#crying over a boyband

[stxr-spider]

Its a need not a want 😞😞💔💔💔

[manawari]

ARISE Q&A (pt2)

Due to the massive views of the first Q&A, the production decided to do another live stream once the band's current schedule is cleared up. So by the time Saturday hits, the team sets up the platform and commences the live stream. There are already past 3k people waiting and the numbers keep growing when the boys appear. Today's setting is a couch with a bunch of pillows. The members wear casual clothes this time, and to the audience's surprise, Jong-in has decided to wear a white cardigan instead of a suit. Turns out, the boys have slept late and didn't have time to choose outfits and just grabbed the first thing they saw in their wardrobes.

[ Welcome to the second part of getting to know ARISE! First, how is everyone doing? Looks like you guys had a lot of fun last night. ]

LTG: heck yeah! We watched a lot of movies and played video games.

BYH: however, the reason why we took so long is that neither Byung-gyu and Jin-woo wants to lose. Those two are gaming fanatics!

SJW: to be fair, I was winning. Byung-gyu just decided to cheat.

MBG: that's called being smart, dumbass.

SJW: the technique you used doesn't even exist!

MBG: nah, dude. You're just bitter.

CJI: can we start the questions? I don't want to witness a puppy fight in here.

[ to all— have any of you considered dying your hair a different color? ]

CJI: nope.

BYH: yeah. It was white and just like the ones you see in music videos. As awesome it looks, especially when the effects made it glow, I like my orange hair color better.

SJW: I'm good with my black hair.

LTG: sheesh, emo! Anyways, I tried to dye my hair light brown when I was in college. Needless to say, I looked like an American and never did it again.

MBG: I did. Although it's just the tips of my hair.

LTG: ohhh what color did you use?

MBG: green.

CJI: do you have a picture of it?

MBG: heck no. Why would I show it to you guys?

[ to all— who writes songs in the group? ]

CJI: well, when we were just newbies in the industry, we had this small group of people who write songs for us. Then we practiced singing the lyrics before they went to the final draft.

LTG: yeah until they got fired.

CJI: yep, they got fired.

[ oh no, what happened? ]

CJI: what happened? Our manager caught them attempting to steal lyrics from others, including the ones from the 70s, and in their defense, they were running out of ideas, but Mr. Woo didn't accept their reasons because it was still plagiarism and kicked them out.

BYH: and that was when Byung-gyu came in.

LTG: hyung came up to our manager and handed him the lyrics he had written by himself. Mr. Woo couldn't be happier.

SJW: to sum up the answers, Byung-gyu writes most of our songs. And sometimes, if he's a bit busy, Mr. Woo calls for some backup songwriters and had Byung-gyu to revise it if he wanted.

LTG: now thanks to Byung-gyu, the band freaking took another genre.

MBG: I thought you liked it?

LTG: dude, you wrote a lot of love songs and my single ass couldn't handle singing to a relationship I never had.

SJW: you even cried in the end.

LTG: I freaking cried in the end!

[ to Choi Jong-in— why do you like fire so much? ]

CJI: hm, I don't know. But the first time I felt an affinity toward it was when I got fascinated by the fireworks that my mom had to pull me away from getting burned. And oh! I used to have a habit of burning ants with a lighter and sometimes with a magnifying glass and a leaf when I was a kid.

The rest: . . .

BYH: who allowed you to touch a lighter?

LTG: who allowed a kid to commit massacre on ants?

SJW: when I was kid, I only watched ants on the pavement. Are you a psycho?

MBG: you sound terrifying as a child.

CJI: well, what can I say? I like fire.

LTG: I'm not surprised if you're going to do arson one day.

[ to all— what is your favorite song? ]

BYH: Whatever it takes by Imagine Dragons.

LTG: Wolf's Song by MOONBOW.

CJI: I will break you down by Nam Hye-seung and Jeon Jeong-hoon.

MBG: Fly up by Hwang Chang Young. Or maybe "Eyes Open" by Taylor Swift. . .

LTG: *gasp* KOREAN TAYLOR SWIFT!

MBG: quit calling me that already.

SJW: Echo by The Boyz.

[ to Baek Yoon-ho— where did the "whitetigerking47" username came from? ]

LTG: *snorts*

BYH: nothing interesting about it. I just chose it because white tigers are my favorite animal and 47 is my father and mother's birthdates. Why did I include the word 'king' in it? Well, because I am.

CJI: wrong. You're a peasant.

BYH: shut up.

[ to all— when did Choi Jong-in and Baek Yoon-ho start dating? ]

CJI: WHAT?!

LTG, SJW, & MBG: *burst out laughing*

BYH: WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE ARE DATING?!

CJI: FOOLS! I WILL NEVER DATE THIS SKUNK!

BYH: DID YOU JUST CALL ME SKUNK?!

MBG: oh my! The couple is arguing!

LTG: guys, we are live. Save the quarrel in the bedroom.

CJI & BYH: SHUT YOUR MOUTH!

SJW: you know, my mom and dad often said the same words together when they were dating. Even now.

BYH: please leave your parents out of this. . .

[ to all— apart from Choi Jong-in and Baek Yoon-ho, who else is in a relationship? ]

CJI: we are not together, for the love of God!

BYH: this is so sickening.

LTG: not me! I have been single since birth.

SJW: same.

CJI: what do you mean same? Didn't you sneak out of rehearsal just to watch Cha Hae-in's competition?

SJW: I promised her that I would be there, dumbass.

BYH: what about that one time I caught you teaching her how to dance to some song when you two were at the studio alone?

[ Jin-woo and Cha Hae-in danced together?! ]

BYH: yeah, and since Jin-woo didn't post it, I guess the video is in his gallery.

[ how sweet! ]

SJW: THAT DOESN'T MEAN SOMETHING ELSE! WE ARE FRIENDS AND THAT'S IT!

CJI: *scoffs* oh re—

SJW: *points at Byung-gyu* ask him this time! He's the one being suspicious out of all of us!

MBG: huh?!

LTG: right! Spit it out, boy!

MBG: what?!

SJW: oh please, remember when you started writing love songs? Yeah, that was when you came home from Gyeongsang!

CJI: *snaps fingers* I knew it!

MBG: bruh. . .

BYH: hyung, we are waiting.

MBG: nope! Not revealing it!

LTG: so you ARE in a relationship.

MBG: I'd rather go on a date our manager than say it.

SJW: who said you can claim our manager?

[ to all— what will happen if Mr. Woo takes a vacation? ]

BYH: as if that man is going to take a vacation. But if he does, I guess I'll have plenty of days off.

CJI: I think we can survive without him.

LTG: if Mr. Woo takes a vacation, I don't want to be a damn babysitter to you-know-who.

MBG: if he takes a vacation, then he must take Jin-woo.

SJW: stop treating me like a kid! I can handle myself! If anything, I'd support Mr. Woo because he deserves to rest after all the work he's been doing.

CJI: you're only supporting the idea is so that you can do whatever you want without anyone yelling at you.

SJW: touché.

[ to all— how does it feel to be less popular than your manager? ]

LTG: *places hand on his chest in faux heartbreak* it's painful!

MBG: I'm fine with it, actually. It is not surprising how fans are crazier toward Mr. Woo than the rest of us.

BYH: *scoffs* don't humble yourself, Byung-gyu. We know that you once wrote a song about it when the audience cheered louder when Mr. Woo was hosting one of our concerts.

[ Min Byung-gyu wrote a song dedicated to Woo Jin-chul?? ]

BYH: yeah! It's more like a bitter poem for him.

LTG: now that's some level of pettiness.

MBG: no it's not!!

SJW: I'm with Tae-gyu on this one. My own sister literally favors him more than me and you know what's more painful? She has photos of him that she printed on her own!

LTG: did she have at least one photo of you, though?

SJW: no! She said that she sees me all the time anyway.

The rest: *gasp*

CJI: the utter betrayal. . .

BYH: so Jin-woo isn't okay with it, and for me, I don't necessarily mind it. Mr. Woo has been around in the industry earlier and more than I do.

CJI: I could care less. It doesn't matter to me if the manager has more popularity than the band itself. I sing, I perform, that's it.

LTG: is it me or do Yoon-ho and Jong-in sound more matured than the three of us?

SJW: clearly, they don't have a little sister.

MBG: it's because they're in sync, like a cou—

BYH & CJI: next question!!!

[ to all— have you stolen anything from the set? ]

LTG: my first bow and arrow! Even though I have another, I still keep it somewhere in my room.

CJI: that velvet coat. I heard that the designers are going to keep it, but I didn't let go of the opportunity to claim it, so in that way, I wouldn't have to waste money to buy one.

BYH: in the last day of shooting, I stole that black mane I wore as a costume and I've been using it as a pillow ever since.

MBG: I'm not interested in props that much, but the only thing I brought with me was that random water bottle with messy doodles. I wasn't sure if it was a prop, but I just took it because I was the only one who hadn't taken anything.

LTG: dude, that must've belonged to the music video's director.

MBG: oh crap.

SJW: hmm. . . I have that crystal ball, a dagger, that goblin's head, the black ant figurine, the mace Byung-gyu used during filming and didn't want to take home, and. . . Oh! That ugly-looking statue too.

CJI: you took that all?

BYH: shhhh! There is an unspoken rule between us to never ask the reasons behind the props we take home, remember?

[ to all— who has the best and worst relationship with Mr. Woo Jin-chul? ]

CJI: damn, this is quite hard. . . I mean, all of us had made our manager's blood boil at some point.

BYH: but we know who has the worst relationship with Mr. Woo.

MBG: he's the youngest member.

LTG: and the one who just got Mr. Woo mad this morning and had drunken three cups of coffee to cope with it.

SJW: no need to drop hints. I know it's me.

CJI: good to know—

SJW: and I'm proud!

The rest: . . .

MBG: I'm taking the spot of having the best relationship with Mr. Woo to complete the answers.

SJW: *throws a pillow at Byung-gyu* you can't!

[ to Lim Tae-gyu— who do you like collaborating the most out of the group? ]

LTG: hmm. . . I'm stuck between Byung-gyu and Jin-woo since I collab with them the most. I mean, Byung-gyu is great with the guitar, his voice is perfect for acoustics, but the bad part of it? He chooses to cover love songs whenever it's his turn to pick.

MBG: what's with choosing love songs??

CJI: he's bitter that he's still single. Understand him.

MBG: *scoffs* then that's not my problem.

LTG: jerk. Anyways, what I like about collaborating with Jin-woo is that. . . Well, I guess I like singing with him in general.

BYH: so. . . Your official answer is Jin-woo?

LTG: yep.

MBG: I— don't tell me you mentioned my name just to spite me.

LTG: hey! At least I said good things about you!

SJW: I'll bet you 100 Won that he's going to cry in his room after this!

[ to Choi Jong-in— how bad is your eyesight without your glasses? ]

CJI: I'd say mid. I can't see things from the distance which is why I have to wear contacts during performances sometimes.

LTG: funny story! When Jin-woo hid his contact lens, Jong-in walked around the studio and every time he saw some person with black hair, he cursed at them because he thought it was Sung.

SJW: I had a good laugh at that!

CJI: it's your fault! I had to lower my pride and apologize to each of them!

SJW: it's satisfying to see you say sorry to people.

CJI: you—

[ to Choi Jong-in and Baek Yoon-ho— what do you two like about each other? ]

BYH: BRUH.

CJI: NOT AGAIN.

BYH: there's no way I'm answering that! Hell no!

MBG: we won't move to the next question if you two don't answer this.

LTG: come on~~ think of it as bro to bro!

SJW: bromance!

LTG: yes! Bromance!

CJI: I'm gonna puke. . .

MBG: hey! No dramatic antics here!

LTG: if you answer this, we'll buy you anything you want!

SJW: you're making a risky quid pro quo, but I'm in!

BYH: *sighs*

CJI: *nudges his glasses*

BYH & CJI: *look at each other*

BYH: damn, I don't know what I like about you. But for the sake of moving to the next question, fine! I like that you're always ready to defend us from haters.

CJI: I like the way you rap.

LTG: *giggles*

BYH: I like that you keep looking professional on camera.

CJI: I like how you work out.

BYH: I like that you look after our group whenever our manager is not available.

CJI: I like your taste in alcohol.

MBG: ohohoho!

SJW: this is too good!

BYH: I like that you let me burrow your cologne sometimes.

CJI: I like how you make omelettes.

BYH: you always make sure to look inferior to others.

CJI: I like that you make kids comfortable around you.

BYH: I— wait, is this over now?

LTG: *covers his face with a pillow and screams*

MBG: I'm so gonna watch this stream just to repeat this part!

SJW: I never thought I would be too invested in this. . . Oh, look! Some of the production team have gone crazy.

[ to all— what's your ideal date? ]

LTG: ideal date? Well, I've always wanted to watch a sports competition with someone.

CJI: I'd rather go to the movies and eat in some restaurant.

BYH: I don't have an exact preference. But I guess as long as I'm with this person, I'm good.

MBG: I'd like to go for something simple. Even though I'm famous, I prefer to be simple and cheap because my halmeoni taught me that it's not just about the efforts that makes a date great, but the amount of love you put into it. My hometown has plenty of beautiful places, so it's perfect, and there is something about them that makes it special for someone who is equally special.

SJW: my ideal date is not entirely big, just places like amusement parks are enough and perhaps even at home where I'll be the one to cook instead of going out. I also like the idea of watching the stars with someone.

LTG, CJI, & BYH: . . .

LTG: did you just call me worthless in different languages?

BYH: Jin-woo went from being the least person to be romantic to being the most romantic real quick.

CJI: I can't tell if you two have done this already or these just your plans.

SJW: obviously plans. I'm not sure about Byung-gyu.

MBG: HAHAHA no.

LTG: fine, guess I'll just have to ask Park Hee-jin. Didn't she come from the same town as you?

MBG: jokes on you, she doesn't know either!

LTG: MS. PARK HEE-JIN IF YOU'RE WATCHING THIS TEXT ME QUICKLY!

BYH: YOO JIN-HO I KNOW YOU'RE WATCHING SO IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEA ABOUT JIN-WOO'S MYSTERY LADY SPILL IT!

SJW: I don't have a "mystery lady" so get over it.

[ to Min Byung-gyu— if Woo Jin-chul is part of ARISE, what role will he have? ]

MBG: based on his level of popularity, I'd say he's the leader of ARISE. No further elaboration needed. Plus, I think he will rap better than Jong-in and Yoon-ho if he adds some tune to his rants.

BYH: hey!

CJI: how offensive.

MBG: and probably dances better than Jin-woo if he puts his instructions into demos.

SJW: excuse me?!

MBG: and if given a chance, his acapellas will sound better than Tae-gyu.

LTG: *hits Byung-gyu with a pillow*

[ to all— IS THE MANAGER SINGLE? (Yes, this is typed in all caps). ]

BYH: do you think this man is in a relationship? He's way too committed with work.

CJI: if he's single, then that person just hits his high standards. And I don't even know what his standards are.

LTG: he's single and unavailable, ladies and gentlemen.

SJW: he's not ready for a relationship, I think.

LTG: that's because he's way too focused on keeping an eye on you.

SJW: that's on him, not mine.

MBG: I feel like he loves the band way too much to even date. Actually, I like that for him.

SJW: you want to see our manager suffer? Shame on you.

MBG: says the guy who's the 87% of his headaches.

SJW: at least I keep him from doing paperwork all the time.

MBG: you're doing it wrong. Mr. Woo doesn't mind looking after Coco and he's content with it.

SJW: I can't believe you're using your dog.

MBG: at least he's happy unlike you—

SJW: *throws a pillow at Byung-gyu*

[ to all— who comes to your rehearsals? Is it family? Friends? Or do they not come at all? ]

CJI: nope. I doubt that my dad even watches my performances, let alone see his son, but I elect not to care about it. However, my friend from Germany often made sure to stop by the rehearsals whenever he's in the country. Shout out to you, Lennart!

BYH: my family lives outside of the country so. . . But they do watch the concerts and music videos on YouTube.

MBG: same answer as Yoon-ho, but my grandma is the one who keeps track of my performances and even made her friends get into it.

LTG: my family sometimes stops by and needless to say, they criticize me quicker than my own manager. "Tae-gyu! Look at your bandmates! Why are yours different?" "Tae-gyu! Easy on your vocals otherwise you'll shatter the mirrors!"

SJW: my sister stops by the studio after school sometimes. Not just to see me, but to see Woo Jin-chul and shrugs off my existence.

BYH: poor you.

SJW: at least my mom and dad pay more attention to me, so I'm satisfied.

MBG: Mrs. Sung is the best! She always bring food for the five of us and is one of the most loving people I've ever known. She reminds me of my mom too.

SJW: don't you dare steal my mother, Min.

MBG: heh.

[ to Sung Jin-woo— what is your favorite chocolate? ]

SJW: anything. Dark chocolate, regular chocolate, even white chocolate, but all except mint chocolate.

LTG: mint chocolate is good.

SJW: ew, get away from me.

LTG: what? It's good!

SJW: it takes like toothpaste!

LTG: it's MINT! And every mint makes one's breath fresh.

SJW: then why does your breath smells so bad?

LTG: you take that back—

The rest: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

BYH: Jin-woo chose violence!

CJI: I'm telling your mother that you are bullying your second family.

[ to Min Byung-gyu— how much food does Coco eat per day? ]

MBG: three times. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

LTG: whaattt?? You don't give him treats?

MBG: I do every time he does a trick, but not too much. I don't want him to be spoiled until he becomes overweight when he needs to do his exercises in the morning

SJW: what if one of us did feed him past his schedule?

MBG: well, did you?

The rest: . . .

MBG: well??

BYH: he has those cute puppy eyes while holding his bowl! I can't resist it!

LTG: you know that Coco is an angel! And every angel deserves to be loved!

CJI: it was one time, I swear. I promised that I will give him more treats if he lets me dress him with a costume.

SJW: what kind of human who won't spoil this dog? He's everyone's stress relief. He needs his own salary.

MBG: Coco is never like that when we were living in Gyeongsang! Now I know why he's becoming lazy unless he smells food. . . IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!

BYH: why blame us? We are just being kind uncles to him!

MBG: uncles?!

CJI: be thankful. Coco is now living his best life.

SJW: Jin-chul even fed him chicken when you were out last week, by the way.

MBG: THE BETRAYAL!

LTG: geez, Coco has such a strict dad. He needs a sweet mom.

MBG: shut up!

[ okay, before our lovely Min Byung-gyu unleashes his beast mode on his friends, let's end the streaming here! I hope you fans enjoyed this Q&A! Any messages in this live? ]

BYH: as much as I love you fans, quit sending questions about me and Jong-in. We are not in a relationship.

CJI: Yoon-ho will never be my type, so bear that in mind.

LTG: Hee-jin, I'll be waiting for your text! Jin-ho, you too. It's time to solve the biggest mystery in ARISE.

MBG: *rolls his eyes at Tae-gyu* anyways, thank you for watching, that is all.

SJW: keep sending questions about Yoon-ho and Jong-in! I'd rather answer those than the questions about Woo Jin-chul!

[ end stream. ]

[smoothoperador]

CAN'T BELIEVE I EVER SAID WRAPPED AROUND YOUR FINGER WAS MY FAVORITE CRINGE 5SOS SONG NOTHING ABOUT TJAT SONG IS CRINGE IT'S LITETALLY THE BEST THING THEY EVER MADE EVER WROTE EVER COMPOSEF EVER RECORDED EVER PRODUCDED EVER ID ONT FUCKING KNOW HOW ANYTHIKG WORKS IT'S 3 AM AND I'M BITING MY MATTRESS RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[winterzsurprise]

Change My Mind [3]

Pairing: BTS x reader

SUMMARY: As a make-up artist, you were expected to glamorize your clients with brushes and products that cost a week-worth of food, not to befriend them outside of work, let alone have them save you from dates yet here you are five years later as one of their closest confidants.

Being a stylist of the world's biggest boyband is no easy feat, someone is doing flips, someone can't stay still and one's asleep but its fine, you can work around their chaos but then one day, you find out they're all your soulmates, a whole different can of chaos you don't think you can handle.

Tags: Soulmates AU, Friends to Lovers, Eventual Smut, Not Beta Read, Slow Build, Polyamory, Attempts at Humor

Words: 8.8k

ao3 is down so I'll update it first here. Chapter got delayed since this wasn't originally part of the roster. its currently 1am so there will be mistakes I missed but that's for future Winter's problem.

edit: please comment if you want to be added to the tag list :DD

<<<Prev || MASTERLIST || Next>>>

__________

For a guy with his heart on his sleeves and his emotions displayed so loudly on his face like neon signs with gigantic arrows, Taehyung is an enigma.

It didn’t help that he had experience in acting, if anything it made it harder to understand him.

One moment he's supportive of your quest for a perfect husband then another, he's raging with a jealousy even the power of the thousand burning suns couldn't replicate. Even when Guwon has long disappeared, Taehyung didn't stop from hanging off of your arm when the three of you had entered your home. 

In the short time they had stayed over, he made sure he was somehow close to you or having you within his sight while Jimin returned to being the sweet boy he had always presented himself as but the glint of something dark in his eyes never disappeared.

But it didn't make any sense. All of their behaviors, even Jimin, is confusing.

Taehyung had introduced a date to the group before, and had hooked up with a few people from the after-parties if the others’ words were anything to go by. Jimin is the same, although he took every chance to flirt with you at any time and everywhere, you always thought it was him being his playful self. But after last night?

You don't know.

And you hate not knowing.

To find out that Jin still liked you was shocking already, then comes this new realization—along with the impacts of Jungkook’s confession—to knock you off of your feet. You thought he had moved on like he had said years before, but last night's conversation had told you otherwise.

“That's the tenth time I've heard you sigh just this hour alone and we're only drinking coffee, what’s wrong?”

Your head shot up to meet the concerned gaze of the oldest make-up artist. Jihae is one of the original staff back from 2013, the woman who had picked you up when you tripped in front of the BigHit building crying with your bag spilled out, having been given a low grade in one of your subjects. 

They were lacking in staff back then, urgently searching for another body to help with the debut look and when she saw your cosmetic bag, she tugged you inside and told you to agree with whatever they were going to ask. 

Stunned, you followed the woman without question.

A month later, you dropped out of the nursing course your mother had insisted you take and pursued cosmetology.

Many times have you looked back at the memory and grimaced. It could've gone wrong, she might've been leading you into a trafficking ring but nonetheless, you're glad you had accepted it.

All because Jihae had seen you with mascara-stained tears and somehow deemed you skilled enough for the job. Up until today, you still wonder what she had seen in an emotional teenager who had comically tripped face-first in the company’s front yard, mascara running down her face and thought: ‘She’d be a good addition’. 

Whatever it is, you're thankful. 

“Hey, you still with us?”

Snapping out of your trance, you wearily smiled at her. “Yes I am, unnie. Just frustrated about something...”

At this, multiple heads turned to you, their stares a varying mix of curiosity and teasing. Suddenly reminded of the group lunch Jihae had proposed that day, a bonding exercise for the entire make-up artists roster, for better teamwork, she had said and internally facepalmed. You had forgotten that it wasn't just your friends sitting on the table with you and you had just aired your problem out in the open for them to hear.

Fuck Kim Taehyung and his confusing attitude. You should beat his ass next time you see him for being the catalyst to the dilemma haunting your mind.

Leaning closer to you, Nabi—another friend of yours—crossed her arms and flashed a shit-eating grin.

“Is it boy problems?”

Instantly, the table explodes into chatters, all of their questions drowning each other.

“Which one of them?”

“Did someone from Bangtan confess to you, unnie?”

“Is it Hoseok? Please say it is! I have a bet with someone from the styling department.”

“Was it Taehyung? I always thought he had a crush on you for a whi—”

“It's not any of them, please we're just friends.” You interjected before they dig further and find truth in their questions. “It's a different guy I've had two dates with.”

Never had you sounded more unsure of yourself until now and you had wished nobody had noticed. But one look around the table says differently. Your friends’ eyes glinted, all of them telling you that this discussion was far from over and you find yourself already dreading opening the groupchat once you're home. But unlike them, someone wasn't satisfied with your answer and crossed her arms from the other end of the table.

“Why so dismissive, unnie? We're all friends here, no need to be so defensive.”

Immediately, the ones closest to her snapped their heads at her with a scandalized look. Alexa was a new recruit, A half-Korean and half-Chinese who lived in the States for a better half of her life, had just joined the week before the first leg when one of the crew went into labor and had recommended her cousin as her last minute replacement until she could return.

In the short time she had been in the company, there had been whispers and none of them were positive. Rumors of an unhealthy obsession hidden beneath the skillfully applied make-up that granted her a younger and cuter appearance, hushed stories of their encounters where she'd reveal her soulmate mark—inked initials, and written on her wrist is a K.S.J, something she boasted around with a smug look, as if to imply something you refuse to entertain.

It was absurd. 

Seokjin was untethered, if he got a soulmate mark out in the open, he would've screamed it on top of the world. Delighted and in cloud nine at the thought of having someone destined for him. Not to mention, it meant that he didn't need to go through any of the shit you've gone through, going through dates after dates looking for someone better to settle down with only to be met with constant disappointment at the end of the day.

(You'd also be the first to know. He would've ran to you and asked if you manifested a mark too, but for your sanity, you pushed the thought at the back of your head as soon as it came.)

To say, to imply that Seokjin’s soulmate is the kid on the side of the table, it almost made you grimace.

“Hey Alexa, I know you're just new and a foreigner but that doesn't mean we'd let you disrespect your seniors!” Minhyuk, someone who had quickly wormed into your friend group last year, had jumped to your defense.

Alexa scoffed. “I'm just saying, no need to be so secretive, unnie. Everyone in this table knows how close Bangtan is to you. Everyone is wondering if you've at least dated one of them.”

“Hey Alexa, that's a bit…”

“Why are you guys looking at me like that? I'm just saying what you're all thinking,” She looks back at you. “I've seen how they look at you, surely you've at least had a fling with someone.”

Your brows shot up, incredulous and shocked by her audacity but before you could bite back, Minhyuk stood abruptly, face darkened with pure unadulterated anger.

“Oh this—” Nabi and you were quick to tug him back down to sit. 

At the commotion, everyone in the cafeteria shifted their attention to your table, inquisitive and curious of what might've set off the resident social butterfly, someone who everyone knows the name of and has been at the end of his constant kindness.

Minhyuk is a passionate soul, especially towards his job and friends. Having been kicked out for being himself, he turned to the very skill that had his father screaming expletives at him. Recommended by Jihae, who had been visiting a nearby friend at the time and was passing by his street, had found him crying in the rain, outside the gate of his family house. She had taken him home and the rest was history.

There's never been a time when you've all hung out, five emptied bottles of Sojus later, where he wouldn't be crying, thankful for the chance your eldest had given him before turning to you, sobbing loudly and hugging you and the rest of the group in a tight grip. Heart full of gratefulness for his new found family.

So there was no shock that he had been the first one to jump at the first sign of aggression towards your group.

“Everyone is looking, hyuk. Let's calm down.” Nabi whispered to him, eyes cautious and Minhyuk grunted.

“She's lucky we're in public, I would've torn her down for that comment.”

At the end of the table, Alexa scoffed, incredulous. “Are you seriously mad that I'm saying my opinion? Is it a crime to express their own opinion these days?”

“Not when it's as rude as yours.”

Jihae sighs. “Calm down the both of you. Remember that you're working right now.”

You didn't doubt that everyone in the company has speculated about your relationship with Bangtan. It's hard not to when the maknaes hang onto your words and comfortably play around with you, especially not when you have dinner at their dorm every other week so you didn't blame the newbie for being curious.

That's what you would've felt if she hadn't been going around planting ideas into people's heads that she might be Jin’s soulmate like the delusional slug she is.

You had half a mind to loosen your grip on Minhyuk and let him wipe the floor with her unnecessarily expensive work clothes.

Shrugging both your and Nabi’s arms from his, Minhyuk stands up again only to walk away from the table. Instantly, the rest of your group follows him as he marches through the gathered crowd in the cafeteria and in front of the closed elevator.

You trailed behind him, waiting for his eventual frustrated explosion as he always does after an encounter with Alexa since she was hired. Once you were all far enough, hidden away from the prying eyes of the public, he threw his head back and let out a loud, exasperated groan.

“That girl I fucking swear!” He growled as combed his long hair back. “Why did we even let her continue working after the tour?! We could've just found a better alternative, she's getting into my fucking nerves!”

Nabi sighed. “It's not like we have a final say in this, hyuk. Whether you like it or not, we'll be stuck with her until Hyuna comes back.”

“God,” He groaned. “You should've let me hit her once! I'm so tired of hearing her bullshit! Surely, you've heard the lie she's spreading around right?!”

“Like Nabi has said, we can't do anything unless it starts to hurt the reputation of the idol. She's smart for not saying it outright and somehow containing it within the styling departments.” Jihae responds with a defeated shake of her head.

The answer didn't satisfy Minhyuk, who then turned to you with a pout and wide puppy eyes before promptly stomping over and taking both your hands in his.

“Surely you can pull some strings, noona? Tattle off to Namjoon hyung or Seokjin hyung, surely one of them would do something, right?”

You almost considered his suggestion. Alexa had been grating your gears ever since she arrived to replace Hyuna. You had excused her lack of cooperation with the team for being a newbie and clumsy mistakes of haphazardly leaving her items everywhere for the stress of the new environment she was suddenly put in. But for her to go around implying Seokjin is her soulmate is another can of worms you didn't even want to open.

The mere thought of her existing on the same floor as Seokjin invokes an unsettling feeling in the pit of your stomach.

But unfortunately, even if you had tattled to Namjoon about her, nothing would happen since it's not too drastic of an event to fire someone over for. It's also just not a good idea overall. The tour is set next Wednesday and while Alexa doesn't cooperate with most of the team, she unfortunately got the skill to back her up. Her skills nearly compensate for her rude personality.

Almost.

“They won't fire someone over a small argument, Hyuk. Just suck it in until Hyuna returns.”

“Which will be in December after Japan,” He mulls it over before shaking his head. “Yeah no, I don't think I can tolerate her nasty ass that long.”

The elevator opens—Jihae had called it the moment they've arrived, bless her—and everyone piles in. It was a quick ride, the stylists being on the floor below the cafeteria. In a flash the metal doors parts opened and you all walked out. But before you could follow your friends back into your department, your phone vibrated from your pocket.

Slowing down, you pulled the device out and looked at who's texting you.

           [13:02] Hobi: can ask you a favor            [13:02] Hobi: just an itsy bitsy favor 🤏🤏            [13:02] Hobi: I promise it's harmless😁

There's also a text from Guwon not too long ago. Something you missed while you were lost in your thoughts earlier.

           [12:30] Guwon: Eat your lunch soon!            [13:03] You: hi sorry late reply, I was having lunch with my co-workers, couldn’t use my phone during.            [13:03] You: I hope your lunch was good😁

You grimaced at how robotic your reply sounded before returning to Hoseok who had sent another text.

           [13:03] Hobi: don't leave me on seen please😢            [13:03] Hobi: noona noona noona noona noona            [13:04] You: hoba hoba hoba hoba hoba            [13:04] Hobi: YAY            [13:04] You: how can I help you?            [13:05] Hobi: can you deliver lunch to hyung?😁            [13:05] Hobi: I would do it myself but I'm currently helping Seokjin hyung and Namjoon with the dance            [13:06] Hobi: and we both know Yoongi hyung wouldn't eat on time if I do it            [13:06] Hobi: can you do it for me?🥺            [13:06] You: sure, you guys still in the dance practice room?            [13:07] Hobi: ur a life saver            [13:07] Hobi: an angel in disguise            [13:07] Hobi: but yes😁            [13:08] Hobi: just knock on the door when you're here😁

“Y/N?” Jihae asks and you look back up to see your group waiting for you.

“Who is it?” Nabi adds.

“Better be news of Alexa getting fired. If not, I don't want to hear it.” Minhyuk says as he crosses his arms. You shook your head and he threw his hands up in frustration.

“Got asked to help with something but I'll be back in a moment.”

With a brief goodbye, you turned back to the elevator and directed yourself to the floor where the dance practice rooms are at. 

The walking distance from the elevator is not too far from the dance room but seeing five familiar teenage boys speaking in hushed whispers and hitting each other's arms in front of the vending machine just a feet away from the door easily distracted you.

If they had been crowding around the machine, you would've thought they were fighting over the last snack but instead they were all facing the same direction as your destination.

Sneaking up to the five giants, you're slowly introduced to the dilemma they were hitting and pushing each other for.

“You're the oldest, you should go and knock!”

“Just because I'm the oldest doesn't mean I should always be the first! Why are you even ordering me around?! Go ask Huening Kai instead!”

“Why me? I can't talk in Korean, I-I’m foreigner.”

“Oh don't you pull that shit on us. How are you only a foreigner when it matters?!”

“What are we talking about?”

Three shrill screams pierced through the air as the five of them jumped back, awkwardly long bodies falling against and clutching onto each other for dear life, all of them huddling onto the next body for protection. But once they recognize you, Yeonjun immediately regains composure and breaks off from the cluster to stomp over to you with his bottom lip jut out as he dramatically latches onto your arm.

“Noonaa, why would you scare us like that?!”

When you first met Yeonjun, he was standing in front of the cafeteria bar in front of the exhausted cashier and the long irritated line of workers, peering up onto the menu before looking down to count his money. He looked like a little kid lost in the sea of busy adults, painfully alone and helpless as the hungry customers behind him began to complain loudly.

He had been holding up the line as he recounted his change once more, hoping he had miscounted and that he could afford what he was eyeing. Seeing his hopeful expression crumble into defeat was enough to make you approach him and buy him lunch. 

Yoongi had teased you when he found you being trailed by another kid, saying you were collecting every doe eyed kid in the company and becoming their reliable older sister. Especially when his soulmates began to follow his footsteps.

“What were you guys doing? Fighting against who gets the last chip?”

Beomgyu then ran to wrap his arms around yours, the sweetest and most innocent smile plastered on his face as the two boys began to walk you forward, the destination? The dance studio.

“You know that we love you right, noona?”

Why these kids are genuinely intimidated by your sweet Hoba is beyond you. The man screams and flinches at the smallest of bugs daring to exist two feet away from him. Still, you entertained them with a raise of an eyebrow and Yeonjun continued.

“Our favorite make-up noona, the greatest sister figure we have ever had, my savior and my salvation, our dearest credit—”

“Okay, what do you guys want?”

You all stopped in front of the dance room door. IDOL was blasting on the other side of the wall, the floor vibrating with the beat. Although muffled, you could pick up the sound of shoes squeaking against the floor and heavy footsteps accompanying the song.

“Could you pretty please knock on the door?” Beomgyu asks, pleading and also hopeful and the rest of his brothers chimed from behind you with their own versions of the request which ended up sounding like a bunch of warbled words.

“Couldn't you have done that yourselves?”

“But they're busy and J-Hope sunbae is scary.” Taehyun quietly adds behind you.

“Hoba? He's the sweetest though?”

“Okay, let's not lie to ourselves now,” Huening Kai shoots back before motioning to the door. “Just… knock and we'll handle it from there. We promise!”

“Cross our hearts.” Taehyun says, drawing a cross over his chest. The other four follow.

Dance teacher Hoseok to you is a hoax. You've never been subjected to his intense scrutiny and harsh perfectionist side, always managing to slip past or only being able to meet him outside of the workplace where he'd be far relaxed and cheerful. 

Sure there's been plenty of photographic and recorded evidence posted in the group chat but you still find it hard to believe he's more frightening than the bugs that scare him off the room.

“He's not that scary, guys.”

Taehyun scoffs. “Easy for you to say.”

“Crush privileges.” Soobin quietly adds.

“What—”

The door swings open before you could ask what he meant and Jungkook steps out of the room. 

In a span of a second, the memories of his drunken confession flashed before your eyes. From the moment he had entered your home with bags of snacks to the way his voice had sounded, hushed and shaky, when he asked you for a kiss.

Seeing him again outside the concert where Namjoon and Yoongi had made sure there were no contacts between the two of you, evoked a weird sense of longing within you. Having absolutely no contact with Jungkook for two days had you missing and recollecting your past memories with him. In the short amount of time you've been away, you wondered about many things.

From something as headache-inducing variations of hows and whys questioning his attraction to you to something more simple and short like ‘how is he feeling right now?’.

It was a dumb question with an obvious answer yet you wanted to know. Curiosity and anxiety clawing at your chest. 

Is your friendship still okay? 

Did rejecting someone this time finally ruin your entire dynamic with the group? 

Should you have chosen someone like your sister had told you to do? 

They have plagued your mind and haunted you in your waking days yet the moment you finally see him, your mouth dries up and your voice dies in your throat.

But before you could even muster the courage to talk to him, he turned his attention to the boys who had retreated behind you the moment the door opened and greeted them with a short bow before walking away, completely ignoring you. Pain blooms in your chest like a thorned vine wrapping and strangling your heart tighter and tighter as you watch his back disappear around the corner.

“Did sunbae just ignore noona?”

“Is that even possible?”

“I didn't hallucinate that, right?”

“Noona, are you okay?” Soobin’s concerned voice, soft and cautious, brings you back to reality and you turn to them, a precariously built smile on your face.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

The five shared a look as you stepped into the studio, exposing you to the two figures laid on the floor, heaving and panting. The main topics of your thoughts were sitting at the far corner next to the black plastic table while Hoseok stood in the middle of the room, unaffected by whatever had happened and was chugging the water from the small bottle in hand.

As if he had grown a sixth sense for you, he suddenly spun around, a wide grin brightening his stern face.

“Noona!”

At this, the two men on the floor perks up. Namjoon merely waves before promptly dropping back down, Jimin and Taehyung only smiled at you, looking spent from whatever routine Hoseok had them do before turning to the two tallest. Seokjin had pushed himself up to stand and approach the black plastic table from the other end of the room where a dozen take outs were.

As Hoseok approached you, his gaze then found the cluster of five heads peeking through the sides of the entrance and laughed.

“You’ve got five ducklings following you, noona, didn't know you started collecting more after our maknaes.” He jokes before turning to the teens and waving them over. The group then spread to occupy the space in the doorway and bowed. “What can I do for you guys?”

They suddenly disappear behind the wall but you hear them hitting each other and their whisper-shouts, it took a long while before Soobin was pushed out of the shadow and forced to talk to their sunbae. The painfully shy teen shuffles over, shoulders folded forward and taking the smallest of steps forward before stuttering a bow.

A wide smile brightens Hoseok's face, endeared by the boy’s overly formal actions.

“H-Hi sunbae.”

“Hello, Soobinie.”

“We-we we're just wondering if we-we could watch you guys? Practicing dancing I mean—Not that you sunbaes need it cause you're professionals!—I mean of course you still need to practice to be better at dancing and—wait no—”

“Yah Soobin, stop embarrassing us like this!” Yeonjun scolds and immediately, the boy almost broke his neck with how face he looked over his shoulder.

“Then go do it yourself!”

“We don't mind, as long as you guys stay in a corner like good kids then we'll all be good!” Hoseok cuts in before an argument ensues.

There's a tap on your shoulder and you look over to see Seokjin standing behind you, a gentle smile playing on his plush lips, both hands hidden behind him.

There's an awkwardness that hung in the air as you both gazed into each other's eyes before he cleared his throat and began.

“Have you eaten yet?”

“Yes.” You lie. Jin caught it.

Turning to face him fully, he then takes one of your hands and forces your fingers to hold the neatly folded top of a paper takeout bag.

“I've packed Yoongi’s portion here as well as an extra for you.”

“You didn't need to, I already ate.”

“I even had them order some soft tofu soup, you were craving it last week, right?”

It was sweet being loved so selflessly by him. It tasted like the sweetest nectar from the garden of Eden with a foul aftertaste once your mind reminded you of your sins against the man and the thorned tendrils of guilt coiled tighter around your chest, its sourness easily overlapping the sweetness of his love.

After Jungkook pretending you didn't exist earlier, having Jin, someone who you didn't even know still admired you all these years while you had messed around with many faces and came to work with some of their marks on your skin, expressing his care had you almost bursting at the seams. 

It enrages you thinking about Alexa going around spreading her bullshit spiel about being Jin’s soulmate. As if she deserved a morsel of his attention.

Nobody deserves Seokjin, not even you.

“Thank you Jinnie, but I already ate.” You then remembered your promise to return to your friends soon. “And Jihae is expecting me back immediately.”

“Coffee and toast is not lunch.” He deadpans as he takes your hand and forces it to close around the pack. “Just eat it with Yoongi, he'd be happy to be able to eat with someone and I’ll handle Jihae noona.”

“How the hell did you know what I had for lunch?”

Shock crossed over his face and he brought a hand over his mouth. “I was right? I just had a hunch on what you ate.”

“That’s a bit creepy, old man.”

“Maybe it’s a soulmate mark manifesting.” He shrugs but you doubt he meant it in a joking way.

“You’re way past the age, give it up hyung.” 

You both turned to the door at Jungkook’s voice. Like earlier, he had strode in without acknowledging your presence, something Seokjin had noticed immediately. His eyes slid to the five boys tentatively pushing each other to the empty corner of the studio before looking back at their youngest.

“How could you insult me like this? I fed you with my hands, you should be addressing me formally with a full 90° bow!” 

“I should’ve bitten your hands at least once back then.” Jungkook jokingly muses.

Before you could witness their banter explode, there’s a tug on your shirt and you spun around to face Hoseok who had nudged his head to the door. Jin had already marched towards the maknae before you could even thank him so you left.

Once you were both outside the studio, Hoseok closed the door behind and hugged you.

“Wh-what is this?”

“A thank you hug for being the sacrifice and feeding the grumpy dragon instead.” He says with a laugh but you knew what he was trying to do. 

“I’m fine, Hoba. I didn’t expect us to be buddy buddy again after what happened.”

He sighed.

“He still shouldn’t have done that. I’m sure Seokjin hyung will talk to him about it later.”

Stepping back, you shook your head. “No need, I understand why he’s acting like that.”

His eyes regarded your face for a moment before pulling you back in for a hug and nuzzling his head on top of yours. “You don’t have to defend him noona, he’s acting like a child. It's our duty as his hyungs to fix that up.”

“Please don’t. It feels like you’re taking sides, he might think it's unfair.”

He laughs. “Are you kidding? ‘Cause from what I’m seeing, he’s being a petulant child. He should handle the rejection with more grace when it's his fault he’s in this predicament. You know Seokjin hyung warned him, right?”

“He told me when he and Tae took him home.”

“Then you should know better than defend him.” You opened your mouth to refute but he pressed a finger to your lips. “Don't start. He's not the same sixteen years old we had to raise back then, he needs correcting.”

With two hands on your shoulders, he then spun you around and began to push you towards the elevator, leaving no room for an argument. 

Once he had led you back to the locomotive, he briefly stepped in to push the correct button for the production floor and stepped back and waved as the elevator wall slowly closed to a shut.

“Now go feed hyung and yourself before you go back to work. Thank you again noona and see you later.

“Special delivery for a grumpy hairless cat!”

A beat.

Then came a grumbled: “Come in.”

Punching the proper strings of numbers on the door code, you open the door to the genius lab to find Yoongi sitting in front of his computer, one ear off of his headphones as he goes back to a specific second again and again.

Situating yourself on the couch next to the door, you place the paper bag on the coffee table and slowly unload all its contents, hoping its smell is enough to deter him from his work just for a second.

Taking one of the containers, you open it to see bulgogi generously sprinkled on top of rice. The savory smell of the dish wafting out almost immediately, and Yoongi visibly perks up from his table; if perking up meant him temporarily stopping his incessant clicking and head tilting a little to the side.

“Is it all bulgogi?”

Placing down the container, you opened the other one to reveal the same dish except this time with fried rice.

“Yeah, you want fried rice or no?”

“Whatever you like less.” He grumbled as he returned to his work.

“That's not a proper answer.”

“Just take whatever you want, I like either.” He muttered.

Staring at the food on the table, you found yourself at a crossroads. The fried rice looks more appetizing than the plain white rice on the other container but you've had enough sodium for the week, having challenged Taehyung, Jimin and Jin to who can eat more ramyeon in one sitting the day before the concert.

But today just doesn't feel like a plain rice type of day. 

But fried rice isn't healthy.

“Just choose please, I don't know what I want either.” You groaned out, frustrated.

With a grunt, the man took off his headphones and turned to face you before maneuvering himself closer to the table and picking up the container with the plain rice.

“Stop thinking so much about what is healthy or not,” He remarked as he took a pair of chopsticks from the paper bag. “I could hear your thoughts even with my headphones on and my back turned.”

“Then why tell me to choose if you already knew?”

Yoongi only shrugged as he took his first bite, prompting you to take yours. He seems to mull over something as he chews, staring at the food on the table for a while before placing the container down and leaving the room without a word.

You had learned not to question his confusing actions throughout the years, even then you couldn't help but be bewildered.

When he returned, he was carrying two drinks in one hand. Sprite and Kombucha. Settling back on his chair, he placed down the bottle of Kombucha in front of him before opening the can of sprite and placing it in front of you.

“I don't have any straws on me so you'll have to just chug it.”

People don't usually notice it but you think Jin and Yoongi are more similar in how they show their affections, just in different volumes. Seokjin’s care is always voiced out, always asking whether you want something or not and offering to do or make it for you while Yoongi just somehow always knows what you want and does it wordlessly. Both of them are always willing to provide.

If you had asked them for something as ludicrous as fried cotton candy with melted cheese on top, Jin would complain and express his disgust openly, ranting about the strenuous process while holding the handle of the pan and a spatula in the other while Yoongi would cook it without questioning your sanity.

Either way, it never fails to make your chest warm.

“Thank you, Yoongs.”

He suddenly takes a huge bite, bringing the container close to his face before humming out his response, easily flustered as ever.

You both eat your food in silence. With years of friendship under your belt, you have learned to enjoy the serenity Yoongi brings. It had been rough at the start, his quietness matched with his stoic expression had often led to misunderstandings where you often thought he thinks of you badly for being close to his brothers, especially after Jin’s confession.

He had confronted you once he heard it from Namjoon—who had immediately tattled onto his hyung after you had told him not to tell anyone—, saying he simply had problems expressing himself. You could remember how his hands, despite being entangled with each other, shook with his voice, could recall how he had forced himself to hold eye contact with you when he always had difficulties in holding one.

It was thoughtful and that was the first time you had felt the tingles of warmth in your chest. Teenage you had her feet swept off by a stuttering mess of a guy with eye contact issues.

Despite Jin being the first in the group to confess, Yoongi was the first to touch your heart.

“Why are you looking at me like that?’

You tilt your head. “Like what?”

A conflict of emotion crossed his eyes as he struggled to find the words but before he could, your phone vibrated from your pocket.

           [13:54] Guwon: I'm at the cafe close to your building

You almost choked on your spit, surprised by his message and Yoongi hurriedly put his food down to pat your back. His office was on the other side of the city, why would he drive so far just to get some coffee with you during work days? 

Love, a voice answers and you immediately waved it off.

There was no way he had fallen in love with you in such a short time. You have been on two dates with him yet he hadn't asked you to be his girlfriend when there's been multiple times throughout those days and nights he had the chance to do so.

During nights where you'd restlessly toss around on your bed, you found yourself facing one more problem outside of your friends.

You didn't notice when it started when Guwon began to make your stomach churn and it bothers you to the nines at how you were being suspicious of him.

Guwon is a genuinely nice guy with a legit and grand background from what you learned throughout the short time you've been hanging out, his case stories of helping out women stuck in abusive relationships and bringing justice to those the law has failed once proven true when you've typed his name on Naver. The man didn't deserve the doubt twisting in your stomach nor the aversion you were slowly gaining towards him.

Your conflicting feelings surrounding your friends' confessing and odd behaviors shouldn't be affecting your relationship with the man you will marry at some point yet it ended up doing so.

There was something foul and bitter simmering in your guts these days whenever you force yourself to think about him during your time. It burns like bile and tasted like betrayal, almost like unfaithfulness; you try not to think hard on why you feel this way but it's hard not to when Jimin and Taehyung's jealousy keeps flashing behind your eyelids with every blink.

           [13:55] You: Oh wow, which one?            [13:55] Guwon: The one on the left side, Areum Cafe.            [13:55] Guwon: Are you free to get a cup of coffee with me?            [13:56] Guwon: Sorry for springing this up on you            [13:55] Guwon: I missed you🙁

“Who is it?”

“It's Guwon,�� You say, scratching your head. “He says he's at the cafe down the road and wants to meet up.”

Yoongi placed down his food and stared at you, long and hard. Cat-like eyes narrowed and observing as he leaned back on his chair. You feel his eyes regard your body language before sighing.

“I assume you need help getting out? I'm not as… bold as the younger ones but I think I can help… somehow”

His appearance would surely help tamper down the discomfort that had bloomed with the recent revelations. Yoongi is intimidating as he is caring, having him next to you would ensure you a shorter time spent with the man, as well as prohibit him from pulling another surprise kiss on you.

But why are you so uncomfortable spending time with Guwon anyways?

You didn't have any problems before, even wanted to sleep with him the night prior so why now?

“How’d you know I need help?”

“You looked like your mother just told you to come to another date.”

Immediately, you ironed out the frown you didn't realize had marred your face. 

“I thought you would've been delighted you've finally met your match?”

“I-I am.”

Yoongi clicks his tongue, the sound echoing louder in the silence of the room. “Try again. A little more sure this time.”

You sighed and relented, knowing the man wouldn't let you take a step out of the door if you lied to him again.

“Everything just started feeling wrong for some reason.”

He raised an eyebrow at that, eyes widening with surprise. “How so?”

“You know, when Jimin and Taehyung came over last night to make sure I got home safe, they were acting strange towards Guwon.” When he made no move to respond, you continued. “When Guwon suddenly kissed me, Taehyung looked… scary. Jimin too, if you can believe it.”

“I actually do.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Yoongi goes silent again, mulling over something as his gaze finally met yours for the first time that day. “For someone so perceptive, you're a bit oblivious.”

“What is it?”

“I won't elaborate, I'll let you realize things on your own.”

You groaned, facepalming because ain't no way Yoongi just added more fuel to the forest fire that is your thoughts. The man doesn’t even look aware of what his words had done, reaching over and innocently sipping on his kombucha once more.

“Back to what you were saying, why do you think it felt wrong to see Guwon?”

With his calm voice and the deafening silence of the room, you found yourself comparing Yoongi, who even has his hands folded over his crossed jean-clad legs, to a therapist and laughed.

“Didn’t know I was due for a therapy session when I dropped off your lunch.”

“Well I did, so deal with it,” He placed down his bottle. “Do you need my help or not?”

“Is breathing important? Obviously yes.”

He nods and stands, but not before saying, “I hope you know this conversation is far from over.”

While his presence had given you more peace of mind, leaving the BigHit building with Yoongi—who had forgone his usual outdoor style of beanies and big prescription glasses matched with a black mask in order to appear more intimidating, claiming the beanie softens his edges, something you playfully rolled your eyes at—still felt like walking into your doom.

The moment he steps out of the building, suddenly everyone's eyes are on him. The cool stoicness surrounding him commanded attention and the people listened without complaint, not when Yoongi looked like every highschool teenager's bad boy wet dreams.

Strolling into the cafe is easier with Yoongi trailing behind you like a guard dog; or in his case, a guard panther.

There's something about having the rapper, who has never shown a hint of romantic attraction to you in all your years being their friend, accompanying you to meet the man you might marry once the discomfort born from conflicting feelings subsides. It makes your heart jittery and your stomach twisting uncomfortably, the nerves from meeting Guwon only adding fuel to the fire.

It felt improper somehow, as if you were breaking an invisible rule you're yet to uncover from the depths of your soul.

The tempting aroma of freshly baked buttery goods and roasted coffee beans greeted you the moment Yoongi had pushed the door open for the both of you. In the controlled volume of mixed chatters from different tables, a calm acoustic instrumental flies through the air and you almost forgot what you came here for. 

It didn't take long for you to find Guwon sitting on the table farthest from the entrance, secluded and away from the wide glass pane windows. When the door had opened with a chime, the man had raised his head from his phone and met your eyes. You try not to linger on how his expression stiffened when he realized you had Yoongi in tow before a smile wipes it away.

“You see him?” Yoongi’s voice grumbled from behind and you nod. Guwon stands, the sound of the chair scraping against the floor catching his attention. “That him?”

“Yeah, I don't think he's happy I brought you with me.”

He chuckled lightly. “Good.”

Guwon met you both halfway, arms opened wide to greet you with a hug and you let him. When you pull away, his hand casually falls to your waist and your skin scrawls. 

Immediately, Yoongi’s eyes drop to look at it but before any hint of emotion breaks onto his face, his cool eyes are already back on your suitor’s face.

“Which one of your kids am I given the pleasure of meeting this time?” Guwon asks before offering his free hand to Yoongi who had taken it with a carefully crafted blank expression and unrelenting stare.

Seeing him remain in eye contact with Guwon surprises you. The man, even after your years of being friends, had never held eye contact for longer than five seconds outside the time he had opened up to you about his struggle with expressing himself.

It made you curious. Why is he provoking him? Is he testing Guwon?

“I'm not one of her kids, I'm actually older than her. Min Yoongi.”

“Yoo Guwon, a pleasure to meet you.”

Even when both their hands had long pulled away from each other, their eyes lingered longer. Challenging on Guwon's part, and taunting on Yoongi's as he stared back, completely unfazed.

Seeing them silently engage in a dick measuring contest, something you didn’t expect Yoongi to ever partake in since he had been loud in his distaste for his own gender, irked you. The tightening grip on your waist didn't help, wanting nothing but to slap it off if it wasn't for your promise to your mother to not fuck this up.

‘If you don't tell them what you're uncomfortable with, then they'll continue on doing it. The other guys out there aren't like us who'd feel guilty if we knew, I fear that they might take advantage of you instead, noona.’ Hobi’s voice echoes in your mind.

Sorry Hoba, I'm trying to make this work. But if this behavior continues, then I'll listen to you.

“I thought you idols are often more busy than the average folk?”

Yoongi sucks air through his teeth before responding. “We were in the middle of a fitting prior. I hope you don't mind me keeping watch, can't have our staff getting distracted by heartthrobs like you.”

Guwon laughed, a little louder than usual.

“She's been telling you guys about me?”

“All the good things, don't worry.” He then turns to you, eyes searching your face for a hint of extreme discomfort before continuing. “I'll go order the others some food.”

Sparing one last nod of his head at the man next to you, Yoongi then turns towards the counter to order. The moment he was out of earshot, dread drops onto your stomach like an anvil and you looked up at the Guwon whose eyes were already trained onto yours, a lazy smile stretched on his lips.

“I assume you’ll be needed back once he’s done?”

“ Yeah, I’m sorry it's just… Wrong timing.”

He waves you off. “Nonsense, it’s my fault for bringing you out of your work. They won’t fine you for this, right?”

“I went with one of my bosses, of course they won’t.”

His eyes studied your face for a moment, searching. For what? You don’t want to know. When he had found whatever it was, his face melts into a softer, more mellow expression and your heart clenches. The outpouring of awe in his eyes felt heavy and thick, it clogs up your throat and weighs your already strained form.

“I missed you.” He whispers with the sweetest of voices. “Did you miss me?”

“I-I do, kept thinking about you...”

The lie weighted like lead on your tongue and burned like acid. Compared to the genuineness practically dripping from his lips, your words fall short in your ears. With the way his softened expression crumpled into a frown, you knew he also noticed the hesitance in your voice.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry. With the tour being so close and more sponsorship offers coming in, it got a bit stressful than usual.”

When his arms reach around your shoulders and pull you flush to his chest, you will yourself not to tense. You were both hugging in the middle of the coffee shop and you could feel the nearby patrons’ stare pressing onto your body, judging and unpleasant. Embarrassment burns your cheeks and the desire to push him away grows.

Even Jimin and Taehyung doesn’t dare to get affectionate in public, none of your friends ever did anything more than a hand on your shoulder to lead you to the correct direction or a pat on the back when Jungkook had more sleep and food ingested, and was bouncing off the walls and you just happen to be assigned to him.

You wanted nothing more but to tell him to back off but the words got stuck in your throat. 

“Just a tip, she doesn’t like PDA so maybe step away?”

Immediately, Guwon scrambles off of you. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” Guwon says, his hand falling from your shoulder and down to your arm. You shivered.

A firm and familiar hand lands on your shoulder before Yoongi tugs you back to stand next to him. There’s a set in jaw as his eyes narrowed down at Guwon, the hand replacing Guwon on your arm is tense and rigid but not enough to hurt. 

You sensed that he had a lot to say once you were out of sight, all of them expressing his distaste for the man you’re set to eventually marry. Even when you were all standing there, you could already imagine the curses and nitpicked details pouring out of his lips.

“We’ll be going back now,” Yoongi says to Guwon, voice tight as if holding back his emotions as he curtly bowed. “Our leader is already demanding us to come back so we’ll have to cut this meeting short. It was nice meeting you.”

Guwon looked incredulous at the turn of events, eyes shuttering before he nodded in understanding and turned to flash a smile at you.

“Message me when you’re home, alright?”

Yoongi didn’t even linger long enough for you to respond, already walking away. By the time you turned to look at him, he was three gaits away from leaving the coffee shop. With a dip of your head, you sprint to follow closely behind the man now pushing through the door. 

You could understand the reason for his irritation, always the most protective out of the bunch and the one with the most to say about men. To see your closest female friend be made uncomfortable by her suitor, a stranger in his eyes, there was no doubt he’d be livid.

But why does he have to walk so fast?! 

You’re not physically built to match his pace, he takes one step and you have to do three. It was infuriating but you couldn’t exactly scream at him to slow down in public, catching the attention of other people would only create more problems than you both could take on.

He eventually slows down to a halt in front of the double glass doors of the BigHit building and you were able to finally catch up to him. In the lobby, you both calmly approached the elevator, a complete juxtaposition of how hasty you two were not a moment before. 

But the moment the metal doors of the elevator shuts, isolating you and Yoongi from the rest, he begins.

“I don’t like him.”

It was stupid but you wanted to know what specific trait he had found irksome.

(Deep down, you knew you were finding a reason to stop, to let go of Guwon and stop this stupid charade.)

“He didn’t even notice you were uncomfortable earlier. When you told us that he’s good, I thought he’d be decent, not top grade bare minimum.”

“H-He was actually good, believe it or not.”

“So he's a pretentious prick?”

You sighed. “H-He just—”

“Hyung wouldn't approve.” Yoongi cuts in, his hardened eyes now piercing through yours, almost taunting you to bite back. “Not just him, everyone wouldn't. You'd break poor Jiminie’s heart if you continued seeing him once he found out how he acted today.”

You knew he was guilt tripping you and it was working. But you swore Guwon was better than the others, he had treated you with a gentleness and care your friends had shown yet something had changed after that night. 

Was Taehyung's clinginess, their presence in general, been the catalyst?

Had he felt threatened by them showing up? You had established early on that they're your boss and your mother would've mentioned your relationship with the boys in passing at least, so why would he feel threatened by them?

“I know what you're thinking but it doesn't work like that.” His voice, now softer than it had been earlier, pierces through the trance you’ve submerged into. “Even if you had said you’re only friends with them, it's human nature for us to still feel intimidated even if we're just friends.”

“That's dumb.”

He shrugged. “Men are dumb, I'm just slightly better than the rest.”

“That's debatable.” You joked and he raised an eyebrow.

“Your taste is questionable.” He shot back and you hit his arm in response, making him laugh but it dissolves as fast as it came. “I'm serious, hyung won't like it if you continue meeting Guwon.”

“I know, I can already hear him and we're not even there yet.”

“Don’t be dumb, if you want a husband so bad, tell aunt to wait for us to renew our contract this October then I'll marry you.” 

He meant it as a joke, you knew that, but you couldn't stop the butterflies in your stomach from fluttering wildly. You're suddenly reminded of a scene from years ago, his alcohol-flushed cheeks pulled taut by the dopey smile stretching his lips wide and his slurred voice admitting something you—until today—have no recollection of what had been uttered.

You both have been battered to the nines, drunken out of your minds and stumbling over the smallest rocks on the street by the time Seokjin and Namjoon had found you halfway home. It was a miracle you both got off unscathed with how giggly and dumbed down you both were.

“Bold of you to assume I'd say yes.”

“I got wealth, I got a good mug on me, what else would you need?”

“Seokjin also got those.”

He pondered long and hard, sucking air through his teeth before he turned to you again with a glint in his eyes.

“You know what they say about my tongue right?”

He couldn’t say he didn’t expect the punch in the arm that followed soon after.

When the elevator door opens and you both go straight for the dance studio, the conversation about Guwon is put on pause and you dread the moment Seokjin hears what had transpired in the coffee shop when suddenly, Yoongi stills and hissed out a curse.

“Shit, I forgot Jungkook’s muffins.”

[grimsonandclover]

Next Last

Sympathy is a knife.1

or; Broken bones hurt less than broken girls

Stanford!Tashi x tennis player!reader

Song of the post 'Limp - Fiona Apple'

You didn't respect tennis, so why should she respect you? She hated you. The spoiled nepo-baby who's never had to work a day in her life, and yet somehow you've managed to pay your way into NYU and play on the team. Somehow, you managed to beat her last year when Stanford played NYU, and now she's scheduled to play you again at the French Open. You're a goddamnned mess, everyone knows that.

So how are you still so good?

You're a trainwreck self sabotaging in front of the world.

So why does she feel so terrible when you're on the ground, crying like that, clutching your knee? She should be celebrating. But she's not.

SFW

6k words

angst, rivals to ...something? more in part 2 whenever that is, reader's got issues, death of a parent, mommy AND daddy issues, substance abuse by the reader and possible addiction/dependancy, injury, early 2000s NYC socialite treatment, reader is very irresponsible with a DUI (ewww don't do that please), some vomit, panic attacks, some trauma post-parent death, pre-established relationship, cheating, art follows tashi like a lost puppy, suicidal thoughts/depressions, thats a weird order to put those warnings in but oh well, just overall sad times, big sister tashi, reader should get a therapist but instead she parties and plays tennis, best friend patrick

"You're fucking joking." Are the first words Tashi Duncan says when she's told that she's going to compete against you next week. They come out venom-laced and shoot from her lips like daggers. Then, she says them again. "You're fucking joking."

You, the prodigy of NYU that should've been kicked out long ago if not for your pure, unbridled talent (if unbridled talent meant daddy's money, too). You, the daughter of a late, hot-shot Hollywood producer father and triple-divorcee restauranteur mother. You, the younger sister to B-list nepo-baby actress Seline, the older sister to teenage heartthrob boyband member Jonah. You, the tennis star with her name known by people who've never even seen a single match of tennis in their life during the day, and hot-mess socialite with her DUI mugshot from last year plastered on TMZ by night, your name sprinkled over several blind items on Crazy Days And Nights despite your big-name boyfriend. You, the only person comparable in skill to Tashi Duncan. You, who had already beat her once the same week you got that DUI.

Tashi Duncan hated you.

No, hate was too simple of a word. Hate couldn't begin to describe what she felt. It was more akin to revulsion. You were revolting to her. She felt physically sick when she was in the same room as you, which wasn't often. Until now. Now she had to once again share a court with you at the French Open.

For a split second, she considered pulling out. Then, she got her shit together and remembered that she's Tashi Nicole Duncan, and she wouldn't let a mess of a person like you with no respect for the sport make her think like that.

"Art, could you call my coach?"

Her pet-- I mean, her friend did as she asked, handing the phone to her. "What's the earliest you're available tomorrow?"

"You're fucking joking..." Are the first words you say when you're told that you're going to compete against Tashi next week. They come out quiet and tired, slow and disappointed. "She hates me. She hates me and she's going to kill me.

Tashi, the prodigy of Stanford with better grades than you could ever dream of achieving. Tashi, the daughter of a very much alive working-class father and happily married once mother, oldest sister to twins Nathalie and Renee, who are very normal teenage girls still living their normal lives in high school. Tashi, the tennis star every coach wants to get their hands on, with sponsors creaming their pants for her name on their products. Tashi, who's never once been arrested because that's just not a thing well-rounded people do. TMZ has barely ever even heard of her, and nobody's ever anonymously speculated who she's sleeping with. Tashi, the only person comparable in skill to you. Tashi, who looked like she'd rather she was pronounced dead the day before than hear your name announced by the umpire last year.

Tashi Duncan hated you.

It wasn't just your insecure mind making that up, either. She made it blatantly obvious that she did when you went to shake her hand after winning against her. You could still see the laser-hot glare she gave you if you closed your eyes. Feel the iron grip of her soft hands on yours, like she was restraining herself from snapping your wrist. You didn't look forward to seeing those eyes stare holes into your skull until you got a headache, again, next week.

"Maybe I shouldn't go this year. I don't know... I mean, I just recovered from my ankle, and-"

"Don't be ridiculous." Your best friend, Patrick, cut you off, rolling his eyes. "You're not a pussy bitch, you're a tennis player. Act like one."

Despite his choice of words, you knew it came from a good place. The reassuring smile on him reaffirmed that. Patrick seemingly knew what you were capable of better than you did. "You're going to do fine."

Charlie, your boyfriend, patted your shoulder as he passed you to grab a bottle of water, offering no words of comfort past that. He never tried much in that department. Or most departments, it seemed. It's like he thought relationships were like modeling: show up and look pretty, that's all. You were there showering him with praise and words of affirmation when he had a stomach bug during fashion week and was scared he couldn't walk. Charlie reciprocated by patting you on the shoulder while you paced your living room.

Turning to your mom, who was sitting in a chair nearby, didn't do much to help ease your anxiety like Patrick's words did, though. She was on her phone, texting and calling the dozens of people she kept in contact with a day. It took her a minute to realize you were trying to get her attention.

"Oh, Christ, Y/N, you'll be fine." She waved her hand nonchalantly. "You'll win and it'll all be fine. And if you don't, well... maybe she'll feel like you're even. How's that?"

God, your feet were killing you in these chunky platforms. Is that wet patch on your skinny jeans from a spilled drink or are you so drunk you wet yourself on the dancefloor? Where are you, what's the name of this place? Patrick doesn't seem to know, either. You're pretty sure Paris is about two shots away from making out with him, based on the way she's staring at him. Why the fuck did you choose to wear skinny jeans, these are miserable. The sequin dress was right there. Is the music louder than usual? The brights are too light right now-- wait, shit, no, the lights are too bright. Where's Patrick?

You feel bile rise in your throat and shove a girl out of the way so you throw up into the club toilet. It tastes like strawberry and tequila and shit. Someone's banging their fist on the stall door begging to piss, and you can hear moaning and skin slapping in the other stall. Fifty-fifty chance it's Patrick. Twenty-eighty chance it's Patrick and Paris.

You flush, wipe your mouth with the back of your hand, and stumble out the stall to the sinks. God, you're a mess. You know you started the night with two hoop earrings, where did the other one go? The couple in the stall are so loud, and you can definitely recognize the sound of Patrick now. Mascara is smudgeding and it's making your eyes irritated and water, but you didn't think to use anything waterproof.

You almost trip over yourself and have a repeat of last time (the time you sprained your ankle at 1OAK and couldn't play properly for three weeks) as you approach the stall, knocking on the door. "Patrick," you gag a little as bile threatens to resurface, "Pat we gotta... gotta go. It's..." you pull your phone from your bra, "Fuck, it's three. Amber's gon' fuckin' killllllllll me." Amber being your coach. You wonder how not-hungover you'll be able to act when you see her in three hours.

It takes a couple more bangs on the door for him to stop. You can hear clothes shuffling, some giggling and whispers, and the zip of his fly before the stall door opens. Paris stumbles out with a giggle, adjusting her skirt before announcing that she's gonna go find Kim, and 'good luck with Amber.'

You're barely standing and conscious, but you're not so out of it to not notice how he looks. White residue on his nostril tells all. "You've got coke?"

Patrick steps out of the stall, eyeing a girl at the sink throwing him dirty looks in the mirror before he looks back to you. "You know what I'm going to say to that, Y/N."

"Come on, just enough to keep me up. I'm gonna crash by four."

"No."

"Patrick."

"No."

You huff, leaning back on the counter and crossing your arms. "Fuck you. Since when did you join the morals police?"

"Since last week."

That's not a pleasant reminder. You want to slap him in that moment, even if it was a perfectly reasonable excuse for his sudden reluctance to feed your craving. You were a nightmare to everyone you knew last week. And the week before. You wonder how far back this could go. "Fuck you."

"Yeah, well." He shrugs, wiping his nose again and checking himself out in the mirror, adjusting his jacket.

TMZ, oh how you loathe them, has pictures of you leaving the club by the time you're meeting Amber on the rooftop court of your residence. She's livid, as she always seems to be. Like someone shoved a lemon in her mouth and no one told her she could just spit it out. "You're late. You've got the Open in four days and you're fucking late. And hungover."

"It's only two hours."

Your voice is tired and croaking, and you haven't slept longer than two since yesterday. Hungover is a generous diagnosis. You're still drunk. Charlie, who was absent from your all-nighter club hopping, makes sure you don't trip over yourself going up the stairs to the roof before leaving your side to lounge on the pool chairs. Someone texted you "Hey girl, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but..." around the time you made it out of bed, but you deleted the text before you saw any more of it. Your mind wanders to that text when you look at him.

"Two hours, my ass. Christ, I should quit."

Amber threatens leaving you as much as you promise it won't happen again. Like 'yes', 'no', and 'You do this one more time and so help me God I will make sure you can never find a coach again,' are all the basis of her vocabulary. You play and pay too well for her to ever commit to those threats.

Practice goes on until your bones ache and cry for a break. Charlie's fallen asleep with a magazine tucked under his chin. Amber leaves for the poolside cabana and calls her girlfriend while you just lay on the ground, staring at the clouds. The adrenaline starts to wear off, meaning you feel like shit. Your mouth is incredibly dry, the sun is blinding. It's like your body remembered that you're meant to be hungover and is only now catching up. At least it's after practice. Not that you did all that well. You can hear Amber argue with her girlfriend over the phone and it only makes you feel worse about being such a horrible player by showing up late and half-shitfaced. You knew they were going through a rough patch. Least you could do is make her job easier.

Closing your eyes is only temporary relief. You can still hear the cars from the streets below and Amber whisper-yell into the receiver. "I told you already... Wednesday's no good, no... well then tell them to reschedule... Rebecca, it's not like you didn't know what kind of schedule I've got when we started dating..."

It feels like your legs are going to snap when you roll over, hands planted on the hard court ground and you silently beg your muscles to push you up. You're dizzy, the doubled, now tripled vision bringing back the bile from last night/this morning to the base of your throat, but you swallow it down. Over your shoulder, you look at the pool, the sunlight bouncing from the cold water. Amber's on the other side of it, brows furrowed. She sees you watching her and turns around, back facing you.

She turns back around when she hears a splash. You fell face-first into the pool. On purpose. The cool water feels amazing, the sting from hitting the water nothing compared to the ache in your bones that has been there since childhood. You open your eyes, watching your hair billow around you like smoke, the way the sun glimmers on the surface like sparkles, the shadow peering over the ledge. "Oh, god. I'll call you later, Becca. I love you."

When was the last time Charlie said he loved you?

It's so quiet under the water. You wish the bubbles that escape your lips and float above you would carry out everything you hold in your chest. Then you could float like they do.

Like all moments of perfect peace, it doesn't last long. Babies must leave the safety of their mother's womb. People wake up every morning despite wishing to stay in bed and fall back into nothing. Amber reaches into the water and grabs your arm to tug you out and you feel like you could cry. The first wail, the sign of life. Opening your eyes to the sun leaking through blinds, signaling to you it's morning.

Is death truly the only time we have? When you ask Amber, she just frowns and tells you to stop drinking as she dries your hair with a towel.

"Come on, Y/N. Put your back into it!"

The ball barely makes it over the net, bounce, bounce, bouncing down the other side of the court. The racket is heavy in your small hands, but he won't let you put it down yet. "Dad, I can't." You whine.

"What did I say about can'ts?"

You should bite your tongue. Can't's for quitters. "Maybe I am a quitter!"

He stomps across the court, grabbing the collar of your little tennis whites. Despite the action, there's no violence behind it. "No daughter of mine is a quitter."

His voice is low, like he's whispering a secret to you. "You can."

Your collar is let go and your father stands straight. "And you will. Now, do it again like Ronald taught you."

It's Renaud. Grabbing another ball from the basket behind you, you try again. And again. And again. By the time you're done, your arms are sore for days to come and you've got blisters on your feet. He makes you drop out of your preschool Mother's Day dance to practice with Renaud instead. You had the dance down pat, practicing it for weeks.

You only ever started playing because he wanted you to. Maybe five-year-old you should've held your ground more.

Tashi bit the inner skin of her lips, her mother talking casually into her ear through the phone. "And Nathalie, well, you know how she felt about it all. Cried the whole way home."

"Is she alright? Well, clearly not, but..." She zips up the final suitcase on her bed, taking a breath. They were flying out tomorrow, the Open being the day after.

Her mother sighs, nodding her head even though her daughter can't see. "She will be, in time. First heartbreak's going to be pretty tough, poor girl."

A knock on her dorm door pulls Tashi's attention from the call. Looking up, she sees Art peeking in. She holds her finger up, asking him to wait. "Well, let Beetle know that she can call or text me about it anytime. She forgets to check my texts."

"You forget to call."

Tashi huffs. Her mother's right, of course. It's not on purpose, it's just she's constantly go, go, going, her phone often goes forgotten. "Still. I'll pick up whenever she wants me."

Her eyes trail a bird outside her window. It hops across the little ledge, pecking at something on the brick. She wished she had wings. Tashi would just up and fly to her family right now. It's been two months since she last hugged her sisters. Did they forget how she felt? Sometimes, when she can't sleep, Tashi thinks about when they were just little soft fleshy things in bassinets, waking her up at night as they cried in her parent's bedroom. Now, Nathalie was going through her first breakup and Renee was going through some rebellious phase back home.

"You've got your hotel booked for tomorrow?" Tashi asks after a moment, biting her lip again. She can't help it, her worries jump from one subject to another.

"Yes, Tash. I love you, we all love you. We're booked, we're packed, we're ready. I've gotta go finish dinner, have you eaten?"

Tashi hums a response, smiling to herself. "I miss your cooking, mom."

"I miss you. Now, get some rest and I'll see you tomorrow."

When the call ends, Art steps in fully. "Everything with Nat alright?"

She frowns in response, shaking her head and sitting at the edge of the small single in her dorm. The old mattress creaks under her, the weight of dozens like her over the years taking its toll on the springs. "Brodie and her broke up last night at some party. Nat's taking it kinda hard."

He frowns with her and sighs. "I do not miss high school..."

"What'd you come in here for?" Tashi asks after a moment, turning to face him better. She tucks a leg under the other thigh, and Art's eyes catch on the flexing muscle under the warm toffee skin for a moment. Blinking hard, he sits beside her, grabbing one of her pillows to play with. It's a nervous habit of Art's. "It's about her."

When Seline sees the news, she doesn't call. Just sends a text asking if you're alright. Jonah does call, but you don't pick up. You know if you do it'll be like pouring your feelings to a brick wall. And then, when you're done, the brick wall will recite some line from his therapist and ask you for your new dealer's number, and that will be that. Your mother has stopped trying all-together.

Tashi feels a strange sense of pity when Art shows her the headlines, an emotion she doesn't associate with you.

Charlie, mid-grind at the club, decided he no longer liked playing your boyfriend. He forgot to relay that information to you, though. Honest mistake, he assumed you'd gather that when he turned around and stuck his tongue down another girl's throat. Oh, you should've seen the look on your face.

All those unrequited 'I love you's coming back to hit you in the face in a single moment. You had even tossed one on the way here. One that he let hit his turned shoulder and slide off the curve of it like bird shit. Now, here you were, frozen on the dance floor as you watched your boyfriend of a year make it painfully clear how much it all meant to him. Charlie Maddox was known for his looks, never his brain or heart. You tried so desperately to make up for it. You'd rip the beating muscle in your chest out for him and for what?

You've never been good at holding in your emotions. You were the 'wear your heart on your sleeve' kind of gal, much to your dismay. Meaning, you slapped him in the middle of the crowd, screaming something about love and his small dick (it was average), and stormed out of the club only to be met with dozens of paparazzi who were always there waiting for someone to leave. Patrick was just getting another drink at the bar when you left, missing the whole thing. You barely made it five steps out the door, tears streaming down your face, ankles twisting with every step, before taking a detour and puking in the alley behind a dumpster. Pictures were taken of every moment. One guy even ran up and took a picture of the puddle.

Sure he wasn't the best boyfriend, and it was a long time coming, but you weren't exactly in the mental state for such a sudden change in relationship status. You flew to France tomorrow. Amber said no distractions. Here Charlie was, throwing a wrench in everything with his stupid model face and his stupid model lips and his stupid model ego. You think you would've married him if he asked. Have his stupid model babies. Not like he ever would want that with you. How pathetic are you?

You're a hiccuping, sobbing mess. Why'd you take the train here? That club was hardly worth the trip.

It's embarrassing to be sitting on the subway seats, slumped down as you stare at the floor. Not because of your status or who you are, but because... well, just look at the state of you. Your hair is a mess from partying for hours on end, you ripped your heels off your feet the moment you sat down (and they've already been stolen), mascara is running down your cheeks and frankly, you haven't stopped crying. You try to cover your face when you see camera phones curiously life up, some obvious and some not so obvious. The guy next to you gives you the side eye, squinting like he's trying to tell if he recognizes you.

You just want to curl up and die. That girl, the one Charlie practically impregnated through a kiss with his tongue so far down her throat he could probably taste her lunch, looked like Mila Kunis. It wasn't, of course, but she looked like her. Why didn't you look like her? Maybe then he'd stay. He'd try and taste your lunch. Or maybe it wasn't looks. Something that you felt like you had even less control over. You cry a little harder.

If your dad was here he'd have something to say. He'd have some schpiel about life and relationships that you probably wouldn't want to hear anyway, but at least you'd be hearing him. You'd take just about anything. Your phone rings with Patrick's number and you don't pick up. The guy next to you snaps a picture. You wonder if your dealer has anything available. Amber's going to murder you in cold blood. You'd welcome it just about now. The P.A. announces the next stop, and it's not yours, and it would be an hour of walking barefoot across New York to get to your place, but you leave the subway anyway when it comes to a stop. Because that guy kind of stank, and a kid was crying too loudly, and you could hear someone calling someone else to talk about who they just saw on the train, and you just wanted to go home.

The walk was miserable. Your feet hurt and you had to put too much attention for your liking on where you were stepping so you wouldn't get some uncurable disease from the sidewalk. Less people noticed you on the streets, but someone had clearly let the press know what train you were on and they knew if you'd left by foot, they could probably catch up. They did. Now, they had pictures of you crying leaving the club, crying on the New York City subway, and crying walking home. Fantastic. By now you were known more for your tears than your tennis. You'd hail a cab but it was rush hour, and there's no point in even trying then.

You knew it was a fruitless effort asking for them to stop taking picture of you, but you tried anyway. All requests were drowned out by the snapping clicks of the cameras. You were still drunk, and the flashes made your eyes burn and head spin. Your name was being called all around you.

"Need a ride home?" "What happened with Charlie?" "Any news you can share about your sister's latest project?" "Chin up, darling, I can't get your face." "Excited for your match with Tashi Duncan, Y/N?" "Hey, you need some shoes?"

You look over to the guy who just offered you shoes, stopping in your miserable and painful tracks. He's at least wearing socks when he pulls his sneakers off. They're a size or so too big, like clown shoes, but they get the job done. You thank him, and then go back to keeping your head down as you walk. You can already see the headlines.

Your head was spinning so much you didn't know if you could play. You're on the stationary bike to warm up, an hour or so until your match. An hour or so until you face her. You already spent last night with Amber on the practice courts, getting re-used to how the clay changes the speed of the ball, perfecting your strikes as best you can. She offered to take you again, but you were too nauseous to go. That seems to be a constant for you.

Patrick's back in New York. He's got his own tennis career to take care of, but he's sending you texts here and there. Words of encouragement.

"picture her naked or smething"

"actually no dont do that. that wouldnt even work for me"

"make chuck realize what hes missing by winning"

"i just took the fattest shit!!!! oooooh I wanna send you the pic soooo bad. thatll take ur mind off of it"

You had to block his number for a good fifteen minutes just in case. It wouldn't have been the first time he'd done that. That did almost get a laugh out of you if you weren't still so nervous.

Someone was watching on the small TV in the corner of the room, you think it was Rebecca. They're saying it's going to rain tomorrow, but that's all you can understand. So much for those French classes you took for five years straight. You tried to focus on the blurring syllables you once knew as you cycled.

Seline sends you a bouquet of good-luck flowers, but she forgets you're allergic. Jonah forgot altogether that the Open was today, and you don't have it in you to remind your little brother. He's on tour anyway, what could he really do?

Tashi's pacing the practice courts with her coach, Art in the corner talking with her mom as they half-watch her. She's stressed out of her mind. She played and won the Australian Open earlier last year. To win this would already take her halfway to a career Grand Slam. Tashi needed this. To have anyone like you get in the way of that would be unacceptable.

Her coach is doing his best to assure her she'll win. Forget last time, this was it.

"I mean, have you seen her lately?" He said with a scoffed laugh. "Nobody wins an Open like that."

You have. You won the Australian Open, too, a few years ago at 16, and you were equally off the rocks back then. It didn't do much to quell her nerves. "You've put in the work, Tash. You've been training for years, harder than she could ever imagine doing. It's in the bag. All you need to be worrying about is where you're gonna put your Suzanne Lenglin cup."

"It's only the first round. Once you get through the initial nerves, the rest will go by like nothing."

"Right." You said with no real believability. Amber was leaning over the front of the stationary bike and you slowed down your cycling, nearing the end of the warm-up. "Except it's not just the first round."

It's Tashi. It's Charlie. It's Seline, and Jonah, and your mom. It's the first major tournament you've played since...

Since him.

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

Amber could hear all of it just by looking at you, and she had nothing left to offer but a pitying sigh and a pat on your shoulder. Even Patrick, now unblocked again, had nothing left to offer through the phone.

Nathalie is crying on the couch and Renee is doing her best to console her twin when Tashi returns to the player room, their mother and Art following behind. She starts doing stretches in the middle of the room as she addresses her weeping sister. "Beetle, he isn't worth your tears. You know that."

Tashi's mother wraps warm arms around her twins. "Baby, heartbreak heals. You're left only with the unconditional love you hold for yourself. Let it out."

It was her mantra. Words she'd repeat after all three of the sister's occasional breakups. Time heals all wounds.

Tired legs climb off the bike. You overdid it, and Amber silently panics that the overexertion will affect your playing. The couch facing the door connected to the player's tunnel is plush enough. Thoughts trail off to your family, all of which aren't here to watch you play.

Your mother was in France, too. You asked her to come but she was busy meeting with vendors for her new restaurant. Seline was on set for some blockbuster horror film back home. Jonah, well... maybe you should text him a quick 'hey, just letting you know im about to play one of the biggest tournaments a tennis player can, against the scariest woman I know. wish me luck!' But you don't. And your father. Oh, your father. He might've been the only one out of all of them willing to show up.

That doesn't matter now, though. He won't.

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

He won't.

Breathing gets a little harder to do, even though you're sitting.

He won't, he won't, he won't, he can't.

The words are falling out of your mouth now like sand seeping through the cracks in fingers. "He's not here. My dad's not here."

Your wild eyes look up to Amber, whose head whips to you. Her heart drops. Rebecca stops watching the TV. You've been here before.

"Amber, he's not here. He's not here. I can't play, he's not--"

A knock on the door, your name being called by two voices. One tells you to breathe, the other tells you that "they're ready for you."

You can only assume what comes from who as tears blur in your waterline. Thump, thump, thump, thump.

He's not here. The one person in your life that always would be. The one person who promised not to leave.

Tashi threw up after she played you and lost. Tashi Duncan lost.

Stanford Vs. NYU. She should've had it in the bag. It should've been nothing.

Top players lost all the time. It's a fact. Human error, lucky streak for the opponent, off-days. Not for Tashi. Losing to you was a slap in the face. It shook her confidence in herself so bad she didn't know how she'd recover. It was only when she played and won the Australian Open later that year, with you nowhere to be seen, that she got it back.

She spent a weekend learning everything she could about you. A weak moment in her own eyes, but she had to know more about the person who made her crumble. It wasn't hard to do-- researching you. You were in the press constantly, along with the rest of your family.

Your DUI and countless failed relationships, your sister getting thrown out of galas for fighting with other actresses, your brother sleeping with groupies and their tall tales about the ordeal, your mother's countless failed business ventures post-modeling career, and your father. Life and death.

Tashi had found an old interview of yours, done right after your own Australian Open win at 16. You mentioned how he's responsible for it all, pushing you to play since as long as you could remember. How despite his crazy career as one of the big producers in Hollywood, he'd still make time in his schedule to be there for all your games. He was your biggest critic and biggest fan, you said. That you didn't know where you'd be without him in any sense of the word.

When she checked the date of the interview, her heart stopped for a moment. A week before his accident. She even remembers seeing it on the news. How Tashi looked over to her dad as he folded laundry on the couch, watching it with her. "Hollywood producer found dead in major collision in L.A. A break malfunction is the suspected cause."

Maybe that moment, reading that interview on her bed with her father knocking on the door to offer tea, was the first time she saw you more than a mess. More as a hurt, teenage girl. Maybe she forgot it all, though, looking at you now.

You couldn't sit in a car for three months without having a panic attack after it happened. The mere mention of them could even make you spiral. It was after the funeral that you started your infamous 'spiral down the drain'. There was so much paparazzi outside the cemetery gates.

It's the only reason you didn't try to compete in any of the Grand Slam tournaments after winning the Australian at 16. Every time you picked up a racket for the next four years, you heard his nagging voice in your head.

"Come on. Not good enough. Put your goddamn all into it!"

"You're not getting a Grand Slam with this attitude. Do it again."

It was too much to do anything bigger than challengers or school tournaments. Every single one left you teary-eyed in the locker rooms before and after. Amber suggested a therapist several times, but nothing came of it.

You can still see the look of pride on his face after you won the Open. Every time you close your fucking eyes, he's there. Such a rare treat to see him smile, and you did it.

You thought you'd be ready now. You told Amber you're ready. It's been four years, damn it. You're supposed to be over it. What happened to time heals all wounds?

All this time, you thought you were scared of seeing Tashi again after beating her in '06. It's only now, the crowd in your ears as your name is announced, that you realize how wrong you were. He's still there, in the back of your heart. Oh, how that bit of flesh has been carved out over the years of your brief life. How it still beats, after all the shit you've put it through, only to make him proud. Could you ever make him proud again?

The only thing you could hear was your heartbeat. Thump, thump, thump, thump.

A tennis ball soars over the polyethylene net in a perfect arch. Long-loved Chanel tennis sneakers skid across the clay ground, arm slicing through the tension and humidity in the air. Thwack! The ball is launched back to Tashi Duncan. "Come on. Not good enough."

Then, the hitch of your breath; a sharp intake like more air in your lungs would be the thing to save you.

Sweat drips from your brow to your cheekbone, sliding down like a tear. From the back of your neck down your spine like a chill. Even from this distance, you can see the drops slide down her temples and the slope of her chin. Another crack emanates from her racket. You brace for impact. You see your father behind the net.

The court ground under your feet scraping. The sound of skin ripping open in thousands of tiny cuts, the cccccrrrrrrrrack! of bone. Bone. The gasps of the crowd. The crack of bone. Thump, thump, thump, thump.

Then, the only thing anyone can hear is the shriek of your cry.

Next Last

[runawrites-blog]

Deadpool Being A Girl Dad Would Include 🌸

-Wade Wilson is the biggest Girl Dad™️ and anyone who disagrees can fight me on it

-Of course, he would have been happy about a boy just as much as a girl but when you came back from a doctor’s appointment to tell him he’d have a daughter he was overjoyed

-When you ask him if he’s crying and tell him how sweet he’s being he just tells you to fuck off and you just hug him tightly

-He buys his daughter so many stuffed toys, going through the whole animal kingdom, then buying unicorns and dinosaurs, too

-He loves painting your daughter's nails and he lets her paint his nails, proudly walking around with his colourful nails and showing off how he matches with his baby girl

-speaking of matching, he will wear clothes that match the ones your daughter is wearing and it won’t matter what colour or motives they have because he’ll gladly wear matching Hello Kitty sweaters just as much as he’ll wear a matching dinosaur shirt

-You have to lecture him on safe sleeping and not letting his daughter sleep in a bed full of stuffed animals

-From the day that he found out he'd have a daughter he was going over names every day, looking them up online, asking his friends about their opinions and overall being very imaginative

-Some of the names were better than others but eventually, you two came to a compromise

(-I personally headcanon his daughter's name to be Bea after Bea Arthur from Golden Girls because in the first Deadpool, he wears a shirt with her face on it, I just needed to share this)

-He adores dressing his daughter in cute outfits, not necessarily in the sense of dressing her in puffy dresses or clothes covered in bows, but in clothes with cute prints

-Wade gets that a baby needs comfortable clothes but that doesn’t mean they can’t have cute kittens on them or be brightly coloured or covered in a glittery print

-He would also totally let his daughter choose what she wants to wear, letting her pick the wildest mix-matched outfits ever

-When his daughter gets old enough to actually understand what books you two are reading to her, he goes out of his way to look for ones with positive female role models

-He buys books where the girl saves the day, where the female characters are strong and independent, where they have agency and big dreams because he wants his daughter to know that she can be anything she wants to be and that she can do that on her own

-That doesn’t mean he isn’t protective because if any bad guys catch wind of the fact that he has a daughter and threatens her, he’ll go ballistic on them

-Spends hours watching Barbie movies with your daughter and then dances around the flat singing along to the songs with her while she pretends to be a princess or fairy

-Wade tries to learn how to do your daughter’s hair and spends countless hours on the internet, looking up tutorials on how to do elaborate hairstyles

-He is always distraught when he can’t get it right and you have to come in and help him

-Totally has tea parties with his daughter and her stuffed animals

-He’ll also be super interested in her hobbies, be it football or ballet, baseball or horseback riding, he will let her talk his ear off about it

-Speaking of ears, when his daughter wants to get her ears pierced he goes with her and lets her sit in his lap so she won’t be afraid but it’s actually him who ends up flinching more than her when he sees her little face scrunch up in pain

-Then he’ll buy her twenty new pairs of earrings while you go on telling him that the piercing needs to heal first and she won’t be able to wear them for another month or so anyway

-Wade is the Dad his daughter's friends feel safe around, and they ask for help if anyone makes them feel uncomfortable or unsafe

-loves watching stereotypical girl shows with her, like My Little Pony or Winx Club

-listens to boybands with her

-has pyjama parties with her where they paint each others' nails, watch romcoms, eat popcorn and do face masks

-Wade is the Dad who loudly cheers his kid on during school functions, big games, dance recitals, you name it and he never misses one of these events

-If he has to show up in full Deadpool gear so he will make it on time then he will

-When his daughter gets older and gets her first period, he panics a little but when you sit down to talk to her about it he is there to reassure her, too

-never embarrassed to buy pads or tampons for his daughter and brings home her favourite sweets to make her feel better

-imagine him standing at the cash register in full Deadpool getup buying menstrual products and chocolate for her

-he is also very good at getting blood out of clothes, so that comes in handy, too

-he will teach her self-defence, showing her all the ways she can protect herself, verbally and physically

-insanely proud when she managed to take him down and slam him onto the floor

-isn't the biggest fan of going shopping but will do the stereotypical dad thing where he sits down and lets his daughter put on a full fashion show to show off her new clothes

-he knows what it's like to feel insecure about your looks so if his daughter ever feels insecure or not pretty enough he will actually sit down to have a serious talk with her and tell her how beautiful he thinks she is

-has the sweetest nicknames for her, from regular ones like "Honey" to things like "Light of my Life" or "My Little Princess"

[a-dauntless-daffodil]

chaggie vs alastor being a nosy gossip when it comes to potential past break up drama and possible current relationship drama (alastor loses)

Charlie: "Not that I MIND seeing you around, Alastor-"

Vaggie: "I do."

Charlie: "-the hotel is your home too after all-"

Vaggie: "A home. Not a radio exhibit."

Charlie: "-maaaaaybe there's something we can help you with though? Since you've kinda been, errrr, hanging around?"

Vaggie: "Leering."

Charlie: "I get the feeling you wanna ask us something, basically!"

Alastor: "Oh I DO indeed! But you know, you two were just being such a CHARMING little couple, just the PICTURE of young love, I couldn't BEAR to interrupt you~!"

Vaggie: "Great, so fuck off."

Charlie: "We could use some time sitting together without you- or anyone!- staring at us the whole time."

Vaggie: "You can donate that time for free or over your dead body."

Alastor: "Well WELL then! What a CHARMING little offer from a CHARMING little lady!

Vaggie: "You have until three. Two."

Alastor: "I'll just make my inquiries about THIS picture and be on my way!"

Charlie: "What picture- ohhhh THAT picture...."

Alastor: "Familiar, no~?"

Charlie: "Yyyyyyeesssss...."

Vaggie: "Who's the guy that looks like boyband fell in a vat of comic book chemicals? You two look. Close."

Charlie: "Thhhat'ssss my ex boyfriend."

Vaggie: "You're ex?"

Alastor: "Oh REALLY! Do tell~"

Vaggie: "She doesn't have to tell you SHIT, asshole."

Charlie: "No it's okay, it wasn't that bad!"

Charlie: "I mean."

Charlie: "The relationship wasn't great and I didn't even cry after it ended which might be a sign of something maybe although I DID cry about being alone again if that counts.... and, we haven't really talked since breaking up but-"

Vaggie: "I won't kill him, sweetie, but I can stab him for you."

Charlie: "He wouldn't deserve it."

Vaggie: "Ask me if I care."

Charlie: "Heh. It's fine, Vaggie, really. He was perfectly nice to me! We just, didn't make a good pair..."

Alastor: "Pray tell the reason for this apparently INCONSOLABLE mis-match?"

Vaggie: "Alastor I swear-"

Charlie: "I guess it really boils down to him wanting a girlfriend and me wanting a, well, a partner."

Vaggie: "Isn't that what a girlfriend is?"

Charlie: "Mmeh? Not always, I guess?"

Alastor: "Oh will you LOOK at THAT! I have a fresh box of tissues here, and popcorn, and HOURS until my next broadcast~!"

Vaggie: "If you giggle even once over this I'll broadcast my spear right up your-"

Charlie: (laughs) "No you won't, Vaggie."

Vaggie: (whispering) "We don't have to let HIM know that."

Charlie: "Pretty sure he already does? Everyone else in the hotel knows you'd never really shish kabab them or anything."

Vaggie: "Everyone knows?" (drooping) "Are you sure?"

Charlie: "Yep! Niffty was crying about it last week!"

Vaggie: "Well FINE but your ex doesn't live in the hotel, I could at least threaten him."

Charlie: "Empty threat... I think that's why..."

Alastor: (leaning in) "HMMM~?"

Vaggie: (shoving him back) "Why what, babe?"

Charlie: "Why it's different, with you."

Vaggie: "Different?"

Alastor: "SOMEHOW the LESBIANISM isn't different enough already?"

Charlie: "We're partners."

Vaggie: "Yeah?"

Charlie: "Vaggie, we're actually partners."

Vaggie: "I know??"

Charlie: "You listened to the 'Redeem Sinners!' rants and didn't laugh, or doze off, or start messing with your phone half way through my first two-hour long presentation-"

Vaggie: "How could I be messing with my phone when we were recording your practice run?"

Charlie: "-EXACTLY! It was, is, a serious thing for you!"

Vaggie: "Charlie you've seriously been working on this for decades."

Charlie: "And my friends were FINE with that! My friend? Friend singular if we don't count Razzle and Dazzle- my former friend. Whatever! It was okay if I had weird pipe dreams to nowhere, that was totally fine! And when I started dating her brother, he was fine with it to! I was quirky! Silly! Eccentric! Naïve! DUMB!"

Vaggie: "You are not d-"

Charlie: "I know I know! It was FINE!"

Vaggie: "You sound less than fine about it?"

Alastor: "Here it comes~!"

Charlie: "Because 'just fine' sucked ASS."

Vaggie: "Oh..."

Alastor: "OH HO HO!"

Charlie: "It was always just Charlie's dumb little daydream or Charlie wasting her time! Charlie with her dumb head in the heavenly clouds!"

Vaggie: "Oh sweetie, hey-"

Charlie: "It was a quirk he was OKAY WITH. It wasn't that bit a deal! It was a big deal to ME but that was FINE if I didn't waste too much of my time on it, or our time, or his time-

Charlie: "And sure he wasn't laughing in a mean way, I think, probably, but I still HATED when he'd do the amused little oh Charlie's being silly again chuckle!"

Vaggie: "Did you tell him? Did he stop?"

Charlie: "Tell him what? He wasn't doing anything wrong!"

Vaggie: "But Charlie, that's not the point-"

Charlie: "No the point is- HE didn't think he was doing anything wrong treating sinners like immortal chew toys! Everyone else does it! THEY do it to THEMSELVES! And they're damned anyway, Charlie, they're all gonna get killed horribly someday for the shit they did, so what the HELL does it matter!?"

Vaggie: "It matters. You've shown people how much it matters."

Charlie: "No I haven't."

Vaggie: "Yes you have, sweetie. People know better now-"

Charlie: "No they DON'T!"

Charlie: "But you do."

Charlie: "And we're... our hotel is starting to maybe help some people kinda take us a little seriously...."

Charlie: "It's..."

Alastor: "Quite a lot of WE and OUR and US in that last sentence, my dear!"

Vaggie: "No shit, dumbass. We run the damn hotel together."

Charlie: "Yeah. We do."

Alastor: "A fact made while staring at DEAR Vaggie in the most REVOLTINGLY lovesick way, I might add!!"

Charlie: (laughs) "Sorry Alastor- I can't help it."

Charlie: "She's my partner, after all."

Vaggie: (smiles) "It's on my resume."

Alastor: "SICKENING HA HA!"

Vaggie: "Right above girlfriend and hotel manager."

Charlie: (BEAMS)

Vaggie: "I have no idea how anyone could miss out on that chance, honestly."

Charlie: "I'VE no idea how anyone else could ever even come CLOSE to being you, Vaggie."

Vaggie: "Well... the guy in the picture is way too tall for starters."

Charlie: (snorts)

Alastor: "FACINATING. You'll both have to excuse me! My stomach is too DELICATE for this PUTRID display of emotional bliss~"

Vaggie: "You eat rotting deer carcasses, Alastor."

Charlie: "EW he WHAT-?"

Charlie: "Ah um! Oh that's....! ERRRRR interesting-?"

Vaggie: "It's gross."

Alastor: "Aue contraire my dears, YOU TWO are the ones who are GROSS~"

Alastor: (fades back into shadows)

Vaggie: "If I told him that trick was getting tacky, think he'd stop?"

Vaggie: "... babe?"

Charlie: "I think...he took the picture?"

Vaggie: "He what."

Charlie: "The picture of my ex, I think he kinda, borrowed it?"

Vaggie: (groans) "WHY is our friend such a creep."

Charlie: (sing-songs) "Be-cause you ha-ven't killed him yyyyet!!!!"

Vaggie: "Maybe tomorrow I will."

Charlie: (smirks)

Vaggie: "...."

Vaggie: "Look, I can't at least still daydream about it, alright?"

Charlie: "Sure you can." (hugs) "Softie."

Vaggie: "RRgh." (hugs back) "I'm literally only soft with you."

Charlie: "And with our friends."

Vaggie: "Am not."

Charlie: "You are! In your own, special Vaggie way~"

Vaggie: "...."

Charlie: "....which admittedly is mostly about not killing them all in frustration several times a day, but that's a pretty big thing in Hell!!!"

Vaggie: (groans again) (snuggles her)

[prettygirl-gabi]

I Promise

Rating:General Audiences Warning:Fluffy fluff, sentimental Minghao, I think that's all the warnings...

Category:F/M

Fandom:Seventeen ( SVT) ( boyband)

Relationships: !idol Mingyu x ! Non-idol f reader (husband and wife) !Non-idol f reader x Xu Minghao (besties)

Summary: Hao is trusting you return Mingyu when the confetti falls each time..

The wedding hall was buzzing with laughter, music, and the sound of clinking glasses. I couldn’t stop smiling as I looked at my husband—my husband, Mingyu—who was grinning ear to ear, caught in an animated conversation with Seungcheol. His happiness radiated like the warm glow of the chandeliers above us, and my heart felt full.

The day had been perfect. The vows, the first dance, the speeches—it all felt like a dream. But now, as the evening wound down, I was reminded of how much love surrounded not just us as a couple, but Mingyu himself.

“Y/N,” a familiar voice called softly. I turned to see Minghao standing a few feet away, his hands tucked into the pockets of his tailored suit, his usual calm demeanor tinted with a warm smile.

“Hi, Hao,” I greeted, stepping closer. There was something in his eyes, a mix of nostalgia and fondness that made me curious.

“Can I borrow you for a moment?” he asked.

“Of course.” I followed him to a quieter corner of the reception hall, away from the chatter and music.

When we stopped, he turned to me, his smile fading slightly into something more serious. “I wanted to talk to you about Mingyu.”

I tilted my head. “Is everything okay?”

He nodded quickly. “Yes, everything is more than okay. I just…” He paused, his gaze flickering toward Mingyu across the room. “I’ve never told you this, but a few years ago, I had a dream that Mingyu…” He swallowed hard, his voice thickening. “That Mingyu passed away. It was so vivid, so real, that I woke up crying.”

My heart clenched at the thought, and I instinctively reached out to squeeze Hao’s arm. “Hao…”

“I told him about it during an event,” he continued, his voice steady but soft. “And he hugged me and said, ‘But I’m right here.’ From that day on, every time confetti fell during a performance, he’d run to me to show he was still by my side.” Hao’s smile returned, smaller but full of meaning. “It became our little ritual, and it always reassured me.”

I felt a lump in my throat, the weight of Hao’s words settling heavily in my chest. Mingyu’s kindness, his unwavering presence, his ability to comfort the people he loved—it all made me fall for him even more.

Hao took a deep breath, his expression shifting into something lighter. “But now, he has you. You’re his to run to now. Just promise me one thing.”

“Anything,” I said without hesitation.

“Make sure he comes back when the confetti falls.”

Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes, but I blinked them away, smiling as I nodded. “I promise.”

Hao’s smile grew, and he pulled me into a brief, warm hug. “Thank you, Y/N. He deserves someone like you.”

As we walked back to the main hall, the night felt even more magical, the love shared between everyone in the room more tangible than ever.

---

The reception was nearing its end, and as Mingyu and I prepared to leave for our honeymoon, the staff brought out the final surprise: confetti cannons. The announcement was met with cheers and applause, and soon, colorful bits of paper filled the air, swirling around us like a rainbow-colored snowfall.

Mingyu turned to me, his smile dazzling as he reached for my hand. “Ready to go, Mrs. Kim?”

I laughed, my heart swelling at the sound of my new name. “Almost.”

He looked at me curiously as I pulled him closer, placing a soft kiss on his cheek before whispering, “Go to Hao.”

Mingyu blinked in surprise, glancing over his shoulder to see Hao standing nearby, already watching us with an amused smile. “But—”

“No buts,” I interrupted, giving him a gentle nudge. “He’s been your person for so long, Mingyu. Go remind him that you’re still here. I’ll wait.”

For a moment, Mingyu just stared at me, his eyes shining with so much love it made my knees weak. Then, with a soft laugh, he leaned in to kiss my forehead. “You’re amazing, you know that?”

“I try,” I teased, shooing him away.

I watched as Mingyu made his way to Hao, who was already chuckling by the time Mingyu reached him. They exchanged a few words I couldn’t hear over the music, but the way Hao pulled Mingyu into a tight hug spoke volumes. It was a moment of friendship, of history, of love between two people who had seen each other through so much.

When Mingyu returned, he scooped me up into his arms without warning, making me laugh as I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Okay, Mrs. Kim, now I’m ready to go.”

“Good,” I said, resting my head against his shoulder as he carried me toward the exit. “But don’t forget your promise to Hao.”

“Never,” he said softly, his lips brushing against my temple. “Because I’ll always come back to you too.”

And as we stepped out into the night, ready to begin the next chapter of our lives together, I felt like the luckiest person in the world—surrounded by love, grounded in friendship, and forever reassured by the presence of the man I adored.

■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■

-Thank You For Reading!🩵🩶

-prettygirl-gabi🎀✨️

[justnatoka]

Rejections are hard

David x GN! Reader

A/n: Just a silly little thing to get back into writing.

Word count: 558

Prompt: “I don’t like saying ‘I told you so’, but-“ / “Like hell you don’t, it’s your favourite phrase.”

You give David a peptalk. That's it, that's the whole drabble lol.

David sulking was not a sight you were used to seeing. He was sitting in his chair at the cave, slumped in on himself with a stormy expression, almost pouting. It was an odd mix of scary and adorable that you didn’t really know what to do with. The boys decided, very wisely, to give him some space. They were tiptoeing around him, not wanting to get their heads ripped off if they pissed him off even more. You found it quite ridiculous. Guess you had no instinct for self-preservation.

So you strode over, standing in front of him with your hands on your hips. After he didn’t even glance up, you let out a sigh.

“Listen, I don’t like saying ‘I told you so’, but-“

“Like hell you don’t, it’s your favourite phrase,” he growled, his face becoming even more sour.

“Okay, fine. But I still told you it wouldn’t work. Michael was too much of a boy scout to really turn his back on his humanity. I mean he was all kinds of messed up after he first saw us feed. Remember how quickly I got used to that?”

“Yeah, well not everyone is a little psycho like you,” he spat, still refusing to look at you.

“Now listen there, mister. I know you’re sad your boyfriend didn’t join your little boyband, but there’s no reason to insult people.” Your voice got cheerier. “You love me like that anyway.”

He only grunted at you.

After staring at him for a few long seconds in silence you kneeled before him, taking his face between your hands and forcing him to finally meet your eyes.

“You still have me, and you still have the boys. So what if that little wimp didn’t have the guts for all this? He didn’t even see you for who you really are. He didn’t deserve you. But I see you, David, and the boys do too. So let him run home to his mommy, it’s his loss,” you shrugged dismissively.

It took a few moments for a small smile to start showing in the corner of his lips, he was nothing if not a stubborn ass after all.

“Did anyone ever tell you that you suck at this?”

You snorted.

“I’m used to making people cry and beg, not cheer them up.”

He breathed out an amused laugh, and the next time he looked up at you, it was with affection.

“I’ll be fine, you don’t have to force being nice anymore,” he teased.

“Oh, thank god.”

He let out a full on laugh this time, and a smile grew on your face at the sound.

“Well then, my job here is done. I’ll go and get some food, so you can finish the breakup cycle with binge eating boxes of bad takeout. We can even shit talk Michael if you want to.”

“Sure, you do that,” he waved you off.

When you exited the main room of the cave, you found the boys standing around a bend in the tunnel, staring at you. No doubt, they were listening to the whole thing.

“How did you do that?” Marko asked, his face full of disbelief.

You sent them a smirk.

“Oh, please, he has a soft spot for me. Even if he doesn’t admit it.”

Then you walked away, leaving them gawking.

[captainwans]

FROM WHERE YOU ARE.

— ALEX TURNER

pairing: alex turner x fem! actress! reader

summary: while she didn’t care about the distance between them, alex couldn’t help but feel responsible for her exhaustion from traveling this far, especially when the distance was longer.

warning: mild swearing, matt being a tease, and nothing but sweet rotting fluff, friends to lovers trope!

word count: 3,9k | ( gif not mine! )

arabella series!

masterlist!

…. [Y/N]’S SHOES CLANKED ON THE HARD WOODEN FLOOR, THE SOUND OF HER HEELS ECHOING ACROSS THE HALL AS SHE PACED WITH HER STEPS. Much to her dismay, the actress was late and missed the concert, and to say that she was devastated was an understatement. She spent the last three hours on a train trying to get there, which was something she wouldn’t tell Alex. Knowing him he would’ve lost his mind and attempted to drive her back himself. She received a sweet message from him, reassuring her that it was not a problem at all and that he was just happy that he was going to see her again. Her cheeks flushed at his message and she read it multiple times, his words planted inside her mind like a mantra.

The pair had been inseparable ever since she was cast as the lead woman in their music video, Arabella, not to mention an inspiration behind the song itself. With her oblivious nature, she had no idea whatsoever. But, what better way than to announce this at a Comic-Con panel in front of thousands of people

She remembered being caught off guard by this question, not expecting to get questions regarding other aspects of her life other than Marvel-related questions. She did answer, though, stating that she had no idea with a sheepish look. Her comment made the crowd react, even her cast members gave her weird looks due to the song's popularity. At that moment, she made a mental note to listen to the song right after the event.

[Y/N] was awe-struck, not only by the song but also by how his voice conveyed a range of different vocals. She recalled pondering over some familiarity in his voice, feeling that she had heard his voice somewhere before but couldn't pinpoint exactly where. The lyrics of Arabella made her ears perk up with curiosity, being impressed by the small details that could only be referred to from the movie she shot. She fell in love with the song and his voice. His delicate voice and poetic words were the only things that were blasting through the speakers in her trailer, annoying the rest of her cast members.

“[Y/N], would you please turn it down, some of us have to sleep,” The Black Widow actress pleaded, her tone tinted with annoyance as she slowly entered inside her trailer. She watched [Y/N]’s cheeks redden, muttering a small apology before lowering the volume.

“Sorry, Scar, it won’t happen, again.” she sheepishly said, adjusting her glasses that rested on her delicate features whilst her eyes trailed over her script that was placed into her hands. She watched her friend from the corner of her eyes, feeling her presence behind her.

“Arctic Monkeys? Oh, was that the boyband that wanted you in their music video?” Scarlett asked her, eyes sparkling as her eyes looked at her computer screen. She took a look at the group, eyes lingering longer on the lead vocalist. She chuckled, giving her friend a knowing look. “I see why you’re so hooked, look at him,” she poked her waist, making [Y/N] squirm as her lips emitted a small squeak.

“Scarlett–please, stop!” she whined, slapping her hand away before shifting in her seat to make room for her to sit, which she happily obliged. A tint of dust painted her cheeks, lips curving up unknowingly when the lyrics of one of her favorite songs so far, played in the background.

“But I crumble completely when you cry,” Alex’s voice filled inside her eardrums, making her let out a content sigh as she looked down at the script that she was supposed to memorize. She had been stuck on a line for the past fifteen minutes, and she blamed it on his voice. It was addicting—like a drug and she couldn’t resist.

[Y/N] smiled, putting her papers on the table in front of her before turning her attention to her friend, who was nodding her head to the music, her eyes narrowed and focused. She chuckled as she watched Scarlett make a face, signaling that she liked what she was hearing. “They’re very good. I don’t know why you haven’t said yes.”

She grinned, rubbing the back of her neck before she laid her head on her shoulder. “They’re amazing, Scar. And I said yes. I’m gonna be meeting with them in a week. We’re actually gonna film a few hours away from the set, meaning that I can tell you everything about it.” she chimed, eyes crinkling from smiling.

Scarlett clapped with a bright smile, expressing her support for her. She hugged her best friend, squeezing her tight. “I’m so happy for you. This is so exciting. Alex is gonna lose his mind over your beauty, I mean look at you, girl. Heck–even I would risk it all for you.” she told her with a wink, making [Y/N] burst out in laughter as they leaned into each other.

She cursed at herself, mumbling incoherent words as she was looking for Alex and Miles, holding her phone up to her face whilst she was trying to read the address Alex sent her. She squinted her eyes and blinked a few times to shake away her exhaustion, the never-ending filming and traveling resting on her shoulders. The three-hour ride seemed to be her last straw before she could collapse at any second, but she had her painkillers and a few cups of coffee to keep her up, for a while.

The sound of Alex’s laughter seemed to cease some of her drowsy state and she fastened her pace, her feet leading her to one of the waiting rooms backstage. She scoffed with a chuckle, listening to Miles’ banter and his comment made her roll her eyes. She cleared her throat, bringing her hand to the door and giving it a little push as she made an appearance.

“I heard that, Miles!” [Y/N]’s voice echoed across the room, earning a cheerful laugh from the latter, along with the rest of them as she made an appearance with a playful expression toward the singer, who put his guitar away and dashed toward her with a beaming grin. “Speaking of the devil. Hello, love.”

[Y/N]’s chest vibrated from laughter and sank into his embrace, patting his back. “It’s good to see you, Miles. Sorry, I couldn’t make it to the concert to watch you live, but I watched it on my phone. You guys were incredible, as always.” she gushed, pulling away as she mirrored his grin.

Miles gave her a look of gratitude, kissing her forehead. “It’s alright, [Y/N],” he brushed her off with a gentle squeeze on her bicep. He brought her to his side again, side-hugging her before leading her to the rest of the team. “Please, if we’re speaking about a performance, you killed it in the Winter Soldier.” she heard Jamie say, earning a few nods and chimes at his statement.

Crimson danced across her cheeks, making her move her gaze away from Miles to the others in the room, some lazily spread across the couch and others standing beside the food table. Her smile widened, noticing the rest of the band, and her eyes shamelessly searched for a certain vocalist but were abruptly interrupted by being pulled into another embrace by Jamie, Nick, and Matt, who squeezed her making her let out a choked laugh.

“Oh, I’ve missed you guys so much!”

“Don’t squeeze her to death, lads,” Alex’s voice filled her ears, causing her heart to skip a beat, feeling the rush of blood through her ears. Her muffled giggles were enough to put a soft smile on Alex’s handsome features, watching her pull away from the group before turning her body around to meet him.

[Y/N] let out a content sigh, a gentle smile reaching her features before launching herself into his arms, her arms around his waist as she hid her face onto his chest. She felt exhaustion hit her like a tidal wave, making her feel drowsy, and she closed her eyes for a second to feel his arms around her.

Alex felt his cheeks flush, being self-aware by the looks the others were giving them, but that soon disappeared when she gently squeezed his waist, her hands rubbing his back comfortably. “Hello, gorgeous,” he whispered into her ear, brushing a hand over her hair as he closed his eyes, taking in her scent.

The pair pulled away, both smiling ridiculously at each other, but that moment was shortly interrupted by Miles who made gagging sounds, earning laughs from the others. “Take it somewhere else, love birds. You guys are disgustingly cute, it makes me wanna gag,” he whined, gripping his guitar before taking a seat beside Nick.

[Y/N] scoffed, a frown etched onto her features as she pulled Alex closer to her side. She felt his hands caressing her waist, gently rubbing circles around her skin. “Like you’re the one to talk. You get to have him all by yourself on the stage. Yeah, I’ve seen the videos, Miles.” she sassed back, making Alex burst out in laughter, his chest vibrating.

Miles’ face reddened, making him shake his head with laughter. Nick, who was beside him, was dying of laughter and pushed him to the side. “Touche, love.”

[Y/N] giggled, eyes turning back to Alex, whose eyes were already on her, staring at her lovingly. She bit her lip, eyes darting across his lips before shyly diverting her gaze away. He watched her turning her attention back to the others, having a conversation with Matt and his girlfriend, Breana, who came in a little late and became ecstatic when she saw her presence.

She was sitting at the edge of the couch, her body turned across the others who were comfortably sitting on the other couch while Alex was standing beside her, practically leaning against her, which she didn’t mind at all, enjoying his close presence with his hand playing with the hem of her cardigan.

[Y/N] felt a sudden bursting pain at the back of her skull, searing through her temples making her grimace with a look of discomfort. She clenched her jaw with furrowed eyebrows, eyes focusing on Breana, but as the minutes passed her voice became fainter, along with the rest of the room. As much as she tried to hold it in, her tiredness stole the character from her eyes, leaving them blank and hollow.

“And it was a really important moment for me, you know…” Breana’s voice echoed inside her ears, making her squint her eyes before placing a hand on her temples, feeling her sides throbbing rather aggressively.

“I didn’t know her story took that of a toll on you,” Matt spoke, watching her friend covering a hand on her face, earning a few chuckles. Breana laughed, placing a hand on her arm. “I’m sorry if my stories bore you out, babe, I’ll shut up.” she joked, squeezing her arm making her wince at the spot where she accidentally landed on her arm when filming a scene.

[Y/N] chuckled from the pain, feeling the spot burning. She felt guilt prickling at her chest, making her look up to her friend, giving her an apologetic smile. “You never bore me, Bre,” she told her sheepishly, standing up from her seat to get her bag to get her painkillers. “Sorry…It’s just uh–” she let out a weary sigh, a sound with the heavy weight of exhaustion bubbling up the surface, making her stop talking as she forgot what she was about to say in the first place.

Alex, who had been eying her for a while, was the first one to speak. “Are you alright, love?” he asked with a concerned look, reaching out to her as she watched her halt with her steps. He grunted at the sudden weight of her body falling against him, and his frown deepened when he felt her shallow and ragged breathing. “It’s okay, I’m okay. I just need to sit down, that’s all,” she reassured, leading them both back towards the couch, making Miles and Nick shoot up from their seat to make some room for the duo.

Breana’s eyebrows furrowed with concern and she kneeled in front of her, her warm hands resting on her neck, brushing a few hair strands away from her damp forehead. “[Y/N], babe, do you need some water?” she softly asked, her voice getting smaller, as if she spoke any louder she would break at any second.

Matt stood up from his seat, “I’ll get her some water.”

[Y/N] squeezed her eyes shut, fingers rubbing her tired eyes as the buzzing inside her head filled every crack of her brain, rattling every bone making her let out a shaky exhale. “Yes, I–I, uh…I have some painkillers inside my bag..” she stuttered out, feeling her cheeks flush as she looked at her friend with a sheepish look.

Alex turned in his seat, his eyes searching for her bag. His hand grabbed the hold of her purse, his hands roaming inside to look for her painkillers. Matt returned and opened the lid of the water bottle, giving it to his girlfriend, which she took and looked back at Alex to see him holding a pill.

“I’m sorry, guys. This is embarrassing…” [Y/N] said in a soft tone, her voice turning smaller as she accepted the water from Breana’s hands before turning to Alex and taking the painkiller from his hands. Her hands took hold of the small pill, her hands lingering for a moment before clutching her hand and downing the pill with water. She felt him shift, one of his hands resting on her thigh, rubbing small circles to cease some of her pain.

Nick frowned, standing behind her. “For being under the weather? [Y/N], there’s no need to apologize,” he reassured, patting her shoulders with a comforting smile.

Jamie nodded his head with a thoughtful expression, “Yeah, I mean, your job is no better than us. I can’t imagine filming all day on set and—” he trailed off, but once he looked at Alex’s glare his mouth closed and he cleared his throat, “I’m sorry, [Y/N].”

[Y/N]’s lips curved upwards at his apology and she shook her head with a small smile. “Don’t sweat it.” she gently brushed him off and took a few sips before placing the bottle on the table in front of her. “You’re not wrong though. We’ve been filming intensively these past few weeks and staying up all night with the others to perfect the script. I haven’t really got the time to do anything else outside filming and I missed you guys–” she voiced her thoughts before Matt interjected with one of his cheeky remarks.

“Guys? I think that applies to only one person, and he’s sitting beside you right now.” Matt chimed, his eyes sparkling with a tint of mischief. This earned a slap on his shoulder, and he hissed looking at Breana, who gave him a disapproving look. “Oh, way to ruin the moment, Matthew.”

Alex’s heart stuttered against his chest, feeling blood rushing through his cheeks as he looked at [Y/N] with his lips curving upwards. His smile soon turned into a look of annoyance at the fact that his bandmate interrupted her and he let out a sigh. “Shut up, you dickhead. Let her talk.” he bluntly said, his brown eyes piercing through Matt’s, making him put his hand up in surrender with the same grin etched onto his features.

Alex’s comment made the others burst out in laughter, including [Y/N] who turned around in her seat to look at him, her chest vibrating with laughter, making him join her, her laughter being music to his ears. She grabbed his bicep, giving it a little squeeze before clearing her throat. She wiped a lone tear away from her eyes and chuckled. “Thank you, Al. Wait, what were we talking about again?” she contemplated, closing one eye in deep thought, and making Breana laugh.

Miles, who sat across from the pair, played a soft tune on his guitar before asking her. “Since, we’re talking about your job, where’s your set located in? I know Alex told me you were filming near this area..?”

[Y/N] bit her lip with a nod, internally cursing at how her white lie had come this far and she definitely didn’t want to say that it was three hours, knowing that Alex would lose his mind for traveling this far to get here. She remembered Scarlett teasing her and gushing about her heart eyes towards him, calling her a lovesick puppy.

“Oh, you’re in love, honey. It’s so cute. You’re like a lovesick puppy. But I must say…this look—” Scarlett stopped mid-sentence, gesturing with her hand, making [Y/N] want to roll her eyes. “It looks good on you, [Y/N].”

“Yeah…uh–It’s located in…” she trailed off, mumbling the rest of her sentence in a hushed tone and covered it up with a forced cough.

Miles frowned, leaning his body against his guitar as he moved his head toward her. “What? I didn’t hear what you said there, love.” she gave him a sheepish grin, heat washed over as crimson danced across her cheeks. She felt Alex inch closer, almost feeling his breath against her neck making her breath hitch. She grew hot and cleared her throat, name-dropping the location, which made Miles’ eyes wide.

“Isn’t that three hours away from here?” Nick, Matt, and Breana nodded to confirm his question, making [Y/N] close her mouth, feeling her heartbeat inside her ears. She licked her lips, feeling Alex’s burning gaze on her and she turned around to meet with his confused expression.

Alex looked back and forth from Miles and to [Y/N], his frown deepening. “Three hours? Didn’t you tell me that it was half an hour from here?” He questioned, and her chest prickled at the sound of his voice.

The rest looked at each other, a look of amusement plastered onto their faces as they watched the pair. Matt was leaning into Jamie, who looked at the couple with a grin and Breana could sense another remark coming from her boyfriend and she slapped his arm, giving him a warning look.

[Y/N] gave him a tip-lipped smile, eyes looking anywhere than him. “I did? Oh well..” she admitted, giving him a small shrug, and Alex looked at her like she had grown two heads.

Alex shook his head, his face turning into a deep scowl. His stomach clenched at the fact that she was traveling this long to see him. He could also feel his heart flutter at her commitment, but that soon faded away as his mind went back to her current state. He inched closer, his rough calloused hands grabbed her arm, gently squeezing it. “No, wait. Hold on a second. You’re telling me that you drove three hours to come here, and you’re planning on driving back?”

[Y/N] tilted her head to the side, giving him another shrug. “So?” she replied back, not seeing his point and she gave him a look to elaborate with a hand gesture. This made the others erupt into another pit of laughter, gushing over how adorable [Y/N] was and Matt couldn’t help but crawl over to Alex, making kissing sounds and grabbing his shoulders. “You two are so adorable!”

Alex jerked away from his touch and cursed at him, his annoyance bubbling up through the surface. He stood up from the couch, leading [Y/N] with him as they walked over to the food table. “Can’t even get a fucking break..” he mumbled under his breath, but enough for her to hear and she stifled back a laugh.

Her gaze diverted away from the others toward Alex, watching him leaning against the table as he gave his bandmate a look of disdain. Her eyes softened, feeling her chest tighten as her mind went back to the conversation a few moments ago. She crossed her arms like two swords, inching closer to him. “It’s really not a big deal, Al. We planned this, remember? It was the only day that fit our schedule.” she reminded him with a nudge on his hip, earning a small smile from the singer.

Alex looked at her, his eyes lingering on her face as he memorized every detail. He clenched his jaw, bringing a hand over his mouth before voicing his thoughts. “I know, I just…don’t want it to go over at the expense of your health. You could’ve just told me that you weren’t feeling well, and I would’ve understood that, darling.” he shared, his expression turning into a concerned look.

[Y/N]’s eyes danced, mirroring the swarm of butterflies inside her stomach as she looked at him with a fond expression. She hummed with a simper. “I know.” she sheepishly replied with a nod, hiding her hands inside her oversized cardigan and looking up at him. What she was going to do next even surprised her and she wondered where she got that confidence from. “But…I wanted to see you. Traveling for me is not a problem, heck–I could fly out here just to see you, even if it’s for a few minutes.” she expressed, her brave moment instantly disappearing as she realized what she just said out loud, leaving her a complete stuttering mess.

Alex caught his breath at her words, his brain trying to process what just came out of her delicate lips that he craved so for a taste. His lips curved upwards unknowingly, his eyes tinted with slight amusement at her stuttering mess. “Shit, did I just say that out loud?” he bit his lip with a nod, a smirk etched onto his features as he came closer.

“Yeah, and I’m so glad that you said it.” [Y/N]’s smile widened, inching closer to reach out, removing a few hair strands away from his face. Her hand lightly brushed his jaw, fingers lingering on his skin, slowly moving down to his lips.

Alex closed his eyes for a second, melting at her soft and gentle touch. His hand hovered over hers, placing her hand on his chest and intertwined their hands. Before he could let out a word, his bandmates interrupted yet another sweet moment of the pair, and that seemed to hit the last nerve for Alex. A chorus of “aww” echoed across the room and the pair looked at them, noticing they had an audience.

Breana gave her friend an apologetic look before standing up and taking a hold of Matt’s shirt to drag him out of Alex’s sight, but the lead vocalist was faster and he bolted towards him, making Matt let out a loud cackle as he chased him out of the room, leaving the rest with another session of laughter. “Get back here, you little shit!”

[absolutebl]

Hello. I was wondering if you have a master list of all the shows that got released this year? I've looked through the 2023 upcoming list and there are some missing and some that never premiered.

I wanted to see what I may have missed.

Thanks.💜 my-rose-tinted-glasses

Sure thing, hon! Here ya go!

All BL 2023 releases

So far, that I have on the spreadsheet. Not sure how you want it organized so I did it by country and then alphabetically.

Japan

Blue Sky Complex

Can I Buy Your Love From A Vending Machine AKA Sono Koi, Jihanki de Kaemasu ka?

Candy Color Paradox AKA Ameiro Paradox

Egoist

I Cannot Reach You AKA Kimi ni wa Todokanai

If It’s With You AKA Even If I Fall In Love With You AKA Kimi to nara Koi wo Shite Mite mo’

Jack o'Frost

Let's Eat Together Aki and Haru AKA Aki wa Haru to Gohan wo Tabetai

Minato's Laundromat Season 2 AKA Minato Shouji Coin Laundry Season 2

My Beautiful Man 2 AKA Utsukushii Kare Season 2

My Beautiful Man: Eternal AKA Utsukushii Kare Eternal

My Personal Weatherman AKA Taikan Yoho

Naked Dinner AKA Zenra Meshi

One Room Angel

Our Dining Table AKA Bokura no Shokutaku

The End Of The World, With You AKA Bokura no Micro na Shuumatsu

Tokyo in April is AKA Shigatsu no Tokyo wa

What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2

Korea

A Breeze of Love

A Shoulder to Cry On

All the Liquors

Bump Up Business

Happy Merry Ending

Individual Circumstances

Jun and Jun

Love Class 2

Love Mate

Love Tractor

Our Dating Sim

Our Winter

Sing My Crush

Star Struck

The Director Who Buys Me Dinner

The Eighth Sense

The New Employee

Unintentional Love Story

Why R U?

When it was good it was very very good, when it was bad they were dying.

Taiwan

HIStory5: Love In The Future

Kiseki: Dear to Me

My Tooth Your Love

Stay By My Side

VIP Only

You Are Mine

Thailand

609 Bedtime Story

7 Days Before Valentine

A Boss and a Babe

Absolute Zero

Bake Me Please

Be Mine Super Star Superstar

Be My Favorite

Bed Friend

Between Us

Beyond the Star

Boyband the series

Cafe In Love

Chains of Heart

Cooking Crush

Crazy Handsome Rich

Cutie Pie 2 You special

Dangerous Romance

Destiny Seeker

Dinosaur Love

For Him the series

Friend. Boy Friend

Future the series

Hidden Agenda

Hit Bite Love

House of Stars

I Feel You Linger in the Air

I Will Knock You

La Pluie

Laws of Attraction

Love in Translation

Love Syndrome III

Low Frequency

Make a Wish

Man Suang

Middleman’s Love

Moments Of Love

Moonlight Chicken

My Biker

My Blessing

My Dear Gangster Oppa

My School President

My Universe

Naughty Babe

Never Let Me Go

Only Friends

Our Skyy 2: A Boss and a Babe

Our Skyy 2: A Tale of Thousand Stars

Our Skyy 2: Bad Buddy

Our Skyy 2: My School President

Our Skyy 2: Never Let Me Go

Our Skyy 2: Star in My Mind

Our Skyy 2: The Eclipse

Our Skyy 2: Vice Versa

Pastsenger

Pit Babe

Playboyy

Remember Me

Senior Love Me

SHADOW

Step By Step

The Luminous Solution

The Promise

The Sign

The Whisperer

Till the World Ends

Tin Tem Jai

Tin Tem Jai special

Twins

Venus in the Sky

Wedding Plan

The Philippines

Ever After

My Story

Our Story

Stay

The Day I Loved You

Tie The Not

(underreported, I don't keep track of Pinoy stuff anymore)

Singapore

Pure Vanilla

Hong Kong

Stay Still

Myanmar

The Love Ring

China

Stay With Me (Addicted + moar censorship)

I bolded anything I rated over a 7/10. Although some of these I opted not to watch and others are still airing (and thus as yet unrated). So don't take an unbold as necessarily a negative.

I haven't assessed how many are releasing in December

(I probably should deal with the "The" but I lazy.)

[canonicallysoulmates]

I've seen some people confused as to why so many of us are mourning over Liam's passing considering what has come out about him these past two weeks.

Two things can be true at the same time.

We know the man Liam had become was not the boy we grew up loving. We know he has caused pain and harm.

But that doesn't negate the role and positive impact he had on fan's lives. For many of us, One Direction was more than a boyband. Those boys were a lifeline. Many of us grew up with them, we spent our formative years listening to them or found them during our darkest times. We created friendships and built community over the common bond that was a love for these boys and their music. And Liam was a part of that.

We're not ignoring the shit he did. Our grief is not a condoning of his actions.

We're processing the complicated emotions that come with grieving over someone you once loved who was also not a great person.

We're mourning over the boy he was and the man he could have been. Angry at the industry who sunk their teeth into a bright-eyed, joyful boy and spit him back out, at how unfair it is that he didn't get the help he needed, that he didn't get the chance to change and make amends where possible. Crying for the mother who will have to bury her son, the child who will have to grow up without a father, and for the remaining four boys who lost a friend and one of the few people in the world who could understand everything they went through as a band.

[rocksibblingsau]

Do you ever think about how they let a toddler join a boy band? A boy band that was a toxic environment and too much pressure that even teenagers couldn't handle? That had those same teenagers and toddlers do contless interviews, photoshoots and change the way they acted, looked and were just for the hyphotetical imagens fans had of them?

Because I do, I know it just a silly and cheerful children's film but I also think about how this same film opened with those teenagers feeling so mistreated and wronged they literally left their entire civilization, community and family behind just so they shouldn't be treated the same way by anyone else. And John Dory, who I know was implied (which I fully view that as my headcanon btw) to be a child taking care of four other children with only the help of an elderly lady, I do in fact love and sympathize with him. But I also trully need him to be mercyless beaten up by his brothers with hammers, like actually. There only so much headcanons and fic-lore the fandom can put in me before I go back to the movie where John Dory is always implied to be the one who is mostly if not the only one fully in the wrong, buddy was telling a toddler and younger teens that if they werent perfect they were literally nothing and then, left them all for years after they didnt want to be in his band anymore. Like dude, no wander his brothers thought he was still stuck on the perfect family harmony and wanted nothing more than go back to being their boss...

Anyways, writing my bruce and branch fic was been great! Im totally not crying and extemely emotional over the hyphotetical emotions of a bunch of 6 inch tall cartoon creatures. At least I got a excuse to write mom lore before Spruce and John give their last show's fight a run for its money.

I do, especially the fact that Branch likely doesn't have a lot of memories of his brothers not related to the band :)

Don't mind that smiley face, I'm not doin' nothin :)

Anyway yeah it's extremely sad that Branch was still in diapers and he was performing. Despite the fact that he only did that one live show, he was clearly in the public eye enough/involved in music making as he was on their albums and had a boyband persona long enough to have done the whole perm/frosted tips/attempt to do both.

One thing I've seen some people do is say that there was likely external pressure as well and when you consider that the BroZone situation likely took place during the era of Trollstice you really gotta think. It can shatter DIAMONDS. What would it do to say... an iron cage and some stone buildings? Maybe it wasn't John Dory's main goal, but you've gotta admit a perfect family harmony would have likely been a turning point for trolls and it's possible that everyone at that show was sure they were about to witness the end of Trollstice.

The knowledge that me and my siblings could hypothetically end countless deaths would have me acting up too.

[trolls-poppy-specialist]

broppy kiss analysis (or, well, just me screaming into my laptop for an entire forty seconds straight while i mentally and physically replay this scene)

it has come people. it has come

watch me quote almost every line in that near 40-second clip

"so? how you feeling?" poppy gurl is just concerned for branch it's just RIDNGRSIHGNRSUIDGBEWGEOIWEWGFEHUI

and then branch just gives a whirlwind of feelings (HE OPENED UP HE OPENED UP HE OPENED UP WHY AM I THINKING ABOUT THE FORESHADOWING IN THE BEGINNING), and he looks SO SMITTEN. dude just be like 'i wont hide the fact that im smitten with the queen of pop and the mount rageons will know it'

"whoa! tmi! boundaries, my man; that's a lot of feelings!" girl the hands up just won me over. and BRANCH MY MAN THE LOOK U GAVE HER I SWEAR IM GONNA ROLL OVER AND SOB AND SQUEAL. AND THE WAY SHE REFERS TO HIM AS 'MY MAN' WAAAHHHH AND THE LOOKS THEY'RE SHOOTING EACH OTHER OH MY GOSH

the laugh. the laugh. the laugh. DUDE SOUNDS SO HOPELESSLY IN LOVE, and tbh their voices mix really well, just that his laugh drags on longer

THE KISS (DONT MIND MY CAPS LOL). THE PART I’VE BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO. OH GOSH THE WAY SHE JUST PULLS HIS VEST AND BRINGS HIM CLOSE FOR THE KISS RIOGHRGSNIOFSIFANIODSANIODF AAAAAAAAAA. AND THE WAY HE LOOKS SO INTO IT LIKE I MEAN I PERSONALLY PERCEIVED IT AS A FIRST LIP KISS IF IT IS IM GONNA CRY AT HOW THEYRE SO IN SYNC (WOW BOYBAND PUN HERE)

AND POPPY LOOKS LIKE SHES SMILING IN THE KISS OH MY GUH-

NO WAIT BOTH OF THEM ARE

AND THEN HE HOLDS HER HANDS WAAAH IM SQUEALING EVEN HARDER NOW

ON THE MOUNT RAGEOUS SCREEN THEY LOOK LIKE THEY'RE SUBTLY SHIFTING AND THE MOUNT RAGEONS JUST CHEERING OH MY GOSH THEY SHIP BROPPY

THAT GIRL IN THE CENTRE WHOS JUST LIKE AWWW AND EVERYONE ELSE WHOS CLAPPING I HONOUR YALL

BRUCE AND CLAY FIST-BUMPING OR SOME SECRET HANDSHAKE AND SMILING AT THE TWO

AND JD AND FLOYD. FLOYD IS LITERALLY SHEDDING A TEAR (OF HAPPINESS? i don't know tbh) AND JD JUST PUTS HIS HAND ON HIS SHOULDER LIKE 'OKAY WE HAVE A COMMON TOPIC: BRANCH'S GIRLFRIEND'

GUYS BE PROUD BROZONE'S YOUNGEST MEMBER IS DATING THE QUEEN OF POP AND IS SHARING A KISS WITH HER ON SCREEN WITH EVERYONE WATCHING

AND THEY'RE ALL SMILING

RHONDA. OH, RHONDA. SHE JUST WENT WOOHOO AND LIKE MADE HER SOUND EVERYONE IS CELEBRATING

AND IN THAT SHOT BEFORE THEY PULL AWAY BRANCH IS SMILING AND POPPY IS IN DEEP AND WHEN THEY PULL AWAY IT'S JUST SO ADORABLE

anyways that's all for my rant

side note? branch looks cute with braids (he looks like some cute little girl). thank you viva for the wonderful hair-braiding skill :))

[huaiian]

I'm going to write my feelings down below and basically just get everything off my chest:

Grief is such a weird thing nowadays. Because celebrities have passed and it had hurt. I remember hearing Cory Monteith had passed away and I was shocked.

But this feeling is something so different, it's actually jarring. One Direction became a boyband and started creating music together at a time where social media was just entering into people's lives and where young people could consume more content involving their favorite celebrities then ever before.

What's funny to me is that so many people now are almost desensitized to this type of stuff now when a celebrity passes away. However, this was different because I watched him grow along with me. He was only 5 years older than me, but it felt like we both were maturing and understanding the world at the same time.

And with this social media surgence, they also showed and talked and disclosed things about themselves that they probably wouldn't do now if given the chance to start over. The naivety of what the internet was and what it mean to make a vine, make a post on instagram or twitter, it was all so new. It felt like we got to see them clearly and with that, the communities and friends made along the way were unforgettable.

I've seen a lot of people, specifically on Twitter, say that we shouldn't grieve or mourn because we didn't know him and, in recent light, he was not someone deserving of such thoughts and prayers.

To me, however, I'm not grieving the man that he had become. I'm grieving that 17 year old boy who laughed with his chest and had this infectious laugh that always had me giggling at my screen.

I'm mourning the fact that these boys helped me through every single horrible time in my adolescence, yet no one was able to help them once they reached stardom.

I'm mourning the fact that the man will never be afforded the opportunity of redemption. Of moving forward and healing, offering applogies that, while long overdue, could still be given without an expiration date.

I mourn because I'm empathetic of what he meant to others, not just myself. I did not know him but that is not the only reason to mourn someone. I don't mourn a deer in a field, but when I see one laying in the road, struck by oncoming traffic, my heart breaks. You do not need reasonable explanations to mourn when grief does not afford us the luxury to think clearly.

I'm crying on and off, sometimes about Liam, sometimes about the boys and their reactions to the news, sometimes about the new meaning this tragedy brings to certain lyrics. But never feel bad about experiencing your emotions. Life allows us to think and feel things that can be complicated, but that's the price we pay to be in this world. And I think Liam would be thankful for that we get to be here one more day for which he can't.

Sorry if some parts of this don't make too much sense, it's 1:28 AM and I had to write something down or else I wouldn't be able to sleep.

[alarrytale]

Today IG led me to an Elounor fan account, damn. And I couldn't stop scrolling through the comments and some were really funny like "Who's E..?" . But what I found really interesting were the expressions of love towards E. How great she is and how they miss her and just cry because they're not together anymore. I mean, maybe she's nice if you know her personally, I don't know. But did she ever interact with fans, did she have a message, did she stand up for something good, support something? Why are people so obsessed with her?

Hi, anon!

Fans are so obsessed with her because she was a blank slate that they could project their feelings and fantasies onto. She was conventionally beautiful and was Louis' arm candy. She was the ultimate boybander WAG. She could be whatever you like her to be. People wanted to be her and be in her position. So they exacted her clothes and made pinterest boards, bought her favourite Starbucks drink and gushed over her influencer friends. She got a fandom of her own.

E did nothing to warrant her fans other than being Louis' beard. She had nothing going for her and didn’t even manage to use her privileged positions and her millions of followers to carve herself a career. If she wasn't Louis' beard she'd be nowhere.

The only reason people are still obsessing over her is because they buy into the perfect fairytale couple narrative, and long back to a simpler and happier time in fandom. In reality, E is a fat-shaming tory, who was friendly with the people closeting H and L and made L insecure, and enjoyed pissing Harry off by parading around with Louis in front of him. Good riddance, i say.