#can my life not be a comedy of errors. for five minutes

[daincrediblegg]

can my mom like. be just a little fucking chill. about being horny for the professor that I'm a TA for this semester. for like. five minutes

[atearyamallari]

How Not to Bake a Pizza

This is my first entry for @tmnt-write-fight. Big shout out to @mostlyvoid-partiallyturtles, who provided the following writing prompt:

The gang tries to cook/bake something complicated.

Now, granted, pizza isn't that complicated of a dish, but as someone who grew up with multiple siblings and witnessed all of their epic cooking fails, I would argue that any dish can be complicated if you cook it wrong enough. So, enjoy! I look forward to battling my peers during write fight this month. Glory to the Foot Clan!

Words: 3415

Rating: Gen

Tags: Fluff, Fluff Without Plot, Fluff and Crack, Fluff and Humor, Comedy, Comedy of Errors, Slice of Life, No Plot/Plotless

Iteration: Mutant Mayhem

You can also check out the fic here on AO3!

//

“Thanks again for letting us use your oven, Mrs. O’Neil,” Donnie said.

“And, well, your whole kitchen for that matter,” Mikey added.

Carol stared, bewildered, at the four teenage boys that waltzed into her apartment. Four teenage turtle boys. Her daughter, April, glanced at her nervously in between exchanging hi-fives (hi-threes?) and handshakes with them. “Hey, guys, what’s up?” she said. “This is my mom. Momma, this is Leo, Raph, Donnie -���

“- Donnie, and Mikey,” she finished. “The new friends you’ve been talking about, right?”

Leo extended a hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. O’Neil,” he said. “Hope you don’t mind us dropping in. We’re just here to make a pizza. If it turns out decent, we’d love to share it with you.”

Oh, she did mind. Having unexpected guests was bad enough – the apartment wasn’t clean, and she hadn’t stocked the fridge with anything to eat. But four boys at once? And all of them her daughter’s age? Nonetheless, she hid her chagrin behind a charming smile and shook Leo’s hand.

As the turtles filed into the kitchen, chattering among themselves, she made her way to her daughter. “I take it you think it’s better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission?” she whispered as she placed her hand on her shoulder.

“It’s just for one, maybe two hours,” April said sheepishly. “You see, they don’t have an oven and they’ve never made a homemade pizza before and…”

Her daughter went on, insisting that they would stay out of trouble and clean up after themselves. One thing was for sure: Carol had never seen her this excited about having friends over. Ever since she entered high school, she had struggled to make friends. There weren’t many kids who shared her interests, and she tended to be on the shy side. Maybe this would be good for April, as inconvenient as it was.

Of course, that didn’t mean she was going to not be strict. “You, me, and your daddy are gonna have a talk later,” she warned, cutting her off.

April paled slightly. “Oh. Okay. So, we cool for now, or…?”

Carol looked up at the turtles, who had already found the mixing bowls and were pulling them out of their cabinets. “You four make yourselves at home, okay? I’ll just be in the living room if you boys need anything,” she called out.

“We won’t,” Raph called out. “We got this.”

“Thanks anyway!” Mikey said.

She stepped into the living room, pulled a book from one of the shelves, then sat down on the couch, thumbed it open and pretended to read. To be honest, she couldn’t help but be a little nosy. If April was right, and these four teenagers had never baked a pizza before, then this Saturday afternoon was going to be an entertaining one.

Two minutes in, and they were already running into problems. “Donnie, what are you doing?” Raph asked.

“I’m just heating up the water, why?” The microwave door closed and Carol heard a few beeps in quick succession.

“We don’t need hot water for the recipe. We’re making dough, not tea.”

“Yeah, but we need to activate the yeast so that the dough rises properly. It’s a living organism and it needs a warm environment. Didn’t you pay attention to Ms. Morrison’s class?”

“No. Who’s Ms. Morrison?”

“I think he’s talking about his biology teacher,” Leo said. “And Donnie, you’re the only person taking AP biology, so why would we know this?”

“You’re learning how to cook in biology?” Mikey said. “Man, I should have taken biology instead of chemistry this year. Chemistry stinks.”

“No, we’re just learning about microorganisms,” Donnie said, answering his question. “Speaking of which, did you wash your hands before scooping out the flour?”

“No. Was I supposed to?”

Leo made a noise that sounded like he was going to throw up. “That’s it. We’re starting over,” he said, earning protests from his brothers.

“Whoa, whoa, you’re not just throwing away the flour, are you?” April said. “That bag costs like, seven bucks.”

“It’s only two cups of flour,” Donnie said. “So really, it’s only a few cents worth.”

“Yeah, and besides, we don’t know where Michael’s hands have been,” Leo said.

“Hey! I’m standing. Right. Here,” he said emphatically.

“You did touch the handrails when we went through the subways today,” Raph said. “But I don’t want to start over, so can we just get on with it and make the dough already?”

“You make it sound like we’ve already made half a pizza,” Leo said. “All we’ve done was put flour in the bowl!”

Carol peeked over the edge of the book and watched apprehensively as Leo stood by the trash can with the bowl of flour in his hands, ready to dump it. Although part of her was disgusted by the thought of these kids cooking with unwashed hands, it was going to hurt to see the flour go to waste. She had bought that flour at the local farmer’s market, and it was organic, too. But hey, that’s what she got for buying nice things in this economy.

The microwave beeped, signaling that the water had been heated. Donnie opened the microwave and reached inside, only to let out a high-pitched squeal as he quickly recoiled his arms.

“What happened?” Raph asked.

“The cup is hot! It burned my fingers,” he said.

“Don, are you -” Leo started. He absently dropped the bowl of flour and was cut off when the ceramic shattered against the tile. “Oh crap.”

“Leo!” said April exasperatedly.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”

“Oh my God, I am so cooked.”

“Chill, April, it’ll be fine,” Mikey said. “Your dad’s not here and your mom isn’t paying attention.”

“Ow, ow!” Raph said. “I think I stepped on one of the fragments.”

“How’d it get all the way over there?” April said.

“Nobody move,” Leo quickly said. “Donnie, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, are you alright?” Delila said. “You’re practically standing on all the shards.”

“Everyone just shut up,” Raph said, holding his head between his hands. “Just stop yelling.”

“Bro, you’re the only one yelling,” Mikey said.

The urge to step in was growing by the second and Carol had to bite her lip to keep herself from saying something. She didn’t care about the bowl as much as April probably thought she did – she was more concerned about poor Donnie. She should have warned them that the wattage on the microwave was overpowered before they tried using it. To be fair, though, she didn’t think they would, much less burn their fingers trying to warm up a cup of water. And now there were several pieces of ceramic scattered across the kitchen and five stressed-out teenagers scrambling to figure out what to do next.

What was it she had read in that new parenting book? Something about letting kids make mistakes so that they could learn from them? Besides, they were all teenagers, not five year olds. If they really needed help from her, they’d ask, right? Carol shoved her nose deeper in the book she was pretending to read, as if the motion would help calm her nerves. April was a good kid, but she would be lying if she said that raising her was easy. She couldn’t imagine raising four children at once.

Leo inhaled deeply through his nose. “Okay. Okay, this is fine, we can fix this,” he said. “April, do you have a broom or vacuum or something? I can help you clean this up. Raph, Donnie, do any of you need band aids?”

“I could use some,” Donnie said.

“Same,” Raph said gruffly. “If anyone needs me, I’m gonna be outside.” He walked to the back of the kitchen to where the sliding doors led to the balcony, and roughly shut them behind him. The sound of muffled screams came through the walls a few seconds later.

Mikey helped Donnie place some band aids on his fingers, then went outside to give some to Raph. Meanwhile, Leo and April carefully picked up the pieces of the broken bowl, talking about their classes as they threw away the fragments. Leo often stumbled over his sentences, as if being near April made him nervous. Carol peeked over her book again. Whenever April wasn’t paying attention, Leo was stealing glances her way and smiling softly to himself.

This boy couldn’t be more obvious if he glued a sign to his forehead that said, “I’m in love with you.” Carol returned her gaze to her book. She was going to have to keep an eye on him.

Eventually, Leo and April vacuumed up all the fine slivers of ceramic and the thin layer of flour that coated the kitchen floor. Raph returned, still sullen, but calmed down. The kids then started over with making the dough – after making sure that they had each washed their hands. Within a few minutes, they had mixed all the ingredients together and were letting the dough rest. As they bickered over the toppings they wanted on the pizza, they ran into another problem.

“I can’t find the shredded cheese,” Mikey said. He stood in front of the open fridge door, letting all of the cool air out.

“It should be in the back, next to the cream cheese,” April said.

“I see the cream cheese. No shredded cheese, though.”

“Here, move out of the way.” April stuck her head into the fridge and rummaged through the various items on the shelves. “I could’ve sworn…”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. We don’t have cheese?” Raph said.

“Hold on, it’s gotta be in here somewhere,” April said.

“If you can’t find it, then maybe we can, I dunno, substitute it with the cream cheese?” Leo said.

“Dude, what?” Raph said incredulously. “What makes you think we can put cream cheese on a pizza?”

“Hey, don’t give me that! It’s called cream cheese for a reason, right?”

“Momma, can you help us find the shredded cheese?” April called out.

Carol slammed her book shut. Seriously? Now they asked for help? Without a word, she got up from the couch and walked over to the fridge. She found the cream cheese, some leftover food, and a few old vegetables that she would have to throw out later – but no cheese to put on a pizza. “I don’t think we have any, baby,” she said, shutting the fridge. “We used it all up when your daddy made lasagna last week, remember?”

“Well, chat, we tried,” Donnie said to no one in particular. “A for effort. F for execution.”

“Relax, guys, there’s a bodega two blocks down from here,” April said. “One or two of us can just go and buy some mozzarella real quick.”

“I’ll go if someone spots me the cash,” Raph said.

“I got some, bro,” said Donnie. “And I’ll go with.”

April quickly gave them directions to the bodega, then the two of them left without fanfare. Carol returned to the living room and began tidying it. Now that the kids were done making the dough, they weren’t going to have much trouble with making the rest of the pizza.

She was wrong.

She was so engrossed in doing chores that she wasn’t paying attention to whatever Mikey, Leo, and April were doing in the kitchen. Everything was relatively quiet until a loud slapping noise came from the kitchen and April yelled, “What?”

Thinking someone had gotten hurt, Carol rushed into the kitchen. “What is it, what happened?” she asked.

The three of them stared at the ceiling, mouths agape. Finally, she craned her neck upwards. Apparently, they had already tried shaping the dough into a pizza crust, because a flat, circle-shaped piece of dough now clung to the ceiling.

“Dang it, April,” Carol said, barely remembering not to curse in front of them. “I thought someone died.”

April had broken out into laughter. “Nah, we’re fine, Mom,” she said as she wiped a tear from her eyes.

“We’ll clean this up, ma’am,” Mikey said. “Don’t worry about us.”

Leo took out he phone and snapped a picture. “Note to self, never let Mike toss pizza dough again,” he said as he texted someone.

“Yeah? Well, I’m gonna blame Donnie for this,” Mikey said, wiping his hands clean. “He didn’t put enough olive oil or flour or something.”

“Well, I guess we need to get the pizza crust down now,” April said. “Do we have any chairs that are tall enough for us to reach that?”

Carol looked around. The ceilings weren’t that high, but none of them were particularly tall. Between the four of them, the tallest person was probably Leo, and he was only an inch taller than April. Even if they stood on a chair, it would be a reach to get the dough down. If her husband were there, or maybe even Raph…

“Don’t worry, we got this,” Mikey said. Suddenly, he jumped onto Leo’s shoulders.

“Be careful -!” Carol said, her instincts kicking in as she held up her hands to catch him if he fell.

“Momma, it’s okay,” April said, putting down her arms. “They do this kind of stuff all the time.”

Judging by how expertly Leo and Mikey kept their balance, she wasn’t kidding. Leo complained about how heavy Mikey was, but he didn’t even appear to break a sweat as he carefully walked to the spot where the pizza dough was stuck. “Do you guys have a spatula?” Mikey asked.

April fetched one from the kitchen and tossed it up to Mikey. He then slid the spatula between the dough and the ceiling.

“Wait a minute, Mikey, I think we should -” Leo began. He was cut off by the dough falling right onto his face.

“Oh, whoops. Sorry Leo. Maybe we should’ve planned for how we were gonna catch the dough, huh?” Mikey said. “Anyway, you were about to say?”

Leo peeled the dough from his face in pieces. “Never mind,” he mumbled.

“Aw, man, do we have to start over again?” April said.

Mikey hopped down from Leo’s shoulders with a graceful flip. “Looks like it,” he said.

“Ugh, baking a pizza shouldn’t be this hard!” Leo said. “How are we so bad at this?”

At that very moment, the door to the apartment swung open, and Raph and Donnie burst in. The rank smells of New York followed them inside. “We got some mozzarella, guys!” Donnie said, taking a bow. He tossed the shredded cheese to Mikey.

“Alright, guys! Coming in clutch with the cheese,” Mikey said.

Leo frowned. “Raph, is it you that smells bad? What happened, did you fall in a dumpster?”

Raph angrily swatted at the flies that buzzed around him. “Long story,” he said. “What about you, how come you got pizza dough on your face?”

“Long story.”

Carol offered to let Raph use their bathroom to wash himself off – and thankfully, he accepted. The other four immediately started on the pizza dough for a third time, working quicker than before now that they knew what to do. As they mixed the ingredients, Leo and Mikey caught Donnie up to speed on what had happened while they were running their errand.

Donnie then explained the trouble that he and Raph had gotten into. Apparently, they decided that running across the rooftops was quicker than running in the street, and on their way to the bodega, they had accidentally startled a flock of pigeons. These birds were unusually aggressive and decided to take their wrath out on Raph. During his futile fight them, he slipped off the edge of the roof and fell into a dumpster, just like Leo had guessed. Carol couldn’t figure out what was the most concerning part of the story, the fact that Raph had supposedly fallen about one hundred feet, or the fact that the boys considered parkouring over buildings a normal activity.

By the time Raph was done with his shower, his brothers had already shaped the dough and were fighting over the toppings to put on in. Eventually, they all settled for pepperoni. After placing the pizza in the over, the four of them hung around the living room and separately scrolled on their phones. It seemed that despite the turtles’ saving New York and their abilities to perform death-defying stunts, they were just like every other teenager at the end of the day. “So, April tells me that you all have never been to school before this year,” Carol said. “Were you all homeschooled before?”

“If you consider training extensively in martial arts homeschooling, then sure,” Raph said.

“After our dad figured out how to read, he taught us,” Donnie said. “Then we got our hands on some phones and a Wi-Fi router, and we taught ourselves a lot of stuff through the internet. So, I wouldn’t exactly say we’re homeschooled, per se. Self-taught would be more accurate.”

After their dad had figured out how to read? April had told Carol a lot about her four friends, but very little about their father. “Sounds like your dad is really something,” she said, careful not to make it obvious that she was prying for more information. “I mean, raising four boys couldn’t have been easy.”

“Probably not, but we do our best to stay out of trouble,” Leo said.

“I would love to meet him one day.”

The four turtles froze up and exchanged unreadable glances with each other. “Uh, sure, maybe we can arrange for that to happen,” Mikey said. “Sometime… in the distant future… maybe…”

Before Carol could continue the conversation, Leo stiffened. “Wait a minute, you guys,” he said. “How long has the pizza been in the oven?”

“I dunno, like, twenty minutes maybe?” Raph said.

“That seems a little long,” he said nervously. “Didn’t the recipe say we needed to bake it for only fifteen minutes?”

“Relax, ‘Nardo,” Mikey said. “I got a timer going, remember? We just need to wait for…” he looked down at his phone screen and the smile on his face dropped. Then he hid his face in his hands in shame. “Oh my God…” he muttered.

“What is it?” Donnie asked.

Mikey dropped his hands and looked up at his brothers. “First, I need everyone to be chill, okay? Everyone needs to be chill.”

Raph rolled his eyes. “What do we need to be chill for? Just tell us what happened.”

Mikey pressed his hands together and held them against his lips, as if thinking of the best way to deliver bad news. “I forgot to set the timer,” he said at last.

“You what?” Donnie squealed.

Leo and April scrambled to their feet and rushed into the kitchen. April hastily put on a pair of oven mitts while Leo opened the oven door. The other three turtles followed them and looked anxiously over their shoulders. Confusion settled on their faces as April pulled the pizza out of the oven. “Wait a minute, it’s still raw,” she said.

“How is that possible?” Donnie said. “It should be burnt by now.”

Frowning, Carol walked into the kitchen. If the oven had suddenly stopped working, then she was going to have to phone their landlord. She took one glance at the appliance and scoffed. “I know what the problem is here,” she said.

“You do?” April asked.

Carol reached up and pressed the button on the oven labeled “bake.” It immediately whirred to life and gave off warmth.

“Oh. Thanks, Mrs. O’Neil,” Leo said awkwardly.

“Don’t mention it,” she said. She couldn’t believe these kids were smart enough to teach themselves various things from the internet, but too dumb to remember to turn on the oven before putting the pizza in.

In a few minutes, the savory smell of a hot pepperoni pizza filled the apartment. The turtles eagerly took it out of the oven, and before it even had the chance to cool down, they had cut it and each took a slice in their hands. They took a bite of pizza and chewed in silence.

“Hm. I thought this would taste better than it turned out,” Mikey said.

“Yeah, isn’t everything supposed to taste better when it’s homemade?” Donnie said.

April whistled. “That bad, huh?”

“It’s not even bad, it’s just aggressively mid,” Raph said.

Leo put down his slice. “Well, I think we all learned something from this, and it’s that we’re never doing this again.” His brothers mumbled their agreements and finished the rest of their slices. “Okay, how ‘bout it, boys?” he said, wiping his hands clean. “I’ve got ten bucks on me. Want to order some pizza?"

[peralta-guaranteed]

One time Amy wants only 3 minutes (although I never understood what that joke said about their sex life as an ace too lol)

One time Amy wants a normal amount of sex

One time she wants a sex marathon

'3 Minute Foreplay' had been one of those throw-away jokes that sadly turned into a recurring part of Jake's comedy repertoire, and Amy was loathe to admit that it sometimes snuck into hers, too.

"What can you even do in 3 Minutes?" She giggled on a date night, after about one glass or possibly five glasses of wine to help her with these taunting jokes. "Apart from finally figuring out my bra clasp and getting it open, maybe."

What she definitely didn't loathe was Jake pushing her against the walls of Shaw's unisex toilet, his lips on hers to silence her moans while his hand in her unbuttoned jeans worked perfectly well to show her that in just about 2 minutes and 36 seconds, he could get her done just fine.

-*-

She sighs as she sinks back into bed, her PJ top finally readjusted both from it almost being unbuttoned by Jake, and then being completely unbuttoned for a midnight feeding of their tiny dictator, as Jake rolls over to pull her into a hug, at least. Mac's cries had, once again, interrupted what had been turning into a very nice moment, and the good 30 minutes it had taken to get him settled and fed and back into his crib had clearly been long enough to make her husband realise how late it was and how tired he really felt, after all.

"Maybe someday we will get to have a normal amount of sex again."

"A normal amount of sex? Is that what it's called?" Jake huffs and kisses her neck, whispering something about 'may I have some sex please?' in his fake Amy-voice as she softly punches his side.

"You know what I mean. Just, like, without squeezing it in during a quick shower or something."

"Yeah." She feels his sigh against her skin and shivers, but she feels the weariness in her bones now too, and the thought of doing anything more than curling into him and enjoying his warmth seems daunting. "It's a nice dream, at least."

-*-

“Not that I‘m complaining”, Jake hums in his definitely complaining a little tone of voice, “but at some point we should really get out and see some sights. That’s part of a holiday, right?”

“I’ve got your sights right here.” Amy purrs as she climbs on top of him, poses with her chest jutting out and her hands already skimming over his sides again. “Or are you trying to tell me you’d rather see some old monuments and museums?”

“Never.” Jake grins as he lifts his legs, toppling her forward onto his chest for a hug, partly to keep her arms from moving all over him because as much as he loves a frisky wife, he’s already well and truly scratched up in enough places from their last three hours after check-in. “I’m just saying, you’re the one who wrote that big itinerary. What are we going to tell your parents when we pick Mac up and they ask if we got it all in?”

“We tell them we absolutely got it all in. And then some.” He feels a bite to his lower lip before he can even go for the obvious Title Of Your Sextape joke, and her little wink tells him she knows it all too well, too.

“Is this genuinely pent-up post-baby horny Amy talking for real, or complimentary-cocktail-drunk Amy? Because I gotta adjust my response accordingly.” Jake gives her a wary look, knowing that if he lets drunk Amy get her way, sober Amy is going to be mad at him for letting her ‘waste’ so much time they could’ve used for the aforementioned itinerary of their first pregnancy belly and baby free trip in almost two years.

“This is ‘my wonderful husband has never looked hotter than when he’s frustrated carrying our suitcases up the stairs after managing a pretty disastrous travel-and-booking-error situation, and he should be glad I didn’t jump his grown-up, responsible and handsome butt before he closed the door behind us’ Amy talking.”

“That’s a very long Amy to remember.”

“Mhm.” Her nipping teeth have made their way to his earlobe, and even a hug can’t keep her wandering hands at bay anymore. “Also she’s telling you not to expect getting out of this room before brunch time tomorrow.”

“Can I negotiate at least some hydration-and-rest-breaks with this Amy?”

“Debatable.”

Jake groans, but it’s definitely not in his complaining-tone anymore as Amy’s hands finally find what they’ve been searching for.

[lizacstuff]

Your thoughts on the epi?

This episode was everything! I don't remember when I've enjoyed crying so much. The funny thing is, though, that I've found myself crying more while rewatching those scenes, than I cried during the first time I watched the episode. This episode will definitely rank among my favorites. Let's talk about the B and C characters and then get to Edser and, of course, Kiraz at the end. I spent the first 30 minutes resisting the urge to punch my screen anytime Ayfer was on it. Damn, I wanted to slap her silly. Could she have been any more annoying? Eda's a grown woman, if she is finally doing the right thing and telling the father of her child he's a dad, then be supportive instead of a screeching pain in the ass. When she actually said "I told you so" to an upset Eda... seriously? That is awful. What a bitter, joyless, petty individual. I was cheering for Melo every time she told Ayfer she was negative. Good! At least we know the other characters recognize how awful she is.

(I get long winded, so this continues under the cut)

Also what was with her going overboard to protect Burak's feelings over his delusional aspirations? Why shouldn't he understand that Serkan and Eda shared a great love and Melo is rooting for them to rekindle it? What does hiding that from him do? It's still true. Ayfer treats this dude as a member of the family, so he might as well know. I get his feelings might get hurt, but dude needs a reality check and to move on, and no matter how hard Ayfer hopes, Serkan in their lives or no, Eda is never going to want Burak. She's made that clear. If Ayfer likes him so much maybe she should marry him, that way at least Melo would be saved from his milquetoast presence.

Speaking of that, they were clearly trying to establish some sort of connection or vibe between him and Melo. So far, I'm not into it. If he's still so into Eda that Ayfer doesn't want him to have to hear about Eda/Serkan possibly reuniting, then he doesn't deserve Melo. Melo deserves someone who wants her, not someone who pines after someone out of his league and then settles for her bff once he realizes he never had a shot with the great beauty. We'll see how it develops, but he has the personality of damp carpet so I don't have high hopes.

Aydan was a little screechy this episode, but I cut her some slack since she just found out these traitors stole 5 years of her granddaughter's life from her. My friend @echoapothecary made a good point to me that Aydan deserves no sympathy for this since she didn't tell Eda Serkan was alive back in amnesia times, and I don't disagree with that. That move by Aydan pretty much tainted her character forever, and it's near impossible to come back from, but viewing this story in a capsule I do feel sorry for her. She wasn't a good mother to Serkan, but she does love him, and I think she craves family. The main point being, Serkan wasn't the only one who lost something significant by not knowing about Kiraz until now, Aydan did too. Perhaps we can say that losing the first five years of her granddaughter's life is her punishment for keeping the secret about Serkan, it's about as steep a penalty as one could pay. Talk about karmic retribution.

Also, since Serkan is apparently not going to impose any emotional tolls on any of the traitors for the secret that was kept from him, I'm glad Aydan did at least make her displeasure known and made some of the liars uncomfortable. Piril, at least, felt it, even if she won't suffer any real consequences. I kind of wanted Serkan to kick her out of the company. I really don't like that character and I think every time she's on screen she just sucks the life out of the show. Engin when he's in scenes with Serkan or Eda or Melo or Aydan or Erdem = Interesting. Engin when he's with Piril = Zzzzzzz.

Pina and Kerem were cute, but to be honest I really don't care. It's inoffensive and I get that we need B, C and D storylines to fill out two hours each week, so I'm good with it, but let's be real I'm only watching for the main event.

Speaking of... now to EDSER! I actually like that Serkan walked out and drove away after hearing the truth. I can only imagine what kind of shock and betrayal he must have felt at that moment, escaping must have seemed like his best option. What I liked even more is that Eda followed him. What a relief after the last episode where she was looking for any and every excuse not to tell him and then made the nonsensical decision to flee in order to avoid it. Too many times in the past between these two pride has gotten in the way. There was a time that Eda might have thrown up her hands at him leaving and pretended like it didn't hurt, that it didn't matter. I'm so glad those days seem to be over. One of the hallmarks of season 2 has been the improved communication (sans secret) between these two and this episode took that concept to a new level.

How heartbreaking to watch Eda plead with Serkan through the door, and how double-y heartbreaking to watch Serkan sitting on the floor, head bent, clearly in emotional agony. You could feel it coming off of him. Kudos to both Hande and Kerem who KILLED IT this episode. Seriously, their best work to date. Their chemistry is always on point, but the way they flawlessly work off of one another in every scene they share, whether it's deeply dramatic or something light and romantic is truly something special to behold. That's one reason why I don't get the folks who are so hung up in hating the season 2 plotline, that they can't appreciate any of this. Because this is the point. Giving these two artists deep and challenging scenes together and opportunities to make more magic. Watching them this season is honestly a privilege and I plan on enjoying every minute of it.

Despite Serkan's emotional turmoil, it was so like him to put the blanket over her and then sit across from her sleeping form as he indulged in some more brooding. However, I really appreciate that by the morning he was ready to talk to her. That conversation was hard, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who was jarred by him saying that he would have told her to get an abortion. In light of his later confessions, I think there's a few ways to take that. I think it was in part a nod to what an emotional mess he was at the time, and in part he said it to alleviate some of her guilt. Because even a betrayed and hurt Serkan cares so much about her, and he knows what he put who through at the time. Especially because at that moment he still had no plans to tell her the truth about why he broke up with her, he was still playing the part of the man who just didn't want children. So stubborn! Thank goodness that over the course of the next 12 hours he'll change his mind about that...

On another note, how happy did it make you to see Sirius? It made me pretty happy. He lives!!!!

From the moment Eda went to his hotel room the night before to confess all the way until they met again at the hotel, Eda really did everything right in how she approached him. However, once back in Sile, she makes her first critical error. It reminded me of the Eda in episode 29 who started pushing so hard at amnesia!Serkan and coming at him with such extreme emotion that he shut down. And that's what happened during that conversation on the beach. Eda needed to give him a little bit of time to come to terms with things, instead of forcing a conversation the first moment they saw one another. Good grief, what was she doing demanding answers from him hours after he found out? She knows this man! She knows that he plans every aspect of his life. So to spring on him that you hid a child from him for 5 years and he's a dad, is a LOT. I like that in a later scene he knows he reacted badly, and actually also says to her "What did you expect?" While his reaction wasn't great, it was also pretty predictable and she should have known to give him some time.

Speaking of the conversation on the beach, what a powerhouse scene for Hande. One note on it, that was the scene they had just shot when Hande and Kerem did their last IGlive on premiere day. The one where Kerem kept talking about how he was in a mood because of an intense scene they had just done. After watching I couldn't help but note that he, as Serkan, mostly just stood there stoically as Hande did all the emoting as Eda let loose on all the pent up emotion she'd been carrying both for years and with Serkan's fresh rejection. It speaks to both their personal and professional dynamic that he was so affected by her being in that state since he didn't do the heavy lifting in that specific scene. The way they are attuned to each other is probably a big reason they are so flawlessly in sync on screen.

I liked how they weaved the Kiraz/Baba scene in at the right time. That was one instance where Aydan, Seyfi and Engin's meddling was for the good, engineering a situation where Serkan was alone with his daughter. Also excellent comedy from Can, ratting out his dad about throwing ice cream on him. Good stuff. I like Engin-as-a-father scenes, I like Engin-as-a-friend scenes, I could just do without Engin-as-a-husband scenes. Anyway, Serkan needed time to adjust, but he also needed to be exposed to Kiraz so that he could view their prior unlikely bond through the new prism of fatherhood. It's telling how easily he slid into Dad territory with teaching her how to tie her shoes. He had been doing that all along, but at that moment he knew about the relationship and still did what was natural. He is ready to be her father, he just needs to realize he's worthy of it.

You can't blame Eda for not realizing it, but it was lovely to see how quickly Serkan turned the corner. He was already adjusting his thinking not even 24 hours after he found out about Kiraz and that was really what inserting himself

into her dealings with the Italians was about. Staying in contact until he could beat back all his neurosis. As for the business stuff, she apparently needed him as an investor, but I also love the way he was there to first build up her confidence and then praise her after a successful presentation. I've said it before but Serkan as her professional mentor is one of my favorite dynamics between them. It did make me wonder, is she still 45% owner of the Holding? It seems like it, she sure didn't hesitate to present herself as his partner. If she is, though, it seems impossible that they could have had zero contact for all those years, unless she just placed her stake in a trust and gave him full voting control of it. Details I'm sure they won't explore in-depth, but I did wonder.

Don't you just love an unwitting guest character (Italian guy) who comes in and forces our two protagonists to spend extra time together? I do. Thank you Italian guy and Italian guy's wife! I love how quick Serkan was to accept, you see, he had already turned a corner and was looking for excuses to get close to her. It was his first step in his journey to opening up to her. Also, who noticed that Eda wore a slinky blue dress the night after Kiraz mentioned that it's Serkan's favorite color? Just checking. She is not as immune to his charms as she'd like us to believe...

OF COURSE Serkan was at Eda's graduation. I think pretty much the whole fandom had guessed that from their conversation in episode 40, but it still hit me emotionally to have it confirmed. What I really liked about it was that Serkan didn't tip his hand by accident. He quoted her graduation speech specifically because he wanted her to know he was there. And not only that he willingly admits that he thought of her every single day since they parted. This is a huge step for him. It has been driving him crazy that Eda thinks he forgot her and is totally unaffected by her. However, even just a few hours earlier he was still in a place where he had no intention to tell her anything, it's actually impressive how quickly he came around. Now I don't blame Eda at all for declaring it's not enough, he put her through emotional hell when they broke up. I mean on one hand you'd think she'd be able to see that he was already opening his heart and there was more to the story, however, her reaction was good because it spurred him on to go and tell her the whole story.

And what a heartbreaking story it was. As I said several times over the last few weeks, I was hoping that part of Serkan's motivation was that the doctor had told him he would be unable to have kids, what I wasn't expecting though was the double whammy of not being able to have kids AND there being a 70% chance of the cancer coming back. No wonder Serkan was eFFed up! Who wouldn't be, but then you add in his additional insecurities about not being worthy of love and his hypochondria and that is a bad mental cocktail. You know what's ironic, Ayfer hates him but in reality he did exactly what Ayfer would have wanted him to do. Push Eda away for her own good so she could have everything she wants in life without him dragging her down. What makes Ayfer the worst (and a hypocrite) is that this is exactly what she would have wanted him to do, but she also blames him for Eda's heartbreak in the aftermath.

The scene was so cathartic to watch as a viewer. We've been waiting for weeks for Serkan's point of view as he's hidden behind his usual confident and calm veneer, and when we finally got it, we really got it. He did not hold back. Serkan is such a complex character, which is a bit surprising for a silly show that you wouldn't really expect build a character with so many layers. On the surface he has everything and seems to be full of ego, but his arrogance is only surrounding his abilities, intellect, and skills as a businessman and architect. Personally, he has little self-worth and thinks he's not worthy of anyone's love, especially not Eda's. However, while that has been a truth of the character for a long time, this speech was the first time he admitted how deeply rooted his fears are. It was stunning, though, to have a character who is so rooted in being in control and who is worried about his outward image, open up in such a raw way and expose all his fears and insecurities to a woman he's been apart from for five years. It was breathtaking and Kerem was fantastic in the scene.

Initially, with the subtitles, I misinterpreted (though I knew it couldn't be quite right) his parting words. The subtitles I saw made it seem like Serkan was saying "Don't say you forgot me" as in Serkan didn't want Eda to say she forgot him. But it made so much more sense when I saw it translated as "But don't say I forgot you." which was a throw back to their dinner conversation in episode 40 when Eda says, "You forgot me." Once I realized Serkan was saying that he couldn't handle her thinking, or say, that he'd forgotten her, the scene hit doubly hard!

I saw some criticism of that scene that said Eda was just standing there with no emotion, but I didn't get that at all. She had tears running down her face and I thought she was fighting for his soul pretty dang hard. First by using both emotion-- telling him that everything had changed because now he had a daughter and that he'd locked his heart and soul in a cage. Then by using logic-- when she told him the cancer is gone and that's it's over and when she challenged him over why everything has to be perfect. Think from her perspective how disorienting it would be to find out that everything you thought was true, was not, and that if the love of your life wasn't such a stubborn, selfless, self-sabotaging martyr that you could have built a family together instead of been separated for 5 years. It's a lot.

On the first watch this doorway scene is where I started to get emotional, but I didn't really lose it and fully cry until Serkan's scene the next day with Engin. For whatever reason that scene hit me hard. Hats off to Anil for his work there, the way his voice broke at times during that conversation really got to me. This type of true friendship scene was something that was sorely missing during the era of the other writers, and it was wonderful to see it back, just when Serkan needed it most. Serkan needed someone to shake him a bit about his fears of dying. I think the writers did a good job here, because while Serkan's neurosis and self-sabotage is maddening, with his history it's believable that he was stuck in a headspace where he really thought he couldn't be a father to Kiraz, or a partner to Eda, because he might up and die on them. I loved how Engin pointed out that Eda and Kiraz would not be the only ones affected if he died and how ridiculous it was for him to lock himself away.

I'm glad we got the scene with the doctor to really get a full glimpse of Serkan's view of his illness and it's also a relief to not only Serkan, but to us viewers that since five years have passed cancer-free he now has the risk of a typical healthy person. Serkan isn't the only one who has hang ups about his health, I think after amnesia and cancer viewers do too!

Finding out that Eda had made videos specifically for Serkan over the years, talking to him directly, hit hard. I wasn't really expecting that. I thought maybe she just had general photos and videos, like any doting parent would have, but the fact that she was always wanting him, documenting Kiraz's life and preparing for a day when he would hopefully take his place as Kiraz's father... wow. On the cynical side it makes it that much harder to believe that she never made more of an effort to tell him once Kiraz was born, but I won't focus on that. Not when the scene was as perfect as it was. Kerem again was stellar, he made me cry buckets. I think since amnesia many of us wanted an emotional response from him, thank goodness this story finally delivered it. The emotions running through him at that moment were overwhelming and Kerem did a fantastic job of portraying all of them, the heartbreak over everything he missed, the joy at seeing moments

from his daughter's life, the regret of not being there and being the partner Eda needed, the pride in the job Eda did in raising their daughter alone, and finally the bittersweet relief that Eda never forgot him.

It was a lot, but it was a good segue to the next scene when Eda calls him frantic because Kiraz went missing. What was clear from those videos was that while Eda, when we first meet her in Sile, appeared on the surface to have everything handled as a single mom, she always really wanted to have Serkan there as her partner. While Kiraz was pining for her dad, Eda was pining for Serkan as well. And we see this displayed in full force when Serkan arrives. Several people try to comfort Eda, including Burak, but she's not having it. However, as soon as Serkan gets there you can almost see the relief hit her in a wave. She's not in this alone anymore. Kiraz's father is there to help. Even if nothing is settled at that moment, she knows she can rely on Serkan and that he will know what to do. Which is supported by the fact that he clearly took charge the moment he found out, calling the authorities, having them begin searches etc.

But while highlighting his competence, conversely can we talk about how incompetently everyone else was at searching for Kiraz? They all acted worried, but did any of them make any real effort to find her? LMAO, they all seemed much more concerned with their own personal dramas. Especially egregious were Engin and Piril. Hello! Your son is clearly trying to tell you where the missing person is! Stop ignoring him. Thank goodness Serkan is very good at finding people.

Of course he found her and our hearts collectively shattered as we watched her trying to send a message to her Baba in space when in reality he was kneeling right there beside her, helping her tie the note to the balloon. If anything else was left to convince Serkan that he is wanted and needed, by both Eda and Kiraz, this situation was it. Even though some careless crew member spoiled the astronaut suit in an unnecessary IG story from the set, (that would have been a really good surprise) it was still satisfying to see this fairy tale play out. Never over "Baba?" and "Happy Birthday, my daughter" and now I can't wait to see Kiraz's reaction that her new friend Serkan Bolat is actually her dad and it should be pretty great to watch the three of them form a family together.

Overall this was the most emotional episodes of the series, and also one of the best.

[haveyoutriedrebootingit]

One thing I find amusing is that in my personal life, if I don’t know you, I’m very cautious and reserved.  I’m autistic, which makes figuring people out very difficult (ya’ll humans are weird). 

But for some reason, when I’m taking tech support calls, I am mister freaking comedy.  Things I have actually said to my customers, and more to the point, gotten away with (and to be clear, the calls ended with happy customers):

“No, no, that was my mistake entirely.  I assumed you knew what you were talking about.”

“I don’t think you fully appreciate that I have the ability to delete your IP configuration from the system.”

“Have you tried swearing at it?”

“Hold on, let me check.  Hmm, I’m getting the error as well, so it’s not just you.  I mean, we’re absolutely going to blame you, of course.”

“I have no idea why it’s working now, but I’m prepared to take full credit.”

“Okay, so.  I’m going to need you to trust me on this.  Under ordinary circumstances, you should never, ever, EVER do this.  But just this once, I’m going to ask you to scream in frustration and yank the power cord out of the wall without shutting down your computer.  The scream isn’t strictly necessary, but it’ll feel really satisfying.  Yes, I’ll hold.”

“No, I don’t mind if you put me on speakerphone.  <pause>  My name is Charlie.  They work for me.”

“Okay, it sound bad, but I think we can fix this.  I’m going to need you to get six quartz crystals and a live chicken.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t call that stupidity.  I call it ‘Job Security’.”

[while working for a major computer company] “What?  No. Computers make mistakes all the time.  That’s just a lie we tell-- wait, are you delta-alpha-tango cleared?  No?  Oh, this is definitely your fault then.  Forget I said anything.”

“Oh, I see the problem.  I was typing your ID with a ‘b’ instead of a ‘d’.  Heard you right, typed it wrong. [five minutes later] Okay, punch in your id here  Remember it’s spelled with a ‘d’, it’s a very common mistake.”

“Oh, thank heavens.  For a minute there, it wasn’t taking my password, and then what was I gonna do?  Call the help desk?”

But the all time record is:

“Oh, that.  I was just jerking you off.”

It should be noted that:

I absolutely was.

My manager was standing right behind me when I said it.

[omgkalyppso]

for fae and the rest of the poly - 💕💖💍

(ﾉ´ヮ`)ﾉ*: ･ﾟ Thank you for the ask! May your favorite kind of weather surround you soon!

💕 Describe an ideal date form them!

Claude is quick on his feet and can adapt, but he doesn't like doing anything he hasn't planned five exits to and at least two alternatives for. Hilda doesn't enjoy exerting herself, but she's still extroverted enough to want to be admired Doing Something (if only by her partners) and can easily be goaded if she's comfortable. Lorenz likes the arts, or to bear witness to any skill performed well. Fae likes trying new skills and group activities. An ideal date is one that's planned and includes some measure of exterior activity performed together: like watching theater or seeing an art exhibit or learning to surf or trying wall-climbing.

💖 What are some little subtle ways they show that they love each other?

Modern:

Claude changes his (and consequently everyone's) diet to suit Hilda's dietary restrictions. Fae makes ice; they've never thought about making ice, but they've seen the others drinking beverages with ice, so they start making ice to have ready. Realizing that her "turn" for most major cleaning duties never really seems to come up, Hilda tentatively starts light cleaning and organizing, fearful of the mockery of her childhood home, until she's able to ask for help with bigger tasks. Lorenz picks up texting patterns and music preferences based on influences of his partners.

Post canon / any setting:

Lorenz leave notes everywhere, little poems and soft words — but what is really important is when he is willing to write in the company of his partners, unafraid of people hovering over his shoulder because he trusts them not to. Claude being able / willing to "needlessly" share a bed for the purpose of sleep with his partners. Hilda sees three of the most touch-starved people / ex (?) fighters she's ever met in her life and decides she'll learn something about massages. Abuses Divine Pulse less and less, or abuses Divine Pulse the least, when with their partners, feeling very rarely that they've flubbed something unforgivable and that whatever they've said or done or experienced is fine as it is (in settings other than post canon just translate this to: feels less anxious after interactions that include their partners than otherwise. lol. I've like never written Fae outside of the company of their partners except some of Expanded Epilogue but even then they were only interacting with like Seteth and Alois who are also Family so.).

💍 Which one of them would propose? How would it happen? (or write if you feel like it!)

I love different versions of this. Unfortunately for everyone I am sharing a lot of my thoughts.

In my post-canon I don't have them all marry. I could change it, but I think they're fine as they are, dedicated and happy and more subtle. I count Claude's Goddess Tower proposal, and am excited to Eventually write Lorenz proposing to Hilda in my Hilorenz fic. It will happen.

In Fae-as-a-student au, I've been undecided about whether Fae or Hilda or BOTH leave with Claude to Almyra for a time post-canon, leaving Lorenz behind in Gloucester, BUT I absolutely imagine the four of them together, discussing the departure, and giving Lorenz the proposal, initially a soft, blurted, "Marry me." So that the others ask him if the proposal is reserved for Claude (whom he's looking at because at least Claude is absolutely leaving), and he can clarify that he doesn't just mean Claude and that they don't have to make a public ceremony or announcement until their / his return, but that he would like to make a promise, with those who would have him, before they leave, to keep them from forgetting him when they're far and away.

In A Comedy of Errors modern au, it's less a proposal than a conversation for Lorenz and Hilda to marry. Wait. I have a (bad) text conversation that I thought I might write a fic around once:

Hilda: we should get married

Claude: this is hands down, the worst proposal

Hilda: i'm not proposing!

Hilda: i just want to talk about it

Fae: is that about your insurance?

Hilda: no! .... not entirely

Hilda: what if Claude died in Almyra

Claude: thanks

Hilda: at least one of us would be able to find out about it from the authorities directly

Lorenz: now i want someone to divorce me. please take half my assets

Claude: i'll divorce you baby

Fae: grounds for divorce, right there in one pet name

Hilda: i'm not feeling heard here

Fae: i'm sorry hilda

Lorenz: sorry hilda

Claude: i would marry any of you, or all of you. is there a way you'd be picturing this?

Hilda: well, i figure it would be easier on Lorenz if he married me

Lorenz: marginally true

Claude: /:

Lorenz: you know i love you Claude but ......... my father's still alive and if we're relying on "at least he'll be dead soon" then i don't need to be written out of a will

Lorenz: and i might literally explode if i had to sit through him misgendering Fae for his last few years

Fae: <3

Lorenz: :kiss emoji:

Claude: was this your very roundabout way about asking if it was okay to marry Lorenz?

Hilda: no. i'm willing to hear other suggestions

Fae: i just don't want to sleep alone anymore

Lorenz: </3

Claude: awww

Hilda: ):

Lorenz: are you home now? i could visit for ... 45 minutes maybe?

Claude: just enough time (;

Fae: i am home

Lorenz: Give me ... half an hour

Lorenz: but first. we can do legal weddings whenever we want. i think we should get married.

Claude returns from Almyra a week or so before the wedding, by which time Fae has moved in with Lorenz and Hilda. Claude is earlier than he was expected, as his surprise to them, and they cherish the time. Four days or so after the wedding the four of them go on a date to an observatory where Fae proposes to Claude under the stars. (:

In my soulmate au, there is a proposal incoming by the end of the fic. Claude is going to ask Fae if they'd be comfortable with him proposing to Lorenz, or else offer to put it off, saying he's more confident with how Hilda will react because of their history. I'm still undecided if Claude should prepare something that amounts to a favorite meal for Lorenz in their apartment with the four of them or take them out to a park or beach or mountain or something, where he and Lorenz could have a moment alone. I'm also undecided how many hits Claude should drop in advance (his ... canon self is Not Subtle) but I hadn't planned on dropping them prior to the new year chapter which has finally happened. I think it would be another year or three before Fae and Hilda considered marrying and haven't given it too much thought aside from that. Fae would propose.

Hm, I can have more.

In Just Go With It modern au, Claude remembers the date of their first 'date,' and calls it an anniversary and only he is prepared for the first one, which he expects and is very smug about. It's not a milestone number, but for their fourth anniversary Hilda spends time (like a full year) talking herself into and out of and back again — the act of making rings for her partners, and whether or not they'll be a proposal or just a gift.

In my mermaid au they never have a formal proposal or ceremony.

In my fantasy au, Fae was 70 years a vampire when they met Claude, and they were together for 40 years before Claude proposed, and then they had their children and played at being family and "mundane" for some hundreds of years. They do something like this again when they marry Hilda and Lorenz a year or two after meeting them, again at Claude's proposal.

In my coffeeshop au, Hilda realizes she's pregnant with (Halvard) Lorenz's child and she "proposes" to Claude to start the legal tangle of custody so that they can each have some attachment to their son.

[chaoticneutralwriter]

Fifth Act: Diligence

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him - James 1:12

guardian demon!jimin x reader

genre: fluff, romance, supernatural, angst, slow-burn, slice of life, comedy

word count: 12.9k (CHONKY BOIII)

related works: see Masterlist under guardian demon!jimin au

Continuation of Fourth Act: Kindness

A/N: when i said it was long, it’s LONG long. WHEW! The second longest chapter in the series so far?? djfksgh Sorry to keep you waiting for so long ;w; I can’t thank you enough for your patience and unwavering love and interest for this series in spite of it! So here we go, FIFTH ACT YALL HHHH I hope you’ll enjoy!!

@cherryjiminiee @kokobaekkie @breathebangtan @itsadoozie @thatshylatina @chiminieboi @azulamakesmeblank @sectumsemptae @awkwardwookie @aduky @poisonseashell @shortannoyingginger @caramelmac-chiato @sana-b @jiminstinct @beautifulparisiangirl @taelieninvader @ggukjitaejin @xakemi-chiix @vantaenims @atulipandarose​ @moments-of-melancholy

You don’t want to admit it.

It’s so cliche.

But you’re not gonna burst out singing Meg’s song from Hercules because you’ve passed that stage at least.

What your problem is is that confessing your feelings has proven to be way easier said than done on a multitude of different levels.

Confessing to someone is already a nerve-wracking thing to begin with — you’re basically laying your heart out to a person hoping that they won’t end up completely crushing it —  but furthermore, you don’t even know how to go about doing this. For the past days or so since you’ve resolved yourself to Jaehee that you were going to take that leap of faith, your only means of contact with Jimin has been through texting which was both a blessing and a curse.

You’re not gonna lie and say that you didn’t need to do some psyching up first, some mental pep talk through the assurance that you could still hold a decent conversation with him without getting sweaty palms. Of course, when you did manage to pull enough courage to direct the conversation to that topic (and okay maybe a glass of wine helped too), you were strategically swerved.

If there was one thing you wanted to do when you confessed, it was to do it in person. You feel like this is too big of a deal to do through text even if it would’ve helped you with organizing what you wanted to say better. You wanted to be open with yourself and to Jimin and being face to face was the only sure way to get your sincerity across.

So whenever you ask him if there was any chance he could meet up in person, whether it be at a cafe or even just late at night in your room, he would always excuse himself saying that he couldn’t. The reason always being that he was ‘busy’ or had matters he needed to attend to (his words, not yours). You understood at first, though the times when they happened it had put a damper on your confidence, but it soon became too redundant and you grew agitated, even more so because any attempts at a compromise didn’t work either; Jimin never gives a straight enough answer for it.

But then the chats became sparser, never lasting more than a few short exchanges until they just stop altogether.

And when the texts aren’t being returned, your calls are met in the same manner; your only reply is the sound of the dial tone.

Soon your suspicions morphs into anxieties, and though you attempt to reign in your imagination, the longer you don’t hear from him, the more they become rampant. Your mind begins to dredge up memories of things you’d rather forget, playing them out as if to show you how eerily similar this all is, taunting you, reminding you that the last time this had happened your guardian demon had come back on the brink of death.

You swallow, trying to quell the suffocating feeling that comes up but there’s a pressure on your chest that has your breathing shortened. You’re wringing your hands unconsciously, a small attempt at coping with how on edge you’ve become though it proves to not be as effective as you would have liked. How you found that out was because anything and everything irritated you and it showed.

You hate how it seems like you can’t go for a minute without wanting to snap at the next person who so much as look at you — a really bad thing because you work in an industry that requires you to maintain your cool in literally any situation, even the most absurd ones.

And it’s like today was ‘let’s irritate the hell out of Y/N L/N’ and you didn’t get the memo because the clowns are out in full force.

“Well I don’t want to call the help line, that’s gonna take too long.”

Deep breaths, you tell yourself, deep breaths.

“They’re actually pretty fast with finding your transaction history; the only time it would take a while is if you called during the weekend because their time of operation is shortened.” You explain for what felt like the millionth time.

Yet still, the man in front of you continues to scowl as if this is entire thing was your fault.

“But I’m already here, I don’t want to have to go home and come back because that’s a waste of gas.”

“Sir,” You start again, “I can’t refund this item for you at full price if you don’t have the receipt. As I said, I can still put it on a store credit but I will have to deduct thirty percent because I don’t know if you got this on sale or if you used a coupon — that’s just store policy. Or,” The word comes out firmly, “You can find the exact same item and just do a straight exchange for the better of the two.”

He pauses, as if to think it over and you were foolish enough to think that maybe he finally sees reason, but then he opens his mouth.

“But I want my full refund.”

Holy shit if it were not for the laws of this land….

“Then you’re gonna have to call the help line or go find the exact same item and exchange them.”

You’re done, you’re absolutely done and you swear if this man doesn’t walk away doing any of your suggestions right now, you can’t promise that no ones about to get smacked in the face with your scanner. Thankfully, as if the universe has heard you, he begrudgingly takes the box of outdoor fairy lights (you really want to pull your hair out here) and heads off down an aisle. You actually breathe out a sigh of relief, but there goes what little of your patience you have left.

Now you can only pray that the rest of your shift goes by as quickly and as smoothly as possible.

Obviously that was too much to ask for.

You cash out around five people more before a woman approaches your register, holding a box with a picture of a white Instax Mini Polaroid camera on the front. You’re not sure if it’s your gut instincts or because you’re already so annoyed that immediately, you have a bad feeling about this. Regardless however, you muster all the mental strength you possess to suppress the feeling. Lips pulled taut into a wide smile, you greet the customer with an overcompensating amount of friendliness.

“Hello, how are you?”

“Yeah, I want to change the colour of this polaroid camera.”

You force the smile to remain on your face, “Sure no problem! Which colour would you like instead?”

“The pink one.”

You turn around to scan the rows of polaroid boxes hanging on the pegs behind you, picking out of the three colours available for the pink one the woman wanted. Placing it on the counter beside you, you ask nicely, “Can I see the receipt for the camera that you have and the camera as well please?”

She slides the box over to you and you see the receipt poking out of the slit. You take it out, opening the box to check the camera inside and make sure that everything that came with it was still there. Once you confirm that it is, you close it back up and unfold the receipt to match the barcode number on the box to the one that’s printed. Looking over to the pink coloured one, you confirm that the the item code for the white and pink cameras are different which comes as no surprise for you; in order to do this exchange, you would have to return and repurchase so the inventory count would be correct for the store.

A rather simple and painless concept.

“Why can’t I just take this one and give you this one?” The lady questions, annoyance colouring every one of her words as she gestures between the two cameras.

“I know they’re the same camera but since they’re different colours, they have two unique item numbers that differentiate them from each other to help with our inventory. It would only work if they were the exact same camera.”

“But they are!”

“They’re different in colours.”

“You know I’ve shopped here for a long time and I have never had to do this before.” She scowls at you and you refrain from rolling your eyes because clearly she doesn’t shop here enough to know.

“We’e always had this policy ma’am.” You instead answer plainly, the artificial civility in your demeanour already dissipating. When it’s clear that you weren’t going to budge and give in to her intimidation, she rolls her eyes and pulls out her card to insert into the pin pad. The computer system lets out a beep in error, letting you know that the card she used was not the one she purchased the camera with.

“Is that a debit or a credit card?” You ask despite already knowing.

“It’s a debit.”


“It has to be on the same card you used to pay for the camera.”

“Why can’t I just use any card?” You can already pick up the growing inflection in her voice; it’s a little louder and more aggressive but at this point you’re at your wits end too.

“For security purposes.” You choose to state simply, tired of explaining when you know it won’t work.

“Well, I don’t have that card on me because I thought this was going to be a simple exchange.” She says accusatorially, like of course all of this is your fault and you’re the one who’s being difficult. You try to take a deep breath in discreetly, jaw clenched until you feel it beginning to ache before you reply back to her.

“I can put it on a store credit and you can just use that amount to pay for the camera again.”

Your answer makes her huff, crossing her arms as she says, “Fine.”

Your finger practically punches in the appropriate operating system for the return method, reaching in a side drawer behind your counter to pull out a black card meant for store credits. There’s a slight tremble in your hand from the sheer effort of holding yourself back, feeling like a coiled snake ready to lash out at the littlest prod that you try to keep hidden by speeding up the process, which almost makes you slam the drawer close with more force than necessary.

You confirm the amount and swipe the card through the machine in one quick motion, carelessly dropping the card onto the counter in front of you as you wait for the printout copy of the transaction to come out.

“You didn’t have to throw the card like that.” The woman’s voice snap, piercing through your tunnel vision, so hyper-focused on just getting the task done that for a good minute you actually don’t know what she’s talking about.

“I didn’t throw the card.” You reply evenly.

“Yes, you did. Just now.” She challenges, gesturing to the card and pinning you with a sharp glare.

“It dropped out of my hand.”

“No, you threw it.”

“I didn’t throw the card, it dropped out of my hand.” You reiterate, biting out the words that at this point, there’s no way she wouldn’t notice your own growing disdain. To your surprise, she doesn’t continue to try and fight you on this (though the crossed look on her face remains) so you take it as a sign to proceed on to completing this transaction.

You think you’re in the clear; after swiping the card through, you hand over her new receipt and the camera she wanted but before you can even think about gritting out a very forced ‘have a nice day’, the woman cuts you off with a terse, “I’m speaking to your management about this. What is your name?”

The shock of her words make you freeze in place, your jaw nearly dropping from speechlessness. She can’t be serious right now….

But as the woman continues to wait, clearly impatient yet stubborn enough to wait for your answer, you realize that yes, she really is threatening to take down your name and report you to management over this petty squabble. Your heart is practically beating in your throat now and you feel your face heating up at how angry you’re getting, so much that for a split second the rash thought of outright refusing her came into mind. You wanted so badly to go through with it, loathed the idea of letting her think she had won when it’s her who was wrong in the first place. However, rationality wins over in the end; as sweet as the instant gratification would be, you think it’s not worth losing your job over.

Also, you just want her gone.

So you find yourself swallowing your pride and begrudgingly, you give her your name. To add insult to injury, she asks for a pen to write it down onto her receipt before she finally turns to walk off.

Great, fantastic, just what you needed; being written up because this stupid, entitled bitch decided to mouth off on you for something you have no control over.

You hate how your heart is still pounding, still trembling from your barely restrained emotions that has your nails digging into your palms. With a shaky exhale in an attempt to shake it off, you radio over to your manager that you would like to take your break now.

Thankfully, you’re given the go ahead and you had never made for the break room faster in your life, brisk pace allowing for no chances of getting stopped by any more annoying customers. Once the door shuts behind you do you finally slump back against it, temples throbbing as you take in deep shuddering breaths.

It takes a feel minutes before you feel calm enough, the overwhelming fire simmering down to a calm you can control.

You may have had to swallow your pride in telling a Karen your name and risk being written up, but you’ll be damned if you let it break you down.

-

The groan comes out unabashedly when you unceremoniously fling yourself across your bed, finally home after what felt like a ten hour shift. You lay there, eyes shut like you’re trying to trick your body that you’re in the state of sleep just so you can obtain some semblance of energy back — it doesn’t work.

Instinctively, your hand reaches to dig into your sling bag to fish out your phone, muscle memory dictating your actions as your thumb slides your lock pattern open and they’re tapping on the messenger icon before you can even think to stop yourself. The window opens with Jimin’s message thread staring right in your face, mocking in the way it has not changed status at all, frozen in its own time.

You don’t know how many times you’ve seen this screen at this point but it still never fails to stir back up all the negative thoughts and emotions that has been plaguing you so vividly as if it was your first time experiencing it. Your teeth are tugging at your lips again, reading and rereading your own sent messages that have gone unanswered, all asking the same thing;

Are you okay?

Where are you?

The details to the questions are no longer of your concerns because each scenario you conjure in your head was worse than the last that they threaten to drive you mad. You don’t think you can bear the weight on your heart much longer as more and more days pass in living this torturous limbo of not knowing.

All you wanted was just an answer, anything that would let you know that he was out there, alive and well.

That alone was enough for you.

You tear your gaze away from the offending sight, tossing your phone carelessly onto your bed somewhere. You sit back up just in time to hear the front door unlock and open, signalling for Jaehee’s arrival home.

You exit your room to greet her, wanting to take your mind off of things if only for a short while.

“Hey, where’d you run off to all day?” You ask, helping Jaehee with a couple of grocery bags but a quick peek lets you see that there are some that contains other curious things like….is that a plant?

“Hey! Oh, just here and there. Stocked up on some more food stuff but then got really distracted because look at these!”

Jaehee excitedly sets down a reusable bag on the table before reaching inside to pull out its content, which turns out to be a good sized leafy plant sitting in a cute little white ceramic pot. The leaves are wide and arrow-like in shape, marbled beautifully in vibrant greens and yellows — the lightest colour starting from the centre and transitioning much darker —  that makes them appear as if they have been painted on. At a quick glance, you would’ve actually believed that the plant is fake if it wasn’t for the specks of dark soil spilling out from the base when Jaehee accidentally tipped it too much while placing it down.

“They’re called Chinese Evergreens. Aren’t they pretty?” Your roommate beams, twisting the plant this way and that. “Now that I got some time to myself, I thought why not finally fulfill my wish in living my life out as a plant mom.”

A loud snort leaves you as you gingerly place the bag of food on the kitchen counter, turning around to see that Jaehee has pulled out yet another leafy looking plant, only the leaves of this one were long and banana shaped, a solid dark, olive green colour and parted slightly at the centre into an almost fan-like shape with seven leaves equal to each side.

“I got this one because I remember growing up, my parents had one, only theirs was way bigger.” Jaehee comments, holding up the plant comfortably in her hands. “I never knew what it was called until the gardener helping me told me it was a Kaffir Lily.”

You blink, a little skeptical at the name because it certainly didn’t resemble the lilies you pictured in your head.

“Lily? So does that mean it’ll flower?”

“Apparently? I was surprised too because I don’t think I’ve ever seen my parents’ plant flower but the gardener say its sporadic and sometimes first blooms don’t happen until two or three years later.” Jaehee regards the plant with a pensive pout and a tilt of her head but then shrugs and happily says, “But judging from the pictures though, they look pretty!”

You hum, choosing to nod along with what Jaehee says before turning back to sort out the food she’s bought. Seeing Jaehee so lively like this makes you glad for her. Ever since quitting her job, it’s like a weight has been lifted and Jaehee isn’t shy about taking full advantage of all the time she has now to do the more simpler things she’s missed out on — like cultivating plants apparently.

Whatever the hobby is, it’s nice to know that at least one of you is thriving.

Over dinner you express as much, which you get a boisterous laugh in response and actually feel sorry when Jaehee asks the same of you but all you can do is tell her that things have been the complete opposite on your end.

Aside from the god awful day at work you had (one which had Jaehee physically reeling and not knowing what to do with herself for a good five minutes; that was pretty funny), you had also told her of your predicament with Jimin. She’s frowning by the time you get out that you haven’t heard from him for days now.

“Every time I ask him to meet up in person, he’s always brushed me off or changes the subject, like he’s avoiding it.” You sigh out heavily, can’t keep how troubled you are from it out of your voice. “Now I don’t even hear from him at all and it’s making me anxious.”

A pause, and once again you’re wringing your fingers as you try to work out any sort of explanation for this. “You don’t think…You don’t think I scared him off do you?”

“No, no I don’t think that’s it.” Jaehee affirms, though the pinch in her brows doesn’t go away. “I mean it would suck if that’s all it takes because damn, I actually had a lot of faith in him but….I don’t know, it doesn’t seem right to me.”

Her words give you more comfort than you had expected, a relief you hadn’t known you needed and you’re all the more grateful for her to anchor you down. After wracking her head a bit more, Jaehee says carefully, “You mentioned how he was leaving soon, did he say anything about when he’s coming back or….?”

“No, he— he didn’t say. Just that it would be soon….” You swallow, feeling your chest clench suddenly. “I mean, he’s been gone before like this — twice actually — but he comes back, he always does…”

Even if it nearly kills him….

You trail off in your ramblings, trying hard not to reveal too much to Jaehee yet you feel like you’re making excuses for yourself because you don’t want to acknowledge the possibility that Jimin would up and leave without telling you. If not to your face then you’d hoped he would have at least the decency to leave you a note. Besides, shouldn’t there be some sort of formal undoing to your contract with him if he’s clear to be a free roaming demon again? It wouldn’t make sense if you’re still tied to each other in some way, or does the contract simply null itself? You refrain from letting out a groan, feeling the frustration and the oncoming headache draining what last bit of energy you have left. Instead, you drag your hands down your face and let out a heavy sigh.

“It only makes me worry because sometimes he’s reckless and does stupid things….”

“Wait, like what kind of ‘stupid things?’” Jaehee suddenly interjects, sitting up a little straighter and sounding a little more concerned. It has you floundering on how to put lightly that it’s in Jimin’s nature (and literally his job) to go out and find people to tempt them into depravity; would be fine and all had he been the only dangerous thing roaming the city but no doubt after that fateful night, there was something else more dangerous out there. Even though Jimin had told you it was one of those rare moments that he ended up so badly injured like that, you’d rather not take any chances or have him test his luck again.

“I don’t know like…things that might get him into unnecessary trouble.” God that does not make it sound any better. Panicked, you hastily add, “Nothing illegal of course! But like he…tends to wander and is a little too impulsive sometimes – do his own thing without thinking it through?” You cringe, bracing for Jaehee to give you shit for liking a guy who now sounds like a drug dealer or something. She gives you a rather perplexed look, a sort of lopsided quirk of her lips but eventually she seems to let it go, wordlessly trusting you and your sense of judgment.

“I’m just asking because….” Jaehee hesitates, then begins chewing on her bottom lip and her nervous tick starts to make you antsy.

“What?”


“When I met up with him, on the day we talked about quitting my job at the cafe, he also brought up how he’ll be gone for a bit and told me to make sure it doesn’t worry you too much.” She lets out a short, wry chuckle. “Actually said something along the same lines but about you, or as he put lightly, ‘make sure she doesn’t go off and do something she might regret.’”

It takes a second for her words to process, so shocked at hearing about this new tidbit of information. You blink and can’t help the hard frown that takes over your face, “W-Wha— Wait hold on, he told you he was going to be gone for a while too? And he didn’t say where either?”

And what did he mean ‘go off and do something you might regret’??

Jaehee winces slightly at seeing the heightened distress she’s caused but she powers on, firmly believing that you deserve to know as much as you can in regards to someone you deeply cared about.

“Yeah, he only said that much to me so I’m still as lost as you are. But….” She swallows, “Before he left that day, he didn’t look so well…. Like, he might be coming down with something serious.”

Your shoulders tense, heart palpitating as your mind begins to race.

“I’m not saying this to freak you out because it’s just what I saw so you can take it with a grain of salt. I’m just letting you know in case it might shed some light on some things.” Jaehee placates, holding up a hand as if in an attempt to calm you. You try to get a word out, an acknowledgement or anything but your throat suddenly feels too dry and all of your thoughts are spinning with questions that have no answers.

Did he get hurt? If so, how? Or can demons actually become ill, but from what? Is this why he’s not answering your calls or texts? Because he was trying to hide whatever this is? For how long?

“Do you know any of his friends? Someone you can contact to try and get a hold of him for you?” Jaehee’s voice pulls you back out from those depths, only half registering her words.

“I— Uh…No, not real— “ You stop your jumbled stream of thoughts midway when one name does come to mind. “Yeah…. Yeah I know someone.”

-

You say that, but you hadn’t exactly thought of how you were going to find him, let alone ask him if he could find out where the hell Jimin has disappeared off to.

Hell, you're not even sure if Jungkook's around to help anymore. If you remember correctly, you swear the last time you’ve spoken to him was on that rooftop garden and that felt like ages ago; you haven’t heard so much as a peep from him since.

But you need to try something.

As aloof as he is, Jimin always lingers in some way, like a shadow that’s hidden out sight and after Jaehee’s talk, you're confident that he wouldn’t just leave without telling you first. Clearly, there's something else going on with him and he's not telling you. So it’s with that hope that you find yourself doing things you wouldn’t find yourself doing late into the night at almost two in the morning.

Like google searching how to summon specific demons.

It’s so stupid, you’re well aware. Before, you would be like anyone else when it comes to your opinions on the supernaturals and anything relating to the occult; a skeptic and a very niche hobby one partakes in. You wouldn’t have thought twice about it existing because there was little to no evidence on it (or if there were claims, it would consider to be a reach). Oh how the tables have turned and with this desperate times calls for desperate measures position you’ve found yourself in, now it’s like a whole new world full of possibilities, ripe for your picking.

Perhaps not something you should dive right into the deep end of but what other choices do you have? Besides, you never know if there might actually be something helpful or clues in…..Beginner’s Guide to the Dark Arts and Satanism.

.... Fucking hell, what are you doing?

It’s okay, you reassure yourself, as long as you don’t accidentally end up in the dark webs then you’re good.

You go through a number of different websites, all looking and sounding more like something you would find in a fantasy novel or just plain cult-y. Once or twice you come across ‘summoning rituals’, most of which involve your run of the mill staple requirements: lots of pentagrams, symbols, candles, a skull of an animal or a straight up animal sacrifice, and some fancy incantations that you’re not sure are even legit.

Of the times you do come across specified summoning rituals, they include all of the above in varying methods but one thing that had remained consistent, you noticed, was that you needed a name — a ‘true’ name as they had called it — of the demon you’re trying to summon, like Beelzebub or Lucifer.

It leaves you briefly wondering about your guardian demon’s name, the one he went by rather than the alias he uses. You never realized and the more you mulled over it, you begin to feel immensely guilty.

How must he have felt when you called him by another name that wasn’t his.

You go to sleep that night with a knot in your stomach.

Much of your nights is spent that way; scouring through internet searches hoping to find some sort of lead to go off of but honestly, there’s only so much sifting you can do before everything starts to sound like the ramblings of a fanatic. The only information you had found promising was about the summoning rituals, particularly the ones to summon a specific demon, given if you knew their true names….which is something you don’t possess, either for Jimin’s or Jungkook’s.

It’s a frustrating fact because it’s the last and most crucial thing you needed if you even want to attempt trying. You hate the idea that you’re so close to getting somewhere and it’s just this one thing standing in your way. At this point, you think you might  have more luck trying to summon Lucifer himself and asking him where your guardian demon went.

…..

Huh.

Your fingers stop scrolling through your phone — another demonology article you’ve come across that didn’t really have much to do with finding a lost demon but intriguing enough to have you read — the thought pervading in your mind. It should concern you that it stays for as long as it did but the worse part is that the more you thought on it, the more it made sense.

If you can end up with a demon as your traditional guardian angel, then surely you have a chance at getting a hold of his boss, right?

Before you know it, you're flinging the covers off and booting up your laptop again in the quiet darkness of your room, half telling yourself that you won’t go through with this insane plan if you can’t find that one web page that seems the most credible to you. Much to your bemusement, you do, tucked away as a bookmark no less. It comically sticks out in contrast amongst the other more mundane things on the list; cooking recipes, nail art tutorials and then boom: witchcraft, demonology and understanding how you can attract different entities based on the energy you create through the elements.

Well, you think, looks like you’re about to find out whether Hell really is toll free after all.

-

If someone were to tell you months earlier that you would be spending a weekend shopping around for items to set up a demon summoning ritual you’ll be attempting yourself, you’d probably just let out one long, exasperated groan into oblivion before accepting the predicament, mumbling something along the lines of ‘he’s going to end up killing me first before anything else, and then what?’

Furthermore, you’re not just summoning any demon, you’re going to try to summon Lucifer, essentially the CEO of Hell and you’re about to pull a goddamn Karen — ‘corporate will hear from me!’ — on them because your guardian demon decided to go AWOL on you and you’ve had enough of being left in the dark. When they say you either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain, this wasn’t exactly what you had pictured for yourself.

Ah, truly the things you do for love.

Once you got over that rather ironic analogy (literally stared vacantly into space for a good ten minutes, not knowing whether to laugh or cry), you had searched up all the places within your city that would possibly have the things you were looking for. The site had suggested a variety of them, ranging from apothecaries to antique shops. It took you by surprise when you do actually find two or three of them, not expecting at all for these sort of niche shops to exist in what you had always pictured to be a mostly uptown urban neighbourhood — guess that goes to show how much you go out.

Your plan was to hit up these little shops, buy what you can find there and then whatever you’re missing you would order off from a suggested website. So that’s how you find yourself on a Saturday off, bright and early; a rare sight for all kinds of reasons as normally, you’d be dead to the world until at least after twelve in the afternoon but you had been so restless that even sleep didn’t hold you back.

You’re on a mission.

After painfully following your buggy google map directions, you stumble upon the first stop. It’s a little apothecary shop, tucked away down a small, narrow side street where much of the city’s history is still prevalent in its structures. You can only guess these buildings were built in the early 1900, or even 1800 — the brick-red edifice is well worn and have patches of dense ivy that seems to almost swallow the walls whole. It appears to be tightly packed, the few mom and pop shops that are open on the street level on either side have multiple windows and sometimes iron fenced balconies above them, which you can only guess are the living spaces for the owners. For the most part, it’s quiet, the only other person you’ve seen is a young man who was too engrossed in getting an interesting angle with his camera.

Craning your neck, you take in the the lacquered sign above which reads ’The Soul Apothecary’ in gold script against a dark forest green paint that colours the outer front of the shop. It’s chipped in some places, mainly along the border that surrounds the large panelled window that display numerous of things on a small wooden shelf; crystals that are big and small in varying colours, jars of dried herbs, small potted plants, and wind chimes made of both wood and silver hanging off to the side.

It’s all very quaint and it makes you think that perhaps on some other less tumultuous time in your life, you would actually visit this place again.

Once you had your fill in admiring the exterior, you finally make your way towards the front entrance, passing by the two potted evergreens and pushing the door open to which a little silver bell chimes, signalling your arrival. Immediately, you’re taken by the interior and the smell of burning incense. It’s rustic in nature, the furnishing mostly, if not in all dark wood with the same forest green accents and despite it being a relatively small shop, everything has been designed to effectively maximize the use of space; nothing appeared to be cramped or cluttered at all.

All the walls were occupied from top to bottom with shelves and drawers, packed full of jars containing who knows what with the occasional decorative pieces breaking in between — taxidermy butterflies in frames, diagrams drawn on parchment that has browned with age, and geodes. There’s a single, long wooden table that sits in the middle of the store that holds trays of trinkets that can be worn with a little chalk sign that has an explanation on the purpose of certain items (and a winky face drawn next to a ‘buy one get one free’ advertisement), mini figurines and mortars. Above you, you realize, were dried lavender and roses hanging from a bar secured into the ceiling, their scents still faintly lingering in the air whenever you pass under.

Finally, you come upon the front till and it’s perhaps by far the most eye-catching thing you’ve ever seen. Framed on either ends of the counter were two wooden pillars that taper towards the top to form a narrow pyramid where two wrought iron rods curve outwards, meeting in the middle. Hanging from them were brass scales, varying in lengths and sizes, some of the little weights left forgotten from previous use. It’s here that you also discover the source of the incense, the lotus shaped burner resting off to the side along a call bell.

You’re so caught up in taking everything in that you had failed to notice someone else has entered the room.

“I gather you enjoy my shop?”

The sudden appearance startles you, whipping your head up to come face to face with a chest before quickly shifting your gaze upwards and when you do, you do a double take. The owner of the voice — and as it turns out, the shop — was a shockingly handsome man, his hair a chestnut brown with the tresses sweeping naturally down over his forehead and looks soft to the touch. His face is oval in shape, set upon a strong jaw and brows but paired with warm features; eyes round, tall nose, and a prominent cupid’s bow upon plush lips (though you’re sure not as plush as Jimin’s), you think you can go as far as to say his face was near perfect— the golden ratio as they call it.

He’s dressed in a white tunic shirt, loose and flowing over broad shoulders and simple black trousers, his only other accessories were the long silk scarf draped around his neck, it’s gold intricate floral designs standing out against the black colour and a single dangling silver earring with a nail point at the end of the chain, the shape reminding you of a fang as it twinkles with the slightest tilt of his head.

For a moment, your mouth and brain fail to work coherently, leaving you to gape stupidly like a fish. To be quite honest, you were half expecting a much older gentleman or lady to be the mysterious owner of the shop, a long ingrained stereotype from all the fairy tales you’ve been told as a child but standing in front of you is a man you think no older than twenty-eight. Furthermore….. why does he look so familiar?

You can’t quite place it, like your mind is just on the cusp of figuring out where you’ve seen him before, but then you’re back to drawing a blank once your eyes focus on his features. It’s almost as if you’re being forced to relive a deja vu over and over again. You give up eventually, tired of this mental battle that’s only aggravating you. Besides, you have more pressing matters at hand. Like functioning as a normal human being.

“I— Uh, y-yeah! It’s— It’s a nice place. So...” You gesture your hands uselessly, not really knowing yourself what you mean by it either so you smile back, exhaling a nervous laugh. He lets out a hearty chuckle in response, a hand over his chest as he throws his head back slightly and letting you see his Adam’s apple bob.

“Ah, hearing how speechless you are about my shop is all the compliment I need.” He peers down at you again, soft smile never leaving his face, “Though that can only mean you’ve never visited before?”

You shake your head sheepishly, confirming his assumptions. “No I haven’t, so you’re right about this being my first time.”

He withdraws to his full heigh with a thoughtful hum, nodding his head and clasping his hand behind his back. “I had a feeling since I remember all of my customer’s faces. I guess I should introduce myself then.” With a flourishing bow, he says, “You can call me Sung Jin or Joel, whichever you prefer.”

You nod, smiling widely as you introduce yourself as well. “Y/N.”

“Y/N….” Sung Jin repeats, committing it to memory. His expression dims briefly, a complete one-eighty from his otherwise cheerful demeanour but as quick as it came, it vanished, replaced by his usual benevolent smile again. It has you thinking that maybe you had imagined it. “What can I help you with today?”

Seeing as there were no other customers aside from yourself, Sung Jin sticks by your side, helping you find most of the items you have written down on a list. He’s charming, quite amicable as he enthusiastically tells you about the different plants and minerals you were looking for in great detail, their medicinal properties (or lack thereof) and other trivia facts you hadn’t bothered to look into.

You enjoy it, fascinated by what you’re learning yet you can’t help feeling the irony of it all because what you’re using these things for is far from healing purposes. And evidently, Sung Jin seems to catch on when the items start to become more and more dubious in nature, but in spite of it, he does little to deter you from buying them.

“So….. Atropa Belladonna….” He starts off casually, one dark brow raised and when you give him a puzzled look back, he adds, pointing his chin at the vial of dull purple, bell-shaped flowers and shiny black berries in your little basket. “Commonly known as deadly nightshade — not something people buy often, let alone ask in my shop.”

“O-Oh….” You nervously fidget, eyes darting from the little jar of poison to the jar in your hand (‘chamomile’ the label reads, a subconscious choice that you’d rather not look too much into). “Uh... I just thought...you know, it looked pretty interesting...?” You sound as convincing as a soggy loaf of bread, the grimace on your face not helping at all.

Sung Jin stares at you, eyes boring so intensely into your soul that you felt the need to lean back slightly. It goes on for a long minute until he lets out a loud gasp and he leans in, stage whispering conspiratorially, “You're not trying to summon a ghost or a demon are you?”

“N-NO!” It comes out louder than you had intended, spluttering and choking on air as you say defensively, “I'm not – !! Who would – why would anyone wanna do that?!” The jar still in your hand nearly goes flying from all the frantic waving you're doing. At your strong reaction, the tall brunette bursts out into a guffaw, slapping the tops of his thigh delightedly, laughter pitching and squeaking as if you'd just told him the funniest joke he's ever heard.

“I'm just kidding! Oh man, the look on your face was priceless!”

Again, you're hit with the dizzying sensation of deja vu, so fast that you're left in a daze until you're knocked back by Sung Jin who playfully smacks you on the shoulder.

Geez, is the incense that strong in here? You don't know what's gotten into you.

Once he finally calms, Sung Jin lets out a satisfied sigh, placing his hands on his hips as he regards you again. “Well! If that's all that you're looking for today, I'll be happy to cash you out whenever you're ready.”

“A-Ah...yeah....” You reply weakly, still trying to recover from the cold sweat that he made you break out into. Once you get your bearings again, you shuffle on over to the register counter and by the time Sung Jin bags the last of your things, you'd spent just a little over a hundred dollars. Your wallet is crying but you tell yourself it's all on Jimin's tab that he's wracking up with you.

“Thanks for everything today, Sung Jin. It was really nice meeting you and finding your shop.” You say. The shop owner smiles at you, about to bid you farewell when he catches himself, eyes widening in realization.

“Ah! I almost forgot something!” He whirls around from leaning against the counter to rifle through the drawers behind him, muttering under his breath until he makes a noise that lets you know that he's found what he was looking for. Turning around, he presents to you a stone crystal of sorts, about the size of his palm. At first, you think it's some type of rose quartz, only much paler than what you're used to seeing but as the light catches it, it shimmers iridescently, the vibrant colours sparkling and bouncing against the wooden surface of the counter. “A gift for you.”

“Oh no, I can't possibly...”

“Consider it as a 'thank you' for spending over a hundred dollars.” Sung Jin cuts you off with a tut, gingerly sliding the crystal into the little black pouch and cinching the draw strings together before offering it to you, “Also, it doubles up as a protective charm.”

“Oh really?” You ask, mildly intrigued, tentatively taking the bag and placing it into one of the pockets in your large tote bag.

“Yeah, keeps away all those evil spirits and spooky, scary stuff.” He wiggles his fingers at you, making you snort. Without any more surprises, you gather the brown paper shopping bags in your hands and turn, ready to leave.

“Thanks again, Sung Jin. I hope I can visit sometimes near the future.”

He shoots you a beaming smile, one that makes his eyes crinkle and cheeks full, waving cutely at you. Right before your eyes, he's aged back ten years and the sight makes it all the more difficult not to return his smile.

“Of course, come back soon Y/N. I'll be expecting you.”

His parting words ring out the same time the bell above the door does, making you halt just outside of the shop. You turn to look back as if something is compelling you to do so. It's confusing because you don't have any attachments to this place, having only visited for the first time and yet, you have this strange feeling of not wanting to leave.

The connection is broken just as quickly however, with the shuttering of painted wood, the door closing with a forceful clatter, effectively cutting off the strong earthy smell that had seemed to permeate around you until now. You shake your head, taking a deep inhale of the fresh air in the late afternoon sun. It clears away whatever dreamy haze that remained and with a shrug, you head on home, intent to tackle the rest of your remaining tasks.

-

Obviously, they would call for a night with a full moon, right on 3AM – the start of the witching hour. That's usually the case with these things right? Aside from this one requirement, everything else had been exceptionally easy to obtain. Your trip to Sung Jin's shop had saved you a lot of time and trouble in finding the things you needed which left only a handful of items that needed to be acquired – most of which you found on Amazon (of all places, but you suppose you really can find anything and everything on Amazon). The only hiccup you had was Jaehee nearly discovering your, as you sardonically call, 'new secret hobby' (boy that would've been a fun conversation to try and weasel your way out of).

So thanks to Amazon Prime, you have your very own demon summoning starter kit ready to go by the time the next full moon appears. And lucky for you, it lands on the day you have a closing shift so after you're done working, you can head right off into doing this – you have your eyes set on a local park just outside of your neighbourhood as the perfect place for it!

Wow, you sound way too excited about trying to summon Lucifer with no prior experience.

But you attribute the morbid exhilaration you're feeling as nerves you would have when you're doing something out of your comfort zone, like skydiving – except this was by far the most unorthodox way of getting high off of an adrenaline rush ever. Either way, you're antsy during the days leading up to it and even more so throughout your shift; you could barely keep still. Once you punch out for the night, you bid a hasty farewell to your co-workers and jet off without a second to waste. You take the bus to your normal route but instead of walking down the street towards your home, you continue on forward for two blocks.

You cross the road, coming up on the park that was like a little island all on its own with a simple playground and a set of swings that has seen better days situated in the centre, bordered by a singular paved path that curved from one end of the park to the other. The three street lamps planted sparely about the area begin to come alive just as the last of the sunset's light fades over the horizon. It casts everything in an umber glow, occasionally flickering sporadically. It's a quiet night, the only sounds are the faint chirping of crickets and passing cars in the busier intersection at the end of the road. There was no other person that occupied the park as far as you can tell, only seeing one or two people out taking a nightly stroll. The weather is especially warm tonight; even with the sun down there is still a blanket of heat that remains in the air, making you think that maybe you might actually get an early summer at this rate.

Your skin feels slightly warm and dewy as you decide to take a seat on the lone bench, finally putting down your tote and the big brown paper shopping bag you've lugged to work and stuffed in your cubby locker. It contains all of the things you need to set up for the summoning ritual but seeing as it's only eleven-thirty, you pull out your headphones to listen to some music while you wait for the appropriate time.

The moon was bright tonight, so clear against the cloudless sky that it almost looks like it was hanging right above you. You fall into a tranquil peace staring at it, the first in what felt like ages that you just bask in it – might as well take advantage of this rare moment before who knows what kind of shit will hit the fan soon.

Unfortunately, it lasts for about a good hour and a half before your nerves rear its ugly head again, suddenly so acutely aware of the time slowly passing. You're no longer satisfied with gazing at the moon, already having given up on trying to see the stars if you stared hard enough (you've never had such luck with that around here anyways). So you try to occupy yourself in other ways, like taking a look around the playground (you foolishly decided to try your hand at going down the twisting red slide which nearly sends you crashing into the sand pit below; that slide should definitely not be that fast) and doing a couple of rounds on the swings (before it let out a loud and concerning creak).

Still, the itch persists, you want to get this over with much like ripping a bandage right off. But magic takes time and precision, there's no cutting corners here, or so you read.

You eventually settle to make your base in the small platform of the play set, anxiously checking and rechecking your bag to see that you have everything. After you painfully drain your phone battery to fifty percent and nearly falling asleep, the clock finally hits 3AM. Now, you're truly deep into the night where the world falls to a hush and knows no better of the deeds that are about to transpire. The perfect cover.

You get to work, climbing down the play set with your bags in tow. Through the tab on your phone, you walk through the steps in setting up the summoning circle, using simple white chalk to draw on the pavement. You sprinkle the area with a crushed mixture of herbs and roots you had bought from Sung Jin's shop in the cardinal directions as instructed and draw a salt ring in the middle, meant to contain and protect you from harm. Finally, you mark the five candles and the inside of your wrists with more symbols in black ink and then take out a safety pin.

This is the one part you hate.

Inhaling deeply, you press the point of the pin against the pad of your thumb, adding pressure until you flinch, feeling the skin pierce and bead of crimson rises from the wound.

“Why do they always gotta involve your blood or any kind of blood....” You mutter, annoyed as you swipe it against the body of each candle, just above the marked symbols. Sticking your thumb in your mouth, you lick away the remaining blood as you arrange the candles to sit at the different points on the summoning circle and with a match stick, you light them all up. When the last of the candle is lit, you flick away the match and get into position, scrolling all the way down on your phone until you reach the incantations.

“Alright, here we fucking go...”

With your palms facing up, you begin to recite the first lines. You try to keep your tone steady and clear, enunciating each word. The further along you go, the easier they flow out like you know them off by heart, shocking you. You don't know if you're just imagining things but it's like something comes over you, a chill that travels down your spine, reaching to your fingertips and makes every nerve endings stand on edge. The sound of your own voice seems so distant to you now, like it's not even yours anymore as you fall into a trance-like state. You fail to notice the breeze that begins to pick up, a static charge in the air as the lamps around you flicker violently and when you utter the name 'Lucifer Morningstar', the candles are blown out.

When you regain your focus, you're slightly out of breath, heart thundering against your chest and in your ears. You glance around your surroundings, cautious and half-expecting to come face-to-face with the devil himself but slowly you realize....

There was nothing.

A whole three-sixty spin confirms it; there wasn't a single thing amiss around you that you're actually left in disbelief. But it's quiet now, too quiet. The crickets have stopped chirping, the street lights have stopped flickering – even the faulty one you saw earlier. So you wait another few minutes for good measures, holding your breath and shoulders tense until a sharp ringing and intense vibration erupts from your hand, causing you to yell out in surprise. Fumbling, you crash onto your knees in an attempt to catch your phone, managing to cushion what would've surely been a screen shattering fall to a short, edge denting clatter. You can't help the pathetic whine that escapes your lips; from being startled, dropping your phone, the ache in your knees, and the fact that the ritual most likely didn't work.

Shaking away the jitters, you blink, momentarily blinded by the light of your phone as it shows you the identity of the caller. You pick up after the third ring.

“Hello?”

“GIRL! WHERE ARE YOU!?” Jaehee's voice screeches through. You pull away, wincing and even from a distance, she speaks as if she's right beside you. “IT'S ALMOST FOUR IN THE MORNING AND IT'S BEEN TWO HOURS SINCE I GOT HOME! TWO HOURS!! AND NO TEXT OR CALL OR ANYTHING?! I THOUGHT YOU GOT KIDNAPPED!”

You sigh, guilt washing over you as you can hear how palpable her worry is. It'd completely slipped your mind to text her that you would be home late. You drag a hand down your face, feeling drained as your night's escapades start to catch up to you and answer Jaehee less she was going to pop a blood vessel.

“Y-Yeah sorry, sorry. I forgot I had to go somewhere and sort of lost track of time, also didn't help that I missed the last bus to get home so...”

“Do you need me to send an Uber? Where did you go? Are you far?”

“No, no it's okay Jaehee, I'll be home in a few minutes don't worry.” You reassure. You end the call after convincing Jaehee that you're absolutely fine and not being held at gunpoint. Looking down at the mess you've made, you can't help the small chortle as it dawns on you that this is definitely not something you should leave behind any evidence of – you don't think families or the elderly would appreciate finding out that there's been some occult funny business going on right outside their homes.

Whoops.

You gather the candles once the wax has dried, stuffing them back into the brown paper bag along with the little jars and vials you used. You sweep away the salt and remnants of the herbs as best you can, pushing them into the grass inconspicuously. For the ink staining your wrists, you wet your fingers with your tongue and rub until all that's left is a blotchy mess. Now all that remains was the chalk drawing of the summoning circle. At first you tried scuffing as much of it with the soles of your shoes but all that does was slightly smudge it, the markings still clear as day.

“Uhhh.....” You flounder, not knowing what to do with your hands before you give your bag a thorough rifle and triumphantly pull out an old water bottle still half full. This will do. You empty it over the drawing, making sure to try and get as much of it as you can. Thankfully, it dissolves without much resistance and you chuck the plastic bottle into the trash can. Sure there might be a few marks left over but it was hardly discernible and honestly, you can't be bothered with any more efforts. You're tired and you just want to go to sleep.

So you head on home without so much as another thought on your mind, oblivious to the ghostly white wisps of smoke trailing after you.

-

Jaehee was on you the moment you stepped through the door, already interrogating you and going as far as to ask if it had anything to do with trying to find Jimin. You should've figured she would assume that, knowing how troubled you were about his absence. At least because of that, she was somewhat more understanding but had made you promise you would let her know if you were going to be out past 2AM.

“I know how worried you are about him, but I don't want you going out and endangering yourself trying to find him like that. You shouldn't have to get hurt because of some bad decisions he chose to make.”

You really wished it was that simple.

So you placate her by saying that you had tried to meet with a friend of Jimin's only to be stood up at the last minute, completely not his fault. She let you go then, still miffed but otherwise glad that you're safe otherwise. You fall into a deep sleep that night the moment your head touches the pillow, exhausted.

It'd been the longest sleep you've ever had. You wake up groggy as all hell but with a new weight on your chest.

Your only lead in finding your guardian demon didn't work and the blow hits harder than you want to admit. It continues to follow you the days going forward, plaguing your mind with one question; where do you go from here?

Should you try other methods to summon a demon? Are there other methods? If so, then what? Try to find a local witch? It eats away at you and you swear you would've fallen into a manic obsession if it weren't for your friends. Like a saving grace, you get a text for an invitation to hang out on the preface that it's been a while and truthfully, it has. The last time you all had the time to gather together was before the BTS concert. At first you had wanted to decline, thinking you're not in the right state of mind to enjoy hanging out leisurely but you second guess yourself; maybe you do need a distraction, something to help clear your mind from this dark void that's taken over your life so that you can regroup and figure out what's your next best course of action.

The final push was Jaehee who practically forces you to go out at this golden opportunity, rightfully concerned about the haggard look you're starting to take on. So you pull yourself together, slap on some makeup to not look as dead on the outside as you feel on the inside, and take your ass out of the house.

It was no less a struggle, feeling as if you had to drag your feet every step of the way to the meeting spot you all agreed to. Doesn't help that the weather today was muggier than usual despite the sky being overcast, the sun constantly peeking in and out from behind the thick clouds that drift by. You don't remember it calling for rain today so you keep your fingers crossed, not liking the way some of the clouds appear darker than the others and you not bothering to bring an umbrella.

Thankfully when you reached the subway station, you're greeted by two of your friends who are already there, their cheerfulness lifting your spirits slightly.

“Y/N!!” Rosa squeals delightedly, coming to embrace you with a big hug. You let out a small 'oof' at her enthusiasm but bring your arms up to squeeze her back too.

“Hey, oh man it feels like forever since we've seen each other.” You part from Rosa to give your other friend a hug.

“Right? Oh my god...when was it? Like, before the concert?” Mei points out. “What's even sadder is that we always talked about meeting up and doing something but just...never did, for like weeks.”

Rosa laughs, “That's basically what being an adult is.”

You continue to chat idly, waiting for the rest of your other friends to show and when they do, you head on over to your favourite cafe as your first pit stop. You catch up with everyone and mainly talk about what you were all up to, which you can't exactly disclose in too much detail beyond 'working and sleeping'. It leaves much to be desired for an engaging conversation and you find yourself struggling for the first time with this disconnect, made more obvious when your friends mention any latest BTS content they've seen.

“You haven't seen this yet?!” Jess exclaims to you. She flashes you a high-definition picture no doubt taken by a fan site of Jimin on her phone, probably in the midst of their EU leg of the tour. He looks like a literal angel, dressed in all white with arms outstretched in a way that any second, you would think wings would appear, the glare of the spotlight illuminating behind him as he gazes out into the sea of purple twinkling lights. It's a breathtaking photo but right now, it's so bittersweet to be looking at him like this. Your heart clenches painfully in your chest, the emotions threatening to overwhelm you. It suddenly feels like you're living in a dream and the person you're trying to chase is nothing but a phantom, their face slowly fading from your memories and you're desperately trying to hold on.

You swallow, the tightness in your throat becoming uncomfortable as you force an apologetic smile on your face, straining. “I really didn't have time to catch up on anything lately.”

You follow your friends from one place to another afterwards, complacent in their decisions and growing more and more despondent in your responses. Whatever energy you had before to try and maintain a farce is long gone now and it doesn't go unnoticed by your group.

“Hey, you feeling okay?” Sonya asks gently, falling back to where you're hanging near the front of a cute stationary shop you all decided to randomly stop by. You go to open your mouth, ready to deny but then stop yourself, seeing no use in it. So all that comes out is a defeated sigh that has your shoulders slumping.

“Sorry, I don't know, I felt fine when I left home but I guess not...”

“Did you want to maybe get some water? I have Advil in my bag if you want. Or if you want we can walk you back home?” Sonya suggests helpfully. You give her a weak smile, declining with a wave of your hand.

“No, it's okay. Maybe if I rest a little....”

“You don't have to force yourself if you're not feeling it. If you feel like you wanna go home then we don't mind.”

You still feel guilty even though you know Sonya means everything that she says. The guilt only intensifies when the rest of your friends gather from browsing or buying something, immediately worried once they've caught on the rather serious air surrounding you and Sonya. In the end, you had decided maybe it was better to call it quits here, not wanting to trouble or ruin what was supposed to be a fun outing between friends because you're getting too much in your head. After apologizing for having to leave early and fight off their insistence on walking you back to the subway station, you part ways.

You've ended up in the deeper parts of the city, so it would take about six stops for you to get to the station nearest to your place. First though, you had a bit of a walk, either to get back to the station you exited from or the next stop over three blocks up the street, usually something you wouldn't mind if not for the looming dark clouds above you that had taken over the sky completely, plunging the world around you in a deep gloom. With no sun in sight, it makes the summer solstice 6PM look like it's winter's.

You go at a brisk pace, choosing to go back the way you came since you're more familiar with that route. The wind begins to pick up, a sure sign of the coming storm and you dread being caught out at this rate. Up ahead is a stoplight, the one where you're supposed to cross the street at but you're tempted to just cut across the road now, wanting to save time. The traffic here isn't busy with hardly any cars passing through so once you see that it's a red light on both sides, you make a run for it.

You're just about halfway to the other side when you feel the toe of your shoes catching on the asphalt and you're suddenly stumbling forward with your momentum. You're bracing for the fall but before you could let out a gasp, a strange sensation passes over you, like being suspended in midair. It goes by so quickly that you don't have the time to register the impact it makes because a split second later, a black sedan barrels past you, honking loudly as it goes and so closely you think it would've grazed your nose.

Body rigid, you're frozen from the shock, heart pounding loudly and with a mind now kicked into flight or fight mode, you sprint the rest of the way on shaky, clumsy limbs. You nearly collapse once you've reached the safety of the other side, taking deep breaths to calm yourself and the adrenaline running through you.

Either you should've looked both ways more carefully or that asshole just blew through a red light going a hundred kilometres on an eighty speed limit.

You're gonna go with the asshole because you swear the lights were red. You made sure of it.

Straightening yourself, you hoist your tote bag up your shoulders again and continue to make your way down the street. By then, it has begun drizzling, the droplets falling so erratically and lightly that they get carried by the wind. It makes it hard to avoid and only serves to further irritate you. It's a straight walk from here, you don't think you have to worry about nearly dying again so you keep your head down, one hand raised in an attempt to shield yourself from the spattering rain. You turn the corner at the end of the block, peering up to see the tall station street sign looming ahead and you've never been more relieved, powering on to reach it if only to escape the steadily increasing downpour.

So caught up in closing the last bit of distance, you're jerked out of your focus when there was a loud shout of alarm.

“HEY WATCH IT!”

Instinctively, your steps slow, body turning towards the noise in trying to find the owner of the voice. Your eyes whip to see a few people huddling under an overhang to a high-rise building you passed but what's more concerning is where their gaze is focused – widen in fear, their necks craning up, and some even rushing towards your direction, waving frantically to get your attention. It's when you follow their line of sight do you understand why.

Three stories high you spot the outlines of glass panels that line the edges of the balcony, only to your horror, many of them were teetering precariously off of their hinges with no hopes of hanging on because seconds later, their weight gives way and two of them begin to free fall.

Right above you.

You hear rather than see the first one crashing onto the pavement mere inches behind you, the sound much like that of rolling thunder that you can easily mistaken it as part of the stormy weather. You think you feel the pinpricks of glass shards spraying up to scratch your legs but all you can think is where was the second panel? You feel like you can't move your legs fast enough, so frazzled with your mind racing to barely process what is happening and eyes searching wildly but seeing nothing as if you've been blinded.

A chill runs through you then, an icy cold grip that holds you hostage and you wonder idly if this is how you're really going to die. A poor, unfortunate girl who met her demise because of some rotten luck and a freak accident.

And there it was again, that weightless feeling surrounding you, except now there's a distinct tugging as you feel yourself being pulled backwards. All at once, a flash of light goes off right in front of you, shimmering so brilliantly in an arc shape that it has you shutting your eyes, hands thrown up in protection and a gust of air whistles past your ears along with another resounding crash. It's so strong you momentarily feel the rain stop falling around you and you trip backwards, landing on your behind in a crumpled mess.

When you finally open your eyes, you're staring at a pile of frosted glass right where you had been standing, the glittering shards curving outward as if something had forced it away. You can't stop the tremors that shake through your body, breath coming out in short gasps.

What was that just now? There's no way that couldn't have hit you, you practically had a target marker right over your head for it.

Your head is spinning, barely hearing how a small crowd begins to gather around you, some approaching you while there are others who are on their phones, no doubt calling the fire department to report the incident. You're helped to your feet, are asked if you're injured and if you needed medical help, all of which you answer no thoughtlessly. You're more concerned with something else.

There's something else at work here; the first time you would've brushed it off as a trick of your mind but this time, it's just too coincidental. You swivel your head around, not even sure what you're looking for but you can't stop the traitorous surge in hope within you.

You nearly miss it.

Through the dispersing crowd you see two shadowy figures, concealed in the depths of an alley, so well hidden thanks to the darkness of the looming clouds and the still cascading rain. You stare with baited breath, watching the scene unfold as one of the figure grips the other in their hand, raising them until their feet dangled off the ground. They struggle uselessly and claw at the strong hold to no avail. Then, with an inhumane strength, they are slammed into the wall as if they were a rag doll. But to your shock, the crumpled body dissolves in a flurry of ashes and smoke, a few flickers of orange light seeping through before disappearing like dying embers on coal. You dare not take your eyes away, much less blink in fear of it being merely an illusion.

Yet the image before you doesn't fade, even though it seems like you're the only one who can see it. You watch the way the now lone figure struggles to remain upright, a hand reaching up to grasp at their head as if suddenly hit with a wave of nausea. It's then you realize they had been wearing a hood because the dark fabric falls away then, revealing to you a pale face you had not seen in so long.

“Jimin....” His name falls from your trembling lips in a mere whisper before you can stop yourself, breath caught in your throat and as if he had heard you, his gaze whips to your direction.

Your eyes lock on the familiar glow of crimson. Your heart lurches.

And then he takes off.

Panicked, you scramble to push past the few lingering bodies out of your way, feet kicking into a dead sprint, eyes never leaving his retreating back. You rush into the alley without a second thought, weaving and dodging the waste, dumpsters and other things that were lost and abandoned there. You're panting in your efforts to keep up, barely having time to call out to him but try as you might, you cannot hope to catch up to someone who's abilities far outweighs your own and after minutes of winding and sharp turns, you lose sight of him.

You come to a halt, lungs burning from exertion as your eyes dart this way and that but come up empty in what you're looking for. You curse loudly, distress taking over as you grab a fistful of your own hair. After the adrenaline begins to die down, you begin to take in your surroundings. So caught up in your pursuit of him, you failed to notice the unfamiliar streets you've ended up on. You don't know how far you've strayed, can't tell whether going up or down would be the best option in finding your way back but above all, you can't believe you let him slip from your grasp like that.

“Fuck....!” You hiss again, hands balling themselves into fists. The boiling anger makes you tremble more than the cold rain that begins to soak into you; anger at yourself for being so helpless, anger at Jimin for how distant he's become with no explanation. Were you not worth telling anything important to? The thought quells the anger to a hurt and the realization that your fears are more than likely to be true. Yet still, you don't want to confirm them, stubborn to deny it until you get answers – you needed proof. And the only way you're going to get that is to get to the bottom of it, no matter what. With nothing more to gain standing there, you reluctantly turn back to the way you came, mind frayed at the seams from all that has happened.

You don't make it two steps before someone grabs you and your screams are smothered by a hand.

[quicksilverlightning]

The All Might Fan Forum Discussion Board, Part Two

ALL MIGHT FAN FORUM General Discussion All Might Battles Meeting All Might      Rescued by All Might      All Might Encounters      >Small Might Encounters (New!) Fanart and Fanfiction

Gone4-a-Jog

Small Might Sensei

I like to go jogging. I started recently and I’m not very good at it – I can’t run very fast or very long. But I like taking different routes and discovering new places when I stop to catch my breath. It was during one of my longer runs that I bumped into All Might.

I’d heard someone behind me a few minutes before I stopped to put my hands on my knees and try to gulp down as much air as possible, but didn’t hear that he stopped when I did so I jumped and nearly fell on my ass when I got upright, then nearly fell again when I saw who it was and this long sentence doesn’t begin to cover the comedy of errors that was my life in these few moments.

He stopped cause I was running wrong. Sidenote: there’s a such thing as running wrong. Apparently, you want to land in the middle of your foot and try not to land on your heel at all cause that can cause problems. He also taught me a few breathing rhythms for different intensities of runs.

He ran with me for about twenty minutes, correcting my bad posture and seriously I know every post on this forum says it, but All Might is super, super nice. Like, you’d think he’d have at least a little ego or something, but he doesn’t. He just wants to help everyone. He said hello to everyone we passed and doubled back to throw away a bottle someone dropped. He’d so nice you guys.

I’ve been using what he taught me for a few days now, and haven’t gotten a stitch in my side once. It’s so much easier to run now. Thanks Sensei!

Pepper-oni

Seatmates!

Small Might sat next to me on the bus. Pretty sure he could have had any seat he wanted no matter how crowded it was, but he was really polite and kinda awkward about asking if he could sit with me. Meanwhile, I’m internally screaming while trying to keep it cool on the outside.

He was texting someone on his phone – I tried not to stare, but it’s All Might, you know? I didn’t catch much, just that he was proud of someone, which, hello, is so frickking cute. He looked happy.

m0toroildrmz

A brief conversation with my mother:

“Mom, do you know who that was?”

“No?”

“That was All Might! All Might, mom!”

I leave my mom alone for five seconds to use the bathroom, and I come back to ALL MIGHT helping her with her English crossword puzzles. She didn’t even get an autograph for me.

oba-san581

the beach

I don’t know why it took so very long for it to click – after his last battle, I couldn't shake the feeling that I’d seen that tall, skinny man somewhere before. And he is such a distinctive gentleman; I was sure I knew him, somehow. It wasn’t until I met him on the beach that it finally fell into place.

I’m retired these days, so I have a lot of time on my hands. Every day, I take a walk from my home to the library and back. Sometimes I stay a few minutes, sometimes the entire day gets away from me. For months, almost every day without fail, there was a man and a boy cleaning the shoreline near my home. They would be there when I left for the day, and were still there when I came back. The boy was a scrappy, freckled little thing, cute as a button. The man was slender, but undeniably strong – he would step in to help with some of the bigger appliances, but mostly directed the boy and cheered him on.

I stopped to speak to them a few times; the boy was such a polite young man, and All Might was genial and humble. I never would have known. I could never have guessed had I not met him again, returning from the library with a book to enjoy near the waves.

It’s strange; heroes are so flashy these days, hustle and bustle and fight and move. And we appreciate them, need them. But there’s something so very special about the little things. All Might personally spent almost a year helping clean up a beach. Would anyone else in the top ten have done that?

He was every bit as kind as I remembered. He doesn’t accept praise very well, insisted the beach was all the boy’s doing. Which is fair enough I suppose – he did most of the heavy lifting. Even so, that man was out there almost every single day, with lunch and water and cheer and kind words. It warmed my heart, watching the two of them progress across the sand. I’m so glad All Might is a teacher now; those kids are in good hands.

spite-and-aesthetic

again with the cats

small might plucked my cat out of a tree AGAIN – same cat same tree he even fucking remembered me is this guy for real?

MKPlusUltra

All Might does not skip Leg Day

So I’m minding my own business, checking messages on my phone, waiting on my drink order, when there’s some commotion across the street – lotta loud noise, people screaming and running, standard-issue villain-tries-to-rob-the-till-at-the-combini sort of afternoon. It’s a tall guy with, like, I guess it’s a stretch Quirk off some kind? He looks like he walked out of some old-timey cartoon, all wiggly limbs bouncing everywhere, running from what looks like some rookie Pro – I don’t even think they were a rookie yet; maybe an intern? Anyway, Noodle Arms is booking it, Intern is after him as fast as his short legs can manage. Leggy clears the street in one jump and starts twisting his head around like he can’t decide where to go next.

It’s at that moment when All Might himself exits the building next to mine, one hand leaving his pocket to check his watch and Noodle makes a decision.

Now look, I’m gonna break this down into slo-mo for ya, cause seriously, it was a thing of beauty. It was one, smooth, impossibly cool-looking move, and every piece of it needs to be appreciated. This DUMBASS, who clearly had no plan whatsoever beyond “grab a hostage,” honestly thinks he can take on ALL MIGHT, I guess cause he’s skinny now or something. He wraps his stupid noodle limbs around him and All Might doesn’t even twitch when Dumbass constricts his arms and waves a gun around. Dumbass is yelling something, I don’t know what, who tf cares. All Might kinda tilts his head, wriggles his shoulders a bit, then lifts his arms up and slides out of the jacket so fast the fabric doesn’t even lose its shape. I’m not even kidding, it looked like it was on an invisible mannequin, this move came straight from the Acme school of How To Defy Physics. Dumbass has just enough time to look shocked before he’s eating a size 13 leather shoe – All Might dropped to his haunches, made a quarter-turn, and kicked his leg up and back, straight into the jaw of Dumbass. He kicks him so hard his feet actually lift off the ground and he flies backwards into a streetlamp.

All Might doesn’t even look angry; he just looks Annoyed, like someone forgot to put sugar in his coffee. He picks up his jacket and slings it over a shoulder and waits around a few minutes for the police to catch up and haul Noodle McDumbass into custody while Short Intern babbles away with stars in his eyes. It was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

AM_FAN0112

HE’S BACK

HE HASN’T BEEN TO THE SHOP IN THREE MONTHS TOSHINORI YOU USELESS SUNFLOWER I WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOU. I LEFT SO MANY TEARS ON HIS JACKET

YOU FUCKING SWEETHEART. YOU ABSOLUTE RAY OF LITERAL SUNSHINE. I WILL SAVE EVERY COPY OF SUGAR SUGAR CAT CAFE FOR YOU I WILL READ EVERY SINGLE DUMBASS ROMANCE MANGA I CAN FIND I WILL WORK IN THIS TINY BOOKSHOP FOR THE REST OF MY STUPID LIFE JUST NEVER SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN YOU AWKWARD JACKRABBIT DON’T EVER LEAVE ME HANGING LIKE THAT AGAIN

I’M SORRY FOR SCREAMING I JUST MISSED HIM SO MUCH HE’S MY FAVORITE CUSTOMER EVEN BEFORE I KNEW HE WAS ALL MIGHT. HE’S AN ADORABLE OLD MAN

RedRibbon

A good man

Perhaps it’s a little unfair for me to comment since I work in the Tower. Still, there are some things I wanted to share with the world and this is a good place to do it.

I’ve been at the agency for three years now, mainly doing secretarial work. My direct superior is a man named Yagi-san. Yagi-san acted as All Might’s personal assistant, right hand man, concierge, whatever you want to call it. Telling something to Yagi-san was as good as telling it to All Might directly. I, along with everyone else in the Tower, learned why that night in Kamino.

I’ve read many, many posts on these discussion boards and if I were to identify a unifying theme that everyone seems to mention, it’s that All Might is a nice guy. That he really, honestly cares. That he worries about the little things just as much as the big things. I’ve worked with Yagi-san for three years and can confirm that none of it is a show for the adoring public – it’s all 100% true.

Let me tell you something, I worked with Miruko’s agency before All Might’s, and Wash before that, but unless the two of them also have secret identities, neither one of them was on the ground floor pushing pencils with the rest of us like All Might was. I’ve seen Yagi-san escorting new hires around the building when they get lost. I’ve seen him roll up his sleeves and change a busted printer cartridge, ink all over his shirt. He knows everyone’s birthday. He’ll do coffee runs, answer the phones, make deliveries, grab lunch, whatever you need. I’ve seen him as All Might, shutting the press down when they start getting pushy with the employees, or dropping by the daycare and making the kids light up.

I’ve never seen him complain. I’ve never seen him brush anyone off. I’ve never seen him be rude, or arrogant, or insulting, or aloof. I’ve never seen him treat anyone as lesser, as if they weren’t worth his time. Yagi-san lifted morale just by being in the building, the way All Might cut crime rates just by existing. Everyone in the agency loved Yagi-san just as much as they loved the hero; everyone had a story about All Might, and another one about Yagi-san. I’ve seen a few of those stories on this very board.

But this one is mine:

Ever since high school, I’ve used a ribbon to keep the hair out of my face. I love my curls, but they can be a nuisance waving around at the edge of my vision, so I keep them pulled back. I like using ribbons because scrunchies often get caught in my un-tameable mess of hair.

My ribbon snapped one day at work. It wasn’t a big deal – just a minor annoyance to have to keep pushing my hair back. But Yagi-san noticed. He noticed without anyone saying anything, and came back from lunch thirty minutes later with a beautiful red ribbon that he tied into my hair.

It really is the little things that matter the most. This tiny little gesture made me feel seen, acknowledged, valued. Not just as an employee, but as a person. All Might cares about those kinds of things – his employees aren’t subordinates, they’re people. He doesn’t rescue victims, he recuses people. He doesn’t pull you up to his level; he gets on yours and puts you on his shoulders.

I’ve worn that ribbon nearly every day for two years. It’s gotten thin in places, kinda frayed at the edges, but still doing its job faithfully. A bit little like the man who gave it to me.

[thoughtfullyyoungduck]

Married at first sight AU part 4

A/N: I’m so sorry it took me so long to add another chapter! I’m thinking about applying for a writing course in college so i would really appreciate any honest opinion about my writing!

Summary: It’s time for Eddie’s part of the home-stays. Unfortunately, this also means that they’ll have to visit Sonia.

warning: there’s one sex joke in this (it’s Richie) and Sonia is in this so mental manipulation

@impalagurl67​  @juhavs​  @werenotinhawkinsanymore​ (sorry if you guys didn’t want to be tagged anymore) 

About five weeks into the experiment, Eddie is ready to call it quits. Not because Richie and him aren’t working as a couple, they are, really well actually, but because Eddie made a grave miscalculation.

He has long abandoned his own promise to leave the program as soon as possible, instead cherishing every date he and Richie go on that is paid by the production, spending more money on one date than Eddie has done in all his previous get-togethers ever.

It helps that for now they are in their own little world, away from every stress point of the daily life, in a place where they only have to focus on each other. He’s not ready yet to have to go back to work, or to move away from Richie, with him living in New York, and Richie residing in Chicago. Richie made him fall hard, and now he doesn’t think he ever wants to go to a house without him, for that house would not be a home.

As per consensus, Richie and him agreed on staying right until the week before the homestay at Eddie’s to avoid having to go and live with Sonia. The thing is, neither of them really kept track of what week they were on, for days in the same place blended together rather easily, or what the next would bring, not while they were having so much fun.

There’s no one else to blame but his own stupidity for that error, since they days before the commitment ceremony, they went to Richie’s homestay. It was only natural that Eddie’s followed. When that was revealed, Eddie and Richie looked at each other in shock, both of them cursing their obliviousness and forgetfulness, but by then, it was too late.

Suggesting that they forfeit anyway, Richie tried to help as best he could, but Eddie refused to do that, claiming it would portray them as a bad couple, and he wasn’t up for that; Richie deserved better than that. Not to mention his career. If they were to call it quits now, an explanation was obligatory, and that might result in reputation damage. For someone who worked in the business Richie did, that was not permissible.

That’s why they find themselves in a plane with destination New York, Eddie gripping Richie’s arm tightly, praying to whoever was up there to help them make it through the week. One might argue that Eddie isn’t forced to go see his mother, it’s only the home-stay, which means go to your own home, and Eddie wouldn’t have gone to her, if she didn’t live with him.

The last time they were on the plane, only days prior to this, their moods had been significantly better, Eddie full of anxious excitement at the prospect of meeting the people he had heard so much about.  

Maggie and Wentworth Tozier lived in a fairly small house, only 30 minutes away from where their son lived, with a medium sized garden filled with all sorts of flowers and herbs. It may not have been as big as Eddie’s house was growing up, nonetheless it exhibited a warmth and serenity, the flowers and spices creating scents that lingered every time they entered the backyard, a welcome aroma that greeted them.

Maggie loved to bake, roping Richie and Eddie into baking one with her and bonding, while Wentworth set the table, and showed them his collection of Richie’s comedy specials, disks all neatly combined in one folder.

Their support in everything their son did was heartwarming, but it also pushed Eddie out of his comfort zone, made him feel out of place. He didn’t have that sort of support system, and he was clueless on how to act around parents who did.

Richie assured him that his parents adored him, and Eddie believed him, mostly since he was completely amoured by them too, and he hoped that they deemed him good enough for their son.

Right after dropping by his parents, the two of them went to Richie’s home. His apartment was the same size as Eddie’s in New York, the only difference being that Eddie’s was much neater, not filled with so much unnecessary stuff and memories. There were a lot of pictures, most of them of Richie and his parents, and the friends he made during stand up, but also a few of a dog he once owned as a kid.

The pictures forced Eddie to think about his own apartment, bare of anything that made the place him. He only had one picture, and that was the photograph that was taken when he was thirteen with his mom coiling him in her grasp, scolding when he didn’t smile bright enough for her liking.

He listened to her, as he always did, the smile more manufactured than her figurines she bought from China, but he remembers how much he longed to be in his room so he had the change to cry in peace, helpless and stuck while she controlled him like a puppet. He swore to himself that day that he’d stick up for himself, and defy her, but his rebellion only lasted a month, before he realized that it did nothing but cause her claws to stick in deeper, and stealing the little freedom he had.

He’s ashamed of himself for living with his mother, and for allowing her to wring her way back into his daily life like he needed her to be there for every decision, but it’s hard to be brave when you have no one else to fall back on. He never had a reason to fight back, but with Richie, he has found one.

His idea was to talk to his mother after the show, keeping his foot down and demanding her to move out, but since the wedding, he ignored every single call his mom made, convincing himself that he needed a little bit of extra time to gain the courage.

Because he dropped of the grid and didn’t contact her in any way, he understood that he needed to call her, at the very least to let her know Richie and him were coming.

However, Richie and him hopped on a plane first thing after a meeting with the experts, leaving him with no time at all to warm his mother about their arrival, and without a proper conversation between the two of them.

He’s certain, that as soon as Richie walks over the threshold, she’ll chew him up, and then spit him out like he’s a filthy piece of dog shit. And god damnit Eddie is sick of her being allowed to do those things without any consequences. Someone should say something about it, and that someone should be him.

The whole trip, he divides his time between prepping Richie for the monster that his mother can be if she opts for it, thankful that the cameras are nowhere in sight, and assessing every possible outcome to prevent a huge blowout from occurring.

He will address her about her behavior, just not on television broad cast, so he’ll try the whole week to appease her, without throwing Richie under the bus. That’s a slippery slope to ride on.

His husband, for five weeks already yet the word still causes him to brighten up, is animatedly practicing for his next movie roll, and cracking jokes, attempting and achieving to mollify some of Eddie’s fears away.

‘Hey Eddie Spaghetti, how much you want to bet that I can indulge this whole sandwich in one bite?’

‘If you even try, I’ll leave you on this plane all by yourself.’

‘Auch, dully noted.’

His mother may be a horrible person, but this time he won’t have to face her alone. That also is reason for concern be as that may, because even despite the fact that Eddie told Richie all about his mother, there’s a whole lot of difference between hearing about it, and seeing it in the flesh.

Though he obsesses and over analyses every possible outcome of his sudden appearance with his mother, he is taking aback by her reaction none the less. Knocking on his front door, after ensuring Richie to take everything that comes out of her mouth with a grain of salt, the sight of her tight-lipped smile emerges.

She’s wearing the same dress she wore on the day of the wedding, the door clenched in her fists, glancing at them with glare she is careful to keep hidden from everyone who is unfamiliar with her. It’s one of her specialties, to mask how much hell she’s about to bestow upon Eddie towards other people.

Eddie immediately knows that she is livid, and by the hand that falls on his lower back, he can tell Richie understands it too.

‘Come in Eddie-bear’, she invites them in, as if the flat isn’t registered in Eddie name instead of hers. Eddie allows himself one more moment of hesitation, before faltering inside.

The minute he steps in, he wants to run back out. The walls metaphorically close in on him, like he is going to buried under the concerns and scrutiny of his mother, hiding him from every real love he could ever hope to get.

It’s torture, and he fights against every instinct in him to stay put. The place has been under his name for six years, and when he first bought it, he associated the place with new beginning and freedom, causing him to happily skip home after school every day. He discovered what kind of person he is here, what his personality entails, and he despises the fact that, just like with everything else, his mother took this away too.

His knees start to get a little weak, and Eddie thinks he might pass out any second, until Richie comes up beside him, his arm thrown over his waist and allowing Eddie to lean his weight on him, all his muscles relaxing after being cramped up in fight or flight mode.

A feather-light kiss is pressed to his forehead, Richie’s body shielding him from the camera and Sonia’s havoc eyes for barely a minute, but enough for Eddie to compose himself.

‘Hi miss K, I’m Richie.’ The greeting is one that is so unlike Richie that Eddie comes close to calling the whole thing off, his heart bleeding with the need to protect and preserve everything good about the man who is goofy and kind-hearted.

‘Richard,’ Sonia allows with a curt nod, inching her body away from Richie when he tries to hug her as a salutation. He doesn’t let it get to him, Richie’s polite smile remains on his face, determined to prove to her that he is above all that pettiness that she’s displaying.

The camera man shuffles closer, presumably zooming in on Richie’s face, gauging his reaction. Her attempt to conceal her distaste is not working effectively, but that is the opposite of a problem for the tv-show.

People eat drama up, and this will be no different, except that Eddie is now the one they’ll be gossiping about behind his back. A shiver rolls over his body, annoyance prickling the back of his neck. It’s easy to forget the cameras are rolling when he’s enjoying Richie’s company, but the reality that others observe them and every move they make is under scrutiny, is infuriating.

‘Oh Eddie-kins, it’s been so long since I’ve heard of you.’

She attempts to embrace him, but he only allows if for a second, detangling them to create more space between them. A mother touch should provoke a feeling of safeness, of care and love, but Sonia’s hugs always made it feel like tiny bugs crawled their way across his body, and no amount of whipping would ever get them off of him, and he avoided them at all costs.

Try as he might, he can’t fight the need to practically fall on his knees and apologies to her, his earlier determination about standing up for himself slipping away like water between his hands. He manages to shrug in lieu of it, but only by the skin of his teeth.

‘You look so skinny,’ she adds, true to form already doing her very best to poison his mind with the ideas of him being unwell. ‘I’ll bring you something to eat too.’

She spurns Richie, failing to ask him if he needs anything, marching to the kitchen.

Eddie grabs Richie’s hand, their finger interlocking while he catches the reassuring smile Richie gives him. ‘Wanna go see my room?’

‘Oh kinky Eds, and the first time I’m visiting too? I didn’t peg you for such a guy.’

With a gentle push of expiration and an accompanied eye-roll, he drags them over to his bedroom, the only space in the apartment that holds any worthwhile to him, or at least the a box hidden under his bed does. He guesses his mother will be busy with her tea , the one that Eddie has such a distaste for he almost dry heaves every time he takes a sip of, for a little while so they have a bit of time to spare.

The bedroom door remains open so the camera crew can pile in after them, their equipment enough to block the door from his mother’s prying eyes.

He crouches down on the floor in order to grab the box, pausing to really think things through, and then takes out just the picture, the lone one that was taking of both him and his father, previous to standing up, and joining Richie on the edge of the bed.

If he wants to relationship with Richie to work, he needs to reveal everything about him, including the parts that have yet to be healed, but he rules out that conversation until they’re alone.

There were more stuff in the box that belonged to his father, but those aren’t as important s the picture.

The photo gets muffled away out of sight of the camera, saved for a time when all the production crew has gone to bed.

His intent was to show Richie around the rest of the apartment, but the tea is prepared faster that he had foreseen, so he backlogs his plans, and they move to the living room.

His mother has, gracefully, packed a third mug, which she fills to the brim with her disgusting beverage, and offers up to them.

While Eddie and Richie choose the seat next to each other, his mother sits opposite to them, the tea sloshing on the table as she swirls it. Inwardly, Eddie cringes, the need to clean it up presenting itself with such a velocity that his hands shake.

‘So Eddie, talk to your mommy. How have you been?’ Eddie is muddled over her behavior. On the one hand, she is much calmer than he expected her to be, but on the other hand, he knows better than to let his guard down around her.

‘It’s been great mom, I’m really happy that I got paired with Richie’, he remarks. He’s being intentionally vague, as to not give her any ammo to verbally attack them with.

From the moment they stepped foot into the flat, she disdains Richie, never once addressing him, and it’s starting to get on Eddie’s nerves. He almost wishes she would scream, so sheltering himself and Richie is an option, whereas now it feels like he’s waiting for the punchline to drop.

‘Oh yes, Richard.’ The malicious sneer has resumed it’s place, her eyes squinted together as she leers at Richie. Richie’s posture shift, his body ridging but his mouth still firmly shut, biting his tong. The fact that Richie refrains from any sort of humor, or talking in general, leaves Eddie unsettled and on edge. He doesn’t like it, and the absence is an experience he’ll avoid as much as possible in the future.

‘What have they been feeding you Eddie-bear? You are so skinny. It’s not good for you you know, staying away from home for so long. Are you homesick? Is that why you’re barely eating?’

Embarrassment tints Eddie’s cheeks bright red, her treatment of him not unlike that five year old, condescending in the worst way.

The penny drops, and Eddie all at once understands what her game plan is. She’s trying to manipulate the situation so that it seems like Richie isn’t a good husband or partner, both for the tv show, and for Eddie.

She must have known that demanding Eddie to come home would have only resulted in him turning his back on her even more, so she ventured to do it in a different way.

‘Eddie is perfectly fine, misses K, his abs and frankly the rest of his body can vouch enough for that.’ Richie laughs, but the joke falls flat and dies out at the hard stare he receives. Tittering awkwardly, he clears his throat.

‘He isn’t homesick either, in fact, he told me that he loved to travel, he’s fine,’ Richie defends him, their legs locking under the table, not in view of the camera’s and his mother.

‘Even so, I’m very essential to my sons life, Richard. If you even consider being part of his, I come with the territory.’

‘Eddie is perfectly cable of being by himself, he doesn’t need anyone. Are you sure that it isn’t you that needs him?’

Sonia jumps up from her seat, her lukewarm drink spilling over the top and dripping of the side. She turns pale, her whole visage drained of any color, so utterly devoid of any other emotion other than enragement.

‘Do you hear that? Do you hear the way he speaks to me?’ She screeches to the lens-man, who blinks sheepishly at her, finding her outburst rather strange., as there was barely any provocation. The man glimpses at Eddie and Richie, who remain quite, and he follows their lead.

‘Eddie, force Richard out of here, he is no longer welcome. I won’t accept someone talking ill about me.’

‘He is mom’, Eddie states, his voice trembling somewhat, although the words don’t lack conviction.

‘Excuse me?’

‘This is my home, and you’re powerless to decide who comes through those doors.’ The camera is glaring right in his face and he is tempted to push it away, which is almost the perfect outlet for the anger he’s experiencing, but he’s better than that.

‘Eddie-bear’, she chuckles uncertain. ‘I’m just trying to look out for you. You’re delicate honey, and people like him,’ she spat at Richie, ‘will derail your mind.’

Scoffing, Eddie rises from his chair as well, establishing eye contact to assert dominance.

‘He won’t. But even if someone would try, they wouldn’t succeed.’ The picture in his pocket calls his attention, and his hand wonders into the pocket to touch it for a second, drawing strength from it.

‘Not anymore.’

Sonia gapes, her mouth opening and closing, unbelieving that her sweet, innocent boy said such a thing to her.

‘We’ll talk more when I get back, me and Richie are staying in a hotel tonight.’

He denies her the chance to reply and ruin the day even more, trudging outside with as much confidence he has. Richie says something to Sonia, out of hearing shot from Eddie, before he too, falls into step beside Eddie.

‘I’m sorry that this home-stay turned out to not be such a ‘home’-stay after all,’ Eddie apologizes, using air quotes on the word home.

‘Hey, Eds it’s fine. I don’t care where am I, as long as it’s with you.’

The blush returns, now for a whole different reason.

[leggomylino]

light switch 2 | yandere!seungmin

Genre: Yandere, romance/fluff (sorta?), thriller, a little angst, some comedy

Pairing(s): yandere!Seungmin x reader

Word count: ~8k

Warnings: Author rambling, run-on sentences, mild language (censored), a few memes, moments of high tension and possible anxiety, ooc, and mild abuse/violence

A/N: Requests are open! | Masterlist in bio! | I told you guys I was working on this!! Lol I’m so sorry it took so long! :(( But, nevertheless, here it is! ...And yes, there’s a surprise waiting for you at the end... >u>” Enjoy!! And please be sure to tell me what you think! c: I love hearing from you all~ <3 (For those of you that missed it, part one can be found here)

Oh my gosh it’s finally back

Can you believe it’s finally back

Seriously what took this chick {author} so long to write this sh*t wtfudge man

Okay okay I know I’m sorry

It’s been really chaotic and I’ve had a lot on my plate (and mind) but we’re finally back now and that’s all that matters

So

My question to you all is

ARE YOU READY TO FINISH THIS THING?!

(enter your response here)

...THEN YEEHAW LET’S GO 

  Okay so

To recap:

AT A CERTAIN DANDY BOY™ HOUSE

Your mother had just made a phone call to Seungmin asking to talk to you

She wanted to remind you to bring the mail inside before y’all got too comfortable and side-tracked since you told her you were at Minnie’s (a fatal error on your part) and she and your father are out of town on a cliche business trip

Things always go wrong during cliche business trips

Anyway Minnie was pretty confused at first but he caught on pretty quickly that something was up

Something rotten in the state of Your Town Name Here

And knowing that you must have lied he decided to play along, beginning to gather the materials he needed

*cue ominous soap opera music*

 “......”

“...Seungmin? Is everything alright?” Her voice is growing more and more worried with each consonant. “Where’s (y/n)?”

“......” 

He laughs.

Just laughs for a moment, shaking his head.

“...Yeah, yes, she’s here. Sorry, my connection has been on the fritz lately.”

“O-Oh, I see...can I talk to her?”

“She’s in the bathroom getting cleaned up right now. I’ll have her call you as soon as she’s out...”

He paces over to the blinds, peeking out into the neighborhood from his second story window. Like a lot of cliche villains or suspicious people do. “...but it may be a while. You know how long she takes just to brush her teeth.”

Mrs. (L/n) gives a relieved, but still somewhat nervous chuckle, sighing at the end to ease her tension. “Yes, I certainly do. Thanks so much, Minnie. I know I can count on you to take good care of my little girl.”

“Yes...” He smiles, nuzzling the phone between his ear and shoulder as he’s scouring his room for things: a bottle labeled “Witch Hazel”, some cloth, a copy of his dad’s car key...as well as an additional key he never thought he’d get to use until now. “You can always count on me. I promise she’ll be out like a light before the clock strikes twelve.”

“That’s a relief. In that case just tell her to bring the mail in, would you? Thanks again!”

“It’s not a problem. Good night, Mrs. (L/N).” 

“You too dear.”

Beep. He hangs up.

Looks back out the window. Sighs.

It wouldn’t be a problem at all.

“...at least, not for long.”

 ~~~

 Back at Lucas’ house...well really, your imagination...you’re having a nightmare you used to have as a child

You’re walking down the street, minding your own business...

When all of a sudden the sky turns red, then black

The faces of the people around you turn sinister; they look like they want to hurt you

You begin to run as fast as you can, but your whole body is weighed down, like gravity is twice as strong on you

But not on anyone else 

So while the people who are slowly turning into monsters are gaining on you

All you can do is cower in fear and pray that it will be over quickly

But then there’s a burst of white light

Like a light switch has been flipped on

And the ground crumbles beneath you, bursts of white shining through the cracks

And you go tumbling down into the earth

Down

       Down

             Down

Until you land into a pair of soft, strong arms

Your face instantly buries into the figure’s chest, because you know you can trust him

He smells sweet, like lavender and fresh Spring daisies

It’s a calming, pleasing scent

And all the monsters who were chasing you before vanish as they fall into the crumbling Earth, disintegrating into nothing but ash that’s carried someplace far, far away

You look up to see who your savior is

It’s never the same person

At first it was your dad; then it was your sixth grade crush; a couple times it was the cute actor from your favorite movie

But this time, and sadly like the last five times you’ve had this dream since you started high school...that person is none other than Kim Seungmin

He’s looking so ...

There isn’t a word for it

His edges are soft

So are his eyes

And he’s looking at you like you’re responsible for hanging the moon in the sky and making all the stars glow

He has such high expectations for you

From you

That you’re afraid to let him down

To tell him the truth

You aren’t God, after all

But...

......

You just—

“gaAAAAAHHH—!!!”

!!?!?!!!?!

What the heck was that?!?

Your eyes shoot open to the sound of someone crying out

It sounds like a man’s voice...

And it’s nearby

You’re stunned into shock for a few seconds before you can get your body to move, and when you do you grip the plushie in your arms against your chest—

Wait, plushie...?

You look down.

Your eyes are adjusting while a struggle is clearing going on outside 

It’s the plushie that Seungmin gave you

The one from your house; you know it is bc it smells like your bedroom

But you didn’t bring this with you...

You’re scared, but you quickly throw yourself out from the safety of the tent—

And immediately wish you hadn’t

The window beside the bed is open

A cold draft blowing in

Lucas is pinned down, struggling 

The shadowy figure above him

Is none other

Than Kim Seungmin

He’s ripping something off of his belt-

It’s a syringe

He stabs it into Lucas’ arm with a curse, and not but two seconds later the boy is little more than a vegetable; no longer moving, barely breathing

Holy sh*t

I mean

Holy sh*t--

You gotta bounce sis

You gotta MOVE

Seungmin tosses a bottle of some clear liquid aside in anger, and it spills open in the middle of the floor

The smell hits you pretty quickly; it smells of lavender and fresh daisies

Just like in your dream/nightmare

It makes you feel a bit woozy upon inhaling it

But you don’t completely pass out 

Which apparently is what Minnie was going for

There’s a thump as Seungmin jumps to the floor

And you’re scared

Actually, saying you’re scared is an understatement

This is pretty freaking serious man

You don’t think you can meme your way through this one

You can’t move

You just kneel there outside your tent in shock, trying to convince yourself this is one of those nightmares that stems from another; you simply woke up into a new dream is all

But it’s not so

Something in your heart is telling you

This is real life

Seungmin is doing something...

He’s...filling another syringe 

Now that your eyes have adjusted, you can see he’s completely surpassed resting b*tch mode

He’s gone off the deep end. Like, he’s really gone this time

Looking so serious and genuine, so certain about what he’s doing...

Yet having lost all the light in his eyes

“Now, (y/n)...I need you to be good and take this for me.”

Uh

Uhhhh

No thanks bro that’s okay

P h A t pass on that one man

Phattest pass, phattest pass

You get your legs to finally work as he’s approaching you, scurrying towards the door and only stopping when your back hits against it, because dammit all, he’s still too fast for you

Seungmin is just right there man

He’s got you trapped

His fingers brush over the soft palate of your arm, gently feeling about for a vein

Apparently he wants to be more careful and professional when he drugs you

For whatever reason

You’re back to being immobilized

It’s like your feet are stuck in blocks of cement

Oh dear Lord you’re gonna die ಥ_ಥ

This is it

He wants you dead

He’s gonna throw you and Lucas into some twisted vegetable soup and that’s going to be the end of it

And you may have thought that had it not been for the blue and red sirens flashing outside

Minnie turns around mid-prodding, an obvious cringe on his face, and then suddenly he’s tackled to the ground by none other than Big Brother of the Year Lucas oh praise Jesus you may live after all

Wow this guy is your hero

He’s weak and there’s blood all over his face, his breath heavy as he heaves out desperate words to you

“.....(y/n)........g-get out...s-side.........cops....will take...care of y-you...”

Welp, he don’t have to tell you twice

Through all this, he’s still trying to protect you. He’d been drugged, his face cut into, beaten senseless without warning, yet he was still trying to save you...like a guardian angel or something

...Wow, maybe the author should have made this a Seungmin x reader x Lucas instead hubba hubba

But unfortunately she’s spaghetti and swamped with updates so we’ll never know 🤪🍝

You fling yourself out the door and down the stairs as some officers have just broken down the front door, and you don’t grab no shoes or nothing Lord, you r u n outta that place, choosing to consult with a kind-looking female cop that’s waiting outside on standby

Frantically you gush out what’s going on as best you can, even though you’re not so sure what’s going yourself

Most importantly, you’re sure to tell her that Lucas is hurt first. He needs immediate medical attention from what you gathered in the faint street light pouring in the open window

She comforts you and assures you that they’re handling it, all the while wishing and hoping and praying with every fiber in your being you’ll wake up soon, any minute now...

...but unfortunately, you never do. The reality hits you when Lucas is carried out on a stretcher and Seungmin is forced out in handcuffs.

 ~~~

 You’re at the hospital with Lucas

Seungmin really did a number on him; after beating him black and blue, he pulled out a knife and nearly blinded him

Luckily it was dark and Lucas put up one heck of a fight. He wasn’t on three sports teams for nothing. 

He’d put up such a defensive display that Seungmin had just missed his left eye...sadly, though, he got the right one

Lucas lost half his eyesight because of you

You don’t know what to say...what to think, even

If only you hadn’t gone over there. If only you’d just stayed home...or...or maybe...

You swallow as tears begin to fall. What the heck were you supposed to do? You’d had no idea this would happen. You didn’t know things had gotten this bad...

...but you also kind of did

The poem? It was a warning

No

A threat

You’d been given a heads up long before, and you’d chosen to play dumb and ignore it

And now Lucas would have to be called Patchy for the rest of his life

The only Halloween options he’d ever have are Pirate or...parrot with an eyepatch

And it was all your fault

Thank God Seungmin had been arrested…

...Wait

Seungmin--

Omgosh

He’d been arrested. Kim Seungmin had been arrested.

Why was this just now hitting you so ha--

“Oh my gosh, my baby! (Y/n)!!”

Oop. Mama (Y/n) in the house.

Your mother comes charging in like a swarm of bees, enveloping you in her arms but also giving you a bit of a sting for lying to her like you did. Lucas’ parents had caught them up to speed already, your father glaring angrily but thankfully from the doorway. 

After hugging them both and explaining everything from your point of view, they agree to give you a few more minutes alone with Lucas before you’re grounded young lady no TV no video games no books well okay reading is important for your future but nothing enjoyable and no dessert. They also plan to have a serious discussion with you about Kim Seungmin as well. Great.

Not wanting to let you go your father drags your mom out, her protestant whimpering echoing down the hall and they retreat to discuss things further with Lucas’ parents.

Oi vey

What has all of this come to? What are you even doing? How did things get this bad…?

You turn your head slowly from across the room, examining the boy’s eye (or in some ways lack thereof) as you make your way back, settling carefully into the chair beside him.

𝑊𝑖𝑡𝘩 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑡𝘩𝑜𝑢𝑔𝘩𝑡

𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝘩𝑎𝑡 𝑏𝑖𝑛𝑑

𝑆𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑠

𝐵𝑒𝑓𝑜���𝑒 𝑡𝘩𝑒𝑦 𝑔𝑜 𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑑...

...You now hate poetry

You’ll never read another sonnet ever again

“Hmn…”

!!

Lucas is waking up

It’s now five o’clock in the morning

You’re both dead tired, but you can only imagine how he must be feeling, being the one in the hospital bed…

……

...This is seriously all your fault

You hate yourself for it

You just

You just…

Ping!

There’s a text on your phone. You choose to ignore it, of course. Lucas is way more important right now than some Instagram or trivial weather update

Tenderly you reach, taking Lucas’ hand...or start to. You hover over it, wondering if you even deserve to be...if you even…

A warmth envelopes your fingers as Lucas takes them weakly into his own, the faintest smile present on his face. He carefully reaches up to pat the white surgical tape and bandages over the upper right half of his face. 

“...It’s never going to get any better, is it?” he asks.

You practically jump at the question: “No, it will. It definitely will.”

...Lying to him in order to not cause him any more panic is the best you can do for him now. Pathetic, but it’s better to remain hopeful, at least until he can handle it later.

His smile turns sad as he gazes at you with his one good eye. 

“I meant for you.”

……

“......”

You slowly shake your head no

He sighs, turning towards the fluorescent lights on the ceiling that have been dimmed to allow the patient on the other side to sleep. “I’m so sorry, (y/n). This is my fault. I should have just brought you to the police station, and they would have handled it professionally right then and there. I didn’t think...things had gotten this bad.” He squeezed with what little strength he had. “But I’m really glad you’re okay. Did he hurt you at all?”

……………

This man

Was lying in a hospital bed

Drugged

Bruised to a bloody pulp

He’d permanently lost sight in one eye

And he was worried

About you

->

So author, what was that about no love triangle going on here??

Smh

The only thing you can do is look downward, at the nightstand, the bedding, the far wall...anywhere that isn’t Lucas’ face right now

You don’t have it in you to accept his incredible kindness and heroic humility. You don’t even bother answering his question, except to mutter out, “thank you.”

 ~~~

 So what’s going on with Seungmin now?

Well, glad you asked

Cause you were just about to find out from a friendly sit down with three guest stars on the (Y/n)’s Chaotic Life show: Mom, Dad, and Officer Jenny

...No, not from the Pokemon TV series. Though you had to admit, the resemble was almost uncanny...not that this was anytime for jokes

“So,” Officer Jenny asks, pen and notepad in hand, “I’m sure you must be feeling many things right now, but let’s start from the beginning, if that’s alright. When did this all start?”

Your mom and dad just shared a look before turning to you, your mother gingerly patting and rubbing your knee. “Go ahead, sweetheart. Take your time.”

You take a deep breath and tell her everything you know. From the moment you first met Kim Seungmin, to the moment you first noticed him changing, to the events of some twenty-four hours ago. Your mother and father gave their piece as well, though really they claimed to be completely in the dark to any of Minnie’s chaotic and violent behavior, insisting he was always a sweet and well-behaved boy for as long as they’d know him. It was quite a shock finding out what he’d done.

Minnie…

…

Did you even still call him that? Would you? Could you?

He was practically a murderer. A complete psychopath. And you still had no idea why…

“So what do you think brought out this behavioral change?”

Your head snapped up from where it’d dropped downward, spacing out after having contributed your part of the story

Mom and Dad were glaring at you. Officer Jenny was waiting patiently.

But you had no idea what to say

Because you didn’t know

You didn’t

You didn’t…

...Did you?

Idiot.

바보

Does this sound familiar?

 “...I can’t do this anymore, (y/n)...not if you’re not going to listen to me or do as I say. It’s driving me crazy. Don’t you get it? Don’t you f***ing see how I feel about you? Have you really been so dense this whole f***ing time?!?”

“(Y/n). I need to know...tell me, do you…”

“...Do you feel the same way?”

 ...The part that scared you

The part that really scared you

Was that

You didn’t know…

 ~~~

 That night

After the talk show was wrapped up and everything was out in the open

Officer Jenny reassured your family that you were safe staying at home

Seungmin had been captured and a few officers had done a thorough investigation on your house to make sure there were no cameras or bombs or anything fishy like that

So it was essentially safe and there was no need to go the extra mile of changing identities and moving across the country

Except well

If you’re new to this story

You’re in for a bit of a shock because

Of course the author likes to shake things up :D <3

It wouldn’t be a story without something going wrong

And (Y/n) was just about to find out what that something was

It didn’t happen suddenly that night

Some time had gone by, about a week, maybe a week and a half

You were still pretty shaken up over the whole thing, and stuck in a mental state of Twilight Zone

You knew it was real but your brain almost refused to accept and process it

It was like a never-ending nightmare, too farfetched to be true

Because Lucas had to remain in the hospital for further examination and therapy, you brought all his school work to him

You’d taken a few days off yourself and then insisted you were fine to go back

You needed something to distract you from the reality

But, in reality, it only made it worse in some ways, students swarming you with questions and facility repeatedly asking if you were alright or needed a break

The only place you were allowed to go was the Student Council room, and Lord knows you did NOT want to be alone in that place again

Even though the school had already granted Lucas an extended leave of absence, he insisted you bring him a copy of your homework so he could “keep up with his studies”

But

In reality, he just wanted an excuse to see you. And you liked seeing him as well. It was nice to be in his company and check up on him, and he felt the same

When you weren’t at the hospital visiting and quote-quote “studying” with Lucas, you were either going through the motions on autopilot at school or sitting in your room, doing anything and everything to erase what had happened

That was, of course, easier said than done though

Often you found it hard being at home. It didn’t feel safe anymore knowing Seungmin had been here, so many times before, in the very room you sat in. Laughing with you, smiling, comforting or taking care of you…

He was everywhere. His laughter practically filled the walls and echoed down the corridors, his smile reflected in every glass sheen of sunlight

And when the lights flipped off, so did his expression. It was like you were reliving that horrific night all over again

You had to break out of there, your house and your mind

So you went to the park with a couple of new friends you’d made, Felix and Changbin. They were just as surprised as anyone else to learn what had become of Seungmin, and they’d actually been the first ones to shelter you and protect your privacy on your first day back, when your classmates started popping out of the woodwork to drown you in questions and condolences

As you may or may not have guessed, you’d gotten a new phone, during the Officer Jenny visit, along with a new number

After sh*t had really hit the fan, though, you’d become much less social, only registering your parents, Officer Jenny’s number by request, Lucas, and the day after, Felix and Binnie. Despite your previous crush on Jaemin, that had all but flown out the window and exploded upon colliding with a powerline, and you’re pretty sure after he heard what happened, he probably felt the same

And anyway, again, you’d become much less social since the whole incident. You really didn’t feel like talking to anyone unless it was your parents or these three boys. Maybe Jenny if there was some kind of emergency, which you sincerely hoped there wouldn’t be

...I’m pretty sure that covers everything

Yeah

So

You were now at the park with Felix and Changbin

Just strolling aimlessly, you in the middle with Felix to your left and Binnie on the right

Your two bodyguards

Felix, you’d come to find out, was a professional at taekwondo, which was nice

And though Changbin was rather on the short side, just his looks and voice alone was intimidating enough

So you felt relatively safe in their company, taking a quiet stroll at sundown

The park was mostly vacant save for a few late-evening joggers or cyclist passing by

Birds and squirrels and other wildlife were just getting settled in their nests for the night, the owls and probably a raccoon or two taking their place

The three of you walked at a steady pace, hands behind your back or shoved in your pockets as you stared straight ahead, at the sidewalk, or the surrounding forest life

...It was peaceful but a little awkward

Probably because you all had the same thing on your minds

Something you all knew you needed to talk about, but had been avoiding to spare an awkward conversation

Instead now there was nothing but Awkward Silence™

“So,” Felix spoke up after your second and a half time around, smiling awkwardly. “How are you feeling today?”

Both boys looked at you. You gave them each a short stare in return before shrugging just as uncomfortably. You knew you needed to talk about Seungmin, but you’d left your house to escape him, not engage him elsewhere.

After a few more paces you noticed the two had fallen a bit behind, muttering to each other in hushed tones:

“She probably doesn’t wanna talk about this right now. Why did you bring it up?”

“Yeah...I dunno, I didn’t know how else to break it in. Sorry...”

“Apologize to her, not me! We’re trying to ease it in, not break her.”

“That’s what I said, bro.”

“...No, you said-- never mind, just go do something.”

“Like what?”

“Like apologize! Am I the only one that knows how girls operate?”

“...Says the man that’s been single the entire senior ye--”

“Shut up and go talk to her!!”

At that point you heard a shove behind you, and Felix came stumbling back up to your left, Binnie steadily catching back up on the right. He gave you a calm and peaceful smile while occasionally casting eyes at Felix expectantly.

Felix took a deep breath while he scratched the side of his head, looking up at the sky for a second before tossing his whole gaze down on you. It almost caught you off guard how intense and smoldering it all was

“(Y/n)...listen, Changbin and I were thinking-- …”

He opened his mouth, but no words came. Instead he pointed toward the restaurant district of town. 

“...You wanna grab dinner after this?”

You blinked. Changbin facepalmed, a small groan escaping him.

But then all your stomachs growled, answering the question for you. You couldn’t help but smile, even just a little, as the other two laughed and the three of you headed off toward the nearby city lights.

Your phone gave a small ping! as a notification came up, but you failed to notice it thanks to the nearby rustling of what you assumed was active forest life, a stray cat or maybe a mouse

You had no idea how wrong you were.

 ~~~

 I know, things are starting to get a little slow

Just bear with me, okay?

Cause we’re about to pick up big time

Spoiler alert?

Oops

Anyway

You were now sitting at a small, quiet, but decently populated restaurant

There were a fair number of customers but it wasn’t overcrowded at all, more of a cozy cafe styled place

It was the compromise Changbin insisted you all agree on, he being the most vocally worried about your mental state. He didn’t want you to be overwhelmed by all the noise and chaos of some famous barbecue joint or a popular family restaurant, so after you insisted you could handle it and would be fine (he had been pitching the idea of just grabbing some food to-go and heading back to his place), the boys let you pick a cafe you often passed by on the way to school but never got a chance to try

...until now

Ironically and thankfully they were a particularly special cafe that served dinner because the author said so yeehaw B))

So yes, you’re all sitting at a small booth off to the side, Changbin on one end, you and Felix curled up on the other. You order your food and as you’re waiting, Changbin and Felix are locked in some dumb debate about a few of their other friends while flicking straw wrappers back and forth. They tried to get you in on it at first but, seeing that you’re still in a weird place, decided to leave the invitation open if you wanted to join.

Everything is just so weird right now. You’re still in the Twilight Zone. It just doesn’t seem real at all…

The whole spectacle refuses to leave your mind. You’re coming to accept you can’t get away from it no matter what you try.

Kim Seungmin, from the moment you met him, has always been a part of you. And he always would be. It was just going to be weird from now on because...because…

Ping!

Your phone again?

Honestly it had kind of been doing that a lot before but you’ve been ignoring it because, again, you’re not much for talking to people right now. Or getting involved with any social media events or news flashes or...or uh…

……………………..

Huh??

There’s...a message. From Lucas?

Bro when did he get his phone back tho

You’d been communicating through his mum and the hospital when you weren’t there cause patients can’t have phones so like

Nani the heck??

Wait

Maybe this was good

Maybe he was being discharged early

The treatment had gone well and--

𝖫𝗎𝖼𝖺𝗌: 𝖧𝖾𝗒! 𝖨 𝗇𝖾𝖾𝖽 𝖺 𝖿𝖺𝗏𝗈𝗋.

Oh? A favor you say?

You were so there. You kinda owed Lucas your life after what happened.

𝖸𝗈𝗎: 𝖮𝖿 𝖼𝗈𝗎𝗋𝗌𝖾! 𝖶𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝖼𝖺𝗇 𝖨 𝖽𝗈 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗒𝗈𝗎? 

𝖫𝗎𝖼𝖺𝗌: 𝖳𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗄𝗌 :) 𝖶𝗁𝖾𝗋𝖾 𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗋𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍 𝗇𝗈𝗐? 

𝖸𝗈𝗎: 𝖨’𝗆 𝖾𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝖺 𝖼𝗈𝗎𝗉𝗅𝖾 𝗈𝖿 𝖿𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗇𝖽𝗌. 

𝖫𝗎𝖼𝖺𝗌: 𝖿𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗇𝖽𝗌? 

𝖸𝗈𝗎: 𝖸𝖾𝖺𝗁 𝖼: 

𝖫𝗎𝖼𝖺𝗌: 𝗐𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗂𝗋 𝗇𝖺𝗆𝖾𝗌

> - > Bro why he wanna know tho--

Okay whatever

𝖸𝗈𝗎: 𝖥𝖾𝗅𝗂𝗑 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖢𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗀𝖻𝗂𝗇? 

𝖸𝗈𝗎: 𝖨𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗇𝗈𝗍 𝗈𝗄𝖺𝗒 𝗅𝗈𝗅 

𝖫𝗎𝖼𝖺𝗌: 𝗇𝗈 𝗇𝗈𝗍 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗅𝗅𝗒

………..

*gulp*

It’s not?

Why

Why isn’t this okay

𝖸𝗈𝗎: 𝖶𝗁𝗒 𝗇𝗈𝗍? :𝟢 

𝖫𝗎𝖼𝖺𝗌: 𝖨 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗅𝗅𝗒 𝗇𝖾𝖾𝖽 𝗍𝗈 𝗌𝖾𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎 

𝖫𝗎𝖼𝖺𝗌: 𝖢𝖺𝗇 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝖾 𝗋𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍 𝗇𝗈𝗐? 

𝖸𝗈𝗎: 𝖴𝗁, 𝗒𝖾𝖺𝗁 𝖨 𝗀𝗎𝖾𝗌𝗌? 𝖢𝖺𝗇 𝗂𝗍 𝗐𝖺𝗂𝗍 𝗍𝗂𝗅 𝖺𝖿𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖿𝗈𝗈𝖽 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝖾𝗌? 𝖨 𝖼𝖺𝗇 𝖻𝗋𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗌𝗈𝗆𝖾𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗂𝖿 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗅𝗂𝗄𝖾

Lucas is typing a reply as your food is being set down, the boys cheering and mouths watering while all you can do is nervously glare at your new phone.

Seriously, what was wrong with Lucas? He wasn’t in danger, was he?

𝖫𝗎𝖼𝖺𝗌: 𝖨’𝖽 𝗋𝖺𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝗌𝖾𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗇𝗈𝗐. 𝖯𝗅𝖾𝖺𝗌𝖾. :(

…

Y’know, this don’t really sound like Lucas

All of this is hella sus sis

But you’re so worried about him anyway, and so distracted by the excuses running through your mind that he could be on medication or what if it really is an emergency that you instead grab your coat and are just about to tell Felix to yeet when something else catches your eye

Ooooooooh boy

Ooooooooh bro

Ooooooooh buddy

It’s uh

Well

All those previous notifications

They’re all news articles and the like, as you already had guessed they’d be

Most of them aren’t very important: Attorney so-and-so does this, City of Hoopla does that, Guy Catches Phone on Roller Coaster, band drops new album and it’s a huge hit, yada-yada-yada

But there’s this one

This one in particular

That nearly makes you break down and cry

I mean

You’re close to screaming sis

It’s pretty bad

You probably know what it is already

Yep: you guessed it

 KXX News: Local Malefactor Escapes [Your Town] Jail; Police Baffled

 ...Okay

Y/n

Y/n--

Don’t freak out y/n

Deep breath sis

Deeeeeeeep breath

Breath nice and deep now…

Oop too late you’re already panicking

Hell I would too sis :( This is some bad juju

But

It’s going to be okay

...Maybe

I mean

You are kinda having a panic attack right now?

But don’t panic bc it’s going to be…

...you just passed out so I’ll be switching povs now

I’ll sort of summarize too since this is about you and - h i m - anyway

Basically you totally black out, the restaurant/cafe panics a bit (the few people who happen to notice) but Felix manages to catch you (thank goodness you were still seated at the booth so you just toppled over on his shoulder more or less)

In five seconds Binnie and Felix come up with a game plan where Felix carries you outside, trying to look as natural as possible, Binnie taking care of the check.

They argue and walk laps around the cafe about whether or not to take you home or the hospital

Home

Hospital

Home?

Hospital!

But when you start to come to, they agree it’s best to get you home to your mother

You fall in and out of consciousness all the way there, the only thing flooding your mind being the faintest scent of lavender and Spring: and Kim Seungmin.

 ~~~

 You were honestly a little surprised when you finally woke up

You were sure seeing those words in that news headline, all in one coherent sentence, was going to be the death of you

I mean, he did want you dead, didn’t he?

He…

…

Sigh

You don’t know

You have no idea what’s really happening

A reoccuring theme in this story

You dunno

You just

Don’t

Know 

:)))

But it’s going to be okay because--

Ping!

SCREECH \(ϾAϿ)/ 💦

Bro

Bro man

Your phone almost gave you a heart attack

A real one this time

Oof

Oi

Oi vey to hell and back

All of this is really getting to be too much man

You dunno if-- ...well

We done went over this already

You don’t know anything anymore 🙄😔

I mean

What even is life anyway??

You roll over on your bed to snatch the phone on your nightstand, an eerie feeling in your gut

Whether that’s from the fact you’re still recovering or you’re terrified it has something to do with everyone’s favorite Dandy Boy is a toss up

It could also have been the few nibbles of food you’d managed to have before zonking out…

...actually no scratch that, you were still pretty hungry. Which was a good sign, honestly

It meant you were already recovering well and most likely not gonna die

(ღ˘⌣˘)

That was always nice, y’know, not dying <3

So anyway

You glare at the lock screen in the dark, the brightness blinding you for a moment as you’re squinting and fumbling to turn it down

And when you do

You see there’s another message

A message from Lucas 

Oop. You forgot about him in your whole fainting episode

Hope he’s okay--

𝖫𝗎𝖼𝖺𝗌: 𝖸/𝗇. 𝖸𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝗆𝗈𝗆 𝖼𝖺𝗅𝗅𝖾𝖽 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗍𝗈𝗅𝖽 𝗆𝖾 𝗐𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗉𝖾𝗇𝖾𝖽. 𝖨 𝗁𝗈𝗉𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎’𝗋𝖾 𝗐𝖾𝗅𝗅. 𝖸𝗈𝗎 𝗀𝗈𝗍𝗍𝖺 𝗐𝖺𝗋𝗇 𝗌𝗈𝗆𝖾𝖻𝗈𝖽𝗒 𝖻𝖾𝖿𝗈𝗋𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎’𝗋𝖾 𝗀𝗈𝗇𝗇𝖺 𝗀𝗈 𝗌𝗄𝗂𝗍𝗓𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗅𝗂𝗄𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍, 𝗁𝖺𝗁𝖺

e-e

𝖸𝗈𝗎: 𝖨’𝗆 𝗌𝗈 𝗌𝗈𝗋𝗋𝗒, 𝖨 𝗉𝗋𝗈𝗆𝗂𝗌𝖾 𝖨’𝗆 𝗈𝗄𝖺𝗒 

𝖸𝗈𝗎: 𝖣𝗈 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗌𝗍𝗂𝗅𝗅 𝗐𝖺𝗇𝗍 𝗆𝖾 𝗍𝗈 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝖾 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗌𝖾𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎?

It takes a minute for him to respond.

𝖫𝗎𝖼𝖺𝗌: 𝖭𝗈, 𝖽𝗈𝗇’𝗍 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗋𝗒 𝖺𝖻𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗂𝗍. 𝖸𝗈𝗎 𝗇𝖾𝖾𝖽 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝗋𝖾𝗌𝗍.

And then…

𝖫𝗎𝖼𝖺𝗌: 𝖨’𝗅𝗅 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝖾 𝗍𝗈 𝗒𝗈𝗎.

…

Uhhh

He’ll what now?

𝖫𝗎𝖼𝖺𝗌: 𝖣𝗈𝗇’𝗍 𝗀𝗈 𝖺𝗇𝗒𝗐𝗁𝖾𝗋𝖾. 𝖨 𝗐𝗈𝗇’𝗍 𝖻𝖾 𝗅𝗈𝗇𝗀.

UHHH

wat

Sis honestly

what?

Lucas you ho what are you doin you’re sick

Sorta

You on them drugs boy

You needa be staying yer ass in bed so you can--

Ping!

Again? 

Oh now what does this crazy bish want??

𝖫𝗎𝖼𝖺𝗌: 𝖲𝗈𝗋𝗋𝗒! 𝖩𝗎𝗌𝗍 𝗈𝗇𝖾 𝖿𝖺𝗏𝗈𝗋 𝖨 𝗇𝖾𝖾𝖽 𝖿𝗋𝗈𝗆 𝗒𝗈𝗎

Uh

Sure? What is it??

𝖸𝗈𝗎: 𝖮𝗄𝖺𝗒?? 

𝖫𝗎𝖼𝖺𝗌: :)) 𝖳𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗄𝗌 𝗒/𝗇 

𝖫𝗎𝖼𝖺𝗌: 𝖦𝗈 𝗍𝗈 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝖼𝗅𝗈𝗌𝖾𝗍 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗈𝗉𝖾𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖽𝗈𝗈𝗋.

………………………………………………………….

Bro man

……

Okay you know what

This is a little too weird

𝖸𝗈𝗎: 𝖨𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋𝖾 𝗌𝗈𝗆𝖾𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗐𝖺𝗇𝗍 𝗆𝖾 𝗍𝗈 𝖻𝗋𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗒𝗈𝗎? 𝗈𝗇𝗈” 

𝖫𝗎𝖼𝖺𝗌: 𝖸𝖾𝖺𝗁, 𝖼𝗁𝗈𝖼𝗈𝗅𝖺𝗍𝖾? 𝖨𝖿 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗌𝗍𝗂𝗅𝗅 𝗁𝖺𝗏𝖾 𝖺𝗇𝗒 𝗅𝖾𝖿𝗍 𝗅𝗈𝗅

oooOOOOOH

Oooooh man what a relief

If you’ll recall

Cause ik it’s been a hot minute

In the last episode (Light Switch 1) it was Valentine’s Day

He just wants something sweet =7=” Bro you know that jello sh*t they serve in them hospitals must be nasty af

He just wants some good stuff is all

Who doesn’t want chocolate when they’re sick? Or sad?

But author eating chocolate when you’re sick isn’t good for you do you want to die

Hey bro bold of you to assume--

...anyway

𝖸𝗈𝗎: 𝖮𝗁, 𝗈𝖿 𝖼𝗈𝗎𝗋𝗌𝖾! 𝖨 𝗁𝖺𝗏𝖾 𝗅𝗈--

…

Hold on

Wait just another hot minute

…

Sis how he know you keep chocolate in your closet??

He wasn’t here when you shoved everything in there

Heck he ain’t ever been in your house once

…

Enough ellipses you’re just gonna go for it

Screw it

It’s just Lucas

He probs just assumed it was a cliche or normal thing to do

You really needed to stop overthinking things and just

Do It ✔™

So you do it

You walk to your closet and open the door

…

Well you start to anyway

On the way over something catches your eye now that your sight’s adjusted

You make your way to your desk, where a stack of letters and junk flyers are just sitting there taking up space and making the room look trashy

You’re easily distracted at times, and a bit nosy, so you pick up the first flyer on the stack to figure out what it is

Such-and-So’s Pool Service!1!1 We clean--

Yeah okay you don’t care

About that anyway

What you do care about, or what piques your interest rather, is the date

It’s labeled as being delivered almost two weeks ago

…

All of the letters and junk mail are labeled as being delivered two weeks ago

…

You’re about to set them all back down when you see something flapping beneath the gentle circulation of the ceiling fan

A Post-It note?

A Post-It note

It says…

   It doesn’t matter what it says

Because you’d recognize that handwriting anywhere, after all the notes he’d written you

It’s from Minnie 

𝐼 𝑡𝘩𝑜𝑢𝑔𝘩𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢’𝑑 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡𝘩𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔𝘩𝑡 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑙 𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢. 𝑀𝑎𝑦𝑏𝑒 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑢𝑐𝘩 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑖𝑟𝘩𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒? ;) 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑙𝑦, 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑜 𝑙𝑎𝑧𝑦! -- 𝐾𝑆 <𝟥  

𝑃.𝑠. - 𝑀𝑎𝑦𝑏𝑒 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑎 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑎 𝑐𝘩𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑒. 𝑁𝑜𝑡 𝑡𝘩𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟. 

Deep breaths deep breaths deep breaths

He was here

He’d been here

He’d come here the night before--

He’d known

You were such a dumdum

Of course you should have known one of your parents would call. Probably your mom-

UGH

WHAT IS THIS LIFE OF YOURS?!

Okay

But

He was arrested so it’s fine

No wait

He got out

He…

...He got out ._.”

And you

Were

Home

Rn??

……………………

Okay time to get those chocolates and move move move

Just make a small right turn and

Ca-chunk.

……………………………………………………

The closet door just...opens

A familiar figure stepping out from the shadows

He’s wearing his favorite striped blue t-shirt and faded blue jeans

And he’s holding a rose between his teeth

He removes it with a muffled sigh, tossing it back into the closet

“I wanted to surprise you but, I should have known it’s just like you to get easily sidetracked.”

He shoves a phone into his pocket

Lucas’ phone.

He smiles.

“Did you miss me?”

 He paces over to you, touching your face

Stroking it softly with ghost-like fingers

It’s...cold and somehow oddly comforting at the same time

Sending you down a trail of mixed signals and warning signs all over again

But you can’t move

He’s backing you up against the desk--

Wait yes you can move

You gotta get out of here. Don’t think. Just get out.

Scream! Yell! Do something!

You scream. He places a hand over your mouth, shoving you back down against the desk. His breath is hot against your skin from where he hovers over you just inches, centimeters away…

...Maybe you should have gone for using a brain cell or two instead

“Why are you doing this again? Why do you have to be so difficult all the time?”

You’re struggling but he must have been hitting up the gym again cause this beach is strong

He’s rambling things to you under his breath, but with the pounding in your ears it’s hard to make out everything he’s saying

Oh dear Lord in heaven you have to get out of here

Use your brain cells y/n use your brain cells

PLS

He’s forcing you both to stand upright. He pulls you so hard that the momentum causes the desk to sway, a drawer popping open

A drawer containing your knife. The same knife Seungmin had given you.

He wanted you to sever some bonds?

Okay, you could do that alright

Braincells: Activate!

You go for it

Raising a knee to his xxxx, you shove him back with all your feeble might and snatch that bad boy, whirling around to slash your way out of here if you have to

But somehow Seungmin has become a Superhuman™ and he parries your attack, twisting your arms behind your back and slamming you back down onto the desk

You almost hear him grimace as you cry out in pain, like he’s in just as much turmoil as you

And before you know it a rag is held up over your face, Seungmin gently laying his cheek against yours. Somehow in the span of time all this was going on, he’d managed to throw a mask over his face...

“I’m so sorry, y/n...I never wanted it to come to this...I was hoping to take you quietly…

...But it’s also not my fault you’re so damn difficult all the time.”

Moonlight streaming in through the curtain was blurring together, your thoughts slowly growing more and more incoherent

A scream still caught in your throat, the last thing you recall is again the scent of lavender and Spring daisies. Except it was much stronger now, because that scent was now carrying you somewhere up, up, and away…

 ~~~

 The faint sound of laughter is what awakens you for the 47294907204 time

Seriously how many more times were you gonna clock out like jeez

Not to over exaggerate but man alive

…

……

………

You’re blinking up at the ceiling when it all comes back to you

Seungmin

Your room

Kim Seungmin

Your closet

Minnie

You being carried away somewhere…

It doesn’t take you long to throw yourself up right, but when you do you instantly regret the action, as a splitting headache takes hold of your cranial

It causes you to wince, reaching both hands up to grab your skull...which are, surprisingly...rather heavy…

…

Holy frick and frack you’ve been chained

Your wrists

There are cuffs around them

And you’re literally connected to a bedpost

…………

You swallow

This isn’t good

It’s not good at all

What the heck is going on now…?

You gotta examine your surroundings. You need to stop being in the dark all the time

Time to flip on a light switch brother

Let’s see

You’re sitting in a bed

Your bed

…

Wait

Your bed?

That can’t be right

You distinctly remember, despite the running gag of you not knowing anything, that Minnie had hoisted you off somewhere

He’d deadass climbed out the window or something

You look up and around next

…

It was unmistakable

This was your room: here was your bed, your bookshelf, your desk, TV, closet…

Even your stuffed animals and stationery was here. Exactly as you’ve always had it.

Except, normally your bed was on the right side of the room. Currently, it was on the left

So it was like

A parallel of your bedroom

A weird mirrored version, like you’d stepped through the looking glass…

...You supposed essentially, in some ways, you already had. Starting around high school.

Argh

This was really bad

You had to get out of here

Thankfully the chains were pretty long, so your movement wasn’t too restricted and you could move around for the most part as normal

If you had to guess, you could probably make it about halfway across the room before you ran out of chain

……

A thought you’d never thought you’d be having

Swiftly, you raise the sheets to check your legs

They’re free, save for a few bruises. Yours arms are in worse shape with twice as many and these damned heavy cuff links

This was honestly an outrage

And hella dehumanizing

You weren’t sure what was scarier: the fact that you were sitting in a mirror copy of your bedroom chained like an animal, or the fact that Minnie had done this

…

Seungmin

No more Minnie

He was Seungmin now

Maybe even just Kim

Because you would no longer have any ties to him after this

He was long gone now

It was over

Bam!

“Hahahahahahahaha!”

Oh gosh

IT REALLY IS OVER

HE’S HERE

WHAT WAS—

Wait was that laughter just now?

It sounded...familiar…

As in

Recorded

…

You strained your ears, holding your breath a moment

If you focused really hard

You could just barely hear it

Voices. Sound effects. More audio laughter.

Someone was watching TV

That or Seungmin had sold you to a circus act

Which might have been preferable actually because you really didn’t know if he wanted you dead or not

I mean

On one hand

Why would someone go to so much trouble to make an exact replica of your bedroom?

But on another

There were some major sickos out there…

And you really could never tell what he was thinking

…

No, no, no y/n

No tears

We’re not going to cry

Big girl pants big girl pants

We’re going to get ourselves out of here and hop on the first plane to a new country

Move to Switzerland and start a cute little sheep farm

Change your name to Olga

Marry a huge scary-looking huntsman that was actually very sweet

And spend the rest of your days baking apple pies and schnitzel and shaving wool from sheep to knit fluffy sweaters and sell them on the Swiss version of Amazon

Yeah something like that

Everything was going to be a-o—

“You’re awake.”

ACAHNDUSLILIAHDSLINUFARJDSA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

It’s Kim Seungmin

He’s standing in the doorway

You didn’t even hear the door open

He takes two steps in before pausing to admire what a mess you probably look like

Only to him, you’ve never looked more beautiful

You don’t know this of course, but in his mind: you’re stunning

I mean, absolutely breathtaking

Sitting here in the room he worked so hard putting together for you

Your hair a wind-blown bed-mangled mess the way you toss and turn in your sleep sometimes

The natural glow that radiates off your face when you’re not wearing any makeup

The shine from the rays of faint sunrise as they hit your tear-stained face

It’s a work of art

What he’s worked for since he first laid eyes on you all those years ago

He’s wanted this so badly for such a long time

And it’s finally happening

He’s finally gotten what he’s pined for all this time: you

All that time he took getting to know you, forming a bond, taking measurements and pictures and writing down numbers, formulating the perfect plan

It may not have gone exactly how he imagined it would, but it’d still produced the same results. You were now, finally, his. All that was left to do was to clean you of any ties you had to your past life, and then the war would be over. The climax had come and gone. It was all downhill from here.

He told himself over and over again, that this is what he’d wanted...but yet

A part of him felt almost guilty for some reason

Of course he was happy, but also

…

It this really what he’d wanted?

He wanted to celebrate

But

Though you looked so beautiful

He also didn’t like seeing you so sad

…

It was fine

You just had to get adjusted, that was all

It’s hard being whisked off from one place to another

In a few days you’d be all settled in and then you could both celebrate being happy and alone together

You’d realize what a wonderful thing he had done for the both of you and thank him

And he’d never have to worry about anyone touching you or so much as looking at you ever again

You’d be his special treasure

Something he’d be able to look forward to coming home to each and every day after he landed his dream job as a photographer

Of course, you’d never get to accomplish the goals you’d told him about for your life, but…

That wouldn’t matter after a little time had passed, once you realized you only needed rely on him from now on

And there would be lots of fun things to do at home, he’d make sure of it

He’d take good care of you, here at his father’s old cabin house

And no one would be any the wiser because his parents were scarcely ever home

They were never around, always traveling from one place to another. He’d learned to take care of himself when he was 13, and from then on had been fiercely and undeniably independent

He really hadn’t seen or heard from his parents since, they’d just left him with the house and sent monthly checks to take care of the bills. If he thought hard enough, the last memory he had of his mother was probably at an unexpected Christmas visit when he was 15

And after that, nada

So as one could guess, his life had been very lonely…

Of course, he’d normally preferred being alone and if he was bored, he had Felix and Changbin to check up on him

But that all changed the moment he laid eyes on you

Oh sure, he’d seen you before that fateful rainy afternoon. When he actually bothered showing up to class. But…

Catching you alone that day was like a sign to him

He’d been wandering the back alleys as he normally did

On his way home, he realized he’d forgotten one of his cameras at school

So he had to make a detour to get it

He really wanted to take some shots of the coming storm for a new collection he’d been working on

On the way over, it wouldn’t leave his mind that something was missing…

He needed a host, a muse, a character

Some sort of other life force to give breath to the photographs

They were fine as they were

But just fine wasn’t fine for him

He could do better

Surely there was something—

...Drat. They’d already locked the doors.

He’d have to hoist himself in through a window now—

 ...And there you were.

He couldn’t explain it

He’d seen you before, sure, rarely, on occasion. But you’d just been a passing figure in the sea of endless faces

Now you were more than that. You were the figure, the face, the missing piece he’d been searching for

But he knew how fickle the human race was. So he’d have to play coy and civil before going in for the kill

If he turned out not to like you, he could always toss you back out into the sea

But the moment he swooped down to catch you from that (minorly hysterical) fall, he’d felt it. The missing spark he’d been waiting for all along.

He couldn’t take his eyes away. You were simply too real, too alive, too beautiful and unwavering

Yet shy and clean and simple all the same

It was a perfect paradox

An acute conundrum 

And he was loving every second of it

He knew, in that moment, that he had to 

As cringey as it sounds

That he had to make you his

And now you were...almost

It was just a bit further before he reached the light at the end of the tunnel

He’d never be lonely or lost for inspiration again

Because he’d have you

And that was all he needed...

 𝑇𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑒𝑑...𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 ♥

[p-and-p-admin]

Writers’ Weekends Lesson 2.

Welcome to the second class in our Writers’ Weekends series.

Lesson 2. Plot Beats

What do we mean when we talk about story structure?

A story is a complex thing comprised of many interconnected parts. To turn those pieces into a narrative, some sort of organising principle must be imposed by the author.  The result of the organising of the material is the story structure.

Certain structural markers are obvious to the audience, such as chapters in novels. Elizabethan plays are typically divided into five acts. A film script is broken down into acts, sequences, and scenes.

The beat is the smallest unit of story, below the scene in the structural hierarchy. It is the space between an action and the reaction it causes within a scene.

Beat

Scene

Sequence

Act

Story

 Scenes and acts are defined in screenplays, like chapters in novels. But stories have structures that are not usually made obvious or explicit.

This lesson’s focus is on setting out the bare bones you are going to going to hang the flesh of the story on. For the purposes of this lesson, I will be talking about stories that follow a three-act structure.

In screenwriting, it is often called “beating out” the story because you are making sure your story hits the key beats in a three-act structure required to be psychologically satisfying to your audience. The beats have various names depending on which text you read (looking at you “Save the cat”) but ultimately it doesn’t matter what you call them - so long as they are there!  

The key beats you should have for a story to feel complete are:

1. Opening image and The Set-up.

In screenwriting, we always like to have a super-strong “opening image” that sticks in the mind and looks great in the trailer, but in terms of fanfic, I say it is important to weave a really vivid image into that first chapter so it sticks in the mind of the reader - enough so they will click into the next chapter, or hit follow.  It is often an image that relates to the tone of the story and might provide a “snapshot” of the problem the protagonist will face once the adventure begins.

The other part of this beat is The Set-Up (sometimes called “The world at rest”), and it establishes for the reader the general world and situation of the protagonist before the events of the story enact change. This beat will often (but not always) include some iteration of the story’s central theme to the protagonist, who as yet unchanged by the coming story does not understand or accept it.  

2. Inciting incident or Catalyst

The moment where life as it is changes. This is the point in your piece where the events of the story begin to change for your protagonist. It is the visit from Hagrid saying “you’re a wizard Harry”, It is allowing the killer into the house to use the phone, or meeting the true love of your life or discovering the body of a missing person etc. The “before” world is no more, change is underway.

3. First act turning point and Break into Two.

Some people separate these as two distinct beats and you are more than welcome to do that if it makes your planning easier. I tend to find in my writing the first feeds pretty naturally into the second so I tend to beat them together.

The first act turning point is the beat in which your protagonist debates which way to go in reaction to the inciting incident. It is the moment for the protagonist to choose a course of action the consequences of which will play out through the rest of the tale.

For example, if the inciting incident was the bombing of Pearl Harbour the turning point might be the protagonist debating whether or not to enlist in the army and leave their family or not.   

The Break into Two (meaning Act Two) is when having made the choice we see it go into motion.

So again using the above example, having decided to enlist, the protagonist says goodbye to his family and leaves for Boot Camp. It is where the protagonist leaves behind the world of The Set-up and enters the unknown world of Act Two.

4. Subplot and B story

This beat is not always included as key, but I like to use it as a check-in point for myself.

A common complaint about subplots - especially romantic subplots - is that they feel shoe-horned in or tacked on.  This is because they are too often added without thought for how they prove (or disprove) your premise (see lesson 1.) Every scene, every sentence, every bit of dialogue should serve to illustrate the premise of your tale.  It is a common error to write the romantic elements as a completely unrelated thread to the main thrust of the plot.

To avoid that, I use this beat as a palate cleanser. It gives your reader a moment to switch gears between the world of the first act and the coming onslaught of action in Act Two. 

It often manifests as a discussion which features the theme of the story – the central nugget of truth. Usually, this discussion is between the main character and the love interest. It is often the moment you look back on in a movie or series as “the moment” the two characters begin to see one another differently or even start to fall in love.  Obviously, it need not have romantic connotations. Say if your premise is about family bonds, this moment might be a reunion of a father and son through shared labour building a fence etc. but its purpose is the same.

5. The Plot in Motion. (Sometimes called The promise of the premise)

This is where you get into the meaty, juicy part of your plot! Fun! It is where your detective will find the most clues or your action hero will dodge the most bullets. The protagonist is fully engaged with the changing world and the audience will be entertained by the events the protagonist encounters so long as they deliver on the premise.

6. Midpoint

The middle point of any story is (almost always) one of two extremes.

Everything is “great” or everything is “awful”.

The main character either gets everything they think they want (“great”) or doesn’t get what they think they want at all (“awful”). But not everything we think we want is what we actually need in the end. (E.g. The heroine wants the promotion overseas, it isn’t until she has it she realises what she needs is the support of her small hometown community and the love of the boy next door.)

Generally, the tone of your intended ending will indicate which option you are looking for here. If you are writing a romantic comedy with a happy ending, for example, this is the moment your heroine has a fight with her date, goes back to the office and due to her upset, blows her presentation to the Boss and then goes home to find her beloved dog has gotten out of the yard and run away. The remainder of the story is the climb back.  However, if you are writing a tragedy this is the moment when victory is so close and everything is wine and roses and the remainder of the story is the protagonist’s fall into darkness.

7. Second Act Turning point.

The forces of the villain and/or antagonist begins to be brought to bear. Physical and emotional obstacles appear to defeat the main character’s goal, and the main character’s “great”/“awful” situation disintegrates. They face a second choice in course of action, the consequences of which have high stakes and drive the story forward into the final act.

8. Break into Three

Thanks to a fresh idea, new inspiration, or last-minute Thematic advice from the B Story (usually the love interest), the main character chooses to try again. 

9. Climax or Finale

The villain and protagonist meet head-on (figuratively or literally depending on genre). This time around, the main character incorporates the lessons they have learned throughout the story. Having gained insight and strength from discovering the truth of the premise their fight for the goal is a more even and winnable fight because they have experience from the main plot and context from the subplot

10. The New World (Sometimes called Epilogue State) and Final Image. 

This is the symmetrical beat which opposes where we began. It shows the world and the protagonist in their new state of normal, changed by the events of the story. It does not need to be a literal epilogue it can just be the closing paragraphs of a tale which gives the audience a sense of the future that awaits our protagonist and cast of characters. It closes the loop of your story and creates a sense of balance and continuity.

The final image is your last chance to leave something imprinted on the mind of your audience.

It’s Thelma and Louise driving off the edge of the cliff or the “What’s in the box?” ending of Se7en. 

It is a well-accepted truth of screenwriting that audiences go away remembering the first few minutes of a film and the final few minutes of a film and that those “hooks” are what they tell other potential viewers about.  I think this is similar to the way people discuss fanfic - you can’t necessarily differentiate by characters so saying “The one where Hermione hits Bellatrix with a blood-boiling hex” etc. is common. Giving your audience a couple of memorable images will help with expanding the ability of people to find your work when it is recommended.

SUGGESTED TASKS FOR LESSON TWO.

Write a sentence or two for each of the key beats of your story.

Be firm with yourself, don’t try and cram in too much plot. This is just a signpost for each KEY beat. We don’t need every bit of plot or story yet.  

[justimajin]

Catching a Case of the Doctor Blues ⌠Part 13⌡

⇢ Pairing: Taehyung x Reader

⇢ Genre: Fluff, Comedy, Angst

↳ (2.3k) Doctor/Surgeon AU, Enemies to Lovers AU

⇢ Summary: When asked about Dr. Kim, a string of beautifully aligned words are ready spew from your lips. You could possibly go on and on about how his wonderful stubbornness wasn’t similar to talking to a brick wall, or how his observation skills were especially great in preparing your blood vessels for a drastic rupture or even how one gracious stare of his nearly had you on the verge of ripping your essential documents in half. But it seems that, perhaps, there was a lot more to Dr. Kim then what meets the eye…

⇢ Warnings: Dr. L/N and Dr. Kim actually having a decent conversation 

⇢  Moodboard Prologue Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12

⇢ Next Update: Tuesday, June 4

A patient in distress? 

You can comfort them.

Reports needing to be filed?

It’ll take you only five minutes.

Conducting an intensive operation? 

Save for a long string of hours, but otherwise a task that can be completed.

Inviting Dr. Kim to go get coffee with you?

A huge error sign is ringing inside your head, screaming at you for even trying to do this and screeching that there was no way a positive outcome could actually happen.

But you ignore that sign, acknowledging the advice that had been given to you these past couple of days and trying to make use of it. After all, you were even getting chance to go out somewhere that was other than work and this leads to the hope that perhaps the change of environment will allow your evening to run by smoothly and pleasantly.

However, that reassurance doesn’t do any wonders to solve the multitude of problems you keep facing.

What should you wear? What time should you get there by? What are you even going to talk about?

These questions aren’t very easily ignored and one of them roughly get an answer when you just opt out to wearing a pair of jeans combined with a simple black dress shirt. Though, as you take one glance in the mirror at your attire, you get the strange urge to just rip it all off and change back into your comfortable pajama’s; completely away from the impending interaction you had inevitably set up for yourself.

The constant glances at the clock are also taking their own toll on you when you have absolutely no clue if you should be early for polite reasons, exactly on time so you don’t appear to be waiting too long or late to show you don’t care for the meeting as much even though you clearly asked for it.

Taking one final glimpse in the mirror, you deeply inhale and try to calm your fleeting mess of emotions.

Stop freaking out Y/N, it’s just coffee with a colleague, you’ll have a nice time and strike some conversation, then you can come home and bury yourself for eternity for having this idea.

With one final stare, you crack the door open and hope to yourself that you hadn’t made a huge mistake.

You arrive exactly on time and grimace a bit on the inside when you find yourself alone standing outside the shop. But of course, you can’t expect that he’ll be there on time like you and now you begin wondering if coming late was the better optio-

“Dr. L/N?”

The voice shuts down your trail of thoughts and you’re pleasantly greeted to Dr. Kim, but taking in his appearance leaves you a bit perplexed.

It’s strange to say you’ve only seen Dr. Kim in normal clothing briefly when you were considerably sick, but even in that instance it was hard getting a glance at the doctor when you were spiking up at high temperatures and struggling to breathe from all the congestion.

However now, you can properly see him and he appears to dress similar to that specific day – a tucked in colourful shirt with elegant swirls printed on combined with a dark trench coat hanging off of him. Based on just observing him, you could tell that he was interested in high branded clothing when not adorning the white coloured coat. It’s a nice change, causing even you to admit that the man knows how to look proper even when meeting you like this.

“Shall we go inside?” He asks and you nod, slowly trailing behind him.

But then again as you reflect on the absence of the coat, it keeps dawning on you more that this encounter was definitely stepping outside of the usual day to day basis you were comfortably associated with.

The interior isn’t too bad, with freshly warm coffee being brewed in the background and the endless chitter chatter of others flowing into your ears. You’re extremely grateful for it, as it’s the only thing holding together the dead-panned silence resting within the air you share when somehow both of you have already managed to sit down and order, yet your gazes are firmly locked on your drinks.

Of course its awkward; it was something you had expected when this truly was out of the blue. Yet from all the instances you had with the man to the pieces of perspectives you have plucked out from your co-workers, you are certain that something has changed.

However, there is still a layer of built up confusion inside you on how to take the next step.

You quickly glance at him and widen your eyes when in fact, he wasn’t relaxed either with the situation just like you. His eyes occasionally drift off to the window outside and he lifts his hand ever so often to place on the side of his cheek, tapping his fingers mindlessly.

Although it was easy to tell he was nervous by the way it was radiating off his stance, your eyes drift over to the full cup of coffee before him.

“You…don’t like coffee?” You ask and his continued silence is the only indication of a response for you when he uncomfortably shifts.

Your eyes widen and with a sigh, you repress the abundant urge to kick yourself. You had asked him to come all the way here with you and yet failed to grasp that what you had in mind wouldn’t be to his liking.

But then…he could have refused…right?

You discard that thought, knowing what you needed to do now.

“Do you want to go outside?”

Although the shop was comfy with its appearance, the built up awkward tension and his natural dislike for the substance isn’t going to help you much. Your reasoning also dips into the fact that that he’s directly planted in front of you and with absolute certainty you can declare that talking like this isn’t going to be especially great for you in particular.

Heading out of the shop proves to be an idea you wished had before as the light breeze actually sooths down the inner turmoil brewing inside of you. You even acknowledge that it was doing Dr. Kim good as well when the two of you weren’t trapped and confined to a single space.

“Why don’t you like coffee?”

“Too bitter.” He explains, “It’s the same for alcohol, it’s too bitter for me.”

“Then why did you agree to get coffee?” If Dr. Kim didn’t like the idea, he could have easily expressed his dislike for it.

“Because you asked me to come.”

You widen your eyes, opening and closing your mouth several times.

“I see…” It’s all you can muster up to say.

“So you grew up in Daegu?” He makes eye contact with you and the sudden curiosity leaves you puzzled.

But you decide that there was no harm in telling him, “I lived there with my mother for a while before I was taken in by my aunt and moved here.”

“How...was your aunt?” He sounds deeply contorted in thought.

“My aunt…” Truth be told, you aren’t a huge fan of the woman, who was only borderline obsessed with the notion that she finally had someone to take care of. But it can simply be thrown away; all the love and support she had given to you when you had ultimately decided that becoming a doctor was the pursuit of your life. “Is a kind lady, she took me in when I was really young and had supported my dreams. But she could be overbearing at times.”

“Do you miss Daegu?”

You contemplate, turning to him, “Sometimes? I have a career here but I left a lot behind.” A distant look remerges in your eyes, “I think more than Daegu, I miss my childhood friend the most.”

“Friend?”

You nod, “I had moved into the house next door to his and my health wasn’t the best, but he would always come over and try to lift my spirits.” A nostalgic sigh escapes from you, “I don’t know where he is now, but I hope he’s doing well.”

You turn to Dr. Kim with a smile at the memories, but you only find his gaze locked onto you. It isn’t stern and direct as it usually was but is contorted with something more, causing you grimace at the abrupt load of sheer pain filling his eyes.

“Cherry blossoms?”

He flinches, snapping back instantly when you point behind him at the petals fluttering down. “They’re finally blooming.” You say in astonishment and an entire roster of emotions are swirling around in his eyes, from grief to utter regret. You walk closer to observe them more as they slowly dance down and one rests itself in your palm.

“Didn’t Daegu have festivals for the cherry blossoms when they bloomed?” You turn to him when you recall that he had too said he originated from there.

He hums, “Every year. And everyone would gather to see them.”

You let out a sigh, “I wish I got to see it before I left.” You shake your head, “My aunt was in such a hurry to leave.”

She was.

Because I wanted to go with you.

“I never got to see them either.” He says instead and curiously you turn to him.

“What about you? Why did you leave?”

He pauses, eyes void of anything when his lips set into a repressed line, “I couldn’t stay there anymore.” His voice comes out harsher, a darker undertone lacing it. But he notices you staring at him and he lightens it up, “I left someone behind as well.”

You hum, “Who was this person?”

“Just someone...I had a crush on.” Your eyes widen dramatically and you stare at Dr. Kim bewildered to which a small smile tugs on his lips.

“A crush on?” Your mind is going on rapid whirlwinds at the new information being thrown out when you can’t even consider associating the concept of love with Dr. Kim. However, it makes you think in a different way, that perhaps there was more to the doctor that you simply hadn’t seen of.

He nods and the smile doesn’t fade off from his features. He almost looks like a young boy who was experiencing the feelings for the first time and not the established doctor you know so well.

“I unfortunately never got to confess. Like your friend, I hope she is doing well too.” You smile at the idea and there’s a warm, mutual feeling between you two, like there’s actual air you can breathe from and it isn’t considered horrific to be within the same proximity as him.

The rest of your evening actually passes by well, from you and Dr. Kim conversing about matters in the hospital with the recent surgery you had conducted together to then shifting completely to personal topics in which he seem invested about knowing from how you grew up in your time in Daegu. Its something you simply brush off considering that it was not only your hometown but his own as well and you welcome expressing thoughts from the past that you never imagined talking about alongside the doctor.

He eventually ends up taking you to your apartment and there is an immense load of tension getting uplifted from your shoulders that the time spent wasn’t entirely awkward as you had initially wondered. Instead, it was so much more interesting to talk to him outside of your professional workplace and just to simply understand Dr. Kim on an actual personal basis.

But the one spark that brings this evening to its close, is the question that had been hanging by a mere thread for majority of the time and you assume now is potentially the best time to bring it up.

“Dr. Kim?”

You’re stationed right in front of your apartment’s door and from extreme lengths, the recollection of you dragging him inside flashes through when you had gotten sick. You decide to caste that cringing thought away completely however. For your own sanity.

He hums, his gaze not feeling like it was attempting to judge you in anyway or as if it was infuriated with your simple existence. It’s instead a comfortable gaze, eyes that are relaxed and gleaming with a tint of playfulness as they draw curiously onto you.

“I know...” You begin, wanting to word this properly, “We’ve had our differences in the past, especially at work. But I do believe something had changed.” Carefully observing him while speaking, you notice that he just nods and doesn’t attempt to inject with anything you are saying.

“So what I wanted to ask was,” You pause, scoffing slightly in the back of your mind when words Yoongi had once spoken emerge, “Can we…”

“Personally, I think the two of you could be good friends.”

“Can we possibly be friends Dr. Kim?”

[strwberrytae]

comfort.

✦ characters: jungkook x reader ✦ summary: you had a really rough day that made you want to scream and seclude yourself. fortunately, your best friend invites himself over to help distract you and make you feel better. ✦ genre/words: fluff. best friends to lovers. hints of s*x. | 2.6k words  ✦ author’s notes: i wrote this little drabble while thinking of a friend who might like it. please excuse any errors because i rushed a bit haha ✦ dedicated to @taeguk-munchkin

This day couldn't have gone worse if it tried. Nothing was going right today and it felt like the world was out to get you. First, it was spilling fresh coffee all over your new pants when you were already late for work. Then, it was getting stuck in traffic because they were redoing the traffic lights at the start of the day. You get to work and get yelled at for being late. A customer yells at you for twenty minutes about how you’re making her life a living hell because you won't give her what she wants. Your lunch had a hair in it. And to top off the day so damn well, your car wouldn't start when you left work. You’re going to scream.

You walk into your apartment with a sigh of relief. You back up against the door, just stand there and close your eyes. It wasn't five minutes before you got home that work was calling you again. Someone called out earlier and you knew they wanted you to cover. You hit ignore and turned off the ringer.

No. I need a night off. Just this once.

Your selfish thoughts repeat in your head as you convince yourself that you’re not a bad person for doing this. Your instincts are yelling at you to be nice and do them the favor.

I have to go. They'll be so grateful. They need me.

Letting out a sigh, you try to conjure up an excuse as to why you didn't answer. You do this every time. You always cave. Reluctantly, you lift your phone to call them back but stop when you see someone is already calling you.

Jungkook

With a smile, You hit the green button and press the phone to your ear.

“Please convince me not to go back to work to cover this shift,” You say as you close your eyes. He chuckles lightly on the other end and you can picture his dimpled smile.

“You need a night off. Don't give them the satisfaction. You're allowed to relax.” His words are fluid and surprisingly calm you. He always had a way to put you at ease. Jungkook was the greatest friend a girl could ask for.

“Besides,” he continued, “you have plans tonight anyways.” You perk up and push away from the door, continuing to put your things away.

“I do? I wasn't aware,” you say with a smile. He always made you smile. You always beat yourself up for having feelings for your friend. Jungkook didn't feel the same; that was clear. Why else hadn't he made a move after all these months? As much as you flirted and batted your eyes, he never budged - so you stopped trying.

At least I have this with him, you would tell yourself.

“Well now you're aware. I'm coming over and we’re not going to think about your shitty day or your shitty job.” You raised your eyebrow as you set your purse down.

“How did you know I had a shitty day?” He scoffed with a light chuckle on the other end.

“Because I know you well enough. I can hear it in your voice. Now, do you want me to distract you or not?” Another smile eased on your face. A distraction. He didn't distract you, he just made everything better.

“I'll go take a shower and pick out a movie,” you replied with a new perk in your voice.

“See you in a half an hour.” At that, he hung up and left you with a giddy smile on your face. You kept questioning yourself and wondered why you continued to torture yourself with this. Always hoping that this time will be different and that he magically likes you back. Ignoring your subconscious, you went to go take a quick shower to erase the day.

Jungkook showed up right when he said he would - always the punctual one. You slipped on a  loose, white t-shirt to accompany your soft, dark blue shorts and made your way to the door. When you opened the door, Jungkook stood there with a grin and a six pack of beer. You put your hand on your heart and smiled.

“You always know the way to my heart,” you said playfully. He gave you a wink and made his way inside. You noticed he also had a bag in his hand as he walked to the kitchen. This was definitely his second home and he always made himself comfortable.

“What's in the bag,” you asked. Turning to smile at you, he pulled out the bags contents. All of your favorite snacks laid on the counter. Your heart skipped a beat at his gesture.

“What are you trying to do, make me cry? Jungkook, you didn't have to do all of this.” You walked up him and hugged him from the side. He kissed the top of your head in a friendly way.

“I did. I'll do whatever I can to make you smile,” he said softly. When you looked up at him, he was looking down at you with a kind smile. Your eyes wandered from his gentle eyes to his perfectly soft and plump lips. Swallowing hard because you wanted to kiss him so badly. There was a shift in his gaze and he casually gave you a squeeze on the arm, releasing your embrace. Clearing his throat, he went to grab each of you a beer. Guilt and disappointment panged inside of you; feeling rejected yet again.

“So, are you ready for the movie,” he asked in a way to change the underlying subject. You quietly said yes and grabbed your beer. When we got to the couch, you tried to keep your distance from him so that you wouldn't bother him. Jungkook laughed slightly as his arm rested on the back of the couch.

“What are you doing all the way over there? I know you want to cuddle. Come here,” he said in a comforting voice. He was right. After a bad day, all you wanted to do was cuddle. Well, amongst other things but he at least gave you the platonic option when he was around. Sheepishly, you scooted over and curled up against him.

Your body couldn't relax against his. You were so tense because you couldn't help but to overthink the situation. Asking yourself if he knows what your look earlier really meant. Asking yourself why was he always willing to cuddle with you. Asking yourself why the hell has he been single all this time when girls practically throw themselves at him. You couldn't even focus on the movie.

About an hour into the movie, you had two of your beers; feeling a slight tingle from your buzz. You didn't realize how quickly you were drinking them but you guess your stress blindsided you. Jungkook was quiet during the flick. We had seen it before but the comedy usually made us laugh. Not this time; this time tension hung in the air.

For the tenth time, you shifted in his arm and sighed under your breath. Jungkook turned to look at you with a raised eyebrow.

“What's wrong,” he asked bluntly. You looked at him innocently.

“Nothing. I just can't get comfortable I guess,” you lied. You could tell that he was trying to read you but you kept your eyes on tv. He hummed slightly to himself then proceeded to pause the movie.

“What are you-” Before you could finish your sentence, he got up from the couch and walked over to grab your Bluetooth speaker. You furrowed your brow in confusion as you watched him. When he walked back over to you, he walked onto the couch so he could position himself behind you. You nervously laughed and moved to give him room, unaware of what he was doing.

“Okay. Now what are you doing,” you asked. He pulled out his phone from his pant pocket and handed it to you.

“Pick a song. Preferably one that will help you relax.” He waited for you to pick out a song before doing whatever it was he was planning. Reluctantly, you did as he asked; picking a song that always put you at ease - Salted Wound by Sia. Although the song typically soothed you, you couldn't help but to stay tense. Jungkook looked at you as you looked forward waiting; a subtle smile on his face. His warm hands connected to your shoulders, causing you to jump slightly.

“Relax,” he whispered close to you. His hands began to massage your muscles; firmly but gently. Instantly feeling your body loosen, you closed your eyes at the pleasant touch.

“Oh my god,” you groaned. He chuckled lightly and kept moving. Your head fell forward slightly; your tense tissue gradually becoming softer. He certainly had a way with his hands. This felt too good and your body responded well to his touch.

As he inched his way closer to your neck, your breaths became more urgent. Your body temperature rising as he sent chills down your spine. Ever so lightly, your hips started moving as they mimicked his motions. Without thinking, you put your hands on his knees to keep yourself balanced. He stiffened slightly at your touch but you didn't notice - drunk in his massage.

“How does this feel,” he asked with a mildly shaking breath. Your core twitched at the sound of his voice. Although he didn't intend it to be, your body took this as a sensual massage. It put you in a haze.

“Good...really good,” you whispered. “Please keep going.” Your voice was soft and needy. He could hear the change in your voice. It sounded as if you were under a sexual hypnosis. Jungkook had never seen you act like this. His rhythm staggered slightly as he felt the blood rushing to his length. He licked his lips and tried to focus on the task at hand.

When his hands reached your neck, your sensitive spots, you gasped lightly and let out a moan. He didn't know you were sensitive there but he did now. His fingers centered on the area and your hips became moving in circles against his groin.

Fuck, he thought to himself. No one has been able to get such quick reactions from you before but Jungkook’s touch was different. Your body craved him, making this absolute torture. Your core became wet the moment he touched you; your panties now damp with arousal. Your hands tightened on his legs causing him to let out a breath.

“Jungkook,” you moaned lightly. He swallowed hard at the sound of his name purring perfectly on your tongue.

“Y-Yeah?” You bit your bottom lip, hating that you were going to say this.

“I think you should stop…” He almost ceased his hands but curiosity got the best of him. He leaned forward slightly as he continued to massage you.

“Is that what you really want?” His whispered; warmth on your neck as you felt his breath graze the skin. The goosebumps gave him his answer but he needed to hear it.

“N-No,” you said in a timid voice. You couldn't bear to open your eyes, not wanting this dream to end. His thumb slowly rubbed a gentle line up and down your neck to your ear.

“Tell me what you want,” he said in a low voice. You could feel his gentle touch brush the hair away from your shoulder. He looked at the nape of your neck with desire in his eyes but all you could feel was his breath less than an inch from your skin. A soft whimper escaped your lips at the anticipation of his touch.

“Tell me, Y/N, or I’ll stop right now.” He spoke slowly as if to let his words absorb into your skin. It made your core ache so much. Your arousal took over and clouded your head. You could easily feel his arousal pressing against your back, becoming harder by the second.

The grip on his thighs became tighter as did the air in your chest. It was such a fine line between determining exactly what he expected from you. Are you supposed to tell him to make a move? Are you just supposed to tell him to keep massaging you? Your head is spinning. Suddenly, you feel a rush of heat and spontaneously get up from the couch.

“I...I need water.” While taking deep breaths, you hurry to the kitchen and reach into the cabinet for a glass. After opening the fridge, you grab some water and fill it just enough to get a taste and start gulping it down. You suddenly feel a presence next to you and jump a little when you see Jungkook towering over you.

“God Jungkook… I almost choked…” Jungkook looked you up and down; something lingering in his eyes that you couldn’t decipher. So, you lowered your gaze and started to turn away but stop when you feel his hand over yours on the empty glass.

“Y/N…” His voice is a mere whisper; just enough to send chills down your spine. Slowly you meet his gaze and feel like the breath has been knocked out of you just in the way he’s looking at you.

“I need to know what you want from me,” he inches closer, “because I need to know that I’m not completely out of my mind when I do this…” You look up at him with innocent doe eyes with question.

“Do...what?” Your voice is so soft as you could barely get it out of your throat. Jungkook licks his lips and gently places his hand against your neck. His eyes are fixated on your lips and it feels like time is moving very slowly yet so fast. Then in an instant, his lips were pressed against yours. You stood frozen in place as his soft lips tenderly massaged against yours. The feeling was unlike any other. Without giving it anything thought, you let out a little moan and found yourself moving your hands into his dark hair. This must have been the only answer he needed because he let out a groan and quickly lifted you up so you could wrap your legs around his waist.

No words were exchanged; only heaving breathing and moans filling the air. He carried you back over to the couch until you felt your back touch the cushion. Jungkook hovered over you, resting between your legs without breaking contact with you.

The feeling of his clothed erection makes your core pulse with need - so warm, so hard. It’s hard to figure out what is happening while the hormones in your body are telling you to shut up and keep going. Jungkook finally comes up for air and looks down at you through his bangs; searching your eyes for whatever lies behind them. But before he could get a word out, something in you shifts and you grab his shirt to pull him back down to devour your lips yet again.

“Baby...we should...talk about this,” Jungkook said with a chuckle between kisses. You looked up at him as he pulls away, both of your lips swollen and pink. He bites his bottom lip with a satisfied smirk.

“Is it safe to say you want this as much as I do,” he asks in a tender voice. Your cheeks become flushed with heat as you nod slowly.

“I’ve always wanted this,” you say sheepishly. Another smirk stretches on his lips as he pulls himself up a little to yank his shirt off of his head; revealing his muscular chest.

“Thank god…” He mumbles the words in a huff and closes the gap between you once more. Needless to say, every little thing that bothered you today didn’t matter anymore now that you finally had what you’ve always wanted - him.

[everymovie2020]

Final Destination 5 (2011)

Date watched:  17 November 2019

At this point, ngl, I was pretty burnt out. It had been a solid full day of watching nothing but people getting ripped apart in increasingly violent and random ways, but I knew that if I didn't commit and watch them all in one day, I wouldn't finish the series.  So I just had to do it.

And I was glad I did!  I bloody enjoyed this movie.  Honestly, if I see it for cheap on DVD I'll probably buy it.  Enough was different about this movie that it kept me engaged – it's almost the same story, but with a twist, and then a surprise twist ending (that I spoiled myself about).

It also stars David Koechner and Courtney B. Vance, as well as the guy from Trial & Error, which was a pleasant surprise.

So this movie starts with an epic bridge collapse, and as a lover of disaster movies, I was here for it.  Epic, scary, gruesome – yes, yes and yes. That's why the bridge collapse is my no. 2 opening to a Final Destination movie.  It was very well done.

We've now got six people from the same company who survive, and everybody else who works in the office there dies.  Our hero, the Trial & Error guy, is trying to win his girlfriend back – there was some bullshit reason they broke up but I don't remember what it was. This movie also reintroduces the creepy funeral director guy from the first two movies, who adds and new and exciting plot twist – if you kill someone, you take what's left of their life.  So you can essentially "buy time" by killing someone else.

Why this twist has only been added in the fifth movie I don't know.

So the remaining survivors talk this out, and the climax is one guy going mental and trying to kill our hero and his girlfriend, but the tables are turned when our hero kills the would-be killer.

The twist to the twist is that you would then only live as long as the person you killed would live – so if they only lived five minutes longer than you, you'd only gain five minutes.

And then, guys, PLOT TWIST – it turns out this movie is set pre-Final Destination 1, and our hero and his girlfriend are flying to Paris on the same plane that explodes in the first movie. Amazing.  I so wish I hadn't spoiled myself for that because I don't think I would've seen it coming, but there are a few clues – you never see anyone talking on a cell phone, for example, which would give away the time period.

Honestly, way to go out with a bang.  10/10 ending.

Not sure how the take-a-life-gain-a-life plot twist works into the fact that our hero dies in the plane crash – does that mean that he was always meant to die in that plane crash, or did he take the life of a guy who wasn't going to live that long anyway, or was it part of death's original plan, or did he get caught up in it accidentally?  It is not clear.  I've thought too much about this.

Disaster ranking:

10/10.

Just epic.  The bridge swaying and collapsing, the high tension wires snapping, David Koechner getting tarred and screaming and then falling to his death, like, it's the little details that make this special.  One dude gets skewered, another guy gets smushed – it's everything you could possibly ask for.  This would be my number 1 but there's just something special about the highway pile-up in FD2.

Death rankings:

·  Special shout-out to David Koechner – honestly, if him being tarred hadn't happened in the vision of the bridge collapse, it would be number one.  Unfortunately, his ultimate demise wasn't quite as special – he took a wrench to the head.

·  Courtney B. Vance gets shot, but he's not even really part of it (he's investigating), so does it even count? I can't believe they got Mr Angela Bassett himself for this role.  Errbody gotta get paid, I guess.

·  A guy who was not on the bridge but works in the warehouse of the company gets a hook to the head – this is important, because the guy who "killed him" and gained his life is the last person to die in the movie.  Turns out warehouse dude had a fatal heart condition and was going to die in a matter of days anyway.  TWIST.

· So there's a whole laser eye surgery sequence where this poor chick gets blinded by the super powerful laser, but she ultimately dies because she falls out the window.  It's a missed opportunity for some more laser-related shenanigans.  I couldn't watch that scene, by the way.  It got the better of me.

· The annoying dude who wants to have a bunch of sex goes to an Asian massage parlour thinking he's going to get a happy ending, but instead he gets a bunch of acupuncture needs embedded in his face and body as the room he's in burns around him, but he is ultimately taken out by the Buddha that falls off the wall and crushes his skull.

· Then we had the plane explosion sequence, which is shown from the perspective of the new characters – the poor girlfriend gets sucked out the window of the plane and cut in half by the wing, but the hero of the movie (the guy from Trial & Error) burns to death as the plane explodes.  The guy who was responsible for the warehouse dude's death is squished by a plane engine.

· But the best death, in this movie and all of the movies tbh, in my humblest of opinions, is the poor gymnast bitch who comes off the parallel bars and is literally snapped in half when she lands, with her legs over her head.  It was very unexpected and very creative.

So yeah, skip Final Destinations 3 4, and go right from 2 to 5.  You won't miss anything by skipping the middle two.  I bloody enjoyed no. 5, I was thinking it was going to be the worst of the bunch but ultimately I felt the series went out on a high.

And now I'm totally burnt out on horror movies for now so I'll be back to my usual mix of comedies/sexy 90s thrillers/weird 80s movies.

[faithtrustkookiecrust]

The Daddy Sitters

PAIRING: Jeon Jungkook x Female Reader x Park Jimin

GENRE: Romance, comedy

WORD COUNT: 5,2k

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Hello. I am very excited to share another BTS AU story! English is not my first language, so I apologize in advance if you come across any errors. Have in mind that the baby photos of Jungkook and Jimin are NOT supposed to be their children in the AU, I just added them for the nostalgia and to build the right atmosphere. Enjoy. x

DESCRIPTION: You’re a mother to a beautiful baby son, but having an idol as your boyfriend is really starting to take its toll, since all the weight is left on you. One day your best friend, who has a baby with Jimin, surprises you with a girl weekend at a Spa - which coincidentally collides with Jungkook and Jimin coming home from tour. You’ll finally have some alone time, but it’ll be the first time you leave your babies with their fathers - will the guys be up for the task? 

It’s been 9 months since you had your first baby with the love of your life, Jeon Jungkook. It’s a healthy little boy named Jae-Seong. Even though you loved waking up to your baby’s happy and smiling face every morning, you couldn’t help but to feel the weight on your shoulders and an empty feeling in the pit of your stomach. Jungkook had been on tour for several months, so he had barely had time to visit you back in your home in Seoul. All the weight was left on you. Of course you still spoke to him on a daily basis, filled with texts, phone calls and FaceTime-conversations so that he could talk to Jae-Seong and watch him grow. Your son loved to see his father and especially loved to be sung to by his angelic voice. It was getting harder for you to observe the two of them getting along so well yet being so far away from each other. Sometimes your eyes would tear up as you watched your son’s face shine up whenever he heard or saw his father through the smart phone. Was this how your lives were supposed to look like? You were so proud and happy for your man, that he gets to live out his life long dream of working with music and to entertain people all around the world, but you couldn’t help but to miss him everyday. Every minute. Every second. If you got a second of peace to actually think of him, that is. Being a mother was a lot more stressful than what you had thought, especially when you were on your own. Jungkook’s parents lived a couple of hours away and you didn’t know that many people in Seoul since South Korea wasn’t your home country.

Fortunately you weren’t completely alone. You had Matilda. She was the girlfriend of Park Jimin, one of Jungkook’s group members and close friends. Coincidentally, they also had had a baby around the same time as you and Jungkook. They have a lovely little girl called Yeona and she is only a month older than Jae-Seong. You don’t know how you would have kept sane these past couple of months if it wasn’t for Matilda and she feels the same way. While your men were away being busy with their thriving careers and living their best lives, you were both stuck at home with your elbow’s deep in mushed veggie’s, dirty clothes and diapers. At least you had each other to let off some steam. You knew you could talk to each other about anything regarding motherhood, without being judged or criticized. Plus, both of you being foreigners usually meant that you had some funny stories to share regarding culture shocks and whatnot. You treasured each other’s company a lot and your babies were getting along beautifully as well. A subject that was constantly refacing itself nowadays was the matter and struggle of alone time. A rare thing you hardly remember how it felt like. You both loved your children dearly, but often joked around and fantasied about what you would do or how it would be like to have a single day of peace and quiet. Oh, mothers can dream. You were on your way to Matilda and Jimin’s place when you got a phone call. It was Jungkook. ”Annyeong?” you say as you struggle to get the baby carriage onto the pavement. ”Hey, baby. How are you?” ”I am… fine.” you reply with an annoyed sigh as the carriage’s wheels get stuck. ”What are you doing?” he asks with an amused tone in his voice. A friendly man stopped to help you lift it. Jae-Seong was soundly asleep and didn’t notice a thing. ”Gamsahabnida” you say and bow to the gentlemen. He smiled and bowed back and in the next second he was on his way. ”I am busy being a mother. What do you want?” you say, a little too annoyed for your liking. ”What have I done to deserve this tone? Am I trouble, mommy?” Jungkook replies with a cheeky laugh. You stop and take a few breathes. ”I am sorry, babe. I’m just exhausted. I hardly got any sleep and this baby carriage keeps turning on me like it has a mind of its own.” ”Well, I will have a talk with the evil carriage when I get back home… which will be this weekend! Surprise!” Jungkook says cheerfully to brighten your mood. ”Really? They’re giving you time off?” you reply with an uneasy voice. It was almost too good to be true. You were used to getting your hopes up, just to have them destroyed by un unscheduled event that would pop up and cancel all your plans. You continue to walk down the street, you were almost there. ”Could you sound any more pouty? Yes, we’re getting time off so I’ll be back to give you both big hugs and kisses! I’ve missed you so much!” ”I’m sorry, but try to have a 9 month old keeping you up every few hours and see how you would sound like. Of course he is sleeping right now like he has no guilt.” you respond with a sarcastic baby voice. ”I am very happy that you’re coming home, though. I miss you. Everyday.” You could feel your eyes tear up. ”I know… and I’m sorry. This is not how I want things to be…” Jungkook says with a serious voice. ”But they are.” You could feel your hands tighten its grip around the handle of the carriage. ”I would be with you and Jae-Seong all the time if I could. You know that. I love you.” You felt your heart clench. ”I know you love me… us. And we love you too. We just miss you a lot, that is all.” you say as you enter the building where Matilda lives. ”How long will you be home?” you ask as you press the elevator button. You glance down to see if Jae-Seong was still sleeping. He was. You watched him breathe all snuggled up under his warm blanket for a few seconds and then turned your gaze back to the elevator to be ready when the doors open. ”A few days.” he responds. ”Just a few days? Well, better than nothing, I guess.” ”We’ll make the most of the time, okay?” he says reassuringly. Your face breaks out in a big smile. ”I have to go now, we’re in the elevator. We’re visiting Matilda and Yeona.” ”Say hello from me!” ”I will. Bye, Kook. ”And kiss Jae-Seong from me and…” ”See you this weekend, babe.” you cut him off with a sincere laugh. ”Bye, love.” he says heartwarmingly. ”I love you.” 

”Good news!” Matilda spurts out as you remove your shoes in her hallway. ”Yeah, I heard. They’re coming home this weekend.” you say as you remove your jacket. ”No, not that. Well, okay, also that. But I got Spa-certificates!” she responds and does a little happy dance. ”What!” you say as your eyes widen in shock. ”You heard right, mama. I won them yesterday! We’re going to have a Spa-weekend!” Matilda replies and waves the certificates in your face. You grab them from her teasing hands to have a closer look at them. ”It’s this weekend though!” you say confused. ”I know! That’s the best part! We will have baby sitters!” You can’t help but to laugh. ”You’re calling our baby daddies babysitters?” you respond with a cheeky smile. Matilda stops her dancing. ”You know what I mean. We’ll finally get some child-free time! We deserve this!” she says as she points to the certificates in your hand. You smile. ”I really want to be able to say no right now… but ugh… I am so tired and just the thought of a Spa makes me want to cry!” ”See? We’ve earned this. We’ve never been apart from our babies, that we love more than anything…” Matilda breaks off mid-sentence to make sure to catch your eye and make a reassuring look. ”… but we need some alone time.” ”We need some mamas-drinking-some-umbrella-drinks-by-the-side-of-the-pool time!” you say and fan yourself with the certificates in a flirtatious and humorous way. ”There you go!” Matilda says and gives you a high five. Jae-Seong starts to scream. He’s woken up. You hand the certificates back to Matilda as you go back to the hallway to grab him from the baby carriage. ”Shhh…Mama’s here.” you say and put him close to your body. Matilda shows you to the kitchen table and pulls the chair out for you to sit, since your own hands are occupied. She serves you both a cup of tea. ”Are you sure we can leave them alone with the kids?” you ask, not with a worried tone but in a curious way. Matilda scoffs. ”Honey, if we’ve managed to survive for 9-10 months, they can handle one night.” You both start to laugh at the idea of Jungkook and Jimin taking care of everything by themselves. They had hardly spent any time alone with the babies at all. There hadn’t been any time for that. ”Ah, I feel a little guilty yet so curious. I wish we could be flies on the wall and see everything.” you say and pat Jae-Seong on the back. ”So we’re going?” Matilda asks cautiously. You look her straight in the eyes. ”Oh yeah, no doubt about it. Like you said, we deserve this.” Matilda gets excited and does a little dance whilst sitting in her chair. ”Finally someone will take care of us for a change.” you laugh and leave a little kiss on your son’s head. ”It will be amazing. I can’t wait to…” Matilda starts but gets cut off by the baby monitor. Yeona’s scream from the nursery fills the room. ”…leave this place.” Matilda finishes her sentence and gets up to head off to the nursery. She returns a few seconds later with an upset Yeona in her arms. ”Shhh… it’s okay. Look who’s here. It’s your bestie! Say hi!” Matilda says as she sits down. ”Hello!” you say and give her a little wave with Jae-Seong’s hand. ”That’s right, honey. You want mommy to have some good time right? So that she can stand you a little longer. Yes, so that she can stand you a little longer!” ”Matilda!” you say and break out laughing. ”Oh, you know what I mean!” she says and plants a big kiss on Yeona’s face. ”I do.” you laugh. You look down at Jae-Seong. He’s looking back at you with his big eyes. Jungkook’s eyes. ”You’re gonna have a great time with daddy this weekend, okay? Yes you will! And mommy’s gonna get a break. Yes she will!” you say with a baby voice. Jae-Seong smiles back at you, amused by your voice and the fact that you’re tickling his baby fat. ”Yes, your mommies needs a break, cause your mommies are going mental!” Matilda continues and kisses Yeona’s cheeks. She stops her crying and starts to laugh. ”True that.” you respond and raise your tea cup, inclining a toast. ”To mama-weekend.” Matilda says.  ”To mama-weekend.” you copy and clink the cups. 

The weekend arrives and you’re all packed up and ready to go to the Spa. You take an extra look around to see if you’ve missed anything. You’ve left a list of things to do, routines and emergency numbers. You’ve filled the fridge with milk bottles and other necessities. Diapers, baby wipes and towels are put on an obvious display, impossible to miss. Were you babying Jungkook? Probably not. You sense a bit of guilt in your stomach as you take a peak inside the nursery to watch Jae-Seong sleeping in his cradle. This was indeed the first time you would be away from him. He will be fine… right? Jungkook’s a great father. He’ll manage to figure things out. He has to. You can’t stand for 100% of the parenthood in Jae-Seong’s life. You’ve been there every second of every day for him already. The guilt doesn’t go away by that thought, but it tones it down a bit. Spa-weekend. Girl-weekend. Your body fills with excitement. Everything will work out fine. Suddenly you hear the door open. ”Hello?” Jungkook shouts from the hallway. ”Shhh! Our son’s asleep!” you say as you enter the hall. ”Oh, sorry sorry!” he exclaims as he removes his shoes. He turns his head towards you and opens his arms. You don’t hesitate one bit and run up to him to hug him tight. He squeezes you back and kisses your cheek. You turn your head to meet the kisses with your lips. He smiles. ”I—” he starts off but you interrupt him. ”Okay, so I have to leave.” Jungkook looks at you with an empty gaze in his eyes, trying to process your words. ”Wh-what?” ”I have to go. Matilda and I are going to a Spa-weekend. She won certificates for these dates only. Don’t worry, I’ll be back tomorrow!” you say and plant a kiss on his lips before you start to put on your shoes. Not your mommy shoes, no, but your black leather boots. Your pre-baby shoes. You immediately feel confident and sexy. Jungkook stands still from the shock and observes your moves. ”You’re leaving us alone? All night?” ”Yes. And you’ll be fine! I trust you!” you say reassuringly. ”So that part of you missing me…” Jungkook says with an offended, yet calm voice.  ”Oh, I wasn’t lying… but I’ve missed me a lot more! I really need this, baby!” you respond as you put your dark leather jacket on. With one hand you free your hair from the inside of the coat and with the other you grab your bag. Now you’re ready to go. ”Is this a punishment for me not being around?” Jungkook asks. You stop mid-motion. ”What?” ”You heard me.” he responds. He wasn’t angry, just confused. ”You see spending time with your son as a punishment?” You hated to use reversed psychology, but you were way to excited about this weekend for you to feel guilt at this point. ”No, I…” Jungkook starts. ”I said don’t worry. It’s only one night. You got this.” you say and patted him on his shoulder. ”I need this. I’ll come back all refreshed and brand new tomorrow.”  ”But I like the old you.” Jungkook says and squeezes your free hand. ”The old me is exhausted from motherhood. Let me have this one night. Please?” you say and pout your lips at him. ”Aish!” Don’t look at me with those eyes!” Jungkook says and closes his eyes. At least he was smiling. ”Pretty please. I’ll make it up to you.” you say, still pouting. ”Now we’re talking… what will you d—” he starts off with a flirty voice but gets cut off mid-sentence by screams from the nursery. ”Ah, this is my cue.” you say as you turn around to head off to the door. ”Love you! See you tomorrow!” ”Wai—” You closed the door before he managed to finish the sentence. Freedom. 

”Hey honey, I’m home!” Jimin says as he enters the apartment. He doesn’t even have time to remove his shoes before Matilda hands over Yeona. ”Yeah, hi. I’ll be going now” she says and grabs her handbag. ”Where are you going?” Jimin asks in surprise. ”Oh, me and Y/N are going away for a Spa-weekend together. Some well earned girl-time.” Matilda responds and gives Yeona a kiss on the cheek. ”What about the baby?” Jimin looks at Matilda with confused eyes. ”Yeah, good luck with that.” she says with a wink in her eye and a pat on his shoulder. ”But I just got home?” Jimin protests. ”Yeah, just in time for the Spa-weekend!” ”But I just got home?” ”Yeah I know, you said that already!” ”Bu—” ”The baby is fed and ready to be put to bed, so everything is under control for the moment.” ”But wha—” “Bye, honey” she says and gives him a quick kiss on the cheek. Matilda leaves the apartment. She pushes the elevator button. As she enters the empty elevator, she checks her phone. There was a text from you. ”On my way! x” ”Me too! Can’t wait! xx” she texts back. She puts the phone inside her pocket and does her happy dance. Freedom. 

Jimin is shocked. His thoughts gets disrupted by the cooing Yeona in his arms. He looks down on his daughter. ”Hey… hey, baby girl.” he says and rocks her as he tries to remove his shoes with only his feet as help. ”This was quite unexpected, yeah? Your mommy is very unpredictable. A spontaneous fairy.” That last comment made him laugh. ”A spontaneous fairy… good one. It’s one of the reasons daddy fell for mommy.” he says as he enters the nursery. Jimin puts Yeona down in her baby crib. ”There we go, little one. That’s nice, right?” he says as he pulls the blanket up to her stomach. Yeona looks up at her father with big, curious eyes. She smiles at him. ”You really are the cutest baby in the world.” Jimin says to himself as he caresses one side of her face. ”Sleep tight, baby girl.” He boops her nose and turns around to leave. Well done, Jimin, he thinks to himself. This was easy. He’s about to exit the nursery when Yeona’s high-pitched scream startles him. He turns around and rushes back up to the crib. ”Hey, hey… What’s the matter, Yeona?” Yeona stares back at him with tear-filled eyes. Jimin strokes her hair. ”Shhh, I’m here.” he says with a calm and warm voice. Yeona keeps her eyes on him, her lips quivering. ”I’m here. Now try to get some sleep, okay?” Jimin bends down and kisses her on her forehead. ”Everything’s okay.” he says as he turns around and takes light steps towards the door. He barely gets a few feet away from the crib before Yeona starts to scream again. A heartbreaking scream. Jimin returns to his daughter’s side. His heart beats fast and he starts to feel stressed. ”I don’t know what to do!” 

Jungkook is in the middle of a diaper change when his phone started to ring. Jae-Seong is crying on the changing table, kicking his little legs in protest. Jungkook desperately tries to keep his son still as he fished the phone out of his pocket. ”Annyeong?” he answers as he rest the phone on his shoulder so that he could use both of his hands. ”Jungkook-ssi!” Jimin exclaims. Jungkook could hear Yeona’s upset vocals in the background. ”We didn’t expect this now, did we?” Jungkook laughs as he removed the used diaper and put it on the counter next to them. ”I don’t know whether to applaud them or to be mad at them for leaving us like this…” Jimin chuckles. Jungkook tries to hush Jae-Seong so that he can hear Jimin better. ”No use in getting mad…” Jungkook starts off but gets startled when a beam of urine almost hits him in the face. ”What’s happening?” Jimin asks worryingly when he heard Jungkook’s surprised gasp. ”Aish!” Jungkook says as he tries to capture most of the urine in the used diaper. ”Y/N’s given birth to South Korea’s future peeing champion, that’s what’s happening!” Jimin starts to laugh. Jungkook sighs as he accepts defeat and looks down on Jae-Seong with a cheeky smile. The warmness from his eyes made his son stop crying and put a big smile on his face instead. ”You little devil.” Jungkook giggles. ”Yeah, I’m so happy we don’t have that problem with Yeona.” Jimin teases on his side of the phone. Yeona is still screaming. Her father tries to calm her down, but it isn’t helping. ”I think my daughter’s possessed.” Jimin sighs. ”I don’t know what to do!” Jungkook finishes the diaper change and helps his son on his feet. He can barely keep the balance, so Jungkook holds his hands as help. They both smile at each other. ”Want me to call for an exorcist? Jungkook jokes. He can hear Jimin snort on the other end. So, having a screaming baby in his arms isn’t killing his humor or will to live… yet. Good to know, he thinks amusingly to himself. ”Funny… But for real. Nothing I do seems to be working. She’s been screaming non-stop for… forever. I’ve lost track of time! Help!” Jimin tries to keep his calm, but Yeona’s unwilling attitude to cooperate has really started to get under his skin. He is nervous. And afraid. Is he a bad father? ”Do you want me to come over?” Jungkook asks, helping Jimin to break his negative thoughts. ”I thought you’d never ask!” Jimin sighs in relief. Just as Jungkook is about to carry Jae-Seong down from the changing table, he makes a strained face. ”No… what… what are you doing?” Jungkook exclaims. Jae-Seong happily responds with some baby farts. ”No… no… I just changed you!” Jungkook sighs and grabs a steady hold of his phone. ”It might take a little bit longer than planned…”  

You and Matilda are lying on sun beds by the poolside at the Spa. You had just enjoyed massages and now you’re resting up with some healthy smoothies in your hands. Matilda takes a sip. ”It could use some alcohol.” she jokes. You have a little taste and agrees with her statement.  ”I miss alcohol.” you laugh. ”Not the partying bit, but I’d love to be able to have a little glas of wine at the end of a rough day.” ”You don’t drink?” Matilda asks. You shake your head. She starts to laugh. ”Me neither!” she exclaims. The life of staying at home mothers, with absent fathers. Well, physically absent anyway. ”Let’s have a toast!” you propose. You both raise your glasses. ”To us! Being moms.” you say. The glasses clink. ”Should we call in on them?” Matilda suggests with a hesitant voice. ”I have been thinking about it too… maybe we should call and check up on them…” you respond. ”Should we?” Matilda asks. You look at each other.  ”Pffffft!”

”An exorcist actually sounds pretty good right now…” Jimin murmurs as he rocks Yeona in his arms. She wouldn’t calm down. Jimin couldn’t remember a time when her screams didn’t fill the apartment. He let out a big sigh. ”I actually thought I had it there for a minute… but then he changed.” Jungkook sighs as he rocks Jae-Seong in his baby carriage. ”It’s the demon.” Jimin jokes. They both share a laugh, to keep the thoughts about being miserables fathers at bay. ”I literally have no clue what to do.” Jimin says. ”I feel like I’ve tried everything!” ”Obviously not everything, or else we wouldn’t be standing here. There must be some trick to it. Some baby button to push.” Jungkook teases. Jimin gave him a hard look, but couldn’t keep himself from feeling amused. He was glad to have company. ”You mean there’s on off-button?” Jimin jokes and pulled Yeona up in the air. Jungkook laughs as he observes his goofy friend having a meltdown. He stops when he sees Jimin distorted face expression. ”What is it?” he asks. ”Do you smell that?” Jimin gasps and whiffed in the air.  ”Smell what?” Jimin gets closer to Jungkook and waves Yeona’s diaper in his direction. ”WHAT DO WE DO NOW?” ”What do we do? I already had my diaper adventure. I am DONE.” Jungkook insists as he innocently put his arms in the air. ”You need to help me! I’ve never done this on my own!” Jimin shouts. ”Let’s calm down and call them!” Jimin eyes widens by the words of his genius friend. He carefully puts Yeona down in her highchair in the kitchen as he collects his phone from his jacket pocket. He immediately dials Matilda’s number. ”The number you dialed…” ”She’s not picking up. Call Y/N!” he urges. Jungkook fishes his phone from his backside pocket and dials your number. Jimin observes Jungkook’s face as he tries to reach Matilda once again. ”They shut off their phones!” Jungkook exclaims. 

”Okay, I admit defeat. I am weak. Let’s call them.” Matilda bursts out as she leaves the bathroom and jumps on your shared double bed. ”What if they ask us to come back?” you remark. ”Well…” she starts off. ”No! We do not give in!” you firmly state. Matilda bashes her beautiful eyelashes at you, looking like a pleading puppy. ”We’re not gonna ask about how they are doing, we’ll simply ask about our children.” You look back at your friend with curled lips, unable to decide whether to give in or not. Fuck it.” you say as you reach for your purse and take your phone out. You turn it on and a couple of lost calls from Jungkook arrives on screen. Whoops. Maybe you were being childish turning your phones off? But how else would you get a break for once? You decided not to guilt yourself and dial Jungkook’s number. Matilda is on her side of the bed, waiting for Jimin to pick up. Her body language gets more frustrated by every second. ”Why isn’t he answering his phone?” she whispers. ”Babe?” Jungkook says as he answers the phone, almost startling you. ”Yeah, hi. I just wanted to check in and see how things were doing…” your voice was very calm and interrogative.  Jungkook chuckles. ”We’re good… now.” he responds. ”Now?” you echo. ”Yeah, we’re at Jimin’s place. He needed company.” ”Oh-” you say and turn your head to Matilda, ”They’re at your place” you mouth to her. ”Ask him why Jimin isn’t picking up!” Matilda snaps. ”Matilda wants me to ask why Jimin isn’t taking her calls.” you convey. Once again Jungkook chuckles. Suddenly you hear Jimin shouting in the background. ”What’s going on?” Matilda changes position and now sits on her knees with her ear close to your phone to hear better. You decide to put the call on speaker. ”Yeona pooped.” Jungkook laughs. ”Jimin is in the bathroom trying to clean up the mess.” You and Matilda share a glance, trying hard not to burst from laughter. ”How panicked is he?” Matilda asks. ”Very. Very panicked.” Jungkook responds with an amused voice. Jimin continues to shout out of fear and disgust. ”How’s it going in there, Jimin-ssi?” Jungkook shouts with a teasing voice. Jimin mumbles an angry response. ”Just tell him to Youtube it!” Matilda sighs and lies down on her side to calm herself down. ”Wait. Jungkook, you know how to change a diaper, get in there and show him!” you command. ”I’m not going in there!” Jungkook responds with a broody voice. You sigh. He can be such a baby sometimes. ”Are the kids alright, at least?” you ask impatiently. ”The kids are fine!” Jungkook reassures. ”Enjoy your girl weekend!” *Beep beep beep* ”That bastard hung up on me!” 

”I will never be the same again…” Jimin says as he leaves the bathroom. Yeona paused her screaming to let out a big yawn and then she continued her quest to destroy her father’s mental health. Jae-Seong was finally asleep. Jungkook tucked him in as he lied still in his carriage. He could feel his heart melt. His son was adorable. ”Let’s try to get some sleep too.” Jimin whispers in Yeona’s ear and headed off to the nursery. ”Park Yeona, go to sleep!” Jimin says as he desperately comforts his daughter. ”Why are you still crying?” A couple of minutes went by. Yeona was still upset. Jungkook was sitting on the couch and scrolled through his phone. Suddenly the screaming stopped. The apartment went completely quiet. There was a little thud on the floor as Jungkook stood up and took some sneaky steps to the nursery. He carefully opened the door. There was no one in there. ”Jimin?” Jungkook whispers. ”Ssshhh!” Jungkook tried to find a silhouette of Jimin in the room without any luck. ”Where are you?” ”Ssshhh!” Jungkook enters the nursery to see better. He followed the direction of the hush to the crib.  ”Are you for real?” Jungkook giggles. His eyes fell upon a very still Jimin, who is lying next to Yeona in the crib. ”It’s the only thing that works!” Jimin whispers intensively. Jungkook brings out his phone and takes a few photos. ”What are you doing?!” Jimin hisses. ”Capturing this for all eternity.” Jungkook chuckles. ”I’m gonna send these to the hyeongs.” ”I hate you.” Jimin says calmly, which made him sound even more terrifying. ”You love me, hyeong.” Jungkook laughs, still taking pictures. Jimin sighs and locks eyes with him. ”If Yeona wasn’t quiet right now, I’d leave this crib and smother your with her pillow.”

”This is really what I needed.” you say as you leave the taxi outside of Matilda’s apartment building. ”Yeah, definitely! I feel reborn!” Matilda replies as she gets the bags out of the car. You pay the taxi driver and enter the building. Jungkook and Jae-Seong was without a doubt still crashing at their place. You and Matilda had decided to leave the Spa earlier to surprise your men. Plus, you were missing your babies like crazy! ”This will be interesting…” Matilda says as she opens the front door. ”Honey, I’m home…” The apartment was dead silent. ”Hello? Jungkook?” you called out as you removed your shoes in the hallway. No reply. ”That’s strange…” You follow Matilda with light footsteps as you enter the main room. The time display on the microwave told you that it was 9 o’clock in the morning. The kids were usually up at this time.  ”Baby wha-” Matilda whispers but gets caught off guard with the view in front of her. Jimin and Jungkook are both asleep on the couch, with their babies lying still on their chests, also in deep sleep. You take a look around and the room is a complete mess. You can’t help it, but your hearts melt. ”Our knights fought well.” you say as you put your purse on the kitchen table. ”This is the most precious sight I’ve ever seen in this apartment… and that include some very nice images from the bedroom, if you know what I mean…” Matilda gushed out. ”Trust me, I always know what you mean.” you laugh. You walk up to your boys. They look so peaceful. Jungkook’s eyes slowly open as a response to your warm touch as put your hand on the side of his face to wake him up. ”Hi, honey. I’m back.” you say and leave a soft kiss on his temple. Jungkook looks at you with sleepy eyes and a big smile on his face. ”I’m very happy to see you.” he says softly with a raspy voice. ”But if you do a stunt like that again, I’m gonna get really pissed.” ”Oh hush.” you smile and plant another kiss on his face. ”I mean it. If you leave me behind again, I’ll punish you.” You push his tousled hair away from his forehead with your fingers. ”Well, I think I’ll have to leave you a lot more often then - cause that sounds way too intriguing.” Jungkook laughs, his sleepy eyes barely open. You lay a soft hand om Jae-Seong’s sleeping head and look up at the love of your life. ”I love you, Y/N.” ”I love you too, Kook.”

[sohannabarberaesque]

Moth Mondays with the Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera: Bristlehound from It’s The Wolf

Retired, in a way, from his role as Faithful Sheepdog Protector of Lambsy, particularly after one Mildew Wolf recognised the Error of His Ways, Bristlehound has been taking a liking to fishing every now and then ... and we have him relating this quasi-fish story in a way:

So you think a good day fishing beats a bad day of work ... at any rate, a couple of years ago, I got opportunity to come over to no less than Catalina Island, which, as everyone knows, is off the Southern California coast. And though I may have heard much about the legendary Catalina Diving Clowder, it turned out such had nothing to do with them.

Rather, it was the Avalon Tuna Club, the single most legendary fishing society on the Pacific coast, as called unto me. They wanted me to join them on a fishing expedition from the Tuna Club’s docks along Avalon Bay, leaving at sunrise for the most part and not returning until God-knows-when, for the most part.

Though I still wonder how exactly the Avalon Tuna Club got my name, let alone my interest in fishing, I couldn’t quite resist the spell. Let alone preconceived notions that “the big one” on my line could actually drag the boat a considerable distance out into open waters between Catalina and the mainland, including some rather busy shipping lanes. As my guide explained it, such may make for good cartoon comedy, but would hardly be the case. Never mind the breakfast being a protein shake for the most part, and the pre-dawn getting rather cool, some lights in the Tuna Club’s premises were already burning.

And can you believe it--Bristlehound being in some rather august company as included one Sir Winston Churchill and Hal Roach at various times in the past?

At any rate, the guide explained the basics of open-water tuna fishing in the Catalinan fashion, right down to the bait being local flying fish and the fishing rods being rather massive monsters as we pulled out of the harbour ... and within minutes the sun started its presence in the heavens and out over the Pacific, what with the legendary marine layer perhaps having decided to take a breather. So, at anchor about five miles off Avalon, being fortified against what chill remained with some good coffee reputedly laced with brandy, I could just try and sense what was bound to happen.

Getting the hooks baited (and know, hooks for open-water casting can get to be a bit larger than I’ve been accustomed to for near-shore and inland-water fishing, requiring some particular care and patience for a neophyte like myself) out of the way, the line made its way into the water ... and because things can happen rather suddenly in open-water fishing, you have to be careful about alertness. Not to mention be aware that such a fishing pole in the Tuna Club fashion can suddenly spring into life, as my guide explained.

Mind you, this was not the same as giving Mildew Wolf the hook and throwing him skyward ... but within about ten minutes, some excitement ensued. In the desire to sense what was going on, I grabbed the rod, spinning madly to the point where it seemed like it was running out of line, seeking to get some control over it for once--which seemed that way for a moment.

“Looks like a serious tuna,” I was thinking to myself ... and though I seemed to be sweating and everything, I made a grab for the rod and line ... and with as much strength as I could muster after coffee and brandy galore, I nearly wondered if it had gotten away there. Or did it?!

At any rate, there was a 32-lb. tuna to show for all my endeavour. It might not have exactly been a monster such in the vein of Jabberjaw for the sake of size, but once photographed at the Tuna Club’s pier ... at least we were about equal in size. Me and the tuna.

News of which would make its way to the Diving Clowder’s hillside premi, and by lunchtime, its feline diving fanatics were having me over for tuna melt on crumpets, making jokes about tuna fishing and swapping some diving stories, including at least one misadventure when they were out spearfishing off The Magic Isle when the spear gun of Jessamaine somehow went off spontaneously and, perhaps by dumb luck, speared a ling cod. Later, the local dive shop inspected the spear gun in question and found the spring catch had come loose from corrosion via sea water, adding that such tends to be rather unusual for spearfishing types to begin with.

“... and that’s the story from The Moth”

(The preceding is an independent fanfic feature having no official connexion or association with The Moth. For more information, please to visit their website ... and tune in to The Moth Radio Hour weekends on your local public radio station; check your local radio listings for the day and time.)

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