped the covers off of her.

“Yeah, sorry I totally forgot to update you. I didn’t end up fucking that guy. Instead, he asked me out on a date! I’m actually excited to go, I feel like such a freshman.” Your giddy mood seemed to frustrate Jennie even more. She quietly got out of bed, pulled her pants on, grabbed her purse from your nightstand and left your apartment.

“Jennie?!” You called after her but the only thing you got in response was your door slamming loudly. You sucked your teeth and continued washing your face. You didn’t know why she was in such a bad mood. Sure, you didn’t tell her about how things progressed with Jungkook but it wasn’t exactly her business. This is why I haven’t dated any girls on campus recently, girls can be so moody sometimes. You took a deep breath and headed into your room to get changed, determined not to let Jennie’s childishness ruin your day.

***

Your date with Jungkook had been going well so far. He picked you up from your apartment 5 minutes early on foot. You two walked to the shuttle stop in silence since there really wasn’t much to talk about. You two had only just met and didn’t know much about each other or shared any experiences yet. You hated first dates for this reason, preferring instead to just hook up without the need to feign a relationship or only date someone you’re already friends with. You had gotten good at small talk since working at the suit shop had you conversing with all kinds of people regularly. But it still wasn’t thrilling nor any less awkward. Once you both had exhausted all the commonplace questions like “How was your day” and “What’s your favorite color”, you both sat on the shuttle on the way to the campus’ cinema in silence. Why had you agreed to this? You were really off your game at this point in time. You looked over at Jungkook and noticed him staring off into the distance looking quite alarmed. His pensive face made you giggle which snapped him out of his reverie.

“What?” He looked at you with a half-smile confused.

“Your face…you looked so…shook!” You let out in between laughs. His cheeks became tinted pink with an exasperated gasp.

“Not you too! My teammates make fun of me for it all the time! Ugh!” Jungkook complained with exaggerated exclamation. His eyes sparkled with amusement as he began tickling your sides for not taking him seriously. The guffaw that followed was obnoxious enough to catch the attention of surrounding students riding the shuttle. It was at that moment that Jungkook realized how ticklish you were, to his elation and your immediate embarrassment. You both settled into your seats immediately after meeting the eyes of annoyed riders but couldn’t contain your giggles and light shoving for the rest of the ride. Eventually, after sufficient physical contact, you two ended up walking off of the shuttle holding hands.

***

Jungkook’s lips ravaged your neck as you struggled to open the door to your apartment, fumbling your key on the lock. You eventually did open it and the door slammed backward into the adjacent wall as Jungkook reached your lips and leaned into you, holding you by the hips. Your hunger to taste him had been contagious as you had taken the opportunity that the light ‘goodnight’ peck he gave you on the lips in front of your apartment presented to start a make-out session. There was no way you would let it end that way after wanting him the entire date. He had been a perfect gentleman, waiting in line to get you a bunch of snacks at the concession stand while you held your seats, draping his jacket over your shoulders once the chill of the night set in, and bringing you all the way to your apartment even though it was past the junior dorms. And now, as he tugged on your bottom lip with his teeth while his hands held both sides of your face in the middle of your apartment, you were absolutely sure you wanted to go all the way with Jeon Jungkook. You slowly lead Jungkook to your bedroom without detaching your lips. Once his legs made contact with your bed you pushed him back onto it and climbed on top of him. You began kissing down his neck as your arms made a cage around his head. With his eyes closed and sporting a cocky smile, “Woah there (Y/N), aren’t we taking things a bit too fast?” A throaty chuckle escaped his lips as you reached his Adam's apple.

“Shut up, Jeon.” You moved back up to his lips and stuck your tongue into his mouth which he welcomed, swirling his tongue around yours in equal fervor. His fingers slid up into your hair and tightened their grip on your strands, pulling lightly but firmly so that your head moved backward, giving him access to your neck. As he sucked on your neck, you could feel a bulge forming in his pants. You decided to rub your clothed mound on his growing bulge while he kissed behind your ear.

“Don’t do that.” Jungkook let out a breathy whisper into your ear which made tingles run down your spine and had you heavily convulsing. You decided to rub even harder down onto his clothed member which was now rock hard. However, you couldn’t keep it up for too long as Jungkook was suddenly on top of you in one swift motion.

“You don’t like to listen, do you?” He stared at your lips as he interlocked your fingers together, holding your hands above your head on the bed.

“Not really, no” Your breathy reply brought back that crooked smile you were starting to love so much. In response, Jungkook lowered himself onto you and began rubbing the head of his bulge right around where your clit would be under your pants. You couldn’t help but writhe under him, struggling against his ironclad grip on your hands.

“You’ll get this…”, Jungkook bucked his hips roughly onto your mound, “…when I say you can.” You took his attempt to dominate you as a challenge, wrapping your legs around his waist to bring his member back onto you while biting your lip. Jungkook’s eyes rolled backward in brief pleasure before attacking your lips again with renewed passion. After a while, you were both breathless with puffy lips. Jungkook cleared his throat and moved back to look into your eyes. You both let out laughs as your chests heaved in unison. Jungkook looked down at your swollen lips and ran his thumbs across them before rolling over and climbing off of you. “I should go.” Too stunned to say anything, you watched him straighten his clothing and wipe his mouth.

“Ummm…did I do something wrong?” You asked as you sat up to look at him properly. Jungkook smiled and walked back over to the bed, bending over to place a brief kiss on your pink lips.

“Of course not, just practicing a little restraint. I want to do things right.” He smiled with crescent moon eyes before turning and exiting your apartment.

Do things, right?

You let out an exasperated sigh and sagged back onto the bed with one arm covering your eyes in frustration. Suddenly you heard something shift in your room which made you sit back up in alarm.

“Jungkook?” You searched your room for the source of the noise before your eyes locked with another pair of eyes peering through the slits of your closet door. You froze in utter fear as you realized someone was in your closet. Suddenly, the door opened and you screamed, chucking a pillow at the intruder because it was the closest thing to you. Jennie caught the pillow and held it to her chest, watching you warily.

“Hey (Y/N)…”

“Jennie!?”

“I can explain.”

“YOU PERVERT!!!!!!”

[shawnpetermuffins]

Misery Business (decode 2)

A/n: and the much requested part 2. Part 1 is in my masterlist under my song based fics. This will be the final part.

Summary: Shawn's finally starting to realize what this relationship has done to him.

Warnings: angst, swearing, the usual

Word count: 2.2k

***

I should be happy. My career has never been better, my singles are doing pretty great on the charts, I'm in the top 5 most listened to artists on spotify, and I'm getting loads of publicity hanging with Camila. And don't get me wrong, she's beautiful, hourglass figure that every guy wants, I guess. There's just something wrong and it's this, she's not y/n. I thought our relationship would withstand anything my career threw at us, I really did. But I should have known that she wasn't okay with this. I knew that there was always some kind of underlying territorial battle between her and the girl that's currently holding my arm while we walk down the street, but I ignored it for the sake of a few extra views on a music video, for a few extra streams.

This publicity thing has taken y/n away from me and no one seems to notice, or care, because the songs are doing so good. Since she walked away that night no one has talked about it. No one asked what was the final straw, it was just never brought up. And all that's going around Twitter and Instagram are these God awful, staged photos of me and Camila acting like we're so in love when in reality I am heartbroken and on the verge of a nervous breakdown in most of them. 

"They're looking," she says into my arm. "Kiss me now." She's been telling me to do that a lot more often recently and I'm starting to feel just how wrong it is for us to be doing this. She knows about the breakup, but it seems like she couldn't care less. She parades me around town and follows me on tour, adding a little too much tension between me, Brian and Connor who have barely spoken to me since y/n left. It's clear that they weren't on my side in this situation, but that didn't matter to Camila. She was eating the attention up. She loved knowing that people were talking and that they were talking about her, it apparently didn't matter in what context. 

"Andrew," I grab my manager's attention one night before he goes into his hotel room.

"Yeah, bud?"

I clear my throat, glancing over my shoulder to make sure no one was still out wandering the hall, listening. I lower my voice anyway, "How much longer do Camila and I have to keep up this PR game? The fans are starting to notice it's fake."

"We have to keep it up at least until the stadium show."

"What? What happened to it ending after the VMAs?" 

He shrugs, "Sorry. We need to sell more."

"The stadium's already sold out, what do you mean we need to sell more?!"

"Shawn, you said you were okay with this. What's going on?"

I lost the best thing that's ever happened to me because of this stupid game. That's what's going on. But I just sigh, "Nothing. Nothing, guess I'm just worried. I don't want the fans to lose interest. I can't keep ignoring the question."

"Well you can't talk about it. We're under contract. Now it'll be over before you know it. So for now, just enjoy it. Enjoy the publicity. You need it. Gets people excited for new music."

You know what else gets people excited for new music? Promotion.

---

I'm scrolling through Instagram, seeing all the photos fan accounts are posting of me and Camila, becoming more and more emotionally drained with each passing second. But then I see something that catches my eye. It's a photo of me and y/n, one of the only photos she allowed me to post of us. Except it's split right down the middle. I hurriedly look at the caption.

Fanaccount Is no one going to talk about the fact that we don't know how, why, or WHEN y/n and Shawn broke up??? Did we all just forget that they were together for 2 years?? What happened to our girl? 

Then I start reading the comments, which I shouldn't do, but I can't stop myself.

Fanaccount2 Idk if it's true but someone said she was still on tour with him up until like 2 weeks ago…

Fanaccount2 Do y'all think Camila had something to do with it?

She had everything to do with it.

fanaccount3 Who cares? He's with Camila and she's better.

Fucking liar. 

fanaccount4 I know we don't know what happened, but if it's because of C that's fucked up. Y/n deserves better. Shitty PR to sell a song that's already been at #1 for weeks?? If he lost her to this I feel bad for him. 

     Fanaccount5 But what about her? She had to watch all this go down? It was a really dick move for him to even think it was okay to do this.

   fanaccount6 Okay but look how happy he is with Camila. He clearly doesn't feel bad, so why do you???

Fanaccount4 THEY WERE TOGETHER FOR 2 YEARS! and now he's sucking face with his "best friend" come on. That's shitty and you know it.

I don't even realize that I'm crying until I can hardly catch my breath. I'm panicking. I haven't had to deal with a panic attack alone since y/n came around, but this is the third one I've talked myself out of since she left, and I've had to go back on my medication. I never realized that she was the main thing helping me through.

My phone buzzes with a notification - a message from Andrew. 

It's a screenshot of my spotify account and it reads: #2 baby!!

I want to hurl - my phone or the contents of my stomach, I'm not sure. Maybe both. But I guess, we've got the fans where we want them. 

But like we always do, in true Hollywood bragging, we post the screenshot to our Instagram stories. And Andrew to his feed and twitter. It's all working so well. They're buying it - the relationship, the song, everything. But when I look at my follower count and see I'm down at least 100,000… maybe not everyone is buying it.

---

We're in her hometown and every part of me wants to go see her, wants to make sure she's okay. Because I have the day off and it would be so easy to just drive out to her and make things right. But Camila won't leave my side and I'm going insane.

"Shawn, pay attention to me!"

And I snap. "What do you think I've been doing these past two months, Camila?! I've been paying attention! Jesus, fuck, give me just two minutes of alone time."

"Whoa! What's up your ass?" She crosses her arms over her chest.

"You!" I scoff, throwing my hands up.

"You've been moody all week. Do you want to talk?"

"Not to you," I mumble, but she hears me.

"You're serious? This is about y/n? It's been a month, Shawn. It's time to move on."

"Move on? How am I supposed to move on when she was the literal best thing to happen to me? When I lost her because of this stupid PR move that is in no way helping me anymore, Miss number two!"

"Now I don't deserve to be number two? Really?"

I don't say anything else, I just take my phone and wallet from the coffee table and leave without another word. I don't know where I'm going until I'm there at her doorstep, breathing heavily and running my clammy hands through my already ruffled hair. Before I can talk myself out of it, I knock on the door and wait, my hands in my pocket.

"Can you get that?" I hear her say to someone inside, but I'm not expecting it to be my own best friend.

"Brian?" I say, confused.

"What are you-?"

"Bri, did you? Shawn?"

"Connor?"

"Guys, who's at the…" she stops cold in her tracks when she sees me.

"Y/n," I sigh. I can't read her face. She could be any number of things, but shocked is probably the most accurate.

"Babes, can y'all give us a second?" Her arms cross defensively over her chest while the guys retreat to the kitchen. When she walks further into the living room, I let myself in, closing the door behind me. "What the hell are you doing here, Shawn?" 

"I miss you," I say desperately. "I - I know I fucked up. Severely fucked up. I put my career ahead of you and I said I'd never do that. The numbers became more important and it shouldn't have been that way. I'm so sorry. Just… please give me a second chance. Let me prove to you that you're first. Always."

"A second chance isn't going to do anything for you, Shawn."

"How do you-?"

"Because you're still pretending with her! If you're even pretending at this point! I can't be with you like this because if the numbers were all that mattered two months ago, who's to say they're still not going to matter three years from now? Your entire career revolves around them and I'm not going to be your number two. That isn't what I signed myself up for. Not to mention my Twitter mentions right now are your fans calling me a whore for standing in the way of 'Shawmila's true love!'"

I flinch, "I'll fix it."

"You can't!" She screams and I see the guys slowly make their way into the room. "Jesus, don't you get it? It doesn't matter what you think you can fix because I can't forgive you! I'm done. I'm over it. I don't want this!" She gestures between our bodies. "You don't want me, you want the familiarity. Well, why don't you teach her how to calm down your anxiety attacks. And tell her how you like your eggs in the morning, and how you'll only get out of bed after at least ten minutes of silent cuddling.

"And you go around town acting so fucking innocent, which no one believes, by the way. Teach her how to be your girlfriend, and how to do it right because clearly I wasn't doing it right," her voice cracks at the last part of her sentence and it breaks me in half. When the first year falls, I want nothing more than to take her in my arms, but I hold back, knowing damn well she doesn't want me near her.

"Y/n, it's not the same without you. The concerts aren't as fun, the days between drag on forever. I thought that being seen out would make the numbers rise, and yeah it has, but I'm losing more than im getting."

"That's not my fault. You did that." She wraps her arms around her, holding herself together. Just like I've always known her to. I notice that the tears aren't falling anymore either. She stopped then just as quickly as they started. 

"This isn't how I thought we would turn out."

She bites the inside of her cheek, her clear sign that she's distraught.  "You know, it's funny. It took me so long to realize that I was watching your dreams come true. Selling out arenas and winning awards and putting out awesome music. I watched all of those dreams come true. Not once did you say I was a reason for it. You always avoided the questions about if the songs were about me. I was - I was never part of your dream, Shawn. And I put mine on hold to watch you live yours. It's my turn," she looks at me with some type of fire in her eyes. "Its time for me to go for my dreams and watch them come true. I thought it was you. You were my dream for so long, but that's just not it anymore."

I suck in a shuddery breath, "no. Y/n, baby. Please."

"You need to go."

"Y/n," I reach out for her but I'm stopped quickly by my best friend.

"She told you to go, Shawn."

"I'm not leaving until we fix this."

"Just let it go, man. She doesn't want you anymore." Connor says from his same spot, only this time with y/n in his arms, her head buried deep in his chest. Seeing her in the arms of another makes me crazy and I lunge for him, but Brian pushes me back again. 

"You need to go. I'm not saying it again," he's practically dragging me out the house.

I point an angry finger at Connor, "You're fired."

"That's fine," he says. "Good luck with the rest of the tour." He shoots me a glare and then his attention is back to my sad ex-girlfriend. And I'm out the door before I realize it.

"What am I supposed to do?" I ask aloud because I feel Brian standing behind me, making sure I don't get any ideas to go back inside.

"Sounds to me like you need to reevaluate your priorities. You chose this career, and up until recently you were able to balance love and music. Find that again. Now go back to the hotel. I'll see you for soundcheck tomorrow." The door closes once again. But this time it's closing on everything that was and everything that could've been. I know I'm not getting her back. I chose the music business,  but now it's the misery business and there's no way to get out of it.

***

Tags: @curlyshawny @anamariel2301 @shawns-badreputation @bbellbagel @turtoix @ivegotparticulartaste @tomshufflepuff @dino-16-avocado @sleepybesson @lifeoftheparty74 @shawnssongs @luvluvxx

I hope you enjoyed it. I'm sorry for the angst. Like, reblog, and leave feedback!! 💙💙

[bonjourmoncher]

You can contact Hamilton Lindley by: Phone at 254-759-5866 Email at hpl@hamiltonlindley.com And mail at 1020 N. University Parks Drive, Waco, TX 76706

After ten years in Dallas, Hamilton Lindley moved his family of five to the home of the Baylor Bears. Hamilton P Lindley realized the brainwashing of his daughter was complete after she believed that the Baylor Bear mascots hibernate only after “eating all them Longhorns.” If you have the desire to see too many photos of Hamilton Lindley’s family, you can find Hamilton Philip Lindley on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Let’s get straight to the point, shall we?

Busy people can be incredibly difficult to connect with.

You know the drill. You send an email, then you wait. And wait. And wait some more. You get no reply, so you try again. More of the same. Eventually, you give up.

If this sounds familiar, well, you’re not alone. Most men have struggled, at some point in their career, to try to connect with someone who is incredibly busy. Whether it’s a potential employer, a possible mentor, a dream client, or even just to connect with a girl so you can ask her out on a date, contacting a busy person can be very difficult.

Does that mean you give up? Heck no. Often, there is a good reason why busy people are so busy. Namely, it is because they are successful, and they’re successful because they are smart and well-connected and have access to resources or knowledge that might make all the difference in the world to you…if you can just break through.

But if you’re like most men, you’ve struggled with trying to figure out how to go about making that contact. How can you get the person’s attention? What should you say and how do you say it? Where do you even start? Should you follow-up if they ignore you? And new means of communication in the form of social media, Skype, text messaging, and blog commenting has made this issue even more confusing and challenging.

Throughout my career, I’ve tested just about every different approach for contacting busy people. I’ve also spent the past 2+ years reaching out to very busy entrepreneurs and authors to appear as guests on my podcast. I’ve tried techniques that work like a charm and other strategies that are guaranteed to bomb. Below, I include the best of what has worked for me.

Art of Manliness has previously covered how to write an email that will get a response. In this article, however, I want to share more of an overarching approach which can be (and often is) implemented using email, but which is also medium-agnostic. Email is what I’ve used the most and is still an effective vehicle. However, you should also consider other approaches such as face-to-face and social media where appropriate. To contact AoM’s reclusive McKays, you’ll even need to be willing to write a good old-fashioned letter! (Word is if they start getting too much snail mail to handle, they’re going to move to requiring messages by homing pigeon.)

Although it can feel like a daunting task trying to connect with a busy person, the rewards when you succeed can often be game-changing. You just have to be smart about how you make your first move.

Put Yourself in Their Shoes

At the outset, you must understand that busy people get hundreds, if not thousands, of requests for help, aide, or resources every week. Not surprisingly, a large portion of them look and sound exactly the same. “Can you help me?” “Can I pick your brain?” “I’ve got an awesome idea that I know you’re gonna love!”

Don’t kid yourself. You might think your request is incredibly original or immensely valuable to the busy person, but they’ve probably already heard it before (A new app that will make you more productive? NO WAY!) Naturally, they’re going to be a little apprehensive.

Before you even think about reaching out, you need to get your mindset right. Even if you have the best of intentions, and think your request is a relatively minor one, don’t expect an answer. By definition, “busy” people can’t possibly respond to every inquiry. They’re not being rude — they’re just prioritizing. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be as successful as they are.

According to Steve Pavlina, author of Personal Development for Smart People, “If you can accept that busy people must triage in order to be effective and have a life, and you can respect them for setting priorities, you’ll have a much better shot at building a bridge with them.”

Here are 8 tips for contacting a busy person:

1. Try to Connect Before You Ask for Anything

The worst way of contacting a busy person is to ask them for something in your first attempt to connect with them. A much better approach is to reach out and contact the person long before you ever actually ask for anything.

One way to do this is via social media. Look for creative ways to quote, feature, or mention the busy person, by including them in a blog post or article you are writing, and then share it with them afterwards via social media. A single tweet might be all it takes to “grease the wheels” and get the conversation started.

Continue to build the relationship by doing things like sharing their content, promoting them, or simply sending relevant resources their way. To do this, you need to really get to know the busy person and understand what they are working on or could use help with. Be patient and allow the connection to grow organically before you jump in and start asking for favors. Don’t burn the bridge before you build it.

Another frequently overlooked option is to examine your existing network and see if you have any ties back to that person. A friend? Business associate? Anything that can be used to show commonality between you and the other person will help.

“Getting someone else to introduce you is one way to get someone’s attention,” says networking expert Lynne Waymon co-author of Make Your Contacts Count. “Find out who you both have in common and ask ‘Will you introduce me?’”

2. Keep Your Communications Brief

“Just a tip of advice. Never write on both sides of the sheet when you are sending a letter to a busy man.” –Jack London, Letter to Louis Stevens, March 24, 1913

Save your life story for another time. The shorter the message, the more likely you will get a reply. And the busier the person, the more important it is that you not waste their time.

First, always start your correspondence with a relevant subject line that’s clear and to the point. The recipient should be able to quickly tell why they would benefit from opening your message, how they know you, or ideally, both.

“Can you help me?” With what? Your business? Your math homework? There’s about as much value here as in a rubber crutch. You don’t have to be psychic to know that this one is headed straight for the oval file.

“Podcast Appearance to Promote Your New Book” is a much better subject line. By clearly stating what it is you want, and more importantly, how it will benefit the other person, you are much more likely to get your email opened.

Being brief also means excluding anything that isn’t necessary. It’s okay to open with a couple lines of pleasantries about your connection/affinity for the person. “I’m a big fan of what you do and I’ve been reading your magazine for five years now,” or “Seeing your TED talk made me decide to switch my major to biology.” A bit of praise will get your email off on the right start and build rapport. But keep your opening to no more than two sentences.

Keep the main body of your email as succinct as you can as well; aim to make your pitch in five sentences or less. You don’t need to attach your 100-page business plan or a dozen pictures of your prototype before you’ve explained what it is that you actually want. Remember, be respectful of a busy person’s time and wait for the green light before sending follow-up information, if they are open to it.

3. Do Your Research First and Ask Specific Questions

“I do detest being asked general advice, because, in reply, I must do one of two things: (1) Either write two or three books handling the replies or (2) damp the replies by giving only a few short sentences.

What I mean is, any time ask me for particular specific advice, and I shall be only too glad to place myself at your service.

Please remember that I write thousands of letters every year to unknown correspondents. And please remember, (1) that I do not like to write for a living…and that (2) therefore, when I have written all the books that I have written and upon which I work every day, that I am so tired of writing that I’d cut off my fingers and toes in order to avoid writing…

Anyway, please remember that you can call upon me any time for SPECIFIC PARTICULAR advice on any subject.” -Jack London, Letter to Cordie Ingram, April 9, 1913

When you reach out to a busy person, do so with very specific questions in mind. You may only get one shot at this, so you want the questions you ask to offer the most metaphorical bang for your buck; make them questions where you cannot find out the answers anywhere else, and for which you absolutely need the busy person’s unique perspective/connections/input.

So first research the answers to the list of questions you have in mind as rigorously as you can, and see what you can find out from easier-to-access sources. You need to show the busy person you’ve done your homework. Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, says “It’s amazing how many would-be mentees or beneficiaries ask busier people for answers Google could provide in 20 seconds.” In Ferriss’ words, “That puts you on the banned list.”

Not only should you do research before you reach out to a busy person, you should also try to get going on your project/business before you ask them for help. “Don’t ever ask a busy person to ‘pick their brain’ before you begin working on your project or idea,” says AoM’s own Brett McKay. “Instead, wait until it’s really underway, you’re in the thick of it, and you run into a specific problem.” Advice on starting something is typically plentiful and readily available. So save your “Phone-a-Friend” lifeline for when you’ve done all you can on your own and you’ve reached a wall you can’t figure out how to break through.

What specific question you should ask will vary depending on your situation, so it’s easier to explain what types of questions you should not ask. Typical examples of the types of generic questions you should not ask include:

I don’t know how to get started with ______. What would you recommend I do?

Do you think ____ would apply to my situation?

I’m confused about ______ and I’m not sure why I’m not getting it. Do you have any suggestions?

A better approach than these generic questions is to explain 2 or 3 specific options you are considering and ask for specific feedback on this discrete choice.

When you take this approach, you can “make use of your opportunity and ask better questions about specific topics rather than just peppering someone with general inquires,” says McKay. “The time you land with a busy person is valuable, so use it to ask the highest leverage questions you possibly can.”

4. Make Your Pitch Something to Which They Can Say Yes or No

If the question you have for a busy person regards whether or not they want to work with you on something, make your pitch as clear as possible. In other words, don’t ask an open-ended question like, “Would you like to partner with us somehow?” It’s not the busy person’s job to think of ways you two might team up. It’s your responsibility to come up with a specific proposal. A proposal a busy person can answer with a yes or a no.

5. Show Up in Person

Think for a minute about how many sales calls or how much junk mail you receive in a week. The majority of these items are deleted before they are ever opened. The multitude of requests busy people receive often suffer the same fate.

Now consider what you would do if the person making that same plea was standing right in front of you. Not quite so easy to ignore them now, is it?

Waymon says if there is a particular busy person you want to connect with, you should find out what groups or organizations they are part of and see how you can add value to those groups. Perhaps you can join a committee they are on or offer to help with something they’re passionate about.

“Studies show that it often takes 6 contacts with someone before they know who you are and have you placed in their mental Rolodex,” says Waymon. “So committee work and small group activities are good ways to create that continued contact.”

Being part of the same team can get your foot in the door, but you have to be ready when opportunity strikes. “Always have an agenda. Before the meeting think of three or four things you’d like to find out or know more about. Also, be ready to talk about three or four things you’re excited about — personally or professionally,” says Waymon. “Since people want to do business with people they trust, your overall goal is always to teach people to trust you.”

6. Keep Bringing Value

The chances of getting what you want become exponentially better when you offer something of value. A lot of people struggle with how to find something of “value” to offer, but really the options are limitless.

One of the best ways to provide value to a busy person is by helping them to promote their new book, project, business, or event. You can do this in a variety of ways:

Write an online review on Amazon, Yelp, or other review site.

Feature the busy person in an article on your blog or someone else’s blog.

Offer to introduce the busy person to someone relevant. But be sure to ask first.

Interview the person for your podcast, or if you don’t have a podcast, record a simple interview using a free service like FreeConferenceCall.com and upload it to your blog or SoundCloud (also free). Keep in mind that if your audience is very small, the busy person will likely make a cost benefit analysis and decide that the amount of promotion you can offer is less than the value of their limited time.

Create a Click to Tweet link explaining why you love the particular person’s work and share it with all your friends like this.

Even if you don’t have a blog or podcast, you can record a simple video with the webcam built into your laptop and upload it to YouTube, where millions of people will watch it before going back to watching videos of a cat playing the piano.

Bottom line: Find out what it is they need, or who they want to connect with, and make it happen.

7. Assert Yourself

When you make a request, not only is the message itself important, but so is the tone in which you present it. Michelle Lederman, author of The 11 Laws of Likability, talks about approaching the conversation from what she calls the “middle ground.” You should come off as “not passive, not aggressive, but assertive” says Lederman. Think confident, but not cocky. And definitely not meek.

Lederman also recommends going for the “convenient ask.” Make it as easy as possible for them to say yes to the request. For instance, give the busy person specific dates and times to choose from. Offer to meet them at the location of their choosing. Anything you can do to simplify the request can help.

Finally, Lederman recommends creating a sense of “scarcity.” Create a deadline for a blog post or article so that if the busy person wants to be included, they will need to respond by a particular date in order to make it happen. Having a deadline elicits more responses since these types of requests are harder to push off until later (which usually results in the busy person forgetting to come back to the request).

8. Follow Up (Within Reason)

Now, what do you do if you don’t get a reply? Should you follow up, and if so, how? “I think the secret to building meaningful relationships is following up,” says Jeff Goins, author of The Art of Work. But Goins cautions that you have to be careful how quickly or eagerly you follow up. “If you’re too aggressive, it can hurt you. But if you’re too lax, you can miss an opportunity.”

Goins says he will reach out once, then follow up a week later if he doesn’t have a response yet. If he still hasn’t heard back by then, he will “follow up after another week or two with a ‘hey if I don’t hear back from, I won’t bother you again’ email and then move on.” If Goins is really determined, he says he might try a completely different approach. “I may try another way to build trust with the person, like finding a way to meet them in person, but I won’t try the same way that failed before.”

Brett and Kate McKay have a similar suggestion. They say you should follow up once two weeks after sending the original email, and then 6 months later. “Sometimes the busy person will be in a different phase or season of busyness where their circumstances have changed and they’ll be more receptive to the reach out,” says Brett.

If you want to follow up after a week or two, you can use this script:

Hey George, I just wanted to follow up on my prior email once, in case my previous email got lost in your inbox.

If you aren’t interested, I won’t take offense. If you are interested, let me know. I will send one courtesy follow-up after this email in case the timing right now does not work for you.

-John

By indicating in your message that you are just following up as a courtesy and that the busy person need not respond if they truly are not interested, you are respectful of their time while also balancing the possibility that they really didn’t see your email the prior time around.

Start Contacting Busy People

Remember: busy people aren’t selfish and inconsiderate; I’ve actually found the opposite to be true — that some of the busiest people are actually the most giving types of people. But they also want to be efficient with their time. Remember that the time they give to you is time they sacrifice from working on their own businesses or spending time with their families. So contact them in a way that respects this reality and impinges on their schedule as lightly as possible.

While the entire process may sound intimidating and overly complex, you shouldn’t be intimidated. Like any challenge, connecting with busy people is a skill that you can develop over time. And it’s worth the effort.

“Don’t underestimate your value to someone else,” says Lederman. “There are so many things you can bring to the table that you don’t realize. A little bit of legwork goes a long way.”

[spine-buster]

Alone, Together | Chapter 6 | Morgan Rielly

A/N: I’ve been getting such lovely messages from you guys and you all seriously brighten my day.  Most of the time I read them in the middle of my job and I have to hide my giant smiles and giddiness.  You guys are the best.  And seriously, keep them coming!  My messages are always open and I respond to every message or ask.  If you sent something in and I never responded, it’s because Tumblr ate it.  Send it in again.  I don’t bite.

Anyways, I again could stop writing.  This is 6000 words and you know what?  I’m not even sorry.  You’re welcome.

September was always a month of change for Bee.  It always meant new classes, new classmates, new professors, and new tutorial groups to teach.  New essays to mark.  New excuses from students who handed in assignments late.  

New…friends who were professional athletes.

September also meant Angie was back in Toronto with Mason, instead of being banished in Kingston due to Mason’s summer school course at Queen’s University.  As a PhD student, Mason followed his thesis advisor wherever he lectured, and it just so happened that for the whole summer, he would be in Kingston.  It was the only time Mason didn’t mind travelling with him, mostly because Mason was from Kingston so he didn’t have to incur any living expenses.  For complete city girl Angie, it was a bit of an adjustment.  Bee always kept reminding her it was only two months, but Angie was stir-crazy by the time they packed up to move back to Toronto.

Angie and Mason lived only a ten minute walk away from Bee in an apartment complex closer to Spadina Avenue, but still within the boundaries of The Annex.  Mason earned a decent amount of money from all his grants and work as a PhD student, and Angie had been working at the Indigo head office pushing paper for about a year now.  They were close enough to each other to be able to pop in for spontaneous dinners and movie nights, but far enough away to have privacy or do a very quick clean up (or, as Bee liked to joke, a “put your pants on” warning) before said dinners or movie nights.

Bee and Angie met the first day of their undergrad.  Bee was taking HIS103, European History, as a breadth requirement satisfaction.  Angie was taking it because she wanted to major in history, but it was Bee who helped Angie pass the course.  It was also Bee who helped Angie pass her science breadth requirement course in first year.  Angie repaid her by baking her cake that looked like an exact replica of the one from the film Matilda, which both girls had loved growing up.  Mason came a year later.  The rest was history.  

It was nice, then, that Angie had invited Bee over the first night she and Mason were back in town.  Mason was planning to make a stir fry with the vegetables they grew that summer in his parents’ garden, and Bee could never pass up a stir fry.  

After Mason opened the door and gave her a hug, Angie came running over to her, almost knocking her over with sheer force.  “I MISSED YOU!” she yelled as she squeezed the breath out of Bee.  “I’m never leaving Toronto again, I’m telling you!”

“What are you talking about?  Kingston is beautiful!” Bee laughed.

“Yes, Kingston is beautiful, but you’re not in Kingston!” she said, letting go of the hug.  “You have to tell me everything you did this summer in Toronto or else I’m going to lose it.”

Bee couldn’t help but cackle at Angie’s request.  “Angie, what do you think I did?  I graded shitty papers and I read in my apartment all summer.  Sometimes I’d read in a park.  There wasn’t much else.”

“Told you,” Mason piped up from the kitchen.  Bee could see him plating the stir fry, which got her excited.  

“You’re lying,” Angie said indignantly.  “You met Morgan.  You need to tell me all about Morgan.”

“Morgan?!  Who’s Morgan?” Mason piped up again, picking up the three plates.  He emerged from the kitchen balancing them all like a waiter.  “Bee, you met a guy?”

Bee nodded her head.  “Uh, I did.  His name is Morgan Rielly.”

“Morgan Rielly?  Hah!  Dude has the same name as the Leafs’ defenseman,” Mason chuckled.  

“Uh…” Bee didn’t know how else to bring it up.  She had been sitting on this information for almost two weeks.  She wasn’t going to let Angie and Mason know through text.  “It actually is that Morgan Rielly.”

At this point, Mason had been setting the plates on the dining table.  As soon as the words left Bee’s mouth, he stopped all movements.  “W…What?”

“Yeah.”

“Morgan Rielly.”

“Yeah.”

“You…you’re dating Morgan Rielly?”

“Yes,” Bee nodded her head.  

Angie was too shocked to speak.  She kept looking between her best friend and boyfriend, unable to formulate any coherent words.  Bee looked at her for backup, but she couldn’t provide any.

Mason’s jaw was on the floor at this point.  He set down the last plate so he didn’t drop it on the floor.  “Bee…you…you’re dating a Toronto Maple Leaf?  Do you…do you know what that means?”

Bee giggled nervously at Mason’s question.  What did he mean by asking ‘do you know what that means’?  It meant she was just seeing someone.  She and Morgan hadn’t put a label on whatever was going on – all she knew was that she was having fun with him.  It was obviously clear that they were very in to each other, but there hadn’t been any formal talk about what they were doing and what they were calling it.  They were both young and busy, one professionally and one academically, so she understood why there was no rush to declare anything.  She had faith that it wouldn’t matter in the long run.  What they were doing was their business and their business only.  “It’s not that big of a deal, Mason.”

“Yes it is, Bee,” he said.  “The Toronto Maple Leafs hockey club is the stuff of legends.  I…don’t…I can’t even…” now he was becoming speechless.  “How the hell did you even meet Morgan Rielly?”

By the way Mason kept saying Morgan’s name in the tone that he did, Bee began to understand now what Morgan was saying to her in the car a few weeks ago – how she was one of the only people who looked at him as just a guy and not as Morgan Rielly.  She knew Mason had an interest in hockey, like many Canadian men, but she didn’t think he was this invested.  “I was eating out one night, and he sent a drink to my table.  Well, he says he didn’t send a drink and someone else pranked me in the restaurant, but when I approached him about it I noticed that we were reading the same book.  Friedman.”

Mason made a bunch of hand motions, clearly not believing what he was hearing.  “Morgan Rielly sent a drink to your table?!”

“I guess so,” Bee shrugged.  It was in the past now.  “Every time I bring it up he denies it.  Like the night we went out with his friends, Auston and Frederik --”

“WAIT,” it was Mason’s time to scream now.  “Bee, are you fucking telling me you went out with Auston Matthews and Frederik fucking Andersen?!” he exclaimed.

“…Yes?”

“BRIONY!” he screeched.  “Do you realize what this means?!  Do you have any idea who you went out with?!”

Bee smiled awkwardly.  “Hockey players?”

“Oh my God!” he screamed, jumping up from his seat and running to get his laptop.  “Bee, I cannot believe – I cannot believe!”

She looked over to Angie from some guidance or support, but found that Angie’s mouth was still wide open in shock.  “Your boyfriend is nuts,” Bee said.

Angie shook her head. “He’s got a point, Bee,” she said softly.  “You…you never told me he was a Toronto Maple Leaf.”

“I only found out like a week and a half ago.”

“Do you know how many girls would kill to be with him?  To get in his pants?” Angie asked.  “All these girls we see prancing along King Street West in their high heels and Aritzia clothes?  All those Instagram model girls?  They’re looking for guys like him.”

Bee could hear Mason stomping back into the main living area, practically dropping his laptop in front of Bee’s face.  He had a tab open on the Google News search bar for Auston Matthews.  “Do you see this?” he said, pointing to one of the headlines in a group of others.  ‘Matthews expected to sign multi-million dollar contract before season’s end.’  ‘Is Auston Matthews worth a $13 million contract?’  ‘Is Leafs management prepared to offer Matthews  8 x 13 million?’  Her eyes watered at the amounts she was reading.  “Do you see these headlines?” Mason’s voice snapped her back to reality.  “This is who you went out with.  You went out with the franchise player, Bee.”

“Okay…” she didn’t know what else to say.  She was still fixated on the amount Auston was earning – or was going to earn.

“And you’re dating the star defenseman,” Mason elaborated.  “I don’t know what you’re not understanding about this.  These guys are the crème de la crème of hockey.  They’re superstars.  They’re --”

“They’re just guys,” Bee cut him off, trying to make sense of it all.  

“They’re not just guys, Bee.  They’re professional athletes.  Do you know what life is like for a professional athlete?  Do you know what life is like for a girlfriend of a professional athlete?  Is your Instagram private yet?  Because you better make it private during this conversation.”

“Mason --”

“I’m not joking, Briony.  In a city like Toronto, I guarantee you that someone has already seen you guys together and recognized him and has posted something on a message board somewhere, or on a blog, or something,” he warned.  “I’m not over-reacting, Bee.  This is serious.”

“I think you’re overreacting just a little bit,” she said, half-trying to convince herself, too.  “You’ve never even met the guy, Mason.  He’s just a guy like you.  He was reading Friedman.  Fundamentally, he can’t be much different than any of the three of us sitting at this table.”

Mason tried to calm down.  He took a deep breath in to calm himself.  “Look, Bee.  You know I love you.  And you know I only want what’s best for you.  I’m not telling you not to date the guy.  If he makes you happy, that’s amazing.  All I’m saying is you need to realize what you’re getting yourself into.  He may be just a regular guy but this isn’t going to be a regular relationship.”

More often than not now, Bee was finding herself inside of King West bars.  This time, at The Citizen, she sat patiently at the bar, waiting for Morgan to find parking and for his friends to come in.  Fred was going to be there, thankfully, along with a new friend, Nazem, and his newlywed wife, Ashley, who had just returned from their honeymoon in Italy two weeks ago.  She kept looking between the door and her book – her tattered copy of Ali Smith’s Autumn which she was re-reading simply because she loved the book so much.  It had been a while since she jumped out of Morgan’s car to get a table and she was wondering how far the parking lot was.

“Now there’s something you don’t see everyday,” a voice from beside her remarked.

Bee turned her head to see a guy staring at her, a smirk on his face.  Was he talking to her?  “What?”

“A girl with a book at a bar,” he nodded towards Autumn, like it was the most novel thing to be seen at a bar ever.  There was a mechanical bull in Rock n’ Horse a ten minute walk away.  

“Oh,” she said.  “Uh, yeah?”

“Why are you here if you’re just going to read a book?” he asked.

“I’m actually meeting some friends,” she said.  Not that it was any of his business.  “Just waiting for one of them to park, actually.”

“So you’re here all alone then.”

“For now,” she narrowed her eyes.  “But like I said, my friends are coming.”

“My friends are here too,” he motioned behind him.  “It’s my buddy’s birthday.  I just got promoted too, so it’s just a big celebration tonight.”

Bee tried not to roll her eyes.  Being in a business/economics program, guys who approached her like this, saying they had just gotten a job or had just gotten promoted to try to impress her, were like a dime a dozen.  She knew how to read them like the back of her hand.  “Congratulations to you.  Where do you work?”

“Accounts in RBC,” he revealed.  She was smart enough to know that wasn’t an impressive job.  “What about you, sweetheart?”

“I’m getting my Master’s in Financial Economics.”

“Ooooh, a studying girl,” he wiggled his eyebrows.  “I like that.  I can work with that.”

“I don’t think you want to.  I might be your boss one day.”

He laughed in her face at that comment.  Like, legitimately laughed in her face.  He thought she was joking, but she was being completely serious.  Once she got her degree, her entry level jobs were higher than his “accounts at RBC” position he bragged about getting a promotion in.  She couldn’t believe he was laughing in her face.  “A feisty girl, too.  I like that.”

“Hey,” Bee heard an all-too-familiar voice say suddenly, just as she was going to respond to the guy.  Looking to her left, she saw none other than Fred looming over her, his gentle smile adorning his face.

“Hey!” she exclaimed almost a little too excitedly, jumping up from her seat and moving towards him to give him a friendly hug.  Hopefully it sent the guy a message.  “So nice to see you!”

“Hey bud,” the guy butt in, apparently not taking the hint.  “I was just speaking to uh…” he pointed at Bee, realizing that he still hadn’t asked for her name.

“Briony is my friend,” Fred said as he gave the guy a death stare.  He looked back at Bee.  “Do you know this guy?”

“I’m Briony’s new friend Daniel,” he introduced himself to Fred with a forceful handshake.  “Are you guys out celebrating tonight too?”

Bee could see that Fred saw something from beyond her before he looked to the guy again.  “Briony and I are going to go now.  Our friends are here,” he said politely.

“I was actually just about to buy Briony a drink,” Daniel said.  “Maybe she can meet up with you guys later.”

Bee could tell Fred was trying his hardest not to laugh.  He realized it was going to be harder than usual to get this guy to see the point.  “I’m sorry – I don’t think you understand --”

“Hey,” another all-too-familiar voice said, interrupting Fred and Daniel’s small battle.  Morgan appeared, with who Bee could only assume to be Nazem and Ashley.  “Table’s ready for us,” Morgan said, ignoring Daniel.  

“You must be Briony’s other friends,” Daniel, ever persistent, inserted himself into the conversation once again.  “I was just about to buy Briony a drink.  Maybe she can meet up with you guys later,” he tried again.

It took a moment for Morgan to realize this guy was serious.  He started laughing at the ridiculousness of the comment, right in Daniel’s face, just as Daniel had done to Bee moments earlier.  “We’re going to go now.  We’ll catch ya later,” Morgan winked at him sarcastically before he put a hand on the back of Bee’s shoulder to guide her through the restaurant.  Bee gave Daniel one last shrug of her shoulders before following the group.  

“Do you know that guy?” Morgan asked once they were out of earshot.

“No.  I don’t know him.  He was just uh, talking to me.”

“Like, flirting?”

“I think so?  He was pretty bad at it if it was,” she said, noticing Morgan was looking back at the guy, who had already moved on to talk to one of his buddies – probably the birthday boy.  “It was honestly nothing.  He was trying to be so smooth but failed miserably.”

“He keeps looking over here,” Morgan said.  “I just hope he drops it.”

“He will.  Don’t worry.”

Bee settled into easy conversation with Ashley, who was very personable and talkative, especially about her wedding and honeymoon.  Bee had always wanted to go to Italy, so she soaked up everything Ashley was telling her about the different areas and cities.  All of the pictures Ashley was showing her on her phone were to die for.  One day, she’d make it a reality.

Nazem was a sweetheart as well.  He told embarrassing stories about Morgan, especially when he first arrived on the team, but they were all in good fun and Morgan didn’t seem to mind.  Nazem had been one of the longest serving members of the Toronto Maple Leafs, so he had a lot of stories.  Bee was in stitches as she heard about all the pranks they played on each other on the road.  But the more Nazem, Morgan, and Frederik detailed what their life was like, especially their life ‘on the road’ during away games, the more Bee began to see that…well, maybe Mason was right about some things.  

She was still adamant that the men in front of her were just that – men – and fundamentally, nothing really separated them from being normal, everyday people.  It was just that they were ordinary people with extraordinary jobs.  But when they began outlining the traveling schedule, the workouts, the practices, the team bus trips, the midnight trips to airports, the copious amounts of coffee consumed throughout the day, the signing of autographs and pictures at airports, lounges, sponsored events, outside of arenas, in bathrooms…

…It was a lot.

Maybe Mason was right about a lot.

Ashley told her how she maintained a fairly private life, away from the fanfare and persistent hockey media in Toronto.  First was, of course a private Instagram profile – the only public one was for their cat, Jazzy, and she asked everyone to tag her using that profile so no-one would see her personal one.  Baseball caps were good friends for anonymity – and that’s when Bee realized that was why she almost always saw Morgan out in the summer with a hat.  Booths instead of tables as restaurants, so people would have to literally peer over to see them, and always, always in the back corner of a restaurant.  Call ahead of time to make a reservation.  “I always say that the only people who should recognize you is the saleswomen at the Holt Renfrew on Bloor Street,” Ashley joked, but Bee knew there was a twinge of seriousness in the statement.  “They can tell people the designer stuff you bought, but not much else.”

Bee began to feel overwhelmed.  She began to think about her place in all this – where exactly she fit in.  She wasn’t sure she had a place.  She wasn’t sure if she’d be able to find a place, truthfully.  She didn’t realize the magnitude – if you could even call it that – of the life Morgan, Nazem, and Frederik lived; of the live Ashley had to live because her husband was a professional athlete on a team that was revered by practically the entire city – some could argue the entire country.  It’s not like Leafs fans were just in Toronto.

She was just Bee.  Briony McTavish of Toronto, Canada.  A Master’s student.  A poor, starving Master’s student.  A teaching assistant at the University of Toronto.  Where did she fit in?

When the group called it a night and Morgan went to fetch his car, Fred stayed back with Bee inside of The Citizen.  He could tell she was tired – probably warn out from a week full of classes and leading her tutorial groups.  “You know that book you were reading when I found you?” he said, catching her attention.

“Autumn?” she clarified.

Fred nodded his head.  “Morgan has that book.”

Her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach.  “What?”

“He said you raved about it one night.  He dragged me to Indigo in the Eaton’s Centre to buy the series and he spent like, five minutes trying to explain what he was looking for to the poor sales girl because he forgot the title.”

The hairs on the back of Bee’s neck stood on end.  She was at a loss for words.  Why was Fred telling her this?

“He read them on the bus down to Niagara…and the whole time we were in Niagara,” Fred continued, referring to the bit if pre-season training camp they went to the Niagara region for earlier in the week.  “He would like, be alone in his room reading them.  You know how he likes to be alone.  And he wanted to talk to you about them, because I think he was having some trouble understanding some of the things, but I guess he didn’t.”

Bee could swear her heart skipped a beat.  She felt like she was going to throw up all over this big beautiful Danish man in front of her.  Was he just saying this?  Or did Morgan actually go out and buy Ali Smith’s books?  Did Morgan put him up to it?  Was it a plant?  Did he just read the summaries online?  Did he –

“Briony!  Leaving so soon?” a voice from behind her yelled.  She turned around to see Daniel with a pint of beer in his hand.  “I didn’t get to buy you a drink.”

She was not in the mood for this.  Not at all.  Not after what Fred just said.  “Are you for real right now?” she demanded, not caring if she sounded rude.  “I’ve been with my friends for three hours and you’re still here trying to shoot your shot?”

“I said I was gonna buy you a drink.  I always keep my promises,” he kept trying to flirt.  When he noticed the exasperated look on her face, he was a bit taken aback.  “What?  Can’t a guy buy a girl a drink these days?”

“They definitely can, Mr. Accounts at RBC, but not when she’s clearly trying to have a good time with her friends,” Bee chastised him.  “And like I said, I’m going to be your boss one day, so this is probably not your smartest move.”

“What’s your problem?” Daniel narrowed his eyes.

“What’s the issue here?” Bee heard Morgan’s voice from behind her.  She rolled her eyes again because of course, of course he had to get out of his car and show up now.  And like any boy, he was going to huff and he was going to puff until he blew the whole house down.  “Are you bothering her again?”

“I can handle it.”

“I’m trying to buy her a drink.  Can you relax?” Daniel said to Morgan.  

“Well clearly she said no, and clearly she doesn’t want it.”

“Who are you to speak for her?” Daniel demanded.

At this point, Morgan sidestepped around Bee to come face to face with him, peering down at him.  Bee grabbed hold on his arm.  “Morgan, stop it.  Let’s just go.”

“She.  Doesn’t.  Want.  You,” Morgan enunciated his words clearly.  “Get the fucking hint.”

“What are you?  Her boyfriend or something?”

Bee had had enough.  She was going to be the last person in the universe to cause a scene at a bar.  “Let’s go!” she said loudly, forcefully pulling Morgan’s arm towards her to disengage him.  She practically dragged him out of the bar and towards his car.  He kept looking back but eventually stopped to get into his car.  

“What the fuck is wrong with that guy?” he asked to nobody in particular, Freddie closing the door to the backseat once he had squished himself in.

“You should drive Fred home, he’s had a long night,” Bee ignored his open question.  She buckled her seatbelt and caught a quick glimpse of Morgan, who was adjusting his own.

“I should go back in there and --”

“Fred’s had a long night,” she repeated, more forcefully this time, so Morgan would get the hint.  She knew he was a hockey player and all, but he never seemed like the type to get hot-headed about something so futile, something she could have handled all on her own.  “Drive him home please.”

She looked through the rear-view mirror to see Fred smiling, and when he caught her eye, he winked at her.  Morgan began driving along King Street, taking a few side streets before ending up at what Bee could only assume was Fred’s condo building – a sleek, glass structure that seemed like it was a hundred storeys high.  He probably lived in a penthouse that overlooked the city skyline.  The money shot.  He probably had a bathtub filled with money.  

Fred left after thanking them for a fun night out, patting Morgan on the shoulder as he wiggled his body out of the backseat of the car.  Morgan waited until Fred got into the lobby before looking over at Bee.  “You wanna come over mine?”

It was the first time he was inviting her over to his place.  The queasiness in her stomach that began after her conversation with Mason roared up again.  Despite whatever reservations, she nodded her head.  Reversing the car, he made his way out of the entranceway and back on to the street.  

With one hand on the steering wheel, Morgan reached over with his other and grabbed her hand.  He brought it towards his lips and kissed it tenderly, setting it down on his lap.  Bee’s heart fluttered at the tenderness of the action.  It momentarily cleared her mind, reminded her that it was just Morgan, that they were just Morgan and Bee, in a car together driving to his place.  Everything around them – the people, the stores, the restaurants, the entire city of Toronto – none of it mattered in that moment.

And then her mind brought everything back to her.  

“Don’t ever do that ever again,” she said, her voice somewhere between a stern demand and a whisper.  

Morgan looked over at her.  “Do what?” he asked.  She should have assumed he was going to play dumb.

“I don’t want anybody fighting over me, ever.”

“Why not?”

She sighed, glancing out the window.  “There isn’t much worth fighting for.  And I could have handled it.  I was handling it.”

“There isn’t much worth fighting for?” Morgan threw her own words back at her.  “Bee, are you fucking nuts?”

“What?”

“You…you severely underestimate how much of a catch you are, you know that?”

She looked down at her thighs, squished against the pristine leather of his luxury car.  Her pants were $10, on final sale from H&M.  She’d bought them two years ago.  The part at the inner thigh was starting to become too thin from years of her thighs rubbing against each other, and she was sure they’d rip soon.  She wondered if she’d be able to fit into the same size and style when she would inevitably have to buy a new pair.  Probably not.  Her body had changed since then and she was lucky that she even still fit into these.  They had stretched enough to accommodate her body but it was become too strenuous on the fabric.  “Stop.”

“I mean it, Briony.”

He knew exactly when to use her full name and it agonized her.  “I’m being serious,” she said, unable to look at him.  “Just please don’t do that again.”

“I can’t make any promises.  When I see someone making you uncomfortable, I’m going to react.”

She dropped it.  She knew she had to.  There was no way she was going to win this.  If Morgan wanted to be that person – fine.  There was no way she could control it.  He didn’t regulate her behaviour, so she couldn’t exactly regulate his.  She just wished he was able to see how the confrontation made her uncomfortable.  

His apartment was slightly what she expected, slightly a surprise.  It was big, which she imagined it would be, with what seemed like two bedrooms and a den.  There was a nice big kitchen with an island, but it looked barely used, despite some of the see-through cupboards being filled with various pots and pans.  It was nicely decorated, with a big grey sectional, a huge flat-screen TV, and wood accents throughout.  There was a giant painting on the wall that caught her eye – one of Gord Downie, from the Tragically Hip – and she immediately fell in love with it.  If she could steal one thing from his apartment, that would be it.  

“I can give you a change of clothes,” he said as they walked into his bedroom.  She saw that he had an ensuite and wondered if the other bedroom had one too.  It was much bigger than her place – probably three times the size at least, maybe four – but it was still cozy.  

She changed into a tank top with a Maple Leafs logo on it and a new pair of boxers.  She was pretty sure he worked out in the top, and she laughed at the thought of him washing it six or seven times to get the smell of sweat off of it.  Both fit.  The tank didn’t drape over her like it would on a small delicate body and make her seem shapeless, and the pair of boxers he lent her, because of their elastic band, fit snug around her hips.

When she turned around from changing, she saw him already topless underneath the covers.  He tried to make it seem like he wasn’t watching her, but she knew he was.  Out of the corner on her eye, on the bedside table, she could see the green and maroon spine of Autumn by Ali Smith on his bedside table.  She gulped.

He barely waited for her to crawl into bed and snuggle into his body before he started kissing her, and really, who was she to deny a kiss from him.  She kissed him back hungrily, wasting no time in relishing the feeling of his hands wandering along her body.  She felt the muscles in his back and shoulders and shuddered at how firm but soft he was.  She’d never felt anything like it.  When his mouth began to wander, nipping and licking at the skin on her neck, near her ear, and along her clavicle, she let out haughty, satisfied sighs, dragging her nails lightly over his biceps.  

When his hands began to wander lower and lower, playing with the elastic band of the boxers, she giggled slightly.  “I just put those on,” she breathed out.

“Too bad I want to take them off,” he muttered against her skin.  “Fuck, Bee.  You drive me fucking crazy.”

It was comments like that that sent her to oblivion.  She had no way to react.  She was momentarily lost in the abyss, her head tilted back enjoying the sensation of his lips on her skin and his hand down her pants.  It was only when she opened her eyes and saw the familiar cover of Autumn again that she snapped back to reality.

He likes to be alone.  He was alone all weekend reading that book.

Those Instagram model girls are looking for guys like him.

He’s the star defenseman, Bee.  This isn’t going to be a regular relationship.

“Morgan…” she said absent-mindedly, her thoughts intruding on her again, become too much to handle.  By now, Morgan had pushed the shirt all the way up so it was bunched just under her breasts.  Of course, she wasn’t wearing a bra.  She hadn’t even noticed her state.  He continued to kiss her skin.  “Morgan.”

“Hmm?”

“Are you seeing anybody else?” she asked suddenly.

That question definitely brought Morgan back down to reality.  He stopped kissing.  “God no,” he answered immediately, as if it was the most absurd question in the world.  He furrowed his eyebrows.  “Are you?”

“No.”

The words hung heavy in the air.  Morgan knew where this was going.  It wasn’t exactly the most opportune moment – he would rather be doing other things – but he acknowledged Bee apparently wanted to talk about this now.  “You call the shots here, Briony.  I fell for you hard and fast.  You gotta know that by now.  You gotta know that I want to be with you.”

Bee didn’t know what to say.  She had so many thoughts swirling around in her head that she didn’t know what was right and what was wrong; what was a rational thought, and what was completely irrational.  She didn’t know what was an actual cause for concern or her just projecting insecurities onto Morgan.  Her thoughts wandered back to Ashley Kadri, trying to picture a typical day for her, shrouded in secrecy.  Then she thought about the other wives and girlfriends, and whether or not they had a similar life.

Then came the most important person: herself.  She was in her last year of her studies.  If everything went to plan, she’d finish her course and its exams in December.  She’d apply to jobs in the New Year and hopefully land something.  She’d graduate in June.  She’d work her way up the corporate ladder.  

She had to think about her education.  She had to think about her job prospects.  She had to think about her career.

She was Bee.  Briony McTavish of Toronto, Canada.  A Master’s student.  A poor, starving Master’s student.  A teaching assistant at the University of Toronto.

A professional athlete’s girlfriend?

“Can we…” she began, unable to think straight.  “Can we maybe…I feel like you’re going to hate me.”

“There is nothing you could say that could make me hate you.”

She sighed.  That wasn’t true.  “I have to think about my education and my career.  I like you and I like being with you but those things are my top priority.  I’m conflicted because this was all unexpected but I love it and I’m having so much fun and I just…I just know that I can’t get too distracted.  My education and my career have to be my top priority, Morgan.”

“I know, I know,” he agreed, nodding his head.  “I support that Bee.  You know I support that.”

“Can we…can we just wait?  Not put a label on it right now?  Like, I know I’m not seeing anyone else and I don’t plan to, and you’re not seeing anyone else right now --”

“And I don’t plan to,” Morgan added.

“And you don’t plan to,” Bee nodded.  “So we can…can we just take it slow?”

“Take it slow?” Morgan repeated after her.  “Listen, Bee…I’ll do whatever you want me to do.  I just want to be around you.”

His words brought her back to what Auston said to her that night at dbar, about Morgan liking being alone, and what Fred had said that night about Morgan being alone in his room reading Ali Smith.  “I thought you liked to be alone.  Auston said you liked being alone.  So did Fred.”

“I do, Bee.  And I know you do too.  I don’t know…can’t we be alone together?”

She smiled at his choice of words.  He was definitely reading Ali Smith if he was using an oxymoron like that.  “That doesn’t make sense.”

“Yes it does.  We can make it make sense,” he said.  “You and me, alone…like, nobody else surrounding us.  No team, no city…whatever.  But together.  Us.”

She couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face.  God, he was so earnest.  Maybe the next thing she should recommend to him was The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde because Lord, the look on his face and the hope in his eyes made her want to melt into a puddle right then and there.  

She nodded her head.  She pulled him closer and continued to kiss him because for the first time that night, it was the only thing on her mind, and the only thing that made sense.

[idea-garden]

oneshot #7 - dirty bathroom fuck - pt.2 | @minseoks-personal-trashcan

pt. 1 | pt. 2

Baekhyun/OC

Sequel to a request from @minseoks-personal-trashcan​

Written by @idea-garden​

This has been requested since I posted the first part, and we all know that was forever ago...

SMUT / 18+ / car sex / angry sex? / public sex / oral / orgasm denial / dirty talk / d/s / bdsm

3,800 words

SooRi left for a six-month internship. SooRi will never leave Baekhyun again...

If you like this like it, reblog it, and follow me!

This is trash.

ALL PROMPTS | SMUT PROMPTS | RULES | ASK | MY WRITING

SooRi stood outside her apartment door waiting for her rideshare to pick her up. The cool autumn breeze had picked up some and it made her shiver slightly in her nude bodycon dress. Finally, her ride came, the car’s lights cutting the dark sky. Collecting herself in the car, she gave the address, then sat back to observe the scenes outside the window. Everything she passed by looked so foreign and so familiar at the same time. Each place holding a different memory, giving her both nostalgia and nausea.

After a slow cruise, she reached her destination. It was her favorite restaurant. Ugh. She missed this place. She turned her eyes up at the bright place, took a breath, and slapped a few crumpled bills in her driver’s hand.

SooRi couldn’t believe it’d only been six months since she was last home. It felt good to be back. Of course, there was no place like home.

The fine dining establishment was set for dinner. Its floor-to-ceiling windows giving a beautiful view of the harbor. The decor was set in warm lighting. Cream carpet, cream chairs, off-white tablecloths, and various shades of gardenias were just a few aesthetic notes she observed.

This place was fancy. Too fancy. But, since she wasn’t buying, she had no issue eating there.

--

SooRi stood at the front of the restaurant, only waiting for a brief second before a hostess in a cute cocktail dress appeared before her. They exchanged brief smiles, as the hostess asked for a name. The restaurant was so exclusive that you could only eat there by reservation only. Apparently, according to her friend, you had to book at least six weeks in advance. SooRi appreciated the gesture. She was never one to want a big fuss to be made over her, but she had to admit it felt pretty great to be in the middle of the fanfare.

She stood for a second as the hostess scanned the seating chart, then guided her to a semi-private table set for six. Menus and neatly folded napkins were sitting on white plates that covered gold chargers. The hostess pulled out her chair and wished her a pleasant dining experience.

She was the first one to arrive to her own welcome back dinner. Typical--considering her immediate friend group. Jessi and Junmyeon were either doting on each other or having car sex in the parking lot. SooRi was convinced that Jongin and Chanyeol didn’t even know how to tell time. And Baekhyun… well he didn’t give a shit about anyone’s time except his own.

SooRi pulled out her phone, shooting a text to Jessi and noting the time. She was a little early, so she wasn't too irked. A response returned within two minutes. Her friend was on her way there--delayed traffic. SooRi told her it was no problem. She had the aching suspicion she and Junmyeon were definitely fucking in the car. However, SooRi knew her friend would never intentionally keep her waiting.

After about ten minutes, she saw Jessi and Junmyeon in lockstep carrying balloons and what looked like a neatly wrapped gift. Jessi passed her things to her boyfriend and enveloped SooRi in a tight hug.

"I missed you so much! I'm so glad you're back!" The pair teetered side to side as the hug continued.

SooRi had to chuckle, they talked every single day of her absence. There was a good chance Jessi knew more about her day than she did, but nonetheless it felt great to see familiar faces again.

"I'm glad to be back! It's good to be back with friends again."

Just as the words left her lips, Jongin walked up with Chanyeol in tow.

"There are my boys," SooRi pulled them in one after the other.

She noticed them dropping off little gift bags where Junmyeon had been previously.

"Have a seat guys! I guess we can get started," SooRi urged them to get comfortable.

She looked around the table with a smile, until her eyes rested on the empty seat.

SooRi knew she shouldn't have expected much from him, but she still wanted to see him.

"Where's Baek?"

"He just messaged me. He's on his way. He wanted us to start without him." Junmyeon reassured her.

He was probably still upset with her. She knew he had every right to be, but being on the receiving end of a cold shoulder was never pleasant.

--

The group eventually ordered their beverages and a palate cleanser. Meanwhile, Baekhyun sat in his car, deliberating whether or not he was ready to see her.

His thumbs twisted around the key fob as he was deep in thought.

She left him. She left him without a word. He didn't owe her anything, and she didn't owe him anything, but he'd be lying if he said he didn't miss her.

"Fuck it. I'm here now." Baekhyun slammed his car door on the way out, pissed he missed her as much as he did.

He spent no time waiting for the hostess to lead him to the table. He walked through with a confident stride. Dressed in fitted black jeans and a navy button down. The shirt, top two buttons open, gave a sinful hint of the body underneath.

In true Baekhyun fashion, he greeted the table with an off-handed comment before plopping down in the only empty seat.

Of course, it was the seat in front of her.

SooRi's mouth nearly went dry when she saw him. She hadn't seen him in six full months. Sure, she'd been stalking his Instagram, but nothing compared to the real thing.

Involuntarily, she clutched her dainty, gold necklace, rubbing it--most likely praying for the strength to make it through this dinner without crawling across the table to get on top of him.

He gave a smirk and reached across to her wine glass, taking a sip from it, daring her to react to him. He was truly a piece of work.

‘Lord, give me strength,' she mused as a strong breath filtered through her nose.

--

Drinks were scattered around the table and appetizers were spread and half-eaten.

“So, did you meet any cute guys during your internship?” Jessi snickered.

“Yeah, SooRi. Did you fuck them until they wanted to stick around, then hop on the next flight out of there?” Baekhyun grit his teeth under an annoyed stare in her direction.

“Baek, chill out!” Jongin rested a hand on his shoulder, while Baekhyun took a sip of his alcoholic beverage.

He was going to need to get drunk to make it through this damn thing.

“No, I didn’t have to do that. It turns out that most men are mature. They are upfront about what they want and don’t play games, then pout when they don’t get their way.”

“Now that I think about it, having you stay with a man is punishment enough. Perhaps, you’re doing us all a favor when you run away.” Baekhyun slammed his glass down to punctuate his malcontent.

“I think this is a good time for dessert.” Chanyeol piped up.

“God Chanyeol. We haven’t even had our entrees.” Junmyeon murmured under his breath.

“Well, it’s a better suggestion than watching a fucking cage match at our table!”

No one could argue with that.

“Let’s all cut Baekhyun a break. It’s difficult for us to see things from his perspective, because none of us can get our heads that far up our own asses.” SooRi winked at him and Baekhyun rolled his eyes damn near out of his skull.

“You just don’t know how much I’ve missed you, SooRi, “Jessi smirked at her boyfriend before the rest of the group had a hearty laugh at poor Baekhyun’s expense.

--

Before long, the main meals had come and gone. Now, the group sat around trading stories to catch each other up on the happenings of their life over dessert.

"I'm so glad to be back. I just want to settle into my old routine again."

Baekhyun scoffed, partly in disbelief.

"Which part of your routine? The part where you beg me to fuck you in every position known to man? Or the part where you act like you aren't interested in us being 'us'?"

Eyebrows shot up around the table. This was news.

SooRi cast her head down. This was one of the few times in her life she wasn't feeling too combative. Normally, she would've ripped Baekhyun a new asshole, or exsanguinated him with words sharper than knives, but not tonight.

"What's the matter, SooRi? You still haven't told them about us keeping up fuck buddy-status since Jongin's party?"

That cheeky bastard beamed at the chance to put her in her place in front of everyone.

"You know, just because your parents never gave you hugs as a kid, doesn't excuse you from being a complete ass." SooRi didn't want him to think she cared about anything he had to say, but enough was enough.

She took a deep breath, then sighed. "I'm sorry guys. I don't think I can stay here any longer." SooRi stood, reaching for her purse and phone.

"Don't leave your welcome back party! We'll kick Baekhyun's sorry ass out of here," Chanyeol snickered and stuck his tongue out.

"You're the best, Yeol. It's getting late anyway, and we've had such a nice time. I'd hate to ruin the night with an attempted murder charge."

--

SooRi hugged her friends one last time, before she departed. Her heels clicked with a soft echo in the concrete parking lot. She tapped her foot out front, waiting for her rideshare.

A strong hand gripped her waist without warning.

"You've got a lot nerve, walking out on me like that."

"I don't know if you were at the same dinner that I was, but you were the one acting all butt-hurt."

"When the going gets tough, SooRi gets going." Baekhyun shrugged, "If you want to get home you might as well let me take you. I canceled your ride. You're still on my account, remember?"

SooRi glared at him, fighting her instinct to curse him out.

"You'd have better luck asking Carmen Sandiego where in the world you lost your damn mind!"

"Get in the fucking car, SooRi. Let me take you home."

--

The tension was palpable as they rode in silence. Baekhyun cut his eyes over her frame. She looked amazing, as always. Since he'd had her, there was no one else he wanted.

"It killed me when you left." He spoke never looking in her direction.

"W-What?" SooRi tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

"You just left me. I thought that we were, kind of, building something. Then, I find out through Instagram that you're on your way to New York for an internship."

"You always knew I had to go...," SooRi trailed off in a whisper.

Baekhyun's fingers tightened around the steering wheel, knuckles white and fully-flexed.

"That is not the point, dammit! You can't make people fall for you, then just leave them high and dry!"

SooRi's eyes widened, mouth partly agape, a series of questions ready to flow from her brain to her lips.

"Baekhyun-- W-Where are you going?!" She watched as he peeled off the path to her home and down some dark street.

Both of their bodies lurched forward as he came to a stop in the desolate alleyway. Putting the car in park, he turned to SooRi with a dark glint in his eyes.

"I wish I could get you out of my mind. I wish I could hate you."

--

Baekhyun pressed his lips against SooRi's, gently at first, gradually his force increased. She weakly tried to push him off, but she missed the feeling. His tone arm pulled her closer to him, SooRi's side digging into the center console.

"Ouch! Not so rough!" SooRi shifted uncomfortably around the console and his unrelenting grip.

"I think that's the least of your problems tonight, SooRi-ah. Someone needs to teach you some manners. It's not polite to leave your boyfriend without so much as a word."

"Boyfriend? Really, Baek?"

His hands grabbed her hips as best they could. "Ah, ah, ah! Tonight, I think you should address me as 'Sir,' don't you think? I am teaching you a very important lesson. Now, crawl into my lap, baby girl."

Against her better judgement, she shifted over his lap, "I bet you've missed this, huh?"

"Don't flatter yourself, Baekhyun."

He took no time to swat her ass quickly a few times. "What did I tell you to address me as?"

"...Sir...," SooRi looked off to the side. She'd be damned if she was going to make eye contact. Besides, she already knew he had a shit-eating grin on his face.

"Good girl. Lift up your dress."

Baekhyun watched as she wriggled around to lift her dress around her waist. He eyed the microscopic piece of fabric that was her lacy, white thong. His tongue slithered out from between his lips, eager to have and taste her.

She gnawed on her bottom lip in anticipation. She could feel his fingers ghosting over her entrance, before a cool gust of air hit her skin. He clenched his teeth, snapping the panties at the waistband.

SooRi glowered down at him, but stifled a moan when he shoved the underwear in his pocket.

"Looks like someone missed me, too," he dipped two fingers inside SooRi, while his thumb massaged her clit. "How thoughtful of you to keep it nice and wet for me."

She released a hoarse, needy groan at his delicate touch. He always knew which button to press to keep her reeling.

"Feel good, sweet girl?"

She nodded erratically, bucking her hips up to meet his fingers. "Uh huh. Y-Yes, Sir."

His digits quickened as they curled to tease her g-spot. Baekhyun was quite amused watching her face contort in a mixture of pleasure and discomfort. Her shallow moans broke up the silence between her delicious wet sounds and the leather squeaking against their active bodies.

Baekhyun slapped SooRi's inner thighs when her hip rolling became too eager. "There is so much more fun to have, baby."

"I'm close, Sir." Her nails dug into his shoulders, body twisting as her orgasm neared.

Her whimpers were the sweetest music to his ears. He could feel her warmth pulsing around his fingers.

As she found herself teetering dangerously on the edge, Baekhyun withdrew his fingers, opting to taste her.

She whined, watching him savor her unique flavor, "Put them back, please...Sir. I want to cum on your fingers."

"This wouldn't be much of a lesson, without some form of punishment."

Wiping his wet fingers on SooRi’s inner thighs, Baekhyun gripped her face in a deep kiss. Their tongues danced around in desperation for one another. Mouths still connected, he tugged at the thin straps of her dress, all too impatient for it to come off.

SooRi wriggled out of the top half of the dress, rolling it to the middle of her stomach where the rest of the dress was. Baekhyun’s tongue dragged a fiery trail down her neck to her uncovered breasts.

His tongue flicked at her nipples, before he alternated with a light suctioning pressure. He pulled the soft skin through his teeth, gently biting her and leaving her chest covered in maroon bruises.

SooRi tangled her fingers in his hair, head dropped back and body still tense with the desire to cum.

“Unzip my pants,” Baekhyun smirked at her attempts to grind against him for any kind of sensation.

She didn’t have to be told twice.

In a matter of seconds, Baekhyun’s dick was stiffening in SooRi’s manicured hand.

“Go ahead, princess. Ride me.”

She lined him up with her entrance and sank down with a satisfying sigh. He filled her up so nicely. She fit around him like a glove.

SooRi wrapped her arms around the driver’s headrest, slapping her hips up and down wildly. Baekhyun broke up the monotonous sound with a few sharp ass slaps.

Kneading the tender flesh, he grunted, “Damn, I’ve missed this ass.”

SooRi leaned back to roll her hips, narrowly missing the horn. Her knees dug into the soft leather around Baekhyun, frustrated by the lack of space. His hands ran up the sides of her waist and settled on her bruised tits.

Palming them roughly, she mewled as he rolled her nipples between his fingers. She hissed watching him pinch and tweak the hard nubs.

He pulled on her nipples as if they were the reins of a horse--tugging them mercilessly enjoying her whinnies for release. When he felt he'd done enough, he closed a broad hand around her throat.

"I'm about to--," she was barely able to breath out.

They were both well aware of the fact that whenever his hands clasped around her throat, she would be drenched. It was like she was straddling Niagara Falls.

"Not yet," Baekhyun swiftly opened his door and scooped her off of his length.

--

She wobbled to find her footing as she stood right outside the car--totally exposed.

"Baekhyun, what the fuck?!" She tried to shield her nude form and scurry to the passenger's seat, only for Baekhyun to stop her in her tracks.

"That's 'Sir,' to you. But, since you want to be a mouthy little slut, I'll give you something productive to do with your mouth."

Baekhyun eyes gleamed darkly as he stared her down. He towered over her to drop his jeans more comfortably, before resuming his seated position.

"Let's see those pretty lips on my dick, hmm?" Baekhyun blew a kiss in her direction, meanwhile SooRi returned the evil eye.

If she felt that her knees were in an uncomfortable position in the car, the cold asphalt was certainly no improvement.

SooRi kneeled and looked up to him, teeth gritting as she gripped him at the base of his cock. Her hands glided up and down his glistening shaft, pumping him faster and faster.

She swiped his tip quickly, cleaning a clear drop of precum. Her tongue drug a sloppy trail up from his balls to the tip, before swirling around the head.

SooRi shivered at the cool, night air, smirking at the thought of being so naughty. The lonely, flickering street light cast a shadow over the pair. The sounds and faint lights of cars moving on the highway made them very aware of their daring deed.

Baekhyun sucked in a jagged breath as her warm mouth worked its magic. He stroked her curly hair with great care, easing her down on his needy, aching member.

His voice strained as she expertly handled his girth. She always knew exactly what he needed in exactly the right moment. It wasn't long before he had her lips motioning at the base of his member.

"Fuck, baby...," he eked out with a clenched jaw.

After a few muffled gags, SooRi bobbed up for much-needed air. She lapped at the new precum leaking from his head. She eyed him with sliver of rebellion, as her hands pumped him faster and faster. One hand massaged his balls, while she tongued his tip.

"Is it good, Sir?" She'd picked up his signature smirk with no practice.

Baekhyun lifted SooRi from his length by her chin, "Ah, ah, ah. I want to pump that pretty pussy full of cum."

Her cheeks turned a bright shade of red as she stood in front of him, lips glistening in the brief flashes of light.

"You think if I put a baby in that tight little stomach, you'll have a reason to stay with me?" He whispered roughly in her ear.

She nearly lost her breath at the new side he was revealing.

He stood up, leading her to the hood of the car with one hand and holding his pants to help his waddle with the other.

When he found a comfortable spot, he cupped his hands under her ass, lifting her on the hood of his sedan.

She landed with a soft thud, tensing at the cold metal beneath her.

"Spread those legs, baby," he took a few seconds to kiss her inner thighs and pass his tongue over her slick opening.

Baekhyun lined his shaft up to her entrance, rubbing her clit with his thumb and parting her wetness with his tip.

"Mmmmm, don't tease," SooRi panted, hips moving at the slightest sensation.

Her body was on fire and no amount of air could cool her down. She needed release and wouldn't be denied. Not this time, anyway.

He pecked her lips, pulling her bottom lip through his teeth, just the way she liked it. Within a moment, he shoved hard and pushed his entire length into her in one thrust, holding her hips to pull her against him.

"You. Never. Fucking. Leave. Me. Again. Got it?!" He blew through his teeth, each thrust more powerful than the last.

It was her turn to grunt, grit, and moan, feeling his length tunnel into her. His thickness stretched her more than she remembered. She dug her hands into the hood of the car, frustrated that there was nothing to grab and hold onto for dear life. SooRi felt like she was losing her grip--not only on Baekhyun’s car, but reality--as he started moving, drawing back, and thrusting his length into her again and again.

"Oh, fuck! Keep fucking me like this, Sir! I'll never leave you again, Baekhyun!"

His mouth dried before a broad grin covered his features, "Learned your lesson so soon?"

SooRi could barely respond when her eyes shut tightly, riding the wave of pleasure flowing through her body. An onlooker would have described her as possessed, the way she writhed, convulsed, and shuddered. She rocked back and forth, still sliding on his dick, moaning unintelligible, incoherent strings of words.

The rocking BMW didn't have much of a chance to still as Baekhyun tipped over the edge. He felt his balls contract up towards his body, anticipating the muscle contractions start that would send him cumming inside her, and he grabbed her hips with both hands again to pull her back into him.

The spasms lasted for what seemed like forever in those moments of release. He bucked into her erratically as his ejaculation subsided, slowly coming down from the high.

--

Baekhyun rested inside her for a few minutes, before slipping out, gradually softening while SooRi adjusted her dress.

He pulled his pants up and hopped back in the driver's seat, waiting for SooRi.

When she closed the door behind her, they buckled up and peeled out of the alleyway.

"Maybe, I should leave more often?" SooRi winked as they headed to her place.

"Maybe, you need another lesson?" Baekhyun gripped her thigh, as he sped off into the distance.

Idea Garden is a writing prompts blog. We focus mainly on smut prompts, however, our prompts do span genres.

ALL PROMPTS | SMUT PROMPTS | RULES | ASK | MY WRITING

[rosaliafm]

     ⋆     𝑰𝑵𝑻𝑹𝑶𝑫𝑼𝑪𝑰𝑵𝑮 — alexa demie. she/her. cisfemale. | was that rosalia ‘lia’ cortez i just saw in the hideaway lobby ? i hear the twenty-two year old spends most of their time sales associate and cam girl , but i’ve always just seen them improving their makeup skills . they live in apartment 2D and i often see them in the halls. they always give me a vibe of early 2000s fashion modernized, colorful palettes, r&b playing loudly from another room. 

hallo, hallo !! i’m dani ( twenty-one & she/her ) and uhhh this rp looks so mf cute ?? anyways, this is my baby and i will do anything to protecc her, oh and discord is @ in the mood for love#5274 if you wanna shoot me a friend request to plot (-: 

𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒔 : 

fullname: rosalia elena cortez 

nicknames: lia ( main one ), rosa, rosita 

age: twenty-two 

d.o.b: january 3rd, 1997 

zodiac: capricorn sun, scorpio moon, leo rising 

gender: cisfemale

sexuality: bisexual 

occupation: full timer @ h&m, part-time cam girl

𝒔𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂 : 

twt & insta handle: babylia

insta followers: 74.5k 

twt followers: 63.5k

𝒂𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒄 : 

baby phat, hoop earrings — the bigger the better, early 00s and 90s music, colorful makeup palettes, highlighted cheekbones enough to blind you, freshly manicured nails, risque fashion choices, late night shopping trips, jewelry for days, afternoon skies, shiny lipgloss, colorful alcoholic drinks, drinking red bull with a straw, binge watching series after a full shift, neon bowling alleys and rollerskating rinks, blue raspberry slushies. 

𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒓 : 

daytime: lia works as a full timer for h&m which is on university village, a whopping 15 minutes away from downtown seattle where the apts are located ( i had to google this because i work at h&m and i wanted to give lia a retail job ). she’s been working there for nearly three years now and there’s talk about giving her a supervisor promotion but lia is beginning to feel unsure about continuing her job there, knowing it pays the bills but she feels stuck. her shifts are usually in the morning, very rarely does she close. 

nighttime: she’s a cam girl ( think kat from euphoria ) and sells nudes/does sex work. it started when she was 17-18 with a private nsfw twitter where she charged 20 dollars a person to access it when she saw some of her mutuals do it and wanted in on making a quick buck. it grew from there, slowly researching her way into the business knowing she could make more out of her body because she knows she’s beautiful and she knows it’s good money. it took a lot of work to get her name out there, going under an alias of course, but now it’s been nearly 4-5 years since she’s been doing it and not only has she gained popularity within that world, but has a selective group of people she considers her favorites. she hosts shows every tuesday and thursday night. any other day or when someone requests, her she charges more and so on. 

𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 :

lia is a hustler, a bad bitch if you will. she’s definitely a good person at heart despite her resting bitch face and mean demeanor. she isn’t afraid to call you out on your shit. however, she doesn’t seek drama or start it without good reason. she likes to stay in her lane as much as possible, but you bet if you drag her name into things she will come for you. anywayss,  she’s an ambivert and can definitely adapt to her surroundings and people but if she doesn’t like you she doesn’t like you and it’s must be for a good reason or there will be a reason, she just gets weird vibes sometimes. she can definitely be petty, hold a grudge and ignore you for days or the rest of your life. but underneath all that she rlly just is someone with a big heart whos nothing but loyal to those she loves and if shes scolding you or raising her voice it’s really out of love ( and a habit she got from her mother ). definitely the drunk friend who takes care of her drunk friends unless shes going through it, then they’re definitely holding her hair back as she pukes into bushes. 

positive traits: hardworking, reliable, loyal, independent, confident 

negative traits: stubborn, blunt, insensitive, bossy, overcritical 

𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒔 : 

lia comes from a single parent household, her mom raised her and her siblings all on her own and lia and her older sister come from the same dad, but not her younger siblings who both come from different men. her mom isn’t exactly the best role model out there but she loves her mom regardless whether they share the same views on things or not. they don’t talk as often now that she’s lived on her own for almost three years but she goes visit whenever she can, but it does put her at ease that at least her older sister is there to help her mom out.

she’s pretty popular on social media outside of her nsfw accounts, mostly on instagram for her pictures which gained her popularity on twitter, but she wouldn’t consider herself an influencer of any sort it was mostly her outfit pics ( 2000s inspired )  and funny tweets that put her where she is now. 

her home has colorful decor, with a hint of an 80s vibe and it’s the cutest little place and she loves how far it’s come along since she’s moved there. 

𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 : 

that’s some gang shit: aka a squad of maybe 4-5 people? they would kind of know everything about each other, have definitely been friends for years be it 2 or longer, they always go out be it the skating rink or the club or just mobbing all night long, but lia would do absolutely anything for them because they’re like her family. 

her bestfriend/soulmate: they’re also part of the squad connection above, but lia has known this particular person since childhood and they’ve been through everything together, from first breakups to first fights to backing up each other in first physical fights with whoever was talking shit. they’re basically soulmates for life. 

an ex on good terms: lia doesn’t date a lot because she knows she’ll eventually have to talk about one of her careers and she’s always afraid it wont work out, but this person they accepted what she did on the side. and they were really good for a while but you know, things don’t always work out but they remained amiable when they broke up, occasionally still text or send each other a funny meme, and joke around. lia didn’t want to lose them as a friend, despite the ocassional butterfly she’ll feel, she prefers this over nothing. 

frenemies: they’re really out here disliking each other for the most petty reasons but what can you do? when you don’t vibe with someone you don’t vibe with someone. however, i’m a sucker for this trop of enemies to friends.

favorite neighbor: they’re not exactly friends but they could be, they’re always helping each other out when they see one another. be it asking for sugar, or helping them carry groceries from their car. lia definitely enjoys their little chats, and it always amazes her that within those 5-10 minutes of interaction they’ve never once exchanged numbers and she always means to get it from them because she wants to talk to them more with how well they click but it’s always a next time.

the person who helped her create her site: unlikely friends too! lia needed help from someone who knew about websites and how to keep her content protected she put an ad on craigslist like 4 years ago when she started to go pro and ever since then they meet up for maintenance of it. lia considers them a friend, enough to trust them to view her content to make sure there’s no viruses being leaked or people trying to steal her stuff. it’s great too because this person always looks unbothered seeing what lia does on screen and lia appreciates it a lot because even her closest friends who know about what she does have never seen her page.

and that’s all i have for now ! i’m up for anything else just hmu ! 

[kmelanin]

Permanent Ink \\ 1 // kth

A/n: So lately, i've been feeling almost nervous to post. Because I know that what I post most people don't want. So you've missed out on like five different oneshots. Lolll. But i don't know why I was feeling like that when this is MY blog. Soooooo, the recent request for the Stoner Tae, I was tooooooooooooo excited for, soooo here is part one of who knows how many. Lol. This and Prince J are the only multipart stories i'm working on. Even though I will posting oneshots. Anyways here it issss….

Main Masterlist~

( Permanent Ink ) masterlist~

WARNING- 

word count: 4k+

Request: So tattoo artist stoner tae (I want tae to be intimidating and have an intense aura, bold and blunt) (y/n) daddys girl spoiled brat that owns a fashion company (personality i want her to be confident, honest and daring) she’s brown skin with a fat butt lol that’s it, you can turn it into a series if you want but no pressure. I forgot to say I made their personalities like that so (y/n) don’t walk all over tae, i want her to find him intimidating and challenging and for tae to not be that impressed by her.

three years earlier~

“Wake up! You are so late!” A familiar voice popped into your lovely date night in paris. Your blurred face dream man slowly turned into your best friend in whole world.

“Ro?” You mumble, everything crumbling and reality setting in. Your eyes started to open, regretting it soon after since Rowan opened all of your curtains. The morning sun was seeping in and right into your face. You groan and roll over, covering your head with the closet pillow. You were happier since you black silk sheets somewhat block the sun out.

“No, no. You have a meeting in a hour. You need to get up.” She says yanking the cover off of your body. The sudden cold air made you groan again. But she was right, today was the day. In a hour you were suppose to meet with your father and explain your project to him.

About a year ago he gave you the chance to make your dream come true. To become a fashion designer. Not only did you want to design clothes, but you wanted to own your own company. Your father had quite a bit of money, and he told you if you convinced him with a layout and perfected plan then he will support you financially.

Not only did you draw out amazing sketches and clothing ideas, but you have a estimate on how much you would need.

With your father's company, it allowed us to live very well. And with the help of social media, you were pretty well know, which you hoped would help with your clothing line.

You didn't have time for a shower, and you thanked the universe you took one before you went to bed. You went to the bathroom and did your hygiene routine.

You got your hair done currently. A simple blow and press, with some extensions. You quickly went to your closet and pulled out a strapless tube dress, that went down right to your knees. You then grabbed a leather jacket and some black shin socks. You put it all on and slid on some black ankle booties. You went to your vanity and did a natural glam. You loved having a pro mua come in and glam, but only on days you really felt like looking good. You grabbed your brush and gently brushed your hair down in it's natural flowy way.

Some things you were known for was your fashion and hairstyles.

“Here, here. The car is outside, so eat this because by the time you get there you won't have time for your usual.” Rowan comes in holding a water and breakfast bar. You grabbed your purse and phone and headed out.

You pulled into the private parking ramp of your fathers building. Rowan lead you in, you nod in acknowledgement to the lady at the front desk. You made your way up and to your father's office. When you got to the door. Rowan hands you the binder of all your ideas. You take a deep breath and enter.

You see your father sitting at his desk with his hands folded in his lap with  a big smile on his face that you loved to see so much.

“Hi Dad.” You smile talking a seat in front of him. You instantly start showing him everything that was in your binder. You made sure to keep your voice professional and to let him know what you want. You show him everything from the types of fabric you would be using. You let him know that they would be made towards the warmer weather and also autumn. You also let him know that you want to keep things classy with a tingle of edge and sexiness. You continue to show him other things like how many people you need on the team and the equipment you need.

You were finishing you final sentence and take a deep breath, you smile and nod you head, letting him know you were finished. You weren't really sure what he was thinking, he kept that same smile on his face.

“Already, I'm so proud of you. I'm so happy that you realize that you have to work for what you want. I would be happy to help you financially, but other than that you are all on your own. Don't disappoint me.” He stands up opening his arms. Your heart was beating in your ears, so it took you a minute to process, but when you did, your body automatically ran over to your fathers. You chant thank yous over and over again.

now~

You sat across your best friend and now PA, Rowan, at a nice dinner. In three days, part one of your clothing line is going to finally drop. After three long years, everything was perfected and a two part series will drop slowly as the year goes on. So you both say here in one pieces of the new line.

You had on high waisted, long baggy black pants that's went all the way down to the floor, causing you to have to wear heels. You also had on one of the many halter tank tops on as well. Rowan stuck with the simple rose gold slip dress and some heels.

“So I was thinking, everyone in the world right now is talking about your clothing line. I've read some articles saying how it's a luxury brand. And not trying to brag or anything but I agree.” Rowan goes on as she twists some noodles up with her fork.

“Luxury? I'm not making this brand specifically for the rich.” You say frowning. Some pieces were a little higher in price, that's only because the materials themselves are expensive. But there were pieces affordable.

“I mean come on, you are using silks and jewels.”

“There's only two pairs of diamond earrings releasing.” you laugh at her. “Come on Ro, get to the point.”

“Fine, we need to celebrate, doing something other than eating a over priced plate of noodles.” She sets her fork down and picks her phone up. She goes to a instagram account and hold it up to you. “Here look, I think we should get tattoos and by him.” she says picking her fork up again.

You look at the account and see all different types of styles in tattoos and in different places.

“How many artists are there?” You ask and hand her phone back.

“It's just him and another. His name is Kim Taehyung. He’s Korean and he owns his own shop about a mile from here. And the others name is Soobin” She shrugs. “I think both of us getting a tattoo, would be cute and help celebrate this big moment coming for you.”

“And you want to get it right now? I don't even know what to get.”

“Exactly, which is where my role as your best friend and PA come in, I know you pretty well. Soooooo…” she taps her phone a couple of times then hand back. “Swipe left.”

You first seen a rose with a cute diamond floating above it. Then the next one was a pretty jeweled out snake. Then the last one was a butterfly of some sort.

“These are pretty fucking sexy. I’ll probably do the rose and something else. I think this idea is cute.”

“Ill call the driver. Even though I know how to drive, and have my license unlike you.”

“Hey, chill. Father hired a driver for me, there’s no point.”

You and Rowan met in high school. You both went to a private school and met in english class. You sat next to her and you looked at her once and you knew you wanted to be friends.

You two did become friends, and quiet fast. You found out that she wasn't from here, she was from China. She was chinese and black. She was happy that she made a friend so fast. After meeting that day, you two were stuck to each other. Your father was so happy that you made a friend that you could trust. He gave you and Rowan the best birthdays, since her family wasn't able.

It's crazy how long and stuck still you both were. Which is why you would be willing to get tattoos with her.

“The fuck do you mean you can't pay the full amount.” Taehyung was quickly getting annoyed with the teen in front of him. “The price of that tat is $530, and we agreed. So no, I will not take only $400.” Taehyung's face wasn't moving, it was the same as any other time, emotionless and scary. The way his eyes never leave your, it makes anyone nervous. Taehyung wasn't small either, he was almost six foot, his shoulders broad, his arms thick.

The teen who just got a half a sleeve done, which took Taehyung all morning, sighs. He takes his wallet back out and gives him the rest of his money.

“If you had the money, then why lie?” Taehyung asks, his voice going lower.

“I'm a student, it's habit I guess.” The teen shrugs. His really didn't look like he was a true problem, and Taehyung knew he was telling the truth because they were talking about how ugly his student ID looked. Taehyung sighed.

“Look here, I’ll make it 500 even, stop spending money on tattoos.” Taehyung hands back thirty dollars and the teen leaves.

“Soobin, clean my station up and Ill give you my next appointment.” Taehyung yells back towards where their stations were. He smirks a little when he hears lots of noise and feet running, knowing he ran to do it.

Taehyung was checking the calendar when when the door ringed, letting him know that someone was coming in.

As you and Rowan enter the building, you could easily tell that it was a tattoo shop. Even though from the outside it was a all black brick building. You follow Rowan up to the counter, your eyes all over the paintings hung up on almost every inch of the walls.

“Hi, welcome. What can I do for ya?” A deep voice catches your attention. You turn your head towards the desk where Rowan and the man stood. When you first look at him, you felt frozen for a second. He was fucking perfect. He was taller than you, his jawline sharp, and his eyes intense. He seemed really scary, which is why you were stuck, unable to say anything.

“Um, yes. We are here to get some tattoos, I'm not really sure what she wants, but I know what I want.” Rowan says nodding. The guy behind the counter nods and leans up off the counter, he runs his hands run through his ashy brown hair. He had a long sleeve shirt on, hiding the tattoos you see peeking out on his hands and neck. God, you wanted to see what was under it.

“Soobin!” He yells behind his back, within a couple of seconds another guy comes out. He was a little taller, but also lankier. He had a short sleeve shirt, showing a full sleeve on one arm and a couple on the other. His hair was a dark brown and it was kind of in his eyes

“We have two tattoos to do.” Ashy brown hair guy says. “You can take her, and I’ll take miss quiet over there.” He says, his eyes finally landing on yours. He frowns slightly and his hand drops, he doesn't look away for a second. Soobin speaks up.

“You can come this way, and I can start sketching up.” Soobin waves Rowan over.

“Good luck.” You whisper to her as she walks by giving you a okay hand symbol. Once she was gone, you slowly look back towards him. He eyes were already on you, it was like they never left. But he was leaning against the counter, with one hand on his chin holding his head up.

“I'm YN.” You say trying to break the awkwardness you felt.

“Taehyung.” He says, his voice sent shivers down your spine, it was low and sexy. “So what were you wanting?” he asks leaning up again and walks towards the doorway that leads to the back. He waves you to follow him. You do and follow him all the way down to the last door. Once you were in, he shuts the door and he sits at a desk.

“You can sit here.” He says pointing to the tattoo chair next to his desk. You walked over and sat down trying not to expose yourself in anyway. Once you were comfortable. He pushes a button on the side that makes you sit up some.

“So, what would you like?” He asks getting out some paper and pencils.

“Um, I'm actually not really sure, but I think I want it under my boobs.”  You say trying not to look into his eyes. You could feel his warmth from where he was and it made your cheeks feel warm. “I seen your instagram, so I trust your opinion.”

“And you said under your breasts? Can you lift your shirt up until it's under them?” He asks. Your eyes bugged out for a minute at the straightforwardness. But you nodded and did it anyways. You pushed them up as far as your can and leaned back. He pushed the button again making you lean back a little. He scooches up a little in his chair, he grabs the hangover light and turned it one, letting him see his clean surface. He raises one of his hand up and over your torso.

“Tell me a little about yourself.” he says. His fingers grazed over your rib cage, making goosebumps rise on your skin.

“Uhm, I'm releasing a clothing line in a couple of days. Rowan, the girl who came in, she's my best friend and PA. My father owns a really big company, and he helped me actually make my fashion future even possible.” You say looking up at the ceiling trying to ignore his fingers going over your skin.

‘The typical daddys girl’ Taehyung thinks as you keep talking. ‘Probably going to pay for the tats with her daddies card.’ He tried to keep a scoff in.

“Okay, I think two koi fish would look beautiful right here.” He says tracing a circle into your skin. “Like a in the shape and shaded like the yin and yang symbol, but separated.” he pushes himself away and picks his pencil up to start sketching. You went on your phone to distract yourself as he draws again.

“How long have you been tattooing?” You ask.

“I picked up the gun around age 13.” He says, as his hand was going crazy on the paper.

“Oh, nice.” You say trailing off, unsure on what to say next. Then you get a idea. You go to his Instagram page. You see that he has almost 50k followers. You smirk when you think about your couple of million. You click out and go to your camera. You take a couple of pictures of your legs and shoes in a cute position and you go back to instagram and pick the best on to post. When you chose, you captioned it with the eyes emoji and below it something about the pants being in your clothing line. Then you tagged his account and you post. You turn your phone off and wait, maybe he will notice maybe not. He had some pictures of himself on his account, so it wasn’t just his artwork. Within the next five minutes, you go back into your instagram and see that your post had a couple thousand likes, you quickly edit your post saying to follow him.

Within the next couple of minutes, he was done and he showed the picture to you. As soon as you seen it, you knew that you would love it. He explained that what ever white you see other than the background would be your skin and the rest is ink.

“God, I'm so excited for this.” You say as the chair starts to lean back. You stick your shirt into your bra so it would stay up and he starts to prep. Before he put his gloves on his takes out his phone and pushes himself over to a speaker in the corner of the room. He plugs his phone up and turns some on. You peek over trying to look over his shoulder, the only thing you notice, is he pulling his notification screen down. You smiled to yourself when you see the white rectangles going down super fast.

“Holy fuck.” You hear him mumble.

“I tagged you in my post, I hope you don't mind.” You smile. His head snaps over to you and back to his phone, he had a slight frown.

“Uh, Thanks.” He nods his head and sets his phone on the speaker and scooches over to you and continues prepping. His reaction wasn't what you were expecting, but something is better than nothing. You went to look at his account again and noticed that he had over 100k. You felt like a proud mother, but he didn't seem to be too happy about it.You sighed. You weren't sure what to do, he was so closed off. Keeping things professional. But all you could think about it how fucking beautiful he is.

Once his gloves were on he grabbed a wipe and cleaned off your skin, in the area was going to tattoo. You closed your eyes to try and control your breathing, and calm your nerves.You felt as he transferred the drawing to your torso. As soon as you heard the sound of the tattoo gun buzzed you knew you couldn't go back.

Throughout the whole process, he would hold you down when you flinch when he hits the ribs. He would whisper helpful saying like ‘it's okay, this line is almost over’, or ‘You got this, you're strong.” It wasn't even the sayings that helped, it was how he said it, and his voice was low and rough. You kept peeping down, looking at his neck tattoos, or just how his hair laid on his head.

Your mind finally calmed down when he switched the gun off.

“You did a lot better towards the end, good job.” He says taking his gloves off. He grabs some paper towel and a spray bottle. He sprays the paper and he wipes and dabs it against you. He then grabs some plastic and lays it over the tattoo with a little bit of skin tape. He then bends down and pushes the button letting you sit up. He helps you stand up and pull your shirt down. You went to go look in the full body mirror he had on the back of the door but he stops you and stands in front of you.

“No, I need you to come back tomorrow. I take pictures, so I wanted to take a picture of this with my professional camera. If that's okay?” He ran his fingers through his hair, exposing his brows a little, showing that they were frowning a little, which made his eyes look so intense when his hair cover his brows. “So I need you to keep that covered because I put this ointment on it that will help the swelling go down.”

So he wants you to come back tomorrow? You could do that.

“Okay, sure. But I can't look at it?” You ask, feeling the stiffness of the plastic.

“Nope, I like to show my clients the picture first. It will give you a different feeling when you see it then look at it on yourself.” He says looking down at you. You look back at him and nod.

“Um, time?” You ask. Your throat was suddenly dry, and he felt way to close.

“Whenever.”

“Okay, I’ll come in the morning, I have afternoon meetings.” You say nodding. You grab your purse and walk out behind him. You see Rowan getting her card back from Soobin when you come out. She smiles towards you as you walk up.

“Lemme see!” She says excitingly.

“Nope, I haven't even seen it. We can tomorrow.” You say.

“Oh, well I can show you mine.” She says and lifts her other hand up and on the inner part of her upper arm was a rose that wasn't shaded, it went across the whole space.

“That's so pretty!! I like how the stem goes into your armpit.” You joke. “You don't want a pity rose.” and you both laugh at your horrible joke. Soobin even joined. After Rowan was done, she told you that she was going to wait out in the car. Soobin leaves to the back, leaving you with Taehyung.

You take out your card. You father made sure to get you the black one. You had it to him and rings you up.

“Um, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out sometime?” You blurt out. Your face burned at 450 when his head pops up to yours. He scoffs and looks back down to what he was doing. Once he was done he hands you back the card. But before you can get it back completely he holds it still.

“I don't know if times had change, but last time I checked, you don't try to guilt someone into hanging out with them.” He says, letting the card go.

“What? No-”

“So drooling over me, then give me over sixty thousand followers, then you wanna hang out.” He makes air quotes with his fingers.

“No, I didn't mean it like that…”

“I’ll see you tomorrow. I open around 8am.” He says then he nods his head and heads to the back.

The next day, in the morning, you got up around 7 in the morning and got ready for the day. Since you had two meetings to go to today, you put on some casual clothes, consisting of some leggings and a oversized sweatshirt and some sneakers. You finished getting ready around 8:30. You quickly got into your car and headed back to tattoo shop.

You quickly parked and went inside. You were so excited to finally see your tattoo, but you weren't as excited to see Taehyung. You hated how a simple glance your way made your cheeks burn and your heart race, but yet he was so blunt and rude. You didn't know why you felt like you had to, but you wanted to try a different way. Maybe not do the first thing that comes to your mind.

You just, you just really wanted to kiss him, fuck.

As you walked in, you noticed how much smokier it was in the place. The door dinged as you walked in, so Taehyung was walking out pretty quickly, spraying some febreeze. That's when it hit you, the smell.

You didn't know why,  but the fact that he smokes marijuana, just makes you feel so much hotter inside. When you walk up to the counter and his eyes were so much lower than yesterday.

You’ve always wanted to smoke weed. You did in high school, but after you found out you can't always trust who you were getting it from, you were scared.

“Ah, fuck. I'm sorry.” He says laughing a little. His smile wasn't huge, but since his eyes were low, his eyes went more smiley, making your heart race.

“For?” You ask confused.

“The smell.” He says also confused, did you not smell it?

“Oh that's okay.” You smile to him. “I actually smoke myself. Well once.” You mumble the last part, kind of embarrassed.

“Only once? Why only once?” He asks tilting his head. “What? Did daddy threaten to take away your allowance if you did?” he waves his hands around and scoffs. You were shocked to say the least.

“Um, one, I don't call my father daddy. Two, he doesn't care what I do, as long as I don't end up dead or locked up.” You put all of your weight on foot.

“Ah, sure sure. Let's just get these pictures over with.” He says and turns walking back, you follow. Instead of going to room you went to before, you turn right and make your way into another room. On one side there was a white screen posted up with light in front, and on in the back.

“I have a sports bra on.” You say and pull your sweater over your head.

“You didn't have to take it all the way off.” He says quietly. You look over at him, and his eyes were on you. When you looked at him, he quickly looked down at the camera he was holding.

“Well it's hot and smoking in here Taehyung.” You say in a duh tone.”Plus, I don't feel like holding this is up.” You say, folding your sweatshirt up and setting it on the chair.

“Whatever, go stand over there.” He says pointing towards the screen. You nod, ignoring his rudeness. You stand in front and feel the make sure your bra wasn't covering anything. He sets the camera down, and he grabs a couple of items you couldn't see because of the lights in your face. When he walks in front of you, you notice three different things in his hand. A spray bottle, a towel and a tube of some sort.

He throws you off guard when he drops to his knees in front of you. He puts everything on the ground and reach up. He pulls the plastic wrap off and then he grabs the spray bottle and sprays. You didn't think it was going to be so cold, so the water made you flinch.

“Don't move.” He grumbles. You just rolled your eyes and his attitude. He then grabs the towel and dabs at tattoo. He sets that down then grab the tube and opens it, he pushes some white cream on his fingers and he rubs it between his fingers before rubbing it on you. His fingers were soft on your tattoo so it doesn't hurt. You wished he would bring his hand farther down. His fingers left, and he stood up grabbing the other stuff and he wipes his fingers off.

“I put on some non scented lotion and rubbed it in all the way.” He mumbles and brings the camera up to his face. You nodded and stood still.

Taehyung zoomed in to the tattoo, snapping a couple of pictures. As he did, he couldn't help but to look at you, really look at you.

You were actually beautiful as fuck, and he knew that the first time he looked at you. But he doesn't hate anything more then a spoiled rich girl.

Make sure you like, and reblog if you enjoyed what you just read :) 💜

[speckofglitter]

1- focused on you

SUMMARY: Yoonbin is the school’s ice prince while you’re the typical struggling student. What happens when you two start living together?

••

‘We keep locking eyes, petty so you're silent’

Yoonbin was well known on campus. Everyone either wanted to be him or date him, there was no in between. He was attractive. He literally never posted yet had 140k followers on Instagram. He had an incredibly charismatic personality, always adding a flair of sarcasm to his posts. He was reckless, he just didn’t care. He walked around, humming while parading his long legs in ripped jeans and oversized black hoodies. You always wondered what he was hiding. Why he was so adamant on keeping up this persona. Deep down you knew there was no way he could be this dark. Despite his popularity, yoonbin was a loner. By choice, of course. He was always invited to every single party and event but rarely chose to attend.

Meanwhile, you were just an average struggling college student. Your diet mainly consisted of coffee and pizza. Your hair was almost always in a bun and if it would be allowed, you would show up to class in sweatpants. What kept you from dropping out of school was your love for music, which is why you were a music major.

The only thing that you and yoonbin had in common was the fact that you would both show up to class late most of the time. Every time you two would get to class, he would hold the door for you, making every girl in the amphitheater stare at you with envy. You never really thought much of it, it was probably a part of his ‘ice prince’ aesthetic anyways.

It was the first day of the new school year which meant you would have to move out of the freshman dorm. You had found an ad of another sophomore who was looking for a roommate and seeing as the rent was cheap, you decided to take it. You didn’t really know what to expect but the pictures of the apartment looked amazing. The space was clean and spacious with good luminosity. You would be foolish to let an opportunity like that get away. As you arrived at the apartment, which was only a 10 minute walk from the main campus, you knocked, waiting for the owner to come while tugging your earphones out of your ears and shoving your phone in your pocket.

You almost passed out when yoonbin opened the door. “Hi, I’m Yoonbin.” His voice was soft yet rich, you grinned at his straightforward presentation. “I’m y/n.” Holding a hand out, you shook his firmly. “I know.” he said, a light chuckle escaping his lips. “I hold the door for you everyday.” You nodded, blushing at how warm you felt when you heard him laugh. You were royally fucked.

-

It took a few hours for you to get settled into the apartment. The apartment looked even bigger than you had expected and you wondered how yoonbin had afforded to live there by himself for a year. He had given you a list of rules to respect along with his phone number. The rules included ‘do not host parties’, ‘do not make noise after 12am’ and ‘text me before you bring people over’. The last one made you chuckle. Honestly, you were expecting him to be a little more carefree but you weren’t complaining. It was ten times better than living in the dorms. After you finished unpacking, you decided to just stay in and watch some Netflix. That’s when you realized you had forgotten about one thing while moving. You had forgotten to get some food to fill up your side of the fridge so you were basically gonna eat sleep for dinner. Just as you were cursing yourself for being so forgetful, you heard a knock at your door. Peeling yourself from your bed, you got up to open the door. When you opened it, yoonbin was standing there in grey sweatpants and a tank top. You couldn’t help but sweep your eyes over his body, lips slightly parted as you took in his toned frame. ‘I noticed you didn’t get any food yet so i ordered some pizza if you want’ he says hesitantly. ‘Oh thank you, you really didn’t have to’ you smile as he nods and closes the door. After standing there looking stunned for a few seconds you finally made your way to the kitchen were a huge pepperoni pizza was placed on the table, a few slices were missing. You assumed yoonbin was eating in his room as you faintly heard the sound code kunst’s newest release coming from the direction of his room. He was still the resident emo boy after all.

-

As always, you wake up looking like a hot mess after snoozing your alarm clock. Moving in with yoonbin had not changed your habits at all, you had about 30 minutes left to get to class.

yeeun 💖: ur coming to karaoke night tonight, right ??? you better not leave me in the dust i have to go cause katie’s going…

y/n: as long as you don’t make me sing i really don’t give a fuck tbh you’re just gonna abandon me to go fuck katie anyways so…

yeeun 💖:  k glad we’re on the same page now get ur lazy ass to class

You sighed, getting out of bed to take a quick shower. In the shower, you sang along to kehlani.

‘Just gon' play with my emotions just because’

Unbeknownst to you, yoonbin was changing in his room, listening to you while smiling to himself.

-

You quickly got out of the shower, throwing on some ripped jeans, a hoodie and black heeled boots. Soon enough the both of you were on your way to class. The walk was quiet yet surprisingly comfortable. You had your earphones in while yoonbin had his airpods in, both tuning each other out. As you looked his way, you wondered how someone could look so serene. The sunlight hitting his skin making him look ethereal despite his tired eyes. He truly was a mystery.

You got to class shortly after it had started and yoonbin held the door for you as always. You and yoonbin always sat in the back row so as to avoid getting noticed by the teacher. Political science class was boring as usual. You had to sit through your professor explaining various types of political systems and your classmates’ incredibly politically incorrect and ignorant comments about Asian and African political systems. You scoffed, listening to a girl talk about how African nations could not be federal states because they were too uncivilized. Yoonbin notices your reaction, a smirk on his face as he passes you a note. You look at him a little confused before opening the note.

‘The stupidity jumped out’

You laugh, writing back.

‘Yeah, honestly i’m so over this class, can’t wait to get outta here’

Yoonbin smiles at your response and you realize he never really smiles around people. You observe his features for a while, wondering how he could look so cute.

As class ended Yeeun ran to your seat, grabbing you out while yelling about how she absolutely needed a new outfit for the karaoke party. She basically kidnapped you, pulling you into her car as she drove to the nearest mall. Walking into ‘pull and bear’, she started grabbing a bunch of clothes before pulling you into the changing room. After trying on something close to 20 outfits, she finally settled on a black skirt and a cropped turtleneck. You walked around the mall for a while, yeeun talking your ear off about how hot katie is. You finally settled down to get some food and then drove back to campus to get ready. Yeeun dropped you off at your new place, promising to pick you up before she headed to the party.

You opened your closet, wondering what you should wear. Deciding you had no one to impress, you settled on a pair of huaraches and an oversized shirt. You did your makeup with some Young Thug playing in the background, trying to hype yourself up. As you grabbed your bag and your keys, you bumped into Yoonbin. His hair was messy and he looked like he had just woken up.

‘Oh, are you heading out?’ yoonbin asked, eyeing your makeup.

‘Yeah i’m going to the karaoke party at Hyunsuk’s house’ you replied.

Yoonbin just nodded before going back into his room. You knew he was invited since he was literally childhood friends with Hyunsuk but you decided not to question him. You jumped into Yeeun’s car as she blasted DPR LIVE’s latest single.

••

masterlist - requests are open !!

-this is going to be a series since you guys seem to like when my fics have multiple parts, lemme know how you like it or if it’s trash. in this house we love constructive criticism lol-

- ya girl tiyi 💖

[canaryatlaw]

Alright, it’s currently 8:53 pm Illinois time (we’re still in Indiana so my phone thinks it’s 9:53, it didn’t transition for the whole day until like now apparently and is probably supposed to have changed back by now but here we are), we’re in the car on the way home from the con and I’m starting to write now because I need to go to bed ASAP when I get home because I once again could not fall asleep FOR MY FUCKING LIFE last night and of course I had to get up early so we could road trip to the con so I got like an hour and a half of sleep??? The last time I remember looking at the clock was at 5:08 am and my alarm was set for 6:45 am, so....it wasn’t good. But yeah, today was really good despite my lack of sleep. I did wake up when my alarm went off at 6:45 am, I had a message from Jess saying to give her like 10-15 more minutes than we initially planned so I got ready and waited for her to come pick me up. We got gas and then McDonald’s, breakfast sandwich and coke if I wanted to stay awake all day lol. And so we were off to Indiana for the con. The drive there was fairly unremarkable, we stopped at a rest stop for a minute but that was about it. We made it into Indianapolis around like 11:30 their time, parked in the parking garage next to the con center and got to the con. Our drive through Indianapolis revealed that today was definitely their pride parade and with a little more research we probably could’ve done the parade and the con, but oh well, not much we can do about it now. According to the online schedule the photo op for the guy Jess had a photo with was at like 1:20, so when we arrived we had to wander through the giant con center at first and then redeem our tickets and actually get to the main hall, where we located the photo op people and asked about the schedule.

It’s a good thing we checked, because he was not in fact at 1:20 anymore, he had gotten to what was first 4:45 and would then move to 5:45 in not too long. So obviously this was a bit of a curveball, since according to the earlier schedule we probably would’ve headed out a lot earlier. So now we have some time to kill. Well we wanted to see the guests anyway, and the first I wanted to see was the kid from Shazam, Asher Angel, mostly because I wanted to go on about how much positive depiction of foster children in media means to the kids out there that are constantly thought of as a problem and nothing more. He was sweet, definitely a teenage boy lol you could tell it was one of his first cons, but he was doing alright and was nice to talk to. He definitely looked bored at other points throughout the day which I can’t really blame him for, he is a teenage boy and the amount of attention the celebrities were getting at this con was definitely less than expected. Like, there were pretty much no lines for everybody....the entire con was a lot smaller than expected. So that was interesting to deal with. After that though we went and said hi to the guy Jess wanted to see from Shield and she got a selfie with him, he was really nice too. At that point we wandered the show floor for a while, Jess unsurprisingly found some kpop merch (it’s generally among the anime booths at this point) so she bought some of that which was cool. We ended up leaving the con center to get some food because con food is always trash and overpriced, and we didn’t have anything else better to do lol.

So we ended up going to steak and shake, which was a giant joke because the last time we went to a con in Indiana we got into a fight that kind of climaxed in us ending up going to steak and shake for dinner despite my request that we go literally anywhere else because my acid reflux was really bad that day, but that’s a whole other story we won’t go into, just know the fact that we ended up there was a giant fucking joke. I got a cheeseburger and a strawberry shake, and we killed some time there for a while before finishing up and walking back to the con. We returned to the main hall and ended up saying hi to John Wesley Shipp, this con was like prime for just getting to say hi to celebs because so many of them were standing around lol. He was cool, we got back to the Shield guy to get an autograph for Emily, and right next to him was Dot-Marie Jones, and I recalled that she had been at Clexacon and afterwards her wife had posted about how awful the con had been to them on Instagram and she was free so I was like if we approach this correctly we could get some quality tea about Clexacon out of this interaction lol. She had stickers that they were selling for $5, so we bought a sticker (they ended up giving us two) and were like “oh we just wanted to say hi, we wanted to see you at Clexacon but we heard it wasn’t great for you guys?” and that basically worked perfectly and launched a like, 20 minute conversation that consisted of all the terrible shit Clexacon had done to them and like, it was bad. The biggest revelation was definitely that the con wasn’t paying any of the celebrities to be there (I realize a lot of people aren’t privy to how the financial arrangements for cons work so that might not seem like a big deal but it is HIGHLY unusual and I couldn’t believe they got that many guests without paying any of them) and on top of that wanted a cut of their autograph money and shit which is just.....wild. It was a really good conversation though, not just about Clexacon but on how the voices of actual queer women should be the ones being centered, not just straight actresses that portray them but don’t live the stories (and we all know I adore my actresses, but it’s not the same) and like Clexacon had just been so shitty to her when she was one of the only actual queer women there and they could’ve had so much more but they were clearly only motivated by greed. She’s a super lovely person too and it was just overall a great conversation and it was really a pleasure to talk to her.

After that, or some time around then, the timeline might not be perfect here but I’m doing my best lol. We basically had nothing to do but I wanted some water so we walked over to their food court area and got some water bottles with the intention of just sitting at the table there for a while, which we did, but they ended up doing some like, pre-podcast launch media session with these three ladies who are launching a cold case podcast about this case from Indiana where this little girl was killed and I mean I only listened to their info about the case but I’m pretty fucking sure the abusive stepfather’s the one who did it (let’s be real, if the kid of an abusive parent dies, there is an extremely high chance the parent did it, and that chance actually goes up further by the fact that he was a stepparent, this is the reality of child abuse that I work with) so idk how much of a cold case there is to investigate there but Jess found them on twitter and they currently had like 18 followers lol so I mean maybe they’ll find their stride and build up a fan base. After their presentation and a little while of more time chilling out we ended up going back to the con area and seeing John Glover, whom we paid $20 to get a selfie with, he was again so delightfully bizarre and just absolutely hilarious to interact with and talk about Shazam with. So that was cool, and after that we chilled outside the main hall for a bit until Jess decided it was time to line up for the photo op, at which point I wandered for a bit and eventually ended up at Vanessa Marshall’s table who I kinda wanted to meet, she’s a voice actress who’s been in a ton of stuff but most relevant to me was that she did Black Canary for Young Justice and recently did an interview with the young justice podcast I listen to that was just fucking amazing about self-acceptance and that really just made me want to meet her so I paid $20 for a selfie with her and ended up having a lovely conversation with her.

After that I wandered a bit more and ended up buying a $5 “damaged” piece of Wonder Woman fan art (it was in the damaged pile but I couldn’t see anything wrong with it and it was a damn good deal) and ended up buying an adorable print of Goose the cat that was $10 and is going to go great on my Captain Marvel closet door. After that I reunited with Jess after her photo op and waited a little while longer waiting for the print while talking with a nice couple we’d previously spoken to at a con at some point lol. Once we got the photo we headed out, left Indianapolis and headed straight to the Cracker Barrel we’ve definitely been to before lol. There was a little bit of a wait but we got in in like ten minutes or so. Got our classics but they sadly we slightly less quality than we’ve previously had, but still mostly good. After dinner I raided their candy section very lightly and Jess acquired a giant stuffed goat I said I’d buy her so we paid the bill and bought that and headed out.

From there we’ve been driving, stopped once to go to the bathroom in the rain, but it mostly stopped raining so we didn’t have to deal with too much of it. The highlight of the drive home was definitely realizing Jess’ nemesis who was at the con was actually in the car behind us, and we proceeded to cut her off like three different times and it was great, I’m pretty sure she was still behind us when I started writing this and she was behind us until we hit the greater Chicago area but now we’re pulling up to our neighborhood that’s having it’s massive Nordic fest right now (“midsommarfest”) which looks pretty wild right now, but I’ll be home in a second and probably finish this off right before I go to bed, after I shower. My phone now said it’s 10:47 pm, though it should say it’s 9:47 pm Chicago time, so we’ll have to see for how much longer we’ll have to deal with that. But I’m about to get out of the car so I’ll leave this here.

Okay, it’s 10:54 pm currently, though my phone still says 11:54 pm lol. But I’m all showered and ready to go to sleep, and boy am I sleepy, so I’ll be going to bed now. Goodnight my friends. Hope you had a lovely Saturday as well.

[multipleservicelisting]

A Vaccine Road Trip

Want to get The Morning by email? Here’s the sign-up.

Good morning. The Biden administration has a huge amount of work to do to get the virus under control.

I took a 1,600-mile road trip this week that has left me even more amazed at how poorly the United States has handled the coronavirus — and more worried about how much work the Biden administration has to do to get it under control. I want to tell you that story this morning.

The U.S. now faces two main virus problems. First, our efforts to minimize the virus’s spread remain halfhearted, with many Americans refusing to wear masks or practice social distancing. Second, the early stages of the mass vaccination campaign have been a mess, far behind schedule and full of frustration for people trying to get shots.

The second of those problems was the reason for my road trip. I live in the Washington, D.C., area, where the vaccine rollout has been even slower than in most places.

I hear maddening anecdotes from neighbors and friends all the time, and I imagine you’ve heard similar anecdotes. Many Americans who qualify to receive the vaccine — like people over 65 — don’t know what they are supposed to do to sign up. When they try, they often find that all the slots are filled.

Millions of doses, unused

My mom, who’s 74 and has been living with my family for the last few months, was one of the people trying to figure out how to get her shot. And it felt impossible. Fortunately, she had an alternative. She normally lives in Colorado, a state with a somewhat better vaccine rollout. By checking repeatedly online, she got an appointment in Colorado.

So the two of us got in the car and spent a couple of days driving west (to spare her the risk of contracting the virus on a plane). My sister, who lives in Denver, drove east, and we met halfway, in St. Louis. I then drove back to Washington, and my sister and my mom drove to Denver. We are all grateful that she is about to receive her first shot.

But it’s worth pausing to reflect on what an indictment of our society this story is. The world’s richest, most powerful country has almost 20 million vaccine doses that are sitting unused. Meanwhile, people are desperately trying to sign up — and often failing. Many families don’t have the resources or flexibility to make it a full-time project.

For some, the consequences of the bungled rollout will be fatal. More than 3,000 Americans a day have been dying from Covid-19 recently. Some of them would not have contracted the virus if the Trump administration and state governments had kept the vaccination program anywhere close to on schedule.

President Biden announced his plans yesterday for a “full-scale wartime effort” to speed things up — including the construction of mass-vaccination centers, the involvement of drugstores and an accelerated manufacturing program. You can read the details here, as explained by The Times’s Sheryl Gay Stolberg. How well Biden succeeds will help determine how many Americans survive this pandemic.

‘Required’ and ignored

The other big factor will be how hard the country tries to reduce the virus’s spread while the vaccines are being rolled out. In the short term, masks and social distancing probably matter even more than vaccines. “The brutal truth is it’s going to take months before we can get the majority of Americans vaccinated,” Biden said yesterday.

But I came home from my trip shaken by what I had seen.

Almost everywhere I stopped — gas stations, rest stops and hotels, across Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois — there was a sign on the door saying that people had to wear masks to enter. And almost everywhere, most people ignored the sign.

At a Fairfield Inn in Ohio, a middle-aged couple sat unmasked on a lobby sofa for hours, drinking beers and scrolling through their phones. The hotel staff evidently did nothing about it. At a convenience store in Indiana, a hand-drawn sign on the door read: “Face masks are required. Please do not enter without one!!” Customers did anyway.

Nationwide, about half of Americans are not wearing masks when in close contact with people outside their households, according to a survey released yesterday by the University of Southern California.

Wearing a mask isn’t much fun. It’s hard to speak clearly, and if you wear glasses, the fogging is annoying. But the inconvenience sure seems worth the benefits.

Study after study has shown that masks reduce the virus’s spread. Yet millions of Americans have decided they would prefer more Covid — for their communities and potentially for their families and themselves — to more masks.

The persuasion problem

The Biden plan to accelerate vaccinations looks promising, many experts say. But the new president does not yet have a cohesive plan for changing Americans’ minds about safe behavior in the meantime. Repeating the same pleas, like Biden’s request that people wear masks for his first 100 days, seems no more likely to work than the signs I saw on my road trip.

What might work better? Perhaps a prime-time Oval Office address that’s light on policy and focused on a simple call to action. Or maybe the calls to action can come from a diverse array of celebrities, politicians and business executives. As behavioral psychologists often explain, the messenger can matter more than the message.

For now, I feel like I just drove across a country that is losing a winnable fight.

THE LATEST NEWS

The Virus

The drug maker Eli Lilly said that a treatment usually used to fight Covid-19 symptoms also prevented healthy people in nursing homes from contracting the virus.

A more contagious variant of the virus is forcing Britain’s hospitals to ration oxygen. “We’re practicing medicine in a way we never have,” one nurse said.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said that working with the Biden administration was “a liberating feeling.”

The Biden Administration

Congress overwhelmingly approved a waiver to let Lloyd Austin, a retired Army general, serve as Biden’s defense secretary. The Senate appears set to confirm him today, making Austin the first Black American to lead the Pentagon.

Biden is planning more executive actions today, including one that aims to send additional federal aid to families struggling to afford food.

Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, will ask Democrats to delay former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial until February.

Pete Buttigieg, Biden’s choice for transportation secretary, pledged to prioritize climate policy. Here’s how he could do so.

When the Bidens arrived at the White House, they briefly encountered a closed door — awkward. “The delay in opening the door did puzzle me a bit,” a former White House curator said.

Trump did what many older New Yorkers do: He retired to Florida. Not all of his Palm Beach neighbors are happy.

Other Big Stories

Morning Reads

Modern Love: A mother becomes her daughter’s dream partner in the pandemic.

From Opinion: Columns by Farhad Manjoo and Jamelle Bouie.

Lives Lived: Charles R. Saunders’s fantasy works reimagined the white worlds of Tarzan and Conan with Black heroes and African mythologies, giving Black fans of the “sword and soul” genre champions with whom they could identify. Saunders died in May at 73.

ARTS AND IDEAS

The rise and rise of “Drivers License”

Most songs that debut at No. 1 on the Billboard charts come from stars, who often benefit from coordinated efforts by superfans. How, then, has “Drivers License,” a brooding debut single by the 17-year-old actress Olivia Rodrigo, rocketed to No. 1, broken Spotify streaming records and reached the top spot on Apple Music in 48 countries?

The answer is a mix of old and new techniques. Rodrigo, who stars on a “High School Musical” spinoff series on Disney+, is following a path similar to those of acts like Demi Lovato and Miley Cyrus, who also had built-in fan bases from their Disney roles. The song’s lyrics, alluding to a love triangle involving a co-star, have helped too, fueling gossipy online chatter. And the song has received endorsements from Taylor Swift on Instagram and from TikTok tastemakers like Charli D’Amelio, helping it explode in popularity on the platform.

“TikTok videos led to blog posts, which led to streams, which led to news articles, and back around again,” Joe Coscarelli wrote in The Times. “The feedback loop made it unbeatable.”

PLAY, WATCH, EAT

What to Cook

The pangram from yesterday’s Spelling Bee was plaudit. Today’s puzzle is above — or you can play online if you have a Games subscription.

Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: 50% (four letters).

And what do you think is happening in the photo below? Take this week’s news quiz, and see how well you stack up to other Times readers.

    Multiple Service Listing for Business Owners | Tools to Grow Your Local Business

www.MultipleServiceListing.com 

from Multiple Service Listing https://ift.tt/3sPpVwU