#but you genuinely don't know how to make expressions that aren't exaggerated so you're just never taken seriously

[slut4megantheestallion]

˚ ⋆ .Squid Game characters x Flirty!reader Headcannons

˖⁺‧₊ ˚✧Hc squid game characters with a flirty reader.˚ ⋆

Character: Thanos, Myung-gi, Gi-hun, in-ho, jun-ho, Sae-byeok, dae-ho.

-Thanos (Choi su-bong)

● If you flirt with him, oh, he's gonna flirt with you back, and he's not gonna stop. He'll flirt right back, one-upping up your flirty comments with exaggerated gestures. He'll say some corny shit like, "Is it getting hot in here, or is it just you, senorita?" He teases. He loves attention and knows how to turn it into a game.

●He'll randomly just start rapping just for you, making sure the attention is all on you. "Yeah, she's so fine, no need to pretend, got me rapping for her, again and again," he'd rap while laughing.

● Thanos loves when you react with his flirty antics, and he'll keep pushing boundaries. He thrives on attention and will keep making bold moves to keep your attention on him. He's not subtle with it he'll always make sure you know he's interested, even if it's a bit obnoxious.

● He might be playful and goofy and making jokes. He's really stubborn if you play hard to get. He'll keep coming at you, pushing your buttons just to see how you'll react. He just loves the chase.

-Myung-Gi

●Myung-gi isn't the type to outwardly flirt back, but he'll notice you more than anyone else. If you flirt with him, he'll most likely respond with a long, intense gaze, his expression unreadable. He doesn't get flustered, but he's intrigued by your flirty personality and the attention.

● if you continue to flirt with him, his responses would be quiet and calculated. "You seem different." He might say showing interest he isn't loud or bold he just wants to keep things mysterious and make you wonder if he's truly interested

● he's the type to observe before making any moves. He wouks keep you on your toes with his silent and subtle actions. While he's not overt with his affections,he'll make an effort to be around you more often, taking mental notes of your reactions

●He's not going to say to much outright, but if he's drawn to you, he might offer small, thoughtful comments like, "You stand out among the rest." Or someone that feels cryptic yet genuine.

-Gi-hun

●Gi-hun would likely be nervous and awkwardly if you flirt with him, especially in such a dangerous environment. He'd provide laugh nervously, unsure how to rest, "Uhh... thanks?" Hell say, completely unsure of how to handle the attention.

● Despite his awkwardness, gi-hun would be genuine in his responses. If you continue flirting with him, he might get more comfortable, offering sweet but clumsy compliments. "You really think I'm.. worth your time?" He might ask, unsure of himself but flattered.

● as he grows more comfortable with you, he might begin to flirt back with his own goofy charm. "I'm not the best guy, but I'm glad you're giving a chance," he might say, trying to make you smile.

● His flirtation might be quiet but sincere. He might offer to help you with something or share food, showing affection in ways that aren't loud but are deeply caring.

-In-ho

●In-ho, is always in control. He's never caught off guard, and he'll never be overwhelmed by flirtation. If you flirt with him, his response will be calm and composed, and even a little cryptic. He honestly finds the flirty tension a game.

●He might use his flirting to keep you intrigued, but it's all a part of his bigger plan. He'll charm you, only to make you feel like you're in his grasp. "You don't realize how much power you have, do you?" He might say while gently manipulating the conversation.

●He won't overtly show interest, but you can tell he enjoys having your attention. He might drop hints about how you're a valuable player in the game, subtly praising your actions, all while keeping you at arm's length, maintaining the upper hand.

●He won't hesitate to make the flirtation feel dangerous, and if it's playful, it's always with an undertone of power and control. He might enjoy the chase, but he's always thinking one step ahead.

-Hwang jun-ho

●Honestly the flirtation might catch him off guard. He's not used to attention being drawn to him in that way, so he might act a little surprised. "Why are you flirting with me in a place like this?" He asks, trying to stay focused.

●Despite his initial surprise, he would still be protective. He would probably respond to your flirtation by trying to shield you from danger in submitting ways.

●His flirtation would be hesitant at first, but over time, if you show genuine interest, he might soften, but he'd still have his guard up.

● if you continue to flirt with him, you might find that hwang jun-ho shows his affection through small acts of kindness, like bringing you someone to eat or standing up for you when others threaten you. He may not say much, but his actions would speak volumes.

-Dae-ho

●When you flirt with him, it throws him off. He responds politely at first, thinking you're just teasing. "Persistent, aren't you?" He says with a small smile.

●your playful remarks or brushing against him make him freeze for a second, followed by a subtle blush. He clears his throat and tries to redirect the focus, but his stiff posture gives him away.

●He's fiercely protective of you, standing close in dangerous situations or subtly moving between you and others. If someone flirts with you he won't confront them directly but will watch them with a quiet intensity.

●Over time, he starts to enjoy our teasing, responding with calm, understated flirtation that catches you off guard. "If you're trying to distract me it's working."

●In quieter times, he softens, showing affection through small but meaningful gestures-offering you food, ensuring you rest, standing watch.

●Dae-ho is so cute, loyal, and protective, making you feel deeply cherished even without grand gestures. His calm demeanor compliments your playful energy.

-Sae-byeok

● if you flirt with Sae-byeok, she'll probably be taken off guard. She's not used to receiving attention in such a forward way.

● Sae-byeok might get sarcastic with her responses, trying to deflect the flirtation. She'd tease you, turning the tables to see how you respond. "If you think I'm impressed by yourcharm, you're wrong." She says, but you'll know it's half-joking.

●Though Sae-byeok's hard to crack, the more you flirt with her, the more she starts to soften, though she'll never admit it. If you show genuine interest, she might get a little less cold over time, even if she'll always keep up her tough exterior.

●After a while,Sae-byeok may surprise you with moments of quiet affection- like a unexpected compliment or a protective gesture when you need it. Her flirting is more subtle, but when she does show her interest in you, it'll be in an unexpected but meaningful way.

[solxamber]

Hola!! Can I request reader asking them to peel an orange? The boys thinks it's the viral test so they're kinda offended that you'd do a test but reader genuinely does not know how to peel an orange so we just stand their confused at their sceptical look

This with Jamil, Floyd, Azul and Idia pleasee

Thank you!!

Jamil, Floyd, Azul, Idia with the Orange Peel Trend (kinda)

hi! thank you for waiting and i hope you like it

Jamil Viper

At first, Jamil's eyebrow shoots up when you hand him the orange and ask him to peel it, wondering why you’d use this strange test on him.

But when he sees your blank, utterly lost expression, he sighs, chuckling to himself as he peels the orange with ease. “You're serious, aren't you? I can't believe you don't know how to do this.”

His gentle teasing turns into an affectionate smile as he hands over the peeled segments.

Floyd Leech

Floyd takes one look at the orange, and his eyes narrow. “You tryna test me, Shrimpy?” he asks, suspiciously amused.

When you tell him you genuinely don’t know how to peel it, his laughter echoes across the room. “Oh, you’re serious! Alright, alright, I’ll show ya, but only ‘cause I like ya!”

He makes a show of peeling it with dramatic flair, dropping a peel piece in your hand with a smirk, before finally giving you the rest.

Azul Ashengrotto

Azul assumes you’re testing his devotion, and it rankles him—until he notices your helpless look, staring at the orange like it’s a puzzle. He breaks into a laugh and adjusts his glasses.

“You’re really serious?” he teases, a gleam in his eyes.

With practiced hands, he peels the orange perfectly, handing it to you with an exaggerated bow. “For future reference, just leave it to me,” he says, smiling as he watches you enjoy his “handiwork.”

Idia Shroud

Idia’s cheeks flush as he squints at the orange in your hand. “Is this one of those…relationship tests?” He seems ready to backtrack out of sheer awkwardness, but you sheepishly admit you have no idea how to peel it.

His exasperated sigh quickly turns into a smile as he takes the orange from you. “You’re seriously hopeless with stuff like this,” he mumbles, expertly peeling it and handing you the pieces, muttering about “NPC behavior” while grinning the whole time.

Masterlist

[azulpitlane]

just pr part two I ln4

pairing: lando norris x ricciardo!reader summary: you are beginning to warm up to lando but it all comes crashing down when you overhear something you weren't suppose to, includes writing + smau notes: im back! hope you guys had a good holiday!! p.s if you sent requests i am working on them!! this one is pretty long but i tried to fit it all into one part warnings: a tiny tiny bit of smut, but barely anything part one, masterlist

"So when were you planning on tell me?" Your brother asked accusingly the moment you opened the door of your apartment. A few hours prior, you had called Lando and demanded for him to come over knowing Daniel was going to arrive soon and interrogate you and you refused to deal with this on your own. It was his idea in the first place.

"Um, lovely seeing you too Danny. Need help with your bags?"

"Don't give me the sarcasm right now y/n." You could tell he was genuinely agitated with your response and you sighed and opened the door to let him in. He quickly walked to your kitchen and saw Lando sitting there with a sheepish smile.

"Hey Daniel...how are you?" He immediately knew that was the wrong thing to say since he started stalking his way towards Lando.

"You motherf-"

"OKAY OKAY! Calm down Danny, just sit down and we'll talk." You fortunately were quick enough to stop him from getting to Lando. You gave him a stern look and though you were younger, Danny knew to listen to you when you gave him that look. He reluctantly sat in front of Lando while you sat yourself next to him.

"It's not what you think."

Daniel raised an eyebrow, a mixture of amusement and concern on his face. "Oh, really? Because the pictures and the headlines seem to tell a different story."

Lando, always quick with a comeback, attempted to diffuse the tension. "Well, mate, you know how the media exaggerates everything."

Daniel's gaze shifted between the two of you, and he let out a sigh. "You're dating, aren't you?"

You nodded, feeling the weight of the admission. "It's complicated, Danny. We didn't plan for it to happen."

He leaned back, crossing his arms. "Complicated is an understatement. You're my sister, Y/n. And you," he pointed at Lando, "you're...Lando."

"I'm going to try and not be offended by that."

"You know what I mean. I just don't understand why you didn't tell me before."

"Well we're only two months into our relationship so we wanted to figure things out privately and decide if we were ready to fully commit to each other before telling people." You reciprocated the explanation that you and Lando made up an hour prior.

"And are you fully ready to commit to each other?"

You nudged Lando's thigh since Daniel was staring directly at him, expecting an answer from him.

"Yup. 100%."

Danny responded with a skeptical look, "That doesn't sound too convincing."

You gave Lando a harsher nudge, he was doing an awful job at making this convincing.

"Look, I know I haven't been perfect, but y/n she just...brings out a side of me that nobody else does. I know I should've spoke to you before making a move and I regret not doing so, but I don't regret y/n. And I don't regret that night when we first bumped into each other outside of the paddock," realizing his mistake he quickly added, "where we first admitted our feelings."

You glanced at Lando confused at the pause in his speech, but he avoided eye contact and kept his gaze at Daniel. You weren't sure if he was referring to the night you guys hooked up or if he was just trying to make the relationship believable. You then looked at your brother noticing his expression was softening, a part of you felt guilty for lying to him about this relationship so you quickly added an apology.

"We really are sorry you had to find out through social media, I wish we told you before those pictures were released, but there's no point in dwelling in it now. This relationship wasn't intentional, it just happened and we're serious about it." You said trying to talk as softly as possible to make it believable.

"I can't say i'm thrilled about this, but I forgive you guys. I was just angry at the moment because everybody was saying all these crazy things about my baby sister, and I was mad Lando was the reason behind it. But you guys are grown adults and can make your own decisions so whatever you think is best for your happiness, I will support it."

"Oh thank God." Lando grabbed your head and kissed it, you knew he was doing it to irritate you and you wanted nothing more than to smack him hand away but you just smiled and accepted his affection.

Daniel on the other hand, openly showed his disgust and quickly added, "Okay, don't push it."

yourusername

liked by landonorris, danielricciardo and 290,335 others

yourusername im just a girl (with a himbo bf and overprotective brother)

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user THE HAND PLACEMENT OH LORD

user just fell on my knees

user himbo bf is so real

user OKAY SO DANNY OFFICIALLY KNOWS

user it looks like he approves aww

landonorris himbo?

yourusername the jokes write themselves landonorris i dont get it? what is a himbo? user he fr is a himbo im crying user yourusername baby are you sure about this one?

user everybody say thank you y/n because we're gonna get so much lando and daniel content now

yourbff oh! hahaha...

user what does she know🤨 user shes seen the photos of him with other girls i fear...

danielricciardo landonorris hand placement is a bit inappropriate no?

landonorris sorry mate... user she wasn't lying with the overprotective part😭 user daniel is in cockblocker mode

As soon as Danny left, you both quickly left each others embrace and went back to your usual snarky banter. He was quick to leave your apartment but before he could, you stopped him wanting to clear some things up.

"Okay so for this to work, we need a set of rules," Lando rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to say something, "uh, no interruptions please, you can speak when I'm done." You could see him roll his eyes again, but kept his mouth shut nonetheless.

"Rule number one, no kissing in the lips, even in front of the cameras."

"That is so stupid, we alre-"

"What did I say? No speaking until I am done!"

"Bossy. I like this side of you." He smirked at you suggestively and you ignored that comment all together, not wanting to give the satisfaction of a reaction from you.

"Rule number two, no posting each other without permission. We must both approve of the post." He lazily nodded, not really caring about these rules.

"Rule number three, we cannot tell anybody, besides your team of course, that this is fake. I mean nobody, not even your close friends, we can't risk Danny finding out."

"Anything else, princess?"

"Chill with the affection, you were practically hogging me when we were with Daniel."

"You weren't complaining last week when you were under me."

You blushed and quickly used your hair to cover it. You guys hadn't talked about that night and you were trying your best to avoid the topic. It was a drunk mistake, that's it. It's not like either of you would do it again. Even if it was the best sex of your life, you would never admit that out loud.

"Shut up, that was a drunk, stupid mistake," His smirk fell and was replaced with an emotionless look, "rule number four, no talking about that night, got it?"

"Yeah, whatever, can I go now?"

f1gossip

20,492 likes

f1gossip Lando and Y/n in Paris today! The two just landed and are there with a few of Lando's friends. They confirmed their relationship a few weeks ago on instagram posts and sources say they've been together for a few months prior to the posts. Thoughts on the new couple?

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user its funny to think that he might be daniel's brother in law in the future lmfao

user idk about them... lando was just seen with other girls before their posts

user probably just friends chill user yeah fr, lando always says those other girls are just his friends

user honestly im happy he's finally settling for a nice girl, no more drama

user it couple

user omg they both love photography...imagine all the pictures they take of one another

user omg. i need to see y/n's camera roll🧟‍♀️🧟‍♀️

user the all black fit >>>>>

user the girlfriend effect is starting already

user IM SO NORMAL ABOUT THEM (IM OBSESSED WITH THEM)

As you and Lando began the charade of a fake relationship, you couldn't shake off the feeling that this was going to be more complicated than you initially thought. The staged photos, the forced smiles, and the scripted interactions started to wear on you. But for the sake of your relationship with your brother, you pushed through. This is the first time you and Lando left Monaco together and he had dragged you to Paris for a few events he had. You were there with his friends so you had to keep up with your act practically all the time until you went to sleep.

"Wait, we're sharing a room?"

Lando raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, it's more convincing that way. We're a couple, remember?"

You sighed, realizing the extent of the relationship. "Fine, but no funny business. We stick to the rules."

He smirked, "You're no fun, princess."

You shot him a warning look, "I'm serious, Lando. This is for my brother's sake, not for our amusement."

He chuckled, "Alright, alright. No funny business. I promise."

You begrudgingly entered the room and noticed there was only one bed. You turned to him with a blank look on your face and he gave you an innocent smile, knowing you were pissed.

"Really, Lando? One bed?"

He shrugged, feigning innocence. "Oops, must be a mistake. But it's not like we haven't shared a bed before, right?"

You shot him a glare. "Rule number four."

"What?"

"Rule number four: no talking of the night that got us into this mess in the first place."

"Jesus, you weren't being serious about those rules?"

"Dead serious." You moved around him and got your pajamas from your suitcase to change in the bathroom.

"If I knew you were going to be this boring I would've fake dated someone else." He mumbled in response.

"I heard that!" You yelled from the bathroom.

"Yeah well you were meant to!" He sassily replied.

You came out of the bathroom bare faced and wearing a skimpy set consisting of a tight tank top and tiny shorts. If you knew you would be sharing a room with Lando you would've never packed this, but it was the only thing you had on you right now. You noticed Lando looking at you and you were expecting some sort of remark on your outfit but it never came. He just watched you with a look you could not name, you couldn't help but feel a little self conscious under his hard gaze. You opened your mouth to question him but you were interrupted by three knocks on the door. You quickly went to open it, wanting to get away from the sudden tension in the room.

"Hello! Room service here, may I step in?"

"Oh sure." You didn't even realize Lando had ordered anything while you were in the bathroom.

The man walked in and at that moment he seemed to notice your outfit for the first time and subtly looked you up and down. You felt uncomfortable but before anything else could be said Lando stepped in front of you and tipped the guy. He blushed knowing he was caught and quickly made his way out.

"Uhh what did you order?" You asked wanting to fill the weird silence in the room.

"Hot chocolate, it's uh for you." You gave him a questioning gaze and you didn't know if you were hallucinating but it looked like he was blushing. "Daniel mentioned something about you guys always sneaking out of bed to drink a cup of chocolate before sleeping when you were younger and you had an insane amount of chocolate when I went over to your apartment so I'm guessing you still do it."

You couldn't help but smile at the memory he mentioned. It was a tradition you and Daniel had when you were kids, sneaking out of bed to share a cup of hot chocolate before sleeping. It was a comforting routine that continued into your teenage years. The fact that Lando remembered and went through the trouble of ordering it made you soften towards him, at least for a moment.

"Wow, you actually remembered that?" You chuckled, feeling a bit nostalgic.

Lando scratched the back of his head, a bit embarrassed. "Yeah, well, I thought it might help make this whole pr thing a bit more bearable. Plus, I know you love it."

You sighed, realizing that maybe there was more to Lando than just the cocky and flirtatious exterior he presented. "Thanks, Lando. That was...unexpectedly sweet."

He shrugged, trying to downplay it. "Well, don't get used to it. It's a one-time thing. Im gonna uh get in the shower now."

You nodded and he left you alone with your thoughts, you couldn't shake off the mixed emotions swirling within you. This fake relationship was becoming more complicated by the day, but there were moments, like this one, that blurred the lines between acting and reality. You couldn't deny that there was a connection between you and Lando, even if it was born out of necessity. You sat on the bed and picked up a book to stop your overthinking, it was just a cup of chocolate. No big deal.

Lando came out of the shower and was faced with an empty cup and you knocked out on the bed. He picked up your book and marked the page you left off on before placing it on the bedside table. He grabbed a pillow and blanket and got comfortable on the small couch in the room before he drifted off into sleep.

The next morning you woke up before Lando and quickly noticed he was not sleeping in the bed next to you. You felt bad seeing him cramped in the small couch across from the bed and you mentally kicked yourself for falling asleep before you could volunteer to take the couch, he was the one that paid after all. You got up and silently approached him, he looked so peaceful and you thought about how chivalrous his gesture was. You knew there was more to him than his arrogant persona, but you were surprised he was letting you see a part of the real him after all this time.

"I know I'm attractive but watching me sleep is a little creepy don't you think?" He said suddenly while keeping his eyes closed.

There was that arrogance.

"Oh you're awake? There goes my opportunity to strangle you in your sleep."

"Kinky girl."

"Just shut up and get up, we have a lot to do."

landonorris posted a story

You were shocked when none of Lando's friends joined you two today seeing as you were exploring the city. Once he had told you they wanted to do their own thing, you expected for him to go back to his cocky self since there was nobody around, but he constantly kept a hold on your hand, gave you his jacket when you got cold, and even helped with your photography.

You had brought your camera in hopes to capture some good pictures of the city of love and he helped by giving you some ideas. You were confused by his kind behavior since you guys kept a low profile and weren't recognized by anybody as you walked around. You didn't mind this side of Lando though and appreciated this personality before he became a cocky jerk again.

"Did your team tip off any paparazzi anywhere that I should be aware of?" You asked thinking maybe there was someone watching.

"Uh no actually. I asked for a calm day before we go to the event later tonight. That's where all the photographers will be."

"Huh, so you're telling me you organized this whole day yourself?" You asked slowly not understanding why his team would set up a day in Paris with just you two without exposure to it.

Lando grinned mischievously, "Well, I thought we could use a break from the chaos. Plus, Paris is a beautiful city, and it seemed like a waste not to explore it properly."

You raised an eyebrow, still skeptical of his sudden change in behavior. "And you're not going to pull some elaborate prank or reveal that this was all a setup?"

He chuckled, shaking his head. "No pranks, no setups. Just a day to enjoy the city and each other's company. Is that so hard to believe?"

Considering Lando's usual antics, it was indeed hard to believe. However, you decided to go along with it, enjoying the unexpected break from the scripted events and staged moments.

As you continued exploring the streets of Paris, Lando pointed out interesting landmarks, shared anecdotes about his previous visits, and even suggested some hidden gems for your photography. The day unfolded in a surprisingly genuine and enjoyable manner.

At a quaint café, Lando insisted on treating you to a cup of coffee, saying, "Consider it a thank you for putting up with my chaotic world for the past few days."

You couldn't help but smile, finding this side of Lando surprisingly endearing. "You're not so bad when you're not trying to be a pain, you know?"

He winked, "I'll take that as a compliment."

The two of you strolled along the Seine River, taking in the iconic sights of Paris. The Eiffel Tower loomed in the distance, and you couldn't resist capturing the moment with your camera.

As you snapped a few pictures, Lando leaned in and whispered, "You know, you're not so bad either, princess."

You rolled your eyes, but there was a warmth in your chest that you couldn't deny. Maybe, just maybe, there was more to this fake relationship than meets the eye.

The day passed in a blur of laughter, shared moments, and a surprising connection that seemed to grow stronger with each passing hour. It was a side of Lando you hadn't expected, and you found yourself enjoying his company without the pressure of the public eye.

yourusername

liked by landonorris, danielricciardo and 342,293 others

yourusername j'adore paris

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user mother posted!!!

yourbff you look absolutely incredible..and he's there

yourusername 😭😭 be nice! landonorris im starting to think you dont like me... user LMFAO OMG

user y/n.jpg WHEN????

user lando taking her to the city of love...yeah they're not breaking up anytime soon

landonorris my pretty girl

user 🫠🫠 user oh to be lando's pretty girl, y/n won at life

user remind me how lando pulled her??? shes so gorgeous

user he beat the norizz allegations

danielricciardo there should be a jumpscare warning for the last slide!

user HAHAHAHA landonorris why am i always being attacked in y/ns comments

As Lando mentioned, you were going to make appearance at the PSG game which you actually were excited for since you were a big football fanatic. You both changed and met up with his friends in the lobby before heading out again. The game was going great and you had even met some of the guys' girlfriends and befriended them rather quickly. After being surrounded by men the whole trip, you were glad to have some women around you to socialize with. You then all made plans as a group to go to an after-party to celebrate the teams win.

The party was huge, there were even some PSG players there and you were suddenly glad you chose a nice outfit to go to the game with, not wanting to feel underdressed.

As the night wore on, Lando pulled you aside again, away from the bustling crowd. "Having fun, princess?"

You nodded, a smile playing on your lips. "Yeah, surprisingly. Your friends are great dancers, by the way."

He grinned, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "Well, we're a talented bunch. But you're the best dancer here."

You laughed, not expecting the compliment. "Flattery will get you nowhere, Lando."

He leaned in, his lips dangerously close to your ear. "I don't know about that. Flattery seems to be working quite well tonight."

You rolled your eyes, trying to hide the blush that threatened to surface. "Smooth talker."

"Only to you." He replied and he stepped closer to tug a piece of hair behind your ear. You became aware of his proximity and couldn't help to feel your heart start racing. You instinctively put your hands on his shoulder as he looked down on your lips. You felt yourself leaning in before something caught your eye over his shoulder, a camera. Someone was filming, that's why he was acting like this. You don't know why the idea made you a little sad, so you snapped out of it and turned your head so his lips landed on your cheek. His eyes were filled with confusion, weren't you just leaning in too? Did you not feel the spark that ignited between you two today?

“No kissing. Even on camera, remember?” You said sadly then rejoined the girls as he stood there confused.

You spent the rest of the night separately until the girls decided they were tired. You volunteered to go look for the boys and as soon as you stepped outside through the backdoor you heard Lando’s voice.

“I mean we just started and I’m already regretting it. Its just so hard to be around her, she has all these rules that im technically breaking by telling you,”

Your heart dropped realizing he was talking about you. You stopped listening, not wanting to hear the rest because you knew it would only hurt. You realized how much you were beginning to like Lando thinking you could get through the constant facade he has, but after hearing his words you were starting to think it wasn’t a facade. He was just mean. You began to wonder if all the other snarky and rude remarks he made weren’t sarcasm, but the real way he felt about you.

You went back inside, not wanting to be caught eavesdropping, and saw the rest of the girls had reunited with their boyfriends so you assured them they could leave and you were just waiting for Lando. With teary eyes you made your way to the small bar and ordered a water.

As you sat at the bar, nursing your water, you couldn't shake off the mix of emotions swirling within you. The revelations from Lando's words had left you feeling hurt and confused. You had let your guard down, allowed yourself to enjoy the night, and now it seemed like it was all a part of some elaborate act.

“Not having a good time?”

You looked up and were slightly starstruck to see Kylian Mbappe sitting next to you.

“Um no not anymore, unless youre the host of this party! Then im having a blast.”

He laughed at your comment and you blushed in embarrassment.

"Don't worry, it's not my party. Why are you alone?"

"I'm just waiting for my friends, they're outside."

"Hm, so why aren't you outside with them...?"

"Y/n." You replied knowing he was subtly asking. "But I just uh needed some water," you said quickly trying to think of an excuse.

"Y/n's a beautiful name, I'm Kylian."

"Oh I know." He raised his eyebrows at your response but before he could say anything else Lando had appeared out of nowhere. He gave you a tight lipped smile and put his arm around your waist after seeing who you were talking to.

"Kylian! It's good to see you mate, sorry to interrupt but we were just heading out." He said as he used his other hand to shake Kylian's.

Kylian reciprocated the handshake with a friendly smile, though his eyes flickered with curiosity at the sudden appearance of Lando.

"No problem at all," Kylian replied, glancing between you and Lando. "Nice meeting you, Y/n. Enjoy the rest of the night."

You nodded, a bit flustered by the unexpected attention from both men. "You too, Kylian. Maybe catch you at another party."

As Kylian excused himself, you turned your attention to Lando, who still had his arm around your waist. His grip felt possessive, and you couldn't help but shoot him a questioning look.

"What was that about?" you asked, a hint of irritation in your voice.

Lando's gaze flickered between you and the direction Kylian had walked off. "Just making sure everything's alright. I noticed you talking to him."

"It's not like I was in distress. We were just having a casual conversation." You replied before being dragged away by Lando and seeing his friend, Romeo, trail behind you too. Ahh so that's who he was talking to.

Lando raised an eyebrow, his tone slightly defensive. "Casual conversation, huh? Seemed more than that."

The ride home was quiet, none of you knowing what to say after your almost kiss and hearing him talk about you. You thought about the situation the whole ride to the hotel and were getting angrier by the second, he was the one that suggested this idea and now he was regretting it? And worst of all, why was he talking to others about this and not you?

"As soon as you got to your room your thoughts were interrupted by Lando's voice, "What if someone had taken pictures? Do you know how bad that would look on your part? Flirting with other men while in a relationship with me."

You rolled your eyes and defended yourself, "I was not flirting with him."

"That's not what it looked like to me." He said with a hard tone.

"Why do you care? We're not really dating."

"Oh I know, you remind me any time you can, but we're doing this for the sake of your reputation too."

"As if you cared about me and maybe I remind you all the time because in reality I would never date an asshole like you." You answered bitterly as you moved around the room trying to get yourself ready for bed.

Lando followed your movements and gave you a hurt yet irritated look, "An asshole, huh? That's what you think of me?"

"Yeah."

"You know, you're no prize either! You only think of yourself that you fail to see the obvious." Responded with clear frustration in his voice.

"What the hell is that suppose to mean?"

Lando's frustration boiled over as he paced around the room. "It means you're so caught up in your own world that you don't see beyond your own nose. You're oblivious to what's happening around you. I'm trying here, more than you can understand."

You scoffed, not buying into his sudden change in tone. "Oh please, spare me the act. You're the one regretting this whole thing, talking about it with your friends, and then acting possessive when I talk to someone else? What game are you playing, Lando?"

He looked at you in confusion, "When did I say I regretted..." Realization hit him as he remembered the events from earlier that day, "you heard me talking to Romeo. No, no you don't understand, it's just... more complicated than I thought."

You crossed your arms, not willing to let him off the hook that easily. "Complicated? Enlighten me."

Lando hesitated for a moment before speaking. "I didn't expect... I didn't expect to care, alright? But spending time with you, even in this ridiculous situation, it's messing with my head. And it's not just about the reputation, it's... something else."

You raised an eyebrow, "Something else? Care to elaborate?" You asked with attitude.

He groaned, having enough with your sassy tone, and before you knew it, your back was getting pushed into the wall as Lando trapped you with his arms on the side of your head. You got flashbacks of the party as you looked up at his face that was only centimeters away from yours.

"You're so frustrating y/n. I told Romeo I regretted this because it's so hard to be around you when all I think about is the night I fucked you." You sucked a breath in, shocked by his bold statement. He brought one of his hand down to your jaw and traced his thumb on your bottom lip. "I have to hold myself back when I'm around you, you have completely fucked with my head, it's so infuriating."

"Then...then why did you agree to this whole fake dating thing?" You asked, almost whispering.

He chuckled and replied, "I didn't have to agree to it. It was my idea." Your eyes filled with confusion, remembering he had told you it was his team's idea, "I suggested it so I could get another chance to get a taste of you. Tell me you don't want this. Tell me you haven't thought of that night we had sex." He asked with a gaze full of lust and frustration.

You could feel your walls crumbling down at his seductive tone and close proximity. You shook your head and weakly responded, "I can't."

He smirked at you before taking one of your hands in his own and moving it to his hardened cock.

"This enough elaboration for you?" He asked with a cocky tone. You could feel yourself getting wet and had enough of his teasing. You moved your hands to his face and brought it to your own. The kiss was messy and full of built up frustration and anger, a perfect combination to your relationship.

As the passionate kiss continued, you found yourself getting lost in the moment, forgetting the complications and frustrations that had filled the air just moments ago. Lando's lips moved against yours with a mixture of intensity and tenderness, creating a whirlwind of emotions within you.

Eventually, he pulled away, his eyes searching yours for a reaction. Your breath was heavy, and the room felt charged with tension. Lando's fingers traced the outline of your jaw, and he spoke in a low, husky voice, "I can't keep pretending, y/n. This is more than just a pr stunt for me."

Conflicting emotions swirled within you. On one hand, you couldn't deny the undeniable chemistry and connection you shared with Lando. On the other hand, the complications and rules that had governed your fake relationship loomed in the background.

"I don't even know what this is anymore," you admitted, your voice shaky.

Lando leaned in, placing a soft kiss on your forehead. "Maybe it's time we stop pretending and figure it out together. No more rules, no more faking."

As you looked into his eyes, you saw a vulnerability that you hadn't expected. It was as if the arrogant facade he had meticulously maintained was crumbling, revealing the real Lando beneath.

"Can we even do that?" you wondered aloud.

Lando smiled, a genuine and sincere expression that took you by surprise. "I want to try, y/n."

You sighed, feeling a mixture of uncertainty and excitement. "What about the paparazzi, the public, and your career?"

"I don't care about any of that if it means I can be with you," he confessed, his gaze unwavering.

With a tentative smile, you nodded, realizing that maybe that maybe you can trust Lando after all.

As the night continued, you had deja vu to the night that got you and Lando in this position in the first place, except this time he was gentler and made you feel special.

more notes: im not comfortable enough to write smut, sorry🧍‍♀️and as per usual, this is not proofread lol

tags: @gulphulp, @cassiopeiia24

[shaneyunfiltered]

I think I might stop trusting Tumblr when it comes to politics. Remember the old days of the internet when Tumblr was widely mocked for its irrationally liberal leaning? The same Tumblr that was dumb enough to think it could take on 4chan and win?

Yeah, Tumblr is really starting to regress to that same point now. It might be even worse now, due to the absolutely violent lack of decorum and decency this recent infestation of whiny, unhinged liberal fucknuts have for anyone who dared to vote third party instead of an establishment Zionist who has practically the exact same platform as Trump, and may or may not have even proven that the Democrats have observably failed to convince the American people that they have any convincing plan worth a damn other than the extremely vague, uncertain, fearmongering suggestion that they might be less oppressive than Trump. Keyword being might.

It's just fucking weird and disturbing that these liberals are calling for literal death threats towards anyone who didn't vote for Harris, I shit you not. I'm getting a very strong feeling that this all might be a highly elaborate Zionist psyop, because you know which exact voter demographic Kamala Harris ended up alienating the most?

Muslim Americans.

Just look at any fucking interview with any American citizen of the Muslim faith, many of these people who actually come from Palestine themselves, and how personally they express that they don't feel represented sufficiently enough by either the Republicans or the Democrats, that they only felt heard by third-party candidates such as Jill Stein, who actually had their best interests in mind instead of exploiting them for their vote just so they can continue to be ignored and oppressed in this already godforsaken country. Look at any of those and then TRY to tell them to their faces that they're somehow terrible people for not voting for the politicians who very clearly do not give a single, solitary fuck about them. I fucking dare you.

On that note, does anyone else find it absolutely sad and pathetic that these dumbfuck liberals honestly believe that things would've been even slightly better under Harris than under Trump? Did they not witness the absolute incompetence of the Democrats as they didn't do a goddamn thing to stop the Republicans from getting more of what they wanted under Biden than they ever did under Trump? What in the actual ass makes you idiots think Harris would have done any better? Because she's not a bumbling geezer like Biden? No, her policies are literally the same as Biden's, as the rest of the inherently inept, castrated state of the Democratic Party. She wouldn't have done jackshit, she'd just quietly allow those ruthlessly bigoted Republicans to continue getting what they want and wouldn't do a damn thing to stop them. You're a fucking idiot if you genuinely believe otherwise.

I am not kidding or exaggerating in the slightest when I say that I have heard exponentially more informed, balanced, rational, and most importantly, properly researched takes on this current election on motherfucking LeftTok than I ever heard from any of these insufferably whiny, disturbingly vicious Tumblr liberals. For as much as Tumblr loves to constantly dunk on TikTok for being Gen Z/Alpha brainrot, they sure aren't doing anything to prove that they're actually better at any of the legitimate research and thought that goes into LeftTok's political coverage. Congratulations, Tumblr liberals, you're the new boomers. And you have exactly the same violent disdain for anyone who believes differently from you to match.

Whatever the outcome of the election, I'm not any more worried than I reasonably have to be. Innocent people in marginalized groups are going to suffer tremendously no matter who wins the election, because they already face systemic oppression in this godforsaken country on a regular basis to begin with, no matter how much help they receive to improve their situation. Neither party gives a fuck about them, the Democrats just lie about caring about them, like they always have. Malcolm X was right; Republicans are wolves, and Democrats are foxes. The point is, we can't rely on anyone in this neoliberal late-stage capitalist establishment to actually do anything to improve any of the problems we face. It's been made abundantly clear over the last several years that our "representatives" don't actually represent us. We can only rely on ourselves to represent ourselves. That means putting actual pressure on the oligarchs in power, force them to meet our demands one way or another, by any and all means necessary.

As much as I've recently shat on the repulsive liberal cowardice and naivete of Charles Xavier, there is one quote of his that exhibits far greater character, nobility, and pragmatism than any of these fucking Tumblr liberals could ever hope to even think of:

"Those with the greatest power... protect those without."

That's exactly what I'm going to do. Real political action does not begin and end at the ballot, and election results, subsequently, do not automatically determine the fate of the country and the people within it. That is up to us, and only us. We, collectively, have far more power than we realize.

Donate. Volunteer. Organize. Protest. Strike. Hell, maybe even riot, if you have absolutely no other choice. But don't think for even a microsecond that viciously attacking people out of pure emotional incontinence without any further elaboration or action is going to do jack-fucking-shit.

And yes, I am addressing some of my mutuals here. Block me if you must, that's your prerogative. We all know Tumblr was never a popularity contest to begin with anyway.

[wolfpackmuses]

@heedingcalls asked: "‘ i can handle that myself, you know. ‘ kitty to steele because she WILL NOT LEAVE ME ALONE TO SEND HIM SOMETHING"

From: Prompts for people who aren't used to kindness || Accepting!

Steele paused momentarily to turn his head to look back toward her and gave the ever-smallest tilt of his head. He didn't say anything right away or anything, but it had caught him off-guard briefly, as he was in the middle of helping her move some stuff into her dressing room for a performance she had planned for that night. Steele and Kitty had an... interesting relationship. It seemed both of them couldn't get enough of one another and he still was trying to sort out the best way to fully express his feelings for her.

He still really hadn't come up with the best idea on how to do that, but he had some plans that he wanted to do. The first part of that was for him to finally take her on that date he had promised her. He had been meaning to do it sooner, but he just kept forgetting how busy both of them seemed to be. He kicked himself frequently because he wanted to go and make it official, but he just didn't think telling her out of the blue was the best option. Again, hence why he wanted to have their date first.

But, that was something for later. Right now, he was just trying to help her get settled. And after her comment, he wasn't sure if she wanted the help. So, as a result, he decided he'd play a little bit of a ruse on her. Not anything bad, but just some small things to tease her.

❝Oh? I'm sure the next thing you're going to say is that you don't want me to watch your show either tonight... or to come visit you after you're done,❞ he remarked with an exaggerated sigh as he turned to walk back toward her, ❝I know there can be so many things you can handle yourself, however...❞

The hound got down on a knee to be at eye level with her and gave her a soft smile. A genuine one, one that he rarely seemed to show unless it was around her. God, the fact he hadn't even said anything about his crush and love for her yet was picking away at him and he hated it.

❝But I'm still going to be more than happy to help you out whenever you need it. After all... how could I not do that for my favorite performer?❞ he asked with a chuckle, ❝After all... I've grown to like you... quite a bit. More than that...❞

He sighed and he closed his eyes momentarily. Did he really want to confess this now? Was it the right time? A lot of questions were racing through his mind but before he could even process them all, words spilled from his mouth. It seemed... his heart was speaking for him this time.

❝I... I think I've fallen in love with you, Kitty. I... don't know how to express it, but I had wanted to do it on the date and well...❞ Yeah. Cat was out of the bag now.

[genshingorlsrevengeance]

(Genshin Impact) Hu Tao, Jean, and Rosaria with a tsundere reader

Hu Tao has an absolute blast turning (Y/N) redder than her flames.

She always comes up from behind to hear them yelp, giving a quick "Boo!"

(Hu Tao) "Hi there, miss me?"

(Y/N) "A-As if!"

(Hu Tao) "Aww, what happened to the nice (Y/N) from dinner last night?"

(Y/N) "I have no idea what you're talking about!"

To make them flustered gives her such life.

But what surprised her most of all, was that (Y/N) could make her equally amounts of flustered back by simply being themselves.

Hu Tao's heart almost stopped when (Y/N) smiled at her after a lengthy serious conversation at night.

(Y/N) "I'm really glad I got to meet you, Hu Tao. I'm not sure my life would be the same without you."

Ever since that day, Hu Tao has made sure to ease back on the teasing if they had a serious conversation.

(Hu Tao) "Hey, do you mind if I ask something?"

(Y/N) "Sure, what's on your mind?"

(Hu Tao) "Um...Wanna go out for dinner? No pranks this time, I promise."

(Y/N) "..."

(Hu Tao) "...Maybe just one."

(Y/N) smiled, which warmed her cheeks, thankfully they didn't notice that.

(Y/N) "That sounds more realistic. Sure, I'd love to."

(Hu Tao) "Aw, does that mean you do like me?"

(Y/N) "Huh?"

(Hu Tao) "M-MY PRANKS!"

(Y/N) coughed awkwardly and looked away.

(Y/N) "A-Ah, right. I mean! No, of course I don't!"

Okay, they definitely noticed that flubb up.

She was surprised at her own inability to catch that mistake, what was kind (Y/N) doing to her?!

Jean always had some way to wiggle her way out of (Y/N)'s harsh remarks.

Whether it was by being so genuinely nice and caring, or stern, (Y/N)'s tsundere tendencies always died at the tip of their tongue when speaking to Jean.

Jean is slightly aware of it though, due to hearing it from others.

She's pretty used to it and knows how to talk her way around it thanks to Eula.

But what she isn't immune to is (Y/N)'s scolding when she's working.

(Y/N) "Come on Jean, the Acting-Grand Master doesn't need to be chasing a cat! Do you wanna get yourself killed by exhaustion over a dang cat?!"

(Jean) "I-I think that's an exaggeration."

(Y/N) "What happens if I'm not around and you get yourself hurt? Then I'd have to drag you to Barbara myself!"

Jean very much appreciates their concern whenever they voice it.

Which is very often.

But, to her surprise they're always a little red whenever they say they care about her.

Jean always wonders why that's exactly the case. Surely it's not embarrassing to say you care for a friend?

Then again, Eula did the same, so it was probably that.

Rosaria is able to get a reaction out of S/O often with her deadpan expression.

(Rosaria) "Since you hate me, guess I'll go to Angel's Share by myself."

(Y/N) "What makes you think I hate you, you idiot?!"

Rosaria's lips turn into a smug grin, small enough to overtake her attitude, but big enough to annoy (Y/N).

(Y/N) "L-Look, I'll go with you, okay?!"

(Rosaria) "You can just say you want to go with me, you know."

(Y/N) "Just get moving, will you?"

They try to hide their blush, but it always fails.

Rosaria thinks their reactions are a little cute, but what surprised her the most was how quiet they were the first time they were patching her wounds at night.

(Rosaria) "...You okay?"

(Y/N) "I'm fine. The real question is, are you?"

(Rosaria) "I'm still breathing, aren't I?"

(Y/N) "But for how long?"

...

(Y/N) "If you ever get hurt like this again, come straight to me. But try not to do this anymore, got it?"

She can hear their scolding tone, but their eyes were filled with such worry.

(Rosaria) "I can't promise I'll be squeaky clean. But...I'll make sure I'll go to you first."

(Y/N) "Good."

Ever since, Rosaria always had a caring, if a little angry, individual bandaging her up.

Rosaria has learned to half tune out their scolding, but she's grown to enjoy having company after a job well done.

On the plus side, she gets a comfy bed to sleep on, though she insists it's fine to share the bed with her.

Which that answer always gets a laugh out of Rosaria, seeing them almost scream "HELL NO!", though it's obvious they want to.

Maybe one day, she'll have to drag them in there...

[egg-emperor]

youre such a troll it cracks me up SO HARD keep it up

I'm glad you're amused as I like to make people laugh and I will be sure to keep that up but uh is this someone who can't believe I'm actually attracted to Eggman and therefore think this account is completely a joke, like how I was asked if I was a satire/parody blog not long ago? or if it's not for the eggfuckery, that I'm as big of a fan and serious deep analyzer as I am? because if so, read this

because I'm not "trolling" at all, I'm just being funny with how I present it and express myself to make it more funny and entertaining. like I said in that other answer, I know it's crazy and unbelievable and funny to people to wanna fuck Eggman and analyze him so insanely deeply and all so I play into the humor but while still sharing very real thoughts and feelings on everything

everything I say here is true to me, just with humor applied but not even exaggerated at all by it. I feel it as hard as I express it. I don't really like the idea that people get the impression that my very real expression of my passion and thoughts and such aren't genuine. I'm a very genuine and passionate person and while I like making people laugh by being silly about it, I am serious not "trolling"

or if you mean the sense of "trolling" that I'm trying to post to upset or anger people or make them uncomfortable or whatever since the term has it's negative connotations than just satire then no, I'm absolutely not posting to get a rise. I post to entertain people, make people laugh, to help learn about Eggman, and express my passion. I don't like when my posts manage to upset people

anyway whatever reason you're saying this is may be, it should be obvious that I'm serious. I don't spend hours playing the games, watching the cutscenes and analyzing, spending hundreds to a thousand on Eggman merch to have a shrine in my bedroom, have all kinds of private ns4w Eggman related search and site history/files/convos, and write extensive Eggman ns4w on other blogs for this to somehow not be serious lol

I'm a very passionate guy and I want to share that with the world in the most honest unapologetic open way without any repression or limit or a fear of "cringe". I also feel things very deeply and earnestly, far too much to just do everything I do just for the memes or the trolls or something. Eggman is just awesome and sexy and I want to share the joy he makes me feel with y'all in funny ways and if it makes you laugh that's great

[one-abuse-survivor]

How do I tell the difference between my parents being abusive and them just fucking it up? I don't want to overdramatize my issues but I feel like I COULD, like maybe it is what my mom says, and they just fuck up sometimes and I just don't understand what its like to be a parent. But I do understand what its like to be their kid and it fucking sucks but I don't know if it sucks enough to pass into abuse territory. How would I tell? Are there like, books I could read on it or something? - Z

Hi, nonnie ❤️

I haven't read any books that talk about this issue in particular, but I have talked about this in therapy, and I can tell you what I know. And what I know is that there is no "difference". Abusive behaviours don't stop being abusive just because they were fuck-ups on the abuser's part.

Truth is, the majority of abusers out there aren't heartless monsters who thrive on torturing others. Most abusers are regular people, capable of good, who also happen to have harmful behaviours. But, because they see those behaviours as them genuinely messing up and not as intentional or malicious, they feel they shouldn't be held accountable, because obviously they didn't mean any harm. They were just having a bad day, or expressing their own emotions, or trying their best with the limited tools they had. Or maybe they were just very tired and stressed. Ultimately, they were being human, and therefore (in their minds) any colateral damage they might have caused is justified.

I know multiple people whose abusive parents have claimed "yes, we mess up sometimes, but you have no idea how hard it is to be a parent" when confronted about the harm they caused. It's not an uncommon thing for abusers to say, and for abusers to truly believe.

And, right, being a parent is probably incredibly difficult. I'm not one, so I can't speak from experience. And it's true that no parent is absolutely perfect and they all make mistakes. But if your kid tells you something you did hurt them, you can always choose to listen, to apologise, and to care about your kid's feelings. You can always try to be a bit better today than you were yesterday, and this kind of situation can even help you grow closer to your kid.

If, instead, you decide that your kid's negative emotions toward yourself are accusatory and unfair and manipulative... You're not just denying the hurt you've already caused, but also actively causing more hurt and building a foundation for even more hurt to be caused moving forward.

Nonnie, it may be true you don't know what it's like to be a parent. But as you said, you do know what it's like to be their kid and it fucking sucks. You're getting hurt, and that's what matters—not their intentions. And just from the information you gave in this ask about their reaction to you expressing your hurt, the red flags of abuse are absolutely there. I would even go as far as to say that denying your emotions like this and framing them as accusatory, manipulative, and exaggerated is a form of emotional abuse, in and of itself.

Maybe some of my followers have book recs to help you navigate this. You can also go through some of the posts in the masterlist linked in my bio that might help you identify some of your parents' behaviours as things like emotional abuse, victim-blaming, gaslighting, etc. And you're always free to send more asks if you need more help navigating this.

Sending a big virtual hug ❤️

[tragedy-of-commons]

could I please request

“why is your smile fake” with Lyney ?

congrats with 200 followers :)

"Why is your smile fake?"

Lyney's grip on the stem of his glass tightens almost imperceptibly.

His mind has been honed to maximum efficiency over the years, but now the gears inside his head are desperately grinding together to formulate an appropriate response to something like that. It's a test of skill, he thinks fleetingly, meeting your eyes that won't stop burning holes straight through his frilly lace and cufflinks.

These intrigues are the same old show, but they are important - Father had stressed this well. Making connections at formal dinners, wine-tastings, balls and performances... it is, unfortunately, just his scene. That is not to say he doesn't glean any enjoyment from entertaining guests and carrying out his orders, but people like you are exactly the kind of thing he doesn't need.

People like you are dangerous.

Predictably, you're dressed to the nines, standing regal and austere with the confidence of a noble. On second thought, maybe not quite a noble... you aren't wearing any jewelry, insignias, or family crests. The lack of embellishment is atypical of those who turn their noses up at orphans fighting over scraps and busking for mora on the streets.

You've also been keeping to yourself for the entire celebration, lingering near one of the refreshment tables, only nodding your head in greeting to anyone who dared strike up conversation with you. You are reserved and not here for socializing. He needs more information, and he needs it yesterday. He's already at a disadvantage, your words reverberating off the walls of his skull tauntingly--

Lyney's smile is not fake. It's... exaggerated, for lack of a better word. Sure, there are other things he'd rather be doing, but those things don't matter and they never will - not when there's business to be conducted, work to be done, and crowds to woo. When he can, he'll put a little spin on his directives, squeezing in some clever sleight of hand where there's room for it. Sometimes Lynette is here to back him up in the shadows to make it go down easier.

But Lynette is not here, and Lyney was never meant to have an easy life.

You'd come up to him after he'd shown off a card trick to a few rosy-cheeked drunkards. It was light work. Hell, they wouldn't have been able to tell when he swapped the decks even if they were sober; perhaps he should have counted his blessings right then. After that, you'd stalked over to him while he mentally prepared a loose script depending on what you were going to throw at him... but this? Calling him out, just like that? Your bluntness leaves something to be desired against the art of nuance, but it still leaves him stunned.

Lyney will not appear slack-jawed. He knows better than that. So, he picks himself up, readying himself for an interesting conversation. For starters, he'll throw on the charm.

"Mon ange," he lilts, tipping his hat with a practiced grin. A modicum of genuine amusement slips through his expression, juxtaposed by the threatened bob of his Adam's apple. You're getting quite the show indeed, one befitting your keen eye. "I apologize. It seems my theatrics may have put you off - I beg your pardon. You know how it is, I'm sure... trying to make an impression," he chuckles, observing your reaction closely.

Your countenance betrays nothing as you let the silence drag. If this is some sort of intimidation tactic, Lyney is curious as to who taught you the merits of such a thing. Simple but effective.

Finally, you crack. The hum of the other guests' chatter is (pleasantly?) broken up by your voice - raspy from disuse, he surmises. "And what an impression you have made," Fluid, you swiftly clink the rim of your glass against his, which he allows. The liquid swishes before legs appear and run down the length of the bowl in dark rivulets. A very... lackluster cheers from you.

You bring your glass of wine to your lips and sip; it seems you also your time to think. "You may be an entertainer, but you're a shit actor. Your little card tricks and syrupy words don't hide you well enough."

Brazen, brusque, and entirely right. Lyney would applaud your audacity, but surrendering any confirmation would only make it easier for you to break him down further. Yanking his mystique out from under him like a rug... it's a pretty good idea for a stage act. However, as good as it is, yielding is not an option.

"Well then, I bid you to continue coming to your own conclusions, mon ange," he whistles, cravat strangling him nicely. "I'm Lyney, as in--"

You raise a gloved hand to cut him off. "I know who you are, and frankly, I'm unimpressed."

He bristles, a little voice in his head crooning that you won't mind a bit of sarcasm. "Then may I have your name? Someone of such high esteem... I'm just honored to be in your presence. Please indulge me."

Lyney's eyes narrow when your thousand yard stare is mottled by an upward twitch of your lip. You reach into your coat pocket, removing what he assumes is a business card. You extend it outward to him, keeping your arm in the air until he takes it and gives it a cursory scan. He rattles off your name, testing the sound on his tongue before pocketing the piece of cardstock for later.

"It's nice to meet you. Please, come see my assistant and I's show sometime. We'd be honored to have you."

"Perhaps I will," you study him once more, statuesque. Before you pivot on your heel, he feels your gaze spotlight on the cold sweat peppering his forehead. "I do find you amusing. Until then."

You leave him standing there, and Lyney does, in fact, appear slack-jawed. While he pulls himself together, mulling over every word that left your mouth and rattled his heart, he thumbs over your card tucked inside the velvet lining of his suit jacket.

People like you are dangerous.

a/n: i know u wanted to be tagged @mikashisus :)

event post here

[casspurrjoybell-19]

Does it Matter? - Chapter 63 - Part 3

*Warning Adult Content*

"Brayan. Get over here and help me show these little brats how to fight."

Brayan's first instinct was to shake his head, to remain a stoic observer but this was Dara's family and the two of them had grown close in their own way.

As a sign of respect, he would do his best to make a good impression.

He strolled over to the group, accepting the wooden sword handed to him.

The weapon was horribly unbalanced, closer to a toy than an actual training tool, but that was no surprise but Brayan was not one to play games.

When a girl no more than ten stepped up to him, brandishing her own sword in his direction, he knocked it down with a simple tap and then showed her how to hold it more securely.

Perhaps it wasn't the most entertaining approach but she seemed to take to the instruction with genuine interest.

If Brayan were to truly set himself to training these children, given all the time he needed, they'd be practising the basics for many weeks before any thought of sparring entered the equation but he wasn't quite that boring.

He let her try to come at him, blocking her strikes and hitting back with the occasional slow, exaggerated move of his own, making it easy for her to anticipate his actions.

Their swords clashed as she pressed in close, trying to crowd him and with a shove, he pushed her backwards.

She stumbled and fell, landing on her behind in the grass.

For a moment, she just stared at him and Brayan opened his mouth to apologise but before he could get any words out, she burst out laughing.

Brayan offered her a hand up.

"Sorry. A bit too rough, maybe."

She accepted his help but halfway up, she plunged the wooden sword forward into his stomach, knocking the breath out of him.

Letting go of his hand, she dashed away, her laughter ringing out in the evening air.

Garrod chuckled as he approached.

"Kids are funny, aren't they?"

Brayan frowned as he rubbed at his stomach.

"That's one way to put it," he said, though he was a little impressed.

They leaned back against the house together, watching the children play fight with one another, their wooden swords clacking and their voices filled with excitement.

"This is something I'd like to do, after all this is over," Garrod said, his gaze distant, as if picturing a future yet to come.

"Train children. Not as soldiers for a useless war, though. Just as boys who will one day be men who may need to defend their own homes and families. In little towns like Davidson they've got only themselves to rely on."

"Wouldn't you get bored doing something like that?"

Garrod laughed.

"Oh, to live to be bored. The men treat me like I'm an old man just because I have a little grey in my beard. This isn't a life you grow old with, Brayan. You either find your day to leave it or you die with it before your time."

"I suppose I never thought that far ahead," Brayan admitted.

"If Maric takes the throne, life will change for me as well. Kings don't travel much and Bug, of course, complicates matters..."

"Hmm. What kind of place is a Perisian palace for him?"

"Under Maric's rule, hopefully a much better one than it is now," Brayan replied.

"But even so, I don't know if he would be happy there. Having loyalty to more than one person certainly complicates life."

"Ah but life should be complicated," Garrod said.

"Easy or hard but never simple. If it ever seems to be, you're probably overlooking something."

Brayan couldn't argue with that.

"Few lives are as complicated, I suspect, as ours are right now. In days and weeks, my life has changed beyond my imagination and we boldly and knowingly march towards a mysterious future. The life I end up living may be one with an entirely different set of worries, so I'll set this dilemma aside for now. I need my focus to be on what is here and now."

Garrod's smile widened.

"Oh, you'll certainly need it. What a grand adventure this is turning out to be, hmm?"

Brayan's expression was guarded, a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

"I hope 'grand' is how we shall describe it by the end of things but that remains to be seen."

He pushed away from the wall, his mind already turning to his next task.

"I should go and check in on Maric and Dara before I turn in. Thank you for that chat. Your perspective on life has a way of lightening my heart."

Garrod gave him a nod.

"Happy to help."

Brayan found Maric and Dara leaning against the fence, Farah, who he supposed he should get used to calling Kaerth now and an older horse he assumed was Kar standing on the other side.

Kaerth seemed to be enjoying the company, stretching over the fence to get more attention, while Kar stood stiff and wary.

Brayan's approach did nothing to ease her suspicious stance.

"Sorry to interrupt," Brayan said, stopping well away from the fence so as not to further offend Kar.

"I just wanted to check in before I headed to bed to see if you needed anything."

"So early?" Maric asked.

"The rest of the men seem to be making the best of an opportunity for a little fun."

"I tried to have fun but it quickly led to me pushing a little girl over. I think it's best I stick to my duties."

Maric laughed.

"Yes, we were watching. Accidents do happen in rough and tumble games."

"And the girls are just as rowdy as the boys around here," Dara added.

"Just ask Selen."

As if on cue, a voice sounded from behind Brayan.

"Ask me what?"

When he turned, he saw Selen approaching them.

"About our girls being as tough as our boys," Dara told her.

"I remember you keeping all the other kids in line. Or getting them into trouble along with you, when you were in the mood for it."

Selen shrugged.

"It's true. I even got Dara into a bit of it. That was never easy. He's always been more of a fixer, even before his magic started to show up."

Dara laughed.

"Well, don't make it sound so boring. Someone has to clean up the messes when things go wrong."

Selen's expression sobered, a hint of sadness creeping into her voice.

"I won't deny that we've missed having that and we'll miss it again once you're gone. Are you leaving tomorrow?"

Dara nodded, his eyes seeking out Brayan.

"Unless Bug has had any visions telling us otherwise?"

Brayan shook his head.

"Then yes. I know it's soon but our group is too big for us to afford to stay in one place for too long. We don't know how far we'll have to make our supplies stretch, so even the extra you're giving us doesn't really buy us days we can afford to lose."

Selen's eyebrows furrowed as she fixed Dara with a questioning gaze.

"And you're just... following the seer?" she asked, disbelief colouring her words.

"You don't know where you're going?"

"Mostly," Brayan contributed.

"Bug has a vision that we're still waiting to come to pass. He said they were growing tomatoes in a building with walls made of glass. I've asked him about it many times but he struggles to find words to explain what it was like beyond a sense of strangeness. There was an unknown Eth man in the vision who seemed significant but the architecture of the structure itself was like nothing Bug had ever seen."

"Hmm."

Selen fell silent for a moment, frowning deeply.

"I travel a lot but I haven't seen or heard about anything like that. Which makes me wonder... was it somewhere that I can't go? If you talk to the Wrasher up in the northern coastal towns, they'll give you quiet warnings not to follow the coast to the west. It's a forbidden place. They won't say more. If you're looking for a place of significance, somewhere that holds sights unseen by common eyes... that just might be it."

"That is very interesting," Maric said.

"One of my men is a Wrasher. I wonder if he knows anything about that place."

[lovinkiri]

If The Roles Were Reversed || One

UA!Dabi x Reader

UA!Shigaraki x Reader

UA!Toga x Reader

UA!Twice x Reader

UA!Compress x Reader

Author's Thoughts: Okay so I was just thinking, what if the LOV were seniors in UA, and emotionally stable enough to not be villains, and ekvekbd

Warning: Swearing, Scratching, etc.

EVERYONE IS 18+

Touya Todoroki (Dabi)

People couldn't help but stare at the two of you. You knew it was because of your boyfriend though, who was used to the stares by now.

"What happened to him?"

"They really let guys like that in the hero course? Look at the scarred face."

"The whole course looks like a group of villians, I'm not surprised."

You went to speak out. I mean, it wasn't his fault his quirk was self destructive. Though he was taking courses in Quirk Control, the scars he'd gotten before enrolling in UA stuck.

But before you could utter a word, Dabi sighed and wrapped an arm around you, giving the gossips a look that could scare a pro.

"Don't worry about it, babe. It's alright. I just wish they'd say it to my ugly scarred face." He spoke loudly and sarcastically, raising his voice even more towards the end.

You huff and glare at the already scared freshmen. "I just wish they'd take a look in the mirror themselves."

And now they were scared and offended.

You look back to Dabi and sigh. "You know you're sexy, right Touya?" You raise an eyebrow, Dabi snickering at how serious the question was asked.

"Can't look that bad if I've got such a cute little thing on my arm." He smirked, watching as you immediately got flustered.

"Y-Yeah, c'mon." You pull him to class, Dabi chuckling.

Upon entering the classroom, he immediately looked to Shigaraki. "Hey, Crusty."

Shigaraki glared at the Dabi. "Morning, Crispy."

With Shigaraki, you let it slide. You knew this was their way of being friendly to each other. Then Toga came bounding over, hugging you from behind.

"Hi, Touya! Morning, Y/n!" She grinned. Dabi scoffed and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "It's Dabi."

"You let Y/n call you Touya!"

"Are you Y/n?"

"No.."

"Okay then, Crazy."

"Crazy?!"

You laugh and smile. It was never boring, being with Dabi.

Tomura Shigaraki

"Tomura!"

He sighed and looked at you, drowning out the rest of the hero course. You walked over with your lunch and plopped down next to him, slapping his hand away from his neck. "You're scratching again. I know it's a bad habit but-"

Tomura rose an eyebrow, wondering what caused your silence. Then he followed your gaze to his hands.

Before he could speak, you broke out into a grin. "You got your new gloves! Now we can hold hands!"

Sighing once more, he shrugged. "I don't get why its such a big deal. You were more excited than I was."

He was lying. He was secretly just as excited. The thought of holding your hands, running his fingers through your hair, holding you without having to be careful of his fingers. He couldn't wait.

You kissed his cheek and laid your head against his shoulder. "Can we hold hands later?" You asked looking up at him with irresistible eyes.

"You don't have to ask, you know." He grumbled as he wrapped an arm around you. The rest of the hero course let out either genuine or sarcastic awww's.

"Its not fair. How did Shigaraki start dating before any of us?" Toga asked with a pout. Dabi snorted in laughter. "They like 'em crusty and flaky."

Tomura glared at him. "Better crusty than charred and burnt." He retaliated.

Dabi gave a lazy grin. "Oi, I'm not burnt. I'm crispy."

The entire table, not including Tomura, devolved into laughter. Tomura rolled his eyes, laying his cheek against the top of your head. "Idiots. They're all idiots."

You smiled. "Please. You love 'em."

"Tch. Whatever." He huffed.

Himiko Toga

You waited by the school gates patiently for Himiko. You knew she was probably getting some new upgrades to her hero costume, so you didn't mind.

"Y/n, Y/n!"

You turned and Himiko jumped into your arms. Thankfully, you were able to wrap your arms around her and steady yourself. This wasn't the first time so you had practice.

Grinning, she wrapped her arms around your neck. "Hey, your reflexes are getting better!" She pointed out.

You smiled and chuckled in at the remark. "Thank to you. You seem more excited than usual."

"Oh yeah! I got this awesome new upgrade." She said proudly. Pulling away from the embrace and instead holding your hand, she started to pull you along.

"Yeah? What is it?" You asked, tilting your head. Himiko proceeded to go into a detailed ramble about her upgrade, her free hand making exaggerated motions.

You couldn't help but admire how her eyes seemed got so much brighter. It was obvious she was excited to test it out.

Others who weren't used to seeing you guys around stared, but minded their business as you glared at them. You weren't gonna let anyone bring her down. Knowing people already whispered about how odd she seemed in the school hallways, you'd decided she didn't need to hear that outside of school too.

"And so it'll be easier to shift between forms!" She finished, looking at you, looking for your approval.

Kissing her cheek, you chuckled. "That sounds amazing. And it was your idea?" You grinned as she enthusiastically nodded. "Yeah! Of course, you inspired me! Remember last week when you said it'd been cool if I could switch between forms more freely?"

Your expression morphed into confusion. "Huh? That was a month ago."

She shrugged. "A week, a month, a year! It's all the same!"

Laughing softly, you nodded. "Sure, Himiko."

Jin Bubaigawara (Twice)

Jin smiled as you pulled his mask on, trying to nuzzle into your hands.

"Jin- I can't get it on when you do that." You chuckled, a smile tugging at your own lips. "I don't see why you couldn't put your own mask you."

"Because I like it when you're near me! Stop asking questions." He responded, pulling you closer by your lower back.

Rolling your eyes playfully, you quickly pecked his lips before fully getting the mask on. "You a sweetheart, you know that?"

He nodded. "I know!" Then quickly shook his head. "I have no idea what you mean."

"Right. Well, be careful at training today. I think they're gonna make you fight Dabi." You warned. You knew Jin was strong but Dabi was something else. Losing usually made him fight harder. And sometimes, he lost himself.

"Oh please, that's nothing. Nothing but a death wish! He's still pissed at me for spilling juice on him at lunch today!" Your boyfriend began pacing, holding his head dramatically.

His head whipped to you as you started laughing. "Why are you laughing? Last time we sparred, I had to sleep with an ice pack on my ass! For a week! And he was sleepy!" He pressed, mocking betrayal once your laughter continued.

"I-I'm sorry, Jin! I'm just remembering that pillow you had yo sit on in class. You know, as to know irritate the burns on your butt." You covered your mouth to stifle anymore sounds of amusement.

Jin whined at the memory, placing his hand on his ass. "It's not funny, babe!"

You grinned and cleared your throat, taking a breathe. "Alright, alright. But you were just distracted that day. And the voices are a lot easier to ignore when your mask comes off in combat now, aren't they?"

Walking over, you gently placed your hand on his cheek. He immediately leaned into your touch, almost cat like. "It's so much easier to focus now. But it can be kinda difficult with you lookin so damn good while watching me!"

Jin leaned down, attempting to kiss you from under his a mask. You laughed and tried pulling away, hands on his chest. "J-Jin!"

"Oi, are you done yet? It's our turn Jin!"

Gulping nervously, Jin lifted his mask a bit to give you an actual kiss. You returned it, humming softly then pulled away. He shrugged. "In case I die."

Then there was an burst of heat. "Get over here, Jin!"

Atsuhiro Sako (Mr. Compress)

Atsuhiro smirked at the villian before him, twirling his cane ever so casually. "Tsk, tsk. You've got a flashy quirk, but there's no flare."

What was supposed to be a training retreat turned into a surprise attack. These villians never knew when to give up.

He quickly dodged another attack and gave a mocking hum, as if he were thinking. "Oh I know!" He hit his fist against his palm. "You're missing the element of surprise! You're completely predictable!"

Laughing as the villian the got angry, he shrugged. "Unlike me!" He dodged once more before shooting out a marble that you'd been compressed in for a while.

Once free, you launched an attack to the villiain. "Surprise!" You grinned as you foot connected into the villian's back, the impact sending him tumbling into a tree.

Atsuhiro caught you in his arms and you spread yours out. "I see, you haven't met my lovely assistant, have you?" Sitting youdown, the two of you prepared for another attack.

"Delaware Smash!" The villain cried out, running to the both of you, dodging Atsuhiro's efforts at compressing him.

You managed to dodge, but Atsuhiro wasn't so lucky, taking blow after blow before colliding into a tree.

"Hiro!" You yelled out, running towards him. It was when you held a hand out that you halted. "Now, now, Dear, worry not. It is not who's in trouble."

The villain's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. That's when you noticed a marble rolling from compresses hand. It would seem the villain noticed to but it was too late.

Before anyone could react, Spinner was there dishing out attacks. Atsuhiro stood, leaning against the tree. Running over, you helped him to balance himself.

"You had Spinner this whole time?" You asked in surprise, eyes wide. He chuckled softly and gave a small bow. "As I said, the element of surprise is very important."

"Boss! The heroes are here!"

The villain glared at us, dodging Spinner and jumping from place to place. "This isn't over." He mumbled before bounding off.

Spinner went to go after him, but Atsuhiro had his cane in front of him in a second. "Let them be."

Spinner opened his mouth to protest but sighed and nodded.

You guys soon grouped up with the rest of the class, only to see Toga on the verge of tears.

"Himiko, what's wrong?" Spinner asked, you guys rushing over. Holding back a sob, she looked up.

"They kidnapped Shigaraki!"

[unprofessional-bard]

Chapter 12 - The Development, Pt. II

Unprofessional Bard's Masterlist

Losing My Religion Series Masterlist

Previous Chapter • Next Chapter

Pairing: Joel Miller x Female!Reader/OC

Warnings: TW!!! Mentions of depression/anxiety, lack of appetite and suicide; jealousy (the reader is Angry™️); talks of (unwanted) pregnancy and miscarriage (cult activities).

Summary: Who would've thought a dinner and a bouquet of flowers would ever bare bad omens?

Word Count: 5.588

Author's Note: I apologise for the repost! I forgot to do my taglist + the tags didn't work for me so let me try this again. This is a whole chunk of angst and nothing more. I'm sorry about this but it is going to get darker :')

Enjoy!

gif credit: winterswake

"Oof, this wasn't your greatest idea, you know that right?" You sighed anxiously, hands on your hips.

"I've done many things that weren't so great, sweetpea," Joel wiped his wet hands on the cute little apron around his waist after he put the vegetables he had cut into the bowl which was on the counter next to the cutting board: "We both know it, but this totally ain't one of 'em."

He carried another bowl to the dining room where you stood, gave your exposed neck a brief kiss as he passed by. Kiki and Ward were going to arrive anytime now for Joel's infamous dinner plan. When he put the bowl down, he scanned the table with a puzzled expression: "Why are there two more plates?"

You leaned your weight on one leg as you grabbed the edges of the chair, which stood at the head of the table: "I... invited Tommy and Maria over, too–"

Joel's expression made you feel guilty: "(Y/N)."

"What?" You spoke defensively, a nervous expression on your face and tone to your voice. "It was going to be awkward as shit otherwise."

"You don't know that," He growled. "Not when you pull stunts like this."

"I don't care," You emphasised each word, exhaustion present in your stance. "Better safe than sorry, Joel."

He nodded disapprovingly and walked back to the kitchen as you stood there, your head hanging with a sigh. You slowly raised it up, hands on your hips again, then turned your head to the side just enough for him to hear you over the sound of the steamer: "I'm sorry."

"No, you're not," He said when he walked past you, carrying the last piece of dish to the table. His anger wasn't for nothing, you accepted what you did was an ass move.

"You're right." You huffed, which made him look at you. "I'm not sorry for inviting Tommy and Maria over, but I am sorry for upsetting you."

His tense stance eased slowly at your words, then he proceeded to mirror your chair holding pose, huffing quietly: "Well, one of us is gon' have to eat less, I'm more worried about that."

"I'll gladly volunteer, I lost my appetite." You rubbed your eyes, which sported dark circles underneath them– which worried Joel.

He stepped closer to you, reaching for your hip with his dominant hand and began rubbing soothing circles there: "No. You eat. Don't think for a second I didn't notice how you started eatin' less." This whole ordeal was getting to you more than you cared to admit. It had been eight days since your decision to arrange dinner with them, but it clearly didn't escape Joel's notice. You looked down, ashamed, running a hand through your hair nervously: "Hey, look at me," Joel gently took your chin between his fingers and lifted your head up, his nose inches away from yours. The three knocks on your door didn't stop him from saying: "You're worryin' over nothin', sweetheart. It's gonna be alright."

"We'll see," You looked into his eyes with a blank stare, gulping, giving his hand a light squeeze before walking to the door, collecting yourself in the meantime. From the small windows on the door, it wasn't hard to tell the brunette couple had arrived. You took a deep breath as you opened the door with a sincere smile: "Hello there– Come in, welcome."

"Hi!" Kiki grinned and Ward just offered an awkward resemblance of a smile.

After escorting them to the living room, you spoke: "Joel's getting finished in the kitchen, then we can have dinner."

"Joel's cooking?" Kiki gave you an alien look. It wasn't a my goodness what a man I bet he cooks real fine tone, but more a genuinely confused one.

"Uhm, yes?" You lightly flinched but smiled still, equally confused at her question. Giving a brief look at Ward, you noticed how he was staring hard at her and she was pointedly ignoring him. "Don't worry, he actually cooks better than me... haha."

You stared into each other's eyes for five seconds, both of your irises reflecting a pair of question marks at each other, then she let out an odd laugh: "Oh! If you say so... What a beautiful garden you got– Lots of flowers."

"Why, thank you," You smiled a little nervously. "I like taking care of flowers and plants..."

"Oh really? I do– did too, once upon a time..." Kiki did an exaggerated smiley face. "I should bring you some, then!"

"That's very kind of you," You felt yourself soften a little at her words. "Well, how have you both been? Feeling like you two are fitting in? I hope people aren't giving you trouble."

"Oh," Kiki looked at Ward for the first time, who's gaze was focused on you now. "No, I think we started to fit in better–" Ward nodded in agreement, his head turning in her direction: "Gets better every day."

"That's good news," You quietly huffed out a breath of relief, nodding at her words, which was when Joel walked in to greet them, and also when there was another pair of knocks on the door. This time, thank God, it was Tommy and Maria.

The dinner went without a hitch, to say the least. Although it had it's awkward moments, Tommy and Maria always picked it up one way or another. Delicious meals were eaten and wines from your collection with Joel were opened– it was pleasant to a certain degree. You and Joel sat across each other on the other ends of the table, Maria and Tommy sat to your left while Kiki and Ward sat to your right. Kiki was seated by your side, but she mostly had her attention on your husband. She didn't drink, but Ward did, and after his second glass, he seemed to relax more.

When it was time to carry all the plates back to where they came from, Joel and you carried the first party. When you placed them in the sink, and he on the counter, he softly grabbed your hand: "See? Wasn't that bad, was it?"

It sort of was, for you anyway, as much as you tried to calm your nerves with the wine: "Thanks to Tommy and Maria, yeah." Joel sighed through his nose and looked away for a moment: "What?"

"We'll talk about it in the morning." Joel let your hand go, but didn't move away.

"What is there to talk about?" You spoke, frustrated, your arms opening slightly in a gesture. Right then, your eyes moved over his shoulder to the doorway. He turned around to see it was Maria with two of the rect platters in her hands.

"Joel, why don't you go back? (Y/N) and I'll handle it from here." She spoke as she walked over to where you two were, then placed the platters on the counter. He gave you one last look before nodding and walking back inside. As soon as he left, Maria stood very close to you and turned on the water: "You wanna tell me what's going on with you?"

"Not really," You quickly started to wash the plates and she helped with the leftovers.

"(Y/N)," Maria spoke more seriously. "There's obviously something wrong–"

"I didn't say there wasn't, I just don't wanna talk about it right now." You said, turning your head to her a little but not looking her in the eyes. "Please, Maria, I appreciate you and your concern, but–"

"Mind if I help?" Kiki suddenly appeared with more service in her hands, startling you both.

"Not at all," Maria replied in your stead. "I'll leave you two to it, I need to use the bathroom."

You closed your eyes, exhausted, then begged for patience as Kiki replaced Maria's place next to you. She kept a distance, which you also appreciated. After a brief moment of silence, she spoke: "The food was delicious, I'm surprised Joel helped you prepare all of this."

You tried– God knows your tried not to look for a double meaning behind her words, but you failed: "Well, as I said, he cooks better than me."

"No, I mean, he just really helps you around, y'know? Serving, preparing, cleaning..."

You turned to face her, closing the sink, and took a proper look at her: "What's so weird about it? We're partners– Married– There's no helping out, we do it together, as it should be."

"Oh, don't get me wrong," She said after a while, her smile unsettling. "It's just that, I always do the cooking, and preparing, and cleaning. That's what I was taught, while Ward..."

You bit down on your tongue hard as you finally understood what she was getting at, the realisation making you blink once and long, then look away. A silent oh left your lips while you thought about how to respond, forcing a small smile to your lips: "Well... Uh– Why don't you go back, I'll take it from here."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I got this, you're our guest, after all."

She smiled and nodded, heading back. As soon as she turned around you let out a silent, heavy breath, looking a little bewildered and disturbed at the things she had said. You stood still for a few moments, then ultimately decided to wash your face, so you took it up to the bathroom.

When you woke up the next morning, you had a mild headache from the wine, no doubt. Joel was nowhere to be found, which had you worried for a second, then you realised it was near noon. After washing your face, you dragged yourself downstairs and once you made it to the kitchen, you found Tommy, Eugene and Joel sitting quietly at the table.

"Mornin' princess," Eugene grinned at you, a cup in his hand. Joel and Tommy had more serious, even a little worried looks on their faces.

"Hey," You waved at them and dragged your feet to the cupboard where you kept your coffee, only to find you had ran out of the beans.

"How're you feelin'?"

"I'm fine... What kinda question is that?" You chuckled.

The brothers shared a brief look before Tommy slowly got up, walked towards the island counter and leaned against it with his elbows: "Listen, (Y/N), we're all a bit worried about you."

"I'm not!" Eugene said clearly. "I mean, I am, but not in the way they are– What's going on with you and the newcomers?"

You stared at the brothers, hard, then turned to Joel: "Is this the new town gossip, then?"

He huffed, crossed his arms across his chest and leaned back in his seat: "It ain't nothin'. We were talking about last night," He gestured between himself and Tommy. "Eugene overheard, expressed his own worries 'bout them and wanted to talk to you."

You felt so exposed –out in the open– with the spotlight moving onto you once more. Your eyebrows furrowed as Joel held your gaze for a while, the other men too scared to interfere; until Eugene spoke: "Look, (Y/N), I get what worries you, even if these two bimbos will say there's nothing wrong. I'm here to vouch for ya."

"Thanks," You shrugged and nodded. You felt embarrassed at the three pairs of eyes waiting for a response from you– speaking to Eugene alone about what actually worried you would've made you feel much better, but you just told them about the interactions between you and Kiki. The more you spoke, the more frustrated you got, which ironically made you close up more.

"Which reminds me," He said some time after you mentioned her offer to bring you a flower. "Do you have, uh, mugwort in your garden?"

The abrupt change of topic caught you off guard, but you still said yes, I think so and walked out from the back door, the old man tailing you. The sun immediately burned down on your skin, but a gentle breeze lightened the load on your shoulders as it accompanied you to the edge of the garden.

"Look, I don't actually need mugwort," He said when you sat down on your knees. "If you wanna say something to me that you think they won't understand, now's your chance."

You moved on with your digging quietly while he waited, then finally, without looking at him and venom dripping from every word you spoke, you sighed: "Kiki has eyes for Joel."

Eugene coughed loudly at your cold words, a hand on his chest: "Shit, (Y/N)..."

"Everyone, including Joel, seems oblivious to this– I'll probably get accused of petty jealousy if I tell them, but since you've had your fair share of weird run-ins with her, I think you should know."

He remained quiet for awhile as you worked with the plant, then finally huffed: "That's not a jealous face from what I can see, it's the face of a woman who's sensing something's gonna go wrong."

You finally looked up at him, your cold expression turned soft because of his sympathy, then looked back down: "I'm losing sleep over some stupid– bitch– God, I was... I've been trying to convince myself that it's nothing, but–"

"It's not nothing, (Y/N)." Eugene spoke firmly, grabbing your shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Something's clearly not right with those two, and you've a right to get worried, 'cause I'm guessing it's not just Joel you're worried about."

You gulped, wiped some sweat off the corner of your brow with your wrist, then nodded.

"Well," He took the plants from your hands. "Thanks for this, and, just know that you're not alone. If you ever wanna talk more about this, you know where to find me. Don't be a stranger."

You did pay Eugene a visit a few days later to talk more about them. You felt more comfortable talking to him alone, and you were talking to him because you didn't want to add more to Joel's tension and strain your relationship again. It also felt good to just talk about the whole thing and have someone who understood you.

You had told him that you had no doubts about Joel's intentions, but about Kiki's and hers alone. He had told you he understood and told you that his door was always open if you needed to talk again, so you went to him a second time in a cool afternoon after Kiki had appeared out of nowhere.

"Flowers! As promised!" She smiled brightly, giving you a tiny bouquet of mixed, yellow flowers.

"Oh, wow," You carefully took the bouquet from her, smiling at the sight and feeling genuinely happy for a moment that she actually did something like this. "Thank you, Kiki."

"Don't mention it," She smiled sincerely and initiated smalltalk, then went about her business. After you closed the door, however, reality came crashing down.

You went to see Eugene then: He had just returned from patrol, so the moment you saw him, you grabbed him and went back to your house. A very old book you owned, The Meanings of Flowers, laid on the dinner table while you sat at the head of the table again, the older man to your right. Beautiful flowers rested above the book, a pair of each: Carnation, hyacinth, marigold, rose and tansy. You already knew the names of the most thanks to your free time activities, so finding them in the book wasn't particularly hard.

"Damn, (Y/N), you're really gettin' into this, aren't you?" Eugene said when you first explained and laid the flowers in front of him as he sat down.

You read through the pages and sat across him. "I think... I have, uh– What if she's asking for help?"

"How do you mean?" He gave you a look, and when you stared at him a while, he slowly got what you were saying. "You... think that too?"

"It's so obvious," You sighed, a sad expression on your face. "It's the only logical explanation for the way she responds to physical touch. There's more to it than what Ward told me about their past."

"You're right," He huffed, troubled. "Alright, let's see what carnation means."

"Each colour represents something different, but yellow..." What you read made you tense up.

"What?"

"Disdain."

You gave each other a look, then you continued to other flowers: "Hyacinth– Yellow hyacinth is... jealousy."

"Do these even grow in Wyoming?" Eugene was as disturbed as you were. You just shrugged, but you were thinking more about how she came to find these in the first place.

"Marigold– Jealousy, despair... Rose, yellow– Jealousy and..." You gasped shortly, eyes widening at the word.

"What, what is it?" Eugene turned the book to himself a little and his eyes widened slightly as well.

Infidelity.

"Maybe... Maybe tansy means something else?" Eugene flipped the pages as you burned a hole through the table, stunned where you sat. "Hostile thoughts, declaring war... Shit."

He stared at you as you slowly raised your head up and gave him a nasty look, whispering angrily: "Who... Who does she think she is?"

"(Y/N), I– I don't," Eugene knew, like yourself, that this could've been just pure coincidence, but all of the flowers representing almost exactly the same things inevitably had him worried and at a loss for words.

"That little bitch–" Your fists flexed into a fist, your brows drawing together, creating deep lines on your forehead.

"Don't freak out," Eugene grabbed your elbow in a calming gesture.

"She wants him–? She wants a war? I'll give her something worse, she'll regret ever setting foot in–"

"What's going on?" In between your heartbeat ringing in your ear and loud, angry words, you didn't hear Joel come in. Your head snapped towards him, eyes wide open and angry, then turned your head away towards Eugene.

"I think it's best if you sit down." The older man said uncomfortably.

He obliged, never looking away from you as he did. He was clearly worried, careful, but also cross; it wasn't hard to tell, and you had hoped he wouldn't see what you were up to, but alas...

"You know who brought me these?" You asked, focused at something outside the window.

"I have an idea." His eyes were burning through the side of your face, the tension crushing everyone in the room.

You chuckled bitterly. "You must think I'm crazy."

"I think no such thing," He growled, offended by your accusation. "You don't sleep well, you don't eat– Your worryin's making me worry!"

"The thing is, Joel," Eugene intervened. "She has a right to worry."

He finally looked at him with an exhausted expression: "What?"

"Each of these flowers have meanings in this book right here," He tapped the book. "And they're not good meanings at all."

"See? This is what worries me," He leaned back, crossing his arms. "You're gonna check everything she does or gives?"

"So you want me to stay oblivious to– to things, while Ward is probably physically absuing his wife?" You snapped, your head turning in Joel's direction to meet his quizzical expression. You got up from your chair, leaning in with your hands on the table: "If she was meaning to send a message to us with these flowers, asking for help, and we ignored it? That'd be on me."

"How could it possibly be on you?" He replied angrily. "How would she know that you'd– decipher this message?"

"I told you that I told her about–"

"Enough!" Eugene growled. "She sent her a message, despite what could be happening in their household." You sighed heavily and turned your head to the side, Joel glancing at Eugene as he continued: "All these flowers have one thing in common, Joel, and it's that they've bad meanings. This one?" He held up the marigold: "Jealousy. This one?" The hyacinth: "Also jealousy. And this?" The rose: "Jealousy... as well as infidelity."

Joel leaned back, an irked look on his face: "Wh– What?"

"Tansy– Hostile thoughts." He coughed into his fist as he put the flower down.

"So don't sit there–" You looked at him again, leaning in with your head: "And tell me that I'm worrying over nothing. Just because you have no clue about what's going on around you, doesn't mean it's not happening." You gulped, the barbed wire around your throat present once more, then picked up the book and closed it: "Thanks, Eugene."

He just nodded with a concerned look on his face and watched you walk upstairs. Joel, stunned in place, didn't say a word as the older man got up, tipped his head at him and left. He sat there for some time, by himself and stared at the beautiful flowers. He hadn't seen you like this since the Axel case– sure, you both had ups and downs but it had never gotten this bad since then. To prevent another fall out, he knew this time he had to be a little more alert for both of your sakes, if your accusations were indeed true.

But you both needed to co-operate if something was going to be done about this.

It was close to a week later when Ward opened up again.

Joel and you were a bit tense, even after when he suggested the next day after the flower incident that you both went to Maria to change your patrol schedules. She had said Joel only had one more patrol left with Kiki, while you still had three to go with Ward, which was okay for you especially after you found out that Joel's last patrol with Kiki was a group sweep which involved you too.

Joel was more than relieved too, thinking maybe change of patrol partners will finally ease the tension between you and him, but it seemed you'd remain upset until that last patrol was over with, which was the day after your current patrol with Ward.

You were taking a different route this time, on horseback and it was in the afternoon, a chill breeze was present which took the burning feel of the slowly setting sun off your shoulders. The trees were offering shield from the sun with their shadows, too.

"I overheard people talking about you and Joel."

"Really?" You rolled your eyes. "What were they saying?"

"Something about... having a child."

You turned your head and gave him a stern look, but it wasn't directed at him, then you sighed, the grip you had on your reigns tightening: "It's none of their business."

"Exactly what I told them."

"What?" You turned to face him again, the whip of your head smoother than before, and your voice was softer– surprised.

"I told them to stop talking about something which wasn't their business," Ward casually explained. "They then told me that I had no business listening to them, so I threatened to break their jaw if they didn't shut up."

"Ward..." You gave him a look of disapproval.

"Kidding," He offered a small smile. "Leave out the threatening bit, but it did cause a little argument. Maria was there though... organising this event that's coming up. She defended you, too."

You hadn't taken him to be the type to stand up for people he didn't exactly know: "Ward I–"

"Sorry though, don't know who they were–"

"Thank you."

He blinked, equally surprised at the smallest smile on your lips: "Oh, well..."

"Not many people would do that, I appreciate it," Your grip loosened and you allowed yourself to relax a little. "People tend to get ahead of themselves sometimes."

"Inconsiderate, that's what they are." He growled, but his face was thoughtful and troubled exactly like when he told you of his background. "It just– Gets on my nerves. This whole... baby talk."

"You and mine both," You huffed. "It's just funny how people who have almost no connections to me and Joel talk about it, when him and I haven't even put it out on the table yet." It was true. Neither of you had even said the word out of its nickname context.

"I just hope they won't force you to have one."

You turned your head to him with slightly wide eyes: "How do you mean?"

He remained quiet for a while, probably debating on whether he should share what he meant or not – if he should listen to his needs and get it off his chest, or add more to the bottle when there was no space left in it. He finally spoke: "Kiki had to lie, so that they wouldn't separate or punish us. I was too... paralysed to speak when she said We want to have children out of nowhere. Said that it was the only reason why we decided to date and get married. We had been together for just five months."

A sick lie to get out of an equally sick situation, which normally would've made you feel sick, but in this fucked up world and having done the equally fucked up shit you did, you couldn't bring yourself to feel nauseous; however, it did make a shiver run down your spine, the situation reminding you of the Seraphites in Seattle when an escapee had arrived in Boston, months after the fall of that QZ. She had told horrifying stories about how her and five other people had barely made it past them: They had witnessed 'religious sacrifice's, and the manslaughter from The WLF hadn't helped their case either... She had committed suicide a month after her arrival in Boston.

"By then we started to regret our decision more, because they were forcing us to– To have a child–"

"Hey, look, you don't have to tell me–"

"We lied–" He continued, feeling though as if he wasn't going to get another chance to open up again. "For a long time, it was maybe we're not lucky enough, or God's not willing. They... They went as far as to consider fucking exorcism, and it was all on Kiki, and her alone."

You thought for a moment he was going to cry, with the way his face scrunched up, but he kept going angrily: "I told them it could be biological, they told me she was cursed... I told them, maybe the problem was me, they insisted it was her... Until they finally needed proof that we were actually– You know–"

"God," You quietly gasped.

"I don't– We tried to break up, to end the madness, but they wouldn't listen. I had never touched Kiki other than kisses and hugs, while we were lying to them about– She was a virgin and so was I–"

He stopped for a brief moment when his horse whinnied, you were getting closer to the tall walls surrounding Jackson, then continued hesitantly: "She– finally got pregnant, after a whole year of deceiving them, but the stress of it got to her, I think. She... she miscarried." He gulped, closing his eyes tightly, an unpleasant look on his face. "You can imagine how it was received around the community– We had to run, you see, so we did."

You had reached the gates by then, it was Joel who was at the watchtower and waved at you as you waited for the doors to open. You waved back with a worried look on your face, which he must've spied through his binoculars. After bringing the horse into the stables and handing back your rifles, you stopped him. It was unusually quiet and empty around the southern gate, which was normally empty anyway: "Listen, I just wanna say–"

Before you knew it, a stuck gasp left him. His back was to you, so at first you thought he saw something, but as soon as you stepped to his side: "Ward," He was crying. "Oh– Hey, it's okay..."

He whimpered until he ran out of breath, covering his face with his hands. You didn't know how to react, internally panicking and carefully studying his body language, while feeling like a dick about it. You slowly and carefully put a hand on his back, and at the touch, he immediately collapsed by your feet. He was weeping now, and too close for comfort. You quickly looked around to see if anyone was there, only to find out not a single soul was in your line of sight, except for the slowly and suddenly approaching figure of your husband.

"Ward, get up," You lightly shook him by the shoulder to get his attention, but this only resulted in him leaning closer to your legs. You raised your head to see Joel had come to a stop a couple of feet away from where you stood: "Get. Up."

"You said– You said–" He struggled with trying not to cry and breathing at the same time.

"I said there is a group session if you needed to talk," You spoke, defeated, feeling Joel's burning gaze on your eyelids. "I'm sorry for what happened. I really am, but you need to get up."

He looked up at you to meet your stern, pitying gaze, then wiped at his tears. He nodded a couple of times and slowly got up, sniffling quietly. Without saying another word –even though he looked like he wanted to– and sparing you another look, he readjusted his backpack and walked away as if nothing happened. You stood there and watched him leave with your hands on your hips, then let out an exhausted sigh. You were just thankful that you weren't murdered for the most part, irked because of his sudden breakdown, but you also felt like shit scolding him as you did.

"You wanna tell me what the hell was that all about?" Joel. And he neither sounded pleased nor amused.

"You think I have an idea?" You gave him a hopeless look. "Man just– Suddenly told me the rest of his story and broke down, I don't–" Joel stood with his arms crossed, within your 6 feet radius, but there was nothing soft about it.

He was expecting an explanation, and an explanation he got: "That, Joel? That's what fucking scares me! I hear the shit they went through and I listen to it, waiting for the time he's going to get to the part where I did something to him or someone he cared for– waiting for the time they're going to shoot me or stab me– or you! And then they get like– like that, or do something nice to us, and suddenly I feel like an asshole because they're not bad people in the end, they just need some fucking help!"

You breathed heavily as your hands remained open at your sides after all the gestures and motions, your chest rising and falling very obviously as small sweat and tear droplets rolled down your face: "And they're seeking help in all the wrong places, from the most unsuitable people. I don't know about you, but I'm not mentally capable of taking their load while I have my own to deal with."

Joel took in a short amount of breath, as if to speak, but immediately closed his mouth. He stared into your eyes for what felt like 30 minutes, searching for something– you weren't quite sure what. He looked angry, upset, worried and heartbroken all in the same time.

Finally, when he couldn't speak, you added: "If anything happened to me, I could live with that." You spoke calmly, nodding curtly: "But if anything happens to you? I'll tear this whole goddamn town apart and make sure they can't find a place to hide from me."

Your fidgeting, unfocused eyes suddenly found Joel's hazel ones; you saw through all the anger, fretting and upset at that moment.

It was such an adoring, lovely gaze– Bit by bit, it drained you of all the hate and other ugly emotions pressing down your shoulders; a great sense of solace overcoming you as his big, warm hand cupped your jaw. He leaned in to steal the softest of kisses from your damaged lips– subconscious biting had seen to that, but Joel's softer ones made up for the loss on your side.

Before he could give you the chance to debate on whether you should hug him or not, he pulled back, his hand on your cheek still: "I won't let anything happen to you– To either of us. I promise you." You stared into each other's eyes for another moment, then he placed a most gentle kiss on your temple: "I made some dinner for you, go and eat for me."

You nodded, eyes lowering to the ground, then slowly walked away. Joel was quick to take notice of your broken stance– slumped shoulders, slowed steps and, ah, there goes the hand through your hair. He knew, then, that he had to put more effort into understanding how you viewed the couple and respecting your feelings. Sure, you were prone to worry and overthink, but so was he. Nothing, as far as he knew and had seen, had gotten to you like this before. Something ought to be wrong for you to beat yourself up over it as you did.

But despite everything –despite him still not seeing the way you saw the couple– you were, of course (and without question), his priority. He trusted you and your judgement, and it had always been so.

He just hoped it wasn't too late to show you that.

[rogue-durin-16]

THE KEEPER (Part I/II)

Summary: When a mysterious person threatens the heir's life, the service of a personal guard is required to keep him safe until the foe is found. Fíli, who doesn't take the matter very seriously, only sees it as an chance to spend more time with certain knight.

Pairing: Fíli x Reader

Genre: angst-fluff

Tags:

Permanent taglist: @queenofmankind @randomparanoid @karlthecat15722 @thebutchersdaughtersblog

Warnings: a little angst, probably some typos

A/N: am I deliberately ignoring the canonical end of The Hobbit? Maybe so. PSA my phone died and i just got a new one; I'm still getting used to typing with it, that's why I haven't updated in more than a week. It's also why you'll probably find typos here, but I hope you enjoy this nonetheless <3.

Part II

Rogue-durin-16 masterlist

I sighed at the music that echoed through the pillared halls of Erebor and managed to sneak into my room. Staying isolated while the whole kingdom was partying made my immature side, the one who would run down to the celebration in the blink of an eye, come to the surface, burying my common sense in its way.

"Must I tie you down to the lamppost?" Luckily, I had the most efficient keeper in the entire Royal Guard to remind me what I could and couldn't do.

"Would it kill you to relax?" I teased, though I had gotten her memo and was already moving away from my door.

"Probably." She replied, sparing me a quick glance with raised eyebrows. "Likely, it would kill you too." I rolled my eyes at her. "That's rather the point."

As a new idea crossed my mind, a smile flashed across my face "I'll risk it." I said, moving to stand in front of her, and held out a hand. "Dance with me?"

"No?" her tone expressed perfectly her incredulity at my words.

"Y/n I'm so bored, please, indulge me." her eyes opened widely, throwing daggers at me as I removed her sword and started to tug her towards me. "No one will attempt to kill me here."

"We don't know that." she retorted, though she didn't stop me from placing one hand on her waist and the other up in the air holding hers.

"Yes we do." I hummed, starting to sway at the rhythm of the music, quieted down due to the distance between us and the great halls. "We're in my chambers."

"will you remind me why aren't you at the party?" she inquired intently.

"Because of Thorin's paranoia?" I feigned innocence as I pretended to doubt the answer.

"Wrong." I pouted and she shook her head. "Someone sent you a death threat." I huffed, pulling away from her to spin her around. "You should take it seriously." I dramatically groaned, pulling her back to me. "Fíli." I couldn't help but grin.

It took me quite a while —almost a year— to convince her to call me by my name and not by my title.

"There is nothing to worry about," I stated, earning a tired sigh from her. We had been having that same back and forth for a week —it had started as soon as she had been assigned that task, in which I might have had a hand. "Because you are here to protect me."

"Something I can't quite do if I'm dancing."

"I said I'll risk it" i repeated with raised eyebrows.

It was then that she finally started to relax in my arms, not before letting out a sigh of defeat accompanied by an eyeroll though. Her beautiful eyes drifted off me to get lost somewhere at my left; took that opportunity to let my poor façade down and stared at her mesmerized as if she was the Arkenstone.

It's not as if I didn't make it quite obvious that I fancied her —actually, that was an understatement— but often my feelings were accompanied by a joking tone to spare my heart from Y/n's genuine reply.

A strong knock made us jump away from each other and rush to get our respective weapons. "Fíli?" My shoulders relaxed when Nori's voice reached us, but just as I stepped to open the door, Y/n tugged my arm to stand behind her. "Calm down, will you?" The dwarf requested, offended at Y/n's hostility whilst letting him pass.

"I tried telling her, but she won't listen." Y/n huffed and I winked at her. "What is it?"

"Thorin wants to move you to another room until this is sorted out." My eyes widened at his words. Now the whole matter was starting to look like a tempest in a teacup. "Dwalin offered to exchange chambers with you."

"You're all exaggerating." Y/n joined Nori in his task of picking up the necessary. "This is ridiculous!" Both of them were now running around the room, completely ignoring me. "I can defend myself!" Y/n, now at the doorframe, motioned me to follow her out of the room. "I refuse to leave my room just because a coward sent—"

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

"Force wasn't necessary." I grumbled, throwing myself over my back to the king sized bed. It wasn't as comfortable as mine.

"In fact," she gave me an intent look, taking off her light armor and mesh, and throwing them over a stone bench. "it was."

I propped myself up with my forearms, my eyebrows furrowed in confusion as I stared at Y/n. "What are you doing?"

"Getting ready to sleep?" She replied, leaving her sword as close to her as possible, in case she had to reach for it.

"In that chair?"

"Yes?" Now she was the one who frowned confused. "Where else?" With eyebrows raised, I motioned at the large, empty space on the bed. "No?"

"There's enough room left for you and your sword." She snorted as if I was joking —which I partially was but not entirely. "We're both grownups are we not?" Her eyes pierced through me giving me that look. "It wouldn't be the first time that we sleep together anyway."

"We are not to repeat that." She stated.

"Y/n? Y/n." I kicked her leg through my blanket and hers, making her gasp and consecutively turn to meet me with an annoyed gaze. "Don't give me that look."

"You just kicked me." She hissed in the same quiet tone I was speaking.

"Because you're shivering."

She completely spun around so now we were face to face. "That's not a valid reason to kick me."

"I was trying to get your attention." Before she could complain again, I rushed the words out of my mouth. "Sleep with me." She slightly scooted away, surely taken aback by my suggestion. "I'm freezing too." I added, which wasn't a lie, just an exaggeration.

Before I knew it, we were laying together with both blankets over us, our legs interlaced, and our faces way too close.

"this is the most uncomfortable position we could have chosen, is it not?" I laughed, refusing to let my cheeks redden.

She laughed too, in the same way I had. "Any suggestions?"

"maybe..." I started guiding her, searching for another posture. "Maybe... Like this? or-"

I was cut off by her quiet laughter, now genuine and contagious, as she had ended up with her torso over mine. "I don't think this is better." She caged me so she could prop herself and move; and she propped herself, but didn't move.

The muffled chuckles had died the moment our gazes met. Both of us parted our lips in an attempt to say something, but none spoke.

With our eyes locked, my hands carefully traveled up her thighs whilst one of hers hesitantly caressed my cheek.

As if we had silently agreed on it, we both leaned into each other and let our lips share a ghostlike kiss that left me yearning for more. It was the reason why I unconsciously lifted myself, trying to capture Y/n's lips when she pulled away.

I snapped out of it when my forehead met hers and her hands rested on my chest. It was the strangest sensation; seeing the regret in her orbs at the same time as I felt her body refraining itself from returning to me.

"... would it be so bad?"

Y/n opened her mouth like a fish out of water. "It would be worse. I thought I made clear that this" she finally spoke, motioning between me and her "cannot happen."

"Well, this time we're not sleeping in the woods." I reasoned, deliberately ignoring the pang in my chest. "So there is no reason for it to happen again. Now" I patted the matress. "Sleep with me."

After a moment of meditation, she gave in and lay down, throwing the soft furs over her.

Silence.

"This is uncomfortable." She spoke, both of our bodies stiff and our eyes on the ceiling.

"It is."

Silence.

"Okay, take the bed." I finally said, attempting to get off it and move to the chair, just to be tugged back by her hands.

"Don't you dare." Before I could argue, she scooted closer and I had to force myself to relax when she laid her head on my chest because I could make it even more uncomfortable if I didn't do so. "No kissing this time." She teased.

"Yes ma'am." I replied with a chuckle, wrapping my arms around her.

It didn't take long for either of us to fall asleep.

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

READER'S P. O. V.

I woke up to Fíli and Kíli's hushed voices, and I instantly jolted up, entering a kind of alert mode that only the two brothers were able to get me into.

"What are you doing?" Kíli's eyes went from his brother to me, and back to his brother. "What is it?" Instead of giving me a reply, the younger prince nodded at the blond one and exited the room. "What on Durin's beard was that?" I inquired, suspicious.

"I was telling him where I was going." Replied, sheathing his blade.

"You are not going anywhere."

"I am going out."

"No you're not." I commanded, already dreading it would be in vain.

"To Dale." He was speaking so casually, as if he wasn't about to disobey direct orders from our king and to get me in trouble in the process.

"Fíli."

"I need fresh air!" His voice became slightly louder in desperation.

"Go to the damn balcony!" I replied, mirroring his tone as I threw the furs off me.

"I'm going out."

"Well, I'm staying here." I firmly stated, not willing to give in just yet.

"Then I'm going out alone." And with that, he left. "Until this afternoon!"

"What even-" after going through a moment of shock, I got up and put on my boots, only being able to grab my sword and belt before rushing out of the room.

"Oh so you are coming?" He teased, literally strutting along the hallway, not bothering on slowing down the pace for me to be able to buckle my belt and sword around my waist without struggling.

"You're impossible." I yanked his arm to stop his walking.

With my attention on the belt I didn't notice how close he had gotten, so when his hands appeared in front of my eyes, pulling away mine, I had to stop myself from gasping. "You have always loved challenges." He pointed out, taking care of securing the belt around me.

"Not when I have to keep the challenge safe." He pulled at the leather clothing to make sure it was okay, and then held my hand to prompt me to resume the walk. "I don't even have my armor on."

"You won't need it." He assured me, not allowing me to go back before sneaking us out of the mountain.

This would surely end terribly.

[koko-bopp]

Singularity

song mingi x male!reader

word count – 1.9K

genre – ANGST ANGST ANGST ANGST!!!

warning(s) – homophobia, insecurities, anxiety, gif credit to its owner.

synopsis – « inspired by the song singularity by kim taehyung /v »

The room was dead silent, the only thing that was really making any noise was the clock on the wall not far from where you were sitting. It echoed loudly in the house, which wasn't exactly normal, since the giggles or laughs tended to bounce off the walls.

But this time was different.

The atmosphere was different, and so was the situation.

Your were laying on Mingi's chest, head resting on the centre with your fingers tracing undiscovered shapes along the maroon wool fabric of his shirt. You weren't even thinking about anything, your mind was blank. It was wandering, yet it wasnt. You were too focused on the colour of Mingi's shirt and the feeling of the material. How secure was the one your leg over his thigh actually? It was a cold night, and the heater isn't even on, so why aren't you cold? Just very basic thoughts were making their way around your head, nothing of major importance.

However, Mingi's thoughts were different. He just spent a whole dinner with his friends. You weren't there with him, despite the fact that there was a legitimate reason he didn't invite you. He didn't want his friends to know that he was dating you. But the more he was thinking about it, that didn't seem legitimate enough for him.

He wanted to show you off at his dinner, it wasn't even a special occasion. But everytime he told himself he'd tell his friends that he's dating a boy, it made him anxiously shake. It made him breathe heavily and it made him want to cry. He hated knowing he was scared of the outcome, scared of what people close to him would think.

He hated needing to put on a mask in front of those he wants to consider family, and only be able to take it off when he's around you.

Part of him knows that his friends would be supportive of his sexuality. Yet deep down he's frightened of even the potentiality of them not accepting him.

You thought Mingi stopped breathing for a second, then let out one of those shaky breaths he achieves when he's nervous. There was a furrow of your brows in curiosity before you gently looked up at your boyfriend, a small frown of concern expressed to him; "Honey, are you okay?"

Mingi's eyes were set on the television in front of you, nothing was there, but he was staring at himself from the black screen. His appearance was a bit of a blur, but he could still see you cuddled up to him nonetheless. He looked down at you, a quick-painted smile making its way on his lips, "I'm okay. Don't worry about me."

You nodded reluctantly, your eyes shifting their gaze before you placed your head back down onto his chest, this time snuggling into it as your way of reminding them you're right here for him.

The same shaky breath emitted from Mingi, this time that little bit louder. He carefully placed his hand on the top of your head, gently tracing down to your cheek.

You slightly looked up at him, just to make sure he was actually okay.

Mingi was crying.

"Honey!" You jumped onto your knees next to him, taking a hold of the hand on your cheek and placing your other hand on his, wiping away the tears that were rolling down his face as best you could. They kept falling, and you could tell by the way he was sniffing that he was genuinely trying to hold himself from doing so. "Mingi, baby. Baby, what's wrong?" You said, concern for your boyfriend all over your face.

"I–" Mingi tried to talk, but his throat wouldn't allow him. He was too busy choking on his own tears, and now that you caught him crying, there was no reason to try to hide it. Mingi looked at you through teary eyes, "You love me. Right?"

You furrowed your brows. "Why would you ask such a thing? Of course I love you."

Mingi averted his gaze from you, drops of tears were still making their way down his cheeks. He couldn't look at you, only because he genuinely didn't know what to say. He had a feeling as to what the cause of the heavy emotions may be, but he didn't know how he could address it to you properly.

"Mingi. Please, breathe." You placed one of your hands on his chest, pressing on it lightly, "Deep breaths, babe. Deep breaths. There you go.."

Your boyfriend did his best to do so. He listened to your instructions, he breathed in and breathed out. His chest rising and falling to the rhythm you were exaggerating for his sake.

He loves, he just loves you so much. Your caring behaviour, your selfless actions. God, he just adored you so much more than you could possibly imagine.

Mingi continued, taking a hold of the hand that you had on his chest, so you knew he was calming down. A final shaky breath left his lips, his tears stopped and he'd calmed himself to the point his breaths were at a normal enough pace.

You stopped too, carefully looking at your boyfriend, "Mingi. I need you to tell me what's wrong," You demanded, softly yet firmly, "I'm not willing to let my boyfriend sleep with something this intense in mind."

"Don't you hate me?" Mingi's voice almost came out as a whisper, but it hit you like a yell. "I tell everyone you're my friend. I'm not brave enough to tell people we're together. I'm so scared of what people think that I... I don't think that you might feel neglected or something..."

You blinked, looking down for half a second in thought, before sadly looking back up at him, "Why didn't you just talk to me? God knows how long this has been on your mine."

"I... I didn't know if I could handle the answer..." Another tear left Mingi's eyes, this one from the left, "I thought you might leave me, find a guy who's not scared to show you off, call you his boyfriend and–"

"–Mingi, shut up." You snapped, taking a hold of the other's cheeks, "Shut up. Don't talk. Listen to me, okay?"

He tensed, but you look his silence as an answer.

"I love you. I love you so much. Do you understand?" You said, eyes wide in doing your best to show how serious you were, "I love you so much, and if you're not ready, then you're not ready. I can't force you to make such a decision."

"B-But, it shouldn't be such a big deal," Mingi cried, "Everyone should know, I shouldn't have to hide you out of fear, I–"

"I know, I know. But that's the world we live in, and sometimes we have to put on a mask to protect ourselves, Mingi." Your own tear slipped from your cheek, you hadn't even realised that your voice shook until the tear slipped down to your chin. You breathed heavily, "All we can do is wait for a little. Just until we feel safe. Okay, baby? We can do that, yeah?"

Mingi closed his eyes, bringing the palm of your hand to his lips to place a small kiss. A promise and a reminder.

Fuck, he loves you so much.

He just needed the reminder that the same amount of love was coming from you too.

[doyelikehaggis]

Rowing the Rarepair Rowboat: Carenzo | Caroline Forbes x Enzo St. John (The Vampire Diaries)

"Thinking of jumping down and trying to walk across it?" Enzo asks from Caroline's right, sitting beside her on the stairwell. His tone is light, joking, one that she hadn't quite realized she'd missed all these months they've spent apart. 

She sniffs, sucking in a deep breath that only makes her chest hurt, and lifts her head up. She keeps her eyes straight ahead, staring at the buildings stretching out in front of her as far as she can see before the snow makes it impossible. 

"The thought crossed my mind," she admits, cracking a slight smile. "With vamp speed, we could probably get to the airport just in time. Compel a pilot if the flight's cancelled." She looks at him, blinking once or twice to see him better as she pulls a teasing look, nudging his shoulder. "Or we could just get you to fly it, Captain Lorenzo."

Enzo chuckles at the emphasis she puts on his name. It eases a little bit of the twisting in her stomach, her smile a little more genuine as she watches him duck his head for a moment.

"I actually didn't go by my right name back then," he tells her, and she raises her eyebrows, but he shakes it off. His eyes and his smile turns sad as he gazes at her. "I'm sorry about all of this, Caroline. I know you wanted to be on that flight."

She did. She needed to be on it. Lizzie and Josie are counting on her. Were counting on her, and now she's probably going to have to let them down. Again. She had told herself she would be there, especially after everything that's happened with them lately. 

"It just wasn't supposed to be like this," she says, shaking her head. "I was only supposed to be gone a few months. I wasn't—wasn't supposed to miss Christmas, or their birthday, or—"

She clamps her mouth shut, her throat aching like it's made of sandpaper.

"I just wanted to be there."

There are only so many holidays she's going to get with them. Even without the merge, she was always going to outlive them, and she's hated the thought since the day they were born. But it's so much worse now. 

"They have six years left," she says quietly, her voice shaking and her chin wobbling. "And I am running out of options. I just—I just wanted to be there, you know? For one day, at least. To see their faces light up. To watch them just be happy, without having to worry about any of this, to just—to just be there with them, as a family, and I—I just wish I had my mom because I am so lost and I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

She breaks down completely, sobs racking her body in a matter of seconds. Enzo's quick to pull her in, his arms wrapping around her as she closes her eyes against the tears and all of it. It's too much, too overwhelming. Everything hurts too much and she hates it, and why does this keep happening? Why can't something just go the way it was supposed to, why can't she be allowed to be happy?

"It's alright," Enzo murmurs into her hair, one hand stroking her back, her face buried in his chest and hands clinging to him. His voice cracks ever so slightly, and he tries to clear it. "Let it all out, sweetheart. I'm not going anywhere."

She can't begin to express how much relief the last part brings her, even if it fills her with so much dread as well. Everyone who promises they aren't leaving her finds a way in the end. Even the immortal ones. She just hugs him tighter, letting herself believe it for this one moment, because she needs this. She needs him.

They just sit there. She doesn't know for how long, but Enzo never once stops talking to her, his voice soft and soothing. Slowly, the bubbling of pain and guilt and too many other things that are tearing her apart from the inside starts to ease until it's a gentle simmering. Her sobs turn to sniffles, the tears eventually dry, the shaking in her body turns to shivers. 

Enzo pauses, and she can't see him but she can feel his chin move from her head and assumes he's looking at her. "Cold?" he asks her with concern in his voice.

Caroline huffs out a soft laugh that holds the smallest fragment of humour. "Freezing. So much for vampires being immune to everything."

Enzo chuckles along with her, one of his hands moving to her arm, rubbing through her thin coat. She curls in closer to him.

"We still function as humans," he reminds her. "Even we're not immune to frostbite. Immune to dying from it, yes, but getting all of the symptoms of it where our hands go numb and can't move? Unfortunately, no. Probably not the best idea to be sitting outside in the coldest weather of the century."

Caroline hums her agreement. Her throat is still aching, rubbing raw every time she talks. 

"Here."

She feels Enzo move again and pulls back slightly to look at him. Her eyebrows furrow in confusion as he produces a scarf seemingly out of nowhere.

"When you came up here, I was going to follow you but figured you'd end up on the balcony in our room," he explains as he winds it around her neck, adjusting it to wrap it around and back down. "But then I remembered the key, and I saw the door coming out here open. You've always had a thing for being outside when you're upset."

Despite all of the crumbled, broken pieces inside of her, she smiles a little. He pauses, checking to make sure the scarf looks okay. She just gazes at him as he gently moves a few strands of her hair until he pulls his hand back. Alarm rises in her as he begins slipping his arm out of his own jacket.

"What are you doing?" she asks him as he takes it off. 

"You need it more than I do," he simply says. 

Caroline starts to protest, but he's already wrapping it around her shoulders, seemingly unfazed that he's now sitting in the middle of a snowstorm in nothing thicker than a flimsy long-sleeved t-shirt. 

"But you just said—"

"Darling, I meant you're not immune to the cold," he cuts her off, shaking his head. He has a faint smile as he adjusts the jacket, pulling it closed around her. "I've endured much worse than a chill. Trust me, I'm perfectly fine. I can barely feel it anymore."

Caroline's heart sinks. It always does when she knows he's referencing his past in Augustine but trying to veer around actually saying it. She watches his face as he continues playing with the jacket, and then the scarf, making sure they're both just right enough to keep her warm. 

"I'm glad you're here," she tells him softly, making his hand falter and his eyes move back up to hers. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You would get through this," he says, completely serious and sincere. His hand is still hovering next to her, a few strands of hair between his fingers. "You would be upset, but you would pull yourself together, and you would find a way to get on that plane. Even if it meant you had to march right through this snow and demand that the plane takes off otherwise you'll fly it yourself if you have to."

Caroline can't help but laugh softly at his exaggerated tone, his intentions clearly to make her do just that as his eyes sparkle with a flicker of happiness. She knows he's right, of course. It would feel so much harder if she was here all alone, stranded with little hope of getting home, but she wouldn't stop trying to find a way to make it happen.

She sighs, wiping her eyes, feeling the dried tracks on her cheeks. "Well, it's a good thing you're here then, because putting me in control of a plane definitely wouldn't get us home."

"Nonsense," Enzo says, grinning, wrapping an arm back around her shoulders. "You'd make a damn good pilot. With some supervision."

"Oh, high praise from an ex-captain," she jokes, then pauses. "It is ex-captain, right?"

Enzo nods. "Yes. That whole part of my life is in the past."

Caroline just nods back as he shifts to lean against the wall behind him, pulling her closer. She settles against his side, tucked under his arm, her head on his shoulder. There's no hope of the snow stopping any time soon, and by the looks of it, they don't have much of a reason to be in any rush anymore. 

A beat passes, silence falling over them like the snow blankets the ground. She listens to the beating of his heart as her own finally slows back to an even pace, the anger and frustration and guilt seeping out of her, leaving her nothing but exhausted. 

"Can I at least ask what your alias was?" she asks softly, her curiosity poking at her as she looks up at him with a slight raise of her eyebrows. 

Enzo glances at her, then smiles.

"Michael Quinn," he answers with a strange raise in his accent, slipping from the gruff, charming British one she's used to, to a slightly softer American one.

He gives a laugh at her obvious surprise and confusion, and his voice goes back to normal.

"I adopted a completely different identity back then. Faked an accent, pretended to be American. It was easier to blend in."

"That makes sense," Caroline agrees, but can't quite wrap her head around the idea of an American Enzo, even if just for an act. 

"I started off a pilot in '42, because of World War One," he continues, to her surprise. "By '52, I was made a Captain of the US Air Force. I ended up working with the government. Shocker, I know."

Caroline's definitely thrown, that's for sure. "I thought you weren't allowed to talk about this?" she questions. 

"Well, considering all of the people I worked with back then are more than likely dead now, I think I'm safe," Enzo says, shrugging. 

Caroline nods slowly. His logic makes sense. And if he thinks it's safe to talk about then who is she to argue? It's not as if she wouldn't like to know more about this secret part of his past.

"So, the government?" she asks, twisting around in his arms and resting her chin on his shoulder. "What, did they have some shady secrets? Oh, did it involve alien conspiracies? Please, Captain Quinn, tell me this story has aliens."

Enzo laughs, and it makes her feel a little more at home for a brief moment. This storm will pass, she thinks. In all senses.

She'll call Alaric, somehow, and let him know what's going on if he hasn't already been filled in. They'll work something out. She will find a way back to Mystic Falls, even if she does have to compel someone to fly them home.

[dontreadthistrashgarbage]

G O T 7 pt.4

"Hey kiddos!" Guerin called out in English as she entered the dorm for HEET. She had messaged them earlier that she would be stopping by. Having wrapped up breakfast with JB she had enough time to catch the boys and Eneoji before they left for work for the day.

"Noona!" Seungbin jumped up from the couch and ran to into entryway to greet her, the large white Samoyed hot on his heels. Guerin hugged the maknae in greeting then kneeled down to give her dog attention. The other five members of HEET made their way out to greet her as well. They all settled in the living room, Eneoji sprawled across both her and the typically nonexpressive Tobio next to her.

She listened as they caught her up on how everyone had been faring and some plans they had begun working on, including a possible World Tour now that they had gotten their first wins. It hadn't been long since their last promotions ended but they had all been working hard on preparing for the next comeback. Guerin asked them if she should take Eneoji home but Seungbin and Tobio asked to let her stay longer.

"Just let me know if your days get too long and you can't get away to take her out or you cant bring her to work. She needs the attention." Guerin cautioned.

"That time might be coming soon." Byoungjin said reasonably, but once he caught the pathetic expression from Seungbin he added, "But we have another couple days at least."

"I've been running with her everyday still! Sometimes people recognize us!" The American Gabriel said excitedly, "She's been giving out pawtagraphs." The pun had been a joke between him and Guerin but had become recognized fandom canon when he had let it slip in a vlive.

"Did Jackson ever make an appointment with you?" Minhwan asked suddenly, remembering his Sunbae reaching out to him.

"Yes he did, and his puppy is super adorable, we should absolutely schedule a playdate with MinNao and Eneoji." Guerin gushed.

"I haven't seen him in a while. It would be nice to see him again." Byoungjin said, happy at the prospect of meeting up with his fellow trainee.

"I met a few other people you guys know too. Mark Tuan and JB." Guerin said, though she opted to leave out that she had just gotten breakfast with the latter to avoid too many questions, "JB even came to see Mihi fly."

"I've head of JB. Doesn't he produce under the name Defsoul?" Tobio asked curiously.

"Yes, he helped me learn music composition and arrangement." Byoungjin answered, "How is he?" He turned to Guerin and she faltered.

"Ahh... we... he is nice but we kinda had a disagreement recently." She said honestly.

"What happened? Noona are you okay?" Seungbin sat up protectively.

"Yes I'm fine. He apologized." Guerin said, touched by the fifteen-year-old's reaction as she pinched his cheek, causing him to pout slightly.

"I'm not that surprised. JB was always a little hot headed." Minhwan frowned.

Guerin was shocked, "Hot headed? I would never have described him that way. I thought he was fairly laid back, even cute sometimes."

"Cute?" Minhwan coughed out a laugh, "Im Jaebeom? He hated aegyo!"

"No I dont mean aegyo." Guerin couldn't help but laugh at the idea of JB attempting full blown aegyo, "But he has... cute mannerisms? Like he puffs out his cheeks when he is thinking, or scrunches up his face when he teases, or plays up certain emotions when he gets excited." She tried to explain.

Byoungjin was looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" She asked.

"Nothing. You just described him very well." Byoungjin shrugged, clearly not telling the full truth.

"Yeah he had some of that too but he used to get mad and blow up a lot." Minhwan explained, "If he thought someone was being disrespectful, wasting time, not trying hard enough..." Minhwan flinched, "It wasn't fun being on the receiving end of that."

"I never would have guessed." Guerin said.

"Did you get yelled at a lot, Hyung?" Gabriel asked leader Minhwan, a slight cheeky quality to the inquiry.

"No, you rude punk." Minhwan answered back with even more sass, "But JB would have destroyed you. If you aren't careful I'll call him in to teach you a lesson." He threatened playfully, giving the younger man a couple pokes to the ribs, causing Gabriel to giggle and flinch away.

"JB had a rough childhood. His birth father wasn't a good person and he suffered for it. He talked about trying to change it. He was aware and he didn't want to be the kind of man that hurt his mom." Byoungjin said seriously. Minhwan and Gabriel looked chagrined. Everyone was quiet, unsure of what to say. Guerin processed the new information carefully, adding a bit more understanding to JB's personality.

"He must be working hard. It's not easy to overcome that kind of trauma." Tobio unexpectedly said. He wasn't as talkative as the others but when he did he had a habit of poignancy. The others nodded thoughtfully.

"What did you two fight about?" Seungbin asked suddenly.

"Oh... it's so embarrassing." Guerin hid her face in Eneoji's fur.

"Noonaaaaa, tell us!" Seungbin plied, pushing her gently and using full aegyo to get her to answer. She tried to avoid looking at him but he was too powerful.

"Okay fine." She pushed Seungbin away as he grinned in triumph and Gabriel cackled.

"He... asked me to sing a song he wrote." She said quietly.

"He asked you to sing?" Gabriel was floored.

"Noona we told you that you have a nice singing voice." Minhwan boasted. They had all spent time around her so they had heard her many times.

"Yeah but I'm not a professional. It's just for fun." She felt like she had to keep repeating it.

"Maybe he likes you." Gabriel said, then adding in English, "-likes you- likes you. Y'know?"

"Gabriel!" She said astonished, "Minhwan I can't reach, would you shove him for me."

"I don't know, he might have a point." Minhwan shrugged, trying not to laugh.

"Well he better not." Seungbin said making a face, "Noona you deserve someone nice."

"Don't speak ill of people you haven't met." Tobio scolded the youngest gently. Seungbin apologized and ducked his head. Guerin smiled fondly at the well intentioned boy before she caught another thoughtful expression on Byoungjin, who quickly blanked his face as soon as their eyes met. She didn't have a chance to question him before Minhwan changed the subject to talk about Mark and Jackson too and she forgot to bring it up again until after she had left.

"Charlie-ssi, have you eaten yet?" Jinyoung asked, coming up beside his favorite producer as she pored over a thick stack of notes.

"No, not yet..." she answered, distracted.

"That's silly, it's our meal break. Come eat with me." He said, taking a step back and gesturing toward the food truck that had been sent by his costars friends.

She glanced up, feeling regretful at having to say no to such a handsome man asking her to join him for a meal, "I can't, I want to finish this first. Besides, I'm on a diet, I wasn't going to eat anyway."

Jinyoung looked offended, "A diet?" He repeated blankly.

"Yeah, I've put on some weight and being around all these beautiful actors..." she trailed off realizing she might be oversharing.

Jinyoung shook his head disapprovingly, "Ridiculous. You're beautiful the way you are." He turned to walk away, muttering, "A diet."

She was frozen for a moment. Did Park Jinyoung just call her beautiful? She shook her head. It was probably just lip service. Still, it was disappointing not being able to eat with him. But she had eaten and drunk so much last night, she was feeling positively bloated. Shaking her head once more she turned back to her notes.

A few minutes later a plate of chicken with vegetable sides and half a cupcake was placed on the table in front of her. Looking up she saw Jinyoung settling in the chair next to her, holding a similar looking plate with the other half of the cupcake. She watched him in surprise as he nonchalantly settled in, picking up his chopsticks before meeting her gaze.

"Skipping meals is unhealthy. You should take care of your body and feed it well." His genuine smile made her heart race and she blinked to get her bearings. His smile turned slightly more mischievous as he reached over to break off a piece of cupcake with his chopsticks and raise it to her lips, "but a little treat every now and then is good too."

It took her a moment but she responded by opening her mouth and taking the bite, blushing and quickly looking around to see if anyone had seen. Jinyoungs smile took over his whole face, eyes crinkling as he turned happily back to his own meal. Charlie smiled too, then set aside her notes to dig in as well, talking with him as a few more crew members joined them at the table creating happy chatter during their break.

Guerin had met up with Jackson and MinNao for another training session, this one focusing on loose leash walking. Jackson and his puppy were both eager to learn and absorbed information, putting it into practice readily. The two humans chatted about training theory as they walked but it devolved into general chatter and joking around.

"Oh, why don't we get a coffee? MinNao can practice being calm and greeting people." Guerin suggested suddenly as they passed a shop with outdoor seating.

Jackson beamed, "That sounds great!"

"Go ahead and get seated. I'll order inside." Guerin pointed to a table on the patio.

"Wait, take my card." Jackson started to reach for his wallet.

"Nope! It's on me!" Guerin grinned and skipped away from him through the doors, ignoring his protests. He was left to make his way to the patio with his rotund red puppy. It wasn't long before Guerin reappeared with two iced Americanos, placing one in front of a pouty Jackson as she settled across from him.

"Oh MinNao, yes, I missed you too." Guerin cooed at the puppy who had begun wiggling as soon as she was back in sight, pointedly ignoring the sulking man. Jackson squinted his eyes petulantly, reaching over to his drink for a sip, not looking away. Once Guerin sat back she couldnt help but giggle at Jackson's exaggerated mood.

"Oh come on," she protested with a laugh, "Can't I buy a friend a coffee?" She returned his pout playing up the cuteness as much as possible.

Jackson let out his trademark high pitched squeal "Cuuuuute!" He exclaimed, leaning back and crossing his arms over himself defensively, dimples showing from his grin. Guerin couldn't help but laughing at his adorable reaction. The two continued their banter, intermittently reinforcing and playing with MinNao until during a lull Jackson changed the subject.

"Did you ever end up talking to JB again?"

Guerin took a moment, piecing together how she wanted to phrase the experience, "Yeah... he actually apologized. He seemed really genuinely upset with himself."

"What happened?" Jackson leaned forward curiously.

"It happened the same night we went out." She paused, "It sounds weird but he ended up at my apartment, drunk. He was really upset and apologizing a lot. I didn't feel comfortable sending him away that drunk so I let him pass out on the couch."

Jackson had no poker face. He sat back, looking disgruntled, "He spent the night?"

Guerin immediately tried to clarify, "Yeah but he was just passed out on the couch. It wasn't like... that." She floundered, "The next morning he didn't even remember but he bought us breakfast and apologized properly." Jackson still had an odd expression on his face so she tried to move on, unsure of how to phrase the scenario any better, "He actually asked me to try recording again."

"What did you say?" Jackson asked.

"I told him I'd try it." She felt strangely guilty admitting it so she avoided Jacksons gaze by focusing on taking a sip on her drink. Jackson floundered for a moment. He didn't want Guerin to set herself up for hurt again but JB was a close friend.

"If he apologized then he'll be better this time." He said, nodding resolutely, "You can trust him."

Guerin was relieved with Jacksons understanding. Him vouching for JB's character set her more at ease, "Thanks Jackson. It feels good to hear you say that." She smiled softly at him.

He beamed back at her before changing his expression to overdone disapproval to match his scolding tone, "But you don't have to let just anyone stay at your house overnight. You should be more careful!"

She laughed in shock, "Oh my god!" She exclaimed in English, "Nothing happened! It was nothing!" She said defensively.

"Still. It looks bad. Next time send him home." He said petulantly.

"Whatever." She said in English again, tsking at his attitude dismissively. They argued playfully for a bit before the conversation flowed naturally in another direction.

JB and Jackson met for dinner later that evening. They caught up with light chatter about their current projects and Jacksons upcoming schedules in China. Their discussion was light and friendly, with a lot of laughter from the both of them.

"Guerin agreed to try recording for my new song." JB brought up amidst their discussion of projects.

"Hyung." Jackson said suddenly. JB looked up at Jackson while reaching for a bite of food, "You need to be nice to her this time." Jackson added seriously. JB hesitated, remembering seeing Jackson hugging Guerin after his blow up.

"Ah..." he didn't know what to say so he shoved some food in his mouth as he thought. Jackson waited. "I was wrong that time. I was a jerk. I won't do it again." He said resolutely.

"And you shouldn't spend the night at her house either." Jackson added seriously. JB looked at his friend with wide eyes, shocked.

"I saw Guerin today. She said you came over to apologize." Jackson said, "I know you meant well... but... I told you before I like her. So I don't like you staying there overnight."

JB finished chewing and swallowed, "Ah... about that..." Jackson looked at him inquisitively, "I didn't say anything before. I thought I could give it up. But I like Guerin too." He looked ashamed, "I tried to distance myself and I got upset and I took it out on her. So I decided I need to be honest with both of you. I'm sorry I wasn't honest from the beginning."

Jackson couldn't hide his surprise. A variety of emotions passed across his face rendered uncharacteristically speechless. JB waited patiently for him to recover. After a few moments Jackson looked resolute, "We can't help how we feel. Neither of us own Guerin or have a right. Regardless, you're my precious friend and nothing is going to change that."

"Waaahhhh." JB said, impressed. He offered his hand to his friend which Jackson took and they shook fondly, "That was cool." They grinned at each other.

"I'm still going to confess." Jackson said, widening his eyes and locking eyes with JB who chuckled at his friends comical expression.

"Yeah. I think I will too." JB responded.

"Don't spend the night at her house again though." Jackson pouted at JB.

"I can't promise that." JB said breaking the seriousness, turning his gaze to food and reaching for another bite.

"Hyunggg." Jackson caught onto the shift in the mood as he whined, "Don't be like this."

"Like what?" JB played innocent, chewing and opening his arms questioningly.

"Hyuuuunnngggg...." Jackson whined more, pouting with his full body, causing JB to laugh loudly and offer the barely younger man a bite of food to satiate his sulk.

"Thanks for helping me pick out some new makeup." Charlie smiled at Mark. The two of them were meandering toward the famous makeup district in Seoul.

"It's no problem! I don't have a shoot today and I like spending time with you." He responded with a smile, but had to look away at the last part shyly. Charlie blushed, unsure of how he intended the message but she was flattered regardless.

"I usually do really simple makeup but with our wrap party soon I wanted something a bit more flashy. I figured, you're a model, you might know what you're doing." She shrugged.

Mark laughed, "Well I usually have makeup done to me but lucky you I can do some as well."

The pair entered a shop and meandered through, with Mark making suggestions and offering feedback on Charlie's questions.

"I don't know if that color would look good on me..." she said dubiously eyeing sparkly purple eyeshadow.

"Sure it will. Pair it with this lighter shade, it'll complement your hair well and go with your pink contacts." He pushed. When she continued looking doubtful he pouted at her, "You said you wanted a bolder look, don't you trust me? You should at least try it."

"Okay... I'll try it." Charlie gave in to his cute expression.

Mark beamed, causing her heart to race. He really had an unnecessarily beautiful face. An unnecessarily beautiful everything. She blinked to clear her thoughts as he grabbed the sample eyeshadows. She reached to out to take them from him but he pulled away.

"I'll do it, so you can see what I mean." Mark said. Charlie hesitated then dropped her hand.

"Okay..." She couldn't think of a reason to not let him and just hoped she could cope with proximity.

"Close your eyes." He instructed as he opened the first shade. She obeyed and tried not to flinch as he applied the colors and blended them together. It felt like forever. He was so close his breath would wash across her face and neck. His touches were gentle but precise. Her mind wanted to wander but she locked that down as best she could. "Okay." He said finally.

Charlie's eyes fluttered open, she was surprised to still see him so close to her. He studied his handiwork then nodded, looking into her eyes with a proud close lipped smile, "It looks great on you."

She felt herself blushing again and turned away quickly with the pretense of finding a mirror. Locating one quickly she looked in and gasped, "Oh, wow that does look really cool."

"Thanks." Mark stepped up behind her, still looking proud.

"Alright I'll get these then." She nodded but avoided his gaze.

"Let's find a lip color to go with it. Maybe something more neutral..." Mark said thoughtfully before turning and wandering toward the lip section. Charlie took a couple breaths before following after him.

"Boy Howdy do I got news." Guerin said, slipping into the chair across the table from her friend. The two of them often defaulted to English when speaking with each other. Charlie looked up, from her coffee. She and Mark had gone their separate ways not too long ago. She had, of course, removed the makeup before leaving the shop.

"Same." Charlie sighed in response, leaning her head on her hand as she frowned at her friend.

"Oh? Tell me about it." Guerin leaned forward expectantly, curious about the news.

"I might be imagining things..." Charlie started, then fidgeted as she tried to piece together what to say, "Probably just wishful thinking..." she trailed off again.

"Spit it out!" Guerin urged, tapping the table to snap her friend back to attention.

Charlie groaned and covered her face, "I'm just thinking ugh! So... I think I have feelings."

"Oooohhhhhh?!" Guerin sat up with a grin and wiggled excitedly, "Who is the lucky person?"

"That's the problem. Well. One of them..." she started to trail off again before she caught Guerin's gaze again and forced herself to spit out, "I think I like two people. I think I like Jinyoung and Mark..." Guerin grinned and let out an appreciative sound but Charlie continued, "And I think... they might like me? But I'm not sure. And like... what could two such handsome men see in someone like me? I must be imagining it."

Guerin scoffed, "Yeah, what could two men see in a smart, fun, sweet, beautiful, strong woman like yourself. Absolutely ridiculous." The sarcasm couldn't have been laid on thicker.

Charlie forced one corner of her mouth up into what was supposed to be a smile but was more like a disbelieving grimace, "Thanks..."

"Don't you give me that face. Give yourself some credit. You don't have to believe everything I said, even if it IS the truth. But you have a lot of excellent qualities. What's not to like?" Guerin argued.

"Come on, maybe for an average person. But these guys are surrounded by incredibly beautiful people all the time. I am so plain in comparison. I barely wear makeup and my standard is hoodies and jeans." Charlie looked increasingly despondent as she spoke.

Guerin frowned, "You might not be a movie star but give these guys some credit. Hopefully anyone you like would be decent enough to not measure a person's worth by how glamorous they can be." Charlie still didn't look convinced, "Listen I can't make you believe me. I haven't met Jinyoung but I did meet Mark. I might have been having a bad night but even I could tell, ya boi was into ya."

Charlie couldn't help but chuckle at her friends earnest and goofy way of speaking. "If you say so." She suddenly looked up, determined, "Speaking of! Any news on that front?"

"Oh, yeah. Geez." Guerin launched into the explanation of JB coming over drunk that same night. At first she told the same edited version she had told Jackson but after finishing she hesitated.

"Well it's good that he apologized." Charlie narrowed her eyes at her friends expression, "Guerin you have no poker face. What are you hiding?"

Guerin laughed nervously, "I uh... well... while he was drunk... it kinda sounded like he was confessing feelings too."

It was Charlie's turn to coo at the juicy gossip. Guerin waved her hand dismissively, "Don't get excited. When he woke up he didn't say it again. He didn't even remember."

"Mmhmm." Charlie said, sipping her coffee like Hyungwon. Guerin rolled her eyes, uncharacteristically at a loss for words. "Sounds like you've got a love triangle."

"What? With who?" Guerin gasped.

"JB and Jackson." Charlie said in a sing song voice.

"Oh stop. JB was drunk and Jackson is friendly with everyone." Guerin shook her head.

"Mmhmm." She made another point of sipping her coffee with emphasis. "You make a big production of how every man should be in love with me and you can't even notice a puppy begging for attention and a drunk confession. Come on."

Guerin could understand her perspective but still found it unbelievable. She didn't voice her thoughts again.