#at least a little bit of it. which i see people look at the lyrics of now with incredulity as if the whole thing never happened

[rubiatinctorum]

What more than enough commentary on songs from 2011-2012 kind of just doesn't address is how much of a thing the end of the world prediction was in pop music. At least, it seemed to me, there was so much hype about that shit. Besides the general #YOLO attitude of the time that carried on beyond 2012 for another couple of years, it was so easy to just bust out a 'the world's gonna end soon' lyric. In times like the ones right now, it's kind of easy to look back on those lyrics and think 'isn't that a little weird, thinking that life's gonna stop so soon and putting that in party music?' but even if certain people didn't actually think the world was gonna end, they committed to the bit for songs. It really didn't seem unusual to me at all at the time.

[bettystonewell]

ANOTHER NOTCH ON HIS BELT

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader

Summary: Every little part of him is holding onto every little piece of her, and any other woman he’s been lucky enough to escape his life with. Even if it’s only for the night - or - Dean replaces intimacy with sex. 18+ only

Word Count: 1.2k words

Tags/Warnings: lil’ bit of SMUT, casual sex, Dean needs a hug, light angst

A/N: Summary inspired by the lyrics of the song “Tough” by Lewis Capaldi.—————————————————————Read on AO3 || Masterlist

He loves the sex. 

Needs it. 

Craves it. 

The closeness it gives him. The warmth of someone else surrounding his hardened body. Touching, feeling, writhing below or on top of him. He doesn’t care. 

Even with the scrapes and bruises he doesn’t remember which ugly bastard he ganked giving them to him, he’s not ashamed. He just wants to fill up his heart with affection to get him through the next death he knows is inevitable, no matter how hard he tries.

It’s something he can’t escape, except maybe for the night. Tonight, if he’s lucky.

As she pours him another cup, and places the pie he ordered beside his now empty plate, he pretends not to notice. It doesn’t mean he’s not watching. He just continues to hold the conversation with Sam while listening to her greet someone new.

Her voice carries like silk over the chatter of people and the ringing coming from the door. Her hands are clean, her skin soft and inviting as she pulls out her notepad and pen. 

He flicks his head up to exchange a glance, and she actually winks at him. “Can I get you anything else?” 

“Sammy?” He looks his brother’s way, but brings his gaze back to her the second he’s answered.

“Thanks,” he says and reads the badge pinned to her blouse aloud. “That’s a pretty name.” 

The girls in these dives they eat at are always perfect in his eyes. Their lives are just so, even if they don’t see it. 

No scars, at least not from weapons. Pliable flesh he can sink his fingers into. Grab, smooth, lick, taste. Sweet perfume that would fill a home he knows has things littered with the apple pie life he once thought he wanted. 

He’ll tell no one he still does.

He’ll also never tell Sam that’s the real reason he doesn’t bring them to the motel anymore if he can avoid it. It’s easier to leave them when he wakes up and feels out of place.

She walks away, back to the counter whence she came with hips that sway in time to the tick of the dusty old clock on the wall. Past the other patrons and tables full of more coffee and mediocre food. 

Chicken served in nugget form. Sandwiches lathered in sauce. It may be swill and smell closer to ass than edible, but if he plays his cards well, he’ll be devouring something far better tonight.

“Don’t wait up,” he says after downing the scalding liquid in one go. He’s done with waiting. Just needed the last boost of confidence before he goes in for the kill.

He stands up and grabs his phone. Brushes down his jacket, checking there’s nothing on it from the hunt, and looks up to the smile that caught his eye again. 

She’s watching him.

“Don’t do the hot coffee thing,” Sammy bitches, as he walks away.

But while Dean ignores him, a split second frown sours his face. He refuses to let his baby brother see the remark stings. 

It’s not about dipping his stick in the oil, but he’ll let Sam believe it is. The facade is easier than admitting the truth.

He steps up to the counter, where she’s taking some other chumps order, and raises the cup he never put down to gain her attention. There might be a suave grin thrown her way. Definitely a twinkle in his eye.

“Can I get another, sweetheart? Hot, and…just like you?” There’s a wag of his brow now.

“Sure thing, hun,” she says with a chuckle that makes her even more desirable. She doesn’t know how beautiful she is.

He wants to taste. He wants to touch. He wants her arms wrapped around him while he holds her tight. So he takes the opportunity presented to him. A brush of his fingers on hers when she hands the smooth ceramic back to him. Lingering as he gauges for any reaction. Any hint that she’s interested in being his comfort for the night.

“Thanks,” he says through a grin of goof and charm, and she smiles. Doesn’t even move her hand, and he knows he’s in with a chance.

“Can I get you anything else…?” she asks.

“Dean.” He winks.

“Dean,” she repeats, and he wants to hear it again. Underneath him. On top of him. Legs wrapped ‘round his waist as she chants it into his ear. 

He’d settle for it once if it was on her doorstep, following an ‘I had a good time last night,’ and so he’s bolder. His choice of words, just as. “Any chance you’re getting off soon?”

And she chuckles, hearty and soft. Nods her head in consideration, tongue playing with her cheek as she looks him over nice and slow. “You don’t beat around the bush, huh, Dean?” 

“Depends on the carpets,” he says. 

It’s cheesy and cringe and doesn’t even make much sense, but it works. She’s placing the pot of coffee down, leaning in closer to him, hovering over him a couple of hours later in a room that’s both foreign in foundation and comfort.

Plush bedding that’s clean. No smoke or dust or grime in sight. 

A light that never flickers and appliances that don’t buzz.

There’s a thigh on either side of him, bent at the knees just as he wanted. A sheen of sweat between. Her hands, warm and soft, creep over his skin, tracing patterns with tingles that curl his toes and tense the muscles in his shoulders and glutes.

His arms pull her down on him, pushing himself further into her. Giving her more of him, and she moans. He does, too. The squeeze of her walls on the covered tip of his dick is wonderful, but it’s the look in her eyes that does it for him. 

There’s a connection, now, even if there might be none come morning. This lust that he can mistake for adoration is what he needs. What he craves.

He’s wanted. She feels. Her body is alive, and she cries his name. 

“You like that, baby?” he asks with a snap of his hips, savouring the next sound she makes. If they go another round, he’ll do it again. When he’s alone with just his hand, he’ll chase it with the memory of her trembling lips, thighs and chest.

He’s pulling her tit into his mouth. Wide to capture as much of her smooth skin as he can. He’ll remember the saltiness, too. The way her nipple pebbles as his tongue swipes over and around it. The way her pelvis rocks.

She’s grinding down on him. Her fingers are tugging into his hair, and as her nails scrape down to the nape of his neck, he’s pulling her stomach to his. 

He’s grabbing her ass and raising it up. He’s chasing both their highs.

And when it hits, and he feels his balls tighten, and her around him, squeezing him for all he’s worth, he’s burying his nose into the junction between her hairline and ear. Inhaling the soap and shampoo. Her perfume. The sweat on her skin. He’s taking it all in and holding her tight.

In this moment, she’s his. 

The closeness she gives him. The warmth of her surrounding his hardened body. Touching, feeling, writhing on top of him.

He craves her.

He needs her.

And he’ll continue to, because it’s not just about sex. He loves the intimacy.

Read on AO3 || Masterlist—————————————————————Thank you so much for reading!

Coming soon! - Must Love Dogs - 24/01

(Dean’s POV - Humour - 900 words)

The Colonel needs to take a leak. Rather than risk the stench of dog piss in their already rank motel room, Dean, begrudgingly, obliges. It’s lucky(?) he does, because Dean will always pick up. —————————————————————TAGLIST- If you’d like to be tagged, lmk.

@globetrotter28 @ambiguous-avery @arcannaa

[capitanooos]

the voice of an angel // dmitri kravinoff x reader

-`♡´- pairing : dmitri kravinoff x reader

-`♡´- summary : when dmitri sees reader up on stage of a local restaurant, its love at first sight. he’s captivated by her and invites her to sing at his club…

-`♡´- warnings : alcohol consumption. nsfw. p in v, oral (male receiving), slight overstim, slight age gab, petnames, idk what else lmk if i should add something

-`♡´- notes : this actually sucks. i hate it more day after day. sorry this took so long. kind of got overwhelmed w projects, one part and uhh the last bit was written in kind of a rush so its not really proofread. also havent written filth like this in a while. DMITRI MY BABY UGGHHH I LOVE HIM SO MUCH

-`♡´- word count : 5400

songs mentioned: heavy, no one noticed, over the moon

dont translate, modify or repost my work. you do not have permission. not my gif

As the lights shone on the stage and the music slowly started one last time, the audience cheered. Up on the stage stood a young woman, no older than twenty as she shyly approached the microphone again. It wouldn’t matter how often she stood on this, or any stage really, it would always be a little intimidating. Having all the people listen, some look at her as she sung.

Eventually, once she’d get lost in her element, she’d loosen up. Her voice ringing through the room quietly as the guests of the local pub or restaurant had their drinks or dinner.

Today she stood on the stage at the fine-dining restaurant that belonged to one of her fathers best friends. It was a busy Friday night and the place was stacked, filled with low conversation as couples had dinners, businessmen held meetings, and families celebrated birthdays.

The Ledbury had a high reputation here in London, and with the Christmas days coming up, the place was decorated to cozy up for the holidays.

The lyrics slowly came from her mouth as she held her hands on top of the microphone, eyes scanning the crowd and smiling brightly.

“It’s not right, ‘cause I’m so over being lonely.”

She noticed her fathers best friend at the bar and nodded at him. Her eyes once more looking over the guests that all had their conversations going on, or at least busing themselves with something.

“Make you mine, I need a virtual connection, take our time, be my video obsession.”

That’s when she locked eyes with a young gentleman. He was sitting in one of the booths with two other men but he paid no mind to them as he stared at her with big eyes, lips slightly parted as he tilted his head in adoration.

“Come on, don’t leave me, it can’t be that easy, babe. If you believe me, I guess I’ll get on a plane.”

His blonde hair seemed to glow a bit orange under the lights as he shifted his body to face her more. He let his gaze fall over her form, from the jewelry around her neck, to her dark blue velvet dress that fit her like a glove, to the bell sleeves that fell back on her arms as she shyly held on to the microphone, never breaking eye contact as she continued to sing.

“Fly to your city, excited to see your face. Hold me, console me, and then I’ll leave without a trace.”

The lyrics repeated themselves and she finally broke eye contact after offering him a shy smile, which he returned after she looked away. His brother shoved his shoulder in a playful manner, pulling his attention away from the singing girl and back to the important business meeting at hand.

Disappointment was evident all over Dmitri’s face when he looked back to see you gone. He had never heard a voice so angelic before, and that was a lot coming from someone who could mimic anyone. From your soft voice, to your sweet smile to the shy look in your eyes as you had held his gaze. His brother, Sergei, seemed to almost smell his disappointment as he sat back down after seeing their new business partner off.

“She’s at the bar.” That was all Dmitri needed to jump up from his seat and move towards said bar.

[Name] sat at the bar, taking small sips of her drink as she looked out the window. Snow was falling slowly on the already white streets of London. Louis, her fathers friend, had just handed her the envelope with her money and the tips customers had left her. It would always be insane to her how people left her tips, left her anything at all, just because they loved her singing so much. She was honoured and always made sure to thank the people would she see them again, most she did, seeing they were regulars.

She looked over to where that gentleman had sat before, seeing him nowhere in sight as she took another sip of her drink. The sweetness of it had her close her eyes as she savoured the drink.

“Excuse me, miss.” A voice besides her spoke up as she opened her eyes, smiling when she saw the handsome man before her. “Hi, I’m Dmitri Kravinoff.” he returned her smile as he held out his hand.

“[Name]. What can I help you with, mister Kravinoff?” he took her hand and to her surprise he didn’t shake it, no, he brought it up to his mouth and gently kissed her knuckles.

Dmitri his mind went a hundred miles an hour as he heard her say his name, smiling at him politely as she set down her drink on the bar. She was an angel sent down from heaven, he swore.

“I had a question, if you have the time.” he smiled as he shook his head, trying to get back to reality. She was even more beautiful up close, her voice even purer without the microphone.

He swore he could feel his knees get weak when he heard her giggle, such a beautiful and honest sound. Never before had he felt this feeling that he was feeling right now. It spread all across his body, from the tips of his ears to the tip of his dick as he felt his pants tighten.

“You have my full attention, mister Kravinoff.” she smiled at him, turning her body to face him as he smiled a toothy smile.

“You have an amazing voice, unlike anything I have ever heard before. I, um, I run a club, and I was wondering if you’d like to perform. I’d- the people would love you. Of course you’d be well compensated.” he was rambling as he looked her in the eye, hoping she’d accept his offer.

She tilted her head with a small frown before it turned into a smile, as if to think about it. Dmitri was staring at her with no shame as he watched her every move, never had he thought love at first sight was a real thing, until he laid eyes on this woman, [Name].

“Alright, what price are we talking?” she said, grinning at him as she caught him staring. She watched him stumble over his words as an assortment of random words fell out of his mouth. “I’m kidding, mister Kravinoff, for someone like you I’d do it for free.”

Dmitri stared at her with his eyes wide and mouth agape before the corners of his lips twisted upwards. He smiled so brightly his cheeks hurt as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card. She took it from him and quickly took in the words.

Chameleon and the Hunter.

She swallowed. That was the most well known, most difficult to get into club in possibly all of Europe. She didn’t know the boss was such a young man.

He watched her reaction as she read the card. He watched her bite her lip as she swallowed before looking back up to meet his eyes and smiling.

“It would be an honor to perform at your club, mister Kravinoff.”

He grabbed her free hand again, bringing it up to his mouth and kissing it again. A sign of respect, a thank you, a promise.

She’d call him tomorrow, she said and he nodded before bidding her farewell and returning to the table he was at before, this time with a slight jump in his step as his brother grinned at him, having seen the entire interaction.

It was two weeks later when the day finally rolled around. [Name] entered the club and was immediately met with the man she saw at the table with Dmitri two weeks prior.

“Sergei Kravinoff.” he introduced himself as he shook her hand. He was one unit of a man and he towered over her as she nodded and followed him to the stage. She’d have given Dmitri a list of songs a week prior once they had set a date. “The stage is yours whenever you’re ready.” Sergei said as the pianist came up to her with a smile. She quickly discussed what to start with, having a small conversation as she took off her coat before rushing to the restroom to make sure she appeared well and not like she just came out of the snowstorm outside.

Thankfully it wasn't too bad and before she knew it she was up on the stage of the club. It was busy and her eyes scanned the crowd, looking for the handsome face she couldn’t wait to see again. It was filled with rich looking people, sipping their drinks and wearing clothes that cost more than her rent.

“I’m heavy. I’m by your side. Forget me. ‘Cause I know what I need. Like a loser like me could be fine.”

As she started singing, she noticed a few people turn their heads, smiling as her voice reached their ears.

“Is someone telling me don’t get in the water? What have I done? I don’t wanna get lost inside the color under my tongue.”

Her gaze continued to sweep over the many faces, some looking back at her, some swaying their heads to the beat of the music, some completely endorsed in conversation, too busy to hear her sing. Still no sign of Dmitri. Maybe he wasn’t even here, but she wasn’t about to let his absence ruin this magnificent chance at performing at this establishment.

“Cause I don’t wanna be in love with another, even in another life.”

As she continued to sing, she captured the eyes and ears of more and more people. Receiving the occasional cheer as she finished song after song. It had been nearly an hour since she got up on stage, and once a gentleman put up his hat in front of the stage and tossing money in it, it didn’t stop. Men and women threw in more and more bills and coins worth more than she would make in a week. She smiled brightly everytime someone new came up to the stage, she felt like she was dreaming.

Eventually she stopped, taking a break and resting her voice as the pianist took over again. He smiled at her as she made her way down the bar.

The bartender offered her a smile to match her own as he complimented her singing before taking her order.

“My brother sure has an eye for talent, you are magnificent.” Sergei Kravinoff stood beside her as she quietly sipped at her drink, feeling the welcome cold drink drip down her throat.

“Thank you, mister Kravinoff. It is truly an honor and a dream come true to perform on your stage.” [Name] stated as she cracked her neck to look at the older man. She’d have to guess him in his late twenties, incredibly handsome, immensely tall too. “Speaking of your brother, I haven’t seen him tonight.”

Sergei laughed softly as he dipped his head. “Ah, Dima had some business to take care of, had him on the phone a minute ago so he should be here in about ten minutes or so. He has been looking forward to seeing you up on that stage.”

“I’ll be your baby. There’s nothing better I’d rather do.”

Those were the first Dmitri heard when he entered his club. His eyes darted to the stage where you stood, eyes closed as you sang, hips slowly swaying with the music as you were concentrating on the words coming out of your mouth.

The dark red dress that adored your figure made you look beautiful as the warm lights shone down on you.

“This momentary ride, this fire by my side. Are you gonna be here with me? You know that I’ll be your baby.”

Dmitri ignored the stare of his brother as he moved to take a seat at the bar, never taking his eyes off you. He noticed the hat that sat in front of the stage, nearly spilling over with cash and he smiled. Well deserved, he thought.

“There’s nothing better I’d rather do. I’m lost completely.”

Your eyes opened and he watched as you searched the crowds eagerly. It took you a second but when your beautiful eyes met his own, a smile brighter than any he’d seen on you before spread over your face.

“I might as well be over the moon.”

A smile danced on his own features as you once again held his gaze like that one night. Seeing you here, in his club, smiling brightly and having the crowd, including himself, wrapped around your finger, Dmitri couldn’t help but fall in love with you more.

He knew his brother would call him silly, he barely knew you, if he knew anything about you at all besides your name that was. But gods, you looked like an angel, so beautiful and so at home on that stage. It made Dmitri lose his mind a little. A woman so beautiful, so talented, who’d accepted his offer without hesitation and question, before even knowing exactly who he was.

“For someone like you, I’d do it for free.” Those words had followed him for the last two weeks, along with the way his name fell off your lips. Someone like him, whatever you had meant with that.

Not for a second did he take his gaze off you. He remained fixated on you, a look in his eyes that even his brother had never seen before. You really had him wrapped around your finger, and he loved it. Dmitri couldn’t get enough of you, and when you finished your final song of the night, he stood up and clapped loudly, the crowd following suit as you smiled brightly, bowing a little before making your way down the stage.

Dmitri was in front of you before you realized, taking your hand and kissing your knuckles as he looked you in the eyes.

“Thank you, mister Kravinoff.” you said as you took him in from up close. The top buttons of his black dress shirt unbuttoned, the black suit jacket also unbuttoned and his hair slightly messy by the rough weather conditions outside. He looked so incredibly handsome it actually had you at a loss for words as you let him guide you towards the bar.

“It’s an honor to have you here, I should be thanking you, [Name].” he smiled as he gestured towards the bartender. “I am truly so happy you could make it.”

He looked like a little boy who just met his favorite superhero in a theme park as he looked at you.

You shook your head. You’d had many men and women in awe of your singing in the last few years, many offering you compliments, some giving you chances that you could only dream of but Dmitri? Dmitri was different. He was more than in awe, he was enthralled by you, he looked at you with such adoration that made your heart melt. Along with that he was a very handsome man, it was undeniable, it was a fact.

“I thank you for having me.” you said as you grabbed your drink, he did the same and he looked at you again.

“A toast, to you, and your magnificence.”

You giggled as you toasted with him, he was special, he had something that had you longing for more and so the start of a very long night began.

The two of you talked until deep in the night, about anything that came to mind, from schooldays to everyday life, from favorite foods to biggest fears. Eventually the club ran dry and you stood up from your chair, the clock had struck past three and it would be about time you headed home.

“I should get home, it’s late and I kind of have work tomorrow.” you smiled at Dmitri as he also stood up, helping you put on her coat with a boyish grin on his face.

He nodded at you, it was late indeed, and time seemed to have flown by. He watched you as you zipped up your coat, pulling your hair out of the back before throwing on your scarf. You looked adorable.

“Let me take you home, I wouldn’t want you wandering London at this time of the night and in this weather. I’d blame myself if something were to happen to you.” Dmitri offered, his driver had been waiting outside all this time for him, and the last thing he wanted was for you to walk through the snowstorm outside and get sick, or worse. London wasn’t safe at night.

“I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you. It’s only a twenty minute walk home, it’s fine, mister Kravinoff.” you began to decline his offer, genuinely not wanting to be a burden to the man.

You’d found out he turned twenty-six not too long ago, twenty-six and already having succeeded so much in life. You admired that, envied it even. You were right to assume that his brother, Sergei, was three years older than him, and the co-owner of the establishment. Somehow you also discovered he was oddly good at doing impressions, it was almost scary how spot on they were and it brought tears to your eyes from laughter as the two of you goofed around.

“Please, it wouldn’t be a bother. Count it as a thank you, for tonight.” you couldn’t explain the look in his eyes as anything other than hot as he awaited your reply.

Dmitri simply couldn’t get enough of you, the more the two of you talked the more enthralled he became. As you talked about your past and present, your dreams, everything that came out of your mouth made him want you more. He couldn’t give a damn about the people around him, for once he didn’t even seem to notice his brother's stares, he was so focused on you that everything else fell away.

Finally you nodded, agreeing and Dmitri’s excitement nearly shot through the sky as he told you to wait here for a minute before disappearing into a back door of the club. You’d expected him to come out with a jacket or something but nope, nothing seemed to be different as he came back out and wrapped an arm around your waist and guided you out into the cold winds. Once he sat down next to you in the car you turned to face him, he turned his head to look back at you and grinned.

“Didn’t know gentlemen still existed here in London.” you said, eyes falling over his figure with no shame, taking in what sat in front of you. From the gold chain peeking out from around his neck, to the way his hands laid idly in his lap as they fidgeted with his rings, to the way you noticed the bulge in his pants. You smirked and looked back up to meet his eyes.

“Rare sight to get a man to treat you well these days, huh?” one of his arms moved to rest on the back part of the chairs and you felt his fingers entangle in your hair, playfully testing the waters as he softly tugged on a lock of hair. Dmitri watched as your eyes closed, breath hitching in your throat as you let him pull your head backwards in the slightest.

“Yeah…” your words came out in a breath, more high pitched than you initially realized. You bit your lip when you looked at him again, eyes dropping down to his lips and lingering there before meeting his blue eyes again. You swallowed thickly as you felt his grip on your hair tighten.

Before you knew it you were straddling his lap and your lips were on his. His hands gripped your hips as he kissed you like a man who’d been starved. You felt the bulge in his pants grow more as you grinded your hips down on him, the only thing separating your core and his hard cock being the fabric of his pants and your panties, which you were sure were soaked in your juices already. You moaned into the kiss, your fingers lost in his hair as he pulled your hips closer.

“Gods,” He whispered as you leaned your forehead against his, pupils dilated, lips puffy as you gazed into his eyes. “You’re so beautiful,” he brushed a lock of your hair back behind your ear before slowly kissing along your jaw, down your neck, finding that sweet spot that had you moaning softly. Slowly more and more lovebites and marks made its way onto your skin.

Your head was reeling by the time the car stopped in front of your apartment. Quickly looking out of the window before letting your eyes search Dmitri’s, you gave him a look, as if to ask him if he wanted to continue this. He caught on and brought his lips back to yours while he threw your coat back around your shoulders before opening the car door.

You fiddled with your keys, unable to stop them from shaking due to the cold and anticipation of what was about to happen. Dmitri’s hand closed around yours as he helped you unlock the door before the two of you rushed in, not sparing a moment before you were all over each other again. Your coat fell onto the floor of the hall and your heels and his shoes were discarded on the way as you made your way to your bedroom.

Before you could enter the room however, Dmitri had you pinned up against the door, hands groping at your breasts as he buried his face in your neck. “You sure you want to do this?” he mumbled, placing soft kisses on your warm skin.

“Wouldn’t have invited you in if I didn’t want this.” you moaned softly as he sucked on your skin, his hands moving to your back to find the zipper of your dress. Your hands were reaching for anything you could find, his chest, biceps, eventually ending back up in his curls.

“That’s my girl,” he said as you opened the bedroom door, stumbling in and taking him towards the bed. He finally managed to get your dress off and he watched in awe as it fell to the ground, smiling like crazy as he took in your body. Time seemed to slow down as you manoeuvred your hands into his suit jacket and took it off his shoulders, followed by your hands eagerly messing with the buttons of his dress shirt.

Once you had him shirtless you turned the both of you around as you pushed him down on the bed carefully, smirking at the surprise on his face by you taking the lead. He propped himself up on his elbows as he watched you unbuckle his belt, fidgeting with the button of his pants and his zipper before looking into his eyes as you took off his pants and boxers in one go. His eyes were hungry as he watched you lick your lips, eyeing his rock hard cock in front of you.

You gave him a devilish smile as you wrapped one of your hands around his length, slowly stroking him, watching as he already threw his head back at the feeling. He had dreamt of this ever since he first saw you, you had plagued his dreams and his waking life, you had him thinking of the filthiest things imaginable on the work floor but nothing he had imagined compared to the real thing.

Low whimpers changed to moans as you started sucking on his tip. Dmitri swore that he was in heaven when he felt your lips around his cock, all the while still stroking him with your hand. Almost out of reflex he brought his hand to your head, grabbing a fist full of your hair as your head bopped down on his length, tasting his precum on your tongue. You moaned at the feeling of him slightly pushing your mouth back onto his cock while he cursed under his breath. If your mouth alone already felt this heavenly, Dmitri couldn’t even begin to imagine how your cunt would feel.

“F-fuck,” Dmitri cursed as he watched you take his cock into your mouth, down to his base. You were a sight to look at, holding eye contact with him as you sucked his dick. The closer he got, the less control he had over his body, eventually his hips buckled, bringing tears to your eyes as your gag reflex was tested. “Jesus.” Dmitri was so lost in it, and seeing you there, tears mixed with your eye makeup dripping down your cheeks, it did things to him.

“Baby, f-fuck, I’m gonna-” Dmitri’s sentence was cut short as you suddenly pulled off, drool dripping down your chin, saliva strands hanging between you and his still very hard cock as you grinned at him. “You wanna kill me, pretty girl?” The giggle you let out had his dick twitching as he pulled you up on the bed between his legs, hands moving to undo your bra as you leaned your head against his shoulder, looking at him with those eyes that drove him absolutely crazy.

“Dmitri!” you gasped as he quite literally ripped off your panties, throwing them to the side before his fingers found their way to your clit. You didn’t have much time to protest more because before you knew it he had you moaning on his fingers. His head dipped back down to the crook of your neck, whispering sweet nothings into your ear as his fingers absolutely destroyed your cunt.

“Say that again, pretty, say my name.” It drove him crazy. The way his name fell off your lips might be his new favorite sound. His thumb came up to draw circles on your clit and you moaned loudly. “Thaaat’s it, sing for me, baby.” he spoke in such a tone that had you clenching your walls around his fingers, he grinned at the feeling, picking up his pace as he watched your face, scrunched up in pleasure as you made the prettiest sounds for him.

“So wet for me, doing so good for me, baby, such a good girl.” you moaned at his words, throwing your head back against his shoulder as you felt your orgasm approaching.

“Dmi- Dmitri I’m- Please,” you gasped, not being able to think straight and form coherent sentences.

“I know, pretty girl. You wanna cum?” You nodded at his words, he had you at his mercy completely. “Go on then, let go for me.”

That was all you needed to hear as your orgasm washed over you, Dmitri’s pace never slowing down as he rode you through your orgasm. His fingers reached places that had your toes curling in pleasure as he curled them up in your velvety walls.

“Dmitri, god-” you hiccuped as he continued to finger your cunt, the overstimulation was building up as you gripped his wrist, trying to get him to slow down. You heard him laugh slowly before retracting his hand. “N-not nice.” you leaned your head against his shoulder, watching his face as he brought his hand up to his face and licking his fingers clean off your juices.

God that’s hot.

You turned around, bringing your lips back to his, moaning softly as you tasted yourself on his lips.

“I need you, Dmitri.” You said, your kisses going down to his jaw, gently sucking and biting here and there as you went, feeling him grip at your hips, moving you to lay down.

Your head rested on your pillows as you watched him settle between your legs, smiling when he leaned over to press a kiss to your lips.

“You ready, baby?” his voice was low, and soft and he was oh so gentle as he guided his dick towards your clit. You heard him sigh in contentment once he bottomed out inside of you, and your fingers moved to intertwine into his hair.

You moaned when you felt him move slightly. “Please, please, please, Dima please.” you buried your face in his neck, feeling a soft laugh run through him.

“Begging already, are we pretty girl?” you nodded shamelessly. Your previous orgasm had you sensitive yet you couldn’t help but want more. Want him. “Whatever you wish.” he said with a kiss to the side of your head.

You moaned loudly as you felt him pull out and immediately thrust back in, setting a comfortable pace as he placed soft kisses on your shoulder while you scratched up his with your nails.

Dmitri was engulfed by it all, he was surrounded by you fully. Your moans, whimpers, your still slightly teary eyes, the look you gave him before kissing him with such passion he didn’t know was possible.

“You feel so good, baby. So so good.” he muttered against your lips as he pulled back from the kiss. He felt you slightly nod, looking at him with adoration when his hand groped at your breast again. It was so overwhelming, it was so good.

His hands slowly moved lower, and lower, reaching between the two of you to draw circles on your clit, watching how your eyes immediately rolled back in pleasure as your back arched.

“Dima, oh. You,” There wasn’t a single right word coming out of your mouth as you looked at the smiling man above you. “So handsome.” you managed between heavy breaths, looking how his smile somehow got even brighter as you reached up and held his face with one of your hands, adoring him.

You felt him picking up the pace as he lifted one of your legs up over his shoulder, your hand falling back on the duvet cover, which you gripped tightly. He reached so much deeper inside of you now. Dmitri felt it too, how your walls clenched around him and how you pressed your eyes closed in pleasure. A string of words came out of you, and neither of you could tell you what you said. The only clear thing being his name.

He reached places inside of you that you were sure of no one had ever touched before.

“Dima. I- Close-” your words were cut short as his fingers came back to your clit, rubbing circles as he groaned.

“I know, baby, me too.” he breathed out, his face scrunched up in pleasure. “Are you on anything?”

You nodded, “Y-yeah, pill. Ah. Please, Dima. Please.”

He nodded, looking you in the eye and giving you a small smile.

“Gonna cum, pretty girl?” he watched you nod, “C’mon then, let go for me.”

That was all you needed to hear before your eyes rolled back in ecstasy, moaning out his name as you did. You felt him put your leg down as he leaned over, gently kissing you as he chased his own high.

“Dima, oh god, Dima, please inside,”

You definitely knew how to kill him, Dmitri thought, those two words drove him crazy.

“Thank you- Fuck fuck fuck, [Name]” he cursed before you heard him moan and letting his head fall on your shoulder. “Gods, my, so good.” You moaned softly as you felt him fill you up, painting your walls white.

He softly lowered himself on top of you, catching his breath as he rested for a second.

“That was…”

“Perfect.” You finished for him before he could say something else and you felt him nod against your chest, his soft curls tickling your chin. One of your hands moved to them, gently swiping some of the curls away from his sweaty forehead.

You didn’t mean to fall asleep right there and then, but you did and Dmitri noticed as soon as your fingers stilled in his hair, so he looked up to you, only to see your eyes closed and lips slightly parted, indicating your sleeping state.

Slowly but surely he pulled out of you, slightly aweing at the way his seed dripped out of your pussy before looking around the room. He spotted the bathroom and walked over as quietly as he could to not wake you. He came back with a glass of water and a towel to clean you up.

You looked so soft, so adorable as you slept, and Dmitri couldn’t help himself to gently kiss your forehead as he pulled the blanket over you.

“Mmh…?” you stirred from your sleep and your eyes met Dmitri’s blue ones once again. “Come, please.” You murmured as you opened your arms, welcoming him back.

Dmitri smiled as he got under the blanket with you. wrapping his arms around you and gently caressing your back as you cuddled up to him.

“Dmitri?” you questioned, cracking your neck to look at him. You heard him hum in reply, “I think I might start to like you a lot.”

He laughed, smiling at you and your complete honesty. “Oh, baby.” he brought his lips down to yours before speaking softly “I know I loved you ever since you got up on that stage in The Ledbury.”

You giggled and buried your face back into his chest, feeling it vibrate with laughter before his adorable laugh echoed through the room.

-`♡´--`♡´--`♡´--`♡´--`♡´--`♡´--`♡´--`♡´--`♡´--`♡´-

dont forget to like and reblog 💕💕

dont translate, modify or repost my work. you do not have permission.

taglist : @bel0ved-heretic @ange-olras

[byeuijoo]

am i in love? 𐀔 boynextdoor

genre : fluff ⋆ warnings : very, very cheesy ⋆ word count : 594

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ୨ ✩ ୧

⭒ park sungho

when he realized he loved you as more than just a friend, sungho tried to play it cool. which is funny because, in reality, you soon realized that something had changed : he was trying more to flirt with you and get your attention, while selling his merits by making you understand that he was better than the others. he'd show you a bit more of his muscles, show you his soccer skills.. and even though he tried to be discreet about his feelings, he failed miserably when you asked him directly if he had a crush on you.

⭒ lee riwoo

when he realizes he's fallen in love with you, sanghyeok tends to be more distant with you, but simply out of sheer shyness. but he'll still do his best to get your attention in subtle ways : he delivers flowers at your house with a little card and a hand-written poem, he tries to send you signals on social networks, hoping that miraculously you'll understand that he's talking to you.. he's a discreet admirer whom you've noticed and whom you like to panic by getting a little too close to him, just to see his cheeks redden because of your smile.

⭒ myung jaehyun

he was already clingy, but when he realizes he's developed feelings for you, oh boi, jaehyun is even more clingy. nevertheless, there are some changes that you can easily notice : the tips of his ears get redder when you flirt with him, he's always trying to hold your hand in his, even when you're doing nothing but sitting close to each other, he always tries to get your attention and gets sulky when you talk to other boys.. he's so down for you, he can't help reminding you that he exists all the time.

⭒ han taesan

to have spent so much time by your side, getting to know you and finding out more about you, dongmin realized that his heart was beating faster than normal when his eyes met your smile. he'll become more shy, without giving you radio silence. but let's just say that he laughs more easily at your jokes, that he observes you smiling like an idiot more often, and most of all, he'll share more of his favorite music with you. (he's probably trying to convey his feelings through the lyrics, but you're too blind to see it.)

⭒ kim leehan

to say that donghyun has had a crush on you since first sight would not be a lie — of course, his feelings built up gradually, but you were already running through his mind every day since you met. he's quite calm, and has no trouble keeping his feelings to himself, but he tends to look you in the eye in a different way now. more warmly, more tenderly, with a hint of shyness in his eyes. and he has to admit that your smile makes his heart skip a beat.

⭒ kim woonhak

woonhak is totally vocal about the fact that he loves you. he don't care about other people opinions, he just wants to make sure you know he likes you. so every day, he brings you a carton of his favorite chocolate milk, leaving a note on it, reminding you that he likes you — again. or he'll probably just show up when you least expect it, standing in front of you with the most dazzling smile, and you have to admit that hearing him say those words in person makes you all shy and smiley. even if you need time to make a decision, woonhak remains patient and does everything to keep your full attention on him.

⠀

reblogs & feedbacks are highly appreciated !

taglist ౨ৎ @wtfhyuck @florainnie @dazzlingligth @yuma-is-mine @lilriswife4life @leehanascent @wantmatthew

[lovecla]

IF YOU LOVE ME, LET ME KNOW | jack hughes.

00.2. how did you and jack meet?

➴ warnings: none!!

➴ word count: 1k

➴ author’s note: mostly sophia’s first nhl concert and how she and jackie boy met. i spent the entire morning working on that Nonsense outro and i am gonna say that im very proud of it lmfao. hope u enjoy!

—♡

THE room looked full.

On the stage, you could feel dozens, hell, hundreds of eyes on you. Shanon had warned you that at least two hundred people were expected but damn.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our most expected guest for tonight, Sophia Montenegro!” A man’s theatrical voice was heard just before the first notes of Nonsense.

You and your team worked really hard to make this happen, because April flew by, really. Coachella was a hit and you got so many jobs out of it, it was crazy. But this was what you were looking forward to the most.

You sat on top of a piano, black dress shining with the lights directed at you. You smiled, feeling anxious and excited and maybe just a little bit nauseous too. There were men, women and children sitting in round tables in front of you, but what really caught your attention was the group of men sitting on the table right in front of the stage, all of them wearing shirts with your face in it. And they were screaming the loudest too.

“‘Think I only want one number in my phone, I might change your contact to ‘don’t leave me alone’.”

Singing for you meant living. It was a necessity, a need. Every time you stepped on a stage, you felt alive, you felt fulfilled. You felt like maybe you were on this planet for a reason, and that reason presented itself whenever the words came out of your mouth during a song.

So you enjoyed yourself, and watched as the other people did the same. Everyone seemed to enjoy the acoustic version of Nonsense— which you had never sung before, by the way— and it was so funny to see grown ass men singing the lyrics like their life depended on it.

“Lookin’ at you got me thinkin’ nonsense. Cartwheels in my stomach when you walk in…”

“Please do the outro!” Someone shouted before the end verse and you giggled. You were already planning on doing it, but you gave the man a thumbs up either way.

“Shanon said I should keep it PG.

So, Father, I might need to be set free.

Because I really want a Devils in me.”

Loud cheers were heard and you smiled, biting your lip.

The rest of the little concert went well, and when you noticed it, you were dancing on the stage with another five players, who had two left feet and were probably a bit drunk too, but it was so much fun. One of them even asked for the mic so he could sing for a while too. You had the time of your life and you really hoped everyone else did too.

When the last song— Espresso— ended, you received a standing ovation. You felt yourself tearing up just a bit, and you closed your eyes, bowing your head.

“Thank you so much, everyone, I had so much fun tonight,” you started, voice wobbly and tired. “I didn’t know you guys were my biggest fans…”

“Nico here went to your concert!” Some guy shouted, pointing at the man— Nico, you suppose— beside him. You laughed, blowing him a kiss. The Nico guy looked like a tomato, face all red and cute, but he was wearing your merch too.

“Well, now I need to change and from what I’ve heard, we’ll have some delicious food and more amazing singers tonight, so please don’t leave!” You said, leaving the stage after another round of applause.

You found Grace in your dressing room, and you both hugged each other, yelling with excitement. “Can you believe this is our life, baby?!” Grace yelled, and you shook your head no. “I can’t either. Anyways. You have to change into a jersey and I have to take pictures of you with it.”

You looked at the jerseys hanging on the wall in front of you and smiled. “Can I have a Nico one, please?”

—♡

AFTER taking pictures with the players and their families— some of them had daughters who loved you as well—, you found yourself near the food table. You were deadass starving and you needed to get your hands on a hot dog before you passed out. Oh, and a drink as well. It was hot there.

“You got the wrong number on your back.”

You heard a playful voice behind you and you would’ve cursed, if you hadn’t had your mouth full of bread. You tried to swallow it all before you actually turned around.

What you saw was… interesting. It was probably one of the youngest guys in there, perhaps even the same age as you, and he had beautiful, blue eyes. He was wearing a white jacket and a Devils cap, so he was definitely one of the players on the team.

“Wrong number?” You asked, looking at your jersey again, the #13 plastered on your arms and back.

“Yeah. Should be wearing an eighty-six jersey instead.” He smirked.

“Let me guess. That’s your number?”

“That’s the best number. A girl like you shouldn’t be wearing anything less.”

You ignored the compliment (was it even a compliment?) and plastered a smirk on your face, too.

“I think I’m fine with Nico’s number on me. Since he’s the captain and all,” you shrugged. “He also went to my concert so that proves he is the best.”

“Sweetheart, you seriously need someone to show you what best means,” he stepped closer and suddenly your heart was racing all over again. “I happen to be the right person for it.”

“Right person?” You chuckled. “Got your hopes way too high, don’t you, lover boy?”

He shrugged, the confident smirk never leaving his face.

“Just an offer. You did say you wanted a Devils inside you.”

You audibly scoffed. This handsome ass man, with the tiniest bit of an accent and a huge lot of an attitude had some balls.

But then again. Last time you had sex with someone was a year ago, with your ridiculous ex-boyfriend, Harris. You were feeling pretty needy, but with all the work and energy you had to put into your performances, you just didn’t find the time to deal with other dipshits.

At least this one looks like he knows here your clit is.

You stepped closer, noticing how you tilted your head up so you could look into his eyes.

“Is the offer still up?”

He smiled, cocking his head to the side.

“For you, doll? It will always be.”

[clairedaring]

if you're hoping for joe 2.0 to get his 'revenge' in the second half of the series...

warning: mild novel spoilers (but also not really because i'm just discussing things that have been shown in the trailer)

i really think you should either drop the series or give up the hopes of a satisfying makjang revenge storyline in my stand-in instead of setting yourself up for disappointment. because that simply isn't the story that my stand-in is trying to tell.

so what is my stand-in about really?

well, for me i think its a romance tragicomedy drama about an idiotic scum male lead losing the person he loves most because of his own arrogance and refusal to listen to his heart and the series of unfortunate events that happened consequently for our protagonist who was living a peaceful and quiet life as a stunt actor before the scum male lead entered his life.

joe 2.0 and his approach to life

i've mentioned it twice now that one of my favorite traits of joe/zhou xiang is that kindness in his strength where even if he can be choose to be mean or cruel, he simply doesn't because he has such a soft heart and he's weak to see others in pain (joe is my fellow enfp people pleaser okay) (⁠っ⁠˘̩⁠╭⁠╮⁠˘̩⁠)⁠っ which is why even in his 2.0 life, you won't get to see joe turning 180 degree and going around to hurt everyone who's ever hurt him like it's some makjang kdrama.

and while that seems like it could be fun, i think the reason why i loved professional body double (my stand-in novel) so much in the first place is because that very distinction between joe and other rebirth/second chance at life protagonists that you often see in revenge kdramas/cdramas/thai lakorns.

logically, if my stand-in was a 24-episode one31 lakorn/thai soap opera, joe would be full of hatred and burning rage after his rebirth and started his intricated revenge plot while still falling in love with ming whom he should hate the most.

and yet he isn't (or at least it seems to me so far).

if you read the lyrics 'Die For You' - the opening ost of my stand-in, i think you can have a good guess of what the second half of the story will be like.

Even running away to death can't help. If my heart had chosen to stop at you I'll have to surrender with the confusion I feel. To come back to the same old place. Even if I have to die, disappear and then be reborn But the love is still buried deep inside, even if it's been shattered into pieces Even if my life ends, I can't stop my heart from calling out to you Because this whole body, life, spirit It is yours only, for all eternity.

and even from the trailer of my stand-in, you can tell that joe 2.0 has a lot of internal conflicting feelings about whether he could trust ming again after the betrayal he faced in his 1.0 life. and i feel like essentially the journey of ming proving to joe 2.0 that he really does love joe is very much the central plot in the second half part of the story.

so i'd like to take this part to note how well the series has done to adapt the novel so far. i think a good adapted change they've made is this early realization of feelings for ming in the joe 1.0 timeline. i do think the novel made him realized his feelings a little bit later but my stand-in did well to show within ep.3 what happiness could have looked like for joe 1.0 and ming and i think it rationalizes a bit more more for why joe 2.0 would still have feelings for ming 'buried deep inside' even when he's been badly hurt the first time around. and reading the story i've always found it interesting that they took this route to focus on the re-entangled complex relationship between mingjoe rather than going for a joe-centric revenge makjang plot (i swear if this was your typical thai lakorn, joe would seduce ming while planning to take down his whole family or something).

of course, that's not to dismiss that there's a lot of character growth for joe in the second half of the story, especially in his building of self-confidence, self-worth, the ability to put himself first and the fight for his own happiness above all. but like i've mentioned above, his growth journey is not at the expense of a drastic personality change in regards to the kind hearted joe we saw in his 1.0 life. instead, we get kind hearted joe 2.0 who quickly adapts to his new life and attempts to start anew while conflicted feelings resurface for him as he is pulled back into the relationships he once had.

all in all, my stand-in is still at the heart of it, a love story. perhaps, a dark romance as my friend @dragonsandphoenix would call it, but a romance nonetheless. i think that is what also makes professional body double such a compelling read too, because the progression in the feelings and complex emotions of these characters are so tightly written that it's convincing enough for me (maybe not for others though) to believe that yan ming xiu has/will always love zhou xiang (to the point ymx would probably eliminate anyone else who dared to steal zx from him). obsessive love? yes. do they both need therapy? probably. yet i still believe in their happy ending? of course.

final note/disclaimer: then again, this is just my PERSONAL opinions based on the novel and up til 3 episodes of my stand-in (which seems to be very faithful to the novel so far), who knows maybe they can anger novel fans and adapt it completely differently later on (something i sure hope they don't but we'll seeeee) ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ

[winterdaphne2]

Gay Easter Eggs in BBC Sherlock

(I trust the above requires no explanation.)

Perhaps someone has done this before, but I wanted to put together a compilation of gay easter eggs in the show that I’ve seen other people point out and/or have thoughts on myself. So here it is!

When I say “easter eggs,” I’m thinking of small clues that the show creators included in the set designs, music choices, and other details of the show to reference that Sherlock and John are in love. I’m thinking of things you could miss at first, especially little clues that often require a bit of extra information or require observations across episodes to understand.

Of course, there’s also lots of subtext woven into the show, moments where interpreting the dialogue or visuals in a certain way tells us something about Sherlock, John, and/or the state of their feelings for one another. I’m not sure if I can clearly define “subtext” versus “easter eggs” and explain what distinguishes them, but at least to me, several of the things I’ve listed here seem a bit different from what people often refer to as subtext. Maybe subtext is about uncovering the layers to a piece of dialogue or an action that takes place in plain sight and seeing how that impacts our interpretation of the story, but easter eggs are about spotting smaller, hidden details. I’m not trained in literary or film studies, though, and I’m not trying to be doctrinaire about this at all! This list is just for fun, anyway. (The above image might not actually count as an easter egg, but I couldn’t resist including it here. Indulge me.)

The more I read about this show and the harder I look, the more I think that hardly anything is there on accident. All these easter eggs must have been included on purpose. The creators knew they were telling a love story all along.

I’ve linked to the posts where I initially saw people point these out or to other good sources, and for some of these I’ve added my own commentary/observations/interpretations. I’m sure there are many other easter eggs that I’ve missed! What have you spotted?

John’s PIN in TBB – When John tries to pay for his groceries at the beginning of the episode, we see that his PIN is 743. In ASIB, Irene’s code to unlock her phone is SHER, which would be 7437 on a phone keypad. So, John’s PIN is a clue that he is or will be in love with Sherlock. Source: @loudest-subtext-in-tv, here.

Shaftesbury Avenue, 20m from Piccadilly Circus in TBB – While investigating in Chinatown, Sherlock and John bump into each other at what used to be a cruising spot for gay men in London. Source: @the-signs-of-two, here.

Archer the American in ASIB – In the scene where the American CIA agents try to get Sherlock to open Irene’s safe, the head CIA agent pressures Sherlock by threatening to have one of his men shoot John. The agent says: “Mr. Archer, on the count of three, shoot Dr. Watson.” Ordering someone named “Archer” to shoot John could be a reference to Arthur Conan Doyle’s poem “The Blind Archer,” which is about Cupid and describes Cupid shooting two men who sound an awful lot like Sherlock and John. Source: couldntpossiblycomment, here.

“¿Dónde Estás, Yolanda?” in TEH – The song that plays during the scene with John and Sherlock’s disastrous reunion at the Landmark restaurant is a cover of the song “¿Dónde Estás, Yolanda?” performed by the band Pink Martini. The Spanish lyrics to this song are about searching for a long-lost lover, which is fitting for the scene where John sees Sherlock again for the first time since his fall. Notably, the creators didn’t use the first of the two versions of this song that Pink Martini has released. The band’s first version appears on their 1997 studio album Sympathique and features a man singing about a woman. Instead of using that version, the creators used the version from Pink Martini’s 2011 compilation album A Retrospective, in which China Forbes performs most of the vocals. So, the creators deliberately chose a remade version of the song in which a woman sings about a woman. They chose a gay song about searching for a long-lost lover for Sherlock and John’s reunion. abrae (@tea-and-liminality on tumblr) has a meta with more to say about the use of this song here.

John’s “oscillation on the pavement” in TEH – In TSOT, John observes a potential client standing outside 221B and trying to make up her mind as to whether to come in. Sherlock tells John “I’ve seen those symptoms before. Oscillation on the pavement always means there’s a love affair.” In the previous episode, John came to visit Sherlock at 221B but hesitated on the pavement outside, staring at the door and trying to decide whether to go in. Sherlock’s comment, “I’ve seen those symptoms before,” is a hint that we, the audience, have also seen those symptoms before—with John in the previous episode. Source: @bidoctor, here. (I saw someone else point out that last part about Sherlock’s hint to the audience, but I can’t find that post, sorry!)

Lilac dresses in TSOT – While planning John and Mary’s wedding, Sherlock chooses lilac-colored dresses for the bridesmaids. When John tells Sherlock that he likes the bridesmaids in purple, Sherlock pointedly corrects him by stating that the dresses are lilac. Apparently, “In Victorian times, giving a lilac meant that the giver is trying to remind the receiver of a first love.” So by dressing the bridesmaids in lilac, Sherlock is trying to remind John of his first love: himself, Sherlock. My heart breaks. Source: @asherlockstudy, here.

Putting the horns on Mary and Janine in TSOT and HLV – In TSOT, there’s a shot where Mary gives Sherlock and John a thumbs up before they head out on a case. The way Mary is standing, the horns on Sherlock’s cow skull thing on the wall behind her are placed right over her head. (I always thought this shot looked pretty weird, but now I see that it must have been intentional!) In the HLV scene with Janine at 221B, there’s a moment when Janine steps in front of John in the frame to kiss Sherlock, and her movement positions the horns right over her head. “Putting the horns” on someone means cheating on them. So in both cases, placing the horns right above Mary’s and Janine’s heads indicates to the audience that Sherlock and John are the real relationship in this show. Source: this post from multiple users on the @sherlockmeta blog.

The architecture of Sherlock’s mind palace in HLV – In the mind palace scene after Mary shoots Sherlock, the architecture of Sherlock’s mind palace is based on locations from ASIP. Sherlock literally built his mind palace out of places from his first case with John, illustrating that his relationship with John is what grounds him and that it means everything to him. abrae has some very helpful screencaps of this here (and I would recommend that whole meta, btw!)

The glasshouse scene in TAB – In TAB, the Victorian John tries to ask Sherlock about his sexuality and sexual history while they’re sitting in a glasshouse. In Victorian Britain, “glasshouse” was another term for a military prison. So John, a military veteran, asks Sherlock about his sexuality in a setting that represents where he would have been sent if he had acted upon his homosexual desires at a time when homosexuality was criminalized. Source: @haffieliesel, here.

What do we say about coincidences? The universe is rarely so lazy.

[aakaneeee]

well people. . It's time, aka Akane's monthly revival because there's Luka content. And gosh do I have a lot to say about this. Except.. I'm not going to market these as theories, but as predictions. I think as an og fan I've seen enough to be this confident in my abilities LOL

Quickly, I'd like to address the lyrics and the title, because I will reference it later and I don't want to have to explain mid-prediction.

Wiege has two meanings, and both are so fitting:

1. Cradle. It feels.. perfect, for me. It makes so much sense. Luka was a cold child.. but I'd like to say only physically. I feel like he genuinely warmed up towards Hyuna and Hyunwoo as a child. And I'm going to bring an idea that might get me a bit of backlash but.. I've gotten worse, and that is, that Hyuna is at fault for Luka's approach on his feelings. (Audience boos) From the little we know about Hyunwoo, I feel like Hyuna treated both him and Luka.. at least a little bit similarly. Or at least, Luka couldn't discern a difference, if there was any. Luka is a tube baby, he probably doesn't know (and I am not babying him here, I'd like to add!) what "siblings" he has. For him, affection might just be all and the same. Yes, it wasn't Hyuna's responsibility to teach him, but I feel like a hint was there "Your life is mine", and she could've explained, in a way. But, back to our discussion, Hyuna was Luka's cradle. She burns as bright as the sun, while he's colder. But most importantly, she was his only true friend (Considering I don't think his relationship with Hyunwoo was extremely close, even though they were 'friends'), someone he thought truly cared about him. Hyuna was Luka's cradle, holding him close, comfortable... until at one point, he outgrows that cradle (Hyunwoo's death).

And the second meaning, beginning. In the picture we got, Luka is centered, he's in the middle.. but he's so small, and overshadowed by the tree. Luka is the best performer of the ANAKT, always first, but has no friends. But perhaps, he was better that way. Then, Hyuna comes, and it's a new beginning. He's finally not alone. What I've noticed in the new banner, Luka is missing, but across the tree trunk, in his place, is a taller shadow. Perhaps, a shadow of who Luka was, hopefully still left in there. Or, the other way around, it symbolizes his real self being left there.

And the lyrics:

When I close my eyes,

Play in paradise.

These, to me, remind me of the interview where Luka said his favorite game was hide and seek. In a way, his whole ANAKT life was a game of hide and seek: hiding all the time, but no one trying to seek him. Until Hyuna did, and found him. Something that intrigues me is the "paradise", which to me sounds like what Mizi once said: Dying in competition means returning to the Great Anakt, which I suppose is to them like Heaven.. or Paradise. This will be important later, so remember it.

And now, my predictions for the HyuLuka episode

! First of all, I think the song will be lullaby-like. When I first saw this teaser, with the lyrics, as weird as it sounds, it reminded me of Richard's song in The Hero in TAWOG, a song that always gets me to cry for some reason, and I've been really stuck on that . It would be interesting, because it would fit Luka's voice (as does everything else), but probably not Hyuna's, even though 6FU; would eat it.. which to me, sounds like their "love", where Luka loves her, but it isn't returned. I'd love to see more German in it than just in the title. And considering the nostalgic, pastel, very cutesy artstyle (that reminds me of the memory part from Jordan River animation!), it seems very viable. But the art style is also noisy, which gives an unsettling vibe. It feels like a 2020's dreamcore wallpaper.

I might be crazy, but the hand holding the flower (with only 3 stamens, like the 3 friends) looks dark-skinned, like it would be Hyuna's or Hyunwoo's, but I doubt it would be his, considering it's the account's profile picture. If this is some kind of reference to.. perhaps, an unrequited Hyuluka but the other way around, with Hyuna still not over Luka.. probably won't happen, but God, would that be awesome.

So, how do I think the round will go?

First of all, I have to say, I'm not sure if this will be a round or a Mizisua type episode.😭 I'd say "oh the wait time is way too small" but also... do you guys remember the production announcement of Round 7? Yeah. You can never be sure.

This isn't necessarily a prediction, but more of a suggestion of what could be: It would be SO cool if it would be both.. in a way, merged. This idea just appeared in my mind and I was like OH. MY. GOD. Imagine if almost the whole thing was just them, as children, having fun, a whole backstory.. but then, when Hyunwoo dies, it pans on his face, and then it's back on stage, the loser's face instead of his. It would be so heartwarming, and then DEEPLY DISTURBING and traumatizing. I also really want some Luka and Heperu backstory so I can hate Heperu even more.

On the topic of the loser... It's going to be Luka. I'm an insane Luka lover and it was hard to get accommodated to this idea, but there is no way that he will survive. First of all, the shadow in the account's banner, in place of Luka. It's implications... are quite obvious. Second, the pattern of characters shown in Sweet Dream, and he is next. Third: "In my arms, you would be protected." I feel like Luka would consider the competition "In his arms". I don't think he would break his promise: hear me out for a second. He wouldn't let Hyuna die this way, because I feel like his sense of possession over her also comes with responsibility and protectiveness. And fourth, the Paradise lyric, to me, is a foreshadowing of his death.

I also think he will die by self sacrifice. First of all, there's no way Hyuna could defeat Luka by pure odds. Yes, her stats are better, but lets be honest, her mental power would NOT be as good infront of Luka, and also, the aliens wouldn't vote her. She's a rebel, wanted for so much time, with technically no guardian: they wouldn't want her to defeat their prince, probably. And second, I have made two categories:

The "perfects": Sua, Ivan, Luka

The "rebels": Mizi, Till, Hyuna

See something similar? Both the perfects that are dead, have died by self-sacrifice. The only other dead character, Till, has been shot while reaching for his freedom, so you can't say this is for all characters. And let's be honest.. Patterns are usually being followed in this series. Id also like to add, even though it's a reach, that in a tier of how 'perfect' they are, it'd be:

1. Luka

2. Sua - not so obvious self sacrifice

3. Ivan - obvious self sacrifice

So, I'd say that Luka's might be even more backstage, as if to sabotage himself in a way that seems viable. It also kind of goes in line with his character, he's not one to break facade on stage.

I think this episode will be quite a deep-dive into their true selves. We know the least about them, so this will be GREAT. I'd love to see a more morally gray Hyuna in this. (Since I'm genuinely kind of tired of only Luka being villainized in the ship, which honestly..  is kind of in line with the other perfects. Let's let Mizi, Till and Hyuna be little freaks too) I also want to see atleast a little bit of Hyunwoo, like a little snippet of his mind, what he saw in Luka.

In conclusion, I'm SO happy and hyped about this HyuLuka episode, they're so mysterious and I really really want to see more of L- I mean, more of them. Getting 2 episodes where Luka is present one after another is literally THE dream to me. Basically, Wiege is killing me and I'm gladly letting it.

@4listr Since you asked to be tagged and also, @rockwgooglyeyes I REALLY want your opinion on this

[yandere-romanticaa]

Here are some crumbs about yandere mortician! From now on, his name is Viktor. (I'll make a detailed post about him, his personality, looks later, I promise.)

masterlist.

Viktor can often be seen with headphones in his ears, his expression neutral and eyes glazed over with a sheen of nothingness. When he's spotted in public people want to give him the benefit of doubt and say he's just lost in his own world, consumed by the sound of music. Perhaps he's just so in tune with the lyrics, maybe they speak to him on a level which people often seek out when listening to music. His playlist is filled with all sorts of songs - be it long ballads, cheesy love songs, generic pop, heavy metal, screamo, classical music, frankly some songs you wouldn't even expect someone like him wouldn't even listen at all(a la WAP by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion).

Even while working, Viktor likes to have something playing in the background. His co-workers often joke about his music taste but he just shrugs them off without saying anything. It's all just a rollercoaster, a complete mess but he likes it that way. It's fun to be on his toes.

Truthfully, Viktor never liked music. He never bothered paying attention to the lyrics nor the meaning or even the tune of the song.

He simply can't stand the silence.

Viktor is a walking contradiction - he dislikes most people and yet wishes to be a part of them. He wants to be someone. But he doesn't know how to do that. His way of coping became listening to music. He even learned to play some instruments growing up, thinking that maybe someone would take a liking to him.

Even so, no one bothered with him. He was still a nobody.

Some did admire him, from a safe distance at least. His aura was black as charcoal and posture stiff as a board. Even if one dared to look at him for too long it felt like Viktor would pluck their eyes out if he caught them looking.

Perhaps he would. He wasn't sure either.

The sounds had no meaning to him. It was all used to cover up the silence, pure white noise. Nothing more, nothing less.

All of that came to a screeching halt once he met you, his tiny piece of sunshine.

You'd go through his playlist, sometimes scoffing, sometimes liking the things you saw. His eccentric side never failed to amuse you. Amongst that jungle you'd ask him who his favorite artists were, if he had anyone specific he liked.

Viktor said the names of some random artists he thought you fancied yourself. He wanted you to like him.

His answer ultimately did not matter in the end as you would still recommend some of your own personal favorite songs to him. Viktor promised he'd give them a listen as soon as he could.

Later that evening, he was hard at work. As he was putting on his coat he turned towards his phone and reached towards it, slightly eager to see what you had in store for him. The song played quietly in the background as gently rain tapped against the window, giving the morgue a more tranquil feel than it ought to have. The person on his table tonight was an old man who presumably died of a heart attack earlier this morning.

Poor soul. That was all he could bother to say.

The evening went on as it usually did but Viktor could not stop thinking about you. His sweet little sunshine, he was so touched by the fact that you bothered to go so far for him. He could feel his heart racing as unfamiliar butterflies started to flutter in his chest.

Badum. Badum. Badum.

If he wasn't careful he would be the next one to die of a heart attack.

The music got a bit louder as it reached the chorus, its tune almost perfectly in sync with his heart. He hadn't even realized that he started to sway his hips gently. Left, right, left right.

It felt like the correct thing to do.

Viktor also picked up the sound of a male voice humming which was odd, considering the fact that the singer of the song was a woman. He nearly dropped his scalpel as he realized that the one who was humming was him, not someone else, him.

For the first time in his life, Viktor bothered to pay attention to the song. The singer detailed her undying feelings for her lover, promising herself to them and them only.

Viktor thought about you the entire time. He never fancied himself as a dancer but if he could, he would want nothing more than to dance with you.

Would you want to dance with him?

For the first time in his life, Viktor found joy in the music he listened to. And it was all thanks to his sunshine.

🔪 TAGS: @shamelessdarkprince

[devildomwriter]

Be Forever Near Me | Simeon x Reader

1K+ words | GN! Reader | CW: none

The sound of joyous music echoed through the halls from the record player. The smell of cookies lingered in the air and the fresh batch waited on colorful plates in the kitchen to be eaten.

Snow could be seen falling outside the window, bringing an unusual calm to the Devildom. The streets outside were illuminated by tall lamps wrapped in green and red tinsel and every door on every home had a wreath whether they wanted it or not.

Christmas had come to the Devildom again and after several misadventures which you’d come to expect you finally had a moment of rest. You could think of no place better than Purgatory Hall, commanding the brothers to leave you be for now unless there was an emergency.

Solomon, Luke, and Raphael were gift shopping which left you with a fortuitous opportunity to be alone with Simeon—a genuine Christmas angel.

Simeon was rearranging the navigation scene specifically to bother Raphael as you both waited for the cookies he and Luke made to cool down.

You prepared two mugs of hot cocoa and listened to the soft melody Simeon sang in tune with the record player.

As expected, the only Christmas music played in the purgatory hall was in celebration of the origin of Christmas. So you’d come to learn every lyric by heart for Silent Night, What Child is This, Mary Did You Know, and many others on repeat.

Simeon giggled to himself as he finally stepped away from the nativity scene, having put baby Jesus on the roof of the manager and the animals inside of it. Solomon had done this originally and Simeon was leaving Raphael to believe that the sorcerer was solely responsible. He couldn’t help but mess with the people he mentored at least a little bit. He was very motherly but in contrast also a bit of a brat and you loved that about him.

Simeon placed his hand on the small of your back and smiled over you at the cocoa mug. You handed him the penguin and took Santa for yourself because you knew that mug weirded him out the way its blue eyes seemed to stare at you.

“So considerate,” Simeon whispered and held your hand, leading you to sit on the couch with him.

He placed his mug on a coaster on the side table and unrolled the Christmas blanket Satan had gifted them—the one covered in cats with Santa hats. It made you both laugh whenever you saw it.

Simeon threw the blanket over you both and scooted in closer, you did the same, feeling the side of his hip against yours. The contact made you both blush even though you were used to slightly more intimate encounters. This was a secret of course.

Simeon handed the remote to you to find a good Christmas movie so you chose Little One, a cute Disney short about the donkey Mary rode before he became her donkey. It brought you to tears despite the happy ending and Simeon smiled warmly at you and hugged you closer.

“You have such a big heart,” he chuckled as he rubbed your head.

He took a sip of his hot cocoa so you did the same and sighed.

“Are you alright?” He asked, concerned with such a deep sigh.

You smiled and nodded, “Yeah. It’s a relaxed sigh not a stressed one.”

You could see him immediately relax as he grinned and leaned back into the couch. He looked at the clock and his expression saddened just enough you could see.

“What’s wrong Simeon?”

“Oh…” he said, looking guilty. “I was just thinking I don’t have you to myself much longer…”

You blushed and shook your head. “I can just text Solomon that we’re taking a nap and not to bother us.”

Simeon laughed. “Do you think he’ll buy that?”

You shrugged, “he doesn’t have to buy it. He knows not to bother us either way.”

Simeon thought over the idea for a moment and smiled in confirmation. “Yes. Let’s head to my room then.”

“I’ll grab some of the cookies!”

“Oh, yes. That will be nice.”

You followed Simeon to his room with too many cookies for just the two of you and set it on his writing desk.

You both sat at the end of his bed and he tilted his head curiously. “Ah. Well…now what should we do? We can’t be too loud, Luke will be home soon.”

“Raphael too.”

“Right…”

You felt a yawn come on and quickly covered your mouth when you got an idea. You looked at the snow falling outside, the cozy warm bed, and listened to the gentle music outside.

“Why don’t we actually take a nap.”

Simeon smiled brightly. “That sounds heavenly.”

Simeon sifted through his closet to find a weighted blanket warm enough he could crack the window just slightly to bring in enough cold air to lull you to sleep.

He took off his shoes, socks, cape, and jewelry and hopped into bed next to you already on your side grinning up at him.

Simeon pulled the blanket up higher facing you with an equally bright grin. You felt him move his feet between yours and he rested his hand around your hip while the other cupped his cheek against the pillow.

You sighed again in unison with him causing a small chuckle to escape his lips.

“This really is heavenly,” he commented to himself looking more relaxed than he had in a while.

You both exchanged a few words back and forth until finally Simeon no longer responded. Even though you’d assumed you were more tired than Simeon it was clear he needed this a lot more.

You snuggled in closer, careful not to wake him, and rested your head beneath his chin feeling the small warm puffs of breath against your head until you too joined him in sleep.

[save-a-forest-ride-a-bear]

Can I request general dating headcanons for Haarlep, Dammon, Rolan, and Zevlor with gender neutral s/o?

🗒꒰⸝⸝₊ General Dating Headcanons ❛ ✧

Featuring: Haarlep, Dammon, Rolan & Zevlor

# Notes: using they/them pronouns for haarlep bc we deserve a gnc icon

🌿┊HAARLEP

Surprisingly very romantic. Which romance language is their main one, you ask? The answer is all of the above. Physical touch? Please, they're an incubus, it goes without saying they'll have their hands all over you all the time. Words of affirmation? They know how to put together a compliment, your name sounds like a lyric on their tongue. Gift giving? They're very keen on jewellery, always surprising you with a golden necklace or bracelet. Acts of service? This motherfucker is a giver, ask and ye shall receive. Quality time? The day they're not at your heels is the day the nine hells freeze over.

Clingy and needy. Will pout and complain every second they're not receiving attention, not above throwing tantrums either. What could possibly be more important than lavishing them with affection? Nothing, that's what. So put that book down, they demand cuddles.

Was definitely not expecting to fall in love. Love is such a sweet and pure concept and they're... Well, them. It just didn't seem compatible with their nature. So when they realized they were beginning to like you more and more, they felt a bit frightened. It was such an unusual feeling, but they grew to welcome it with time.

Definitely gets a bit spoiled just being around you. Tenderness is hard to come by in the hells, so now that they've tasted it, they want more more more. Also talks back to Raphael a lot more now — they deserve the best treatment they can receive, the devil can shove it.

Service top in and out of bed. Again, they're a total giver, always tending to your needs. Had a hard day? They got your favourite food and ran you a bath, go ahead and enjoy it, they'll be there for cuddles once you're nice and dry.

🌿┊DAMMON

Has no control over his tail whatsoever, it will be wagging whenever you're near or wrapping around you to keep you from leaving. He always blushes and apologizes profusely — it has a mind of its own, he says.

He's a bit of a workaholic. Will spend way too long cooped away in his forge. However, he doesn't resist or complain if or when you try to drag him away from there. He knows he needs it, and to be honest he's kind of a simp, will do almost anything you ask of him.

Super attention starved. He won't outright ask for affection, but that look in his eyes isn't fooling nobody. He absolutely melts when you hold or kiss him, he's such a sweetie.

Even before you start dating, he's super affectionate. He just likes letting the people around him know he cares for them. it's almost difficult to tell if he has a crush on you or not because of this little habit, but again, the tail doesn't lie.

Giddy whenever you're around. He's already a somewhat upbeat guy, but having his beloved close to him brings out the best in him (if that's even possible).

🌿┊ROLAN

I love this stupid fucking wizard so much.

Does not know how to flirt. I'm a firm believer he never even kissed anyone before you. Not with his behaviour and obsession with his studies, at least. (And with Cal and Lia constantly at his heel).

Somewhat easily jealous. He has this mix of confidence and insecurity that's... odd, to say the least. He trusts you and thinks he's more than capable of pleasing you. On the other hand, he knows he's a pain in the ass most of the time, so if he sees you enjoying a conversation with someone a bit too much, it will gnaw at him.

As mentioned, not the most experienced. Your first kiss will probably be messy, especially if it's your first as well. Clanking teeth, a bit of drool, all that cute stuff. He's just a little too eager, okay?

Awkward and smooth as fuck at the same time. Really good at teasing you, but will sulk and blush if you do it back — especially if his siblings are around. He'll never hear the end of it.

He makes up for awkwardness with sheer eagerness, most of the time. He's just so happy to be able to call you his, to hold you, kiss you — he's over the moon. And you're not going anywhere anytime soon.

🌿┊ZEVLOR

This dumbass paladin is such a romantic. He's more old-fashioned, of course — almost refuses to kiss you on the first date. Maybe even the second. He just wants to treat you right the best way he knows how, even if it can be a little frustrating at times.

Gets flustered easily, but never backs down. Like, he will blush and maybe stutter a little if you catch him off guard with a kiss or compliment, but will 100% reciprocate, maybe even make you blush in return.

Has some problems with inferiority and may think he doesn't deserve you at times. He sees himself as a coward and since he believes you deserve the best knight in shining armour you can get, he becomes a little insecure at times. Nothing some kisses won't solve.

Expect lots of communication. This is a man, not a boy. If something's wrong or bothering him, he will let you know and expects you to do the same. How else is the relationship supposed to flourish?

Not big on PDA. Again, he's old-fashioned. He believes affection like that should be kept behind closed doors, something for the couple and the couple only. But he won't say no to some hand-holding if you ask nicely.

[katerinaaqu]

The Lament of a Life (Achilles and Antilochus short songfic)

If someone asks me how the lament of Achilles looks like my answer would be the amazing aria with music composed by Vivaldi:

The lyrics go on a repeat like this:

So today is a bit chilly and so I was inspired by this amazing song and made this! (Sorry itis a random inspiration I had this morning from this piece thus the title "song-fic")

***

His eyelids were heavy. He didn’t feel like getting up anymore. His bed seemed cold and inhospitable and yet he didn’t feel like moving out of it. His eyes opened slowly and looked to the side. It was empty. He looked outside his tent. Also empty. There was nothing left; he didn’t have the subject of his revenge anymore; he had given it back. Hector’s body was buried and celebrated. His revenge had come to an end. And yet, he felt empty. Nothing mattered. Achilles, the Best and Noblest of all the Greeks was no longer feeling anything mattered. What would it matter now that the subject of his vengeance was gone, if the subject of all the affections he could offer to a human being was also gone? His soul was in turmoil throughout the process. He thought on Briseis, the woman that he felt so strongly for; merely a slave and yet so important for him, had started this domino of reactions which led him to the strike; his refusal to fight. Then his refusal led to this terrible result; the death of his other half. The flame that flickered inside him was gone, the moment Patroclus’s eyes turned glassy from death and he wasn’t even there. During Patroclus’s last moments…he wasn’t there! He remembered his wife; a woman he barely knew and yet she gave him a son, a son he adored despite his young years, a son that he never knew and a son that never knew him back. He could be lamenting for them; they wouldn’t see him again possibly. Given the prophecy, he was to die in war. Possibly neither his wife nor his son, were included in the prophecy. He should be crying for them. He should be crying for the people that were around him and yet…he was feeling weak; unwilling to even get out of his bed and eat because of… He slowly forced himself to sit up and he looked at the magnificent urn with two handles that was always within eye gaze from him. The intricate patterns were cold; just like his bed that could not give him warmth.

“Come back…” he whispered in a voice chocked deep in his throat

Tears oozed out of his sea-blue eyes; his throat burning anew.

“I did what you asked…I offered you a burial…come back…! Please…come back to me!”

His hand was shaking as it was reaching for the cold, golden urn; his other fixing the covers upon his naked chest, in a vain attempt to generate some warmth within.

“Please…” he whispered again, “Come back…!”

“Achilles…”

The young and soft voice didn’t surprise him neither made him react. Antilochus was standing right behind him, undoubtedly had entered his tent a little while prior, enough to hear his foolish and childish lament.

“He won’t come back…” the young man said as a matter of fact, “You offered him a burial. He is in the land of Hades now… He will not come back”

More tears arose from Achilles’s eyes as he clasped desperately the covers against his chest; his face buried to the pocket created by them as if his own eyes wanted to confirm what hurt so much was indeed the organ that was pumping his blood, giving him life inside. Yes, he knew. His cut hair was also a proof of that but hearing it again was somehow destroying that foolish illusion that if he begged hard enough, goddess Persephone would have mercy and send back Patroclus to him; his soul to talk to or at least restore his body to hold one more time…

“Soul of my soul…” he mumbled in lament, “My dear as my own heart…”

“Shh…” Antilochus whispered in tears, hugging his shoulders affectionately, “I know… I know… Please don’t do this to yourself… I know it hurts but…he’s gone… No matter what you do…how much you melt…he won’t come back…”

“Heart of my heart…” Achilles lamented again, “I want him back…! I want him to come back…”

“I know…” Antilochus said again, caressing his golden locks with his hands

Achilles seemed almost aged at that point in his sorrow. Antilochus almost felt tempted to look for white hairs in his golden head.

“And I am sorry that I cannot offer you any consolation… Forgive me. I am not him; I cannot take your sorrow away…”

Antilochus softly raised Achilles’s head, cupping his cheeks and making him look deep in the eyes. He moped the tears from his cheekbones with his thumbs.

“I know I am young and foolish…but, please, take one bit of advice from me; stop looking at it! Stop looking at that urn! It will only hurt you more… You need to come back to us too…we need you…”

He looked away.

“I need you…” he whispered shyly, “You are my hero, my idol… I need you back, strong and healthy…maybe some of your previous happiness back… Please…please my dear…we all need you. Above all I do…”

Achilles looked at him and for one moment he looked like a hurt animal facing the peasant that had released him from the hunter’s trap. However then he laughed; it was a dry, humorless, lamenting laugh.

“Don’t be foolish!” he said self-pettily, “No one shall need me! I shall die! I know I will!”

“Don’t talk like that!”

“You can’t deny it, Antilochus! I know it to be true! It was predicted for me! I will die! I will die in this war! My mother told me someday I would die in this war if I decided to fight! I shall never go home! I shall never see my wife and son! I will die now! I know I will and I don’t care! Nothing matters anymore!”

“Don’t say that!” Antilochus retorted again

“I know the truth” Achilles insisted, “I decided it for myself. I know what my fate is! That urn Im staring is waiting for me! I am to die!”

Antilochus looked away. He seemed hesitant; his arm rubbing his upper arm as if he was about to make that confession no one has heard before.

“I’ll tell you a secret…” he whispered, “So am I…”

Achilles seemed surprised and shocked for the first time in that conversation. Suddenly the lament gone; now there was fear in his eyes. Fear for yet another loss.

“My father was hiding it…but I overheard him. An oracle once told him to beware of an Ethiopian. At first I didn’t know…but my father tried to hide it from me. I know now that I am to die somehow by someone from a foreign land… Maybe today maybe tomorrow maybe here maybe at home… I know though that I will die like this…and…”

He swallowed and looked back at Achilles. The elder man gasped seeing tears to Antilochus’s eyes.

“…And I am scared! I am scared, Achilles! I don’t want to tell my father that for he would be ashamed of me and my cowardice but…I am scared! How can you take it, Achilles? How can you live knowing that you will die…?”

“Antilochus…”

Antilochus quickly mopped his own tears, sniffing his nose, trying to find his composure.

“I’m sorry…” he mumbled, “I don’t know what came into me! I just…”

He sighed.

“We need you back” he finally repeated, “You are our strength and our courage. When you are out there we are afraid of nothing!”

“Antilochus!”

And Achilles did something the younger prince never expected; he embraced him.

“Antilochus, dear to my heart…don’t say such things please. Don’t you say that you will die! I will not let you! I…I will protect you!”

“You…you will…?”

“I will!”

Achilles kissed the top of his head and held him close. Maybe for the first time in weeks he didn’t think of death and burials. Right now he was lamenting a life; this young man who was there apparently sharing his pain and fate. No, he wouldn’t see yet another young person close to him die before him in battle!

“I will protect you! I will not let anything happen to you I promise!”

The two men remained there for quite some time, neither wanted to count the time. It was a shared lament for their short lives; a lament that was different than the one for the dead souls. Who would die first? If both of them were destined to die in the war against Troy, who would die first and who would watch the other die? Neither wanted to be the last. Neither wanted to see the other die. What weird and sad fate! Achilles was almost rocking the youth in his arms so worried of his upcoming death while he was almost welcoming his at that point; oftentimes kissing tenderly his temple. Antilochus was trying to evoke some of his warmth to Achilles for he was afraid for his upcoming death; his welcoming of it. He didn’t want to hear fate yet alone his willingness to accept it. It was a weird way to connect that autumn morning. And yet he felt that at least Achilles might have found a reason to postpone his will to die. Antilochus broke the embrace first, standing up.

“Look at us!” he chuckled softly, “Looking like children playing at the gymnasium like this! We have a war to fight! I am sorry…I took your personal time, my lord Achilles…”

“Wait!” Achilles’s voice made him stop, “Stay…please…”

It was a request; a pleading.

“Please stay with me longer…” he almost seemed worried, afraid

“Are you afraid of the dark and shadows?”

“Yes…” Achilles admitted, “More like those inside my heart… Please stay a bit longer…”

Antilochus smiled softly.

“Of course, my lord…” he whispered, “I would be delighted”

*

Outside the tents, the Greeks were already preparing for the events of the day. The kings were to negotiate their next step again given how the mourning period for Hector was over, how the killings would start anew. It was a sad prospect and they knew their own forces wouldn’t last long. The spies were also informing them on movement on Troy’s part to call upon more allies to arrive to the battlefield. Odysseus was thinking all this as he pranced about the camp. He blew some warm air to his freezing fingers. Autumn was in for good. Soon winter would arrive again.

“Yet another year to the foot of Troy…” he thought miserably, “Yet another year away from our homes…for the sakes of this war…”

He was also worried on Achilles. That last lament period shocked everyone. Achilles had just collapsed and then turned into blind rage. People were afraid on his sanity; that his mind would break. An out of control Achilles was much more dangerous than they would have thought. And their army needed their support. Before the Trojans had Hector to even the odds. Now their strongest warrior was gone. It would be their chance to have higher spirits and yet they didn’t. Achilles was a mess. Once more they seemed to square one… He could only hope he would snap out of his grief enough to fight. His gloomy thoughts were interrupted when he saw old Nestor. Nestor was suffering more than the rest of them from the cold; he had a bear skin over his shoulders to keep his old bones warmer and yet he refused to stand back. Odysseus smiled.

“Good morning, my friend” he said

“Good morning” Nestor replied, “It turned chilly!”

“Yeah…” Odysseus agreed, “Sometimes I envy the young!”

“Speaking of which…my son left the tent earlier this morning. He said he wanted to check on Achilles and I didn’t hear from him since. Have you seen him?”

“No” Odysseus replied thoughtfully, “But I was heading there myself to check on things. Maybe he is still there”

As if on a queue they heard light laughter coming from the direction where the Myrdmidons had camped.  The distinct, clear laughter from Achilles made a small smile creep to Odysseus’s lips.

“It’s the first time I hear him laugh in weeks…” he sounded almost hopeful, “Your son is a miracle-worker!”

Nestor smiled back.

“He is…” he whispered thoughtfully, “He is…”

Odysseus’s smile dropped when he saw a shadow in Nestor’s eyes. He didn’t need to ask to know there was something ominous hanging over the two youths.

Yet another time he looked at the cloudy, gray sky and wondered to Athena how all that was even justified…if the youth were to perish and all the others would live…

***

So yeah...Achilles being depressed and Antilochus giving some consolation! TT_TT Achilles hoped to see Patroclus's ghost again (which is what inspired me from that amazing Aria as well!)

Also I wondered if Antilochus knew the warning Nestor got to "beware of an Ethiopian" if he would know or sense the warning was for himself instead of his father...what if he feared it all along...maybe that would be the connection with Achilles!

Set after the mourning period of Hector! As you can see I kept it a bit "homeric" in the essence that I love tenderness in his writing and then leave it unravel!

a small thanking thing in a way too for @smokey07 for honoring me with a mention! Anoher thankng for @h0bg0blin-meat for his sketch to one of my silly headcanons about Achilles and Patroclus! Still makes me giggle my friend!

Also I want you guys check out my brilliant friend's art and mentions on our characters trust me you won't regret it! Many parallels of the epic cycle were added unconsciously to our story! Hahahaha! @artsofmetamoor

My analysis on Achilles and Patroclus can be found here

Antilochus needed some love too there! Hehehe others write scary stories for October but I was like "nope I shall mention ghosts in angst!"

[ikigaisvt]

dirty dancing

in which you get a little too excited about seeing your boyfriend on stage.

pairing: idol!chan x reader words count: 2.4k content: smut, idol au warnings: kinda switch!chan x switch/brat!reader, semi-public sex (they don't get caught but it's implied everyone ends up knowing), talk of jealousy, kissing, begging, swearing, dirty talk (m giving), hair pulling, teasing, edging (m receiving), blowjob, orgasm (m receiving), petnames (for reader: babe, baby, vixen, whore) pls lemme know if i forgot anything :) note: haiii! this is inspired by dirty dancing (new kids on the block ft. dino, dokyeom, vernon) so credits to them/the writers for the lyrics i used (in italic between each paragraphs). this is absolutely not inspired by the title of the song so don't expect someone to dance/do a strip tease for someone else 😭 also had to include idubily chan (go look for pics in case u don't know Him) in this someway, somehow,, minors/ageless blogs dont interact or i'll hard block u. hope everyone enjoy!

Roll that body, feel the energy

Chan has always been made for the stage and that’s something he knew from a young age. His love for dancing, for being cheered on and noticed has always been the biggest driving force of his life. His fans, too, have always been the most supportive towards their music and their stages. Here he is, performing in front of his fans for one of their Japan concerts of the Follow tour. He just went through Highlight’s routine with his Performance Team members before starting to perform I Don’t Understand But I Luv U, one of their newer songs. He puts his all in, trying to concentrate on giving his best – and he does – but his mind keeps going back to you and how you’re waiting for him backstage. Chan loves his fans and he is the most grateful for them; they gave him a chance to make his dreams come true. But despite being loved by so many people, Chan really awaits only your praises to know he did well on whatever he’s working on. Ever since you two started dating 2 years ago, your opinion has been the most important; he would hate to disappoint you, in any way. As his body keeps moving naturally through the moves – despite his mind being elsewhere – he realizes him and his team are nearing the end of the song. He tries harder for the last minute, you on his mind as his biggest strength to do his best; to always do his best.

I know that lingo, I think that she’s into me

Him and his three brothers stand still for a few seconds after doing the last move as the crowd cheers so hard he can hear it through his in-ears. The lights go out and they start to exit the stage as the screams never stop; it feeds into that feeling that settles in Chan’s stomach – a fire, something burning. He feels it overtake his thoughts as he finds himself backstage, in-ears off, searching for your eyes in the crowd of staff. He finds you, sat down on a chair in the corner – you probably chose this spot to watch the performances on the TV without being in the way. However, when he sees you, your eyes are already on him, as you take in his outfit, how his hair fall down on his forehead and the way you can feel the passion overflow from him. What he doesn’t notice is how much you want him; seeing him perform on stage made your belly ache with desire, made you want to please him. He slowly walks up to you but you don’t have the patience to wait a few more seconds; you almost run up to him, immediately taking a hold of his hand, not even answering his pleas, before dragging him through a series of corridors to the small – unoccupied – dressing room.

“Babe, what’s happening?” he says as he stops abruptly, closing the door behind him, “Are you okay?”

“I-” you start, not knowing how to explain you’re horny without him making fun – at least a little bit ­– of you, “Fuck,” you whisper as you take a hold of his face and kiss him fervidly. Your hands roam on his chest, to the opening of his shirt, working another button open as Chan gets lost in the kiss, in your scent, in the way your hands play with his outfit, his hair, lighting his skin on fire.

“Baby,” Chan mumbles in your mouth, trying to break free from your hold on him, “Fuck, baby, we can’t- I have to go up on stage,” he says under his breath after breaking the kiss, your forehead resting against his.

“Please,” you already beg even though he hasn’t even touched you yet, “Just let me suck you off,” you whisper, playing with his shirt’s buttons as his fingers tighten on your hips. That’s when you know he wants it; he thinks it’s a bad, bad idea, he knows he’ll get in trouble – no matter how good you are, he won’t be able to come in time. But when he sees your pleading eyes, lips slightly jutting out, as you grab down at his shirt, his determination breaks down. You can see the change of answer – and behavior – in his eyes as you sink down on your knees, his hand finding rest on top of your head as his cock twitches in his pants.

You’ll get me in a whole lot of trouble

“Was I that hot, up there?” he teases you as he brushes back your hair, your hands working his pants open.

“Hm, yeah,” you sigh in pleasure at the way his hand feels in your hair – and at the sight of his hard-on, “You’re lucky I’m not the jealous type because I can bet there are people in this crowd who wants you as much as I do,” you tease him back as you rub his cock through his briefs.

“You, not jealous? You should have seen your face when I showed some of the DMs I got on Instagram,” he sneers, blood instantly going to your face as you remember vividly some of the texts – and the jealousy you felt.

“So what?” you say, ticked off, as you rub his dick harder in your hand, precum oozing at the tip, leaving a wet spot on his underwear, “Should have told you to flirt back with your lovely fans? To give them what they want?”

“Enough about them,” he breaths out, leaning his head back as pleasure builds up stronger, faster, hotter in his body, “Come on, baby,” he whispers as he looks back at you, taking a hold of your hair and bringing your head closer to his hips, “You wanted to suck me off, didn’t you?”

You roll your eyes at his comment – knowing you’ll get pay back for this later, before getting his briefs down and holding his cock in your hand, jerking him off slowly just to tease him. You see his patience wearing off as seconds tick by, his jaw clenching, his eyes turning darker, his hand tightening in your hair. You can read what he thinks off his face; when he’s had enough, when he decides to come into action and make you take it and just as he’s about to speak, you take his tip in your mouth which he answers to with a guttural moan.

“Fuck, baby- Fucking finally,” he swears which makes a giggle erupt in your throat as you take him deeper, resting your hands on his thighs.

You don’t linger on the way you suck him off; you don’t stop taking him faster, rougher, deeper, always trying to get him closer to his release. You look up at him, his hands tightening against your skull as low moans come out of his mouth constantly, his eyes almost rolling back but he holds it off, trying to look at you through it all.

Feel the bass, feel the boom, feel the rubble

“Babe, can you hear that?” he asks through moans, as you stop sucking him to stroke him instead, “We can hear the music from there,” he whispers getting a hold of your face as you kiss the tip of his thumb.

“Hm,” you answer him as he plays with your lower lip before sinking his thumb in your mouth which makes him shudder. You two stay like this for a few seconds before he quivers, feeling the pleasure build up almost too much. As the first song comes to an end, you both start to hear different sounds but the one who stands out the most is the sound of someone walking down the corridor leading to this dressing room. Chan realizes after you, still in that pleasure-filled haze, his eyes widening and he starts to put distance between the two of you before stopping him.

“Don’t worry,” you reassure him, “I locked the door,” you whisper, your thumb rubbing his tip as you can hear a new song playing in the dome, the walls and the floor vibrating with the notes.

“Fuck, baby-” he moans lowly at the feeling of your hand on him, “you’re a little vixen, aren’t you?” he starts again as the sound making him tense get further away. You giggle, proud of how you got him to be, and stay, with you.

“You’re getting me in trouble, you know?” he sneers, hand feeling heavier on the top of your head as you smile innocently up at him, precum still dripping out of his tip, getting on your fingers.

“I know,” you say with a smirk, “but you’re loving this trouble,” you chuckle as you lick your own fingers coated with his pre-cum.

Caught up in the daze, caught up in the maze

His eyes get darker at the sight, thoughts running wild – your innocent mouth usually saying sweet words but now here you are, licking him off you – as you beam up at him, guessing how hot he thinks you are.

“Get to work, whore,” he tells you, pulling at your hair as you take him back into your mouth, moaning around him at the taste and the heaviness of him, “You’re loving this, aren’t you? Bet I’m getting you dripping right now,” he groans, as you feel him twitch in your mouth, “And I’m not even touching you.” He can feel the pleasure build stronger, his fingers tingling with want for more as he loudly moans, your hand pinching at the sensitive skin on his thighs.

“Fuck- I’m so close,” he mumbles, gripping at you harder as you suck at his head harsher before slowing down, always trying to build his want even higher, and letting go of him to take a breath.

Time is standin’ still, but I’m already late

“Baby- We gotta be quick,” he tells you, pushing back some hair out of your face, “Come here,” he says as he brings your face closer to his hips with a hand on your cheeks. He holds his cock in one hand as you open your mouth to let him push his cock into you, “Fuck- You feel even better than a second ago,” he moans, his bliss building higher and higher – waiting to come crashing down.

Before he can come, he hears sounds outside the door – he can almost hear voices calling out to him but his brain quickly focuses on you – you are everywhere; your hands rubbing at his thighs and abs, your sounds as you take him in – as you drown in his scent, in who he is, your eyes, looking up at him with a universe shining in your pupils, filling with tears as his hips bucks, faster, harder.

“Fuck, I think the song is over,” he mumbles under his breath, “Come on, make me cum, make me cum,” he urges you, voice breaking, as you take him deeper, not needing to keep stroking the rest of him – you choke on him, on his scent, on his heaviness.

Imma need an alibi

He knows, deep down, behind the pleasure you’re giving him, he’s fucked. Completely, utterly fucked. He’ll get out this room and will have probably a minute to make up something, a reason as to why his panting, his eyes and cheeks reddened and his pants wrinkled. He tries so hard to buy himself time, to make something up right now but you’re so much, he’s losing all coherent thoughts. You’re the one who has him in your mouth and yet he can taste you on his mouth – he moans at the memory of your taste, of your moans when he pleases you – oh, how much he wishes he could have you right now.

I’m tryna think of something, I can’t concentrate

“Fuck, my little vixen,” he groans, as you feel him twitch in your mouth, as he chases his orgasm, “I can’t even think of anything but you and your sweet, sweet mouth,” he mumbles, his hips bucking again, “I’m so close,” he says again, gripping your hair harder, “Don’t stop, fuck, fuck, fuck,” he groans before cumming down your throat.

If before was getting burned, then this is fucking hell; his eyes rolling back as his head tilts backwards, his hand holding you still as his hips work himself through his bliss, bruising your throat. You feel him everywhere, all the way down to your belly. It’s when he starts to feel sensitive that he slows down, until coming to a stop and pulling out of your mouth. You’re proudly looking up at him, Chan still in the post orgasm haze to realize he needs to run.

He looks down at you before gently patting your head; “How are you feeling?” he asks you, your eyes still shining a little and your cheeks reddened.

“I’m okay,” you whisper, your voice coming out huskier than usual – you know you’ll need a lot of water after this, “I really am,” you reassure him after seeing how worried he got at the sound of your voice. You get up, Chan cleaning himself up and pulling up his pants, before you cross your arms behind his neck as you kiss softly.

“You did really well, by the way,” you smile after your kiss, looking at him oh so sweetly.

“Thank you, baby,” he blushes before kissing you again, one of his hands resting on your cheek, “You did, too,” he whispers against the shell of your ear.

“Thank you,” you giggle, “So, when are you leaving me?” you ask him, knowing he forgot where he was and what he needs to do.

“What-” he starts, confused of your question, before realizing he is late for his show, “Fuck! Fuck, baby, okay,” he says as he lets go of you, walking to the door, “I need to go! I’ll talk to you later, okay? Don’t go anywhere,” he tells you after opening the door – as soon as he gets out, he runs down the corridor, not even waiting for your answer.

“I won’t!” you scream behind him as you watch him get to his stage, “Love you!” you say before he disappears in the corner. A few seconds after, you hear him answer with a screamed “Love you too!” before you get back in the dressing room, smiling to yourself.

Chan, apologetic as ever, but more energized than before, gets back on stage a little later than planned – he gets disapproved looks from his members and he knows he’ll get scold after the concert. But he’ll always like a little trouble with you – and a little dirty dancing.

thank you so much for reading, i hope you enjoyed it 🫶 do leave a like/comment/reblog if you liked it and i'll love u forever 🫶

[guillemelgat]

Language Goals 2025

As I said in my last post, I'm slowly getting better at figuring out how to set goals which both push me out of my comfort zone and which actually orient me towards what I'm trying to do. This year my main goal is to just remember how to be a learner again; I feel like recently I've gotten a little too in-my-head about how I need to be perfect before I speak, and actually this tends to be a problem I have in general - I won't talk to people unless I feel like I can talk perfectly, but that's not how you learn. I'm also trying to get better at setting reasonable timelines for what it takes to get to a particular level of language, which I have a better feel for at this point, and taking into account how much time I'm spending on the language every day (it shouldn't feel overwhelming if it's supposed to be a brief warmup). With these in mind, here are my goals for the year:

CATALAN

This year, I really want to speak Catalan with more people. That's the bottom line. I'm at a level where I need to be doing language immersion, and that means not being shy about not knowing how to say things or starting off the conversation wrong or any number of things (this historically has been less of a problem for Catalan with me, but for some reason I was absolutely taken out last summer and essentially went partially mute from social anxiety, so we're going to find out what was up with that and try to coax me away from it). I also want to learn to speak the Valencian dialect of Catalan better, and hopefully I'll get the chance to do that!

I'm planning to continue my reading challenge as well, but I'm going to make a separate post about that.

BASQUE

I want to improve my Basque vocabulary, and also my listening comprehension skills. I want to finish Eskamak kentzen and also watch/listen to more things in Basque. I think I just need a whole bunch of audio input - I know a lot of the words, but it's still very hard for me to parse them in speech. In order to improve my vocabulary, I want to do a quick vocab review every day when I get to the library, before I start my work. That way, I'll have a constant, easy, long-term exposure to a wider variety of words, and hopefully after a few months I'll start remembering some!

WELSH

I'm not entirely sure what I want to do with Welsh this year - I feel a bit directionless with it, so I might put it on pause until it feels like the right time to take it up again. But I'd also like to get more listening and vocabulary practice - I can understand large portions song lyrics without looking them up, which is a huge step forward for me. If watching Rownd a Rownd seems like the vibe, I might try to take that up again. We'll see, this one is more open.

MALAYALAM

Mostly, my goal with Malayalam is just to keep taking class, but also I'd really like to get over my fear of speaking. I struggle to pronounce a lot of the letters, and I don't know a lot of words, but if I work on these, I think I'd feel more confident. (I do also just need to feel okay with looking like a fool, though.) By the end of the year, I hope I'm able to have conversations in class or with my family without wavering too much, even if I forget something or mess up the pronunciation.

OTHER LANGUAGES

One main thing I want to work on is learning how to learn a small amount of a language but still being able to use it with people. There are a few different languages which I've wanted to learn for a while but haven't had the time - I'm hoping that maybe I can work up the courage to learn a few phrases, talk to someone, and perhaps learn a thing or two. This is very open-ended, but it's more a challenge for me to expand my comfort zone.

Aaaand that's a wrap! Here's to 2025 being a good year for languages, at least!

[peachjagiya]

I'm a taekooker as in I love their relationship but I feel like JK is probably straight..? At least the way he portrays himself. The reason I'm saying is because when he does covers he often changes the pronouns. Which is so unnecessary. And his solo music era was heavily straight coded, and I know it's not his own lyrics etc but still. I feel like his previous like comments etc, about having a crush on Namjoon, saying "I almost fell for a man" to Hoseok etc are because he as an idol hasn't been free to talk about women. And I know he could be bisexual I'm just saying the way he presents himself is deliberately very heterosexual. And I know that could be pandering to fans but that doesn't really make sense because he's doing it in such a shameless way as if he doesn't care about what people will think. Because like I mentioned, previously it hasn't been allowed for him to be open this way. I know you will probably disagree with me but don't you think it's the fair thing to respect the way Jungkook is choosing to present himself? If he deliberetly makes the choice to change the pronoun from him to her or boy to girl, shouldn't we as fans respect that until he says otherwise? I know you may think I am heteronormative but it is also true that most people are heterosexual and a lot of the things he does are a little too much and unnecessary if he really wasn't just straight and wanted to be perceived that way. I know he is closeted if he's not straight but who else in BTS is doing all this?

I was watching the vminkook live and noticed at one point he stares at Jimin in the similar way he looks at Taehyung, just shorter, but my point is that I think he gives Taehyung a lot of extra attention during that live is because he's wondering what he's going to do, he is a bit unsure what he is doing and stuff. But the way he looks at him is kind of how he looks at Jimin too. That live is kind of like awkward to me because it's clear they've grown up in ways that make lives like that less easy and natural than when they were younger. It's a lot more forced. I mean like the poporo comment, what was that.. do you actually think that wasn't fanservice because if they were actually dating, I think they would prefer to kiss in private and not through games on live. I am not claiming to know anything, about JK's sexuality or Taekook's relationship because I know all we get is just a glimpse into their lives but based on what we see this is how this is how they are perceived. I'm not coming into your inbox to debunk anything because I am a taekooker too and I don't see the point in trying to change anyone's mind because it doesn't matter, but I just want an open discussion what do you think about all this? I know there are probably ways and arguments around it (and I understand if you don't feel like responding but since you are a TK discussion blog I'm sending you this) like Korea being homophobic etc. I want to believe in taekook but sometimes I think it's just hyperfocusing on them that makes a case for them combined with fanservice...

Let me start with this: I don't think you actually are a Taekooker.

Actually let me end it there too.

👍

[asteroidzzzn]

stargirl

pairing: rockstar!ellie x bartender!reader

warnings: cursing, smoking, eventual sexual themes, ellies kinda an asshole, reader is delulu (are u sensing a pattern here)

songs in this chapter: arabella - arctic monkeys

word count: 1.6k

a/n: every authors canon event is writing a band au, its my time now.

summary: the fireflies is a new band consisting of three people. after being cheated out by their former bassist, they needed to find a replacement, and quick. who better than you, the cute bartender that hasn't touched an instrument in years?

you stumbled through the hot crowd of drunken bodies, searching for the side door. dozens of people were rushing to the stage where the new up-and-coming band was performing, making it even more difficult to push past.

you heard someone tap the mic, followed by a raspy chuckle which caught your attention. you paused in the crowd to briefly observe the band.

"hey, we're the fireflies, welcome everyone! before we start, i'd like you all to give a round of applause to jesse chang on the drums," a man with dark hair flipped and threw his drumsticks with his fingers while wearing a smug smile, having girls in the audience cheer and scream. showoff.

"dina woodward on the keys," a woman with thick eyebrows and her hair in a messy knot on the top of her head waved to the crowd.

"and of course, me, ellie williams, as the lead singer and guitarist," she played a quick riff, and the crowd cheered once more. "now, you may be wondering, where's our bassist? well, that bitch, abby anderson, stole our ideas and tried to take all the credit for two whole albums for herself."

there were scattered murmurs amongst the crowd. your curiosity was strangely piqued, despite already having a strong judgement towards band members. you had found them to be shallow and selfish because how could someone be in the music industry without being at least a little bit obsessed with themself and an asshole?

ellie continued, "so, excuse me if this song is a little off, we're in the process of finding a replacement for her, but the show must go on. this one's called arabella," she turned to jesse, "whenever you're ready."

jesse started up the song, ellie joining in with a few flicks on her guitar. dina's hands danced on the keys, creating an uneven yet flowing melody, and setting the mood for the song. ellie adjusted the mic, and began singing lowly.

arabella's got some interstellar gator skin boots,

and a helter skelter 'round her little finger, and I ride it endlessly,

ellie closed her eyes as she sang, furrowing her eyebrows with extreme focus. somehow, she had the ability to sing beautifully while expertly playing the guitar, and making all of it look like it was the easiest thing in the world. it was as if she'd been doing this from the moment she came out of the womb.

you found yourself mesmerized by the way the lyrics fell through her lips.

she's got a barbarella silver swimsuit

and when she needs to shelter from reality

she takes a dip in my daydreams

in the blink of an eye, ellie's fingers shifted from ghosting over the strings to quickly strumming. jesse tapped the symbols like a metronome as ellie's voice rose, evolving into an intense, almost shouting level.

my days end best when the sunset gets itself behind

that little lady sittin' on the passenger side

it's much less picturesque without her catchin' the light

the horizon tries but it's just not as kind on the eyes...

you refused to acknowledge the way your eyebrows shot up and cheeks flushed as she drew out each of her words into a low whihne.

jackie, your coworker, found you in the crowd and slapped her palm on your shoulder, removing you from your trance.

"hey, i thought you were on your break? y'know, you don't need to stay in here," she needed to raise her voice because of the sudden cheering that had erupted from the crowd. your focus darted back to the stage to see ellie's head thrown back, having a guitar solo.

you quickly snapped your head to jackie, attempting to sound as nonchalant as possible. "just wanted to see what all the fuss was about, i'm heading outside right now," you swiftly left jackie behind and found the exit, drowning out the sounds of ellie practically moaning into the mic.

you groaned when the door slammed shut, falling back against the cool brick wall. you pulled a cigarette and lighter from your pocket. you shielded the flame from the heavy wind with your hand, inhaling deeply as soon as it was lit. you exhaled heavily, feeling the drums from inside pulsing.

you didn't know many things about ellie williams. you knew she was in a band, she could sing, play guitar, and you were very sure about one thing in particular. she was really hot.

you took another inhale. you knew nothing could ever happen between the two of you. you screwed your eyes shut with embarrassment when you briefly entertained the idea of speaking to her.

you wondered what she would say, if she would give you that smug smile she gave the audience. but maybe that look was reserved for screaming crowds that were basically on their knees for her. i'd be on my kne—

your disturbing thoughts were overdriven by the fear that your break ended. you pulled out your phone to check the time. two more minutes. you decided you should go back inside. you opened the door and made a dash straight behind the bar, pretending the band didn't even exist.

༊*·˚

after four more hours of making ice-cold drinks until your hands became numb and dealing with gross old men hitting on you, you said goodbye to your coworkers to finally head home.

you pushed open the side door, trying to open a new pack with your lighter in between your teeth.

are you kidding me?

ellie emerged from the backstage exit, jesse right on her tail, yelling loudly.

"that was the worst we've ever done, ellie! i know you didn't notice because you're so fucking focused on yourself as always, but we need a bassist and now! we can't perform without one again, that was a shitshow!"

ellie simply rolled her eyes. "dude i'm trying to find one. you want me to fucking snap my fingers and conjure one out of thin air?"

your hands quit working on removing the plastic, staying quiet and eavesdropping on their conversation.

ellie halted in the middle of the alleyway just as dina walked in, dragging the instruments outside.

"thanks for all the help, dickheads," dina chuckled, but her face dropped when she saw jesse and ellie's furious expressions.

"um, i'm not actually mad, i don't mind carrying the stuff," she trailed off when ellie shoved jesse's chest.

"if you want a bassist so goddamn bad, find them on your own. just because i started this band doesn't mean you can't pitch in every once in a while," she spat, and jesse scoffed loudly.

"you're ridiculous."

dina set the luggage down and placed herself between the two.

"guys, this isn't the time to be talking about this," she guided them to the side of the narrow road. "you've been blocking that poor girl from getting out this whole time."

all three of them found your eyes and stared. you stared back with your nails digging into your pack, lighter in your mouth.

"um, i'm fine," you mumbled, stepping out of the dark corner. "jus tryin to get this open," you lifted the pack before getting back to your work on it.

dina approached you while ellie and jesse remained silent. "here, let me help you with that," she used her canines to rip a hole in the plastic, then slipped her nail in and pulled the whole covering off.

"hope you don't mind i put my mouth on it..."

"nah, i don't care," you shook your head, dropping your lighter into your hand and taking the pack. "you want one? unless you mind that i just had it in my mouth," you flashed a small smile while lighting the cigarette in your mouth.

dina snickered, "doesn't matter to me," she took one and leaned in, allowing you to light it for her.

you noticed ellie and jesse in the background glancing between each other and you and dina.

"i'm dina, that one's jesse, and she's ellie."

you nodded. "i'm y/n, i actually work here."

dina smiled and lifted her eyebrows. "oh no way, that's awesome!"

"yeah, i've been bartending for three years now."

dina gave ellie and jesse a quick look, and turned back to you, slightly more serious now.

"hey, sorry if this is too straightforward, but we're looking for a new bassist. you know anyone?"

you could have mentioned your brother, who built guitars for a living and regularly took gigs playing at restaurants. or any of your old band members from high school. they would have been a perfect fit. and you wouldn't get another opportunity like this again. you would have to be content with just observing while they were the ones on stage.

and yet, the words slipped out before you had a chance to think about them.

"i can play, a bit."

"oh, wait—" dina began, but the two lurking further away from you decided to finally join the conversation.

"are you serious? really?" jesse asked, excitement clear in his expression.

you nodded, suddenly very shy. "well, i haven't in years so i'm not the best, but i could just be a temporary fix until—"

ellie interrupted. "you don't have to be the best, just don't suck, yeah?"

dina and jesse simultaneously hit her shoulder from each side.

"ellie! be genuine," dina hissed.

ellie threw her hands up, jaw slacked. "i am! i actually am," she quickly swatted away dina and jesses hands that were ready to attack again and turned to you.

"i really—we're really grateful. this is truly so helpful to us. so, thank you."

you smiled and looked at each of them. dina slung her arm around you to show you off.

"see how easy that was, guys? you're welcome, by the way."

ellie and jesse muttered half-assed thank yous while looking everywhere except dina's proud face.

dina patted your shoulder and grinned. "welcome to the fireflies, y/n."

oh god. what have you gotten yourself into?

a/n: woahhhhhhhh wow y/n is delulu whats new? im rlly excited for this story i have so many cool ideas!!! yay!! (*✧×✧*) hope u enjoyed this!