#do I know any of the context behind it? nah

[whos-the-seme]

"You promised!" Shang Qinghua, despite his efforts, couldn't stop the gasping sobs. "You said you wouldn't leave me behind again! And then you died then and you're dying now and you promised!"

Shen Yuan reached for the other, fighting through the darkness and blurriness encroaching his vision. He managed to grasp his best friend's cheek, weak fingers brushing away the falling tears. "I'm sorry--"

"No! You don't get to be sorry," Shang Qinghua tried to sneer but his face crumpled instead. He didn't shake off Shen Yuan's hand. "This is the second time you're leaving. That's all you know how to do, isn't it? All you do is run away!"

"Qinghua--" Shen Yuan tried to say, but began to cough, hand falling away. The pain was unbearable and it was making it difficult to take in air. Shang Qinghua immediately reached out to steady him as Shen Yuan hacked out his lungs. In between each new flare of pain that swam along with every cough, Shen Yuan could make out the mumbles of his best friend.

"I didn't mean it, please, I didn't mean it, please not now, I didn't mean to say that, I'm sorry, please, please..."

This was familiar. The pain, the loss of breath, even his best friend beside him, keeping him upright. All that was missing was the hospital bed and the frantic beeping of machines. No nurses coming to save his ass now in this forest.

Shen Yuan briefly lost consciousness and when he came back to himself, vision clearing a little, he found Shang Qinghua holding his wrist, pouring more qi into him. As if they hadn't already discovered that qi transfers didn't work when the thing taking all of his was the poison of a Soul-Sucking Bewildered-beest. Shang Qinghua could've tried to get him back to the sect but Shen Qingqiu would have been long drained of qi and, most importantly, dead by then. He couldn't fly and transfer qi at the same time.

It only prolonged the inevitable.

"S-stop," he said, weakly pushing at Shang Qinghua's hand. The other ignored him. "You're gonna d-drain yourself. And then you won't be able to get back at all."

"I don't care," Shang Qinghua said. Shen Yuan wondered how long he had lost consciousness for, as the tear tracks on Shang Qinghua's face were now mostly dry. "You promised."

"I know," Shen Yuan didn't apologize again. "But you know it's not gonna work. And I'd rather you return, at least." He could feel his eyelids getting heavy.

Shang Qinghua let go of him only to throw up his hands in anger. Fresh tears were starting to spill down his cheeks again. "So what? I just leave you here to die without even trying?" He balled up his fists. "Typical. You always think that your actions won't affect other people."

Shen Yuan got the sense that Shang Qinghua was referring to something else, but his mind was starting to get too muddy to think of what. Breathing was getting a little harder. A lot harder.

"Qinghua. A-Hua, please listen to me. C-could you come kneel down next to me? Right here." He waited until Shang Qinghua lowered himself a bit, still frowning, before gently placing his forehead against the other peak lord's. "Listen to me, okay? I know I broke my promise again. But you've found me before and I trust you'll find me again." He said between gasps of air.

"A-Yuan--"

"We've met again and again... and we'll keep meeting. I k-know it." Gasp. Cough. "Beyond all ideas of... right and wrong, there's a field." Vision dimming. Grasp slackening. "I'll be... waiting for you... there."

"A-Yuan?"

"..."

"A-Yuan!?"

"..."

A wail broke through the serenity of the forest.

[holnnetd]

Catfisher!König Part 1

Warning: Suggestive content, mentions of pornography, misogyny, low-key incel behaviour, please be 18 or older if you read this!

Basically college loser!König cat fishing reader for some nudes.

In my defence, I was reading something about a cat shifter, but with my dyslexic ass brain I read catfish, and now it can't get out of my head.

This is the first part, explaining the context a little, to get into the juicy part go to part 3 (Nah I lied to you, part 3 has no smut, I changed my mind it will come in part 4)😊.

This is only fiction, please remember.

Teen!König is an absolute nerd, going to collage just because mommy said that would make her proud. She would only agree to let him join the army after he graduates, of course. Does it matter that he's an adult and doesn't have to listen to his mother's wishes? Absolutely not, he's a mamas boy. And if she wishes he goes to collage, he will.

But sadly for him, school is merciless. In military you have some kind of camaraderie, but collage? Hah, nom..

If you think people grow out of being assholes, you are only half right.

Do guys make fun of him because he's socially awkward? No, they do make fun of him for never getting laid though. It's not like he has a reason to be celibate, no religious background or not any other reason.

He just gets no cunt. Easy. Fucking virgin.

But he does have friends! Or that's what they call themselves!

Do they make demeaning comments about him and straight up just make fun of him in every way possible? Yeah, but that's how boys are. Right?

Not that it matters, he doesn't care about a group of boys bullying him. It's the girls in his classes.

Fuck, those are merciless. Or so he says. Of course a pretty girl with decent grades only gets it through sleeping, he says, fully believing his weird incel like comment.

And every time a conventionally attractive girl looks at him wrong, he's on and about how he doesn't need a lady in his life. He's better off on his own. Yeah König, go sleep with your mom when you're at it.

Tsk.

And there is you. Yes, long introduction, I know. I had to build up the climax (haha)

A gorgeous, overly feminine, hot, confident woman. Ugh, he gets hard when you walk by and he gets a whiff of that smell.

And his bestest of asshole fuckboy friends, seem to take a notice in his little crush, not that he would say it out loud, but he looks like he jacked off to you at least thrice this week.

"Eh, you like?" That one loudest guy ask, jabbing his elbow into Königs side as their gases follows your ass.

König grunts out a noise, probably confirmation.

"Fucking sucks you're ugly." He snickers and that ass kissing fucker behind him laughs too, trying to get closer to that guy's fucking asshole. Tsk.

König rolls his eyes, giving him a dismissive side eye. "Don't you have a girlfriend to fuck, Rody? I'm sure she has been complaining about your bed performance to her friends lately." He scoffs back.

Rody chuckles and shakes his head. "Don't matter. She doesn't know what's fucking good for her." He hums and that boot licker agrees, making some degenerate comment.

Both König and Rody shoot him an annoyed look. No one stands this guy but he refuses to leave their side. A thorn dressed as a leaf, really.

"But if you're that desperate to get something from her, just text her from a fake account. I assure you she won't answer the profile you're stalking her with." He huffs and König scoffs in annoyance. "Why are you so invested in my account activity, Bruder?"

But later that night, in a desperate attempt to get off he started browsing for some good old porn, hoping to get his sickly horny mind off of your body, but not one of those overly erotic videos seems to be getting him off.

Browsing through the categories didn't do shit to him. Solo female? Too old, too old, too plastic, too small toy, too loud and this one doesn't look of age, nope. Absolutely not.

That's not it.

But staring at those he did get an idea, getting crafty after his super friendly asshole friend inspired him.

..., Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

[roseykat]

KINKTOBER DAY 2 - CHANGBIN

Title: These hands were made for you

PAIRING: Changbin x reader

SUMMARY: Changbin agrees for you to give him a massage to relieve some of his back pain, but isn’t prepared for the physical reaction he has to your touch. For context, the reader is part of the management team!

WARNING: minors DNI with this post or my blog. I create NSFW SKZ related content and I know I won't be able to regulate/monitor every single potential interaction with these posts so please do not engage with my work and page whatsoever. 

TAGS: hands-free orgasm, massages, swearing, hint of body worshipping if you squint.

KINK: erotic massage

KINKTOBER - MASTERLIST

Thinking Changbin was awake happened to be a mistaken thought, especially after you had been standing at the door of his hotel room for the past few minutes, knocking at it. Even calling and texting him didn’t help. In saying that, it was late and you had to give him the benefit of the doubt; he had played a show not too long ago, had been complaining of muscle pain, and was most likely really tired. 

But so were you.

Having waited over an hour at the airport trying to track some of Changbin’s lost luggage during their performance. A while after that, both of his items had been located and it was your task to return them to him. 

For a few spare seconds, you thought it would be wise to just wait until the morning since you were convinced that he was asleep. But it wasn’t until you heard some rustling and footsteps behind the door right before it opened.

“Oh,” Changbin rubs his drowsy eyes. “Sorry, I swear I was up and then I closed my eyes and drifted off.” 

It was easy to tell by his bed hair, the way that his natural curls were starting to peek through, “no it’s okay, you must be tired.”

“You have no idea,” he replies and looks at both bags of his luggage that you had been rolling with you since you got back. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! Where were they?”

He takes one off of you while you roll the other one into his room, “they were at a different luggage pick-up. But we already rang the airport to say that they were missing and then it took them an hour to track them. Anyway, did you go to see the physio in the meantime?"

About a few hours ago after the concert had finished, Changbin was complaining about how sore he was after the gym. It’s common for him to feel that way since he practically lives in that space. Only this time around, he might’ve pushed himself a bit too hard - that and during the concert. 

“Nah,” he brushes it off as the door closes behind you both. “I can’t see any of them until tomorrow.” 

“Do you think you’re injured maybe?” You ask concernedly. 

Changbin huffs, “I’m not injured! I’m only sore and my muscles hurt like hell. Plus I always warmup and cool down properly.” 

“Okay then, where are you sore?” You question again. 

“Mainly my back,” he answers and goes to sit down on the edge of the bed. 

“Upper or lower?” 

“My upper,” Changbin confirms and tilts his head, looking at you. “I didn’t realise you were so concerned about me.” 

Your eyes narrow at him, “not in the way that you might think.”

“Sure, sure,” he chuckles lightheartedly. “Anyway, if you’re going to ask me so many questions about my injury, you wouldn’t happen to be a physiotherapist right?” 

“So you are injured.”

“That’s not what I meant,” he corrects. “I'm just sore, and I need a good night's sleep.” 

“Well, if you want me to I suppose,” you say, ignoring his tone of voice. 

“Wait...” He asks in disbelief. “Really?” 

“I did a year in physio at college so I know a few things,” you answer, placing your own bag on the lowered counter where luggage is usually stored in the room. “I’m not a licensed one though.”

Changbin ponders; he has no way of getting in to see their physio at this point in time. Even just a massage would be some relief to him. 

Whilst you aren’t professional in either of those fields, you didn’t study it for nothing. You know the functions of the body and muscles inside out. You know what happens to them when they’re under stress, torn, or strained. But also the remedies which can help repair them. 

“Okay then, if you’re able to,” Changbin agrees. “Where do you want me?”

“The bed, so take your shirt off and lie on your stomach,” you instruct. 

Changbin side-eyes you, “a date would be nice first,” he says even though he’s taking his shirt off in a rush.

You roll your eyes and take a small kit out of your bag. It’s stocked with the essentials; plasters, KT tape, scissors, cold spray - usually for Minho if his shoulder is playing up - nail clippers, all of which you have just in case.

These boys are constantly on the go and are prone to getting injured. So even though it’s not your job, you still keep things handy when there aren’t any left. But also because they end up asking you anyway whenever you're around. Spontaneous massages aren’t on that list though, but there's always a first for everything.

By that point, Changbin had stripped himself of his t-shirt, placed it to his side and lay face down on the bed. There were a couple of silent seconds of you preparing what you needed but also admiring Changbin’s body. 

His back and shoulders are broad but especially taut, you’ve seen them before when he walks around the dressing room with his top half stripped of any fabric. But you’ve never seen nor felt it - not that you would in that type of way. 

In saying that, you start by taking the small tub of deep heat, unscrewing the cap, and scooping some of the product onto your hand and setting the tub aside. Your first point of contact with Changbin’s back makes him jolt. 

“Sorry,” he mutters, turning his head on the pillow.

“It’s fine. I’m gonna start now okay?” 

“Got it,” he says. 

You dollop a little bit more of the deep heat onto Changbin before spreading it and working it in until his skin absorbs it. He’s smooth to the touch. Your hands glide over every glorious muscle.

It doesn’t really sink in that you’re doing this until Changbin hums, sounding like he’s in relief. Within a few moments, he feels like his back is pressed up against a heater. His skin is hot and burning slightly, but that’s the whole purpose of the deep heat. It’s to soften the bunched muscles in his back, making it easier to knead and roll them out like dough.

However, given the state this part of his body is in, you can already make an observation on how tense his muscles are under your hands. 

“You’re tight,” you feel as he rubs into a spot just above his right shoulder blade. “When did you say was the last time you went to physio?”

Changbin’s face flushes, he can feel the heat rising to his cheeks as if you put the deep heat on his face. 

“I-I didn’t,” he responds, trying to relax. “But I haven’t been at all so far.”

You pause, “we have three physios and a sports massage therapist for a reason. You can’t tell me that you haven’t been to see one of them so far.”

“Some of the others are seeing them shortly and I didn’t wanna wait that long,” he argues. You use the thumb and the pad of your index finger to dig and narrowly drag down Changbin’s spine, making him contort to the left slightly.

“I’ve still been able to take care of myself after shows and whatnot. Ice baths and stuff like that, so I haven’t had any injuries so far," he adds.

“You don’t just take ice baths though, do you?” You ask, digging for more information to see if he really has been taking care of himself. 

“Yeah, cold showers too,” he adds to his list. 

“Heat is also good for your muscles, you know that right?”

“Not as good as cold techniques,” he says. “Right?” 

“Depends on when you need it,” You point out. “You're a gym rat. I thought you already knew all of this information about taking care of your body-"

“Ah-” 

Your hands still for a second from his reaction, “hurts?” 

Changbin nods before his eyes flash open when you press your thumb deeper into the same spot. He lets out a yelp, his arms coming up to the sides of his shoulders, getting ready to prop himself up. 

“Yeah - yes, that really hurts, fuck,” he groans. 

“If it hurts, it’s working,” you use the flat of your hand to push Changbin back down into the mattress. 

“That’s a very outdated saying,” he strains, trying to absorb the soreness before it eventually becomes bearable. 

It takes him a few moments to melt against your touch now that his back is slightly more relaxed and warmed up. He’s now more susceptible to sensitivity which for him, heightens your contact on him. He doesn’t exactly know why it feels good - strangely good. But Changbin doesn’t complain. 

“Y/N…” he breathes out involunintarily.

You freeze on the spot, wondering if your ears deceived you for a second. Surely Changbin didn’t just moan out your name. All you’re doing is unravelling knots in his back. But even so, you were curious for a split second and when curiosity takes shape, there’s nothing you can do about it. So to test your theory, you take a little bit more deep heat, rubbing it between your fingers and massaging it slowly over the area. 

Changbin’s hands grip the sheets in response. He can’t control any of his reactions to the way your hands smooth over his back, or when the heel of your palm digs and drags nicely down his back. He doesn’t even want to think about where else good he feels.

“How does it feel now?” You test. 

His response is a strange, high pitched hum, but he does give a small nod. You try not to smirk even though it’s not like he’s able to see it. 

“I’m sorry,” Changbin swallows, almost panting. “It's just...you touching me.”

“Do you want me to stop?” You ask him.

“No!” he exclaims too quickly. “I mean, only if you want to. I’m okay with it, just…tender.” 

You’re thankful that Changbin can’t see you blushing with embarrassment. You don’t know why you reacted that way but the more you massage his back, the more you forget about the moment. Changbin on the other hand begins to panic when he recognises that he’s actually horny. 

Over the minutes gone by, his cock starts slowly filling out between his legs. It’s an awkward position to be hard and lie down at the same time. Either way, nothing is stopping it from happening and certainly not your hands. The heat, the cream, your touch, the wet, sticky sounds that it’s making, makes him think things that have crossed the border of ‘appropriate’. 

“Are you okay? You seem like you’re struggling a bit,” you witness his shoulder blades start to cinch together.

“Fine,” Changbin turns his face into the pillow. “It’s sore but…it feels good.”

You look down at his hands and see him gripping the sheets again. From any physiotherapist’s point of view, Changbin might just be expressing that this hurts. That you’re really relieving the stress and tension built up in his back. 

“Fuck, Y/N,” he mumbles. 

But from your point of view, you can tell that he’s actually enjoying this more than he should be. You mentally scold yourself for jumping to that conclusion, because in what world does someone get off from having their back rubbed? It might be this world because when you realise that Changbin is making small, almost unnoticeable thrusts with his hips, he can’t help but want to speak his mind.

Usually, massages, erotic ones at least, are accompanied by other forms of actions, at least that's what you thought before Changbin started to become visibly flustered

“Changbin,” you say as he takes his tone as a warning.

His eyes flash open, knowing what he’s just done, what he couldn’t help but do, “fuck. S-Sorry, I didn’t expect…”

Didn’t expect what? Changbin doesn’t even know what the rest of his unfinished question means and he obviously doesn’t know the answer. Flustered as hell, he cannot seem to rack his brain for a lie. Even if he did, you would be able to see right through it. 

“Again, it’s just someone touching me...” he mutters aloud what he's feeling.

You pause, “are you sure you don't want me to stop? If not, I’d like to get these last few knots out of your back.”

Changbin knows that this situation could go one of three ways. If he lets you continue to massage him, he will definitely cum. The bonus there is that his back will feel better and also his dick.

But if he asks you to stop, it'll be awkward as hell having to deal with the fact that he’s fully hard. The downside is that there are still knots in his back, and he won’t get to sleep, which ultimately means he'll be in a terrible mood.

The other way is that there is an unlikely small chance that he won't cum. His body might be overly excited right now, but it could pass. There's a 99% chance that he might have time to get soft. But with the way that you're both going, he knows it probably won't happen.

“I…I don’t know,” Changbin replies, clearly confused. “It’s been a while since…someone touched me-“

“That’s okay,” you dismiss his babbling. “It’s not unusual.”

He swallows, bewildered, “it’s not?”

“No,” you assure him. 

At this point, you would stop but for some...fucked up reason, you want to keep going. You really want to see how this ends. You’ve never been someone who half asses things, so how is this any different? Plus it’s technically your fault after making Changbin unintentionally horny. At least that’s the state he’s currently in to your knowledge. 

But you’re okay with that if he is. 

“Wanting contact with other human beings isn’t abnormal Binnie. You’re obviously just a bit touch-deprived.”

“T-That’s a thing?” He asks, turning his head to try and look at you. But you smooth your palm up his spine, massaging into the divots until he reaches the base of his neck so that he can relax and not focus so much on you. 

“There’s this theory that we all need human contact. Not sexually per se, but mundane things like hugs, holding hands and all that,” you start explaining. 

“I guess that makes sense,” Changbin responds, then tries to suppress a grunt when you start gliding lower to his tailbone again.

You’re working the area just under his shoulder blade which at the moment seems to be the most sensitive. That and his dick - indirectly. Changbin is too embarrassed to think about the fact that you can read him far too easily. Either that or he’s just being extremely obvious, which he is. 

“Even just social interaction at times. Studies show that there’s a link between loneliness and touch deprivation,” you add.

He can’t even believe he’s having this conversation with you. At the very most, he can’t believe that your hands are on him and making him feel certain things that are beyond his control. 

“R-Really?” Changbin jolts when you begin kneading his back again, like every cell in his body is on edge. 

“With these interactions, it can release a neurochemical in the brain called oxytocin which is responsible for good feelings…”

Neurochemical...oxytocin….Changbin appreciates the science talk and in fact, it’s strangely hot to hear it come out of your mouth. But he cannot focus on what he’s saying at all, because his dick is achingly hard and there’s nothing he can do about it.

“Fuck…” Changbin swallows harshly. “Touch me, please.”

“I believe I am touching you,” you respond coldly. 

He doesn’t even know if your words were teasing or not. He just wants to relieve the throbbing ache in his dick when all he can do is make small thrusting movements. It’s not until you use the pads of his thumbs to press into a few points in his tailbone. It feels good in terms of the pain he had in his back, but now he can’t thrust against the mattress anymore. Not yet at least. 

Changbin whines when you slowly release the pressure of his touch.

“You have a nice back,” you comment, then gently scratch down it with your fingernails, not enough to hurt him, but it definitely makes the deep heat feel hotter. 

“Oh my god m’gonna cum,” Changbin exclaims out in a choked, rushed voice. His words instantly confirm your thoughts, so you continue to slowly rub down his back to his tailbone again. “Please..."

“It’s okay, you can come,” with the heel of your palm once more, you knead just under his shoulder blade, enough to make Changbin keen to the side. 

His eyes snap shut before he’s dipped into pleasure. He goes silent for a few seconds, still making tiny movements, almost as if he were trying to fuck someone into the mattress. For him, it’s an odd sensation because his cock had been completely untouched and neglected. 

Breathing heavily, Changbin slowly opens his eyes when the realisation dawns on him. He spends the first ten seconds of his comedown trying to figure out where he is. Your soothing hands slowly and gently rubbing up his back reorients him. The heat that the cream provided is now turning into a cooling sensation, added in with your touch. It feels good, and even better now that his muscles are at ease. 

“Feel better?”

“H-Heaps,” he swallows, now feeling like someone tipped a bucket of ice water on top of his head.  

“Good,” you smile to yourself, content with that outcome. “You should probably clean yourself up then.” 

-

A/N: thank you everyone for your patience. The last half of this week was so busy for me, so I’m back writing and catching up the works x

TAGLIST: @kbitties @luneskies @mal-lunar-28 @kibs-and-bits @aaasia111 @fairy-lixie @dreamingaboutjisung @lizzekat 🩷🩷🩷 (if I’ve forgotten anyone again, please let me know 🙃)

[rorydrawsandwrites]

what is the appeal of ribbun to you? genuinely trying to understand

It's like a fucked up little science experiment

...And now to attempt a serious answer:

For me to enjoy the romantic pairing between two characters beyond occasionally seeing fanart of it, finding it cute, and moving on with my life, there has to be some sort of a conflict in it. Opposing personalities in some way, issues the characters have with each other, issues the characters have with themselves that create issues between each other... also a secret fourth ingredient that I can't describe and is entirely subjective. Call it chemistry.

(For instance I see no romantic chemistry in Funnygummy. They're sweet, they'd make good friends, that's about it for me. I had a whole rant typed out here in a stroke of passion but since I don't want to be the one to judge someone else's comfort ship, I removed it. Plus I dig LollyDolly, so I realized I was starting to sound like a hypocrite.)

I get that canonically, realistically, Gangle might hate Jax. I wouldn't say the same the other way around (perhaps after the latest episode), because I figure Jax must usually enjoy having someone weak-willed to walk all over. He does tease Ragatha the most, the one who reacts with otherwise uncharacteristic anger to his antics, which is plenty amusing, but press a little bit and Gangle folds. She's an easy, weepy target. (Which doesn't mean she never talks back, and I appreciate that.) Meanwhile Gangle in the first three episodes hadn't been getting that much attention from the rest of the cast. Initially it led me to believe that poor soft-spoken sadsack Gangle is for the most part ignored for her issues; they can't help her if her comedy mask is broken, so they just let her be. Thus she gets the most attention from Jax, and not the good kind, but you take what you get... I could see a toxic sort of attachment forming on both sides.

BUT. I don't particularly enjoy the ship when it's one-way abuse. Jax just tormenting Gangle ad nauseum, trotting past all her boundaries, bordering on noncon. Nah, I think she could be a bit unbearable too for karma's sake... and out comes episode four!! Yippee!!

Gangle is every bit the enthusiastic nightmare I was hoping her to be when she's in charge; I was waiting for her to get back at Jax in some way, and boy did she ever. I do prefer a sort of back-and-forth mutuality in my ships, not tipping the scales too far in one way, and anyhow Jax's harrassment of Gangle and lack of comeuppance in the beginning irked me regardless. My Puppeteer AU art I've been making since last summer was supposed to balance out what in the first couple episodes was one-sided torment; also I like fucked up women who are creepily intimate with their victims, so there's that.

(Funnily enough I didn't even ship it before I began drawing more for the AU and studying the two characters. I used to see the ship and think "oh, that's so toxic, I could never". Albeit the fact still hasn't changed that in the AU itself, Gangle's attachment is intended to be platonic.)

Now for taking the ship in a healthier context...

I like the idea of Jax toning himself down for the sake of a relationship, because he's finally realizing he'd rather catch cooties than die alone, and Gangle coming to terms with her abhorrent taste in men but biting the bullet anyway, because it's the circus and they're not exactly rife in options and also because she's a little bit of a freak. As well, arriving some time after one another and forced into proximity by the situation and Jax's pestering of her, they would've come to know each other pretty well. She can guess that there's a lot hiding behind the bunny's mask... which doesn't negate the harm done to her, though. In any case the making of amends would be in order.

If he could bite back his asshole comments for five minutes he might even find himself encouraged to open up a little by a partner who's so vulnerable and expressive of her feelings, however insecure she may be of them. And I also suspect Gangle could be more assertive in private than you'd expect... after all she's shown full capability of retaliating in canon now. I have faith that she could handle herself long-term, granted she develops some more (genuine) confidence.

On a slightly related note, it's unfortunate but interesting to me how much the confidence she does display is conditional. She needs physical objects, the masks, to hype her up, and yet all of what she says and does when wearing them is still coming from herself and only herself. The mask doesn't affect her, she simply adjusts her behavior in tandem with her current expectations. Which reminds me of those kids' cartoon episodes where the gained self-esteem and power the protagonist attributed to an object or keepsake was inside them all along.

These expectations can be a burden as well, and she's better off getting rid of the happy mask in the end. The lack of pressure to take charge can be reassuring if that's something you don't feel comfortable doing.

And when it comes to Jax, it may also be that she normally just... doesn't want to exert the energy to snap back at him. A constant battle with someone who insists on being an active dick to you but you can't get rid of sounds exhausting. It's easier to keep to yourself and go along with it, and as someone who also tends to take the easy way, I get that. Especially since it wouldn't even make a difference. It's not like she had any means of truly punishing him for his actions before being placed in a position of power during Fast Food Masquerade. (Good for her.)

In all my AUs where I am receptive to Ribbun, I make sure to level the playing field. Since it's hard to imagine Jax being much kinder, she should get to at least irritate him equally in return. She can be cringe and annoying and a handful too, as a treat.

Ultimately they're still gonna like each other, or else what's the point? But the clashing of their personalities adds a dash of spice to it.

Anyway this got long, maybe because the passive-aggression I've picked up from this anon message compelled me, intentional or not, to elaborate beyond the first sentence. I think it's the fact that I'm pretty sure I've seen a Ribbun shipper I follow questioned likewise almost word for word, I don't know how long ago, as if indulging in this ship is a uniquely baffling and suspicious activity that must be questioned. Regardless there you have my attempt at an explanation, a.k.a my slapdash pile of barely connected ideas.

(P.S it's not even my favorite ship involving either of these characters. But I've come to acknowledge it's got its own tasty flavor, toxic or not.)

[seospicybin]

TOO HOT TO HANDLE.

PART II

Lee Know x reader. (s)

Too Hot To Handle Masterlist

Synopsis: You and Lee Know become contestants in a reality dating show, Too Hot To Handle. (11,1k words)

Author's note: Happy reading and feel free to vent in my inbox after :)

Content warning: This is entirely a work of fiction and not affiliated with real Too Hot To Handle show.

MINHO: I'm a dancer. I sometimes model too. I have some moves [shows off dances] but I don't need any to get it on with someone. My face does all the work [smirks] I was born with it. Why? Are you jealous? [Lopsided grins]

-

Minho feels like hurling his pillow across the room when he hears that melodic chime.

"Good morning, everyone!"

He forces himself to wake up and sits on the bed, covering half of his face with the duvet. He doesn't want to look see you and gets reminded that you chose to sleep with someone else but it's hard when you're right there in front of him.

-

MINHO: If I didn't like her, I wouldn't be this upset.

-

"No one broke the rules last night, right?" Bryan asks, worrying so much about the money that he forgets about the lady sitting next to him.

Zara slumps down the bed and picks on her nails, she surely won't be answering him because nothing happened between them.

"I heard you guys," Agnes turns her head in your direction.

"Heard what?" You ask with an innocent smile.

Agnes flashes you a sly smile, "something was going on last night," she wildly guesses.

You scoff and break into a dry laugh, turning to Jack to make him answer it for you.

He clears his throat before calmly answering, "Nah, nothing happens."

Jack moves like a snake. It's only yesterday that he sneakily kissed two girls in one night, not afraid of going against two guys at once. One thing he learned is that a calm face of Jack could be a lie.

He can't listen to what Lana is saying when he's focused on seeing you playing with Jack's hair. He takes it that you're trying to make him jealous.

Well, if that's a game you want to play with him, just know that you're playing a tricky one.

-

MINHO: It would be a lie to say that I wouldn't be upset if she did break another rule with Jack. Am I going to tell her that? No.

-

Minho spends the morning doing his upper body workout with Jai. There's no gym equipment that he usually uses for his routine but he'll manage with some dumbbells.

"Who would have thought, huh?"

Was Minho too busy controlling his breathing to hear him talking or Jai just asked him something without giving him the context?

He drops the dumbbell and glances his way, "What were you saying?"

Jai also stops doing squats while holding a dumbbell between his legs, "Who would have thought that Jack is going to be our competitor?" He says as he's catching his breath.

Minho feels repulsed even at the mention of his name. He's not interested in giving an opinion on Jack but he only realized now that he's working out with another guy who went through the same thing with him.

"He's so slick," Jai says, then carefully puts down his dumbbell back in its place.

"Fucking dude got game," he adds.

That's what pissed him off too. He didn't expect that guy would ever dare to touch his ego but he did, Minho just won't admit it.

Minho picks a heavier dumbbell from the rack, "How are things with Agnes?"

Jai wipes the sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand, "I appreciated it that she was being honest to me about her feelings afterward but I—"

He catches his breath to continue talking, "I need to play it safe for now."

Minho nods and sits on the concrete to cool down with the help of the cool morning air blowing from the sea. Jai is following suit and takes off his top as his body is wet with sweat.

"What about last night though?" Jai asks back, leaning back with his hands propped behind him.

"It was tense, mate. Everyone was on the edge," he lightly chuckles while looking out at the beach.

To be honest, he shouldn't be asking this to him because it's you who chooses to sleep with someone else so Minho nonchalantly shrugs.

Jai scratches his chin, "Have you tried having another conversation with her?"

Minho shakes his head, "I need time," he concisely explains.

"You're not sure about her or... you're not sure about your feelings for her?"

That is such a profound question that Minho is frazzled, he doesn't know how to answer that. It's too early to say he has feelings but he does feel something.

"I miss her," Minho innocently admits.

He shakes the front of his sleeveless top to let the air in, "but the way she acts... I'm not okay with that."

Jai briefly looks at him and nods, "That's fair."

-

MINHO: I need time and see things through [shrugs]

-

Drops of water are dripping down his body as Minho walks back to the house after having a quick dip at the beach to wash the sweat from working out.

He doesn't expect to see you sitting by the pool with Jack swimming not far away from you, chatting.

"....the blue?" You ask.

"The color matches the sky," Jack says.

Minho believes he's complimenting the bikini you're wearing today, one piece with sky blue color and thin straps crisscrossing on the back.

"You too. You look good today," you compliment back.

"Oh, thank you," Jack answers, flashing a quick look at Minho as he walks past behind you.

His dislike grows more intense with the way Jack is toying with his ego and he hates it even more because you choose to be on his side.

Minho wishes that everyone just leave him alone but that is impossible because he's not the boss in this house. He puts on anything he packed with him, a black shirt and blue jeans.

The night hasn't started but it's worse already. When he walks into the bedroom, he sees you again with Jack on the bed, just talking with Agnes, Jai, and Luca from their beds.

Minho is about to turn on his feet and walk out until the cone in the middle of the room lights up and dings.

"Hello, everyone!"

"Yes, Lana!" Agnes lazily replies to her, dropping her head on Jai's shoulder.

"Please assemble in the cabana!"

Minho wastes no time but be the first to head there, telling Zara and Bryan whom he met on the way. It's certainly that time of the day when Lana is going to announce rule breaks.

Everyone takes a seat at the long sofa and Minho sits at the farthest end, away from you.

"Jack, did you dare some girls to kiss you today?" Luca jokes.

Jack only grins in response and Minho wishes he didn't care but God, his blood is boiling.

-

MINHO: If they did break a rule, then... there's nothing I can do anymore to save it.

-

Here comes the melodic chimes and Alia gasps next to him.

"I have some news," Lana announces.

Bryan takes a deep breath, then says, "Let's hear it!"

"Last night, there was an incident of sexual contact," Lana shares.

His eyes dart in your direction because the first thing that crosses his mind is that you did break a rule with Jack.

"Oh... who is it?" Alia quietly asks.

Everyone starts to assume that it's you as well since Agnes pointed it out this morning.

"We didn't rule break," you assure everyone.

Jack doesn't say anything but points at Lana, "You guys won't trust me anyway so I'll just let Lana speak," he coyly says.

Minho didn't do anything therefore he shouldn't be this anxious. However, Lana has been quiet for a moment, probably giving everyone a chance to confess anything.

He sees you taking a long, deep breath when Lana calls your name then Jack.

A part of him wishes he can get this thing over with so he can move on but another part of him wishes that it's not true. The latter part is bigger than the other, to be honest.

"They did..."

Minho silently holds his breath, nervous for what's to come. Starting over with someone new is not a bad thing but

"... not break any rules last night," Lana finally continues.

It's like he can finally breathe properly again and he glances your way, seeing you giving everyone the I-told-you-so smile.

-

MINHO: They didn't lose any money so yeah... [smiles] that's good.

-

"However," Lana suddenly adds.

"There was another incident that violated the rules."

Minho is still caught up on the previous announcement that he's unaware that someone else has broken the rules instead, not you.

"These things always come out so better fess up," Alia says, craning her neck to look around and scan for any guilty faces.

Minho catches Jai is quietly grinning and the last time he grinned, thousands of dollars lost from the prize fund.

"You're grinning," Minho points out.

"Jai..." Bryan calls him like a father who catches his children doing something bad.

"No, I'm good," Jai says with a crisp laugh and he may have covered his lie well.

Meanwhile, Agnes is uneasily rubbing her neck and sheepishly smiling at her lap.

"Agnes, you have something to say?" Zara asks.

Agnes can only keep her face straight for a second before it crumbles down, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry," she repeatedly apologizes.

Jai quickly does damage control, "It happened not long ago. In the shower. We got a bit carried," he butchered the sentences.

"Just tell us what you did!" Bryan impatiently says.

"I gave him a handy," Agnes shyly answers.

Minho can hear Alia groan next to him and everyone else mutters so many things at once but shows the same sheer disgust.

"This rule break has resulted in $8,000 being deducted from the prize fund."

What they did is selfish but Minho understands that Jai got that urge, he even shared with him earlier that his balls hurt so much that he needs a release.

An intrusive thought pops in his head and Minho's urge is to speak his intrusive thoughts out.

He looks at Jai and asks, "Did you finish though?"

"We were showering together and I just sort of touched it, then I realized that we shouldn't do it," Agnes answers for him.

"We lost money and you still have blue balls," Luca lays out the facts for everyone.

-

MINHO: That's the most expensive hand job I've ever heard and he didn't even climax [sniggers]

-

"The prize fund now stands at $150,000," Lana updates.

Bryan's eyes almost popped out of their sockets when he heard it. He rubs his chin and inhales air through his nostrils.

"We spent $50,000 in three days," he says.

It's scarier when he says it with a blank expression, it's his big posture that adds suspense to his words. Minho is smart enough to know to never pick a fight with him.

"There has been a total of eight rule breaks. Jai and Agnes have been responsible for half of these breaches," Lana continues.

"Wow!" Zara exclaims on behalf of everyone.

"Jai and Agnes," Lana calls.

Their faces turn tense at the mention of their names.

"To show me you are committed to the process. I am putting you both to the ultimate test."

Agnes covers her eyes as if that would help her to escape reality, "Oh my God!" She mutters, so full of worries.

"In order to pass, you need to demonstrate self-control and show you can form a real connection without breaking my rules."

"Oh, no!" Jack groans as he reclines on the sofa.

"Therefore, you will spend the night alone in the private suite."

Opposite to Agnes's distressed expression, Jai just can't stop grinning, it seems like he's going to enjoy having a room just for themselves.

"There's no way!" Bryan is so quick to judge that they will fail the test.

-

MINHO: Well, I'm with Bryan on this one.

-

"If you refrain from breaking the rules, I'll put $20,000 back in the prize fund," Lana adds as a form of encouragement for them to not break any rules.

Everyone is cheering but Minho still doubts that they will make it through the night without touching each other. They broke rules with everyone in the room so what makes everyone think that they will not break any rules when it's just the two of them in the room together?

"One more reason to not spend money!" Luca says.

Bryan leans forward and looks at them, "Just don't do anything. That's it!" He warns them.

Minho looks around and it seems like he's not the only one thinking that they'll spend money tonight.

"Jai and Agnes, please make your way to the private suite!" Lana orders.

"We will not do anything," Jai promises to everyone before turning around to leave, not forgetting to flash his sly grin.

-

MINHO: No [shakes head] I don't trust that grin.

-

The night is still long but with Lana sending Jai and Agnes to the private suite and probably would cost everyone more money than giving them back, everyone is too restless to enjoy the rest of the night.

Minho is enjoying the quiet and the faint sounds of the waves crashing from afar when he feels someone else sitting down next to him on the small sofa.

He turns his head to the side to see you're smiling at him.

"Hi, how are you?" You ask, shifting your body to the side to face him.

Minho smiles back at you, "good," he replies.

You put your legs up and fold them together, "I get why you're upset and I'm sorry," you say with a sincere apology.

You grab his hand resting along the headrest of the sofa and put his hand in yours, "but now you know that I don't like Jack that way. He doesn't get me excited but you do."

You lean in close but keep a safe space between your face, "You turn me on, not Jack."

Minho can't help but feel flattered to hear it. People get flirty with him all the time but he likes how you're forthright and open.

"Yeah?"

"Duh!" You answer with a dramatic eye roll.

-

MINHO: I'm glad she understands why I was so upset and I don't see why we can't move on from this.

-

Minho snickers at you and you slyly smile at him, "You don't need more time, you need to get back on the bed with me," you tell him.

Last night was weird, to be honest, Minho knows that Alia has something for him but she's not exactly sharing the bed with him by choice.

You put your leg over his leg, rubbing your heeled feet against his thigh, "Come on, don't you miss cuddling with me?" You ask with your eyes sparkling and your eyebrows downturn, a combination that works well to make him can't say no to it.

Minho nods with a suppressed smile on his face.

Your smile grows wider, "Tonight?"

He verbally answers it this time, "Yes."

The next thing he knows, you throw yourself at him and kiss his neck. You pull away to look at him and mewl, "I want to kiss you so much."

And he wants the same thing.

You probably think he doesn't care but oftentimes, he can't help himself but look at you, especially with you dressed so impeccably in a skin-tight dress that enhances every curve of your body.

"Why not?" He asks you since you didn't hesitate to kiss him the first time you broke a rule.

You make eyes to the cone perched on top of the small table, silently watching everything in the corner.

"How about we put her into a box and send her to the open sea?" Minho suggests a wild idea, sending you bursts into laughter.

-

MINHO: She's so hot. I just want to kiss her.

-

It seems like you already told Jack about the bed situation. Minho would love to evict him out of the bed himself but alas, he's already tucked in with Alia.

He throws the extra cushions to the floor and puffs each pillow to make it comfortable to sleep on. He must admit that it feels good to claim his place back.

Minho is listening to everyone chatting about random things from their respective beds when the door swings open and he sees you coming. You squeal as you jump right onto the bed next to him.

It's so cute seeing you excited for a simple thing like this, he gets the impression that you do like him more than he thinks you are.

You spread his arm out to rest your head on it and snuggle to his side, "Isn't it nice, mmh?"

Without looking at you, he replies with a hum, "mmh."

The hand resting on his chest moves to his neck, and then you slip it into his hair, gently brushing it between your fingers.

"At first, I thought this is your real hair color," your warm breath tickles his ear as you speak.

"Orange suits you well," you compliment with a sweet kiss on the cheek, then place another kiss on a different spot.

Mischievous, he turns his head to the side and offers you his lips next. You giggle and turn his head away, but he keeps turning his head at you with puckering lips.

"No more spending!" Bryan reminds everyone the second the lights are turned off.

You face the other way, probably to stop yourself from being tempted to rule break.

Minho has another idea, frankly, he has a lot of ideas but they're all against the rules. First, he puts his hand on your waist and pulls you close until your body molds against him.

He puts his hand across your chest and slowly puts his hand around your neck, turning your head to the side so he can look at your face.

He teases you by rubbing his lips on your jaw and softly places a kiss on the skin behind your ear. He presses his mouth close to your neck and stays there, drinking in your heavenly scent.

You catch up fast on his intention and lowly laugh, "We can't break another rule," you tell him.

That only makes him drag his lips back on your jaw again, there's not much you can do when he can angle your head with his hand around your neck.

You stifle a breath as his lips are hovering dangerously close to your lips, you hurriedly move your head away.

"Technically speaking, I'm only one rule break away from Lana sending us to the private suite," you explain.

He smirks with his lips against the side of your face, "even better!"

-

MINHO: The things I want to do to her in the private suite [smirks] I think we'd leave the retreat with a huge debt.

-

Lana chimes the first thing in the morning.

"Good morning, everyone!" She greets.

Minho refuses to wake up and pulls the duvet to cover his face. The day has barely started but he feels tired already, he believes it's because his mental has been perpetually put in tests in this retreat.

"The breakfast menu today includes toast and freshly squeezed juice."

You delightfully hum in response, "Sounds yum!"

"Served with a side of celibacy. Enjoy!" Lana adds a snide remark at the end.

"She got a bit of lip on her today, eh?" Jack says.

Which reminds Minho to look to the side and see you. He can't lie but he likes waking up next to you again. You hold his face as you place a soft peck on his cheek before lifting yourself to sit with your back against the headboard of the bed.

Minho scoots to you and puts his head on your lap, letting you play with his tousled hair.

"Who else thinks that Jai and Agnes messed up?" Luca asks while roughly brushing his hair to the back with his fingers.

Minho looks around to see Maisie is the first to raise her hand next to Luca, then Zara and Bryan. He looks straight ahead and sees that Jack also votes the same but you, you're just sitting on the bed with a blank expression on and your hand brushing his hair.

"Ugh, sorry, no faith," Alia comments with a sneering smile.

-

MINHO: I just hope that when they come back, I don't see Jai grinning from ear to ear.

-

In contrast to having no faith in them, everyone is cheering once they see Jai and Agnes entering the bedroom.

"They seem to be happy," you mutter.

Minho agrees because when he looks at the most spending couple in the retreat so far, he notices the slightly wicked grin plastered on Jai's face.

-

MINHO: Oh no, I see the grin.

-

"Do we get the $20,000 back? Yes or no?" Bryan wastes no time to ask the most important question.

They both sit at the end of their bed and all the eyes are directed toward them.

Instead of answering, Agnes boasts about the private suite.

"Incredible! There were flowers, champagne, a massive bed, condoms, and stuff. We took a bath—"

Bryan slightly shakes his head and presses his lips together into a thin smile.

"We don't care," Luca cuts through their small talk and tries again, "We want to know if we get the $20,000 back!"

Minho watches as Jai and Agnes exchange a look between them, probably deciding which one of them should break the news. It's too early to worry about money but he can't help but get as nervous as everyone else.

Agnes stifles a breath and apologizes, "I'm so sorry, you guys."

Then a smile blooms on her face, "but we won the 20 grand back! Yay!"

Maisie and Zara start bouncing on their beds but Luca once again decides to be the one to slice through everyone's happiness.

"I won't believe a thing until Lana confirms it," Luca states.

Everyone is back in panic mode and waits until the cone lights up, signifying her appearance.

"Jai and Agnes," Lana begins.

"Last night, you were able to spend time away from the group to get to know each other on a deeper level."

Everyone gives them a round of applause thinking that that's just it.

"However," Lana continues.

-

MINHO: I started to hate that word. However [mimics Lana]

-

Minho closes his eyes to brace himself for the worst outcomes.

"You still broke the rules last night," Lana announces.

The atmosphere turns dark despite the sunny weather outside can be seen outside the windows.

"What did you do, Agnes, babe?" You ask, your voice goes higher at the end of the sentence.

She aggressively shakes her head, "I swear to God we didn't do anything!"

Jai nods, "Nah, we didn't even kiss," he defends Agnes's remarks.

Minho's eyes are swinging side to side to see who's lying.

-

MINHO: But Lana can't be lying, right?

-

"There were incidents of excessive grinding and self-touching," Lana pulls out the receipts right away.

Agnes lets herself collapse onto the bed and repeatedly chants, "Nah, nah, nah, nah..."

You stop playing with Minho's hair and turn to look at Agnes, "You didn't plan on riding anything so why did you rev up your engine?"

Minho can't tell if you're upset or amused hearing your question but it looks hot to him nonetheless.

"These breaches have resulted in a deduction of $10,000."

Instead of getting some money back, Jai and Agnes cost everyone more money. Everyone was right to not trust them.

Agnes hugs Jai from the back and whines, "So sorry, you guys."

The grin on Jai's face has been replaced with tensed jaws and a big sigh coming out of his parted mouth.

"We woke up happy and we didn't think that we would have lost more money, so truly sorry," Jai emphasizes every word to show how sincere he is with what he's saying.

Since everyone has expected this though, they can't say anything else but try to move on with the day.

-

MINHO: The day has only just begun but we already lost ten grand.

-

It's not getting any easier for Minho.

He finds it getting harder to resist and not when he sees you walking around, looking hot and slyly smiling at him. Sometimes the temptation comes when he least expected it, he steps into the bathroom and finds you bending down against the sink as you fix your make-up.

The black bikini you're wearing today doesn't help either, it's so tiny, covering just the important bits. It's so obvious that you notice him right away.

"You can see as much as you want but you can't touch, sir," you tell him while you move on to the other eye and carefully wipe the excess makeup with a Q-tip.

There's nothing that can stop him from ogling over you. If anything, he so badly wanted to feel those beautiful curves of your ass with his own hands.

He refrained though, but decides to use the towel he's holding and slaps your ass with it.

"Harder," you tell him.

Laughing, he slaps you harder with the towel.

"Harder, come on, don't be shy!" You dare him, also laughing along with him.

-

MINHO: It's getting hard, not only figuratively but like... literally.

-

Lana gathers everyone in the cabana when it's usually time to get ready for the night.

She's not wasting time on greeting everyone first, "To further aid your further growth, you must learn to resist your urges."

"I don't like this," you immediately remark even though Lana hasn't announced anything yet.

"So, I am putting some of you to the test."

You glance at Minho and pout, resting your head on his shoulder after.

"I have arranged two dates," Lana announces.

A few coo in wonder and also, feel a little suspicious that Lana suddenly sending people on dates.

-

MINHO: [Shrugs] There's always a catch.

-

"Both with new arrivals."

Minho grins because he's right, there's always a catch. He catches you notice him and scrunches your nose.

"The first new arrival is... Esme!"

He can't know the look of someone just from her name but it's exciting for everyone because there hasn't been a new face for a while now.

"I have allowed the new arrivals to select who they want to ask out on their date."

Minho can feel that you're getting tense next to him. It's easy to tell that you're afraid this new girl is going to choose him. Even Minho himself is not that confident, so what should you worry about?

"Esme has chosen... Jai."

Minho darts his eyes at Jai and there's the grin again, "Are you happy?"

His question puts Jai in a predicament but that's why Minho enjoys it.

Jai scratches the back of his head and coyly answers, "It is what it is."

Just as expected, Minho knows that Jai would be more than happy for the chance to get on a date with another girl. He's off to a bad start already with Agnes frowning next to him.

-

MINHO: They failed the ultimate test and now they're being tested again by the new girl. Lana, you're evil but I like you.

-

"And date number two will be with Noah," Lana continues.

The gasp you let out is unmissable, he can hear the slight excitement in it. He doesn't want to be affected by it but the thought that you may get picked to get on a date quite irritates him.

"He is also allowed to choose his partner for the date."

Minho chooses not to care whether you get picked or not. He's going to be cool about either way.

"He has chosen..."

You sit up straighter and lean forward as if that would help you hear better.

"Zara."

-

MINHO: Oh okay, that was thrilling.

-

"Jai and Zara, you may now leave for your dates."

Everyone is weakly cheering and you gently slap at Zara's butt as she walks past you.

"Be good," you mutter to her.

You let out a sigh as you rest your head on his shoulder, "Look at Bryan," you whisper.

Minho can see the panic on his face, gritting his teeth with his jaws clenched like that. He lowly chuckles, "It's going to be hard for him."

You shake your head, "No, it's going to be hard for Zara to not break the rules."

-

MINHO: Let the game begin!

-

"I didn't think you'd genuinely be this jealous," you say to Bryan who's sitting on the other sofa.

Minho has been watching him fidgeting in his seat and it's making him nervous too.

"I genuinely am," Bryan shortly replies.

"Now, it feels real, huh?" Minho says, pouring salt over his wound instead of trying to soothe it.

"I care about her," Bryan fussing like a toddler.

"Then you should have shown her that," you excuse yourself to get more drinks after.

Maybe you feel the need to tell him that because you're close to Zara and maybe she's telling you things about their relationship.

It's not his place to say anything about their relationship, but everyone can see the problem here, Bryan hasn't been treating his girl well, he puts her second after the money.

"But she's right though," Minho adds his opinion.

Bryan clicks his tongue and then scoffs, "I'm trying not to be selfish here," he defends himself.

He sips his drink before continuing to talk, "I know."

He gets quiet for a while and thinks of something to say to lighten up the mood, "I think my girl cuddles your girl more than you," he jokingly says.

Bryan is cackling in his seat, "Oh, I think my girl cuddles your girl more than you," he says back to him.

Minho feels a little offended by that.

-

MINHO: I'm not big on showing affection. It's just... I don't know, weird?

-

Jai and Zara are finally back from their dates and that's good because if they had taken another hour, Minho would have fallen asleep on the lounger.

Jai brings the new girl to introduce her around to the girls. He refills his drink to refresh him and walks out to join everyone.

Minho is the last to be introduced to the new girl, Esme, she's beautiful, with long dark hair and plush lips.

"What's your name?" She asks, holding his hand in hers.

"Minho," he replies.

"I'm Esme," she introduces, not letting his hand go yet.

She stares at him long enough that he feels the need to snap her out of it, "Nice to know you," he says.

"Yeah, very nice," she says with a flirty smile.

-

MINHO: Lana knows how to stir things up, huh?

-

Esme gets swept away by the other boys, they're all sexually frustrated and more than excited to get to know the new girl.

Minho can't say the same with the other one.

Noah is tall and blonde which are two things he doesn't have. He's not saying his jealous and not sure if that's your type as well. Even if he is, Minho doesn't feel intimidated at all.

From what he sees though, he doesn't need to worry your head is turned at this British guy. You're sitting next to Zara and chatting with drinks in your hands.

Minho takes a seat in the space next to you, taking your glass to have a sip.

"What do you think of the new girl, Minho?" Zara suddenly asks him.

He swallows his drink first before answering, "She's good-looking, has beautiful eyes, and yeah, beautiful."

Zara nods and asks again, "Is she your type?"

"She looks a lot like my ex-girlfriend actually," Minho adds.

Zara snorts with her mouth deep in the glass.

"Oh, yeah, I wish my ex looked like her too," you add with a fed-up tone and take your drink back from him.

-

MINHO: I don't see what's wrong. I was just being honest.

-

The new arrivals sleep together on the newly installed bed in the bedroom and no one changes their bed partner so that's a good thing.

Minho can't wait to end the day as well, feeling tired from doing nothing but worrying about money that is not his or not yet his.

You comfortably tucked under the cover, taking a sip of water before lying down next to him. Sighing once your head hits the pillow.

Minho doesn't get to talk to you much the entire night and he kind of wishes to play a little with you.

You turn over, laying on your stomach with your head facing the other way. The silk camisole you're wearing looks good on you, he can't stop himself from feeling the fabric and touching your exposed skin while at it.

You turn your head at him and mumble, "I'm tired."

"Stay up with me a little longer," he says, pulling at the strap of your camisole and snapping it against your skin.

You kiss his cheek and say, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," he says back but you already turn your head away from him.

Why does it feel like he's done something wrong and it's your way of telling him to figure this out himself?

-

MINHO: I think with the new arrivals there's this change of dynamic and everyone is not ready for that.

-

Minho chooses to cool down with a quick dip in the swimming pool after working out today.

He has no swimming skill to show off whatsoever, he takes a few dives and lifts himself out of the water.

"Hey," Esme says, looking up at him with a smile.

He points at his towel, "You're sitting on my towel," he points out.

"Oh?" She gets up to pull it out under her and hands it to him.

"I hope you don't mind I'm keeping it warm for you."

Minho smiles at her and unfolds the towel to dry his body then his hair next.

"You have a nice body," Esme compliments.

"Thanks. You too," Minho compliments back out of courtesy but she seems to take that as some sort of his way to flirt with her.

"Do I?"

Well, Minho can't take back a compliment without hurting her feelings so he nods.

"Oh, wow, thank you!" She giggles in response.

Minho is about to leave when she asks him, "I heard you're a dancer. Is that right?"

He feels bad to always have to look down at her so he sits down, "I am."

"I am a dancer too," she says with eyes widening.

"Yeah?" Minho half-heartedly asks.

"I do ballroom dances," she further shares.

Living in the retreat and being locked out from the rest of the world reminds Minho of the things he's interested in besides dating.

Talking about something that he's so passionate about helps him to relive that excitement that he's not aware of how long he sits there talking with Esme.

"So... are your options still open or are you settled with your current partner?" Esme asks.

Of course, the talk will eventually lead to this and Minho is lucky because the talk has to be paused as all the girls get called for the workshop.

-

MINHO: Esme is great. She's nice and beautiful. I can't complain.

-

Something strange is happening.

Minho never felt this thing before because you're always there when he looks around. And now, not seeing you for most of the day feels doesn't right to him. You can't possibly out of the villa, you're just in a different part of this big place so there's no need for him to be this dramatic.

Jai catches Minho scoffing at himself, "What's that?"

"Nothing," Minho replies, shaking his head.

He decides to open a conversation with him to not let things get awkward, "How are things with Agnes?"

Jai scratches his nose before speaking, "She was mad jealous when I went on the date."

He wipes his wet hair to the back, "I usually jump ship whenever a new girl appears but I feel like I'm stuck with her," he explains.

"Stuck in a bad way or...?" Minho asks for a detailed answer.

Jai laughs and wipes the beads of water on his chest with a towel, "Like I can't like someone else but her."

Minho never feels that way with someone or maybe he hasn't found that someone, he's not that confident he'll ever find one. The sound of Agnes squealing surprises him as she jumps right onto Jai's lap, not caring that he's all wet from swimming.

Minho looks in the direction of the side gate to see if you have come back too. You walk back in behind Zara and he's sure you catch him looking at you, but instead of coming his way, you make a turn to the bedroom.

The day feels long but short at the same time.

Minho gets so confused about picking what he should wear for tonight that he raids Luca's locker to see if he can borrow something. The dressing room is packed because Lana is throwing a party to welcome the new arrivals even though it's a day late for that.

The girls are doing make-up while the boys are goofing around while trying on each other's clothes. He sees you quietly styling your hair at the far end of the vanity table.

"Oh, you're so flexible," Luca exclaims at someone.

Minho turns around to see Esme is showing everyone her grand battement.

"You do ballet too?" He asks her.

"Yeah, jazz," Esme answers as she fixes her dress.

"You're a dancer?" Bryan asks.

Esme nods as she picks up her shoes from the floor and in his peripheral vision, he sees you heading to the bathroom with your make-up bag. He follows you there, seeing you leaning in close to the mirror like you always do.

You don't say anything even though you see him walking into the bathroom and seeing him sitting on the edge of the tub, watching you putting on your contacts. The silence that hangs in the air is deafening and he needs to break it.

"Hey," he softly greets you.

You don't say anything for a moment but wash your hands under the running water.

"You still want to talk to me?" You finally talk after drying your hand with a towel.

"Didn't I just talk to you?" He says.

You turn to face him, leaning against the sink and crossing your arms together in front of you.

"I don't know maybe you prefer to talk to Esme," you tell him.

Oh, so this is all about. Minho gets it now why you've been so quiet and it's because you think something is going on between him and Esme.

"I only talked to her a little bit," Minho explains

"She's only been here for like what? A day? And you're giving her all of your attention," you tell him.

Perplexed, Minho jerks his head back and mutters, "What?"

You hold the edge of the sink and fiercely stare into his eyes, "I'm struggling to get you to make the same effort for me so yeah, I'm angry," you tell him.

One thing he learned is that overdoing things is always a disaster and Minho thinks he gives you just the right amount of attention.

"If you want to explore or keep your options open, that's fine, go ahead," you shove everything back into your pouch.

"But I can't do this," you say for the last time, then leave him in the bathroom.

-

MINHO: I don't know why I need to explain the reason why I talked to her when I am free to talk to anyone.

-

Minho isn't the only one getting confronted by his partner, Bryan got it worse with Zara putting an ultimatum on him.

"She wants me to break rule, man," Bryan grumbles and it's a funny thing to see him doing.

"It doesn't necessarily have to be something against the rules," Luca says.

Minho nods in agreement and he's surprised that Zara didn't drop him sooner. Bryan is too busy keeping everyone's hands in their pants and forgetting to treat his girl.

Bryan is so dense, refusing to admit that he's wrong for doing it because, for him, he's only doing the right thing.

"Damn! What did they do in the workshop?" Bryan loudly sighs.

It doesn't feel like a party when everyone is having mixed feelings about the night.

Once the music is blasting though, they throw their weariness away and start dancing. He sees that even you can't stop yourself from moving your body to the fast-paced song.

Just like always, Lana chimes in and abruptly stops the party from going wild.

Everyone is dragging themselves to the cabana, walking in heavy steps and mentally prepared for what she has to say.

"Unfortunately, I must inform you that..."

"Come on! Fess up!" Maisie says with an exhausted tone.

"What I'm observing is far from positive."

Zara groans then links her arm with yours, making Minho glance across the table to see you leaning on Jack's shoulder.

Everyone's eyes are aimed at Jai and Agnes, the biggest spending couple.

"I swear to you, I'm celibate," Jai convinces and with no grin on his face.

"So far, you have lost $60.000. You are taking this process for granted. It is clear I need to streamline the group."

-

MINHO: Lana, what have you done now? [Glares at camera]

-

"Two of you must leave the retreat tonight," Lana informs.

Minho automatically thinks of the things he's done wrong in the retreat and the possibility that he's one of the two is big. He looks at you and you slump down on the sofa with Jack putting his arm around you.

He wishes that he could hold you because this probably would be the last time he's able to.

"The first one to leave the retreat is... Alia."

Alia breaks into tears, looking so disappointed but she seems to have expected this. Agnes who's sitting next to her, hugs her for comfort.

-

MINHO: I think Alia isn't investing herself enough into the process and Lana sees that.

-

"The second person leaving is... Jack."

Everyone sees this one coming and that includes Jack. Minho can breathe now that he's still here and not being sent home tonight.

Jack has been treating this retreat like a playground but maybe that's because he's young, he doesn't think much about the repercussions of the things he did.

"It is now time for both of you to leave the retreat."

You kiss Jack on the cheek and hug him, Zara having no problems hugging both of you with her long arms.

Minho gets up to properly send them away with a friendly hug and a goodbye.

"I hope this is a lesson for the rest of you to take this process more seriously," Lana concludes.

-

MINHO: I'm very relieved to still be here. Guess I have to try a little bit harder.

-

Everyone wakes up still in loss of Jack and Alia, not expecting that their absence would leave the space this empty.

On the other hand, it makes Minho did a lot of thinking last night as he slept on the bed alone. He wants to do things right from now on but it's not easy to build connections, especially after you choose to sleep alone on the vacant bed.

Minho just wanted to be left alone for the day but that's impossible.

In the afternoon, Lana calls everyone to the cabana. The first thing everyone sees is the little gift boxes on the table.

"Are we getting gifts from Lana?" Maisie asks.

"It's about time we get some good news," Luca comments as he plops down the sofa next to her.

Jai squints his eyes as he stares at the box in front of him, "I don't know. Seems like a trap to me," he jokingly says.

There goes Lana's melodic chimes and everyone is collectively taking a breath to mentally prepare themselves for whatever she is going to share.

"Hello, everyone. I have a gift for each of you."

Minho hopes that whatever it is inside that box, he hopes it's something that encourages him to do good in the retreat.

-

MINHO: Some money would be good, Lana.

-

"The gift will serve as a reward to those couples who show me that they're taking the right steps towards deeper connections," Lana continues.

Couples. Minho gives up already because there's no way he can get any reward now that he doesn't have a partner in the retreat.

"They will be given the chance to take those connections further."

Jai gets impatient at the slightest mention that he can do some physical contact as a reward, "Can we open it, Lana?"

But everyone takes the gift without waiting for her answer and Minho takes his, opening it to find a smart watch inside.

"Oh, it's not a vibrator," you meekly say with a disappointed look on your face.

Minho smiles at your cute pout and quickly takes his watch out of the box to put it around his wrist, helping Bryan after as he has such a big wrist.

"When I observe two people forming a genuine connection, they will be given a green light like this..."

The watches chime and turn green at the same time. Agnes is cheering the loudest out of everyone.

"Where the rules do not apply for a limited amount of time," Lana further explains.

For a limited amount of time but at this point, Minho takes whatever he can get.

"I would like to remind you that those who do not receive a green light are not displaying enough process."

-

MINHO: Green light means you can fuck. No green light means you're fucked.

-

Minho is pessimistic that he'll get a green light.

For that to happen, he has to have a partner first. Even after he has a partner, there's no guarantee that he'll have that connection with that person.

The complications do not stop there, for a connection to form, he has to open up and share personal things with someone. He's been doing casual dating where he doesn't need to do all of that.

Lana wouldn't put that much money into a prize if it's easy to win it. Giving praises to each other wouldn't grant you a green light which is what Jai and Agnes are doing right now.

"Lana is a computer, she must have installed the latest high-tech BS detector," Minho tells them, sending them into waves of laughter.

-

MINHO: I have one person that I think I shared a connection with but she's... uh, I think she hates me now.

-

Minho watches as the couple grows and falls apart around him.

For tonight, another ship goes down as Zara switches Bryan with the new arrival, Noah.

He knows that it's only about time that Zara takes such a great measure to teach Bryan a thing or two.

However, Minho doesn't expect that he'll be collateral damage in all this.

Since Zara is sleeping with the new guy, leaving Esme bedless, and has to choose a different partner tonight.

The first option is Bryan but of course, she's not going to insert herself in the drama. The safest choice would be to share a bed with you but she senses that you're not that welcoming of her.

There's no way she's going to sleep on the sofa so Minho scoots to his usual side of the bed and lets her have the other side.

There's a big chance that you're going to think that he's happy to share a bed with Esme and that makes him stay awake the whole night thinking that you'll hate him more after tonight.

-

MINHO: Esme is a good bed partner but I don't think she's the one I can form a connection with.

-

It's not cocky.

Minho knows that he's attractive and girls like him, they get flirty with him. In conclusion, he knows when a girl is into him.

Esme has been too obvious. The first thing he saw this morning was the eyes and the smile she gave him.

Minho is sitting with half of his body soaked in the pool water when Esme jumps in and joins him.

"Hey," she sweetly greets.

Minho smiles and greets her back.

"So, how did you feel sharing a bed with me?" Her hands are floating around, making ripples on the water.

"It was nice," he answers.

She chuckles in response, "It'd be much nicer with some cuddles."

She fixes the straps of her bikini and continues talking, "How are things? Where's your head at the moment?"

Minho is a firm believer that honesty is the best policy but oftentimes, being honest leads him to hurt people rather than do them good.

At the same time, Minho shouldn't keep leading her on with false hope. He should be honest but do it gently.

"I was already with someone before you came and I know we're not on good terms right now..." he pauses as he has to filter his thoughts first before speaking them out.

"You're pretty and nice, but I owe it to her to try and see where this is going," he explains more.

Esme nods and her smile falters a little. It's not a thing that she can accept in a second. She needs time to process this.

"Yeah..." she meekly answers.

Minho takes this as a cue to give her the space, "I'll see you later?"

"Yes," she answers.

-

MINHO: Esme and I... I just don't see any chemistry there between us.

-

Lana starts the night early by throwing a party at the beach.

There's a bonfire, coolers full of bottled beers, and glasses of exotic-looking cocktails.

It helps Minho to relax after a nerve-wracking moment of rejecting a girl. It's a big deal because if he's out there, he wouldn't drop a beautiful girl like Esme like that.

Also, Minho knows best that when something good happens, he becomes suspicious that Lana will interrupt with a shocking announcement.

The only shocking this is the arrival of two new guests on a boat.

The music stops playing as the first guest walks down the stairs and jumps onto the water. A girl with long black hair and voluptuous body, and bright eyes that catches attention.

"Hi, hi," she greets everyone.

Jai looks too excited even though he's pretty much settled with Agnes, offering his hand to help her walk, "What's your name?"

"I'm Sofia," she says.

Luca elbows Minho on the side and foolishly grins, "She's hot," he quietly mutters.

Sofia proceeds to introduce herself to everyone with a quick hug and when it gets to his turn, Minho shakes her hand instead.

"Minho," he keeps his introduction short.

-

MINHO: The new girl is attractive. Very beautiful eyes.

-

The girls are cheering as the other guest jumps down the boat.

The new guy is tall and has abs that look like they were sculpted by God himself. He flashes everyone his bright, white smile and steps into the party.

"Hey, I'm Kane," he introduces, not wasting time eyeing the girls.

Minho catches that his eyes stay a second longer on you than on everyone else. He drains his bottle of beer empty and quickly grabs another.

They get comfortable as the party continues and questions get thrown around at them as the sun sinks lower into the horizon.

"So, what's your type?" Maisie asks the new guy.

"I'm getting a lot of eyes right now," he says with a sheepish smile.

Minho turns to look and you are one of the girls giving him the eyes right now, tugging a straw between your teeth and waiting in anticipation for his answer.

"I like a girl with a nice body and a beautiful smile," he says, sneaking a few glances at you as he speaks.

You turn to whisper at Agnes and he can read your lips saying, "He's cute."

He scoffs because it takes you one cute guy and barely an hour to change your mind.

-

MINHO: No. I don't feel intimidated at all. [Nonchalantly shrugs]

-

The problem with starting the night early is that it's going to be a long one.

Minho changes his clothes, styling his hair quickly and he doesn't feel like talking to anyone but Bryan drags him to accompany him talking to the new girl.

He's not sure that Bryan is making a good choice right now.

"We're just going to talk to her, nothing else," Bryan says.

Minho sighs and sits down on the sofa on the terrace, "Yeah but you're giving the impression that you don't care about Zara anymore," he bluntly tells him.

The smile vanishes in a second and Bryan trudges away to talk to the new girl by himself.

That's good because Minho feels like he wants to spend the rest of the night alone. Luca decides to break his serenity by sitting on the other sofa.

"You're not talking to the new girl?" He asks.

Minho reclines on the sofa and shakes his head.

There's a sound of laughter coming from the bedroom and from the window he sees you talking to the new guy. He doesn't want to care but... he cares.

Luca seems to pick it up right away, "I know you're trying to play it cool and act like it doesn't bother you," he says.

"But you have everything you need and the chance to make things better," Luca pauses to sip his drink.

"It's all up to you."

Minho is feeling so called out and the one who's doing it is Luca. He seems to be more mature than his actual age but he respects him for saying things that not many people would dare to say to him.

"Do you think she likes him?" Minho asks as he leers to see you laugh.

"Why don't you ask her?" Luca simply asks him back.

Minho doesn't know why he waits around for you when he's been the one acting so selfishly, talking to another girl like it's not going to affect you.

He gets it now, the taste of his own medicine.

-

MINHO: Yeah, okay, I get it now.

-

It's so hard to get some alone time with you, it's even harder with two new guests in the house.

He quietly watches you as you wipe your make-up clean in the dressing room and you'll eventually go to the bathroom to wash your face.

Minho changes into his comfortable clothes and goes to the bathroom half-naked, knowing that you'll be there.

"Having a good night?" He casually asks as he's using the other sink next to you.

You stay quiet as you wash your toothbrush under the running water, "Sofia is hot. Why don't you have a good night with her?"

Minho finds your passive-aggressive endearing instead of annoying. He quietly smiles as he takes his toiletry bag from the drawer.

"Do you like the new guy?" He asks.

You take a hairbrush from your toiletry bag, "I do like him."

"Yeah, he's cute," Minho half-heartedly comments.

He puts a dollop of toothpaste on his toothbrush and then shrugs, "I'm happy for you."

You burst into laughter and strongly accuse him, "No, you're lying!"

Minho starts brushing his teeth and skips on denying your accusation. He sees that you're still chuckling from the reflection in the mirror.

You put your hairbrush down and get in front of him, putting your arms around his waist.

"You should stop running away from me," you tell him while looking into his eyes.

"I started to get tired of chasing you," you mumble and rest your head on his chest.

Minho misses this. He stops brushing his teeth and wipes his mouth with a towel, hugging you back with his arms around you.

You look up to see his face and putting your hand on his cheek, tenderly caress it before placing a gentle kiss.

"Goodnight!" You softly whisper, then you break away from his hug and leave him again.

Minho is getting the same bitter feeling as you did it for the second time to him. He doesn't want it to happen for the third time, never again.

-

MINHO: [Shakes head] No, it's not over yet.

-

Everything feels off.

Not just himself but everyone in the room seemed to be feeling the same when they woke up this morning. Minho shared the bed with Esme again last night and Bryan proceeded to make the worst choice by sleeping with the new girl.

Worst of all, you're sleeping with the new guy and he keeps glaring at him even though he knows it wouldn't scare him off.

After last night, Minho gets hit by the realization that he is missing you and there's a slim chance he can fix everything. The problem is he doesn't know where to begin, he's not poetic nor soft-spoken, he's a man of actions. Other than that, he is running out of time.

When he thought that was the only problem, Lana assembles everyone in the bedroom except for the new guests.

"Hello, everyone. I have gathered you as I have some news."

-

MINHO: Let it be good news, Lana.

-

"Sofia and Kane have been given the opportunity to form more meaningful connections by choosing one person each to accompany them on private dates."

This is what Minho forgot to add Lana to the equation. He doesn't want to even think about it but he knows for certain that the new guy will choose you for the private date.

"Sofia has chosen to go on a date with Bryan."

It's so rare to see Bryan smile so brightly and as much as she wants everyone to believe she has moved on, Zara is not pleased with it.

"Kane has chosen to go on a date with..."

Minho doesn't wait to hear your name because it's an obvious one. He keeps his calm and his face straight but Luca is checking on him from across the room.

He slightly shrugs and raises an eyebrow in response to his thumb up.

"Please, go and get ready for your dates."

Minho watches as you get up from the bed and walk with Bryan to the dressing room.

-

MINHO: I felt fine about her going on this date but since she's left, I'm dwelling on everything.

-

Minho succeeds at pretending not to care and putting on a tough face.

Except that he can't stop himself from putting on an annoyed face as Jai and Agnes are canoodling on the next bed.

Initially, he thought Jai and Agnes wouldn't last this long but he's relieved to know that he's wrong. He's happy to see them happy but God, he's getting sick of them being lovey-dovey so close to him.

He looks to the other bed and sees Maisie hugging Luca from behind while talking about something. Ugh, it's like the universe is trying to punish him.

"I didn't sign up for this," Minho mumbles to anyone who hears him.

"Are you nervous?" Maisie asks.

He passes on answering and sits on the bed just waiting for the dates to end.

Agnes injects herself by saying, "He is nervous!"

Jai turns on the bed to look at him and laughs, "Hang in there, man!"

-

MINHO: Not nervous. Just a little... uneasy.

-

Everyone has claimed their bed but the ones that went to the dates haven't come back yet.

Thankfully, Esme understood right away when Minho kindly asked her to share the bed with the new guy. Like it or not, Minho is going to take you back to his bed tonight, he'll drag you if he had to.

Bryan has returned to the bedroom with a grin plastered on his face, it's kind of disturbing that he steals Jai's antic.

Not long after, the new guy is back by himself.

Minho doesn't want to assume anything yet but he takes it as a good sign. He stays on his bed for some time before going to the dressing room.

Instead of you, he finds the new girl doing her skincare routine.

He flashes a smile as he walks across the room to go through the next door that leads to the bathroom. The sound of water running tells him that you must be in the shower.

This is just perfect, Minho gets the privacy he needs.

-

MINHO: It's about time. I have to bring her back to me tonight. No matter what.

-

Minho looks through the glass door and sees you inside with water raining down on your body. He can stand there all day watching you showering but he reminds himself that he has something to do here. Something important.

He opens the shower door just enough to show himself to you and you immediately turn on your feet at the sound of him knocking on the glass door.

The sight of your naked wet body is so distracting that he forgets to talk.

After licking his lips, he finally says, "Hey."

You step away from the shower and wipe the beads of water from your eyes, "yes?"

It's so sudden and out of the blue but Minho knows that it's better late than never. He resists looking anywhere but your face or else he'll forget to speak again.

"You're sleeping me tonight," he confidently remarks with that half smirk of his.

"Why should I?" You ask, tipping your head to the side.

He takes a step forward and leans against the doorway, holding his hand out at you. He can see that you're hesitating but eventually take his hand.

There's no need for words when Minho can show you how much he misses you and wants you back by his side.

He's pulling you close until you stand right in front of him, gliding his hand up to the nape of your neck to tilt your head a little to the side and slowly, he leans in for a kiss.

The kiss is better than he remembered. Maybe it's you or maybe it's the longing that amplified it, either way, it's a one hell of a kiss.

Considering that he's spending money for it, he puts his other hand on your waist to draw you closer and deepens the kiss to make it worth every penny.

You let out a low moan as his tongue invades your mouth and keep your mouth open for him if not returning his kisses with the same eagerness.

He ignores the fact that your wet body dampens the top he's wearing and reluctantly pulls away when he knows you're running out of breath.

Minho smiles as he looks at your face and puts the hair stuck to your forehead to the side, "I'll keep the bed warm for you," he says.

A smile blooms on your face and you nod, "Okay."

-

MINHO: I'm not good with words but I'm good at something else [raises eyebrow]

-

You're like a five-year-old to him.

Minho is not saying that you're immature, it's just that your moods are rapidly changing. One minute you're happy, the next minute, you're fussing about something, next thing he knows, you're angry at him.

It can be such a headache sometimes but he likes it because you don't hold back, you're honest about your feelings and you're adorable to him, he wants to tease at any chance he gets.

The happiness is clearly drawn on your face as you're walking to his bed in giddiness and this time, he's ready to offer his arm for you to rest your head on.

Minho shivers as your hand makes contact with his bare chest, he already got rid of his damp top and is too lazy to go to the dressing room to get a new top.

You put your hand across his chest as you settled yourself next to him, nuzzling your nose to his neck, "Did you shower?"

"No," he lies with a sly smile on.

You plant your nose onto his neck to take a sniff and lowly sigh, "I like it," you tell him.

Now that you're by his side, Minho doesn't care about anything else. He doesn't care about the eyes looking at him whether in jealousy or curiosity as to why you got back to his bed again.

Minho wants to focus on you and make you never leave his side again.

-

MINHO: Okay, now Lana, I need you to close your eyes cause you're not going to like what you see.

-

Oh, how he misses your body!

Even in the dark, Minho knows what his hands are exploring, miles and miles of silky soft skin, warm and sensitive under his touch. He's only using his fingertips, he wonders what's going to happen if he's using his mouth so he places a long peck on your neck with his hand slipped under the cropped top you're wearing to bed.

"We're not going to sleep tonight," he whispers.

He can hear your smile even without looking and you slightly turn your head to look at him, looking at him as if he wouldn't dare to break rules.

In his opinion, everyone has been doing it wrong. If Minho wanted to break the rules, he wouldn't do a kiss today and another kiss tomorrow. If he's going to break rules, he'd break every rule there is and make it worth every single cent of it.

You curve your hand around his neck and look at his gleaming eyes in the dark, "What do you have in mind?"

Minho puts his hand around your neck and places a trail of fluttering kisses down your jaw.

He takes his hand from under your head so he can hover above you, carefully, putting his whole body on top of you.

A soft moan escapes your mouth as you wrap your legs around his waist and you quickly muffle yourself by pressing your lips together into a thin line.

Just feeling your body against him is enough to arouse him. He turns your head to the side and presses his mouth on your ear.

"We're going to spend a lot of money tonight," he whispers with his hot breath tickling your ear.

-

MINHO: Well, unless you're into it, you're welcome to watch, Lana.

-

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[fungalittleweirdo]

All four 12 turtles first meetings/impressions headcanons pleeeeeaaassseee <3333

anything for pookie <333

2012 TMNT First Meetings Headcanons

Leo

i think he would be interested in keeping you safe if you're a civilian

if you're a criminal he might talk you down from doing crime first, if you don't listen to him though he will kick your ass

but back to if you're a regular person in new york– if you were in danger he would most likely defend you

and if you insist on keeping him company because he saved your life, he might get a little shy and embarrassed

are you hungry ? he'll get you an order of pizza gyozas as soon as possible

you're one of the few humans he's ever met, it's a little hard for him to socialise with you at first but then gets the hang of it

if you're interested in any of the things he's interested in he will ask about it

he might infodump about space heroes if you're not careful

if you let him, he might develop a silly little crush on you

sorry this leo first impression headcannon thing is purely spoopy fanservice

Raph

he'd think nothing of you if you're a civilian

if you're a criminal he'd beat your ass, no questions asked

but if you're insistent on talking to raph after he saves your life or whatever he'd get annoyed and ask why you want to talk to him so bad

but this is only if he's still with mona

if he hadn't been with mona at all or they broke up or whatever, he might be bored enough to have you around for company

he might end up venting to you if you listen to him for long enough

raph feels as though he's never listened to and to have someone so ready and willing to hear him ramble, it comforts him

you might become his favourite friend after a night of talking and getting to know one another

he also would like it if you wanted to watch him train and cheer him on, it helps dissolve his insecurities

Donnie

depends how you react to him when it comes to you being a civilian

as for you being a criminal ? he'd ask you why, how, when– he wants every little detail about the crime you're committing and the context behind it. he might not even want to kick your ass at all, maybe he just wants to talk.

now, if the turtle's saving your life and you're grateful like a normal person, thanking him and going on your merry way, he'd be proud of himself for handling whatever you tangled yourself with on his own.

if you make out his save as a knight-in-shining-armour-saving-his-princess situation ? he would get all flustered and embarrassed, falling for you hard if you give him any semblance of affection as thanks.

the mutant is starved for affection after all the years he's pined and yearned. crushing should be his middle name and it's not for crushing his enemies.

spending the rest of the night talking to him would probably mean him checking for wounds or if you got hurt.

he would worry about you no matter if your life was threatened or if someone just tried to steal your bag

haha you're the next april (whether you reciprocate or not is up to you)

Mikey

nah dude you're chill brah

bro's clueless if you're committing crime

but otherwise he'd fight whatever's threatening you then offer if you want to hang out with him

whether you agree or scream and run away it's your choice (but the latter isn't what you're here for, is it ?)

he'd take you to murakami's or some pizza place he knows of for food first

after eating you guys would go up to the rooftops and he'd try to show you tricks on his board

maybe try to flirt with you if he finds you easy on the eyes

you spending time with him kind of reassures him that he's not annoying like his brothers say he is, so you're making him feel better about himself just by keeping him company

he'd love to talk to you again !! definitely will call you in the middle of the night to ask you if you think pineapple belongs on pizza.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

Am I the Asshole for talking like I was someone's child and not their best friend?

Going to explain a lot of context.

So I (NB 26) am my mother's (F 43)best and only friend. She will not share her feelings with anyone else nor anything personal with anyone at all. She has had a lot of bad experiences and now she distrusts anyone who tries to be friends with her.

So now we're at the point where she will call me during a stressful time at work, she'll call me after work every day (she works 7 days a week), she will complain about the actions of my 3 sisters, stress, movies, pretty much anything. More than once she said I was her best friend and I just do my best to be a good child to her.

Recently (October 1st) we went to a corn maze and there was a fight in the maze. My youngest sister (F17) wandered off and I went after her leaving my mother behind. After following my youngest sister for 10 minutes I texted my mother where we were and she pointed out she was stuck so we went back for her(I had to persuade my sister to go back for her)

We eventually met up and left. However today (October 2nd) she called to vent to me about how I triggered her abandonment issues and that she isn't a priority at all in any of our lives and how she should not pretend she's a priority at all because I would have treated a complete stranger better than I treated her in the maze.

Needless to say I was more than a bit uncomfortable with that conversation, I did apologize and I did admit I should have treated her better but she kept going on about how the world shows her that she is the least amount of priority and I kept apologizing and kept reassuring her even though I made a mistake I did care about her (I'm autistic and my sister had no phone so I didn't want her to get lost)

She then complained to me on the phone that it isn't fair to her because I'm talking to her on the phone like I'm her child and not her best friend.

It hurt me deeply because... I am her child. I've supported her the best Can emotionally since I was 6 years old and during a situation where I made such a big mistake it triggers her abandonment issues and I get uncomfortable she doesn't like the fact I'm not acting like her best friend.

I know I was the asshole for leaving her alone in maze for 20 minutes.

I guess I should have just let go of emotional discomfort for being told that I cared less for her than a stranger on the street and that she wasn't a priority in my life and kept acting as an adult and not getting hurt over it.

So TL:DR AM I the asshole for getting uncomfortable when told by my mother that she isn't a priority and that I treat total strangers better than her causing me to treat her like my mother and not like her best friend?

What are these acronyms?

[winterwandersland]

Scenario Short: Echoes of Mercy Word Count: 3.1k tw/cw: fluff and humor, mild language, playful banter, mutual pining, slow burn, age difference Simon Riley x Black!Fem!Reader The Lieutenant decides to take you on a hike to get away from your usual training. (For context, this would be part of a different story and reader's last name is Abara; also, this is barely proofread)

It was almost sunset, the sun in just the right place to lay under and wait until it met with the horizon, making the sky that beautiful orange-red, with a hint of pink, that you loved so much. A while ago, you mentioned to Simon that you’d never watched a sunset before. Sure, you’ve seen the sun go down, but you've never experienced the pleasure of sitting under the blue sky, watching it shift, the birds pass, and the sun starting to hide itself behind the tree line, making the sky change colors.

You trailed slowly behind the Lieutenant as he led you higher up the trail that was a little ways away from base. Surprisingly, not many people came up here as they claimed to never have the time to do so. “Let’s go, Abara,” you hear the Lieutenant yell from ahead of you.

You were definitely intentionally dragging your feet as the kept a steady pace up the trail. “And why are you, the lieutenant of a whole ‘nother unit, taking me, a SEAL in training, on a hike alone, again,” you questioned him, just one more time. He had explained it once, but you just needed to hear it one last time to understand. “Bonding,” he blandly replied. Sometimes, you wondered if actually liked you considering his dry responses to anything you said.

“And why do we need that? We can’t do that as a group,” you inquired. They were valid questions. You weren’t necessarily complaining, but you did find it…odd. However, you were enjoying the quality time spent with the man.

“Thought you liked hiking,” he replied. His dry responses were both pushing on a nerve and also made you want to annoy him even more.

“I do…when I don’t feel like there’s a possibility that I’m about to be murdered,” you quipped. It wouldn’t be out of the ordinary. Isn’t this usually how the horror movies start?

“I’m not gonna murder you,” he assured. But it was in that same dry tone, so it wasn’t too convincing. “That’s what the murderer says…before they commit murder…,” you replied.

Simon understood your worry, but he just wanted to use this as an excuse to be alone with you and try to get to know you more. You’ve always caught his eye, but the only interactions he truly had with you were finding excuses to correct your form or tell you to stop chatting so you could stay ahead.

“Would you pick up the pace,” he demanded, yet his voice not sound like it would when he reprimanded the other recruits. “Nah, I’ll stay behind you. You go ahead and stay in front,” you replied, putting your safety first because this could be your last moments on Earth.

You see the rise and fall of the Lieutenant’s shoulders followed by a sigh that you could astonishingly hear from under his mask. He turns to you like a unimpressed parent and said, “You’re making this more complicated than it needs to be.”

“You’re making this scarier than it needs to be. It also doesn’t help that it rained recently and it’s becoming night time. You could easily push me, say I slipped and hit my head and everyone would believe you,” you told him. You were trying to keep everything lighthearted, but you were still being cautious.

You knew you shouldn’t be afraid of your Lieutenant, but you could never be too careful. Usually, if you were actually afraid, you’d feel that sinking in your chest and the twisted feeling in your stomach, but you didn’t feel that with him. At this point, you were just pulling his leg.

He scoffed, never inching any closer to you. “That’s a great idea. Thanks for that. I’ll think about that as we continue this hike,” he told you. He was clearly still trying to get you to continue as he turned around and began walking up the trail again.

When he heard your footsteps stop behind him, he halts and turns to you who has your hand in your hip. “So you are here to murder me,” you insisted.

“No,” he said seemingly unamused. He watched you tilt your head as if you didn’t believe him. You always reminded him of an animated character because of how expressive you were. He didn’t show it much, but it was quite entertaining for him, so he gave into your amusement.

“Maybe,” he said, changing his mind, giving more into your dramatics. Your jaw dropped, watching as he stood ahead of you, waiting until you were done with your scene.

“I’m not gonna bloody murder you,” he insisted. You crossed your arms and began walking, thought you still kept your distance because you were just so ‘scared’.

“Yea, yea. I’ll believe you when I make it back to base…in tact…no injuries…unscathed…and not out of breath from running away,” you told him.

Your insistence that he would actually murder you was quite amusing to him. He knew you didn’t believe it, but giving into the story seemed to keep you walking. He wanted to get to the top in time to get you to see the sunset, though he hadn’t told you that.

“You watch too many movies,” he told you. “And where do you think the directors get the ideas from? Real life,” you said like you just made the smartest remark of all time, a smirk going across your face.

Simon let out another sigh, continuing to walk in hopes of getting you to keep up. “We’re almost to the top, then we can break and go back to base,” he informed you.

“Mkay. I’ll stay behind you and enjoy the scenery as I go,” you told him. You loved looking over the edge, looking at all the flowers and greenery that stood beneath you. You always wished you could fly so you could see the green right in front of you instead of only from above.

“You do that,” he said, walking up the trail, though, stopping once he reaches a corner.

After admiring the surrounding nature, you caught up to the Lieutenant who was waiting just at the next peak of the trail. “Why don’t you keep walking,” you ask him.

“I need to keep you in my line of sight,” he informed you. He really just never wanted to take his eyes off of you and you looked so beautiful admiring the greenery.

“Why? So you can figure out the best time to catch me lacking?” you joked. Simon was at least ten years older than you, so sometimes there was a slight disconnect between the two of you. “Huh?”

You had to take a moment to figure out how to rephrase what you said into old people terms. “Are you trying to figure out when to kill me?”

“If that’s what you choose to believe, yes,” he said, still never changing his tone of voice, always as dry as can be.

“Hm. fun,” you said. What? Fun? That didn’t quite make sense to the Lieutenant. “Fun? Running away from a potential murderer?” he asked, becoming concerned with your mentality.

“Yea. Maybe they’ll make another Scary Movie out of it,” you replied. You definitely lost it.

“There are plenty of scary movies about running away from murderers,” he informed you. Clearly, the joke went over his head. But then, it came to your attention, he probably has no idea what you’re talking about as Scary Movie may not big popular in the U.K.

“I-uh-cultural difference,” you decided to say, not feeling like explaining anything, though now you wanted to go watch all of the Scary Movies. “What?”

“Just keep walking. I’ll be behind you,” you told him, still keeping up your murderer narrative. “Absolutely not,” you tell him.

“Then at least stay beside me and stop walking so close to the edge.” His protectiveness of you sent chills up your spine and goosebumps running all over, but you couldn’t let him know that.

You had the same mischievous look you always had whenever you decided to be a tease. “Am I scaring you, Lieutenant?”

He rolled his eyes, knowing the tricks you were trying to play. “You go dangerously close to the edge of the cliff every time you look at something,” he told you, making it clear he was very observant of your actions.

“Maybe I enjoy the thrill,” you told him.

“Enjoy the thrill on your own time. Come on,” he said, waving you on and trying to pick up the pace to get to the top of the trail. The sun was getting closer to the horizon. You were going to miss it if you kept messing around.

You rolled your eyes, crossing your arms again and started walking, this time on the right side of Simon, him being nearest to the edge of the trail. “You’re a very demanding murderer,” you tell him.

“If you say so,” he replies, now focusing on getting you to the top of the trail.

You both picked up your speed, the top of the cliff just in sight. If you wanted to, you could just make a run for it, but you were enjoying the silent quality time with the Lieutenant. He wasn’t much of a talker, but you didn’t mind. You could do the talking. You didn’t mind.

You were both so close to the top and then you came to another stop, looking at the large pile of mud that was, technically, in your way, though you could easily step over it. “What are you doing?” the Lieutenant asked, getting more anxious that the sunset would be missed.

“There’s mud,” you replied.

“Go ‘round it or step over it,” he insisted.

“I could…,” you told him, still eyeing the mud that was perfect to step in and make a mud footpath up the trail with its consistency. It wasn’t too dry or too wet. It was just right.

“Yes, and you should. Come on. It’s getting darker by the minute,” he said, his voice becoming more assertive. You still had no idea that the point of the hike was to show you the sunset. It wasn’t even an idea in your mind. “We’re nearly at the top,” you informed him.

“Exactly. We need to get there before the sun is down,” he told you, trying his best to rush you without being too demanding. You could have your fun after you saw the sunset.

“Why?” you asked him. He took a breath and hesitated to tell you why. “Because we do. Let’s go.”

You took a giant step and splashed in the mud, splattering mud over your pants and around you. “What the bloody hell are you doing? You’re getting yourself dirty,” he said, concerned with your cleanliness.

You were used to getting dirty. You liked getting dirty. Dirt was nothing to you. The shower afterwards was your favorite, as you would watch the dirt run down the stream of water and into the drain. It was refreshing and satisfying.

“And? What’s wrong with being a little dirty?” you quizzed.

You couldn’t tell if he was annoyed, but you were enjoying yourself. If he didn’t like it, he didn’t have to take you on a hike again.

“You’ve had your fun. Let’s go now,” he demanded, trying to get you to hurry up as time was ticking. Instead, you bent down, picking up a handful of mud. “What are you doing? Put that down,” he insisted. He had never seen anyone, especially your age, so willing to get themselves dirty, especially in mud.

You raised your arm and drew it back behind your head. “Abara, I’d think about your actions if I were you,” he scolded. You didn’t care. What could he do? Murder you? At least you’d die having some fun. “Oooorr what?” you teased, that devious smile going across your face. “Don’t-,” he started, but before he could finish you threw the mud, it splatting on his chest. He gave you a look and instead of being scared, you giggled.

If he was actually mad, you’d both be going back down the trail by now. It was hard to tell what his face was saying behind the mask, but if it were up to you to interpret, he was actually enjoying this. “What are you gonna do about it, Lieutenant Riley,” you teased, changing your voice as you said his name that so playfully rolled off your tongue.

“We’re moving now. Let’s go,” he insisted, turning around and walking again. As he walked, he felt another thud against his back. You weren’t actually throwing a lot of mud, Besides, it was laundry day.

Simom turned around and saw you giggling, not a fearful bone in your body, but he had to keep his serious demeanor. He couldn’t let you know he was enjoying this. “Abara,” he said.

“Riley,” you replied, mocking his tone. “This isn’t funny,” he told you. Judging by the lack of authority in his voice, much different than the tone he uses on the field, it was very funny.

“Would you stop trying to be the big ole’ mean Lieutenant and have some damn fun,” you said, throwing more mud at him. “You’re a-,” he started.

“Recruit. Yea, yea. And you’re the Lieutenant. Blah. Blah. Blah. Get that stick out your ass and smile for once. I know you have it in you. I know you have to smile sometimes behind that mask,” you say, slowly walking up to him with more mud on your hand. As you spoke, you slowly drew squiggles on his mask with the mud. If he was really upset about it, you’ll wash it for him.

He snatched the mud out of your hand, which slightly spooked you. You always had a problem with receiving the same energy as most people never reciprocated the energy you gave. “You know, they say mud,” he began as he started spreading mud on your face, “is good for your skin,” he finished.

Your eyes were closed as he spread the mud across all parts of your face, careful not to get it in your mouth, nose, eyes, or hair. Your jaw dropped, your eyes still closed. A smile drew across your face, your tongue going across your top teeth.

“Look at that. Your skin looks better already,” he commented. You stared at the ground, nodding your head and your hand on your hip. After a few moments, you looked up at him. “I’m gonna kill you,” you told him.

“Look who’s the murderer now. And you tried to say it was me,” he joked.

You quickly grabbed more muds, but he was quicker, already getting a throw in before you could grab a whole handful. The fun only lasted a few seconds before you slipped on some of the mud, almost falling off the edge. Your life flashed before your eyes, but you felt a hand on your back and before you knew it, you were against the Lieutenant’s chest, trying to catch your breath from the scare.

You looked up at him, catching his honey brown eyes behind the mask. You didn’t know if your heart was pumping from the scare or from the attraction. “How about we save the rest for when we reach the top, eye? Don’t want to make the trail too slippery for others,” he suggested.

It took some time for you to process that he was speaking to you. You were too invested in his eyes and the warmth of his touch to reply, but once you did, you just tried to play everything off like you didn’t nearly just fall in love. “Yea, sure…if I don’t kill you beforehand,” you said.

“In that case, go ahead and walk in the front. You can’t be trusted,” he replied, playfully pushing you in front of him and following your lead to the type. You started laughing and it brought joy to his ears as he watched your muddy footprints trail up the path.

You reached the top and were immediately amazed. You both were just in time. “Oh my gosh. Look at the sunset. It’s so beautiful,” you awed. Simon hadn’t looked at the sky, yet, before commenting, “Yea, it is,” he said, though his eyes were fixed on you.

“You’re not even looking,” you said, taking your hand and turning his head to face the sky. “Look at it. Isn’t it the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?” you asked him, not realizing he still wasn’t really paying attention to the sky. “Second most,” he said.

You turned towards him, surprised, because this sight was definitely number one on your list. “Oh, really? What’s the first?”

You, he thought. “I’ve seen a lot of beauty in my lifetime,” he told you.

“Okay…that doesn’t answer my question,” you said, wanting to know what could be more beautiful than this sunset:

“I’ll have to show you one day,” he said. So, he doesn’t hate you. Which also meant he would take you on another hike one day. “Show me what?” you asked.

“What number one on my list is,” he answered. Little did you know, all you needed to do was go to a mirror and stand in front of it.

“All your years in the service…you must’ve seen the aurora borealis or something. Is that what your number one is?” Not quite, but he’d love to take you to see that, too. “It is close, but could never be number one,” he answered. You were clueless and he didn’t know how you could be.

“Well, Lieutenant Riley, I hope to see whatever it is you saw that you believe could be more beautiful than this,” you say, averting your gaze back to the sunset.

“You will,” he mumbled.

After some time, the sunset was fading and it was becoming darker. “Hm. We should probably get going before someone really thinks you murdered me,” you joked.

“Or you murdered me,” he insisted. You giggled as you responded, “I’m not going to murder you.”

“That’s what the murderer always says,” he said, repeating what you said to him just an hour before. “Come here,” he said, whipping out a towel.

You inched towards him and his gently cupped your face with one hand and used to other to wipe the mud off your face, turning the once white towel brown.

His closeness made your heart flutter and you didn’t quite know what to do with yourself.

When he finished, you playfully shoved him, him stumbling, surprised at your strength. “Race you to base,” you said.

“I’m not-,” he started, but before he could finish, you were already on your way down the trail as he watched your footprints go down. As fast as you were going, he really hoped you didn’t actually slip and fall because he really wouldn’t know how to explain that he didn’t push you.

But most importantly, he hoped he’d be able to take you to see the aurora borealis one day so you can see how its beauty could never compare to you.

[bookuce]

Change My Mind (Jey meets William)

Read Part One if you haven't yet, this adds context to that chapter and why she was so upset and ignoring him.

SUMMARY: Josh and Alina are great friends most days. Other days, they want to tear each other apart. Some days, they’re in love with each other, but neither of them will admit it. 

*DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters in the writing except for the OC. The book uses actual names of wrestlers. Josh is Jey Uso and Alina is Alina. The one-shot is not realistic and does not take place during real events. I DO NOT GIVE ANYONE PERMISSION TO TRANSLATE OR REPOST MY WRITINGS ANYWHERE. THAAAAAANKS. *

PAIRING: Jey Uso x Black OC

TROPE: Friends to Lovers

WARNINGS: Language

WORD COUNT: 1,049

“So, did you have fun?” William asks from the driver’s seat. Alina peers over to him, grinning. They had just finished their first date. He had chosen a Michelin-rated restaurant just to impress her. Between that and the grand bouquet in her lap, she was impressed. She wouldn’t have minded seeing him again. 

“I did. Thank you again for tonight.” She says. William meets her gaze before reaching over to grab her hand. His hand was a comforting warm on her own, a tolerable dry. His thumb would brush over the top of her hand, sending her stomach into a frenzy of flutters. She had a good feeling about this one. They’d turn onto her street, their evening now winding down to seconds left. “Can we do this again when I’m back in town?” She asks. He’d smile, showing the prettiest white teeth. 

“You’d want to see me again?” He asks.

“Yeah,” She answers. “Maybe I can cook dinner, we can watch a movie?” She proposes. He’d nod slowly, his dazzling smile becoming a grin. 

“I’d like that.” He says. His car would slow down, a sign he was nearing her home. His eyes lower into squints as he looks past her. “There’s someone on your car.” He points, prompting her to look towards her house. The smile she once wore was gone quickly. There, dressed in all black, was her friend Josh. With his arms folded across his chest, he leaned against the side of her car. Josh would glance at William’s car, his dark brows furrowed. He’d glance away, looking straight ahead at the next house. 

“Great.” She says under her breath.

“Stay here,” William says, getting out of the car.

“That isn’t…” His door opens and closes before she can finish. “Necessary. Okay.” She breathes. Alina starts to gather her things. This wasn’t going to end well, and she knew it.

Meanwhile, on the outside of the car, William was in Protector mode. He unbuttons his suit jacket before moving around to Alina’s side. Josh wasn’t going to say anything. She was on a date; he would be respectful this time. He promised her that. “May I help you?” William calls out to him.

“Nope,” Josh replies quickly, still looking ahead. He adjusts his stance on the car, swaying briefly from left to right. Usually, a question like that would have earned someone attitude from him, but again—he’s trying to be respectful. “Go on and drop her off, Uce; I ain’t studying you.” He says, now looking towards the house. Alina opens her car door, pushing past her date. 

“You’re supposed to be in Florida.” She says, earning his attention. They would lock eyes with each other, staring for several moments. 

“I changed my mind.” He informs her. That wasn’t a lie. Josh had planned to go to Pensacola but realized he didn’t want to be alone. Third-wheeling his brothers and their wives wasn’t exactly fun to him. He could go on dates, but they’re not her, so what’s the point? Now, he wasn’t aware she had a date tonight. No, this was a coincidence. Some would call it fate, though. He’d call it fate—just not out loud. 

William’s brows furrow, his gaze shifting from Josh to Alina. “You know him?” He asks.

“Nah, we just met.” Josh quips, earning a glare from the man. Alina steps from the car, closing the door behind her. That’s when Josh snuck a glance at what she was wearing. A creme-colored bodycon dress hugged her body, accentuating her curves. Father, give me strength, he thought.

“So, you the ex?” He asks.

“My name and ex won’t ever be in the same sentence, Uce,” Josh says with a smug grin. At least for her, it wouldn’t be. “Quit trying to figure out who I am and drop her off. Doorstep is over there,” He points at her front door. “Hug her goodnight and keep it pushing.” 

“Joshua.” She snaps. Alina looks up at William. “I’m sorry, he’s a coworker.” That would earn her a sound of disapproval from Josh. He doesn’t like it when she reduces him to that. It’s already bad enough that she friend-zoned him. This is embarrassing, she thought to herself. She shifted her gaze to the ground, twisting her lips to the side while she thought of something to say. “Um,” She starts, looking up at her date. “I had a lot of fun tonight, I did. Thank you for the flowers and for being so kind. Hopefully, we can do this again soon.” She says with a nod.

Alina would touch his arm before leaning in to kiss his cheek. Josh averted his gaze, not wanting to see her kissing another man. Without another glance, she begins to march up to her front door. Josh and William watch after her before turning their attention towards each other again. Josh fought back a smirk that wanted to show on his lips. He wanted to tell that man he didn’t deserve her. Hell, he knew William couldn’t handle her, but he promised to be respectful, and he thought he did well this time. He didn’t cuss anyone out, no one tried to fight, and he even kept the staring at a minimum. Promise fulfilled. 

He leans down, grabbing his black duffle from the ground. With every bit of audacity known to man, Josh tilts his head up at the man across from him. “Have a good night.” He says, turning to walk up the steps to the front door. His hand touches the doorknob, but it doesn’t turn. She locked the door. He smacks his lips, reaching into his pocket to fish out his keys. “This woman—.” He mutters to himself. 

He unlocks the door and steps into the house, quickly closing the door behind himself. Alina came walking around the corner from the kitchen. He scanned her appearance again, his tongue dragging along his bottom lip this time. This dress was going to drive him up a wall. “A heads—.”

“Go to hell, Josh.” She snaps, making her way up the stairs. He’d watch after her.

“How the hell was I supposed to know!” He shouts after her. She doesn’t respond to him verbally, but the slamming of her bedroom door is enough of a response for her. “He don’t even deserve your ass.” He mutters to himself.

______________________________________________________________

A/N: I been wanting to write this for a while LMAO. This is why she was avoiding his ass in Part One. Did he do too much or did he do good being "respectful"?

🏷️ list: @thesamoanqueen @whatdoeseverybodywant @headoftheetable @mzv11 @southerngirl41 @yana3sworld @wanderingreigns @wrestlingprincess80 @siriuslycee @vebner37 @astridxxxxxx @alichesmi @tshepisho @scarlettnoir01 @brokenglassslippers @reignsboy19 @sayyestoheav3nn @cyberdejos2 @empressdede @sisinever @truefant4sy @paigereeder @tbmotw @fearlesschimera @venusesworld @usoholic @sageispunk @bebesobrielo @jstarr86 @vibesonvibes @issahyland 

[5ueckers]

you belong with me — teaser

a/n : i wanted to have this finished by today but 😢 here's a lil snippet instead! for context, this specific part takes place in july of 2019, before the start of p's senior year of high school, and reader is her best friend and teammate. happy valentine's! 💕

paige doesn’t get what you see in him.

for one, he’s really not that cute, contrary to what all your other friends believe— there are a million five–foot–ten boys with curly blond hair and green eyes in the world, and you’re pretty enough to have any one of them that you want. for two, he’s so boring. he’s always got you holed up at his ridiculously large house doing something lame, when you could be with her, actually having fun. and lastly, he’s not even that good of a boyfriend. sure, he takes you out on dates and drives you around in his stupid car and surprises you with flowers and gifts, but those are all things she’s done for you and she’s only your friend. it’s the bare minimum, and you deserve a lot better than that; you deserve the world.

she thinks she might actually be sick, watching him tuck a stray piece of hair behind your ear and smile at you, leaning in for a kiss. his face is actually so gross, she gags.

“stop, leave her be,” azzi’s voice comes with a little laugh as her hand closes around paige’s forearm, tugging playfully, but the blonde still struggles to tear her eyes away. “paige.”

“they’re disgusting,” paige gripes as she finally looks away, taking a sip of her dr. pepper, not even bothering with her burger and fries anymore. witnessing that interaction ruined her appetite.

“they’re in love,” azzi teases, dragging out the ‘o’, and paige grumbles around her straw, eyes rolling dismissively.

you aren’t in love with him. yeah, it’s been three months since you officially started dating, but paige actually knows you; you’ve liked plenty of guys since she met you in seventh grade, and none of them have ever really meant anything. soon enough, you’ll get bored of him, just like all the others, and it’ll go back to just being you and her again, like it should be.

hopefully, that’s before the season starts in november. she doesn’t want to have to see you with him at homecoming, or even worse, at one of your games— she’d really be revolted, then.

“no, i agree with p,” kayhla chimes in on the conversation. “get a room!” she shouts, hands cupped around her mouth to accentuate the sound, earning the attention of you, him, and everyone else in the wendy’s.

your eyes get all wide and your cheeks tinge red, and the table erupts into giggles at your embarrassed reaction. you step away from him, finally, and turn back to the counter, smiling politely at the cashier as she slides a tray of chocolate and vanilla frosties toward you, and another toward him. paige can’t help but feel a bit smug when you return to the table and reclaim your seat next to her— it’s an end–seat, so he has to sit across from you both. she casually stretches her arm out over your shoulders, and shoves a spoonful of chocolate frosty into her mouth with her free hand.

“you guys are mean,” you say, reaching out for one of her abandoned fries. you don’t do anything about her arm.

“don’t be a freak, then,” paige replies, and you jab her in the side with your elbow, which only makes her laugh harder.

“oh, you have no right to be calling anyone a freak,” you retort playfully. “don’t make me bring up last summer—”

“woah, nah, okay! okay, you win!”

paige throws up her hands in surrender, and everyone at the table laughs again— everyone, except for him. you, on the other hand, laugh especially hard. she can’t lie, it’s vindicating knowing there are parts of you that he hasn’t yet breached, that she can make you laugh this hard and he has no clue why.

that she actually knows you. unlike him, paige isn’t temporary. you’ll get bored of him, and things will go back to being the way they’re supposed to be.

just you and her.

[head---ache]

hi im gonna drop brass' lore on you bc i didnt realize i never did

Just for context, Brass and Emmie are the same age, with Brass being born a couple of months after. So, while Emmie was cooking in the tube, Starline, who we're gonna say is alive, steals Tails' Tube Baby Project™ files, and tries to copy it, because he believes this is an attempt to make a bio-weapon at the same level of Project Shadow, and he wants to be ready for that, and besides, this seems like an improvement from Surge and Kit to him.

So he gets on with it, and he of course has Surge's DNA, but he doesn't want to combine it with Kit's because he can't imagine the result of that mix would be of any use. At some point he gets his hands on one of Amy's quills, probably by being a creepy stalker to all of the main cast, and decides to mix it with Surge's DNA in order to continue with his Anti-Tube Baby Project™, however, he then realizes Tails is actually attempting to take down the power levels and make his project more stable, which is not at all what Starline is looking for. And also, most of the power Tails' baby project would have comes from both from the Chaos Energy Sonic and Shadow have, and the Black Arms DNA passed down from Black Doom, which are things Starline simply can't get his hands to: Chaos Energy? Maybe, but not nearly enough, and it would probably be fake, highly unstable energy. And Black Arms DNA? Simply impossible.

So he just gives up. Tails isn't even making a weapon out of his project, so Starline doesn't even need his own anymore. So he abandons the hedgehog baby he made, inside the tube, and forgets about them for months.

One day Surge and Kit break into Starline's base, looking to steal some stuff from him, mostly Surge's idea just to annoy the guy. They eventually come across the big tube holding the small green hedgehog, still in the tube, however, pretty ready to go. And Surge just acts out of instinct, she doesn't even stop to think for a second before taking the baby with her and running as Kit follows her and keeps trying to ask her what she's doing. The thing is, she doesn't even know, but leaving this baby behind was not an option.

And when they got home it finally dawned on her, that now they had a baby at home and she didn't know what to do with it.

"So, uhm- Are you gonna raise it?" Kit asked, and Surge suddenly snapped as if nothing had happened. She stood up and walked away from the baby, crossing her arms behind her head and turning away.

Chaos, no. She was already a terrible mother to Mareep, she couldn't do that to another child.

"Nah! You can keep it if you want, tho." She shrugged.

Kit moaned, wavering.

And so Brass grew up with Surge and Kit, but they wouldn't call either of them their parents, although Kit would maybe be closer to that, as Surge seemed to be trying very hard to not be a parental figure to another kid.

On the other hand, Brass' relationship with Amy is fine, they can talk, Amy does try to be part of their life, but Brass is very indifferent to the idea. I'll share a little dialogue I have in mind because to be honest I don't really have much context for it, but it explains Brass and Amy's relationship kinda well.

"Listen, Amy, you're nice, and all, but you're not my mom."

"But I could be, Brass. I want to be, if you let me."

"I just- I don't think I want that, yeah? You can just pay attention to your actual children, I'm fine."

And also about Brass relationship with Mareep, it's also fine. They get along, they're just not super close. But they also have a mutual understanding, and Brass might be a little jealous since Mareep at least has Lanolin. And Mareep is a little jealous because Brass doesn't seem to be doing too bad even after being raised by Surge, while on her end Surge was kind of the root of all of her problems. But they get along fine.

Basically Brass wasn't super close to anyone (but acting as if it was fine), until she met a certain hedgehog-alien girl and her AI girlfriend TEHEHEHE (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠)

[icequeenlila]

Context: They're in a grocery store.

Bradley had a crush. He couldn’t deny that any longer.

But.

A crush was just a crush. Some silly, little feeling that would go away soon.

People on campus used to call him King Bradley. He was the king of denial.

“You have a list?”

Max was leaning over Bradley’s shoulder to get a look at the piece of paper in his hands.

Bradley forced himself to stay still as he felt the boy’s warmth close to his cheek. Max let his hand rest on Bradley’s shoulder as his eyes skimmed over the items he had written down. The gesture didn’t make his heart race at all. Not the slightest.

King of denial.

“You don’t?” He made sure his voice had a derogatory tone to it. Something to repel the boy. To get him out of his space.

“Nah”, Max said, turning to look at Bradley with that goofy smile on his lips. “I usually just grab whatever seems good.”

Bradley could feel the ghost of Max’ breath on his face as he spoke, and the sensation sent all kinds of funny feelings to his belly.

“Well”, he said, detangling himself from Max. “Happy grabbing stuff then.”

Lame. His brain wasn’t functioning at the moment, okay.

“I’m taking the cart”, he said, avoiding eye contact with the boy.

“Okay.”

Bradley heard Max’ chuckle behind him as he pushed the cart, taking quick steps to bring some distance between them.

He felt hot. From the sun of course. He should go for the freezer shelves first, cool down a bit, and remind himself of how insignificantly small his crush on Max actually was.

Yeah, he should do that.

Instead, his brain showed him pictures of the small gap between Max front teeth, which he now had HD quality memory of after it had practically been pushed into his face. His skin still tickled where Max’ warm breath had ghosted over it. He’d still smelled faintly of the syrup Bradley had put into the porridge.

He let out a frustrated grunt, ripping open the glass door of the first freezer shelve he came across. Bradley felt cold air wafting over his heated skin and took in a deep breath.

“Get a grip”, he muttered under his breath, glaring at the collection of cheese in front of him. “You’re being stupid.”

The cheese didn’t answer.

Bradley rolled his eyes, reaching into the freezer to grab a pack of spread cheese. He was talking to dairy products. His lows were getting lower by the minute.

He turned back around, the pack almost sliding from his fingers as several items were thrown into his cart with a loud thud.

Yes, he jumped. He was kind of having a crisis, okay?

“The fuck, Goof”, he hissed when he found the boy grinning back at him.

“Did I startle you?”, Max asked, cocking his head slightly. “Sorry, didn’t mean to.”

“Ts.” Bradley dropped the pack of cheese into the cart. “I wasn’t startled.”

He grabbed onto the cart and pushed it further down the aisle, away from Max and his stupid fucking smile.

God, he was getting mad. Mad at himself for being so goddamn smitten with every little thing Max said or did. Who was he? A crushing school girl?

“I’m glad then”, Max called after him. “I’ll find you around.”

Please don’t, Bradley thought, and for a moment he was contemplating to hide from the boy. But if he actually did that, he wouldn’t be able to look in the mirror anymore.

So it went on like this. Bradley going over his shopping list, muttering to himself under his breath, trying to keep at least a bit of his cool. And Max dropping by every now and then to throw more bullshit into the cart.

Honestly, there wasn’t a single vegetable on Max’ side of the cart.

“You know what I see when I look at the stuff you put in there?”, Bradley asked when he finally couldn’t take it anymore.

Max looked at him like a confused puppy. “Snacks?”

“Diabetes.”

The boy just laughed at that. “Wow Brad, you can be funny if you want to.”

“I’m being serious”, he argued. “Seriously Goof, how can you survive on this stuff?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“It’s just junk food!” Bradley was honestly concerned at this point.

“It’s food”, Max said with obvious laughter in his voice. “Unlike you, I’m not a good cook. I still have to eat.”

“I’ll cook for the both of us then.” The words were out before Bradley could stop them. He just ran head first into his doom.

Max’ eyes went wide. Bradley’s did too. For a moment neither of them said a word, just silently staring at each other. Until – of course – a shit eating grin spread over Max’ face.

“Aw”, he teased, cocking his head so that a strand of black hair fell into his eyes. “Does that mean you actually care for me, Brad?”

“Forget that I said anything”, Bradley said flatly, turning on his heel and walking into a random direction.

He heard Max laugh behind him. “It’s okay, I already knew you liked me.”

“You annoy me at best!”

Wow, his comebacks sucked. It was all Max’ fault. His brain wasn’t functioning when he was around.

There was rumbling behind him, and before he could ask himself what it was, Max was next to him, standing on the back of the cart with his upper body leaned forward, like on a scooter.

“I care about you too, Brad”, he said, using his foot to push on forward in order to keep up with Bradley’s fast stride.

“Shut up”, Bradley hissed, walking even faster.

But Max didn’t have any trouble keeping up, comfortably scooting next to him, grinning all the while.

“Also, I’d love to try your food”, he continued. “Even if it’s poisoned.”

“I said, shut up.”

Bradley took a sharp turn into another aisle, forcing Max to stop abruptly and rearrange himself on the cart. Still, he was back next to Bradley in no time.

“Come oooon”, he whined. “Let’s be friends, Brad.”

“For the hundredth time.” Bradley glared at him. “Stop calling me Brad!”

Max only giggled, and Bradley’s heart picked up a beat.

“But I like the way your face goes all red when I do”, Max said and his grin was wide and endearing and fuck no, Bradley wasn’t actually thinking that! “It makes your cheeks all red. It looks cute.”

Bradley acted fully out of reflex, his hand coming up and right at Max’ face, shoving him to the side and directly into a pyramid of soda cans.

Their cart crashed into it, causing a loud ruckus as all the cans came tumbling down, spraying sticky fluids everywhere when they exploded on the floor.

They both stared at each other in shock as Max went down with the cart, their eyes locked during the entire fall. There was another loud crash when Max landed in the middle of the half-destroyed pyramid, tin cans raining down and exploding all around him.

“Shit!”, Bradley shouted when his brain finally caught up with the situation.

He lunged forward, reaching out for Max, but before he could do anything, he accidentally stepped on one of the many cans rolling around on the ground, losing his balance.

“Shit!”, he called again as he plummeted towards the ground.

+

from chapter 5 of 'Good Luck, Babe!' on ao3.

[theemporium]

Can you write steddie/or just Eddie with a partner who is a tattoo artist? It can be either sfw or nsfw

i actually really liked this concept, it's so cute! thank you for requesting!🖤

.

When you applied for the job at the tattoo parlour, your portfolio had been filled with tattoos you had done.

“They were mostly on my boyfriend,” you had told them with a sheepish smile as they flicked through your work. “He was eager to let me use him as a practice canvas and he loves them, even the shit ones.” 

Your co-workers had found it adorable enough, made a few remarks about how lucky your boyfriend was that you were very talented with a tattoo gun and quickly welcomed you to their team. 

You had spoken about your boyfriend briefly in between sessions and during lunch breaks. Not much, but they seemed to get the general vibe of what he was like. You were head over heels and by the sound of it, he was far more obsessed and in love than you were. It was wholesome. 

So, you could imagine your co-workers' surprise when a man walked in through the door, skin free of any tattoos, holding a brown paper bag with your lunch inside as he claimed to be your boyfriend. 

And the surprise when you greeted him like it was normal.

“Hey baby,” he grinned as he leaned down to peck your lips, his smile almost feeling infectious as he handed you the paper bag. “You forgot this on the counter.” 

“You’re a lifesaver, Stevie,” you groaned happily, placing another peck on your boyfriend’s cheek before you headed back to your room, calling out behind you that you should be done for work by six whilst he told you he would have dinner sorted by the time you arrived.

None of your co-workers had the guts to ask any questions, but they speculated amongst themselves. Maybe you had broken up with your last boyfriend and hadn’t told them about it (after all, they had no right to know). Or maybe his tattoos were hidden (though that was doubtful when many of the pieces you showed them were on his arms and torso). Maybe they misheard boyfriend in the context you gave it, maybe it just happened to be a friend who was a boy.

Until not even two weeks later, a curly-haired man in a leather jacket and black jeans sauntered through the door, the arms cut off to show the tattoos littering his pale skin and the slither of skin showing off his stomach telling them his torso probably matched. 

And he was asking for you.

It was nearing closing time when he walked in, waving them off when they told him they had no more appointments and they didn’t do walk-ins. 

“Nah, I’m just waiting for my girl,” he told them with a friendly smile. One that only widened when he saw you walk out the back, your bag thrown over your shoulder. “And there she is! Hey, pretty girl.” 

You laughed, shaking your head. “Hey, Eddie.” 

Eddie was shameless in the way he cupped your face between his hands and pressed a loud, wet, somewhat sloppy kiss on your lips before he threw his arm around your shoulder. He waved your co-workers goodbye before heading out, rambling away about a new tape he wanted to play for you when you reached his van.

And with that, they were left with only one conclusion. 

“She’s having an affair!” One of them hissed, eyes wide as they looked at each other. “She is cheating on her boyfriend with the other guy, the prince charming one!” 

“Or maybe the tattoo rockstar is her side piece,” another co-worker put forward. 

“Or maybe she’s just—” 

However, they only quickly shut up when you walked in the room. 

“What’s up?” you asked as you took a seat, your eyes narrowing a little when you saw the way they all stared at each other, wary and cautious. “Why do I feel like I interrupted something?” 

“Which one is it?” one of them blurted out, ignoring the looks they were receiving. 

You frowned in confusion. “Which one is what?” 

“Which one is your boyfriend?” they asked you. “Which one are you stringing along?” 

You paused and they all waited with a bated breath before you burst out laughing, and this time it was their turn to be confused. 

“What?” 

“Nothing, nothing,” you waved off, not bothering to fight back your grin. “Uh, they are both my boyfriends.” 

Their eyes widened. “Both?” 

“Both,” you confirmed with a nod. “And they are each other’s boyfriend.” 

“Each other’s?” 

“Mhm,” you hummed. 

“So…you’re all…like…” The words trailed off but you knew what they were asking.

“We are all together, yes,” you said with a grin. “I don’t have some scandalous affair going on, though I’m sure my boys will love to hear that.” 

“Right.” 

“Of course.” 

“Makes sense!” 

But you only grinned back at your co-workers, knowing well enough that your boys were going to have a blast with this story.

.

[signanothername]

UT/UTMV silly asks Masterpost

All Masterposts

This will only include silly asks

*tip! Those in red text will contain an explicit discussion/visual display of some sort of trigger/content warning, these could be blood, emotional or physical abuse, emotional manipulation, death, self destructive behaviors, implied or discussed suicidal ideation, suggestive content or other sensitive topics

*tip! Those in orange text will contain an implied or mentioned trigger/content warning but no explicit discussion/visual display

*tip! Asks with 💬 are without art, only text

Let me know if I missed color coding anything :)

haha short nightmare short!! shorty!!!

obsessed with how u do killer btw.

I WANT TO EXPLODE YOU

Could you draw a Nightmare sitting on a cut tree trunk (their mom)?

Just wanna say keep up with the angst

Mean girl Nightmare

He’s just a silly little girl causing some chaos <3333

Could I please have a little sketch of nightmare "protecting" Dream from Cross

When confronted with his future self, Passive's first instinct is to push Dream behind him 💬

*Explodes but not in a gay way*

*Returns back just to explode in a gay way*

I forgot to kiss the homies goodbye.

What do you think about swapdream?

Why do you like Killer 💬

If you had to give your favourite sanses vehicle modes what would they be? 💬

Nightmare, do you still love your brother? If you don't why don't you kill him at all?

Consider nightmare in grunge fairycore fashion

Killer with kitties

What gave it away????

if there‘s a „Something New“, is there a „Nothing Old“

opinions on skeleton appreciation day :>

cat socks

Color spectrum duo

Guest offer

i’m so happy to see ccino getting more attention!!

ccino our cutie pie <3

i thought nm was doing the mr beast pose for a sec lolol

opinions on Asylum Sans (Asy)???

do you like afterdeath??? Can we get some?

A tiny Nightmare sketch

Shapshifter

do you have any other plans for misplaced hatred? im kind of really obsessed with it

Do you think you might add more onto the misplaced hatred comic soon?

Silly sneak peek

Murder sketch

Nightmare sketch (foreshadowing????)

Bitty Nightmare

Bitty Killer

POKE HOLES IN THE TOPS OF THE JARS

Doodle without context

doodle with your non-dominant hand

Burnt at the stake

Mad scientist Killer

fugly ass heels

Yummy angst

Friend dynamic

Nightmare angst

Fresh

What if the Apple incident was more historically accurate for the time

Sci

Wips and sketches

Ink has certain devices that helps him in warning that he's ruining low of paints

can you do a doodle of nightmare with his hood up please?

Gay

Killer stress ball

What if Nightmare had hair

Consider Nightmare

Hey Dream can you make something or someone health Nightmare's legs or make some mental legs for him?

Ccino and Nightmare

Ink and the Nightmare gang

who is your favorite utmv papyrus?

i love your work so much man it's like the highlight of my day when you post ‼️‼️‼️

That's mean that Killer is probably a Sugar Daddy

i love how you're just THE killer sans person now

I want somebody convincing Dream to smoke

What do you nightmare does, keeps Negativity balanced or he just spread Negativity 💬

What kind of music do you think the bad sanses listen to

bro i'm such a fan of error just massively shitting on nightmare 💬

If Killer are interrest by Cross’ blood and Souls, did he’s interrest by Cross’ unique soul ? 💬

If Nightmare's an ice-cream flavour, what would he be? 💬

What do you think is Killer's favourite ice cream flavour? •w• 💬

Something about Killer is actually scary to me 💬

His fire burned out a long time ago 💬

Golden flower tea 💬

Wait, I'm sorry but in the comic where Killer almost cuts someone's eye out, is that Color or Nightmare? 💬

the short kings go for the kneecaps 💬

Hey, do you think it'd be funny if Killer and Nightmare gossiped about other people together? 💬

nah i can't belive killers just resting his head on nightmares lap like that while nightmare pets him 💬

If Nightmare knew about every spectrum he was on 💬

they, for no particular reason, are wearing cat ears

Cat coded Cross 💬

What is your opinion of Killer with freckles

Silat Sans

I think Toga and Ochako are very Colourkiller

Soriel

I was wondering if there were any nightmare ships you like? Romantically or Platoniclly 💬

Killer costume change

What do we think of apple twins being able to do photosynthesis because their mother is a tree💬

either think THEY'RE the taller twin and that's what they tell everyone

What do you think everyone smells like? Especially killer? 💬

do you think NM could grow or make shift wings out of his tendrils or goop?

Killer and lil Paps

Human Nightmare and Dream

Killer as Human?

I really want to lick Colors ankles

Nightmare likes to shift his fingers into something more claw like

Teddy

I think Dream deserves a gun

Your nightmare has the vibe of a scared stray cat 💬

[alone-on-takodana]

@lastdaysofwar Day two (I am behind) - Languages

K-Science

Feat. Bickering, some language, smoking and gratuitous Welsh

Everyone collects something. Mako collects postcards, and covers the wall in her quarters above her bed in them. Sunsets, cherry blossom, beaches and city skylines hiding the cold steel beneath. 

Herc Hansen, slightly predictably, collects beer mats and bottle tops. His wall is similarly decorated, together with an Australian flag and a pinned up rugby shirt. 

Dr Geiszler, as it turns out when they finally stop snarling at each other and start talking like grownups, collects languages. 

The drift has had the inconvenient side effect of giving Hermann terrible headaches when they fight, as though his own brain is being rattled. Besides, it feels more than a little odd to have fragments of Newt's memories, likes, dislikes, hopes and fears floating around in his conscious mind with no context. It's no good. He is going to be forced to get to know his walking disaster of a lab partner. 

As it turns out, they have more than a little in common. They discuss their Alma maters, their parents, music, film, sport (Hermann doesn't know an awful lot about music or sport, but he's happy to let Newt ramble on as he works), anything which will take the edge off their possible impending doom. Hermann talks a little about his collection of pipes, clay, wood, China, some painted or beautifully carved, tucked away in a drawer back in his room. 

‘I never knew you smoked? You seemed way too much of a hardass for anything like that’

‘I used to. Cigarettes, though. But, you know, asthma, and getting around is enough of a struggle, so I gave up when I was twenty five’ Hermann says cooly ‘And I'm only a hardass when you're being an inconsiderate jerk’

‘What because of a little mess? Dude, you really gotta learn to relax sometimes and - ah!‘ Newt, who has defensively gone up at least two octaves in tone, grasps his temple at a sudden sharp pain, an invisible screwdriver though the eyeball. ‘Motherfucker. Do you get those headaches too?’

Hermann nods ‘I don't think the drift likes us fighting. Or rather, our brains don't. So perhaps we should try and get along? I'm…’ This is almost as painful as the headaches, but only almost ‘I'm sorry I said you were a joke, Doctor’

‘Man, you really gotta drop the Doctor thing. Newt is fine, I swear. Please.’

‘Alright’ Hermann grumbles ‘Anyway…we were talking about our collections, I believe’

‘Oh, yeah! It's like, I used to have a bunch of action figures, star wars, Godzilla, Ghostbusters, that kinda thing, yknow?’ Newt gestures broadly with a scalpel, pushing his headlamp out of the way and making all his hair stick up alarmingly. 

‘I've never watched the second two, but I’m familiar’ Hermann feels a smile tug at one corner of his long mouth. 

‘Okay, first off we gotta do something about that -’ Newt ticks off on an index finger ‘And second, well, it's not like I could pack all that stuff up every single time I moved, right? Cos that was a bunch of times, like, from Germany to California and then I was in New York for like, ten minutes, and Berlin, Hong Kong, and like, everywhere, I guess.’

‘Seems a little sad though, not having anything of home, or any of the places you've studied’

‘Yeah, but that's the genius part, it's all up here’ He taps his temple, and grins

‘Well, I suppose you've always got the memories and-’

‘Nah, well, yeah - but not what I meant. I kinda like to learn something everywhere I go. Everywhere I've taught, or studied, or worked, I try and learn a language. Getting kinda good at it now’

‘Interesting. What happens if you go somewhere where you already speak the language?’

‘Then I pick a wild card’

‘Why?’

‘I dunno, man, why does anyone do anything? Did you never learn anything just because it was fun? To keep your mind busy?’

‘I preferred to keep myself sharp for my work.’

‘I guess, I think it sorta makes me a bit sharper, having something that's not work to think about’

‘How many are you on now?’

‘How many what?’

‘Languages’

‘Oh uh - I didn't really stop to count.’ He pauses for a moment, looking up at the rusting steel ceiling as he thinks. He's actually sort of gormlessly handsome when he looks off into the distance like that, Hermann muses to himself with a small smile. 

‘Ten, I think, those ones are fluent. And like, mostly fluent in five more. So, English and German, obviously, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Japanese, Thai, Arabic, and the two wild card ones were Swahili and Welsh’

‘Welsh?’

‘Yeah. It was kinda fun at the time’

‘Have you even been to Wales?’

‘No, never.’

‘Are you going to? ‘

‘I dunno, maybe? Why, do you wanna come with me, after we kick thousands of tonnes of Kaijuu ass back into the breach?’ He says, with a winning smile

‘If we live through it, maybe - wait. Hold on just a moment, if, can I-?’ Hermann is looking at him wild eyed, like he's just had an idea

‘Gonna have to be a little more specific than that, man, use your words-’

‘Wyt ti'n siarad cymraeg? Dyn ni’n siarad cymraeg?’ Hermann looks sort of confused and vaguely horrified as his mouth forms the words

‘Ydw.’ Newt grins broadly ‘Woah. I mean your pronunciation is a little off but like…yeah, man, you can speak Welsh too now. Perks of the drift, I guess. You probably also know how to crochet now.’

‘I'm sure that'll be wonderfully useful in my work. In contrast you now know where the mop is and how to clean the lab after yourself-’

‘I already did, man, come on, you can't say some of the stuff you got from this big sexy brain isn't at least kind of cool’

Hermann rolls his eyes ‘I'm sure I'll find a use for it one day. But in the meantime, have you eaten anything today? Because the non stop thinking about spicy noodles isn't me’

‘I mean, no, that's gonna take a little bit to get comfy with. Wanna have lunch with me maybe?’

‘You know, Newt, that might actually be nice.’

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for debating hiring outside help for my husband and I's house because we can't keep up alone?

For context: My (26 Fae ftm) husband (28M) live very happy and healthily together. While I'm unable to medically transition due to a bunch of reasons we'll get to, he has been nothing but a solid rock in my life and the one person that has always been on my side. Through dragging me out of an abusive household to helping me with my chronic illness, he's been an absolute angel despite dressing like the devil himself (he's goth). So I don't want any hate on him.

He is ADHD and I'm Autistic. Yes, hello, we are that couple~♡ This does cause us some issues tho as he is unmedicated and I'm just struggling in general with sensory issues for certain chores. So far we keep each other some what afloat, having him do chores that my sensory issues can't handle and my doing ones he can't focus through.

However, as previously mentioned I'm chronically ill. I won't get into many details but it's basically I'm internally bleeding at random intervals. And before people think I'm talking about just my period, no it's so bad that I have once had to go to the ER for a blood transfusion due to this internal bleeding and had times when I was bleeding for over 4 months straight.

My husband and I because of this condition are pretty much struggling financially. I can work but it makes me extremely fatigued since I'm essentially working with constant Anemia. It gets bad enough some days that he can't wake me up without over an hour of effort, even after I've slept 10hrs. The fatigue is REALLY bad. He works just as much as I do, sometimes more because his work is so shortstaffed and he likes to pick up extra shifts to try and save up for the surgery that would hopefully fix everything.

This has culminated though in us both being extremely exhausted near 24/7 for the last year-ish but we have finally hit a break. I recently got a huge pay increase (nearly $200 a week increase) so we are hopeful for the first time in months. We're starting to pay down my extreme medical debt and being able to just go get dinner when he doesn't want to cook.

Here's where I may be kind of TA... Despite this hope, my condition recently did get worse. I've now gone another 3 months still bleeding and having to suffer my Anemia symptoms and medication. This has caused me to fall massively behind on what should be my chores, and while my husband doesn't begrudge me it, it has caused our home to start becoming very, very unhygienic. As someone who grew up with a clean freak mother, it kinda upsets me. He's focusing more and more on me and less on the house so even his chores are falling behind too.

None of that is his fault. He loves me so much he wants to help Me first but it has gotten to where we are both going "we really need to clean the house..." but neither of us have enough battery to do so. Me becuz of my condition and he becuz he's stuck caring for me.

We have enough that we might be able to afford to hire a cleaning service to help us out, but it would cost us some of the freedom and paying down medical bills. I think it'd only be a temporary thing, once I recover from my current episode, we can probably get better... but I don't know how long it will be.

On top of this I'm worried paying for this service will further put off my surgery as we struggle to save up for it again... We've already had to tap into that savings cuz my current episode lost me 2 days at work.

Is it unfair for me to ask to use our new extra money for essentially my not wanting to have to bother doing basic chores? I know I'm tired but I've lived with it so long I could and should probably just push through.

What are these acronyms?