#at least two of the male regulars are dancers though

[pynkhues]

https://x.com/lunestat/status/1870598286740242541

didn't you say once that you thought he probably did pilates? because that level of lean muscle is really crazy. he's also just such a triangle

I did, haha. His body type/musculature is really similar to one of my Pilates/Yoga instructors, and a few of the male regulars in my classes.

[sadhours]

neon lights pt. 1 | b.h & reader

18+ minors dni. - next chapter contents: adult themes, friends to lovers LAS VEGAS - 1989 Billy didn't realize it had happened until it did, two months of being in Vegas without a dime to his name, living in his Camaro and driving up and down the strip until any opportunity came along. He'd left Hawkin's after finishing courses at the trade school, a promise he'd made to his father but once he was certified for a handful of manual labor jobs and Neil insisted Billy join him at his job, he couldn't hang. He bit the bullet, dealt with the fight and told him he was going home. If only Neil could see him now, homeless with a bit of gambling habit before he'd even made it to California.

The constant party of this town had drawn him in, burning through his wallet and his ambitions. To be totally fair, he didn't even have a plan for what he'd do once he eventually got to San Diego. Finding his mom was about the only thing he really wanted to do but he didn't even know where to start. So he figured, this place was fun enough. He could stick around as long as this town would let him. He'd need a job though. And wouldn't you know it, the strip club seemed like the perfect place of employment.

Billy walks into the Rosy Cheeks on a Tuesday afternoon, asking for the manager and he's introduced to the house mother, which in his luck. She flirtatiously guides him to a booth after offering him a complimentary cocktail, which he takes graciously. "We don't actually hire male dancers," she says to him, an eyebrow raised.

"Oh, thank god, because I'm here for the bartending position," Billy teases, giving her his best fuck me eyes. He really needed this job so what he does to get it doesn't bother him too much, he'd been doing this for years now. Summer's spent working at the Hawkin's Community Pool were practice for moments like this, using the way older women treated him to get what he needed. It caught up to him when he was alone with his thoughts, so he made it quite the mission to never be alone.

"Have you ever bartended before?" she asks.

Billy smirks, "No but I'm a quick learner."

"We'll see about that," she says, "You start this Thursday."

When he's on his first training shift, you're walking in fifteen minutes late to your shift, not letting it bother you when you see the place is empty. You sigh out loud, heading to the dressing room, "I don't know why I bother showing up to this shift." The girls in the room laugh, applying their makeup in preparation for the rush you all hope is coming. You light up a smoke after changing into the set you'd picked out for your first stage dance, slipping your robe on over it but not yet ready to put the platform shoes.

"Ladies!" you hear the house mother Didi call as she struts into the dressing room, a man trailing behind her with an unruly mullet. He looks as if he hasn't had a haircut in months. "I want you all to meet the new bartender," she motions to him. "Billy, ladies."

"Hi Billy," the room rings and he waves adorably back.

"Hello, Ladies," he purrs and Didi pats his bottom as she's ushering him out of the room. Ah, there it is. During your time of the exotic dancing circuit, you had never seen a male bartender. It didn't seem to be good for business, at least at the places you've worked. You cannot help it when your eyes follow his ass as he walks away, his jeans were incredibly tight and he kind of bounced when he walked. Goddamnit, he's hot. You cannot mess around with a coworker again, though. The last time you'd hooked up with a bouncer didn't go so well.

Billy's remarkably well at his job, he keeps track of how much he's served the girls and he gets along with the regulars. Didi points out he can double as security which he does for you. He's leaving from his shift and you're leaving from yours so it made sense to walk out together anyways.

"Jesus Christ, that's a beautiful car," you spew, looking at the gorgeous midnight blue Camaro parked next to your beat up Volkswagen rabbit, which at one point had been your dream car. Unfortunately, you weren't the best driver and you struggled to keep up with regular oil changes or engine services.

"Thanks," Billy muttered, leaning against it as he lights up a cigarette. You peer inside and see the blanket and pillow thrown in the backseat.

"Are you living in it?" you ask, eyes widening.

Billy scoffs, "When I can't find somewhere else to sleep."

"Oh, Billy... Have you been looking for an apartment?" you ask, snatching the pack of Marlboro's from his shirt pocket to light one up for yourself.

"Sometimes I can get lucky and there's some vacancy at the 66 Motel," he shrugs.

"Well... my roommate actually just moved out three weeks ago. I've been looking for someone to take over the space," you say, "if you wanted, you could move in?"

"I couldn't," he tries, "I don't want to impose." but he does follow you home and crashes on your couch for a week until you insist he buys a mattress and takes over the empty room.

Slowly but surely, the room becomes Billy's and it makes you sad that he didn't have anything besides a suitcase full of clothes and his car. When you ask why, he admits he had a lot more things but he pawned them to pay for nights at the casinos.

"Ah, not a local then?" you'd asked, while the two of you watched TV and partook in a couple of drinks after a particularly boring dayshift.

"No, I'd never even been to Vegas before six months ago. I'm from San Diego, lived in Indiana for a few years and decided I wanted to go back home, got kinda trapped here," he explains.

You had been born and raised in this place, never knowing of anywhere else in the world. "The best of 'em get stuck here," you say in an effort to cheer him up, his story being a sad one. You don't ask him much else about his upbringing, learning that it could be a touchy subject and if people wanted to tell their backstory, they would. Billy never talked about his life before the short six months he'd been here. You didn't mind, he was always respectful and gave you space. Billy never comments about girls at work but he'd brought home a string of your coworkers, along with strangers. You two had a good thing worked out and after a while, Billy became your closest friend.

____________________

a/n: hi!! just something i threw together this weekend, I'll still be focusing on Wicked Sensation but sometimes i just get an idea and if i dont write it that instant, i wont at all. hope you enjoy!!!

[gascon-en-exil]

Making Some Book VIII New Heroes Predictions

Now that we've gotten the trailer for the final New Heroes banner of Book VII, it's time to look ahead to what the next year may bring in terms of new characters to be added to FEH. Two years back I made an entire video out of this topic on my channel...but that's a lot of work and I'm about to dive into the Super Mario RPG remake over there, so I'm doing this the easy way this time.

*When I refer to "premium" units in this post, I'm talking about ascended, rearmed, or attuned heroes. Also legendaries and mythics, if it's outside the context of New Heroes banners.

Guaranteed banners

Engage

Definitely one, possibly two again this year. IS is breaking up the cast by country, so an Elusian banner with the royal sisters, Goldmary, and whichever of the guys polls highest is an easy prediction. I'd say Solm as well, but it's already such a natural fit for the January special banner theme that we may have to wait for then to see those characters all together. 2024 is doubtful there for that, considering we just got a special Timerra. It's possible we may see a DLC-focused banner, like what happened with the Wolves - and IS will absolutely push Zelestia as a new character even though Zephia's already in the game.

Everyone's also predicting that Engage will sweep the next CYL with at least three of the four slots, so that in combination with a standard array of seasonals, a likely appearance on the fallen banner, and the odd legendary or mythic (legendary m!Alear at some point is all but assured) will lead to complaints of Engage fatigue.

Thracia

Unless you count ascended Ced or Sara backpacking for desert Linde (I don't), we haven't had a new FE5 unit in Heroes since March of 2022. The poor game is long overdue, especially because aside from Engage it's the title with the most potential new units to add. Granted that those characters aren't exactly popular, but with a whopping nine women still missing from its roster FE5 can lock down the key headlining waifu demographic in a way that almost every other game would struggle to at this point. There's a plot-relevant magical waif (Linoan), a loli (Tina), a dancer (Lara), a wyvern rider (Eda), or a pegasus knight to follow up on 2022's Karin (Misha). Again, none of them are especially popular, but Thracia could make up a viable banner easily even without help from Heroes fanservice. I'd expect one sometime between January and April, when the New Heroes events lack OCs.

Path of Radiance

The Tellius games alternate books, likely because of the significant roster overlap. Book VII got a Radiant Dawn banner, so here we are. Since FE10 poached Lucia though, FE9's only got Calill for a new female addition. Prediction for the banner would be Calill, a premium female character (one of Mia, Ilyana, or Nephenee, maybe Mist?), a Heroes OC, and some male unit. Largo would be logical, but I could see a more random pick like Zihark or Tauroneo.

Three Houses

A surprising number of Fódlan characters are still stuck in alt hell despite the years of fatigue. There's enough of them in fact for two or possibly three more New Heroes banners without significant help from OC padding. We've already seen multiple examples of IS using characters' Hopes designs for lazy premium alts, so I'd also expect more of that.

2023's banner was all Lions (and Rhea), so next year's will focus on a different house. If it's the Deer, I'd guess Lorenz, Leonie, premium Lysithea or Marianne, and either a Heroes OC or whichever of Raphael or Ignatz polls better. If it's the Eagles, Dorothea and Caspar are locks as well as premium Bernadetta most likely, along with Heroes fanservice or possibly regular Manuela. After those two ideas have been used up, the few remaining members of the roster are very likely doomed to something like the recent Echoes banner where they've got to split it with multiple OCs. The handful of male non-student characters who got dropped from the Hopes roster (and also Rodrigue from Hopes itself) are probably out of luck entirely bar the odd GHB like Cyril got a few months ago.

Oh, and fallen m!Shez possessed by Arval is pretty much a lock next year too. Fódlan is amazing for those wanky fallen banners.

(New) Mystery of the Emblem

Archanea closed out Book VI a year ago and hasn't been seen since, so a comeback in 2024 is reasonable. Complicating matters is that despite the abundance of missing units, most of them are 1) male and/or 2) utterly forgettable. The waifu picks are Midia, Cecil, Marisha, and Yuliya...not exactly inspiring options. As 2022's banner was ostensibly taken from FE1/11 owing to pre-corruption Hardin and as FE3/12 have more options for new units, that would be the more likely play. Will we finally see a banner that forces IS to turn an earlygame cleric into a headliner? Historically those characters have fared poorly in Heroes (we're still missing all of Edain, Lana, Safy, Elen, and Laura), but half of the options for new women are just that.

Fates

Last we saw FE14 New Heroes they were opening this book, so it's a reasonable expectation later on in Book VIII. Even though Fates still holds the largest percentage of Heroes's total roster, it surprisingly has a handful of characters it can still offer. That's especially true for the second generation, although because that was the focus of the last banner IS may be alternating them. The waifu options in Gen 1 - Mozu, Scarlet, and technically Fates Anna - aren't inspiring, but it's not like Sophie and Mitama left over in Gen 2 are much better. Throw in a premium royal or two and/or a Heroes OC and call it a banner.

Assuming two Engage banners, that's seven of the ten New Heroes slots. Those below are ones I'm less certain of - but something's got to fill out the holes in the schedule.

Wild Cards

Genealogy and Binding Blade

Both reasonable options although they're kind of running low at this point. FE4's banners alternate, so the next one should be Gen 1...which has only Edain and an assortment of men that even fans of the game are hard-pressed to care about. FE6 has, uh...Elen? I did say IS hates earlygame clerics.

The one thing that would certainly bolster the prospects of either of these games would be a remake announcement, which would offer tons of options for premium alts and potentially drum up interest in missing early picks like both games' Christmas knights and such. It would be odd if we didn't get any kind of development announcement for FE in 2024, and a remake would be perfect filler while IS works on whatever the next big release is planned to be.

Sacred Stones

Seems to be a favorite among the FEH staff considering how often it shows up on summer banners despite its age and low level of waifu bait potential, and the last time it got a New Heroes banner was near the start of this year. Too bad it's down to Ismaire as far as new female characters go.

Blazing Blade

Unlikely as it's just now getting a new banner, and it too is running out of viable options. With Isadora getting added, Vaida's the only female character from the game left.

Awakening

Technically overdue since it last showed up in October of 2022, but it's been running on fumes for years. We're talking just Vaike and Laurent here. Even Kellam got a seasonal! I expect that FE13 will be the next victim of a double OC banner. Speaking of which...

Echoes

...Not happening. We all saw that travesty last month. Jesse and/or Nomah might be added sometime in 2025, if IS even bothers.

[archivyrep]

The go-to archivist depiction

Example of someone who cross describes as a go-to depiction of an archivist; this is Archie in Regular Show

Samantha Cross, an archivist who reviews examples of archives in popular culture, has argued that the "go-to depiction of an archivist" is often middle-aged, White, male, and likely cisgender. She also described Zootopia as feeding into "the stereotype of records and archives being distant," and the almost useless archivist in Voltron: Legendary Defender. One of the best examples of what she describes as the "go-to depiction" of an archivist is Archie in Regular Show, but there are others as well, which align and buck this depiction.

Reprinted from my Wading Through the Cultural Stacks WordPress blog. Originally published on May 13, 2022.

If he can be considered an archivist, there is the Librarian in an episode of She-Ra: Princess of Power. He oversees the Library in the Valley of the Lost, and is said to be a hermit. He is an elderly man with White hair and is White. He also manages what is known as the Inner Library, which has books "in a language not used in a thousand years." It is, arguably, a bit archivy. He is not the only White archivist I've written about on this blog. One of the oft-mentioned on here is Jocasta Nu, an elderly White woman, who runs the Jedi Archives. Another example I sometimes forget is the White female archivist who is manipulated by Anna to change a birth record in My Dictator Boyfriend. [1]

Some fan fics seem to feed into the idea that archivists are White people. These fics show archivists as stereotypical with grey hair, for instance. Others showcase archivists of color, including those which I've written myself, even making Bow's dads archivists, even though they are historians in the original series, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. This is a bit of an oddity, however. As, others example of a White archivist are the records clerks shown briefly in an episode of 180 Angel, Abigail Chase in the National Treasure franchise, and a reference librarian in Can You Ever Forgive Me?. Additionally, it could also be argued that Theoda and Pothina in Cleopatra in Space are archivists, or at least information professionals of some kind as they work in a museum of the show's protagonist.

Apart from Hermes Conrad, a bureaucrat who you could argue is an archivist I suppose, there's the Japanese man, Ura, in Pale Cocoon, a green Gem named Peridot in Steven Universe. The latter two could be either be said to be archivists, each in their own way, or engaging in some archivist tasks. In any case, Peridot's voice actor is Shelby Rabara, a Filipino-American actress and dancer. More directly than any of these examples is the Black male record clerk, Clark, in Joker (played by Brian Tyree Henry), who tries to help Arthur Fleck get his hands on records of his mother. However, he is determined to stick to the rules, leading Fleck to literally steal the records from him to avoid the red tape.

There are two characters other than Hermes, Ura, Peridot, or the unnamed record clerk which can undoubtedly be described as archivists: Arizal in Recorded by Arizal and Grandpa Park in Stretch Armstrong. Neither seems to have professional training (Arizal may be on the path to such training), but both engage in actions which make them archivists in one way or another. There's a solo archivist in Ultraman Taiga, a presidential archivist named Briony in Leif & Thorn, and a 26-year-old archivist named Cortez Velasquez in Heirs of the Veil, the blue-skinned sisters (and archivists) in Lore Olympus, and Rae, an aspiring archivist in Always Human.

There are many other examples and characters who engage in archivist duties like arrangement, description, preservation, appraisal, reference, collaboration, outreach, administrative tasks, and selection, so in that sense, this is only scratching the surface. That is in part because the number of posts on this blog are minimal, not even reaching 100 posts at present, so I don't have many other examples to use for this post. But, if I decide to pursue this in the future, I may come back to this post and build on it again.

© 2022 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

[ballet-symphonie]

Thank you for all your ballet insight!! I'm curious about the relationships between female and male soloists who perform pas de deux's and regular roles together in professional companies. I can't imagine it would be enjoyable to be so physically close to a coworker you don't like, especially if the role is romantic in nature. Is a dancer expected to dance with anyone managments puts with them? Do partnerships often "fail"? Is it safe to assume frequent partnerships are friends? Also, what do you think makes someone a good partner?

I'm glad you enjoy it! Dancing with someone is like any other part of our job, it has its positives and negatives. Of course, sometimes I'll end up dancing with a person who I'm not the biggest fan and you just have to fake it. In the corps, sometimes you get paired with a person and your dancing really doesn't gel well together and this can also be uncomfortable.

But yes, you generally are stuck with whoever management pairs you with and are expected to comply without complaints. Prinicpal dancers can and do make requests but that's a massive privilege. Most of the time, if they're frequently dancing together it is safe to assume that they're at least semi-decent friends. It's also pretty easy for me to tell on stage if a couple is particularly close (not necessarily romantically) and has a good relationship. Tereshkina and Kim are an excellent example of this intangibility, you can see their communication and connection instantly.

I wouldn't say partnerships often completely fail, but it does happen. Sometimes you'll see two people dance together like once and then never again because it just didn't work out for whatever reason. Of course, breakups are another reason, but yes I have seen exes dancing together in a pinch.

I don't like dancing with lazy guys? But I imagine they also don't like dancing with me because I'm a bit of a workaholic and I need to practice a lot to have confidence in myself. As partnering is generally more tiring and difficult for the guy, some are less willing than others to do elements over and over again. I also like dancing with people who have good communication and like to experiment and see what works for us together. Like if I'm doing something wrong or I need to change something to help you? Tell me!! Don't just sulk in the corner and complain to your friends or just roll you eyes and say that the whole thing is fine when it's clearly not. The dream partner is also really really good at feeling where your balance point is and adjusting your weight accordingly and seamlessly. My biggest pet peeve though is if I dance with someone and there are bruises from their fingers squeezing too hard on my ribs the next day...bad technique HURTS.

Ballet's not that much different from life guys

[kimnjss]

capital h | pjm + jjk

⇢ pairing: jungkook x reader x jimin ⇢ genre: smut. ⇢ word count: 7.6K ⇢ theme: established relationship | threesome.  ⇢ rating: explicit. ⇢ warnings: cursing, dirty talk, slight nipple play, oral (f/m receiving), threesome, semi-public fingering, humiliation kink(?), slight dom!jimin, slight switch!jungkook, slight sub!reader, voyeurism, exhibitionism, penetrative sex, unsafe sex (wrap it up, loves!). a hint of jikook at the end. ⇢ summary: after learning of the activities your boyfriend and his best friend use to partake in, you can’t help but what to be apart of them. everyone always says, two is better than one, right? ⇢ A/N: this has been in my drafts for about three months, lmao. finally, i finished it and posted it! im lowkey excited because this was a lot of fun to write, and i’ve never written anything like it so! alright, yeah... let me know what you think x.

Your damp locks laid sprawled against your boyfriend's muscular thigh. Warm fingers twisting the wet curls between his fingers. Movements slowed due to the toe-curling, orgasm-inducing, mind-blowing tub sex you just shared. The last thing you had wanted was to get out and brave the cold air, but laying here, wrapped in his sheet with nothing underneath, you didn't want to be anywhere else.

 Being in Jimin's arms was a rare occurrence these days, moments like this becoming cherished treasures that you looked forward to. Excitement was the easy way to describe how you felt when he and his six best friends were pulling up in front of your house, inviting you to spend their day off with them.

 Of course, it was all Jimin's doing, you wouldn't have met any of those guys if it wasn't for your chance meeting with the handsome dancer. They liked you enough, though. Each showed you that they accept your relationship in their own way.

 Seokjin, the oldest, had become something of a big brother to you; oftentimes taking your side on the rare occasion that you and Jimin argued. Never failed to give you insightful advice after the fact. Yoongi didn't really pay you any mind, but he thought you were cute and often times found himself cooing at you. You were closest to Hobi and Joon, becoming fast friends due to your like personalities and sense of humor. They thought you were hilarious, Jimin didn't see it.

 As for the two youngest... despite you dating his best friend, Taehyung didn't really show much interest in you, neither did Jungkook. Yet, Taehyung did put in the effort to make conversation and make you feel included, unlike the youngest male. You had been convinced that he didn't like you, until a few weeks ago when his blatant staring began.

 He'd be quick to look away whenever he knew he was caught, but he wasn't that sneaky. You never missed the cocky grin he'd try to hide or the knowing look he'd shoot in Taehyung's direction. There was definitely something up and it definitely involved you.

 “What do you think of Jungkook?” The question was falling from your lips and you had your never-ending thoughts and overthinking to blame. 

 Jimin let out a snort of a laugh. “Jungkook? My best friend, and teammate? The guy that's been like a brother to me for the past 7 years? I guess he's alright,” Sarcasm dripped from his words and you rolled your eyes, lifting your head from his lap.

 Your hand met his shoulder, gently pushing him back against the headboard. “I'm being serious. What do you think?”

 “So am I. He's like a brother to me, why?” He found this sudden interest in the maknae odd...? Especially for you. It was obvious that the two of you didn't really socialize, so why were you asking about him all of a sudden? “What do you think of him?” Jimin prompted when your answer didn't come fast enough.

 Taking a moment, you debated whether or not you should even bring this up. As he said, Jungkook was like a brother to him... what if calling out his weird behavior ended up rubbing Jimin in the wrong way and now you were without a boyfriend.

 Jimin wasn't the type for dramatics, though. Everything was comfortable with him, not many things reaching his 'serious business' radar, so this should be fine, right? Right. “He's fine...” You buffered, teeth chewing at your lower lip.

 Jimin pinned you with an expectant look, hated whenever you, or anyone, beat around the bush when there was obviously something on their mind. Taking this, you urged yourself to go on. “...I've just noticed like lately he's been... checking me out?” Mentally, you flinched, hoping the news wouldn't upset your boyfriend.

 His chest rumbled as he barked out a laugh, head cocked back as the sweet sounds left his plump lips. Pillow soft punches met his stomach as you tried to get him to focus. “I'm being serious, Jimin! He's always staring at me with that stupid face,”

 You imitated Jungkook's seemingly signature facial expression, eyebrows raised and tongue pushed into the inside of your cheek, eyes tracing over your boyfriend's body hungrily like Jungkook had done to you many times before. Another laugh left his lips at the sight of your face and you were scoffing, pushing him back again.

 “I don't know why this is funny to you. I just told you one of your friends has been mentally undressing me, you should be livid!” You were quick to silence the insecure thoughts that his lack of reaction had floating around your mind.

 It was no secret that Jimin was a jealous guy. What's his, is his... you were his! He should be enraged that some guy was looking at you like a piece of meat, he was the only one that was supposed to look at you like that. So why was he laughing?

 Seeing that you were obviously upset, Jimin was reaching for your arms, uncrossing them from your bare chest. His hands held loosely on your wrist as he pulled you toward him, landing a soft kiss to your lips. “I think it's funny because it's not a big deal. Me and Jungkook are boys, he's not gonna try anything with you.” He assured you, another kiss landing on your lips.

 “Okay, but, I heard him and Taehyung talking and-” You weren't even able to finish your sentence because he was sitting up, squinted eyes finding yours. “Taehyung was talking about you?”

 Oh, now he wanted to be jealous? Scoffing, you pushed him back against the headboard. “Yes.” You couldn't help the roll of your eyes. “I was trying to tell you. Not only is Jungkook always checking me out, but I heard them talking about you and us... and something about an H?”

 Jimin's expression softened, eyebrows relaxing as his cheeks tinted a few shades light of red. “Oh.” Crooked teeth worried his lower lip as he reached a hand up to push his hair back on his forehead.

 “Oh? What does H stand for, Jimin?” Obviously, he knew exactly what they were talking about and it was making him... blush? “It's nothing.” He answered a bit too quickly. “It's something.” Your words chased his, a slight bite in your tone.

 His eyes widened. “What are you gonna get mad if I don't tell you?” Laughter laced his words, but it wasn't the 'Ha-ha so funny' type of laugh, it was a type of nervous laugh he let out when he felt like he dug himself in a hole.

 You were nodding your head simply, shoving the blanket from your waist. “Yup!” Hopping from the bed, you began searching the room for the jeans you had ditched the second you were entering his bedroom. Jimin was sitting up quickly, voice stopping your movements just as you got your jeans over your thighs. “Alright, alright! I'll tell you. Come sit back down,”

 A triumphant smirk spread across your lips, as you crossed the room back to his bed. You sunk back down onto the comfortable mattress, crossing your legs underneath your bum as you awaited his explanation.

 “First of all, this was before I met you so you can't hold this against me,” He prepped and you nodded your head, gesturing with your hand for him to go on. “A while ago... with my exes, or just like girls that hung around us... Jungkook and I would, you know...”

 You had pretty a good idea what he was alluding to, but you weren't the type to graciously take a hint. “No, I don't know... you would, what?” He was rolling his eyes at the smirk on your lips, hands pushing his hair back out of habit.

 “Share them, our girlfriends, the groupies... It was fun, you know? Capitol H doesn't stand for anything, it's literally what our bodies do,” He let out a short laugh and you picture the way an H looked. “...So I'd be the middle part?” You clarified, your words making Jimin's eyes snap up to you.

 “Who said...” His words trailed off, brows furrowing as he visibly went through the thoughts bubbling in his mind. You didn't blame him. Despite the occasional interesting position or location, you liked to keep it pretty vanilla.

 Well aware that Jimin was more experienced than you, you didn't want to disappoint. You always thought vanilla didn't technically mean boring... at least it didn't to you. But after hearing that he use to partake in regular threesomes you couldn't help but wonder what else the other girls he's been with let him do.

 Just the pure fact that you were considering this, putting yourself in the situation was enough to baffle your boyfriend, confuse him enough to convince him that you were just fucking with him. A laugh slipped past his lips as he shook his head. “Come on, Yn. You wouldn't be into that.”

 “How do you even know?”

 “Well, because I know you. It was a long time ago, Yn. They were just talking shit, you don't have to-” Annoyed, you were cutting him off.

 “I might want to. I could be into it, you don't know. Jungkook is cute and...”

 His face was twisting, and you were afraid you had said the wrong thing. Sure of it when the words left his lips. “Are you saying you want to fuck, Jungkook?” Thankfully, he didn't exactly look angry... just a little bit put off?

 A hand reached out for his, easily lacing your fingers together. “Listen, I know I'm not that... adventurous, when it comes to sex... but if it's something that you enjoyed doing or if you just want to, I'm just saying... I wouldn't be against it.” Your thumb soothes over the back of his hand and enjoys the smile that pushes onto his lips.

 His eyes soften again, staring up at you lovingly. The confusion of whether or not you had just admitted you were into his bandmate gone and forgotten. “I promise, I like the sex we have just fine, don't worry.” He was leaning forward, pressing a soft kiss to your forehead, his arm wrapping around your waist to pull your body into his.

 Four days passed since your conversation with Jimin. More and more time was spent around their dorm, soaking up as much time with him as you could before he was jetting off to his next schedule. Being around him all day, though, meant that you were around his friends all day too.

 It wasn't a big deal, these guys were cool. At least, most of them were. In the past days, Jungkook had become bold, to say the least. Not looking away when he's caught staring, instead of waiting for you to be the one to break. On top of that, it was like the kid never knew when to shut up, always coming up with a snarky comment or undermining you but at the same time calling you 'Noona' with that boyish grin of his.

 Jimin no doubt told him all about the talk that you two had if those boys were sharing girls... there was no way they weren't sharing secrets. You don't know what you knowing about their sexcapades did for him, but it clearly had gone to his head. It'd be best to just ignore him, you decided. No matter how undeniably attractive he was, there was nothing there for you. You didn't want him. Didn't need him, no matter the dampness that ensued whenever he smirked. And of course, you didn't ever notice the size of the bulge that constantly pushed against his pants. Was that boy always hard, or something!?

 Like right now, just walking across the lawn in search of the ball he had been playing with, but right there fighting against his swim trunks... a huge boner! You cursed the moment Jin suggested a pool party would be a fun way to spend the afternoon.

 It had sounded fun at the moment. Yoongi said he was going to barbecue and you were even more convinced when your boyfriend was making his way down the stairs shirtless in his swim shorts. The sexy one-word tattoo on full display, ripples of his abs seemed to glisten, the single trail of hair below his belly button disappearing underneath his waistband.

 Yeah, you'd definitely enjoy this afternoon. So sure of it, until you were catching sight of the man that followed him down the stairs. Jungkook, of course, who else could irk you just with their presence?

 A lot taller and more muscular than your lean boyfriend, black shorts hanging loosely on his hips, giving you a perfect view of the well-worked on V-line that acted a huge fucking arrow to his dick. Gentle lips found the top of your head, a strong arm wrapping around your waist. “You look pretty,” Jimin mumbled into your ear, and you grinned, leaning into his chest.

 Jimin was always very vocal when it came to the things that he liked to see. You showing some skin? Definitely at the top of his list. Took that into account when you picked out your swimsuit for this gathering; a red triangle string bikini, lacy black flowers decorating your breasts, and hips.

 It was obvious that Jimin thought you looked good, could tell with the lingering glances in your direction as you laid on your back trying to soak up some sun. What you didn't account for was the slight chance that his friends might think the same. And by friends, you meant Jungkook, of course.

 Poor kid couldn't take his eyes off of you, not even for a second. Which explains his constant need to get out of the pool and retrieve the ball that he kept failing to catch. The situation almost funny, if the sexy flex in his arms as he pulled his body out of the water didn't always catch your attention. If your eyes weren't automatically trailing over every ridge and bump of his muscles.

 He'd smirk when catching you, toss his long wet hair before slipping back into the water. Wouldn't even wait to see the annoyed roll of your eyes, not as it mattered – he had already caught you staring, more than once. Acting as if he didn't affect you was a waste. And to make matters worse, Jimin was always right there observing each and every one of your interactions with the kid, face giving nothing away.

 Not angry, or annoyed. Just watching, as if he was curious to see what you'd do. How you'd react. As if he had put this whole entire thing in motion earlier and was observing the aftermath. 

 By the time Yoongi was announcing dinner, your body was buzzing with annoyance. Or was it desire? Either way, you were about two seconds from ripping your hair at the roots. Jimin sat beside you, the first time he was within arms reach the entire evening. He grinned, wrapping a strong arm around your waist and pulling you close engulfing you with his sweet scent. 

 Stupidly, you found yourself relaxing in his arms. Head falling on his shoulder while a hand lifted to press against his stomach. He was warm but still a little wet from the pool. You felt the movement of his head but didn't bother with lifting your head to see who he was speaking too. Stupid, because seconds later the spot next to you was being taken up.

 Guess who.

 Of course, Jeon Jungkook was slipping into the space beside you, a cocky grin playing on his most likely soft lips. His eyes flickered over to Jimin's before he was dropping his focus back onto you.

 “We've got burgers and hot dogs, and Jin is coming out with the chicken,” Yoongi called out, stepping toward the table with a tray of meat in hand. The second the food was in reach, the boys were hurrying to load their plates.

 Like the ever so dotting boyfriend, Jimin loaded up your plate as he did his. Comfortable conversation surrounded the table, voices overlapping and thick strings of laughter falling from their lips. You weighed in where you could, beaming when you were able to make a few of them laugh along with you.

 It was fun. Talking to them, getting along. Despite the fact you had been dating Jimin for a while, conversations with most of his friends were surface level at most. It didn't really bother you, but it was a good feeling knowing that if needed, you could get along with these guys.

 “No, yeah... if you're into old-time movies, you should definitely check out...” Taehyung's words were fading into the background, your attention slipping from what he was saying and to the warm hand on your thigh. Jimin's. An unsuspecting smile on his lips when you looked up to catch his gaze. 

 Just barely catching the title of the movie Taehyung was referring to, you turned your attention back to him. “It's good? I should check it out.” He nodded, all at once losing interest in the conversation, Jin's story catching his ear.

 There was a mischievous glint in Jimin's eye as he spread your legs apart, tips of his fingers trailing up your bare thigh. His head tilting until his lips were able to reach the skin of your neck, leaving a wet trail of kisses down the length.

 You felt your body melting into him. Ready to succumb to whatever he had in store for you, the tingle of anticipation rushing through your veins. A familiar heat spreading throughout your body, lips curling into your mouth as you waited. The press against your left side had your eyes snapping open, darting to the cool tattooed hand making it's way up to your thigh. Jungkook.

 His fingers inching up your thigh, closer and closer to your core while Jimin held your legs apart, fingers tight against your flesh. “If you don't like it, tell him to stop.” His words are hushed against your ear, and you're nodding quickly, hearing the sincerity in his voice. 

 Jungkook wastes no time, callused fingers finding your clit through the fabric of your bikini bottoms. He presses down, fingers moving in circles as your body jolts at the sudden friction. “She's sensitive,” He speaks as if he's taking notes rather than trying to hold a conversation. You hold your breath, legs spreading slightly. Jimin's lips fall from your skin, cheek resting against your shoulder so he can see.

 Never did you think you'd be the one to have such a penchant for something as risky as public foreplay, but here you were growing wetter by the second, the thought that either one of his friends could catch you with a simple turn of their heads. It had you unbelievably turned on, mixed with the fact that your boyfriend was watching you rather than doing it definitely added to it.

 Jungkook laughs beside you, but not at you. Delved in a conversation with Namjoon across the table as if his fingers weren't pushing your bottoms out of the way underneath the table. A long finger lazily traces over your wet folds. Jimin's chuckle covers the gasp that leaves your lips when Jungkook's fingers graze over your bare clit.

 Jin is smiling appreciatively in his direction at the support of his joke. You were going to get caught. The thought and the consequences weighing heavily on your mind, causing you to shift attempting to close your legs. “It's fine,” Jimin assures you with a whisper, strong hand holding your leg in place.

 The moment you're relaxing, Jungkook's hand is reaching down to grasp your other thigh. Easily lifting it to hook over his own, giving him total access to your throbbing pussy. It's not lost on you how hot it feels to be exposed like this, but you're not given any time to analyze what it means as soon as Jungkook traces his fingers over your entrance.

 The tips of his fingers take their time with gathering the wet arousal that had accumulated between your legs before they're moving back up to tease your tight hole. Teeth digging into your plump lip as the tips of his fingers slowly begin slipping into your core.

 Trying your damnedest to keep your face from giving away what was going on underneath the table. You force yourself to concentrate on the words coming from Namjoon's mind, although they're just words... not coherent enough to follow the actual story.

 Slowly, Jimin is reaching his thick fingers down between your legs, using his middle and index fingers to spread your lips further apart, giving him a better view. You gasp, Jungkook's fingers pumping shallowly in and out of you. 

 For a moment, your body stills, afraid you had been too loud just then. Calming when you realize none of them were looking in your direction, not even Jungkook who was the cause of all of this. No, he was seemingly wrapped in conversation with Taehyung, a teasing smirk on his lips that you guessed was meant for you.

 Jimin was the only one look at you, watching Jungkook's long fingers bury themselves deep inside of you. He's flexing them, curling and uncurling as the pad of his thumb fingers your needy clit. He's basically drooling at the sight, wet lazy kisses landing on your shoulder. His hand resting over his covered crotch, palming himself through the fabric. 

 A louder, desperate whimper is falling from your lips. This time catching the attention of Taehyung. Words coming to a halt as his eyes dart between the three of you, a wide smirk slipping onto his features. “Are you alright, Yn?” There's a teasing glint in his eye, letting you know he's not at all asking if you're alright. No, he knew exactly what was happening underneath the table and he was making it all of his business to tease you about it.

 Plastering a tight-lipped smile onto your lips, you muster all the strength you can to nod your head. “I'm fine,” There's a strain in your voice, giving him enough reason to pull a look of concern, his head tilting to the side.

 “Are you sure? You look a little flushed,” His brows furrow, topping off his fake worry and you're suppressing the urge to roll your eyes. The encounter is catching Namjoon's attention beside him, his gaze lifting to study your face. “Oh, yeah. You don't look so good.” He weighs in, actually looking worried about you.

 Jungkook takes this growing attention as an invitation to speed up the movement of his fingers. Hand tightening on your thigh, keeping you from snapping your legs shut. Two fingers plunging deep inside of you, tips brushing against the spongy spot inside of you. Jimin's domineering gaze watches your face, waiting for your response.

 However, it doesn't come. The thrusts of Jungkook's fingers, mixed with the relentless strokes of his thumb on your clit has a moan falling from your lips. It's loud and breathy, and definitely recognizable even if all attention wasn't on you. You see Jungkook's eyes widen from the corner of your eye, but he's being really careful about not looking directly at you.

 You do, actually, see him steal a glance in Jimin's direction... almost as if he's asking for guidance, but he's being ignored, Jimin's lust-filled eyes never leaving your face. “Take that kinky shit upstairs,” Yoongi speaks flatly, bored expression on his face as he stares at you.

 Jimin's hand is quick to reach between your legs, adjusting your bottoms as Jungkook withdraws his fingers from inside of you, pushing your thigh from his. You ignore the way your walls flutter at the sudden emptiness, snapping your legs shut as embarrassment reddens your cheeks and dampens your pussy.

 “Let's go.” There's no room for protest with the way he speaks, excusing himself from the table as he looks expectantly between you and Jungkook. The younger male is quick to stand, watching you as he pushes his glistening fingers into his mouth. Your heart pounds as he slowly sucks your juices from the digits.

 The other boys have turned their attention from you three, still, your body felt hot. Cheeks flushed and pussy pulsing with want. Need. You needed them, both of them. Need to have both of them on you, around you, inside you. With a breath, you're standing, following them into the house and up into Jimin's room.

 Jungkook shuts the bedroom door, flicking the lock as Jimin turns to look down at you. “You still not against this?” Eyes much softer now, gentle hands finding your hips in order to pull your body toward his. You're nodding without a second thought, want buzzing in your veins. No way were you backing out now.

 Despite the grin rapidly growing on his plush lips, Jimin was still asking: “Are you sure?” Your words chased his, hands reaching up to land on his jawline. “I'm sure,” Your lips found him, instantly being parted by their thickness. His tongue twists and tangles with yours, a single hand reaching to grasp your jaw, holding your head in place as he licks into your mouth.

 Suddenly, he's pulling back, soft eyes tinted with a dark desire. He's turning your head with the grip of his strong hand, your eyes finding Jungkook who had moved to stand directly behind you.

 Jungkook is quick to capture your lips with his. Soft lips tasting heavily of cherry, you kiss him back, body turning, melting into his as the erection between his legs brushes against your lower belly. He bites into your lower lip, tugging it slightly and pulling a whimper from his lips.

 You feel his smirk as his tongue slips past your parted lips, mapping out every inch of your mouth while his hands drop to your scarcely covered ass. Hips pushing back, involuntarily surrendering more of your ass to his. Jungkook's lips are falling from yours, hands sliding underneath the fabric of your bottoms to cup your bare ass.

 “Jungkook,” You gasp out when his hands squeeze down hard on your ass, grip pulling your body tight against his. With little to no effort, Jungkook is lifting your body off of the floor, your legs instinctively wrapping around his waist. He walks the two of you to the bed, laying your body onto the soft mattress.

 When he had moved was lost on you, Jimin now sitting comfortably on the chair adjacent to the bed. Hard cock straining against the fabric of his swim trunks, his hand resting over it as he watched you with his best friend.

 With your legs hanging loosely from his hips, Jungkook leans down to bury his head in the crook of your neck. Sucking wet hickeys into the skin while his large hands trail down the gentle curves of your body, fingers finding the tight bows on either side of your hips. Your breaths come out labored, rapidly losing yourself in the way he's tonguing at your skin, teeth grazing its sensitivity.

 “Fuck,” He groans, hips pushing into yours. The sound of his voice nearly startling you, with how quiet he has been since the start of all this. “I never thought I'd have a chance to have you like this,” He sighs softly against your skin. Only a second was spared for you to wonder just how often he thought about having you like this. If Jimin knew.

 Jungkook's hands were quickly traveling up your back, a single tug on the string of your bikini had it loosening around your chest. He wastes no time with discarding it, tossing it somewhere behind him before leaning down. Hot tongue connecting with your hardened bud, rolling it around in his mouth. A soft moan slips past your lips, head falling back just enough to catch sight of Jimin.

 Teeth worrying his plush lips, a hand-dipped into the front of his shorts as he watches you. Hooded eyes find yours and you swear you see his cock twitch in his hand. Your fingers tangled in Jungkook's hair, holding his head against your chest as he grinds his covered cock against the flimsy material of your bathing suit.

 Your legs tighten around his waist, pulling his closer as you lift your hips. Jimin's groan mixes with the sound of yours, Jungkook's head lifting only for a moment to catch sight of his older friend, only to drop back down mouth latching onto your neglected nipple.

 “Make her cum, Kook,” Jimin speaks hastily growing impatient with how slow Jungkook was being. How he seemed to be taking his time, reveling in each moment he had with you. Allowing himself to memorize every inch of your body while he had the chance.

 The sight demand has Jungkook's body jumping to action, teeth grazing over your nipple as his hand travels down the front of your body dipping into your bottoms and covering your pussy without pause.

 Your legs squirm while his fingers toy with your bundle of nerves a wet trail of kisses, creating a line from your breasts down the middle of your body. You're sprawled out beneath him, legs wide as you wait for what you know is coming. It's not long before his head is between your legs, looking up at you with the sexiest pout and you feel as though you could cum at the sight.

 “You're soaked,” His head is tilting slightly, licking along your slit in one click motion and you're moaning out. “I've always wondered the sounds you'd make having your cute little pussy eaten.” His thumb is covering your clit, stroking it gently as your core flutters, from the growing smirk on his face, it's safe to say he noticed.

 Strong hands holding your legs apart, Jungkook lunges forward to press his soft lips against your folds. He sucks kisses against your damp lips, tongue stroking against them slowly. You're whimpering, can feel your pussy dripping as you reach down to tangle your fingers in his soft locks.

 He's quick with the up-down movement of his tongue against your slick pussy lips, tracing over each ridge and cure but avoiding that one spot he's sue would have you falling apart instantly. Instead, kept his thumb pressed against it still, motionless.

 Your hips lift, rocking into his face while his tongue lowers to tease your wanting entrance. Large hands curling around your hips to grasp the cure of your ass, pulling your body tighter against his mouth. “Fuck, Jungkook!” The shout falling from your lips as he ups his speed, the tip of his nose nudging against your clit.

 Jimin's breathy groan sounds from behind you, the familiar fap of his hand working against his hardened cock filling your ears and egging you on. His thumb slowly plays with the head, spreading the precum leaking from it. Having him watch you, turned on by the sight of you moaning his friend's name, turned on enough that he was jerking himself off at the sight. It made you feel hot, an unexplainable rush of desire coursing through your veins.

 Jungkook is pulling his tongue from inside of you it quickly being replaced with two long fingers. He pushes all the way to the knuckle, curling them to press deep inside of you. You feel the coil in your stomach slowly tighten as he continues his movements, your orgasm approaching.

 A silent scream leaves your lips the moment his lips are wrapping around your neglected clit, sucking softly as his tongue teases it. Hips lifting and rolling, body convulsing as your orgasm begins to wash over you. Jungkook's grip tightens around your shaking thighs, holding your legs in place as he pushes another finger inside of you.

 His lips suck down harder, head tilting to the side to twist your clit along with it. That paired with the new stretch of his added finger have you cumming hard all at once. His name leaves your lips in a desperate mewl, grip tightening in his hair as your back arches off the bed.

 Jungkook's pulling his fingers from your body, letting up on the suction around your clit relaxing into gentle licks of his tongue. His strong hands cover your ass, holding your body against his mouth as you ride out your orgasm. He laps up every bit of your wet cum, ignoring the sensitive twitch of your legs until he's finished. Until he's satisfied and sitting upon his knees, licking your arousal from his lips.

 He's staring at you with so much want, lust, lips slightly swollen and very red. His hair sticks up messily around his head from the grip of your fingers, chest heaving with heavy breath as he watches you.

 Jimin stands from his position behind you, hands tugging his shorts the rest of the way down his legs before he's taking slow strides in your direction. With much effort, you're lifting your body until you're seated. He grins down at you, a hand wrapped around his length while the other reaches for the nape of your neck.

 “I want you to suck me off while Jungkookie fucks you open, how's that sound?” He's wearing such a sweet smile on his face, a direct contradiction to the words that fall from his lips and the vulgar things they convey. You're nodding your head quickly, either way, leaning into his touch as his hand travels to rest against your jaw.

 Jungkook has stood from the bed, discarding his shorts in the process. He's rummaging on the other side of the room, but your focus is not on him. No, your attention is stuck on the man in front of you. His soft thumb brushing against your lower lip, your mouth falling open. He grins.

 “You made me so hard baby. Loved seeing you cum on Kookie's tongue, did it feel good?” You're nodding your head, eyes snapping up to find his. He chews on his lower lip, tracing the curves of your lips with the tip of his cock. You try to move your head to coax his cock into your mouth, but he's having too much fun teasing you to let that happen.

 Pushing your tongue out, you manage to slide it over the underside of his cock. He groans, head lolling to the side as he gives in, slowly guiding his cock past your lips and into your mouth. Your lips latch onto his dick and quickly begin licking and suckling at his length. His teeth dig into his lip as he watches you, hand reaching to grasp your hair.

 “Your mouth feels so good, baby.” He pants, rocking his hips forward slightly. Your body warms at the praise, sucking harder and speeding the bob of your head. His lower belly tightens, both hands tangled in your hair and tightening to hold your head still. Mouth widening, you allow him to push his hips forward, taking more of his cock down your throat. 

 You let him gag you, spit gathering around your lips as tears brim in your eyes. Hands braced on his hips as if that'd be enough to slow his movements. With the fucked out look on his face, the grip in your hair; it was obvious he didn't plan on letting up any time soon. Not like you even wanted him too, anyway.

 Jungkook was coming to crouch behind you, large hands finding your hips. The palm of his hand is slapping against one of your cheeks, forcing your body to jolt forward a muffled moan leaving your lips. The movement pushing you down further onto Jimin's cock, the head hitting against the back of your throat causing a cough to fall from your lips.

 Reluctantly, you pull back, a thin string of saliva connecting your lips to his length as heavy coughs shook your body. Jungkook let out a loud laugh, hands on your hips positioning your body onto your knees. Jimin's unmistakably gentle hand rubbed at your back, attempting to soothe your coughs as he lined his cock with your lips once more.

 You were taking him into your mouth once more, sucking with much more fervor this time. He chuckles above you, eyes flickering up to Jungkook who's fingers caressing your wet pussy lips. “She's so wet, Hyung. Think she liked choking on your cock.” He comments, fingers lazily stroking your pussy.

 Warmth spreads through your body at his words. Jungkook was much different from Jimin, sexually as well as everything else. Where Jimin never mentioned how much he knew you liked to suck him off, Jungkook was more than willing to voice his revelation that you were particularly dripping. As if he got off on the thought of embarrassing you, and it should annoy you, but it only made you want him more.

 Wanted to prove to him that you didn't so easily wither, that it would take a lot more to make you shy away. No matter the blush the took over his cheeks every time he was crude.

 His hand reached for your hair, tangling in the soft strands and slowly pulling you off of his friend's cock. Your back was soon pressed flush against his chest, a strong arm wrapping around your waist. You can see Jimin clearly now, muscles glistening with a thin layer of sweat as his palm stroked his wet cock.

 Jungkook's dick is pressed firmly against your ass cheek and your hips slowly rock back, rubbing against it. He bites back a groan, hand dropping to hold your hips in place. “You want me to fuck you, Yn?” His mouth is right by your ear, but he's speaking loud enough for both you and Jimin to hear. “Want me to make you cum, again? But this time on my cock... make you fall apart while your boyfriend watches, you'd like that, huh?” Rough fingers find your clit, flicking and tugging at it. And you nod frantically, spreading your legs wide from him and avoiding the lust-filled gaze of your boyfriend.

 He reaches for your chin, lifting your head so you're looking directly at Jimin. Jungkook moved behind you, shifting his hips until the tip of his cock nudges your awaiting entrance. “Say it,” He hisses into your ear. “Tell him,” His lower lip drags over the shell of your ear, fingers dipping lower to spread your lips for him.

 “I want-,” You feel heat growing in your chest, Jimin's expectant gaze making you feel small. He's stroking his cock much slower now, waiting on labored breaths. Jungkook's fingers pinch your clit and pleasure shoots through your veins, body twitching. “Don't be shy, princess. He can take it...” His fingers rub figure eights into the bundle of nerves.

 There was no telling how you looked right now, fucked out and panting. Desperately trying to wiggle your hips in hope to steal away more than he was letting you have. Lips are swollen and cheeks tear-stained from having Jimin's cock down your throat moments before. Your back arches against his chest as he drags the length of his cock over your slit, teasing you.

 “I want!” You shout, an electric shock of pleasure fueling you, “Jimin, fuck... watch me. I want you to watch me when Jungkook fucks me,” You plead, crazed eyes staying trained on your boyfriend. “Want you to see him make me cum.”

 “Fuck,” Jimin groans, at the same time Jungkook is pushing inside of you. His thick cock spreading your folds and breaking through your walls. You let out a loud whine, pushing back against him welcoming each inch of his length. He's groaning only when he's bottoming out, hands falling to your hips, body dropping onto your knees again.

 “She's so tight,” Jungkook sighs, pulling his hips back until the tip of his cock is catching on your pursed entrance. He pushes forward quickly, pulling a wail from your lips. Repeating the action until he feels your walls loosening around him.

 He's soon falling into a steady pace, hips snapping against yours as his fingers bruise your hips. Your legs spread wide as you fist at the bedsheets below you, whiny moans leaving your lips as you move back against him. Jimin steps back, no doubt taking in the sight in before him. The way your eyes continue to roll, flushed cheeks and mouth open wide. How your back curves into the globes of your ass the ripple with each strong thrust of Jungkook's hips. “Fuck, baby. You're taking his cock so well,” Jimin praises with a proud look on his face. 

 His soft hand brushes your hair out of your face, holding it back in a makeshift ponytail. “How does it feel, baby?” Weakly, you lift your gaze to look up at him. “S-so good,” Voice hoarse and breathy. Jungkook grins behind you, angling his hips to slide deeper inside of you.

 “Such a good girl,” Jimin's free hand wraps around his cock. And your mouth is opening before your mind can register what he wants, warm cock filling your mouth, your lips wrapping tightly around the base.

 He's sliding down your throat easily, your head bobbing in time with the slow thrusts of his hips. You reach your hands forward to grasp his balls, hands massaging against the velvety skin and his pants. Incoherent mumbles of praise fall from Jimin's lips as his head falls back.

 He looks so hot, even from this angle. The veins of his neck prominent with the clench of his teeth. Collarbones thick and on full display, housing his well worked on pecks and the tight ripples of his abs. His hand lifts to grasp your hair, holding your head in place to thrust shallowly down your throat.

 “S-shit, I'm cumming.” Jungkook whines from behind you, hips pressed flush against your ass while his legs tighten. You feel the familiar expansion of the condom around his cock as the sounds of his whiny moans fill the room. Jimin lifts his head, a chuckle leaving his lips as his eyes find the pink-cheeked man in front of him.

 “That was quick,” Jimin teases, pulling his hips back until his cock is falling from your lips. Jungkook does the same. Your body shocked instantly with emptiness, you whine in protest, hips wiggling in search of your release.

 “It's been a while,” Jungkook defends, slumping against the mattress, arms lifting to cover his eyes. Desperately trying to slow his breathing, not paying any mind to the cum that leaks the condom in thick globs painting the sheets underneath him. “Did Kookie even make you cum?” Jimin's words are directed to you and you're quick to shake your head.

 He tsks, hand reaching for your thigh and flipping your body onto its back. Your legs spread as he lowers himself between them, cock easily pushing its way deep into your pussy. A moan falls from your lips, hips lifting to meet his thrust. “Let me show you how to do it.”

 Jungkook is removing his arm from his eyes, turning his attention to yours and Jimin's bodies. He watches as Jimin's firm ass lifts and drops into you, each powerful thrust pushing your body up. Watches as your nails mark up his smooth back. Listens to the way his groans mix with your whimpers.

 Your eyes catch his for a moment, and you're soon realizing that he's not watching you. Mouth parted and eyes dazed as he stares. But not at you. Jimin's reaching his hand down, fingers finding your clit as he pushes you toward your nearing orgasm. Eyes screwing shut, you let yourself feel it.

 Toes curling and back arching as your release washes over you. Jimin hisses from the way your walls clench around his cock, his thrusts becoming sloppy, untimed. Jungkook watches as he cums, filling you up. Your name falling from his lips in a breathy moan. Your legs tighten around his waist, holding his body tight against yours.

 Minutes pass before Jimin is pulling out, rolling onto his back with a huff. He grins wide down at you, lips catching yours in a loving kiss as his hand moves between your legs, pushing his escaped cum back into your pussy. You can't help the giggle that leaves your lips from the feeling.

 “You did so well, baby.” He's complimenting you after his lips are releasing yours. You smile wide, eyes shifting between him and Jungkook. “It was amazing, thank you.” Jungkook nods his acknowledgment while Jimin presses another kiss to your lips, before standing from the bed.

 “I'm gonna go run you a bath,” Jimin grins, kissing the top of your head gently before disappearing into the bathroom. The second he's gone, Jungkook is standing from the bed. His cheeks are flushed, hair messy, and he looks out of breath; but nevertheless he's moving as if he couldn't get out of there fast enough.

 You let him. Don't bother to ask him why. You know why. And now that you knew, all the little things surrounding were starting to make sense. As if a neon sign had been flashing the warning from the beginning, but you had chosen to ignore it. Explained it away as Jungkook being a protective best friend, but you were wrong. You were so wrong. Realization was hitting you all at once and you wondering how many of their conquests found out the exact same thing.

 Jungkook was in love with Jimin.

requests are open

[bambi-kinos]

ffxiv/the beatles headcanons

Paul - Mains Paladin because that's SIR Paul McCartney (and he’s actually terrible at DPS because he can’t do positionals.) Writes and updates the Paladin guide for The Balance. Enjoys the rush of the wall to wall pull. His highest priority is keeping his burgerking crown at the start of each expansion. Reviews the ACT logs after each raid and writes detailed feedback to everyone on how to improve their DPS. Not so secretly wounded that George has higher rDPS than he does. Played as a catgirl for the majority of the game but once female Viera came out he immediately fanta'ed and won't switch back despite the lack of hats since Day 1. Never plays while high but will blaze afterwards each time. Has an bunboy alt on Mateus that is always wearing underpants on the Lodestone. Publicly feuds with John in Discord about whether RPers are “casuals” and if they’re really ruining the game. Coordinates social events for the FC.

John - Healer main despite it being braindead because he enjoys the group depending on him. One of the people who raged about the devs making the fairies mechanically identical because he wants "depth" in his game. Keeps Dark Knight leveled in case Paul needs to be replaced or to off-tank but otherwise sticks to Scholar after he levels all healing jobs. Takes the “healer gf/tank bf” jokes way too seriously as they strike too close to home. Annoyed at the dev team for making healers DPS but he sucks it up since it's easy. He only gets high while rouletting because pubbies stress him out more than Ultimates. Main is a catboy and he won’t fanta as a point of pride even though no one else cares. Publicly he looks down his nose at RPers dismissing them as "casuals ruining the game". Has lewd mods installed and a secret account as a male Viera that he uses to ERP with Paul. Owns the FC but never contributes except to kick drama seekers. Was one of the people who parked a mount in front of Dreadwyrm Academy.

George - Leveling all the jobs and can do anything well. Got all of them to Lvl 80 before Endwalker. Happily wastes time farming Ishgard Restoration era diadem because he can get blazed and do whatever. He also raids while high. Actually he spends most of the game high as fuck. Despite this he has the highest rDPS and regular DPS in the entire group according to FFlogs, much to Paul’s annoyance. He also has ACT installed and feuds with Paul in their Discord server over improving his play style since Paul makes more mistakes then he does. When conversations get really heated he brings up how Paul flamed out in Eureka halfway through Pagos because Paul couldn't keep Monk positionals straight, causing him to ragequit the chat at least once a month. Also has a mentor’s crown but never turns it on. Plays as a Lalafell and has a privated mansion on the beach in Mist. If George left then the FC would run out of company actions in a week.

Ringo - Fishing main and Dancer is his MSQ class because he doesn’t care if the game is difficult or not. Doesn't pay attention to Paul's suggestions because he has the post-raid analysis category in Discord muted. If he needs to improve something George will DM him or tell him in the voice chat. Fantablob who can never settle on a specific look. George made him a tenant of his mansion and Ringo always logs out in George's garden. George gave him decorating privileges for the mansion and Ringo is always updating the look to reflect the seasonality in-game. When John and Paul made fun of his decor he had George private the house so it was just the two of them. The only Beatle who played the game since 1.0 and always stans Yoshi-P in the chat when John is going off on the devs. Knows that he has leverage over Paul because he and George do everything in the FC and that this means they can never actually be kicked since John and Paul both refuse to earn company actions. Impossible to tell if he’s high or sober since he always sounds the same over voice chat.

[the-odd-job]

A primeverse drabble of Sideswipe confusing Jack with genders (I guess the kids haven’t yet learned Cybertronians have no concept of genders) and being kinda overpowered, on account of being a Shockwave made supersoldier and all that. Written while half dead and not proofread so I apologize for any and all weirdness and errors.

“I just landed on Earth. I would really appreciate it if you could tell me where the local Autobot base is, before the ‘Cons find me.”

There were some confusing signals here. On one hand the red Cybertronian down on one knee in front of them, smiling an easy, friendly smile, had a high, young, feminine voice, thin waist, and wide hips. But on the other, their facial features weren’t altogether fitting for a female, and their shoulders were broad. It was a confusing dichotomy, when so far all the mecha they’d met had fallen pretty easily in one of two camps: mech, or femme. Male or female, as it was. This one—Sideswipe, they’d introduced themselves—broke the norm set by everyone else, and Jack felt a lot like he shouldn’t even try to fit them to a specific box because really, gender was a complicated thing and not everything fit into neat boxes– “You don’t have the Autobot insignia,” Raf pointed out, pushing his glasses higher up on his nose. Jack focused back on the rest of it at that and quickly scanned the red mech’s frame. And it was true, there was no insignia to be found anywhere on her (his?) frame, only an empty space at the center of her chest that looked like it should’ve held an insignia. That was… A little odd. The femme glanced away at that, shifting uneasily. “There were some… Circumstances that forced me to get rid of it. You know, to save my skin,” she shrugged. “What kind of circumstances?” Miko asked, taking a step closer. There was challenge in her voice, demanding answers, an explanation. “It’s war out there,” Sideswipe sighed in answer, looking weary despite her youthful voice. “And you’re not always in the position to fight. I had to pass off as a Neutral for a while, so… Bye bye markings of the faction I actually belong to.” Seemed… Reasonable enough, at least to Jack’s very lacking knowledge of what interstellar politics were like. Or was it intergalactic? He wasn’t quite sure how far their friends had actually come from. Miko frowned, but she didn’t have too much of an argument either. Other concerns existed, though. “How do we know you’re actually an Autobot?” Raf asked. To their surprise, Sideswipe outright laughed at that. It was a pretty pleasant sound. “What else would I be?” she asked, giving them a lopsided smile. And it was true, her bioights and optics were blue, like Autobots’ were, and like Decepticons’ really weren’t. Jack shared a glance with Raf and Miko. They’d still need to talk to their ‘Bots before they could just tell a stranger where the base was, but– A sudden roar of engines was followed by the sounds of three different transformation sequences. “Jack! Raf! Miko! Get away from him!” Bulkhead’s voice rang out behind them and they all turned to look to see their guardians running towards them. Urgent, almost… Fearful? Him? Sideswipe? A soft hiss of pistons had them glancing back at the red mech, who rose back to his pedes. And it was only now that they could really appreciate how tall he was. He towered over Arcee, even over Bumblebee. Only Bulkhead could match his height. All of this… Probably meant Sideswipe wasn’t an Autobot after all. That suspicion was confirmed when the color of his optics suddenly changed, bleeding from blue, to purple, to red. Starting from his helm the color bled along his biolights, blue slowly draining to give way to devilish red. This was bad. “Run. Run!” Jack yelled at his two human friends, urging them both into motion ahead of himself, and together they bolted towards their guardians. And then behind them, coming to a stop only when Arcee, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead were all securely between them and Sideswipe. But the red mech didn’t even try to pursue them, merely straightened himself… Lifted his chin. A smile was playing on his lips, and he looked utterly unconcerned with the fact he was outnumbered three to one. “Ha! Sideswipe doesn’t stand a chance! Better run, ‘Con!” Miko whooped. Jack wasn’t so sure, and from the look on his face, neither did Raf. “What are you doing here, Sideswipe?” Arcee asked, snarling. Sideswipe shrugged, closing his optics demurely. “I heard Megatron was here on Earth. Figured the action would be with him.” “Well, you’re not welcome here,” Bulkhead growled, and it was really, really getting to Jack how relaxed Sideswipe remained. He had no right to be in the face of three warriors as skilled as their guardians were. They kicked ‘Con aft on the regular! “That’s just rude,” Sideswipe sighed, deigning to look at the lot of them again. “I think Megatron would disagree.” Three engines revved before the Autobots on the scene attacked. Arms transformed into blasters; Bulkhead went to close the distance for some good old melee pummeling. Sideswipe’s smile never wavered. And yeah, Sideswipe was as tall as Bulkhead was, but he was considerably lighter built. He was no Breakdown. Despite that, the red mech moved to meet Bulkhead’s charge, and… Swords extended from his arms. And kept extending. And kept extending. And kept extending until they almost brushed the ground. It wasn’t the quick shink that the blades of ones like Optimus and Arcee came to play with. This was slow, methodical—for show, almost. Sideswipe deftly avoided the blaster fire aimed at him, reached Bulkhead, and then they clashed. Except, it wasn’t the epic smashdown it was supposed to be. It wasn’t two titans coming to blows. Bulkhead undoubtedly had brute strength on his side, but Sideswipe moved like quicksilver, always staying two steps ahead of Bulkhead’s attacks, always evading every crippling blow he should have taken. And those swords he had… Slag, you’d have thought their length would be a problem, make them unwieldy. But their slow introduction into the battle was nothing but show, he was sure of that much now. Sideswipe proved well enough that he could both extend and retract them in seconds by doing just that. Every time his swords should’ve gotten in the way, they suddenly disappeared, only to reappear a moment later. And more often than not, that ended with cuts on Bulkhead that the green mech couldn’t block because of the unpredictability and sheer speed Sideswipe employed. Arcee joined the fray, and that should have tipped the scales. Arcee was a fast fighter too, and together her and Bulkhead should have had well enough destructive prowess to bring down any common ‘Con. Except Sideswipe wasn’t common, was he? He was like a dancer when he moved between Arcee and Bulkhead, smooth in every motion—blocking, moving out of the way, attacking to a devastating effect. Bumblebee couldn’t get shots in without risking hitting his comrades, so he went melee also. Three on one. For real, in close quarters. And it never stopped looking like Sideswipe had the upper hand. How was he that fast anyway? It looked almost unnatural—until Jack noticed the bit of heated air that accompanied every particularly fast motion.

Could a mech have jets built into them to enhance their movement speed..? Sideswipe never once lost his smile, despite cutting bleeding gashes into their guardians with his blades that appeared and retracted at a punishing pace. Bumblebee’s leg was almost severed. Arcee got a deep cut across her abdomen. Bulkhead was littered with wounds even his armor couldn’t protect him from. Miko didn’t look so confident anymore. In fact, he was pretty sure horror was reflected on all their faces as they watched the slow obliteration of their friends. He wasn’t… Slag, he wasn’t even sure Sideswipe was all that serious. He made it all look so effortless, like he wasn’t even trying.

He was seriously getting worried they were about to watch their guardians get killed, or at the very least, severely incapacitated, but then, a space bridge opened behind them. They glanced over their shoulders to see Optimus walk through the spinning portal, and relief flushed his veins. There was no way even Sideswipe could stand up against Optimus Prime. Right? “Sideswipe,” Optimus rumbled with a clear note of displeasure. The fight broke off, their injured friends retreating a few steps away as the Prime approached. Sideswipe didn’t try to continue the fight and straightened back to his full height, carelessly flicking some energon off the end of his left hand sword. “Optimus. Long time no see,” he smiled, and could he not freaking stop smiling?

“Does Megatron know you’re here?” Optimus asked, coming to stand beside his comrades. The red mech just shrugged, glancing away and rocking on his heels—not answering. What did that mean? That the Decepticons didn’t know about him? Could that mean he could be captured without the ‘Cons being none the wiser to it? Or killed, even? “Sideswipe, I cannot let you harm my soldiers, or the humans,” Optimus said. “I believe you are a threat if left be.” Sideswipe made an amused sound. “Can’t really disagree with that,” he said with a wry grin, and now Jack could get a good look at his fangs. Definitely a Decepticon through and through. How had they gotten fooled even momentarily? “But,” the red mech continued, inspecting his swords, “I can’t just go quietly, can I?” A shiver ran up Jack’s spine at the words. Sideswipe lifted one of his arms, pointing his sword at Optimus. The threat was clear as day. Did that mean Sideswipe was powerful enough to challenge even Optimus? No, not just Optimus, but Optimus, Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee? That couldn’t be. There was no way that could be. And maybe it wasn’t, because a vortex opened up behind Sideswipe too, and– Through walked a mech with near identical frame design, only this one was colored in bright gold. “I’m not late, am I?” he asked, and if Sideswipe’s voice was high, the new mech’s was deep, rough, traveling to his core and all but shaking it. “There’s two of them?!” Miko whispered urgently, and Jack knew what they all were thinking. If this new arrival was as strong as Sideswipe was appearing... “Not late at all, Sunny,” Sideswipe smiled, glancing at his near-copy when he came next to him. “Not late at all.”

[birbleafs]

[fic] A Much Ado About (PSI)oulmates

Series: Saiki Kusuo no Ψ-nan || The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. Rating: T Genre: Humour, Breaking The Fourth Wall Character(s): Saiki Kusuo, Aiura Mikoto, Satou Hiroshi, Akechi Touma, Toritsuka Reita Warnings: None, save for canon-typical shenanigans Summary:  Aiura decides to combine her divination abilities with Kusuo’s powers for a super special comedic segment on Affinity Levels. Fic can also be read on AO3 _______

Excerpt taken from clairvoyant Dame Mata-Mata’s advert for Amazing Psychic Services:

99.9% accurate affinity readings and guaranteed life-long happiness! Discover your twin flame with as little 10,000 yen per hour! Some would say it’s foolish to risk your future and wallet on such clandestine offerings, but we assure you, we are no worse than the underhanded brand marketing on children’s television series! Call 1800-TWINFLAMES -1234567 to book a reading today!!

***

Anyone who would believe such clandestine and shady offerings isn’t just a fool but a complete buffoon, Kusuo scoffs impassively at the flyer before him. This is definitely worse than the underhanded brand marketing on children’s TV shows.

“They’re a total noob at it, fer sure!” Aiura says, leaning in too close and posing next to Kusuo as she takes a wefie with her phone. “Like sure, the concept of twin flames and soulmates ain’t new, but to claim everyone has half a soul yearning to get jiggy with its other missing half for life-long bliss is like, a gross oversimplification.” I don’t really care to be honest, Kusuo deadpans. He stares sullenly at how Aiura’s arm is still wrapped around his; she offers him a cheeky grin and a peace sign, snapping yet another wefie before she finally slides away to the opposite seat. “Soulmates just have more natural affinity for each other,” Aiura says, batting her eyelashes at him coyly. “But just like with everything, it doesn’t mean you don’t need to put in any effort to make it work! Hey, speaking of which—the author has a super special birthday tradition where she writes and/or posts up a new story, so this fanfic can totally be about Affinity Meters, right?!” Don’t know what you’re going on about and still don’t actually care, Kusuo retorts, shoving a spoonful of coffee jelly into his mouth as he resolutely tries to enjoy his Sunday afternoon. But Aiura persists, easily breaking the fourth wall to elaborate further: “Just like how Kusuo can use the Affection Meter to quantify a person’s love for another, today we’ll combine Kusuo’s telepathy and my own divination abilities to measure soulmate compatibility via Affinity Levels! So, without further ado, let’s go, let’s goooo!” Aiura, no, Kusuo groans in quiet despair. “Miko-chan, YES!” Aiura whoops, fist-pumping the prologue away as the scene fades out. _______

i.

Satou Hiroshi

Conventional. Moderate. Regular. Behold the quintessential stock background character, the pinnacle of normality—Satou Hiroshi. Standing at a height of 169.9 centimeters and weighing at precisely 61.0 kilograms—the exact national average of a healthy sixteen-year-old Japanese male—he is the gold standard, the epitome of normal. It’s a shame then that few recognize Satou-kun’s remarkable ordinariness, Kusuo muses, watching said background character ambling down the sidewalk with an approving smile. Nevertheless, perhaps that may be to my benefit. Surely our Affinity Levels must be pretty high; after all, we’re both normal and regular high-school teens who do not stand out much— “I don’t think using your powers to make yourself inconspicuous counts though,” Aiura says as she glances over Kusuo’s shoulder, puzzled at his fixation on someone so… well, boring. Kusuo isn’t even listening. We both have regular aspirations and hobbies, seeking only to live peaceful days! “Funnily, I now remember peeking at Normal-kun’s fortune for Hii-chan. And get this, his biggest dream is being on stage as a rock star! Like seriously, how typical can he get?” —So, taking into consideration all of the above, Kusuo presses on, undeterred by Aiura’s commentary, surely we would hit it off as friends with optimal affinity levels! “Uhm, Kusuo?” Aiura nudges him with her elbow, pointing at the meter hovering beside them. “Not to be a wet blanket and all, but the Affinity Meter started running again as you were waxing lyrical earlier, so now it’s showing that Normal-kun and your Affinity Levels are like, really just two stars at best.” She leans forward, squinting at the screen. “Simply because he thinks you’re okay but still a bit of a weirdo. Dayum, the nerve of this twerp!” Kusuo stares wordlessly at her for a beat, slack-jawed. A-Ahyuu…?

Affinity Level: ☆☆ _______

 ii.

Akechi Touma

“It pains me to have to do this,” Aiura lets out a dramatic sigh. “But since Childhood Friends is a pretty popular trope in animanga, and therefore in fanfiction, I guess there’s no avoiding it.” Kusuo scowls, not liking where this is heading at all. It can totally be avoided. We can just avoid talking about it altogether. “Is that you, Kusuo-kun?” Akechi says as he suddenly appears at Kusuo’s side, curiosity in his eyes. “Oh, I see Aiura-san is here as well. I couldn’t help but notice how you two were standing and talking together so I thought I should come say hello, even though I was rather hesitant at first. I didn’t want to abruptly barge into your conversation, you see, as that would have been awfully rude, and I certainly don’t wish for you to think of me as rude, Kusuo-kun.” Yet here you are barging in anyway, blathering on incessantly like a runaway freight train, Kusuo remarks drily. “Well, I couldn’t help but overhear the mention of Affinity Levels,” Akeichi beams as he continues, unfazed by the jibe. “And I can’t say my curiosity isn’t the least bit piqued, even if I have little to no real interest or belief in the notion of soulmates. In fact, the existence of an actual soul remains debatable in scientific circles—” Exasperated, Aiura tries to interject. “Since you ain’t all that interested, mind if you just zip those lips for like five minutes? My hair’s gone all frizzy from the heat of your endless jabbering!” “However, these debates on the existence of the soul had also been instrumental to the understanding of the anatomy and physiology of the human body—” “Oh my God, please just stop yapping for ONE sec—!!” Aiura shrieks, tugging at her curls in frustration. She accidentally kicks the Affinity Meter to start running, and the lights blink and flash in a rapid blur before the meter gradually slows down to display four bright stars upon its screen. There’s a beat; the trio leans forward, staring at the meter in awkward silence. Kusuo’s brows are furrowed at the unexpected results; he shrugs it off as a fluke. Clearly there’s some technical issue with Affinity Meter (never mind that the meter works, in part, based on Aiura’s divination abilities, which have, to date, always been accurate). There’s just no way Akechi could ever beat Satou-kun on that scale, he’s too much of an abnormal— But Aiura is already moving forward, reaching out to grasp Akechi’s hand in a firm handshake. “Aiura-san? Is there something…?” She acknowledges Akechi’s curious gaze with a curt nod. “All right, I can’t deny it any longer. Not with that impressive detective aura of yours and with results like that on both Kusuo and my own Affinity Meter.” Oi, oi. Don’t start spouting weird nonsense now, Miss Abnormal! “All right, Akeinu! I hereby deem you a worthy rival in the fight to stand as Kusuo’s trusted sidekick!” “Oho! You’ve even given me a cutesy nickname as acknowledgment! I must say I’m quite flattered, Aiura-san.” How about I side-kick both of you out of my life right now? Kusuo sighs, mildly perturbed by this unexpected turn of events.

Affinity Level: ☆☆☆☆ _______

iii.

Toritsuka Reita

…… …… …… What, did you seriously think Toritsuka was getting a proper scene? He’s already way too pathetic. NEXT— “W-wait, did you just cut my scene?!” Toritsuka shrieks from the void like a headless chicken. “Don’t just write me off, Saiki-saaan!!” —Saiki exits stage left, pursuing normalcy. “And don’t just narrate yourself out!!”

Affinity Level: N.A. _______

iv. Aiura Mikoto

“At first glance, you might think we make for an odd couple,” Aiura says with a coquettish smile. “And how it seems absolutely cray that we could get along. Or like, that we don’t mesh just ‘cause our personalities clash way too much or somethin’.” She chuckles at the notion, running perfectly manicured nails through her luscious locks. “I mean, it’s obvs only those inexperienced with the inner workings of the heart would think that. Because opposites attract, y’know? It’s the push-pull dynamism between us that spices things up! Like two tango dancers stirring up a flame on the dance floor—it keeps things refreshing and exciting, but still comforting and familiar in the end, like sharing a nice, warm bath at the end of the day, or cuddling up together at the sofa, feeding each other spoons of dessert…” Aiura pauses, blushing when she catches sight of the Affinity Meter fluttering gently by her shoulder, at the line of stars glowing from the screen, a beacon of reassurance of their status as soulmates. She turns towards Kusuo, suddenly self-conscious as she tucks a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “Say, Kusuo… How about we head to that nice dessert buffet together and—” Only to realize she had been practically talking to thin air all this time. “H-Huh?! Aww, gimme a break! Where did you run off to this time, Kusuooo?!”

Affinity Level: ☆☆☆☆☆ _______ v.

Coffee Jelly

Good grief—finally some peace and quiet. Kusuo sighs as he leans back into the leather seat of his booth, in a nondescript cafe far away from his usual annoyances. He dips a spoon into his dessert bowl, lifting a dark sliver of coffee jelly to his mouth, and smiles in absolute contentment. There’s a soft whirr, and then a ping from somewhere below. He flicks a furtive gaze at the Affinity Meter hovering at the empty space beside him, curious despite himself. The endless line of glowing stars are probably a bit much, but he smiles anyway at the screen. Huh. I guess it works after all.

Affinity Level: ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

—End— _______ Notes:

It’s tradition for myself to spend my birthday writing and/or sharing a new fic (happy birthday to me!! lol). I also had this sitting in my draft for way too long and decided to kick myself to finish it. Apologies for any typoes/errors.

Comments and critique are always welcomed for my fics—I'd like to hear what you think, if you've enjoyed this! Thanks for reading :)

[nimbostrxtus]

The Sweetest Honey - @fallen-seraphim

The Honeybee Inn had a rather unflattering reputation for being a brothel when their main source of income was the nightly dance performances they put on for rich clients who just wanted to be entertained while being served drinks. Although, it was true that their best dancers had quite a sizeable fanbase with the regulars. If one wished they could look at the Hive Menu and pick out a dancer of their choosing to privately entertain them for an hour or so. Each page had a photo of a honeyboy or honeygirl with their skills and hobbies listed below, as well as what they were willing and unwilling to do behind closed doors.

Cloud was one of the more popular male candidates, even though it was the female performers who were usually showered with flowers and gifts at the doorstop nightly by crowds of men begging for just a moment of their time. He was glad to not receive such pitiful attempts at affection, even if he did get the occasional bouquet and card from a secret admirer. Gifts Cloud was quick to deposit onto his friends outside of work who would appreciate the gesture more than himself.

"Cloud!" one the male dancers called after him as he made his way to the main venue hall. "I'll cover your dance number, you're entertaining a guest tonight."

"Why, who is it?" he asked suspiciously. Only valuable regulars or VIPs were given last-minute appointments, and even though Andrea Rhodea had a customer confidentiality policy, they still had some pretty recognizable faces coming in and out the front doors, Palmer being one of the most notorious examples.

"You'll find out when you see him," the older man smirked and swept past Cloud.

A male customer then.

Men weren't usually as chatty as women, so that meant Cloud's night was going to go one of two ways. Either the customer was after a simple service, a servant to pour him drinks, entertain with a private show, and maybe even a massage. Or, he was after something more physical. Maybe even both.

If given the choice Cloud would rather be a faceless dancer on stage than a charming host who was the light in his client's eye, but Cloud had a contract to fulfil, so he spun around, went to get the room number from the front desk, and made his way to client's chosen room for the evening. All the rooms had the same layout, a black and golden hexagonal room, a loveseat with a matching glass coffee, and depending on what the client ordered; a small karaoke stage with a minibar, a playroom with toys and comically oversized bug net, a spar with a jacuzzi and massage table, and last but certainly not least, a four-poster bed.

"Good evening," the blonde greeted respectfully as he opened the ornate door, only to freeze on sight at the figure awaiting him inside. A tall and imposing figure with long silver falling down his back like silk, and glowing green eyes with cat-like irises  "S-Sephiroth?"

The honeyboy lost his voice as he stood slack-jawed before the most recognizable man in all of Midgar. What was a man of his reputation and calibre doing rolling around in the slums of all places?

Shaking his head, Cloud put his smile back on and tried to look as welcoming as he could manage. "H-How may I be of service, sir?"

[mythgirlimagines]

For today’s Tuesday, prepare to get heatstroke from the sheer hotness of Myth, the Former Ultimate Firefighter!

——————————————————

BACKSTORY AND TALENT

Due to being bedridden with scoliosis in her younger years, Myth didn’t really do much apart from reading. Until one day, a brave firefighter saved Myth’s life from a dangerous house fire that still left burns on Myth’s left eye and arm. From that day forward, after her scoliosis surgery, she has dedicated her life to training hard to become like the firefighter that saved her life that fateful day. By her teen years, she managed to rise through the rankings and become a professional firefighter for her town. Her rapid rising through the ranks despite her age, gender and height gave her a free spot to Hope’s Peak as the Ultimate Firefighter. In her adult years, she is currently chaperoning this year’s Ultimates and Jr. Ultimates on a trip to Kibo-Con Ultimate!

——————————————————

RELATIONSHIPS

Wyre Anon, Former Ultimate Film Critic

Wyre has been best friends ever since she moved in next door to Myth and entertained her with some high-ranking movies. However, due to the time-consuming training Myth went through from her time as a firefighter trainee, they’ve been seeing each other less and less. And now, Wyre can’t help but swoon over the utter hunk that her childhood friend had become now.

Anon Scar, Ultimate Sailor

Scar, or as she calls herself, ”The Spirit of the Seven Seas”, gets along surprisingly well with ”The Spirit of the Quenched Flames”, as Scar puts it. This is probably due to their shared experience with tense situations, whether surrounded with raging water or raging flames. If either of them had a nightmare about certain traumatic incidents from the past, they’ll talk about the nightmare and reassure each other.

Fusion Anon, Ultimate Fantasy Novelist

Fusion became famous for writing “The Saga of Spritefolk”, a literary series famous for its lovable menagerie of characters and extensive lore and worldbuilding. Myth happens to be a huge fan of said series, and Myth was on cloud nine when she got an autograph from the novelist. The two also bond over their shared interest in mythology.

Fusion Anon II, Ultimate Cheerleader

Fusion II is well-known for leading a 50-person oendan group, complete with taiko drums and complex acrobatics. The oendan is known for praising the hometeam, and throwing shade towards the competition. Fusion II herself is actually more laid-back then what her talent suggests, although she is just as snarky as her cheers would suggest. Fusion II would never admit this, for she has a reputation to keep up, but she thinks Myth would be a fine addition to her group.

Just Anon, Ultimate Pediatric Nurse

Janon is worshipped throughout the medical world as a prodigy in the medical field. Due to Janon’s natural intellect letting him breeze through tests without any actual effort, Janon has a terrible work ethic and a lazy and apathetic attitude. Janon also happens to be Myth’s favorite teasing target, for his not-so-secret soft spot for children, his failed attempts at being edgy despite his innocuous talent and adorable appearance, and his massive crush on a certain dense barista. This has lead Janon to utterly despise Myth.

Sparkle Anon, Former Ultimate Ballroom Dancer

Being raised in a high-class family well-known for their bombastic and over-the-top dance parties, Sparkle is known to be able to charm anyone on the dance floor, whether male or female. And yet even she can’t help but get yearn to get swept off her feet by this strong yet dorky firefighter. Sparkle is currently trying to teach the firefighter the ways of her bloodline, but The Spectacular Sparkle gets way too flustered over Myth’s strong arms, and winds up botching the dance, much to Myth‘s confusion.

Egg Anon, Former Ultimate Lucky Student and Wet Sock Anon, Former Ultimate Librarian

Very little is known about this cursed duo, for they hardly do anything apart from spouting unnerving comments and remaining evasive about their past. At least Myth kind of got along with Wet Sock, due to their shared interest in reading, but Wet Sock is even more hostile towards Myth due to their growing feelings for the firefighter, usually threatening her with knives. Egg seems to be the only Former Ultimate to not have feelings for Myth, but due to the regular cursed comments and cursed actions made by the Former Lucky Student, people are too afraid to ask.

Curious Anon, Jr. Ultimate Barista

Myth regularly visits Curious for her daily cup of joe at their cafe, “Simply Splendid”. Myth can get along easily with Curious due to their tranquil, empathetic attitude and excellent service and ambience of the coffee shop that they work at. Myth couldn’t help but poke fun at Curious for their sheer density when it comes to Janon’s feelings towards them. Talk about calling the kettle black!

Anon Nerd, Former Ultimate Matchmaker

Despite Nerd’s knowledge on romantic relationships, to the point that he made the most reliable matchmaking website in the modern world by himself, it is very clear that Nerd’s never been in a relationship himself. But even the blind and deaf can see that Nerd is crushing bad on the dense firefighter, despite Nerd’s angry protests to the contrary. Too bad Myth has a density only matched by Curious. But the other Anons are deadset on getting both the tsundere matchmaker and the oblivious firefighter to realize their feelings for each other.

Eldritch Anon, Ultimate Occultist

Because of Eldritch’s paranoid attitude and his evasiveness of the public eye, very little is known about Eldritch or how he got into the occult. Myth can’t help but find it odd that such a jittery scaredy-cat has one of the more horrific talents. Much to Myth’s confusion, Eldritch seems to be convinced that Myth is an evil spirit and regularly tries to remedy that by tossing salt at Myth.

Dream Anon, Ultimate Viral Sensation

Dream, or as her fans call her “Sunny D”, is the creator of the “Vowolleyball“ web series, which centers around the antics Dream and her volleyball team. Her hyperactive and positive attitude has earned her a special spot in the heart of her fanbase. Dream gave Myth a shout-out in one of her videos centering around her time at the Kibo-Con, which gave way to a flood of thumbs-up and fangirling comments from the firefighter’s own fanbase.

Iris Anon, Jr. Ultimate Babysitter

Iris’s optimistic, hyperactive, and childish personality has made her a big hit with the little kids of her neighborhood. Her babysitting business earned a lot of money as a result of her popularity with children.  But sometimes, even the babysitter needs a babysitter of their own. And that exactly what Myth’s relationship with Iris is like. Myth and Iris have a bit of a mother-daughter relationship and Iris regularly winds up going to Myth in case she needs advice, her boo-boos patched up, or if she just needs a hug from a pair of strong arms.

Purple Anon, Ultimate Samurai

Myth can’t help but be surprised that samurai not only still exist, but one is attending Hope’s Peak right now. Myth can’t help but want to protect the crowned heiress of the Murasaki bloodline, upon noticing how timid said heiress is when outside of a combat scenario. Purple’s elaborate and old-fashioned vocabulary as a result of her upbringing, just confuses Myth, so she often requires Fusion to translate Purple’s speech into modern slang.

So basically, this AU is a harem series about an adorable and buff, if dense firefighter, and her four/five waifus/husbandos/whatever the NB term for a waifu is.

————————————————-——

APPEARANCE

Firefighter!Myth has shoulder-length undyed hair and burn scars on her left eye and arm. She wears an orange and black firefighter’s uniform that is undone at the waist, hanging at the back of her legs. Under her uniform, she wears a black tank top and a scarf that resembles a film reel (that she got as a token of friendship from Wyre). She also wears black boots with a white stripe running though the center and white soles. The arm bands on her muscular arms match the color scheme of her uniform, being orange with black stripes. 

——————————————————

PERSONALITY

Because of Firefighter!Myth’s line of work, Firefighter!Myth is courageous and bold, always jumping into danger in order to save lives. That, along with her androgynous appearance, has earned her comparisons to a dashing prince. This has given her a passionate fan base amongst her neighborhood. Despite the confident and cool-headed personality of Firefighter!Myth, she isn’t as socially-skilled as one would expect. Because of her isolated and bed-ridden background, Firefighter!Myth is more socially-awkward and naive compared to Romantic!Myth, particularly when it comes to people with romantic intentions. When it comes to dating or noticing when people are attracted to her, she is completely and utterly clueless, much to the ire of Librarian!Wet Sock and Matchmaker!Nerd. She isn’t stupid though, for she still retains a love for literature and film from her younger years. Although hopefully, her time at the Kibo-Con would help her wise up to romantic intentions, but only time will tell.

——————————————————

I’ve took some inspiration from Fusion II’s talentswap, and added some backstory to the relationships section. I’ve partially based this Myth off of a Nozoeli fanfiction called “Best Star She’d Ever Had”, link to the fic here: (https://archiveofourown.org/works/5095454)

What do you think of this buff, yet dense Myth? Let me know what you think of this Talentswap!

-Fusion Anon

—

I think I speak for everyone who knows me when I say buff me is inherently cursed, that said I love this

[wiinterrose]

          ( xavier serrano , male , he/him, 23 ) omg ! i was walking yonge street downtown , and you’ll never guess who i saw . 𝐌𝐈𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐄𝐋 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐒 ! i just saw a post about them on sixsecrets ! i think it said something like “ 𝐌𝐈𝐊𝐄𝐘 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐒 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐔𝐒 𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐄 𝐀𝐓 𝟓 𝐀𝐌 : 𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐎𝐑 𝐘𝐄𝐓 𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 ?” . isn’t that wild ? i guess it makes sense through , since they’re apparently 𝐃𝐔𝐏𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐎𝐔𝐒 and 𝐂𝐔𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 . but i’ve heard they’re also 𝐎𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐂 and 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐂 ! i’ll just stick to giving them the benefit of the doubt . i mean , it’s not like i know them personally — they’re a famous 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐅𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐑 / 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐔𝐁𝐄𝐑 ! you know , i’ve actually heard rumors that ██████████████████, but they’re just rumors … i think . i dunno . if you happen to run into them , tell them i’m their biggest fan ! ( ollie , they / them , 21 , est )

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘

— mikey was born and raised in winnipeg because i think it’s funny when characters are from winnipeg. if you’re from winnipeg i’m so sorry. definitely was born on the coldest day of that year ( so like some point in january )

— but because of those long, cold harsh winters, mikey found himself in a dance studio a lot. his aunt was a dance teacher and with rather absent parents who meant well but both had long hours at the local hospital, he spent a lot of time with her. he fell in love with dance pretty early on, always having a certain fluidity and grace even when he was young.

— random but he also played hockey up until he was like 16 or whatever because he’s canadian and i’m not stupid. it happened. he can still skate tho. in a slightly different life he probably would have been a pretty good figure skater huh 🤔🤔🤔 but anyway...

— also feel like it makes sense that he did gymnastics. and trained in classical ballet.

— he went to university of toronto for college, studying kinesology and dance, and danced at one of the prestigious studios in the city.

— his big break moment was when in his sophomore year at ut, he made it onto the second season of world of dance in early 2017 ( lets pretend that show has been on longer than it has bc i don’t want it to be the first season of it sldk ). he made it all the way to the finals and quickly become a fan favorite along the way. though he ultimately placed second and missed out on the million dollars, that was the beginning of many doors opening for him. ( for those who, might have the vaguest clue what i’m talking about : i’m highkey feeling like, michael dameski style which is an idea i had after i named him michael so don’t @ me for him having the same first name ).

— millions watched that show, including some prominent agents and scouts who were able to help him launch a professional dance career : something he never thought he’d see himself actually doing. his first big gig was making the dance team for some singer’s north american tour, and he ended up not returning to ut to pursue a professional dance career full time. since then he’s danced in a few music videos for some uber famous musican ( same one he went on tour with or not idk ?? also a wc ?? maybe ?? ), a tv show, couple movies, and other various gigs around the city. he works part time at a studio when he has time, and has been honing his choreography skills as well.

— he makes enough dancing, but certainly not enough to make him RICH. no, that come from an impromptu vlog he did while on tour with aforementioned singer. having already garnered a following from world of dance, he soon rose to youtube fame as well, something he never could have predicted. i feel like his videos are very just, day in a life with various random challenges mixed in, and various workout and flexibility tips. he also still does pieces and duets with other prominent dancers just for fun too. his natural charisma and attitude really just carries him through easily lmao.

— mikey developed a bit of a habit of sleeping around when he left for college, all the newfound freedom was just intoxicating and well. he was hot so. it wasn’t like it was hard alsdkjf. that stuck around well into his blossoming dance career. nothing that was enough to be scandalous, but he made his way around. and then a year and a half into this unforeseen new life, he met matthew glass.

— he’d had a couple serious relationships before, one in high school, one his freshman year of college but neither of them could hold a flame to what he felt when he was with matt. perfection wasn’t something mikey believed in, but he almost did with what they had.

— it was like for over a year and a half he lived in this insane dream, and then mikey and matt broke up and he was devastated ( behind closed doors and with curtains pulled tightly shut ).

— he then proceeded to broadcast how perfectly fine he was doing by going back to his old ways and sleeping around obsessively, this time with very little regard as to how many headlines he was making. as far as coping mechanisms go, i guess sex is better than alcohol ?? not to say he wasn’t also drunk at times l o l.

𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐂

— mikey is a... how do u say... im gunna write manwhore bc it’s accurate so pls don’t take offense. inch resting bc i’ve written smut like once in my eight year rping career but that’s what he decided he was gunna be and who am i to deny that.

— very bi. very much does not care. if the world didn’t know he was before, it definitely does now lmao. he hasn’t come out in the sense he’s like posted a video about it and said “i’m bisexual” but it’s pretty obvious from the media and maybe he has gotten asked in interviews and has just shrugged and been like does it matter ?? i’m sorry he’s not the vocal bi ally we need. perhaps we will work on that.

— hasn’t dated anyone since matt bc he’s highkey lowkey still hung up on him but no one needs to know that right. outwardly, he’s very much the same : seemingly happy, but he’s a lot more careful with his heart and letting people close to him. if anything he’s become a bit of a two-way mirror, always seeing out but never really letting people see in, just what they want to see.

— probably goes without saying but extremely flexible. idk if any of you know who juuse saros is but apparently he can twerk in a split and i’m not saying mikey can but like. he just might be able to...

— straight up does not get cold. never wears more than a hoodie, probably danced shirtless in the middle of winter just fine. at least being from winnipeg is good for one ( 1 ) thing.

— i feel like people call him flower. idk guys. maybe im just thinking too much abt hockey goalies.

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘

— he tends to be extremely underestimated as he comes across a bit dumb and generally has a pretty positive outlook on life which people confuse for him being naive when that isn’t the case. but he’s found he can use that it his advantage and that sometimes, people will tell him things they think he can’t understand but he hears and remembers everything. it’s helped him out of a few difficult situations before.

— i feel like he has a bit of ethan dolan’s personality & dumbass energy idk guys...

— live in the moment kind of dude. his motto is probably like : you just gotta know what you want to do next. i mean looking back on his life it’s been pretty crazy and that’s only solidified his outlook that like, you really can’t control too much. just let it go where it takes you.

— people do like him though and they like talking to him for whatever reason. generally has pretty trustworthy vibes but he’s more slippery than he comes across. he’s a selfish person at heart and always has his own best interests in mind, even if it doesn’t seem that way at first.

— extroverted. i think ??

𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄

— 6′1″. chocolate brown eyes. curly brown hair. he has a lithe but extremely fit build due to his career. his core strength is especially impressive. 

— he has a monochromatic lineart tattoo of a rose on his left forearm / wrist and a butterfly ( again monochromatic & just lineart ) on his right shoulder. small scar at the base of his neck by his ear from an unfortunate hockey accident.

— needs glasses but usually only wears contacts unless he’s in his apartment late at night.

— he’s not overly fashionable, going more for comfort than how he generally looks. on a regular day, he’s probably got the whole... college athlete look going if you know what i mean. a big fan of mirrored aviator sunglasses. wouldn’t know what dressing up meant even if it slapped him in the face.

𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒

first and foremost i want to say that i like to vibe and brainstorm with people to come up with unique connections between our characters but here are a few ideas:

— the singer whose tour he danced on — singer whose music videos he’s been in — mayhaps even actors for that tv show / movie he was in ( v small role but whatevs. maybe they just Vibed yknow ) — flirtationship 😔 — always ye ol good hookup l o l — we keep running into each other idk maybe we should talk ??

TAKEN CONNECTIONS PAGE HERE

𝐎𝐎𝐂

          hey guys, i’m ollie. my intros are either written really eloquently or a big mess bc im trying to rub together a couple braincells at 1 am and whatever comes out, comes out. no need to guess which category this one falls into lmAO. anyway, i’m a slow plotter bc i’m easily overwhelmed trying to do too many things at once but i swear i will try to get to as many people as i can. and yeah this entire character is inspired by my love of world of dance don’t @ me... if u made it all the way down here u should watch this bc 😳 & mikey has the same athleticism and strength.

[dearosamu]

DESPERADO - AGAPE

SYPNOSIS: she, a dancer with personified problems all the while more that intrigues osamu dazai who came into her life amidst the chaos that is [name] [last name].

WARNING/S: cursing [if i forget to put warnings, pls be reminded this fic has mature themes!]

two - three

"what the hell are you doing here again you bastard? still trying to get into [name]'s pants?" chuuya greeted dazai and oda rather bitterly, directed at dazai mostly.

"he's still hung over [name] and i'm here for ango." oda pushed dazai slightly as the brunette only stuck out his tongue at chuuya.

"odasaku, you very well know that-"

"well damn. you don't even know how much [name] hates your guts, shitty dazai." chuuya crossed his arms, staring dazai down with disapproval. "i just don't get why you still force yourself on her."

dismissing chuuya's last comment, dazai frowned. "why would she hate me?"

"i can give her whatever she wants. she gives me what i want and i give her what she wants."

"it doesn't work that way, dazai. [name] doesn't think that way."

"i can give her more money if she wants. anything her heart desires." dazai pouted.

chuuya exhaled through his nose sharply, shaking his head. "she ain't a gold digger. do you really think that low of her?"

dazai shrugged nonchalantly, irritating chuuya even more.

"sure, she works for the money but she isn't going to throw away her body just for more cash. especially to a bastard like you."

oda sighed heavily from dazai's left, placing a hand on dazai's shoulder and shaking him. "that's what i keep trying to say, but he won't listen."

dazai's frowned deepened. "it's not just money i'll give her, you know. she can get whatever she wants just as she repays me equally as well. preferred for something more..intimate."

"she's not a fucktoy, dazai."

"i didn't even imply that-"

"sounds like you did."

the brunette and ginger glared at each other, seemingly a telepathic disagreement between the two men. oda only shaked his head at this.

he placed his hands on both male's shoulder's and broke them up as he could tell one of them may really kill the other.

"you two are grown men, so act like one and stop your childish antics. chuuya, just give dazai what he wants, otherwise he really won't leave."

chuuya thought over it for a moment before reluctantly agreeing. "..fine. it's not like i can do anything about it, he's just too persistent," he grumbled.

"alright, now that it's settled, let's get a move on!" dazai returned to normal and pushed oda up front eagerly.

oda only sighed once again.

--

"why the fuck are you here again?" [name] hissed as dazai merely smirked at her before placing his hand on the arm chair, raising another brown envelope with wads of cash.

"i want another show, dear. i can pay you double," dazai waved the brown envelope with a significantly larger amount of money in which where [name] eyed it eagerly, biting her lip.

"what makes you think you can buy me with money?"

"i see the way you look at it. i can tell you're desperate for money."

"you don't know that!" she snapped at the bandaged male.

"i know you do. you need the money."

"what makes you think that, huh? is it because i work here?! is it because i-"

"you need it for yourself and a family member whom you live with in a shabby apartment. i'm not sure if my hunch is correct, but the landlord demands you a larger amount of money to pay for rent. am i wrong?" dazai cuts her off, looking at how she faltered.

"i don't like you," [name] spat. "i hate your stupid tricks. will you just fuck off and stop stalking me?"

"but i'm right, are i not?"

"it doesn't matter whether you're right or wrong," she squinted at the male. "you're an asshole for taking advantage of me and i hate that. i'm not gonna blow you for a few thousand yen."

dazai seemed to have not been paying attention or just completely dismissed it changed the subject. "i wonder why a lot of people have been calling me an asshole lately."

"oh really? i wonder why." was [name]'s snarky reply.

"well, you don't have to blow me. you can just do what you did yesterday."

"what i did yesterday?"

dazai nodded, humming as he waited for her response.

the woman stayed silent, debating whether or not to agree to fulfill his request. she heaved a sigh, (something oda has been doing lately since he and dazai went there the other night) running a hand through her [h.c] locks.

"how much do you have then?"

"five hundred sixty-five thousand."

her eyes widened a fraction. "you're willing to pay me that much money for a measely lap dance?"

"i can miss the money, you need it for yourself."

"stop treating me like i'm pathetic and in need of help from a higher-up like you. i can work for my own money! and we especially don't need your sympathy!"

"i'm not pitying you. it's called kindness," dazai raised a brow. "what's wrong with it?"

"everything." she growled.

dazai stared at her for the longest time, never breaking their eye contact.

[name], who grew tired of their stare off, rolled her eyes and snatched the brown envelope aggressively. "listen, i'm not taking this because i need it or because i'm a whore who just throws herself at men," she narrowed her eyes. "i'm taking it because i want to, got it?"

dazai only hummed before he was dragged back to the place he and [name] were the night before.

"let's just get this fucking over with."

--

it became a regular thing.

dazai would double up the amount of money he'd pay [name] with each time he'd drop by. the money kept the female on a leash, confirming his suspicions of her desperate need for cash.

he'd try to convince her to go home with him every time, and every time she'd refuse. dazai doesn't understand. he had a nice place and he was filthy rich, though he knows she isn't a gold digger, but why?

he wanted to know why she refuses to go home with him and his question was answered when he had ran into her in the mall.

he was hurrying to buy a suit for an upcoming celebration for his company's twenty-forth year anniversary. he was just walking around calmly around the mall before a child with black and white hair ran into him, making him stumble back.

"omph--!" the child let out a small disgruntled noise before looking up at dazai with..the most strangest eyes he has seen. a shrill of a female broke the child's trance before hiding behind dazai, gripping on his black trench coat tightly.

"yumeno! where are you little brat- oh you have to be fucking with me right now." [name] came into an abrupt stop as she had been running to look for yumeno. her neutral expression turned into one of annoyance as she had spotted black and white hair from behind dazai.

she snapped her fingers. "yumeno, come here right now."

the child immediately let go of dazai and ran to [name], giggling quietly to himself. "you found me, onee-chan! haha!"

"are you hungry? here," she handed the multicolor haired child twenty five yen. "you can go buy any sweets you like for now."

"mhm!" yumeno happily walked away to a nearby candy shop. once he was out of sight, [name] turned to dazai, furious.

"do you follow me every where??!"

"no. we only met by coincedence. who was that kid by the way?"

"he is none of your business. now, if you'll excuse me-"

"i'm afraid you're not going any where, love." dazai took a hold of her arm before she could walk away. she whipped her head back, her brows furrowed in annoyance.

"what do you want now?"

"i won't tell anyone here that you're a stripper and work in an exoti-" a hand clamped his mouth shut before he could finish his sentence.

"will you shut the fuck up? people can hear you, you know," [name] hissed at dazai. "look, i'm a dancer, alright? a dancer, not a stripper. i pole dance, lap dance. i just dance okay?" dazai nods his head as he is unable to speak for it will come out muffled by her hand.

"also, do you know when to ever keep your mouth shut? people here still respect me, so don't go fucking that up for me." she removed her hand from his mouth, looking at it with disgust before wiping it on his expensive coat.

dazai turned to look at the multicolor haired kid that hid behind him earlier who was now talking to a worker on an ice cream parlor.

"is he your son?"

"what he is to me doesn't matter, just stay away from him."

"he's a cute kid."

"pervert."

"what?" dazai turned to her with a questioning look.

"i don't want you to be anywhere near him," heaving a sigh, she continued. "just leave him alone at least. you already torment me enough by working for you."

"is he the reason you keep coming back?"

"me? coming back? please," she scoffed. "you're the one who keeps coming back to me and ask for more with enough money as it is."

"then why don't you send me away?"

"i'm pretty sure you're smart enough to figure that out," she huffed. "now fuck off."

"onee-chan, onee-chan!! help me with this!" yumeno ran back to her holding two pieces of candy- er, shall say a pack of lollipops and a pack of gummy bears.

"can i buy both?"

[name] softened her expression and kneeled down to yumeno's height, smiling at him gently. "i'm sorry, yumeno. we can't buy both. you can only pick one."

"i know that, but i don't know which one to pick.." yumeno stared at the two packs of sweets on his hands, silently playing 'eeny, meeny, miny mo' between the two.

"hey mister," yumeno looked up to dazai with a small impish grin. "which one do you think i should buy?"

dazai placed a hand on his chin as he thought about it over. "well, i bet you can save a bit less of money if you buy the pack of lollipops."

"what are you doing?" [name] said through gritted teeth, disliking the fact that dazai interacted with yumeno.

"it has more pieces than the pack of gummy bears, plus it only costs two quarters if bought single," dazai made small calculations on his fingers. "it can cost you half a bill if you buy the lollipops instead since you could buy a small pack of gummy bears instead."

"oh wow," yumeno's eyes glistened with amusement. "onee-chan, he's smart!"

"i thought i told you not to go near him or talk to him?"

"i didn't. he asked me first and i have to be polite and answer."

[name] only growled at pulled yumeno closer. "let's go yumeno. i'll pay for your lollipops instead."

"no, no let me pay for him," dazai stopped the two before going to their side.

"i'm already paying with the money you gave me." [name] deadpanned.

"no, you won't use that. it's for you. i insist i'll pay." dazai repeated. "i won't take 'no' for an answer." he continued, crossing his arms childlishly.

the female crossed her arms and huffed. "fine, whatever."

yumeno walked silently with the two adults who bickered back and forth (though it was one-sided), his eyes lit up and he tugged on the hem of his caretaker's shirt.

"onee-chan! how about we invite mister.." he paused. "hey mister? what's your name?"

"his name is dazai," [name] answered for him. "call him osa, he loves that." dazai scoffed at the nickname and rolled his eyes. he'd have to live with it for now.

"osa-chan, how about you join onee-chan and i for dinner?"

"yumeno i believe osa-chan is busy with his own-"

"i'd be glad to join you for dinner." dazai cuts her off, smiling at the child who returned the same expression. though his smile curled up way too much in dazai's opinion.

"dazai, no--"

"onee-chan! please let him come to dinner with us! please?" yumeno pouted at his caretaker who was hesitant to let the brunette join them for dinner. it seems yumeno really liked him for some reason and who was she to deny the child's request.

she could only sigh and nod. "well," she faced dazai, a tick mark showing on her forehead. "it looks like you'll be joining us for dinner tonight."

dazai grinned and gave her a thumbs up. "can't wait!"

"i really, really don't like you."

"aw, i like you too, [name]-chan~"

a yelp that came out of dazai's lips signified him that he should definitely learn when to shut his mouth.

[girls-scenarios]

Put On A Show

Idol: Seungyeon (CLC)

Prompt: clc seungyeon having to do a very sexy dance with a fem idol thats very good at dancing too and there is so much sexual tension, as seungyeon develops a crush on her overtime

Writer: Admin Kiwi

A/N: I’ve been meaning to finish this scenario FOREVER and I just now finally got to it. Everyone go watch all of Seungyeon’s monthly dance covers! Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!

♡ Tip Jar♡

When Seungyeon was first approached about the opportunity to have a special stage, she immediately agreed. She’d known that it would probably be a sexy stage, but that was her specialty, and she had always wanted to do a solo stage. When she headed in to meet the choreographer, she was expecting to see some other male idol, be given some basic sexy dance (but not too sexy) and to have a couple of awkward practices before the day of the performance.

She was not expecting, well, you.

When she walked in and saw you, a female idol, standing near the mirror and listening to the choreographer, she immediately raised her eyebrows. Maybe this wasn’t going to be the type of dance she was expecting.

“Hello, sorry if I’m late,” she said, announcing her presence as she closed the door behind her and put down her bag.

“You aren’t late, I just got here myself,” you replied, turning to her with a little smile and a bow. “I’m (Y/N). It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“I’m Seungyeon, and it’s nice to meet you too.” She turned to the choreographer, saw it was Lia Kim, and smiled. She’d worked with her before. “How are you today?”

“Good. I hope you girls are ready to dance.” Lia had a big smile on her face as she plugged her phone into the speakers. “I have some pretty great choreography for you.”

Seungyeon settled awkwardly into her place beside you as another girl walked in, giving the two of you a polite nod before situating herself on the floor. Seungyeon’s eyebrows went up and only climbed higher as Lia put the music on a timer and laid beside the girl on the floor of the practice room, the girl’s arm under her head.

“Senorita” began to play over the speakers, and usually, Seungyeon would have been relieved. After all, she’d already danced to this song. But this was very, very different. She watched, her mouth hanging slightly open, as the girl moved with the beat, the two of them moving around on the ground before the girl threw her leg over Lia’s body and moved over her. The girl’s hand rested on Lia’s cheek, and Lia’s arms wrapped around her shoulders before she rolled out from under her on the next beat.

After that, the dance somehow only got sexier. There was a moment where the two of them danced the same dance apart, sexy, strong, and controlled, before they moved back into each other’s arms, rolling and popping. Finally, Lia spun into the girl’s arms and the girl dipped her, the song ending with their faces only an inch apart, Lia’s leg supported by the girl’s hand at her waist.

Beside her, you let out a little gasp, and she swallowed, wetting her dry mouth. Well, this was different.

Lia’s smile was almost wicked as she separated from the girl and straightened her hair. “Well, what do you girls think?”

“It’s, um, suggestive,” Seungyeon said after a moment, unsure of what else to say. Her words seemed to finally knock you out of it because you cleared your throat and nodded.

“It’s unique, too. I-I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone dance to this song like that.”

“Good.” Lia walked back over to her phone, looking pleased with herself. The girl laughed softly and moved to the side of the room. “That’s what I was hoping to hear. I know you’re both very talented dancers, so I went all out with the choreography. Do you think you could do it?”

She turned to look at you and you did the same, locking eyes with her. There was confidence in your eyes, and she found herself smiling. Something told her that you would be great at something like this. Despite the sexual nature of the dance, at least she had a partner who could keep up with her.

“I think we can,” she said with a nod, and you agreed.

“We might need more than one practice, though.”

Lia laughed. “Oh, you’ll definitely need more than one. But I think you’ll get it down soon enough.”

-

Your skin was soft. That was the first thing Seungyeon noticed when she laid down beside you, her arm under your head. Then she noticed your perfume and the redness of your lips, and realized that this might be harder than she’d originally thought.

She’d never had a problem focusing on a dance because of a partner before, but something about rolling over you and dancing oh so close made her lose her breath. You were an incredible dancer and she found herself focusing on your body in the mirror, watching the way you moved in fascination. As much as she wanted to match your pace, she couldn’t help the distraction she felt whenever she caught your eyes with her own. What was this feeling?

Whenever she dipped you, her fingers dancing across the soft expanse of your thigh with your lips only inches from hers, it was all she could do not to stare or lean in further. As the two of you pulled apart on the third practice, you coughed awkwardly, and she noticed the blush on your cheeks as she took a much-needed drink of cold water.

“That was wonderful!” Lia clapped her hands. “A few hiccups here and there, but with some more practice, it’ll be perfect!”

“M-may we take a break?” Seungyeon asked, a little breathless, and Lia nodded.

“Yes, but only thirty minutes.”

You let out a sigh and fell into the bench along the wall as Seungyeon slid down the mirror to the floor and closed her eyes, her heart pounding painfully in her chest. How was she going to survive this?

-

When Lia Kim was there for practice, Seungyeon could force herself to focus on dancing and not you. There was still tension in the air, but the presence of another person kept it from getting out of control. Instead of thinking about you, she would focus all her energy on listening to the choreographer’s comments and looking at her for approval. She used her idol training to try and ignore the heavy beating of her heart and the heat in her body whenever you touched her. It was the only way she could keep herself from being distracted.

So when she walked into the practice room to see you stretching alone in front of the mirror, no Lia in sight, her stomach twisted. Already, the tension was heavier than normal as you turned towards her, watching her close the door behind you.

“Just us today?” She tried to be nonchalant as she put her jacket and water beside the door. With a nod, you went back to stretching.

“Just us. She said she had something to do but that she trusts us to be able to practice on our own.” You weren’t meeting her eyes, even as she moved to stretch near you. “I told her that I had the dance memorized and that I was pretty sure you did too.”

“I do,” Seungyeon said truthfully. Thankfully, her body absorbed choreography easily. She’d had the dance down by the second practice at the latest, because her body remembered the moves. Unfortunately, her body also remembered the feeling of your body, and she swallowed, her skin tingling as she finished up her stretches. “Um, are you ready to start practice?”

You nodded and walked over to the speakers to start the music, leaving Seungyeon to lay down and wait, her heart pounding in her chest. As you settled in against her arm, she took a deep breath as discretely as possible and closed her eyes, gathering her nerves together. At the start of the first beat, her eyes snapped open and her body moved out of instinct, rolling over on top of you.

The tension was enough to make it hard to breath as her eyes locked with yours. Neither of you faltered, bodies flowing together before breaking apart for the solo dances, but something had changed. There, alone in the slightly dark practice room, the two of you came together once again, breathless and unable to look away as Seungyeon dipped you down.

You were so close that all she had to do was lean in a bit, and she could kiss you. The music ended, but neither of you moved, getting closer and closer and closer until-.

The sound of footsteps in the hall made the two of you jump apart. Her face reddened as she realized that she had almost kissed you. And you had almost kissed her.

“Uh.” You cleared your throat awkwardly, your face just as red as hers. “I-I think that’s enough practice for today. We’ve got it down.”

“You’re right.” Her heart thudded against her chest as she picked up her water bottle, gripping it like it was her lifeline. This was something neither of you had been ready for, and she was ready to run back to the safety of her dorm. “See you tomorrow?”

You nodded, not looking her in the eyes. “See you then.”

-

The atmosphere in the practice room had shifted. Gazes and touches lingered a little longer than usual, bodies moved closer, and the entire dance felt more... sensual. Almost natural, in fact. Lia Kim, if she noticed, thought the change was for the better, praising the two of you for your routine and assuring you both that you were ready for the performance the next day.

Seungyeon knew her body was ready. But her heart and mind were another story entirely. She was head over heels for you now, and although she was tentatively sure you felt the same way about her, she wasn’t sure what to do about it.

-

If you looked good in your regular practice clothes, you looked incredible in the performance clothing the stylists had put you in. She tried not to stare as the makeup artist added the finishing touches to your face, her stomach twisting into knots. She’d never been this nervous for a performance before.

Her own hair was styled so that it was curly and looked slightly wet, pinned back at the front so that it wouldn’t fall too much into her face, and her makeup was dark, matching her black outfit. So that she wouldn’t mess up anything, she played with a hair tie, letting out some of the nervous energy as she twisted and stretched it.

“All done,” her stylist said at the same time as yours began to pack up, and the two of you looked at each other. You were also dressed in black clothing, your style mirroring hers without being identical. Once again, you took her breath away as you examined yourself in the mirror.

“Not bad,” you said, and she belatedly nodded.

“We look pretty good.” Realizing that she probably sounded silly, she cleared her throat and held up her phone. “I was going to take some photos for social media. Do you want me to take some for you too?”

“Oh! That’s a good idea.” You stood up and pulled out your own phone. “Let’s do that.”

The two of you ended up taking photos in the hallway near the stage, ready and waiting to be called. After taking photos of each other, the two of you took a few together, posing close together. She could only hope that she didn’t look too awkward in the photos, because her heart wouldn’t slow down when she was beside you.

“What’s your number?” You asked as you got your phone back from your manager, looking through the photos she’d taken. “I’ll send you a few of the ones we took together.”

“Oh right, I can put my number in your phone.” Seungyeon’s palms began to sweat and she discreetly wiped them on her thin pants before taking your phone and keying in her number. “There,” she said, handing it back with a little smile. “Send me the photos whenever.”

You opened your mouth like you wanted to say something, but one of the stage hands poked his head back into the hallway.

“(Y/N), Seungyeon, please come this way!”

Immediately, the two of you followed him, leaving the managers behind with the cellphones in the hallway. Behind the stage was busy, but the wing the man left the two of you in was a bit secluded, hidden behind a huge amount of curtains. There were still two performances before yours, but the first one was ending, and the two of you would have to be fast to get on stage once the lights went out after the second performance by Seventeen.

The little area was hot, made even hotter by the fact that her shoulder was pressed against yours in the small space. As she waited, she tried to calm herself down, taking deep breaths.

Everything had been perfect during the practice recording earlier that morning. She could do this.

“You okay?” You asked, turning to look at her. When you noticed how close she was, your cheeks flushed a bit. Watching this, stuck in this tiny secluded room with you, she decided ‘screw it.’ She couldn’t keep pretending anymore.

“Yeah, just nervous.” She gave you a smile. “Because I’m very attracted to you, (Y/N).”

The music for Seventeen’s stage started as you stared at her with wide eyes. “You.... You mean that?”

“I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t.”

You laughed at this, and relief washed over Seungyeon’s shoulders. A laugh was a good thing. “Good point. In that case, I’m very attracted to you too, Seungyeon. I almost kissed you that one time in the practice room, you know.”

“I was leaning in too, so it wasn’t just you.” She shrugged her shoulders with a grin, feeling free now that her worries were gone. “I missed my chance.”

“You have another chance right now.”

Her heart did a back flip as her mouth dropped open. “Here?”

You seemed amused, giggling softly. “No one can see. What do you say?”

“I....” Adrenaline pumped through her body as she stared at you, your face only inches away from her own. Had it been anyone else, she would have told them no, not now. But she couldn’t resist you. Not when she’d wanted to kiss you for o long now. “Sure,” she breathed, leaning in and letting her eyes flutter closed, her hand going to your waist.

The kiss was soft and short, but still left her breathless as she pulled away, a thrill of excitement running through her body. She couldn’t believe she’d just done that. “Wow,” she whispered, and you leaned into her, grabbing her hand and giving it a quick squeeze. Your cheeks were flushed with excitement, just like her own.

“Right? I’ve been wanting to do that for a while now.”

“Me too.”

Seventeen’s song began to end, and the two of you shared a glance. Noticing her nerves begin to kick back in, you leaned in, lips close to her ear as you whispered.

“Let’s put on a show, Seungyeon.” There was a twinkle in your eye as you spoke, eyebrows raising suggestively. “Then I’ll find somewhere to take off this lipstick so I can kiss you all over.”

The lights dimmed, and Seungyeon squeezed your hand. Took a deep breath. And grinned, stepping out onto the stage with you right by her side, hardly aware of people in the crowd. All she focused on was you, just like she had during practice.

She would happily perform this dance a thousand times if it meant getting to kiss you again.

[alstanfordart]

Come Into My Lights

A Robert Gray origin story I wrote  a few months back. Has some fairly disturbing content in it, so read with caution.

At the start of Autumn, in the chilly, foggy early hours of the morning, the circus arrived to sleepy Derry. The colorful painted wooden wagons and elephants parading along Witcham Street drew the children of the town out of their homes to smile, gawk and laugh while still in their pajamas.

The performers clamored about the town, exploring, or posing for photographers as set-up began, including the biggest draw of all; the big top tent being erected by young laborers. Decked out in overalls with smudged cheeks, they traveled with the circus and during performances often did humdrum chores, such as tending to the animals and the handling of props the various performers used during their acts. The laborers, while not paid well, certainly ate well, with three hearty meals a day. The opportunity for travel was also desirable for many young men and women.

The wagons were sitting in a circle around Bailey Park, in the center is one emblazoned with 'Pennywise The Dancing Clown.'

Otherwise known as Robert Gray, formerly Gustafsson. He'd picked up his stage name while performing in London with an English clown George Rowley, known as 'Sad Jacques,' who uttered the saying, "Penny wise and pound foolish" in response to the lavish spending he'd witnessed while in the city. Robert found the saying delightful and adopted it as a stage name. Before, he simply was known as 'The Dancing Clown.'

Robert was born in Södermalm, the only son of Anna and Sven, both from familes of dancers, musicians and actors. His father had been known sinply as "The Sångare," and had moved the family to England upon landing work at King's Theater. His actress mother made regular appearances on the Royal Theatre stage.

The family's home life was often filled with drama that matched that depicted in his mother's plays; his father had at least three different mistresses, each having bore him a child. Robert had never acknowledged or spoke with any of them. His father was also a strict disciplinarian, often beating Robert mercilessly for something as trivial as not finishing all of his vegetables.

His father, who had a taste for the macabre, also spent a fair amount of time consuming magazines and books filled with horrifying tales of people being buried alive. As a result, this caused him to request that his teenage son promise to behead him upon death for fear of premature burial. When the time came, Robert did as asked and upon the death of his mother a few years later, set out on his own, mostly finding work in Italy, Denmark and Sweden.

It was in London where Robert met his charismatic wife Agnes, also known by her stage name Elvira, who was a trapeze artist famed throughout Europe as the "Daughter Of The Air." Her performances often took her up fifty to sixty feet from the ground, without using any net or other safety measures. The audiences adored her and she was often the subject of magazine news articles.

Born in Stockholm, she was of Danish ancestry and had come from a family of trapeze artists, 'The Flying Jensens' and had been performing since she was a toddler, with her father balancing her on his hand during his opening act.

Robert had been taken with her hourglass figure, and long light brown hair which was well past her waist. She'd been drawn to his height and striking eyes, the blue-green color reminding her of the sea. Even finding his slight buck teeth appealing. They had eloped when they were touring with the French circus director Didier Gautier in Cirque Du Nord

Their seven year old daughter Emma was a dark-haired morose child who was born in Austria while the couple were touring with Circus Renz.

When America came calling, they landed on Ellis Island and they promptly changed the family name from Gustafsson to the more easily pronounced Gray and eventually were hired by P.T Barnum upon hearing of the couple's fame throughout Europe.

America, however, wasn't all it was advertised to be, and Agnes and Robert were becoming increasingly weary with life on the road. Overworked and exhausted, at this point their young daughter was their priority and settling down was maybe what was best for her. A stable home. School. And, most of all, friends. The girl was isolated, and apart from a stuffed lion she called 'Fred' given to her by the lion tamer Isaac Van Der Berg, she had no real companions. She often spent long hours sitting in Agnes' wagon printed with 'The Legendary Elvira,' reading or playing marbles while the couple did their shows.

Derry seemed like the perfect place to settle down permanently. They had acquired enough savings to live comfortably.

Upon their exploration of the town, Robert, Agnes and Emma happened upon 29 Neibolt Street and a lovely two-story mansion, somewhat rundown-looking, encircled by patches of half-dead grass and sunflowers that looked like tiny suns sprouting around the yard. Upon talking with the locals they discover that the home is for sale and was owned by one of the wealthiest families in Derry, the Muellers.

In fact, according to the local residents, the place hadn't been lived in for many years. The last known occupants, the Vance family, had moved out around thirty years prior. There were whispers that the place was haunted-rumors both Robert and Agnes immediately dismissed.

But not so much Emma. Standing outside the wrought iron gates, she gawks up at the circular attic window at the very top, goosebumps breaking out along her skin. The window almost resembles the eye of a cyclops, watching her closely. She takes a step backwards.

"No, I don't want to go in here." she mumbles, dropping her head down, holding Fred tight to her plaid dress, prying her fingers from her mother's. The house had a strange atmosphere, like it would come alive and gobble her up if she set one foot inside.

Like some kind of monster from a fairytale.

"It's just a house, my love. Nothing to harm you," Agnes lovingly reassures. "Nothing to be afraid of."

Robert gives his daughter a gentle rub along her shoulders, removing his cigar from his lips to give her a comforting smile. "We're just going to have a look around, okay? Nothing to fear."

She's never lived in a house before. It's all a little foreign to her. She'll adjust.

But there's something about this house. Something drawing Robert to it. It certainly wasn't the most attractive and the work going into it would be time-consuming. But there was a charm about it. It had potential to be their dream home.

Robert leads his family in, with Emma returning her hand to her mother's protective grip. Once inside, they stand gazing about the living room, admiring the woodwork; the staircase and wooden beams, evidence of fine craftsmanship. The furniture was still here, as if the former owners had left in a hurry. The fireplace inlaid with 'Good Cheer, Good Friends,' and a piano sits beneath the window, sunrays coating along its white and black keys, the dust particles floating through the air twinkle in the warm light.

"The price they're asking for this place is a bargain, given how it includes the furniture and everything," Robert says as he approaches the stairwell. "Seems too good to be true."

"The furniture will have to be replaced. Look at it," Agnes runs a white gloved hand along the blanket of dust along the wooden frame of a parlor chair. "It's filthy! We can't possibly use it."

"No, just a little dirty. Just needs some sprucing up a bit. Just a little bit of love." Robert grins like a kid, his round cheeks turning up as he bounds up the stairwell.

Agnes follows, with Emma at her heels, clinging to her, her large brown irises searching along the walls, waiting to see if something emerges, or moves out of anywhere. A pair of massive hands with hairy fingers reaching out for her, like a troll from the Scandinavian folk tales the children back home told around a camp fire. The eerie sensation that this house was somehow alive was rustling within her. Every nook and cranny was just seeping with this discomfort.

Robert opens a door to a bedroom where two of the windows have been shattered.

No matter. Easily replaced.

Agnes enters behind him, leaving Emma out in the hall. As she stands, a whispered voice touches her eardrums.

Emma.

Startled, the girl spins around. That voice was neither male no female. That was not either of her parents calling her name. Although it seems like it was speaking to her through her mind. A cursory glance into the bedroom shows her parents are preoccupied with discussions of renovations.

Emma.

She stares down the hall towards the kitchen as the door opens ajar and just inside there's a miniature ball of light, doing a little dance mid-air. It looked no bigger than one of her marbles. It reminded her of the fairy stories her mother told her. Describing the little sprites as having an otherworldy glow.

It couldn't be though, could it?

Without hesitation she runs to the kitchen as it disappears behind the doorway. She stands watching, holding Fred tighter to her as the little glowing ball skips through the air to the open door of the basement, casting its luster along the darkness. As she steps closer, she feels a pull, a force, beckoning her further in. Like a pair of large invisible hands guiding her along by her shoulders.

She had to go down there.

As she enters, standing atop the steps leading down into the murkiness, she is met with a bone-chilling cold, the clammy decayed odor of the basement air meets her nostrils, causing her to cough. She charily begins to descend the stairwell, in direction of the light ball as it highlights each step, creaking loudly under her tiny feet as she reaches the bottom.

There, just a few feet from her, in a weak beam of sunlight from a nearby window, is an ancient stone well. The little ball of light hovering just above it, circling the opening. The well is partly destroyed, a rusted pulley dangles just above. With Fred still tight in her arms, she stares at it, almost mesmerized. Gradually, she starts to come closer. As she does, something moves just along the broken stones.

A pair of luminescent yellow-orange hands rise from within and cup the tiny light ball, followed by the head of a woman with her hair pinned back, her entire face illumined in that same bright color that resembled an amber gemstone. She rises up out of the well, still holding the tiny bead of light, wings sprouting out from her back. She lands on her feet with a dainty ballet-dancer like movement, wearing the same style of lace-up slippers and dress her mother wore when she performed.

Emma stares, her mouth agape.

A real fairy. An actual real-life fairy.

The fairy gestures for her to draw near. "Come." she says in a delicate feminine voice that sounds like an angel, or the most delicate porcelain bell chiming.

Emma heeds, inching closer, in utter awe of what she was seeing. The fairy sticks her hand out, wiggling her slender fingers. "Come with me, child."

Emma swallows, still feeling the embers of fear smoldering, although much of it had dampened. But a fluttery anxious feeling was still present. "Come where?" she inquires.

"Come and you'll float. I promise. Don't you want to have wings?" the fairy replies, turning her shoulders slightly to display hers. "Come and you will float too."

Emma is about to take her hand, when she sees the fairy's features up close. Her eyes are two empty black sockets. At this, Emma pulls back, an unnerving feeling starting to shiver through her.

"Um, that's okay. I-I think I need to go upstairs now," she says as she starts to back away, gaze not wavering from the strange sight. "I need to leave now."

The beaming visage the fairy was displaying now falters, her tiny mouth curling downwards into an exaggerated pout. "Now Emma, that's not very polite. Come and let me take you into my lights. You won't grow old there. You'll remain the same forever." she says grinning. Although friendly, there's enough hint of malice beneath it to cause Emma's fear to skyrocket, coupling it with a burst of panic.

No, this isn't normal. Fairies aren't real.

Then, out of the corner of her vision, she spots something moving beside the fairy, something black. Possibly a rat or a mouse

A closer inspection shows it is neither, but some sort of...thing.The closest she could describe it as is a shadow, only solid. It danced along the edge until another appeared. And another. And another. Until what looked like a writhing bundle of obsidian tentacles begin to rise up from the well. Followed by veins of orange light creeping up along the grooves of the stones, pulsing and flickering.

"Come Emma. Come into my lights." the fairy intones as ebony webs begins to snake out of her eyes, cocooning around her head and neck, slithering down her thin frame.

The pulley above the well begins to swing as the monstrosity starts to lift out and towards Emma, now taking on the appearance of thick inky tar, the fairy vanishing within. The powerful scent of raw sewage fills the musty air as the orange light brightens the well as if there were a fiery lava pit deep below, painting its smoldering gleam along the stones.

The hairy phantom tentacles start to crawl towards Emma, the fear now escalating, almost making her numb with fright. A scream is wedged in her throat, she works her jaw, trying to utter a sound of alarm, her nails digging into Fred's soft fur.

"Emma!"

Agnes' voice jolts the little girl out of her stupor and she shrieks, whirling around to dash up the stairs, the slimy tentacles nipping at her ankles. As she reaches the top, her mother appears in the doorway. Emma almost knocks her down as she wraps her arms around her waist.

"My goodness, what-" Agnes begins, patting her daughter's trembling back.

"Down there! There's something there!" she stammers, turning and jabbing her finger downwards.

Only there's nothing there. Nothing at all. No sign of the strange yellow-orange light, that menacing fairy, or the black tentacles. The pulley now immobile. The horrid smell of sewage replaced with the mildewy scent of the basement.

As if nothing had even been there at all.

"There was something there..." Emma breathes, tightening her small arms around her mother. Agnes glances in the direction of the well. The whole basement was going to take some serious work, something she may not be up for. But Robert's enthusiasm was contagious.

"There was something coming out...and I thought I saw-"

No I did see. There was a fairy, but you wouldn't believe that.

"It's alright dear. That young man was only joking, I'm sure. Those ghost stories are just make-believe. Not anything real."

They'd spoken to a local youth who had informed them it was "the haunted house" in earshot of Emma, and it clearly had influenced her into 'seeing' something.

"What's the matter?" Robert appears beside Agnes, gazing down at his shaken daughter. "What is it?"

"That." Agnes, still holding Emma to her arms, gestures at the well. Robert smirks.

"That won't be a problem," he says. "We can take care of that."

"Mhm." Agnes arches her brows as she peers down at the unsightly area. It seems like more trouble than it's worth. But if he is convinced they could do it...

"Come on, I want to go see the owners, see if we can get this going." he announces as he gently maneuvers his wife and daughter away from the basement door. He takes one last glimpse as he shuts it.

Inside, just above the opening of the well, three tiny orange lights appear, hovering in a circular motion.

After the trip to the Muellers, and despite the fact that the snooty family looked down on circus performers, the house on Neibolt was now officially the new Gray residence.

Robert, inspired by the architecture of the churches they'd seen throughout Europe, went out and immediately bought a pair of stained glass windows from a local artist, painted with bright scenes of the circus. Once installed, they filled the room with rays of yellow, orange, blue and turquoise.

This was to be Emma's room, but the perceptive child was still frightened. Frightened and perplexed. Why did nobody live here? Why did the Mueller family not reside here? What of the family that did live here before? Cleaned up, it made for a lovely home. So, why was it just sitting here unattended to? Her young mind could not make sense of the questions her parents seemed unconcerned with.

No doubt, it was connected to whatever that was in the basement.

Snuggling Fred, she stares at the newly-installed windows, the design almost resembling a pair of wicked eyes grinning at her. The image of that fairy comes on. She shudders as the sound of the fairy's voice still plays in her mind.

Come into my lights.

In their new bedroom, Agnes was laying out her mother's large old quilt along the bed, featuring a scene of men herding cattle, women fetching water from a stark blue river and boys building haystacks. At the foot of the bed sat a large cedar chest, inset with the initials R.G, where Robert kept his clown costume, made of fine off-white silk from Lyon, and his make-up supplies.

As he and Agnes prepare to perform, Robert, or rather Pennywise, stands looking at the full-length mirror. Adjusting the thick ruffle around his neck, he grins, his trademark red stripes thick along his cheeks, his lazy left eye slightly askew. As he stares, something rather curious happens. The kerosene lamp just behind him on the nightstand flickers, the tiny flame within breaking apart into three smaller flames, forming circles.

Seeing this odd movement in the reflection, Robert turns to look as the flame returns to normal. He approaches, taking the lamp in his large gloved hands, staring intently at the light as a small, barely-audible voice arises from its warmth.

Robert.

Dazed, he watches as the flame begins to break apart again, separating into the three tiny balls of orange-yellow as they begin to rotate. Robert's corneas begin to mirror their glow, the voice still speaking to him, whispering, before-

"Robert?"

Agnes is now beside him, her thin fingers caressing the puffy material of his shoulder.

"You okay?" she whispers, bringing her pink lips to his and planting a quick kiss.

"Fine," he replies as he places the kerosene lamp back down. "I'm fine."

Over the next few days, they perform a show in the afternoon and again at night, with Agnes doing her signature one-arm plange act, enthralling the audience who marveled at her grace and elegance. When the time came for Robert to do his dancing clown act, the children all squealed with delight as he did his gags, slapstick comedy and dance moves where he engaged the children in the front rows. Adopting a slight lisp as part of his performance, he coaxed one little girl from the front to stand before him as he presented her with a large silver dollar from behind her ear. The girl looks positively enchanted.

The show concludes with the two African elephants, Sylvia and Thump performing and the lions Ivan and Maurice, jumping through hoops of fire.

Afterwards, the children all gathered around Pennywise to ask for an autograph or a special trick just for them, usually with him presenting them with candy or a small toy. One girl in particular, a redheaded child with a round freckled face hangs behind the other children, waiting for them to clear away, before she approaches the clown.

"Those kids do love you. They just flock right to you, don't they mister?" she says, smiling, displaying a minor gap between her two front teeth. Robert gazes down and chuckles.

"Kids love clowns. They bring happiness and joy. As P.T says; 'clowns and elephants are the pegs on which the circus is hung.' Did you like the elephants?"

"Oh, I did, but the you were the best part. The children all loved you." the little girl replies, fingering one of her braids.

"Well thank you. Now if you excuse me, I got to get going. My little girl is waiting." Robert gives a little wave as he walks towards his wagon where Agnes is waiting with Emma, smiling back at the girl, who returns the wave enthusiastically.

Agnes wraps her arms around his neck as he reaches her. "You were fantastic as always...um... who were you talking to just now?" she queries as Emma steps out the door of the wagon, looking relieved to see her father.

Of course this meant they'd be going back to that house.

To Neibolt.

"That little redheaded girl, she really loved my performance. She just thought the elephants were okay," he grins proudly as he pulls Agnes in for an affectionate hug. "You know, I'm gonna miss this. The crowds."

Agnes simply smiles weakly as she peers over his shoulder, her brows knotting together as she studies the area where she'd seen him engaged in a conversation outside the tent exit all by himself with nobody there but a wooden barrel.

Over the next few days, Robert starts to undergo a drastic personality change. His normally cheery upbeat demeanor became more somber, his words curt. He was short with both Agnes and Emma. His eyes underlined by dark half crescents. While he performed, he still saw that little redheaded girl in the bleachers, smiling and cheering. But it was on the second to last night that the circus would be in town that he saw something that made his blood run like ice rivers through his veins, his heart palpitate.

Tucked away in the back of the bleachers, standing with the girl,was Sven. Looking as he did the last Robert saw him. The shock sends Robert tumbling from a large ball on which he was balancing. The crowd responds with a chorus of gasps as Robert stands and shouts a phrase in Swedish that was incomprehensible to the spectator's ears.

Later that night, Agnes is woken up by the sound of the piano, the same sharp note over and over again. Groggily running her hand along Robert's side of the bed, feeling nothing but the cold sheets. Heading downstairs, she sees him sitting at the piano, hunched over, his right index stabbing at one single key repeatedly. He flinches as her fingers come up to brush along his back.

"Another nightmare?" she quietly asks, moving to sit alongside him on the small bench, tucking her blue silk nightgown around her knees.

"I keep thinking of him. Since we've been here. He's been on my mind. I don't know why." he replies, still poking at the key. Agnes reaches and grabs his hand in hers. He keeps his face down, obscured from the light of the kerosene lamp that sits atop the piano.

"Your father's gone. He's not here-"

"But he is. I saw him. Saw him in the bleachers tonight."

"What? How could-"

"He was here, Aggy, I saw him. And when I woke up just now. He was standing in the corner of the room staring at me," Robert pauses, before continuing under his breath. "I know it was him. He didn't have a head."

A much more ghastly image of Sven had appeared in the far corner of the bedroom, gripping his head by the scalp, blood dripping from the bloody stump of his neck, grinning maniacally.

Agnes rests her forehead upon Robert's shoulder, wrapping her arm around to massage his shoulder blades. She'd grown accustomed to his past occasionally showing its ugly head, as disturbing as it was, but this was merely a phase.

He then violently shakes her arm off.

"Get your ass back to bed. Stop bothering me." he sneers.

She pauses and stumbles up, her visage mixed with both surprise and hurt, even though this attitude has been present since they'd arrived.

"Robert, please just let me-"

"Just leave me alone!" he shouts as he smashes his fists against the piano keys. Agnes continues to back away as Emma, woken by her parents voices, appears at the bottom of the stairs with Fred in her arms, nuzzling him against her cheek.

"Mommy?" she says as Agnes rushes to her, guiding her back up the stairs.

"Come on, get back to bed." Agnes orders as Emma glances over her shoulder at her father, who has resumed his one-note playing as the flame of the lamp takes on the form of three rotating spheres.

Near him, a thick black mass hovers along the wall.

The last night of the circus was their largest crowd yet, with it nearly doubled from the last few days, most likely people from out of town or drifters who'd received the free tickets they'd given out. Both the crew and the performers were relieved, as things had not been right the moment they'd come to this town. Technical difficulties, the people getting into arguments in the bleachers. The animals, especially the lions, seemed agitated, pacing back and forth in their cages. Isaac was doing everything her could to keep the beasts calm and collected. Not an easy task with the roaring sounds of a raucous crowd.

Agnes stood on her platform, nearing the roof of the tent, the last night she would do so. Then the house on Neibolt would be their permanent home. The circus life left behind. Certainly a positive thing given the bad turn Robert was taking. She gazes down at Robert as Pennywise. He put on his clown face and performed his act with the gags and humor, but privately, he was different. Some shadow had overtaken him. Something she knew wasn't quite right.

Something to do with this town. That she felt. The people, the atmosphere. It was...unsettling. For reasons she couldn't comprehend. Perhaps settling down here wasn't the right decision.

Inhaling a deep breath, Agnes swings down from the platform, about to perform her final act when a loud 'snap' echos throughout the tent as the swivel that was holding the rope shatters. The audience gasps and screams in alarm as Agnes plummets to the ground.

Robert runs to her lifeless body laying in the center of the ring, cradling her in his arms, touching her cheek, feeling her heartbeat slowing.

"No, no...why?" he whimpers, before he turns his head up at the ceiling. "Why did you do this?!" he cries as the Ringmaster Norman Claude and the laborers watching from the sidelines dash over to aid.

Just outside, Ivan and Maurice are pacing impatiently in their metal cages. An invisible force opens the latch of each, the two lions pouncing out as Isaac shouts, taken by surprise by their sudden escape. The two large cats attack him, tearing out his throat before turning their sights to the circus entrance, the chaotic sounds of the people drawing them in.

Nearby, a kerosene lamp atop a crate that a few laborers had been using tips over, the flame crawling towards the flap of the entrance.

Inside, the lions attack. Anyone and anything in their path. Tearing at clothing and flesh alike, the people screaming in confusion only fuels their bloodthirsty rampage. Outside in Agnes' wagon, Emma sits, hugging Fred to her as she sees through the small window the tent becoming engulfed in flames. The frantic spectators all knock each other down as they try to excape both the blaze and the lions.

Inside, Robert remains holding Agnes in his arms as the top of the tent starts to collapse as the fire engulfs it.

Emma stays sitting in the wagon, weeping as she hears the ensuing chaos, too frightened to move. Just as she decides to move to open the door, it bursts open, with her father standing before her.

Oddly calm.

"Daddy!" Emma runs into his arms, noting for one brief moment how cold his torso felt as she snakes her arms around him.

"Where's mommy?" Emma queries, tears cutting down her pink cheeks as she gazes up at her stone-faced father as he leads her away from the inferno, the lions now outside the burning tent, still attacking those that managed to escape from inside.

"Daddy, we can't leave mommy."

Robert halts, turning his head slowly to look down at his daughter. Emma stares back, eyes damp and red. There is a strange emptiness within his irises. She feels a chill travel along her spine as her heart drops to her stomach as they continue to stare at each other.

"Where's my daddy?" she asks in such a low intone that the words are barely even a whisper. She works her hand loose from his, still maintaining eye contact.

Robert only smiles calmly, derisively, his pupils taking on an orange glow that matches the fire burning against the night sky. His mouth then opens, revealing three tiny balls of orange light.

"Come into my lights, Emma."

Emma's eyes cloud over as her stuffed lion drops from her fingers.

It's only a few weeks later that the horror of the fire is forgotten. The death toll is said to be in the hundreds, however, the exact number is unknown.

Decades later, while reading about the great circus fire of 1881, Mike Hanlon comes across a black and white photo of a tall clown, standing before a wagon, painted along its sides is 'Pennywise The Dancing Clown.'

Beside him is a little brunette girl, holding a stuffed lion, a bright smile across her face.

[mirandagoing4baroque]

Field of Streams: Acis and Galatea On My Couch

Welcome to the first installment Field of Streams--in which I watch Baroque opera streams from the comfort of my own home during quarantine. We’re kicking this off with the Royal Opera House stream of Acis and Galatea. This production was from all the way back in 2009, when Going For Baroque wasn’t even a twinkle in my eye (though my father had made his infamous promise to take me to see Alcina whenever it came to the east coast). It was part of a double bill, together with Dido and Aeneas.  The Dido has not been made available for streaming (as yet I can tell), but I hope it is--I would love to review non-Handel baroque operas. 

Handel originally wrote Acis and Galatea as a “chamber opera” and it has an accordingly small cast: a soprano, two tenors, a bass. Handel retooled it a bit for performance, adding some choral pieces, but the main cast stayed small. After the marathon plot summary of Agrippina last time, the plot of Acis is refreshingly straightforward, and as you will see, a fitting beginning for my Field of ~Streams~ series. Galatea is a water nymph. She falls in love with a shepherd (Acis). They are happy (so happy, in fact, that their first duet consists almost entirely of the words “happy happy are we”). But the cyclops Polyphemus is also in love with Galatea and attempts to woo her somewhat ineptly. She rebuffs him. Acis plans to fight the cyclops. Cyclops flattens Acis with a rock, killing him. Galatea uses her powers to turn Acis into a river (get it? streams?) and they are reunited.

Though the stream is sadly offline (it was available for about a month), the Royal Opera House has been leveraging YouTube for their streams, using the hashtag FromOurHouseToYourHouse. It was very easy to watch, and I had no trouble with the technology. My one technological complaint was the lack of sub-or super-titles. Though the opera was sung in english, I was not familiar with the plot (I had to go look it up part way through), and even if you know the language, it can be hard to understand the words.

Before reviewing the singing, or the sets, or the costume I must address the very graceful elephants in the room. For you see, I may have found the root of the plethora of Handel productions using dancers. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you will remember that I’ve been observing a pattern of Handel productions* re-centering (because there were extended dance sequences in the originals) dance. Well, that trend has apparently been going on since at least 2009, because this production was basically a ballet and an opera happening at the same time on the same stage. The whole singing cast was mirrored by dancers, who for reasons that were not clear to me were all wearing flesh toned body suits giving the impression that every singer had a naked person following them around all the time.

Sorry, that last bit was snarkier than I intended it to be; the dancing was very good, and if I had come to see a ballet, I would have quite enjoyed it. (Nope, still snarky.) There were even times when I thought it was effective (Polyphemus’s raging shadow was quite menacing). But overall I just kept asking why is this necessary? According to the show notes the aim was to heighten the emotions, but for me, it mostly just distracted from them. I’ve said it before and I’ve said it again: I wish directors and conductors would let the emotional drama of the arias and the music stand on their own without gimmicks, without razzle-dazzle, and trust the audience to appreciate it.

Danielle de Niese has a beautiful voice, and is a good actress, and after Acis’ death, I didn’t need a nude woman doing modern dance across the stage to tell me that she was sad. In all seriousness, though all the singers were capable, de Niese was a clear stand out vocally. Galatea is a wonderful vocal fit for her, and she excelled in every aria. I always appreciate her savvy use of ornamentation, keeping it at least period appropriate, if not authentic, and in good taste.

She had a lot of chemistry with her Acis, Charles Workman, who I was unfamiliar with, but quite enjoyed. He has had a long career, our paths have just never crossed. The tenor male lead is somewhat unusual for Handel, and I confess that I actually checked google because I wondered if it had been originally written for a countertenor, but no, it was for the tenor originally! There are, in fact, three tenors in this cast, as two other shepherds who give various characters unheeded advice are also played by tenors, these two shepherds were sung quite capably by Ji-Min Park and Paul Agnew, neither of whom I had heard before (to my knowledge).

I liked Matthew Rose far better as Polyphemus here than I did in Agrippina. I don’t know if the part fit his voice better, or if I found the dancing less distracting than the golfing, or what, but I found his Polyphemus to be frightening and intense. His acting was particularly strong, and I was fully convinced that he was the hero of his own story and he believed his actions were justified. Polyphemus went home and slept like one of the stuffed lambs that were scattered around the set. No I don’t know why.

As I was watching I was admiring the orchestra, finding the sound authentically Baroque and extremely precise and well balanced. It therefore should have been no surprise to me that the pit orchestra was none other than the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, one of the best period ensembles currently active. The dance rhythms were clear and precise, and it is always a pleasure to hear them play. Now this is a trend I could get behind (period pit orchestras when performing Baroque operas, yes please)!

Apart from the dancers wearing nude body suits, the costumes for the singers were basically what you’d expect shepherds to be wearing. I was a little confused by the costumes for the chorus which seemed like the kind of clothes city dwellers would wear, and I wasn’t sure what the director was going for there either. I thought the set was good although I did not understand why there were taxidermied animals hanging around, but they were less distracting than the dancers, because they didn’t move. Overall, the ballet didn’t get in the way enough to ruin the show for me, but I would still love to see this opera unencumbered by dancers.

*There was an additional production that I saw at the Kennedy Center that had a very effective use of dance but I did not review it for this blog (because at the time I didn’t count the Kennedy Center that I can literally see from my apartment as “going” for baroque) but maybe I’ll go back and add it if I run out of streams.