#glass pedal beach

[makemytraveling]

The Sparkling Gem of the West Coast: Exploring Glass Pedal Beach in the USA 

Glass pedal beach, located on the coast of California, is a hidden gem that offers a unique experience for beachgoers. With its stunning views and colorful sea glass, the beach is the perfect spot for a day of relaxation and adventure. 

Many people love to visit glass beach in Fort Bragg, california. This special beach is covered with tiny smooth glass pieces, making it a popular tourist spot. The beach is now visited by tens of thousands of tourists yearly.

The reason for all the glass on the beach is because, a long time ago, people used to throw their trash in this area. This happened from the early to mid-1900s. As time went on, the waves in the ocean broke down the glass and made it smooth like it is today.

The glass pebbles, often known as "Sea glass," are the consequence of years of ocean erosion. The repeated beating of the waves against the shore has smoothed and softened the glass, giving it a lovely translucent appearance. Sea glass colors range from blues and greens to browns and pinks, creating a kaleidoscope of colors that dazzle in the sunlight. Glass Beach is Best Beach Destinations in California.

Glass Beach is divided into three sections, all of which were utilized as trash dumps for many years. You may have a picnic with your family while admiring the vista if you climb the cliffs around the northernmost beach. You can see the entire ocean, which is littered with rocks and little islands that protrude from the water.

Glass beach, which looks out over the pacific ocean, is situated in the northwest of fort bragg. You can travel there from downtown by hiking the glass beach trail; it is situated south of pudding creek. When you get there, you can leave your car in the parking area where the route crosses the closest road. There are no entrance fees and you can visit the beach whenever you like.

Glass pedal beach is the ideal location for leisure and relaxation. Its seclusion makes it a haven for people who wish to get away from the commotion and throngs of beaches that are more well-known. The beach is a great place to spend the day relaxing, collecting sea glass, or checking out the tide pools nearby.

Glass Pedal Beach is an excellent place for surfing and kayaking for those who are more daring. Beginners will find it to be the perfect area because the waves are not too big. There are several hiking routes near the beach that provide breathtaking views of the hills and shoreline.

5 Fun Things to Do at Glass Pedal Beach

Here are five fun things to do at Glass Pedal Beach.

Collect Sea Glass:

Glass Pedal Beach is known for its abundant sea glass, which can be found scattered throughout the beach. Collecting sea glass can be a fun and relaxing activity, and you may even find some rare and valuable pieces. Just be sure to leave any live marine life, shells, or rocks on the beach.

Surfing:

The beach's gentle waves make it an ideal spot for beginner surfers. Rent a surfboard from a local surf shop or bring your own and catch some waves. The beach is not crowded, so you will have plenty of space to practice your skills.

Kayaking:

Rent a kayak and paddle along the coastline, exploring the nearby coves and caves. The crystal clear water allows you to see the marine life below the surface, including sea otters, harbor seals, and sea lions.

Hiking:

The beach boasts several hiking paths that offer awe-inspiring vistas of the coastline and hills that surround it. These paths have varying levels of difficulty, catering to hikers of all capabilities. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced hiker, you can choose a route that suits your fitness level and explore the natural beauty of the area.

Picnicking:

Prepare a delicious picnic basket and indulge in a day of relaxation on the beach. Numerous picnic tables and BBQ grills are conveniently located throughout the area, providing plenty of options for a cozy picnic spot. With its peaceful surroundings and magnificent panoramic views, Glass Beach is the perfect spot to unwind and savor a memorable picnic experience.

Today, Glass Beach is a popular tourist destination. Visitors can collect sea glass, swim, sunbathe, and enjoy the stunning views of the Pacific Ocean.

Here Are Some Things to Keep in Mind if You Plan to Visit Glass Beach

The beach is located in a remote area and can be difficult to access. It is best to arrive by car or bicycle.

The beach can be crowded, especially on weekends and holidays.

Be sure to wear sturdy shoes, as the beach can be rocky in some areas.

Leave no trace. Please do not remove any of the sea glass from the beach.

Glass Beach is a unique and most beautiful beach that is well worth a visit. With its stunning views and colorful sea glass, it is the perfect spot to relax and enjoy the natural beauty of California.

In conclusion

Glass Pedal Beach is a hub of diverse recreational activities that cater to all types of visitors. Whether you enjoy combing the beach for sea glass or seeking thrills through surfing or kayaking, this beach has something for everyone to indulge in. So why wait? Get ready for an exhilarating day of adventure and excitement by visiting Glass Pedal Beach today!

Glass pedal beach is a hidden gem that is just waiting to be discovered. With its stunning views, unique sea glass, and tranquil atmosphere, it is the perfect spot for those who want to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life. So, pack your bags and head to glass pedal beach - you won't be disappointed.

[gyuswhore]

Sit Down

anniversary event [closed]

kim mingyu x reader

prompt(s): getting aroused by the other's jealousy/obsession with them, "Could he/she/they do it like this?”, “you're sexy when you're angry”

word count: 5.1k

warnings: smut (MINORS DNI), fluff, potter!mingyu, they're married, reader discovers jealousy, oral (m.rec), penetration (unprotected!!!), kissing, breast play, clit stimulation, they're nasty as hell idk what to tell you

synopsis: It isn't your fault that you feel this way, especially as you watch her hands trace over your husband's own.

It isn't your fault that you can barely go on with your day with that cursed image replaying in your mind like a broken record.

And it certainly isn't your fault that you find yourself completely naked on your husband's lap while his clay-clad hands cannot touch you.

[a/n]: @highvern at the scene of the crime as always, we all have to thank her for her service as she betas for me and encourages my tomfoolery. enjoy this and let me know your thoughts in the rbs, comments or send me an ask!!!!!

masterlist

The grip you have on the file is proving to be detrimental to the cheap plastic covering. Not that you could blame yourself as you watch your husband through the window of his pottery studio, leaning over to help a student with her discombobulated salad bowl. 

It was a beautiful morning, the beach across from the boardwalk sparingly occupied with delighted tanners and swimmers, the low buzz of waves reaching the shore sending a calming draft across the area. Envious as you were of Mingyu and his impeccable real estate choices, especially right now as your heel clad feet ache to take a dip in the waters, you couldn’t help but feel all the more irked that this was the background the image inside the studio was sitting against. 

Through the large glass windows, Mingyu is pressing his foot over top of his very pretty student’s on the pedal to force the pottery wheel to spin, hands over her own as he guides her fingers to put pressure on the wet clay. A spiteful part of you pushes a thought in your mind, that your husband was attempting to fix a lost cause, especially when his student seemed quite insistent in her soft smiles and keeping her gaze on the fingers that cover her own, rather than actually fixing the abomination on the pottery wheel. 

You don’t know how long you’ve been standing there by the time he’s done, straightening his back to turn his attention to the other students that make their attempts at their half done projects. Mingyu catches your figure through the window and immediately breaks into a big smile, clay covered hand coming to wave at you. 

Taking it as your cue to walk into the studio, you return neither his gorgeous smile or his occupied wave as you strut through the glass doors. Your husband meets you on the other side of the open space, hands now washed clean as he leans over to place a kiss on your cheek. 

“Hey, you,” he says in greeting, hands drying on a towel. 

All you can think about is if that salad bowl girl can see you, and you thank goodness you wore your nice top today. 

“Here.” You merely push the slightly crumpled file of documents to his chest, jaw set and lips tight. 

“Oh, thanks,” he comments as he grabs the papers pushed towards him, smile dropping a little at your abrupt attitude. “Is everything alright?” 

“Hm? ‘Course,” you answer, adjust the strap of your bag. “I have to get back to work. Be careful about your paperwork next time, I can’t keep making trips across town for this.”

You bite your tongue as soon as you say it, the words tumbling out before you can help it. Can’t keep making trips across town for this? Last time you checked, you were looking for passive excuses to make the trip to your husband’s studio just to see him during the day. 

“Oh.” His brows are furrowed, the frown apparent on his face. “I–I didn’t think you’d be too busy today, you said you’d be done early so—I—nevermind. I’m sorry I pulled you out of work for this, I’ll be careful next time.”

There’s a pang in your heart as you hear him apologise, immediately mad at yourself for going on and ruining his mood. What were you annoyed at? That he was doing his job? 

Your gaze lands behind him where most of his students are occupied with their projects, but just one whose eyes dart between you and Mingyu. 

Taking a step back, you’re about to walk out before you feel him grab your wrist. “D’you wanna have dinner at the new restaurant down the pier after work? We can watch the sunset too, haven’t done that in a while.”

You want to scream yes. Of course you want to watch a beach sunset with your husband. Of course you want to eat at the restaurant you’ve been waiting eagerly for with your husband. And you aren’t entirely sure if this reaction is simply because you’ve been stressed lately, but the sticky feeling is pushing you to make your claim in some way, somehow. 

Biting back another strangely snarky reply, you make an attempt to fix your stoic face and walk back to Mingyu. Leaning up, you kiss the corner of his mouth in what you hope is slightly reassuring. 

“I’ll see you in a few hours.”

Kicking off your heels is the first thing you do once you make it back to your desk, taking no time to punch the power on button on your computer. You pull a file from the stack next to you, one that sits at the bottom, with a harder than necessary yank. Bad idea, because as you scramble to stop the pile from tipping over entirely, you can only think of other ways your day could get worse. 

Before the worst of it can hit the floor, you find a second set of hands catching the strewing papers. 

“Thanks, Han,” you say as you attempt to reorganise the documents, taking the extra ones off his hands. 

“Have the laws of physics forsaken you? Or do you just like reorganising paperwork?” Hansol asks, sipping on something from the stupid horse mug Mingyu had made for him in light of his promotion. 

Huffing, you only haphazardly stuff the files to the corner to be done with it, opening the file you need as your computer finally boots up. “Don’t you have manager stuff to do?” 

“Being a manager means I can put off doing manager stuff,” he states. “Besides, I’m taking care of my peers, can you imagine the catastrophe that could’ve been if I didn’t swoop in to save you?”

“Papers on the floor? How catastrophic indeed,” you monotone as you click away at trying to find a particular excel sheet. 

“How was Mingyu?”

Stiffening, you want to curse Hansol at reminding you of the very thing you did not want to think of right now. 

“He was fine.”

“You were back earlier than usual, thought you would’ve had lunch with him.”

That was your plan, but clearly the universe had other ways for you to go about your day. Like thinking about an overly flirty student and her all too oblivious teacher. 

“He…he had a workshop today,” you simply comment. 

“Okay, Elsa, who shoved an ice cube up your ass?” You can hear the sneer in his voice, the judgmental stare. 

Groaning loudly, you can only slam your forehead onto your desk in an all too dramatic fashion. “Can you drop it? Please?”

“Ah,” he drags. “Trouble in paradise. Understood. I will be at my desk if you want to complain about your husband like Margaret from Finance.”

Margaret from Finance. The woman who’s entire catalogue of marital issues would be solved if she and her husband simply spoke to each other once in a while. Perhaps even held hands on occasion. 

You wince as you envision yourself becoming as stuck up and miserable as that, Hansol’s harmless comparison sending you into yet another spiral. It wasn’t that serious, this was all because your brain was stressed, horny and in love. The fact that your husband looked like how he did wasn’t really helping either. 

With a little more aggression than you usually would’ve done with, you attempt to skim through the files as quickly as humanly possible, flicking through the useless filler pages to get to the ones that actually required your attention. 

You send a passive aggressive email to Hansol entailing his job to keep things precise. 

Shoving forkfuls of salad into your mouth, your mouse clicks louder than anyone else in the area, having gone back to change your cursor speed about thrice since you turned your computer on. 

Your phone dings. Closing your eyes, you count to ten before turning to look at the illuminated screen beside you. 

[Gyu <3]: did u have lunch?

[Gyu <3]: i wanted us to get sum together but u zoomed off : (((

[Gyu <3]: im done with my classes for the day. The students were asking ab you earlier when u came in heh

[Gyu <3]: cant wait to see u tonight i looooooveee u <333

God, he makes it hard to stay mad at him. 

Snapping your head back to your monitor, you close your eyes once again as you question the war in your head and chest. Why were you mad at him? There was nothing to be mad about. Did you expect him to go about his day covered in plastic wrap and a neon ‘OFF LIMITS’ sign all day? The ring on his finger was supposed to do the job just fine. 

You sigh as you force yourself to text him back something that wasn’t entirely passive aggressive. Typing and erasing, and typing again and erasing again. A smiley face to seal it into something you were not feeling, and send. 

It’s late in the afternoon by the time you’re done, the sun less blaring as it pours through the office windows. You flick the last file shut, power off your computer and spring up to your feet, immediately gathering your things. Phone, ID, keys, and the last plastic file in your hands, you stalk towards Hansol’s desk and slam the papers next to his computer. 

He nearly chokes on his pocky stick as you spit out your final notes in rapid fire, not caring if you were indecipherable in the slightest. Hansol’s eyebrows remain in the air by the time you’re done, spinning on your heels and walking straight towards the elevators. 

“See you, Monday!” you finally hear him call out and you don’t turn to return his goodbye. Something that might have given you a strike but you could threaten him to take it off all the same. 

Besides, you had somewhere to be, and the idea churning in your brain didn’t seem like it wanted to wait. 

The sun is setting by the time you get to the beach boardwalk, climbing the steps to the line of establishments that overlook the significantly more occupied shore. Everything is perfect. Warm just the right amount, the sunlight forcing everything in its path into an incandescent glow. 

What you would’ve given for a nice lie on one of the beach chairs to release an entire day’s worth of tense muscles. But alas, you trudge straight down the boardwalk and walk the way to Mingyu’s studio. When you’re nearly there, you see the glass door of the studio open from a distance, immediately recognising the part timer leaving for the day. 

You cross paths as he walks towards you in the opposite direction, lighting up as he recognises you through your work attire. 

“Oh, hi!” Chan chirps, arm raised in a half wave. 

“Hi! Clocking out?” you ask as you stop to greet him. 

“Uh—yeah, Mingyu let me go early.” He’s grinning. 

“Good to hear. You enjoy the rest of your night, alright?” 

“Yeah–uh, you too!” he stutters once again as he continues to smile wide. You think nothing of it and continue your short walk to where the studio doors were. 

Coming round, you find the large glass door and walls have been blocked out with the blinds, the blaring CLOSED sign right at the entrance. 

You stand there in front of the door like a fool, taking a deep breath, eyes closed as you gain your bearings. Grabbing the shiny handle, you push the unlocked glass open. 

The bell at the top jingles, signalling a customer, and you watch your husband sitting at one of the turntables, clearly occupied. The studio is completely empty except for him, the whirr of the spinning table coming to a halt as he turns to tell whoever came in that they were closed for the day. 

It’s revolting. He’s wearing his usual black tee, stained with months of splattered clay, his hair tousled like he’d run his hands through it before he started his project. The sun seeps in through the neglected edges of the top of the glass walls, past the blinds that cover most of them, casting him in an unbelievable light. It’s revolting, he’s done nothing and it’s making your head reel; revolting. 

“We’re—oh, you’re early!” There it is, that stupid smile he can’t help but flash at every last person he sees, directed straight at you laced with nothing but love. 

Reaching behind you, you push the metal lock on the door to click it shut, locking the both of you inside, and the rest of the beach and boardwalk out. Right after, you begin to kick off your heels. 

“I already made the reservations for an hour from now, let me change and wash up so we can go to the beach till—”

“Sit down.”

He was halfway out of his seat as he was talking, ready to leave his half done work on the turntable to leave with you. Your words come out firm, a strange tone like you were giving him a command. 

It works, and the shock has him immediately falling back into his chair. The force pushes the chair away from the turn tables, now half facing you.  

Dropping your bag, you shuck your long coat off and leave it on the floor. Eyeing his hands, they’re covered in wet clay, suspended away from his body so as to not ruin his clothes more than they already are, speckled with dried clay and paint. 

He recovers quickly, confused as he watches you fiddle with the buttons on your bottoms, rising out of his chair once again. 

“What are you—” 

“I said,'' you grunt as you finally push your bottoms down so they hit the floor. “Sit down.” 

The shift in his face makes it obvious it has clicked in his head, staring at you as you walk towards him in just your blouse as the situation escalates faster than he can keep up with. 

“Right now? Can you at least let me—”

Through his blabbering you’ve reached him and swung a leg over his lap, seating yourself on his clothed thighs as he moves his hands away, making sure not to get clay all over your blouse. 

His hands may be occupied in a different sense, but you choose to busy yours in other ways. Taking his face in your hands, you lock your mouths in an open mouthed kiss, rendering him speechless. 

Taking no time to think, nor to let him think, you push your hips down to meet his own in a deep grind, panty clad pussy making contact with the rough of his jeans right over his bulge. The feeling is so sudden, spiking throughout your system as you hear him take a sharp inhale still pressed into your mouth.

That was you. That was you getting that reaction out of him, no matter how small it was. The thought has you gripping the back of his head, fingers making home in the short strands of his hair as you let go from the kiss. 

Wasting no time, you push his head back and stick your tongue out, licking a stripe from the base of his throat right up to his jaw. He shivers beneath you, and it only muddles your mind even more. 

You can feel his bulge beneath you growing larger and larger by the second, pressing into your inner thigh as his breathing grows exponentially heavier in your ear. Locking eyes with him, you trail your other hand down to graze over the front of his shirt, pressing into the bumps and ridges that lie beneath.

Reaching his buckle, you hook your finger underneath the gap and pull at the metal. As you let go, it snaps back into place with a resounding cling! Keeping the eye contact, you drift even lower, your fingers find the growing tent in his jeans as you cup the bulge. Moving your hands in the way you know he likes it, you curb your speed to drag out the feeling for him. 

“Fuck,” you hear him curse lowly. 

It’s becoming impossible for him to keep his composure, especially to keep his hands away from your body that sits on him. He gets close, fingers brushing the white of your blouse in a moment of confusion, instant brown on the surface as his wet, clay hands ruin your shirt. 

“If you really can’t keep your hands to yourself,” you say, halting your movements on his crotch. “I guess this’ll have to go too.”

Not bothering to undo all the buttons, you tug the first couple ones unfastened and pull your blouse over your head, throwing it somewhere behind his head. Quickly, you reach behind and unclasp your bra, flinging it away in the same general area. You’re now almost entirely naked while he remains clothed head to toe. 

Your nipples harden as they meet the air in the studio, Mingyu’s eyes set on your mounds as he takes them in. 

Before he has the opportunity to do anything, you slip off of your seat in his lap, knees slamming the floors in your haste as you kneel before him. Hands flying, you tug at the buckle of his belt, undoing it despite your hurried motions. 

“You’ve been off today, are you sure everything’s alright?” Mingyu asks from, still wide eyed as he watches helplessly as you yank his jeans enough to reveal the final layer of his underwear. It doesn’t take you long to take his entire length out of there too, needing him in front of you.

“Do not ask me about my feelings when I’m trying to fuck you.”

“What on earth–shit!”

You’ve taken his now fully hard length into your hand, licking a strip from the base of his cock up to the bulbous head. The tip of your tongue teases the head ever so lightly, and Mingyu watches as his head and your tongue match in their reds. He watches the way your tongue dips into the pooling white of his precum, pushing into his slit as the tip of your tongue wiggles slightly. 

The fact that he cannot touch only heightens the effects of your teasing, clayed hands balling into fists just to feel something on his fingertips. 

Soon, your lips have wrapped around the head of cock as you let it rub against the beginnings of the inside of your soft mouth. Letting go, you take him in again, this time running your tongue over his slit, feeling his hips twitch beneath you as you continue to take him in and out, only to take him back in again. 

In one motion, you sink your mouth lower onto his dick, feeling the head of his cock run against the roof of your mouth. Mingyu hisses audibly amidst his very loud and heavy breathing. 

When you feel him hit the beginnings of your throat, you pull back, bringing your hand to curve around the base to cover what you couldn’t fit, pumping him up and down as you continue to pull his member in and out of your mouth. 

He’s moaning loud, the echoes resonating off the walls as you hear your name slip from his mouth over, and over, and over again. It only encourages you as you move down deeper, his cock touching the back of your throat in more familiarity than before. 

Everything is wet; the spit and precum turning into a shiny gleam on his cock and on the lower half of your face, the heat between your legs that makes you feel oh so empty. Clenching around nothing, you resist the urge to bring a hand down to relieve yourself. 

“Are you ovulating or something, why are you suddenly…suddenly, fucking hell I don’t know.” 

Releasing him from your mouth with a loud pop, you rear your head to look up at him, the lower half of your face covered in a wet glisten. Your hand continues to pump him as you watch his face remain contorted in pleasure.

In a daze, you don’t realise what you’re saying as you blab. “Could she do it like this?”

“What?”

“Could she do it like this?” you repeat like a mantra, needing to hear his answer. “Could she make you feel like this?”

“What are you talking about?” It’s taking Mingyu every bit of his soul to form coherent words. 

In one swift motion, you’ve hoisted yourself back on your feet, nails digging into his thighs through his pants. 

Hovering over his lap, you take his shaft once again, but this time you push your panties aside with your hand and bring it close to your heat, brushing the head of his cock over your wet folds, using him to feel the pleasure that builds. 

“God, you’re so wet,” he blabs as he throws his head back at the feeling. “I wanna touch you, fuck I need to get this clay off, I need to touch you.”

He’s brought his mouth to latch onto your nipple, evoking a loud gasp from you as feel him circle your nub with his tongue before sucking. Letting go, he sticks his tongue out as his only weapon, flicking it repeatedly as you continue to rub his wet cock over your equally wet cunt. 

Lining him up with your entrance, you sink onto his head as you let out a loud moan, feeling the tip stretch you out in the familiar way you’ve been craving all day. It’s like your brain is buffering as you recover from the bout of pleasure, barely registering that he’s continued to assault your other nipple now. 

Your free hand comes to toy with your relieved tit, twisting your spit covered nipple between your fingers as his dick pushes further and further inside you. 

Fully sheathed, you pull your husband’s face away from your breast as you bring his lips to your own, kissing him deep as you clench around his hard cock.

“Don’t. Do that,” he hisses against your lips, hands suddenly closing in your waist, so close before he realises he can’t. “‘M gonna fucking come, I’m so serious.”

The news is enlightening, especially as it encourages you to lift your hips ever so slightly, and curl back back down in an initial thrust. Again, and again, and again till you’re moving your hips at a swift pace, striking down on his length as you both moan into each other's mouths.

The feeling is electrifying, and the borderline pornographic noises your husband is making is only making it all the more easier to gush around his member, to move your hips faster as you feel the knot in your abdomen tighten and loosen. 

“You feel amazing, so fucking good,” he grunts as he mouths the column of your throat. “My baby, my darling, my wife.”

And when the burn in your thighs becomes more than just a mental battle, your hips slowing despite the mind boggling feeling and the choked sobs that come out of you, you feel Mingyu’s hips lift from the chair he’d been trapped in, pushing into you instead. 

His still dirty hands have taken hold of the top of the back legs of the chair, helping himself push off his seat to thrust into you rapidly. 

“Touch yourself, baby,” he says. “Rub your clit for me.”

Who are you to deny him, one hand on one of his broad shoulders while the other flies down to the mess that’s becoming of your cunt. Rubbing two fingers over your clit, you throw your head back in a loud moan as you feel yourself beginning to close in.

Mingyu is watching the apex of your thighs; the way your fingers work against your swollen clit, the way his dick disappears inside you, a ring of sinful white foaming at the base of his cock. He twitches inside you, a clear indication that he was also close. 

Your breasts are a sight to behold, and the scene before him is enough to make him bust entirely. Bouncing tits that he cannot touch, perfectly red, puffed pussy he cannot touch, the beautiful curves and dips of your waist and thigh, barely illuminated by the setting sun, that he cannot touch. He curses the wretched idea to make a last minute thing on the turntable before you arrived, curses the fact that he should be able to feel all of you. 

He might lose his mind, and he does when your walls clamp down on him like a trap, your moans so loud he’s sure he’ll be hearing them in his ears for weeks. 

“G–Gyu, I’m cumming,” you whimper through the pure brain fog. 

Mingyu fucks you through your orgasm, finally letting himself release his own load into you when he simply can’t take it anymore, dick spasming as he shoots white hot cum into your hole. The added slick makes it easier to slip in and out faster as his orgasm holds out far longer than it usually does, both of your hips twitching like you’d been zapped as you come down from your highs. 

It’s become near impossible to hold up your own weight, slumping against his large frame as you unclench every pinched muscle and joint. Forehead on his shoulder, you take pleasure in the afterglow, breathing in his scent with your nose pressed into the sliver of skin that reveals past his shirt. Sweat, the earthy odour of clay, and the calm familiarity of him.

“I don’t know what I did to have you acting like this,” he breathes into your ear. “But whatever it is, I need to do it more often.”

Sluggishly, you lift your head to look at him. His head is leaned back on the chair, face glowing as you stare into the eyes you fell in love with so long ago. 

“You haven’t done anything,” you sigh. “It was…stupid.”

“That’s the worst thing you could say to me right now.”

You whine, rolling your neck. “What do you want me to tell you?”

He stares. “Who do I need to thank for creating this monster?”

It was a joke, clearly, but you couldn’t help but feel the little pool of pride swell within you anyway. 

“Salad bowl girl.”

“And I’m supposed to know what that means? Do you want a salad bowl? I can make you one.”

“No. The girl in your class this morning with that god awful salad bowl,” you huff. “It looked offensive, she was too busy burning holes into you.”

“Oh no,” he whispers, eyes wide, mouth turning it the beginnings of a hysterical laugh. “My pretty little wife is jealous.”

“If you’re gonna rub it in, I'm getting off.” You try to remove yourself from his lap, slipping his now soft member out of you. 

You’re stopped when you feel the two points of his elbows locking you at the waist, pushing you down. He’s grinning like a fool. “You’re sexy when you’re angry.”

“I’m not angry—”

“Your hello was my dick in your mouth.”

“So you didn’t like it?”

“I’d fire myself in the kiln before I ever say that.” He locks his elbows harder, pulling you closer. “Besides, I think this means I’ve won.”

“Won what?”

“Like you’ve never noticed Chan looking at you like…like he’s got some puppy dog crush on you. I’ve won the battle of composure.” 

You guffaw, “What are you—stop it, he does not!”

He merely leans forward and kisses you, “I don’t blame him. My wife is the most gorgeous thing anyone could ever see.” 

Grabbing him by the elbows, you break free of his hold and get off of his lap, attempting to gather the clothes you’ve scattered across the studio. 

“Can you at least help me put my dick back inside my pants, these are my cleaner jeans!”

Snapping the elastic of your bra back on, pantied adjusted, you walk back to him. He’s looking at you with those stupid stars in his eyes and it makes it hard to focus on readjusting his jeans for him. 

Leaning down, you take in your hands his still wet cock, smothered in your spit and arousal, complete with his own release. You can’t help it when you dip further to take his head into your mouth, the groan coming from above you near automatic. 

“Oh, you’re evil.”

You grin as you wrap your mouth in a harsher suck, feeling him harden slowly, still quicker than you’d thought. Giving him a few more generous sucks, you run your tongue over his slit before moving back. 

He’s breathing heavily, leaning close as you pull his waistband up. “You know, they say you should lay down afterwards if you want to be successful. I think we might have to go again later on a real bed to do the trick.”

“You can stay horny, I’m getting dressed for some real food.” 

“I think we kinda need to be horny to do what we’re trying to do,” he lowtones, moving his face back and forth to meet your drifting eyes. 

You sigh once again, “Why can’t just getting off birth control be enough?”

“Are you not having fun?”

“I’m literally buttoning your pants for you, it was fun until now.”

Mingyu raises his hands in both surrender and pointed regard, the clay now dried and cracking over his hands and forearms. “I digress.”

 It annoys you that he’s right, so you lean in to give him a kiss as a distraction. It works. 

“It’s alright,” he smiles into your kiss. “This is the one thing I won’t mind breaking my back for.”

The giggle escapes you before you can help it, and you feel him kiss at your cheeks, placing one last one on the tip of your nose.

“Now, if my lovely wife will let me wash my hands…?”

“Go,” you chuckle.

“We should name our baby Salad Bowl in this honour.” He’s way at the handwash station by now, water running as he scrubs off all the dried up clay.

“So sad our baby will have to grow up without a father.”

 “I love you,” he yells. 

“I’ll be sure to tell our child.” 

“You’re insufferable,” he says, suddenly behind you as you pull on your blouse. Wet hands grasp your waist and you squeal at the feeling. 

“Mingyu!” 

“I love you,” he drags, spinning you around to face him. 

“I thought I was insufferable.”

Your husband groans, simply pulling you into him with his own two hands to kiss you. 

“I think we’re late for our reservation.”

“You’d better hurry then.” You eye his clay speckled shirt.

“Don’t miss me.” He turns around to find his cleaner shirt, all while you drift over to see the incomplete project still on his table.

A mug still clay-brown and half done, but one that looks suspiciously similar to your favourite one you broke last week. 

[stanswifeirl]

NERD GETS APPRECIATED AND WHIPS IT OUT!

notes: cross-posted on my ao3!

contains: stanford pines x gn!reader

warning: masturbation, some self depreciating talk, him feeling guilty about thinking about you while he jerks it

Glass Shard Beach was rarely kind to him, and there were few normal scenarios he could recall throughout his life.

But now? Here he was, reduced to a stuttering, nervous wreck at the simple words of praise that seemed to flow from your mouth with ease, just like the process of diffusion with non-polar molecules (which, for your information, is pretty damn easy).

This type of reaction is expected, he thinks. How often did a guy find someone as attractive as you in a Fifth Dimensional Calculus class? Of course you would attract his attention!

He didn't like to audibly put down the work done at Backupsmore University, but it wasn't often he'd find someone so... smart. Maybe well-read is a better word? Someone who viewed his work not only with interest, but from a new perspective.

It was dangerous. The way your voice filled the space with intelligent dialogue made him wish it was the only sound he ever heard. The way your scent made him lose focus on his work whenever you leaned in to assist him on a project was simply intoxicating.

He could think up plenty of flowery phrases to describe what he's feeling... Actually expressing them was where his expertise fell short.

To put it simply, the guy was head over heels, and he didn't know how to handle it.

Inviting you to conduct research for class was probably the worst possible decision he could've made. It was absolutely thrilling to spend an afternoon with you, but the growing tightness in his pants only proved to sully his mood. He was sure you noticed. There was no way you didn't, even if you decided to carry on like you didn't know what you were doing to him. Surely, he couldn't be the only one feeling the chemistry!

He didn't know how you worked up the courage to call him sweet names, or pat his shoulder politely at the end of the night when he dropped you off in front of your apartment complex.

More than thankful for the dim lighting, he was only able to mumble out a hurried "Goodbye!" before slamming his foot down on the gas pedal, ready to get the hell outta there.

Ford drives, things pressed tightly together in shame, into an empty parking lot. He parks.

"Sweet Moses." He whines into his hands, patting down drops of sweat with the cuff of his shirt. "Goodness. I'm horrible. You don't deserve this. God, I can't believe I'm..."

His hand shoots for his pocket, pulling out a 38 sided die. To freak, or not to freak? That was the question. He squirms uncomfortably in his seat, closes his eyes, and takes a breath.

Ford mentally cringes it when he rolls it onto his dashboard, realizing how lame he must look as he uses his game dice to decide on if he should masturbate or not.

Mind running a mile a minute, the poor guy was always a bit too self aware of his actions, he realizes how lame he looks allowing a dice roll to tell him whether he's allowed to jerk off or not.

His face scrunches up in disgust as he unzips his pants, hand hesitantly hovering over his painfully erect dick.

"This is so embarrassing." He groans, feeling the length of his dick as it twitches under his touch.

Ford’s face flushes as he slowly moves his hand up and down, humiliated. His back straightens as his thumb brushes over the head, already leaking in precum.

He grits his teeth, feeling his face burning hot with shame as he strokes himself to the thought of you. As much as he admires your fiercely intelligent mind, he can't help but be captivated by how fucking hot you are.

Leaning back in his seat, his eyes flutter closed as he imagines hands brushing against his skin, comforting eyes looking up at him in that way that made him feel so, so safe. His hand moves faster as his breathing grows ragged.

"God, I'm such a loser." He whispers to himself, face growing hot as he realizes how pathetic he sounds.

Would you still look at him like that if you knew what was happening right now? Would you enjoy it? Maybe you'd entertain him. He'd like that.

Oh. Oh. That idea really sticks with him.

Your presence always seemed so commanding. So sure of yourself. Maybe, he hopes, you'd like taking charge of him when he was at his most vulnerable.

His back arches as he bucks into his hand, eyebrows furrowed as he tries to imagine it was you touching him. He should be allowed to indulge a little, shouldn't he? He doesn't know anymore.

It's almost this primal instinct that keep his thoughts out of logic mode, and far more acutely aware on the shockwaves of pleasure coursing throughout his body.

His chest feels tight as he imagines your hand slowly running up and down the base, teasing the head. Tears prick up in the corners of his eyes as picture after picture of you enter his mind.

He curses, stuttering your name as he twists his hand, quickening his pace.

"Thank you." He chokes out, face burning in humiliation as he feels his orgasm building. He didn't mean to think if you this way— the least he could do was thank the image of you.

His head slams back into his seat as he reaches his climax, body trembling as his hand and car floor is stained with long ropes of cum. The mind fog quickly clears, and makes quick work of grabbing tissues from the glove compartment to clean his mess up.

Ew. He'd have to clean properly in the morning.

[writerracha]

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ when you're spaced out — skz moments

↻ 1.5k (150-200 per member) :: established relationships :: mostly fluff. kissing, domesticity, mention of working out. a bit suggestive at times, but no smut.

↻ 18+ mdni :: not proof read, pls be kind :: masterlist

↻ it's my first time writing reactions like this, so I'm a little nervous, I hope some of you guys like it. 🥺!!

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

° . chan

“Love?” You blink rapidly, turning towards Chan. He’s standing next to you, leaning slightly against the kitchen counter. “Are you alright? You’ve been washing the same plate for two minutes.” You look down at your hands, realizing he’s right. A laugh escapes your lips as you shake your head. “Wow. I just zoned out.” Chan smiles although you can see the slight worry in his eyes. “You’ve been working too hard. You need more sleep. How about we accept we’re getting old and go to bed early tonight?” You laugh again as Chan starts to help you with the dishes, drying what you’ve already washed. “Actually, I love the idea. But why are you helping me? You already cooked dinner.” you pout. Chan kisses your cheek. “I just like spending time with you, whether it be going on adventures or just drying dishes.” You give him a smile. “And getting to bed early?” He chuckles, nodding. “That too. Anything, as long as I’m with you, my love.” 

° . minho

It is only when Minho waves his hand in front of your face that you notice you’ve stopped pedaling on the stationary bike. You remove your earphones, catching his amused smirk. “Oh, don’t laugh at me,” you pout slightly. Your boyfriend leans against the bike, looking handsome in his fitted black workout clothes. “What were you thinking about like this? I hope it was me.” You shake your head in exasperation, starting to pedal again slowly. “It’s just this song. Reminded me of that time at the beach...” Minho chuckles. “So you were thinking about me.” You laugh. “Yes, but not in that way. Just at how great it was to be there together, watching the sunset.” Minho’s smile softens, and he steps forward to give you a long kiss. “We should go back there next weekend. Just you and me. What do you say?” 

° . changbin

You’re at a small party with friends. Changbin comes back to you after getting drinks to find you standing in a corner on your own, your eyes fixed on the floor, a sad expression on your face. He frowns with worry, approaches you slowly. “Baby?” he asks. When you don’t answer, he softly puts a finger underneath your chin, lifting your face so that your eyes align with his. You blink, coming back to reality. Changbin smiles tenderly. “Where were you right now?” Realizing you were completely spaced out, you chuckle and take the drink he’s offering you. “I have no idea. I started thinking about the work I have to do tomorrow, and…” Changbin slides an arm around your waist and kisses you temple. “Don’t think about that too much tonight. Tomorrow is still far away. Stay with me, okay? And when you feel like your thoughts lead you away, just squeeze my hand and I’ll bring you back.” You look at him, feeling so grateful for him. “I love you,” you smile, and he kisses you in response, clinking his glass against yours. “I’ll always be there for you baby.”

° . hyunjin

“Angel.” Hyunjin gently takes your hand in his, bringing you back to reality. You blush slightly, embarrassed at spacing out like you are. However, your boyfriend only looks amused, perhaps even enamored by your startled expression. “Is the food bad?” He asks. You shake your head, putting down your chopsticks. “No, the opposite, actually. So good I had an out of body experience…” Hyunjin lets out a sincere laugh, his eyes sparkling in the process. He’s brought you to his favorite restaurant for your weekly date, and you know it means a lot to him because he’s friends with the owner. “That good, huh? I ought to bring you here more often.” You smile, taking a minute to look at him. He looks like a dream with his long hair and white button-up. “I’d go anywhere with you,” you smile. “Especially if there’s good food.” He giggles, gesturing you to keep eating. You take a bite from your plate, humming in pleasure. “There’s nothing I love more than seeing you happy like this, angel,” he whispers, tenderness spilling from his voice. 

° . jisung

You jump in surprise when the television suddenly turns off, stopping the anime you’ve been watching. You turn to your boyfriend, who is sitting next to you, your eyes wide in confusion. He’s frowning, looking at you with concern. “Why did you turn it off?” you ask him. Jisung laughs. “I’ve been talking to you for two minutes but you weren’t answering!” You close your eyes, shaking your head, feeling bad. “Ji, I’m so sorry…” He takes your hands, squeezing your fingers tightly. He feels warm and soft. “Are you ok, baby?” You inhale softly, shrugging. “Just spacing out. I can’t focus on anything…” He leans in to stroke your hair, placing it behind your ears. “My baby. It’s ok, we can just cuddle if you want?” You almost want to tear up at his sweetness, and you nod. “I’d like that.” He smiles, pulling you in towards him so you can sit closer, bringing your legs over his, your nose buried in his neck. His hoodie smells so much like him. “Does that feel better? Just close your eyes, baby, get some rest.” He keeps stroking your hair, his breathing steady, and you feel safe there. 

° . felix 

You’re staring at the wall ahead of you, completely lost in thought. You came in the bedroom for something, you just can’t remember what. Suddenly, you feel two arms slide around your waist. Felix pulls you close to him, your back to his chest, and he puts a gentle kiss on your shoulder. That snaps you out of your daydream, but you just smile and relax against his body. He hugs you tight, his cheek finding a place against your hair. He smells good, his fingers interlocked against your stomach, his body warm and familiar. “I was wondering if you got lost,” he says softly. You giggle. “I came to the bedroom and forgot why,” you explain. Felix laughs and the depth of the sound is like music to your ears. It’s your favorite sound in the world. “Blankets,” he reminds you. “For our game night.” You sigh, turning around to kiss the tip of his nose. “Lucky I got you.” His eyes are wide and full of love, and the comfort of his presence is itself a blanket. “Now hurry up. I can’t wait to beat you at that game,” he grins. You scoff, nudging him playfully. “You wish.” 

° . seungmin

You stare up at the ceiling, breathless, a thin layer of sweat covering your skin. You barely notice Seungmin drawing the sheets over your naked bodies, making sure you don’t get cold. He kisses your temple, pulls your still trembling body to him. “Look at you, all spaced out,” he chuckles tenderly. You hear him, but you’re coming down your high still, your body getting heavy with sleep. It takes long seconds before you finally smile, brushing your nose against his skin. His hair is a mess, his familiar smell strong and intoxicating. “I think you just made my brain malfunction,” you chuckle. Seungmin grins. “That was the point. You deserve peace of mind, my love.” Seungmin has just made love to you passionately. It had been a while because you have both been busy, but the both of you were getting cranky, and having sex released the pent-up pressure. You’re so in love with him - the way he makes you feel, the way he takes care of you. He kissed you so deep, so slow, making sure that every muscle in your body relaxed. Now you just couldn’t think anymore - you felt calm for the first time in weeks. “You can sleep now,” Seungmin breathes in your ear. “I’ll watch over you.” 

° . jeongin

When Jeongin squeezes your fingers a little tighter, you realize you’ve been zoning out and haven’t heard what he’s just told you. You look at him apologetically, but he’s already smiling. “Spacing out again?” It’s been happening to you a lot recently. Too much on your mind, not enough rest… Jeongin tugs at your hand, bringing you closer, sliding an arm around your waist. You’ve both dressed warmly for your walk around the park, gloves and hats on. “Yeah, sorry…” You sigh, rubbing your eyes. “It’s okay, babe. We can just walk, we don’t have to talk. But I’m right there if you need to, yeah?” You nod your head, smiling at him. Your boyfriend is one of the best people you know. You can tell him anything, you know that - he will never judge you, and he gives really good advice, too. “I know, Innie. I know. I love you.” His eyes don't leave you for a second. "I love you more than words can say." You let your head fall against his shoulder, and the both of you keep walking, interlocked, the breeze against your cheeks.

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

taglist: @lix-ables – @iwannabangchan – @yeongyulix – @xcookiemonsteer – @imtoooyoungforthisshit – @bbujiikseu [ please write if you want to be added or removed or if i forgot to add you (it happens) !! ] 

[spookyserenades]

Trouvaille - Chapter Three

Pairing(s); BTS OT7 x Reader

Genre/Themes; Hybrid!AU, themes of the supernatural and the occult, religious themes, violence, hurt/comfort, horror, romance

Rated; 18+ for swearing, violence/gore, future sexual themes. Reader discretion is advised.

Word Count; 21.5k

Trouvaille Masterlist

Trouvaille playlist

Updates on the 7th of each month

Hi lovelies, it's Dana! Thank you all so much for all of the lovely feedback on the first two chapters of Trouvaille! I always enjoy answering questions, hearing reader theories, and even gushing over the Trouvaille hybrids together. In Chapter Three, we'll finally meet the mysterious wolf hybrid Namjoon, and some of the paranormal aspects of the plot will be introduced as well. There's a bit of angst in this update, a fair amount of awkward interactions between characters, but a healthy amount of soft and domestic moments as well. As always, if you would like to be added to the taglist or chat with me at all, my inbox is open and I'd love to hear from you. Thanks for reading and please enjoy the latest update!

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

Pulling into town, the rain had slowed into a light mist, shrouding the homes on Y/N’s street in a blue-gray fog. The orange headlights from her car cut through the haze, guiding her way to the driveway at the side of the house, lamplight from within the first floor illuminating the gloom of the morning storm outside. The Beach Boys CD had looped by now, the sunny melodies doing little to brighten Y/N’s stress-induced jaw clenching. 

With her mother’s last minute visit sprung upon her, Y/N had little to no time to prepare herself for the situation, let alone the six hybrids she had barely just met. She spent much of the ride back grinding her teeth and muttering under her breath, Taehyung periodically rolling the window up and down while she pressed pedal to the metal to beat her mother to the house. The squeaking noise of the window glass set her on edge, trying not to look at Taehyung cross-eyed, praying to the sky that her parents wouldn’t embarrass her within an inch of her life. 

The hybrids had lapsed into pensive silence after her mentioning of the surprise visit, and she didn’t dare glance through the rearview to get a look at Jeongguk’s likely disgusted expression. Y/N hadn’t even noticed the hushed whispering in the backseat, too bewildered to hear much else but the curse-loop bouncing around in her own skull. 

Leave it to her mother to completely disregard Y/N’s insistence she would come around later in the week to introduce the hybrids to her, in a controlled environment with more time to warn the hybrids of her mother’s quirks. She mostly blamed herself, with the fact that her kitchen was bare of food and calling her parents right away to tell them about the adoptions– she kicked herself for not holding out a bit longer, perhaps waiting for when she got Namjoon home– but it was all too late now. There was no convincing her mother to stay away, especially not without worrying her, or even worse, offending her. 

Turning the car off, Y/N twitchily attempted to brighten up, not wanting to taint the first impression Yoongi, Taehyung, and Jeongguk were getting of their newfound home. Clearing her throat, she shakily turned to the backseat, a sheepish smile stretching across her face.

“We’re here,” she ignored Hoseok’s amused expression as he read the discomfort in her air, Yoongi squinting out the window past him to look at the house through the mist. Jeongguk had his bag of items from the drugstore tucked under his armpit, an unlit cigarette already poised between his lips. “Let’s head in and get out of this fog.”

Grabbing the box of donuts from the console and fishing around in her pocket for the house keys, Y/N yanked her car door open, not even bothering to pull up her hood to protect her clammy strands of hair. Jeongguk was right behind her, the flicking of his lighter clicking in her ear, a puff of smoke tantalizingly curling around her. She’d definitely have to have one of those later, when she could grab a moment to be by herself. 

Dodging puddles in the gaping potholes of her crumbling driveway, she popped the trunk, hauling out the trash bag of the hybrid’s belongings. While it was half-full, it was exceptionally heavy– a burden that was immediately lifted by Taehyung’s nimble fingers hefting it over his shoulder along with his bags from the drugstore. Before she could protest, he was following Hoseok to the door to the lit-up kitchen, leaving her to fall into stride with Yoongi. 

“Alright, I get it now. This place does look totally haunted,” Yoongi murmured to her out of the corner of his mouth, fanning away smoke from Jeongguk in front of them. “Marlboros. If you’re gonna smoke, at least have a menthol,” he whispered, low enough for Jeongguk to miss but perfectly audible to Y/N beside the leopard hybrid. Laughing weakly, Y/N had a warm feeling in her stomach at Yoongi’s attempts to make her smile. 

The hybrids made a half-circle around her as she unlocked the door, Jeongguk’s tattooed hand stamping out his cigarette but in the ashtray Y/N had used nights before. She peered into the glass slider while she slid it open, but Seokjin and Jimin were not lingering in the kitchen. 

Inside, it was warm and the air had a faint buttery smell of toast, yet did little to balm Y/N’s anxiety surrounding her parents impending arrival. She could hear the sound of the TV going in the parlor as she and the hybrids filed in behind her, placing the donuts on the island with a thump. It appeared that someone had cleaned up the kitchen meticulously after their breakfast, even the stainless steel of the fridge had been wiped to a polish.

“Whoa, this kitchen is awesome,” Yoongi breathed, immediately circling the island to run his hand along the stovetop with a grin on his face. 

“Yoongi, were you a line cook at that bar you worked at too?” Hoseok remarked teasingly as Yoongi admired the pots hanging from the rack over the island. 

“Yeah, actually. I worked just about every position at one point or another, Foxy,” Yoongi answered, folding his arms over his chest. 

Taehyung had set the garbage bag on the breakfast nook, slowly placing items from it on the table one by one. Jeongguk was impatiently standing behind him, tapping a foot on the tiled floor, snatching a little leather notebook from Taehyung’s hand as soon as he pulled it from the bag. Taehyung simply returned to retrieving items from the bag, tucking a weathered black jean jacket under his armpit as he went. 

“I can show them around, if you need some time to get ready for your parents,” Hoseok said from behind Y/N at the coffee pot, where she was filling a mug up to the brim. Hoseok had somehow become her saving grace the past two days when it came to helping out, and she almost wanted to hug him in relief as the words left his mouth. 

“Thanks, Hoseok. I owe you,” Y/N squeezed his wrist, watching dimples appear on his cheeks. 

“Oh! Did everyone come back today?” Jimin’s voice came from the entry of the kitchen, eyes wide as he scanned the room full of people. Brushing past Hoseok to greet the coyote hybrid, Y/N couldn’t help but wonder where Seokjin was, his absence peculiarly profound to her. 

“Good morning, Jimin!” Y/N said brightly, his smile as he saw her step from behind Hoseok equally as radiant as her voice. “Everyone, apart from Namjoon.”

Jimin hummed, eyeing Hoseok who had stalked off to the mysterious garbage bag on the breakfast bar. Y/N motioned for Jimin to come closer, which he did gracefully in his sock-clad feet, bending low to hear her. 

“My parents are coming today. My mother gave me a call and totally surprised me with it, sorry I couldn’t tell you sooner,” Y/N whispered in his ear while trying to hear what Yoongi was saying to Jeongguk several feet away. Jimin made a noise of surprise, Y/N pushing the opened box of donuts towards him, gesturing for him to take one. 

“Don’t apologize, Miss Y/N. I’m sure they’re lovely people,” Jimin assured her, his penchant for titles slipping into his speech. Heat rising up her neck, she was thankful his sight was trained on the donuts as she took a hearty swig of the coffee in her mug, which probably did nothing but add to her jitteriness. 

“How’s Seokjin?” Y/N changed the subject, hoping that the jaguar hybrid wasn’t nursing a wine hangover. Jimin placed a powdered sugar donut on a paper towel, casting a look over his shoulder towards the foyer. 

“He’s upstairs. He moved up to that pink bedroom this morning, reading a book or something,” Jimin responded, licking a bit of sugar off of his thumb. Y/N began to sweat, forgetting that she had told Seokjin to pick out a bedroom in the first place, and began to worry about cleaning up his previous room if one of the other hybrids decided to claim it that afternoon. While she had left her high stress level job days ago, Y/N had a whole new set of situations that seemed to crop up quickly. 

“Jimin,” Yoongi interrupted, nodding at the coyote hybrid as he approached the island. Yoongi had a bomber jacket slung over his shoulder, sliding a canvas knapsack across the granite countertop. “This yours?” 

Jimin’s mouth fell open, grasping the bag with relief, checking the contents of the bag frantically. Yoongi swiped a chocolate donut from the open box, munching on it thoughtfully as Jimin pulled a dented brown Stetson hat from the bag with a frown. Standing on her tiptoes to peek at the others, she noticed Hoseok with a stack of athletic wear he was most likely wearing prior to his arrival at the shelter, and Taehyung crumpling up the empty garbage bag. 

“This was Jin’s, I’ll take it to him when we find him,” Hoseok joined her, Jimin, and Yoongi at the island, holding up a ratty drawstring bag in one of his hands. Taehyung had snuck his way next to Y/N silently, opening random cabinets with the garbage bag in his fist. Finding the drawer that hid the trash, he tossed the bag in with a grimace, blowing his bangs out of his face with a gust of air. 

“Why don’t you guys get settled before my parents get here? Hoseok has offered to show you around, to pick out your bedrooms,” Y/N urged, still mournfully lamenting the fact that she hadn’t seen Seokjin yet that morning. 

“Before you ask, Yoongi, we aren’t sharing a room, sorry,” Hoseok nudged Yoongi with his shoulder, the leopard hybrid’s mouth set in a grim line. Hoseok was already on his way out to the hall, Yoongi trudging after him with Jeongguk not far behind, leafing through his notebook with a detached expression. 

“I’d sooner share a room with Satan,” Yoongi shot back under his breath, tossing the last piece of his donut in his mouth before disappearing from the room with the fox and elk hybrids. 

Taehyung begrudgingly followed the other three, looking like he wanted to say something to Y/N as he watched her tuck away the leftover donuts for later. Jimin stayed behind, as Y/N predicted he would, finding his own mug in the cabinet to help himself to some more coffee. 

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Jimin asked softly as Y/N brushed crumbs from the counter into the sink, raking a hand through her hair in distress.

“Oh, that’s okay, Jimin, thank you. I guess I should warn you… my mother is a little out there,” Y/N grit her teeth, avoiding Jimin’s eyes as she sipped her coffee. “She might hug you, or ask you if you want a tarot reading…” 

“A… tarot reading?” Jimin’s voice was laced with confusion, slinging his knapsack around his trim shoulder. Nodding, Y/N made her way to the bags of toiletries Taehyung had left on the breakfast nook that were likely for Jimin, Seokjin, and Namjoon, which he had separated so each bag had one of each item. Smiling at Taehyung’s quiet consideration, she selected a bag for Jimin and offered it to him. 

“Yeah, fortune telling. She’s a pagan witch, not so far off from that movie we watched last night,” Y/N joked, realizing the joke went right over his head as he stared at her with alarm. “These are for you, Taehyung helped me pick up some other things you might need,” she thrust the bag into his open palm, the astonishment slipping from his face as it settled back into a more neutral expression. 

“Thank you. Hugging is fine. I’m alright with staying unaware of what the future holds, for now,” Jimin murmured, following Y/N to the foyer. 

“I hear you. Not that she took that into account growing up, however,” Y/N sighed, pausing by the room Seokjin was in previously. He had made the bed. “I’m just going to freshen up a bit before they get here, so I’ll see you in a few?”

“Alright, Miss Y/N. Give a holler if you need anything,” Jimin grinned, Y/N returning the gesture before hurrying away so he wouldn’t see her blushing. She didn’t have the heart to tell Jimin to drop the titles again, and for some reason she found she actually liked it when he used them. 

Like clockwork, as soon as Y/N began to detangle her rain-mussed hair in her bathroom, her phone buzzed with her mother’s “on the way” message. Cursing, Y/N hastily changed into some drier clothes, heart racing as she prayed that a disaster wouldn’t unfold. She hadn’t exactly been forthcoming on the phone with what kind of hybrids she had adopted– all men, almost all large predators. There was a chance her father would blow a gasket seeing that many men living with Y/N, or her mother totally embarrassing her by trying to set her up with one of them; like they were at a wedding and the hybrids were groomsmen. 

Y/N had been single for most of her adult life; a few college hookups were as close as she got to a relationship. Always focused on studies, keeping up with her friends, and spending quality time with her family, she never really found the time to enter the dating scene. Especially as she landed her job after graduation, Y/N was busier than ever working at the animal hospital, with little thought spent on men and relationships. She knew that her mother and father talked behind her back about her lackluster dating life, and that her mother in particular wanted to see her in a loving relationship, but her mother trying to set up blind dates with one of her friend’s sons was more annoying than helpful. There was a real chance her mother would corner one of the hybrids and ask them what she thought of Y/N, or maybe even offer a compatibility reading, the thought mortifying and making Y/N twist her hair up into a bun a little too tightly. 

While Y/N was a little less cosmic than her mother, she did hold the belief that there would be a “right person, right time” situation that magically manifested into her life; whether it be a college romance in her literature class, a new doctor sweeping in from across seas at her job, or a handsome stranger reaching for the same vinyl at the record store– but those instances never came to pass. Instead, Y/N found herself invested in work, house restoration, and antique hunting on her weekends with Roy or her father. Her hope had not diminished in finding the right man, but it had become something she had tucked away and forgotten about. With the adoptions of the hybrids, Y/N was certain her mother would get up to her old tricks again, and Y/N would have few defenses against them after all this time. 

Above her head, Y/N heard scuffling footsteps, likely where the tour Hoseok was leading was at the moment. The room above her bedroom was one of the tower rooms, the gray and maroon one– the room that her older male cousin always stayed in when her grandparents lived in the house. It had a little balcony attached to it, where one or two people could stand on and look out over the backyard, but had no space for a chair or much else. Smoothing the fabric of her fresh tee shirt, Y/N made her way back to the staircase at the front of the house, stowing away the materials she had used on Friday night to strip it in the broom closet. She was a little behind schedule with the restoration work, but she figured she’d be able to get back to the grind in the next coming weeks, once the hybrids felt more at home and fell into a routine. 

After a few moments of polishing a glass vase with a cloth on the table by Seokjin’s previous room, Y/N heard the clanging of the door knocker indicating her parent’s arrival. Tucking the cloth into her back pocket with a curse, Y/N tried her best to compose a pleasant expression on her face as she went for the door. 

“Hi honey! We waited until the rain let up to come on over, oh! I see you’ve started on that staircase,” her mother rushed past her with large recycle bags as soon as Y/N swung the door open, her father sheepishly hobbling after her wheeling a little wooden wagon stacked with containers. Sputtering, Y/N patted her mother’s back as she quickly squeezed her, the midnight blue velvet shawl she was wearing slipping from her shoulders to her hooked elbows. 

“Here, let me take those,” Y/N grabbed two of the bags her mother had stuffed with food, her father ruffling Y/N’s hair affectionately in greeting.

“Don’t refinish that staircase with that horrid glossy varnish again. When my father did that, I thought your grandmother was going to have a heart attack,” her mother warned, narrowing her eyes at the humongous box of hybrid clothes by the stairs Y/N had yet to unpack. 

“I wasn’t planning on it,” Y/N affirmed, making haste after her father who was already on his way to the kitchen.  

“Now, where are your friends, honey?” Her mother inquired, her silver bangles making clinking noises as she gesticulated around the kitchen. Y/N hummed softly as she began unpacking boxes of salad greens and sacks of potatoes from the first bag. 

“They’re upstairs, I think. I just brought three home from the shelter this morning, so one I had brought back yesterday offered to show them around to pick out bedrooms,” Y/N explained, wondering when Hoseok would bring everybody back down, and if he’d let Seokjin in on the situation at hand. “There’s still one I’m going back for tomorrow. It seems that it’s pretty difficult to earn his trust,” Y/N added, sliding several new bottles of condiments into the fridge. 

“It’s good that you’re waiting for him to open up a bit more, darling. One of the worst things you can do to a hybrid is force them into a situation while they’re still distrustful of you,” her father pointed out the obvious, handing her a jug of orange juice. 

“How old are these hybrids of yours, anyways, Y/N?” Her mother asked, packing a bunch of frozen fruit into the freezer. 

“They’re all mid-to-late twenties,” Y/N replied casually, stretching up on her tiptoes to fill the cabinets with cans of various beans and boxes of pasta. Her mother had truly gone all out at the grocery store, like she was preparing her for a hurricane. 

“Oh, good. They’ll fit in with all of your friends during the cookout,” her father said positively, folding up empty bags to put in the wagon he had brought along. His green jacket had a couple of yellow leaves stuck to it. 

“I’m going to make some of those bean burgers out on the grill for lunch, honey. Keep the potato salad out, will you?” Her mother started towards the patio by herself with a lighter and a platter of patties and cheese, her father shaking his head fondly. 

“Everything alright, sweetheart? You look like you haven’t been getting much sleep,” her father asked once her mother was out by the grill, accepting a stack of plates from Y/N. Rubbing her eyes tiredly, Y/N smiled. Her father was always quick to see what was really going on with her. 

“Yeah, you’re right. I’ve been pulling a few late nights, and I had one of those nightmares last night– the one I used to have as a kid,” Y/N admitted, hugging her midsection. Her father’s eyebrows knit together in concern, smoothing his hand over hers on the counter. 

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. It’s probably stress related, you’ve had some exciting past few days, with the adoptions and quitting your job,” he assured her, turning around when he heard her mother shouting at him through the glass door. Her father, unlike her mother, was not one for the supernatural or unexplained. 

“She needs the buns. I’ll be right back,” her father murmured, bag of bulkie rolls in his fist as he trudged out into the patio. 

Y/N put the remaining groceries away, the refrigerator and cabinets now fully stocked. She was extremely grateful to her mother, once admiring the full shelves, knowing that she likely wouldn’t have been able to make it to the store for a few more days herself. Somewhat comforted by her father’s logical words on the topic of her nightmare, she decided not to worry about it too much. Thinking about it too much may encourage the nightmares to begin recurring again. 

“Hoseok said your parents are here?” Y/N spun around at the sound of Seokjin’s voice, his fiery eyes trained on her as he leaned against the counter. Again, Y/N wondered how long he had been standing there while she was staring into the cupboard with her eyes glazed over. He had a habit of sneaking up on her. 

“Oh! Hi, Seokjin,” Y/N made her way to him, nodding her head towards the patio. “They’re out there. My mom’s making us some lunch.”

Seokjin followed Y/N’s gesture, peering out the window while she checked him out. His posture was lax, shirt a bit wrinkled from sleep, but there didn’t appear to be any blood leaking out from his patched-up wound through the fabric. Y/N was surprised he didn’t appear to have any sort of hangover, even with the 3/4th’s of a bottle of wine he had the night before.

“Ah. You look like your mom,” Seokjin commented under his breath, a whisper of a smile on his face. Blushing, Y/N busied herself with collecting silverware to place on the counter. 

“How are you feeling today?” Y/N asked, Seokjin tearing his gaze from her parents bickering over the grill. 

“Much better. Look,” turning back to see what Seokjin wanted to show her, Y/N nearly fell over as she came face-to-face with Seokjin lifting his shirt up to his shoulders, rotating slowly so she could see his side. Trying to keep her mouth from falling open, she realized the wound had mended itself to something that looked more like a nasty cat scratch, and his bruising had all but vanished. The fabric of his shirt fell quickly as he lifted it, Y/N’s face as hot as an iron. 

“U-um, good! It looks like it healed pretty quickly!” Y/N rushed out, hastily stacking napkins on the island and almost shouting in relief as Hoseok bounded into the kitchen with Yoongi and Jimin in tow. 

“They’re here!” Hoseok exclaimed, ears flickering as he looked out the window. Yoongi was reaching for the donut box again, and with the look of his thin cheeks, Y/N had no qualms letting him eat them all at this point. 

“They brought us food, too,” Seokjin added, pointing to the cabinet full of snacks Y/N had left open before he came into the kitchen. 

“Did you all pick out a room you like?” Y/N inquired, Yoongi tucking into a glazed donut. Nodding, he pointed to the ceiling. 

“I’m going to stay in that beige room upstairs, if that’s alright. I like your piano up there, too. It’s beautiful,” Yoongi said through a mouthful of donut, sinking into a barstool. 

“Of course, I was hoping one of you would stay in a tower room. Thank you, by the way– that piano has been here a long time, before my grandparents lived here. I think it was my grandmother’s father’s,” Y/N smiled, fond memories of trying to teach herself songs on the piano as a child popping up in her mind. 

“Jeongguk picked that other tower room, the dark one. He went out to smoke again, said he’ll be down after,” Hoseok rolled his eyes, pushing hair out of his face. So Jeongguk would be in the room above Y/N– fitting, as her older cousin that used to stay there was just as bristly as him. 

Taehyung appeared in the doorway, his expression a touch nervous as he noticed Y/N’s parents outside. He hung back, fiddling with the petals of a wilting flower arrangement on the coffee bar that Y/N had forgotten to replace a couple of days ago. 

“And Taehyung is in that purple room by the billiard’s room. At least, that’s where he put all his stuff. He’s still not talking to us,” Hoseok muttered into Y/N’s ear, helping her set out glasses on the counter. It was curious, Taehyung seemed to only speak directly to her, and avoided the others at all costs. Even now, it looked like Taehyung wanted to say something to her as he watched her and Hoseok at the sink, but with the fox hybrid and Seokjin flanking her sides, he wouldn’t move an inch. 

Flinching as the glass door of the slider screeched open, Y/N took a deep breath bracingly as her mother came in from outside. 

“Honey, I need the hot sau– my goodness!” Her mother exclaimed upon seeing the kitchen filled with the five hybrids, pressing a hand to her mouth with glee. “Oh, honey– honey! Watch the burgers, I’ll be there in a few moments,” she shut the door, shooting Y/N a pointed look as she scanned all of the hybrids with a thoughtful face. 

“Mom! Uh, let’s see,” Y/N panicked, waving her hands around, gesturing to Seokjin, “This is Seokjin, and Hoseok and Jimin… Yoongi is on the stool here, and over by the coffee pot that’s Taehyung,” Y/N blurted, each hybrid’s ears fluttering at the sounds of their names. 

“My, you’re all such handsome young men, something my daughter neglected to tell me,” her mother crossed her arms with a playful expression, a choked sound coming from Hoseok’s throat next to Y/N. Heart falling to her ass, Y/N immediately felt heat shoot up her neck and pool in her cheeks, mouth gaping in horror at her mother’s audacity. 

“Mom!” Y/N squeaked, wishing the floor would open up and suck her into the Earth’s core. Yoongi was laughing, eyes scrunched up in mirth as he watched the mortification bloom across Y/N’s features, and Y/N couldn’t bring herself to make eye contact with any of the others. 

“Relax, honey, could you get me that hot sauce?” Her mother waved her off, apparently not noticing Y/N’s distress. Numbly, she fumbled for the bottle in the fridge, Seokjin opening the door for her with an amused smile smugly set on his lips. 

“Oh! Another one,” she heard her mother say, Y/N whipping her head around to see Jeongguk stalking into the room, eyes wide as he stared at her mother. “What’s your name, sweetheart?” 

Seokjin raised his eyebrows, exchanging a bracing look with Y/N as she hastily brushed past him to shove the hot sauce in her mother’s hand.

“Um… Jeongguk…” the elk hybrid replied warily, trying to nonchalantly tuck the pack of cigarettes in his hand into his sweatpants pocket. Forcing herself to laugh lightly, the sound coming out more chopped up than she had hoped for, Y/N patted her mother on the back, urging her towards the patio again. 

“Y/N, honey, I need another spatula too. Stop trying to shoo me away,” batting Y/N’s hand away, her mother winked at her knowingly. 

“Don’t worry, ma’am, I’ll get it for you,” Jimin pulled a metal spatula off the wall hook by the stove, saving the day as he spoke up bravely. Mouth hanging open, Y/N stepped to the side as Jimin handed her mother the spatula, sliding the glass door to the outside open. “Do you need any help on the grill?”

“Oh, dear, that would be just wonderful…my husband is dreadful on the grill. Are you a Libra? You’re so polite,” her mother hooked a hand around Jimin’s elbow, the coyote hybrid’s bright smile as he led her out the door ever-blinding, but his eyebrows knit together in confusion. 

“A-a Libra?” Y/N heard Jimin stutter, leading her mother out to her father. Head in her hands, Y/N felt a migraine coming on. 

“Jesus Christ. I’m sorry about her, she can be a little forward,” Y/N mumbled, too embarrassed to turn around and face the remaining hybrids. After that show, she wasn’t even worried about her father saying something vaguely silly to any of them. 

“She’s funny. I’m going out there,” Hoseok returned confidently, giving Y/N’s shoulder an encouraging squeeze as he breezed past her and outside. Scoffing, disbelief flooding through her, she watched the fox hybrid saunter out to the grill, giving her father a firm handshake with a dimpled grin. 

“Are we sitting out there?” Seokjin inquired suddenly, next to her with the stack of plates and silverware. Nodding dumbly, he too exited the kitchen in pursuit of the picnic table outside, tail swishing languidly behind him. Apparently, Y/N was the only one feeling the embarrassment of the whole situation. 

“Well, at least Namjoon isn’t here, that’s all I gotta say,” Yoongi piped up as Y/N crawled to the coffee bar. Barking out a short laugh, Y/N pulled a fresh mug from the shelf to pour the dregs of the coffee pot into it, taking it like a shot. Watching her carefully was Taehyung, putting the bag of coffee beans down he had occupied himself with studying during the entire exchange with her mother. 

“Fair, I suppose. Ugh, it’s just like her to ask Jimin about his zodiac sign, I mean seriously… oh shit, I should hide the tarot cards in the library before she gets an idea,” Y/N complained, dropping her mug into the sink with dismay. Yoongi simply chuckled, tucking a lock of his long hair behind his ear and rising from his seat. 

“Should we go out?” Yoongi jabbed a thumb towards where the others were, Jimin appearing to be manning the grill with her father, Seokjin cornered by her mother at the picnic table. Gripping the countertop with unease, Y/N nodded as Yoongi looked at her quizzically, taking the container of potato salad with him. 

“Let’s get this over with,” Y/N muttered to herself, Taehyung underfoot like a shadow as they marched outside. The last to trudge out, of course, was Jeongguk, who kept a good distance between himself and everybody else, eyes narrowing across the backyard towards the one of the trails further out into the property. Y/N wondered if he was planning his escape route, not that she blamed him. 

“Yoongi! You’re a cook, right? Are these done?” Hoseok shouted from the grill, Y/N’s father scratching the back of his head as he hesitantly poked at a burger with a spatula, Jimin checking the propane levels of the tank under the grill. Shaking his head, Yoongi went over to investigate, exchanging the potato salad for the spatula with her father with an encouraging look. 

“I brought these out, too,” jumping at Taehyung’s deep voice beside her, he lifted the napkins and glasses balanced in his arms. Despite his build being less muscular than Jeongguk’s, Taehyung had demonstrated considerable strength in the past couple of hours– especially with the stack of nine water glasses he was currently holding up with three fingers. 

“Oh, good, thank you Taehyung! Let’s go rescue Seokjin and help set the table, shall we?” Y/N eyed her mother, who had somehow managed to get Seokjin to sit down on the bench while she perched on the table in front of him, explaining something with wild hand gestures. Seokjin looked extremely confused, ears turned backwards. 

“Hi, everything alright over here?” Y/N interrupted her mother, who was actually giving Seokjin a history lesson on the grounds. Seokjin’s eyes softened as he saw Y/N peek over her mother’s shoulder. 

“Yes, why wouldn’t it be my silly girl? Don’t worry so much, Y/N, I was just telling Seokjin here about the pond over by the old stable back there,” her mother smoothed a hand over Y/N’s back comfortingly, her spicy perfume suddenly making her nostalgic. Y/N was just glad she wasn’t inquiring about a betrothal between Seokjin and herself. 

“I didn’t know there was so much land back here,” Seokjin straightened out a plate beside him, curiously watching Taehyung place the glasses and napkins and brushing leaves off of the table. 

“Well, that’s because Y/N hasn’t started clearing all the brush out of here, honey. When I was a kid living here, my father and uncles were meticulous with the landscaping,” her mother informed him, irking Y/N as she reminded her of all of the things she had yet to accomplish with the family home. 

Lowering herself onto the dampened wood of the picnic bench across from Seokjin, Y/N grimaced at the slimy feeling, all too familiar from summer's past. Taehyung made himself comfortable next to her, not noticing her mother studying the side of his face as he lowered an ant crawling by his plate onto the grass. 

“You’re Taehyung, right sweetheart?” Standing, her mother found her spot next to Seokjin, whose cheeks were turning rosy as she used his shoulder to lower herself down. Taehyung nodded, twiddling his fingers, evidently not keen on speaking to her mother, either. 

Y/N could hear Jeongguk and Yoongi bickering from all the way where she was sitting, but she sensed no malice in the words yet. Her father was laughing with Jimin and Hoseok, deep in conversation. Y/N had a suspicion earlier that her father would like Hoseok; they were pretty similar in certain ways Y/N had observed in the fox hybrid so far. Jimin was nothing but perfectly pleasant in general, so it was no surprise that he was able to charm both of her parents. 

Starting to relax a little bit now that she had her eye on her mother, Y/N felt the caffeine start to make her crash a little. There were so many things she wanted to do later in the day with the hybrids, namely gifting them all of their new clothes and maybe going for a nice evening walk around the trails in the backyard. She wasn’t too sure if she could fit in a nap that afternoon, but she was determined to make the most of the energy she had left in order to make everyone feel at home, safe, and entertained– perhaps to make up for the spontaneous dropping in of her parents, as well. 

As she was lost in thought, she hardly registered her father, ambling over with the potato salad and a frosty jug of iced tea from the fridge, setting it down on the table and snapping her out of her reverie as he took his spot next to her mother. The latter had gone back to chatting with Seokjin about the house, his attentive listening actually quite adorable. Melting a tad, Y/N poured a glass of tea for Taehyung and then herself, sliding the jug across the table for Seokjin. In the middle of all of this, Jeongguk had found his way to the table, sitting at the farthest part of the table on Y/N’s side. 

“Here we go,” Yoongi carefully approached the table, perfectly cooked burgers nestled on the platter on his arm making Y/N’s mouth water. He had tucked the spatula in the waistband of his sweatpants, Hoseok right behind him with his own plate of buns. 

“Ah, look. Yoongi even toasted the buns,” Hoseok pointed out excitedly, setting them down in front of her father and taking his seat next to him. Yoongi was a little pink from standing in front of the grill, clutching the platter tightly as Jimin danced around him to grab a seat beside Hoseok. Everyone still seemed to be avoiding both Taehyung and Jeongguk, Yoongi reluctantly sitting in between them with his lips pursed. 

“Thank you for taking over, honey. I think you cooked them better than I could have,” her mother gushed to Yoongi, already helping herself to a bun and burger. Yoongi ducked his head in embarrassment, taking a sip of some iced tea Seokjin had kindly poured for everyone else at the table.

“Yoongi said he worked at a bar in the city, cooked there, too,” Hoseok said around a mouthful of potato salad, swatting a mosquito that was buzzing around his twitching ears. 

“What bar? My husband and I have been to almost every bar in Boston,” her mother inquired, putting a bun and burger on Seokjin’s plate for him. Clearing his throat, Yoongi’s hands stilled while slathering ketchup on his bun, an odd look crossing his face. 

 “The Black Lodge,” was all he said in response, quickly taking a bite of his burger to prevent him from having to speak further. The name rang a small bell in Y/N’s mind, but she had no memory of actually spending time at a bar by that name– it certainly wasn’t one on the streets of her old stomping grounds, perhaps it was closer to Cambridge, or tucked away in a corner street she and her friends didn’t venture out to. Her mother and father exchanged identical shrugs, apparently they hadn’t patroned the bar either. 

Her father was extremely interested in Jimin’s time as a rancher, perhaps because he was a fan of old western movies. Thankfully, he didn’t bring this fact up, as Y/N recalled Jimin’s recoil from Hoseok’s cowboy comment. Taehyung remained quiet as a mouse next to her, his elbow occasionally brushing her’s when he reached for his glass of tea. She’d have to do some brainstorming on how to get him to open up a bit more to the others; Y/N was just counting her lucky stars he was even speaking to her. 

“Y/N, honey, remember Mrs. Khan’s hybrid when you were little? Keaon, the white fox… they moved away, our old neighbors– to Maine. Well, anyways, don’t you remember him? You always loved when he’d shift, and play with you in the yard,” her mother suddenly brought up, both embarrassing and puzzling her. She shrunk a little under the gazes of most of the hybrids, their expressions piqued with interest.

“Yeah, I remember Keaon, why do you ask?” 

“Well, I noticed Hoseok is a fox, too! You know, foxes have always been Y/N’s favorite animal ever since she was a kid,” her mother said matter-of-factly, Y/N flinching in her seat with her statement. 

“I–” she started, words dying on her lips as Hoseok began laughing boisterously. 

“Oh, is that true?” Hoseok chuckled, thankfully not sending a wink her way as the table all turned to look at him. 

“Yes, yes! There’s a picture framed in the library of her and Keaon, we took it at the cookout before they moved away. Oh, poor Y/N– she was devastated when he left,” her mother pouted sympathetically, Y/N wanting to bolt into the house and lock her bedroom door. So much for her mother backing down on the humiliation. 

“Alright mom, come on! I was like ten when they moved!” Y/N groaned in exasperation, her appetite vanishing as she poked some potato salad on her plate with a fork. She hadn’t thought about Keaon in years, and was surprised that her mother had made the connection to Hoseok before she had. In addition, she felt eyes boring into her from all directions, increasing her discomfort tenfold. 

“Dear, did you know that Jimin worked at a national park?” Her father changed the subject, picking up on Y/N’s embarrassment, the table breaking into a new conversation with Jimin at the center of it. Breathing a sigh of relief, she happily sunk into the background, her father clearly favoring both the coyote hybrid and Hoseok. Her mother continued to fuss over Seokjin, piling more potato salad onto his plate, before considering Yoongi’s empty plate and reaching over the table to do the same. 

Jeongguk had smuggled his little journal to the table, Y/N noticed him hiding it on his lap, flipping through it almost frantically and periodically checking his surroundings like he was being surveilled. Raising an eyebrow, Y/N wondered what exactly the journal contained – he didn’t seem like the diary type. 

 The sun had come out by now, warming Y/N’s skin pleasantly and evaporating the gloomy mist that was hugging the brush in the backyard. The light shone on pretty strands of crimson in Hoseok’s dark auburn hair as he teased Jimin, who looked more relaxed than ever conversing with the fox hybrid and her father. While the lunch had its hiccups at Y/N’s expense, it brought her happiness that her parents seemed to like all of the hybrids so much, and the latter didn’t seem to mind their questions or antics. 

Now that she thought about it, perhaps she was overestimating her mother’s matchmaking tendencies. While she was certainly aggressive about it in college, over the last couple of years her mother had backed off significantly with the blind dates and nudging her towards handsome strangers at the library whenever she helped out with the book club. She hadn’t even offered Y/N a love reading in quite some time. Y/N started to feel a bit bad for thinking that her mother would try and set her up with hybrids she would be living with, painting such a bad picture of her in her head when in reality she seemed to truly be determined to make the hybrids feel welcomed. 

“Cookout?” Seokjin’s voice had her re-focusing on the flow of the conversation. 

“I guess she hasn’t had the time to tell you all yet. This Friday, Y/N is going to host our end-of-the-summer cookout here. We have a bonfire, lots of food, and you’ll get to meet the neighbors!” Her mother cheerily exclaimed, collecting dishes from people in her immediate surroundings. Seokjin cocked his head, looking at Y/N for confirmation. He had a little bit of ketchup on the corner of his mouth.

“Yeah! It’s always a lot of fun, and you can meet some of my friends, too,” Y/N encouraged, knowing that her weekly three-way video call with Laura and Alice was coming up, creating the perfect opportunity for her to break the news of the adoptions and the upcoming cookout. Laura wasn’t able to come the year before, her son coming down with a fever the day of the event, so Y/N knew that she’d be extremely excited to introduce her son to the hybrids; kids loved them, and it would be very sweet to see the hybrids interact with a child, Y/N thought. 

Y/N hadn’t seen her two friends, the twin sisters Laura and Alice Santos, who she had met in elementary school – in months. With her hours at work, Laura’s packed schedule with little Kai and her husband Tyler taking up much of her time, and Alice’s newly appointed position at the newspaper she wrote for, all three girls passed each other by like ships in the night. Gone were the days of spending the weekends at new tapas bars and trendy brunch spots once the pace of adult life really began to pick up. Y/N was desperate for time with her girlfriends, the thought of a sleepover watching 90’s rom coms and eating greasy pizza with them almost brought a tear to her eye. She was determined to make more plans with them for the future with her newfound free time, once she actually saw them at the cookout, not planning on letting them leave without at least one adventure in the books. 

Y/N began to help everyone clear away the plates, noticing Jeongguk sneaking away towards the side of the house, nose in his notebook and cigarette burning at his fingertips. Shaking her head, Y/N sped into the house, trying to avoid Hoseok in case of the likely event he’d begin to tease her about the fox conversation. Yoongi was hard at work at the sink already with gloves, scrubbing grease off of the spatula and handing Jimin utensils to place in the dishwasher. 

“Oh dear! What time is it, honey? I have to get to the library for the book club by two!” Her mother suddenly gasped as she lugged plates into the kitchen, snatching her father’s wrist to get a look at the time on his watch. A frown settled over her features, pulling her shawl tight around her shoulders in dismay.

“If you want to be on time, we should probably get going, darling,” her father noted calmly, giving Hoseok a pat on the back as he picked up a fork her father dropped in the chaos. 

“I’m sorry, sweets, we wanted to stay a bit longer and get to know you all some more, but I suppose it’ll have to wait until Friday,” her mother rubbed Y/N’s arm mournfully while she put the jug of iced tea back in the fridge, her head turned to speak to the hybrids. Snorting at her mother’s affection for the hybrids already, she walked her parents to the door, Seokjin and Taehyung evidently competing to see who could stick to her more closely on the way. She thought she felt a light tug at the back of her tee shirt, but chalked it up to her wild imagination.

“By the way, honey. I talked to Judy the other day; she’s looking for help at her shop in town. Something to think about, while you figure out what’s next,” her mother suddenly offered, pausing on the porch. Judy, her mother’s friend from high school, owned a metaphysical store in the town square, selling candles, books, and herbs. Not exactly similar to what she was doing at the animal hospital, but a possible source of income nonetheless. 

“Okay, I’ll think about it. Bye mom, dad,” Y/N pulled her parents into a group hug, grateful for the book club’s meeting cutting their visit short. Her father ruffled her hair once more, lugging the wooden wagon that was carrying the food earlier down the porch steps. Waving to Seokjin and Taehyung hanging by the threshold of the front door, her mother spirited away down the street, her father trying his best to keep up in her haste. 

Y/N let out a long, ragged breath of relief as they disappeared from view, making a mental note to check in with Judy sometime during the week. It was highly likely that her mother told Judy that Y/N would be able to start right away, and it wasn’t the worst job she could land while figuring out where her career would take her next. Besides, she definitely needed an income to cover future expenses in order to provide for her new housemates. 

Turning to the two hybrids waiting for her at the door, she gave them a grateful smile, hoping it would convey her sympathy for putting up with her parents for so long. Seokjin, with his sweet disposition, had gotten the brunt of her mother’s fussing and doting. At least Taehyung’s silence saved him from some cheek-pinching. Seokjin stepped to the side, allowing her through the door, closing it as soon as Taehyung scampered out of the way. Y/N stopped short at the stairs, the big box of clothes sparking a happy excitement for the first time that afternoon. 

“What’s in there? I noticed it this morning, did you order a refrigerator or something?” Seokjin wondered aloud, nudging the box with his sock-clad foot. Y/N heard the sound of the dishwasher kicking on, and the hushed voices of Jimin and Yoongi in the kitchen. 

“I got you guys some clothes, just to last you until we can get to the stores and you can pick out stuff yourself. I felt bad you only had that one set from the shelter, but I hope you like some of the things I picked out… I don’t know your personal styles, yet, of course,” Y/N replied, using her thumbnail to slice open the tape on the box. A soft exclamation came from Seokjin as he stood behind her crouched form, curiously watching her peel the flaps of the box open while Taehyung plopped down on the stairs to do the same. 

“You got us clothes? When?” Seokjin breathed, Y/N pulling out all of the sock packs piled on the top of the order and setting them to the side. Humming a tune, she happily made piles for each hybrid, checking the sizes on the packs of boxers to make the piles accordingly. She hadn’t noticed Taehyung turning pink at the sight of the underwear, turning his face to stare at the basement door. 

“Last night! I found a great online site, overnight delivery. I wrote down all your measurements on my phone yesterday morning so I could get things that fit properly.”

“Huh? What’s all this?” Hoseok strolled out of the kitchen, eyes round in surprise at the rather large stacks of underwear, socks, and pajamas Y/N was still adding to. She was amazed at how small the items were folded in order to fit inside the box, it seemed practically bottomless. 

“Y/N bought us some clothes!” Seokjin was now crouched down next to Y/N, eagerly glancing into the box as she unpacked it. Hoseok whistled, plucking up a pair of slides that Y/N placed on top of Jeongguk’s pile to examine. 

“Oh, no, Hoseok, these ones are yours,” Y/N pointed to the pile by his foot, Hoseok promptly setting Jeongguk’s down and trying on his own pair of slides, flexing his feet and taking them for a lap around the foyer. 

“Wow, these are comfy,” Hoseok commented, running in place. Giggling, Y/N pulled out a cobalt blue v-neck long sleeve, checking the tag to recall who she had gotten it for. The material was much silkier and softer than the picture on the website gave justice for, and she had to suppress the urge to press it to her face.

“Taehyung, this is for you,” Y/N sang, placing it gently in his lap instead of his pile she had been stacking on the step next to him. He ran his fingers over the shirt, holding it up to his chest to check the fit. 

“You didn’t have to get all of this, you know,” Hoseok tutted, hesitantly accepting the sage thermal from her outstretched hand. Seokjin grumbled from beside her, shooting the fox hybrid a dirty look. Scoffing, she added the black satin button down she had purchased for Yoongi into his heap. 

“And what? Let you all stroll around in a single set of sweats for a week? Come on, Hoseok,” Y/N scolded, spotting Jimin and Yoongi slinking into the room in search of the commotion. Hoseok was effectively clammed up with her response, scratching the back of his head, his lips pressed together. 

“Whoa, is it Christmas?” Yoongi shouldered past Hoseok, the front of his white tee shirt wet from washing dishes at the sink. Hair falling forward, his ears turned back as Y/N gestured towards his stash of clothing, eyebrow raised. “So that was what was in that huge box.”

“Hmm. Maybe I should leave Namjoon’s things in this box?” Y/N pondered aloud, folding the dusty rose thermal she had gotten for him, the fabric cozy to the touch. She could place his toiletries in there, too, so he’d have everything in one place when he arrived. Judging by his measurements, Namjoon was the biggest of all the hybrids, only piquing Y/N’s curiosity over his appearance, as well as her intimidation towards him already. 

“Where’s the elk?” Hoseok peeked into the kitchen, his slides making a slapping sound against the marble tile of the foyer. “He’s going to give himself lung cancer at this rate.”

“Ah, just leave him, Foxy, it’s nice without the storm cloud he brings along with him,” Yoongi complained from his spot on the floor he had dropped to, throwing his head back in annoyance. Snorting, Y/N finished sorting out all of the clothing, partly regretting stacking everything on the floor because it would be difficult for the hybrids to carry so many items to their rooms without making multiple trips; and she only had two hands to help one at a time. 

“Your parents were so nice,” Jimin commented out of the blue, Y/N almost forgetting he was there leaning against the staircase banister by Taehyung. A noise of surprise ripped from the back of her throat, recalling her mother’s arm looped through Jimin’s when he went outside to help at the grill, like he was walking her through a homecoming promenade. “Although, I felt bad that I didn’t know what your mother meant by being a ‘Libra’,” he trailed off, tucking his hands into his pockets. 

Y/N giggled, tucking away Namjoon’s things for later. Seokjin was busy admiring the lavender shirt she offered him, his tail flicking back and forth in a pleased manner, the appendage occasionally brushing her calf from where she was crouched. 

“It’s a zodiac sign, there’s twelve of them, and they’re given according to your birthday. Funnily enough, you are a Libra, Jimin – October 13th, right?” Y/N had all of the hybrid’s birthdays on her phone already, noticing the night before that Jeongguk and Namjoon’s birthdays were coming up quickly. Y/N loved celebrating birthdays, and had to come up with a scheme to get close to the two hybrids somehow so she could plan a nice celebration for the both of them. 

“How did she even guess that?” Yoongi scoffed, hauling himself to his feet with some of his clothes slung over his arms. 

“My mother has a bit of a knack for knowing, if that’s what you want to call it,” Y/N shrugged as she almost teetered over trying to stand, electricity zapping through her as Seokjin’s hand slid into her’s, gently hoisting her onto her feet. Unfortunately for her, her foot caught an old floor tile that was sticking up a little, making her stumble back directly into Seokjin’s broad chest– a small oof coming from the jaguar hybrid at the contact. 

Though Seokjin was the one she knocked into, it felt like she was the one with the air punched out of her, his hands coming around to grip her waist to right her upwards and away from his chest. Squeaking out an apology and a thank-you, she couldn’t bear to turn and get a look at his face. Horrified, she made awkward eye-contact with Hoseok, who had an eyebrow raised at Seokjin’s hands still around her waist. Quickly stepping away from Seokjin, his hands sliding from her body, she gathered up some of Jimin’s clothes, eager to flee the scene with the coyote hybrid who was surreptitiously looking out the window by the front door. 

“I’ll help you guys carry this stuff to your rooms, okay? Just gonna start with Jimin, his room’s the closest,” Y/N rushed out loudly, halfway down the hall already. Her heart was racing, seeing the smug look on Yoongi’s face and feeling Taehyung’s eyes bore into the side of her skull when she fell into Seokjin. She really had to work on the clumsiness. 

Rushing into Jimin’s room, Y/N laid down the clothes on his impeccably made bed. His window was cracked open, a beat-up copy of Play It as It Lays sitting on the blue velvet chair next positioned next to the window. It wasn’t her copy of the book, but she was pleasantly surprised by Jimin’s taste in literature. The book must have been one of the items in his knapsack from the shelter garbage bag. 

Jimin scuffed into the room shortly after her, Y/N busy placing folded tee shirts into his dresser so she could avoid his eyes. Clearing his throat, he knelt beside her to stack his socks into the drawer. Peeking at him through her peripherals, there was a smirk curling up the corner of his mouth. Huffing, Y/N tucked a pair of pajama pants into the dresser and crossed her arms over her chest. 

“Okay, go ahead and laugh,” Y/N insisted, Jimin’s shoulders shaking with his suppressed chuckling. Shaking his head, he allowed a small laugh to escape, golden eyes squinted with glee. 

“Miss Y/N, you’re pretty clumsy. If it gets any worse, it may become worrisome,” Jimin remarked matter-of-factly, swatting away the tank top Y/N had tossed at his face. Sighing, she couldn’t help but agree with the coyote hybrid as she was more jumpy than ever since they all had arrived at the house. That, and she could still feel the weight of Seokjin’s hands on her waist, adding to her feelings of jitteriness. 

“I have to work on that, don’t I?” Y/N sighed, leaning against the door to the hallway. Jimin worked quickly putting all of his clothes away, humming contentedly as he went, still shaking his head with amusement. “Maybe I should start using that gym downstairs…”

“You could work out with Hoseok, he has great balance,” Jimin encouraged, ear twitching at some sound Y/N couldn’t hear. “I think Jeongguk just came in from the backyard.”

Straightening out, Y/N peered down the hall, nervously grinding her teeth. She’d might as well go out and help Jeongguk with his clothing, as Jimin was pretty much all set with putting his own things away. Cocking his head, Jimin looked at her with sympathy, settling himself on his chair by the window. 

“I’m gonna go check in on him. See you in a bit?” With a nod from Jimin, she left his room, setting off down the hall to search for the elk hybrid. She followed her nose, the scent of smoke clinging to Jeongguk as he stood with his back to her, dumbstruck, in the foyer. The other hybrids had cleared out and already lugged their share of clothing away; all that was left was Namjoon’s box and the everything she had left by the stairs for Jeongguk. 

“Hey, you’re back?” Y/N skipped up to his side, deciding not to be intimidated by his looks or sharp tongue anymore, it was unlike her anyhow. Besides, killing with kindness was her specialty. Jeongguk flinched at the sound of her voice, hurriedly tucking his journal into his pocket and craning his neck to peer down at her by his side. Somewhere, he had found an Anchor Animal Hospital pen Y/N had stolen from the office, tucked behind his heavily pierced ear. Narrowing his eyes at her, he crossed his arms over his chest, nodding towards the clothes. 

“I’m assuming these are for us?” He ignored her greeting, not-so-subtly scooching a few inches away from her. Smirking, Y/N brightened up a bit, loving the potential challenge of getting him to crack. 

“Mm-hm, that pile over there is for you. Left everything for Namjoon in that box,” Y/N confirmed, gathering half of his garments up in her arms to help him up the stairs. “Come on, I’ll help you bring it all up to your room.” 

“Wait,” Jeongguk choked out, scrambling to grab the remainder of his clothes and jog up the stairs behind her. Muttering curses, Jeongguk followed her towards the end of the hallway to his room, the wallpaper peeling on the walls outside of the bedrooms. Y/N had yet to get to the second floor living spaces for restoration purposes, and to be frank, the whole floor gave her the creeps. She was saving the task for last, once she finished working on her bathroom and the staircase, but now that she had the hybrids living there, she felt it was more important to make the space most of them were occupying less Amityville Horror-esque. 

Passing by Taehyung’s room, she caught a glimpse of him shrugging on his new hoodie in the full-length mirror by his closet. Grinning, she continued to Jeongguk’s bedroom, a cool breeze coming in through the little door out to the balcony he had left open. While the bedroom was newly refinished, it still set her on edge, mainly due to the memories of her cousin chasing her out of that very bedroom in a Ghostface mask as a kid. Y/N gently laid Jeongguk’s clothes on the velvet bench in front of his bed, the elk hybrid awkwardly standing in the doorway with his arms full of packs of boxers and socks. She wanted to get a better look at him, especially his tattoos and the antlers encircling his head, but found it hard to stare at him for too long. 

“Did you walk around the back yard a bit? It goes back pretty far,” Y/N opened up his empty wardrobe, the deep scent of hickory smacking her in the face. Jeongguk grunted in response, shuffling over to her side to push the folded clothes into the wardrobe with haste. Snorting, Y/N continued to put his clothes away, smoothing out the materials so they laid flat. As they worked side-by-side, she studied the red iris tattooed on his forearm with minor interest. 

“How are you planning on getting the wolf back here? From the looks of it, he doesn’t like you at all,” Jeongguk said after a few moments, taking Y/N by surprise. Frowning at the pajama pants she was sliding into the wardrobe, she considered his statement– while rude, he wasn’t wrong at all. 

“I’m still thinking about that, honestly. I’m not sure what I can say to get him to trust me just enough to get him out of that shelter, but I really don’t want to have him deal with Gerry much longer. That guy is an asshole,” she admitted, self-consciously squeezing her eyes shut. Jeongguk said nothing, the sound of him traipsing over to the balcony door making her sneak a peek at his form. 

Leaning out the window, Jeongguk spoke with a cigarette poised between his lips, “Well, there’s not much you can say to convince him to trust you; trust doesn’t work like that. He either has to suck it up and get in the car with you or rot in that shelter,” he lifted his pierced brow at her, sparking up his lighter, not bothering to ask whether or not he could smoke in the house. Y/N didn’t have the courage to dissuade him, especially when he was seemingly attempting to help her with the Namjoon situation in his own way.

Shutting his wardrobe, Y/N considered his words as he leaned over the balcony to smoke. Perhaps she was going about getting Namjoon home the wrong way; Jeongguk was right, trust has to be earned over time, not with perfectly strung together pretty words to convince. Y/N didn’t think that pointing out to Namjoon the following morning that he would have to continue enduring life at the shelter unless he came along with her was wise, either. She supposed in the end, all she could do was keep persisting and returning to the shelter until he was comfortable to leave with her. 

There was also the ordeal of Hoseok’s fear of wolves– something Y/N understood as she had a few phobias of her own– which didn’t make things exactly easier. Y/N felt fortunate that Hoseok was so kind to her right off the bat and her affection for him was already growing steadily, so introducing a hybrid into the house that would make him feel on edge was borderline heartbreaking to her. There would have to be a conversation between her and Hoseok in the near future surrounding the issue, which was another thing she had no idea how to go about. Consulting Seokjin would be a likely solution for tips on how to dance around the subject of Hoseok’s wolf phobia. 

Realizing that she was staring at Jeongguk, leaning lazily over the balcony with his eyes roaming rapidly over the landscape of the backyard, Y/N awkwardly shuffled her feet, snapping out of her internal monologue. 

“So… I’ll leave you to it. I’m gonna check on the others and clean up a bit downstairs. Um, thanks for your advice, by the way,” Y/N made her way to the door, Jeongguk humming in response, not sparing her a glance as she slipped from the room. She shut the door behind her, hoping it would block out most of the smoky scent coming from the room, trudging down the hall deep in thought. 

Jeongguk was a bit of an interesting character. Clearly, he wouldn’t be warming up to her as quickly as say, Hoseok and Seokjin. However, the latter two painted such an unflattering picture of him for Y/N the night prior, and she had yet to experience much from Jeongguk to back that up. Sure, there was the exchange at the shelter, but Y/N could understand where he was coming from with his speculation of her intentions, especially when Ben made similar points in nicer words. With time, Y/N had a feeling that Jeongguk would come around; she was just hoping there would be less fights between him and the others now that they had the space to distance themselves. 

“Hi,” a soft greeting had Y/N nearly jump out of her skin, clutching her chest as she whirled around to face the voice– Taehyung, in his new black hoodie, standing outside of his bedroom. She had to get used to people living with her if she didn’t want to have a heart attack every time one of the hybrids sought her out, pronto. Dropping her hand from her chest, she found herself melting under his garnet eyes. 

“Hey, Taehyung, that sweatshirt looks nice! What’s up?” She leaned into the banister by the stairs, hearing Yoongi and Seokjin’s voices from the room down the hall with the piano. 

“Oh, um, thank you… it’s comfortable. I was just wondering what you were doing,”  he murmured while shoving his hands in the hoodie pocket, his voice quite low so Y/N had to strain her ears to hear him. Truthfully, she was on her way to clear out her old wardrobe in the green room on the off-chance Namjoon decided to claim it, as there were plenty of other rooms he would get to choose from. She just didn’t want to be caught with her pants down. 

“I was going to pack up my clothes from when I was a teen, and bring them down to the storage closet in the basement,” Y/N swiped a finger over the banister, collecting a thin layer of dust from the wood with a pout. Looks like she had neglected her cleaning duties during the past few months of mayhem at work. 

“Can I come?” Taehyung quickly asked, shooting a glance down the hall at a peal of laughter coming from Seokjin. A noise of surprise came from Y/N involuntarily, delighted that she would have some company during her task, and even more excited that she could potentially get to know Taehyung better. Grinning, she nodded enthusiastically, motioning to follow her down the stairs. He synched up in her stride, hair curtaining his face in soft curls, almost completely covering his rounded ears just barely peeking out above the dark curls. Taehyung definitely looked the most human compared to some of the other hybrids, apart from the redness in his eye color.

“Taehyung, I’ve been meaning to ask… what kind of bear hybrid are you? It didn’t say on your information sheet at the shelter, and I’m curious,” Y/N wondered as they descended the stairs, a few out-of-tune notes from the piano floating from the billiard’s room as she spoke. 

“Kodiak, I’m from Alaska, originally,” Taehyung answered after a few moments, Y/N having to lean closer to him to hear. 

“Alaska! I’ve always wanted to go there, it’s a beautiful state,” Y/N gushed, part of her wondering how he had made it all the way to Boston. Jimin, too, was from far away, and she still didn’t even know where the others had traveled from besides Yoongi, an apparent Boston native. 

“Yeah…” Taehyung murmured, evidently not keen on elaborating on his former home. 

Again, like when her parents were leaving earlier, Y/N felt a tugging sensation on her shirt hem. Bewildered, she peered at Taehyung– whose hands were still buried in his pockets. A chill crept up her spine as Taehyung cocked his head quizzically, waiting for her to lead the way to the green room, as she felt unease worm its way into her chest. 

For a long time, Y/N had shut out her connection to the supernatural elements of life. Y/N, picking a career path that was based in science, logic, and method, had done so in an attempt to distance herself from her childhood and the way she was raised. Her mother, a witch, filled her youth with the beautiful aspects of all that the occult can be; reverence of nature, how to identify friendly house spirits, card reading and spiritual cleansing. But as her mother had once told her, something that she had always kept in the back of her mind: once you open yourself up to the spiritual world, there is no turning back. 

There were instances growing up where she had encountered frightening things within her grandparent’s house, and had that recurring nightmare with the terrifying creature pursuing her off and on for years. Spirituality she had once so gleefully embraced had turned into the source of her constantly looking over her shoulder, seeking the owners of whispered words and fingers tugging a lock of hair. She loved the house, but it was full of secrets. Y/N had hoped by the time she had moved in after years of being away from the house, and apart from her dabbling in the supernatural, she could live there with her newly forged skeptic’s mind without a problem. With the return of her nightmare, and the uptick in brushes from an unseen force in the last few days, Y/N saw those hopes dashed and divided. 

Unnerved, she sped into the green room, Taehyung following closely behind. It might be time for her to get back into working some protective magic, she didn’t want things to get to the point where spirits were bothering the hybrids. Spirits, hybrids– these weren’t the sort of things Y/N thought she’d be dealing with months ago, so much for the plan of living a semi-normal life. 

“Alright, I think this will fit everything…” Y/N tabled her worry over the ghost matter, dragging her old duffle bag out from the closet. Taehyung had made himself comfortable on his side, laying on the bed with his head propped up on his arm. Chuckling, she felt a lot better that there was someone with her while she turned over some of her anxieties in her mind. Flinging open the wardrobe, she cringed at the amount of black tee shirts about to tumble out and drown her, most of them stuffed in there without being folded. She shoved her arms in the wardrobe to pull out a big stack, bringing them over to the bed to place in the duffle bag. 

Taehyung sat up, reaching for a tee shirt to fold without a word. Footsteps from upstairs made the tips of Taehyung’s ears flutter, to which he pulled up the hood of his sweatshirt upon noticing Y/N’s eyes on them. Strange. 

“Hmm. Alice In Chains, nice,” Taehyung commented after a few moments, smoothing out the tee shirt on his lap with a smirk. That was one of her favorite shirts in high school, and one of the less embarrassing shirts of the bunch compared to the Green Day crop top she was hurriedly stuffing in the duffle bag. 

“Grunge fan?” Y/N asked with a smile, dumping another batch of baggy garments on the bed beside him. 

“Definitely. Wish I could have seen some of the bands in concert in the 90’s,” he replied with a tone of melancholy. If Taehyung was a classmate of hers in highschool, Y/N would have had an embarrassingly huge crush on him. Nodding in agreement, she wondered if busting out a MTV Unplugged DVD would be a nice bonding moment between them. 

As they worked in comfortable silence, Taehyung would occasionally snort with amusement, lifting up a blink-128 tee shirt to Y/N’s humiliation, but it was all in good humor. Leafing through some of the relics of her past usually made her quite sad, but with Taehyung there, and his thoughtful comments on certain artists she used to love, it was actually an enjoyable experience. 

“Oh, did you know that Mad Season was–” Taehyung began, but was immediately cut off by the sound of the door creaking open and a newcomer barreling into the room. 

“Hey, I was looking for you!” Seokjin exclaimed, his cheeks flushed as his eyes narrowed in on Taehyung before softening at Y/N’s slightly-startled gaping mouth. “What are you guys doing?”

“I’m cleaning out the wardrobe here, just in case Namjoon wants this bedroom. Taehyung’s helping out, too,” she explained, noticing Seokjin’s damp hair and change of clothes. He had donned the lavender tee shirt she had selected for him, which looked unfairly good on him, picking up the sunset in his eyes perfectly. 

“Could you use an extra set of hands?” He made his way to her side, picking up a pair of baggy jeans. They were almost done, but Y/N had no right to deny his help when he was so eager to assist. 

“Thanks, Seokjin. You’re so helpful,” Y/N praised, giving him a fond pat on his shoulder. Seokjin straightened out his back at the praise, fingers fumbling to fold the denim properly. Taehyung fell into his usual silence again, as he normally did when another hybrid was around, much to Y/N’s disappointment. She’d have to ask him later what he was going to say about Mad Season. 

“So, I think tomorrow afternoon, we could all do something fun! We could walk around town, maybe go to the bookstore, get some ice cream before the shop closes for the season. Anything you want to do in particular?” Y/N tucked a plaid pair of pants into the bag, getting it out of her sight as rapidly as possible. After a couple days of mayhem, she thought it would be nice to spend a day out relaxing and getting to know one another. 

“Is there a music store around here?” Taehyung mused, Seokjin dropping the lacy tank top he was holding in shock. Y/N, too, was surprised he spoke in front of the jaguar hybrid, but was more overjoyed that he came out of his shell a little bit to do so. 

“Yeah, there’s a vinyl shop in the town square. They sell instruments, equipment and offer lessons, too,” Y/N zipped the last of the clothes into the duffle, admiring the empty wardrobe with glee. With some of her new free time, she was considering taking up some piano lessons, so the trip to the music store would be a worthwhile venture in tandem with making Taehyung happy.

 With a sweet smile, Taehyung nodded, slinging the duffle bag over his shoulder before Y/N could grasp the straps. Seokjin was still gaping at the Kodiak hybrid, blinking rapidly and nudging Y/N’s ribcage with his elbow. Shrugging, she grasped Seokjin’s wrist to tow him along, hurrying after Taehyung’s path to the basement door. The heavy weight of Seokjin’s wrist in her hand felt grounding, and ever since Seokjin had awoken from his fever the previous day, Y/N couldn’t help but want to be near him, to reach out and touch him in some way. He didn’t seem to mind being pulled along, head hanging bashfully as he tried to match her stride exactly. 

“Here?” Taehyung pointed at the bottom of the basement steps, to a little alcove tucked under the stairway where Y/N stashed her winter jackets. She gave him a thumbs-up, reluctantly dropping Seokjin’s wrist she was still cradling, watching Taehyung heave the bag down and push it under the stairs. 

Peering around the basement in search of her fox hybrid, Y/N poked her head into the bathroom, twirled around the gym, and even stepped into Hoseok’s room to find it empty. Disappointed, as she was already missing him regardless of his incessant teasing, she pouted, returning to Taehyung and Seokjin already bounding up the stairs. Even with the basement being beautifully and cheerily refinished, she didn’t want to be left alone down there, especially with whatever kept tugging at her shirt all day long. 

“Hey Seokjin, you know where Hoseok is?” Y/N gasped as she made it up the stairs, more out-of-shape than she cared to admit. Running after the hybrids was harder than it looked, considering their inhumane speed and strength. Seokjin’s chest wasn’t heaving like her’s from the effort, and Taehyung was even yawning into his elbow. 

“Watching TV with Jimin, last I heard,” as if on cue, she heard Hoseok’s laughter ringing through the halls in the direction of the parlor. Y/N nearly fainted at the thought of sinking into the couch for a couple of hours, hoping to marinate in her thoughts about bringing Namjoon home. 

“I think I might join them, if you two want to come as well,” she pressed her hand over her heart, the rate slowly going back to normal as she admired the way Seokjin’s curls had dried over his face, silkier now that they were clean. Again, the two clung to her like glue as they followed her to the TV room, sandwiching her so closely she could heat coming off of their bodies. She felt like she had bodyguards, which was a pretty silly thought but at the same time made her feel protected from whatever may come her way. 

“Jinnie!” Hoseok sang from the recliner, where he had nestled himself cozily in a throw blanket and an extra pillow. Seokjin cringed next to Y/N, his fingers brushing her arm as he curled them into a fist. Jimin was sitting criss-crossed on the couch close to Hoseok, a glass of iced tea in his hands, an episode of Hell’s Kitchen on the TV. 

“Hoseok, I told you I hated that nickname, I’d rather be called cupcake,” Seokjin grit his teeth, looking about ready to throttle the fox hybrid. Y/N snorted at the utter shock registering on Hoseok’s face, a split second from blossoming into hysterics. 

“Alright, then, come here, cupcake,” Hoseok managed through fits of laughter, Seokjin fuming as he plopped down on the couch as far away from Hoseok as possible. Jimin was rolling his eyes, turning up the TV a notch to rise above Hoseok’s giggling, scooching over with a soft smile so Y/N could settle down next to him. 

Taehyung was left lingering in the doorway, only budging when Y/N patted the open spot between her and Seokjin. As he walked, the hood of his sweatshirt dropped, his hair just matted down enough so his ears were truly visible for the first time. They were positively adorable, rounded and small, and Y/N had to suppress her urge to squeal upon seeing them. Taehyung wiggled in his seat, inching closer to Y/N rather than the grumpy Seokjin muttering under his breath. Jimin smelled delicious next to her, the lavender shampoo she had left in his bathroom for guests coming off of him in tantalizing waves as he raked his hands through his silky honey-colored strands. Getting comfortable, Y/N put her feet up on the ottoman, laughing heartily at Gordon Ramsay calling an unfortunate chef a muppet. 

After a couple of hours, Y/N shook out her stiff limbs, suddenly alert after nodding off while watching TV. She had caught her head lolling over onto Jimin’s shoulder, which is what had woken her up, drowsily murmuring an apology with a pat on the back of his hand as she righted herself. Jimin simply smiled softly, his posture adjusted towards her body, telling her she likely was taking a cat nap on his shoulder all this time. Flushing scarlet, she looked around the room, noticing Hoseok had also fallen asleep on the recliner, his lips parted slightly, ears drooped against his head and blanket pulled up to his chin. Taehyung had gone, judging by the way Seokjin had stretched out his legs over the space the Kodiak hybrid had once occupied, the jaguar hybrid still watching Gordon Ramsay roast a team of contestants. 

“What time is it? How long was I out? Where’s Taehyung?” Y/N rubbed her eyes, stifling a yawn. Damn, she hadn’t even thought about her plans for the following morning while she was sitting there, like she intended. Sorry Namjoon, she thought. 

“It’s 5 PM, two and a half hours, and he went upstairs shortly after you fell asleep,” Seokjin answered completely, not tearing his eyes away from the television as he spoke. He still looked a little ticked, even though the incident with Hoseok was hours ago, and the fox hybrid was fast asleep. Y/N wanted to go and pinch Hoseok’s rosy little cheeks as he snoozed, looking way too precious for his own good. 

“You alright, Jin?” The nickname slipped from her mouth before she could stop it, her drowsiness getting the better of her. Seokjin sat up ramrod straight, ears fluttering furiously as he finally stared her down with a hard-to-read expression. Swallowing thickly, Y/N tried her best not to shrink back into the safety of Jimin’s proximity, painting on nonchalance. 

“Uh, I’m fine? Great, I like this show! I’ve never seen it before,” Seokjin floundered, suddenly trying to mask his emotions as best he could. All of that just because she had used his nickname, Y/N noted that for future purposes. Still, she didn’t buy his excuses, because the way his broad shoulders were tensed up, something was obviously still bothering him. She supposed she couldn’t force it out of him if he didn’t want to disclose. 

“Miss Y/N, Yoongi came in a while ago. He’s making dinner,” Jimin informed her quietly, his husky voice sending a shiver down her spine. All of these hybrids were completely lethal to her nerves. She was pleasantly surprised, though not without a twinge of guilt that Yoongi was cooking while she slept away on the couch drooling on Jimin’s shoulder. Now that her senses were becoming a bit more sharpened as she came back to the land of the living, she could smell a spicy, herbal, tomato scent in the air. God, she hoped Yoongi was making pasta. 

Jimin had switched to whiskey while she was out, and Seokjin had his glass of white wine resting on the coffee table. Shaking her head at the thought of alcohol, she wondered if that was why Hoseok passed out so soundly in his chair, but it seemed there was no drink glass near him. The events of the day must have worn him out – she did make him get up extremely early. 

Struggling to her feet, she set off to find Yoongi, assuming Jeongguk was still shut away in his room as Jimin nor Seokjin had mentioned him. Jimin waved her off with a grin, Seokjin ducking his head as she passed by. Man, was he easily flustered. 

Following the delicious smells coming from the kitchen, she was nearly blinded by all of the lights Yoongi had turned up, compared to the dimness of the parlor she had come from. He was by the stove, his hair tied back with what looked like a rubber band that came from a bundle of vegetables, stirring a large stockpot serenely. He even had a glass of red wine on the island as he worked, and used dishes soaking in soapy water in the sink. Impressed, Y/N skipped into the kitchen, his spotted ears swiveling in her direction, but his face remained trained on the pot he was stirring. 

“Hi, Yoongi!” Y/N greeted, seeking out a glass of water for her dry throat. Reaching by his head for the cabinet containing the glassware, she peeked into one of the pots he had going, a decadent looking tomato sauce simmering away. 

“Good morning, sleep well?” Yoongi replied, setting down the slotted spoon he was using to stir spaghetti on the spoon rest. Cringing at the vaguely suspicious look on Yoongi’s face, she figured he must have caught her napping on Jimin. How embarrassing. 

“I had no idea I was even going to doze off, I swear. The amount of caffeine I drank today was enough to choke a horse,” Y/N raised her hands in defense, Yoongi’s carefully constructed disapproval crumbling into minor amusement. Going back to stirring the pot of pasta, Yoongi used his other hand to bring a sip of wine to his lips, eyes narrowing at the fettuccine dancing in the boiling water. 

Pouring herself some water from the dispenser on the fridge door, Y/N hoisted herself up on the countertop beside the stove, studiously watching Yoongi cook. He simply lifted a brow at her as she drank her water and occasionally sniffed the air, detecting something else that was being cooked. It was a few moments before she realized the oven was on, as she was peering at the floor and swinging her legs happily. 

“What else are you making?” She couldn’t stop her query, excited that the kitchen was getting some use after all that time after the renovations her and Roy had worked so hard to complete. Yoongi hummed, hefting the pot of pasta over to the sink to drain it with her flowery pot holders, his tail flicking like an agitated cat. She hoped she wasn’t bothering him. 

“I roasted some veggies on a sheet pan, put them in the oven. Chicken, too, with some of those herbs in the fridge,” Yoongi returned the pot to the stove, lobbing a giant hunk of butter into the mound of pasta. Mouth watering, she couldn’t believe he had done so much while she snoozed away, and the guilt from earlier returned tenfold. 

“Wow, Yoongi, thank you so much for cooking… lunch, too,” Y/N murmured sheepishly, ashamed that he was picking up slack already in the meal department, mere hours into coming to the house. 

“I like to cook,” Yoongi started after a beat of silence burning a hole into the side of her face with his feline stare, putting a lid on his simmering sauce. “It’s relaxing, brings me peace. You don’t have to feel guilty about me taking it upon myself to do something I enjoy.”

Snapping her head up to lock eyes with him, she wondered how he could possibly read the emotions flooding though her, squirming in her spot on the counter as he dissected her with his eyes. 

“H-how–?” 

“Silly girl. Don’t you know hybrids can pick up on scents better than humans? We can smell your shifts in moods, what they are,” Yoongi turned his back on her, tossing a bowl of salad with a pair of tongs Y/N hadn’t seen before. Dread flooded through her, because no, she did not know that. “I guess you’ve got some research to do.” 

Y/N gripped the lip of the granite countertop with panic, realizing the hybrids had been able to smell her vastly extreme range of emotions all this time. Her embarrassment, her fluster, the annoyance, even the frustration was all perfectly legible to them; and there was no way for her to mask it at all. Even with dropping this bombshell on her, Yoongi appeared as though he had said nothing out of the ordinary, apparently ignoring her distress on the countertop as he dressed the salad. He could smell it, anyways. 

“Uh, is there anything else I should know right away? Can you read my mind?” Y/N squeaked, Yoongi’s ears dropping flat to his skull as he shot her an unimpressed grimace. 

“Who do you think I am, Edward Cullen? No, we can’t read minds,” Yoongi grumbled, although there was a twinkle in his eye that exposed the mirth towards her reactions. “We have better hearing than humans, too. Heart rates, breathing, whispers that you thought we didn’t catch– we can. There’s the scenting, too–”

“Yoongi? Did you make chicken?” Seokjin interrupted, bounding into the kitchen with his empty wine glass. Reeling, Y/N processed all of the new information Yoongi had offered her; the fact they could hear every time her heart skipped a beat, and “scenting”? What on earth was that? 

Yoongi shooed Seokjin over to a barstool, claiming that he was “in the way”, although Y/N was seated right in front of the spice cabinet he had to squeak his hand by every so often while she was sitting there. Seokjin smiled at her widely, his cheeks bunching up roundly as he did so. Y/N could only weakly return the action, turning over hundreds of burning questions in her mind distractedly. 

“Foxy up yet? It’s almost time to eat, I could use some extra hands to bring everything outside to eat,” Yoongi leaned across the island, filling Seokjin’s empty wine glass with the red he had been drinking. Y/N sprung into action, eager to not look like Yoongi had pulled a carpet from under her feet. Easing herself off the counter, she willed her heart beat to stay steady as she slinked towards the hallway. Seokjin opened his mouth to say something, watching her try to escape the room, but she halted him by speaking first.

“I’ll round everyone up,” Y/N offered, nearly smacking headfirst into Jimin as he entered the kitchen. So much for keeping that heart rate down, Jimin grinning at her like the cat who ate the canary. Shaking her head, she hurried by him, feeling his yellow eyes on her long after she made it to the parlor where Hoseok was.

Tiptoeing to the recliner, Y/N turned off the TV, cooing softly at Hoseok curled up with the throw blanket. His face was so serene, it felt wrong to have to poke him awake, one of his ears twitching slightly as she got close. 

“Hoseok?” Y/N whisper-shouted, not wanting to startle him awake. His nose and ears twitched simultaneously, but all he did was pull the blanket closer around his body with a curled fist in the knitted material. Snorting softly, Y/N leaned across his body, tentatively placing her hand on his shoulder and shook. “Hoseok!” She murmured with more volume, squeezing his shoulder. 

All at once, his eyes snapped open, his hand shooting out from under the blanket to wrap around her wrist with alarm. Y/N realized just how close her face was to his, able to detect the flecks of gold in his irises, swallowing thickly as his nails dug into the flesh of her sensitive wrist harshly. Wincing, she found herself unable to free herself, stuck hovering over him with her heart hammering around in her ribcage. 

As soon as he realized it was her, Hoseok’s eyes widened with disbelief, immediately releasing her wrist with shock. Bringing the sore skin to her chest, she rubbed the crescent-shaped marks with her other hand dazedly. Hoseok scrambled out of the chair, cursing and spewing earnest apologies so quickly Y/N could hardly understand them. She wasn’t frightened by his reaction to being woken up; she couldn’t even imagine some of the ways it could have happened to him in the past– but she was admittedly a little startled at the sheer strength he held in his hand alone. Y/N could hardly move under the vice. 

“Shit, shit. I’m so sorry, let me see,” Hoseok held out his hand, eyebrows pinched in concern. Y/N slowly lowered her wrist into his outstretched palm, trying to avoid making him feel worse than he already was. Hoseok sucked in a breath, his fingers curling over her arm and turning it over to grimace at the marks he had left on her, his other hand coming up to brush his fingertips softly over skin erupting in goosebumps at his tender touch. 

“I’m okay, Hoseok, It’s my bad for startling you,” Y/N assured softly, his thumb rubbing slowly over the deepest well his middle fingernail had created. Her words did little to melt the guilt festering over his fine features, corners of his mouth turned down in distress. He hadn’t even broken skin, for crying out loud. 

“You didn’t… fuck. Seokjin won’t like this,” Hoseok muttered to himself, passing his fingers over her wrist one more time before removing his hands to pull them through his mussed hair. Y/N wasn’t sure what he meant by bringing Seokjin into the situation, but decided to let it go. 

“Hey, no harm, no foul! I’m fine. Dinner’s almost ready, that’s why I came to wake you. I should probably grab Taehyung and Jeongguk from upstairs, too,” Y/N nodded towards the kitchen, prompting Hoseok to trudge behind her, tail literally between his legs. 

“Let me go get them,” Hoseok pleaded, the apologetic droop in his eyes almost too much to bear. 

“Sure, thank you, Hoseok,” Y/N smiled encouragingly, holding his eyes just long enough for him to hang his head briefly and dash up the stairs. By the time he had disappeared up the landing, so too, the marks on her wrist faded significantly. Poor Hoseok, she thought, making her way back to the kitchen. 

Shaking off her scattered nerves, she made her way back to the kitchen, Yoongi pulling the tray of chicken and vegetables out of the oven with a grunt. His hair was tumbling out of the flimsy hold the rubber band offered, getting in his eyes as he set the hot pan on the stove. Seokjin appeared to be outside setting the table, his pastel shirt visible by the large willow tree over the dining table. Jimin was with him, two bottles of wine in his arms while he poured several generous glasses for the table. If there was one thing for sure, the hybrids liked to drink. 

“What can I take, Yoongi?” Y/N hid her arm behind her back, not chancing the leopard hybrid spotting anything amiss with her. He was poking the chicken with an extended index finger to check the doneness fastidiously, and Y/N thought to herself all he was missing was a cute apron. 

“Here, you can take the salad out,” Yoongi approached her after ditching a dish towel he was using to wipe his hands clean, salad bowl in hands. Taking it carefully, she inspected the greens dressed with sliced citrus and shaved parmesan. She couldn’t have made something as elegant in her recent frazzled haze if she tried. 

“This looks so good,” she mumbled, mouth watering as she peeked around his shoulder at the sizzling chicken on the cookie sheet. Yoongi smiled slightly, his teeth peeking out adorably, leading her to the door to the patio with a guiding hand hovering over her mid-back. She could feel the warmth of his palm through her shirt even though he wasn’t touching her, grateful for the cooling evening air rushing into her lungs as he urged her outdoors. He assured her he’d be right out, leaving the door open to retrieve the chicken. 

Y/N trudged through the overgrown grass with the salad, hoping Hoseok wasn’t still beating himself up. By now, the marks on her wrist were gone, and it truly was an involuntary reaction he had to being woken up. At the table, Jimin was still filling a glass with a hearty pour of Cabernet, a covered casserole dish with the saucy pasta sitting at the center of the table next to a basket of bread rolls and a dish of butter. Yoongi had gone all out. 

“Hi guys, I brought the salad,” Y/N plopped down at one of the center seats, noting that Seokjin and Taehyung would likely be flanking her either side. She slid the bowl next to the pasta, grinning as Jimin offered her one of the glasses of wine. Y/N felt the wine coat her throat like liquid velvet, trying to avoid smirking at Seokjin immediately scooting onto the bench next to her. 

“Yoongi told me he liked to cook, but I didn’t expect this,” Jimin made himself comfortable across from Y/N, sounding deeply impressed at the spread of food in front of him. Nodding in agreement, Seokjin leaned back on the bench on his palms with his eyes closed, trying to catch rays of the orange sunset on his face. 

“Did you get Hoseok up? He can be pretty grouchy when he wakes up,” Seokjin mused, eyes still closed as he sucked in a deep breath pleasantly. Y/N didn’t feel the need to solidify the truth in that comment by relaying the earlier sequence of events. 

“Mm-hmm. He’s getting Taehyung and Jeongguk,” Y/N confirmed, expertly disguising her glazing-over of facts with another sip of wine. Speaking of the devil, Hoseok had found his way outside, Taehyung close behind. 

“Wow, Yoongi made all this?” Hoseok exclaimed, all evidence of anything amiss with him completely unreadable on his face. Damn, he was good, Y/N thought to herself, as he shot her and Seokjin a cheeky grin. She didn’t miss, however, the way his eyes swept over the skin of her wrist, exposed as she was toying with the stem of her wine glass. The tiny crease between his eyebrows Y/N picked up on disappeared once he realized the marks were gone. 

“Out of the way, Jeongguk,” Y/N heard Yoongi shout from across the yard, the elk hybrid appearing to be blocking the way to the table with his leisurely strides. Yoongi stepped around the taller hybrid, making haste for the table with the pan he was holding. As expected, Taehyung slid into the empty spot on her other side, eagerly grasping his filled wine glass. 

Everyone settled in pretty quickly, praises for Yoongi’s hard work coming from every direction as they tucked into the meal. Seokjin piled spaghetti on Y/N’s plate for her, reminiscent of her mother filling his plate for him earlier in the day, the memory filling her with warmth. The food was absolutely delicious; down to the pasta sauce Yoongi had admitted was from scratch as well. Y/N inquired about how he had learned to cook so well, his answer being working on the line at the bar and watching the cooking channel on his days off. 

“What else did you do at the bar, Yoongi?” Hoseok asked, taking a deep sip from his wine glass, a blush settling over his cheeks. He had avoided eye contact with Y/N for much of the dinner, Y/N distracting herself by lowly speaking to Taehyung beside her about their trip to the record store the next day. 

“I told you, I pretty much did everything. I worked on the line making food for a bit, did some bartending. For a while, I helped out with security, bookkeeping… I played piano often during the weekend,” Yoongi pierced a slice of grapefruit from his salad with a fork, pushing it around his plate. 

“Oh, a piano bar? How fancy,” Hoseok remarked, nudging the leopard hybrid with his elbow. Yoongi looked peeved, inching closer to Jimin, who was minding his business by munching on a buttered roll. 

“Y/N said she’s going to take us to an ice cream shop tomorrow,” Seokjin announced proudly, chest puffing out in excitement. Jimin and Hoseok brightened significantly, Y/N remembering how much they had enjoyed the ice cream bars from their lunch yesterday. Jimin voiced his approval of the plan, smiling fondly at Y/N in a way that made her melt a little in her seat. 

“Oh boy, like we’re twelve?” Jeongguk suddenly quipped, filling his wine glass up while rolling his eyes dramatically. Frowning, Y/N began to feel insecure– maybe she was treating them a little childishly. 

“Will you just shut up? Why complain when you could just be quiet?” Yoongi barked, fed up with the younger hybrid’s never-ending bitching. Besides, it was uncomfortable to watch the shadow of doubt cross over Y/N’s face, her excitement turning to worry at the drop of a hat. 

“Shut up? Maybe you guys are twelve, seriously. I can’t stand it,” Jeongguk shook his head in disgust, pushing his plate of half-eaten food away from him. Hoseok looked positively livid, staring at the elk hybrid so intensely that it made Y/N shiver. Jimin, similarly, had his jaw set in annoyance, however he held his tongue. 

“The rest of you might be okay with being nothing more than a domesticated pet, but I’ve had just about all I can stand for today,” Jeongguk rose from his seat and tossed his napkin on his plate, his words hitting Y/N like he had thrown knives at her, visibly flinching into Taehyung’s shoulder. 

Yoongi calmly got up from his seat, harshly catching Jeongguk’s wrist as he began to storm into the house. While Yoongi was slight, he must have had considerable strength in his grip, yanking Jeongguk to a halt as the leopard hybrid’s lip curled back.

“You know, you could be a lot worse off right now, elk. You have a lot to be grateful for right now. You have clothes on your back, food to eat, a roof over your head– and most importantly, someone who gives a shit if you’re living and breathing,” Yoongi spat, each word enunciated clearly through his teeth. Hoseok was gripping his fork so tightly it looked like his knuckles were about to come through his skin. Jeongguk yanked his wrist from Yoongi’s grasp with a repulsed expression, stalking into the house with an agitated stride. Y/N flinched again as he slammed the glass door into the house, half expecting it to shatter from the impact. 

“He’s such a prick,” Hoseok ground out, appetite vanishing as he read the sadness enveloping Y/N like a heavy shroud. Yoongi returned to his seat, draining his wine glass with measured movements. The scent of guilt was thick in the air, and it made him feel ill. 

“Don’t listen to him, Miss Y/N. He’s young, jaded. It doesn’t make what he said right, though,” Jimin rushed to comfort her, hating the way Jeongguk had ruined a perfectly good meal with his thoughtless words. Y/N offered a weak smile, her lips shaking at the corners. To be honest, she felt like crying, but she wasn’t about to break down into tears in front of them. 

Seokjin had stayed silent during the entire altercation, but Y/N could see in her peripherals how stiff his posture had grown. He was gripping the bench so hard, his fingernails were scraping wood shavings from the seat. 

“It’s alright, Jimin. Um, I’m gonna clean up the kitchen, put away the leftovers… again, thank you for the food Yoongi. It was delicious,” Y/N managed, trying to keep her voice steady, collecting the bowl of pasta, her plate, and Jeongguk’s abandoned setting to dash into the house. 

She knew she had to flee before the first tear fell, harshly scrubbing the plates with a sponge while she used her shirtsleeve to hastily wipe away a pathetic tear rolling down her cheek. Y/N was more upset that Jeongguk was under the impression that she intended to reduce them to pets, rather than the fact that he had said it out loud in front of everyone else. Humiliated, she didn’t know how to face the others, let alone go through with the plans for tomorrow’s outing now that what he had said wormed its way into her brain, convincing her she was treating the hybrids frivolously. 

Watching red sauce from the pot Yoongi used swirl down the drain, she was thankful the tears had stopped as quickly as they came, anxiety over the hybrids walking into her weeping over the sink preventing any more drops from spilling over her lash line. Part of her wanted to peek at the slider to check if they were on their way in, but she was too afraid she would come face-to-face with Jimin’s sympathetic expression or Hoseok’s barely-contained anger. Sniffling, she dried her hands off, quickly wiping down the counter and stuffing the leftovers into the fridge. She knew it would be polite to go back outside and tough it out, but she couldn’t bring herself to do so. A few moments to collect herself was in order. 

In her bedroom, she sighed deeply, head pounding from everything that had occurred that day. She’d abused her body by drinking so much coffee, not getting enough sleep, and running around like a crazy person for days. Numbly, she pulled pajamas out of her dresser, leaving them on her bed and making her way to the shower. Being rained on earlier made her feel sticky and her hair smelled of earth, and a hot shower would be nice to drown her sorrows for a bit. 

Steam filled the bathroom as Y/N stripped down, tossing her raggedy clothing into the hamper with a little more force than necessary. She had dealt with many men like Jeongguk before; quick to anger seemingly from nowhere, rude, and reactionary. Normally, she wouldn’t take anything a man like that would say seriously, in fact, she’d often give their acidity right back. Never before had they affected her the way Jeongguk did, every icy word cutting her deep. In a way, it made her want to try harder to prove him wrong, that she simply wanted to share a nice life together, not treat them as pets. It would be hard to do, considering how much he already disliked her and his current situation. 

She boiled her skin in the shower, using a calming shampoo to make herself feel better. The water was scalding, but she still felt a cold draft coming through the shower door. Frowning, she turned the water up even higher, promising herself to take a screwdriver to her bathroom window tomorrow and fix the draft problem. 

As she rinsed her hair, Y/N’s eyes shot open as she heard a thud from above her, making her frown. Seems Jeongguk was out on his balcony for another smoke break. She felt a touch guilty for buying them for him, considering the intensity of his habit so far, but she was too pissed at him to care enough at that moment. 

Turning the shower off after the remainder of the chamomile body wash suds were rinsed from her skin, Y/N wrapped her body in a thick towel, cursing at the frigid temperature of the bathroom. She didn’t remember it being so cold when she had come in to start the shower, and the temperature of the steam should have heated the room significantly. Pulling the towel closer around her body, she could have sworn she could see her breath in front of her, but blew it off as being completely ridiculous and impossible. Moving to the skin vanity, she reached into the mirror cabinet to retrieve her lotion, mumbling under her breath as goosebumps rose on her arms. The room was deathly quiet, not even the crickets outside that usually kept her awake were chirping. 

Shutting the mirror cabinet distractedly, Y/N set her lotion down, moving to comb her hair, her eyes catching a shape behind her in the mirror. Looking more closely in the fogged-up mirror, she realized it was her, from her childhood, the old woman. Comb clattering to the floor, Y/N shrieked involuntarily, the ghostly sight of the creepy elderly woman scaring her out of her wits. She hadn’t seen her since she was a girl, and had no idea why she had made her presence known. Shaking, she turned around, feeling sick to her stomach, but all at once the apparition was gone. 

Screaming again at the sound of her bathroom door being blasted open, Y/N fell to the floor, clutching her towel so closely to her she thought she’d lose circulation. Seokjin and Taehyung barreled into the room, Seokjin’s eyes blown out in concern as he saw her cowering on the floor. Taehyung’s chest was heaving, head turning in every direction to scope out the bathroom for the source of her fright. 

“What happened?! Are you alright?” Seokjin exclaimed with urgency, kneeling down to collect one of her hands quivering on the floor to brace herself. She was absolutely not alright, the old hag who followed her around the yard as a kid was back, this time inside her house. But there was no way to express this to the jaguar hybrid, smoothing a thumb over the back of her hand with a deep crease of worry etched in his brow. To do so would risk him calling her crazy. 

Taehyung had made a lap around the bathroom, opening up the closet to the towels to check for any intruders, hands on his hips as he came up with nothing.

“I-I… um,” Y/N stuttered, heart threatening to break free from its cage, “I s-saw a spider, huge one. Crawled into the sink drain,” she lied, hoping her anxiety would cover up the absence of the truth. There was no way she was telling them about the hag just yet, especially since they had barely just arrived. A new anxiety was crawling down her spine: she was simply in a towel, and she tried as best she could to stay covered up in front of the two men in her bathroom. 

“A spider?” Seokjin confirmed softly, gently helping her to her feet and never averting her eyes from her face. Nodding, she glanced at Taehyung, who was cocking his head at her inquisitively, eyes on her damp hair. She couldn’t tell if he believed her or not.

“Sorry I worried you guys,” Y/N mumbled, feeling humiliated that she was standing like a drowned rat in front of them, lying to their faces. What would she do if they saw the ghost as well?

Seokjin shook his head, guiding her out into her bedroom. To her surprise, the rest of the hybrids, including Jeongguk, were standing in her bedroom, various expressions of concern across their faces. Jeongguk was close to the door with his eyes narrowed at the window looking out to the yard, and upon seeing that Y/N was unharmed, he nodded and disappeared from the room. Feeling more exposed than ever in the damp towel, Y/N wasn’t sure how to usher everybody out as quickly as possible. Clearly, the remaining hybrids needed extra reassurance that she was alright.

“I’m sorry, guys. I’m okay, just got spooked by a spider,” Y/N explained, Jimin brushing a finger over his lip as he considered her excuse. Half of the room seemed not to buy it, Hoseok frowning as he gripped her bedpost, Yoongi’s eyes roaming over her skin. She chalked it up to him checking for injuries, but the weight of his gaze made heat rise up her throat in embarrassment. 

“We thought there was someone who broke in, or you fell, so I guess a spider is a lot better than those two fates,” Jimin replied, politely staring at the floor while he spoke. Y/N didn’t think he was used to seeing a woman in such a state of undress, his cheeks pink. 

“Come on, everyone, let’s give her some privacy so she can get dressed,” Taehyung suddenly spoke, shocking everyone in the room as he waved his hand to coax everyone out. Y/N didn’t really want to be left alone in the room, but she had to get out of the damp towel before she caught a cold. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Seokjin asked her once more, as the others filed out of her room. Y/N could definitely tell he did not buy her spider cover-up, but he was too kind to say otherwise. Placing a hand on his bicep, Y/N gave him her best encouraging smile.

“Yeah, thank you, Seokjin. It’s nice to have people here to check up on me,” she answered truthfully, feeling a whole lot safer now in the home than she ever did as a child with her grandparents. Seokjin smiled at her, telling her to come out and watch TV with them when she was done. 

As soon as he closed the door behind him, Y/N shakily got dressed, eager to get out of her bedroom for a bit and be around some living people before bed. She didn’t even know if she’d be able to sleep that night, all she knew is she definitely had to do some protective magic in the days to come. With a house that size, it would take her a long time, but it was worth it if she could banish the spirit that had been bothering her all day. As soon as she pulled her pajama top over her head, she set off to the parlor to the hybrids waiting for her. 

Y/N wasn’t sure how she had fallen asleep in her room that night, but thanks to watching several episodes of Twin Peaks late into the night, she had no problem sinking into the mattress and knocking out, regardless of the possibility of a ghost hovering over her while she snored into her pillow. Her alarm shocked her out of her sleep in the morning, her wake-up call to go pick up Namjoon, potentially. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she resolved to tackle all of her obstacles today with positivity. 

She hadn’t asked any of the others if they had wanted to join her to the shelter that morning. For some reason, she felt it would be best to attempt to bring Namjoon home by herself, perhaps he was wary of the others, and she needed to stop by the library to speak with her mother afterwards anyways. Before bed, she texted her mother about getting her some of her black salt for the protection magic, to which her mother sent her a vague reply about retrieving some from her while she was at the book club the following morning. To Y/N’s relief, her mother didn’t push the subject of Y/N beginning to pick up her spiritual practices again. Y/N had a suspicion her mother knew a little bit more about her current situation than she was letting on. 

Y/N threw on a knitted sweater and an old plaid skirt she had gotten from her cousin, pulling on a thick pair of tights to combat the chill of the morning. She wanted to look more presentable than she had the past few days, hoping it would stave off any more concerned looks from not only her hybrids but also her mother, who would definitely comment on the perpetual nervous smile on her face. She had to get rid of that ghost today. 

Turning on the coffee pot in the kitchen, Y/N yawned as she listened for any movement in the house. She couldn’t hear anything, however, it was quite early and they had gone to bed pretty late. Y/N was beginning to think some of the hybrids, like Hoseok and Yoongi, were nocturnal in nature. Filling her to-go container with the hot coffee, Y/N hesitated before pulling out a second cup, filling that one as well. If Namjoon came with her, the least she could do was bring him something to warm his belly. Upon further consideration, she put a couple of protein granola bars and a ripe apple into her bag for him as well. She was crossing all of her fingers that he’d be willing to leave the shelter that morning. 

She wrote a little note to the hybrids letting them know her whereabouts and stuck it to the fridge, confident they would be able to scrounge up their own breakfasts especially with Yoongi there. The draftiness of the house made her shiver, pulling a cozy beret over her head as she loitered by the front door. Autumn seemed to be rolling in quicker than normal, and she worried about reinforcing all of the windows and doors in the house before the winter months as she made her way to her car. 

The drive into Boston had her squirming in her seat. If Namjoon was anything like Jeongguk, she was in trouble. She’d prefer if he was closer to Taehyung’s version of “strange”, as the other hybrids had coined him, but honestly she didn’t know what to expect at all. The weather that morning was clear of rain, the sky a light gray and the scent of briny ocean on the highway filtered through her windows. It was a lovely day for walking around, no humidity, and pleasantly cool. Getting over the fiasco of last night’s dinner, Y/N resolved to go ahead with her plans to take everyone out for a day in the town, even if that meant leaving Jeongguk at home to smoke himself into oblivion in the backyard. While the rest of them were watching TV after her encounter with the spirit, Jeongguk had spent at least an hour on the grounds, nose buried in his notebook. More than ever, Y/N itched to see what was in that notebook of his. 

Traffic was light and Y/N got to the shelter as soon as it opened. Gerry wasn’t there, as she pushed open the glass door; she assumed it was his son, a younger, still gray-looking man in his thirties. Brushing a stray yellow leaf from her sweater, Y/N approached the man counting the register, squinting through the darkness as there was only half of the fluorescent lights turned on in the shop. The man looked up at her when she tapped her fingers on the tin desk, somewhat set at ease she didn’t have to see Gerry’s stupid face for the third morning in a row. 

“Are you Y/N? Here to pick up Namjoon?” The man peered at her over his rectangular glasses, closing the register discreetly. 

“Yes, sir,” Y/N nodded, surprised that he had referred to Namjoon by name. His nametag read Robert. 

“You can go ahead and get him. I think he’s ready to leave now, after I convinced him last night. My old man’s tired of getting snapped at with those teeth of his, and he came down with a cold last night. Wanted him out of here by the time he came back,” Robert explained, handing her the keys to the cells during his speech. Simultaneously enthralled by Robert’s persuasion skills and disgusted with Gerry’s impatience, Y/N started towards the back room without a word. 

She fidgeted with her skirt as she went, nervous now that she knew Namjoon had shifted for sure. At last, she might be able to have a two-sided conversation with the wolf hybrid who caught her eye the most that night she discovered all the hybrids. The heavy metal door was left ajar, Y/N shouldering into the room with a huff to steel herself. Immediately, she headed towards the last remaining occupied cell, eager to get a look at Namjoon. 

He was seated on the edge of his bed, staring straight at her. And of course, like the others, he was absolutely gorgeous. Eyes warm like a thick amber honey, golden skin beneath his green tee shirt, and shining silvery hair swept off his forehead as if he was running his hands through it all morning. Upon making eye contact with her, his eyes narrowed, full lips pursing as he sucked in his cheeks thoughtfully. 

“Good morning,” was all Y/N was able to manage lamely, wrapping her hands around the bars of his cell. He was a large man, even seated, his mass was intimidating– and even shifted, he held all the danger in his eyes of his cautious wolf form. Namjoon stood, walking towards her, his height towering over her as he assessed her attitude, hopefully reading cheerful and friendly from what Y/N was trying to put off. 

“You didn’t bring any back-up today? Not even the fox?” Namjoon’s voice was deep, melodic, the authority dripping from his tone enough to make her want to take a step backwards. She refrained from doing so, in order to stand her ground. 

“Back-up? No, no one came with me today. We stayed up late watching TV, I wanted everyone to get some proper rest,” Y/N laughed, attempting to lighten the mood. Namjoon didn’t crack, lifting an eyebrow as he appeared to consider her answer. 

“Are you ready to come back with me today?” She asked after a few moments, unable to break free from his gaze. Something about his eyes was so familiar, and looking away felt impossible. 

“Do I have much of a choice? Robert said they’re going to stop feeding me,” Namjoon grumbled, the ear that had a piece missing fluttering just so. He shifted from one foot to another, eyeing the key ring in her hand. Y/N hastily unlocked his cell door, eager to free him. 

“Not that they were feeding you much, anyways, the bastards. One of the others told me you only got ham sandwiches twice a day,” Y/N fumed, pulling his door open with great effort. The iron bars were incredibly rusted and heavy, and Y/N was relieved she never had to set foot in the disgusting shelter again after Namjoon and herself got in the car. 

To this, Namjoon didn’t reply. He took a step out into the open room, a little shaky in his stride, like he hadn’t walked on two legs in weeks. It took him a few moments to stretch his legs out, gritting his teeth in annoyance. His incisors were particularly sharp, Y/N noted, and she couldn’t decide if that was cute or concerning. 

“Let’s go,” he grunted finally, after reaching the door to the hallway with more stability. She moved before her mind could catch up, following him briskly down the hall. So far, so good. 

When they reached the front of the store, Robert caught up with the two of them, giving Namjoon a slight nod. He handed Y/N a thick manila envelope, to which she accepted with puzzlement. 

“These are the official adoption papers, I fetched them from the State House myself instead of sending them through the mail. Pleasure doing business with you,” Robert shook her limp hand, Y/N startled by the word “business”. However, she was pleased to have the official documents right away, thoughts turning to the database where she could look up the hybrid’s pasts. Namjoon scoffed from behind her, impatiently tapping his foot.

“Thank you,” Y/N painted a fake smile on her face, finally ridding herself of the forsaken shelter as she led Namjoon out to her Land Cruiser. Namjoon slowly got into the passenger seat, staring at Y/N as she started the engine and straightened out her hat. 

“Here, Namjoon, I brought you some coffee. I have some granola bars and an apple in my bag, too, if you’re hungry,” Y/N held out the to-go cup that wasn’t smudged with berry lip gloss, adjusting her rearview mirror with her other hand nervously. Namjoon’s stare was much more unnerving than gentle Jimin’s, whose gaze was soft around the edges, while Namjoon’s was probing and steely. 

“Hmm… thanks,” Namjoon muttered, breaking free from eye contact as he accepted the coffee with both hands. Bringing it to his lips, it was Y/N’s turn to stare at him as he took in the street surroundings. Namjoon was truly beautiful– devastatingly so. His hair was like starlight, and his side profile was stunning. 

“I hope you don’t mind, but I have to make a short stop before we go home,” Y/N pulled out into the street, navigation to the library playing out in her mind. Traffic was still light for a Monday morning, so she’d get there in no time at all. 

“Do whatever you have to do,” Namjoon replied easily, fidgeting in his seat. He opened the glove box, immediately diving into the CDs to Y/N’s great surprise. “Have any tapes?”

“Tapes?” Y/N furrowed her eyebrows. It was rare to have anyone these days to even know how to operate a tape, but she could have sworn that her dad had left a tape or two in the glovebox. The Land Cruiser did, in fact, have a tape player as well. 

“You have a Rolling Stones tape,” Namjoon relayed matter-of-factly, Y/N cringing. The thing probably had hair on it with age. With practiced ease, Namjoon carefully popped the tape into the player and rewound it. 

“Wow, I’ve never met someone who knows how to play tapes under the age of 50,” Y/N joked, internally scolding herself as soon as the words left her mouth. She had to remember not everyone was Hoseok. 

“I like them, they have a unique sound. You can hear what time does to the tape,” Namjoon said simply, thankfully not taking offense to her joke. Typically, old tapes hiss and fade with age, and she had never considered it as a charm before. 

With an elegant index finger, Namjoon pressed play, the tinny sound of the tape pressing through the speakers instantly. Similarly, Namjoon began to relax, sitting back in his seat and taking another sip of his coffee. Unfortunately, Y/N already found it impossible to relax around him. 

They enjoyed three songs on the tape until Y/N pulled up by the library, throwing the vehicle in park. She was planning on letting Namjoon stay in the car, but he was checking his surroundings in disbelief, already unbuckling himself to get out. 

“I know somebody in here,” Namjoon stated, an interesting edge to his voice. He almost sounded fond. Perhaps Namjoon was a Boston native, but his accent was closer to Jimin’s rather than Yoongi’s. Cocking her head, she hurriedly got out of the car to follow Namjoon rushing into the library. He was pretty fast, all of a sudden, busting through the front doors. 

“Crap,” Y/N muttered, losing Namjoon immediately in the labyrinth of the bookshelves. Dreading having to go find someone to call for him over the intercom system, Y/N thought her best bet was seeking out her mother. Trying not to panic, she remembered that her mother had told her to meet her at the reference desk rather than the book club room, before the meet started. That’s where she’d have to go for Namjoon’s bat signal, anyways. Making a wide circle around some hungover-looking college students, Y/N speed walked to the reference desk, spotting her mother’s mustard yellow shawl of the day.

“Mom!” Y/N exclaimed desperately, her mother scanning a returned book and dropping it in surprise. 

“Honey! You’re early! Here, I’ve got your salt,” her mother pulled a large mason jar of black salt out of her patchwork satchel, handing it over gingerly. Taking it impatiently, not caring at the moment that a young couple standing by the desk was staring at the two of them with confusion, Y/N tucked it into her bag, crushing one of the granola bars. 

“Mom, I need you to call a name over the intercom. The hybrid I picked up this morning disappeared as soon as we got in here,” Y/N breathed, worried sick that Namjoon might already be halfway to Fenway Park. 

“Oh, Christ, honey, I can do that. What’s his name?” Her mother grabbed the mic to the system, frowning with worry. Before Y/N could say anything, her mother looked past her, face splitting into utter shock and recognition. Turning urgently, Y/N spotted him just behind her. 

“Namjoon? Where have you been?” Her mother gasped, blood draining from Y/N’s face. 

Taglist; @blancflms @grazysf @sbromp @jaxavance @sunderlight @ot7nem @mageprincess7 @wittyreader @drenix004 @mayla548 @skyys-universe @ddaeng-angmoh @trtlthts @exfolitae @kalala22 @xiusmarshmallow @bangtans-momma @zae007live @paigetj @singukieee

Please do not repost or translate my work. Thank you!

[cherryberry-sugarandspice]

Taming the Bull - Snippet

A/N: so this is a snippet of my college AU of Miguel x Reader, Reader x Gabriel, the love triangle thingy. I just thought this was so funny teeheehee!

You get into the car, heart throbbing painfully in your chest. You lay your head against the steering wheel, fighting the urge to breakdown. This is all too much. You long to be with Miguel, but by being with him, you hurt Gabriel.

Besides, Miguel has been with nearly every woman on campus. What if wanted another notch in his belt? All his sweet, tooth rotting words...what if they're a ploy to get you into bed?

You sniffle, straightening up and pulling out of the parking lot. A little drive around the city wouldn't hurt. Maybe go visit the beach. You're driving through the parking lot when a large body throws themselves onto the hood of your car with a loud thunk. You scream, slamming on the break.

"Miguel?" you say in shock, rolling down the window. "What the hell are you doing!"

Miguel places his large hands on the windshield, brown eyes staring into your face with burning determination.

"I'm not giving up on you! I meant what I said! I want to be with you! It's always been you!" Miguel yells. He speaks the absolute truth. "I know I've been an ass, and I'm trying to change. You are who I want!"

"Miguel, get off of my car, or I'm driving off with you on it," you snarl, slamming your horn.

He hardly flinches at the blaring horn. "No! You need to know how much I want to be with you."

You glare at him and press on the gas pedal, tearing through the parking lot. Miguel holds on for dear life, but he doesn't break his gaze. "Please, you have to believe me!"

"I'm not listening to you!"

You pull onto the street and drive down the busy streets.

"You're the one I want to be with. You're the one I want. Why is that so hard to believe?"

"Because you've slept with nearly every woman here! Besides, aren't you the same one who told Gabriel that you just wanted to sleep with me?"

Miguel grinds his teeth. Damn him brother. "I did say that, but that's before we reconnected. Your the kindest person I've ever met. You stop to allow ducks to cross the street. You help tutor others. You take the time to talk to random strangers if they look just a little sad!"

You continue to drive, heading to the beach. People give you strange looks with Miguel on the hood of your car, but right now, you can give two shits.

"You think I don't pay attention to the little things you do, but I catch on! You hug any pillow to hide your beautiful body. You cover your mouth when you laugh. When you get passionate about something, your eyes light up and you don't care how loud or excited you get, and god fucking damnit, that's fucking cute!"

"You don't mean that! Just shut up!"

"I do! I mean it!" Miguel's face is smushed into the glass, his body swinging back and forth against the hood, but he holds on tightly. "You're the one I want to be with!"

"No I'm not!"

You head down the winding road to the beach, driving through the sand towards the water. "I swear I will drive into the fucking ocean! Leave me alone!"

"No! Because you need to know how much I care about you!"

"Man, fuck you!"

You drive straight into the water, and both you and Miguel have to trudge out of waters and back to shore.

[glass--beach]

Was listening to music in the car and a song started out with the same ambient synth as Glass Beach (the song) and was disappointed when it turned out to just be christian rock

lol!!!!

it's just a guitar chord with the volume swelling in gradually btw, which is actually something christian rock guitarists love to do (i used my volume knob but a lot of guitarists use a volume pedal for this) turns out christian rock guitarists can be pretty big pedalheads, i keep seeing reviews for pedals where people mention using them in worship bands

[mechwarrior-rose]

Shelter: Pirate's Eclipse

KENNEDY BEACH OBERON VI OBERON CONFEDERATION 28 SEPTEMBER 3049

Shelter's assessment earlier had been correct. An even dozen lasers, six on each arm. Mediums, by the look of it. No other weapons. Magnetic resonance was convinced the 'Mech was 50 tons. What kind of engine could supply that much power for weapons and still move a 50-ton machine around that quickly? And who the hell designed a 'Mech whose shoulder and hip actuators ran in a straight line right through the torsos?

He and the enemy pilot were circling each other, sizing one another up. The other 'Mechs of the enemy lance stood eerily still. So did the crumpled form of Rieck's Marauder. Why hadn't he punched out yet? He was conscious, had to be, because he'd opened the private channel to receive Shelter's message.

No more time. The enemy tightened their circle in to run directly at Shelter. He slammed down his pedals and ignited the Griffin's jump jets. Light burst from the enemy 'Mech's left arm and gouged nearly all the armor from his left side in a single salvo. Barely anything left on his torso and leg, and the internal structure of his arm was fully laid bare. Burning gods above and below, how powerful were those lasers?! Shelter fired all three of his own in turn. The large and one of the mediums scored deep into the armor of the enemy's right torso; the other medium piddled across their right arm.

Shelter landed harder than he'd intended. Sure, he was certified on a Griffin, but he was still a tech, not a MechWarrior. He'd only ever used jump jets under controlled conditions at the proving grounds. Twice. Six years ago. Automatic systems kept him from stumbling, but he could hear the gyro straining from the effort.

Where was all the heat going in that 'Mech? Twelve lasers, half a dozen at a time in volley fire, in a medium machine. Firing that spread once would put a load on any Griffin, and that was assuming that those over-tuned lasers didn't produce more heat than a standard medium. Yet the enemy didn't seem to feel the heat at all. Shelter scrambled to calculate the minimum heat transfer coefficient to make it work.

Turn off your engineering brain, dumbass! The enemy had executed a neat turn on their own jump jets and brought their left side around to protect their damaged flank. Another six-laser volley and the Griffin's left arm was entirely gone. Hip actuator damaged on the right side. Desperately low armor in both torsos. The neural feedback wasn't in the danger zone, but the loss of the arm was playing havoc with the interplay between the Griffin's gyro and Shelter's own inner ear.

These weren't pirates. Whatever the fuck they were, they were bad news, and they weren't going to stop with the Oberon Confederation.

One more punch of the jets, and the Griffin arced over the enemy machine. Shelter fired the moment his reticle passed over metal, but his eyes were on the beach beyond the cockpit glass. The Marauder's cockpit was still intact. What was Rieck doing?

No, there he was, running along the beach. He'd popped his cockpit hatch and clambered down on his own. The SERE kit pouch was slapping against his thigh as he hauled ass. Good. He could meet up with Razor Two and take refuge in the trees. Shelter prayed to absent gods that he could give them enough time.

Shelter landed more gracefully this time. Still, the impact jarred sweat into his eyes. He blinked desperately. Had to find the enemy.

But the strange 'Mech had collapsed. Shelter's almost literally aimless shots had damaged the enemy's engine and forced a failsafe shutdown.

The remaining enemy 'Mechs were still and silent, as if they were as shocked at the outcome as Shelter was. But soon enough the Catamarauder--Shelter decided it had to be named something--stepped forward. Once again, the woman's voice came over broadband.

"Warrior, you have bested two of Clan Wolf's elite warriors, one in single combat. The outcome of this battle is foregone, but know that your valor is recognized."

"Big talk for someone about to get acquainted with the dirt," Shelter snapped into his mic, then pushed his 'Mech into a run.

The Catamarauder's missile pods roared like lions. Explosions covered the Griffin. Not a single location escaped unscathed, including the head. Two missiles hit high--above the glass, but still close and loud enough to turn the inside of the cockpit into a front seat at the world's worst noise metal concert. Neural feedback, the real shit this time, seared through Shelter's brain.

The Griffin hit the ground. Engine power was gone. Hell, the Griffin itself was probably an unrecognizable slag heap. There was booming and rattling and clanging for what felt like forever. A monitor panel dislodged from the console and bounced off Shelter's neurohelmet. Then, finally, silence, punctuated only by the cartoonish ping-ping-ping of a washer falling into the rear compartment of the cockpit.

Shelter took a moment to catch his breath and assess himself. Probably had a concussion. Always assume a concussion. Gash on his shoulder that he hoped wasn't deep. His muscles and bones were still ringing from the fall. One of his boots had come off.

The radio was on backup power, but there had been a cut somewhere in the feed to the neurohelmet. Shelter popped the buckle on his five-point harness and dragged the bulky helmet off his shoulders. The air against his scalp reminded him that--

He turned up the speaker built into the radio and grabbed the hand unit. "This is Razor Four. Three enemy units in grid gamma six. Razor Lance is down. Request..." He paused. Request what? Reinforcements? Extraction? A blanket and a bedtime story? His head was swimming.

"Warrior Shelter, last of her family," Star Captain Mila spoke on the radio. "Your 'Mech is disabled and your world has fallen. I claim you as isorla for the benefit of Clan Wolf. Stand down and await medical assistance."

"His," Shelter said automatically. "Last of his family."

He let himself fall back against the command couch's back. There was more chatter on the radio, but he didn't bother trying to parse it. He'd failed. He'd been supposed to die in combat, and somehow that was supposed to fix things for Oberon VI and the War Griffins. He was hazy on the details. But here he was, alive and a captive. Failure.

"Fucking pirates," he mumbled. He reached for the SERE kit, but the effort made him dizzy. He didn't remember anything after that.

[voraciousvore]

Boarding School for Giants (8/25)

------ Chapter 8 ------

I wondered what was taking so long. It was almost dinnertime, and I was growing anxious at the lack of communication. I hated not having my cellphone on hand. I thought Mr. Henderson would have sorted out the mess and returned by now. What if he had come and gone while I was missing? I hadn’t considered that possibility and the idea filled me with consternation. I didn’t want to wait another day. I didn’t want to have to attend classes again tomorrow if I didn’t have to. 

As intimidating as it was to venture back outside, I resolved to return to the school and visit his office. I figured he hadn’t left yet for the day, if he hadn’t contacted me yet. Besides, I wanted to grab dinner too, and to do that I would have to go to the cafeteria again. I sighed, running my hands through my hair as I made an effort to mentally prepare myself. I had to be strong. 

I went outside and pulled my bike out of the rack. The sun was just starting to dip down toward the horizon, bathing the world in golden twilight and tinting the sky with red and orange. My long shadow contorted across the pavement as it followed me along my path. The fields of shining green grass undulated calmly in the breeze like waves on the beach. I passed by a giant tree, the grooves in the bark highlighted dramatically with contrasting light and shadow. The gorgeous, tranquil sights and colors soothed my soul as I rode my bike on the expansive sidewalk. This giant world was so frightening, and yet so beautiful. 

As if to drive the “frightening” part of that statement home, I saw a giant traveling in my direction along the same sidewalk I was biking on. My guts twisted into knots, and my blood pressure spiked into the stratosphere. I had an urge to dive into the grass outlining the sidewalk and conceal myself. However, I ignored this compulsion and continued forward. I was on a bike; I was moving fast; no giant would catch me. I gave him a wide berth as the towering behemoth, with crashing footfalls, strolled by me without incident. I exhaled in relief. Even so, I knew I would have to pass quite a few more giants to reach my destination. I clenched my teeth and pedaled forward with purpose. 

I couldn’t lose my nerve now. I reached the plaza and biked around the lake of a fountain in the middle. The double doors to the school were still propped open, so I shot through them too. There weren’t too many giants in the hallways, since school was not in session, so I had enough room to bike around without having to worry about being squished. Nonetheless, I still stayed close to the walls out of an abundance of caution. 

This strategy would prove to be a mistake. I had assumed that the classrooms would be empty, as well as most of the other learning-related areas, and that most people in the school at this time would be here for the food. As I crossed by the threshold to the library, a giant happened to be walking out at the same time. I saw the massive black and white sneaker pound down in front of me a second too late. My bike crashed into the giant shoe, vaulting me over the handlebars. I flew over his shoe with a surprised shout and skidded across the hard tile floor, tearing through my uniform and skinning my knees. 

For a moment, I was too stunned to move as pain shot through my legs. As I stumbled back to my feet, I felt warm liquid dripping down my shins and realized I was bleeding. When I looked behind me, I was shocked to see twin skid marks of blood across the floor from my scraped knees. 

“Ack, I’m so sorry! Are you alright?” a resounding voice rumbled above me. I flinched reflexively and looked up with fearful eyes. The giant whose shoe I had ran into was kneeling over me with concern. He was a huge, awkward, gangly giant with thick black-rimmed glasses covering his chocolate brown eyes. He had messy light brown hair and pasty skin with a constellation of acne on his face. 

“Oh no, you’re bleeding!” he exclaimed. He reached his gigantic hand toward me. “Here, let me help—”  

In response, I shrieked and jerked back. He stopped and frowned with confusion. “Don’t touch me!” I cried out, holding my hands out in front of me in defense. I was aware he was only trying to help, but alarm at potentially being grabbed again consumed me. “I-I’ll be fine!” I assured him shakily, circling his shoe with the intention of reclaiming my bike. He followed me with his eyes, looking at me with pity, but didn’t move his hand near me again. I seized my bike and rode off as fast as I could. 

I dashed into the human bathroom, the only safe place where I knew I couldn’t be followed, and struggled to get my fear under control again. I leaned over the sink, quivering, staring at my ghostly white, sweaty, disheveled reflection in the mirror. The stinging in my knees reminded me of my wounds, and I took a minute to clean myself up until the bleeding stopped. Once I composed myself the best I could, I gathered up my bike and went to the cafeteria. 

The dinner service was in full swing, but I felt mildly relieved that less giants would notice me in all the hustle and bustle. I sidled over to the human section and was pleased to find, at long last, a proper dinner waiting for me. I eagerly opened the plastic container to reveal a hot meal consisting of roast beef, mashed potatoes, and peas. Not bad. I glanced around, making sure that nobody was watching me before sitting down at one of the tables and digging into my food. 

After I stuffed my belly, I continued the long trip to the vice principal’s office. I felt a little better, less tired and weak and sad, once I had a decent meal inside me. The hallways were mostly empty the further down I went. I approached the administration offices towards the back of the giant building. I had to pass by the principal’s office to reach Mr. Henderson. As I got closer, the door opened and Principal Greenwood stepped out into the hall, towering over me. I halted, my heart leaping into my throat. He gave me a look dripping with disdain, then smirked. He must have heard about what happened to me. Unbelievable. Even if he didn’t like humans, how could he be so callous? 

The giant walked straight toward me deliberately, and for a frightening moment I thought he was going to flatten me under his shoe. Instead, he stepped over me, his titanic bulk passing over my head and leaving me disoriented, and strode off. I let out a breath I didn’t realize I had been holding in. I just had to hang in there for another day. Sighing again, I biked down the hall to Mr. Henderson’s office. I parked my bike against the wall and was about to knock on the door when I heard the giant man talking inside. 

I hesitated. I didn’t want to interrupt his conversation. As I listened, I discerned he must be talking on the phone, because I couldn’t hear anyone else in the room. I slipped through the gap under the door into his office. The giant was sitting at his desk, on the phone as I suspected, rubbing his forehead with his hand. He looked agitated. He didn’t notice me, so I snuck under his desk so he wouldn’t catch me eavesdropping. 

“No, I don’t think you understand. It wasn’t anything that she did. She didn’t provoke the confrontation,” he said into the phone. “No.” A long pause while whoever he was listening to jabbered on. 

“Have you heard anything I said? She’s not safe here! She literally got eaten, for crying out loud!” the giant exclaimed with exasperation. Obviously, he was referring to me. But who was he speaking to? 

“How can you say that? She’s your daughter! Don’t you care at all?” 

I froze. I felt ill. He was talking to my mother. While I couldn’t hear her voice, I could imagine her yelling, with that all-too-familiar hideous, drunken expression that I hated contorting over her features. She never listened, not to me, and apparently not to Mr. Henderson either. 

“No. We can’t—no.” A pause. “Not without your permission.” He was silent for a while. “Okay. So that’s it then. This is really what you want? You really mean that?” I was lost, couldn’t follow the thread of the conversation. “Fine. Goodbye.” 

Mr. Henderson slammed down the phone receiver with a clang. “Dammit!” he muttered. He leaned forward in his chair and sighed forcefully, clearly displeased. I wasn’t sure what to do. I didn’t want to make it obvious that I was listening in, but I was burning with curiosity. I needed to know the full context of the conversation I had overheard. 

“Um… Mr. Henderson?” I called up to him, crawling out from my hiding place under the desk over to the open space between his feet. He looked down below his desk with surprise, pushing back his chair to see me better. 

“Eren! How long have you been under there?” he questioned me, appearing slightly embarrassed. “How much… did you hear?” 

“Some,” I answered. “So… what’s going on? I hadn’t heard from you all day, and I was getting worried…” 

“Well… I was just on the phone with your mother,” the giant said. He was bending his back awkwardly, leaning one elbow on the edge of his desk as he gazed down at me. He shifted his feet a bit. “Do you mind if I put you on the desk? It’s not very comfortable talking to you when you’re way down there.” 

“Y-yeah. Go ahead,” I replied. He reached his huge hand toward me, and I resisted the sudden compulsion to dart away. He didn’t grab me, though: He laid his hand on the floor, fingers curled slightly, inviting me to step into his palm. I obliged, and ensconced myself in the soft dip of his hand. He lifted me up to the desk and transferred me onto the wooden surface. He pushed an eraser over to me that I could use as a chair. I sat and gazed up at the giant, folding my hands in my lap. 

“As I was saying, I finally got ahold of your mother, after she failed to answer my calls all day,” he said, “And even after I told her everything, she refuses to pull you out of school.” 

“What?! Are you serious?” I reacted with horror. That was impossible. She couldn’t do this to me. I couldn’t stay here. I gaped at the giant in shock. He could only return the gesture with a helpless shrug of his shoulders. 

“If she doesn’t want you to leave, there’s nothing I can do,” he explained. “It’s out of my hands. I even tried convincing the board of directors, but reasoning with them is like trying to talk to a brick wall. They are pushing hard this integration program and don’t want to remove you either.” 

“Nooo...” I moaned, holding my head in my hands. My hopes were crushed. I was stuck here. I knew it was only a matter of time until something horrible happened to me. I looked up in desperation at Mr. Henderson with watery eyes. “Please, can’t you do something to help me? Take me away from here?” 

“No,” he stated flatly. “I can’t do that. I’d be kidnapping a child.” I collapsed onto the eraser with despair. As usual, I was powerless. I struggled not to cry for the hundredth time that day. I didn’t want Mr. Henderson to have to deal with my constant blubbering yet again. I hated being such an emotional wreck all the time, but such a condition was hard to evade when life was constantly pelting me with rocks and beating me down. 

Mr. Henderson leaned forward in his chair, bringing his gigantic face close to me and squinting. “What happened to your knees? Are you hurt?” 

I swiftly sat up and concealed my bloody, skinned knees with my hands. “It’s nothing,” I assured him. “I just fell off my bike earlier. No big deal.” 

“Alright,” he responded, not sounding very convinced. He gazed at me with pity. I stared deeply into his coffee brown eyes, and despite everything felt a soothing warmth in my chest that spread through my body. “Do you want me to take you back to your dorm?” he asked me gently, offering me his hand. 

“Yes, thank you,” I gratefully accepted, returning to the comforting softness of his giant palm.  

Next chapter: https://www.tumblr.com/voraciousvore/731604329654534144/boarding-school-for-giants-925?source=share

First chapter: https://www.tumblr.com/voraciousvore/731600430392639488/boarding-school-for-giants-125?source=share

[alettertothesea]

A Breath in Froth

Hinata kept hearing a voice. He couldn’t say when the latter started ringing in his ears. In his mind. But it was always there, like a looming headache at the back of his skull. Or like the pulsing of his blood at his temples. He woke up with this melody faintly echoing in the limbo of his sleep or dreams. He ate his meals thinking of this chant, the notes and quarter rests giving rhythm to the way he was swallowing or chewing the food. He fell asleep with this lullaby being hummed to him.

Strangely enough, this voice was getting louder and louder every time he was by the shore. When he was playing beach volleyball. He easily got distracted by it. Right in the middle of a game, he couldn’t help but glance at the vast ocean. He couldn’t stop the burning sun from blinding him as the song invaded his mind. The latter pleaded with him to come closer, to walk to it, to dive in the depth of the great blue expanse. As soon as Hinata snapped out of this “trance”, it always seemed like he spent his day daydreaming. 

Hinata was even more scared of this voice when he was wandering around the city. Always leaving the apartment with some kind of schedule. But his feet ended up leading him somewhere he didn’t know. To a place he’s never been before. To an unknown environment that made his heart beat so fast that he could see lurking silhouettes in the shadows, ready to attack him if he dared to move. Those events always made him wonder if he became a sleepwalker overnight. Or worse, sometimes he even thought that he had been put under a spell, being the puppet of an evil sorcerer.

Another night, another delivery. His feet pushing on the pedals of his bike, Hinata was riding as fast as he could in the neighborhood. But as he was racing down the street, he braked abruptly, stopping dead in front of the window of a bar. And he heard it again. Weakly. Loudly. Cheerfully. Smugly. Hummed. Screamed. Whispered. Scared. Determined. The voice was once again numbing his ears, clouding his mind, mingling with his thoughts. And if before today he couldn’t understand what it was uttering, now he was sure of the word it stammered, muttered, said.

On the TV screen, the image of a black-haired boy was being displayed. He was wearing a jersey. The national team one. Red and White. A little flag of the country he was from printed on the front, on the left, right above the heart. Seeing the image, Hinata’s throat tightened. His body began to shake. His heart squeezed, the pain spreading throughout his whole being. And when Kageyama Tobio opened his mouth, the ultrasonic melody, the chant being sung from under the dark waters of the seas or at the top of a rock in the middle of its fury, called out to him.

Hinata Shouyou.

As if he was standing by the water, the waves gently licking his toes, this bewitching melody seduced him. It told him to come to it, to save it, to embrace it. As magical and surreal this moment was, a single drop of salty water formed at the corner of his right eye. It suddenly landed on his cheek as he fluttered his eyelashes.Then it rolled slowly down his face. The mark it left on his skin reflected that of the sweat of his best friend, rival, partner beyond that wall of glass.

[eadanga]

Pieces of My Love

A/N: This fanfic is for @starrystarrytrouble​ hope you enjoy your holidays and glad you love Gabe as much as I do 😀. Glad you’re apart of the choices fandom that’s for keeping all these characters alive

Rachel woke up to soft kisses on her face she smiles as she slowly opens her eyes and sees Gabe smiling at her “Hey beautiful”

“You better have a good reason for waking me up this early”

“I do actually get up let’s go”

“Where are we going to?”

“You’ll see when we get there now get up beautiful”

Rachel sighs “Really Gabe you’re not gonna tell me anything”

“Nope I’ll see you downstairs” Gabe kisses her cheek then heads out the door. Rachel giggles and she gets out of bed. She quickly gets dressed and heads to see Gabe who grins “Looking amazing as always” He kisses her softly

“Now where are we going Gabe?”

“Ah ah ah no spoilers” He kisses her hand “Now let’s go”

Rachel giggles as Gabe picks up their bags “You already packed my bags?”

“Yes we’ll be gone for a few days”

“And what if I don’t like the outfits you packed?”

Gabe laughs as he grabs another bag “You’ll be fine”

Rachel laughs as she follows him out the door

****

They drive for miles enjoying each other’s company before Rachel speaks up “So are you ever gonna tell me where we’re going?”

Gabe smiles “Ok only cause I love you so much we’re going to my vacation house”

“You have a vacation house?”

Gabe nods “Only go there when I have free time have so many memories there”

Rachel smirks “Have you taken other girls there?”

Gabe chuckles “No you’re the first to see it”

Rachel smiles “I’m glad” They drive up to a beach house that over looks the ocean. Rachel gets out the car as Gabe gets the bags “This is amazing Gabe”

“Thanks I’m glad you love it it’s a great place to get away from the city” Gabe takes the bags inside the beach house as Rachel follows “Now let’s get into our swimsuits”

“I hope you packed a swimsuit in there for me”

Gabe chuckles “Of course I did baby” He smirks “It’s one I bought especially for you”

“You bought me a swimsuit and you didn’t tell me what if it doesn’t fit”

Gabe laughs “I know your size by now don’t worry it’ll fit babe”

They change into their swimsuits and head out to the beach. Rachel spins as she admires herself “Gabe this is amazing I love it”

“And I love you” Gabe wraps his arms around her and kisses her deeply

“Gabe…”

“The things I wanna do to you Rachel God you’re so sexy”

Rachel blushes “You’re amazing Gabe I love you”

“I love you too” He kisses her again

****

After spending the day at the beach the sunsets and Rachel gets out the bathroom after washing the sand off her. She sees a note on the bed next to a long red shimmering dress

                                    Beautiful

                          Have a surprise for you

                               Meet me outside

Rachel giggles He’s spoiling me and this dress is so cute She gets dressed and heads outside. Her eyes go wide as she sees a table with rose pedals on the ground and a bouquet of roses on the table. Lit candles and two plates of food are on the table with soft violin music is playing.

Rachel grins “Wow…”

A pair of arms come around her waist “Like it?”

Rachel spins around to face him “I love it when did you do this?”

Gabe smiles “That’s for me to know beautiful” He kisses her softly then takes her hand “This way” He leads her to the table and they sit down and have dinner Gabe uncorks a bottle of wine and pours two glasses. He hands one to Rachel and lifts his to toast “To us beautiful”

Rachel grins and she clinks her glass with his. She takes a sip then smiles “Gabe what you have up your sleeve?”

“What do you mean gorgeous?”

Rachel giggles “Come on Gabe you’re spoiling me like crazy you’re obviously have something big planned right?”

Gabe chuckles “I knew you’ll figure it out eventually” He smiles and takes her hand “I love you so much Rachel and since I’ve met you my life has changed for better and I feel like a better man since I’ve met you”

Rachel smiles “Oh Gabe you’re so sweet and I love you too why are you saying all these sweet things”

“Cause” Gabe smiles as he gets on one knee pulling out a ring box from his pocket “I don’t want you to be my girlfriend I want you as my wife will you marry me Rach?”

Rachel cries tears of joy as she grins “Yes Gabe I will”

Gabe grins as he slides the ring on her finger. Then he stands and pulls her into his arms “I love you I’ve never been so happy in my entire life”

“I love you too Gabe”

He kisses her deeply ready for all the moments he’s gonna have with her.

Tags: @indiacater​ @mfackenthal​ @the-soot-sprite​ @starrystarrytrouble​ @choicesfandomappreciation

[gloriabomfim]

Boone and Blossom have falling-in-love-montages

Picnic Montage:

[Boone and Blossom are spreading a checkered picnic blanket on the ground. They have a basket filled with delicious snacks and drinks.]

Boone: (grinning) "Alright, Blossom, are you ready for the most epic picnic of all time?"

Blossom: (giggling) "I can't wait, Boone! Let's do this!"

[They both sit down on the blanket, and Boone pulls out a comically large sandwich.]

Boone: (dramatic) "Behold, the Mega-Sandwich!"

Blossom: (laughs) "Wow, Boone! You really know how to make a sandwich!"

[They share bites of the sandwich and enjoy the beautiful scenery around them.]

Carnival Montage:

[Boone and Blossom are at a colorful carnival. There are rides, games, and cotton candy everywhere.]

Boone: (excited) "Step right up, Blossom! Time to test our carnival skills!"

Blossom: (smiling) "I'm up for the challenge, Boone!"

[They try their luck at various games, with Boone hilariously failing at the ring toss.]

Boone: (grinning sheepishly) "I was just warming up, Blossom!"

[Blossom wins a giant stuffed animal at the shooting game, and Boone carries it proudly.]

Park Montage:

[Boone and Blossom are at a serene park, surrounded by lush greenery and chirping birds.]

Boone: (stretching) "A day at the park, Blossom. What could be better?"

Blossom: (content) "It's so peaceful here, Boone."

[They have a playful race, and Boone trips and tumbles onto the grass.]

Boone: (laughing) "I call that the 'Boone Tumble'!"

[They lie on their backs, watching the clouds and making up funny shapes.]

Beach Montage:

[Boone and Blossom are at the beach, with waves crashing in the background.]

Boone: (posing dramatically) "Time for some beach action, Blossom!"

Blossom: (grabs a bucket) "Let's build a sandcastle, Boone!"

[They sculpt an elaborate sandcastle, complete with a moat and seashell decorations. Boone pretends to be a dragon guarding it.]

Boone: (roaring) "None shall pass!"

[They both burst into laughter as they watch the waves wash over their creation.]

Drive-In Cinema Montage:

[Boone and Blossom are at a drive-in cinema, sitting in their car with a big tub of popcorn.]

Boone: (whispering) "Get ready, Blossom! The movie's about to start!"

[They share the popcorn and react hilariously to the film, with exaggerated gasps and laughs.]

Blossom: (teary-eyed) "That was so touching, Boone!"

[Boone pretends to wipe away tears and accidentally spills popcorn everywhere.]

Bike Ride Montage:

[Boone and Blossom are riding a tandem bicycle along a scenic path.]

Boone: (pedaling vigorously) "Hold on tight, Blossom! We're on a bike adventure!"

Blossom: (clinging to Boone) "I trust you, Boone!"

[They go down a hill, and Boone screams comically, making Blossom laugh uncontrollably.]

Boone: (grinning) "I meant to do that!"

Dinner Date Montage:

[Boone and Blossom are at a fancy restaurant with candlelit tables.]

Boone: (studying the menu) "Tonight's dinner, Blossom, is going to be legendary!"

Blossom: (blushing) "I can't wait, Boone!"

[They enjoy a delightful meal, but Boone accidentally knocks over a glass of water, creating a hilarious scene.]

Boone: (apologetic) "Well, that's one way to make a splash!"

[They share a laugh, making the best of the situation.]

Watching the Sunset Montage:

[Boone and Blossom are sitting on a cliff, watching the sun dip below the horizon.]

Boone: (whispering) "Blossom, look at that beautiful sunset."

Blossom: (dreamy) "It's breathtaking, Boone."

[They hold hands and soak in the serene moment, the sky turning shades of pink and orange.]

Boone: (softly) "Blossom, I'm so glad we found each other."

Blossom: (smiling) "Me too, Boone. Me too."

[They share a sweet kiss as the sun sets, sealing their love story with a touch of magic.]

[Throughout their adventures, Boone and Blossom's love grows stronger, and their shared laughter and joy become the soundtrack to their extraordinary romance. Together, they embrace life's quirks and challenges, cherishing every moment together.]

[ultrasnehalvyas-blog]

10 Must-Visit Places in Ooty

Nestled in the Nilgiri Hills, Ooty is a gem of a hill station in Tamil Nadu, India. With its cool climate, verdant landscapes, and colonial charm, Ooty has long been a favored destination for travelers seeking solace and natural beauty. If you’re planning a visit, here are ten must-visit places in Ooty that promise an unforgettable experience.

 1. Ooty Lake

Ooty Lake, a man-made marvel spread over 65 acres, is a perfect spot for boating and picnics. Surrounded by eucalyptus trees, the lake offers stunning views and a relaxing environment. Pedal boats and rowboats are available for hire, making it a great place to unwind with family.

 2. Botanical Gardens

Established in 1848, the Government Botanical Gardens is a lush haven spread over 55 acres. The gardens are home to a vast variety of flora, including rare tree species, colorful flowers, and an Italian-style garden. The Annual Flower Show is a highlight that attracts thousands of visitors.

 3. Doddabetta Peak

As the highest point in the Nilgiri Mountains, Doddabetta Peak offers panoramic views of the surrounding hills and valleys. The trek to the peak is moderately challenging but rewarding, with the sight of mist-covered landscapes making the effort worthwhile.

 4. Rose Garden

Spread over 10 acres, the Rose Garden in Ooty is home to over 20,000 varieties of roses. This beautifully landscaped garden is a visual treat and a photographer’s delight, especially during the blooming season.

 5. Tea Museum

Ooty is known for its tea plantations, and a visit to the Tea Museum is a must for tea lovers. Here, you can learn about the history of tea in the region, the process of tea-making, and even sample some of the finest Ooty teas.

 6. Nilgiri Mountain Railway

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Nilgiri Mountain Railway offers a scenic train ride through the misty mountains and dense forests of the Nilgiris. The toy train journey from Mettupalayam to Ooty is one of the most picturesque train rides in India.

 7. Emerald Lake

Located a little away from the main town, Emerald Lake is a serene spot perfect for a day of relaxation. The tranquil waters, surrounded by lush greenery, offer a peaceful retreat from the bustling tourist spots.

 8. Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary

For wildlife enthusiasts, the Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary is a must-visit. Located on the outskirts of Ooty, this sanctuary is home to a variety of animals including elephants, tigers, leopards, and various bird species. Jeep safaris are available for visitors to explore the sanctuary.

 9. St. Stephen’s Church

Built-in 1829, St. Stephen’s Church is one of the oldest churches in the Nilgiris. Its Gothic architecture, stained glass windows, and peaceful ambiance make it a significant historical and spiritual site.

 10. Pykara Falls

Pykara Falls, located about 20 kilometers from Ooty, is a beautiful waterfall surrounded by dense forests. The sight of water cascading down the rocks is mesmerizing, and the nearby Pykara Lake offers boating facilities.

 Homestays near Ooty

For an authentic experience, staying at a homestay near Ooty is highly recommended. These homestays offer personalized hospitality, home-cooked meals, and a cozy atmosphere, allowing you to immerse yourself in the local culture and lifestyle.

 Goa Beach Homestay

If you’re planning to extend your trip, consider staying at a beach homestay in Goa. Known for its pristine beaches and vibrant nightlife, Goa offers a contrasting yet equally captivating experience to the tranquil hills of Ooty.

Ooty, with its blend of natural beauty, colonial charm, and rich culture, is a destination that should be on every traveler’s list. Whether you’re exploring its lush gardens, and serene lakes, or staying at a cozy homestay, Ooty promises a memorable escape into nature.

[fictionalitiesblog]

Playing this song takes me back to my 13-year-old self, reminiscing about the good old days when life was all about new crushes and friendships that felt like they'd last forever. I'd pedal my bicycle, the wind blowing through my hair, dancing to the lyrics of Steal My Girl in my mind. ( now i only use my mind to over think) ..It feels like that was the last time I truly felt alive. This song specifically talks about the age 16. I had dreamt of being 16 since I was 13 and well, 16 was- uhm. Awful I guess? I don't even remember.

Back then, there was no need to plan meetups with friends because we saw each other every day. We'd groove to One Direction and Taylor Swift tunes, while I listened in as my friends ranted about their favourite Wattpad novels. Even though I wasn't much of a reader, I decided to dive in, and suddenly, Hardin Scott became my favorite red-flag fantasy man.

Listening to these songs , I would visualize a grand future awaiting me – long road trips and sunsets on the beach, all seen through rose-tinted glasses reflecting the light of the setting sun. I loved imagining myself as a lively adult- roaring parties and experiencing endless, unrealistic romance, perhaps influenced by my obsession with playing episodes all day.

My teen life wasn't all that great but I still dreamt of having the time of my life at 18- starting college, meeting 'amazing' new people because 18 was associated with everything good and shining. Everyone seemed to have everything fixed as soon as they left school, at least that's what I thought. So even i held onto the hope that once I leave school- i am going to be the person i have always wanted to be. You know the roaring parties and long drives, the lively, 'happening' me ? Yeah that. Currently I am 19 and I'm pushing that fantasy to 25. Yup. Sounds good.