#fate is fine with drawing this kind of shit and so is bill but for me?? nooooo thank you!!

[reticent-fate]

part 4/26ish

eyes are gross get that thing off my screen

also ignore the lack of bubble tails shhh i totally didn't forgor to add them

from the beginning

[sugarsugarmoon]

Summary: The summer that you meet Kim Taehyung proves to be a cruel summer. kth x reader

“I’m drunk in the back of the car, and I cried like a baby coming home from the bar. Said, “I’m fine”, but it wasn’t true. I don’t wanna keep secrets just to keep you. And I snuck in through the garden gate every night that summer just to seal my fate.” Taylor Swift - Cruel Summer

Genre: angst, fluff, smut

Warnings: vaginal fingering, swearing, recreational alcohol use, protected and unprotected sex, impact play, light choking, everyone’s fingers in everyone’s mouths, smol amounts of exhibitionism, oral sex (f. receiving and m. receiving)

a/n: this is mostly just a story that I wrote a bunch of my friends into. Anyway, I didn’t even read it all the way through once. It could make no sense at all. It’s my your queen of not editing and not having someone beta read. I don’t remember who else I was supposed to tag. @moonpjms @glossyfever @onherwings @softguks​ @ot7always​

WC: 18K+

You pulled up your hood then firmly tucked your arms around yourself. You ducked your head as you ran across the street through the rain. The awnings covered most of the sidewalk, but the street was uncovered, rain splattering all over the black asphalt. The neon and LED lights from the shops bouncing off the wet ground, creating a constantly changing abstract art display. You felt yourself hesitate as you were coming upon the curb because you were entranced by the dancing colors.

Leaving work this late hadn’t been your plan today, but at least you’d come prepared with a jacket, knowing that the monsoon season tended to span most of the summer. You, however, had forgotten your umbrella at home. You admonished yourself in your brain for being such an airhead today, like always. Thank God for Find My iPhone, or you’d constantly be in trouble.

You look at the sidewalk ahead of you, still glinting with the lights from the shops and business, and you sighed in exasperation upon seeing the large sections ahead of you that had no awning. Normally it wouldn’t be a big deal, but you were supposed to meet friends tonight at a bar in Gangnam. You were already running behind, not to mention the 30 minutes on the train that you had ahead of you. Now, you also had to worry about looking like a drowned rat, with your hair falling stringy and wet around your face.

You stand at the edge of the awning as if you’re looking down a steep precipice for your inevitable end. You stand for one more second, close your eyes, and accept your fate. Before you can take a step into the downpour, someone clears their throat behind you. You turn quickly to see a tall man with dark shaggy hair standing a little too close to you. You can’t see most of his face because he’s wearing a mask and a hat with a bill, but his eyes are sparkling just like the lights off the wet pavement.

“You look like maybe you could use an umbrella,” he says, and you can tell just from his tone that he has a smile on his face.

Normally, you wouldn’t accept help from a strange man on the street, but it’s raining and you’re late.

You sigh and say, reluctantly, “Are you going anywhere near Saetgang station?”

He shifts his weight in an energetic kind of way. “As a matter of fact, I happen to be going to Saetgang station.”

He shifts his umbrella to his left hand and holds it over you more than himself. You walk with your shoulders touching, and after about 2 minutes, he talks. He isn’t looking at you, but you still know it’s for you because no one else is around.

“You can just call me Tae, by the way.”

“Oh, thanks,” you pause, unsure if you want to give him any more information about yourself than you have to; stranger danger and all that. “I’m y/n.”

“Y/n? That’s an unusual name for around here.”

“Well, I’m originally from the States, but I moved here when I was very young. My dad worked at the consulate and my mother was an English teacher, so I’ve been here most of my life.” You realize the insane amount of detail you’ve just given him, and you shake your head at yourself. To shift focus, you snap, “Besides, Tae isn’t that common for around here anyway. If you were traditional Korean, wouldn’t your name be three syllables? Whoever heard of a traditional ‘just call me Tae.”

“Hey! Come on. I’ve got a Korean name. I would just like to have a tiny bit of anonymity, thank you very much. Not all of us are open books, Ms. my-father-works-for-the-consulate.”

“Worked.” Your tone drops, and you keep your head down as you see the stairs down to the subway before you. You thank the universe or God or whoever was listening to the shouting in your head for the awkward interaction to be over.

As soon as you are down the stairs and out of the rain, you thank him and try to scurry off. Hopefully you’ll never have to see that jerk again.

You swipe your transportation card and make your way to the platform to wait for the next train. The train from Yeoui-dong to Gangnam comes every 12 minutes, and you have the times memorized in your head. The last train had come at 7:11pm. You look down at your watch. 7:22pm. Perfect timing you think to yourself. Despite being slowed down slightly by just-call-me-Tae, you were still perfectly on time.

When the train arrives, you clamber inside around the car stuffed with bodies. You find a place to grab the railing overhead and cast your eyes at the floor of the car. It’s best to avoid eye contact on the train.

After the first stop, the people inside shift around, and the shoes in front of you now are not the same as the last pair. The person before you before was wearing black shoes, the kind that are so shiny that you could see your reflection in them. These shoes are slip on loafers with a little decorative metal clasps on top. Something about them is familiar. Oh shit.

You draw your eyes up the slender frame before you, and you take in the muscles on his chest that you hadn’t noticed before. When you finally look at his face, he has a smug, amused grin showing his teeth. You roll your eyes, and then your heart speeds up.

“Are you following me? What do you want? I don’t have any money.”

His eyebrows shoot up his forehead. “Oh my god! No! We just happened to be on the same train! I’m meeting friends at SAHM in Gangnam, I promise!”

The panic in his tone makes you want to trust him, but you still remain wary. As his words set in, you roll your eyes again.

“Seriously? SAHM? Are you kidding me call-me-Tae?”

You know you didn’t tell him where you were going except to the station, but the fact that he says he’s going to the same bar as you seems too crazy to be coincidence.

“Yes?” he says, the surprise wiped from his face to be replaced by confusion.

“Why?” you ask to yourself in exasperation.

The train stops, and people shuffle around the car. You get pushed a little closer to the man in front of you, and you feel your cheeks redden.

“Well, my friend is hanging out with his girlfriend and her friends tonight, and they invited me and some other friends too.” He’s confused, and you want to call him an idiot for not realizing that the question wasn’t directed toward him.

He reaches into the pocket on his long, sweeping tan coat. You recoil ever so slightly from the unexpected movement.

He plucks his phone from his pocket and holds it toward you. “Dude, relax,” he laughs. “I’m not stalking you. I’m not going to murder you. You’re fine. I see you clutching that pepper spray. Use it if you need, but maybe just not in the confined train car.”

You become aware of the fact that your hand is in your purse, gripping your pepper spray, and you feel a little embarrassed. You mutter an apology.

“Look.” He holds his phone out to you.

Very clearly in the group chat he shows you are several people making plans to meet up at SAHM tonight. You roll your eyes again.

“If you keep doing that, they’re gonna get stuck like that.”

Every moment with this man is more embarrassing than the last, and you cannot wait for the ride to be over. Only one more stop before yours, and you can get off the train, mosey around the station for an inconspicuous amount of minutes before going to SAHM to meet your friends.

You ride the rest of the way to Gangnam with your eyes on anything but that embarrassing man, and he doesn’t push the conversation any further.

When the doors open, just-call-me-Tae bows slightly and says it was nice to meet you. Then he disappears into the sea of people in the station.

It’s about 30 minutes later when you finally make it to the bar, and you see your friends across the crowded space. The place has a kind of rustic feel to it, lots of wood and exposed brick. It reminds you of the hipster bars back in the states when you visited family last summer, and your cousin, Lindy, had insisted that you just had to try the new bar in town. You had a good time, but those fancy hipster drinks were stronger than you thought. You’d ended up drunk, flirting with the bartender. You even started an argument with Lindy when she refused to let you go home with a stranger in a country that you didn’t know well or speak the language perfectly.

You wriggle through the crowded bar to make your way to your friends. You smile at the sight of them all laughing and drinking together. Your friend, Rey, has her arm around the waist of a guy a little taller than her, who has a mask and a cap on, covering most of his face. You assume it’s her boyfriend, who she talks about non-stop but rarely goes into detail about.

Once you reach them, you see your friends’ beautiful faces and smile. They’re all gathered around a tall table, drinking and talking loudly. You say hello to all of your friends, hugging Rey last.

“y/n, this is Jimin. I’ve told you a little bit about him,” she shouts over the loud bar sounds, beaming up at him. She’s so precious when she’s in love.

She’s talked vaguely about Jimin for a long time, and you aren’t totally sure what his job is. You know that he travels a lot for work and that sometimes Rey goes with him. You know that she never says exactly where he lives or who his friends are or anything like that. She’s so smitten that you are so excited to finally meet him.

“Hi, Jimin. I’m so glad to finally meet you!”

You shake his hand and exchange pleasantries. His eyes are the only part of his face that you can really see, but they are full of light and excitement and joy. You feel overwhelmed by the feeling of happiness in your chest just from meeting your friend's boyfriend.

“y/n, I brought some of my friends along. Everyone else has already met them, but I’d love to introduce you.”

Jimin’s friends are all gathered together, talking and drinking. Jimin pulls each of them over to introduce them, the smile in his eyes shining above the mask. He finally pulls over a man with white shirt, when he turns, it’s undeniable that the face before you is the same one that you’d hoped to never see before. Luckily, you’re drunk and having fun, so you feel a little more relaxed.

“This is my best friend, Tae,” says Jimin. Tae shakes each of your hands, and when he gets to you, he hesitates as he says, “Nice to meet you.”

“Hi, I’m y/n,” you say, with snark dripping off your tongue.

“y/n? That’s such a unique and beautiful name.”

You blush a little bit, and you’re not sure why. You know he’s just making a joke, making up for what he said before. The alcohol pulsing through your body leaves you feeling a little hazy as you realize that you’ve been holding his handshake for too long. You yank your hand away from him and rub your cheek gently.

You turn from him and make your way back over to your friends. “y/n, you are so red!” exclaims Ahhyun.

You duck your head and cover your face with your hands. You’re just red because you’re embarrassed by Tae nothing else. You throw back the rest of your drink and track down the server to get another one.

After a few drinks, you are feeling silly and giggly with your friends. Everyone, including Jimin’s friends, decides to play a game around the table, and everyone is giggling and drinking. You’ve missed nights out with your friends like this, and for some reason, you keep finding yourself next to Tae.

Someone suggests that you all play suck and blow because apparently you aren’t actual adults with real jobs and retirement accounts. At least not tonight. You end up next to your friend Seoyeon on one side and Tae on the other. As the card goes around, you look up at Tae thinking about the fact that he has yet to remove the mask from his face. He sneaks the straw from his drink up under the bottom and drinks. You laugh to yourself at the silliness of it all.

“Are you going to be able to play with that mask on?” you ask him pointedly.

“Of course. You have no idea how strong my skills are.” He giggles and sets his drink on the table.

You finish your drink, and you feel that fuzzy feeling in your head that tells you that it’s probably time for some water. You watch the group pass the card from one person to another. Jinhee intentionally drops the card as she turns to her girlfriend, Ash, an adorable girl who is studying abroad in Seoul. You feel yourself blush as they kiss, and you melt a little bit more. You’re such a hopeless romantic, and love makes you so soft.

You get the card from Seoyeon and turn to Tae. He tries his hardest to hold the card against his mouth with his mask on, but it falls. Everyone laughs as he keeps his face close to yours.

“Oops,” he whispers. His tone hints that maybe it wasn’t an accident, but you can’t tell.

Suddenly, your mind is full of the image of you pulling down his mask and kissing his lips hard, tasting the sweet alcohol on his tongue. You want to put your hands in his hair and pull his hat off. His shirt is loose, and you long to see the shape of his chest underneath it. His collarbones are poking out of the top of his shirt, and you can see how perfectly your mouth would fit on them.

You are completely lost in the lustful thoughts when someone drops a glass on the floor, and it shatters. You realize the thoughts that you’ve been having, and you feel like the heat immediately shooting into your cheeks again. You decide to head to the bathroom to try to rinse your face with cold water. Maybe it will sober you up and keep these thoughts about Tae out of your head.

You splash the water on your face and wash your hands. This is the first time that you’ve looked in the mirror since before you walked in the rain, and you can see that your hair, while not as bad as it could be, is windblown and messy. Your fingers fumble through your hair until you get it slightly more presentable. You rinse your face once more, trying to wash away the redness in your face from the drinks.

When you stumble slightly as you exit the bathroom, and you trip slightly and grab onto the arm of the man that you trip into. You look up, and a tall gruff looking man is looking down at you.

“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry,” you mutter and try to slip away from him.

“Where are you going, cutie? You didn’t even introduce yourself yet,” he says as he grabs your wrist.

“Look, I should really get back to my friends.” You’re panicking a little, and you try to wiggle your wrist free of his grasp.

“Ah, honey, won’t you stay and chat a while with me?” he starts to pull you closer to him, and you yank your wrist away from him.

“Oh goodness, darling, there you are. I’ve been looking for you,” a male voice announces from behind you. When you whip your head around, Tae is standing there.

You scoot closer to him and grab his hand. “Sorry, babe, I didn’t mean to get lost. It’s just so crowded in here. I lost direction.”

The man who had been trying to get you to stay with him looks disgruntled as Tae pulls you into his side. Before he can say anything, Tae pulls the mask down from his face and the bill of his hat up a bit to reveal the absolutely gorgeous face before you. There’s something super familiar about it that you can’t quite place. Upon seeing his face, the guy mumbles some apologies and skulks away.

“Really? Your face scared him? That pretty thing?” you ask, drunker than you felt a minute ago.

Tae laughs and pulls his mask back up. Then something clicks in your brain. You’ve seen that face before in the subway, all over the television, all over the internet. Oh fuck.

“Thanks. I have to go,” you blurt out and slink away from him.

“Wait!” he shouts after you, but you keep moving through the crowd to your friends.

When you get to the table where you’d all been gathered and grab your bag. You say a quick goodbye to Ahhyun, seeing that Rey and Jimin are way too wrapped up in each other to notice. You slip out the front door onto the cool, wet sidewalk. Luckily, the rain has stopped, so you can walk briskly toward your apartment, your shoes slapping against the wet pavement.

When you’re a little way away from the bar, you slow your walk slightly, trying to process what just happened. Tae, who is an idol, had just attempted to protect your honor in public. Why was he even there? Shouldn’t he be...dancing or something?

You’re not sure why you’re so angry at him just for being who he is. Your ego is a little bruised in that you thought this guy might actually be interested in you, but there was no way that someone like him was going to be interested in someone like you. You’d seen the female idols and movie stars; he could have anyone he wanted.

You shake your head to try to get the image of him with a beautiful super model, laughing about the girl at the bar who flirted with him like a child by being mean to him. The sound of feet on the wet sidewalk pulls your attention away from your thoughts. You turn around, and you cannot believe your eyes. Tae is walking briskly toward you.

“You’re kidding me, right?” you blurt out, hoping he isn’t within earshot.

“Look, I know we don’t really know each other, but I felt like I connected with you in a way that I haven’t with other people,” he huffs out. “Plus, you didn’t look at me differently when you saw my face. I mean...you did, but it was almost disappointment on your face. You have to know how rare that is for me, right?”

You feel the corners of your mouth tugging back. You didn’t want to admit how beautiful you thought he was or that you thought his sense of humor was funny, but it was true. You were glad that he was here because the way it felt to stand next to him was warm and real.

“I just don’t really know what you want from me,” you say as you turn your face away from him.

There’s no way that a famous idol is standing in front of you telling you that your disappointment made him feel good. You shake your head again.

“Just...hang out with me. Just one time. It will be casual, and I don’t expect anything from you, but it’s worth it to me to try to see if we can even have a friendship. I like you. I think you’re funny.”

You blush and push your hair behind your ear. You inhale and exhale deeply, trying to slow your thoughts. You don’t want anything about your life to be in the spotlight; you don’t want to be seen in public with an idol. You don’t want to have sasaeng fans who wish death upon you for just being near their “one true love.”

“I don't know. The kind of attention you get isn’t the kind that I want in my life. I don’t want everyone in Korea knowing who I am.”

His eyes drop slightly, and his shoulders sink a little lower. “You won’t have to have that kind of attention. We have ways to make sure that you aren’t seen. We can be really careful. Come over tomorrow. We can have dinner, and I can show you that you don’t have to be in the spotlight.”

You pause and sigh. “Fine.”

You can see the smile in his eyes, and you fish your phone out of your bag. You open Kakaotalk and hand it to him. He sends himself a message and hands it back to you.

“Trust me. This is going to be fun,” he says.

“I hope so. I gotta get home though. Have a goodnight, Tae,” you mutter awkwardly.

“Thanks, y/n. I will. Thanks.”

He walks away quickly, and he turns back and looks over his shoulder once before you turn and walk away from him toward home, smiling to yourself.

*****

“Kim Taehyung!”

The shout greets Tae in the hallway as he makes his way toward the practice room the next morning. He has a little bit of a headache from drinking too much, but he doesn’t let that get him down. Tae still feels the way that it felt to hold your hand in the bar. He doesn’t want to be dramatic or anything, but he feels like you might be his soulmate. He would never say that out loud though.

The voice down the hall belongs to his manager, Minjoon, who is looking at him with disappointment in his eyes.

"Kim Taehyung, I cannot believe that you slipped your team again and spent the whole night out. At a bar, Tae? Really? What if you'd been seen? What if you'd been mobbed by people?"

Tae smiles at him, with the dreamy look still in his eyes. "But I wasn't. And Jimin was out too!"

Minjoon rolls his eyes at Tae and leads him away by the wrist.

"Yes, but Jimin took the proper precautions, and he took Beomseok with him."

Tae rolls his eyes and begins to walk away. "I'm sorry, okay? I won't do it again."

His manager lets him walk away, and he feels a damper starting to fall on his good mood that he thought that nothing could ruin. He makes his way to the practice room and flops down on the floor. Jimin is in there practicing hard in the mirror, hair pushed back off of his forehead and sweat shining on his brow. He ignores Tae for a couple of minutes, focused on getting the correct moves down. Finally, he looks up and sees the lump that is Tae lying on the floor.

"What's wrong with you? I thought you had a good night last night?"

Tae flops over again, so he's turned toward the mirror, looking at Jimin's reflection in the eyes. He brings his hand up and runs it through his hair. He lets the memory of your scent sink into his brain for a moment.

"Sometimes I just get so sick of not being able to be a normal 24 year-old. Not have to take security everywhere. Not worry about the spotlight. Don't you?" he asks, feeling the desperation in his voice.

"Of course I do. My relationship would be so much easier if I was able to just be a normal guy, but I chose this life. I think that Rey loves me, so she knows that this is the way that things have to be. It can be hard some days, but it's the way it is. Plus, Minjoon-ssi shouldn't have yelled at you. Beomseok hyung was there."

Jimin walks across the room to where Tae is lying on the floor. He encourages him to stand up, and when he finally gets Tae off the floor, Jimin heads to the boombox and puts on the song "My My My" by Troye Sivan. Jimin starts dancing silly all around the room, beckoning Tae to come dance with him. Soon Tae is laughing with him, and the two are singing loudly and dancing wildly around the room. When the other members come into the room, Yoongi rolls his eyes, and Hoseok joins in dancing.

After practice, while they have time to eat lunch, Tae decides to go ahead and shoot his shot. He opens KakaoTalk and pulls up your messages. The only thing in there is a message from him to himself.

Hey, y/n, I was wondering if maybe you'd want to come over for dinner tomorrow?

Now, all that he can do is wait. Wait for you to read it. Wait for you to decide. Wait for you to respond. Even though his schedule is very busy lately with press and practices, he feels like waiting for you has been the most important thing that he's waited for in a long time.

As he waits, he eats his Kimbap quietly. Namjoon comes up to him and sits next to him.

"Hey, Tae, are you all right?" he asks gently.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"You've been really distracted all day. Just kind of smiling into space."

Tae takes a moment to think back to his effort in practice earlier, and he realizes that his hangover and daydreams have made him noticeably less engaged than usual. Shit.

"I'm sorry, Namjoon-hyung. I will get my head back into it." He hangs his head slightly as he says it. Maybe having you come over tomorrow was not the best idea.

Namjoon sighs and wraps his arm around Tae's shoulders. "Hey, I know how you get. Just...don't put everything into this one person, okay?"

Before Tae can question it, Namjoon has gotten up to take his bowl to the staff before they start work again. He turns and looks at Tae one more time before he leaves the room to head to the studio. Tae sighs deeply and throws his head back on his shoulders. What am I even doing? he thinks to himself.

Your name shows up on his screen when he's all but resigned himself to not hearing from you. When he opens the message, he doesn’t know what else he had expected from you.

Fine.

His heart leaps slightly in his chest at the thought of it, and he smiles at his phone. Instantly, his mind is darting between all the things he wants to do and all the arrangements that he wants to make for you. For the rest of the day, he feels like he works hard enough to make up for how much he was dragging in the morning.

*******

Be ready at 8:00. I'll send a car for you.

That's not ominous at all you think to yourself. You weren't sure if this was a good idea, but you suppose if anyone can figure out how to sneak around fans and paparazzi, it's the famous idol who simply rode the subway with you last night.

You curl your hair slightly and slap on a small amount of makeup. You don't want to look like you tried too hard, but you didn't want to look like a total schlub either. When you look at yourself in the mirror, you actually are impressed. Trying not to look too long, you pull yourself away from your reflection as you start scrutinizing that your eyeliner is slightly uneven on each side. The last time that you'd done that, you had ended up with half of each of your eyelids covered in black liquid liner, and you'd had to remove the entire look at start over.

You had sent Tae your address the day before, so you assumed that you should just wait outside for the driver. The elevator ride down from your apartment is long and slow. You realize how mildewy and old the elevator smells, even though your building was built in the 80s. When the doors of the elevator slide open, you see a black town car with black tinted windows sitting in front of the front doors of your building.

You had never seen a car with such dark tint on the windows, but this must be the kind of car that Tae has to ride in all of the time to avoid being seen. You walk up to the car, your flats making your steps nearly silent through the lobby. You see your reflection in the pitch black car. A white crop top and a purple pair of cut off shorts with flats on your feet. The outfit had seemed like a perfect summer outfit that flattered all the right parts of your body without looking like you were trying too hard to be fancy or dressed up for a "date."

For all you knew, this wasn't even a date. It was just two people hanging out. While you were lost in thought, the driver of the car came around and stood next to the rear door.

"Miss y/n?" he asked in such a formal tone, that you felt taken aback. No one ever talked to you so formally. You were the youngest in your team at work, and you were so used to being everyone's dongsaeng that you didn't know what to do with all the respect he was giving you.

"Yes, thank you," you blurt out awkwardly.

He opens the door for you, and you clamber in. The ride is almost 45 minutes with traffic, there's always traffic in Seoul. You have plenty of time to think about all the ways that this could go wrong. Think about how you're going to see your face on all the gossip sites tomorrow. You hardly let yourself relax or breathe as you sit in the car. Maybe it won't be so bad. Or maybe it will be a nightmare.

Finally, the car reaches the first gate of an apartment complex, and the driver gives the man at the gate his idea. The security office records it in a big binder and waves him on.

"You'll need to get out your ID for the second gate, miss," he says back to you.

You fish your ID out of your bag and hand it up to him as he pulls up to the second gate. He hands the IDs to the security officer, who enters the information into his computer and wishes you both a good night. Wow. You didn't know what you expected, but it wasn't this. It makes sense though.

The car pulls into the garage, and after parking, the driver leads you through the concrete labyrinth. You have to check in at the front desk too and be led by someone else in a black suit to the elevator and up to the apartment.

When you get to the door, he knocks in a unique pattern and waits a moment before Tae swings the door open.

"y/n! Hi!" he exclaims. He is beaming, and the smile spread across his face is infectious.

Shit. He's so beautiful.

He leads you into the apartment where there is a chef in the kitchen who barely looks up at you. There is one man sitting in the living room, and no one else to be seen. The man on the couch turns around and grins at you, popping up out of his seat. His eyes scrunch up slightly as he smiles at you. Shit. He's so beautiful too.

"Hi, I'm Jungkook," he says as he extends his hand out to you.

You shake it, blushing. "hi, I'm y/n."

Tae seems to see the blush in your cheeks, and he puts his body slightly between you and Jungkook. You smile to yourself at the possessiveness and jealousy that he seems to feel for his roommate.

"Jungkook was just leaving. Weren't you?"

You laugh out loud at the obvious "hint" that Tae is trying to drop. Jungkook laughs too, and the two of you make eye contact.

"Actually, I wasn't. I was just going to hang out and watch TV for a little while." He gives Tae a teasing look, and Tae flushes from his neck up to his cheeks. There's a small pleading look in his eye. It must be hard for him because his whole life is surrounded by people, even though some of them are his friends.

"Oh, you know what? I actually told Laur that I would call her tonight, and I should probably go do that because I love her." Jungkook trails off slightly, making long hard eye contact with Tae. "it was nice to meet you, y/n. Have fun!"

Jungkook disappears into one of the doors down the hall. You turn to Tae after you watch Jungkook make his way away from you. Tae has a slightly hurt look in his eyes, but he tries to hide it from you with a smile.

"What? What's wrong?" you ask.

"No. Nothing. I just don't want you to feel like you can't hang out with the other members if you want to."

You grab the sides of his face and make him look at you. "I'm here for you. I agreed to hang out with you, not them."

He smiles at this and leads you to the couch. It's a huge sectional that takes up most of the room, and you follow his lead in sitting right in the middle, leaving a little space between the two of you. You are still hesitant and don't know him well. You aren't trying to cuddle up on the couch with him just yet.

He grabs the remote to turn on the TV. On the screen are the titles of literally hundreds of movies.

"We can watch whatever you want," he says in a more normal and steady tone than you've heard from him since you were on the train.

"Why don't you pick?"

He smiles huge, and from the look in his eyes as he reads each of the titles, he is in his element. Ultimately, he selects Midnight In Paris. Before he hits play, he looks at you to confirm his decision. You nod toward him gently and smile up at him. He's taller than you remember, even sitting next to you.

You watch the movie, laughing along at Owen Wilson, until the chef in the kitchen announces that food is ready. He graciously brings it to you, and there is so much to choose from you don't know what to choose. Kimchi jjigae, oi kimchi, samgyeopsal, galbi, and tons of other food are spread out on the coffee table in front of you.

"I don't know what you like...so I told him to just make some of everything. I figured you can't go wrong with the staples."

Tae sounds nervous, but it looks amazing. There's no way you could pass up a meal like this. The two of you lean over the table, watching the movie and laughing, and eat way more food than you had planned on eating.

Once you're finished, you lean back onto the couch, certain that you're going to fall asleep. Already, this has been so nice, but you realized that you've hardly talked to Tae at all. Your plan was to come here and get to know Tae better to decide if spending time with him was worth the struggle.

When the movie ends, Tae turns to you to ask what you think of the movie. You hesitate for a second.

“It’s not that I didn’t like it, but...Woody Allen?” you know you shouldn’t be starting into it the first time you’re hanging out.

His jaw drops slightly, but after a brief discussion, he agrees that it’s hard to separate the art from the artist and there are amazing directors who haven’t done even half of the terrible shit he did. You were impressed with his maturity, and you decided that you’d definitely give him a chance.

“Would you like a glass of wine?” he asks as you sit awkwardly in silence after that discussion.

You can’t think of a single reason that you should say no, and a glass of wine sounds delicious. “Yeah,” you smile. “Why not?”

Tae heads into the kitchen, and when he returns, you laugh at the comical size of the wine glass. It is roughly the size of your head, and even though it’s only half full, it is roughly the amount of two or three glasses of wine. 

“What? These are the only glasses we have,” he laughs along with you as he sets them down.

After you’ve had the entirety of one glass of wine, you are feeling lighter and looser and less awkward. You forget about the fact that Tae is one of the most famou men in the country, and you are just hanging out with your friend. The two of you talk about your childhoods and exchange embarrassing stories from high school.

You don’t feel yourself scooting closer to Tae, or maybe he’s scooting closer to you. His face is just a few inches from your face by the time you realize it, but you don’t want to move away from him.

“I’ve had a really good time with you, tonight, y/n,” he whispers, leaning even closer to you.

You can feel his breath on your lips, and you can smell his skin and his breath. The smell of the Cabernet mixed with lavender and vanilla, and it’s more intoxicating than any drink that you’ve had. The condensation his hot breath leaves on your lips makes your skin tingle. 

“I’ve had such a wonderful time, Tae.”

You close even more of the space between the two of you. There’s less than an inch in between your mouths. You can’t stop your lips from darting down to his mouth. Shit. He’s so beautiful. His mouth is a perfect pout with his pillowy lips tinted slightly darker red from the wine. When you look back up at him, his eyes are on your mouth too. You can see him tracing every curve of your lips. Your heart pounds in your ears at the thought of kissing him, touching him.

Tae moves to close the distance between the two of you. Your lips ghost across each other, but before you can fully feel the rose petals of his, you hear a key in the lock. You feel like a teenager being caught by your parents, so you jump back from him, putting at least a foot of space between you and Tae.

Tae turns toward the door and the gorgeous, thin-framed man coming through the door. Behind him is a tall, blonde girl who is stunning. Tae’s face is flushed from the wine and the embarrassment of the moment.

“Hi Yoongi-hyung,” Tae mutters as he averts his eyes. “Hi Soph.”

The man hardly acknowledges Tae, but the woman sends a warm smile Tae’s way. “Hi, Tae! How’s your date?”

Your eyes widen at the word date, and you choke slightly on the breath that you were taking in at the moment. Her eyes dart toward you, and she immediately turns pink. She immediately becomes awkward, and Yoongi turns toward her and laughs at the blush in her cheeks.

“Well, this has been sufficiently uncomfortable.” Yoongi turns to you. “Hi, I’m Yoongi. This is my girl, Soph.”

“Hi. I’m y/n, and I am, indeed, sufficiently uncomfortable.”

Yoongi laughs and then leads Soph down the same hallway that Jungkook disappeared into, entering a different door.

After they’ve been out of sight for a moment, you turn back to Tae and say, “I should actually probably head out,” rubbing your arm awkwardly, still warm in your cheeks.

Tae calls the car for you, and a few minutes later, the rhythmic little knock on the door tells you it’s time to go. Tae walks you to the door, and before it opens, he leans in and presses his lips to your cheek. A huge smile spreads across your face, and you’re sure the security agent can tell that something just happened between the two of you.

On the way out of the gates, you can see through the tinted windows the young women gathered around outside of the gates in a contained area. They are holding signs and wearing t-shirts with Tae’s name and face on them. It gives you an uneasy feeling in your stomach, but once you’re past them, you can’t help the warm feeling that is bubbling inside of you from the night.

*****

“You didn’t even kiss her?” Jimin asks, exasperated as he sits on the couch next Tae. The two sip wine together while the television plays in the background.

Tae groans and throws his head back, hand on his forehead. “I tried, but Yoongi-hyung ruined it. He came in right when I was going to.”

Jimin starts giggling uncontrollably, eyes shut tight. His laugh is infectious, and no matter how much Tae doesn’t want to laugh at his own misery, he can’t help but laugh that of course it was Yoongi who interrupted. Any of the other members would have been cool about it, but Yoongi just had to make a sarcastic comment. The two laugh for a long time, the wine pulsing through their veins. Taehyung feels grateful that they don’t have to work early tomorrow, but this was not the end to the night that he had hoped for.

Taehyung had an image in his head of him kissing you, fingers laced into your hair. He imagined what it would feel like to have your lips against his, the smoothness of them and how pert they are. You would have leaned closer to him and run your fingers over his neck. He would have slowly moved his hand up your leg, feeling your skin up to the frayed hem of your shorts.

Tae feels himself hardening in his loose linen pants and adjusts himself awkwardly. The thing about these loose flowy pants is that while sitting down, they don’t hide anything. He looks over to make sure that Jimin didn’t see, and when he’s confident that he didn’t, he relaxes slightly.

“I’m going to though,” he states.

“You’re going to what?” Jimin asks.

“I’m going to kiss her. I’m going to make her mine.” A smile stretches across his lips, and he sinks back into the couch to watch the rest of the show with Jimin.

*******

Three weeks after hanging out at Tae’s, you are sitting at your desk looking over an expense report that someone messed up the spreadsheet for. Everything in one of the columns is one row off, and you are trying to fix it and all of the equations.Your phone vibrates next to you, and you welcome the distraction from the tedious work.

You can’t help the smile that spreads across your face as you see Tae’s name appear on the screen. Though you hadn’t seen him in person since the day that you went to his place, you were able to text everyday and video chat a few times. Things with Tae felt simple, like he was your oldest friend in the world. You couldn’t believe how well he knew you even after such a short time of knowing you.

Tae: Tonight?

What a vague message. What did he want tonight? To video chat? To hang out? For you to do your laundry?

You: Tonight will be Thursday night, yes.

You are always a little sassy with him, and he dishes it right back. The dynamic that you’ve built between the two of you is natural. You’re pretty sure this what people mean when they say that two people have chemistry, though you’ve never really understood the expression.

Tae: Oh thank goodness. I thought it was Saturday, and I’m busy Saturday.

Tae: Since it’s Thursday, do you want to hang out tonight?

You smile. You’ve been looking forward to seeing Tae since the last time, and you want to be able to pick up where you’d left off before Yoongi had interrupted the two of you. After video chatting with Tae several times, you learned that’s just sort of Yoongi’s M.O. if he interrupts anything. Be awkward and sarcastic then move on. A solid technique.

You: I guess I can pencil you in.

Tae: Excellent. Be ready at 6.

You look at the clock, and it reads 3:30pm. You only have 2.5 hours before you’re supposed to do god knows what with Tae, and you know that you are not looking your best. You figure you can leave at 4:00 if your boss doesn’t see you and you ask Aecha to cover for you.

When she agrees, you thank her profusely, slip your purse off the back of your chair, and head out the door. You get out without any trouble and walk briskly toward your apartment building. Your head is swimming with the idea of seeing Tae and the possibilities for the evening. You’re trying not to get too ahead of yourself, but all you can see in your mind’s eye is the shape of his body.

It’s been months since you were even interested in a man. You’re most recent ex, Yongsoon, had been a delightful man, but he was so boring and predictable. You never felt challenged by him. You never felt like he was that passionate about anything. You’d ended things, and even during the break up, he’d seemed so apathetic about the whole thing.

Tae didn’t feel like that. He was bright and vibrant. He had so many passions, from art to film to fashion. He made you feel like you could shine as bright, reach as high as you wanted. He also made you feel like you wanted to see what was underneath his whole clothes.

You shake your head as you unlock the door to your apartment. Stop being lustful, y/n! You rush around your apartment, trying to make your hair and make up look better. You decide that tonight, you’d like to wear a skirt. In the heat of mid June, you wanted to be able to move freely. Plus you loved the way that your black skater skirt swished when you walked or twirled. On top, you wear a purple shirt, tied up at the waist.

When your phone turns over to 6:00, you take one last look in the mirror, grab your bag, and try not to sprint down the stairs. Outside, once again, you can see the black town car with tinted windows waiting for you. The sight of it makes your heart leap a little, and you smile again. Everything about Tae makes you smile.

The driver meets you at the rear door, and he lets you into the vehicle. Expecting it to be empty, you jump a little upon seeing a figure inside. Sitting on the driver's side seat, Tae is wearing black slacks, a button up shirt, and beret-type hat. He has his mask pulled down around his chin, and he’s beaming at you. You climb in next to him, mumbling a hello as you get comfortable.

“Didn’t expect me to be here, did you?” he asks, with a sly grin on his face.

“I honestly didn’t know what to expect. You just told me to be ready. You didn’t even tell me what.”

He laughs, amused at his own vagueness. “It’s best if you only know what you need to know.”

“Well, can I know where we’re going now?”

He smirks at you and then announces, “We’re going to Ihwa Mural Village!”

He can’t be serious. A public place? While it’s light outside? With an idol? You start to panic as you think about all the possibilities of things that could go wrong. He could get rushed by people. You could get hurt. He could get hurt. It was far too risky.

Seeing the panic in your eyes, he blurts, “Don’t worry! I went the safe route this time. I have security who are going to be there, and we should be in the clear. They’ve cleared it out for a filming. We did everything we needed to keep us safe.”

You relax slightly, but you still know that people crowd around movie sets and things like that on the street. You know that Tae would never do anything to intentionally hurt you, but you are terrified.

“Hey,” he grabs your hand and squeezes it with his. “It’s going to be okay, I promise.”

The feeling of his warm palm in yours is comforting and feels like home. You wiggle your fingers slightly, just to take in the sensation of each of his between each of yours. 

“Okay. I trust you,” you mutter, trying to believe your own words.

The car pulls up into an area that you’ve seen before and know is usually crowded. This time, there are only three men outside, all wearing black jeans. Tae pulls up his mask and pulls down the brim of his hat. You pull your mask over your face, wishing you’d known to bring a hat with you today, but hoping everything would be fine.

After a while of walking on the deserted street, looking at murals, making jokes, and taking pictures, you get lost in the moment with Tae. You let yourself breathe into the way that his hand feels in yours, the warmth of his body next to yours. His scent is soft and subtle, just like him.

After about an hour of walking around Ihwa, he asks if you’re hungry. You smile broadly at him, but quickly realize that half of your face is covered with cloth. 

“Yes, I am starving!” you exclaim, feeling the hunger pangs in your stomach for the first time. You had been so distracted with Tae that you forgot that you hadn’t eaten since breakfast.

Tae laughs, and he leads you back to where the car was parked. The driver lets both of you into the car, and Tae thanks him by name. He slides over to the seat in the middle and wraps his fingers around your knee while you ride together. You feel him slowly creeping closer to you, and you know that if you turn it’s all over. Isn’t this what you want?

While driving through a tunnel, you turn your face to see Tae’s. His eyes are searching your face, and you can’t resist it anymore. You move toward him and press your lips to his. It’s soft and sweet, and he moves his mouth slowly, positioning his bottom lip between yours. You shift slightly, so you can turn toward him more. He wraps his hands into your hair, running his fingers along your scalp. Your hand traces its way over his shirt along his collarbone. You can feel the heat growing between your legs, but you become aware of the third person in the car.

You pull away, panting slightly, and drop your head, cheeks burning. You can’t wipe the stupid grin off of your face if you wanted to, but you don’t care because the way that Tae’s mouth felt against yours is burned into your brain forever. You’ll never forget how he melted like chocolate on your lips. Or how he tickled your scalp just right while his exhales made the peach fuzz on your face stand on end. Your senses feel heightened after kissing him, and you know that you want to do it again.

The two of you ride the rest of the way in silence, with your fingers entwined on top of your knee, and you can’t help but think that this is maybe the beginning of something wonderful.

When you get to the gate of the apartment complex, you try not to look at the crowd of people who are wondering if Tae is in fact inside this car. You pull your ID out of your wallet, and Tae pushes your hand down.

“You only have to do that when you aren’t with me.”

Once inside, he leads you to the apartment. Before he opens the door, he turns you around to face him. You’re looking up at his perfect face. He is so smooth and symmetrical, and you feel so homely next to him. He plants his hands on the wall behind either side of your head, and he leans down to you. He gives you a quick kiss on the forehead. Then the nose. Then each cheek. Then the lips. It’s so soft and sweet that you think you’re going to melt or explode or both.

He unlocks the door and leads you inside. In the kitchen, a chef is preparing food again.

“Dude, how do you do that?” you gawk at the man working in the kitchen.

“Do what?” He follows your eye line and laughs. “Oh, Bonhwa-ssi? I texted in the car. He works for us, and he’s the greatest guy ever.”

Bonhwa looks at the two of you briefly, then he goes back to chopping and preparing. You can see that this meal is a little different from the last one, but you are so excited to eat anything that your mouth starts to water.

The two of you hang out at the dining room table until Bonhwa brings over the hamburgers and sides he’s prepared. Tae is smiling at his food, and you get to see him just as he is. One bite in, and you know that you’ve never had a hamburger this good before. You try to force yourself not to eat too fast, but you can only restrain yourself so much because it is so good.

After you eat, the two of you sit at the table just staring at each other for a while. You feel a little sleepy, but you don’t want to miss a moment with Tae.

“Do you want to see my room?” Tae asks awkwardly.

You aren’t sure if he genuinely wants to show you his room or if this is his awkward attempt at getting you into a more private space. On both fronts, you are more than happy. You want to see the inward private space that’s kept only for Tae, not for the public figure. And you would be more than happy to have some private time with Tae because you can’t stop thinking about the way he felt against you.

You nod, and he pushes back his chair from the table. He helps you up onto your feet and leads you by the hand down the hallway. He opens the third door in the hallway, and upon entering the room, you feel Tae in every inch of the room. In the corner are canvases, blank and painted, stacked in the corner, and an easel stands tall above them. A desk sits in the other corner, scattered with pens and pencils. It looks like he’s been brainstorming or planning or writing, and to the small messes side there is a nice desktop computer. You don’t know too much about gaming computers, but you do know when you see a nice one. This one is definitely a nice one.

His bed is made with a gray comforter on top, and there are lamps on either bedside table. He flicks them on quickly and shuts off the overhead light.

“I hope you don’t mind. I just like the ambient light better,” he says quietly, making his way across the room to you.

Every picture in the room draws your attention. There’s one large painting on the wall. It looks like an acrylic painting done with a palette knife. It’s beautiful, and the muted colors swirl together to create intricate patterns.

“This is so beautiful, Tae. Did you do this?”

He chuckles a little and sneaks in behind you, wrapping his arms around your waist, resting his chin on your shoulder. “I wish. No, I bought this one. I hope someday to be able to do that.”

Seeing the things that Tae loves and hearing his aspirations as an artist fill your heart with warmth. His fingers sneak along the top hem of your skirt, tickling your skin and make you shiver in place. You let him continue to do it, and you drop your head back against his shoulder.

He pulls you closer against him, your back flush against his chest, and you can feel the growing stiffness in his pants against your ass. You smile. Knowing that you made Tae excited like that causes your chest to swell with pride. 

He has the option of any woman in Korea and probably the world, and he is choosing you right now. His fingers continue to dance along the skin of your waist and the top of your skirt. They slowly dip under the waistband, tracing small circles under the fabric. You can’t control the small moan that leaves your mouth when his fingers creep into the waistband of your panties.

He exhales sharply, and you feel him press against you. His other hand makes its way to the bottom of your shirt and ghosts underneath the cotton. You are rapt in the smell and the feel of him. You never want anything but his soft skin to be touching you again.

“Is this okay?” he whispers into your ear before he continues.

“Yes, it’s so much more than okay.” You turn your head, and your lips find one another. This time the kiss is desperate and pleading. It feels like if you don’t kiss him without enough passion, he won’t know how badly you want him. All of your desires try to escape off your tongue, dancing against his. Your hands try to find purchase on his hips, and you grip him on the top of his pants. One hand slides to the bulge that’s pressing against his pants and against you. His cock is hard and thick, and you immediately feel wetness pooling in your panties the second you touch it.

All you can think is how badly you want that cock in your hand, in your mouth, in your pussy. You want all of him tonight, even though you know it’s a little improper. Tae’s fingers dip all the way into your panties while the other hand finds your nipple. He gently pinches it between his index finger and thumb. He rolls it carefully, and the arousal shooting to your core is almost overwhelming. His other hand is tracing small circles through the wetness between your legs. He slides his fingers up and down your slit from your entrance to your clit. He moans a deep, low groan into your neck.

His wrap around the skin on your neck, teeth nipping at you. His breath is hot on your neck, and you lean further into him. He slips one finger into your entrance, and you inhale sharply. He begins a slow pace with his finger inside of you, just barely giving you what you crave before pulling back out again.

His teasing sets you off. You turn around to him and kiss him hard, caressing his tongue with yours. You drop to your knees before him and glance up at him, smiling, before your fingers undo the button on his slacks. Once you have his pants undone, you yank them to the floor. His cock is pleading to escape the confines of his underwear and who are you to deny it. When you pull him out, your mouth immediately waters at the sight of it. It’s thick and smooth, and you cannot wait any longer to have it inside of you. 

You let one droplet of spit fall slowly from your mouth onto the shaft of his cock. You use your tongue to swirl the wetness around it, making him slick for you to take him all the way in. Your hand wraps around the base, and, as you look up into his eyes, you slide him into your mouth. With his cock inside your mouth, you use your tongue to massage the head, slowly flicking it around the tip. Tae groans.

His hand slides into your hair, gripping it firmly. You bob your head up and down slowly, taking in all that you can, using your hand to rub it up and down as you take it into your throat. You press your face against his pubic bone, the hair tickling your nose slightly, and Tae’s hips thrust slightly further down your throat. You gag around him, and he moans again. You moan around him, knowing the vibration will feel good, plus you are so beyond turned on.

You feel his cock pulse slightly in your mouth, hardening further. He pants and uses your hair to pull your mouth away from him.

“Fuck, you make me feel so good. I’m going to cum too fast.”

You smile at his words, using your tongue to wipe the spit off of your fingers. His eyes widen and he pulls you up to his level. “Get over here.”

Tae picks you up and throws you gently against the bed. He stands above you and rips his shirt off over his head, tossing it aside. His fingers slide up your thighs and loop around the waistband of your panties. He pulls them off, leaving your skirt on.

“You’ve been teasing me all day in this skirt, haven’t you? You knew how good you looked in it when you were getting dressed.” He’s panting a little and his hair is sticking to his forehead slightly at the sweaty spots.

The gruffness of his voice and his words are making you a wanton mess for him. You know that you look good in this skirt. You know that it’s pretty short and shows off your legs. You, however, did not know that it would have this effect on Tae. With your panties thrown aside, he pulls your shirt over your head, revealing the lilac lace bralette that you have on underneath.

“Fuck,” Tae whispers to himself, eyes raking over every inch of your tits.

Tae climbs on top of you and plants his lips against your neck. He’s teasing the delicate skin and leaving little nips all over your chest and collarbone. His mouth makes its way down to your breasts, and he pulls each one gingerly out of the cups of the bralette. He marvels at them for a moment  then takes your right nipple into his mouth. You moan immediately, having extra sensitive nipples.

“Tae,” you moan out, hand lacing into his long dark hair. “Please.”

He looks up at you smiling. “Please what, darling?”

“Please....” you’re a little embarrassed to say, but you’re too turned on to care. “Please fuck me.”

He growls in his chest and pushes himself away from you. At first you think that you’ve offended him, but then he opens the drawer of his bedside table. He pulls out a condom, holds it up, and smiles at you. You take it from his hand, tearing the packaging to get the little latex shield out. Rolling it on to his cock, you can feel how hard he is, and you get even more aroused, looking at it and feeling it.

Once the condom is in place, Tae lies you back on the bed. He aligns himself with your entrance, and before he pushes himself inside of you, he asks, “You’re sure this is okay?”

You blush slightly because you did just moments ago beg him to fuck you, but you smile up at him. “Yes, Tae. I am so so okay with this. Please.”

He smiles and pushes himself slowly inside of you. Your eyes meet his as he hovers above, his eyes growing in intensity. His thrusts are rhythmic and deliberate, and you can’t believe that you feel like you’re going to cum already. Your fingers claw at his back, and you know that you’re leaving little scratch marks behind.

Soon, he pulls his cock almost all of the way out of you and thrusts it back inside, less gently than before. Your hands, unable to control themselves, grip firmly on his arms. You can feel how wide your eyes are, and you gasp for air as he does it again. Your head is growing foggy, and you feel yourself hurtling toward your orgasm, unstoppable. 

Your pussy pulses around his cock, and Tae moans out your name. The sound of your name falling off his lips while he’s inside you is enough to send you over the edge. You feel the muscles in your pussy contracting, and your clit feels like it’s covered in warmth. The orgasm tears through you, and your mind goes completely blank, only pleasure exists.

“Fuck, you’re squeezing me so tight,” Tae pants out. As you come down from your orgasm, he starts thrusting faster and less rhythmically.

“Cum for me, Tae. Please,” you say, and that’s all it takes to send Tae over the cliff. He moans deeply and spills inside of the condom with his buried deep inside of you. His breathing is rough and jagged, and you can feel all of his muscles clenching. You run your fingernails gently over his back as he comes down. The two of you stay there wrapped in each other for a moment.

With a sigh, Tae pulls his softening cock out of you. He slips the condom off and tosses it into the trash. “Stay here,” he says and disappears into the bathroom.

At this moment, you’re very glad that all the guys don’t have to share one bathroom. When he returns, it looks like he’s washed his face and gotten all the wetness off his cock. He tosses you a warm, wet cloth.

“You can use that bathroom if you need to.” He points from where he just came, and you smile at him, popping up off the bed to go take care of yourself.

When you come back out of the bathroom, Tae is standing there in his underwear, looking much more shy than his behavior just minutes ago.

“Just so you know, I wasn’t planning on that happening. I don’t want you to feel like I just brought you here for that.” He rubs the back of his neck and looks at you through his eyelashes.

“Tae, it’s okay. I really enjoyed it.”

“I just don’t want you to think that I’m just trying to use you or something. I’m not like that. I really care about you.”

You don’t know how to comfort him or make him feel validated. You hadn’t at any point in time thought that he might be using you. You’d been having filthy thoughts about him since the train ride that first night. You cross the room to him and throw your arms around him. Your fingers run through his hair at the nape of his neck.

“Tae, I asked you to fuck me. I wanted this more than I care to admit. You looked so good in that outfit today. I couldn’t help myself.”

He wraps his fingers into your hair and pulls your head back gently. He angles your head so that your mouth is free for him to kiss. He presses his mouth hard against yours. Your lips are swollen and bitten, but you kiss him back with all the affection that you're feeling. You part your lips for his tongue as it snakes back into your mouth. You feel yourself getting aroused again, and you laugh into Tae’s mouth.

“Tae, I worked all day. I kind of want to just take it easy,” you say against his mouth, immediately regretting it when his breath is no longer on your lips.

He laughs and pulls you into a hug then lets go. He walks over and picks up your shirt for you. You still have your skirt sitting on your hips where he left it, and you adjusted your bra in the bathroom. With your shirt adjusted on you, you watch Tae put on a shirt and a pair of loose comfy pants.

“Want to watch a movie?” he asks.

You smile up at him, taking his hand. “As long as it isn’t Woody Allen.”

***

After that night in Tae’s bedroom, whenever the two of you are together, you struggle to keep your hands off of each other. Whether you’re in the kitchen at the apartment, in the car together, or in Taehyung's room, you are touching each other somehow.

Being with Tae feels amazing when you’re together, but it’s hard because he is so rarely around, and you can’t have normal dates with him. After about 3 months of talking, you’ve only seen each other a few times. You feel grateful for the time that you have with him, but half the time he is too exhausted to do more than lie on the couch or in his bed together.

You love the way that Tae makes you feel, but you don’t love the way that you feel when you see him on some gossip site. You know they’re just fishing for whatever story they can get, and his name gets clicks. It still doesn’t feel good. You have mixed feelings about everything in your relationship, but you keep it to yourself.

One Friday afternoon, Tae texts you to make plans for the weekend. You see the text, but you are swamped with work and ignore it. Two hours later, he texts you again, asking if you’re angry with him.

You: No. I’m not angry. I’m just busy. What’s the plan?

Tae: I’ll pick you up at 7 tonight. I’m taking you to dinner.

Tae: AND BONUS! You can stay over tonight if you want.

You haven’t been able to stay the night at Tae’s place throughout your whole relationship because he has manager’s coming in early every morning. The other member’s girlfriends tend to leave around the same time that you do, and you’ve made friends with some of them. You feel your heart flip slightly as you read the words. You smile to yourself, trying to plan what cute jammies you’re going to take and then not wear.

When Tae picks you up, you’re wearing a dress with lace panties underneath. You made yourself up a little bit, but you figured you didn’t need to dress too nicely since dinner with Tae was always just at his house. When the driver, Beoseon, opens the door, you are taken aback by the site of Tae in a suit. He looks deadly, and you feel sinful just looking at him.

“Wow. I feel underdressed,” you say as you kiss his cheek.

“No way. You look amazing!” he says as he gives you a cheeky look that you have grown to recognize from him. “I have a special plan for us tonight.”

The two of you are all smiles in the car, hands searching each other. You hook your fingers into the waistband of his trousers, and you sneak your way into his pubic hair, resting at the base of his cock. You don’t wrap your hand around it, don’t grab on to it. Instead, you just run your fingernails gently over the skin through the hair. Teasing Taehyung is one of your favorite things because he’s normally silly and mild mannered, but as soon as he gets aroused, he becomes a determined little demon.

Tae sits still, smirking over at you while you tease. You can feel him growing harder, but he doesn’t reveal any of it on his face. Working Tae up just means that things are going to be better for you later. You smile to yourself thinking of all the things that the two of you could do.

“So, what are we having for dinner tonight?” you ask casually, as your fingers caress his cock gently, and you look up at him.

“Like I said, I have something special planned. It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you. Though, if you keep that up, I’m gonna have something else in store for you too.”

The car turns a different way than it usually would to take you to Tae’s place, and you look at him with surprise. He has only taken you out the first time when you went to Ihwa Village. You’d had so much fun wandering around looking at the art with him, but you were worried about being in a public place. It was Friday night. Places would be busy. People would be walking wherever you went.

The car pulls into a service parking lot under the Horim Art Center, and you look at Tae confused. You go in through the employee entrance and take the elevator up. When you walk through the doors of the restaurant, the entire place is empty except a server, a bartender,and the kitchen staff. You turn to Tae and smile. He takes your hands in his and pulls you along to the table.

“Only the best for you, jagiya.”

The man leading you to the table pulls out a chair for you and then for Tae. This place is so fancy, and you feel a lot underdressed in your summer dress. You feel like this is the kind of place that you need to be dressed to the nines in high heels with your hair actually done instead of messily curled when you got home from work.

“Kim Taehyung, you did not tell me that I needed to be dressed for a place like this,” you glare at him.

He laughs. “y/n, you do not need to be dressed up. It’s just you and I here. We aren’t trying to impress anyone.”

“Well, maybe I’m trying to impress you,” you coo, trying to use your seductive tone on him.

Realizing that it’s just the two of you in the restaurant, you are determined to get him worked up. You slide your hand sneakily under your dress, and Tae quirks his eyebrow at you. You remove the black lace in one swift movement and the reach under the table to place it in Tae’s hand. It’s a little more awkward than you’d pictured, but it does the trick when the warm fabric hits his hand. You see his eyes widen at the feeling of them.

“Is someone feeling a little naughty?” he asks.

You wink at him and open your menu like nothing just happened. The food on the menu is all super expensive, and you are taken aback by the prices on it. You wouldn’t spend this much on dinner, opting instead to just go to the barbecue by your house. You look at Tae, and he’s smiling softly at you, an intimacy in his eyes that you haven’t seen before.

The waiter comes over and Tae orders wine for you, and you order your food.

“Tae, you shut down this whole restaurant just for me?”

“Of course not. That’s absurd.” When you cast him a confused look, he smiles. “I shut down the whole museum.”

You can feel the heat in your cheeks as the flattery overwhelms you. You know that he’s rich and famous and can do things like this but still.

“We can eat and take in some of the museum...then go back to your place maybe?” he asks.

What? What is happening? I thought he said you could stay the night with him, not him staying the night with you.

“What?” you blurt out after finishing your sip of wine.

“I’ve just never seen where you live. Not in person anyway. I just want to feel what it feels like in a space that you created.”

Your heart feels like it’s going to fucking explode. You absentmindedly start running your foot up the inside of Tae’s leg, and you reach for his hand across the table. He grabs yours loosely with one hand, and the other hand snags your foot and pulls it up toward his crotch. While the waiter delivers your food, Tae slides your shoe off, and you press your foot gently against the bulge in his pants. You can’t even start eating yet you are so focused on the way that Tae feels in your hand and against your foot.

You adjust the way that your fingers are intertwined and move both of your hands toward your mouth. Your tongue creeps out of your mouth, and you lick up the length of his pointer finger. With a satisfied little smile, you pull your fingers away and sink your whole mouth down onto the finger, sucking slowly up the length of it, staring into his eyes. There is a fire behind his eyes, and he growls a little under his breath.

“Filthy girl. We should eat dinner, and then you can tease me some more.”

“Though this food looks amazing, it’s not really what I’m craving right now, Tae,” you pout.

“Tell you what. If you eat your dinner like a good girl, you can come sit in my lap.”

Tae chuckles to himself, placing your foot on the floor, adjusting himself, and picking up his chopsticks to eat. He looks like he’s proud of the comment he’s just made, and you roll your eyes at him. You can’t deny that the comment sent heat straight to your core, but you don’t like proving him right.

You straighten your napkin in your lap and begin to eat. You look at him through your lashes, but you make sure to hold your posture perfectly like you are unaffected by his comment. The two of you eat silently for a few minutes before picking conversation back up.

When you finish eating, Tae takes you on a tour through the whole museum. He shows you all of his favorite exhibits, and the two of you spend much of the time laughing and kissing. You aren’t sure if he’s forgotten that he has your underwear in his pocket or if he’s just biding his time, but you love the little game that you’re playing.

By the end of the evening, your heart is full to bursting with the love for the man with you, and you don’t ever want to let go of his hand.

“Tae…” you pause.

He raises his eyebrows and looks at you with that curious, dark stare of his, and you feel like you’re going to melt.

“You feel like home.”

The smile that rips across his face feels like the first warm day of the spring. It wraps you up in its comfort, and you feel yourself falling even deeper for him in that moment. There are things about his life that you don’t love, but you know that you love him.

“y/n, no one has ever felt more like home to me than you do.”

You can’t control yourself, and you throw your arms around him, pulling him tightly against you while you kiss his lips. This kiss feels different, like the first kiss after saying I love you. But I love you means so many different things to so many different people, and the feeling of being home feels right to you.

Later that night, you are lying naked on Tae’s bed, hair tousled, feeling exhausted. You and Tae are having your designating scrolling time on your phones, and you hear him whisper, “Oh fuck.”

“What’s wrong?” you ask him softly, worried that something has come up with the band.

“I-I have to go.” He shoots up off the bed and throws a pair of pants on quickly before darting to the door.

You look flabbergasted at him, worried that something is really wrong.

“I’ll be back soon. I promise.”

He disappears out the door, and you’re left to wonder what you should even be doing.

*********

“This is so bad,” Tae groans as he holds his head.

He’s pacing in the kitchen while Jimin is trying to comfort him.

“Honestly, it can’t be that bad. The company will take care of it. There were only so many people there, they’re going to find who did it.”

“It’s….just...these pictures are bad, hyung. They’re really bad. Look.”

He hands his phone to Jimin whose eyes widen upon seeing the pictures on the screen. Tears are starting to roll down Tae’s cheeks, and he looks at Jimin wildly. Jimin wraps his arms around him and holds him closely. Neither man is really sure what to do.

On the screen of Tae’s phone are several slightly grainy photos of him in the restaurant earlier that night. Your face is completely visible, and your tongue is running along his finger in one of them. His finger is in your mouth in another.

“This is so bad,” he sobs out. “I can’t believe I did this to her.”

While Jimin is telling him to just breathe, you emerge from Tae’s room, hair messily thrown up. You look confused and as soon as you see the tears in Tae’s eyes, you run to him.

“y/n, I fucked up,” he whispers.

“Tae, it’s going to be okay. Shhh. Breathe through it. Tell me what happened.”

The way that you’re looking at him with so much concern in your eyes about something that he’s done to you, the last thing that he ever wanted to happen to you, something he promised wouldn’t happen. He can’t say it, so he just picks up his phone and hands it to you.

“What the-” you trail off as you look at the pictures retweeted by hundreds of thousands of people already.

Your face turns white as you look up from the screen at Tae. Your expression is grim, and he can’t tell if you’re angry or sad or numb. He’s so worried about what you’re going to say as you look at him. Instead of saying something, you turn and walk down the hall back into his room. He looks puzzled at the door, unsure what the hell you’re doing.

You return with your bag that you brought to stay the night and your phone in hand. You don’t look at him as you walk out the front door of the apartment.

“Wait, y/n, wait!” he shouts after you, taking off down the hallway.

Jimin catches him and holds him firmly in place, deceptively strong for his size.

“You have to let her go. You have to let her handle this on her own.”

The hot tears are gushing from Taehyung’s eyes, and he feels like a volcano of devastation is erupting out of him. He isn’t sure he’s ever sobbed this hard and definitely not in the last few years. His stupidity and carelessness caused you to be photographed with him. He is the reason that risque pictures of you are now online. He knows that the company will catch them, if they haven’t already, but it’s not consolation for the cost of losing you.

******

Your chest heaves as you ride in the back of the car. Beoseon is silent, but you can see his eyes flitting back to you in the rearview mirror every couple of minutes. You wish it wasn’t such a long trip home. You just want to get out and walk and feel the cool air on your face. This car is suffocating, the air inside stale and recycled. You ride in the back of the car until you can’t take it anymore. Beoseon pulls over and lets you out, and you take off briskly down the sidewalk.

You breathe in the humid midsummer air, and you think that this has to be a joke. Taehyung and Jimin had to be playing the worst prank of all time on you. He was going to call you any moment and tell you “gotcha! Jimin took them!”

It wasn’t though. You weren’t going to get that call because you say the tweet. You saw the retweets. You didn’t even want to think about the comments on it. You just want to go home and become one with your bed. You wonder if The Secret applies to becoming furniture.

You wonder to yourself why Tae hasn’t even texted you yet. You feel like this would be one of those things that he would continually text you about like that time that he thought he’d made you angry when you were arguing about mint chocolate ice cream. This was a much bigger thing than fucking ice cream, and now, radio silence.

You turn the corner, and the breeze against your skin feels calming. You can feel yourself sweating, and you realize you left your underwear at Tae’s house. You don’t even care. You left your dignity in the restaurant when you had your lips wrapped around his finger. How could you be so stupid? Nothing is private. Especially not when you’re with him.

The tears come again as you make your way up the stairs to your apartment. It’s only a matter of time before you’re getting calls from people. It doesn’t say your name anywhere, but you know how stan twitter works. They’ll find anyone and dox them.

Once in your apartment, you strip down and put on your comfiest sweater and sweatpants. The air conditioning makes you feel as chilly outside as you do inside. You can’t believe this is happening. You can’t believe you let this happen. You curl up on your bed on top of the covers and fall asleep, face wet from the tears soaking into your pillow.

You didn’t leave the house or go online all weekend. Instead opting to clean your entire apartment and reorganize your entire bedroom. You felt a little better being away from the situation. You felt worse knowing that Tae hadn’t called or texted at all. It seemed like he’d completely resigned himself to you leaving and wasn’t going to fight for you at all.

You had resigned yourself to showing your face at work on Monday, and you hoped that you would have a normal day. When you walked into the building, everything was completely normal, almost everyone ignoring you, and you feel hopeful.

The work day ends, and the only conversations that you’ve had have been about spreadsheets and the copier. You heave a sigh of relief as you walk outside. You never thought that it would be so easy to get away with dating an idol. Maybe his company took care of it? Maybe you were lucky, and no one recognized you.

Tuesday is a different story. It starts with glances from the other girls in the office.

Wednesday, Aecha comes up to you and stares at you for a minute before you turn to her.

“Can I help you with something?” you ask, thinking maybe she needs help with a task.

“Do you really know Kim Taehyung?” she asks, eyes wide, nervously holding onto her left arm with her right.

You roll your eyes. You knew this couldn’t last.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you say, with no expression on your face.

“There are just these pictures and...they really look like you.”

Her nervousness is palpable, and you feel your hands getting clammy. You had already decided that if anyone asked about it you would deny deny deny.

“Well, maybe I’ve just got one of those faces.” You shrug and turn back to your computer.

Aecha stares at you for a moment longer, but then she sighs a nevermind and walks away. After she’s gone, you let out an exhale of relief, but you are hoping that she’ll spread the word to the rest of the women at the office. You hope that no one thinks it’s you. Such lewd behavior in public could lead to you being fired.

That night is when the notifications start. Thousands of them every hour. Eventually, you turn your phone on to airplane mode just to get away from them. This. This is what you were afraid of. You decide not to read of the messages, fearing that the content could be detrimental to your already fragile psyche.

You get a phone call from your boss telling you that you should probably take the rest of the week off, and the two of you will talk about next steps when you return on Monday. You knew at that moment that your life wouldn’t be the same. You wished you had someone to talk to about it. That’s when you remember that Rey has been seeing Jimin for almost a year. There’s no way that she hasn’t been exposed if you have after a few months.

You find her number in your contacts. Afraid to turn on your phone, you hesitate slightly then swipe the screen to allow connectivity. You ignore all the badges on every app you have and call her.

You can hear voices in the background when you call her, but she sounds relieved to hear from you.

“y/n hi!” she exclaims, a little too eagerly upon picking up.

“Hey, do you have a minute to talk?”

“Of course I do,” she says to you. You hear her whisper off to the side, “shut up, it’s y/n.”

There are muffled whispers on the other end. “Oh, I can talk to you later if you’re busy.”

“No, no. I’m not busy. I want to talk to you.”

“Did you hear about the pictures?” you ask meekly. 

“I did. Yeah. I saw. I’m so sorry, y/n. How are you holding up?”

“I honestly don’t know what to think. I don’t feel that bad about it in general. I haven’t read any of the messages, and I haven’t had too much happen in person either. The worst part is that I haven’t even talked to Taehyung since that night. I just don’t even know where we stand. Is he embarrassed? Is he in trouble? Does he want nothing to do with me anymore? I thought I knew what I wanted, but it’s hard when I have no one to talk to about it.”

She pauses for a moment, and you look down at your phone to see if you dropped the call.

“All I can say is this. It’s going to be hard and trying and challenging. Sometimes he’s going to be gone for months at a time. Sometimes he’s going to be too tired to talk. Sometimes people who think they’re meant to be with him are going to hate you. I decided that it didn’t matter. As long as I had Jimin, I could make it through anything. I loved him too much to not fight for him.”

Her words hit you in your heart, and you immediately start crying. You thank her and hang out the phone. You lie down on your bed staring at the ceiling for a long time, and you aren’t sure at what point you drift off to sleep.

*****

“Kim Taehyung!” a shout echoes down the hallway.

“Why is everyone always yelling my fucking name?” Tae grumbles to himself.

He stands up from his bed, dressed messily, face unshaven. When he gets to the hallway, Jimin, Jungkook, and their girlfriends are all standing around in the dining room, staring at him.

“Did I hear that you have called or text y/n AT ALL since the night that she walked out of here?” Jungkook demands. Even though he’s the youngest, his tone is commanding and dark. If anyone knows about the pain of having their private photos leaked, it’s Jungkook.

Shit.

“She doesn’t want anything to do with me. She made that clear when she walked out on me.” Tae turns to go back down the hallway.

“Seriously? You haven’t talked to her. You’ve literally said zero words to her since you showed her that someone took pictures of an incredibly intimate moment. How do you know how she feels?”

Taehyung shakes his head. “No, no. If you could have seen the look on her face...I broke the one promise I made to her.”

Jimin walks up to Taehyung and grabs him by the shoulders. “Hey, look at me.” When Taehyung lifts his eyes up to his friend’s, he can feel the tears welling behind his eyes.

“Taehyung, if you love her like you say you do, if she feels like home, you would fight for her. You know that.”

He feels the water fall on to his cheeks, and he can’t stop all the doubt running through his mind. It’s like Jimin sees it in him, and he says, “you can’t get caught up in what ifs. You have to go to her.”

He nods and runs back to his room. He throws on a casual outfit and calls Beoseon on his way out the door. He knows that if he doesn’t do something right now, then he won’t be able to say all the things that he needs to say to you.

****

A gentle knock on your door wakes you from your sleep. At first, you aren’t sure if you even heard it, when you blink your eyes open, looking around confused. Then it comes again.

You drudge yourself up off the bed and maunder to the door. The sight out of the peephole is one of the last things you expected to see. Standing in the hallway outside of your apartment, a sullen-looking Kim Taehyung is knocking softly against your door.

You unlock the door and swing it open to face him. He simply stares at you for a moment. He opens his mouth and closes it again like he doesn’t know what to say.

“Why don’t you come in?” you mutter.

Once inside, the two of you stand, shifting your weight between your feet. You aren't sure what to say, but you know that you can't just stand here in silence any longer. The things that are unsaid between you hang in the air. It's thick and heavy and difficult. Seeing Tae's face after the last several days is painful, and you hope that he'll speak first.

"I..was an idiot," he says.

It isn't really what you expected, but it was true. He was an idiot.

"Yeah. You were."

He winces slightly at the bite in your tone, but you know that he has to have more words to say.

"I wrote a song for you."

Well...this conversation is not going how you expected it to.

"Well, I'm glad you were writing a song in the five days that you weren't talking to me after a super embarrassing photo of me was posted on the internet."

You turn away from him and start to walk toward your bedroom. He grabs your hand before you are too far away from him. You remember the man in the bar the night that you met, and you freeze, melting a little at the memory. The way that he felt that first night was the reason you'd even agreed to any of this at all. The warmth of his palm on yours reminds you of all the things that you loved in your time together.

"Look, y/n. I can't ever apologize enough for abandoning you when this happened. I should have immediately called and texted and come over and hired a skywriter. Instead, I was a coward and assumed that I would know what you would say to me about it. I didn't even talk to you before assuming that you were done with me and wanted nothing to do with me. I broke a promise that I made to you. I can tell you that the company is taking legal action against that line cook, and they were fired. It doesn't change what happened, but I just want you to know that I'm trying to do everything I can to make it up to you."

You know that Tae didn't mean to hurt you. You know that. But it doesn't change the fact that he did.

"Taehyung...I know that you didn't mean to, but you hurt me. You broke promises."

"y/n, please. I love you. Please forgive me."

Those three words hang in the air, wrap around you, and overwhelm your senses. You know that you feel that way about him, but the fact that he said them first fills you with joy.

You leap at Tae, and he grabs you as you jump into his arms. You kiss him hard, breathing him in. Your lips move together, and you know that it's all worth it for him. You pull back, wrapping your fingers around his neck, messing gently with his hair.

"I love you too, Tae. You are worth it."

He grabs your bottom lip between his teeth, and you feel your heart quickening in your chest. You tug at his hair. He lets your lip go, and you slip your tongue across his bottom lip. You want to feel every inch of him, taste every part of him. Your tongue traces his bottom lip and then sneaks into his mouth. His tongue finds yours, and they feel like they were meant to be together.

He pulls back from you and drops you down on the couch. He pulls his shirt over his head, and then he grabs the hem of yours and rips it off, tossing it aside. You aren't wearing a bra, so your nipples harden at the cool air and the arousal. Tae growls quietly in the back of his throat, and he leans down to kiss you. You pull him toward you until he's on top of you.

He laughs as he kisses you, and he presses his torso against yours. He wraps his hand in your hair and pulls gently. "Is this okay?"

He pulls a little more. You nod fervently at the small sting in your scalp. He pulls harder and harder, and you smile as he pulls your hair hard. The pain makes the wetness between your legs grow, and you can't wait until he hurts you again.

"Tae?" you stare up at him. "Do something for me?"

“Anything, my love. Anything.”

“Will you...slap me?” His eyes widen, and he stiffens slightly. “Shit. If you’re not into it, then we really don’t have to do that.”

“No, yobu, that’s not it. I really love it. It’s just that I hurt you emotionally already…”

“Well...make the outside match?” You thought it would be fun and flirty, but it just sounded kinda rude. You laugh to try to make it clear that you aren’t actually upset with him.

He stares at you for a moment, then he brings his hand up away from your hip. It smacks against your cheek, and you try not to flinch as it comes down on you. The sting in your skin makes you soak through your underwear. 

“Now, I’m going to show you how much I love you,” he whisper-growls in your ear.

He drops his weight back on to the couch and pulls you into his laugh. You slightly awkwardly straddle his lap from the position you’ve been placed in. Taehyung slips two fingers into your mouth and pulls your jaw open. He rubs his fingers on your tongue, and you moan in the back of your throat. He pushes his fingers further into your mouth to back of your throat.

He brings his other hand up to the back of your head, stroking your hair, and says, “Good girl.”

Around his fingers, you plead, “Pleath Taehong.”

He smiles at your inability to properly pronounce the words.

“You sound so desperate with my fingers in your mouth like that. Sweet dumb baby can’t make words when she’s so turned on.” He’s smiling and pressing his fingers further into your mouth again. “You don’t know how desperate I am though, jagiya. Should I show you?”

You nod, and his hand leaves the back of your head and wraps around your throat, squeezing gently. “Use your words.”

“Yes Tae.”

You are starting to drool down your chin with your mouth so wide open, but you don’t care because you want to cover him in your spit. Tae shifts his weight and pulls his pants down, hard cock bursting free as soon as the fabric that contained it is gone.

“Do you see what you do to me? Every time I see you, it’s like the first time again. I feel like I’m infatuated. A lusty mess.”

You moan around his fingers, and your spit drips from your lips onto his cock, and you smile at the sight of it.

“Does my lovely baby like to see her spit on my cock?” he asks, smirking at you, still holding your jaw open.

“Yeth.” More spit falls from your mouth.

“My love, I just want to feel you,” Tae whispers against your neck. His mouth finds purchase on your collarbone. He bites down hard and then sucks the skin where he’s just bitten. He looks up at you with so much affection in his eyes, it almost hurts.

He pulls his fingers from your mouth and sucks the drool off of them. You feel like you are going to explode if you don’t get some sort of stimulation soon.

“Bedroom?” you ask him.

“Bedroom.” he states back.

You lead him into your bedroom, and he pushes you back onto your bed. You pull your sweatpants and your ruined panties off and toss them aside. Tae stands before you, completely naked, and you marvel at him. He’s so beautiful and so perfect, his honey skin stretched just right over every curvature of every muscle and bone.

Shit. He’s so beautiful.

He slowly lowers himself between your legs, and you can’t believe that it’s possible to grow any wetter until you do. He positions himself about your clitoris, blowing cool air on the aching bud. You squirm beneath him, but he holds your hips in place. His tongue makes contact with the sensitive skin, and you immediately moan. He pulls away after one lick and blows again. The pleasure and the desire are overwhelming. Your mind is losing control.

“Please. Please,” you beg without knowing what in particular you are begging for. His touch? His tongue? His love? All of it?

He chuckles against your folds, and the stimulation makes your squirm even more. He isn’t touching you, but you are dying for his touch.

“Hold still.” 

He holds your hips as the gyrate, trying to get attention in some form. He pushes a little hard on your hips, but you can’t control yourself. You are out of your mind, and you need his touch now before you die for the lack of touch.

Smack!

Tae’s hand lands on your inner thigh heavily. You look down at him with wide eyes. “I said hold still.”

With all the power you possess in your mind, you force your hips to quiet. You hold perfectly still while panting in anticipation. You want to be good so that he’ll reward you with the thing you want most, and your brain tries to focus on still hips instead of those still lips.

Finally after what feels like years, he dips his head and traces gentle patterns through your arousal. Every time his tongue passes over your clit you moan but fight to keep your hips still. You feel yourself losing your grip, hips shuddering from the pleasure, and Taehyung slides a finger inside of you. Slick with your arousal, it easily caresses the bundle of nerves inside. The stimulation from his tongue and his finger immediately send you over the edge.

It’s sudden and forceful. It feels like all of the emotions, anger, sadness, hopelessness, all burst from within you, melting into your orgasm. Your pain melts away as the only thing left in the room, hell, the world is the sensation that Tae is giving you. Your fingers pull at his hair, and even the feeling of his soft locks is too much for you, adding to the pleasure.

As the feeling begins to wind down, you can’t stop your hips from rolling against his face. He doesn’t seem to mind, hands wrapped around your ass and hips, pulling your hard against his face. When he pulls away, his chin is shining almost as much as his eyes.

“I love you, y/n.”

He climbs up on top of you and kisses you deeply. You taste yourself on his lips, and you moan into his mouth.

“Tae...fuck me raw?”

You stare up deeply into his eyes, and you hear the intake of air from him being startled. He nods, and his cock presses against you. He slides his cock through your folds, and the way the head of his cock feels against your clit causes your to shudder. It feels like small shockwaves that are left over from your orgasm are rocking through as the stimulation continues.

Once his cock is coated in your wetness, he pushes himself inside of you, and you moan a deep, heavy moan as he sheaths himself within you. The stimulation is already pushing you toward another orgasm, and you can feel yourself pulse around. He has a way of making you cum over and over so quickly.

“I love you, Tae,” you whisper, and he starts to move his hips in rhythm. The thrusts leave you breathless. He repositions himself so that his weight is resting on your legs, and he is pushing your knees up near your chest. It burns in your hamstrings, but the feeling inside of you demands more of your attention.

You moan loudly, hearing your own sounds echoing off the ceiling and the walls. Tae repositions once more. He’s holding your ankles, pressing himself deep inside of you. Another orgasm tears through you, and while you clench around him, Tae spills inside of you, filling you full of his cum. You feel him fucking it deeper inside of you. You relish the feeling of being filled with Tae, knowing that there will be a day soon where you will make him fill every hole with him.

You both pant in each other’s arms before you finally start talking.

“I mean it, y/n. I was such an idiot. I’m so sorry. I know that it doesn’t change what happened, but I think that we can try to figure out a way to make this work.” His eyes are a little desperate again, veiled in exhaustion.

“Kim Taehyung, if someone is worth it, you make sacrifices. For what it’s worth, I love you. Ain’t that the worst thing you ever heard?” you giggle as you say it.

He flips himself onto his back and pulls you tightly against his chest and kisses your nose. “Far from it.”

*****

On an unseasonably warm November afternoon, you lie on the roof of the recording studio where Tae is working today. He had a few minutes to sneak away for lunch, so you brought Banh Mi for him. You kissed him on the cheek when you saw him and greeted the other members.

The two of you lie looking at the sky, picking out shapes in the clouds. He’s gently holding your hand, and you are tossing Swedish Fish into his mouth.

“Isatrashcan!” he says with several gummies in his mouth.

“Isa what?” you ask, laughing at him incredulously.

He points out a long cylindrical cloud. “It’s a trash can!”

He looks so proud of himself, and you can’t help but love that about him. The sexy man that ruins you and dominates you. The devastatingly handsome man who wins awards and forgets to call you when he’s on the road. The oblivious man who almost cost you your job and almost broke your heart. He is also the love of your life.

You lean over and kiss his lips, smiling at him. You know that this trash can cloud is just the beginning of many adventures to come.

[chironshorseass]

29 and 30 fluff for perachel or percabeth? Hehe I like both ships don’t @ me. Love your writing btw!

I kinda managed to do both...kinda lol. This was fun to do :) Sorry in advance for the bad puns.

writing prompts

“Detention? Again?”

“Look, I can explain.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes and sat back on her bed, too tired to stand up and listen to what Percy had to say, most likely.

“Sure you can.”

They’d been Iris Messaging for a few minutes now. Percy, exhausted from a day of school and homework, had taken the first chance off to fish out a drachma from his drawer and call one of the people he’d missed most since the summer.

It had slipped his mind that New York and San Francisco had different time zones. But luckily, Annabeth was still awake. He’d found her in her bedroom, curls pulled into a messy bun and eyebrows scrunched up in concentration as she read some textbook, still studying for the exam she’d talked about a week ago.

Despite her initial complaints about Percy interrupting her, he knew that she didn’t mind.

“So?” she asked, bringing him back to the present.

She pulled her legs under her and stared at him expectantly.

He blinked. “Huh?”

She raised an eyebrow, and Percy thought—in the back of his mind—that she looked unfairly pretty. At night, with the fairy lights illuminating her hair and her face, like an angel.

“Why’d you get detention?”

“Oh. That.”

“Yes, Seaweed Brain. That.”

“Uhm…” Percy scratched the back of his neck. “It’s kind of a funny story, I um…”

“Spit it out.”

Now that he thought about it, maybe he shouldn’t have said anything at all. Maybe he should’ve thought this through, to avoid any arguments. Or confrontations. Or another cold shoulder. They weren’t as awkward now that the school year had started, but the mention of her always put Annabeth on edge, anyway.

“You see, I was with, uh...Rachel.”

He paused, noticing the way she gripped her textbook tighter, slightly wrinkling the pages.

Why did I think this was a good idea? Stupid.

“I was with Rachel, and she sort of, um...” he laughed nervously, already cringing. “Made a bet?”

Technically, he’d made the bet. But that wasn’t important for Annabeth to know.

/

Chemistry, in Percy’s opinion, was the most boring class Goode had to offer. Useless. Irrelevant.

Confusing, most of all.

At least he was partners with Rachel. It was one of the few classes they had together. They sat at the very back, so they were rarely noticed anyway, mostly spending the forty five minutes of lectures about chemical equations doing little drawing games on their notebooks and playing hangman. Percy lost most of the time.

The teacher wasn’t that great, either. Most of the school knew her as Mrs. Jones. She was a short lady in her late sixties with thin, badly dyed hair who had a concerning addiction to gum—so to Percy and Rachel—she was known as Mrs. Gum-Gum. She turned to the board for some explanation that Percy had completely lost interest on since the first five minutes of class. Rachel let out a low moan, hands on her forehead.

“Kill me now,” she muttered.

“Sorry, I can’t. My sword doesn’t work on you.”

“I hate you.”

“Yeah,” he grinned, leaning backwards and tilting his chair. “I know.”

She hit him in the shin. “You’re going to fall one of these days, and the class will never let you forget it.”

“Eh,” Percy shrugged. “At least they’d get a laugh and you wouldn’t be so bored.”

Her green eyes twinkled with humor like she’d just remembered something. She snorted. “Okay. So this one time, a girl was doing the same thing as you, leaning back and all—and she like, fell. It was hilarious, because she just lay there, with her feet in the air.”

“Rachel Dare,” Gum-Gum called, narrowed eyes cast on them. She kind of sounded like a wounded hyena, in his humble opinion. “I sure hope you and Mr. Jackson are discussing the worksheet that I gave out.”

Rachel nodded and threw her a thumbs up, while Percy held a fist to his mouth to stop the smile forming on his face. Gum-Gum left her alone and went back to her lecture.

The class kept its monotone routine of worksheets and notes, so as a distraction, Rachel grabbed his arm and popped the lids off her sharpies, drawing little figurines. She was on his second tattoo when an idea came to him.

“Hey, Rach?” he whispered, making sure the teacher was facing the board.

“Hmm.”

“We should play truth or dare.”

She grabbed the green marker and spread the ink from side to side across his skin. “Mmm...No.”

“Come on,” he whined. “I’m bored.”

“Yeah, but we’ve done truth or dare so many times now. It’s gotten old. Besides, you’re such a pussy.”

“Am not.”

“Yes, you are. Remember that time I dared you to eat the gum from under the seat?”

Percy made a face. “That was so fucking gross. Nobody in their right mind would’ve done that. Maybe Mrs. Gum-Gum, but I am not on her level.”

“I figured, after you blatantly refused. And then there’s the time when I dared you to kiss Mary Andrews. On the cheek. And you couldn’t do it.”

“Oh my gods, I can’t just kiss girls. That’s leading them on.”

She exhaled, long and deep and stared at him as if he were a lost cause. “Okay. Whatever.”

She went back to drawing on his arm.

“If anyone’s the pussy right now,” he whispered. “It’s you.”

“Uh-huh. Keep telling yourself that. You just wish you were as marginally cool as me.”

“Um...Then why won’t you play truth or dare?”

“Like I said: bo-ring.” She leaned closer to his arm, creating tiny details with the thinner side of the sharpie. “And don’t tell me I don’t do the dares, ‘cause I do. My last name’s Dare, after all. It would be a complete dishonor.”

“How long have you waited to say that?”

“Oh, you don’t wanna know. Now hold still. You’d look good with tattoos, by the way.”

He sighed. Okay, fine. She had a point, he wasn’t that great at doing “cool” stuff, likely because he was traumatized by the getting-kicked-out-of-schools thing he had going for him. You know, maybe it was that.

As Percy watched her work with her sharpies, he realized: maybe there was a way to prove to her that he could do daring stuff. A once in a lifetime thing. And in the process, he could make her smile.

“Fine,” he said. “If you don’t wanna do something, then let’s make a bet.”

“Depends on what you want to bet on, but go on.”

“How much money would you give me to flip this table, right here, right now, in the middle of class?”

The read-head stopped creating the swirly lines of the little wave she’d been working on, making his skin tingle from the loss of the pointy marker. She lifted her freckled face, watching him with raised eyebrows.

“Nah, you don’t have the guts.”

“Psh. ‘Course I do. I’m Percy Jackson.”

“Ohhh! Percy Jackson. I’m Rachel Dare, nice to meet you.” She lifted her hand like she wanted Percy to shake it.

He slapped it away. “Shut up. I can totally do it.”

“Do you not care about getting in trouble with dear ol’ Gum-Gum?”

“I’ll make it seem like an accident.”

“Nothing you do seems like an accident to teachers.”

“Good point. Still be worth it, though.” He lowered his voice even further. “Besides, I gotta prove to you that I can do cool stuff.”

Rachel snorted. “Now I could literally ask you to do drugs and you’d do it, apparently. Peer pressure is a dangerous thing, my dude.”

He grinned. “And I want your money. You’re like, rich, Dare.”

“Thanks for the reminder, Jackson.”

“No problem.”

Gum-Gum shot them an admonishing look, and they pretended to do their work.

“So,” she said after a few seconds passed. “How much money?”

“I knew you could work with me.”

“Ugh, I’m getting second thoughts from your dramatism.”

“You love it.”

They held gazes, green on green. Rachel narrowed hers and sighed. 

“Again, how much money?”

Percy shrugged. “You decide.”

“Fine.” She flipped some of her fiery curls over her shoulder. “I’m betting on a hundred bucks.”

He whistled under his breath. “Damn. You want me to do it that badly?”

“I do want to see everyone’s reaction to Percy Jackson losing his shit.” He shoved her, but she continued. “Especially Gum-Gum’s. But I know we’re getting in trouble, so we might as well go all out. What? It’s true! But at least you’d get your money.”

Percy shook his head. He’d probably regret this later.

Then he thought, what would Annabeth think?

But he couldn't dwell too much on that. At least it would be funny.

“We need to clear the desk, though.”

“Duh.”

So they worked, as quietly and discreetly as they could. When they’d finished, Percy turned to Rachel and nodded. She put a hand against her mouth to muffle her laughter.

On the third count, he flipped the desk. The table crashed with a resonating bang.

Rachel leaned backwards and let out a sound of surprise, probably because she’d half speculated that he wouldn’t pull through with it in the first place.

Immediately, everyone craned their heads to the back of the room. Some jumped at the sound. Others gasped or snickered, especially at the sight of Mrs. Gum-Gum. She yelped and dropped her marker, slapping a hand to her chest and retreating a few steps as if she were about to go into cardiac arrest.

“Percy Jackson!”

He winced a bit, but all in all, he thought he was keeping a straight face. But then he caught onto Rachel’s expression, arms crossed. He doubted they’d get off freely, just as she’d said.

/

As they shouldered their backpacks, heading for room 1345—detention—Rachel slipped her hand in the pocket of her paint-splattered uniform skirt.

“I didn’t know I had the money with me, but it seems as though he fates are in your favor, Jackson,” she said, taking the dollar bills from her pocket and handing them to him. They both knew all too well that she didn’t care for it. Daddy issues, he recalled.

Percy raised his eyebrow. “Thanks, Rach. Now, I can finally buy a new skateboard.”

“Nice to know that this was worth it.”

“Especially since now you have to do something...daring.”

She tapped her index finger to her temple mockingly. “Oh, I see. That’s why you wanted to do that bet. So then we could be on even ground.”

“Do you agree, Dare?”

“My gods, you’re so corny. But sure. Though let's not get ourselves a detention pass the next time, hmm? I feel bad for you. How many have you gotten this semester?” She clicked her tongue. “What will your mom say?”

1343, 1344 ... 1345. This was the place. Through the window, he could see many of the students already settling in, giving the teacher the strip of paper that he and Rachel had in their pockets.

He exhaled. “I don’t want to think about Mom just yet. But honestly, I don’t mind detention. And I don’t think she would, either. Better than getting kicked out.”

“Mmhmm. And I don’t really mind spending some more quality time with you. Even if we get in trouble, I kinda think you’re nice to be around, Jackson.” She smiled and held her arm out for him to pass. For some reason, that comment made his chest feel warm and fuzzy. “Gentlemen first.”

“Isn’t it ladies first?”

“Chivalry is dead. Now go on.” She nodded towards the door. “I like being fashionably late.”

“And you say I’m the dramatic one,” he grumbled.

[three-bunnies-in-a-trenchcoat]

If We Could Turn Back Time, chapter six

("Prev-"

"I SWEAR TO LESU, ONE MORE TIME-")

Harry

("It's my turn."

"What? We don't take turns."

"We do now."

"Why?"

"Because I said so?"

"That's not a good reason."

"Give me the freakin' mic. I want at least one turn. Just one."

"Fine, just this once. Just don't interrupt my narrative flow."

"What flow?"

"Do you want the mic or not?")

It was a Tuesday that everything went wrong. It started as a perfectly ordinary Tuesday, but Artia can attest to the fact that it wasn't necessarily a Tuesday, or ordinary.

("What is this?"

"Shh, you'll see.")

Artia's job was a hated one, because no one wanted to follow the boss around, especially when she was in a bad mood, which was near constantly lately in the endless existence that was this Tuesday.

The team dedicated to following the boss around and assisting her personally was known as Death's Ordinary Cleanup Crew (or DOCC), and the name Tom Riddle had become one hated by the DOCC members (even by the one Tom Riddle who was in their midst) nearly as much as it was by the boss herself. (Artia was a member of this team, unfortunately.)

Tom Riddle, alias Voldemort (or The Bastard), cheated death. Now, cheating death was a serious offense, unless it's in a card game; everyone knew Time cheated in poker, even though no one could prove it. Uppercase cheating offenses weren't nearly as bad as the lowercase, however.

Death hated anyone who cheated death with a burning passion, as did any primordial who was cheated in their sphere, except Time and Mischief (Time only had a problem when it was done with bad intentions, and Mischief just thought it funny).

It didn't take a genius to realize why Death was mad. Tom Riddle was stirring up a particularly amount of trouble lately, so it was the job of the DOCC to minimize the damage.

("I pity the DOCC.")

Death's anger was rolling off her in waves, power writhing in the air around her. Artia's ears popped.

"What's next?" Death said, teeth gritting. "Please tell me it's just another spleen-stealer or something."

Artia cringed, unsure how to break the news. "It's... Tom Riddle again."

Death's pen snapped, covering her hand in ink as black as the now visible tendrils lashing around her. "You've got to fucking with me."

"No." Artia squeaked. "And, uh, you're kind of..."

"Kind of what?"

Link, Artia's partner, patted his shoulder sympathetically. The message was clear; you're on your own, buddy.

(Sometimes, Artia wanted to smack Link with his own sword. Silent bastard.)

"Yourpowerisvisibleanditskindascary." Artia rushed out. He never should have joined DOCC.

Death took a breath, drawing in her power enough that the tendrils went away. "Okay. What happened?"

"He killed Bill Weasley."

"Okay." Death wiped the ink off her hand. Link handed her a new pen. "Let's go."

Death stormed furiously away from the door, already on her way to next unfortunate souls. They passed Manta, Fate's Unconventional Cleanup Krew (FUCK, as their t-shirts proudly proclaimed) representative, on her way past. She shot them a sympathetic look when she saw Death's expression.

Telta, the nymph in charge of the coffee in DOCC, was waiting for them at the door, holding out a mug for Death and a thermos for Link (Artia wasn't sure what he drank, except that it probably had some sort of alcohol in it).

Death slammed the door open, throwing it into the wall. She chugged the drink down, and slammed the mug on the receptionist's desk. "If I have to deal with one more death caused by Tom Riddle, I will scream."

Link unsheathed his sword and rested the point against the floor, leaning forward on the hilt. He flipped open the lid of his thermos.

("This guy really gives no fucks, huh?")

The boss threw her clipboard down as her eyes landed on the two occupants of the room, turning on her heel and marching out. “I quit! Do you know how many people I’ve had to talk to today!? Hundreds! All because of that no-good, piece of shit..."

Link raised his thermos in salute as Artia hurried after Death.

"...pasty, frog-faced, absolute bastard..."

They headed towards Fate's... workshop, Death spewing insults every step of the way. Artia knew sailors with cleaner mouths.

Death grabbed Fate's arm, ignoring their protests that she could destroy a small galaxy by doing that.

"...son of a lizard and a... Wait, no, you don't get to complain after my day! It's your fault that lousy, shitty little bitch..."

Stars, Artia hated his job.

*

"Can I get transferred?" Artia muttered into the floor. Their shift was over, and he had collapsed the instant he'd walked into DOCC headquarters. "I heard Life is pretty quiet. No twenty minute rants filled with incredible creative insults."

You should have thought of that before you joined. Link signed. No taking it back.

"That's easy for you to say." Artia groaned. "You like it."

Link shrugged, sipping his definitely alcoholic drink. Maybe.

*

"That was awful." Artia walked out into the common room that he and Link shared with their coworkers. They had moved from the lobby floor ten minutes ago, when

He promptly slipped on something under his foot, flying out in a comedic fashion to land on his back. What even...?

He sat up, groaning, and looked around the floor. "Is that a trail of Cheezits?"

Link glared at him and threw a Cheezit at him from the box in his hands. You scared her off.

"Scared who off?"

Denn's pet mouse. She got scared earlier and ran under the couch.

"It's not my fault I didn’t know about the Cheezits."

You have shitty spacial awareness, so yes, it is.

"Well, usually, there aren't Cheezits on the floor so I don't have to worry about my spacial awareness!"

Fuck you. He threw another Cheezit.

"Fuck you too!"

*

"Please tell me she isn't angry at Riddle still." Artia begged.

His coworker shrugged. "It's mostly death threats to Fate, so I think we're good for now."

He sagged. "Oh, thank stars."

Some days, it wasn't so bad to work at DOCC.

Or at least, that's what he thought.

"Hello, everyone." The boss greeted. "Welcome to my presentation on why Fate fucked up and how it's ruining everyone's existence."

She started flipping through the slides. Each one showed a picture of Riddle, Fate, or members of DOCC getting off their shifts. There was even one of Artia collapsed on the floor, Link waving cheerfully in the background. (Bastard.)

"As you can see, this albino worm is increasing the amount of stress my employees are under, as..."

Artia hated his job.

[asterkiss]

What A Catch!: Chapter 5

Pairing: Bill/Mabel Synopsis: Mabel was a mermaid who didn't ask for much. In fact, all she pretty much wanted from her soulmate was a romantic first meeting where he would sweep her off her fins. Unfortunately, fate had other plans. Her soulmate didn't so much sweep her off her fins as he trapped her in a fish net. [Read on AO3 here]

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 |  Chapter 7 | Chapter 8  | Chapter 9 |  Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 |

CHAPTER 5: NOW WE’RE EVEN

Mable had tasted the iron running through the currents of the river, her first thought being that some poor creature had injured itself. When she followed the trail up north and came across the source however, she drew in a sharp breath at the sight.

The human was hanging onto the embankment, his arms and head on the ground whilst everything beneath his bare-chest lay submerged in the water. The water around him was stained dark red as blood wept from deep gashes adorning his torso.

She thought he was dead.

'Why are you here again?'

But then he spoke.

Mable flinched at his voice, he sounded tired and irritated. She could see the muscles on his back raising with each heavy laboured breath.

'...I smelled blood,' she replied honestly.

'Really?' A short, dry laugh. 'I wonder why.'

'What happened?' she asked, genuinely curious as to what could hurt him that badly.

'Tried to fight a Multi-Bear,' he drawled back. Raising his head, he turned to face her, another gash marring the left side of his face. She winced at the ugly sight. 'Multi-Bear won.'

Yeah, no shit. Nobody went up against Multi-Bear without getting away scott-free.

'You're lucky to be alive,' she mumbled.

Another laugh, more sardonic this time. 'We'll see.'

Her heart sped up at that implication.

'I wonder how much blood a human body can lose before it dies, what d'ya think?' He pulled himself out of the water and up onto the embankment, jeans clinging to his legs which also appeared torn in several places from giant claws. The deep gashes along his chest and sides continued to weep blood as dropped onto his back with a groan and closed his eyes.

Mable watched him with wide eyes, unsure how to respond to the sight before her. This should be a good thing, her kind would be better off ― a Hunter was dying.

As was her chance at happily ever after.

Drawing closer still, Mable wrung her hands together nervously as she wrestled an internal battle. He definitely wasn't in good shape.

'You still there?' he asked, unmoving.

'Yeah.'

He sighed. 'You're a real pain in the ass, why won't ya leave me alone?'

'Well, because we're―' She cut off abruptly, and when she didn't finish her statement he opened his eyes and turned to look her way. When his heavy lidded gaze met hers, she swallowed thickly. 'We're soulmates.'

He released a derisive snort and closed his eyes once more. 'I don't believe in that crap.'

That didn't surprise her.

More silence fell upon them, only interrupted by his occasional grunt of pain.

Eventually, after a battle of emotion, Mable spoke up.

'I.... I could try and help.'

'Oh really? How exactly can a brat like you help?'

She scowled at his condescending tone. 'I can use magic to heal you.'

The young man opened one solitary eye to regard her. After a while he simply said, 'you're not mature enough.'

'Wha―!' Her face flushed red with indignation. 'What's that supposed to mean!?'

'You're too young,' he went on. 'You won't be able to use magic powerful enough.'

The mermaid regarded him in surprise. How did he know that? Mermaids were born with an innate ability to use magic like most creatures on this island. However it was something they grew into as they went through puberty and matured. She was only fourteen. She was able to use some basic magic, but nothing complicated or amazing.

Still.

'I can try!' she insisted, coming close and determined to prove herself to this guy.

'...Fine, go ahead.'

She took in a deep breath, inviting a calmness into her body as she attempted to tap into the source of magic that dwelled within her body. Her eyebrows drew together in concentration whilst her hands ran through the water. Using the water as a conductor through which to pass the magic from her body into her surroundings, the mermaid guided a portion of this magic-imbued water away from the river and aloft into the air, the liquid glowing as it floated towards the Hunter. He was watching with wide eyes as Mable used her hands to guide it over his torso, slowly lowering it towards him. Instead of simply splashing over his skin when it made contact it seemed to almost absorb into him.

When all was said and done, Mable was exhausted. Groaning, she leaned back with beads of sweat dotting her forehead. She felt dizzy. Using magic always took it out of her.

'....Huh.'

The mermaid raised her head at the human's voice only to find him sat up, hand placed over his torso. His injuries were still there―Mable was nowhere near powerful enough to heal him completely―but they were no longer bleeding heavily at least. After a moment, golden eyes wandered in her direction and Mable tensed. He seemed to be regarding her in a new way, however what that new way was Mable wasn't sure of exactly. She was still divided on whether or not she'd done the right thing just now. Like most of the time in her life, the mermaid had followed her heart over her brain.

'I guess we're even now, hm?'

She gave him a puzzled look. 'What?'

Pushing himself up, the Hunter winced as he stood up, injuries still flaring in pain at every movement. 'I spared you that one time when we first met, and now you've spared me.' He looked down at her, expression firm. 'No need for you to stalk me anymore.'

'Ah, that's not why I was―!'

'See ya,' he turned around, not waiting for her response.

Mable opened her mouth to protest when her eyes caught sight of his back. There, between his shoulder blades was a large area of ugly scarring as if he'd been badly burnt. But even so, Mable could still make out the faint obscure echo of words painted beneath it.

Her words.

Their words.

'See ya next year,' he yelled with a short wave as he vanished into the undergrowth.

Mable cocked her head at his phrasing. What did he mean?

'Mable, Mable!'

The brunette's attention was pulled away by the arrival of a new individual, eyes landing upon the green-skinned creature swimming her way. A kappa.

'Candy?'

The dark haired girl grinned at her. 'Have you heard?'

'Heard what?'

'Hunting Season is over!'

Mable's eyes widened. Then that meant―

'The Hunters are gone!'

AN: Kappa!Candy and time skip time next chapter. Also, Mable channeling her water bending persona. 

[wowitsel]

the hardest things to say: ch.1

Summary: Spencer has a crush on his barista. After weeks of conversing, he finally tells her how he feels: “I think I like you”

Series Masterlist

Word count: 1.7k

Genre: fluff

Warnings: none

As a somewhat coffee fanatic, Spencer Reid frequented the coffee shop near the FBI headquarters very often. For the great coffee, but mostly for the barista that worked there. Y/n, Y/n whose last name was still undetermined. For someone whom he knew so little about, he was infatuated. It seemed to happen very quickly, but that was not out of the norm for our Dr. Reid.

When Spencer fell for someone he tended to do so very quickly, so every time Y/n did something sweet, his heart swelled. Every time she drew smiley faces next to his name on his cup or paid for someone’s drink when they didn’t have enough cash, he fell even harder.

For never exchanging any words besides ordering, Spencer had it pretty bad.

Little did he know, Y/n felt the same way about the cute boy in the shop that always had a book with him. She felt intrigued. He seemed to read ridiculously fast, always finishing a whole book whenever he came, and seemingly disappeared for weeks at a time. Plus he was always super polite to her and gave great tips. Her eyes were always on him when he was in the shop, so it also didn’t hurt that he was extremely attractive.

One fateful October evening, it was extremely busy in the shop. Why all those people were getting coffee and five o'clock in the evening, Y/n didn’t know.  But nevertheless, she didn’t mind the business. That was what she was getting paid for.

One of the many people in the shop today was Spencer, as she came to learn was his name.

Spencer stepped up to the counter to order. “Welcome to The Coffee Nest! Hey Spencer! Just want your regular?”

Spencer blushed at the fact that she knew what his order was, and nodded. “OK! Your total will be $3.97,”

The man stumbled with his wallet and pulled out three dollars with the correct amount of change for the order. He handed her the dollar bills, while she stuck her hand out like a little bowl, for the coins. His fingers brushed her skin as he handed her the coins. They both paused for a second, then Y/n quickly just put all the money in the register, continuing to do her job.

Because of the busyness of the shop, and the lack of enough employees, the shop was a mess. There were workers and drinks everywhere.

Y/n finished making Spencer’s drink, then headed over to the register to take another order, before giving him his drink.

After finishing taking the order, Y/n hurried over to the contour where Spencer’s drink resided. “Order for Spencer!”

When Spencer arrived to get his drink, she smiled at him and handed him his drink, before hurrying off, not even realizing that she had handed him the wrong drink.

When Y/n had handed Spencer “his” drink, he knew immediately that it was the wrong one. But seeing who busy the shop was, and how stressed Y/n was because of it, he decided to wait until it all calmed down a bit before asking for his current drink order.

So he sat at the table, reading his book, and watching the girl work. About fifteen minutes later, when Spencer deemed it the right time, he got up and walked over to Y/n.

After requesting his correct drink, Spencer stood there awkwardly, just drumming his fingers on the countertop.

He could faintly hear the sound of Y/n humming while she made his drink, then her footsteps as she began walking towards him again. “I’m really sorry about giving you the wrong drink”

“It’s no problem, really,” Spencer told Y/n while fidgeting with the book in his hands, drawing her attention to it.

“Oh! Is that Great Expectations? You know, I love the part where you find out that Estella is groomed to break men’s hearts. It's so good. Wait, you have read it before right? Ooh, I hope I didn’t spoil it for you...”

“Oh I've read it before, don’t worry about that. But uhh yeah. I really liked that part too. Do you like reading?”

“Yeah, I do! Uhh, so my shift ends in a couple of minutes. If you want to stay here for a bit we can sit down and talk together?”

“T-that’d be great!”

A smile appeared on Spencer’s face as he walked over to the table he was previously sat at. He watched her as she wiped down the counter, and went to take another order, as he gripped his sleeves in anticipation.

Spencer’s mind overflowed with thoughts. At the moment he sort of wished he didn’t have his brain. He was overthinking everything. This was going to be the first time he was going to have a conversation with her. With Y/n, and he was very, very nervous.

What if he said something offensive, or something weird? What if he rambled too much, or stared at her too much? The possibilities were limitless, and that suffocated Spencer.

But Spencer wasn’t going to have any more time to overthink, because Y/n was walking over to him.

Even with as nervous as Spencer was, once Y/n sat down at the table, it seemed as if all the tension that was in the air was suddenly gone.

The two of them kept up a casual conversation about books and coffee until Y/n got a text. “Oh shit. Uhhh I have to go… I totally forgot I have to go. Ummm if you want to, you can come back here tomorrow at this time, and after my shift, we can talk more?”

Y/n waited until she saw him nod in agreement, then bolted out the door, clearly in a big hurry.

Even with the abrupt ending, Spencer sat in awe of what happened. Spencer always felt that conversations were hard for him. Most of the time, the person would just be uninterested in his facts, or just nod along, and not add anything else into the conversation. But with Y/n it felt good, and it felt natural. He had never felt that way before. Feeling so comfortable talking with someone.

Spencer could tell that Y/n was actually interested in hearing everything he had to say, and it really was an amazing change of pace. It made his heart light up every time she added something to what he had said.

Even if Spencer had said something she didn't necessarily understand, she never hesitated to relate what he said to something she knew or something that had happened to her. That had never happened to Spencer before.

Although that text from a friend Y/n received may have seemed fishy from the outside, she truly did forget her plans with said friend. But that didn’t stop Y/n from feeling any less guilty about leaving.

That’s why when Spencer came back to the coffee shop the next day, his coffee order was there, already made, with a chocolate chip muffin next to it.

“It’s on the house!” Spencer heard Y/n call out to him. “I’m sorry for leaving so abruptly yesterday.”

“It’s ok. You don’t have to apologize.” Spencer said softly.

“Anyways, let's sit down huh?”

“Wait aren’t you still on shift? It’s not 5:30 yet.”

Pulling a chair out and sitting on it, Y/n replied. “Ehh it’s fine. Just don’t tell anyone”

With that sentence, Y/n winked at the boy. His face lit up like a Christmas tree. Trying to use his hands to cover his blushing face, Spencer tried to immerse himself into what Y/n was saying.

As their conversation ended, the next day would be the only motivation for Spencer. As days and days passed, Spencer only began to fall further for the girl. Through all their conversations, they got to know each other. She told him about how she was in school, and about her family, and Spencer told her about his job at the BAU, his mom, and all the traumatic things that had happened to him. To Spencer, it felt really good to tell those things to.

About a month after Spencer and Y/n’s first conversation, Spencer sat in the bullpen while the rest of the team was blabbering about what they were going to do over the weekend.

“What about you Reid? You got a hot date this weekend?” Morgan inquired.

“I actually don’t,” Spencer sassed, as the rest of the team laughed at his response.

As the team continued to talk, Spencer thought about the person he actually wanted to go on a date with. Y/n.

He thought about all their talks, and about why they weren't dating yet.

His mind drifted to Elle, and he remembered something she told him. He remembered how she made him realize that the real reason he wasn’t dating, was because he wasn’t asking anyone out.

Spencer knew what he had to do. He had to ask Y/n out. On a date…

As Spencer entered the coffee shop that evening, he was on a mission. So when Y/n plopped down in the seat next to him, he blurted out, “I think I might like you. Like, like like you.”

“Oh wow. Uhhh…” Y/n said clearly in shock until she heard Spencer’s phone go off.

“Hey, Hotch. Ok. Uh-huh. Yeah. Right now? Ok. Bye, I’ll see you soon.” Y/n heard as Spencer was on the phone.

“You have to go?”

“Yeah. unfortunately.” Spencer replied, momentarily forgetting about the huge bomb he had just thrown on the girl in front of him.

As Spencer began to pack up, and walk away, Spencer heard Y/n call out to him saying, “Hey Spencer! I like you too!”

All Spencer did was smile back at the girl, but inside, he was jumping up and down. She liked him back. He quite frankly, couldn’t believe it.

Most of Spencer’s life was spent with unrequited love. He had become so acquainted with it, that it’s almost like he forgot that it was possible for someone to actually like him back.

So, now that it was actually happening, he wasn’t quite sure what to do. But he was kind of excited to figure it out.

A little while later, once he was on the jet on the way to another case, Hotch commented to him, “You seem awfully happy.”

“I really am Hotch,” Spencer replied with a soft giggle.

taglist: @calm-and-doctor​

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[cynthiaandsamus]

Custom Toonami Block Week 72 Rundown

Code Geass: Lelouch continues his plan to kidnap a little Chinese girl and Todoh gets to show off his new Zangetsu so the Black Knights enjoy having two Knightmares worth a damn for once, though as if on cue Kallen gets caught in the most bullshit way possible bringing them back down to one Ace. Xingke has home field advantage and a new Knightmare with spinny dealies and turns Zero’s bullshit tactics of fighting in the one place that basically wipes out the enemy for him against him. However the gods of the Code Geass world themselves said “You know Xingke’s way too OP, better Kimimaro him and make it so he’s terminally ill so he can’t do too much” so now the Black Knights are literally backed into a cave and instead of letting Xingke just finish the job the Chinese government swoops in with Britannian reinforcements to try and claim victory and seize power all at once. Also Lelouch is somehow back at school despite being in China and I don’t remember this part at all but I guess it answers my question from last time. I think it has something to do with Sayoko and  realistic Lupin III style mask or something.

Inuyasha: The Panther Demon filler continues as Inuyasha’s Group, Koga and his two goons and Sesshomaru/Jaken make their way into Panther Demon territory after Inuyasha breaks their barrier. Koga meets up with Royokhan and gets the low down on the Panther Demon backstory with Taiga killing their leader hundreds of years ago and then Sesshomaru beating them 50 years ago but losing a lot of men in the process. It’s kind of a neat turn seeing Jaken go try to get Inuyasha and Sesshomaru’s like “fine I guess we’ll let him help” and then getting mad when he finds out he can’t even come because he’s nailed to a tree. Like it’s a weird bit of complexity for Sesshomaru to feel betrayed by not getting help he never really wanted and now being determined to fight off the Panthers alone. Anyway all the groups square off against the Panther mini-bosses, Lightning Panther beats Miroku and Sango and gets them captured with Kagome, Wind Panther fights Koga to a draw, Ice Panther continues her beef with Sesshomaru and Fire Panther keeps teasing Inuyasha. It’s kinda nice that they give every group someone to fight and something to do but I kinda wish these fights lasted longer and Fire/Ice panther were scaled up a bit to match Inuyasha and Sesshomaru’s power because they’re firing huge sword beams at this point and it just doesn’t seem like they’d have this much trouble with them. Also Jaken and Inuyasha meet and both of them are like ‘hey you seen my group?’ which I just thought was funny.

Yu Yu Hakusho: A new arc begins and honestly this is the Yu Yu Hakusho arc I remember the least because I think I missed an episode or two in the middle of it since YYH came on right around when I got home from school back in the day. But yeah, Kuwabara suddenly decides he doesn’t wanna do demon shit anymore and Yusuke’s like “fine it wasn’t your job anyway you made me let you come last time” and then Kuwabara immediately backpedals on it because there’s a hot girl he wants to save. Also they still need to give Keiko a lame backstory about Yusuke interning with a detective that doesn’t explain all the zombies after her but Kuwabara’s sister being like “Damn who’s the spirit baby, here’s $50 for the bus” is fine apparently. Anyway we get the Toguro brothers’ introduction and it’s neat to see them effortlessly make Yukina cry to make jewels and then have Younger Toguro give her some advice about making herself cry on cue so she doesn’t have to suffer every time which is some weird tough love take it or leave it advice that says a lot about his character right away. Also Yusuke and Kuwabara fight a giant plant demon who’s all like “Yeah I’m a demon but I got bills to pay bitch” and like what bills does a demon have and why can’t they just steal from the rich human but it doesn’t matter because Yusuke and Kuwabara just blow him away.

Fate Zero: So the church is like ‘yo free Command Seal to whoever fucks up Caster’ which is strange because yeah Caster’s killing children and shit but UBW Caster killed a bunch of peeps too and no one blinked an eye and Kiritsugu blew up a fucking building and no one cares so I have no idea where the line is here. Also Iskandar gets a shirt from amazon and it’s hilarious but he forgot to order pants and Waver tells him he’s not allowed to wear pants until he murders a historical figure and Iskander’s like “you know what that’s fair” so he’s just gonna be freeballing it for a while I guess. Strategy meeting with Kiritsugu, Iris and Saber happens and Saber seems more than a little pissy that Kiritsugu doesn’t address her directly and is basically treating her like a Pokemon. They talk about the four spots the grail can appear at and since we’ve already seen UBW we know it’s gonna be in the huge residential place so it can murder everyone and also Shirou. Also Caster shows up for Tentacle Hentai time with Saber along with more child murder but Lancer’s like “Hey I am the Vegeta of this story and no one kills Saberot but me” while Kiritsugu does his Homura Akemi thing to fight off Kayneth’s T-1000 Black Clover Nozel Silva Mercury Magic which is just amazingly amusing to me that Kiritsugu’s fighting style is to just shoot all these demi-god mages in the face and end his battles in the most anticlimactic way possible.

Konosuba: So Kazuma’s dead again. Shoulda really occurred to him sooner that dying again would get him reincarned again but nah, Samurai Santa has to come off him so he can meet Eris but he actually seems to miss his friends a bit. Like he doesn’t ask to go back specifically we’re not being that cheesy here but considering Kazuma’s two purposes in this story are to complain and explain the joke it is nice that he has some lingering feelings for his party. Then Aqua’s all “Hey fucker get back here, you’re not getting rid of me that easily” and despite Eris saying they can’t just revive him because he doesn’t belong there Aqua just does it anyway, really gives the vibe of an older coworker being like “you’re not supposed to do it this way but this is the way I do it” kind of deal. But yeah Kazuma has a crush on Eris now and despite these guys saying how much they hate being in a group together they sure seem to turn down every out they have to get away from each other, idk I get the joke and jadedness but a little more sincerity would be nice.

Sailor Moon Crystal: Usagi wakes up at Mamoru’s place and he gives her his backstory about how he became Amnesiac Batman in Evening Wear. Luna knows Sailor V but for some reason is really cagey about divulging that to the rest of the group even though literally everyone has been assembled now. There’s a dated plot about Blockbuster taking over people’s minds that Usagi literally handwaves away when Zoisite comes out and punches her and defeats the whole team with one dark energy wave. Tuxedo Mask comes in and punches him in the face and then remembers he doesn’t have any powers and gets owned. The two have a sweet but ultimately cringy reunion before Sailor V saves their worthless asses.

Durarara!!:  With Mikado’s status as Founder of the Dollars revealed, Seiji goes on a stabbing rampage again and luckily keeps stabbing the only people that don’t actually get hurt by it, this time being Celty. Celty’s about to go grim reaper on Seiji’s worthless ass before Mika Harima runs in and tells everyone she isn’t really Celty’s head, weirdly enough Mikado recognizes this right before she says anything somehow, like makes sense Celty realizes it’s not her head but Mikado has no frame of reference aside from knowing she was wearing Mika’s clothes which in her cover story would be explained by Celty’s head leeching off Mika’s dead body. But yeah despite Seiji spending 18 hours a day staring at Mika he apparently couldn’t tell either which really throws a wrench in his “power of love justifies indiscriminate murder” philosophy which amuses both Izaya and me. Mikado breaks down the craziness that’s just transpired what with the stalking, murder, incest, identity theft, actual theft, and stabbing and tries to put a positive spin on it in that Seiji and Mika are both fucking crazy and deserve each other but it’s a hard sell my dude. Izaya tells Mikado that he’s going to be an excitement junkie like him soon if he keeps ramping up life in this crazy city and Celty just kinda forgives Shinra for knowing where her head is without telling her and also plastic surgerizing a yandere girl to look like her and give her her name which seems a little weird for them to just punch each other and call it a wash when Shinra was arguably as yandere as Mika here and they still get unofficially married. Seiji tells Mika he doesn’t love her but because of all the shit she went through to literally mold herself into the object of his obsession he guess she can hang around until he gets the headless sex toy of his dreams so… happy ending I guess. Everyone in this town is fucking crazy and they forgive each other way too easily but for a show that swings back and forth between how fucked up people are and saying humanity is fundamentally pretty decent I guess that’s kind of the point.

[fancyfrey]

Castor, the Six Star Hero

an OC centric BNHA fanfiction

Chapter 2

Touma wants to become a pro hero. He trains every day and studies the special moves and techniques of pros and sidekicks alike at his part time job. But there’s one thing in his way: In a world were 90% of the population had some sort of super human ability known as a quirk, Touma was one of the 10% that didn’t. Touma was quirkless, but that won’t stop him from pursuing his dream of working in the hero industry like the rest of his family. This is the story of how Castor, the Six Star Hero became the first quirkless pro hero.

It was a week less one day since the U.A. entrance exam and his anticipation was swelling. He felt some strange mix of disappointment and relief when he opened his mailbox and found nothing had come that bore the school's logo. Shifting through the mail he found only bills and started on his way back home. 

"Hey! Hoshi!" Not a second passed before he felt the impact of a soccer ball knocked him to the ground. He started to pick himself up but a foot landed firmly between his shoulder blades and pushed him into the dirt again. "I think I saw you at that U.A. entrance exam the other day. Don't tell me you actually tried to get into U.A." his classmate Ame taunted him. He could hear Ame's friends jeer at him as they kicked dirt into his eyes. Touma tried to remember if his classmate was there, was he assigned to a different part of the arena? He struggled to get up but Ame ground his heel into his back and continued, "I got 50 points! Those 3 point enemies were easy as shit!" He boasted. "I bet you spent the whole 10 minutes trying to take down a 1 pointer! Hahaha!"

"Hey, isn't there a written test to? No doubt the quirkless scum failed that too! How stupid do you have to be to get held back twice?!" Ame's friend joined in on the verbal attacks."Try as you might, but your mom and money can't buy you talent!"

Touma clenched his fists and started to lift himself up by his elbows. "Leave her out of this!!" Ame's foot stamped down on him again, the force of gravity emanating from his quirk threatened to sink Touma into the ground and crush his lungs. Touma gave up and tapped the ground twice, calling for mercy. 

"I thought so! Some quirkless nobody can't even defend themselves against people younger than him." Ame spat. He lifted his foot off of Touma's back. Touma stayed where he was and hid his face, he didn't want to give Ame any satisfaction by showing his wet eyes. "If you really want a quirk, go kill yourself and hope you'll be born with a quirk in the next life." Ame and his friend walked off, leaving Touma in the dirt. 

"What's in the mail?" Hotari asked when Touma returned home and tossed the mail onto a growing pile on the table. "Touma! What happened to your shirt?" She fretted when she saw stains and wrinkles on his chest. "Nothing, mom. It's fine." He swatted her hand away and avoided meeting her eyes so she couldn't see how puffy they were."It was that Omoi Ame again, wasn't it?" His mother hissed."I'm fine mom, please don't worry about it." Touma said and he retreated up to his room.

Touma barely touched his dinner that night and he didn't get much sleep. Even the peanut gallery kept their comments to a minimum. 

At school, it was much of the same. All his other classmates were excited about graduating, the younger students eagerly showed off and practiced their quirks between classes or during lunch period. The halls parted as Touma passed through.At the end of the day, he found his locker broken into. His note books full of heroes' quirk analyses and blueprint sketches for new gear were ripped and vandalised. His gym clothes were torn and his protein bars were stolen.

Down the hall, Ame and his friends were gathered, watching him. They sprayed the crumbs of his stolen protein bars as they pointed and laughed.

  "How was school today, Touma?" His mother called from her home office when Touma walked through the door.

"Fine." He hung his jacket up in the closet.

"Your karate instructor called, you didn't show up to practice?"

"Yeah I told told her I wasn't feeling up to it today." He kicked his shoes off and flopped onto a couch in the next room. "Can we go out and buy another set of gym clothes some time?" His mother came down, a number of measuring tapes around her neck and a pin cushion and some spools of thread on a belt hung loosely on her waist.

"What happened to your old ones?" She asked.

"I think I forgot them on the train home. Sorry."

"It's fine," she sighed. "I'll let your uncle know." She waved it off, "by the way, something came in the mail for you." She pointed to the table, cluttered with blueprints, tools, a couple small batteries and some loose wires. There, on top of the whole pile was a single white envelope with the logo of U.A. clearly printed on it.

"Do you...want to open it now or later? With me, or alone?" His mother asked slowly in attempt to bring him out of his shocked expression. "Hello, earth to Touma--"

"Now. ---alone." He grabbed the envelope and rushed up to his room. He shoved things around on his desk and found a small knife. With one fluid flick, the envelope was open and the letter was on his desk. 

He quickly skimmed the introductory address, the school's self praise and the explanation of points and the minimum required for admittance. He scanned the bottom where he found his points listed in two columns. 

Enemy Points: 44 Rescue points: 56

What were rescue points? He didn't know about those, but he had a total of 100, much more than the minimum required! He was in! He did it! A spark lit in his chest and his breath caught in his throat. Finally, nearly his whole life of dreaming of working with his family, more than 10 years of training and 2 whole years dedicated to this exam had paid off. He felt tears stinging his eyes the edges of his mouth turning up and digging deep dimples in his cheeks. He jumped up from his chair and pumped his fists in the air. Far away, he heard whoops and applause. 

He wiped his eyes of blurry tears and read the last line of the letter, expecting congratulations, 

We regret to inform you your application to the Heroics Course was rejected on the grounds of using an unauthorised aid.

Touma's shoulders dropped and his heart fell into his feet, struggling to find purchase on his desk, about to fall over. This couldn't be.

'Now that ain't right' a voice sneered in his head, nearly spitting the name of the school.

fekking snake

I'm not surprised though...

He took the letter in both hands and for a second of rage and desperation, thought of ripping it."Don't do anything stupid." A voice scolded him from behind."Shut up!" He yelled. He crumpled the letter into a tight ball and threw it at the wall. The next few moments blurred. He was down the stairs and out the door. He didn't know if the voice calling for him was his mother or the voices in his head. Probably both. 

He somehow found himself on the edge of a marina in a park near his uncle's office. The water below him was a deep blue, but it was calm. Stay calm. Breathe... he sat on the marina and let his legs dangle off the edge, as if tempting fate.

"What are you thinking of doing?" 

A woman a few years older than him with a thick accent he couldn't place, light violet eyes and nearly platinum hair said in a voice dripping with concern.

"Nothing...I just, need to calm my nerves." Touma sighed. He sat cross legged on the marina and started doing breathing exercises.

"That's good. I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you." The woman breathed, voice calm and cool.

"I wasn't going to jump." Touma said just to dispel any more concern from the lady. She nodded her head and sat down beside him.

"Do you know how to swim?" She asked.

"A little."

"That water looks deep." She said. Touma could just see the outline of sharp rocks near the marina, though they didn't look close enough to the surface that he could stand on them. The blue water grew darker as its depths swallowed up the rocks.

"That's why I'm not jumping. I can't give Ame that kind of satisfaction." He said sternly.

"Is that the only reason?"

'I still want to be a hero,' he thought, but instead he said, "Why are you talking to me?"

"Because, you're like me." she said slowly, looking for the right words. "We've been where you are, because we're quirkless too. And we gotta stick together, right?" Touma looked at her sideways, how did she know he was quirkless?! And then he just looked at her. It was fairly hot outside, but it looked like she was in a damn parka, a scarf and gloves and a hat and thick boots with snow stuck on the tops of her toes and in her soles.

"Who the fuck are you?" He demanded.

"I saw your blueprints and drawings." She dodged. "Did you design that bow staff all by yourself?"

Touma was taken aback, but she didn't seem like she was going to answer his question any time soon. He sighed and answered her, "yeah. With some help from my uncle of course."

"That's amazing. Your mom and uncle, they work for Innovation Enterprises, right?" The lady asked, gesturing to the sweater Touma wore, the Innovation Enterprises logo emblazoned on its shoulder. Touma nodded. 

"I would help out in the lab. Since I was nine, that’s how I spent all my summers. Take measurements, record readings when they did tests. Pass them wrenches or drill bits." Touma said fondly, glad to focus on something else other than UA High. "That's good. That's really good." She picked up a small rock by his feet and skipped it across across the water."--past couple of years I've been tinkering around, making things." Touma shrugged."Like that bow and arrow? That staff?"

"And a few iterations of some gauntlets, boots...helmets and goggles..."

"That's amazing...Is that what you want to do when you finish school?" She sounded genuinely interested. Her Japanese had a strange lilt to it but it felt good having someone to talk to.

"That, or something like it." Touma said.

"That something, being a hero?" the lady asked. Touma sighed.

"Yeah, but there are no quirkless heroes." He resigned.

"Yet. There are no quirkless heroes yet." She pat him on the shoulder for added encouragement but he didn't feel it. "You're a fighter too, aren't you?"

Touma nodded.

"Then, you should know that uh," she scrunched up her face as if she was trying to remember something. "There's this old movie, how did the quote go?" She put on some fake gruff accent and said "It ain't about how hard you can hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward--that's how winning is done!" She exclaimed. Touma smiled. "Do you want to start heading back home?" She got up and gestured in the general direction that he came. Her accent was back to normal. Touma nodded.They walked in silence through the city that was just starting to settle down after a long day. 

Cute! The platinum haired woman stooped over a potted plant in front of a restaurant and pointed to the base, into the small weeds and dirt. A girl about her age with short dark hair picked up a small mouse from the pot and for some insane reason she let it crawl into a pocket on her gym bag

 "What?" Touma exclaimed. She only placed her index finger over her lips in response.

'You forgot a notebook at school. Let's go get it.' A gruff voice suggested in what he swore was German. Touma flinched as he thought he felt hair brush up against his ear. The woman with snowy boots and the dark haired girl nodded. Touma shrugged but decided to play along. 'Let's give Ame what he deserves.' the gruff voice said.

A security guard let Touma in, there were still clubs going on, so getting into his locker wasn't that hard. 'Where's this Ame kid's locker?'

Touma walked up to Ame's locker, but he didn't know the combination. "I can't do anything."

'You can't, but I can.' The gruff voice spoke up again,  it belonged to a blond man about Touma's age. He appeared beside Touma, looked over his shoulders in case someone else was coming by, and carefully started turning the lock on Ame's locker, his ear pressed close to it. He smiled and stepped aside, and presented the opened locker with a flourish. The dark haired girl smiled and let the mouse scurry out from her pocket and into the locker as the snowy boots lady folded her arms and shook her head but was grinning the whole time. Touma opened the wrappers of his stolen protein bars and the mouse started nibbling on them. The blond man nodded and close the door and locked it again. Far off, Touma heard giggling that didn't stop until he got back home.

"Touma! Touma, I've been worried sick!" His mother nearly tackled him once he walked in his front door. She pulled him into a tight embrace and he thought she would never let go. Then she took a step back and smacked him across the face. "Don't you go out without telling me like that again!! You left your phone, I was about to call Mr. Nishiya to go and find you!" She pulled him into her arms again. He felt tears on his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry Touma. That wasn't fair, they should have let you use your bow. Mr. Yamada told me you got the highest score of this year but---"

"It's fine mom..." Touma tried to stroke her hair, tried to calm her down.

"No it's not. Just because you don't have a quirk the administration---"

"I'm over it, mom. I'm not going to let this stop me. I'm going to keep moving forward."

She straightened herself and looked him in the eyes. Her amber eyes were sparkling with tears, the same tears he felt pushing against his own eyes. She smiled. "I'm so happy, Touma. I'm so relieved you feel that way."

She finally let him go and dusted the both of them off. With a deep breath she collected herself and said, "clear the table, I'll go get us something special for dinner, okay? Will you be okay here?"

"I'll be fine mom, thanks." Touma smiled. He started clearing the table and gathered up the mail to set it in her office. As he walked up the stairs, an envelope slipped from his grasp and landed on the floor. When he picked it up, he saw this also had the U.A. logo on it. He dropped the rest of the mail and immediately picked this one up. Carefully, hesitantly, he ripped open the envelope and read what it said.

Your application to the U.A. support course has been accepted.

The next day at school, Ame got quite a shock when he opened up his locker and found a mouse in it. All the notebooks and assignments he'd left in there had been chewed to bits. Touma tried to contain his laughter until lunch.

'I've never used chopsticks before.' A quiet voice said in German when Touma took out his lunch.

I suck at them. Someone else said in heavily accented Japanese. Touma rolled his eyes and put his lunch back in his backpack. He went off to look for another place to eat lunch, if only to escape from the voices in his head and the strange looks he was getting from other students. When he made it to the courtyard, he saw the snowy boots lady sitting on a bench. If there was no escape from the other voices, at least this figure was a welcome one. He took a seat beside her, eating his lunch and sketching new designs for support gear between mouthfuls of rice. She was reading a book in a script he couldn't read but registered as Cyrillic.

"Who are you, exactly?" Touma asked the snowy boots lady.

She rested her chin against her hand, and twirled a lock of silver hair. She pursed her lips and stared at a spot somewhere behind him, like she was tasting the right words to explain herself. Her next words were as calm and soothing as everything else she’d said to him so far, but they nearly made Touma choke on his lunch.

"I'm your quirk." the lady said with a sweet smile on her face.

first

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[onfleekson]

I don’t drink wine

Note: This is my first piece. I am not an English major.  My use of commas, my grammar and maybe some of my spelling might be horrendous. Please do not copy or repost without crediting the source.

(Female reader x Josiah Trelawny)

Part 1

The sun was setting over the horizon.  You were finishing up some chores around camp; chopping wood, feeding the horses.  In the middle of your task, Kieran comes to take over brushing the horses.  He smiles warmly at you as you head out to your tent. 

You had a solo mission tomorrow to prepare for, specifically requested by Dutch: To find an associate and ensure his safety.  You chuckle remembering how you responded to this.  “Boss, is Trelawny ever really lost and in danger? The snake can slither out of any situation.”  But he insisted.  The length or Trelawny’s silence has him worried, and Dutch was always the type to look out for his own.  It’s why you joined the gang in the first place.

As you enter your tent, you look at your small mirror as you undress for the night.  You pause when your eyes meet your own in the reflection.

Thoughts... memories you’ve pushed back in your mind resurface as your fingers slide over your face. You close your eyes. Against your better judgement, you remember.

It was the night before Blackwater, the plan had been laid out, assignments had been made and the gang was ready.  Some of them headed out to the pub for drinks, including yourself.  You all seemed to be suffering from a severe case of restlessness.  It happens usually to the same people before a big heist like this: Bill, Javier, John, Sean, Davey, Mac and you. Sometimes Arthur and Hosea would come to babysit the lot of you, sometimes the girls would join, but this time a new face joined the midst.

Trelawny wasn’t new to you, just unfamiliar. You had joined the gang around the same time Charles had several months ago. Trelawny was in and out and so you never had the chance to get to know the man.  However, after some time you’ve come to the conclusion on what type of character Trelawny is. He pops in ever so often to give something Dutch wants, information most of the time, then he’ll scurry off the next second. He never stayed for the fighting, he never had to provide for the gang, or ensure their safety.  It was something that didn’t sit well with you.

And here he was. The boys were spread out, playing dominoes, laughing with the local working ladies, enjoying the night.  You were sitting at a table, in a heated discussion with Mac and Davey about who the better shot was between John and Arthur.  That’s when HE appeared; out of nowhere, unannounced with extra beers for the boys. “And a fine wine for the lady,” Trelawny said flamboyantly, wafting the drink as dramatically as possible with a face of pure enchantment before placing the drink in front of you. 

Normally, you’d ignore the man and go on about your business.  This wasn’t the first time the snake attempted to initiate an encounter with you.  However, normally you aren’t borderline shit-faced.  To make the situation worse, your frustration was stoked by the fit of laughter coming from the Callander brothers. 

And boy, was you mad.

You stood up suddenly with such intensity that it silenced the boys and made Trelawny flinch. You grab Mac’s beer and down it, unknowingly calling the bar’s attention over to you.  Then you grab Davey’s drink and down that one as well.  When you finish, the bar erupts in a drunken cheer. Davey and Mac stand and pat you on the back, making comments to whoever was listening about how you was their woman.  Pushing them aside jokingly, you gracefully (not so gracefully) take a few steps toward Trelawny.  You push the wine over to him, “For the lady,” you say as you curtsey with as much extravagance as you can muster.

The brother’s fit of laughter starts up again as they make fun of Trelawny.  Satisfied with your work, you rise from your curtsey to relish the look on his face.  However, it was not the face you had anticipated.  Trelawny was completely besides himself with laughter.  You frown, confused. “Haha, oh- oh my dear, what a wondrous creature you are,” he said between his laughter, wiping tears from his eyes.  “You sure had me there.” he said looking up at you with adoration.

Unable to deal with the snake any longer, you take your hat and stumble out of the bar.  You hear some people call after you, but you ignore it.

“I’ve had enough for one night, Amore,” you whisper to your horse as you mount and ride away into the night. 

Dizzy and warm, you relish the cold night air as Amore takes you whichever direction he so chooses to go.  It was something the two of you did when you were too drunk to function.  You’d get on your trusty steed and he’d take you for a ride until you were sober enough to find your way home or until you passed out.

However, recently, your horse has been developing this strange habit during your rides.  Which reminded you, “Amore, so help me God, if you do that- that thing again... I swear I’m going to eat you for-” You were not able to finish the sentence, however, when all of a sudden your horse comes to a sudden stop and you begin to lurch forward.  It was a feeling you were becoming familiar with, and now knew all too well.  A split second was all you needed to accept your unfortunate fate, but it was not enough time for you to get a good hold of the reigns.  Then, in the next second, you’re sent flying into a freezing river. 

You’ve learned that you’re as good a swimmer drunk as you are sober.  You’ve been bucked into bodies of water enough times to learn this, unfortunately.  So you stay in the water for a minute, allowing the cold to take hold of your bones and chill you into a kind of sobriety. Then, slowly, you float up to the surface.  You were at Blackwater’s harbor.  Amore was peering down at you. 

“What if I couldn’t swim, and I died? Hu? What would happen to you then, you dumb horse...” you say bitterly. Too busy thinking of recipes that included horse meat in them, you don’t hear the gallop of another horse nearing until it’s too late.

“No! Trelawny, I don’t need save-” before you could finish your sentence, the man clumsily jumps off his horse and into the water, jumping onto you and pushing you back underneath the surface.  You could feel one of his arms around your waist as he pulls the two of you back up.  Breaking the surface, Trewlany is sputtering and struggling for air.  He swims to shore, the one arm now linked to yours instead of around your waist. You’re still too surprised to break away from his hold and you let him pull you ashore.

Once the two of you reached land, Trelawny turns to lie on his back and tries to catch his breath.  The harbor was dimly lit, but it was enough to be able to make out his red face and exhausted demeanor.  “You’re not a good swimmer,” you point out.

“A thank you would suffice,” he breathed between his gasps for air.

“I didn’t need saving,” you retort.

Silence.

“Why are you here?” you ask.

“The boys said you were fine riding on your own, but I was worried.  I guess it’s a good thing I followed you, or you’d still be in that river,” he said, finally catching his breath.

“I told you I didn’t need savin’!” you snap again.

Trelawny sits up and looks over at you unconvinced.

Silence again.

“Th-Thanks for caring enough to be out here, I suppose,” you mutter.

Trelawny laughs again, startling you. “I’ll take what I can get, I suppose,” he says looking back out onto the water.  You peer over at him.  His thick black hair was dripping wet and shining in what little light there was.  His mustache was in the same state as well.  His clothes were completely soaked.

“We should get back to camp and get dry before you get sick,” you say. You stand, make your way over to him and hold out your hand.  “and what about you, don’t you get sick?” he asks as he takes your hand.  With one hard tug, you’re able to pull Trelawny up.  He stumbles a little, but you help him regain his balance. “I don’t get sick,” you say. He laughs again, weakly. The two of you make your way to your horses.

As you’re securing your saddle, you look over at Trelawny again. You didn’t realize he was standing so close to you, and it startles you again. “Trelawny, your horse is over there,” you say, turning away from him. You curse yourself under your breath for being taken by surprise by him so many times tonight. The alcohol was probably the reason why you weren’t so sharp, but it was no excuse for letting someone catch you off guard so frequently. You’re more careful than that.

Trelawny didn’t move, however. He looked at you, a little red in the face still, but with the same look he had at the bar.  Adoration.  Frustrated, you snap at him again, “this is no time for your tricks, Trelawny! We need to get back to camp as soon as possible.” He doesn’t look away. Instead, he raises one of his hands to your face and cups your cheek.  “My dear, what a wondrous creature you are...” he says quietly as his face draws closer to yours.  You blush and stammer, unable to find the words to express yourself.  But before he can kiss you, you push Trelawny away.

“Of all of God’s damned creations, you are, by far, the slimiest, most dim-witted...” you start but your voice trails off as you notice Trelawny’s state.  His eyes are fairly glazed over and he’s stumbling backwards, unable to catch his footing.  You lunge to catch him before he falls. “Trelawny,” you call to him, slapping his face  a bit.  You put your hand to his forehead and it’s warm.  Fever.

It doesn’t take long for you to get Trelawny onto your saddle.  It doesn’t take long for you to reach camp and get him settled into a bed and seen and attended by Miss Grimshaw and Strauss.  It didn’t even take long for the charming snake to break the fever and recover.

However, as you stand in your tent, days later, peering at your reflection in the mirror with your hand over the same cheek Trelawny held.  You realize it’s going to take a hell of a long time to forget the way he made you feel that night.

[timeisacephalopod]

Snapshot

A lil Ned/ Peter AU because these boys don’t get enough love! They’re aged up, so they’re in their twenties rather than teens, but still. Its a celeb AU also- Peter plays Spider-Man instead of being him.

“Oh my god I can’t go out there,” Ned hisses at Michelle. She looks nonplussed but she always looks like that even when there are celebrities here. Ok, there are always celebrities here but Ned doesn’t really care about most of them its just that he happens to be a huge Spider-Man nerd and Peter Parker is the best person he’s ever seen cast as the character. Toby Maguire was a travesty, and Andrew Garfield is pretty but not the perfect fit. Peter Parker though, Ned has never seen someone bring the character to life the way he does. Everything about him is absolutely perfect and now he’s sitting at a table with Tony Stark and okay this is... this...

“Ned, get your head out of your ass, he’s in your section,” Michelle tells him.

“You’ve got this!” Liz tells him over the little half wall that separates him from the kitchen area she’s in.

Yeah, he’s got this. He’s totally got this- Peter Parker is just a regular dude looking for food and Ned happens to know the food here is good. He probably eats too much of it, though to be fair he works a lot. Celebrities give good tips and he has school bills to pay for and also rent.

He starts walking over and okay never mind he does not got this he’s a lowly fat boy in school walking towards a person who plays one of the most iconic characters on television right now he is not worthy. He goes to turn around and give his table to Michelle when Peter god damn Parker notices him and smiles, waving a little excitedly and Ned has no choice now he has to go over.

“Uh, hey. I’m waiter, I’ll be your Ned this evening. I mean I’m a waiter, my name is Ned. I will be waiting. On the food. With the food, on you. Um. I’m going to shut up now,” he says, wishing he could banish himself to the shadow realm forever for that. Holy Christ he managed to embarrass the hell out of himself in less than two seconds this is the worst day of his life he hopes the earth gets hit by an astroid large enough that he’ll die long before he has to deal with poor Peter.

*

Yeah, Peter knows Ned is embarrassed but it was cute, watching him flounder a little. “Do you ever get used to that?” he asks Tony.

He shakes his head, “not really. I mean you get used to it in a way that you kind of expect it, but not in a way where you can really accept why people treat you that way. Or I didn’t, I know a lot of people who kind of let that kind of treatment go to your head and we’ve all watched what happens when child stars leave Disney. It really does fuck with people to have everyone treat you like a god only for them to turn around and get pissed off that you act like one now too.”

Shit, yeah Peter has seen that happen plenty but that’s just... not him. He grew up in Queens and didn’t even think he had a shot at landing the role of a lifetime. Hell, he would have ended up working a shitty dead end job because he couldn’t afford to go to college if not for Tony finding him at an improv group and deciding he had enough talent to fund his education. He’s always loved acting, putting on a show, and boy that has come back to bite him in the ass in really weird ways but in the end things worked out really well. Except for the part with the crazy fans, he doesn’t care for that, but that’s part of the job so.

“Hm. It wouldn’t be like... creepy to ask a fan out, right? Like because they’d be way less likely to say no to you? Would that be weird? I think that might be weird I won’t say anything,” he says, sealing his own fate.

Tony laughs, “depends on the fan and that one isn’t the type to worship you and also isn’t the type to stalk you. Keep in mind that consent goes both ways and fans are just as likely to ignore your boundaries. Maybe more, actually, since totally ignoring our privacy and personal space is considered normal and kind of encouraged. But that guy- just flustered. Probably a comic book nerd too,” he says.

If he’s a comic nerd Peter doesn’t see why he’d like Peter much. He can’t even believe the amount of blowback he got from the comic fandom over the fact that he’s trans and playing Spider-Man. Yeah, he obviously expected some blowback because that’s... well, normal not that he wants to admit that casual transphobia is alive and well. But it is, and he expected it, but the sheer amount of people that thought just that part of who he is should disqualify him from playing the character was nuts. Thankfully Peter Quill happens to be a crazy bastard and basically told everyone and their dogs to shove it because he knows what he’s doing. Which, to be fair, he does. And casting happens to be a skill he’s especially good with.

“Think you might be wrong about the comic nerd thing,” Peter says. Comic nerds are bird brains, he has decided.

“If you say so, kid,” Tony says and Peter can tell Tony thinks he’s right but he doesn’t say it.

*

Tony is trying to explain how he and Arthur Curry of all people ended up in a relationship when Ned comes back with food. Poor guy already suffered through drinks and Peter tried to talk to him to try and make him feel more comfortable but it didn’t really work. So when he comes back over Peter grins, “that smells so good,” he says and he is starving. Being stuck under film lights all day is actually exhausting work contrary to popular belief and obviously he gets fed but he’s like a bottomless pit with food. Can’t ever seem to get enough, but he’s always that way. The bonus is now that people read him as a guy no one asks if he should eat that much they just kind of assume he’s a glutton. Which, yay, because pastries.

“Um yeah, its pretty good. I’ve tried basically everything here except the caviar and the escargot because I draw the line at rich people food that sounds like it should be poor people food,” he says and Tony snorts, laughing into his hand.

“Yeah, guess fish eggs kind of do sound more like a thing poor people would eat than rich people. Weird. Also, not good- I’ve tried it and I don’t get the hype,” he says, shrugging.

“Tastes like spunk, I don’t get it either,” Tony says and the response obviously surprises Ned because he looks at Tony with a shocked expression on his face which, in hindsight, is probably why he doesn’t notice Peter’s food go overboard and into his lap. He jumps up before the hot food can do damage, then winces when the plate ends up in several pieces on the ground and Ned looks horrified.

“Its okay!” Peter says fast. “Things happen!”

“I am so sorry!” Ned says, eyes wide in horror.

“Its fine! I’ve had worse things thrown at me,” he says fast. Which is true, but also.

Ned rolls his eyes, “all those people who decided you couldn’t play Spider-Man because of some comic book inaccuracy or whatever bullshit need to look at those comics again because in issue 1034, which was released eight weeks before you even got the role, Gwen Stacy asks if you can lay eggs. Tom Holland, not you, you just play him. Whatever. Anyway, Gwen Stacy is a genius so she’d definitely know that only lady spiders can lay eggs. Also, Spider-Man is well known for his slightly high pitched voice and sure, people can argue that’s because he’s a teenager but I was sixteen once too and by then my voice was normal, so for Tom Holland to have hit puberty that late its totally acceptable to consider the effects of T on his voice and also- wait, no, oh my god. You don’t give a shit about any of this, people suck. They’re transphobes and also you have the perfect frame for it and lets be real, Christian Bale would have been a better choice than Toby fucking Maguire,” he says, flapping a hand around and wincing at his rant.

Peter raises an eyebrow, “there’s actual comic text evidence for trans Spider-Man?” he asks and Ned shrugs, cheeks turning a little red.

“I mean, you kinda gotta dig but if they can randomly make Captain America HYDRA and then unmake him HYDRA when everyone hated that shit trans Spider-Man is much less controversial. Actually, its totally inconsequential because why would that affect being Spider-Man, it just means you gotta take T and you- Tom Holland not you- got bit by a radioactive spider. Is being trans really more unrealistic than that? Because any idiot who claims realism probably need to pull their head out of their ass because the real world ain’t got super soldier serum to give you a shredded bod. Which, by the way, is my kind diet plan- just taking some experimental serum and come out hot. You don’t care about that either, oh my god, I’m getting comic nerd on a celebrity and also your food and-” Peter cuts Ned off to save him from himself.

“I think I might be in love with you, Ned,” he says and then winces, looking to Tony in a panic. Why the hell would he even say that!

“What he means,” Tony interjects smoothly, “is that he thinks you’re adorable, and he wants you number. Maybe a date, if you’re comfortable.”

Ned stares for a long moment. “Oh my god this is exactly season two episode four where MJ asks Gwen out for you even though that’s dumb because MJ and Gwen clearly belong with each other,” Ned says, eyes wide.

“Yeah I know right? Peter- Quill-” he clarifies when he remembers too late there’s two Peters involved in Spider-Man, “keeps pushing for it but stupid TV people won’t let him. So now he’s writing them as gay as possible to piss everyone off, except its kind of backfiring because now everyone thinks he’s queerbaiting but he’s not he’s queer expliciting as much as he can before someone fires him. Also yeah, I just don’t think Gwen is a good match for my character anyways, I mean she’s nice and all that but they’re kind of... platonic. Oh, um, do you know what a Miles Morales is?” he asks because Quill mentioned him and Peter has no idea who that is.

Ned does because he lets out a loud noise that’s halfway between a huff and a squeal and Peter is sure he’s never heard a noise like it before. “Oh my god they’re introducing Miles Morales! Yes!”

Tony throws a dinner roll at him and it bounces off his head, “you shit head, don’t give away spoilers!” he says like it isn’t a meme that Peter consistently gives stuff away. At this point they’ve started using it as marketing material it happens so often. Like that time he opened a supposedly internal poster on his Instagram and faked being shocked when he realized it wasn’t supposed to be public. Everyone ate it up even if they all knew it was fake- obviously it was considering the video was never taken down, but the fans loved it anyway.

“Give me every single spoiler now!” Ned says, excitement written all over his features.

Peter considers saying no but he’s not good at peer pressure, its how he got talked into doing shrooms when he was thirteen and that was a bad plan. “The multiverse explodes and one of the spider people dies but I can’t tell you which one,” he says quickly. Tony throws another roll at him for it but he can’t help it.

Ned lets out a loud screech, “oh my god if Peter Quill kills you I’ll go kill him!” he yells way too loud. People turn to stare and Peter waves them off.

“Talking about a TV show!” he assures people and Ned, to his credit, looks like he kind of wants the earth to swallow him.

“Peter doesn’t die,” Tony says, “and we’re going to leave before Dipshit McGee lets any more spoilers loose. You might not want to tell anyone any of that stuff, people will find you and I really wish that was a joke but its not. You’ll get like twelve cease and desist letters.”

“That’s true, I have like fifty of them in frames and also I’ve been banned from reading scripts until shooting schedule because I really am terrible at keeping things secret and this is really Quill’s fault for telling me any of this stuff and hey wait I don’t have his number yet,” he says and Tony drags him off.

“I’ll get his number and pay, you stop spoiling Quill’s hard work before he decides to kill you next,” Tony says.

[richiefuckfacetozier]

Chapter 16: My Funny Valentine

Story: It’s Not My Fault

Note: I commissioned the incredible @soft-hart to draw the Valentine’s date. I am in awe. 

Pairing: Richie Tozier and Eddie Kaspbrak

Located on Archive of our own

For other chapters - | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |

Title - My Funny Valentine by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart (Listen to Ella Fitzgerald or Frank Sinatra Version)

Eddie hated Valentine’s Day with a passion. He thought for sure if he ever got into a relationship, his partner would agree it is a dumb pointless holiday. Except Eddie was not such a lucky person. Instead, he was dating the cheesiest, most dramatic person ever. Which meant they had to celebrate a holiday that was so sappy and gross it was not even romantic to him.

Richie basically guilt tripped him into celebrating Valentine’s Day. He claimed to be tired of their secret relationship and wanted to go on a real date out of town. Eddie understood those feelings and agreed their situation sucked. They were spoiled during the Vermont trip when they got to kiss, hold hands, and be a couple. Richie wanted to experience that freely again and so did Eddie. He tended to feel this overwhelming dread that Richie would leave him over their closeted relationship, so if he had to suffer the romance for a day to keep things fresh then he would.

Richie also pointed out that they will have been dating for 5 months exactly on February 14. Which seemed to be a cruel twist of fate for someone who hates Valentine’s Day. His main reason for disliking the holiday stems from the years his mother has endured being alone. He would make her Valentine’s Day gifts or bring her single flowers, but when she smiled her thanks it never reached her eyes. Apparently, his father really loved celebrating every holiday with as much flash as he could. Constantly embarrassing his mother but she loved all the same. He found it hard to believe she would tolerate that kind of behavior, except his aunts confirmed his father was a corny man.

Eddie snatched up the blank Valentine’s Day card he got his mother, trying to think of something to write. He had gone with Stanley and Bill to Mr. Keene’s pharmacy to pick out cards for their mothers. His two friends had the advantage of picking any generic card since they still had fathers who would pick up the slack of this stupid holiday. Eddie took longer trying to pick a nice one that would not hurt her feelings.

As they were browsing the cards, Eddie noticed Stanley take a second card and admire it with a side smile.

“Which are you going to buy?” Eddie asked curiously.

“What?” Stanley glanced at him in confusion.

Eddie pointed at the cards, “Which one are you giving your mom?”

“Oh, this one.” Stanley held up a card that read ‘Mom, Thank you for always being there. We both know you love me more than dad, just admit it.’

Eddie smiled, “Are you giving the second one to your dad?” Eddie reached for the card to read the inside but Stanley drew his hand away.

“No,” He said in embarrassment. Stanley was not someone who blushed often, but his cheeks were definitely rosy.

“Stan, are you b-blushin’?” Bill strolled over and pinched his cheek teasingly. Stanley smacked his hand away with a sneer.

“Don’t be like Richie.” He said seriously.

“Who is she?” Bill’s face was filled with giddy mirth as he ruffled Stanley’s curls, receiving another hand smack and a glare.

“Or he!” Eddie corrected Bill with a shove. “You should know better Big Bill.” Eddie tried to grab the card again except Stanley’s long arms extended out of his reach. He was attempting to put the card on the top shelf as far from Eddie as possible.

Bill managed to capture the card, Stanley tried to take it back, letting out an angry shout in the process. He handed it quickly to Eddie like they were kids playing a game of keep away.

“This isn’t funny! Stop guys!” Stanley yelled trying to reach around Eddie and get the card.

“Boys!” Mr. Keene’s voice came from the register. “Knock it off.”

Eddie looked at the front of the card. It had two cows gazing at each other with heart eyes. He opened the inside which read,‘You moooooove me’  The card was ripped out of his hands and Stanley put it back roughly. He was livid as he marched toward the register bought the other Valentine’s card and went outside. Eddie felt a bit guilty they had teased him. Even being best friends, Stanley was a pretty private person that got embarrassed easily. Eddie and him had the easily embarrassed part in common. Stanley usually hides it well, therefore, he must like this person a lot to have gotten so defensive.

Eddie grabbed the cow card and a blank one to write his own Valentine’s message for his mother later. He bought the two cards and headed outside where Stanley was standing alone.

“Stan?” Eddie had an idea of who the person might be. There is only one friend who would laugh at a farm animal valentine. Eddie was worried about pushing him with this new knowledge.

“What.” Stanley bit out. “Going to make fun of me more? Go ahead. It was stupid anyway.”

Eddie tentatively handed him the cow card. Stanley looked at it and his expression softened a little as he took it hesitantly. His eyes met Eddie’s warily, “You know who it is, don’t you.”

Eddie smiled encouragingly, “I think Mike would love it.”

“It’s for Mike?!” Bill yelled in surprise when he walked out of the store.

Stanley glared at Eddie, “Thanks for that. I hope Trashmouth makes you wear matching couples shirts and serenades you in front of a giant audience for Valentine’s Day. I know how much you LOVE public attention.”

Eddie laughed to himself thinking about how livid Stanley had been. When he tried to push the subject of Mike and him further, he shook his head saying it was complicated and to drop it.

For the morning of the dreaded holiday, Eddie’s biggest concern was figuring out how to convince his mother to let him leave the house. She had barely given him any freedom since he tried to come out. They had not spoken to each other, or rather, he would not speak to her. Not at dinner or after school, he avoided her whenever he was in the house. There was a guilt that washed over him when he saw her hurt eyes, but if she wouldn’t let him even say the word ‘gay’ then he would not say anything at all.

He decided to go the easiest route for escaping the house, which was to sneak out without her seeing. He would place the Valentine’s Day card on the table downstairs and walk directly out the door. Every part of him wanted to not write her anything but he knew how lonely she would feel when he was not home.

He quickly wrote down on the Valentine’s card, ‘No matter what we go through, I will love you. Even if we don’t understand each other, I will love you. If you stop loving me, I will still love you’. A little on the depressing side but that has been Eddie’s mood lately anyway.

It was 6:00 AM, an hour earlier than when his mother wakes up on weekends. He put a coat on over his pajamas, grabbed his boots, and backpack with the outfit he was wearing for the date. He tiptoed downstairs, as quietly as possible, put the Valentine’s card on the kitchen table, then carefully walked out the door.

When he arrived at Richie’s, he couldn’t decide whether to use the key Mrs. Tozier’s gave him or go through Richie’s bedroom window. If Mr. Tozier caught him, it would be a disaster. He decided to go the safe route and climb through the window. Richie had left it open a crack, probably just for him. Eddie threw the bag inside then hoisted himself into the first story room. He landed with a bit of a thump on the messy floor. Richie was snoring away, his gangly arms sprawled out covering almost the whole bed.

Eddie slipped out of his boots and coat, then crawled into bed with him. Richie’s body immediately latched onto Eddie’s warmth as if by instinct. He held him tight like a stuffed animal. Eddie put an arm around Richie’s shirtless torso, feeling butterflies in his stomach at the contact. Richie hugged him tighter, throwing his leg over him. His eyes were still closed, which meant he was either half awake or aggressively dreaming.

“Hey Rich?” Eddie whispered.

He only mumbled a little. Eddie decided on going to sleep instead of waking him up. When he did wake up for the second time that day, it was to lips being planted on every part of his face. The lips kissed both his cheeks, his nose, his forehead, and his neck. When he smiled sleepily, the lips moved to his mouth. They were minty, which meant Richie brushed his teeth just so he could kiss him good morning. Eddie didn’t open his eyes as he deepened the kiss, letting the feeling and smell of Richie engulf him. Richie’s hands moved under Eddie’s pajama shirt. His fingers were warm against his cold skin. Since Eddie was always freezing, this gave him goosebumps. He melted into the touch as Richie slowly traced small circles up and down his spine, making his skin tingle. Eddie rolled himself on top of Richie wanting to be as close as possible. He ran his hands through Richie’s hair receiving a satisfying moan from the man beneath him.

Eddie pulled out of the kiss to open his eyes. Richie looked disheveled but in a frustratingly beautiful way. “Morning, babe.” Eddie said groggily.

“You looked so cute, I had to wake you up and I am glad I fucking did.” Richie grinned goofily still running his hands across Eddie’s skin distractingly. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

Eddie rolled off him and shoved his face into the pillow in anguish. “Ugh…don’t remind me.”

“Hey!” Richie poked his side making Eddie squirm. “You have to be receptive to all romantic shit I say to you today. That’s part of our deal.”

Eddie peeked an eye at him begrudgingly. “Fine. Happy Losertine’s Day, loser.”

Richie kissed the back of his neck, putting his hands low on Eddie’s back.  “My hands are cold. Can I stick them down your pants to warm them up?”

Eddie groaned into the pillow. “If I have to endure horrible pick up lines, I am going back to sleep.”

“How do you like your sausage in the morning… scrambled or blown?”

Eddie turned to him with a sly smile. He brought his hands to Richie’s sides and started tickling him. This immediately made him start howling with laughter and trying to wiggle away. “Have mercy, Eds!” Eddie moved his fingers quickly over Richie’s stomach, loving the barking laugh erupting from him. Richie got enough control over him to grab his hands and pin them above him. He hovered over Eddie with his legs on either side of him.

Eddie’s breathing became ragged as he saw the way Richie was looking at him. His eyes blown out and needy. Eddie licked his lips racking his eyes down and back up Richie’s body. This seemed to be the wrong thing to do because Richie let go of his hands and got off the bed.

Eddie looked at him in confusion, suddenly worried. “Are you ok? Did I…um…make you uncomfortable? I’m sorry.”

“Are you kidding me? You were being sexy as fuck just now. But I need to shower and we both have to get ready.”

Eddie rolled his eyes at being called sexy. Then he smirked as Richie went to open his bedroom door, towel, and clothes in hand.

“I think I’ll join you, Rich.”

Richie choked and sputtered looking at him in disbelief. “What?”

Eddie got off the bed and walked toward him, “I didn’t take a shower this morning either. So I’ll join you.” He pulled a barely breathing Richie out of the room and toward the bathroom.

Eddie got dressed in a nice button up light blue shirt with dark jeans. He wore the rainbow socks Richie got him as a joke a couple days ago and tied the laces of his nice snow boots that would cover them.

Richie wore a black v-neck that Eddie made him buy a couple weeks ago with jeans. Richie looked so attractive that Eddie wanted to kiss him some more. Then he put on a colorful Hawaiian button up. Eddie laughed and rolled his eyes.

“I can’t let you get too distracted by my sexiness with this v-neck.” Richie wiggled his eyebrows. “Gotta keep your head in the game.”

“What game?” Eddie laughed incredulously.

Richie got right up in his face, brought their lips so close they were brushing each other as he whispered, “The game of romance, my rosy redvine.”

Eddie whispered back, “We will lose that game because I hate romance.”

“I know it makes it more fun for me.” Richie smiled and kissed him quickly.

When they got outside, Richie opened the passenger door for him then ran to the driver’s side. He turned the heat on high and reached into his pocket to grab something. “Alright, put this on.” Richie handed him a bandana.

Eddie frowned at it in confusion. “Why am I wearing a bandana?”

“Like a blindfold!” He said excitedly.

Eddie sighed at Richie’s childishness. “For how long?”

“An hour.” He grinned.

Eddie groaned throwing the bandana in his face. “No. I don’t like surprises. You know that.”

“Awwww, come on Eddie! You said I could do as much romantic crap to you today as I want.”

Eddie pointed at him, “I said that on the condition I don’t get hurt or murdered.”

“I am not going to let you get hurt!” Richie whined.

“What about murdered?”

“Eddie! You are just going to sit in the car, with a blindfold on until we get to where we are going.”

Eddie looked at him defiantly then snatched the bandana back to tie around his eyes. “Fine, but you better have brought snacks. I didn’t have breakfast.”

“Do you even know me? I have to eat every two minutes.” Richie waved his hand in front of Eddie’s face and when he was satisfied that he couldn’t see, drove out of the driveway.

The hour ride was really relaxing for Eddie. Richie’s usual loud rock music was replaced by ballad love songs. Richie had bought him a giant chocolate bar that he was eating along with an orange. A very balanced breakfast.

He wouldn’t admit it, but not knowing where they were going was a little exciting. His imagination was coming up with a ton of possibilities.

“Amusement park?” He guessed.

“We don’t have any within an hour near us, fool.”

“Fancy restaurant?”

Richie scoffed, “With my invisible money, yes.”

Eddie huffed out and decided to yell out a silly possibility, “One of those Gay Pride parades.”

Richie laughed, “No. But what we are doing can be considered gay.”

“How so?”

“Because we are together.”

Eddie tried to hit him but since he couldn’t see, missed and hit the stereo making the music skip a beat. Richie laughed at him putting his arm out so Eddie could hit him for real. Which he did. “I’m going to kick your ass.”

“Please do.”

When Richie finally parked at their mysterious place and let Eddie take his blindfold off, he was super confused. He got out of the car and the cold was even harsher than Derry.

“Are we closer to the coast?” Eddie took in their surroundings. It was a nice town with buildings similar to Derry’s but way more shops and people milling about.

“Nope! We are by Kennebec River.” Richie said gleefully.

“In Augusta? Our state’s capital?” Eddie spun to look at his thrilled boyfriend. “That’s so random.”

“I did research. It’s like the second most accepting gay-friendly city in the state.” Richie took in the town with a huge smile.

“You did research?” Eddie looked at him impressed. “Where’s the first?”

“Portland, Maine. But that’s about 2 and a half hours from Derry.”

“So we are in a gay-friendly town because…” Richie took Eddie’s hand, kissed it and pulled him along.

Eddie was in shock. Richie really did just want to spend a day as a normal couple. Walk around holding hands and freely kissing each other when they wanted too.

As they walked around the shops, there were tons of couples out and about. They were all straight but no one really cared when Eddie put his arm around Richie’s waist. Some people even smiled as Richie placed his own around Eddie’s shoulders and kissed the side of his face.

They found a sweet little cafe to eat at with decent prices. Eddie held Richie’s hand the whole time, which made it hard to eat his burger, not that Richie cared. Eddie paid, much to Richie’s protesting, but the boy had been paying for them too much all day.

They strolled through downtown Augusta and got to the river. Eddie stood by the edge listening to the quiet flow of the water. He was thinking about how easy today had been, none of the usual stress of being together. Any nerves about their relationship practically non-existent. It was like a dream he never wanted to be woken from. Unlike Derry, the nightmare he is trapped in.

Richie came up behind him, hugging him right below his belly button. Even through all the layers, he was wearing, he felt his body immediately heat up. Richie put his lips by his ear, nibbling at it lightly, “What are you thinking about, my tasty Toblerone.”

“Whether you will ever run out of candy nicknames.” Eddie retorted quickly.

“Nope, never going to happen.” Richie kept kissing him languidly.

Eddie sighed still staring deeply at the water, wondering if he could throw himself into its icy depths before letting slip what he was actually bothering him. “I’m thinking about the only thing I ever think about.”

“Me?”

He refused to answer because giving Richie the satisfaction of hearing yes was not worth the teasing. Richie turned Eddie around still keeping his arms securely on him. He moved his hands in the back pocket of Eddie’s jeans.

Eddie placed his arms on Richie’s shoulders with a smirk, “Are your hands cold? Or are you grabbing my ass?”

“Can it be both?” Richie leaned their foreheads together.

Eddie’s eyes refused to meet Richie’s. He played with his scarf absentmindedly, trying to ignore any insecurities and fears threatening to surface. He wanted to stay in this moment and trying to push his worry aside, but all he ever does is worry. “I’m thinking about how I wish every day was like this.”

Richie shrugged unconcerned, “It can be or, rather, it will be.”

Eddie played with the zipper on Richie’s jacket. He honestly wished his mouth would cease speaking his mind sometimes. Except the words started tumbling out before he could prevent them. “Does it bother you that we can’t be publically out?” He flinched a little at his own pathetic question.

“Yes.” Richie said immediately making Eddie’s stomach clench. “And no.”

He sighed miserably, “What does that mean?”

Richie dug his forehead into Eddie’s harder, which made him look up and concentrate on his words. “Yes, because I want us to be our true selves. No, because as long as I am with you it doesn’t really matter.”

Eddie’s heart soared and he tried to hold back the tears of happiness that threatened to fall. “I love you so much, you know that right?”

“I love you too, Eds.” Richie went to kiss him but he pulled away making Richie chase his lips a little.

He giggled at the boy’s ridiculousness. “Like I love you with every wheezing breath I take.” They both laughed.

“I love you with all my blindness.” Eddie brought his lips forward to kiss him gently. He retracted one of his hands and reached into his pocket for something. He took out a small black stringed up bag.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, babe.” Richie removed his hands to open the bag. Inside was a silver chain necklace. On the end of it were two letters, E and R. Richie put it around his neck trying to lock it on.

“Help.” He groaned. “My fingers are too big.”

Eddie laughed, took his gloves off and went behind Richie to hook the necklace. When he got it on, he went back to facing Richie placing his hand over the necklace that lined up perfectly with his heart.

“So you know I am always close to your heart.”

“Oh Eds,” They stared at each other. “Don’t you know by now? You are my heart.”

Eddie thought his brain would burst at those words. He was absolutely speechless. Richie was cheesy and inappropriate and yet perfect in every way. Eddie did the only thing he could think of. He kissed him hard. Richie was surprisingly slow to get into the kiss but laughed at the enthusiasm. He all but whimpered when Eddie licked his bottom lip, eliciting a moan from Eddie.

“Can we go to your car?” Eddie said desperately. Richie did not respond, he just grabbed his arm and pulled Eddie along.

When Richie parked in his driveway after dropping Eddie off, he put his hand over his smiling lips trying to calm himself down. He was on cloud nine from how incredible their day had been. His heart was pounding and stomach fluttering just how he used to feel at the beginning of their relationship. It seemed miraculous that Eddie could make him feel so light and wonderful.

He got out of the car and ran toward his house and unlocked the front door. He planned to brush his teeth and go to bed immediately because he was so tired. Although, with how much adrenaline he was on, he wondered if he would be able to sleep at all.

He opened the door to his father sitting on the couch watching television. Richie rolled his eyes out of habit and strolled right past him.

“Richard.”

He wanted to keep walking. The last thing he needed was his father to ruin the best day. Except instead of continuing toward his room, he stopped. There was something menacing in his father’s speaking voice that always made him listen to him. Even if his father said he never listened, Richie always did.

“I’m tired.” Richie replied loudly. The louder his voice, the angrier he could make the man.

“We need to talk.” He said sternly.

“Wentworth,“ Richie sighed deeply. "I really don’t care what you want to talk about with me right now.”

“Look at me, young man.”

He crossed his arms, thinking he would ignore the request and go to bed. After their conversation, he certainly wished he had.

Richie turned around as annoyingly slow as he could. His father was holding up a small piece of paper. Richie squinted his eyes, even with his strong prescription, seeing was not his forte. He walked toward him slowly then froze. His throat dried up and his stomach felt like it was going to extricate the burger he ate that afternoon. The best meal of his life because he was holding Eddie’s hand the whole time was about to betray him.

Because in his father’s hand was not just a piece of paper.

It was a photo.

A photo of him and Eddie kissing as if no one else in the world was there.

Mature Ending

By @slashpalooza

@dandeliontozier @sam-i-am2468 @reddie-brasil @takemetothetide @ohheydatsme @slashpalooza @averym14 @fucking-reddie

[singingaboutwishingx]

What If? (VFD!AU Jacques Snicket x Olivia Caliban fic)

The tragic fate of Jacques Snicket and Olivia Caliban might have been avoided if they had met ten years earlier under somewhat different circumstances. Of course, everything may have turned out exactly the same because the universe works in mysterious ways. Nonetheless, let us glimpse into the lives of two twenty-year-old volunteers (of different graduating classes— VFD separates by birth month, not year) pulled together on a mission. 

••••••••••••••••••••

It was an instant connection. They were two volunteers fresh out of their apprenticeships, and had been called into action to solve the mystery of a kidnapping. They met at a café, ordering sugarless tea and scones that would go untouched. 

“Well, Jacques Snicket,” Olivia started, sticking out a hand towards her new partner, “I’ve heard quite a lot about you: tied for top of class with your twin sister, master of disguise, and very fine deckhand. It’s nice to finally meet you.” 

He shook her hand firmly. “I’ve heard much about you too, Olivia Caliban: top of your class and human encyclopedia, with the most gorgeous hazel eyes I’ve ever seen.” 

Olivia looked at him a moment, not quite sure how to react. She decided to go with her honest reaction. “You’re bold, Jacques Snicket. I quite like that. It could be useful.” 

“I did get perfect marks in the Honeypot section of Espionage 101.”

The left side of Olivia’s mouth quirked up in a smile. I could get used to that, Jacques thought. 

“Let’s get to it then, shall we?” Olivia stood up and put a few bills on the table. 

“We shall.”

••••••••••••••••••••

They rescued the kidnappee and sent the kidnapper to jail in two and a half days, astounding the board. Never had they seen such a pair so gifted and well suited for each other. 

They were assigned more and more cases, all of which they solved with blinding speed. All the while, the balloon of sexual tension between them expanded until it popped, and they couldn’t take it anymore. 

••••••••••••••••••••

They were filling out paperwork in the kitchen of Olivia’s tiny apartment when it happened. They wrote accounts of the case, facts and figures, and initialed countless lines, keeping up steady banter all the while. Eventually, Olivia had to go pick up her mail, but Jacques was blocking her from the door.

“You wanna move out of my way, Snicket?” 

They locked eyes. 

“Make me.”

In one swift motion, she rose to her toes and looped her arms around his neck, pulling him down to her. Jacques’s response was immediate, hands around her waist to try to get her closer. 

It burned with passion, this kiss. It was months of pent-up emotions flooding out, every snarky comment flying away in a desperate attempt to be nearer to each other. They kissed on and on, finally slowing when they could barely breathe anymore. 

They stared at each other in disbelief, which melted away to shy smiles. 

“Well, Olivia Caliban. I think it’s safe to say that you’ve effectively convinced me. Please. Proceed.” He stepped out of her way and extended an arm as a gesture for her to go.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be able to leave just yet.” Olivia smirked. 

“And why is that?” 

“Beacause,” she replied, slowly pulling him in by his tie until they were just shy of touching, “I realized that I’m not quite finished with you.”

A slow smile crept onto Jacques’s face, and he suddenly whirled her around and lifted her onto the counter so they were the same height. He took charge this time with a kiss that lacked the frantic quickness of its predecessor, replaced instead by a slow, solid, and steadiness. 

Jacques moved his lips to her collarbone, drawing out a quiet sigh. He intended to make that noise much louder, which he did. Olivia moaned in pleasure, eyes fluttering closed in pure delight. 

“Let’s just stay like this forever.”

Jacques tore himself away, a half smile gracing his swollen lips. “If we did, how would you kiss me? Be logical, Olivia.” 

“How could I have missed that?” she asked in mock surprise. “We’ll have to make it right, then.”

They did.

••••••••••••••••••••

Making out while they were supposed to be doing paperwork became a regular thing. They’d fill out forms until they couldn’t stand it any longer, exchanging knowing glances and then flying at each other. They both realized that there was something more than sexual chemistry, and went on a trial date. Then another. And another, then deciding that they were more than one type of partners. 

Olivia met Lemony and Kit, who yanked her brother aside to tell him that Olivia is perfect and you’d better not screw it up. Jacques reassured her that he wouldn’t. 

Olivia and Lemony really hit it off: two literary fanatics who could write with the best of them, and she and Kit got along well, too. They both were kind souls with sarcastic streaks, and they often spent time together drinking tea and talking shit.

Jacques was thrilled at how quickly Olivia won over his siblings. Olivia was as well, and wished that she could introduce him to her family, but she had none left: her parents  had died when she was three and her brother, Thursday, had disappeared right after she started training at VFD. She always blamed herself for his disappearance, though she never understood why he had suddenly gone missing.

She opened up to Jacques about all of this, and he just held her for a while before speaking. 

“Olivia, we’re you’re family now, and we Snickets take care of our own.”

She looked up at him with a small smile that was seemed sad but grateful. “Thank you, Jacques.”

They sat a moment. 

“You know,” she began again, “I never expected it to be like this when we were assigned that kidnapping case, but honestly, I couldn’t have asked for anything better.” 

“I guess... I guess fate was on our side.”  

“I guess it was.” They grinned at each other and Olivia couldn’t resist kissing him.

That boy is too damn attractive for his own good, she thought.

••••••••••••••••••••

Jacques Snicket and Olivia Caliban were truly in love. I am happy to say that in this world, their story ended well. They went through life together. Jacques had Olivia, and Olivia had Jacques. Love prevailed for them, and that is all we can hope for ourselves.

  Requested by Anon

[taikoturtle]

Either "Bitch better have my money" or "Zero fucks given. Next please" for the five word prompts.

Pairing: Trimberly

“Bitch better have my money”

read it on AO3

Trini’s sneakers pound against the pavement as she scours the entire school grounds at the end of the day. Her eyes scan the passing areas acutely but fail to yield the results she’s seeking. Fingers fly across her phone’s screen as fast as her feet are carrying her across campus.

[Trini 2:44]

zack, you better b at school today

She checks his usual stomping grounds: the secluded utility shed near the football stadium, the bathrooms on the farthest outskirts near the chemistry labs, and the outside area at the back of the school. Each place is emptier than the last causing Trini’s scowl to deepen with every strike out.

[Trini 2:48]

this is really important where tf are you

Slowing to a stop near the flagpole out front, Trini sucks in gulps of fresh air to catch her breath. It’s quite possibly the worst day for their truant friend to be elusive, but Trini’s always had shitty luck so she can’t exactly blame him. After becoming a Power Ranger he has steadily upped his attendance, but the bar is set pretty low when you’re starting from completely absent all of the time.

Her phone buzzes and she whips it up to read whatever excuse he has cooked up for her.

[Zack 2:52]

was taking a dump. can’t a guy get a break?

[Trini 2:52]

you’re so gross why are we friends

[Zack 2:53]

you tell me crazy girl

Her lips crack into a smile before she shakes her head and remembers the urgency.

[Trini 2:53]are you at school today?

[Zack 2:54]

you’re lucky I was feeling studious today

[Trini 2:54]

studious my ass. fridays are pizza day at school

[Zack 2:54]

potato potato

[Trini 2:55]

what?

[Zack 2:55]

that was way less effective through text

[Trini 2:55]

whatever just come to the flagpole now and bring the money you owe me

[Zack 2:56]

sooo about that…

As soon as she reads his last text, Trini feels her blood pressure rising like a bubbling volcano. A couple of weeks ago she had lent him some cash to take a girl out on a date. Partly because it was satisfying to see him beg so desperately because he really liked this chick, but mainly because she was happy that he was happy. Honestly, she would have lent him the money regardless simply because he’s her friend, but the groveling really was a nice touch.

[Trini 2:57]

SOS

It’s their code for when shit is real, and now is the time to cash in on that debt because Trini has a date of her own—with none other than Kimberly Hart.  

Yes, the Kimberly Hart.

The very girl who she’s been pining for ever since they stumbled across the power coins on that fateful night that changed their lives forever. The very girl who she initially despised when she had first transferred because of ignorant stereotypes that shaped how Trini thought Kimberly was as a person without even getting to know her first.

The very girl who stole her heart after she realized just how wrong she was.

And one would think that when a girl tricks you and pulls you down off a seemingly bottomless cliff, the friendship would be over before it even started, but such was not the case with Kimberly. Maybe Trini’s just a glutton for punishment but something inside her that day compelled her to come back, and it certainly wasn’t Jason’s mildly rousing speech—all she knows for sure is that she fell into more than just that ravine.

Trini doesn’t do emotions very well. Anger maybe, sarcasm most definitely, but love? As far as she’s concerned, love is as foreign to her as advanced physics. She loves her family, but it’s a delicate and complicated love that’s riddled with frustrations, so navigating the complex feelings she harbors towards Kimberly is a treacherous endeavor to say the least.

But it’s worth it—it’s always worth it.

She’s always worth it.

Trini had finally mustered up the courage today, fueled by Billy and Jason’s supportive encouragement and inspiring pep talk, to ask Kimberly out on a date. It was the most nerve-wracking moment of her teenage life, standing so closely beside Kimberly as she unfolded the tiny note that Trini slipped into her locker that morning.

Passing notes is kind of their thing, so it only seemed fitting that she asked her to dinner with a note. She even tried to draw a picture of a pterodactyl and a sabre toothed tiger but Kimberly ruined the moment by asking why she scribbled a pigeon and a dog on the paper. Trini knows she’s no Michelangelo, but come on.

Despite Trini’s apparently poor fine arts skills, Kimberly beamed at her and breathed out a relieved “finally!” before pulling her into a warm, inviting hug. Kimberly always gives amazing hugs too, the kind where her arms wrap fully around Trini’s body, not too tight but just close enough to make her feel safe, to feel enveloped by affection.

They’re the kind of hugs you never want to end, but time waits for no one and the school bell rang so they had to go their separate ways. Trini still felt the lingering warmth from Kimberly and her body hummed with vibrating excitement, eager for the day to end so they can go on their date.

It wasn’t until her next class when Trini opened her wallet to determine where they would go later that night did her heart plummet into her stomach.

It was empty.

Sure, insisting to pay for the whole bill is an antiquated notion, but Trini doesn’t care—she wants to treat Kimberly on their first date, to really make her feel as special as she makes Trini feel, but how is she going to do that with no money whatsoever? There’s no way she’s going to have Kimberly pay for the entire dinner when the date was Trini’s idea to begin with.

Which is why Zack needs to get his ass over to the flagpole before she kicks it so hard he won’t have anything left to sit on.

“Bitch better have my money,” Trini mumbles under her breath as she crosses her arms, her foot tapping the ground impatiently.

Her phone buzzes again but before she can glance at its contents an arm slings around her shoulders out of the blue and startles her.

“Here you are!” Kimberly exclaims as she leans heavily into Trini with a broad smile on her face. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”

“Sorry, I had uh… stuff I had to do after school,” Trini replies vaguely with her gaze averted downward.

Trini feels Kimberly tense up, the air thick with silence before her voice tentatively asks, “Are we still on for tonight?”

“Yes!” The word blurts out louder than intended and a blush overtakes Trini’s chagrined expression.

“Oookay, cool. I was just checking,” Kimberly responds quietly. “I mean, if you’re having second thoughts or like, you don’t feel like going out tonight I totally understand. The last thing I want is for you to regret anything or force you into something you’re not ready for or–”

“Hey, no no, stop.” Trini turns swiftly to face Kimberly and shakes her head earnestly. “Believe me, I do want this–” her hands motion back and forth between them animatedly “–I had something I needed to take care of first before we leave, really.”

The tension in Kimberly’s thin expression releases as she exhales, the worry and anxiety leaving her body upon hearing her words. “Sorry, I’m a little nervous I guess.”

“Aw, I make you nervous?” Trini grins smugly which garners a playful slap on the arm from Kimberly. Her pocket buzzes again, but Trini disregards it in favor of paying attention to the situation at hand.

“Seriously though, I haven’t really put myself out there since the whole Ty Flemming thing and I just don’t want…” Kimberly pauses, her eyes shifting left and right, heavy with the pain of her past and searching for the right words to continue.

…to get hurt is what Trini thinks to herself, because behind all of the confidence and bravado, romance is still very much a sore point for Kimberly. She knows she’s made mistakes and if you ask her what compelled her to do it, even she has no idea, but the repercussions of her actions still echo to this day and they’re impossible to escape.

Trini throws her arms around Kimberly and pulls her back into a close embrace. Her hugs may not be as good as Kimberly’s, but damn it she can try. She’d hug away Kimberly’s ghosts if she could, but life doesn’t work that way and it’s never that simple, so Trini offers her truest self and hopes it’s enough to keep the demons at bay.

Smiling softly in the crook of Kimberly’s neck, Trini breathes out barely above a whisper.“For what it’s worth, I think you’re pretty cool.”

A choked laugh escapes Kimberly’s lips and her grip around the smaller Ranger tightens. “Thanks.”

Trini ignores the questioning looks that the other students are conspicuously throwing their way because they don’t matter–nothing else matters right now besides the fact that Kimberly is in her arms and that they fit together as if it were meant to be and everything feels absolutely perfect.

“Trini!”

The moment ruined, Trini’s brow furrows upon hearing her name being shouted in the distance and both girls turn to seek the source of the noise.

Kimberly squints to get a better look and her mouth parts open slightly in confusion. “Is that… Zack?”

True to her observation, Zack is barrelling towards them at full speed from across campus like a charging bull, his arms furiously pumping at his side and long legs putting in work. If his attendance at school wasn’t so poor, Trini could picture him on the basketball team or track and field.

He closes the gap in an impressively short amount of time, coming to a halt several feet away. Doubled over with his hands on his thighs as he heaves in and out haggardly, Zack angles his head up and stares at Trini incredulously.

“This is your SOS?”

Sweat drips down the sides of his face and Trini nods seriously. “Yeah.”

Zack straightens up and lets out an exhausted laugh. “Oh this is great.”

“Dude, you can laugh about it later. Do you have it?”

He shakes his head, “Nope.”

“What?!” Trini nearly shrieks and Kimberly flinches out of reflex, taken aback by her unusually loud outburst. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier? Why’d you even run over here to begin with if you didn’t have my money?”

Zack shrugs casually with a shit-eating grin still plastered on his face, “You stopped responding to my texts.”

“What money?” Kimberly inquires, her head tilting to the side curiously.

“Oh, Trini didn’t tell you?” Zack starts, amusement twinkling in his eyes. “She’s fresh out of cash, which I’m assuming she needed for whatever she’s doing tonight, which, by the looks of it, might be you–OW!”

Trini cuts him off with a swift punch to the chest mixed with a little Ranger strength for good measure.

Kimberly snorts humorously and looks at Trini. “Is this what was bothering you?”

Too ashamed from being exposed, Trini could only stare at the ground and nod her head dumbly.

“You’re adorable.” Kimberly links their hands together and gives her a little tug. “You don’t have to pay for me.”

“But I wanted to!” Trini protests with exasperation. “Besides, I asked you out on a date. That’s just messed up that you have to pay when I was the one who proposed it.”

“It’s okay, don’t worry,” Kimberly says nonchalantly with a cheerful smile, “tonight’s on me.”

Zack smirks, “That’s not the only thing that’ll be on you tonight.”

Trini punches him again, her face as red as a tomato, as Kimberly’s bright laughter rings in the air.

[f-da-program]

The Losers and D&D

So after I saw this post about Bill having a D&D poster on his wall I got to thinking what kind of characters the losers would play, so here are my thoughts.

Bill

Bill is obviously the dungeon master. There was no discussion about it, everyone just knew. Aside from his leadership skills, he is the best story teller that any of the losers know, so getting to be in one of his stories is super cool for everyone. And Bill is really great at coming up with stories but also making things up as they go along, so when someone does something unexpected Bill always come up with something else super quickly.

Eddie

Everyone thought Eddie would play something like a cleric, focusing more on healing than fighting. But Eddie actually immediately wanted to be a barbarian. Everyone was surprised, but Eddie just shrugged, “Not like I’m ever going to get to solve my problems in real life by punching stuff, so I’m doing it now.” Richie makes fun of him and asks if he’s going to be a stupid character too. Eddie smirks and tells Bill he wants to be a half-orc. “Not going to overthink anything. I’m just going to punch my problems until they go away.”

Eddie sometimes struggles with his characterization while playing because everyone Richie is making stupid decisions and his first instinct is to stop them, but he takes a deep breath and just goes with it. It’s good practice for trying to get better in real life at just chilling out.

Mike

Mike actually takes the role of cleric. He likes the idea of being able to heal his friends as well as fight with them. He also occasionally likes to make his friends beg him to heal them and not someone else. Bill originally wasn’t going to let the losers make bribes to Mike, but Mike requested to roll for it and got a natural 20. So Bill okay’d all forms of out of game bribery. He plays as a dragon-born (fire power) and is lawful-good. His character is very into doing the right thing. Mike is amazing at staying in character (except when taking bribes, but let a man live).

Richie

Richie is a bard and frankly it wasn’t even up for discussion. Bill asked Richie what he wanted to be and everyone in unison said “Bard.” Richie was just like, “Hell yeah I am.” His favorite spell is vicious mockery, in which he will roast anyone to cause damage. He also plays as a dwarf who got laid off from the mines and is really pissed about it and took up mandolin playing to get by. His dwarf accent is actually pretty good until he starts singing, then things go to shit.

Stan

Stan is an elf because they are beautiful and symmetrical and Stan loves them. When Bill asked him what he wanted his class to be Richie said he was obviously a rouge so he could steal money since he’s Jewish and all. The other losers immediately call him out but Stan just rolls his eyes. “No Richie, I’m not a rogue; I’m a noble. So I was born with money.” The losers laugh their asses off as Richie comments that Stan got off a good one. Stan is probably the most attached to his character, who he worked really hard to make and bought a really cool miniature of.

Beverly

Beverly is a tiefling rogue. When she first announced this Richie called her basic. She revealed that she’d pickpocketed him earlier and was just playing to her strengths. Really no one is surprised because being a cunning, badass thief is right down her ally. Beverly drew her character and everyone got super jealous because she looked so cool. She ended up doing a portrait of all their characters together with a doodle above them of Bill sitting on a cloud controlling their fate. Beverly sometimes draws their fight scenes if she gets super inspired. Also, she designs super rad d&d outfits. Everyone wants to wear the stuff she made for their characters.

Ben

Ben is a human warlock. He loves the idea of being a normal human able to do amazing things. He studies up on so much D&D material guys. Like he special orders D&D books at the library. He is the only one in the group who knows all of his spells and abilities without having to look down at his character sheet. He also knows everyone else’s skills. He’s the person in the middle of a fight who will suggest, “Oh, well don’t use you *such and such ability*.” And everyone is just like, “I have that power?”

In-game Relationships

-If Bill missed a session he would let someone else sit in as Dungeon Master. This led to a couple of sessions where Richie was gunning to kill Eddie’s character. In order to make saving him more realistic Mike had his character fall in love with Eddie’s. Eddie went with it so now they are in a very committed and ridiculous relationship (the intelligence gap is astounding). So it’s like, “AHH! I HURT! Make ouch go away so I hurt back!” and “Yeah, I’m casting a healing spell. You get ‘em babe, that’s my sexy buff half-orc.”

Bill came back to the game and found out this happened because he told everyone to get into character and Mike started nuzzling Eddie’s neck while Eddie screamed, “I LOVE DRAGON MAN!” Bill just looked at Richie, “Y-you pushed him in-into a-a-another m-man’s arms, didn’t y-you?” And then, “I sure did, Billy. I sure did.”

-Bev and Stan are also in a relationship in-game. They always sneak away together and it’s some Aladdin type shit because they’re a noble and a thief. But it’s also tragic because Stan’s character keeps trying to break things off with Beverly’s because she’s a tiefling and not beautiful enough for an elf like himself. But damn it, he just loves her so much and keeps coming back. Bev and Stan’s dramatic romance is hilarious and the two of them definitely plot stuff out of game to do for their next D&D session.

-Ben once jokingly asked Richie’s character if he wanted to get it on since everyone else was. Richie declined, but Bill demanded they roll for seduction. Ben got an 18, Richie got a 5. Their characters did the deed. It ended up becoming a running gag where Ben would ask, Richie would refuse, and then Ben would out roll him. Bill always came up with a story for how the seduction happened, but after awhile it happened so often that he started offering to let the other losers decide how Ben’s character seduced Richie’s this time.

Richie once tried to turn the tables by trying to seduce Ben. He rolled a 1. His character ended up crying and writing a song for Ben’s character on the mandolin. Bill made Richie come up with the song on the spot. It was the only time any of the losers had been glad to hear Richie sing. “How can he turn down an ass so fine! Does this mean he’s doing one that isn’t mine!

Basically these kids have a good time.

[crossyourminds]

You Want 2 Know My Story?

Well, if this is my story being told to you, I would like to write it in a format more fitting for my persona. I just never really liked the whole, “limit your imagination to five paragraphs and two hundred and fifty words,” kind of thing. My name, is Adrey Arroyo. I am not your average 19 year old with daddy’s money or dreams of being a doctor. I, just like any other being on this Earth, have come across many different obstacles that have brought me to where I am today. And today, I’m sitting in front of a computer screen expressing that change.

Going to school as an obese, Mexican, child in the predominantly white world I call Santa Clarita, I was never really considered accepted or cool enough to talk to. Previously living in East Palmdale, the “hood,” was no different. I was constantly bullied verbally and physically. I was “that kid.” The fat kid. Not having many friends or anyone that wanted to play handball with a handball, I resorted to writing. I figured if I couldn’t have any friends, than I could create them with my mind using a piece of paper and pencil. I began to write and draw. I always enjoyed comparing things to reality. Like colors to emotions or pictures to sounds. Just being able to understand one thing more than once truly fascinated me.

Just like life at school, life at home was no different. Constantly looked upon as a self image, my father considered himself a failure when he would see the public point or laugh at me. My father, was my biggest bully. He was the voice inside my head. “Don’t eat this,” or “you can’t do that,” is pretty much what I grew up with. My mother was the more caring soft spoken one, at times. Although caring and being spoken to softly was nice from time to time, my mother had trouble staying happy. See my mom flipped her emotions faster than a coin toss at a football game.

Not having anyone to truly rely on or consider a true friend, I feared school. I was terrified of what occurred behind the walls of Saugus High school. I didn’t wanna go. But I had reached a point in my life of pure exhaustion. I had grown with so much anger and no way to release it, I was bound to explode. I was tired of the name calling. I was tired of the laughing. I was tired of the exclusion. I was tired of the bullshit. So I lost it.

I lost 65 pounds that summer going into my freshman year. I started school as a completely different person. Although that difference was merely physical, I was still an awkward kid and feared talking to someone other than my reflection. I was no longer pointed at for the rolls on my sides. Shit. I wasn’t  even acknowledged anymore. I went from creating so much attention among the student body to nothing but a ghost that walked the campus. Invisible. A nobody.

At this point, I had never been more confused in my entire life. I did what they all wanted me to do. I lost weight. I lost the fat they all knew me for and now they didn’t even have the decency to say hi to me. I was more mad now than fat. I gave up again. Except this time, it wasn’t physical. This, is when it hit me. I gave up trying to be accepted. To me, this was my fate. I let go.

I no longer cared. If you wanted to talk to me I would talk back, and if not than I didn’t. I figured I owed it to myself to be happy and if I couldn’t be happy than I could at least create something that would. My words of imagination throughout the years were still piling up. But paper just couldn’t capture it anymore. I was no longer satisfied with letters on a sheet of a dead tree. I needed life. I needed images. I needed to create these words to reality. I wanted us, to understand us. I need the world to understand our one world more than once. So I joined my video production class as a freshman in high school.

They say comfort brings out the best in you, and I think that’s what Mr. Williams’ video class taught me that year. I had never been more comfortable with a crowd. I finally felt accepted with being myself. (Who woulda known that it would have ever been in from of the camera?) I found myself heavily into the film community at school, both in front and behind the camera. I became (somewhat) the face of my school’s news (SNN : Saugus News Network). I became the popular kid. I became the exact, social, opposite of what I was just  a few years ago.

Life as a high school, ignorant, popular kid always disgusted me. I hated the bullying and the put downs, so I made sure I connected and socialized with all personalities. I was an awkward person. But the only popular one. I reached out to those going through personal issues like that of myself. I was referred to the safe school ambassadors club and later referred to a students mentor training. After 6 months of after school psychological training, I was certified as one of my high schools student mentors (student psychologist). So in a way I guess I have the mind of a psychologist. The mind and it’s constant flips truly attracted me.

Again, needing a new form of releasing my understandings of the mind, I needed a new form of “preaching” if you will. I was introduced to music after a relentless breakup. The typical high school sweet heart heartbreak. She cheated on me. This being the cutest girl I’ve ever spoken to, let alone the only girlfriend I’ve ever had, I was unprepared for the dark times my mind was about to go through. I reached a stage of pure confusion and depression where I just became hungry with my thoughts and could not keep them in any longer.

The following morning, I skated my ass over to best buy and bought myself a keyboard with the money I was gonna use for her christmas present. This by far was the best investment I have ever made. I locked myself in my room and literally taught myself to play by sound. Hungry for release, I poured my little heart out on these keys. This wack breakup story is literally what brought me into the world of sounds and their power behind what those words can really do to someone.

Although a lot of my songs were soft as fuck, my anger about the situation started making it’s appearance a lot more comfortable around me. I think just being so secluded with nothing but your pissed heart broke ass you tend to go a little crazy. This, is when “dre.” was born. I found comfort releasing my anger almost literal as another persona. Someone much darker that was nothing of my real personality. A form of diary, if you will. I guess that’s when my boy Javier made a remix beat to System of a Down’s Lonely Day, and the hate letter I had wrote to my ex (never intended to send to her) started to just flow over the beat.

This song is what created my music outlook today. To tell the truth and help you understand that there is more than one way of understanding something, and that’s completely okay. You’re not crazy, there’s other people out there experiencing the same shit you are. You are not alone. The ironic beauty, Lonely Day, is what established me as an artist in the LA area. The utter truth. Who woulda known so many would be so inspired by it?

Losing a best friend and 17 years old was also quite a stir in my personality, but after months of retaliation and personal obstacles, I found myself at ease with Nutmeg. Feeling loss and truly experiencing it will fuck you up, but it’s whether or not you get yourself out of it to acknowledge what exactly it was that you lost. Now admiring what I still have, I cherish those moments with those around me who helped me change and grow into the artist I am today.

Graduating without the presence of my father, made it pretty obvious that both he and I never really had a relationship. I moved out days after the ceremony and began my job as a production assistant for a production company in hollywood. I had to grow up. Fast.

Life won’t ever hit you harder than when you first realize you have bills and food to buy. Without meeting those standards, you ain’t getting no where. I think that same stress just being piled on me, along with my fathers, is what really fucked up my body. That december, I was diagnosed with osteoporosis and possible osteosarcoma, leading to several prescription drugs and labs. Mysecond home was now the hospital. Living at my own expense and stubbornness, I kept the whole cancer ordeal to myself. I didn’t let any body know, including my family. I received radiation treatment on my cranium to loosen and release any cells and liquids within my brain. So, let’s just say I got part of the idea of being a patient.

After months of bipolar doctors, giving me one hope and shooting it down with a lab, I gave in. I told my mom and she pleaded that I moved in. Again being a stubborn fuck, I asked my mom that she kept it to herself and that the only way I’m moving back home, is if I don’t live in the house. (I could not live under the same roof as my pops) So we began the studio building process. After a few weeks of construction my backyard studio and lounge was built. The Tabernacle was born. I moved into my studio and spend almost all of my time just vibing in there. I had it built with a recording booth along with a two way mirror into it. The other half of the studio is a blank wall I use for shooting my films n photos.

A year later, I’m finally able to start physical activity and work again. I’ve been without a job for months now because I couldn’t stand for over ten minutes without creating too much pressure on my spine and cranium. Funny story is that I also just lost my newest girl to it. I guess seeing me become a loser due to medical shit just wasn’t attractive to her anymore. It’s a beautiful thing to hear a doctor tell you you’re good. Not just, fine, but YOU GOOD. Losing people in this road to recovery has only opened my eyes to a broader audience. Getting through a bone disease without the support of my father has made my bones brittle but stronger. I got through this shit. I really got through this shit, and I didn’t become a disabled young adult, I really did get through this shit. On myown.

To help mesh why I wrote this big of an entry to my music link, is to help you understand what your listening to. To know not only the story behind the sound, but the building of it also. This is my diary to you. And as any individual who pertains to any higher being, keep that aside. Growing up as a strict catholic active in my church, I’ve had to learn how to put all that aside to help youunderstand more than once. Not only in your perspective, but those of your neighbors, your class mates, your annoyances and obsessions. This sound cloud page is a story being untold to you. You take your perspective on it. All I’m doing is reassuring you in what you might believe is right.

The choice is yours.

I am Adrey.

22 years old.

Alive.

And fucking breathing.

-dre.

(click on the music tab)

or

soundcloud.com/adreyarroyo