#but I’ll be damned if I don’t get my 1000 word count friends to lovers story

[immakuronaakuma]

Not me trying to learn and absorb lore about something I wasn’t a fan of and didn’t even know about so I can have accurate roleplays in character ai.

[2-cute-4-school]

𝓠𝓾𝓲𝓭𝓭𝓲𝓽𝓬𝓱 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓒𝓱𝓸𝓬𝓸𝓵𝓪𝓽𝓮

Group : NCT

Pairing : Griffyndor! Mark Lee x gn! Reader 

Genre : hp au, rivals to lovers, light angst to absolute fluff

Word count : 4.4K words   |    M.list

Warnings : injury, swearing

Summary :  ‘He had nightmares of you slipping right past his fingers and him failing to catch you. He relives that moment.’

a/n: thank you for 1000 followers you absolute cuties!! sending lots of smooches and snuggles your way!!

“Aren’t you going to ask how the coolest champion is feeling about tomorrow’s match?”

You watched Donghyuck, your fellow housemate and best friend since you first stepped onto the Hogwarts train, expectantly. He spared you a quick glance as he plopped down beside you on the couch in your shared common room, too busy to munch on his chocolate frog to give you any further attention. 

“I’ve already asked Mark.”

You would like to be able to say you were surprised at his answer, but his teasing character has become an usual by now

It still baffled you how you managed to even tolerate each other, much less get to share a bond as deep as the one you developed along the years. You two had next to nothing in common other than your cunning wit. While Donghyuck delved deep into his love for astronomy, which you despised with a burning fervor, you dedicated your time to Quidditch entirely. 

You loved the sport dearly, it offered you that adrenaline rush you were born to chase, that quickened heartbeat as you rushed to catch the Golden Snitch. You spent every spare moment you could find in your hectic schedule on the pitch with the wind threading through strands of your hair and your hands clenched so tightly onto your broomstick your knuckles turn white. And you adored every second of that. But what you definitely didn’t adore was Mark Lee.

“And worst best friend award goes to surprise surprise Lee Donghyuck!”

He shrugged unimpressed by your weak attack and focuses back on his damned frog.

Mark Lee. Unfortunately for your sanity, you had to see him almost as often as you decided to practice on your own. If there was one thing you shared with him and you respected him for was his own commitment to Quidditch. More often that not, you’d have to share the pitch with him in your spare time, taunting each other for the entire period of time you spent practicing. He was the beloved Seeker of Gryffindor, their pride and joy and your rival ever since you were both accepted in your respective teams.

“So what’s your score against him?”

“It’s a draw.”

Yes, you were that petty. You and Mark kept the score on how many times you defeated each other in matches. It didn’t actually matter which team actually won, the only thing that mattered for your childish competition was who managed to catch the Golden Snitch.

“That’s why you’re so tense?”

“Bingo, smartpants.”

“What even is the big deal about your little game? It’s not like either of you actually gets something out of this.”

“I gain the right to stick my win in his face and vice versa.”

Teasing between you and Mark often stretched your patience to its maximum and ended up in one of you snapping like a chord under pressure. Donghyuck shivered as he remembered the final match of your fourth year when your house lost against Gryffindor due to Mark catching the Snitch before you. He could vividly remember the blood rushing through his veins in fear at the sight of you battling Mark shoulder to shoulder at a dangerous speed, arm stretched out so far he believed you’d topple over at any moment.

He doesn’t want a repeat of the miserable image of you he saw at the time, a defeated you, slumped on the bench in your changing room, head lowered in ultimate shame and disappointment as bitter tears rolled off your face, splashing against the floor as Donghyuck watched worriedly through the half opened door. Mark had really done a number on you that day.

“You have to win, Y/N.”

“Why the sudden change of heart, wasn’t our competition meaningless for your highness?”

“I don’t give a frog’s toe about your competition, but I want to spend time time with you this summer. And not just to watch you practice until you drop.”

You scoffed. You knew that he was referring to the summer after your horrifying defeat against Mark. Donghyuck could barely get a hold of you since you spent all day on your broom, tiring yourself out to your limit.

“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on losing.”

~

“Already wetting your pants, Y/L/N?”

You didn’t have to turn around to put a face to the taunting voice behind you.

“I don’t know, Lee, should I? You must know since you have more experience than me.”

Mark’s face scrunched up at the reminder of his first year when he lost control of his broom and he quite literally saw his life flash before his eyes. Not very Gryffindor from his part.

“Whatever, we both know how this is about to end. Save your cheap defense until after this final. My team will win this year’s tournament and I’ll beat you individually too.”

The reminder of the stakes of this match weren’t soothing your nerves at all, especially mere hours before you were facing Mark on the pitch. You curled your fists and kept a straight face, not daring to show him any weakness from your side.

“Shove that pointless confidence up your ass until you prove you’re worthy of it, Lee.”

“Oh so fourth year isn’t enough proof?”

The corner of your lips twitched and your eyes narrowed. zeroing on his tense featured in a chilling glare.

“You said matches don’t count, didn’t you? You were the one insisting that you didn’t consider anything a victory other than catching the Snitch before me. And in that aspect, last I verified, we’re equals.”

His lips moved soundlessly, trying to come up with a retort, but you didn’t spare him enough time to come up with anything, turning on your heels and marching away to meet Donghyuck.

“You’ll see, Y/L/N, you’ll never be my equal.”

His voice followed you tauntingly through the busy corridors, your rushed footsteps taking you anywhere but close to the only person who could make your blood boil.

~

It took three pep talks and four ‘friendly’ attacks of your personal space from Donghyuck to make you gather your spirits and stop the tremors shaking up your entire body. He walked you to the changing room’s door, patting you roughly on the back one last time

“Give your best, I’ll be watching from the stands. I trust that you won’t let me get bored. Also, remember that if you lose you’re sleeping on the mat in front of the entrance in our common room.”

And with that he skipped away, hurried to find a good spot in the stands that were already starting to fill up with students. You sigh, used to his weird way of encouraging you and stepped inside the room, greeting Jungwoo, your captain and your fellow teammates, starting to change into your Quidditch uniform.

As soon as you set foot on the familiar pitch, your eyes met Mark’s who stood straight and proud side by side with his own captain sporting his Gryffindor red cape and holding his broom, the newest Nimbus model.

You Keeper was talking your ear off about the ‘amazingly efficient’ polish he found, but you couldn’t seem to rip your gaze away from Mark who in turn seemed to burn through you with his gaze. He threw you a smirk as if provoking you to lose your cool. But you decided you wouldn’t allow him the satisfaction.

The stands were already roaring to life. Any match between you and Mark was very sought after by everyone in your school due to the intensity it held each time. Despite the already loudness surrounding the pitch, one high pitched screech couldn’t help but catch your attention.

“KICK SOME ASS, Y/N! Or the mat is waiting for you!”

Count on Donghyuck to be the embarrassing mom rooting for you at her child’s every sport event. You shoot him a warning look to which he only responded with an over dramatic wink and an even louder ’whoop’. You could only sigh, appreciating his support despite your lack of reaction to it.

“I’ll kick your ass, Lee Donghyuck.”

You muttered, trying to stop the smile forming on your lips. A snort came from the side, making your head snap in its direction.

“Try your best, Y/LN, too bad you’ll still disappoint lover boy over there.”

“Jealous, Lee?”

“You wish.”

Madam Hooch interrupted your banter with a shrill whistle, stepping in between the two teams while holding the Quaffle.

“Alright, boys and girls, mount your brooms.”

Within seconds all players were high in the air, adrenaline pumping through your veins, your heated gaze locked with Mark’s. It became kind of a tradition between the two of you, intense stare downs before the official start of the game. Madam Hooch’s voice which carried the same words every time sounded far away as she bent down, ready to throw the Quaffle.

“Alright, I want a clean and fair game, hear me? Good luck and may the best win.”

The long deafening whistle signified the start of the match and Chasers whizzed past you, speeding towards the Quaffle. You and Mark broke eye contact, each of you getting immersed in the game, your sole focus being on catching sight of the Golden Snitch.

The weather worsened as the game progressed, the unpredictable May weather acting up. The clouds darkened, completely shutting out any ray of sunshine trying to sneak past them, a thickening fog suffocating the school grounds. Slowly but surely, what started as a few scattered rain drops soon turned into a full blown storm, a cold shower falling atop of you, the harsh wind whipping your capes back and forth. The stands were barely visible, the cheers from below inaudible over the wind and the players’ yells.

If it wasn’t hard enough already to spot the small, golden ball, now it seemed close to impossible. You could make out Mark’s silhouette flying around, but you didn’t linger any longer on him, focused on catching sight of the Snitch. Bludgers were flying everywhere, the Beaters’ efficiency decreasing because of the lack of visibility, another worry to add to the list.

Gryffindor was in the lead with 20 points, the score remaining tight as the match dragged on and on. You had already been playing for a while, your uniforms were already soaked and your skin paling from the biting cold of the unforgiving rain, but the conditions only spurred you further. You had to catch the Snitch.

Just as your patience was running thin, you caught sight of a fast-moving golden spot, hovering on the sidelines. Without a second thought, you sped towards it, your surroundings blurring as your eyes focused solely on the already moving Snitch. Mark noticed your forceful actions immediately, whizzing past the others players and nearing you.

“And Y/L/N seems to have finally spotted the Golden Snitch! Both Seekers are bolting after it, I can barely keep track of them!”

The crowd exploded, cheering louder than ever, but you couldn’t hear anything, pushing yourself to the limit as Mark caught up to you and you battled side by side once again. The Snitch seemed to be angrier than ever, jerking furiously at every corner, but you didn’t let yourself be caught by surprise, keeping up with it.

Until it started speeding in a straight line, stopping its irregular twists and turns and you knew that was your chance. You flew at top speed, stretching your hand in front of you so much that your muscles almost protested and Mark followed suit. You were shoulder to shoulder with him, subtly knocking into each other in an attempt to make the other lose their balance.

“Move! It’s mine!”

His hoarse voice yelled right by your year, only making you grit your teeth harder.

“Fuck off, Lee!”

Your fingertips were a breath away from the Snitch, Mark’s arm pressing into yours, the cold wind biting at your cheeks. Desperately, you shifted your weight from your bottom to the hand clutching your broomstick, leaning forward on your arm and before Mark could react, you lurched forward slightly, encasing the running object in the palm of your hand, clutching it so tightly it left marks into the skin, but you didn’t care. 

You did it. You caught the Golden Snitch.

“Y/N!”

Before you could regain your stance, a Bludger knocked into your broom forcefully. With your already unsteady grip on the broomstick, you toppled over in an instant, the broom slipping from under you, but you didn’t dare unclench the fingers trapping the Snitch in your hand.

Mark’s desperate yell seemed to be the only sound echoing in your ears as you plummeted. The last thing you saw before you knocked loudly into the ground with a sickening crack were Mark’s distressed features, a hand stretched to its full extent in front of him as he rushed to get a hold of you, your own outstretched fingers slipping right past his.

~

Surprisingly, as soon as you managed to crack your eyes open you weren’t hit with a blinding light. It still seemed to take a great effort to keep them open for longer than a second, your hand twitching in an attempt to bring it to cover your sensitive eyes, but being stopped by a weight forcing it down. 

“Y/N?”

You groaned, scrunching up your face as soreness hit your body full force at your attempt to move.

“Merlin, Y/N, can you open your eyes?”

You could recognize Donghyuck’s voice anywhere, but the almost desperate tone he used was quite foreign to you.

“Come on, babe, open your eyes. Madam Pomfrey! ”

You realized the weight on your hand were actually his fingers which now squeezed yours encouragingly as his other hand came up to smooth strands of your hair away from your face. You clenched your teeth, forcing an eye open.

“Stop fucking yelling, punk.”

At your annoyed retort, he let out a relieved sigh, wrapping his arms gently around you while trying not to jostle you too much.

“Thank Merlin, you’re back.”

After Madam Pomfrey checked on you and updated you on your injuries which were a bit more serious than you expected, she left you with Donghyuck once again. He leaned back in his chair, a lot more relaxed than in the past days he’s had to spend by your bedside. You furrowed your eyebrows.

“The match. We won the match right?”

Donghyuck snorted as your first question was about Quidditch instead of your own health, but it didn’t even surprise him anymore.

“Yes, you crazy hag, you won.”

“Yes! We did it! We won!”

You’ve never felt more relieved in your entire life. You finally proved to yourself that all the time and work you’ve put into Quidditch wasn’t for nothing. And if this was the elevation you’d feel after winning cups, you were ready to spend the rest of your youth chasing the Snitch.

“You should eat some chocolate, gain your energy back.”

Now that he mentioned it, you finally focused on your nightstand that overflowed with sweets. You grabbed the closest one, a chocolate frog, not hesitating to stuff it all in your mouth and collect the card inside. Another Nicolas Flamel, you already had two of those. 

“Those are a lot.”

“Tell me about it. Don’t worry, I’ll help you finish them.”

“I don’t doubt that.”

“Hyuck, tell me, did Jungwoo cry?”

“Should’ve seen him, like a baby. I’m pretty sure he filled half of that cup with snot-”

“Ewww, I didn’t need all the gross details. Ah, I’m sorry for missing that. And Lee’s face, I bet I’d sleep like a baby for the next 10 years if I had the chance to see that.“

Donghyuck’s lips were suddenly pulled into a smirk, eyes glinting with a dangerous mischief.

“You should see one of your beaters, damn nice nose Mark delivered.”

Your munching slowed down, gulping down the sweetness loudly.

“What do you mean? Did that petty git start a fight?”

“Wouldn’t say it was out of pettiness actually.”

Mark was the first to land beside your crumpled figure, dismounting his broom faster than ever and crouching hurriedly before you. His hand ghosted over your cold cheek, too scared to touch you in case he did more harm than good. His shaking pupils fixated on you, running a hundred miles per hour over your face, hoping, praying that you’d open your eyes and celebrate in his face.

“Hey, wake up, don’t play games on the pitch, you already won! Y/L/N!”

Mark knew deep inside that you had no games left to play after a fall like that, but it was his first time seeing you so small, so hurt, so defeated despite the shining Golden Snitch still clutched loosely in your limp hand. It scared him.

“Bloody hell, wake up! Madam Hooch! Help! Anyone, help!”

His head snapped around trying to catch sight of anyone coming to your aid, eyes scanning through the fog crazily. The rain seemed to fall faster and faster, the chill settling deep into your bones. Exhausted, Mark lowered his head in defeat, his forehead gently leaning on yours, his nose nudging against yours. One of his hands still touched your cheek, lightly caressing it, thumb running over the apple of your cheek as his other hand curled into a fist against the ground.

Jungwoo landed next, almost tripping over his broom as he rushed over to you and knelt next to you, opting to ignore the position Mark was in and focus on your well being. Mark’s head didn’t even turn as he spoke lowly.

“Do something for Merlin’s sake. Get Madam Hooch, or Pomfrey! Anyone dammit, just to something!”

Mark raised himself at the lack of response from Jungwoo who seemed rotten to his spot, freezing at the sight of you.

“Are you deaf?! Fucking help!”

That seemed to snap Jungwoo out of his frozen state as he jumped to his feet, sprinting towards the stand where teachers usually stayed during matches. One by one, your teams landed and gathered near you as Mark’s yells of help guided them to you.

“Merlin, that doesn’t look good.”

Mark’s burning gaze settled on your beater who stood a few meters away, leaning on his broom.

“It would have looked better if you did your part right.”

The beater rolled his eyes at Mark’s harsh remark.

“Relax, man, I just wasn’t playing attention for a moment.”

“And you think that’s a proper excuse?!”

Mark was fired up by now, lifting himself to his feet as one of your Chasers, a year younger than you crouched by your side, gripping your hand. He sauntered over, coming face to face with the beater who didn’t seem that interested.

“I’m just saying it’s not my fault their own incompetence landed themselves in the hospital wing, I’m not pulling anyone’s wight al-”

He didn’t get to finish his mocking words as Mark’s fist met his nose with a loud crunch, Mark’s powerful swing sending him to the ground as blood started dripping from his nose steadily.

“Don’t you ever talk about Y/N like that. Not ever again. If I hear one bad word about them coming out of your worthless mouth, I’ll hex you into next year. You’ll never be half of the player Y/N already is, remember your place, asshole.”

Madam Hooch was already tending to you by the time Mark turned back to you, deeming it safe enough for you to be moved to the hospital wing. Donghyuck, who sprinted out of the stand as soon as he heard your name coming out of Jungwoo’s mouth, held your head in his lap, smoothed down your hair, pushing away wet strands that covered your eyes.

Mark strode over to you, taking off his cap and laying it over your body as he slotted an arm under your legs, his other coming around your back. He lifted your body, cradling you against his chest as Donghyuck also stood up to fix your position in Mark’s arms into a more comfortable one.

“Off to the hospital wing,now. Quick, quick, quick!”

Mark didn’t waste another moment before he hurried inside the castle with you in his hold and Donghyuck quick on his heels.

“Mark Lee stood up for me? The same Mark Lee who hates my guts since we first got in our Quidditch teams?”

“Do you know another Mark Lee? Maybe he didn’t hate you that much after all, or…not at all. After all, all these chocolate frogs are from him, said something about seeing you exchange some cards with his Griffyndor friend in class or something.”

“He visited?”

“We wouldn’t be able to get rid of him sometimes. He opened up to me once when we met outside the door trying to sneak in one night.”

“Why were you even sneaking in?”

“I was bored, okay? I had no one to tire me out during the day.”

“Hey!”

“Anyway, he said he had nightmares of you slipping right past his fingers and him failing to catch you. He relives that moment.”

“Did it really affect him that much? Accidents happen all the time.”

“Not to you, Y/N.”

“Maybe, but I’m just another player from the opposite team., right? …Do you think he…?”

Donghyuck brought a hand up to his head, massaging his temples as he sighed with annoyance.

“You’re too dense.”

“How could I have known? ”

“Look, just talk to him as soon as you can. That boy needs to finally sleep properly, even my grandma’s bag has a lighter color than his eye bags.”

You just nodded, a bit skeptic.

You were discharged on that same day. Jungwoo almost cried again when you met in the common room, hugging you tightly, praising and scolding you at the same time with a brotherly smile.

You first saw Mark Lee in the halfway, after your Potions class. He was sitting on the ledge of a large window, staring seemingly into space. Donghyuck’s words echo in your mind as you decide to approach him and hop onto the space beside him, settling comfortable against the window behind you.

“Woah, Lee, Donghyuck was right, you could really use some concealer.”

Mark jostled as if he only noticed you now. His wide doe eyes racked over your smiling face and he seemed to panic internally.

“Whe-When did you get here? Why are you out of bed?”

“Because I was discharged?”

“What? Since when?”

“Earlier today.”

“Oh…”

He cleared his throat awkwardly, eyes running wild everywhere but in your direction. You chuckled.

“It’s okay, I already know how much the almighty Mark Lee worried over poor little me.”

Mark scoffed, his embarrassed behavior vanishing. 

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. I see that hit to your head didn’t help with your sharp tongue, disappointingly.”

He swiftly moved away, starting to walk away from you until your hand clasped around his wrist, stopping him mid step.

“Wait, I just… I wanted to thank you.”

Mark seemed confused now, turning back to you with furrowed eyebrows.

“Thank me? What for?”

“Standing up for me and uh, you know, taking care of me.”

Mark’s face darkened at the memory of your beater.

“That git was just asking for it and I barely did anything.”

“Then at least let me repay you for the chocolate frogs you brought me.”

Now he seemed to choke on a confused ‘huh?’ with a bewildered expression that just melted your otherwise cocky demeanor.

“W-what? How-”

Mark’s words died in his throat as you slotted your lips against his in a teasing kiss, your hand holding the nape of his next affectionately and pulling him closer you. Mark took a few moments to realize it was actually happening in reality, not just an illusion from the lack of sleep. His hands came up to your waist, wrapping you in his embrace and pulling you against him impossibly closer. Years of pushed down passion and longing were exchanged in that moment, dizzying both of you.

As you pulled away from each other for air, Mark could taste the faint sweetness of chocolate on his lips. He smiled and his whole rival image turned into a lovesick teenage boy with a smile brighter than the sun. He laughed quietly, thumbs caressing your sides gently.

“I see you enjoyed your chocolate.”

You leaned more into him, pulling his face so close to yours that your noses brushed against each other’s, your ravished breath fanning across his lips as you whispered.

“I did. I’m glad I’m so interesting to you that you observe me in class enough to know that I collect chocolate frogs cards.”

You expected a blush to paint his cheeks red, an elbow in your side or at least an annoyed huff but you got none of that. Instead, one of Mark’s hands came up to cradle your cheek as he stared deep into your eyes with an unreadable look.

“Excuse me but it’s hard not to look when I have the prettiest person I’ve ever seen who also happens to be my crush since 3rd year.”

Your eyes widened, searching his for any hint that he may be just lying or teasing you. But all you could find was pure, unadulterated fondness, a withheld fire burning low in his eyes. He leaned down, lips brushing against the shell of your ear and sending goosebumps across the expanse of your skin.

“It’s been so hard not to just pull you aside and snog you senseless, especially in your Quidditch uniform.”

You decided to play along. You brought your fingers to his heated neck, running them faintly over his skin and you smirked seeing him shiver at your touch.

“Having a kink for uniforms, Lee?”

Mark screeched lowly, pulling away from you as if burned. He smoothed down his robes, fixating you with a glare that made you laugh.

“Y/N, I’m serious, though. I like you, I really really lo-….like you.”

You noticed his stutter, but it only made your smile widen as you stretched out a hand to intertwine his fingers with yours and pull him along down the corridor.

“Hm, I’ll need some more proof of that.”

Mark squeezed your hand in response, chuckling at you sweetly. He leaned over, pressing a feather like kiss to your temple.

“Don’t worry, you’re nowhere done with your payment back to me. And I only accept it in the form of kisses and cuddles.”

You smiled at each other, your hearts finally settling satisfied in your chests after years of internal turmoil that finally burned out.

“That can be arranged easily.”

[taehyungs-perm]

strawberry girl pt 1

taehyung x reader; college au; childhood best friends to lovers au; jock!fratboy taehyung

genre: fluff; major angst lol

word count: 8k

summary: i can pretend i don’t miss you. i can pretend i don’t care. all i want to do is kiss you. what a shame you’re not here.  

Part 2 here ; part 3 here; part 4 here; part 5

playlist vibes

better | khalid

electric love | b��rns

saturday nights | khalid

the less i know the better | tame impala 

summertime sadness | lana del ray

“Hana, what the fuck are you doing?” You said to your roommate. You just had walked into your room and saw there was an enormous mountain of clothing blocking the entrance of the room door. Clutching the box containing your freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, you carefully maneuvered your way to your bed. You stared at your roommate as she stood in front of her mirror. It had been a long day and you just wanted to eat the cookies you made while watching a social justice documentary, your go to form of stress relief. She turned to you, revealing her exasperated face “Okay I studied literally all day today and basically ignored Jungkook and his billion texts because I was trying to focus and now he’s mad at me so I’m going over to his dorm to hang out. And I’m trying to figure out what to wear! Like should I wear a skirt or sweatpants or...?” She put the pink skirt she was holding up to her body down and picked up a comb from her desk. You bit into a cookie and stared at her trying to tame her curly black hair with a brush, “Aren’t you and jungkook just hooking up? Why are you going to comfort him if you aren’t in a relationship?” Hana immediately became defensive, crossing her arms over her chest “We are friends too okay! I can go and comfort him as friends ______.” You rolled your eyes and said sarcastically, “Sure Hana because that’s what friends do. Go over to each other’s rooms at midnight to ‘comfort’ each other” Waving the silver comb in her hand at you, Hana exclaimed, “Shut up! Support me and my stupid choices. I support your choice of being a prude” “Hey! I’m not a prude....” you said trailing off suddenly regretting calling out Hana on her behavior. “Yea ______ you’ve never even kissed a boy.” You gave your prepared answer about your lack of romantic life that you’ve been telling people since junior year of highschool “It’s cause I’m trying to focus on school and not get involved with anyone.” “Keep telling yourself that excuse. It’s perfectly normal to manage other things other than school work”, Hana said as she shoved her huge pile of clothing that was lying on the ground into her closet. You shut your biology book that was in front of you and stated, “Okay fine how about the excuse that all men are trash?” “I honestly believe that one 1000 times more” she held up a black skater skirt to herself and said “I’m just going to go with this” Hana quickly changed, grabbed her purse, and said “bye! I’ll see you...later?” You laughed and called after her “I’ll see you tomorrow. Make smart choices!”

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

You woke up early to revise before your biology class at 9:30. After going through the Krebs cycle one last time, you quickly rushed to get ready pulling on a pair of loose jeans and a sweater. You slipped on your sneakers and rushed out the door making it just in time to be ten minutes early for biology class. You were clutching your notes mumbling through the processes “pyruvate becomes acetyl coenzyme A then...” Today is going to be a long day, you realized that there was so much more cellular respiration you still needed to learn. Should I bake brownies tonight or should I finish watching 13th? You were so absorbed in your notes and thoughts that you barely noticed someone calling your name. You looked up confused. You didn’t have too many friends on campus so you weren’t sure who could be calling your name. Then you noticed him. Fuck You felt your heart skip a beat why does this still happen even two years later? “______!” He came up to you smiling and waving. “Hey Taehyung “ you mumbled, annoyed that he was coming over to say hello. He looked so good, as always. He was wearing slacks with a sweater with a brown messenger bag to his side. He recently got his black hair permed and it looked so good. You wanted to rake your hands through his hair and feel the soft curls. You shook your head, no you're over him. You don’t like Kim Taehyung anymore “How’s it going? I haven’t seen you in awhile” He said with his huge boxy smile, adjusting his bag strap. You and Taehyung occasionally run into each other between classes and such but you guys never hung out. After what had happened in highschool, you realized you and Taehyung were in two different social groups and were destined to just be friends. He was a soccer player in a frat who wanted to have fun and you were a pre-med student focused on getting good grades so there really wasn’t much intersection in your two lives. “Um good ya know just heading to biology class.” You chuckled nervously, are you always this awkward or is it just Taehyung making you feel on edge? “Ah yes. Classic ______ always studying” “Yea well school is important. So um...” you were racking your brain trying to say something despite your mind going absolutely blank the second you saw his flawlessly sculpted face, “.....how is soccer going?” His eyes lit up, “It’s good! I’m training a lot so that takes up a lot of time. But everyone on the team is really nice, so it’s good.” “I’m glad.” You glanced at your phone desperate to get out of the terribly awkward conversation “Well I have to go class, but it was nice seeing you” you started to walk off in the direction of your class but Taehyung pulled you back towards him “Wait ______” “What?” You said an annoyed tone. You needed to get to class and Taehyung was just bothering you with small talk. He looked almost nervous. He gave a small smile and said “I was wondering if you wanted to do something this weekend.” You glanced around yourself just to make sure Taehyung was talking to you. “You want to do something with me? This weekend?” You asked, astonished. He glanced at the ground and then back at you. You noticed he was still holding your arm and he quickly dropped it. “Yea I want to hang out with you. Is that okay?” He said shoving his hands into his pockets. “Um yea. I guess. Just text me later” you said in a rushed tone, then trudged off to your class. Wow that was fucking weird. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tae: hey! so are you free this saturday to do something?

Fuck I can’t believe he actually texted me. It had been 2 years since you’ve hung out with him. Why was he texting you now asking to spend time? You contemplated just saying no so you didn’t have to deal with Taehyung but you figured it might be more efficient to just hang out with him once so he could leave you alone.

You: yep that works. what do you have in mind? Tae: do you want to go into town? You: yea that sounds good. Tae: great i'll pick you up at 2 🍓 girl :)

You internally vomited at the nickname. You didn’t want to hang out with Taehyung. You were perfectly fine being friends/borderline acquaintances with Taehyung. You threw your phone on your bed and groaned loudly. At that moment your roommate entered the room and said “Wow hello to you too.” “I hate my life,” you exclaimed dramatically as you shoved your face into your fluffy white pillow. “That’s a mood. But what happened?” she said laughing and sitting on her bed across from you. “Uh so like, have I mentioned I’m kinda friends with Taehyung?” You said peeking out of your pillow. Hana squealed “Shut up! You’re friends with the Kim Taehyung?” “Uh kinda. We grew up together and like we were best friends but then like we drifted apart. We are just okay friends now,” You said as nonchalantly as you could. Hana stretched out onto her bed and turned her head to you “Wow you never told me that. I can’t believe you knew Kim Taehyung” You pulled the pillow under your arms so you could lay on it “Yea so I ran into him today and he asked to hangout this weekend and he just texted me to confirm plans and I feel like throwing up.” Hana raised her eyebrow “What? Why? This is great news. I’m with Jungkook and now you can be with Taehyung! It’s perfect omg” You threw your fluffy pillow at Hana, hoping it would knock some sense into her, “First of all you are hooking up Jungkook. He’s not your boyfriend. Second of all, I’m not ever going to date Kim Taehyung.” She caught the pillow before it could hit her face, “Eww. As if I would ever date Jungkook” she laughed and tossed the pillow back to you, “But that’s honestly a smart move. Taehyung has got a lot of baggage.” You looked up at your roommate confused, “What are you talking about?” “Uh Taehyung is kinda the biggest fuckboi on campus. We’ve only been freshmen for like 4 months and he’s fucked almost like half of campus. Your jaw dropped. You didn’t know Taehyung was a fuckboi. Granted you really didn’t know anything that wasn’t school related but like Taehyung? Your Taehyung? The one with the innocent doe eyes and giggly smile? “No fucking way. You’re lying” “Honey, Jungkook is his best friend. I know.” You stared at your pillow. Well Taehyung was a really handsome guy. What else could you expect? You luckily didn’t feel heart broken Not that your heart could be broken any further.  “Well good for him. I guess. As long as he isn’t being an asshole and manipulating girls and their feelings just so he can fuck them.” “You can ask him this weekend on your dateee” Hana said teasingly. “It’s definitely not a date. I’m sure he just wants something” you said rolling your eyes as you got up and grabbed your baking basket. “Where are you going?” Hana questioned. “I need to make some strawberry cupcakes” you stated as you grabbed some strawberries from your fridge. Strawberry desserts were your comfort food. “Damn this thing with Taehyung has you real pressed” she said laughing. “You have no idea,” you mumbled underneath your breath as you left your room. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was 1:27 in the afternoon and you had already stress ate 4 strawberry cupcakes since last night. You didn’t know what “I’ll pick you up at 2” meant. Did it mean he was going to wait outside your dorm building? Did it mean he was coming to your room? Did he even know your room number? You were going to grab another cupcake when you realized you should probably change out of your pajamas. 

You took a look in the mirror and you sighed. You unconsciously adjusted the gold necklace that you wore everyday and scanned your outfit: light blue jeans and a black baggy shirt. Why do I even care what I’m wearing? It’s not like it’s anyone special, it's just Taehyung. But the voice at the back of your head kept nagging the hard to swallow truth that you in fact do care. Your thoughts were interrupted by a loud ding from your phone. 

Tae: I’m outside your dorm! You: ok coming out 

You grabbed your coat and were about to leave your room before a thought popped in your head. You walked outside and found Taehyung standing by the entrance of your dorm building, scrolling on his phone. Taehyung was wearing a simple black shirt tucked into black jeans with a long gray coat. With his beautiful curly hair and black sunglasses, he looked like a movie star. You wanted to sprint back inside your dorm and hide because you truly did not want to be seen in public with him. He looked up from his phone and gave a genuine smile “Hey!” “Hey Taehyung.” You stood awkwardly distanced from him. “Um I was kinda stressed last night and I ended up baking cupcakes. I knew you used to love my strawberry desserts so I brought one for you” you handed a cupcake wrapped in a napkin to him. “Are you being for real? You made me a strawberry cupcake? Oh my gosh, you’re the best” he pulled you into a giant hug. Not really liking physical affection, you pushed against his chest to try to pull away. He let go of you and grinned broadly “This made my day. I’m so happy now” “Are you ever not?” You mumbled so he couldn’t hear. The local town was only about a 10 minute walk so you were hoping this whole outing with Taehyung would only last an hour or so. “So why were you stressed?” Taehyung said unwrapping his cupcake. You couldn’t tell him that he was causing your stress because to be honest, you didn’t even know why his sudden presence in your life was causing you this much anxiety. “Oh just school stuff.” You always gave superficial answers to those types of questions. Your automatic assumption is that people don’t really care about what you’re going through; they’re just asking out of courtesy. He gave you a suspicious look as if he didn’t believe you but he didn’t press further. You and Taehyung quietly chatted about school, classes and soccer until you reached the quaint local town. Taehyung was talking about his frat and how they were having a themed party in anticipation for their huge game. You were half paying attention to what he was saying when you saw a table covered in books in front of one of the shops. You immediately stopped and glanced at all the books on the table. You used to read a lot before school became a priority in your life, then you picked up baking as your stress reliever. But with this cute little bookstore right in front of you, you started to recall all the fond memories you had as a child and you couldn’t resist. “Let’s go in here,” you said, smiling at Taehyung. He looked at you really weirdly for a second, like he was shocked or something. “Or not,” you said, mumbling, starting to walk away from the store. “No no let’s go in. Sorry if I looked kinda surprised. It’s just” he scratched the back of his head and gave a small laugh “Every time we’ve talked you never smile. And you just did. And it was super cute” a small blushed bloomed his cheeks. He quickly added “I definitely want to go in the bookstore.” The sudden compliment by Taehyung made you want to crawl in a hole. Okay, first of all I’m sure I’ve smiled in front of him....at some point.. You nodded and entered the store with him behind you. You began to browse through books and felt Taehyung hovering behind you. “Umm....so where are the....interesting books” Taehyung whispered behind you as he took off his sunglasses. “Interesting books?” You said turning to look at him “Ya know like Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, that sorta thing.” “Taehyung...you’re 19.” “Yea I know but...” “Tell me you’ve read a book since we were in middle school.” “You know, life is busy. Sometimes, we ju-“ “Okay Taehyung.” You said rolling your eyes. You continued to browse until you picked out a few books that caught your eye. Taehyung was trailing behind you the entire time like a lost puppy. It was kinda annoying but also super endearing. You purchased your books and Taehyung said “I remember you were always reading when we were kids. And you used to read to me when we go have picnics in the park! Remember?” You smiled, thinking back to those days. Most of your memories of reading did include Taehyung. Him forcing you to sit and read your favorite passage of the book you were currently reading. “Yea, I remember.” You said “I also remember you being a dumbass then just like how you are now.” Taehyung laughed “Yea I was a dumbass. But at least I started reading actual books because of you.” You two continued to walk while you explained your book purchases to him. “Wow” Taehyung said “those books sound super....enlightening” he smiled at his vocab choice. You couldn’t help but laugh. “Yea I’m excited to read them. I’ve actually been meaning to read The New Jim Crow for a while now so I’m probably going to start once I get back to my dorm.” You noticed Taehyung was staring at a shop across the street. It looked almost like an antique store. “Do you wanna go in there?” You said asking carefully He nodded hesitantly. You entered the store with Taehyung and his eyes lit up. “Wow look at this camera!” He said. There was a large vintage camera placed on the front display. It seemed like one of those Polaroid types. He picked it up carefully and analyzed it. You had almost forgotten. Taehyung used to love photography and art. When you were children, Taehyung had many disposable cameras and he was constantly taking pictures of the scenery, of his friends, and you. Even though you hated getting your photo taken, Taehyung would always secretly take pictures of you and show them to you once they were developed. You always ended up loving his photos of you the most. You hadn’t realized that Taehyung had started wandering around the store. You found him standing in front of a large painting. “It’s a modern rendition of Van Gogh's Starry Night” he told you. The painting had a cityscape with the iconic starry night swirls in the background. As you went with Taehyung around the store, he gave factoids about almost all the paintings there. I didn’t realize he was still interested in art . Taehyung ended up purchasing the vintage camera in front display along with the film for it. When you exited the store, Taehyung exhaled deeply. “I miss photography,” he said solemnly. “I stopped during high school, when I started dating Yeji.” You internally winced at the sound of her name. “I want to start again,” Taehyung said. “That’ll be good. You’ll have to show me your photos once you get developed,” you said with a small smile. It got quiet for a moment and you felt a question pressing your mind that you needed to ask Taehyung. “Why did you ask me to hang out?” You said bluntly. He smiled, “Why? I can’t ask a friend to hang out?” “No, but we haven’t hung out in a long time,” You said quietly. “It feels a bit random.” Taehyung stopped walking, “You’re right. It is a bit random and I haven’t really talked to you in a long time.” He paused, pondering for a moment, then continued, “I’m really homesick. College is hard. Being away from home is really hard, harder than I ever expected. And you remind me of home.” He scoffed at his own words “Actually, you are my home. Whenever I see you walking on campus, I feel...a sense of comfort, ya know? You’re someone who knows me, like actually knows me, Taehyung, not Kim Taehyung, the soccer player, or whatever people are labeling me.” You were shocked at his words. You truly had no idea that Taehyung was homesick. He seemed so normal and perfectly happy, like all the time. It was kinda nauseating. But he had put up a front the whole time. “Oh. I’m so sorry you’ve been feeling that way” wow that sounds so fake. You were so bad at consoling people that you weren’t close to. “But If you ever need to talk to someone, I’m always here Tae.” He gave you a smile “You used to call me Tae all the time. You only called me Taehyung when you were mad at me.” That was true. You didn’t realize he had picked up on it. “Well I must have called you Taehyung a lot” you said teasingly. “Only when I would pair us up for a school project” he said with a wink. You and Taehyung started heading back home and Taehyung started asking more about yourself. You gave short, one word answers, not really going in depth about anything. You hated talking about yourself and your feelings with people who you knew didn’t actually care. Taehyung seemed to get frustrated and he said “okay, why aren’t you telling me anything? I talked to you about myself. I know your life isn’t just school. I know you have feelings that aren’t ‘I’m stressed about grades’. Why are you shutting me out?” You sighed and said “Yea well I shut everyone out. Don’t take it personally. It’s just easier.” You realized that was probably really cold, but you were getting exhausted with his questions. Taehyung doesn’t really care about me. Or my feelings. He’s just a fuckboi who just wants any girl’s attention. You were walking at a faster pace so you were ahead of him and didn’t have to see his disheartened expression. He pulled your arm so you had to face him “Hey. I don’t know why you’re acting like this but I guess I have to make this abundantly clear: I’m your friend so I care about your well being. I’m sorry for not trying in our friendship but that’s in the past. I’m trying now and isn't that worth something?” You stared at him. His eyes were big and pleading. God he looks so cute. You immediately felt bad for being rude to him, “Yea, I do appreciate it. But like this is just a one time thing right? You were feeling sad and we hung out. That’s it.” “No ______, I miss our friendship,” he said in a genuine tone. You recoiled at the word friendship. Because that’s all you’ll ever be to Taehyung, a friend. “I don’t want this to be a one time thing. I want us to be in each other’s lives. Like before,” he said. You took a deep breath. It was simple. You could be friends with him. You just need to keep a clear mind and remember that you and Taehyung are not destined for anything more. “Yea. Me too,” you said, giving him a small smile. “Great! I’m so excited! This means you can come this weekend then right?” He said with his huge boxy smile. “What’s this weekend?” “______ were you not paying attention? I told you, this weekend BTS is having a party remember? At our frat house?” There was no way in hell you would ever step foot into an STI infested death trap Taehyung called a frat house. In fact the notion of you going to a frat party was so insane that you started to cackle. You doubled over in a fit of laughter. Taehyung just stared at you in confusion. “Uh what’s so funny?” he said, chuckling nervously. “If you think I would ever go to a frat party, then you’re crazy,” you said, still laughing. “What? Why wouldn’t you come?” “Taehyung, do I look like a person to go to your soccer frat? Plus I won’t know anyone there and it’ll be just so awkward.” “Well...no...but like why does that matter? I’m inviting you. I want you to be there! I promise I’ll be with you the whole time. Please!” He said. God he’s making those stupid doe eyes again. Taehyung was such a weakness for you. You would do anything to see his idiotic smile. “Ugh fine. But I’m literally going to say hi to you and then dipping,” you said crossing your arms over your chest. “That’s fine! As long as you come!” He said excitedly. His phone buzzed and he glanced at it, “Fuck I got soccer practice in like 20 minutes. I gotta go. But I’ll see you around!” Taehyung started to sprint off and you were just about to turn around before he called to you, ”By the way, the theme is catholic school so I expect to see you dress up.” What the shit is a catholic school theme?

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

You had begun spending more time with Taehyung without even meaning to and things were almost how they used to be. Except for the fact that you needed to keep reminding yourself that Taehyung was a fuckboi. But you found it becoming harder to stop dreaming about “what if”. “Where did you get cake from?” You whined as Taehyung came over holding a paper plate with a large slice of chocolate cake with strawberries on top. He was wearing his practice uniform still. You were sitting on the picnic table tops near the soccer field, revising your psychology notes. You didn’t have time to stress bake this week and you felt your mouth watering at the sight of chocolate cake. He took a large bite and said “Scoot over. I wanna sit next to you” “Not until you tell me where you got that cake from,” you said scooting over because you really didn’t want him hovering over you. He smiled as he sat on the bench next to you and winked “A secret.” “You’re so fucking annoying.” You punched his arm. His nose scrunched up in pain and he rubbed the spot where you punched him “Ow! Some girl gave it to me in exchange for taking a picture of my abs.” You couldn’t help but roll your eyes, “Wow you really sold your body for cake.” Taehyung took another large bite of cake, “It was worth it and I would definitely do it again” “Of course you would. You and your singular brain cell can’t really make high functioning decisions.” He set the cake on the table and ran his fingers through his hair, “Hurtful.” Then he looked you dead in the eyes and said with a smirk “But maybe you’re just jealous.” You knew what he was trying to imply (and maybe you were a bit jealous because apparently Taehyung just goes around showing his abs) but you would never give him that satisfaction, “I’m jealous that you have a piece of cake and I don’t.” He raised his eyebrow and leaned his face close to yours, “Yea right. I think you’re just jealous that she got to see my abs.” “Okay Taehyung.” You said rolling your eyes. You began to pack up your stuff, closing your textbook and putting away your pencils. Once Taehyung started getting flirty and cocky you knew it was time to leave. He grabbed your arm as you tried to shove your notebooks into your bag “I was jokinggg. ________ don’t leave me alone,” Taehyung said with a pout. God how does he look cute even when he’s being a pain in the ass. You pulled your arm from his grasp and said “Give me those strawberries and I’ll stay.” He plucked off a strawberry from the cake with his fingers and said “Say ah.” You were not going to let Taehyung feed you a strawberry that was too fucking weird. You tried to grab his wrist and take the strawberry from his hand with your own. “Just give it to me, I'm capable of eating by myself,” you said aggressively. He pushed your hands away and shoved his fingers close to your mouth, “Shut up and open your mouth” This was so humiliating but Taehyung loved to push your buttons and you knew you wouldn’t win this one. You opened your mouth and he put the strawberry in. Your eyes connected with his for a second and you quickly looked away, “This is good. Definitely worth selling your dignity.” He smirked “I know right!” He looked at your mouth and said, “You got some chocolate on your face. Here lemme get it.” Before you could process what he was saying, he swiped his thumb on the corner of your mouth. The feeling of his hand on your face warmed your cheeks immediately. Well fuck. “Oh shit look at the time I have to go,” you said, motioning to your wrist that clearly did not have a watch. You quickly walked away so he couldn’t see the blush blooming over your entire face. Literally he didn’t even do anything. Why the fuck do you have to get worked up about the smallest things? You were just about to make your escape from Taehyung before he shouted out across the entire quad, “Hey __________! I better see you there on Saturday!” Oh my god why did he do that? Everyone is staring at me now. You gave him a thumbs up and walked into the nearest building. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Hana I don’t actually have to go. Tae probably invites so many girls to these frat parties,” you groaned as you spun around on your swivel chair. “Oh so it’s Tae now? No more Taehyung?” Hana said with a smirk. You rolled your eyes, “Shut up, I used to call him that before, it’s just an old habit” Hana put her hands on your shoulders to get you to stop spinning and said in a reassuring tone, “Honey, I’m sure Taehyung does invite other girls. But those other girls just want to get into his pants. You’re just a ‘friend’ as you claim.” “I am just a friend! I just don’t know why I have to go if he’s going to be busy with other people,” You said, leaning your head back on the chair. Hana said pleaded, “Just go this one time and then if you absolutely hate it you don’t ever have to go again.” Tired of arguing, you said, “Ugh fine.” Hana clapped her hands together, “Oh my gosh finally! I didn’t think that would actually work. Okay so now what are you going to wear?” She began to rifle through her closet. You stared at her as she began to throw clothes onto the ground, “He said the theme was catholic school. Whatever the fuck that means.” Hana said “It means short skirts and button downs,”, gesturing to her own outfit. Hana was wearing a blue and red plaid schoolgirl skirt with a knotted white button down, revealing her midriff. The thought of wearing anything revealing made you feel nauseous, “Yea I think I would rather set myself on fire than do that.” You stared at Hana. She was so pretty and her kind personality only further highlighted that. You were jealous of the girls who would wear makeup not because they felt pressure by society but because they were confident enough in themselves to do so. You were jealous of the girls who felt comfortable in their own skin and didn’t want to hide from the world. Your insecurities controlled your life. It was the reason why you wore clothes 3 times your size. It was the reason why you didn’t bother to put on makeup because you knew you would just notice all your flaws more. You could not help but think that every person that looks at you only saw the things you hated about yourself. It was the reason why you fully and truly believed no one could ever love you back. Because we choose to accept the love we think we deserve (taken from Perks of Being a Wallflower author's note). While you were roaming your thoughts, you realized Hana was taking out outfits for you. “You could wear this,” she said holding up a polo dress, “or this” holding up a short navy skirt “Hana, those are cute but it’s a catholic themed party right? So I think I’ll just stick to the original concept,” you said with a smile, standing up from your chair. You went to your closet and started to rummage through. Hana immediately became worried, “______ no no no no. I know what you’re thinking and this is not a time for your rebellious acts. You can still be a feminist while showing off your body” “I never said you couldn’t do that but I truly do not give a fuck about what anyone thinks of me so,” you said as you rummaged through your own closet and pulled out a long navy skirt you owned “I’ll just wear this” pulled out a white sweater “and this.” Hana smacked her palm against her forehead and groaned, “Ugh at least it’s cute.” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hana, do we really have to go?” You turned to her as you approached the frat house. Loud music was blasting and you could hear the chatter of people from down the street. You could feel the anxiety building up in your chest. You really didn’t want to be hanging out with Taehyung if it meant dealing with girls who were just trying to climb on his dick. “Yes! This is good for you. You need to socialize and not worry about school for a little bit.” She said pushing you up the street. You were amazed at her determination, dragging you up to a party on an uphill street while wearing black stilettos. “It’s not fair how I’ve been trying to get you to go to a party all year and you never went but once Kim Taehyung swings his dick in front of you, suddenly you show up.” she grumbled. “Literally, shut up. I’m only going so his dumbass can leave me alone. I really could care less about his feelings or his dick,” you said staring at your dirty white sneakers. “Rightttt” Hana said in an unconvincing tone. She pulled you up to the frat house door and pushed you inside. You walked into the house with Hana right behind you. You looked around and you felt immediately out of place. Firstly, you were definitely the only one who went with the original intent of the concept “catholic school”. Secondly, there were way too many people grinding on each other. You immediately turned to Hana and said excitedly “let’s leave!” She turned you back in the direction of the party and held onto your shoulders, “No no no I dragged you all the way here in my fucking stilletos so you are not leaving without saying hi to Taehyung.” Crossing your arms, “Fine, but we have to find that idiot first” You scoped around the party and saw him. Of course he’s surrounded by a crowd of obnoxiously pretty girls. You accidentally locked eyes with him and he waved at you. You didn’t expect much else so you were about to turn around to Hana and tell her you were leaving but she looked at you and said “Oh hey. There’s Taehyung, he’s coming over here.” You quickly said, “I’m sure he’s coming over to talk to someone else here so let’s just go.” But before you could turn to the door you heard his overly friendly voice shout “Hey ______!” Shit “Hey Taehyung,” you said, turning to him. Fuck, he looked good. He was wearing white collared shirt with black slacks. He had on a red and blue tie that had become loose which just only amplified the hotness of his outfit. He put his arm around your shoulder and said “You look cute. Love the outfit.” His close presence made you uneasy. You could smell his cologne; you didn’t really know what the scent was exactly but it definitely smelled really good and distinctly like Taehyung. You already felt super out of place and you weren’t in the mood for Taehyung's teasing so you said in an aggressive tone, “You don’t need to be mean. I get it. I’m dressed like an actual nun” “No ______ I’m being serious. I think you really do look cute” “Oh,” you felt a blush creeping onto your cheeks ”Thanks I guess.” Wanting to get the attention away from yourself, you quickly gestured to your friend, “This is my roommate Hana.” Taehyung's eyes widen in realization, “Ah I’ve seen her around the frat house before with Jungkookie.” Hana chuckled nervously and brushed her hair behind her ear, “Ah yea I’ve been here a bit.” She didn’t really like talking too much about her relationship with Jungkook so changing the topic, Hana said, “I had no idea you and _______ knew each other.” You interjected before Taehyung could say something stupid, “Yea, we used to be best friends.” Taehyung looked at you and in his fake hurt tone, he said “Used to be? We still are best friends.” You realized he was definitely tipsy because he was acting quite childish now, more so than his normal amount. One of his friends, Jimin you think, came over and whispered something to Taehyung. You took this opportunity to duck away from his embrace. You turned to Hana but she was looking at something with her nose scrunched up, obviously disgusted by something. You follow her eyeline and see that she’s staring at Jungkook who is dancing with some girl. “Ugh fuck Jungkook,” you say. You suspected that your friend has caught feelings for Jungkook but you know that with her stubborn personality she would never admit it. “What?” She realized you saw her staring at Jungkook. “oh that? Whatever. Jungkook can do whatever he wants. It's not like we are exclusive.” Hana said, whipping her head away from Jungkook and the girl. Then she smiled at Jimin with an evil glint in her eye and you knew that she got some idea in her head. Hana said in her sweetest voice possible “Hey Jimin.” Jimin immediately broke from his conversation with Taehyung, flashing his beautiful smile at her, “Hey Hana! I haven’t seen you in a bit.” “Oh you know classes have been a bit overwhelming lately. I’d really like to take my mind off all the stress,” she said twirling her hair around her finger. “Oh I see, well I think dancing with me would definitely take your mind off of school” Jimin said cockily, extending his hand out to Hana. “I would love that,” she said, grabbing his hand. Jimin pulled Hana away from you and toward the crowd of people dancing. How the fuck did Hana do that so easily? She literally got Jimin's attention just by saying hello. You were left standing with Taehyung alone. “I know you didn’t want to be here but I’m so glad you came,” he said but you could barely hear his voice over the blasting music. “Sorry I can't really hear what you’re saying. The music is too loud.” You were trying to motion out the words for Taehyung and he nodded understanding the message. He extended his hand out to you and you glanced at it uneasily. He gave you a serious stare and grabbed your hand, leading you through the crowd. The large sea of people surrounding you made you feel really uneasy, so unconsciously you gripped his hand harder. He smirked at you but you stared at the ground not trying to give him the satisfaction. You realized he was leading you up the stairs. He kept on holding your hand and led you to the third door on the left. He quietly pushed open the door and you entered the room behind him. Um why did he bring me into his room? What does he want from me? You started to feel nauseous. Does Taehyung think you’re a girl who just wants to fuck? Your feelings were so confused and you definitely didn’t want to do anything with Taehyung in his room that he probably brought girls over to every weekend. He noticed your troubled expression and said, “Hey. I brought you here because I wanted to talk somewhere quiet. No other reason.” he said in a calm voice. The bubble of anxiety in your chest dispersed. But being his stupid self he winked at you and said, “I mean unless you want to.” “Shut the fuck up. You’re such a headass,” you said, shaking your head. You looked around his room and his room was nicely decorated, a lot more modern and minimalist than you thought a college student was capable of designing. You noticed a photo frame hung up and immediately smiled. “That’s my favorite birthday gift. I had to bring it,” Taehyung said standing behind you. It was a framed photograph taken by Taehyung's favorite photographer, Ante Badzim. You gave it to him on his 16th birthday, before everything changed. “Downstairs, I was saying I was glad you came tonight,” he said as he sat down on the edge of bed. “Yea I mean I said I would come. For you, only” you said sitting next to him. “That’s why you’re my best friend.” He said giving you a hug. Drunk Tae is way more affectionate than regular Tae. You laughed pushing him away, “For sure, Taehyung. It’s not because you annoyed me into coming.” Taehyung laid down on the bed with his legs dangling on the edge. With the moonlight streaming onto his face, you felt like you could see him clearly for the first time. His curly hair, his double eyelid on his right eye, the little mole on his nose. He looked tired. You laid on his bed next to him taking in the first moment of peacefulness of the night. The room was a comfortable quiet. He broke the silence with a whisper “Why did we stop being friends?” You knew exactly what he was talking about but in a poor attempt to escape the question you scoffed uncomfortably, “What are you talking about? We’ve always been friends” He turned his head to you but you kept your head straight ahead focused the little cracks on the ceiling above you. He said with a bit more confidence “No, I mean we used to be best friends but then we stopped. We were just friends. We didn’t talk as much and we barely hung out.” You were quiet. A million thoughts running through your head. What were you supposed to do? Tell him the truth? Oh yea so like I kinda was in love with you when we were juniors in highschool and I thought you maybe felt the same but when I finally picked up the courage to tell you the very same evening you called me telling me that you asked out another girl and that you totally liked her. Then you ended up dating that girl for the entirety of junior and senior year and because seeing you two together every day for two years broke me and pained my heart that I just had to basically cut you out of my life. 

Yeah, right. Like you could ever face up to the reality of your feelings and tell them to another live human being. 

You whispered into silence with a choked out, “I don’t know.” You turned your head facing him, “I’m sorry that happened but sometimes people fall apart.” He looked at you with his big brown doe eyes, “I just want to know if it was something I did so I can never do it again. This past week I realized how much I needed you in my life and if I did something for us to lose two years of friendship, I want to never do it again.” Your heart trembled at his earnest words. You knew he meant it. He truly didn’t know what happened. And that’s exactly why you can’t fall for him again. He doesn’t even know what he does to you, what he does to your feelings. Taehyungs words didn’t help. You could feel your will slipping but you pushed the thought aside. You stared back into the darkness of his eyes, “You didn’t do anything Taehyung. Plus like you said, what happened is in the past and what matters is now.” “You’re right. I just missed you so much” he wrapped his arm around your shoulders, nuzzling his head into the crook of your neck. “Your hair smells so good,” he whispered. What the fuck. Taehyung must be so drunk. This was getting way too intimate for your comfort. “Let’s go downstairs Taehyung.” You pushed his arms from your shoulders and sat up. He got up and looked at you, “You better not leave as soon as we go down.” “No promises,” you said chuckled, as you walked out his door. You noticed some people were staring at you but you shrugged it off. It must because of your completely out of place outfit. Taehyung was behind you still so you turned to him and said, “I’m going to go to the kitchen and get some water.” “I’ll be on the couch,” Taehyung said as he walked away. You nodded at him, went to the kitchen, and opened the fridge. You were attempting to find a bottle of water in the fridge because you stupidly forgot your own at your dorm. When you closed the fridge door, there was a girl waiting behind it. You assumed she was trying to get to the fridge so you tried to duck out of her way but she called your name, “______ right?” “Um yea.” You were thoroughly confused as to how this girl knew your name. You didn’t get a good look at her until she said your name. She was very pretty with light brown hair cascading down her shoulder. She gave a cold smile and said “My name is Jennie, but you probably knew that” Jennie. That sounded familiar but you couldn’t remember where you heard her name before. “Yea I just wanted to know um what's your deal with Taehyung? I saw you go up into his room with him.“ Shit, that probably looked really bad. You felt your cheeks redden at the innuendo. “Yea but like nothing happened. Tae and I are just friends.” “Yea I know that. As if he would ever hook up with anyone like you.” Her tone was icy and insulting. Then suddenly you remembered where you heard her name. Before you came to the party tonight Hana was telling you all of the tea about the BTS frat. Hana told you that even though none of the BTS guys, except for Namjoon, had significant others, they still had people they regularly hooked up with. For Jungkook, it was Hana (but you were pretty sure they had gone exclusive without even meaning to). For Taehyung, it was Jennie. You knew that her comment was surface level, but it still stung a little. “Yea I know that. But that’s why we are just friends,” you said shrugging your shoulders. “I’m just saying, even as ‘friends’ don’t get your hopes up. Taehyung breaks a lot of girls' hearts without even meaning to.” Her insulting tone changed to one of almost concern. As if she was looking out for you. “Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it. But I know Taehyung and I don’t think I can fall for him.” you said, not believing your own words. She smiled and this time it felt real. “Ok good. I’ll see you around,” she said and then stalked away. The anxiety in your heart didn’t go away but when you took a deep breath the air seemed lighter. You headed back to the couch where Taehyung was waiting for you. Suddenly as you came to a realization of what was in front of you, you felt your heart almost drop before you caught yourself and scoffed. Boys are so fucking oblivious. Of course, you left Taehyung for 5 minutes alone and he already had a girl on his lap, practically eating his face. She pulled his face closer to his and you watched as he cupped her cheek. Even though you mostly felt like you didnt care, your heart felt heavy in your chest as she curled her hands through his permed hair, something you've daydreamed about. You only came to this party for Taehyung and now he seemed preoccupied. Alright it’s time to leave. You checked your phone. 12:37. If I leave now, I could binge a couple episodes of Parks and Rec. Just as you were about to turn around and leave, somehow Taehyung noticed you from the corner of his eye. He pulled his face away from the girl on his lap and called to you, “Hey ______. Are you leaving already?” Why the fuck does he care? He has a girl grinding on his dick right now. Why can’t he just leave me alone? “Uh yea I came here to hang out with you but you seem...a bit busy... so I’ll head out now,” you said with a light chuckle. The girl on his lap glared at you, mad that you took his attention away from her. She started kissing his neck aggressively. “Wait if you still want to hang out, we can!” Taehyung exclaimed, trying to shift away from the girl on him. Why the fuck does he want to hang out with me? This girl is obviously trying to get in his pants. You felt self conscious with the girl staring daggers at you while Taehyung was trying to talk to you. “No no I’m tired anyways I’ll see you...later I guess” you said waving him off. “______ wait!” He called But you already left. Seeing Taehyung make out with some random, really pretty girl, kind of ruined your mood and also the girl on his lap who looked like she wanted to tear your hair out didn’t help your interest in staying longer. When you got back to the dorm, you glanced at your phone. Tae: hey did you make it back to ur room  okay? You: yep Tae: sorry if I made things awkward You: it wasn’t awkward. Idc what u do tae. Tae: oh ok. You stared at your ceiling and chuckled to yourself. You almost for a second thought Taehyung was different. But he wasn’t. He was just like every other headass boy on this planet. At least you caught yourself before he cracked through your guard. You couldn’t fall for him. Not again. Your phone buzzed and you checked the text you got. Tae: wanna get waffles tomorrow morning? You scoffed loudly. He fucks one girl and then wants to get breakfast with another. Boys are so clueless. You were thinking of what excuse to text him, but then he sent another text. Tae: ik ur thinking of some excuse to say no so if you say yes ill pay. Damn he knew you. You: fine Tae: bet. See you tomorrow 🍓 girl You inhaled a deep breath and whispered to yourself you don’t like Kim Taehyung. You don’t like him. You can’t like him again. But somehow the words you said were disconnected from the confused feelings in your heart. The familiar knot in your heart should have been the red flag to make you realize that you were fucked.

author’s note: theres a line in here that is not mine “we accept the love we think we deserve” it is taken from perks of being a wallflower. also, the summary was adapted from billie eilish’s bitches broken hearts. btw the books and movies i reference in here are some of my favs! lmk if ur enjoying the fic so far! 

tags: @fleurmoon @tangledsparkles @chocolatebelievercrusade

[salaciouscrumpet]

Whumptober Day 11

Whumptober Day 11 Prompt: “Stitches”

This one’s on the shorter side (for me; I know a lot of writers are able to get their Whumptober ficlets down to less than 1000 words, but that’s something I’ve never been good at). It ended up being more introspective than whumpy, I think.

CW: references to needles and stitches (obviously); injury, but nothing terribly graphic

Characters: Luke, Kate 

The campfire was bright, but Luke wished for better lighting for this. 

“It’s deep,” he said. He ran the tip of one finger around the outline of the slash, delineating it for Kate. No doubt her entire back was sore, but she didn’t flinch at his touch. “And still bleeding.” 

Kate made a noncommittal sound, adjusting her perch on the log. The back of her shirt was dark and glossy-wet with blood, the fabric ruined beyond all hope of repair. She’d been bleeding long enough that it had dripped down her back to stain her jeans. They should have stopped to take care of it sooner, but between seemingly endless waves of dark Fae monsters and the encroaching nightfall, there hadn’t been any opportunities. They couldn’t very well fight and apply pressure at the same time. 

Luke drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, counting to a beat of five. “There’s no hope for it. This needs stitches.” 

“Okay,” Kate replied simply, because for her, it really was that simple. She trusted him, just like that. 

Another deep breath. He could do this; he knew how. There was certainly no way Kate could apply stitches to her own back, and the nasty slash was right below her left shoulder-blade. She was flexible, but not that flexible. 

“Okay,” Luke echoed her, and pushed himself up to a standing position. 

They hadn’t brought much in the way of supplies. This wasn’t supposed to be that kind of camping trip. Their first aid kit was stocked – Charlie wouldn’t let them out of the house for more than a few hours without at least a minimal allocation of emergency medical supplies – but only with the bare necessities. Band-Aids, gauze, tape, various small tubes of ointment, and yes, a tiny surgical kit that Charlie had probably put together himself because he knew the two of them. No painkillers, though, and no antibiotics, which was almost certainly an oversight. The antibiotics, anyway; out in the woods it wasn’t likely that either Kate or Luke would risk taking painkillers, no matter how much an injury pained them. They couldn’t take the chance that the drugs would leave them addled or with lowered defenses. Still, Luke would have preferred something to give Kate, before or after he sewed her up like an old shirt. 

He brought the first aid kit back to the fire, setting it down on the log beside Kate. She barely even glanced at it, her attention fixed on the fire Luke had built as soon as they’d made camp. He hadn’t wanted to waste the time but he needed light to be able to see, and the night was too dark and cloudy to make do without a campfire. The warmth was an added bonus. 

“So,” he said, and paused. He flipped open the first aid kit and peered inside, then took out the things he would need and set them inside the overturned lid. Gauze and tape, because the wound was too long and wide for Band-Aids to suffice. Rubbing alcohol to clear away the blood and clean as much of the skin around the injury as possible, and maybe also to sterilize the needle and thread, although both came in sealed – and therefore likely sterilized – packets. 

Kate turned, peering at him over her injured shoulder, the firelight casting strange shadows across the planes of her face. He couldn’t read her expression, but her eyes were assessing, scanning him. 

“Maybe we could just bandage it up?” she suggested, with an optimism Kate didn’t generally possess, and he knew her hesitancy wasn’t for herself. It made him feel both grateful towards her for being sympathetic, and angry with himself for needing it in the first place. He shouldn’t find this as upsetting as he did. Charlie did things like this all the time, and he wasn’t even a fighter. 

But Charlie was a veterinarian, as well as a charmer – a magical healer. He handled open wounds and broken bones and disease and illness all the time because it was his job and he was damned good at it. Luke didn’t treat wounds, he created them. He’d been trained in field medicine, because that was just the smart thing to do when one was raised to be a soldier, but he was better at bandaging people up than … the other stuff. Setting bones and stitching wounds was far outside his usual area of expertise. 

“No,” he said, after giving the matter serious thought. “It’s too deep for that. It’s not going to close on its own without some help.” Then, under his breath, he said, “I wish Charlie was here.” 

“Hey.” Kate turned around more fully, grabbing his chin with her good hand. Her left hand rested across her leg, and she flexed her fingers a few times, grimacing as she did so. She could never stop herself from testing her injuries, and Luke knew for a fact that she could fight through this one if she needed to. 

“Hey,” Kate said again, a little more forcefully when he tried to pull away. “You’ve got this. It’s just a few stitches” – It was not, she was going to need ten, maybe fifteen stitches, at least – “and then we’re done. You can do it. It’s just like doing cross-stitch.” 

Luke couldn’t help the small huff of laughter that escaped his lips. He’d started doing cross-stitch as a way to engage his restless hands on the nights when his thoughts were too loud. At first he’d been reluctant to give it a try, his upbringing making him shy away from anything that might be considered a ‘feminine’ hobby. He’d grown up with a lengthy list of things boys did not do and things that they did, and cross-stitch – as well as sewing, knitting, cooking, laundry and assorted other things – was definitely not on the latter list. Both Charlie and Kate had had very different childhoods, however, and they shared the stance that if you were a man and you did something, then it was something men did. In an effort to ease him into it Kate had found a bunch of ‘vulgar’ patterns for Luke to follow, and that somehow made it seem more acceptable. He was trying to unlearn the lessons his childhood had taught him, but it helped if his cross-stitch pattern was covered in F-bombs and dirty pictures. Charlie had framed some of Luke’s finished designs, and now various rooms in their house displayed filthy words coupled with pretty, rustic images. Luke’s personal favourite was the one hung up over the fridge that simply said “We had sex in this room.” 

“Sure,” he agreed, forcing an amicable tone into his voice. “I’ll just stitch your back with a giant dildo and call it a day, yeah?” 

“Sounds great,” Kate said, with relish. “Too bad we don’t have bright purple suture thread. I’ve always wanted a giant purple dildo on my back. Ooh, or hot pink. I look good in pink.” She didn’t, really. Her hair had too much red in it, so most shades of pink – especially hot pink – clashed badly with her complexion. But Luke wasn’t about to argue the matter when it was clearly a joke, seeing as how she was going out of her way to make this easier on him. 

Sewing up a deep, painful injury was nothing at all like doing cross-stitch, and they both knew it. They could laugh about it as much as they wanted, but it was going to hurt and there was no chance Luke’s stitches were going to be as pretty as Charlie’s would have been. Not that Kate cared about scars – Lord knew, they both had more than their fair share of those – but Luke cared about leaving them on her. Maybe, once they made it back to civilization, Charlie could remove the stitches and heal the wound with magic, and then there wouldn’t be any scars. They just needed the wound closed for now so that it would stop bleeding and not risk infection. They could worry about aesthetic appeal later. 

“Hop to it, soldier.” Kate’s voice was brisk, professional, but he could hear the underlying note of sympathy in it. As blasé as she was being, Luke knew she would be just as uncomfortable if their roles were reversed. As a soldier Luke understood the necessity of causing pain in order to prevent someone – or something – else from causing pain, but it was strange to be in the position of needing to cause pain in order to heal it. He wondered how Charlie dealt with it on such a regular basis, and concluded their partner was the bravest of the three of them. When you hurt someone as a fighter it was easy to tell yourself that person had it coming, that they deserved it, that you were only doing what needed to be done to make the world a safer place. You didn’t care for that person; they were your enemy. While not everyone Charlie healed would be a friend or loved one, still, Luke knew his lover cared for that person at least a little bit. Charlie’s magic was loving, affectionate. That sometimes he might need to hurt someone to make them better … The bravery that must take. 

Luke gave himself a shake and pulled out the little bottle of disinfectant, splashing a small amount of the cool liquid over his hands to clean them as much as possible. He would have preferred a sink with hot water and antibacterial soap, but if he’d had access to a sink he would’ve had access to someone else who could stitch Kate back up. So. Disinfectant wash it was. He splashed some more onto a cotton ball, then began to dab carefully at the wound on Kate’s back. Her skin around the nasty-looking slash immediately prickled with gooseflesh, and he heard her give the tiniest of gasps. 

He bit back the urge to apologize – they’d be at this all night if he stopped every time he hurt her in the course of stitching her back up – and bent his head to his task. They both fell silent, and the cheerful crackles from the campfire and the occasional cry of a night animal were the only sounds.

[swainlake]

Hello! So now that got has ended I'm looking for some tv shows that I could watch after I'm done with my exams. Do you have any suggestions? I'm not looking for anything specific, although if you have watched some good period dramas, I'd love some recommendations. Also wanted to add how much I love your blog, it's really beautiful

tysm that’s so sweet!! i love giving recs so i’ve got a bunch that you might like under the cut; i’ve put a ♡ next to my favs

period dramas:

NEW WORLDS (2014)this one is a mini series, only 4 episodes long, but please don’t let that stop you! it’s about anti-monarchism and rebellion and forbidden love in the 1600′s & is set in both england and america. i cried more than once but the ending is so bittersweet and hopeful!! 

POLDARK (2015—)i have a love/hate relationship with this one tbh. i started watching because of the main relationship but i ended up really into it for the side relationships instead?? the actual political plot doesn’t interest me but i love the drama between the family members. also i adore the women in this show, every single female character is well-written and realistic and you’ll love them all (even if at times you hate them). the men tho? the men are pretty much collectively the worst. “what’s wrong with the women in this family?” “the men.”

SPARTACUS (2010—2013) ♡i started watching this before i ever got into game of thrones but if you like the fight scenes in got, you’ll enjoy this! great characters, great fight scenes, great friendships. this one is based on gladiators who are fighting for their freedom.

THE WHITE PRINCESS (2017) ♡okay firstly and most importantly: jodie comer stars in this so you know it’s good. it’s also got michelle fairly (catelyn stark) in it though tbh she wasn’t my favourite character in this and i didn’t find her likeable at all. it’s not very historically accurate ofc but the relationship between henry/elizabeth is honestly the perfect enemies to lovers rep & always lowkey reminds me of book!sansa/jon possibilities

PAN AM (2011—2012)this one isn’t like game of thrones at all but it’s only one season and it’s super cute and has a lot of famous actresses in it like christina ricci & margot robbie. based on the adventures of a crew of pan am stewardesses, this is a good combination of lighthearted fun and chilling cold-war drama. an old favourite. 

THE MUSKETEERS (2014—2016) ♡i’ll be gushing over this for years to come tbh it’s really just that perfect. the relationship between the musketeers is so lovely, the personification of ‘brotherhood’ really, but also the romantic relationships are really good too?? which for some reason i personally hadn’t expected. my fav couple is aramis/anne (anne is played by the actress who played roslin frey!) because the forbidden love & the respect and adoration between those two is just perfect but really every relationship (even the ones that don’t become endgame) are written very well

OUTLANDER (2014—)i haven’t watched every single episode of this one but from what i have seen it’s very good, and has some similar themes to game of thrones!! the sex scenes are epic, the main relationship is lovely, and overall its a very realistic show that features supernatural elements!

THE LAST KINGDOM (2015—) ♡i’m not going to lie: i started this series by skipping straight to 2x7 because i’d seen gifs of the relationship between aethelflaed and erik but it was so good i ended up going back and starting from the beginning! this show reminds me of ‘vikings’ more tham game of thrones but it’s not as gory and the characters aren’t all assholes. side note: if you love sansa stark as much as i do you’re gonna love aethelflaed, lady of mercia! she’s actually a real person but this show is based on a book series that looks super interesting! honestly the main character also kind of reminds me of jon snow

HARLOTS (2017—) ♡oh my gosh how do i describe this show?? the family dynamics are so! intricate! and! beautiful! honestly just stunning. everything about this show is s t u n n i n g. the costumes are colourful and vivid and honestly i’d recommend watching just for that but the storyline really does keep you hooked!! also: liv tyler and jessica brown findlay are love interests in this which is honestly a dream come true

BLACK SAILS (2015—2017)okay full disclosure; i haven’t actually seen this but i’ve heard very good things and it’s on my list!! it’s about pirates, i think there’s some queer rep (can anybody confirm??), and there’s lots of amazing women. again, allegedly. 

dramas:

THE SOCIETY (2018—)i literally watched the entire first season in a single night so it must be alright, right? basically all you need to know about this is that a town full of teenagers go on a field trip & then return to find all their parents mysteriously missing and their town closed off from the outside world. it’s basically lord of the flies but modern! with some kick-ass friendships! and amazing young women (one literally teaches herself to be a doctor can you believe?)! 

SHARP OBJECTS (2018)if you haven’t heard about this one yet idk what rock you’ve been living under but welcome back! this one is a m a z i n g but also hella chilling and the ending is such a shocker if it hasn’t been spoiled for you yet!

THE BOLD TYPE (2017—) ♡i always describe this one as ‘sex and the city for millennials’ but i’ve never watched a single sex and the city episode in my life so i honestly don’t know how accurate that is?? but it’s about a group of 20-something year old women who are best friends and work mates and they love each other so much?? the relationship between the girls is my favourite thing about the show but the show honestly tackles a lot of relevant issues; trump, age gaps, queer rep, immigration, racism, etc. i can’t recommend this enough!

CODE BLACK (2015—2018) ♡you know those episodes in greys anatomy where everything is life-or-death and you’re on edge for the whole episode? that’s basically every single episode of code black. this is hands-down one of my most rewatched shows ever. i love medical dramas and this one balances well written characters with action-packed medical miracles so honestly what’s not to like?? 

A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES (2018—)okay admittedly the only reason i watch this show is because of the main couple but i can’t help it when they’re just so gosh-darn cute!! they love each other so god damned much! i wasn’t completely sold on this straight away but by ep 3 i was HOOKED. if you like supernatural romances/dramas that are more mature than your usual cw show, this one is a good choice!

THE OA (2016—) ♡i can’t even put into words how much i adore this?? but also: it will confuse THE SHIT out of you. no matter how smart you are, this one will leave you scratching your head. basically: a group of people who’ve had near-death experiences get kidnapped and experimented on. it’s not as brutal as it sounds, in fact the show is exceptionally beautiful, but it does deal with some hard themes and the good guys don’t always win. 

12 MONKEYS (2015—2018)do you like time travel? do you like forbidden and yet totally-still-devoted-to-one-another-anyway love? then this is the show for you! this one is dark and gritty and deals pretty realistically with the concept of time travel & self-sacrifice and what people will give up to create a better world. it’s got a happy ending & you wont regret watching!

THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE (2018)oh this one will make you cry. in a good way though! long story short a family grows up in a haunted house and it affects them in ways they cannot imagine. it’s hauntingly beautiful and poetic and everybody should watch it at least once imo

comedies:

THE MARVELOUS MRS MAISEL (2017—)okay so this one counts as a period drama as well but it’s about a COMEDIAN so i put it in the comedy section lol. okay so long story short, a woman is left by her husband, she’s worth 1000 of him & everybody else knows it because you seriously can’t help falling in love with this woman but ofc there’s period-typical sexism she has to face as she struggles with being a single woman, a single mother, and an up-and-coming comedian. def recommend.

SANTA CLARITA DIET (2017—2019)drew barrymore is a zombie!! who lives a normal life but also eats people!! it’s only weird for the first couple of eps. the family dynamics are snarky and witty and they manage to make gore funny?? honestly this entire show is legit laugh-out-loud darkly hilarious.

[shreyamistry]

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeey i would request Becca x MC for your celebration but thats my brand and i don't want competition you feel? ANYWAY, Lily needs more love in this fandoom. How about some Lily x MC and 22. Coco and Candycanes. Congratulations on 800.

Lily Spencer x MC (Kristen)

Title: Of Presents and Cocoa

Prompt: Cocoa and Candy canes!

Summary: Lily and Kristen are in the season of giving and wrap gifts for their friends and family together. Lily being Lily, can’t pass up an opportunity to tease her friend… and kiss her! And Kristen wants sweet alone time with her vampire girlfriend.

Warnings: There is one suggestive joke, one, un, uno, 1. Otherwise, cute adorable nerdy girlfriends being cute adorable nerdy girlfriends.

Word Count: 1000+

Tagging: @mlmichaelharrison

A/N: Masterlist in bio! Thanks for the request Freshy, I hope you like it!!! and thank you!!! I never thought I’d see the day I reach 800! lol. 

Thanks for reading! I hope you like it!

Kristen places two mugs onto the coffee table in the living room of her and Lily’s shared apartment. She glances around the room, the decorated tree with an abundance of candy canes festival arranged around the tree, the stockings hung from the ceiling where the last tenants left two nails they couldn’t seem to remove, the smell of Christmas cookies emanating from one of her many fragrance machines, and an adorable Christmas themed cat bed for her and Lily’s pet cat. She turns around to come face to face with Lily who instantly pulls her into her arms, causing Kristen to giggle.

“If it isn’t my beautiful girlfriend,” she whispers against her lips, kissing her gently on the lips. “Is this dress new, you look smokin in it.” She kisses Kristen’s lips once more before releasing her. Lily scoops one of the mugs off the table bringing it to her lips taking a satisfying drink. “Damn, this is delicious.”

“What’s got you so excited?” Kristen asks skeptically as she grabs her own mug off the table. Using the candy cane as a stir stick, dragging it through the melted gooey marshmallow as steam surfaces through the dense candied goodness. She glances back up at Lily who can’t suppress her grin.

“I love Christmas.” Lily laughs, “And we’re spending our first Christmas together without making ‘I’m so into you, but I’m scared to tell you eyes’ at each other as I give you overpriced sentimental gifts. Or at least I won’t be this year.” Kristen snorts in response dissolving into a sweet smile. She moves towards the closest to pull out a few rolls of wrapping paper dropping them onto the floor near Lily, who glances at them curiously.

“First, we have presents to wrap.” Kristen then proceeds to drag out the bags of Christmas gifts from the closest. “How are you wrapping skills?” Kristen asks as she moves back over to Lily settling onto the floor beside her, their thighs touching. She begins to pull off the plastic cover of one of the rolls of brightly colored Christmas paper laying it onto the space in front of them discarding the place over her shoulder.

“I can lay down a sick beat.” Lily nods before following that up with a quick beatbox, Kristen’s face falling into her hands as she dissolves into giggles at Lily’s antics. “In all seriousness, I will probably give myself a paper cut, a scissor cut, and a present cut.”

“That’s a lot of cuts.” Kristen laughs, “I’ll show you how to wrap presents with no casualties.”

“Can I still have my cocoa?” Lily asks eyeing her drink sitting on the table nearby. “If not, I don’t think I’m gonna survive. Would you want me to die here, right now? After we defeated the ferals and lived our best lives up to this point? I mean, I still have that badass crossbow, and this will kill me.”

“Stop being dramatic, you can have your drink.” Kristen laughs, shoving Lily’s knee with her hand as she turns back to the wrapping paper. Equipping herself with her scissors as she brings it to the paper and begins her first slice of the day. “If you ruin anything with it, I will confiscate your drink.”

“Sure thing, Miss. K!” Lily replies chirpily, getting a glare from Kristen who focuses back on her roll of paper afterwards. Gliding the scissors down the strip of paper, her tongue as the corner of her mouth as she concentrates on getting the most even cut she can.

Hours pass before they finally manage to wrap all of the Christmas gifts for their friends and family, Lily’s hand slightly cramping after being put on paper and pen duty after she nearly stabbed Kristen’s leg trying to cut the paper. Kristen yawns sleepily stretching her arms above her head turning towards the TV playing a Christmas special of a TV show. She turns to her now cold cup of cocoa, downing the last few sips of it her half-melted candy cane sitting in the now empty cup.

“Wicked.” Lily laughs, as she places the final present under the Christmas tree. “We did it.” She moves to fall beside Kristen, who instantly rests her head on Lily’s shoulder, Lily’s head falling on top of Kristen’s. “Is my girl tuckered out?” Lily asks in a sweet voice, rubbing her fingers soothingly against her girlfriend’s shoulder.

“Yeah, I just need cuddles and a nap.” Lily can’t help but laugh at Kristen’s response kissing the top of her head. “And maybe a back rub if my generous vampire lover with stamina out of this world is feeling up to it.”

“You always use my badass skills against me. But why I try to use it to take you to pound town-” Lily fakes a sigh of annoyance earning her a laugh from her girlfriend who playfully nudges her with her elbows. The vampire strokes Kristen’s hair under her hand holding her close to her body. “I will, however, do this for you, if you make me another cup of cocoa.”

“Do you not know how to make it yourself?!” Kristen laughs, pulling away from Lily with a smile. She pushes herself up off the floor grabbing onto the table for support when her leg starts to wobble.

“I mean I do, I just think yours always taste better.” Lily laughs following after Kristen towards the kitchen. Her hands resting on Kristen’s waist following after her with glee. Kristen stops as soon as they reach the kitchen turning around to face Lily with a smile. “What?”

“Thank you for your help today, nerd.” She smirks before pulling the vampire in for a quick kiss.

“Nope, not this time.” Lily laughs, wrapping her arms around Kristen’s waist, pulling her tightly against her body her lips capturing her in a heated kiss causing Kristen to moan into it in surprise. “Ooh.” Lily laughs breaking the kiss to catch her breath.

“And they say chivalry is dead.” Kristen laughs, pulling Lily back in for a kiss.