#because they are a team a group a group of the two of of them

[chancloud8]

CHAPTER 1

series masterlist

Pairing: OT8 x reader

Word Count: 3,9k

Tags: Intro, bodyguard!ot8, idol!reader

Summery: Meeting your new bodyguards doesn't go as smoothly as everyone hoped..

‘I don’t need a group of bodyguards,’ you repeat for what feels like the hundredth time. 

Your manager Yoona doesn’t even look at you anymore and you fight the urge to stamp your feet like a little child to get her attention. You won’t stoop that low though, so instead you place your hands on your hips and glare at the woman who’s been by your side since you debuted about two years ago. 

‘We’re not having this discussion again, y/n,’ Yoona says, her eyes still fixed on her phone screen. ‘Your popularity is growing by the day, you’ve received multiple death threats in the last few months and in case you forgot, last week someone tried to break into your home.’ 

Your shoulders deflate and your hands fall down beside your body. You can’t really argue with that, but you’ve grown so accustomed to having Faris at your side as your one and only bodyguard, that the thought of eight men taking his place makes you shiver. Who the hell needed eight freaking bodyguards? You weren’t a princess for fuck’s sake. 

Yoona finally looks at you then. ‘It’s very important to us to keep you safe, darling. I know it will be an adjustment, but you’ll get used to it.’ 

‘But eight?’ you argue, trying once more. ‘Do I really need eight men following my every move?’ 

‘That’s why we’re placing some of them around you with other jobs as well, kind of like undercover bodyguards,’ Yoona smiles at you like that makes it any better. 

You slump down in the chair across from Yoona and frown at her. What could bodyguards possibly go undercover as in your team? Woman, sure, no problem, but a muscled man? They’d stand out immediately. 

‘What do you mean?’ you ask carefully, not sure if you even want to know. 

‘They all have multiple skill sets, but we decided on adding three of them as your dancers and one will probably step in as a personal assistant of sorts,’ Yoona explains, her eyes once more on her phone screen. 

‘Why?’ you blurt out. ‘I don’t even need new dancers? We’re not firing anyone are we?’ 

You were perfectly happy with your team as it was and it would kill you to let any of them go because Yoona decided you needed eight freaking men to watch you. 

Yoona sighed and put down her phone. ‘We’re not firing anyone, but Dohyun is still recovering from his injury and Ju-won has asked for a few months off to visit his family. As for why, it will allow them to be around you more casually.’ 

Damnit. That actually made sense. 

‘And you’re sure they can dance?’ you ask, already knowing the answer. Yoona would never suggest something like this if they couldn’t. 

‘Yes, y/n, they can dance. I think you’ll be impressed actually.’ 

That makes you curious. Yoona isn’t easily impressed, so if she thinks you’ll approve, they must be good. Maybe you should give them a chance, or just be such a brat they run away screaming. 

‘Fine,’ you sigh. ‘When will I meet them?’ 

Yoona looks at her watch and your eyes widen at the movement. She wouldn’t do this to you, would she? 

‘They’ll be here in an hour to meet you,’ Yoona says and you let out a relieved breath. ‘You better be back here by then or I will let one of them drag you here by your ear.’ 

‘Bossy much,’ you whisper, but you don’t really mean it. You luckily have a very good relationship with your manager and even though she drives you up a wall sometimes, you know she has your best interest at heart. 

Yoona rolls her eyes at you and waves her hand at the door. ‘Go be bratty somewhere else, I’ll see you in an hour.’ 

You bark out a laugh and jump up from the chair. ‘As you wish, my Queen,’ you say, doing a little courtesy. 

Your current bodyguard Faris is waiting for you in the hallway, a smile on his handsome face as he spots you. 

‘Good talk?’ he asks, following one step behind you. 

‘You knew about this, didn’t you?’ you ask, glaring at him over your shoulder. 

‘I’m the one who recommended them actually,’ Faris says and only his quick reflexes stop him from walking straight into your back as you stop walking immediately at his words. 

‘What?’ you turn around to frown at him. ‘Why would you do that to me?’ 

Faris raises his eyebrows and stares down at you with a knowing look, his arms crossing over his chest. 

‘Fine,’ you roll your eyes at him. ‘I know why, Yoona was so kind to remind me, but I still don’t get why it has to be eight.’ 

‘It might seem excessive to you Nabi,’ Faris says, addressing you with your stage name which he knows usually softens you. ‘But you don’t see all that we see and trust me when I say that once you’re on tour, you’ll be happy to have them by your side. It gets crazy out there.’ 

‘I know that, but undercover bodyguards?’ you make a face. ‘I’m not royalty.’ 

Faris chuckles and with a gentle push on your shoulder, he guides you further through the hallway and towards the studio you were working at before Yoona called you to her office. It was one of the things you really liked about your agency. Nearly everything you needed was in the same building. 

‘You may as well be and I trust Chan and his guys to keep you safe,’ Faris says as he holds a door open for you. 

‘So you really know them?’ you ask, sitting down at the desk you were working at before. Your laptop is still open on the editing program you work with and there are multiple notebooks, paper coffee cups and empty candy wrappers spread all around it. ‘Did you work with them before?’ 

‘I trained 3RACHA actually,’ Faris nods. ‘Chan and I had multiple gigs together after that and I’ve only heard good things about the others as well. I’m confident I’m leaving you in good hands.’ 

‘You shouldn’t be leaving me at all,’ you groan, throwing your head back against your chair. ‘But I understand and I hope that when I have a husband one day, he'll do the same for me.’ 

Faris just smiles at that and gets comfortable on the couch facing the door. He knows better than to get into this conversation with you again. Last time you ended up facetiming his wife in tears and he ended up having to calm down two crying women. 

‘Wait, did you just say sriracha?’ you sit up in your chair when your brain suddenly realizes what he had just said. ‘As in the hot sauce?’

‘No, I said 3RACHA, that’s what they called themselves back then,’ Faris replies, glancing at you. ‘I think they made music together in their free time, before they started their own company.’ 

Huh. Interesting. Why on earth would they go from making music together to becoming bodyguards? 

‘So all eight of them made music together?’ you ask curiously. 

‘No, just Chan, Jisung and Changbin. I think they mostly rapped, but if you’re interested in knowing more, you can always ask. It could break the ice when you meet them,’ Faris suggests, winking at you. 

‘I’ll pass, I don’t want them to think I’m happy about this arrangement,’ you murmur, turning your chair so your back is to Faris. ‘Will you tell me when it’s time to go?’ 

‘Don’t I always?’ he chuckles. 

You flip him off without looking and put on your headphones. Time to edit some more music. 

****

You’re so engrossed in your music, that it takes Faris multiple tries to get you to put down your headphones. He even goes as far as opening the blinds to let the light in, making you whimper and flinch by the intrusion of it. 

‘Alright, alright,’ you yell, your eyes scrunched close. ‘I beg for mercy, I’ll come with you.’ 

Faris laughs and closes the blinds, once again developing the room in darkness, just how you like it. He has scolded you many times before about how bad it is for your eyes to squint at your screen in a dark room, but you rarely listen to him about it. 

‘If you think about telling my new watch dogs this trick of yours, I’ll haunt you,’ you warn Faris when the two of you walk towards Yoona’s office. 

Faris makes a movement with his hands as if he’s zipping his lips closed and you nod happily at him, trusting him to keep his word. 

‘How late are we?’ you ask, having forgotten your phone in the studio when Faris basically dragged you out by your arm. 

‘About five minutes too early,’ he smiles proudly. 

Of fucking course. He’s been working with you for two years so he knows all your annoying traits by now, including having a habit of being late because you simply forget the time when you’re working. 

‘What will I do without you,’ you pout at him, ignoring the nervous butterflies in your stomach as you near Yoona’s office. 

‘You’ll be just fine, Nabi,’ Faris says and you’re not sure if he means it as a reply to what you just said or as a reassurance before meeting your new team of bodyguards. 

Taking a deep breath, you turn towards Faris. ‘How do I look?’ 

‘I thought you didn’t care?’ he grins, but he reaches out to flatten a few wild strands of your hair. 

You blow him a kiss, put on a straight face and turn around to knock on the door before pushing it open. The first thing you’re greeted with is the silhouette of 4 men standing with their back to you. Each of them have broad muscular shoulders that are clearly visible under the black suit jacket they’re wearing, the fabric straining like they’re wearing a size too small. 

The man on the right turns around when you enter and you nearly gasp at his beauty. His hair is styled to show a little v of his forehead and the black strands nearly reach his eyes. Jesus. He could be a model if he wanted too. He raises his eyebrows at you when you just stare at him for a moment, before he nudges the man next to him. 

‘Are you fucking kidding me,’ you mutter under your breathe when the other man turns around and piercing eyes meet yours. 

Of course he’s beautiful as well. What the hell was Yoona thinking? 

‘Ah, Y/N, there you are,’ Yoona says when she notices you. ‘On time, even.’ 

You roll your eyes and stroll forward to her desk, ignoring the four men as you make your way around them. In that little moment you forget there’s supposed to be more of them and when you turn to stand next to Yoona and see the chairs in front of her desk filled with four more gorgeous men, you nearly stumble. 

Yoona grins at you and you narrow your eyes at the woman. 

‘You think this is funny, don’t you?’ you grumble at her. ‘Where did you even find them? heaven?’ 

One of the men snorts before trying to cover it up with a cough. 

‘Don’t mind her gentleman, she’s in a mood today,’ Yoona smiles. 

‘I wonder why,’ you mutter, sending a fake smile in the direction of the bodyguards. 

‘That’s alright, it must be a lot to take in,’ one of them says with such a deep voice that your eyes widen. 

It must look comical, cause the same man that snorted earlier, lets out a giggle. ‘Don’t worry, Miss, it’s how everyone reacts to first hearing Felix’s voice,’ 

You want to focus on him calling you Miss, but the urge to see which face belongs to the deep voice is stronger.

‘Who’s Felix?’ you ask, your eyes searching the men in front of you. 

‘I am,’ the only blonde man of the group says, lifting his hand to show you where he is. He’s absolutely stunning with freckles sprinkled over his nose and cheeks. 

‘Holy shit, is that your real voice?’ you ask without thinking, slapping your hand in front of your mouth as soon as the words come out. 

He laughs and a few of the other men chuckle as well. 

‘It is, sometimes it gets even deeper,’ he says. 

‘Yeah, Lix actually has like three different voices,’ the man who called you Miss grins. 

It’s getting annoying not to know his name, but you don’t want to ask and seem interested. Luckily one of the men at the back seems to read your mind somehow. 

‘Why don’t we all introduce ourselves, my name is Bang Chan, but you can call me Chan. I’m the leader and head of your security team as of now. So if you experience any problems with our service in any way, I’m the one you can come to.’ 

‘Noted,’ you mumble, ignoring Yoona’s glare at your rudeness. 

So that’s Chan. Faris forgot to mention how beautiful his trainee was and you were so going to punch his arm for that later. 

‘I’m Lee Minho,’ the one with the piercing stare says. ‘I’ll be joining your dance team.’ 

Fuck. Of course he is. 

‘So will I,’ Felix smiles. ‘Lee Felix.’

‘And me, Hwang Hyunjin,’ the man closest to you winks. 

Great. They were absolutely going to kill you. In more ways than one. 

Biting your lip you wait for the last four to introduce themselves and pray to all the gods that Miss guy is going to be your assistant. He already feels like the most easy going out of all eight and if you need to work with one of them closely, you’d rather it be him than anyone else. 

‘Kim Seungmin, I’ll be one of your bodyguards’ the one who noticed you first says, his eyes flicking up and down your body as if he’s calculating how much of a flight risk you are. 

Oh just you wait and see buddy. 

‘I’m Yang Jeongin, but you can call me Innie or Ayen,’ the very cute man in front of Seungmin smiles and you nearly smile back at him. 

Finally the man you’ve been waiting for speaks up. ‘I’m Han Jisung, your new assistant.’ 

You cheer in your head, keeping a straight face as you look at the last man. He’s definitely the most buff of them all, his biceps really testing the fabric of his suit jacket. 

‘And I’m Seo Changbin, also part of your daily bodyguard squad.’ 

‘You’re all way too beautiful to be bodyguards,’ you say, crossing your arms with a frown while tapping your foot on the ground. 

Yoona makes a noise beside you and you don’t dare to look at her. She’ll definitely lecture you later, but this is all on her anyways. 

‘Worried your fans will fawn over us?’ Jisung jokes, winking at you. 

Your lips tip up in a tiny smile, but you quickly straighten your face. It was going to be hard to be a brat to them, but you were nothing if you weren’t stubborn. You’re not going to just warm up to them because they were hot and funny. Nope. Not going to happen. 

‘More like you’d be too busy worrying about your good looks to protect me,’ you say, raising your eyebrows at them. 

‘Aren’t you a ray of sunshine,’ Minho grumbles, placing his hand on Jisung’s shoulder as if to comfort him. ‘You won’t have to worry about that, looking this good doesn’t cost us much.’

You open your mouth to reply, but Yoona gets up and goes to stand next to you. 

‘That’s enough Y/N,’ she hisses before smiling her million dollar smile to the men. ‘As you can see Y/N hasn’t really warmed up to the idea of having this many eyes on her all the time.’ 

‘Don’t you have that all the time though,’ Seungmin says directly to you. 

You glare at him. ‘That’s not the same. 

He just shrugs. ‘We don’t want anything from you like your fans or stalkers. We’re not here to be your friends, we’re just here to keep you safe. That’s all that should matter.’ 

His words hit you harder than they should and you can’t help but flinch. The idol life isn't great for maintaining friendships and since you weren’t in a group, the only people you really had around you to talk to were your bodyguard Faris, Yoona and your dancers. You didn’t have a best friend, or even really friends in general, not since high school ended. 

‘Min!’ Chan calls out, glaring at the man. 

You square your shoulders and tilt your head, putting another fake smile on your face. ‘It’s fine, he’s right isn’t he.’ 

‘No, he’s not,’ Chan shakes his head. ‘Listen-’ 

‘It’s fine,’ you repeat, interrupting him. ‘How about I’ll show Jisung his office and we can go over the schedule for next week?’ 

Chan frowns down at you, sharing a look with Jisung and Yoona, but then he nods. You give him a nod back in thanks and without looking at any of the other guys you make a beeline for the door, hoping Jisung will follow you. 

‘Well, that went great,’ you hear someone say before you step outside. 

Faris frowns when he sees the look on your face, but he doesn’t say anything and falls into step behind you like he always does. It’s one of the things you love about him, he always knows when to not ask questions. You can hear him and Jisung quietly talking behind you, but you don’t mind, they know each other after all. 

‘Well, here we are,’ you say, opening the door of the small office area next to the studio you usually work at. ‘You can arrange everything how you like and if you need anything you can ask Yoona.’ 

‘I wasn’t expecting an office,’ Jisung smiles at you, stepping inside the room to take a look. 

It’s not much. Just a desk with a comfortable chair and a computer, a two person couch and in the corner there’s a bookcase that so far only houses a cactus, your first three albums and a box with documents your last assistant left behind. 

‘Of course you get an office, can’t have you shacking up with me in the studio,’ you say, trying to joke with him. 

‘Hey, about what Seungmin said,’ Jisung starts, sitting down in his desk chair and twirling around. ‘He’s just very serious about his job, he didn’t really mean the part about us not being your friends.’ 

‘It’s fine,’ you shrug. ‘You’re not really meant to be my friends anyways, you’re hired to protect me.’ 

‘Yeah, you don’t look too happy about that. Why is that?’ Jisung asks and he sounds genuinely curious. ‘I mean, sure we’re a whole lot, but isn’t it nice to know you’ll be safe?’ 

‘Safe? Yes. Watched by eight, I repeat, eight men? No thank you, I don’t need that.’ 

Jisung tilts his head and purses his lips in thought, like he’s actually trying to see this from your side. ‘I get it, I do, I’ve lived with most of them for the last few years and like I said, we can be a lot.’ 

‘But?’ you ask, falling down on the couch in front of Jisung’s new desk. ‘I feel there’s a but there.’ 

‘You really have no idea, do you?’ Jisung leans his chin on his palm as he looks at you. ‘We’ve seen the threats Y/N, we’ve seen the video’s of handsy fans, we’ve seen the footage of that dude trying to break into your house. It’s a miracle really that nothing has happened to you so far with only Faris by your side.’ 

‘He’s right, Nabi,’ Faris says from his spot by the door. 

‘Okay, maybe more than one bodyguard would be better,’ you say slowly. ‘But eight? I still think it’s a bit much, especially the undercover bit.’ 

Jisung shrugs and leans back in his chair, folding his hands behind his head. ‘Maybe so, but at least you’ll know you will be safe.’ 

‘I guess,’ you mumble. 

‘Wanna go over the schedule for next week with me?’ Jisung asks. ‘Get your mind off all this for a bit?’ 

You jump up from the couch immediately and walk around the desk to stand next to him while he starts up the computer. 

****

About half an hour later you’re fairly confident Jisung will make a good assistant. He’s written down your interviews and gigs for the coming month and made a list of all the things he wanted to take care of before that. It was cute how he wanted to do it right. 

‘Knock, knock,’ a voice called out from the door and when you looked up you saw Chan and Changbin hugging Faris. 

‘How’s it going here?’ Chan smiles at you as he walks inside, his hands in his pocket. He probably tried to come off less intimidating like that, but it didn’t really work. 

‘Fine,’ you say, looking at the computer screen again. 

If you kept your eyes on him you’d probably drool all over your favorite studio outfit. That man was way too fine. 

‘It’s going great, Channie,’ Jisung says. ‘We’ve been getting along perfectly without the ice kings here.’ 

‘Don’t let them hear you call them that,’ Chan chuckles, moving to sit on the couch. ‘I hope we’ll be able to make this work, Y/N. I take great pride in my work and I’ll do anything I can to make you feel comfortable around us.’ 

Ugh. Why did he have to be so kind too? 

‘Thank you,’ you mutter, your eyes still on the screen. 

‘We’ll promise not to impose your privacy too much when we move in, but–’ 

Your head snaps up to look at him then and from the corner of your eyes you notice Jisung covering his face with his hands. 

‘What did you just say?’ you ask, standing up. ‘Please tell me I didn’t just hear you say the words moving in?’ 

‘Uhm,’ Chan tilts his head in confusion. ‘I thought you knew?’ 

‘Knew. What?’ you growl, your fingers balling up in fists. 

‘Oh boy,’ Jisung whispers and you turn to glare at him. 

‘You knew about this?’ 

‘Uhm, we all did? And we figured so would you,’ he shrugs, looking at you with big innocent eyes. 

You close your eyes, not at all immune to those brown doe eyes. If you keep looking at him you will stop being angry and you can’t do that. Not now. 

‘If somebody doesn’t tell me very soon what exactly this thing I’m supposed to know is, I will scream,’ you clench your jaw and take a shaky breath. 

This can’t be happening. They are not moving into your house with you. Yoona won’t do that to you, not after your talk this morning. Right? You close your eyes in frustration, already knowing the answer to your own question. She will. 

‘Such a drama queen,’ a new voice speaks up from the door and when you turn your head, already seeing red, you see Minho smirking at you. 

Changbin and Faris look concerned and when you look back at Chan, he actually looks like he’s pitying you. Fuck. 

‘Just say it already.’

‘Well, we’re supposed to move into your new house with you,’ Chan says, confirming it. 

Oh hell no. 

a/n: eeeeeeekkk I'm so excited for this series you have no idea!! I wasn't going to upload till tomorrow, but @staylovesmiley made me flip a coin and here I am at midnight, feeding you the first chapter.

Please let me know your thoughts <3

taglist: @jaeminie-cricket @jeonginsbaee @staylovesmiley @newbbystay @cashtonsbetch @mariahxrrera @kaleigh-2002 @silencionyx @smileykiddie08 @my-neurodivergent-world @yaorzu-blog @yoongiismylove2018 @staytinyluv @bookswillfindyouaway @queen-thiccness @notastraykid @ateez-atiny380 @estella-novella @furfoxsake22 @hyunjinhoexxx @insomnjen @hannahisnotblue @vivilovesuu @velvetmoonlght @skz8love @eastjonowhere @stellmeiv @bookishcaptain @flylis @deadpool15 @0325ale @thatgirlangelb @iknow-uknow-leeknow @nchhuhi @shycreationdreamland @readr1221 @beewilko

[pitchsidestories]

have yourself a merry little Christmas II Kim Little x Reader

romantic masterlist | platonic masterlist | word count: 1115

summary: Kim, the Arsenal team and reader are strolling through a Christmas market together. requested

author's note: dear readers, we hope you enjoy our oneshot, your feedback is always appreciated.❤️❤️

Visiting the London Christmas market with the Arsenal team became an annual festive tradition for your teammates and you. The delicious scent of cinnamon and chocolate was in the air as you made your way through the buzzing streets, the slightly wet cobblestones reflected the warm fairy lights surrounding you.

“Girls, where’s Kim and y/n?”, Leah stopped moving alarmed by her realization that you two were suddenly missing from the group.

“They were right behind us.”, Beth shrugged innocently. The striker’s remark only intensified the blonde defenders frowning lines on her forehead.

“Kyra, no!”, Alessia laughed, trying to prevent the young Australian to get anymore chocolate from one of the many stands, so she wouldn’t suffer from a sugar shock.

“What?”, the midfielder responded sounding completely guileless.

“You can’t have chocolate right now, we’ve lost our captain and her wife which means we need to find them.”, Leah shook her head impatiently.

“I’m sure they’ll be fine.”, Kyra waved it off unbothered by the dramatics of the vice-captain. With a huge smile on her lips, she added eyes gleaming joyfully: “But there’s hot chocolate over there.”

“It can’t be as good as Swiss chocolate.”, Lia grumbled.

“Amor.”, Mariona chuckled amused.

“Maybe try it before you slam it.”, Beth suggested winking.

“See, listen to her.”, the Spanish midfielder smirked at the older Swiss woman who still looked unconvinced at the chocolate laying in front of her.

“Oi, I think I saw them.”, Katie interrupted them excitedly, before the team could reach them though, Kim and you disappeared in the crowd again.

In front of a booth where one could win prices your wife came to a halt. Immediately, the Scottish woman’s light eyes spotted something she wanted to get for you. The unfolding scene felt like one of those cheesy Hollywood rom coms you loved while your lover hated them with a passion.

“Kim, you don’t have to do that.”, you crossed your arms in front of your chest

“Do what?”, Kim frowned.

“To win that stuffed animal for me.”, you finished your sentence with a smile on your face.

“Who said I wanted to win it for you.”, the midfielder countered teasingly.

“So, it’s for your niece and nephew?”, you asked her.

“I didn’t say that either.”, she reminded you grinning. After a few rounds of playing, Kim triumphantly handed the stuff animal to you, announcing proudly: “Here this is yours.”

“Thank you.”, you muttered too stunned to say something else.

“You’re welcome.”, your wife replied.

Nervously you put a loose string of hair behind your ear: “Kimmy, you don’t think we’re too old for plushies?”

“What? No.”

“It’s really cute.”, you admitted touched by her soft gesture. Most people in your life were getting married, buying houses and having babies, the latter one you failed at it, you two were trying again in the new year. But for now, you were grateful for what you did had an amazing wife and a wonderful team which were also your found family.

“Let’s go, maybe we’ll find the others again.” Kim cleared her throat.  

You nodded slowly: “Good idea. It’s a team bonding event after all.“

“Exactly. But do you want to get some mulled wine first? I know you like that.”, Kim suggested, pointing into the direction of a stand close by. The smell of spices and warm alcohol wafted over to you.

You smiled, admiring that she remembered: “I do.“

“I’ll get us some.“, Kim said and queued up before you could protest.

A few minutes later, she pressed a hot mug into your hand. You leaned forward until the steam touched your cheeks, inhaling the smell. “Thanks, you’re the best.“

“Because I bought you a drink?”, Kim chuckled before taking a sip from her mulled wine.

“No, for… everything.”

A crease formed between her eyebrows as she studied you sternly: “I’m not doing anything.“

“Not through my eyes.“, you said, carefully drinking from the hot beverage in front of you.

Your wifes face softened: “That’s sweet of you.“

You hid your face behind your mug while taking another sip: “It’s the truth.“

“That’s just the mulled wine.“

You giggled about how bad Kim was at accepting compliments: “I’ve not had that much of it yet! But you know it’s Christmas soon and you know what they say about Christmas. That you tell the truth.“

“I never heard of that before.“, the midfielder grinned.

“Sadly it’s not from me. It’s a quote from Love, actually.“

“Never seen that.“

You blinked at her in disbelief: “You didn’t? We need to change that as soon as we get home.“

“I don’t even like Christmas movies.“, she complained. That fact definitely wasn’t new to you. It was almost impossible to get her to watch anything Christmas related.

But before you could protest and explain to her that not all Christmas movies are predictable and cheesy, you found yourself right under a plastic mistletoe. Admittedly, that was even too cheesy for you.

“Oh.“, you said as you looked upwards.

Kims eyes followed your gaze to the mistletoe: “And that’s exactly why. They’re all so stupid and clichéd. Like the tradition that you have to kiss under a mistletoe…“

You silenced her with one raised eyebrow: “You didn’t hate tradition when you went down on one knee for me years ago.“

Kim simply rolled her eyes in response: “Oh please.“

“Yeah, right, forget it. Oh, look who’s over there.“

A group of blonde girls stood out from the crowd. You immediately recognised your teammates.

“Oh.“

“Let’s go back over to them.“, you suggested but when you were about to take a step forward, Kims hand snaked around your wrist, holding you back.

“It’s bad luck.“

She nodded upwards to the plant above your heads.

You bit back a smile: “I thought you detested Christmas traditions.“

“I do. But we can’t risk it, can we?”, the Arsenal captain grinned sheepishly.

“No, we can’t.”, you agreed mirroring her smile before her lips met for a short, but sweet kiss.

Both of you were quickly interrupted by Leah’s statement, her arms were crossed in front of the chest: “Underneath the mistletoe.”

“Ew.”, Kyra grimaced who got playfully elbowed into her side through Steph.

The older defender warned her smiling: “Shut it.”

Expectantly Alessia looked at Kim and you: “ Are you coming now? We want to go on the Ferris wheel?”

“Yes, we’re coming.”, you told her beaming.

“Don’t worry.”, your wife added in a light-tone.

Somewhere in the background, have yourself a merry little Christmas was playing, and little Christmas was about to be soon indeed. The air was already full of laughter, joy and the promises of a New Year.

[takes1]

[final part] kuroo x hard to get!reader

ohhh this was a fun little series. thanks for the support :)

warnings. nsfw, minors DNI

details. face sitting / riding kuroo / pining!kuroo / complicated crushes / hard to get!reader / switch!reader / switch!kuroo / rbf!reader / manager!reader / whiny!kuroo / training camp setting / degradation kink / quickie / play fighting kink / kuroo with a big ego / player!kuroo / 3.3k words

links. my masterlist. more haikyuu here. part one. part two. requests open.

There was only a small pause, short enough for him to realize what you were doing.

"Please just come in," He sighed, candid and contrite, "Until the storm passes."

At this point, you were both locked in a tense game of chess, unwilling to sacrifice too much truth at any given point, but unable to stop playing until somebody won. You let him slip your raincoat off of you and hang it up, gentle, attentive, playing eye tag for the length of time it took to close and lock the door.

The kitchen stole your attention almost right away, filled with the sounds of a ritual slaughter. The shouting was accusatory and excited, like someone had been deeply wronged.

"Stop that before you set something on fire!" Kuroo shouted.

He picked up the peace offering and carried it towards his needy, weary team.

Your eyes widened a little at his team captain voice, safe to react because his attention was split. You trailed behind him, hesitant, towards the commotion.

"Keep it down. We've got a guest."

The noise was broken for a moment of silence at the presence of hot food, landing right on the dining table, then a million eyes on you.

It looked like everyone was dressed comfortably because there were no girls around. You averted your eyes immediately from the few that were in just their underwear and found that most of them opted for no shirts.

None of them cared very much. They all went in on the giant bag like a pack of starving wolves, shoving each other out of the way, grabbing as many as they could hold all at once. One hit the floor and was picked up, placed right into somebody else's mouth for safe keeping.

You took a step back, closer to Kuroo. He was so tame compared to them. The bag was empty in 20 seconds; it would've been less than that, had they not been fighting over lukewarm scraps.

"Where's your Coach?" You surveyed the room and found nothing but Nekoma players, munching obnoxiously.

It was the most prevalent thing on your mind. You didn't want to be 'caught,' though your surface-level intentions were innocent and backed by evidence.

Right before you left your own team's corresponding lodging, Coach Ukai was rounding up all the guys, trying to put them down for bed like twenty rowdy toddlers. If everyone sat still, you'd be able to still hear him yelling down the pathway.

A short guy you caught earlier today as Yaku answered, between three big bites of a bun, "Oh, Coach Nekomata went to bed, like, an hour ago."

The guy was ancient. It made sense that he wouldn't be as involved as Ukai in his old age, but he also had no need to. His team was well-behaved. Despite their frenzy, they were still a much quieter group than Karasuno.

In fact, after all the initial thanks and praises sung for your angelic timing, it felt too quiet. You wanted to leave, get back to your familiar and fun team, despite the weather. Kuroo could sense it in your stiffness.

The team was preoccupied with their supper. He had to make some bold maneuver, or you would voluntarily forfeit and slink back in the rain- because that was somehow a more appealing option than admitting you wanted to have sex with him.

Fukunaga clocked the complicated mess that was your current dynamic for exactly what it was. Some weirdo mating ritual. First he noticed that Kuroo wasn't eating. Then that he was only speaking to you. He was the ticking clock personified, double fisting two delicious buns without blinking. His unwavering stare cut into you from across the kitchen.

You shivered at the intensity, shifted just a little towards Kuroo with your head turned, defensive, towards the lanky guy. "He's creeping me out."

Kuroo leaned further down to mutter against your hair, dismissive, "Him? Shouhei's harmless."

He lingered, bent at the waist, just to take in another breath of your hair. You smelled so good. He couldn't let you go back just yet.

"How about we go upstairs?"

Aside from Fukunaga, nobody had a mind to notice if you left now. It wasn't a 'Yeah, let's fuck,' but it was close, so you sat in hesitation for a good, still minute.

-

The pace naturally quickened the closer to the door you got, like you were being chased by something. It was mostly the threat of time, but the predatory vibe you both got from each other was substantial, like if you let your guard down for a second, the other would eat you alive.

There was a rushed cadence to the way you entered the room and how he slid the door closed- only slowing to completely lock it as quiet as possible.

Everything was still for a moment. The end game was in sight, and neither of you could predict who would be the first to let up. Would it end here, or as you were coming down?

"What's your deal?"

"What deal?" You snapped, arms crossed, glancing about the large room filled with pallets.

This was so risky. Nothing about the danger of getting caught up here appealed to you. You weren't sure if he understood how comprised you'd be if anyone heard about this- you'd have to quit your manager job, at least.

It made you rigid, inflexible conversationally and physically. He fought the need to cross his arms, too.

"Why did you really come over?" He threw his chin up at you. When he tried to close the distance, he noticed how you took a step back.

The irony was eating him alive; you were so delicate to work with, but merciless in your methods- and you just kept coming back around, sparing no time for him to find just the right angle to work through your impossible armor.

His dismal attitude marked the next words out of his mouth, "You just- get a kick out of torturing me, or something?"

A hum- no, a laugh. He looked at you to figure out what it really was, and found your expression a little softer.

You looked around the room, head rocking side to side, "Mmm...Yeah."

Kuroo rolled his eyes at how much it took for you to be honest with him. He muttered to himself on the way to his bedding. You could leave if you wanted, but he needed to sit down. Dealing with you made him tired.

It was passive enough to get you curious again. You came around eventually, taking the time to mosey through the little aisle of space between where everyone slept. He only looked up from his hands when he felt you sit and lean against his side.

The flinch back was too strong to be ignored. He winced at the way your brows screwed up, forming a negative, probably wrong idea of him already. He could hear you being let down.

"You're all talk," Your voice was kind, dismissive, but your gaze pierced right through him.

He had to act like it didn't hurt, as if you didn't just twist a knife in his stomach.

It wasn't his fault you had conditioned him to be wary of you, if he wanted to stay in your favor- if he wanted a fair chance at pleasing you.

It frustrated him that you put him in a box so quickly, inspiring rough and ready action.

But you didn't back down from the quick, hungry kiss he stole from your parted lips. It was a challenge, after all. You met it, leaned freely into it- fingers filling with his messy, still-wet hair, while he palmed at your waist to pull you into his lap.

"You're not a-," Kuroo cut you off on purpose with another kiss, so you pushed him against the floor, eyes narrowed at his smirk, "You're not a virgin, are you?"

Fingers hooked under the waistband of your pants, searching absentmindedly for your panties, he laughed- genuinely amused.

"Fuck no," Was a sigh, distracted by the subtle but undeniable rock of your hips on top of him.

The sensation was so much better than his hand. He pushed against you, eyes scouring every inch of the perfect sight before him.

"Then why are you acting like one?" You pulled your shirt off, tossing it a reachable distance away.

That look in your eyes was back as you struggled to undo the clasp on your bra for a second; what he could now read as 'You better be worth it.'

Kuroo sat up with a quickness, forcing you to rock back and lean against his thighs, his brow sifting through the implication of your words, but his eyes ready to deliver.

"What, I can't be a little nervous?"

Big, agile hands slid behind you with another crushing kiss.

Your bra was off in half a second, replaced with his warm palms. He groaned against your lips at the feeling- you melted a little into his hasty touch, his wordless declaration of desire.

You arched into his touch, into his kisses descending in a messy, wet flurry down your collarbone and over your perky buds. The addicting sensation of his tongue made your thighs squeeze, your hips to rolling over his with a gasp as you unbuttoned yourself.

Those big hands swallowed up your sides easily, so pleasant compared to the cold air that made your skin prickle.

Soon, you were pushing him again, harder because he wasn't as easy to remove this time.

His eyes searched you, watching you get up and only concerned for a moment before you took the rest of your clothes off, standing over him. He realized he couldn't catch his breath, perfectly still in awe at your confident smile, that self-imposed nudity you used just to get a rise out of him.

"Shit," He groaned. His back of his head hit his pillow and he openly palmed himself to the sight of you.

Those cat-like eyes were blown out, so dark against the whites of his eyes, a little hitch on his breath already before you could even think about sitting back down. You nudged his shin with your foot to bring him back to the land of the living, telling him to take it all off.

The guy was a nice size- worthy of some of his cocky attitude, at least. You sat on him to slide back and forth over him.

"This what you wanted, pretty boy?" Your eyes were smiling, but your little frown was what completed the look for him.

The clipped whine, loud, though it never got past his lips, told you yes.

You put your hands on his chest so he had to watch you slide over his cock, coating him, showing him how wet you had gotten from that killer body he flaunted around so freely. He was kind of a whore, and you wanted him to know it.

It felt heavenly but he would never have guessed it, based on that pissed off pout you still had. His nails dug into the fleshy part of your thighs, a big sigh to collect himself before he let go, hands clasped behind his head. It looked casual, enjoying the view.

"You wanna know what I want?" He teased.

You cocked a brow at him, still using his slippery member to get off with little circles of your hips. He rode a fine line.

"I wantcha to sit on my face."

Kuroo blew a kiss at you. It wasn't the kiss, rather the good idea that made you slow to a stop and hum.

"Oh yeah?" Your low-lidded eyes burned into his soul as you dipped to eye level.

Your breasts squished against him, a thumb brushing his glossy lips- you took his cock with one hand and lined him up against your pussy, sensitive head rubbing back and forth.

The little bit of pressure against you, as he bucked instinctively with a throaty groan, helped your point.

He was under a spell, breath shallow, his fingers coming undone with the built-in need to steady your hips and fuck you already.

You spoke to that struggle in his eyes, "You sure that's what you want?"

Kuroo unlaced his hands and, when you thought you had him, sitting further back on his cock, he pulled you up and off of him.

"Was saving just enough room for dessert, baby," He muttered, dark and restrained, but still managing a little bit of humor to shine through.

He sure did. That slick tongue of his did more than just aggravate the shit out of you- he could guess what you wanted by how you were riding his cock. Nothing too aggressive, just dizzyingly consistent and enthusiastic.

Because it was the notion of worship that got you off. How good did it feel? How much did you want to fuck him? That depended. How bad did he want it?

"F-uck," You moaned under your hand, legs shaking under the locked pull of his arms, "Fuck-mmnh!"

Kuroo's excited, well-placed moans vibrated against you, faltering your balance at the worst of times.

You kept a rough hold in that mess of black hair and rode his flat tongue with no shortage of eye contact.

It was like you hated each other, how vicious those looks got.

You couldn't stand it. You'd be damned before you came on his tongue. He was going to give you your orgasm with his cock.

When you tried to get off, he readjusted his grip, stronger-- you had to start prying his fingers, one by one, off of your thighs. He loved how whiny and cute you got in the struggle, but noticed you never once begged him to stop.

You jumped, failing one last time to get his arm off, at his silly groan buzzing against your clit, "Ah-!"

It took pressing your palms against his face to get him to let go.

His gaze was brutal, taking in the way your legs shook, as he pushed the rest of you off of his chin and onto his aching cock.

There was no point in changing positions. It was obvious you wanted to be on top. He wanted the view.

"O-ohh," You threw your head back, eyes screwed shut, at that perfect, pretty cock stuffed in you.

Your tight pussy took the breath out of him. His hands filled with your hips, bringing you slow, up and down over what you had been too proud to admit that you needed.

His low-lidded eyes took in every curve of your perfect body, every little bounce he fucked into you, especially the shocked expression taking your face. It wasn't dissimilar to what you had looked like watching him earlier that day.

"That feel good, pretty girl?" He raked his nails gently across your thighs.

He seethed at the intense feeling of you starting to fuck him right back. It was a move he hadn't experienced yet with any other partners.

And you got to watch him completely unravel before your glossy eyes.

"F-uck-!" He gasped, "H-oh, shit," was spilling out of his mouth, between the light sounds of him bottoming out into your soaking wet cunt.

His brows were screwed up, real vulnerable- it sent a chill through you and ended swirling up fast, turning into tension in your tummy that he threatened to fill.

You prayed nobody was in the hallway, or they'd be able to hear some downright incriminating sounds.

Your palm pressed over his loud mouth, barely swallowing your own whimpering to tell him, "Shh..."

The way you threw your weight back into his thrusts demanded a very whiny cry into your hand. You knew it; you knew he was a whiny fuck. You clocked him so well from the very beginning.

Maybe he would've been more of a dominant presence if he was used to dealing with girls like you- or maybe he liked giving up some responsibility, once in a while.

His big, strong hands groped at your tits as they bounced, brushing his skin just enough to get some sharp, rolling pleasure.

He slowed, his hips rolling deep into you- he moved out of your hand and took a breath through his mouth to gasp.

"You better not cum before me," You warned, a little stilted because of how close you were, but deadly serious.

Your resting face was just so bitchy. You looked like you hated him, but loved his cock by the way you fucked him.

Kuroo kept his edge at bay with his eyes unfocused, trying not to watch you. Just for you, just so he could feel you cum first.

He was so grateful -barely holding on, just a dumb toy for you to fuck at this point-, to hear a high-pitched break in your gasps, "Mm-!"

"A-h-mmn-!" You kept your sounds muffled so well with one hand, forcing him to keep his at bay with the other.

The tension in your face was incredibly cute. Probably the only look of its kind, when it came to what you were willing to show him.

It was all he could do to fuck you to the height of it, rough but so dangerously close after that he had to pull out halfway through yours.

And boy, were you glad to be keeping him quiet. That guy could wake up the whole camp if he wanted to.

He came all over his own tummy, sweaty and out of breath, not even pushing back against your hand. He looked exhausted. You were tired, too, but didn't wear it as clearly. You spared a minute to catch your breath.

A slow, little peck to his forehead.

"All talk."

You slid your hand off of him and composed yourself enough to stand, gathering up your clothes. You grinned at the deep frown you were able to conjure while he was still swimming in post-orgasm bliss.

Kuroo groaned, sleepy and filling back up with something unpleasant, running his fingers through hair. He sat up, still glossy with cum.

You were nearly dressed when he was carefully pulling his pants back on.

He was so broody at your words, grumpy when you got a tiny glance at his face- there was a shared, quiet understanding that he still needed to walk you back, so you quietly waited for him to wipe off in the bathroom and pull a jacket on.

The journey to get out the door was comical and exaggerated in nature. Lots of looking around corners, waiting for people to get distracted, for you to slip outside. Thankfully his team weren't concerned with your whereabouts.

Kuroo still had not said a thing to you until you were back at Karasuno's lodging. You had already made your peace with this as the end of it, entirely, and understood he wouldn't want to look at you again after tonight.

When you about to turn, to go inside, he spoke up.

"Did you get what you wanted?"

It was mean and assuming. You deserved it a little.

"Did you?"

He deserved it too. It felt like you both lost, in a way.

You leaned into a last-second kiss, hands coming out of your pockets to run your fingers through his hair again. It fell naturally into a very long, lustful thing between you. His hands pulled you against him, hot and heavy, hardly ready to let go when you heard some stirring from inside.

"Fuck, no," He admitted, using the back of his hand to wipe his mouth.

The door was unlocking.

"It's a long training camp."

You said it vague enough so Daichi would have no idea what you meant as you walked by him.

He threw a hard look to Kuroo before closing the door, who returned it tenfold.

♕VIP���

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taglist! thanks for tuning in!

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@misachibi

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[starlightomatic]

this thing (the christmussy) appears and you slide down it

mazel tov you're now in an alternate universe.

you go on facebook and you see a post in the group for an app you have. every month there's a new theme announcement, and you see march has just been announced. it's cherry blossom themed; a cherry blossom dress for your avatar, a backdrop of cherry blossom trees for your virtual room. you think it's beautiful and really well-done.

you glance down and see the comments. there are many people upset that the theme isn't purim, with others reassuring them they can still get purim items in the shop and explaining that the app already did purim for the march event two years ago and doesn't want to repeat. but people are still upset, because they'd been saving up their in-game currency to buy purim items. this doesn't totally make sense because the event items don't cost any currency. but it's clear everyone expected a purim event, and that they feel a cherry blossom event would have been more appropriate for april because flowering trees are more of a pesach thing. a couple commenters mention that they don't celebrate purim and so they really appreciate that the team chose an inclusive theme, and that they think the cherry blossom theme is beautiful.

one thread goes something like this:

chana: ah, i was hoping for something more silly and purim-y

maryam: sorry, but not everyone celebrates purim. besides there are actually five different holidays celebrated in march, including purim. even then, not everyone celebrates those holidays. it's not all about one group of people. everyone needs to feel included.

chana: i'm fully aware, thanks. the silly purim is not the same as the religious purim, anyway. hamentashen are not in the torah. i know muslims who celebrate the commercial purim. i'm a jew who has done lots of interfaith work, by the way.

you notice it seems like several of maryam's responses aren't showing up: facebook glitch or were they deleted? or maybe chana is just so worked up she's commenting many times?

chana: in short i was asking for a springtime theme not a full-on megillah reading. you could have sought to understand before jumping to that conclusion. peace.

chana continues in this vein, even accusing maryam of "attacking her," and also makes a weird dig about maryam's islam.

eliana: try not to let this person upset you. you should be allowed to make such a statement without being lectured on religion -- this is not the place for that, or at least it shouldn't be. people are here to encourage and support each other. i also wish it was a silly purim theme. hope you have a great day :)

hadas: i agree. i would love to get a grogger.

rachel: admin! this is stressful.

tamar, the admin, jumps in. she doesn't mention chana's weird comments about maryam's islam, but merely asks for the conversation to stop. it doesn't.

ari: there is a grogger from one of the previous march events! it'll be in the shop all month. my family celebrated purim and mardi gras, so i have an outfit with a grogger and mardi gras beads!

chana: rachel, i'm so sorry.

chana: tamar, thank you and my apologies for my part in this.

zelda: chana, you can still buy jewish purim/wiccan ostara/mardi gras/etc type items in the store :) even a pineapple costume! lmao! your outfit can be as silly as you'd like it to be :)

katie: hi chana! i hear you saying it's disappointing there isn't a silly purim theme, and it's frustrating that anyone would push back on that because it's not religious so there's no way anyone would feel left out. i do just want to gently mention, for a lot of folks who are from other faiths and cultures, silly purim also isn't something that we celebrate. if the app had gone that route, we would of course understand because that is what the majority wants and we respect it, but it's true we would still feel left out. the app isn't obligated to change anything for us, of course, but the fact that they did is very sweet (well -- i'm not sure if inclusion was the intent, but it was the result!)

chana: just checking you've seen this. *includes screenshot of tamar's admin comment*

chana: can i also clarify one final time that i mentioned nothing of religion, nothing about faith, nothing about megillah, esther, or anything. i was simply hoping for a silly theme with funny hats and a cotton candy machine. the first person to mention anything to do with religion was NOT me. my initial comment has been taken wildly out of context and i am deeply upset that this conversation is continuing despite admin asking for it to stop. i'm done.

chana: tamar, i really don't want to leave this group, but this is past unacceptable at this point.

you don't see what happens next because you decide it's time to log off. you close your computer and go outside and touch some grass. you're free.

It's Black Friday and you know what that means: It's Christmas discourse season!

There's a disconnect that comes up every year in these conversations, and I've never seen it illustrated as clearly as in the conversation below.

Context: This is a community group for an app that involves themes and items, and this year's December theme is winter-y but decidedly not Christmassy.

Some people were upset about that, which isn't unexpected, and then this conversation ensued:

What is.... what is going on here? Why is red so upset? Why are they struggling to understand that "cozy" Christmas is still not universal? Does it feel threatening to them?

I mean, maybe green had a bunch of comments and then deleted them or facebook was glitching, but I can't find anything wrong with their initial comment. Is red just annoyed because it's unkind to challenge someone who's just saying they're sad? I don't think that's the only thing though because red doesn't seem to understand either green's or blue's comments and it's a misunderstanding I see every single year.

Also, I don't understand what the issue was with blue, or why that also upset red that much. Is it just because blue ignored the mod's request to close the thread?

Like.... either there's something I'm not getting or there's something red's not getting. I suspect it's red, tbh, because they started talking about how they never mentioned anything about Jesus, the nativity, or religion -- but blue actually addressed that in their comment.

Outside the context of someone getting pushback on just saying they'd wished something different had happened, which I recognize feels shitty, are there ways people like blue and green can phrase things so that it clicks for people like red, or is it a lost cause?

And what am I missing about red's perspective?

[klldyousoz]

S.R x alt!reader

In which the team catches Spencer staring at the “alternative chick” across the bar.

Warnings/genre: Fluff, reader is referred to as a woman and girlfriend, slightly feminine reader (description of makeup,skirt etc), not so secret relationship, brief cm content in the beginning.

Second/third person (idk), Enjoy!

The team had been in California for a week to investigate a string of kidnappings in the downtown area. The case contained its usual horrific scenes and events but luckily the skilled team of agents were able to find the unsub and arrest him without any extra gore. Leading to where they are now. At a bar for drinks somewhere in Virginia.

Spencer’s eyes are focused on your every movement, zoning in on every feature of yours from your precisely styled hair and makeup down to your intricate flowy skirt, paired with the equally as intricate shoes he insisted on buying for you. He longs to hear your laughing and feel your touch but is unfortunately aware of his own rule to keep you two private from the world, not wanting any harm to come to you because of his line of work. Right now however, Spencer has decided he hates that rule.

The team were on their second round of drinks when people noticed Spencer’s sudden lack of attention in the conversation, but instead focused on a group at the other side of the packed bar. The smirk on his face was hard to miss and inevitably caught the attention of Derek and Penelope, having finished being in their own little bubble.

“Hey pretty boy,” Derek teases, “pretty boyyy?”

“Hm” Spencer responds, forcing his eyes away from across the bar to focus on Derek.

“Who over there has got you so caught up?” Penelope questions, the whole team now paying attention to their conversation.

“Nobody. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Spencer quickly defends, causing a giggle from the girls at his nervousness.

“Sure you don’t,” Derek replies sarcastically, “So you don’t mind if I just, go over there?” Derek teases again.

But before Spencer can answer in protest or stop the, Derek and Penelope are already out of their seats and making their way over to you and your group of friends.

Although Spencer can’t hear much of your conversation over the bustle of the bar, he can imagine you recognise his two colleagues from the many pictures in his apartment as he notices your eyes widening at the realisation and your gorgeous smile making an always welcome appearance on your face. He thinks you’re an angel.

Soon enough, you begin to head over towards the table him and the remainder of the team occupy, excluding Derek and Penelope who are a few steps behind you with cheesy grins plastered on their faces.

Your smile hasn’t faltered and is still adorning your face as you near the table.

“Hello everyone, you must be the rest of Spencer’s team!” You beam while meeting the individual gazes of everyone including Spencer’s gazes.

Most of them stare cluelessly except for Spencer who is blushes in your unprompted presence. After a few seconds of silence, Derek thankfully cuts the tension and explains,

“This beautiful woman here seems to know Spencer pretty well. Do you care to explain that to us all pretty boy?” He says with a wink.

Spencer blushes even more at the sudden turn of heads in his direction, feeling your piercing gaze along with his colleagues inquisitive looks.

“Well uhm everyone, this is y/n. My girlfriend.” He stammers saying the last part in a hurry whilst gesturing towards you.

The table erupts into a flurry of “hello, nice to meet you”, compliments directed towards you and your style with the occasional “I didn’t know Spencer had a girlfriend” to which you responded,

“He’s been keeping you guys from me for 6 months. Can you believe?” You joke with a fake pout on your lips.

“Well we need to make up for lost time then.” Jj claims.

“Reid, the next rounds on you. We have some questions to ask!” Emily demands in agreement. The rest of team then seconding her idea.

Spencer sighs, already feeling sorry for his bank account about to feel the consequences of his team’s expensive taste but all distain is gone as soon as you slip into the spot next to him. And as soon as you kiss him sweetly in greeting and then again for fun, he knows he’s going to have a good night even if he’s the target of all teasing tomorrow. He’s glad you’ve finally met his makeshift family and knows he’ll not regret this unplanned introduction.

A/n: Hi all, this is literally my first ever actual oneshot not just hcs! Any tips are appreciated and of course any interactions! Thank you guys for reading!

[sflow-er]

Henry and Simon’s dynamic over the three seasons

For YR Faves Fest 2024 organised by @youngroyals-events Prompts: 2. Favourite teen side character (+ 7. Favourite not-quite friendship)

In one of my replies to the recent side character ask game, I briefly mentioned being partial to the dynamic between these two. So for this Faves Fest, I decided to elaborate with an analysis post (featuring screenshots of variable quality)!

I want to preface this with a brief acknowledgment of Henry’s privilege and classism. It is not my intention to diminish them. I do, however, feel that it’s a bit apples-to-oranges to compare them to Simon’s views (citrus pun intended). 🍊 is politically active and has put in the effort to form his own beliefs, while 🍏 shows us time and again that he is ignorant of the world outside the elite bubble and not inclined towards deep reflection. He is largely a product of his upbringing and the (liberal conservative) values imparted by his parents.

While Henry doesn’t grow enough to change his core views and values in the canon timeline, he does change his views on Simon. This isn’t enough progress for them to become actual friends before we leave off (I doubt Simon could be friends with someone who only exempts him), but I would still argue that they end the show on amicable terms.

And yes, I mean that in a mutual sense, even if Simon doesn’t soften towards Henry quite as much as Henry softens towards him!

So, let’s dive in!

Dialogue taken from the English CC and [abbreviated or corrected].

1.01: the tax debate

Henry: “Take my dad’s estate, for example. They’re struggling to make ends meet because of the high taxes.” [Simon chuckles and explains his views] Simon: “Like your dad. [Do you know how much he gets in EU subsidies every year]”? Henry: “And what the fuck does your dad do?”

Like most viewers, I find it a lot easier to relate to Simon’s views than Henry’s here – but I do think Henry often gets judged quite harshly for insulting Simon at the end. His comment does not come out of nowhere (cf. Stella’s unprompted dirty look at Simon and Sara when she talks about welfare scamming).

Henry only knows that his father has said their estate is struggling, so of course he won’t take kindly to Simon suggesting that they are actually getting undeserved subsidies instead. It’s also important to note that this estate isn’t just any old farm. It was granted to one of his ancestors as a reward for their services to the Crown, which makes it a core part of his family history. As we learn in 1.04, Henry is a Society boy and very proud of his noble ancestry, and Simon’s comment likely feels like an insult to his entire family. So although his retort is unquestionably rude, it is understandable that he lashes out.

Also, Henry has no way of knowing that Micke is a deadbeat. He is just applying a common stereotype (and potentially making assumptions based on the views Simon just expressed on welfare).

1.02: parallel but separate experiences

Early in this episode, we see Simon side-eye Henry and Walter for the paid tutoring. He decides to follow their example, but as we know he can’t actually afford it, we can already guess it won’t go as well for him as it did for them.

Next, we see Henry in the group as the rowing team ignores Simon at morning training. The camera also pans to him and Walter when August gives that bizarre speech about Simon’s class journey.

These moments highlight how different life at Hillerska (and beyond) looks for Henry and Simon. They are technically coexisting and even doing the same things, but their experiences are nothing alike.

However, there is also some potential for development here. August’s words about rowing bringing people together (and also about the class journey) should absolutely be taken with a heap of salt, but as we no longer see any open animosity between Henry and Simon, we can still wonder if rowing played a part.

Being on the same sports team is an entirely new frame of reference for these guys. They are no longer just the sosse and aristocrat who have been going to school together since pre-canon and clashing over their views; they are crewmates. They may be able to ignore each other for most of the time, but they may also have to do some team activities or even cooperate on occasion. At the very least, they will be around each other several extra times a week from late September/early October to Christmas break. This could definitely help to put them on more neutral ground.

1.05: Henry pays attention to Wilmon

In this episode, Henry learns more about Wilmon than the average Hillerska student. He is present when August tells the Society that Wille and Simon “hang out”, and also when Wille changes the plan from Simon to Alexander.

What’s more, he actually looks fairly thoughtful leaving that last meeting. We don’t know if it’s just shock over Wille’s ruthlessness, if he’s thinking about the plan to set up Alexander, or if there’s something else on his mind.

Now, this may veer into overinterpretation, but for the sake of thoroughness, let’s also include the blink and you’ll miss it moment before the Lucia procession where Henry notices Wilmon texting each other. In this cropped screenshot, you can see him looking at Simon, who has just put his phone down and is looking over at Wille.

1.06: Henry shows restraint

As we know, Henry is the only classmate who tries to treat Wille normally after the video, asking if he “saw the match yesterday” (he absolutely knows Wille didn’t). What is perhaps less noticeable is that he also shows more restraint than most of his schoolmates when the rumour mill gets going.

In this scene, Henry is pretty dispassionate reminding Walter that Wilmon sat next to each other at movie night and the two of them talked about it. There is a stark contrast to Walter, who absolutely pounces on that bit of gossip.

That one quick scene could just be a coincidence, but the same thing happens when Wilmon return to school. Instead of engaging with the others who are all eagerly talking and whispering, Henry is already sitting at his desk minding his own business when Wille arrives. His only reaction to Simon showing up is this quick look, which is immediately followed by his show of kindness to Wille:

So the restraint does look very intentional.

As an aristocrat, monarchist and Society boy, Henry is loyal to Wille, who he now knows has been carrying on with Simon for a while already. He also knows how far Wille went to protect Simon, despite the fact that Simon had actually supplied the drugs, so he is going to side with Wille.

What’s more, Henry’s behaviour in these scenes also confirms that he isn’t hostile to Simon. We can surmise he probably doesn’t think Simon is the most appropriate choice of partner for the crown prince, but he is willing to take his cues from Wille. We never see him sneer, joke, or say anything nasty about Wilmon as a couple (cf. Stella and Fredrika joking about surrogacy).

We are also shown his reaction to Wille hugging Simon before we move on to season two.

2.02: the floorball hug and walk-by

The first interaction between Henry and Simon in S2 is them celebrating a floorball goal with a spontaneous hug, as seen at the top of this post. What a difference a term makes!

Now, I don’t think this moment is meant to signify that they are friends all of a sudden, and I do feel it comes slightly out of the blue. I suspect it was included as a nod to those who already liked Henry after S1, but I for one would’ve preferred to actually see their reconciliation.

But then again, if their initial antagonism was always class conflict rather than personal beef, maybe there was no need for apologies…? Maybe each of them just accepted that the other was going to be around and decided to try and get along (potentially aided by their shared rowing team history)? Henry is following Wille’s lead as we already saw – and as for Simon, I doubt he would be hugging Henry even in the heat of a game if he held a grudge. Whether we saw it or not, they have moved on.

In the same episode, we also have the locker room scene.

Contrary to popular opinion, I don’t believe Henry actually overhears the entire conversation, but he may have still heard something about them having to wait two years (as Simon did raise his voice for that). It’s also possible he comes out of this scene assuming that Wilmon still “hang out” in secret. In any case, he probably assumes that Wille wants to keep the whole thing quiet, as per the usual “policy” on queer relationships among the upper classes. In addition to his monarchist ways, he also seems to be casually friendly with Wille in S2 (keeps inviting him to do stuff, from coffee to pranking Sprucewood). So it makes a lot of sense for him to keep whatever he overhears or suspects to himself.

2.03, 2.05 and 2.06: book report scenes

While Henry must be a nightmare to have in the group, he and Simon are nice to each other in all the book report scenes. This is further proof that they are in a place where they can talk civilly and even work together.

They start the project before the rowing race and only present it the day before the gun range scene, which means they had these group sessions for at least a few weeks (the timeline is a bit wonky here).

2.04: Henry snitches on Wille and Felice

The lunch scene at the start of the episode starts with this bit of vicarious interaction, as Henry and Simon (and Wille too) are amused by the nonsense Walter is spouting about girls:

Also, Walter's monologue feels more comphet every time rewatch it, but I digress.

As this post is focused on Henry and Simon, I’m not going to dig too deep into Henry’s role in spreading the story about Wille and Felice. Suffice it to say that he did tell his canonically gossipy bestie Walter, and it was recently pointed out to me that he seems to have let something slip to someone else as well. In the common room, Walter goes “det var du som sa till…” [you were the one who said to…] just as the focus shifts to Wille and Nils, which suggests that Henry either purposely told someone or misspoke without realising it. The latter would explain why he seems genuinely appalled when Wille confronts him, but it’s not a hill I’d be willing to die on!

If Henry did spread the story on purpose, I assume it was because getting with Felice was considered a credit to Wille and also “fair game” to tell, unlike the relationship with Simon that Wille wanted to keep hidden.

Still, Henry and Simon are definitely on better terms in S2. Even though Henry inadvertently causes pain to Simon with his part in the Wille and Felice thing, they still keep working together on the book report without any animosity.

Insofar as Henry’s lacklustre effort can be called working. Simon is a bigger person than I am for not blowing up at him when he announces minutes before the presentation that he won’t be taking any questions.

3.01: background Henry

We start S3 off with this one-sided interaction where Henry reacts to Wilmon kissing with a mild smirk. No more waiting or secrets to keep.

3.02: double standards on the camping trip

It’s not entirely clear what Henry is thinking when he says the infamous line about gay couples being allowed to share but not straight ones. I think some people read it as him deliberately putting Wilmon on the spot, but personally, I doubt he even realises it’s going to make them uncomfortable. He’s just noticing the double standard and pointing it out to mess with the teacher.

While Simon is very clearly not pleased with Henry for the comment (glares at him while saying to Wille that people are going to think they plan to have sex), he does not seem to hold that against him. Because what we do see them doing soon?

Sitting next to each other by the fire, even though Henry could’ve easily sat with Walter and Simon with Wille:

Also, it seems Henry isn't new to camping, as he tells Wille that part of the fire is too hot to grill a sausage in.

The part where things get interesting is when Henry acts classist towards the Marieberg students.

Henry seems to be down with meeting Rosh and Ayub, who are there as Wille and Simon’s friends. But after Fredrika brings up New York, he agrees that the situation turned “stiff as fuck.” That stiffness was entirely Fredrika’s fault (I think she is at least semi-consciously trying to mark herself as the most compatible partner for Stella there), but Henry seems to feel it was more about Rosh and Ayub not fitting in.

He also sneers and makes nasty comments when the other Marieberg students get into an altercation with Malin, which elicits a frown from Simon.

And yet, Simon does not condemn Henry as strongly as he might have done in the past.

Importantly, Simon tells Wille “it wasn’t the right time for everyone to meet.” This indicates that he could’ve imagined them all getting along at a better time, and it’s pretty clear that also includes Henry. Furthermore, “you [meaning Wille and the others] don’t realise how privileged you are sometimes” is actually a pretty neutral way of putting it. Simon would have been entirely justified if he had said the others were classist pricks, but he blames their privilege and lack of understanding instead of their character.

All of this forms a backdrop for my interpretation of the scenes in the next episodes.

3.03: First of May

Simon: “You do know that you’re not off so you can party the day before, right?” Henry: “Uhh…what?” Simon: “It’s the First of May.” […] “The day of the labour movement?” Henry: “Okay, so what’s their style? How do they celebrate?” Simon, scoffing: “You don’t celebrate. You demonstrate.” [Henry and Walter share a chuckle]

This may be a controversial take, but I don’t think Henry is being particularly nasty to Simon here.

He actually looks and sounds quite sincere asking how the labour movement celebrates. When he and Walter laugh, it reads more as “there he goes again, our very own sosse, saying wacky things!” than the kind of disdain he expressed towards the Marieberg students in the last episode.

Simon also doesn’t take the laughter as an insult; he’s just stupefied by their ignorance. Also, note that he already scoffed at Henry’s question, marking the question as silly.

This exchange is immediately followed by Vincent attacking Simon for his beliefs, which feels like an intentional trick to create contrast between his and Walty’s treatment of Simon.

3.04: the lollipop

In this scene, Henry starts out asking quite nicely and seriously if Simon has another lollipop, as if they had that kind of rapport. Simon makes a face, but then he just shakes his head and nicely says no. It’s only then that Henry switches to offering money for the already half-eaten lollipop, to which Simon reacts with disbelief.

He does not, however, get snarky with Henry. He settles for exchanging a look with Wille as Walty go on to complain about the hunger strike. Only when Henry isn’t present anymore does he point out to Wille how ridiculous Henry was being.

In a sort of parallel to the lunch scene, Simon and Wille now share a chuckle at the wacky thing Henry said:

Feel free to disagree, but I actually wonder if this could be a common pattern between Simon and Henry. They have accepted that they aren’t going to see eye to eye on many things, but instead of getting into conflict, they just roll their eyes/laugh at how the other can seriously believe/say such things. Then they let the conversation move on to something else.

Which is a perfectly valid dynamic. They can acknowledge that their outlooks on life are wildly different without hating each other for it.

3:06: Henry includes Simon

Look, I dislike the library scene as much as the next person. The talk that Henry interrupts between Wilmon was so much more important than anything he could possibly say. It was just a moment of comic relief that didn’t add anything to the story.

Except… Now that we are tracing Henry and Simon’s “not-quite friendship” arc, this scene does give us a conclusion.

Henry: “Hi! Uh, what are you wearing tonight?” [He rambles on about clothes] Wille: “I don’t know if… If I’m coming.” Henry: “Okay…?” Simon: “I don’t know if I can come either.” Henry: “Oh come on, you two have to come!” [He rambles on about how much fun it will be] Simon: “Yeah, we’ll see. I have to go now.” Henry: “The point is that we have to be together! This is the only night we have together, maybe ever. [I mean, we are brothers!]”

In Swedish, Henry goes “vi är ju bröder” just as the music starts. This has been translated to “we are like brothers” in the English CC, which is already quite something, but the little word ju makes the original even stronger. It means that something is true, so instead of just saying they are like brothers, Henry is saying that is what they are.

(In the dub, there is an audible pause after like, so Henry is actually using it as a filler word. They should have put a comma in the CC to denote that.)

Given that Henry prefaces this ramble with “you two have to come” and barely stops to acknowledge Simon’s exit, there’s every reason to assume he is still talking about all of them. He is saying he considers himself, Wille, and also Simon part of the brotherhood that will be disbanded indefinitely come morning and wants them all to have one last night of fun together.

Simon never hears the brothers part and is of course frustrated with Henry for interrupting, but he still takes his leave on a casually friendly note. He gets that Henry wants him to come and have fun (Henry is unaware that Simon doesn’t drink when he tries to persuade them by talking about the alcohol). Thus, Simon politely says “we will see” even though he has zero intention of going.

We do not see them interact at the party when Simon goes after all, but we do hear Henry being ushered away when Simon comes to talk to Wille. We don’t see it’s Henry, but someone insists that he wants to stay just as Walter and Alexander leave, and all three of them were there moments before:

I’m tempted to end this with a parallel to Wille’s initiation party.

Way back in 1.01, Henry and Simon were explicitly shown discussing the first party with their friends. They never talked about it with each other or interacted there – Henry attended as part of the in-crowd, and Simon only got to go because he procured the alcohol. But for this last party, it’s Henry who has procured the alcohol, and he specifically invites Simon to come. They still don’t hang out as they are both there with their respective friends, i.e. in their own bubbles, but those bubbles do bump into/brush past one another without clashing.

Kind of like Henry and Simon’s lives.

Thank you for reading this marathon post! I hope my take on these two brings something to your next rewatch, whether you agree with me or not!

[narcjsistx]

𝐎𝐂𝐂𝐔𝐏𝐘 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 | OS

isagi yoichi x fem reader ; words: 1.2k (1262)

coming from this event, third day, 20/12

𝐌𝐘 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 ; take a look, trust me!

plot: today is an important day, very important, maybe the most important of your boyfriend's life, the dream of a lifetime finally realized: the soccer world cup. last minutes, the ball ends up in the net thanks to him. the crowd tries to win the heart of the japanese boy, but he already has your heart that has always supported him

You had known Isagi since the Blue Lock years, very important years for him. Seeing the same boy who until a few years ago ran on the small fields of your father's structure running now on the World Cup field made you feel a sort of nostalgia, but a good one: seeing him now living his dream was a great gratification for you, who had followed him from day one

The score, for 89 minutes now, is 0-0. Someone needs to do something, and quickly

The ball passes between the teammates of the Japanese team, guys you all know actually, having also been in the Blue Lock. The ball passes between the legs of Reo, who passes to Kunigami who passes back to Chigiri, who runs with his usual speed along the opposing line, not letting the ball slip away. The Japanese crowd roars like never before, while the England fans try their hardest not to watch their dream crumble more and more as the ball goes towards the net. No one would have expected Japan not to suffer a single defeat this year, not once in all the groups in the last few months; but for you, it was not unexpected. The same boys who were now playing were the same ones who had sacrificed themselves in the Blue Lock, spending hours and hours in increasingly tiring situations

Isagi runs along the enemy side, escaping from the two defenders who have been trying to mark him since the beginning of the match, failing miserably. You clasp your hands in your lap as you tremble, because today is an important day for everyone and your boy has to win, he has to, otherwise you know he will never be completely happy. Since you've been together, you've known that his goal is to get here, and now that he's on this field, he has to give everyone the demonstration of everything he's given during his years of training. He has to prove to everyone, he has to prove to you above all, that he will win. You know very well that he is playing with this awareness, even though you have told him hundreds of times that for you he is number one and that he will always be

"When I arrive on the World Cup field I will have to shine for you. I will have to repay you for all the sacrifice and love you have given me in all this time"

"Yoichi, you know very well that you don't owe me anything. I love you and I always will, whether you set foot on that field or not. You will always be my number one champion"

"I know. But I have to prove it to you while I chase my dream"

Chigiri passes the ball to Bachira, always a few meters away from your boyfriend. The two of them have always collaborated, always proving to be one of the strongest duos. You are as close to Isagi as you are to Bachira, who actually played a fundamental role in your relationship, because it is thanks to him that Isagi had the courage to declare himself after the end of the holidays after the match against the U-20. An English defender tries to steal the ball, but it doesn't end up at his feet, but at Yoichi's. You gasp, clutching your hands as Isagi starts to run, run, and run again

The crowd explodes. Screams from all sides calling his name, while he skillfully reduces the distance between the ball and the net to less and less. You scream like a loser as everything seems to transform into the goal of your boyfriend's life

The ball is thrown with a precise hit

The object flies without obstacles in front

The goalkeeper can't catch it

The ball, with a sharp thump, ends up in the net

It's Goal. The stadium remains silent for a few seconds, while everyone seems to process the meaning of the gesture. Your eyes widen, and a few tears spontaneously start to fall without you noticing. You look at Isagi, who remains still, and for a few seconds he turns towards you. He moves his lips, and in the silence you almost seem to understand his lip movements

"Did you see? I did it. I proved it to you"

The crowd roars. Everyone seems to finally understand that Japan, after years of crisis, is finally world champion, and this is thanks to your boyfriend, Isagi Yoichi, who scored the goal the team needed. Ego claps his hands, as Anri gets up from your side and starts running towards the field, while crying like a child. You remain petrified, trying to process what just happened while everything still seems unrealizable

Japan won. Isagi won

You wake up in reality when you feel Anri shaking your arm, while gesturing for you to come with her. She cries and laughs, and you see Isagi who has approached you, a few meters away from Anri, completely ignoring his teammates

You stand up, running towards Isagi, crashing into his arms as you finally start to cry on your own. You feel his muscles relax the moment you are in his arms, a contented sigh escaping his lips as he holds you close. You feel his comrades crashing into him, but he remains stable, holding you in his arms as they all surround him

"You did it! You won! I knew you could do it, but well, it's better now that it's actually a reality. You did it, Yoichi"

"I know. It's also thanks to you, you know"

"Shut up and give yourself credit for once, you idiot. But I love you, but it is not necessary to specify it"

"I'm giving it to myself. If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have gotten to this level"

And so, with these words, you can read between the lines. You were the one who supported him right away, from the first day in there. You were the one who defended him in the worst moments. You were the one who held him in your arms when he was sick, mentally and physically. You were the one who loved him without him asking you

You were there for him, always. And he always did it for you, when you needed him

It's a job of equals, as everything should be: loving the other when the other doesn't love themselves and the opposite when the situation requires it. You didn't ask each other to live with each other's flaws, but you decided to stay because of the love you've felt for practically forever. You would do it again every chance you get, if you ever went back to the past, and you know he would do the same

The crowd is screaming your boyfriend's name, screaming because for the first time in years the Japanese finally have the last thing missing from their list. They are screaming the name of their savior who yes, hears them, but now can only see you in front of his eyes. He feels his teammates touching him, celebrating, but the touch that matters to him is only you in his arms after having reached his maximum level of perfection

Everyone is trying to win his heart, to have a place in the memories of the savior of Japan, but you, only you, occupy everything. And you are more than enough for him, for the striker

"Go celebrate, you deserve it"

"I'm already doing it like this. And I'm fine with it"

TAG: @natmagaesp ; @kittenish0 ; @x3nafix

[arduousflame]

Crow's skills

“So, Lucanis, I heard Crows can slow down their breathing until they become invisible.”

Taash had spun their chair around, leaning on the backrest as they stared at the Crow expectantly. The question caught Lucanis off guard, derailing his train of thought. He blinked at the page in front of him, pen hovering mid-sentence. “Why would slowing down your breathing make you turn invisible?” “That's what I was gonna ask!” They shot back, head cocked to the side.” So. Can you?”

“No.” He replied flatly, before returning his attention to the letters in front of him.

“Oh. Okay.” The silence in the dining hall was short-lived.

“And what about that special move Crows can do that can stop their enemies heart?”

This time Lucanis was prepared.

“Yes, Taash, it’s called stabbing,” he deadpanned, his pen tapping once against the paper.

From across the room, Harding had tried but failed to suppress her chuckle. He shot her a sharp look, which only made her grin widen before she continued her conversation with Davrin.

Most of the team had their own rooms, though Rook stubbornly refused to consider her aquarium a ‘room’. Yet they all seemed to gravitate toward the dining hall in the evenings. It had become a shared space for working, reading, or simply talking. Tonight was no different.

Dinner had been cleared away, and the group had splintered into smaller activities. While Neve and Emmrich had excused themselves for the evening, quoting cases and rituals, respectively, as the reasons, Davrin and Harding were by the fireplace, planning a trek through the Hinterlands. Bellara sat at the head of the table, her notebook open as she scribbled furiously, occasionally tossing out questions to Rook or muttering sentences under her breath. Rook, meanwhile, had claimed a spot next to her, nearer the fire, with Assan perched quietly behind her. She had taken an interest in the theoretical side of her magic lately, working her way through a stack of treatises that Emmrich had eagerly provided. Lucanis had to admit, her grasp of magical theory had grown impressive -far beyond anything a Crow would be taught. And it was obvious she really enjoyed the academics, her face lighting up when talking magic with Neve and Emmrich. Or even dissecting those contraptions with Bellara. Being a Crow had been a prison for her. The two women were now quietly discussing amongst themselves.

“No,” Taash interjected, refusing to let the conversation drop. “I mean, like, with a finger, poking someone to disrupt the rhythm of their blood flow.”

Lucanis exhaled, setting his letters aside. “That sounds far more complicated than using a dagger.”

“True, but sometimes you need to take someone out quietly, right? Incapacitate them without leaving a trace. Or make it look natural.”

“That’s what poisons are for. But,” he immediately regretted entertaining the topic, “there are hand-to-hand combat styles that use pressure points to take down an enemy.” Folding his arms, he leaned back in his chair, resigning himself to the inevitable spiral this conversation was about to take.

“Oh! Now we are talking!” The Qunari shot upright.

“They’re mainly used in self-defense,” Lucanis explained, “to disarm someone, for example. Or to quickly take someone out. They are not that useful in heat of a battle. But one-on-one, they could mean a quick victory.”

Taash’s enthusiasm had caught the attention of Davrin and Harding, who glanced over from their spot by the fire, now tuned into the conversation.

“Can you show me?” Taash leaned their chair precariously forward, balancing on two legs.

“You planning to disarm dragons with those moves, Taash?” Davrin quipped, earning a burst of giggles from Harding.

“Can you imagine,” Harding wheezed, “a dragon on its knees because you tickled the right spot?”

Taash waved them off with a rude gesture. “We’ve been fighting more than just dragons lately. You never know when it might come in handy.” Turning back to Lucanis, they fixed him with an eager stare. “You did promise to show me some Crow tricks, so... time for a practical lesson.”

Lucanis chuckled, running a hand through his hair. “Yes, I did promise that.”

“Oh, this is going to be good.” Davrin sauntered over to the cupboard and grabbed a beer, grinning. “Lucanis taking down Taash? I wouldn’t miss this.”

“No, no, I actually want to learn something,” Taash protested, putting all four chair legs back on the ground. “I won’t pick anything up if I’m knocked out cold. You can demonstrate on Davrin instead, Lucanis.”

“Over my dead body, Crow,” Davrin shot back immediately, pointing his beer bottle at Lucanis before he could even voice his refusal. He raised his hands in acceptance. But the Warden’s defiant expression quickly shifted to something more mischievous. He nudged Harding with a knowing look, before speaking up:

“Hey, Rook! Care to lend a hand here?”

Rook glanced up abruptly from her conversation with Bellara. “With what, exactly?”

Lucanis, catching on to Davrin’s scheme, groaned.

“Taash is interested in becoming a Crow.” Harding replied.

Rook shot a puzzled look at Bellara, who simply shrugged. Clearly neither of them had been paying attention.

“Lucanis wants to show off a few moves,” Davrin explained with a grin. “But he needs a volunteer. You’ve had enough practice as a Crow yourself, haven’t you?” She just blinked at that. “Yes?” “Well then, both of you, show us those fabled Crow training techniques.”

“Just get over here already, Rook!” Taash cut through the chatter, clearly growing impatient. “And bring that spoon.”

Harding giggled from the sidelines, pulling Bellara closer to her and prompting a smug smirk from Davrin. Meanwhile, Taash remained oblivious to the silent game the pair seemed to be playing. And Lucanis made a mental note to add triple the amount of Taash’s peppers to next evening’s soup.

Rook glanced back to Davrin and Harding, sighed in resignation, grabbed the spoon, and approached Lucanis and Taash. Her head tilted slightly as she regarded Lucanis with a questioning look. He shrugged apologetically.

“Right”, Taash instructed, gesturing dramatically. “First, disarming. Rook, attack him!”

“With the spoon?”

Lucanis muttered a curse under his breath and stepped forward. Gently but firmly, he took Rook’s arm and adjusted it, lifting it into a stance as though she were about to stab him. He tried to ignore the amused quirk of her lips -and the unwelcome warmth blooming in his chest. So close to. Rook. He forced himself to focus, recalling his training. She was their leader, and a fellow Crow. A de Riva, Viago would lynch him, Caterina’s heir or not.

“Like this.” Lucanis shifted his stance, his boots making a soft scrape on the stone floor as he anchored his weight. He stepped into Rook’s space with precision. His hand gripped her wrist with practiced ease, and in a smooth motion, he twisted her arm downward and to the side. The spoon clattered to the floor with a hollow ring, the sound cutting through the muted chatter of the room. The sudden twist forced Rook to her knees, her arm following the motion as though caught in an unseen current.

Lucanis’ hand remained steady on her wrist, guiding her back to her feet with a gentle pull that spoke of years of training. He retrieved the spoon from the ground, and handed it back to her.

“You went too fast,” Taash complained, leaning in. “I barely saw what you did.”

“There’s a reason,” Lucanis replied, taking Rook’s arm again, “the element of surprise plays to your advantage.” He turned it palm-up. “Here,” he said, tracing the delicate lines of her wrist, making a mental note of the scars that lined her wrist, “just below the pulse point, toward the center.” His fingertips brushed her skin lightly as he searched for the spot.

He risked a glance at Rook. Her gaze was fixed on her hand, her expression unreadable. But her cheeks where a tint darker than before. When he found the point, he pressed firmly with two fingers. Rook’s hand opened reflexively, and the spoon slipped from her grasp once more.

“Sorry,” he murmured with a faintly apologetic smile as he noticed her wince.

Meanwhile, Taash was practically on top of them, mimicking his motions on their own hand with rapt concentration. They nodded along as if committing each detail to memory.

Lucanis moved Rook in front of him again, motioning her to take an attacking stance again. She nodded to indicate she understood the plan. So, when he moved in again to disarm her, she blocked him with a twist of her own. One foot planted firmly on the ground, she kept a hold of the spoon this time, even managing to tap him on the shoulder with it. Whatever she had said about her skills before, she knew how to hold her ground in a fight. “Oh, element of surprise, now I get it.”

“If that was all-” Rook made to walk away, but Taash grabbed her shoulder. “No, not done yet.” Rook glanced longingly to her papers. “I was busy with something though…” Taash turned to face Lucanis again.

“Now, how to take someone out.” Taash ignored Rook’s sputtering objection: “Excuse me, what?!”

“There are multiple ways…”

“Yeah, yeah,” Taash interrupted. “The most effective one.”

Lucanis sighed, slipping into the cadence of his old lessons. “If your goal is to buy time, there is a stranglehold that is really effective.”

“Choking someone takes too long.” The Qunari cut in.

“There’s a difference between a choke and a strangle. And it’s a bit safer if your intent is not to kill but incapacitate someone.”

He glanced at Rook as he spoke. She had taken a step back, crossing her arms, a knowing look on her face. Lucanis caught her gaze and managed a small, brief smile before forcing himself to look away.

“A choke cuts off airflow, which usually means crushing the windpipe. Messy and risky.”

Rook arched an eyebrow but said nothing. She seemed to know where this lesson was leading.

“Strangling,” he went on, “is different. It blocks blood flow or targets specific nerves, cutting off oxygen to the brain and causing unconsciousness. A sharp blow to the neck can do the trick, but it’s less refined. Precision,” he said, “is about blocking the main arteries.”

Taash’s gaze stayed fixed on him, unrelenting. “Go on,” they urged.

Lucanis hesitated, glancing over at Rook. “Ah… Rook?” He started. And before Rook could raise her concerns, Taash waved a hand dismissively. “She’ll be fine. You said so yourself, if the intent is not to kill, remember?” Of course they’d pay attention when killing was involved.

Rook gave him a long look, her eyes narrowing with clear apprehension. “Remind me to never let you make promises to Taash again”, she said dryly.

Lucanis tilted his head, silently asking the question. She held his gaze for a moment before relenting with a shrug. “Fine. But I’m sitting down for this. I’m not faceplanting on these stones. Viago, at least, was kind enough to have us practice in a grass field.”

He chuckled at her comment. “Never took Viago for such a sap.”

Rook shook her head and lowered herself to a nearby chair, muttering something under her breath that Lucanis couldn’t quite catch. He thought her heard her say: “…in the middle of winter, on frozen ground...” That was more like the Viago he knew. Taash, meanwhile, leaned forward eagerly, waiting for the demonstration to begin.

Lucanis took a moment to collect himself before stepping in front of her. She looked up at him, a nervous flicker in her eyes, her lips drawn to a thin line. The disarming was one thing… Movements they would emulate in battle.

His hand brushed against her neck, fingers sliding with practiced ease to the hollow just below her jaw. He angled her chin upward gently and their eyes locked. How he could get lost in that deep blue. Rook smells of. Fire and ashes… For the love of- not now, Spite! He pushed the demon back down.

“First, find the pulse at the throat,” he instructed, suppressing his inner turmoil, pressing two fingers lightly against the side of her neck where he could feel the rhythmic beat. Her pulse quickened under his fingers, the slight hitch in her breathing betraying her composure. She broke eye contact and glanced downward, her gaze fixed on the ground. Lucanis pushed aside the fluttering in his own chest, focusing on the task at hand.

“Then, locate the same spot on the other side with your thumb,” he explained, shifting his hand to demonstrate. He moved aside slightly, so Taash could take a closer look.

From the corner of his eye, Lucanis saw Harding lean toward Bellara, whispering something that made Bellara slap a hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh. Her wide eyes darted toward them, and Davrin’s booming laughter quickly followed.

Rook, flustered, brandished her spoon at the group like a weapon. “You’re lucky I don’t skin you with this,” she muttered. Davrin winked at her. She huffed in reply.

Lucanis coughed into his free hand to regain focus. “Now, with the remaining fingers, you apply pressure to the nerve at the base of the jaw, just under the ear -here.” He adjusted his hold, his fingers digging in slightly. Even this light pressure made Rook hiss slightly, trying to move away from the pressure. Taash leaned in to take a look, humming in understanding.

“Don’t see much immobilizing yet! Is the tactic to bore your opponent?” Davrin called from his spot by the fire.

“Yeah, Lucanis,” Harding added, her grin devilish. “Stop stalling. Just show us already. You can explain after.” Taash nodded eagerly, clearly in full agreement.

Maker, they’re enjoying this far too much, Lucanis thought grimly. He glanced down at Rook, tilting his head in silent inquiry. He had been stalling. But not for whatever reasons Davrin was so keen on implying. This would hurt. He’d be overloading her senses, the feeling of a sledgehammer to the head. She met his gaze with a steady look, then sighed and gave him a small, resigned nod before closing her eyes. He felt her relax as her own training took over, her breathing slowing. She would have been taught to not resist, not to panic. Still, there was no threat of cane or blade here. They were among… friends? Who had worrying interests, sure, but, friends nonetheless. She could say no, he would understand. The goading of the others, he could deflect that for her if needed. She had nothing to prove. Rook. Trusts us. To catch her. Spite piped up again. Did she?

He couldn’t afford to linger on the quiet strength in her eyes -or how easily she trusted him, even now.

Adjusting his grip for a final time, he pressed down, practiced and quick. Her pulse, which had been fast but steady, now faltered -skipping beats and racing unpredictably. Her breathing hitched at that sensation, a brief gasp escaping her lips. Within moments, her body went completely limp.

As she began to collapse forward, unconscious, Lucanis released the hold and caught her easily, keeping her upright. He eased her back, carefully, supporting her as she began to stir.

Rook blinked rapidly, her vision clearing as the disorientation ebbed. Her hand went to her throat, massaging the tender spot with a grimace. A soft curse escaped her lips as she rubbed her head groggily. Maker’s breath, I forgot how unpleasant that feels,” she muttered, her voice rasping slightly.

“Breathe, you’re fine”, Lucanis murmured, his voice low and apologetic. He kept his fingers at her neck, monitoring her pulse until it slowed and steadied once more. Only when he was satisfied she truly was fine, did he let go.

Lucanis stepped back as Taash clapped their hands together. “That. Was. Incredible,” they said, eyes alight with fascination. “Show it again, slower!” Rook raised a hand in weak protest at that. “Find another practice dummy. I am out.” Lucanis agreed: “Once is plenty.” Taash turned to the others. “Davrin?” “I already said no, and after that? I’m staying well out of arms reach, Lucanis!”

Taash slouched back in their chair, sulking briefly before Harding came over and whispered something in their ear. Whatever she said brought an immediate spark to Taash’s eyes, and a wide grin spread across their face. Moments later, the pair excused themselves, leaving the room with an air of conspiratorial excitement.

Bellara wasn’t far behind. She gathered her notebook and pens, offering a soft “Good night” and a cheerful wave before slipping out into the hallway.

Rook returned to the table, intent on her papers, but her focus faltered. With an irritated sigh, she began gathering the scattered sheets, muttering under her breath. She tapped Assan, who had remained by her chair, and the gryphon stretched before bounding after her. Together, they settled by the fireplace. Rook sank onto the floor, scratching Assan behind the ears as the gryphon let out a low, contented rumble. Her gaze drifted to the flickering flames, but her shoulders betrayed her unease, despite the warmth of the fire washing over her.

From deep within, Spite stirred, its voice curling like smoke in Lucanis’ mind. The demon muttered a pointed complaint about the audacity of hurting Rook, followed by an insistence that he should “make it up to her.” Lucanis clenched his jaw, pushing Spite’s grumbling aside with the mental equivalent of a weary hand wave. He refocused on the half-finished letters scattered across the table, their words blurring together under the flickering firelight.

Across the room, Davrin lounged in his chair, swirling the remnants of his drink. His gaze lingered on Lucanis, then drifted to Rook, a sly, knowing smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “Well,” he drawled, setting his bottle down with deliberate ease, “time for me to find some rest. Assan, coming, boy?”

The gryphon, who had been nestled comfortably beside Rook, gave a soft, reluctant whine and nudged her arm before rising to follow. Rook smiled faintly, her hand brushing the creature’s feathers in farewell as Davrin and Assan slipped out of the room. The door closed with a quiet thud, leaving Lucanis and Rook alone in the flickering warmth of the hearth.

Rook raised a hand in a lazy wave as Davrin disappeared, then pulled her legs up to her chest, resting her chin on her knees. Her gaze remained fixed on the fire, the light dancing across her face in warm, flickering hues. The soft crackle of the flames filled the silence.

Lucanis sighed, his attention drifting from the unfinished letters to the quiet figure by the fire. Abandoning the task for the second time that evening, he pushed his chair back and rose. A quick glance confirmed Rook hadn’t moved, her focus lost in the flames. He crossed the room, his footsteps soft against the stone, and rummaged through their modest stores, pulling out a bottle of wine and two mismatched glasses.

He returned to the hearth, lowering himself carefully to the floor beside her. She blinked, glancing in his direction, an inquisitive eyebrow raised as he extended one of the glasses toward her.

“A peace offering,” he said, a faint smile tugging at his lips.

Rook tilted her head, studying him for a moment before reaching for the glass. The faintest smile curved her lips as she took it, her gaze lingering on him with quiet curiosity. And here you were calling Viago a sap for having us collapse in a grass field. Now you’re offering me wine. What will the other houses think of your training methods, Dellamorte?

Her words held a teasing edge, but there was an underlying bitterness, an old wound barely scabbed over. He didn’t rise to the bait, instead lifting his own glass toward her.

“Let this be my vow to never entertain Taash’s fantasies again.” Rook barked a short laugh. “You have no idea the kind of ideas you’ve inspired in Harding and Taash, do you?” Lucanis blinked, caught off guard. “I- what?” Rook stared at him in disbelief. “You really don’t know? How close those two have gotten?” When he gave her nothing but a blank stare, she laughed again. Then it clicked. “Oh, mierda.”

“Forget the wine,” she said, wiping her eyes. “Watching you put that together was worth all of it.”

“I do apologize if I hurt you.”

She shook her head. “Honestly, my idea of normal is probably a little warped.” She leaned back on her arms, letting the fire’s warmth seep into her. “But I know you never meant to hurt me. I’m serious though- no promising things to Taash without running it by me first.” She gave him a playful shake of her glass. “Grandson of the First Talon or not, I had no trouble telling Viago off. I’ll start doing it with you too. As far as everyone’s concerned, I’m still the leader here.”

There was no bite to her words, her smile soft and open as she locked eyes with him. In the depths of her gaze, the blue was filled with trust.

“Then I will gracefully defer to our great leader,” Lucanis said, inclining his head before taking a sip.

A comfortable silence settled between the two of them as the flames slowly burned down to embers.

[giselleloversclub]

NCT SMAU REC PT.3

mark lee

dm for prices @susicheng

small lifestyle influencer yn, who also happens to be a stressed college student, runs into a life threatening dilemma: plug moved to a different state post grad. having developed a crippling dependency on her weekly smoke sesh, she needs someone new, FAST. luckily, chenle seems to know just the guy. enter: mark lee, an astoundingly reliable plug with an interesting texting style. 

plug! mark x fem! reader

personal fav !

⋆ you. @fairyoflia

in which a biology major and a basketball player lock eyes on the train after getting caught in the rain. unfortunately for them, they hate each other.

basketball player! mark lee x fem! reader

from the rooftops @peterm4rker

in which biochemistry major mark lee didn’t have time to be swinging around the city fighting crime when he had a chemistry report due in two days and a whole plan to make the girl of his dreams to fall in love with him before the new years party.

or

in which journalism major y/n l/n needed her ground breaking story of the year before fuckass yuna took her place in the college newspaper and decided her favorite superhero was the answer, all while trying to get that cute biochem student to notice her.

spiderman!mark x journalist!reader

_______________________________________________

huang renjun

starlight @suhnandmoon

after an unexpected night at the movies, you’re left turned into a vampire. with the help of park jisung and his friends, your new lifestyle adjustments are thankfully made a lot easier. that is until your friends start to call out your flaky behavior. quick, how are you going to cover up your secret? a fake boyfriend taking up your time? perfect! huang renjun is just the right guy!

huang renjun x fem!reader

vampire au

crush culture @suhnshinehaos

ln yn has always flirted with huang renjun. but they do that with literally everyone else too, they couldn’t possibly be serious about pursuing him, right? on their final year of university, yn is determined to show that they are. with all the walls that renjun has built around himself, will they be strong enough to succeed in tearing them down?

huang renjun x gn!reader

𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐞 @sungbeam

you and renjun are pen-pals-turned-best-friends, except, no one knows that you know each other. at the same time, both you and renjun are also trying to survive being set up with people by your own separate friend groups. turns out, maybe you both just want each other and no one else.

huang renjun x fem!reader

_______________________________________________

lee jeno

LOVE ON THE (DANCE) FLOOR @v1si0n

jeno was not thrilled about you joining his dance team, especially because he starts messing up every time you’re around. is it really his fault that he gets distracted by how good you look when you dance?

enemies to lovers

dancer!jeno x bookworm!reader

ᝰ.ᐟ off the record @strrykais

someone had to write for the sports column in your schools paper, and unfortunately it falls onto you. only knowing very little about basketball - thanks to your friend chenle, this shouldn't be so bad!

well, that was until you meet the team’s captain and he rudely asks if you are deaf.... funny thing is, you are!

lee jeno x fem!reader

personal fav

good graces @106alibi

y/n knows she's petty. so when she found out her (secret) celebrity boyfriend of a year had been cheating on her, through a news article to make things worse, she decided to cook up an action plan to get back at him, and what better way to take revenge than to get together with his all-time favourite athlete?

or, in which y/n involves an unsuspecting lee jeno into her little revenge scheme on her now ex-boyfriend.

boxer!jeno x magazine-editor!reader

personal fav

secret admirer @diaphamin

in which ncit’s star basketball player lee jeno is your secret admirer

lee jeno x reader

my youth , your kitchen @cigsaftersuh

in which y/n, a pre-med student, who loves to cook & feed people, meets jeno, the quiet sports science major with a soft smile, and discovers that the way to someone’s heart really is through their gastrointestinal tract, their stomach.

non-idol! jeno x f! reader (.◜◡◝)

good boy @fullsunstrawberry

New year's resolution leads to you hitting the gym with your two muscle-head friends. But things get complicated when feelings and emotions are involved.

Jeno x Reader (some anton x reader)

underneath the tree @winwintea

you’ve heard enough of the word ‘christmas’ and it was only the beginning of december! sometimes you’d wish people would just throw their cheerfulness out the window and focus on reality. unfortunately for you lee jeno has just drawn your name for the company’s annual secret santa swinter swap and he’s going to make sure you get a gift you’ll never forget. (and maybe even get you to appreciate christmas along the way?)

co-worker!lee jeno x female!reader

oh , pretty please ? @nislost

After being scolded by a teacher y/n decides she’s sick of failing her classes. she knows if she doesn’t get her act together she might not even make it in life. she decides to seek help from the one student that that can potentially help her, jeno the valedictorian. jeno would only accept if y/n helped him in some way too.

valedictorian!jeno x bimbo!reader

_______________________________________________

lee haechan

on the same page @johnnysuhbmarine

Knowing a change of scenery was what your mental health needed, you transferred to where your brother, Mark, goes to college. The good news is, he’s not too cool for his younger sister, so he lets you join his friend group immediately. The bad news is, Haechan is in that friend group, and a brief encounter four years ago was enough for you to understand he does NOT like you. Even worse news, he’s a lot hotter than he was four years ago…

Haechan x reader

personal fav

lab rats ! @106alibi

graded internship season has finally rolled around for biology student y/n, and with a current gpa of 4.0 under her belt and an extremely high possibility of graduating valedictorian, she's fairly confident that acing her research internship will be just what she needs to secure that spot. of course, that was until a certain someone came into the equation.

or, y/n finds herself partnered with the last person she'd ever want to work with for her research internship, lee donghyuck.

biology-student!donghyuck x biology-student!reader

how not to be a virgin 101 @diaphamin

college is about gaining further education, to some, but to y/n it means she is finally free to explore the side of life she was never able to. parties, relationships, and sex. she was tired of being dull, tired of being the only one around her who hasn’t experienced anything romantic. she was ready to be the exact opposite of what she wasn’t. the only problem being… she doesn’t know how. that’s when she calls upon haechan, someone notoriously known for having a bit too much fun… and asks him for guidance.

where you are @luvmahae

what the absolute fuck is up baby! fall semester marks the peak of greek life at ncu. the campus quad is filled with tents representing various fraternities and sororities with their letters proudly presented in front of each booth, all eager to recruit new members. as students return to campus, they are met with a flood of fliers and invitations to parties, mixers, and rush events. while you were walking through the crowd of eager freshmen to join these organizations, you bumped into someone very unexpected...

what do you do when you bump into the guy you hooked up with after a music festival during summer break? instead of the royal blue basketball jersey you first met him in, it was replaced by a varsity jacket with the letters reading "ΝΧΘ".

"haechan?"

fratboy!haechan x fem!reader

personal fav

nerf this ! @injvns

in which overwatch streamer yn ln is on a winning streak one night, and sorta kinda ends up killing professional overwatch player lee haechan on stream…multiple times. she didn't even know who he was, let alone that he was super hot?! c'mon, she wouldn't have smoked him THAT hard if she knew!

or

yn starts overwatch beef with haechan accidentally. romance ensues.

progamer!haechan x streamer!femreader

cruise of love @mixxiew

yn, a scholarship student, finally gets the opportunity of her life to join her friends for the Semester at the Sea. every thing looks like a dream until the arrogant rich boy lee haechan crushes into her.

haechan x reader

just pretend ! @nislost

y/n gets hit up by her ex and in a desperate attempt to have him leave her alone she gets a random picture of a guy on pinterest and pretends he’s her bf. turns out the picture she used is of an up and coming youtuber lee haechan.

nonidol!haechan x f!reader

sunshine and starlight @lavndrystudios

haechan gets more than he bargained for when he meets chaeyoung’s new roommate. turns out he loves you, he really does. too bad you’re with ten.

haechan x f!reader

APT @sourrpatched

“Don’t you want me like I want you baby?”

After a uni party full of too many drinks and party games, y/n meets the love of her life. Only the next morning she can’t remember his name, his face, or anything besides his very attractive hands.

Lee Donghyuck lives a simple life, work, school, and sleep. He has no business in being dragged into parties every weekend. Which is why bumping into his complete opposite is enough to bring him out of that shell, albeit with force.

LEE DONGHYUCK X FEM!READER

you’re losing me. @najaemism

it’s been six weeks since you ended your six-year relationship with haechan, and it seems like he’s already moved on.

angst, ex!haechan, hurt/no comfort

it's the way you are @inurnctdreams

y/n suh is going into her second semester of her sophomore year at snu. as a self-proclaimed snu lions fangirl, she can’t believe there’s a new player on the team she hasn’t met yet, especially one as cute and funny as lee donghyuck, who nearly everyone she knows seems to already be friends with. how did she manage to avoid him (even if unintentionally) for almost an entire year and a half? he seems way too good to be true… and then she remembers; he’s in the frat.

haechan x fem!reader

_______________________________________________

na jaemin

builds @moonslie04 In which streamer! Jaemin joins a random player's world and starts to roast their build without knowing that the innocent player was another genshin content creator.

˙⋆✮ bed chem ✮⋆˙ @wonbin-truther

when jaemin saw the big red "16%" on his first organic chemistry test, he knew he needed a tutor, fast. enter l/n y/n, a chemical engineering student who is determined to raise his grade. but as study sessions turn into late-night library marathons, jaemin is starting to realize he’s got more than just organic chemistry to worry about.

college student yn x college student jaemin

movie nights @nana4nena

while you’re having weekly movie nights with the dreamies, you and jaemin are falling in love, but someone is falling for you

jaemin x fem! reader

✮⋆˙ .exposure. @susicheng

a member of the up-and coming pop-punk / emo band, reverie: yn finds herself falling in the deep end with the band's new (much needed) photographer, na jaemin.

na jaemin x fem!reader ⋆˚𝜗𝜚˚⋆

_______________________________________________

zhong chenle

run your mouth @doughyk

chenle has a worm in his ear;not a good worm either, and it doesn’t seem to go away. But there you are, the worm in his ear. Yapping his ear off during work, absolutely smitten by him…chenle not so smitten by you.

nonidol!chenle x fem reader

personal fav

say it @sqh3e

you and Chenle are in the same music class at SMU, you write the songs, he sings them. for a few weeks you stopped showing up and no one realized you hadn’t been showing up until your friend mentions your name.

singer!chenle x fem!reader

_______________________________________________

park jisung

SCUM'S WISH 𓆩♡𓆪 @jungaji

struggling with unrequited feelings, you and park jisung agree to a fake relationship to ease your loneliness, filling the gaps left by others. with promises not to fall for each other and to part ways if your affections are reciprocated elsewhere, you jump into this arrangement. can you both stick to the rules, or will the lines between pretense and reality blur?

or, in which you and park jisung turn to each other for comfort in an attempt to soothe your unrequited loves.

park jisung x fem!reader feat. jeong jaehyun & cho miyeon

_______________________________________________

[loving-daisy]

You Had Me At Hello | Severus Snape x Reader

Young Severus Snape never knew what love was. That was until he met her, his Valentine.

YHMAH Masterlist • loving-daisy masterlist

—————————————

Chapter 3: To Resist Those Eyes

Word count: 1,972

“Potions are going to be a lot harder this year than last year, my dear students.” Professor Slughorn, Hogwarts’ current potions master stood in front of the room, informing the whole class. 

“And I really would like to avoid any accidents or any other unpleasant circumstances to arise.” He continued. “That is why starting from today, you’ll be grouped into two and this partnership will last until the end of the year.” 

The room erupted into quiet murmurs, some happy with the fact that in case they’d get in trouble, their partner gets in trouble with them. Or maybe, they were happy with the thought of partnering themselves with someone smart and freeload their way into potions class. Some groaned, including Severus who was not really fond of the idea. 

On second thought, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad at all. That is, if the professor chooses who's going to be partnered up with who. Because if that was the case, Severus wouldn’t have a problem finding anybody to partner up with. Not that he cared, though. In case that the total number of the people taking this class was odd, he’d be happy to work alone. He was better off alone anyways. 

“Fortunately for everybody, you get to pick your own partner.” Severus let out another quiet groan at the statement. “So quickly, children. Pick your partner and table!” The professor urged, eyes observing the class as students diverged and converged. 

After a lot of thinking in a short period of time, Severus decided to just stay in the table he currently is using. There’s no point in finding anybody. Someone will come, eventually. You just got to wait for it. 

Truthfully, the quiet boy didn’t really expect anybody. But he really really didn’t expect it to be “Valentine?” he quietly mused, confused as to why the girl people branded as the Slytherin Sweetheart took a seat beside him when she could’ve picked someone else. Severus wondered why the girl didn’t partner with her own friends. The blonde twins? The boy on the quidditch team? The girl who owned a bird? Or maybe even someone else! Someone else but him. 

The girl turned to face Severus, looking at him directly, eye to eye as she softly greeted “Hello, Severus.” 

The boy didn’t know what was written behind the girl’s eyes but never in his life did he feel so drawn to somebody else’s eyes. Aside from Lily’s bright one, of course. 

“Why are you here?” He shyly asked, trying the best as he could to not make his tone seem rude and ungrateful. 

Y/N Valentine sent him a small smile, showing off her pearly whites. “Because I’m going to be your partner for potions starting today?” She carefully suggested as if it wasn't obvious as to why she was seated beside him. 

Severus’ curiosity got the best of him. He didn’t mean to ask another question but he couldn’t help it. He just had to know why she would pick him when nobody ever does. “Why me?”

The girl gave him a small shrug before turning her attention back to the potions professor, who was starting to explain the specific qualities of the potion that they were going to brew today. “Because you’re my friend and you’re the best in potions.” 

_______________

Y/N Valentine’s bold move resulted in a couple of uncertain glances and visible confusion from the girl’s friends. I mean, it really wasn’t a big deal. Valentine and Snape were housemates after all.

Also, it wasn’t like the students of the Slytherin house cared about whoever got partnered up with the girl. It’s not like Y/N Valentine was popular. Sure, she’s what they call the Slytherin Sweetheart but she’s not a Greengrass or a Black or a Lestrange. She was a pureblood but she wasn’t Slytherin royalty like them. In fact, that's the reason why she got her nickname - She was not like them. Well, aside from her last name. A lot really liked her last name. 

However, it just happens for Y/N’s friends to have the same prejudice as that one specific group of Gryffindors against Severus Snape. Most people in Slytherin thought the boy was smart and mysterious but that’s it. There really wasn’t anything special about Severus Snape. 

“What’s going on with you and Severus Snape?” The girl’s friend, the boy who happened to be one of Slytherin’s chasers in the quidditch team, interrogated her. His hands on his hips as if he was a father scolding his child. 

Valentine lifted her chin to face the tall boy, her features displaying an innocent look. “Nothing. We’re just friends.” she expressed nonchalantly. 

“Woah.” One of the blonde twins let out. “Never have I thought that Severus Snape was actually capable of having friends.” Commented the other twin. 

Y/N furrowed her brows, arms crossing against her chest. “Don’t be so mean.” She scolded. “He’s actually nice if you get to know him more.” 

_______________

The two Slytherins found themselves at their usual spot in the library. It became their ritual. Whoever would have their class finish earlier would go straight to their usual table at the far end corner. But one wouldn’t start on their homework unless the other arrives. They’d occupy themselves with a book. 

Both had homework laid in front of them but the female was distracted. Her attention was solely focused on the boy in front of her. The boy who knew what she was doing but ignored it, the boy who had his mind occupied with forming cohesive and comprehensive sentences for the essay their potions professor assigned them, occasionally dipping his quill on his ink bottle. Snape knew that Valentine was staring at him. The reason, that he doesn't know. But he chose to ignore it, deciding that the parchment in front of him was more important. But after feeling a little self conscious, he hid his face with his long hair. 

“Aren’t you bothered?” The girl asked. 

Severus didn’t exactly know what she meant but he assumed it was her staring. “I am now, since you asked a question.” He answered, his eyes not leaving his parchment. 

Y/N shook her head, chuckling at the vague answer. “No, I mean...your hair. It covers your face a lot. Doesn’t it bother you? Does it not hinder your line of sight?” 

The boy shook his head “No.”

Silence enveloped the space the two Slytherins were in. The girl continued to stare at the boy in front of her, watching his every move with curious eyes. Severus continued to ignore her, he is halfway finished with his homework after all. It’s not his problem if Y/N Valentine wasted so much time staring at him when she could have been at the same pace as him in the assignment. But the girl finally caught the boy’s attention when the sound of paper being detached was heard. 

Y/N ripped a piece of parchment on her roll, taking out her wand to transfigure the piece into a little black hair tie. 

Severus thought the tie was for herself. He noticed how the girl always had her hair tied up whenever she needed to focus. But he also noticed the usual ribbon the girl used wrapped around her hand. 

Y/N stood from her seat, making her way behind Severus, using her fingers to comb the boy’s raven hair. 

“What are you doing?” Severus asked, surprised. 

“Stay still, Sev. You’ll see.” She answered. With her left hand, Y/N gathered the boy’s hair, using the tie on her right hand to put them in place. 

She retrieved her seat, eyeing the work she did on Severus. “Isn’t that better?” She suggested, finally opening her bottled ink and grabbing a hold of her quill to start on her assignment. 

Thankfully, Severus didn’t react Y/N expected him to, Truthfully, she thought that he’d call her off, scolding her for touching his hair, and put his hair back the way it used to. But he didn’t. He only offered her a small smile. 

Valentine finally got a better look at Severus' features. The boy had a big pointed nose, high cheekbones, and a sharp jawline. He had eyes similar to a black hole; dark and has the tendency to pull you in. Y/N wanted to get lost in them and see the emotions inside. If only she didn’t feel the pull inside her mind and the shield the boy was holding. 

It seems like Severus was skilled at legilimency and occlumency. The girl was amused.

“I get it now.” The boy mumbled, shaking his head before turning his attention back to the essay he was writing.  

“What?” She asked, confused. 

“You're skilled at legilimens and occlumens. That’s why I never get to read what’s on your mind.” 

Y/N shrugged. “Just like you, Sev.” 

_______________

“Why are we here again?” Severus reluctantly asked, grabbing ahold of his black coat to tuck himself further away from the cold. 

The two Slytherins found themselves outside the castle, in Hogsmeade as thick snow fell towards them. The boy had no intention of going out at all. If it weren’t for the personal charms the Slytherin sweetheart possessed, he would have been able to say no. But he just couldn’t resist her bright eyes and curled up lips. Severus just wouldn’t know what to do if he was the reason the light on her eyes turned off or the reason those lips turned into a frown. 

“Every Saturday, they bring out limited edition chocolate frogs! They have all sorts of flavors like dark chocolate, white chocolate, caramel, hazelnut, almond, and strawberry chocolate! It’s hard to get my hands on it alone so I figured that you could help me.” 

“How were you able to get it before then?” 

The girl shrugged. “Pure luck.” She boasted, taking a peek at the shop’s window to know how many frogs were displayed to calculate how she would strategize to get her hands on every flavor there is. 

Severus was amused at the girl’s antics, a small smile displayed on his features. Well, if you’d consider it a smile. His lips were kinda a little curled up anyways. 

“I don’t believe you.” He declared.

Y/N rolled her eyes. “You shouldn’t have asked if you weren’t going to believe me.” 

The two spent most of their day going through different shops around Hogsmeade. Y/N successfully got her hands on all of the sweets she was craving, all thanks to Severus secretly hexing the other students who were on their way to grab the frogs. 

Evening came, the two were now seated at the Great hall for supper. Just a few moments ago, the headmaster finished his evening speech, clapping twice to fill each houses’ table with good food. 

Owls came in after. Dropping packages and letters to the hands of the rightful receiver. 

A medium-sized box dropped in Y/N’s hand, a tag with a messily written ‘to sweet Valentine’ tied around it. Severus noticed the familiar logo of the sweet shop. 

“So that’s how.” The boy mumbled. “You get gifts from your secret admirers.” 

The girl chucked, shrugging. “What can I say? I’m irresistible.” 

“You have lots of chocolate frogs now.” Severus commented. “I hope you don’t eat all of them in one sitting. You’re gonna get cavities.” 

“Yeah, and my throat will ache!” She quipped, her lips curled into a wide grin, showcasing her pearly whites.  

“That’s why I’m gonna share it with you. Meet me at the astronomy tower later?” The girl proposed, eyes hopeful. 

Y/N Valentine was giving the same look she gave Severus earlier at breakfast when she forced him to go to Hogsmeade with her. How can Severus ever resist those eyes? 

End of Chapter 3

[thepenguinweeb]

Hi (^·^). I would love to request for Bucciarati x F!Reader. The reader is part of his team and is really close to him, but they’re stuck in this thin line where they’re not sure if they’re just friends or something more. There’s this unspoken tension between them that’s hard to ignore, and the others in the group definitely notice, teasing them about it. However, Bruno and the reader always brush it off and insist there’s nothing going on between them.

Feel free to have fun with how it all plays out. I trust your creativity (^。^)★彡

`` Just friends.. of course. ``

[ ♡ Bruno Bucciarati x fem!reader ]

[ ♡ You've been apart of Bruno's team for a long time, and it is undeniable that the two of you have a certain.. bond. You can't help but wonder if you're imagining things, or if he really thinks of you that way. ]

[ ♡ Requested by: @sxturncloud <3 !! ]

[ ♡ A/N: Sorry for the lack of posts recently, burnout hit hardd D: I'm trying to catch up with the requests in my inbox but it'll take a bit of time probably.. anyway, thank you for requesting, hope you enjoy! ]

Divider by @/cafekitsune <3

"No, no- you don't get it. That's the complete opposite of what you were supposed to do!"

Just another day at Libeccio with the gang. You listened as Fugo shouted at Narancia, staring daggers at the teen and his notebook, which was filled with pitifully incorrect calculations.

"Hey! It's not my fault you're this bad at explaining stuff!"

You sighed, letting your head slump. The pair's argument continued on for a bit longer, and you wished you'd packed some aspirin in your bag with each moment that passed.

It was Abbachio who eventually stepped in.

"Can you two shut up and stop arguing for five minutes? You're giving me a headache.."

Fugo and Narancia were both clearly reluctant, but it only took one look at the man to know if they didn't stop now, he would not hesitate to beat their asses. So, they settled down.

You couldn't help but let out a relieved sigh and shoot a grateful glance at Abbachio.

The door to the restaurant opened, and your lips unconciously curved into a smile. Bucciarati had finally arrived.

"I'm sorry I was late," he began once he made his way over to his team's table. Your eyes met for a split second and he gave you a smile, then took a seat next to you.

"I hope the others didn't bother you too much while I was gone," he said, leaning closer to you without even meaning to. Despite the usual strict expression he put on, he always wore a smile when he was in your presence.. must be because you were such close friends, right?

You shook your head and returned the smile. "No-" you started, then glanced at Fugo and Narancia, who were still sulking from their earlier argument. "Not too much," you said instead.

For a moment, the two of you sat in a comfortable silence. You'd gotten lost in his beautiful blue eyes - staring at him as if he was the best thing you've ever seen.. maybe he was.

No, what were you thinking? You and Bruno were strictly friends. Good friends. Nothing more.

Mista cleared his throat in an obnoxiously loud way, clearly just to get your attention. "Uh, not to interrupt your coupley activities, but.. we're still here, you know."

You snapped out of your daze and immediately shot a glare in Mista's direction at his implications. Coupley activities.. was coupley even a word?

"Mista.." Bruno sighed, rubbing his temple. "I thought we'd discussed this already. Me and Y/N are not in a relationship."

"You sure act like you are," Narancia put in. You stared at him in annoyance, half-expecting Fugo to make a comment about how inappropriate and disrespectful it was to say such a thing about his superior, but even he was quiet.

It was in that moment you had to realize that nobody disagreed with that sentiment.

"You guys are ridiculous.. we're just friends," you protested.

"Oh, come on! The only thing you are is in denial," Mista exclaimed. "Even the Pistols can see it, and they're a stand."

You went on to glare at the man in annoyance, which only intensified upon seeing Giorno give a brief nod in agreement. You crossed your arms and rolled your eyes, realizing you weren't getting any backup.

Suddenly, you felt a hand resting on your shoulder. "Don't bother with them," Bruno told you. You looked back at him with a nod, any previous irritation you had seemingly vanishing.

Mista let out another loud groan. "Aaand there they go again..."

[jimmycarterghostland]

I finished my Worm read days ago. I'm going to discuss how I feel about the entire story as a whole here.

Some background: I discovered the web serial Worm years ago. I was either searching for the longest story or was searching for one that was one million words long. Either way, one of those things led me to Worm. Instead of reading it properly, I spoiled a bunch of stuff about it for myself, and would read random scenes out of order. And I would look up Reddit posts about the story. I tried giving it a proper read years back, but didn't get very far.

Months ago, I started that proper beginning-to-end read. A couple of days ago, I finished that read. I read the entirety of Worm. And it was worth it.

Before I started that read, I thought the Travelers were pretty cool. I ended up resenting them during my read. Not only were they rude to Taylor, but the Travelers didn't even like each other. That made it even harder for me to care about them, because they showed no care for anyone else.

Heartbreaker and his children, the Heartbroken, fulfilled this very specific trope of mine that probably doesn't even have a name. I don't know why, but I love it when a fictional male character has a lot of children by different women, making those children have a lot of half-siblings. Thragg from the Invincible comics fulfilled this trope too.

Heartbreaker was a villain I wanted to see a lot more of. He definitely had a lot of potential. I wish Wildbow had given him a bigger role in the story. I don't even think Heartbreaker had any dialogue. I wish Accord had had a bigger role, too, because he was another minor villain I found interesting, but at least Accord still had a decent amount of appearances in the story.

Speaking of Heartbreaker, his two kids Regent and Cherish were interesting. I actually liked Regent a lot. I was surprised that Cherish genuinely hated him and that the feeling was mutual. For a while, I thought that Cherish was going to betray the Slaughterhouse Nine and maybe team up with Regent and develop a friendly bond with him. I wanted that to happen. It didn't happen, though. Cherish ended up getting a fate worse than death. I feel bad for her, to be honest. I wouldn't wish her fate on my worst enemy.

I wish Regent had survived. He was a cool character. RIP.

My favorite character was Tattletale. At first, anyway. I think Taylor was my favorite by the end of the story.

Worm is the only superhero novel I've read. Reading it was nostalgic for me. When I was a kid, I loved reading superhero comics and watching superhero movies. The X-Men comics, movies, etc. is my favorite superhero fiction. Reading Worm fed my childhood obsession with superheroes. In general, people with superpowers forming teams and fighting other people with superpowers is something I love to watch or read. My own web serial, which I'm currently rewriting, has that.

I loved the dialogue in Worm. It was one of my favorite things about it. Those chapters during the final battle, when Taylor couldn't understand English, the lack of dialogue was a pain. Not just because a lack of dialogue can be boring, but also because Wildbow writes dialogue so well. I loved it when the characters in Worm would just talk to each other. And I love how characters tended to have unique vocabulary. Sometimes it fit their personality too, like Skidmark and his love for disgusting, inappropriate speech, because he's a disgusting, inappropriate person.

Something I had a problem with, though: a lot of times it wasn't clear which character was talking, and sometimes it was clear which character was talking but wasn't clear which one they were talking to during a group conversation. All of that happened a lot in Worm. Sometimes a dialogue tag would've been nice, with either a name or a pronoun.

The introspection was great. The inner thoughts of the characters never felt repetitive or anything. Sometimes certain phrases were used too much, like "The object was long as he/she was tall". And there were other repetitive phrases, but the introspection always felt fresh. I never had the impression a character was thinking the same thing took much.

Wildbow uses similes pretty well. I loved his descriptions. Sometimes I would read a sentence or a paragraph and understand exactly what a character was feeling. There was this one part when Taylor describes the terror she felt being like a gun being pointed at her for a long time, with her fear not rising or going down. I wish I could find that paragraph again.

The characters. The characters in Worm were amazing. They were so diverse with their own unique beliefs and motivations. It was realistic. A lot of them felt like real people. And there's some great character development. And because a bunch of the characters repeatedly make appearances throughout the novel, you see a lot of them and they make the book feel realer, and more "lived-in".

Worm is technically a multiple point of view novel. It's mainly told from Taylor's point of view, but it has a bunch of other narrators too. Wildbow is a master of multiple POV, which is also my favorite point of view to read and to write. The narrators in Worm have personalities and beliefs that show in the writing. Wildbow knows how to use introspection to demonstrate that. In the racist Hookwolf's interlude, he refers to Shatterbird as the racist term for her race, because he is racist. His inner thoughts fit his character. A non-racist character in Worm wouldn't have used that term. They would have used the proper word for Shatterbird's race. Hookwolf also has a hatred for cornrows, which is another example of his racism. When I read Hookwolf's interlude, I really got the sense that he was racist. Good job, Wildbow.

Worm has a lot of great instances of "show, don't tell". Like when he describes Leviathan as moving slower, because he's weaker, but Wildbow doesn't explicitly say that Leviathan was getting weaker. I loved that. Sometimes the reader has to figure things out for themself. There were some satisfying instances where Wildbow didn't spell out the obvious. I liked that.

I like how smart the characters were. Fictional characters being hopelessly stupid is something I really hate, but there was none of that in Worm. It was like everyone in this book was smart. Smart characters acting genuinely smart makes fiction more thrilling and fun to read or watch. It was satisfying to read intelligent characters showing actual cleverness. There was none of that "This character is stated to be smart but never does anything smart" nonsense.

One example of a character being genuinely clever in Worm is when Coil asks Dinah the chance of various individuals in their group, including themselves, surviving an upcoming attack, after she says there's a chance she will die in the next half-hour. The percentages is around the same for each of them. Coil does this to see if the attack will be an attack on all of them as a whole. This was clever. Another smart moment is when Taylor deliberately confuses Bonesaw to delay her attempt to get to Taylor's brain(which Taylor doesn't want to happen. Bonesaw is a really bad person). This moment probably wasn't extremely clever, but I think in real life most people would just pointlessly beg the bad guy to stop instead of actively trying to delay them.

Characters in Worm use their powers intelligently during fights, and that's what made reading this novel even more fun. It was intriguing.

I also love the stakes gradually get higher. The most dangerous villain is fought at the end, which is a good thing. Because the final battle in a book or other piece of media should be when the stakes are highest. If Scion was defeated in the middle of the novel and Lung was the final enemy to defeat instead, that would've been a terrible writing decision by Wildbow. Villainous Scion was much more of a threat than Lung was.

I really loved this novel. I wish more books were as great as this one. Worm is actually the web serial that made me start taking web serial seriously. I hope I will someday write a serial that's as great as Worm.

My rating for Worm:

4 out of 5 stars.

[theduvetpirate]

Yeah I get that for sure, the game doesn’t offer you a choice but I also see a lot of people conflating his upset with hate and I just really don’t think that he hates Shepard at all?

Idk it’s personal to each person I guess but from my pov the first thing he does is hug Shepard and then reacts quite rationally to his closest person being dead for 2years no contact suddenly appearing with a terrorist group and being like “hey kaidan how’ve you been? 😀”

I would be angry too if I’d been traumatised by leaving the person I love behind on her orders to then receive no word from her (again, defo not the players fault but that is the way it’s written) but it wouldn’t mean that I hate them Id just need time to process this new info again, which is what he’s done by Me3, and then I think it’s actually LESS realistic to have that person just accept in 3 mins at first glance that Shepard in front of them actually is their Shepard and not some experiment by Cerberus in the first place after spending the entire previous time together pretty much taking apart Cerberus bases and experiments…

Idk, I can understand some of the points Espesh when it comes to the writing and the player’s lack of ability to change the story choices with the virmire survivor -defo frustrating- but a LOT of the kaidan hate I’ve seen seems to just boil down to “I don’t like that he didn’t immediately drop everything for Shepard/I don’t like that he had an angry reaction to Shepard/he cheated with a doctor” when to me it’s clear he’s spent two years trying to move past what was probably hella traumatising, starting to make progress and she’s just appears out of nowhere with a whole new team

And then he sends the email and Idk I personally loved it!! From Me1 Kaidan is shown as a character to be emotionally mature and worked through his demons, so to me if anything his outburst on Horizon is because he cares about Shepard so much his control slips, and then with the email I just thought ok fair enough!! he reacted angrily after his base was attacked and in shock that Shepard is actually truly alive as any person might but then recognised that he was maybe wrong to react that way in the moment, apologises first then lets her know he went on one date at the request of his friends which he specifically says was not serious, and tells her he needs time but essentially leaves the door open, again reiterating that he doesn’t trust Cerberus and to be careful, so idk how that comes across as hating shep when to me it read more like an apology for a shock response..

This was a looooooong ramble hahahaha but yeah I basically understand 100% why you feel that way, cos the forced choice of joining Cerberus defo doesn’t lend to then having people angry at you in game, but I just think it’s so strange that 98% of the fan base hates him and so few people seem to be able to cut some slack for Kaidan given the entire context/circumstances that the conversation goes down

I am prepared to be hated but I really think Garrus is a bit overrated?????? I went into this game being like damn Garrus is clearly the one to be with cos of how popular he is and don’t get me wrong I LOVE that turian so much he’s a bestie fr but I had actually 0 interest in romancing him at all???

Prepared for double the hate but yall overhate Kaidan as well lmao he does not deserve the hate he gets I love him !?? his romance for fem shep was completely fine and destroyed me at the end of 3 even with horizon (this is a whole separate thing but some of you willingly decide to not see he has some very valid points on horizon), and I love Thane too so I’m excited to see his romance now on my second play through but damn…

[beerok23]

BAFTA: Let's nominate David Tennant for "Male performance in a comedy"

The Comedy:

Never heard of an actor who got his nominee for The Perfect Grunt™.

[mbohjeezart]

Hermit a Day May: Day 26, Groups and Collabs, ZITS!

And here's their full portrait without the text:

[moeblob]

I like the fact Tremaine's designated color is pink while Germaine's is maroon because if I draw them together it looks so bright and happy but they're in a dying world and both commit crimes many times a week just to survive. But hey, whatever.

If love is how they die, it beats starvation or injury! So letting them be codependent is like a treat almost.