#because I couldn't be bothered to buy them earlier because I didn't knew if my mom would survive. was a bleak time

[iviin-855]

Oh man I forgot how I like wearing my reinforced shoes. They weight like a ton and I can balance the wheel of a wheelbarrow full of dirt on the tip without crushing my toes

The only downside is that the shoes literally rip off my heels

[tragedybunny]

To Make You Feel My Love - Chapter 1 of 3

༺Summary༻

Astarion and Serafina continue to pursue their relationship as the confrontation with Cazador looms, and then during the fallout afterward. A couple of chapters that explore their deepening bond and their struggle to build "something real".

༺Pairing༻ Astarion x Serafina (Female Tav/OC)

༺Warnings༻ Angst, Hurt / Comfort, Attempted Sex

༺Word Count༻ 2776

༺A/N༻ Another fic featuring my Tav as a name character! Very excited to share more of Serafina. Thanks to my lovely friend @icybluepenguin for the beta and support!

Read on AO3

Astarion was a wretch, and he knew it. He was finicky, selfish, obnoxious, and difficult. But he also knew so much of that was because of life under Cazador. It was who he was outside of that life that he didn't know. He wasn't sure how to find out, either, or how much he wanted to. 

He’d expected it to be asked of him though, that eventually he should find a way to make himself more palatable. Serafina never did though. Sometimes it stuck in his throat like bile how kind she was to him. She never asked anything of him, only gave and gave, while he took and took, with gentle words and warm smiles until sometimes he worried there would be nothing left of her. 

It drove him mad, for several reasons. First, he was convinced that one day that fount of affection and understanding would run dry. She couldn’t love him as he was forever. Then there was the sensation that he somehow needed to repay it, even if it was never asked of him. Maybe it would balance the scales, maybe it would keep her from tiring of him. No matter what she claimed, she must expect something of him. Finally, and most strangely for him, he wanted to repay it. Didn’t she deserve it, after everything? And she most assuredly needed it. 

Despite her protests that everything was always fine and that she didn’t need anything extra, he knew different. It was ridiculous. He’d seen her going through days with tired eyes, giving smiles that only lasted as long as they needed to, and the way her shoulders would slump when things would upset her, but she wouldn’t say anything. 

Like earlier today, when he’d opened his mouth and ruined everything again.

Flowers. That’s how it had all started. They’d passed through a garden in full bloom, and words had tumbled out of him before he could think. 

“Bright and gaudy.”Inane prattle, complaining about something that had no effect on him simply because he could. He just had to lash out at something.

Cazador was looming over him, the plan already in place to take the fight to him sooner rather than later. His siblings' surprise visit the night before had spurred that decision. Fear gnawed its way into his mind, biting and clawing, ripping away the fragile sense of safety and comfort he'd built.

That didn't change the fact that when Karlach's elbow had collided with his ribs, he'd looked over to see Sera's shoulders drooping and her mood soured. How could he forget about one of the few things she’d let slip about her home. She couldn't reveal much about her past thanks to that pesky warlock pact, but there had been a garden of some sort. And he'd managed to shit on what she had. He was already terrified and he felt himself spiraling back into the thought that he didn’t know why she bothered with him. 

“What should I do?” he whispered desperately to Karlach.

She shrugged. “I don’t know, buy her flowers or something?” 

Which is how he’d ended up here. Everyone had made their way back to the Elfsong  but Astarion had excused himself with a hasty lie about needing to think. Sera’s brow had crinkled in concern for him and he felt a twinge of guilt when he pulled her close and gave her a quick kiss. He’d make it up later, or he planned to anyway. 

But now he was stuck, wandering around this shop that was an overwhelming riot of color and scents. Something about cut flowers didn't seem to fit, and he'd been paralyzed in front of the rows and rows  of them for minutes. They looked nice enough, but they wouldn't last. His gaze wandered to the other side of the shop through the crowd. Maybe a potted plant…?

“Can I help you?” A bubbly elf with blonde hair and tan skin appeared beside him. 

Her gold eyes looked up at him with such sincerity, he almost sneered. As if this shop contained some life changing secrets and not flowers.

“I…” He cleared his throat- he was not lost, just thinking. “I’m looking for something for my partner. Something that will last longer than flowers in a vase.” There, that wasn’t so bad, he could do this. 

“Of course, let me show you our selection of potted plants,” she said, gesturing enthusiastically. “Can you tell me a bit about them?”

“She, well, she… ” Why was this so hard? He felt so much for her, but speaking of her made him feel awkward and inadequate. She was the first warm light of morning washing over him and a comforting touch in the night. She was a hasty kiss after a hard won fight, and lighthearted laughter around the campfire. “She’s…”

“Newer relationship?” the elf said with a light giggle that made him want to reach for a dagger. The insinuation that he knew nothing about Sera was clear. 

“What does it matter anyway,” he hissed, drawing looks from the other patrons. 

The girl was thrown off balance by his sudden aggression and her gleaming smile faltered. “It might help to pick out something she’d like, but you’re free to browse for a while.” Turning away, she disappeared into the crowd, leaving him to fend for himself.

He almost went after her, but stubborn pride rooted him to the spot. With resolve, he eyed the shelves in front of him. Rows of bright-colored, glazed pots gleamed in the sunlight streaming in from the large shop window. Inside each one, a scrap of greenery he knew nothing about. Many had small blooms, some sported colorful leaves, and none of them were the right thing.

He began to sink into despair. This whole thing had been a stupid, impetuous idea. “Buy her flowers.” Apparently he couldn't even figure out the most basic of gifts for her. He'd just head back to the Elfsong, empty-handed, another day the scales between them were left uneven. If he just left now, it would be less time wasted. 

Just as he turned to go, it caught his eye. A delicate plant in a pot glazed in the colors of twilight, with a few small, blue blossoms. He stepped closer, drawn to it. The rich blue was the same color as Sera's eyes, he was sure of it. But it was tiny, like it would hardly survive the trip across town if the wind picked up. 

“Find something?” The irritating clerk was back, somehow having snuck up on him.

“That one,” he pointed. 

“Oh, the little forget-me-not!” 

Astarion cringed at the name as she reached for it. 

“Do you know the origin of it?” 

Of course not. It was a flower and before now, he wasn't exactly able to frolic in the sun and enjoy them. And it wasn’t like they were part of Cazador’s decor scheme. 

“No,” he said through gritted teeth, sure he was about to hear it. He should have just stolen it. 

“Humans didn’t come into being until long after elves. During those times, elves only coupled with one another, only knew lovers that would live as long as they did. But, eventually, an elven man met a human woman, and they fell deeply in love. The elf stayed by her side, even as she grew old and died, having only lived a fraction of his life. He buried her in winter and when he returned to her grave in the spring, he found these beautiful blue flowers had grown up over it. They were nothing like anything that anyone had ever seen before. They spread from her grave throughout the land, so that wherever he went, he was reminded of her. In that way, they earned the name forget-me-not. What a beautiful tragedy- a love so true, but one will live without the other for so long.” She sighed dreamily after she finished. 

Astarion swallowed the lump in his throat. “Right, well, that's lovely and all, but I have somewhere to be.” 

The elf huffed and silently led him back to the counter. He'd pay double if it meant she'd let him go without more chatter. 

“Oh, one more thing,” she said, taking his money, “this can be planted outdoors. Perhaps if you and your lady love have a place of your own someday.” 

Those words swirled around and around in Astarion’s mind as he gingerly carried the little plant back through the streets to the Elfsong. “A place of their own.” As if that was something he could even begin to aspire to. But why not? Why couldn’t he and Sera have a home of their own, and a  happy, beautiful life? Because that wasn’t him. Who would want a vampire for a neighbor? And why would she want a lifetime with one?

He took a deep breath and tried to silence those thoughts. Sera loved him. He knew that was true, even when it was hard to remember. He just had to keep it that way. His eyes glanced down to the plant nestled in his hands. It seemed a silly gesture in that light, a plant in exchange for her love. The whole thing was a bad idea. 

He should have done better. 

When he finally made it back, the rest of the group was eating dinner in the raucous common room of the inn. He’d never admit it, but sometimes he missed the quiet nights under the stars. For two hundred years, he’d known this type of hustle and bustle; its opposite had grown on him. Not to mention, it had given the two of them so many calm nights to get to know each other. A thought that caused his chest to tighten; he’d thrown so many of those nights away with his “perfect plan”, time he’d never get back. 

Cutting through the fringes of the room, he avoided the group, not wanting a public display of what was likely the most ridiculous gift he could have thought of. Natural stealth let him blend into the crowd and slink his way to the stairs. Bad luck put Jahiera right in front of him. 

“Bat pup, what are you up to, creeping around like this?” From her tone, Jahiera was only really half suspicious. 

“I…”  He glanced down at the plant his hands were protectively wrapped around. 

Jahiera’s gaze followed his. “I never took you as one for greenery, Astarion.” 

“It’s not for me, ” he blurted, cringing inwardly. What if she told someone? All of them? Would they get a laugh out of the vampire trying to play the lover?  

She lifted an eyebrow and smiled a small, knowing smile. “I see. Should I let her know you’re waiting upstairs?” 

For some reason lately, Jaheira had started to behave with the infuriating air of someone older, and wiser around him, despite the fact that  he had years on her. It was almost maternal in a way, and usually grated on him to no end. But today, he was quietly relieved to have her step in.

 “If you must interject yourself.” He shrugged, struggling to put the mask of calm indifference back on. 

“I think I will let the attitude slide for tonight, Astarion. Mayhaps tomorrow I will box your ears for it.” 

He opened his mouth  to snap back at her but she cut him off. 

“And I’ll expect a thank-you when it’s all said and done.” 

“Yes, Mother,” he sighed dramatically and began to walk away. 

As soon as he was sure he was out of sight, he hurried his pace, not wanting to be caught out in the hallway when Sera came upstairs. With the door to the common room shut behind him, he took up position in their shared corner. Two beds and a folding screen, the most privacy they could manage right now. Another reason to miss the outdoors. Even if sleeping on the ground had been hellishly uncomfortable, the tent had walls at least. 

It always struck him to see Sera’s things mixed in with his. A physical reminder that she had chosen this, him, even after his confession. And it gave him hope that she would keep choosing that way. 

“Astarion, you wanted to see me?” Her voice interrupted his thoughts from across the room. 

“Yes, darling, sorry to disturb your evening.” Perfect, just keep going, don’t screw this up. 

The distance between them evaporated and she was standing right in front of him, waiting for him to continue. He kept his arms behind his back, keeping the plant hidden, still doubting it. 

“I just wanted to apologize, for earlier today.” 

“Oh, you don’t have to. You didn’t realize-” 

“No,” he spat out more harshly than he intended and watched her eyes widen for a moment. Gods, why did he always lose his silver tongue where she was concerned. “Please don’t do that,” he softened his voice. “You’re always worried about my words when it comes to our companions, random strangers, and even my siblings. Don’t dismiss your own feelings so easily, hold me accountable for them, like anyone else’s.” Don’t make yourself tired of me, he added silently. 

“With everything going on, I just didn’t want to make things harder for you. But, thank you.” 

“See, that’s better, isn’t it?” He smiled, recovery made, things were going well. 

“So, what’s behind your back?” She craned her neck, trying to peek around him playfully. 

No avoiding it now. “I wanted to get you something to make up for it. It seems a bit foolish really.” Hesitantly, he presented the little plant to her. 

She took it from his hands with reverence. “Forget-me-nots,” she beamed at the small flowers that matched the color of her eyes. “They’re beautiful. Thank you, Astarion, I love it.” 

A small, awkward laugh escaped him. “Well, that’s quite a relief.”

And then she was moving, placing the plant on the table near their bed, before practically lunging at Astarion. The sudden force of her embrace knocked him from his feet and they collapsed back onto the mattress in a heap. 

“Sorry,” Sera said through a soft laugh before kissing him. “You're wonderful, you know that?”

“I mean, I do, but I could stand to hear it more.” 

“How about I show you instead?” She leaned in, kissing him again, lips parting tantalizingly. 

He wanted to devour her, to pull her in tight and taste every bit of her. His tongue darted inside her mouth, eliciting a soft moan. 

Ice ran up his spine, and he felt himself go rigid.

She pulled back and looked at him with concern. “Is it too much?” 

The hells take his traitorous body. “No, I-I want to try. Please.” He bit back a growl of frustration. It killed him to want her this bad and to have the only thing stopping him be himself.

“Alright.” 

She'd barely answered before he was pushing her back to the mattress by her shoulders and crawling between her legs.

He covered the exposed flesh of her neck with soft nips, fangs barely raking the skin. One hand found its way under her shirt, groping at her pebbled nipple. 

Whimpering, her hips bucked against his, the sweetest pressure on his hardening cock. He groaned against her skin, both hands now pushing her shirt up, exploring her soft curves. 

Head tilted to the side, she offered without words that delicious nectar he could never resist. Fangs burrowed into their favored spot and bliss filled his mouth.  

Fingers tangled into his curls as he rutted against her. Her tongue lapped at the shell of his ear before she moaned his name.  She was lost in him. Like a thousand others before her…

He froze, the world around him going hazy. 

“Astarion,” she called to him softly.

“I can't,” he gasped, hot shame washing over him. Sera wasn't just another one of them, it shouldn't be like this. “I'm sorry.”

Gentle hands guided him to the mattress, arms enfolding him, so his head was buried in her neck. “Hush,” she kissed his forehead. 

Neither said anything further about it, there wasn't need. He knew she didn't expect it of him, and she knew he had needed to try.  

“Drink if you want,” she whispered, stroking his hair. 

Gods, he loved her, even if he wasn't sure he'd ever told her properly how much. He bit back into the open wounds and drank lazily, eyes drifting to the bedside table and the little plant. Maybe there would be a someday with a place it could bloom outside, a place they both called home. 

Tag list:

@micropoe10  @writingmysanity @mxxny-lupin @azu21

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@bambamwolf87 @fayeriess @lumienyx @lisrelly

@elora-the-slutty-songstress @bhaalbaaby @spacebarbarianweird

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[writing-bakugo]

Working on a Kirishima fic and have no direction so thought I'd share my biggest headcanon that I've been keeping secret but can't anymore because its TOO good.

Kirishima's Significant Other

Everything weighed him down. Yes, he had his dream job. Yes, he worked close with his friends. Yes, he saved people.

But no one told him how lonely being a pro would be.

Kirishima was trying his hardest. He truly was. But after the third dead person he couldn't save in a single week? It was no secret his smile had started to shrink when he wasn't working and his shoulders slumped more and more.

Of course he did what he could. He was a good man and went to therapy every week and did exactly as the therapist recommended. He even did service projects where he would go help cook or clean at orphanages or homeless shelters.

But no one warned him being a pro would be like this. There was no preparation for the weight that pros carried on their shoulders. And it didn't matter that he was alone.

Kirishima was so terribly alone. After watching all his high school friends get married one after another—even Bakugo, the most unstable man in existence—Kirishima wondered what was wrong with him.

It's not like he didn't have a plethora of fans dying to date him. But none of them lit so much as a spark under him. It wasn't their fault, he just...wasn't interested.

But maybe if he had someone waiting at home for him the weight wouldn't be so bad. If he had a home to come home to, maybe the stress could melt away and he'd finally relax.

His weeks had a routine to them. Monday-Wednesdays were patrol days, Thursday was his day off, Friday-Sundays he was on call. Which he tended to get called in.

So that left Thursdays being the only day of the week that he could do his laundry, clean his kitchen (like his mother taught him), buy groceries, meal prep (Kirishima has a strict diet), and go to therapy.

Hectic, methodical life. Always in motion but never participating. So Kirishima dragged himself to the store and unsurprisingly was swarmed by fans who wanted his autograph.

One even had the gall to ask for his number. She looked like she was in middle school.

And then he was finally in the frozen food section searching for frozen chicken. He always bought the same brand, same packaged chicken. Not for any particular reason, but because it was easy to remember with the bright red logo.

He tossed the last bag in his basket and made to leave when you appeared and frowned at the empty freezer. You wore loose mom jeans and a plain t-shirt with purple stains on it. Your hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and you didn't even bother with makeup.

When you noticed him, you smiled. "You got the last one! Lucky!"

"Oh yeah," Kirishima said and watched you scan the freezer for a replacement. "Do you want it?"

"Huh? No! That's yours! I couldn't!"

"Here." He held it out like some sort of treaty before you shook your head and he laughed. "I insist."

"I suppose if you insist," you said and took the bag. "Thank you! Do you need help finding more?"

"I'm not too worried about it," Kirishima said before reaching into the freezer for ground beef.

You slightly bowed before you went on your way. A few years earlier, Kirishima had a pretty good meal plan surrounded by beef, so he figured he could change it up a bit a make his old recipes.

When he stood in the checkout line, he saw you two registers down. You bowed slightly and apologized before pointing at a cake mix. The cashier set it to the side and Kirishima's eyes widened. Did she not have enough for a cake mix?

The register opened and he turned away, letting the person behind him go before he rushed to the baking aisle and grabbed a cake mix. He didn't really know what he was doing, but it was his hero's duty. And who knew? It could be your birthday or something and you really wanted a cake.

When he checked out, he looked through the doors and wondered if you'd gone far. Kirishima rushed the cashier before he grabbed his three bags and ran out the door.

There you were. You were struggling with putting your bags on the back of a bike and Kirishima grinned when he came over.

"Sorry, I noticed you wanted one of these, so..."

Your eyes widened. "How...thank you." You bowed deeply. "Thank you."

"Yeah, no biggie."

The next week passed. And the next. He didn't see you at the grocery store either times. But, third time's a charm when you appeared and pulled out a bag of frozen chicken.

"Looks like there's enough for both of us, huh?" Kirishima asked when he put a bag in his basket.

"Oh hey! How are you?" You asked. "Thank you so much for the cake, by the way. I didn't know what to do. It was my baby boy's birthday and I wanted to make it special but money's tight right now."

Baby boy. Kirishima stared at you with a drooped smile. He noticed orange stains on your pink shirt and your hair was disheveled like it'd been pulled and of course he would think about someone who already had a family. How embarrassing.

But just like him, honestly.

"No big deal," he halfheartedly said.

You sighed. "Seriously, you were a lifesaver. After his dad skipped town three years ago, it's been so hard."

Wait. Kirishima gawked. "What?"

"Yeah," you deflated and stared at the ground. "My ex went crazy one day and said he wanted nothing to do with us. I'm happy my boy wasn't old enough to remember him or any of it, but jeez. He's five now but I don't even know how men shave. Like do you do just your face or is there other parts of the body? Or even attempting to explain puberty," you shuddered, "and who's going to teach him to tie a tie? And—I'm sorry. You don't want to hear about all my woes!"

Kirishima didn't know why he went home that night relieved that your ex had left. He also didn't know why he was imagining your kid over and over and he didn't know why he found himself standing in the frozen meat aisle just waiting for you to show up on the next Thursday.

And when you did, Kirishima held a bag of frozen chicken out for you and cleared his throat. "Do you want to go out sometime?"

‧˚₊•┈┈┈┈୨୧┈┈┈┈•‧₊˚⊹

I 10000000000% see Kirishima being the kind to fall in love with someone with a kid and 1000000000000% adopt the kid. He'd make the PERFECT adoptive dad. Totally the kind of man who'd say "no it's not your kid it's MY kid." 1000000000% ya'll

[winxanity-ii]

FOXED IN [1/2]

ship: fem!fennec fox!reader x various!beastar warnings: non-explicit ( maybe cursing/profanity; sorry y'all I gotta loose mouth) word count: 1.7k a/n: heheh, I got back into beastars so idk might dabble with this more in a full fic way, we'll see I got so many running in my head 🤣😩

★·.·´🇧‌🇪‌🇦‌🇸‌🇹‌🇦‌🇷‌🇸‌ 🇲‌🇦‌🇸‌🇹‌🇪‌🇷‌🇱‌🇮‌🇸‌🇹‌`·.·★

The summer sun was hot as it shone down, beating relentlessly on the over-crowded public pool.

You sucked your teeth in annoyance, shifting on the edge of the pool where you'd been perched for what felt like an eternity.

Kids ran wild, yelling and splashing without a care, their tiny feet pounding on the slick concrete, almost slipping every time they turned a corner too sharply.

You couldn't help but flinch each time one of them ran too close, kicking up water that sprayed in your direction.

The constant nudging and the unending splashes were starting to grate on your patience.

You felt droplets of water continuously flicked onto your legs, each one colder than the last, and it took everything in you to not growl under your breath.

You were here because you'd bitten your tongue earlier and agreed to babysit your niece and nephews while your sister went grocery shopping. Free of charge, might you add.

It wasn't even that she asked nicely—it was more like you felt the weight of her tired eyes and the desperation in her voice, and before you knew it, you found yourself nodding and watching her rush out the door.

The one thing that made it bearable was the promise of her buying your little snack list as payment, but the longer you sat there, the more those snacks seemed not worth it.

The sound of another big splash brought you back to the present, a wave of water washing up over your legs, some of it splattering onto your shorts.

You sucked your teeth again, this time louder, and decided you'd had enough.

"Yup, I'm about to dip," you muttered to yourself, pushing off the pool's edge.

You weaved your way toward the crowded pool chairs, squeezing through the narrow paths between towels and bags until you made it to your family's little space.

Your aunt was watching from under an oversized sun hat, and one of your nieces sat beside her, eyes glued to your phone screen as some YouTube video blared.

"Hey, sweetheart, can you hand Tee-Tee her phone real quick?" you called out, trying to keep your voice as gentle as possible despite your growing irritation.

The little girl looked up, blinking at you, and then obediently handed the phone over.

You smiled at her, genuinely happy she listened.

She was one of the good ones, you thought sourly, the kind of kid that didn't make you want to rip your hair out. If it had been any of the others, they probably would've thrown the phone into the pool in a fit of rage.

With the phone in hand, you quickly shot off a message to your sister:

𝐋𝐈𝐋 𝐒𝐈𝐒 Sorry, too many kids around, my ass is starting to itch. Deuces.

You didn't even bother waiting to see if she'd read it. Whatever she had to say, it could wait until you were far, far away from the chlorine and chaos.

Pocketing your phone, you told your aunt and niece bye, promising you'd see them tomorrow for family dinner.

Your aunt waved you off absentmindedly, ogling at some shiftless, buff lifeguard on duty through her binoculars; from where she got them, you had no fucking clue.

You rolled your eyes, grabbed your stuff, and began making your way out.

A moment later, you were nudged by a running kid, and you nearly fell into the pool but caught yourself just in time.

You called after the child, "Slow the hell down, you fucking crotch goblin!" huffing before turning back to leave, only to slip on someone's wet croc and fall backward into the pool.

The cold water hit you like a slap. For a second, everything was a blur of chlorine and light refracting through the surface.

But what should have been a normal kick and push back up to the surface was delayed, not only by the overcrowded surface but by your waterlogged bag tugging you down, dragging you deeper.

You opened your eyes underwater, the sharp sting of chlorine burning them instantly. Panic set in as you struggled to pull off your bag, your arms flailing in the heavy water.

Your lungs burned, screaming for air, and you kicked harder, almost breaking the surface, almost tasting the chlorine-soaked air.

But the chaos above—the kicking legs, the waves—pushed you back down, the pressure growing in your chest.

The muffled shouts and splashes from above seemed distant, distorted by the water, like you were in some other dimension entirely.

The pressure on your chest grew, the heavy weight of your bag pulling you deeper, and you kicked harder, desperate to reach the surface.

But no matter how hard you fought, the surface seemed just out of reach—so close, yet the world above felt like it was slipping away.

The chlorine-soaked water filled your senses, sharp and chemically, burning the back of your throat as panic set in. You thrashed, trying to tear off your bag, your arms sluggish and heavy.

And just when your vision began to blur with darkness, something changed.

The water's cold grip vanished.

Your lungs didn't burn. The pressure in your chest evaporated.

You blinked...

... and opened your eyes.

The light came back.

The sound, taste, smell, and touch—it all came back.

The sound hit you first—not muffled and distorted anymore, but sharp and loud. The blare of honking horns, the distant buzz of conversations, the whoosh of a passing bus.

Your eyes adjusted to a new scene, sunlight flickering through tall buildings instead of the pool's glistening surface.

You were on the curb, your body pressed against warm pavement that was a far cry from the frigid pool water.

The smell of chlorine had been replaced with something foreign—a mix of gasoline, hot asphalt, and street food.

Your damp skin clung uncomfortably to the fabric of your clothes, but it wasn't the soggy, heavy sensation of being underwater.

It was just... hot. Sweaty. Real.

You blinked again, trying to take everything in—the movement, the noise, the overwhelming presence of this place.

A yellow cab zipped by, honking loudly at a pedestrian. Your head jerked back, face scrunching up in confusion.

A cab?

The air here was different too—thick with city smells, far from the sharp, sterile bite of chlorine.

The ground beneath you wasn't cool and slick like the pool's edge; it was rough, heated by the sun, and every nerve in your body screamed that something was wrong.

Your eyes scanned the scene around you. The towering buildings, the bustling people, the blur of colors as everyone moved with purpose.

Okay... this is definitely not the pool.

A strange sinking feeling began settling in your stomach.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you like that, didn't see you there, haha!" a voice cut through your thoughts.

You looked up, your eyes focusing on the person in front of you—a blond boy, maybe in his late teens. He had warm, honey-brown eyes that seemed to glint playfully in the sunlight, and honestly, he was kind of cute.

The way his eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled made him look approachable, even charming.

But what made you falter were the two fluffy ears on top of his head—golden Labrador ears.

He was dressed in casual clothing and spoke with a friendly smile, as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

You stared at him for a moment, trying to understand what you were seeing.

At first, your instinct was to put as much distance between you and the strange hybrid Labrador in front of you as quickly as possible. But you hesitated, not wanting to make a scene.

Your mind raced, trying to calculate if you could get away without drawing attention—maybe find the nearest phone booth and dial up the US' Area 51 unit or something.

Instead, you gave—what you hoped—was a sweet smile, saying, "No worries, I'm fine." All those years laboring away as a server had finally paid off in moments like this.

It seemed to work because the Labrador's tail began wagging happily from side to side, his whole demeanor brightening. "Oh man, I'm so glad you're okay! You really took quite the tumble there," he said with a nervous chuckle. "Here, let me help you up," he added, reaching out a hand.

Before you could even decline, the dog-boy easily picked you up, cradling you in one arm like you weighed nothing.

Wait...

Horror struck you as you realized just how small you were compared to the hybrid-man.

You were nearly three times smaller than him. His arm felt like a steel beam against your back, and his strength was undeniable, his tail wagging all the while.

The man's golden Labrador ears fell slightly, his tail going still as he noticed your horrified expression at being picked up.

He hastily apologized, setting you down as gently as possible, his face flushed. "Oh geez, I'm really sorry about that. It's just—second nature, you know? My roommate's a fennec fox, and he's always needing a hand," he rambled, clearly nervous.

His words were abruptly cut off when you heard someone call out, "____!"

Your ears twitched, and your head swiveled towards the sound. The voice was a bit deep, carrying a warmth.

Before you knew it, a small tan figure dashed over and crashed into you in a tight hug. The impact almost knocked the breath out of you, but the boy's jolly laughter softened the surprise.

"I missed you so much, cuz! I can't believe you finally transferred to Cherryton!" he exclaimed, excitement radiating off of him.

When he pulled back, you took in the sight of a cute, tan boy. He had dark, curly hair, and his crooked teeth were visible as he smiled broadly. On top of his head were two large light brown ears, twitching slightly.

You blinked, staring at him, unsure how to react.

Then, your gaze drifted over his shoulder, taking in the numerous human-animal hybrids walking around as if everything was normal.

Slowly, your eyes lowered to your own figure, and you finally noticed—felt—a small, rhythmic thump against the back of your upper thighs.

Turning your head slightly, you saw a small black tail.

What the fuck...

[lapeaudelamemoire]

Haven't blogged in a while and now that I started by posting two text posts I suddenly feel like saying a little more.

Deleted Instagram on my phone a few days ago because something was wrong with it and I couldn't get it to work. Normally I would have simply uninstalled and reinstalled but after uninstalling it I just decided to leave it. Without telling anyone or saying anything. The ability to just do that has honestly been one of the reasons I don't think I could ever mod or admin for a mutual aid account or help out on one like that. I think I haven't really forgotten the three years or so I wasn't on social media and how much I didn't miss it, its presence. Those were days with time more free. Less things grabbing at my attention. I definitely didn't buy as much, or at least I think I didn't.

I don't get notifications for emails unless they're in the Focused section, so I don't get notifications often. Almost all the newsletters I'm subscribed to or get that are for businesses I don't really ever even see. There are so many, when I went to look earlier, a little curious. I stopped looking after about 3 seconds of scrolling. I don't like that kind of touting, endless, endless touting, all in your personal inbox. Endless trying to sell you something, demanding your attention. I have enough emails from school and placement that already demand enough of my attention. That's also why I've never really bothered trying to sell things of mine - I don't want to contribute to being another person trying to sell you/people something.

Tumblr feels different too, a little, changing perhaps. As I say that I remember that the Japanese Bathhouse near me that my husband/partner and I go to is closing at the end of this year for good, after over 20 years of being around. We only started going this year. It'll be a shame. But there have already been so many changes and places that have gone while we haven't been in the past year or two. The years are going by so fast. I haven't even had time to look. I knew uni would take up my time, lock me in here in Naarm (Melbourne), but not quite like this.

I don't write much on here any more. And when I do, it rarely gets interacted with. But when I do write something, whether it's just to add on to another's post or reblog, or a text post of my own like this, those are the posts I really check back to see if anyone's engaged with, hope that someone has. It's not even so much that I don't want to but that I've been elsewhere - Instagram, mostly. It just seemed like there were more people with faces that I could see actually engaging with things I needed them to engage with, like talking about social issues. It's easy to ignore a post on Tumblr and just scroll past, but a (to some extent) captive audience of people whose faces you can see and who can see your face seemed more direct, more appropriate to making change or speak directly to, in a way, about things I wanted people to know about.

The years have gone by so fast. It'll be another decade to add to my life soon. This study has been so long. But I'm nearly through it. And suddenly I realise how much I've changed. And as I lie here in a friend's bed we're borrowing while my partner's family are visiting and staying in his room, and him beside me, I realise how much of it now is really that I've changed after meeting him.

And then the feeling suddenly of being aware of a threshold I'm approaching, the sudden line I feel myself approaching that feels like approaching being too sincere, the little jolt of that line, like electric. But then that was something else I wanted to say, too - I wish we were all more sincere. You really do have to want it enough, just on the line enough to be a little raw. I think you know when you're getting it right when you're a little scared about it; when you're invested enough to know that you could be hurt because you're vulnerable, creaching (creeping + reaching, not raiding and plundering) a little out of your comfort zone.

I don't want to just mindlessly swipe the reblog button on a post as I scroll endlessly through Tumblr, the way I've noticed I have been multiple times of late. I find myself scrolling past long text posts or saving them for later.

I love being on here still but it also, somehow, doesn't feel so much like we actually Talk to one another, the way it used to be. There's maybe one person I follow who still adds what they have to say on posts they reblog. I like that. I kind of wish we all still did that more.

It's funny because I'm terrible at maintaining conversations with people on here. Whether by chat or by email or letter. Though in reality I think, the way we use social media is exactly how we are in public spaces as a society - we pass strangers all the time, don't really talk or initiate conversation unless we need - sure we occupy the same public space together (which, really, is what the internet is, to some extent, and our accounts or pages are like our own spaces, but platforms are public), there are some people we know and nod to or interact with, like the regular shop you go to to buy something or just pop in to say hi, then the regular cafe, supermarket, etc., that are our mutuals, local shops - but we don't necessarily always talk in much depth or regularity. Sometimes shops close down or the regular barista quits and you didn't realise or they didn't say and you don't say that again; sometimes people disappear or disengage. But it's not all that different.

It's late now and I don't know where this is going. My life now is these last years of study and game (FFXIV), and my husband. I haven't travelled in years, not really, not since I started this studying, and I haven't taken pictures of myself for most of that time too. Haven't worn much lingerie in the past year, haven't studied new languages much though I would have loved to. Don't read much any more, either. Don't journal often, any more, either. But I think these are, like those years I was travelling, and busy, a time of content[ment]. I am, actually, on placement, doing what all this study is for. It's meaningful. I'm happy. Doing what I nearly broke my back to get here to try to do. Being with my husband/partner. Playing a game. Playing it with friends. I got tender, and mellow, and tame, by his side. Comfortable and even weirder and sillier. Really like a stray that walked into a bar and got picked up and taken home and kept, which is, really, what happened.

Grateful days. My gods are good to me. Answer when I pray. A kind god and the other devoted to the first.

I think all religion, really, comes down to - be sincere, be grateful. Be here now.

[slytherbun]

wildflower

pairing: cedric diggory x hufflepuff!reader

summary: you weren't too sure what to think when a new eye candy transfers to hogwarts and becomes the new seeker of the hufflepuff's quidditch team but you realize in time that he is all of what you hoped for.

word count: 3.7k

tags: @specialagentsoftie

note: so this is all just a bunch fluff. i'm not sure how i feel about it in terms of cringey and hope y'all like it! figured i'd post this anyways either way though lol. i made up the way reader and cedric met at hogwarts so, it's non-canon from the movie.

another note: italics are flashbacks! :)

it was cold.

you could see everybody’s breath in the air outside and knew it was a crime to be out and about now with freezing and chilly weather.

the snow outside coated the ground by inches and the black coats zippered up and wrapped around you only helped so much. you were the type to freeze easily and the climate at hogwarts didn't help your situation at all.

minutes ago before you walked outside, you knocked on the door to his dorm after surveying the hufflepuff’s common room and noticed there weren't very many people around. and when cedric opened the door after you rapped on it a few times—he took in the view of your body wrapped around your blanket before pulling you into his room.

pathetically enough, you were shivering in the halls even with your mitten covered hands stuffed in the pockets of your coat. you weren't about to admit the doubled up socks on each of your feet either underneath the knee-length boots you wore today.

"are you cold?" cedric successfully taunted you when you reached your arm out of the pocket of your jacket and then under the blanket to slap his arm. he hissed and glared your way playfully while rubbing his arm dramatically.

you shrugged with a smirk on your lips and he plopped down onto his soft bed. “don’t get too comfortable.” he suggested when noticing you trying to sneakily get underneath his covers. 

“what i’d do for one of those thermal blankets the muggles use.” you sighed dreamingly while watching him walk towards his closet.

“imagine having a postal company deliver the package to hogwarts? dumbledore would have an aneurysm.” cedric replied and you couldn’t help yourself when imagining the scenario playing out in your mind. 

he turned to the side to admire your smile while you were a little distracted while pulling out a coat. then he closed the closet up and walked back over, holding it in your direction to offer an extra to put over your body. you gladly took it with a smile. "thanks ced."

cedric backed up a few steps and brushed a hand through his brunette hair. not being able to help himself he joked, “can’t have you walking around with your blanket wrapped around you. your height already makes you look so adorable.”

you got off from the bed when he exaggerated with your blanket in hand and scoffed. cedric bit his lip nervously while continuing to back up before he felt the wall pressed against him.

he rubbed the back of his nervously while you held the blanket up to his height and above your own head. “i’m just kidding.” he gulped before you took it and put it over his face.

when he tugged it down from his face he spotted you innocently standing by the door with his jacket around you. “i was going to leave it here anyway. just put it on the bed and i’ll come get it later after we get back.”

while you zippered it up you noticed this particular jacket was the one that you often saw him wearing before he ended up buying a new one for the upcoming winter that you were suffering in now.

and it was longer than the one you had previously put on about twenty minutes ago so, you couldn't argue with him on that steal.

"alright.” he laughed and added with a more serious tone. “oh and by the way—you don't need to thank me. you're my best friend, wildflower."

today was the first quidditch match of the season and you were sitting at the edge of your seat in anticipation. the hufflepuffs didn't score well last season and you were hoping they wouldn't come out with last place again for the year.

y/g/b/f (your girl best friend) sat down on the stands next to you with an umbrella in her hands. you turned and looked at it with a confused face. but she just smiled at your contemplating thoughts and looked up at the sky once before supplying you with an answer.

“well it looks bright now but i have a feeling it’ll rain later.” she always had a suspicion for when it was going to rain or snow and you never second guessed her because every single time she was right.

“did you know we’re having a new seeker play on the team today? i believe he’s going to be captain too if he plays his cards right this game.” she asked. you didn’t know that.

“wait is he the new guy everybody is talking about? i heard the rumors but you know how they are. i didn’t want to take it seriously until i saw it with my own eyes.” you stated and she nodded. 

“yeah he’s a transfer i think but i’m not too sure. his name is cedric diggory though.” after her reply, you glanced around the stands to see if anybody had diggory signs for the game but with no avail you sighed. before you could respond you felt a few droplets on your shoulder. 

your friend gave you a smart-ass grin and popped out the umbrella to hold it over the both of you. “guess we’ll see how good he is.” you mumbled before seeing the players come up to the playing area with their brooms.

butterbeer was pretty popular during the winter season. many students from school usually went and got some to help regulate their body temperature and keep warm.

everybody else must have gotten the same memo because you were inside the three broomsticks now for some butterbeer and it was crowded.

almost every table was filled with peers and that’s probably why you didn’t see many people in the school. with just one glance around the area, you could already tell the divided area’s of where each school was seated right away. 

your tables were to the left area, the slytherins must have come earlier because they grabbed the back ones, some of the ravenclaw’s were off to the right, while harry and the other gryffindor’s had the middle area.

cedric nudged your side to grab your attention and nodded towards the hufflepuff area. “want to grab us some seats and i’ll get the drinks?” he asked and you nodded. “sure, could you get me a snack too if you don’t mind?” 

he smiled and tucked his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “i suppose i could.” cedric walked away with a wink and you shook your head knowing he was just humoring you.

little did you know he already had planned to get you something else even before the two of you left the dorms. it had gotten to the point where asking him for little things hadn’t bothered you because you reciprocated all of the time.

but sometimes cedric would give you little excuses when it was your turn to pay, just so he could end up paying for whatever you guys were having or getting. he always spoiled you.

"ah the golden girl is here." hermione scoffed and watched you walk towards the hufflepuff area. your other best friend was seated already and started talking to you when you sat.

the brunette from the red colored house didn't particularly dislike you since you were always nice. sometimes you chatted with her while working on a project that you were paired for. then other times you gave her a soft smile when catching her eye while walking in the halls towards your next class.

she definitely couldn’t help but respect and admire you.

but the reason she didn’t put herself out there and try to befriend you was because you were one of the girls known in school for your smartness, quick reflexes, and witty attitude. 

when people from school talked about you and referred to you as the golden girl instead of your name most of the time—it wasn’t that you were golden per-say but the fact that it matched up perfectly with the school’s color that you sorted it.

hufflepuff was known for its represented yellow color.

and there’s no doubt about it that hermione was also known around the school. but, she felt it was for all of the wrong reasons. despite not having it any other way as one of harry's best friends, she wondered if not for him that in an alternate lifetime that she would be you. 

“why is she wearing cedrics jacket?” ron asked after following hermione’s stare. harry thumped him on the back of his head and then shook his own. “why does it matter?” the one with a thunderbolt on his forehead replied.

“well it is interesting, isn’t it?” the brunette said in defense of ron’s question. the one who didn’t seem curious at all took a sip of the butterbeer in front of him.

he licked his lips, thinking then replied to them with a response. “i mean it’s not our business but it is an odd find now that you pointed it out. maybe he’s just being friendly?”

“as if! cedric has had a crush on y/n since he met her. she’s just oblivious to it all,” she paused and tapped her chin. “—or is she?” ron gasped at her accusation but took a sip of his own drink before she could hear his outburst.

harry noticed her getting riled up once again and sighed. “well i don’t know what else to say. maybe you should just introduce yourself already and ask her instead of me.” he shrugged and hoped to end the conversation there.

you knew exactly who cedric diggory was when he swiftly passed by the hufflepuff area during the game. of course, he was wearing yellow. 

the game has been going on for a decent amount of time now and he was stacking up the scores on the quidditch board—easily passing by the score of the gryffindor’s team.

cedric was undoubtedly the new eye candy for the whole school with the gasps and ‘awes’ from the other girls sitting in the stand. your friend was so busy watching harry that she didn’t catch the commotion.

you didn’t really pay attention to him to get a good glance at his face so, you thought he was just another arrogant rich boy and rolled your eyes.

what you didn’t notice was the way it was like a slow-motion love at first sight situation for him when he went by. since it stopped raining through the middle of the game he was able to catch a quick view of you. 

the week wasn’t done yet so it was possible he’d be seeing more of you in another class he hadn’t had yet. and cedric hoped you were because he couldn’t help but look over in your direction throughout the game to catch another glimpse of your face.

it was still humid outside and you tried wiping your makeup a few minutes ago since it was under your eyes now, but you only smudged it further. your robe was drenched with your wavy and half-dried hair now lying down the back of it. 

but he didn’t care what you thought about yourself because he knew without a doubt that you were the prettiest girl there.

“cedric’s looking pretty good today.” y/g/b/f voiced for the first time today. you played with the napkin in your hand while trying to get a glimpse of cedric. 

“i don’t think you would know even if he was—since you spend all your time looking at harry.” cedric was up to the counter now waiting for your butterbeer and food.

“uh huh. don’t think i haven’t admired cedric before from afar though.” after a moment of not answering her, y/g/b/f noticed that you weren’t paying attention. you knew exactly what she was hinting towards.

cedric did look good.

his hair had that ‘just woken up’ style to it and he always managed to look even more attractive then he should have. the yellow scarf wrapped around his neck was the one that came with every hufflepuff’s supplied uniform clothing.

he usually wore it when you sat with him in potions on a chilly morning and you caught yourself wanting to take it off of him and wear it sometimes.

he always smelled good and it comforted you in ways a best friend shouldn’t have the ability to.

you seemed to have let your guard down and stared longer then you should have which confirmed what y/g/b/f already knew. “i knew it!” she chuckled and stated more loudly than the last comment to snap you out of the zoned out state you were in. 

“know what?” you asked while placing the napkin back down on your table.

cedric was reaching the table and you wanted the conversation to end quickly. you usually dragged out conversation topics like this so you had time to think of another one to distract her with. but, she always found a way to circle it back around again. 

you had to shut it down before he could hear, already knowing exactly what she wanted to talk about again.

“i’ll tell you later before our curfew.” y/g/b/f smirked and you sighed knowing she would in fact take the time out of her night to find you before bed. lucky you.

“hey y/g/b/f. how has your day been?” he asked your other friend while sitting down and placing your refreshments in front of you and then doing the same with his. 

she grinned at you then glanced over at him, “pretty good i guess if it wasn’t for this weather i would say great. how about you? and how’d you manage to get this one out?” she gestured towards you, causing you to roll your eyes. 

here we go again.

you were walking down the path back to the hogwarts dorms with y/g/b/f and some others. there was going to be a small celebration in the hufflepuff’s common room and other students were trying to hurry back without raising suspicions with any professors nearby.

“hey, i’ll be right back y/n/n. i see luna and i’m going to go ask her if she has a hair tie.” she said and pointed to the curly knots that she had on her shoulders.

you nodded and continued along the path while she walked over to the other side. it was quiet for a moment and you surveyed the peaceful area, a few feet over in the grass was a small patch of flowers.

you were about to take a quick look at them before feeling someone tap your shoulder. it was sudden and you couldn’t help but quickly move to the side and form a fist. you were about to throw it but stopped when you stared wide-eyed at the person who scared you.

cedric felt awful and only after he startled you did he realize that you were looking off in the distance of the area. the way you jumped though seemed that you were quick on your feet and he couldn’t help but smirk at the new name he had for you. 

“hey i’m sorry for startling you wildflower but i just wanted to introduce myself. i’m cedric diggory.” he introduced with a panty-dropping smile.

you weren’t sure if it was some kind of joke so you treaded carefully. “uh it’s okay, it’s my fault really for not paying attention but i’m y/n y/l/n. nice to meet you ced.”

cedric held out his hand for you to shake and you took it, giving him a firm shake. after you let go he smirked and questioned. “ced, huh?”

he crouched down to pick up a flower that you were looking at earlier and it reminded you to ask, “wildflower, huh?” you met his statement equally and folded your arms together so they were across your chest to look more tough.

his cheeks tinted a minor shade of pink and tried to hide his embarrassment by ducking down and ignoring your question. instead he glanced back up to tuck a hair behind your ear and then placed the flower there.

“yes, wildflower.” 

and how could you argue with him when he was being so sweet?

the two of you made it back to the common room after an hour of eating, then chatting with cedric and your other best friend. he was sitting on the bed with you sitting next to him.

you’ve been sitting for only about a minute or so—only enough time to shrug off your jackets and place them on the desk chair between that time after walking back to his dorm.

“would you like to lay down for a few minutes?” cedric asked when he noticed the tiredness shown clear as day on your face.

“sure” you agreed and you laid down while he shook your blanket out for the two of you to use. his eyebrows scrunched together when he realized it wouldn’t make much of a difference in comfort with how small it was.

you chuckled watching him trying to maneuver it around and he glanced your way with a smirk of defeat. “hmm, seems this blanket is a little small. would you like to go under the covers?”

cedric was giving into what you wanted earlier before the two of you left and he knew that too. the three broomsticks' food was delicious as always and you just wanted to relax for a few minutes after getting teased by your friend.

he grinned watching you get comfortable after the both of you were situated under the sheets and yellow comforter. there was a hufflepuff patch ironed onto it and you rubbed your thumb over it while laying down.

it wasn’t that awkward since you’ve fallen asleep in his arms a couple of times before already. class exams were frustrating and took a lot out of the students so he took comfort in you and vice versa when there was some down time during the weekends throughout the school year.

with an arm around you—he pulled you close to the point where you could feel his warm breath along your neck. “i don’t think you realize how much i treasure these moments y/n/n.”

he spoke breathlessly and you gulped slowly. you were dumbfounded with how seriously he said that. as if it had some kind of hidden meaning behind it. “me too.” you agreed and wondered if he would leave it at that.

but you knew better and cedric never left well alone when he wanted to get a point across. he turned your body slowly with the arm he had around your middle and you faced him with confusion.

he glanced down once before looking back up and continued on with his confession while staring into your doe eyes—a color he deemed his favorite the day that he met you.

“i’ve been fighting myself for a while on whether or not i should tell you this because i didn’t want my feelings to ruin our friendship. i’d rather be your friend than not be a part of your life at all. and i always look forward to seeing you e-everyday.” he paused when his voice cracked.

after cedric cleared his throat he continued, “and i totally understand if you don’t share the same feelings with me but i just couldn’t go on another day without telling you how i—” you cut him off by leaning in and brushing your lips against his.

he moved closer on the bed, so his skin was touching yours. cedric wanted to get as close to you as he possibly could. your hand swept through his brunette curls and you surprised him by tugging it.

he never knew what you were going to do and his friends teased him that you were a wildcard, to which he’d correct them and say you were his wildflower.

cedric smirked into the kiss and you groaned knowing he was being a smart-ass. but in return, he shocked you when he placed a hand delicately on your cheek to cup it rather softly.

he rubbed your cheek while your hand massaged his curls and then moved them downwards to the nape of his neck.

cedric pushed the hair back from your neck with his hand and then placed it back so his thumb splayed across on your cheek in a loving gesture. and you only wanted him closer after feeling sensitive about the whole astonishment that still had you stunned to the core.

you tugged the collar of his shirt and he pulled away with puffy, red lips and a smile. “what’s wrong?”

“i don’t know, i’m just emotional.” you voiced squeakily and full of embarrassment about it. cedric shook his head and before patting his chest, he held up the comforter over the both of you and let the minimal cold air in.

“oh, baby it’s okay. come here and let's cuddle a little before curfew.”

you bit the bottom of your lip and nodded, giving him a smile in return to the one he gave you and then crawled onto him. “i think i like baby better.” you voiced and laid on his chest with your head over his heartbeat.

he let go of the comforter when he noticed you were settled and tugged it firmly around both of your bodies. “better then what?” he asked.

“wildflower.” you admitted and hummed nervously while awaiting his response. you felt cedric shake his head and he put his arms around your body so you were pressed firmly against him before he kissed your forehead.

“you’ll always be my wildflower.” you closed your eyes after giving him a quick kiss on the cheek in response.

after a moment of laying back down you could feel his chest rising up and down in an odd pattern so, you put your head up to see him laughing again at you.

“what now?” you questioned trying to keep a serious facial expression but failing when he grinned.

“guess you got what you wanted, hmm?” cedric said—referring to the fact that you were finally under the comforters and you smirked.

“of course i always do. including finally getting you, ced.”

[mikey180]

Hansung Yu x reader

Type- fluff

More coffee?

When you first took the job you thought that you'd just be a normal assistant, someone to help with paper work, get drinks, and just help all around. But when you meet who you'd be under you started questioning taking the position. It was a request from Evankhell that you help him, but you felt off about him. Shady or maybe manipulative, you couldn't tell, but there was something else to him and you wanted to know.

"Could you grab me another coffee stick?" Hansung's voice soothed over you, washing away almost all of the stress from earlier. Humming you set the food you picked up for him down on his table and went to get his coffee, not missing the slightly surprised face that he made when he saw the food you brought for him. As you get what he asked for you notice that the box is almost empty, even though it happens almost every two weeks you were still shocked by how much coffee he drinks. After being with him for seven months you had enough time to learn a few of his habits and enough time to feel for him. ' I'll have to pick some more up for him today' you knew he could take care of buying more coffee and replacing the old box, but you had started to like doing little things for him from taking his hair pin out of his hair when he fell asleep at his desk to finishing his paperwork when he did so.

Taking one of the packets, you also grabbed the kettle of boiling water and went back to his table. Kneeling down beside him you pored the water into his cup and set the coffee across the top of the cup. After returning the kettle to it's rightful place you turned to Hansung only to find him looking at you first. Quickly avoiding his golden stare you blushed.

Hearing him sigh you let out a soft breath thinking he had looked away, but as you look back you find that he's still staring this time with a slight smile and half lidded eyes. Looking up at you he takes out his hair pin, letting his hair fall and then looks away to set it on the table.

"Have you been refilling my coffee y/n?"

"I, mhm, I've just been um..."

He starts to giggle while mixing the coffee with his water.

"How many times have you done that, mhm? Fourteen times? Fifteen?" He asks looking at you out of the corner of his eye, his golden lashes framing his questioning gaze.

"Fourteen" you say, just above whisper. 'well of course he would know, he hasn't had to replace them. What was I thinking?'

"Come here, I couldn't hear you." He motions for you to come closer. When you are right next to his resting form you feel a little disrespectful from you standing and having to look down at him from such and angle. He still motions you to him though, crouching down to be closer you look at him straight on.

He hums contently and sips his coffee. "Now" he grabs the collar of your shirt and pulls you closer making you fall forward to your knees while you put your hands on his thighs to keep yourself from falling onto to him "what did you say?"

"F-fourteen" you say quietly, trying to keep your eyes on his.

"Mhm, fourteen? Now why would you do that?" He gives you an amused smile and sets his cup down while asking you.

"Because I thought that it would help." You tell him while putting one of your hands on the hand still holding your shirt, but when you do you slip a little and the hand that's supporting you slides up his thigh, bunching up the fabric against his hip. Your face turns ten more shades for red and your mouth parts just the littlest bit, but it seems to not have bothered him at all as he keeps his hand firmly on your shirt and his eyes on you.

"Did you really think it would help or were you just interested in me?"

"I - I thought it would"

"Y/n~ I don't ask questions I don't already know the answer to."

"I thought it, I thought it would help you concentrate." You say hoping he believes you.

"Then why didn't you ask?" His voice soft against your ears. He brings his other hand up to you face and gently smooths it across your cheek as he tilts his head.

"I didn't want to make you feel like you had to ask."

"But you did, didn't you? Here I am asking you things."

You look away trying to find anything to say.

"Y/n?"

His voice was quite. You take your hand off his wrist and on his chest, but couldn't push him away. You couldn't find it in you to try.

"Y/n?" He whispers, the hand on your face turns you to look at him.

"Is there something you want to say?"

"I um. Is there something you want to say?"

"Sure I'll go first" as he says that he pulls you closer and his gaze pans from your lips to your eyes before he continues. "I love you."

Your eyes widen in surprise. 'he loves me? He really loves me?!'

"You really love me Hansung?"

"Of course I do. I wouldn't play those games, especially not with you y/n. I love you, I really love you."

His expression has lost all of its edge, he doesn't look amused like he did a few seconds prior.

You lean closer to him as he takes his hand of your shirt and places both of them on your waist.

"I love you too." This time when he pulls you closer sparks run through you body as you finally get to taste his coffee.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This man is just ooo *chef's kiss*

Love him!

[tiens-letters]

with these hands, I vowed to love you

with these hands, I vowed to care for you

and with these hands, I ruined you

Childe (angst)

tw : slight gore and just pure pain

...

It was that time of the year again, going back to the snowy region was a bliss for you. Having to visit your fiancée's family was an unspoken tradition after he introduced you to them. They practically took you in as one of them immediately, especially that little angel brother of his.

Teucer.

The train ride was comfortable , the window giving you the familiar beauty of the snowy landscape of snezhenaya. It was snug inside the rather spacious compartment Childe rented out, even when you told him that you'd rather share a normal one due to your thrifty nature he'd shrug it off, claiming it that he has too much mora and nowhere to spend it on other than you.

Gifts from him would scare you as you knew these weren't anywhere cheap. Everything he gave was expensive, he loved showering you in gifts and it made you feel so overwhelmed.

"Ajax, you're spending too much." you were visibly sweating beside him as he picked out another one of the dresses on display at the local boutique of Liyue.

"I think this one would suit you better, don't you think so love?" of course he wasn't listening, placing the dress in front of you

"Ajax." you frowned at him

" I just want to spoil you." he whines

"I know but sometimes its just..." you stopped yourself before saying anything further in fear of offending him

"Was it too much again?" the tone in his voice softens as he puts back the dress, he knew how you didn't like that habit of his, formed from the first time he saw you down by the docks.

"One dress, Ajax. One is enough since you picked it out for me." you gave in not wanting to see him so dejected, he immediately brightens up as he pecks you on cheek before rushing off to a different aisle of clothing. Sighing, you sat down on the sofa present in the shop, watching the ginger decide thoroughly of what dress to buy.

But of course, your love for one another runs deeper than things bought off gold nor silver. No, it ran deeper than anything else, rivaling the oceanic depths.

"What are you thinking about hmm?" he hums below you, head resting against your lap.

"Im just happy to be visiting again, that's all." you smile, nimble hands brushing through his soft hair "Sleep well?"

"You bet I did." he grins taking your hand and placing a kiss to your beating pulse and then another and another, showering you in his deeply rooted affection. Soon his kisses reached where they are supposed to belong, those soft lips of yours and then inching their way to the sensitive spots on your neck, leaving marks only he can place on you.

Breathless and bothered, you pushed him back "The attendants are gonna see, you idiot." at least you still had some control in you

"They will only arrive when we call them , so its fine to have a little fun before we arrive." there was that sly grin of his as he continued in where you both left off, ears perking to hear more sounds exclusively for him and him only.

"You horny bastard!"

...

It was cozy by the hearth, you and his siblings huddled together in one single fleece blanket, steaming cups of hot cocoa in hand. Childish giggles and hushed stories erupted amongst you. Teucer having wrapped in your arms as he snuggled closer. Anthon and Tonia flanking your sides.

"Hey, who's fiancé do you think you guys are coveting?"

"Oh don't be like that, your siblings just miss them." his mother chided from the couch where she sat, an open book on her lap, she didn't seem to age and always looked so young that at first you were shocked to have been introduced to her.

"But mom, I haven't seen her all day." her son pouts as if he were still a child denied his candy

"Give me a break, you're always clinging onto her you know." his sister rolls those identical thalassic eyes at him "You wont die if you go a day without her."

"Listen here you little---"

"Ajax." you interjected, as much as you enjoy the siblingly banter of theirs, you cant have them going at each other with offensive words. His pleading gaze aimed at you as he practically begged for you both to go home.

"Please?"

"After I put Teucer to bed." you sighed, standing up with the youngest in your arms

"Seriously this guy." his sister groaned "I was having a good time."

"Tonia dear, we can continue our conversations tomorrow." you winked at her, it was a promise

"Fine."

Both of you bid farewell to his mother and made your way towards Teucer's room and tucking him in.

"Happy?" you turned to your fiancée, a narrowed look in your eyes as he grinned beside you

"Of course, sweetheart!" he pecked your lips as he pulled you closer

"Can you not do it in Teucer's room? Have some shame." his siblings' comments were endless, this time it was from his older brother.

"That's why were going home." Childe picked you up as you made a surprised yelp making the other party roll his eyes "Also, get ready to lose tomorrow brother. I'm getting that white deer for my lady."

"I'm looking forward to it."

The walk was short towards Childe's home as he preferred living alone. It was a grandiose manor and you were sure you will never get used to how big it was and filled with such furnitures of the finest quality.

"Well, how was your day darling?" you hummed, arms snaking around his neck

"Oh you wouldn't believe it."

...

It was there.

You felt it in the cold breeze that wafted into the room.

A shift in the flow of the wind, it was different yet familiar at the same time. Leaving the window open as the harsh temperatures of the night climbed and crawled inside. The curtains danced in the turbulent current of the gale, carrying songs only you could hear. Songs that made mountains tremble and build civilizations at the same time.

there was something foreboding, something terrifying and something heavy and dark that devoured anything in its path.

You heard him first before he came in through those doors, that tousled ginger hair of his caked with melting snowflakes in the warm glow of the lamps. His rugged appearance caused by the hunting competition between him and his older siblings induced his worn out state. That soft yet jaded smile of his was what welcomed you as he trudged inside the bedroom, lazily discarding his clothes on the basket for dirty laundry and entering the bathroom for a quick shower.

"why is the window open? " he asks you, sliding inside the warm covers

"I just wanted fresh air ." you smile as you shut the windows and pull the blinds enough for you to see the moon that hung above the sky. Joining him under the covers, you cradled him, his head resting on the crook of your neck. Your hands finding their way into those soft locks of his , entangling them as he hummed softly against you. Those arms of his that held weapons and skin littered with scars both old and new now held you close, so tenderly as if he'd never taken a life before.

"sing me a song, sweetheart. " his queries were simple yet genuine

"of course." you sang until you equated him to a sleeping newborn

It was warm, so warm that you could have mistaken it for a summer afternoon in Liyue, resting on the couch with silken pillows and window showcasing the view of the harbor below. The steaming cups of soothing tea Beidou would brew for you when nights became cold at times she would pay you a visit after trading that would take weeks, months and rarely years.

you slept.

Why is it cold? you wondered, Did Ajax open the windows?

You were blessed by the tsaritsa so such climates shouldn't matter to you.

You woke up.

A shadow was cast over you by the man youve sung to sleep. Virulent blue eyes looked at you with so much abhorrence, for a second you couldnt recognize them and thought it was a stranger to which you were ready to terminate.

"Ajax?" your voice was hoarse, as you slowly lost the feeling in your lips.

He was crazed, still trapped in that dreaming state of his, drifting between experiences. Today was a re-enactment of a memory he would never speak of, not even to you. There were parts of him he'd never tell you, such a soul as yours should never hear.

You choked and coughed as the metallic taste of mortal ichor filled your throat. How could you have not felt anything earlier? Was it because of your futile attempts to coax Ajax back into reality or was it because of the numerous thoughts your mind came up with to he answer as to why he is in such a virulent state. Excruciating pain filled your whole body as you writhed and struggled under his grip. It felt as if something was being ripped out of you.

"Ajax, darling come back to me." you cried, it took so much to even utter a word as you bled out, you know not where but you could feel it. The liquid vital for your survival was seeping out of you, flowing like a lazy river on an autumns day, only that it was warm, sticky and addicting.

"Ajax?" a hiss comes from that mouth, he cringes as you freed your numb hands to hold his face and he let you, seeing as to there was no point in stopping you as you dangerously danced on a tight rope of life and death. You couldn't tell in that delirious disposition of yours if his eyes were shifting between Ajax or the primal eyes of a beast hunting its prey.

It wasn't too late was it?

But why didn't your eyes meet his?

Who snuffed out all the lights?

"I've abandoned that name a long time ago."

The cold took over you completely, freezing you until you broke under his touch with words left dying in your ichor filled lips

and then fear was the last thing you felt.

fear that he might not return to his sweet, charming self.

fear that he will curse everything in his path.

fear that he might attempt to use different various methods to bring back what was lost

and fear of his ruination.

you care not for your death, even in your last minutes of life, you dare not blame him for what he's endured so far. only wishing he never had to experience such in the first place.

This is what the wind warned you about in its lullaby.

...

Childe woke up for the second time.

Oddly more worn out than the day before, but your songs always worked, how come? . He wondered if you left to make breakfast as the covers felt empty as he reached out for you. No, you were a late riser, always having to slumber in the middle of the warm covers of the bed you both share. It was he who mostly did the cooking in the morning. So your presence gone was a displacement in the moment of his waking.

His eyes had to adjust to the view of the room as he sat up, a yawn escaping his lips as he called for you. The pitter-patter sound of the water on the bathroom tiles were non-existent as he strained his ears to hear for any trace of you.

"What..." he was confused as to why the room was trashed, furniture broken in half and strewn about the room, the drapes shredded and laying on the floor and the mirror shattered to pieces, shards sharp enough to cut through skin yet he slept through such a thing?

his first concern was your safety as you had not been present in the room and it him.

the heavy stench of blood lingered in the air. His enjoyment for such things turned into something suffocating because blood was never shed in his own home nor in his very room. In the state of confusion, something dark caught his peripheral vision. A large blemish in the covers beside him, it was dyed a deep dark crimson and he knew well what it was. He began to shake in worry, telling himself not to panic until he finds you safe. All he could remember was you singing him to sleep, held captive in your soft arms, encased in your warmth, so how did it come to such a morning that looked like a result of a monster's tantrum. He calls out for you, his bare feet on the floor as splinters punctured them and he didnt care. he had to find you.

The hallways looked haunting, the portraits on the walls taunting him and he swore he was going lose it if he hadnt found you sooner, every room was achingly vacant and it felt like a dream. He calls for your name again in a frenzy as he rushes through the place, had the mansion been this big? he thinks as he runs down the stairs.

There in the fireplace, the dying embers of fire lit from the night before, wood giving away and turning into coal as the burning smell mingled with similar stench that engulfed the bedroom, the same dark liquid on the sheets was present as well, only that it was painted into the wall and bled down creating a cascading waterfall.

Because there you were, with arms spread out as if welcoming each and every sinner for solace and blessing them with forgiveness, the drying mortal ichor behind you creating a halo. Your lips upturned into something soft as if you'd do anything disgraceful to keep the effeminacy on a soul lost to ruin.

an angel crucified.

that oh so heavenly face of yours could rival anything beautiful, even statues would crumble under you, nations would go to war for you and bodies of those who want you would turn into a throne built for you and you only. You were immortally ethereal even in death.

Ajax, dear sweet Ajax felt his legs give away, energy having siphoned from him as he trembled so much that it could rival the mountains when they shook. Thalassic eyes, wide blown into grief, anguish and all other emotions crashed against him like strong waves that could drown anyone caught up in it. He knelt as pain spread through him like wildfire, burning, scorching and killing. Agonized cries filled the room and if someone were to pass by, they couldve mistaken it for a dying animal. He gasped and choked on his own breath as he dared to look at you, the tears freely flowing from his eyes, down to his pale cheek and finally falling off his trembling chin to be hungrily absorbed by the carpeted floor that was also tarnished by ichor.

He felt crazed as he wept and in that moment of insanity, he remembered. That most disgusting sin he's ever committed that he should never be pardoned for in the life he has right now and the next ones he will be in. Through the blur of tears, he saw his hands and he wished he didnt.

Sullied hands befitting a murderer.

He screams into the ground, doubling over as his hands find their way into his hair, gripping it and ripping out those jacinthe locks of his. He could never forgive himself now and he never will. He wails out loud until his own throat collapsed into a croaking mess.

and then he couldnt find himself no longer.

The sand of time seemed to trickle down slowly. His eldest siblings came looking for him, to continue the hunt. A once peaceful encounter turned into a nightmarish reality as they witnessed their brother rocking back and forth with you gingerly wrapped in his arms, mumbling your name. Lips pressed to your forehead as he prayed and begged for forgiveness over and over in hushed torn whispers as if it were enough to bring you back and cover that gaping hole in your abdomen.

"What did you do?"

...

"Brother, when are they coming back?"

Oh darling Teucer, innocence reflecting off his eyes as he tugged on his brother's sleeve. The toy you gifted him clutched tightly at his side.

"I dont know kid, their mission was sudden so its best to wait. Can you do that Teuc?" the truth about you was kept behind closed doors, only adults can speak of and if they did, it took time to keep the conversation smooth and off of any grief nor sadness when your name reached their tongue. The younger ones would never know until the time is right. When everything was taken care of and hearts moved on. 

Your funeral was held in secrecy yet was it was grand. Something that would hold the significance of your memories with them. It was beautiful, your favorite flowers lined along your coffin, and you. Looking ever so ethereal even when death has kissed you, clad in that dress Childe bought for you. 

"uh huh!" the youngest ginger nodded eagerly and skipped away as the eldest sighed into his hands, the pressure weighing heavily on his shoulders as he worried more and more about his younger sibling. Another memory, a mind broken and a his soul withering. was there any way to save him? 

Days seemed to go by as any glimpse of the man was scarce. Until one day they ceased to see him altogether. It started at lunch, a week after the funeral when it took everyone to coax him into eating more as he lost weight  and trickled down to a whole day. Cooped up in his room, clinging to a pillow with the fading scent of you. and then he was gone, like a snowflake melting upon ones forehead. They grew anxious and thought of the worse until they caught wind that he was back in Liyue from one of the agents only then were they allowed to breathe a little better. 

"Childe, what finds you here?" the calm tone of the geo archon's voice broke him out of his trance

"Have you seen my fiance?" Zhongli blinks at the question of the harbinger, he knew what befell you and yet this man before him seemed clueless enough as to what he committed. How Childe did what he did, he seemed to sympathize with in a way that would make him understand his behavior. 

" I have not." he couldnt bring himself to tell this man the truth. Perhaps he was sparing him, spearing that mind of his into spiraling down into nothingness and a heart that was held by a thin piece of thread. "Perhaps it is better to enjoy yourself while you wait for them." 

To deviate oneself from the loss might be the best way Childe right now until his mind is ready to accept the torment of the heavy truth that would slew this man. 

"I see. " he smiles and yet it feels so empty to Childe, the reason? He wouldnt know or atleast his mind wouldnt allow him to know 

"Ill see you around then Xiansheng." 

Everything that he portrayed lacked and all he could do as he's always did. 

...........

i had to.

I hope yall would get Childe :)

[dimpledlavendeer]

Enhypen reaction to finding their s/o crying

warnings: actually none because this is fluff but please don't read if you are a sensitive person ♡

May contain typos

I wrote this because one of my friends gave me the idea while we were talking ♡

A reminder that requests are now open ♡

Heeseung 𖦹

Heeseung would be so worried for you

He would immediately pull you into his arms when he realized your red eyes and the tears on you cheeks

He would wipe your tears with his thumbs and place small kisses everywhere on your face

His eyes would get teary too

He would constantly tell you sweet things while kissing your forehead

"I'm here okay, you aren't alone, I would never leave you alone."

He wouldn't let go of you from the hug until you calm down and say you're okay or at least he sees your smile

He would patiently wait for you to tell him without pressuring you to tell what it was about

When you do tell him he would listen to you pulling you onto his lap while laying on the bed and stroking your hair slowly

He would lay on the bed with you for hours cuddling you, would sing to you when he sees you eyelids getting heavier and you struggle to keep them open, you would find peace in his arms and voice

Jay 𖦹

His eyes would burn when he sees tears falling from eyes to your cheeks

His rage would built up so fast, he would be so ready to throw hands to whoever that made you so upset

He would run to you and cup your face, pressing his lips on yours

You would tell him what happened while your face was buried on his chest

He would let out couple of curse words out of frustration

He would help you wash your face and then take you out for a ride around the city to calm you down

He would buy you ice cream to eat while he is driving and he would let you choose any song you want to play

He would never let go of your hands

When you guys get back home he would convince you to took a warm bath while he cooks for you

He would make sure you drown in his small little presents thru the whole week too, buying cute plushies, accessories anything he thought that would look cute

Jake 𖦹

He called you after practice to let you know he was getting out a little bit earlier today

When he heard you sniffing he knew something wasn't right

He asked if everything was okay and you couldn't help your voice from cracking

He would say he's gonna be there in 10 minutes and literally rush to your place because he would be extremely worried

He would buy all kinds of stuff on his way to your place whether it's food or something else

He would drop everything on the floor once you open the door for him and just pull you in his arms

He would ask questions non stop because he would be so panicked

"What happened? Are you okay? Who made you cry? How can I help? Do you want me to get you something?.."

And then he would Apologize for asking too many questions while pecking your lips

Honestly his little clumsiness would make you smile a little <33

Sunghoon 𖦹

You were supposed to meet with Sunghoon to go out today but you couldn't because you had a bad argument with one of your classmates

You left school early and just closed yourself into your room turning your phone off

You didn't even bother to change your clothes or remove your make up and you just throw yourself to bed

Eventually you fall asleep while crying

Sunghoon called you many times but could never reach you, he tried texting you to but you never responded so he got worried and a little bit pissed off so he stormed into your place yelling your name

When you didn't answer back his worries grow even more until he opened the door of your bedroom and saw your crawled body on the mattress

His heart would break into million pieces when he saw your ruined make up due to your crying

He would accidentally wake you up while caressing your cheeks and smile to you asking if you were alright

He would let you cry laying on the bed like that while patiently listening to you and when he made sure you're done crying he would clean your face with a napkin

He wouldn't tell you anything but he would probably see that one person who made you cry and make sure they can never disturb you again bc that's how protective he is

Sunoo 𖦹

This little bean would literally shed tears with you

His heart couldn't take seeing you cry

He was at your place for a sleep over and went to the kitchen to get you both snacks

But when he came back he saw you crying because you missed your family

He would throw snacks to a side and come to hug you

He would say that he understands you while slowly patting your back and telling it's okay

Meanwhile he also would get teary eyed but will deny that he also cried

He would tell you some of his embarrassing school memories to make you laugh

Or put a random song on would drag you to dance with him

Eventually you would give in to his cuteness and dance with him because you know he's just trying to make you feel better by trying to distract you from bad thoughts

Jungwon 𖦹

You went to visit jungwon while they were practicing for their comeback

But while you were watching them practice you found out that you failed one of your classes so your expression unintentionally changed

When you felt that your tears building up inside you, you get out to wash your face

When you get into the restroom you couldn't help but to shed a few tears bc you tried your best but it was just not enough

You got stratled when you heard the sound of the door opening and you turned your back yo hide your face while trying yo wipe off your tears

You heard him calling you "y/n are you.. are you crying? Is everything okay?"

"I'm fine" you would say buy your voice would be enough for him to understand

"Then look at me or I am getting inside." He would say because he isn't the type to let you suffer alone like that when he knows you are not okay

He would buy you something warm while you two talk, after he patiently waits for you to finish your talk he would also mention the mistakes he makes to show you that it's normal and he would invite you to their dorm for that night for a movie marathon

He would mention to the boys that you weren't feeling well so when you go to their dorm at night all of them would baby you, of course jungwon in the first place, he would let you tease him all you want instead of teasing you for that night and would actually do some embarrassing stuff to make you smile

Ni-Ki 𖦹

He would realize something was off when you didn't respond to one of his jokes the way you usually do

His playful mode would totally turn Into serious when he realizes you are more silent than you normally are, sitting with a poker face

He would be hesitant to come and ask you what was wrong so instead of talking at the first place he would come and sit next to you silently

He would give shy glances at you while sitting like that, honestly I see him as pretty patient person so he would actually sit there in silent like that until you decide to talk with him

His presence would actually make you feel better since he is just trying to show you that you aren't alone with his actions because he is rather a shy person when it comes to things like this

When you start talking about your day and talk about what was bothering you, he would remain silent, nodding at your words sometimes to show you he listens

He would start talking when you ask about his opinion, he would say things that will not only make you feel better but actually would help you see things in a better way

He would remind you to not be so hard on yourself even tho he is so young he is very mature

He is that type of person that you can sit with for hours even tho you don't really talk because his presence next to you would be comforting enough

[capricornwriter5]

You are the one - Chapter 14

Pairing: Bang Chan x female OC; Lee Know x female OC

Genre: au (high shool, college), love triangle, fluff, angst, smut, from friends to lovers. Warning: soft drugs

Words: 4k

Summary: Bang Chan and Jasmine have been best friends for as long as they can remember. With little time to finish high school, they both begin to develop romantic feelings. However, family situations and communication issues force them to move away. Once in college, they decide to try to regain the friendship they had. As Bang Chan sees the opportunity to finally be with the girl he has always loved, his friend Lee Know, who had been studying in England, returns home and the connection he develops with Jasmine is undeniable. Can the chemistry and attraction with Lee Know outweigh a tender first love and memories of years of friendship between Bang Chan and Jasmine?

Disclaimer: I named the character Jasmine (Minnie for Chan 🥰) because I love that name. Besides, it’s easier if we want to see Chan saying cute names (it’s better than just Y/N, I think) but you can totally picture yourselves in the story, that’s the idea. <3

Chapter 14 - Would you rather...?

Earlier on Saturday, Bang Chan had gone to buy some groceries with Jasmine, just like they always did; however, that day the seriousness of the boy made shopping an activity surrounded by a somewhat uncomfortable atmosphere. Chan used to be very sweet, that was true, but when he was like that it was impossible to be around him. Han and Changbin had seen him behaving like that a couple of times at the apartment when he had a lot to do and the two of them had decided to run away to Jaz's apartment when that happened. For her part, the girl tried to change his mood, but that morning even she wasn't succeeding.

"May I know why you are so grumpy today?" Jaz asked after paying. 

She had insisted that they have a drink before going home. It had been almost twenty minutes since they arrived sitting on some benches in a park and Chan had perhaps said two words. 

"I don't know what you're talking about." He answered without meeting her eyes.

Jasmine sighed and tried to make him laugh by touching Chan's left cheek with her forefinger. "I've known you all my life, come on, tell me what's up."

"Minnie, don't do that." He said very softly but Jaz knew he was nowhere near smiling.

"Come on, tell me, tell me. The boys played video games late again and you couldn't rest? No, I don't think is that you already have sleep problems by nature. Ahh, I know, Gina pissed you off."

"You know her name isn't Gina, it's Gia" Chan said laughing, because Jasmine never correctly told her name, and she never bothered to hide that she didn't like her. "And no, she has nothing to do with it, I already told you it's nothing. Actually, don't you have anything to say to me?"

"Me? Apart from all of Romy's fusses about Muscles, no, I have nothing new to tell you."

"Okay..." Bang Chan didn't sound sure, but he tried to change his mood. "Do you want to do something today? We've spent too much time in the apartments, we could go see a movie, or go to an Arcade Bar."

"That's a great idea! I have a lot without seeing you depressed because you lose." Jasmine's answer aroused emotion in Chan, who immediately recovered his lovely smile. He could finally be alone with his best friend, without all the guys around, without Lee Know around. "Come with me to drop off the groceries at home and then we can go to play something"

"Already?" Chan asked helping her with the bags. "Let's eat something before, we can go at night."

"You don't remember what date it is today, do you?" Jasmine's question chilled Bang Chan, for he thought it was Jaz's birthday and had forgotten. His panicked expression made the girl laugh and even hug him to relax. "Today's the dancer's talk, where you didn't want to go because you had a lot to do, although now that I see you so excited and making plans for the night, I think you were lying to me."

"Minnie, are you seriously going to that?"

"Yes, I'm going to go, I've been waiting for it for a long time. Besides, Lee Know will also go, apparently he was interested and said he would go with me. Or rather, he begged me to give him the ticket."

The smile that had graced Bang Chan's face disappeared in an insignificant fraction of time. His best friend on a date with Lee Know? Worse yet, on a date he could have gone on but refused? Already there Chan had no doubts, Lee Know and Jasmine were dating. The awkward silence between the two would have gone on for hours if it hadn't been for Jasmine calling out to him very softly. 

"Chris?"

"I didn't know you had a date with Lee Know."

"It's not a date." Jasmine clarified immediately. The thought of dating someone again still bothered her almost as much as it did when she broke up with Chan. "It's the same as going out with Hannie, or with Bin."

"With the difference that they haven't kissed you." Chan thought with a forced smile. "I didn't know that you had become so close, you even make plans for the weekends. It seems that Lee Know quickly got used to Korea." That last one sounded wrong not only because of the choice of words, but because of the ironic laugh that Bang Chan let out. "Don't take this the wrong way, I'm glad things are becoming so easy for him, changing countries isn't always easy." He said trying to fix his last comment but Jasmine was looking at him seriously.

"What's up with you, huh? Does it bother you that Lee Know is coming with me?" Jasmine's more than direct question shocked Chan, who, contrary to expectations, reacted quite badly. Just the way he frowned made it clear that he was upset.

"Why would it bother me, Minnie? If you want to go out with Lee Know, that's up to you, I don't care, it's none of my business what you guys decided to do in your free time."

"Chris, there's no need to respond so rudely."

"I'm not saying anything bad."

"I'm not saying you said something bad, I'm asking you not to speak to me in this tone. Why are you so upset if it was you who didn't want to go with me in the first place?"

"I'm not upset, Minnie. I'm just too tired. Forgive me if I spoke badly to you, I'm glad that Lee Know is going with you and that you get along so well. Really." He said looking into her eyes. "Sorry, I won't reply like that again. Let's go home, I'll help you settle all this."

"And the Arcade bar?"

"Another day." He answered waiting for her to get up so they could leave.

He didn't have to care if Jaz and Lee Know were dating, but why the hell did the idea of ​​the two of them alone on a Saturday night bother him so much, hurt him so much? He'd seen Jasmine going on dates before, and while it wasn't an idea he was thrilled with, it hadn't affected him that much. But just hearing Lee Know and Jasmine in the same sentence made his body and heart respond and he couldn't control it.

**********

As Lee Know promised, he early knocked on Jasmine's apartment door. In fact, he got earlier than they had planned, but the emotion was great. He felt like a schoolboy going to see his favorite group for the first time. Minho had been thinking a lot about that date and would have even bet his life assuring that the idea of ​​going to the conference and then seeing the exhibition was what kept him so excited. However, when Jaz opened the door for him and smiled at him, he felt something entirely new. Those butterflies in his stomach were so unfamiliar to him that Lee Know thought that the food had not gone down well with him and the girl could see how he put his hands on his stomach.

"Hi, cat boy! You arrived early. Come on, I'll go get my shoes." Jaz said opening the door more and the boy entered as if by inertia.

"Nice house, you are really neat." He commented seeing that everything was in its place.

"Everything else in my life is a mess, I try to at least bring some order here."Lee Know chuckled and from where he was, he could see Jasmine's closet. 

The clothes seemed to be in the same perfect order, even arranged by color. He didn't know if it was a reflection, but his gaze took in the reddish tones and recognized the dress she used the night they met. Immediately, the memories of that night invaded his mind and he couldn't help but smirked when he remembered how he had had the girl at his beck and call.

Lee Know remembered when he saw her enter the bar with Romy, the moment when they started to dance, then the first approach between them. His mind allowed him to relive how it felt to dance with Jasmine, that warmth he would never forget. He also wouldn't forget how good Jaz had kissed him and how spectacular her hands had felt rubbing his body. He even remembered how long he was alone in his apartment that night remembering her and dreaming about what could have happened.

"Ready!" Jaz's voice brought him out of his reverie, he already had her in front of him again.

"Finally! You took hours" He joked clicking his tongue.

On the way Jasmine glanced out of the corner of her eye at how good Lee Know looked tonight. Unlike the usual college look, which was basically a hoodie and jeans, tonight the brown turtleneck sweater paired with the dark blue coat and dark jeans made him catch the eye of every woman walking by them. Even his hair looked perfect, since that night it wasn't covered by a cap, as was Lee Know's custom.

Jaz giggled because it didn't surprise her that Lee Know had a reputation as a womanizer, after all, seeing him as they walked, the girl understood why even she fell under his charms. What she didn't imagine was that just as she was admiring him, he was doing exactly the same.

The weather that night allowed them to enjoy each other's company even more; furthermore, having left home so early, they could walk peacefully while conversing pleasantly. 

Once in the activity, the dynamic didn't change either, Jaz had chosen the most suitable seats, from where they could hear and see clearly, but they also didn't have many people close by, so they could comment among themselves without interrupting anyone.

The moment when Lee Know was most excited was with the photo exhibition, and while he talked about the angles of each image, Jasmine explained some techniques related to colors that he did not know. Despite talking all night about topics that interested them both, their conversations were full of irony, sarcasm, and jokes with double meanings, so the laughter was not lacking either.

"So, do you regret bringing me today?"

"If I'm honest, I haven't had such a good time in a long time," Jasmine confessed as they were leaving the building where the activity had taken place.

"That's because you choose to date Muscles and Han, not me." Lee Know replied with a wink. "So... do you want to do something else? It's still early." Jasmine was just taking out her cell phone when Lee Know asked her that. 

"In fact..."

For a moment, just for a split second, the boy thought she was going to turn him down, and despite the fact that they never talked about it being a date and it was clear that they only met to go to the activity, Lee Know felt embarrassed and even wished he hadn't asked. And it was that, without realizing it yet, Jaz made him feel nervous.

"In fact, I had already booked at this place, look." Handing him the cell phone, the boy saw the photos of the place that Jaz had chosen, and that was how he felt his soul return to his body, he even smiled more than usual. "I hope you don't mind that I did it without asking you first."

"Depends, is it vegan? Because if so..." 

The rest of the sentence hung in the air as Jasmine took his hand so that he would walk with her to get to the restaurant soon. That gesture was absolutely natural for Jaz because of the closeness she had with the rest of her friends. While Han and Changbin really were like her sons, Felix seemed to her the most adorable boy of all, and Hyunjin was her partner in crime in so many things that they got to be very close. And not to mention Chan, with whom although she had had to limit physical contact, she was still quite caring.

However, it was not the same for Lee Know, who was as stiff as a human sculpture. The only thing he could do was follow her. Despite the numerous nights he had slept with women, he had never held hands with any of them. If someone had asked Minho what they talked about along the way, he wouldn't even have been able to guess, because with costs and he managed to execute the orders that his brain sent him to continue walking.

Finally, when they got to the place, Jaz let go of his hand as she talked to the woman at the entrance and asked for their reservation. It turned out that Jasmine had booked a table at an open-air restaurant where there was always live music. The part of the garden where they were located had an incredible view of the city lights on the right side, while on the left they had a pond that Lee Know couldn't stop looking at. It was without a doubt the most beautiful place he had ever been with a girl.

He was about to mention it to Jaz but suddenly he saw her paying attention to the band that was playing that night and he just lost himself in her. He had time to perfectly admire her face and he was already realizing that what he liked the most was the way her eyes slanted even more when she smiled. The girl fascinated him and as much as he tried to deny it and even ignore it, he had no choice but to accept that he had not liked anyone like her. Sexual attraction, was that it? He didn't know, because they hadn't even gone to bed and there he was, drooling over her. 

"What do you think, do you like it?" Jasmine asked looking back at him.

"Not bad." He mocked, earning Jasmine to place her elbow on the table, and leaning her chin, she gazed at him intently. "Why do you like this role where you're hard to please so much, huh?"

"So, are you going to analyze me?"

"It could be fun."

"Okay, try. What do you think of me?"

"I think you're quite shy, you try to convince yourself that you're a Casanova, but it's not entirely true."

"Shy me? Please, Kitten. Better try again..."

With a mischievous smile, the girl brought her hand to his cheek and caressed it tenderly. Jasmine didn't know which was funnier, how quickly Lee Know backed away, or how red his cheeks turned as he asked her why she was doing that.

"Just proving my point." Jaz replied.

"That doesn't say shit about whether I'm shy or not, I just don't like having my face touched, especially if your hands are dirty." He said with his arms crossed and making sure to keep his distance.

"My hands are not dirty." Jasmine answered without stopping laughing. "You know what? I'm convinced that behind that image you project, you're nothing more than a cute boy, even more than anyone could imagine." In response, Lee Know clicked his tongue and forced himself to focus on the menu and not on Jasmine.

********** On the other hand, Han, Changbin, and Chan had stayed at the apartment to watch a game together. Changbin had written to Minho, but until that moment, there was no answer from the photographer. 

"Where's Lee Know? Normally he wouldn't miss this." Changbin said while writing another message to him.

"I wrote to him earlier but he told me he had other plans, don't bother him, he must be with a girl," Han replied.

"Chan, do you know where he is?"

"Why should I know, Changbin? I'm not his babysitter." He responded as he opened a beer.

"But he does answer you, he ignores us, tell him to come by after his date."

"Leave him alone, Changbin. Do you really think he'd rather come to see you burp than go fuck whoever's out today?" Han asked.

"Don't talk like that, Han, you don't even know who he's with." The seriousness with which Chan said that last made Changbin and Han raise their eyebrows in surprise and prefer to watch television before Chan's dark mood worsened, if that was possible.

**********

Meanwhile, Jasmine's analysis of Lee Know had them laughing a lot, everything she said, the boy flatly denied. The topics of conversation changed from serious ones to others that were much more amusing, and that was how they both learned from what had happened to their families to their most embarrassing moments.

Soon they had even chosen a game in which they chose to answer or take a shot of soju, depending on how compromising the question was; however, they seemed to trust each other quite a bit, or they were both just as cheeky since they had not drunk a single shot. 

"Okay, I have one. What do you prefer, casual or sexy clothes?"

"What the hell, Lee Know? You could've asked anything else, you're so weird."

"Answer back."

"Casual."

"Ah! What a shame, that outfit of the red dress and heels looked great on you."

"So you do have memories of that night."

"What are you talking about? Of course I do."

"You never mentioned anything about it again, I thought you had preferred to forget what happened."

"It can be a reason, yes." He answered by shrugging his shoulders but despite wanting to sound cold and disinterested, Jasmine knew how to read past that.

"Did you want to forget what happened, or did you not want to make me feel uncomfortable and that's why you never said anything again when you were really dying to tease me?"

"Kitten, you hold me in higher esteem than me. I'm not that good."

"Answer or drink."

Lee Know held his gaze for a few seconds, undecided on what to focus on, whether to focus on Jasmine's eyes that drove him crazy or maybe on her lips, which he wanted to taste again.

It was true, Jaz had hit the nail on the head, he hadn't wanted to make her feel uneasy, but Lee Know would never accept that deep down he did care about the other people around him. Much less would he accept that he hadn't wanted to forget what happened, because his pride held a very important place in his life. Either answer would show a kind of vulnerability he didn't like, so he ended up turning his attention to the soju bottle as he poured himself a shot and drank it.

"Wow! Are you that afraid to open up a little?"

"Shut up, it's my turn. Why are you single?"

Checkmate! Lee Know had her right where he wanted her, for it was the only answer Jasmine wouldn't respond to, the only one that would give him back control of the conversation. And so it was, because immediately she drank, causing Minho to laugh.

"I knew it, something happened to you, right?"

"Now will you be my psychologist?"

"It's obvious, Jaz. You're not the type of person who enjoys casual encounters."

"There's a lot you don't know about me, you really don't know how much I enjoy them." She answered trying to get rid of those memories of her relationship with Chan, in which everything was so real, so serious. "Okay, last question. Why do you enjoy casual encounters so much?"

"There're no complications or misunderstandings, no one hurts anyone and there's sincerity. Ultimately, no one leaves disappointed."

"You're an idealist, Minho. Do you think the perfect relationship exists? Even among friends, that's not possible, sooner or later someone you love will end up hurting or disappointing you, even if it is not on purpose."

"If I can help it, I'll keep avoiding it."

Shortly after, they had paid the bill and were going home. Meanwhile, they kept playing, but this time they kept asking each other absurd questions, so they had literally had to stop more than once because they laughed too much at each other's occurrences.

Finally, they were reaching Jasmine's house when the girl turned around wildly excited and took his hands. 

"I have the best question of all! Would you rather wear Han's socks for a week or wear Changbin's blankets for one night?"

"You're a freak, Jaz." He said looking at her with disgust. "I pass, I don't want to play anymore."

"Come on! You forced me to say that I'd rather drink cooking grease than drink Changbin's coffee, and now you don't want to play?"

Jaz let go of his hands and walked a bit, moving ahead of Minho, who had inadvertently entangled his fingers with Jasmine's, but hadn't lasted more than a couple of seconds when she had slipped away from him.

Walking those last two blocks before reaching Jasmine's apartment was as long as Lee Know asking her to ask him something less unpleasant. However, Jasmine thought of something else, if Lee Know didn't want to answer her, then she would find a way to corner him again, and that was precisely what she did when they were already on the steps that led to the street where Jaz lived.

"Okay, if you don't want to answer that, then you have to give me a compliment."

"What?"

"Come on! Do it. It's something simple."

"Fine! You have a nice ass."

"You know that's not what I mean." The girl said laughing. "An honest compliment, without irony, without double intentions."

Once again a few moments were enough for Lee Know's face to take on all the color it normally didn't have. Again, he clicked his tongue, he turned to look in any other direction than the girl, who naturally laughed silently, she was already getting to know him and understanding that it was too difficult and embarrassing for him to let go of that cold boy mask.

"You seriously don't have anything nice to say to me? I invited you to the conference, I took you to dinner at an incredible place."

"It's not about that..."

"Lee Know, I'm just teasing you." She clarified seeing him suffering from the discomfort, although to tell the truth, he didn't stop looking a little cute, people couldn't always see Minho reacting like that. 

It wasn't a matter of being able to say something nice or not, of course he could; however, unbeknownst to him until now, he had been extremely careful about what he said in front of Jasmine. The moment he knew that she was Bang Chan's best friend and that he would continue to see her often, he tried not to think too much about what had happened between them when they met. And it is that if there was someone who would run away from problems of any kind, that was Lee Know. He hated complications and misunderstandings, and according to his particular philosophy of life, any type of romantic relationship would always bring problems. But there was one thing he wouldn't deny, and that is that he got along particularly well with Jaz. It wasn't like he used to care if his sense of humor made people uncomfortable or not, but with the girl, there was never a risk that she would get upset with him or judge him as a cold person; in fact, it was the first time a girl had mentioned cute traits of his personality. It was as if Jasmine could read through him. That was how he decided it, he would not waste any more time, he had in front of him a beautiful girl with whom he got along great, why not make an exception?

"If you can't do it, that's fine, you don't have to say anything you don't..."

"Okay, okay, I'll do it." He said totally determined, he even took a deep breath and approached her, it seemed that he was mustering all his courage and Jasmine had to cover her lips not to laugh.

"You're just going to give a compliment, cat boy, you're not opening your soul."

"Shut up and let me talk." He ordered crossing his arms. "There's... there's ordinary and there's you. I mean... Somehow you make time stop and fly all at the same time. You're really something, kitten." Lee Know had had his gaze glued to the ground, it was the first time in his life that he had paid someone a compliment that had nothing to do with his body. 

That was why he was so nervous, and even more so when he didn't hear even the slightest reaction coming from Jasmine. That night Lee Know knew what insecurity was, because he thought he had made a fool of himself and wished that the earth would swallow him. How had he said something so ridiculous?

However, when he dared to look up and saw that Jasmine was grinning from ear to ear and that she was nowhere near to hug him, he ran away, regaining a bit of normalcy.

"Don't get so excited! Besides, it's not that real, if you ask for the compliment it's because it doesn't really come from the person's heart!" He said walking away from her but finally, Jaz caught him and hugged him in such a way that he pushed her, but at the same time, he didn't move away from her.

In the end, he ended up giving up and had to put up with all the girl's jokes.

"Well, enough is enough! Let's stop this stupid game here, the last question will be mine."

"Okay, I'm ready."

"Would you rather go into your house now and pretend this wasn't a date, or do you want me to kiss you again, but not just for one night?"

"Oh... now can I ask if this is your way of telling me that you want to spend more time with me?" Jasmine asked smiling at him as she felt his hands take her by the waist.

"I told you my question would be the last." He added dangerously close to her. "So, kitten, will you go out with me, or will you continue to think what could've happened if you had given me a chance?"

Lee Know knew better than anyone how to close that question, the moment he took Jaz's right hand and kissed it, he knew what the answer would be. Soon, he was kissing her lips again, but this time more calmly, not like when they first kissed at the party; that night he had drunk and was so eager to have her in his arms, that Minho hadn't really realized what a kiss between the two of them was like. He hadn't realized how her fingers were caressing his hair, he hadn't even suspected that while he loved the girl's ass and taking it while he kissed her, he actually enjoyed more feeling the skin on Jaz's back when her shirt lifted a little as she stood on tiptoe to kiss him.

How the hell did he manage to get along so well with someone through a kiss? How did Jasmine make him feel the greatest comfort in the world by kissing her just a second time? Or better yet, how she had inadvertently managed to make him be the one to beg to go out with her?

There was no time for questions, for the kiss ended when Jaz pulled back just a bit and caressed his face. Her hands gently touched Lee Know's face, but soon a mischievous smile appeared on her face, that evil smile that Jasmine and Lee Know shared when one of them defeated the other.

"Liar, you do like when someone caresses your face."

"Fuck..." Lee Know said closing his eyes realizing that Jaz had him right where she wanted.

"Good night, Lee Know."

Minho watched her walk away and for the first time, he smiled when he saw that a night with a girl didn't end in bed. Actually, he was glad that that night with that particular girl had not ended.

To be continued... 🐺

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[kawaiisano]

Haitani Brother's Little Sister

●notes: reader is haitani brother's little sister who is 10 years old, humor, also ran and rindou being doting brothers and having a soft spot for there little sister.

●(f/n) means friend's name.

The Haitani brothers first made a name when they took over Roppongi themselves, that made people think twice before messing with them. They always have a tough exterior act that make some people fear them, that's why who would have thought they have a hidden soft spot for someone and that someone is you, Ran and Rindou's little sister. Not many people know the Haitani brothers have a little sister and they refer it that way, to prevent you from being in any trouble or harm.

Being a Haitani of course you can fight as well, even at your young age and you also are good looking like your dear brothers, though your attitude is different from them cause Ran and Rindou always thought of you as a kind, helpful, and sweet little sister. That's why they were shocked to know you took after there attitude when they first saw you angry, that actually rarely happen it's usually when "someone" dares to make you mad or annoyed that causes you to be angry and you wouldn't think twice before beating that "someone" up.

They found out about this when a certain incident happened, you were currently sitting in the middle of the couch with your older brothers in each of your side watching a movie, while Ran was squeezing your left cheek and Rindou was squeezing your right cheek, they always thought you have a very puffy cheeks and always wanting to squeeze it but not to hard though, they will always squeeze your cheeks gently not wanting to hurt you. At the final part of the movie you saw the main characters went to get ice cream which made you crave one, when the movie finally ended you took hold of both your older brothers hand moving it away from your cheeks that they were squeezing since the start of the movie, and it caught both of there attention now looking at you who stood up from the couch now in front of them still holding both there hands smiling you then spoke.

Ran-niichan! Rin-niichan! I want ice cream. You said and the excitement was obvious from your voice, which made Ran sigh that caused you and Rindou to focus both of your attention to him.

I'm sorry Y/n-chan but I already told you that no sweets before dinner or going to bed. he said as softly as he can to make you understand and Rindou just agree with him, of course you understand what your older brothers said, you then let go of both their hand, smiling at them.

Okay! you said in your usual soft and jolly tone voice, after this both Ran and Rindou felt guilty that they didn't get you ice cream and instead decline your request, thinking you must be disappointed even though you were literally smiling when your brothers said no it didn't even bother you. They were even thinking of a way to get you ice cream but couldn't do so because even though it was so obvious that both Ran and Rindou are doting and has soft spot for you either of them won't admit it, always finding a way to get you what you want without the other finding out, you can actually tell it was bothering them so much because after dinner and you said good night to both of them cause your going to bed, they would always head back to the couch the three of you were sitting earlier watching the movie, while looking so bothered by something, their plan to get you ice cream was moved to tomorrow, they were actually both planning the same thing, to come get you after school to head over to the dairy store to get you ice cream, while they were heading to your school.

Rindou you really have a soft spot for Y/n-chan I know your trying to get her the ice cream she wanted. Ran said in a teasing tone of voice.

Says the one obviously has a soft spot for Y/n-chan, you even tried to get it for her last night. Rindou said in an annoyed tone of voice.

What are you talking about I was just bored at home that's why I thought of going out. Ran replied in a cocky tone of voice, though it was obvious he was planning to get you ice cream last night without Rindou finding out, because he always tells you before you head to bed that he's going out to buy something or head somewhere because he doesn't want you to worry about where he is or instead tells Rindou to later tell you, this goes to Rindou too if his the one heading out.

After both of them denying things that were already so obvious there finally at your school, though they didn't saw you anywhere that's why they ask your teacher to know where you were they were both shocked and worried when your teacher said that she thought you already went home,  knowing you your brothers know that when they told you that there going to pick you up after school you will patiently wait at your school gate for them to come. So Ran and Rindou started to look for you, they finally saw you in a park a bit far from your school while being surrounded by five boys who are middle school students you seem to be protecting someone because your both spreading your arms to each side, so they looked closely and saw it was your girl classmate and friend F/n who they usually seen with you when they came by your school, though she looks uneasy from the expression she has, reading the situation Ran and Rindou understand what's going on and anger were starting to form inside of them while slowly approaching towards you, thinking on beating those boys up if they ever touch, make you feel uncomfortable and if they saw you cry there literally going to murder them, there dark thoughts were suddenly interrupted when they hear you speak in an unfamiliar tone of voice than your usual soft and jolly tone.

Don't come near F/n-chan! you said half shouting with an annoyed tone of voice, that just caused the four boys to laugh literally looking down on you, that made your older brothers even more angry, one of the five boys who seem to be there leader started to slowly approach you and made your brothers hurried to go you, they suddenly stopped when they heard a loud thud that was caused by the kick you did to the face of the boy who tried to approached you that was now unconsciously laying in the ground that shocked F/n-chan and the remaining four boys, though your older brothers were more shocked when they closely look at you and saw that you were wearing an unfamiliar expression on your face that made them both say,

Y/n-chan is angry? and you can actually hear the shocked in their tone of voice (you can't actually hear it I mean you haven't even noticed your older brothers was near though they didn't say it out loud) , I mean can you actually blame them this is the first time in there life they saw you angry considering you personality, and the doting brothers they are they actually thought your angry expression was cute.

If you try to bother F/n-chan and me ever again I'm going to beat all of you up. you said in a serious tone that caused the four boys shiver in fear cause you literally just made there leader unconscious in one kick the expression the four boys were giving off (they look like there all going to pass out) made Ran and Rindou suddenly burst into laughter that took you, F/n-chan, and the boys by surprise causing you to look where the very familiar laughter was coming from and their you saw both on your brothers laughing so much causing you to put an expression that looks like your questioning what was so funny and when did they got here, you then just smile and transfer your gaze back to the four boys,

And your also going to fell my older brothers wrath. you said in your soft and jolly tone of voice Ran and Rindou know by heart causing them to stop laughing now looking at the four boys with there tough exterior act that made the them shiver even more because of fear taking there unconscious leader and running away like cowards cause they are.

After the commotion F/n thanked you and your brothers for helping her specially you cause you just literally kicked a middle school boy for her but of course you would she is your best friend, when you then stopped waving at her goodbye you felt two hands holding your waist lifting you up and before you know it you were already sitting in Ran's shoulder that made you hold onto him to prevent yourself from falling though he wouldn't let that happen. While walking Rindou suddenly said something that surprised you,

Let's go get ice cream you wanted one right? he said in a calm tone of voice, which made you to directly said yes with excitement in your voice that made your eyes sparkle with amusement looking at Rindou, these cause both of your brothers to giggle,

Rindou I knew it you really have a soft spot for Y/n-chan. Ran said to ruin the mood while Rindou just denied it saying its Ran who has a soft spot for you, while they argue on the way to the dairy store you just listen knowing both of your older brothers cared about you and both has a soft spot for you.

●I really enjoyed writing this it was so much fun 😭😭😭.

[curiousconch]

Chase You / Chase Me (Pt. 1)

Part 1: Burning on the Edge of Something Beautiful

Catch up here: Series Masterlist

Chapter Summary: Alex finds herself personally affected by the Rothswell case and Gabe attempts to find out why.

Book/Pairing: Choices - Laws of Attraction / Gabe Ricci x MC (Alex Keating)

Words: 1.8k+

Rating/Warnings: Mature (16+) / implied sexual content, alcohol consumption

Disclaimer: Most of the characters as well as some dialogues belong to Pixelberry. I am merely borrowing them.

Wednesday Evening at McGraw Byrne

Back from a day in the courts, Gabe stepped out of the elevator and into the halls of McGraw Byrne. Eager to finish the day's work, he passed by the break room where he unwittingly heard something that made him instantly halt.

"Did you see how clammed up Keating became when you asked her that question?" Gabe heard Vanderweil's deep voice.

"Actually, I sensed something irked her during the ride back. Seems like I did strike a chord," a serious female voice replied, which Gabe presumed was Sinclair's.

He made the assumption that the line of conversation was about their visit to the Rothswell's mansion. Earlier that day, the law firm's major client Philip Rothswell, demanded that they see to the whole Lydia and Joey situation. So Gabe and Sadie instructed the associates to go see the young heiress, trying to give the firm more time to create a more solid strategy than playing family counselor.

When they were placating Rothswell, he noticed how Alex fidgeted in her chair as she listened to their client. The way her body pulled up every defensive stance in the book full with meaning.

Seems that what he just overheard confirmed his suspicions. Something was bothering Alex Keating. And like all things Alex, it piqued at his curiosity.

It irked him that he did, more than he was willing to admit. Seems like even as trivial as office gossip, as long as its about her, Gabe is guaranteed to take notice.

Hastening his strides, he continued on to his plush new office, the setting sun coloring the wood furnishings with a hue of orange. He tossed his briefcase on the khaki couch, his leather soles padding on the clean white carpet. Loosening his tie, he crossed the room towards his desk. He took off his coat, hanging it on the rack nearby and turned to face the glass walls which offered a much better view of the concrete jungle below.

His mind whirred as he rationalized with himself as to why he was so invested with Alex. He initially chalked it up as a familiar, primal response to her... attractiveness. Yet as he watched her emerge from every pressure test and challenge he and Sadie gave her, he can't help but root for her.

It's not just that. After a long time, Gabe wanted to be near someone. He wanted to hear what bothers them, their goals, even their history. A level of interest he never exhibited to his usual carnal pursuits.

She stirred up something sleeping within him, something he willed never to return.

Consumed by the thoughts of her, Gabe finds himself glancing at his Rolex and hatching a guise to know what made the mighty Alex Keating got so worked up about.

**

Sometime later, uptown New York

"Alex... Have you ever had someone like Joey mess with your head? It's not about smart or stupid," Gigi had asked.

Alex poked her fork at the piece of chocolate soufflé as her mind whirled back to the ride back to the office.

"I'm not buying you any more of that Riesling if you wouldn't even bother being a worthy companion," Gabe teased, before downing another glass of scotch across her.

Her head immediately perked up, breaking free from her introspection. Alex forced a smile in response.

"As if another glass would make a dent in your indomitable fortune," she leaned back, trying to hide her thoughts under the façade of her sarcasm, rolling her eyes at him for added effect.

The two find themselves in a swanky New York restaurant, its upscale interior design worthy of the five star Yelp rating. The sleek tables and gray scandinavian chairs made Alex grateful that her wine red dress fit among the crowd. With a private booth overlooking the city lights and the delicious gourmet food served, she did not regret accepting Gabe's dinner invitation to meet a client.

Her mind decided that more work and Gabe's company was a great way to distract herself from the nagging of her memories, and it didn't hurt that the senior partner was easy on the eyes.

And when the supposed big shot canceled at the last minute, Alex completely saw it as a win.

"Something bothers you." Gabe suddenly articulated, breaking her from her contemplations.

Alex's brow arched in reply, as Gabe stated it like a fact, not as a question.

Crossing her legs under the table, she folded her arms across her chest.

"And why does that concern my pretend-boyfriend, hm?" she interjected, hoping to evade his interrogation.

"You're not the only astute one in this booth," Gabe let his eyes trail across her defensive stance the second time today.

Throughout the course of their meal, the heat between them simmered as well as the flow of their usual banter. Their chemistry was palpable, convincing even the waiter of the restaurant. The cocky man was certainly redefining the phrase hot and cold for Alex. He quickly and easily shut down her attempts to flirt, pulling back when the temperature between them reached a boiling point.

But Alex was more surprised, pleasantly so, when Gabe briefly opened up about his past and the vague explanation of why he's still not settled down.

She sensed the current trajectory of their conversation was what Gabe planned to have all along.

But now, as she swirled the remaining expensive liquid in her glass, trying to decide whether to put her guards up or to just give in, she couldn't deny the uncharacteristic softness in his gaze. It was magnetizing, making Alex want to fold and drop her pretentions.

She watched him as he seemed to eagerly anticipate for her retort, a half smile lingering on that pretty mouth of his.

Alex knew he won't push her if she didn't want to, yet a part of her wanted to share the heaviness that weighed on her shoulder since meeting Lydia Rothswell. Of how much the teenager reminded her of her old, naïve self.

She's been trying to rack her brain for a reasonable explanation for her growing desire to introduce herself to Gabe more than she'd allowed the string of men that she had trysts with. Despite her continuous self-denial, her gut is telling her that Gabe wasn't like any other she crossed paths with.

Making up her mind, she decided to let the door open. Maybe just a little.

She sipped her wine beckoning some needed courage, wishing that she ordered something stronger.

Taking a deep breath, she began, her eyes fixed on the view behind him.

"Since you were wondering, my otherwise impeccable track record is stained by one mistake," she paused, finally turning her gaze to Gabe's waiting eyes.

"Like Lydia, I trusted the wrong person," she continued. "I... risked everything and got nothing."

Gabe's mouth twitched ever so slightly, sensing a fluttering in him because of Alex's candor. There was no trace of the witty comebacks he'd grown to see in her, only vulnerability.

And somehow, he adored her more.

He watched her as she bit her thumbnail, an action greatly contradicting the fiery personality she projected in front of everyone else.

Alex gritted her teeth as she fought back the overwhelming emotions as she stopped herself from revealing more than she's prepared to. Not yet, not tonight, she thought.

"But I woke up from that nightmare, solemnly swearing to myself that I wouldn't repeat the same wrong decision that almost railroaded my whole future," she concluded, determined not to expose herself any further.

A hush fell between them.

Alex raised her head to meet the eyes of the man that made her walls crack, expecting to find intrigue. Instead, she found a subtle look of understanding.

It's as if it was telling her that he knew. He knew every pain and every hurt that she wanted to just forget and bury inside a box, never to be opened again.

Just because for him, pain was a familiar companion. That like her, he too, has been through hell and back.

And while she relished under his attention, her breath slowed, letting herself be trapped within the depths of those reassuring brown eyes. Alex thought nothing can make her drop down her guard, but Gabe's next actions proved that there's still more he can do to break down her walls.

Without thinking, Gabe reached for her hand and took it in his, skimming his own thumb on her knuckles in an attempt to comfort her. He smiled warmly at her, expressing a gentleness that she never thought he was capable of.

It made Alex's heart skip a beat.

Even Gabe seemed to slowly enter the same daze, unable to veer away from Alex's unguarded view. Any remnants of his resistance, leaving him. He found himself leaning in, lured by the heady scent of her perfume - a mix of coffee, vanilla and jasmine. An unexpected combination that enticed him more to her.

For a few moments, their world stood still, as if they were on the edge of discovering something that all their lives they subconsciously sought.

Something more than any flirtation or any pursuit for lustful pleasure. Something more...

"More drinks, Gabe?" a familiar voice broke them from the temporary oasis that they pulled themselves in.

All of a sudden, they were sucked back to the reality of their actual surroundings. The noise of other patrons of the restaurant, the soft ambience of the lights overhead, and the fact that he was her current boss, and that she was under his professional supervision.

Gabe turned to James, their waiter, and refused the offer nonchalantly, and instead asked for their check.

"We should head back to the salt mines, the stack of work on my desk probably hasn't gotten any smaller since we left," Gabe casually said, erasing any trace of what just happened between them. Alex silently agreed, following his queue by checking her phone for emails.

The trip to the lobby was wordless, as well as the wait for their ride. Up until Gabe opened the door of the town car, not following Alex inside.

"Aren't you coming?" Alex inquired, briefly confused.

He cleared his throat, his expression stoic before he answered her. "I think its best if we part ways here. I wasn't kidding about needing to head back to the office," he paused, a look of contemplation in his eyes before it softly shifted to that of sincerity.

"You, on the other hand, should go home and get some rest. Partner's orders."

Alex couldn't help but smile. "Whatever you say, Gabe."

"Careful, Alex. I just might hold you to that promise one of these days," Gabe replied, the usual playfulness evident in his tone.

And with that, the door closed and the car pulled away.

But as Gabe watched the vehicle fade out of his sight, his phone pinged for an email. Glancing down at his screen, he saw the name of the sender, prompting him to open it in haste.

The message contained a single statement: "I found what you asked me to look for." An attachment was included.

When he opened the file, he saw a picture of a younger version of the woman he just parted from.

And a look of recognition passed over his face.

Author's Notes: This is getting a little canon divergent, though I'm just expanding their dinner conversation and using the intimate setting provided in the original book.

Tags: @adiehardfan @pixelnutrookie @starryjieun @fucking-random1 @choicesficwriterscreations

Thank you for reading! Let me know if you want to be tagged or removed on succeeding installments. If not, please reblog or comment, I'd really appreciate it!

[rrickgrrimes8]

I loved Accident! Could you please do a part 2 where Y/N visits Tom in a dream and tells him "I'm okay, I loved you too, when it's your time I'll be waiting for you"

The Dream ~ Tom Holland

The Accident - Part 1

hey sorry for such a delay been in a real shit place and lost my reason to like writing but im kinda back now! 

i really liked this request and you know no shame in admitting a few tears dropped while writing this

warnings : death, funerals, just a whole lotta angst tiny eeny weeny bit of fluff, meanie tom at one point, just grief, maybe bad writing idk :/

click here for gif source

please let me know if you see any mistakes and/or any feedback thank you for reading, liking, commenting!!!!

masterlist

request guidelines

request are open

The weather felt all too bright for this day. Tom thought that at least. The sun was shining, so much that he had to shield his eyes. Earlier your mum had mentioned that it was like you were looking down on them but Tom didn't buy that. You weren't there anymore. Gone. Because of him. Tom still held that guilt despite how he would imagine you would tell him off for it. It was just how he was processing - it wasn't healthy but it kept him going. It kept him alive because if even for a second he could admit that it wasn't his fault he would completely give up. Because not giving up would be some form of punishment for his crimes. 

Still wishing for gloomy weather to match his mood Tom cringed as he felt the pebbles click under his dress shoes. Harder, than he meant to he pushed the car door too. "You coming, mate?" Harrison called to him. Tom bit his lip and didn't say a word. "I know it's hard but you have to do this. For her." 

The man scoffed, "You have no idea how hard this is." 

Harrison shut his eyes, sighing softly, "Whether you like it or not, Tom, I knew her as well. I cared for her as well. You're not the only one hurting right now." 

He hated how he knew Harrison was right but still shook his head solemnly. And he hated how his brokenness didn't stop his next words to leave his chapped lips. "You didn't know shit. You don't get to compare what you're feeling to what I am! I loved her. Fuck. You barely knew her! You knew her because of me! Me, Harrison! And she's dead because of me!" The pair stopped for a moment, the only sound was Tom's heaving breathes. "So no you don't get to compare yourself to what I am going through. Don't even bother, mate." Tom marched away, barely leaving time for Harrison to process what his best friend had just said to him. 

"Christ Tommy. You are so fucked up," he heard from beside him as he sat down on the first row of black chairs. Immediately his eyes shut. That voice. It was so similar to yours yet the bitterness and grief it held would never even brush across your lips. 

"Y/s/n," He half-heartedly greeted. 

"Lovely to see you as well," She mumbled sitting beside him, "I saw your little show back there with your friend... what was it? ... Harrison right?" Tom clenched his jaw, "Sweet guy. Definitely didn't deserve what you just said to him." 

"You don't know anything," He retorted. 

Y/s/n slumped into the back of her chair, "Y/n would've hated this. All this... fuss." 

"I know." 

"But then again funerals aren't for the dead right? Who gives a shit what a dead girl would've wanted?" She exhaled her words carelessly, a small twinge in her eye told Tom that she didn't mean a word she was saying. 

Y/s/n grabbed Tom's hand, which lay dormant in his lap. On instinct, he attempted to flinch away from the gesture but y/s/n kept it secured in hers. "She fucking loved you, you know?" she paused seemingly reminiscing on something, "And I remember how it destroyed her when you dated that girl. Fuck if I can remember her name. B-but I remember getting a call from her when she first met her. God, she was mad. Absolutely fuming. I can't even remember why she was - she probably couldn't if you ask... asked her. Y/n swore to me that when - not if because she was damn sure - you broke it off with her she would ask you out." 

Still mesmerised by y/s/n's hand in his hand - yet another thing that felt eerily familiar but so different - Tom croaked, "Why are you telling me this?" 

Y/s/n just smiled, "Because she never did. She never asked you despite being so determined. She never asked you out because when you did break up with her you were so sad. And it felt wrong to do that to you then." 

"I wish she would've." 

She sighed sorrowfully, "No you don't because you couldn't have said yes then. You know that and she did as well. I'm glad she didn't do it that night but god do I wish she got to do it before she died." Sharply Tom inhaled, the word 'dead' never was something he could get used to when talking about you. "Because it was you two. You were it. You were that annoying couple and it pissed everyone off because you weren't even a couple. You were perfect together and I wish you could've shown the world that." 

"Me too," He whimpered, "Thank you, y/s/n." 

"Don't thank me, Thomas, just take care of yourself alright? She would kill me if I didn't make sure of that at least." 

Curtly, Tom nodded and y/s/n released his hand. The loss was noticed immediately and although from the start it felt wrong, he missed it. He missed the feeling of you in his hand even if it wasn't actually you. Y/s/n stood up, smiled softly at him and walked away. 

The ceremony passed so slowly. And although the cemetery was filled with the sound of the heartfelt voices of friends and family it was all white noise to Tom. He could feel the wind brush against his cheeks but he couldn't hear it. He could see your mother break down and your sister holding her up as they neared that stupid brown box but he couldn't hear it. The noise of the world had been set to zero and the reality of your death had finally set it. You really weren't coming back. 

Fuck. 

~

That night sleep did not come easy to the young adult. He tossed and turned and only found solace when he cuddled into his pillow like it could be any substitute for you. As a young boy, Thomas Holland was always ambitious and that carried through in his dreams. Tom had gone to the past and the future and about any place in Europe in his dreams. He had acted in everything he had ever wanted to. But his favourite thing about dreams was that he could tell you about them. Hell even sometimes you joined him in them - those were his favourites. 

Tonight was one of those. 

In the dream, Tom was on a trail, one that didn't look familiar to him but he wasn't unsettled by that. Tom felt safe as he continued through the woods. One of the first things he noticed was that he was still in his suit from today. And whether that was due to him forgetting to take it off when going to bed or that it was because you always complimented him when he wore it, which was to basically every event he went to. In fact, the pair of you used to joke that he'd get married in it - unbeknownst to you, he wished for you to be the bride in that future. Another thing he noticed was the flowing water nearby. He couldn't see it but it swam like music in his ears. 

"Tommy?" Tom heard from behind him. He turned back to face where he had just come from but the breath was caught in his throat when it all had changed. The trees were lit up with fairy light, an aisle had been drawn in the dirt and his and your family were occupying tree logs and stumps, Harrison and Y/s/n at opposing sides of a wide naturistic arch. 

But more importantly, you were there. As beautiful as ever you stood under the flower arch, head to toe in white. You had a smile on your face from what Tom could see through your vail. 

"Y/n," He beamed, rushing down the aisle. Tom pulled you in for a hug as soon as he got close enough, "God I missed you so much, y/n." 

"I missed you too, Holland," you chuckled, "Are you okay, bubs?" Forcefully you pulled back and looked at Tom's face. He had tears running down his cheeks and small sniffles escaped his nose. "Oh, Tommy what's wrong?" Tom couldn't speak. He wouldn't dare to trust his voice right now. "Talk to me, bubby." 

"I...I just don't want to l-lose you," He cried into your white dress. Instinctively your arms wrapped around him, holding him so close. "I love you, y/n. I love you so much and I never got to tell you," Tom broke down. 

"I know, Tommy, I'm sorry I had to leave you so soon. But I love you too and that's what matters. I'm okay and I loved you too and when it's your time I'll be waiting for you," You pulled back from him again, "But for now I'd love to do something I never got to do when I was alive but something I dreamt about doing every night." Teary you laughed as you got down on one knee, ignoring how dirt stained your pristine dress. "Thomas Stanley Holland, will you marry me?" 

Tom chuckled too as although you were ringless you held your hands like you had one. "Yes I would," He cried. 

Joyfully you sprung up and into his arms. Catching your attention Tom laughed once more, "What?" 

He gestured towards to congregation of your family, "You knew I was gonna say yes, huh? Already planned the whole ceremony and everything?" 

You tilted your head at him, "Well what can I say you're predictable, Holland." 

"Oh, really I am? Then how about marry me right now and live a life of predictability with me. What do you say?" 

"I would love to, Mr Holland," You teased. 

"Your wish is my command, Mrs Holland." 

From between the two of you, a man appeared he began a long speech as stereotypical as any wedding scene, "Do you Thomas Stanley Holland take Y/n y/m/n y/l/n as you lawfully wedded wife?" 

Your eyes met, "I do." 

"And do you Y/n y/m/n y/l/n take Thomas Stanley Holland as your lawfully wedded husband?" 

"I do." 

"I now pronounce you, man and wife," the kind-faced stranger smiled, "You may now kiss the bride." 

Cautiously Tom lifted the sheer material and uncovered your glowing features, "You're so beautiful, y/n." 

"Kiss me already, dork," you joked and began to lean in taking him by surprise. 

As your lips joined the crowd began to cheer throwing flowers into the skyline. The kiss was perfect. It was everything Tom would imagine kissing you would feel like. Your lips moved perfectly against his. He couldn't stop himself from smiling as your nose graced his cheek. 

Regretfully, he departed. "I don't want to go," He told you quietly. 

"I know, baby. But you still have a life to live," you closed your eyes and exhaled. 

"I have no life without you," Tom rebutted, "And you know that. I can't wake up and not be with you. So please don't make me." 

Tom's arms slide to your waist and your arms to his neck as you began to sway slightly. Music played softly in the background and the floor beneath you turned to wood. "You have a family, Tommy. You have a career, friends, you have another soulmate out there for you," you promised him grievously. 

"I don't want anyone else. Y/n, you're all I care about. You're all I want," despair adorned his features, "I can't be without you." 

"You have to be," You span before joining back in his arms, "I know you can. You're so strong, Tom." 

"I don't want to have to be strong. I just want you." 

"And you'll have me when your time is done," you swore, "As for now I'll be watching over you. I'll take care of you." 

Tom simpered dejectedly, "You promise, Mrs Holland?" 

"I promise, Mr Holland," She stepped away, "Now go back into the world and be everything I know you can.Take care of Harrison for me. I believe in you, Tommy." 

Tom jolted awake, shouting your name. Sweat poured down his body, making his skin glisten. "Tom?! Are you alright?" Harrison shouted as he rushed into the room. He relaxed as he laid eyes on his unharmed friend. 

"She was here, Haz," He wept. 

"Oh mate," Harrison sympathised as he wrapped his arms around him, "It's alright, Tom. You're okay." 

"She loved me, Haz," He told him, "And we got married." 

Harrison looked at him oddly yet still smiled, "I better had been invited." 

"You were," Tom wiped his eyes, "Best man." The two best friends smiled at each other. 

"What was it like, Tom? What was she wearing?" He urged him. 

"She looked beautiful, Haz, her dress was all lacey and shit. Her hair was just... perfect as usual. She just looked... flawless," Tom closed his eyes trying to remember every detail of you, "She told me she loved me and guess what?" 

Harrison laughed at his sudden excitement, "what?" 

"She proposed to me." 

"Sounds like her," He quipped, "Definitely sounds like you, not having the balls to do it." 

"Shove off," Tom playfully nudged his shoulder. 

"Alright. Alright sorry what else happened?" 

The eldest of the two sighed, "We danced and she told me that she believed in me. That it wasn't my time and she would be waiting for me when it was." Harrison didn't utter a word, "Said she would be watching over me till then, protecting me. Told me to look after you." Tom rubbed his face of his misery and swiped his tongue over his upper lip, "I don't want her to get lonely up there but I'll keep going for her." 

"Good," He replied, "I'm so proud of you mate." 

They smiled at each other again and both rested into the bedframe. "I miss her," Harrison admitted, shedding a few tears, "And you were right earlier. What I'm feeling doesn't compare but I just... I just miss her a lot. Before when I was making lunch, I didn't even think, I just shouted to her if she wanted a tea." He smiled, "And I know it's so stupid but I didn't think. Obviously, she didn't answer so I made her one anyways... I only realised when I got into the living room. I almost smashed her favourite cup when I realised. She would've killed me for that." 

"Yeah, she would've," Tom laughed before frowning delicately, "I'm sorry about what I said... I didn't mean it. You knew her, of course, you knew her. And I'm glad I have you because if I didn't I couldn't keep going. I love you so much, mate." 

He smiled through the tears, "I love you too, Tom." 

[pedropascalssimp]

Hoth

Boba fett x bounty hunter reader

Summary: y/n is a skilled bounty hunter who works for jabba the hut. But even jabba knows that y/n has her limitations, so once jabba sends y/n on a particular hunt, he makes sure that boba is there to assist much to the man in beskar dismay....

Warnings: language. Slight Violence. Boba being grumpy and a bit of an asshole. And fluff.

|Got bored and made this|

The room was full of small chatter, men gathered to watch jabba's women dance, and the women that strayed in eyeing the bounty hunter who walked in with a struggling qaurry hungrily. It was no secret to everyone in the galaxy that boba fett's reputation didn't always revolve around the fact he was the most dangerous man in the galaxy, a skilled bounty hunter who put fear in everyone's core from just a glimpse of his beskar. But he also upheld the reputation of being quite the lady's man, every woman he came across seemed to be wooed by his voice, his word's, his aura. And the man was a tease, he was Arrogant, stubborn and a hard ass. At least that's how most viewed.

Walking to be stood in front of jabba's throne, boba kicks the man he had restrained in the back of his knees, making him fall with a whimper.

"jabba! I - I was going to pay you! I really was! But -

Boba cuts the man's words short by pressing his blaster pistol to the back of his head. "save you're lies for someone fool enough to believe them" his accent couldn't be masked through the modulater in his helmet as he spoke to the qaurry.

Jabba laughs joyfully at the sight of boba fett's triumph, catching the thief who was dumb enough to still from him. "well done fett! You must be rewarded for you're victory! Name a price or take you're pick" jabba motions towards the women chained to his side.

But boba simply shakes his head, "I'll take whatever credits you offer and another job" boba spoke while watching jabba chuckle.

"ah, ready for another hunt? I'll give you you're reward and another job... But that's for tomorrow, now you rest boba fett" the disgusting fat creature said just as you walked in. Two men cowering away as you had them in cuffs.

This draws boba's attention, for he doesn't remember quite seeing you before. Now standing beside boba and his qaurry, you shoved the two men by your side down onto the ground harshly. Boba only watches, intrigued by your heavily armed self and beauty.

"ah! Y/n! You're back earlier then expected!" jabba happily announced, you try hiding your disgust with the looks of the creature, the slob before you. Who had women chained to his side, you hated jabba, hated the way the women looked at you with begging eye's to free them, oh how you wished you could...

"it was an easy job, to easy in fact" you spoke his native tongue while resting a hand on your hip. Not even bothering to glance over at the man who's gaze burned into the side of your head.

"then how about I give you a job more challenging? Would that satisfy you?" jabba asks and you simply nod your head confirming you'd like that. "it's to big of a job for you to handle alone my beautiful little hunter... So I'll send boba fett here to aid you" you lift a brow at jabba then glance over at the man beside you, his t-shaped visor already looking right back at you.

Like hell you'd let this man help you on a hunt, you knew boba fett, heard the stories people told of him. How he was a flirt with the women, how he was a stubborn hardass. You didn't want to work with him.

"I work alone" you and boba both said at the same time, looking at one another you roll your eye's at him.

Jabba laughs, "you two are the best in you're profession, it's only smart to send my best two for the job at hand" he said while looking at you and boba.

"and what is the job at hand?" boba asks before you could, his voice rolled out of his helmet smoothly, like soft dark velvet. You find yourself wanting to listen to him speak more, but you quickly shake that thought away.

"I want han solo, he owes me money... His payment has been overdue for months now" jabba says and starts eating something you wouldn't even poke. You grimace at the sight and look away, boba snickering at your disgust quietly but you heard and glare at him.

"when I said give me a harder job jabba, I didn't mean impossible!" you point out the logical fact han solo was a tricky bastard and hard to catch.

"that's why I'm sending my best hunters for the job, with the two of you looking for him it's possible!" jabba spoke with a mouthful nearly making you vomit. "I'll be rewarding you both generously" you sigh and start considering taking the job, even if it does mean working with boba fett.

"we'll do it" boba tells him not even letting you speak for yourself, this makes your anger surface fast.

"what the hell do you mean we? What if I don't want to do the job?" you say speaking your own language while jabba chews away at whatever the hell it is he's eating.

Boba huffs before crossing his arms, you can't help but flicker your gaze down to admire his strong arms. "you'd be a fool not to take it girl, it's a good paying job" he said making you look back up at his helmet.

"it's a useless hunt... I mean, I don't doubt my strength for a second nor my skills of hunting but I'm no match against a wookie!" you argue with the man, "I honestly don't think you could even take the big fur ball in a fight!" you chuckle dryly. But he scoffs and simply shows you the braided wookie scalps hanging off his shoulders. You look at him surprised, not expecting that. Sure boba looked strong and skilled enough to handle his own well, but he was also shorter then most men you've met and never thought he'd be able to slay not one but two wookies. But you was wrong obviously.

"you were saying princess?" he smugly replied making you tense your jaw and bite your tongue. Speechless. "we'll take my ship and do the job and you won't have to deal with me again..." boba said making you nod, looking away from him and up at jabba.

"have you both settled on a agreement?" jabba asks, watching how you kept your eyes locked on his yellow ones.

"were taking the job... But don't expect me to work with anyone else again jabba, you know I work alone" you say in his language once more, voice dripping with venom as you glare at him. he only chuckles, looking at you wickedly.

"don't ever speak to me with such hostility, for I could always use someone with you're beauty in my collection, I have a spot saved for you..." he threatened you, putting at the empty caller and chain. You look at the spot and back at jabba with a stoic expression, hiding your disgust and fear.

"forgive me for my ignorance then jabba" you say more calmly and rush out of the room, boba bidding jabba bye before following you.

Once out of his palace your greeted with the burning heat of the twin sun's and the scorching sand, practically jogging away from the palace you head toward the town, in dire need of a drink. Hearing footsteps behind you, you simply scoff.

"why are you following me?" you snap, angry with jabba and this stupid hunt you had to prepare for. The cantina comes in sight making you nearly relax at the thought of drinking something, your mouth feeling dry.

"because I'd think you'd want to discuss the upcoming hunt" he said now walking beside you matching your pace.

"well I was hoping I could relax a little in the confines of this dump but obviously that's not gonna happen" you huff and walk through the door of the cantina with boba.

"let me buy you a drink and we'll discuss it here" he offers, and you could never refuse a free drink, so accept his offer reluctantly and slouch in a booth.

Slave I was a pretty neat ship you'd have to admit, you was seated in the co-pilot seat messing around with buttons. Fascinated by the different types of buttons in many colors, you peek over at the mandalorian man who was focused on flying the ship rather then your insistent poking around at the ships controls. Ever so curious you click a red button making a light flicker on, catching the attention of boba. You quickly placed your hands in your lap as if you didn't do anything and he eye's you suspiciously.

"stop playing with things... You act like a toddler" he muttered, watching you shake your head in denial.

"I didn't do anything!" you lie with a innocent smile, but he saw right through it.

"don't lie princess, I saw you out of the corner of my eye. Now keep you're hands to yourself" he scolds you while looking back over the stars that zoomed by.

You sigh deeply and Lean back in the seat, you was bored. Hyperspace not taking you to your destination fast enough in your opinion. Looking over at boba you decide to ask him so questions, what else was there to do?

"so boba... Do you ever take the helmet off?" you ask the question that's been brewing in your mind the moment you saw him. For the first few seconds he's silent before sighing.

"yes" he answered briefly, making you nod with a little grin.

"why don't you take it off now. It must be hot under there" you say, eager to see his face. You'd be lying if you didn't say you wasn't attracted to the mandalorian man before you, he was intriguing, your infatuation with him growing by the second as you traveled with him for only four hours. But damn was boba fett really slithering his way into your thoughts, plaguing your mind as you basically kept your gaze glued to his strong build. His strong arms and damn nice thighs -

"because I don't want to" he spoke snapping you out of your straying thoughts. You only nod and think of another question to toss at him.

"why not? I'm curious to see the man who was ignorant enough to take this job" you tease him with a grin, his helmet tilting in your direction slowly before he scoffs.

"because it's just killing you to see my face, I don't think you've earned that privilege yet though princess... But there's ways you can change my mind" he trailed off with a smug tone. You could hear the smirk in his voice making you shake your head with a chuckle.

"I'll survive without seeing it then" you said with a cheeky grin still. Although your mind began wondering to the ways you could change his mind....

"suit yourself then girl" he shrugs and leans back in his seat, relaxing some before the big hunt.

You smile at him with amusement, so far boba wasn't really that bad you thought. Sure he was smug and grumpy, but other then that he seemed like someone you could get along with.

Until you arrived at hoth, your destination where han and his wookie was supposedly at. This whole situation you found yourself in made you realize that boba fett was indeed, an asshole.

You sat in the ice cave shivering, teeth chattering together while you had your back pressed against the ice wall while hugging your knees to your chest. Small Fur blanket and jacket not nearly enough to keep you warm on this planet. Even the damn fire you made not enough to warm you.

But boba? He seemed fine, his warm under clothes and beskar enough to keep him warm as he laid on his fur blanket by the fire. Arms crossed behind his head as he laid on his back trying to rest some.

You look at him with doe eyes, "b - boba... I think it'd be b - best if we cuddled" you point out the obvious, for you was freezing to death and needed extra body heat.

"I don't cuddle princess" he states, brushing your chattering teeth and shaking off as he tries getting sleep.

You huff, a cloud caused by your breath wafting into the air as you scoot closer to the fire nearly on top of it. "if you wa-wake up and I'm dead... It's y-your fault" you stutter from the cold, nose and cheeks red as you sniffle. Maker this planet was hell.

"you act like you've never experienced I little temperature drop girl, toughen up" he grumbled while making himself comfortable. If you wasn't freezing you'd kick his ass....

"I'm used to planet's like tatooine dickhead" you muttered angrily, Glaring at the man. He only chuckles and shakes his head. That really got on your nerves.

But instead of shooting him or stabbing him in his damned thigh like you desired, your take your fur blanket that hardly covered your whole body, your legs uncovered sadly. You curl up into a shivering ball by the fire and try to sleep, hoping that while your sleeping you can forget the unkind coldness biting at your very being. Closing your eyes you try and lose yourself to sleep, but your shivering kept you awake. Body feeling numb from the cold.

Boba looks over at you with a little frown behind the helmet, hating to see you so cold.... He knew his beskar would be cold to the touch so he reluctantly stands up with a huff, stripping of his beskar leaving him in his underclothes. You peel your eyes open at the clatter of each piece hitting the icey ground, that's when you seen him take his helmet off, revealing a grumpy expression and dark brown eyes looking at you with annoyance. His dark hair short yet soft looking as he strides over with his blanket slung over his arm.

"you're going to die if you don't stay warm" he spoke, his voice even more intoxicating without the vocoder you always heard mask it. You feel your heart melt at the fact boba laid behind you, spooning you from behind as he wraps you up in his big arms, chin resting on your shoulder as he pulled you flush against his chest.

You sigh at his warmth, he felt warmer then the damn fire in front of you. Your shivering slowly subsides as you relish in his warmth, his touch. His and your fur blanket keeping the cold out as he held you.

"thank you..." you murmur, heart fluttering steadily in your chest as you never want to leave this man's arms again. It was comforting, a feeling of pure safety. And it was, he kept you safe from the cold.

"I can't have you die on me now, we still have a bounty to catch" he he whispers in your ear, warm breath fanning over your skin making you shiver for a whole different reason. His large hand finding yours as he held it, letting you cradle it against your chest.

"and here I thought you wanted me dead" you snort with amusement, referring to how you've basically annoyed him through this whole trip. He chuckles, the sound rumbling through his chest.

"it would make this hunt far easier, but unfortunately it would also make it dull" he whispers, this time his lips ghosting over the shell of your ear. Sending chills over your skin. He noticed and smirks, "besides you still haven't earned the privilege to see my face..." he lightly nibbles at your ear making you gasp at the abrupt action, heart pounding.

Damn boba sure knew how to warm a woman up, you was instantly feeling a warmth spread over your cheeks painting them red. "but I've seen you're face -

Your words was cut short as boba chuckles and takes his hand from yours making you nearly pout until he cups your cheek turning your head to look at him, dark eyes seemed darker as he leans down, lips ghosting over your lips now.

"yes... But now you gotta earn it" he pressed his lips to yours, your eyes shutting as you relish in the kiss.

Boba fett wasn't that bad after all. In fact, you hoped that you two would be going on more hunts together in the future.....

___________________________________________

A/n: and I oOp.

[angrylizardjacket]

it's in the blood // this is tradition

Summary: Children inherit all sorts of traits from their parents. Not all these traits are good.

"My reputation preceded me before I was born."

[ charlotte & lola au ]

A/N: 2292 words. Halsey's new album killed me on the spot. i talk a lot about the next gen being mirrors of their parents, but i'd like to go into detail about that not necessarily being a positive. @misscharlottelee this made me feel things. i love these kids.

Warnings: overdose mention, addiction discussion, mentions of drug abuse.

Penelope Dingley-Lee

Tommy can count the amount of times he'd seen Razzle truly angry on one hand, and here and now he can see it again, written all over his neice's face. He'd thought she would look like Charlie when she's angry, and occasionally she does, the way her lip curls derisively, dismissively, that's very reminiscent of his cousin, but here and now, her blue eyes are hazy, cloudy, and her lips twist with an irate arrogance that is worryingly familiar.

Angry and high and wearing clothes that don't quite match, in this moment she's exactly her father's daughter.

She's been in the papers again. Her tits have been in magazines again. Tommy bites down on his instinctual desire to repremand her; she'd call him a hypocrite, call him an old man, tell him to keep his opinions to himself while she could still buy his sex tape out of a shady car boot down the street.

Charlie was like that too, on occasion, wit too quick for him to keep up with. When she got into a mood like this, Tommy didn't have to worry so much; usually Razzle would egg her on, but knew when to pull her back.

"It's my god given, motherfucking right to go feral -" he'd heard Charlie back in the eighties holler at three in the morning, high on amphetamines and waving a gossip rag above her head. Razzle would be on the sofa, equally fucked up, but gazing at her like she hung the stars in the sky.

"Lola gets photographed at least once a month stark naked along the strip like it's a sport, why is my Playboy shoot a national crisis?! My tits are fantastic!"

"They are, my love," Razzle nods seriously, and Tommy pulls his pillow from beneath his head, trying to either block out their voices through the thin walls, or maybe smother himself. The girl beside him, the groupie whose name he doesn't know, asks blearily why there's so much yelling. Tommy doesn't answer.

A week later, Tommy is the one to bail out Charlie and Razzle for public indecency, and they're both beaming from ear to ear.

Here in the present, Penny is draped out on the sofa, laughing low and pleased as she watches TV.

"TMZ blurred out my tits," she snorts, "cowards."

"Penny..." he can't help the faintly disappointed notes in his voice when he says her name.

"Thomas, I've read The Dirt," Penny fires back venemously. Hypocrite he hears in her tone, you have no power over me.

There's something hollow in her eyes in the photos he sees of her in the papers. She wears her father's inflluence and her heart on her crushed velvet sleeve, on the arm of a shallow, pretty, band boy who plays badly and loudly. But she laughs louder, though tthe sound is low and unconvincing if anyone bothered to listen hard enough, and Tommy wonders if he has enough dark hair dye left for when that boy breaks her heart.

Jupiter Lee

Tommy is proud to watch Jupiter on stage, but he is afraid.

Their anger is something he remembers from Lola, the way they cling to the past with vitriol echoes their mother, but on stage, they drink up the attention, get high off the love the audience gives, and he sees himself in those moments.

A child of addicts, Jupiter had drawn lines in the sand for themselves that they refused to cross; no alcohol, no drugs, and they'd stayed loyal to that. But highs come in all forms; they simply picked a different kind of poison without realising.

On stage, halfway between the gutter and a god complex, Tommy knows the smile they wear all too well.

Rebellion from Jupiter didn't shock the world like it did when it was Penny's name in the papers. Jupiter's trajectory was spot on in the eyes of the public, but rebellion wouldn't be the thing that broke them.

Once, so long ago that it's a miracle the memory survived, Tommy remembers asking Lola what she would be doing if she wasn't with the band. Lola gave him an easy, bleary smile, laughing sweetly when she told him that one way or another, she'd be here. In the moment it overwhelms him with love. In hindsight it breaks his heart.

"Come on, I think this is inevitable," Jupiter smiles on television as an interviewer asks them the same question; if they weren't making music what they'd be doing, "as if I'd do anything other than this."

'Don't you know where I come from?' is left unspoken, but Tommy still hears it.

He tries to picture himself in a life without the world at his feet the way he has now. No image comes to mind. Nothing else makes sense. Even if he wanted to do something else, wanted to grow up to be something else, he couldn't even begin to picture it for himself, tragedy and all.

They play their parts. They let history repeat itself. Jupiter makes mistakes Tommy and Lola had already learned from. Penny plays Jupiter's conciousness until the role grates on her nerves, diving head first into chaos, taking Jupiter with her with little convincing.

Tommy remembers this too.

When the world looks at Penny and Jupiter, they like to remember how Lola was seen as a bad influence on Charlotte, but forget that Tommy would have followed Charlotte in to Hell without hesitation.

Leo "Seo" Sixx

Lola has google alerts set up for her son, Seo, because he disappears for months without warning. Tommy asks how he is, and Lola looks to her phone with a tight smile, telling him that he's competeing in a skateboarding competition in Prague. She learned that from Twitter.

Seo comes and goes without warning, and talks to his siblings more than his parents. He loves them, but he hasn't allowed himself to stop for years. He doesn't know how. Then again, neither did Lola or Nikki.

"Jupiter thinks a lot about legacy, don't they?" He's in Tommy's kitchen, eating a poptart, when Tommy returns home one friday evening. He's waiting for Penny and Jupiter to finish getting ready, the three of them going out.

"Do your parents know you're in town?" Tommy asks with faint amusement, though there's a twinge of guilt in his gut when Leo considers that he should probably let them know. Says he forgot. Tommy's not sure if he believes him; like his parents before him, he tends to leave a lot unsaid. It's part of his charm, the world seems to think, but Tommy knows all to well how deliberate of an act it can be.

"Jup's got all this stuff in their head about legacy and who they should be," he continues his earlier thought, "which I guess makes sense, they tie a lot of themselves up in their identity," he shrugs, then, "I don't know Leo."

Tommy's not sure if he's talking about the grandfather he's named after, or himself.

"You've given this a lot of thought," Tommy says quietly, humouring him.

"I think a lot," Seo responds, "I've been thinking about going back on my meds, its weird being off of them." Of course this concerns Tommy, who knows objectively that Seo isn't his kid, but he's close enough that Tommy feels like he's allowed to be concerned. "I'm worried a doctor's note isn't going to be enough to let me compete at the Olympics on speed," falls too casually from Seo's lips, alarming Tommy in an instant. Though it must clearly show on his face, as Seo breaks out into an apologetic grin, "dextroamphetamine, for my ADHD. I've been trying to wean off it for the Olympics, it's been hard -" but his next words, said so blithe, so casual, have Tommy's heart stopping in his chest as he's thrown back thirty years, "I've been on them since I was like eleven years old; it was great, I could think, like the right amount, but now I... I think everything. I feel everything. Its a lot." He shrugs, like he didn't just become an echo of his father.

Seo's parents both died twice from overdoses, and now their son feels like he can't function without amphetamines.

Objectively Tommy knows that they work for Seo, that he's not abusing them he simply uses them to help him function, but the irony is not lost on him. It's a lot to unpack. He doesn't think to ask about the Olympics; it slips his mind until he sees Seo and a silver medal on his Twitter feed.

Lola calls Tommy in tears. She's proud, but she wishes she'd known, wishes she'd been able to watch it live, or go over and support him in person.

No-one in Seo's life seems to fully know or understand his intentions or actions, no-one can predict his next move. He puts up a bright facade, but like his parents before him, he does not trust the world to know him.

They don't know where he goes in the few months after the Olympics, all they know is that he doesn't come home.

Cerie "CerieThree" Sixx

Since she'd turned sixteen, Tommy has never seen Cerie Sixx without a smile. That is a very deliberate choice that she's made.

She's made a choice to rise above the percieved grime of her origins. She's halfway across the country, smiling for a camera she can control, editing her image before she lets it out into the world. Cerie Three - even the name the world knows reflects this; she's picked apart the context she was born into, disecting it, deciding which was useful to show the world, disposing of the rest.

She speaks warmly to her family, from what Tommy can gather, but the people on the peripheries of their life seem more like associates in the coldest sense of the world. Her smile doesn't reach her eyes half the time when she sees Tommy, and she shakes his hand when her brothers will hug him. The internet is closer to her than he is.

Cerie looks the most like her mother of all her siblings; she's 21, the exact same age Lola was when she met Tommy, but half the time he can barely see the resemblence. Lola had let the world see a villain at that age; Cerie had learned from that, had rejected that, rejected the cold, hard humanity of her mother's fronting. Cerie wanted to be perfect. Cerie had to be perfect, hyper aware of her own image, like her siblings seem to be, but the way she'd so effectively shaped her public identity was kind of terrifying.

Perhaps this was what it was like for people who didn't know Lola, only allowed to know the image she put out into the world, or people who only knew Nikki for his stage presence.

But the more Tommy thinks about it, the more he remembers just how effectively Lola had wrapped the band around her little finger when she set her mind to it, how she talked her way around exectives despite being dressed like she'd woken up in the gutter and fucked up on any number of drugs. Lola understood people, and it seemed Cerie did too.

Cerie Sixx, twenty one, doesn't stop creating content, doesn't stop studying, and doesn't stop smiling. Two of those three things are inhereted traits, inhereted determination, and the third is a choice.

Cyrus Sixx

Though Cyrus had inhereted much of his parent's musical talent, the same way Jupiter had, Cyrus had also inhereted a love of the high life. Even so, he's so full of love, kissing his mother on both cheeks before he goes out to get shitfaced in the bars she was decades before he was even born.

He works hard, at his job, on his music, but his partying matches it just as well. He knows exactly how far he has to fall before he meets the depths his parents' had sunk to, and though he doesn't voice this, his arrogance comes across in his actions.

There'd always be someone to pull him away from swan diving to rock bottom. He takes that for granted, and keeps getting closer and closer.

The only one of Nikki and Lola's children who still lives at home, he's the only one like them in the way they'd feared.

"He's going to have more success than he will ever be able to comprehend," Nikki had told Tommy, the day after Cyrus had been admitted to hospital after staying up for four days while high and obsessing over a song he had been working on. Nikki had found him having a fit after having fallen from his desk chair. Now, sitting on Tommy's patio in the sunset, he looks tired, he looks afraid, "if he doesn't end up killing himself first."

A month ago, the fire department and the police had to pull him, kicking and screaming and bareass naked from a tree in the middle of town. His parents had bailed him out, had felt a familiar sting of guilt as they find themselves reminded of their own youthful exploits. They repremand him, of course, but they both know the only reason they stopped climbing trees was because there had been no-one to pick them up after.

Nikki sees himself in his sons mistakes, but he'd had to learn concequences the hard way.

Tommy loves his family and all it's strange branches, as well as their raucous youth, but his closest friends were some of the most volatile people he'd known, and somehow he'd forgotten that as time as taken people and memories from him.

But these children were made in their image.

[bikerjongho]

in the coop | kang yeosang

genre: humor

character: college student!yeosang ft. college student!wooyoung

description: Yeosang and Wooyoung hatch and execute a plan to steal a chicken from a county fair to save it from the butcher.

word count: 3.1k

warnings: a little bit of swearing

author’s note: happy birthday yeosang!! <3 a gift for you. eat lots of chicken today! thank you for entertaining atiny with your humor and kindness. and leif, I hope you enjoy this especially, because I wrote this with you in mind. <3

taglist: @itsapapisongo @mangomingki @irehlevant @blueprint-han

The county fair was a treat to behold once a year. Though the smells were less of a treat to witness - filled with smells of starchy food and sweaty children, Yeosang and Wooyoung had to adapt to ignore it. Wooyoung did this by buying an enormous and sugar-coated funnel cake. When he dove into it while the two of them walked around the fairgrounds, a bit of powdered sugar dusted his nose. 

Yeosang opted for a corndog. It was less messy and perhaps a bit healthier in comparison with the funnel cake. "You're going to have an awful stomachache when we leave," he said while he watched Wooyoung shove an absurdly large piece of funnel cake into his mouth.

"And?" Wooyoung said between chews, the powdered sugar on his nose that Yeosang had not bothered to mention making him look like a white Rudolph. "When else can I have funnel cake?"

Wooyoung was right, the fair was the only place Yeosang could think of that actually had funnel cake. But he wouldn't be surprised if Wooyoung birthed a food baby and a stomachache the next day. Yeosang took another bite of his corndog and decided not to push the matter.

They had been at the fair for a few hours now, going on rides that made their stomachs rearrange themselves and gave some usage to their vocal chords while they screamed. They were on break now, enjoying their dinners and pondering what to do next while their food settled.

Wooyoung had suggested they play tented games, like throwing ping pong balls onto the top of glass bottles or throwing balls to knock down clown faces in order to win a prize at the end of it. But Yeosang decided against it. "Those games are so incredibly rigged, we'd just waste our money because it's impossible to win," he said, so they both ignored the heckling game owner that tried to sell them balls so they could play his game.

"So what do we do?" Wooyoung pushed. "Stare at the farm animals?" He asked, and then gestured to the animal exhibition that was growing closer to them in the distance.

"Exactly!" Yeosang grinned. He was actually excited to see the animals, but Wooyoung groaned.

"Wouln't that be boring?" He whined.

"Not at all," Yeosang said, waving his corndog stick at him. "The animals are cute and we can compare them to our friends. I swear I saw a sheep that looked just like Seonghwa."

At the mention of making fun of their friends, Wooyoung's face broke out into an enormous and evil grin. "Then let's meet these furry friends!" He said and marched ahead of Yeosang to the cow barn.

Upon entrance to the barn, they were met with the pungent smell of animals. Yeosang and Wooyoung crinkled their noses at the same time. A cow mooed at them as greeting.

"Is that hay?" Wooyoung conversationally asked the cow, referring to the food it was eating, then directed the question at Yeosang.

"Like if I know," Yeosang shrugged. "Probably." He walked over to Wooyoung and pulled out a water bottle from Wooyoung's backpack and took a long drink. It was sweltering outside. And although the sun had descended from its peak a few hours ago, the heat still stung.

Wooyoung was closely inspecting the line of cows cheerfully eating hay and swishing their tails. "I think Hongjoong would enjoy being a cow," he said wisely. "Seems like a chill life. He always complains about stress."

"That one kind of looks like him," Yeosang laughed and pointed at one that did have some resemblance to Hongjoong.

They traversed to another area of the barn and found more animals - pigs, goats, sheep, llamas, geese, bunnies, and chickens. A goat was there to greet them with a loud and piercing bleat. "Jongho, is that you?" Wooyoung said as he smiled at the vocal goat.

"There's Seonghwa," Yeosang said and was quick to point out the sheep he had talked about earlier, resting in a pen.

"Yunho," Wooyoung said and gestured towards a particularly tall llama with a long neck.

"San," Yeosang said, and pointed to a pig pen. One of the pigs was having a blast and running around the pen excitedly. "And Mingi," he continued, gesturing to another pig peacefully sleeping in the corner.

"Yeosang," Wooyoung said, causing Yeosang to turn towards his friend, only to find out that he was being compared to a chicken.

"I'm not a chicken," he said, offended. He raised his eyebrows and pointed to a patch of honking geese near the pigs. "Wooyoung."

Wooyoung only took the geese as a compliment. He grinned like a little kid and honked himself. "Do the chicken dance for me, Yeosang," he bantered.

"Shut up," Yeosang said sweetly. But he had to admit, the chickens were extremely interesting. In his opinion, they were the best animal at the fair. It might have been because he loved to eat chicken, but the chickens he came by as he walked around their pens came in beautiful browns, reds, oranges, and blacks. Some of their eggs even came in different hues. When he walked by one, it pecked its beak towards him and made him smile. So he was in Wooyoung's line of vision, he silently did the chicken dance in front of a light orange variety.

"Amazing," Wooyoung breathed and walked closer to him. He peaked at the orange chicken that Yeosang was nearby. "Aw, this one is cute."

"But he didn't win any prizes," Yeosang said and gestured to the other chickens around them. While some chickens had beautiful multi-colored ribbons that announced they had won in some sort of category, this orange chicken had a small, simple, and drab white ribbon.

"Participation," Wooyoung said, ogling the single ribbon on the chicken's cage. "That's silly. He's a stunning bird. A true specimen of chicken." The orange chicken pecked at the cage in response to Wooyoung's compliment.

"Taken an interest in Mr. Clucks, eh?" A man said, coming from behind them. He wore worn blue jeans, sneakers, and a yellow plaid shirt. He was older, but the little twinkle in his eye that appeared when he smiled suggested he was young at heart. "I'm the owner of him and a few other animals in this exhibition," the man clarified.

"It's too bad he didn't win anything," Wooyoung said, always eager to talk to someone. "He's really quite a nice-looking chicken."

"It really is too bad," the owner nodded. "I send my non-winners to the butcher, unfortunately." He said this casually.

Yeosang and Wooyoung looked at the chicken, Mr. Clucks, and then back at the owner, who gave them a smile.

"The butcher?" Yeosang repeated. He couldn't have meant that. Perhaps it was just a joke. He knew, rationally, chickens had to be killed in order for him to enjoy fried chicken, but now he knew this chicken. He couldn't just die now.

"I know, it's unfortunate," the owner sighed, and Yeosang couldn't argue with him. He gave a smile to the owner and looked back at Mr. Clucks, adamantly pecking the ground, oblivious to his fate.

"I can't believe he'd just drop him like that," Yeosang said to Wooyoung after the owner had gone off to talk to other fair-goers. "This poor chicken will die because he wasn't good enough? Mr. Clucks doesn't deserve that." He looked back at the orange chicken with a saddened expression.

"Nothing we can do about it, though," Wooyoung shrugged while Mr. Clucks pecked at the ground some more. "Unless we were to steal him, but that's impossible. He's in that cage."

Yeosang nodded, unable to keep his eyes off of the chicken. "I really wish we..."

But Yeosang trailed off. On other cages, a small lock kept the door of the cage secure. But on Mr. Cluck's cage, the lock was both unlocked and broken. It would still prevent Mr. Clucks from getting out of the cage, but all Yeosang would need to do would be to slide the lock off of the hook that it was on. 

Wooyoung noticed what Yeosang was seeing. "Yeosang, no. Absolutely not."

"But he's going to die," Yeosang pushed, his heart beginning to race. Could they save Mr. Clucks?

"Yeah, just like a lot of chicken!" Wooyoung hissed. "The same chicken that you gouge down about four times a week. And what if we get caught? We're not exactly inconspicuous carrying around a goddamn chicken."

Yeosang pointed to Wooyoung's backpack that was coincidentally chicken-sized.

"Yeosang," Wooyoung groaned, throwing his hands up in the air. "Okay, I guess I don't want him to die either. But he's not going to be happy in my backpack. He'd get stressed being in an unknown and closed space. We'd have a clucking backpack for the rest of our time at the fair."

"Then we steal- no, rescue him when we leave," Yeosang said, nodding at Wooyoung, who looked like he wanted to pass out on the floor out of exasperation. "Come on. This is a perfectly dumb thing that we can do together. We'll laugh about it in a few years."

"Not if the chicken police catches us," Wooyoung said, but his tone was amused rather than scolding. "Fine. But after we lose our minds on a few more rides."

Yeosang's smile was brighter than the blazing sun. "Thank you." Yeosang took one last look at Mr. Clucks in his cage before the two of them exited the animal exhibition.

Wooyoung and Yeosang proceeded to let themselves go wild for the last few hours of the fair. They rode one wooden and rickety rollercoaster in the fair multiple times with the other screaming preteens. They went on it so many times that the ride attendant learned their names, thanks to Wooyoung's loud personality and penchant for never shutting up.

"Well, Wooyoung, Yeosang," said the attendant, a cap that displayed the fair's company logo on his blond hair, "have fun on the ride. Again." He seemed to linger a little too long on Yeosang, but both of the boys were too eager to go on the ride to notice his attention to him.

Wooyoung later dared Yeosang go to on a terrible yet exciting throw up-inducing ride that flipped and turned its riders in the air. Yeosang stood in line with his arms crossed while Wooyoung gleefully stood on the sidelines. But the tables turned when the attendant told Yeosang that a minimum of two people were needed for each seat on the ride, and no one else in the line was riding single. There was no greater walk of shame for Wooyoung as he climbed into the ride's seat next to Yeosang. It was Yeosang's turn to be gleeful. So, the two of them screamed their lungs out as they whipped through the air and the sun smiled down at them from above.

The sun soon disappeared from the horizon and cooled down the fair. There was less light and more people crowding the fairgrounds, giving perfect conditions for the rescue of Mr. Clucks.

Wooyoung and Yeosang darkened the entrance to the chicken exhibition around eight o'clock. Wooyoung, armed with Mr. Cluck's red ride, his backpack, had a satisfied smile. Yeosang, eager to save his friend he had only met a few hours ago, made a beeline for the chicken.

"Mr. Clucks, hello!" He whispered as he slid the broken lock off of the cage while Wooyoung partially blocked him from other's view. There was only one other family with them, a mother and her screaming toddler, so they doubted she would pay attention to their thievery. The owner was also nowhere to be found, and the two of them had assumed he was tending to his other animals. The universe, it seemed, was optimized for thieves and discord this night.

Mr. Clucks clucked with fear when he was picked up by Yeosang from his cage, but all of the other chickens were also clucking. He was inaudible as he was placed carefully into Wooyoung's backpack and then zipped up.

"Oh, he's restless," Wooyoung muttered, now carrying the weight of poultry on his back. "I can feel him pecking my back."

"He's showing his love," Yeosang said and shut Mr. Cluck's now empty cage behind him. "Tomorrow, I'll go out and buy chicken food."

Wooyoung eyed him. "Yeosang, you're keeping him?" He asked, as if there wasn't a chicken in his backpack.

"What else am I supposed to do with him?" He asked incredulously, leading Wooyoung out of the chicken exhibition. It was luckily darker than when they had entered the chicken pens, so the small ruffling of Wooyoung's backpack was hardly noticeable. There was also enough screaming, laughing, and chattering from other fair-goers to deafen Mr. Cluck's clucking.

"Just let him go on the street?" Wooyoung shrugged. "You can't possibly take care of a chicken. Where will you put him?"

"I'm sure Pet Smart will have everything," Yeosang shrugged, weaving around a few of the fair-goers. They were almost at the exit of the fair. Once they were out of the gates, their rescue of Mr. Clucks would be a success.

"How was the fair?" The security guard that stood outside the fair asked, giving a serious smile as he checked to make sure Yeosang and Wooyoung had wrist bands.

"Egg-ceptional," Yeosang said at the same time Wooyoung said "im-peck-able." They then looked at each other with murder in their eyes.

The security guard, however, was not fazed. "Have a nice night," he said, and waved Yeosang, Wooyoung, and Mr. Clucks off.

Now that they were in the parking lot, Mr. Cluck's clucking was more audible. "Mr. Clucks, stop being so clucking- no, fucking loud!" Wooyoung hissed.

"It's fine, there's no one else around us," Yeosang reassured him. He could feel the adrenaline beginning to pick up inside him. They had done it, and Yeosang was so excited to show the rest of their friends Mr. Clucks.

"My backpack is going to smell like chicken for the rest of time," Wooyoung groaned as they reached Yeosang's car. He carefully placed down the backpack as he got into the passenger seat of the car and opened up the backpack. Mr. Clucks clucked as a greeting.

Yeosang peered over to look at their new friend. "Wonderful," he said, starting up the car. "Doesn't it feel good that we saved him?"

"What I'm feeling is itchy scratches on my back from all of his pecking, but sure," Wooyoung said, not taking his eyes off of Mr. Clucks. The orange chicken, now unzipped and a bit more free, seemed happier. Yeosang drove out of the parking lot.

"Get ready for your new home, Mr. Clucks," he said, turning smoothly into the lane that would take him home, "everyone is going to love you."

"What the hell?" Seonghwa said as a greeting when he walked into Yeosang's apartment. It was the next day, and Yeosang had gone out and bought all of the basic necessities for Mr. Clucks - a cage, chicken food, a chicken harness, and assorted clean up supplies. All of it sat in the corner of his apartment, while Yeosang himself was sitting on his couch. Mr. Clucks was perched onto his thighs and pecking aimlessly into the air.

"It's Mr. Clucks," Wooyoung said, leaning on the wall next to him with his arms crossed. "We stole him." He grinned while Seonghwa looked like he wanted to pass out.

Hongjoong entered the room next. He stared at Mr. Clucks for an absurdly long amount of time before saying, "Yeosang, I think your fried chicken is a bit undercooked." Seonghwa snorted.

"They stole him," Seonghwa added.

"From the fair," Wooyoung clarified.

"Why?" Hongjoong asked.

"Why not?" Yeosang said in reply, stroking Mr. Clucks' feathers.

Yunho and San entered Yeosang's apartment at the same time. "A chicken?" San asked, while Yunho sat right down next to Yeosang, admiring Mr. Clucks. Seonghwa and Hongjoong judged Yunho as he smiled and pet Mr. Clucks with Yeosang.

Jongho walked in with Mingi trailing behind him. While Jongho went through all five stages of grief upon seeing Mr. Clucks, Mingi was unfazed by Yeosang's new pet. "A chicken?" He asked. "What's his name?"

"Mr. Clucks," Yeosang grinned, which caused a few of them to look at each other with concern. Yeosang didn't seem to notice.

"Mr. Kang Clucks," Mingi finished.

At that, Yeosang brightened and Mr. Clucks let out a particularly triumphant cluck. "Oh, I love that name!"

"Or KC," San added. The room was oddly silent as Yeosang stroked his chicken, the only noise coming from Mr. Cluck's random clucks.

"Does the landlord know about this?" Hongjoong said finally, breaking the silence.

"He won't ever know," Yeosang said, smiling. "Well, unless he sees me taking it on a walk. But I think I'll be fine."

A pin could have dropped in the room. Seonghwa didn't take his eyes off of the harness, which had a leash, in the corner of the room. "A chicken," Hongjoong said finally, the unspoken spokesperson of the group. "Alright."

"I saved him from being killed," Yeosang felt the need to say. "And," he continued, looking at Wooyoung, "maybe I will end up releasing him or sending him to a good farm. But for now, I'll take care of him." He gave a grin to everyone, and as he stroked Mr. Clucks some more, it was clear that he dearly admired him.

But their smiles turned into held back laughter as Yeosang bent down and began dressing Mr. Clucks into a leashed harness. "I'll take him on his walk now," he said, placing Mr. Clucks down onto the floor wearing his new harness.

"Have a nice walk," a few of them echoed as they watched Yeosang and his domesticated poultry exit the apartment.

"A chicken," Seonghwa echoed now that Yeosang was gone. Jongho was already pulling out his phone and setting himself by the window to record Yeosang walking the chicken like it was a dog.

"I think the chicken is kind of cute," Yunho shrugged. "And it's admirable of him to give a bit of his time and money for the little guy."

"But a chicken," Seonghwa said. "A chicken."

They all grinned at that. But Yeosang was Yeosang, and as he walked outside with his winged and clucking pet, the rest of them felt a wave of respect and love for him.

And that was the sweet part about Yeosang - despite his love for eating chicken, he had a heart of gold and cared for unseen animals. And that allowed all of them to look at him at a new angle that, until now, none of them had previously noticed.